A20619	----	An anatomy of the vvorld Wherein, by occasion of the vntimely death of Mistris Elizabeth Drury the frailty and the decay of this whole world is represented. Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1611 Approx. 34 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A20619 STC 7022 ESTC S105367 99841096 99841096 5655 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A20619) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 5655) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 881:20) An anatomy of the vvorld Wherein, by occasion of the vntimely death of Mistris Elizabeth Drury the frailty and the decay of this whole world is represented. Donne, John, 1572-1631. [32] p. Printed [by William Stansby] for Samuel Macham. and are to be solde at his shop in Paules Church-yard, at the signe of the Bul-head, London : An. Dom. 1611. By John Donne. Elizabeth Drury was buried 17 December 1610. In verse. Signatures: A-B. The first leaf is blank except for signature-mark "A". Reproduction of the original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Drury, Elizabeth, d. 1610 -- Poetry. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-05 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-06 Sara Gothard Sampled and proofread 2002-06 Sara Gothard Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion AN ANATOMY of the World. WHEREIN , BY OCCASION OF the vntimely death of Mistris ELIZABETH DRVRY the frailty and the decay of this whole world is represented . LONDON , Printed for Samuel Macham . and are to be solde at his shop in Paules Church-yard , at the signe of the Bul-head . AN. DOM. 1611. TO THE PRAISE of the Dead , and the ANATOMY . WEl dy'de the world , that we might liue to see This world of wit , in his Anatomee : No euill wants his good : so wilder heyres Bedew their fathers Toombs with forced teares , Who●e state requites their los : whils thus we gain Well may we walk in blacks , but not complaine . Yet , how can I consent the world is dead While this Muse liues ? which in his spirits stead Seemes to informe a world : and bids it bee , In spight of losse , or fraile mortalitee ? And thou the subiect of this wel-borne thought , Thrise noble maid ; couldst not haue found nor sought A fitter time to yeeld to thy sad Fate , Then whiles this spirit liues ; that can relate Thy worth so well to our last nephews eyne , That they shall wonder both at his , and thine : Admired match ! where striues in mutuall grace The cunning Pencill , and the comely face : A taske , which thy faire goodnes made too much For the bold pride of vulgar pens to tuch ; Enough is vs to praise them that praise thee , And say that but enough those praises bee , Which had'st thou liu'd , had hid their fearefull head From th' angry checkings of thy modest red : Death bars reward & shame : when enuy's gone , And gaine ; 't is safe to giue the dead their owne . As then the wise Egyptians wont to lay More on their Tombs , then houses : these of clay , But those of brasse , or marble were ; so wee Giue more vnto thy Ghost , then vnto thee . Yet what we giue to thee , thou gau'st to vs , And maist but thanke thy selfe , for being thus : Yet what thou gau'st , and wert , O happy maid , Thy grace profest all due , where 't is repayd . So these high songs that to thee suited bine , Serue but to sound thy makers praise , in thine , Which thy deare soule as sweetly sings to him Amid the Quire of Saints and Seraphim , As any Angels tongue can sing of thee ; The subiects differ , tho the skill agree : For as by infant-yeares men iudge of age , Thy early loue , thy vertues , did presage What an hi● part thou bear'st in those best songs VVhereto no burden , nor no end belongs . Sing on , thou Virgin soule , whose lossefull gaine Thy loue-sicke Parents haue bewayl'd in vaine ; Neuer may thy name be in our songs forgot Till we shall sing thy ditty , and thy note . AN ANATOMY OF THE WORLD . WHē that rich soule w ch to her Heauen is gone , Whom all they celebrate , who know they haue one , ( For who is sure he hath a soule , vnlesse It see , and Iudge , and follow worthinesse , And by Deedes praise it ? He who doth not this , May lodge an in-mate soule , but t is not his . ) When that Queene ended here her progresse time , And , as t' her standing house , to heauen did clymbe , Where , loth to make the Saints attend her long , Shee 's now a part both of the Quire , and Song , This world , in that great earth-quake languished ; For in a common Bath of teares it bled , Which drew the strongest vitall spirits out : But succour'd then with a perplexed doubt , Whether the world did loose or gaine in this , ( Because since now no other way there is But goodnes , to see her , whom all would see , All must endeuour to be good as shee , ) This great consumption to a feuer turn'd , And so the world had fits ; it ioy'd , it mournd . And , as men thinke , that Agues physicke are , And th' Ague being spent , giue ouer care , So thou , sicke world , mistak'st thy selfe to bee Well , when alas , thou' rt in a Letargee . Her death did wound , and tame thee than , and than Thou mightst haue better spar'd the Sunne , or Man ; That wound was deepe , but 't is more misery , That thou hast lost thy sense and memory . T' was heauy then to heare thy voyce of mone , But this is worse , that thou art speechlesse growne . Thou hast forgot thy name , thou hadst ; thou wast Nothing but she , and her thou hast o'repast . For as a child kept from the Font , vntill A Prince , expected long , come to fulfill The Ceremonies , thou vnnam'd hadst laid , Had not her comming , thee her Palace made : Her name defin'd thee , gaue thee forme and frame , And thou forgetst to celebrate thy name . Some moneths she hath beene dead ( but being dead , Measures of times are all determined ) But long shee'ath beene away , long , long , yet none Offers to tell vs who it is that 's gone . But as in states doubtfull of future heyres , When sickenes without remedy , empayres The present Prince , they 're loth it should be said , The Prince doth languish , or the Prince is dead : So mankind feeling now a generall thaw , A strong example gone equall to law , The Cyment which did faithfully compact And glue all vertues , now resolu'd , and slack'd , Thought it some blasphemy to say sh'was dead ; Or that our weakenes was discouered In that confession ; therefore spoke no more Then tongues , the soule being gone , the losse deplore . But though it be too late to succour thee , Sicke world , yea dead , yea putrified , since shee Thy'ntrinsique Balme , and thy preseruatiue , Can neuer be renew'd , thou neuer liue , I ( since no man can make thee liue ) will trie , What we may gaine by thy Anatomy . Her death hath taught vs dearely , that thou art Corrupt and mortall in thy purest part . Let no man say , the world it selfe being dead , 'T is labour lost to haue discouered The worlds infirmities , since there is none Aliue to study this dissectione ; For there 's a kind of world remaining still , Though shee which did inanimate and fill The world , be gone , yet in this last long night , Her Ghost doth walke ; that is , a glimmering light , A faint weake loue of vertue and of good Refl●cts from her , on them which vnderstood Her worth ; And though she haue shut in all day , The twi-light of her memory doth stay ; Which , from the carcasse of the old world , free , Creates a new world ; and new creatures be Produc'd : The matter and the stuffe of this , Her vertue , and the forme our practise is . And though to be thus Elemented , arme These Creatures , from hom-borne intrinsique harme , ( For all assum'd vnto this Dignitee , So many weedlesse Paradises bee , Which of themselues produce no venemous sinne , Except some forraine Serpent bring it in ) Yet , because outward stormes the strongest breake , And strength it selfe by confidence growes weake , This new world may be safer , being told The dangers and diseases of the old : For with due temper men do then forgoe , Or couet things , when they their true worth know . There is no health ; Physitians say that we At best , enioy , but a neutralitee . And can there be worse sickenesse , then to know That we are neuer well , nor can be so ? We are borne ruinous : poore mothers crie , That children come not right , nor orderly , Except they headlong come , and fall vpon An ominous precipitation . How witty's ruine ? how importunate Vpon mankinde ? It labour'd to frustrate Euen Gods purpose ; and made woman , sent For mans reliefe , cause of his languishment . They were to good ends , and they are so still , But accessory , and principall in ill . For that first mariage w●s our funerall : One woman at one blow , then kill'd vs all , And singly , one by one , they kill vs now . We doe delightfully our selues allow To that consumption ; and profusely blinde , We kill our selues , to propagate our kinde . And yet we doe not that ; we are not men : There is not now that mankinde , which was then When as the Sunne , and man , did seeme to striue , ( ●●y●t tenants of the world ) who should suruiue . When Stag , and Rauen , and the long-liu'd tree , Compar'd with man d●de in minoritee . When , if a s●o● pac●● starre had stolne away From the obseruers marking , he might stay Two or three hundred yeares to see 't againe , And then make vp his obseruation plaine ; When , as the age was long , the sise was great : Mans grouth confess'd , and recompenc'd the meat : So spacious and large , that euery soule Did a faire Kingdome , and large Realme controule : And when the very stature thus erect , Did that soule a good way towards Heauen direct . Where is this mankind now ? who liues to age , Fit to be made Methusalem his page ? Alas , we scarse liue long enough to trie ; Whether a new made clocke runne right , or lie . Old Grandsires talke of yesterday with sorrow , And for our children we reserue to morrow . So short is life , that euery peasant striues , In a torne house , or field , to haue three liues . And as in lasting , so in length is man Contracted to an inch , who w●s a span . For had a man at first , in Forrests stray'd , Or shipwrack'd in the Sea , one would haue laid A wager that an Elephant , or Whale That met him , would not hastily assaile A thing so equall to him : now alas , The Fayries , and the Pigmies well may passe As credible ; mankind decayes so soone , We 're scarse our Fathers shadowes cast at noone . Onely death addes t' our length : nor are we growne In stature to be men , till we are none . But this were light , did our lesse volume hold All the old Text ; or had we chang'd to gold Their siluer ; or dispos'd into lesse glas , Spirits of vertue , which then scattred was . But 't is not so : w' are not retir'd , but dampt ; And as our bodies , so our mindes are cramp't : 'T is shrinking , not close-weaning , that hath thus , In minde and body both bedwarfed vs. We seeme ambitious , Gods whole worke t' vndoe ; Of nothing he made vs , and we striue too , To bring our selues to nothing backe ; and we Do what we can , to do 't so soone as hee . With new diseases on our selues we warre , And with new phisicke , a worse Engin farre . Thus man , this worlds Vice-Emperor , in whom All faculties , all graces are at home ; And if in other Creatures they appeare , They 're but mans ministers , and Legats there , To worke on their rebellions , and reduce Them to Ciuility , and to mans vse . This man , whom God did wooe , and loth t' attend Till man came vp , did downe to man descend , This man , so great , that all that is , is his , Oh what a trifle , and poore thing he is ! If man were any thing , he 's nothing now : Helpe , or at least some time to wast , allow T' his other wants , yet when he did depart With her whom we lament he lost his hart . She , of whom th' Auncients seem'd to proph●sie , When they call'd vertues by the 〈◊〉 of shee , She in whom vertue 〈◊〉 so much ●efi●●d , That for Allay vnto so pure a minde Shee tooke the weaker Sex , ●h that co●ld d●●ue The poysonous tincture , and the stayne of Eue , Out of her thoughts , and deeds ; and purifie All , by a true religious Alchimy ; Shee , shee is dead ; shee 's dead : when thou knowest this , Thou knowest how poore a trifling thing man is . And learn'st thus much by our Anatomee , The heart being perish'd , no part can be free . And that except thou seed ( not banquet ) on The supernaturall food , Religion , Thy better Grouth growes withered , and scant ; Be more then man , or thou' rt lesse then an Ant. Then , as mankind● , so is the worlds whole frame Quite out of ioynt , almost created lame : For , before God had made vp all the rest , Corruption entred , and deprau'd the best : It seis'd Angels , and then first of all The world did in her Cradle take a fall , And turn'd her braines , and tooke a generall maime Wronging each ioynt of th'vniversall frame . The noblest part , man , felt it first ; and than Both beasts and plants , curst in the curse of man. So did the world from the first houre decay , That euening was beginning of the day , And now the Springs and Sommers which we see , Like sonnes of women after fifty bee . And new Philosophy cals all in doubt , The Element of fire is quite put out ; The Sunne is lost , and th' earth , and no mans wit Can well direct him , where to looke for it . And freely men confesse , that this world 's spent , When in the Planets , and the Firmament They seeke so many new ; they see that this Is crumbled out againe to his Atomis . 'T is all in pieces , all cohaerence gone ; All iust supply , and all Relation : Prince , Subiect , Father , Sonne , are things forgot , For euery man alone thinkes he hath got To be a Phoenix , and that then can bee None of that kinde , of which he is , but hee . This is the worlds condition now , and now She that should all parts to reunion bow , She that had all Magnetique force alone , To draw , and fasten sundred parts in one ; She whom wise nature had inuented then When she obseru'd that euery sort of men Did in their voyage in this worlds Sea stray , And needed a new compasse for their way ; Shee that was best , and first originall Of all faire copies ; and the generall Steward to Fate ; shee whose rich eyes , and brest , Guilt the West Indies , and perfum'd the East ; Whose hauing breath'd in this world , did bestow Spice on those Isles , and bad them still smell so , And that rich Indie which doth gold interre , Is but 〈◊〉 single money , coyn'd from her : She to whom this world must it selfe refer , As Suburbs , or the Microcosme of her , Shee , shee is dead ; shee 's dead : when thou knowst this , Thou knowst how lame a cripple this world is . And learnst thus much by our Anatomy , That this worlds generall sickenesse doth not lie In any humour , or one certaine part ; But , as thou sawest it rotten at the hart , Thou seest a Hectique feuer hath got hold Of the whole substance , not to be contrould . And that thou hast but one way , not t' admit The worlds infection , to be none of it . For the worlds subtilst immateriall parts Feele this consuming wound , and ages darts . For the worlds beauty is decayd , or gone , Beauty , that 's colour , and proportion . We thinke the heauens enioy their Sphericall Their round proportion embracing all . But yet their various and perplexed course , Obseru'd in diuers ages doth enforce Men to finde out so many Eccentrique parts , Such diuers downe-right lines , such ouerthwarts , As disproportion that pure forme . It teares The Firmament in eight and fortie sheeres , And in those constellations then arise New starres , and old do vanish from our eyes : As though heau'n suffred earth-quakes , peace or war , When new Towres rise , and olde demolish'd are . They haue empayld within a Zodiake The free-borne Sunne , and keepe twelue signes awake To watch his steps ; the Goat and Crabbe controule , And fright him backe , who els to eyther Pole , ( Did not these Tropiques fetter him ) might runne : For his course is not round ; nor can the Sunne Perfit a Circle , or maintaine his way One inche direct ; but where he rose to day He comes no more , but with a cousening line , Steales by that point , and so is Serpentine : And seeming weary with his recling thus , He meanes to sleepe , being now falne nearer vs. So , of the stares which boast that they do runne In Circle still , none ends where he begunne . All their proportion's lame , it sinks , it swels . For of Meridians , and Parallels , Man hath weau'd out a net , and this net throwne Vpon the Heauens , and now they are his owne . Loth to goe vp the hill , or labor thus To goe to heauen , we make heauen come to vs. We spur , we raine the stars , and in their race They 're diuersly content t' obey our pace . But keepes the earth her round proportion still ? Doth not a Tenarif , or higher Hill Rise so high like a Rocke , that one might thinke The floating Moone would shipwracke there , and sink ? Seas are so deepe , that Whales being strooke to day , Perchance to morrow , scarse at middle way Of their wish'd iourneys end , the bottom , dye . And men , to sound depths , so much line vntie , As one might iustly thinke , that there would rise At end thereof , one of th'Antipodies : If vnder all , a Vault infernall be , ( Which sure is spacious , except that we Inuent another torment , that there must Millions into a strait hote roome be thrust ) Then solidnes , and roundnes haue no place . Are these but warts , and pock-holes in the face Of th' earth ? Thinke so . But yet confesse , in this The worlds proportion disfigured is , That those two legges whereon it doth relie , Reward and punishment are bent awrie . And , Oh , it can no more be questioned , That beauties best , proportion , is dead , Since euen griefe it selfe , which now alone Is left vs , is without proportion . Shee by whose lines proportion should bee Examin'd , measure of all Symmetree , Whom had that Ancient seen , who thought soules made Of Harmony , he would at next haue said That Harmony was shee , and thence infer , That soules were but Resultances from her , And did from her into our bodies go , As to our eyes , the formes from obiects flow : Shee , who if those great Doctors truely said That th'Arke to mans proportions was made , Had beene a type for that , as that might be A type of her in this , that contrary Both Elements , and Passions liu'd at peace In her , who caus'd all Ciuill warre to cease . Shee , after whom , what forme soe're we see , Is discord , and rude incongruitee , Shee , shee is dead , shee 's dead ; when thou knowst this , Thou knowst how vgly a monster this world is : And learnst thus much by our Anatomie , That here is nothing to enamor thee : And that , not onely faults in inward parts , Corruptions in our braines , or in our harts , Poysoning the fountaines , whence our actions spring , Endanger vs : but that if euery thing Be not done fitly'nd in proportion , To satisfie wise , and good lookers on , ( Since most men be such as most thinke they bee ) They 're lothsome too , by this Deformitee . For good , and well , must in our actions meete : Wicked is not much worse then indiscreet . But beauties other second Element , Colour , and lustre now , is as neere spent . And had the world his iust proportion , Were it a ring still , yet the stone is gone . As a compassionate Turcoyse which doth tell By looking pale , the wearer is not well , As gold fals sicke being ●lung with Mercury , All the worlds parts of such complexion bee . When nature was most busie , the first weeke , Swadling the new-borne earth , God seemd to like , That she should sport herselfe sometimes , and play , To mingle , and vary colours euery day . And then , as though she could not make i now , Himselfe his various Rainbow did allow . Sight is the noblest sense of any one , Yet sight hath onely color to feed on , And color is decayd : summers robe growes Duskie , and like an oft dyed garment showes . Our blushing redde , which vs'd in cheekes to spred , Is inward sunke , and onely our soules are redde . Perchance the world might haue recouered , If she whom we lament had not beene dead : But shee , in whom all white , and redde , and blue ( Beauties ingredients ) voluntary grew , As in an vnuext Paradise ; from whom Did all things verdure , and their lustre come , Whose composition was miraculous , Being all color , all Diaphanous , ( For Ayre , and Fire but thicke grosse bodies were , And liueliest stones but drowsie , and pale to her , ) Shee , shee is dead ; shee 's dead : when thou knowst this , Thou knowst how wan a Ghost this our world is : And learnst thus much by our Anatomee , That it should more affright , then pleasure thee . And that , since all faire color then did sinke , T is now but wicked vanity to thinke , To color vitious deeds with good pretence , Or with bought colors to illude mens sense . Nor in ought more this worlds decay appeares , Then that her influence the heau'n forbeares , Or that the Elements doe not feele this , The father , or the mother barren is . The clouds conceiue not raine , or doe not powre In the due birth-time , downe the balmy showre . Th' Ayre doth not motherly sit on the earth , To hatch her seasons , and giue all things birth . Spring-times were common cradles , but are toombes And false-conceptions fill the generall wombs . Th' Ayre showes such Meteors , as none can see , Not onely what they meane , but what they bee . Earth such new wormes , as would haue troubled me Th'Egyptian Mages to haue made more such . What Artist now dares boast that he can bring Heauen hither , or constellate any thing , So as the influence of those starres may bee Imprisond in an Herbe , or Charme , or Tree , And doe by touch , all which those starres could do ? The art is lost , and correspondence too . For heauen giues little , and the earth takes lesse , And man least knowes their trade , and purposes . If this commerce twixt heauen and earth were not Embarr'd , and all this trafique quite forgot , Shee , for whose losse we haue lamented thus , Would worke more fully ' and pow'rfully on vs. Since herbes , and roots by dying , lose not all , But they , yea Ashes too , are medicinall , Death could not quench her vertue so , but that It would be ( if not follow'd ) wondred at : And all the world would be one dying Swan , To sing her funerall prayse , and vanish than . But as some Serpents poison hurteth not , Except it be from the liue Serpent shot , So doth her vertue need her here , to fit That vnto vs ; she working more then it . But she , in whom , to such maturity , Vertue was growne , past growth , that it must die , She from whose influence all Impressions came , But , by Receiuers impotencies , lame , Who , though she could not transubstantiate All states to gold , yet guilded euery state , So that some Princes haue some temperance ; Some Counsaylors some purpose to aduance The common profite ; and some people haue Some stay , no more then Kings should giue , to craue ; Some women haue some taciturnity ; Some Nunneries , some graines of chastity . She that did thus much , and much more could doe , But that our age was Iron , and rusty too , Shee , shee is dead ; shee 's dead : when thou knowst this , Thou knowest how drie a Cinder this world is . And learnst thus much by our Anatomy , That 't is in vaine to dew , or mollifie It with thy Teares , or Sweat , or Bloud : no thing Is worth our trauaile , griefe , or perishing , But those rich ioyes , which did possesse her hart , Of which shee 's now partaker , and a part . But as in cutting vp a man that 's dead , The body will not last out to haue read On euery part , and therefore men direct Their speech to parts , that are of most effect ; So the worlds carcasse would not last , if I Were punctuall in this Anatomy . Nor smels it well to hearers , if one tell Them their disease , who faine would think they 're wel . Here therefore be the end : And , blessed maid , Of whom is meant what euer hath beene said , Or shall be spoken well by any tongue , Whose name refines course lines , & makes prose song , Accept this tribute , and his first yeares rent , Who till his darke short tapers end be spent , As oft as thy feast sees this widowed earth , Will yearely celebrate thy second birth , That is , thy death . For though the soule of man Be got when man is made , 't is borne but than When man doth die . Our body 's as the wombe , And as a mid-wife death directs it home . And you her creatures , whom she workes vpon And haue your last , and best concoction From her example , and her vertue , if you In reuerence to her , doe thinke it due , That no one should her prayses thus reherse , As matter fit for Chronicle , not verse , Vouchsafe to call to minde , that God did make A last , and lastingst peece , a song . He spake To Moses , to deliuer vnto all , That song : because he knew they would let fall , The Law , the Prophets , and the History , But keepe the song still in their memory . Such an opinion ( in due measure ) made Me this great Office boldly to in●ade . Nor could incomprehensiblenesse deterre Me , from thus trying to emprison her . Which when I saw that a strict graue could do , I saw not why verse might not doe so too . Verse hath a middle nature : heauen keepes soules , The graue keeps bodies , verse the same enroules . A FVNERALL ELEGIE . T Is lost , to trust a Tombe with such a ghest , Or to confine her in a Marble chest . Alas , what 's Marble , Ieat , or Porphiry , Priz'd with the Chrysolite of eyther eye , Or with those Pearles , and Rubies which shee was ? Ioyne the two Indies in one Tombe , 't is glas ; And so is all to her materials , Though euery inche were ten escurials . Yet shee 's demolish'd : Can we keepe her then In workes of hands , or of the wits of men ? Can these memorials , ragges of paper , giue Life to that name , by which name they must liue ? Sickly , alas , short-liu'd , aborted bee Those Carkas verses , whose soule is not shee . And can shee , who no longer would be shee , Being such a Tabernacle , stoope to bee In paper wrap't ; Or , when she would not lie In such a house , dwell in an Elegie ? But 't is no matter ; we may well allow Verse to liue so long as the world will now . For her death wounded it . The world containes Princes for armes , and Counsailors for braines , Lawyers for tongues , Diuines for hearts , and more , The Rich for stomachs , and for backes the Pore ; The Officers for hands , Merchants for feet By which remote and distant Countries meet . But those fine spirits , which doe tune and set This Organ , are those peeces which beget Wonder and loue ; And these were shee● ; and shee Being spent , the world must needes decrepit bee . For since death will proceed to triumph still , He can finde nothing , after her , to kill , Except the world it selfe , so great as shee . Thus braue and confident may Nature bee , Death cannot giue her such another blow , Because shee cannot such another show . But must we say shee 's dead ? May 't not be said That as a sundred Clocke is peece-meale laid , Not to be lost , but by the makers hand Repolish'd , without error then to stand , Or as the Affrique Niger streame enwombs It selfe into the earth , and after comes , ( Hauing first made a naturall bridge , to passe For many leagues , ) farre greater then it was , May 't not be said , that her graue shall restore Her , greater , purer , firmer , then b●fore ? Heauen may say this , and ioy in 't ; but can wee Who liue , and lacke her , here this vantage see ? What is 't to vs , alas , if there haue beene An Angell made a Throne , or Cherubin ? We lose by 't : And as aged men are glad Being tastlesse growne , to ioy in ioyes they had , So now the sicke staru'd world must feed vpone This joy , that we had her , who now is gone . Reioyce then nature , and this world , that you Fearing the last fires hastning to subdue Your force and vigor , ere it were neere gone , Wisely bestow'd , and layd it all on one . One , whose cleare body was so pure , and thin , Because it neede disguise no thought within . T' was but a through-light scarfe , her minde t'enroule , Or exhalation breath'd out from her soule . One , whom all men who durst no more , admir'd ; And whom , who ere had worth enough , desir'd ; As when a Temple 's built , Saints emulate To which of them , it shall be consecrate . But as when Heau'n lookes on vs with new eyes , Those new starres eu'ry Artist exercise , What place they should assigne to them they doubt , Argue , and agree not , till those starres go out : So the world studied whose this peece should be . Till she can be no bodies else , nor shee : But like a Lampe of Balsamum , desir'd Rather t' adorne , then last , shee soone expir'd ; Cloath'd in her Virgin white integrity ; For mariage , though it doe not staine , doth dye . To scape th'infirmities which waite vpone Woman , shee went away , before sh'was one . And the worlds busie noyse to ouercome , Tooke so much death , as seru'd for opium . For though she could not , nor could chuse to die , Shee'ath yeelded to too long an Extasie . He which not knowing her sad History , Should come to reade the booke of destiny , How faire and chast , humble and high shee'ad beene , Much promis'd , much perform'd , at not fifteene , And measuring future things , by things before , Should turne the leafe to reade , and read no more , Would thinke that eyther destiny mistooke , Or that some leafes were torne out of the booke . But 't is not so : Fate did but vsher her To yeares of Reasons vse , and then infer Her destiny to her selfe ; which liberty She tooke but for thus much , thus much to die . Her modesty not suffering her to bee Fellow-Commissioner with destinee , Shee did no more but die ; if after her Any shall liue , which dare true good prefer , Euery such person is her delegate , T' accomplish that which should haue beene her fate . They shall make vp that booke , and shall haue thankes Of fate and her , for filling vp their blanks . For future vertuous deeds are Legacies , Which from the gift of her example rise . And 't is in heau'n part of spirituall mirth , To see how well , the good play her , on earth . FINIS . 
A20620	----	The first anniuersarie An anatomie of the vvorld. Wherein, by occasion of the vntimely death of Mistris Elizabeth Drury, the frailtie and the decay of this whole world is represented. Anatomy of the world Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1612 Approx. 67 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 62 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A20620 STC 7023 ESTC S109799 99845444 99845444 10344 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A20620) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 10344) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1200:16) The first anniuersarie An anatomie of the vvorld. Wherein, by occasion of the vntimely death of Mistris Elizabeth Drury, the frailtie and the decay of this whole world is represented. Anatomy of the world Donne, John, 1572-1631. [8], 54, [10], 49, [7] p. Printed by M. Bradwood for S. Macham, and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Bull-head, London : 1612. By John Donne. Elizabeth Drury was buried 17 December 1610. In verse. Originally published in 1611 as: The anatomy of the world. "The second anniuersarie. Of the progres of the soule" has separate dated title page and pagination; register is continuous. The last three leaves are blank except for marginal rules. The Geoffrey Keynes copy (now at Cambridge) has an errata slip pasted to H5v. Reproduction of the original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Drury, Elizabeth, d. 1610 -- Poetry -- Early works to 1800. 2002-05 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-06 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-07 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2002-07 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-08 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion This was for youth , Strength , Mirth , and wit that Time Most count their golden Age ; but t' was not thine . Thine was thy later yeares , so much refind From youths Drosse , Mirth , & wit ; as thy pure mind Thought ( like the Angels ) nothing but the Praise Of thy Creator , in those last , best Dayes . Witnes this Booke , ( thy Embleme ) which begins With Love ; but endes , with Sighes , & Teares for sin̄s . Will : Marshall . sculpsit . IZ : WA : The First Anniuersarie . AN ANATOMIE of the World. Wherein , BY OCCASION OF the vntimely death of Mistris ELIZABETH DRVRY , the frailtie and the decay of this whole World is represented . LONDON , Printed by M. Bradwood for S. Macham , and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Bull-head . 1612. TO THE PRAISE of the Dead , and the ANATOMY . WEll dy'de the World , that we might liue to see This World of wit , in his Anatomee : No euill wants his good : so wilder heyres ; Bedew their fathers Toombes , with forced teares , Whose state requites their losse : whiles thus we gaine Well may we walke in blacks , but not complaine . Yet how can I consent the world is dead While this Muse liues ? which in his spirits stead Seemes to informe a world : and bids it bee , In spight of losse , or fraile mortalitee ? And thou the subiect of this wel-borne thought , Thrise noble maid ; couldst not haue found nor sought A fitter time to yeeld to thy sad Fate , Then whiles this spirit liues ; that can relate Thy worth so well to our last nephews eyne , That they shall wonder both at his , and thine : Admired match ! where striues in mutuall grace The cunning Pencill , and the ceomly face : A taske , which thy faire goodnesse made too much For the bold pride of vulgar pens to tuch ; Enough is vs to praise them that praise thee , And say that but enough those praises bee , Which had'st thou liu'd , had hid their fearefull head From th' angry checkings of thy modestred : Death bars reward and shame : when enuy's gone , And gaine ; 't is safe to giue the dead their owne . As then the wise Egyptians wont to lay More on their Tombes , then houses : these of clay , But those of brasse , or marble were ; so wee Giue more vnto thy Ghost , then vnto thee . Yet what we giue to thee , thou gauest to vs , And maiest but thanke thy selfe , for being thus : Yet what thou gau'st , and wert , O happy maid , Thy grace profest all due , were'tis repayd . So these high songs that to thee suited bine , Serue but to sound thy makers praise , in thine , Which thy deare soule as sweetly sings to him Amid the Quire of Saints and Seraphim , As any Angels tongue can sing of thee ; The subiects differ , thothe skill agree : For as by infant-yeeres men iudge of age , Thy early loue , thy vertues , did presage What an hie part thou bear'st in those best songs Whereto no burden , nor no end belongs . Sing on thou Virgin soule , whose lossefull gaine Thy loue-sicke Parents haue bewayl'd in vaine ; Neuer may thy name be in our songs forgot Till we shall sing thy ditty , and thy note . The First Anniuersary . AN ANATOMIE of the World. WHen that rich soule which to her heauen is gone , Whom all they celebrate , who know they haue one , ( For who is sure he hath a soule , vnlesse It see , and Iudge , and follow worthinesse , And by Deedes praise it ? He who doth not this , May lodge an In-mate soule , but t is not his . ) When that Queene ended here her progresse time . And , as t' her standing house , to heauen did clymbe , Where , loth to make the Saints attend her long , Shee 's now a part both of the Quire , and Song . This , world , in that great earthquake languished ; For in a common Bath of teares it bled , Which drew the strongest vitall spirits out : But succour'd then with a perplexed doubt , Whether the world did loose or gaine in this , ( Because since now no other way there is But goodnesse , to see her , whom all would see , All must endeuour to be good as shee . ) This great consumption to a feuer turn'd , And so the world had fits ; it ioy'd , it mournd , And , as men thinke , that Agues physicke are , And th' Ague being spent , giue ouer care , So thou , sicke world , mistak'st thy selfe to bee Well , when alas , thou' rt in a Letargee . Her death did wound , and tame thee than , and than Thou mightst haue better spar'd the Sunne , or Man ; That wound was deepe , but'tis more misery , That thou hast lost thy sense and memory . T' was heauy then to heare thy voyce of mone , But this is worse , that thou art speechlesse growne . Thou hast forgot thy name , thou hadst ; thou wast Nothing but she , and her thou hast o'repast . For as a child kept from the Fount , vntill A Prince , expected long , come to fulfill The Ceremonies , thou vnnam'd hadst laid , Had not her comming , thee her Palace made : Her name defin'd thee , gaue thee forme and frame , And thou forgetst to celebrate thy name . Some moneths she hath beene dead ( but being dead , Measures of times are all determined ) But long shee'ath beene away , long , long , yet none Offers to tell vs who it is that 's gone . But as in states doubtfull of future heyres , When sickenesse without remedy , empayres The present Prince , they 're loth it should be said , The Prince doth languish , or the Prince is dead : So mankind feeling now a generall thaw , A strong example gone equall to law , The Cyment which did faithfully compact And glue all vertues , now resolu'd , and slack'd , Thought it some blasphemy to say sh'was dead ; Or that our weaknesse was discouered In that confession ; therefore spoke no more Then tongues , the soule being gone , the losse deplore . But though it be too late to succour thee , Sicke world , yea dead , yea putrified , since shee Thy'ntrinsique Balme , and thy preseruatiue , Can neuer be renew'd , thou neuer liue , I ( since no man can make thee liue ) will trie , What we may gaine by thy Anatomy . Her death hath taught vs dearely , that thou art Corrupt and mortall in thy purest part . Let no man say , the world it selfe being dead , 'T is labour lost to haue discouered . The worlds infirmities , since there is none Aliue to study this dissectione ; For there 's a kind of world remaining still , Though shee which did in animate and fill The world , be gone , yet in this last long night , Her Ghost doth walke ; that is , a glimmerig light , A faint weake loue of vertue and of good Reflects from her , on them which vnderstood Her worth ; And though she haue shut in all day , The twi-light of her memory doth stay ; Which , from the carcasse of the old world , free , Creates a new world ; and new creatures bee Produc'd : The matter and the stuffe of this , Her vertue , and the forme our practise is . And though to be thus Elemented , arme These Creatures , from hom-borne intrinsique harme , ( For all assum'd vnto this Dignitee , So many weedlesse Paradises bee , Which of themselues produce no venemous sinne , Except some forraine Serpent bring it in ) Yet , because outward stormes the strongest breake , And strength it selfe by confidence growes weake , This new world may be safer , being told The dangers and diseases of the old : For with due temper men do then forgoe , Or couet things , when they their true worth know . There is no health ; Phisitians say that wee At best , enioy , but a neutralitee . And can there be worse sicknesse , then to know That we are neuer well , nor can be so ? We are borne ruinous : poore mothers crie , That children come not right , nor orderly , Except they headlong come and fall vpon An ominous precipitation . How witty's ruine ? how importunate Vpon mankinde ? It labour'd to frustrate Euen Gods purpose ; and made woman , sent For mans reliefe , cause of his languishment . They were to good ends , and they are so still , But accessory , and principall in ill . For that first mariage was our funerall : One woman at one blow , then kill'd vs all , And singly , one by one , they kill vs now . We doe delightfully our selues allow To that consumption ; and profusely blinde , We kill our selues , to propagate , our kinde . And yet we doe not that ; we are not men : There is not now that mankinde , which was then When as the Sunne , and man , did seeme to striue , ( Ioynt tenants of the world ) who should suruie . When Stag , and Rauen , and the long-liu'd tree . Compar'd withman , dy'de in minoritee . When , if a slow-pac'd starre had stolne away From the obseruers marking , he might stay Two or three hundred yeeres to see 't againe , And then make vp his obseruation plaine ; When , as the age was long , the the sise was great : Mans grouth confess'd , and recompenc'd the meat : So spacious and large , that euery soule Did a faire Kingdome , and large Realme controule : And when the very stature thus erect , Did that soule a good way towards Heauen direct . Where is this mankind now ? who liues to age , Fit to be made Methusalem his page ? Alas , we scarse liue long enough to trie ; Whether a true made clocke run right , or lie . Old Grandsires talke of yesterday with sorrow , And for our children we reserue to morrow . So short is life , that euery peasant striues , In a torne house , or field , to haue three liues , And as in lasting , so in length is man. Contracted to an inch , who was a span , For had a man at first , in Forrests stray'd , Or shipwrack'd in the Sea , one would haue laid A wager that an Elephant , or Whale That met him , would not hastily assaile A thing so equal to him : now alas . The Fayries , and the Pigmies well may passe As credible ; mankind decayes so soone , We 're searse our Fathers shadowes cast at noone . Onely death addes t' our length : nor are we growne In stature to be men , till we are none . But this were light , did our lesse volume hold All the old Text ; or had we chang'd to gold Their siluer ; or dispos'd into lesse glas , Spirits of vertue , which then scattred was . But 't is not so : w' are not retir'd , but dampt ? And as our bodies , so our mindes are cramp't : 'T is shrinking , not close-weaning , that hath thus , In minde and body both bedwarfed vs. We seeme ambitious , Gods whole worke t' vndoe ; Of nothing he made vs , and we striue too , To bring our selues to nothing backe ; and we Do what we can , to do 't so soone as hee . With new diseases on our selues we warre , And with new phisicke , a worse Engin farre . Thus man , this worlds Vice-Emperor , in whom All faculties , all graces are at home ; And if in other Creatures they appeare , They 're but mans ministers , and Legats there , To worke on their rebellions , and reduce Them to Ciuility , and to mans vse . This man , whom God did wooe , and loth t' attend Till man came vp , did downe to man descend , This man , so great , that all that is , is his , Oh what a trifle , and poore thing he is ? If man were any thing , he 's nothing now : Helpe , or at least some time to wast , allow T' his other wants , yet when he did depart With her whom we lament , he lost his heart . She , of whom th'Ancients seem'd to prophesie , When they call'd vertues by the name of shee , She in whom vertue was so much refin'd , That for Allay vnto so pure a minde Shee tooke the weaker Sex , she that could driue The poysonous tincture , and the stayne of Eue , Out of her thoughts , and deeds ; and purifie All , by a true religious Alchimy ; Shee , shee is dead ; shee 's dead : when thou knowest this , Thou knowest how poore a trifling thing man is . And learn'st thus much by our Anatomee , The heart being perish'd , no part can be free . And that except thou feed ( not banquet ) on The supernaturall food , Religion Thy better Grouth growes withered , and scant ; Be more than man , or thou' rt lesse then an Ant. Then , as mankinde , so is the worlds whole frame Quite out of ioynt , almost created lame : For , before God had made vp all the rest , Corruption entred , and deprau'd the best : It seis'd the Angels , and then first of all The world did in her Cradle take a fall , And turn'd her brains , and tooke a generall maime Wronging each ioynt of th' vniuersall frame . The noblest part , man , felt it first ; and than Both beasts and plants , curst in the curse of man. So did the world from the first houre decay , That euening was beginning of the day , And now the Springs and Sommers which we see , Like sonnes of women after fifty bee . And new Philosophy cals all in doubt , The Element of fire is quite put out ; The Sunne is lost , and th' earth , and no mans wit Can wel direct him where to looke for it . And freely men confesse that this world 's spent , When in the Planets , and the Firmament They seeke so many new ; they see that this Is crumbled out againe to his Atomis . 'T is all in pieces , all cohaerence gone ; All iust supply , and all Relation : Prince , Subiect , Father , Sonne , are things forgot , For euery man alone thinkes he hath got To be a Phoenix , and that then can bee None of that kinde , of which he is , but hee . This is the worlds condition now , and now She that should all parts to reunion bow , She that had all Magnetique force alone , To draw , and fasten sundred parts in one ; She whom wise nature had inuented then When she obseru'd that every sort of men Did in their voyage in this worlds Sea stray , And needed a new compasse fo their way ; Shee that was best , and first originall Of all faire copies ; and the generall Steward to Fate ; shee whose rich eyes , and brest : Guilt the West Indies , and perfum'd the East ; Whose hauing breath'd in this world , did bestow Spice on those Isles , and bad them still smell so , And that rich Indie which doth gold interre , Is but as single money , coyn'd from her : She to whom this world must it selfe refer , As Suburbs , or the Microcosme of her , Shee , shee is dead ; shee 's dead : when thou knowest this , Thou knowst how lame a cripple this world is . And learnst thus much by our Anatomy , That this worlds generall sickenes doth not lie In any humour , or one certaine part ; But as thou sawest it rotten at the heart , Thou seest a Hectique feuer hath got hold Of the whole substance , not to be contrould . And that thou hast but one way , not t' admit The worlds infection , to be none of it . For the worlds subtilst immaterial parts Feele this consuming wound , and ages darts . For the worlds beauty is decayd , or gone , Beauty , that 's colour , and proportion . We thinke the heauens enioy their Sphericall Their round proportion embracing all . But yet their various and perplexed course , Obseru'd in diuers ages doth enforce Men to finde out so many Eccentrique parts , Such diuers downe-right lines , such ouerthwarts , As disproportion that pure forme . It teares The Firmament in eight and forty sheeres , And in these constillations then arise New starres , and old doe vanish from our eyes : As though heau'n suffred earthquakes , peace or war , When new Towers rise , and old demolish'd are . They haue empayld within a Zodiake The free-borne Sunne , and keepe twelue signes awake To watch his steps ; the Goat and Crabbe controule , And fright him backe , who els to eyther Pole , ( Did not these Tropiques fetter him ) might runne : For his course is not round ; nor can the Sunne Perfit a Circle , or maintaine his way One inche direct ; but where he rose to day He comes no more , but with a cousening line , Steales by that point , and so is Serpentine : And seeming weary with his reeleing thus , He meanes to sleepe , being now falne nearer vs. So , of the starres which boast that they doe runne In Circle still , none ends where he begunne . All their proportion's lame , it sinks , it swels . For of Meridians , and Parallels , Man hath weau'd out a net , and this net throwne Vpon the Heauens , and now they are his owne . Loth to goe vp the hill , or labour thus To go to heauen , we make heauen come to vs. We spur , we raigne the stars , and in their race They 're diuersly content t' obey our peace , But keepes the earth her round proportion still ? Doth not a Tenarif , or higher Hill Rise so high like a Rocke , that one might thinke The floating Moone would shipwracke there , and sinke ? Seas are so deepe , that Whales being strooke to day , Perchance to morrow , scarse at middle way Of their wish'd iourneys end , the bottom , dye . And men , to sound depths , so much line vntie , As one might iustly thinke , that there would rise At end thereof , one of th' Antipodies : If vnder all , a Vault infernall be , ( Which sure is spacious , except that we Inuent another torment , that there must Millions into a strait hot roome be thrust ) Then solidnesse , and roundnesse haue no place . Are these but warts , and pock-holes in the face Of th' earth ? Thinke so : But yet confesse , in this The worlds proportion disfigured is , That those two legges whereon it doth rely , Reward and punishment are bent awry . And , Oh , it can no more be questioned , That beauties best , proportion , is dead , Since euen griefe itselfe , which now alone Is left vs , is without proportion . Shee by whose lines proportion should bee Examin'd , measure of all Symmetree , Whom had that Ancient seene , who thought soules made Of Harmony , he would at next haue said That Harmony was shee , and thence infer , That soules were but Resultances from her , And did from her into our bodies go , As to our eyes , the formes from obiects flow : Shee , who if those great Douctors truely said That th'Arke to mans proportions was made , Had beene a type for that , as that might be A type of her in this , that contrary Both Elements , and Passions liu'd at peace In her , who caus'd all Ciuill war to cease . Shee , after whom , what forme soe're we see , Is discord , and rude incongruitee , Shee , shee is dead , shee 's dead ; when thou knowest this , Thou knowst how vgly a monster this world is : And learnst thus much by our Anatomee , That here is nothing to enamor thee : And that , not onely faults in inward parts , Corruptions in our braines , or in our harts . Poysoning the fountaines , whence our actions spring , Endanger vs : but that if euery thing Be not done fitly'nd in proportion , To satisfie wise , and good lookers on , ( Since most men be such as most thinke they bee ) They 're lothsome too , by this Deformitee . For good , and well , must in our actions meete ; Wicked is not much worse then indiscreet . But beauties other second Element , Colour , and lustre now , is as neere spent . And had the world his iust proportion , Were it a ring still , yet the stone is gone . As a compassionate Turcoyse which doth tell By looking pale , the wearer is not well , As gold fals sicke being stung with Mercury , All the worlds parts of such complexion bee . When nature was most busie , the first weeke , Swadling the new-borne earth , God seemd to like , That she should sport herselfe sometimes , and play , To mingle , and vary colours euery day . And then , as though she could not make inow , Himselfe his various Rainbow did allow , Sight is the noblest sense of any one , Yet sight hath onely colour to feed on , And colour is decayd : summers robe growes Duskie , and like an oft dyed garment showes . Our blushing redde , which vs'd in cheekes to spred , Is inward sunke , and onely our soules are redde . Perchance the world might haue recouered , If she whom we lament had not beene dead : But shee , in whom all white , and red , and blew ( Beauties ingredients ) voluntary grew , As in an vnuext Paradise ; from whom Did all things verdure , and their lustre come , Whose composition was miraculous , Being all colour , all Diaphanous , ( For Ayre , and Fire but thicke grosse bodies were , And liueliest stones but drowsie , and pale to her , ) Shee , shee , is dead ; shee 's dead : when thou knowst this , Thou knowest how wan a Ghost this our world is : And learnst thus much by our Anatomee , That it should more affright , then pleasure thee . And that , since all faire color then did sinke , T is now but wicked vanity to thinke , To colour vitious deeds with good pretence , Or with bought colors to illude mens sense . Nor in ought more this worlds decay appeares , Then that her influence the heau'n forbeares , Or that the Elements doe not feele this , The father , or the mother barren is . The clouds conceiue not raine , or doe not powre In the due birth-time , downe the balmy showre . Th' Ayre doth not motherly sit on the earth , To hatch her seasons , and giue all things birth . Spring-times were common cradles , but are toombes ; And false-conceptions fill the generall wombs . Th' Ayre showes such Meteors , as none can see , Not onely what they meane , but what they bee . Earth such new wormes , as would haue troubled much , Th' Egyptian Mages to haue made more such . What Artist now dares boast that he can bring Heauen hither , or constellate any thing , So as the influence of those starres may bee Imprisoned in an Hearbe , or Charme , or Tree , And doe by touch , all which those starres could doe ? The art is lost , and correspondence too . For heauen giues little , and the earth takes lesse , And man least knowes their trade , and purposes . If this commerce twixt heauen and earth were not Embarr'd , and all this trafique quite forgot , Shee , for whose losse we haue lamented thus , Would worke more fully ' and pow'rfully on vs. Since herbes , and roots by dying , lose not all , But they , yea Ashes too , are medicinall , Death could not quench her vertue so , but that It would be ( if not follow'd ) wondred at : And all the world would be one dying Swan , To sing her funerall praise , and vanish than . But as some Serpents poison hurteth not , Except it be from the liue Serpent shot , So doth her vertue need her here , to fit That vnto vs ; she working more then it . But she , in whom , to such maturity , Vertue was growne , past growth , that it must die , She from whose influence all Impression came , But , by Receiuers impotencies , lame , Who , though she could not transubstantiate All states to gold , yet guilded euery state , So that some Princes haue some temperance ; Some Counsaylors some purpose to aduance The common profite ; and some people haue Some stay , no more then Kings should giue , to craue ; Some women haue some taciturnity , Some Nunneries , some graines of chastity . She that did thus much , and much more could doe , But that our age was Iron , and rusty too , Shee , shee is dead ; shee 's dead : when thou knowest this , Thou knowest how drie a Cinder this world is . And learnst thus much by our Anatomy , That'tis in vaine to dew , or mollifie It with thy Teares , or Sweat , or Bloud : no thing Is worth our trauaile , griefe , or perishing , But those rich ioyes , which did possesse her heart , Of which shee 's now partaker , and a part . But as in cutting vp a man that 's dead , The body will not last out to haue read On euery part , and therefore men direct Their speech to parts , that are of most effect ; So the worlds carcasse would not last , if I Were punctuall in this Anatomy . Nor smels it well to hearers , if one tell Them their disease , who faine would thinke they 're wel . Here therefore be the end : And , blessed maid , Of whom is meant what euer hath beene said , Or shall be spoken well by any tongue , Whose name refines course lines , and makes prose song , Accept this tribute , and his first yeeres rent , Who till his darke short tapers end be spent , As oft as thy feast sees this widowed earth , Will yearely celebrate thy second birth , That is , thy death . For though the soule of man Be got when man is made , 't is borne but than When man doth die . Our body 's as the wombe , And as a mid-wife death directs it home . And you her creatures , whom she workes vpon And haue your last , and best concoction From her example , and her vertue , if you In reuerence to her , doe thinke it due , That no one should her prayses thus reherse , As matter fit for Chronicle , not verse , Vouchsafe to call to minde , that God did make A last , and lastingst peece , a song . He spake To Moses , to deliuer vnto all , That song : because he knew they would let fall , The Law , the Prophets , and the History , But keepe the song still in their memory . Such an opinion ( in due measure ) made Me this great Office boldly to inuade . Nor could incomprehensiblenesse deterre Me , from thus trying to emprison her . Which when I saw that a strict graue could doe , I saw not why verse might not doe so too . Verse hath a middle nature : Heauen keepes soules , The Graue keepes bodies , Verse the same enroules . A FVNERALL ELEGIE . T Is lost , to trust a Tombe with such a ghest , Or to confine her in a Marble chest . Alas , what 's Marble , Ieat , or Porphiry , Priz'd with the Chrysolite of either eye , Or with those Pearles , and Rubies which shee was ? Ioyne the two Indies in one Tombe , 't is glas ; And so is all to her materials , Though euery inche were ten escurials . Yet shee 's demolished : Can we keepe herthen In workes of hands , or of the wits of m●n ? Can th●se memorials , ragges of paper , giue Life to that name , by which name they must liue ? Sickly , alas , short-liu'd , aborted bee Those Carkas verses , whose soule is not sh●e . And can shee , who no longer would be sh●e , Being such a Tabernacle , stoope to bee In paper wrap't ; Or , when she would not lie In such a house , dwell in an Elegie ? But 't is no matter ; we may well allow Verse to liue so long as the world will now For her death wounded it . The world containes Princes for armes , and Counsailors for braines , Lawyers for tongues , Diuines for hearts , and more , The Rich for stomachs and for backes the Pore ; The officers for hands , Merchants for feet By which remote and distant Countries meet . But those fine spirits which doe tune and set This Organ , are those peeces which beget Wonder and loue ; And these were shee ; and shee Being spent , the world must needs decrepit bee . For since death will proceed to triumph still , He can finde nothing , after her , to kill , Except the world it selfe , so great as shee . Thus braue and confident may Nature bee , Death cannot giue her such another blow , Because shee cannot such another show . But must we say shee 's dead ? May 't not be said That as a sundred Clocke is peece-meale laid , Not to be lost , but by the makers hand Repolish'd , without error then to stand , Or as the Affrique Niger streame enwombs It selfe into the earth , and after comes , ( Hauing first made a naturall bridge , to passe For many leagues , ) farre greater then it was , May 't not be said , that her graue shall restore Her , greater , purer , firmer , then before ? Heauen may say this , and ioy in 't ; but can wee Who liue , and lacke her , here this vantage see ? What is 't to vs , alas , if there haue beene An Angell made a Throne , or Cherubin ? We lose by 't : And as aged men are glad Being tastlesse growne , to ioy in ioyes they had , So now the sicke staru'd world must feed vpone This ioy , that we had her , who now is gone . Reioyce then nature , and this world , that you Fearing the last fires hastning to subdue Your force and vigor , ere it were neere gone , Wisely bestow'd , and laid it all on one . One , whose cleare body was so pure , and thin , Because it need disguise no thought within . T' was but a through-light scarfe , her minde t'enroule , Or exhalation breath'd out from her soule . On● , whom all men who durst no more , admir'd , And w●om , who ere had worth enough , desir'd ; As when a Temple 's built , Saints emulate To which of them , it shall be consecrate . But as when Heauen lookes on vs with new eyes , Those new starres euery Artist exercise , What place they should assigne to them they doubt . Argue , and agree not , till those starres goe out : So the world studied whose this peece sh●uld be , Till she can be no bodies else , nor sh●e : But like a Lampe of Balsamum , desir'd Rather t' adorne , then last , shee soone expir'd ; Cloath'd in her Virgin white integrity ; For mariage , though it doe not staine , doth dye . To scape th'infirmities which waite vpone Woman , shee went away , before sh'was one . And the worlds busie noyse to ouercome , Tooke so much death , as seru'd for opium . For though she could not , nor could chuse to die , Shee'ath yeelded to too long an Extasie . He which not knowing her said Historie , Should come to read the booke of destinie , How faire and chast , humble and high shee'ad beene , Much promis'd , much perform'd , at not fifteene , And measuring future things , by things before , Should turne the leafe to read , and read no more , Would thinke that either destinie mistooke , Or that some leaues were torne out of the booke . But 't is not so : Fate did but Vsher her To yeares of Reasons vse , and then infer Her destinie to her selfe ; which libertie Shee tooke but for thus much , thus much to die . Her modesty not suffering her to bee Fellow-Commissioner with destinee , Shee did no more but die ; if after her Any shall liue , which dare true good prefer , Euery such person is her delegate , T' accomplish that which should haue beene her fate . They shall make vp that booke , and shall haue thankes Offate and her , for filling vp th●ir blanks . For future vertuous deeds are Legacies . Which from the gift of her example rise . And 't is in heau'n part of spirituall mirth , To see how well , the good play her , on earth . FINIS . The Second Anniuersarie . OF THE PROGRES of the Soule . Wherein : BY OCCASION OF THE Religious Death of Mistris ELIZABETH DRVRY , the incommodities of the Soule in this life and her exaltation in the next , are Contemplated . LONDON , Printed by M. Bradwood for S. Macham , and are to be sould at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Bull-head . 1612. THE HARBINGER to the Progres . TWo soules moue here , and mine ( a third ) must moue Paces of admiration , and of loue ; Thy soule ( Deare Virgin ) whose this tribute is , Mou'd from this mortall sphere to liuely blisse ; And yet moues still , and still aspires to see The worlds last day , thy glories full degree : Like as those starres which thou ore-lookest farre , Are in their place , and yet still moued are No soule ( whiles with the lugage of this clay It clogged is ) can follow thee halfe way ; Or see thy flight ; which doth our thoughts outgoe So fast , that now the lightning moues but slow : But now thou art as high in heauen flowne As heau'ns from vs ; what soule besides thine owne Can tell thy ioyes , or say he can rerelate Thy glorious Iournals in that blessed state ? I enuie thee ( Rich soule ) I enuy thee , Although I cannot yet thy glory see : And thou ( Great spirit ) which her 's follow'd hast So fast , as none can follow thine so fast ; So farre as none can follow thine so farre , ( And if this flesh did not the passage barre Had'st raught her ) let me wonder at thy flight Which long agone had'st lost the vnlgar sight And now mak'st proud the better eyes , that thay Can see thee less'ned in thine aery way ; So while thou mak'st her soules by progresse knowne Thou mak'st a noble progresse of thine owne . From this worlds carcasse hauing mounted hie To that pure life of Immortalitie ; Since thine aspiring thoughts themselues so raise That more may not beseeme a creatures praise , Yet still thou vow'st her more ; and euery yeare Mak'st a new progresse , while thou wandrest here ; Still vpwards mount ; and let thy makers praise Honor thy Laura , and adorne thy laies . And since thy Muse her head in heauen shrouds Oh let her neuer stoope below the clouds : And if those glorious sainted soules may know Or what we doe , or what we sing below , Those acts , those songs shall still content them best Which praise those awfull powers that make them blest . The Second Anniuersarie . OF THE PROGRES of the Soule . NOthing could make mee sooner to confesse . That this world had an euerlastingnesse , Then to consider , that a yeare is runne , Since both this lower worlds , and the Sunnes Sunne , The Lustre , and the vigor of this All , Did set ; t' were Blasphemy , to say , did fall . But as a ship which hath strooke saile , doth runne , By force of that force which before , it wonne , Or as sometimes in a beheaded man , Through at those two Red seas , which freely ran , One from the Trunke , another from the Head , His soule be saild , to her eternall bed , His eies will twinckle , and his tongue will roll , As though he beckned , and cal'd backe his Soul , He graspes his hands , and he puls vp his feet , And seemes to reach , and to step forth to meet . His soule , when all these motions which we saw , Are but as Ice , which crackles at a thaw : Or as a Lute , which in moist weather , rings Her knell alone , by cracking of her strings . So strugles this dead world , now shee is gone ; For there is motion in corruption . As some Daies are , at the Creation nam'd , Before the sunne , the which fram'd Daies , was fram'd , So after this sunnes set , some show appeares , And orderly vicisitude of yeares . Yet a new Deluge , and of Lethe flood , Hath drown ' vs all , All haue forgot all good , Forgetting her , the maine Reserue of all , Yet in this Deluge , grosse and generall , Thou seest mee striue for life ; my life shal be , To bee hereafter prais'd , for praysing thee , Immortal Mayd , who though thou wouldst refuse The name of Mother , be vnto my Muse , A Father since her chast Ambition is , Yearely to bring forth such a child as this . These Hymes may worke on future wits , and so May great Grand-children of thy praises grow . And so , though not Reuiue , embalme , and spice The world , which else would putrify with vice . for thus , Man may extend thy progeny , Vntill man doe but vanish , and not die . These Hymns thy issue , may encrease so long , As till Gods great Venite change the song . Thirst for that time , O my insatiate soule , And serue thy thirst , with Gods safe-fealing Bowle . Bee thirsty still , and drinke still till , thou goe ; T'o th' onely Health , to be Hydroptique so . Forget this rotten world ; And vnto thee , Let thine owne times as an old story be Be not concern'd : study not why , nor whan ; Do not so much , as not beleeue a man. For though to erre , be worst , to try truths forth , Is far more busines , then this world is worth . The World is but a Carkas ; thou art fed By it , but as a worme , that carcas bred ; And why shouldst thou , poore worme , consider more , When this world will grow better then before , Then those thy fellow-wormes doe thinke vpone That carkasses last resurrectione . Forget this world , and scarse thinke of it so , As of old cloaths , cast of a yeare agoe . To be thus stupid is Alacrity ; Men thus lethargique haue best Memory . Looke vpward ; that 's towards her , whose happy state We now lament not , but congratulate . Shee , to whom all this world t was but a stage , Where all sat harkning how her youthfull age Should be emploid , because in all , shee did , Some Figure of the Golden times , was hid . Who could not lacke , what ere this world could giue , Because shee was the forme , that made it liue ; Nor could complaine , that this world was vnfit , To be staid in , then when shee was in it ; Shee that first tried indifferent desires By vertue , and vertue by religious fires , Shee to whose person Paradise adhear'd , As Courts to Princes ; shee whose eies enspheard Star-light inough , t' haue made the South controll , ( Had shee beene there ) the Star-full Northern Pole , Shee , shee is gone ; shee is gone ; when thou knowest this , What fragmentary rubbidge this world is . Thou knowest , and that it is not worth a thought ; He honors it too much that thinks it nought . Thinke then , My soule , that death is but a Groome , Which brings a Taper to the outward romme , Whence thou spiest first a little glimmering light , And after brings it nearer to thy sight : For such approches doth Heauen make in death . Thinke thy selfe laboring now with broken breath , And thinke those broken and soft Notes to bee Diuision , and thy happiest Harmonee . Thinke thee laid on thy death bed , loose and slacke ; And thinke that but vnbinding of a packe , To take one precious thing , thy soule , from thence . Thinke thy selfe parch'd with feuers violence , Anger thine Ague more , by calling it Thy Physicke ; chide the slacknesse of the fit . Thinke that thou hearst thy knell , and thinke no more , But that , as Bels cal'd thee to Church before , So this , to the Triumphant Church , cals thee . Thinke Satans Sergeants round about thee bee , And thinke that but for Legacies they thrust ; Giue one thy Pride , to'another giue thy Lust : Giue them those sinnes which they gaue thee before , And trust th' immaculate blood to wash thy score . Thinke thy frinds weeping round , and thinke that thay Weepe but because they goe not yet thy way . Thinke that they close thine eyes , and thinke in this , That they confesse much in the world , amisse , Who dare not trust a dead mans eye with that , Which they from God , and Angels couer not . Thinke that they shroud thee vp , and thinke from thence They reinuest thee in white innocence . Thinke that thy body rots , and ( if so lowe , Thy soule exalted so , thy thoughts can goe . ) Thinke the a Prince , who of themselues create Wormes which insensibly deuoure their state . Thinke that they bury thee , and thinke that right Laies thee to sleepe but a saint Lucies night . Thinke these things cheerefully : and if thou bee Drowsie or slacke , remember then that shee , Shee whose Complexion was so euen made , That which of her Ingredients should inuade The other three , no Feare , no Art could guesse : So far were all remou'd from more or lesse . But as in Mithridate , or iust perfumes , Where all good things being met , no one presumes To gouerne , or to triumph no the rest , Onely because all were , no part was best . And as , though all doe know , that quantities Are made of lines , and lines from Points arise , None can these lines or quantities vnioynt , And say this is a line , or this a point , So though the Elements and Humors were In her , one could not say , this gouernes there . Whose euen constitution might haue worne Any disease to venter on the Sunne , Rather then her : and make a spirit feare That he to disuniting subiect were . To whose proportious if we would compare Cubes , th' are vnstable ; Circles , Angulare ; Shee who was such a Chaine , as Fate emploies To bring mankind , all Fortunes it enioies , So fast , so euen wrought , as one would thinke , No Accident , could threaten any linke , Shee , shee embrac'd a sicknesse , gaue it meat , The purest Blood , and Breath , that ere it eat . And hath taught vs that though a good man hath Title to Heauen , and plead it by his Faith , And though he may pretend a conquest , since Heauen was content to suffer violence , Yea though he plead along possession too , ( For they' are in Heauen on Earth , who Heauens workes do , ) Though he had right , and power , and Place before , Yet Death must vsher , and vnlocke the doore . Thinke further on thy selfe , my soule , and thinke ; How thou at first wast made but in a sinke ; Thinke that it argued some infermitee , That those two soules , which then thou foundst in mee , Thou fedst vpon , And drewst into thee , both My second soule of sence , and first of growth . Thinke but how poore thou wast , how obnoxious , Whom a small lump of flesh could poison thus . This curded milke , this poore vnlittered whelpe My body , could , beyond escape , or helpe , Infect thee with originall sinne , and thou Couldst neither then refuse , nor leaue it now . Thinke that no stubborne sullen Anchorit , Which fixt to'a Pillar , or a Graue doth sit Beddded and Bath'd in all his Ordures , dwels So fowly as our soules , in their first-built Cels. Thinke in how poore a prison thou didst lie After , enabled but to sucke , and crie . Thinke , when t' was growne to most , t' was a poore Inne , A Prouince Pack'd vp in two yards of skinne . And that vsurped , or threatned with the rage Of sicknesses , or their true mother , Age. But thinke that Death hath now enfranchis'd thee , Thou hast thy'expausion now and libertee ; Thinke that a rusty Peece , discharg'd , is flowen In peeces , and the bullet is his owne , And freely flies : This to thy soule allow , Thinke thy shee l broke , thinke thy Soule hatch'd but now . And thinke this slow-pac'd soule , which late did cleaue , To'a body , and went but by the bodies leaue , Twenty , perchance , or thirty mile a day , Dispatches in a minute all the way , Twixt Heauen , and Earth : shee staies not in the Ayre , To looke what Meteors there themselues prepare ; Shee carries no desire to know , nor sense , Whether th'Ayrs middle Region be intense , For th' Element of fire , shee doth not know , Whether shee past by such a place or no ; Shee baits not at the Moone , nor cares to trie , Whether in that new world , men liue , and die . Venus recards her not , to'enquire , how shee Can , ( being one Star ) Hesper , and Vesper bee , Hee that charm'd Argus eies , sweet Mercury , Workes not on her , who now is growen all Ey ; Who , if shee meete the body of the Sunne , Goes through , not staying till his course be runne ; Who finds in Mars his Campe , no corps of Guard ; Nor is by Ioue , nor by his father bard ; But ere shee can consider how shee went , At once is at , and through the Firmament . And as these stars were but so many beades Strunge on one string , speed vndistinguish'd leades Her through those spheares , as through the beades , a string , Whose quicke succession makes it still one thing : As doth the Pith , which , least our Bodies slacke , Strings fast the little bones of necke , and backe ; So by the soule doth death string Heauen and Earth , For when our soule enioyes this her third birth , ( Creation gaue her one , a second , grace , ) Heauen is as neare , and present to her face , As colours are , and obiects , in a roome Where darknesse was before , when Tapers come . This must , my soule , thy long-short Progresse bee ; To'aduance these thoughts , remember then , that shee Shee , whose faire body no such prison was , But that a soule might well be pleas'd to passe An Age in her ; shee whose rich beauty lent Mintage to others beauties , for they went But for so much , as they were like to her ; Shee , in whose body ( if wee dare prefer This low world , to so high a mark , as shee , ) The Westerne treasure , Esterne spiceree , Europe , and Afrique , and the vnknowen rest Were easily found , or what in them was best ; And when w'haue made this large Discoueree , Of all in her some one part then will bee Twenty such parts , whose plenty and riches is Inough to make twenty such worlds as this ; Shee , whom had they knowne , who did first betroth The Tutelar Angels , and assigned one , both To Nations , Cities , and to Companies , To Functions , Offices , and Dignities , And to each seuerall man , to him , and him , They would haue giuen her one for euery limme ; Shee , of whose soule , if we may say , t' was Gold , Her body was th'Electrum , and did hold Many degrees of that ; ( we vnderstood Her by her sight , her pure and eloquent blood Spoke in her cheekes , and so distinckly wrought , That one might almost say , her bodie thought , Shee , shee , thus richly , and largely hous'd , is gone : And chides vs slow-pac'd snailes , who crawle vpon Our prisons prison , earth , nor thinke vs well Longer , then whil'st we beare our brittle shell . But t' were but little to haue chang'd our roome , If , as we were in this our liuing Tombe Oppress'd with ignorance , we still were so , Poore soule in this thy flesh what do'st thou know . Thou know'st thy selfe so little , as thou know'st not , How thou did'st die , nor how thou wast begot . Thou neither knowst , how thou at first camest in , Nor how thou took'st the poyson of mans sin . Nor dost thou , ( though thou knowst , that thou art so ) By what way thou art made immortall , know . Thou art to narrow , wretch , to comprehend Euen thy selfe : yea though thou wouldst but bend To know thy body . Haue not all soules thought For many ages , that our body'is wrought Of Ayre , and Fire , and other Elements ? And now they thinke of new ingredients . And one soule thinkes one , and another way Another thinkes , and ty's an euen lay Knowst thou but how the stone doth enter in The bladders Caue , and neuer breake the skin ? Knowst thou how blood , which to the hart doth flow , Doth from one ventricle to th' other go ? And for the putrid stuffe , which thou dost spit , Knowst thou how thy lungs haue attracted it ? There are no passages so that there is ( For ought thou knowst ) piercing of substances . And of those many opinions which men raise Of Nailes and Haires , dost thou know which to praise ? What hope haue we to know our selues , when wee Know not the least things , which for our vse bee ? We see in Authors , too stiffe to recant . A hundred controuersies of an Ant. And yet one watches , starues , freeses , and sweats , To know but Catechismes and Alphabets Of vnconcerning things , matters of fact ; How others on our stage their parts did Act ; What Caesar did , yea , and what Cicero said . Why grasse is greene , or why our blood is red , Are mysteries which none haue reach'd vnto . In this low forme , poore soule what wilt thou doe ? When wilt thou shake of this Pedantery , Of being thought by sense , and Fantasy ? Thou look'st through spectacles ; small things seeme great , Below ; But vp vnto the watch-towre get , And see all things despoyld of fallacies : Thou shalt not peepe through lattices of eies , Nor heare through Laberinths of eares , nor learne By circuit , or collections to discerne . In Heauen thou straight know'st all , concerning it , And what concerns it not , shall straight forget . There thou ( but in no other schoole ) maist bee Perchance , as learned , and as full , as shee , Shee who all Libraries had throughly red At home , in her owne thoughts , And practised So much good as would make as many more : Shee whose example they must all implore , Who would or doe , or thinke well , and confesse That aie the vertuous Actions they expresse , Are but a new , and worse edition , Of her some one thought , or one action : Shee , who in th' Art of knowing Heauen , was growen Here vpon Earth , to such perfection , That shee hath , euer since to Heauen shee came , ( In a far fairer point , ) but read the same : Shee , shee , not satisfied withall this waite , ( For so much knowledge , as would ouer-fraite Another , did but Ballast her ) is gone , As well t' enioy , as get perfectione . And cals vs after her , in that shee tooke , ( Taking herselfe ) our best , and worthiest booke . Returne not , my soule , from this extasee , And meditation of what thou shalt bee , To earthly thoughts , till it to thee appeare , With whom thy conuersation must be there . With whom wilt thou Conuerse ? what station Canst thou choose out , free from infection , That wil nor giue thee theirs , nor drinke in thine ? Shalt thou not finde a spungy slack Diuine Drinke and sucke in th' Instructions of Great men , And for the word of God , vent them agen ? Are there not some Courts , ( And then , no things bee So like as Courts ) which , in this let vs see , That wits and tongues of Libellars are weake , Because they doe more ill , then these can speake ? The poyson'is gone through all , poysons affect Chiefly the cheefest parts , but some effect In Nailes , and Haires , yea excrements , will show ; So wise the poyson of sinne , in the most low . Vp vp , my drowsie soule , where thy new eare Shall in the Angels songs no discord heare ; Where thou shalt see the blessed Mother-maid Ioy in not being that , which men haue said . Where shee'is exalted more for being good , Then for her interest , of motherhood . Vp to those Patriarckes , which did longer sit Expecting Christ , then they'haue enioy'd him yet . Vp to those Prophets , which now gladly see Their Prophecies growen to be Historee . Vp to th'Apostles , who did brauely runne , All the Sunnes course , with more light then the Sunne . Vp to those Martyrs , who did calmely bleed Oyle to th'Apostles lamps , dew to their seed . Vp to those Virgins , who thoughts that almost They made ioyntenants with the Holy Ghost , If they to any should his Temple giue . Vp , vp , for in that squadron there doth liue Shee , who hath carried thether , new degrees ( As to their number ) to their dignitees . Shee , who beeing to herselfe , a state enioyd All royalties which any state emploid , For shee made wars , and triumph'd , reson still Did not ouerthrow , but rectifie her will : And shee made peace , for no peace is like this , That beauty and chastity together kisse : Shee did high iustice ; for shee crucified Euery first motion of rebellious pride : And shee gaue pardons , and was liberall , For , onely her selfe except , shee pardond all : Shee coynd , in this , that her impressions gaue To all our actions all the worth they haue : Shee gaue protections ; the thoughts of her brest Satans rude Officers could nere arrest . As these prerogatiues being met in one , Made her a soueraigne state , religion Made her a Church ; and these two made her all . Shee who was all this All , and could not fall To worse , by company ; ( for shee was still More Antidote , then all the world was ill , Shee , shee doth leaue it , and by Death , suruiue All this , in Heauen ; whether who doth not striue The more , because shee'is there , he doth not know That accidentall ioyes in Heauen doe grow . But pause , My soule , and study ere thou fall On accidentall ioyes , th'essentiall . Still before Accessories doe abide A triall , must the principall be tride . And what essentiall ioy canst thou expect Here vpon earth ? what permanent effect Of transitory causes ? Dost thou loue Beauty ? ( And Beauty worthyest is to moue ) Poore couse'ned cose'nor , that she , and that thou , Which did begin to loue , are neither now . You are both fluid , chang'd since yesterday ; Next day repaires , ( but ill ) last daies decay . Nor are , ( Although the riuer keep the name ) Yesterdaies waters , and to daies the same . So flowes her face , and thine eies , neither now That saint , nor Pilgrime , which your louing row Concernd , remaines , but whil'st you thinke you bee Constant , you' are howrely in inconstancee . Honour may haue pretence vnto our loue , Because that God did liue so long aboue Without this Honour , and then lou'd it so , That he at last made Creatures to to bestow Honor on him ; not that he needed it , But that , to his hands , man might grow more fit . But since all honors from inferiors flow , ( For they doe giue it ; Princes doe but show Whom they would haue so honord ) and that this On such opinions , and capacities Is built , as rise , and fall , to more and lesse , Alas , t is but a casuall happinesse . Hath euer any man to'himselfe assigned This or that happinesse , to'arrest his minde , But that another man , which takes a worse , Thinke him a foole for hauing tane that course ? They who did labour Babels tower to'rect , Might haue considerd , that for that effect , All this whole solid Earth could not allow Nor furnish forth Materials enow ; And that this Center , to raise such a place Was far to little , to haue beene the Base ; No more affoords this worlds , foundatione To erect true ioye , were all the meanes in one . But as the Heathen made them seuerall gods , Of all Gods Benefits , and all his Rods , ( For as the Wine , and Corne , and Onions are Gods vnto them , so Agues bee , and war ) And as by changing that whole precious Gold To such small copper coynes , they lost the old , And lost their onely God , who euer must Be sought alone , and not in such a thrust , So much mankind true happinesse mistakes ; No Ioye enioyes that man , that many makes . Then , soule , to thy first'pitch worke vpon againe ; Know that all lines which circles doe containe , For once that they the center touch , do touch Twice the circumference ; and be thou such . Double on Heauen , thy thoughts on Earth emploid ; All will not serue ; Onely who haue enioyd The sight of God , in fulnesse , can thinke it ; For it is both the obiect , and the wit. This is essentiall ioye , where neither hee Can suffer Diminution , nor wee ; T is such a full , and such a filling good ; Had th'Angels once look'd on him , they had stood . To fill the place of one of them , or more , Shee whom we celebrate , is gone before . Shee , who had Here so much essentiall ioye . As no chance could distract , much lesse destroy ; Who with Gods presence was acquainted so , ( Hearing , and speaking to him ) as to know His face , in any naturall Stone , or Tree , Better then when in Images they bee : Who kept , by diligent deuotion , Gods Image , in such reparation , Within her heart , that what decay was growen , Was her first Parents fault , and not her own : Who being solicited to any Act , Still heard God pleading his safe precontract ; Who by a faithfull confidence , was here Betrothed to God , and now is married there , Whose twilights were more cleare , then our mid day , Who dreamt deuoutlier , then most vse to pray ; Who being heare fild with grace , yet stroue to bee , Both where more grace , and more capacitee At once is giuen : shee to Heauen is gone , Who made this world in some proportion A heauen , and here , became vnto vs all , Ioye , ( as our ioyes admit ) essentiall . But could this low world ioyes essentiall touch , Heauens accidentall ioyes would passe them much . How poore and lame , must then our casuall bee ? If thy Prince will his subiects to call thee My Lord , and this doe swell thee , thou art than , By being a greater , growen to be lesse Man , When no Physician of Reders can speake , A ioyfull casuall violence may breake A dangerous Apostem in thy brest ; And whilst thou ioyest in this , the dangerous rest , The bag may rise vp , and so strangle thee . What eie was casuall , may euer bee . What should the Nature change ? Or make the same Certaine , which was but casuall , when it came ? All casuall ioye doth loud and plainly say , Onely by comming , that it can away . Onely in Heauen ioies strength is neuer spent ; And accidentall things are permanent . Ioy of a soules arriuall neere decaies ; For that soule euer ioyes , and euer staies . Ioy that their last great Consummation Approches in the resurrection ; When earthly bodies more celestiall Shalbe , then Angels were , for they could fall ; This kind of ioy doth euery day admit Degrees of grouth , but none of loosing it . In this fresh ioy , t is no small part , that shee , Shee , in whose goodnesse , he that names degree , Doth iniure her ; ( T is losse to be cald best , There where the stuffe is not such as the rest ) Shee , who left such a body , as euen shee Onely in Heauen could learne , how it can bee Made better ; for shee rather was two soules , Or like to full , on both sides written Rols , Where eies might read vpon the outward skin , As strong Records for God , as mindes within , Shee , who by making full perfection grow , Peeces a Circle , and still keepes it so , Long'd for , and longing for'it , to heauen is gone , Where shee receiues , and giues addition . Here in a place , where mis-deuotion frames A thousand praiers to saints , whose very names The ancient Church knew not , Heauen knowes not yet , And where , what lawes of poetry admit , Lawes of religion , haue at least the same , Immortall Maid , I might inroque thy name . Could any Saint prouoke that appetite , Thou here shouldst make mee a french conuertite . But thou wouldst not ; nor wouldst thou be content , To take this , for my second yeeres true Rent , Did this Coine beare any other stampe , then his , That gaue thee power to doe me , to say this . Since his will is , that to posteritee , Thou shouldest for life , and death , a patterne bee , And that the world should notice haue of this , The purpose , and th'Autority is his ; Thou art the Proclamation ; and I ame The Trumpet , at whose voice the people came . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A20620-e730 The entrie into the worke . What life the world hath 〈◊〉 . The sicknesses of the world . Impossibility of health . Shortnesse of life . Smalnesse of stature . Decay of nature in other parts . Disformity of parts . Disorder in the world . Weaknesse in the want of correspondence of heauen and earth Conclusion . Notes for div A20620-e7360 The entrance . A iust dis-estimation of this world . Contemplation of our state in our death-bed . Incommodities of the Soule in the Body . Her liberty by death . Her ignorance in this life and knowledge in the next . Of our company in this life and in the next . Of essentiall ioy in this life and in the next . Of accidentall ioyes in both places . Conclusion . 
A20628	----	Deaths duell, or, A consolation to the soule, against the dying life, and liuing death of the body Deliuered in a sermon at White Hall, before the Kings Maiesty, in the beginning of Lent, 1630. By that late learned and reuerend diuine, Iohn Donne, Dr. in Diuinity, & Deane of S. Pauls, London. Being his last sermon, and called by his Maiesties houshold the doctors owne funerall sermon. Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1632 Approx. 65 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 27 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A20628 STC 7031 ESTC S102388 99838173 99838173 2537 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A20628) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 2537) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1022:12) Deaths duell, or, A consolation to the soule, against the dying life, and liuing death of the body Deliuered in a sermon at White Hall, before the Kings Maiesty, in the beginning of Lent, 1630. By that late learned and reuerend diuine, Iohn Donne, Dr. in Diuinity, & Deane of S. Pauls, London. Being his last sermon, and called by his Maiesties houshold the doctors owne funerall sermon. Donne, John, 1572-1631. Droeshout, Martin, b. 1601, engraver. [8], 47, [1] p. : port. (metal cut) Printed by Thomas Harper, for Richard Redmer and Beniamin Fisher, and are to be sold at the signe of the Talbot in Alders-gate street, London : M.DC.XXXII. [1632] The first leaf is blank except for signature-mark "A" in a border of ornaments; the second leaf bears an engraved portrait signed "Martin DR [monogram]". The portrait is sometimes not printed. Variant: with an additional leaf of dedication from Richard Redmer to his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Francis. Reproduction of the original in the Folger Shakespeare Library. Port. omitted. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Sermons, English -- 17th century. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-06 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-07 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2002-07 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-08 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion DEATHS DVELL , OR , A Consolation to the Soule , against the dying Life , and liuing Death of the Body . Deliuered in a Sermon at White Hall , before the KINGS MAIESTY , in the beginning of Lent , 1630. By that late learned and Reuerend Diuine , IOHN DONNE , Dr. in Diuinity , & Deane of S. Pauls , London . Being his last Sermon , and called by his Maiesties houshold THE DOCTORS OWNE FVNERALL SERMON . LONDON , Printed by THOMAS HARPER , for Richard Redmer and Beniamin Fisher , and are to be sold at the signe of the Talbot in Alders-gate street . M.DC.XXXII . To his dearest sister Mrs . Elizabeth Francis of Brumsted in Norff. DEarest Sister , for any so meane as my selfe to prefixe a Dedication to so worthie a mans worke as this is , is a bouldnesse little inferior to presumption it selfe . But the Copie being bestowed vpon me by a worthie Friend of mine ( farre more able ) who would not himselfe take that office vpon him ; Principally to let you know , how faine I would shew my gratitude to you , whose debtor I haue euer bin ; & well knowing your well knowne zeale to deuotions of this straine , To you I dedicate ( before all others ) this sacred Tractate ; Of your acceptation of it , I doubt not ; But my desire is that you would accept also the loue of him that can no wayes else ( as yet ) giue your deseruings better satisfaction , then by remaining . Your euer truly louing and deuoted Brother , RICH. REDMER . To the READER . THIS Sermon was , by Sacred Authoritie , stiled the Authors owne funeral Sermon . Most fitly : whether wee respect the time , or the matter . It was preached not many dayes before his death ; as if , hauing done this , there remained nothing for him to doe , but to die : And the matter is , of Death ; the occasion and subiect of all funerall Sermons . It hath beene obserued of this Reuerend Man , That his Faculty in Preaching continually encreased : and , That as hee exceeded others at first ; so , at last hee exceeded himselfe . This is his last Sermon ; I will not say , it is therefore his best ; because , all his were excellent . Yet thus much : A dying Mans words , if they concerne our selues ; doe vsually make the deepest impression , as being spoken most feelingly , and with least affectation . Now , whom doth it not concerne to learn , both the danger , and benefit of death ? Death is euery mans enemy , and intends hurt to all ; though to many , hee be occasion of greatest goods . This enemy we must all combate dying ; whom hee liuing did almost conquer ; hauing discouered the vtmost of his power , the vtmost of his crueltie . May wee make such vse of this and other the like preparatiues , That neither death , whensoeuer it shall come , may seeme terrible ; nor life tedious ; how long soeuer it shall last . R. PSALME 68. vers . 20. In fine . And vnto God the ( LORD ) belong the issues of death . i. e. From death . BVILDINGS stand by the benefit of their foundations that susteine and support them , & of their butteresses that comprehend and embrace them , and of their contignations that knit and vnite them : The foundations suffer them not to sinke , the butteresses suffer them not to swerue , and the contignation & knitting suffers them not to cleaue ; The body of our building is in the former part of this verse : It is this , hee that is our God is the God of saluation and salutes ; of saluation in the plurall , so it is in the originall ; the God that giues vs spirituall and temporall saluation too . But of this building , the foundation , the butteresses , the contignations are in this part of the verse , which constitutes our text , and in the three diuers acceptations of the words amongst our expositors . Vnto God the Lord belong the issues from death , for first the foundation of this building , that our God is the God of all saluations ) is laid in this ; That vnto this God the Lord belong the issues of death , that is , it is in his power to giue vs an issue and deliuerance , euen then when wee are brought to the iawes and teeth of death , and to the lippes of that whirlepoole , the graue . And so in this acceptation , this exitus mortis ▪ this issue of death is liberatio à morte , a deliueran●e from death , and this is the most obuious and most ordinary acceptation of these words , and that vpon which our translation laies hold , the issues from death . And then secondly the butteresses that comprehend and settle this building , That hee that is our God , is the God of all saluation , are thus raised ; vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death , that is , the disposition and manner of our death : what kinde of issue and transmigration wee shall haue out of this world , whether prepared or sudden , whether violent or naturall , whether in our perfect senses or shaken and disordered by sicknes , there is no condemnation to bee argued out of that , no Iudgement to bee made vpon that , for how soeuer they dye , precious in his sight is the death of his saints , and with him are the issues of death , the wayes of our departing out of this life are in his hands . And so in this sense of the words , this exitus mortis , the issues of death , is liberatio in morte , A deliuerance in death ; Not that God will deliuer vs from dying , but that hee will haue a care of vs in the houre of death , of what kinde soeuer our passage be . And in this sense and acceptation of the words , the naturall frame and contexture doth well and pregnantly administer vnto vs ; And then lastly the contignation and knitting of this building , that hee that is our God is the God of all saluations , consists in this , vnto this God the Lord belong the issues of death , that is , that this God the Lord hauing vnited and knit both natures in one , and being God , hauing also come into this world , in our flesh , he could haue no other meanes to saue vs , he could haue no other issue out of this world , nor returne to his former glory , but by death ; And so in this sense , this exitus mortis , this issue of death , is liberatio per mortem , a deliuerance by death , by the death of this God our Lord Christ Iesus . And this is Saint Augustines acceptation of the words , and those many and great persons that haue adhered to him . In all these three lines then , we shall looke vpon these words ; First , as the God of power , the Almighty Father rescues his seruants from the iawes of death : And then as the God of mercy , the glorious Sonne rescued vs , by taking vpon him selfe this issue of death : And then betweene these two , as the God of Comfort , the holy Ghost rescues vs from all discomfort by his blessed impressions before hand , that what manner of death soeuer be ordeined for vs , yet this exitus mortis shall bee introitus in vitam , our issue in death ( shall be an entrance into euerlasting life . ) And these three considerations ? our deliuerance à morte , in morte , per mortem , from death , in death , & by death , will abundantly doe all the offices of the foundations , of the butteresses , of the contignation of this our building ; That he that is our God , is the God of all saluation , because vnto this God the Lord belong the issues of death . First , then , we consider this exitus mortis , to bee liberatio à morte , that with God the Lord are the issues of death , and therefore in all our death , and deadly calamities of this life , wee may iustly hope of a good issue from him . In all our periods and transitions in this life , are so many passages from death to death ; our very birth and entrance into this life , is exitus à morte , an issue from death , for in our mothers wombe wee are dead so , as that wee doe not know wee liue , not so much as wee doe in our sleepe , neither is there any graue so close , or so putrid a prison , as the wombe would be vnto vs , if we stayed in it beyond our time , or dyed there before our time . In the graue the wormes doe not kill vs , wee breed and feed , and then kill those wormes which wee our selues produc'd . In the wombe the dead child kills the Mother that conceiued it , & is a murtherer , nay a parricide , euen after it is dead . And if wee bee not dead so in the wombe , so as that being dead wee kill her that gaue vs our first life , our life of vegetation , yet wee are dead so , as Dauids Idols are dead . In the wombe wee haue eyes and see not , eares and heare not ; There in the wombe wee are fitted for workes of darkenes , all the while depriued of light : And there in the wombe wee are taught cruelty , by being fed with blood , and may be damned , though we be neuer borne . Of our very making in the wombe , Dauid sayes , I am wonderfully and fearefully made , and such knowledge is too excellent for me , for euen that is the Lords doing , and it is wonderfull in our eyes ; Ipse fecit nos , it is hee that hath made vs , and not wee our selues , nor our parents neither ; Thy hands haue made me and fashioned me round about , saith Iob , and ( as the originall word is ) thou hast taken paines about me , and yet , sayes he , thou doest destroy me . Though I bee the Master peece of the greatest Master ( man is so , ) yet if thou doe no more for me , if thou leaue me where thou madest mee , destruction will follow . The wombe which should be the house of life , becomes death it selfe , if God leaue vs there . That which God threatens so often , the shutting of the womb , is not so heauy , nor so discomfortable a curse in the first , as in the latter shutting , nor in the shutting of barrennes , as in the shutting of weakenes , when children are come to the birth , and no strength to bring forth . It is the exaltation of misery , to fall from a neare hope of happines . And in that vehement imprecation , the Prophet expresses the highest of Gods anger giue them ô Lord , what wilt thougiue them ? giue them a miscarying wombe . Therefore as soone as wee are men , ( that is , inanimated ) quickned in the womb ) thogh we cannot our selues , our parents haue to say in our behalf , wretched man that he is , who shall deliuer him from this body of death ? for euen the wombe is a body of death , if there bee no deliuerer . It must be he that said to Ieremy , Before I formed thee I knew thee , and befored thou camest out of the wombe I sanctified thee . Wee are not sure that there was no kinde of shippe nor boate to fish in , nor to passe by , till God prescribed Noah that absolute form of the Arke . That word which the holy Ghost by Moses vseth for the Arke , is common to all kinde of boates , Theball , and is the same word that Moses vseth for the boate that he was exposed in , That his mother layed him in an arke of bulrushes . But we are sure that Eue had no Midwife when she was deliuered of Cain , therefore shee might well say , possedi virum à Domino , I haue gotten a man from the Lord , wholly , entirely from the Lord ; It is the Lord that enabled me to conceiue , The Lord that infus'd a quickning soule into that conception , the Lord that brought into the world that which himselfe had quickened , without all this might Eue say , My body had bene but the house of death , and Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , to God the Lord belong the issues of death . But then this exitus a morte , is but introitus in mortem , this issue , this deliuerance from that death , the death of the wombe , is an entrance , a deliuering ouer to another death , the manifold deathes of this world , wee haue a winding sheete in our Mothers wombe , which growes with vs from our conception , and wee come into the world , wound vp in that winding sheet , for wee come to seeke a graue ; And as prisoners discharg'd of actions may lye for fees ; so when the wombe hath discharg'd vs , yet we are bound to it by cordes of hestae by such a string , as that wee cannot goe thence , nor stay there ; wee celebrate our owne funeralls with cryes , euen at our birth ; as though our threescore and ten years life were spent in our mothers labour , and our circle made vp in the first point thereof ; we begge our Baptisme , with another Sacrament , with teares ; And we come into a world that lasts many ages , but wee last not ; in domo Patris , says our Sauiour , speaking of heauen , multae mansiones , there are many mansions , diuers and durable , so that if a man cannot possesse a martyrs house , ( he hath shed no blood for Christ , yet hee may haue a Confessors , he hath bene ready to glorifie God in the shedding of his blood . And if a woman cannot possesse a virgins house ( she hath embrac'd the holy state of mariage ) yet she may haue a matrons house , she hath brought forth and brought vp children in the feare of God. In domo patris , in my fathers house , in heauen there are many mansions ; but here vpon earth the sonne of man hath not where to lay his head , sayes he himselfe . Nonne terram dedit filijs hominum ? how then hath God giuen this earth to the sonnes of men ? hee hath giuen them earth for their materialls to bee made of earth , and hee hath giuen them earth for their graue and sepulture , to returne and resolue to earth , but not for their possession : Here wee haue no continuing citty , nay no cottage that continues , nay no persons no bodies that continue . Whatsoeuer moued Saint Ierome to call the iournies of the Israelites , in the wildernes , mansions ; The word ( the word is Nasang ) signifies but a iourney , but a peregrination . Euen the Israel of God hath no mansions ; but iournies , pilgrimages in this life . By what measure did Iacob measure his life to Pharaoh ; the dayes of the years of my pilgrimage . And though the Apostle would not say morimur , that , whilest wee are in the body wee are dead , yet hee sayes , Peregrinamur , whilest wee are in the body , wee are but in a pilgrimage , and wee are absent from the Lord ; hee might haue sayd dead , for this whole world is but an vniuersall churchyard , but our common graue , and the life & motion that the greatest persons haue in it , is but as the shaking of buried bodies in their graue , by an earth-quake . That which we call life , is but Hebdomada mortium , a weeke of death , seauen dayes , seauen periods of our life spent in dying , a dying seauen times ouer ; and there is an end . Our birth dyes in infancy , and our infancy dyes in youth , and youth and the rest dye in age , and age also dyes , and determines all . Nor doe all these , youth out of infancy , or age out of youth arise so , as a Phoenix out of the ashes of another Phoenix formerly dead , but as a waspe or a serpent out of a caryon , or as a Snake out of dung . Our youth is worse then our infancy , and our age worse then our youth . Our youth is hungry and thirsty , after those sinnes , which our infancy knew not ; And our age is sory and angry , that it cannot pursue those sinnes which our youth did ; & besides , al the way , so many deaths , that is , so many deadly calamities accompany euery condition , and euery period of this life , as that death it selfe would bee an ease to them that suffer them : Vpon this sense doth Iob wish that God had not giuen him an issue from the first death , from the wombe , Wherefore hast thou brought me forth out of the wombe ? O that I had giuen vp the Ghost , and no eye seene me ? I should haue beene as though I had not beene . And not only the impatient Israelites in their murmuring ( would to God wee had dyed by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt ) but Eliah himselfe , when he fled from Iesabell , and went for his life , as that text sayes , vnder the Iunipertree , requested that hee might dye , & sayd , it is enough now , O Lord , take away my life . So Ionah iustifies his impatience , nay his anger towards God himselfe . Now ô Lord take , I beseech thee , my life from mee , for it is better to dye then to liue . And when God asked him , doest thou well to be angry for this , he replyes , I doe well to be angry , euen vnto death , how much worse a death then death , is this life , which so good men would so often change for death ? But if my case bee as Saint Paules case , quotidiè morior , that I dye dayly , that something heauier then death fall vpon me euery day ; If my case be Dauids case , tota die mortificamur ; all the day long wee are killed , that not onely euery day , but euery houre of the day some thing heauier then death fall vpon me , though that bee true of me , Conceptus in peccatis , I was shapen in iniquity , and in sinne did my mother conceiue me , ( there I dyed one death , ) though that be true of me ( Natus filius irae ) I was borne not onely the child of sinne , but the child of wrath , of the wrath of God for sinne , which is a heauier death ; Yet Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , with God the Lord are the issues of death , and after a Iob , and a Ioseph , and a Ieremie , and a Daniel , I cannot doubt of a deliuerance . And if no other deliuerance conduce more to his glory and my good , yet he hath the keys of death , and hee can let me out at that dore , that is , deliuer me from the manifold deaths of this world , theomni die and the tota die , the euery dayes death & euery houres death , by that one death , the finall dissolution of body and soule , the end of all . But then is that the end of all ? Is that dissolution of body and soule , the last death that the body shall suffer ? ( for of spirituall death wee speake not now ) It is not , though this be exitus à morte ; It is introitus in mortem : though it bee an issue from manifold deaths of this world , yet it is an entrance into the death of corruption and putrefaction & vermiculation and incineration , and dispersion in and from the graue , in which euery dead man dyes ouer againe . It was a prerogatiue peculiar to Christ , not to dy this death , not to see corruption : what gaue him this priuiledge ? Not Iosephs great proportion of gummes and spices , that might haue preserued his body from corruption and incineration longer then he needed it , longer then three dayes , but it would not haue done it for euer : what preserued him then ? did his exemption and freedome from originall sinne preserue him from this corruption and incineration ? 't is true that original sinne hath induced this corruption and incineration vpon vs ; If wee had not sinned in Adam , mortality had not put on immortality , ( as the Apostle speakes ) no , corruption had not put on incorruption , but we had had our transmigration from this to the other world , without any mortality , any corruption at all . But yet since Christ tooke sinne vpon him , so farre as made him mortall , he had it so farre too , as might haue made him see this corruption and incineration , though he had no originall sinne in himself ; what preseru'd him then ? Did the hypostaticall vnion of both natures ? God and Man , preserue him from this corruption and incineration ? 't is true that this was a most powerfull embalming , to be embalmd with the diuine nature it selfe , to bee embalmd with eternity , was able to preserue him from corruption and incineration for euer . And he was embalmd , so embalmd with the diuine nature it selfe , euen in his body as well as in his soule ; for the Godhead , the divine nature did not depart , but remained still vnited to his dead body in the graue ; But yet for al this powerful embalming , his hypostaticall vnion of both natures , we see Christ did dye ; and for all his vnion which made him God and Man , hee became no man ( for the vnion of the body and soule makes the man , and hee whose soule and body are separated by death as long as that state lasts is properly no man. ) And therefore as in him the dissolution of body and soule was no dissolution of the hypostaticall vnion ; so is there nothing that constraines vs to say , that though the flesh of Christ had seene corruption and incineration in the graue , this had bene any dissolution of the hypostaticall vnion , for the diuine nature , the Godhead might haue remained with all the Elements and principles of Christs body , aswell as it did with the two constitutiue parts of his person , his body and his soul. This incorruption then was not in Iosephs gummes and spices , nor was it in Christs innocency , and exemption from originall sin , nor was it ( that is , it is not necessary to say it was ) in the hypostaticall vnion . But this incorruptiblenes of his flesh is most conueniently plac'd in that ; Non dabis , thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption , wee looke no further for causes or reasons in the mysteries of religion , but to the will and pleasure of God : Christ himselfe limited his inquisition in that ita est , euen so Father , for so it seemeth good in thy sight . Christs body did not see corruption , therefore , because God had decreed it shold not . The humble soule ( and onely the humble soule is the religious soule ) rests himselfe vpon Gods purposes and the decrees of God , which he hath declared and manifested not such as are conceiued and imagined in our selues , though vpon some probability , some veresimilitude , so in our present case Peter proceeds in his Sermon at Ierusalem , & so Paul in his at Antioch . They preached Christ to haue bene risen without seeing corruption , not onely because God had decreed it , but because he had manifested that decree in his Prophet , therefore doth Saint Paul cite by speciall number the second psalme for that decree ; And therefore both Saint Peter & S. Paul cite for it that place in the 16. psalme , for when God declares his decree and purpose in the expresse words of his Prophet , or when he declares it in the reall execution of the decree , then he makes it ours , then he manifests it to vs. And therfore as the Mysteries of our Religion , are not the obiects of our reason , but by faith we rest on Gods decree and purpose . ( It is so ô God , because it is thy will , it should be so ) so Gods decrees are euer to be considered in the manifestation thereof . All manifestation is either in the word of God , or in the execution of the decree ; And when these two concur and meete , it is the strongest demonstration that can be : when therefore I finde those markes of adoption and spirituall filiation , which are deliuered in the word of God to be vpon me , when I finde that reall execution of his good purpose vpon me , as that actually I doe liue vnder the obedience , and vnder the conditions which are euidences of adoption and spirituall filiation ; Then so long as I see these markes and liue so ; I may safely comfort my selfe in a holy certitude and a modest infallibility of my adoption . Christ determines himself in that , the purpose of God was manifest to him : S. Peter and S. Paul determine themselues in those two wayes of knowing the purpose of God , the word of God before the execution of the decree in the fulnes of time . It was prophecyed before , say they , and it is performed now , Christ is risen without seeing corruption . Now this which is so singularly peculiar to him , that his flesh should not see corruption , at his second coming , his coming to Iudgement , shall extend to all that are then a liue , their Hestae shall not see corruption , because as th' Apostle sayes , and sayes as a secret , as a mystery ; Behold I shew you a mistery , wee shall not all sleepe , ( that is , not continue in the state of the dead in the graue , ) but wee shall all be changed in an instant , we shall haue a dissolution , and in the same instant a redintgeration , a recompacting of body and soule , and that shall be truely a death & truely a resurrection , but no sleeping in corruption ; But for vs that dye now and sleepe in the state of the dead , we must al passe this posthume death , this death after death , nay this death after buriall , this dissolution after dissolution , this death of corruption and putrifaction , of vermiculation and incineration , of dissolution and dispersion in and from the graue , when these bodies that haue beene the children of royall parents , & the parents of royall children , must say with Iob , Corruption thou art my father , and to the Worme thou art my mother & my sister . Miserable riddle , when the same worme must bee my mother , and my sister , and myselfe . Miserable incest , when I must bee maried to my mother and my sister , and bee both father and mother to my owne mother and sister , beget & beare that worme which is all that miserable penury ; when my mouth shall be filled with dust , and the worme shall feed , and feed sweetely vpon me , when the ambitious man shall haue no satisfaction , if the poorest aliue tread vpon him , nor the poorest receiue any contentment in being made equall to Princes , for they shall bee equall but in dust . One dyeth at his full strength , being wholly at ease & in quiet , and another dyes in the bitternes of his soul , and neuer eates with pleasure , but they lye downe alike in the dust , and the worme covers them ; In Iob and in Esay , it couers them and is spred vnder them , the worme is spred vnder thee , and the worme couers thee , There 's the Mats and the Carpets that lye vnder , and there 's the State and the Canapye , that hangs ouer the greatest of the sons of men ; Euen those bodies that were the temples of the holy Ghost , come to this dilapidation , to ruine , to rubbidge , to dust , euen the Israel of the Lord , and Iacob himselfe hath no other specification , no other denomination , but that vermis Iacob , thou worme of Iacob . Truely the consideration of this posthume death , this death after buriall , that after God , ( with whom are the issues of death ) hath deliuered me from the death of the wombe , by bringing mee into the world , and from the manifold deaths of the world , by laying me in the graue , I must dye againe in an Incineration of this flesh , and in a dispersion of that dust . That that Monarch , who spred ouer many nations aliue , must in his dust lye in a corner of that sheete of lead , and there , but so long as that lead will laste , and that priuat and retir'd man , that thought himselfe his owne for euer , and neuer came forth , must in his dust of the graue bee published , and ( such are the reuolutions of the graues ) bee mingled with the dust of euery high way , and of euery dunghill , and swallowed in euery puddle and pond : This is the most inglorious and contemptible vilification , the most deadly and peremptory nullification of man , that wee can consider ; God seemes to haue caried the declaration of his power to a great height , when hee sets the Prophet Ezechiel in the valley of drye bones , & sayes , Sonne of man can these bones liue ? as though it had bene impossible , and yet they did ; The Lord layed Sinewes vpon them , and flesh , and breath into them , and they did liue : But in that case there were bones to bee seene , something visible , of which it might be sayd , can this thing liue ? But in this death of incineration , and dispersion of dust , wee see nothing that wee call that mans ; If we say , can this dust liue ? perchance it cannot , it may bee the meere dust of the earth , which neuer did liue , never shall . It may be the dust of that mans worme , which did liue , but shall no more . It may bee the dust of another man , that concernes not him of whom it is askt . This death of incineration and dispersion , is , to naturall reason , the most irrecouerable death of all , & yet Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death , and by recompacting this dust into the same body , & reanimating the same body with the same soule , hee shall in a blessed and glorious resurrection giue mee such an issue from this death , as shal neuer passe into any other death , but establish me into a life that shall last as long as the Lord of life himselfe . And so haue you that that belongs to the first acceptation of these words , ( vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death ) That though from the wombe to the graue and in the graue it selfe wee passe from death to death , yet , as Daniel speakes , the Lord our God is able to deliuer vs , and hee will deliuer vs. And so wee passe vnto our second accommodation of these words ( vnto God the Lord belong the issues of death ) That it belongs to God , and not to man to passe a iudgement vpon vs at our death , or to conclude a dereliction on Gods part vpon the manner thereof . Those indications which the Physitians receiue , and those presagitions which they giue for death or recouery in the patient , they receiue and they giue out of the grounds and the rules of their art . But we haue no such rule or art to giue a presagition of spirituall death & damnation vpon any such iudication as wee see in any dying man ; wee see often enough to be sory , but not to despaire ; wee may bee deceiued both wayes , wee vse to comfort our selfe in the death of a friend , if it be testified that he went away like a Lambe , that is , without any reluctation . But , God knowes , that may bee accompanied with a dangerous damp and stupefaction , & insensibility of his present state . Our blessed Sauiour suffered coluctations with death , and a sadnes euen in his soule to death , and an agony euen to a bloody sweate in his body , and expostulations with God , & exclamations vpon the crosse . He was a deuout man , who said vpon his death bed , or dead turfe ( for hee was an Heremit ) septuaginta annos Domino seruiuisti , & mori times ? hast thou serued a good Master threescore and ten yeaes , and now art thou loath to goe into his presence ? yet Hilarion was loath , Bartaam was a deuout man ( an Heremit too ) that sayd that day hee dyed . Cogita te hodie coepisse seruire Domino , & hodie finiturum . Consider this to be the first days seruice that euer thou didst thy Master , to glorifie him in a Christianly and a constant death , and if thy first day be thy last day too , how soone dost thou come to receiue thy wages ? yet Bartaam could haue beene content to haue stayd longer forth : Make no ill conclusions vpon any mans loathnes to dye , for the mercies of God worke momentarily in minutes , and many times insensibly to bystanders or any other then the party departing . And then vpon violent deaths inflicted , as vpon malefactors . Christ himselfe hath forbidden vs by his owne death to make any ill conclusion ; for his owne death had those impressions in it ; He was reputed , he was executed as a malefactor , & no doubt many of them who concurred to his death , did beleeue him to bee so ; Of sudden death there are scarce examples to be found in the scriptures vpon good men , for death in battaile cannot be called suden death ; But God gouernes not by examples , but by rules , and therefore make no ill conclusion vpon sudden death nor vpon distempers , neither though perchance accompanied with some words of diffidence and distrust in the mercies of God : The treelyes as it falles its true , but it is not the last stroake that fells the tree , nor the last word nor gaspe that qualifies the soule . Stil pray wee for a peaceable life against violent death , & for time of repentance against sudden death , and for sober and modest assurance against distemperd and diffident death , but neuer make ill conclusions vpon persons ouertaken with such deaths ; Domini Domini sunt exitus mortis , to God the Lord belong the issues of death . And he receiued Sampson , who went out of this world in such a manner ( consider it actiuely , consider it passiuely in his owne death , and in those whom he slew with himselfe ) as was subiect to interpretation hard enough . Yet the holy Ghost hath moued S. Paul to celebrate Sampson in his great Catalogue , and so doth all the Church : Our criticall day is not the very day of our death : but the whole course of our life . I thanke him that prayes for me when Quid apertius diceretur ? sayes hee there , what can bee more obuious , more manifest then this sense of these words . In the former part of this verse , it is sayd ; He that is our God , is the God of saluation , Deus salvos fariendi , so hee reads it , the God that must saue vs. Who can that be , sayes he , but lesus ? for therefore that name was giuen him , because he was to saue vs. And to this lesus , sayes he , this Sauiour , belongs the issues of death ; Nec oportuit eum de hac vita alios exitus habere quam mortis . Being come into this life in our mortal nature ; He could not goe out of it any other way but by death ? Ideo dictum , sayes he , therefore it is sayd . To God the Lord belong the issues of death ; vt ostenderetur moriendo nos saluos facturum , to shew that his way to saue vs was to dye . And from this text doth Saint Isodore proue ; that Christ was truely Man , ( which as many sects of heretiques denyed , as that he was truely God ) because to him , though he were Dominus Dominus ( as the text doubles it ) God the Lord , yet to him , to God the Lord belong'd the issues of death , oportuit eum pati more can not be sayd , then Christ himselfe sayes of himselfe ; These things Christ ought to suffer , hee had no other way but by death : So then this part of our Sermon must needes be a passion Sermon ; since all his life was a continuall passion , all our Lent may well bee a continuall good Fryday . Christs painefull life tooke off none of the paines of his death , hee felt not the lesse then for hauing felt so much before . Nor will any thing that shall be sayd before , lessen , but rather in large the deuotion , to that which shall be sayd of his passion at the time of due solemnization thereof . Christ bled nor a droppe the lesse at the last , for hauing bled at his Circumcision before , nor wil you a teare the lesse then , if you shed some now . And therefore bee now content to consider with mee how to this God the Lord belong'd the issues of death . That God , this Lord , the Lord of life could dye , is a strange contemplation ; That the red Sea could bee drie , That the Sun could stand still , that an Ouen could be seauen times heat and not burne , That Lions could be hungry and n●t bite , is strange , miraculously strange , but supermiraculous that God could dye ▪ but that God would dye is an exaltation of that . But euen of that also it is a superexaltation , that God shold dye , must dye , & nō exitus ( said S. Augustin God , the Lord had no issue but by death , & oportuit pati ( says Christ himself all this Christ ought to suffer , was bound to suffer ; Deus vltionum Deus says Dauid , God is the God of reuenges , he wold not passe ouer the sonne of man vnreuenged , vnpunished . But then Deus vltionum libere egit ( sayes that place ) The God of reuenges workes freely , he punishes , he spares whome he will. And wold he not spare himselfe ? he would not : Dilectio fortis vt mors , loue is strong as death , stronger , it drew in death that naturally is not welcom , Si possibile , says Christ , If it be possible , let this Cup passe , when his loue expressed in a former decree with his Father , had made it impossible . Many waters quench not loue , Christ tryed many ; He was Baptized our of his loue , and his loue determined not there . He mingled blood with water in his agony and that determined not his loue ; hee wept pure blood , all his blood at all his eyes , at all his pores , in his flagellation and thornes ( to the Lord our God belong'd the issues of blood ) and these expressed , but these did not quench his loue . Hee would not spare , nay he could not spare himselfe . There was nothing more free , more voluntary , more spontaneous then the death of Christ. 'T is true , libere egit , he dyed voluntarily , but yet when we consider the contract act that had passed betweene his Father and him , there was an oportuit , a kind of necessity vpon him . All this Christ ought to suffer . And when shall we date this obligation , this oportuit , this necessity ? when shall wee say that begun . Certainly this decree by which Christ was to suffer all this , was an eternall decree , and was there any thing before that , that was eternall ? Infinite loue , eternall loue , be pleased to follow this home , and to consider it seriously , that what liberty soeuer wee can conceiue in Christ , to dye or not to dye ; this necessity of dying , this decree is as eternall as that liberty ; and yet how small a matter made hee of this necessity and this dying ? His Father cals it but a bruise , and but a bruising of his heele ( the serpent shall bruise his heele ) and yet that was that , the serpent should practise and compasse his death . Himselfe calls it but a Baptisme , as though he were to bee the better for it . I haue a Baptisme to be Baptized with , and he was in paine till it was accomplished , and yet this Baptisme was his death . The holy Ghost calls it Ioy ( for the Ioy which was set before him hee indured the Crosse ) which was not a ioy of his reward after his passion , but a ioy that filled him euen in the middest of those torments , and arose from him ; when Christ calls his Calicem , a Cuppe , and wee worse ( can ye drink of my Cuppe ) he speakes not odiously , not with detestation of it : Indeed it was a Cup , salus mundo , a health to all the world . And quid retribuam , says Dauid , what shall I render to the Lord ? answere you with Dauid , accipiam Calicem , I will take the Cup of saluation , take it , that Cup is saluation , his passion , if not into your present imitation , yet into your present contemplation . And behold how that Lord that was God , yet could dye , would dye , must dye , for your saluation . That Moses and Elias talkt with Christ in the transfiguration , both Saint Mathew and Saint Marke tells vs , but what they talkt of onely S. Luke , Dicebant excessum eius , says he , they talkt of his decease , of his death which was to be accomplished at Ierusalem , The word is of his Exodus , the very word of our text exitus , his issue by death . Moses who in his Exodus had prefigured this issue of our Lord , and in passing Israel out of Egypt through the red Sea , had foretold in that actuall prophesie , Christ passing of mankind through the sea of his blood . And Elias , whose Exodus and issue out of this world was a figure of Christs ascension , had no doubt a great satisfaction in talking with our blessed Lord de excessueius , of the full consummation of all this in his death , which was to bee accomplished at Ierusalem . Our meditation of his death should be more viscerall and affect vs more because it is of a thing already done . The ancient Romanes had a certain terdernesse and detestation of the name of death , they cold not name death , no , not in their wills . There they could not say Si mori contigerit , but si quid humanitus contingat , nor if , or when I dye , but when the course of nature is accomplished vpon me . To vs that speake dayly of the death of Christ , ( he was crucified , dead and buried ) can the memory or the mention of our owne death bee yrkesome or bitter ? There are in these latter times amongst vs , that name death frely enogh , and the death of God , but in blasphemous oathes & execrations . Miserable men , who shall therefore bee sayd neuer to haue named Iesus , because they haue named him too often . And therfore heare Iesus say , Ne sciui vos , I neuer knew you , because they made themselues too familiar with him . Moses and Elias talkt with Christ of his death , only , in a holy and ioyfull sense of the benefit which they and all the world were to receiue by that . Discourses of Religion should not be out of curiosity , but to edification . And thē they talkt with Christ of his death at that time , when he was in the greatest height of glory that euer he admitted in this world , that is , his transfiguration . And wee are afraid to speake to the great men of this world of their death , but nourish in them a vaine imagination of immortality , & immutability . But bonum est nobis esse hic ( as Saint Peter said there ) It is good to dwell here , in this consider ation of his death , and therefore transferre wee our tabernacle ( our deuotions ) through some of those steps which God the Lord made to his issue of death that day . Take in the whole day from the houre that Christ receiued the passeouer vpon Thursday , vnto the houre in which hee dyed the next day . Make this present day that day in thy deuotion , and consider what hee did , and remember what you haue done . Before hee instituted and celebrated the Sacrament , ( which was after the eating of the passeouer ) hee proceeded to that act of humility , to wash his disciples feete , euen Peters , who for a while resisted him ; In thy preparation to the holy and blessed Sacrament , hast thou with a sincere humility sought a reconciliation with all the world , euen with those that haue beene auerse from it , and refused that reconciliation from thee ? If so and not els thou hast spent that first part of his last day , in a conformity with him . After the Sacrament hee spent the time till night in prayer , in preaching , in Psalmes ; Hast thou considered that a worthy receaving of the Sacrament confists in a continuation of holinesse after , aswell as in a preparation before . If so , thou hast therein also conformed thy selfe to him , so Christ spent his time till night ; At night hee went into the garden to pray , and he prayed prolixious he spent much time in prayer , how much ? Because it is literally expressed , that he prayed there three seuerall times , & that returning to his Disciples after his first prayer , and finding them a sleepe sayd , could ye not watch with me one houre , it is collected that he spent three houres in prayer . I dare scarce aske thee whither thou wentest , or how thou disposedst of thy self , when it grew darke & after last night : If that time were spent in a holy recommendation of thy selfe to God , and a submission of thy will to his , It was spent in a conformity to him . In that time and in those prayers was his agony & bloody sweat . I will hope that thou didst pray ; but not euery ordinary and customary prayer , but prayer actually accompanied with shedding of teares , and dispositiuely in a readines to shed blood for his glory in necessary cases , puts thee into a conformity with him ; About midnight he was taken and bound with a kisse , art thou not too conformable to him in that ? Is not that too literally , too exactly thy case ? at midnight to have bene taken & bound with a kisse ? from thence he was caried back to Ierusalem , first to Annas , then to Caiphas , and ( as late as it was ) then hee was examined and buffeted , and deliuered over to the custody of those officers , from whome he receiued all those irrisions , and violences , the couering of his face , the spitting vpon his face , the blasphemies of words , & the smartnes of blowes which that Gospell mentions . In which copasse fell that Gallicinium , that crowing of the Cock which called vp Peter to his repentance , how thou passedst all that time thou knowest . If thou didst any thing that needed Peters teares , and hast not shed them , let me be thy Cock , doe it now , Now thy Master ( in the vnworthiest of his seruants ) lookes back vpon thee , doe it now ; Betimes , in the morning , so soone as it was day , the Iewes held a counsell in the high Priests hall , and agreed vpon their euidence against him , and then caried him to Pilate , who was to be his Iudge ; diddest thou accuse thy selfe when thou wakedst this morning , and wast thou content euen with false accusations ( that is ) rather to suspect actions to haue beene sin , which were not , then to smother & iustify such as were truly sins ? then thou spentst that houre in conformity to him : Pilate found no euidence against him , & therefore to ease himselfe , and to passe a complement vpon Herod , Tetrarch of Galilee , who was at that time at Ierusalem ( because Christ being a Galilean was of Herods iurisdiction ) Pilat sent him to Herod , & rather as a mad-man then a malefactor , Herod remaunded him ( with scornes ) to Pilat to proceed against him ; And this was about eight of the clock . Hast thou been content to come to this Inquisition , this examination , this agitation , this cribration , this pursuit ofthy conscience , to sift it to follow it from the sinnes of thy youth to thy present sinnes , from the sinnes of thy bed , to the sinnes of thy boorde , & from the substance to the circumstance of thy sinnes ? That 's time spent like thy Sauiours . Pilat wold have saued Christ , by vsing the priuiledge of the day in his behalfe , because that day one prisoner was to be deliuered , but they choose Barrabas , hee would have saued him from death ; by satisfying their fury , with inflicting other torments vpon him , scourging and crowning with thornes , and loading him with many scornefull and ignominous contumlies ; But they regarded him not , they pressed a crucifying . Hast thou gone about to redeeme thy sinne , by fasting , by Almes , by disciplines and mortifications ? in way of satisfaction to the Iustice of God ? that will not serue , that 's not the right way , wee presse an vtter Crucifying of that sinne that gouernes thee ; & that conformes thee to Christ. Towards noone Pilat gaue iudgement , and they made such hast to execution , as that by noone hee was vpon the Crosse. There now hangs that ●acred Body vpon the Crosse , rebaptized in his owne teares and sweat , and embalmed in his owne blood aliue . There are those bowells of compassion , which are so conspi●●ous , so manifested , as that you may see them through his wounds . There those glorious eyes grew faint in their sight : so as the ●un ashamed to suruiue them , departed with his light too . And then that Sonne of God , who was neuer from vs , and yet had now come a new way vnto vs in assuming our nature deliuers that soule ( which was neu●r out of his Fathers hands ) by a new way , a voluntary emission of it into his Fathers hands ; For though to this God our Lord , belong'd these issues of death , so that considered in his owne contract ' he must necessarily dye , yet at no breach or batt●ry , which they had made vpon his sacred Body , issued his soule , but emisit , hee gaue vp the Ghost , and as God breathed a soule into the first Adam , so this second Adam breathed his soule into God , into the hands of God. There wee leaue you in that blessed dependancy , to hang vpon him that hangs vpon the Crosse , there bath in his teares , there suck at his woundes and lye downe in peace in his graue , till hee vouchsafe you a resurrection , and an ascension into that Kingdome , which hee hath prepared for you , with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood . AMEN . AN ELEGIE , On Dr. Donne , Deane of Pauls . TO have liu'd eminent in a degree Beyond our loftiest flights , that is , like thee ; Ort'haue had too much merit is not safe ; For such excesses find no Epitaph , At common graues wee haue poetick eyes Can melt them selues in easy Elegies ; Each quill can drop his tributary verse , And pin it , like the Hatchments , to the hearse . But at thine , poeme or inscription ( Rich soule of wit and language ) wee haue none . Indeed a silence doth that tombe befit , Where is no Herald left to blazon it . Widdow'd inuention iustly doth forbeare To come abroade knowing thou art not there , Late her great Patron , whose prerogatiue Maintain'd and cloth'd her so , as none aliue Must now presume to keepe her at thy rate , Though hee the Indies for her dower estate . Or els that awfull fire , which once did burne In thy cleare braine , now fal'ne into thy vrne , Liues there to fright rude Empericks from thence , Which might profane thee by their ignorance . Whoeuer writes of thee and in a style Vnworthy such a theame , does but reuile Thy pretious dust , and wake a learned spirit , Which might reuenge his rapes vpon thy merit . For all a low pitch'd fancy can deuise , Will proue at best but hallowed iniuries . Thou ( like the dying Swan ) did'st lately sing Thy mournefull dirge in audience of the King : When pale lookes , and weake accents of thy breath Presented so to life that peece of death , That it was fear'd and prophecied by all , Thou thither camist to preach thy Funerall . O' had'st thou in an Elegiak knell Pung out vnto the world thine owne farwell ; And in thy high victorious numbers beat The solemne measure of thy griewd retreat : Thou might'st the Poets seruice now haue mist Aswell , as then thou did'st preuent the Priest , And neuer to the world beholding bee So much as for an Epitaph for thee . I doe not like the office , nor is it fit , Thou who did'st lend our age such summes of wit , Should'st now reborrow from her bankrupt mine That ore to bury thee , which once was thine : Rather still leaue vs in thy debt , and know ( Exalted soule ) more glory'tis to owe Vntothy hearse , what wee can neuer pay , Then with embased coyne those rights defray . Commit wee then thee to thy selfe ; nor blame Our drooping loues , which thus to thy owne fame Leaue thee executor . since but thy owne No pen could doe'thee Iustice , nor bayes crowne Thy vast d●sert , saue that wee nothing can Depute to bee thy ashes Guardian . So Iewellers no art nor mettall trust , To forme the Diamond , but the Diamonds dust . An Epitaph on Dr. DONNE . I Cannot blame those men , that knew thee well , Yet dare not helpe the world to ring thy knell In tunefull Elegies . Ther 's not language knowne Fit for thy mention , but was first thine owne . The Epitaphs thou writt'st , haue so ber●ft Our pens of wit , ther 's not one fancy left Enough to weepe thee , what hence forth wee seo Of art and nature , must result from thee . There may perchance some busy gathering friend Ste●le from thine owne works , and that varied lend ( Which thou bestowd'st on others ) to thy hearse ; And so thou shalt liue still in thine owne verse . Hee that will venture further , may commit A pitied errour , shew his Zeale , not wit. Fate hath done mank●nd wrong ; vertue may aime Reward of consciense , neuer can of fame , Since her great trumpet's broke , could only giue Faith to the world , command it to beleeue . Hee then must write , that would define thy parts Heere lyes the best Diuinity , all the Arts. Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A20628-e270 Of A morte , in morte , per mortem . Foūdation , butteresses and contignation . I. Part. Exitus a morte vteri . Psal. 115. vers . 6. Psal. 139. 6. Ps ▪ 118. 23. 100. 3. Esay 37. Rom. 7. 24. Exo. 23. Gen. 4. 1. Exitus a mortibus mundi . Ioh. 14. 2. Mat. 8. 20. Heb. 13. 14 Exo. 17. 1. Gen. 47. 9. 2 Cor. 5. 6. Io. 18. Exo ▪ 16● 3. Rev. 19. 4. 4. 3. Apoc. 1. 18. Exitus a morte Incinerationis . 1 Cor. 15. vers . 33. Psal. 16. 10. Mat. 11. 26. Acts 2. 31. 13. 35. Vers. 10. Vers. 24 20 Iob. 23. 24. Vers. 14. 11. 2. Part. Liberatio in morte . Heb. 11. Mat. I. 21 : Luk. 24. 26 Psal : 91 Cant. 36. Vers. ● Gen. 3. 15. Luk. 12 40. Heb. 12. 2. Mat. 22. 22. Ps. 116. 12. Mat. 17. 3. Mar. 9. 4. Luke 9. 31. Conformitas , Luk. 22. 24. Mat. 26 40. 
A20644	----	Iuuenilia or Certaine paradoxes and problemes, written by I. Donne Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1633 Approx. 61 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 24 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A20644 STC 7044 ESTC S109982 99845608 99845608 10517 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A20644) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 10517) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1377:05) Iuuenilia or Certaine paradoxes and problemes, written by I. Donne Donne, John, 1572-1631. The second edition, [4], 44 p. Printed by E[lizabeth] P[urslowe] for Henry Seyle, and are to be sold at the signe of the Tygers head, in St. Pauls Church-yard, London : anno Dom. 1633. Printer's name from STC. The first leaf is blank. Reproduction of the original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Questions and answers -- Early works to 1800. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-05 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-06 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2002-06 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion IVVENILIA OR CERTAINE PARADOXES AND PROBLEMES , WRITTEN BY I. DONNE . The second Edition , corrected . NOLI ALTVM SAP●●● LONDON , Printed by E.P. for Henry Seyle , and are to be sold at the signe of the Tygers head , in St. Pauls Church-yard , Anno Dom. 1633. PARADOXES . I. A Defence of Womens Inconstancy . II. That Women ought to paint . III. That by Discord things increase . IV. That Good is more common than Evill . V. That all things kill themselves . VI. That it is possible to find some vertue in some Women . VII . That Old men are more fantastike than Young. VIII . That Nature is our worst guide . IX . That onely Cowards dare dye . X. That a Wise man is known by much laughing . XI . That the gifts of the Body are better than those of the Minde . PARADOXES . I. A Defence of Womens Inconstancy . THat Women are Inconstant , I with any man confesse , but that Inconstancy is a bad quality , I against any man will maintaine : For every thing as it is one better than another , so is it fuller of change ; The Heavens themselves continually turne , the Starres move , the Moone changeth ; Fire whirleth , Ayre flyeth , Water ebbs and flowes , the face of the Earth altereth her lookes , time stayes not ; the Colour that is most light , will take most dyes : so in Men , they that have the most reason are the most inalterable in their designes , and the darkest or most ignorant , do seldomest change ; therefore Women changing more than Men , have also mor● Reason . They cannot be immutable like stockes , like stones , like the Earths dull Center , Gold that lyeth still , rusteth ; Water , corrupteth ; Aire that moveth not , poysoneth ; then why should that which is the perfection of other ●hings , be imputed to Women as greatest imperfection ? Because thereby they deceive men . Are not your wits pleased with those jests , which coozen your expectation ? You can call it Pleasure to be beguil'd in troubles , and in the most excellent toy in the world , you call it Treachery : I would you had your Mistresses so constant , that they would never change , no not so much as their smocks , then should you see what sluttish vertue , Constancy were . Inconstancy is a most commendable and cleanely quality , and Women in this quality are farre more absolute than the Heavens , than the Starres , Moone , or any thing beneath it ; for long observation hath pickt certainety out of their mutability . The Learned are so well acquainted with the Starres , Signes and Pla●ets , that they make them but Characters , to reade the meaning of the Heaven in his owne forehead . Every simple Fellow can bespeake the change of the Moone a great while before-hand : but I would faine have the learnedst man so skilfull , as to tell when the simplest Woman meaneth to varie . Learning affords no rules to know , much lesse knowledge to rule the minde of a Woman : For as Philosophy teacheth us , that Light things doe alwayes tend upwards , and heavy things decline downeward ; Experience teacheth us otherwise , that the disposition of a Light Woman , is to fall downe , the nature of Women being contrary to all Art and Nature . Women are like Flies , which feed among us at our Table , or Fleas sucking our very blood , who leave not our most retired places free from their familiarity , yet for all their fellowship will they never bee tamed nor commanded by us . Women are like the Sunne , which is violently carryed one way , yet hath a proper course contrary : so though they , by ●he mastery of some over-ruling chu●lish Husbands , are forced to his Byas , yet have they a motion of their owne , which their Husbands never know of . It is the nature of nice and fastidious mindes to know things onely to bee weary of them : Women by their flye changeablenesse , and pleasing doublenesse , prevent even the mislike of those , for they can never be so well knowne , but that there is still more unknowne . Every Woman is a Science ; for hee that plods upon a Woman all his life long , shall at length find himselfe short of the knowledge of her : they are borne to take downe the pride of wit , and ambition of wisedome , making fooles wise in the adventuring to winne them , wisemen fooles in conceit of losing their labours ; witty men starke mad , being confounded with their uncertaineties . Philosophers write against them for spight , not desert , that having attained to some knowledge in all other things , in them onely they know nothing , but are meerely ignorant : Active and Experienced men raile agai●st them , because they love in their livelesse and decrepit age , when all goodnesse leaves them . These envious Libellers ballad against them , because having nothing in themselves able to deserve their love , they maliciously discommend all they cannnot obtaine , thinking to make men beleeve they know much , because they are able to dispraise much , and rage against Inconstancy , when they were never admitted into so much favour as to be forsaken . In mine Opinion such men are happy that Women are Inconstant , for so may they chance to bee beloved of some excellent Women ( when it comes to their turne ) out of their Inconstancy and mutability , though not out of their owne desert . And what reason is there to clog any Woman with one Man , bee hee never so singular ? Women had rather , and it is farre better and more Iudiciall to enjoy all the vertues in severall Men , than but some of them in one , for otherwise they lose their taste , like divers sorts of meat minced together in one dish : and to have all excellencies in one Man ( if it were possible ) is Confusion and Diversity . Now who can deny , but such as are obstinately bent to undervalue their worth , are those that have not soule enough to comprehend their excellency , Women being the most excellentest Creatures , in that Man is able to subject all things else , and to grow wise in every thing , but still persists a foole in Woman ? The greatest Scholler , if hee once take a Wife , is found so unlearned , that he must begin his Horne-booke , and all is by Inconstancy . To conclude therefore ; this name of Inconstancy , which hath so much beene poysoned with slaunders , ought to bee changed into variety , for the which the world is so delightfull , and a Woman for that the most delightfull thing in this World. II. That Women ought to paint . FOulenesse is Lothsome : can that be so which helpes it ? who forbids his Beloved to gird in her waste ? to mend by shooing her uneven lamenesse ? to burnish her teeh ? or to perfume her breath ? yet that the Face bee more precisely regarded , it concernes more : For as open confessing sinners are alwaies punished , but the wary and concealing offenders without witnesse doe it also without punishment ; so the secret parts needs the lesse respect ; but of the Face , discovered to all Examinations and survayes , there is not too nice a Iealousie . Nor doth it onely draw the busie eyes , but it is subject to the divinest touch of all , to kissing , the strange and mysticall union of soules . If shee should prostitute her selfe to a more unworthy Man than thy selfe , how earnestly and justly wouldst thou exclaime ? that for want of this easier and ready way of repairing , to betray her body to ruine and deformity ( the tyrannous Ravishers , and sodaine D●flourers of all Women ) what a heynous Adultery is it ? What thou lovest in her face is colour , and painting gives that , but thou hatest it , not because it is , but because thou knowest it . Foole , whom ignorance makes happy , the Starres , the Sunne , the Skye whom thou admirest , alas , have no colour , but are faire , because they seeme to bee coloured : If this seeming will not satisfie thee in her , thou hast good assurance of her colour , when thou seest her lay it on . If her face bee painted on a Boord or Wall , thou wilt love it , and the Boord , and the Wall : Canst thou loath it then when it speakes , smiles , and kisses , because it is painted ? Are wee not more delighted with seeing Birds , Fruites , and Beasts painted then wee are with Naturalls ? And doe wee not with pleasure behold the painted shape of Monsters and Divels , whom true , wee durst not regard ? Wee repaire the ruines of our houses , but first cold tempests warnes us of it , and bytes us through it ; wee mend the wracke and staines of our Apparell , but first our eyes , and other bodies are offended ; but by this providence of Women , this is prevented . If in kissing or breathing upon her , the painting fall off , thou art angry , wilt thou be so , if it sticke on ? Thou didst love her , if thou beginnest to hate her , then 't is because shee is not painted . If thou wilt say now , thou didst hate her before , thou didst hate her and love her together , bee constant in something , and love her who shewes her great love to thee , in taking this paines to seeme lovely to thee . III. That by Discord things increase . Nullos esse Deos , inane Coelum Affirmat Coelius , probatque quod se Factum vidit , dum negat haec , beatum . SO I assevere this the more boldly , because while I maintaine it , and feele the Contrary repugnancies and adverse fightings of the Elements in my Body , my Body increaseth ; and whilst I differ from common opinions by this Discord , the number of my Paradoxes increaseth . All the rich benefits we can frame to our selves in Concord , is but an Even conservation of things ; in which Evennesse wee can expect no change , no motion ; therefore no increase or augmentation , which is a member of motion . And if this unity and peace can give increase to things , how mightily is discord and war to that purpose , which are indeed the onely ordinary Parents of peace . Discord is never so barren that it affords no fruit ; for the fall of one estate is at the worst the increaser of another , because it is as impossible to finde a discommodity without advantage , as to finde Corruption without Generation : But it is the Nature and Office of Concord to preserve onely , which property when it leaves , it differs from it selfe , which is the greatest discord of all . All Victories and Emperies gained by warre , and all Iudiciall decidings of doubts in peace , I doe claime children of Discord . And who can deny but Controversies in Religion are growne greater by discord , and not the Controversie , but Religion it selfe : For in a troubled misery Men are alwaies more Religious then in a secure peace . The number of good men , the onely charitable nourishers of Concord , wee see is thinne , and daily melts and waines ; but of bad discording it is infinite , and growes hourely . Wee are ascertained of all Disputable doubts , onely by arguing and differing in Opinion , and if formall disputation ( which is but a painted , counterfeit , and dissembled discord ) can worke us this benefit , what shall not a full and maine discord accomplish ? Truely me thinkes I owe a devotion , yea a sacrifice to discord , for casting that Ball upon Ida , and for all that businesse of Troy , whom ruin'd I admire more then Babylon , Rome , or Quinzay , removed Corners , not onely fulfilled with her fame , but with Cities and Thrones planted by her Fugitives . Lastly , between Cowardice and despaire , Valour is gendred ; and so the Discord of Extreames begets all vertues , but of the like things there is no issue without a miracle : Vxor pessima , pessimus maritus Miror tam mal● convenire . Hee wonders that betweene two so like , there could be any discord , yet perchance for all this discord there was nere the lesse increase . IV. That good is more common then evill . I Have not been so pittifully tired with any vanity , as with silly Old Mens exclaiming against these times , and extolling their owne : Alas ! they betray themselves , for if the times be changed , their manners have changed them . But their senses are to pleasures , as sick Mens tastes are to Liquors ; for indeed no new thing is done in the world , all things are what , and as they were , and Good is as ever it was , more plenteous , a●d must of necessity be more common then evill , because it hath this for nature and perfection to bee common . It makes Love to all Natures , all , all affect it . So that in the Worlds early Infancy , there was a time when nothing was evill , but if this World shall suffer dotage in the extreamest crookednesse thereof , there shall be no time when nothing shal be good . It dares appeare and spread , and glister in the World , but evill buries it selfe in night and darknesse , and is chastised and suppressed when good is cherished and rewarded . And as Imbroderers , Lapidaries , and other Artisans , can by all things adorne their workes ; for by adding better things , the better they shew in Lush and in Eminency ; so good doth not onely prostrate her amiablenesse to all , but refuses no end , no not of her utter contrary evill , that shee may bee the more common to us . For euill manners are parents of good Lawes ; and in every evill there is an excellency , which ( in common speech ) we call good . For the fashions of habits , for our moving in gestures , for phrases in our speech , we say they were good as long as they were used , that is , as long as they were common ; and wee eate , wee walke , onely when it is , or seemes good to doe so . All faire , all profitable , all vertuous , is good , and these three things I thinke embrace all things , but their utter contraries ; of which also faire may be rich and vertuous ; poore may bee vertuous and faire ; vitious may be faire and rich ; so that good hath this good meanes to be common , that some subjects she can possesse intirely ; and in subjects poysoned with evill , she can humbly stoop to accompany the evill . And of indifferent things many things are become perfectly good by being common , as customes by use are made binding Lawes . But I remember nothing that is therefore ill , because it is common , but Women , of whom also ; They that are most common , are the best of that Occupation they professe . V. That all things kill themselves . TO affect , yea to effect their owne death all living things are importuned , not by Nature only which perfects them , but by Art and Education , which perfects her . Plants quickened and inhabited by the most unworthy soule , which therefore neither will nor worke , affect an end , a perfection , a death ; this they spend their spirits to attaine , this attained , they languish and wither . And by how much more they are by mans Industry warmed , cherished , and pampered ; so much the more early they climbe to this perfection , this death . And if amongst Men not to defend be to kill , what a hainous selfe-murther is it , not to defend it selfe . This defence because Beasts neglect , they kill themselves , because they exceed us in number , strength , and a lawlesse liberty : yea , of Horses and other beasts , they that inherit most courage by being bred of gallantest parents , and by Artificial nursing are bettered , will runne to their owne deaths , neither sollicited by spurres which they need not , nor by honour which they apprehend not . If then the valiant kill himselfe , who can excuse the coward ? Or how shall Man bee free from this , since the first Man taught us this , except we cannot kill our selves , because he kill'd us all . Yet lest something should repaire this Common ruine , we daily kill our bodies with surfeits , and our mindes with anguishes . Of our powers , remembring kils our memory ; Of Affections , Lusting our lust ; Of vertues , Giving kils liberality . And if these kill themselves , they do it in their best & supreme perfection : for after perfection immediately follows excesse , which changeth the natures and the names , and makes them not the same things . If then the best things kill themselves soonest , ( for no affection endures , and all things labour to this perfection ) all travell to their owne death , yea the frame of the whole World , if it were possible for God to be idle , yet because it began , must dye . Then in this idlenesse imagined in God , what could kill the world but it selfe , since out of it , nothing is ? VI. That it is possible to find some vertue in some Women . I Am not of that seard Impudence that I dare defend Women , or pronounce them good ; yet we see Physitians allow some vertue in every poyson . Alas ! why should we except Women ? since certainely , they are good for Physicke at least , so as some mine is good for a feaver . And though they be the Occasioners of many sinnes , they are also the Punishers and Revengers of the same sinnes : For I have seldome seene one which consumes his substance and body upon them , escape diseases , or beggery ; and this is their Iustice . And if suum cuique dare , bee the fulfilling of all Civill Iustice , they are most just ; for they deny that which is theirs to no man. Tanquam non liceat nulla puella negat . And who may doubt of great wisdome in them , that doth but observe with how much labour and cunning our Iusticers and other dispensers of the Lawes study to imbrace them : and how zealously our Preachers dehort men from them , onely by urging their subtilties , and policies , and wisedome , which are in them ? Or who can deny them a good measure of Fortitude , if hee consider how valiant men they have overthrowne , and being themselves overthrowne , how much and how patiently they beare ? And though they bee most intemperate , I care not , for I undertooke to furnish them with some vertue , not with all . Necessity , which makes even bad things good , prevailes also for them , for wee must say of them , as of some sharpe pinching Lawes ; If men were free from infirmities , they were needlesse . These or none must serve for reasons , and it is my great happinesse that Examples prove not Rules , for to confirme this Opinion , the World yeelds not one Example . VII . That Old men are more fantastike then Young. WHO reads this Paradox but thinks mee more fantastike now , than I was yesterday , when I did not think thus : And if one day make this sensible change in men , what will the burthen of many yeeres ? To bee fantastike in young men is conceiptfull distemperature , and a witty madnesse ; but in old men , whose senses are withered , it becomes naturall , therefore more full and perfect . For as when wee sleepe our fancy is most strong ; so it is in age , which is a slumber of the deepe sleepe of death . They taxe us of Inconstancy , which in themselves young they allowed ; so that reprooving that which they did approove , their Inconstancy exceedeth ours , because they have changed once more then wee . Yea , they are more idlely busied in conceited apparell then wee ; for we , when we are melancholy , weare blacke ; when lusty , greene ; when forsaken , tawney ; pleasing our owne inward affections , leaving them to others indifferent ; but they prescribe lawes , and constraine the Noble , the Scholler , the Merchant , and all Estates to a certaine habit . The old men of our time have changed with patience their owne bodies , much of their lawes , much of their languages ; yea their Religion , yet they accuse us . To be Amorous is proper and naturall in a young man , but in an old man most fantastike . And that ridling humour of Iealousie , which seekes and would not finde , which requires and repents his knowledge , is in them most common , yet most fantastike . Yea , that which falls never in young men , is in them most fantastike and naturall , that is , Covetousness● ; even at their journeyes end to make great provision . Is any habit of young men so fantastike , as in the hottest seasons to be double-gowned or hooded like our Elders ? Or seemes it so ridiculous to weare long haire , as to weare none . Truely , as among the Philosophers , the Skeptike , which doubts all , was more contentious , then either the Dogmatike which affirmes , or Academike which denyes all ; so are these uncertaine Elders , which both cals them fantastike which follow others inventions , and them also which are led by their owne humorous suggestion , more fantastike then other . VIII . That Nature is our worst Guide . SHal she be guide to all Creatures , which is her selfe one ? Or if she also have a guide , shall any Creature have a better guide then wee ? The affections of lust and anger , yea even to erre is naturall ; shall we follow these ? Can shee be a good guide to us , which hath corrupted not us onely but her selfe ? Was not the first man , by the desire of knowledge , corrupted even in the whitest integrity of Nature ? And did not Nature ( if Nature did any thing ) infuse into him this desire of knowledge , and so this corruption in him , into us ? If by Nature wee shall understand our essence , our definition , or reason , noblenesse , then this being alike common to all ( the Idiot and the Wizard being equally reasonable ) why should not all men having equally all one nature , follow one course ? Or if we shall understand our inclinations ; alas ! how unable a guide is that which followes the temperature of our slimie bodies ? for we cannot say that we derive our incli●ations , our mindes , or soules from our Parents by any way : to say that it is all from all , is error in reason , for then with the first nothing remaines ; or is a part from all , is errour in experience , for then this part equally imparted to many children , would like Gavel-kind lands , in few generations become nothing ; or to say it by communication , is errour in Divinity , for to communicate the ability of communicating whole essence with any but God , is utter blasphemy . And if thou hit thy Fathers nature and inclination , he also had his Fathers , and so climbing up , all comes of one man , and have one nature , all shall imbrace one course ; but that cannot bee , therefore our complexions and whole bodies , wee inherit from Parents ; our inclinations and minds follow that : For our minde is heavy in our bodies afflictions , and rejoyceth in our bodies pleasure : how then shall this nature governe us , that is governed by the worst part of us ? Nature though oft chased away , it will retu●ne ; 't is true , but those good motions and inspirations which be our guides must bee ●ooed , courted , and welcomed , or else they abandon us . And that old Axiome , nihil invita , &c. must not be said thou shalt , but thou wilt doe nothing against Nature ; so unwilling he notes us to curbe our naturall appetites . Wee call our bastards alwayes our naturall issue , and we define a Foole by nothing so ordinary , as by the name of naturall . And that poore knowledge whereby we conceive what raine is , what wind , what thunder , wee call Metaphysicke , supernaturall ; such small things , such no things doe we allow to our pliant Natures apprehension . Lastly , by following her , we lose the pleasant , and lawfull commodities of this life , for wee shall drinke water and eate rootes , and those not sweet and delicate , as now by Mans art and industry they are made : we shall lose all the necessities of societies , lawes , arts , and sciences , which are all the workemanship of Man : yea we shall lack the last best refuge of misery , death ● because no death is naturall : for if yee will not dare to call all death violent ( though I see not why sicknesses be not violences ) yet causes of all deaths proceed of the defect of that which nature made perfect , and would preserve , and therefore all against nature . IX . That only Cowards dare dye . EXtreames are equally removed from the meane ; so that headlong desperatenesse asmuch offends true valour , as backward Cowardice : of which sort I reckon justly all un-inforced deaths . When will your valiant man dye of necessity ? so Cowards suffer what cannot be avoided : and to runne into death unimportun'd , is to runne into the first condemned desperatenesse . Will he dye when he is rich and happy ? then by living he may doe more good : and in afflictions and miseries , death is the chosen refuge of Cowards . Fortiter ille facit , qui miser esse potest . But it is taught and practised among our Gallants , that rather than our reputations suffer any m●ime , or we any misery , wee shall offer our brests to the Cannons mouth , yea to our swords points : And this seemes a very brave and a very climbing ( which is a Cowardly , earthly , and indeed a very groveling ) spirit . Why doe they chaine these slaves to the Gallyes , but that they thrust their deaths , and would at every loose leape into the sea ? Why doe they take weapons from condemned men , but to barre them of that ease which Cowards affect , a speedy death . Truely this life is a tempest , and a warfare , and he which dares dye , to escape the anguish of it , seems to mee , but so valiant , as hee which dares hang himselfe , lest hee be prest to the warres . I have seene one in that extremity of melancholy , which was then become madnesse , to make his owne breath an Instrument to stay his breath , and labour to choake himselfe● but alas ! he was mad . And we knew another that languished under the oppression of a poore disgrace so much , that hee tooke more paines to dye , then would have served to have nourished life and spirit enough to have out-lived his disgrace . What Foole will call this Cowardlinesse , Valour ? or this Basenesse , Humility ? And lastly , of these men which dye the Allegoricall death of entring into Religion , how few are found fit for any shew of valiancy ? but onely a soft and supple metall , made onely fo● Cowardly solitarinesse . X. That a Wise Man is knowne by much laughing . RIde , si sapis , ô puella ride ; If thou beest wise , laugh : for since the powers of discourse , reason , and laughter , bee equally proper unto Man onely , why shall not hee be onely most wise , which hath most use of laughing , aswell as he which hath most of reasoning and discoursing ? I alwaies did , and shall understand that Adage ; Per risum multum possis cognoscere stultum , That by much laughing thou maist know there is a foole , not , that the laughers are fooles , but that among them there is some foole , at whom wisem●n laugh : which moved Erasmus to put this as his first Argument in the mouth of his Folly , that shee made Beholders laugh : for fooles are the most laughed at , and laugh the least themselves of any . And Nature saw this faculty to bee so necessary in man , that shee hath beene content that by more causes we should be importuned to laugh , then to the exercise of any other power ; for things in themselves utterly contra●y , beget this effect ; for wee laugh both at witty and absurd things : At both which sorts I have seen Men laugh so long , and so earnestly , that at last they have wept that they could laugh no more . And therfore the Poet having described the quietnesse of a wise retired man , saith in one , what w●●ave said before in many lines ; Quid facit Canius tuus ? ridet . We have received that even the extremity of laughing , yea of weeping also , hath beene accounted wisedome : And that Democritus and Heraclitus , the lovers of these Extremes , have been called lovers of wisedome . Now among our wisemen I doubt not , but many would be found who would laugh at Heraclitus weeping , none which weepe at Democritus laughing . At the hearing of Comedies or other witty reports , I have noted some , which not understanding ●ests &c. have yet chosen this as the best meanes to seeme wise and understandiug , to laugh when their Companions laugh ; and I have presumed them ignorant , whom I have seene unmoved . A foole if he come into a Princes Court , and see a gay man leaning at the wall , so glistering , and so painted in many colours that he is hardly discerned from one of the pictures in the Arras , hanging his body like an Iron-bound-chest , girt in and thicke ribb'd with broad gold laces , may ( and commonly doth ) envy him . But alas ! shall a wiseman , which may not onely not envy , but not pitty this monster , do nothing ? Yes , let him laugh . And if one of these hot cholerike firebrands , which nourish themselves by quarrelling , and kindling others , spit upon a foole one sparke of disgrace , he , like a that ●h● house quickly burning , may bee angry ; but the wiseman , as cold as the Salamander , may not onely not be angry with him , but not be sorry for him ; therefore let him laugh : so he shall be knowne a Man , because he can laugh , a wise Man that hee knowes at what to laugh● and a valiant Man that he dares laugh : for he that laughs is justly reputed more wise , then at whom it is laughed . And hence I thinke proceeds that which in these later formall times I have much noted ; that now when our superstitious civility of manners is become a mutuall tickling flattery of one another , almost every man affecteth an humour of jesting , and is content to be de●ect , and to deforme himselfe , yea become foole to no other end that I can spie , but to give his wise Companion occasion to laugh ; and to shew themselves in promptnesse of laughing is so great in wisemen , that I thinke all wisemen , if any wiseman do reade this Paradox , will laugh both at it and me . XI . That the gifts of the Body are better then those of the Minde . I Say againe , that the body makes the minde , not that it created it a minde , but formes it a good or a bad mind ; and this minde may be confounded with soule without any violence or injustice to Reason or Philosophy : then the soule it seemes is enabled by our body , not this by it . My Body licenseth my soule to see the Worlds beauties through mine eyes ; to heare pleasant things through mine eares ; and affords it apt Organs for the conveiance of all perceivable del●ght . But alas ! my soule cannot make any part , that is not of it selfe disposed , to see or heare , though without doubt she be as able and as willing to see behind as before . Now if my soule would say , that shee enables any part to taste these pleasures , but is her selfe onely delighted with those rich sweetnesses which her in●ard eyes and senses apprehend , shee should dissemble ; for I see her often solaced with beauties , which shee sees through mine eyes , and with musicke which through mine eares she heares . This perfection then my body hath , that it can impart to my minde all his pleasures ; and my minde hath still many , that she can neither ●each my indisposed part her faculties , nor to the best espoused parts shew ●t beauty of Angels , of Musicke , of Spheres , whereof she boasts the contemplation . Are chastity , temperance , and fortitude gifts of the mind ? I appeale to Physitians whether the cause of these be not in the body ; health is the gift of the body , and patience in sickenesse the gift of the minde : then who will say that patience is as good a happinesse , as health , when wee must be extremely miserable to purchase this happinesse . And for nourishing of civill societies and mutuall love amongst men , which is our chiefe end while wee are men ; I say , this beauty , presence , and proportion of the body , hath a more masculine force in begetting this love , then the vertues of the minde : for it strikes us suddenly , and possesseth us immoderately ; when to know those vertues requires some Iudgement in him which shall discerne , a long time and conversation betweene them . And even at last how much of our faith and beleefe shall we be driven to bestow , to assure our selves that these vertues are not counterfeited : for it is the same to be , and seeme vertuous , because that he that hath no vertue , can dissemble none , but he which hath a little , may gild and enamell , yea and transforme much vice into vertue : For allow a man to be discreet and flexible to complaints , which are great vertuous gifts of the minde , this discretion will be to him the soule & Elixir of all vertues , so that touched with this , even pride shal be made humility ; and Cowardice , honourable and wise valour . But in things seene there is not this danger , for the body which thou lovest and esteemest faire , is faire ; certainely if it bee not faire in perfection , yet it is faire in the same degree that thy Iudgement is good . And in a faire body , I doe seldome suspect a disproportioned minde , and as seldome hope for a good in a deformed . When I see a goodly house , I assure my selfe of a worthy possessour , from a ruinous weather-beaten building I turn away , because it seems either stuffed with varlets as a Prison , or handled by an unworthy and negligent tenant , that so suffers the waste thereof . And truely the gifts of Fortune , which are riches , are onely handmaids , yea Pandars of the bodies pleasure ; with their service we nourish health , and preserve dainty , and wee buy delights ; so that vertue which must be loved for it selfe , and respects no further end , is indeed nothing : And riches , whose end is the good of the body , cannot be so perfectly good , as the end whereto it levels . CERTAINE PROBLEMES WRITTEN BY I. DONNE . THE PROBLEMES . I. Why have Bastards b●st Fortune ? II Why Puritans make long S●rmons ? III. Why did the Devill reserve Iesuites till these la●ter dayes . IV. Why is there more variety of Green , then of any other colour ? V. Why doe Young Lay-men so much study Divinity ? VI Why hath the common Opinion afforded Women Soules ? VII Why are the Fairest , falsest VIII● Why Venus star only doth cast a shadow ? IX . Why is Venus Starre Multinominous , called both Hesperus and Vesper . X. Why are new Officers least oppressing ? PROBLEMES , I. Why have Bastards best Fortune ? BEcause Fortune herselfe is a Whore , but such are not most indulgent to their issue ; the old naturall reason ( but those meetings in stolne love are most vehement , and so contribute more spirit then the easie and lawfull ) might governe me , but that now I see Mistresses are become dome●tike and in ordinary , and they and wives waite but by turnes , and agree aswell as they had lived in the Arke . The old Morall reason ( that Bastards inherit wickednesse from their Parents , and so are i● a better way to preferment by having a stocke before-hand , then those that build all their fortune upon the poore and weake stocke of Originall sinne ) might prevaile with me , but that since wee are fallen into such times , as now the world might spare the Divell , because she could be bad enough without him . I see men scorne to be wicked by example , or to bee beholding to others for their damnation . It seems reasonable , that since Lawes rob them of succession in civill benefits , they should have something else equivalent . As Nature ( which is Lawes patterne ) having denyed Women Constancy to one , hath provided them with cunning to allure many ; and so Basta●ds de jure should have better wits and experience . But besides that by experience we see many fooles amongst them , wee should take from them one of their chiefest helpes to preferment , and we should deny them to be fools ; and ( that which is onely left ) that W●men chuse worthier men then their husbands , is false de facto ● either then it must bee that the Church having removed them from all place in the publike Service of God , they have better meanes then others to be wicked , and so fortunate : Or else because the two greatest powers in this world , the Divell and Princes concurre to their greatnesse ● the one giving bastardy , the other legitimation : As nature frames and conserves great bodies of contraries . Or the cause is , because they abound most at Court , which is the forge where fortunes are made , or at least the shop where th●y be sold. II. Why Puritanes make long Sermons ? IT needs not for perspicuousnesse , for God knowes they are plain enough : nor doe all of them use Sem-briefe-Accents for some of them have crotchets enough . It may bee they intend not to rise like glorious Tapers and Torches , but like Thinne-wretched-sicke-watching-Candles , which languish and are in a Divine Consumption from the first minute , yea in their snuffe , and stink when others are in their more profitable glory . I have thought sometimes , that out of conscience , they allow long measure to course ware . And sometimes , that usurping in that place a liberty to speak freely of Kings , they would raigne as long as they could . But now I thinke they doe it out of a zealous imagination , that , It is their duty to preach ●n till their Auditory wake . III. Why did the Divel reserve Iesuites till these latter dayes . DID he know that our Age would deny the Devils possessing , and therfore provided by these to possesse men and kingdomes ? Or to end the disputation of Schoolemen , why the Divell could not make lice in Egypt ; and whether those things hee presented there , might be true , hath he sent us a true and reall plague , worse than those ten ? Or in ostentation of the greatnesse of his Kingdome , which even division cannot shake , doth he send us these which disagree with all the rest ? Or knowing that our times should discover the Indies , and abolish their Idolatry , doth he send these to give them another for it ? Or peradventure they have beene in the Roman Church these thousand yeeres , though we have called them by other names . IV. Why is there more variety of Green then of other Colours ? IT is because it is the figure of Youth wher●n nature wuld provide as many green , as youth hath affections ; and so present a Sea-green for profuse masters in voyages ; a Grasse-green for sudden new men enobled f●om Gra●●ers ; and a Goose-greene for such Polititians as pretend to preserve the Capitol . Or ●lse Prophetically foreseeing an age , wherein they shall all hunt . And for such as misdemeane themselves a Willow-greene ; For Magistrates must aswell have Fasces born before them to chastize the small offences , as Secures to cut off the great . V. Why doe young Lay-men so much study Divinity . IS it because others tending busily Churches preferment neglect study ? Or had the Church of Rome s●ut up all our wayes , till the Lutherans broke downe their uttermost stubborne doores , and the Calvinists picked their inwardest and subtlest lockes ? Surely the Devill cannot be such a Foole to hope that he shall make this study contemptible , by making it common . Nor that as the Dwellers by the River Origus are said ( by drawing infinite ditches to sprinkle their barren Country ) to have exhausted and intercepted their maine channell , and so lost their more profitable course to the sea ; so we , by providing every ones selfe , divinity enough for his own use , should neglect our Teachers and Fathers . Hee cannot hope for better heresies then hee hath had , nor was his Kingdome ever so much advanced by debating Religion ( though with some aspersions of Error ) as by a dull and stupid security , in which many grose things are swallowed . Possible out of such an ambition as we have now , to speake plainely and fellow-like with Lords and Kings , wee thinke also to acquaint our selves with Gods secrets : Or perchance when we study it by mingling humane respects , It is not Divinity . VI. Why hath the common Opinion afforded Women Soules ? IT is agreed that wee have not so much from them as any part of either our mortall soules of sense , or growth ; and we deny soules to others equal to them in all but in speech for which they are beholding to their bodily instruments : For perchance an Oxes heart , or a Goates , or a Foxes , or a Serpents would speake just so , if it were in the breast , and could move that tongue and jawes . Have they so many advantages and meanes to hurt us ( for , ever their loving destroyed us ) that we dare not displease them , but give them what they will ? And so when some call them Angels , some Goddesses , and the P●lpulian Heretikes made them Bishops , wee descend so much with the streame , to allow them soules ? Or doe we somewhat ( in this dignifying of them ) flatter Princes and great Personages that are so much governed by them ? Or do we in that easinesse and prodigality , wherein we daily lose our owne soules to we care not whom , so labour to perswade our selves , that sith a woman hath a soule , a soule is no great matter ? Or doe wee lend them soules but for use , since they for our sakes , give their soules againe , and their bodies to boote ? Or perchance because the Deuill ( who is all soule ) doth most mischiefe , and for convenience and proportion , because they would come neerer him , wee allow them some soules ; and so as the Romanes naturalized some Provinces in revenge , and made them Romans , onely for the burthen of the Common-wealth ; so we have given women soules onely to make them capable of damnation ? VII . Why are the Fairest , Falsest ? I Meane not of false Alchimy Beauty , for then the question should be inverted , Why are the Falsest , Fairest ? It is not onely because they are much solicited and sought for , so is gold , yet it is not so common ; and this suite to them , should teach them their value , and make them more reserved . Nor is it because the delicatest blood hath the best spirits , for what is that to the flesh ? perchance such constitutions have the best wits , and there is no proportionable subject , for Womens wit , but deceipt ? doth the minde so follow the temperature of the body , that because those complexions are aptest to change , the mind is therefore so ? Or as Bells of the purest metall retaine their tinkling and sound largest ; so the memory of the last pleas●re lasts longer in these , and disposeth them to the next . But sure it is not in the complexion , for those that doe but thinke themselves faire , are presently inclined to this multiplicity of loves , which being but faire in conceipt are false in deed : and so perchance when they are borne to this beauty , or have made it , or have dream'd it , they easily beleeve all addresses and applications of every man , out of a sense of their owne worthinesse to bee directed to them , which others lesse worthy in their owne thoughts apprehend not , or discredit . But I thinke the true reason is , that being like gold in many properties ( as that all snatch at them , but the worst possesse them , that they care not how deepe we dig for them , and that by the Law o● 〈◊〉 , Occupandi conceditur ) they would be like also in this , that as Gold to make it selfe of use admits allay , so they , that they may bee tractable , mutable , and currant , have to their allay Falshood . VIII . Why Venus-starre onely doth cast a shadow ? IS it because it is neerer the earth ? But they whose profession it is to see that nothing be done in heaven without their consent ( as Re — saies in himselfe of Astrologers ) have bid Mercury to be neerer . Is it because the workes of Venus want shadowing , covering , and disguising ? But those of Mercury need it more ; for Eloquence , his Occupation , is all shadow and colours ; let our life bee a sea , and then our reason and even passions are winde enough to carry us whether we should goe , but Eloquence is a storme and tempest that miscarries : and who doubts that Eloquence which must perswade people to take a yoke of soveraignty ( and then beg and make lawes to tye them faster , and then give money to the invention , repaire and strengthen it ) needs more shadowes and colouring , then to perswade any Man or Woman to that which is naturall . And Venus markets are so naturall , that when we solicite the best way ( which is by marriage ) our perswasions worke not so much to draw a woman to us , as against her nature to draw her from all other besides . And so when we go against nature , and from Venus-work ( for marriage is chastity ) we need shadowes and colours , but not else . In Seneca's time it was a course , an un-Romane and a contemptible thing even in a Matrone , not to have had a Love beside her husband , which though the Law required not at their hands , yet they did it zealously out of the counsell of custome and fashion , which was venery of supererogation : Et te spectator plusquam delectat Adulter , saith Martial : And Horace , because many lights would not shew him enough , created many Images of the same Object by ●ainscoting his chamber with looking-glasses : so that Veuus flies no● light , so much as Mercury , who creeping into our understanding , our darkenesse would be defeated , if he were perceived . Then either this shadow confesseth that same darke Melancholy Repentance which accompanies ; or that so violent fires , needs some shadowy refreshing , and intermission : Or else light signifying both day and youth , and shadow both night and age , she pronounceth by this that she professeth both all persons and times . IX . Why is Venus-star multinominous , called both Hesperus and Vesper ? THe Moone hath as many names , but not as she is a starre , but as shee hath divers governments ; but Venus is multinominous to give example to her prostitute disciples , who so often , either to renew or refresh themselves towards lovers , or to disguise themselves from Magistrates , are to take new names . It may bee she takes new names after her many functions , for as she is supreme Monarch of all Sunnes at large ( which is lust ) so is she joyned in commission with all Mythologicks , with Iuno , Diana , and all others for marriage . It may be because of the divers names to her selfe , for her affections have more names than any vice : scilicet ; Pollution , Fornication , Adultery , Lay-Incest , Church-Incest , Rape , Sodomy , Mastupration , Masturbation , and a thousand others . Perchance her divers names shewed her appliablenesse to divers men , for Neptune distilled and wet her in love , the Sunne warmes and melts her● Mercury perswaded and swore her , Iupiters authority secured , and Vulcan hammer'd her . As Hesperus she presents you with her bonum utile , because it is wholesomest in the morning : As Vesper with her bonum delectabile , because it is pleasantest in the evening . And because industrious men rise and indure with the Sunne in their civill businesses , this Starre calls them up a little before , and remembers them againe a little after for her businesse ; for certainely , Venit Hesperus , ite capellae : was spoken to Lovers in the persons of Goates . X. Why are New Officers least oppressing ? MVst the old Proverbe , that Old dogs bite sorest , be true in all kinde of dogs ? Me thinkes the fresh memory they have of the mony they parted with for the place , should hasten them for the re-imbursing : And perchance they doe but seeme easier to their suiters ; who ( as all other Patients ) doe account all change of paine , easie . But if it bee so , it is either because the sodain sense & contentment of the honor of the place , retards and remits the rage of their profits , and so having stayed their stomackes , they can forbeare the second course a while : Or having overcome the steepest part of the hill , and clambered above Competitions and Oppositions they dare loyter , and take breath : Perchance being come from places , where they tasted no gaine , a little seemes much to them at first , for it is long before a Christian conscience overtakes , or straies into an Officers heart . It may be that out of the generall disease of all men not to love the memory of a predecessor , they seeke to disgrace them by such ea●inesse , and make good first impressions , that so having drawen much wa●er ●o their Mill , they may a●terwa●●s grind at ease : For if from the rules of good Ho●se-manship , they thought it wholesome to jet out in a moderate pace , th●y should also take up towards their journeys end , not mend ●heir pace con●inually , and g●llop ●o their Innes-doore , the grave ; except perchance their conscience at that time so touch them , that they thinke it an injury and damage both to him that must sell , and to him that must buy the Office after their death , and a kind of dilapidation if they by continuing honest should discredit the place , and bring it to a l●●er-rent , or vnder-vaine . FINIS . 
A20650	----	A sermon, preached to the Kings Mtie. at Whitehall, 24 Febr. 1625. By Iohn Donne Deane of Saint Pauls, London. And now by his Maiestes [sic] commandment published Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1626 Approx. 68 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 32 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A20650 STC 7050 ESTC S109972 99845600 99845600 10509 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A20650) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 10509) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1234:18) A sermon, preached to the Kings Mtie. at Whitehall, 24 Febr. 1625. By Iohn Donne Deane of Saint Pauls, London. And now by his Maiestes [sic] commandment published Donne, John, 1572-1631. [8], 50, [2] p. Printed [by Augustine Mathewes] for Thomas Iones, dwelling at the Blacke Rauen in the Strand, London : 1626. The year in the title is according to Lady Day dating, i.e. 1626. Printer's name from STC. The first leaf and the last leaf are blank. Also issued as part of: Five sermons upon speciall occasions. Reproduction of the original in the British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Sermons, English -- 17th century. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-05 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-06 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2002-06 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A SERMON , PREACHED TO THE KINGS M tie . AT WHITEHALL , 24. Febr. 1625. By IOHN DONNE Deane of Saint Pauls , London . And now by his Maiestes commandment Published . LONDON , Printed for THOMAS IONES , dwelling at the Blacke Rauen in the Strand . 1626. TO HIS SACRED MAIESTIE . MOST GRATIOVS SOVERAIGNE AMongst the many comforts of my Ministery , to the embracing wherof , Almightie God was pleased , to mooue the heart of your Maiesties blessed Father , of holy memory , to mooue mine , this is a great one , That your Maiesty is pleasd some times , not only to receiue into your selfe , but to returne , vnto others , my poore Meditations , and so by your gracious commandement of publishing them , to make your selfe as a Glasse , ( when the Sun it selfe is the Gospell of Christ Iesus ) to reflect , & cast them vpon your Subiects . It was a Metaphor in which , your Maiesties Blessed Father seemd to delight ; for in the name of a Mirroir , a Looking Glasse , he sometimes presented Himselfe , in his publique declarations & speeches to his People ; and a continued Metaphor is an Allegory , and holds in more . So your Maiestie doth more of the offices of such a Glasse ; You doe that office which Moses his Glasses did , at the Brazen Sea in the Temple , ( for you show others their spots , and in a Pious and vnspotted life of your owne , you show your Subiects their deficiences ) And you doe the other office of such Glasses , by this communicating to all , the beames which your Maiestie receiud in your selfe . Wee are in Times when the way to Peace is Warre , but my Profession leades not me to those Warres ; And wee are in Times when the Peace of the Church , may seeme to implore a kinde of Warre , of Debatements and Conferences in some points ; but my disposition leades mee not to that Warre neither . For in this Sermon , my onely purpose was , that no By-stander , should bee hurt , whilest the Fray lasted , with either Opinion . And that your Maiestie accepts it so your selfe , & so reflects it vpon others , I humbly beseech your Maiestie to accept also this Sacrifice of Thanksgiuing , for that , From Your Sacred Maiesties humblest Subiect , and Deuotedst Seruant and Chapleine . IOHN DONNE . ESAI . 50.1 . Thus sayth the Lord : Where is the Bill of your Mothers Diuorcement whom I haue put away ? Or which of my Creditors is it , to whom I haue sold you ? Behold , for your iniquities haue you sold your selues , and for your transgressions , is your Mother put away . ALL Lent is Easter Eue ; And though the Eue be a Fasting day , yet the Eue is halfe-holiday too . God , by our Ministery , would so exercise you in a spirituall Fast , in a sober consideration of sinne , and the sad Consequences thereof , as that in the Eue you might see the holy day ; in the Lent , your Easter ; in the sight of your sinnes , the cheerefulnesse of his good will towards you . Nay , in this Text , hee giues you your Easter before Lent , your Holyday before the Eue ; For first he rayses you to the sense of his goodnesse , Thus sayth the Lord , where is the bill of your mothers Diuorcement , whom I haue put away , Or which of my Creditors is it to whom I haue sold you ? And then , and not till then , he sinkes you , to the sence of your sinnes , and the dangers of them , Behold , for your iniquities you are sold , and for your transgressions , your Mother is put away . And this Raising , and this Sinking , are his Corks , and his Leads , by which God enables vs , whom hee hath made Fishers of Men , to cast out his nets , and draw in your soules . Haec dicit Dominus , Thus saith the Lord , sayes our Prophet here ; And , Semel locutus Deus , duo haec audini , sayes the Prophet Dauid , Once spake the Lord , and twice haue I heard him ; In one speach of the Lords , two instructions , in one peece of his Word , two directions . Thus saith the Lord , where is the Bill , &c. And in these words , some heare him once , some heare him say , That how desperate soeuer our case be , how irremediable soeuer our state , we our selfes , and not God , are the cause of that desperate irremediablenesse ; some heare him twice , some heare him say , There is no such matter , there is no such peremptory Diuorce , there is no such absolute sale , there is no such desperate irremediablenes declard to any particular conscience , as is imagind , but you , any , may returne to me , when you will , and I will receiue you . Some Expositors thinke they haue gone farre inough , when they haue raysed that sense , God is no cause of our perishing , though wee must perish , Others , ( and fairely ) carry it thus much farther , There is no necessitie that any Man , any this or that Man should perish . Some determine it in this , It is true , your Damnation is vnauoydable , but you must blame your selfes , Some extend it to this , There is no such avoidablenes in your damnation , and therefore you may comfort your selues , Once hath the Lord spoken , and twice doe we heare him ; we heare him once speaking for his owne honour , Hee does not damne vs , if wee bee damned , And wee heare him againe speaking for our comfort , we need not be damnd at all . And therefore , as God hath opened himselfe to vs , both wayes , let vs open both eares to him , and from one Text receiue both Doctrines . You may apprehend the parts easily , and as easily comprehend them ; They are few , and plaine , & of things agreed by all ; But two ; Those , these ; Gods dischardge , and Mans Dischardge ; Gods dischardge from all imputation of tyranny , Behold , for your sinnes you are sold , and for your transgressions your Mother is put away . And then Mans dischardge from the necessitie of perishing , Vbi iste libellus , Where is the Bill of your mothers diuorcement , whom I haue put away , Or which of my Creditors is it , to whom I haue sold you ? I might iustly haue done both , and left you without iust cause of complaint , but yet I haue not done it ; looke to your Bill of Diuorce , and looke to your bill of sale , and you will find the case to be otherwise . In each of these two parts , there will be some particular branches ; In the first , which is Gods discharge , first the Ecce , Behold , Behold this and this will fall vpon you ; first there is a light showd , there is a warning afforded , of those calamities , that will follow , God begins not at Iudgement , but at Mercie . That Mercy being despisd , It will come to a selling away , venditi estis , you are sold , And it will come to a putting away , Dimissa est , your Mother is put away ; For God may sell vs to punishments for sinne , that when the measure of our sinne is full , he shall emptie the measure of this Iudgements vpon vs , And God may sell vs to sinnes for punishments , God may make future sinnes , the punishments of former . And here may be a Diuorce , a putting away , out of Gods sight and seruice , in any particular soule , and there may be a putting away of your Mother , a withdrawing of Gods spirit from that Church , to whose breasts hee hath applied you . But if all this be done , it is not done out of any tyrannicall wantonnesse in God , for , For your iniquities you are sold , and for your transgressions is your Mother put away : So God is fully dischargd in the first part ; But , least in the second it should lye heauy vpon Man , ( for , howsoeuer God be dischargd , He does not kill me , though I dy , it is but poore comfort to me , if I must dye , to be told that I haue killd my selfe ) God tells me here , there is no such necessitie , I need not dye ; show the bill of Diuorce , sayes he , which makes your case so desperate , and see if I haue not left you wayes of returning to me , show the bill of Sale , which makes your state so irrecouerable , and see if I haue not left my selfe wayes of redeeming you . And in these few branches , of these two parts , I shall exercise your Deuotion , and holy patience , at this time . First then , for the first branch of the first part , the Ecce , Behold this will fall vpon you , Vpon those words of Dauid , Ecce intenderunt , Ecce parauerunt , Behold the wicked haue bent ther bow , and Behold they haue made ready their arrow , Origen saies , Ecce antequam vulneremur , monemur , Before our Enemies hit vs , God giues vs warning , that they meane to doe so . When God himselfe is so far incensd against vs , That he is turned to be our enemy , and to fight against vs , ( It was come to that , in this Prophet ) when he hath bent his how against vs , as an Enemy , ( It was come to that in the Prophet Ieremy ) yet still he giues vs warning before hand , and still there comes a lightning before his thunder : God comes seldome to that dispatch , a word and a blow , but to a blow without a word , to an execution without a warning , neuer . Cain tooke offence at his brother Abel ; The quarrell was Gods , because he had accepted Abels Sacrifice ; Therefore God ioynes himselfe to Abels partie ; and so the party being too strong for Cain to subsist , GOD would not surprise Cain , but he tells him his danger , Why is thy Countenance cast downe ; If thou doest not well , sinne lyes at thy dore : you may proceed if you will , but if you will needs , you will loose by it at last . Saul persecutes Christ in the Christians ; Christ meets him vpon the way , speakes to him , strikes him to the ground , telles him vocally , and tels him actually , That he hath vndertaken too hard a worke , in opposing him : This which GOD did to Saul reduces him ; that which God did to Cain , wrought not vpon him ; but still GOD went his owne way in both , to speake before hee strikes , to lighten before he thunders , to warne before he wounds . In Dathan and Abirams case , God may seeme to proceede apace towards Execution , but yet it had all these pauses in arrest of iudgement , & these reprieues before Execution . First , when Moses had information & evidence of their factious Proceeding , hee falls not vpon them , but he falls vpon his face before GOD , and laments , and deprecates in their behalfe . Hee calls them to a faire tryall , and examination , the next day , To morrow the Lord will show , who are his , and are holy ; And they sayd , we will not come ; And againe , ( which implies that Moses cited them againe ) we will not come . Then GOD , vpon their contumacy , when they would stand mute , and not plead , takes a resolution , to consume them , in a Moment ; And then , Moses & Aaron returne to petition for thē , O God , the God of the spirits of all flesh , shall one Man sinne , and wilt thou bee wroth with the whole Congregation ; And Moses went vp to them againe , And the Elders of Israel followed , and all preuaild not : And then Moses comes to pronounce Iudgement , These men shall not dye a common death , and after , and yet not presently after that he gaue iudgement , Execution followd , The earth opened and swallowd them : but God begun not there ; God opened his Mouth , and Moses his , and Aaron his , and the Elders theirs , before the Earth opened hers . It is our case in the Text ; For , whether this Iudgement wrapt vp in the text , This selling away , and this putting away , haue relation to the Captiuitie of the Iewes in Babylon , before Christ , or to the Dispertion of the Iewes since Christ , ( some Expositors take it one , some the other way ) still it is of a future thing : The Prophecie came before the Calamitie , whersoeuer you pitch it ; wheresoeuer you pitch it , stil there was a lightning before the thunder , a word before the blow , a warning before the wound . In which , as we see , that God alwaies leaues a latitude , between his Sentence , and the Execution , ( for that Interim , is Sphaera actiuitatis , the Spheare , in which our Repentance and his Mercy moue , and direct themselues in a benigne aspect , towards one another , so where this repentance is deferd , and this Mercie neglected , the execution is so certaine , so infallible , as that , though this in the Text , be intended for a future Iudgement , a future Captiuitie , a future Dispersion , yet in the Text it is presented as present , nay , more then so , as past , and executed alreadie ; it is venditi estis , you are sold , sold alreadie , and Dimissa Mater , your Mother is put away , put away already . All gathers and con-centers it selfe in this , Gods Iudgements and executions are not sodaine , there is alwayes roome for Repentance , and Mercie , but his iudgements and Executions are certaine , there is no roome for Presumption nor Collusion . To pursue then the Holy Ghosts two Metaphors , of selling away , and putting away , First , venditi estis , sayes our Prophet to the Iewes , and to all , Behold , you are sold ; And so they were ; sold thrice ouer ; sold by Adam first ; sold by themselues euery day ; and at last , sold by God. For the first generall sale by Adam , wee complaine now , that Land will not sell ; that 20. is come to 15. yeares purchase ; but doe wee not take too late a Medium , too low a time to reckon by ? How cheape was Land at first , how cheape were we ? what was Paradise sold for ? What was Heauen , what was Mankinde sold for ? Immortalitie was sold and what yeares Purchase was that worth ? Immortalitie is our Eternitie ; God hath another manner of eternitie in him ; He hath a whole eternall day ; an eternall afternoone , and an eternall forenoone too ; for as he shall haue no end , so hee neuer had beginning ; we haue an eternall afternoone in our immortalitie ; we shall no more see an end , then God hath seene a beginning ; and Millions of yeares , multiplied by Millions , make not vp a Minute to this Eternitie , this Immortalitie . When Diues values a droppe of water at so high a price , what would he giue for a Riuer ? How poore a Clod of of Earth is a Mannor ? how poore an inch , a Shire ? how poore a spanne , a Kingdome ? how poore a pace , the whole World ? and yet how prodigally we sell Paradise , Heauen , Soules , Consciences , Immortalitie , Eternitie , for a few Graines of this Dust ? What had Eue for Heauen ; so little , as that the Holy Ghost wil not let vs know , what she had , not what kinde of Fruite ; yet something Eue had . What had Adam for Heauen ? but a satisfaction that hee had pleasd an Ill wife , as St. Hierome states his fault , that he eate that Fruite , Ne contristaretur Delicias suas , least he should cast her , whom he lou'd so much , into an inordinate deiection ; but if he satisfied her , and his owne Vxoriousnesse , any satisfaction is not nothing . But what had I for Heauen ? Adam sinnd , and I suffer ; I forfeited before I had any Possession , or could claime any Interest ; I had a Punishment , before I had a being , And God was displeased with me before I was I ; I was built vp scarse 50. years ago , in my Mothers womb , & I was cast down , almost 6000. years agoe , in Adams loynes ; I was borne in the last Age of the world , and dyed in the first . How & how iustly do we cry out against a Man , that hath sold a Towne , or sold an Army . And Adam sold the World. He sold Abraham , and Isaac and Iacob , and all the Patriarchs , and all the Prophets . He sold Peter , and Paul , and both their Regiments , both the glorious Hemispheres of the World , The Iewes , and the Gentiles . He sold Euangelists , and Apostles , and Disciples , and the Disciple whom the Lord loued , & the beloued Mother of the Lord , her selfe , say what they will to the contrary . And if Christ had not prouided for himfelfe , by a miraculous Generation , Adam had sold him : If Christ had bene conceiud in Originall sinne , hee must haue dyed for himselfe , nay , he could not haue dyed for himselfe , but must haue needed another Sauiour . It is in that Contemplation , as hee was descended from Adam , that St. Paul sayes of himselfe , Venundatus , I am caruall , sold vnder sinne . For though St. Augustine , and some others of the Fathers , doe sometimes take the Apostle , in that place , to speake of himselfe , as in the person of a naturall Man , ( that euery Man considerd in nature , is sold vnder sinne , but the Supernaturall , the Sanctified Man is not so ) yet St. Augustine himselfe , in his latest , and grauest Bookes , and particularly in his Retractions , returnes to this sense of these words , That no man , in what measure soeuer Sanctified , can so emancipate himselfe from that Captiuitie , to which Adam hath enthralld him , but that , as hee is enwrapped in Originall sinne , hee is solde vnder sinne . And both S. Hierome , and S. Ambrose , ( both which , seeme in other places , to goe an other way , That onely they are sold vnder sinne , which haue abandond , and prostituted themselues to particular sinnes , ) doe yet returne to this sense , That because the Embers , the Spaune , the leauen of Origiginall sinne , remaines , by Adams sale , in the best , the best are sold vnder sinne . So the Iewes were , and so were we sold by Adam , to Originall sinne , very cheape ; but in the second sale , as wee are sold to actuall , and habituall sinnes , by our selues , cheaper ; for so , sayes this Prophet , You haue sold your selues for nothing : Our selues , that is all our selues ; or bodies to intemperance , and ryot , and licenciousnes , and our soules to a greedines of sinne ; and all this for nothing , for sinne it selfe , for which wee sell our selues , is but a priuation , and priuations are nothing . What fruit had you of those things , whereof you are now ashamed , sayes the Apostle ; here is Barrennesse and shame ; Barrennesse is a priuation of fruit , shame is a priuation of that confidence , which a good Conscience administers , and when the Apostle tells them , they sold themselues for barrennesse and shame , it was for priuations , for nothing . The Adulterer waits for the twy-light , sayes Iob. The Twy-light comes , & serues his turne ; and sin , to night looks like a Purchase , like a Treasure ; but aske this sinner to morrow , and he hath sold himselfe for nothing ; for debility in his limnes , for darkenesse in his vnderstanding , for emptinesse in his purse , for absence of grace in his Soule ; and Debilitie , and Darkenes , and emptinesse , and Absence , are priuations , and priuations are nothing . All the name of Substance or Treasure that sinne takes , is that in the Apostle , The saurizastis Iram Dei , You haue treasurd vp the wrath of God , against the day of wrath : And this is a fearefull priuation , of the grace of God here , and of the Face of God hereafter ; a priuation so much worse then nothing , as that they vpon whom it falls , would faine be nothing , and cannot . So then we were sold , so cheape by Adam , to Originall , and cheaper by our selues , to Actuall Sinne , but cheapest of all , when we come to be sold by God ; For he giues vs away , casts vs away , deliuers vs ouer , to punishments for sinne , and to sin for punishment ; God makes Sinne it selfe his executioner in vs , and future sinnes , are the punishments of former . As some Schoolemasters haue vsd that Discipline , to correct the Children of great Persons , whose personall correction they finde reason to forbeare , by correcting other Children in their names , and in their sight , and haue wrought vpon good Natures , that way , So did Almightie God correct the Iewes in the Aegyptians ; for the ten plagues of Aegypt , were as Moses Decem Verba , as the ten Commandements to Israel , that they should not prouoke GOD. Euery Iudgement that falls vpon another , should be a Catechisme to me . But when this Discipline preuaild not vpon them , God sold them away , gaue them away , cast them away , in the tempest , in the whirlewinde , in the inundation of his indignation , and scatterd them as so much dust in a windy day , as so many broken strawes vpon a wrought Sea. With one word , One Fiat , ( Let there bee a world , ) nay with one thought of God cast toward it , ( for Gods speaking in the Creation , was but a thinking , ) God made all of Nothing . And is any one rationall Ant , ( The wisest Phylosopher is no more ) Is any roaring Lyon , ( the most ambitious and deuouring Prince is no more ) Is any hiue of Bees , ( The wisest Councels , and Parliaments are no more ) Is any of these so estabishd , as that , that God who by a word , by a thought , made them of nothing , cannot by recalling that word , and withdrawing that thought , in sequestring his Prouidence , reduce them to nothing againe ? That Man , that Prince , that State thinks Past-board Canon-proofe , that thinkes Power , or Policy a Rampart , when the Ordinance of God is planted against it . Nauyes will not keepe off Nauies , if God be not the Pilot , Nor Walles keepe out Men , if God be not the Sentinell . If they could , if wee were walld with a Sea of fire and brimstone without , and walld with Brasse within , yet we cannot ciel the Heauens with a roofe of Brasse , but that God can come downe in Thunder that way , Nor paue the Earth with a floare of Brasse , but that God can come vp in Earthquakes that way . God can call vp Damps , & Vapors from below , and powre down putride defluxions from aboue , and bid them meet and condense into a plague , a plague that shall not be onely vncureable , vncontrollable , vnexorable , but vndisputable , vnexaminable , vnquestionable ; A plague that shall not onely not admit a remedy , when it is come , but not giue a reason how it did come . If God had not set a marke vpon Cain , euery Man , any Man , any thing might haue killd him . Hee apprehended that of himselfe , and was afraid , when we know of none , by name , in the world , but his Father , and Mother : But , as Saint Heirome exalts this consideration , Cains owne Consciēnce tells him , Catharma sum , Anathema sum , I am the plague of the world , and I must dye , to deliuer it Catharma sum . I am a separated Vagabond , not an Anachorit shut vp betweene two walls , but shut out from all , Anathema sum . As long as the Cherubim , and the fiery Sword is at the Gate , Adam cannot returne to Paradise ; as long as the Testimonies of GODS anger lye at the dore of the Conscience , no man can returne to peace there . If God sell away a Man , giue him away , giue way to him , by withdrawing his Prouidence , he shall but neede ( as the Prophet sayes ) Sibilare Muscam , to hisse , to whisper for the Fly , for the Bee , for the Hornet , for Forraigne Incumbrances ; nay , hee shall not neede to hisse , to whisper for them ; for at home , Locusts shall swarme in his Gardens , and Frogs in his bed-chamber , & hailstones , as big as talents , ( as they are measured in the Reuelation ) shall breake , as well the couerd , and the armd , as the bare , & naked head ; as well the Mytred , and the Turband , & the crownd head , that lifts it selfe vp against GOD , lyes open to him , as his that must not put on his Hat , as his that hath no Hat to put on ; when as that head , which being exalted here , submits itselfe to that GOD , that exalted it , GOD shall crowne , with multiplied crownes here , and hauing so crownd that head with Crownes here , hee shall crowne those crownes , with the Head of all , Christ Iesus , and all that is his , hereafter . If God sell vs away to punishments for sinne , it is thus , but if God sell vs to sinne for punishment , it is worse . For , when God , by the Prophet , offered Dauid , his choise of three Executioners , warre , famine , and pestilence , if all these three had taken hold of him , it had not beene so heauy , as when God , had sold him ouer , giuen him away , into the hands of an Executioner in his owne bosome , The studying and the plotting of the prosecution of his sinne . When God made Murther , in the death of Vriah , his Bayliffe , to attach Dauid for his Adultery , And made Blasphemy , in the triumphant Armie of the Gentils , his Bayliffe , to attache Dauid for his Murther , And then made impenitence , and a long sencelesnes in his sinne , his Bayliffe to attach Dauid , for that blasphemy , then was Dauid sold , vnder a dangerous sub-hastation , then lay Dauid vnder a heauie Execution . Let me fall into the hands of God , and not of Man , sayes Dauid ; Betweene God and Man , in this case , there may be some kinde of comparison , But would any sinner say , Let me fall into the hands of the Deuill , and not of Man , rather into more sins , then some punishments . Dauid himselfe could not conceiue a more vehement prayer and imprecation , vpon his , and his Gods Enemies , then that , Add Iniquity to their Iniquity ; Nor hath the Holy Ghost any where exprest a more vehement commination , then that vpon Ierusalem , ( as the vulgat reades that place ) Iniquitatem , Iniquitatem , Iniquitatem ponam eam ; Which is not Gods multiplying of punishments for sin , but his multiplying of sin it selfe vpon them , till he had made them all Iniquity , all sin . For this is , ( in a great part ) that which the Apostle calls , Gods giuing ouer to a reprobate sence ; to mistake false , and miserable comforts for true comforts ; to mollifie and asswage the anguish of one sinne , by doing another ; to maintaine prodigality , by Vsury , or Extortion ; to ouercome the inordinate deiections of spirit , with a false cheerefulnesse and encantation from strong drinke : In one word , ( as the wise man expresses it ) to call great plagues peace ; To smother sinne from the eye of the world , or to slumber the eye of our owne conscience from the sight of sinne , by interposing more sinnes . And farther , we carrie not this first Metaphor of the Holy Ghost , Venditi estis , You are sold , for , for the deeper impression , he presses it with another , Dimissa est , for your transgressions , your Mother is put away . And here in the way , we consider first Dimissam animam , Gods putting away of the Daughter , of any particular soule . And his putting away of such a soule , is his leauing of that soule to it selfe ; when God will not come so neere louing it , as to hate it , nor giue it so much peace , as to trouble it . For , as long as God punishes me , hee giues me Phisick ; if he draw his knife , it is but to prune his Vine , and if hee draw blood , it is but to rectifie a distemper : If God breake my bones , it is but to set them strayter , And if hee bruse me in a Morter , it is but that I might exhale , and breath vp a sweet sauor , in his nosethrils : I am his handy-worke , and if one hand be vnder me , let the other lye as heauie , as he shall be pleased to lay it , vpon me ; let God handle me how he will , so hee cast mee not out of his hands : I had rather God frownd vpon mee , then not looke vpon me ; and I had rather God pursued mee , then left mee to my selfe . It is the heighth of his indignation , O people laden with iniquity , why should ye be smitten any more ? Why should I study your recouery any longer ? Vox est animi non habentis in promptu , quid statuat , et desperantis salutem ; When God sayes so , sayes S. Basil , he is as a Father who had tried all wayes to reduce his sonne , and fayld in all , and then leaues him to his owne desperate wayes ; This is the worst that God doth say , ( we may say , that God can say ) which he sayes in Ezech. Auferam zelum , My iealousie shall depart from thee , and I will he quiet , and be no more angry : God is most angry , when hee lets not vs know , that hee is so . And then , Refuse siluer shall men call thee , because the Lord hath reiected thee , sayes the Prophet ; Though thou mayest haue some tincture of a precious mettall , fortune , power , valour , wisedome , yet Refuse siluer shalt thou be , and more , Refuse mettall shall men call thee , ( for Men are often worse , then men dare call them ) because the Lord hath reiected thee . Cain cryes our , that his punishment is greater then hee can beare ; and what 's the waight ? This ; From thy Face shall I be hid ; It is not that GOD would not looke graciously vpon him , but that GOD would not looke at all vpon him . Infinite , and infinitely desperate are the effects of Gods putting away a soule ; but we wait vpon the Holy Ghosts farther enlargement of this consideration , Dimissa Mater , for the Childrens transgressions , the Mother is put away . This Mother , is the Church ; that Church , to whose breasts GOD hath applyed that Soule ; and Gods putting away of this Mother , is ( as it was in the Daughter ) his leauing her to her selfe . So these imaginary Churches , that will receiue no light from Antiquitie , nor Primitiue formes , GOD leaues to themselues , and they crumble into Conuenticles : And that Church , which will needes be the Forme to all Churches , God leaues to her selfe , to her owne Traditions , and Shee swells into tumors , and vlcers , and blisters . And when any Church is thus left to her selfe , deuested of the Spirit of GOD , then follow heauie Symptomes , and Accidents ; That which is forbidden in the Law , That Men that haue blemishes , offer the Bread of our God ; Men blemished in their Opinions , in their Doctrine , blemishd in their Lifes , in their Conuersation , are admitted to Sacrifice at Gods Altar . Then followes that which is complaind of in Ieroboams time , The lowest of the People , and whosoeuer will , shall bee made Priests ; Contemptible men shall bee made Priests ; and so the Priesthood shall bee made Contemptible . Then followes that which the Prophet Ose sayes , The Prophet shall be a Foole , and the Spirituall Man madde ; Madde , as Saint Hierome translates that word , Arreptitius , possest ; possest with an aery spirit of ambition , and an Earthly Spirit of Seruilitie , And a watrie Spirit of Irresolution , and dispossest of the true Spirit of Holy fire , the Zeale of the exaltation of Gods glory . There is a Curse in remoouing but the Can●lesticke ; That the Light shall not bee in that eminency , and euidence , that becomes it , but that some faint shadowes , some Corner Disguises , some Temporizings , some Modifications must be admitted . There is a heauier Curse , in weakning the Eye of the beholder , when ( as this Prophet sayes ) God shall make hearts fatt , and eares deafe , and eyes blinde ; There shall bee Light , but you shall not see by it , there shall be good Preaching , but you shall not profit by it . But the greatest Curse of all , is in putting out the Light , when GOD blinds the Teachers themselues : For , If the light that is in thee bee darkenesse , how great is that darkenesse ? This is that Potestas tenebrarum , when power is put into their hands , who are possest with this darkenesse . And this is that Procella tenebrarum , The storme of darkenesse , The blackenesse of Darkenesse , ( as we Translate it ) when darkenes , & power , and passion meete in one Man. And to these fearefull heights may the sinnes of the Children bring the Mother , That that Church , which now enioyes so aboundantly Truth and Vnitie , may bee poysoned with Heresie , and wounded with Schisme , and yet GOD bee free from all imputation of Tyranny . And so wee haue done with all those peeces which constitute our First Part , Gods Dischardge ; His Mercy in his Ecce , that hee warnes vs of his Iudgements before they fall ; And his Iustice , in his Proceeding , though after wee bee solde cheape by Adam , to Originall sinne , ( So Saint Paul sayes , He was sold vnder sinne , ) And Cheaper by our selues , to actuall sinnes , for Nothing , for Priuations , ( So the Prophet told Ahab that hee was sold to sinne , ) God also Sell vs away , Cast vs away , To Punishments for sinnes , ( So hee did the Israelites , ) and then to sinnes for punishments , ( So hee did Dauid , and so hee did Ierusalem , ) and though hee come to a Diuorce , of Daughter and Mother , of our Soules in particular , and the Church it selfe in generall . Wee are descended to our second part , Mans discharge ; That , not disputing what God , of his absolute power might doe , nor what by his vnreueald Decree hee hath done , God hath not allowd me , nor thee , nor any to conclude against our selues , a necessity of perishing . May this seeme an impertinent part in a Court ? To suspect that any here , are too much afraid of God ; or too much deiected with the sense of their sinnes , or his iudgements ? Are sinnes of presumption rather to be feared here , then sinnes of desperation ? It hath a faire probability . But , all the Lent , wee prepare Men for the Sacrament . And , as Casuists , we say , Sacramentum , & articulus Mortis aequiparantur , We consider a Man , at the Sacrament , as at his death-bed : and , vpon our Death-beds , wee are likelyer to be attempted with sinnes of Deiection , then of presumption . And so , ( though in a Court , ) if you will be content to thinke of a death-bed in a Court , ( and God hath taken wayes , to awaken those thoughts in you ) it may be pertinent , and seasonable , to establish you now , against those deiections , and diffidences , which may offer at you then . T is true then , there may be a selling , there may be a putting away , but hath not God reserued to himselfe a power of reuocation in both , in all cases ? Audisti repudium , Crede coniugium , Is sweetly , and safely said by St. Ambrose : As often as thy thoughts fall vpon a fearefulnesse of a Diuorce from thy God , establish thy selfe with that comfort , of a Mariage to thy God ; for the words of his Contracts , are , Sponsabo te mihi in aeternum . There can be no Diuorce imagined , if there were not a mariage ; and if there be a mariage With God , there can be no Diuorce , for sponsat in aeternum , hee marries for euer . Can God doe so , forsake for euer ? The Crowe went out of the Arke , and came no more ; The Doue went , and came againe , and came with an Oliue branch . God may absent himselfe , that he may be sought ; but hee comes againe , and with the Oliue of peace . Zion said , The Lord hath forsaken mee , and my Lord hath forgotten me . Why will Zion say so ? sayes God. Can Zion say , My Lord , my Lord , hath forgotten mee ? Can shee remember that GOD is hers , and not thinke that shee is his ? Can shee remember him , and thinke that hee hath forgotten her ? Can Zion retaine her bowels of piety , and thinke that GOD is disembowelled of his ? GOD calls her not to Nationall examples ; to how low conditions hee came , in the behalfe of Sodome ; what he did for Nineue ; what he did for Zion her selfe in Aegipt , but hee carries her home to her owne breast , and her owne Cradle , and onely askes her that question , Can a Mother forget her sucking Childe ? And hee stayes not her answere , nor assures himselfe of a good answere from her , but adds himselfe , Yes , a Mother may forget her sucking Childe , yet I will not forget thee . Can GOD doe it ? Did GOD euer doe it ? Did he euer put away without possibility of reassuming ? when ? where ? whom ? Israel ? the ten Tribes ? Yet euen to them , sayes Ieremy , After they had done all this , GOD said , turne vnto me , and they would not turne : And then , God put her away , and sent her a bill of Diuorce , and neuer re-assumd her , neuer brought backe the ten Tribes from their dispersion . T is true , in a whole and entire body , GOD neuer brought them backe , but in many faire and Noble Peeces , they came when Iudah came ; for , from that place of Ezra , where there is an entire number in grosse exhibited of all that returnd from Babylon , and then the particular Numbers also exhibited , of the Tribes and families that returnd , because those particular Numbers doe not make vp the generall Number , by many thousands , the Hebrew Rabbins argue fairely ; and conclude probably , that those Supernumerary thousands , which are inuolued in the generall Number , and are not compris'd in the particulars , were such , as from the other ten Tribes , in the returne of Iudah , adher'd to Iudah ; who are so often said neuer to haue return'd , because in a body , & Magistracy of their own , otherwise then as they incorporated them selues in Iudah , they neuer returnd : but God neuer put them away so , but that he offred them returne , and in a great part effected it . I knowe how friuolous a tale that is , That Saint Gregorie drew Tratans soule out of Hell , after it was there ; and I know , how groundlesse an opinion it is , that is ascrib'd to Origen , that at last , the Deuill shall be sau'd ; but if they could perswade mee one halfe , that Traian , or that the Deuill came to Repentance in hell , I should not be hard , in beleeuing the other halfe , that they might be deliuered out of hell . What meane you , sayes God Almighty , that yee , vse this Prouerbe , The Fathers haue eate soure herbes , and the childrens teeth are set on edge ? Doe ye meane , that because your Fathers haue sinn'd , you must perish ? Why neither his parents haue sinn'd , nor hee , sayes Christ , of the Man borne blinde , but all is , that the worke of God might he made manifest ; Neither haue thy parents sinn'd , nor thou thy selfe sinn'd so , as that there should be a necessity in thy perishing , but that thereby there might be the greater manifestation of Gods mercie , that where sinne hath abounded , grace might abound much more . If therefore thy tender Conscience , and thy startling Soule , mis-imagine the hearing of that voice , Depart thou sinner , a voyce of Diuorce , a voyce that bidds thee , goe , Say thou with Peter , to his and thy Sauiour , Domine quo Ibimus ? Lord whither shall I goe ? thou hast the Word of Eternall life , and wee beleeue and are sure , that thou art that Christ , the Sonne of the liuing God ; And that Christ , the Sonne of the liuing GOD , will call thee backe , and call backe his owne VVord , and finde Error , holy Error , occasion of repenting his owne proceeding , in his Bill of Diuorce ; to which purpose hee calls vpon thee here to produce that Bill , Vbi iste libellus , Where is the Bill , &c. First then , Vbi libellus , where is this Bill , vpon what doe yee ground this ielousie and suspition in God , that hee should Diuorce you ? First , it is in the Originall , Sepher ; that which is called a Bill , is a Booke ; It must bee GODS whole Booke , and not a fewe mis-vnderstood Sentences out of that Booke , that must try thee . Thou must not presse heauily to thine owne damnation euery such Sentence , Stipendium peccati Mors est That the reward of sinne is death ; Nor the Impossibile est , That it is impossible for him that falls after Grace to bee renewd ; That which must try thee is the whole Booke , the tenor and purpose , the Scope and intention of GOD in his Scriptures . His Booke is a Testament ; and in the Testament , the Testator is dead , and dead for thee ; And would that GOD that would dye for thee , Diuorce thee ? His Booke is Euangelium , Gospell ; and Gospell is good tydings , a gracious Messadge ; And would God pretend to send thee a gracious Messadge , and send thee a Diuorce ? GOD is Loue , and the Holy Ghost is amorous in his Metaphors ; euerie where his Scriptures abound with the notions of Loue , of Spouse , and Husband , and Marriadge Songs , and Marriadge Supper , and Marriadge-Bedde . But for words of Separation , and Diuorce , of Spirituall Diuorce for euer , of any soule formerly taken in Marriadge , this very word Diuorce , is but twice read in the Scriptures ; once in this Text ; and heere God dis-auowes it ; For when hee sayes , Where is the Bill , hee meanes there is no such Bill ; And the other place is that which wee mentioned before , when after they had done all , GOD calld Israel all together backe , and effectually , in a faire part , and his principall purpose in that Diuorce of Israel , was to intimidate , and warne her Sister Iudah from the like prouocations . Surely a good Spirit mooued our last Translators of the Bible , to depart from all Translations which were before them , in reading that place of Malachi thus , The Lord the God of Israel saith , that hee hates putting away . Whereas all other Translations , both Vulgat , and Vulgar , And in Vulgar , and in Holy Tongues , The Septuagint , the Chalde , all , read that place thus , If a man hate her , let him put her away , ( which induced a facility of diuorces ) our Translators thought it more conformable to the Originall , and to the wayes of God , to read it thus , The Lord the God of Israel saith , that hee hates putting away . Euery where in the Scriptures , we meet with Gods venites , in euery Prophets mouth , inuitations to come vnto God ; There is a venite de circuitu , Come , though you come from compassing the Earth , which is Satans perambulation ; though you haue walkd in his wayes , yet come vnto God. There is a Venite non habentes , Come and buy , though you haue no money ; though you haue no Merits of your own , come , and dilate your measures , and fill them according to that dilatation , with the merits of Christ Iesus . There is a venite et reuertimini , Come , though your comming be but a returning ; be not ashamed of comming , though your returning be a confessing of a former running away ; come in a repentance , though you cannot come in an innocencie ; There is a Venite & consolamini , How heauie so euer the fetters of your owne sinnes , or the chaines of Gods iudgements lye vpon you , come and receiue ease here , change your yoke , for an easier , if you cannot deuest it . There is a venite & consulite , If you finde it hard to come , or if you finde an easinesse to fall backe , though you doe come , come to consult with God , how you may come , so , as you may stay , when you are come . Nay , there is a venite & arguite , Come and reason with God , argne , plead , dispute , expostulate with God , come vpon any conditions : The venite is multiplied , infinite inuitations to come ; but the Ite maledicti , Depart ye accursed , is but once heard from Gods mouth , and that not in this world neither ; as long as wee are in this world , God hates putting away . And therefore God calls for the bill , and God calls the bill a booke , that thou mightst not vexe thy soule , with mistaken sentences , but relie vpon the establishment of Gods purpose in the whole booke , which is that he hates putting away . If the euidence pressed by thine owne pressures , heighthned by thine owne deiections , exalted by thine owne sinking , grow strong against thee , that thou canst not quench the iealousie , nor deuest the scruple of such a Diuorce , doe but consider , who should occasion , who should enduce it ; It must be God , or thy selfe : Though the Iewes put away their wiues , not onely for the wiues fault , but for the husbands frowardnesse , thou hast had too good experience of Gods patience , to charge him with that : If it be done , it is thy fault ; and if thou acknowledge that , it is not done ; for it is neuer done so irreuocably , but the confessing of the fault , cancels and auoydes it . Releeue thy selfe by reflecting vpon some of those circumstances , Essentiall circumstances , which were required in their bills of Diuorce , and without which , those bills were voyde , and see if those be in thine ; for though wee haue not these circumstances , in that place of Scripture , where Diuorce is permitted , yet in the ordinarie practise of the Iewes abroad , and in the bookes of formes and precedents , which their Rabbins haue collected , wee haue them expressed . They are many , and many impertinent ; wee will but name , and but a few , such as best admit application , and most conduce to the triall of thy case . First , a man might not produce a bill written in priuate , in the husbands bed-chamber , but he must goe to a Scribe , to a publique Notary , to an authorizd Officer . Vbi iste libellus ? Where is this bill of thy Diuorce ? Thou must not looke for it , in Gods bed-chamber , in his vnreueal'd Decrees in heauen , but in his publique Records , his Scriptures : If from thence thou pretend to produce any thing that conuinces thy sad soule , goe to them , to whom God hath committed the dispensation thereof , and there thou mayest receiue consolation , when thine owne priuate misinterpretation might misleade thee . Againe , the wife , how guilty so euer in her owne conscience , might not take her selfe to be put away , except the husband had expresly giuen her a Bill of Diuorce ; Hath thy Husband ; thy God done so ; Vbi est libellus ? Consider the bill , that is , the booke of God , and see if it be not full of such protestations , Viuo ego , As I liue , saith the Lord , I would not the death of any sinner , nor the departing of any soule . So also these bills must be well testified , with vnreproachable witnesses ; Vbi iste libellus ? Hath thy bill such witnesses ? who be they ? Inordinate deiection of spirit , irreligious sadnesse ; Iealousie of the anger , distrustfulnesse of the mercy , diffidence in the promises of the Gospell ; Are these witnesses to be heard against God ? God calls heauen and earth to witnesse , that hee hath offered thee thy choise of life or death ; but that he hath thrust death vpon thee , there is no witnesse . Thy conscience is a thousand witnesses ? It is , that thou hast committed a thousand sinnes ; and it is , that thou hast receiued a thousand blessings ; but of an eternall decree of thy diuorce , thy conscience , ( thus misinformd can be no witnesse , for thou wast not call'd to the making of those decrees . Those Bills were also to be authentically seald : Vbi iste Libellus ? Hath thy imaginary Bill of Diuorce , and euerlasting seperation from GOD , any Seale from him ? GOD hath giuen thee Seales of his Mercie , in both his Sacraments ; Seales in White , and Seales in Redde Waxe ; Seales in the participation of the candor and innocencie of his Sonne , in thy Baptisme , and Seales in the participation of his Body and Bloud , in the other ; But Seales of Reprobation at first , or of irreuocable Separation now , there are none from GOD : No Calamitie , not Temporall , no not Spirituall ; No Darkenesse in the Vnderstanding , no Scruple in the Conscience , no Perplexitie in the resolution ; Not a Sodaine Death , not a Shamefull Death , not a stupide , not a raging Death , must bee to thy selfe by the way , or may bee to vs , who may see thine Ende , an Euidence , a Seale , of Eternall Reprobation , or of finall Seperation . Almightie God blesse vs all , from all these in our selues ; but his blessed Spirit blesse vs to , from making any of these , when hee , in his vnsearchable wayes , to his vnsearchable endes , shall suffer them to fall vpon any other , seales of such Seperation in them . Though wee may not enlardge our selues to far , in these Circumstances , another was , That the Names of the Parties must bee set downe , and of both the Parties Parents , and those to the third Generation ; The Sonne and Daughter of such , and such , and such . Vbi iste Libellus ? Findst thou in thy Bill , the three Descents , the three Generations , ( if we may so say ) of thy God ? A Holy Ghost proceeding from a Sonne , And a Sonne begott●en by a Father ? Findest thou the God of thy Consolation , the God of thy Redemption , the God of thy Creation , and canst thou produce a God of Diuorce , of Separation , out of these ? Findest thou thine own three Descents , as thou wast the Son of Dust , of Nothing , And the Sonne of Adam , reduced to nothing , And then the Sonne of God in Christ , in whom thou art all things ; and canst thou thinke that that GOD who married thee in the honse of dust , and marryed thee in the house of infirmitie , and Diuorcd thee not then , ( hee made thee not no Creature , nor hee made thee not no Man , ) hauing now marryed thee in the House of Power , and of Peace , in the body of his Sonne , the Church , will now Diuorce thee ? Lastly , to ende this consideration of Diuorces , If the Bill were interlinde , or blotted , or dropt , the Bill was voyd . Vbi Libellus ? What place of Scripture soeuer thou pretend , that place is enterlinde ; enterlinde by the Spirit of God himselfe , with Conditions , and Limitations , and Prouisions , If thou repent , If thou returne ; and that enterlining destroies the Bill . Looke also if this Bill be not dropt vpon , and blotted ; The venim of the Serpent is dropt vpon it , The Wormwood of thy Desperation , is dropt vpon it , The Gall of thy Melancholly is dropt vpon it , and that voydes the Bill . If thou canst not discerne these drops before , drop vpon it nowe ; Drop the teares of true compunction , drop the bloud of thy Sauiour , and that voyds the Bill : And through that Spectacle , the bloud of thy Sauiour , looke vpon that Bill , and thou shalt see , that that Bill was nayld to the Crosse when he was naylde , and torne when his body was torne , and that hath cancelld the bill . Oppresse not thy selfe with what GOD may doe , of his absolute power , God hath no where told thee , that hee hath done any such thing as an ouertender Conscience may mis-imagine , from this Metaphore of Diuorcing , nor from the other , ( which beggs leaue for one word , by way of Conclusion ) Selling away ; Which of my Creditors is it , to whom I haue sold you ? As Christ in his Parable comprehends all excuses , and all backwardnesses in the following of him , in those two , Marriage and Purchasing , ( for one had bought Land and stocke , and another had married a Wife ) So God expresses his loue to Man , in these two too , Hee hath married vs , he hath bought vs ; that so he might take in all dispositions , and worke vpon Vxorious Men , men soupled and entendred with Matrimoniall loue , and vpon worldly men , men kneaded and plaistred with earthly loue : Hee hath Married vs , hee will not Diuorse , He hath bought vs , he will not sell ; For who can giue so much as he payd ? Doe yee thus requite the Lord , O yee foolish people ? Is not he your Father that hath bought you ? And will you suspect your Father ? Yes , sayes this Disconsolate Soule , Fathers might sell their Children ; and my Father , my GOD hath sold me . T is true , Fathers might sell their Children ; Amongst the Gentiles they might ; for matter of Law , for matter of Fact , their Bookes are full of Euidence . Amongst the Iewes they might , till a Iubile redeemd them . Amongst the Christians they might , and for euer . Saint Ambrose found the World in possession of that vnnaturall Custome , and lamented it : Vidi miserabile spectaculum , sayes he , liberos haeredes calamitatis , qui nec participes successionis : The Children , sayes hee , inherit the Calamity , but not the Lands of their Fathers , when they were solde to maintaine them , who had wastefully sold , that which was to maintaine them all : And Saint Ambrose induces the Creditor making his Claime , Mea nutriti pecunia , This Childe was nourced , and brought vp with my Money , and belongs to mee . Constantine found this , and amended it ; enacted and constituted that it should be no more done ; and canst thou imagine such a hard-heartednes in GOD , as Saint Ambrose should neede to lament , or Constantin neede to correct ? Quis Creditor , sayes GOD , Which of my Creditors is it , to whom I haue sold you ? As in the Bill of Diuorce , so in this bill of sale , we aske who should occasion it ? A Father might sell , for his Sonnes fault , or for his owne necessitie ; but in no other case . If thou say it is done for thy fault , it is not done ; that implies a Confession , and a Repentance , and that auoydes all ; but if thou imagine a sale for thy Fathers necessitie , Quis Creditor , sayes hee , Which of my Creditors , &c. Adam brought GOD in Debt , to Death , to Satan , to Hell ; in Iustice , GOD ought all mankinde to them ; but then at one payment hee payd more , in the death of his Sonne Christ Iesus : And now , Quis Creditor ? The word indeed , is originally Nashah , and Nashah is an Vsurer ; and so Saint Ambrose reades this place , Quis Faenerator , To what Vsurer am I so indebted , as that I neede sell thee ? Let it be so , That the principall debt was all Mankinde ; pursue your Vsurious Computations , that euery seuen yeares doubles , and then redoubles your Debt , ( and what a Debt might this bee in allmost 4000. yeare from Adam to Christ , and 1000 from Christ to vs ? ) yet when all this is multiplied infinitely , it was infinitly ouerpayd , if but one drop of the bloud of the Sonne of God had bene payd ; and the Sonne of God bled out his Soule , and then , Quis Creditor , may God well say , Which of those Vsurers is it , to whom I need sell thee ? God may lend thee out , euen to Satan ; suffer thee to bee his Bayliffe , and his Instrument to the vexation of others : So hee lent out Saint Paul to the Scribes and Pharises , to serue them in their Persecutions ; So God may lend thee out . God may Let thee out for a time , to them that shall plough and harrow thee , fell and cleaue thee , and reserue to himselfe but a little Rent , a little glory , in thy Patience ; So hee Let out Iob euen to Satan himselfe ; so God may Let thee out . GOD may Mortgage thee to a sixe Months Feuer , or to a longer debility ; So he Mortgaged Hezekias . God may lay thee waste , and Pull vp thy Fences , extinguish their Power , or withdrawe their Loue , vpon whom thou hast establishd thy dependance ; So he layd Dauid wast , when hee withdrewe his Childrens obedience from him ; so God may lay thee waste . God may Let out all his time in thee in this World , and reserue to himselfe only a last yeare , a last day , a last minute ; suffer thee in vnrepented sinnes , to the last gaspe , so God let out the good Thiefe . God is Lord of all that thou hast and art ; and then , Dominium potestas est tum vtendi tum abutendi , He that is Lord , Owner , Proprietary , may doe with that which is his , what he will. But God will not , cannot deuest his Dominion , nor fell thee so , as not to reserue , a Power , and a Will to Redeeme thee , if thou wouldst be redeem'd . For , howsoeuer hee seeme to thee , to haue sold thee to Sinne , to Sadnesse , to Sickenesse , to Superstition , ( for these be the Ismaelits , these be the Midianite Merchants that buy vp our Iosephs , our soules ) though he seeme to sell his present estate , hee will not sell Reuersions ; his future title to thee , by a future Repentance , hee will not fell ; But whensoeuer thou shalt grow due to him , by a new , and a true repentance , hee shall re-assume thee , into his bed , and his bosome , no bill of Diuorce , and re-enter thee into his Reuenue , and his Audit , No bill of sale , shall stand vp to thy preiudice , but thy deiected spirit shall be raised from thy consternation , to a holy cheerefulnesse , and a peacefull alacritie , and no tentation shall offer a reply , to this question , which GOD makes to establish thy Conscience , vbi libellus , Where is the Bill of thy Mothers Diuorcement , &c. FINIS . Errat . Pag. 13. l. 24. for retractions , read retractations . pa. 32. l. 14 , for Herbs , read Grupes . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A20650-e660 Psalm . 62.12 Diuisio . Part. 1. Ecce . Psal. 11.2 . Origen . Esay 63 , 10 Lam. 2.4 . Gen 4.10 . Numb . 16. vers . 4. verse 5. verse 12. verse 14. verse 21 verse 25 verse 29. verse 31 Venditi ab Adam . Rom. 7.14 . A Nobis . 42.19 . Rom. 6 21. Iob. 24.15 . A Deo. Vendit paenis . Vendit peccato . Psa. 69.27 . Ezech 21.26 . Sap. 14 . 2● . Dimissa anima . Esa. 1.5 . Basil. 16.42 . Ier. 6. ●0 . Dimissa Mater . Leuit. 21. 16. 1 King. 22. ●3 . 9.7 . Apoc. 2.5 . Math. 6.23 . Luke 22 ●3 . Iude 13. Part. 2. Esay 49.14 . Ezeck . 18.2 . Iohn 9.2 . Libellus . Ier. 3.8 . 2.16 . Iob 3. 11. Esay Ose. 6.1 . Esay . Esay , Esay 1.18 . Deut. 24. Quis Creditor ? Luke 14.18 . Deut 32.30 . Gen. 37.27 . 
A20624	----	Ignatius his conclaue or his inthronisation in a late election in hell: wherein many things are mingled by way of satyr; concerning the disposition of Iesuits, the creation of a new hell, the establishing of a church in the moone. There is also added an apology for Iesuites. All dedicated to the two aduersary angels, which are protectors of the Papall Consistory, and of the Colledge of Sorbon. Translated out of Latine. Conclave Ignati. English Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1611 Approx. 125 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 94 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A20624 STC 7027 ESTC S100082 99835934 99835934 169 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A20624) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 169) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1170:19) Ignatius his conclaue or his inthronisation in a late election in hell: wherein many things are mingled by way of satyr; concerning the disposition of Iesuits, the creation of a new hell, the establishing of a church in the moone. There is also added an apology for Iesuites. All dedicated to the two aduersary angels, which are protectors of the Papall Consistory, and of the Colledge of Sorbon. Translated out of Latine. Conclave Ignati. English Donne, John, 1572-1631. [10], 143, [13] p. Printed by N[icholas] O[kes] for Richard Moore, and are to be sold at his shop in S. Dunstones Church-yard, London : 1611. By John Donne. A translation of: Conclave Ignati. The title page has a rule border. Printer's name from STC. Signatures: A-G¹² (-G12, blank?). The first leaf and G9-11 are blank; G12 is an additional title page ina different setting, with an ornamental border; it is normally cancelled, as reflected in the pagination above. Reproduction of original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Ignatius, -- of Loyola, Saint, 1491-1556. Jesuits -- Controversial literature. 2002-05 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-06 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-07 Allison Liefer Sampled and proofread 2002-07 Allison Liefer Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-08 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion IGNATIUS HIS CONCLAUE : OR The Enthronization OF Loyola in Hell : IMPRINTED At LONDON in . 1611 . Jgnatius his Conclaue : OR His Inthronisation in a late Election in Hell : Wherein many things are mingled by way of Satyr ; Concerning The Disposition of lesuits , The Creation of a new Hell , The establishing of a Church in the Moone . There is also added an Apology for Iesuites . All dedicated to the two Aduersary Angels , which are Protectors of the Papall Consistory , and of the Colledge of Sorbon . Translated out of Latine , LONDON , Printed by N.O. for Richard More , and are to be sold at his shop in S. Dunstones Church-yard . 1611. THE PRINTER TO THE READER . DOest-thou seeke after the Author ? It is in vaine ; for hee is harder to be found then the parents of Popes were in the old times : yet if thou haue an itch of gessing , receiue from me so much , as a friend of his , to whom he sent his booke to bee read , writ to me . The Author was vnwilling to haue this booke published , thinking it vnfit both for the matter , which in it selfe is weighty and serious , and for that grauity which himselfe had proposed and obser ued in an other booke formerly published , to descend to this kinde of writing . But I on the other side , mustred my forces against him , and produced reasons and examples . I proposed to him the great Erasmus ( whom though Seribanius the Iesuit cal him one of our Preachers . ) yet their great Coccius is well content to number him amongst his Authors . And to his bitter iestings and skirmishings in this kinde , our enemies confesse , that our Church is as much beholden , as to Luther himselfe , who fought so valiantly in the maine battell . I remembred him also how familiar a fashion this was amongst the Papists themselues ; and how much Rebullus that Run-away , had done in this kinde , as well in those bookes , which he cals Salmonees , as in his other , which he entitles , The Cabal of the Reformed Churches , of which booke , if he were not the Author , hee was certainly the Apologist , and defender . Neither was that man , whosoeuer hee bee , which cals himselfe Macer , inferiour to Reboul in this kinde , when hee dedicated to Laughter , & to Pleasure , his disputation of that horrible Excommunication of Paulus 5. against the Venetians , and of other matters concerning the saluation of soules . Both which , not contenting themselues , as this Author doth , to sport and obey their naturall disposition in a businesse ( if you consider the persons ) light inough ( for what can bee vainer then a Iesuit ? ) haue saucily risen vp against Princes , & the Lords Anointed I added moreouer , that the things deliuered in this booke , were by many degrees more modest , then those which themselues , in their owne ciuill warres , do daily vomit forth , when they butcher and mangle the fame and reputation of their Popes & Cardinals by their reuiued Lucian , Pasquil. At last he yeelded , & made mee owner of his booke , which I send to you to be deliuered ouer to forraine nations , a farre from the father : and ( as his desire is ) b his last in this kinde . Hee chooses and desires , that his other book should testifie his ingenuity , and candor , and his disposition to labour for the reconciling of all parts . This Booke must teach what humane infirmity is , and how hard a matter it is for a man much conuersant in the bookes and Acts of Iesuites , so throughly to cast off the Iesuits , as that he contract nothing of their naturall drosles , which are Petulaucy , and Lightnesse . Vale. TO THE TWO Tutelar Angels , protectors of the Popes Consistory , and of the Colledge of Sorbon . MOST noble couple of Angels , least it hould be sayd that you did neuer agree , and neuer meet , but that you did euer abhorre one another , and euer Resemble Ianus with a diuerseface , I attempted to bring and ioyne you together once in these papers ; not that I might compose your differences , for you haue not chosen me for Arbitrator ; but , that you might beware of an enemy c̄omon to you both , I will relate what I saw . I was in an Extrasie , and My little wandring sportful Soule , Ghest , and Companion of my body had liberty to wander through all places , and to suruey and reckon all the roomes , and all the volumes of the heauens , and to comprehend the situation , the dimensions , the nature , the people , and the policy , both of the swimming Ilands , the Planets , and of all those which are fixed in the firmament . Of which , I thinke it an honester part as yet to be silent , then to do Galilaeo wrong by speaking of it , who of late hath summoned the other worlds , the Stars to come neerer to him , and giue him an account of themselues . Or to Keppler , who ( as himselfe testifies of himselfe ) euer since Tycho Brachcs death , hath receiued it into his care , that no new thing should be done in heauen without his knowledge . For by the law , Preuention must take place ; and therefore what they haue found and discoured first , I am content they speake and vtter first . Yet this they may vouchsafe to take from me , that they shall hardly find Enoch , or Elias any where in their circuit . When I had surueid al the Heauens , then as The Larke by busie and laborious wayes , Hauing climb'd vp th' eternall hill , doth raise His Hymnes to Phoebus Harpe , And striking then His sailes , his wings , doth fall downe backeagen So suddenly , that one may saesely say A stone came lazily , that came that way , In the twinckling of an eye , I saw all the roomes in Hell open to my sight . And by the benefit of certaine spectacles , I know not of what making , but , I thinke , of the same , by which Gregory the great , and Bed● did discerne so distinctly the soules of their friends , when they were discharged from their bodies , and sometimes the soules of such men as they knew not by sight , and of some that were neuer in the world , and yet they could distinguish them flying into Heauen , or conu●sing with liuing men , I saw all the channels in the bowels of the Harth ; and all the inhabitants of all nations , and of all ages were suddenly made familiar to me . I thinke truely , Robert Aquinas when he tooke Christs long Oration , as he hung vpon the Crosse , did vse some such instrument as this , but applied to the care : And so I thinke did he , which dedicated to Adrian 6 , that Sermon which Christ made in prayse of his father Ioseph : for else how did they heare that , which none but they euer heard ? As for the Suburbs of Hel ( I meane both Limbo and Purgatory ) I must confesse I passed them ouer so negligently , that I saw them not : and I was hungerly caried , to find new places , neuer discouered before . For Purgatory did not seeme worthy to me of much diligence , because it may seeme already to haue beene belecued by some persons , in some corners of the Romane Church , for about 50 yeares ; that is , euer since the Councell of Trent had a minde to fulfill the prophecies of Homer , Virgil , and the other Patriarkes of the Papists ; and beeing not satisfied with making one Transubstantiation , purposed to bring in another : which is , to change fables into Articles of faith . Proceeding therefore to more inward places , I saw a secret place , where there were not many , beside Lucifer himselfe ; to which , onely they had title , which had so attempted any innouation in this life , that they gaue an affront to all antiquitie , and induced doubts , and anxieties , and scruples , and after , a libertie of beleeuing what they would ; at length established opinions , directly contrary to all established before . Of which place in Hell , Lucifer affoarded vs heretofore some little knowledge , when more then 200 yeares since , in an Epistle written to the Cardinall S. Sexti , hee promised him a roome in his palace , in the remotest part of his eternall Chaos , which I take to bee this place . And here Pope Boniface 3 , and Mahomet , seemed to contend about the highest roome . Hee gloried of hauing expelled an old Religion , and Mahomet of hauing brought in a new : each of them a great deluge to the world . But it is to be feared , that Mahomet will faile therein , both because hee attributed something to the old Testament , and because he vsed Sergius as his fellow-bishop , in making the Alcoran ; whereas it was cuident to the supreme ●udge Lu●fer , ( for how could he be ignorant of that , which himselfe had put into the Popes mind ? ) that Boniface had not onely neglected , but destroyed the policy of the State of Israel , established in the old Testament , when he prepared Popes a way , to tread vpon the neckes of Princes , but that he also abstained from all Example and Coadiutor , when he took vpon him that newe Name , which Gregorie himselfe ( a Pope neither very foolish , nor ouer-modest ) euer abhord . Besides that , euery day affords new Aduocates to Boniface his side . For since the Francis● were almost worne out ( of whome their General , Francis , had seene 6000 souldiers in one army , that is , in one chapter ) which , because they were then but fresh souldiers , he saw assisted with 18000 Diuels , the Iesuits haue much recompenced those decayes and damages , who sometimes haue maintained in their Tents 200000 schollers . For though the Order of Benedict haue euer bene so fruitfull , that they say of it , That all the new Orders , which in later times haue broken out , are but little springs , or drops , and that Order the Ocean , which hath sent out 52 Popes , 200 Cardinals , 1600 Archbishops , 4000 Bishops , and 50000 Saints approued by the Church , and therefore it cannot be denied , but that Beniface his part is much releeued by that Order ; yet if they be compared to the Iesuits , or to the weake and vnperfect Types of them , the Franciscans , it is no great matter that they haue done . Though therefore they esteeme Mahomet worthy of the name of an Innouator , & therein , perchance not much inferiour to Boniface , yet since his time , to ours , almost all which haue followed his sect , haue liued barren in an vnanimity , and idle concord , and cannot boast that they haue produced any new matter : whereas Boniface his successors , awakened by him , haue euer beene fruitfull in bringing forth new sinnes , and new pardons , and idolatries , and King-killings . Though therefore it may religiously , and piously be beleeued , that Turkes , as well as Papists , come daily in troupes to the ordinary and common places of Hell ; yet certainly to this more honourable roome , reserued for especiall Innouators , the Papists haue more frequent accesse ; and therefore Mahomet is out of hope to preuaile , and must imitate the Christian Emperours , and be content to sit ( as yet hee doth ) at the Popes feet . Now to this place , not onely such endeauour to come , as haue innouated in matters , directly concerning the soule , but they also which haue done so , either in the Arts , or in conuersation , or in any thing which exerciseth the faculties of the soule , and may so prouoke to quarrrelsome and brawling controuersies : For so the truth be lost , it is no matter how . But the gates are seldome opened , nor scarce oftner then once in an Age. But my destiny fauored mce so much , that I was present then , and saw all the pretenders , and all that affected an entrance , and Lucifer himselfe , who then came out into the outward chamber , to heare them pleade their owne Causes . As soone as the doore creekt , I spied a certaine Mathematician , which till then had bene busied to finde , to deride , to detrude Ptolomey ; and now with an erect countenance , and setled pace , came to the gates , and with hands and feet ( scarce respecting Lucifer himselfe ) beat the dores , and cried ; Are these shut against me , to whom all the Heauens were euer open , who was a Soule to the Earth , and gaue it motion ? By this I knew it was Copernicus : For though I had neuer heard ill of his life , and therefore might wonder to find him there ; yet when I remembred , that the Papists haue extended the name , & the punishment of Heresie , almost to euery thing , and that as yet I vsed Gregortes and Bedes spectacles , by which one saw Origen , who deserued so well of the Christian Church , burning in Hell , I doubted no longer , but assured my selfe that it was Copernicus which I saw . To whome Lucifer sayd ; Who are you ? For though euen by this boldnesse you seeme worthy to enter , and haue attempted a new faction euen in Hell , yet you must first satisfie those which stand about you , and which expect the same fortune as you do . Except , O Lucifer , answered Copernicus , I thought thee of the race of the starre Lucifer , with which I am so well acquainted , I should not vouchsafe thee this discourse . I am he , which pitying thee who wert thrust into the Center of the world , raysed both thee , and thy prison , the Earth , vp into the Heauens ; so as by my meanes God doth not enioy his reuenge vpon thee . The Sunne , which was an officious spy , and a betrayer of faults , and so thine enemy , I haue appointed to go into the lowest part of the world . Shall these gates be open to such as haue innouated in small matters ? and shall they be shut against me , who haue turned the whole frame of the world , and am thereby almost a new Creator ? More then this he spoke not . Lucifer stuck 〈◊〉 meditation . For what should he do ? It seemed vniust to deny entry to him which had deserued so well , and dangerous to graunt it , to one of so great ambitions , and vndertakings : nor did he thinke that himselfe had attempted greater matters before his fall . Something he had which he might haue conueniently opposed , but he was loath to vtter it , least he should confesse his feare . But Ignatius Layola which was got neere his chaire , a subtile fellow , and so indued with the Diuell , that he was able to tempt , and not onely that , but ( as they say ) euen to possesse the Diuell , apprehended this perplexity in Lucifer . And making himselfe sure of his owne entrance , and knowing well , that many thous●nds of his family aspired to that place , he opposed himselfe against all others . He was content they should bee damned , but not that they should gouerne . And though when hee died he was vtterly ignorant in all great learning , and knew not so much as Ptolomeys , or Copernicus name , but might haue beene perswaded , that the words Almagest , Zenith , and Nadir , were Saints names , and fit to bee put into the Litanie , and Orapro nobis ioyned to them ; yet after hee had spent some time in hell , he had learnt somewhat of his Iesuites , which daily came thither . And whilst he staied at the threshold of Hell ; that is , from the time when he deliuered himselfe ouer to the Popes will , hee tooke a little taste of learning . Thus furnished , thus hee vndertakes Copernious . DO , you thinke to winne our Lucifer to your part , by allowing him the honour of being of the race of that starre ? who was not onely made before all the starres , but being glutted with the glory of shining there , transferred his dwelling and Colonies 〈◊〉 this Monarchy , and thereby 〈◊〉 our Order a noble example , to spy , to inuade , and to 〈◊〉 forraine kingdom● Can our Lucifer , or his 〈◊〉 haue any honour 〈◊〉 that starr● Lucifer , which is but Venus ? whose face how much wee scorne , appeares by this , that , for the m●st part we vse her auersly and preposterously . Rather letour Lucifer glory in Lucifer the Calaritan Bishop ; not therefore because he is placed amongst Heretiques , onely for affirming the propagation of the soule ; but especially for this , that he was the first that opposed the dignity of Princes , and imprinted the names of Antichrist , ludas , and other stigmatique markes vpon the Emperour ; But for you , what new thing hane you inuented , by which our Lucifer gets any thing ? What cares hee whether the earth traueil , or stand still ? Hath your raising vp of the earth into heauen , brought men to that confidence , that they build new towers or threaten God againe ? Or do they out of thismotion of the earth cōclude , that there is no hell , or deny the punishment of sin ? Do not men beleeue ? do they not liue iust , as they did before ? Besides , this detracts frō the dignity of your learning , and derogates frō your right and title of comming to this place , that those opinions of yours may very well be true . If therfore any man haue honour or title to this place in this matter , it belongs wholly to our Clauius , who opposed himselfe opportunely against you , and the truth , which at that time was creeping into euery mans minde . Hee onely can be called the Author of all contentions , and schoole-combats in this cause ; and no greater profit can bee hoped for heerein , but that for such brabbles , more necessarie matters bee neglected . And yet not onely for this is our Clauius to bee honoured , but for the great paines also which hee tooke in the Gregorian Calender , by which both the peace of the Church , & Ciuill businesses haue beene egregiously troubled : nor hath heauen it selfe escaped his violēce , but hath euer since obeied his apointments : so that S. Stephen , Iohn Baptist , & all the rest , which haue bin cōmanded to worke miracles at certain appointed daies , where their Reliques are preserued , do not now attend till the day come , as they were accustomed , but are awaked ten daies sooner , and constrained by him to come downe frō heauen to do that businesse ; But your inuentiōs can scarce bee called yours , since long before you , Heraclides , Ecphantus , & Aristarchus thrust them into the world : who notwithstanding content themselues with lower roomes amongst the other Philosophers , & aspire not to this place , reserued onely for Antichristian Heroes : neither do you agree so wel amongst yourselues , as that you can be said to haue made a Sect , since , as you haue peruerted and changed the order and Scheme of others : so Tycho Brachy hath done by yours , and others by his . Let therefore this little Mathematitian ( dread Emperour ) withdraw himselfe to his owne company . And if heereafter the fathers of our Order can draw a Cathedrall Decree from the Pope , by which it may be defined as a matter of faith : That the earth doth not moue ; & an Antahema inflicted vpon all which hold the contrary : thē perchance both the Pope which shall decree that , and Copernicus his followers , ( if they be Papists ) may haue the dignity of this place . Lucifer signified his assent ; and Copernicus , without muttering a word , was as quiet , as he thinks the sunne , when he which stood next him , entred into his place . To whom Lucifer said : And who are you ? Hee answered , Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast of Hohenheim . At this Lucifer trēbled , as if it were a new Exorcisme , & he thought it might well be the first verse of Saint Iohn , which is alwaics imployed in Exorcismes , and might now bee taken out of the Welsh , or Irish Bibles . But when hee vnderstood that it was but the webbe of his name , hee recollected himselfe , and raising himselfe vprig 〈◊〉 , asked what he had to say to the great Emperour Sathan , Lucifer , Belzebub , Leuiathan , Abaddon . Paracelsus replyed , It were an iniurie to thee , ô glorious Emperour , if I should deliuer before thee , what I haue done , as though al those things had not proceeded from thee , which seemed to haue bin done by me , thy organe and conduit : yet since I shal rather be thy trumpet herein , ' then mine own , some things may be vttered by me . Besides therfore that I broght all Methodicall Phisitians , and the art it selfe into so much contēpt , that that kind of phisick is almost lost ; This also was euer my prīcipal purpose , that no certaine new Art , nor fixed rules might be established , but that al remedies might be dangerously drawne from my vncertaine , ragged , and vnperfect experiments , in triall whereof , how many men haue beene made carkases ? And falling vpon those times which did abound with paradoxicall , & vnusuall diseases , of all which , the pox , which then began to rage , was almost the center and sinke ; I euer professed an assured and an easy cure thereof , least I should deterre any from their licentiousnesse . And whereas almost all poysons are so disposed and conditioned by nature , that they offend some of the senses , and so are easily discerned and auoided , I brought it to passe , that that trecherous quality of theirs might bee remoued , and so they might safely bee giuen without suspicion , and yet performe their office as strongly . All this I must confesse , I wrought by thy minerals and by thy fires , but yet I cannot dispaire of my reward , because I was thy first Minister and instrument , in these innouatiōs . By this time Ignatius had obserued a tempest risen in Lucifers countenance : for he was iust of the same temper as Lucifer , and therefore suffered with him in euery thing , and felt al his alterations . That therefore he might deliuer him from ` Paracelsus , hee said ; You must not thinke sir , that you may heere draw out an oration to the proportion of your name ; It must be confessed , that you attempted great matters , and well becomming a great officer of Lucifer , when you vndertook not onely to make a man , in your Alimbicks , but also to preserue him immortall . And it cannot be doubted , but that out of your Commentaries vpon the Scriptures , in which you were vtterly ignorant , many men haue taken occasion of erring , and thereby this kingdome much indebted to you . But must you therefore haue accesse to this secret place ? what haue you compassed , euen in Phisicke it selfe , of which wee lesuits are ignorant ? For though our Ribadenegra haue reckoned none of our Order , which hath written in Physicke , yet 〈◊〉 able and sufficient wee are in that faculty , I will bee tryed by that Pope , who hath giuen a priueledge to Iesuites to practise Phisicke , and to be present at Death-beds , a which is denyed to other Orders : for why should hee deny vs their bodies , whose soules he deliuers to vs ? and since he hath transferd vpon vs the power to practise Physick , he may instly be thought to haue transferd vpon vs the Art it selfe , by the same omnipotent Bul ; since hee which graunts the end , is by our Rules of law presumed to haue graunted all meanes necessary to that end . Let me ( dread Emperour , ) haue leaue to speake truth before thee ; These men abuse & prophane too much thy mettals , which are the bowels , and treasure of thy kingdome : For what doth Physicke profit thee ? Physicke is a sost , & womanish thing . For since no medicine doth naturally draw bloud , that science is not fit nor worthy of our study , Besides why should those things , which belong to you , bee employed to preserue frō deiseases , or to procure long life ? were it not fitter , that your brother , and colleague , the Bishop of Rome , which gouernes vpon the face of your earth , and giues dayly increase to your kingdome , should receiue from these helps and subsidies ? To him belonges all the Gold , to him all the pretious stones , conceal'd in your entrailes , wherby hee might baite and ensnare the Prince ; of the earth through their Lord , and counsellours meanes to his obedience , and to receiue his cōmandements , especially in these times , whē almost euery where his auncient rights & tributes are denied vnto him . To him belongs your Iron , and the ignobler mettals , to make engines ; To him belong your Minerals apt for poyson ; To him , the Salt-peter , and all the Elements of Gun-powder , by which he may demolish and ouerthrow Kings and Kingdomes , and Courts , and seates of Iustice. Neither doth Paracelsus truly deserue the name of an Innouator , whose doctrine , Seuerïnus and his other followers do referre to the most ancient times . Thinke therefore your selfe well satisfied , if you be admitted to gouerne in chiefe that Legion of homicide-Phisitians , and of Princes which shall be made away by poyson in the midst of their sins , and of woemen tempting by paintings and face-phisicke . Of all which sorts great numbers will daily come hither out of your Academy . Content with this sentence , Paracelsus departed ; and Machiauel succeeded , who hauing obserued Ignatius his forwardnesse , and saucinesse , and how , vncal'd , he had thrust himselfe into the office of kings Atturney , thought this stupid patience of Copernicus , and Paracelsus ( men which tasted too much of their Germany ) vnfit for a Florentine : and therefore had prouided some venemous darts , out of his Italian Arsenal , to cast against this worne souldier of Pampel● , this French-spanish mungrell , Ignatius . But when he thought better vpon it , and obserued that Lucifer euer approued whatsoeuer Ignatius sayd , he suddenly changed his purpose ; and putting on another resolution , he determined to direct his speech to Ignatius , as to the principall person next to Lucifer , as well by this meanes to sweeten and mollifie him , as to make Lucifer suspect , that by these honors , & specious titles offered to Ignatius , and entertained by him , his owne dignity might bee eclipsed , or clouded ; and that Ignatius by winning to his side , politique men , exercised in ciuill businesses , might attempt some innouation in that kingdome . Thus therefore he began to speake . Dtead Emperour , and you , his watchfull and diligent Genius , father Ignatius , Arch-chancellor of this Court , and highest Priest of this highest Synagogue ( except the primacy of the Romane Church reach also vnto this place ) let me before I descend to my selfe , a little consider , speake , and admire your stupendious wisedome , and the gouernment of this state . You may vouchsafe to remember ( great Emperour ) how long after the Nazarens death , you were forced to liue a solitarie , a barren , and an Eremiticall life : till at last ( as it was euer your fashion to imitate heauen ) out of your aboundant loue , you begot this deerely beloued sonne of yours , Ignatius , which stands at your right hand . And from both of you proceedes a spirit , whom you haue sent into the world , who triumphing both with Mitre and Crowne , gouernes your Militant Church there . As for those sonnes of Ignatius , whō either he left aliue , or were borne after his death , and your spirit , the Bishop of Rome ; how iustly & properly may they be called Equi●ocal men ? And not only Equiuocall in that sence , in which the Popes Legates , at your Nicene Coūcel were called Equiuocal , because they did agree in all their opinions , and in all their words : but especially because they haue brought into the world a new art of Equiuocation . O wonderfull , and incredible Hypercritiques , who , not out of marble fragments , but out of the secretest Records of Hell it selfe : that is , out of the minds of Lucifer , the ` Pope , and Ignatius , ( persons truly equiuocall ) haue raised to life againe the language of the Tower of Babel , 〈◊〉 long concealed , and brought vs againe frō vnderstanding one an other . For my part ( 〈◊〉 noble paire of Emperours ) that I may freely cōfesse the truth all which I haue done , where soeuer there shall be mention made of the Iesuites , can be reputed but childish ; 〈◊〉 this honor I hope will not 〈◊〉 denied me , that I brought 〈◊〉 an Alphabet , & prouided certaine Elements , & was som● kind of school maister in preparing them a way to highe● 〈◊〉 ; yet it grieu● me , and makes me ashamed that I should be ranked wit● this idle and Chymaeri● Copernicus , or this cadauero vulture , Paracelsus . I scor● that those gates , into which such men could conceiue any hope of entrance , should not voluntarily flie open to mee : yet I can better endure the rashnesse and fellowship of Paracelsus , then the other : because hee hauing beene conueniently practised in the butcheries , and mangling of men , hee had the reason to hope for fauour of the Iesuites : For I my selfe went alwaies that way of bloud , and therefore I did euer preferre the sacrifices of the Gentiles , and of the Iewes , which were performed with effusion of bloud ( whereby not only the people , but the Priests also were animated to bold enterprises ) befote the soft and wanto sacrifices of Christians . If I might haue had my choyce , I should rather haue wished , that the Romane Church had taken the Bread , then the Wine , from the people , since in the wine there is some colour , to imagine and represent blood . Neither did you , ( most Reuerend Bishop of this Dioces , Ignatius ) abhorre from this way of blood . For hauing consecrated your first age to the wars , and growne somewhat vnable to follow that course , by reason of a wound ; you did presently begin to thinke seriously of a spirituall warre , against the Church , and found meanes to open waies , euer into Kings chambers , for your executioners . Which dignitie , you did not reserue onely to your own Order , but ( though I must confesse , that the foundation , and the nourishment of this Doctrine remaines with you , and is peculiar to you , out of your infinite liberalitie , ) you haue vouchsafed sometime , to vse the hands of other men in these imploiments . And therefore as well they , who haue so often in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it in England , as they which haue brought their great purposes to effect in Fraunce , are indebted only to you for their courage and resolution . But yet although the entrance into this place may be decreed to none , but to Innouators , and to onely such of them as haue dealt in Christian businesse ; and of thē also , to those only which haue had the fortune to doe much harme , I cannot see but that next to the Iesuites , I must bee inuited to enter , since I did not onely teach those wayes , by which , thorough perfidiousnesse and dissembling of Religion , a 〈◊〉 might possesse , and vsurp● vpon the liberty of free Commonwealths ; but also 〈◊〉 arme and furnish the people with my when they were ●nder 〈◊〉 oppression , they might 〈◊〉 est conspire , and 〈◊〉 tyrant , or reuenge them 〈◊〉 of their Prince , and redeem their former losses ; so tha● from both sides , both from Prince and People , I brough● an aboundant har●est , and noble encrease to this kingdome . By this time I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucifer to bee muc● moued with this Oration , and to incline much towards Machiauel . For he did acknowledge him to bee a kind of Patriarke , of those whom they call Lay-men . And he had long obserued , that the Clergie of Rome 〈◊〉 downe to Hell daily , easily , voluntarily , and by troupes , because they were accustomed to sinne against their consci●ence , and knowledge ; but that the Layitte sinning out of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and negligence of 〈◊〉 the truth , did rather offend by ignorance , and 〈◊〉 . And therefore he thought himselfe bound to reward Machiauel , which had awakened 〈◊〉 drowsie and implicite Lay● to greater , and more bloody ●ndertakings . Besides this , 〈◊〉 Ignatius could not bee ●enied the place , whose ambitions and turbulencies Lucifer vnderstood very wel , he thought Machiauel a fit and necessarie instrument to oppose against him ; that so the skales beeing kept euen by their factions , hee might gouerne in peace , and two poysons mingled might doe no harme . But hee could not hide this intention from Ignatius , more subtil then the De●ill , and the verier Lucifer of the two : Therefore Ignatius rushed out , threw himselfe downe at Lucifers feet , and groueling on the ground adored him . Yet certainly , Vasques would not 〈◊〉 this idolatry , because in the shape of the 〈◊〉 hee worshipped him , whom hee accounted the true God. Here Ignatius cried and thundred out , With so great noise an horror , That had that powder taken fire , by which All the 〈◊〉 of Britaine had flowne to the Moone , It had not equalled this noise and horror . And when he was able to speak distinctly , thus hee spoke . It cannot be said ( vnspeakable Emperour ) how much this obscure Florentine hath transgressed against thee , and against the Popo thy image-bearer , ( whether the word bee accepted , as Gratian takes it , when he calles the Scriptures , Imaginarie Bookes ; or as they take it , which giue that style to them who carrie the Emperours image in the field ; ) and last of all against our Order . Durst any man before him , thinke vpon this kinde of iniurie , and calumnie , as to hope that he should be able to flatter , to catch , to entrap 〈◊〉 himselfe ? Certainely , whosoeuer flatters any man , and presents him those praises , which in his owne opinion are not due to him , thinkes him inferiour to himselfe and makes account , that he hath taken him prisoner , and triumphs ouer him . Who euer flatters , either he derides , or ( at the best ) instructs . For there may bee , euen in flattery , an honest kind of teaching , if Princes , by being told that they are already induced with all vertues necessary for their functions , 〈◊〉 thereby taught what thos● vertues are , and by a facile exhortatiō , excited to endeauo to gaine them . But was it 〈◊〉 that this fellow , should dar● eitherto deride you , or ( which is the greater iniury ) to teach you ? Can it be beleeued , that he delivers your praises from his heart , and doth not rather herein follow Gratians leuity ; who saies , That you are called Prince of the world , as a king at Chests , or as the Cardinall of Rauenna , onely by derision ? This man , whilst he liued , attributed so much to his own wit , that hee neuer thought himselfe beholden to your helps , and insinuations ; and was so farre from inuoking you , or sacrificing to you , that he did not so much as acknowledge your kingdome , nor beleeue that there was any such thing in nature , as you . I must confesse , that hee had the same opinion of God also , and therefore deserues a place here , and a better then any of the Pagan or gen●le idolaters : for , in euery idolatrie , and false worship , there is some Religion , and some peruerse simplicitie , which tastes of humilitie ; from all which , this man was very free , when in his heart he vtterly denyed that there was any God. Yet since he thought so in earnest , and beleeued that those things which hee affirmed were true , hee must not be rancked with them , which hauing beene sufficiently instructed of the true God , and beloueing him to be so , doe yet fight against him in his enemies armie . Neither ought it to be imputed to vs as a fault , that sometimes in our exorcismes wee speake ill of you , and call you Hereticke , and Drunkard , and Whisperer , and scabbed Beast , and Coniure the elements that they should not receiue you , and threaten you with Indissoluble Damnation , and torments a thousand thousand times worse then you suffer yet . For these things you know , are done out of a secret couenant and contract betweene vs , & out of Mysteries , which must not bee opened to this Neophite , who in our Synagogue is yet but amongst the Cathecumeni . Which also we acknowledge of Holy Water , and our Agnas Dei , of which you doe so wisely dissemble a feare , when they are presented to you : For certainly , if there were any true force in them , to deliuer Bodies from Diseases , soules from sinnes , and the Elements from Spirits , and malignant impressions , ( as in the verses which Vrban the fist sent with his Agnus Dei to the Emperour it is pretended . ) It had beene reason , that they should first haue exercised their force vpon those verses , and so haue purged and deliuered them , if not from Heresie , yet from Barbarousnesse , and solecismes ; that Heretiques might not iustly say , there was no truth in any of them , but onely the last ; which is , That the least peece which thēce doth fall , Will doe one as much good as all . And though our Order haue aduentured further in 〈◊〉 then the rest , yet that must be attributed to a speciall priuiledge , by which wee haue leaue to question any possessed person , of what matters we will ; wheras all other Orders are miserably bound to the present matter , and the businesse then in hand . For , though I do not beleeue , that either from your selfe , or 〈◊〉 your 〈◊〉 the Pope , any such priuiledge is issued ; yet our Cotton deserues to be praised , who being questioned , how he durst propose certaine seditious Interrogatories to a possessed person , to deliuer himselfe , 〈◊〉 such a priuiledge ; and with an vn-heard-of boldnesse , and a new kind of falsifying , did ( in a manner ) counterfeit Lucifers hand and seale , since none but he onely could giue this priuiledge : But , if you consider vs out of this liberty in Exorcismes , how humble and seruile we are towards you , the Relations of Peru testisie inough , where it is recorded , that when one of your angels at midnight appeared to our Bareena alone in his chamber , hee presently rose out of his chaire , and gaue him the place , whom he professed to bee farre worthier thereof , then he was . But to proceed now to the iniuries , which this fellow hath done to the Bishop of Rome , although very much might be spoken , yet by this alone , his disposition may bee sufficiently discerned , that hee imputes to the Pope , vulgar and popular sinnes , farre vnworthy of his greatnesse . Weake praising , is a kind of Accusing , and wee detract from a mans honour , if when wee praise him for small things , and would 〈◊〉 to haue said all , we conceale greater . Perchāce this man had seen some of the Catalogues of Refer● Cases , which euery yeare the Popes encrease , and he might thinke , that the Popes did therefore reserue these sinnes to themselves , that they only might commit them . But either hee is ignorant , or iniurious to them . For , can they bee thought to haue taken away the libertie of sinning from the people , who do not onely suffer men to keepe Concubines , but sometimes doe commaund them ? who make S. Peter beholden to the stewes , for part of his reuenue : and who excuse women from the infamous name of whore , till they haue deliuered thēselues ouer to 23000 men . The Professors of which Religion teach , that Vniuersitie men , which keep whores in their chambers , may not be expeld for that , because it ought to be presumed before hand , that schollers will not li●e without them . Shal he be thought to haue a purpose of deterring others frō sinne , which prouides so well for their security , that he teaches , that he may dispense in all the commaundements of the second Table , & in all moral law , and that those commandements of the second table can neither be called Principles , nor Conclusions , necessarily deduced frō Principles ? And therefore , ( as they euer loue that manner of teaching ) hee did illustrate his Rule with an Example , & dispensed in a mariage between Brother and Sister , and hath hoorded vp so many Indulgēcies in one barne , the citie of Rome , that it is easie for any man in an houre , or two , to draw out Pardons inough for 100000 yeares . How cleare a witnesse of this liberality is Leo 10 ? who only for rehearsing once the Lords praier , and thrise repeating the name of Icsu ( bee it spoken heere without horrour ) hath giuen 3000 yeares indulg● . How profuse a Steward or Auditor was Boniface , who acknowledges so many Indulgences to be in that one Church of Lateran , that none but God can nūber them ? Besides these , plenary Indulgences are giuen , not only to the Franciscans themselues , but to their Parents also : and to any which dies in their habit ; and to any which desire that they may do so ; and to those who are wrapped in it after death , though they did not desire it ; and fiue yeares Indulgence to those who doe but kisse it . And at last , Clement 7. by a priuiledge first giuen to one Order , ( which since is communicated to our Order , as the priuiledge of all other Orders are ) gaue to any who should but visite a place belonging to them , or any other place , if hee could not come thither : or if he could come to no such place , yet if he had but a desire to it , All indulgences which had beene graunted , or heereafter should be graunted in the universal world . And though it be true , that if in any of these Indulgences a certaine sum of money were limited to bee giuen ( as for the most part it is ; ) a poore man , which could not giue that money , though he were neuer so contrite for his sins , could haue no benefit thereby : and though Gerson durst call those Indulgences foolish , and superstitious , which gaue 20000. yeares pardon for rehearsing one praier , yet they do aboundantly testifie the Popes liberall disposition , and that he is not so couetous in reseruing sinnes to himselfe ; But if perchance once in an hundred yeares , some one of the 〈◊〉 of the people be put to death for Sodomy ; and that , not so much for the offence , as for vsurping the right of the Ecclesiastique Princes , wee must not much lament nor grudge at that , since it is onely done to discontinue , and interrupt a praescription , to gaine which Title , the Layety hath euer beene very forward against the Clergie : for euen in this kinde of his delicacies , the Pope is not so reserued and couetous , but that he allowes a taste thereof to his Cardinals , whom you once called Carpidineros , ( by an elegancy proper onely to your Secritaries , the Monkes ) in an Epistle which you writ to one of that Colledge : For since , the Cardinals are so compacted into the Pope and so made his owne body : That it is not lawfull for them , without licence first obtained from him , to be let bloud in a Feuer , what may be denied vnto them ? Or what kind of sin is likely to be left out of their glorious priuiledges , which are at least 200 ? Which Order the Pope can no more remove out of the Ecclesiastique Hierarchy , then hee can Bishops ; both because Cardinals were instituted by God , and because the Apostles themselves were Cardinals before they were Bishops . Whom also in their creation he stiles his brothers , and Princes of the world , & Co-iudges of the whole earth : and to 〈◊〉 all : That there are so many Kings as there are Cardinals . O fearefull body ; and as in many other things , so in this especialy mōstrous , that they are not able to propagate their species : For all the Cardinals in a vacacy are not able to make one Cardinal more . To these men certainly the Pope doth no more grudge the plurality of sins , then he doth of Bonafices . And he hath beene content , that euen Borgia shoud enioy this dignity , if hee hath heaped vp , by his ingenious wickednesse , more sorts of sins in one Act , then ( as far as I know ) as any the Popes thē selues haue attempted : For he did not only giue the full reine to his licentiousnesse , but raging with a second ambition , hee would also change the Sex. Therein also his stomacke was not towardes young beardlesse boyes , nor such greene fruit : for hee did not thinke , that hee went farre inough from the right Sex , except hee had a manly , a reuerend , and a bearded Venus . Neither staied he there ; but his witty lust proceeded further : yet he sollicited not the Minions of the Popes ; but striuing to equall the licentiousnesse of Sodomits , which would haue had the Angels ; to come as neare them as hee could , hee tooke a Cleargy-man , one of the portion and lot of the Lord : and so made the maker of God , a Priest subiect to his lust ; nor did hee seeke him out in a Cloyster , or Quire ; but that his Venus might bee the more monstrous , hee would haue her in a Mitre . And yet his prodigious lust was not at the height ; as much as hee could he added : and hauing found a 〈◊〉 , a Cleargy-man , a Bishop , he did not sollicite him with entreaties , & rewards , but rauished him by force . Since then the Popes doe , out of the fulnesse of their power , come to those kindes of sinne , which haue neither Example nor Name , in somuch that Pope Paulus Venetus , which vsed to paint himselfe , & desired to seeme a woman , was called the Goddesse Cibele ( which was not without mysterie , since , prostitute boyes are sacred to that Goddesse , ) and since they do not graunt ordinarily that liberty of practising sinnes , till they haue vsed their owne right and priuiledge of Preuention and Anticipation , This pratling fellow Machiauel doth but treacherously , and dishonestly preuaricate , and betraie the cause , if hee thinke hee hath done inough for the dignity of the Popes , when he hath affoorded to them sins common to all the world . The transferring of Empires , rhe ruine of Kingdomes , the Excommunications , and depositions of Kings , & deuastations by fire and sword , should haue bene produced as their marks & characters : for though the examples of the Popes trāsferring the Empire , which our men so much stand vpon , bee not indeede true , nor that the anciēt Popes practised any such thing ; yet since the states-men of our Order , wiser thē the rest , haue found how much this Temporal iurisdictio ouer Princes , cōduces to the growth of the Church , they haue perswaded the Popes , that this is not only lawfull for them , but often practised heeretofore : And therefore they prouide , that the Canons and Histories bec detorted to that opinion for though one of our Order doe weaken that famous Canon , Nos sanctorum , which was vsed still to bee produced for this doctrine , yet hee did it then , when the King of Great 〈◊〉 was to bee mollisied and sweetned towardes vs , and the lawes to bee mitigated , and when himselfe had put on the name Eudamon . But let him returne to his true state , and professe himselfe a Cacod●mon , & he will bee of our opinion . In which respect also wee may pardon our Cudsemi● his rashnesse , whē he denies the English natiō to be heratiques , because they remain● in a perpetuall succession of Bishops : For herein these men haue thought it fit , to follow , in their practise , that Translation , which reades the words of Paul : Serue the time , and not that which saies : Serue the Lord. As for the iniury which this petty companion hath offered to our Order , since in our wrongs , both yours , and the Popes Maiesty is wounded ; since to vs , as to your Dictators , both you haue giuen that large and auncient Commission : That wee should take care that the state take no harme , we cannot doubt of our reuenge : yet this aboue all the rest , doth especially vexe me , that when he calls me P●elate , and Bishop , ( names which wee so much abhorre and detest ) I know well , that out of his inward malignity , hee hath a relation to Bellarmines , and Tolets sacrilegious Vow-breaking ambitiōs , by which they imbraced the Cardinalship , and other Church-dignities : but heerein this poore fellow , vnacquainted with our affaires , is deceiued , being ignorant , that these men , by this act of beeing thus incorporated into the Pope are so much the neerer to their Center and finall happinesse , this chamber of Lucifer , and that by the breach of a vow , which thē selues thought iust , they haue got a new title therunto : For the Cardinalship is our Martyrdome : & though not many of our Order , haue had that strength , that they haue beene such Martyrs , and that the Popes themselues haue beene pleased to transferre this persecutiō into the other Orders , who haue had more Cardinals then wee ; yet without doubt , for such of ours which haue had so much courage , new Crownes , and new Garlands , appropriate to our Martyrs , are prepared for them in this their Heauen ; because , being inabled by greater meanes , they are fitter for greater mischiefes . Wee therefore lament the weaknesse of our Laynez , & our B●rgia , who refused the Cardinalship offered by Paulus 4. & Iulius 3 ; ( for in this place and this meeting it is vnfit to say they did so ) euen amongst the auncient Romans , when they sacrificed to you those sacrifices , which offered any resistance , were euer reputed vnaccepted : And therefore our Bellarmine deserues much praise , who finding a new Genius and courage in his new Cardinalship , set out his Retractations , & corrected all those places in his workes , which might any way bee interpreted in the fauour of Princes . But let vs passe ouer all these things : for wee vnderstand one 〈◊〉 well inough ; and let vs more particularly consider those things , which this man , who pretends to exceed all Auncient and Moderne States-men , boasts to haue beene done by him . Though truly no man will easily beleeue , that hee hath gone sarr in any thing , which did so tire at the beginning , or mid-way , that hauing seene the Pope , and knowne him , yet could neuer come to the knowledge of the Diuell . I know what his excuse and escape wil be : that things must not be extended insinitly ; that wee must consist and arrest somewhere , and that more meanes & instruments ought not to be admitted , where the matter may be dispatched by fewer . When therfore he was sure that the Bishop of Rome was the cause of all mischiefe , and the first mouer therof , he chose rather to settle & determine in him , then by acknowledging a Di●el to induce a new tyrany , and to be driuen to confesse , that the Pope had vsurped vpon the diuels right , which opinion , if any man bee pleased to maintaine , we do not forbid him● but yet it must be an argumēt to vs of no very nimble wit , if a man do so admire the Pope , that he leaue out the Diuell , and so worship the Image , without relation to the Prototipe and first patterne . But besides this , how idle , and how very nothings they are , which he hath shoueld together in his bookes , this makes it manifest , that some of euery Religion , and of euery profession , haue risen vp against him , and no man attempted to defend him : neither doe I say this , because I thinke his doctrine the worse for that , but it is therefore the lesse artificially c●rried , and the lesse able to worke those endes to which it is directed . For our parts wee haue not proceeded so : For wee haue dished & dressed our precepts in these affaired , with such cunning , that when our owne men produce them to ensnare and establish our puples , then we put vpon them the maiesty and reuerence of the Doctrine of the Church , and of the common opinion : But when our aduersaries alleadge thē , either to cast enuy vpon vs , or to deterre the weaker sort , then they are content with a lower roome , and vouchsafe to step aside into the ranck of priuate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . And the Canons themselues are with vs sometimes glorious , in their mitres & pontificall habits , & sound nothing but meere Diuine resolutions out of the Chaire it selfe , and so haue the sorce of Oracles ; somtimes we say they are ragged & lame , & do but whisper with a doubtfull and vncertaine murmure , a hollow cloistral , or an eremitical voice , & so haue no more authority , then those poore men which writ them : sometimes we say they were but rashly thrown into the peoples ears out of pulpits , in the Homilies of fathers ; sometimes that they were deriued out of such Councels as suffered abortion , and were del●uered of their children , which are their Canons , before inanimation , which is the Popes assent , or out of such Councels , as are now discontinued and dead , ( howsoeuer they remained long time in vse and liuely & in good state of health ) and therefore cannot be thought sit to be vsed now , or applyed in ciuil businesses ; sometimes wee say the Popes voyce is in them all by his approbation ; sometimes that onely the voyce of those authors , from whom they are taken , speakes in them . And acordingly we deliuer diners and various ` Phylosophy vpon our Gratian , who compiled them ; sometimes we allow him the honour and dignity of Diamonds and the nobler sort of stones , which haue both their cleerenesse , and their firmenesse fromthis , that that they are compacted of lesse parts , and atomes , then others are : and so is Grat●ian ; whom for the same cause , sometimes we account but a hil of many sands cast together , and very 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 any foundation . I must confesse , that the fathers of our Order , out of a youthfull siercenesse , which made them dare and vndertake any thing ( for our order was scarce at yeares at that time ) did amisse in inducing the Councell of Trent to establish certaine . Rules & Definitions , 〈◊〉 which it might not be lawfull to depart : for indeed there is no remedy , but that sometimes we must depart frō them : nor can it be dissembled , that both the writers of our Order , and the Dominicans haue departed from them in that great war and Tragedy lately raised at Rome , about Grace & Free-wil . For it is not our purpose , that the writings of our men should be so ratified , that they may not be changed , so that they bee of our Order which change them : so by the same liberty , which 〈◊〉 Ioannes hath taken in deliuering the King of Britaine frō the danger of Deposition ; ( because as yet no sentence is giuen against him ) and also frō many other Canons , which others thinke may iustly bee discharged against him , it will be as lawfull for vs , when that kingdome shal be inough stupified with this our Opin̄ , to restore those Canons to their former vigor , and to awake that state out of her Lethergy , either with her owne heat , intestine warre , or by some Medicine , drawne frō other places : for Princes haue all their securities frō our indulgence , and from the slacke & gentle interpretatiō of the Canōs : they are but priuileges , which since they are deriued , & receiue life from vs , they may be by vs diminished , reuoked , & anulled : for as it was lawfull for Mariana to depart from the doctrine of the 〈◊〉 of Constance , so it was lawfull for Cotton to depart from 〈◊〉 which , notwithstāding , wee would haue onely lawfull for our Order , to whō it is giuen to know times , and secrets of state : for we see the Sorbonist● themselues , ( which may seeme to haue an Aristocratical Papacie amongst thēselues ) though they laboured to destroy the doctrine of 〈◊〉 , did yet wisely forbeare to name him , or any other Iesuit , which was a modesty that I did not hope for at their hands ; since , before I I dyed , they made one Decree against 〈◊〉 but yet therein , I thinke some what may bee attributed to my patience , & 〈◊〉 ; who knowing their strength , and our owne infancy forbad all of my Order to make any answere to that ` Decree of theirs : neither were we so Herculean as to offer to strangle Serpents in our cradle . But yet since after that time , they haue beene often prouoked by our men : ( for I gaue not so iron a Rule & Precepts to my Disciples , as Francis did to his who would not haue his Rule applyed to times & to new occasions ) certainly they might haue bin excused , if they had beene at this time sharper against vs. And if the Parliament of Paris thought it not fit to carry the matter so modestly in their Arrest against Mariana , but made both the Booke , and the Doctrine , and the Man , infamous : What should wee say more of it , but that it is a Gyant , and a wilde beast , which our men could neuer tame : for still it cryes and howles , The Pope is bound to proceede lawfully , and Canonically : and this they malitiously interprete of their owne lawes , and of auncient Canons , which they hope to bring into vse againe , by an insensible way of Arrest , and Sentences in that Court. This then is the point of which wee accuse Machiuell , that he carried not his Mine so safely , but that the enemy perceiued it still . But wee , who haue receiued the Church to be as a ship , do freely saile in the deep sea ; we haue an anchor , but wee ha●e not cast it yet , but keepe it euer in our power , to cast it , and weigh it at our pleasure . And we know well enough , that as to sailing shippes , so to our sailing Church , all rocks , all promontories , all firme and fast places are dangerous , and threaten shipwracke , and therefore to bee auoyded , and liberty and sea-roome to bee affected ; yet I doe not obstinatly say , that there is nothing in Machiuels commentary , which may bee of vse to this Church . Certainely there is very much ; but wee are not men of that pouerty , that wee neede begge from others , nor dignify those things with our prayers , which proceede not from our selues . The Senate of Rome gaue vs heeretofore a noble example of this temperance and abstinence , which therefore refused to place Christ amongst their gods , because the matter was proposed by the Emperour , and begunne not in themselues . As for that particular , wherein Machiauel vseth especially to glory ; which is , that he brought in the liberty of dissembling , and lying , it hath neither foundation nor colour : For not onely Plato , and other fashioners of Common - 〈◊〉 , allowed the libertie of lying , to Magistrates , & to Physicians ; but we also cōsidring the fathers of the Church , Origen , Chrysostome , Hierom , haue not onely found that doctrine in them , but wee haue also deliuered them from all imputation , & reprehension by this euasion : That it was lawfull for them to maintaine that opinion , till some definition of the Church had established the contrarie . Which certainely , ( though this should not be so openly spoken of ) as yet was neuer done . But yet wee haue departed from this doctrine of free lying , though it were receiued in practise , excused by the Fathers , strengthened by examples of 〈◊〉 & Angels , in the Scriptures , and so almost established by the law of 〈◊〉 , and Nature ; onely for this reason , because we were not the first Authors of it . But we haue supplied this losse with another doctrine , lesse suspitious ; and yet of as much vse for our Church ; which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and Mixt 〈◊〉 . The libertie therefore of lying , is neither new , not safe as almost all Machiauells precepts are so stale and obsol●te , that our Serarius vsing I must confesse his lesuiticall liberty of w●lde anticipation , did not doubt to call Herod , who liued so long before Machiuell , a Machiauellian . But that at one blow wee may cut off all his reasons , & all his hopes , this I affirme , this I pronounce ; that all his bookes , and all his deedes , tend onely to this , that thereby a way may be prepared to the ruine & destructiō of that part of this Kingdome , which is established at Rome : for what else doth hee endeauor or go about , but to change the forme of comon-wealth , and so to depriue the people ( who are a soft , a liquid and ductile mettall , and apter for our impressions ) of all their liberty ; & hauing so destroyed all ciuility & re-publique , to reduce all states to Monarchies ; a name which in secular states , wee doe so much abhor , ( I cannot say it without teares , ) but I must say it , that not any one Monarch is to be found , which either hath not withdrawne himselfe wholy frō our kingdome , or wounded & endamadged in some weighty point ; hereupon our Cotton confesses , that the authority of the Pope is incomparably lesse then it was , and that now the Christiā Church , ( which can agree to none but the 〈◊〉 , ) is but a diminutiue . And herevpon also it is , that the Cardinal , who were wont to meete oftner , meete now but once in a weeke , because the businesses of the Court of Rome growe fewer . To forbeare therefore mentioning of the Kings of Britaine , and Denmarke , and the other Monarkes of the first sort , which haue vtterly cast off Rome ; euen in France , our enemies are so much encreased , that they equal vs almost in number : and for their strength , they haue this aduantage aboue vs , that they agree within themselues , and are at vnity with their neighbour Resourmed Churches ; whereas our men , which call themselues Catholick there , doe so much differ from the Romane Catholick , that they do not onely preferre Councels , but euen the king , before the Pope , and euermore oppose those their two great Gyants , Gog and Magog , their Parliament of Paris , and their Colledge of Sorbon , against all our endeauours . Besides all this , we languish also miserably in Spaine , where Cleargy men , if they breake their fealty to their Lord , are accused of treason ; where Ecclesiasticall persons are subject to secular 〈◊〉 ment , and , if they be sacrilegious , are burnt by the Ordinarie Magistrate ; which are doctrines and practises , contrary , and dangerous to vs. And though they will seeme to haue giuen almost halfe the kingdome to the church , and so to haue diuided equally ; yet those Graunts are so infected , with pensions , and other burdens , by which the kings seruants , and the younger sons of great persons are maintained , that this greatnesse of the Church there is rather a dropsie , then a sound state of health , established by welconcocted nourishment , and is rather done , to cast an Eouy vpon the Church , then to giue any true Maiestie to it . And euen in vsurping Ec●siasticall ●sdiction , the kings of Spaine haue not onely exceeded the kings of Fraunce , but also of Britany . For ( says Baronius of that king ) there is nowrisen vp a new Head , a 〈◊〉 , and a wonder . He Excommunicates , and he Absolues : And he practiseth this power euen against Bishops , and Cardinals : He stops Appeales , and he acknowledges no superiority 〈◊〉 the sea of Rome , but 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 of Preuention : And therefore , the name Monarch , is a hateful and execrable name to vs. Against which , Baronius hath thundred with such violence , such fiercenesse , and such bitternesse , that I could hardly adde any thing thereunto , if I should speake ( vnspeakable Emperour ) with thine owne tongue : For he cals it an Adulterine name , and a Tower of Babel , and threatens destruction to that king ( though himselfe were his subiect ) except he forbeare the name . In the meane time , he resolues him to be a Tyran● , and pronounces him to stand yearely Excommunicate by the Bulla 〈◊〉 . Neither doth he offer to desend himselfe with any other excuse , when a Cardinall reprehended his fiercenes towards the king , then this ; 〈◊〉 Imperions zeale , hath no power to spare God himselfe . And yet he confesseth , that this zeale was kindled by the Popes speciall commaund , and by his Oath taken , as Cardinall . Neither hath our Bellarmine almost any other cause of aduauncing Monarchicall gouernmēt so much as he doth , then thereby to remoue all secular men from so great a dignitie , and to reserue it only to the Church . It was therfore well done of that Rebullus ( who now begins to bee knowne in this state ) when hauing surfeited with Calumnies against the French Church , and her Ministers , he hath dared of late to draw his pen , and to ioyne battell against a most puissant forraine Prince : hee did well ( I say ) and fitly , when hee called Bellarmine and Baronius , The sword and buckler of the Romane Church . And I cannot choose but thanke him for affoording the Title of Sword to our Order ; as well , because after so many expositions of those words , ( Behold , heere are two 〈◊〉 ) which our side hath gathered , to establish a temporall Iurisdiction in the Pope , and which our Aduersaries haue remoued , worne out , or scorned , this man hath relieued vs with a new , and may seeme to intend by the two swords , the Popes Excommunications , and the Iesuites 〈◊〉 , and King-killings ; as also because he hath reserued to our Order that soueraigne dignity , that as God himselfe was pleased to defend his Paradice with fire and sword , so we stand watchfull vpon the borders of our Church , not onely prouided , as that Cherubin was with sire and sword , but with the later inuention of Gunpowder ; about the first inuentour whereof I wonder , why Antiquaries should contend , whether it were the Diuell or a Frier , since that may be all one . But as ( O vnspeakable Emperour ) you haue almost in all things endeuoured to imitate God : so haue you most throughly performed it in vs ; For when God attempted the Reformation of his Church , it became you also to reforme yours . And accordingly by your Capuchins , you did reforme your Franciscans ; which , before we arose , were your chiefest labourers , and workemen : and after , you Reformed your Capuchins , by your Recolets . And when you perceiued that in the Church of God , some men proceeded so farre in that Reformation , that they endeuoured to draw out , not onely all the peccant and dangerous humours , but all her beautie , and exteriour grace and Ornament , and cuen her vitall spirits , with her corrupt bloud , & so induce a leannesse , and il-fauourednes vpon her , and thought to 〈◊〉 a rigid coldnesse with a 〈◊〉 , you also were pleased to follow that Example , and so , in vs , did Reforme , and awaken to higher enterprise , the dispositions as well of the Circumcellions , as of the Assassins : for we do not limit our selues in that lowe degree of the Circumcellions , when we vrge and prouoke ohers to put vs to death ; nor of the Assassins which were hired to kill some Kings , which passed through their quarter : for we exceed them both , because wee doe these things voluntarily , for nothing , & euery where . And as wee will bee exceeded by none , in the thing it selfe : so to such things as may seeme mysticall and significant , wee oppose mysticall things . And so , least that Canon ; That no Clergy-man should weare a knife with a point , might seeme to concerne vs , by some prophetical relation , we in our Rules haue opposed this precept : That our knife be often whetted , & so kept in an apt readines for all vses : for our diuination lies in the cōtemplation of entrails ; in which art we are thus much more subtile then those amongst the old Romans , that wee consider not the entrails of Beasts , but the entrails of souls , in confessions , and the entrails of Princes , in treasons ; whose hearts wee do not beleeue to be with vs , till we see them : let therefore this pratling Secretary hold his tōgue , and be content that his booke be had in such reputation , as the world affoords to an Ephemerides , or yearely Almanack , which being accōmodated to certaine places , & certaine times , may be of some short vse in some certaine place : and let the Rules and precepts of his disciples , like the Canons of prouincial Councels bee of force there , where they were made , but onely ours which pierce , and passe through all the world , retaine the strength and vigour of Vniuersall Councels . Let him enioy som honourable place amongst the Gentiles ; but abstaine frō all of our sides : neither when I say , Our side , doe I only meane Moderne men : for in all times in the Romane Church there haue bene Friers which haue farr exceeded Machiauel . Truely I thought this Oration of Ignatius very long : and I began to thinke of my body which I had so long abandoned , least it should putrifie , or grow mouldy , or bee buried ; yet I was loath to leaue the stage , till I saw the play ended : And I was in hope , that if any such thing should befall my body , the Iesuits , who work Miracles so familiarly , & whose reputation I was so careful of in this matter , would take compassion vpon me , and restore me againe . But as I had sometimes obserued Feathers or strawes swimme on the watersface , Brought to the bridge , where through a narrow place The water passes , throwne backe , and dela●d ; And hauing daunc'd a while , and nimbly plai'd Vpon the watry circles , Then haue bin By the streames liquid snares , and iawes , suck'd in And suncke into the wombe of that s●olne bourne , Leaue the beholder desperate of returne : So I saw Machiauel often put forward , and often thrust back , and at last vanish . And looking earnestly vpon Lucifers 〈◊〉 , I perceiued him to bee affected towardes Ignatius , as Princes , who though they enuy and grudge , that their great Officers should haue such immoderate meanes to get wealth ; yet they dare not complaine of it , least thereby they should make them odious and contemptible to the people : so that Lucifer now suffered a new Hell : that is , the danger of a Popular Diuell , vaine-glorious , and inclined to innouations there . Therefore he determined to withdraw himselfe into his inward chamber , and to admit none but Ignatius : for he could not exclude him , who had deserued so well ; neither did hee thinke it safe to stay without , & giue him more occasiōs to amplifie his owne worth , & vnder-value all thē there in publique , and before so many vulgar Diuels . But as hee rose , a whole army of soules besieged him . And all which had inuented any new thing , euen in the smallest matters , thronged about him , and importuned an admission . Euen those which had but inuented new attire for woemen , & those whom Pancirollo hath recorded in his Commentaries for inuention of Porcellandishes , of Spectacles , of Quintans , of stirrups , and of Cauiari , thrust themselues into the troupe . And of those , which pretended that they had squared the circle , the nūber was infinite . But Ignatius scattered all this cloud quickly , by commaunding , by chiding , by deriding , and by force & violence . Amongst the rest , I was sory to see him vse Peter Aretine so ill as he did : For though Ignatius told him true when he boasted of his licentious pictures , that because he was not much learned , hee had left out many things of that kind , with which the ancient histories & poëmes abound ; and that therefore Aretine had not onely not added any new inuention , but had also taken away all courage and spurres frō youth , which would rashly trust , and relie vpon his diligence , and seeke no further , & 〈◊〉 loose that infinite & precious treasure of Antiquitie . He added moreouer , that though Raderus , and others of his Order , did vse to gelde Poets , and other Authors : ( and heere I could not choose but wonder , why they haue not gelded their Vulgar Edition , which in some places hath such obscene words as the Hebrew tongue , which is therefore also called Holy , doth so much abhorre , that no obscene things can be vttered in it ) insomuch , that ( as one of them very subtilly notes ) the starre of Venus is very seldome called by that name in the Scripture : for how could it be , the word being not Hebrew ? yet ( said hee ) our men doe not geld them to that purpose , that the memory thereof should bee abolished ; but that when themselues had first tried , whether Tiberius his Spintria , & Martialis symple●ma , and others of that kinde , were not rather Chimeraes , & speculations of luxuriant wits , then things certaine & constant , and such as might bee reduced to an Art and methode in licentiousnes : for Iesuits neuer con● thēselues with the Theory in thing , but straight proceed to practise ) they might after communicate them to their owne Disciples and Nouitiates : for this Church is fruitfull in producing Sacraments ; and being now loaded with Diuine sacraments , it produces Morall sacraments . In which , as in the diuine , it bindes the Layety to one species ; but they reserue to themselues the diuers formes , and the secrets and mysteries in this matter , which they finde in the Authors whom they geld . Of which kind I thinke they giue a little glimmering and intimation , when in the life of their last made Goddesse , Francisca Romana , they say : that the bed where shee lay with her husband , was a perpetuall Martyrdome to her , and a shop of miracles . But for all this , since Aretine was one , who by a long● custome of libellous & contumelious speaking against Princes , had got such a habit , that at last he came to diminish and dis-esteeme God himselfe . I wonder truly , that this Arch-Iesuite , though hee would not admit him to any eminent place in his Triumphant Church , should deny him an office of lower estimation : For truly to my thinking , he might haue beene fit , either to serue Ignatius , as maister of his pleasures , or Lucifer as his Crier : for whatsoeuer Lucifer durst think , this man durst speake . But Ignatius , who thought himselfe sufficient for all vses , thrust him away , and when he offered vpward , offered his staffe at him : Nor did he vse Christopher Columbus with any better respect ; who hauing found all waies in the earth , & sea open to him , did not feare any difficulty in Hell , but when hee offered to enter , Ignatius staid him , & said : You must remember , sir , that if this kingdome haue got any thing by the discouery of the West Indies , al that must be attributed to our Order : for if the opinion of the Dominicans had preuailed , That the inhabitants should be reduced , onely by preaching and without violence , certainely their 200000 of men would scarce in so many ages haue beene brought to a 150 which by our meanes was so soone performed . And if the law , made by Ferdinando , onely against Canibals ; That all which would not bee Christians should bee bondslaues , had not beene extended into other Prouinces , wee should haue lacked men , to digg vs out that benefite , which their countries affoord . Except we when wee tooke away their old Idolatrie , had recompenced them with a new one of ours ; except we had obtruded to those ignorant and barbarous people , sometimes naturall things , sometimes artificiall , and counterfeit , in steed of Miracles ; & except we had ben alwaies ready to conuey , & to apply this medicine made of this pretious Americā drug , vnto the Princes of Europe , & their Lords , & Counsellours , the prof●te by the onely discouery of these places ( which must of necessity bee referred to fortune ) would haue beene very little ; yet I praise your perseuerance , and your patience ; which since that seemes to be your principall vertue ) you shall haue good occasion to exercise heere , when you remaine in a lower and remoter place , then you thinke belongs to your merits . But although Lucifer being put into a heate , and almost smothered with this troupe and deluge of pretenders , seemed to haue admitted Ignatius , as his Lieutenant , or Legat a latere , and trusted him with an absolute power of doing what hee would , yet he quickly spied his owne errour , and danger thereby . He began to remember how forcibly they 〈◊〉 to vrge the Canon Alius ; by which the king of Fraunce is sayd to haue beene deposed , not for his wickednesse , but for his infirmity , and vnfitnesse to gouerne : And that kings do forfeit their dignity , if they giue them selues to other matters , and leaue the gouernment of the State to their officers . Therefore Lucifer thought it time for him to enter into the businesse , least at last Ignatius should prescribe therein ; by which title of prescription he well knew , how much the Church of Rome doth aduaunce and defend it selfe against other Princes . And though he seemed very thankfull to Ignatius , for his deliuery from this importunate company , yet when he perceiued , that his scope and purpose was , to keepe all others out , he thought the case needed greater consideration ; For though he had a confidence in his owne Patriarkes , which had long before possest that place , and in whose company ( as an Abbot said to the Diuell , who after long intermission , now tempted him ) hee was growne old , and do●bted not but that they would defend their right , and oppose themselues against any innouation , which Ignatius should practise , yet if none but hee in a whole age should bee brought in , hee was afraid , that this singularity would both increase his courage and spirit , and their reuerence , and respect towards him . Casting therefore his eyes into euery corner , at last a great way off , hee spied ` Phillip Nerius : who acknowledging in his owne particular no especiall merit towardes this kingdome , forbore to presse neere the gate ; But Lucifer called to his remembrance , that Nerius and all that Order , of which hee was the Author , which is called congregatio Oratorij , were erected , aduaunced , and dignisyed by the Pope , principally to this end , that , by their incessant Sermons to the people , of the liues of Saints and other Ecclesiastique Antiquities , they might get a new reputation , and so the torrent , and generall superstition towards the Iesuits , might grow a little remisser , and luke-warme : for at that time the Pope himselfe beganne to bee afraid of the Iesuites , for they begunne to publish their Paradox of Confession and absolution to bee giuen by letters , and Messengers , and by that meanes to draw the secrets of all Princes onely to themselues ; And they had tried and sollicited a great Monarch , who hath manie designes vpon Italy , against the Pope , & deliuered to that prince diuerse articles , for the reforming of him . Now the Pope and Lucifer loue euer to follow one anothers example : And therefore that which the one had done in the middle world , the other attempted in the lower . Hereupō he called for Philip Nerius , and gaue him many euidences of a good inclination towards him . But Nerius was too stupid , to interprete them aright . Yet Ignatius spied them , and before Lucifer should declare himselfe any further , or proceed too farre herein , least after he were farre engaged , there should be no way , to auert or withdraw him from his owne propositions ( for he saw there must be respect had of his honour and constancy ) hee thought it fittest to oppose now at the beginning . He sayd therfore , that he now perceiued , that Lucifer had not bene altogether so much conuersant with Philip as with the Iesuits , since he knew not , how much Philip had euer professed himselfe an enemy to him . a For he did not onely deny all visions , and apparitions , b And commaunded one to spit in Maries face , when she appeared againe , because he thought it was the Diuell ; c And droue away an other that came to tempt a sicke man , in the shape of a Phisition ; d And was hardly drawne to beleeue any possessings ; but e when three Diuels did meete him in the way , to afright him , he neither thought them worthy of any Exorcisme , nor so much as the signe of the Crosse , but meerely went by them , as though he scorned to look at thē , & so despighted thē with that negligēce . It may be that hee hath drawne others into Religion , but himselfe remained then in the Layety ; in so much as I remember , that f I vsed to call him , The Saints Bell , that hangs without , and cals others into the Church . g Neither doe they which follow this Order , bind themselues with any vow or oath ; Neither do I know any thing for which this h kingdome is beholding to him , but that he moued Baronius to write his Annals . To all this Nerius sayde nothing , as though it had beene spoken of some body else . Without doubt , either he neuer knew , or had forgot that he had done those things which rhey write of him . But Lucifer himselfe tooke the boldnesse ( hauing with some difficultio got Ignatius leaue ) to take Nerius his part : and proceeded so farre , that he aduentured to say , that Baronius , Bozius , and others , which proceeded out of the Hyue of Nerius , had vsed a more free , open , and hard fashion against Princes , and better prouided for the Popes Direct Iurisdiction vpon all Kingdomes , and more stoutly defēded it , then they ; which vndertaking the cause more tremblingly , then becomes the Maiestie of so great a businesse , adhered to ` Bellarmines sect , and deuised such crooked wayes , and such perplexed intanglings , as by reason of the various , and vncertaine circumstances , were of no vse : And that whatsoeuer Nerius his schollers had performed , must be attributed to him , as the fruit to the roote . Ignatius perceiuing that Lucifer vndertooke all offices for Nerius , and became Iudge , Aduocate , and witnesse , pursuing his former resolution , determined to interrupt him , least when hee had enlarged himselfe in Nerius commendation , hee should thereby bee bound to a reward . He therefore cried out , What hath Nerius done ? what hath he , or his followers put in execution ? haue they not euer bene onely exercised in speculations , and in preparatory doctrines ? Are these bookes which are written of the Iurisdiction of the Pope , to any better vse then Phisitians Lectures of diseases , and of Medicines ? whilest these Receits lie hid in Phisitians bookes , and no body goes to the Patient ; no body applies the medicine to the disease , what good , what profit comes by all this ? what part ; what member of this languishing body haue they vndertaken ? In what Kingdome haue they corrected these humours , which offend the Pope , either by their Incision or cauterising ? what state haue they cut vp into an ●natomy ? what Sceletō haue they prouided for the instruction of Posterity ? Do Do they hope to cure their diseases , by talking and preaching , as it were with charmes and enchantments ? If Nerius shall bee thought worthy of this Honour , and this place , because out of his schollers writings something may be gleaned , which may be applied to this purpose , why should we not haue Beza and Caluin , and the rest of that sort here in Hell , since in their bookes there may be some things found , which may be wrefted to this purpose ? But , since their scope was not to extirpate Monarchies , since they publis●ed no such Canons and Aphorismes as might be applied to all cases , and so brought into certaine vse & consequence , but limited theirs to circumstances which seldome fall out , since they deliuered nothing dangerous to Princes , but where , in their opinion , the Souereignty resided in the People , or in certaine Ephori , since they neuer said , that this power to violate the perso of a prince , might either be takē by any priuate man , or committed to him , & that therefore none of their disciples hath euer boasted of hauing done any thing vpon the person of his soueraigne : we see that this place hath euer bene shut against them : there haue bene some few of thē ( though I can scarce affoord those mē the honour to number them with Knox , and Goodman , and Buchanan ) which following our examples haue troubled the peace of some states , and beene iniurious to some princes , and haue beene admitted to some place in this Kingdome ; but since they haue performed nothing with their hands , nor can excuse themselues by saying , they were not able : ( for wherein was Clement , or Rauillac more able then they ; or what is not he able to doe in the middest of an Army , who despiseth his owne life ? ) they scarce euer aspire , or offer at this secret and sacred Chamber . Lucifer had a purpose to haue replied to this : that perchaunce all their hands which had bin imbrued in the bowels of Princes , were not so immediatly armed by the Iesuits , as that they were euer present at all consultations and resolutions : ( and yet he meant to say this , not as sworne witnesse , but as Lucifer himselfe , & the father of lies , in which capacitie he might say any thing ) But that it was inough that Confessours do so possesse them with that doctrine , that it is not now proposed to them as Phisicke , but as naturall food , and ordinarie diet ; and that therfore for the performance of these things , a Iesuits person is no more requisite , then that the heart of a man , because it sends forth spirits into euery limbe , should therefore bee present in euery limbe : that when it was in vse for the Consuls of Rome for the safety of their Country and army , to deuote themselues ouer to the infernall god , it was lawfull for themselues to absteine and forbeare the act , and they might appoint any Souldier for that Sacrifice : and that so the Iesuites for the performance of their resolutions , might stirre vp any amongst the people : ( for now they enioy all the priuiledges , of the Franciscans , who say ; That the name of people comprehends all which are not of their Order : ) And that if this be granted , Nerius his schollers are inferiour to none ; with whose bookes ( if all the Iesuites should perish ) the Church might content herselfe , and neuer feare dearth nor leanenesse . This Lucifer would haue spoken ; but hee thought it better and easier to forbeare : for hee obserued , that Ignatius had giuē a signe , & that all his troupes which were many , subtile , & busie , set vp their bristles , grumbled , and compacted themselues into one body , gathered , produced , and vrged all their euidence , whatsoeuer they had done , or suffered . There the English Legion , which was called Capistrata , which Campian led , and ( as I thinke ) Garnet concluded , was fiercer then all the rest . And as though there had beene such a second martyrdome to haue beene suffered , or as though they might haue put off their Immortalitie , they offered themselues to any imploiment . Therefore Lucifer gaue N●rius a secret warning to withdraw himselfe , & spoke no more of him ; and despairing of bringing in an other , began earnestly to thinke , how hee might leaue Ignatius out . This therefore he said to him : I am sorry my Ignatius , that I can neither find in others , deserts worthy of this place , nor any roome in this place worthy of your deserts . If I might die , I see there would be no longe strife for a successour : For if you haue not yet done that act which I did at first in Heauen , and thereby got this Empire , this may excuse you , that no man hath beene able to tell you what it was : For if any of the Auncients say true , when they call it Pride , or Licentiousnesse , or Lying : or if it be in any of the Casuistis , which professe the Art of sinning , you cānot be accused of hauing omitted it . But since I may neithor forsake this kingdome , nor diuide it , this onely remedy is left : I will write to the Bishop of Rome : he shall call Galilaeo the Florentine to him ; who by this time hath throughly instructed himselfe of all the hills , woods , and Cities in the new world , the Moone . And since he effected so much with his first Glasses , that he faw the Moone , in so neere a distance , that hee gaue himselfe satisfaction of all , and the least parts in her , when now being growne to more perfection in his Art , he shall haue made new Glasses , and they receiued a hallowing from the Pope , he may draw the Moone , like a boate floating vpon the water , as neere the earth as he will. And thither ( because they euer claime that those imployments of discouery belong to them ) shall all the Iesuites bee transferred , and easily vnite and reconcile the Lunatique Church to the Romane Church , without doubt , after the Iesuites haue been there a litle while , there will soone grow naturally a Hell in that world also : ouer which , you Ignatius shall haue dominion , and establish your kingdome & dwelling there . And with the same ease as you passe from the earth to the Moone , you may passe frō the Moone to the other starrs , which are also thought to be worlds , & so you may beget and propagate many Hells , & enlarge your Empire , & come neerer vnto that high seate , which I left at 〈◊〉 . Ignatius had not the patience to stay till Lucefer had made an end ; but as soone as hee saw him pause , and take breath , and looke , first vpon his face , to obserue what changes were there , and after to cast his eye to an other place in Hell where a great noyse was suddenly raysed : hee apprehended this intermission , and as though Lucifer had ended , he said : That of Lucifers affection to the Romane Church , and to their Order euery day produced new Testimonies : and that this last was to bee accounted as one of the greatest . That he knew well with how great deuotion the Bishop of Rome did euer embrace and execute all counsels proceeding from him : And that therefore he hoped , that hee would reserue that imployment for the 〈◊〉 , and that Empire for him their founder : and that he beleeued the Pope had thought of this before ; and at that time when he put Parsons the English Iesuite in hope of a Cardinalship , hee had certainly a reference to this place , and to this Church : That it would fall out shortly , that all the damages , which the Romane Church hathlately suffered vpon the earth , shall bee recompenced onely there . And that , now this refuge was opened , if she should be reduced into greater streights , or if she should be vtterly exterminated , the world would not much lament and mourne for it . And for the entertainment of the Iesuites there , there can be no doubt made at this time , when , ( although their profession bee to enter whether Princes will or no ) all the Princes of the world will not onely graciously affoord them leaue to goe , but willingly and cheerfully accompany them with Certificates , and Dimissory letters . Nor would they much resist it , if the Pope himselfe would vouchsafe to go with them , and so fulfill in some small measure , that prophecy of his Gerson , De Auferibilitate Papae . Besides this a woman gouernes there ; of which Sex they haue euer made their profite , which haue attempted any Innouation in religion ; with how much diligence were the two Empresses Pulcheria & Eudoxia sollicited by the Pope for the establishing of Easter ? how earnestly did both Pelagius and the Pope striue by their letters to draw the Empresse to their side ? For since ●ulia had that honour giuen to her in publique coines , that she was called the mother of the Armie , the Mother of the Gods , and of the Senate , and the Mother of her Countrie ; Why may not woemen instructed by vs , be called Mothers of the Church ? Why may not wee relie vpon the wit of woemen , when , once , the Church deliuered ouer her selfe to a woman-Bishop ? And since wee are reputed so fortunate in obtaining the fauour of woemen , that woemen are forbid to come into our houses ; and we are forbid , to take the charge of any Nunnes ; since we haue had so good experience of their fauour in all the ●dies , or at lest haue thought it fit , that they which haue the charge to write our anniuersary letters from thence should make that boast , and adde something to the Truth , both because the Auncient Heretiques helde that course in insinuating their opinions , and because they which are acquainted with our practises will think any thing credible , which is written of vs in that behalfe , why should wee doubt of our fortune in this Queene , which is so much subiect to alterations , and passions ? she languishes often in the absence of the Sunne , and often in Ecclipses falles into swounes , and is at the point of death . In these aduantages we must play our parts , & put our deuises in practise : for at these times any thing may be drawne from her . Nor must we forbeare to try , what verses , and incantations may worke vpon her : For in those things which the Poets writ , though they themselues did not beleeue them , we haue since found many truths , and many deep mysteries : nor can I call to minde any woman , which either deceiued our hope , or scaped our cunning , but Elizabeth of England ; who might the rather be pardoned that , because she had put off all affections of woemen . The principall Dignity of which sex , ( which is , to be a Mother ) what reason had she to wish , or affect , since without those womanish titles , vnworthy of her , of wife , & mother , such an heire was otherwise prouided for her , as was not fit to be kept any longer from the inheritance . But when I , who hate them , speake thus much in the honour of these two Princes , I finde my selfe caried with the same fury , as those Beasts were , which our men say , did sometime adore the Host in the Masse . For it is against my will , that I pay thus much to the Manes of Elizabeth ; from scorning of which word Manes , when the king of great Brittaine writ it , I would our Parsons had forborne , fi●e one of our owne Iesuits vseth the same word , when reprehending our Aduersaries , he says , That they do insult vpon Garnets Manes . And yet this Elizabeth was not free from all Innovation ; For the ancient Relioion was so much worne out , that to reduce that to the former dignity , and so to renew it , was a kinde of lanouation : and by this way of innouating shee satisfied the infirmity of her Sex , if shee suffered any : for a little Innouation might serue her , who was but a little a woman . Neither dare I say , that this was properly an Innovation , lest there by I should confesse that Luther and many others which liue in banishment in Heaven farre from vs , might haue a title to this place , as such Innouators . But we cannot doubt , but that this lunatique . Queene will be more inclinable to our Innouations : for our Clauius hath beene long familiarly conu●sant with her , what she hath done from the beginning , what she wil do hereafter , how she behaues herselfe towardes her neighbour kingdoms , the rest of the starrs , & all the planetary , & firmamentary worlds ; with whom she is in league , & amity , and with whom at difference , he is perfectly instructed , so he haue his Ephemerides about him . But Claui● is too great a personage to be best owed vpon this Lunatique Queene , either as her Counsellour , or ( which were more to our profit ) as her Cōfessor . So great a man must not bee cast away vpon so small a matter . Nor haue we any other besides , whom vpon any occasion we may send to the Sunne , or to the other worlds , beyond the world . Therefore wee must reserue Clauius for greater vses . Our Herbestus , or Busaeus , or Voellus ( and these bee all which haue giuen any proofe of their knowledge in Mathematiques ) although they bee but tastlesse , and childish , may serue to obserue her asspects , and motions , and to make Catechisones fit for this Lunatique Church : for though Garnet had Clauius for his Maister , yet he profited little in the Arts , but being filled with Bellarmines Dictates , ( who was also his Maister ) his minde was all vpon Politiques . When wee are established there , this will adde much to our dignity , that in our letters which wee send downe to the earth , ( except perchaunce the whole Romane Church come vp to vs into the Moone ) we may write of what miracles wee list : which we offered to doo out of the Indies , and with good successe , till one of our Order , in a simplicity , and ingenuity fitter for a Christian , then a Iesuite , acknowledged and lamented that there were no miracles done there . Truly it had bin better for vs to haue spit all those fiue Brothers , Acostas , out of our Order , then that any one of them should haue vomited this reproach against vs. It is of such men as these in our Order , that our Gretzer saies : There is No body without his Excrements , because though they speake truth , yet they speake it too rawly . But as for this contemplation , and the establishing of that gouernement , ( though it be a pleasant consideration ) we may neither pamper our selues lōger with it now , nor detaine you lōger therein . Let your Greatnesse write ; let the Pope execute your counsell ; let the Moone approach whē you two think fit . In the meane time let me vse this Chamber , as a resting place : For though Pope Gregory were strucken by the Angell with a perpetuall paine in his stomach and feet , because hee compelled God by his praiers , to deliuer Traian out of Heil , and transferre him to Heauen ; and therefore God , by the mouth of 〈◊〉 , tooke an assurance for all his S●cessours , that they should neuer dare to request the like againe : yet when the Pope shall call mee backe from hence , hee can be in no danger , both because in this contract , God cannot bee presumed to haue thought of me , since I neuer thought of him , and so the contract therein void ; and because the Condition is not broken , if I bee not remoued into Heauen , but transferred from an Earthly Hell , to a Lunatique Hell. More then this he could not be heard to speake : For that noise , of which I spoke before , increased exceedingly , and whē Lucifer asked the cause , it was told him , that there was a soule newly arriued in Hell , which said that the Pope was at last entreated to make Ignatius a Saint , and that hee hastened his Canonization , as thinking it an vniust'thing , that when all artificers , and prophane Butchers had particular Saints to inuocate , only these spirituall Butchers , and King-killers , should haue none : for when the Iesuite Cotton in those questions which by vertue of his inuisible priuiledge he had prouided for a possest person , amongst others , dangerous both to England and France , had inserted this question : What shall I do for Ignatius his Canonizing ? and found out at last , that Philip , King of Spaine , and Henry , King of Fraunce , contended by their Ambassadors at Rome , which of them should haue the honour of obtaining his Canonizing ( for both pretending to be King of Nauarre , both pretended that this right and honour belonged to him : and so both deluded the Iesuits : ) For D'Alcala a Franciscan , and P●nafort a Iacobite , were by Philips meanes canonized , and the Iesuite left out . At last hee despaired of hauing any assistance from these Princes ; nor did he thinke it conuenient , that a Iesuite should be so much beholden to a King , since Baronius was already come to that heighth and constancy , that being accused of some wronges done to his King , hee did not vouchsafe to write in his owne excuse to the King , till the Conclaue which was then held , was fully ended , least ( as himselfe giues the reason ) if hee had then beene chosen Pope , it should bee thought hee had beene beholden to the King therein . For these reasons therefore they labour the Pope themselues . They confesse , that if they might choose , they had rather hee should restore them into all which they had lost in Fraunce , and Venice , then that Ignatius should be sent vp into Heauen ; and that the Pope was rather bound to do so , by the Order which God himselfe seemes to haue obserued in the Creation , where he first furnished the Earth , and then the Heauens , and confi●med himse●fe to be the Israelites God by this Argument , that he had giuen them the land of Canaan , and other temporall blessings . But since this exceeded the Popes omnipotence in Earth , it was fit he should try , what he could do in Heauen . Now the Pope would faine haue satisfied them with the title of 〈◊〉 , which formerly vpon . the intreaty of the Princés of that Family , he had affoorded to Aloisius Gonzaga of that Order . He would also haue giuen this title of Saint rather to Xauerius , who had the reputation of hauing done Miracles . Indeed he would haue done any thing , so hee might haue slipped ouer Ignatius . But at last hee is ouercome ; and so against the will of Heauen , and of the Pope , Lucifer himselfe being not very forward in it , Ignatius must bee thrust in amongst the Saints . All this discourse , I , beeing growne cunninger then that Doctor , Gabriell Nele ( of whom Bartolus speaketh ) that by the onely motion of his lippes , without any vtterance , vnderstood all men , perceiued and read in euery mans countenance there . These thinges , as soone as Lucifer apprehended them , gaue an end to the contention ; for now hee thought he might no longer doubt nor dispute of Ignatius his admission , who , besides his former pretences , had now gotten a new right and title to the place , by his Canonization ; and he feared that the Pope would take all delay ill at his handes , because Canonization is now growne a kinde of Declaration , by which all men may take knowledge , that such a one , to whom the Church of Rome is much beholden , is now made partaker of the principall dignities , and places in Hell : For these men euer make as though they would follow Augustine in all things , and therefore they prouide that that also shall bee true which he said in this point : That the Reliques of many are honoured vpon earth whose soules are tormented in Hell. Therefore he tooke Ignatius by the hand , and led him to the gate . In the meane time , I , which doubted of the truth of this report of his Canonizing , went a little out for further instruction : for I thought it scarce credible , that Paulus 5. who had but lately burdened both the Citie of Rome , and the Church , with so great expences , when he canonized Francisca Romana , would so easily proceed to canonize Ignatius now , when neither any prince offered to beare the charge , nor so much as sollicited it : for so he must bee forced to waste both the Treasures of the Church at once . And from Leo 3. who 800 yeares after Christ , is the first Pope which Canonized any , I had not obserued that this had euer beene done : Neither do I think that Paulus 5. was drawne to the Can onizing of this woman by any other respect , then because that Rule which shee appointed to her Order , was Dictated and written by Saint Paul : For though Peter , and Magdalene , and others , were present at the writing thereof , as witnesses , yet Paul was the Author thereof . And since Saint Pauls old Epistles trouble and dis-aduantage this Church , they were glad to apprehend any thing of his new writing , which might be for them , that so this new worke of his might beare witnesse of his second conuersion to Papistry , since by his first conuersion to Christianity , they got nothing : for to say , that in this businesse Paulus 5. could not choose but be God , God himselfe , to say , that hee must needes haue liued familiarly with the God-head : and must haue heard Predestination it selfe whispering to him : And must haue had a place to sit in Councell with the most Diuine Trinitie , ( all which Valladerius sayes of him ) is not necessary in this matter , wherein the Popes , for the most part , proceed , as humane affections leade them . But at last , after some enquiry , I found that a certaine idle Gazettier , which vsed to scrape vp Newes , and Rumours at Rome , and so to make vp sale letters , vainer , and falser , then the Iesuites Letters of Iapan , and the Indies , had brought this newes to Hell , and a little Iesuiticall Nouice , a credulous soule , receiued it by his implicit faith , and published it . I laughed at Lucifers easinesse to beleeue , and I saw no reason euer after , to accuse him of infidelity . Vpon this I came backe againe , to spie ( if the gates were stil open ) with what affection Ignatius , and they who were in auncient possession of that place , behaued themselues towardes one an other . And I found him yet in the porch , and there beginning a new contention : for hauing presently cast his eyes to the principall place , next to Lucifers owne Throne , and finding it possest , he stopt Lucifer , and asked him , who it was that sate there . It was answered , that it was Pope Boniface ; to whom , as to a principall Innouator , for hauing first chalenged the name of Vniuersall Bishop , that honour was affoorded . Is he an Innouator thundred Ignatius ? shall I suffer this , when all my Disciples haue laboured all this while to proue to the world , that all the Popes before his time did vse that name ? And that Gregory did not reprehend the Patriarch Iohn for taking to himselfe an Antichristian name , but for vsurping a name which was due to none but the Pope . And could it be fit for you , Lucifer , ( who in this were either vnmindfull of the Romane Church , or else too weake and incapable of her secrets and mysteries ) to giue way to any sentence in Hell , which ( though it were according to truth , ) yet differed from the Iesuites Oracles ? With this Ignatius flyes vpwardes , and rushes vpon Boniface , and throwes him out of his Seate : And Lucifer went vp with him as fast , and gaue him assistance , least , if hee should forsake him , his owne seate might bee endangered . And I returned to my body ; which As a flower wet with last nights dew , and then Warm'd with the new Sunne , doth shake of agen All drowsinesse , and raise his trembling Crowne , Which crookedly did languish , and stoope downe To kisse the earth , and panted now to sinde Those beames return'd , which had not long time shin'd , was with this returne of my soule sufficiently resreshed . And when I had seene all this , and considered how fitly and pronortionally Rome & Hell an wered one another , after I had seene a Iesuit turne the Pope out of his Chaire in Hell , I suspected that that Order would attempt as much at Rome . An Apology for Iesuites . NOW is it time to come to the Apology for Iesuites : that is , it is time to leaue speaking of them , for hee fauours them most , which saies least of them ; Nor can any man , though hee had declaimed against them till all the sand of the sea were run through his houre-glasse , lacke matter to adde of their practises . If any man haue a minde to adde any thing to this Apology , hee hath my leaue ; and I haue therefore left roome for three or foure lines . which is enough for such a paradox : and more then Iungius , Scribanius , Gretzerus , Richeomus , Cydonius , and all the rest which are vsed to Apologies , and almost tyred with a defensiue warre , are able to employ , if they will write onely good things , and true , of the Iesuites . Neither can they comfort themselues with this , That Cato was called to his answere soure and forty times : for hee was so many times acquitted , which both the Parliaments of England , and France deny of the Iesuites . But if any man thinke this Apology too short , he may thinke the whole booke an Apology , by this rule of their owne - That it is their greatest argument of innocency to be accused by vs. At this time , whilst they are yet somewhat able to do some harme , in some places , let them make much of this Apology . It will come to passe shortly , when as they haue bene disspoyled and expelled at Venice , and shaked and fanned in France , so they will bee forsaken of other Princes , and then their owne weakenesse will bee their Apology , and they will grow harmelesse out of necessity , and that which Vegetius sayd of chariots armed with sithes and hookes , will be applied to the Iesuites , at first they were a terror , and after a scorne . FINIS . Errata . PAg. 〈◊〉 . line 19. for eternall read etheriall y. 16. l. 21. for O , read Do. p. 18. l. 17. for notion read motion . p. 22. l. 12. for Bohenheim read Hohenheim . p. 25. l. 20. for Hammer read Name , p. 28. l. 13. after from adde you . p. 30. l. 22. for Pampelnus tead Pampelune . p. 34. l. 3. for Too . read so , and lin . 19. for vnderstandings read vndertakings . p. 35. l. 23. for before read before . p. 41. marg . for Imag. ●uum , read Imaginarium . p. 53. l. 20. for sonnes read seum . p. 55. l. 16. for profit read perfect . p. 50. l. 4. for Boniface read Benefices , p. 63. l. 19. for it is , read it is not . p. 64. l. 12. for our Author , read one another , p. 66. l. 5. for protolipe read prototype , and line 19. for curried read carried , p. 75. l. 18. for praiers reade praises . p. 78. l. 2. for obsolute read obsolete . p. 94. l. 15. for to read so . p. 97. l. 1. for longer read long . p. 99. l. 15. for drug . read dung . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A20624-e190 In Con● fol. 160. a Proculum & b posthum● Notes for div A20624-e550 Nuncius syd●eus . De stella in Cygno . 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 6. Iosethina di Gi●ron . Gratian. Theod. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Tra. 6. 〈◊〉 Sedulius Apolog. pro libro consorm . lib 2. cap. 2. Harlay 〈◊〉 des Iesuites . Volladerius de Canoniza . Francis. Ro. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Bellar. de purgat . 〈◊〉 . cap. 8. Harlay defence des lesuites mesdi . 6. Bulla 18. in Greeze . cont . Ha. 〈◊〉 . a 〈◊〉 de maiest . Eccle. 〈◊〉 . cap. 7. 〈◊〉 . Theor. 1. cap. 〈◊〉 . 21. q. omni● 〈◊〉 . Modest in verb. 〈◊〉 . 32 , 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 , Pudor . Flagel . Damon . 〈◊〉 . Summa Bullarij , verbo Agnus Dei. Litera di Diego Torres . Dist. 32. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Ibid. 〈◊〉 . Scappus de ture non script . l. 1. cap. 54. 〈◊〉 Angel. verb . Papa . N 1. Money-takers . Theol. Niem . Nemus vnio Tract . 6. c. 29. Rodol . Cupers de Eccles . vniuer . fol. 4. Azor. par . 2. l. 4. c. 1. Mos●onius de maiest . Eccles. Milit . c. 5. Ibidem Idem . c. 6. 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 . l. 1. c. 25. Azar vbi 〈◊〉 . Plat. in vit . Adri. 1. Apologia pro 〈◊〉 . De despera● 〈◊〉 . causa . c. 11. Rom. 12. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 Catalog . sol . 60 & 100. 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 , 〈◊〉 . Vide 〈◊〉 . Apolog. 〈◊〉 : 〈◊〉 3. Gretzer . Examen Speculi . fol. 139. 〈◊〉 fol. 25. Idem . so . 32. Obseruationes in cassianum , fol. 736. ex collat . 〈◊〉 . Triha● li. 2. cap. 4. D●lamesse fol. 358. 〈◊〉 Thol . sa . l. 15. c. 4. v. 7 Scapp . de iure 〈◊〉 Script . l. 1. c. 6. Ibid. c. 16. Ibid. c. 25 De Regno Sicilia . 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . Salmonees . 〈◊〉 . l. 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 57. Carrauca stat . synod , N. 41. 〈◊〉 . Iesuit . cab . 〈◊〉 . Refe●tor . De rebus nuper 〈◊〉 . Harlay Defe● des Iesuit . fol. 12. Valladerius fol. 24. Matalius Metellus , Praefat. in ●sorinm . Paris de puteo , de syndicat , de e●…cess . regum . Sophronius ca. 45. Consenuerat . a Vita N 〈◊〉 fol. 107. b Fol. 108. c Fol. 212. d Fol. 229. e Fol. 19. f Fol. 26. g Fol. 313. h Fol. 163. 〈◊〉 , de formul . l. 10 〈◊〉 . Manual . 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 . 9. Hal●ered Nuncius 〈◊〉 . Reg. Iesuit . fol. 73. Ibid. fol. 〈◊〉 . Heissi● 〈◊〉 Aphor. 〈◊〉 . fol. 135. Eudem . 〈◊〉 an . Apol. pro 〈◊〉 . c. 9. 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 do . 〈◊〉 . lib. 〈◊〉 . 9. De 〈◊〉 Iesni● . ab●trus . cap. 5. Bellar● , de Purgato . l. 2. 6. 8. Pi●rre Mathuri , l. 1. Nar. 4. Litera eius ad Philip 3. Gen. 2.4 . Gen. 17.8 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . 〈◊〉 Paul. 5. L. 1. de veroblig . Valladerius fol. 57. Fol. 5. Notes for div A20624-e13720 Bo●ar in Amphithe . Spongia pro Iesuit . cont Equip. polon . fol. 20 Li. 1. ca. 14. 
A20648	----	A sermon of commemoration of the Lady Da[n]uers late wife of Sr. Iohn Da[n]uers. Preach'd at Chilsey, where she was lately buried. By Iohn Donne D. of St. Pauls, Lond. 1. Iuly 1627. Together with other commemorations of her; by her sonne G. Herbert. Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1627 Approx. 119 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 101 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A20648 STC 7049 ESTC S118478 99853685 99853685 19079 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A20648) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 19079) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1170:20) A sermon of commemoration of the Lady Da[n]uers late wife of Sr. Iohn Da[n]uers. Preach'd at Chilsey, where she was lately buried. By Iohn Donne D. of St. Pauls, Lond. 1. Iuly 1627. Together with other commemorations of her; by her sonne G. Herbert. Donne, John, 1572-1631. Herbert, George, 1593-1633. aut [12], 170; [2], 17, [1] p. Printed by I. H[aviland] for Philemon Stephens, and Christopher Meredith, and are to be sold at their shop at the golden Lion in Pauls Church-yard, London : 1627. Printer's name from STC. Herbert's commemorations are in Latin and Greek verse, with caption title: Memoriæ matris sacrum. Reproduction of the original in the Bodleian Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. 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Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor. The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines. Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Danvers, Magdalen, -- Lady, 1567 or 8-1627 -- Early works to 1800. Sermons, English -- 17th century. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-06 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-07 Olivia Bottum Sampled and proofread 2002-07 Olivia Bottum Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-08 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A SERMON OF COMMEMORATION OF THE Lady Dāuers , late Wife of Sr. Iohn Dāuers . Preach'd at Chilsey , where she was lately buried . By Iohn Donne D. of St. Pauls , Lond. 1. Iuly 1627. Together with other Commemorations of Her ; By her Sonne G. Herbert . LONDON , Printed by I. H. for Philemon Stephens , and Christopher Meredith , and are to be sold at their shop at the golden Lion in Pauls Church yard . 1627. Errata . Page 17. line 19. for her , reade the. p. 27. l. 20. for Royall , r reall p. 34 l. 5. for Germ , r. Iohannes Baptista Vergerius . p 35. l. 15. for in , r. into . p. 36. l. 6. for the power , r. the abused power p. 44 l. 12. for hic , r. hûc . p. 47. l. 16. for foundation ( adde ) or openly disturbed the Church . p. 66. l. 9. for succession , best succession , from here . ●iques or at best from an impr●bable example of the Nazarites . p. 67. l 13. in Sacerdotibus , &c. as an vncleane . Act. ( adde ) in Marg. August . ep . 74. p. 75. l. 20. for Apostolicall , r. Apochryphall p. 93. l. 11. for comming , r. cunning . p. 99. l 13. dele our . p. 123. l. 5. for prosued , r. pursued . p. 160 l. 10. woman ( adde ) sate on a Beast which had . p. 192. for Edward , r. Edwin . p. c 137. l. 16. for Diuels , r. damned with Diuels . p. 248. l. 2. for Apostle , r. Euangelist . p. 275. l. 17. cita Ferum in cap. 1 Io. 〈◊〉 . 1550. p. 34. THE PRAYER BEFORE the SERMON . O Eternall , and most Glorious God , who sometimes in thy Iustice , dost giue the dead bodies of the Saints , to be meat vnto the Fowles of the Heauen , and the flesh of thy Saints vnto the beasts of the Earth , so that their bloud is shed like water , and there is none to burie them , Who sometimes , sel'st thy People for nought , and dost not increase thy wealth , by their price , and yet neuer leau'st vs without that knowledge , That precious in thy sight is the death of thy Saints , inable vs , in life and death , seriously to consider the value , the price of a Soule . It is precious , ô Lord , because thine Image is stampt , and imprinted vpon it ; Precious , because the bloud of thy Soone was paid for it ; Precious , because thy blessed Spirit , the Holy Ghost workes vpon it , and tries it , by his diuers fires ; And precious , because it is enter'd into thy Reuenue , and made a part of thy Treasure . Suffer vs not therefore , ô Lord , so to vnder value our selues , nay , so to impouerish thee , as to giue away those soules , thy soules , thy deare and precious soules , for nothing , and all the world is nothing , if the Soule must be giuen for it . We know , ô Lord , that our Rent , due to thee , is our Soule ; and the day of our death , is the day , and our Death-bed the place , where this Rent is to bee paid . And wee know too , that hee that hath sold his soule before , for vniust gaine , or giuen away his soule before , in the society and fellowship of sinne , or lent away his soule , for a time , by a lukewarmnesse , and temporizing , to the dishonor of thy name , to the weakning of thy cause● , to the discouraging of thy Seruants , he comes to that day , & to that place , his Death , and Death-bed , without any Rent in his hand , without any soule , to this purpose , to surrender it vnto thee . Let therefore ô Lord , the same hand , which is to receiue them then , preserue these soules till then ; Let that mouth , that breath'd them into vs , at first , breath alwaies vpon them , whilst they are in vs , and su●cke them into it selfe , when they depart from vs. Preserue our soules ô Lord , because they● belong to thee ; and preserue our bodies , because they belong to those soules . Thou alone , dost steere our Boat , through all our Voyage , but hast a more especiall care of it , a more watchfull eye vpon it , when it comes to a narrow currant , or to a dangerous full of waters . Thou hast a care of the preseruation of these bodies , in all the waies of our life ; But in the Straights of Death , open thine eyes wider , and enlarge thy prouidence towards vs , so farre , that no Feuer in the body , may shake the soule , no Apoplexie in the body , dampe or benumbe the soule , nor any paine , or agonie of the body , presage future torments to the soule . But so make thou our bed in all our sicknesse , that being vs'd to thy hand , wee may be content with any bed of thy making ; Whether thou bee pleas'd to change our feathers into flockes , by withdrawing the conueniences of this life , or to change our flockes into dust , euen the dust of the Graue , by withdrawing vs out of this life . And though thou diuide man and wife , mother and child , friend and friend , by the hand of Death , yet stay them that stay , and send them away that goe , with this consolation , that though we part at diuers daies , and by diuers waies , here , yet wee shall all meet at one place , and at one day , a day that no night shall determine , the day of the glorious Resurrection . Hasten that day , ô Lord , for their sakes , that beg it at thy hands , from vnder the Altar in Heauen ; Hasten it for our sakes , that groane vnder the manifold incombrances of these mortall bodies ; Hasten it for her shake , whō wee haue lately laid downe , in this thy holy ground ; And hasten it for thy Son Christ●Iesus sake , to whom then , and not till then , all things shall bee absolutely subdu'd . Seale to our soules now an assurance of thy gracious purpose towards vs in that day , by accepting this daies seruice , at our hands . Accept our humble thankes , for all thy benefits , spirituall , and temporall , already bestowed vpon vs , and accept our humble prayers for the continuance and enlargement of them . Continue , and enlarge them , ô God. vpon thine vniuersall Church , dispersed , &c. A SERMON OF Commemoration of the Lady Dāuers , late wife of Sr. Iohn Dāuers . Neuerthelesse , we , according to his promises , looke for new Heauens , and new Earth , wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse . 2 Pet. 3. 13. I Propose to my selfe , and to this Congregation , two Workes for this day ; That wee may walke together two miles , in this Sabbath daies iourney ; First , To instruct the Liuing , and then To commemorate the Dead . Which office , as I ought , so I should haue performed sooner , but that this sad occasion surprized me vnder other Pre-obligations and Pre-contracts , in the seruices of mine own Profession , which could not be excused , nor auoided . And being come now to this double worke , whether I looke vp to the Throne of Heauen , and that Firmament , for my first worke , The Instruction of the Liuing , or downe to the stones of the Graue , and that pauement , for my second worke , The commemoration of the Dead , I need no other words than these which I haue read to you , for both purposes ; For , to assist the Resurrection of your soules , I say , And to assure the Resurrection of your bodies , she saies , Neuerthelesse , we according to his promise looke for new Heauens , and new Earth , wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse . But first let vs doe our first worke , and pursue the literall purpose of the Apostle , in these words . Which words , out of their connection , and coherence , be pleas'd to receiue , thus spread and dilated into this Paraphrase , Neuerthelesse , that is , though there be scoffers and iesters that deride and laugh at the second comming of Christ , ( as the Apostle had said v. 3. ) And , neuerthelesse againe , Though this day of the Lord will certainly come , and come as a Theefe , and as a Theefe in the night , and when it comes , the Heauens shall passe away with a great noise , and the Elements shall melt with seruent heat , the Earth also , and all the Workes that are therein , shall be burnt vp ( as hee had also said , v. 10. ) Though there be such a scorne put vpon it , by scoffers and iesters , and though there be such a horrour in the truth of the thing it selfe , yet , neuerthelesse , for all that , for all that scorne , and for all that horrour , We , We , saies the Text , We that are fixt in God , We that are not ignorant of this one thing , ( as he saies v. 8. ) that one day is with the Lord as 1000. yeares , and 1000. yeares as one day , We that know , that the Lord is not stacke in his promise , though he be long-suffering to vs-ward ( as he also saies v. 9. ) We , According to his promises , that is , building vpon that foundatiō , his Scriptures , presuming vpon nothing that is not in that euidence , and doubting of nothing that is there , We expect , We looke for something , saies our Text , which we haue not yet ; Wee determine not our selues , nor our contentment , in those things which God giues vs here ; not in his Temporall , not in his spirituall Blessings , in this life ; but we expect future things , greater than wee are capable of here ; for , We looke for new Heauens , and new Earth ; in which , that which is not at all to be had here , or is but an obscure In-mate , a short Soiourner , a transitory Passenger in this World , that is , Righteousnesse , shall not onely Bee , but Dwell for euer ; Neuerthelesse , wee , according to his promise , looke for new Heauens , and new Earth , wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse . So then , in this our Voyage through this Sea , which is truly a Mediterranean Sea , a Sea betwixt two Lands , the Land of Possession , which wee haue , and the Land of Promise which wee expect , this Old , and that new Earth , that our dayes may be the better in this land which the Lord our God hath giuen vs , and the surer in that Land which the Lord our God will giue vs , In this Sea-voyage bee these our Land-markes , by which we shall steere our whole course : First , the day of Iudgement is subiect to scorne , some laugh at it ; And then ( in a second consideration , ) it induces horror ; The best man , that is but man , trembles at it ; But wee , ( which is a third branch ) those that haue laid hold vpon God , And ( in a fourth place ) haue laid hold vpon God , by the right handle , According to his promises , Wee , ( which will constitute a fift point , ) Wee expect ; We blesse God for our Possession , but We looke for a greater Reuersion ; which Reuersion ( in the next roome ) is , new Heauens , and new Earth ; And ( lastly ) such Heauens , and such Earth , as may be an euerlasting Dwelling for Righteousnesse . And through all these particulars , we shall passe , with as much cleerenesse , and shortnesse , as the weight , and number thereof will admit . First then , to shake the constancy of a Christian , there will alwaies be Scorners , Iesters , Scoffers , and Mockers at Religion . The Period and Consummation of the Christian Religion , the Iudgement day , the second comming of Christ , will alwaies be subiect to scornes . And many times a scorne cuts deeper then a sword . Lucian wounded Religion more by making Iests at it , than Arius , or Pelagius , or Nestorius , with making Arguments against it . For , against those profest Heretikes , and against their studied Arguments , which might seeme to haue some weight , it well beseem'd those graue & Reuerend● Fathers of the Church , to call their Councels , and to take into their serious consideration those Arguments , and solemnly to conclude , and determine , and decree in the point . But it would ill haue become those reuerend persons , to haue cal'd their Councels , or taken into their so serious considerations , Epigrams , and Satyres , and Libells , and scurrill and scornfull iests , against any point of Religion ; Scornes and Iests are easilier apprehended , and vnderstood by vulgar & ordinary capacities , then Arguments are ; and then , learned men are not so earnest , nor so diligent to ouerthrow , and confute a Iest , or Scorne , as they are , an Argument ; and so they passe more vncontrol'd , and preuaile further , and liue longer , then Arguments doe . It is the height of Iobs complaint , that contemptible persons made Iests vpon him . And it is the depth of Samsons calamity , that when the Philistins hearts were merry , then they cald for Samson , to make them sport . So to the Israelites in Babylon , when they were in that heauinesse , that euery breath they breath'd was a sigh , their enemies cal'd , to sing them a song . And so they proceeded with him , who fulfil'd in himselfe alone , all Types , and Images , and Prophesies of sorrowes , who was , ( as the Prophet calls him ) Vir dolorum , A man compos'd , and elemented of sorrowes , our Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus ; For , They platted a crowne of thornes vpon his head , and they put a reed into his hand , and they bowed the knee before him , and mockt him . Truly , the conniuing at seuerall Religions , ( as dangerous as it is ) is not so dishonourable to God , as the suffering of Iesters at Religion : That may induce heresie ; but this do●'s establish Atheisme . And as that is the publike mischiefe , so , for the priuate , there lies much danger in this , that hee that giues himselfe the liberty , of iesting at Religion , shall finde it hard , to take vp at last ; as , when Iulian the Apostata had receiued his Deathes-wound , and could not chuse but confesse , that that wound came from the hand , and power of Christ , yet he confest it , in a Phrase of Scorne , Vicisti Galilaee , The day is thine , O Galilean , and no more ; It is not , Thou hast accomplish't thy purpose , O my God , nor O my Maker , nor O my Redeemer , but , in a stile of contempt , Vicisti Galilaee , and no more . And therefore , as Dauid begins his Psalmes with Blessednesse , so he begins Blessednesse , with that , Blessed is hee , which sitteth not in the seat of the scornfull ; Dauid speakes there , of walking with the vngodly , but walking is a laborious motion ; And hee speakes there , of standing with the sinner , but standing is a painfull posture ; In these two , walking and standing , there 's some intimation of a possibility of wearinesse , and so , of desisting at last . But in sitting in the seat of the scornfull , there is denoted a sinning at ease ; and , in the Vulgate edition , at more that ease ; with authority , and glory ; For , it is In cathedra , In the chaire of the scornfull ; which implies a Magisteriall , a Doctorall kinde of sinning , that is , to sinne , and to prouoke others , by example , to sinne too , and promises no returne from that Position . For as wee haue had diuers examples , that men who haue vs'd , and accustom'd their mouthes to Oaths , and Blasphemies all their liues , haue made it their last syllable , and their last gaspe , to sweare , they shall die , so they that inlarge , and vngirt their wits , in this iesting at Religion , shall passe away at last , in a negligence of all spirituall assistances , and not finde halfe a minute , betweene their last iest , and their euerlasting earnest . Vae vobis qui ridetis ; Woe be vnto you that laugh so , for you shall weepe , and weepe eternally . Saint Paul preacht of the Resurrection of the dead , and they mockt him . And here , St. Peter saies , there will be , ( that is , there will be alwaies ) Scoffers that will say , where is the promise of Christs comming ? For since the Fathers fell asleepe , all things continue as they were , from the beginning of the Creation But doe they so , saies this Apostle ? Was not the world that then was , ouerslow'd with water , and perish't ? If that were done in earnest , why doe yee make a iest of this , saies he , That the heauens and the earth which are now , are reserued vnto fire , against the day of Iudgement . 2. Tim. 3. 1 , The Apostle saies , That in the last dayes , perillous times shall come ; and hee reckons there , diuers kindes of perillous men ; but yet , these Iesters are not among them . And then 1 Tim 4. 1. The Apostle names more perillous men ; Seducing Spirits , and Seducing by the doctrine of Deuils , forbidding meats and mariage ; and we know , who these men are . Our Sauiour tels vs , they shall proceed a great way ; They shall shew great signes , and wonders ; they shall pretend Miracles ; & they shall exhibite false Christs , Christs kneaded into peeces of bread ; And wee know , who these are , and can beware of these proceedings . But Saint Iude remembers vs of the greatest danger of all , Remember the words , which were spoken before , of the Apostles of our Lord Iesus Christ , that there should bee mockers , in the last time . For , against all the rest , the Church of God is better arm'd ; But Perniciosissimum humano generi , sayes Saint Augustine , This is the ruine , and ouerthrow of mankinde , ( that is , of Religion , which is the life and soule of mankinde ) Cum vera & salubris sententia imperitorum populorum irrisione sordescit ; When true , and sincere Religion , shall be cri'd down , and laugh't out of countenance , by the scornes , and iests , of ignorant people . When to all our sober preaching , and serious writing , a scornfull ignorant , shall thinke it enough to oppose that one question of contempt , Where was your Church before Luther ? Whereas , if wee had had any thing from Luther , which wee had not had before , yet euen that , were elder than those Articles , which they had from the Councell of Trent , and had not ( as Articles ) before ; For Luthers Declarations were before the Constitutions of that Councell . So that wee could play with them at their owne Game , and retort their owne scornes vpon themselues , but that matters of Religion should moue in a higher Spheare , and not bee deprest , and submitted to iests . But though our Apostles prophesie must be fulfilled , There will bee , and will alwaies be , some scoffers , some iesters ; Neuerthelesse , saies the Text , there is a Religious constancy vpheld , and maintained by others ; And farther wee extend not this first Consideration of our danger . But , though I can stand out these scornes and iests , there is a Tentation , that is Reall ; There are true terrours , sad apprehensions , substantiall circumstances , that accompany the consideration of Christs second comming and the Day of Iudgement . It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God , if I doe but fall into his hands , in a feuer in my bed , or in a tempest at Sea , or in a discontent at home ; But , to fall into the hands of the liuing God , so , as that , that liuing God , enters into Iudgement , with mee , and passes a finall , and irreuocable Iudgement vpon mee , this is a Consternation of all my spirits , an Extermination of all my succours . I consider , what God did with one word , with one Fiat he made all ; And , I know , he can doe as much with another word ; With one Pereat , he can destroy all ; As hee spake , and it was done , he commanded and all stood fast ; so he can speak , and all shall bee vndone ; command , and all shall fall in peeces . I consider , that I may bee surpriz'd by that day , the day of Iudgement . Here Saint Peter saies , The day of the Lord wil come as a Thiefe . And Saint Paul saies , we cannot be ignorant of it , Your selues know perfectly , that the day of the Lord so commeth as a Thiefe . And , as the Iudgement it selfe , so the Iudge himselfe saies of himselfe , I will come vpon thee as a Thiefe . He saies , he will , and he doe's it . For it is not , Ecce veniam , but Ecce venio , Behold I doe come vpon thee as a Thiefe ; There , the future , which might imply a dilatorinesse , is reduc't to an infallible present ; It is so sure , that he will doe it , that he is said , to haue done it already . I consider , hee will come as a Thiefe , and then , as a Thiefe in the night ; And I doe not only not know when that night shall be , ( For , himselfe , as he is the Son of man , knowes not that ) but I doe not only not know what night , that is , which night , but not what night , that is , what kinde of night he meanes . It is said so often , so often rep●d●ed , that he will come as a Thiefe in the night , as that hee may meane all kinde of nights . In my night of Ignorance hee may come ; and hee may come in my night of Wantonnesse ; In my night of inordinate and sinfull melancholy , and suspicion of his mercy , hee may come ; and he may come in the night of so stupid , or so raging a sicknesse , as that he shall not come by comming ; Not come so , as that I shall receiue him in the absolution of his Minister , or receiu●●●im in the participation of his body and his bloud in the Sacrament . So hee may come vpon mee , as such a Thiefe , in such a night ; nay , when all these nights of Ignorance , of Wantonnesse , of Desperation , of Sicknesse , of Stupiditie , of Rage , may bee vpon mee all at once . I consider , that the Holy Ghost meant to make a deepe impression of a great terror in me , when he came to that expression , That the Heauens should passe away , Cum stridore , with a great noise , and the Elements melt with feruent heat , and the earth , and the workes that are therein , shall be burnt vp ; And when he adds in Esay , The Lord will come with fire , and with his Chariots , like a whirlewind , to render his anger , with fury ; for by fire , and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh . So when hee proceeds in Ioel , a day of darknesse , and gloominesse ; and yet a fire deuoureth before them , and a flame burneth behind them . And so in Daniel also , His Throne a fiery flame , and his wheeles a burning fire , and a fiery streame issuing from him . I consider too , that with this streame of fire , from him , there shall bee a streame , a deluge , a floud of teares , from vs ; and all that floud , and deluge of teares , shall not put out one coale , nor quench one sparke of that fire . Behold , hee commeth with clouds , and euery eye shall see him ; And , plangent omnes , All the kindreds of the earth shall waile and lament , and weepe and howle because of him . I consider , that I shall looke vpon him then , and see all my Sinnes , Substance , and Circumstance of sin , Waight , and measure of sinne , hainousnesse , and continuance of sinne , all my sinnes imprinted in his wounds ; and how shall I bee affected then , confounded then to see him so mangled with my sinnes ? But then I consider againe , that I shall looke vpon him againe , and not see all my sinnes in his wounds ; My forgotten sinnes , mine vn-considered , vnconfest , vnrepented sinnes , I shall not see there ; And how shall I bee affected then , when I shall stand in Iudgement , vnder the guiltinesse of some sins , not buried in the wounds , not drown'd in the bloud of my Sauiour ? Many , and many , and very many , infinite , and infinitely infinite , are the terrours of that day ; Neuerthelesse , my soule , why art thou so sad , why art thou disquieted within mee ? Thou hast a Goshen to restin , for all this Aegypt ; a Zoar to flie to , for all this Sodome ; a Sanctuary , and Hornes of the Altar , to hold by , for all this storme . Neuerthelesse , saies our Text ; though there bee these scornfull iests , though there bee these reall terrours , Neuerthelesse , there are a Wee , certaine priuileged persons ; And the consideration of those persons , is our third and next circumstance . To those who pretended an interest in Christ , and had none , to those who would exorcise possest persons , and cast out Deuils , in the Name of Iesus , without any Commission from Iesus , to those sonnes of Sceua the Deuill himselfe could say , Qui vos ? Iesus I know , and Paul I know , but who are you ? To those who liue in an outward conformity to Christ , but yet seeke their saluation in the light of Nature , and their power of resisting temptations , in their Morall constancy , the Deuill may boldly say , Qui vos , Iesus I know , & the Church I know ; but who are you ? I would I had no worse enemies than you . Neuerthelesse we , for all his scornes , for all these terrours , shall haue an answer to his Qui vos ? and bee able to tell him , that we are that Gens Sancta , and that Regale Sacerdotium , that this Apostle speakes of ; That holy people ; made holy by his Couenant , and Ordinances ; and that royall Priesthood , which , as Priests , haue an interest in his Sacrifice , his Sonne ; and as Kings , haue an interest in that Crowne , which , for his Sonnes sake , hee hath ordain'd for vs. Wee are they , who haue seene the markes of his Election , in their first edition , in the Scriptures ; and seene them againe , in their second edition , as they are imprinted in our consciences , in our faith , in our manners ; and so wee cannot mistake , nor bee deceiued in them . Wee are that Semen Dei , that Malachie speakes of ; the seed of God , which hee hath sow'd in his Church ; and by that extraction , we are Consortes diuinae Naturae , Partakers of the diuine Nature it selfe ; And so grow to bee Filij Dei , The Sonnes of God ; And by that title , Cohaeredes Christi , Ioint-heires with Christ ; And so to bee Christi ipsi , Christs our selues ; as God calls all his faithfull , his Anointed , his Christs ; And from thence , we grow to that height , to be of the Quorum , in that Commission , Dij estis , I haue said you are Gods ; and not onely Gods by Representation , but Idem Spiritus cum Domino ; So become the same Spirit with the Lord , that as a Spirit cannot be diuided in it selfe , so wee are perswaded , that neither death nor life , nor any creature ; shall be able to separate vs from God. If any man be ignorant , let him be ignorant still . If he will not study his owne case , let him be subject to these scornes , and these terrours still ; But , Christianus idiota persuasissimum habet , The vnlearned'st Christian that is ( be he a true Christian ) hath learning enough to establish himselfe so , that neither scornes , nor terrours can shake his foundations . So then you see , what fellowship of the Faithfull , what houshold of the Righteous , what communion of Saints it is , that fals vnder this denomination , Wee ; Wee that haue laid our foundations in faith , and made our superedifications in sanctimony and holinesse of life ; We that haue learn't , and learn't by the right rule the rule of Christianity , how to put a right value vpon this world , and those things , which can but concerne our body in this world . For Multis seruiet qui corpori seruit , saies the Oracle of Morall men . That man is common slaue to euery body , that is a slaue to his owne body ; That man dares displease no man , that dares not displease himselfe ; That man will grouell , and prostrate , and prostitute himselfe , at euery great mans threshold , that is afraid to loose a dish from his Table , or a pillow from his bed , at home ; Multis seruiet , qui corpori seruit , & qui , pro illo , nimium timet ; Hee is the true coward , that is afraid of euery inconuenience , which another may cast vpon his person , or fortune . Honestum ei vile est , cui corpus nimis charum est ; Hee that hath set too high a price vpon his body , will sell his soule cheape . But if we can say of the fires of tribulation , as Origen saies , ( whether hee speake of the fires of conflagration at the last day , or these fires of purification in our way to it ) Indigemus Sacramento ignis , Baptismo ignis , That all our fiery tribulations fall vnder the nature , and definition of Sacraments , That they are so many visible signes of inuisible Grace , that euery correction from Gods hand , is a Rebaptization to m●e , and that I can see , that I should not haue beene so sure of saluation , without this Sacrament , without this Baptisme , without this fire of tribulation ; If I can bring this fire to that temper , which Lactantius speaks of , that it be Ignis qui obtemperabit iustis , A fire that shall conforme it selfe to mee , and doe as I would haue it ; that is , concoct , and purge , and purifie , and prepare mee for God ; If my Christianity make that impression in mee , which Socrates his Philosophy did in him , who ( as Gregorie Nazianzene testifies of him ) In carcere damnatus , egit cum discipulis , de corpore , sicut de alio ergastulo , Who , when he lay a condemn'd man in prison , then in that prison , taught his disciples , that the body of man , was a worse prison , then that , hee lay condemn'd in ; If I can bring these fires to this compasse , and to this temper , I shall finde , that as the Arke was in the midst of the Waters , and yet safe from the waters , and the bush in the midst of the fire , and yet safe from the fire , so , though Saint Ierome say , ( and vpon good grounds ) Grandis audaciae est , puraeque conscientque , It is an Act of greater boldnesse , than any man , as man , can auow , and a testimony of a clearer conscience , than any man , as man , can pretend to haue , Regnum Dei postulare , & iudicium non timere , To presse God for the day of Iudgement , and not to feare that day , ( for , vpon all men , consider'd but as men , falls that seuere expostulation of the Prophet Amos , Woe vnto you that desire the day of the Lord ; to what end is it for you ? The day of the Lord is darknesse , and not light ; ) Yet I shall finde , that such a family , such a society , such a communion there is , and that I am of that Quorum , that can say , Come what scornes can come , come what terrours can come , In Christo omnia possumus , Though we can doe nothing of our selues , yet as we are in Christ , wee can doe all things , because we are fixt in him , Secundum promissa ; Which is our fourth and next branch , According to his promises . I haue nothing to plead with God , but onely his owne promises . I cannot plead birthright ; The Iewes were elder brothers , and yet were disinherited . I cannot plead descent ; My mother was an Hittite , ( as the Prophet Ezechiel speakes . ) I am but of the halfe bloud , at best ; More of the first , then of the second Adam ; more corporall , then spirituall . I cannot plead purchase ; If I haue giuen any thing for Gods sake , if I haue done any thing , suffered any thing , for Gods sake , all that , is so farre from merit , as that it is not the interest of my principall debt . Nay , I cannot plead mercy ; For , I am by nature the childe of wrath too . All my Plea is , that , to which he carries me so often , in his word , Quia fidelis Dominus , Because the Lord is a faithfull God. So this Apostle calls him , Fidelem Creatorem , A faithfull Creator ; God had gracious purposes vpon me , when he created me , and wil be faithful to those purposes ; so St. Paul calls Christ Fidelem Pontificem , A faithfull high Priest ; graciously he meant to sacrifice himselfe for the world , and faithfully hee did it . So Saint Iohn call him Fidelem Testem , A faitfull Witnesse ; Of his Mercy he did die for me , and his spirit beares witnesse with my spirit that hee did so . And in the same Booke , 19. 11. his very denomination , his very name is Faithfull . For this Faithfullnesse in God , which is so often recommended to mee , must necessarily imply a former promise ; If God be Faithfull , he is faithfull to some contract , to some promise , that hee hath made ; And that promise , is my euidence . But then , to any promise , that is pretended , and not deduc'd from his Scriptures , he may iustly plead Non est factum ; He made no such promise . For , as in cases of Diffidence , and Distrust in his mercy , God puts vs vpon that issue , Vbilibellus , Produce your Euidence ; why are you icalous of me ? Where is the bill of your mothers diuorce whome I haue put away ; or which of my Creditors is it to whom I haue sold you ? So in cases of presumption in our selues , or pressing God with his promises , ( and so also , in cases of Innouation of matter of Doctrine in his Church ) God puts vs to the same issue , Vbi libellus , Produce your Euidence ; where in my Scriptures , haue I made any such Contract , any such Couenant , any such promise to you ? My Witnesse is in Heauen , saies Iob ; But yet , my Euidence is vpon earth ; GOD is that Witnesse ; but that Witnesse hath beene pleased , to be examined Ad perpetuam rei memoriam ; And his testimony remaines of Record , in the Church ; And there , from his Scriptures , exemplified to me , by his publike Notary , the Church , I may lawfully charge him , with his promise , his contract , his couenant ; & else not . There is a generall , and a vsefull obseruation , made by Saint Augustine , Omnium haereticorū quasi regularis est ista temeritas , This is a Regular Irregularity , this is a fixt and constant Leuity , amongst all Heretikes , Authoritatem stabilissimam fundatissimae Ecclesiae quasi rationis nomine & pollicitatione suparare ; To ouerthrow the foundations of the Church vpon the appearance , and pretence , and colour of Reason ; God cannot haue proceeded thus or thus , because ther is this and this reason against it . Now the foundations of the Church are the Scriptures ; And when men present reasons of probability , of verisimilitude , of pious credulity , not deduc't out of the Scriptures , they fall into that regular Irregularity , and into that constant leuity , which Saint Augustine iustly makes the Character , and Specification of an Heretike , to seeme to proceede vpon reasons , and not deduce those reasons from the Scriptures . When therefore they reason thus ( as Bellarmine does ) Non discretus Dominus , That God had not dealt discreetly , if he had not establish'd a Church , a Certaine , a Visible , and Infallible Church , a Church endow'd with these and these , with those and those , and such and such , and more and more Immunities and Priuileges , by which , that particular Church must bee Super-Catholike , and Super-vniuersall , a boue all the Churches in the world , we ioyne not with them in that boldnesse , to call Gods discretion in question , but wee ioyne with them in that issue , Vbi libellus , Where is your euidence ; which is your Scripture , which you will rely vpon for that , for such a Church ? For we content not our selues , with such places of Scripture , as may serue to illustrate that Doctrine , to them , that beleeue it aforehand , without Scripture , but wee aske such places of Scripture , as may proue it to them , who , till they see such Scriptures , beleeue , and beleeue truly , that they are not bound to beleeue it ; If I may plead it , it is a promise ; and if it be an issuable promise , it is in the Scriptures . If any distresses in my fortune and estate , in my body , and in my health , oppresse mee , I may finde some receits , some Medicines , some words of consolation , in a Seneca , in a Plutarch , in a Petrarch ; But I proceed in a safer way , and deale vpon better Cordials , if I make Dauid , and the other Prophets of God , my Physitians , and see what they prescribe me , in the Scriptures ; and looke how my fellow-patient Iob applied that Physicke , by his Patience . And if any thing heauier then that which fell vpon Iob , fall vpon mee , yet I may propose one , to my selfe , vpon whom there fell more , then can fall vpon any man ; for all mankinde fell vpon him , and all the sinnes of all mankind , and Gods Iustice , Gods Anger , for all the sinnes of all mankinde fell vpon him , and yet he had a glorious eluctation , a victory , a triumph ouerall that . And he is not onely my rule , and my example , but my Surety , and my Promise , That where he is , I shall be also ; not only , where hee is , in Glory now , but in euery step , that he made in this world ; If I bee with him , in his Afflictions , I shall be with him , in his Eluctation , in his Victory , in his Triumph . St. Chrysostome , falling vpon such a meditation , as this , is loth to depart from it ; Hee insists vpon it thus ; Illine , qui à dextris Dei sedet , conforme fiet hoc corpus ? Will God make this body of mine , like that , that sits now at his right hand : Yes ; he will Illi , quem adorant Angeli ? Like him , whom all the Angels worship ? Yes ; like him . Illi , cui adstant incorporales virtutes ? Like him , to whom , the Thrones , and Powers , and Dominations , and Cherubins , and Seraphins minister ? Yes ; he will doe all that , saies that Father . But allow mee the boldnesse , to adde thus much , Cumillo , I shall bee with him , before ; with him , wheresoeuer hee was in this world . I shall bee with him , in his Agonies , and sadnesse of soule ; but in those Agonies and sadnesses , I shall be with him still , in his Veruntamen , In his surrender of himselfe ; Not my will , but thine , O Father , be done . I shall bee with him vpon his Crosse ; but in all my crosses , and in all my iealousies and suspitions of that Dereliquisti , That God , my God hath for saken me , I shall be with him still , in his In manus , In a confidence , and assurance , that I may commit my Spirit into his hands . For all this I doe According to his promise , that where hee is , I shall be also . Si totus mundus lachrymis sumptis deflesset , ( saies the same Father ) If men were made of teares , as they are made of the Elements of teares , of the occasions of teares , of miseries , & if all men were resolu'd to teares , as they must resolue to dust , all were not enough to lament their miserable condition , who lay hold , vpon the miserable comforters of this World , vpon their owne merits , or vpon the super-erogations of other men , of which there are no promises , and cannot finde that true promise , which is impli'd in those examples of Iob and Christ , appliable to themselues . Neuerthelesse we , we that can doe so , wee , that can reade that promise , that where they are , we shall be , that what he hath done for them , he will also do for vs , we according to his promise , declar'd in his Scriptures , in the midst of Scoffers , and in the midst of Terrours , expect , and looke for more , than we haue yea ; which is another , ther , and our fift consideration . As God hath prouided vs an Endlesnesse , in the world to come , so , to giue vs an Inchoation , a Representation of the next world , in this , God hath instituted and endlesnesse● in this world too ; God hath imprinted in euery naturall man , and doth exalt in the super-naturall , and regenerate man , an endlesse , and Vndeterminable desire of more , then this life can minister vnto him . Still God leaues man in expectation . And truly , that man can scarce proue the immortality of the soule to himselfe , that feel's not a desire in his soule , of something beyond this life . Creatures of an inferiour nature , are possest with the present ; Man is a future Creature . In a holy and vsefull sense , wee may say , th●t God is a future God ; to man especially hee is so ; Mans consideration of God is specially for the future . It is plaine , it is euident , that that name which God hath taken in Exodus , signifies , Essence , Being . Verum nomen Dei , Semper esse , Gods proper name is Alwayes Being . That can bee said of no creature , that it alwayes was ; That which the Arrians said blasphemously , of Christ , Erat , quando non erat , is true of all creatures , There was a time , when that thing , was nothing . But of God , more than this may bee said ; so much more , as that when we haue said all that wee can , more then so much more remaines vnsaid . For , Totum Deum , nemo vno nomine , exprimit , sicut nec totum aerem haurit ; A man may as well draw in , all the aire , at one breath , as expresse all God , God entirely , in one name . But the name that reaches farthest towards him , is that name , which he hath taken in Exodus . Deo si coniungimur sumus ; In being deriu'd from God , we haue a Being , we are something ; In him we liue and moue and haue our Being ; But Deo si comparemur , nec sumus ; If we bee compar'd with God , our Being with his Being , we haue no Being at all , wee are Nothing . For Being is the peculiar and proper name of God. But though it be so cleere , that that Name of God in Exodus is Being , yet it is not so cleere , whether it be a present , or a future Being . For , though most of the Fathers expressed , and our Translators rendered in the present , Sum qui sum , I am that I am , and , Goe , and tell Pharaoh that he whose name is I am , hath sent thee ; yet in the Originall , it is plaine , and plaine in the Chalde Paraphrase , that that name is deliuered in the future , Ero qui ero , I shall bee that I shall be , and , Goe , and tell Pharaoh that he whose name is I shall bee , hath sent thee . God cals vpon man , euen in the consideration of the name of God , to consider his future state . For , if we consider God in the present , to day , now , God hath had as long a forenoone , as he shall haue an afternoone ; God hath beene God , as many millions of millions of generations , already , as hee shall be hereafter ; but if we consider man in the present , to day , now , how short a forenoone hath any man had ; if 60. if 80. yeeres , yet few and euill haue his daies beene . Nay , if we take man collectiuely , entirely , altogether , all mankind , how short a forenoone hath man had ? It is not yet 6000● yeeres , since man had his first being . But if we consider him in his Afternoone , in his future state , in his life after death , if euery minute of his 6000. yeeres , were multipli'd by so many millions of Ages , all would amount to nothing , meerely nothing , in respect of that Eternity , which hee is to dwell in . We can expresse mans Afternoone , his future Perpetuity , his Euerlastingnesse , but one way ; But it is a faire way , a noble way ; This ; That how late a Beginning soeuer God gaue Man , Man shall no more see an end , no more die , then God himselfe , that gaue him life . Therefore saies th' Apostle here , Wee , We that consider God according to his promise , expect future things , looke for more at Gods hand hereafter , then we haue receiu'd heretofore ; For his mercies are new euery morning ; and his later mercies are his largest mercies . How many , how great Nations perish , without euer hearing the name of Christ ; But God wrapt mee vp in his Couenant , and deriu'd mee from Christian Parents ; I suck'd Christian bloud , in my Mothers wombe , and Christian milke at my Nurses breast . The first sound that I heard , in the world , was the voice of Christians ; and the first Character , that I was taught to know , was the Crosse of CHRIST IESVS . How many children that are borne so , borne within the Couenant , borne of Christian Parents , doe yet die before they bee baptiz'd , though they were borne heires to Baptisme ? But God hath afforded me the seale of that Sacrament . And then , how many that are baptiz'd , and so eas'd in originall sinne , doe yet proceed to act●all sins , and are surpriz'd by death , before they receiue the Seale of their Reconciliation to Christ , in the Sacrament of his body and his bloud ; but God hath afforded mee the Seale of that Sacrament too . What sinnes soeuer GOD forgaue mee this morning , yet since the best ( and I am none of them ) fall seuen times a day , God forgiues mee seuen more sinnes , to morrow , then he did to day ; and seuen , in this Arithmetike , is infinite . Gods temporall , Gods spirituall blessings are inexhaustible . What haue wee that we haue not receiued ? But what haue wee receiued , in respect of that which is laid vp for vs ? And therefore , Expectamus , We determine our selues in God so , as that wee looke for nothing , but from him ; But not so , as that wee hope for no more from him , then we haue had : For , that were to determine God , to circumscribe God , to make God finite . Therefore we blesse God for our possession , but yet we expect a larger reuersion . And the day intended in this Text , shall make that Reuersion our Possession ; which is , the day of Iudgment . Therefore , in the verse , immediatly before the Text , the Apostle accompanies this Expectantes , with another word ; it is Expectantes , & properantes , Looking for , and hasting to , the comming of the day of God. Wee must haue such an Expectation of that day as may imply , & testifie a loue to it , a desire of it , a longing for it . When these things beginne to come to passe ( saies Christ , speaking of the signes , preceding the last day ) then looke vp , and lift your heads , for your Redemption draweth neere . All our deiections of spirit , should receiue an exaltation , in that one consolation , that that day draweth neere . Seu velimus , seu nolimus , Whether we will , or no , that day will come ; but , saies that Father , in that short prayer of his , the Lord hath giuen thee an entire Petition , for accelerating , and hasting that day of the Lord ; When hee bids thee say , Thy Kingdome come , hee meanes , that thou shouldest meane , the Kingdome of glory at the Iudgement , as well as the Kingdome of Grace , in the Church Christ sayes , If I goe , and prepare a place for you , I will come againe and receiue you vnto my selfe , that where I am , you may be also . Now , Beloued , hath Christ done one halfe of this , for vs , and would not we haue him doe the other halfe too ? Is he gone , to prepare the place , and would we not haue him come to fetch vs to it ? Certainly Christ speakes that in fauour , he intends● it for a fauour , when he sayes , Behold I come quickly . It is one fauour that hee will come ; and seconded with another , that he will make speed to saue vs , that hee will make haste to helpe vs. And to establish vs in that assurance , hee addes in that place , Behold I come quickly , and my reward is with mee ; if the comming doe not , if the speed doe not , yet let the reward worke in you a desire of that day . The last words that Christ speakes in the Bible ( and amongst vs , last words make deepest impressions ) are , Surely I come quickly ; And the last answer that is made in our behalfes , there , is , Amen , euen so , come Lord Iesus . There is scarce any amongst vs , but does expect this commings They that feare it , expect it , But , that crowne , that the Apostle speakes of , is laid vp for them , that loue the appearing of the Lord ; Not only expect it , but loue it ; And no man can doe so , that hath not a confidence in his cause ; Aduentū Iudi●is non diligit , No prisoner longs for the Sessions , no Client longs for the day of hearing , Nisuqui in causa suase sciat habere iustitiae meritum , Except hee know his cause to bee good , and assure himselfe , that hee shall stand vpright in Iudgement . But can wee haue that assurance ? Assuredly ● wee may . He that hath seene the marks of election , in both editions , in the Scripture first , and then in his conscience , hee that does not flatter , and abuse his owne soule , nor tempt , and presume vpon God , he that in a sobe● and rectified conscience , findes himselfe truly incorporated in Christ , truly interessed in his merits , may be sure , that if the day of Iudgement came now , now he should be able to stand vpright in Iudgement . And therefore , let Schoole-boyes looke after holy-dayes , and worldly men after rent-dayes , and Trauellers after Fairedayes , and Chap-men after Market-dayes , Neuerthelesse , We , we that haue laid hold vpon God , and laid hold vpon him by the right handle , According to his promises , Expectamus , We looke for this day of the Lord , and Properamus , We are glad it is so neere , and wee desire the further hasting of it . But then , Beloued , the day of our death is the Eue of this day of the Lord ; The day of our death is the Saturday of this Sunday ; the next day after my death , is the day of Iudgement , For , betweene these , these eyes shall see no more dayes . And then , are wee bound , nay , may wee lawfully wish , and desire the day of our death , as wee haue said , wee are bound to doe the day of Iudgement ; The Soules of the Martyrs vnder the Altar in Heauen , cry vnto God there , Vsque quo Domine , How long ô Lord holy and true , doest thou not iudge , and auenge our bloud ? That which those Martyrs solicite there , is the day of Iudgement ; And thogh that which they aske , was not presently granted , but the day of Iudgement put off , for a time , yet God was not displeased with their solicitation ; for , for all that , hee gaue them then , their white robes ; testimony enough , of their innocencie . If we could wish our owne death , as innocently , as harmlesly , as they did the day of Iudgement , if no ill circumstances in vs , did vitiate our desire of death , if there were no dead flies in this oyntment , ( as Salomon speakes ) if we had not , at least , a collaterall respect , ( if not a direct , and principall ) to our owne ease , from the incum brances , and grieuances , and annoyances of this world , certainly wee might safely desire , piously wish , religiously pray for our owne death . But it is hard , verie hard to de●est those circumstances , that infect it . For if I pretend to desire death , meerly for the fruition of the glorie , of the sight of God ; I must remember , that my Sauiour desi●d that glorie , and yet staid his time for it . If I pretend to desire death , that I might see no more sinne , heare no more blasphemies from others , it may be I may do more good to others , than I shall take harme by others , if I liue . If I would die , that I might be at an end of temptations , in my selfe , yet , I might lose some of that glory , which I shall haue in Heauen , by resisting another yeeres tentation , if I died now . To end this consideration , as this looking for the day of the Lord , ( which is the word of our Text ) implyes a ioy , and a gladnesse of it , when it shall come , ( whether we consider that , as the day it selfe , the day of Iudgement , or the Eue of the day , the day of our death ) so doth this looking for it , imply a patient attending of Gods leasure . For our example , the Apostle saies , The earnest expectation of the Creature , waiteth for the manifestation of the Sonne of God ; It is an earnest expectation , and yet it waits ; and , for our neerer example , Wee our selues , which haue the first fruits of the spirit , groane within our selues ; But yet , he addes , wee wait for the adoption , the redemption of the bodie . Though wee haue some eares , we wait for the whole sheaues . And we may be content to doe so , for we shall not wait long . This is the last time , sayes St. Iohn ; speaking of the present time of the Gospell ; In the time of nature , they were a great way off , from the Resurrection ; for then , the time of the Law was to come in . And in the time of the Law , they were a great way off ; for then the time of the Gospell was to come in . But this is the last time ; There shall bee no more changes , after the Gospell ; the present state of the Gospell shall land vs vpon the Iudgement . And ( as the Vulgate reads that place , Nouissima horaest , If God will haue vs stay a little longer , it is but for a few minutes ; for , this is our last houre . Wee feele scornes , wee apprehend terrours , Neuerthelesse we , we rooted in his promises , doe expect , we are not at an end of our desires , and with an holy impatience that he would giue vs , and yet with a holy patience till he be pleas'd to giue vs New Heauens and new Earth , wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse ; Which are the two branches , which remaine yet to be consider'd . As in the first discoueries of the vnknowne parts of the world , the Maps and Cards which were made thereof , were verie vncertaine , verie vnperfect , so in the discouerie of these New Heauens , th● expositions of those who haue vndertaken that worke , are verie diuers . First , Origen , citing for his opinion , Clement , whom hee cals the Disciple of the Apostles , takes those heauens , and that Earth , which our Antipodes , ( and generally those that inhabit● the other Hemispheare ) inhabit , to be the new Heauens and the new Earth of this Text. Hee sayes , Oceanus intransibilis ad reliquos mundos , There are Worlds beyond these Worlds , beyond that Ocean , which wee cannot passe , nor discouer , sayes Origen ; But , those Worlds , and those Heauens , and that Earth shall bee discouer'd before the last day , and the Gospell of Christ bee preach't in all those places ; And this is our expectation , that which wee looke for , According to his promises , in the intention , and exposition of Origen . Those that were infected with the heresie of the Chiliasts , or Millenarians ( with which heresie diuers great and learned men , whom we refuse not to call Fathers in the Primitiue Church , were infected ) vpon the mistaking of those words in the Apocalyps , of reigning with Christ a thousand yeeres after the first Resurrection , argu'd and concluded a happie temporall state , of Gods Saints here , vpon this Earth , for so many yeeres after that day . So that , though there should not be truly a new Earth , and new Heauens , but the same Heauens , and the same Earth as was before , for those future thousand yeeres , yet , because those Saints of God , which in their whole former life , had beene in miserie , vpon this Earth , should now enioy all earthly happinesse , vpon the same Earth for a thousand yeeres , before they ascended into Heauen , these Heauens , and this Earth ( because they are so to them ) are called a new Earth , and a new Heauens , by those Millenarians . St. Ierome , and St. Augustine , and after them , the whole streame run in another channell . They say , that these Heauens , and this Earth shall be so purified , so refin'd , by the last fires of conflagration , as that all corruptible qualities shall bee burnt out of them , but they , in their substance , remaine still . To that , those words of St. Paul helpe to incl●ne them , Perit figura , The fashion of this world passeth away ; The fashion , not the substance . For , it is Melioratio , non interitus , The world shall bee made better , but it shall not bee made nothing . But , to what end shall it be thus improu'd ? In that , St. Augustine declares himselfe ; Mundus in melius immutatus apte accommodabitur hominibus in melius immutatis . When men are made better by the Resurrection , this World being made betterby those fires , shall bee a fit habitation for those Saints of God ; and so euen this World , and whatsoeuer is not Hell , shall bee Heauen . And , truly , some verie good Diuines , of the Reformation , accompany those Ancients in that Exposition , that these Heauens purified with those fires , and super-inuested with new endowments , shall be the euerlasting habitation of the blessed Saints of God. But still , in these discoueries of these new Heauens , and this new Earth , our Maps will bee vnperfect . But as it is said of old Cosmographers , that whē they had said all that they knew of a Countrey , and yet much more was to be said , they said that the rest of those countries were possest with Giants , or Witches , or Spirits , or Wilde beasts , so that they could pierce no farther into that Countrey , so when wee haue trauell'd as farre as wee can , with safetie , that is , as farre as Ancient , or Moderne Expositors lead vs , in the discouerie of these new Heauens , and new Earth , yet wee must say at last , that it is a Countrey inhabited with Angells , and Arch-angells , with Cherubins , and Seraphins , and that wee can looke no farther into it , with these eyes . Where it is locally , wee enquire not ; We rest in this , that it is the habitation prepar'd for the blessed Saints of God ; Heauens , where the Moone is more glorious than our Sunne , and the Sunne as glorious as Hee that made it ; For it is he himselfe , the Sonne of God , the Sunne of glorie . A new Earth , where all their waters are milke , and all their milke , honey , where all their grasse is corne , and all their corne , Manna ; where all their glebe , all their clods of earth are gold , and all their gold of innumerable carats ; Where all their minutes are ages , and all their ages , Eternity ; Where euery thing , is euery minute , in the highest exaltation , as good as it can be , and yet super-exalted , & infinitely multiplied , by euery minutes addition ; euery minute , infinitely better , then euer it was before . Of these new heauens , & this new earth we must say at last , that wee can say nothing ; For , the eye of Man hath not seene , nor eare heard , nor heart conceiu'd , the State of this place . We limit , and determine our consideration with that Horizon , with which the Holy Ghost hath limited vs , that it is that new Heauens , and new Earth , wherein dwelleth Righteousnesse . Here then the Holy Ghost intends the same new Heauens , and new Earth , which he doe's in the Apocalyps , and describes there , by another name , the new Ierusalem . But here , the Holy Ghost doe's not proceed , as there , to enamour vs of the place , by a promise of improuement of those things , which wee haue , and loue here ; but by a promise of that , which here wee haue not at all . There , and elsewhere , the holy Ghost applies himselfe , to the naturall affections of men . To those that are affected with riches , he saies , that that new City shall be all of gold , and in the foundations , all manner of precious stones ; To those that are affected with beauty , hee promises an euerlasting association , with that beautifull Couple , that faire Paire , which spend their time , in that contemplation , and that protestation , Ecce tu pulchra dilecta mea ; Ecce tu pulcher ; Behold thou art faire , my Beloued , saies he ; and then , she replies , Behold thou art faire too ; noting the mutuall complacencie betweene Christ and his Church there . To those which delight in Musicke , hee promises continuall singing , and euery minute , a new song ; To those , whose thoughts are exerciz'd vpon Honour , and Titles , Ciuill , or Ecclesiasticall , hee promises Priesthood , and if that be not honour enough , a Royall Priesthood ; And to those , who looke after military honor , Triumph after their victory , in the Militant Church ; And to those , that are carried with sumptuous , and magnifique feasts , a Mariage supper of the Lambe , where , not onely all the rarities of the whole world , but the whole world it selfe shall be seru'd in ; The whole world shall bee brought to that fire , and seru'd at that Table . But here , the holy Ghost proceeds not that way ; by improuement of things , which wee haue , and loue here ; riches , or beauty , or musicke , or honour , or feasts ; but by an euerlasting possession of that , which wee hunger , and thirst , and pantafter , here , and cannot compasse , that is , Iustice , or Righteousnesse ; for , both those , our present word denotes , and both those wee want here , and shall haue both , for euer , in these new Heauens , and new Earth . What would a worne and macerated suter , opprest by the bribery of the rich , or by the might of a potent Aduersary , giue , or doe , or suffer , that he might haue Iustice ? What would a deiected Spirit , a disconsolate soule , opprest with the weight of heauy , and habituall sinne , that stands naked in a frosty Winter of desperation , and cannot compasse one fig leafe , one colour , one excuse for any circumstance of any sinne , giue for the garment of Righteousnesse ? Here there is none that doe's right , none that executes Iustice ; or , not for Iustice sake . Hee that doe's Iustice , doe's it not at first ; And Christ doe's not thanke that Iudge , that did Iustice , vpon the womans importunity . Iustice is no Iustice , that is done for feare of an Appeale , or a Commission . There may bee found , that may doe Iustice at first ; At their first entrance into a place , to make good impressions , to establish good opinions , they may doe some Acts of Iustice ; But after , either an Vxoriousnesse to wards to the wife , or a Solicitude for children , or a facility towards seruants , or a vastnesse of expence , quenches , and ouercom's the loue of Iustice in them ; Non habitat , In most it is not ; but it dwels not in any . In our new Heauens , and new Earth , dwelleth iustice . And that 's my comfort ; that when I come thither , I shall haue Iustice at God's hands . It was an Act of mercy , meerly , that God decreed a meanes of saluation ; But to giue saluation to them , for whom Christ gaue that full satisfaction , is but an act of Iustice. It is a righteous thing with God , to recompence Tribulation to them , that trouble you , and to you who are troubled , rest with vs , saies the Apostle . It is an act of the same Iustice , to saue the true Beleeuer , as to damne him , who by vnbeleefe , hath made himselfe a Reprobate . Iustice dwels there , and there dwels Righteousnes ; Of which there is none in this world ; None that growes in this world ; none that is mine owne ; For ; howsoeuer we doe dispute , or will conclude of inherent Righteousnes , it is , indeed , rather adheherent , then inherent ; rather extrinsecall than intrinsecal . Not that it is not in my self ; in my will ; but it is not of my selfe , nor of my will ; My will was neuer able to rectifie , to iustifie it selfe ; But the power of God's grace cals in a forraine Righteousnes , to my succour , the Righteousnesse of my Sauiour , and cals his , and makes his , my Righteousnesse . But yet , Non habitat , This Righteous● dwels not vnremoueable , in mee , here . Though I haue put on that garment , in Baptisme , and girt it to me closer in the other Sacrament , and in some acts of holinesse , yet , my sinnes of infirmity slacken this garment , and it fals from mee , before I am aware , and in my sinnes of contempt , and rebellion , I teare it off , and throw it away my selfe . But in this new state , these new Heauens , & new Earth , Iusticia habitat , This Righteousnesse shall dwell ; I shall haue an innocence , and a constant innocence ; a present impeccancy , and an impeccability for the future . But , in this especially , is Righteousnes said to dwell there , because this Righteousnesse , is the very Son of God , the Sonne of Righteousnesse himselfe . And , this day , the day of his second Comming , is the last day of his Progresse ; For , euer after that day , these new Heauens , and new Earth shall bee his standing house , where hee shall dwell , and wee with him ; as himselfe hath said , The Righteous shall shine forth , as the Sunne it selfe ; As the Sonne of God himselfe , as the Sonne of glory , as the Son of Righteousnesse himselfe . For , God shall impart to vs all , a mysterious Gauelkinde , a mysterious Equality of fulnesse of Glory , to vs all : God shall not whisper to his owne Sonne , a Sede à dextris , Sit thou at my right hand ; nor a Hodie genuite , This day haue I begotten thee , nor a Ponam inimicos tuos , I will make thine enemies thy footstoole , and no more ; But , as it is said of the Armies of Israel , That they went forth as one man , so the whole Host of God's Saints , incorporated in Christ Iesus , shall bee as one man , and as that one Man , who was so the Sonne of Man , as that he was the Sonne of God too . And God shall say to vs all , Sedete à dextris , Si● ye all on my right hand ; for from the left hand , there is no prospect , to the face of God ; And to vs all , Hodie genui vos , This day I haue begotten you all ; begotten you in the confirmation of my first Baptisme , in the ratification of my first Election ; And to vs all , Ponam inimicos vestros , I will make all your enemies your footstoole ; For God shall establish vs there , Vbi non intrat inimicus , nec amicus exit , Where no man shall come in , that troubles the company , nor any , whom any of the company loues , goe out ; but wee shall all , not onely haue , but be a part of that Righteousnes which dwels in these new Heauens , and new Earth , which we , According to his promise look for . ANd be this the end of our first Text , as it is a Text for Instruction . Passe we now to our second , our Text for Commemoration . Close we here this Booke of life , from which we haue had our first Text , And , Surge quae dormis in puluere , Arise thou Booke of Death ; thou , that sleepest in this consecrated dust ; and hast beene going into dust , now , almost a Moneth of dayes , almost a Lunarie yeere , and dost deserue such Anniuersaries , such quick returnes of Periods , and a Commemoration , in euery such yeere , in euery Moneth ; Arise thou , and bee another Commentary to vs ; and tell vs , what this new Heauen , and new Earth is , in which , now , thou dwel'st , with that Righteousnesse . But wee doe not inuoke thee , as thou art a Saint in Heauen ; Appeare to vs , as thou didst appeare to vs a moneth agoe ; At least , appeare in thy history ; Appeare in our memory ; that when euery one of vs haue lookt vpon thee , by his owne glasse , and seene thee in his owne Interest , such , as thou wast to him , That when one shall haue seene thee , the best wife , And a larger number , the best mother , And more then they , a whole Towne , the best Neighbour , And more then a Towne , a large body of noble friends , the best Friend , And more then all they , all the world , the best example , when thou hast receiu'd this Testimony from the Militant Church , as thou hast the recompence of all this , in thy Blessed Soule , in the Triumphant , yet , because thy body is still within these Walls , bee still content , to bee one of this Congregation , and to heare some parts of this Text re-applie'd vnto thee . Our first word , Neuerthelesse , puts vs first vpon this consideration , That shee liu'd in a Time , wherein this Prophecie of Saint Peter , in this Chapter , was ouer-abundantly perform'd , That there should bee scoffers , iesters in diuine things , and matters appertaining to God , and his Religion . For , now , in these our dayes , excellency of Wit , lies in prophanenesse ; he is the good Spirit , that dares abuse God ; And hee good company , that makes his company the worse , or keepes them from goodnesse . This being the Aire , and the Complexion of the Wit of her Times , and her inclination , and conuersation , naturally , cheerfull , and merry , and louing facetiousnesse , and sharpnesse of wit , Neuerthelesse , who euer saw her , who euer heard her countenance a prophane speech , how sharpe soeuer , or take part with wit , to the preiudice of Godlinesse ? From this I testifie her holy cheerfulnesse , and Religious alacrity , ( one of the best euidences of a good conscience ) That as shee came to this place , God's house of Prayer , duly , not onely euery Sabbath , when it is the house of other exercises , as well as of Prayer , but euen in those weeke-dayes , when it was onely a house of Prayer , as often as these doores were opened for a holy Conuocation , And , as she euer hastned her family , and her company hither , with that cheerfull prouocation , For God's sake let 's go , For God's sake let 's bee there at the Confession . So , her selfe , with her whole family , ( as a Church in that elect Ladie 's house , to whom Iohn writ his second Epistle ) did , euery Sabbath , shut vp the day , at night , with a generall , with a cheerfull singing of Psalmes , This Act of cheerfulnesse , was still the last Act of that family , vnited in it selfe , and with God. God loues a cheerfull giuer ; Mu●h more a cheerfull giuer of himselfe . Truly , he that can close his eyes , in a holy cheerfulnesse , euery night , shall meet no distemper'd , no inordinate , no irregular sadnesse , then , when God ; by the hand of Death , shall close his eyes , at last . But , returne we againe to our Neuerthelesse ; You may remember , that this word in our former part , put vs first vpon the consideration of Scoffers at the day of iudgement , and then , vpon the consideration of Terrours , and sad Apprehensions at that day . And for her , some sicknesses , in the declination of her yeeres , had opened her to an ouer-flowing of Melancholie ; Not that she euer lay vnder that water , but yet , had sometimes , some high Tides of it ; and , though this distemper would sometimes cast a cloud , and some halfe damps vpon her naturall cheerfulnesse , and sociablenesse , and sometimes induce darke , and sad apprehensions , Neuerthelesse , who euer heard , or saw in her , any such effect of Melancholy as to murmure , or repine , or dispute vpon any of Gods proceedings , or to lodge a Ielousie , or Suspition of his mercy , and goodnesse towards her , and all hers ? The Wit of our time is Prophanenesse ; Neuerthelesse , shee , that lou'd that , hated this ; Occasionall Melancholy had taken some hold in her , Neuerthelesse , that neuer Ecclipst , neuer interrupted her cheerfull confidence , & assurance in God. Our second word denotes the person ; We , Neuerthelesse We ; And , here in this consideration , Neuerthelesse shee . This may seeme to promise some picture , some Character of her person . But shee was no stranger to them that heare me now ; nor scarce to any that may heare of this here● after , which you heare now , and therefore , much needes not , to that purpose . Yet , to that purpose , of her person , and personall circumstances , thus much I may remember some , and informe others , That from that Worthy family , whence shee had her originall extraction , and birth , she suckt that loue of hospitality , ( hospitality , which hath celebrated that family , in many Generations , successiuely ) which dwelt in her , to her end . But in that ground , her Fathers family , shee grew not many yeeres . Transplanted young from thence , by mariage , into another family of Honour , as a flower that doubles and multiplies by transplantation , she multiplied into ten Children ; Iob's number ; and Iob's distribution , ( as shee , her selfe would very often remember ) seuen sonnes , and three daughters . And , in this ground , shee grew not many yeeres more , then were necessary , for the producing of so many plants . And being then left to chuse her owne ground in her Widow-hood , hauing at home establisht , and increast the estate , with a faire , & noble Addition , proposing to her selfe , as her principall care , theeducation of her children , to aduance that , shee came with them , and dwelt with them , in the Vniuersitie ; and recompenc't to them , the losse of a Father , in giuing them two mothers ; her owne personall care , and the aduantage of that place ; where shee contracted a friendship , with diuers reuerend persons , of eminency , and estimation there ; which continued to their ends . And as this was her greatest businesse , so she made this state , a large Period ; for in this state of widowhood , shee continued twelue yeeres . And then , returning to a second mariage , that second mariage turnes vs to the consideration of another personall circumstance ; that is , the naturall endowments of her person ; Which were such , as that , ( though her vertues were his principall obiect ) yet , euen these her personall , and naturall endowments , had their part , in drawing , and fixing the affections of such a person , as by his birth , and youth , and interest in great fauours in Court , and legall proximity to great possessions in the world , might iustly haue promist him acceptance , in what family soeuer , or vpon what person soeuer , hee had directed , and plac't his Affections . He plac't them here ; neither diuerted then , nor repented since . For , as the well tuning of an Instrument , makes higher and lower strings , of one sound , so the inequality of their yeeres , was thus reduc't to an euennesse , that shee had a cheerfulnesse , agreeable to his youth , and he a sober staidnesse , conform●ble to her more yeeres . So that , I would not consider her , at so much more then forty , nor him , at so much lesse then thirty , at that time , but , as their persons were made one , and their fortunes made one , by mariage , so I would put their yeeres into one number , and finding a sixty betweene them , thinke them thirty a peece ; for , as twins of one houre , they liu'd . God , who ioyn'd them , then , hauing also separated them now , may make their yeres euen , this other way too ; by giuing him , as many yeeres after her going out of this World , as he had giuen her , before his comming into it ; and then , as many more , as God may receiue Glory , and the World , Benefit by that Addition ; That so , as at their first meeting , she was , at their last meeting , he may bee the elder person . To this consideration of her person then , belongs this , that God gaue her such a comelinesse , as , though shee were not proud of it , yet she was so content with it , as not to goe about to mend it , by any Art. And for her Attire , ( which is another personall circumstance ) it was neuer sumptuous , neuer sordid● But alwayes agreeable to her quality , and agreeable to her company ; Such as shee might , and such , as others , such as shee was , did weare For , in such things of indifferency in themselues , many times , a singularity may be a little worse , then a fellowship in that , which is not altogether so good . It may be worse , nay , it may be a worse pride , to weare worse things , then others doe . Her rule was mediocrity . And , as to the consideration of the house , belongs the consideration of the furniture too , so , in these personall circumstances , we consider her fortune , her estate . Which was in a faire , and noble proportion , deriu'd from her first husband , and fairely , and nobly dispenc'd , by herselfe , with the allowance of her second . In which shee was one of Gods true Stewards , and Almoners too . There are dispositions , which had rather giue presents , then pay debts ; and rather doe good to strangers , than to those , that are neerer to them . But shee alwayes thought the care of her family , a debt , and vpon that , for the prouision , for the order , for the proportions , in a good largenesse , shee plac't her first thoughts , of that kinde . For , for our families , we are Gods Stewards ; For those without , we are his Almoners . In which office , shee gaue not at some great dayes , or some solemne goings abroad , but , as Gods true Almoners , the Sunne , and Moone , that passe on , in a continuall doing of good , as shee receiu'd her daily bread from God , so , daily , she distributed , and imparted it , to others . In which office , though she neuer turn'd her face from those , who in a strict in quisition , might be call'd idle , and vagrant Beggers , yet shee euer look't first , vpon them , who labour'd , and whose labours could not ouercome the difficulties , nor bring in the necessities of this life ; and to the sweat of their browes , shee contributed , euen her wine , and her oyle , and any thing that was , and any thing , that might be , if it were not , prepar●d for her owne table . And as her house was a Court , in the conuersation of the best , and an Almeshouse , in feeding the poore , so was it also an Hospitall , in ministring releefe to the sicke . And truly , the loue of doing good in this kind , of ministring to the sicke , was the hony , that was spread ouer all her bread ; the Aire , the Perfume , that breath'd ouer all her house ; The disposition that dwelt in those her children , and those her kindred , which dwelt with her , so bending this way , that the studies and knowledge of one , the hand of another , and purse of all , and a ioynt-facility , and opennesse , and accessiblenesse to persons of the meanest quality , concur'd in this blessed Act of Charity , to minister releefe to the sicke . Of which , my selfe , who , at that time , had the fauour to bee admitted into that family , can , and must testifie this , that when the late heauy visitation fell hotly vpon this Towne , when euery doore was shut vp , and , lest Death should enter into the house , euery house was made a Sepulchre of them that were in it , then , then , in that time of infection , diuers persons visited with that infection , had their releefe , and releefe appliable to that very infection , from this house . Now when I haue said thus much ( rather thus little ) of her person , as of a house , That the ground upon which it was built , was the family where she was borne , and then , where she was married , and then , the time of her widowhood , and lastly , her last mariage , And that the house it selfe , was those faire bodily endowments , which God had bestow'd vpon her , And the furniture of that house , the fortune , and the vse of that fortune , of which God had made her Steward and Almoner , when I shall also haue said , that the Inhabitants of this house , ( rather the seruants , for they did but wait vpon Religion in her ) were those married couples , of morall vertues , Conuersation married with a Retirednesse , Facility married with a Reseruednesse , Alacrity married with a Thoughtfulnesse , and Largenesse married with a Prouidence , I may haue leaue to depart from this consideration of her person , and personall circumstances , le●t by insisting longer vpon them , I should seeme to pretend , to say all the good , that might bee said of her ; But that 's not in my purpose ; yet , onely therefore , because it is not in my power ; For I would doe her all right , and all you that good , if I could , to say all . But , I haste to an end , in consideration of some things , that appertaine more expresly to me , then these personall , or ciuill , or morall things doe . In those , the next is , the Secundum promissa , That shee gouern'd her selfe , according to his promises ; his promises , laid downe in his Scriptures . For , as the rule of all her ciuill Actions , was Religion , so , the rule of her Religion , was the Scripture ; And , her rule , for her particular vnderstanding of the Scripture , was the Church . Shee neuer diuerted towards the Papist , in vndervaluing the Scripture ; nor towards the Separatist , in vnderualuing the Church . But in the doctrine , and discipline of that Church , in which , God seal'd her , to himselfe , in Baptisme , shee brought vp her children , shee assisted her family , she dedicated her soule to God in her life , and surrendered it to him in her death ; And , in that forme of Common Prayer , which is ordain'd 〈◊〉 by ●hat Church , and to which she had accustom●td her selfe , with her family wide 〈◊〉 day , she ioyn'd with than company , which was about her death-bed , in answering to euery par● thereof , which the Congrgationl is directed to answer to with a cleere vnderstanding , with a constant memory , with a distinct ●voyed , not 〈◊〉 houres before she died 〈◊〉 According to this promise that is , the will of God manifested in the 〈◊〉 , She expected ; Shee expected this , that she hath rece●ued ; Gods Physioke , and Gods M●sicke a Christianly death . For , death , in the old Testamen was a Com●●nation ; but in the now Testament , death is a Promise ; When there was a Super-dying , a death vpon the death , a Morte vpon the Mor●eris● a Spirituall death after the bodily , then wee died a●cording to Gods threatning ; Now , when by the Gospell , that second death is taken off , though wee die still , yet we die according to his Promise ; That 's a part of his mercy , and his Promise , which his Apostle giues vs from him , That wee shall all bee changed ; For , after that promise , that change , follow 's that triumphant Acclamation , O death where is thy sting , O graue where is thy victory ? Consider vs fallen in Adam , and wee are miserable , that wee must die , But consider vs restor'd , and redintegrated in Christ , wee were more miserable if wee might not die ; Wee lost the earthly Paradise by death then ; but wee get not Heauen , but by death , now . This shee expected till it came , and embrac't it when it came . How may we thinke , shee was ioy'd to see that face , that Angels delight to looke vpon , the face of her Sauiour , that did not abhor the face of his fearfullest Messenger , Death● Shee shew'd no feare of his face , in any change of her owne ; but died without any change of countenan●e , or posture● , without any strugling , any disorder ; but her Death-bed was as quiet● , as●her Graus . To another Magdalen , Christ said vp on earth , ascended● Being ascended now , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and she b●●ing gone 〈◊〉 to him , as●●r she'e had awaited his 〈◊〉 so 〈◊〉 ●yo●res , as that more , would● 〈…〉 growne to bee vexd●●on , and s●rrow , was her last 〈◊〉 horb , were , 〈◊〉 my will to the will of God ; so wee doubt not but the first word which she heard there , was that Euge , from her Sauiour , Well done good and faithfull seruant , enter into thy mastersioy . Shee expected that , dissolution of body , and soule ; and rest in both , from the incumbrances , and tentations of this world . But yet , shee is in expectation still ; Still a Reuersionarie ; And a Reuersionary vpō along life ; The whole world must die , before she come to a possession of this Reuersion ; which is a Glorified body in the Resurrection . In which expectation , she return's to her former charity ; shee will not haue that , till all wee , shall haue it , as well as shee ; She eat not her morsels alone , in her life , ( as Iob speakes ) Shee lookes not for the glory of the Resurrection alone , after her death . But when all we , shall haue beene mellow'd in the earth , many yeeres , or chang'd in the Aire , in the twinkling of an eye , ( God knowes which ) That body vpon which you tread now , That body which now , whilst I speake , is mouldring , and crumbling into lesse , and lesse dust , and so hath some motion , though no life , That body , which was the Tabernacle of a holy Soule , and a Temple of the holy Ghost , That body that was eyes to the blinde , and hands , and feet to the lame , whilst it liu'd , and being dead , is so still , by hauing beene so liuely an example , to teach others , to be so , That body at last , shall haue her last expectation satisfied , and d'well bodily , with that Righteousnesse , in these new Heauens , and new Earth , for euer , and euer , and euer , and infinite , and super-infinite euers . Wee●nd all , with the valediction of the Spouse to Christ● His left hand is vnder my head , and his right embraces mee , was the Spouses valediction , and goodnight to Christ then , when she laid her selfe downe to sleepe in the strength of his Mandrakes , and in the power of his Spices , as it is exprest ●here ; that is , in the influence of his mercies . Beloued , euery good Soule is the Spouse of Christ● And this good Soule , being thus laid downe to sleepe in his peace , His left hand vnder her head , gathering , and composing , and preferuing hen dust , for future Glory , His right hand embracing her , assuming , and establishing her soule in present Glory , in his name , and in her behalfe , I say that , to all you , which Christ sayes there , in the behalfe of that Spouse , Adiuro vos , I adiure you , I charge you , O daughters of Ierusalem , that yee wake her not , till she please . The words are directed to the daughters , rather then to the sons of Ierusalem , because for the most part , the aspersions that women receiue , either in Morall or Religious actions , proceed from womē themselues . Therfore , Adiuro vos , I charge you , Oye daughters of Ierusalem , wake her not . Wake her not , with any halfe calumnies , with any whisperings ; But if you wil wake her , wake her , and keepe her awake with an actiue imitation , of her Morall , and her Holy vertues . That so her example working vpon you , and the number of Gods Saints , being , the sooner , by this blessed example , fulfil'd , wee may all meet , and meet quickly in that kingdome , which hers , and our Sauiour , hath purchac't for vs all , with the inestimable price of his incorrup●tible blou● . To which ●●glorious Sonne of God , &c. FINIS . MEMORIAE MATRIS Sacrum . AH Mater , quo te deplorem f●nte ? Dolores Quae guttae poterunt enumerare meos ? Sicca meis lacrymis Thamesis vicina videtur Virtutumque choro siscior ipse tuo . In flumen maerore nigrum si funderer ardens , Laudibus hand ●ierem sepia iusta t●is . Tantùm istaec scrib● gratus , n● tu mih● tant ùm Mater : & ista Dolor ●●nc tibi M●tra parit . 〈…〉 〈…〉 Confer●● lacrymas : Illa quae vos iniscuit . Vestrasaue laudes , posoit & mixi as genas . 〈…〉 Pudorque constet vel solut is crinibus ; 〈…〉 Decus mul●erum perijt : & metùunt v●r● Vtrumqu● sexum dote ne mulctauerit . Non illa soles terere comptu lubricos . Struices superbas at que turritum c●pute Molita , reliquum deinde garr●ens diem . ( Nam post Babelem Linguae adest confusio ) Quin post mode stam , qualis integras decet , Substructionem capit is & nimbum breuem , Animam recentemrite curauit sacris Adorta numen acr● & igue â prece . Dein familiam lustrat , & res prandij Horti , colique distributim pensitat . Suum cuique tempus & locus datur . Inde exiguntnr pensa crudo vespere . Ratione cer●● vita constat & domus , Prudenter inito quot-diebus calculo . Tot â renident aede decus & suauitas Solùm dolores , & dolores , stellulae . At tu qui ineptè haec dicta censes fil●o , Nato p●rentis auferens Enc●mium Abito trunce cum t●is pudoribus . Ergo ipse solùm mutus at que excors ●ro Strepent● mundo tinnulis praeconijs ? Mihine m●tris vrnaclausa est vnico , Herbae exo●etae , ros-marinus aridus ? Matrine linguam refero , solùm vt mordeam ? Abito barde . Quàm pi● is●●c su● impudens ? Tu verò mater perpetìm laudabere Nato dolenti : liter● hoc debent tibi Quêis me educasti ; sponte char● as ●illinun● Fructum laboru● conse●●tae maximum Laudando Matrem , cum repugnant inscij . CVr sp●●ndes O Phoebe ? ecquid demittere matrem Ad nos cum radio tam rutilante potes ? At super at caput illa 〈◊〉 , quantu● ipse cad●●er , Mens superat ; corpus solùm Element a tenēt . Scilic●t id splendes : haec est tibi causa micand● Et lucro apponis gandia sancta tuo . Verùm he●● si nequeas coelo demittere matre , Sitque omnis motus nescia , tanta quies , Fa● radios saltèm ingemines , vt dextera t●rt●s Implicet , & matre● , matre manente , petam . QVid nugor calamo fa●●ns ? Mater perpet●is v●ida gandi●s , Horte pro t●nui colis Edenem Bor●ae statibus inuinm . Quin coeli mihi sunt mei , Materni decu●● & debita n●minis , ●umque his in●igilo frequens Stellarum soci●s , pellibus Ex●●●r . Quare Sphaeram egomet ●eam Connixus , digitis impiger vrgeo : Te , Mater , celebrans di● Noctu● te celebrans ●uminis aemulo . Per to nascor in hunc globum Exemploque tuo nascor in alterum : Bis tu mater eras mihi , Vt currat paribus gloria tibi●s . HOrti , deliciae Dominae , marcescite tand● ; Ornâstis capulum , noc superesse licet . 〈…〉 GAlene frustra 〈…〉 〈…〉 Pallida 〈…〉 Tam langue●s genitrix ●in●ri supp●sta fug●●● : Verū augusta parens , sanctum os c●los● lo● 〈◊〉 , Quale paludos●s iamia● lictura ●●cessus Praetulit Astraea , aut solio Themis alma v●t●sto Pensilis , at que acri dirimens Examine lites . Hunc vul●um ostendas & tecum nobile spect ● Quod superest vitae , insumam : solisque ingales Ipse tuae solùm adnecta , sine murmure , t●●ensa . Nec querar ingratos , studijs dum tabidus inst● , Effi●xisse dies , suff●catamue Mineruam Aut sp●s productas , barbataque somnia vertam● In vicium mundo sterili , cui cedo cometas Ipse suos tanquam digno pallantiaque astra . Est ●ihi his quinis laqueata domūcula tignis Rure , br●nisque hortus , cuius cum ve●●ere slorū Luctatur spacium , qualem tamen eligit aequi Iudi●ij dominus stores vt iunctius halent Stipati , rudibusque volis imperuius hortus Sit quasi fasciculus crescens , & nidus odorum . Hìc ego tuque erimus , variae suffitibus herbae Quotidiè pasti : tantùm ver●●m ind●● vultum Affectusque mei similem ; n●c languida misce Ora meae memori menti ● ne dispare cult●● Pugnac●s , te●●ros ●●or●●● tur b●mus odores , A●qu● inter reliqu●s bor●i cr●scentiafatus Nostra etia● paribus ●arcescant gaudia fatis . PAruam piamque dum lubentèr semitam Grandireaeque praefero . Carpsit malignum sydus hanc modestiam Vinumque felle miscuit . Hinc fremere totus & minari gestio Ipsis seuerus orbibus Tandem prehensâ comiter lacernulâ Susurrat aure qnispiam , Haec fuerat olim potio Domini tui . Gust● proboque Dolium . HOc Genitrix scriptum proles tibi sedula mittit . Siste parum cantus , dum legis ista , tuos . Nôsse sui quid agant , quaedant est quo 〈◊〉 music●● Quaeque , olim fuerat cura , manere potest . Nos miserè flemus , solesque obducimus almos sāctis Occiduis , tanquam displice nube , genis . Interea classem magnis Rex instruit ausis : Nos autem flemus : res ea sola tuis . Ecce solut●ra est , ventos causata morantes : Sin pluuiam : fletus suppedit âsset aquas . Tillius incumbit Dano : Gallusque marinis : Nos flendo : haec nostrûm tessera sola ducum . Sic aeuum exigitur tardum , dum praepetis anni Mille rotae nimijs impediuntur aquis . Plura tibi missurus era● ( nam quae mibi laur●s , Quod nectar , nisi cum te celebrare diem ? ) Sed parte● in scriptis etiam dum lacryma poscit , Diluit oppositas candidus humor aquas . NEmpe huc vsque notos tenebricosos Et maestum nimio madore Coelum Tellurisque Britannicae saliuam Iniuste satis arguit viator . At te commoriente , Magna Mater , Rectè , quem trahit , aerem repellit Cum probro madidum , reumque difflat . Nam te nunc Ager , Vrbs , & Aula plorant : Te nunc Anglia , Scotiaeque binae , Quin te Cambria peruetusta deflet , Deducens lacrymas prioris aui Ne serae meritis tuis venirent . Non est angulus vspiam serenus , Nec cingit mare , nunc inundat o●●nes . DVm librata suis haeret radicibus ilex Nescia vulturnis cedere , firma manet . Post vbi crudelem sentit diuisa securom Quò placet oblato , mortua fertur , hero : Arbor & ipse inu●r sa vocor : dūque insitus almae Assideo Matri , robore vinco cedros . Nunc sortipateo , expositus sine matre procellis , Lubricus , & superans mobilitate salum . Tu radix , tu petra mihi firmissima Mater Ceu Polypus , chelis saxa prehendo tenax : Non tibi nunc solifilum abrupere sorores Dissutus videor funere & ipse tuo . Vnde vagans passimrectè vocer alter Vlysses , Alteraque hac tua mors , Ilias esto mihi . FAcesse Stoica plebs , obambulans cautes . Exutastrato carnis , ossibus constans , Iisque siccis adeo vt os molossorum Haud glubat inde tres teruncios escae . Dolere prohibes ? an t dolere me gentis Ad●ò inficetae , plumbeae , Meduseae , Ad saxa speciem retrahentis humanam , Tantoque nequioris optimâ Pirrhâ . At forte matrem perdere haud soles demens : Quin nec potes ; cuipraebuit Tigris partum . Proinde parco belluis , nec irascor . Epitaphium . HIc sit a foeminei lans & victoria sexus : Virgo pudens , vxor fid● , seueraparens . Magnatuque● inopumque● aequū certamē & ardor : Nobilitate illos , hos pie tate rapit . Sic excelsa humilisque simull●●a dissita iunxit , Quic quid habe4 tellus quicquid & astra , fruēs . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 EXcussos manibus calamos , falcemque resumptam Rure , sibi dixit Musa fuisse probro . Aggreditur Matrem ( conductis carmine Parcis ) Funereque hoc cultum vindicat aegra suum . Non po●ui non ire acri stimulante stagello : Quim matris superans carmina posci● honos . Eia , agedum scribo : vicisti Musa ; sed audi Stulta semel scribo , perpetud vt sileam . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A20648-e260 Psal. 79. 2. Psal. 44. 12. Ps. 116. 15. Notes for div A20648-e1090 Scornes . Iudg. 16. 24 Psal. 137. 3. Esa. 53. 3. Mat. 27. 29 Act. 17. 32. Vers. 4. Vers. 6. Vers. 7. Mat. 24. 24 Vers. 17. 2 Terrors . Psal. 33. 9. Vers● 10. 1 Thes. 5. 2. Apoc. 3. 3. 16. 15. Vers. 10. 66. 15. 2. 2 , 3. 7. 9. Apoc. 1. 7. 3 Persons . Act. 19. 15. 1. 2 , 9. 2. 15. 2 Pet. 1. 4. Rom. 8. 17. Psa , 105. ●5 Rom. 8. 38. 1 Cor. 14. 38. Origen . Seneca . 5. 18. 4 Promissa . 16. 3. Eph. 2. 3. 1. 4 , 19. Heb. 2. 17. Apoc. 1. 5. Esa. 50. 1. 16. 19. Ioh. 14. 3. The future . 3. 14. Ambros. Nazian . Greg. Expect . Luk. 21. 28. August . 10. 14. 3. Apoc. 22. 1● . Vers. 20. 2 Tim. 4. 8. Gregor . Wait. Apoc. 6. 9. Eccles. 10. 1. Rom. 8.19 . Vers. ●3 . 1. 2. 11. New Heauens . 20.4 . 1 Cor. 7. 31. Polanus . Righteousnesse . 21. 1. Ver. 18. Cant. 1. 15 , 16. ● Iustice. Luk. 18. 2. 2. Thess. 1. 6. Righteousnesse . Mat. 14. 43 Aug. Commemoration . Neuerthelesse . Daughter of Sir Rich sister of Sir Fran. Aun● of Sir Rich. Neupo●● , of Arcol . Rich. Herbert of Blachehall in Montgomery Esqu . lineally descended from that great Sir Rich. Herbert in Ed. 4. time , and father of Ed. Lord Herbert Baron of Castle-Island , late Embassador in France , and now of his Maiesties Councel of Warre . Sir Iohn Dāuers onely brother to the Earle of Danby . 1 Cor. 15. 51 Vers. 5● . 31. 17. Cant. 8. 3. Vers. 4. 
A31143	----	The Harmony of the muses, or, The gentlemans and ladies choisest recreation full of various, pure and transcendent wit : containing severall excellent poems, some fancies of love, some of disdain, and all the subjects incident to the passionate affections either of men or women / heretofore written by those unimitable masters of learning and invention, Dr. Joh. Donn, Dr. Hen. King, Dr. W. Stroad [et al]. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription A31143 of text R9732 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing C105). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 133 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 56 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2017 A31143 Wing C105 ESTC R9732 12532791 ocm 12532791 62800 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A31143) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 62800) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 175:11) The Harmony of the muses, or, The gentlemans and ladies choisest recreation full of various, pure and transcendent wit : containing severall excellent poems, some fancies of love, some of disdain, and all the subjects incident to the passionate affections either of men or women / heretofore written by those unimitable masters of learning and invention, Dr. Joh. Donn, Dr. Hen. King, Dr. W. Stroad [et al]. R. C. Donne, John, 1572-1631. King, Henry, 1592-1669. Strode, William, 1600 or 1601-1645. [5], 26, 33-111 p. Printed by T.W. for William Gilbertson ..., London : 1654. "To the readers" signed: R.C., Esq. "Never before published" Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. eng English poetry -- 17th century. A31143 R9732 (Wing C105). civilwar no The harmony of the Muses: or, The gentlemans and ladies choisest recreation; full of various, pure, and transcendent wit. Containing several [no entry] 1654 24268 130 0 0 0 0 0 54 D The rate of 54 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the D category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2003-05 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-05 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-11 Ben Griffin Sampled and proofread 2004-11 Ben Griffin Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion The Frontispiece . SCulptures are useless here , or Lines in prayse , The Soul of Poetry slights all weaker Bayes ; As Sol invested in his best Array , Takes not , but gives more glory to the day , With 's livening Beams gladding the teeming Earth , To Budds , to Blossoms , and to Flow'rs gives Birth : So do these three times three in Harmony Give Birth to Arts , new life to Poetry . Love offers here his Quiver , and his Bow , Vowing henceforth he will a Pigrim go Vnto the Muses Temple , there to joyne In Diapasons with these Sacred Nine . Apollo here new-strings his golden Lyre , And wise Minerva sings unto this Quire : Venus slights Mars , not deigning once to look On any other Object , but this Book . THE HARMONY OF THE MUSES : OR , The Gentlemans and Ladies Choisest Recreation ; Full of various , pure , and transcendent Wit . Containing severall excellent Poems ; Some , Fancies of Love , some of Disdain , and all the subjects incident to the passionate Affections either of men or women . Heretofore written by those unimitable Masters of Learning and Invention , Dr. Joh. Donn Dr. Hen. King Dr. W. Stroad Sr. Kenelm Digby Mr. Ben. Johnson , Mr. Fra. Beamont J. Cleveland T. Randolph T. Carew . And others of the most refined Wits of those TIMES . Never before Published . London , Printed by T. W. for William Gilbertson at the sign of the Bible in Giltspur-street without Newgate . 1654. TO THE READERS . THere needs no Commendatory Epistle to perswade you to the entertaining of this Book ; The onely Names of the Authours are eloquent enough : It were unnecessary Art and labour to indeavor to present unto you the Transcendent height of their meritorious Pens , and with what delight beauty they have crowned Poetry , which is the Beauty and Delight of Learning . Poetry in their dayes flourished , and they flourished with it , and gave a Crown unto that which hath crowned them with Honor , and perpetuall Fame . The Genius of those times produced many incomparable Witts , who being excellent in themselves , in a noble emulation , contended who should 〈◊〉 each other . From hence it is we have so many admirable Pi●ces of Perfection derived to us , every Subject , in every particular , being so choicely handled , that what room is left unto Posterity , is rather to admire and imitate , then to equall them . There were never in one Age so many contemporary Patterns of Invention , or ever Witt that wrought higher or cleerer . For though our homely Progenitors , with too vain admiration were accustomed to prosecute the Issues of out-landish Witts , and believed nothing to be exquisite , but what came from France or Italy ; yet this Age by Experience hath found , that without the least Imitation , we have given them Examples of our own , and excelled them as much in soundness as in Beauty . If any shall object , that here and there the Fancy seems some time too loose for such Reverend Names , let him impute it to the lightness of the Subject , and to the heat and vigour of their early Witts , when first those Ayres were breathed forth . The Fancyes of so many letter'd and unequalled men are here united into one Piece , and do challenge as much your applause , as entertainment ; And being never before made publick , you may be the more oblieged to take notice of them , and to gratulate the friendly hand that travelled in this Collection , which was onely but to please you . Farewell , Yours devoted , R. C. Esq THE HARMONY OF THE MUSES . On the Choice of a Mistris . WHen I do love , my Mistris must be fair , Yet not extreamly , so shall I dispaire : When I do Love , my Mistris must be wise , Yet not all Wit , I 'le not be so precize : When I do love , my Mistris chaste must be , Not obstinate , for then shee 's not for me ; For when I love , my Mistris must be kind , Yet not before I her with Merit bind ; Shee whom I love , needs not for to be rich , For Vertue , and not wealth , doth me bewitch ; She whom I love , must once have lov'd before , For meeting equall , we may love the more : And to conclude , my Mistris must be young , And last , what 's hardest , not have too much toung . An Elegie made by I. D. COme Maddam come , all stay my powers deny , Untill I labour , I in labour ly The foe oft-times having the foe in sight , Is tir'd with standing , though he never fight : Off with your girdle , like heaven's Zone glistering But a far fairer World incompasing . Un●in that spangled breast-plate which you wear , That eyes of busy fools may be stopt there . Unlace your self , for that Harmonious chime Tell 's me from you , that now it is bed-time . Off with that happy busk , which I envie , That still can be , and still can stand so nie . Your gown going off , such beauteous state reveals , As when from flowery meads hills shadows steales . Off with that wiery Corronet , and show The happier diadem , which on you doth grow . Off with those shoo● , that thou may'st safely tread In this ( Loves hallowed Temple ) this soft bed . In such white roabs , heavens Angels use to be Receiv'd by men ; thou Angels bringst with thee . A heavenly Mahomet● Paradice ▪ and though Ill spirits walke in white , wee easily know By this , these Angels from an evill sprite , They set our hairs , b●● these our flesh upright . Licence my roving hands , and let them goe Behind , before , above , between , belowe . O my Americka ! my New-found-Land ! The Kingdom's safest , when by one man man'd : My Mine of precious stones ! my Emperie ! How bl●st am I in this discovering thee . To enter into these bonds , is to be free , Then where my hand is set , my seal shall bee ; As souls in bodies , bodyes uncloath's must bee To taste these joyes ; Those Jems you Women use Are as Atlanta's Balls cast in mens views , That when a fools eye lighteth on a Jem , His earthly soul may covet theirs , not them : Like Pictures , or like Books gay covering made For Lay-men , are all Women thus array'd : Themselves are Mistick bodies , which hourly we ( Whom their imputed grace will dignifie ) Must see reveal'd : then since that I may know ( As liberally ) as to a Mid-wife show Thy self ; Cast you all this white Linnen hence , There is no Pennance due to Innocence ; To teach thee , I am naked first ; Why than Needst thou to have more covering then a man . The Rapture , by J. D. IS she not wondrous fair ? but yet I see She is so much too fair , too sweet for me : That I forget my self , and a new fire Hath taught me not to love , but to admire ! Just as the Sun , methinks I see her face , Which I may gaze upon , but not imbrace : For 't is heavens pleasure sure she should be sent As pure to heaven again , as she was lent To us ; And bids us , as we hope for bliss , Not to profane her with one mortall kisse ; Then how cold growes my love , and oh how lot ! O how I love her , how I love her not : Thus doth my Ague-love torment by turns , Now well-nigh friezeth , now again it burns . The Extreames , by T. C. I Le gaze no more on her bewitching face , Sure ruin harbours there in every place : I le view no more those cruel eyes of hers , Which pleas'd or angry , still are Murtherers : For my enchanted soul , alas she drowns , With Calms and Tempests of her smiles & frowns . If she but dart ( as lightning ) through the ayre Her beams of warmth , they 'le kill me with despair If she behold me with a pleasant eye , I surfeit with excess of joy , and die . A Sonnet . THe World is nothing but inconstancie , How can it be ought else ; when 'bove the sky Adultery is committed : mark these twins , Earth , Ayre , and Water are heavens Concubines : The Lustfull Sun ingendereth with the earth , And she , as fruitfull , yeelds a happy birth Of plants , of hearbs , of flowers : the labouring skies Hurl hail-stones in the sea , the surges rise , Swell , toss and wallow , like the throwes of paine , And monthly are delivered in the Maine . The false Moon hath her changes ; why should men Weak-temper'd Women then so much contemn : If that the essentiall Powers congeminate , How can this Earthly but incorporate ? Man's Miserie , by Dr. K. ILl busied man ! why dost thou take such care To lengthen out thy lifes short Callender ? When every spectacle thou lookst upon Presents and acts thine execution : Each dropping Season , and each flowre doth crie Fool , as I fade and wither , thou must die . The beating of the pulse , when thou art well , Is just the towling of thy passing-bell . Night is the Hearse , whose sable Canopie Covers alike diseased day and thee . And all those weeping dews that nightly fall , Are but as tears shed at thy funerall . The Surfeit . DIsdain me still , that I may ever love , For who his Love injoyes , can love no more ; War but now past , with ease men cowards prove , And ships return'd do rot upon the shore . Then though thou frown , I 'le say thou art most fair , And still I le love , though still I must dispair . As heat to life , so is desire to love ; And those once gone , both love ▪ and life are done , Let not my sighs and tears thy vertue move ; Like baser Mettalls , do not melt so soone . Laugh at my woes , although I ever mourne , Love sufeits if enjoy'd , and turns to scorne . To his Mistris . HEre let me War , in these Armes let me lie , ●ere let me parly , better , bleed and die ; Thy Arms imprison me , and my arms thee , Thy heart my ransom is , take mine for thee : Other men war , that they their rest may gaine , And we will rest , that we may fight againe ; Those warres the Ignorant , these the experienc'd prove , There we are alwayes under , here above . There Engins a farr off move a just feare , But Thrusts , Pricks , Stabs ; nay , bullets hurt not here : There lies are wrong ; here wee 'l uprightly lie ; There men kill men ; wee 'l make one by and by : There nothing ; I not halfe so much can do In these Warres , as they which from us two Shall spring ; thousands we see which travell not To warres , but stay at home , swords , guns and shot D● make for others ; Shall not I do then More glorious service , staying to make men . An Incouragement for young Lovers . LOve 's like a game at Tables , where the dy Of womens mindes doth by affection flie : If once you catch their fancie at a blot , 'T is ten to one if that you enter not : However , like a gamester boldly venter , And where you see the Point lie open , enter : But mark it well , for by false play then , Do what you can , they will be bearing men . The choice of a Mistris . HEr for a Mistris , faine would I enjoy , That hangs the lip , and pouts at every toy , Speaks like a wag , is fair , dare boldly stand , And rear Loves Standard with a wanton hand , Who in loves fight , for one blow gives me three , And being stab'd , falls streight to kissing me ; For if she wants the Tricks of Venerie , Were 't Venus self , I would not love her , I , If she be modest , wise , and chast of life , Hang her ; shee 's good for nothing , but a wife . To Mr. J. W. a Parson in Devon . Inviting him to come up to London . By Joh. Myns . HOw now Iohn , what is 't the care Of thy small Flock that keeps thee there ? Or hath the Bishop in a rage Forbid thy comming on our Stage ? Or wantst thou coyne , or wantst thou steed ; These are Impediments indeed : Now for thy Flock , the Sexton may In due time ring , and let them pray : The Bishop with an offering , Will be brought to any thing . For two Sermons by the way , Will Host and Hostis , Tapster pay : A willing mind pawns Wedding ring , Books , Wife , Children , Gown , any thing , Nought unattempted , nought too deare To see such friends as thou hast here : For want of Coyne , I oft see Vick Trudge up the Town with hazzel stick . I met a Priest upon th' way , Rid in a Waggon the other day , Who told me that the venter'd forth With one Tythe-Pigg of little worth , With which , and saying grace at food , And praying for Lord Carriers good , He had arrived at 's journeys end , Without a penny , or a Friend ; And what great business dost thou think , Onely to see a friend and drink : One friend , why thou hast hundreds here , That can make thee far greater cheere . Ships lately from the Iland came , VVith Wine thou never knewst the name . Montefiasco , Frantiniack , Leaticum , and that Old Sack Young Herrick took to entertaine The Muses to his sprightly veine . Come , come , and leave thy Muddy Ale , That serves but for an old Wives tale , And now and then to break a jeast At some poor silly neighbors feast . Come quickly then , and learne to see Thy friends expect thy Witt and thee : And though thou canst not come in state On Cammels back , like Coriate , Imagine that the Pack-horse bee The Cammell in his book you see ; I know thou hast a fancy can Conceive thy guide a Caravan : Rather then stay , speak Treason there , And come at Charges of the shire ; A London Goale , with friends and chink Is worth your Viccaridge Iohn I think . But if besotted with that One Thou hast of Ten , stay there alone , And too too late repent and cry Thou hast lost thy friends , and 'mongst them I. A Farewell to the World by Sir K. D. FArewell you gilded follies , pleasing troubles , Farewel ye honourd rags , ve chrystal bubbles ; Fame is but hollow eccho , Gold but clay , Honour the darling but of one short day , Beauties chief Idol but a Damask skin , State but a golden prison to keep in , And torture free-born minds ; embroidered trains Meerly but Pageants ; proudly swelling Veines , And bloud ally'd to greatness , is but loan , Inherited , and purchast , not her own ; Fame , Riches , Honor , Beauty , State , Trains , Birth , Are but the fading blessings of the earth : I would be great , but see the Sun doth still , Level his beams against the rising hill : I would be rich , but see man too unkind , Digs in the bowels of the richest Mine : I would be fair , but see the Champion proud , The worlds fair eye , oft setting in a cloud : I would be wise , but that the Fox I see Suspected guilty , when the Asse goes free : I would be poor , but see the humble grasse , Trampled upon by each unworthy Asse : Rich hated , wise suspected , scorn'd if poor , Great feared , fair tempted , high envied more . Would the world now adopt me for her heir , Would Beauties Queen entitle me the fair , Fame speak me Honours Minion , could I vie Angels with India , with a speaking eye , Command bare heads , bowed knees , strike Justice dumb As well as blind and lame , to give a tongue To stones by Epitaphs , to be call'd great Master In the loose Lines of every Po●taster ; Could I be more then any man that lives , Great , wise , rich , fair , in all suparlatives , I count one minute of my holy treasure Beyond so much of all this empty pleasure ; Welcome pure thoughts , welcom ye careless grove These are my guests , this is my cour●age love ; The winged people of the sky shall sing My Anthemes , by my servants , gentle Springs ; A Prayer-book shall be my Looking-glasse , Wherein I will adore sweet Vertues face ; Here dwels no heatfull loves , no palsie fears , No short joyes purchast with eternal tears : Here will I sigh , and sing my hot youths folly , An learn to affect an holy Melancholy ; And if contentment be a stranger , then I le never look for 't but in Heaven agen . An Elgie by Dr. K. occasioned by his owne sicknesse . WEll did the Prophet a●k , Lord what is man ? Implying by the question , that none can But God resolve the doubt , much less define , What Elements this child of dust combine . Man is a stranger to himself , and knowes Nothing so natural , as his own woes ; He loves to travel countries , and confer The Signes of vast Heavens Diameter ; Delights to sit in Niles or Betis lap , Before he sayleth over his own Map ; By which meanes he returns , his Travels spent , Less knowing of himself then when he went , Who knowledge hunts , kept under forreign locks May bring home wit to hold a Paradox , Yet be●ools still : Therefore might I advise , I would inform the Soul before the eyes . Make man into his proper opticks look , And so become the Student , and the Book : With his conception his first leaf begin , What is he there , but complicated sin ? When Viper time , and the approaching birth Ranks him among the creatures of the earth ; His wayling Mother sends him forth to greet The World , wrapt in a bloudy winding-sheet , As if he came into the world to crave No place to dwell in , but bespeak a Grave ; Thus like a red or tempest boading morn , His dawning is , for being newly born , He hailes the evening tempest with shriek cryes , And fines for his admission with wet eyes . How should that plant whose leaf is bath'd in tears , Bare but a bitter fruit in elder years ? Just such is his ; and his maturer age , Teems with the event more sad then the presage ; For view him higher then his childhoods span , Is raised up to Youths Miridian , When he goes proudly laden with the fruit , Which health , or strength , or beauty contribute ; That as the mounted Canon batters down The Towers and goodly structures of a Town ; So one short sickness will his force defeat , And his frail Cittadel to Rubbish beat . How doth a Dropsie melt him to a flood , Making each vein run water more then blood ? A Collick racks him like a Northern gust , And raging Feavers crumble him to dust . In which unhappy he is made worse By his diseases , then his Makers curse . God said , with toils & sweat he should earn bread , And without labour not be nourished : Here ( though like ropes of falling dew ) his sweat Hangs on his labouring brow , he cannot eat : Thus are his sins scourg'd in opposing theames , And Luxuries revenged in the extreams : He who in health could never be content With varieties fetcht from each element , Is now much more afflicted to delight His tastless pallet , and lost appetite : Besides , though God ordain'd , that with the light Man should begin his work , yet he made night For his repose , in which the weary sense , Repairs it self by rests soft recompence ; But now his watchfull nights and troubled dayes , Confused heaps of fear and fancies raise : His chamber seems a loose and trembling Mine , His pillow quilted with a Porcupine ; Pain makes his downy Couch , sharp thorns appear And every feather pricks him like a spear ; Thus when all stormes of death about him keep , He copies death in any form but sleep ; Poor walking Clay , hast thou a mind to know , To what unblest beginnings thou dost owe Thy wretched self ; fall sick a while , and then Thou wilt conceive the Pedigree of men ; Learn shalt thou then from thine Anatomy , That earth thy Mother , worms thy sisters be ; That he is a short-liv'd vapour upward wrought , And by corruption into nothing brought ; A staggering meteor by cross Planets beat , Which often reels , and falls before his seat ; A Tree that withers faster then it growes , A Torch put out by every wind that blowes , A web of forty weeks , spun out in pain , And in a moment ravel'd out again ; This is the model of frail man , then say , That his duration 's only for a day , And in that day more fits of changes pass , Then Attomes run in the turn'd Hower-glass , So that the incessant cares which life invade , Might for strange truth their Heresies perswade , Who did maintain that humane souls were sent , Into the body for their punishment ; At least with that Greek sage still make us cry , Not to be born , or being born , to dy . Of Love and Death . AS Love and Death once travel'd on the way , They met together , and together lay Both in a bed ; when Love for all his heat , Found in the night Death's coldness was so great , That all his flames could hardly keep him warm , Betimes he rose , and speedily did arm His naked body , but through too much haste , Som of Deaths shafts he took , neer his being plac'd Leaving behind him many of his own , Which change to him , being blind , is stil unknown Through which mistaking , and his want of eyes , A double wrong to Nature did arise ; For when Love thinks to inflame a youthful heart With his own shafts , he kils with deaths cold dart ; So Death intending to strike old Age dead , Shoots one of Love's Darts with a golden head ; And this appears to me the reason why , Old men do fall in love , and young men die . Waltham Pool . In praise of black Women ; by T. R. IF shadows be a Pictures excellence , And makes the shew more glorious to the sense ; If Stars in the bright day be hid from sight , And shine more glorious in Masque of night , Why should you think rare creaturs that you lack Perfections , cause your hair and eyes be black ; Or that your Beauty , which so far exceeds , The new sprung Lillies in their Maidenheads , The cherry colour of your cheeks and lips , Should by that darknes suffer an eclips ; Nay , 't is not fit that Nature should have made So bright a Sun to shine without some shade ; It seems that Nature when she first did fancy Your rare Composure , studied Negromancy , And when to you those things she did impart , She used altogether the Black Art ; She drew the Magick Circle in your eyes , And made your hair the chains wherein she ties Rebellious hearts : those blew veins which appear Turn'd in Meanders like to either Sphear , Misterious figures are ; and when you list , Your voyce commandeth like an Exorcist ; O! if in Magick you have power so far , Vouchsafe me to be your Familiar . Nor hath kind Nature her black Art reveal'd On outward parts above , some lie conceal'd , As by the Spring head men oft times may know The nature of the streames that run below , So your black hair and eyes do give direction , To make me think the rest of like complection , The rest where all rest lies that blesseth man , That Indian Mine , that Streight of Magollan , That world-dividing gulf , which who so venters With swelling sayles and ravisht senses , enters Into a world of bliss , pardon I pray , If my rude Muse presumes for to display Secrets unknown , or hath her bounds ore-past , In praysing sweetness which she ne'r shall tast ; Starv'd men know there is food , & blind men may Though hid from them , yet know there is a day . A Rover in the mark his Arrow sticks Sometimes as well as he that shoots at pricks ; But if I might direct my shaft aright , The black mark would I hit , and not the white . Loves Elizium . I Will enjoy thee now , my Caelia , come , And flye with me to Loves Elizium , The Giant Honor that keeps Cowards out , Is but a Masker , and the servile Rout Of baser subjects , onely bend in vain , To the vast I doll , whilst the Nobler strain Of valiant Lovers daily sayle between Thy huge Colossus legs , and pass unseen Unto the blissful shore , be bold and wise , And we shall enter ; the grim Switz denies Only tame fools a passage , who not know He is but form , and only frights in show ; The duller eyes which look from far draw neer , And thou shalt scorn what we were wont to fear ; We shall see how the stalking Pageant goes With borrowed legs , a heavy load to those That made and bear him , not ere we our thought , The seed of gods , but a weak model wrought By greedy men , that seek to inclose the Common , And within private arms impale free woman ; Come then , and mounted on the wings of Love , Wee 'l cut the fleeting ayre , and soar above The Monsters head , and in the Noblest seat Of those blest shades , quench and renew our heat : There shall the Ce●een of Love and innocense , Beauty and Nature banish all offence From our close twines , there I 'le behold Thy bared snow , and thy unbreaded Gold , There my unfranchis'd hand on every side , Shall o're thy naked polisht body slide , No curtaln there ( though ) of transparent Lawn , Before thy Virgin treasure shall be drawn , But the rich Mine to the inquiring eye Expos'd , shall ready still for Mintage lye , And we will coyn young Cupids , there a-bed Of Roses and fresh Mirtils shall be spread , Under the cooling shady Cypres Groves , Our pillow of the Down of Venus Doves , Whereon our panting limbs we 'l gently lay , In the faint respit of our active play , That so our slumbers may in dreams have leisure , To tell the nimble fancy of past pleasure , And so our souls that cannot be imbraste , Shall the embraces of our bodies taste ; Mean time the bubling stream shal court the shore , The enamour'd cherping wood-quire shall adore , In varied tunes the Deity of Love , Gentle blasts of Western winds shal move The trembling leavs , & through their close bowes breath Still Musick , whilst we restore our selves beneath , Their dancing shades , till a soft murmur sent From soules entranc't in amorous languishment , Rouse us , and shoot into our souls new fire , Till we in their sweet extasie expire ; Then as the empty Bee , that late●● bore , Into the common treasure all her ●tore , Flyes'bout the painted fields with nimble wings , Deflowring the fresh Virgins of the Springs ; So will I rifle all the sweets that dwell In thy delicious Paradice , and swell In ruggs of Honey , drawn forth by the power Of servent kisses , from each spicie Bower ; I le seize the Rose-buds in the perfum'd bed , The Violet knots like curious Mazes spread , Through al the Gardens tast the ripened Cherries The warm firm Apples tipt with crimson berries , Then will I visit with a wandring kiss , The Vail of Lillies , and the bower of bliss , And where the beautious Region doth divide , Into two milkey wayes my lips shall slide Down those smooth Allies , wearing as I go , A Track for Lovers in the printed snow ; Then climbing o're the swelling Appenine , Retire into the Grove of Egliantine , Where I will all those ravish'd sweets distill , ( skil , Through Loves moyst Limbeck , & with Chymick From the mixt mass of our soveraign Balm derive And bring the great Elixar to the Hive ; Now in more subtler Wreathes I will intwine My sinewy thighes , my legs and arms with thine , Thou like a sea of Milk shall lye display'd , Whilst I the smooth calm Ocean do invade With such a tempest , as when Iove of old , Set down with Danae in a shower of Gold ; Yet my tall Pine shall in thy Cyprian strait , Ride safe at Anchor , and unlade his fraight , My Rudder with thy bold hand , like a tri'd And skilful Pylot , thou shalt steer , and guide My Bark into Loves channel , where it shall Dance , as the bounding waves do rise and fall , Then shall thy twining arms embrace and clip My naked body , and thy balmed lip Bathe me in juice of kisses , whose perfume , Like a Religious Incense shall consume , And send up holy vapours to those powers , That bless our Loves , & crown our happy howrs , That with such Halcian joyes do fix our souls , In sted fast peace , that no annoy controuls ; There no rude sounds frights us with suddē starts , No jealous ecchoes there shall gripe our hearts , Suck our discourse in , nor are we betray'd To Rivals , by the bribed Chamber maid ; No Wedlocks bond untwist our unreacht loves , We seek no midnight Arbours , no dark groves , To hide our kisses ; There the hated name Of husband , wife , lust , modest , chaste , or shame , Are vain and empty words , whose very sound , Was never heard in the Elizian ground ; All things are lawful there that may delight Nature , or unrestrained Appetite , Like , and enjoy , to will , and not his own , We onely sin when Loves Rights are undone ; The Romane Lucrece there heard the divine Lectures of Love , Great Master Aratine , And knows as well as Lais how to move , Her pliant body in the act of Love , To quench the burning Ravisher , she hurls Her limbs into a thousand winding curls , And studies artful policies , such as be Carv'd on the bark of every neighbouring tree , By learned hands , that so adorn the rine Of those fair plants , which as they lye in twine , Have flam'd their glowing fires , the Grecian Dame , That in her endless well sought for a name , As fruitless as her work , doth now display , Her self before the Youth of Ithaca , And the amorous Games of sportful nights prefer Before dull dreams of the lost traveller ; Daphne hath broke her bark , and that swift foot , Which the angry God had fastned to the root , To the fixt earth , doth now unfetter'd run , To meet the imbraces of the youthful Sun , She hangs upon him like the Delphick Lyre , Her kisses blow the old , and breath new fire ; Full of her God , she sings inspired Layes , Soft Odes of Love , such as deserve the Bayes , Which she her self was next her Lawrellies , In Petrarchs learned arms , drying those eyes , Which did in such smooth sweet numbers flow , Which made the world enamour'd of his wo ; These , and ten thousand beauties more that died Slaves to the Tyrant ; now enlarg'd deride His cansell'd Lawes , and for their time mispent , Paying to Love's Exchequer double rent : Come then my Caelia , wee 'l no more forbeare To taste our Joyes struck with a pannick feare , But will depose from his terrestriall sway , This proud usurper , and walke free as they With necks unyoak'd ; Nor is it just that he Should fetter your soft sex with Chastitie , Whom nature made unapt for abstinence , When yet the false imposture can dispence With humane Justice , and with sacred right , And maugre both their laws command me fight With rivalls , or with emmulous Loves , that dare Equall with thine , his Mistris eyes or haire : If thou complaine of wrong , and call my sword To carve but thy revenge ; upon that word , He bids me fight , and kill , or else he brands With mark of infamy my coward hands : And yet Religion bids from blood-shed fly , And damns me for the act ; then tell me why This Goblin Honor , the World so adores , Should make men Athiests , & not women whores . T●a Wench desiring Money . AS fair as she that made two husbands jar , Raising 'twixt Troy & Greece a ten years war As white as feather'd Laeda , great Ioves rape , She that was chang'd into a Swan-like shape : As red as is the Emony , even so bright Wer 't thou my Love , that which the Poets write Of metamo●●hos'd Iove , how oft love changd him , And from his own celestial shape estrang'd him Into an Eagle , or Bull , I fear lest he , Should fr● high Heaven likewise descend on thee . I am not jealous now , my thoughts are vanisht , And the hot ardor of affection banisht ; My fire is cool'd , reason assumes the place , And now methinks thou hast not thine own face ; Dost thou demand why I am chang'd , behold , The cause , I le tell thee , thou dost ask me gold , Thou look'st that for my pleasure I should pay , And that alone still frighteth me away ; Whilst thou wert simple , and in all things kind , I with thy sweet content did like thy mind , Now thou art cuning grown , what has that gaind ? Thy bodies beauty by thy mind is stain'd : Look on the beasts that in the Medows play , Shall women bear more savage minds then they ? What gifts do Kine from the rude Bull enforce ? What rate demands the Mare fro the proud horse ? Or from the Ram the Ewe ? they couple twice , Ere once they do debate upon a price ; Women have learn'd alone to bargain well , Their pleasures born with them alone they sell , Alone they prize the night , and at a rate Chaffer themselvs with strangers ; O vild state ! Alone for mutuall pastime , coyn they crave , And e'r they sport , ask first , What shall I have ? That which delighteth both , to which both run , And ( but by joint assistance ) is not done , The pleasures which on even terms we try , Why should one party sell , the other buy ? Why should the sweets which we alike sustain , To me be double loss , thee double gain ? That which comes freely , much by that we set , Thou giv'st it me , and I am still in debt ; Love that is hir'd , is plainly sold and bought , Thou hast thy price , and then I owe thee nought : Then O ye fair ones , all such thoughts expell , What Nature freely gives you , spare to sell ; Let not your bodies to base lust be lent , Goods lewdly got , are ever loosly spent . A Sonnet . WHy do we love these things which we call women , Which are like feathers , blown in every wind ? Regarding least those men do most esteem them ; And most deceitfull when they seem most kind , And all their Vertue , that their beautie graces , It is but painted , like unto their faces . Their greatest glory is in rich attire , Which is extracted from some hopefull heires , Whose witts and wealth are lent to their desire , When they regard the gifts , more then the givers : And to increase their hopes of future bliss , They 'l sometimes rack their Conscience for a kisse . Some love the windes , that bring in golden showers , And some are meerly won with commendations , Some love and hat● , and all within two houres , And that 's a fault amongst them most in fashion , But put them all within a scale together , Their worth in weight will scarce pull down a feather . And yet I would not discommend them all , If I did know some worth to be in any , 'T is strange , that since the time of Adams fall , That God did make none good , yet made so many : And if he did , for these I truly mourne , Because they dy'de before that I was borne . A Health . TO her whose Beautie doth excell Story , we toss these cups , and sell Sobrietie a Sacrifice To the bright Lustre of her eyes ; Each soul that sips here is devine , Her Beauty Deifies the Wine . Vpon his Mistris cut finger . SWeet-heart , to see thy blood fall down , What Mortall can forbear ? But as thou dropst thy blood oath groun , So he must drop a tear : Good counsel to such wounded Maids , God Cupid thus alledges , Hereafter use such harmless tools , that have no cutting edges . You force the ground you stand on blush , But blushing we permit , Our cheeks could wear a Scarlet Plush , saw we as much as it : Hereafter love those better parts , Nay best of all indeed , Which though they take a thousand wounds , yet scorn they e're to bleed . The Rubies soft in Diamond , Are glorious for to see , But if congeal'd what rarest Jems , Those Ruby drops would be : This wish I to my Mistris bring . And that is all I bring her , Would I had fingred her fine Cut , When she cut her fine finger . LOVE'S Hue and Cry . IN Love's Name you are charg'd hereby , To make a speedy Hue and Cry After a face which th' other day , Came and stole my heart away ; For your proceeding , these in brief , Are some few marks to know the Thief ; Her hair was gold , a field of snow , Smooth and unfurrowed was her brow , A sparkling eye , so pure and gray , As when it smiles , there needs noday ; Ivory dwelleth on her nose , Lilly married to the Rose , Have made her cheek their Nuptial bed , Lips dyed a Vermilian red Make Crimson blush , beside the rest , You shall know this Fellon best By the tongue , for if your ear , Do once a heavenly Musick hear , Such as neither gods nor men , But from that mouth shall hear agen , That , that is she , O take her to ye , None can rock Heaven asleep but she ; I hear have apprehended one , Confederate in the action , And that 's my eye , which did let in , The cunning thief to do the sin , At his window , but for her , My eye shall be a prisoner , Till it the first offender see , That lur'd it to the Felonie ; Your diligence herein I crave , That I again my heart may have ; O take Loves wings , flye , search , or I Shall have no heart to live , but die . Loves Progress by Dr. Don. WHo ever lov'd , if he do not propose The right end , love , he is as one that goes To Sea for nothing but to make him sick , And loves a Bear-whelp born , if we o're-lick Our love , and force it strange new shapes to take , We erre , and of a lump a Monster make . Were not a Calf a monster if 't were grown , Fac'd like a man , though better then his own ; Perfection is in unity , prefer One woman first , and then one thing in her : Or when I value gold , I think upon The ductilness , the application , The whole summes , the ingenuity , From rust , from soyl , from fire ever free ; But if I love , it is because 't is made By our new Natures use , the soul of Trade ; All this in women we might think upon , If women have them , and yet love but one : Can men more injure women then to say , ( they They love them for that by which they are not Make Vertue woman , must I cool my blood , Till I both be and find one wise and good ? May barren Angels love so , but if we Make love to woman , vertue is not she , As beauty is not , he then that strayes thus , From her to hers , is more adulterous Then he that takes her maid , search every sphear , And Fi●mam●nt , our Cupid is not there , He 's an infernal god , and under ground With Pluto dwels , where gold and fire abound , Men to such gods their sacrificing coales Did not on Altars lay , but pits and holes ; Although we see celestial bodies move Above the earth , the earth we till and love ; So we his heirs contemplate , wounds and heart , And vertues , but we love the rendring part ; Nor is the soul more swarthy , nor more fit For love then this , as infinite as it , But in attaining this desired place , How much they stray that set out at the face , The hair a forest is of Ambushes , Of springs , snares , fetters , and of manicles : The brov becalmes us when 't is smooth & plain And when it wrinckles , shipwracks us again , Smooth , 't is a Paradise , where we would have Immortall stay , and wrinckled 't is our grave . The nose like to the first Meridian runs , Not'twixt the East & West , but'twixt two Suns : Her swelling lips , to which when we are come , We Anchor there , and think we are at home , For they seem all the Syrens songs , and there The Delphian Oracles do fill the eare : Then in a creek where chosen pearls do swell , The Remora her charming tongue doth dwell ; These and the glorious promontory her chi● O're-past , and the straight Hellespont between The Cestos and Abidos of her breasts , Not of two Lovers , but two loves the nests , Succeeds a boundless Sea , but that thine eye Some Iland Moles may scatter'd there discry , And sayling towards her India , in the way , Shall at her fair Atlantick navel stay ; Though thence the current be thy Pilot made , Yet er● thou come where thou wouldst be in-laid Thou shalt upon another Forrest set , Where some do shipwrack and no further get , When thou art there , consider in this Chase , What time they lose that set out at the face ; Rather set out below , practise my Art , Some symitry the foot hath with that part , Which thou dost seek , and is a Map for that , Lovely enough to stop , but not stay at ; Least subject to disguise and change it is , Men say the Devil never can change his ; It is the Embleme that hath figured Firmness , 't is the first part that comes to bed ; Civility we see refin'd the kiss , Which at the foot began , transplanted is Since to the hand , then to the imperial knee , Now at the Papal foot delights to be ; If Kings think it the nearest way , and do Rise from the foot , Lovers may do so too , And as free Sphears move faster far then can Birds whom the ayre resists , so may that man Which goes this empty and aetherial way , Then if at beauties Elements h● stay : Rich Nature hath in women wisely made Two purses , and their mouthes aversly laid , They then that to the lower tribute owe , That way which that Exchequer looks must goe , He which doth not , his errour is as great , As who by Clysters gives the stomack meat . On Black eyes by J. D : NO marvel if the Suns bright eye , Showr down hot flames , that quality Still waits on light , but when I see The sparkling Balls of Ebonie , Distill such heat , the gazer straight Stands so amazed at the sight , As when the Lightning makes a breach Through pitchy clouds ; can Lightning reach The Marrow , and not hurt the skin ? Your eyes the same to me have been : Can Jet invite the loving straw With secret fire ? so can they draw , And can when ere they glance a Dart , Make stubble of the strongest heart : Oft when I look , I may descry A little face peep through thine eye ; Sure that 's the boy , that wisely chose , ●is rayes amongst such rayes as those , Which ( if his Quiver chance to fail ) May serve for Darts to kill withall ; If at so strong a charge I yield , If ●ounded so , I quit the Field ; Think me not Coward , when I lye , Thus prostrate with your charming eye ; Did I but say your eye , I swear Death's in your Beauty every where , Your eye night spare it self , my own , ( Wh● n all your parts are truly known ) From ●ny one may filch a Dart , To wound my self , and then my heart , One with a thousand Arrowes fill'd , Cannot say this or that this kill'd , No more can I , yet sure I am , That you are she that wrought the same , Wound me again , yea more and more , So you again will me restore . The Spring . NOw that the winters gone , the earth hath lost Her snow-white robes , and now no more the frost , Candies the grass , or casts an icie cream , Upon the silver Lake or Chrystal stream , But the warm Sun thawes the benummed earth , And makes it tender , gives a second birth To the dead Swallow , wakes in hollow Tree The drowzie Cuckow , and the Humble Bee ; Now do a Quire of chirping Minstrels sing In triumph to the world , the youthful Spring , The valleys , hills , and woods in rich array , Welcome the coming of the long'd for May ; Now all things smile , only my Love doth lower , Nor hath the scalding noon-day-sun the power , To melt the Marble yet , which still doth hold Her heart congealed , and makes her pity cold ; The Oxe which lately did for shelter flye Into the stall , doth now securely lye In open field , and Love no more is made By the fire side , but in the cooler shade ; A●intas now doth by his Cl●r●● sleep , Under a Sycamore , and all things keep Time with the season , onely she doth carry Iune in her eyes , in her heart Ianuary . His Mistris commanding the return of Letters . SO grieves the adventerous Merchant when he throwes , All the long-toil'd-for treasure , his ship stowes Into the angry Mayn , to save from wrack Himself and men , as I grieve to give back These Letters , yet so pow'rful is your sway , As if you bid me die , I must obey ; Go then blest Papers , you shall kiss those hands , That gave you freedom , but held me in bands , Which with a touch did give you life , but I Because I may not touch those hands , must die ; Methinks as if they knew they should be sent Home , to their native soyl , from banishment ; I see them smile , like dying Saints that know , They are to leave the earth & towards he'ven go , When you return , pray tell your soveraign , And mine , I gave you courteous entertain , Each line receiv'd a tear , and then a kiss , First bath'd in that , it scap'd unscorcht in this , I kist it 'cause your fair hand had been there , Because it was not , then I shed a tear ; Tell her , no length of time , nor change of aire , No cruelty , disdain , absence , dispaire , No , nor her stedfast constancy can deterre , My vassal heart from ever honouring her ; Though these be pow'rful arguments to prove I love in vain , yet I must ever love ; Say if she frown when you that word rehearse , ( Service ) in Prose is oft call'd Love in Verse ; Then pray her since I send back on my part Her Papers , she would send me back my heart , If she refuse , warn her to come before The God of Love , whom thus I will implore , Travling in thy Countries rode , great god , I spi'd By chance this Lady , and walkt by her side , From place to place , f●aring no violence , For I was well arm'd , and had made defence In former fights , 'gainst fiercer foes then she , Did at our first encounter seem to be , But going further , every step reveal'd Some hidden weapon , till that time conceal'd , Seeing those outward armes , I did begin , To fear some greater strength was lodg'd within , Looking into her mind , I might survey An host of beauties that in Ambush lay , And won the day before they fought the field , For I unable to refist , did yield ; But the insulting Tyrant foe destroyes , My conquer●d mind , my ease , my peace , my joyes , Breaks my sweet sleeps , invades my harmless rest , Robs me of all the treasure of my breast , Spares not my heart , nor yet ( a greater wrong ) For having stoln my heart , she binds my tongue ; But at the last her melting eyes unseal'd My lips , enlarg'd my tongue , then I reveal'd To her own ears the story of my harmes , Wrought by her vertues and her Beauties charms ; Now hear just judge an act of savageness , When I complain in hope to have redress , She bends her angry brow , and from her eye , Shoots thousand darts , I then well hope 't to dye , But in such soveraign Balm Love dips his shot , That though they wound a heart , they kill it not ; She saw the blood guish forth frō many a wound , Yet fled and left me bleeding on the ground , Nor sought my cure , nor saw me since , 't is true , Absence and time two cunning Leaches drew The flesh together , yet sure though the skin ●e clos'd without , the wound festers within ; Thus hath this cruel Lady us'd a true Servant and subject to her self and you ; Nor know I , great love , if my life be lent , To shew thy mercy or my punishment , Since by the onely Magick of thine Art , A Lover still may live that wants an heart ; If this enditement fright her so as she , Seem willing to return my heart to me , But cannot find it , for perhaps it may , 'Mongst other trifling hearts be out o th' way ; If she repent , and will make me amends , Bid her but send me hers , and we are friends . To his coy Mistris . THink not , 'cause men flattering say , You●r fair as Hellen , fresh as May , Bright as is the morning Star , That you are so , though you are , Be not therefore proud , or deem All men unworthy your esteem , For being so you lose the pleasure Of being fair , for that rich treasure , Of more beauty and sweet feature , Was bestow'd on you by Nature To be enjoy'd , and t were a sin , There to be scarce where she hath bin , So prodigal of her best graces ; Thus common beauties and mean faces , Shall have more pastime and enjoy The sport you lose by being coy ; Did the thing for which I sue , Only concern my self , not you ? Were men so framed as they alone Reap'd all the pleasure , women none , Then had you reason to be scant , But 't were a madness not to grant , That which affords , if you consent , To you the giver more content Then me the begger , O then be Kind to your self , if not to me ; Starve not your self , because you may Thereby make me to pine away , Nor let fading beauty make , You your wiser thoughts forsake , For that lovely face will fail , Beauty's sweet , but beauty's frail , 'T is sooner past , 't is sooner done , Then Summers rain , or winters Sun , Mo●● fleeting , when it is most dear , T is gone while we say ( but ) 't is here ; Those curious locks so aptly twin'd , Whose every hair a soul doth bind , Will change their Aburn hue , and grow , White and cold as Winters snow ; That eye which now is Cupids nest , Will prove his grave , and all the rest Will follow , in the cheek , chin , nose , Nor Lilly shall be found , nor Rose , And what will then become of all , Those whom you now your servants call , Like Swallows when the Summer 's done , They 'l flye and seek some warmer Sun , Then wisely chuse one for your friend , Whose love may ( when your beauties end ) Remain still firm , be provident , And think before the Summer 's spent , Of following Winter , like the Ant , In plenty horod for time of scant , Cull out amongst the multitude Of Lovers that seek to intrude Into your favour , one that may , Love for an age , not for a day , One that will quench your youthful fires , And feed in age your hot desires , For when the storms of time have moved Waves on that cheek which was beloved ; When a fair Ladies face is pin'de , And yellow spread where red once shin'de When beauty , youth , and all sweets leave her , Love may return , but Lover never ; And old folks say there is no paines , Like itch of Love in aged veins ; O love me then , and now begin it , Let 's not lose this present minute , For time and age will work that wrack , Which time or age shall ne'r call back ; The Snake each year fresh skin resumes , And Eagles change their aged plumes ; The faded Rose each Spring receives , A fresh red tincture on her leaves ; But if your beauty once decay , You 'l never know a second May ; O then be wise , and whilst your season , Affords you dayes for sport , do reason , Spend not in vain your lives short hour , But crop in time your Beauties flowre , Which will away , and doth together , Both bud , and fade , and blow , and wither . On age , or an old Face . NO Spring or Summer beauty hath such grace As I have seen in an Autumnall Face ; Young beauties force your love , and to a rape , This doth but councel , yet you cannot scape ; If 't were a shame to love , here 't were no shame , Affection here takes reverences name ; Were her first years the golden Age , that true , But now she 's gold oft tri'd and ever new ; That was her fore-Ides and inflaming time , This is her habitable tropick clime ; Fair eyes , who asks more heat then comes from thence , He in a Feaver wishes Pestilence ; Then call not wrinckles graves , if graves they are , They are Loves graves , or else he lies no where , Yet lies not Love dead here , but here doth sit , Vow'd to this trench like as an Anchorite , And here till hers which must be his death come , He doth not dig a Grave , but build a Tombe ; Here dwels he , though he sojourn every where In brief , yet still his standing house is here ; Here where still evening is , not noon , or ●ight , Where no voluptuousness , yet all delight In all her words ; unto all hearers fit , You may at Revels , you at Councel sit ; This is Loves Timber , youth her under-wood , Wine fires in May , in August comforts blood , Which then comes seasonablest , whe● your taste And appetite to other things are past ; Xerxes strange Lydian love , the Platane Tree Was lov'd for age , none being so old as she , Or else because being young , Nature did bless Her Youth with Ages glory barrenness ; If we love things long sought , Age is a thing , Which we are fifty years in compassing ; If transitory things ( which soon decay ) Age must be loveliest at the latest day , But name not Winter faces , whose skin slack , Lanck , like an unthrifts purse , or a souls sack , Whose eyes seek light within , for all here 's shade , Whose mouths are holes , rather worn out then made Who 's ev'ry tooth t' his several place is gon , To vex their souls at the Resurrection ; Name not those living Deaths-Heads unto me , such I abhor ; I hate extreams , yet I had rather stay With Tombs then Cradles , to wear out a day ; Since such Loves natural action is , may still My love descend , not journey up the hill , Not panting after growing beauties , so I shall be one of those that homewards go . A Maids Denyall . NAy pish , nay pew , nay faith , and will you , fie , A Gentleman and use me thus , yfaith I le cry , Gods body what means this ? nay fie for shame , Nay faith away , nay fy away , introth you are to blame , Hark , sombody comes , leave off I pray , I le pinch , I le scratch , I le spurn , I le go away ; Infaith you strive in vain , you shall not speed , You mar my ruff , you hurt my back , my nose will bleed Look , look , the door is open , sombody sees What will they say , nay fie you hurt my knees ; Your buttons scratch ( O God ) what a coil is here You make me sweat , infaith here 's goodly geere , Nay faith let me intreat you if you list ; You mar my head , you tear my smock , but had I wist So much before , I would have kept you out , Is 't not a pretty thing you went about ; I did not think you would have serv'd me thus , But now I see I took my mark amiss ; A little thing would make me not be friends , You have us'd me well I hope you 'l make amends Hold still , I 'le wipe your face , you swet amain , You have got a goodly thing with all your pain ; O God how hot am , what will you drink ? If you go swetting down what will they think ; Remember this how you have us'd me now , Doubt not ere long but I will meet with you ; If any man but you had us'd me so , Would I have put it up , in faith Sir no ; Nay go not yet , stay here and sup with me , After at Cards we better will agree . A Blush . STay lusty blood , where canst thou se●k , So blest a place as in her cheek ; How canst thou from that place retire , Where beauty doth command desire ; But if thou canst not stay , then flow Down to her panting pap● below ▪ Flow like a Deluge from her breast , Where Venus Swans hath built her n●st , And so take glory to disdaine , With azure blew each swelling vaine , Then run boyling through each part , Till thou hast warm'd her frozen heart ; If from love it would retire , Martyr it with gentle Fire ; And having searcht each secret place , Fly thou back into her face , Where live blest in changing those White Lillies to a Ruddy Rose . To one that was like his Mistris . FAir Copy of my Celia's Face , Twin of my soul , thy perfect grace , Claims in my soul an equal place . Disdain not a divided heart , Though all be hers you shall have part , Love is not ty'd to Rules of Art : For as my soule first to her flew , Yet staid with me , so now 't is true , It 〈…〉 her , though fled to you . Then entertain this wandring guest , And if not love , allow it rest ; It left not , but mistook the nest . Nor think my love , or your fair eyes Cheaper , 'cause from th' Sympathise You hold with her the flames that rise . To Lead , or Brass , or some such bad Mettle , a Princes stamp may add The value that it never had . But to the pure refined Ore , The stamp of Kings imparts no more Worth , then it had before . Onely the Image gives the rate , To Subjects of a Forreign State , 'T is priz'd as much for its own waight . So though all other hearts resign To your pure worth , yet you have mine , Onely because you are her Coyne . On a Fly that flew into Celia's Eye . WHen this Fly liv'd , she us'd to play , In the Sun-shine all the day ; Till comming my in Coelia's sight , She found a new and unknown light , So full of Glory , as it made The noon-day Sun a gloomy shade : Then this amorous Fly became My Rivall , and did court this Flame ; She did from hand to bosom● skip , And from her breath , her cheek and lip , Suckt all the Incense and the Spice , And grew a Bird of Paradice . At last into her eye she flew , There scorcht in Flames , and drown'd in Dew ; Like Phaeton from the Suns bright Sphere She fell , and from her dropt a teare ; Of which a Pearl was straight compos'd , Wherein her Ashes lye inclos'd : Thus she receives from Caelia's eye , Funeral , Flame , Tomb , Obsequye . On the Snow falling on his Mistris breast . I Saw fair Cloris walk alone , When feather'd Rain came softly down ; And Iove descended from his Tower , To court her in a Silver shower : The wanton Snow flew to her breast , Like little Birds unto their Nest ; But overcome with whiteness there , For grief it thaw'd into a teare : Thence fal●●ng to her vestures hemme , To deck her froze into a Iemme . On the drawing his Mistris Picture . SItting , and ready to be drawn , What mean these Velvets , silk , & Lawn , Embroideries , Feathers , Fringes , Lace ? When every limb takes like a face ; Send these suspected helps to ayde , Some form defective , or decay'd ; Thy beauty without falshood faire , Need● nought to cloath it but the aire ; Yet som●thing for the Painters qew , Were fitly enterpos'd for new ; He shall if he can understand , Work mine own fancy with his hand , Draw first a cloud all save her neck , And out of that make day to break , Till like her face it doth appear , That men might think all light rose there Then let the beams thereof disperse The cloud and show the universe ; But at such distance that the eye , May rather ( yet ) ad●re then spy ; The heav'n d●fin●d , draw then a Spring , With all that youth and it can b●ing , Four Rivers branching ( out ) like Seas , And Paradise confining these : Last draw the circle of this Globe , And let there be a starry Robe Of Constellations ●bout it harl'd , And thou hast painted beautise world ; But Painter see thou dost not sell A Copy of this Piece , nor tell Whose 't is , but if it favour finde , Next fitting we will draw her minde . A Pastorall , by T. R. BEhold these Woods , and mark my Sweet How all the boughes together meet ! The Cedar his fair armes displayes , And mixes branches with the Bayes . The lofty Pine deigns to descend , And sturdy Oaks do gently bend ; One with another subt'ly weaves Into one Loom their various leaves , As all ambitious were to be Mine and my Phi●●is Canopie ! Let 's enter , and discourse our Loves ; These are my dear , no tell-tale Groves ! There dwels no Pyes , nor Parots there , To prate again the words they hear : Nor babbling Eccho , that will tell The neighbouring hills one syllable . Being enter'd , let 's together lye , Twin'd like the Zodiacks Gemini ! How soon the Flowers sweeter smell ? And all with emulation swell To be thy pillow ? These for thee Were meant a bed , and thou for me ; And I may with as just esteem Press thee , as thou mayst lye on them . And why so coy ? what dost thou feare ? There lurks no speckled Serpent here : No venemous Snake makes this his road , No Canker , nor the loathsome Toad : And yon poor Spider on the Tree , Thy Spinster will , no poisoner be : There is no Frog to leap , and fright Thee from my arms , and break delight : Nor Snail that o're thy coat shall trace , And leave behind a slimy Lace : This is the hallowed Shrine of Love , No Wasp nor Hornet haunts this Grove ; Nor Pismire to make pimples rise , Upon thy smooth and Ivory thighes : No danger in these shades doth lye , Nothing that wears a sting , but I ; And in it doth no venome dwell , Although perchance it make thee swell . Being set , let 's sport a while my Fair , I will tye Love-knots in thy hair : See Zephirus through the leaves doth stray , And has free liberty to play ; And braid thy locks : And shall I finde Less favour then a sawcie winde ? Now let me sit , and fix my eyes , On thee that art my Paradise : Thou art my all , the Spring remains , In the fair Violets in thy veyns : And that it is a Summers day , Ripe Cherries in thy lips display : And when for Autumn I would seek , 'T is in the Apples of thy cheek : But that which onely moves my smart , Is to see Winter in thy heart : Strange , when at once in one appear , All the four seasons of the year ! I le clasp that neck where should be set A rich and Orient Carkanet : But Swains are poor , admit of then More naturall chains , the arms of men . Come let me touch those brests that swel Like two fair Mountains , and may well Be stil'd the Alpes , but that I fear The Snow has less of whiteness there . But stay ( my Love ) a fault I spie , Why are these two fair Fountains drie ? Which if they run , no Muse would please To taste of any Spring but these ; And Ganimede imploy'd should be , To fetch his Iove Nectar from thee : Thou shalt be Nurse fair Venus swears , To the next Cupid that she bears . Were it not then discreetly done To ope one spring to lett Wo run ? Fy , fy , this Belly , Beauty's mint , Blushes to see no coyn stampt in 't , Employ it then , for though it be Our Wealth , it is your royalty ; And beauty well have cnrrant grace , Lhat bears the Image of yovr face , How to the touch the Ivory thiges , Veil gently , and againe do rise , As pliable to impression , As virgins wax , or parian stone , Dissoly'd to softnesse ; plump , and full , More whire and soft then cotsall wooll , Or Cotten fron from the indian Tree , or prdty silk worms huspifery , These on two marbledellars rais'd , Make me in donpt which should be prais'd ; They , or their Columnes must ; but when I view those feet w●ic● I have seen So nimbly trip it o're the lawns Thrt all the Srtyrs and the fawns Have stood amaz'd , when they would passe Over the layes , and not a grasse Would feel the weight , nor rush , nor bent Drooping betray which way you went , O then I felt my hot desires , Burn more , and flame with double fires , Come let those thighes , those legs , those feet With mine in thousand windings meet ; And woven in more subtle twiens Then woodbine , Ivy , or the vines , For when Love sees us csrcling thus He 'le like no Arbour more then us . Now let us kiss , would you be gone ? Manners at least allows me one . Blush you at this ? pretty one stay , And I will take that kiss away . Thus with a second , and that too A third wipes off ; so will we go To numbers that the stars out-run , And all the Atomes in the Sun : For though we kiss till Phoebus ray Sink in the Seas , and kissing stay , Till his bright beames return again , There can of all but one remain : And if for one good manners call , In one , good manners , grant me all . Are kisses all ? they but fore-run Another duty to be done . What would ●ou of that Minstrell say That tunes his pipes and will not play ? Say what are blossoms in their prime , That ripen not in harvest time ? Or what are buds that ne're disclose The long'd for sweetnesse of the rose ? So kisses to a Lover ; s guest Are invitatiohs ; ●ot the feast , See every thing that we espie Is fruitfull saving you and I : View all the Fields , survey the Bowers , The buds , the blossomes , and the Flowers , And say if they so rich could be In barren base Virginity : Earth's not so coy as you are now , But willingly admits the Plow ; For how had man or beast been fed , If she had kept her Maiden-head ? Coelia once coy , as are the rest , Hangs now a Babe on either breast : And Cloris since a man she took , Has less of greenness in her look : Our Ewes have ean'd , and every Dam , Gives suck unto her tender Lamb : As by these Groves we walkt along , Some Birds were feeding of their young ; Some on their Eggs did brooding sit , Sad that they had not hatch'd them yet ; Those that were slower then the rest , Were busie building of their Nest : You will not onely pay the fine , You vow'd and ow'd to Valentine . As you were angling in the Brook , With silken Line and silver Hook , Through Chrystal streams you might desery How vast and numberless a Fry The Fish had spawnd , that all along The bancks were crowded with the throng ; And shall fair Venus more command By water , then she doth by Land ? The Phoenix chaste , yet when she dies , Her self with her own Ashes lies : But let thy love more wisely thrive , To do the act while th' art alive : 'T is time we left our childish love , That trades for toyes , and now approve Our abler skill ; they are not wise , Look Babies onely in the eyes . That smother'd smile shews what you meant And modest silence gives consent . That which we now prepare , will be Best done in silent secresie : Come do not weep , what is 't you fear ? Lest some should know what we did here . See not a flower you prest is dead , But re-erects his bended head ; That whosoere shall pass this way , Knows not by these where Phillis lay ; And in your fore-head there is none , Can read the act that we have done . Phillis . Poor rediculous and simple Maid ! By what strange wiles art thou betray'd ! A treasure thou hast lost to day , For which thou canst no ransome pay : How black art thou transform'd with sin ? How strange a guilt gnawes me within ? Grief will convert this red to pale , When every Wake and Whitsun-A●e , Shall talk my shame ; break , break sad heart There is no Medicine for my smart , No hearb nor balm can cure my sorrow , Unlsse you meet again to morrow . Two Gentlemen inviting each other to sing . COme with our Voyces let us warre , and challenge all the Spheares , Till each of us be made a Starre , and all the world turn Deares . Mix then our Notes that we may prove , to stay the walking floods , To make the Mountain Quaries move , and call walking the Woods . What need of me , do you but sing , Sleep and the Graves shall wake ; No voyce hath sound , no voyce hath string , but what your lips do make . They say the Angels view each deed , who exercise below , And out of inward passion feed , in what they see or know . Sing we no more then , lest the best of Angels should be driven , To fall again at such a feast , Mistakes Earth for Heaven . Nay , rather let our Notes be strain'd , to meet their high desire ; So they in state of Grace retain'd , shall wish us of their Quire . A Sonnet in praise of Musick . HAil , sacred Musick ! Queen of Souls ! strike hie Inspire me with Poetick Rhapsodie , Else words can't praise thee . Thy Vertue tunes the discord of the Spheares , Charming to it divine and Humane eares , Nor can breath raise thee ! Whose Aires breath a more harmonious winde , Mounting above it self , the heaviest minde , In spight of Nature . Thy ravishing Accents , with holy force , Can 'twixt our Soules and bodies cause divorce , Chear sullenest creature ! Strike but thy Lute with thy more gentle hand , The Nightingale will mute , with listning stand , Charm'd to thy pleasure . And when thy Note but runs division , The very Tree shall dance she sits upon , keep mean and measure ▪ The Palm will dance , the Bay her root forgo The Cedar , Mirtle , Vine will foot it too : When in the midst of all their frolick train , Thou strik'st sad note , they 'r fixt trees again . On Iealousie . WHen you sit musing Lady al alone , Casting up all your cares with private moan Whē your hart bleeds with grief , you are no more Neerer comfort , then you were before ; You cannot mend your state with sighs or cares , Sorrow's no Balsome for distrustful fears : Have you a foe you hate ? wish him no worse A plague or torment then the Yellow curse ; Observe your Lord with nere so strict an eye , You cannot go to piss without a spye ; If but a Mouse do stir about your bed , He startles , and fears he is dishonoured , And when a jealous dream doth cross his pate , Straight he resolves he will be seperate ; Tell me right worthy Cuckolds if you can , What good this folly doth reflect on man ? Are women made more loyal ? Have ye power To guard the tree , that none can pluck the flower Is it within the brain of jealous heads , To banish Lust from Court or Courtly beds : I never knew that base and foul distrust , Made any chast that had a mind to lust ; Nor will it make her honest , who by kind , To loose and vild affections is inclin'd ; Debar her Lord , she to supply his room , Will take a hors-boy , or a Stable-Groom ; Keep her from men of lower rank and place ▪ She 'l kiss the Scullion , & with knaves imbrace , Suspect her faith withall , and all distrust , She 'l buy a Monkey to supply her lust ; Lock her from man and beast , from all content , She 'l make thee Cuckold with an Instrument ; For women are like angry Mastiffs chain'd , They bite at all , when they are all restrain'd ; We may set locks & guards to watch their fire , But have no means to quench their hot desire , Man may as well with cunning go about To quench the Gun his motion , as by doubt To keep a metled woman , if that she Strongly dispose her selfe to Venery . How many thousand women that were Saints , Are now made sinfull by unjust restraints ? How many do commit for very spight , That take small pleasure in that sweet delight ? Some are for malice , some are for mirth unjust , Some kiss for love , and some do love for lust , But if that Fates intend to make me blest , And Hymen bind me to a female brest , ( As yet I thank my starrs I am not tide ; In servile Bonds to any wanton Bride ) Let Cynthia be my Crest , yea let me wear The Cuckolds Badge , if I distrust or fear : It 's told me oft , a smooth and gentle hand , Keeps women more in awe of due command , Then if we put a Quinsel on their Dock , Ride them with Bitts , set on their geer a Lock , For then like furious Colts they strike & fling , But if we slack our Reins , to pleas their will , Kindness will keep them from committing ill : You blessed Creatures hold your female right , Conquer by day , as you orecome by night , And tell the jealous World this from me , Bondage may make you bad , whose minds are free : Had Colatine been jealous , say this more , Without a Rape , Lucrece had been a Whore . A Caveat to his Mistris . BEware fair Maid of Musky Courtiers oaths ; Take heed what gifts & favors you receive , Let not the fading gloss of silken cloathes , Dazzel your vertues , or your fame bereave ; For lose but once the hold you have of grace Who will respect your fortune or your face . Each greedy hand doth strive to catch the flour When none regards the stock it grew upon , Each nature loves the fruit still to devour , And leavs the Tree to grow , or fade alone ; Then this advice fair creature take from me , Let none taste fruit , unless he take the Tree . Take heed lest Caesar doth corrupt thy heart , Or fond Amibition scale thy modesty , Say to a King , thou only courteth Art ; He cannot pardon thy impurity ; For do with one , with a thousand thou'lt turn Whore , Break Ice in one place , and it cracks in more . Do but with King , to Subject thou wilt fall , From Lord to Lackey , and at last to all . An Embleme of Youth , Age , and Death , expressed in a Cherry-stone , on the one side is cut a young Damsel , on the other an old Beldam , The stone Hyeroglifically expresseth Death . FAir Mistris be not over-coy , In entertaining of this toy , The Morall of its pretty Art , D●serves a lodging next your heart , ●or 't is an Emblem ( fairest trust me ) Of what you are now , and what you must be , Except that envious Death prevent , Rich Natures first benigne intent , Then doth the gospel of the Stone , Prove life and death to dwell in one ; For this poor Moddel which you view , Did sometimes wear as rich a hew , As nature gives to any fair , Whilst it grew blushing in the Air , Whose tempting colour , and whose taste , Brought it to what you see at last ; Nay had it hung still on the Tree , It would have prov'd the same you see , Save that the Artists hand alone , For your sake hath his cunning shown ; Then rarest object of my sight , Unfold this three-fold Riddle right , And learn from it , your April years , Bloomes not more fruit of joy then fears , And that your beauty is a treasure By Nature lent you , at whose pleasure You must restore it when she 'l call , And give account for use and all , And that your winter fro●ty dayes , Brings Almond-buds instead of Bayes To crown your temples , and with glory To close the period of your story . If those rich Jems which should have lasted , Have not in your youth been wasted , But ( Prodigal-like ) if thou have spent Natures bo●●ies being but lent , A●d t●en your last of dayes is come , To give you summons to your home , You must with grief return to dust , She will no longer lend on trust , Your beauties Reliques as this Stone , Will be a dry contemned bone ; Perhaps like it some friend vouchsafe , To grave thereon your Epitaph , Which may be read if not neglected , This is the most can be expected . Sir S. Steward . To his Lady . SO may my Verses pleasing be , So may you laugh at them ; and not at me , 'T is something to you I would gladly say , But how to do it , cannot find the way ; I would avoid the common trodden wayes , To Ladies us'd , which be of Love or praise , As for the first , that little wit I have , Is not yet grown so neer unto the ●rave , But that I can by that dim fading light , Perceive of what , and unto whom I write , Let such as in a hopeless , witless rage , Can sigh a Quire , and read it to a Page ; Such as can make ten Sonnets ere they rest , When each is but a great blot at the best , Such as can backs of books and windows fill , With their too furious Diamond or Quill , Such as are well resolved to end their dayes , With a lowd laughter blown beyond the Seas ; Such as are mortified , that they can live , Laught at by all the world , and yet forgive : Wright love to you I would not willingly , Be pointed at in every company , As was the little Taylor , who till death , Was great in love with Queen Elizabeth ; And for the last in all my idle dayes , ● never yet did living woman praise , ●n Verse or Prose , And when I do begin , ●le pick some woman out as full of sin , ●s you are full of Vertue , with a soul , ●s black as yours is white , a face as foul ●s yours is beautifull ; for it shall be ●ut of the Rules of Phisiognomie ; ●o far , that I do fear I must displace the Art a little , to let in the face ; ● shall at least four faces be below the Devils ; and her parched corps shall show , ●n her loose skin , as if some spirit she were , K●pt in a bag by some great Conjurer ; Her breath shall be so horrible and vild , As every word you speak is meet and mild , It shall be such a one as will not be , Covered with any Art or Policie , But let her take all waters , fumes , and drink , She shall make nothing but a dearer stink , She shall have such a foot , and such a nose , As will not stand in any thing but Prose ; If I bestow my praises upon such , 'T is Charity , and I shall merit much ; My praise will come to her like a full bowl , Bestowed at most need on a thirsty soul ; Where if I sing your praises in my Rime , I loose my Ink , my paper , and my ti●● , Adde nothing to your overflowing store , And tel you nought but what you knew before Nor do the vertuous minded ( which I swear Madam I think you are ) endure to hear Their own perfections into question brought , But stop their ears at them , for if I thought , You took a pride to have your vertues known , Pardon me Madam , I should think them none ▪ But if you brave thoghts ( which I must respect Above your glorious Titles ) shall accept These harsh disordered Lines , I shall ere long , Dress up your vertues new in a new Song , Yet farre from all base praise or flattery , Although I know what ere my Verses be , They will like the most servile flattery shew , If I write truth , and make my subject you . A Description of a wisht Mistris . NOt that I wish my Mistris , Or more or less then what she is Write I ●●ese Lines , for 't is too late , ●ules to prescribe unto my Fate : ●ut as those tender stomacks call , ●or some choice meats that like not all ; ●o queafie Lovers do impart , What Mistris 't is must take their heart : First I would have her richly sped , With Natures blossomes white and red , For flaming hearts will quickly dye , That have no fewell from the eye ; Yet this alone will never win , Unless some treasure lye within ; For where the spoil 's not worthy stay , Men raise the Siege and march away : She should be wise enough to know , When , and to whom a grace to show , For she that doth at randome chuse , Will sure her choyse as well refuse ; And yet methinks I 'd have her mind , To loving courtesie inclin'd , And tender-hearted as a Maid , And pitty only when I pray'd : And I would wish her true to be , Mistake me not , I mean to me , She that loves one , and loves one more , Will love the Kingdome , ore and ore ▪ I could wish her full of wit , So she knew how to huswife it ; But she whose insolence makes her dare To try her wit , will sell her Ware . Some other things delight will bring , As if she dance , or play , or sing ; If hers be safe , what though her parts , Catch then a thousand forreign hearts ? But let me see , should she be proud , A little pride must be allow'd ? Each amourous boy will sport & prate Too freely , if she find no state ? I care not much though I set down , Sometime a chiding , or a frown : Eut if she wholly quench desire , 'T is hard to kindle a new fire : To smile , to toy , is not amiss , Sometimes to enterpose a kiss , But not cloy , sweet things are good , And pleasant , but are nought for food ▪ But stay , Nature hath overcaught my Art In her , to whom I offer up my heart , And evening-passengers shall sooner trace , The wantō beams that dance on Thames smooth face Or find the track where once the fowl did stray Or the moist sands which tides have washt away Then ere my heart be sound with taint or spot , So a revolt of hers procure it not . Ad Amicum . THou art the Spring , & I the leaveless Tree , Thou art the flower , and I the toyling Bee ; Thou art the Flax , and I the kindling fire , I your disdain , but you my hearts desire : You are the Bride which doth ingage my brest , My thoughts in yours , though yours elsewhere do rest : Say that I rest my lips upon thy cheek , A wearied love some place of rest must seek , No pillow softer then those cheeks of thine , No wearied love more wearied is then mine : Then be not coy to answer what I require , You need not blush at what I do defire , Say that your love doth some way else incline , Yet I am yours , though you will not be mine . The Question of a Lady that was newly wedded . A Lady that of late did wed , Not knowing sports of Marriage bed , Askt of her Husband which he thought most right For Marriage sports , the morning or the night , He answer'd as he did think most meet , The day more holsom but the night most sweet If it be so , quoth she , and we have leasure , We 'l to 't i th' day for health , all night for pleasure Dr. Dun's Answer to a Lady . Lady . SAy not you love unless you do , For lying will not honour you . Answer of the Doctors . Lady I love , and love to do , And will not love unless be you . You say I lye , I say you lye , choose whether , But if we both lye , let us lye together . Of his estate with Love . THe more I seek to find the depth of Love , The more I find my self to seck therein ; For when I thought the fruit thereof to prove , I was methought , as when I did begin ; In Love and Vertue wise men wisely say , The more a man doth go , the more he may . For as it comes at first , I know not how , So doth it bring at lenghth I know not what ; And when we stand as tho we would not bow , Then doth it break our force , and ●ast us flat ; And making us to run an endless course , Oft seems to mend , but waxeth wors & wors . Some lay the fault in Love , and som again In them that love , I mean the women kind , I have just cause with others to complain , But to complain I never had the mind ; For what doth it avail me to complain , If my complaint may not release my pain . When I complain aright , she takes it ill , And for amends she answers me no force , When I complain amiss , she rageth still , And for amends , she makes it ever worse , I find no fault in her I may excuse , 'T is my ill luck that she doth ●e refuse . Which maketh me uncertain what , or how , To say or think of me , or of my Love , I saw before , with grief I see it now , 'T is labour lo●t , her setled mind to move ; Though she make more of me , then of the most I count but ill , that count without my ●lost . Then I deserve , she doth a great deal more , And yet a great deal less then I desire , Would God she kept her courteous deeds in store So that her self with love were set on fire : Her deeds are such , as I may not complain , It is her heart that puts my heart to pain . She doth to me that which to all she must , And yet as though it were to me alone , Her best she layes up for her best betrust , Who is her all in all , and yet but one : In love and vertue wise men wisely say , The more we spend , stil spend the more we may Thus do I feed on leaves instead of fruit , Instead of bodies , shadows me content , In my account , Cyphers for Numbers go , My feasting Christmas is a fasting Lent : And yet no wrong , for my desert is small , And all the world is subject to her call . When he had written this , she read it , and said , that he writ it more to shew his wit , then for any good will , whereupon he thus replyed . BUt what do I in vain my paper spend , without al hope against the stream to move Needs must I end , although I know no end , If not to love , yet for to speak of Love , She says that this , she says that all I writ , was nothing else but for to shew my wit . And would to God my wit did shew no more , Then I delight to shew my wit therein , It were more wit to keep my love in store , Then utter all , when none of hers is seen ; Mine is so much , she keeps her own in store , If mine were less , her own would be the more To his Love upon complaint of the uncertainty of his estate : She answered him , that he should never have cause to repent . MY heart the Ship , that was tost to & fro , By winds of fear , by waves of deep despair In certian course , uncertain what to do , Or how to find the weather ever fair , At length is got into the Port of rest , To wit , his only best beloved brest . And knit with faith , as with a Cable Rope , Which wil not shrink , though all the world do fail , Unto the Anchor of undoubted hope , In hope at length with wind and tide to sail ; He careth not though winds do blow abroad So he may find his harbour in the road . A small assurance more contents the mind , The greater hope of greater hope to come , That which is loose , you may with ease unwind The way to all , is to be sure of some , Which sith you grant , I hold my self content , With that you say , I never shall repent . He that hopes you said of him ●s you meant , That he never should have cause to repent . To his Love when she said that her love was a burthen unto him . MY Love , why dost thou think thy love a burthen unto me , I never felt a thing so light , as it doth seem to be , Or if thy love a bu●then be , as thou dost say my dear , Why thinkst thou me unable , or unwilling it to bear , It is no burthen for to have , but for to want thy love , From which I do not , cannot , ought not , will not me remove : The love is light , and doth delight , that hath the greatest part : The love is heavy that is least , and makes a heavy heart ; Then if thy love a burthen be , as thou dost seem to say , Think that it never troubles me , but when it goes away . To his Mistris on New-years-day . TO give a Gift , where all the Gifts of God so much abound , What is it else but even to adde , a penny to a pound ? To wish you years , though they be New , which yet may make you old , What is it , but to wish you years of silver for your Gold ? Yet do I send a simple Gift , to shew my great good will , And wish withall that all your years be new and happy still . To a Friend , on the word Wife . THe W. is double wo , the I. nought else bu● Jealousie , The F. is fawning flattery , the E. what else bu● enmity : If in the Name there be such strife , Then God defend me from a Wife . Vpon a Merchant . THere was a man , and he was semper idem , And to be brief he was mercator quidem , He had a wife was neither tall nor brevis , Yet in her carriage was accounted levis , He to content her gave her all things satis , She to requite him made him Cuckold gratis . Ti his Love upon New-years Even , when they were upon parting . IF you will leave me , leave me , dear , Or now or never with the Year , For now the Year is at an end , And now each friend renews his friend , And now the date of love expires , And now the time truth requires , And now your friends envy at me , And now it must or never be . If you do mean to love me , dear , Begin to morrow with the year , For then doth love it self renew , And every friend perform his due , Then to and fro the Gifts are sent , And paid as if it were for rent , And then of friends the most we make , Another Lease of Love to take . If you will neither leave , nor love , As by conjecture I can prove ; You do me wrong to hold me on , You wrong your self to care for none ; You wrong the face that God you gave , You wrong the other gifts you have , And in revenge of this your wrong , Shall love I hope , and lack as long : Wherefore or love , or leave me , dear , Or now , or never , with the Year , To his Heart . MY Heart why dost thou bodily fear , that thou dost love in vain ? Why dost thou fear that gentle meanes , will make thee live in pain ? What though thy Love did never care , for wearing of a man ? What though more craft lurk in her breast , then she dissemble can ? Thy choice is good , thy love is great , thy faith is true as steel : She 's wise , what wilt thou more ? why dost thou fear before thou feel ? The Hearts Answer . ALas , what should I do but fear , how I may be secure ? Of that which none could yet come neer ▪ how may poor I be sure ? What though I have the name to be , the greatest in her books ? What though she feed me once a day , even with her kindest looks ? Her choyce is past , her love bestowed , hear faith no faith can move , ● most unworthy ; shall I hope to gain so good a love ? A Reply to his Heart . MY heart why dost thou reason thus , According to thy sense ? Why dost thou make an evill cause , the worse be thy defence ? What though her choice be past ? her love bestowed , her faith too true , What though thou most unworthy be , to such a one to sue ? In choyce is change , in love mislike , faith used ill may faile . Full many speed unworthily , why should'st thou strike the sayle . The Hearts Answer . ALas , to reason for my self , is but to breed my bane , And to be proud of mine estate , when I am in the wane . What though in choice , in love , in faith , we many changes see ? What though in my unworthiness , she may esteem of me ? Such choice is chance , such love is light , such faith is also frail , And they that speed unworthily , unworthily may fail . Of Love . WHat thing is love ? the worst & yet the be●● , A world of cares , and yet a mart of toyes , A sea of dangers , yet the Haven of rest , A hell of torments , yet a Heaven of joyes , A world , a sea , a hell to tender hearts , A Mart , a Haven , a heaven to ease their smarts How doth it come ? that way it seemeth least , It fisheth here , and hangeth there a bait , It hoisteth say I when it doth Anchor cast , And strikes Alarm when it sounds retreat , And when we think we have it at the bay , We may be sure it steals another way . What are the works of love ? more neat then fit For any use , and more in skill then proof , The fine conceits of every finest wit , Of greater ca●● and ●●bour then behoof , Much lik● 〈◊〉 sh●t Spiders weave on hie Which have no use but even to catch a Flie . W●at is the end of Love ? still to begin , And not to have or sight , or hope of end , About a little to be long , and in An endless suit , a thankless time to spend ; Much like the wheel that turning ever round Doth run apace , and yet can get no ground . When he was to go into the Countrey . ANd must I go , from whom ? what shall I say ? From hope , from health , from love , from life , from all , Tha● was , or is , or may be any way , My greatest comfort in each kind of thrall , And that beyond the Seas into an I le , Where from my joyes I must my self exile . What though my native Country be the place ? What though it be to see my Father dear ? What though it be my Mother to imbrace ? And take her blessing for this whole two year ? What though it were 10000. friends to see , ●0000 . times this one more pleaseth me . To his only one when he was in the Country . LEt fools beleeve that absence cureth love ▪ Or cools the heart , that eye hath set on fire , I see , I see , the farther I remove , The farther off I am from my desire ; And find too well the wound I took by sigh● Is nothing less , but rather more by flight ▪ For thogh mine eye did daily wound my hear● Yet did I see withall thy lovely face , No● every thought gives caus of greater smar● Because I want the hope of wonted grace , The only thing wherein I now delight , Is that thou dost to me so kindly write . If thou didst know what pleasure I do take ▪ In every line that thou dost write to me , How I do scan each letter for thy sake , To pick what kindness I may out of thee : I know that thou wouldst write once a week to me ▪ In reading thine , methinks I talk with thee . To her again . HOw far ? how long am I , and shall I be From that sweet soul , whose looks doe feed mine eye ? How far ? how long shal she be kept from me , In whom , with whom , to whom I live and dy ? For place , I take each step a mile to be , For time each hour doth seem a year to me . Methinks the Sun doth greater leisure take , Then he was wont , to linger out the day , Methinks he goes , as if his legs did ake , And time it self doth make no haste away , If I might rule the Chariot of the Sun , I would be bound to make it night at noon . But be I far ; or be I long from thee , I am thine own , and thine alone my dear , No ●ime , no place shall change or alter me , Though steps were miles , & every hour a year ; Perswade thy self that I am with thee still , Though I be here , in part , against my will ▪ When she told him she loved as well as he . AS well as I ? too good for to be true , As well as I ? too sweet for to be sure , As well as I ? a speech too kind for you , As well as I ? too sudden to endure : As well as I ? As well as I , I say ; I ask no more , I wish no fairer play . As well as I ? then must you change your vain , And watch your times to make your love be seen , As well as I ? then must you leave disdain , And shew your self more kind then you have been : As well as I ? As well as I , I say , I ask no more ▪ I wish no fairer play . As well as I ? then will I strive to do More then I can , to make you do as much , As well as I ? then will I be to you , More then I am , to make you to be such : As well as I ? As well as I , I say , I ask no more , I wish no fairer play . To his Love . IF any be content with words , 't is I , If any not content with deeds , 't is you ; If any fear your tongues like swords , 't is I , If any vex the heart that bleeds , 't is you : 't is you and I that make these sayings true , Disdained I , and most disdainfull you . If any man do live by looks , 't is I , If any woman loves by fits , 't is you ; If any leave for love his books , 't is I , If any bats the edge of wits , 't is you : 'T is you and I that make these sayings true , Unhappy I , and more then happy you . If any strive against the stream , 't is I , With wind and tide , if any go , 't is you If any be more then they seem , 't is I , If any think less then they know , 't is you : 'T is you and I that make these sayings true , Unfeigning I , and deep dissembling you . If any pluck for prime , and miss , 't is I , If any pluck for flush , and hit , 't is you , When colour holds , if any loose , 't is I , By contraries , if any get , 't is you . 'T is you , to whom all gains prove for the best 'T is I that on all gains do loose my rest . A Fancie of Love . THe Sun had run his race , and now began His Steeds to water in the Western Seas , When suddenly the sky waxt pale and wan , And night drew on the time of rest and ease : I lay me down to take my sleep in bed , And lo what fancies came into my head . Fast by my side there seemed one to stand , I know not how possest on every part , Possest on either foot , on either hand , Possest on head , but most possest on heart ; Ladies they seem'd , that did divide him so , And still at odds both draw him to and fro . I sigh to think , how I did sigh in sleep , And full of pitty , pittied his estate , I scarce can hold to think how he did weep , And make complaint of his unhappy fate ; Yet went I on to see what Dames they were , That did the silly soul in pieces tear . Upon his heart , his tender heart I saw , Love like a Prince sit in a Chair of State , Under her feet lay all his thoughts in awe , Not daring once their case for to debate ; The reason was , reason it self was fled , And scarce did hold a corner of the head . Upon this head did foolish fancy sit , Devising toyes his Mistris mind to move , I never saw the like conceits of wit , As thence were sent to get his Mistris love : And though he sent unto her more and more He never sent the same he sent before . On either hand did sit a modest Dame , One on the left , another on the right , One called Hope , the other Faith by name , Too constant both for love that was but light ; Yet winged both , as if they would aspire , Faith with desert , and Hope with hot desire . Upon his feet two spitefull ones did sit , To weigh him down , & nail him to the ground To clog his hope , his faith , his love his wit , From getting her to whom he would be bound To wit , distrust , that hindred faith to flye , Despair , that hindred hope to mount on hye . While I stood musing at his wofull case , She passed by that puts him to this pain , It grieved me to see so sweet a face , To bear a hand so armed with disdain , And as his faith began to plead desart , With her disdain , she thrust him through the heart . Do I say him ? I feel my self her hand , This very wound doth drive my dream away , Well may I dream that others by me stand , But when I wake , I must the person play : Well may I dream this deed by others true , But when I wake , it can be none but you . When he knew not how to please her . IF any man an endless maze do tread , Where neither in nor out he finds the way , If any's fancy be by reason lead , To one that doth both dally and delay , If any Anchor cast in careless Cost , 'T is only I that study to be lost . My wit is snar'd within a Serpents head , Where there are many turnings to and fro , My foolish heart is yet with reason led , To think it reason that it should be so : And I my self , I grant , do study most Conceits of wit , by which I may be lost . What will you have me do ? what will you not ? Shal I be yours ? not so , mine own ? nor so ? Go I away , I have a new love got , Stay I , what get I , but but in faith Sir no ? Wish I your love , you say I wish no reason , Touch I you brest , you say I offer treason . How will you have me to behave me then ? Not yours , and yet but yours I may not be , As touching , so not touching doth offend , Go I , or stay I , there is fault in me , Yet must I still in this or that offend , Untill you tell how I may both amend . In truth . INn truth sometime it was a sweet conceit , To think how Truth & Love did live together But now in truth there is so much deceit , That truth indeed is gone I know not whither ; Yet liveth truth , and hath its secret Love , And Love in Truth deserves to be regarded ; And Love regard in conscience doth approve , Approved truth can never be discarded : Then try me first , and if that true you prove me ▪ In truth you wrong me , if you do not love me . Vpon a Discourtesie . CLose up thy lids mine eye , thy leaves mine eare , Put up thy pipes my tongu , thy stripes my heart Head hide thy self , wit leave thy fancies dear , Hand , let thy pen no more it self impart ; For when eye sees , ear hears , heart feels disdain How may I speak , or write , or think but pain . Head akes with casting fancies in his mold , Hand shakes with setting of these fancies down Hart quaks to think that love shud wax so cold And each part takes my wrong to be his own ; But yet since you in them do me forsake , 'T is I , not they that ake , that shake , that quake . My aking head can dream of nothing now , But Agonies of a perplexed mind , My shaking hand can write down nothing now But fitts of Agues , shaking in their kind . My quaking heart doth pant within my breast That so great love should find so little rest . Vpon May-Day . THis morning did I dream of merry May , How I did rise , and forth a Maying go , To take the pleasure of the pleasant day , In which we may without all fear of no ; Methought into a Park of Dear I came , A pleasant place , and full of pleasing game . A goodly pale it had about it round , As even as Art could make , or Nature bear , Which did set forth the goodness of the ground And compass in the hasty flying Dear , The Gate was made with clasp of silver fast , Where few or none without great favor past . The froward Keeper did deny me way , And askt me , how I durst to come so neer ? Since it is May said I , I trust I may Come in and out , so that I steal no Dear : No , no , said he , go May it other where , Though it be May , you may not May it here ▪ With that I stood aloof the Park to view , And over pale the pleasures to behold , Where I perceiv'd a Lawn of perfect hew , Which did abound in pleasures manifold , Above the which a goodly hill there stood , Upon the which , there grew a goodly wood . Within the Gate I did a Cave espye , Whence of sweet breath there blew a pleasant wind , Happy were he that at the mouth might lye , To cool his heart , when hot he doth it find : Yet farther in methought there did appear ; Two lively Springs , as any Chrystal clear . What kind of Dear it held , I need not tell , It nothing held , that is not holden dear , Each thing it held , became the Park so well , It grieved me that I could not come neer : But wo is me that in this pleasant ground , Beauty should be the Dear , & love the Hound . Of his Love , upon his purpose to travell . AS vertuous men passe mild away , And wisper to their souls to go , While some of their sad friends do say , Now his breath goes , and some say no : So let us melt , and make no noise , Nor tear flouds , nor sigh tempests move , 'T were profanation of our joyes , To tell the Laity of our Love ; Movings of th'earth cause harms and fear , Men reck on what they did , and meant , But trepidations of the Sphere , Though greater far , are innocent : Dull sublunary Lovers love , Whose soul is sense , cannot admit Absence , because it doth remove Those things , which elemented it . But we , by love so much refin'd , That our souls know not what it is , Enter assured of the mind , Careless , eyes , lips , and hands do miss : Our two souls therefore which are one , Though I must go● endure not yet A breach , but an expansion , As gold to airy thinness beat . If they be two , they are two so , as stiff-●wind Compasses are two . Thy soul , the fixt foot makes no shoo● to move , yet doth , if th'other doe : And though it in the Centre sit , yet while the other far doth rome , It leanes and hearkens after it , and growes erect , as that comes home . Such then be thou to me , who must , like th'other foot obliquelie run : Thy firmness draws my circle just , and makes me End where I begun . J. Dun. To his Mistris of Love and Hate . TAke heed of loving mee , at least remember I forbade it thee ; Not that I shall repair m●unthrifty waste of breath and blood , upon thy sighs and tears , And so recover my lost soul at last : for so great joy my life at once out-weares , Then least thy love by my death frustate be , If thou love me , take heed of loving me . Take heed of Hating me . Or too much triumph in thy Victorie ; Not that I shall be mine own Officer , and Hate with Hate again Retaliate : But thou wilt looose the name of Conquerar , if I thy conquest perish by thy hate . Then least my being nothing , lessen thee , if thou hate me , take heed of hating me . Yet Love and Hate me ●oo ; So these Extreams shall neithers Office doe Love me that I may dye the gentle way : Hate me , because thy Love 's too great for me , Or let these two themselves , not me decay : So shall I live thy Stage , not triumph be : Then least thy Love , hate , and me thou undo , O let me live , O Love , and Hate me too . His Dyet . TO what a cumbersom unwealdiness , And burd●nous corpulence my love had grown But that I did to make it less , And keep it in proportion , Give it a Dyet , made it feed upon , That , which love worst endures , discretion . Above one sigh a day I allow'd him not , Of which my fortune , and my faults had part , And if sometimes by stealth hegot , A she-sigh from my Mistris heart ; And though to feast on that , I let him see ▪ 'T was neither very sound , nor want to me , If he wrung from me a tear , I burnt it so With scorn or shame , that him it nourisht not , If he suckt hers , I let him know , 'T was not a tear which he had got , His drink was counterfeit , as was his meat , For eyes that roul towards all , weep not , but sweat . What ever he would distaste , I wrote that , But burnt my Letters , if she writ to me , and that favour that made him fat , I said , if any little be Convey'd by this , ah , what doth it avail , To be the fortieth name in an entail . Thus I reclaim'd my Buzzard love to flye , At what , and when , and how , & where I chuse , Now negligent of sport I lye , And now as other Faulkners use , I spring a Mistris , swear , write , sigh , and weep , And the game kil'd , or lost , go talk , or sleep . Against Marriage . THere never lived that married woman yet , 〈◊〉 truly could commend the wives estate Though some perhaps in modsty and wit , Wil rather prais't , then shew their grief too late This Marriage is a field of discontents , All over-grown with a confused h●ap Of wrongs , cares , and many ill events , Which Husbands sowe , but Wives are forc'd to reap . Or like a prison with a painted door , Which passengers suppose a Princely place ; But entred in , they do repent full sore , Their former errour , and their present case : O Maids beware of this Tolossa gold , 'T is fair in shew , but ruine doth infold . Against Melancholy . GO damned Melancholy , get thee hence , Thou hell-bred fury , torment of the mind , Weakner of wit , abuser of the sence , Within whose bounds al mischiefs are confin'd Thou sullen sin , souls torture day and night , Health-killing humour , Harbinger of Death , Grave to content , darkner of beauties light , Unto all good thou art the floud of Leath ; A waking dream , a spur to jealousie ; A fond conveyer of a thousand toyes ; The ready path which leads to Lunacie , Is this bereaver of our earthly joyes : The Gods , I think , when we deserv their curse , Inflict this plague , because there is no worse . Dr. Iohn Dun's Will . BEfore I sigh my last gasp , let me breathe ( Greet Love ) some Legacies . Here I bequeath Mine Eyes to Argus , if mine eyes can see ; If they be blinde , then Love I give them thee ; My tongue to Fame ; t' Ambassadores mine ears ; to Women , or the Sea , my tears ; Thou Love hast taught me heretofore , By making me serve her wh'ad twenty more , That I should give to none but such , as had too much before . My Constancy I to the Plannets give , My truth to them , who at the Court do live , Mine Ingenuitie and openness To Iesuites , to Buffocns my pensiveness ; My silence t' any , who abroad have bin ; my Money to a Capuchin . Thou , Love , taughts me , b' appointing me , To love there , where no Love receiv'd could be , Onely to give to such as have an incapa●●● I give my R●putation to those That were my Friends ; my 〈…〉 To School-men I be queath my 〈…〉 My Sickness to Physitions , 〈◊〉 Excti●● To Nature all that I in Rime have writ , and to my company , my wit . Thou , Love , by making me adore Her , who begot this love in me before , Taughts me to make , as though I gave , when I did but restore . To him , for whom the Passing Bell next towles , I give my Physick Books ; my written rowles , Of morall Counsails , I to Bedlam give : My brazen Meddalls unto them , which live In want of bread ; to them which passe among all Forreiners , mine English tongue . Thou Love , by making me Love one , Who thinks her friendship a fit portion For younger Loves , dost all my gifts thus disproportion . Therefore I le give no more , but I 'le undoe The world by dying , because Love dyes too : Then all your beauties will be no more worth Then gold in Mynes , where none doth draw it forth . And all your graces no more use shall have , than a Sundyall in a Grave , Thou Love taughtst me , by making me Love her , who doth neglect both me and thee . T'intent and Practise this one way t' annihilate all three . J. D. Elegies by Mr. W. M. An Elegie on a Sexton . I Many Grave have made , but enjoy'd none , This which I made not , I possest alone ; Each Corps without embalming it did serve , My life like precious Mummy to preserve ; Death , which then kind , now cruel found I have Rob'd me of life , which me my living gave ; No , Death is still more kind , for in the Grave Where once I labour had , now rest I have ; I made good use of time , and night and day , Had eare and heed how the hour did rass away ; I still was ready for a Grave , nor shall Grive at what most I joy'd , a Funerall : As I was wont , though not so soon as then , Out of the Grave I shall come forth agen . On a Scrivener . HEre to a period is the Scrivener come , This is his last sheet , his ful point , his Tomb Of all Aspersions I excuse him not , 'T is plain he liv'd not without many a blot , Yet he no ill example shew'd to any , But rather gave good Copies unto many ; He in good Letters had been alwayes bred , And hath writ more then many men have read ; He Rulers had at his command by Law , Although he could not hang , yet he could draw His force more bondmen had & made then any , A dash alone of his Pen ruin'd many , That not without great reason we may call , His Letter great , or little Capitall , Yet 't is the Scriveners fault , as sure as just , When he hath all done , then he turns to dust . An Elegie on a Barber . HEre 's a mad ' Shaver laid , a cutting Lad , That many trim feats , and som bald ones had ; His actions were but barbarous , and he More poling was then Pettifoggers be , And if his fingers lookt unto were not , Twenty to one , but he would cut your throat , But he that is not hair-brain'd needs not fear , Maugre bald luck by him to lose an hair : I wonder then he dy'd that liv'd alone , By excrements , hair , which can nourish none . Such an hard workman we might hardly spar ▪ This accident fell out against the hair , Since in deaths Empire , of a barbar's trade , ( For dead mens hair doth grow ) might use be made Death takes and soundly payes him , how soere , Here yet is left his equalls to an hair . An Elegie on a Mason . SO long the Mason wrought on others walls , That his own house of clay to ruine falls , Which shall be new built and repair'd alone , When heaven and earth have dissolution ; He alwayes kept his actions within square , None of his doings but were regular ; He had a Trull , and that was vitious , And climing high , he seem'd ambitious ; Though much of him , yet truly said might be , No Lay-man did more edifie then he ; By laying Lime , he caught much foul , and none Took with a hook more pain then he had done No marvel spightful death wrought his annoy , He sought to build , and death seeks to destroy . On a Trumpeter . IF that Fames Trumpet shall not speak thy worth , Yet thou a Trumpet hadst to set it forth , I thoght at last thou wuldst fal dead to ground Having been long accustomed to sound ; Thou wer 't too much puft up long time to last , Needs must he dye whose life is but a blast ; Thee a sound fellow we did alwayes find , Or thou like him that 's with the Collick pin'd Preservd'st thy life by letting forth of wind ; Camelian-like of ayre thou hadst thy food , And 't was a bad wind did blow thee no good ; Rob'd of thy windpipes once by cruel Death , For want of breath thou dyd'st that liv'st by breath . Pack up thy Pipes , here silent rest , till when , A Trumpets sound make thee to live agen . An Elegie on a Sailour . NOw on dry land the Sailor he doth rest Aborad , here seeming cabin'd in a Chest , The frail bark of 's life , which strange did sound For want of wind , not water , here 's aground . 'T is known some time a Landed man he was , But had of late gone down the winde apace : His life was fleeting and unstaid ; but Death Made him a Grave-man , and him setled hath . He could not but remember he must die , That had his Shrowd each day before his eye , Needs must his Corps long incorrupt abide , Which seem'd inbalm'd with Pitch before he dide . An Elegie on a Hunter . HEre lies a dogged fellow , who hath run Out all his time , & now his course is don ; A running head he had , and did not scorne , Though it did sound abroad , to wear the horn . His course so open was , that whosoere Observ'd it , soon might have him at a Hare . He could not hunt thrift , yet his trace shal stand He kept his Leases , though he sold his Land . He cannot leave his lying , though he die , For he being dead , yet in his grave doth lye . Lament his losse , that like a Hunter , he Brought to his Grave , with a great cry might be . An Elegie on a Tinker . SIx foot at last , the wandring Tinker bound , He silent rests , whose acts once loud did sound At handy-stroakes he did no Valour lack , Stout fellow that was metled at the back . It seems a perfect Alchymist he was , For into Silver he did turn his Brass . 'T is like he spake to purpose what he said , For he still strook the Nail upon the head . He made two holes , while he did mend one hole , And did his work by piece , and not the whole ; Often in Latine he would men beguile , And yet speak nought but English all the while . His Nose and Forehead , each a brazen one , Carried the badge of his Occupation : Yet had he not so soon come to an end , T'had better been , for he each day did mend . An Elegie on a Smith . FArewell stowt Iron-side , not all thy Art Could make a shield against Deaths envious dart . Without a fault , no man his life doth pass , And to his Vice the Smith addicted was . He oft ( as Choller is en creast by fire ) Was in his fumes , and much inclin'd to ire , He had been long so us'd to forge , that he Was with a black Cole markt for Forgery ; But he for whiteness needed not to care , H'ad but a Black-smith bin , though ne'r so fair . Pragmaticall he seem'd by his desire , Still to have many Irons in the fire ; And opportunities he lacked not , That knew to strike then when the Irons hot ; As the door nails ho made he 's now as dead , He them , & him hath Death knockt in the head An Elegie on Squire Bug a Shooemaker . HE that hath made so many souls of late , Now wants a soul himself to animate , That he so wrung them , many did compalin , But at the last he gave them ease again : He sometimes did work booty for his frieads , And whom soe'r he serv'd , wrought his own ends ; But if to take the length of others foot Shew cunning , none knew better how to do 't : He kept the old worlds custome , by his trade Reviv'd , for he of Leather Money made ; The Leather lessen'd him to drink , which nere Approved was , till it well Liquor'd were ; He well observ'd how he his life did spend , Who saw each day that he was neer his end ; His death might welcome be to those that use , ( Being bare themselvs ) to gape for dead mens shooes . An Elegie on a Tapster . HEre lyes a man of reckning , often seen t' have born much drink , & not distemperd been . He seem'd a lusty Sword-man , for he would Draw upon small occasion , and none should Scot-free esape , that through his fingers past , But they were sure to pay for it at last . Of his hard measure many have complain'd , He car'd not while he out of measure gain'd ; Such was his pot-luck , that to high place when , He had been call'd , soone he came down agen ; Now this draw-drink being dead by fatall hap , Soon you shall have a fresh one at the Tap . FINIS . 
A25805	----	The ancient history of the Septuagint written in Greek by Aristeus near two thousand years ago ; being his voyage to Jerusalem, as ambassadour from Ptolomæus Philadelphus, unto Eleazar, then High Priest of the Jews, concerning the first translation of the Holy Bible by the seventy two interpreters with many other remarkable circumstances, no where else to be found ; first English'd from Greek, by the learned and reverend Dr. John Done ... now revised, and very much corrected from the original. Letter of Aristeas. 1685 Approx. 189 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 111 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A25805 Wing A3682 ESTC R12295 12715773 ocm 12715773 66194 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A25805) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 66194) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 972:14) The ancient history of the Septuagint written in Greek by Aristeus near two thousand years ago ; being his voyage to Jerusalem, as ambassadour from Ptolomæus Philadelphus, unto Eleazar, then High Priest of the Jews, concerning the first translation of the Holy Bible by the seventy two interpreters with many other remarkable circumstances, no where else to be found ; first English'd from Greek, by the learned and reverend Dr. John Done ... now revised, and very much corrected from the original. Letter of Aristeas. Donne, John, 1572-1631. [12], 10, 192 p. Printed for W. Hensman, and Tho. Fox ..., London : 1685. Reproduction of original in Cambridge University Library. Table of contents: p. [10]-[11] Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Bible. -- O.T. -- Greek -- History. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-05 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-06 Olivia Bottum Sampled and proofread 2002-06 Olivia Bottum Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE Septuagint . Written in Greek by ARISTEVS near two thousand years ago . BEING His Voyage to Ierusalem , as Ambassadour from Ptolomaeus Philadelphus , unto Eleazar , then High Priest of the Iews : concerning the First Translation of the HOLY BIBLE by the Seventy two Interpreters . With many other remarkable Circumstances , no where else to be found . First English'd from the Greek , by the Learned and Reverend Dr. Iohn Done , late Dean of St. Pauls . Now Revised , and very much Corrected from the Original . London , Printed for W. Hensman , and Tho. Fox , Booksellers in Westminster-Hall . 1685. To the Reader . ALthough Time and Death , from our Cradles to our Graves , pursue us swiftly , and , according to the Almighties Ordinance , overtake and seize upon our frail and earthly parts , upon some sooner , upon others later : yet Excellent Acts , like strong Eagles , break from their seizure , and soar above them in so sublime a pitch , as neither Time , with all his Power and rusty Powder , with which he blots and rubs out Brass and Marble , can quite obscure or extinguish them , neither Death close in his dark-gaping Mouth ( the Grave ) their Nobleness . Witness this small , yet ancient History , which this last Summer I made part of my Exercise , to put into an English Habit. That the Story is ancient , I may well say ; for it is 1900 years since Aristeus Writ it to his Brother Philocrates ; which Aristeus , St. Hierom , in his Epistle to the Pentateuk of the Bible , says , was * Hyperaspistes to Ptolomeus Philadelphus , King of Egypt , Syria , Phenicia , and Cilicia , and son of Ptolomeus Lagus , one of the great Captains of Alexander Magnus , that divided his Conquests ( the World ) amongst them . This Ptolomeus Philadelphus was a most accomplish'd young Gentleman , vertuously disposed and so great a lover of Learning , as he had accumulated into his Library according to some Authors , 1800000 Volumes , Printing being not then risen in our Hemisphere , was by the said Aristeus , a most Noble Person , and a great friend of ( the then captive Iews ) ( as an Instrument of God ) for the Liberty and Freedom of them , ( then his People ) practised with Demetrius Phalerius , to tell the King , that his so abundant Library was but poor , because it wanted the Book of Books , the sacred Volume of God , which we call the Holy Bible : The King , vertuously covetous thereof , demanded how he should best acquire it ? Aristeus , waiting this desired Occasion , proportioned his advice , that he should first set all the Captived Iews , not only in Egypt , but also in Syria , &c. at free Liberty : and send Ambassadors and Presents to Eleazar their High Priest and Pontiff . The King willingly consents thereto , as to the Musick of his desires , and prepares most rich Presents , as a Table of Massie Gold , embellish'd with precious Stones , Cups of Gold and Silver likewise adorned , sets at freedom the Captived by publick Edict , and sends as Ambassadours Aristeus , and Andrea , Prince and great Captain of the Guard of his Person , with these Gifts , and divers Talents of Gold and Silver . They go , deliver his Letters of Request and Commends , have gracious entertainment , return with the 72 Interpreters Iews Letters , and also Eleazars Presents to the King , and in especial , with the Sacred Volume and Word of God. The good King adores the Books , feasts the Bringers , who after fall to the Business , and Translated it out of the Hebrew into the Greek , the common learned Language of those Times , made famous by the Sword of Alexander . And this in brief is the effect of this Venerable History , which is by me thus made yours . And though I seem to Anticipate thus to you , yet it is as nothing ; for in it self , as you may further see , it is Elaborately and Eloquently Written by the said Aristeus ; and let no man wonder too much thereat , as thinking our Times excell theirs in Eloquence : No ; For who ever exceeded Demostenes the Greek , or Cicero the Latin , therein ? Lastly , to speak the Praise of History , Libri sunt vasa memoriae , and worthy Historical Books have in them a kind of Divine Permanency ; and as Eminent Persons should affect Noble Actions , so ought they to cherish the Registers , as their Honourers . For , hath not Plutarch made those Gyant Heroes , as Theseus , Romulus , Alexander , Iulius Caesar , and the rest , yet live ? and himself , more praisfully , longer then them all ? So as an ignorant swaggering Fellow threatned his Adversary to kill him if he had as many lives as Plutarch ● Did not Alexander sigh for another Homer ? Lastly , ( If I have in honour of the History ) like one holding a lighted Taper to the clear No●●●shining Sun , made an Appendix , shewing the Antiquity and Dignity of the Books , by the said S●●tuagint Translated , and the Excelle●●y of their inspired Writer , Moses ; and have therein been too prolixious , pardon me , because of the Profundity and Worthiness of the matter : So I referr you to that , and the rest ; and so rest Yours , Iohn Done. The Elenchus , or Contents of the following Book . CHaracters of the Persons that were herein Aiders , imploying and imployed . p. ( 1 ) Aristeus to his Brother Philocrates . p. 1. The Discourse that Aristeus held with King Ptolomy , for the deliverance of the Jews . p. 10. The Request of Demetrius Phalerius to King Ptolomy . p. 20● Tenour of the Letter of King Ptolomy , to Eleazar High-Priest of Jerusalem . p. 23. Eleazar , High-Priest , to King Ptolomy , our most Illustrious Friend . p. 27. The Names of those which were chosen of all the Lines and Tribes of the Jews to go into Aegypt for the Translation of the Law of Moses . p. 30. Of the Presents sent to Eleazar , High-Priest of the Jews , by King Ptolomeus Philadelphus . p. 33. Of the Vessels , Cups , and Viols of Gold. p. 43. Of the City of Hierusalem and Region thereabouts , as it was 260. years before the Birth of our Saviour . p. 49. Of the Priests . p. 53. Of the High-Priest Eleazar . p. 54. Of the Fortress or Castle of Hierusalem . p. 56. Yet more of the Town . p. 58. Of the Region about Hierusalem , and of the Policy of the Countrey-people , or Pesants . p. 60. What manner of men the Translators of the Law were . p. 66. Of the Answers made by Eleazar upon certain points of the Law of Moses . p. 70. Return of the Ambassadors into Alexandria with the Jewish Doctors : and how the King adored the Holy Law seven times with Tears in his Eyes . p. 88. Answers of the Jewish Doctors to Questions propounded by King Ptolomeus Philadelphus . from p. 96. to 154. The means used by the 72 Doctors in their interpreting the Law. p. 159. A Discourse in way of Apology concerning the truth of this Story : Also divers Opinions of both Ancient and Modern Authorities and Fathers , concerning the manner of the Translation . p. 170. Lasty , an Appendix in Honour of this Ancient and Famous History , discoursing the Antiquity and Dignity of the Books , and the excellency of their inspired Writer Moses . p. 175. Certain Praecognita , or Characters of the chief Persons mentioned in the ensuing History . 1. Of Ptolomeus Philadelphus . PTolomeus , second of that Name , Surnamed Philadelphus , King of Aegypt , of Phaenicia , and of Cypres , Son of the first Ptolomeus , Son of * Lagus , began his Reign in the 271 year before the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. This Ptolomeus Philadelphus was endoctrined in the Science of good Letters , by Strabo the Peripatetick : in which he became so excellent , that he was esteemed one of the most accomplish'd Princes of his Time : but that which was in him the most admirable , was , the Bounty , Debonarity , Sweetness , and Gentleness of his Spirit , accommodated with the Manners and Complexions of all worthy and deserving Persons . By this means he entred so far , and before , in the Grace of all the World , that every one in his thought wish'd he were King : And his Father , knowing his right of Succession was to be so , and rejoycing in his hopes of him , made him to be crowned King , and devested himself of all Authority , without reserving any Power , Right , or Preheminence to himself , only a Superintendency over the Guard of the King his Son , glorifying to be Father of such a King : For the admiration he had of his high Vertues , kindled and gave occasion between them both , of a most kind contention in mutual Offices , the Son yielding to the Father , and the Father to the Son , in all , and by all , through instinct of Devotion and Piety , so they gave lively touches one to the other in all reduceable fitting Offices , which was cause that the People conceived a great Fidelity and Amity towards them , so as it seemed , even the Divine Providence prepared this Noble Spirit to introduce that great good amongst Humanes , as to make them participants of the Laws , and Divine Illuminations wherewith God had favoured the People of the Iews above all the Nations of the World. And it seemeth , that even then his Almightiness made a preparative for the Vocation of the Ethnicks and Gentiles by Communication so of his holy Law ; whereof Ptolomy was the ordained Minister , to call the Seventy Interpreters into Aegypt , to translate into the Greek Language , which then was the most used and vulgar through the whole Universe . So as I am amazed at some fanatical Spirits , that hinder us from the Knowledge of God , in not giving his Word in the Language of the People wheresoever , as is appertaining to every one in Regard of Salvation . I would ask those men , what Language spake those Dames of Rome , Paula , Eustochina , Melania , Susanna , Fabiola , Demetria , Furia , Flavia , Blesilla , and others ? For the institution of whom , Saint Hierom translated many Books of Holy Scriptures out of strange Tongues into Latin , which was the natural Language of the said Ladies . I would also know , who was more Wise , or better inspired then St. Hierom ? Further , it seems they either are , or would seem to be ignorant of the Institution of the Emperour Iustinian , who ordained , that those who sung in the Temples , that they should sing high , and so intelligible , that all the People might understand them . But to return to Ptolomy ; He undertook to erect a Library in the Capital City of his Realm , Alexandria , the Charge whereof he gave to Demetrius Phalerius , a Prince , and an Athenian Philosopher , who erected it so sumptuously , that there was not the like in all the World : and it lasted until the first War of the Romans against the Alexandrians ? This King had to Wife Arsinoe , to whom he caused a Statue to be raised , in height four Cubits , of one entire Stone , call'd a Topaz , the which had been given to Bernice the Mother of Ptolomy , by a Prince named Philemon . 2. Of Aristeus , the Author of this History . ARISTEVS , the near Kinsman and Friend of King Ptolomeus Philadelphus , is named by 1 St. Hierom Ptolomei Hyperaspistes , the Shield of the King , or he that defends the King with his Shield , or Bearer of the Shield Royal , which seems to me , that he held some such place about the King his Master , as we call at this Day the Great Esquire of the Kings Body , he was the Principal Sollicitor for the Liberty of the Iews , that then were held Slaves throughout all the Dominions of Ptolomy ; for he made the first request for them , and obtained it . And for this cause he was sent Ambassadour with Andrea , Prince of the Guards belonging to the King , unto Hierusalem , to deal with the High-Priest Eleazar ; who sent to the King Ptolomeus six Doctors of every Tribe to go on with the Translation and Version of the Holy Books of Moses . He writ diligently his Voyage , where he shews openly , how and by what course those seventy two Interpreters behaved themselves in the said Books . 1 Some have been of Opinion , that they Translated all the Bible : but it is more likely to many that 2 they Translated but the five Books , that is Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers , and Deuteronomy , which they call the Pentateuck , which is the Law of Moses : for Aristeus speaks but of the Law of Moses , and it is not likely that they touched the Books Historical , nor the Prophets ; for if it had been so , Aristeus would not have been silent thereof . Moreover , that which they Translated , was finished in the space of seventy two dayes , which is about two Months and a half , and that 's a Time too small , and therefore impossible to Translate all the Old Testament . Nevertheless , I am not ignorant , that there was a turning of other Books of the Bible , that go by the name of the seventy two Interpreters . But I am perswaded that they were not then done in Egypt , unless that after they were returned to Hierusalem , they Translated the rest of the Holy Books : although both in that and other Opinions , I submit me to the deliberation of the Church , from which I will not stray . But however , this Translation was manifestly Miraculous : which is sufficiently shewed , by that our Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles , in Allegations of the Law , use the Version of these seventy two Interpreters . I have spoken these few Words of Aristeus , to the end the Reader shall not think that this is that Aristeus Proconensis , that could be invisible when he listed , making folks believe that he could dye and rise again when he would , of whom speaks Suidas , Herodotus , Pliny , and Plutarch in the Life of Romulus . 3. Of Eleazer the High-Priest of the Jews . ELeazar , of whom Aristeus makes mention , was brother of Simon surnamed the Just : He , after the decease of his Brother Simon , in the year of the reign of Ptolomy first of that Name 35. was made chief of the Synagogue of the Iews , by reason that Onias , Son of Simon his Brother , was uncapable of succeeding in his Father's Place , as being under age : This Eleazar therefore received the Honour , that in his Time the Holy Translation of the Law was made by the seventy two Doctors , that he se●t to Ptolomeus , second of that Name , King of Egypt , as Aristeus hath left by Writing . 4. Of Demetrius Phalerius . DEmetrius Phalerius was an Athenian Orator and Philosopher , as Cicero notes in the first Book of his Offices , calling him a subtil and sharp Disputant , and in the rest , an Orator little vehement . He had been Disciple of Theophrastus , he was a man of such Knowledge , and excellent Carriage , that foreign Kings had him in Admiration , and drew him to their Service , even Cassander King of Macedon . And for this Reputation the Athenians gave him the Principality of the City and Common-weal , in which he was Ten years in great Prosperity : But some of the Citizens , having conceived Malice against him , chased and threw him out of his Estate , and then he was honourably received of King Ptolomy , of whom we speak , where he was Master of the Library Royal ; the Athenians having formerly raised to him 360 Statues of Marble , in despight cast them to the Earth , and judged him to death as a Traytor ; of which Demetrius being advertised , said , 1 The Athenians have thrown down my Statues , but they cannot over-turn my Vertue , for which they first erected those Statues . He was wont to say , that 2 Eloquence was as necessary in a Common-weal , as a Sword in the Wars . He dyed by the biting of an Aspick , and was buried in the Region of Busina , near to Diospolis . The History of Aristeus , Ambassadour of King Ptolomaeus Philadelphus , treating of his Voyage unto Jerusalem : and the first Translation of the Holy Bible , by the Seventy two Elders . Written in Greek 1900 years since . Aristeus to his Brother Philocrates . WEll knowing your Natural and good inclination ( Philocrates ) to have always had in great esteem the knowledge of all things , and that you have been desirous , and even greedy to understand the occurrences and passages of good Exploits : I have deliberated to frame to you in Writing , a matter not only excellent in it self , but well deserving to be known ; which unto us is hapned , being sent of late to Eleazar , H. Priest of the Iews . But because these things shall be more easie to you , I shall first declare the Causes for which we were sent ; and then I shall come to the Progress of the Matter , so as I shall shape my Discourse to Your understanding , and that the most truly I possibly can , as well ●or the dignity of the Subject , as to delight your Mind , desirous of all good Knowledges , assuring my self that man hath in him nothing more excellent and laudable , than incessantly to desire Learning , either by means of Histories , or by the Objects of things themselves , or by the course and Experience of Affairs . For the Spir●t of Man , though Rude and un●urnished , is greatly adorned and embellished , when from the beginning it delighteth to Taste and Relish those most nourishing , fair , worthy , and excellent things that may conduct him by an infallible course , to follow Piety and right Reason . We therefore searching with great curiosity into the Knowledge of Divine things , could not arrive at them ; as not understanding the Divine Law without being interpreted and rendred into our familiar tongue , for which cause we undertook to go Ambassadour to one only Person , who amongst his fellow Citizens and others , for frankness and great worth was in the most esteem ; and who only did great Honour and Profit to the Citizens , he conversed with , but also to all other Iews , of what other place , or whence soever . Being then well in●ormed , that they had the Divine Law written in Hebrew Characters , in skins of Parchment , we were joyful to accept this charge given us by the King ; as also for that the Colonies of the Captive Iews here desired the same above all things of the world , who had been hither led by the Kings Father , that had reduced into his Obedience the City of Ierusalem , and all the Countrey adjacent . But since we are faln to make mention of that matter , it will not be impertinent to give you light into the whole Discourse , that thereby you may take your measures better , knowing well that it will be more advisable carefully to inform you how to address your self to the service of God Reverently , than to travel in the search of Humane Laws or Actions , be they never so just . Which Inclination you have sufficiently manifested , since from an Isle so far remote , you are come to this Country to see those things that may serve to the cultivating of your Mind , without Regard to any place whatsoever . I have therefore here reduced to Writing : First , what hath seemed to me worthy of Memory , touching the Nation of the Iews , as I have in some measure understood from the Learned and Wise Priests of Egypt : to the end that by this means I might aid and encrease by some means Your knowledge : For we ought to have in Remembrance what good we have received from othes ; and particularly to shew all gratitude to those who relate to us : And principally You , who have knowledge of Vertue , deriving from your Brother , not only Resemblance , Proximity of Blood , and Lineage , but those those Principles that excite you with the same impetuosity of Courage , to attain the Honour , Glory , and Beauty of Vertue ; assuring my self that neither the admiration of Gold , or Riches , nor the appearance of any things more precious , conduce to any thing but vain-glory ; neither will they yield you any such fruit as we may gather from Knowledge , Education , and consideration of good Discipline . For the rest , to the end it may not seem that we make shew of ostentation in being prolix in this Preface , we will return to our purpose , from whence we have wandered . Demetrius Phalerius , Master of the Kings Library , after the best care he could , giving order to purchase Books from all Parts of the World : And employing for that purpose , great numbers of Persons , as Factors , dispersed in many places , who had in charge to buy and transcribe them ; they so doing , and that with Diligence , the design of the King was accomplished and executed , at least in the best manner that was possible . For the King asking him , in our Presence , how many thousand Volumes he had collected for his Library ; he answered , for the present he had no more than two hundred thousand , and he hoped e're long to have to the number of 500000. But Sir ( said he ) I have understood that the Laws of the Iews deserve to be Copied and Translated , and to have place in your Library : And what hinders it , answered the King , that they be not ? have you not all things to serve you convenient for that purpose ? Demetrius Answered , that it was necessary that those Laws should be Translated and Interpreted : because the Iews had in use a Character peculiar to their Language , far different from the Aegyptians , adjusting and accommodating their Letters to the Tone of the Voice , and that they were much deceived , who held they spake the Syrian Tongue : for their manner of Speech was far distant . To which the King replied , that he would write to the High Priest of the Iews , to the end that all might be obtained which was requisite , to bring this matter to an issue , as Demetrius required . Then it came to my mind , that a fair opportunity presented for the freedom of all the Iews which his Father Ptolomaeus Lagus had led Captive from Iudea into Egypt . For whose enlargement he had often entreated Sosibius the Tarentine , and Andrea Captain of the Guard to the Kings Body . For these two Commanding in the Army , had reduced to obedience all that were in Syria and Phenicia , filling all those Regions with fear and terrour : and then were the Iews some of them led Prioners , others disposed in manner of Colonies , in such numbers , as there were brought into Aegypt to the number of 100000 men , of whom were chosen well near 30000 effective , who were established as the Guard of the Province . True it is , before that time , many had been sent with the Persians and other Companies that were commanded against the K. of Aethiopia under the leading of Psammiticke : but those that were there , were not of so great number as those which were led away only by Ptolomeus Lagus . For ( as we have said ) he train'd to Arms all those whom Age or Ability shew'd to be proper , and all the rest of the People , as well Children , as Old men and Women , he made use of for Colonies , determining with himself , that if at any time his men of War grew insolent , because none could surpass them in course or necessity of War , he had means to check their presumption , by such as might be drawn from these Colonies . Now then seeking an occasion to bring about the Liberty of these poor men ( as I have formerly said ) and having found my opportunity , I opened my desire to the King , proposing after this manner . The Proposition of Aristeus to King Ptolomeus Philadelphus , for the delivery of the Jews . IT is nothing strange , my Gracious Lord and Soveraign , if many times it happen , that those very Affairs which we manage , thwart and run counter to our Proceedings : for all the Nations of the Iews have one and the same Law , which we desire to be ours , not only Copied , but also Translated into the Greek Tongue . How then expect you to succeed in this Affair , when the greatest part of them are here in your Kingdom kept Prisoners ? unless it may please Your August and Generous Spirit to request their Holy Books , after you have restored to free Liberty those who live here in great calamity and pressure , having before all things Regard to that God who makes your Kingdom flourish , and hath crowned You with great prosperity : which is the same God that hath given them that Sacred Law which we desire to have . For they worship that God who hath Made and Created all things , and is the very same , whose wonderful Works all Mankind see and admire , though some not so clearly as others ; for ( Sir ) We and others Call him Iupiter , and not without reason , for it hath so seemed good to our Ancestors , because by him are Procreated and live all Creatures : the same also they esteem the Directer and and Governour of the Universe . And although he holds all Mortals in Subjection , nevertheless he neither frustrates nor disappoints the Prayers and Vows of those , who illuminated with Spiritual Light , implore his aid . We then ought humbly to desi●e that he would incline our hearts to such good resolutions , as to do good , and that freely to every one , and especially to deliver and free those that indure Slavery and Bondage : for that since Mankind is the Work and Creation of God , who hath power to turn the heart and bend it which way it pleaseth him . We many times after different Methods desire it would please him to lead us to a Perfection of Goodness , as the principal Ruler of all Hearts and Spirits . By this acknowledgment , I conceive great hopes to consummate this Affair , principally , because I know God to be favourable to those that pray for things Reasonable and Equitable . For when men set themselves wholly to seek and accomplish what hath a tendency to Justice and Perfection of Goodness , God the Lord of all things conducts and addresseth their Actions and Affections to blessed & happy Effects and Ends. The King , then as something gained , with a contented Countenance said to Andrea , How many are there of the Iews detained Captive ? He answered in few words , more than 100000 ; It is a small Request then said the King , Aristeus requires of us , Sosibius and some others then there present answered , It is a thing ( Sir ) worthy Your Grandeur and Generosity , to make an agreeable Present to God by their Deliverance , in testification of your Thanks and Acknowledgement , and since the Governour of Heaven and Earth hath raised you to a greater Height than all your Predecessors , it is but just that you make thus a greater & more solemn Expression of your Thanks . The King then disposed to Banquetting and pastimes in a full Feast , and Assembly of his Nobles , commanded that the Iews should be all search'd out , and that every man of them should be redeemed for the summ of 20 Drachms by pole , and to confirm the same , that his Edicts should be issued , and that herein all the dispatch and readiness should be expressed that was possible . And so it seemed that God accomplished and brought to pass our desires , for he pleased to put it into the heart of the King to set at Liberty , not only those that by the Army of the King his Father were led Captive into Aegypt , but also all others that before or since , had been carried Prisoners into Aegypt , by what means soever : the summ then of those that were freed , amounted to 400 Talents . Moreover , I hold it not beside my purpose to send you the Copy and Tenour of the Edict , whereby you may understand the greatness of the Attempt , and the frankness and gracious Inclinations of the King , who hath been moved by the Goodness of God for the Salvation of Many . The Edict of King Ptolomeus Philadelphus , for the delivery of the Jews . WE Will and Command all those that took up Arms under our deceased Father , through the Countrey of Syria , and Phaenicia , entring the Land of Iudea , and there taking the Iews and leading them Prisoners , having imposed them their Tasks and Employments in Town and Country , that they shall deliver and restore them to full Liberty : Moreover , we Will that all the Iews that either before or since have been taken and led away , in what fashion or manner soever , shall be delivered frank and free , for the ransome we have set , that is to say , twenty drachms for every head ; which summ , the men of War shall receive from the Fond of the Staple and Stores of Victuals● and the rest shall be received from the Allowance of the Kings Table , or be Reserved : For we are duely informed that those Iews were appointed and led away Prisoners against the Will of our deceased Father , and against right Reason : And that by the boldness and insolence of the Men of War , they were carried into Aegypt , and their Countrey wasted and laid desolate ; when it was sufficient to have the men of War of the said Countrey under their power , and all the Province reduced to obedience . Intending then to do and render Right to every one Universally , and especially to those who receive injury from the unjust Power of others . Moreover , to search diligently and particularly into all things that concern Right and Equity , and to prefer Piety and Religion before all things . Our Will and Pleasure is , that all Iews whatsoever , being bond and Slaves within this Realm , in what part soever they be found , be it in the Colonies or elsewhere , or be it in whatsoever manner they were brought into our Kingdom , shall be Delivered , Enfranchised , and set at Liberty ; for we are pleased it shall be so Done. And to the end that no Person shall be interessed , or rec●ive dammage , we Command that three days after the Publication of this present Edict , every one whom it doth concern , shall bring before us their Requests , containing the number of heads that every one hath set at Liberty . For so it pleaseth us to have it , for the profit of Us , and our Kingdom . Declaring further , that the Goods of those who are not obedient to this our Edict , shall be forfeited and Confiscate : And we give liberty to whosoever will , to accuse and inform against their Contumacy or Contempt of our Will and Pleasure . This Edict being written , compleated , and brought to the King , to know if his pleasure were it should be Published in this manner , or that he would Correct , and so Approve it . When he perceived that these words , viz. And those that before and since had been led prisoners , were wanting , he inserted them out of his Goodness and Bounty . He then made the of money presently to be doubled to his Treasurer and Officers of his Finances . Which Distribution was dispatched in the space of seven days . And there was defrayed well near six hundred and sixty thousand Talents ; for there were found a great number of Children with their mothers , who were all set at Liberty , and for every head of theirs , was payed by the Kings Command , twenty Drachms : Which was discharged by the King , to his great Content and Satisfaction . After all was done , he commanded Demetrius , by course of estate , to deliver him the number of the Hebrew Volumes . For with these Kings it is in use to comprise all things in Edicts , and to signifie nothing , be it never so small a business , without Writing ; as well for greater State and Ceremony , as also that Belief may more certainly be given thereto . Therefore to the end you may , as it were , have all before your Eyes , ● will here insert the Tenour and Copy of the Request made to the King , by Demetrius , and the Epistles which were sent for those that were franchis'd ; so as you may see the number , and of what Quality they were ; and according to the Trades and Professions by which they were distinguisht , and how they were Registred and inrolled . The Copy of Demetrius his Request to the King , was this . The Request of Demetrius Phalerius to the King Ptolomeus Philadelphus . GReat Sir , Since it hath pleased you to give me Command to search in all places for all manner of Books , to replenish and adorn your Library : I have thought it fit and necessary that we procure and get the Books of the Iewish Laws , and some others , that we are yet wanting and unfurnish'd of , and because the said Books of the Iews are Written in Hebrew Characters , peculiar and best known to the Iews alone , and therefore not yet fallen into your Royal hands , nevertheless , that they may be gained and ranked amongst your other Volumes , partly for the Wisdom contained therein ; partly for their Sublimity and Divine height of matter , of which Poets and Historians make often mention , as very profitable to instruct to good manners , to form and address the Republick into the fairest shape of Government , by reason of the Dignity of men therein mentioned , the Dignity of matters therein treated ; as * Hecateus Abderita plainly testifieth . These things seriously considered , ( Great King ) it would do well , may it please you to write to Ierusalem , and to the High Priest there , that he would send you Six men of every Tribe or Line , and that they be such as are of good Parts and Quality , of venerable Age , best acquainted and Vers'd in their own Law , that being all able Translators , they may with Judgment choicely select and cull that course of Expression which may be of a piece and Harmoniously agreeing amongst themselves . And this done ( great Sir ) shall hope you may accomplish a course worthy of so excellent a Design , and at last suiting well with with your Desire . The King having read this Request ordered Letters should be drawn and sent to Eleazar the High Preist , about this matter : In which were signified to him the Deliverance o● the Iews from their Captivity● With the Letter , he ordained also to be made ready Cups , Vessels , an● a Table of pure Gold , with fifty Ta●lents of Gold , and seventy of Sil●ver , for Oblations there to be offered with many precious Jewels and stone● of very great value : Command●ing the Gold-smiths to finish thes● things with all speed , and the mone● in Talents for the Oblations to b● raised forthwith . And because yo● shall at large understand the King alacrity in this Affair , I send yo● here the Copy of the Letter th● King Writ , whereof the Tenour i● as followeth . King Ptolomeus Philadelphus to Eleazer , High Priest of the Jews . COnsidering the great Multitude of Iews inhabiting within our Territories , ( of whom some have been led from Ierusalem in the times when the Persians had the Power , and others followed our deceased most honourable Lord and Father , being joyned with him , whereof many were received into his pay and ranked as his Souldiers , and Military Men : the most faithful and trusty of which were established in the strongest Forts for Garrisons , by that means to curb the insolences of the Aegyptians . ) We since being come to the Crown , and having singular Inclinations to exercise Liberality and Munificence towards all Persons , and particularly to the Citizens , have infranchised and set at Liberty more than a hundred thousand , ordaining that out of our Money a just ransome should be payed to all those that held them Prisoners , valuing every head at a certain rate , as desiring to govern with Reason , and to restore them to Peace and tranquillity , whom the Impetuosity , Cruelty , and Disorder of War hath disturb'd and diverted from Right and Equity . In which we think to have done a good and pious act and a work grateful to the great God for all the great favours received of his hands , making him this Offering , for having signalized above all the world this our Kingdom with a most flourishing Peace , Tranquillity , and eminent Renown . And such others as have been Slaves and Bondmen in our Army , we have appointed Souldiers in our Militia , and those that have been found more worthy for their Faith and Fidelity , we have made Commanders , and preferred them to our Court. Further , because it is our desire they and all others of their Nation , spread and scattered throughout the Universe , may be thankful for our favours : we have resolved to cause your Law Written in Hebrew Letters , to be Translated into the Greek Language ; and that our Royal Library be adorned therewith , as it is with other Books : you will do well then as a thing very agreeable to us , and answering our Design and Intention , if you elect out of every Tribe or Line of your Nation , six of the most Aged Persons , and such as shall be found of the best Breeding and Sufficience , and of greatest Authority in the Service of the Law , and that have the best Style in Writing to make this Translation : for so will the Truth thereof be better and more easily gathered , if the Set of Interpreters be men of mature Judgement , and well exercised in the Law : well weighing that to effect well and worthily such an Interpretation and Translation : it is needful there should be Pains , curious Study and Reflection , which may be found in the endeavours of Many who are more sharp , more subtile , and more discerning than One alone . Moreover , we judge that by the accomplishing so great a work , there will redound to us great Honour and Glory . For this cause therefore we have sent unto you , Andrea , Captain of the Guard , and Aristeus , men of Honourable place in our Court , who have Commission on our part to present you with Jewels for your sacrifices , and an Hundred Talents of Silver for other uses . Herein you will give us great content and pleasure , and express a courtesie resenting Amity , if you have need of any thing , to require it for we will not fail to furnish and accommodate you therewith immediately . To which Epistle Eleazar answered as follows . Eleazar , the High Priest , to King Ptolomeus Philadelphus , our most illustrious Friend . IF you are well ( Sir ) and the Queen Arsinoe , and my Lady your Sister , and my Lords , your Children , God be praised ; for health is a thing to be desired , and acknowledged as due unto him , who is Giver thereof : As for us , we are in good prosperity , praised be the Giver . We have received your Letters , which brought us great Content , by reason of your Counsel , Enterprise , and Design ; as also for the love and good will you bear us . Having received them , we made a great Assembly of the People , to whom in a long Discourse , we have made known your Liberality towards our Nation , and exposed to view your Presents and Oblations , to the end they should understand your holy Affection and Piety towards our God. Shewing publickly the twenty Vessels and Viols of Gold , the thirty of Silver , which you have sent , the five cups of Gold , with the Table of proportion , and the hundred Talents of Silver , to be employed for the Victims and other uses requisite to the Priests : Which Jewels were to us presented by Andrea one of your Princes , and Aristeus : Persons truly worthy of note , both for external beauty , and excellency of Behaviour and condition , as also rare Knowledge ; briefly , Lords worthy in all things of your Conversation and Justice , by whom we have been fully informed of your will and intention , agreeing with the Tenour of your Letters . Wherefore we will wholly set our selves to endeavour to accomplish your desire : For although it be a difficult thing to bring well to perfect effect , yet for the Times to come it will be an Argument of our great Confederation and Amity : For you have obliged our Citizens with a great , and as it were , an in inestimable Beneficence . Whereupon we have offered to God the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving for you , your Sister Children , and Friends ; and the whole multitude of people hath prayed to God for your Prosperity , and that it will please him to address your affection in all your Acts ; and that God the Ruler of all things , will make your Realm to flourish , and increase in Peace and Glory : And that the Translation of the Sacred Law , may redound unto your Profit and Advantage . After these Sacrifices were accomplished , all the People being together ; we chose Persons of better Rank , and men of Honour and of good Life and Report , being Six of every Tribe or Line , which we have sent to you , with the Holy Law , which was left us , by the Inspired Writer Moses . Be it your pleasure ( Sir ) to return them us , after the Translation of the Books shall be compleated . These are the Names of those that were chosen from all the Lines and Tribes of the Jews to go to Aegypt , to make the first Translation of the Holy Bible , or Law of Moses . Of the first Tribe . JOsephus , Ezechias , Zacharias , Ioannes , Ezechias , Heliseus . Of the second . Iudas , Simon , Somoelus . Adeus , Mathias , Eschemias . Of the third . Nehemias , Iosephus , Theodosius , Baseas , Ornias , Dacis , Of the fourth . Ionathas , Auxeus , Heliseus , Annanias , Chebrias , Sacheus , Of the fifth . Iasacus , Iacobus , Iesus , Cabateus , Simon , Leuis . Of the sixth . Iudas , Iosephus , Simon , Zacharias , Somelus , Selemias . Of the seventh . Sabbatens , Iason , Iesus , Theodotus , Ioannes , Ionathas . The eighth . Theodosius , Iason , Iesus , Theodotus , Ioannes , Ionathas . The ninth . Theophilus , Abrahamus , Arsamus , Iason , Endemias , Danielus . The tenth . Hieremias , Eleazarus , Zacharias , Baneas , Helisius , Datheus . The eleventh . Samuel , Iosephus , Iudas , Ioathes , Chabel , Desitheus . The twelfth . Isaelus , Ioannes , Theodosius , Arsamenus , Abiethas , Ezecelus . Number of all 72. Such was the Answer to the Letters of the King. NOw I will declare to you the most succinctly I can possible , the beauty and workmanship of the things we found in Ierusalem , being with Eleazar ; and those also which were sent to him : for all was wrought with singular Art , and of most exquisite beauty ; the King being therein so careful and intent to per●orm abundantly all that was necessary for finishing so extraordinary Work , that of his own proper motion he went and came , visiting every one of the Master-workmen and Goldsmiths , whom he kept so close to their business , that he permitted them no idle time for Sport or Debauches . Of the Presents sent unto Eleazer , Chief Priest of the Jews , by King Ptolomeus Philadelphus . And first of the Table of Gold. IT behoveth then , that first we describe the Table , for it was a work of admirable lustre . The King desiring to shew therein a Master-piece of Work : wherefore he demanded the measure and dimension of the Table which was in the Temple of Ierusalem , and the ornaments of the same . When he knew the measure , he asked if they would receive a greater . And being answered by some of the Priests and others ; if there where no let , a greater might have place there . The King then replyed , that h● intended to give one five times bigger than that was there , provided that might not be inconvenient for the Priests , by its disproportionable quantity . Further , consideration ought not only to be had of the Receit and Capacity of the Place , but also of its Accommodation to the Sacrifices thereon to be prepared , and that he was not without consideration , that the Iews had not made that which they then had in their Temple of so small size for penury and want of Gold : for when it was made , they abounded in all Wealth and Riches : but that it seemed to him they had so proportioned it from some reason of a perfect Dimension . Therefore his Opinion was , that the Present would not be well and duly formed , if the Table he intended to make , were Longer or Higher than the Other . Therefore forecasting in his Thoughts , which were clear and ready to weigh every thing with good judgement : he gave it in charge to the Goldsmiths that were most ingenious , and of best capacity , to finish and accomplish the Business , engraven and adorned with all possible Variety : commanding that those who wrought in the Borders , Raisings , Floweries , Wrappings , Entortilations , and such like ; should amuse themselves only for Beautifying and Decoration : and what was to be plain , should answer to the Measure and Dimension , and that in all these things they should be exquisitely Careful . This Table was two Cubits large , and a Cubit and a half in height , nor are you to think it was covered with Plates of Gold superficially , ●or it was made all of solid , massie , pure , and fine Gold ; round about it was a Crown of twelve fingers large , wrapped with Barrs of Gold and other pretty Works in fair passages , in manner of little threds , and enterlaced with little cords retiring to the Canetils , a work very shining , and polished of the three sides , for the Table was made in a Triangular form , and on every side wrought of the same fashion : so that on what side soever one stood it appeared to be but one Frontispiece and one Face . For if you came to behold it on one side , the plain of the Table by the Crown with which it was bordered , discovered to your eyes a most resplendant Beauty very admirable , and the outward work with the Rays and Splendour of the two Squares so dazled the eyes , that one could scarce behold it ; for the Table as we have said , was Triangular , and shewed with one and the same Front and Superficies on which side soever you turned . It was also inchased with precious Stones fastned by Golden Buttons tyed with Loops , and these Stones were wrought so naturally within one another , that they shewed a String and Wreathing of such Subtilty , that to any ones thinking it was not possible to be imitated . And those Stones were supported and stayed by Buckles and Clasps of Gold for more firmness , and the Joints and Connextures of Squares made with so great Art , knit and interwoven one within another , to keep sure and joyn all the work , that in beholding them the Art was scarce discernable . Moreover , in the great Compass of the Crown that environed the Table by the aspect above , there was a row of Stones in fashion of little Ovals that were riveted , and lockt together , and filed with little wreaths of Gold which raised the lustre : and these Oval Stones were thick set the one with the other ; and the whole Table was as it were encircled with this thread of Ovals . A little above this Chain of wreathed Stones the Master Goldsmiths had laboured a Girdle of Flowers , and Clusters of all Fruits , interlaced and following together so well , that by their eminent risings amongst the Bosses of the encircling Crown , you might see Grapes clustered together ; Ears of Corn , Dates , Apples , Olives , Roses , and many such like ; amongst which many Precious stones set and wrought in Gold in their Colour and Form , in their true and natural Resemblance ; representing those Fruits with admirable Art. And with this Adornment the Cornishes and Frontispiece of the Table were enriched all round ; and so was this Work of Fruits corresponding with the Oval Stones abovesaid . To all these Decorations are joined other burnished Works , cut in Sculpture ; and in part with wreaths and Verges of Gold , beautifying all the Circuit of the Table : So that from the two parts which presented themselves to the sight , with the Beauty of the Crown to the place where stood the feet of the Table , one might see a like Beauty , and curiosity of folding ; still full of lustre which part soever of the Table were turned . They made the Plate of all the Table solid and massie , of the thickness of four fingers : to the end that they might more firmly and fixtly bind in the feet and tressles to support it strongly . These feet were fastned to the Crown without being perceived how , and were firmly joined with Buckles and Clasps : in such manner that the Table might be supported and well fixt which way soever the Table were turned , and yet still shining to the eye . In the Superficies hereof was represented in a fair work the Floud of Meander , running with its circuits , returns , and windings ; in the Channel of which , one might see a Splendour of precious Stones , representing its rowling waves , which Wreath was of Carbuncles , Emeralds , Agats , and all other sorts of Precious Stones , sparkling with their native Lustre . Near to this Floud there was an interlaced Work as a Wreath of Hair , ( a thing admirable to behold ) sh●wing in its aspect a Geometrick Figure , made of Cristal and Amber , and this Figure was a Solid Square , whereof all the Squares were equal , and the Angles of the four sides oblique . In this polished Figure was shewed the forms of the Beholders , as in a fair Mirrour . For the rest , the Ingenious hand of the Master workmen had made the feet of the Table like Flower-de-luces , of which the Flowers turning shell-like backwards , sustained the Table ; the said Flower-de-luces thick with leaves , sprouting up as from within : the foot was sustained and stayed in this manner . There was a Stone of a Carbuncle , of which the length was twelve fingers ; having the form of a Rock made in a Precipice , and had about eight fingers in breadth : and upon this stone was born up all the burthen and weight of the Tressle . Upon this rises up a Lyre or Herbstring , which twining about the enclosure of a Vine , embraced it even to the top , the Grapes hanging about on every side : In this Table were four feet alike in disposition and proportion of workmanship , and of all four was one self-same perspective : and so well were these things accomplished and perfected , with admirable Skill and Contrivance , of men Inventive and Ingenious ; that not only the aspect of things true was made as it were false and delusory to the eyes , but also one might hear the leaves rattle by stirring of a little wind moving them one against another : so were all things laboured even as it were to the Life and Nature , every thing shaping a lively Image of what it was designed to represent . Moreover , the Tressles of the Table were contrived moveable , and to be removed on all sides ; wherein there was a Secret of Workmanship which could not be seen or perceived for the Greatness of the Work : and by the means of certain Clasps , all was to be removed together although no one could perceive either Crevis , Joint , or Rivet : For the Table was no more than a Cubit and a half big in all , yet thereupon , was great Expence bestowed , and many Talents employed . For after the King had resolved not to exceed the Measure and Size of that which was in Ierusalem , all that he determined to lay out upon one much greater , was employed , and much more , in the Decoration of this : Thus all was done with great Skill and Design , and was very admirable and extraordinary , according to the Kings wish . Of the Vessels , Cups , and Viols of Gold. THe two Cups from the foot to the middle , were cut all in a scaly work ; and betwixt every two Scales , riveted with Precious Stones , the radiant shine whereof , cast such a reflection to the Eyes , that it wounded the sight with a Glory . The Tower of these Cups was girt with a Sculpture of the Flood of Meander , of the height of a Cubit ; all incompassed and interlaced with variety of Stones , of inestimable beauty and value . Near the Flood , there was a tress of hairs of Gold , with tufts joined together from the Bowl above to the bottom , being spread in clear ways like a net of Thred : In the middle parts whereof were to be seen many Precious Stones , disposed in the form and figure of a Scutchion , amongst which there was only a Space or Interval of four fingers ; whose Splendour made the Grace of the Work more agreeable to the Eye : upon the lips and border of the Cups there was a Crown interlaced with Flower-de-Luces , bunches of Grapes , intermixt one with another , and wreathed like Cordage , and so running round : These Cups thus wrought with most rich Workmanship , held more than two Mettrets . But the Tankards of Silver were yet adorned and decorated with much more Beauty , in full work and polish : for within they were so resplendant , that one might see all things more to the life than in a Mirrour . And it is not possible to tell how the figures of all things were represented to the life , by the Polish and sparkling brightness of them , which were so radiant and shining , that if you set one of the Silver Cups by one of the Gold , then one of the Silver , and so one of Gold ; and so followed this method , they made an admirable shew , and impossible to be long lookt on ; for they cast such a lightning from one side to another , with rays penetrating one anothers lustre , that it even dazled and reverberated the point of the Sight , so that no soul was long able to behold them : For if you turned your Eyes to a Cup of Gold , they were so encountred with the order and splendour of the works variety , and with the force of the light and flaming , which would so strike the point of the sight , that you could hardly hold them from twinkling , so as you would be forced to turn them elsewhere , or not too steadily to behold their lightning : And if you lookt upon one of Silver , a greater effusion of Light was shed abroad : So that your eyes seized with dimness , you were not able to discern throughly the the structure and art . For the Vessels and Viols of Gold , they were wrought with such design , that the middles were adorned with clusters of Grapes , the Verges and Lips with bunches and encirclings of leaves of Myrrh and Olives , wreath'd together in fashion of a Crown , about all the mouth parts , and all set with Precious Stones , agreeing with the spaces and convenience of the distances : So as , I assure you , the Master-workmen , had expressed their Art in imbellishing and adorning every thing , with an ambitious desire to grace the Design , and to exalt the Magnificence of the King : So that in all the Treasures , nor in all the Cabinets , nor what other thing soever , was not to be found any thing so rich , so fair , or so precious , as were these Royal Works . For the King , who had a tender regard of his Honour , there had employed all care and diligence , and prodigally lavished his magnificence . For of his own accord he came often to visit the Works , conversing and mingling his advice with the Master-Goldsmiths , making them change , now this , now that , according to his Liking . Likewise he forbad them expresly , to stir from their business , till all were finished and compleated according to his mind , so that all was perfected with great Art in a most extraordinary manner , as well for a testimony of his illustrious Excellence and Degree , as also for the Dignity of the High Priest , who was of so honourable a Character , for whom these things were intended . Of great Value was the multitude of Stones , of which some were so Rare , as that they are scarce known , yet being of marvellous Greatness , they amounted to the Number of five thousand : And yet for all that , the Art was of greater value than the Stones : And all being valued together , it plainly appeared that both Precious Stones and curious Workmanship exceeded five times the Gold therein employed , both in Beauty and Value . In fine , I hope what I have already Written , may yield you some delight in knowing these rare and curious things , and the true love and ingenious goodness of the King therein . Now that which follows , will set forth the Discourse of our Journey to Eleazar : And because you may at large understand all Circumstances , I will describe to you first the Province , or City of Ierusalem , and then the Country round it . Of the City of Hierusalem , and the Country round it . WHen we arrived near to Hierusalem , we discovered the Town , scituate on the Mountain , in the midst of the Province of Iudea , opening thereby a farr extended Prospect to the View . On the top of the Hill is scituate the Temple , of a most graceful Figure , and Aspect , and very fair to the Eye : About the same is a Girdle of three tire of Walls raised to the height of seventy Cubits , and of convenient thickness in Proportion to the height , which encompass all the Temple with an excellent Beauty and magnificent Work : The sight of the Gates , the knitting and evenness of the Stones , the Frontispieces and Buttresses , the faces of the Portals represent a beauty with great lustre and excellency of Workman ship , and one might ●lainly see , that in all this structure there was a rich abundance of all things , and that no expence had been wanting . Without the the Temple , there was a Veil by which the Temple was closed ; round this Veil was hanged Travers from the magnificence of the Portals , yielding a very pleasing Spectacle ; and principally then , when a little Wind rose from the Pa●ement , and entring within the Veil , ran from low to high , making undulations and billows like Waves , and moving delightfully with Gales following one another , reciprocally and successive blowing . Within the Temple there was an Altar accompanied with a Chimney very properly and conveniently built , accomodate to the place for the Victimes there to be offered . The Stairs to ascend thither were fair and evenl● disposed , agreeable to the Mag●●cence of the Pla●e , both for comel●●ss , as ●●for the ease of the Priests , who were invested with Garments of Linnen very delicate and soft . The fore-part of the Temple looking to the East , turns the back of it to the West , and the spaces thereof are adjusted with exact proportion , in all dimension and shew a Beauty very excellent , and Work of good Grace● The Floor is paved with Stones , the Receptacles of the Waters which issue in great Quantity for the use of washing the Victimes after they have slain them , are hid in convenient Places ; for in their Festival Daies , many thousands of Victims are offered , by means whereof is furnished out so great a Quantity of Water , that one would judge there issued commonly a considerable Spring . But this is a thing yet more admirable , and almost incredible : the greatness of the Conveyances of these Waters which are under Ground in the Temple , and stretch five Furlongs in Circuit . And to conduct these Waters into their Receptacles , there are Pipes of Lead closed within the Walls , drawing in all parts under the pavement of the Temple , by which the Waters void themselves after the Beasts are washt : likewise many Spouts and openings near to the foot of the Altar , which are unkown to all , but only those who serve the Sacrifices : and by these too the Blood of the Offerings in like manner is cleansed and carried off . We guessed the great quantity of Waters there shed by this means . The Iews having led us to walk out of the Town more than a League long , they shewed us a place , where we might hear the report of the Waters that ran under the Earth , which seemed to me to be such , as when one voids water by whole Tuns . Of the Priests . BUT all that is past was as nothing in respect of the Worth , Honesty , and Silence of the Priests and their Services . For without any difficulty they compose themselves to their Business , every one according to his Degree and Charge , without staying for Orders : Some kindling the Wood , others the Oyl , some ●ring the Wheat●flour ; others the Aromatick Odours , others the Flesh ; every one shewing his Obedience with ●n admirable Dexterity . For taking ●he Calves by the Thighs , though ●hey weighed more than two Talents , ●hey lifted them on high , with an admirable speed , and not more hand●omely then easily : in such a sort , as they never fayl'd to fix ●hem at first in as good order as they were to continue . They did the same with the Far●els of Sheep and Goats , for all Offerings , and Victims were to be without spot and fat . Moreover , there was a place prepared for their Repose , where they all lay , and rose most willingly and diligently , without being called or waked ; and so applied themselves to their Business in their Order , one after another : but all with so great Silence , that although they were ordinarily about 700 Levites , without re●kning a great Troop of those that offered the Victims , yet it seemed as if they all had been but One Man● all things were composed with so great Gravity and Reverence to God. Of the High-Priest Eleazar . WHat we had of greatest admiration , amongst other things , was , when we saw Eleaza● present himself to the Sacrifices in his Glory and Majesty , cloathed in his Habit and Robes , in Pontificalibus ; shining all with the luster of precious Stones for to his Accoutrements hung round little Bells of Gold , yielding a sweet Harmony , amongst which he had also Pomegranats of marvellous Colours , and all distinguished with variety of Flowers . Upon this Vestment he wore a Girdle , which girt him very comely : and the work was of very fair Colours . Beneath his Breast hung what they call the Rational , wherein there was twelve Precious Stones of divers Colours set in Gold , in which were inscrib'd the Names of the Princes of each Tribe which had been the beginning : and all was most resplendent and natural , ( almost beyond belief : ) his Head was adorned with a Royal Bonnet , upon which was set a Mitre of incomparable Beauty , exalting the Coyf to a majestick State. Beneath the Mitre hung a Plate of Gold upon the fore-head of Eleazar , covering his Eye-brows ; wherein was inscrib'd the Name of GOD in the Sacred Letters , a Spectacle in truth full of great Glory , and worthy of such Mystery : for with this Dress the shine and reflexion was of such shew and worthy Dignity , that it might beget an awful Sense and Apprehension in those that beheld him : So as this High Priest represented to the Beholder as it were the figure of a God. In short , every thing being by us contemplated , held our Spirits in a suspence and amazement through their Beauty , for the manner and decoration now of one thing and then another drew our Understandings even by force maturely to consider them . Of the Fortress or Castle of Hierusalem . THence we ascended to visit the Fortress : It is scituated near to the Temple in a most fair seat , fortified with many Towers framed of Stones of extream Greatness . And by what we could understand and know it is the Bulwark and Strength of the Temple , to the end that if there hapned any Sedition , or impetuous hostile Invasion , no Body should enter by force within the Cloyster of the Temple which is near : and is defended by the high Walls of this Fortress , scituated in a Place of precipitate steepness , having its Sentinels and Ramparts , with Engins of War. This place is kept and guarded by a ●arrison of lusty young Souldiers vigorous and strong , which are maintained by all the Towers within , and are such as for their merits to their Country , are esteemed of great Reputation : They have no Liberty to go out of the Fortress , except upon Holy-dayes ; and then with great Solemnity onely part of them , and to relieve the Guards , and they dare let no Person in ; for the Captain of the Plac● there useth such watchful Diligence when he goes forth , and amongst them makes such watch and diligent search , that he cannot be circumvented by any Spy , as it hapned to us ; for but two of us could get admitatnce , and that without Arms and by great Intreaties , and only to see the Sacrifices : for he told us , and that with an Oath , that all those who are of this Garison , which are in number five hundred , have sworn to admit , but at most five Persons at a time : Because the conservation and safety of the Temple consists in the keeping of this Fort , which if it should be taken and kept , the Temple had no other Security . Of the Town . THe greatness of the Town , by what we could judge , extends in compass some forty Furlongs ; A City certainly worthy to be regarded , both for the Beauty of the Walls , and distribution of the Towers . It is distinguished into fair and straight Streets , and those well paved , where there are many little Lanes and Chanels in fit and convenient Places : So that though the City be seated on a Hill , all come up to it , and go down from it with great ease . At the Entries of the Streets , there are cut out steps in form of Scaffolds , which one mounts by Stairs like open Galleries , where the most eminent Persons walk higher than others , that have means to walk by places , which are lower ; and these banked wayes ( as it were ) are in the most principal Streets , to the end that those who bear the holy things , should not be polluted with Filth and Dirt : By which one may judge their Ancestors have wisely and with good reason , chosen such a Place for the seat of the Town ; making so fit a choice in all things whatsoever . Of the Country round Hierusalem , and of the Policy of the P●sants or Country People . THis Country is spacious and fair , stretching from one side towards Samaria , and the Neighbouring Idumea , which is a plain Country : On the other side , the Coasts are fair and fertile . And it is no marveil if this Region be so abounding and fertile of it self , and plentiful in all good Fruits ; being also that it is manured by the industry and great care of the Countrey People : And it is not here , as it is commonly seen about good and fertile Lands , where the Pesants are idle , careless , and for the abounding Pleasures and Voluptuousness of Cities , despise their Labours : And according as we see Youth is taken with Delights and Ideleness , become effeminate and Tender . Which truly hapned to Alexandria , a City rich , Wealthy , and Abounding in all good things : Where the Youth of the Countrey that used to follow Country works , diverting and amusing their Rough Condition with the pleasures and ease of a Delicious Life , forgat their Countrey Business and Labour , and became idle and sloathful . And for such reasons doubtless , their Iewish Kings ordained that these Peasants should make no stay in the City ; and that no one of them should dwell any where but in his Country-farm longer than 20 days ; and that unless for urgent , and important reasons , because they should not lose their time . For which reasons it was ordained that all Processes and Controversies of Law suits should be determined in five days , and never depend longer : And for this was Published a Law , and the reason thereof delegated to the Judges and Ministers of every Country , that the Pesants should not sojourn or make abode in the Towns ( as is said ) because of the Demurs of their Suits , neglecting their Country Business , which might cause damage and loss to the Revenues of their Prince , diminishing his Tributes and Dues , arising from these Labourers . I am the larger upon this , because we had Advice hereof in Discoursing with Eleazar . The Peasants there●ore are very careful and diligent in their Labours and Menagery , by reason whereof in such a multitude of people , the Region is planted all with Fruit Trees , abounding every where in Corn and all sorts of Grain : The Vineyards cloathed with Vines , nor is it possible to tell the number o● Palm Trees , Olive-Trees , Fig-Trees , besides Pastu●es ●or the raising of Cattle , which they breed up in great Numbers . So as they have not only all place , as it were , of choice for this purpose , but also a provident ca●e still to dispose it for the Reception and Entertainment of so great a Number of People ; nor have they appointed this course for the Villages , but that thereby they might fully furnish and beautifie their Towns. Besides , there comes abundance of Aromatick Drugs , of Gold , and Precious Stones to them from Arabia . For this Province opens , as it were , a Fair or general Market , to all round about for Traffick and Commerce . The City is ●ull of Tradesmen , having no want of any thing that may be brought by Sea , for it is accommodated by the neighbourhood of the Ports of Ascalon , of Iaffet , of Gaza , and of Acra . Cities founded by their Kings , for this purpose of Accommodation ; and those Cities we have named are a great Convenience to this Town , as not be●ng too near nor too remote , so as it is very ●asie to have all things nec●ssary in a short time , with assurance of the ways to the Comers and Goers . The Country is washed throughout by the River Iordan , whose Water never fails : This River having its source from the East , runs no less than sixty thousand Paces : In the best and most fertile Countries on the Banks of this River heretofore inhabited and Conquered those Valiant Troops of Iews , who in their times Conquered the Countrey , and passed this River , being in number more than six hundred Thousand . This Iordan swells and increaseth in the Summer , and overflows the Neighbouring Fields like the Nyle ; covering a great part of the ground , and then falls into another River by Acra , both which empty at once into the Sea. There are many other Streams that bend their course towards Gaza and Azota ; that have their turnings and windings through all the whole Province . The force , strength , and assurance of this Region consists in places inaccessible , and difficult to come at , and so are naturally strong , for all the Country is invironed with Mountains , Rocks , and Precipices cut straight down as it were with a plummet . In other parts , it is inclosed with Rivers , and Currents , so as the Valleys and the Plains are fortified with great Ditches and Trenches . On the other side , the Ways are so narrow and troublesome with Turnings and Windings , to and fro , that with great difficulty those that Travel by Land , come to the great City . They say also they were wont in former times to draw up Metals from the Mountains of the bordering Arabia : But since the time that the Persians had Rule , this search of Metals was left off , the Expence being more than the Advantage , and the labour fruitless ; yet they say this excuse was invented by the Inhabitants of those places , to the end that their Lands should not be swallowed up in the hollowness of the Mines , so that the Earth being open , no Passage could be afforded to Strangers in those narrow Ways . And so much for these things , Brother Philocrates , I have discovered unto thee . Now I will declare what concerns the Law , and its Interpretation and first Translation . What the Translators of the Holy Law were . THose that were chosen were very Honest and Vertuous men , excelling in all Knowledge , descenced of Noble Race , and not only well vers'd in their own Iudaick Learning , but also well acquainted and exercised in the Greek Letters ; for they were reserved men , and always ready to be employed as Embassadours upon occasion : For which they were , as it were , purposely bred , and as Proper , and Able to Judge of those Things and Courses as the case required : And were those that expounded the Publick Rules , and resolved with great sufficience all difficulties in their own Law : and had marvellous readiness , both for Haranguing and giving Sentence : They were men clearly void of all barbarous Incivility , of good and sweet Condition , and born as it were to follow their proper manner of Living and Estate in a Mediocrity and most commendable Modesty : still striving above all things to exceed all others in Wisdome and good Knowledges , and in these endeavours consisted all their Study , esteeming no search more than how to excel one the other in accessible graciousness , and sweetness of hearing and answering : so that every one of them were esteemed of in their Tribe , as men worthy to have Preheminence and Principality for the Vertue that was in them . And it is worth the noting in what Honour they held Eleazar , and in what Respect he held them : For besides that he writ to the King to take care for their convenient return , he recommended with a passionate desire , and tender affection these reverent Persons to Andrea ; desiring with many Intreaties and Requests that we should with our Credits and Grace with the King , open them a fair Access . To which we made Answer , that as these things were matters of our special Charge , so we should be careful to Discharge our selves answerably with all due Care , wherefore we desired he would be at ease in that point , for they should therein be absolutely free . I assure you ( said he ) I am upon this occasion in no little pain , and not without just cause ; for I know the King , a Prince so diligent , a Lover of vertuous and worthy Persons , and how industriously he seeks them ; that there is no place free from his desires , when he hears where such are , that excel , or are remarkable for Wit or Learning . And I have been informed , that he useth to say what is most true , that in such manner of men dwells and consists the strength and defence of his Kingdom : and especially when he hath near about his person good store of Wise and Just men who have provident Counsel to give him , lest all should miscarry . Which I perceive well by those he hath pleased to send hither . And we earnestly profess that we send not these persons to be assisting to him in the Affairs of his Government , but for the Publick Profit and an Universal Good of all his people , in which regard nothing ought to be refused , nothing that we will not indure . For though the form of Well Living consists in the observation and accomplishment of Moral Precepts and Constitutions : Nevertheless it is better learn'd and taught by the Knowledge and Experience of the things themselves , than in the abstracted nakedness of Words . By this speech and such like , we came to know what great affection Eleazar did bear to these Persons . Of the Answers made by Eleazar , upon certain points of the Law of Moses . IT behoveth also we touch briefly the Answers Eleazar made us to our Questions : For knowing the Iews with great nicety esteem the observances and differences of meats and drinks , according to their Law ; and that of certain Beasts , they esteem some unclean and infected : We therefore en●uired , saying , since all things are of one and the same Creation , and receive one and the same Substance ; whence is it that some are rejected as Infectious , as well to Eat as to Touch ; so that , as it should seem , the Law treateth more Magisterially than Rationally . Eleazar then Answered , you know not ( said he ) what force and vertue Custome hath as to Well-Living , and what Alterations and Changes she brings in Humane Affairs : See we not that those who converse with the Evil , let themselves loo●e to a course of Corruption in Manners , whereby they become Wretched all their lives after : On the Contrary , those that accustome and habituate themselves with the Wise and Intelligent , although they are yet ignorant , change from good to better , and become happy and fortunate . Which our Law-maker considering , resolving all his Laws into Piety and Justice , he hath not only taught us all we ought to do by Words ; but express●d all by Instanc●s , and forbidding us to do Evil , hath set before our Eyes the Causes why God hath created every thing . First , he hath taught that God is One and All , by the Power of whom all things are Governed and Subsist ; and that He is present in all Places ; and without Whom , nothing can remain in its Being , be it never so Little ; and that Nothing can be hidden from Him , whatsoever men do upon Earth never so Secretly even what men Do and Think within themselves , or what they Plod and Contract one with another , all is to Him notorious and Naked before his Eyes . For He sees the things To Come , as if they were Present : Moreover , he out of his gracious Goodness teacheth us that when any one sets himself to work Evil , he may assure himself it cannot be Hidden , and proposes thus by all the Law , no other thing than to shew the Power and Strength of our good God. Being then heedful of the begining of these things , he sheweth , that other People who have Opinion that there are many Gods , are themselves more powerful than the Gods they by Folly adore . For they affirm foolishly , that the Images and Resemblances they frame of Stone , or of Wood , are the Representations and Shapes of those who have brought to light by their Inventions some Advantages to the Civil Affairs of Life ; and these they Worship , prostrating themselves on their Knees before them . But they are out of their right Wits , and indeed out of themselves ; and if one demand of them what are their Inventions ? they alledge something produced from Nature , as if it were indeed a thing produced , created , and composed by the fore-said Inventors , although they never contributed thereto , in which they sufficiently manifest their Perverseness and Stupidity . For it is well known , that if there be question of any good Invention , that there may be found at this day Persons more learned , more subtil , and more quick to invent any Art , then they have done , who have been in times past : yet they are not therefore adored as Gods , although the Sage Greeks esteemed such Inventors worthy of Honour . What should I speak of the Egyptians and their Neighbours , who are herein madder than the others , for these have some of them brought in Divine Worship to brute Beasts , others unto Reptiles : out of common Reason , and all Understanding , making Sacrifices to the Living and Dead , immolating to them Victims ? Wherefore the Wise and Understanding Law-maker , being instituted of God in the Knowledge of all things , hath hedged us in , and fortified us round as it were with a Trench and Palisado , and distinguished us with a Wall of Iron , to the end , that being innocent in Soul , and pure in Body , we might not mingle our selves in any sort with other Nations , and that rejecting all fond and vain Opinions , we might adore one only GOD , who hath power above all Creatures . For this , the Priests of the Egyptians , Princes of the People ( although they fail in other things ) name us Men of GOD , and agree with us in many things : because other People have not this Religion to Adore one only God , according to the Truth as we do : For others give themselves over to Gormandisings and Drunkenness , building upon Shadows , amusing themselves with no other things but Pleasures and Belly-chear . Of which there is no one of us hath so much as thought , but all the course of our Lives is imployed only to the Knowledge of Vertue and Divine Power , to the end we fall not into Sin , nor be polluted by the conversation of such People in any manner whatever . He hath also defended and armed us on all sides with Purity and Honesty , not only in our Meat and Drink , but also in what we handle , touch , see , and hear ; for he hath reduced and brought all things before our natural Reason , for as all things have their Being from one Power , so with a most profound Judgment hath he appointed which we are to use , and from which we are to abstain . I will alledge you one or two for Example , to the end , that if you take heed to the Words and plain Speech , you cannot think that Moses hath taken such Pains to ordain his Laws , because of Rats , Weasels , and such like things . For it is necessary you understand , that he hath very well and wisely ordered all things to the Honesty of Living , having regard to Purity and Cleanliness , and to the correction and amendment of Manners . And as for Birds , and flying Fowls , he hath permitted us to eat ordinarily of such as are tame , and are different from others in Neatness and Cleanliness , and that live upon Grain and Seeds , such as are Pidgeons , Turtles , Peacocks , Partridge , Geese , and the like . And such as he hath forbidden us to eat , they are wild , ravenous ; living upon Flesh and Carrion , of proud Natures , inclined to Rapine and Prey , and such as by force set upon others , and seek not their living , but to the damage , hurt , and injury of the other Poultry who are gentle and tame ; but those fierce ones not only seize upon those of their own Kind , but also upon Lambs , Kidds , and even upon Men yet living , or half dead . Our Law-maker therefore , noting this by way of Similitude , and by a borrowed way of Translation , taken from the Nature of such Fowls , hath pronounc'd them unclean and infectious , as being willing to reduce and bring all things to the consideration of Purity and Cleanliness of the Soul ; to the end that every one being admonished by ordinary and domestick Examples , may understand how it behoveth to use Equity and Justice● and that it is not granted to Man , b● he never so strong , powerful , proud● bold , and audacious soever , to ravis● by force that of another , nor to d● injury to any Person , but that it i● convenient , he should order the cours● of his Life in imitation of the Fow● I have spoken of , who live by Grain● leading a tame and tractable Life● And that it is not lawful to vex an● trouble any Person of our own Kind● nor ravage his Goods by force , as d● those Beasts he hath prohibited us t● eat ; and not to use Violence in an● case which is figured by the Natur● of Beasts , not wholly void of Sense● You understand then the Reason wh● he hath forbidden us the Use of th● said things , that is to say , because o● the Inclination and Nature of ever● Beast . You may therefore now well con●ceive how our Law-giver Moses hat● been careful in all things to corre●● our Manners , and establish them b● the things to which we are accustomed , and therefore to regard the Nature of brute Beasts : for where he hath Licensed us eating the Flesh of four-footed Beasts , who have two , and the Hoofs cloven ; the Import is , that we ought to direct our Operations to Justice and Bounty . By this cloven Hoof figuring to us , the Distribution of Rewards and Punishments . For which cause we are cleft and divided from other Nations : to the end we be not polluted with Sin by their Conversation and Company . For many People of the Gentiles are sullied with Impiety by mixture of one with another , and not only suffer the Provinces and Cities to be spotted , infected , and dishonoured with Sins against Nature , but are fouly stain'd with the unclean blood of Child-bearing Women , having no shame or regret to commit Incest with their own Daughters , from which things we are wholly Alienated . Moreover , where he hath noted to us the sign of this Forking , he hath also advised us to be recollected by the same Figure , in the same Animals ; for he hath added further , that they should be such as chew the Cud : By which he manifestly admonisheth us to have this Rumination in Memory , and in the Course of our Life : for what signifieth the chewing of the Cud , but that we ought still to have in our Minds a continual revolving of our Lives and Actions , and so by a frequent Meditation , the Duties , to which we are obliged , and what we owe to all . Even as the Life of the Body is ever in our Thoughts ; so as our Spirit is nourished in bringing to mind her Employments . And for this cause , he saith in the Scripture , Have GOD still in thy Memory and Thought , who hath done for thee such great and wonderful things If this thou truly considerest , thou shalt find it great and admirable indeed . For first , thou shalt behold the Architecture of the Body , the Distribution , and Transfusion of the Elements , the Connexion and Ligatures of the Members ; a thing truly worthy of Admiration : But it will be more admirable , If thou hast regard to the Sense , which is given to every Member : if thou weighest the Actions of the Understanding ; if thou considerest the invisible Movements , and how in each of them there shines a Vigour , and Vivacity of Spirit , from whence have proceeded the Inventions of Arts almost innumerable . Wherefore , not without cause , Moses commanded us to have in constant Consideration , that all Things have been established and made Examples by the Divine Power and Providence ; for so hath he finished and counterpoised every Thing , agreeing with its time and place : recalling always to Mind the consideration of GOD the Lord , Ruler and Creator of the whole Universe . And if we will begin with what concerns Eating and Drinking ; hath he not well and prudently commanded , that we should give Praises and Thanks to GOD when we sit at Table ? In which he hath not permitted us to Devise or Discourse of any thing in the World that should make us forget , or efface in our Memories , the Power and Providence of GOD. Wherefore he hath appointed that we engrave upon the Doors and Portals of our Houses such Inscriptions as should excite us to Thanksgiving , still to refresh our Memories with the Thoughts of God , and his Goodness to us , by a most evident sign , that all our Endeavours ought always to be , to mind us of Sincerity and Equity , and that each Thought ought always to represent GOD before our Eyes . Also he hath appointed , that not only when we Sit at Table , but when we Rise , we should praise the Works of God , not only in Word , but also with a grave and composed Countenance : reducing to Mind the perpetual Motion of the Heavens , and that this alternative and successive Nature is Divine , and incomprehensible to Man. Thus to you is expounded the Reason of the forking of the Cloven-foot , its Import , as also of the Chewing of the Cud , which you inquir'd after : assuring you , that there is nothing ordained which is superfluous or improper for the forming of the Mind , but by this Figurative Manner and Use , he hath accommodated all things according to Truth . Also the said Law-giver , by a like Figure , hath admonished us from falling into Injustice and Sin , by the hearing or too much relying upon our Eloquence , Prattle and Jesting , which we may learn in the consideration of vile Beasts : for the Weasels are of a filthy Complexion : as also Rats , and such like Creatures , which he hath forbidden us to handle or touch . For Rats , they make all things foul , infectious , and hurtful : and are not only pernicious to eat , but wholly unprofitable to Man in all things . And Weasels are a sort of Vermine which are yet fouler , more infectious , and the most filthy and impure of all those we speak of . For they conceive by the Ear , and bring forth their young by the Throat , which is a thing detestable in Men , in what they hear and report , receiving by the Ear any cursed Folly , to utter and be delivered of the same by the Tongue and Report , and to exasperate the same by Words odious and bitter . Of which oft times there arises cause of great Inconvenience , and that which of it self is nauseous and loathsom , they improve and amplify with an elaborate wicked Invention by all means possible . Wherefore your King , as we have heard , justly causes such Men to be punished capitally . I think ( said I then ) that by such you mean the Emphanists : for the King punisheth those without Hope or Mercy , by Process , with Tortures and Sufferings , and even with an ignominious Death . They are the same , ( said Eleazar ) for their Idleness and Negligence brings nothing to Men but Mischief , and most dangerous Ruine and Destruction . And likewise our Law commands to do no wrong or injury to any Person either by Word or Deed. See then how I advertise you in short , and shew you that all our Demeanours by the Law , are directed to Justice and Equity : and that our holy Scriptures allow not any thing that in Appearance is evil , nor ought to be done impertinently and with Choler : But we are commanded that in all our Lives we demean our selves towards all Men , in all our Conversations and Deportments , justly and graciously , as having always in Mind God for the great Judge of Secrets . Now to whom could it seem otherwise , but that Eleazar had well and pertinently spoken of those filthy Vermin , Reptiles , and of other Creatures also ; manifesting thereby very properly , that all the Letter of the Law tended to no other end then Justice , and to shape and fashion well the Manners and Dispositions of Men. Further , he delivered himself concerning the Oblations of Calves , of Sheep , and of Goats , raising thereupon a fair Discourse : shewing , that it was their custom to select such Beasts from the Folds and Herds , as were Tractable and Tame , to make them their Offerings to God : never offering Sacrifice with wild or hurtful Beasts : because those that made these Oblations , and offered them should not entertain Savage Thoughts , or be elated with intractable P●ide , but instructed by the Gentle and Innocent Nature of the Victims , and that they should learn from such Instances , to become Humble and Patient , and in their Sacrificing to have their Minds erect , as raised to God the Creator of all things . Hitherto , Philocrates , I have framed to you , by writing these memorable things , considering the itch you have to learn and to know , which I have done , to the end , that by this little you may understand the Majesty of the Law , the Causes and Natural Considerations that are therein contained , and now I will return from whence we have Digressed . The Return of the Ambassadors to Alexandria , with the Doctors of the Jews ; and how the King adored the Holy Law seven times , with Tears in his Eyes . ELEAZAR then , after the Sacrifices were performed , as was customary , having chosen the Persons as is before specified , to send unto the King , he sent him also many rich Presents , which indeed were very splendid . When therefore we had tken leave , and parted from him very friendly , with his Salutation of Peace , and were returned to Alexandria , our arrival was forthwith made known to the King. And soon after Andrea and my self entred into the Kings Hall , and making most humble Reverence , we presented to his Majesty the Letters of Eleazar . Then the King , overjoyed that the Event of this Voyage had succeeded so well , having obtained the Persons much to be wisht for , made the Croud of those that attended on their Petitions and Suits , to quit the Place ; and commanded , that the Iewish Doctors should immediately have notice to attend , which was sooner than they expected . For the Custom of the Country is , when any Ambassadors arrive upon any Business they are sent about , it is not permited them to be presented to the King , unless they are Ambassadors from Kings , or from very Honourable States and Republicks , nor without great difficulty to have Audience , till thirty dayes after their Arrival , and sometimes longer , as the King is pleased to make a Difference , with regard to the Degree of those that sent them . But the King , having cleared the Place of those he judged not necessary to this Entertainment ; continued in the Hall , expecting till the Doctors were presented to make their Obeysance . Who being introduced , did their Duties in delivering the Presents sent the King from Eleazar . Likewise they Presented him with divers Skins of Parchment , exceeding fine , smooth , and delicate , bound up with a Binding very rare and uncommon . In which Skins was the Divine Law of Moses in Letters of Gold , and in the Hebrew Language , a thing very curious to behold . Upon their presenting them to the King , sitting in his Chair of State , the King presently turned towards them , taking notice of them all one after another ; and then required of them the Volumes of the Law : Then they unfolded the Rouls wrapt up in these Skins of Parchment or Vellam aforesaid . Which the King seriously beholding , remained as one transported a pretty space . After which , he adored the Holy Law seven times , saying these Words : We give you Thanks , my Masters , and much more him that sent you hither , and the High God above all , of whom these are the Sacred Words . Then the said Doctors , and all those who were attending the King , let fall great Expressions of Joy with Acclamation , and there fell Tears of Joy from the Kings Eyes ; as we see many times , that exceeding Transports will draw Tears from the Eyes , especially in Excesses of a more sublime and intellectual Nature . Then the King required the Skins and Volumes of the Law should be folded up again ; which done , he saluted the Doctors , saying ; Reason requires , grave Sirs , that first we pay you Honour and Regard , in as much as We were the Occasion of your coming hither , for which cause we give you our Hand with this Assurance , that this very Day shall be to us the Day , that all the Days of our Life we will hold Great and Memorable , and shall be solemnized every Year with Feasting ; in perpetual Memory of your Visit , as also of our Victory which we obtained this day against Antigonus at Sea , wherefore it is our Will , that this very Day you solace your selves in Feasting with us . Forthwith he required the Princes should be invited : Amongst whom he did me the Honour to make me to be seated . Moreover , he caused to be exposed to view , all the rich Furniture , wherewith the Pallace Royal was , upon great Festivals , used to be decked ; Likewise he commanded they should fit up Lodgings near to the Castle , in the most splendid Manner they could ; And in like manner the King ordered , that the Feasts should be set out in the most Sumptuous and Magnificent Fashion that was possible . And then the King enjoyned Nicanor , his chief Physitian , to bid Dorothea Controuler of the House , ( as from the Will and Pleasure of his Majesty , ) that he should , and that with all Diligence , deliver out all things necessary for every one of the Doctors , as well for their Accommodation , as for the Furniture of their Lodgings , and that without fail , as from the Ordinance and Command of the King , which was forthwith accomplished with great dispatch by many Hands , Conformable to the usage of great Cities , when they prepare to make great Feasts and publick Banquetting , whenas there are selected Officers that are appointed to furnish every one according to his Post and Station : Such were the Appointments of the King , who was not wanting to assist in Person , and his People , to speak Truth , were such as spared for no Labour or Pains to execute his Orders ; for with all Alacrity and Cheerfulness they provided whatever was necessary and requisite , putting in execution what the King required , with glad and chearful Hearts . Thus was the Kings Will exactly and freely comply'd with , in this and all other Regards whatever . For Dorothea was very Franck and Bountiful , and very Industrious in his Charge and Employment , which was principally to have a due regard to the accommodating these great and venerable Men , not employing what had been formerly Allotted to such Uses , but fresh and valuable Stuffs , sparing nothing that was in his Power . He assigned every one of them his Couch of Ease , besides his Bed , with fair Carpets , as the King had commanded . Moreover , the King required the half of them should be placed and seated at the Table , so as that they might front his Person , and the other half distributed on each side his Chair of State● Omitting nothing which any way might do them Honour , or contribute to their utmost Content and Satisfaction . After the Seats of the Table were duly fixed and proportioned for each ; the Kings command to Dorothea was , that all those who came from Iudea , should have Victuals distributed , and such as they Affect , after the Usage of their Country , and Appointment of their Law ; Nevertheless , that they should want for no Plenty or Variety ; as also for performing their Oblations , Vows , and Sacrifices , according to the Custom of their Nation . After all these Ceremonies , the King besought one of them , named Eleazar , the most Aged of all those that came with us , to make his Orisons . Who , as he was very Venerable , being then risen from his Seat● began in this manner . The Prayer of Eleazar . God Almighty fill thee , O King , with all Goodness , and give Grace to thy Wife , and to thy Children , and that thy plenty may be Permanent , without Alteration or Change , all the course of thy Life , and theirs . Hardly had he ended this Prayer ; but there followed a Noise and Acclamation of Joy , with a pleasant Murmur and Applause , that lasted a pretty while . All things being thus disposed and prepared for Jollity , all the Company betook themselves to make good Chear , and those who waited on the Table , repaired readily to their several Posts , which the Controuler had given them in Charge . Amongst those who served at the Table , were the Children of the King , and all the most considerable Peers and Lords . The Answers of the Jewish Elders , to the Questions propounded by King Ptolomeus Philadelphus . WHen the time came , and a fit Opportunity offered for Discourse , the King , by certain Pauses , began to ask them one by one in order , several Questions , as they were marshall'd at his Table according to Seniority : To him therefore that was set uppermost , he made this Question . First Question . How he should conserve his Kingdom entire and safe to the end ? The Resolution . AFter the Doctor had a little studied , he answered , You shall ( great King ) dispose the Estate of your Kingdom well and wisely , if in all , and by all , you propose to your self the Example of the Benignity and Indulgence of God for your Imitation ; using Patience and Gentleness ; raising to Honour those that are Worthy , and bringing down the haughty and ambitious proud Spirits to Repentance , and a true Sense of themselves , by giving them due Example of Humanity , Affability , and fairness of Access . To the other . Second Question . How he might bring all things justly to a fair Issue ? The Resolution . IF in all things ( answered he , great King ) you have your Eyes open , and Thoughts fixt upon your Actions , watching over your self in all things , you will do nothing that will not be well done ; and if you consider , that a true Sense of our selves and right Reason , is no other than the Gift of God , of whom we always ought to have the Fear before our Eyes , and present to all our Operations , for that is the means never to go astray . To the other . Third Question . How he should have Friends agreeable to him ? The Resolution . IF they know ( Great King ) that you have no Thoughts but what are employed upon that which is just and profitable , and conducing to the publick Good ; and that you are excited to it by considering how God supplies the Wants of Mankind , providing Sustenance for the Necessities of the Body , and for the Necessities of Life , bodily Health , and other Gifts and Abilities . Fourth Question . How he should acquire and conserve a solid Reputation in expediting of Affairs , in doing Publick Iustice , and punishing Offenders ? The Resolution . IF you carry your self as Reason and Equity requires , indifferent to every ones Right ; and if you proceed not against Malefactors according to your uncontroulable Power , or with Partiality ; You may get Knowledge in this Point if you bear in Mind the Providence and wise Disposal of God , who granteth the Requests and Petitions of those are worthy ; and to the Malefactors and Vicious , he shews them , that he denies nothing but what is hurtful , and which appears such by their own Experience , or by the Admonitions and Terrors of Dreams : also he punisheth not the Sins of Men neither in proportion to their great Demerits , nor to his Almighty Power , but rather courts their Amendment , sweetly winning them by mild and gentle Methods . To the other . Fifth Question . What he should do to be invincible in War ? The Resolution . IF you put not your Trust in your warlike Preparations , nor in your own Strength ; but if you call upon God inces●antly to assist you in nothing but what is just , then will he direct and conduct your Counsels and Forces . To the other . Sixth Question . By what means he may make himself formidable to his Enemies ? The Resolution . IF you be provided of good Artillery , and well disciplin'd , and have due regard to your Stores and Provisions ; nevertheless that you keep not your Eye wholly on your Preparations , but raise it above them to God , who pulls back his Arm before he stretches it out , and then exerts it to our greater Dread and Amazement . To the other . Seventh Question . What thing may be to him most advantageous and best in this Life ? The Resolution . THat is , Great King , to have a constant Apprehension that God is the Sovereign Ruler of all Men ; for we have not the Power of our selves to address our Counsels to worthy Ends ; but it is God who ruleth over all things , that conducts and crowns with Perfection the Events of Humane Affairs . To the other . Eight Question . By what means he might keep his Treasure without Diminution , and leave it un-impaired to his Children ? The Resolution . IF incessantly you pray to God ( great King ) that he will give you good Advice and good Understanding in what you are continually negotiating ; and that you command your Children not to boast themselves , or grow proud either of Riches or Honour ; but that they acknowledge and perswade themselves that God hath bestowed all that they have , and what they enjoy is from his free Gift and Bounty ; and that for their part , they possess nothing which proceedeth from themselves . To the other . Ninth Question . By what means he may bear patiently good and evil Fortune . The Resolution . IF you consider with your self ( Great King ) that all Mankind are created of God , subject to this Lot , to be afflicted with great Misfortunes in the Beginning , and after to arrive at Prosperity , and so to share good and ill Fortune alternatively . For there is no man in this World that is not subject to such Variety , or is priviledg'd from it . But it is requisite you pray to God that he will be pleased of his free Goodness to reduce your Kingdom to Tranquillity . The King then approving this Reason , said , that they had answered all well and pertinently . But after ( said he ) I have made one Demand yet more , I will leave questioning , because we may return to our Rejoycing , passing the rest of this day in Jollity ; and six days hence we will bethink our selves of such Questions as we intermit at present . And so he put forth this Question to an other . Tenth Question . What is the end of Magnanimity ? The Resolution . IT is to be content when there happens cross Accidents af●●r you have provided good Counsel to ar●rive at the end of your Affairs● for God giveth good Success to Negotiations that are conducted by good and proper Councel . This Answer was receiv'd with Acclamations and Applauses by ●ll the Assistants . And the King tu●ning himself towards the Philosoph●r● which were there in some number● I am ( said he ) of Opinion , th●● these Men are excellently skill'd in Vertue , and that they have great Experience in all things , being they have so readily and pertinently , upon the sudden , answered to such high Questions , still founding their Speeches always in God. Then a Philosopher named Menedemus Eretriensis , answered the King in this Manner : Truly Sir , considering that Man is a Divine Work , which one may know by the Fabrick of the whole World ; it is a thing well-beseeming and reasonably fitting , that we begin with God , and resolve into him all the force of our Discourse . The King approving his Speech , all the Company betook them to make chear and to Jollity : and so the Feast lasted till Night with great Mirth and Recreation . Upon the morrow the Tables were disposed in the same order , and the Banquet continued . And when occasion to make Interrogatories was presented , the King began to address his Countenance to those , who in the Rank of Answering , were next to those that the former day had been questioned , beginning at the Eleventh , succeeding Ten precedent . Eleventh Question . What is the means to Rule well , and Govern a Kingdom happily ? The Resolution . THat is , first to rule your self well , and not suffer your self to be transported through self-Opinion by means of the Affluence of worldly Riches and Honour ; and not to aim at any thing by Oppression , or against Right , through an imperious Annoyance : which if you consider duely ( Great King ) and weigh well in your Mind , esteeming all things as they justly are ; you will reckon all that you possess as if it were nothing . Think also that God is full of all Goodness , and stands not in need of any thing : Which Thought you ought to fix deep in your Mind as firmly as your Humane Spirit can contain it ; and not too passionately to covet over-flowing Abundance of worldly Greatness and Riches , as thinking thereby to Reign better . To the other . Twelfth Question . How he ought to make choice of the best things ? The Resolution . IF you have regard always to what is Just and Equitable ; and if you esteem things unjust and wicked to be other than Privation of Life : for God hath ordained great and abundant Goodness for just Men. To the other . Thirteenth Question . How I may avoid the Vneasiness that many times proceeds from Dreams ? The Resolution . YOU ask me , Great King , a most nice Question ; for such things as discompose the Mind are out of Rule , since we are sometimes led by our Senses , arising either from what hath past , or from the Objects presenting themselves to our view . Whence many times we fancy in our Dreams , we are sailing upon the Sea , or are passing over Rivers ; many times that we fly aloft with Wings , soaring from place to place , and such like things as are ridiculous even to waking Thoughts . Moreover , things to which we have great Appetite and Desire , disturb our Fantasie in Dreams . Wherefore , Great King , I am of Opinion , that with all your Might , in all you say and do , your Intention should be purely addressed to Piety and Holiness , to the end , that persevering in that manner , you may be guided and fortified on all sides with Vertue , and so shew your self impenetrable to all Sensuality . And on the other side , that you never take by force from another what to him belongs of Right ; because the things wherein we most engage and employ our selves waking , commonly appear in Phantomes to us again in our Dreams , ins1nuated into our Fansies by the Appetites and Inclinations we had to them : but when you level all your Affections , Operations , and Affairs at the Mark of Virtue and Honesty , then sleeping and waking you will be at ease . To the other . Fourteenth Question . By what means he should do nothing indecently ? The Resolution . IF in all things you consider what appertains to your Degree , and what is in your Power ; to the end there fall not from you any thing unbecoming your Royal Dignity , either in Word or Deed : you must also bear in mind , that all your Subjects are discoursing still of you , judging all your Steps , and censuring your Courses . Further , consider how you are exposed to Flatterers , who dive into your very Thoughts upon every Change of your Countenance and Carriage , from which they will make use for their own ends : but in this , Great King , you may well understand how to demean your self , not submitting your Ear to any Person that may charm you with his Syren Flattery , or disguise the Truth by Dissimulation ; since God hath endowed you with great Affability of Behaviour , accompanied with Gravity and Dispatch . The King then received this Answer with great Joy and Applause , and gave all the Company leave to seek their Repose , to prepare themselves for meeting at the Feast the day following , which was ordered as the former . They being met , and the time presenting it self for Discourse , as before , the King made this Question to the first of those that had not yet spoken . Fifteenth Question . What thing is most difficult for a King ? The Resolution . THat is , to Command Himself , and not to permit himself to be prevailed upon by any exorbitant Appetites or Passions : for all Men have a certain Bent of Inclination by which they many times permit themselves to be led according as their Genius leads them , some to Banquets and Riot , others to Pastimes and Pleasures , wherein the greatest part of the Multitude are immerc'd : But Kings should have their Thoughts more elevated , as being excited by great Honour and Glory to frame their Actions to Conquests , and design the taking of Cities and reducing of Nations . Nevertheless , it is very commendable to keep a mea● , and to conserve carefully what God hath and shall give you , and not so much to affect what is out of reason or unworthy the high Glory of your Place . To the other . Sixteenth Question . What means he hath to avoid the Envy of Any ? The Resolution . IF before all things you bear in mind , that Riches , Honour , and Greatness , are the Gifts of God to Kings , of which no Person hath true right to dispose . Wherefore , if any aim to partake of this glorious Prerogative to be un-envied , he will never obtain his end , for it is the gift of God alone . To the other . Seventeenth Question . What he ought to do to oblige his Enemies ? The Resolution . IF you become gracious and favourable towards all bountiful Persons , without particular Respect of any : likewise in what you receive from others , not to shew your self ingrateful to the Services and good Offices you have received from them , for that is a sign of the Grace of God. To the other . Eighteenth Question . How he may continue in Glory and Honour ? The Resolution . IF towards others , and above all others , you excell in Bounty and Magnificence , accompanying the same with a good Grace , never will Glory and Honour abandon you : and it behoveth you still to pray to God that such Vertues may perpetually assist you . To the other . Nineteenth Question . To what Persons he should dispence Honour ? The Resolution . THey commonly judge ( Great King ) that we ought to dispense Honour where we especially love : but for my part I am of Opinion , that we ought to dispence all we can to the Envious , and to be gracious and bountiful to them , according to the utmost of our Power : to the end , that by such means they may be induced and won to do what is good and profitable ; in which Choice of our Favours , we must implore the Aid of God , who inspireth the Understanding , to the end he may accomplish in us this Perfection . To the other . Twentieth Question . What Persons he ought to gratifie ? The Resolution . FAther and Mother ( Great King ) before all Persons : for God hath annexed a great Commandment to the Duty we owe to our Father and Mother ; allowing after but a second place to Friends , whom he hath stiled proportionable in Nature . Further , I esteem it ( Great King ) no small Happiness , that you engage all the World to love you . To the other . One and twentieth Question . What is more worthy than Beauty ? The Resolution . THat is Piety , for that is a Beauty excelling all other , and its Force consisteth in Charity , which is a Gift of God , which you have , and with it you will inherit all Vertue and all that is good . To the other . Two and twentieth Question . By what means o●e may recover Greatdess and Glory once lost . The Resolution . THat is ( Great King ) if you are full of Benignity , Affability , and gracious to all the World ( which are things charming and attracting the Love of the People , ) it is hard if you lose your Greatness . On the other side , great Preparations for War give great Assurance : but those who fall into such Accidents , it is necessary that they abstain from what occasioned them to fall into such Inconveniences : and thenceforward they acquire Friends by giving themselves to the Exercise of Justice and Equity ; for good Works are the Gifts of God. To the other . Three and twentieth Question . How he may live without Anxiety ? The Resolution . IF you wrong no Man , and relieve every one , doing Justice to all the World : for from so doing we reap such pleasant Fruits as we shall always live pleasantly . Nevertheless , we ought to crave of God , that what Accidents happen contrary to Expectation , bring us no Damage , as Death , Sicknesses , and such like Inconveniences , which can do you no harm if you are full of Piety . To the other . Four and Twentieth Question . What thing in this World is worthy the greatest Honour ? The Resolution . THat is , to serve God ; not so much with Sacrifices or Oblations , as with a pure Heart and a sincere Conscience , and to conform your self to the Obedience of a simple and active Faith. Which if you do ( Great King ) it will firmly imprint this Truth in your Heart , That all you have done , and shall do hereafter , will be evident and appear to all the World. After this past , the King , with a loud Voice , saluted them all , ascribing to them great Praise , as did also the Assistants ; especially the Philosophers , who were there present , and not without Cause : For these Persons were of great Authority in all their Speeches , laying the Foundations of their Answers and Opinions alwayes in God. This done , the King returned to Feasting and Meriment . The day following , the Tables were covered in the same manner as before , and all the Lords as before being set at Table , the King taking his Opportunity of Devising , began to interrogate those who followed the others in the foregoing day of answering ; and made this Question . The twenty fifth Question . I would know if Prudence may be taught ? The Resolution . PRudence is a certain Dress and Ornament of the Soul , flowing ●rom the Divine Power , having this ●roperty to embrace what is good , ●nd to refuse its contrary . Six and twentieth Question . What thing is most advantageous for the Health of the Soul ? The Resolution . THat is Prudence , which non● can procure or obtain unle● God disposes his Understanding t● receive it . To the other . Seven and twentieth Question . How may one sufficiently yield d● thanks to their Father and M●●ther ? The Resolution . IF you give them no cause of Gri●● in the World , though there scarce any to be found who can 〈◊〉 govern themselves , excepting Go● Father of all Light , do illumina●●● 〈◊〉 Understanding to every Actio● 〈…〉 . To the other● Eight and twentieth Question . How he might be made covetous to hear many things ? The Resolution . IF you consider ( Great King ) how advantageous and profitable ●t is to know every thing Created : ●or by that means proportioning and ●djusting what you have understood ●o the quality of the times present , ●ou will have the choice of what ●ill be most agreeable and conveni●nt for you , in which you ought ●●wayes to pray unto ●od , that he ●ill be your Succourer ; for from ●im proceeds all accomplishment of ●ood Works . To the other . Nine and twentieth Question . ●hat he should do not to violate the Laws . The Resolution . ●F you were perswaded that God hath inspired those who have established the Laws , for the Directi●on and Government of the Lives o● us Mortals : you will well follow th● the other . Thirtieth Question . What Advantage may accrue to on● from Parentage . The Resolution . GReat King , if we weigh th● Accidents which happen to 〈◊〉 we shall find , when our Parents 〈◊〉 into Adversity , we share with the● therein , and are mutually oppress● and grieved with the greatness ● their Sorrow . And if there arrive 〈◊〉 so any Prosperity and happy Fortu●● to them , we are glad , and find th● Content and Satisfaction , in wh●●● we solace our selves . And in truth our Parents are so well advised t●● they can intermingle their Af●a● ami●ably together , and that all thi● between them be so well knit to●ther by the ties of an inviola●● Friendship : there is no place left any desire of a Life more happy , nor is the same capable of any addition save only of Continuance , which you are to beg of God. To the other . One and thirtieth Q●estion . How he might be free from all Fear . The Resolution . IF your Conscience be clear of all sense of past Guilt , setting God alwayes present before your Eyes , for ●he Guide and Conduct of all your Counsels to a good and happy issue . To the other . Two and thirtieth Question . How he should be readily assisted with Recollection and a due Presence of Mind at all Times ? The Resolution . IF you seriously reflect how to the Vicissitudes of Humane Life all the World is exposed , setting often before your Eyes the admirable Revolutions that God hath sent . Ho● some are raised to Riches and Honou● others pressed with Calamities , an● fallen into extream Disgrace . T● the other . Three and thirtieth Question . What Course he ought to take and pu●●sue to avoid being immersed in Sen●suality and Idleness . The Resolution . THis to you ( Great King ) wh● have the Rule of a great King●dom , and a multiplicity of Affairs t● manage is feasible . For in the di●●charge of so weighty an Employme●● it is impossible you should have an● Leisure to fix your Imagination u●●on any thing but your Affairs , sin●● they will take up all your Tim● It is convenient therefore , that yo● be alwayes intent upon your Charg● and that you pray to God , to give ●ou Grace to omit nothing of what concerns your Employment . To the other . Four and thirtieth Question . By what Signes he may know those who would impose upon him ? The Resolution . IF you consider with your self , what Freedom every one useth in your ●ehalf , whether he hath ever used the ●ame and so continueth the same fa●●ion still , to court you out of choice : ●r whether he gives you Counsel ●nly out of course , and that his Con●ersation and manner of Life be the ●●me as before : And whether he hath ●orgot nothing of what the Duty and ●ffection which he owes you doth ●equire ; Briefly , if his Affections and ●ther Fashions of Proceeding are va●●ed ; God instruct your Understand●ng to fore-see the Effect . Then the King commended them all , calling every one by his name , whereat all the Assistants rejoyced● The next day , when the King espied his fit Opportunity in the Feast , he began to Question the rest , as follows . Five and thirtieth Question . What is the greatest Neglect in the World. The Resolution . IT is to take no account of ou● Children ; and not to take due care for their Education , to train them up in Vertue , and to form in them good Manners and Behaviour For in our common Devotions we intreat God not only for our selves but also that it would please him to address our Children to all Goodness , and to impart Wisdom and Science to them ; which proceeds also from the Grace of God. To the other . Six and thirtieth Question . How he should come to be a Lover of his Countrey ? The Resolution . IF you perswade your self , that it is a happy thing to live and dye at home , and that Travels bring nothing but Folly to the Poor , and Dishonour to the Rich ; since most men are of Opinion that Travellers have been banish'd their Countrey for some Miscarriage , Debt , or Trespass . But you ( great King ) will easily obtain what you demand in doing well , ( as you do ) to all the World , for God will give you a happy issue in all your just Affairs and Actions . To the other . Seven and thirtieth Question . What Course one ought to take , to live agreeably with his Wife ? The Resolution . ALthough some kind of Women are nice and troublesom , and through their being Opiniators grow perverse : Being also frail , by reason of the weakness of the Sex , and subject to commit some Faults ; yet nevertheless it behoveth us to comply with them , and to use them for our Advantage , not striving with them , nor contradicting them with a froward Spirit ; for it is necessary to address our Life to a certain Butt or End , as the Governours and Pilots of Ships do in observing Land-marks , which Steps are all conducted by the Order and Providence of our great God. To the other . Eight and thirtieth Question . What Course he should take not to be deceived ? The Resolution . IF you act in every occasion according to Reason , you will not suffer your self to be lead away by the Insinuations of Detractors ; but ( as you are indowed with a discerning Spirit ) you will put a difference betwixt the Deeds and Sayings of every one . By which means you will be out of danger of being circumvented , accomplishing your desires in every Design which you shall lay with assured Judgment ; nevertheless you must imagin , that the skill of ordering every Affair , the carrying it on , and the event of it , is the Work of the Divine Power . To the other . Nine and Thirtieth Question . What he should do to avoid being Cholerick . The Resolution . IF you consider ( Great King ) that He on whom the Lives of many depend , is the occasion of a multitude of Deaths ; when he executeth his Will with Fury and Passion , and it is a detestable thing to extinguish the Lives of many out of an Affectation of Power : For when Subjects conform themselves to the Will of the Prince , humbly yielding and complying : What Ground hath he to disquiet himself , and to enter into Passion ? Moreover , he must remember , that God , who Guideth and Governeth the Universal World , is no way subject to Wrath , nor heated with Passion ; whose Example the Prince ought to copy in his benign and gentle Disposition . To the other . Fortieth Question . What thing is that which may well be foreseen by due Precaution . The Resolution . THat is to measure all things duly by the Line and Balance of right Reason ; and to conduct them to their intended End an Issue , and to reject whatever is unprofitable and impertinent , as contrary to right Reason ; in such sort , as sounding the Intention in every Proceeding , we come to the head of our Affairs , by good Counsel : But the Divine Vertue renders all Counsel assured and firm ; and Yours principally , because you are given to the Exercise of Piety . To the other . One and fortieth Question . What is it to play the Philosopher ? The Resolution . THat is , well and wisely to deliberate and consult all things that present themselves and happen to us ; and not to suffer our selves to be swayed by our irregular and fond Appetite , but to despise all Vanities and Follies arising from filthy Lust and sordid Lucre ; and to be alwayes ready to the accomplishment of all good Works , by as good and just Measures ; which to attain , we ought to implore the Aid of God incessantly . To the other . Two and thirtieth Question . What is the Royal Vertue of Hospitality . The Resolution . IT is to shew ones self not ingrateful , but bountiful to all the World , repaying with increase the good turns you have received from another ; in such sort as you may bear away the prize of Courtesie . For God greatly exalteth the humble , bearing great Favour and love to those that lessen and impoverish themselves liberally to raise the Vertue of others . To the other . Three and fortieth Question . What Works are of most duration ? The Resolution . HE is esteemed to do a lasting Work , who hath brought to pass a weighty Business and worthy of Regard ; and when it is such as the Beholders durst not put their hands to it , by reason of the Difficulty and Excellency of the Affair ; and that he nevertheless suffers none that have laboured in it to be unrewarded . Not omitting likewise , to feed with such as he hath obliged to engage therein , with all Necessaries . God having regard of all things in this World enriches men with variety of Gifts , allotting to some health of Body , and of Understanding , and many such Goods . Wherefore ( Great King ) you , in the imitation of God , ought to comfort the Afflicted ; and to convert their Calamities into Solace and Repose , as being assured that whatever is done by Justice and Equity , is most permanent and lasting . To the other . Four and fortieth Question . What is the Fruit of Wisdom ? The Resolution . THE Fruit of Wisdom is , when we have committed nothing whereof our Conscience doth knowingly reproach us , and when we have passed the Course of our Lives Sincerely . For by such means ( Excellent King ) there is bred in our Minds a very great Satisfaction , and an infinite joy , with a pleasant Complacence . For you ( Great King ) can never want hope in God , conducting your Reign in true Piety and Religion . These Answers heard , all the Assistants expressed signs of great Approbation , crowned with a chearful Applause . Then the King graciously invited them to drink . The Morning after , when all the Company returned to the Table , the King asked the rest in the following manner . Five and fortieth Question . What Course he should take never to be elated with Pride ? The Resolution . YOU will never be swelled nor elated with Pride , if you keep your self in an equality and moderation of Spirit , that is to say , if upon all Occasions you have this Maxim engraven in your Mind , That you who bear rule over Men , are no more then a Man yourself , reflecting also with your self , that God infatuateth the proud and arrogant , and raiseth those who are lowly and humble . To the other . Six and fortieth Question . What Counsellors he ought to have about him . The Resolution . THey should be your Counsellors ( Great King ) who have been long exercised and versed in your Affairs , and such as you know bear you great Fidelity and Love ; and who know how to conform and suit themselves to your Condition : the Light of God will discover those who are worthy such an Employment . To the other . Seven and fortieth Question . What is most Necessary to a King ? The Resolution . THE love of his Subjects ; for by that means he will make a Bond of indissoluble good will : For the rest , God accomplisheth that which one chuseth for the best . To the other . Eight and fortieth Question . What is the end of a Speech or Oration in Pleading ? The Resolution . IT consists , after you have proposed your Intention , in persuading that your cause is good , confuting the Objections of your Adversary , and shewing them to be inconsequent , worthless and impertinent : But the main end is to pursue duly the Point on every Occasion , and not to stray with Locutions ; for the true persuasion is a thing addressed from God. To the other . Nine and fortieth Question . How he should accommodate himself to divers People in one Kingdom . The Resolution . DOing and administring Justice to every one equally ; and by so doing you shall Govern and Rule them as you list : for the rest , God inspireth men with Power to discern the right of Kings . To the other . Fiftieth Question . In what things are we constrained to be sorrowful ? The Resolution . IN the Calamities and Adversities of our Friends , and most , when we see that such Calamities are of a long durance , and inevitable ; and when they are therewith so attacked , as to cause them to dye : For in such Griefs there is no means how we can take off our Sorrow , ( and if there were ) there is no possible hope of Remedy , nor any profit to be found against such Accidents , with which all humane kind are so grieved . For to avoid wholly all Mischances , is a business rather for a Divine Power , then a Mortal . To the other . One and fiftieth Question . In what thing a man deprives himself of Glory and Honour . The Resolution . WHen a man becomes untractable , and inaccessible , by fierceness and Pride : for then Vituperation comes upon him , and privation of Honour follows him : for God , who is the Governour of Glory , gives and takes it away , as seemeth good to him . To the other . Two and fiftieth Question . What kind of men he ought most to trust . The Resolution . TO those who bear you such love , that neither Fear , nor Avarice , nor Ambition , nor Covetousness , nor hope of Lucre , cannot at all have any Power to divert . Nevertheless , the shew of this Love is not easily to be discerned ; and in the same , it is needful to have Observation a long time , for those who are near to a King , aspire to make themselves rich , and spare no means to get , by his Favour , great Profit , and are naturally Traytors . But God conduct ( Great King ) your Councel , that they may sufficiently shew you who are those that perfectly love you . To the other . Three and fiftieth Question . What is that which conserveth a Kingdom ? The Resolution . THat is , that the King take diligent care , and give order , that those who are in Office , and have charge , commit no undue things to the prejudice of the People : The which you know very well how to perform , for ( as it seemeth ) God hath given you a Spirit very excellent . To the other . Four and fiftieth Question . By what means he might keep Grace and Honour ? The Resolution . BY Vertue : For she is the accomplishment of all great Works , and trips up the Feet of Vice , as you have long experimented by your excellent Bounty towards all Persons : Which in you is a sign of the Gift of God. To the other . Five and fiftieth Question . How in Time of War he might keep himself still in Tranquillity of Spirit ? The Resolution . IF you propose in your Mind , to give order that your Lieutenants and Captains commit nothing that is Evil ; but that they contend by Vertue one with another for the proof of their Vertue , and further , that they have in you a perfect Confidence , that you will have their Domestick Affairs in a singular Respect , if it happen that they lose their Lives for , and in your Service ; By this means you shall have no Occasion to be troubled , disposing all prudently by Divine Clemency , which will inspire you to understand all that is good . King Ptolomy receiving this Answer with great expressions of Joy , with a chearful Countenance entreated them all to drink , shewing extream Content and Satisfaction . The seventh Day , the Feast was prepared more great and more sumptuous than it had hitherto been ; because that many Ambassadours from Cities were arrived there . Then all being set in their Order , the King finding occasion to devise , asked the first of those that had not yet spoken their Advise in this same manner . Six and fiftieth Question . How he might be resolved throughly by Reason , and by Arguments ? The Resolution . IF you weigh well the Propositions which you shall hold , and the Persons which speak , and the Subject whereof they treat : and ●hat you often inform your self , and that in divers manners , and by long intervals of time , of the estate of the above said Affairs : For the Bounty of the Spirit is an extraordinary Gift of God , by which one may easily know and discern all things● To the other . Seven and fiftieth Question . Wherefore is it that many cannot approach unto Vertue ? The Resolution . BEcause Nature hath Created al● Humane Creatures subject to incontinence , and prompt to Voluptuousness ; from whence Injustic● and Iniquity is ingendred , and Ava●riciousness does greatly abound . Bu● the estate of Vertue whose Nature is fixed on things sublime , casts away all those whom Voluptuousness doth cause to be alienated from her . Fo● she commends before all things , tha● Justice and Magnanimity shall be observed , the which God gives , and is therefore the principal Author . To the other . Eight and fiftieth Question . What is that which Kings ought to follow above all things . The Resolution . THat is the Laws : To the end that they ruling the lives of ●ubjects by just and equitable Acts ( as we have heard you do ) Great ●ing , you shall gain by this means ●●mortal Memory , if you follow the ●recepts and Commands of the most ●igh . To the other . Nine and Fiftieth Question . Who are those that one ought to elect for Offices and Magistracies ? The Resolution . THEY are those that are averse to all things unjust , and ●●at are imitators of your Actions : and that being drawn with the sweetness of Vertue , pursue incessantly after good Works , that they may attain to Glory and Honour , to which certainly , O Worthy King still following Vertue , you will a●●tain : For God is he that crowne● with Honour and Glory glorio●● Justice . To the other . The Sixtieth Question . What Persons ought one to choose for Captains ? The Resolution . THose that do most exceed Justice and Magnanimity , a●● yet have more respect to the Lives● Men than to a bloody Victory : F●● God is he from whom all Mort●● receive infinite Goodness , the whi●● you shall excellently imitate , if y●● persist in doing good to your Su●●jects . To the other . The One and Sixtieth Question . Who is the Man worthy of Admiration ? The Resolution . THat is he who doth highly abound in Glory and Greatness , is opulent in Riches , and sublime in Puissance : yet nevertheless yields himself affable and kind , just and equitable to every one , as we have heard , Great King , you do ; and the same shall make you admired by every one : For it is God that hath engraven this Sollicitude in your Heart . To the other . The Two and Sixtieth Question . What behoveth him to exercise himself in , when he is at leisure , that he may not thereby be drowned in Sloth ? The Resolution . IT is necessary , with all imaginable care and diligence to consider the Discourse which offer concerning the form and manner of living : which every one ought constantly to have before his Eyes . Likewise , to bear always in mind , to wha● end , Property , and Vertue , were al● things ordained : Because in the sai● Discourse there is much good an● honest pastime conjoined to the in●crease of Knowledge . For amongst little and vile things , one finds ma●ny times something that may pleas● him to choose and take ; for the re●● ( Great King ) it seems well to u●● God hath in a great measure so fa●voured you , that you will still b● electing all vertuous behaviour an● kindness , by the great honour yo● bear to the study of Wisdom . T● the other . The Three and Sixtieth Question . In what things ought Kings most to employ their time ? The Resolution . IN the knowledge of Histories , and in reading Books , which treat of Affairs , that most often present themselves to him : in which it is needful that● he imploy much time . It beho●eth moreover , that he enquire for those Writings that teach to conserve Kingdoms , and to correct the manners of men : which to accomplish with such diligence as you do , God will give prosperity to your Designs , in which he will grant you ●n excellent Glory far above other Kings . To the other . The Four and Sixtieth Question . What Persons ought one to invite to Banquets ? The Resolution . ONe ought to call those which are desirous to learn , and those who often think how the Affairs of a Kingdom ought to pass , and that know how to recount the Lives of Princes : for there is nothing more pleasant , nor more delectable then such Company . For they are those that are well instituted and instructed in the Beauty of Knowledge , and have God in high Reverence . The which thing it seems you do accomplish well ( Great King ) as one may perceive , in that God hath been pleased to send you Prosperity and Happiness in all your Affairs . To the other . The five and Sixtieth Question . Which is most profitable for the People , either to choose over them a King from a private Person , or to obey a King that was Son to a King ? The Resolution . THE most profitable to the People is that which is most agreeable with Nature : For although that some Kings Sons be sometimes Oppressors of the People , yet those which from private Persons come to be exalted to such Sublimity and Greatness , because they have experienced Poverty , and endured Calamities and laborious Travels of private Persons , they are more cruel then bloody Tyrants , and Rule their Subjects by force and intolerable Violence . Wherefore the Ordinance received and accustomed , and the common fashion of doing , is much more sure , and far better for Government , that it come from the King by Succession , from Father to Son , as it is with you ( Worthy and Great King : ) for your Greatness and Excellency consisteth not so much in Honours , Glory , and great Domination , as in Clemency and Benignity . The which ( by a Gift from God ) draweth and attracteth the Hearts of all Persons to love you . The King accepted this Answer with Praise , and turn'd himself towards the last , saying , The six and sixtieth Question . What is most profitable to a Kingdom ? The Resolution . THat is , to hold and maintain th● People in Peace ; and to giv● order that Suits and Process of La● should be immediately and withou● delay adjudged definitively ; for such things are executed when the Prince hateth the wicked , and sheweth Fa●vour and Kindness to good and ho●nest Men , and such as be vertuous and that he esteems it a great thin● to have saved the Life of one of hi● Subjects : as we have been informed you do ( Great King ) that abhor● all Murderers , disposing and tem●pering all by Justice : In which yo● adorn to Eternity the Greatness o● your Deeds ; God having inspire● you with a Soul free from all foul●ness of Vice , and illustrated the same with most excellent Vertue . AFter these Answers , there arose a great Noise of Congratulations and Applauses with an excessive joyful Acclamation , and the whole Hall was full of joyful Shouts . The King then commanding silence , and taking his Cup , invited them all to drink : then addressing his Sp●ech to the said Doctors , pronounced these Words in the presence of all the Assembly . I repute this day ( my Masters ) to be to me most happy by your Presences , for your Answers have ●rought to me most great Profit and Instruction for the Government of my self and my Kingdom . Thus all being ended , he ordained ●hat to every one of the Doctors ●hould be delivered three Talents of Silver , and by and by gave to every one of them a Page to wait upon ●hem at their Table . So with great contentment to every one , the Feast was ended with great Praise of the Kings Liberality ; who above all , shew'd a Countenance of receiving the greatest Satisfaction and most joyful content . I Have been hitherto Philocrates , thus prolix in the recital of the Business , which I have done , for the great esteem I have had of such men , and of their Wisdom : marvelling at the readiness of their Answers , being so pertinent to that which was proposed to them upon the sudden : shewing such Elegance in their Speech , as if these Questions had been long time in premeditation : and that he who proposed them , had thought of them long before he demanded them : and yet their Answers to him were found so agreeable , as if they had long before consulted together about them . Wherefore it is no wonder that they seem admirable , not to me only , but to the Phylosophers also , and to all them that were present , assuring you that such things are more hard to believe than one would imagine , in which I will not wonder , if the Faith of the Readers be vanquished : For my part , what occasion have I to add Dreams or Falsities , seeing that all which I have Written , is to be found in the Registers of the King , where it is held the greatest of Crimes , to find any untruth in the least thing of the World. I assure you then , that this Recitation is most true , containing the Discourse of all the things as they have passed in verity , without mixture of any Errour ; for to this end , that I might best know the truth , I have used this Diligence to search publick Registers , where we may see recited the Banquets and Feasts , together with the Interrogations also of the King ; and the Answers which were given him , and all even Word for Word ; from whence I have borrowed what I have here Written . For you know it hath been the custom to Register and Inroul all that hath been done and said , every day from the time that the King began to give Audience , unto the time He went to Bed , without omitting any thing that he did , or was said to his Majesty : A course truly , very profitable and well instituted : For by that means the registred Acts of the precedent day being read , if any thing were omitted in what the King had said or done , there might be Opportunity of amendment . Therefore , after I had diligently searched the Day Book of the King , I have collected the same for you , here by Writing , as afore-said ; Well knowing the extraordinary great desire you have to understand all remarkable Occurrences . The means used by the 72 Doctors , in their Interpreting , or Translating the Law. THree dayes after these Feasts and Disputes were ended , Demetrius conducted all these Doctors towards the Sea , into an Isle ; and entring upon a Bank , passed a Bridg which led towards the North , where the place designed for this Assembly was , and where they should hold their Conference for their Interpretation of the Law. It was a House of Pleasant Scituation , and most magnificent , upon the Banks of the Sea , very stately and curiously decked and trimmed : where , above all Conveniencies , there was great silence for the tranquility of the Spirit , and repose of the Understanding . Moreover , there was all things necessary for Life , carefully provided and prepared with great convenience and ease . In this place Demetrius entreated them they would dispose themselves to the I●terpretation of the Law , in which they began to proceed , disputing , and conferring together of every thing , untill they came all to one general accord and consent , to resolve in a true sence advisedly . The which done , they set down in Writing , that which was by them so composed and reduced into good order , the most learnedly , and the most eloquently that they could , by the Advice and Counsell of all , they put it apart , that the same might afterwards be put into the Hands of Demetrius . Their Colloquies and Conferences lasted from the Morning untill nine of the Clock , and so rising from these Disputes , they went to take Recreation and Air for their Health , after all things were sumptuously administred unto them . For Dorothea , who had the same in charge , was therein so careful , that there was nothing made ready for the Kings Person , but every day they had as much of the same to every single Person , and he would once the day come to visit them with courtship in his own proper Person , and they sometimes went to salute the King with great Reverence , and so return'd to privacy . Every Morning it was their Custom to make their Prayers to God , after they had wash'd their Hands in the Sea , as the Iews customarily use Lavations , and then retir'd to their Readings and Interpretations . I was so bold to ask them why they so washed their Hands before they made their Prayers ? to which demand they made this Answer : that this washing of the hands did admonish them to do nothing wickedly , but to devote all their Actions to Piety , and Sanctity : because that all the Works they did with their Hands might be effected according to Justice , Truth , and Cleanness , as we have before said . To conclude , these Personages being in such Serenity of Air , Beauty of dwelling , Tranquility of Silence , Pleasantness of Repose , and Royal Entertainment , finished the Work undertaken : and , which is a note of Admiration , ( they had so expresly ordered it among themselves ) and followed it with such care and diligence , that the Interpretation of the Law was fully finished in the space of 72 Dayes . Demetrius then seeing the Translation and Interpretation of the Law was so well and happily brought to an end , used means that the multitude of the Iews , then being in Egypt , might be convocated to the place where the Work was then perfected : to whom he shewed how all things had been done , beginning with all Circumstances of the Enterprize , and all in the presence of the Interpreters . To the King all the Multitude attributed great Praise , and gave infinite thanks , for being the mediate cause of so important a good , and a benefit of such excellency : Likewise they shared a part of the Honour to Demetrius , intreating him to shew them that Favour as to have a Copy for their Princes , for to haue their Advice , and to deliberate upon the Profit or Damage that might arise upon the same . In this sort was the Law reviewed , re-known , and received in the assembly of the Princes of the Iews , and of the Multitude , and of the Ambassadors of Towns. And upon Proclamation made ( the seventy two Doctors being present ) that all was well and holily Translated , and done after a most exquisite manner : it was provided that nothing thereof should be changed , and that all things should remain in the same estate without alteration of the least thing or tittle . As the Translation was thus approved of all , and the Decree made for the ratification of the same ; Demetrius commanded that according to their custom , they should make Imprecations and Maledictions against those which should undertake or should presume to add any thing thereto , or to transferr it otherwayes by changing , effacing , or ordering any thing whatsoever it were , unto that which was so perfectly now written . And when all was perfected and accomplished in this manner , he ad●ured the Iews to hold , keep , and preserve it inviolably for ever : the which they promised to do with great Joy and Acclamation . So Demetrius , finding himself greatly satisfied , especially because he had been a great Conductor of the Work : and that he had given to the King such Content in the happy execution and accomplishment of his charge , and of this his Felicity , made great Complements to the King. Who having after with great Diligence perus'd this Interpretation , and considered the profundity of the Sence of the Law-maker , which he admired with an astonished regard : he said to Demetrius , How comes it to pass that none of the Poets or Historians have put their Hands to this Law , being it is a thing of so high and perfect Excellency ? To which Demetrius answered , that no body never durst touch it , as well for the reverence of the same , as also that God had forbidden it ; so as some having presumed to attempt it , have been chastised with Divine Punishment : whereupon they have been constrained to desist from their enterprize : For , as testifieth Theopompus , which , by a recital of himself , saith , that presuming to transferr into his History some Secrets of the Holy Law , he was afflicted more then 30 dayes following with a perturbation of his Understanding : But calling upon God in the Intervals and Cessations of the most vehement fits of this his Malady , it was told him in his sleep , this Punishment was sent him from God , for having presumed to prophane and falsifie things Sacred . So by this Vision he was corrected , repented , and perfectly received his Sences again . And , said Demetrius , upon mine own knowledge , I affirm , that Theodorus a Tragick Poet , willing to usurp something from this Law , therewith to enrich his Poesie , lost his sight : Nevertheless , advising with himself , and concluding that this his Audaciousness was the cause of his Blindness , prayed to God for many dayes , whereby he came again to Health . The King , saying that this was wisely spoken , adored the Law : Commanding that the Books of the same should be preserved the most curiously and carefully that might be possible : and advising with the Interpreters , benignely and graciously prayed them , that when they were in Iudea , they would often come and see him . Finally , he gave order , that they should be honourably returned back and conducted into their Country , promising them , that how oft soever , and when they pleased to return , he would entertain them as his principal Friends : so honouring them with fair Presents according to their Merits , and commanding that all things should be made ready for the dispatch of their return , using towards them all Royal Magnificence ; He gave to every one of them three rich Habilliments , and two Talents of Gold , and an excellent Cup of the weight of a Talent . Moreover , Furniture to furnish a Chamber ; over and above he sent to Eleazer ten Table-beds or Couches of ease , which had the Feet of Silver , and adorned with all that was necessary to the beautifying of them . Further , he sent him a Present of thirty Talents of Cilicia , that is to say , ten Robes , whereof the one was of Purple ; and a fair Crown of an hundred Tunicks of Crespe , of Viols , of Basins , and two Cups of Gold for the Sacrifices . After , he intreated Eleazar , that when any of the said Doctors should desire rather to return to him , then to remain in Hierusalem , that he would not hinder them by any means , for he protested he made great esteem of wise Mens Company ; and that he would spare for nothing to draw them to him . In which he should best employ his Riches , to all imaginable Content and Profit , and not , as some Prodigal Princes do , in vain Trifles that profit nothing . Behold here , my Philocrates , the Present which I promised you ; in which I hope , you will take more Pleasure , than in reading vain , fabulous Narrations , being that you use to whet and sharpen your Understanding in the Contemplation of the most great and Noble Actions : In which you have imployed much time , which hath given me occasion now to write you things worthy and excellent , and the best that I could chuse , because that betwixt us I would kindle a kind Contention and Emulation of amiable Vertue , for the desire to have an intelligence of things more worthy to be observed , and which are the most excellent . The end of ARISTEUS his History . Proofs concerning this History . NOW follow sundry Opinions of divers Authors , Ancient and Modern , concerning this Business and Translation of the Law of Moses . And first , an Extract from the fourth Chapter of the fifth part o● the several Collections of Pietr● Messie , in which there fell ( saith he ) an admirable and miraculous hap● viz. How the 72 Interpreters being put severally into several Cells , b● the Commission of the King , without possible means to conferr th● one with the other , and that afte● they had made , so separated , ever● one his Traduction , and being brough● all together before the King with all their Traductions , neverthele●● were all found so conformable , tha● there was not one syllable more in the one than in the other : which could not be without the especial Grace and Operation of the Holy Ghost ; as saith Saint Augustine , Ireneus , and Tertullian , who saith , he had seen in his Time , and in Alex●ndria , the very Books written by ●he Hands of the seventy two Tran●lators , which were in Hebrew and in Greek . As much also saith Iustin the Philosopher , in the Book of his Ad●ertisements , that he made to the Pagans and Gentiles : where he saith , that King Ptolomeus made to be built , without the City of Alexandria , se●enty two Halls , to lodg severally the seventy two Traductors , and there ●rovided very honourably for them ●ll , of all that to them was necessa●● : In the which place , the said ●ranslators remained , without one ●eing the other , untill that such ●●eir Translations were perfectly ●●nished . And he affirmeth also , ●o have seen then the Ruins and old Walls of these Buildings , which were kept as Reliques and things Sacred . And although Saint Hierom and Ruffinus agree not in the number o● the said Chambers , the matter is no● great . Seeing that according to Sain● Augustin , and many other Author● every Translator made his Transla●tion apart , without conference wit● the other , yet all the Traduction● were found conform . And truly , however , when it i● duely considered , it appears a grea● Mystery , and may be held for a grea● Miracle of this Conformity of Styl● and of Order , to Translate a thing so long and so diverse , although al● the Translators had been togethe● and that they had begun this Wor●● at this time . For we see that it is enough for tw● men to accord in one only poin● when they are to mix something to●gether . After the Translation was finis●●ed , the Iews that remained in Egyp● and which had been versed in their Law , recommended to the King this Holy Writing ; wherewith the King was right well content . And for certain , according to Iosephus , and Eusebius , King Ptolomy was astonished at the Holy Scriptures , and ravishingly taken with their Mysteries : That he demanded of Demetrius Phalerius ( who had the charge of his Library ) saying , How comes it ●hat Lycurgus , Solon , and other Law-●ivers , are so silent of the Law of ●he Iews ? To whom Demetrius answered , ●aying , ( Sir ) This Law , as you may ●ufficiently see , comes from God , so ●hat no Law-giver durst be so har●y to touch it , or take from it any ●ract : For even Theopompus was ●rucken by the Divine Hand with ●erturbation of his Sense , and with ● Cardiack Passion , for having a will ●o mix the Holy History of the He●rews , by his Inriching it with elo●uent Words , and rhetorical Colours . But after returning to God , an● commending himself to his Mercy , 〈◊〉 was revealed to him in a Dream , th● his Disaster came upon him for so a●tempting to embellish , and ( as 〈◊〉 thought ) to enrich the Sincerity 〈◊〉 the Holy Scriptures with drest Wor● and trim'd Phrases , and to comm●●nicate it so to the Pagans and I●●dels . It comes also into my thought how Theodorus , a Tragick Poet , su●denly lost his sight , for having tak● one only passage of Holy Writ● Argument of his Tragedy : but ●●●penting him of the same , and doi●● Penance for his Forfeit , he re●●●vered his sight as before . HItherto are the Words of P●●tro Messie , by the which 〈◊〉 may see the Diversity of Opinio● that is amongst Authors , concerni●● this Translation of the Law of ●●●ses . For my self , it seemeth to 〈◊〉 that Aristeus , which was always p●●●sent , and that had conduced to the affair in part , meriteth that one do him the Honour to give belief to his History , although some Doctors ●herein vary . A short Discourse of the Antiquity and Dignity of the Sacred Books , and Excellency of their inspired Writer , the Prophet Moses . By the English Translator . AS the true God is the ancient of Dayes and Times ; so it pleased him that his perpetual History , contained 〈◊〉 Holy Scriptures , should excell in Anti●uity of Time , all other Histories and ●ritings of the World that can be ●●und ; the Writings of the Pagans , and ●ations , being all under these , and long ●●ter , and that only of Moses , the Sub●●ct of this former History , contains the ●ccount of years justly from the Creation and beginning of the World , even unto the coming of the promised Redeemer . A reckoning ( I say ) so just and certain , that there is no such to be found . For to come to the Time wherein the Prophet of God , Moses , the first Writer of Holy Writ , began to write manifestly under the Lord of Heaven and Earth ; we may gather , and without prejudice , of all that then could be done ; as by a Passage , amongst many other places , we read of in the seventeenth Chapter of the Book of Exodus , where it is said , God Commanded him to write ; and that in the same year the People of Israel issued ou● of Egypt , which was from the Creation of the World 2513. Upon which w● may advertise our selves , that the year● are calculated according to Verity of the said Scriptures , by the faithful Servant● of God , which have happily travelled therein . And therefore we need not rest upo● the Calculation of Histories , Annals , and humane Chronicles , or other Writer● that have not intirely followed Holy Scriptures , who are discordant amongs● themselves , and many times directly opposite to one anothers times . Therefore , if we diligently search all Antiquities and Writings of men of all Nations , that have any appearance of certain time , wherein those Writings were made , and after confer those times with the things recited and inregistred by the Holy Prophet Moses , and the time wherein he writ them ; we shall see manifestly ●he Excellency and Antiquity that he is herein above all men : For the Fables and Disguisements of prophane Poets , Greeks and Latines , which all came a long time after Moses : Amongst them ( I say ) we shall see no other but mani●est Dreams , Lyes ; and amongst other things notable , some Corruptions of the Sacred Scriptures , long before Writ●en , of which , they having heard some ●●ckling , and received it as from hand to hand , or drawn it from his Writings , ●or heard it recounted by the Father to the Son , and they from thei● A●cestors , which were the Children a●d Successors of the three Sons of Noah , who was the second Father of huma●● kind , and restorer of the Nations of all the World , all issuing from his Posterity , after the universal Flood . His three Sons , ( as Holy Scripture hath acquainted us with , ) where Shem , Ham , and Iaphet , of whom are descended all the Earth : And this before spoken , is easily and sufficiently discovered in the Writings of the said Pagans , by the proper Names of the said Children of Noah , and of their Successors , which of long time before these Writings and prophane Histories , had been named by Moses . For the Pagans testifie , that the People had made of these Ancient Fathers● Idols , and Gods : As of Iaphet , Iapetus , they drew Iavan , Ianus , and Ion ; and because they were Names held in the Hebrew Letters , or value of them ; they accommodated them to their Tongues and Letters , and to make them more easie and glib in their accustomed Pronunciation , came near , but with al●eration . And if we will go more high , and weigh the old Times of the first Age which preceeded the Flood , as we have it from that only History of Moses in the Holy Bible : We shall easily perceive that the Pagan Poets and Writers have received , even the Ancient Names , and mingled them amongst their Fables and Dreams , and drawn them from the Holy Scriptures . And so it shall appear plainly , that their false God , Vulcan , is not very hard to unmask , that he was a mortal Man , and one of the Sons of the other Lamech , the prime Bigamist and corrupter of Marriage ; who descended of that accursed Race of Cain : And this appears by the faculty of this Vulcan , which was a Smith or forger of Armour : And Moses declares him so , and by his Name too , for he is by him called Thu-vulcain ; and every one any thing skill'd in the Hebrew , knows , that if they leave the first Letter , which is servile , and put to form the Name , according to the manner of the Hebrews , it will appear mere Vulcain ; for their Letter Beth , B. having not a prick in him , is pronounced as our v Consonant . And for the name of Vulcain's Wife , by Moses call'd Nehama , which signifieth Fair in their Language , or , as speak the Latines , Venusta : It is a plain course to discover vain Beauty , or their so much celebrated , unchast , and wanton Venus . A goodly Race and fair Family , of that accursed murtherer , Cain . And here may we see some of the proper Gods and Idols of the poor Pagans , amongst that Anthill of such and other ill stoln Names , unhandsomely fetch'd from the Holy Scriptures , with and by the subtilty of the Devil ; to the end that a wicked Troop of execrable Gyants , violent oppressors of men , Thieves , and Adulterous desperates , shaken off , and damned by the Word of God , of whom the first Apostate and Lyer , Sathan , made his counterfeit Gods and Idols ; the old Serpent , expert and knowing in all malice , that there was no better way for him to muffle and blind humane Judgement from the knowledge of the true God , at first ingraven in the Souls of men , but by this counterfeit device with Posterity . But to pass farther in our begun purpose , touching the fabulous Writings of the Pagan Poets , we shall find , that their Discourse , in the best we can of it , is but Corruptions of the Truth , in the Holy Scriptures of God , or things therein revealed ; turn'd by them into Dreams , and prophane Narrations : As we may see , in that they writ of the Creation of the World , and Government of the same , of the Divine vertue that sustains and interiourly nourisheth all things ; of the Consumption of Heaven and Earth with Fire at the last Day , and also of the Restoration of the World , and of all things in such good order , for all so many Confusions proceeding from Sin. All which things they might obtain , and by some dark means draw from the Books of Holy Scripture and Sacred Prophets , translated out of Hebrew into other Languages , or understand something by means of the dispersion of the People of Israel , spread through all the Provinces of the Roman Empire , and through all the Quarters of the World. For the Iews had for the most part leave in all Places to hold their Synagogues , and to have publick Lectures of their Law and Prophets : When these Poets , flatterers of men , turn'd all that , spoken of the Person of Christ , the promised Redeemer , and that then was expected ; falsely to apply them by flattery to their Princes , false Gods and Idols . But let us leave all those Juglers and Lyers , that durst be so prophanely bold to corrupt the pure Verity of God's Word , and speak we of the Gentiles Writings , how long they came after Moses , and Writ since he : and that even they have given Testimony to him and his Divine Writings , which may at least suffice to convince all Contradictors , that Moses was in Nature , and before them all . We understand , that his reckoning is a perpetual following all the years since the Creation of the World , even unto his time , as it is easie to gather by his Books , and his account of the Years , and Lives of the first Fathers , from Adam , unto the Patriarch Abraham , and after , from his Successors , as from Father to Son , to wit , Isaac , Iacob , Levi , Caath , Amram , and then Aaron , and Moses himself , Children of the said Amram : And that he had express charge to Write to the very last , the year since the Creation of the World , 2513. and of his Life the 80. Year , and hath continued his Holy Stories , even to the year of his Death , and of the World , 2553. Now since that time● God hath always so provided for the advancement of his Glory , and the edification of his Church , that the perpetual History of her , and the certain account of the years of the World , hath been continued and still put in Writing by his Prophets . As it is to be seen in the Holy Books that treat of and contain the Government of Ioshua , and the Iudges : then to Samuel , and the Kings of the People , unto the Transmigration into Babylon , and of other Governours , which have succeeded them , after their return from thence . And finally , the Prophet Daniel hath declared the rest of the time , that is , The 490 years since the said Deliverance of the Jews , and return from Babylon , by the means of Cyrus , King of Persia , even to the Death and Resurrection of Christ the Redeemer , promised to the Holy Fathers , which is our Lord Iesus , the eternal Son of God , true God , and true Man ; who appeared living after his Death and Resurrection to more than five hundred faithful Witnesses at one time , besides his other manifestations , and mounted visibly into Heaven in the year of the World , 3961. Now if we will lear●h all the Histories of all the Nations of the World , of whom the Writings are arrived to our Age , the most Ancient time of which they make mention shall be of their antient Destruction of Troy by the Greeks . The History whereof hath been written by Dictis of the Isle of Creet , which is the best Testimony they have for the present , and since , by Homer and many others . And from this Destruction , Diodorus Siculus , renowned amongst the Historians , began his Books ; now the same , according with the common Judgment and Calculation of knowing men , comes only to be about 358 years before the building of Rome ; the same time then falls to be in the sixteenth year of the Government of Elon , Judge of the People of Israel , mentioned in the Book of Iudges . And the same was 316 years before the first Olympiade , the reckoning of the Annals of the Greeks : So then the said Destruction of Troy falls to be only under the year of the World 2838. VVhen therefore we shall give consent , that their Writings , the most certain , whose Narrations we may best give Credit unto : Yet the Prophet Moses shall be found much more Ancient then all the Writers of the World , what Nation soever , though they are in great number , and of whom we see yet the old Books in these last times in their proper Tongues . And that he hath put his hand to the Pen , and began to write his Divine Revelations of the Creation and Conduct of the World even to his time , and his sacred History and Prophesies touching the Church of God shall at least be 325 years before all other Writers , of whom there is any mention or news in the World ; that is to say , in the year of the World 2513. Whereupon we note , even to this present , against all those prophane Mockers that have disgorged that enormous Blasphemy amongst others , that the World is eternal and of it self : which if it were , so as they dream , and that it had no such beginning as is written by Moses , they might find then by all , and in all Languages , many Histories of infinite times , and many Chronicles of many Ages , and of old times that have preceded Moses in the account of years . But we see that there is no such , and that the holy Bible is found even in the middle amongst all sorts of Enemies that strive to destroy , lose , abolish , burn , and extermine from the World the Books of it , and for all thereto they had so long time , yet nevertheless they never could , nor ever shall . For we see the said Bible yet , in his proper Writing and Language , and of all others of what Nation soever , the most celebrated and renowned : and if they could find any History , which had been written before Moses was born into the World , yet shall it contain their Time and Composition , with more years and ages , as we can gather from the holy Scriptures , even to this present year 1633 , since the Nativity of Christ. The which account of times past from the Creation unto this present year , shall come to amount to 5563 years , but such Histories neither can be found , nor ever were . But for Moses , and his faithful Writings , even prophane Authors and Histories of the Gentiles themselves , have been , even as it were , divinely constrained to bear Testimony , maugre their Calumnies , Lyes , Dreams , and Disguisings , through and by the invincible force of Truth . And so they have served for Certificates to all Nations of the venerable and well known Antiquity of him and his Holy Writs . For some of them have noted , and writ thus , ( as a thing notorious of their times ) to wit , That in the East parts , and of Syria it self , there had been an Abraham , an Israel , and even a Ioseph , who , say they , was a Son of the said Israel , sold by his Brethren , and led into Egypt . Then how he was received into the Court , and held very dearly with the King , to whom he foretold the grievous and great Famin ; so as without the Divine Counsel by him given , ( whereupon the admonished King gathered up and made Reservation of Corn before the time of the said Famin , ) Egypt had perished . And finally , how his Successor Moses , and all his People issued out of Egypt , came to Mount Sinai , how they consecrated the Seventh day for their Sabboth , or resting day : But I will leave this Discourse , though diversified from a spark of Truth , that these Historians have mixed with their own Devices , as prophane ; and in which they were poorly advertised and deceived , by the subtilty of Satan , as we may well know by conferring their Writings with the Holy Bible . And be it that these Scoffers of God and his Holy Word , dare be so bold to say and affirm , that Moses , and his , have suppressed and abolished all Precedent Histories , making their Writings to be before all others , thereby to Authorize them the better ; yet we will leave those their Calumnies to the Judgment of any of sound Sense and Understanding : If that could be , or can have any place or shadow of belief amongst men of sound Judgment or reasonable Discourse : For if they will put into mature Consideration , the small means and contemptible Quality in the World of these poor Israelites , but Shepherds and breeders of Cattel ; and , which is worse , People exposed to the Oppressions and hard Servitude under their puissant Enemies , and evil disposed Neighbours . Then who shall make comparison of them with great Kings and People of the Earth , Babylonians , Aegyptians , Syrians , Romans , and other Potentates , who with all their Authority , their Edicts , Forces , and Armies , had never power to abolish the Holy Books , written simply by our poor Shepheards ; when they could not conserve their Royal Libraries , favoured of all the World ! Truly , this may well put to the blush these wiselings , that shew themselves fools in so speaking , and discoursing without Discourse , and will Judge of things without inquiry . Now for the Integrity of Moses , for us Christians , we are sufficiently cleared and satisfied by the Authority of the Holy Spirit of God , who hath given excellent Testimony by all the Scriptures , both in the Old and New Testament , of his Original and Lineage , being descended from the latter Levi , Nephew of the Holy Patriarch Abraham : Also of his miraculous Conservation and Deliverance from Death and Waters ; from whence he was drawn forth , and then had that name of Moses in their Language . Then his Royal Education and Breeding , his Love to his afflicted People , and his Magnanimity to despise humane Greatness , in preferring the just cause and sufferance of Christ , the Redeemer then look'd for , before all the Regal Estate and great Treasure of Aegypt . Moreover , his sufferance long and bitter , for the defence of Right and Equity , and for the Deliverance of the poor afflicted : His Divine calling to the Charge and Government of his People , his Patience , Gentleness , and Perseverance with such Faithfulness , in the difficult Execution of this weighty Charge , and the singular gift of Prophecy , and of his Divine Miracles so strange and supernatural , that they have been admired and celebrated of all the whole World. But there is one point above all , very Remarkable , and which is more than sufficient to overcome humane Reason , and to shew the Integrity of Moses ; which is , that if he had would , he might easily , and according to the manner of men , have had the Monarchy and Domination for his Children , and their Posterity , upon all the People of Israel : And with the same , the two fertile Kingdoms , reduced under his hand , and Conquered beyond Iordan . Nevertheless , he left his Sons , Gersom and Eliezer , and their Posterity , private men , and of most simple Estate , amongst the other Levites . And the same Children remaining subject to the Sacrificers , Successors of Aaron , and to the Magistrates and Governours of Israel . More , that he hath himself written and inregistred his own proper Faults ; and yet more notable , those of his House ; as of his Brother , Sister , and Nephews , and the most remarkable Judgments of God's Chastisements and Punishments of them all . Of which things , all his People were Witnesses , in number more than six hundred thousand Persons : And if they could have contraried him for any falsity , either for the present , or times to come : If he had been , I say , such as they could have found any brack in his Actions , or in his Writings , or falseness in either his Person , or any of his , in his Life , and his Miracles , in his Writings or End. But on the contrary , all the Hebrews and Iews , which have been since that time , and are now near 3000 years since ; and that are dispersed through all the VVorld , who are in so great a number , that if they were re-united into a body of People , and into a State , their multitude should be innumerable , and might astonish the greatest Nation of the whole Universe . All those , I say , have received from their Ancient Fathers , from their Kings and Princes , and their Sacrificators and Ancestors , from Father to Son , and from hand to hand , and with an admirable consent , even in the middle of so many Confusions and Dissipations , have kept , and yet keep always in their Bibles , the Holy VVritings of Moses , in their proper Letters , and Hebrew Tongue , as Books most True and Veritable , Sacred and Divine : And such so known and acknowledged in all Nations , with the excellent Testimony , Authority and Holiness of them : that Christ himself hath spoken of them , and the Prophets and Apostles also in their VVritings and Alleagtions ; I , and the most Ancient Pagans and Strangers , cannot ( with sound Sense ) but acknowledge them . And so , Reader , although I have been ( as I formerly said ) something prolix , yet the Excellency of the Subject , forc'd and bound me to be so tedious herein , to shew , as an illustrious Addition , the worthiness of the Books and Divine Writings , as their Antiquity , Dignity , as also the Excellency of their humane VVriter , from the Dictate of the most High : And being the matter whereof we have formerly treated , I held it not impertinent , though I have dealt too weakly in so worthy a Business , but refer the rest and it , to your charitable Censure . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A25805-e250 * Great Esquire . Argument of the History . Notes for div A25805-e2190 * One of the Captains of Great Alexander , the third Monarch . As the Latins now in Christendom . 1 Praefat. in Pentateuchum Mosi . 1 Iustin. dialog . cum Tryphone . Irenaeus Lib. 3. Cap. 25. Clemen . Alexander . lib. 1. stro . Epiphanius de mens . & ponditibus . Euseb. preparat . lib. 8. chap. 1. 2 Hieron . in questionibus Hebraicis in chap. 5. Ezechielis , & in cap. 2. Michiae . Iosephi praefat . in Antiquit. & lib. 12. Antiquit. chap. 13. Philo. de vita Mosis . lib. 2. Ptolomeus Lagus . 1 At Virtutem non everterunt . Diog. Laert. in vit . Demet. 2 Diog. Laert. ibid. Notes for div A25805-e3510 Excellence of this History . A Drachma is 3 shillings● sixpence , that is , 3 Pound 1 d. 10. shillings the head . The Talent is 600 French Crovvns . * Scripsit librum de Judaeis , teste Suida . Reasons for the Iews choice and diversity in Meats . Order of Meats . Calumniators , false Reporters , or Spies . Some Copies call them Emplanists . The delivery of the Holy Law , or Sacred Books of Moses , in Hebrew Characters to King Ptolomy . Nature of good Officers and Subjects . The Custom of Egypt was so . It was a Custom to Register what was propounded and answered in the Kings of Egypts Presence . Ovid. 1. de Meta. Virgil , 6. Aeneid . Virgil Eglog . 4.5 . Iosephus antiq . Act. 18.20 . Virgil. Aeneid . Daniel 9. Luk. 24. ● 1 Cor. 15. Iudges 12. Trogus . Justinus . Praise of Moses . 
A20655	----	Three sermons vpon speciall occasions preached by Iohn Donne ... Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1623 Approx. 193 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 90 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A20655 STC 7057 ESTC S350 22298132 ocm 22298132 25353 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A20655) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 25353) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1751:5) Three sermons vpon speciall occasions preached by Iohn Donne ... Donne, John, 1572-1631. [8], 68, [6], 49, [7], 41 p. Printed for Thomas Iones, and are to be sold at his shop in the Strand at the Blacke Rauen neere St. Clements Church, London : 1623. Each sermon has special t.p. and separate pagination. Signatures: A-I⁴ K², ²A-G⁴, ³A⁴(-A4) ³B- F⁴ ³G¹. Reproduction of original in the Trinity College (University of Cambridge). Library. A sermon vpon the XV. verse of the XX. chapter of the book of Iudges -- A sermon vpon the VIII. verse of the I. chapter of the Acts of the Apostles -- Encœnia, the feast of dedication. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Sermons, English -- 17th century. 2002-05 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-06 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-07 Olivia Bottum Sampled and proofread 2002-07 Olivia Bottum Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-08 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THREE SERMONS VPON SPECIALL OCCASIONS . Preached by IOHN DONNE Deane of St. Pauls London . LONDON , Printed for THOMAS IONES , and are to sold at his Shop in the Strand at the Blacke Rauen neere St. Clements Church . 1623. A SERMON VPON THE XV. VERSE OF THE XX. CHAPTER OF THE BOOKE OF IVDGES Wherein occasion was iustly taken for the Publication of some Reasons , which his Sacred MAIESTIE had beene pleased to giue , of those Directions for PREACHERS , which he had formerly sent forth . Preached at the CROSSE the 15 th . of September . 1622. By IOHN DONNE , Doctor of Diuinitie and Deane of Saint PAVLS , London . And now by commandement of his Majestie published , as it was then preached . LONDON Printed by William Stansby for Thomas Iones , and are to be sold at his shop in the Strand at the blacke Rauen , neere vnto Saint Clements Church . 1622. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE , GEORGE , Marquesse of Buckingham , High ADMIRALL of ENGLAND , &c. WHen I would speake to the KING , by your LORDSHIPS Meanes , I doe : Now , when I would speake to the Kingdom , I would do that by your Lordshippes Meanes to : and therefore I am bold to transfer this Sermon to the World , through your Lordships hands , and vnder your Name . For the first part of the Sermon , the Explication of the Text , my profession , and my Conscience is warant enough that I haue spoken as the Holy Ghost intended , For the second part , the Application of the Text , it wil be warrant enough , that I haue spoken as his Maiestie intended , that your Lordship admits it to issue in your Name . It is because Kings fauour the Church , that the Prophet sayes they are her Foster-Fathers ; and then , those persons , who haue also interest in the fauor of Kings , are her Foster-Brothers : and such vse to loue well . By that Title , ( as by many other also ) your Lordship loues the Church ; as you are her Foster-Brother : loued of him who loues her . And by that Title you loue all them in the Church , who endeuour to aduance both the vnity of our Church in it self , and the vnity of the Church , with the godly designes of our religious King. To which Seruice , I shall euer sacrifice all the labors of Your Lordships humblest and thankefullest Seruant in Christ Iesus : IOHN DONNE . IVDGES . 5. 20. De coelo dimicatum est contra eos : stellae manentes in Ordine , & cursu suo aduersus Siseram pugnauerunt . They fought from Heauen ; The stars in their courses fought against Sisera . ALl the words of God are alwayes sweete in themselues , sayes Dauid ; but sweeter in the mouth , and in the pen of some of the Prophets , and some of the Apostles , then of others , as they differed in their naturall gifts , or in their education : but sweetest of all , where the Holy Ghost hath beene pleased to set the word of God to Musique , and to conuay it into a Song ; and this Text is of that kind : part of the Song which Deborah & Barak sung after their great victory vpon Sisera ; Sisera who was Iabin the King of Canaans Generall against Israel . God himselfe made Moses a Song , and expressed his reason why ; The children of Israel , sayes God , will forget my Law ; but this song they will not forget ; and whensoeuer they sing this song , this song shall testifie against them , what I haue done for them , how they haue forsaken me . And to such a purpose hath God left this Song of Deborah and Barak in the Scriptures , that all Murmurers , and all that stray into a diffidence of Gods power , or of his purpose to sustaine his owne cause , and destroy his owne Enemies , might run and read , might read and sing , the wonderfull deliuerances that God hath giuen to his people , by weake and vnexpected meanes . This world begun with a Song , if the Chalde Paraphrasts , vpon Salomons Song of Songs haue taken a true tradition ; That assoone as Adams sinne was forgiuen him , he expressed ( as he cals it in that Song ) Sabbatum suum , his Sabboth , his peace of conscience , in a Song ; of which , we haue the entrance in that Paraphrase . This world begun so ; and so did the next world too , if wee count the beginning of that ( as it is a good computation to doe so ) from the comming of Christ Iesus : for that was expressed on Earth , in diuers Songs ; in the blessed Virgins Magnificat ; My soule doth magnifie the Lord : In Zacharies Benedictus ; Blessed be the Lord God of Israel ; and in Simeons , Nunc dimittis , Lord , now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace . This world began so , and the other ; and when both shall ioyne , and make vp one world without end , it shall continue so in heauen , in that Song of the Lamb , Great and marueilous are thy workes , Lord God Almighty , iust and true are thy wayes , thou King of Saints . And , to Tune vs , to Compose and giue vs a Harmonie and Concord of affections , in all perturbations and passions , and discords in the passages of this life , if we had no more of the same Musique in the Scriptures ( as we haue the Song of Moses at the Red Sea , and many Psalmes of Dauid to the same purpose ) this Song of Deborah were enough , abundantly enough , to slumber any storme , to becalme any tempest , to rectifie any scruple of Gods slacknesse in the defence of his cause , when in the History and occasion of this , Song , expressed in the Chapter before this , we see , That Israel had done euill in the fight of the Lord againe , and yet againe , God came to them : That God himselfe had sold Israel into the hands of Iabin King of Canaan , and yet he repented the bargaine , and came to them ; That in twenty yeeres oppression he came not , and yet he came . That When Sisera came against them , with nine hundred Chariots of Iron , and all preparations , proportionable to that , and God cald vp a woman , a Prophetesse , a Deborah against him , because Deborah had a zeale to the cause , and consequently an enmity to the enemie , God would effect his purpose by so weake an instrument , by a woman , but by a woman , which had no such interest , nor zeale to the cause ; by Iael : And in Iaels hand , by such an instrument , as with that , scarce any man could doe it , if it were to be done againe with a hammer she driues a nayle through his temples , and nayles him to the ground , as he lay sleeping in her tent : And then the end of all , was the end of all , not one man of his army left aliue . O my Soule , why , art thou so sad , why art thou so disquieted within me ? Sing vnto the Lord an old song , the song of Deborah and Barak , That God by weake meanes doth might workes , That all Gods creatures fight in his behalfe , They fought from beanen , the starres in their Order , fought against Sisera . You shal haue but two parts out of these words ; And to make these two parts , I consider the Text , as the two Hemispheres of the world , laid open in a flat , in a plaine Map. All those parts of the world , which the Ancients haue vsed to consider , are in one of those Hemispheres ; All Europe is in that , and in that is all Asia , and Afrike too : So that when we haue seene that Hemisphere , done with that , we might seeme to haue seene all , done with all the world ; but yet the other Hemisphere , that of America is as big as it ; though , but by occasion of new , and late discoueries , we had had nothing to say of America . So the first part of our Text , will bee as that first Hemisphere ; all which the ancient Expositors found occasion to note out of these words , will be in that : but by the new discoueries of some humors of men , and rumors of men , we shall haue occasion to say somewhat of a second part to . The parts are , first , the Literall , the Historicall sense of the words ; And then an emergent , a collaterall , an occasionall sense of them . The explication of the wordes , and the Application , Quid tunc , Quid nunc , How the words were spoken then , How they may be applied now , will be our two parts . And , in passing through our first , wee shall make these steps . First , God can , and sometimes doth effect his purposes by himselfe ; intirely , immediatly , extraordinarily , miraculously by himselfe : But yet , in a second place , we shall see , by this story , That he lookes for assistance , for concurrence of second causes , and subordinate meanes : And that therefore , God in this Song of Deborah , hath prouided an honourable commemoration of them , who did assist his cause ; for , the Princes haue their place , The Princes of Issachar were with her : And then , the Gouernours , The great Persons , the great Officers of the State , haue their place in this honour , That they offered themselues willingly to that seruice ; And after them , the Merchants , for those who are said there , to ride vpon white Asses , to be well mounted , according to the manner of those Nations , are , by Peter Martyr , amongst our Expositors , and by Serarius the Iesuite , amongst the others , fitly vnderstood , to be intended of Merchants ; And in the same verse , the Iudges are honorably remembred , Those that fit in Iudgement ; And a farre vnlikelier sort of people , then any of these , in the same verse too , Those that walked by the way ; Idle , and discoursing men , that were not much affected , how businesse went , so they might talke of them : And lastly , the whole people in generall , how poore soeuer , they haue euidence from this record , That they offered themselues ( and what will they denie , that offer themselues ) and willingly , to this imploiment . And then , God hauing here afforded this honourable mention of them , who did assist him , he layes also a heauy note vpon such , who for collaterall respects preuaricated , or withdraw themselues from his seruice : perticularly vpon Ruben , who was diuided by greatnesse of heart , And vpon Dan , who remained in his ships . And therefore to the encouragement of those who did assist him , in any proportion , though their assistance were no wayes competent against so potent an enemy , God fought for himselfe too , They sought from Heauen , The starres in their order fought against Sisera . And these will be the branches , or circumstances of our first part : for the particulars of the second , we shall open them more commodiously for your memory and vse , then , when we come to handle them , then now . Now we proceed to those of the first part . And into those I passe with this protestation , That in all which I shall say this day , beeing to speake often of God , in that Notion , as he is Lord of Hostes , and fights his owne battailes , I am farre from giuing fire to them that desire warre . Peace in this world , is a pretious Earnest , and a faire and louely Type of the euerlasting peace of the world to come : And warre in this world , is a shrewd and fearefull Embleme of the euerlasting discord and tumult , and torment of the world to come : And therefore , our Blessed God , blesse vs with this externall , and this internall , and make that lead vs to an eternall peace . But I speake of this subiect , especially to establish and settle them , that suspect Gods power , or Gods purpose , to succour those , who in forraine parts , grone vnder heauie pressures in matter of Religion , or to restore those , who in forraine parts , are deuested of their lawfull possessions , and inheritance ; and because God hath not done these great workes yet , nor yet raised vp meanes , in apparance , and in their apprehension , likely to effect it , That therefore God likes not the cause ; and therefore they begin to bee shaked in their owne Religion at home , since they thinke that God neglects it abroad . But , beloued , since God made all this world of nothing , cannot hee recouer any one peece thereof , or restore any one peece , with a little ? In the Creation , his production of specifique formes , and seuerall Creatures in the seuerall dayes , was much , very much ; but not very much , compared with that , which he had done immediatly before , when he made Heauen and Earth of nothing . For , for the particular Creatures , God had then Praeiacentem Materiam , he had stuffe before him ; enough to cut out Creatures of the largest sise , his Elephants of the Earth , his Whales and Leuiathans in the Sea. In that matter there was Semen Creaturarum , The Seed of all Creatures in that stuffe . But for the stuffe it selfe , the Heauen and Earth , God had not Semen Coeli , any such seed of Heauen as that he could say to it , doe thou hatch a Heauen ; he had not any such Semen terrae , as that hee could bid that grow vp into an Earth : There was nothing at all , and all , that is , was produced from that ; and then who shall doubt of his proceeding , if by a little he will doe much ? He suffered his greater works to be paraleld , or to be counterfeit by Pharaohs Magicians , but in his least , in the making of Lice , hee brought them to confesse Digitum Dei , the finger of God ; and that was enough ; The arme of God , the hand of God needs not ; where he will worke , his finger is enough , It was not that imagination , that dreame of the Rabbins , that hindered the Magicians , who say , that the Deuill cannot make any Creature , lesse then a Barley corne ; As it is with men , they misconceiue it to be with the Deuill too ; harder to make a little clocke , a little picture , any thing in a little , then in a larger forme . That was no part of the reason in that case : but since man ordinarily esteemes it so , and ordinarily admires great workes in little forme , why will he not be content to glorifie God that way , in a faithfull confidence , that hee can and will doe great workes by weake meanes . Should God haue stayd to leuie , and arme , and traine , and muster , and present men enow to discomfit Sennacherib ? Hee tooke a neerer way ; he slew almost two hundreth thousand of them , in one night by an Angell . Should God haue troubled an Angell to satisfie Elisha his seruant ? Onely by apparition in the cloudes , he brought him to acknowledge , that there were more with them , then with the Enemy , when there was none . He troubled not so much as a cloud , he imployed no Creature at all , against the Philistines , when they came vp with thirty thousand Chariots ; but hee breathed a dampe , an astonishment into them , he imprinted a diuine terror in their hearts , and they fought against one another . God foresaw a diminution of his honour , in the augmentation of Israels forces , and therfore he reduced Gideons thirty two thousand to three hundred persons . It was so in persons , God does much with few , and it was so in time , God does much , though late ; though God seeme a long time to haue forgot his people , yet in due time , that is , in his time , he returnes to them againe . S. Augustine makes a vsefull Historicall note , That that land to which God brought the Children of Israel , was their owne land before ; they were the right heires to it , lineally descended from him , who was the first possessor of it , after the floud : but they were so long out of possession of it , as that they were neuer able to set their title on foot ; nay , they did scarce know their own title , and yet God repossessed them of it , reinuested them in it . It is so for persons , and times in his wayes in this world , Much with few , much though late , and it is so in his wayes to the next world too : for persons , Elias knew of no more but himselfe , that serued the right God aright : God makes him know that there were seuen thousand more ; seuen thousand was much to one , but it was little to all the world : and yet these seuen thousand haue peopled heauen , and sent vp all those Colonies thither ; all those Armies of Martyrs , those flockes of Lambes , innocent children , those Fathers , the Fathers of the Church , and Mothers , holy Matrons , and daughters , blessed Virgines , and learned and laborious Doctors ; these seuen thousand haue filled vp the places of the fallen Angels , and repeopled that Kingdome : And wheresoeuer we thinke them most worne out , God at this time hath his remnant ( as the Apostle sayes ) and God is able to make vp the whole garment of that remnant . So he does much with few , in the wayes to heauen ; and that he does much though late , in that way too , thou mayest discerne in his working vpon thy selfe . How often hast thou suffered thy Soule , to grow cleane out of all reparations into ruine , by thine inconsiderate and habituall course of sinne , and neuer repaired it by any good vse of hearing the word , or receiuing the Sacrament in a long time , and when thou hast at any time , come to a suruey of thy conscience , how hast thou beene affected with an inordinate apprehension of Gods anger , and his inaccessiblenesse , his inexorablenesse towards thee , and sunke euen into the iawes of desperation ; And yet , Quia manet semen dei , because the seed of God hath remained in thee , Incubat Spiritus , the Holy Ghost hath sat vpon that seed , and hatched a new Creature in thee , a modest , but yet infallible assurance of the Mercy of thy God. Recollect all ; in raysing of sieges , and discomfiting of Armies , in restoring possessions , and reinuesting right heires , in repairing the ruines of the Kingdome of heauen , depopulated in the fall of Angels , in reestablishing peace of conscience ; in a presumptuous confidence , or ouer-timorous diffidence in God , God glorifies himselfe that way , to doe much with little . He does so ; but yet hee will haue something . God is a good Husband , a good Steward of Mans contributions , but contributions he will haue : hee will haue a concurrence , a cooperation of persons . Euen in that great worke , which wee spake of at first , the first creation , which was so absolutely of Nothing , yet there was a Faciamus , let vs , vs , make Man ; though but one God , yet more Persons in that worke . Christ had been able to haue done as the Deuill would haue had him doe , to haue made bread of stones , when hee had so great a number to feed in the Wildernesse ; but hee does not so : Hee askes his Disciples , Quot panes habetis ; How many loafes haue you ? and though they were but fiue , yet since they were some , he multiplies them , and feeds aboue fiue thousand with those fiue . Hee would haue a remnant of Gedeons Armie to fight his battailes : A remnant of Israels beleeuers to make vp his Kingdome ; A remnant of thy Soule , his seed wrapd vp somewhere , to saue thy Soule ; And a remnant of thy selfe , of thy Mind , of thy Purse , of thy Person , for thy temporall deliuerance . God goes lowe , and accepts small Sacrifices ; a Pigeon , a handfull of Flower , a few eares of Corne ; but a Sacrifice he will haue . The Christian Church implies a shrewd distresse , when shee prouides that reason , that clause in her prayer , Quia non est alius , Giue Peace in our time , O Lord , because there is no other that fighteth for vs : If the bowels of compassion bee eaten out , if the band of the Communion of Saints be dissolued , we fight for none , none fights for vs , at last ney ther we nor they shall fight for Christ , nor Christ for them nor vs , but all become a prey to the generall enemie of the name of Christ ; for God requires something , some assistance , some concurrence , some cooperation , though he can fight from heauen , and the Starres , in their order , can fight against Sisera . And therefore , though God giue his glorie to none , his glorie , that is to doe all with Nothing , yet he giues them their glorie , that doe any thing for him , or for themselues . And as hee hath laid vp a record , for their glorie and Memoriall , who were remarkeable for Faith ( for the eleuenth Chapter to the Hebrewes , is a Catalogue of them . ) So in this Song of Deborah and Barake , hee hath laide vp a Record for their glorie , who expressed their faith in Workes , and assisted his seruice . That which is said in generall , The Memorie of the iust is blessed , but the name of the wicked shall rot , That is applied and promised in particular , by him , who can performe it , by Christ , to that woman , who anointed him , That whersoeuer his Gospell should be Preached in the whole world , ther should also this that this woman had done , be told for a memoriall of her . Shee assisted at his Funerall ( as Christ himselfe interprets her action , That shee did it to burie him ) and hath her glorie : how shall he glorifie them , that aduance his glorie ? Shee hath her reward in his death ; what shall they haue , that keepe him , and his Gospell aliue ? Not a verse in Deborah and Baraks song , and yet that is honourable euidence : Not a commemoration at the Preaching of the Gospell ; and yet that is the honourable testimonie in this place , and at these Exercises , of such as haue contributed to the conueniencies of these Exercises , but they shall haue a place in the Booke of life ; indelibly in the Booke of life , if they proceede in that deuotion of assisting Gods cause , and doe not thinke , that they haue done all , or done enough , if they haue done something some one time . The Morall man hath said well , and well applied it ; A Ship is a Ship for euer , if you repaire it . So , sayes hee , Honour is Honour , and so say wee , A good Conscience is a good Conscience for euer , if you repaire it : But , sayes he well , Aliquid famae addendum , ne putrescat . Honour will putrifie , and so will a good Conscience too , if it be not repaired . He that hath done Nothing must begin , and hee that hath done something for Gods cause , must doe more , if hee will continue his name in the Booke of Life ; though God leaue no one particular action , done for his glorie , without glorie ; as those who assisted his glorie heere , haue a glorious Commemoration in this Song . In the fifteenth verse , Princes haue their place ; The Princes of Issachar , were with Deborah . when the King goes to the field , Many , who are in other cases Priuiledged , are by their Tenures bound to goe . It is a high Tenure to hold by a Crowne ; And when God , of whome , and whome onely they hold , that hold so , goes into the field , it becomes them to goe with him . But as God sits in Heauen , and yet goes into the field , so they of whome God hath said , Yee are Gods , the Kings of the Earth , may stay at home , and yet goe too . They goe in their assistance to the Warre ; They goe in their Mediation for Peace ; They goe in their Example , when from their sweetnesse , and moderation in their Gouernement at home , their flowes out an instruction , a perswasion to Princes abroad . Kings goe many times , and are not thanked , because their wayes are not seene : and Christ himselfe would not alwayes bee seene ; In the eight of Iohn , he would not be seene . When they tooke vp stones to stone him , he withdrew himselfe inuisibly , hee would not be seene : When Princes find that open actions exasperate , they doe best , if they be not seene . In the sixth of Iohn , Christ would not bee seene . When they would haue put vpon him , that which was not fit for him to take , when they would haue made him King , he withdrew himselfe , and was not seene . When Princes are tempted to take Territories , or possessions in to their hands , to which other Princes haue iust pretences , they doe best , if they withdrawe themselues from engagements in vnnecessarie Warres , for that , that onely was Iosiahs ruine . Kings cannot alwayes goe in the sight of Men , and so they lose their thankes ; but they cannot goe out of the sight of God , and there they neuer lose their reward : For the Lord that sees them in secret , shall reward them openly , with peace in their owne States , and Honour in their owne Chronicles , as here , for assisting his cause , hee gaue the Princes of Issachar a roome , a straine in Deborah and Barakes Song . And in the ninth verse , the Gouernors , the great Officers , haue their place , in this praise , My heart is towards the Gouernors of Israel that offered themselues willingly . It is not themselues in person ; Great Officers cannot doe so ; They are Intelligences that moue great Spheares , but they must not bee mou'd out of them . But their glorie here is their willingnesse . That before they were inquired into , how they carried themselues in their Offices , before they were intimidated , or soupled with fines and ransomes , voluntarily they assisted the cause of God. Some in the Romane Church write , that the Cardinalls of that Church , are so incorporated into the Pope , so much of his body , and so bloud of his bloud , that in a feuer they may not let bloud without his leaue . Truly , the great Persons and Gouernors in any state , are so noble and neere parts of the King , as that they may not bleed out in any subuentions and assistances of such causes vnder-hand , as are not auowd by the King ; for , it is not euident that that cause is Gods caufe ; at least not euident that that way is an assistance of Gods cause , But a good , and tractable , and ductile disposition , in all courses which shall lawfully bee declared to bee for Gods glorie , then , not Contra , but Praeter , not against , but besides , not in opposing , but in preuenting the Kings will , before hee vrge , before he presse , to be willing and forward in such assistances , this giues great Persons , Gouernors , and Officers , a verse in Baraks and Deborahs Song , and Deborah and Baraks Song is the Word of God. The Merchants haue their place in that verse too . For , ( as wee said before ) those who ride vpon white Asses , ( which was as honorable a transportation , as Coaches are now ) are by Peter Martyr amongst ours , and by Serarius the Iesuit amongst others , well vnderstood to be the Merchants . The greatnesse and the dignitie of the Merchants of the East is sufficiently expressed in those of Babylon , Thy Merchants were the great Men of the Earth . And for the Merchants of the West , we know that in diuers forraine parts , their Nobilitie is in their Merchants , their Merchants are their Gentlemen . And certainly , no place of the world , for Commodities and Situation , better disposed then this Kingdome , to make Merchants great . You cannot shew your greatnesse more , then in seruing God , with part of it ; you did serue before you were free ; but here you do both at once , for his seruice is perfect freedome . I am not here to day , to beg a Beneuolence for any particular cause on foot now : there is none ; but my Errand in this first part is , first to remoue iealousies and suspitions of Gods neglecting his businesse , because he does it not at our appointment , and then to promoue and aduance a disposition , to assist his cause and his glory , in all wayes , which shall bee declar'd to conduce thereunto , whether in his body , by relieuing the poore , or in his house by repairing these walls , or in his honour in employments more publique : And to assure you that you cannot haue a better debter , a better pay-master then Christ Iesus : for all your Entayles , and all your perpetuities doe notso nayle , so hoope in , so riuet an estate in your posteritie , as to make the Sonne of God your Sonne too , and to giue Christ Iesus a Childes part , with the rest of your Children . It is noted ( perchaunce but out of leuity ) that your Children doe not keepe that which you get : It is but a calumny , or but a fascination of ill wishers . We haue many happy instances to the contrarie , many noble families deriued from you ; One , enough to enoble a World ; Queene ELIZABETH was the great granchild of a Lord Maior of London . Our blessed God blesse all your Estates , and blesse your posteritie in a blessed enioying therof ; But truly it is a good way to that , amongst all your purchases , to purchase a place in Barak and Deborahs Song , a testimonie of the Holy Ghost , that you were forward in all due times in the assistance of Gods cause . That testimonie , in this Seruice in our Text , haue the Iudges of the Land , in the verse too , ye that sit in Iudgement . Certainly , Men exercised in Iudgement , are likeliest to thinke of the last Iudgement . Men accustomed to giue Iudgement , likeliest to thinke of the Iudgement they are to receiue . And at that last Iudgement the Malediction of the left hand falls vpon them that haue not harbored Christ , not fed him , not clothed him , And when Christ comes to want those things in that degree , that his Kingdome , his Gospell , himselfe cannot subsist , where it did , without such a sustentation , an omission in such an assistance , is much more heauie . All Iudgements end in this , Suum cuique , to giue euery one his owne . Giue God his owne , and hee hath enough ; giue him his owne , in his owne place , and his cause will be preferred before any Ciuill or Naturall obligation . But God requires not that : pay euery other Man first , owe nothing to any Man ; pay your Children , apportion them conuenient portions . Pay your estimation , your reputation , liue in that good fashion which your ranke and calling calls for : when all this is done , of your superfluities beginne to pay God , and euen for that you shall haue your roome in Deborah , and Baraks Song , for Assistants , and Coadiutors to him . For a farre vnlikelier sort of people , then any of these , haue that in the same verse also , Ambulantes super viam , They that walke vp and downe idle , discourcing Men , Men of no Calling , of no Profession , of no sense of other Mens miseries , and yet they assist this cause . Men that sucke the sweet of the Earth , and the sweat of other Men : Men that pay the State nothing in doing the offices of mutuall societie , and embracing particular vocations ; Men that make themselues but pipes to receiue and conuay , and vent rumors , but spunges to sucke in , and powre out foule water ; Men that doe not spend time , but weare time , they trade not , they plough not , they preach not , they plead not , but walke , and walke vpon the way , till they haue walked out their sixe moneths for the renuing of bands , euen these had some remorse in Gods cause , euen these got into Deborah and Baraks Song for assisting there . And lesse ; that is , Poorer then these : for in the Second verse , the people are as forward as the Gouernors , in the Ninth , They offered themselues willingly . They might offer themselues , their persons . It is likely they did ; and likely that many of them had nothing to offer but themselues . And when Men of that pouertie offer , part easily with that which was hardly got , how acceptable to God , that Sacrifice is , we see in Christs testimonie of that Widdow , who amongst many great giuers gaue her Mite , That shee gaue more then all they , because shee gaue all : which testified not onely her Liberalitie to God , but her Confidence in God , that though shee left nothing , shee should not lacke : for that right vse doth Saint Augustine make of that example , Diuites largiuntur securi de diuitijs , pauper securus de Domino : A rich man giues , and feeles it not , feares no want , because hee is sure of a full chest at home ; A poore man giues , and feeles it as little , because hee is sure of a bountifull God in Heaven . God then can worke alone ; there wee set out : yet he does require assistance ; that way wee went : And to those that doe assist , hee giues glory here ; so farre we are gone : but yet this remaynes , that hee layes notes of blame , and reproach vpon them , whom collaterall respects withdrew from this assistance . For there is a kind of reproach and increpation laide vpon Reuben in that question , Why abodest thou amongst the sheepfolds ? The diuisions of REVBEN were great thoughts of heart . Ambition of precedencie in places of employment , greatnes of heart , and a lothnesse to be vnder the commaund of any other , and so an incoherence , not concurring in Counsailes and Executions , retard oftentimes euen the cause of God. So is there also a reproach and increpation vpon Dan , in that question , why did Dan remaine in his ships ; A confidence in their owne strength , a sacrificing to their owne Nets , an attributing of their securitie to their owne wisedome or power , may also retard the cause of God ; that stayed Dan behinde . Thus then they haue their thankes that doe , thus their markes that doe not assist in Gods cause : though God to encourage them that doe , accomplish his worke himselfe , They fought from heauen , The Starres in their order fought against Sisera . They fought , sayes the Text , but does not tell vs who ; least men should direct their thankes for that which is past , or their prayers for future benefits , to any other , euen in heauen , then to God himselfe . The stars are nam'd ; It could not be feared that Men would pray to them , sacrifice to them , Angels & Saints are not named ; Men might come to ascribe to them , that which appertained to God onely Now these Stars , sayes the text , fought in their courses , Manentes in Ordine , they fought not disorderly . It was no Enchantment , no Sorcery , no disordring of the frame , or the powers , or the influence of these heauenly bodies , in fauor of the Israelites ; God would not be beholden to the Deuill , or to Witches , for his best friends . It was no disorderly Enchantment , nor it was no Miracle , that disordered these Starres ; as in Iosuahs time , the Sunne and Moone were disordred in their Motions ; But as Iosephus , who relates this battaile more particularly , sayes , with whom all agree , The natur all Influence of these heauenly bodies , at this time , had created and gathered such stormes and hayles , as blowing vehemently in the Enemies face , was the cause of this defeate : for so wee might haue said , in that deliuerance , which God gaue vs at Sea , They fought from heauen , The Starres in their order fought against the Enemie . Without coniuring , without Miracle , from heauen , but yet by naturall meanes , God preserued vs. For that is the force of that phrase , and of that maner of expressing it , Manentes in Ordine , The Starres , containing themselues in their Order , fought . And that phrase induces our second part , the accommodation , the occasionall application of these words : God will not fight , nor be fought for disorderly ; And therefore in illustration , and confirmation of those words of the Apostle , Let all things be done decently , and in order , Aquinas , in his Commentaries vpon that place , cites , and applies this Text , as words to the same purpose , and of the same signification . You , sayes Saint Paul , you who are Stars in the Church , must proceede in your warfare , decently , and in order , for the stars of heauen , when they fight for the Lord , they doe their seruice , Manentes in Ordine , containing themselues in their Order . And so inour order , we are come to our second part . In which , we owe you by promise made at first , an Analysis , a distribution of the steps and branches of this part , now when wee are come to the handling thereof : And thus wee shall proceede ; first , the Warre , which wee are to speake of here , is not as before , a Worldly warre , it is a Spirituall War : And then the Munition , the prouision for this warre , is not as before , temporall assistance of Princes , Officers , Iudges , Merchants , all sorts of People , but it is the Gospell of Christ Iesus , and the preaching thereof . Preaching is Gods ordinance , with that Ordinance hee fights from heauen , and batters downe all errors . And thirdly , to maintain this War , he hath made Preachers Stars ; and vae si non , woe be vnto them , if they doe not fight , if they doe not preach : But yet in the last place , they must fight , as the Stars in heauen doe , In their order , in that Order , and according to those directions , which , they , to whom it appertaines , shall giue them : for that is to fight in Order . And in these foure branches , wee shall determine this second part . First then we are in Contemplation of a Spirituall warre ; now , though there be a Beatie Pacifici , a blessing reserued to Peace-makers , to the Peace-maker , our Peace-maker , who hath sometimes effected it in some places , and alwayes seriously and chargeably , and honourably endeuoured it in all places , yet there is a spirituall Warre , in which , Maledicti Pacifici ; Cursed bee they that goe about to make Peace , and to make all one , The warres betweene Christ and Beliall . Let no man seuer those whom God hath ioyned , but let no Man ioyne those whom God hath seuered neyther ; and God hath seuered Christ and Belial : and that was Gods action , Ponam inimicitias ; The seed of the woman , and the Seed of the Serpent , wee and the Deuill , should neuer haue fallen out ; wee agree but too well ; but God hath put an enmity betweene vs. God hath put Truth and Falshood , Idolatrie and Sinceritie so farre asunder , and infused such an incompatibilitie , and imprinted such an implacabilitie betweene them , as that they cannot flow into one another : And therefore , there , Maledicti Pacifici , It is an opposition against God , by any colourable Modifications , to reconcile opinions diametrally contrary to one another , in fundamentall things . Day and Night may ioyne and meet . In Diluculis and in Crepusculis , The dawning of the day , in the Morning , and the shutting in of the day in the Euening , make day and night so much one , as sometimes you cannot tell which to call them : but Lux & tenebrae , light and darknes , Midnight and Noone neuer met , neuer ioynd . There are points , which passions of men , and vehemence of disputation , haue carried farther a sunder then needed : and these indeed haue made the greatest noyse ; because vpon these , for the most part , depends the matter of profit : and Beati pacifics , blessed were that labour , and that labourer , that could reconcile those things ; and of that there might bee hope , because it is often but the Persons that fight , it is not the thing , the matters are not so different . But then there are matters so different , as that a Man may sit at home , and weepe , and wish , prayse God that hee is in the right , and pray to God for them that are in the wrong , but to thinke that they are indifferent , and all one , Maledicti Pacifici , hee that hath brought such a Peace , hath brought a curse vpon his owne Conscience , and layd , not a Satisfaction , but a Stupefaction vpon it . A Turke might perchance say , in scorne of vs both , They call you Heretiques , you call them Idolaters , why might not Idolaters , and Heretiques agree well enough together ? But a true Christian will neuer make Contrarieties in fundamentall things indifferent , neuer make foundations , and superedifications , the Word of God , and the Traditions of Men , all one . Euery man is a little world , sayes the Philosopher ; Euery man is a little Church too ; and in euery man , there are two sides , two armies : the flesh fights against the Spirit . This is but a Ciuill warre , nay it is but a Rebellion indeed ; and yet it can neuer be absolutely quenched . So euery Man is also a Souldier in that great and generall warre , betweene Christ , and Beliall , the word of God , and the will of man. Euery man is bound to hearken to a peace , in such things as may admit peace , in differences , where men differ from men ; but bound also to shut himselfe vp against all ouertures of peace , in such things , as are in their Nature irreconcileable , in differences where men differ from God. That warre God hath kindled , and that warre must bee maintained , and maintained by his way ; and his way , and his Ordinance in this warre , is Preaching . If God had not said to Noah , Fac tibi Arcam ; and when he had said so , if he had not giuen him a Deseigne , a Modell , a Platforme of that Arke , we may doubt credibly , whether euer man would haue thought of a Ship , or of any such way of trade & Commerce . Shipping was Gods owne Inuention , and therein Laetentur Insulae , as Dauid sayes , Let the Ilands reioyce . So also , if Christ had not said to his Apostles , Ite praedicate , Goe and preach : and when hee had said so , said thus much more , Qui non crediderit damnabitur , Hee that beleeues not your Preaching shall bee damned : certainly man would neuer haue thought of such a way of establishing a kingdome , as by Preaching . No other Nation had any such Institution , as Preaching . In the Romane State , there was a publique Officer , Conditor precum , who vpon great emergent occasions , deprecations of imminent dangers , or Gratulations for euident benefites , did make particular Collects answerable to those occasions : And some such occasionall Panegyriques , and gratulatory Orations for temporall benefites , they had in that state . But a fixt and constant course of conteyning Subiects in their Religious and Ciuill duties , by preaching , onely God ordain'd , onely his Children enioy'd . Christ when he sent his Apostles , did not giue them a particular command , Ite orate , goe and pray in the publique Congregation ; All Nations were accustomed to that ; Christ made no doubt of any mans opposing , or questioning publique Prayer ; and therefore for that , he onely said , Sic orabitis , Not go , and pray , but , when you pray , pray thus , he instructed them in the forme ; the duty was well knowne to all before . But , for Preaching , He himselfe was anointed for that , The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me , because the Lord hath anointed mee to preach : His vnction was his function . Hee was anointed with that power , and hee hath anointed vs with part of his owne vnction : All power is giuen vnto me , sayes he , in Heauen and in Earth ; and therefore ( as he adds there ) Go ye , and preach : Because I haue all power , for preaching , take yee part of my power , and preach too . For , Preaching is the power of God vnto Saluation , and the sauor of life vnto life . When therefore the Apostle faies , Quench not the Spirit , Nec in te , nec in alio , sayes Aquinas ; Quench it not in your selfe , by forbearing to heare the Word preached , quench it not in others , by discouraging them that doe preach . For so Saint Chrysostome , ( and not he alone ) vnderstood that place , That they quench the spirit , who discountenance preaching , and dishearten Preachers . St. Chrysostome tooke his example from the Lampe that burnt by him , when hee was preaching ; ( It seemes therefore hee did preach in the afternoone ) and he sayes , you may quench this Lampe , by putting in water , and you may quench it by taking out the oyle . So a Man may quench the spirit in himselfe , if hee smother it , suffocate it , with worldly pleasures , or profits , and he may quench it in others , if he withdraw that fauour , or that helpe , which keepes that Man , who hath the spirit of Prophesie , the vnction of Preaching , in a cheerefull discharge of his duty . Preaching then being Gods Ordinance , to beget Faith , to take away preaching , were to disarme God , and to quench the spirit ; for by that Ordinance , he fights from heauen . And to maintaine that fight , hee hath made his Ministers Starrs ; as they are called , in the first of the Reuelation . And they fight against Sisera , that is , they preach against Error . They preach out of Necessitie ; Necessitie is laid vpon me to preach , saies the Apostle ; and vpon a heauy penalty , if they doe not ; Vaemihi si non , VVoe be vnto me if I doe not preach the Gospell . Neither is that spoak there with the case of a Future , as the Roman translation hath it , Si non Euangelizauero , If I do not hereafter preach ; If I preach not at one time or other ; If I preach not when I see how things wil go , what kind of preaching will be most acceptable : But it is Si non Euangelizem , If I preach not now ; now , though I had preached yesterday ; for so Saint Ambrose preached his Sermon de sancto Latrone , of the good Thiefe , Hesterno die , yesterday I told you &c. So Saint Augustin preached his Sermon vpon All Saints day : And so did Saint Bernard his twelfth Sermon vpon the Psalm : Qui habitat . Now , though I preachd but lately before ; and now , though I had but late warning to preach now ; So S. Basil preached his 2. Sermon vpon the Hexameron , the fixe daies worke , when he had but that Morning for Meditation : and more then so , in his 2. Sermon de Baptissimo ; for , it seemes he preached that without any premeditation Prout suggerit spiritus sanctus . Now , though I had not time to labour a Sermon , and now , though I preach in another mans place ; for so Saint Augustine preached his Sermon vpon the 95. Psalm : where he saies , Frater noster Seuerus , our brother Seuerus should by promise haue preached here , but since he comes not , I will. Now , that is whensoeuer Gods good people may be edified by my preaching : Vaesi non , wo be vnto me , if I doe not preach . The Dragon drew a third part of the starrs from heauen . Antichrist by his Persecutions , and Excommunications Silenc'd many ; all that would not Magnifie him . And many amongst vs , haue silenc'd themselues : Abundance silences some , and lazines and Ignorance some , and some their owne indiscretion , and then they lay that vpon the Magistrate . But God hath plac'd vs in a Church , and vnder a Head of the Church , where none are Silenc'd , nor discountenanc'd , if being starrs , called to the Ministery of the Gospell , and appointed to fight , to preach there , they fight within the discipline and limits of this Text , Manentes in Ordine , conteining themselues in Order . In this phrase , as we told you before , out of Aquinas , the same thing is intended , as in that place of Saint Paul , Let all things bee done decently , and in Order . That the vulgat edition reads , Fiant honeste ; and then saies Saint Ambrose , Honeste fit , quod cum pace fit , That is done honestly , and decently , which is done quietly , and peaceably . Not with a peace , and indifferencie to contrary Opinions in fundamentall doctrines , not to shuffle religions together , and make it all one which you chufe , but a peace with persons , an abstinence from contumelies , and reuilings . It is true that wee must hate Gods enemies with a perfect hatred , and it is true that Saint Chrysostome sayes , Odium perfectum est , odium consummatissimum , that is not a perfect hatred , that leaues out any of their Errors vnhated . But yet a perfect hatred is that too , which may consist with perfection , and Charitie is perfection : a perfect hatred is that which a perfect , that is , a charitable man may beare , which is still to hate Errors , not Persons . When their insolencies prouoke vs to speake of them , we shall doe no good therein , if therein we proceed not decently , and in order . Christ sayes of his Church : Terribilis vt Castrorum acies , It is powerfull as an Armie ; but it is vt acies ordinata , as an armie disciplin'd , and in order : for without order , an armie is but a great Ryot ; and without this decencie , this peaceablenesse , this discretion , this order , zeale is but fury , and such preaching is but to the obduration of ill , not to the edification of good Christians . Saint Paul in his absence from the Colossians , reioyces as much in beholding their Order , as in their stedfastnesse in the faith of Christ Iesus : Nay , if wee consider the wordes well , as Saint Chrysostome hath done , we shall see that it is onely their Order that he reioyces in : for Non dixit fidem , sed firmamentum fidei , sayes that Father , It was not their faith , but that which established their faith , that was their order , that occasioned his ioy . For when there is not an vniforme , a comely , an orderly presenting of matters of faith , faith it selfe growes loose , and loses her estimation ; and preaching in the Church comes to bee as pleading at the Barre , and not so well : there the Counsell speakes not himselfe , but him that sent him , here wee shall preach not him who sent vs , Christ Iesus , but our selues . Study to bee quiet , and to doe your owne busines , is the Apostles commandement to euery particular man amongst the Thessalonians . It seemes some amongst them disobeyd that : and therefore hee writes no more to particular persons , but to the whol Church , in his other Epistle , and with more vehemence , then a smal matter would haue required : Wee command you in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ , that you withdraw your selfe from all that walke Inordinate , as the vulgat reads that in one place , and Inquietè , as they translate the same word , in another , disorderly , vnquietly : from all such as preach suspiciously , and iealously ; and be the garden neuer so faire , wil make the world beleetie , there is a Snake vnder euery leafe , be the intention neuer so sincere , will presage , and prognosticate , and prediuine sinister and mischieuous effects from it . A troubled spirit is a sacrifice to God , but a troublesome spirit is farre from it . I am glad that our Ministery is called Orders , that when we take his calling , we are said to take Orders . Yours are called Trades , and Occupations , and Mysteries : Law and Phisicke are called Sciences , and Professions : many others haue many other names , ours is Orders . When by his Maiesties leaue we meet in our Conuocations , and being met haue his further leaue , to treat of remedies for any disorders in the Church , our Constitutions are Canons , Canons are Rules , Rules are Orders : Parliaments determine in Lawes , Iudges in Decrees , wee in Orders . And by our Seruice in this Mother Church , we are Canenici , Canons , Regular , Orderly men ; not Canonistae , men that know Orders , but Canonici , men that keepe them where wee are also called Prebendaries , rather a Praebendo , then a Praebenda , rather for giuing example of obedience to Orders , then for any other respect . In the Remane Church the most disorderly men , are their men in Orders . I speake not of the viciousnesse of their life , I am no Iudge of that , I know not that : but they are so out of all Order , that they are within Rule of no temporall Law , within jurisdiction of no Cuill Magistrate , no secular Iudge . They may kill Kings , and yet can be no Traytors ; they assigne their reason , Because they are no Subiects . He that kils one of them , shall be really hang'd ; and if one of them kill , hee shall be Metaphorically hang'd , he shall bee suspended . Wee enjoy gratefully , and we vse modestly the Priuiledges which godly Princes , out of their pietie haue affoorded vs , and which their godly Successors haue giuen vs againe by their gracious continuing of them to vs ; but our Profession of it selfe , naturally ( though the very nature of it dispose Princes to a gracious disposition to vs ) exempts vs not from the tye of their Laws . All men are in deed , we are in Deed and in name too , Men of Orders ; and therefore ought to be most ready of all others to obey . Now , beloued , Ordo semper dicitur ratione principij : Order alwayes presumes a head , it alwayes implyes some by whom wee are to be ordered , and it implyes our conformitie to him . Who is that ? God certainly , without all question , God. But between God , and Man , we consider a two-fold Order . One , as all creatures depend vpon God , as vpon their beginning , for their very Being ; and so euery creature is wrought vpon immediately by God , and whether hee discerne it or no , does obey Gods order , that is , that which God hath ordained , his purpose , his prouidence is executed vpon him , & accomplishd in him . But then the other Order is , not as man depends vpon God , as vpon his beginning , but as he is to be reduced and brought back to God , as to his end : & that is done by meanes in this world . What is that meanes ? for those things which wee haue now in consideration , the Church . But the body speaks not , the head does . It is the Head of the Church that declares to vs those things wherby we are to be ordered . This the Royall and religious Head of these Churches within his Dominions hath lately had occasion to do . And in doing this , doth he innouate any thing , ofter to doe any new thing ? Do we repent that Canon , & Constitution , in which at his Maiesties first comming we declar'd with so much alacrity , as that it was the second Canon we made , That the King had the same authoritie in causes Ecclesiasticall , that the godly Kings of Iudah , and the Christian Emperors in the primitiue Church had ? Or are we ignorant what those Kings of Iuda , and those Emperors did ? We are not , wee know them well . Take it where the power of the Empire may seem somwhat declin'd in Charls the great ; we see by those Capitularies of his , that remain yet , what orders he gaue in such causes ; there he saies in his entrance to them , Nemo praesumptuosum dicat ; Let no man call this that I doe an vsurpation , to prescribe Orders in these cases , Nam legimus quid Iosias fecerit , We haue read what Iosiah did , and we know that wee haue the same Authoritie that Iosiab had . But , that Emperor consulted with his Cleargie , before he published those Orders . It is true , he sayes he did . But he , from whom we haue receiued these Orders , did more then so ; His Maiesty forbore , till a representation of some incōueniences by disorderly preaching , was made to him , by those in the highest place in our Clergie , and other graue and reuerend Prelates of this Church ; they presented it to him , and thereupon he entred into the remedy . But that Emperour did but declare things constituted by other Counsells before : but yet the giuing the life of execution to those Constitutions in his Dominions , was introductory , and many of the things themselues were so . Amongst them , his 70. Capitularie is appliable to our present case ; there hee sayes , Episcopi videant , That the Bishops take care , that all Preachers preach to the people the Exposition of the Lords Prayer : and he enioynes them too , Ne quid nouum , ne quid non Canonicum , That no man preach any new opinion of his owne ; nay , though it bee the opinion of other learned men in other places , yet if it be Non Canonicum , not declared in the vniuersall Church , not declared in that Church , in which he hath his station , he may not preach it to the people : And so he proceeds there to Catechistical Doctrine . That is not new then , which the Kings of Iudah did , and which the Christian Emperours did . But it is new to vs , if the Kings of this kingdome haue not done it . Haue they not done it ? How little the Kings of this kingdome did in Ecclesiasticall causes then , when by their conniuence that power was deuold into a forraine Prelates hand , it is pitie to consider , pitie to remember , pitie to bring into Contemplation ; And yet truly euen then our Kings did exercise more of that power , then our aduersaries who oppose it , will confesse . But , since the true iurisdiction was vindicated , and reapplyed to the Crowne , in what iust heighth Henry the eight , and those who gouerned his Sonnes minoritie , Edward the sixt , exercised that iurisdiction in Ecclesiasticall causes , none , that knowes their story , knowes not . And , because ordinarily , we settle our selues best in the Actions , and Precedents of the late Queene of blessed and euerlasting memory , I may haue leaue to remember them that know , and to tell them that know not , one act of her power and her wisedome , to this purpose . When some Articles concerning the falling away from Iustifying grace , and other poynts that beat vpon that haunt , had been ventilated , in Conuenticles , and in Pulpits too , and Preaching on both sides past , and that some persons of great place and estimation in our Church , together with him who was the greatest of all , amongst our Clergy , had vpon mature deliberation established a resolution what should bee thought , and taught , held and preached in those poynts , and had thereupon sent down that resolution to be published in the Vniuersitie , not vulgarly neither , to the people , but in a Sermon , Ad Clerum onely , yet her Maiestie being informed thereof , declared her displeasure so , as that , scarse any houres before the Sermon was to haue been , there was a Countermaund , an Inhibition to the Preacher for medling with any of those poynts . Not that her Maiestie made her selfe Iudge of the Doctrines , but that nothing , not formerly declared to be so , ought to be declared to be the Tenet , and Doctrine of this Church , her Maiestie not being acquainted , nor supplicated to giue her gracious allowance for the publication thereof . His sacred Maiestie then , is herein vpon the steps of the Kings of Iudah , of the Christian Emperours , of the Kings of England , of all the Kings of England , that embraced the Reformation of Queene Elizabeth her selfe ; and he is vpon his owne steps too . For , it is a seditious calumny to apply this which is done now , to any occasion that rises but now : as though the King had done this now , for satisfaction of any persons at this time , for some yeares since , when hee was pleased to call the Heads of Houses from the Vniuersity , and intimate to them the inconueniences that arose from the Preaching of such men , as were not at all conuersant in the Fathers , in the Schoole , nor in the Ecclesiasticall Storie , but had shut vp themselues in a few later Writers ; and gaue order to those Gouernours for remedy herein . Then he began , then he laid the foundation for that , in which hee hath proceeded thus much further now , to reduce Preaching neerer to the manner of those Primitiue times , when God gaue so euident , and so remarkable blessings to mens Preaching . Consider more particularly that which hee hath done now ; His Maiestie hath accompanied his most gracious Letter to the most Reueuerend Father in God , my Lords Grace of Canterbury , with certaine Directions how Preachers ought to behaue themselues in the exercise of that part of their Ministerie . These being deriued from his Grace , in due course to his reuerend Brethren , the other Bishops , our Worthy Diocesan , euer vigilant for the Peace and vnitie of the Church , gaue a speedy , very speedy intimation thereof , to the Clergie of his Iurisdiction ; so did others , to whom it appertain'd so to doe in theirs . Since that , his Maiestie , who alwaies taking good workes in hand , loues to perfect his owne works , hath vouchsafed to giue some Reasons of this his proceeding ; which being signified by him to whome the State and Church owes much , The right Reuerend Father in God , the Bishop of Lincolne , Lord Keeper of the great Seale , and after by him also , who began at first , his Maiesties pleasure appearing thereby , ( as he is too Great , and too Good a King to seeke corners , or disguises , for his actions ) that these proceedings should be made publique , I was not willing only , but glad to haue my part therein , that as , in the feare of God , I haue alwayes preached to you the Gospell of Christ Iesus , who is the God of your Saluation ; So in the testimony of a good conscience , I might now preach to you , the Gospell of the Holy ghost , who is the God of peace , of vnitie , and concord . These Directions then , and the Reasons of them , by his Maiesties particular care , euery man in the Ministery may see & write out , in the seuerall Registers Offices , with his owne hand for nothing , and for very little , if hee vse the hand of another . Perchance you haue , at your conuenience , you may see them . When you do , you shall see , That his Maiesties generall intention therein is , to put a difference , between graue , and solid , from light and humerous preaching . Origen does so , when vpon the Epistle to the Romanes , he sayes , There is a great difference , Inter praedicare , & docere : A man may teach an Auditory , that is , make them know something that they knew not before , and yet not preach ; for Preaching is to make them knowthings appertaining to their saluation . But when men doe neither , neither Teach , nor Preach , but ( as his Maiestie obserues the manner to bee ) To soare in poynts too deepe , To muster vp their owne Reading , To display their owne Wit , or Ignorance in medling with Ciuill matters , or ( as his Maiestie addes ) in rude and vndecent reuiling of persons : this is that which hath drawen downe his Maiesties piercing Eye to see it , and his Royall care to correct it . Hee corrects it by Christs owne way , Quid ab initio , by considering how it was at first : for , ( as himselfe to right purpose cites Tertullian ) Id verum quod primum ; That is best , which was first . Hee would therefore haue vs conuersant in Antiquitie : For , Nazianzen askes that question with some scorne , Quis est qui veritatis prepugnatorem , vnius diei spatio , velut eluto statuam , fingit . Can any man hope to make a good Preacher , as soone as a good Picture ? In three or foure dayes , or with three or foure Books ? His Maiesty therfore cals vs to look , Quid primum , what was first in the whole Church ? And againe , Quid primum , when we receiued the Reformation in this Kingdom , by what meanes , ( as his Maiestie expresseth it ) Papistry was driuen out , and Puritanisme kept out , and wee deliuered from the Superstition of the Papist , and the madnesse of the Anabaptists , as before hee expresseth it : and his religious and iudicious eye sees clearly , That all that Doctrine , which wrought this great cure vpon vs , in the Reformation , is contained in the two Catechismes , in the 39. Articles , and in the 2. Bookes of Homilies . And to these , as to Heads , and Abunda●ies , from whence all knowledge necessary to saluation , may abundantly be deriu'd , hee directs the meditations of Preachers . Are these new wayes ? No way new : for they were our first way in receiuing Christianitie , and our first way in receiuing the Reformation . Take a short view of them all : as it is in the Catechismes , as it is in the Articles , as it is in the Homilies . First you are called backe to the practise of Catechising : Remember what Catechising is ; it is Institutio viua voce . And in the Primitiue Church , when those persons , who comming from the Gentiles to the Christian Religion , might haue beene scandalized with the outward Ceremoniall , and Rituall worship of God in the Church , ( for Ceremonies are stumbling blockes to them who looke vpon them without their Signification , and without the reason of their Institution ) to auoyd that daunger , though they were not admitted to fee the Sacraments administred , nor the other Seruice of God performed in the Church , yet in the Church , they receiued Instruction , Institution , by word of mouth , in the fundamentall Articles of the Christian Religion , and that was Catechising . The Christians had it from the beginning , and the Iewes had it too : for their word Chanach , is of that signification , Initiare , to enter . Traine vp a child in the way he should goe , and when he is olde , hee will not depart from it . Traine vp , say our Translation in the Text ; Catechise , say our Translators in the Margin , according to the naturall force of the Hebrew word . And Sepher Chinnuch , which is Liber Institutionum , that is , of Catechisme , is a Book well knowne amongst the Iewes , euery where , where they are now : Their Institution is their Catechisme . And if wee should tell some men , that Caluins Institutions were a Catechisme , would they not loue Catechising the better for that name ? And would they not loue it the better , if they gaue mee leaue to tell them that of which I had the experience . An Artificer of this Citie brought his Childe to mee , to admire ( as truly there was much reason ) the capacitie , the memory , especially of the child . It was but a Girle , and not aboue nine yeares of age , her parents said lesse , some yeares lesse ; wee could scarse propose any Verse of any Booke , or Chapter of the Bible , but that that childe would goe forward without Booke . I began to Catechise this childe ; and truly , shee vnderstood nothing of the Trinitie , nothing of any of those fundamentall poynts which must saue vs : and the wonder was doubled , how she knew so much , how so little . The Primitiue Church discerned this necessitie of Catechising : And therefore they instituted a particular Office , a Calling in the Church of Catechisers . Which Office , as we see in Saint Cyprians 42. Epistle , that great man Optatus exercised at Carthage , and Origen at Alexandria . When St. Augustine tooke the Epistle , and the Gospell , and the Psalme of the day , for his Text to one Sermon , did he , think you , much more then paraphrase , then Catechise ? When Athanasius makes one Sermon , and , God knowes , a very short one too , Contra omnes Haereses , To ouerthrow all Heresies in one Sermon ; did he , think you , any more then propose fundamentall Doctrines , which is truly the way to ouerthrow all Heresies ? When Saint Chrysostom enters into his Sermon vpon the 3. Chapter to the Galatians , with that preparation , Attendite diligenter , non enim rem vulgarem pollicemur , Now hearken diligently , sayes he , for it is no ordinary matter that I propose . There he proposes Catechisticall Doctrine of faith and works . Come to lower times , when Chrysologus makes sixe or seuen Sermons vpon the Creed , and not a seuerall Sermon vpon euery seuerall Article , but takes the whole Creed for his Text , in euery Sermon , and scarse any of those Sermons a quarter of an houre long , will you not allowe this manner of Preaching to bee Catechising ? Goe as lowe as can bee gone , to the Iesuites ; and that great Catechizer amongst them , Canisius sayes , Nos hoc munus suscipimus : Wee , wee Iesuites make Catechising our Profession . I doubt not but they doe recreate themselues sometimes in other matters too , but that they glory in , that they are Catechisers . And in that Profession , sayes hee , wee haue Saint Basil , Saint Augustine , Saint Ambrose , Saint Cyrill , in our Societie ; and truly as Catechizers , they haue ; as State-Friers , as Iesuits , they haue not . And in the first Capacitie they haue him , who is more then all ; for as hee sayes rightly , Ipse Christus Catechista , Christs owne Preaching was a Catechising . I pray God that Iesuites conclusion of that Epistle of his , be true still ; There he sayes , Sinihil aliud , If nothing else , yet this alone should prouoke vs to a greater diligence in Catechising ; Improbus labor , & indefessa cura , That our Aduersaries , the Protestants doe spend so much time , as he sayes , day and night in catechizing . Now , if it were so then , when he writ , and bee not so still amongst vs , wee haue intermitted one of our best aduantages : and therefore God hath graciously raised a blessed and a Royall Instrument , to call vs back to that , which aduantaged vs , and so much offended the Enemy . That man may sleepe with a good Conscience , of hauing discharged his dutie in his Ministery , that hath preached in the forenoone , and Catechised after . Quaere , sayes Tertullian , ( and he sayes that with indignation ) an Idolatriam committat , qui de Idolis catechizat : Will any man doubt , sayes he , whether that man be an Idolatrer , that catechises Children , and Seruants in Idolatry ? Will any man doubt , whether hee bee painfull in his Ministerie , that catechises children , and seruants in the sincere Religion of Christ Iesus . The Roman Church hath still made her vse of vs ; of our fortunes , when she gouernd here , and of our example , since she did not : They did , as they saw vs doe ; And thereupon they came to that order , in the Councell of Trent , That vpon Sundayes and Holydayes , they should Preach in the forenoone , and Catechise in the afternoone ; till we did both , they did neither . Except yee become as little Children , yee shall not enter into the Kingdome of Heauen , sayes Christ. Except yee , yee the people bee content at first to feed on the milke of the Gospell , and not presently to fall to gnawing of bones , of Controuersies , and vnreuealed Misteries , And except yee , the Ministers and Preachers of the Gospell , descend and apply your selues to the Capacitie of little Children , and become as they , and build not your estimation onely vpon the satisfaction of the expectation of great and curious Auditories , you stopp theirs , you loose your owne way to the kingdome of Heauen . Not that wee are to shut vp , and determine our selues , in the knowledge of Catechisticall rudiments , but to bee sure to know them first . The Apostle puts vs vpon that progresse , Let vs learne the Principles of the Doctrine of Christ , and goe on to perfection . Not leaue at them ; but yet not leaue them out : endeauour to encrease in knowledge , but first make sure of the foundation . And that increase of knowledge , is royally , and fatherly presented to vs , in that , which is another limne of his Maiesties directions , the 39. Articles . The Foundation of nceessary knowledge , is in our Catechismes ; the Superedification , the extention in these Articles . For they carry the vnderstanding , and the zeale of the ablest Man ; high inough , & deepe inough . In the third Article there is an Orthodoxe assertion of Christs descent into Hell ; who can go deeper ? In the 17. Article there is a Modest declaration of the Doctrine of Predestination ; who can go higher ? neither doe these Articles onely build vp Positiue Doctrine ; If the Church had no aduersaries , that were ynough ; but they imbrace Controuersies too , in poynts that are necessarie . As in the two and twentieth Article of Purgatorie , of Pardons , of Images , of Inuocations : and these not in generall onely , but against the Romish Doctrine of Pardons , of Images , of Inuocation . And in the eight and twentieth Article against Transubstantiation , and in such tearmes , as admit no meeting , no reconciliation ; but that it is repugnant to the plaine wordes of Scripture , and hath giuen occasion to many Superstitions . And in one word , we may see the purpose and scope of these Articles , as they were intended against the Romane Church , in that Title which they had in one Edition ( in which though there were some other things , that iustly gaue offence , yet none was giuen nor taken in this ) That these Articles were conceiued and published , to condemne the Heresies of the Manichees , of the Arrians , of the Nestorians , of the Papistes , and others . And therefore in these reasons , which his Maiestie hath descended to giue of his Directions , himselfe is pleased to assigne this , That the people might bee seasoned in all the Heads of the Protestant Religion . Not onely of the Christian against Iewes , Turkes , and Infidels , but of the Protestant against the Romane Church . The Foundation is in the Catechisme ; the growth and extention in the Articles , and then the Application of all to particular Auditories in the Homilies : which , if his Maiestie had not named , yet had beene implyed in his recommendation of the Articles . For the fiue and thirtieth Article appoynts the reading of them : both those , which were published in the time of Edward the sixth , and those which after . In the first Booke , the very first Homilies are , of the Sufficiencie of Scriptures , and of the absolute necessitie of Reading them ; sufficiently opposed against that which hath been sayd in that Church , both of the impertinencie , of Scriptures , as not absolutely necessarie , and of the insufficiencie of these Scriptures , if Scriptures were necessarie . And in the second Booke , the second Homily is against Idolatrie ; and so farre against all approaches towards it , by hauing any Images in Churches , as that perchance Moderat Men , would rather thinke that Homilie to seuere in that kind , then suspect the Homilies of declination towards Papistrie . Is it the name of Homelies that Scandalizes them ? would they haue none ? Saint Cyrills 30. Paschall Sermons , which he preached in so many seuerall Easter daies , at his Arch-bishoprike of Alexandria , and his Christmas dayes Sermons too , were ordinarily exscrib'd , and rehearsed ouer againe , by the most part of the Clergie of those parts : and in their Mouthes they were but Homilies . And Caluins Homilies vpon Iob ( as Beza in his Preface before them , calls them ) were ordinarily repeated ouer againe in many places of Fraunce : and in their mouthes they were but Homilies . It is but the name , that scandalizes ; and yet the name of Homilia and Concio , a Homily and a Sermon , is all one . And if some of these were spoken , and not reade , and so exhibited in the name of a Sermon , they would like them well inough . Certainely his Maiestie mistooke it not , that in our Catechismes , In our Articles , in our Homilies , there is inough for Posttiue , inough for Controuerted Diuinitie ; For that Iesuit , that intended to bring in the whole body of Controuerted Diuinitie into his booke , ( whom we named before ) desired no other Subiect , no other occasion to doe that , but the Catechisme of that Church ; neither need any sober Man , that intends to handle Controuersies aske more , or go further . His Maiestie therefore , who as he vnderstands his duty to God , so doth he his Subiects duties to him , might iustly thinke , That these so well grounded Directions , might , ( as himselfe sayes ) bee receiu'd vpon implicite obedience . Yet hee vouchsafes to communicate to all , who desire satisfaction , the Reasons that mou'd him . Some of which I haue related , and all which , all may , when they will see , and haue . Of all which the Summ is , His Royall and his Pastorall care , that by that Primitiue way of Preaching , his Subiects might be arm'd against all kind of Aduersaries , in fundamentall truthes . And when he takes knowledge , That some few Church-men , but many of the people , haue made sinister constructions of his sincere intentions , As hee is grieued at the heart , ( to giue you his owne wordes ) to see euery day so many d fections from our religion to Popery and Anabaptisme ; So without doubt he is grieued with much bitternes , that any should so peruert his meaning , as to thinke , that these Directions either restraind the Exercise of Preaching , or abated the number of Sermons , or made a breach to Ignorance and Superstition , of which three scandals he hath been pleased to take knowledge . What could any Calumniator , any Libeller on the other side , haue imagin'd more opposit , more contrary to him , then approaches towards Ignorance , or Superstition ? Let vs say for him , Can so learned , so abundantly learned a prince be suspected to plot for Ignorance ? And let vs blesse God , that we heare him say now , That he doth constantly professe himselfe an open aduersary to the Superstition of the Papist ( without any milder Modification ) and to the madnesse of the Anabaptist : And that the preaching against either of their Doctrines is not only approued , but much commended by his royall Maiestie , if it bee done without rude and vndecent reuiling . If he had affected Ignorance in himselfe , he would neuer haue read so much ; and if he had affected Ignorance in vs , hee would neuer haue writ so much , and made vs so much the more learned by his Books . And if hee had had any declination towards Superstition , he would not haue gone so much farther , then his rank and qualitie pressed him to doe , in declaring his opinion concerning Antichrist , as out of Zeale , and zeale with knowledge hee hath done . We haue him now , ( and long , long , O eternall God , continue him to vs , ) we haue him now for a father of the Church , a Foster-father ; such a father as Constantine , as Theodosius was ; our posterity shall haue him for a Father , a Classique father ; such a father as Ambrose , as Austin was . And when his works shall stand in the Libraries of our Posteritie , amongst the Fathers , euen these Papers , these Directions , & these Reasons shal be pregnant euidences for his cōstant zeale to Gods truth , and in the meane time , as arrowes shot in their eyes , that imagine so vaine a thing , as a defection in him , to their superstition . Thus far he is from admitting Ignorance , and from Superstition thus far , which seemes to be one of their feares . And for the other two , ( which concurre in one ) That these Directions should restraine the Exercise of Preaching , or abate the number of Sermons , his Maiestie hath declar'd himselfe to those Reuerend Fathers , To be so far from giuing the least discouragement to solid Preaching , or to discreet and religious Preachers , or from abating the number of Sermons , that hee expects at their hands , that this should increase their number , by renuing vpon euery Sunday in the afternoon , in all Parish Churches throughout the kingdome , that primitiue , and most profitable exposition of the Catechisme . So that heere is no abating of Sermons , but a direction of the Preacher to preach vsefully , and to edification . And therfore , to end all , you , you whom God hath made Starres in this Firmament , Preachers in this Church , deliuer your selues from that imputation , The Starres were not pure in his sight ; The Preachers were not obedient to him in the voice of his Lieutenant . And you , you who are Gods holy people , and zealous of his glory , as you know from St. Paul , that Stars differ from Stars in glory , but all conduce to the benefit of man : So , when you see these Stars , Preachers to differ in gifts ; yet , since all their ends are to aduance your saluation , encourage the Catechizer , as well as the curious Preacher . Looke so farre towards your way to Heauen , as to the Firmament , and consider there , that that starre by which wee saile , and make great voyages , is none of the starres of the greatest magnitude ; but yet it is none of the least neither ; but a middle starre . Those Preachers which must saue your soules , are not ignorant , vnlearned , extemporall men ; but they are not ouer curious men neither . Your children are you , and your seruants are you ; and you doe not prouide for your saluation , if you prouide not for them , who are so much yours , as that they are you . No man is sau'd as a good man , if he be not sau'd as a good Father , and as a good Master too , if God haue giuen him a family . That so , Priest and people , the whole Congregation , may by their religious obedience , and fighting in this spirituall warfare in their Order , minister occasion of ioy to that heart , which hath beene grieued ; in that fulnesse of ioy , Which Dauid expresseth . The King shall reioyce in thy strength , O Lord , and in thy saluation how greatly shall hee reioyce ? Thou hast giuen him his hearts desire , and thou hast not withholden the request of his lipps : for the King trusteth in the Lord , and by the mercy of the most High , he shall not bee mooued . And with that Psalme , a Psalme of Confidence in a good King , and a Psalme of Thanksgiuing for that blessing , I desire that this Congregation may be dissolued ; for this is all that I intended for the Explication , which was our first , and for the Application , which was the other part proposed in these wordes . FINIS . A SERMON VPON THE VIII . VERSE OF THE I. CHAPTER OF THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES . Preach'd To the Honourable Company of the VIRGINIAN PLANTATION . 13o. Nouemb. 1622. BY IOHN DONNE Deane of St. Pauls , London . LONDON . Printed by A. MAT : for THOMAS IONES and are to sold at his Shop in the Strand , at the blacke Rauen , neere vnto Saint Clements Church . 1622. TO THE HONORABLE COMPANY OF THE VIRGINIAN Plantation . BY your fauours , I had some place amongst you , before : but now I am an Aduenturer ; if not to VIRGINIA , yet for VIRGINIA ; for , euery man , that Prints , Aduentures . for the Preaching of this Sermon , I was but vnder your Inuitation ; my Time was mine owne , and my Medtations mine owne : and I had beene excusable towards you , if I had turnd that Time , and those Meditations , to GOD's seruice , in any other place . But for the Printing of this Sermon , I am not onely vnder your Inuitation , but vnder your Commandement ; for , after it was preach'd , it was not mine , but yours , : And therefore , if I gaue it at first , I doe but restore it now . The first was an act of Loue ; this , of Iustice ; both which Vertues , Almighty God euermore promoue , and exalt in all your proceedings . Amen . Your humble Seruant in Christ Iesus IOHN DONNE ACTS 1. 8. But yee shall receiue power , after that the Holy Ghost is come vpon you , and yee shall be witnesses vnto me both in Ierusalem , and in all Iudea , and in Samaria , and vnto the vttermost part of the Earth . THere are reckoned in this booke , 22. Sermons of the Apostles ; and yet the booke is not called the Preaching , but the Practise , not the VVords , but the Acts of the Apostles : and the Acts of the Apostles were to conuay that name of Christ Iesus , and to propagate his Gospell , ouer all the world : Beloued you are Actors vpon the same Stage too : the vttermonst part of the Earth are your Scene : act ouer the acts of the Apostles ; bee you a light to the Gentiles , that sit in darkenesse ; be you content to carry him ouer these Seas , who dryed vp one red Sea , for his first people , and hath powred out another red Sea , his owne bloud , for them and vs. When man was fallen , God clothed him ; made him a Leather Garment ; there God descended to one occupation ; when the time of mans redemption was come , then God , as it were , to house him , became a Carpenters Sonne ; there God descended to another occupation . Naturally , without doubt , man would haue beene his own Taylor , and his owne Carpenter ; something in these two kinds man would haue done of himselfe , though hee had had no patterne from God : but in preseruing man who was fallen , to this redemption , by which he was to be raisd , in preseruing man from perishing , in the Flood , God descended to a third occupation , to be his Shipwright to giue him the modell of a ship , an Arke , and so to be the author of that , which man himselfe in likelihood , would neuer haue thought of , a means to passe from Nation to Nation . Now , as GOD taught vs to make cloathes , not onely to cloath our selues , but to cloath him in his poore and naked members heere ; as God taught vs to build houses , not to house ourselues , but to house him , in erecting Churches , to his glory : So God taught vs to make Ships , not to transport ourselues , but to transport him , That when wee haue receiued power , after that the Holy Ghost is come vpon vs , we might be witnesses vnto him , both in Ierusalem , and in all Iudaea , and in Samaria , and vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth . As I speake now principally to them who are concernd in this Plantation of Virginia , yet there may be diuers in this Congregation , who , though they haue no interest in this Plantation , yet they may haue benefit and edification , by that which they heare me say , so Christ spoke the words of this Text , principally to the Apostles , who were present and questioned him at his Ascention , but they are in their iust extention , and due accomodation , appliable to our present occation of meeting heere : As Christ himselfe is Alpha , and Omega , so first , as that hee is last too , so these words which he spoke in the East , belong to vs , who are to glorifie him in the VVest ; That we hauing receiued power , after that the Holy Ghost is come vpon vs , might be witnesses vnto him , both in Ierusalem , and in all Iudea , and in Samaria , and vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth . The first word of the Text is the Cardinall word , the word the hinge vpon which the whole Text turnes ; The first word , But , is the But , that all the rest shoots at . First it is an exclusiue word ; something the Apostles had required , which might not bee had ; not that ; And it is an inclusiue word ; something Christ was pleasd to affoord to the Apostles , which they thought not of ; not that , not that which you beat vpon , But , but yet , something else , something better then that , you shall haue . That which this but , excludes , is that which the Apostles expresse in the Verse immediatly before the Text , a Temporall Kingdome ; VVilt thou restore againe the kingdome of Israel ? No ; not a temporall Kingdome ; let not the riches and commodities of this World , be in your contemplation in your aduentures . Or , because they aske more , VVilt thou now restore that ? not yet : If I will giue you riches , and commodities of this world , yet if I doe it not at first , if I doe it not yet , be not you discouraged ; you shall not haue that , that is not Gods first intention ; and though that be in Gods intention , to giue it you hereafter , you shall not haue it yet ; that 's the exclusiue part ; But ; there enters the inclusiue , You shall receiue power , after that the Holy Ghost is come vpon you , and you shall bee witnesses vnto mee , both in Ierusalem , and in all Iudaea , and in Samaria , and vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth . In which second part , we shall passe by these steps ; Superueniet Spiritus , The holy Ghost shall come vpon you , The Spirit shall witnesse to your Spirit , and rectifie your Conscience ; And then , by that , you shall receiue power ; A new power besides the power you haue from the State , and that power shall enable you , to be witnesses of Christ , that is ; to make his doctrine the more credible , by your testimony , when you conforme you selnes to him , and doe as hee did ; and this witnesse you shall beare , this conformity you shall declare , first in Ierusalem , in this Citie ; And in Iudaea , in all the parts of the Kingdome ; and in Samaria , euen amongst them who are departed from the true worship of God , the Papists ; and to the vttermost part of the Earth , to those poore Soules , to whom you are continually sending . Summarily , If from the Holy Ghost you haue a good testimony in your owne Conscience , you shall be witnesses for Christ , that is ; as he did , you shall giue satisfaction to all , to the Citie , to the Countrey , to the Calumniating Aduersary , and the Naturals of the place , to whom you shall present both Spirituall and Temporall benefit to . And so you haue the Modell of the whole frame , and of the partitions ; we proceede now to the furnishing of the particular roomes . 1. Part. FIrst then , this first word , But , excludes a temporall Kingdome ; the Apostles had filld themselues with an expectation , with an ambition of it ; but that was not intended them . It was no wonder , that a woman could conceiue such an expectation , and such an ambition , as to haue her two sonnes sit at Christs right hand , and at his left , in his Kingdome , when the Apostles expected such a Kingdome , as might affoord them honours and preferment vpon Earth . More then once they were in that disputation , in which Christ deprehended them , Which of them should bee the greatest in his Kingdome . Neither hath the Bishop of Rome , any thing , wherein he may so properly call himselfe Apostolicall , as this error of the Apostles , this their infirmitie , that he is euermore to conuersant vpon the contemplation of temporall Kingdomes . They did it all the way , when Christ was with them , and now at his last step , Cum actu ascendisset , when Christ was not Ascending , but in part ascended , when one foot was vpon the Earth , and the other in the cloud that tooke him vp , they aske him now , wilt thou at this time , restore the Kingdome ? so women put their husbands , and men their fathers , and friends , vpon their torture , at their last gaspe , and make their death-bed a racke to make them stretch and encrease ioyntures , and portions , and legacies , and signe Scedules and Codicils , with their hand , when his hand that presents them , is ready to close his eyes , that should signe them : And when they are vpon the wing for heauen , men tye lead to their feet , and when they are laying hand-fast vpon Abrahams bosome , they must pull their hand out of his bosome againe , to obey importunities of men , and signe their papers : so vnderminable is the loue of this World , which determines euery minute . GOD , as hee is three persons , hath three Kingdomes ; There is Regnum potentiae , The Kingdome of power ; and this wee attribute to the Father ; it is power and prouidence : There is Regnum gloriae , the Kingdome of glorie ; this we attribute to the Sonn and to his purchase ; for he is the King that shall say , Come ye blessed of my Father , inherit the Kingdome prepared for you , from the foundation of the VVorld . And then betweene these three is Regnum gratiae , The kingdome of Grace , and this we attribute to the Holy Ghost ; he takes them , whom the king of power , Almighty God hath rescued from the Gentiles , and as the king of grace , Hee giues them the knowledge of the misterie of the kingdome of GOD , that is , of future glory , by sactifying them with his grace , in his Church . The two first kingdomes are in this world , but yet neither of them , are of this world ; because both they referre co the kingdome of glory . The kingdome of the Father , which is the prouidence of God , does but preserue vs ; The kingdome of the Holy Ghost which is the grace of God , does but prepare vs to the kingdome of the Sonne , which is the glory of GOD ; and that 's in heauen . And therefore , though to good men , this world be the way to that kingdome , yet this kingdome is not of this world , sayes Christ himselfe : Though the Apostles themselues , as good a Schoole as they were bred in , could neuer take out that lesson , yet that lesson Christ giues , and repeates to all , you seeke a Temporall kingdome , But , sayes the Text , stop there , A kingdome you must not haue . Beloued in him , whose kingdome , and Ghospell you seeke to aduance , in this Plantation , our Lord and Sauiour Christ Iesus , if you seeke to establish a temporall kingdome there , you are not rectified , if you seeke to bee Kings in either acceptation of the word ; To be a King signifies Libertie and indepency , and Supremacie , to bee vnder no man , and to be a King signifies Abundance , and Omnisufficiencie , to neede no man. If those that gouerne there , would establish such a gouernment , as should not depend vpon this , or if those that goe thither , propose to themselues an exemption from Lawes , to liue at their libertie , this is to be Kings , to deuest Allegeance , to bee vnder no man : and if those that aduenture thither , propose to themselues present benefit , and profit , a sodaine way to bee rich , and an aboundance of all desirable commodities from thence , this is to be sufficient of themselues , and to need no man : and to bee vnder no man and to need no man , are the two acceptations of being Kings . Whom liberty drawes to goe , or present profit drawes to aduenture , are not yet in the right way . O , if you could once bring a Catechisme to bee as good ware amongst them as a Bugle , as a knife , as a hatchet : O , if you would be as ready to hearken at the returne of a Ship , how many Indians were conuerted to Christ Iesus , as what Trees , or druggs , or Dyes that Ship had brought , then you were in your right way , and not till then ; Libertie and Abundance , are Characters of kingdomes , and a kingdome is excluded in the Text ; The Apostles were not to looke for it , in their employment , nor you in this your Plantation . At least CHRIST expresses himselfe thus farre , in this answer , that if he would giue them a kingdome , hee would not giue it them yet . They aske him , VVilt thou at this time , restore the kingdome ? and hee answers , It is not for you to know the times : whatsoeuer God will doe , Man must not appoint him his time . The Apostles thought of a kingdome presently after Christs departure ; the comming of the Holy Ghost , who ledd them into all truthes , soone deliuer'd them of that error . Other men in fauour of the Iewes , interpreting all the prophesies , which are of a Spirituall kingdome , the kingdome of the Gospell , ( into which , the Iewes shall be admitted ) in a literall sense , haue thought that the Iewes shall haue , not onely a temporall kingdome in the same place , in Ierusalem againe , but because they find that kingdome which is promised , ( that is the kingdome of the Gospell ) to bee expressed in large phrases , and in an abundant manner , applying all that largenesse to a temporall kingdome , they thinke , that the Iewes shall haue such a kingdome , as shall swallowe and annihilate all other kingdomes , and bee the sole Empire and Monarchy of the world . After this , very great men in the Church vpon these words , of One thousand yeares after the Resurrection , haue immagin'd a Temporall Kingdome of the Saints of God heere vpon Earth , before they entred the ioyes of Heauen : and Saint Augustine himselfe , had at first some declinations towards that opinion , though he dispute powerfully against it , after : That there should bee Sabatismus in terris ; that as the world was to last Sixe thousand yeares in troubles , there should be a Seuenth thousand , in such ioyes as this world could giue . And some others , who haue auoided both the Temporall kingdome imagin'd by the Apostles , presently after the Ascention , And the Emperiall kingdome of the Iewes , before the Refurrection , And the Carnall kingdome of the Chiliasts , the Millenarians , after the Refurrection , though they speake of no kingdome , but the true kingdome , the kingdome of glory , yet they erre as much in assigning a certaine time when that kingdome shall beginne , when the ende of this world , when the Refurrection , when the Iudgement shall be . Non est vestrum nosse tempora , sayes Christ to his Apostles then ; and lest it might be thought , that they might know these things , when the Holy Ghost came vpon them , Christ denies that he himselfe knew that , as Man ; and as Man , Christ knew more , then euer the Apostles knew . Whatsoeuer therefore Christ intended to his Apostles heere , hee would not giue it presently , non adhuc , hee would not binde himselfe to a certaine time , Non est vestrum nosse tempora , It belongs not to vs to know Gods times . Beloued , vse goly meanes , and giue God his leisure . You cannot beget a Sonne , and tell the Mother , I will haue this Sonne born within fiue Moneths ; nor , when he is borne , say , you will haue him past daunger of VVardship within fiue yeares . You cannot sow your Corne to day , and say it shall bee aboue ground to morrow , and in my Barne next weeke . Howe soone the best Husbandman , sow'd the best Seede , in the best ground ? GOD cast the promise of a Messias , as the seede of all , in Paradise ; In Semine Mulieris ; The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents head ; and yet this Plant was Foure thousand yeares after before it appeared ; this Messias Foure thousand yeares before he came . GOD shew'd the ground where that should growe , Two thousand yeares after the Promise ; in Abrahams Family ; In semine tuo , In thy Seed all Nations shall be blessed . God hedgd in this Ground almost One thousand yeares after that ; In Micheas time , Et tu Bethlem , Thou Bethlem shalt bee the place ; and God watered that , and weeded that , refreshed that dry expectation , with a Succession of Prophets ; and yet it was so long before this expectation of Nations , this Messias came . So GOD promised the Iewes a Kingdome , in Iacobs Prophecie to Iuda , That the Scepter should not depart from his Tribe . In Two hundred yeares more , he saies no more of it ; then he ordaines some institutions for their King , when they should haue one . And then it was Foure hundred yeares after that , before they had a King. GOD ment from the first howre , to people the whole earth ; and God could haue made men of clay , as fast as they made Brickes of Clay in Egypt ; but he began vpon two , and when they had beene mulplying and replenishing the Earth One thousand sixe hundred yeares , the Flood washed all that away , and GOD was almost to begin againe vpon eight persons ; and they haue seru'd to people Earth and Heauen too ; Bee not you discouraged , if the Promises which you haue made to your selues , or to others , be not so soone discharg'd ; though you see not your money , though you see not your men , though a Flood , a Flood of bloud haue broken in vpon them , be not discouraged . Great Creatures ly long in the wombe ; Lyons are litterd perfit , but Bearewhelps lick'd vnto their shape ; actions which Kings vndertake , are cast in a mould ; they haue their perfection quickly ; actions of priuate men , and priuate purses , require more hammering , and more filing to their perfection . Onely let your principall ende , bee the propagation of the glorious Gospell , and though there bee an Exclusiue in the Text , GOD does not promise you a Kingdome , ease , and abundance in all things , and that which he does intend to you , he does not promise presently , yet there is an Inclusiue too ; not that , But , but something equiuolent at least , But yee shall receiue power , after that the Holy Ghost is come vpon you , and yee shall be witnesses vnto me , both in Ierusalem , and in all Iudaea , and in Samaria , and vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth . 2. Part. NOw our Sauiour Christ does not say to these men , since you are so importunate you shall haue no Kingdome ; now nor neuer ; t is , not yet ? But , he does not say , you shall haue no kingdome , nor any thing else ; t is not that ; But ; the importunitie of beggers , sometimes drawes vs to such a froward answer , for this importunitie , I will neuer giue you any thing . Our patterne was not so froward ; hee gaue them not that , but as good as that . Samuel was sent to superinduct a King vpon Saul , to annoint a new King. Hee thought his Commission had bene determined in Eliab , Surely this is the Lords Annointed . But the Lord said , not he ; nor the next , Aminadab ; nor the next , Shamah ; nor none of the next seuen ; But ; but yet there is one in the field , keeping sheepe , annoint him ; Dauid is he . Saint Paul prayed earnestly , and frequently , to be discharged of that Stimulus Carnis : God saies no ; not that ; but Gratia measufficit , Thou shalt haue grace to ouercome the tentation , though the tentation remaine . God sayes to you , No Kingdome , not ease , not abundance ; nay nothing at all yet ; the Plantation shall not discharge the Charges , not defray it selfe yet ; but yet already , now at first , it shall conduce to great vses ; It shall redeeme many a wretch from the Iawes of death , from the hands of the Executioner , vpon whom , perchauuce a small fault , or perchance a first fault , or perchance a fault heartily and sincerely repented , perchance no fault , but malice , had otherwise cast a present , and ignominious death . It shall sweep your streets , and wash your dores , from idle persons , and the children of idle persons , and imploy them : and truely , if the whole Countrey were but such a Bridewell , to force idle persons to work , it had a good vse . But it is already , not onely a Spleene , to draine the ill humors of the body , but a Liuer , to breed good bloud ; already the imployment breeds Marriners ; already the place giues essayes , nay Fraytes of Marchantable commodities ; already it is a marke for the Enuy , and for the ambition of our Enemies ; I speake but of our Doctrinall , not Nationall Enemies ; as they are Papists , they are sory we haue this Countrey ; and surely , twenty Lectures in matter of Controuersie , doe not so much vexe them , as one Ship that goes , & strengthens that Plantation . Neither can I recommend it to you , by any better Retorique then their malice . They would gladly haue it , and therefore let vs bee glad to hold it . Thus then this Text proceedes , and gathers vpon you . All that you would haue by this Plantation , you shall not haue ; GOD bindes not himselfe to measures ; All that you shall haue , you haue not yet ; GOD bindes not himselfe to times , but something you shall haue ; nay , you haue already , some great things ; and of those that in the Text is , The Holy Ghost shall come vpon you . we find the Holy Ghost to haue come vpon men , foure times in this Booke . First , vpon the Apostles at Pentecost . Then , when the whole Congregation was in prayer for the imprisonment of Peter and Iohn . Againe , when Peter preached in Cornelius his house , the Holy Ghost fell vpon all them that heard him . And fourthly , when Saint Paul laid his hands vpon them , who had beene formerly baptized at Ephesus . At the three latter times , it is euident that the Holy Ghost fell vpon whole and promiscuous Congregations , and not vpon the Apostles onely : and in the first , at Pentecost , the contrary is not euident ; nay , the Fathers , for the most part , that handle that , concurre in that , that the Holy Ghost fell then vpon the whole Congregation , men and women . The Holy Ghost fell vpon Peter before hee preach'd , and it fell vpon the hearers when he preach'd , and it hath fallen vpon euery one of them , who haue found motions in themselnes , to propagate the Gospell of Christ Iesus by this meanes . The Sonne of GOD did not abhorre the Virgins wombe , when hee would be made man ; when he was man , he did not disdaine to ride vpon an Asse into Ierusalem : the third person of the Trinity , the Holy Ghost is as humble as the second , hee refuses Nullum vehiculum , no conueyance , no doore of entrance into you ; whether the example and precedent of other good men , or a probable imagination of future profit , or a willingnes to concurre to the vexation of the Enemie , what collaterall respect soeuer drew thee in , if now thou art in , thy principall respect be the glory of God , that occasion , whatsoeur it was , was vehiculum Spiritus Sancti , that was the Petard , that broke open thy Iron gate , that was the Chariot , by which he entred into thee , and now hee is fallen vpon thee , if thou do not Depose , ( lay aside all consideration of profit for euer , neuer to looke for returne ) No not Sepose , ( leaue out the consideration of profit for a time ) ( for that , and Religion may well consist together , ) but if thou doe but Post-pose the consideration of temporall gaine , and study first the aduancement of the Gospell of Christ Iesus , the Holy Ghost is fallen vpon you , for by that , you receiue power , sayes the Text. There is a Power rooted in Nature , and a Power rooted in Grace ; a power yssuing from the Law of Nacions , and a power growing out of the Gospell . In the Law of Nature and Nations , A Land neuer inhabited , by any , or vtterly derelicted and immemorially abandoned by the former Inhabitants , becomes theirs that wil possesse it . So also is it , if the inhabitants doe not in some measure fill the Land , so as the Land may bring foorth her increase for the vse of men : for as a man does not become proprietary of the Sea , because hee hath two or three Boats , fishing in it , so neither does a a man become Lord of a maine Continent , because hee hath two or three Cottages in the Skirts thereof . That rule which passes through all Municipal lawes in particular States , Interest reipublic & vt quis re sua bene vtatur , The State must take order , that euery man improoue that which he hath , for the best aduantage of that State , passes also through the Law of Nations , which is to all the world , as the Municipall Law is to a particular State , Interest mundo , The whole world , all Mankinde must take care , that all places be emprou'd , as farre as may be , to the best aduantage of Mankinde in generall . Againe if the Land be peopled , and cultiuated by the people , and that Land produce in abundance such things , for want whereof their neghbours , or others ( being not enemies ) perish , the Law of Nations may iustifie some force ; in seeking , by permutation of other commodities which they neede , to come to some of theirs . Many cases may be put , when not onely Comerce , and Trade , but Plantations in lands , not formerly , our owne , may be lawfull . And for that , Accepistis potestatem , you haue your Commission , your Patents , your Charters , your Seales from him , vpon whose acts , any priuate Subiect , in Ciuill matters , may safely rely . But then , Accipietis potestatem , You shall receiue power , sayes the text ; you shall , when the Holy Ghost is come vpon you ; that is , when the instinct , the influence , the motions of the Holy Ghost enables your Conscience to say , that your principall ende is not gaine , nor glory , but to gaine Soules to the glory of GOD , this Seales the great Seale , this iustifies Iustice it selfe , this authorises Authoritie , and giues power to strength it selfe . Let the Conscience bee vpright , and then Seales , and Patents , and Commissions are wings ; they assist him to flye the faster ; let the Conscience be lame , and distorted , and he that goes vpon Seales , and Patents , and Commissions , goes vpon weake and feeble crouches . When the Holy Ghost is come vpon you , your Conscience rectified , you shall haue Power , a new power out of that ; what to doe ? that followes , to bee witnesses vnto Christ. Infamy is one of the highest punishments that the Law inflicts vpon man ; for it lyes vpon him euen after death : Infamy is the worst punishment , and Intestabilitie , ( to be made intestable ) is one of the deepest wounds of infamy ; and then the worst degree of intestabilitie , is not to bee beleeued , not to bee admitted to be a witnesse of any other : he is Intestable that cannot make a Testament , not giue his owne goods ; and hee Intestable that can receiue nothing by the Testament of another ; hee is Intestable , in whose behalfe no testimony may be accepted ; but he is the most miserably Intestable of all , the most detestably intestable , that discredits another man by speaking well of him , and makes him the more suspitious , by his commendations . A Christian in profession , that is not a Christian in life , is so intestable so , hee discredits Christ , and hardens others against him . Iohn Baptist was more then a Prophet , because he was a Witnesse of Christ ; and he was a Witnesse , becaue hee was like him , he did as hee did , he lead a holy and a religious life ; so he was a Witnesse . That great and glorious name of Martyr , is but a Witnesse . Saint Stephen was Proto-martyr , Christs first VVitnesse , because hee was the first that did as he did , that put on his colours , that drunke of his Cup , that was baptised with his Baptisme , with his owne bloud : so hee was a VVitnesse . To be Witnesses for Christ , is to be like Christ ; to conforme your selues to Christ ; and they in the Text , & you , are to be witnesses of Christ in Ierusalem , and in all Iudaea , and in Samaria , and vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth . Saint Hierome notes that Iohn Baptist was not bid to beare witnesse in Ierusalem , in the Citie , but in the Wildernesse ; he , and none but he : there were but few men to witnes to there ; & those few that were , came thither with a good disposition to be wrought vpon there ; and there there were fewe witnesses to oppose Iohns Testimony , few tentations , few worldly alluremēts , few worldly businesses . One was enough for the Wildernesse ; but for Ierusalem , for the Citie , where all the excuses in the Gospell doe alwaies meete , they haue bought commodities , and they must vtter them , they haue purchased Lands , & they must state them , they haue maried Wiues , and they must study them , to the Citie , to Ierusalem , Christ sends all his Apostles , and all little inough . Hee hath sent a great many Apostles , Preachers , to this Citie ; more then to any other , that I know . Religious persons as they call them , Cloistered Friars are not sent to the Citie ; by their first Canons , they should not preach abroad : but for those who are to doe that seruice , there are more in this Citie , then in others , for there are more Parish Churches heere then in others . Now , beloued , if in this Citie , you haue taken away a great part of the reuenue of the Preacher , to your selues , take thus much of his labour vpon your selues to , as to preach to one another by a holy and exemplar life , and a religious conuersation . Let those of the Citie , who haue interest in the Gouernment of this Plantation , be Witnesses of Christ who is Truth it selfe , to all other Gouernours of Companies , in all true and iust proceedings : that as CHRIST said to them who thought themselues greatest , Except you become as this little Childe , so we may say to the Gouenours of the grearest Companies , Except you proceed with the integrity , with the iustice , with the clearenesse , of your little Sister , this Plantation , you doe not take , you doe not follow a good example . This is to beare witnesse of Christ in Ierusalem , in the Citie , to bee examples of Truth , and Iustice , and Clearenesse , to others , in , and of this Citie . The Apostles were to do this in Iudaea too , their seruice lay in the Countrey as well as in the Citie . Birds that are kept in cages may learne some Notes , which they should neuer haue sung in the Woods or Fields ; but yet they may forget their naturall Notes too . Preachers that binde themselues alwaies to Cities and Courts , and great Auditories , may learne new Notes ; they may become occasionall Preachers , and make the emergent affaires of the time , their Text , and the humors of the hearers their Bible ; but they may loose their Naturall Notes , both the simplicitie , and the boldnesse that belongs to the Preaching of the Gospell : both their power vpon lowe vnderstandings to raise them , and vpon high affection to humble them . They may thinke that their errand is but to knocke at the doore , to delight the eare , and not to search the House , to ransacke the conscience . Christ left the Ninteie and nine for one Sheepe ; populous Cities are for the most part best prouided ; remoter parts need our labour more , and we should not make such differences . Yeoman , and Labourer , and Spinster , are distinctions vpon Earth ; in the Earth , in the graue there is no distinction . The Angell that shall call vs out of that dust , will not stand to suruay , who lyes naked , who in a Coffin , who in Wood , who in Lead , who in a fine , who in a courser Sheet ; In that one day of the Resurrection , there is not a forenoone for Lords to rise first , and an afternoone for meaner persons to rise after . Christ was not whip'd to saue Beggars , and crown'd with Thornes to saue Kings : he dyed , he suffered all , for all ; and we whose bearing witnesse of him , is to doe , as hee did , must conferre our labours vpon all , vpon Ierusalem , and vpon Iudaea too , vpon the Citie , and vpon the Country too . You , who are his witnesses too , must doe so too ; preach in your iust actions , as to the Citie , to the Countrey too . Not to Seale vp the secrets , and the misteries of your businesse within the bosome of Merchants , and exclude all others who nourish an incompatibility betweene Merchants & Gentlemen ; that Merchants shall say to them in reproach , you haue plaid the Gentlemen , and they in equall reproach , you haue playd the Merchant ; but as Merchants growe vp into worshipfull Families , and worshipfull Families let fall branches amongst Merchants againe , so for this particular Plantation , you may consider Citie and Countrey to bee one body , and as you giue example of a iust gouernment to other companies in the Citie , ( that 's your bearing witnesse in Ierusalem , ) so you may be content to giue reasons of your proceedings , and account of moneyes leuied , ouer the Countrey , for that 's your bearing witnes in Iudaea . But the Apostles Dioces is enlarged , farther then Ierusalem , farther the Iudaea , they are carried into Samaria ; you must beare witnesse of me in Samaria . Beloued , when I haue remembred you , who the Samaritans were , Men that had not renounced GOD , but mingled other Gods with him , Men that had not burnt the Law of GOD , but made Traditions of Men equall to it , you will easily guesse to whom I apply the name of Samaritans now . A Iesuit hath told vs ( an ill Intelligencer I confesse , but euen his Intelligencer , the Deuill himselfe , sayes true sometimes ) Maldonate sayes , the Samaritans were odious to the Iewes , vpon the same grounds as Heretiques and Scismatiques to vs ; and they , we know were odious to them for mingling false Gods , and false worships with the true . And if that be the Caracter of a Samaritan , wee knowe who are the Samaritans , who the Heretiques , who the Scismatiques of our times . In the highest approach to Christ , the Iewes said , Samaritanus es & Daemonium habes , Thou art a Samaritan & hast a Deuill . In our iust detestation of these Men , we iustly fasten both those vpon them . For as they delight in lyes and fill the world with weekely rumors , Daemonium habit , they haue a Deuill , quia mendax est & pater eius . As they multiply assassinats vpon Princes , and Massacres vpon people , Daemonium habent , they haue a Deuill , quia 〈◊〉 ab initio : as they tosse , and tumble , and dispose kingdomes , Daemonium habent , they haue a Deuill , Omina haec dabo was the Deuils complement : but as they mingle truthes and falshoods together in Religion , as they carry the word of GOD , and the Traditions of Men , in an euen balance , Samaritani sunt , they are Samaritanes . At first Christ forbad his Apostles , to goe into any Citie of the Samaritans : after , they did preach in many of them . Beare witnesse first in Ierusalē ; & in Iudaea ; giue good satisfaction especially to those of the houshold of the faithfull , in the Citie & Countrey , but yet satisfie euē those Samaritans too . They would be satisfied , what Miracles you work in Virginia ; & what people you haue conuerted to the Christian Faith , there . If we could as easily cal naturall effects Miracles , or casuall accidents miracles , or Magical illusions , miracles , as they do , to make a miraculous drawing of a tooth , a miraculous cutting of a corn , or , as Iustus Baronius saies , when he was conuerted to them ; that he was miraculously cur'd of the Cholique , by stooping to kisse the Popes foot , If we would pile vp Miracles so fast , as Pope Iohn 22. did in the Canonization of Aquinas , Tot Miracula confecit , quot determinauit questiones , he wrought as many miracles , as he resolu'd questions , we might find Miracles too . In truth , their greatest Miracle to me , is , that they find men to beleeue their miracles . If they rely vpon miracles , they imply a confession that they induce new doctrines ; that that is old & receiu'd , needs no miracles ; If they require miracles , because , though that be ancient Doctrine , it is newlybroght into those parts , we haue the confession of their Iesuit , Acosta , that they doe no miracle in those Indies , and he assignes very good reasons , why they are not necessary , nor to bee expected there . But yet , yet beare witnesse to these Samaritans , in the other point ; labour to giue them satisfaction in the other point of their chardge , What Heathens you haue conuerted to the Faith , which is that which is intended in the next , which is the last branch , You are to be witnesses vnto me both in Ierusalem , & in all Iudaea , & in Samaria , and vnto the vttermost parts of the Earth . Litterally , the Apostles were to bee such witnesses for Christ : were they so ? did the Apostles in person , preach the Gospell , ouer all the World ? I know that it is not hard to multiply places of the Fathers , in confirmation of that opinion , that the Apostles did actually , and personally preach the Gospell in all Nations , in their life . Christ saies , the Gospell of the Kingdome shall be preach'd in all the World ; and there hee tels the Apostles , that they shall see something done , after that ; Therefore they shall liue to it . So he saies to them , You shal be brought before Rulers and Kings for my sake ; but the Gospell must first be published among all Nations : In one Euangelist there is the Commission ; Preach in my name to all Nations . And in another , the Execution of this Commission , And they went and preach'd euery where . And after the Apostle certifies , and returnes the execution of this Commission , The Gospell is come and bringeth forth fruit to all the world : and vpon those , and such places , haue some of the Fathers beene pleasd , to ground their literall exposition , of an actuall and personall preaching of the Apostles ouer all the world . But had they dream'd of this world which hath been discouer'd since , into which , wee dispute with perplexitie , and intricacy enough , how any men came at first , or how any beastes , especially such beastes as men were not likely to carry , they would neuer haue doubted to haue admitted a Figure , in that , The Gospell was preached to all the world ; for when Augustus his Decree went out , That all the World should bee taxed , the Decree and the Taxe went not certainly into the West Indies ; when Saint Paul sayes , That their Faith was spoken of throughout the whole world , and that their obedience was come abroad vnto all men , surely the West Indies had not heard of the faith and the obedience of the Romanes . But as in Moses time , they call'd the Mediterranean Sea , the great Sea , because it was the greatest that those men had then seene , so in the Apostles time , they call'd that all the world , which was knowne and traded in then ; and in all that , they preach'd the Gospell . So that as Christ when he said to the Apostles ; I am with you , vnto the end of the World , could not intend that of them in person , because they did not last to the ende of the world , but in a succession of Apostolike men , so when he sayes , the Apostles should preach him to all the world , it is of the Succession too . Those of our profession that goe , you , that send them who goe , doe all an Apostolicall function . What action soeuer , hath in the first intention thereof , a purpose to propagate the Gospell of Christ Iesus , that is an Apostolicall action , Before the ende of the world come , before this mortality shall put on immortalitie , before the Creature shal be deliuered of the bondage of corruption vnder which it groanes , before the Martyrs vnder the Altar shal be silenc'd , before al thing 's shal be subdued to Christ , his kingdome perfited , & the last Enemy Death destroied , the Gospell must be preached to those men to whom ye send ; to all men ; furder aud hasten you this blessed , this ioyfull , this glorious consummation of all , and happie revnion of all bodies to their Soules , by preaching the Gospell to those men . Preach to them Doctrinally , preach to thē Practically ; Enamore them with your Iustice , and , ( as farre as may consist with your security ) your Ciuilitie ; but inflame them with your godlinesse , and your Religion . Bring them to loue and Reuerence the name of that King , that sends men to teach them the wayes of Ciuilitie in this world , but to feare and adore the Name of that King of Kings , that sends men to teach them the waies of Religion , for the next world . Those amongst you , that are old now , shall passe out of this world with this great comfort , that you contributed to the beginning of that Common Wealth , and of that Church , though they liue not to see the groath thereof to perfection : Apollos watred , but Paul planted ; hee that begun the worke , was the greater man. And you that are young now , may liue to see the Enemy as much empeach'd by that place , and your friends , yea Children , aswell accō modated in that place , as any other . You shall haue made this Iland , which is but as the Suburbs of the old world , a Bridge , a Gallery to the new ; to ioyne all to that world that shall neuer grow old , the Kingdome of heauen , You shall add persons to this Kingdome , and to the Kingdome of heauen , and adde names to the Bookes of our Chonicles , and to the Booke of Life . To end all , as the Orators which declaimd in the presence of the Roman Emperors , in their Panegyriques , tooke that way to make those Emperours see , what they were bound to doe , to say in those publique Orations , that those Emporors had done so , ( for that increased the loue of the Subiect to the Prince , to bee so tolde , that hee had done those great things , and then it conuayd a Counsell into the Prince to doe them after . ) As their way was to procure things to bee done , by saying they were done , so beloued I haue taken a contrary way : for when I , by way of exhortation , all this while haue seem'd to tell you what should be done by you , I haue , indeed , but told the Congregation , what hath beene done already : neither do I speake to moue a wheele that stood still , but to keepe the wheele in due motion ; nor perswade you to begin , but to continue a good worke , nor propose forreigne , but your own Examples , to do still , as you haue done hitherto . For , for that , that which is especially in my contemplation , the conuersion of the people , as I haue receiu'd , so I can giue this Testimony , that of those persons , who haue sent in moneys , and conceal'd their names , the greatest part , almost all , haue limited their deuotion , and contribution vpon that point , the propagation of Religion , and the conuersion of the people ; for the building and beautifying of the house of GOD , and for the instruction and education of their young Children . Christ Iesus himselfe is yesterday , and to day , and the same for euer . In the aduancing of his glory , be you so to , yesterday , and to day , and the same for euer ; here ; and hereafter , when time shall be no more , no more yesterday , no more to day , yet for euer and euer , you shall enioy that ioy , and that glorie , which no ill accident can attaine to diminish , or Eclipse it . Prayer . VVE returne to thee againe , O GOD , with praise and prayer ; as for all thy mercies from before minutes began , to this minute , from our Election to this present beame of Sanctification which thou hast shed vpon vs now . And more particularly , that thou hast afforded vs that great dignity , to be , this way , witnesses of thy Sonne Christ Iesus , and instruments of his glory . Looke gratiously , and looke powerfully vpon this body , which thou hast bene now some yeares in building and compacting together , this Plantation . Looke gratiously vpon the Head of this Body , our Soueraigne and blesse him with a good disposion to this work , and blesse him for that disposition : Looke gratiously vpon them , who are as the braine of this body , those who by his power . counsell , and aduise , and assist in the Gouernment thereof : blesse them with disposition to vnity and concord , and blesse them for that disposition : Looke gratiously vpon them who are as Eyes of this Body , those of the Clergy , who haue any interest therein : blesse them with a disposition to preach there , to pray heere , to exhort euery where for the aduancement thereof , & bless them for that disposition . Blesse them who are the Feete of this body , who goe thither , and the Hands of this body , who labour there , and them who are the Heart of this bodie , all that are heartily affected , and declare actually that heartinesse to this action , blesse them all with a cheerefull disposition to that , and bless them for that disposition . Bless it so in this calme , that when the tempest comes , it may ride it out safely ; blesse it so with friends now , that it may stand against Enemies hereafter ; prepare thy selfe a glorious haruest there , and giue vs leaue to be thy Labourers , That so the number of thy Saints being fulfilled , wee may with better assurance ioyne in that prayer , Come Lord Iesus come quickly , & so meet all in that kingdome which the Sonne of GOD hath purchased for vs , with the inestimable price of his incorruptible bloud . To which glorious Sonne of GOD , &c. Amen . FINIS . Errata . Page 10. line 14 for Three , read There , 2 l. 2 for Co read To. 20 l. 7 Dele Interrogat . ? 29 l. 20 Dele So. 39 l. 13 Dele Yet . Other errors there are , in mis-printing , or in transposing letters , or in misplacing Citations in the Margin , which will not ( I thinke ) hinder any willling Reader . Encaenia . THE FEAST OF DEDICATION . CELEBRATED AT LINCOLNES INNE , in a Sermon there vpon Ascension day , 1623. At the Dedication of a new Chappell there , Consecrated by the Right Reuerend Father in God , the Bishop of LONDON . Preached by IOHN DONNE , Deane of St. PAVLS . LONDON , Printed by AVG. MAT. for THOMAS IONES , and are to bee sold at his Shop in the Strand , at the blacke Rauen , neere vnto Saint Clements Church . 1623. TO THE MASTERS OF THE BENCH , AND the rest of the Honourable Societie of LINCOLNES INNE . IT pleased you to exercise your interest in me , and to expresse your fauour to mee , in inuiting mee to preach this Sermon : and it hath pleased you to doe both ouer againe , in inuiting me to publish it . To this latter seruice I was the more inclinable , because , though in it I had no occasion to handle any matter of Controuersie betweene vs , and those of the Romane Perswasion , yet the whole body and frame of the Sermon , is opposed against one pestilent calumny of theirs , that wee haue cast off all distinction of places , and of dayes , and all outward meanes of assisting the deuotion of the Congregation . For this vse , I am not sorry that it is made publique , for I shall neuer bee sorry to appeare plainly , and openly , and directly , without disguise or modification , in the vindicating of our Church from the imputations and calumnies of that Aduersary . If it had no publique vse , yet I should satisfie my selfe in this , that it is done in obedience to that , which you may call your Request , but I shall call your Commandement vpon Your very humble Seruant in Christ Iesus . IOHN DONNE . The Prayer before the Sermon . OEternall , and most gracious God , Father of our Lord Iesus Christ ; and in him , of all those that are his , As thou diddest make him so much ours , as that he became like vs , in all things , sinne onely excepted , make vs so much his , as that we may be like him , euen without the exception of sinne , that all our sinnes may bee buryed in his wounds , and drowned in his Blood. And as this day wee celebrate his Ascension to thee , bee pleased to accept our endeauour of conforming our selues to his patterne , in raysing this place for our Ascension to him . Leane vpon these Pinnacles , O Lord , as thou diddist vpon Iacobs Ladder , and hearken after vs. Bee this thine Arke , and let thy Doue , thy blessed Spirit , come in and out , at these Windowes : and let a full pot of thy Manna , a good measure of thy Word , and an effectuall preaching thereof , bee euermore preserued , and euermore bee distributed in this place . Let the Leprosie of Superstition neuer enter within these Walles , nor the hand of Sacriledge euer fall vpon them . And in these walles , to them that loue Profit and Gaine , manifest thou thy selfe as a Treasure , and fill them so ; To them that loue Pleasure , manifest thy selfe , as Marrow and Fatnesse , and fill them so ; And to them that loue Preferment , manifest thy selfe , as a Kingdome , and fill them so ; that so thou mayest bee all vnto all ; giue thy selfe wholly to vs all , and make vs all wholly thine . Accept our humble thanks for all , &c. IOHN 10. 22. And it was at Ierusalem , the Feast of the Dedication ; and it was Winter ; and Iesus walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch . SAint Basill in a Sermon vpon the 114. Psalme ; vpon the like occasion as drawes vs together now , The consecration of a Church , makes this the reason and the excuse of his late comming thither to doe that Seruice , that he stayd by the way , to consecrate another Church : I hope euery person heere hath done so ; consecrated himselfe , who is a Temple of the Holy Ghost ; before hee came to assist , or to testifie the consecration of this place of the Seruice of God. Nostra festiuitas hec est , quia de Ecclesia nostra ; sayes Saint Bernard . This Festiuall belongs to vs , because it is the consecration of that place , which is ours , Magis autem nostra , quia de nobis ipsis : But it is more properly our Festiuall , because it is the consecration of our selues to Gods seruice . For , Sanctae Animae propter inhabitantem Spiritum ; your Soules are holy , by the inhabitation of Gods holy spirit , who dwells in them . Sancta corpor a propter inhabitantem animam ; Your Bodies are holy , by the inhabitation of those sanctified Soules . Sancti parietes , propter Corpora Sanctorum . These walles are holy , because the Saints of God meet here within these walls to glorifie him . But yet these places are not onely consecrated & sanctified by your comming ; but to bee sanctified also for your comming ; that so , as the Congregation sanctifies the place , the place may sanctifie the Congregation too . They must accompany one another ; holy persons and holy places ; If men would wash sheep in the Baptisterie , in the Font , those sheep were not christned . If prophane men , or idolatrous men , pray here after their way , their prayers are not sanctified by the place . Neither if it be after polluted , doth the place retain that sanctitie , which is this day to be deriued vpon it , and to bee imprinted in it . Our Text settles vs vpon both these considerations , The holy place , and the holy person . It was the Feast of the Dedication : there 's the holinesse of the place ; And the holy person , was holinesse it selfe in the person of Christ Iesus , who walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch . These two will bee our two parts : And the first of these wee shall make vp of these pieces . First , we shall see a lawfull vse of Feasts , of Festiuall dayes . And then of other Feasts , then were instituted by God himselfe ; diuers were so ; this was not . And thirdly , not only a festiuall solemnizing of some one thing , at some one time , for the present , but an Anniuersary returning to that folemnitie euery yeare ; And lastly , in that first part , this Festiuall in particular , The Feast of the Dedication of the Temple : that fanctified the place , that shall determine that part . In the second part , The holinesse of the person , we shall carry your thoughts no farther , but vpon this , That euen this holy person Iesus himselfe , would haue recourse to this place , thus dedicated , thus sanctified : And vpon this , that hee would doe that especially at such times , as hee might countenance and authorise the Ordinances and Institutions of the Church , which had appointed this Festiuall . And this , sayes the Text , he did in the Winter : First , Etsi Hiems , though it were Winter , hee came , and walked in the Porch , a little inconuenience kept him not off : And , Quia Hiems , because it was Winter , he walked in the Porch which was couered , not in the Temple which was open . So that heere with modestie , and without scandall he condemned not the fauouring of a mans health , euen in the Temple , And it was at Ierusalem , the Feast of the Dedication ; and it was Winter ; and Iesus walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch . In our first part , Holy places , wee looke first vpon the times of our meeting there , Holy dayes . The root of all those is the Sabboth , that God planted himselfe , euen in himselfe , in his owne rest , from the Creation . But the root , and those branches which grow from that root , are of the same nature , and the same name : And therefore as well of the flower , as of the root of a Rose , or of a Violet , we would say , This is a Violet , this is a Rose , so as well to other Feasts of Gods institution , as to the first Sabboth , God giues that name ; hee cals those seuerall Feasts which he instituted , Sabboths ; enioynes the same things to be done vpon them , inflicts the same punishments vpon them that breake them . So that there is one Moralitie , that is the soule of all Sabboths , of all Festiualls ; howsoeuer all Sabboths haue a ceremoniall part in them , yet there is a Morall part that inanimates them all ; they are elemented of Ceremonie , but they animated with Moralitie . And that Moralitie is in them all , Rest : for if Adam could name creatures according to their nature , God could name his Sabboth according to the nature of it , and Sabboth is Rest. It is a Rest of two kindes ; our rest , and Gods rest . Our rest is the cessation from labour on those dayes ; Gods rest , is our sanctifying of the day : for so in the religious sacrifice of Noah , when hee was come out of the Arke , God is said to haue smelt , Odorem quietis , the sauour of rest : vpon those dayes we rest from seruing the world , and God rests in our seruing of him . And as God takes a tenth part of our goods , in Tythes , but yet he takes more too , he takes Sacrifices , so though he take a seuenth part of our time in the Sabboth , yet he takes more too , he appoints other Sabboths , other Festiualls , that he may haue more glory , and we more Rest : for all wherin those two concurre , are Sabboths Vacate & videte quoniam ego sum Dominus sayes God. First vacate , rest from your bodily labours , distinguish the day , and then videte , come hither into the Lords presence , and worship the Lord your God , sanctifie the day : And in all the Sabboths there is still a Cessate , and a Humiliate animas , bodily rest , and spirituall sanctifying of the day . Holy dayes then , that is , dayes seposed for holy vses , and for the outward & publike seruice of God , are in Nature , and in that Morall Law which is written in the heart of man. That such dayes there must be is Morall ; and this is Morall too , that all things in the seruice of God bee done in order ; and this also , that obedience be giuen to Superiours , in those things wherein they are Superiors . And therfore it was to the Iewes , as well Morall , to obserue the certaine dayes which God had determined , as to obserue any at all . Not that Gods commandement limitting the dayes , infused a Moralitie into those particular dayes : for Moralitie is perpetuall ; and if that had been Morall , it must haue been so before , and it must bee so still ; Gods determining the dayes did not infuse , not induce a Moralitie there , but it awakened a former Moralitie , that is , an obedience to the commandement , for that time , which God had appoynted that for them ; for this Obedience , and Order is perpetuall , and so , Morall . We depart therfore from that error , which those ancient Heretiques , the Ebionites begun , and some laboured to refresh in Saint Gregories time , and which continues in practise in some places of the world still ; To obserue both the Iewes Sabbath , and the Christians , Satterday , and Sunday too ; because the Sabboth is called Pactum sempiternum : for to that any of Saint Augustines Answeres will serue ; either that it is called euerlasting , because it signified an euerlasting rest ; ( where be pleased to note by the way , that Holy dayes , Sabbaths , are not onely instituted for Order , but they haue their Mystery , and their Signification ; for Holy dayes , ( as the Text calls them there ) and New Moones , and the Sabboth , were but shadowes of things to come : ) or else the Sabboth was called euerlasting to them , because it bound them euerlastingly , and they might neuer intermit it , as some other ceremonies they might . But their Sabboths bind not vs ; we depart from them who thinke so ; and so we doe from them , who think we are bound to no Festiualls at all , or at least to none but the Sabboth . For God requires as much seruice from vs , as from the Iewes , and to them hee enlarged his Sabboths , and made them diuers . But those were of Gods immediat institution : but all that the Iewes obserued were not so ; and that 's our next consideration , Festiualls instituted by the Church . At first , when God was alone , it is but Faciamus , let vs , vs the Trinity make man. This was , when God was , as we may say , in Coelibatu . But after God hath taken his spouse , maried the Church , then it is Capite nobis vulpes , doe you take the little Foxes , you the Church ; for our vines haue grapes ; the vines are ours ; yours and mine sayes Christ to the Church : and therfore do you looke to them , as well as I. The Tables of the law God himselfe writ , and gaue them written to Moses : he left none of that to him ; not a power to make other Lawes like those lawes : but for the Tabernacle , which concern'd the outward worship of God , that was to be made by Moses , Iuxta similitudinem , according to the paterne which God had shewed him . God hath giuen the Church a paterne of Holy dayes , in those Sabboths which hee himselfe instituted , and according to the paterne , the Church hath instituted more : and Recte festa Ecclesiae colunt quise Ecclesiae filios recognoscunt : They who disdaine not the name of sonnes of the Church , refuse not to celebrate the daies which are of the Churches institution . There was no immediate commandement of God for that Holy day , which Mor dechai , by his letters establish'd ; but yet the Iewes vndertooke to do as Mordechai had written to them . There was no such commandement for this Holy day , in the Text ; and yet that was obferued , as long as they had any beeing . And where the reason remaines , the practise may ; The Iewes did , we may institute new Holy dayes . And not onely transitory daies , for a present thanks giuing for a present benefit , but Anniuersaries , perpetuall memorials of Gods deliuerances . And that 's our next step . Both the Holy dayes , which we named before , which were instituted with out speciall Commaundement from God , were so . That of Mordechai , he commanded to be kept euery yeare for two dayes , and this in the Text , Iudas Maccabeus commanded to be kept yearely for eight dayes , which was more then was appoynted to any of the Holy dayes , instituted by God himselfe , for the Festiuall alone . According to which paterne , one Bishop of Rome , ordained that the Festiuals of the Dedication of Churches should bee yearely celebrated in those places ; and another extended the Festiuall to eight dayes ; at least at the first dedication thereof , if not euery yeare : that God might not onely be put into the possession of the place , but setled in it . God by Moses made the children of Israel a Song , because , as hee sayes , howsoeuer they did by the Law , they would neuer forget that Song , & that Song should be his witnesse against them . Therefore would God haue vs institute solemne memorialls of his great deliuerances , that if when those dayes come about , we doe not glorifie him , that might aggrauate our condemnation . Euery fift of August , the Lord rises vp , to hearken whether we meet to glorifie him , for his great deliuerance of his Maiesty , before the blest vs with his presence in this Kingdome : and when he finds vs zealous in our thankes for that , he giues vs farther blessings . Certainly he is vp as early euery fift of Nouember , to hearken if we meet to glorifie him for that deliuerance still ; and if hee should finde our zeale lesse then heretofore , hee would wonder why . Gods principall , his radicall Holy day , the Sabbath , had a weekly returne ; his other Sabbaths , instituted by himselfe , and those which were instituted by those paternes , that of Mordechai , that of the Maccabees , & those of the Christian Church , They all return once a yeare . God would keepe his Courts once a yeare , and see whether wee make our apparances as heeretofore ; that if not , hee may know it . Feastes in generall , Feastes instituted by the Church alone , Feasts in their yearely returne and obseruation , haue their vse , and particularly those Feasts of the Dedication of Churches , which was properly and literally the Feast of this Text. It was the Feast of Dedication . As it diminishes not , preiudices not Gods Eternitie , that wee giue him his Quando , certaine times of Inuocation , God is not the lesse yesterday , and to day , and the same for euer , because wee meet here to day , and not yesterday , so it diminishes not , preiudices not Gods Vbiquitie and Omnipresence , that wee giue him his Vbi , certaine places for Inuocation . That 's not the lesse true , that the most High dwells not in Temples made with handes , though God accept at our hands our dedication of certaine places to his seruice , & manifest his working more effectually , more energetically in those places , then in any other . for when we pray , Our Father which art in Heauen , It is not ( sayes Saint Chrysostome ) that wee deny him to bee heere , where wee kneele when we say that Prayer , but it is that we acknowledge him to be there , where he can graunt , and accomplish our prayer . It is as Origen hath very well expressed it , Vt in melioribus mundi requiramus Deum : That still wee looke for God in the best places ; looke for him , as he heares our petitions , here , in the best places of this world , in his House , in the Church ; looke for him as he graunts our petition , on , in the best place of the next world , at the right hand , and in the bosome of the Father . When Moses sayes that the word of God is not beyond Sea , he addes , It is not so beyond Sea , as that thou must not haue it without sending thither . When he sayes there , it is not in heauen , he adds , not so in heauen , as that one must goe vp , before hee can haue it . The word of God , is beyond Sea , the true word , truly preached in many true Churches there , but yet we haue it here , within these Seas too ; God is in Heauen , but yet hee is here , within these walles too . And therefore the impietie of the Manicheans exceeded all the Gentiles , who concluded the God of the Old Testament to be an impotent , an vnperfect God , because hee commaunded Moses first to make him a Tabernacle , and then Salomon to make him a Temple , as though he needed a House . God does not need a house , but man does need , that God should haue a House . And therefore the first question , that Christs first Disciples asked of him , was Magister , vbi habitas , they would know his standing house , where he hath promised to bee alwaies within , and where at the ringing of the Bell , some body comes to answere you , to take your errand , to offer your Prayers to God , to returne his pleasure in the preaching of his Word to you . The many and heauy Lawes , with which sacred and secular stories abound , against the prophanation of places , appropriated to Gods seruice , and that religious custome , that passed almost through all ciuill Nations , that an oath , which was the bond between man , and man , had the stronger Obligation , if that were taken in the Church , in the presence of God , ( for such was the practise of Rome towards her enemies , Tango ar as inediosqueignes , to make their vowes of hostility in the Church , and at time of diuine Seruice , ( and such is their practise still , they seale their Treasons in the Sacrament ) such was Romes practise towards others , and such was the practise of others towards Rome , ( for so Anniball sayes , that his father Amilcar swore him at the Altar , that he should neuer bee reconciled to Rome , ( And such is your practise still , as often as you meet here , you renew your band to God , that you will neuer bee reconciled to the Superstitions of Rome ) all these , and all such as these , and such as these are infinite , heap vp testimonies , that euen in Nature there is a disposition to apply , and appropriate certaine places to Gods seruice . And this impression in nature is illustrated in the Law , as the time , so the place is distinguished , Yee shall keepe my Sabboths , there is the time , and you shall reuerence my Sanctuary , there is the place . But that they may be reuerenced , that they may bee Sanctuaries , they are to be sanctified ; and that 's the Encaenia , the Dedication . Euen in those things which accrue vnto God , and become his , by another title , then as he is Lord of all , by Creation , that is , by appropriation , by dedication to his vse and Seruice , There is a Lay Dedication , and an Ecclesiasticall Dedication . I hope the distinction of Laytie , and Clergie , the words , scandalize no man. Luther , and Caluin too might haue iust cause to decline the words , as they did ; when so much was ouer-attributed to that Clergie which they intend , as that they were so Sors Domini , the Lords portion , as that the world had no portion in them , and yet they had the greatest portion of the world ; and howe little soeuer they had to doe with God , yet no State , no King might haue any thing to doe with them . But , as long as we declare , that by the Layetie we intend the people glorifying God in their secular callings , and by the Clergie , persons seposed by his ordinance , for spirituall functions , The Layetie no farther remoou'd then the Clergie , The Clergie no farther entitled then the Layetie , in the blood of Christ Iesus , neither in the effusion of that blood vpon the Crosse , nor in the participation of that blood in the Sacrament , and that an equall care in Clergie , and Layetie , of doing the duties of their seuerall callings , giues them an equall interest in the ioyes , and glory of heauen , I hope no man is scandaliz'd with the names . The Lay Dedication then is , the voluntary surrendring of this piece of ground thus built , to God. For we must say , as Saint Peter said to Ananias , Whiles it remain'd , was that not your owne ? and now , when that is raised ( sauing that there was Dedicatio Intentionalis , a purpose from the beginning to appropriate it , to this holy vse ) might you not , till this houre , haue made this roome your Hall , if you would ? But this is your Dedication , that you haue cheerfully pursued your first holy purposes , and deliuer now into the hands of this seruant of God , the Right Reuerend Father the Bishop of this See , a place to be presented to God for you , by him , not misbecomming the Maiestie of the great God , who is pleased to dwell thus amongst vs. What was spent in Salomons Temple is not told vs. What was prepared , before it was begun , is such a summe , as certainly , if all the Christian Kings that are , would send in all that they haue , at once , to any one seruice , all would not equall that summe . They gaue there , till they who had the ouerseeing therof , complain'd of the abundance , and proclaim'd an abstinence . Yet there was one , who gaue more then all they ; for Christ sayes the poore widdow gaue more then all the rest , because she gaue all she had . There is a way of giuing more then she gaue ; & I , who by your fauours was no strāger to the beginning of this work , and an often refresher of it to your memories , and a poore assistant in laying the first stone , the materiall stone , as I am now , a poore assistant again in this laying of this first formall Stone , the Word & Sacrament , and shall euer desire to be so in the seruice of this place , I , I say , can truly testifie , that you ( speaking of the whole Societie together of the publike stock , the publike treasury , the publike reuenue ) you gaue more then the widow , who gaue all , for you gaue more then all . A stranger shall not entermeddle with our ioy , as Salomon saies : strangers shall not know , how ill we were prouided for such a work , when we begun it , nor with what difficulties we haue wrastled in the way ; but strangers shall know to Gods glory , that you haue perfected a work of full three times as much charge , as you proposed for it at beginning : so bountifully doth God blesse , and prosper intentions to his glory , with enlarging your hearts within , and opening the hearts of others , abroad . And this is your Dedication , and that which without preiudice , and for distinction , wee call a Lay Dedication , though from religious hearts , and hands . There is another Dedication ; that we haue call'd Ecclesiasticall , appointed by God , so as God speaks in the ordinances , and in the practise of his Church . Haereditary Kings are begotten & conceiu'd the naturall way ; but that body which is so begotten of the blood of Kings , is not a King , no nor a man , till there bee a Soule infused by God. Here is a House , a Child conceiu'd ( wee may say borne ) of Christian parents , of persons religiously disposed to Gods glory ; but yet , that was to receiue another influence , an inanimation , a quickening , by another Consecration . Oportet denuo nasci , holds euen in the children of Christian parents ; when they are borne , they must be borne again by Baptisme : when this place is thus giuen by you , for God , oportet denuo dari , it must be giuen againe to God , by him , who receiues it of you . It must ; there seems a necessitie to be implied , because euen in Nature , there was a consecration of holy places ; Iacob in his iourney , before the Law , consecrated euen that stone , which he set vp , in intention to build God a House there . In the time of the Law , this Feast of Dedication , was in practise ; first in the Tabernacle ; that and all that appertain'd to it , was annointed , and sanctified : So was Salomons Temple after ; so was that which was reedified after their return from Babylon , and so was this in the Text , after the Heathen had defiled and profan'd the Altar thereof , and a new one was erected by Iudas Maccabeus . Thus in Nature , thus in Law , and thus far thus in the Gospell too : that as sure as wee are that the people of God had materiall Churches in the Apostles first times , so sure we are , that those places had a Sanctitie in them . If that place of Saint Paul , Despise yee the Church of God ? be to be vnderstood of the locall , of the materiall Church , and not of the Congregation , you see there is a rebuke for the prophanation of the place , and consequently a sanctity in the place . But assoone as the Church came euidently by the fauour of Princes , to haue liberty to make lawes , and power to see them practised , it was neuer pretermitted to consecrate the places . Before that , we find an ordinance by Pope Hyginus ( he was within 150. after Christ , and the eighth Bishop of that See after Saint Peter ) euen of particulars in the Consecrations . But after , Athanasius in his Apologie to Constantius , makes that protestation for all Christians , That they neuer meet in any Church , till it bee consecrated : And Constantine the Emperour least hee should be at any time vnprouided of such a place , ( as we read in the Ecclesiasticall story ) in all his warres , carried about bout with him a Tabernacle which was consecrated : In Nature , in the Law , in the Gospell , in Precept , in Practise , these Consecrations are established . This they did . But to what vse did they consecrate them ? not to one vse only ; and therefore it is a friuolous contention , whether Churches be for preaching , or for praying . But if Consecration be a king of Christning of the Church , & that at the Christning it haue a name , wee know what name God hath appoynted for his House , Domus mea , Domus orationis vocabitur . My House shall bee called the House of Prayer . And how impudent and inexcusable a falshood is that in Bellarmine , That the Lutherans and Caluinistes doe admit Churches for Sermons and Sacraments , Sed reprehendunt quod fiant ad orandum , They dislike that they should be for Prayer : when as Caluin himselfe , ( who may seeme to bee more subiect to this reprehension then Luther ) ( for there is no such Liturgie in the Caluinists Churches , as in the Lutheran ) yet in that very place which Bellarmine cites , sayes Conceptae preces in Ecclesia Deo gratae ; and for singing in Churches , ( which in that place of Caluin cannot be only meant of Psalmes , for it was of that manner of singing , which being formerly in vse in the Easterne churches , S. Ambrose , in his time , brought into the Church of Millan , and so it was deriud ouer the Western churches , which was the modulation and singing of Versicles and Antiphons and the like ) this singing , sayes Caluin , was in vse amongst the Apostles themselues , Et sanctissimum & saluberimum est institutum . It was a most holy and most profitable Institution . Still consider Consecration to be a Christning of the place ; and though we find them often called Templa propter Sacrificia , for our sacrifices of praier , and of praise , & of the merits of Christ , and often called Ecclesiae ad conciones , Churches , in respect of congregations , for preaching , and often call'd Martyria , for preseruing with respect , and honor the bodies of Martyrs , and other Saints of God , there buried , & often , often , by other names , Dominica , Basilica , and the like , yet the name that God gaue to his house , is not Concionatorium , nor Sacramentarium , but Oratorium , the House of Prayer . And therefore without preiudice to the other functions too , ( for as there is a vae vpon me , Si non Euangelizauero , If I preach not my selfe , so may that vae be multiplied vpon any , who would draw that holy ordinance of God into a dis-estimatiō , or into a slacknesse , ) let vs neuer intermit that dutie , to present our selues to God in these places , though in these places there bee then , no other Seruice , but Common prayer . For then doth the House answere to that name , which God hath giuen it , if it be a house of Prayer . Thus then were these places to receiue a double Dedication ; a Dedication , which was a Donation from the Patron , a Dedication which was a consecration from the Bishop , for to his person , and to that ranke in the Hierarchy of the Church , the most ancient Canons limited it ; and to those purposes , which wee haue spoken of ; of which , Prayer is so farre from being none , as that there is none aboue it . A little should be said , ( before wee shut vp this part ) of the manner , the forme of Consecrations . In which , in the Primitiue Church , assoone as Consecrations came into free vse , they were full of Ceremonies . And many of those Ceremonies deriu'd from the Iewes : and not vnlawfull , for that . The Ceremonies of the Iewes , which had their foundation in the prefiguration of Christ , and were types of him , were vnlawfull after Christ was come ; because the vse of them , then , implyed a deniall or a doubt of his being come . But those Ceremonies , which , though the Iewes vsed them , had their foundation in Nature , as bowing of the knee , lifting vp the eyes , and hands , and many , very many others , which either testified their deuotion that did them , or exalted their deuotion that sawe them done , are not therefore excluded the Church , because they were in vse amongst the Iewes . That Pope whom we named before , Hyginus , the eighth after Saint Peter , he instituted , Ne Basilica sine Missa consecretur . That no Church bee consecrated without a Masse . If this must binde vs , to a Masse of the present Romane Church , it were hard ; and yet not very hard truely ; for they are easily had . But that word , Masse , is in Saint Ambrose , in Saint Augustine in some very ancient Councels ; and surely intends nothing , to this purpose , but the Seruice , the Common Prayer of the Church , then in vse , there . And when the Bishop Panigarola sayes in his Sermon vpon Whitsunday , that the Holy Ghost found the blessed Virgin and the Apostles at Masse , I presume hee meanes no more , then that they were mett at such publique Prayer , as at those times they might make . Sure Pope Clemens , and Pope Hyginus meane the same thing , when one sayes Missa consecretur , and the other Diuinis Precibus : One sayes , Let the Consecration bee with a Masse , the other , with Diuine Seruice ; the Liturgie , the Diuine Seruice was then the Masse . In a word , a constant forme of Consecrations , wee finde none that goes through our Ritualls : the Ceremonies were still more or lesse , as they were more or lesse obnoxious , or might bee subiect to scandalize , or to be mis-interpreted . And therefore I am not heere either to direct , or so much as to remember , that which appertaines to the manner of these Consecrations ; onely in concurring in that , which is the Soule of all , humble and heartie prayer , that God will heare his Seruants in this place , I shall not offend to say , that I am sure my zeale is inferiour to none . And more I say not of the first Part , The Holy place ; and but a little more , of the other ; though at first it were proposed for an equall part , The Holy Person , That at the Feast of the Dedication , Iesus walked in the Temple in Salomons Porch . In this second part , wee did not spread the words , not shed our considerations vpon many particulars : the first was , that euen Iesus himselfe had recourse to this Holy place . In the new Ierusalem , in Heauen , there is no Temple . I saw no Temple there sayes Saint Iohn : for the Lord God Almightie , and the Lambe are the Temple of it . In Heauen , where there is no danger of falling , there is no need of assistance . Heere the Temple is called Gnazar , that is Auxilium : A Helper : the strongest that is , needs the helpe of the Church : And it is called Sanctificium , by Saint Hierom , a place that is not onely made holy by Consecration , but that makes others holy by GOD in it . And therefore Christ himselfe , whose person and presence might consecrate the Sanctum Sanctorum , would yet make his often repayre to this Holy place ; not that hee needed this subsidie of Locall holinesse in himselfe , but that his example might bring others who did neede it ; and those who did not ; and , that euen his owne Preaching might haue the benefite and the blessing of Gods Ordinance in that place , hee sayes of himselfe , Quotidie apud vos sedebam docens in Templo , and Semper docui in Synagoga , & in Templo ; as in the Actes , the Angell that had deliuered the Apostles out of prison , sends them to Church , Stantes in Templo loquimini plebi . The Apostles were sent to preach , but to preach in the Temple , in the place appropriated and consecrated for that holy vse and employment . He came to this place , and he came at those times , which no immediate command of God , but the Church had instituted . Facta sunt Encaenia , sayes the Text ; It was the Feast of the Dedication . Wee know what Dedication this was ; That of Salomon was much greater ; A Temple built where none was before ; That of Esdras at the returne was much greater then this , An intire reedification of that demolished Temple , where it was before . This was but a zealous restoring of an Altar in the Temple : which hauing beene prophaned by the Gentiles , the Iewes themselues threw downe , and erected a new , and dedicated that . Salomons Dedication is called a Feast , a Holy day : by the very same name that the Feast of vnleauened bread , and the Feast of the Tabernacle is called so often in Scripture , which is Kag . The Dedication of Ezra is sufficiently declared to bee a solemne Feast too . But neither of these Feastes , though of farre greater Dedications , were Anniuersarie ; neither commanded to be kept euery yeare ; and yet this , which was so much lesser then the others , the Church had put vnder that Obligation , to bee kept euery yeare ; and Christ himselfe contemnes not , condemnes not , disputes not the institution of the Church . But as for matter of doctrine hee sends euen his owne Disciples , to them who sate in Moses Chayre , so for matter of Ceremony , he brings euen his owne person , to the celebrating , to the authorizing , to the countenancing of the Institutions of the Church , and rests in that . Now it was Winter , sayes the Text : Christ came etsi Hyems , though it were Winter ; so small an inconuenience kept him not off . Beloued , it is not alway colder vpon Sunday , then vpon Satterday ; nor at any time colder in the Chappell ; then in Westminster Hall. A thrust keepes some off in Summer ; and colde in Winter : and there are more of both these in other places , where for all that , they are more content to be . Remember that Peter was warming himselfe , and hee denyed Christ. They who loue a warme bed , let it bee a warme Studie , let it bee a warme profit , better then this place , they deny CHRIST in his Institution . That therefore which CHRIST sayes , Pray that your flight bee not in the Winter , nor vpon the Sabboth ; we may apply thus , Pray that vpon the Sabboth ( I tolde you at first , what were Sabboths , ) the Winter make you not flie , not abstaine from this place . Put off thy shooes , sayes God to Moses , for the place is holy ground . When Gods ordinance by his Church call you to this holy place , put off those shoes , all those earthly respects , of ease or profit , Christ came , Etsi Hyems . But then , Quia Hyems , Because it was Winter , Hee did walke in Salomons Porch , which was couered , not in Atrio , in that part of the Temple , which was open , and expos'd to the weather . We doe not say , that infirme and weak men , may not fauour themselues , in a due care of their health , in these places . That he who is not able to raise himselfe , must alwayes stand at the Gospell , or bow the knee at the name of Iesus , or stay some whole houres , altogether vncouered heere , if that increase infirmities of that kinde . And yet Courts of Princes , are strange Bethesdaes ; how quickly they recouer any man that is brought into that Poole ? How much a little change of ayre does ? and how well they can stand , and stand bare many houres , in the Priuy Chamber , that would melt and flowe out into Rhumes , and Catarrs , in a long Gospell heere ? But , Citra Scandalum , a man may fauour himselfe in these places : but yet this excuses not the irreuerent manner which hath ouertaken vs in all these places ; That any Master may thinke himselfe to haue the same libertie heere , as in his owne house , or that that Seruant , that neuer puts on his hat in his Masters presence all the weeke , on Sunday , when hee and his Master are in Gods presence , should haue his hat on perchance before his Masters . Christ shall make Master and Seruant equall ; but not yet ; not heere ; nor euer , equall to himselfe , how euer they become equall to one another . Gods seruice is not a continuall Martyrdome , that a man must bee heere , and here in such a posture , and such a manner , though hee dye for it ; but Gods House is no Ordinary neither ; where any man may pretend to doe what he will , and euery man may doe , what any man does . Christ slept in a storme ; I dare not make that generall ; let all doe so . Christ fauoured himselfe in the Church ; I dare not make that generall neither : to make all places equall , or all persons equall in any place . T is time to end . Saint Basill himselfe , as acceptable as hee was to his Auditory , in his second Sermon vpon the 14. Psalme , takes knowledge that hee had preached an houre , and therefore broke off : I see it is a Compasse , that all Ages haue thought sufficient . But as we haue contracted the consideration of great Temples , to this lesser Chappell , so let vs contract the Chappell to our selues : Et facta sint Encaenia nostra , let this be the Feast of the Dedication of our selues to God. Christ calls himselfe a Temple , Soluite templum hoc : Destroy this Temple . And Saint Paul calls vs so twice ; Know ye not that ye are the Temples of the Holy Ghost ? Facta sint Encaenia nostra : Encaenia signifies Renouationem , a renewing : and Saint Augustine sayes that in his time , Si quis noua tunica indueretur , Encaeniare diceretur . If any man put on a new garment , hee called it by that name , Encaenia sua . Much more is it so , if wee renew in our selues the Image of God , and put off the Olde man , and put on the Lord Iesus Christ. This is truly Encaeniare , to dedicate , to renew our selues : and so Nazian . in a Sermon , or Oration , vpon the like occasion as this , calls , Conuersionem nostram , Encaenia , our turning to God , in a true repentance , or renewing , our dedication . Let mee charge your memories , but with this note more , That when God forbad Dauid the building of an House , Because hee was a man of blood , at that time Dauid had not embrued his hands in Vriahs blood ; nor shed any blood , but lawfully in iust warres ; yet euen that made him vncapable of this fauour to prouide God a house . Some callings are in their nature more obnoxious , and more exposed to sinne , then others are : accompanied with more tentations ; & so retard vs more in holy duties . And therefore as there are particular sinnes that attend certaine places , certaine ages , certaine complexions , and certaine vocations , let vs watch our selues in all those , and remember that not only the highest degrees of those sinns , but any thing that conduces therunto , prophanes the Consecration , and Dedication of this Temple , our selues , to the seruice of God ; it annihilates our repentance , and frustrates our former reconciliations to him . Almighty God worke in you a perfit dedication of your selues at this time ; that so , receiuing it from hands dedicated to God , hee whose holy Office this is , may present acceptably this House to God in your behalfes , and establish an assurance to you , that God will be alwayes present with you and your Succession in this place . Amen . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A20655-e620 Deut. 31. 19. Apoc. 15. 3. Diuision . Verse 15 , Verse 9. Verse 10 , Verse 2. Verse 16. Verse 17. Part 1. Esa. 37. 3 2. Reg. 5. 1. 1. Sam. 23 lud . 6. Rom. 11. 5. 1. 10. 3. 4. Matt. 43. Prou. 13. 7. Mat. 26. 13 Plutar. Verse 16. Verse 17. Verse 16. Verse 17. Esa. 61. 1 Math. 28. 19. I. Thes. 5. 19. 1 Cor. 9. 16. Apoc. 12. 3. Cant. 6. 3. Col. 2. 5. I Thes. 4. 11. 2 Thes. 3. 6. Psal. 51 Aquin. Pro. 22. 6 Mat. 18. 3 Heb. 6. 1. Iob 25. 5 1 Cor. 15 14. Psal 21. Notes for div A20655-e11530 Mat. 20. 20 Mat. 1. 81. Athanaz . Mat. 25. 34 Mar. 4. 11. Ioh 18. 36. Non adbuc . Apo. 20 , De Ciuitat . Dei 20. 7. Gen. 49. Deu. 17. 14. Sed. 1 Sam. 16 Spiritus Sanctus . Acts 2 , 1. 4. 31. 10. 44. 19. 6. Potestatem . Testes . Ierusalem . Iudaea . Samaria . Iohn 8. 44. Mat. 4. 10. 10. 5. Acts 8. 25. Fines terrae . Mat. 24 14 Mark. 13. 9. Luk 24. 47 Mar. 16. 20 Col. 1. 5. Luc. 1. 1. Rom. 1. 8. 16. 19. Mar. vlt. vlt Rom. 8. 1 Cor. 3. 6. Notes for div A20655-e18850 Basil. Bern. Ser. 1. Diuisie . 1. Part. Festa . Leuit. 23. Genes . 8. Psal. 46. 10 Leuit. 23. Exod. 31. Col. 2. 16. Sine Mandato . Cant. 2. 15 Exod. 25. 9. Aug. Ester 9. 23 Anniuersaria . Felix . Greg. Deut. 31. 19 〈◊〉 Temple . Acts 7. 48. Chrysostome . Origen . Deut. 30. 13 Levi. 19. 30 Encaenia . Acts 5. 4. Ecclesiastica Gen. 28. 20. Num. 7. 1. 1 Cor. 11. 22 Athanas. Vsus . l. 3. 20. § 32. Modus . 2. Part. Iesus in Templo . Apo. 21. 22 2. Paral. 4. 9 Psal. 78. 69. Math. 26. Actes 5. Tempus . 2 Chr. 5. 3. Ezra 6. 16. Etsi Hyems Mat. 24. 20. Exod. 35. Quia Hyems Basil. Iohn 2. 19. 1 Cor. 3. 16. & 6. 19. Aug. Nazian . 
A20631	----	Devotions vpon emergent occasions and seuerall steps in my sicknes digested into I. Meditations vpon our humane condition, 2. Expostulations, and debatements with God, 3. Prayers, vpon the seuerall occasions, to Him / by Iohn Donne ... Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1624 Approx. 357 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 321 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A20631 STC 7033A ESTC S1699 21498206 ocm 21498206 24644 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A20631) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 24644) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1708:21) Devotions vpon emergent occasions and seuerall steps in my sicknes digested into I. Meditations vpon our humane condition, 2. Expostulations, and debatements with God, 3. Prayers, vpon the seuerall occasions, to Him / by Iohn Donne ... Donne, John, 1572-1631. [12], 630 p. Printed for Thomas Iones, London : 1624. Errata: p. [12] at beginning. Signatures: A⁶ B-2D¹² 2E⁴. Numerous errors in paging. Reproduction of original in the Harvard University. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Meditations. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-05 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-06 Judith Siefring Sampled and proofread 2002-06 Judith Siefring Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion DEVOTIONS VPON Emergent Occasions , and seuerall steps in my Sicknes : Digested into 1. MEDITATIONS vpon our Humane Condition . 2. EXPOSTVLATIONS , and Debatements with God. 3. PRAYERS , vpon the seuerall Occasions , to him . By IOHN DONNE , Deane of S. Pauls , London . LONDON , Printed for THOMAS IONES . 1624. TO THE MOST EXCELlent Prince , Prince CHARLES . Most Excellent Prince , I Haue had three Births ; One , Naturall , when I came into the World ; One Supernatural , when I entred into the Ministery ; and now , a preter-naturall Birth , in returning to Life , from this Sicknes . In my second Birth , your Highnesse Royall Father vouchsafed mee his Hand , no● onely to sustaine me● in it , but to lead mee to it . In this last Birth , I my selfe am borne a Father : This Child of mine , this Booke , comes into the world , from mee , and with mee . And therefore , I presume ( as I did the Father to the Father ) to present the Sonne to the Sonne ; This Image of my Humiliation , to the liuely Image of his Maiesty , your Highnesse . It might bee enough , that God hath seene my Deuotions : But Examples of Good Kings are Commandements ; And Ezechiah writt the Meditations of his Sicknesse , after his Sicknesse . Besides , as I haue liu'd to see , ( not as a Witnesse onely , but as a Partaker ) the happinesses of a part of your Royal Fathers time , so shall I liue , ( in my way ) to see the happpinesses of the times of you● Highnesse too , if this Child of mine , inanimated by your gracious Acceptation , may so long preserue aliue the Memory of Your Highnesse Humblest and Deuo●edst IOHN DONNE . Stationes , siue Periodi in Morbo , ad quas referuntur Meditationes sequentes . 1 INsultus Morbi primus ; 2 Post , Actio loesa ; 3 Decubitus sequitur tandē ; 4 Medicusque vocatur ; 5 Solus adest ; 6 Metuit ; 7 Socios sibi iungier instat ; 8 Et Rex ipse suum mittit ; 9 Medicamina scribunt ; 10 Lentè & Serpenti sata●unt occurrere Morbo . 11 Nobilibusque trahunt , a cincto corde , venenum , Succis , & Gemmis ; & quae Generosa , ministrant Ars , & Natura , instillant ; 12 Spirante Columbâ , Suppositâ pedibus , reuocantur ad ima vapores ; 13 Atque Malum Genium , numeroso stigmate , fassus● Pellitur ad pectus , Morbique Suburbia , Morbus : 14 Idque notant Criticis , Medici , euenisse diebus . 15 Inter●a insomnes Nocte● ego duco , Diesque : 16 Et properare meum , clamant , e turre propinqua Obstreperae Campanae , aliorum in funere , funus . 17 Nunc lento sonitu dicunt● Morieris ; 18 At inde● Mortuus es , sonitu celeri , pulsuque agitato . 19 Oceano tandem emenso , aspicienda resurgit Terra ; vident , iustis , Medici , iam cocta mederi Se posse , indicijs ; 20 Id agunt ; 21 Atque an●uit Ille , Qui per eos clamat , linquas iam Lazare lectum ; 22 Sit Morbi Fomes tibi Cura ; 23 Metusque Relabi . Erra●a . Pag. 40. pro 2.3 . Meditat. Pag. 43. vlt. pasture , posture . Pag. 96. lin . penult . flesh . God , Pag. 158. in Marg. Buxdor . Pag. 173. li. 13. add , hast . Pag. 184. in marg . Augustin . Pag. 185. lin . 17. blow . flow . DEVOTIONS . 1. Insultus Morbi primus ; The first alteration , The first grudging of the sicknesse . 1. MEDITATION . VAriable , and therfore miserable condition of Man ; this minute I was well , and am ill , this minute . I am surpriz'd with a sodaine change , & alteration to worse , and can impute it to no cause , nor call it by any name . We study Health , and we deliberate vpon our meats , and drink , and Ayre , and exercises , and we hew , and wee polish euery stone , that goes to that building ; and so our Health is a long & a regular work ; But in a minute a Canon batters all , ouerthrowes all , demolishes all ; a Sicknes vnpreuented for all our diligence , vnsuspected for all our curiosi●ie ; nay , vndeserued , if we consider only disorder , summons vs , seizes vs , possesses vs , destroyes vs in an instant . O miserable condition of Man , which was not imprinted by God ; who as hee is immortall himselfe , had put a coale , a beame of Immortalitie into vs , which we might haue blowen into a flame , but blew it ou● , by our first sinne ; wee beggard our selues by hearkning after false riches , and infatuated our selues by hearkning after false knowledge . So that now , we doe not onely die , but die vpon the Rack , die by the torment of sicknesse ; nor that onely , but are pre-afflicted , super-afflicted with these ielousies and suspitions , and apprehensions of Sicknes , before we can cal it a sicknes ; we are not sure we are ill ; one hand askes the other by the pulse , and our eye askes our own vrine , how we do . O multiplied misery we die , and cannot enioy death , because wee die in this torment of sicknes ; we are tormented with sicknes , & cannot stay till the torment come , but pre-apprehēsions and presages , prophecy those torments , which induce that death before either come● and our dissolution is conceiued in these first changes , quickned in the sicknes it selfe , and borne in death , which be●res date from these first changes . Is this the honour which Man hath by being a litle world , That he hath these earthquakes in him selfe , sodaine shakings ; these lightnings , sodaine flashes ; these thunders , sodaine noises ; these E●clypses , sodain offuscations , & darknings of his senses ; these blazing stars sodaine fiery exhalations ; these riuers of blood , sodaine red waters ? Is he a world to himselfe onely therefore , that he ha●h inough in himself , not only to destroy , and execute himselfe , but to presage that execution vpon himselfe ; to as●ist the sicknes , to antidate the sicknes , to make the sicknes the more irremediable , by sad apprehensions , and as if hee would make a fire the more vehement , by sprinkling water vpon the coales , so to wrap a hote feuer in cold Melancholy , least the feuer alone shold not destroy fast enough , without this contribution , nor perfit the work ( which is destruction ) except we ioynd an artificiall sicknes , of our owne melancholy , to our natural , our vnnaturall feuer . O perplex'd discomposition , O ridling distemper , O miserable condition of Man. 1. EXPOSTVLATION . IF I were but meere dust & ashes , I might speak vnto the Lord , for the Lordes hand made me of this dust , and the Lords hand shall recollect these ashes ; the Lords hand was the wheele , vpon which this vessell of ●lay was framed , and the Lordes hand is the Vrne , in which these ashes shall be preseru'd . I am the dust , & the ashes of the Temple of the H. Ghost ; and what Marble is so precious ? But I am more then dust & ashes ; I am my best part , I am my soule . And being so , the breath of God , I may breath back these pious expostulations to my God. My God , my God , why is not my soule , as fensible as my body ? Why hath not my soule these apprehensions , these presages , these changes , those antidates , those iealousies , those suspitions of a sinne ● as well as my body of a sicknes ? why is there not alwayes a pulse in my Soule , to beat at the approch of a tentation to sinne ? why are there not alwayes waters in mine eyes , to testifie my spiritual sicknes ? I stand in the way of tentations , ( naturally , necessarily , all men doe so : for there is a Snake in euery path , tentations in euery vocation ) but I go , I run , I flie into the wayes of tētation , which I might shun ; nay , I breake into houses , wher the plague is ; I presse into places of tentation , and tempt the deuill himselfe , and solicite & importune them , who had rather be left vnsolicited by me . I fall sick of Sin , and am bedded and bedrid , buried and putrified in the practise of Sin , and all this while ha●e no presage , no pulse , no sense of my sicknesse ; O heighth , O depth of misery , where the first Symptome of the sicknes is Hell , & where I neuer fee the feuer of lust , of enuy , of ambition , by any other light , then the darknesse and horror of Hell it selfe ● & where the first Messenger that speaks to me doth not say● Thou mayst die , no , nor Thou must die , but Thou art dead : and where the first notice , that my Soule hath of her sicknes , is irrecouerablenes , irremediablenes : but , O my God , Iob did not charge thee foolishly , in his temporall afflictions , nor may I in my spirituall . Thou hast imprinted a pulse in our Soule , but we do not examine it ; a voice in our conscience , but wee doe not hearken vnto it . We talk it out , we iest it out , we drinke it out , we sleepe it out ; and when wee wake , we doe not say with Iacob , Surely the Lord is in this place , and I knew it not : but though we might know it , we do not , we wil not . But will God pretend to make a Watch , and leaue out the springe ? to make so many various wheels in the faculties of the Soule , and in the organs of the body , and leaue out Grace , that should moue them ? or wil God make a springe , and not wind it vp ? Infuse his first grace , & not second it with more , without which , we can no more vse his first grace , when we haue it , then wee could dispose our selues by Nature , to haue it ? But alas , that is not our case ; we are all prodigall sonnes , and not disinherited ; wee haue receiued our portion , and mis-spent it , not bin denied it . We are Gods tenants heere , and yet here , he , our Land-lord payes vs Rents ; not yearely , nor quarterly , but hourely , and quarterly ; Euery minute he renewes his mercy , but wee will not vnderstand , least that we should be conuerted , and he should heale vs. 1. PRAYER . O Eternall , and most gracious God , who considered in thy selfe , art a Circle , first and last , and altogether ; but considered in thy working vpon vs , art a direct line , and leadest vs from our beginning , through all our wayes , to our end , enable me by thy grace , to looke forward to mine end , and to looke backward to , to the cōsiderations of thy mercies afforded mee from the beginning ; that so by that practise of considering thy mercy , in my beginning in this world , when thou plātedst me in the Christian Church , and thy mercy in the beginning in the other world , whē thou writest me in the Booke of life , in my Election , I may come to a holy consideration of thy mercy , in the beginning of all my actions here● That in all the begin●nings , in all the accesses and approches of spiri●tuall sicknesses of Sinn , may heare and hearke● to that voice , O thou Ma● of God , there is death in th● pot , and so refraine from that , which I was so hungerly , so greedily flying to . A faithfull Am●bassador is health , says thy wise seruant Solomon ● Thy voice receiued , in the beginning of a sicknesse , of a sinne , is true health . If I can see that light betimes , and heare that voyce early , Then shall my light breake forth as the morning , and my health shall spriug foorth speedily . Deliuer mee therefore , O my God , from these vaine imaginations ; that it is an ouercurious thing , a dangerous thing , to come to that tendernesse , that rawnesse , that scrupulousnesse , to feare euery concupiscence , euery offer of Sin , that this suspicious , & iealous diligence will turne to an inordinate deiection of spirit , and a diffidence in thy care & prouidence ; bu● keep me still establish'd , both in a constant assurance , that thou wil● speake to me at the beginning of euery such sicknes , at the approach of euery such Sinne ; and that , if I take knowledg of that voice then , an● flye to thee , thou wil● preserue mee from falling , or raise me againe when by naturall infirmitie● I am fallen : do● this , O Lord , for his sake who knowes our naturall infirmities , for he had them ; and knowes the weight of our sinns , for he paid a deare price for them , thy Sonne , our Sauiour , Chr : Iesus , Amen . 2. Actio Laesa . The strength , and the functiō of the Senses , & other faculties change and faile . 2. MEDITATION . THe Heauens are not the lesse constant , because they moue continually , because they moue continually one and the same way . The Earth is not the more constant , because it lyes stil continually , because continually it changes , and melts in al the parts thereof . Man , who is the noblest part of the Earth , melts so away , as if he were a statue , not of Earth , but of Snowe . We see his owne Enuie melts him , hee growes leane with that ; he will say , anothers beautie melts him ; but he feeles that a Feuer doth not melt him like snow , but powr him out like lead , like yron , like brasse melted in a furnace : It doth not only melt him , but Calcine him , reduce him to Atomes , and to ashes ; not to water , but to lime . And how quickly ? Sooner then thou canst receiue an answer , sooner then thou canst conceiue the question ; Earth is the center of my body , Heauen is the center of my Soule ; these two are the naturall place of these two ; but tho● goe not to these two , i● an equall place : My b●●dy falls downe withou● pushing , my Soule do●● not go vp without pu●ling : Ascension is m● Soules pace & measur● but precipitation my b●dies : And , euen Angell● whose home is Heaue● and who are winge● too , yet had a Ladder 〈◊〉 goe to Heauen , by step● The Sunne who goes 〈◊〉 many miles in a minu●● The Starres of the Fi●●mament , which go so very many more , goe not so fast , as my body to the earth . In the same instant that I feele the first attempt of the disease , I feele the victory ; In the twinckling of an eye , I can scarse see ; instantly the tast is insipid , and fatuous ; instantly the appetite is dull and desirelesse● instantly the knees are sinking and strengthlesse ; and in an instant , sleepe , which is the picture , the copy of death , is taken away , that the Originall , Death it selfe may succeed , and that so I might haue death to the life . It was part of Adams punishment , In the sweat of thy browes thou shalt eate thy bread ● it is multiplied to me , I haue earned bread in the sweat of my browes , in the labor of my calling , and I haue it● and I sweat againe , & againe , from the brow● to the sole of the foot● but I eat no bread , I tast no sustenance : Miserable distribution of Mankind , where one halfe lackes meat , and the other stomacke . 2. EXPOSTVLATION . DAuid professes himself a dead dog , to his king Saul , & so doth Mephibosheth to his king Dauid : & yet Dauid speaks to Saul , and Mephibosheth to Dauid . No man is so little , in respect of the greatest man , as the greatest in respect of God ; for here , in that , wee haue not so much as a measure to try it by ; proportiō is no measure for infinitie . He that hath no more of this world but a graue , hee that hath his graue but lent him , til a better man , or another man , must bee buried in the same graue , he that hath no graue , but a dung-hill , hee that hath no more earth , but that which he carries , but that which hee is , hee that hath not that earth , which hee is , but euen in that , is anothers slaue , hath as much proportion to God , as if all Dauids Worthies , and all the worlds Monarchs , and all imaginations Gyants were kneaded and incorporated into one , and as though that one were the suruiuor of all the sonnes of men , to whom God had giuen the world . And therefore how little soeuer I bee , as God calls things that are not , as though they were , I , who am as though I were not , may call vpon God , and say , My God , my God , why comes thine anger so fast vpon me ? Why dost thou melt me , scatter me , powre me like water vpon the ground so instantly ? Thou staidst for the first world , in Noahs time , 120 yeres ; thou staidst for a rebellious generation in the wildernesse 40 yeares , wilt thou stay no minute for me ? Wilt thou make thy Processe , and thy Decree , thy Citation , and thy Iudgement but one act ? Thy Summons , thy Battell , thy Victorie , thy Triumph , all but one act ; & lead me captiue , nay deliuer me captiue to death , assoon as thou declarest mee to be enemy , and so cut me off euen with the drawing of thy sword out of the scabberd , and for that question , How long was he sicke ? leaue no other answere , but that the hand of death pressed vpon him from the first minute ? My God , my God , thou wast not wont to come in whirlwinds , but in soft and gentle ayre . Thy first breath breathed a Soule into mee , and shall thy breath blow it out ? Thy breath in the Congregation , thy Word in the Church , breathes communion , and consolation here , and consummation heereaf●er ; shall thy breath in this Chamber breathe dissolution , and destruction , diuorce , and separation ? Surely it is not thou ; it is not thy hand . The deuouring sword , the consuming fire , the winds from the wildernes , the diseases of the body , all that afflicted Iob , were from the hand of Satan ; it is not thou . It is thou ; Thou my God , who hast led mee so continually with thy hand , from the hand of my Nurce , as that I know , thou wilt not correct mee , but with thine own hand . My parents would not giue mee ouer to a Seruants correction , nor my God , to Satans . I am fallen into the handes of God with Dauid , and with Dauid I see that his Mercies are great . For by that mercy , I consider in my present state , not the haste , & the dispatch of the disease , in dissoluing this body● so much , as the much more hast , & dispatch , which my God shal vse , in recollecting● and reuniting this dust againe at the Resurrection . Then I shall heare his Angels proclaime the Surgite M●rtui● Rise yee dead . Though I be dead I shall heare the voice the spunding of the voice , and the working of the voice shall be all one ; and all shall rise there in a lesse Minute , then any one dies here . 2. Prayer . O Most gracious God , who pursuest and perfitest thine own purposes , and dost not only remember mee by the first accesses of this sicknes , that I must die , but informe me by this further proceeding therin , that I may die now , who hast not only waked mee with the first , but cald me vp , by casting me further downe , and clothd me with thy selfe , by stripping me of my selfe , and by dulling my bodily senses , to the meats , and eases of this world , hast whet , and sharpned my spirituall senses , to the apprehension of thee , by what steps & degrees soeuer it shal please thee to go , in the dissolution of this body , hasten O Lord that pace , and multiply O my God those degrees , in the exaltation of my Soule , toward thee now , & to thee then . My tast is not gone away , but gone vp to sit at Dauids table , To tast , & see , that the Lord is good : My stomach is not gone , but gone vp , so far vpwards toward the Supper of the Lamb , with thy Saints in heauen , as to the Table , to the Cōmunion of thy Saints heere in earth : my knees are weak but weak therfore that I should easily fall to , and fix my selfe long vpon my deuotions to thee . A sound heart is the life of the flesh ; & a heart visited by thee , and directed to thee , by that visitation is a sound hart . There is no soundnesse in my flesh , because of thin● anger . Interpret thin● owne worke , and call this sicknes , correction and not anger , & there is soundnes in my flesh● There is no rest in my bones , because of my sinne ; transfer●e my sinnes , with which thou ar● so displeased , vpon him , with whome thou art so well pleased , Christ Iesus , and there will be rest in my bones : And , O my God , who madest thy selfe a Light in a Bush , in the middest of these brambles , & thornes of a sharpe sicknesse , appeare vnto me so , that I may see thee , and know thee to be my God , applying thy selfe to me , euen in these sharp , and thorny passages . Doe this , O Lord , for his sake , who was not the lesse , the King o● Heauen , for thy suffering him to be crowned with thornes , in this world . 3. Decubitus sequitur tandem . The Patient takes his bed . 2. MEDITATION . WEe attribute bu● one priuiledge , and aduantage to Mans body , aboue other mouing creatures , that he is not as others , groueling● but of an erect , of an vpright form , naturally built , & disposed to the contemplation of Heauen . Indeed it is a thankfull forme , and recompences that soule , which giues it , with carrying that soule so many foot higher , towards heauen . Other creatures look to the earth ; and euen that is no vnfit obiect , no vnfit contemplation for Man ; for thither hee must come ; but because , Man is not to stay there , as other creatures are , Man in his naturall forme , is carried to th● contemplation of tha● place , which is his hom● Heauen . This is Man prerogatiue ; but wha● state hath he in this di●●nitie ? A feuer ca● filli● him downe , a feuer ca● depose him ; a feuer ca● bring that head , whic● yesterday caried a crou● of gold , fiue foot to●wards a crown of glory as low as his own foo● to day . When God cam● to breath into Man th● breath of life , he foun● him flat vpō the groū● when hee comes to withdraw that breath from him againe , hee prepares him to it , by laying him flat vpon his bed . Scarse any prison so close , that affords not the prisoner two , or ●hree steps . The Anchorites that barqu'd themselues vp in hollowe trees , & immur'd themselues in hollow walls ; That peruerse man , that barrell'd himselfe in a Tubb , all could stand , or sit , and enioy some change of pasture . A sicke bed , is a graue , an● all that the patient saie● there , is but a varying o● his owne Epitaph . Eue●ry nights bed is a Typ● of the graue : At nigh● wee tell our seruants a● what houre wee wil● rise ; here we cannot tel● our selues , at what day what week , what mo●neth . Here the head lie● as low as the foot ; th● Head of the people , a●lowe as they , whom those feete trod vpon And that hande tha● signed Pardons , is to● weake to begge his owne , if hee might haue it for lifting vp that hand : Strange fetters to the feete , strange Manacles to the hands , vvhen the feete , and handes are bound so much the faster , by how much the coards are slacker ; So much the lesse able to doe their Offices , by how much more the Sinnewes and Ligaments are the looser . In the Graue I may speak thorough the stones , in the voice of my friends , an● in the accents of thos● wordes , which thei● loue may afford my me●mory ; Here I am min● owne Ghost , and rathe● affright my beholders then instruct them ; the● conceiue the worst o● me now , and yet fea●● worse ; they giue me fo● dead now , & yet won●der how I doe , whe● they wake a● midnight and aske how I doe , ●●●morrow . Miserable and , ( though common to all ) in human postu● where I must practise ●y lying in the graue , by ●ying still , and not practise my Resurrection , by ●ising any more . 3. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , and my Iesus , my Lord , and my Christ , my Strength , and my Saluatiō , I heare thee , and I hearken to thee , whē thou rebukest thy Disciples , for rebuking ●hem , who brought ●hildren to thee ; Suffer little children to come t● mee , saiest thou . Is ther● a verier child then I a● now ? I cannot say wit● thy seruant Ieremy , Lor● I am a child , and cann● speake ; but , O Lord , I a● a sucking childe , an● cannot eat , a creepin● childe , and cannot go●● how shall I come t● thee ? Whither shall 〈◊〉 come to thee ? To thi● bed ? I haue this weake and childish froward●nes too , I cannot sit vp● and yet am loth to go t● bed ; shall I find thee 〈◊〉 bed ? Oh , haue I alwaies done so ? The bed is not ordinarily thy Scene , thy Climate : Lord , dost tho● not accuse me , dost thou not reproach to mee , my former sinns , when thou layest mee vpon this bed ? Is not this to hang a man at his owne dore , to lay him sicke in his owne bed of wantonnesse ? When thou chidest vs by thy Prophet for lying in beds of Iuory , is not thine anger vented ; not till thou changest our bedds of Iuory , into bebs of Ebony Dauid sweares vnto thee , that hee will not go● vp into his bed , till he ha● built thee a House . To go● vp into the bed , denote● strength , and promi●e● ease ; But when tho● saiest , That thou wilt ca● Iesubel into a bed , tho● mak'st thine own com●ment vpon that , Tho● callest the bed Tribul●●tion , great Tribulation ● How shal they come t● thee , whom thou ha●● nayled to their bed● Thou art in the Congr●●gation , & I in a solitude : when the Centurions seruant lay sicke at home , his Master was faine to come to Christ ; ●he sicke man could not . Their friend lay sicke of the Palsey , and the four charitable men were faine to bring him to Christ ; he could not come . Peters wiues mother lay sicke of a feuer , & Christ came to her ; shee could not come to him . My friends may carrie mee home to thee , in their prayers in the Congregation ; Thou must com● home to me in the visi●tation of thy Spirit , an● in the seale of thy Sacra●ment : But when I a● cast into this bedd , m● slacke sinewes are yro● fetters , and those thi● sheets , yron dores vpo● me ; And , Lord , I haue lo●ued the habitation of th● house , and the place whe● thine honour dwelleth : lye here , and say , Blesse are they ; that dwell in th● house ; but I cannot say I will come into thy hous● I may say , In thy fea● will I worship towards thy ●oly Temple , but I cannot ●ay in thy holy Temple● : And , Lord , the zeale of thy House , eats me vp , as fast as my feuer ; It is not a Recusancie , for I would come , but it is an Excōmunication , I must not . But Lord , thou art Lord of Hosts , & louest Action ; Why callest thou me from my calling ? In the● graue no man shall praise thee ; In the doore of the graue , this sicke bed , no Man shal heare mee praise thee : Thou hast not opned my lips that my mouth migh● shew thee thy praise , bu● that my mouth migh● shew foorth thy praise But thine Apostles fear● takes hold of mee , th●● when I haue preached to ●●thers , I my selfe should be cast-way ; and therefo●● am I cast downe , that might not be cast awa● ● Thou couldst take m● by the head , as tho● didst Abacuc , and carr●● mee so ; By a Chariot , 〈◊〉 thou didst Eliah , & ca●●rie me so ; but thou ca●●riest me thine own priuate way , the way by which thou carryedst thy Sonne , who first lay vpon the earth , & praid , and then had his Exaltation , as himselfe calls his Crucifying , and first descended into hell , and then had his Ascension . There is another Station ( indeed neither are stations but prostrations ) lower then this bed ; To morrow I may be laid one Story lower , vpon the Floore , the face of the earth , and next day another Story , in the graue , the wombe of the Earth : As yet God suspends mee betweene Heauen and Earth , as a Meteor ; and I am not in Heauen , because an earthly bodie clogges me , and I am not in the Earth , because a heauenly Soule sustaines mee● And it is thine owne Law , O God , that if a man bee smitten so by ano●ther , as that hee keepe hi● bed , though he dye not , hee that hurt him , must take care of his healing , and recompence him . Th● hand strikes mee into this bed ; and therefore if I rise againe , thou wilt bee my recompence , all the dayes of my life , in making the memory of this sicknes beneficiall to me , and if my body fall yet lower , thou wilt take my soule out of this bath , & present it to thy Father , washed againe , and againe , and again , in thine own teares , in thine owne sweat , in thine owne blood . 3. PRAYER . O Most mightie an● most merciful God who though thou hau● taken me off of my feet hast not taken me off o● my foundation , whic● is thy selfe , who thoug● thou haue remoued m● frō that vpright forme , in which I could stand and see thy throne , th● Heauens , yet hast not remoued from mee tha● light , by which I can li●● and see thy selfe , who though thou haue weakened my bodily knees , that they cannot bow to thee , hast yet left mee the knees of my heart , which are bowed vnto thee euermore ; As thou hast made this bed , thine Altar , make me thy Sacrifice ; and as thou makest thy Sonne Christ Iesus the Priest , so make me his Deacon , to minister to him in a chereful surrender of my body , & soule to thy pleasure , by his hands . I come vnto thee , O God , my God , I come vnto thee , so as I can come , I come to thee , by imbracing thy comming to me ) I come in the confidence , & in the application of thy seruant Dauids promise , That thou wilt make all my bed in my sicknesse ; All my bedd ; That which way soeuer I turne , I may turne to thee ; And as I feele thy hand vpon all my body , so I may find it vpon all my bedde , and see all my corrections , and all my refreshings to flow from one , and ●he same , and all from thy hand . As 〈◊〉 hast made these feather●●●hornes , in the sharpnes of this sicknes , so , Lord , make these thornes , feathers , againe , feathers of thy Do●e , in the peace of Conscience , and in a holy recourse to thine Arke , to the Instruments of true comfort , in thy Institutions , and in the Ordinances of thy Church . Forget my bed , O Lord , as it hath beene a bedde of sloth , and worse then sloth , Take mee not , O Lord , at this aduantage , to te●●rifie my soule , with say●ing , now I haue me thee there , where tho● hast so often departe from me ; but hauin● burnt vp that bed , b● these vehement heate and washed that bed i● these abundant sweat● make my bed againe , Lord , and enable me a●●cording to thy co●●mand , to commune wi●● mine owne heart vpon 〈◊〉 bed , and be still . To pr●●uide a bed for all m● former sinnes , whilest I lie vpon this bed , and a graue for my sins , before I come to my graue ; and when I haue deposed them in the wounds of thy Sonn , to rest in that assurance , that my Conscience is discharged frō further anxietie , and my soule from farther danger , and my Memory from further calumny . Doe this , O Lord , for his sake , who did , and suffered so much , that thou mightest , as well in thy Iustice , as in thy Mercy , doe it for me , thy Sonne our Sauiour , Christ Iesus ● 4. Medicusque vocatur . The Phisician is sent fo●● 4. MEDITATION . IT is too little to cal● Man a little World ● Except God , Man is diminutiue to nothing Man consistes of mor● pieces , more parts , the●●he world ; then the world doeth , nay then the world is . And if those pieces were extended , and stretched out in Man , as they are in the world , Man would bee the Gyant , and the world the Dwarfe , the world but the Map , and the man the World. If all the Veines in our bodies , were extented to Riuers , and all the Sinewes , to vaines of Mines , and all the Muscles , that lye vpon one another , to Hilles , and all the Bones to Quarries of stones , and all the ●●ther pieces , to the pr●●portion of those whic● correspond to them i● the world , the aire wou●● be too litle for this Or●● of Man to moue in , t●● firmament would b● but enough for this sta●● for , as the whole wor●● hath nothing , to whic● something in man do●● not answere , so ha●● man many pieces , 〈◊〉 which the whol wor●● ha●h no representatio● Inlarge this Meditatio● vpon this great worl● Man , so farr , as to consider the immensitie of ●he creatures this world produces ; our creatures are our thoughts ; creatures that are borne Gyants : that reach from East to West , from earth to Heauen , that doe not onely bestride all the Sea , and Land , but span the Sunn and Firmament at once ; My thoughts reach all , comprehend all . Inexplicable mistery ; I their Creator am in a close prison , in a sicke bed , any where , and any one of my Creatures , m● thoughts , is with t●● Sunne , and beyond t●● Sunne , ouertakes t●● Sunne , and ouergoes t●● Sunne in one pace , o● steppe , euery wher●● And then as the oth●● world produces Serpen● and Vipers , malignan● & venimous creature● and Wormes , and Cate●●pillars , that endeauo●● to deuoure that worl● which produces the● and Monsters compile● and complicated of d●●uers parents , & kinds , 〈◊〉 this world , our selues , produces all these in vs , 〈◊〉 producing diseases , & ●●cknesses , of all those ●orts ; venimous , and infectious diseases , feeding & consuming diseases , and manifold , and entāgled diseases , made vp of many seueral ones . And can the other world name so many venimous , so many consuming , so many monstro●s crea●ures , as we can diseases , of all these kindes ? O miserable abūdance , O ●eggarly riches● how much doe wee lacke 〈◊〉 hauing remedies for eu●●rie disease , when as y●● we haue not names f●● them ? But wee hau● Hercules against the● Gyants , these Monster● that is , the Phisician ; 〈◊〉 musters vp al the for●● of the other world , ● succour this ; all Natu●● to relieue Man. We ha●● the Phisician , but we 〈◊〉 not the Phisician . Hee we shrinke in our p●●●portion , sink in our d●●●●nitie , in respect of ve●● meane creatures , w●●● ●re Phisicians to them●elues . The Hart that is ●ursued and wounded , they say , knowes an Herbe , which being ea●en , throwes off the arrow : A strange kind of vomit . The dog that pursues it , though hee bee subiect to sicknes , euen prouerbially , knowes his grasse that recouers him . And it may be true , that the Drugger is as neere to Man , as to other creatures , it may be that obuious and present Simples , easie to bee had , would cure him ; b●● the Apothecary is not 〈◊〉 neere him , nor the P●●●sician so neere him , 〈◊〉 they two are to oth●● creatures ; Man hath n●● that innate instinct , to a●●ply those naturall me●●●cines to his present da●●ger , as those inferio●● creatures haue ; he is n●● his owne Apothecary , h●● owne Phisician , as th●● are . Call back therefo●● thy Meditations agai●●● and bring it down●● what 's become of ma●● gre●t extent & propo●●●tion , when himselfe shrinkes himselfe , and consumes himselfe to ● handfull of dust ; what 's become of his soaring thoughts , his compassing thoughts , when himselfe brings himselfe to the ignoranc● , ●o the thoughtlesness● of the Graue ? His diseases are his owne , but the Phisician is not ; hee hath them at home , but ●ee must send for the Phisician . 4. EXPOSTVLATION● I Haue not the right●ousnesse of Iob , but haue the desire of 〈◊〉 I would speake to the ● mighty● and I would reas●● with God. My God , 〈◊〉 God , how soone wou●●dest thou haue me go●● to the Phisician , & ho●● far wouldest thou ha●● me go with the Phisi●●●an ? I know thou h●● made the Matter , a●● the Man , and the 〈◊〉 and I goe not from th●● when I go to the Phisician . Thou didst not make clothes before ther was a shame of the nakednes of the body ; but thou didst make Phisick before there was any grudging of any sicknes ; for thou didst imprint a medicinall vertue in many Simples , euen frō the beginning ; didst thou meane that wee should be sicke , whē thou didst so ? when thou madest them ? No more then thou didst meane , that we should sinne , when thou madest vs : tho● fore-sawest both , bu● causedst neither . Tho● Lord , promisest hee● trees , whose fruit shall b●● for meat , and their lea●● for Medicine . It is th● voyce of thy Sonn , W●● thou bee made whole That drawes from th●● patient a cōfession tha● hee was ill , and coul● not make hims●lfe w●● And it is thine own● voyce , Is there no Phisi●cian ? That inclines vs disposes vs to accep● thine Ordinance . An● ●t is the voyce of the Wise man , both for the matter , phisicke it selfe , The Lorde hath created Medicines out of the Earth , and hee that is wise , shall not abhorre them , And for the Arte , and the Person , The Phisician cutteth off a long disease . In all these voyces , thou sendest vs to those helpes , which thou hast afforded vs in that . But wilt not thou auowe that voyce too , Hee that hath sinned against his Maker , let him fall into th● hands of the Phisician ; an● wilt not thou affoor● me an vnderstanding o● those wordes ? Tho● who sendest vs for ● blessing to the Phisic●●an , doest not make it ● curse to vs , to go , whe● thou sendest . Is not th● curse rather in this , th●● onely hee falls into th● hands of the Phisician that casts himself who●ly , intirely vpon the Phi●sician , confides in him relies vpon him , attend all from him , and neg●lects that spirituall phi●icke ; which thou also hast instituted in thy Church ● so to fall into the ●ands of the Phisician ; is a sinne , and a punishment of ●ormer sinnes ; so , as Asa●fell , who in his disease , sought not to the Lord , but●●o the Phisician . Reueale therefore to me thy me●hod , O Lord , & see , whether I haue followed it ; ●hat thou mayest haue glory , if I haue , and I pardon , if I haue not , & helpe that I may . Thy Method is , In time of thy sicknesse , be not negligent ● VVherein wilt thou haue my diligence expressed ? Pray vnto th● Lord , and hee will mak● thee whole . O Lord , ● doe ; I pray , and pray thy Seruaunt Dauid● prayer , Haue mercy vp●on mee , O Lord , for I a● weake ; Heale mee , O Lord , for my bones ar● vexed : I knowe , that euen my weakenesse is a reason , a mot●ue , to induce thy mercie , and my sicknes an occasion of thy sending health When art thou so readie , when is it so seasonable to thee , to commiserate , as in miserie ? But is Prayer for health in season , as soone as I am sicke ? Thy Method goes further ; Leaue off from sinne , and order thy handes aright , and cleanse thy heart from all wickednesse ; Haue I , O Lord , done so ? O Lord , I haue ; by thy grace , I am come to a holy detestation of my former sin ; Is there any more ? In thy Methode there is more ; Giue a sweet sauor● and a memoriall of fin● flower , and make a fat of●fering , as not being . And Lord , by thy grace , I haue done that , sacrificed ● little , of that litle whic● thou lentst me , to them for whō thou lentst it and now in thy metho● and by thy steps , I am come to that , Then gi●● place to the Phisician , fo● the Lord hath created him let him not goe from the● for thou hast need of him I send for the Phisicia● but I will heare him en●ter with those wordes of Peter , Iesus Christ maketh thee whole ; I long for his presence , but I look● that the power of the Lord , should bee present to heale mee . 4. PRAYER . O Most mightie , and most merciful God , who art so the God of health , & strength , as that without thee , all health is but the fuell , and all strēgth , but the bellows of sinne ; Behold me● vnder the vehemenc● of two diseases , and vn●der the nece●sity of tw● Phisiciās , authorized b● thee , the bodily , and th● spiritual Phisician . I com● to both , as to thine Ordi●nance , & blesse , and glo●rifie thy Name , that i● both cases , thou hast af●forded help to Man by the Ministery of man● Euen in the new Ierusa●lem , in Heauen it selfe , i● hath pleased thee to discouer a Tree , which i● a Tree of life there , bu● the leaues thereof are for the healing of the Nations ; Life it selfe is with thee there , for thou art life ; and all kinds of Health , wrought vpon vs here , by thine Instruments , descend from thence . Thou wouldest haue healed Babylon , but she is not healed ; Take from mee , O Lord , her peruersenesse , her wilfulnesse , her refractarinesse , and heare thy Spirit saying in my Soule , Heale mee , O Lord , for I would bee healed . Ephraim saw his sickenesse , and Iudah his wound ; then went Ephraim to the Assyrian , and sent to King Iareb , yet could no● hee heale you , nor cure you of your wound . Keepe me back O Lord , from them who mis-professe artes of healing the Soule , or of the Body , by meanes not imprinted by thee in the Church , for the soule , or not in nature for the body ; There is no spirituall health to be had by superstition , nor bodily by witchcraft ● thou Lord , and onely thou art Lord of both . Thou in thy selfe art Lord of both , and thou in thy Son art the Phisician , the applyer of both . With his stripes wee are healed , sayes the Prophet there ; there , before hee was scourged , wee were healed with his stripes ; how much more shall I bee healed now , now , when that which he hath already suffred actually , is actually , and effectually applied to me ? Is there any thing incurable , vpon which that Balme dropps ? Any vaine 〈◊〉 emptie , as that that blo●● cannot fil it ? Thou pro●misest to heale the ear●● but it is when the i●●habitants of the eart● pray that thou woulde●● heale it . Thou promi●sest to heale their W●●ters , but their miery pl●●ces , and standing waters ● thou sayest there , Tho● wilt not heale : My retu●●n●ng to any sinne , if should returne to the a●bilitie of sinning ouer all my sins againe , thou wouldest not pardon● ●eale this earth , O my ●od , by repentant tears , ●nd heale these waters , ●hese teares from all bit●●rnes , frō all diffidence , ●rom all deiection , by e●●ablishing my irremo●able assurance in thee . ●hy Sonn went about hea●●ng all manner of sicke●esses . ( No disease incu●able , none difficult ; he ●ealed them in passing ) ●ertue went out of him , ●nd he healed all , all the ●ultitude ( no person in●urable ) he healed them ●uery whit , ( as himselfe speaks ) he left no relike of the disease ; and wi●● this vniuersall Phisici●● passe by this Hospital and not visit mee ? no● heale me ? not heale m● wholy ? Lord , I look● not that thou shoulde● say by thy Messenger t● mee , as to Ezechias , B●●hold , I will heale thee , an● on the third day thou sha●● goe vp to the house of th● Lord. I looke not th●● thou shouldst say to m●● as to Moses in Miriam● behalfe , when Mos●● would haue had he●● heald presently , If her ●ather had but spit in her ●ace , should she not been ashamed seuen dayes ? Let her be shut vp seuen daies , ●nd then returne ; but if ●hou be pleased to multiply seuen dayes , ( and seuen is in●inite ) by the number of my sinnes , ( and that is more infinite ) if this day must remoue me , till dayes shall ●ee no more , seale to me , my spirituall health in affording me the Seales of thy Church , & for my ●emporall health , prosper thine ordinance , i● their hands who sha●● assist in this sicknes , i● that manner , and in th● measure , as may mo●● glorifie thee , aud mo●● edifie those , who ob●serue the issues of th● seruants , to their own● spirituall benefit . 5. Solus adest . The Phisician comes . 5. MEDITATION . AS Sicknesse is th● greatest misery . s● the greatest misery o● ●icknes is solitude ; when ●he infectiousnes of the disease deterrs thē who ●hould assist , from cō●ing ; Euen the Phisici●n dares scarse come . So●itude is a tormēt , which is not threatned in hell it selfe . Meere vacuitie , the first Agent , God , the first instrument of God , Nature , will not admit ; Nothing can be vtterly ●nptie , but so neere a ●egree towards Vacutie , as Solitude , to bee ●ut one , they loue not . When I am dead , & my body might infect , the● haue a remedy , th●● may bury me ; but w●● I am but sick , and mig●● infect , they haue no ●●●medy , but their absen●● and my solitude . It is ●● excuse to them that a ●● great , and pre●end , & y●● are loth to come ; it is ●● inhibition to those w●● would truly come , b●cause they may be ma●● instruments , and pe●●ducts , to the infectiō●● others , by their cōmin●● And it is an Outlawry , 〈◊〉 Excommunication vpo● ●he patient , and seperats ●im from all offices not onely of Ciuilitie , but of ●orking Charitie . A long ●icknesse will w●ary ●●i●nds a● last , but a pe●tilentiall sicknes auerts them from the begin●ing . God himself wold ●dmit a fig●●e of Society , ●s there is a plurality of ●ersons in God , though ●here bee but one God ; & all his exte●nall actions testifie a loue of So●i●tie and communion . In Heauen ther● are Ordens of Angels , and Armies of Martyrs , & in that hou●● many mansions ; in Ear●● Families , Cities , Church● Colleges , all plurall thing● and lest either of th● should not be compa●● enough alone , there 〈◊〉 an association of bo●● a Communion of Sain●● which makes the M●●●tant , and Triumpha●● Church , one Parish ; 〈◊〉 that Christ , was not o● of his Dioces , when h● was vpon the Earth , n●● out of his Temple , wh●● he was in our flesh G●● who sawe that all th●● ●ee made , was good , ●ame not so neer seeing 〈◊〉 defect in any of his works , as when he saw ●hat it was not good , ●or man to bee alone , ●herefore h●e made him 〈◊〉 helper ; and one that ●hould helpe him so , as ●o increase the number , ●nd giue him her owne , ●●d more societie . Angels , ●ho do not propagate , ●or multiply , were ●ade at first in an abū●ant number ; and so ●ere starres : But for ●he things of this world , their blessing was , Encrease ; for I think , I nee● not aske leaue to think that there is no Phenix nothing singular , no●thing alone : Men tha● in here vpon Nature on●ly , are so far from think●ing , that there is an●●thing singular in th●● world , as that they wi●● scarce thinke , that th●● world it selfe is singula● but that euery Plane● and euery Starre , is an●other World like this They finde reason t● conceiue , not onely● pluralitie in euery Species in the world , but a pluralitie of worlds ; so that the abho●rers of Solitude , are not solitary ; for God , and Nature , and Reason concurre against it . Now , a man may counterfeyt the Plague in a vowe , and mistake a Disease for Religion ; by such a re●iring , and recluding of ●imselfe from all men , 〈◊〉 to doe good to no ●an , to conuerse with ●o man. God hath two ●estamēts , two Wils ; but this is a Scedule , and no● of his , a Codicill , and no● of his , not in the body o● his Testaments , but interlind , and postscrib'd by o●thers , that the way t● the Communion of Saint● should be by such a sol●●tude , as excludes all do●ing of good here . Th●● is a disease of the mind ● the height of an inf●●ctious disease of the bo●dy , is solitude , to be left ●●lone : for this makes 〈◊〉 infectious bed , equa●● nay worse then a gra●● that thogh in both 〈◊〉 equally alone , in my bed I know it , and feele it , and shall not in my graue : and this too , that in my bedd , my soule is still in an infectious body , and shall not in my graue bee so . 5. EXPOSTVLATION . O God , my God , thy Son tooke it not ill at Marthaes handes , that when he said vnto her , Thy brother Lazarus shall rise againe , she expostulated it so far with him , as to reply , I know that h● shal rise againe in the Resurrection , at the last day ● for shee was miserable by wanting him then● Take it not ill , O my God , frō me , that thogh thou haue o●dained i● for a blessing , and for ● dignitie to thy people , That they should dwell alone , and not bee reckoned among the Nations , ( because they should be aboue them ) & that they should dwell in safetie alone , ( free from the infestation of enemies ) yet I ●ake thy leaue to remēber thee , that thou hast sa●d to , Two are better then one ; And Woe be vnto him that is alone when he falleth ● and so , when he is fallen , and laid in the bedde of sicknesse too . Righteousnesse is immortall ; I know thy wisdome hath said so ; but no Man , though couered with the righteousnes of thy Sonne , is immor●all so , as not to die ; for he who was righteousnes it selfe , did die . I know that the Son of righteous●nes , thy Son , refused no● nay affected solitariness● lonenesse , many , man● times ; but at all time● he was able to cōman● more then twelue legions 〈◊〉 Angels to his seruice ; an● when he did not so , 〈◊〉 was farre from being ●●lone ; for , I am not alon● saies he , but I , and the F●●ther that sent me . I canno● feare , but that I shall a●●waies be with thee , an● him ; but whether thi● disease may not alien , 〈◊〉 remooue my friends , 〈◊〉 ●hat they stand aloofe frō●ny sore , and my kinsmen stād afar off , I cannot tel . ● cannot feare , but that thou wilt reckon with me from this minute , in which , by thy grace , I see thee● whe●her this vnderstanding , & this will , and this memory , may not decay , to the discouragement , and the ill interpretation of thē , that see that heauy change in me , I cānot tell . It was for thy blessed , thy powerfull Sonne alone , to tread the wine-presse alone , and none of the people with him ; am not able to passe thi● agony alone ; not alon● without thee ; Thou a●● thy spirit ; not alone wi●●●out thine ; spirituall an● temporall Phisicians , a●● thine ; not alone witho●● mine ; Those whom th● bands of blood , or frien●●ship ● hath made mine ● a●● mine ; And if thou , o● thine , or mine , abando●● me , I am alone , and w● vnto me if I bee alone● Elias himselfe fainte● vnder that apprehēsion● Loe , I am left alone ; an● Martha murmured at that , and said to Christ , Lord , doest not thou care , that my sister hath left me to serue alone ? Neither could Ieremiah enter into his Lamētations , from a higher groūd , then to say , How doth the citie sit solitary , that was full of people . O my God , it is the Leper , that thou hast cōdemned to liue alone ; Haue ● such a Leprosie in my Soule , that I must die alone ; alone without thee ? Shall this come to such a Le●rosie in my body , that I must die ●●lone ? Alone witho●● them that should assi●● that shold comfort m●● But comes not this E●●postulation too neere murmuring ? Must I b●● cōcluded with that , th●● Moses was commaunded 〈◊〉 come neere the Lord alon●● That solitarines , & d●●reliction , and abando●ning of others , dispose● vs best for God , who ac●cōpanies vs most alon●● May I not remember & apply to ; that thogh● God come not to Iacob till he found him alone , ●et when he found him alone , hee wrestled with him , and lamed him ? That when in the dereliction and forsaking of friends and Phisicians , a man is left alone to God , God may so wrestle with this Iacob , with this Conscience , as to put it out of ioynt , & so appeare to him , as that he dares not looke vpon him face to face , when as by way of reflection , in the consolation of his temporall or spirituall seruants , and ordinances hee durst , 〈◊〉 they were there ? But ● faithfull friend is the phisicke of life , and they th● feare the Lord , shall find him . Therefore hath th● Lord afforded me bo●● in one person , that Ph●●sician , who is my faith●full friend . 5. PRAYER . O Eternall , and mo●● gracious God , wh●● calledst down fire from Heauen vpon the sinfu●● Cities , but once , and op●●nedst the Earth to swallow the Murmurers , but once ● and threwst down the Tower of Siloe vpon sinners , but once , but for thy workes of mercie repeatest them often , & still workest by thine owne paternes , as thou broghtest Man into this world , by giuing him a helper fit for him here , ●o whether it bee thy will to continue mee ●ong thus , or to dismisse me by death , be pleased to afford me the helpes fit for both conditions , either for my weak sta● here , or my finall tran●●migration from hence● And if thou mayest r●●ceiue glory by that wa●● ( and , by all wayes tho●● maist receiue glory ) gl●●rifie thy selfe in preser●uing this body from suc● infections , as migh● withhold those , wh● would come , or in da●●ger thē who doe come● and preserue this soule 〈◊〉 the faculties thereof , fr●● all such distempers , 〈◊〉 might shake the assu●rance which my selfe & others haue had , that because thou hast loued me , thou wouldst loue me to my end , and at my end . Open none of my dores , not of my hart , not of mine eares , not of my house , to any supplanter that would enter to vndermine me in my Religion to thee , in the time of my weaknesse , or to defame me , & magnifie himselfe , with false rumors of such a victory , & surprisall of me , after I am dead ; Be my saluation , and plead my saluation ; work it , and decla●● it ; and as thy triumpha●● shall be , so let the M●●tant Church bee assure● that thou wast my 〈◊〉 and I thy seruant , to , an● in my consummatio● Blesse thou the learning and the labours of th●● Man , whō thou sende●● to assist me ; and sinc● thou takest mee by th● hand , & puttest me int● his hands ( for I come t● him in thy name , who in thy name comes t● me ) since I clog not m● hopes in him , no nor my ●●ayers to thee , with any ●●mited conditions , but ●wrap all in those two ●etitions , Thy kingdome ●●me , thy will be done , pro●er him , and relieue ●●e , in thy way , in thy ●●me , and in thy mea●●re . Amen . 6. Metuit . The Phisician is afraid . 6. MEDITATION . ● Obserue the Phisician , with the same ●iligence , as hee the dis●ase ; I see hee feares , ●nd I feare with him : I ouertake him , I ouem him in his feare , an● go the faster , because● makes his pace slow● feare the more , beca●●● he disguises his fear , 〈◊〉 I see it with the mo●● sharpnesse , because 〈◊〉 would not haue me 〈◊〉 it . He knowes that 〈◊〉 feare shall not disord●●● the practise , and exerci●●● of his Art , but he kno●● that my fear may diso●●der the e●fect , and wo●●king of his practise . 〈◊〉 the ill affections of 〈◊〉 spleene , complicate , an● ●ingle themselus with ●●ery infirmitie of the ●●dy , so doth feare insi●●at it ●elf in euery acti●● or passion of the mind ; ●nd as wind in the body ●ill counterfet any dis●ase , and seem the Stone , & ●eem the Gout , so feare will counterfet any dis●ase of the Mind ; It shall ●eeme loue , a loue of hauing , and it is but a fear , a iealous , and suspitious ●eare of loosing ; It shall ●eem valor in despising , and vnderualuing danger , and it is but feare , in an ouer-valuing of ●●●●nion , and estimation , and feare of loosing that man that is not afraid● a Lion , is afraid of a 〈◊〉 not afraid of starui●● & yet is afraid of so●● ioynt of meat at the tab●● presented to feed hi● not afraid of the so●●● of Drummes , and Tru●●pets , and Shot , and tho●● which they seeke 〈◊〉 drowne , the last cries o● men , and is afraid 〈◊〉 some particular harm●●nious instrument ● so muc● afraid , as that with an● of these the enemy might ●riue this mā , otherwise ●aliant enough , out of ●●e field . I know not , what fear is , nor I know ●ot what it is that I fear ●ow ; I feare not the hastening of my death , and yet I do fear the increase ●f the disease ; I should ●elie Nature , if I should deny that I feard this , & ●f I should say that I fea●ed death , I should belye God ; My weaknesse is ●rom Nature , who hath ●ut her Measure , my ●trength is from God , who possesses , & distri●butes infinitely . As the euery cold ayre , is no● dampe , euery shiuering not a stupefaction , so eue●ry feare , is not a feare●●●nes , euery declination● not a running away , ●●uery debating is not resoluing , euery wis● that it were not thus , ● not a murmuring , no● deiection though it b●● thus ; but as my Phisici●● fear puts not him fro● his practise , neither do●● mine put me , from r●●ceiuing from God , an● Man , and my selfe , spiritu●ll , and ciuill , and morall ●ssistances , and conso●ations . 6. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , I find in thy Booke , that ●eare is a stifling spirit , a spirit of suffocation ; That ●●shbosheth could not speak , not reply in his own defence ●o Abner , because hee was ●fraid . It was thy seruāt ●obs case too , who before hee could say any ●hing to thee , saies of thee , Let him take his rod awa● frō me , and let not his fear● terrifie mee , then would speake with him , and 〈◊〉 feare him ; but it is not ●● with mee . Shall a feare 〈◊〉 thee , take away my d●●uotiō to thee ? Dost tho● command me to spea●● to thee , and commaun● me to feare thee , and d●● these destroy one ano●ther ? There is no per●●plexity in thee , my God ; 〈◊〉 inextricablenes in the● my light , & my clearn●● my Sun , and my Moon● that directest me as 〈◊〉 in the night of aduersity and fear , as in my day of prosperity & confidēce . I must thē speak to thee , at all times , but when must I feare thee ? At all times to . Whē didst thou rebuke any petitioner , with the name of Importunate ? Thou hast propo●d to vs a parable of a Iudge that did Iustice at last , because the client was Importunate , and troubled him ; But thou hast told vs plainely , that thy vse in that parable , was not , that thou wast troubled with our importunities , but ( as thou saye●● there ) That wee should a●●wayes pray . And to th●● same purpose thou pro●posest another , that Is●● presse my friend , when he●● is in bed , at midnight , 〈◊〉 lend mee bread , though h●● will not rise because I a● his friend , yet because● mine importunitie , he wil●● God will do this , when●soeuer thon askest , an● neuer call it importunit●e Pray in thy bed at mid●night , and God wil n●● say , I will heare thee t● mo●row vpon thy knees , at thy bed side ; pray vpon thy knees there , then , & God will not say , I will heare thee on Sunday , at Church ; God is no dilatory God , no froward God ; Praier is neuer vnseasonable , God is neuer asleep nor absent . But , O my God , can I doe this , and feare thee ; come to thee , and speak to thee , in all places , at all houres , and feare thee ? Dare I aske this question ? There is more boldnesse in the question , then in the comming : I may doe it● though I feare thee ; ● cannot doe it , except feare thee . So well has● thou prouided , that w● should alwayes fea●● thee , as that thou ha●● prouided , that we shol● fear no person but the● nothing but thee ; n● men ? No. Whom ? Th● Lord is my helpe , and m● saluation , whome shall feare ? Great enemies : no● great enemies ; for no ●●nemies are great to them that feare thee● Feare not the people of th● l●●d , for they are Bread to you ; They shall not on●y not eat vs , not eat our bread , but they shall bee our Bread ; Why should , we feare them ? But for all this Metaphoricall Bread , victory ouer enemies , that thought to deuoure vs , may we not feare , that we may lack bread literally ? And feare famine , though we feare not enemies ? Young Lyons do lacke , and suffer Hunger , but they that seeke the Lord , shall not want any good thing . Neuer ? Though it be● well with them at on● time , may they not fea● that it may be worse● Wherfore should I feare 〈◊〉 the dayes of euill , saies th● seruant Dauid ? Thoug● his own sins had mad● them euill , he feared th●● not● No ? not if this euil● determin in death ? No● though in a death● no● though in a death infli●ct●d by violence by ma●lice , by our own des●●● feare not the sentence 〈◊〉 death , if thou feare God Thou art , O my God , so far from admitting vs , that feare thee , to feare others , as that thou makest others to feare vs ; As Herod feared Iohn , because hee was a holy , and a iust man , & obserued him How fully then O my abundant God , how gently , O my sweet , my easie God doest thou vnentangle m●e , in any scruple arising out of the consideration of this thy feare ? Is not this that which thou intendest , when thou sayst , The secret of the Lord is with them , that feare him ; The secret , th● mistery of the right v●● of feare . Dost thou no● meane this , when tho● sayest , Wee shall vnde●●stand the feare of the Lord● Haue it , and haue benef●● by it ; haue it , and stan● vnder it ; be directed b● it , and not bee deiecte● with it . And dost tho● not propose that Chur●● for our example , whe● thou sayest , The Churc● of Iudea , walked in t●● feare of God ; they ha● it , but did not sit dow● lazily , nor fall down● weakly , nor sinke vnder it . There is a feare which weakens men in the seruice of God : Adam was afrayde , because hee was naked . They who haue put off thee , are a prey to all . They may feare , for thou wilt laugh , when their feare comes vpon them , as thou hast tolde them , more then once ; And thou wilt make them feare , where no cause of feare is , as thou hast told them more then once too . There is a feare that is a punishment o● former wickednesses , & induces more : Thoug● some said of thy Sonne , Christ Iesus , that hee wa● a good Man , yet no M●● spake openly , for feare 〈◊〉 the Iewes : Ioseph was h●● Disciple ; but secretly , fo● for feare of the Iewes : Th● Disciples kept som● meetings , but with dores shut , for feare of the Iewes . O my God , thou giuest vs feare for ballast to cary vs stedily in all weathers . But thou wouldst ballast vs , wit● such sand , as should haue gold in it , with that feare which is thy feare ; for tke feare of the Lord is his treasure . Hee that hath that , lacks nothing that Man can haue , nothing that God does giue . Timorous men thou rebukest ; Why are yee fearfull , O yee of little faith ? Such thou dismissest from thy Seruice , with scorne , though of them there went from Gideons Army , 22000. and remained but 10. Such thou sendest farther then so ; thithe● from whence they n●●uer returne , The fearefu●● and the vnbeleeuing , i●●● that burning lake , which 〈◊〉 the second death . There 〈◊〉 a feare , & there is a hope which are equall abo●minations to thee ; fo● they were confounded , b●●cause they hoped , saies th● seruant Iob : because they had mis-placed , mis-ce●tred their hopes ; they hoped , and not in thee , an● such shall feare , and no● feare thee . Bu● in th● feare , my God , and my feare , my God , and my hope , is hope , and loue , & confidence , and peace , and euery limbe , and ingredient of Happinesse enwrapped ; for Ioy includes all ; and feare , and ioy consist together ; nay , constitute one another ; The women d●parted from the sepulchre , the women who were made supernumerary Apostles , Apostles to the Apostles ; Mothers of the Church , and of the Fathers , Grandfathers of the Church , the Apostles themselues , t●e women , Angels of the Resurrec●●●on , went from the sep●●●chre , with feare and i● they ran , sayes the 〈◊〉 and they ran vpon tho●● two legs , feare , & ioy ; 〈◊〉 both was the right leg● they ioy in thee O Lor● that feare thee , and fear● thee only , who feele th●● ioy in thee . Nay , thy fear●● and thy loue , are in●eperable ; still we are called vpon , in infinite places , to feare God ; yet th● Commandement , which 〈◊〉 the roote of all , is , Tho● shalt loue the Lord thy God ● Hee doeth neither , that doth not both ; hee omits neither , that does one . Therfore when thy seruant Dauid had said , that the feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome , And his Sonne had repeated it againe , Hee that collects both , calls this feare , the root of wisdome ; And that it may embrace all , hee ca●ls it wisedome it selfe . A wise man therefore is neuer without it , neuer without the exercise of it : Therefore thou sent●st Moses to thy people That they might learne● feare thee all the dayes ● their liues : not in he●●uy , and calamitous , bu● in good , and cheerf●● dayes too : for , No●● who had assurance 〈◊〉 his deliuerance , yet m●●ued with feare , prepar● an Arke , for the sauing● his house . A wise man 〈◊〉 feare in euery thing . An● th●refore though I pr●●tend , to no other degre● of wisedome , I am a●bundantly rich in thi● that I lye heere posse●● with that feare , which ●s thy feare , both that ●his sicknesse is thy immediate correction , and ●ot meerely a naturall ●ccident , and therefore ●earefull , because it is a ●earefull thing to fall into ●hy hands , and th●t this ●eare preserues me from all inordinate feare , arising out of the infirmi●ie of Nature , because ●hy hand being vpon me , thou wilt neuer let me fall out of thy hand . 6. PRAYER . O Most mightie God 〈◊〉 mercifull God , 〈◊〉 God of all true sorrow , 〈◊〉 true ioy to , of all feare , ● of al hope to , as thou ha●● giuen me a Repentan●● not to be repented of , 〈◊〉 giue me , O Lord , a fea●● of which I may not b● afraid . Giue me tende● and supple , and confo●●mable affections , that 〈◊〉 I ioy with them that i●● and mourne with them that mourne , so I ma● feare with them that feare . And since thou hast vouchsafed to discouer to me , in his feare whom thou hast admit●ed to be my assistance , ●n this sickenesse , that ●here is danger therein , ●et me not , O Lord , go a●out to ouercome the sense of that fear , so far , as to pretermit the fitting , and preparing of my selfe , for the worst ●hat may bee feard , the passage out of this life . Many of thy blessed Martyrs , haue passed out of this life , without a●● showe of feare ; But th● most blessed Sonne him●selfe did not so . T●● Martys were known● be but men , and therfo●● it pleased thee , to fill t●● with thy Spirit , and th● power , in that they d●● more then Men ; Thy S●● was declard by thee , 〈◊〉 by himselfe to be G●● and it was requisite , th●● he should declare him●selfe to be Man also , i● the weaknesses of ma●● Let mee not therefo●● O my God , bee ashame● of these feares , but let me feele them to determine , where his feare ●id , in a present submit●ing of all to thy will. And when thou shalt ●aue inflamd , & thawd my former coldnesses , ●nd indeuotions , with ●hese heats , and quench●d my former heates , with these sweats , and ●nundations , and rectified my former pre●umptions , and negligences with these fears , ●ee pleased , O Lord , as one , made so by thee , to thinke me fit for th●● And whether it be th● pleasure , to dispose 〈◊〉 this body , this garme●● so , a● to put it to a fa●●ther wearing in th● world , or to lay it vp i● the common wardrope , th● graue , for the next , glo●rifie thy selfe in th● choyce now , & glorif●● it then , with that glory which thy Son , our S●●uiour Christ Iesus hat● purchased for them whome thou make● partakers of his Resu●●rection . Amen . 7. Socios sibi iungier instat . The Phisician desires to haue others ioyned with him . 7. MEDITATION . THere is more feare , therefore more cause . If the Phisician desire help , the burden grows great : There is a grouth of the Disease then ; But ●here must bee an Au●umne to ; But whether an Autumne of the disease or mee , it is not my pa●● to choose : but if it bee of me , it is of both ; My disease cannot suruiu● mee , I may ouer liue i● Howsoeuer , his desiring of others , argues his ca●●dor , and his ingenuitie ; 〈◊〉 the danger be great , he● iustifies his proceeding● & he disguises nothing that calls in witnesses ● And if the danger be not great , hee is not a●●bitious , that is so read● to diuide the thankes and the honour of th● work , which he beg●● alone , with others . It diminishes not the dignitie of a Monarch , that hee deriue part of his care vpon others ; God hath not made many Suns , but he hath made many bodies , that receiue , and giue light . The Romanes began with one King ; they came to two Consuls ; they returned in extremities , to one Dictator ● whether in one , or many , the soueraigntie is the same , in all States , and the danger is not the more , and the prouidence is the more , whe● there are more Phisicians ; as the State is the happier , where businesses are carried by more counsels , then can be in one breast , how large soeuer , Dise●ses themselues hold Consultations , and conspire how they may multiply , and ioyn with one another , & exalt one anothers force so ; and shal we not cal● Phisicians , to consultations ? Death is in an old mans dore , he appeare● and tels him so , & dea●● is at a yong mans backe , and saies nothing● Age is a sicknesse , and Youth is an ambush , and we need so many Phisicians , as may make vp a Watch , and spie euery inconuenience . There is scarce any thing , that hath not killed some body ; a haire , a feather hath done it● Nay , that which is our best Antidote against it , hath donn it ; the best Cordiall hath bene deadly poyson ; Men haue dyed of Ioy , and allmost forbidden their friends to weep for thē , whē they haue seen thē dye laughing . Euen that Tiran Dy●●nisius ( I thinke the same● that suffered so much a●●ter ) who could not d●● of that sorrow , of tha● high fal , from a King t● a wretched priuate ma● ● dyed of so poore a Ioy , as to be declard by the peo●ple at a Theater , that he● was a good Poet. We sa● oftē th●t a Man may li●● of a litle ; but , alas , o● how much lesse may a Man dye ? And therfore the more assistants , th● better ; who comes to a day of hearing , in a caus of any importāce , with one Aduocate ? In our Funerals , we our selfs haue no interest ; there wee cannot aduise , we cannot direct : And though some Nations , ( the Egiptians in particular ) built thēselues better Tombs , then houses , because they were to dwell longer in them ; yet , amongst our selues , the greatest Man of Stile , whom we hane had , The Conqueror , was lest , as soone as his soule left him , not only without persons to assist at his graue , but without a graue . Who will keepe vs then , we know not● As long as we can , l●t vs admit as much helpe as wee can ; Another , and another Phisician , is not another , and another Indication , and Symptom of death , but an other● and another Assistant , and Proctor of life : No● doe they so much feed the imagination with apprehension of danger , as the vnderstanding with comfort ; Let not one bring Learning , another Diligence , another Religion , but euery one bring all , and , as many Ingredients enter into a Receit , so may many men make the Receit . But why doe I exercise my Meditation so long vpon this , of hauing plentifull helpe in time of need ? Is not my Meditation rather to be enclined another way , to condole , and commiserate their distresse , who haue none ? How many are sicker ( perchance ) then I , and laid in their wofull straw at home ( if that co●ner be a home ) and haue no more hope of helpe , though they die , then of preferment , though they liue ? Nor doe no more expect to see a Phisician then , then to bee an Officer after ; of whome , the first that takes knowledge , is th● Sexten that buries them● who buries them in obliuio● too ? For the● doe but fill vp the number of the dead in the Bill , but we shall neuer heare their Names , till wee reade them in the Booke of life , with our owne . How many are sicker ( perchance ) then I , and thrown into Hospitals , where , ( as a fish left vpon the Sand , must stay the tide ) they must stay the Phisicians houre of visiting , and then can bee but visited ? How many are sicker ( perchaunce ) then all we , and haue not this Hospitall to couer them , not this straw , to lie in , to die in , but haue thei● Graue-stone vnder them and breathe out thei● soules in the eares , and in the eies of passengers , harder then their bed , the flint of the stre●t● That taste of no part of our Phisick , but a sparing dyet ; to whom ordinary porridge would bee Iulip enough , the refuse of our seruants , Bezar enough , and the off scou●ing of our Kitchin tables , Cordiall enough . O my soule , when thou art not enough awake , to blesse thy God enough for his plentifull mercy , in affoording thee many Helpers , rememb●r how many lacke them , and helpe them to them , or to those other things , which they lacke as much as them . 7. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , thy blessed Seruant Augustine begg'd of thee , that Moses might come and tell him what he● meant by some place of Genesis : May I ha●● leaue to aske of th● Spirit , that writ th● Booke , why when D●●uid expected newes fi●● Ioabs armie , and that th● Watchman tolde him that hee sawe a man ru●●ning alone , Dauid conclu●ded out of that circumstance , That if hee ca●● alone , hee brought 〈◊〉 newes ? I see the Gra●●mar , the word signifie so , and is so euer accep●ted , Good newes ; but I see not the Logique , nor the Rhetorique , how Dauid would prooue , or perswade that his newes was good , because hee was alone , except a greater cōpany might haue made great impressions of danger , by imploring , and importuning present supplies . Howsoeuer that bee , I am sure , that that which thy Apostle sayes to Timothy , Onely Luke is with me , Luke , and no body but Luke ● hath a taste of cōplaint , & sorrow in it● Though Luke want no testimony of abilitie , o● forwardnes , of constancie , & perseuerance , in assisting that great building which S. Paul laboured in , yet S. Paul is affected with that , that ther was none but Luke , to assist● We take S. Luke to haue bin a Phisician , & it admits the application the better , that in the presence of one good Phisician , we may bee glad of more . It was not only a ciuill spirit of policy , or order that moued Moses father in law , to perswade him to diuide ●he burden of Gouernmēt , & Iudicature , with others , & take others to his assistance , but it was ●lso thy immediat spirit O my God , that mou'd Moses to present vnto ●hee 70 of the Elders of Israel , to receiue of that spirit , which was vpon Moses onely before , such ● portion as might ease ●im in the gouernmēt of that people ; though Moses alone had indowments aboue all thou gauest him othe● assistants . I consider th● plentifull goodnesse , 〈◊〉 my God , in employing Angels , more then on● in so many of thy remarkable workes . O● thy Sonne , thou saist , I● all the Angels of God w●●●ship him ; If that bee i● Heauen , vpon Earth , h●● sayes that hee could co●●maund twelue legions 〈◊〉 Angels ; And when H●●uen , and Earth shall b● all one , at the last day● Thy Sonne , O God , the S●● of Man , shall come in his glory , and all the holy Angels with him . The Angels that celebrated his birth to the Shepheards , the Angels that celebrated his second birth , his Resurrection to the Maries , were in the plurall , Angells associated with Angels . In Iacobs ladder , they which ascended and descended , & maintain'd the trade between Heauen and Earth , between thee and vs , they who haue the Commission , and charge to guide vs in all our wayes , they wh●● hastned Lot , and in him● vs , from places of danger , and tentation , the● who are appoynted to instruct & gouerne vs in th● Church heere , they who are sent to punish the disobedient and refractar●● , they that are to be the Mowers , and haruest me● , after we are growne ●p in one field , the church , 〈◊〉 the day of Iudgmēt , they that are to carrie o●● soules whither they ca●●●ed Lazarus , they who attend at the seueral gate● of the new Ierusalem , to admit vs there ; all these , who administer to thy seruants , from the first , to their last , are Angels , Angels in the plurall , in euery seruice , Angels associated with Angells . The power of a single Angell wee see in that one , who in one night destroyed almost 200. thousand in Sennacheribs army , yet thou often imployest many ; as we know the power of saluation is abundantly in any one Euangelist , and yet thou hast afforded vs foure . Thy Sonne pro●claimes of himselfe , th● thy Spirit , hath annoynte● him to preach the Gospel● ● yet he hath giuen othe●s for the perfiting of the S. in the worke of the Mi●●●stery . Thou hast made him Bishop of our soules , but there are others Bi●shops too . Hee gaue the holy Ghost , & others gaue it also . Thy way , O m● God , ( and , O my God , tho● louest to walk in thine own waies , for they are large ) thy way from th● beginning , is multiplication of thy helps ; and therfore it were a degree of ingratitude , not to accept this mercy of affording me many helpes for my bodily health , as a type and earnest of thy gracious purpose now , and euer , to affoord mee the same assistances . That for thy great Helpe , thy Word , I may seeke that , not frō corners , nor Conuenticles , nor schismatical singularities , but frō the assotiation , & communion of thy Catholique Church , and those persons , whom thou has● alwayes furnished th● Church withall : And that I may associate th● Word , with thy Sacr●●ment , thy Seale with thy Patent ; and in that S●●cramēt associate the sig●● with the thing signified , the Bread with the Bod● of thy Sonne , so , as I ma● be sure to haue receiu●● both , and to bee ma●● thereby , ( as thy blesse● seruant Augustine sayes ) the Arke , and the Mon●●ment , & the Tombe of th● most blessed Sonne , that hee , and all the merits of his death , may , by that receiuing , bee buried in me , to my quickning in thi● world , and my immortall establishing in the next . 7. PRAYER . O Eternall , and most gracious God , who gauest to thy seruants in the wildernes , thy Man●a , bread so conditiond , qualified so , as that , to euery man , Manna tasted like that , which that man liked best , I humbly beseech thee , to make this correction , which I acknowledg to be part of my daily bread , to tast so to me , not as I would , but as thou wouldest haue it taste , and to conform my tast , and make it agreeable to thy will● Thou wouldst haue th● corrections tast of hum●●liation , but thou wouldest haue them tast ● consolation too ; taste o● danger , but tast of ass●●rance too . As therefore thou hast imprinted in all thine Elements , of which our bodies consist , two manifest qualities , so that , as thy fire dries , so it heats too ; and as thy water moysts , so it cooles too , so , O Lord , in these corrections , which are the elements of our regeneration , by which our soules are made thine , imprint thy two qualities , those two operations , that as they scourge vs , they may scourge vs into the way to thee : that when they haue shewed vs , that we are nothing in our selues , they may also shew vs , that thou art all things vnto vs. When therfore in this particular circūstance , O Lord ( but none of thy iudgements are circumstances ; they are all of the substance of thy good purpose vpon vs● whē in this particular , that he , whō thou has● sent to assist me , desires assistants to him , thou hast let mee see , in how few houres thou cans● throw me beyond the helpe of man , let me by the same light see , that no vehimence of sicknes , no tentation of Satan , no guiltines of sin , no prison of death , not this first , this sicke bed , not the other prison , the close and dark graue , can remooue me from the determined , and good purpose , which tho● sealed concerning mee . Let me think no degree of this thy correction , casuall , or without signification ; but yet when I haue read it in that language , as it is a correction , let me translate it into another , and read it as a mercy ; and which of these is the Originall , and which is the Translation , whether thy Mercy , or thy Correction , wer● thy primary , and original intētion in this sicknes , I cannot conclude , though death conclud● me ; for as it must necessarily appeare to bee ● correction , so I can hau● no greater argument o● thy mercy , then to die i● thee , and by that death , to bee vnited to him , who died for me . 8. Et Rex ipse suum mittit . The King sends his owne Phisician . 8. MEDITATION . STil when we return to that Meditation , that Man , is a World , we find new discoueries . Let him be a world , and him self will be the land , and misery the sea . His misery , ( for misery is his , his own ; of the happinesses euen of this world , h●e is but tenant , but of misery the free-holder ; of happines hee is but the farmer , but the vsufructuary but of misery , the Lord , the proprietary ) his misery , as the sea , swells aboue all the hilles , and reaches to the remotest parts of this earth , Man ; who of himselfe is bu● dust , and coagula●ed and kneaded into earth ; by teares , his ma●te● is ●arth , his forme , misery . In this world , that is Mankinde , the highest ground , the eminētest hils , are kings ; and haue they line , and lead enough to fadome this sea , and say , My misery is but this deepe ? Scarce any misery equal to sicknesse ; and they are subiect to that equally , with their lowest subiect . A glasse is not the lesse brittle , because a Kings face is represented in it , nor a King the lesse brittle , because God is represented in him . They haue Phisicians continually about them , & therfore sicknesses , or the worst of sicknesses , continuall feare of it . Are they gods ? He that calld them so , cannot flatter . They are Gods , but sick● gods ; and God is presented to vs vnder many human affections , as fa● as infirmities ; God is called angry , and sorry , and weary , and heauy ; bu● neuer a sicke God : for then hee might die like men , as our gods do . The worst that they could say in reproch , & scorn● of the gods of the Heathē , was , that perchance they were asleepe ; but Gods that are so sicke , as that they cannot sleepe ; are in an infirmer condition . A God , and need a Phisician ? A Iupiter & need an Aesulapius ? that must haue Rh●ubarbe to purge his Choller , lest he be too angry , and Agarick to purge his s●●gme , lest he be too drowsie ; that as Tertullian saies of the Aegyptian gods , plants and herbes , That God was beholden to Man , for growing in his garden , so wee must say of these gods● Their eternity , ( an eternity of threescore & ten yeares ) is in the Apothecaryes shop , and not in the Metaphoricall Deity . But their Deitye is betten expressed in their humility , then in their ●eighth ; when abounding and ouerflowing , as God , in means of doing good , they descend , as God , to a communication of their abundāces with men , according to their necessities , then they are Gods. No man is well , that vnderstands not , that values not his being well ; that hath not a cheerefulnesse , and a ioy in it ; and whosoeuer hath this Ioy , hath a desire to communicate , to propagate that , which occasions his happinesse , and his Ioy , to others ; for euery man loues witnesses of his happinesse ; and the best witnesses , are experimentall witnesses ; they who haue tasted of that in themselues , which makes vs happie : It consummate● therefore , it perfits the happinesse of Kings , to confer , to transfer , honor , and riches , and ( as they can ) health , vpon those that need them . .8 EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , may God , I haue a warning from the Wise man , tha● when a rich man speaketh , euery man holdeth his tong● and looke what hee saith , they extoll it to the clouds ; but if a poore man speake , they say , what fellowe is this ? And if hee stumble , they will help to ouerthrow him . Therefore may my words be vnderualued , and my errors aggrauated , if I offer to speak of Kings ; but not by thee , O my God , because I speak of them as they are in thee , & of thee , as thou art in them . Certainly those men prepare a way of speaking negligently , or irreuerently of thee , that giue themselues that liberty , in speaking of thy Vice-gerents , Kings : for thou who gauest Augustus the Empire , gauest it to Nero to , and as Vespasian had it from thee , so had Iulian ; Though Kings deface in themselues thy first image , in their owne soule , thou giuest no man leaue to deface thy second Image , imprinted indelibly in their power . But thou knowest , O God , that if I should be slacke in celebrating thy mercies to mee exhibited by that royall Instrument● my Sou●raigne , to many other faults , that touch vpon Allegiance , I should add the worst of all , Ingratitude ; which consti●utes an il man , & faults which are defects in any particular sunction , are not so great , as those that destroy our humanitie ● It is not so ill , to bee an ill subiect , as to be an ill man ● for he hath an vniuersall illnesse , ready to blow● and powre out it selfe into any mold , any form , and to spend it selfe in any function . As therfore thy Son did vpon the Coyne , I look vpon the King , and I ask● whose image , & whose inscription hee hath ; and he hath thine ; And I giue vnto thee , that which i● thine , I recommend his happines to thee , in al● my sacrifices of thanks , for that which hee enioyes , and in al my praiers , for the continuance and inlargement of thē But let me stop , my G●d , and consider ; will no● this look like a piece of art , & cunning , to conuey into the world an opinion , that I were more particularly in his care , then other men ? And that heerein , in a a shew of humilitie , and thankefulnesse , I magnifie my selfe more then there is cause ? But let not that iealousie stopp mee , O God , but let me go forward in celebrating thy mercy exhibited by him . This which hee doth now , in assisting so my bodily health , I know is common to me with many ? Many , many● haue tasted of that expression of his gracio●snes . Where hee ●an giue health by his owne hands , hee doth● and to more then any of his predecessors haue done : Therefore hath God reserued one diseas● for him , that hee onely might cure it , though perchance not onely by one Title , and Interest , nor only as one king . To those that need it not , in that kind , and so cannot haue it by his owne hand , he sends a donatiue of health , in sending his Phisician : The holy King S. Lewis in France , & our Maud is celebrated for that , that persōally they visited Hospitals , & assisted in the Cure , euen of loathsome Diseases . And when that religious Empress Placilla , the wife of Theodosius was told , that she diminished her ●elfe to much in those personal assistances , & might doe enough in sending ●eliefe , shee said , Shee would send in that capacitie , as Empresse , but shee would go to , in that capacitie , as a Christian , as a fellow member of the body o● thy Son , with them . So thy seruāt Dauid applies him selfe to his people , so he incorporates himselfe in his people , by calling them his brethren , his bones , his flesh ; and when they fel vnder thy hand , euen to the pretermitting of himselfe , he presses vpon thee , by praye● for them ; I haue si●●ned , but these sheepe what haue they donne ? let thine hand I pray thee be against me and against my fathers house . It is kingly to giue ; whē Araumah gaue that great , & free present to Dauid , that place , those instrumēts for sacrifice , and the sacrifices themselues , it is said there , by thy Spirit , Al these things did Araumah giue , as a King , to the King. To giue is an approaching to the Condition of Kings , but to giue health , an approching to the King , of Kings , to thee . But this his assisting to my bodily health , thou knowest O God , and so doe some others of thine Honorable seruants know , is bu● the twy-light , of that day , wherein thou● thorow him , hast shind vpon mee before ; but the Eccho of that voyce , whereby thou , through him , hast spoke to mee before ; Then , when he , first of any man conceiu'd a hope , that I might be of some vse in thy Church , and descended to an intimation , to a perswasiō , almost to a solicitatiō , that I would embrace that calling . And thou who hadst put that desire into his heart , didst also put into mine , an obedience to it ; and I who was sicke before , of a vertiginous giddines , and irresolution , and almost spent all my time in consulting how I should spend it , was by this man of God , and God of men , put into the poole , and recouerd : when I asked , perchāce , a stone , he gaue me bread , when I asked , perchāce , a Scorpion , he gaue me a fish ; whē I asked a temporall office , hee denied not , refused not that , but let mee see , that hee had rather I took this . These things , thou O God , who forgettest nothing , hast not forgot , though perchance , he , because they were benefits , hath ; but I am not only a witnesse , but an instance , that ou● Iehosophat hath a care to ordaine Priests , as well as Iudges : and not only to send Phisicians fo● temporall , but to bee the Phisician for spirituall health . 8. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , who though thou haue reserued thy tresure of perfit ioy , and perfit glory , to be giuen by thine own hands then , whē by seeing thee , as thou art in thy selfe , and knowing thee , as we are known , wee shall possesse in an instant , and possesse for euer , all that can any way cōduce to our happinesses , yet here also in this world , giuest vs such earnests of that full payment , as by the value of the earnest , we may giue some estimat of the tresure , humbly , and thākfully I acknowledge , that thy blessed spirit instructs mee , to make a differēce of thy blessings in this world , by that difference of the Instruments , by which it hath pleased thee to deriue them vnto me . As we see thee heere in a glasse , so we receiue frō thee here by reflexion , & by instruments . Euen casual things come from thee ; and that which we call Fortune here , hath another name aboue . Nature reaches out her hand , and giues vs corne , and wine , and oyle , and milk , but thou fillest her hand before , and thou openest her hand , that she may rain down her showres vpon vs. Industry reaches out her hand to vs , and giues vs fruits of our labor , for our selues , & our posteritie ; but thy hand guides that hand , when it sowes , and when it waters , and the increase is from thee . Friends reach out their hands , & prefer vs , but thy hand supports that hād , that supports vs. Of all these thy instruments haue I receiued thy blessing , O God , but bless thy name most for the greatest ; that as a member of the publike , and as a partaker of priuate fauours too , by thy right hand , thy powerfull hand set , ouer vs , I haue had my portion , not only in the hearing , but in the preaching of thy Gospel . Humbly beseeching thee , that as thou continuest thy wonted goodnes vpon the whol world , by the wonted meanes , & instruments , the same Sun , and Moon , the same Nature , and Industry , so to continue the same blessings vpon this State , and this Church by the same hand , so long , as that thy Son when he comes in the clouds , may find him , or his Son , or his sonnes sonnes ready to giue an account , & able to stand in that iudgmēt , for their faithfull Stewardship , and dispensation of thy talēts so abūdantly cōmitted to them ; & be to him , O God , in all distēpers of his body , in all anxieties of spirit , in all holy sadnesses of soule , such a Phisician in thy proportion , who art the greatest in heauen , as hee hath bin in soule , & body to me , in his proportiō , who is the greatst vpon earth . 9. Medicamina scribūt . Vpon their Consultation , they prescribe . 9. MEDITATION . THey haue seene me , and heard mee , arraign'd mee in these fetters , and receiu'd the euidence ; I haue cut vp mine own Anatomy , diffected my selfe , and they are gon to read vpon me . O how manifold , and perplexed a thing , nay , how wanton and various a thing is ruine and destruction ? God presented to Dauid three kinds , War , Famine , and Pestilence ; Satan left out these , and brought in , fires frō heauen , and windes from the wildernes . If there were no ruine but sicknes , wee see , the Masters of that Art , can scarce nūber , not name all sicknesses ; euery thing that disorders a faculty , & the function of that is a sicknesse : The names wil not serue thē which are giuen frō the place affected , the Pluris●● is so ; nor from the effect which it works , the falling sicknes is so ; they cānot haue names ynow , from what it does , nor where it is , but they must extort names frō what it is like , what it resembles , & b●t in some one thing , or els they would lack names ; for the Wolf , and the Canker , and the Polypus are so ; and that question , whether there be more names or things , is as perplexd in sicknesses , as in any thing else ; except it be easily resolud vpon that side , that there are more sicknesses thē names . If ruine were reduc'd to that one way , that Man could perish noway but by sicknes , yet his danger were infinit ; and if sicknes were reduc'd to that one way , that there were no sicknes but a feuer , yet the way were infinite still ; for it would ouerlode , & oppress any naturall , disorder and discompose any artificiall Mem●ry , to deliuer the names of seuerall Feuers ; how intricate a worke then haue they , who ar● gone to consult , which of these sicknesses mine is , and then which of these feuers , and then what it would do , and thē how it may be countermind . But euen in ill , it is a degree of good , whē the euil wil admit consultation . In many diseases , that which is but an accident , but a symptom of the main disease , is so violēt , that the phisician must attend the cure of that , though hee pretermi● ( so far as to intermi● ) the cure of the disease it self . Is it not so in States too ? somtimes the insolēcy of those that are great , put the people into commotions ; the great disease , & the greatest danger to the Head , is the insolency of the great ones ; & yet , they execute Martial law , they come to present executions vpō the people , whose commotion was indeed but a simptom , but an accident of the maine disease ; but this symptom , grown so violent , wold allow no time for a consultatiō . Is it not so in the accidents of the diseases of our mind too ? Is it not euidently so in our affections , in our passions ? If a cholerick man be ready to strike , must I goe about to purge his choler , or to breake the blow ? But where there is room for consultatiō , things are not desperate . They consult ; so there is nothing rashly , incōsideratly done ; and then they prescribe , the● write , so there is nothing couertly , disguisedly , vnavowedly done . In bodily diseases it is not alwaies so ; sometimes , assoon as the Phisicians foote is in the chamber , his knife is in the patients arme ; the disease would not allow a minutes forbearing of blood , nor prescribing of other remedies . In States & matter of gouernmēt it is so too ; they are somtimes surprizd with such accidēts , as that the Magistrat asks not what may be done by law , but does that , which must necessarily be don in that case But it is a degree of good , in euill , a degree that ca●ies hope & cōfort in it , when we may haue r●●course to that which is written , and that the proceedings may bee apert , and ingenuous , and candid , and auowable , for that giues satisfaction , and acquiescence . They who haue receiued my Anatomy of my selfe , consult , and end their consultatiō in prescribing , and in prescribing Phisick ; proper and conuenient remedy : for if they shold come in again , and chide mee , for some disorder , that had occasion'd , and inducd , or that had hastned and exalted this sicknes , or if they should begin to write now rules for my dyet , and exercise when I were well , this were to antidate , or to postdate their Consultation , not to giue phisick . It were rather a vexation , then a reliefe , to tell a condemnd prisoner , you might haue liu'd if you had done this ; & if you can get your pardon , you shal do wel , to take this , or this course hereafter . I am glad they know ( I haue hid nothing from them ) glad they consult , ( they hide nothing frō one another ) glad they write ( they hide nothing frō the world ) glad that they write and prescribe Phisick , that there are remedies for the present case . 9. EXPOSTVLATION . My God , my God , allow me a iust indignation , a holy detestation of the insolēcy of that Man , who because he was of that high rāke , of whō thou hast said , They are gods , thought himselfe more then equall to thee ; That king of Aragon Alfonsus , so perfit in the motions of the heauenly bodies , as that hee aduentured to say , That if he had bin of councell with thee , in the making of the heauens , the the heauens should haue bin disposed in a better order , then they are . The king Amasiah would not indure thy prophet to reprehend him , but asked him in anger , Art thou made of the kings councell● When thy Prophet Esaias askes that questiō who hath directed the spirit of the Lord , or being his councellor hath tought him . It is after hee had setled and determined that office , vpon thy sonne , and him onely , whē he ioyns with those great Titles , The mighty God , and the prince of peace , this also , the Councellor ; and after he had setled vpon him , the spirit of might , and of councell . So that thē , thou O God , thogh thou haue no councell from Man , yet doest nothing vpon man , without councell ; In the making of Man there was a consultation ; let vs make man. In the preseruing of Man , O thou great preseruer 〈◊〉 men , thou proceededst by councell ; for all thy externall workes , are the workes of the whole Trinity , and their hand is to euery action . How much more must I apprehend , that al you bles●sed , & glorious persons of the Trinitie are in Consultation now , what you wil do with this in firm body , with this leprous Soule , that attends , guiltily , but yet comfortably , your determination vpō it . I offer not to counsell them , who meet in consultatiō for my body now , but I open my in●●rmities , I anatomise my body to them . So I do my soule to thee , O my God , in an hūble confession , That there is no veine in mee , that is not full of the bloud of thy Son , whō I haue crucified , & Crucified againe , by multiplying many , and often repeating the same sinnes that there is no Artery in me , that hath not the spirit of error , the spirit of lust , the spirit of giddines in it● no bone in me that is not hardned with the custo●e of sin , and nourished , and soupled with the marrow of sinn ; no sinews , no ligamēts , that do not tie , & chain sin and sin together . Yet , O blessed and glorious Trinity , O holy , & whole Colledge , and yet but one Phisician , if you take this confession into a consult●●●on , my case is not desp●rate my destructiō is not decreed ; If your consultation determin in writing , if you refer mee to that which is written , you intend my recouery : for al the way , O my God , ( euer constant to thine owne wayes ) thou hast proceeded opēly , intellig●bly , manifestly , by the book . From thy first book , the book of life , neue● shut to thee , but neuer throughly open to vs ; frō thy second book , the booke of Nature , wher though subobscurely , and in shadows , thou hast expressed thine own Image ; frō thy third booke ; the Scriptures , where thou hadst writtē all in the Old , and then lightedst vs a cādle to read it by , in the New Testament ; To these thou hadst added the booke of iust , and vsefull Lawes , established by them , to whom thou hast committed thy people ; To those , the Manualls , the pocket , the bosome books of our own Consciences , To ●hose thy partcular books of all our particular sins ; and to those , the Booke with seuen seales , which only the Lamb which was slaine , was found worthy to opē ; which , I hope , it shall not disagree with the meaning of thy blessed Spirit , to interpre●e , the promulgation of their pardon , and righteousnes , who are washed in the blood of that Lambe ; And if thou refer me to these Bookes , to a new reading , a new triall by these bookes ● this feuer may be but a burning in the hand , and I may be saued , thogh not by my book , mine own conscience , nor by thy other books , yet by thy first , the book of life , thy decree for my election , and by thy last , the book of the Lamb , and the shedding of his blood vpon me ; If I be stil vnder cōsultation , I am not cōdemned yet ; if I be sent to these books I shall not be condem'd at all : for , though there be somthing written in some of those books ( particularly in the Scriptur● ) which some men turne to poyson , yet vpon these consultations ( these confessions , these takings of our particular cases , into thy consideration ) thou intendest all for phisick , & euen from those Sentences , from which a too●late Repenter will sucke desperation , he that seeks thee early , shall receiue thy morning dew , thy seasonable mercy , thy forward consolation . 9. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , who art of so pure eyes , as that thou canst not look vpon sinn , and we of so vnpure constitutions , as that wee can present no obiect but sin , and therfore might iustly ●eare , that thou wouldst turn thine eyes for euer from vs , as , though we cannot indure afflictions in our selues , yet in thee we can● so thogh thou canst not indure sinne in vs , yet in ●hy Sonn thou canst , and he hath taken vpon him se●fe , and presented to thee , al those sins , which might displease thee in vs. There is an Eye in Nature , that kills , assoon as it sees , the eye of a Serpent ; no eye in Nature , that nourishes vs by looking vpon vs ; But thine Eye , O Lord , does so . Looke therefore vpon me , O Lord , in this distresse , and that will recall mee from the borders of this bodily death ; Look vpon me , and that wil raise me again from that spirituall death , in which my parents buried me , when they begot mee in sinne , and in which I haue pierced euen to the lawes of hell , by multiplying such heaps of actuall sins , vpon that foundation , that root of originall sinn . Yet take me again , into your Consultation , O blessed and glorious Trinitie ; & thogh the Father know , that I haue defaced his Image receiued in my Creation ; though the Son know , I haue neglected mine interest in the Redemption , yet , O blessed spirit , as thou art to my Consciēce , so be to them a witnes , that at this minute , I accept that which I haue so often , so often , so rebelliously refused , thy blessed inspirations ; be thou my witnes to them , that at more poores then this slacke body sweates teares , this sad soule weeps blood ; and more for the displeasure of my God , then for the stripes of his displeasure . Take me then , O blessed , & glorious Trinitie , into a Recōsultation , and prescribe me any phisick ; If it bee a long , & painful holding of this soule in sicknes , it is phisick , if I may discern thy hand to giue it , & it is phisick , if it be a speedy departing of this Soule , if I may discerne thy hand to receiue it . 10. Lentè & Serpenti satagunt occurrere Morbo . They find the Disease to steale on insensibly , and endeauour to meet with it so . 10. MEDITATION . THis is Natures nest of Boxes ; The Heauens containe the Earth , the Earth , Cities , Cities , Men. And all these are Concentrique ; the common center to them all , is decay , ruine ; only that is Ecoentrique , which was neuer made , only that place , or garment rather , which we can imagine , but not demonstrate , That light , which is the very emanation of the light of God , in which the Saints shall dwell , with which the Saints shall be appareld , only that bends not to this Center , to Ruine ; that which was not made of Nothing , is not threatned with this annihilation . All other things are ; euen A●gels , euē our soules ; they moue vpon the same poles , they bend to the same Center ; and if they were not made immortall by preseruation , their Nature could not keepe them from sinking to this center , Annihilation . In all these ( the frame of the heuens , the States vpō earth , & Men in them , comprehend all ) Those are the greatest mischifs , which are least discerned ; the most insensible in their wayes come to bee the most sensible in their ends . The Heauens haue had their Dropsie , they drownd the world , and they shall haue their Feuer , and burn the world . Of the dropsie , the flood , the world had a foreknowledge 120 yeares before it came ; and so some made prouision against it , and were sau●d● the feuer shall break out in an instant , & consume all ; The dropsie did no harm to the heauens , frō whence it fell , it did not put out those lights , it did not quench those heates ; but the feuer , the fire shall burne the furnace it selfe , annihilate those heauens , that b●eath it out ; Though the Dog-Starre haue a pestilent breath , an infectious exhalation , yet because we know when it wil rise , we clo●he our selues , & wee die● our selues , and wee shadow our selues to a sufficient preuētion ; but Comets and blazing starres , whose effects , or significations no man can interrupt or frustrat , no man foresaw : no Almanack tells vs , when a blazing starre will bre●k out , the matter is carried vp in secret ; no Astrologer tels vs when the effects wil be accomplishd , for that 's a secret of a higher spheare , then the other ; and that which is most secret , is most dangerous . It is so also here in the societies of men , in States , & Commōwealths . Twentie rebellious drums make not so dāgerous a noise , as a few whisperers , and secret plotters in corners . The Canon doth not so much hurt against a wal , as a Myne vnder the wall ; nor a thousand enemies that threaten , so much as a few that take an oath to say nothing . God knew many heauy sins of the people , in the wildernes and after , but still he charges thē with that one , with Murmuring , murmuring in their hearts , secret disobediences , secre● repugn●nces against his declar'd wil ; and th●se are the most deadly , the most pernicious . And it is so to , with the diseases of the body ; and that is my case . The pulse , the vrine , the sweat , all haue sworn to say nothing , to giue no Indication of any dangerous sicknesse . My forces are not enfeebled , I find no decay in my strength ; my prouisions are not cut off , I find no abhorring in mine appetite ; my counsels are not corrupted nor infatuated , I find no false apprehēsions , to work vpon mine vnderstāding● and yet they see , that inuisibly , & I feele , that insensibly the disease preuailes . The disease hath established a Kingdome , an Empire in mee , and will haue certaine Arcana Imperij , secrets of State , by which it will proceed , & not be boūd to declare ●hem . But yet against those secret conspiracies in the State , the Magistrate hath the ra●k ● and against these insensible diseases , Phisicians haue their examiners ; and those these imploy now . 10. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , I haue bin told , and told by relation , by her own brother , that did it , by thy seruant Nazianzen , that his Sister in the vehemēcy of her prayer , did vse to threaten thee , with a holy importunitie , with a pious impudencie . I dare not doe so , O● God ; but as thy seruant Augustin , wisht that Adam had not sinned , therefore that Christ might not haue died , may I not to this one purpose wish , That if the Serpent before the tentation of Eue , did goe vpright , and speake , that he did so still , because I should the sooner heare him , if he spoke , the sooner see him , if he went vpright ? In his curse , I am cursed too ; his creeping vndoes mee : for howsoeuer hee begin at the heele , and doe but bruise that ; yet he , and Death in him is come into our windowes ; into our Eyes , and Eares , the entrāces , & inlets of our soule . He works vpon vs in secret , & we doe not discerne him ; And one great work of his vpon vs , is to make vs so like himselfe , as to sin in secret , that others may not see vs ; But his Master-piece is , to make vs sin in secret so , as that we may not see our selus sin . For the first , the hiding of our sins from other men , hee hath induo'd that , which was his off-spring from the beginning , A lye : for man , is in Nature , yet , in posses●ion of some such sparkes of ingenuitie , & noblenesse , as that , but to disguise Euill , hee would not lye . The bodie , the sinne , is the Serpents , and the garment that couers it , the lye , is his too . These are his ; but the hiding of sinne from our selues , is Hee himselfe : when we haue the sting of the Serpent in vs , and doe not sting our selues , the venim of sin , and no remorse for sinn , then , as thy blessed Sonne said of Iudas , Hee is a deuill , not that he had one , but was one , so we are become deuils to our selues , and we haue not only a Serpent in our bosome , but we our selues , are to our selues that Serpent . How farre did thy seruant Dauid presse vpon thy pardon , in that petition , Clense thou me from secret sinns ? can any sin bee secret ? for , a great part of our sinnes , though , sayes thy Prophet , we conceiue them in the darke , vpon ou● bed , yet sayes he , We doe them in the light ; there are many sins , which we glorie in doing , and would not doe , if no body should know thē . Thy blessed seruant August confesses , that hee was ashamed of his shamefastnes , and tendernesse of Conscience , and that he often be lied himself with sinnes , which he neuer did , lest he should be vnacceptable to his sinfull companions . But if we would conceale them , ( thy Pr●phet found such a desire , and such a practise in some , whē he said , Thou hast trusted in thy wickedkednes , and thou hast sayd , None shall see me ) yet can we conceale thē ? Thou O God , canst heare of them by others ; The voice of Abels blood , will tell thee of Cains murder ; the Heauens themselues will tell thee Heauē shal reueale his iniquity ; a smal creature alone , shall doe it , A bird of the ayre shall carry the voice , and tell the matter : Thou wilt trouble no Informer , thou thy selfe reuealedst Adams sin , to thy selfe ; And the manifestation of sin is so ful to thee , as that thou shalt reueale all to all , Thou shalt bring euery worke to Iudgement , with euery secret thing , and there is nothing couered , that shall not bee reuealed : But , O my God , there is another way of knowing my sins , which thou louest better then any of these ; To know them by my Confession . As Phisicke works so , it drawes the peccant humour to it selfe , that when it is gathered together , the weight of it selfe may carry that humour away , so thy Spirit returns to my Memory my former sinnes , that being so recollected , they may powre out them●elues by Confession . When I kept silence , sayes thy seruant Dauid , day , and night , thy hand was heauy vpon mee , But when I said , I wil confesse my transgressions vnto the Lord , thou forgauest the iniquitie of my sinne . Thou interpretest the very pu●pose of Confession so well , as that thou scarce leauest any new Mercy for the action it selfe . This Mercy thou leauest , that thou armest vs thereupon , against relapses into the sinnes which wee haue confessed . And that mercy , which thy seruant Augustine apprehends , when he sayes to thee , Thou hast forgiuē me those sinnes which I haue done , and those sinnes which only by thy grace I haue not done : they were done in our inclination to them , and euen that inclination needs thy mercy , and that Mercy he calls a Pardon . And these are most truly secret sinnes , because they were neuer done , and because no other man , nor I my selfe , but onely thou knowest , how many and how great sinnes I haue scaped by thy grace , which without that , I should haue multiplied against thee . 10. PRAYER . O Eternall , and most gracious God , who as thy Sonne Christ Iesus , though hee knew all things , yet said hee knew not the day of Iudgement , because he knew it not so , as that he might tell it vs ; so though thou knowest all my sins , yet thou knowest them not to my comfort , except thou know them by my telling them to th●e , how shall I bring to thy knowledg by that way , those sinns , which I my selfe know not ? If I accuse my selfe of Originall sin , wilt thou ask me if I know what originall sin is ? I know not enough of it to satisfie others , but I know enough to condemne my self , & to solicit thee . If I confesse to thee the sinnes of my youth , wilt thou aske me , if I know what those sins were ? I know them not so well , as to name them all , nor am sure to liue houres enough to name them al , ( for I did thē then , faster then I can speak them now , when euery thing that I did , conduc'd to some sinne ) but I know thē so well , as to know , that nothing but thy mercy is so infinite as they . If the naming of Sinnes , of Thought , Word , and Deed , of sinns of Omission , and of Action , of sins against thee , against my neighbour , and against my self , of sinns vnrepented , and sinnes relapsed into after Repentance , of sinnes of Ignorance , and sinnes against the testimonie of my Conscience , of sinnes against thy Commaundements , sinnes against thy Sonnes Prayer , and sinns against our owne Creed , of sins against the laws of that Church , & sinnes against the lawes of that State , in which thou hast giuen mee my station , If the naming o● these sinnes reach not home to all mine , I know what will ; O Lord pardon me , me , all those sinnes , which thy Sonne Christ Iesus suffered for , who suffered for all the sinnes of all the world ; for there is no sinne amongst all those which had not been my sinne , if thou hadst not beene my God , and antidated me a pardon in thy preuenting grace . And since sinne in the nature of it , retaines still so much of the author of it , that it is a Serpent , insensibly insinuating it selfe , into my Soule , let thy brazen Serpent , ( the contemplation of thy Sonne crucified for me ) be euermore present to me , for my recouery against the sting of the first Serpent ; That so , as I haue a Lyon against a Lyon , The Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah , against that Lyon , that seekes whom hee may deuoure , so I may haue a Serpent against a Serpent , the Wisedome of the Serpent , against the Malice of the Serpent , And , both against that Lyon , and Serpent , forcible , and subtill tentations , Thy Doue with thy Oliue , in thy Arke , Humilitie , and Peace , and Reconciliation to thee , by the ordinances of thy Church● Amen . 11. Nobilibusque trahunt , a cincto Corde , venenum , Succis & Gemmis , & quae generosa , Ministrant Ars , et Natura , instillant . They vse Cordials , to keep the venim and Malignitie of the disease from the Heart . 11. MEDITATION . WHence can wee take a better argument , a clearer d●monstration , that all the Greatnes of this world , is built vpon opinion of others , and hath in it self no reall being , nor power of subsistence , then from the heart of man ? It is alwayes in Action , and motion , still busie , still pretending to doe all , to furnish all the powers , and faculties with all that they haue ; But if an ●nemy dare rise vp against it , it is the soonest endangered , the soonest defeated of any part . The Braine will hold out longer then it , and the Liuer longer then that ; They will endure a Siege ; but an vnnatural heat , a rebellious heat , will blow vp the heart , like a Myne , in a minute . But howsoeuer , since the Heart hath the birth-right , and Primogeniture , and that it is Natures eldest Sonne in vs , the part which is first borne to life in man , and that the other parts , as younger brethren , and seruants in this family , haue a dependance vpon it , it is reason that the principall care bee had of it , though it bee not the strongest part ; as the eldest is oftentimes not the strongest of the family . And since the Braine , and Liuer , and Heart , hold not a Triumuirate in Man , a Soueraigntie equally shed vpon them all , for his well-being , as the foure Elements doe , for his very being , but the Heart alone is in the Principalitie , and in the Throne , as King , the rest as Subiects , though in eminent Place , and Office , must contribute to that , as Children to their Parents , as all persons to all kindes of Superiours , though oftētimes , those Parents , or those Superiours , bee not of stronger parts , then themselues , that serue and obey them that are weaker ; Neither doth this Obligation fall vpon vs , by second Dictates of Nature , by Consequences , and Conclusions arising out of Nature , or deriu'd from Nature , by Discourse , ( as many things binde vs , euen by the Law of Nature , and yet not by the primarie Law of Nature ; as all Lawes of Proprietie in that which we possesse , are of the Law of Nature , which law is , To giue euery one his owne , and yet in the primarie law of Nature , there was no Proprietie , no Meum & Tuum , but an vniuersall Communitie ouer all ; So the obedience of Superiours , is of the law of Nature , and yet in the primarie law of Nature , there was no Superioritie , no Magistracie ; ) but this contribution of assistance of all to the Soueraigne , of all parts to the Heart , is from the very first dictates of Nature ; which is in the first place , to haue care of our owne Preseruation , to looke first to our selues ; for therefore doth the Phisician intermit the present care of Braine , or Liuer , because there is a possibilitie , that they may subsist , though there bee not a present and a particular care had of them , but there is no possibilitie that they can subsist , if the Heart perish : and so , when we seeme to begin with others , in such assistances , indeed wee doe beginne with our selues , and wee our selues are principally in our contemplation ; and so all these officious , and mutuall assistances , are but complements towards others , and our true end is our selues . And this is the reward of the paines of Kings ; sometimes they neede the power of law , to be obeyd ; and when they seeme to be obey'd voluntarily , they who doe it , doe it for their owne sakes . O how little a thing is all the greatnes of man , and through how false glasses doth he make shift to multiply it , and magnifie it to himselfe ? And yet this is also another misery of this King of man , the Heart , which is also applyable to the Kings of this world , great men , that the venime & poy●on of euery pestilentiall disease directs it selfe to the heart , affects that , ( pernicious affection , ) and the malignity of ill men , is also directed vpon the greatest , and the best ; and not only greatnesse , but goodnesse looses the vigour of beeing an Antidote , or Cordiall against it . And as the noblest , and most generous Cordialls that Nature or Art afford , or can prepare , if they be often taken , and made familiar , become no Cordialls , nor haue any extraordinary operation , so the greatest Cordiall of the Heart , patience , if it bee much exercis'd , exalts the venim and the malignity of the Enemy , and the more we suffer , the more wee are insulted vpon . When God had made this Earth of nothing , it was but a little helpe , that he had , to make other things of this Earth : nothing can be neerer nothing , then this Earth ; and yet how little of this Earth , is the greatest Man ? Hee thinkes he treads vpon the Earth , that all is vnder his fe●te , and the Braine that thinkes so , is but Earth ; his highest Region , the flesh that couers that , is but earth ; and euen the toppe of that , that , wherein so many Absolons take so much pride , is but a bush growing vpon that Turfe of Earth . How litle of the world is the Earth ? And yet that is all , that Man hath , or is . How little of a Man is the Heart ; and yet it is all , by which he is : and this continually subiect , not onely to forraine poysons , conueyed b● others , but to intestine poysons bred in our selues by pestilentiall sicknesses . O who , if before hee had a beeing , he could haue sense of this miserie , would buy a being here vpon these conditions ? 11. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , all that thou askest of mee , is my Heart , My Sonne , giue mee thy heart ; Am I thy sonne , as long as I haue but my heart ? VVilt thou giue mee an Inheritance , a Filiation , any thing for my heart ? O thou , who saydst to Satan , Hast thou considered my seruant Iob , that there is none like him vpon the earth , shall my feare , shall my zeale , shall my iealousie haue leaue to say to thee , Hast thou considered my Heart , that there is not so peruerse a Heart vpon ea●th ; and wouldest thou haue that ; and shall I be thy Sonne , thy eternall Sonnes Coheire , for giuing that ? The Heart is deceitfull , aboue all things , and desperately wicked ; who can know it ? Hee that askes that question , makes the answere , I the Lord search the Heart . When didst thou search mine ? Dost thou thinke to finde it , as thou madest it in Adam ? Thou hast searched since , and found all these gradations in the ill of our Hearts , That euery imagination , of the thoughts of our hearts , is onely euill continually . Doest thou remember this , and wouldest thou haue my Heart ? O God of all light , I know thou knowest all ; and it is Thou , that declarest vnto man , what is his Heart . VVithout thee , O Soueraigne goodnesse , I could not know , how ill my heart were . Thou hast declared vnto mee , in thy Word , That for all this deluge of euill , that hath surrunded all Hearts , yet thou soughtest and foundest a man after thine owne heart , That thou couldest and wouldest giue thy people Pastours according to thine owne heart ; And I can gather out of thy Word , so good testimony of the hearts of men , as to finde single hearts , docile , and apprehensiue hearts ; Hearts that can , Hearts that haue learnt ; wise hearts , in one place , and in another , in a great degree , wise , perfit hearts ; straight hearts , no peruersnesse without , and cleane hearts , no foulenesse within ; such hearts I can find in thy Word ; and if my heart were such a heart , I would giue thee my Heart . But I find stonie hearts too , and I haue made mine such : I haue found Hearts , that are snares ; and I haue conuersed with such ; hearts that burne like Ouens ; and the fuell of Lust , and Enuie , and Ambition , hath inflamed mine ; Hearts in which their Masters trust , And hee that trusteth in his owne heart , is a foole ; His confidence in his owne morall Constancie , and ciuill fortitude , will betray him , when thou shalt cast a spirituall dampe , a heauinesse , and dei●ction of spirit vpon him . I haue found these Hearts , and a worse then these , a Heart into the which the Deuill himselfe is entred , Iudas heart . The first kind of heart , alas , my God , I haue not ; The last are not Hearts to bee giuen to thee ; What shall I do ? Without that present I cannot bee thy Sonne , and I haue it not . To those of the first kinde , thou giuest ioyfulnes of heart , and I haue not that ; To those of the other kinde , thou giuest faintnesse of heart : And blessed bee thou , O God , for that forbearance , I haue not that yet . There is then a middle kinde of Hearts , not so pe●fit , as to bee giuen , but that the very giuing , mends them : Not so desperate , as not to bee accepted , but that the very accepting dignifies them . This is a melting heart , and a troubled heart ; and a wounded heart , and a broken heart , and a contrite heart ; and by the powerfull working of thy piercing spirit , such a Heart I haue ; Thy Samuel spake vnto all the house of thy Israel , and sayd , If you returne to the Lord with all your hearts , prepare your hearts vnto the Lord. If my heart bee prepared , it is a returning heart ; And if thou see it vpon the way , thou wilt carrie it ●ome ; Nay , the preparation is thine too ; this melting , this wounding , this breaking , this contrition , which I haue now , is thy Way , to thy Ende ; And those discomforts , are for all that , The earnest of thy Spirit in my heart ; and where thou giuest earnest , thou wilt performe the bargaine . Naball was confident vpon his wine , but in the morning his heart dyed within him ; Thou , O Lord , hast giuen mee Wormewood , and I haue had some diffidence vpon that ; and thon hast cleared a Morning to mee againe , and my heart is aliue . Danids heart smote him , when hee cut off the skirt from Saul ; and his heart smote him , when hee had numbred his people : My heart hath strucke mee , when I come to number my sinnes ; but that blowe is not to death , because those sinnes are not to death , but my heart liues in thee . But yet as long as I remaine in this great Hospitall , this sicke , this diseasefull world , as long as I remaine in this leprous house , this flesh of mine , this Heart , though thus prepared for thee , prepared by thee , will still be subiect to the inuasion of maligne and pestilent vapours . But I haue my Cordialls in thy promise ; when I shall know the plague of my heart , and pray vnto thee , in thy house , thou wilt preserue that heart , from all mortall force , of that infection : And the Peace of God , which passeth all vnderstanding , shall keepe my Heart and Minde through Christ Iesus . 11. PRAYER . O Eternall , and most gracious God , who in thy vpper house , the Heauens , though there bee many Mansions , yet art alike , and equally in euery Mansion , but heere in thy lower house , though thou fillest all , yet art otherwise in some roomes thereof , then in others , otherwise in thy Church , then in my Chamber , and otherwise in thy Sacraments , then in my Prayers , so though thou bee alwayes present , and alwayes working in euery roome of this thy House , my body , yet I humbly beseech thee to manifest alwayes a more effectuall presence in my heart , then in the other Offices . Into the house of thine Annoynted , disloyall persons , Traitors will come ; Into thy House , the Church , Hypocrites , and Idolatrers will come ; Into some Roomes of this thy House , my Body , Tentations will come , Infections will come , but bee my Heart , thy Bed-chamber , O my God , and thither let them not enter . Iob made a Couenant with his Eyes , but not his making of that Couenant , but thy dwelling in his heart , enabled him to keepe that Couenaunt . Thy Sonne himselfe had a sadnesse in his Soule to death , and hee had a reluctation , a deprecation of death , in the approaches thereof ; but hee had his Cordiall too , Yet not my will , but thine bee done . And as thou hast not deliuered vs , thine adopted sonnes , from these infectious tentations , so neither hast thou deliuered vs ouer to them , nor withheld thy Cordialls from vs. I was baptized in thy Cordiall water , against Originall sinne , and I haue drunke of thy Cordiall Blood , for my recouerie , from actuall , and habituall sinne in the other Sacrament . Thou , O Lord , who hast imprinted all medicinall vertues , which are in all creatures , and hast made euen the flesh of Vipers , to assist in Cordialls , art able to make this present sicknesse , euerlasting health , this weaknes , euerlasting strēgth , and this very deiection , and faintnesse of heart , a powerfull Cordiall . When thy blessed Sonne cryed out to thee , My God , my God , why hast thou forsaken mee , thou diddest reach out thy hand to him ; but not to deliuer his sad soule , but to receiue his holy soule ; Neither did hee longer desire to hold it of thee , but to recommend it to thee . I see thine hand vpon mee now , O Lord , and I aske not why it comes , what it intends : whether thou wilt bidde it stay still in this Body , for some time , or bidd it meet thee this day in Paradise , I aske not , not in a wish , not in a thought : Infirmitie of Nature , Curiositie of Minde , are tentations that offer ; but a silent , and absolute obedience , to thy will , euen before I know it , is my Cordiall . Preserue that to mee , O my God , and that will preserue mee to thee ; that when thou hast Catechised mee with affliction here , I may take a greater degree , and serue thee in a higher place , in thy kingdome of ioy , and glory . Amen . 12. — Spirante Columbâ Suppositâ pedibus , Reuocantur ad ima vapores . They apply Pidgeons , to draw the vapors from the Head. 12. MEDITATION . VVHat will not kill a man , if a vapor will ? how great an Elephant , how small a Mouse destroyes ? to dye by a bullet is the Souldiers dayly bread ; but few men dye by haile-shot : A man is more worth , then to bee sold for single money ; a life to be valued aboue a trifle . If this were a violent shaking of the Ayre by Thunder , or by Canon , in that case the Ayre is condensed aboue the thicknesse of water , of water baked into Ice , almost petrified , almost made stone , and no wonder that that kills ; but that that which is but a vapor , and a vapor not forced , but breathed , should kill , that our Nourse should ouerlay vs , and Ayre , that nourishes vs , should destroy vs , but that it is a halfe Atheisme to murmure against Nature , who is Gods immediate Commissioner , who would not think himselfe miserable to bee put into the hands of Nature , who does not only set him vp for a marke for others to shoote at , but delights her selfe to blow him vp like a glasse , till shee see him breake , euen with her owne breath ? nay if this infectious vapor were sought for , or trauail'd to , as Plinie hunted after the vapor of Aetna and dard , and challenged Death in the forme of a vapor to doe his worst , and felt the worst , he dyed ; or if this vapor were met withall in an ambush , and we surprized with it , out of a long shut● Well , or out of a new opened Myne , who wold lament , who would accuse , when we had nothing to accuse , none to lament against , but Fortune , who is lesse then a vapour : But when our selues are the Well , that breaths out this exhalation , the Ouen that spits out this fiery smoke , the Myne that spues out this suffocating , and strangling dampe , who can euer after this , aggrauate his sorrow , by this Circumstance , That it was his Neighbor , his familiar friend , his brother that destroyed him , and destroyed him with a whispering , & a calumniating breath , when wee our selues doe it to our selues by the same meanes , kill our selues with our owne vapors ? Or if these occasions of this selfe-destruction , had any contribution from our owne wils , any assistance from our owne intentions , nay frō our owne errors , wee might diuide the rebuke , & chide our selues as much as them . Feuers vpon wilful distempers of drinke , and surfets , Consumptions vpon intēperances , & licentiousnes , Madnes vpon misplacing , or ouer-bending our naturall faculties , proceed from our selues , and so , as that our selues are in the plot , and wee are not onely passiue , but actiue too , to our owne destruction ; But what haue I done , either to breed , or to breath these vapors ? They tell me it is my Melancholy ; Did I infuse , did I drinke in Melancholly into my selfe ? It is my thoughtfulnesse ; was I not made to thinke ? It is my study ; doth not my Calling call for that● I haue don nothing , wilfully , peruersly toward it , yet must suffer in it , die by it ; There are too many Examples of men , that haue bin their own executioners , and that haue made hard shift to bee so ; some haue alwayes had poyson about them , in a hollow ring vpō their finger , and some in their Pen that they vsed to write with : some haue beat out their braines at the wal of their prison , and some haue eate the fire out of their chimneys : and one is said to haue come neerer our case then so , to haue strāgled himself , though his hands were bound , by crushing his throat between his knees ; But I doe nothing vpon my selfe , and yet am mine owne Executioner . And we haue heard of death , vpon small occasions , and by scornefull instruments ; a pinne , a combe , a haire , pulled , hath gangred , & killd ; But when I haue said , a vapour , if I were asked again , what is a vapour , I could not tell , it is so insensible a thing ; so neere nothing is that that red●ces vs to nothing . But extend this vapour , rarifie it ; from so narow a roome , as our Naturall bodies , to any Politike body , to a State. That which is fume in vs , is in a State , Rumor , and these vapours in vs , which wee consider here pestilent , and infectious fumes , are in a State infectious rumors , detracting and dishonourable Calumnies , Libels . The Heart in that body is the King ; and the Braine , his Councell ; and the whole Magistracie , that ties all toge●her , is the Sinewes , which proceed from thence ; and the life of all is Honour , and iust respect , and due reuerence ; and therfore , when these vapors , these venimous rumors , are directed against these Noble parts , the whole body suf●ers . But yet for all their priuiledges , they are not priuiledged from our misery ; that as the vapours most pernitious to vs , arise in our owne bodies , so doe the most dishonorable rumours , and those that wound a State most , arise at home . What ill ayre , that I could haue met in the street , what channell , what shambles , what dunghill , what vault , could haue hurt mee so much , as these home-bredd vapours ? What fugitiue , what Almes-man of any forraine State , can doe so much harme , as a Detracter , a Libeller , a scornefull Iester at home ? For , as they that write of Poysons , and of creatures naturally disposed to the ruine of Man , do as well mention the Flea , as the Viper , because the Flea , though hee kill none , hee does all the harme hee can , so euen these libellous and licentious Iesters , vtter the venim they haue , though sometimes vertue , and alwaies power , be a good Pigeon to draw this vapor from the Head , and from doing any deadly harme there . 12. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , as thy seruant Iames , when he asks that questiō , what is your life , prouides me my answere , It is euen a vapor , that appeareth for a little time , & then vanisheth away , so if he did aske me what is your death , I am prouided of my answere , It is a vapor too ; And why should it not be all one to mee , whether I liue , or die , if life , and death be all one , both a vapor . Thou ha●t made vapor so indifferent a thing , as that thy Blessings , and thy Iudgements are equally expressed by it , and is made by thee the Hierogliphique of both . Why should not that bee alwaies good , by which thou hast declared thy plentifull goodnes to vs ? A vapor went vp from the Earth , and watred the whole face of the ground , And that by which thou hast imputed a goodnes to vs , and wherein thou hast accepted our seruice to thee , sacrifices ; for Sacrifices , were vapors , And in th●m it is said , that a thicke cloude of inc●nce went vp to thee . So it is of that , wherein thou comst to vs , the dew of Heauen , And of that wherein we come to thee● both are vapors ; And hee , in whom we haue , and are all that we are or haue , tēporally , or spiritually , thy blessed Son , in the persō of wisedome , is called so to ; she is ( that is he is ) the vapor of the power of God , and the pure influence frō the glory of the Almighty . Hast thou , Thou , O my God , perfumed vapor , with thine own breath , with so many sweet acceptations , in thine own word , and shall this vapor receiue an ill , and infectious sense ? It must ; for , since we haue displeased thee , with that which is but vapor , ( for what is sinne , but a vapor , but a smoke , though such a smoke , as takes away our sight , and disables vs from seeing our danger ) it is iust , that thou punish vs with vapo●s to For so thou dost , as the Wiseman tels vs , Thou canst punish vs by those things , wherein wee offend thee ; as he hath expressed it there , B● beasts newly created , breathing vapors . Therefore that Commination of ●hine , by thy Prophet , I will shew wonders in the heauen , and in the Earth , bloud and fire , and pillars of smoke ● thine Apostle , who knewe thy meaning best , calls vapors of smoke . One Prophe● presents thee in thy terriblenesse , so , There went out a smoke at his Nostrils , and another , the effect of thine anger so , The house was filled with smoake ; And hee that continues his Prophesie , as long as the world can continue , describes the miseries of the latter times so , Out of the bottomlesse pit arose a smoke , that darkened the Sunne , and out of that smoke came Locusts , who had the power of Scorpions . Now all smokes begin in fire , & all these will end so too : The smoke of sin , and of thy wrath , will end in the fire of hell . But hast thou afforded vs no means to euaporate these smokes , to withdraw these vapors ? When thine Angels fell from heauen , thou tookst into thy care , the reparatiō of that place , & didst it , by assuming , by drawing vs thither● when we fel from thee here , in this world , thou tookst into thy care the reparation of this place too , and didst it by assuming vs another way , by descending down to assume our nature , in thy Son. So that though our last act be an ascending to glory , ( we shall ascend to the place of Angels ) yet our first act is to goe the way of thy Sonn , descending , and the way of thy blessed spirit too , who descended in the Doue . Therefore hast thou bin pleased to afford vs this remedy in Nature , by this application of a Doue , to our lower parts , to make these vapors in our bodies , to descend , and to make that a type to vs , that by the visitation of thy Spirit , the vapors o● sin shall descend , & we tread them vnder our feet . At the baptisme of thy Son , the Doue descended , & at the exalting of thine Apostles to preach , the same spirit descēded . Let vs draw down the vapors of our own pride , our own wits , our own wils , our own inuētions , to the simplicitie of thy Sacraments , & the obedience of thy word , and these Doues , thus applied , shall make vs liue . 12. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , who though thou haue suffred vs to destroy our selues , & hast not giuen vs the power of reparation in our s●lues , hast yet afforded vs such meanes of reparation , as may easily , and familiarly be compassed by vs , prosper I humbly beseech thee this means of bodily assistance in this thy ordinary creature , and prosper thy meanes of spirituall assistance in thy holy ordinances . And as thou hast caried this thy creature the Doue , through all thy wayes , through Nature , and made it naturally proper to conduce medicinally to our bodily health , Through the law , and made it a sacrifice for sinne there , and through the Gospel , and made it , & thy spirit in it , a witnes of thy sonnes baptisme there , so carry it , and the qualities of it home to my soule , and imprint there that simplici●y , that mildnesse , that harmelesnesse , which thou hast imprinted by Nature in this Creature . That so all vapours of all disobedience to thee , being subdued vnder my feete , I may in the power , and triumphe of thy sonne , treade victoriously vpon my graue , and trample vpon the Lyon , and Dragon , that lye vnder it , to deuoure me . Thou O Lord by the Prophet callest the Doue , the Doue of the Valleys , but promisest that the Doue of the Valleyes shall bee vpon the Mountaine : As thou hast layed mee low , in this Valley of sickenesse , so low , as that I am made fit for that question , asked in the field of bones , Sonne of Man , can these bones liue , so , in thy good time , carry me vp to these Mountaynes , of which , euen in this Valley , thou affordest mee a prospect , the Mountain where thou dwellest , the holy Hill , vnto which none can ascend but hee that hath cleane hands , which none can haue , but by that one and that strong way , of making them cleane , in the blood of thy Sonne Christ Iesus . Amen . 13. Ingeniumque malum , numeroso stigmate , fassus Pellitur ad pectus , Morbique Suburbia , Morbus . The Sicknes declares the infection●●nd malignity thereof 〈…〉 . 13. MEDITATION . WEe say , that the world is made of sea , & land , as though they were equal ; but we know that ther is more sea in the Western , thē in the Eastern Hemisphere ● We say that the Firmament is full of starres ; as though it were equally full ; but we know , that there are more stars vnder the Northerne , then vnder the Southern Pole. Wee say , the Elements of man are misery , and happinesse , as though he had an equal proportion of both , and the dayes of man vicissitudinary , as though he had as many good daies , as ill , and that he liud vnder a perpetuall Equinoctial , night , and day equall , good and ill fortune in the same measure . But it is far frō that ; hee drinkes misery , & he tastes happinesse ; he mowes misery , and hee gleanes happinesse ; hee iournies in misery , he does but walke in happinesse ; and which is worst , his misery is positiue , and dogmaticall , his happinesse is but disputable , and problematicall ; All men call Misery , Misery , but Happinesse changes the name , by the taste of man. In this accident that befalls m●e now , that this sicknesse declares it selfe by Spots , to be a malignant , and pestilentiall disease , if there be a comfort in the declaration , that therby the Phisicians see more cleerely what to doe , there m●y bee as much discomfort in this , That the malignitie may bee so great , as that all that they can doe , shall doe nothing ; That an enemy declares himselfe , then , when he is able to subsist , and to pursue , and to atchiue his ends , is no great comfort . In intestine Conspiracies , voluntary Confessions doe more good , then confessions vpon the Rack ; In these Infections , when Nature her selfe confesses , and cries out by these outward declarations , which she is able to put forth of her selfe , they minister comfort ; but when all is by the strength of Cordials , it is but a Confession vpon the Racke , by which though wee come to knowe the malice of that man , yet wee doe not knowe , whether there bee not as much malice in his heart then , as before his confession ; we are sure of his Treason , but not of of his Repentance ; sure of him , but not of his Complices . It is a faint comfort to know the worst , when the worst is remedilesse ; and a weaker then that , to know much ill , & not to know , that that is the worst . A woman is comforted with the birth of her Son , her body is eased of a burthen ; but if shee could prophetically read his History , how ill a man , perchance how ill a sonne , he would proue , shee should receiue a greater burthē into her Mind . Scarce any purchase that is not cloggd with secret encumbrāces ; scarce any happines , that hath not in it so much of the nature of false and base money , as that the Allay is more then the Mettall . Nay is it not so , ( at least much towards it ) euen in the exercise of Vertues ? I must bee poore , and want , before I can exercise the vertue of Gratitude ; miserable , and in torment , before I can exercise the vertue of patience ; How deepe do we dig , and for how course gold ? And what other Touch-stone haue we of our gold , but comparison ? Whether we be as happy , as others , or as our selus at other times ; O poore stepp toward being well , when these spots do only tell vs , that we are worse , then we were sure of before . 13. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , thou hast made this sick bed thine Altar , and I haue no other Sacrifice to offer , but my ●elf ; and wilt thou accept no ●potted sacrifice ? Doeth ●hy Son dwel bodily in this flesh , that thou shouldst looke for an vnspottednes here ? Or is the Holy Ghost , the soule of this body , as he is of thy Spouse , who is therfore all faire , and no spot in her ? or hath thy Son himself no spots , who hath al our stains , & deformities in him ? Or hath thy Spouse , thy Church , no spots , when euery particular limbe of that faire , & spotles body , euery p●rticular soule in that Church is full of staines , and spots ? Thou bidst vs hate the garment , that is spotted with the flesh . The flesh it selfe is the garment , and it spotteth it selfe , with it self . And if I wash my selfe with snow water ; mine own clothes shall make me abominable ; and yet no man yet euer hated his owne flesh : Lord , if thou looke for a spotlesnesse , whom wilt thou looke vpon ? Thy mercy may goe a great way in my soule , & yet not leaue me without spots ; Thy corrections may go far , & burn deepe , and yet not leaue me spotles : thy children apprehended that , whē they said , From our former iniquitie wee are not cleansed , vntill this day , though there was a plague in the Congregation of the Lord ; Thou r●in●st vpon vs , and yet doest not alwaies mollifie all our hardnesse ; Thou kindlest thy fires in vs , and yet doest not alwayes burne vp all our drosse ; Thou healst our woūds , and yet leauest scarres ; Thou purgest the blood , and yet leauest spots . But the spots that thou hatest , are the spotts that we hide . The Caruers of Images couer spotts , sayes the Wise man ; When we hide our spotts , wee become Idolatrers of our owne staines , of our own foulenesses . But if my spots come forth , by what meanes soeuer , whether by the strēgth of Nature , by voluntary confessiō , ( for Grace is the Nature of a Regenerate man , and the power of Grace is the strength of Nature ) or by the vertue of Cordialls , ( for euē thy Corrections are Cordials ) if they come forth either way , thou receiuest that Confession with a gracious Interpretation . When thy seruant Iacob practised an Inuention to procure spotts in his sheepe , thou diddest prosper his Rodds ; and thou dost prosper thine owne Rodds , when corrections procure the discouery of our spotts , the humble manifestation of our sinns to thee ; Till then thou maist iustly say , The whole need not the Phisician ; Till wee tell thee in our sicknes , wee think our selues whole , till we shew our spotts , thou appliest no medicine . But since I do that , shall I not , Lord , lift vp my face without spot , and be stedfast , and not feare . Euen my spotts belong to thy Sonnes body , and are part of that , which he came downe to this earth , to fetch , and challenge , and assume to himselfe . When I open my spotts , I doe but present him with that which is His , and till I do so , I detaine , & withhold his right . VVhen therfore thou seest them vpon me , as His , and seest them by this way of Confession , they shall not appear to me , as the pinches of death , to decline my feare to Hell ; ( for thou hast not left th● holy one in Hell , thy Sonne is not there ) but these spotts vpon my Breast , and vpon my Soule , shal appeare to mee as the Constellations of the Firmament , to direct my Contemplation to that place , where thy Son is , thy right hand . 13. PRAYER . O Eternall , and most g●atious God , who as thou giuest all for nothing , if we consider any precedent Merit in vs , so giu'st Nothing , for Nothing , if we consider the acknowledgement , & thankefullnesse , which thou lookest for , after , accept my humble thankes , both for thy Mercy , and for this particular Mercie , that in thy Iudgement I can discerne thy Mercie , and find comfort in thy corrections . I know , O Lord , the ordinary discomfort that accompanies that phrase , That the house is visited , And that , that thy markes , and thy tokens are vpon the patient ; But what a wretched , and disconsolate Hermitage is that House , which is not visited by thee , and what a Wayue , and Stray is that Man , that hath not thy Markes vpon him ? These hea●es , O Lord , which thou hast broght vpon this body , are but thy chafing of the wax , that thou mightest seale me to thee ; These spots are but the letters ; in which thou hast written thine owne Name , and conueyed thy selfe to mee ; whether for a present possession , by taking me now , or for a future renersion , by glorifying thy selfe in my stay here , I limit not , ● condi●ion not , I choose not , I wish not , no more then the house , or land that passeth by any Ciuill conueyance . Onely be thou euer present to me , O my God , and this bed-chamber , & thy bed-chamber shal be all one roome , and the closing of these bodily Eyes here , and the opening of the Eyes of my Soule , there , all one Act. 14. Idque notant Criticis , Medici euenisse Diebus . The Phisicians obserue these accidents to haue fallen vpon the criticall dayes . 14. MEDITATION . I Would not make Man worse then hee is , Nor his Condition more miserable then it is . But could I though I would ? As a Man cannot flatter God , nor oue● prayse him , so a Man cannot iniure Man , no● vnderualue him . Thus much must necessarily be presented to his remembrance , that those false Happinesses , which he hath in this World , haue their times , & their seasons , and their Critical d●yes , & they are Iudged , and Denominated according to the times , when they befall vs. What poore Elements are our happinesses made off , if Tyme , Tyme which wee can scarce consider to be any thing , be an ess●ntial part of our h●pines ? All things are done in some place ; but if we consider place to be no more , but the next hollow Superficies of the Ayre , Alas , how thinne , & fluid a thing is Ayre , and how thinne a filme is a Superficies , and a Superficies of Ayre ? All things are done in time too ; but if we consider Tyme to be but the Measure of Motion , and howsoeuer it may seeme to haue three stations , past , present , and future , yet the first and last of these are not ( one is not , now , & the other is not yet ) And that which you call present , is not now the same that it wa● , when you began to call it so in this Line , ( before you sound that word , present , or that Monosyllable , now , the present , & the Now is past , ) if this Imaginary halfe-nothing , Tyme be of the Essence of our Happinesses , how can they be thought durable ? Tyme is not so ; How can they bee thought to be ? Tyme is not so ; not so , considered in any of the parts thereof . If we consider Eternity , into that , Tyme neuer Entred ; Eternity is not an euerlasting flux of Tyme ; but Tyme is as a short parenthesis in a longe period ; and Eternity had bin the same , as it is , though time had neuer beene ; If we consider , not Eternity , bu● Perpetuity , not that which had no tyme to beginne in , but whic● shall out-liue Tyme an● be , when Tyme shall be● no more , wh●t A Minu●● is the life of the Durablest Creature , compare● to that ? And what ● Minute is Mans life i● respect of the Sunnes , o● of a tree ? and yet how little of our life is Occasion● opportunity to receyu● good in ; and how litle of that occasion , doe wee apprehend , and lay hold of ? How busie , and perplexed a Cobweb , is the Happinesse of Man here , that must bee made vp with a Watchfulnesse , to lay hold vpon Occasion , which is but a little peece of that , which is Nothing , Tyme ? And yet the best things are Nothing without that . Honors , Pleasures , Possessions , presented to vs , out of time , in our decrepit , and distasted , & vnapprehensiue Age , loose their office , & loose their Name ; They are not Honors to vs , that shall neuer appeare , nor come abroad into the Eyes of the people , to receiue Honor , from them who giue it : Nor pleasures to vs , who haue lost our sense to taste them● nor possessions to vs , who are departing from the possession of them . Youth is their Criticall Day ; that Iudges them , that Denominates them , that inanimates , and informes them , and makes them Honors , and pleasures , and possessions , & when they come in an vnapprehensiue Age , they come as a Cordiall when the bell rings out , as a Pardon , when the Head is off . We reioyce in the Comfort of fire , but does any Man cleaue to it at Midsomer ; Wee are glad of the freshnesse , & coolenes of a Vault , but does any Man keepe his Christmas there ; or are the pleasures of the Spring acceptable in Autumne ? If happinesse be in the season , or in the Clymate , how much happier then are Birdes then Men , who can change the Climate , and accompanie , and enioy the same season euer . 14. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God wouldest thou cal thy selfe the Ancient of dayes , if we were not to call our selues to an account for our dayes ? wouldest thou chide vs for standing idle heere all the day , if we were sure to haue more dayes , to make vp our haru●st ? When thou biddest vs take no thought for tomorrow ; for sufficient vnto the day ( to euery day ) is the euill thereof , is this truely , absolutely , to put of all that concernes the present life ? When thou reprehendest the Galatians by thy Message to them , That they obserued dayes , and Moneths , and Tymes , and Yeares , when thou sendest by the same Messenger , to forbid the Colossians all Criticall dayes , Indicatory dayes , Let no Man Iudge you , in respect of a holy-day , or of a new Moone , or of a Saboth , doest thou take away all Consideration , all destinction of dayes ? Though thou remoue them from being of the Essence of our Saluation , thou leauest them for assistances , and for the Exaltation of our Deuotion , to fix our selues , at certaine periodicall , & stationary times , vpon the consideration of those things , which thou hast done for vs , and the Crisis , the triall , the iudgment , how those things haue wrought vpon vs , and disposed vs to a spirituall recouery , and conualescence . For there is to euery man a day of saluation , Now is the accepted time , now is the day of saluation , And there is a great day of thy wrath , which no man shal be able to stand in ; And there are euill dayes before , and therfore thou warnest vs , and armest vs , Take vnto you the whole armor of God , that you may be able to stand in the euill day . So far thē our daies must be criticall to vs , as that by consideration of them , we may make a Iudgment of our spiritual health ; for that is the crisis of our bodily health ; Thy beloued seruant S. Ioh. wishes to Gaius , that he may prosper in his health so as his soule prospers ; ●or if the Soule be leane , the marrow of the Body is but water ; if the Soule wither , the verdure and the good estate of the body , is but an i●lusion , & the goodliest man , a fearefull ghost . Shall wee , O my God , determine our thoughts , & shal we neuer determin our disputations vpon our Climaclericall yeares , for particular men , and periodical yeres , for the life of states and kingdoms , and neuer cōsider these in our long life , & our interest in the euerlasting kingdome ? We haue exercisd our curiosity in obseruing that Adam ● the eldest of the eldest world , died in his climactericall yere , & Sem the eldest son of the next world , in his ; Abrahā the father of the faithfull , in his , & the blessed Virgin Mary , the garden , where the root of faith grew , in hers . But they whose Climacteriques wee obserue , imployd their obseruation vpon their critical dayes , the working of thy promise of a Messias vpō them . And shall we , O my God , make lesse vse of those dayes , who haue more of thē ? We● who haue not only the day of the Prophets , the first dayes , but the last daies , in which thou hast spoken vnto vs , by thy Son ? We are the children of the day , for thou hast shind in as ful a Noone , vpon vs , as vpon the Thessaloniās ; They who were of the night , ( a Night , which they had superinduc'd vpon thēselues ) the Pharises ; pretended , That if they had bin in their Fathers daies , ( those indicatory , and iudicatory , those Criticall dayes ) they would not haue been partakers of the bloud of the Prophets ; And shal we who are in the day , these Daies , not of the Prophets , but of the Son , stone those Prophets againe , and crucifie that Son againe , for all those euident Indications , and critical Iudicatures which are afforded vs ? Those opposd aduersaries of thy Son , the pharises with the Herodiās , watch'd a Critical day ; Then whē the State was incensd against him , they came to tempt him in the dāgerous question of Tribute . They left him , & that day was the Critical day to the Saduces , The same day , saies thy Spirit , in thy word , the Saduces came to him to question him about the Resurrection ; and them hee silenc'd ; They left him ; & this was the Criticall day for the Scribe , expert in the Law , who thoght himselfe learneder then the Herodian , the Pharise or Saduce ; and he tēpted him about the great Commādement ; & him● Christ left without power of replying . When all was done , & that they wēt about to begin their circle of vexation , and tentation again , Christ silēces them so , that , as they had taken their Criticall dayes , to come , in That , and in that day , so Christ imposes a Criticall day vpon them , From that day forth , saies thy Spirit , no man durst aske him any more questions . This , O my God , my most blessed God , is a fearefull Crisis , a fearefull Indication , when we will study , and seeke , and finde , what dayes are fittest to forsake thee in ; To say , Now , Religion is in a Neutralitie in the world , and this is my day , the day of libertie ; Now I may make new friends by changing my old religiō , and this is my day , the day of aduancement . But O my God , with thy seruāt Iacobs holy boldnes , who though thou lamedst him , would not let thee goe , till thou hadst giuen him a blessing , Though thou haue laid me vpon my hearse , yet thou shalt not depart from mee , from this bed , till thou haue giuen me a Crisis , a Iudgment vpon my selfe this day . Since a day is as a thousand yeres with thee , Let , O Lord , a day , be as a weeke to me ; and in this one , let me cōsider seuen daies , seuen critical daies , and iudge my selfe , that I be not iudged by thee . First , this is the day of thy visitatiō , thy comming to me ; and would I looke to be welcome to thee , and not entertaine thee ●n thy comming to me ? We measure not the visitations of great persons , by their apparel , by their equipage , by the solemnity of their cōming , but by their very cōming ; and therefore , howsoeuer thou come , it is a Crisis to me , that thou wouldest not loose me , who seekst me by any means . This leads me from my first day , thy visitation by sicknes , to a secōd , to th● light , and testimony of my Conscience . There I haue an euening , & a morning ; a sad guiltinesse in my soule , but yet a cheerfull rising of thy Son to● Thy Euenings and Mornings made dayes in the Creation , and there is no mention of Nights ; My sadnesses for sins are euenings , but they determin not in night , but deliuer me ouer to the day , the day of a Conscience deiected , but then rectified , accused , but then ●cquitted , by thee , by him , who speaks thy word , & who is thy word , thy Son. From this day , the Crisis and examinatiō of my Cōscience , breaks out my third day , my day of preparing , & fitting my selfe for a more especial receiuing of thy Sonne , in his institutiō of the Sacrament : In which day though th●re be many dark passages , & slippry steps , to them who wil entangle , and endanger themselues , in vnnecessary disputations , yet there are light houres inough , for any man , ●o goe his whole iourney intended by thee ; to know , that that Bread and Wine , is not more really assimilated to my body , & to my blood , then the Body and blood of thy Sonne , is communicated to me in that action , and participation of that bread , and that wine . And hauing , O my God , walkd with thee these three dayes , The day of thy visitation , the day of my Conscience , The day of preparing for this seale of Reconciliation , I am the lesse afraid of the clouds or storms of my fourth day , the day of my dissolution & trāsmigratiō frō hence . Nothing deserues the name of happines , that makes the remēbrāce of death bitter ; And O death 〈◊〉 bitter is the remēbrance of thee , to a man that liues at rest , in his possessions , the Man that hath Nothing to vexe him , yea vnto him , that is able to receiue meat ? Therefore hast thou , O my God , made this sicknes , in which I am not able to receiue meate , my fasting day , my Eue , to this great festiual , my dissolution . And this day of death shall deliuer me ouer to my fift day , the day of my Resurrection ; for how long a day soeuer thou make that day in the graue , yet there is no day between that , and the Resurrection . Then wee shall all bee inuested , reapparelled in our owne bodies ; but they who haue made iust vse of their former dayes , be super-inuested with glorie , wheras the others , condemned to their olde clothes , their sinfull bodies , shall haue Nothing added , but immortalitie to torment . And this day of awaking me , and reinuesting my Soule , in my body , and my body in the body of Christ , shall present mee , Bodie , and Soule , to my sixt day , The day of Iudgement ; which is truely , and most literally , the Critical , the Decretory day ; both because all Iudgement shall bee manifested to me then , and I shall assist in iudging the world then● and because then , that Iudgement shall declare to me , and possesse mee of my Seuenth day , my Euerlasting Saboth in thy rest , th● glory , thy ioy , thy sight , thy s●lfe ; and where I shall liue as long , without reckning any more Dayes after , as thy Sonne , and thy Holy Spirit liued with thee , before you three made any Dayes in the Creation . 14. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , who though thou didst permit darknesse to be before light in the Creation , yet in the making of light , didst so multiplie that light , as that it enlightned not the day only , but the night too , though thou haue suffered some dimnesse , some clouds of sadnesse & disconsolatenesse to shed themselues vpon my soule , I humbly blesse and thankfully glorifie thy holy name , that thou hast afforded mee the light of thy spirit , against which the prince of darkenesse cannot preuaile , nor hinder his illumination of our darkest nights , of our saddest thoughts . Euen the visitation of thy most blessed Spirit , vpon the blessed Virgin , is called an ouershadowing : There wa● the presence of the Holy Ghost , the fountaine of all light , and yet an ouershadowing ; Nay except there were some light , there could bee no shadow . Let thy mercifull prouidence so gouerne all in this sicknesse , that I neuer fall into vtter darknesse , ignorance of thee , or inconsideration of my selfe ; and let those shadowes which doe fall vpon mee , faintnesses of Spirit , and condemnations of my selfe , bee ouercome by the power of thine irresistible light , the God of consolation ; that when those shadowes haue done their office vpon mee , to let me see , that of my selfe I should fall into irrecouerable darknesse , thy spirit may doe his office vpon those shadowes , and disperse them , and establish mee in so bright a day here , as may bee a Criticall day to me , a day wherein , and whereby I may giue thy Iudgement vpon my selfe , and that the words of thy sonne , spoken to his Apostles , may reflect vpon me , B●hold , I am with you alwaies , euen to the end of the world . Intereà insomnes noctes Ego duco , Diesque . I sleepe not day nor night . 15. MEDITATION . NAturall Men haue cōceiued a two fold vse of sleepe ; That it is a refreshing of the body in this life ; That it is a preparing of the soule for the next ; That it is a feast , and it is the Grace at that feast ; That it is our recreation , and cheeres vs , and it is our Catechisme , and instructs vs ; wee lie downe in a hope , that wee shall rise the stronger ; and we lie downe in a knowledge , that wee may rise no more . Sleepe is an Opiate which giues vs rest , but such an Opiate , as perchance , being vnder it , we shall wake no more . But though naturall men , who haue induced secondary and figuratiue considerations , haue found out this second , this emblematicall vse of sleepe , that it should be a representation of death , God , who wrought and perfected his worke , before Nature began , ( for Nature was but his apprentice , to learne in the first seuen daies , and now is his foreman , and works next vnder him ) God , I say , intended sleepe onely for the refreshing of man by bodily rest , and not for a figure of death , for he intended not death it selfe then . But Man hauing induced death vpon himselfe , God hath taken Mans Creature , death , into his hand , and mended it ; and whereas it hath in it selfe a fearefull forme and aspect , so that Man is afraid of his own Creature , God presents it to him , in a familiar , in an assiduous , in an agreeable , and acceptable forme , in sleepe , that so when hee awakes from sleepe , and saies to himselfe , shall I bee no otherwise when I am dead , than I was euen now , when I was asleep , hee may bee ashamed of his waking dreames , and of his Melancholique fancying out a hor●id and an affrightfull figure of that death which is so like sleepe . As then wee need sleepe to liue out our threescore and ten yeeres , so we need death , to liue that life which we cannot out-liue . And as death being our enemie , God allowes vs to defend our selues against it ( for wee victuall ou● selues against death , twice euery day , as often as we eat ) so God hauing so sweetned death vnto vs , as hee hath in sleepe , wee put our selues into our Enemies hands once euery day ; so farre , as sleepe is death ; and sleepe is as much death , as meat is life . This then is the misery of my sicknesse , That death as it is produced from mee , and is mine owne Creature , is now before mine Eies , but in that forme , in which God hath mollified it to vs , and made it acceptable , in sleepe , I cannot see it : how many prisoners , who haue euen hollowed themselues their graues vpon that Earth , on which they haue lion long vnder heauie fetters , yet at this houre are ●sleepe , though they bee yet working vpon their owne graues , by their owne waight ? hee that hath seene his friend die to day , or knowes hee shall see it to morrow , yet will sinke into a sleepe betweene . I cannot ; and oh , if I be entring now into Eternitie , where there shall bee no more distinction of houres , why is it al my businesse now to tell Clocks ? why is none of the heauinesse of my heart , dispensed into mine Eie-lids , ●hat they might fall as my heart doth ? And why , since I haue lo●t my delight in all obiects , cannot I discontinue t●e facultie of seeing them , by closing mine Ei●s in sleepe ? But why rather being entring into that presence , where I shall wake continually and neuer sleepe more , doe I not interpret my continuall waking here , to bee a p●rasceue , and a preparation to that ? 15. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , I know , ( for thou hast said it ) That he that keepeth Israel , shall neither slumber , nor sleepe : But shall not that Israel , ouer whom thou watchest , sleepe ? I know , ( for thou hast said it ) that there are Men , whose damnation sleepeth not ; but shall not they to whom thou art Saluation , sleepe ? or wilt thou take from them that euidence , and that testimony , that they are thy Israel , or thou their saluation ? Thou giuest thy beloued sleepe . Shall I lacke that seale of thy loue ? You shall lie downe , and none shall make you afraid ; shal I bee outlawd from that protection ? Ionas slept in one dangerous storme , and thy blessed Sonne in another . Shall I haue no vse , no benefit , no application of those great Examples ? Lord , if hee sleepe , he shall doe well , say thy Sonnes Disciples to him , of Lazarus ; And shall there bee no roome , for that Argument in me ? or shall I bee open to the contrary ? If I sleepe not , shall I not bee well , in their sense ? Let me not , O my God , take this too precisely , too literally : There is that neither day nor night seeth sleepe with his eies , saies thy wise seruant Solomon ; and whether hee speake that of worldly Men , or of Men that seeke wisdome , whether in iustification or condemnation of their watchfulnesse , we can not tell : wee can t●ll , That there are men , that cannot sleepe , till they haue done mischiefe , and ●hen they can ; and wee can tell that the rich man cannot sleepe , because his abundance will not let him . The tares were sowen when the husbandmen were asleepe ; And the elders thought it a probable excuse , a credible lie , that the wa●chmen which kept the Sepulchre , should say , that the bodie of thy son was stolne away , when they were asleepe : Since thy blessed Sonne rebuked his Disciples for sleeping , shall I murmure because I doe not sleepe ? If Samson had slept any longer in Gaza , he had beene taken ; And when he did sleepe longer with Delilah , he was taken . Sleepe is as often taken for naturall death in thy Scriptures , as for naturall rest . Nay sometimes sleepe ha●h so heauy a sense , as to bee taken for sinne it selfe , as well as for the punishment of sinne , Death . Much comfort is not in much sleepe , when the most fearefull and most irreuocable Malediction is presen●ed by thee , in a perpetuall sleepe . I will make their feasts , and I will make them drunke , and they shall sleepe a perpetuall sleepe , and not wake . I must therefore , O my God , looke farther , than into the very act of sleeping , before I mis-interpret my waking : for since I finde thy whole hand light , shall any finger of that hand seeme heauy ? since the whole sicknesse is thy Physicke , shall any accident in it , bee my poison , by my murmuring ? The name of Watchmen belongs to our profession ; Thy Prophets are not onely seers , indued with a power of seeing , able to see , but Watchmen , euermore in the Act of seeing . And therefore giue me leaue , O my blessed God , to inuert the words of thy Sonnes Spouse ; she said , I sleepe , but my heart waketh ; I say , I wake , but my heart sleepeth ; My body is in a sicke wearinesse , but my soule in a peacefull rest with thee ; and as our eies , in our health , see not the Aire , that is next them , nor the fire , nor the spheares , nor stop vpon any thing , till they come to starres , so my eies , that are open , see nothing of this world , but passe through all that , and fix themselues vpon thy peace , and ioy , and glory aboue . Almost as soone as thy Apostle had said , Let vs not sleepe , lest we should be too much discomforted , if we did , he saies againe , whether we wake or sleepe , let vs liue together with Christ. Though then this absence of sleepe , may argue the presence of death ( the Originall may exclude the Copie , the life , the picture ) yet this gentle sleepe , and rest of my soule betroths mee to thee , to whom I shall bee married indissolubly , though by this way of dissolution . 15. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , who art able to make , and dost make the sicke bed of thy seruants , Chappels of ease to them , and the dreames of thy seruants , Prayers , and Meditations vpon thee , let not this continuall watch●ulnes of mine , this inabilitie to sleepe , which thou hast laid vpon mee , bee any disquiet , or discomfort to me , but rather an argument , that thou wouldest not haue me sleepe in thy presence . What it may indicate or signifie , concerning the state of my body , let them consider to whom that consideration belongs ; doe thou , who onely art the Physitian of my soule , tell her , that thou wilt afford her such defensatiues as that shee shall wake euer towards thee , and yet euer sleepe in thee ; & that through all this sicknesse , thou wilt either preserue mine vnderstanding , from all decaies and distractions , which these watchings might occasion , or that thou wilt reckon , and account with me , from before those violencies , and not call any peece of my sicknesse , a sinne . It ●s a heauy , and indelible sinne , that I brought into the world wi●h me● It is a heauy and innu●merable multitude of sins , which I haue heaped vp since ; I haue sinned behind thy backe ( if that can be done ) by wilfull absteining from thy Congregations , and omitting thy seruice , and I haue sinned before thy face , in my hypocrisies in Prayer , in my ostentation , and the mingling a respect of my selfe , in preaching thy Word ; I haue sinned in my fasting by repining , when a penurious fortune hath kept mee low ; And I haue sinned euen in that fulnesse , when I haue been at thy table , by a negligent examination , by a wilfull preuarication , in receiuing that heauenly food and Physicke . But , as I know , O my gracious God , that for all those sinnes committed since , yet thou wilt consider me , as I was in thy purpose , when thou wrotest my name in the booke of Life , in mine Election : so into what deuiations so●uer I stray , and wander , by occasion of this sicknes , O God , returne thou to that Minute , wherein thou wast pleased with me , and consider me in that condition . 16. Et properare meum clamant , è Turre propinqua , Obstreperae Campanae aliorum in funere , funus . From the bels of the church adioyning , I am daily remembred of my buriall in the funeralls of others . 16. MEDITATION . WE haue a Conuenient Author , who writ a Discourse of Bells when hee was Prisoner in Turky . How would hee haue enlarged himselfe , if he had beene my fellow Prisoner in this sicke bed , so neere to that steeple , which neuer ceases , no more than the harmony of the spheres , but is more heard . When the Turkes tooke Constantinople , they melted the Bells into Ordnance ; I haue heard both Bells and Ordnance , but neuer been so much affected with those , as with these Bells . I haue lien neere a steeple , in which there are said to be more than thirty Bels ; And neere another , where there is one so bigge , as that the Clapper is said to weigh more than six hundred pound ● yet neuer so affected as here . Here the Bells can scarse solemnise the funerall of any person , but that I knew him , or knew that hee was my Neighbour : we dwelt in houses neere to one another before , but now hee is gone into that house , into which I must follow him . There is a way of correcting the Children of great persons , that other Children are corrected in their behalfe , and in their names , and this workes vpon them , who indeed had more des●rued it . And when these Bells tell me , that now one , and now another is buried , must not I acknowledge , that they haue the correction due to me , and paid the debt that I owe ? There is a story of a Bell in a Monastery , which , when any of the house was sicke to death , rung alwaies voluntarily , and they knew the ineuitablenesse of the danger by that . It rung once , when no man was sick ; but the next day one of the house , fell from the steeple , and died , and the Bell held the reputation of a Prophet still . If these Bells that warne to a Funerall now , were appropriated to none , may not I , by the houre of the funerall , supply ? How many men that stand at an execution , if they would aske , for what dies that Man , should heare their owne faults condemned , and see themselues executed , by Atturney ? We scarce heare of any man preferred , but wee thinke of our selues , that wee might very well haue beene that Man ; Why might not I haue beene that Man , that is carried to his graue now ? Could I ●it my selfe , to stand , or sit in any Mans place , & not to lie in any mans graue ? I may lacke much of the good parts of the meanest , but I l●cke nothing of the mortality of the weakest ; Th●y may haue acquired better abilities than I , but I was borne to as many infirmities as they . To be an incumbent by lying down in a graue , to be a Doctor by teaching Morti●ication by Example , by dying , though I may haue seniors , others may be elder than I , yet I haue proceeded apace in a good Vniuersity , and gone a great way in a little time by the furtherance of a vehement feuer ; and whomsoeuer these Bells bring to the ground to day , if hee and I had beene compared yesterday , perchance I should haue been thought likelier to come to this preferment , then , than he . God hath kept the power of death in his owne hands , lest any Man should bribe death . If man knew the gaine of death , the ease of death , he would solicite , he would prouoke death to assist him , by any ●and , which he might vse . But as when men see many of their owne professions preferd , it ministers a hope that that may light vpon them ; so when these hourely Bells tell me of so many funerals of men like me , it presents , if not a desire that it may , yet a comfort whensoeuer mine shall come . 16. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , I doe not expostulate with thee , but with them , who dare doe that : Who dare expostulate with thee , when in the voice of thy Church , thou giuest allowance , to this Ceremony of Bells at funeralls . Is it enough to refuse it , because it was in vse amongst the Gentiles ? so were funeralls too . Is it because some abuses may haue crept in , amongst Christians ? Is that enough , that their ringing hath been said to driue away euill spirits ? Truly , that is so farre true , as that the euill spirit is vehemently vexed in their ringing , therefore , because that action brings the Congregation together , and vnites God and his people , to the destruction of that Kingdome , which the euill spirit vsurps . In the first institution of thy Church , in this world , in the foundation of thy Militant Church , amongst the Iewes , thou didst appoint the calling of the assembly in , to bee by Trumpet , and when they were in , then thou gauest them the sound of Bells , in the garment of thy Priest ● In the Triumphant Church , thou imploiest both too , but in an inuerted Order , we enter into the Triumphant Church by the sound of Bells , ( for we enter when we die ; ) And then we receiue our further edification , or consummation , by the sound of Trumpets , at the Resurrection . The sound of thy Trumpets thou didst impart to secular a●d ciuill vses too , but the sound of Bells onely to sacred ; Lord let not vs breake the Communion of Saints , in that which was intended for the aduancement of it ; let not that pull vs asunder frō one another , which was intended for the assembling of vs , in the Militant , and associating of vs to the Triumphant Church . But he for whose funerall these Bells ring now , was at home , at his iournies end , yesterday ; why ring they now ? A Man , that is a world , is all the things in the world ; Hee is an Army , and when an Army marches , the Vaunt may lodge to night , where the Reare comes not till to morrow . A man extends to his Act and to his example ; to that which he does , and that which he teaches ; so doe those things that concerne him , so doe these bells ; That which rung yesterday , was to conuay him out of the world , in his vaunt , in his soule● that which rung to day , was to bring him in his Reare , in his body , to the Church ; And this continuing of ringing after his entring , is to bring him to mee in the application . Where I lie , I could heare the Psalme , and did ioine with the Congregation in it ; but I could not heare the Sermon , and these latter bells are a repetition Sermon to mee . But , O my God , my God , doe I , that haue this feauer , need other remembrances of my Mortalitie ? Is not mine owne hollow voice , voice enough to pronounce that to me ? Need I looke vpon a Deaths-head in a Ring , that haue one in my face ? or goe for death to my Neighbours house , that haue him in my bosome ? We cannot , wee cannot , O my God , take in too many helps for religious duties ; I know I cannot haue any better Image of thee , than thy Sonne , nor any better Image of him , than his Gospell : yet must not I , with thanks confesse to thee , that some historicall pictures of his , haue sometimes put mee vpon better Meditations than otherwise I should haue fallen vpon ? I know thy Church needed not to haue taken in from Iew or Gentile , any supplies for the exaltation of thy glory , or our deuotion ; of absolute necessitie I know ●hee needed not ; But yet wee owe thee our thanks , that thou hast giuen her leaue to doe so , and that as in making vs Christians , thou diddest not destroy that which wee were before , naturall men , so in the exalting of our religious deuotions no● we are Christians , thou hast beene pleased to continue to vs those assistances which did worke vpon the affections of naturall men before : for thou louest a good man , as thou louest a good Christian : and though Grace bee meerely from thee , yet thou doest not plant Grace but in good natures . 16. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , who hauing consecrated our liuing bodies , to thine owne Spirit , and made vs Temples of the holy Ghost , doest also requir● a respect to bee giuen to these Temples , euen when the Priest is gone out of them , To these bodies , when the soule is departed from them ; I blesse , and glorifie thy Name , that as thou takest care in our life , of euery haire of our head , so doest thou also of euery graine of ashes after our death . Neither doest thou only doe good to vs all , in life and death , but also wouldest haue vs doe good to one another , as in a holy life , so in those things which accompanie our death : In that Contemplation I make account that I heare this dead brother of ours , who is now carried out to his buriall , to speake to mee , and to preach my funerall Sermon , in the voice of these Bells . In him , O God , thou hast accomplished to mee , euen the request of Diues to Abraham ; Thou hast sent one from the dead to speake vnto mee . He speakes to mee aloud from that steeple ; hee whispers to mee at these Curtaines , and hee speaks thy words ; Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord , from henceforth . Let this praier therfore , O my God , be as my last gaspe , my expiring , my dying in thee ; That if this bee the houre of my transmigration , I may die the death of a sinner , drowned in my sinnes , in the bloud of thy Sonne ; And if I liue longer , yet I may now die the death of the righteous , die to sinne ; which death is a resurrection to a new life . Thou killest and thou giuest life : which soeuer comes , it comes from thee ; which way soeuer it comes , let mee come to thee . 17. Nunc lento sonitu dicunt , Morieris . Now , this Bell tolling softly for another , saies to me , Thou must die . 17. MEDITATION . PErchance hee for whom this Bell tolls , may bee so ill , as that he knowes not it tolls for him ; And perchance I may thinke my selfe so much better than I am , as that they who are about mee , and see my state , may haue caused it to toll for mee , and I know not that . The Church is Catholike , vniuersall , so are all her Actions , All that she does , belongs to all . When she baptizes a child , that action concernes mee ; for that child is thereby connected to that Head which is my Head too , and engraffe● into that body , whereof I am a member . And when she buries a Man , that action concernes me ; All mankinde is of one Author ; and is one volume ; when one Man dies , one Chapter is not torne out of the booke , but translated into a better language ; and euery Chapter must be so translated ; God emploies seuerall translators ; some peeces are translated by Age , some by sicknesse , some by warre , some by iustice ; but Gods hand is in euery translation ; and his hand shall binde vp all our scattered leaues againe , for that Librarie where euery booke shall lie open to one another : As therefore the Bell that rings to a Sermon , calls not vpon the Preacher onely , but vpon the Congregation to come ; so this Bell calls vs all : but how much more mee , who am brought so neere the doore by this sicknesse . There was a contention as farre as a suite , ( in which both pietie and dignitie , religion , and estimation , were mingl●d ) which of the religious Orders should ring to praiers first in the Morning ; and it was determined , that they should ring first that rose earliest . If we vnderstand aright the dignitie of this Bell , that rolls for our euening prayer , wee would bee glad to make it ours , by rising early , in that application , that it might bee ours , as wel as his , whose indeed it is . The Bell doth toll for him that thinkes it doth ; and though it intermit againe , yet from that minute , that that occasion wrought vpon him , hee is vnited to God. Who casts not vp his Eie to the Sunne when it rises ? but who takes off his Eie from a Com●t , when that breakes out ? who bends not his eare to any bell , which vpon any occasion rings ? but who can remoue it from that bell , which is passing a peece of himselfe out of this world ? No Man is an Iland , intire of it selfe ; euery man is a peece of the Continent , a part of the maine ; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea , Europe is the l●sse , as well as if a Promontorie were , as well as if a Mannor of thy friends , or of thine owne were ; Any Mans death diminishes me , because I am inuolued in Mankinde ; And therefore neuer send to know for whom the bell tolls ; It tolls for thee . Neither can we call this a begging of Miserie or a borrowing of Miserie , as though we were not miserable enough of our selues , but must fe●ch in more from the next house , in taking vpon vs the Miserie of our Neighbours . Truly it were an excusable couetousnesse if wee did ; for affliction is a treasure , and ●carce any Man hath enough of it . No Man hath affliction enough , that is not matured , and ripened by it , and mad●●it for God by that affliction . If a Man carry treasure in bullion , or in a wedge of gold , and haue none coined into currant Monies , his treasure will not defray him as he trauells . Tribulation is Treasure in the nature of it , but it is not currant money in the vse of it , except wee get nearer and nearer our home , heauen , by it . Another Man may be sicke too , and sicke to death , and this af●liction may lie in his bowels , as gold in a Mine , and be of no vse to him● but this bell that tels mee of his af●liction , digs out , and applies that gold to mee ● if by this consideration of anothers danger , I take min● owne into Contemplation , and so secure my selfe , by making my recourse to my God , who is our onely securitie . 17. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , Is this one of thy waies , of drawing light out of darknesse , To make him for whom this bell tolls , now in this dimnesse of his sight , to become a superintendent , an ouerseer , a Bishop , to as many as heare his voice , in this bell , and to giue vs a confirmation in this action ? Is this one of thy waies to raise strength out of weaknesse , to make him who cannot rise from his bed , nor stirre in his bed , come home to me , and in this sound , giue mee the strength of healthy and vigorous instructions ? O my God , my God , what Thunder is not a well-tuned Cymball , what hoarsenesse , what harshnesse is not a cleare Organ , if thou bee pleased to set thy voice to it ? and what Organ is not well plaied on , if thy hand bee vpon it ? Thy voice , thy hand is in this sound , and in this one sound , I heare this whole Consort . I heare thy Iaacob call vnto his sonnes , and ●ay ; Gather your selues together , that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last daies : He saies , That which I am now , you must bee then . I heare thy Moses telling mee , and all within the compasse of this sound , This is the blessing wherewith I blesse you before my death ; This , that before your death , you would consider your owne in mine . I heare thy Prophet saying to Ezechias , Set thy house in order , for thou shalt die , and not liue ; Hee makes vs of his familie , and calls this a setting of his house in order , to compose vs to the meditation of death . I heare thy Apostle saying , I thinke it meet to put ●ou in remembrance , knowing that shortly I must goe out of this Tabernacle . This is the publishing of his will , & this bell is our legacie , the applying of his present condition to our vse . I heare that which makes al sounds musique , and all musique perfit ; I heare thy Sonne himselfe ●aying , Let not your hearts be troubled ● Only I heare this change , that whereas thy Sonne saies there , I goe to prepare a place for you , this man in thi● sound saies , I send to prepare you for a place , for a graue . But , O my God , my God , since heauen is glory and ioy , why doe not glorious and ioyfull things leade vs , induce vs to heauen ? Thy legacies in thy first will , in thy old Testament were plentie and victorie ; Wine and Oile , Milke and Honie , alliances of friends , ruine of enemies , peacefull hearts , & cheerefull countenances , and by these galleries thou broughtest them into thy bed-chamber , by these glories and ioies , to the ioies and glories of heauen . Why hast thou changed thine old way , and carried vs , by the waies of discipline and mortification , by the waies of mourning and lamentation , by the waies of miserable ends , and miserable anticipations of those miseries , in appropriating the exemplar miseries of others to our selues , and vsurping vpon their miseries , as our owne , to our owne preiudice ? Is the glory of heauen no perfecter in it selfe , but that it needs a foile of depression and ingloriousnesse in this world , to set it off ? Is the ioy of heauen no perfecter in it selfe , but that it needs the sourenesse of this life to giue it a taste ? Is that ioy and that glory but a comparatiue glory and a comparatiue ioy ? not such in it selfe , but such in comparison of the ioilesnesse and the ingloriousnesse of this world ? I know , my God , it is farre , farre otherwise . As thou thy selfe , who art all , art made of no substances , so the ioyes & glory which are with thee , are made of none of these circumstances ; Essentiall ioy , and glory Essentiall . But why then , my God , wilt thou not beginne them here ? pardon O God , this vnthankfull rashnesse ; I that aske why thou doest not , finde euen now in my selfe , that thou doest ; such ioy , such glory , as that I conclude vpon my selfe , vpon all , They that finde not ioy in their sorrowes , glory in their deiections in this world , are in a fearefull danger of missing both in the next . 17. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , who hast beene pleased to speake to vs , not onely in the voice of Nature , who speakes in our hearts , and of thy word , which speakes to our eares , but in the speech of speechlesse Creatures , in Balaams Asse , in the speech of vnbeleeuing men , in the confession of Pilate , in the speech of the Deuill himselfe , in the recognition and attestation of thy Sonne , I humbly accept thy voice , in the sound of this sad and funerall bell . And first , I blessethy glorious name , that in this sound and voice , I can heare thy instructions , in another mans to consider mine owne condition ; and to know , that this bell which tolls for another , before it come to ring out , may take in me too . As death is the wages of sinne , it is due to me● ; As death is the end of sicknesse , it belongs to mee ; And though so disobedient a seruant as I , may be afraid to die , yet to so mercifull a Master as thou , I cannot be afraid to come ; And therefore , into thy hands , O my God , I commend my spirit ; A surrender , which I know thou wilt accept , whether I liue or die ; for thy seruant Dauid made it , when he put himselfe into thy protection for his life ; and thy blessed Sonne made it , when hee deliuered vp his soule at his death ; declare thou thy will vpon mee , O Lord , for life or death , in thy time ; receiue my surrender of my selfe now , Into thy hands , O Lord , I commend my spirit . And being thus , O my God , prepared by thy correction , mellowed by thy chastisement , and conformed to thy will , by thy Spirit , hauing receiued thy pardon for my soule , and asking no reprieue for my body , I am bold , O Lord , to bend my prayers to thee , for his assistance , the voice of whose bell hath called mee to this deuotion . Lay hold vpon his soule , O God , till that soule haue throughly considered his account , and how few minutes soeuer it haue to remaine in that body , let the power of thy Spirit recompence the shortnesse of time , and perfect his account , before he passe away : present his sinnes so to him , as that he may know what thou forgiuest , & not doubt of thy forgiuenesse ; let him stop vpon the infinitenesse of those sinnes , but dwell vpon the infinitenesse of thy Mercy : let him discerne his owne demerits , but wrap himselfe vp in the merits of thy Sonne , Christ Iesus : Breath inward comforts to his heart , and affoord him the power of giuing such outward testimonies thereof , as all that are about him may deriue comforts from thence , and haue this edification , euen in this dissolution , that though the body be going the way o● all flesh , yet that soule is going the way of all Saints . When thy Sonne cried out vpon the Crosse , My God , my God , Why hast thou forsaken me ? he spake not so much in his owne Person , as in the person of the Church , and of his afflicted members , who in deep distresses might feare thy forsaking . This patient , O most blessed God , is one of them ; In his behalfe , and in his name , heare thy Sonne crying to thee , My God , my God , Why hast thou forsaken me ? and forsake him not ; but with thy left hand lay his body in the graue , ( if that bee ●hy determination vpon him ) and with thy right hand receiue his soule into thy Kingdome , and vnite him & vs in one Cōmunion of Saints . Amen . 18. — At inde Mortuus es , Sonitu celeri , pulsuque agitato . The bell rings out , and tells me in him , that I am dead . 18. MEDITATION . THe Bell rings out ; the pulse thereof is changed ; the tolling was a faint , and intermitting pulse , vpon one side ; this stronger , and argues more and better life . Hi● soule is gone out ; and as a Man who had a lease of 1000. yeeres after the expiration of a short one , or an inheritance after the life of a Man in a Consumption , he is now entred into the possession of his better estate . His soule is gone ; whither ? Who saw it come in , or who saw it goe out ? No body ; yet euery body is sure , he had one , and hath none . If I will aske meere Philosophers , what the soule is , I shall finde amongst them , that will tell me , it is nothing , but the temperament and harmony , and iust and equall composition of the Elements in the body , which produces all those faculties which we ascribe to the soule ; and so , in it selfe is nothing , no seperable substance , that ouer-liues the body . They see the soule is nothing else in other Creatures , and they affect an impious humilitie , to think as low of Man. But if my soule were no more than the soule of a beast , I could not thinke so ; that soule that can reflect vpon it selfe , consider it selfe , is more than so . If I will aske , not meere Philosophers , but mixt Men , Philosophicall Diuines , how the soule , being a separate substance , enters into Man , I shall finde some that will tell me , that it is by generation , & procreation from parents , because they thinke it hard , to charge th● soule with the guiltinesse of Originall sinne , if the soule were infused into a body , in which it must necessarily grow foule , and contract originall sinne , whether it will or no ; and I shall finde some that will tell mee , that it is by immediate infusion from God , because they think it hard , to maintaine an immortality in such a soule , as should be begotten , and deriued with the body frō Mortall parents . If I will aske , not a few men , but almost whole bodies , whole Churches , what becomes of the soules of the righteous , at the departing thereof from the body , I shall bee told by some , That they attend an expiation , a purification in a place of torment ; By some , that they attend the fruition of the sight of God , in a place of rest ; but yet , but of expectation ; By some , that they passe to an immediate possession of the presence of God. S. Augustine studied the Nature of the soule , as much as any thing , but the saluation of the soule ; and he sent an expresse Messenger to Saint Hierome , to consult of some things concerning the soule : But he satisfies himselfe with this : Let the departure of my soule to saluation be euident to my faith , and I care the lesse , how darke the entrance of my soule , into my body , bee to my reason . It is the going out , more than the comming in , that concernes vs. This soule , this Bell tells me is gone out ; Whither ? Who shall tell mee that ? I know not who it is ; much lesse what he was ; The condition of the Man , and the course of his life , which should tell mee whither hee is gone , I know not . I was not there , in his sicknesse , nor at his death ; I saw not his way , nor his end , nor can a●ke them● who did , thereby to conclude , or argue , whither he is gone . But yet I haue one neerer mee than all these ; mine owne Charity ; I aske that ; & that tels me , He is gone to euerlasting rest , and ioy , and glory : I owe him a good opinion ; it is but thankfull charity in mee , because I receiued benefit and instruction from him when his Bell told : and I , being made the fitter to pray , by that disposition , wherein I was assisted by his occasion , did pray for him ; and I pray not without faith ; so I doe charitably , so I do faithfully beleeue , that that soule is gone to euerlasting rest , and ioy , and glory . But for the body , How poore a wretched thing is that ? wee cannot expresse it so fast , as it growes worse and worse . That body which scarce three minutes since was such a house , as that that soule , which made but one step from thence to Heauen , was scarse thorowly content , to leaue that for Heauen : that body hath lost the name of a dwelling house , because none dwels in it , and is making haste to lose the name of a body , and dissolue to putrefaction . Who would not bee affected to see a cleere & sweet Riuer in the Morning , grow a kennell of muddy land water by noone , and condemned to the saltnesse of the Sea by night ? And how lame a Picture , how faint a representation , is that , of the precipitatiō of mans body to dissolution ? Now all the parts built vp , and knit by a louely soule , now but a statue of clay , and now , these limbs melted off , as if that clay were but snow ● and now , the whole house is but a handfull of sand , so much dust , and but a pecke of Rubbidge , so much bone . If he , who , as this Bell tells mee , is gone now , were some excellent Arti●icer , who comes to him for a clocke , or for a garment now ? or for counsaile , if hee were a Lawyer ? If a Magistrate , for iustice ? Man before hee hath his immortall soule , hath a soule of sense , and a soule of vegitation before that : This immortall soule did not forbid other soules , to be in vs before , but when this soule departs , it carries all with it ; no more vegetation , no more sense : such a Mother in law is the Earth ● in respect of our naturall Mother ; in her wombe we grew ; and when she was deliuered of vs , wee were planted in some place , in some calling in the world ; In the wombe of the Earth , wee diminish , and when shee is deliuered of vs , our graue opened for another , wee are not transplanted , but transported , our dust blowne away with prophane dust , with euery wind . 18. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , if Expostulation bee too bold a word , doe thou mollifie it with another ; le● it be wonder in my selfe ; let it bee but probleme to others ; but let me aske , why wouldest thou not suffer those , that serue thee in holy seruices , to doe any office about the dead , nor assist at their funerall ? Thou hadst no Counsellor , thou needest none ; thou hast no Controller , thou admittest none Why doe I aske ? in Ceremoniall things ( as that was ) any conuenient reason is enough ; who can bee sure to propose that reason , that moued thee in the institution thereof ? I satisfie my selfe with this ; that in those times , the Gentiles were ouerfull , of an ouer-reuerent respect to the memory of the dead : a great part of the Idolatry of the Nations , flowed from that ; an ouer-amorous deuotion , an ouer-zealous celebrating , and ouer-studious preseruing of the memories , and the Pictures of some dead persons : And by the vaine glory of men , they entred into the world ; and their statues , and pictures contracted an opinion of diuinity , by age : that which was at first , but a picture of a friend , grew a God in time , as the wise man notes , They called them Gods , which were the worke of an ancient hand . And some haue assigned a certaine time , when a picture should come out of Minority , and bee at age , to bee a God , in 60. yeeres after it is made . Those Images of Men , that had life , and some Idols of other things , which neuer had any being , are by one common name , called promiscuously , dead , and for that the wise man reprehends the Idolatrer ; for health he praies to that which is weake , and for life he praies to that which is dead . Should we doe so , saies thy Prophet ; should we goe from the liuing to the dead ? So much ill then , being occasioned , by so much religious cōplement exhibited to the dead ; thou ô God , ( I think ) wouldest therefore inhibit thy principall holy seruants , from contributing any thing at all to this dangerous intimation of Idolatry ; and that the people might say , surely those dead men , are not so much to bee magnified , as men mistake , since God will not suffer his holy officers , so much as to touch them , not to see them . But those dangers being remoued , thou , O my God , dost certainly allow , that we should doe offices of piety to the dead , and that we should draw instructions to piety , from the dead . Is not this , O my God , a holy kinde of raising vp ●eed to my dead brother , if I , by the meditation of his death , produce a better life in my selfe ? It is the blessing vpon Reuben , Let Reuben liue , & not die , and let not his men be few ; let him propagate many . And it is a Malediction , That that dieth , let it die ; let it doe no good in dying : for Trees without fruit , thou by thy Apostle callst , twice dead . It is a second death , if none liue the better , by me , after my death , by the manner of my death . Therefore may I iustly thinke , that thou madest that a way to conuay to the Aegyptians , a feare of thee , and a feare of death , that there was not a house , where there was not one dead ; for therupon the Aegyptians said , we are all dea● men ; the death of others , should catechise vs● to death . Thy Sonne Christ Iesus is the first begotten of the dead ; he rises first , the eldest brother , and he is my Master in this science of death : but yet , for mee , I am a younger brother too , to this Man , who died now , and to euery man whom I see , or heare to die before mee , and all they are vshers to mee in this schoole of death . I take therefore that which thy seruant Dauids wife said to him , to bee said to me ; If thou saue not thy life to night , to morrow thou shalt bee slaine . If the death of this man worke not vpon mee now , I shall die worse , than if thou hadst not afforded me this helpe : for thou hast sent him in this bell to mee , as tho● didst send to the Angel● of Sardis , with commission to strengthen the things that remaine , and that are ready to die ; that in this weaknes of body , I migh● receiue spiritual streng●h , by these occasions . This is my strength , that whether thou say to mee , as thine Angell said to Gedeon ; Peace bee vnto thee , feare not , thou shalt not die , or whether thou say , as vnto Aaron , Thou shalt die there ; yet thou wil● preserue that which is ready to die , my soule , from the worst death , that of sinne . Zimrie died for his sinnes , saies thy Spirit , which he sinned in doing euill ; and in his sinne , which he did to make Israel sinne . For his sinnes , his many sinnes ; and then in his sinne , his particular sinne : for my sinnes I shall die , whensoeuer I die , for death is the wages of sinne ; but I shall die in my sinne , in that particular sinne of resisting thy spirit , if I apply not thy assistances . Doth it not call vs to a particular consideration , That thy blessed Sonne varies his forme of Commination , and aggrauates it in the variation , when hee saies to the Iewes , ( because they refused the light offered ) you shall die in your sinne ; And then when they proceeded to farther disputations , and vexations , and tentations , hee addes , you shall die in your sinnes ; he multiplies the former expressing , ●o a plurall . In this sinne ● and in all your sinnes ; doth not the resisting of thy particular helps at last , draw vpon vs the guiltinesse of all our former sinnes ? May not the neglecting of this sound ministred to mee in this mans death , bring mee to that miserie , as that I , whom the Lord of life loued so , as to die for me , shall die , and a Creature of mine owne shall be immortall ● that I shall die , and the worme of mine owne conscience shall neuer die ? 18. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , I haue a new occasion of thanks , and a new occasion of prayer to thee , from the ringing of this bell . Thou toldst me in the other voice , that I was mortall , and approaching to death ; In this I may heare thee say , that I am dead , in an irremediable , in an irrecouerable state for bodily health . If that bee thy language in this voice , how infinitely am I bound to thy heauenly Maiestie , for speaking so plainly vnto mee ? for euen that voice , that I must die now , is not the voice of a Iudge , that speaks by way of condemnation , but of a Physitian , that presents health in that : Thou presentest mee death as the cure of my disease , not as the exaltation of it ; if I mistake thy voice herein , if I ouer-runne thy pace , and preuent thy hand , and imagine death more instant vpon mee than thou hast bid him bee , yet the voice belongs to me ; I am dead , I was borne dead , and from the first laying of these mud-walls in my conception , they haue moldred away , and the whole course of life is but an actiue death . Whether this voice instruct mee , that I am a dead man now , or remember me , that I haue been a dead man all this while , I humbly thanke thee for speaking in this voice to my soule , and I hum●ly beseech thee also , to ●ccept my prayers in his behalfe , by whose occasion this voice , this sound is come to mee . ●or though hee bee by death transplanted to thee , and so in possession of inexpressible happinesse there , yet here vpon earth thou hast giuen vs such a portion of heauen , as that though men dispute , whether thy Saints in heauen doe know what we in earth in particular doe stand in need of , yet without all disputation , wee vpon earth doe know what thy Saints in heauen lacke yet , for the consummation of their happinesse ; and therefore thou hast affoorded vs the dignitie , that wee may pray for them . That therefore this soule now newly departed to thy Kingdome , may quickly returne to a io●full reunion to that body which it hath left , and that wee with it , may soone enioy the full consummation of all , in body and soule , I humbly beg at thy hand , O our most mercifull God , for thy Sonne Christ Iesus sake . That that blessed Sonne of thine , may haue the comsummation of his dignitie , by entring into his last office , the office of a Iudge , and may haue societie of humane bodies in heauen , as well as hee hath had euer of soules● And that as thou hatest sinne it selfe , thy hate to sinne may bee expressed in the abolishing of all instruments of sinne , The allurements of this world , and the world it selfe ; and all the temporarie r●uenges of sinne , the stings of sicknesse and of death ; and all the castles , and prisons , and monuments of sinne , in the graue . That time may bee swallowed vp in Eternitie , and hope swallowed in possession , and ends swallowed in infinitenesse , and all men ordained to saluation , in body and soule , b● one intire and euerlasting sacrifice to thee , where thou mayest receiue delight from them , and they glorie from thee , for euermore . Amen . 19. Oceano tandem emenso , aspicienda resurgit Terra ; vident , iustis , medici , iam cocta mederi se posse , indicijs . At last , the Physitians , after a long and stormie voyage , see land ; They haue so good signes of the con●oction of the disease , as that they may safely proceed to purge . 19. MEDITATION . ALl this while the Physitians themselues haue beene patients , patiently attending when they should see any land in this Sea , any earth , any cloud , any indication of concoction in these waters . Any disorder of mine , any pretermission of theirs , exalts the d●sease , accelerates the rages of it ; no diligence accelerates the concoction , the maturitie of the disease ; they must stay till the season of the sicknesse come , and till it be ripened of it selfe , and then they may put to their hand , to gather it , before it fall off , but they cannot hasten the ripening . Why should wee looke for it in a disease , which is the disorder , the discord , the irregularitie , the commotion , and rebellion of the body ? It were scarce a disease , if it could bee ordered , and made obedient to our times . Why should wee looke for that in disorder , in a disease , when we cannot haue it in Nature , who is so regular , and so pregnant , so forward to bring her worke to perfection , and to light ? yet we cannot awake the Iuly-flowers in Ianuarie , nor retard the flowers of the spring to Autumne . We cannot bid the fruits come in May , nor the leaues to sticke on in December . A woman that is weake , cannot put off her ninth moneth to a tenth , for her deliuerie , and say shee will stay till shee bee stronger ; nor a Queene cannot hasten it to a seuenth , that shee may bee ready for some other pleasure . Nature ( if w● looke for durable and vigorous effects ) will not admit preuentions , nor anticipations , nor obligations vpon her ; for they are precontracts , and she will bee left to her libertie . Nature would not be spurred , nor forced to mend her pace ; nor power , the power of man ; greatnesse lou●s not that kinde of violence neither● There are of them that will giue ● that will doe iustice , that will pardon , but they haue their owne seasons for al these , and h● that knowes not them , shall starue before that gift come , and ruine , before the Iustice , and dye before the pardon saue him : some tree beares no fruit , except much dung be laid about it , and Iustice comes not from some , till they bee richly manured : some trees require much visiting , much watring , much labour ; and some men giue not their fruits but vpon importunitie ; some trees require incision , and pruning , and lopping ; some men must bee intimidated and syndicated with Commissions , before they will deliuer the fruits of Iustice ; some trees require the early and the often accesse of the Sunne ; some men open not , but vpon the fauours and letters of Court mediation ; some trees must bee ●ousd and kept within doores ; some men locke vp , not onley their liber●litie , but their Iustice , and their compassion , till the sollicitation of a wife , or a sonne , or a friend , or a seruant turne the key . Reward is the season of one man , and importunitie of another ; feare the season of one man , and fauour of another ; friendship the season of one man , ●nd naturall affection of ●nother ; and hee that knowes not their seasons , nor cannot stay ●hem , must lose the ●ruits ; As Nature will not , so power and greatnesse will not bee put to change their seasons ; and shall wee looke for this Indulgence in a disease , or thinke to shake it off before it bee ripe ? All this while therefore , we are but vpon a defen●iue warre , and that is but a doubtfull state : Especially where they who are besieged doe know the best of their defences , and doe not know the worst of their enemies power ; when they cannot mend their works within , and the enemie can increase his numbers without ● O how many farre more miserable , and farre more wor●hy to be lesse miserable than I , are besieged with this sicknesse , and lacke their Sentinels , their Physitians to watch , and lacke their munition , their cordials to d●f●nd , and perish before ●●e ●nemies weaknesse might inuite them to sally , before the disease shew any declination , or admit any way of working vpon it selfe ? In me the siege is ●o farre slackned , as that we may come to fight , and so die in the field , if I die , and not in a prison . 19. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , Thou a●t a direct God , may I not say , a literall God , a God that wouldest bee vnderstood literally , and according to the plaine sense of all that thou saiest ? But thou art also ( Lord I intend it to thy glory , and let no prophane mis-interpreter abuse it to thy diminution ) thou art a figuratiue , a metaphoricall God too : A God in whose words there is such a height of figures , such voyages , such peregrinations to ●e●ch remo●e and precious metaphors , such extentions , such spreadings , such Curtaines of Allegories , such third Heauens of Hyperboles , so harmonious eloquutions , so retired and so reserued expressions , so commanding perswasions , so perswading commandements , such sinewes euen in thy milke , and such things in thy words , as all prophane Authors , seeme of the seed of the Serpent , that creepes , thou art the doue , that flies . O , what words but thine , can expresse the inexpressible texture , and composition of thy word ; in which , to one Man , that argument that binds his faith to beleeue that to bee the Word of God , is the reuerent simplicity of the Word , and to another , the maiesty of the Word ; and in which two men , equally pious , may meet , and one wonder , that all should not vnderstand it , and the other , as much , that any man should . So , Lord , thou giuest vs the same Earth , to labour on , and to lie in ; a house , and a graue , of the same earth ; so Lord , thou giuest vs the same Word for our satisfaction , and for our Inquisition , for our instruction , and for our Admiration too ; for there are places , that thy seruants Hierom and Augustine would scarce beleeue ( when they grew warm by mutual letters ) of one another , that they vnderstood them , and yet both Hierome and Augustine call vpon persons , whom they knew to bee farre weaker , than they thought one another ( old women & young maids ) to read thy Scriptures , without con●ining them , to these or those places . Neither art thou thus a figuratiue , a Metaphoricall God , in thy word only , but in thy workes too . The stile of thy works , the phrase of thine Actions , is Metaphoricall ● The institution of thy whole worship in the old Law , was a cōtinuall Allegory ; types & figures ouerspread all ; and figure● flowed into figures , and powred themselues ou● into farther ●igures ; Circumcision carried a fig●●● of Baptisme , & Baptis●● carries a figure of that purity , which we shall haue in perfection in the new Ierusalem . Neither didst thou speake , and worke in this language , onely in the time of thy Prophets ; but since thou spokest in thy Son , it is so too . How often , how much more often doth thy Sonne call himsel●e a way , and a light , and a gate , and a Vine , and bread , than the Sonne of God , or of Man ? How much oftner doth he exhibit a Metaphoricall Christ , than a reall , a literall ? This hath occasioned thine ancient seruants , whose delight it was to write after thy Copie , to proceede the same way in their expositions of the Scriptures , and in their composing both of publike liturgies , and of priuate prayers to thee , to make their accesses to thee in such a kind of language , as thou wast pleased to speake to them , in a figuratiue , in a Metaphoricall language ; in which manner I am bold to call the comfort which I receiue now in this sicknesse , in ●he indication of the concoction and maturity therof , in certaine clouds , and residēces , which the Physitians obserue , a discouering of land frō Sea , after a long , and tempestuous voyage . But wherefore , O my God , hast thou presented to vs , the afflictiōs and calamities of this life , in the name of waters ? so often in the name of waters , and deepe waters , and Seas of waters ? must we looke to bee drowned ? are they bottomlesse , are they boundles ? That 's not the dialect of thy langauge ; thou hast giuen a Remedy against the deepest water , by water ; against the inundation of sinne , by Baptisme ; and the first life , that thou gauest to any Creatures , was in waters , therefore ●hou do●●t not ●hr●●ten v● , wi●h an irrem●diablenesse , when our affliction is a Sea. It is so , if we consider our selues ; so thou callest Gennezareth , which was but a lake , and not salt , a Sea ; so thou callest the Mediterranean Sea , still the great Sea ; because the inhabitants saw no other Sea ; they that dwelt there , thought a Lake , a Sea , and the others thought a little Sea , the greatest , and wee that know not the afflictions of others , call our owne the heauiest . But , O my God , that is truly great , that ouerflowes the chan●ell ; that is really a great affliction , which is aboue my strength , but , thou , O God , art my strength , and then what can bee aboue it ? Mountaines shake with the swelling of thy Sea , secular , Mountaines , men strong in power , spirituall mountaines , men strong in grace , are shaked with afflictions ; but thou laiest vp thy sea in store-houses ; euen thy corrections are of thy treasure , and thou wilt not waste thy corrections ; when they haue done their seruice , to humble thy patient , thou wilt call them in againe ; for , thou giuest the Sea thy decree , that the waters should not passe thy Commandement . All our waters shal run into Iordan , & thy seruants passed Iordan dry foot ; they shall run into the red Sea ( the Sea of thy Sons bloud ) & the red Sea , that red Sea , drownes none of thine . But , they that saile in the Sea , tell of the danger thereof ; I that am yet in this affliction , owe thee the glory of speaking of it ; But , as the wise man bids me , I say , I may speak much , and come short ; wherefore in summe , thou art all . Since thou art so , O my God , and affliction is a Sea , too deepe for vs , what is our refuge ? thine Arke , thy ship . In all other Seas , in all other afflictions , those meanes which thou hast ordained ; In this Sea , in Sicknesse , thy Ship is thy Physitian . Thou hast made a way in the Sea , and a safe path in the waters , shewing that thou canst saue from all dangers ; yea , though a man went to Sea without art ; yet where I finde all that , I finde this added , Neuerthelesse thou woul●est not , that the worke of thy wisdome should be idle . Thou canst saue without meanes ; but thou hast told no man that thou wilt : Thou hast told euery man , that thou wilt not . When the Centurion beleeued the Master of the ship more than Saint Paul , they were all opened to a great danger ; this was a preferring of thy meanes , before thee , the Author of the meanes ; but , my God , though thou beest euery where , I haue no promise of appearing to me , but in thy ship : Thy blessed Sonne preached out of a Ship : The meanes is preaching , he did that ; and the Ship was a type of the Church ; hee did it there● Thou gauest S. Paul the liues of all them , that saild with him ; If they had not beene in the Ship with him , the gift had not extended to them . As soone as thy Son was come out of the ship , immediatly there met him out of the tombes , a man with an vncleane spirit , and no man could hold him , no not with chaines . Thy Sonne needed no vse of meanes ; yet there wee apprehend the danger to vs ; if we leaue the ship , the meanes ; in this case , the Physitian . But as they are Ships to vs in those Seas , so is there a Ship to them too , in which they are to stay . Giue mee leaue , O my God , to assist my selfe with such a construction of these words of thy seruant Paul , to the Centurion , when the Mariners would haue left the Ship , Except these abide in the Ship , you cannot bee safe ; Except they who are our ships , the Physitians , abide in that which is theirs , and our ship , the truth , and the sincere and religious worship of thee , and thy Gospell , we cannot promise our selues , so good safety ; for though we haue our ship , the Physitian , he hath not his ship , Religion ; And meanes are not meanes , but in their concatenation , as they depend , and are chained together . The ships are great , saies thy Apostle , but a helme turnes them ; the men are learned , but their religion turnes their labours to good : And therefore it was a heauy ●●●se , when the third part o● the ships perished : It is a heauy case , where either all Religion , or true Religion should forsake many of these ships , whom thou hast sent to conuey vs ouer these Seas . But , O my God , my God , since I haue my ship , and they theirs , I haue them , and they haue thee , why are we yet no neerer land ? As soone as thy Sonnes Disciple had taken him into the ship , immediatly the ship was at the land , whither they went. Why haue nor they and I this dispatch ? Euery thing is immediatly done , which is done when thou wouldst haue it done . Thy purpose terminates euery action , and what was done before that , is vndone yet . Shall that slacken my hope ? Thy Prophet from thee , hath forbid it . It is good that a man should both hope , and quietly wait for the saluation of the Lord. Thou puttest off many iudgements , till the last day , many passe this life without any ; and shall not I endure the putting off thy mercy for a day ? and yet , O my God , thou puttest me not to that ; for , the assurance of future mercy , ●s present mercy . But what is my assurance now ? What is my seale ? It is but a cloud ; that which my Physitians call a cloud , in that , which giues them their Indication . But a Cloud ? Thy great Seale to all the world , the raine-bow , that ●ecured the world for euer , from drowning , was but a reflexion vpon a cloud . A cloud it selfe was a pillar which guided the church , and the glory of God , not only was , but appeared in a cloud . Let me returne , O my God , to the consideration of thy seruant Eliahs proceeding , in a time of desperate drought ; he bids them look towards the Sea ; They looke , and ●ee nothing . He bids thē againe and againe , seuen times : and at the seuenth time , they saw a little cloud rising out of the Sea ; and presently they had their desire of raine . Seuen dayes , O my God , haue we looked for this cloud , and now we haue it ; none of thy Indications are friuolous ; thou makest thy signes , seales ; and thy Seales , effects ; and thy effects , consolation , and restitution , whersoeuer thou maiest receiue glory by that way . 19. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , who though thou passedst ouer infinite millions of generations , before thou camest to a Creation of this world , yet when thou beganst , didst neuer intermit that worke , but continuedst day to day , till thou hadst perfited all the worke , and deposed it in the hands and rest of a Sabbath , though thou haue beene pleased to glorifie thy selfe in a long exercise of my patience , with an expectation of thy declaration of thy selfe in this my sicknesse , yet since thou hast now of thy goodnesse afforded that , which affords vs some hope , if that bee still the way of thy glory , proceed in that way , and perfit that worke , and establish me in a Sabbath , and rest in thee , by this thy seale of bodily restitution . Thy Priests came vp to thee , by steps in the Temple ; Thy Angels came downe to Iaacob , by steps vpon the ladder ; we finde no staire , by which thou thy selfe camest to Adam in Paradise , nor to Sodome in thine anger ; for thou , and thou o●ely art able to doe all at once . But , O Lord , I am not wearie of thy pace , nor wearie of mine owne patience . I prouoke ●he● not with a praier , not with a wish , not with a ●ope , to more haste than consists with thy purpose , nor looke that any other thing should haue entred into thy purpose , but thy glory . To heare thy ●steps comming towards mee , is the same comfort , as to see thy face present with mee ; whether thou doe the worke of a thousand yeere in a day , or extend the worke of a day , to a thousand yeere , as long as thou workest , it is light , and comfort . Heauen it selfe is but an extention of the same ioy ; and an extention of this mercie , to proceed at thy leisure , in the way of restitution , is a manifestation of heauen to me here vpon earth . From that people , to whom thou appearedst in signes , and in Types , the Iewes , thou art departed , because they trusted in them ; but from thy Church , to whom thou hast appeared in thy selfe , in thy Sonne , thou wilt neuer depart ; because we cannot trust too much in him . Though thou haue afforded me these signes of restitution , yet if I confide in them , and beginne to say , all was but a Na●urall accident , and nature begins to discharge her selfe , and sh●e will perfit the whole worke , my hope shall vanish because it is not in thee . If thou shouldest take thy hand vtterly from me , and haue nothing to doe with me , Nature alone were able to destroy mee ; but if thou withdraw thy helping hand , alas how friuolous are the helps of Nature , how impotent the assistances of Art ? As therefore the morning dew , is a pawne of the euening fatnesse , so , O Lord , let this daies comfort be the earnest of to morrowes , so f●rre as may conforme me entirely to thee , to what end , and by what way so●uer thy mercie haue appointed mee . 20. Id●agunt . Vpon these Indications of digested matter , they proceed to purge . 10. MEDITATION . THoug● counsel seeme rather to consist of spirituall parts , than action , yet action is the spirit and the soule of counsell . Counsels are not alwaies determined in Resolutions ; wee cannot alwaies say , this was concluded ; actions are alwaies determined in effects ; wee can say this was done . Then haue Lawes their reuerence , and their maiestie , when wee see the Iudge vpon the Bench executing them . Then haue counsels of warre their impressions , and their operations , when we see the seale of an Armie set to them . It was an ancient way of celebrating the memorie of such as deserued well of the State , to afford them that kinde of statuarie representation , which was then called Hermes ; which was , the head and shoulders of a man , standing vpon a Cube , but those shoulders without armes and hands . All together it figured a constant supporter of the state , by his counsell : But in this Hierogliphique , which they made without hands , they passe their consideration no farther , but that the Counsellor should bee without hands , so farre , as not to reach out his hand to forraigne tentations of bribes , in matters of Counsell , and , that it was not necessary , that the head should employ his owne hand ; that the same men should serue in the execution , which assisted in the Counsell ; but that there should not belong hands to euery head , action to euery counsell , was neuer intended , so much as in figure , and representation . For , as matrimonie is scarce to bee called matrimonie , where there is a resolution against the fruits of matrimonie , against the hauing of Children , so counsels are not counsels , but illusions , where there is from the beginning no purpose to execute ●he determina●ions of ●hose counsels . The arts and sciences are most properly referred to the head ; that is their proper Element and Spheare ; But yet the art of prouing , Logique ; and the Art of perswading , Rhetorique , are deduced to the hand , and that expressed by a hand contracted into a sist , and this by a hand enlarged , and expanded ; and euermore the power of man , and the power of God himselfe is expressed so● All things are in hi● hand ● neither is God so often presented ●o vs , by names that carry our consideratiō vpon counsell , as vpon execution of counsell , he is oftner called the Lord of Hosts , ●han by all other names , that may be referred to the other signification● Hereby● therefore wee take into our meditation , the slipperie condition of man , whose happinesse , in any kinde , the defect of any one thing , conducing to that happinesse , may ruine ; but i● must haue all the peeces to make it vp . Without counsell , I had not got thus farre● withou● action and practise , I should goe no farther towards health ? But what is ●he present nec●ssary action ? purging : A withdrawing , a violating of Nature , a farther weakening : O deare price , & O strange way of addition , to doe it by substraction ; of restoring Nature , to violate Nature ; of prouiding strength , by increasing weaknesse . Was I not sicke before ? And is it a question of comfort to be asked now , Did your Physicke make you sicke ? Was that it that my Physicke promised , to make me sicke ? This is another step , vpon which we may stand , and see farther into the miserie of man , the time , the season of his Miserie ; It must bee done now : O ouer-●●nning , ouer-watchfull , ouer-diligent , and ouer-sociable misery of man , that seldome comes alone , but then when it may accompanie other miseries , and so put one another into the higher exaltation , and better ●eart . I am ground euen to an attenuation , and must proceed to euacuation , all waies to exinani●ion and annihilation . 20. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , the God of Order , but yet not of Ambition , who assignest place to euery one , but not contention for place , when shall it be thy pleasure to put an end to all these quarrels , for spirituall precedences ? when shall men leaue their vncharitable disputations , which is to take place , faith or repentance , and which , when we consider faith , and works ? The head and the hand too , are required to a perfit naturall man ; Counsell and action too , to a perfit ciuill man ; saith and works too , to him that is perfi●ly spirituall . But because it is easily said , I beleeue , and because it doth not easily lie in proofe , nor is easily demonstrable by any euidence taken from my heart , ( for who sees th●● , who f●●rches those Rolls● ) whether I doe beleeue , or no , is it not therefore , O my God , that thou dost so frequently , so earnestly , referre vs to the hand , to the obseruation of actions ? There is a little suspition , a little imputation laid vpon ouer-tedious and dilatorie counsels . Many good occasions slip away in long consultations ; and it may be a degree of sloth , to be too long in mending nets , though that must bee done . He that obserueth the wind , shall not saw , and he that regardeth the ●●ouds , shall not reape ; that is , he that is too dilatorie , too superstitious ●n these obseruations , and ●tudies but the excuse of his owne idlenesse in ●hem ; But , that which ●he same wise and royall seruant of thine , saies in ●n other place , all accept , ●nd aske no comment vpon it , He becommeth poore , that dealeth with a slacke hand● but the hand of the diligent maketh rich ; All euill imputed to the absence , all good attributed to the presence of the ●and . I know , my God , ( and I blesse thy name for knowing it● for all good knowledge is from thee ) that thou considerest the heart ; but thou takest not off thine eie , till thou come to the hand . Nay , my God , doth not thy spirit intimate , that thou beginnest where wee beginne , ( at least , that thou allowest vs to beginne there ) when thou orderest thine owne answer to thine owne question , Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? Thus , he that hath cleane hands , and a pure heart ? Doest ●●ou not ( at least ) send 〈◊〉 , first to the hand ? ●nd is not the worke of ●heir hands , that decla●●tion of their holy zeale , 〈◊〉 the present execution ●f manifest Idolatrers , ●●lled a consecration of ●●emselues , by thy holy ●pirit ? Their hands are ●alled all themselues : for , ●uen counsell it selfe goes ●nder that name , in thy word , who knowest best ●ow to giue right names : ●ecause the counsell of the ●riests assisted Dauid , Saul saies , the hand of the Priest is with Dauid● And that which is often said by Moses , is very often repeated by thy other Prophets , These and these things , the Lord spake , and the Lord said , and the Lord commanmanded , not by the counsels , not by the voice , but by the hand of Moses , and by the hand of the Prophets : Euermore we are referred for our Euidence , of others , and of our selues , to the hand , to action , to works . There is something before it , beleeuing ; and there is some thing after it , suffering ; but in the most eminent , and obuious , and conspicuous place , stands doing . Why then , O my God , my bl●ss●d God , in the waies of my ●pirituall strength , come ●l so slow to action ? I was whipped by thy rod , before I came to consultation , to consider my state , and shall I go● no farther ? As hee that would describe a circle in paper , if hee haue brought that circle within one inch of finishing yet if he remoue his compasse , he cannot make i● vp a perfit circle , excep● he fall to worke againe to finde out the sam● center ● so , though setting that foot of my compass● vpon thee , I haue gon● so farre , as to the consideration of my selfe , yet i● I depart from thee , my center , all is vnperfit● This proceeding to action therefore , is a returning to thee , and a working vpon my selfe by thy Physicke , by thy purgatiue physicke , a free and entire euacuation of my soule by confession . The working of purgatiue physicke , is violent and contrary to Nature . O Lord , I decline not this potion of confession , how euer it may bee contrary to a naturall man. To take phys●cke , and not according to the right method , is dangerous . O Lord , I decline not that method in this physicke , in things that burthen my conscience , to make my confession to him , into whose hands thou hast put th● power of absolution . ● know that Physicke may be made so pleasant , as tha● it may easily be taken ; bu● not so pleasant as the ver●tue and nature of the me●dicine bee extinguished I know , I am not sub●mitted to such a confession as is a racke and tor●ture of the Conscience but I know I am not exempt from all . If it were meerely problematicall left meerely indifferent whether we should tak● this Physicke , vse thi● confession , or no , a great Physitian acknowledges this to haue beene his practise , To minister many things , which hee was not sure would doe good but neuer any other thing , but such as hee was sure would doe no harme . The vse of this spirituall Physicke can certainly doe no harme ; and the Church hath alwaies thought that it might , and doubtlesse , many humble soules haue found , that it hath done them good . I will therefore take the cup of Saluation , and call vpon thy Name ; I will fill this Cup of compunction , as full as I haue formerly filled the Cups of wo●ldly confections , that so I may scape the cup of Malediction , and irrecouerable destruction that depends vpon that . And since thy blessed and glorious Sonne , being offered in the way to his Execution , a Cup of Su●pefaction , to take away the sense of his paine , ( a charity afforded to condemned persons ordinarily in those places , and times ) refused that ease , and embraced the whole torment , I take not this Cup , but this vessell of mine owne sinnes , into my contemplation , and I powre them out here according to the Motions of thy holy Spirit , and any where , according to the ordinances of thy holy Church . 20. PRAYER . O Eternall , and most gracious God , who hauing married Man , and Woman together , and made them one flesh , wouldest haue them also , to become one soule so , as that they might maintaine a simpathy in their affections , and haue a conformity to one another , in the accidents of this world , good or bad , so hauing married this soule and this body in me , I humbly beseech thee , that my soule may looke , and make her vse of thy mercifull proceedings towards my bodily restitution , & goe the same way to a spirituall . I am come by thy goodnesse , to the vse of thine ordinary meanes for my body , to wash away those peccant humors , that endangered it . I haue , O Lord , a Riuer in my body , but a Sea in my soule , and a Sea swoln into the depth of a Deluge , aboue the Sea. Thou hast raised vp certaine hils in me heretofore , by which I might haue stood safe , from these inundations of sin . Euen our Naturall faculties are a hill , and might preserue vs from some sinne . Education , study , obseruation , example , are hills too , and might preserue vs from some . Thy Church , and thy Word , and thy Sacraments , and thine Ordinances , are hills , aboue these ; thy Spirit of remorse , and compunction , & repentance for former sin , are hills too ; and to the ●op of all these hils , thou hast brought mee heretofore ; but this Deluge , this inundation , is got aboue all my Hills ; and I haue sinned and sinned , and multiplied sinne to sinne , after all these thy assistances against sinne , and where is there water enough to wash away this Deluge ? There is a red Sea , greater than this Ocean ; and there is a little spring , through which this Ocean , may powre it selfe into that red Sea. Let thy Spirit of true contrition , and sorrow passe all my sinnes through these eies , into the wounds of thy Sonne , and I shall be cleane , and my soule so much better purged than my body , as it is ordained for a better , and a longer life . 21 — Atque annuit Ille , Qui , per eos , clamat , Linquas iam , Lazare , lectum . God prospers their practise , and he , by them , calls Lazarus out of his tombe , mee out of my bed . 21. MEDITATION . IF man had beene left alone in this world , at first , shall I thinke , that he would not haue fallen ? If there had beene no Woman , would not Man haue serued , to haue beene his owne Tempter ? When I see him now , subiect to infinite weakenesses , fall into infinite sinne , without any forraine tentations , shall I thinke , hee would haue had none , if hee had beene alone ? GOD saw that Man needed a Helper , if hee should bee well ; but to make Woman ill , the Deuill saw , that there needed no third . When God , and wee were alone , in Adam , that was not enough ; when the Deuill and wee were alone , in Eue , it was enough● O what a Giant is Man , when hee fights against himselfe , and what a dwarfe , when hee needs , or exercises his owne assistance for himselfe ? I cannot rise out of my bed , till the Physitian enable mee , nay I cannot tel , that I am able to rise , till hee tell me so . I doe nothing , I know nothing of my selfe : how little , and how impotent a pe●ce of the world , is any Man alone ? and how much lesse a peece of himselfe is that Man ? So little , as that when it falls out , ( as it falls out in some cases ) that more misery , and more oppression , would bee an ease to a man , he cannot giue himselfe that miserable addition , of more misery ● A man that is pressed to death , and might be eased by more weights , cannot lay those more weights vpon himselfe : Hee can sinne alone , and suffer alone , but not repent , not bee absolued , without another . Another tels mee , I may rise ; and I doe so . But is euery raising a preferment ? or is euery present preferment a station ? I am readier to fall to the Earth now I am vp , than I was wh●n I lay in the bed : O peruerse way , irregular motion of Man ; euen rising it selfe is the way to Ruine . How many men are raised , and then doe not fill the place they are raised to ? No corner of any place can bee empty ; there can be no vacuity ; If that Man doe not fill the place , other men will ; complaints of his insufficiency will fill it ; Nay , such an abhorring is there in Nature , of vacuity , that if there be but an imagination of not filling , in any man , that which is but imagination neither , will ●ill it , that is , rumor and voice , and it will be giuen ●ut , ( vpon no ground , but Imagination , and no man knowes , whose imagination ) that hee is corrupt in his place , or insufficient in his place , and another prepared to succeed him in his place . A man rises , sometimes , and stands not , because hee doth not , or is not beleeued to fill his place ; and sometimes he stands not , because hee ouer-fills his place : Hee may bring so much vertue , so much Iustice , so much integrity to the place , as shall spoile the place , burthen the place ; his integrity may bee a Libell vpon his Predecessor , and cast an infamy vpon him , and a burden vpon his successor , to proceede by example , and to bring the place it selfe , to an vnder-value , and the market to an vncertainty . I am vp , and I seeme to stand , and I goe round ; and I am a new Argument of the new Philosophie , That the Earth ●oues round ; why may ● not beleeue , that the ●hole earth moues in a round motion , though that seeme to mee to stand , when as I seeme ●o stand to my Compa●y , and yet am carried , in a giddy , and circular motion , as I stand ? Man hath no center , but misery ; there and onely there , hee is fixt , and sure to finde himselfe . How little soeuer he bee raised , he moues , and moues in a circle , giddily ; and as in the Heauens , there are bu● a few Circles , th●t goe about the whole world , but many Epicicles , and other lesser Circles , but yet Circles , so of those men , which are raised , and put into Circles , few of them moue from place to place , and passe through many and beneficiall places , but fall into lit●le Circles , and within a step or two , are at their end , and not so well , as they were in ●he Center , from which ●hey were raised . Eue●y thing serues to exem●lifie , to illustrate mans ●isery ; But I need goe ●o farther , than my selfe ; ●or a long time , I was not ●ble to rise ; At last , I ●ust bee raised by o●hers ; and now I am vp , I am ready to sinke lower than before . ●1 . EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , how large a glasse of the next World is this ? As wee haue an Art , to cast from on● glasse to another , and so to carry the Species a great way off , so hast thou , that way , much more ; wee shall haue a Resurrection in Heauen ; the knowledge of that thou castest by another glasse vpon vs here ; we feele that wee haue a Resurrection from sinne ; and that by another glasse too ; wee see wee haue a Resurrection of the body , from the mise●ies and calamities of ●his life . This Resurre●tion of my body , shewes me the Resurrection of ●ny soule ; and both ●ere seuerally , of both ●ogether hereafter . Since ●hy Martyrs vnder the Altar , presse thee with ●heir solicitation for the Resurrection of the body to glory , thou wouldest pardon mee , if I should presse thee by Prayer , for the accomplishing of this Resurrection , which thou hast begunne in me to blessed and glorious Tr●●nity , was none to heare but you three , and yo● easily heare one ano●ther , because you sa● the same things . Bu● when thy Sonne cam● to the worke of Re●demption , thou spokest and they that heard it tooke it for Thunder and thy Sonne himself● cried with a loud voice ● vpon the Crosse , twice● as hee , who was to prepare his comming● Iohn Baptist , was th● voice of a cryer , and ●ot of a Whisperer . Still , ●f it be thy voice , it is a loud voice ; These words , ●aies thy Moses , Thou ●okest with a great voice , ●nd thou addest no more , ●aies hee there ; That which thou hast said , is ●uident , and it is euident , ●hat none can speake so ●oud ; none can binde vs ●o heare him , as wee ●ust thee . The most high vttered his voice : what was his voice ? The Lord ●●undred from heauen , it might bee heard ; But ●his voice , thy voice , is also a mightie voice ; not onely mightie in power , it may be heard , nor mightie in obligation , it shoul● be heard , but mightie in operation , it will be● heard ; and therefore has● thou bestowed a whol● Psalme vpon vs , to lead● vs to the consideration of thy voice . It is such a voice , as that thy Sonne saies , the dead shall hear● it ; and that 's my state ● And why , O God , doest thou not speake to me● in that effectuall loudnesse ? Saint Iohn heard a voice , ●●d hee turned about to see ●he voice : sometimes we ●●e too curious of the ●●strument , by what man ●od speakes ; but thou ●peakest loudest , when ●hou speakest to the ●eart . There was silence , ●nd I heard a voice , saies ●ne , to thy seruant Iob. I ●earken after thy voice , 〈◊〉 thine Ordinances , and ● seeke not a whispering ●n Conuenticles ; but yet , O my God , speake louder , ●hat so , though I doe ●eare thee now , then I may heare nothing but thee . My sinnes crie aloud ; Cains murther di● so ; my afflictions cri● aloud ; The flouds hau● lifted vp their voice , ( an● waters are afflictions ) bu●●hou , O Lord , art migh●tier than the voice o● many waters ; than ma●ny temporall , many spi●rituall afflictions ; tha● any of either kinde ; and why doest thou no● speak to me in that voice ? What is man , and whereto serueth he ? what is hi● good , and what is his euill ? My bed of sinne is no● ●uill , not desperatly euill , for thou doest call mee out of it ; but my rising out of it is not good , ( not perfitly good ) if thou call not louder , and hold me now I am vp . O my God , I am afraid of a fearefull application of ●hose words , when a man ●ath done , then hee begin●eth ; when his body is vnable to sinne , his sinfull memory sinnes ouer his old sinnes againe ; and that which thou wouldest haue vs to remember for cōpunction , wee remember with delight . Bring him to me in his bed , that I may kill him , saies Saul of Dauid ; Thou hast not said so , that is not thy voice . Ioasb his owne seruants slew him , when hee was sicke in his bed ; Thou hast not ●uffered that , that my seruants should so much as neglect mee , or be wearie of mee , in my sicknesse . Thou threatnest , that as a shepheard takes out of the mouth of the Lion , two legs , or a peec● of an eare , so shall the children of Israel , that ●well in Samaria , in the corner of a bed , and in Da●ascus , in a couch bee ta●en away . That euen they that are secure from danger , shall perish ; How much more might I , who was in the bed of death , die ? But thou hast not dealt so with mee . As they brought out sicke persons in beds , that thy seruant Peters shadow might ouer-shadow them ; Thou hast , O my God , ouer-shadowed mee , refreshed mee : But when wilt thou doe more ? when wilt thou doe all ? when wilt thou speake in thy loud voice ? when wilt thou bid mee take vp my bed and walke ? As my bed is my affections , when shall I beare them so as to subdue them ? As my bed is my afflictions , when shall I beare them so , as not to murmure at them ? When shall I take vp my bed and walke ? not lie downe vpon it , as it is my pleasure , not sinke vnder it , as it is my correction ? But , O my God , my God , the God of all flesh , and of all spirit too , let me bee content with that in my ●ainting spirit , which thou declarest in this decaied flesh , that as this body is content to sit still , that it may learne to stand , and to learne by standing to walke , and by walking to trauell , so my soule by obeying this thy voice of rising , may by a farther and farther growth of ●hy grace , proceed so , and bee so established , as may remoue all suspitions , all iealousies betweene thee and mee , and may speake and heare in such a voice , as that still I may bee acceptable to thee , and satisfied from thee . 21. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , who hast made little things to signifie great , and conuaid the infinite merits of thy Sonne in the water of Baptisme , and in the Bread and Wine of thy other Sacrament , vnto vs , receiue the sacrifice of my humble ●hanks , that ●hou hast not onely af●orded mee , the abilitie ●o rise out of this bed of wearinesse & discom●ort , ●ut hast also made this bodily rising , by thy grace , an earnest of a second resurrection from sinne , and of a third , to euerlasting glory . Thy Sonne himselfe , alwaies infinite in himselfe , & incapable ●f addition , was yet pleased to grow in the Virgi●s wombe , & to grow in stature , in the sight of men . Thy good pu●poses vpon mee , I ●now , haue their determination and perfection , in thy holy will vpon mee ; there thy grace is , and there I am altogether ; but manifest thē●o vnto me in thy seasons , and in thy measures and degrees , that I may not onely haue that comfort of knowing thee to be infinitely good , but that also of finding thee to bee euery day better and better to mee : and that as ●hou gauest Saint Paul , ●he Messenger of Satan , to humble him , so for my ●umiliation , thou maiest giue me thy selfe , in this ●nowledge , that what ●race soeuer thou af●ord mee to day , yet I ●hould perish to morrow , if I had not to morrowes grace too . Therefore I begge of thee , my daily bread ; and as thou gauest mee the bread of sorrow for many daies , and since the bread of hope for some , and this day the bread of possessing , in rising by that strength , which thou the God of all strength , hast infused into me , so , O Lord , continue to mee the bread of life ; the spirituall bread of life , in a faithfull assurance in thee ; the sacramentall bread of life , in a worthy receiuing of thee ; and the more reall bread of life , in an euerlasting vnion to thee . I know , O Lord , that when thou hadst created Angels , and they saw thee produce fowle , and fish , and beasts , and wormes , they did not importune thee , and say , shall wee haue no better ●reatures than these , no better companions than these ; but staid thy leisure , and then had man deliuered ouer to them , not much inferiour in nature to themselues . No more doe I , O God , now that by thy first mercie , I am able to rise , importune thee for present confirmation of ●ealth ; nor now , tha● by thy mercie , I am brought to see , that thy correction hath wrought medicinally vpon mee , presume I vpon that spirituall strength I haue ; but as I acknowledge , that my bodily strength is subiect to euery pu●●e of wind , so is my spirituall strength to euery blast of vanitie . Keepe me therefore still , O my gracious God , in such a proportion of both strengths , as I may still h●●e something to thanke thee for , which I haue receiued , & still something to pray for , and aske at thy hand . ●● . Si● morbi fomes tibi cura ; ●he Physitians consider the root and occasion , the embers , and coales , and fuell of the disease , and seeke to purge or correct that . ●2 . MEDITATION . HOw ruinous a farme hath man taken , in ●aking himselfe ? how ●eady is the house eue●y day to fall downe , and how is all the groun● ouer-spread with weeds ● all the body with diseases ? where not onely euery turfe , but euery stone ● beares weeds ; not onely euery muscle of the flesh , but euery bone of the body , hath some infirmitie ● euery little flint vpon the face of this soile , hath some infectious weede , euery tooth in our head , such a paine , as a constant man is afraid of , and yet ashamed of that feare , of that sense of the paine . How deare , and how of●●n a rent doth Man ●ay for this farme ? hee ●ies twice a day , in ●ouble meales , and how ●●tle time he hath to raise 〈◊〉 rent ? How many ho●● daies to call him from ●s labour ? Euery day is ●alfe-holy day , halfe spent ●n sleepe . What repara●ions , and subsidies , and ●ontributions he is put to , ●esides his rent ? What ●edicines , besides his di●● ? and what Inmates ●e is faine to take in , besides ●is owne familie , what infectious diseases , from other men . Adam might haue had Paradise for dressing and keeping it ; and then his ren● was not improued to such a labour , as would haue made his brow sweat ; and yet he gaue it ouer ; how farre greater a rent doe wee pay for this farme , this body , who pay our selues , who pay the farme it selfe , and cannot liue vpon it ? Neither is our labour at an end , when wee haue cut downe some weed , as soone as it sprung vp , corrected some violent ●nd dangerous accident of a disease , which would ●aue destroied speedily ; ●or when wee haue pulled vp that weed , from the very root , recouered ●ntirely and soundly , from that particular disease ; but the whole ground is of an ill na●ure , the whole soile ill disposed ; there are ●nclinations , there is a propensnesse to diseases in the body , out of which without any other disorder , diseases will grow , and so wee are put to a continuall labour vpon this farme , to a continuall studie of the whole complexion and constitution of our body . In the distempers and diseases of soiles , sourenesse , drinesse , weeping , any kinde of barrennesse , the remedy and the physicke , is , for a great part , sometimes in themselues ; sometime the very situation releeues them , the hanger of a hill , will purge and vent his owne malignant moisture ; and the burning of the vpper ●urfe of some ground ( as ●ealth from cauterizing ) ●uts a new and a vigorous youth into that soile , ●nd there rises a kinde of Phoenix out of the ashes , ● fruitfulnesse out of that which was barren before , and by that , which is the barrennest of all , ashes . And where the ground cannot giue it ●elfe physicke , yet it receiues Physicke from other grounds , from other soiles , which are not the worse , for hauing contributed that helpe to them , fro● Marle in other hils , o● from slimie sand in othe● shoares : grounds help themselues , or hurt no other grounds , fro● whence they receiu● helpe . But I haue take● a farme at this hard rent and vpon those heau●● couenants , that it can afford it selfe no helpe ; ( no part of my body , if it were cut off , would cure another part ; in som● ca●es it might preserue a sound part , but in no case recouer an infected ) ●nd , if my body may haue ●ny Physicke , any Medi●ine from another body , one Man from the flesh of another Man ( as by Mummy , or any such composition , ) it must ●ee from a man that is dead , and not , as in other soiles , which are neuer the worse for contributing their Marle , or their fat slime to my ground . There is nothing in the same man , to helpe man , nothing in mankind to helpe one another , ( in this sort , by way of Physicke ) but that hee who ministers the helpe , is in as ill case , as he that receiues it would haue beene , if he had not had it ; for hee , from whose body the Physicke comes , is dead . When therefore I tooke this farme , vndertooke this body , I vndertooke to draine , not a marish , but a moat , where there was , not water mingled to offend , but all was water ; I vndertooke to perfume dung , where no one part , but all was equally vnsauory ; I vndertooke to make such a thing wholsome , as was not poison by any manifest quality , intense heat , or cold , but poison in the whole substance , and in the specifique forme of it . To cure the s●arpe accidents of diseases , is a great worke ; to cure the disease it selfe , is a greater ; but to cure the body , the root , the occasion of diseases , is a worke reserued for the great Physitian , which he doth ne●er any other way , but by glorifying these bodies in the next world . 22. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , what am I put to , when I am put to consider , and put off , the root , the fuell , the occasion of my sicknesse ? What Hypocrates , what Galen , could shew mee that in my body ? It lies deeper than so ; it lies in my soule : And deeper than so ; for we may wel consider the body , before the soule came , before inanimation , to bee without sinne ; and the soule b●fore it come to the body , before that infection , to be without sinne ; sinne is the root , and the fuell of all sicknesse , and yet that which destroies body & soule , is in neither , but in both together ; It is in the vnion ● of the body and soule ; and , O my God , could I preuent that , or can I dissolue that ? The root , and the fuell of my sicknesse , is my sinne , my actuall sinne ; but euen that sinne hath another root , another fuell , originall sinne ; and can I deuest that ? Wilt thou bid me to separate the leuen , that a lumpe of Dowe hath receiued , or the salt , that the water hath contracted , from the Sea ? Dost thou looke , that I should so looke to the fuell , or embers of sinne , that I neuer take fire ? The whole world is a pile of fagots , vpō which w●e are laid , and ( as though there were no other ) we are the bellowes . Ignorance blowes the fire , He that touched any vncleane thing , though he knew it not , became vncleane , and a sacrifice was required , ( therefore a sin imputed ) though it were done in ignorance . Ignorance blowes this Coale ; but thē knowledge much more ; for , there are that know thy iudgements , and yet not onely doe , but haue pleasure in others , that doe against them . Nature blowes this Coale ; By nature wee are the children of wrath : And the Law blowes it , thy Apostle , Saint Paul , ●ound , That sinne tooke occasion by the Law , that therefore because it is forbidden , we do some things . If wee breake the Law , wee sinne ; Sinne is the transgression of the Law ; And sinne it selfe becomes a Law in our members . Our fathers haue imprinted the seed , infused a spring of sinne in vs : As a fountaine casteth out her waters , wee cast out our wickednesse ; but we haue done worse than our fathers . We are open to infinite tentations , and yet , as though we lacked , we are tempted of our owne lusts . And not satisfied with that , as though we wer● not powerfull enough , or cunning enough , to demolish , or vndermine our selues , when wee our selues haue no pleasure in the sinne , we sinne for others sakes . When Adam sinned for Eues sake , and Salomon to gratifie his wiues , it was an vxorious sinne : When the Iudges sinned for Iezabels sake , and Ioab to obey Dauid , it was an ambitious sinne : When Pilat sinned to humor the people , and Herod to giue farther contentment to the Iewes , it was a popular sinne : Any thing serues , to occasion sin , at home , in my bosome , or abroad , in my Marke , and aime ; that which I am , and that which I am not , that which I would be , proues coales , and embers , and fuell , and bellowes to sin ; and dost thou put me , O my God , to discharge my selfe , of my selfe , before I can be well ? When ●hou bidst me to put off ●he old Man , doest thou meane , not onely my old habits of actuall sin , but the oldest of all , originall sinne ? When thou biddest me purge out the ●euen , dost thou meane , not only the sowrenesse of mine owne ill contracted customes , but the innate tincture of sin , imprinted by Nature ? How shall I doe that which thou requirest , and not falsifie that which thou hast said , that sin is gone ouer all ? But , O my God , I presse thee not , with thine owne text , without thine owne comment ; I know that in the state of my body , which is more discernible , than that of my soule , thou dost effigiate my Soule to me . And though no Anatomist can say , in dissecting a body , here lay the coale , the fuell , the occasion of all bodily diseases , but yet a man may haue such a knowledge of his owne constitution , and bodily inclination to diseases , as that he may preuent his danger in a great part : so though wee cannot assigne the place of originall sinne , nor the Nature of it , so exactly , as of actuall , or by any diligence deuest it , yet hauing washed it in the water of thy Baptisme , wee haue not onely so cleansed it , that wee may the better look vpon it , and discerne it , but so weakned it , that howsoeuer it may retaine the former nature , it doth not retaine the former force , and though it may haue the same name , it hath not the same venome . 22. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , the God of securitie , and the enemie of securitie too , who wouldest haue vs alwaies sure of thy loue , and yet wouldest haue vs alwaies doing something for it , let mee alwaies so apprehend thee , as present with me , and yet so follow after thee , as though I had not apprehended thee . Thou enlargedst Ezechias lease for fifteene yeeres ; Thou renewedst Lazarus his lease , for a time , which we know not : But thou didst neuer so put out any of these fires , as that thou didst not rake vp the embers , and wrap vp a future mortalitie , in that body , which thou hadst then so reprieued . Thou proceedest no otherwise in our soules , O our good , but fearefull God : Thou pardonest no sinne so , as that that sinner can sinne no more ; thou makest no man so acceptable , as that thou mak●st him impeccable . Though therefore it were a diminution of the largenesse , and derogatorie to the fulnesse of thy mercie , to looke backe vpon those sinnes which in a true repentance ● I haue buried in the wounds of ●hy Sonne , with a iealous or suspicious eie , as though they were now my sinnes , when I had so ●ransferred them vpon ●hy Sonne , as though ●hey could now bee raised to life againe , to condemne mee to death , when they are dead in ●im , who is the fountaine of life , yet were it an irregular anticipation , and an insolent presumption , to think● that thy present mercie extended to all my future sinnes , or that there were no embers , no coales of future sinnes left in mee . Temper therefore thy mercie so to my soule , O my God , that I may neither decline to any faintnesse of spirit , in suspecting thy mercie now , to bee lesse hearty , lesse sincere , than it vses to be , to those who are perfitly reconciled to thee , nor presume so of it , as either to thinke this present mercie an antidote against all poisons , and so expose my selfe to tentations , vpon confidence that this thy mercie shall preserue mee , or that when I doe cast my selfe into new sinnes , I may haue new mercie at any time , because thou didst so easily afford mee this . 23. — Metusque , Relabi They warne mee of the fearefull danger of relapsing . 23. MEDITATION . IT is not in mans body , as it is in the Citie , that when the Bell hath rung , to couer your fire , and ●ake vp the embers , you may lie downe , and sleepe without feare . Though you haue by ●●ysicke and diet , raked vp the embers of your ●isease , stil there is a feare of a relapse ; and the greater danger is in that . ●uen in pleasures , and in ●●ines , there is a propriety , ● Meum & Tuum ; and a man is most affected with that pleasure which is his , his by former en●oying and experience , and most intimidated with those paines which are his , his by a wofull ●ense of them , in former ●fflictions . A couetous ●erson , who hath preoccupated all his senses , filled all his capacities , with the delight of gathering , wonders how any man can haue any taste of any pleasure in any opennesse , or liberalitie ; So also in bodily paines , in a fit of the stone , th● patient wonders why any man should call the Gout a paine : And hee that hath felt neither , but the tooth-ach , is as much afraid of a ●it of that , as either of the other , of either of the other . Diseases , which we ●euer felt in our selues , ●ome but to a compassi●● of others that haue ●ndured them ; Nay , ●ompassion it selfe , comes ●o no great degree , if wee ●aue not felt , in some ●roportion , in our selues , ●hat which wee lament ●nd condole in another . But when wee haue had ●hose torments in their ●●altation , our selues , wee ●emble at a relapse . ●hen wee must pant ●hrough all those fierie ●eats , and saile thorow ●ll those ouerflowing sweats , when wee must watch through all those long nights , and mourne through all those long daies , ( daies and nights , so long , as that Nature her selfe shall seeme to be peruerted , and to hau● put the longest day , and the longest night , which should bee six moneths asunder , into one naturall , vnnaturall day ) when wee must stand at the same barre , expect the returne of Physitians from ●heir consultations , and not bee sure of the s●me verdict , in any good Indications , when we must goe the same way ouer againe , and not see the same issue , this is a state , a condition , a calamitie , in respect of which , any other sicknesse were a ●onualescence , and any greater , lesse . It addes to the affliction , that relapses are , ( and for the most part iustly ) imputed to our selues , as occasioned by some disorder in vs ; and so we are not onely passiue , but actiue , in our owne ruine ; we doe not onely stand vnder a falling house , but pull it downe vpon vs ; and wee are not onely executed , ( that implies guiltinesse ) but wee are executioners , ( that implies dishonor ; ) and executioners of our selues , ( and that implies impietie . ) And wee fall from that comfort which wee might haue in our first sicknesse , from that meditation , Alas , how generally miserable is Man , and how subiect to diseases , ( for in that it is some degree of comfort , that wee are but in the sta●e common to all ) we fall , I say , to this discomfort , and selfe accusing , & selfe condemning ; Alas , how vnprouident , and in that , how vnthankfull to God and his instruments am I , in making so ill vse of so great benefits , in destroying so soone , so long a worke , in relapsing , by my disorder , to that from which they had deliuered mee ; and so my meditation is fearefully transferred from the body to the minde , and from the consideration of the sicknesse , to that sinne , that sinfull carelesnesse , by which I haue occasioned my relapse . And amongst the many weights that aggrauate a relapse , this also is one , that a relapse proceeds with a more violent dispatch , and more irremediably , because it finds the Countrie weakned , and depopulated before . Vpon a sicknesse , which as yet appeares not , wee can scarce fix a feare , because wee know not what to feare ; but as feare is the busiest and irksomest affection , so is a relapse ( which is still ready to come ) into that , which is but newly gone , the nearest obiect , the most immediate exercise of that affection of fear● . 23. EXPOSTVLATION . MY God , my God , my God , thou mightie Father , who hast beene my Physitian ; Thou glorious Sonne , who hast beene my physicke ; Thou blessed Spirit , who hast prepared and applied all to mee , shall I alone bee able to ouerthrow the worke of all you , and relapse into those spirituall sicknesses , from which your infinite mercies haue withdrawne me ? Though thou , O my God , h●ue filled my measure with mercie , yet my measure was not so large , as that of thy whole people , the Nation , the numerous and glorious nation of Israel ; and yet how often , how often did they fall into relapses ? And then , where is my assurance ? how easily thou passedst ouer many other sinnes in them , and how vehemently thou insistedst in those , into which they so often relapsed ; Those were their murmurings against thee , in thine Instruments , and Ministers , and their turnings vpon other gods , and embracing the Idolatries of their neighbours . O my God , how slipperie a way , to how irrecouerable a bottome , is murmuring ? and how neere thy selfe hee comes , that murmures at him , who comes from thee ? The Magistrate is the garment in which thou apparellest thy selfe ; and hee that shoots at the cloathes , cannot say , hee meant no ill to the man : Thy people were feareful examples of that ; for , how often did their murmuring against thy Ministers , end in a departing from thee ? when they would haue other officers , they would haue other gods ; and still to daies murmuring , was to morrowes Idolatrie ; As their murmuring induced Idolatrie , and they relapsed often into both , I haue found in my selfe , O my God , ( O my God , thou hast found it in me , and thy finding it , hath shewed it to me ) such a transmigration of sinne , as makes mee afraid of relapsing too . The soule of sinne , ( for wee haue made sinne immortall , and it must haue a soule ) The soule of sinne , is disobedience to thee ; and when one sinne hath beene dead in mee , that soule hath passed into another sinne . Our youth dies , and the sinnes of our youth with it ; some sinnes die a violent death , and some a naturall ; pouertie , penurie , imprisonment , banishment , kill some sinnes in vs , and some die of age ; many waies wee become vnable to doe that sinne ; but still the soule liues , and passes into another sinne ; and that , that was licentiousnesse , growes ambition , and that comes to indeuotion , and spirituall coldnesse ; wee haue three liues , in our state of sinne ; and where the sinnes o● youth expire , those of our middle yeeres enter ; and those of our age after them . This transmigration of sinne , found in my selfe , makes me afraid , O my God , of a Relapse : but the occasion of my feare , is more pregnant ●han so ; for , I haue had , I haue multiplied Relapses already . Why , O my God , is a relapse so odious to thee ? Not so much their murmuring , and their Idolatry , as their relapsing into those sinnes , seemes to affect thee , in thy disobedient people . They limited the holy one of Israel , as ●hou complainest of them : That was a murmuring ; but before thou chargest them with the fault it selfe , in the same place , thou chargest them , with the iterating , the redoubling of ●hat fault , before the fault was named ; How oft did they prouoke mee in the Wildernesse ; and grieue me in the Desart ? That which brings thee to that exasperation against them , as to say , that thou wouldest breake thine owne oath , rather than leaue them vnpunished , ( They shall not see the land , which I sware vnto their fathers ) was because they had tempted thee ten times , infinitely ; vpon that , thou threatnest with that vehemencie , if ye do in any wise goe backe , know for a certainty , God will no more driue out any of these Nations from before you ; but they shall be snares , and traps vnto you , and scourges in your sides , and thornes in your eies , till ye perish . No tongue , but thine owne , O my GOD , can expresse thine indignation , against a Nation relapsing to Idolatry . Idolatry in any Nation is deadly ; but when the disease is complicated with a relapse ( a knowledge and a profession of a former recouerie ) it is desperate : And thine anger workes , not onely where the euidence is pregnant , and without exception , ( so thou saiest , when it is said , That certaine men in a Citie , haue withdrawne others to Idolatrie , and that inquirie is made , and it is found true , the Citie , and the inhabitants , and the Cattell are to bee destroied ) but where there is but a suspicion , a rumor , of such a relapse to Idolatrie , thine anger is awakened , and thine indignation stirred . In the gouernment of thy seruant Iosua , there was a voice , that Reuben and Gad , with those of Manasseh , had built a new altar . Israel doth not send one to enquire ; but the whole congregation gathered to goe vp to warre against them ; and there went a Prince of euery Tribe : And they obiect to them , not so much their present declination to Idolatry , as their Relapse ; is the iniquity of Peor too little for vs ? An idolatry formerly committed , and punished with the slaughter of twenty foure thousand delinquents . At last Reuben , and Gad satisfie them , that that Altar was not built for Idolatry , but built as a patterne of theirs , that they might thereby professe themselues to bee of the same profession , that they were ; and so the Army returned without bloud . Euen where it comes not so farre , as to an actuall Relapse into Idolatry , Thou , O my GOD , becommest sensible of it ; though thou , who seest the heart all the way , preuentest all dangerous effects , where there was no ill meaning , how euer there were occasion of suspicious rumours , giuen to thine Israel , of relapsing . So odious to thee , & so aggrauating a weight vpon sinne , is a relapse . But , O my God , why is it so ? so odious ? It must bee so , because hee that hath sinned , and then repented , hath weighed God and the Deuill in a ballance ; hee hath heard God and the Deuill plead ; and after hearing , giuen Iudgement on that side , to which he adheres , by his subsequent practise ; if he returne to his sinne , hee decrees for Satan ; he prefers sinne before grace , and Satan before God ; and in contempt of God , declares the precedency for his aduersary : And a contempt wounds deeper than an iniury ; a relapse deeper , than a blasphemy . And when thou hast told me , that a relapse is more odious to thee , neede I aske why it is more dangerous , more pernitious to me ? Is there any other measure of the greatnesse of my danger , than the greatnesse of thy displeasure ? How fitly , and how fearefully hast thou expressed my case , in a storm ●t Sea , if I relapse ? ( They mount vp to Heauen , and they goe downe againe to the depth : ) My sicknesse brought mee to thee in repentance , and my relapse hath cast mee farther from thee : The end of that man shall be worse than the beginning , saies thy Word , thy Sonne ; My beginning was sicknesse , punishment for sin ; but a worse thing may follow , saies he also , if I sin againe : not onely death , which is an ●nd , worse than sicknesse , which was the beginning , but Hell , which is a beginning worse than that end . Thy great seruant denied thy Sonne , and he denied him againe ; but all before Repentance ; here was no relapse . O , if thou haddest euer re-admitted Adam into Paradise , how abstinently would hee haue walked by that tree ? and would not the Angels , that fell , haue fixed themselues vpon thee , if thou hadst once re-admitted them to thy sight ? They neuer relapsed ; If I doe , must not my case be as desperate ? Not so desperate , for , as thy Maiestie , so is thy Mercie , both infinite : and thou who hast commanded me to pardon my brother seuenty seuen times , hast limited thy selfe to no Number . If death were ill in it selfe , thou wouldest neuer haue raised any dead Man , to life againe , because that man must necessarily die againe . If thy Mercy , in pardoning , did so farre aggrauate a Relapse , as that there were no more mercy after it , our case were the worse for that former Mercy ; for who is not vnder , euen a necessity of sinning , whilst hee is here , if wee place this necssity in our own infirmity , and not in thy Decree ? But I speak not this , O my God , as preparing a way to my Relapse out of presumption , but to preclude all accesses of desperation , though out of infirmity , I should Relapse . 23. PRAYER . O Eternall and most gracious God , who though thou beest euer infinite , yet enlargest thy selfe , by the Number of our prayers , and takest our often petitions to thee , to be an addition to thy glory , and thy greatnesse , as euer vpon all occa●ions , so now , O my God , I come to thy Maiestie with two Prayers , two Supplications . I haue Meditated vpon the Ielouzie , which thou h●st of thine owne honour ; and considered , that Nothing can come neerer a violating of that h●nor , neerer to the Nature of a scorne to thee , then to sue out thy P●rdon , and receiue the Seal●s of Reconciliation to thee , and then returne to th●t sinne , for which I needed , and had thy pardon before . I know that this comes to neare , to a making thy holy Ordinances , thy Word , thy Sacraments , thy Seales , thy Grace , instruments of my Spirituall Fornications . Since therefore thy Correction hath brought mee to such a participation of thy selfe ( thy selfe , O my God , cannot bee parted ) to such an intire possession of thee , as that I durst deliuer my selfe ouer to thee this Minute , If this Minute thou wouldst accept my dissolution , preserue me , O my God the God of constancie , and perseuerance , in this state , from all relapses into those sinnes , which haue induc'd thy former Iudgements vpon me . But because , by too lamentable Experience , I I know how slippery my customs of sinne , haue made my wayes of sinne , I presume to adde this petition too , That if my infirmitie ouertake mee , thou forsake mee not . Say to my Soule , My Sonne , thou hast sinned , doe so no more ; but say also , that though I doe , thy Spirit of Remorce , and Compunction shall neuer depart from mee . Thy Holy Apostle , Saint Paul , was shipwrackd thrice ; & yet stil saued . Though the rockes , and the sands , the heights , and the shallowes , the prosperitie , and the aduersitie of this world do diuersly threaten mee , though mine owne leakes endanger mee , yet , O God , let mee neuer put my selfe aboard with Hymeneus , nor make shipwracke of faith , and a good Conscience , and then thy long-liud , thy euerlasting Mercy , will visit me , though that , which I most earnestly pray against , should fall vpon mee , a relapse into those sinnes , which I haue truely repented , and thou hast fully pardoned . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A20631-e1510 Gen. 28.16 . Mat. 13● 16. 2 Reg. 4.40 . Prou. 13.17 . Esa. 58.8 1 Sam. 24 15. 2 Sam. 9.8 . 2 Sam. 24.14 . Psa. 34.8 Prou. 14.30 . Psa. 38.3 Ibid. Mat. 19.13 . Amos 6 4. Psal. 132 3. Apoc. 2.22 . Mat. 8.6 8.4 . 8.14 . Psa. 26.8 . 84.4 . 5.8 . 69.10 . 1 Cor. 9.27 . 2. Reg. 2.11 . Exod. 21 18. Psa. 41.3 Psal. 4.4 . Iob 13.3 . Ez●c . 47.12 . Ioh. 5.6 Ier. 8.22 Ecclus. 38.4 Ecclus. 38.15 . 1. Chro. 16.12 . Ecclus ●8 . 9 Ps. 6.2 : v. 10. v , 12. Act. 9. ●4 . Luc. 5.17 . Apo. 22 . 2● . Ier. 51.9 . Ose : 5.13 . Esa. 2 Ch●o : 7.14 . Ezech : 47.11 . Mat. 4.23 . Luc. 6.19 . Io : 7.23 . 2. Reg. 20. ● . Num : 12.14 . Io : 13.23 . Num ; 23.9 Deu : 33.28 . Eccles. 4.10 . Sap. 1.9 . Mat. 14.23 . Mat. 26.13 . Io. 8.16 . Psa. 38.11 . Esa. 63.3 . 1. reg● ●4 . 14 . Luc. 10.40 . Ier. 1.1 . Leu : 13.46 . Exo : 14.2 . Gen. 32.24 . Ecclus. 6.16 . 2 Sam : 3.11 9.34 . Iob 9.34 . Luc : 18.1 . Luc. 11.5 . Psa. 27.1 . Num : 14.9 . Ps : 35.70 . 46.5 Ecclus 41 3. Mar. 6.20 . Psa : 25.14 . Pro : 2.5 . Act. 9.31 . Gen. 3.10 . Pro : 1.26 : 10.24 . Ps : 14.5 . 53 6. Io : 7.13 . 19.38 . 29.19 . Esai : 33.6 . Mat. 8.26 . Iud : 7.3 . Apo : 21.8 . Iob. 6.20 . Mat. 28.8 . Ps : 111.10 . Pro. 1.7 . Ecclus. 1.20.27 . Deu : 4.10 , Heb : 11.7 . Ecclus : 18.27 . 2 Sam. 18 25. So al , but our Translation takes it . Euen Burcdorf . & Schindler . 2.4.11 . Exod. 18 13. Num. 11 16. Heb. 1.6 Mat. 26.53 . Mat. 25.31 . Luc. 21.15 . Io. 20.12 . Gen. 28.12 . Psa. 91.13 . Gen. 19.15 . Apo. 1.20 . Apo. 8.2 . Mat. 13.39 . Luc. 16.22 . Apoc. 21.12 . 1. Reg. 19.35 . Luc. 4.18 . Eph. 4.11 . 1. Pet 2.25 . Io. 20.22 . Ecclus. 13.23 . Augustus , 2 Sam. 19.12 . 2 Sam. 24. ●● . v. 17. 2 Chro. 14.8 . 2. Chro. 25.16 . 42.13 . 9.6 . 11.2 . Gen. 1.26 . Iob. 1. Tim. 4.1 . Ose. 4.12 Esa. 19.14 . Apoc. 7.1 . Iosephus . Iere. 9.21 Io. 8.44 . Ioh. 6.70 Ps. 19.12 Esay 47.10 . Gen. 4.10 . Ier. 20.27 . Eccle. 10.20 . Gen. 3.8 . Eccles. 12.14 . Mat. 10.26 . Psal. 32.34 . 8.5 . Prou. 23.26 . Iob. 1.8 Ier. 17 9 Gen. 6.5 Amos 4.14 . 1 Sam. 13 14. Ier. 3.15 . Ezech. 11 19. Eccles. 7.26 . Prou. 28.26 . Io. 13.2 . Ecclus. 50.23 . Leuit. 26 36. Ios. 2.11 . 1 Sam. 7.3 . 2. Cor. 1.22 . 1. Sam. 25.37 . 24.5 . 1. Sam. 24.10 . 1. Reg. 8.38 . Phil. 4.7 Coma , latro . in Val. Max. Ardionus . 4.14 . Gen. 2.6 . Leuit. 16 23. Ezech. 8.11 . Sap. 7.24 . Sap. 11.18 . Ioel. 2.30 . Act. 2.19 . Psa. 78.8 . Esa. 6.4 . Apo. 9.2 . Psa. 91.13 . Eze. 7.16 37.3 . Can. 4.7 . Iud. 23. Iob 9.30 . Ephes. 5.29 . Iosua 22.17 . Sap. 13.14 . Gen. 30.33 . Mat. 9.12 . Iob 11.15 . Dan. 7 , 9. Mat. 20.6 . 6●34 . 4.10 . 2 . 16● 2. Cor. 6.2 . Apoc. 6.17 . Eph. 6.1 . 3. Ioh. v. 2. Heb. 1.2 . 2. Thes. 5.8 . Mat. 23 . 30● Mat. 22.15 : V. 23. V. 34. V. 46. Gen. 32.26 . 2 Pet. 3.8 Ecclus. 41.1 . Mat. 28.20 . Psa. 121.1 . 2 Pet. 2.3 . Psa. 127 1. Leu. 26.6 . Ion. 1.5 . Mat. 8.24 . Io. 11.12 . Eccles. 8.16 . Pro. 4.16 . Eccles. 5.12 . Mat. 13.25.28.13 . 26.40 . Iud. 16.3 . vers . 19. Eph. 5.14 . 1 Thes. 5.6 . Ier. 51.59 . Can. 5.8 1 Thes. 5.6 . vers . 10. Magius . Antwerp Roan . Roccha . Num. 10 1. Exo. 18. Apoc. 14 13. Gen. 49.1 . Deut. 33 1. 2 Reg. 20.1 . 2 Pet. 2.13 . Ioh. 14.1 . Psal. 31.5 . Leuit. 21 1. Sap. 14.14 . Sap. 13.9 . Sap. 13.18 . Esay 8.14 . Deu. 33.6 . Zechar. 11.9 . Iud. 12. Exo. 12.30 . Apo. 1.5 . 1 Sam. 19.11 . Apoc. 3 . 2● Iud. 6.23 Num. 20.26 . 1 Reg. 16 18. Ioh. 8.21 Vers. 24. Esay 66.14 . Psal. 46.3 . Psa. 33.7 Psa. 8.29 Ios. 3.17 Ecelus . 43.24 . vers . 27. Sap. 14.3 . Act. 17.11 . Luc. 5.3 . Act. 27.24 . Mar. 5.2 . Act. 27.31 . Iac. 3.4 . Apo. 8.9 . Io. 6.21 . Lam. 3.26 . Exo. 13.21 . 16.10 . 1 Reg. 19.43 . August . Eccles. 11.4 . Prou. 10 4. Psal. 24.3 . Exod. 31.29 . 1 Sam. 22.17 . Leuit. 8.36 . Gal●n . Galen . Galen . Psa. 106 12. Mar. 15 23. Io. 12.28 . Mat. 27 46.50 . Deut. 5.22 . 2 Sam. 22.14 . Psal. 68 33. Psal. 29. Io. 5.25 . Apo. 1.12 . Iob. 4.16 Psa. 93.3.4 . Ecclus. 8.8 . Ibid. v. 7. 1 Sam. 19.15 . 2 Chro. 24.25 . Amos 3.12 . Act. 5.15 . Mat. 96 Leu. 5.2 Num. 15 22. Rom. 1.32 . Eph. 2.3 . 1 ●o . 3.4 . Rom. 7.23 . Ier. 6.7 . 7.26 . Iacob . 1.14 . Gen. 3.6 . 1 Reg. 1● . 3 . 1 Reg. 21 1 Par. 22 3. Lu● . 23.23 . Act. 12.3 . Eph. 4.22 . 1 Cor. 5.7 . Psal. 78.41 . Num. 14 22. Ios. 23.12 . Deut. 13 12. I●s . 22.11 . 1.12 . Num. 25 4. Tertull. Psa. 107 26. Mat. 12.45 . Io. 8.14 . Mar. 14 70. Ecclus. 2.18 . Ecclus. 21.1 . 2. Cor. 11.25 . Timo. 1.19 . 
A36301	----	Paradoxes, problemes, essayes, characters written by Dr. Donne, dean of Pauls ; to which is added a book of epigrams ; written in Latin by the same author ; translated into English by J. Maine D.D. ; as also, Ignatius his Conclave, a satyr, translated out of the originall copy written in Latin by the same author, found lately amongst his own papers. Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1652 Approx. 223 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 113 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-05 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A36301 Wing D1867 ESTC R1266 12770477 ocm 12770477 93653 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A36301) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 93653) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1033:20) Paradoxes, problemes, essayes, characters written by Dr. Donne, dean of Pauls ; to which is added a book of epigrams ; written in Latin by the same author ; translated into English by J. Maine D.D. ; as also, Ignatius his Conclave, a satyr, translated out of the originall copy written in Latin by the same author, found lately amongst his own papers. Donne, John, 1572-1631. Mayne, Jasper, 1604-1672. [6], 219 p. Printed by T.N. for Humphrey Mosely ... London : 1652. Imperfect: pages stained with loss of print. "Ignatius his conclave" has special t.p. Reproduction of original in the Bodleian Library. 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Satire. 2003-09 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-02 Amanda Watson Sampled and proofread 2004-02 Amanda Watson Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-04 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion PARADOXES , PROBLEMES , ESSAYES , CHARACTERS , Written By D r DONNE Dean of PAULS : To which is added a Book of EPIGRAMS : Written in Latin by the same Author ; translated into English by I : MAINE , D. D. As also Ignatius his Conclave , A SATYR , Translated out of the Originall Copy written in Latin by the same Author ; found lately amongst his own Papers . De Iesuitorum dissidiis . Quos pugnare , Scholis , clamāt , hi , ( discite Regna ) Non sunt Unanimes , conveniuntque nimis . London , Printed by T : N : for Humphrey Moseley at the Prince's Armes in St Pauls Churchyard , 1652. The Table . PARADOXES . I. A Defence of Womens Inconstancy . 1 II. That Women ought to paint 7 III. That by Discord Things increase . 10 IV. That Good is more common then Evill 13 V. That all things kill themselves 16 VI. That it is possible to finde some vertue in some Women . 18 VII . That Old men are more fantasticke then Young. 20 VIII . That Nature is our worst Guide . 23 IX . That only Cowards dare lye , 26 X. That a Wise Man is known by much laughing . 29 XI . That the Gifts of the Body are better then those of the Minde . 33 XII . That Virginity is a Vertue . 81 PROBLEMS . I. WHy have Bastards the best Fortune . 38 II. Why Puritans make long Sermons . 41 III. Why did the Devil reserve Iesuites till these latter dayes . 42 IV. Why is there more variety of Green then of other colours . 43 V. Why doe young Lay-men so much study Divinity . 44 VI. Why hath the common Opinion afforded Women souls . 45 VII . Why are the Fairest falsest . 47 VIII . Why Venus-Star only doth cast a shadow ? 49 IX . Why is Venus-star multinominous , called both Hesperus & Vesper ? 52 X. Why are New Officers least oppressing ? 54 XI . VVhy doth the Pox so much affect to undermine the Nose ? 66 XII . VVhy die none for Love now ? 58 XIII . VVhy doe women delight much in Feathers ? 59 XIV . VVhy doth not Gold soyle the Fingers ? ib. XV. VVhy doe Great men of all dependants , choose to preserve their little Pimps ? 60 XVI . VVhy are Courtiers sooner Atheists , then men of other conditions ? 61 XVII . VVhy are Statesmen most incredulous ? 62 CHARACTERS . THe Character of a Scot at the first sight . 65 The true Character of a Dunce . 67 AN Essay of Valour , 72 A Sheaf of Miscellany Epigrams , 88 IGnatius nis Conclave , 107 Ben. Johnson to the Author . WHo can doubt , Donne , where I a Poet bee ? When I dare send my Epigrams to thee That so alone canst judge , so alone dost make : And in thy censures , evenly , dost take As free simplicitie , to disavow , As thou hast best authority t' allow : Read all I send : and , if I finde but one Mark'd by thy hand , and with the better stone My title 's seal'd . Those that for claps do write , Let punies , porters , players praise delight , And till they burst , their backs , like asses load : A man should seek great glory , and not broad . PARADOXES . I. A Defence of Womens Inconstancy . THat Women are Inconstant , I with any man confess , but that Inconstancy is a bad quality , I against any man will maintain : For every thing as it is one better than another , so is it fuller of change ; The Heavens themselves continually turn , the Stars move , the Moon changeth ; Fire whirleth , Aire flyeth , Water ebbs and flowes , the face of the Earth altereth her looks , time staies not ; the Colour that is most light , will take most dyes : so in Men , they that have the most reason are the most inalterable in their designes , and the darkest or most ignorant , do seldomest change ; therfore Women changing more than Men , have also more Reason . They cannot be immutable like stocks , like stones , like the Earths dull Center ; Gold that lyeth still , rusteth ; Water , corrupteth ; Aire that moveth not , poysoneth ; then why should that which is the perfection of other things , be imputed to Women as greatest imperfection ? Because thereby they deceive Men. Are not your wits pleased with those jests , which cozen your expectation ? You can cal it pleasure to be beguil'd in troubles , and in the most excellent toy in the world , you call it Treachery : I would you had your Mistresses so constant , that they would never change , no not so much as their smocks , then should you see what sluttish vertue , Constancy were . Inconstancy is a most commendable and cleanly quality , and Women in this quality are far more absolute than the Heavens , than the Stars , Moon , or any thing beneath it ; for long observation hath pickt certainty out of their mutability . The Learned are so well acquainted with the Stars , Signes and Planets , that they make them but Characters , to read the meaning of the Heaven in his own forehead . Every simple fellow can bespeak the change of the Moon a great while beforehand : but I would fain have the learnedst man so skilfull , as to tell when the simplest Woman meaneth to vary . Learning affords no rules to know , much less knowledge to rule the minde of a Woman . For as Philosophy teacheth us , that Light things do always tend upwards , and heavy things decline downward ; Experience teacheth us otherwise , that the disposition of a Light Woman , is to fall down , the nature of women being contrary to all Art and Nature . Women are like Flies , which feed among us at our Table , or Fleas sucking our very blood , who leave not our most retired places free from their familiarity , yet for all their fellowship will they never be tamed nor commanded by us . Women are like the Sun , which is violently carried one way , yet hath a proper course contrary : so though they , by the mastery of some over-ruling churlish husbands , are forced to his Byas , yet have they a motion of their own , which their husbands never know of : It is the nature of nice and fastidious mindes to know things only to be wary of them : Women by their slye changeableness , and pleasing doubleness , prevent even the mislike of those , for they can never be so well known , but that there is still more unknown . Every woman is a Science ; for he that plods upon a woman all his life long , shall at length finde himself short of the knowledge of her : they are born to take down the pride of wit , and ambition of wisdom , making fools wise in the adventuring to win them , wisemen fools in conceit of losing their labours ; witty men stark mad , being confounded with their uncertainties . Philosophers write against them for spight , not desert , that having attained to some knowledge in all other things , in them only they know nothing , but are meerly ignorant : Active and Experienced men rail against them , because they love in their liveless and decrepit age , when all goodness leaves them . These envious Libellers ballad against them , because having nothing in themselvs able to deserve their love , they maliciously discommend all they cannot obtain , thinking to make men believe they know much , because they are able to dispraise much , and rage against Inconstancy , when they were never admitted into so much favour as to be forsaken . In mine opinion such men are happie that women are Inconstant , for so may they chance to be beloved of some excellent woman when it comes to their turn out of their Inconstancy and mutability , though not out of their own desert . And what reason is there to clog any woman with one man , be he never so singular ? Women had rather , and it is far better and more Judicial to enjoy all the vertues in several men , than but some of them in one , for otherwise they lose their taste , like divers sorts of meat minced together in one dish : and to have all excellencies in one man ( if it were possible ) is Confusion and Diversity . Now who can deny , but such as are obstinately bent to undervalue their worth , are those that have not soul enough to comprehend their excellency , women being the most excellent Creatures , in that man is able to subject all things else , and to grow wise in every thing , but still persists a fool in woman ? The greatest Scholler , if he once take a wife , is found so unlearned , that he must begin his Horn-book , and all is by Inconstancy . To conclude therefore ; this name of Inconstancy , which hath so much been poysoned with slanders , ought to be changed into variety , for the which the world is so delightfull , and a woman for that the most delightfull thing in this world . II. That Women ought to Paint . FOulness is Lothsome : can that be so which helps it ? who forbids his beloved to gird in her waste ? to mend by shooing her uneven lameness ? to burnish her teeth ? or to perfume her breath ? yet that the Face be more precisely regarded , it concerns more : For as open confessing sinners are always punished , but the wary and concealing offenders without witness , do it also without punishment ; so the secret parts needs the less respect ; but of the Face , discovered to all Examinations and surveys , there is not too nice a Jealousie . Nor doth it only draw the busie Eyes , but it is subject to the divinest touch of all , to kissing , the strange and mystical union of souls . If she should prostitute her self to a more unworthy man than thy self , how earnestly and justly wouldst thou exclaim ? that for want of this easier and ready way of repairing , tobetray her body to ruine and deformity ( the tyrannous Ravishers , and sodain Deflourers of all women ) what a hainous adultery is it ? What thou lovest in her face is colour , and painting gives that , but thou hatest it , not because it is , but because thou knowest it . Fool , whom ignorance makes happy , the Stars , the Sun , the Skye whom thou admirest , alas , have no colour , but are fair , because they seem to be coloured : If this seeming will not satisfie thee in her , thou hast good assurance of her colour , when thou seest her lay it on . If her face be painted on a Board or Wall , thou wilt love it , and the Board , and the Wall : Canst thou loath it then when it speaks , smiles , and kisses , because it is painted ? Are we not more delighted with seeing Birds , Fruits , and Beasts painted then we are with Naturals ? And do we not with pleasure behold the painted shape of Monsters and Devils , whom true , we durst not regard ? We repair the ruines of our houses , but first cold tempests warns us of it , and bites us through it ; we mend the wrack and stains of our apparel , but first our eyes , and other bodies are offended ; but by this providence of Women , this is prevented . If in Kissing or breathing upon her , the painting fall off , thou art angry , wilt thou be so , if it stick on ? Thou didst love her , if thou beginnest to hate her , then 't is because she is not painted . If thou wilt say now , thou didst hate her before , thou didst hate her and love her together , be constant in something , and love her who shews her great love to thee , in taking this pains to seem lovely to thee . III. That by Discord things increase . Nullos esse Deos , inane Coelum Affirmat Coelius , probatque quod se Factum vidit , dum negat haec , beatum . SO I assevere this the more boldly , because while I maintain it , and feel the Contrary repugnancies and adverse fightings of the Elements in my Body , my Body increaseth ; and whilst I differ from common opinions by this Discord , the number of my Paradoxes increaseth . All the rich benefits we can frame to our selves in Concord , is but an Even conservation of things ; in which Evenness vve can expect no change , no motion ; therefore no increase or augmentation , which is a member of motion . And if this unity and peace can give increase to things , how mightily is discord and war to that purpose , which are indeed the only ordinary Parents of Peace . Discord is never so barren that it affords no fruit ; for the fall of one estate is at the worst the increaser of another , because it is as impossible to finde a discommodity without advantage , as to finde Corruption without Generation : But it is the Nature and Office of Concord to preserve onely , which property when it leaves , it differs from it self , which is the greatest discord of all . All Victories and Emperies gained by war , and all Iudiciall decidings of doubts in peace , I do claim children of Discord . And who can deny but Controversies in Religion are grown greater by Discord , and not the Controversie , but Religion it self : For in a troubled misery men are always more Religious then in a secure peace . The number of good men , the only charitable nourishers of Concord , we see is thin , and daily melts and wains ; but of bad discording it is infinite , and growes hourly . We are ascertained of all Disputable doubts , only by arguing and differing in Opinion , and if formal disputation ( which is but a painted , counterfeit , and dissembled discord ) can work us this benefit , what shall not a full and main discord accomplish ? Truely me thinks I owe a devotion , yea a sacrifice to discord , for casting that Ball upon Ida , and for all that business of Troy , whom ruin'd I admire more then Babylon , Rome , or Quinzay , removed Corners , not only fulfilled with her fame , but with Cities and Thrones planted by her Fugitives . Lastly , between Cowardice and despair , Valour is gendred ; and so the Discord of Extreams begets all vertues , but of the like things there is no issue without a miracle : Vxor pessima , pessimus maritus Miror tam malè convenire . He wonders that between two so like , there could be any discord , yet perchance for all this discord there was ne're the less increase . IV. That Good is more common then Evil. I Have not been so pittifully tired with any vanity , as with silly Old Mens exclaiming against these times , and extolling their own : Alas ! they betray themselves , for if the times be changed , their manners have changed them . But their senses are to pleasures , as sick mens tastes are to Liquors ; for indeed no new thing is done in the world , all things are what , and as they were , and Good is as ever it was , more plenteous , and must of necessity be more common then Evil , because it hath this for nature and perfection to be common . It makes Love to all Natures , all , all affect it . So that in the worlds early Infancy , there was a time when nothing was evil , but if this world shall suffer dotage in the extreamest crookedness thereof , there shall be no time when nothing shall be good . It dares appear and spread , and glister in the world , but evil buries it self in night and darkness , and is chastised and suppressed when good is cherished and rewarded And as Imbroderers , Lapidaries , and other Artisans , can by all things adorn their works ; for by adding better things , the better they shew in Lush and in eminency ; so good doth not only prostrate her amiableness to all , but refuses no end , no not of her utter contrary evil , that she may be the more common to us . For evil manners are parents of good Laws ; and in every evil there is an excellency , which ( in common speech ) we call good . For the fashions of habits , for our moving in gestures , for phrases in our speech , we say they were good as long as they were used , that is as long as they were common ; and we eat , we walk , only when it is , or seems good to do so . All fair , all profitable , all vertuous , is , good , and these three things I think imbrace all things , but their utter contraries ; of which also fair may be rich and vertuous ; poor may be vertuous and fair ; vitious may be fair and rich ; so that good hath this good means to be common , that some subjects she can possess intirely ; and in subjects poysoned with evil , she can humbly stoop to accompany the evil . And of indifferent things many things are become perfectly good by being common , as customs by use are made binding Laws . But I remember nothing that is therefore ill , because it is common , but women , of whom also ; They that are most common , are the best of that Occupation they profess . V. That all things kill themselves . TO affect , yea to effect their own death all living things are importuned , not by Nature only which perfects them , but by Art and Education , which perfects her . Plants quickened and inhabited by the most unworthy soul , which therefore neither will nor work , affect an end , a perfection , a death ; this they spend their spirits to attain , this attained , they languish and wither . And by how much more they are by mans Industry warmed , cherished and pampered ; so much the more early they climb to this perfection , this death . And if amongst men not to defend be to kill , what a hainous self , murther is it , not to defend it self . This defence because Beasts neglect , they kill themselves , because they exceed us in number , strength , and a lawless liberty : yea , of Horses and other beasts , they that inherit most courage by being bred of gallantest parents , and by Artificial nursing are bettered , will run to their own deaths , neither sollicited by spurs which they need not , nor by honour which they apprehend not . If then the valiant kill himself , who can excuse the Coward ? Or how shall man be free from this , since the first man taught us this , except we cannot kill our selves , because he kill'd us all . Yet least something should repair this common ruine , we daily kill our bodies with surfeits , and our minds with anguishes . Of our powers , remembring kils our memory : Of affections , Lusting our lust ; Of vertues , Giving kils liberality . And if these kil themselves , they do it in their best and supream perfection : for after perfection immediately follows excess , which changeth the natures and the names , and makes them not the same things . If then the best things kill themselves soonest , ( for no affection endures , and all things labour to this perfection ) all travel to their own death , yea the frame of the whole world , if it were possible for God to be idle , yet because it began , must die . Then in this idleness imagined in God , what could kill the world but it self , since out of it , nothing is ? VI. That it is possible to finde some vertue in some Women . I Am not of that seard Impudence that I dare defend Women , or pronounce them good , yet we see Physitians allow some vertue in every poyson . Alas ! why should we except Women ? since cerrtainly they are good for Physick at least , so as some wine is good for a feaver . And though they be the Occasioners of many sins , they are also the Punishers and Revengers of the same sins : For I have seldom seen one which consumes his substance and body upon them , escape diseases , or beggery ; and this is their Justice . And if suum cuique dare , be the fulfilling of all Civil Iustice , they are most just ; for they deny that which is theirs to no man , Tanquam non liceat nulla puella negat . And who may doubt of great wisdome in them , that doth but observe with how much labour and cunning our Iusticers and other dispensers of the Laws studie to imbrace them : and how zealously our Preachers dehort men from them , only by urging their subtilties and policies , and wisdom , which are in them ? Or who can deny them a good measure of Fortitude , if he consider how valiant men they have overthrown , and being themselvs overthrown , how much and how patiently they bear ? And though they be most intemperate , I care not , for I undertook to furnish them with some vertue , not with all . Necessity , which makes even bad things good , prevails also for them , for we must say of them , as of some sharp pinching Laws ; If men were free from infirmities , they were needless . These or none must serve for reasons , and it is my great happiness that Examples prove not Rules , for to confirm this Opinion , the World yeilds not one Example . VII . That Old men are more Fantastick then Young. WHo reads this Paradox but thinks me more fantastick now , than I was yesterday , when I did not think thus : And if one day make this sensible change in men , what will the burthen of many years ? To be fantastick in young men is conceitfull distemperature , and a witty madness ; but in old men , whose senses are withered , it becomes natural , therfore more full and perfect . For as when we sleep our fancy is most strong ; so it is in age , which is a slumber of the deep sleep of death . They tax us of Inconstancy , which in themselves young they allowed ; so that reproving that which they did approve , their Inconstancy exceedeth ours , because they have changed once more then we . Yea , they are more idlely busied in conceited apparel than we ; for we , when we are melancholy , wear black ; when lusty , green ; when forsaken , tawny ; pleasing our own inward affections , leaving them to others indifferent ; but they prescribe laws , and constrain the Noble , the Scholler , the Merchant , and all Estates to a certain habit . The old men of our time have changed with patience their own bodies , much of their laws , much of their languages ; yea their Religion , yet they accuse us . To be Amorous is proper and natural in a young man , but in an old man most fantastick . And that ridling humour of Iealousie , which seeks and would not finde , which requires and repents his knowledg , is in them most common , yet most fantastike . Yea , that which falls never in young men , is in them most fantastike and naturall , that is , Covetousnesse ; even at their journeys end to make great provision . Is any habit of young men so fantastike , as in the hottest seasons to be double-gowned or hooded like our Elders ? Or seemes it so ridiculous to weare long haire , as to weare none . Truely , as among the Philosophers , the Skeptike , which doubts all , was more contentious , then either the Dogmatick which affirmes , or Academike which denies all ; so are these uncertain Elders , which both cals them fantastick which follow others inventions , and them also which are led by their own humorous suggestion , more fantastick then other . VIII . That Nature is our Worst Guid. SHall she be guide to all Creatures , which is her self one ? Or if she also have a guide , shall any Creature have a better guide then we ? The affections of lust and anger , yea even to err is natural , shall we follow these ? Can she be a good guide to us , which hath corrupted not us only but her self ? was not the first Man , by the desire of knowledge , corrupted even in the whitest integrity of Nature ? And did not Nature , ( if Nature did any thing ) infuse into him this desire of knowledge , and so this corruption in him , into us ? If by Nature we shall understand our essence , our definition or reason , nobleness , then this being alike common to all ( the Idiot and the Wizard being equally reasonable ) why should not all men having equally all one nature , follow one course ? Or if we shall understand our incli nations : alas ! how unable a guide is that which follows the temperature of our slimie bodies ? for we cannot say that we derive our inclinations , our minds , or souls from our Parents by any way : to say that it is all from all , is error in reason , for then with the first nothing remains , or is a part from all , is error in experience , for then this part equally imparted to many children , would like Gavel-kind lands , in few generations become nothing : or to say it by communication , is error in Divinity , for to communicate the ability of communicating whole essence with any but God , is utter blasphemy . And if thou hit thy Fathers nature and inclination , he also had his Fathers , and so climbing up , all comes of one man , and have one nature , all shall imbrace one course ; but that cannot be , therefore our complexions and whole bodies , we inherit from Parents ; our inclinations and minds follow that : For our minde is heavy in our bodies afflictions , and rejoyceth in our bodies pleasure : how then shall this nature governe us that is governed by the worst part of us ? Nature though oft chased away , it will return ; 't is true , but those good motions and inspirations which be our guides must be wooed , courted , and welcomed , or else they abandon us . And that old Axiome , nihil invita , &c. must not be said thou shalt , but thou wilt doe nothing against Nature ; so unwilling he notes us to curbe our naturall appetites . Wee call our bastards alwayes our naturall issue and we define a Foole by nothing so ordinary , as by the name of naturall . And that poore knowledg whereby we conceive what rain is , what wind , what thunder , we call Metaphysicke , supernaturall ; such small things , such no things do we allow to our pliant Natures apprehension . Lastly , by following her we lose the pleasant , and lawfull commodities of this life , for we shall drinke water and eate rootes , and those not sweet and delicate , as now by Mans art and industry they are made : we shall lose all the necessities of societies , lawes , arts , and sciences , which are all the workemanship of Man : yea we shall lack the last best refuge of misery , death , because no death is naturall : for if yee will not dare to call all death violent ( though I see not why sicknesses be not violences ) yet causes of all deaths proceed of the defect of that which nature made perfect , and would preserve ; and therefore all against nature . IX . That only Cowards dare die . EXtreames are equally removed from the meane ; so that headlong desperatenesse asmuch offends true valour , as backward Cowardice : of which sort I reckon justly all un-inforced deaths . When will your valiant man die of necessity ? so Cowards suffer what cannot be avoided : and to run into death unimportun'd is to run into the first condemned de sperateness . Will he die when he is rich and happie ? then by living he may do more good : and in afflictions and miseries , death is the chosen refuge of Cowards . Fortiter ille facit qui miser esse potest . But it is taught and practised among our Gallants , that rather than our reputations suffer any maim , or we any misery , we shall offer our breasts to the Cannons mouth , yea to our swords points : And this seems a very brave and a very climbing ( which is a Cowardly , earthly , and indeed a very groveling ) spirit . vvhy do they chain these slaves to the Gallies , but that they thrust their deaths , and would at every loose leap into the Sea ? vvhy do they take weapons from condemned men , but to barr them of that ease which Cowards affect , a speedy death . Truely this life is a tempest , and a warfare , and he which dares die , to escape the anguish of it , seems to me , but so valiant , as he which dares hang himself , least he be prest to the wars . I have seen one in that extremity of Melancholy , which was then become madness , to make his own breath an Instrument to stay his breath , and labour to choak himself ; but alas ! he was mad . And we knew another that languished under the oppression of a poor disgrace , so much , that he took more pains to die , then would have served to have nourished life and spirit enough to have out-liv'd his disgrace . vvhat Fool will call this Cowardlyness , Valour ? or this Baseness , Humility ? And lastly , of these men which die the Allegoricall death of entring into Religion , how few are found fit for any shew of valiancy ? but onely a soft and supple metal , made only for Cowardly solitariness . X. That a Wise Man is known by much laughing . RIdi , si sapis , ô puella ride ; If thou beest wise , laugh : for since the powers of discourse , reason , and laughter , be equally proper unto Man only , why shall not he be only most wise , which hath most use of laughing , as well as he which hath most of reasoning and discoursing ? I always did , and shall understand that Adage ; Per risum multum possis cognoscere stultum , That by much laughing thou maist know there is a fool , not , that the laughers are fools , but that among them there is some fool , at whom wise men laugh : which moved Erasmus to put this as his first Argument in the mouth of his Folly , that she made Beholders laugh : for fools are the most laughed at , and laugh the least themselves of any . And Nature saw this faculty to be so necessary in man , that she hath been content that by more causes we should be importuned to laugh , than to the exercise of any other power ; for things in themselves utterly contrary , beget this effect ; for we laugh both at witty and absurd things : At both which sorts I have seen men laugh so long , and so earnestly , that at last they have wept that they could laugh no more . And therefore the Poet having described the quietness of a wise retired man , saith in one , what we have said before in many lines ; Quid facit Canius tuus ? ridet . We have received that even the extremity of laughing , yea of weeping also , hath been accounted wisdom : and that Democritus and Heraclitus , the lovers of these Extreams , have been called lovers of Wisdom . Now among our wise men I doubt not but many would be found , who would laugh at Heraclitus weeping , none which weep at Democritus laughing . At the hearing of Comedies or other witty reports , I have noted some , which not understanding jests ; &c. have yet chosen this as the best means to seem wise and understanding , to laugh when their Companions laugh ; and I have presumed them ignorant , whom I have seen unmoved . A fool if he come into a Princes Court , and see a gay man leaning at the wall , so glistring , and so painted in many colours that he is hardly discerned from one of the Pictures in the Arras , hanging his body like an Iron-bound chest , girt in and thick rib'd with broad gold laces , may ( and commonly doth ) envy him . But alas ! shall a wise man , which may not only not envy , but not pitty this Monster , do nothing ? Yes , let him laugh . And if one of these hot cholerick firebrands , which nourish themselves by quarrelling , and kindling others , spit upon a fool one sparke of disgrace , he , like a thatcht house quickly burning , may be angry ; but the wise man , as cold as the Salamander , may not only not be angry with him , but not be sorry for him ; therefore let him laugh : so he shall be known a Man , because he can laugh , a wise Man that he knows at what to laugh , and a valiant Man that he dares laugh : for he that laughs is justly reputed more wise , then at whom it is laughed . And hence I think proceeds that which in these later formal times I have much noted ; that now when our superstitious civilitie of manners is become a mutuall tickling flattery of one another , almost every man affecteth an humour of jesting , and is content to be deject , and to deform himself , yea become fool to no other end that I can spie , but to give his wise Companion occasion to laugh ; and to shew themselves in promptness of laughing is so great in wise men , that I think all wise men , if any wise man do read this Paradox , will laugh both at it and me . XI . That the Gifts of the Body are better then those of the Minde . I Say again , that the body makes the minde , not that it created it a minde , but forms it a good or a bad minde ; and this minde may be confounded with soul without any violence or injustice to Reason or Philosophy : then the soul it seems is enabled by our Body , not this by it . My Body licenseth my soul to see the worlds beauties through mine eyes : to hear pleasant things through mine ears ; and affords it apt Organs for the convenience of all perceivable delight . But alas ! my soul cannot make any part , that is not of it self disposed to see or hear , though without doubt she be as able and as willing to see behinde as before . Now if my soul would say , that she enables any part to taste these pleasures , but is her selfe only delighted with those rich sweetnesses which her inward eyes and senses apprehend , shee should dissemble ; for I see her often solaced with beauties , which shee sees through mine eyes , and with musicke which through mine eares she heares . This perfection then my body hath , that it can impart to my minde all his pleasures ; and my mind hath still many , that she can neither teach my indisposed part her faculties , nor to the best espoused parts shew it beauty of Angels , of Musicke , of Spheres , whereof she boasts the contemplation . Are chastity , temperance , and fortitude gifts of the minde ? I appeale to Physitians whether the cause of these be not in the body ; health is the gift of the body , and patience in sicknesse the gift of the minde : then who will say that patience is as good a happinesse , as health , when wee must be extremely miserable to purchase this happinesse . And for nourishing of civill societies and mutuall love amongst men , which is our chief end while we are men ; I say , this beauty , presence , and proportion of the body , hath a more masculine force in begetting this love , then the vertues of the minde : for it strikes us suddenly , and possesseth us immoderately ; when to know those vertues require some Iudgement in him which shall discerne , a long time and conversation between them . And even at last how much of our faith and beleefe shal we be driven to bestow , to assure our selves that these vertues are not counterfeited : for it is the same to be , and seem vertuous , because that he that hath no vertue can dissemble none , but he which hath a little , may gild and enamell , yea and transforme much vice into vertue : For allow a man to be discreet and flexible to complaints , which are great vertuous gifts of the minde , this discretion will be to him the soule and Elixir of all vertues , so that touched with this even pride shall be made humility ; and Cowardice , honourable and wise valour . But in things seen there is not this danger , for the body which thou lovest and esteemest faire , is faire : certainly if it be not faire in perfection , yet it is faire in the same degree that thy Iudgment is good . And in a faire body , I do seldom suspect a disproportioned minde , and as seldome hope for a good in a deformed . When I see a goodly house , I assure my selfe of a worthy possessour , from a ruinous weather-beaten building I turn away , because it seems either stuffed with varlots as a Prison , or handled by an unworthy and negligent tenant , that so suffers the wast therof . And truly the gifts of Fortune , which are riches , are only handmaids , yea Pandars of the bodies pleasure ; with their service we nourish health , and preserve dainty , and wee buy delights so that vertue which must be loved for it selfe , and respects no further end , is indeed nothing : And riches , whose end is the good of the body , cannot be so perfectly good , as the end whereto it levels . PROBLEMS . I. Why have Bastards best Fortune ? BEcause Fortune her self is a Whore , but such are not most indulgent to their issue ; the old natural reason ( but those meeting in stoln love are most vehement , and so contribute more spirit then the easie and lawfull ) might govern me , but that now I see Mistresses are become domestick and in ordinary , and they and wives wait but by turns , and agree as well as they had lived in the Ark. The old Moral reason ( that Bastards inherit wickedness from their Parents , and so are in a better way to preferment by having a stock before-hand , then those that build all their fortune upon the poor and weak stock of Original sin ) might prevail with me , but that since we are fallen into such times , as now the World might spare the Devil , because she could be bad enough without him . I see men scorn to be wicked by example , or to be beholding to others for their damnation . It seems reasonable , that since Laws rob them of succession in civil benefits , they should have something else equivalent . As Nature ( which is Laws pattern ) having denyed Women Constancy to one , hath provided them with cunning to allure many ; and so Bastards de jure should have better wits and experience . But besides that by experience we see many fools amongst them , we should take from them one of their chiefest helps to preferment , and we should deny them to be fools : and ( that which is only left ) that women chuse worthier men then their husbands , is false de facto : either then it must be that the Church having removed them from all place in the publick Service of God , they have better means than others to be wicked , and so fortunate : Or else because the two greatest powers in this world , the Devil and Princes concur to their greatness : the one giving bastardy , the other legitimation : As Nature frames and conserves great bodies of contraries . Or the cause is , because they abound most at Court , which is the forge where fortunes are made , or at least the shop where they be sold. II. Why Puritans make long Sermons IT needs not for perspicuousness , for God knows they are plain enough : nor do all of them use Sem-brief-Accents , for some of them have crotchets enough . It may be they intend not to rise like glorious Tapers and Torches , but like Thin-wretched-sick-watching-C●…s , which languish and are in a Divine Consumption from the first minute , yea in their snuff , and stink , when others are in their more profitable glory . I have thought sometimes , that out of conscience , they allow long measure to course ware . And sometimes , that usurping in that place a liberty to speak freely of Kings , they would reigne as long as they could . But now I think they do it out of a zealous imagination , that , It is their duty to Preach on till their Auditory wake . III. Why did the Divel reserve Iesuites till these latter dayes . DId he know that our Age would deny the Devils possessing , and therefore provided by these to possesse men and kingdomes ? Or to end the disputation of Schoolmen , why the Divel could not make lice in Egypt ; and whether those things bee presented there , might be true ; hath he sent us a true and reall plague , worse than those ten ? Or in o●…ntation of the greatness of his Kingdome , which even division cannot shake , doth he send us these which disagree with all the rest ? Or knowing that our times should discover the Indies , and abolish their Idolatry , doth he send these to give them another for it ? Or peradventure they have been in the Roman Church these thousand yeeres , though we have called them by other names . IV. Why is there more Variety of Green then of other Colours ? IT is because it is the figure of Youth wherin nature would provide as many green , as youth hath affections ; and so present a Sea-green for profuse wasters in voyages ; a Grasse-green for sudden new men enobled from Grasiers ; and a Goose-green for such Polititians as pretend to preserve the Capitol . Or else Prophetically foreseeing an age , wherein they shall all hunt . And for such as misdemeane themselves a Willo-green ; For Magistrates must aswell have Fasces born before them to chastize the small offences , as Secures to cut off the great . V. Why do young Lay-men so much study Divinity . IS it because others tending busily Churches preferment , neglect study ? Or had the Church of Rome shut up all our wayes , till the Lutherans broke down their uttermost stubborn doores , and the Calvinists picked their inwardest and subtlest lockes ? Surely the Devill cannot be such a Foole to hope that he shall make this study contemptible , by making it common . Nor that as the Dwellers by the River Origus are said ( by drawing infinite ditches to sprinkle their barren Country ) to have exhausted and intercepted their main channell , and so lost their more profitable course to the sea ; so we , by providing every ones selfe , divinity enough for his own use , should neglect our Teachers and Fathers . He cannot hope for better heresies then hee hath had , nor was his Kingdome ever so much advanced by debating Religion ( though with some aspersions of Error ) as by a dull and stupid security , in which many gross things are swallowed . Possible out of such an ambition as we have now , to speake plainly and fellow-like with Lords and Kings , we thinke also to acquaint our selves with Gods secrets : or perchance when we study it by mingling humane respects , It is not Divinity . VI. Why hath the common Opinion afforded Women Soules ? IT is agreed that we have not so much from them as any part of either our mortal soules of sense or growth ; and we deny soules to others equall to them in all but in speech for which they are beholding to their bodily instruments For perchance an Oxes heart , or a Goates , or a Foxes , or a Serpents would speake just so , if it were in the breast , and could move that tongue and jawes . Have they so many advantages and means to hurt us ( for , ever their loving destroyed us ) that we dare not displease them , but give them what they will ? And so when some call them Angels , some Goddesses , and the Palpulian Hereticks made them Bishops , we descend so much with the stream , to allow them Soules ? Or do we somewhat ( in this dignifying of them ) flatter Princes and great Personages that are so much governed by them ? Or do we in that easiness and prodigality , wherein we daily lose our own souls to we care not whom , so labour to perswade our selves , that sith a woman hath a soul , a soul is no great matter ? Or do we lend them souls but for use , since they for our sakes , give their souls again , and their bodies to boot ? Or perchance because the Devil ( who is all soul ) doth most mischief , and for convenience and proportion , because they would come nearer him , we allow them some souls ; and so as the Romans naturalized some Provinces in revenge , and made them Romans , only for the burthen of the Common-wealth ; so we have given women souls only to make them capable of damnation ? VII . Why are the fairest falsest . I Mean not of fals Alchimy beauty , for then the question should be inverted , Why are the falsest fairest ? It is not only because they are much solicited and sought for , so is gold , yet it is not so common ; and this suit to them , should teach them their value , and make them more reserved . Nor is it because the delicatest blood hath the best spirits , for what is that to the flesh ? perchance such constitutions have the best wits , and there is no proportionable subject , for womens wit , but deceit ? doth the minde so follow the temperature of the body , that because those complexions are aptest to change , the mind is therefore so ? Or as Bels of the purest metal retain their tinkling and sound largest ; so the memory of the last pleasure lasts longer in these , and disposeth them to the next : But sure it is not in the complexion , for those that do but think themselvs fair , are presently inclined to this multiplicity of loves , which being but fair in conceit are false in deed : and so perchance when they are born to this beauty , or have made it , or have dream'd it , they easily believe all addresses and applications of every man , out of a sense of their own worthiness to be directed to them , which others less worthy in their own thoughts apprehend not , or discredit . But I think the true reason is , that being like gold in many properties ( as that all snatch at them , but the worst possess them , that they care not how deep we dig for them , and that by the Law of nature , Occupandi conceditur ) they would be like also in this , that as Gold to make it self of use admits allay , so they , that they may be tractable , mutable , and currant , have to their allay Falshood . VIII . Why Venus-star only doth cast a shadow ? IS it because it is nearer the earth ? But they whose profession it is to see that nothing be done in heaven without their consent ( as Re — says in himself of Astrologers ) have bid Mercury to be nearer . Is it because the works of Venus want shadowing , covering , and disguising ? But those of Mercury need it more ; for Eloquence , his occupation , is all shadow and colours ; let our life be a sea , and then our reason and even on s are winde enough to carry us whether we should go , but Eloquence is a storm and tempest that miscarries : and who doubts that Eloquence which must perswade people to take a yoke of soveraignty ( and then beg and make Laws to tye them faster , and then give money to the invention , repair and strengthen it ) needs more shadows and colouring , then to perswade any man or woman to that which is natural . And Venus markets are so natural , that when we solicite the best way ( which is by marriage ) our perswasions work not so much to draw a woman to us , as against her nature to draw her from all other besides . And so when we go against nature , and from Venus-work ( for marriage is chastitie ) we need shadowes and colours , but not else . In Seneca's time it was a course , an un - Roman and a contemptible thing even in a Matron , not to have had a Love beside her husband , which though the Law required not at their hands , yet they did it zealously out of the Councel of Custom and fashion , which was venery of supererrogation : Et te spectator plusquam delectat Adulter , saith Martial : And Horace , because many lights would not shew him enough , created many Images of the same Object by wainscoting his chamber with looking-glasses : so that Venus flies not light , so much as Mercury , who creeping into our understanding , our darkness would be defeated , if he were perceived . Then either this shadow confesseth that same dark Melancholy Repentance which accompanies ; or that so violent fires , needs some shadowy refreshing and intermission : Or else light signifying both day and youth , and shadow both night and age , she pronounceth by this that she professeth both all persons and times . IX . Why is Venus-star multinominous , called both Hesperus and Vesper . THe Moon hath as many names , but not as she is a star , but as she hath divers governments ; but Venus is multinominous to give example to her prostitute disciples , who so often , either to renew or refresh themselves towards lovers , or to disguise themselves from Magistrates , are to take new names . It may be she takes new names after her many functions , for as she is supream Monarch of all Suns at large ( which is lust ) so is she joyned in Commission with all Mythologicks , with Iuno , Diana , and all others for marriage . It may be because of the divers names to her self , for her affections have more names than any vice : scilicet , Pollution , Fornication , Adultery , Lay. Incest , Church-Incest , Rape , Sodomy , Mastupration , Masturbation , and a thousand others . Perchance her divers names shewed her appliableness to divers men , for Neptune distilled and wet her in love , the Sun warms and melts her , Mercury perswaded and swore her , Iupiters authority secured , and Vulcan hammer'd her . As Hesperus she presents you with her bonum utile , because it is wholsomest in the morning : As Vesper with her bonum delectabile , because it is pleasantest in the evening . And because industrious men rise and endure with the Sun in their civil businesses , this Star cals them up a little before , and remembers them again a little after for her business ; for certainly , Venit Hesperus , ite capell●…e : was spoken to Lovers in the persons of Goats . X. Why are new Officers least oppressing ? Must the old Proverb , that Old dogs bite sorest , be true in all kinde of dogs ? Me thinks the fresh memory they have of the money they parted with for the place , should hasten them for the re-imbursing : And perchance they do but seem easier to their suiters ; who ( as all other Patients ) do account all change of pain , easie . But if it be so , it is either because the sodain sense and contentment of the honor of the place , retards and remits the rage of their profits , and so having stayed their stomacks , they can forbear the second course a while : Or having overcome the steepest part of the hill , and clambered above Competitions and Oppositions they dare loiter , and take breath : Perchance being come from places , where they tasted no gain , a little seems much to them at first , for it is long before a Christian conscience overtakes , or straies into an Officers heart . It may be that out of the general disease of all men not to love the memory of a predecessor , they seek to disgrace them by such easiness , and make good first impressions , that so having drawn much water to their Mill , they may afterwards grind at ease : For if from the rules of good horfemanship , they thought it wholsome to jet out in a moderate pace , they should also take up towards their journeys end , not mend their pace continually , and gallop to their Inns-dore , the grave ; except perchance their conscience at that time so touch them that they think it an injury & damage both to him that must sell , and to him that must buy the Office after their death , and a kind of dilapidation if they by continuing honest should discredit the place , and bring it to a lower rent , or under-value . XI . Why doth the Poxe soe much affect to undermine the Nose ? PAracelsus perchance saith true , That every Disease hath his Exaltation in some part certaine . But why this in the Nose ? Is there so much mercy in this disease , that it provides that one should not smell his own stinck ? Or hath it but the common fortune , that being begot and bred in obscurest and secretest places , because therefore his serpentine crawling and insinuation should not be suspected , nor seen , he comes soonest into great place , and is more able to destroy the worthiest member , then a Disease better born ? Perchance as mice defeat Elephants by knawing their Proboscis , which is their Nose , this wretched Indian Vermine practiseth to doe the same upon us . Or as the ancient furious Custome and Connivency of some Lawes , that one might cut off their Nose whome he deprehended in Adulterie , was but a Tipe of this ; And that now more charitable lawes having taken away all Revenge from particular hands , this common Magistrate and Executioner is come to doe the same Office invisibly ? Or by withdrawing this conspicuous part , the Nose , it warnes us from all adventuring upon that Coast ; for it is as good a marke to take in a flag as to hang one out . Possibly heate , which is more potent and active then cold , thought her selfe injured , and the Harmony of the world out of tune , when cold was able to shew the high-way to Noses in Muscovia , except she found the meanes to doe the same in other Countries . Or because by the consent of all , there is an Analogy , Proportion and affection between the Nose and that part where this disease is first contracted , and therefore Heliogabalus chose not his Minions in the Bath but by the Nose ; And Albertus had a knavish meaning when he preferd great Noses ; And the licentious Poet was Naso Poeta . I think this reason is nearest truth , That the Nose is most compassionate with this part : Except this be nearer , that it is reasonable that this Disease in particular should affect the most eminent and perspicuous part , which in general doth affect to take hold of the most eminent and conspicuous men . XII . Why die none for Love now ? BEcause women are become easyer . Or because these later times have provided mankind of more new means for the destroying of themselves and one another , Pox , Gunpowder , Young marriages , and Controversies in Religion . Or is there in true History no Precedent or Example of it ? Or perchance some die so , but are not therefore worthy the remembring or speaking of ? XIII . Why do Women delight much in Feathers ? THey think that Feathers imitate wings , and so shew their restlessness and instability . As they are in matter , so they would be in name , like Embroiderers , Painters , and such Artificers of curious vanities , which the vulgar call Pluminaries . Or else they have feathers upon the same reason , which moves them to love the unworthiest men , which is , that they may be thereby excusable in their inconstancy and often changing . XIV . Why doth not Gold soyl the fingers ? DOth it direct all the venom to the heart ? Or is it because bribing should not be discovered ? Or because that should pay purely , for which pure things are given , as Love , Honor , Iustice and Heaven ? Or doth it seldom come into innocent hands , but into such as for former foulness you cannot discern this ? XV. Why do great men of all dependants , chuse to preserve their little Pimps ? IT is not hecause they are got nearest their secrets , for they whom they bring come nearer . Nor because commonly they and their bawds have lain in one belly , for then they should love their brothers aswel . Nor because they are witnesses of their weakness , for they are weak ones . Either it is because they have a double hold and obligation upon their masters for providing them surgery and remedy after , aswel as pleasure before , and bringing them always such stuff , as they shal always need their service ? Or because they may be received and entertained every where , and Lords fling off none but such as they may destroy by it . Or perchance we deceive our selves , and every Lord having many , and , of necessity , some rising , we mark only these . XVI . why are Courtiers sooner Atheists then men of other conditions ? IS it because as Physitians contemplating Nature , and finding many abstruse things subject to the search of Reason , thinks therfore that all is so ; so they ( seeing mens destinies , mad at Court , neck out and in joynt there , War , Peace , Life and Death derived from thence ) climb no higher ? Or doth a familiarity with greatness , and daily conversation and acquaintance with it breed a contempt of all greatness ? Or because that they see that opinion or need of one another , and fear makes the degrees of servants , Lords and Kings , do they think that God likewise for such Reason hath been mans Creator ? Perchance it is because they see Vice prosper best there , and , burthened with sinne , doe they not , for their ease , endeavour to put off the feare and Knowledge of God , as facinorous men deny Magistracy ? Or are the most Atheists in that place , because it is the foole that said in his heart , There is no God. XVII . Why are statesmen most incredulous ? ARe they all wise enough to follow their excellent Pattern Tiberius , who brought the senate to be diligent and industrions to believe him , were it never so opposite or diametricall , that it destroyed their very ends to be believed , as Asinius Gallus had almost deceived this man by believing him , and the Major and Aldermen of London in Richard the Third ? Or are businesses ( about which these men are conversant ) so conjecturall , so subject to unsuspected interventions that they are therefore forc'd to speake oraculously , whisperingly , generally , and therefore escapingly , in the language of Almanack-makers for weather ? Or are those ( as they call them ) Arcana imperii , as by whom the Prince provokes his lust , and by whom he vents it , of what Cloath his socks are , and such , so deep , and so irreveald , as any error in them is inexcusable ? If these were the reasons , they would not only serve for state-business . But why will they not tell true , what a Clock it is , and what weather , but abstain from truth of it , if it conduce not to their ends , as Witches which will not name Jesus , though it be in a curse ? eithere they know little out of their own Elements , or a Custom in one matter begetts an habite in all . Or the lower sort imitate Lords , they their Princes , these their Prince . Or else they believe one another , and so never hear truth . Or they abstain from the little Channel of truth , least , at last , they should finde the fountain it self , God. The Character of a Scot at the first sight . AT his first appearing in the Charterhouse , an Olive coloured Velvet suit owned him , which since became mous-colour , A pair of unskour'd stockingsgules , One indifferent shooe , his band of Edenburgh , and cuffs of London , both strangers to his shirt , a white feather in a hat that had bin sod , one onely cloak for the rain , which yet he made serve him for all weathers : A Barrenhalf-acre of Face , amidst whereof an eminent Nose advanced himself , like the new Mount at Wansted , over-looking his Beard , and all the wilde Countrey thereabouts ; He was tended enough , but not well ; for they were certain dumb creeping Followers , yet they made way for their Master , the Laird . — At the first presentment his Breeches were his Sumpter , and his Packets , Trunks , Cloak-bags , Portmanteau's and all ; He then grew a Knightwright , and there is extant of his ware at 100l . 150l . and 200l . price . Immediately after this , he shifteth his suit , so did his Whore , and to a Bear-baiting they went , whither I followed them not , but Tom. Thorney did . The True Character of a Dunce . HE hath a Soule drownd in a lump of Flesh , or is a piece of Earth that Prometheus put not half his proportion of Fire into , a thing that hath neither edge of desire , nor feeling of affection in it , The most dangerous creature for confirming an Atheist , who would straight swear , his soul were nothing but the bare temperature of his body : He sleeps as he goes , and his thoughts seldom reach an inch further then his eyes ; The most part of the faculties of his soul lye Fallow , or are like the restive Jades that no spur can drive forwards towards the pursuite of any worthy design ; one of the most unprofitable of all Gods creatures , being as he is , a thing put clean besides his right use , made fitt for the cart & the flail , and by mischance Entangled amongst books and papers , a man cannot tel possible what he is now good for , save to move up and down and fill room , or to serv as Animatum Instrumentum for others to work withal in base Imployments , or to be a foyl for better witts , or to serve ( as They say monsters do ) to set out the variety of nature , and Ornament of the Universe , He is meer nothing of himself , neither eates , nor drinkes , nor goes , nor spits but by imitation , for al which , he hath set forms & fashions , which he never varies , but sticks to , with the like plodding constancy that a milhors follows his trace , both the muses and the graces are his hard Mistrisses , though he daily Invocate them , though he sacrifize Hecatombs , they stil look a squint , you shall note him oft ( besides his dull eye and louting head , and a certain clammie benum'd pace ) by a fair displai'd beard , a Nightcap and a gown , whose very wrincles proclaim him the true genius of formality , but of al others , his discours and compositions best speak him , both of them are much of one stuf & fashion , he speaks just what his books or last company said unto him without varying one whit & very seldom understands himself , you may know by his discourse where he was last , for what he read or heard yesterday he now dischargeth his memory or notebook of , not his understanding , for it never came there ; what he hath he flings abroad at al adventurs without accomodating it to time , place persons or occasions , he commonly loseth himself in his tale , and flutters up and down windles without recovery , and whatsoever next presents it self , his heavie conceit seizeth upon and goeth along with , however Heterogeneal to his matter in hand , his jests are either old flead proverbs , or lean-starv'd - Apophthegm's , or poor verball quips outworn by Servingmen , Tapsters and Milkmaids , even laid aside by Bassaders , He assents to all men that bring any shadow of reason , and you may make him when he speaks most Dogmatically , even with one breath , to averr pure contradictions , His Compositions differ only terminorum positione from Dreams , Nothing but rude heaps of Immaterial-inchoherent drossie-rubbish-stuffe , promiscuously thrust up together , enough to Infuse dullness and Barrenness of Conceit into him that is so Prodigall of his eares as to give the hearing , enough to make a mans memory Ake with suffering such dirtie stuffe cast into it , as unwellcome to any true conceit , as Sluttish Morsells or Wallowish Potions to a Nice-Stomack which whiles he empties himselfe of , it sticks in his Teeth nor can he be Delivered without Sweate and Sighes , and Humms , and Coughs enough to shake his Grandams teeth out of her head ; Hee l spitt , and scratch , and yawn , and stamp , and turn like sick men from one elbow to another , and Deserve as much pitty during this torture as men in Fits of Tertian Feavors or selfe lashing Penitentiaries ; in a word , Rip him quite asunder , and examin every shred of him , you shall finde him to be just nothing , but the subject of Nothing , the object of contempt , yet such as he is you must take him , for there is no hope he should ever become better . An Essay of Valour . I Am of opinion that nothing is so potent either to procure or merit Love , as Valour , and I am glad I am so , for thereby I shall do my self much ease , because Valour never needs much wit to maintain it : To speak of it in it self , It is a quality which he that hath , shall have least need of , so the best League between Princes is a mutual fear of each other , it teacheth a man to value his reputation as his life , and chiefly to hold the Lye unsufferable , though being alone , he finds no hurt it doth him , It leaves it self to others censures , for he that brags of his own valour , disswades others from believing it , It feareth a word no more then an Ague , It always makes good the Owner , for though he be generally held a fool , he shall seldom hear so much by word of mouth , and that enlargeth him more than any spectacles , for it maketh a little fellow be called a tall man , it yeilds the wall to none but a woman , whose weakness is her prerogative , or a man seconded with a woman as an usher , which always goes before his betters , It makes a man become the witness of his own words , and stand to whatever he hath said , and thinketh it a reproach to commit his reviling unto the Law , it furnisheth youth with action , and age with discourse , and both by futures , for a man must ever boast himself in the present tense , and to come nearer home , nothing drawes a woman like to it ; for Valour towards men , is an Emblem of an ability towards women , a good quality signifies a better . Nothing is more behooffull for that Sex ; for from it they receive protection , and we free from the danger of it : Nothing makes a shorter cut for obtaining , for a man of Arms is always void of Ceremony , which is the wall that stands between Pyramus and Thisbe , that is , Man and Woman , for there is no pride in women but that which rebounds from our own basenesse ( as Cowards grow Valiant upon those that are more Cowards ) so that only by our pale asking , we teach them to deny , and by our shamefac'dness , we put them in minde to be modest , whereas indeed it is cunning Rhetorick to perswade the hearers that they are that already which he would have them to be ; This kinde of bashfulness is far from men of Valour , and especially from souldiers , for such are ever men ( without doubt ) forward and confident , losing no time least they should lose oportunity , which is the best Factor for a Lover , and because they know women are given to dissemble , they will never believe them when they deny , Whilome before this age of wit , and wearing black , were broke in upon us , there was no way known to win a Lady but by Tylting , Turnying , and riding through Forrests , in which time these slender striplings with little legs were held but of strength enough to marry their widows , and even in our days there can be given no reason of the Inundation of Servingmen upon their Mistresses , but ( only ) that usually they carry their Masters Weapons , and his Valour ; To be accounted handsome , just , learned , or well favoured , all this carries no danger with it , but it is to be admitted to the Title of Valiant Acts , at least the adventuring of his mortality , and al women take delight to hold him safe in their arms who hath 'scapt thither through many dangers : To speak at once , Man hath a priviledge in Valour ; In clothes and good faces we but imitate women , and many of that Sex will not think much ( as far as an answer goes ) to dissemble wit too . So then these neat youths , these women in mens apparel are too near a woman to be beloved of her , They be both of a Trade , but be grim of aspect , and such a one a Glass dares take , and she will desire him for neatness and varietie ; A skar in a mans face is the same that a mole in a womans ; a Jewel set in white to make it seem more white , for a skar in a man is a mark of honour and no blemish , for 't is a skar and a blemish too in a Souldier to be with out one : Now as for al things else which are to procure Love , as a good face , wit , good clothes , or a good body , each of them I confess may work somewhat for want of a better , That is , if Valour be not their Rivall ; A good face avails nothing if it be in a coward that is bashfull , the utmost of it is to be kiss'd , which rather encreaseth then quencheth appetite ; He that sends her gifts sends her world also , that he is a man of small gifts otherwise , for wooing by signes and tokens implies the Author dumb ; and if Ovid who writ the Law of Love , were alive ( as he is extant ) would allow it as good a diversity , that gifts should be sent as gratuities , not as bribes ; Wit getteth rather promise then Love , Wit is not to be seen , and no woman takes advice of any in her loving , but of her own eyes , and her waiting womans ; Nay which is worse , Wit is not to be felt , and so no good fellow ; Wit apply'd to a woman makes her dissolve ( or disclose ) her simpering , and discover her teeth with laughter , and this is surely a purge for love ; for the beginning of love is a kind of foolish melancholy , as for the man that makes his Taylor his Bawd , and hopes to inveagle his Love with such a coloured suit , surely the same deeply hazards the loss of her favour upon every change of his clothes ; So likewise for the other , that Courts her silently with a good body , let me certifie him that his clothes depend upon the comelynesse of the body , and so both upon opinion ; she that hath been seduced by Apparel , let me give her to wit , that men always put off their clothes before they go to bed : and let her that hath been enamour'd of her servants body , understand , that if she saw him in a skin of cloth , that is , in a suit made to the pattern of his body , she would see slender cause to love him ever after ; there are no clothes sit so well in a womans eye , as a suit of Steel , though not of the fashion , and no man so soon surpriseth a womans affections , as he that is the subject of all whisperings , and hath always twenty stories of his own deeds depending upon him ; Mistake me not , I understand not by valour one that never fights but when he is back'd with drink or anger , or hiss'd on with beholders , nor one that is desperate , nor one that takes away a Servingmans weapons when perchance it cost him his quarters wages , nor yet one that wears a privy Coat of defence and therein is confident , for then such as made Bucklers , would be accounted the Catalines of this Commonwealth — I intend one of an even Resolution grounded upon reason , which is always even , having his power restrained by the Law of not doing wrong . But now I remember I am for Valour and therefore I must be a man of few words . PARADOX . XII . That Virginity is a Vertue . I Call not that Virginity a vertue , which resideth onely in the Bodies integrity ; much lesse if it be with a purpose of perpetuall keeping it : for then it is a most inhumane vice — But I call that Virginity a vertue which is willing and desirous to yeeld it selfe upon honest and lawfull terms , when just reason requireth ; and untill then , is kept with a modest chastity of Body and Mind . Some perchance will say that Virginity is in us by Nature , and therefore no vertue . True , as it is in us by Nature , it is neither a Vertue nor Vice , and is onely in the body : ( as in Infants , Children , and such as are incapable of parting from it ) But that Virginity which is in Man or or Woman of perfect age , is not in them by Nature : Nature is the greatest enemy to it , and with most subtile allurements seeks the over-throw of it , continually beating against it with her Engines , and giving such forcible assaults to it , that it is a strong and more then ordinary vertue to hold out till marriage . Ethick Philosophy saith , That no Vertue is corrupted , or is taken away by that which is good : Hereupon some may say , that Virginity is therfore no vertue , being taken away by marriage . Virginity is no otherwise taken away by marriage , then is the light of the starres by a greater light ( the light of the Sun : ) or as a lesse Title is taken away by a greater : ( an Esquire by being created an Earle ) yet Virginity is a vertue , and hath her Throne in the middle : The extreams are , in Excesse : to violate it before marriage ; in defect , not to marry . In ripe years as soon as reason perswades and opportunity admits , These extreams are equally removed from the mean : The excesse-proceeds from Lust , the defect from Peevishnesse , Pride and Stupidity . There is an old Proverb , That , they that dy maids , must lead Apes in Hell. An Ape is a ridiculous and an unprofitable Beast , whose flesh is not good for meat , nor its back for burden , nor is it commodious to keep an house : and perchance for the unprofitablenesse of this Beast did this proverb come up : For surely nothing is more unprofitable in the Commonwealth of Nature , then they that dy old maids , because they refuse to be used to that end for which they were only made . The Ape bringeth forth her young , for the most part by twins ; that which she loves best , she killeth by pressing it too hard : so foolish maids soothing themselves with a false conceit of vertue , in fond obstinacie , live and die maids ; and so not onely kill in themselves the vertue of Virginity , and of a Vertue make it a Vice , but they also accuse their parents in condemning marriage . If this application hold not touch , yet there may be an excellent one gathered from an Apes tender love to Conies in keeping them from the Weasel and Ferret . From this similitude of an Ape & an old Maid did the foresaid proverb first arise . But alas , there are some old Maids that are Virgins much against their wills , and fain would change their Virgin-life for a Married : such if they never have had any offer of fit Husbands , are in some sort excusable , and their willingnesse , their desire to marry , and their forbearance from all dishonest , and unlawfull copulation , may be a kind of inclination to vertue , although not Vertue it selfe . This Vertue of Virginity ( though it be small and fruitlesse ) it is an extraordinary , and no common Vertue . All other Vertues lodge in the Will ( it is the Will that makes them vertues . ) But it is the unwillingnesse to keep it , the desire to forsake it , that makes this a vertue . As in the naturall generation and formation made of the seed in the womb of a woman , the body is joynted and organized about the 28 day , and so it begins to be no more an Embrion , but capable as a matter prepared to its form to receive the soule , which faileth not to insinuate and innest it selfe into the body about the fortieth day ; about the third month it hath motion and sense : Even so Virginity is an Embrion , an unfashioned lump , till it attain to a certain time , which is about twelve years of age in women , fourteen in men , and then it beginneth to have the soule of Love infused into it , and to become a vertue : There is also a certain limited time when it ceaseth to be a vertue , which in men is about fourty , in women about thirty years of age : yea , the losse of so much time makes their Virginity a Vice , were not their endeavour wholly bent , and their desires altogether fixt upon marriage : In Harvest time do we not account it a great vice of sloath and negligence in a Husband-man , to overslip a week or ten dayes after his fruits are fully ripe ; May we not much more account it a more heynous vice , for a Virgin to let her Fruit ( in potentia ) consume and rot to nothing , and to let the vertue of her Virginity degenerate into Vice , ( for Virginity ever kept is ever lost . ) Avarice is the greatest deadly sin next Pride : it takes more pleasure in hoording Treasure then in making use of it , and will neither let the possessor nor others take benefit by it during the Misers life ; yet it remains intire , and when the Miser dies most come to som body . Virginity ever kept , is a vice far wors then Avarice , it will neither let the possessor nor others take benefit by it , nor can it be bequeathed to any : with long keeping it decayes and withers , and becomes corrupt and nothing worth . Thus seeing that Virginity becomes a vice in defect , by exceeding a limited time ; I counsell all female Virgins to make choyce of some Paracelsian for their Physitian , to prevent the death of that Vertue : The Paracelsians ( curing like by like ) say , That if the lives of living Creatures could be taken down , they would make us immortall . By this Rule , female Virgins by a discreet marriage should swallow down into their Virginity another Virginity , and devour such a life & spirit into their womb , that it might make them , as it were , immortall here on earth , besides their perfect immortality in heaven : And that Vertue which otherwise would putrifie and corrupt , shall then be compleat ; and shall be recorded in Heaven , and enrolled here on Earth ; and the name of Virgin shal be exchanged for a farre more honorable name , A Wife . A sheaf of Miscellany EPIGRAMS . Written in Latin by I. D. Translated by J. Main D. D. 1. Upon one who for his wives fault took it ill to be called Cuckold . RUde scoffer ! why dost cal me Cuckold ? No Loose fires of Love did in my bosome grow . No wedlock knot by me unti'd hath bin ; Nor am I guilty of anothers sin . Thy wife being not her own with thy limbs she , Fool'd Cuckold , doth commit Adulterie . Being , then , one flesh , and thou her Head , t is fit The Horus , in Justice , on thy Brow should fit . 2. Upon One Roger a Rich Niggard , familiarly unacquainted with the Author . BOttomless pit of gold ! slave to thy Chest ! Poor in the midst of Riches not possest ! Self Tantalus ! To thine own wealth a Thief ! Affording scarce thy half-starv●…d Womb relief . Cheating thy limbs with cloths transparent worn ; Plague to thy self ! To all men else a scorn ! Who madly dost mens silver shapes adore ; And thence getst Cheeks pale as the silver Ore. Feare not I 'le beg ; my mind 's above thy pelf ; Good Thrifty Hodge , give something to thy self . 3. Upon a Whore barren and not barren . THy oft repeated is no Childless sin ; When thou art lain with stil thy purs lies in . 4. On the same . Thy dowbak'd Lusts , and Tail which vainly wags , Are recompenc'd by thy still teeming bags . 5. On an old Bawd. Loe , I an old Whore have to young resign'd ; Yet in my old flesh dwels a young whores mind . 6. On the same . Though ramage grown , Th' art still for carting fit ; Thy will with others bodies doth commit . 7. On the same . She , whose scarce yet quencht lust to freeze begins , Liv'd by her own once , now by others sins . 8. On a Bawdy-house . Here Mal , providing for Threescore , Sets up the Trade she learn'd before , VVith watchings many , sweatings more . 9. Upon an old rich scolding Woman who being married to a poor young man upbraided him daily with the smallness of his Fortune . The Husbands complaint . VVhat wife like mine hath any Husband known ? By day she is all Noyse , by night all stone . 10. Another . Shut thy purse-mouth , Old Trot , And let 's appeal ; VVho'd without sauce taste so deform'd a Meal ? 11. On her unpleasing Kisses . They can't be Kisses call'd but toothless Nips , VVhich , Beldam , come from thy faint trembling lips . 12. Another . When thy dry grissels with my soft lips close , I give thee kisses , thou return'st me blows . 13. Another . Thy senses faile thee , And pray God they may , To me thy Cofers will their loss defray . 14. On the same old Wife . Thou art no Woman , nor no womans part , Infant , or Girl ; say , who the Devil art . 15. To the same . Be not seen , Thou , whom I distracted love , Least my prodigious dotage scandal prove . For being a meer Image , 't wil be spread , That I no wife did , but an Idol wed . 16. Upon one who saw the Picture of his scolding wife in a Painters shop . Dialog . Painter , whose face is that I see ? Thy wives . Alas ! I fear t is she . Just so her scolding eyes do burn ; And Brow doth into wrincles turn . I tremble at her sharp nose ; so Her frighting chin doth pointed grow . All parts are so drawn to the life , Methinks the picture , like my wise , Begins to brawl , and kindle strife . 17. Another . Say Painter , who 's this whom thy hand hath made , Thy wife who dost enquire , at least her shade . 'T is so ; yet Painter , I had cause to doubt , Seeing her Tongue , her most known part left out . 18. Another . Who 's this , Painter ? Thy wife , O That she were in earnest so . 19. Another . Venus , when Pygmalion praid , Chang'd a Statue to a Maid ; Whose cold Marble drunk warm bloud . If at my request she would My wife into Marble turn , I would white Doves to her burn . 20. Upon a Pipe of Tobacco mis-taken by the Author for the Tooth-ach . Outlandish Weed ! whilst I thy vertues tell , Assist me Bedlam , Muses come from Hell. 21. Another . An Hearb thou art , but useless ; for made fire , From hot mouths puft , thou dost in fumes expire . 22. Another . A cloud Ixion for a Goddess kist ; So thou thy Lovers cosen'st with a mist. 23. To the Tobacco-seller . Merchant of Smoke , when next thou mak'st a feast Invite some starv'd Chamelion to be guest . 24. Another . Lothings , stincks , thirst , rhumes , aches , and catarrh , Base weed , thy vertues , that 's , thy poysons are . 25. Another . I love thee not , nor thou me having tri'd How thy scorcht Takers are but Takers fry'd . 26. Another . Niggards till dead are Niggards ; so vile weed , Thy bounty from thy ashes doth proceed . 27. Upon a Town built in the place where a wood grew ; From whence 't is called Dukes-Wood , or the Burse A Wood into fair buildings chang'd we see ; And th' Oke stands City where 't was fel'd a tree . 28. Another . Falne Okes the Axe doth into Timber hew ; And a Town stands where Trees demolisht grew . 29. Another . From a Woods ruines did these Buildings rise , And it stood Grove where now it Rafters lies . 30. Another . This naked Beam which beares up Roofes from ground , Was once with branches & fair green top , crown'd . 31. Another . Wood yeelds to stone , boughs are made joyces here , And where a Cops stood now fair streets appeare . 32. Upon a navigable River cut through a Town built out of a Wood. Horsmen turn sailers , waves roll where grew woods And against Nature Art make ways through floods . 33. Another . The drownd land here a Crystall garment wears , And her own trees , made Barges , once more bears . 34. Another . The tree her womb-bred on the back now floats Of this o're-flown field , now in wandring Boats. 35. Another . The ground whose head was once enricht with Okes , Her Temples now steept in sea-water sokes . 36. Another . The place where once grew Ash for warlike spears The Maze makes drunk now with his brinish tears 37. Upon the Medows over-flown there . The Medows which their perfum'd locks did boast Ore-flown with waters have their perfumes lost . 38. Another . The hungry Cow here lately did mistake ; And seeking grasse was cosen'd with a lake . 39. Another . Here Fishes dwell , till now not us'd to fields ; And pasture ground here sportful Gudgeons yeelds . 40. Another . Mere pleasant fields drownd by the wandring Maze , See scaly flocks swim where once sheep did graze . 41. Another . Dukes-wood where once thick bushes did appear , Like a new Iland now stands in a meer . 42. Upon a piece of ground ore-flown , where once a Leaguer quartered . Here where Tents stood , Mars now to Neptune yeelds , And Sea-nymphs tread moist dances ore the fields . 43. Another . Fishes now quarter where pavilions stood ; And the smooth Tench dies the sharp hook with blood . 44. Another . Finn'd Soldiers here in Belgick Quarters jar ; And the fierce Pike in troubled streams makes war. 45. Another . Dutchman ! This Grove once hatcht the Warlick Speer , Which angry Perches on their backs now wear . 46. Another . Gudgeons , where soldiers lay , ly trencht in Sand , Fearing the bloudie Colours of the Land. 47. A Dutch Captain of Foot , having with his Soldiers entred a Breach , and there a while fought valiantly with a Two-handed Sword ; In the very point of Victory , being mortally wounded , spake thus : I fighting die ; How much more blest then they , Whom a blind shot doth , standing idle , slay . 48. Another . We 've conquer'd Boys ; My wounds I highly rate , When with such Honor they requite my fate . 49. Another . Thus conquering kild , my ashes triumphs gain , And make me wish thus to be often slain . 50. Another . I die well paid , whilst my expiring breath , Smiles ore the Tombs of foes made kin by death . 51. Another . Me the queld Spaniard to the next world sent Not unreveng'd ; his Troops before me went. 52. His Will. Let Heaven my soul , the foe my life , the grave My corps , my fame let my sav'd Countrey have . 53. To the Prince of Aurange , on his famous Victory over the Spaniards in Dukes-Wood . Now Golden Fruit , Prince , hang on Dukes-wood Boughes ; Since it with Lawrell crown'd thy conquering Browes . 54. Another . Holland and Aurange may their Conquest boast Of the quell'd Spaniard , but brave Aurange most . 55. Another . Spaniard , no more call Golden Fleeces thine , Since the bright name of Aurange doth more shine . 56. A Panegyrick on the Hollanders being Lords of the Sea. Occasioned by the Authors being in their Army at Dukes-wood . Heathen ! No more thy Neptune boast ; Here see A Neptune more Lord of the sea then Hee ; Whom fruitfull Holland feeds , Holland Sea-bred ; And neighbouring Zealand folds in watry bed . Neptune's a Dutch God ; Here his wandrings stay ; And his calm'd ragings con●…ring chains obey . His standing Flood here to the Bridle yeilds , And his fierce Torrent plaies through unknown fields . Here the swoln sea views the inferiour ground , And yet no green bush , even to wonder , drownd ; Whilst Billows , like huge mountains , do hang o're The pleasing Vales which creep along the shore . Banks hold waves captive , and through sluces free , And Glebes from watry prisons snatcht we see . Glebes , which were long of sun , and skie bereav'd , Now the Dutch Plowman sees wel cornd & sheav'd . Curbing the Ocean with stout Mounds and Bars , And with the salt Gods of it waging VVars . Making Art fetch from the deep 's rav'nous womb Pastures , lost towns , and houses ; In which swomm Shell'd Citizens , ' mongst pillars drencht in brine . Should Achelous here joyn strengths with thine , And wrestle for the conquest , Holland , here Each Drayner would a Hercules appear ; And cosening Art with Art , in these dry'd Plains , Would bind the oft shape-changing God in chains . The oft tam'd Maze here the Dutch yoke endures , And his fear'd Master to the VValls secures Of the sam'd Burse now , Dutchman , fear no harms , VVhen against neighbouring Cities seas take arms . The Oceans thine , with thee his waves have sworn The league which Philip broke . By him th' art born To the parcht Indians , and those lands of gold Which the proud Tyrant doth in bondage hold : Whose wealth transported from the plunder'd Mine His Plate-Fleet calls his , But the Sea makes thine . Each Duch-man is Columbus ; Worlds unknown To the discovering Spaniard , are his grown : Nor can I here conceal , nor yet say well , Where Heynskirch's praise , or Oliver's excell , Or Heyn's more bold adventure ; whose bright Ore Prest the Sea's back with wealth snatch from the shore For whilst I do Dutch voyages rehearse , And sail with thy victorious Ships in verse , I , Holland in thy swimming Camp am roll'd Into all Seas , and there both Poles behold . The Africk sands to thee large tribute send , And Asia glories to be stil'd thy friend ; America's rich Mines grow in thy lands , And at thy conquests Europe wondring stands . 57. To Sleep , stealling upon him as he stood upon the Guard in the corner of a running Trench , at the siege of Duke's-Wood . WHy dost besiege mine eyes , untimely Sleep ? And o'er my limbs with thy dull setters creep ? Hence , hence , depart ; To roofs well tyll'd repaire ; To beds of down , and mindes unvext with care . Shut Virgins eyes , whilst Love tir'd with delay , Unstrings his Bow , and lets his Arrows play . Rock weary Ploughmen , and new strength beget In those whose spirits were breath'd forth in sweat ; To men opprest with grief , who court thy charms . And men unbusied lend thy Opium arms . Be kinde to Men in bedlam , close the eyes Of him who in a raging feaver lyes . But let me watch ; not as a spy , to mark , With whom my wench steals meetings in the dark . Here guards are kept , & from yond watchful towres , The crasty Foe vyes broken : sleeps with ours ; Seeking by slye plots , what pitcht-fields deny ; Hence , hence , then Morpheus , from our quarters fly . Our very standing still here business finde ; Duty imploys our bodies , cares our minde . Duty which may the next hour double strike ; Whilst each man here stands grasping of a pike ; Waitings stoln onsets with our weary spears , Examining even whispers with our ears . Doubts of the coming Foe , with hopes are mixt , And all eyes are one his approaches fi●…t . All passengers we summon with our eyes , Ask who they are , and question them or spies . If well-known friends , they pass ; if not , they stay Till we their doubtful answers strictly weigh . Wil not this serve , Sleep ? wil not al this fright thee ? See , then , a night turn'd into day to light thee . See a bright shine from coal black powder spring , And light from darkness once more issuing . See flames like those belcht forth from Aetna's Maw , Such flames as no Fleece-stealing Iason saw . Hecuba's child of fire in dreams begot , Was not like that from murdring Canons shot . If yet thou 'lt stay , hear thunders mixt with flame , Such as neer yet from Cyclops Anvil came . Hark how the loud gun shakes the trembling sky , whilst threatning Bals in showres of murther fly . Sicilian Bull did not so loudly roar ; Nor was the sword more dreadful which hung o're Damocles neck from guilt roof . Then , away , And to such dangers , Sleep , don't me betray . 58. To his Fellow Sentinels . ANd you , Comrades , with me this night endure ; Let our cause make us bold , Courage secure . Le ts with stout mindes our present dangers meet ; And let our stations from their toyls grow sweet . Stations where souldiers are made brothers . Night●… In wine , and Revels spent make winged flights ; A coy whore is with patience watcht for , yet No honor's gain'd ; glory with dangers met Here doth attend us ; toyls are paid with praise . Let 's weave us Crowns , then , of immortal Bayes . To Heaven our souls , to Earth let 's flesh assign , But in our mindes let loyal honor shine . 59. In Comaedam celeberrimam Cinthiam dictam ad in stantiam alterius f●…cit . SIc vaga formosas superabat Cinthia Nymphas Ut tu nunc socias Cinthia dicta tuas . Quae tibi Majestas vultus , que gratia frontis ! Spiritus ut major quam muliebris inest ? Tam bene compositum suavis decet actio corpus Ut posset credi singula membra loqui . Cùm velis esse Venus , vel cùm velis esse Diana Tam sunilis non est ipsa vel ipsa sibi , Si velis esse Diana hos ô non desere saltus , Haec nemus haec fontem florida scena dabit . O si te nudam semel hoc in fonte viderem Cornua tunc essent paenaque grata canes . Si Luna esse velis fiat tibi sphaera theatrum , Pascantur radiis Lumina nostra tuis . Sed raro hinc abeas , & cùm discedere velles O si te possent Lumina nostra sequi ; Aut tua cum desit foelix praesentia nobis Impressis liceat viribus usque srui . Idem Anglicè versum . AS wandring Cinthia all her Nymphs excells , So dost thou all thy fellows ; In thee dwells Majesty mixt with loveliness , a spirit That 's more then womanish ; thy graces merit , And force a liking , as the lights above ; The Earths light vapours upwards force and move : Thy action doth each passion so well fit , As if each limb did help to utter it : If thou wilt Venus or Diana be , Neither will be so like her self as thee . 〈◊〉 thou be Diana , haunt these fields , 〈◊〉 both woods and fountains yeelds . That I could see thee here but wash thy snow , Acteon's fate Ide joy to undergo . Wilt thou be th' Moon , then make thy sphere this stage ; But it were pitty thou shouldst change thy age ; And if from our Horizon thou shouldst go , Still to view thee wee 'd change Horizon too ; But that we may when thou art gone from hence , Still be made happy by thy influence . On one particular passage of her action , when she was to be stript of her cloaths by Fulvio , but not without much resistance . Videns excogitavit . AS Fulvio Cinthia's glory would eclips , And graced by her limbs , her robe off strips ; To see her how she strove , and pray'd , and cry'd , But for the plays sake none could have deny'd . And as she strove with him , so modesty Did strive with anger for the mastery . How was she pale with anger , red with shame ! Her colour chang'd , with choller went and came , As when the winking moon strives with a cloude , Whose glory darkness doth by fits enshroude : was it nor envy , that we might not see That which from th' smock could scarce discerned be ; Or wast for shamefastness : yes , yes , 't was so , That too much hiding of her face did show . So look'd the Nymph which Iupiter beguil'd I' th water with Diana got with child ; So Salmacis half ravish'd in the brook , As she almost stript to her smock did look . The Poet was too sparing , had she been Like intrapt Venus nak'd to have been seen ; And with a net unhid been covered ; How on her limbs our hungry eyes had fed , And dwelt on her seen members , whilst the rest Had by proportion easily been guest : But pitty 't were that she enjoyn'd had been So hard a penance , guilty of no sin . Finis . IGNATIUS HIS CONCLAVE : OR , His Inthronisation in a late Election in HELL . Wherein many Things are mingled by way of SATYR . Concerning The disposition of Jesuites . The Creation of a new Hell. The establishing of a Church in the Moon . There is also added an Apologie for IESUITES . All dedicated to the Two adversary Angels , which are Protectors of the Papall Consistory , and of the Colledge of SORBON . By JOHN DONNE , Doctor of Divinity , and late Dean of Saint Pauls . Printed at London , 1653. To the two tutelar Angels , Protectors of the Popes Consistory , and of the Colledg OF SORBON . MOst noble couple of Angels , lest it should be said that you did never agree , and never meet , but that you did ever abhorre one another , and ever Resemble Janus with a diverse face ; I attempted to bring and joyne you together once in these papers not that I might compose your differences , for you have not choson me for Arbi●…or ; but , that you might beware of an enemy common to you both , I will relate what I saw . I was in an Extasie , and My little wandring sportful Soul , Guest , and companion of my body , had liberty to wander through all places , and to survey and reckon all the roomes , and all the volumes of the heavens , and to comprehend the situation , the dimensions , the nature , the people & the policie , both of the swimming Ilands , the Planets , and of all those which are fixed in the Firmament . Of which , I think it an honester part as yet to be silent , then to doe Galilaeo wrong by speaking of it , who of late hath summoned the other worlds , the Stars to come neerer to him , and give him an account of themselves , Or to Keppler , who ( as himselfe testifies of himselfe ) ever since Tycho Braches death , hath received it into his care , that no new thing should be done in heaven without his knowledge . For by the law , Prevention must take place ; and therefore what they have found and discovered first , I am content they speake and utter first . Yet this they may vouchsafe to take from me , that they shall hardly find Enoch , or Elias any where in their circuit . When I had surveied all the heavens , then as The Larke by busie and laborious wayes , Having climb'd up th'ethereall hil , doth raise His Hymnes to Phoebus Harpe : And striking then His sailes , his wings , doth fal down back agen , So suddenly , that one may safely say , A stone came lazily that came that Way , In the twinckling of an eye , I saw all the roomes in Hell open to my sight . And by the benefit of certain spectacles , I know not of what making , but I thinke , of the same , by which Gregory the great and Beda did discerne so distinctly the soules of their friends , when they were discharged from their bodies and sometimes the soules of such men as they knew not by sight , and of some that were never in the world , and yet they could distinguish them flying into Heaven , or conversing with living men . I saw all the channels in the bowels of the Earth ; and all the inhabitants of all nations , and of all ages were suddenly made familiar to mee . I thinke truly , Robert Aquinas when he took Christ's long Oration , as he hung upon the Crosse , did use some such Instrument as this , but applyed to the eare : And so I thinke did he , which dedicated to Adrian 6. that Sermon which Christ made in praise of his Father Ioseph : for else how did they heare that , which none but they ever heard ? As for the Suburbs of Hel ( I mean both Limbo and Purgatory ) I must confess I passed them over so negligently , that I saw them not : and I was hungerly carried , to finde new places , never discovered before . For Purgatory did not seem worthy to me of much diligence , because it may seem already to have been beleeved by some persons , in some corners of the Roman Church for about 50 yeares ; that is ever since the Councell of Trent had a minde to fulfill the prophecies of Homer , Virgil , and the other Patriarks of the Papists , and being not satisfied with making one Transubstantiation , purposed to bring in another : which is , to change Fables into Articles of Faith. Proceeding therefore to more inward places , I saw a secret place , where there were not many , beside Lucifer himselfe ; to which , onely they had title , which had so attempted any innovation in this life , that they gave an affront to all Antiquity , and induced doubts , and anxieties , and scruples , and after a libertie of beleeving what they would , at length established opinions , directly contrary to all established before . Of which place in Hell , Lucifer afforded us hertofore some little knowledge , when more then 200. yeares since , in an Epistle written to the Cardinall S. Sexti , he promised him a roome in his palace , in the remotest part of his eternall Chaos , which I take to be this place . And here Pope Boniface 3. and Mahomet , seemed to contend about the highest room . He gloried of having expelled an old Religion , and Mahomet of having brought in a new ; each of them a great deluge to the world . But it is to be feared , that Mahomet will fail therein , both because he attributed something to the old Testament , and because he used Sergius as his fellow-Bishop , in making the Alcoran ; whereas it was evident to the supreme Judge Lucifer , ( for how could he be ignorant of that which himselfe had put into the Popes minde ? ) that Boniface had not only neglected , but destroyed the policy of the State of Israel , established in the old Testament , when he prepared Popes a way , to tread upon the necks of Princes , but that he also abstained from al Example and Coadjutor , when he took upon him that new name , which Gregory himselfe ( a Pope neither very foolish , nor overmodest ) ever abhord . Besides that every day affords new Advocates to Boniface his side . For since the Franciscans were almost worne out ( of whom their General Francis , had seen 6000 , Souldiers in one army , that is , in one Chapter ) which , because they were then but fresh Souldiers , he saw assisted with 18000 Devils ; the Iesuits have much recompenced those decaies and damages , who sometimes have maintained in their Tents , 200000 Schollers . For though the Order of Benedict have ever been so fruitful , that they say of it , That all the new Orders , which in latter times have broken out , are but little springs , or drops , and that Order the Ocean , which hath sent out 52 Popes , 200 Cardinals , 1600 Archbishops , 4000 Bishops , and 5000 Saints , approved by the Church , and therefore it cannot be denied , but that Boniface his part is much relieved by that Order ; yet if they be compared to the Iesuits , or to the weak and unperfect types of them , the Franciscans , it is no great matter that they have done . Though therefore they esteem Mahomet worthy of the name of an Innovator , and therein perchance not much inferior to Boniface , yet since his time , to ours , almost all which have followed his S●…t , have lived barren in an 〈◊〉 and idle concord , and cannot boast that they have produced any new matter : whereas Boniface his Successors awakened by him , have ever been fruitfull in bringing forth new sinnes , and new pardons , and Idolatries , and King-killings . Though therefore it may religiously , and piously be beleeved , that Turks as well as Papists , come daily in Troops to the ordinary and common places of Hell ; yet certainly to this more honorable room reserved for especiall Innovators , the Papists have more frequent accesse ; and therefore Mahomet is out of hope to prevail , and must imitate the Christian Emperours , and bee content to sit ( as yet he doth ) at the Popes feet . Now to this place not onely such endeavour to come , as have Innovated in matters directly concerning the soul , but they also which have done so , either in the Arts , or in conversation , or in any thing which exerciseth the faculties of the Soule , and may so provoke to quarrelsome and brawling controversies , for so the truth be lost , it is no no matter how . But the gates are seldome opened , nor scarce oft●… then once in an age . But my destiny favored me so much , that I was present then , and saw all the pretenders , and all that affected an entrance , and Lucifer himself , who then came out into the outward chamber , to heare them plead their own Causes . As soon as the door creekt , I spied a certain Mathematician , which till then had been busted to finde , to deride , to detrude Ptolomey ; and now with an erect countenance , and setled pace , came to the gates , and with hands and feet , ( scarce respecting Lucifer himselfe ) beat the doors and cried ; Are these shut against me , to whom all the Heavens were ever open , who was a Soul to the Earth , and gave it motion ? By this I knew it was Copernicus : For though I had never heard ill of his life , and therefore might wonder to find him there ; yet when I remembred that the Papists have extended the name and punishment of Heresie , almost to every thing , and that as yet I used Gregories and Bedes spectacles , by which one saw Origen , who deserved so well of the Christian Church , burning in hell , I doubted no longer , but assured my selfe that it was Copernicus which I saw , to whom Lucifer said , Who are you ? For though even by this boldness you seem worthy to enter , and have attempted a new faction even in Hell , yet you must first satisfie those which stand about you , and which expect the same fortune as you doe . Except , O Lucifer , answered Copernicus , I thought thee of the Race of the Starre Lucifer , with which I am so well acquainted , I should not vouchsafe thee this discourse . I am he , which pitying thee who wert thrust into the center of the world , raised both thee and thy prison , the Earth , up into the Heavens ; so as by my means , God doth not enjoy his revenge upon thee . The Sunne , which was an officious Spy , and a betrayer of faults and so thy enemy , I have appointed to goe into the lowest part of the world . Shall these Gates open to such as have Innovated in small matters , and shall they be shut against me , who have turned the whole frame of the world , and am thereby almost a new Creator . More then this he spoke not . Lucifer stuck in a meditation . For what should he doe ? It seemed unjust to deny entry to him which had deserved so well , and dangerous to grant it to one of so great ambitions , and undertakings : Nor did he think that himself had attempted greater matters before his fall . Somthing he had which he might have conveniently opposed , but he was loath to utter it , lest he should confesse his fear . But Ignatius Loyola which was got neer his chaire , a subtile fellow , and so indued with the Devill , that he was able to tempt , and not onely that , but ( as they say ) even to possesse the Devill , apprehended this perplexity in Lucifer . And making himselfe sure of his own entrance , and knowing well , that many thousands of his family aspired to that place , he opposeth himself against all others . He was content they should be damned , but not that they should govern . And though when he died he was utterly ignorant in all great learning , and knew not so much as Ptolomeys or Copernicus name , but might have been perswaded that the words Almagest , Zenith , and Nadir , were Saints names , and fit to be put into the Letanie , and Ora pro nobis joyned to them ; yet after he had spent some time in hell , he had learnt somewhat of his Iesuits , which daily came thither . And whilst he staied at the threshold of Hell , that is , from the time when he delivered himselfe over to the Popes will , he took a little tast of learning . Thus furnisht , thus he undertakes Copernicus . Doe you think to win our Lucifer to your part , by allowing him the honour of being of the Race of that Starre ? who was not onely made before all the Stars , but being glutted with the glory of shining there , transferred his dwelling and Colonies unto this Monarchy , and thereby gave our Order a noble example , to spy , to invade , and to possesse foraign Kingdoms . Can our Lucifer or his followers have any honour from that Star Lucifer , which is but Ve●…us ? Whose face how much we scorn , appears by this , that for the most part we use her aversly and preposterously . Rather let our Lucifer glory in Lucifer the Calaritan Bishop ; not therefore because he is placed amongst Heretiques , onely for affirming the propagation of the soule ; but especially for this , that he was the first that opposed the dignity of Princes , and imprinted the names of Antichrist , Iudas , and other stigmatique marks upon the Emperour ; But for you , what new thing have you invented , by which our Lucifer gets any thing ? What cares he whether the earth travel , or stand still ? Hath your raising up of the earth into heaven , brought men to that confidence , that they build new towres or threaten God again ? Or do they out of this motion of the earth conclude , that there is no hell , or deny the punishment of sin ? Do not men believe ? do they not live just as they did before ? Besides , this detracts from the dignity of your learning , and derogates from your right and title of coming to this place , that those opinions of yours , may very well be true . If therefore any man have honour or title to this place in this matter , it belongs wholly to our Clavins , who opposed himself opportunely against you , and the truth , which at that time was creeping into every mans minde . He only can be called the Author of all contentions , and School-combates in this cause ; and no greater profit can be hoped for here in , but that for such brables , more necessary matters be neglected . And yet not only for this is our Clavius to be honored , but for the great pains also which he took in the Gregorian Calender , by which both the peace of the Church , and civil businesses have been egregiously troubled : nor hath heaven it self escaped his violence , but hath ever since obeyed his appointments : so that S. Steven , Iohn Baptist , and all the rest , which have been commanded to work miracles at certain appointed days , where their reliques are preserved , do not now attend till the day come , as they were accustomed , but are awaked ten days sooner , and constrained by him to come down from heaven to do that business . But your inventions can scarce be called yours , since before you , Heraclides , Ecphantus , and Aristarchus thrust them into the world : who notwithstanding content themselves with lower roomes amongst the other Philosophers , and aspire not to this place , reserved only for Antichristian Heroes : neither do you agree so well amongst your selves , as that you can be said to have made a Sect , since , as you have perverted and changed the order and Scheme of others : so Tycho Brachy hath done by yours , and others by his . Let therefore this little Mathematician ( dread Emperour ) withdraw himself to his own com pany . And if hereafter the Fathers of our Order can draw a Cathedrall Decree from the Pope , by which it may be defined as a matter of Faith , That the earth doth not move ; and an Anathema inflicted upon all which hold the contrary : then perchance both the Pope which shall decree that , and Copernicus his followers ( if they be Papists ) may have the dignity of this place . Lucifer signified his assent : and Copernicus without muttering a word , was as quiet as he thinks the Sunne : when he which stood next him , entred into his place . To whom Lucifer said : And who are you ? He answered , Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Paracelsus Bombast of Hohenheim . At this Lucifer trembled , as if it were a new Exorcîsme , and he thought it might well be the first verse of S. Iohn , which is always imployed in Exorcismes , and might now be taken out of the Welch or Irish Bibles . But when he understood that it was but the web of his name , he recollected himself , and raising himself upright , asked was he had to say to the great Emperour Sathan , Lucifer , Belzebub , Leviathan , Abaddon . Paracelsus replyed , It were an injury to thee , O glorious Emperor , if I should deliver before thee what I have done , as though all those things had not proceeded from thee , which seemed to have bin done by me , thy organ and conduit ; yet since I shal rather be thy trumpet herein then mine own , some things may be uttered by me . Besides therefore that I brought all Methodicall Physicians and the Art it self into so much contempt , that that kinde of Physick is almost lost ; this also was ever my principal purpose , that no certain new Art , nor fixed rules might be established , but that all remedies might be dangerously drawn from my uncertain , ragged , and unperfect experiments , in tryal whereof how many men have been made carkases ? And falling upon those times which did abound with paradoxicall and unusual diseases , of all which , the pox , which then began to rage , was almost the center and sink : I ever professed an assured and an easie cure thereof , lest I should deterr any from their licentiousness . And whereas almost all poysons are so disposed and conditioned by nature , that they offend some of the senses , and so are easily discerned and avoided , I brought it to pass , that that treacherous quality of theirs might be removed and so they might safely be given without suspicion , and yet perform their office as strongly . All this I must confess I wrought by thy minerals and by thy fires , but yet I cannot despair of my reward , because I was thy first minister and instrument in these innovations . By this time Ignatius had observed a tempest risen in Lucifers countenance : for he was just of the same temper as Lucifer , and therefore suffered with him in every thing , and felt all his alterations . That therefore he might deliver him from Paracelsus , he said ; You must not think sir , that you may here draw out an Oration to the proportion of your name . It must be confessed that you attempted great matters , and well becoming a great officer of Lucifer , when you undertook not only to make a man in your Alimbecks , but also to preserve him immortal . And it cannot be doubted , but that out of your Commentaries upon the Scriptures , in which you were utterly ignorant , many men have taken occasion of erring , and thereby this kingdom much indebted to you . But must you therefore have access to this secret place ? What have you compassed even in Physick it self , of which we Iesuits are ignorant ? For though our Ribadenegra have reckoned none of our Order , which hath written in ●…ysick , yet how able and sufficient wee are in that faculty , I will be tryed by that Pope who hath given a priviledge to Iesuits to practise Physick and to be present at Deaths-bed , ( a ) which is denyed to other Orders : for why should he deny us their bodies , whose souls he delivered to us ? and since he hath transferd upon us the power to practise Physick , he may justly be thought to have transferd upon us the art it self by the same Omnipotent Bull ; since he which grants the end , is by our Rules of Law presumed to have granted all means necessary to that end . Let me ( dread Emperour ) have leave to speak truth before thee ; These men abuse and profane too much thy mettals , which are the bowels and treasure of thy Kingdom : For what doth Physick profit thee ? Physick is a soft and womanish thing . For since no medicine doth naturally draw blood , that science is not fit nor worthy of our study . Besides , why should those things which belong to you , be imployed to preserve from diseases , or to procure long life ? were it not fitter that your Brother and Colleague , the Bishop of Rome , which governs upon the face of your earth , and gives daily increase to your Kingdom , should receive from you these helps and subsidies ? To him belongs all the gold , to him all the precious stones , conceald in your intrals , wherby he might bait & ensnare the Princes of the earth , through their Lords and Councellours means , to his obedience , and to receive his commandments , especially in these times , when almost every where his antient rights and tributes are denyed unto him . To him belongs your Iron , and the ignobler mettals , to make engines ; To him belongs your Minerals apt for poyson ; To him the Salt-peter , and all the Elements of Gun-powder , by which he may demolish and overthrow Kings and Kingdoms , and Courts , and seats of Justice . Neither doth Paracelsus truly deserve the name of an Innovator , whose doctrin Severi●…us and his other followers do referr to the most ancient times . Think therefore your self well satisfied , if you be admitted to govern in chief that Legion of Homicid Physicians , and of Princes which shall be made away by poyson in the midst of their sins , and of women tempting by paintings and face-Physick . Of all which sorts great numbers will daily come hither out of your Academy . Content with this sentence , Paracelsus departed ; and Machiavel succeeded , who having observed Ignatius his forwardness , and sauciness , and how , uncald , he had thrust himself into the office of Kings-Attorney , thought this stupid patience of Copernicus and Paracelsus , ( men which tasted too much of their Germany ) unfit for a Florentine : and therefore had provided some venemous darts , out of his Italian Arsenal , to cast against this worn souldier of Pampelune , this French-Spanish mungrell , Ignatius . But when he thought better upon it , and observed that Lucifer ever approved whatsoever Ignatius said , he suddenly changed his purpose ; and putting on another resolution , he determined to direct his speech to Ignatius , as to the principall person next to Lucifer , as well by this means to sweeten and mollifie him , as to make Lucifer suspect , that by these honours and specious titles offered to Ignatius and entertained by him , his own dignity might be eclipsed or clouded ; and that Ignatius by winning to his side politique men , exercised in civil businesses , might attempt some innovation in that Kingdom . Thus therefore he began to speak . Dread Emperor , and you , his watchfull and diligent Genius , father Ignatius , Arch-Chancellor of this Court , and highest Priest of this highest Synagogue ( except the primacy of the Roman Church reach also unto this place ) let me before I descend to myself , a little consider , speak , and admire your stupendious wisdom , and the Government of this state . You may vouchsafe to remember great Emperor ) how long after the Nazarens death , you were forced to live a solitary , a barren , and an Eremiticall life , till at last , as it was ever your fashion to imitate Heaven ) out of your aboundant love , you begot this dearly beloved son of yours , Ignatius , which stands at your right hand . And from both of you proceeds a spirit , whom you have sent into the world , who triumphing both with Mitre and Crown , governs your Militant Church there . As for those sons of Ignatius , whom either he left alive , or were born after his death , and your spirit , the Bishop of Rome , how justly and properly may they be called equivocall men ? And not only equivocall in that sense , in which the Popes Legates , at your Nicene Councel were called Equivocal , because they did agree in all their opinions , and in all their words : but especially because they have brought into the world a new art of Equivocation . O wonderfull and incredible Hypercritiques , who not out of marble fragments , but out of the secretest Records of Hell it self , that is , out of the minds of Lucifer , the Pope and Ignatius , ( persons truely equivocall ) have raised to life again the language of the Tower of Babel so long concealed , and brought us again from understanding one another . For my part ( O noble pair of Emperors ) that I may freely confess the truth , all which I have done , wheresoever there shall be mention made of the Jesuits , can be reputed but childish , for this honour I hope will not be denied me , that I brought in an Alphabet , and provided certain elements , and was some kind of Schoolmaster in preparing them a way to higher undertakings ; yet it grieves me and makes me ashamed that I should be ranked with this idle and Chymaericall Copernicus , or this cadaverous vulture , Paracelsus . I scorn that those gates into which such men could conceive any hope of entrance , should not voluntarily flye open to me : yet I can better endure the rashness and fellowship of Paracelsus then the other : because he having been conveniently practised in the butcheries and mangling of men , he had the reason to hope for favour of the Jesuits : For I my self went always that way of blood , and therefore I did ever prefer the sacrifices of the Gentiles and of the Iews , which were perfor med with effusion of bloud ( whereby not only the people but the Priests also were animated to bold enterprises ) before the soft and wanton sacrifices of Christians . If I might have had my choice , I should rather have wished that the Roman Church had taken the Bread than the Wine from the people , since in the wine there is some colour to imagin and represent blood . Neither did you ( most reverend Bishop of this diocess Ignatius ) abhor from this way of blood . For having consecrated your first age to the wars , and grown , somewhat unable to follow that course by reason of a wound ; you did presently begin to think seriously of a spiritual war against the Church and found means to open waies even into Kings chambers , for your executioners . Which dignity you did not reserve only to your own Order , but ( though I must confes , that the foundation , and the nourishment of this doctrine remains with you , and is peculiar to you , out of your infinite liberalitie , ) you have vouchsafed sometime , to use the hands of other men in these imployments . And therefore as well they , who have so often in vain attempted it in England , as they which have brought their great purposes to effect in France , are indebted only to you for their courage and resolution . But yet although the entrance into this place may be decreed to none , but to Innovators , and to only such of them as have dealt in Christian businesse , and of them also , to those only which have had the fortune to doe much harme ; I cannot see but that next to the Iesuits , I must be invited to enter , since I did not only teach those wayes by which , thorough perfidiousnesse and dissembling of Religion , a man might possesse and usurpe upon the liberty of free Common-wealths ; but also did arme and furnish the people with my instructions , how when they were under this oppression , they might safeliest conspire , and remove a tyrant , or revenge themselves of their Prince and redeem their former losses ; so that from both sides , both from Prince and people , I brought an abundant harvest , and a noble encrease to this kingdome . By this time I perceived Lucifer to be much moved with this Oration , and to incline much towards Machiavel ; For he did acknowledge him to be a kind of Patriarke , of those whom they call Laymen . And he had long observed , that the Clergie of Rome tumbled down to Hell daily , easily , voluntarily , and by troupes , because they were accustomed to sinn against their conscience , and knowledge ; but that the Laitie sinning out of a sloathfulnesse , and negligence of finding the truth , did rather offend by ignorance and omission . And therefore he thought himself bound to reward Machiavel , which had awakened this drowsie and implicite Laitie to greater , and more bloudie Vndertakings . Besides this , since Ignatius could not be denied the place , whose ambitions and turbulencies Lucifer understood very well , he thought Machiavel a fit and necessarie Instrument to oppose against him ; that so the skales being kept even by their factions , he might govern in peace , and two poysons mingled might doe no harme . But he could not hide this intention from Ignatius , more subtil than the Devil and the verier Lucifer of the two : Therefore Ignatius rushed out , threw himselfe down at Lucifers feet , and groveling on the ground adored him . Yet certainly , Vasques would not call this idolatry , because in the shape of the Devill he worshipped him , whom he accounted the true God. Here Ignatius cryed , and thundred out , With so great noise and horror , That had that powder taken fire , by which All the Isle of Britain had flowne to the Moon , It had not equalled this noyse and horror . And when he was able to speake distinctly , thus he spoke ; It cannot be said ( unspeakable Emperour ) how much this obscure Florentine hath transgressed against thee , and against the Pope thy image-bearer , ( whether the word be accepted , as Gratian takes it when he calles the Scriptures ; Imaginary Books or as they take it , which give that stile to them who carry the Emperours Image in the field ; ) and last of all against our Order . Durst any man before him ; thinke upon this kind of injury , and calumny , as to hope that he should be able to flatter , to catch , to entrap Lucifer himselfe ? Certainly , whosoever flatters any man , and presents him those prayses , which in his own opinion are not due to him , thinkes him inferiour to himself , and makes account that he hath taken him prisoner , and triumphs over him . Who ever flatters , either he derides , or ( at the best ) instructs . For there may be , even in flattery , an honest kind of teaching , if Princes by being told that they are already indued with all vertues necessary for their functions , be thereby taught what those vertues are , and by a facile exhortation , excited to endeavor to gaine them . But was it fit that this fellow , should dare either to deride you , or ( which is the greater injury ) to teach you ? Can it be beleeved , that he delivers your prayses from his heart , and and doth not rather herein follow Gratians levity ; who sayes : That you are called Prince of the world , as a king at Chests , or as the Cardinall of Ravenna , only by derision ? This man , whilst he lived , attributed so much to his own wit , that he never thought himselfe beholden to your helps , and insinuations ; and was so farr from invoking you , or sacrificing to you , that he did not so much as acknowledge your kingdome nor beleeve that there was any such thing in Nature as you . I must confess that he had the same opinion of God also ; therefore deserves a place here , and a better then any of the Pagan or Gentile Idolaters : For in every Idolatry and false worship there is some Religion , and some perverse simplicity , which tasts of humility ; from all which this man was very free when in his heart he utterly denied that there was any God. Yet since he thought so in earnest , and beleeved that those things which he affirmed were true , he must not be ranked with them ; which having been sufficiently instructed of the true God , and beleeving him to be so , doe yet fight against him in his enemies Army . Neither ought it to be imputed to us as a fault , that sometimes in our Exorcismes we we speak ill of you , and call you Heretick and Drunkard , and Whisperer , and scabbed Beast , and conjure the elements that they should not receive you , and threaten you with indissoluble damnation , and torments a thousand thousand times worse then you suffer yet . For these things you know are done out of a secret covenant and contract between us , and out of mysteries which must not be opned to this Neophite , who in our Synagogue is yet but amongst the Catechumeni . Which also we acknowledge of Holy Water , and our Agnus Dei , of which you do so wisely dissemble a feare , when they are presented to you : For certainly if there were any true force in them , To deliver Bodies from Diseases , Souls from Sinnes , and the Elements from Spirits , and malignant Impressions , ( as in the verses which Urban the fifth sent with his Agnus Dei to the Emperor it is pretended ) it had bin reason that they should first have exercised their force upon those verses , and so have purged and delivered them , if not from Heresie , yet from Barbarousnesse and Soloecismes ; that Hereticks might not justly say , There was no truth in any of them but onely the last ; which is , That the least piece which thence doth fall , Will doe one as much good as all . And though our Order have adventured further in Exorcismes then the rest , yet that must be attributed to a speciall priviledge , by which we have leave to question any possessed persons of what matters we wil ; whereas all other Orders are miserably bound to the present matter , and the businesse then in hand . For though I do not believe , that either from your selfe , or from your Vicar the Pope , any such priviledge is issued ; yet our Cotton deserves to be praised , who being questioned , how he durst propose certain seditious Interrogatories to a possessed person , to deliver himselfe , feigned such a priviledge ; and with an un-heard-of boldness , and a new kind of falsifying , did ( in a manner ) counterfeit Lucifers hand and seal , since none but he onely could give this priviledg : But if you consider us out of this liberty in Exorcismes , how humble and servile we are towards you , the Relations of Peru testifie enough , where it is recorded , that when one of your angels at midnight appeared to our Barcena alone in his Chamber , he presently rose out of his chaire , and gave him the place , whom he professed to be farre worthier thereof then he was . But to proceed now to the injuries which this fellow hath done to the Bishop of Rome , although very much might be spoken , yet by this alone , his disposition may be sufficiently discerned , that he imputes to the Pope , vulgar and popular sins , far unworthy of his greatnesse . Weak praising is a kind of accusing , and we detract from a mans honour , if when we praise him for small things , and would seem to have said all , we conceal greater . Perchance this man had seen some of the Catalogues of Reserv'd Cases , which every year the Popes encrease , and he might think , that the Popes did therefore reserve these sinnes to themselves , that they only might commit them . But either he is ignorant or injurious to them . For can they be thought to have taken away the liberty of sinning from the people , who doe not onely suffer men to keep Concubines , but sometimes doe command them ? who make St. Peter beholden to the Stews for part of his Revenue : and who excuse women from the infamous name of Whore , till they have delivered themselves over to 23000 men . The Professors of which Religion teach , That University Men which keep Whores in their chambers , may not be expeld for that , because it ought to be presumed before hand , that Scholars will not live without them . Shall he be thought to have a purpose of deterring others from sinne , which provides so well for their security , that he teaches , that he may dispense in all the Commandements of the second Table , and in all Morall Law ; and that those Commandements of the second Table can neither be called Principles nor Conclusions , necessarily deduced from Principles ? And therefore ( as they ever love that manner of teaching ) he did illustrate his Rule with an example , and dispensed in a marriage between Brother and Sister , and hath hoorded up so many In dulgencies in one Barn , the Citie of Rome , that it is easy for any man in an hour or two , to draw out pardons enough for 100000 years . How clear a witnesse of this liberality is Leo the tenth ? who onely for rehearsing once the Lords Prayer , and thrice repeating the name of Iesu ( be it spoken here without horror ) hath given three thousand years Indulgence . How profuse a Steward or Auditor was Boniface , who acknowledges so many Indulgences to be in that one Church of Lateran , that none but God can number them ? Besides these plenary Indulgences are given not onely to the Franciscans themselves , but to their parents also , and to any which dies in their habit ; and to any which desire that they may doe so : and to those who are wrapped in it after death , though they did not desire it ; and five years Indulgence to those who doe but kisse it . And at last , Clement the seventh by a priviledge first given to one Order ( which since is communicated to our Order , as the priviledge of all other Orders are ) gave to any who should but visit a place belonging to them , or any other place if he could not come thither , or if he could come to no such place , yet if he had but a desire to it , All Indulgences which had been granted , or hereafter should be granted in the universal world . And though it be true , that if in any of these Indulgences a certain sum of money were limited to be given ( as for the most part it is ) a poor man who could not give that money though he were never so contrite for his sinnes , could have no benefit thereby : and though Gerson durst call those Indulgences foolish and superstitious , which gave twenty thousand yeares pardon for rehearsing one prayer , yet they doe abundantly testifie the Popes liberall disposition , and that he is not so covetous in reserving sinnes to himselfe ; but if perchance once in an hundred years , some one of the scum of the people be put to death for Sodomy ; and that not so much for the offence , as for usurping the right of the Ecclesia stick Princes , we must not much lament nor grudge at that , since it is onely done to discontinue and interrupt a prescription , to gain which Title the Laity hath ever been very forward against the Clergie : for even in this kind of his delicacies , the Pope is not so reserved and covetous , but that he allowes a tast thereof to his Cardinals , whom whom you once called Carpidineros ( by an elegancie proper onely to your Secretaries the Monkes ) in an Epistle which you writ to one of that Colledge : for since the Cardinals are so compacted into the Pope , and so made his own body , That it is not lawfull for them without licence first obtained from him , to be let blood in a Fever , what may be denied unto them ? or what kind of sin is likely to bee left out of their glorious priviledges . which are at least two hundred ? Which Order the Pope can no more remove out of the Ecclesiasticke Hirarchy , then he can Bishops ; both because Cardinals were instituted by God , and because the Apostles themselves were Cardinalls before they were Bishops . Whom also in their creation he stiles his brothers , & Princes of the world , and co-judges of the whole earth , and to perfect all , That there are so many Kings as there are Cardinals . O fearefull body ; and as in many other things , so in this especially monstrous , that they are not able to propagate their species : For all the Cardinals in a vacancy are not able to make one Cardinal more . To these men certainely the Pope doth no more grudge the plurality of sins , then hee doth of Benefices . And he hath been content , that even Borgia should enjoy , this dignity , if he hath heaped up by his ingenius wickednesse , more sorts of sins in one Act , then ( as far as I know ) as any the Popes themselvs have attempted : For he did not only give the full rein to his licentiousnesse , but raging with a second ambition , he would also change the sek . Therein also his stomack was not towardes young , beardlesse boyes , nor such green fruit : for he did not thinke , that he went farr enough from the right Sex , except he had a manly , a reverend , and a bearded Venus . Neither staied he there ; but his witty lust proceeded further : yet he solicited not the Minions of the Popes , but striving to equall the licenciousnesse of Sodomites which would have had the Angels ; to come as neer them as he could , he tooke a Cleargy-man , one of the portion and lot of the Lord ; and so made the maker of God , a Priest subject to his lust ; nor did he seek him out in a Cloyster , or Quire ; but that his Venus might be the more monstrous , he would have her in a Mitre . And yet his prodigious lust was not at the height ; as much as he could he added : and having found a Man a Clergy man , a Bishop , he did not sollicite him with entreaties , and rewards , but ravished him by force . Since then the Popes doe out of the fulnesse of their power , come to those kindes of sinn , which have neither Example nor Name , insomuch that Pope Paulus Venetus which used to paint himselfe , and desired to seem a woman , was called the Goddesse Cibele , which was not without misterie , since , prostitute boyes are sacred to that Goddesse ) and since they doe not grant ordinarily that liberty of practising sinnes , till they have used their own right and priviledge of Prevention and Anticipation ; This pratling fellow Machiavel , doth but treacherously , and dishonestly prevaricate , and betray the cause , if he thinke he hath done enough for the dignity of the Popes , when he hath affoorded to them , sins common to all the world . The transferring of Empires , the ruine of Kingdomes , the Excommunications , and depositions of Kings , and devastations by fire and sword , should have been produced as their marks & characters : for though the examples of the Popes transferring the Empire , which our men so much stand upon , be not indeed true , nor that the ancient Popes practised any such thing ; yet since the States-men of our Order , wiser then the rest have found how much this Temporall jurisdiction over Princes , conduces to the growth of the Church , they have perswaded the Popes , that this is not onely lawfull for them , but often practised heretofore : And therefore they provide that the Canons , and Histories be detorted to that opinion : for though one of our Order doe weaken that famous Canon , Nos Sanctorum , which was used still to be produced for this doctrin , yet he did it then when the King of Great Britain was to be mollified and sweetned towards us , and the Laws to be mitigated , and when himself had put on the name Eudaemon . But let him return to his true state , and profess himself a Cacodaemon , and he will be of our opinion . In which respect also we may pardon our Cudsemius his rashness , when he denies the English Nation to be heretiques , because they remain in a perpetual succession of Bishops : For herein these men have thought it fit to follow in their practise , that translation which reads the words of Paul ; Serve the time , and not that which says ; Serve the Lord. As for the injury which this petty companion hath offered to our Order , since in our wrongs both yours and the Popes Majesty is wounded , since to us as to your Dictators , both you have given that large and anti●…ent Commission , that we should take care that the state take no harm , we cannot doubt of our revenge : yet this above all the rest , doth especially ve●… me , that that when he cals me Prelate and Bishop ( names which we so much abhor and detest ) I know well that out of his inward malignity he hath a relation to Bellarmines , and Tolets Sacrilegious Vow-breaking ambitions , by which they imbraced the Cardinalship , and other Church dignities : but herein this poor fellow unacquainted with our affairs , is deceived , being ignorant that these men by this act of being thus incorporated into the Pope , are so much the nearer to their Center and final happiness , this chamber of Lucifer , and that by the breach of a vow which themselves thought just , they have got a new title thereunto : for the Cardinalship is our Martyrdom : and though not many of our Order have had that strength that they have been such Martyrs , and that the Popes themselves have been pleased to transfer this persecution into the other Orders , who have had more Cardinals than we ; yet without doubt for such of ours which have had so much courage , new Crowns , and new Garlands , appropriate to our Martyrs , are prepared for them in this their Heaven ; because being inabled by greater means they are fitter for greater mischiefs . We therefore lament the weakness of our Laynez and our Borgia , who refused the Cardinalship offered by Paulus 4. and Iulius 3. for in this place and this meeting it is not unfit to say they did so , even amongst the antient Romans when they sacrificed to you those sacrifices which offerd any resistance , were ever reputed unaccepted : and therefore our Bellarmine deserves much praise , who finding a new Genius and courage in his new Cardinalship , set out his Retractions and corrected all those places in his Works , which might any way be interpreted in the favour of Princes . But let us pass over all these things ; for we understand one another well enough : and let us more particularly consider those things which this man who pretends to exceed all ancient and Modern Statesmen boasts to have been done by him . Though truely no man will easily believe , that he hath gone far in any thing which did so tire at the beginning or mid-way , that having seen the Pope and known him , yet could never come to the knowledge of the Devil . I know what his excuse and escape will be ; that things must not be extended infinitely ; that we must consist and arrest somewhere , and that more means and instruments ought not to be admitted where the matter may be dispatched by fewer . When therefore he was sure that the Bishop of Rome was the cause of all mischief , and the first mover thereof , he chose rather to settle and determine in him , than by acknowledging a Devil to induce a new tyranny , and to be driven to confess that the Pope had usurped upon the Devils right , which opinion if any man be pleased to maintain , we do not forbid him : but yet it must be an argument to us of no very nimble wit , if a man do so admire the Pope that he leave out the Devil , and so worship the Image , without relation to the Prototype and first pattern . But besides this , how idle and how very nothings they are which he hath shoveld together in his books , this makes it manifest that some of every Religion and of every profession have risen up against him , and no man attempted to defend him : neither do I say this because I think his doctrin the worse for that , but it is therefore the less artificially carried , and the less able to work those ends to which it is directed . For our part we have not proceeded so . For we have dished and dressed our precepts in these affairs with such cunning , that when our own men produce them to ens●…re and establish our pupils , then we put upon them the majesty and reverence of the Doctrin of the Church and of the common opinions : But when our adversaries alledge them either to cast envy upon us , or to deterr the weaker sort ; then they are content with a lower room , and vouchsafe to step aside into the rank of privat opinions . And the Canons themselves are with us sometime glorious in their mitres and pontifical habits and sound nothing but meer Divine resolutions out of the Chair it self , and so have the force of Oracles , sometimes we say they are ragged and lame , and do but whisper with a doubtfull and uncertain murmure , a hollow cloystral , or an eremiticall voice , and so have no more authority than those poor men which writ them : sometimes we say they were but rashly throwne into the peoples ears out of Pulpits in the Homilies of fathers ; sometimes that they were derived out of such Councels as suffered abortion , and were delivered of their children , which are their Canons before inanimation , which is the Popes assent ; or out of such Councels as are now discontinued and dead ( howsoever they remained long time in use , and lively and in good state of health ) and therfore cannot be thought fit to be used now , or applyed in civil businesses ; sometimes we say the Popes voice is in them all by his approbation ; sometimes that only the voice of those authors from whom they are taken speaks in them . And accordingly we deliver divers and various Philosyphy upon our Gratian who compiled them ; sometimes we allow him the honour and dignity of Diamonds and the nobler sort of stones , which have both their clearness and their firmness from this , for that they are compacted of less parts and atomes then others are : and so is Gratian ; whom for the same cause , sometimes we account but a hill of many sands cast together , and very unfit to receive any foundation . I must confess that the Fathers of our Order , out of a youthful fiercenes which made them dare and undertake any thing ( for our Order was scarce at years at that time ) did amiss in inducing the Councel of Trent to establish certain Rules and Definitions from which it might not be lawfull to depart : for indeed there is no remedy but that sometimes we must depart from them : nor can it be dissembled that both the writers of our Order , and the Dominicans have departed from them in that great war and Tragedy lately raised at Rome about Grace and Freewill : For it is not our purpose that the writings of our men should be so ratified that they may not be changed so that they be of our Order which change them : so by the same liberty which Daemon Ioannes hath taken in delivering the King of Britain from the danger of Deposition ; ( because as yet no sentence is given against him ) and also from many other Canons which others think may justly be discharged against him , it will be as lawfull for us , when that Kingdom shall be enough stupified with this our Opium to restore those Canons to their former vigour , and to awake that state out of her Lethargy , either with her own heat , intestine war , or by some Medicine drawn from other places : for Princes have all their securities from our indulgence , and from the slack and gentle interpretation of the Canons : they are but priviledges which since they are derived , and receive life from us , they may be by us diminished , revoked and annulled : for as it was lawfull for Mariana to depart from the doctrin of the Councel of Constance , so it was lawfull for Cotton to depart from Mariana , which notwithstanding , we would have only lawfull for our Order to whom it is given to know times and secrets of state : for we see the Sorbonists themselves ( which may seem to have an Aristocratical papacy amongst themselves ) though they laboured to destroy the doctrin of Mariana , did yet wisely forbear to name him or any other Iesuit , which was a modesty that I did not hope for at their hands ; since before I died they made one Decree against me : but yet therein I think somewhat may be attributed to my patience and providence ; who knowing their strength and our own infancy , forbad all of my Order to make any answer to that Decree of theirs : neither were we so Herculean as to offer to strangle Serpents in our cradle . But yet since after that time they have been often provoked by our men : ( for I gave not so Iron a Rule and Precepts to my Disciple as Francis did to his , who would not have his Rule applyed to times & to new occasions ) certainly they might have bin excused if they had bin at this time sharper against us . And if the Parliament of Paris thought it not fit to carry the matter so modestly in their Arrest against Mariana , but made both the Book and the Doctrin , and the Man infamous : what should we say more of it , but that it is a Gyant and a wilde beast which our men could never tame , for still it cries and howles , The Pope is bound to proceed lawfully and Canonically : and this they maliciously interpret of their own Laws , and of ancient Canons , which they hope to bring in to use again , by an insensible way of Arrest and Sentences in that Court. This then is the point of which we accuse Machiavell , that he carried not his Myne so safely but that the enemie perceived it still . But we who have received the Church to be as a ship , do freely sail in the deep sea ; we have an Ancor , but we have not cast it yet , but keep it ever in our power to cast it and weigh it at our pleasure . And we know well enough that as to sailing ships , so to our sailing Church , all rocks , all promontories , all firm and fast places are dangerous , and threaten shipwrack , and therefore to be avoided ; and liberty and sea-room to be affected ; yet I do not obstinately say that there is nothing in Machiavels Commentary which may be of use to this Church . Certainly there is very much ; but we are not men of that poverty that we need beg from others , nor dignifie those things with our praises which proceed not from our selves . The Senate of Rome gave us heretofore a noble example of this temperance and abstinence , which therefore refused to place Christ amongst their gods , because the matter was proposed by the Emperor , and begun not in themselves . As for that Particular wherein Machiavel useth especially to glory ; which is that he brought in the liberty of dissembling and lying , it hath neither foundation nor colour : For not only Plato and other fashioners of Commonwealths , allowed the liberty of lying to Magistrates and to Physitians ; but we also considering the Fathers of the Church , Origen , Chrysostome , Hierome , have not only found that Doctrin in them , but we have also delivered them from al imputation and reprehension by this evasion , That it was lawfull for them to maintain that opinion till some definition of the Church had established the contrary : Which certainly ( though this should not be so openly spoken of ) as yet was never done . But yet we have departed from this doctrin of free lying , though it were received in practice , excused by the Fathers , strengthened by examples of Prophets and Angels in the Scriptures , and so almost established by the Law of Nations and Nature ; only for this reason , because we were not the first Authors of it . But we have supplied this loss with another doctrin less suspicious ; and yet of as much use for our Church ; which is Mentall reservation , and Mixt propositions . The liberty therefore of lying is neither new nor safe , as almost all Machiavels precepts are so stale and obsolete , that our Serarius using I must confess , his Jesuiticall liberty of wilde anticipation , did not doubt to call Herod who lived so long before Machiavel , a Machiavelian . But that at one blow we may cut off all his reasons and all his hopes , this I affirm , this I pronounce , That all his books and all his deeds tend only to this , that thereby a way may be prepared to the ruine and destruction of that part of this kingdom which is established at Rome : for what else doth he endeavor or go about , but to change the forme of Common-wealth , and so to deprive the people ( who are a soft , a liquid , and ductile mettall , and apter for our impressions ) of all their liberty , and having so destroyed all civility and re-publick , to reduce all States to Monarchies ; a name which in secular States , we doe so much abhor , ( I cannot say it without teares ) but I must say it , that not any one Monarch is to be found , which either hath not withdrawn himselfe wholly from our kingdome , or wounded and endamaged in som weighty point ; hereupon our Cotton confesseth , that the authority of the Pope is incomparably lesse then it was , and that now the Christian Church , ( which can agree to none but the Romans ) is but a diminutive . And hereupon also it is , that the Cardinalls , who were wont to meet oftener , meet now but once in a week , because the businesses of the Court of Rome grow fewer . To forbeare therefore mentioning of the Kings of Britain & Denmarke , and the other Monarchs of the first sort , which have utterly cast off Rome ; even in France , our enemies are so much encreased that they equall us almost in number : and for their strength , they have this advantage above us , that they agree within themselves and are at unity with their neighbour Reformed Churches ; whereas our men which call themselves Chatholick there , do so much differ from the Roman Catholick that they do not only prefer Councels , but even the King before the Pope , and ever more oppose those their two great Giants Gog , and Magog , their Parliament of Paris , and their Colledge of Sorbon , against all our endeavours . Besides all this , we languish also miserably in Spain , where Clergy-men , if they break their fealty to their Lord , are accused of treason ; where Ecclesiasticall persons are subject to secular judgment and , if they ●…e sa●…rilegious , are burnt by the Ordinary Magistrate ; which are doctrines and practices , contrary and dangerous to us . And though they will seem to have given almost half the Kingdom to the Church , and so to have divided equally : yet those Grants are so infected , with pensions and other burdens by which the Kings servants , 〈◊〉 the younger sorts of great persons are maintained , that this greatness of the Church there , is rather a dropsie then a sound state of health established by well-concocted nourishment , and is rather don to cast an envy upon the Church , then to give any true majesty to it . And even in usurping Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction ; the Kings of Spain have not only exceeded the kings of France , but also of Britany ; For ( sayes Baronius of that King ) there is now risen up a new head , a monster and a wonder : He Excommunicates , and he Absolves , And he practiseth this power even against Bishops , and Cordinals . He stops Appeals , and he acknowledges no superiority in the Sea of Rome , but only in case of Prevention : And therefore , the name Monarch , is a hatefull and execrable name to us . Against which , Baronius hath thundred with such viol●…e , such ●…ercheffe , and such ●…nesse , that I could hardly , add any thing thereunto , if I should speak ( unspeakable Emperor ) with thine own tongue for he calls it an A●…lterine name , and a Tower of Babel , and threatens destruction to that King ( though himself were his subject ) except he for , beare the name . In the mean time , he resolves him to be a Tyrant , and pronounces him to stand yearly excommunicate by the Bulla Coenae . Neither doth he offer to defend himselfe with any other excuse , when a Cardinall reprehended his fiercenes toward the King then this ; An Imperious zeale hath no power to spare God himselfe . And yet he confesseth , that this zeale was kindled by the Popes speciall command , and by his Oath taken , as Cardinall . Neither hath our Bellarmine almost any other cause of advancing Monarchical government so much as he doth , then thereby to remoove all Secular men from so great a dignity , and to reserve it only to the Church . It was therefore well done of that Rebullus ( who now begins to be known in this State ) when having surfeted with calumnies against the French Church and her Ministers , he hath dared of late to draw his Pen , and to joyne battell against a most puissant forrain Prince : he did well ( I say ) and fitly , when he called Bellarmine and Baronius , The Sword and Buckler of the Roman Church . And I cannot choose but thanke him for affoording the Title of Sword to our Order ; as well , because after so many Expositions of those words , ( Behold , heer are two swords ) which our side hath gathered , to establish a temporall Jurisdiction in the Pope , and which our Adversaries have remooved , worn out , or scorned , this man hath relieved us with a new , and may seem to intend by the two swords , the Popes Excommunications , and the Iesuites Assassinates , and King-killings ; as also because he hath reserved to our Order that soveraigne dignity , that as God himselfe was pleased , to defend his Paradice with fire and sword , so we stand watchfull upon the borders of our Church not only provided , as that Cherubin was with fire and sword , but with the later Invention of Gunpouder ; about the first inventour whereof I wonder , why Antiquaries should contend , whether it were the Devil or a Fryer , since that may be all one . But as ( O unspeakable Emperour ) you have almost in all things indeavoured to imitate God : so have you most throughly performed it in us ; for when God attempted the Reformation of his Church , it became you also to reforme yours . And accordingly by your Capuchins , you did reform your Franciscans , which before we arose , were your chiefest Labourers and Workmen : and after , you reformed your Capuchins , by your Recolets . And when you perceived that in the Church God , some men proceeded so farre in that Reformation , that they endeavoured to draw out , not onely all the peccant and dangerous humours , but all her beauty , and extorior grace and ornament , and even her vitall spirits with her corrupt blood , and so induce a leannesse and ill-favourednesse upon her , and thought to cure a rigid coldness with a Fever ; you also were pleased to follow that example , and so in us did reform and awaken to higher enterprises the dispositions as well of the Circumcellions as of the Assassins : for we do not limit our selves in that low degree of the Circumcellions , when we urge and provoke others to put us to death ; not of the Assassins , which were hired to kill some Kings which passed through their quarter : so we exceed them both , because we do these things voluntarily for nothing , and every where . And as we will be exceeded by none in the thing itselfe : so to such things as may seem mysticall and significant , we oppose mysticall things . And so lest that Canon ; That no Clergy-man should wear a knife with a point , might seem to concern us , by some propheticall relation , we in our Rules have opposed this precept , That our knife be often whetted , and so kept in an apt readiness for all uses : for our divination lies in the contemplation of entrails ; in which , Art we are thus much more subtile then those amongst the old Romans , that we consider not the entrails of Beasts , but the entrails of Souls , in confessions , and the E●…trails of Princes in treasons whose hearts we doe not beleeve to be with us till we see them : let therfore this pratling Secretary hold his tongue , and be content that his Book be had in such reputation as the world affords to an Ephemerider or yearly Almanack , which being accommodated to certain places and certain times , may be of some short use in some certain place and let the Ru●…s and 〈◊〉 of his Disciples like the Canons of Provinciall Councels , be of force there where they were made ; but only ours which pierce and passe through all : the world , retai●… the strength and vigo●… of Universall Councels . Let him enjoy some honorable place amongst the Gentiles ; but abstain from all of our sides : neither when I say , Ou●…side , doe I onely mean modern men : for in all times in the Roman Church there have been Friers which have farre ex ceeded Machiavel . Truly I thought this Oration of Ignatius very long : and I began to think of my body which I had so long abandoned , lest it should putrifie , or grow mouldy , or be buried ; yet I was loath to leave the Stage till I saw the Play ended . And I was in hope that if any such thing should befall my body , the Jesuits , who work Miracles so familiarly , and whose reputation I was so carefull of in this matter , would take compassion upon me , and restore me again . But as I had sometimes observed , Feathers or strawes swim on the watersface , Brought to the Bridge , where through a narrow place The water passes , thrown back , and delay'd ; And having danc'd awhile , and nimbly plaid Upon the watry circles , Then have bin By the streams liquid snares , and jaws suck'd in , And sunk into the womb of that swoln bourn , Leave the beholder desperate of return : So I saw Machiavel often put forward , and often thrust back , and at last vanish . And looking earnestly upon Lucifers countenance , I perceived him to be affected towards Ignatius , as Princes , who though they envy and grudge that their great Officers should have such immoderate means to get wealth ; yet they dare not complain of it , lest thereby they should make them odious and contemptible to the people : so that Lucifer now suffered a new Hell : that is , the danger of a Popular Devill , vain-glorious , and inclined to Innovations there . Therefore he determined to withdraw himselfe into his inward chamber and to admit none but Ignatius : for he could not exclude him who had deserved so well ; neither did he think it safe to stay without , and give him more occasions to amplifie his own worth , and undervalue all : them there in publick , and before so many vulgar Devils . But as he rose , a whole Army of souls besieged him . And all which had invented any new thing , even in the smallest matters , thronged about him ; and importuned an admission . Even those which had but invented new attire for women and those whom Pancirollo hath recorded in his Commentaries for invention of Porcellan Dishes , of Spectacles , of Quintans , of Stirrups , and of Cavi●…ri , thrust themselves into the troop . And of those which pretended that they had squared the Circle , the number was infinite . But Ignatius scattered all this cloud quickly by commanding , by chiding , by deriding , by force and violence . Amongst the rest , I was sorry to see him use Peter Aretine so ill as he did : For though Ignatius told him true when he boasted of his licentious pictures , that because he was not much learned , he had left out many things of that kind , with which the ancient Histories and Poems abound : and that therefore Areti●… had not onely not added any new invention , but had also , taken away all courage and spu●… from youth , which would rashly trust and nely upon his dillgence , and seek no further , and so lose that 〈◊〉 on●… preti●… 〈◊〉 suoe of ●…quity . He ●…ed moreove●… , that though 〈◊〉 , and others of his Order , did use to gold P●…ts and other 〈◊〉 and here I could not ●…huse but wonder , why they have not gel●…ed their 〈◊〉 Ed●…on , which in some places hath such obse●…e words as the Hebrew ●…gne , which is therfore also called 〈◊〉 , doth so much ahhor , that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things can be ●…ed in it , info●…uch 〈◊〉 ( as one of them very sub●…y notes ) the 〈◊〉 of Venus is very seldome called ●…hy that name in 〈◊〉 for how could 〈◊〉 wood being not in 〈◊〉 yet ( said h●… ) 〈◊〉 men doe not g●…ld them to that p●…rpose that the memory thereof should he abolished : but that when themselves had first tried whether Tyberius his Spintria , and Martialis Symphlegma , and others of that kinde , were not rather Chymera's , and speculations of luxuriant wits , then things certain and constant , and such as might b●…educed to an Art and method in licentiousnesse , ( for Jesuits never content themselves with the Theory in any thing , but straight proceed to practice ) they might after communicate them to their own Disciples and Novitiates : for this Church is fruitful in producing Sacraments and being now loaded with divine sacraments , it produces Morall Sacraments . In which , as in the Divine , it binds the Laity to one Species ; but they reserve to themselves the divers forms , and the secrets and mysteries in this matter , which they finde in the Authors whom they geld . Of which kinde I think they give a little glimmering and intimation , when in the life of their last made Coddesse , Francisc●… Romane , they say , That the Bed where she lay with her Hisband , was a perpetual Martyrdome to her , and a shop of miracles . But for all this , since Aretine was one , who by a long custome of libellous and contumelious speaking against Princes , had got such a habit , that at last he came to diminish and disesteem God himselfe . I wonder truly , that this Arch-Iesuite , though he would not admit him to any eminent place in his Triumphant Church , should deny him an office of lower estimation : For truly to my thinking he might have been fit , either to serve Ignatius , as Master of his pleasures , or Lucifer as his Cryer : for whatsoever Lucifer durst think , this man durst speak . But Ignatius , who thought himselfe sufficient for all uses , thrust him away , and when he offered upward , offered his staffe at him : Nor did he use Christopher Columbus with any better respect ; who having found all ways in the earth and sea open to him , did not fear any difficulty in Hell , but when he offered to enter Ignatius staid him , and said , You must remember sir , that if this kingdom have got any thing by the discovery of the West Indies , all that must be attributed to our Order : for if the opinion of the Dom●…eans had prevailed , That the Inhabitants should be reduced only by preaching and without violence , certainly their 200000 of men would scarce in so many ages have been brought to 150 which by our means was so soon performed . And if the Law made by Ferdinando only against Canibals ; That all which would not be Christians should be bond slaves , had not been extended into other Provinees , we should have lacked men to dig us out that benefit which their Countreys afford . Except we when we took away their old Idolatry , had recompenced them with a new one of o●… , except we had obtruded to those ignorant and barbarous people , sometimes natural things , sometimes artificial , and counterfeit in stead of miracles , and except we had been alwaies ready to convey and to apply this Medicine made of this precious American dung unto the Princes of Europe , and their Lord , and Councellours , the profit by the only discovery of these places ( which must of necessity be referred to fortune ) would have been very ●…le ; yet I praise your perseverance and your patience which ( since that seems to be your principal vertue ) you shall have good occasion to exercise here , when you remain in a lower and remote●… place , then you think belongs to your merits . But although Lucifer being put into a heat and almost smothered with this troop and deluge of pretenders , seemed to have admitted Ignatius as his Lieatenant , or Legat ●…ere , and trusted him with an absolute power of doing what he would , yet he quickly spied his own error and danger thereby . He began to remember how forcibly they use to urge the Canon Alius ; by which the King of France is said to have been deposed , not for his wickedness , but for his infirmity and unfitness to govern : and that Kings do forfeit their dignity if they give themselves to other matters , and leave the government of the State to their Officers . Therefore Lucifer thought it time for him to enter into the business , lest at last Ignatius should prescribe therein ; by which title of prescription he well knew , how much the Church of Rome doth advance and defend itself against other Princes . And though he seemed very thankfull to Ignatius for his delivery from this importunate company , yet when he perceived that his purpose was to keep al others out , he thought the case needed greater confideration ; For though he had a considence in his own Patriarks which had long before possest that place , and in whose company ( as an Abbot said to the Devil , who after long intermission , now tempted him ) he was grown old , and doubted not but that they would defend their right , and oppose themselvs against any innovation which Ignatius should practise , yet if none but he in a whole age should be brought in , he was afraid that this singularity would both increase his courage and spirit , and their reverence and respect towards him . Casting therefore his eyes into every corner , at last a great way off he spied Philip Nerius : who acknowledging in his own particular no especial merit towards this kingdom , forbore to press nearer the gate , but Lucifer called to his remembrance , that Nerius and all that Order , of which he was the Author , which is called Congregatio Oratorii , were erected , advanced , and dignified by the Pope , principally to this end , that by their incessant Sermons to the people , of the lives of Saints , and other Ecclesiastick Antiquities , they might get a new reputation , and so the torrent , and general superstition towards the Iesuits might grow a little remisser , and Iuke-warm , for at that time the Pope himself began to be afraid of the Jesuits , for they begun to publish their Paradox of Confession and absolution to be given by letters , and Messengers , and by that means to draw the secrets of all Princes only to themselves ; And they had tryed and sollicited a great Monarch who hath many designes upon Italy against the Pope and delivered to that Prince divers Articles , for the reforming of him . Now the Pope and Lucifer love ever to follow one anothers example : And therefore that which the one had done in the middle world , the other attempted in the lower . Hereupon he called for Philip , Nerius , and gave him many evidenoes of a good inclination towards him . But Nerius was too stupid to interpret them aright . Yet Ignatius spied them , and before Lucifer should declare himself any further , or proceed too farr herein , lest after he were farengaged , there should be no way to avert or withdraw him from his own propositions ( for he saw there must be respect had of his honor and constancy ) he thought it fittest to oppose now at the beginning . He said therefore , that he now perceived that Lucifer had not been altogether so much conversant with Philip , as with the ●…esuirs , since he knew not how much Philip had ever professed himself an enemy to him 1 For he did not only deny all visions and apparitions , 2 and commanded one to spit in Maries face when she appeared again , because he thought it was the Devil ; 3 And drove away another that came to tempt a sick man , in the shape of a Physitian ; 4 and was hardly drawn to believe any possessings ; but 5 when three Devils did meet him in the way , to afright him , he neither thought them worthy of any Exorcismes , nor so much as the signe of the Cross , but meerly went by them , as though he scorn'd to look at them , and so despighted them with that negligence . It may be that he hath drawn others into Religion , but himself remained then in the Laity ; in so much as I remember , that 6 I used to call him The Saints bell , that hangs without , and calls others into the Church . 7 Neither do they which follow this Order , bind themselves with any vow or oath ; Neither do I know any thing for which this 8 kingdom is beholding to him , but that 〈◊〉 moved Baronius to write his Annals . To all this Nerius said nothing , as though it had been spoken of some body else . Without doubt , either he never knew , or had forgot that he had done those things which they write of him . But Lucifer himself took the boldness ( having with some difficulty got Ignatius leave ) to take Nerius his part : and proceeded so far , that he adventured to say , That Baronius , Bozius and others , which proceeded out of the Hive of Nerius , had used a more free , open , and hard fashion against Princes , and better provided for the Popes direct jurisdiction upon all kingdoms , and more stoutly defended it than they , which undertaking the cause more tremblingly then becomes the Majestie of so great a business , adhered to Bellarmines sect , and devised such crooked ways , and such perplexed intanglings , as by reason of the various and uncertain circumstances , were of no use : And that whatsoever Nerius his Schollers had performed , must be attributed to him , as the fruit to the root . Ignatius perceiving that Lucifer undertook all offices for Nerius , and became Judge , Advocate , and Witness , pursuing his former resolution , determined to interrupt him lest when he had inlarged himself in Nerius commendation , he should thereby be bound to a reward . He therefore cryed out , What hath Nerius done ? what hath he or his followers put in execution ? have they not ever been only exercised in speculations , and in preparatory doctrins ? Are these books which are written of the Jurisdiction of the Pope , to any better use than Physicians Lectures of Diseases , and of Medicines ? whilst these Receits lie hid in Physicians books and no body goes to the Patient ; no body applyes the Medicines to the Disease . What good , what profit comes by all this ? what part , what member of this languishing body have they undertaken ? In what Kingdome have they corrected these humours which offend the Pope , either by their Incision or cauterising ? what state have they cut up into an Anatomy ? what Sceliton on have they provided for the instruction of posterity ? Do they hope to cure their diseases by talking and preaching as it were with charms and enchantments ? If Nerius shall be thought worthy of this honour , and this place , because out of his Schollers writings something may be gleaned , which may be applyed to this purpose , why should we not have Bez●… and Caloin , and the rest of that sort here in hell , since in their books there may be some things found which may be rested to this purpose ? But since their scope was not to extirpate Monarchies , since they published no such Canons and Aphorismes as might be applyed to all ca●…es , and so brought into certain use and consequence , but limited theirs to circumstances which seldome fall out , since they delivered nothing dangerous to Princes , but where in their opinion , the Soveraigntie resides in the People , or in certain Ephory , since they never said , that this power to violate the person of a Prince , might either be taken by any private man , or committed to him , and that therefore none of their Disciples hath ever boasted of having done any thing upon the person of his Soveraigne : we see that this place hath ever been shut against them : there have bin some few of them ( though I can scarce afford those men the honour to number them with Knox and Goodman , and Buchanan ) which following our examples , have troubled the peace of some States , and been injurious to some Princes , and have been admitted to some place in this Kingdome ; but since they have performed nothing with their hands nor can excuse themselves by saying , they were not able : ( for wherein was Clement , or Ravillac more able than they , or what is not he able to do in the middesof an Army , who despiseth his own life ? they scarce ever aspire , or offer at this secret and sacred Chamber . Lucifer had a purpose to have replied to this : That perchance all their hands which had bin imbrued in the bowells of Princes were not so immediatly armed by the Iesuites , as that they were ever present at all consultations and resolutions : ( and yet he meant to say this , not as sworn witnesse , but as Lucifer himselfe , and the father of lies , in which capacitie he might say any thing . ) But that it was enough that Confessors doe so possesse them with that doctrine that it is not now proposed to them as Physick , but as naturall food , and ordinary diet ; and that therfore for the performance of these things , a Iesuites person is no more requisite , then that the heart of a man , because it sends forth spirits into every limbe , should therefore be present in every limbe : that when it was in use for the Consuls of Rome for the the safety of their Country and army , to devote themselves over to the infernall God , it was lawfull for themselves to abstain and forbear the Act , and they might appoint any Souldier for that Sacrifice : and that so the Iesuits for the performance of their resolutions , might stir up any amongst the people : ( for now they enjoy all the priviledges of the Franciscans , who say ; That the name of People , comprehends all which are not of their Order ; ) And that if this be granted , Nerius his Schollers are inferiour to none ; with whose bookes ( if all the Iesuits should perish ) the Church might content her selfe , and never fear dearth nor leanenesse . This Lucifer would have spoken ; but he thought it better and easier to forbeare : for he observed , that Ignatius had given a sign , and that all his troupes which were many , subtile , and busie , set up their bristles , g●…mbled , and compacted themselves into one body , gathered , produced , and urged all their evidence , whatsoever they had done , or suffered . There the English Legion , which was called Capestrata , which Campian led , and ( as I thinke ) Garnet concluded , was fiercer than all the the rest . And as though there had been such a second Martirdome to have been suffered , or as though they might have put off their Immortallity , they offered themselves to any imployment . Therefore Lucifer gave Nerius a secret warning to withdraw himself , and spoke no more of him ; and despairing of bringing in an other , began earnestly to thinke , how he might leave Ignatius out . This therefore he said to him : I am sorry my Ignatius , that I can neither find in others , deserts worthy of this place , nor any room in this place worthy of your deserts . If I might die , I see there would be no long strife for a Successor : For if you have not yet done that act which I did at first in Heaven , and thereby got this Empire , this may excuse you , that no man hath been able to tell you what it was : For if any of the Ancients say true when they call it Pride , or Licentiousnesse , or Lying ; or if it be in any of the Casuists , which professe the Art of sinning , you cannot be accused of having omitted it . But since I may neither forsake this kingdome , nor divide it , this only remedy is left : I will write to the Bishop of Rome , he shall call Galilaeo the Florentine to him , who by this time bath throughly instructed himselfe of all the Hills , Woods , and Cities in the new world , the Moone . And since he effected so much with his first Glasses , that he saw the Moon in so neer a distance , that he gave himselfe satisfaction of all , and the least parts in her , when now being grown to more perfection in his Art , he shall have made new Glasses and they received a hallowing from the Pope , he may draw the Moon , like a Boat floating upon the water , as neer the Earth as he will. And thither ( because they ever claim that those imployments of discovery belong to them ) shall all the Iesuits be transferred , and easily unite and reconcile the Lunatick Church to the Roman Church : without doubt , after the Iesuites have been there a little while , there will soon grow naturally a Hell in that world also : over which , you Ignatius shall have dominion , and establish your kingdom and dwelling there . And with the same ease as you passe from the earth to the Moon , you may passe from the Moon to the other stars , which are also thought to be worlds , and so you may beget and propagate many Hels , and enlarge your Empire , and come neerer unto that high seate , which I left at first . Ignatius had not the patience to stay till Lucifer had made an end ; but as soon as he saw him pause , and take breath , and look , first upon his face , to observe what changes were there , and after to cast his eye to another place in Hell , where a great noyse was suddenly raysed : he apprehended this intermission , and as though Lucifer had ended , he said : That of Lucifers affection to the Roman Church , and to their Order , every day produced new Testimonies : and that this last was to be accounted as one of the greatest . That he knew well with how great devotion the Bishop of Rome did ever embrace and execute all councels proceding from him : And that therefore he hoped , that he would reserve that imployment for the Iesuits and that Empire for him their founder : and that he beleeved the Pope had thought of this before ; and at that time when he put Parsons the English Iesuite in hope of a Cardinalship , he had certainely a reference to this place , and to this Church : That it would fall out shortly , that all the dammages , which the Roman Church hath lately suffered upon the earth , shall be recompenced only there . And that now this refuge was opened if she should be reduced into greater streights , or if she should be utterly exterminated , the world would not much lament and mourne for it . And for the entertainment of the Iesuites there , there can be no doubt made at this time , when , ( although their profession be to enter whether Princes will or no ) all the Princes of the World will not only graciously afford them leave to go , but willingly and cheerfully accompany them with Certificates , and Demissory letters . nor would they much resist it , if the Pope himself would vouchsafe to go with them , and so fulfill in some small measure , that Prophecie of his Gerson , De Auferibilitate Papae . Besides this , a woman governs there ; of which sex they have ever made their profit , which have attempted any Innovation in religion ; with how much diligence were the two Empresses , Pulcheria and Eudoxia , solicited by the Pope for the establishing of Easter ? how earnestly did both Pelagius and the Pope strive by their letters to draw the Empress to their side ? For since Iulia had that honour given to her in publique coyns , that she was called the Mother of the Armie , the Mother of the Gods , and of the Senate , and the Mother of her Countrey : Why may not Women instructed by us , be called Mothers of the Church ? Why may not we relye upon the Wit of Women , when once , the Church delivered over her self to a Woman-Bishop ? and since we are reputed so fortunate in obtaining the favour of Women , that Women are forbid to come into our houses ; and we are forbid , to take the charge of any Nunns ; since we have had so good experience of their favour●… in all the Indies , or at least have thought it fit , that they which have the charge to write our anniversarie letters from thence should make that boast , and add something to the truth , both because the ancient Heretiques held that course in insinuating their opinions , and because they which are acquainted with our practices , will think any thing credible , which is written of us in that behalf , why should we doubt of our fortune in this Queen , which is so much subject to alterations and passions ? she languishes often in the absence of the Sun , and often in Eclipses falls into swounds , and is at the point of death . In these advantages we must play our parts , and put our devices in practise : for at these times any thing may be drawn from her . Nor must we forbear to try what verses and incantations may work upon her : For in those things which the Poets writ though they themselves did not believe them , we have since found many truths , and many deep mysteries : nor can I call to minde any woman which either deceived our hope , or escaped our cunning , but Elizabeth of England ; who might the rather be pardoned that , because she had put off all affections of women . The principal dignity of which sex ( which is to be a mother ) what reason had she to wish or affect , since without those womanish titles , unworthy of her , of wife and mother , such an heir was otherwise provided for her , as was not fit to be kept any longer from the inheritance . But when I , who hate them , speak thus much in the honour of these two Princes , I finde my self carried with the same fury as those beasts were , which our men say , did sometime adore the Host in the Mass. For it is against my will , that I pay thus much to the Manes of Elizabeth ; from scorning of which word Manes , when the King of great Britain writ it , I would our Parsons had forborn , since one of our own Jesuits useth the same word , when reprehending our adversaries , he saies , That they do insult upon Garnets Manes . And yet this Elizabeth was not free from all Innovation ; For the ancient Religion was so much worn out , that to reduce that to the former dignity , and so to renew it , was a kinde of Innovation : and by this way of Innovating she satisfied the infirmity of her sex , if she suffered any : for a little Innovation might serve her , who was but a little , a woman . Neither dare I say that this was properly an Innovation , lest thereby I should confess , that Luther and many others which live in banishment in Heaven far from us , might have a title to this place , as such Innovators . But we cannot doubt , but that this lunatick Queen will be more inclinable to our Innovations : for our Clavius hath been long familiarly conversant with her : what she hath done from the beginning , what she will do hereafter , how she behaves her self toward her neighbour kingdoms , the rest of the stars , and all the planetary , and firmamentary worlds , with whom she is in league and amity , and with whom at difference , he is perfectly instructed , so he have his Ephemerides about him . But Clavius is too great a personage to be bestowed upon this lunatick Queen , either as her Counceller , or ( which were more to our profit ) as her Confessor . So great a man must not be cast away upon so small a matter . Nor have we any other besides , whom upon any occasion we may send to the Sun , or to the other worlds , beyond the world . Therefore we must reserve Clavius for greater uses . Our Herbestus , or Busaus , or Voellus ( and these be all which have given any proof of their knowledg in Mathematicks although they be but tastless , and childish , may serve to observe her aspects and motions , and to make Catechismes fit for this lunatick Church : for though Garnet had Clavius for his Master , yet he profited little in the Arts , but being filled with Bellarmines Dictates , ( who was also his Master ) his minde was all upon Politicks . When we are established there , this will add much to our dignity , that in our letters which we send down to the earth ( except perchance the whole Roman Church come up to us into the Moon ) we may write of what miracles we list : which we offered to do out of the Indies , and with good success , till one of our Order , in simplicitie , and ingenuity , fitter for a Christian , then a Jesuite , acknowledged and lamented that there were no wiracles done there . Truly it had been better for us to have spit all those five Brothers , Acostas , out of our Order , then that any one of them should have vomited this reproach against us . It is of such men as these in our Order , that our Gretzer sayes , There is no body without his Excrements , because though they speak truth , yet they speak it too rawly . But as for this contemplation , and the establishing of that government , ( though it be a pleasant consideration ) we may neither pamper our selves longer with it now , nor detain you longer therein . Let your Greatness write , let the Pope execute your counsell , let the Moon approach when you 2 think fit . In the mean time let me use this Chamber as a resting place . For though Pope Gregorie were strucken by the Angell with a perpetuall pain in his stomack and feet , because he compelled God by his prayers to deliver Trajan out of Hell , and transferre him to Heaven , and therefore God , by the mouth of Gregorie took an assurance for all his Successors , that they should never dare to request the like again : yet when the Pope shall call me back from hence , he can be in no danger , both because in this contract God cannot bee presumed to have thought of me , since I never thought of him , and so the contract therein voyd ; and because the condition is not broken , if I be not removed into Heaven , but transferred from an earthly Hell to a Lunatique Hell. More then this he could not be heard to speak : For that noyse , of which I spoke before , increased exceedingly , and when Lucifer asked the cause , it was told him , That there was a soule newly arrived in Hell , which said , that the Pope was at last intreated to make Ignatius a Saint , and that he hastened his Canonization , as thinking it an unjust thing , that when all Artificers and prophane Butchers had particular Saints to invocate , onely these spirituall Butchers , and King-killers , should have none . For when the Jesuit Cotton in those questions which by vertue of his invisible priviledge he had provided for a possest person , amongst others , dangerous both to England and France , had inserted this question : What shall I doe for Ignatius his canonizing ? and found at last , that Philip King of Spain , and Henry King of France , contended by their Ambassadors at Rome , which of them should have the honour of obtaining his canonizing ( for both pretending to be King of Navarre , both pretended that this right and honour belonged to him ; and so both deluded the Jesuits : ) For D Alcala a Franciscan , and Penafort a Iacobite , were by Philips means canonized , and the Jesuite left out . At last he despaired of having any assistance from these Princes ; nor did he think it convenient that a Jesuit should be so much beholding to a King ▪ since Baronius was already come to that height and constancy , that being accused of som wrongs done to his King , he did not vouchsafe to write in his own excuse to the King , till the Conclave which was then held , was fully ended , lest ( as himselfe gives the reason ) if he had then been chosen Pope , it should be thought he had been beholden to the King therein . For these reasons therfore they labour the Pope themselves . They confess , that if they might chuse , they had rather he should restore them into all which they had lost in France and Venice , then that Ignatius should be sent up into Heaven ; and that the Pope was rather bound to doe so , by the Order which God himselfe seems to have observed in the Creation where he first furnished the Earth , and then the Heavens , and confirmed himselfe to be the Israeiltes God by this Argument , that he had given them the Land of Canaan and other temporall blessings . But since this exceeded the Popes omnipotence in earth ; it was fit he should try what he could doe in Heaven . Now the Pope would fain have satisfied them with the Title of Beatus , which formerly upon the intreaty of the Princes of that Family he had afforded to Aloisius Gonzaga of that Order . He would also have given this Title of Saint rather to Xaverius , who had the reputation of having done Miracles . Indeed he would have done any thing , so he might have slipped over Ignatius . But at last he is overcome ; and so against the will of Heaven , and of the Pope , Lucifer himselfe being not very forward in it , Ignatius must be thrust in amongst the Saints . All this Discourse , I , being grown cunninger then that Doctor , Gabriel Nele ( of whom Bartolus speaketh ) that by the onely motion of his lips , without any utterance , understood all men , perceived and read in every mans countenance there . These things as soon as Lucifer apprehended them , gave an end to the contention : For now he thought he might no longer doubt nor dispute of Ignatius his admission , who , besides his former pretences , had now gotten a new right and Title to the place by his Canonization ; and he feared that the Pope would take all delay ill at his hands , because Canonization is now grown a kind of Declaration , by which all men may take knowledge , that such a one to whom the Church of Rome is much beholden , is now made partaker of the principall dignities and places in Hell : For these men ever make as though they would follow Augustine in all things , and therfore they provide that that also shall be true which he said in this point , That the Reliques of many are honoured upon earth , whose souls are tormented in Hell. Therefore he took Ignatius by the hand , and led him to the Gate . In the mean time , I , which doubted of the truth of this Report of his Canonizing , went a little out for further instruction : for I thought it scarce credible , that Paulus Quintus , who had but lately burdened both the Citie of Rome , and the Church , with so great expences , when he canonized Francisca Romana , would so easily proceed to canonize Ignatius now , when neither any Prince offered to bear the charge , nor so much as sollicited it : for so he must be focred to wast both the Treasures of the Church at once . And from Leo 3. who 800 years after Christ , is the first Pope which canonized any , I had not observed that this had ever been done : Neither doe I think that Paulus Quintus was drawn to the canonizing of this woman by any other respect , then because that Rule which she appointed to her Order , was dictated and written by S. Paul : For though Peter and Magdalen , and others , were present at the writing thereof , as witnesses , yet Paul was the Author thereof . And since St Pauls old Epistles trouble and disadvantage this Church , they were glad to apprehend any thing of his new writing which might be for them , that so this new work of his might bear witness of his second conversion to Papistry , since by his first conversion to Christianity , they got nothing : for to say that in this business Paulus Quintus could not chuse but be God , God himselfe to say that he must needs have lived familiarly with the Godhead : and must have heard Predestination it self whispering to him : and must have had a place to sit in Councell with the most Divine Trinity , ( all which Valaderius sayes of him , is not necessary in this matter , wherein the Popes for the most part proceed , as humane affections lead them . But at last , after some enquiry , I found that a certain idle Gazettior , which used to scrape up newes and rumors at Rome , and so to make up sale letters , vainer & falser then the Iesuits letter of Iapan and the Indies , had brought this newes to Hell , and a little Iesuiticall Novice , a credulous soul , received it by his implicit faith , and published it . I laughed at Lucifers easinesse to beleeve , and I saw no reason ever after , to accuse him of infidelity . Upon this I came back again , to spy ( if the gates were still open ) with what affection Ignatius , and they who were in ancient possession of that place , behaved themselves towards one another . And I found him yet in the porch , and there beginning a new contention : for having presently cast his eyes to the principal place , next to Lucifers owne Throne ; and finding it possest he stopt Lucifer , and asked him who it was that sate there . It was answered that it was Pope Boniface : to whom ▪ as to a principal Innovator , for having first challenged the name of Universal Bishop , that honour was afforded . Is he an Innovator thundred Ignatius ? shall I suffer this , when all my disciples have laboured all this while to prove to the world , that all the Popes before his time did use that name ? and that Gregory did not reprehend the Patriarch Iohn for taking to himself an Antichristian name , but for usurping a name which was due to none but the Pope . And could it be fit for you , Lucifer ( who in this were either unmindfull of the Roman Church , or else too weak and incapable of her secrets and mysteries ) to give way to any fentence in Hell , which ( though it were according to truth ) yet differed from the Iesuits Oracles ? With this Ignatius flyes upwards , and rushes upon Boniface , and throwes him out of his Seat : and Lucifer went up with him as fast , and gave him assistance , lest , if he should forsake him , his own Seat might be indangered . And I returned to my body ; which As a flower wet with last nights dew , and then Warm'd with the new Sun , doth shake off agen All drowsiness , and raise his trembling Crown , Which crookedly did languish , and stoop down To kiss the earth , and panted now to finde Those beams return'd , which had not long time shin'd . was with this return of my soul sufficiently refreshed . And when I had seen all this , and consider'd how fitly and proportionally Rome and Hell answered one another , after I had seen a Iesuit turn the Pope out of his Chair in Hell , I suspected that that Order would attempt as much at Rome . An Apology for Iesuits . NOw it is time to come to the Apologie for Iesuits : that is , it is time to leave speaking of them , for he favours them most , which says least of them ; Nor can any man , though he had declaimed against them till all the sand of the sea were run through his hour-glass , lack matter to add of their practises . If any man have a minde to add any thing to this Apologie , he hath my leave ; and I have therefore left room for three or four lines , which is enough for such a paradox ; and more than Iungius , Scribanius , Gretzerus , Richeomus , Cydonius , and all the rest which are used to Apologies , and almost tired with a defensive war , are able to employ , if they will write only good things , and true , of the Iesuits . Neither can they comfort themselves with this , That Cato was called to his answer four and forty times : for he was so many times acquitted , which both the Parliaments of England and France deny of the Iesuits . But if any man think this Apology too short , he may think the whole book an Apologie , by this rule of their own , That it is their greatest argument of innocency to be accused by us . At this time , whilst they are yet somewhat able to do some harm in some places , let them make much of this Apologie . It will come to pass shortly , when as they have bin dispoyled and expelled at Venice , and shaked and fanned in France , so they will be forsaken of other Princes , and then their own weakness will be their Apologie , and they will grow harmless out of necessity , and that which Vegetius said of Chariots armed with sithes ond hooks , will be applyed to the Jesuits , at first they were a terror , and after a scorn . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A36301-e12570 Place this after Paradox XI . fol. 37. Notes for div A36301-e19120 Nuncius ●…ydereus . De stella 〈◊〉 Cygno . Paleotus de Sindone cap. 6. Iosephina di Gieron Gratian. Theod : Ni em : nemus unio , Tra. 6. cap. 29. Sedulius Apolog. pro libro Con form . l. 2. cap. 2. Harlay defence des Iesuites . Vollader : deCanoniza Fran cis Ro. in Epist. Bellar. de Purgat . lib. 2. c. 8. August de Haer. c. 81 Harlay . defence dis Iesuites mesdi . 6. Bulla 18 in Gre●… cont . 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 ovius de Majest . E●…s . milic . c. 7 Mosnes . Theor. 1 cap. 2. Imaginarium . 21 q. Omnis jactura . Modest. in verb. Milite 32. q. 2. Pudor . Flagel . Daemon . Menghi . Summa Bullarii , verbo Agnus Dei. Litera di Diego Torres . Dist. 32. qui. Ibid. Vidua . Scappus de jure non script - l. 1. c. 54. Sum. Angel . verb. Papa , N : 1 Money-takers . Theol. Niem . nemus unio Tract 6. c. 29. Rod : Cupers de Eccles : univers : fol. 4. Azor : par : 2. l. 4. c : 1. Moscontus de Maj. Eccl. Mil : c : 5. ibid : Idem c : 6. Scappus de Iure non scrip : l : 1. c : 25. Azor : ubi supra . Plat : in vit : Adr. I. Apologia pro Garnete . De desperata Calv : causa , c. 11 Rom : 12. 11 Ribadineyra Catal : fol : 60 & 100. Brisson de formul : l : 〈◊〉 Gretzer : Examen : speculi fol : 139. L'eschuffier , f : 25. Id : fol : 32. Observat : in Cassianum , fol : 736. ex collat : 19. Triha●…es lib : 2. c : 4. De la messe , fol : 358. Synta . Tholos : lib 15. c : 4. v : 7. Scap : de Iure non script : l. 1. c : 6. Ibid : c : 16 Ibid. c. 25 De Regno Sicil●… ▪ Resp. ad Card. Colum . Salmonees . Hypocr : l. 4. Aphor. 57. Garrauca stat . Synod . N. 41 Regul . Iesuit . cap. praefect . Refector . De rebus ●…uper inventis . Harlay defence des Iesuit . fol. 12. Valla-der fol. 24. Matalius Metellus , praefat . in Osorium . Paris de puteo , de syndicat . de excess . regn . Sophronius cap. 45. Conse●…uerat . 1 Vita Nerii-fol . 107. 2 Fol. 108. 3 Fol. 212. 4 Fol. 229. 5 Fol. 19. 6 Fol. 26. 7 Fol. 313. 8 Fol. 163. Brisson d●… formul . l. 1. Reinsulk Manual . Franciscan cap. 9. Nuncius Sydereus . e Rog. Iesuit . f●…l . 73. lbid . fol. 47. Heissius ad Aphor Iesuit . fol. 135. Eudaem . Ioan. Apol . pro Garn●… . c. 5. Acosta d●… procur . Ind. Salu l. 2 , c. 9. De studiis Iesuit . abstrus . c. 5. Bellar. de Purg. l. 2. c. 8. Pierre Mathier i. l. 1. Nar. 4 Litera ejus ad Philip. 3. Gen. 2. 4. Gen. 17. 8. Vita ejus Epist. ad Paul. 5. L. 1. de ve●…blig . Valade . eius fol. 57. Fol. 5. Notes for div A36301-e30810 Bonar . in Ampbitb . Lib. 1. c. 14. 
A36298	----	Letters to severall persons of honour written by John Donne ... ; published by John Donne, Dr. of the civill law. Correspondence. Selections Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1651 Approx. 315 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 164 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A36298 Wing D1864 ESTC R1211 12265009 ocm 12265009 57999 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A36298) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 57999) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 181:9) Letters to severall persons of honour written by John Donne ... ; published by John Donne, Dr. of the civill law. Correspondence. Selections Donne, John, 1572-1631. Donne, John, 1604-1662. [6], 318 p. : port. Printed by J. Flesher for Richard Marriot, and are to be sold at his shop ..., London : 1651. Reproduction of original in British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Donne, John, 1572-1631 -- Correspondence. Authors, English -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- Correspondence. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-04 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-05 TCP Staff (Michigan) Sampled and proofread 2002-05 John Latta Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-06 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion portrait of John Donne Viri Seraphici Joannis Donne Quadragenarij Effigies vera , Qui post eam aetatem Sacris initiatus Ecclesiae S ti Pauli Decanus obijt . Anō Dām 1631 o An̄o Aetatis suae 59 o Lombart Sculp . londre LETTERS TO SEVERALL PERSONS OF HONOUR : WRITTEN BY JOHN DONNE Sometime Deane of S t Pauls London . Published by JOHN DONNE D r. of the Civill Law. LONDON , Printed by J. Flesher , for Richard Marriot , and are to be sold at his shop in S t Dunstans Church-yard under the Dyall . 1651. To the most virtuous and excellent Lady M ris . BRIDGET DUNCH . MADAM , IT is an argument of the Immortality of the Soul , that it can apprehend , and imbrace such a Conception ; and , it may be some kinde of Prophecy , of the continuance , and lasting of these Letters , that having been scattered , more then Sibyls leaves , I cannot say into parts , but corners of the World , they have recollected and united themselves , meeting at once , as it were , at the same spring , from whence they flowed , but by Succession . But , the piety of Aeneas to Anchises , with the heat , and fervour of his zeale , had been dazelled , and extinguished by the fire of Troy , and his Father become his Tombe , had not a brighter flame appeared in his Protection , and Venus herself descended with her embraces , to protect her Martiall Champion ; so that there is no safer way , to give a perpetuity to this remnant of the dead Authour ; but , by dedicating it to the Altar of Beauty and perfection ; and if you , Madam , be but pleased to shed on it , one beame of your Grace and Favour , that very Adumbration will quicken it with a new Spirit , and defend it from all fire , ( the fate of most Letters ) but the last ; which , turning these into ashes , shall revive the Authour from his Vrne , and put him into a capacity of celebrating you , his Guardian Angell , who has protected that part of his Soul , that he left behinde him , his Fame and Reputation . The courtesies that you conferre upon the living , may admit of some allay , by a possibility of a Retaliation ; but what you bestow upon the Dead , is a Sacrifice to pure Virtue ; an ungifted Deity , t is true , without Oblation , Altar , or Temple , if she were not enshrined in your noble brest , but , I must , forever , become her votary , if it be , but for giving me this Inclination , and desire of being Madam Your most humble servant Jo. Donne . A COLLECTION of Letters written to severall Persons of Honour . To the worthiest Lady M rs . Bridget White . MADAME , I Could make some guesse whether souls that go to heaven , retain any memory of us that stay behinde , if I knew whether you ever thought of us , since you enjoyed your heaven , which is your self , at home . Your going away hath made London a dead carkasse . A Tearm , and a Court do a little spice and embalme it , and keep it from putrefaction , but the soul went away in you : and I think the onely reason why the plague is somewhat slackned , is , because the place is dead already , and no body left worth the killing . Wheresoever you are , there is London enough : and it is a diminishing of you to say so , since you are more then the rest of the world . When you have a desire to work a miracle , you will return hither , and raise the place from the dead , and the dead that are in it ; of which I am one , but that a hope that I have a room in your favour keeps me alive ; which you shall abundantly confirme to me , if by one letter you tell me , that you have received my six ; for now my letters are grown to that bulk , that I may divide them like Amadis the Gaules book , and tell you , that this is the first letter of the second part of the first book . Your humblest , and affectionate servant J. D. Strand S. Peters day at nine . To the worthiest Lady M rs . B. W. MADAME , I Think the letters which I send to you single lose themselves by the way for want of a guide , or faint for want of company . Now , that on your part there be no excuse , after three single letters , I send three together , that every one of them may have two witnesses of their delivery . They come also to waite upon another letter from S r E. Herbert , of whose recovery from a Fever , you may apprehend a perfecter contentment then we , because you had none of the former sorrow . I am an Heretique if it be sound Doctrine , that pleasure tasts best after sorrow . For my part , I can love health well enough , though I be never sick ; and I never needed my Mistris frowns and disfavours , to make her favours acceptable to me . In States , it is a weakness to stand upon a defensive war , and safer not to be invaded , then to have overcome : so in our souls health , an innocence is better then the heartiest repentance . And in the pleasures of this life , it is better that the variety of the pleasures give us the taste and appetite to it , then a sowre and sad interruption quicken our stomack ; for then we live by Physick . I wish therefore all your happinesses such as this intire , and without flaw , or spot of discontentment ; and such is the love and service of Your humblest and affectionatest servant J. D. Strand S. Peters day at 4. To the same . MADAME , THis letter which I send enclosed hath been yours many moneths , and hath languished upon my table for a passage so long , that as others send news in their letters , I send an antiquity in mine . I durst not tear it , after it was yours : there is some facriledge in defacing any thing consecrated to you , and some impiety to despaire that any thing devoted to you should not be reserved to a good issue . I remember I should have sent it by a servant , of whose diligence I see I was too confident . I know not what it says : but I dare make this letter no longer , because being very sure that I always think the same thoughts of you , I am afraid I should fall upon the same words , and so send one letter twice together . Your very affectionate servant J. D. Novemb. 8. To the Honourable Lady M rs . B. W. MADAME , I Have but small comfort in this letter ; the messenger comes too easily to me , and I am too sure that the letter shall be delivered . All adventures towards you should be of more difficulty and hazard . But perchance I need not lament this ; it may be so many of my letters are lost already that it is time that one should come , like Jobs servant , to bring word , that the rest were lost . If you have had more before , this comes to aske how they were received ; and if you have had none , it comes to try how they should have been received . It comes to you like a bashfull servant , who though he have an extreme desire to put himself in your presence , yet hath not much to say when he is come : yet hath it as much to say as you can think ; because what degrees soever of honour , respect , and devotion , you can imagine or beleeve to be in any , this letter tells you , that all those are in me towards you . So that for this letter you are my Secretary ; for your worthiness , and your opinion that I have a just estimation of them , write it : so that it is as long , and as good , as you think it ; and nothing is left to me , but as a witness , to subscribe the name of Your most humble servant J. D. Though this letter be yours , it will not misbecome or disproportion it that I mention your Noble brother , who is gone to Cleave , not to return till towards Christmas , except the business deserve him not so long . To the Honourable L. the Lady Kingsmel upon the death of her Husband . MADAME , THose things which God dissolves at once , as he shall do the Sun , and Moon , and those bodies at the last conflagration , he never intends to reunite again ; but in those things , which he takes in pieces , as he doth man , and wife , in these divorces , by death , and in single persons , by the divorce of body and soul , God hath another purpose to make them up again . That piece which he takes to himself , is presently cast in a mould , and in an instant made fit for his use ; for heaven is not a place of a proficiency , but of present perfection . That piece which he leaves behinde in this world , by the death of a part thereof , growes fitter and fitter for him , by the good use of his corrections , and the intire conformity to his will. Nothing disproportions us , nor makes us so uncapable of being reunited to those whom we loved here , as murmuring , or not advancing the goodness of him , who hath removed them from hence . We would wonder , to see a man , who in a wood were left to his liberty , to fell what trees he would , take onely the crooked , and leave the streightest trees ; but that man hath perchance a ship to build , and not a house , and so hath use of that kinde of timber : let not us , who know that in Gods house there are many Mansions , but yet have no modell , no designe of the forme of that building , wonder at his taking in of his materialls , why he takes the young , and leaves the old , or why the sickly overlive those , that had better health . We are not bound to think that souls departed , have devested all affections towards them , whom they left here ; but we are bound to think , that for all their loves they would not be here again : Then is the will of God done in Earth , as it is in Heaven , when we neither pretermit his actions , nor resist them ; neither pass them over in an inconsideration , as though God had no hand in them , nor go about to take them out of his hands , as though we could direct him to do them better . As Gods Scriptures are his will , so his actions are his will ; both are Testaments , because they testifie his minde to us . It is not lawfull to adde a scedule to either of his wills : as they do ill , who adde to his written will , the Scriptures , a scedule of Apcryphall books : so do they also , who to his other will , his manifested actions , adde Apocryphall conditions , and a scedule of such limitations as these , If God would have stayed thus long , or , If God would have proceeded thus long , or , If God would have proceeded in this or this manner , I could have born it . To say that our afflictions are greater then we can bear , is so near to despairing , as that the same words express both ; for when we consider Caines words in that originall tongue in which God spake , we cannot tell whether the words be , My punishment is greater then can be born ; or , My sin is greater then can be forgiven . But Madame , you who willingly sacrificed your self to God , in your obedience to him , in your own sickness , cannot be doubted to dispute with him , about any part of you , which he shall be pleased to require at your hands . The difference is great in the loss , of an arme , or a head ; of a child , or a husband : but to them , who are incorporated into Christ , their head , there can be no beheading ; upon you , who are a member of the spouse of Christ the Church , there can fall no widowhead , nor orphanage upon those children , to whom God is father . I have not another office by your husbands death ; for I was your Chaplaine before , in my daily prayers ; but I shall inlarge that office with other Collects , then before , that God will continue to you , that peace which you have ever had in him , and send you quiet , and peaceable dispositions in all them with whom you shall have any thing to do , in your temporall estate and matters of this world . Amen . Your Ladiships very humble and thankfull servant in Christ Jesus J. Donne . At my poor house at S. Pauls . 26. Octob. 1624. To my honoured friend S T. Lucey . SIR , I Make account that this writing of letters , when it is with any seriousness , is a kind of extasie , and a departure and secession and suspension of the soul , w ch doth then cōmunicate it self to two bodies : And as I would every day provide for my souls last convoy , though I know not when I shall die , and perchance I shall never die ; so for these extasies in letters , I oftentimes deliver my self over in writing when I know not when those letters shall be sent to you , and many times they never are , for I have a little satisfaction in seeing a letter written to you upon my table , though I meet no opportunity of sending it . Especially this summer , when either by my early retiring home , or your irresolutions of your own purposes , or some other possessions of yours you did lesse reveale to me your progresses , and stations , and where I might crosse you by letters , then heretofore : I make shift to lay little fault upon you , because my pardon might be easier , if I transgress into a longer and busier letter then your Countrey sports admit ; but you may read it in winter : And by that time I may more clearly express my self for those things which have entred into me , concerning your soul : for as the greatest advantage which mans soul is thought to have beyond others , is that which they call Actum reflexum , and iteratum , ( for Beasts do the same things as we do , but they do not consider nor remember the circumstances and inducements ; and by what power , and faculty , it is that they do them ) so of those which they call Actum reflexum the noblest is that which reflects upon the soul it self , and considers and meditates it , Into which consideration when I walke after my slow and unperfect pace , I begin to think that as litigious men tyred with suits , admit any arbitrement ; and Princes travailed with long and wastfull war , descend to such conditions of peace , as they are soon after ashamed to have embraced : so Philosophers , and so all sects of Christians , after long disputations and controversies , have allowed many things for positive and dogmaticall truths which are not worthy of that dignity ; And so many doctrines have grown to be the ordinary diet and food of our spirits , and have place in the pap of Catechismes , which were admitted but as Physick in that present distemper , or accepted in a lazie weariness , when men , so they might have something to relie upon , and to excuse themselves from more painfull inquisition , never examined what that was . To which indisposition of ours , the Casuists are so indulgent , as that they allow a conscience to adhere to any probable opinion against a more probable , and do never binde him to seek out which is the more probable , but give him leave to dissemble it and to depart from it , if by mischance he come to know it . This , as it appears in all sciences , so most manifestly in Physick , which for a long time considering nothing , but plain curing and that but by example and precedent , the world at last longed for some certain Canons and Rules , how these cures might be accomplished ; And when men are inflamed with this desire , and that such a fire breaks out that rages and consumes infinitly by heat of argument , except some of authority interpose . This produced Hippocrates his Aphorismes ; and the world slumbred or took breath , in his resolution divers hundreds of years : And then in Galens time , which was not satisfied with the effect of curing , nor with the knowledge how to cure , broke out another desire of finding out the causes why those simples wrought those effects . Then Galeu rather to stay their stomachs then that he gave them enough , taught them the qualities of the four Elements , and arrested them upon this , that all differences of qualities proceeded from them . And after , ( not much before our time ) men perceiving that all effects in Physick could not be derived form these beggerly and impotent properties of the Elements , and that therefore they were driven often to that miserable refuge of specifique form , and of antipathy and sympathy , we see the world hath turned upon new principles which are attributed to Paracelsus , but ( indeed ) too much to his honour . Certainly it is also so in the Physick of our soul Divinity , for in the Primitive Church , when amongst the Fathers there were so divers opinions of the state of the soul , presently after this life , they easily inclined to be content to do as much for them dead as when they were alive , and so concurred in a charitable disposition to pray for them ; which manner of prayer then in use , no Christian Church at this day having received better light , will allow of . So also when in the beginning of S. Augustines time , Grace had been so much advanced that mans Nature was scarce admitted to be so much as any means or instrument ( not onely no kinde of cause ) of his own good works : And soon after in S. Augustines time also mans free will ( by fierce opposition and arguing against the former error ) was too much overvalued , and admitted into too near degrees of fellowship with Grace ; those times admitted a doctrine and form of reconciliation , which though for reverence to the time , both the Dominicans and Jesuits at this day in their great quarrell about Grace and Free will would yet seem to maintaine , yet indifferent and dispasioned men of that Church see there is no possibility in it , and therefore accuse it of absurdity and almost of heresie . I think it falls out thus also in the matter of the soul : for Christian Religion presuming a soul , and intending principally her happiness in the life to come , hath been content to accept any way which hath been obtruded ; how this soul is begun in us . Hence it is that whole Christian Churches aresthemselves upon propagation from parents ; and other whole Christian Churches allow onely infusion from God. In both which opinions there appear such infirmities as it is time to look for a better : for whosoever will adhere to the way of propagation , can never evict necessarily and certainly a naturall immortality in the soul , if the soul result out of matter , nor shall he ever prove that all mankind hath any more then one soul : as certainly of all beasts , if they receive such souls as they have from their parents , every species can have but one soul. And they which follow the opinion of infusion from God , and of a new creation ( which is now the more common opinion ) as they can very hardly defend the doctrin of original sin ( the soul is forced to take this infection , and comes not into the body of her own disposition ) so shall they never be able to prove that all those whom we see in the shape of men have an immortall and reasonable soul , because our parents are as able as any other species is to give us a soul of growth and of sense , and to perform all vitall and animall functions . And so without infusion of such a soul may produce a creature as wise and well disposed as any horse or Elephant , of which degree many whom we see come far short ; nor hath God bound or declared himself that he will always create a soul for every embryon , there is yet therefore no opinion in Philosophy , nor Divinity , so well established as constrains us to beleeve , both that the soul is immortall , and that every particular man hath such a soul : which since out of the great mercy of our God we do constantly beleeve , I am ashamed that we do not also know it by searching farther : But as sometimes we had rather beleeve a Travellers lie then go to disprove him ; so men rather cleave to these ways then seek new : yet because I have meditated therein , I will shortly aquaint you with what I think ; for I would not be in danger of that law of Moses , That if a man dig a pit , and cover it not , he must recompense those which are damnified by it : which is often interpreted of such as shake old opinions , and do not establish new as certain , but leave consciences in a worse danger then they found them in . I beleeve that law of Moses hath in it some mysterie and appliablenesse ; for by that law men are onely then bound to that indemnity and compensation , if an Oxe or an Asse ( that is , such as are of a strong constitution and accustomed to labour ) fall therein ; but it is not said so , if a Sheep or a Goat fall : no more are we , if men in a sillinesse or wantonnesse will stumble or take a scandall , bound to rectifie them at all times . And therefore because I justly presume you strong and watchfull enough , I make account that I am not obnoxious to that law , since my meditations are neither too wide nor too deep for you , except onely that my way of expressing them may be extended beyond your patience and pardon , which I will therefore tempt no longer at this time . Your very affectionate friend and servant and lover I. Donne . From Micham , my close prison ever since I saw you , 9 Octob. To the Noblest Knight S r. Edward Herbert L. of Cherbury ; sent to him with his Book Biathanatos . SIR , I Make accompt that this book hath enough performed that which it undertook , both by argument and example . It shall therefore the lesse need to be it self another example of the Doctrine . It shall not therefore kill it self ; that is , not bury it self ; for if it should do so , those reasons , by which that act should be defended or excused , were also lost with it . Since it is content to live , it cannot chuse a wholsomeraire then your Library , where Authors of all complexions are presented . If any of them grudge this book a room , and suspect it of new or dangerous doctrine , you who know us all , can best moderate . To those reasons which I know your love to me will make in my favour and discharge , you may adde this , that though this doctrine hath not been taught nor defended by writers , yet they , most of any sort of men in the world , have practised it . Your very true and earnest friend and servant and lover J. Donne . To S r Robert Carre now Earle of Ankerum , with my Book Biathanatos at my going into Germany . SIR , I Had need do somewhat towards you above my promises ; How weak are my performances , when even my promises are defective ? I cannot promise , no not in mine own hopes , equally to your merit towards me . But besides the Poems , of which you took a promise , I send you another Book to which there belongs this History . It was written by me many years since ; and because it is upon a misinterpretable subject , I have always gone so near suppressing it , as that it is onely not burnt : no hand hath passed upon it to copy it , nor many eyes to read it : onely to some particular friends in both Universities , then when I writ it , I did communicate it : And I remember , I had this answer , That certainly , there was a false thread in it , but not easily found : Keep it , I pray , with the same jealousie ; let any that your discretion admits to the sight of it , know the date of it ; and that it is a Book written by Jack Donne , and not by D. Donne : Reserve it for me , if I live , and if I die , I only forbid it the Presse , and the Fire : publish it not , but yet burn it not ; and between those , do what you will with it . Love me still , thus farre , for your own sake , that when you withdraw your love from me , you will finde so many unworthinesses in me , as you grow ashamed of having had so long , and so much , such a thing as Your poor servant in Chr. Jes. J. Donne . To the Countesse of Bedford . MADAM , AMongst many other dignities which this letter hath by being received and seen by you , it is not the least , that it was prophesied of before it was born : for your brother told you in his letter , that I had written : he did me much honour both in advancing my truth so farre as to call a promise an act already done ; and to provide me a means of doing him a service in this act , which is but doing right to my self : for by this performance of mine own word , I have also justified that part of his Letter which concerned me ; and it had been a double guiltinesse in me , to have made him guilty towards you . It makes no difference that this came not the same day , nor bears the same date as his ; for though in inheritances and worldly possessions we consider the dates of Evidences , yet in Letters , by which we deliver over our affections , and assurances of friendship , and the best faculties of our souls , times and daies cannot have interest , nor be considerable , because that which passes by them , is eternall , and out of the measure of time . Because therefore it is the office of this Letter , to convey my best wishes , and all the effects of a noble love unto you , ( which are the best fruits that so poor a soil , as my poor soul is , can produce ) you may be pleased to allow the Letter thus much of the souls privilege , as to exempt it from straitnesse of hours , or any measure of times , and so beleeve it came then . And for my part , I shall make it so like my soul , that as that affection , of which it is the messenger , begun in me without my knowing when , any more then I know when my soul began ; so it shall continue as long as that . Your most affectionate friend and servant J. D. To the right honourable the Countess of Montgomery . MADAM , OF my ability to doe your Ladiship service , any thing may be an embleme good enough ; for as a word vanisheth , so doth any power in me to serve you ; things that are written are fitter testimonies , because they remain and are permanent : in writing this Sermon which your Ladiship was pleased to hear before , I confesse I satisfie an ambition of mine own , but it is the ambition of obeying your commandment , not onely an ambition of leaving my name in the memory , or in the Cabinet : and yet , since I am going out of the Kingdom , and perchance out of the world , ( when God shall have given my soul a place in heaven ) it shall the lesse diminish your Ladiship , if my poor name be found about you . I know what dead carkasses things written are , in respect of things spoken . But in things of this kinde , that soul that inanimates them , receives debts from them : The Spirit of God that dictates them in the speaker or writer , and is present in his tongue or hand , meets himself again ( as we meet our selves in a glass ) in the eies and hearts of the hearers and readers : and that Spirit , which is ever the same to an equall devotion , makes a writing and a speaking equall means to edification . In one circumstance , my preaching and my writing this Sermon is too equall : that that your Ladiship heard in a hoarse voyce then , you read in a course hand now : but in thankfulnesse I shall lift up my hands as clean as my infirmities can keep them , and a voyce as clear as his spirit shall be pleased to tune in my prayers in all places of the world , which shall either sustain or bury Your Ladiships humble servant in Christ Iesus J. D. To Sir H. R. IF a whole year be but Annus ab Annulo , because it returnes into it self , what Annululus shall be diminutive enough , to express our weekly revolutions ? In chaines the least linkes have most curiosity , but that can be no emblem of us : but they have also the most strength , and that may . The first sphere onely which is resisted by nothing , absolves his course every day ; and so doth true friendship well placed , often iterate in act or purpose , the same offices . But as the lower spheres , subject to the violence of that , and yet naturally encouraged to a reluctation against it , have therefore many distractions , and eccentricities , and some trepidations , and so return but lamely , and lately to the same place , and office : so that friendship which is not moved primarily by the proper intelligence , discretion , and about the naturall center , vertue , doth perchance sometimes , some things , somewhat like true friendship ; but hath many deviations , which are strayings into new loves , ( not of other men ; for that is proper to true wise friendship , which is not a marring ; but of other things ) and hath such trepidations as keep it from shewing it self , where great persons do not love ; and it returns to the true first station and place of friendship planetarily , which is uncertainly and seldome . I have ever seen in London and our Court , as some colours , and habits , and continuances , and motions , and phrases , and accents , and songs , so friends in fashion and in season : and I have seen them as sodainly abandoned altogether , though I see no change in them , nor know more why they were left , then why they were chosen . To do things by example , and upon confidence of anothers judgment may be some kinde of a second wisdome ; but it is but writing by a copy : or indeed it is the hardest of all , and the issue of the first wisdome , for I cannot know that this example should be followed , except I knew that it is good , and so I judge my Judge . Our assent therefore , and arrest , must be upon things , not persons . And when we are sure we are in the right way , for great persons , we may be glad of their company , if they go our way ; we may for them change our place , but not our end , nor our way , if there be but one , us in Religion . In persevering in it , it concerns as much what our companions be , but very much what our friends . In which I know I speak not dangerously nor mis-appliably to you , as though I averted you from any of those friends , who are of other impressions then you or I in some great circumstances of Religion . You know I never fettered nor imprisoned the word Religion ; not straightning it Frierly , ad Religiones factitias , ( as the Romans call well their orders of Religion ) nor immuring it in a Rome , or a Wittemberg , or a Geneva ; they are all virtuall beams of one Sun , and wheresoever they finde clay hearts , they harden them , and moulder them into dust ; and they entender and mollifie waxen . They are not so contrary as the North and South Poles ; and that they are connaturall pieces of one circle . Religion is Christianity , which being too spirituall to be seen by us , doth therefore take an apparent body of good life and works , so salvation requires an honest Christian. These are the two Elements , and he which elemented from these , hath the complexion of a good man , and a fit friend . The diseases are , too much intention into indiscreet zeal , and too much remisnesse and negligence by giving scandall : for our condition and state in this , is as infirm as in our bodies ; where physitians consider only two degrees ; sicknesse , and neutrality ; for there is no health in us . This , Sir , I use to say to you , rather to have so good a witnesse and corrector of my meditations , then to advise ; and yet to do that too , since it is pardonable in a friend : Not to slack you towards those friends which are religious in other clothes then we ; ( for Amici vitia si feras facis tua , is true of such faults ) but to keep you awake against such as the place where you must live will often obtrude , which are not onely naked , without any fashion of such garments , but have neither the body of Religion , which is morall honesty , and sociable faithfulness , nor the soul , Christianity . I know not how this paper scaped last week which I send now ; I was so sure that I enwrapped it then , that I should be so still , but that I had but one copy ; forgive it as you use to do . From Micham in as much haste , and with as ill Pen and Inke , as the letter can accuse me of ; but with the last and the next weeks heart and affection . Yours very truely and affectionately J. Donne . To Sir H. G. SIR , THis letter hath more merit , then one of more diligence , for I wrote it in my bed , and with much pain . I have occasion to sit late some nights in my study , ( which your books make a prety library ) and now I finde that that room hath a wholesome emblematique use : for having under it a vault , I make that promise me , that I shall die reading , since my book and a grave are so near . But it hath another unwholesomenesse , that by raw vapors rising from thence , ( for I can impute it to nothing else ) I have contracted a sicknesse which I cannot name nor describe . For it hath so much of a continuall Cramp , that it wrests the sinews , so much of a Tetane , that it withdraws and puls the mouth , and so much of the Gout , ( which they whose counsell I use , say it is ) that it is not like to be cured , though I am too hasty in three days to pronounce it . If it be the Gout , I am miserable ; for that affects dangerous parts , as my neck and brest , and ( I think fearfully ) my stomach , but it will not kill me yet ; I shall be in this world , like a porter in a great house , ever nearest the door , but seldomest abroad : I shall have many things to make me weary , and yet not get leave to be gone . If I go , I will provide by my best means that you suffer not for me , in your bonds . The estate which I should leave behinde me of any estimation , is my poor fame , in the memory of my friends , and therefore I would be curious of it , and provide that they repent not to have loved me . Since my imprisonment in my bed , I have made a meditation in verse , which I call a Litany ; the word you know imports no other then supplication , but all Churches have one forme of supplication , by that name . Amongst ancient annals I mean some 800 years , I have met two Letanies in Latin verse , which gave me not the reason of my meditations , for in good faith I thought not upon them then , but they give me a defence , if any man ; to a Lay man , and a private , impute it as a fault , to take such divine and publique names , to his own little thoughts . The first of these was made by Ratpertus a Monk of Suevia ; and the other by S. Notker , of whom I will give you this note by the way , that he is a private Saint , for a few Parishes ; they were both but Monks , and the Letanies poor and barbarous enough ; yet Pope Nicolas the 5 , valued their devotion so much , that he canonized both their Poems , and commanded them for publike service in their Churches : mine is for lesser Chappels , which are my friends , and though a copy of it were due to you , now , yet I am so unable to serve my self with writing it for you at this time , ( being some 30 staves of 9 lines ) that I must intreat you to take a promise that you shall have the first , for a testimony of that duty which I owe to your love , and to my self , who am bound to cherish it by my best offices . That by which it will deserve best acceptation , is , That neither the Roman Church need call it defective , because it abhors not the particular mention of the blessed Triumphers in heaven ; nor the Reformed can discreetly accuse it , of attributing more then a rectified devotion ought to doe . The day before I lay down , I was at London , where I delivered your Letter for S r Ed. Conway , and received another for you , with the copy of my Book , of which it is impossible for me to give you a copy so soon , for it is not of much lesse then 300 pages . If I die , it shall come to you in that fashion that your Letter desires it . If I warm again , ( as I have often seen such beg-gers as my indisposition is , end themselves soon , and the patient as soon ) you and I shal speak together of that , before it be too late to serve you in that commandment . At this time I onely assure you , that I have not appointed it upon any person , nor ever purposed to print it : which later perchance you thought , and grounded your request thereupon . A Gent. that visited me yesterday told me that our Church hath lost M r Hugh Broughton , who is gone to the Roman side . I have known before , that Serarius the Jesuit was an instrument from Cardinall Baronius to draw him to Rome , to accept a stipend , onely to serve the Christian Churches in controversies with the Jews , without indangering himself to change of his perswasion in particular deductions between these Christian Churches , or being enquired of , or tempted thereunto . And I hope he is no otherwise departed from us . If he be , we shall not escape scandall in it ; because , though he be a man of many distempers , yet when he shall come to eat assured bread , and to be removed from partialities , to which want drove him , to make himself a reputation , and raise up favourers ; you shall see in that course of opposing the Jews , he will produce worthy things : and our Church will perchance blush to have lost a Souldier fit for that great battell ; and to cherish onely those single Duellisms , between Rome and England , or that more single , and almost self-homicide , between the unconformed Ministers , and Bishops . I writ to you last week that the plague increased ; by which you may see that my Letters — — opinion of the song , not that I make such trifles for praise ; but because as long as you speak comparatively of it with mine own , and not absolutely , so long I am of your opinion even at this time ; when I humbly thank God , I ask & have , his comfort of sadder meditations ; I doe not condemn in my self , that I have given my wit such evaporations , as those , if they be free from prophaneness , or obscene provocations . S r you would pity me if you saw me write , and therefore will pardon me if I write no more : my pain hath drawn my head so much awry , and holds it so , that mine eie cannot follow mine hand : I receive you therefore into my prayers , with mine own weary soul , and commend my self to yours . I doubt not but next week I shall be good news to you , for I have mending or dying on my side , which is two to one . If I continue thus , I shall have comfort in this , that my B. Saviour exercising his Justice upon my two worldly parts , my fortune , and body , reserves all his mercy for that which best tasts it , and most needs it , my soul. I professe to you truly , that my lothnesse to give over now , seems to my self an ill sign , that I shall write no more . Your poor friend , and God's poor patient , Jo. Donne . To my worthy and honoured friend M r George Garet . SIR , I Am sorry , if your care of me have made you importune to any body else ; yet I cannot be very sorry because it gives new testimonies of your favour to me , of which I shall ever be very glad , and ( that which is my onely vertue ) thankfull : so desperate fortunes as mine , may well make friends loth to doe curtesies , because an inability in deserving or requiting , takes from them the honour of having done a curtesie , and leaves it but the poor name of an alms ; and alms may be given in easier proportions , and more meritoriously . But S r , by what name or weight soever you esteem this kindnesse which you have done me , I value it so , as might alone perswade me of your care of me ; in recompense of which , you must be pleased to accept new assurances that I am I pray let my service be presented by you to M r Roope . Your very affectionate servant , J. Donne . To M r George Garet . SIR , I Have not received that Letter , which by this , I perceive you sent to London ; if there were any thing in that , by which I might have taken occasion to have done you service before this time , I have a double reason of grief for the want of it . I came from thence upon Thursday , where I left Sir Tho. Roe so indulgent to his sorrow , as it had been an injury to have interrupted it with my unusefull company . I have done nothing of that kinde as your Letter intimates , in the memory of that good Gentlewoman ; if I had , I should not finde any better use of it , then to put it into your hands . You teach me what I owe her memory ; and if I pay that debt so , you have a part and interest in it , by doing me the honour of remembring it : and therefore it must come quickly to you . I hope not for your return from Court , till I come thither ; which if I can be master of my self , or servant to my self , which I think is all one , I hope to do some ten daies hence , making it my way to the Bathe . If you find any there that have not forgot my name , continue me in their favour , and hold in your self a firm assurance that I am Your affectionate servant J. Donne . J. Donne . To M rs Martha Garet . MADAME , THough there be much merit , in the favour your brother hath done me in a visit , yet that which doth enrich and perfect it , is , that he brought you with him ; which he doth , as well by letting me see how you do , as by giving me occasions , and leave to talk with you by this Letter : if you have any servant , which wishes you better then I , it must be because he is able to put his wishes into a better frame , and expresse them better , and understand proportion , and greatnesse better then I. I am willing to confesse my impotencie ; which is , that I know no wish good enough for you ; if any doe , my advantage is , that I can exceed his , by adding mine to it . You must not think that I begin to think thus , when you begin to hear it , by a Letter ; As sometimes by the changing of the winde , you begin to hear a Trumpet , which sounded long before you heard it ; so are these thoughts of you familiar and ordinary in me , though they have seldome the help of this conveyance to your knowledge : I am loth to leave ; for as long as in any fashion , I can have your brother and you here , you make my house a kinde of Dorvey ; but since I cannot stay you here , I will come thither to you ; which I do , by wrapping up in this paper , the heart of Your most affectionate servant J. Donne . To Sir Thomas Roe . SIR , IT is an ease to your friends abroad , that you are more a man of businesse then heretofore ; for now it were an injury to trouble you with a busie Letter . But by the same reason I were inexcusable if I should not write at all , since the lesse , the more acceptable ; therefore , Sir , though I have no more to say , but to renew the obligations I have towards you , and to continue my place in your love , I would not forbear to tell you so . If I shall also tell you , that when this place affords any thing worth your hearing , I will be your relator , I think I take so long a day , as you would forget the debt , it appears yet to be so barren . How soever with every commodity , I shall say something , though it be but a descant upon this plain song , that I am Your affectionate servant J. Donne . To all my friends : Sir H. Goodere . SIR , I Am not weary of writing ; it is the course but durable garment of my love ; but I am weary of wanting you . I have a minde like those bodies , which have hot Livers , and cold stomachs ; or such a distemper as travelled me at Paris ; a Fever , and dysentery : in which , that which is physick to one infirmity , nourishes the other . So I abhor nothing more then sadnesse , except the ordinary remedy , change of company . I can allow my self to be Animal sociale , appliable to my company , but not gregale , to herd my self in every troup . It is not perfectly true which a very subtil , yet very deep wit Averroes says , that all mankinde hath but one soul , which informes and rules us all , as one Intelligence doth the firmament and all the Starres in it ; as though a particular body were too little an organ for a soul to play upon . And it is as imperfect which is taught by that religion w ch is most accommodate to sense ( I dare not say to reason ( though it have appearance of that too ) because none may doubt but that that religion is certainly best , which is reasonablest ) That all mankinde hath one protecting Angel ; all Christians one other , all English one other , all of one Corporation and every civill coagulation or society one other ; and every man one other . Though both these opinions expresse a truth ; which is , that mankinde hath very strong bounds to cohabit and concurre in other then mountains and hills during his life . First , common , and mutuall necessity of one another ; and therefore naturally in our defence , and subventions we first flie to our felves ; next , to that which is likest , other men . Then , naturall and inborn charity , beginning at home , which perswades us to give , that we may receive : And legall charity , which makes us also forgive . Then an ingraffing in one another , and growing together by a custome of society : and last of all , strict friendship , in which band men were so presumed to be coupled , that our Confessor King had a law , that if a man be killed , the murderer shall pay a sum felago suo , which the interpreters call , fide ligato , et comite vitae . All these bands I willingly receive , for no man is lesse of himself then I : nor any man enough of himself . To be so , is all one with omnipotence . And it is well marked , that in the holy Book , wheresoever they have rendered Almighty , the word is Self-sufficient . I think sometimes that the having a family should remove me farre from the curse of Vae soli . But in so strict obligation of Parent , or Husband , or Master , ( and perchance it is so in the last degree of friendship ) where all are made one , I am not the lesse alone , for being in the midst of them . Therefore this oleum laetitiae , this balme of our lives , this alacrity which dignifies even our service to God , this gallant enemy of dejection and sadnesse , ( for which and wickednesse the Italian allows but one word , Triste : And in full condemnation whereof it was prophesied of our blessed Saviour , Non erit tristis , in his conversation ) must be sought and preserved diligently . And since it grows without us , wemust be sure to gather it from the right tree . They which place this alacrity only in a good conscience , deal somewhat too roundly with us , for when we aske the way , they shew us the town afar off : Will a Physitian consulted for health and strength , bid you have good sinews and equall temper ? It is true , that this conscience is the resultance of all other particular actions ; it is our triumph and banquet in the haven ; but I would come towards that also , ( as Mariners say ) with a merry winde . Our nature is Meteorique , we respect ( because we partake so ) both earth and heaven ; for as our bodies glorified shall be capable of spirituall joy , so our souls demerged into those bodies , are allowed to partake earthly pleasure . Our soul is not sent hither , only to go back again : we have some errand to do here : nor is it sent into prison , because it comes innocent : and he which sent it , is just . As we may not kill our selves , so we may not bury our selves : which is done or endangered in a dull Monastique sadnesse , which is so much worse then jolity ( for upon that word I durst — — And certainly despair is infinitly worse , then presumption : both because this is an excesse of love , that of fear ; and because this is up , that down the hill ; easier , and more stumbling . Heaven is expressed by singing , hell by weeping . And though our blessed Saviour be never noted to have laughed , yet his continuance is said ever to be smiling . And that even moderate mirth of heart , and face , and all I wish to my self ; and perswade you to keep . This alacrity is not had by a general charity and equanimity to all mankinde , for that is to seek fruit in a wildernesse : nor from a singular friend , for that is to fetch it out of your own pocket : but the various and abundant grace of it , is good company . In which no rank , no number , no quality , but ill , and such a degree of that as may corrupt and poyson the good , is exempt . For in nearer then them , your friend , and somewhat nearer then he , in your self you must allow some inordinatenesse of affections and passions . For it is not true that they are not natural , but stormes and tempests of our bloud and humours : for they are naturall , but siokly . And as the Indian priests expressed an excellent charity , by building Hospitalls and providing chirurgery for birds and beasts samed by mischance , or age , or labour : so must we , not cut off , but cure these affections , which are the bestiall part . To Sir H. Goodere . SIR , EVery tuesday I make account that I turn a great hour-glass , and consider that a weeks life is run out since I writ . But if I aske my self what I have done in the last watch , or would do in the next , I can say nothing ; if I say that I have passed it without hurting any , so may the Spider in my window . The primitive Monkes were excusable in their retirings and enclosures of themselves : for even of them every one cultivated his own garden and orchard , that is , his soul and body , by meditation , and manufactures ; and they ought the world no more since they consumed none of her sweetnesse , nor begot others to burden her . But for me , if I were able to husband all my time so thriftily , as not onely not to wound my soul in any minute by actuall sinne , but not to rob and cousen her by giving any part to pleasure or businesse , but bestow it all upon her in meditation , yet even in that I should wound her more , and contract another guiltinesse : As the Eagle were very unnaturall if because she is able to do it , she should pearch a whole day upon a tree , staring in contemplation of the majestie and glory of the Sun , and let her young Eglets starve in the nest . Two of the most precious things which God hath afforded us here , for the agony and exercise of our sense and spirit , which are a thirst and inhiation after the next life , and a frequency of prayer and meditation in this , are often envenomed , and putrefied , and stray into a corrupt disease : for as God doth thus occasion , and positively concurre to evill , that when a man is purposed to do a great sin , God infuses some good thoughts which make him choose a lesse sin , or leave out some circumstance which aggravated that ; so the devill doth not only suffer but provoke us to somethings naturally good , upon condition that we shall omit some other more necessary and more obligatory . And this is his greatest subtilty ; because herein we have the deceitfull comfort of having done well , and can very hardly spie our errour because it is but an insensible omission , and no accusing act . With the first of these I have often suspected my self to be overtaken ; which is , with a desire of the next life : which though I know it is not meerly out of a wearinesse of this , because I had the same desires when I went with the tyde , and enjoyed fairer hopes then now : yet I doubt worldly encombrances have encreased it . I would not that death should take me asleep . I would not have him meerly seise me , and onely declare me to be dead , but win me , and overcome me . When I must shipwrack , I would do it in a Sea , where mine impotencie might have some excuse ; not in a sullen weedy lake , where I could not have so much as exercise for my swimming . Therefore I would fain do something ; but that I cannot tell what , is no wonder . For to chuse , is to do : but to be no part of any body , is to be nothing . At most , the greatest persons , are but great wens , and excrescences ; men of wit and delightfull conversation , but as moales for ornament , except they be so incorporated into the body of the world , that they contribute something to the sustentation of the whole . This I made account that I begun early , when I understood the study of our laws : but was diverted by the worst voluptuousnes , which is an Hydroptique immoderate desire of humane learning and languages : beautifull ornaments to great fortunes ; but mine needed an occupation , and a course which I thought I entred well into , when I submitted my self to such a service , as I thought might imployed those poor advantages , which I had . And there I stumbled too , yet I would try again : for to this hour I am nothing , or so little , that I am scarce subject and argument good enough for one of mine own letters : yet I fear , that doth not ever proceed from a good root , that I am so well content to be lesse , that is dead . You , Sir , are farre enough from these descents , your vertue keeps you secure , and your naturall disposition to mirth will preserve you ; but lose none of these holds , a slip is often as dangerous as a bruise , and though you cannot fall to my lownesse , yet in a much lesse distraction you may meet my sadnesse ; for he is no safer which falls from an high tower into the leads , then he which falls from thence to the ground : make therefore to your self some mark , and go towards it alegrement . Though I be in such a planetary and erratique fortune , that I can do nothing constantly , yet you may finde some constancy in my constant advising you to it . Your hearty true friend J. Donne . I came this evening from M. Jones his house in Essex , where M. Martin hath been , and left a relation of Captain Whitcocks death , perchance it is no news to you , but it was to me ; without doubt want broke him ; for when M. Hollands company by reason of the plague broke , the Captain sought to be at M ris . Jones house , who in her husbands absence declining it , he went in the night , his boy carrying his cloakbag , on foot to the Lord of Sussex , who going next day to hunt , the Captain not then sick , told him he would see him no more . A Chaplain came up to him , to whom he delivered an account of his understanding , and I hope , of his beliefe , and soon after dyed ; and my Lord hath buryed him with his own Ancestors . Perchance his life needed a longer sicknesse , but a man may go faster and safer , when he enjoyes that day light of a clear and sound understanding , then in the night or twilight of an ague or other disease . And the grace of Almighty God doth every thing suddenly and hastily , but depart from us , it inlightens us , warms us , heats us , ravishes us , at once . Such a medicin , I fear , his inconsideration needed ; and I hope as confidently that he had it . As our soul is infused when it is created , and created when it is infused , so at her going out , Gods mercy is had by asking , and that is asked by having . Lest your Polesworth carrier should cousen me , I send my man with this letter early to London , whither this Tuesday all the Court come to a Christening at Arondell house , and stay in town so that I will sup with the good Lady , and write again to morrow to you , if any thing be occasioned there , which concerns you , and I will tell her so ; next day they are to return to Hampton , and upon friday the King to Royston . To Sir H. Goodere . SIR , IF this which I send you inclosed give me right intelligence , I present you a way by which you may redeem all your former wastes , and recompense your ill fortunes , in having sometimes apprehended unsuccesfull suits , and ( that which I presume you affect most ) ease your self from all future inquisition of widowes or such businesses as aske so over industrious a pursuit , as devest a man from his best happinesse of enjoying himself . I give you ( I think ) the first knowledge , of two millions confiscated to the Crown of England : of which I dare assure my self the coffers have yet touched none , nor have the Commissioners for suits any thing to oppose against a suit founded upon this confiscation , though they hold never so strictly to their instructions . After you have served your self with aproportion , I pray make a petition in my name for as much as you think may begiven me for my book out of this ; for , but out of this , I have no imagination . And for a token of my desire to serve him , present M. Fowler with 3 or 4000 li. of this since he was so resolved never to leave his place , without a suit of that value . I wish your cousen in the town , better provided , but if he be not , here is enough for him . And since I am ever an affectionate servant to that journey , acquaint M. Martin from me , how easie it will be to get a good part of this for Virginia . Upon the least petition that M. Brook can present he may make himself whole again , of all which the Kings servants M. Lepton and master Water●use , have endammaged him . Give him leave to offer to M. Hakevill enough to please himself , for his Aurum Reginae . And if M. Gherard have no present hopefull designe upon a worthy Widow , let him have so much of this as will provide him that house and coach which he promised to lend me at my return . If M. Inago Jones be not satisfied for his last Maske ( because I hear say it cannot come to much ) here is enough to be had : This is but a copy , but if Sir Ro. Cotton have the originall he will not deny it you ; if he hath it not , no body else hath it , nor can prevent you ; husband it well , which you may easily doe , because I assure my self none of the children nor friends of the party condemned will crosse you or importune the King for any part . If I get no more by it , yet it hath made me a Letter . And Sir ( to depart from this Mine ) in what part of my Letters soever you find the remembrance of my humble service to my Lord of Bedford , I beseech you ever think them intended for the first , and in that ranke present them . I have yet received but one Letter from you which was of the 10 of December by M. Pory , but you see that as long as there is one egge left in the nest , I never leave laying , nor should although you had sent none since ; all at last will not amount to so good a testimony as I would fain give how much I am Your affectionate servant and lover , J. Donne . Sir , I write this Letter in no very great degree of a convalescence from such storms of a stomach colick as kept me in a continuall vomiting , so that I know not what I should have been able to doe to dispatch this winde , but that an honest fever came and was my physick : I tell you of it onely lest some report should make it worse , for me thinks that they who love to adde to news should think it a master-piece to be able to say no worse of any ill fortune of mine then it deserves , since commonly it deserves worse then they can say , but they did not , and I am reprieved . I finde dying to be like those facts which denying makes felony : when a sicknesse examines us , and we confess that we are willing to die , we cannot , but those who are — incurre the penalty : and I may die yet , if talking idly be an ill sign . God be with you . To the same . SIR , IT is in our State ever held for a good sign to change Prison , and nella Signoria de mi , I will think it so , that my sicknesse hath given me leave to come to my London-prison . I made no doubt but my entrance-pain ( for it was so rather then a sicknesse , but that my sadnesse putrefied and corrupted it to that name ) affected you also ; for nearer Contracts then generall Christianity , had made us so much towards one , that one part cannot escape the distemper of the other . I was therefore very carefull , as well to slack any sorrow which my danger might occasion in you ; as to give you the comfort of having been heard in your prayers for me , to tell you as soon as my pain remitted what steps I made towards health , which I did last week . This Tuesday morning your man brought me a Letter , which ( if he had not found me at London ) I see he had a hasty commandment to have brought to Micham . S r , though my fortune hath made me such as I am , rather a sicknesse and disease of the world then any part of it , yet I esteemed my self so far from being so to you , as I esteemed you to be far from being so of the world , as to measure men by fortune or events . I am now gone so far towards health , as there is not infirmity enough left in me for an assurance of so much noblenesse and truth , as your last Letter is to work upon , that might cure a greater indisposition then I am now in : And though if I had died , I had not gone without testimonies of such a disposition in you towards the reparation of my fortune , or preservation of my poor reputation ; yet I would live , and be some such thing as you might not be ashamed to love . Your man must send away this hour in which he visits me ; and I have not yet ( for I came last night ) offered to visit my La. Bedford , and therefore have nothing to say which should make me grudge this straitnesse of time . He tels me he sends again upon Thursday , and therefore I will make an end of this Letter , and perfect it then . I doubt my Letters have not come duly to your hand , and that I writing in my dungeon of Michim without dating , have made the Chronologie and sequence of my Letters perplexed to you ; howsoever you shall not be rid of this Ague of my Letters , though perchance the fit change daies . I have received in a narrow compasse three of yours , one with the Catalogue of your Books , another I found here left last Saterday by your man , and this which he brought me this morning Sir , I dare sit no longer in my wastcoat , nor have any thing worth the danger of a relapse to write . I owe you so much of my health , as I would not mingle you in any occasion of repairing it , and therefore here ask leave to kisse your hands , and bid you good morrow and farewell . Your very true friend and servant J Donne . To S r H. G. SIR , IT should be no interruption to your pleasures , to hear me often say that I love you , and that you are as much my meditations as my self : I often compare not you and me , but the sphear in which your resolutions are , and my wheel ; both I hope concentrique to God : for me thinks the new Astronomie is thus appliable well , that we which are a little earth , should rather move towards God , then that he which is fulfilling , and can come no whither , should move to wards us . To your life full of variety , nothing is old , nor new to mine ; and as to that life , all stickings and hesitations seem stupid and stony , so to this , all fluid slipperinesses , and transitory migrations seem giddie and featherie . In that life one is ever in the porch or postern , going in or out , never within his house himself : It is a garment made of remnants , a life raveld out into ends , a line discontinued , and a number of small wretched points , uselesse , because they concurre not : A life built of past and future , not proposing any constant present ; they have more pleasures then we , but not more pleasure ; they joy oftner , we longer ; and no man but of so much understanding as may deliver him from being a fool , would change with a mad-man , which had a better proportion of wit in his often Lucidis . You know , they which dwell farthest from the Sun , if in any convenient distance , have longer daies , better appetites , better digestion , better growth , and longer life : And all these advantages have their mindes who are well removed from the scorchings , and dazlings , and exhalings of the worlds glory : but neither of our lives are in such extremes ; for you living at Court without ambition , which would burn you , or envy , which would devest others , live in the Sun , not in the fire : And I which live in the Country without stupefying , am not in darknesse , but in shadow , which is not no light , but a pallid , waterish , and diluted one . As all shadows are of one colour , if you respect the body from which they are cast ( for our shadows upon clay will be dirty , and in a garden green , and flowery ) so all retirings into a shadowy life are alike from all causes , and alike subject to the barbarousnesse and insipid dulnesse of the Country : onely the emploiments , and that upon which you cast and bestow your pleasure , businesse , or books , gives it the tincture , and beauty . But truly wheresoever we are , if we can but tell our selves truly what and where we would be , we may make any state and place such ; for we are so composed , that if abundance , or glory scorch and melt us , we have an earthly cave , our bodies , to go into by consideration , and cool our selves : and if we be frozen , and contracted with lower and dark fortunes , we have within us a torch , a soul , lighter and warmer then any without : we are therefore our own umbrella's , and our own suns . These , Sir , are the sallads and onions of Micham , sent to you with as wholesome affection as your other friends send Melons and Quelque-choses from Court and London . If I present you not as good diet as they , I would yet say grace to theirs , and bid much good do it you . I send you , with this , a Letter which I sent to the Countesse . It is not my use nor duty to doe so , but for your having of it , there were but two consents , and I am sure you have mine , and you are sure you have hers . I also writ to her La p for the verses she shewed in the garden , which I did not onely to extort them , nor onely to keep my promise of writing , for that I had done in the other Letter , and perchance she hath forgotten the promise ; nor onely because I think my Letters just good enough for a progresse , but because I would write apace to her , whilest it is possible to expresse that which I yet know of her , for by this growth I see how soon she will be ineffable . SIR , THough my friendship be good for nothing else , it may give you the profit of a tentation , or of an affliction : It may excuse your patience ; and though it cannot allure , it shall importune you . Though I know you have many worthy friends of all rankes , yet I adde something , since I which am of none , would fain be your friend too . There is some of the honour and some of the degrees of a Creation , to make a friendship of nothing . Yet , not to annihilate my self utterly ( for though it seem humblenesse , yet it is a work of as much almightinesse , to bring a thing to nothing , as from nothing ) though I be not of the best stuffe for friendship , which men of warm and durable fortunes only are , I cannot say , that I am not of the best fashion , if truth and honesty be that ; which I must ever exercise , towards you , because I learned it of you : for the conversation with worthy men , and of good example , ( though it sow not vertue in us , yet produceth and ripeneth it . Your mans haste , and mine to Micham cuts off this Letter heve , yet , as in littell paterns torn from a whole piece , this may tell you what all I am . Though by taking me before my day ( which I accounted Tuesday ) I make short payment of this duty of Letters , yet I have a little comfort in this , that you see me hereby , willing to pay those debts which I can , before my time . Your affectionate friend J. Donne . First Saturday in March. 1607. You forget to send me the Apology ; and many times , I think it an injury to remember one of a promise , lest it confesse a distrust . But of the book , by occasion of reading the Deans answer to it , I have sometimes some want . To the Countesse of Bedford . Happiest and worthiest Lady , I Do not remember that ever I have seen a petition in verse , I would not therefore be singular , nor adde these to your other papers . I have yet adventured so near as to make a petition for verse , it is for those your Ladiship did me the honour to see in Twicknam garden , except you repent your making ; and having mended your judgement by thinking worse , that is , better , because juster , of their subject . They must needs be an excellent exercise of your wit , which speake so well of so ill : I humbly beg them of your Ladiship , with two such promises , as to any other of your compositions were threatnings : that I will not shew them , and that I will not beleeve them ; and nothing should be so used that comes from your brain or breast . If I should confesse a fault in the boldnesse of asking them , or make a fault by doing it in a longer Letter , your Ladiship might use your style and old fashion of the Court towards me , and pay me with a Pardon . Here therefore I humbly kisse your Ladiships fair learned hands , and wish you good wishes and speedy grants . Your Ladiships servant J. Donne . To the Honourable Knight Sir H. Goodere . BEcause things be conserved by the same means , which established them , I nurse that friendship by Letters , which you begot so : though you have since strengthened it by more solid aliment and real offices . In these Letters from the Country there is this merit , that I do otherwise unwillingly turn mine eye or thoughts from my books , companions in whom there is no falshood nor frowardnesse : which words , I am glad to observe that the holy Authours often joyne as expressers and relatives to one another , because else out of a naturall descent to that unworthy fault of frowardnesse , furthered with that incommodity of a little thinne house ; I should have mistaken it to be a small thing , which now I see equalled with the worst . If you have laid my papers and books by , I pray let this messenger have them , I have determined upon them . If you have not , be content to do it , in the next three or four days . So , Sir , I kisse your hands ; and deliver to you an intire and clear heart ; which shall ever when I am with you be in my face and tongue , and when I am from you , in my Letters , for I will never draw Curtain between you and it . Yours very affectionately J. Donne . From your house at Micham friday morning . When you are sometimes at M. Sackvills , I pray aske if he have this book , Baldvinus de officio pii hominis in controversiis ; it was written at the conference at Poissy , where Beza was , and he answered it ; I long for it . To Sir H. G. SIR , I Hope you are now welcome to London , and well , and well comforted in your Fathers health and love , and well contented that we ask you how you doe , and tell you how we are , which yet I cannot of my self ; If I knew that I were ill , I were well ; for we consist of three parts , a Soul , and Body , and Minde : which I call those thoughts and affections and passions , which neither soul nor body hath alone , but have been begotten by their communication , as Musique results out of our breath and a Cornet . And of all these the diseases are cures , if they be known . Of our souls sicknesses , which are sinnes , the knowledge is , to acknowledge , and that is her Physique , in which we are not dieted by drams and scruples , for we cannot take too much . Of our bodies infirmities , though our knowledge be partly ab extrinseco , from the opinion of the Physitian , and that the subject and matter be flexible , and various ; yet their rules are certain , and if the matter be rightly applyed to the rule , our knowledge thereof is also certain . But of the diseases of the minde , there is no Criterium , no Canon , no rule ; for , our own taste and apprehension and interpretation should be the Judge , and that is the disease it self . Therefore sometimes when I finde my self transported with jollity , and love of company , I hang Leads at my heels ; and reduce to my thoughts my fortunes , my years , the duties of a man , of a friend , of a husband , of a Father , and all the incumbencies of a family : when sadnesse dejects me , either I countermine it with another sadnesse , or I kindle squibs about me again , and flie into sportfulnesse and company : and I finde ever after all , that I am like an exorcist , which had long laboured about one , which at last appears to have the Mother , that I still mistake my disease . And I still vex my self with this , because if I know it not , no body can know it . And I comfort my self , because I see dispassioned men are subject to the like ignorances . For divers mindes out of the same thing often draw contrary conclusions , as Augustine thought devout Anthony to be therefore full of the holy Ghost , because not being able to read , he could say the whole Bible , and interpret it ; and Thyreus the Jesuit for the same reason doth thinke all the Anabaptists to be possessed . And as often out of contrary things men draw one conclusion . As to the Roman Church , magnificence and splendor hath ever been an argument of Gods favour , and poverty & affliction , to the Greek . Out of this variety of mindes it proceeds , that though our souls would goe to one end , Heaven , and all our bodies must go to one end , the earth : yet our third part , the minde , which is our naturall guide here , chooses to every man a severall way : scarce any man likes what another doth , nor advisedly , that which himself . But Sir , I am beyond my purpose ; I mean to write a Letter , and I am fallen into a discourse , and I do not only take you from some businesse , but I make you a new businesse by drawing you into these meditations . In which let my opennesse be an argument of such love as I would fain expresse in some worthier fashion . To Sir G. F. SIR , I Writ to you once this week before ; yet I write again , both because it seems a kinde of resisting of grace , to omit any commodity of sending into England , and because any Pacquet from me into England should go , not only without just fraight , but without ballast , if it had not a letter to you . In Letters that I received from Sir H. Wotton yesterday from Amyens , I had one of the 8 of March from you , and with it one from M rs . Danterey , of the 28 of January : which is a strange disproportion . But Sir , if our Letters come not in due order , and so make not a certain and concurrent chain , yet if they come as Atomes , and so meet at last , by any crooked , and casuall application , they make up , and they nourish bodies of friendship ; and in that fashion , I mean one way or other , first or last , I hope all the Letters which have been addressed to us by one another , are safely arrived , except perchance that pacquet by the Cook be not , of which before this time you are cleare ; for I received ( as I told you ) a Letter by M. Nat. Rich , and if you sent none by him , then it was that Letter , which the Cook tells you he delivered to M. Rich ; which , with all my criticismes , I cannot reconcile ; because in your last Letter , I find mention of things formerly written , which I have not found . However , I am yet in the same perplexity , which I mentioned before ; which is , that I have received no syllable , neither from her self , nor by any other , how my wife hath passed her danger , nor do I know whether I be increased by a childe , or diminished by the losse of a wife . I hear from England of many censures of my book , of M ris . Drury ; if any of those censures do but pardon me my descent in Printing any thing in verse , ( which if they do , they are more charitable then my self ; for I do not pardon my self , but confesse that I did it against my conscience , that is , against my own opinion , that I should not have done so ) I doubt not but they will soon give over that other part of that indictment , which is that I have said so much ; for no body can imagine , that I who never saw her , could have any other purpose in that , then that when I had received so very good testimony of her worthinesse , and was gone down to print verses , it became me to say , not what I was sure was just truth , but the best that I could conceive ; for that had been a new weaknesse in me , to have praised any body in printed verses , that had not been capable of the best praise that I could give . Presently after Easter we shall ( I think ) go to Frankford to be there at the election , where we shall meet Sir H. Wotton and Sir Ro. Rich , and after that we are determined to passe some time , in the Palatinate . I go thither with a great deale of devotion ; for me thinkes it is a new kinde of piety , that as Pilgrims went heretofore to places which had been holy and happy , so I go to a place now , which shall be so , and more , by the presence of the worthiest Princess of the world , if that marriage proceed . I have no greater errand to the place then that at my return into England ; I may be the fitter to stand in her presence , and that after I have seen a rich and abundant Countrey , in his best seasons , I may see that Sun which shall always keep it in that height . Howsoever we stray , if you have leasure to write at any time , adventure by no other way , then M. Bruer , at the Queens Armes , a Mercer , in Cheapside . I shall omit no opportunity , of which I doubt not to finde more then one before we go from Paris . Therefore give me leave to end this , in which if you did not finde the remembrance of my humblest services to my Lady Bedford , your love and faith ought to try all the experiments of pouders , and dryings , and waterings to discover some lines which appeared not ; because it is impossible that a Letter should come from me , with such an ungratefull silence . Your very true poor friend and servant and lover J. Donne . This day begins a History , of which I doubt not but I shall write more to you before I leave this town . Monsieur de Rohan , a person for birth , next heire to the Kingdome of Navar , after the Kings children , ( if the King of Spaine were weary of it ) and for allyance , sonne in law to D. Sally , and for breeding in the wars and estate , the most remarkable man of the Religion , being Governour of S. Jean d' Angeli , one of the most important towns which they of the Religion bold for their security , finding that some distasts between the Lieutenant and the Maior of the town , and him , were dangerously fomented by great persons , stole from Court , rode post to the town and removed these two persons . He sent his secretary , and another dependent of his to give the Queen sasisfaction , who is so far from receiving it , that his messengers are committed to the Bastile , likely to be presently tortured ; all his friends here commanded to their houses , and the Queens companies of light horse sent already thitherward , and foot companies preparing ; which troops being sent against a place , so much concerning those of the Religion to keep , and where they abound in number and strength , cannot chuse but produce effects worthy your hearing in the next Letter . To Sir H. G. SIR , BEcause I am in a place and season where I see every thing bud forth , I must do so too , and vent some of my meditations to you ; the rather because all other buds being yet without taste or virtue , my Letters may be like them . The pleasantnesse of the season displeases me . Every thing refreshes , and I wither , and I grow older and not better , my strength diminishes , and my load growes , and being to passe more and more stormes , I finde that I have not only cast out all my ballast which nature and time gives , Reason and discretion , and so am as empty and light as Vanity can make me ; but I have over fraught my self with Vice , and so am riddingly subject to two contrary wrackes , Sinking and Over-setting , and under the iniquity of such a disease as inforces the patient when he is almost starved , not only to fast , but to purge . For I have much to take in , and much to cast out ; sometimes I thinke it easier to discharge my self of vice then of vanity , as one may sooner carry the fire out of a room then the smoake : and then I see it was a new vanity to think so . And when I think sometimes that vanity , because it is thinne and airie , may be expelled with vertue or businesse , or substantiall vice ; I finde that I give entrance thereby to new vices . Certainly as the earth and water , one sad , the other fluid , make but one bodie : so to aire and Vanity , there is but one Centrum morbi . And that which later Physicians say of our bodies , is fitter for our mindes : for that which they call Destruction , which is a corruption and want of those fundamentall parts whereof we consist , is Vice : and that Collectio stercorum , which is but the excrement of that corruption , is our Vanity and indiscretion : both these have but one root in me , and must be pulled out at once , or never But I am so farre from digging to it , that I know not where it is , for it is not in mine eyes only , but in every sense , nor in my concupiscence only , but in every power and affection . Sir , I was willing to let you see how impotent a man you love , not to dishearten you from doing so still ( for my vices are not infectious , nor wandring , they came not yesterday , nor mean to go away to day : they Inne not , but dwell in me , and see themselves so welcome , and find in me so good bad company of one another , that they will not change , especially to one not apprehensive , nor easily accessible ) but I do it , that your counsell might cure me , and if you deny that , your example shal , for I will as much strive to be like you as I will wish you to continue good . To the Honourable K t S r H. Goodere one of the Gent. of his Majesties privy Chamber . SIR , YOU may remember that long since you delivered M r Fowler possession of me , but the wide distance in which I have lived from Court , makes me reasonably fear , that now he knows not his right and power in me , though he must of necessity have all , to whom you and I joyn in a gift of me , as we did to him , so that perchance he hath a servant of me , which might be passed in a book of concealment . If your leisure suffer it , I pray finde whether I be in him still , and conserve me in his love ; and so perfect your own work , or doe it over again , and restore me to the place , which by your favour I had in him . For M r Powell who serves her Ma ty as Clerk of her counsell , hath told me that M r Fowler hath some purpose to retire himself ; and therefore I would fain for all my love , have so much of his , as to finde him willing when I shall seek him at Court , to let me understand his purpose therein ; for if my means may make me acceptable to the Queen and him , I should be very sorry , he should make so farre steps therein with any other , that I should fail in it , onely for not having spoke to him soon enough . It were an injury to the forwardnesse of your love to adde more ; here therefore I kisse your hands , and commend to you the truth of my love . Your very affectionate servant and lover Jo. Donne . From my lodging in the Strand , whither I shall return on Munday , 13 June 1607. To S r H. G. SIR , YOU husband my time thriftily , when you command me to write by such a messenger , as can tell you more then I can write , for so he doth not onely carry the Letter , but is the Letter . But that the naming of some things , may give you occasion to ask him farther , and him to open himself unto you , give me leave to tell you , that the now Spa. Embassadour proceeds in the old pace , the King hath departed from his ordinary way so farre , as to appoint 9 of the Councell to treat with him ; but when they came to any approaches , he answered , that he brought onely Commission to propose certain things , which he was ready to doe , but he had no instructions to treat , but expected them upon an other return from his Master . So that there is no treaty for the marriage begun yet : for I know you have heard Olivarez his free acknowledgement , that til the Prince came , there was no thoght of it . The King in his gests of this progress , hath determined it , not as heretofore , at Windsor , but at Farnham during pleasure : so he is within a journey of Southampton ; and even that circumstance addes to some other reasons , that he expects the Prince this Summer , and that Sir W. Crofts , in his last dispatches , enlarged the Prince in his liberty , from his Father , to come away , if he would . Amongst all the irregularities of this age , to me this is as strange as any , That this year there is no peace , and yet no sword drawn in the world ; & it is a lost conjecture to think which way any of the Armies will bend . Here it is imagined , that Yukendorfe and Gabor ( for , for any concurrence of love , it is but a dream ) may so farre distresse Bohemia , as that Tilly must be recalled thither ; and that if he be , Brunswikes way is open into Baviere , where he may recompense great losses , whilest Mansfield and Gonzales , and his Excellency and Spinola , keepthe ballance even in their parts , by looking upon another . This noble friend of yours is in his last minute , in this Town ; and I am going into the Coach with my Lo to Hanworth . If I might have forborn the sealing the rest till my return from thence , you might have heard something more from . Your very true poor friend and humble servant in Chr. Jes. J. Donne . No straitnesse makes me forget my service to your daughters : If my Bell were tolling , I should pray for them , and though my Letter be sealing , I leave not out my wishes , that their fortunes may second their goodnesse . Amen . To Sir H. G. SIR , THis Tuesday morning , which hath brought me to London , presents me with all your Letters . Me thought it was a rent day , I mean such as yours , and not as mine ; and yet such too , when I considered how much I ought you for them , how good a mother , how fertill and abundant the understanding is , if she have a good father ; and how well friendship performs that office . For that which is denied in other generations is done in this of yours : for here is superfetation , childe upon childe , and that which is more strange , twins at a latter conception . If in my second religion , friendship , I had a conscience , either errantem to mistake good and bad and indifferent , or opinantem to be ravished by others opinions or examples , or dubiam to adhere to neither part , or scrupulosam to encline to one , but upon reasons light in themselves , or indiscussed in me , ( which are almost all the diseases of conscience ) I might mistake your often , long , and busie Letters , and fear you did but intreat me to have mercy upon you and spare you ; for you know our Court took the resolution , that it was the best way to dispatch the French Prince back again quickly , to receive him solemnly , ceremoniously , and expensively , when he hoped a domestique and durable entertainment . I never meant to excell you in weight nor price , but in number and bulk I thought I might , because he may cast up a greater summe who hath but forty small monies , then he with twenty Portuguesses . The memory of friends , ( I mean onely for Letters ) neither enters ordinarily into busied men , because they are ever emploied within , nor into men of pleasure , because they are never at home . For these wishes therefore which you won out of your pleasure and recreation , you were as excusable to me if you writ seldome , as Sir H. Wotton is , under the oppression of businesse , or the necessity of seeming so ; or more then he , because I hope you have both pleasure and businesse : onely to me , who have neither , this omission were sinne ; for though writing be not of the precepts of friendship , but of the counsels , yet , as in some cases to some men counsels become precepts , and though not immediately from God , yet very roundly and quickly from his Church , ( as selling and dividing goods in the first time , continence in the Romane Church , and order and decencie in ours ) so to me who can do nothing else , it seems to binde my conscience to write ; and it is sinne to doe against the conscience , though that erre . Yet no mans Letters might be better wanted then mine , since my whole Letter is nothing else but a confession that I should and would write . I owed you a Letter in verse before by mine own promise , and now that you think that you have hedged in that debt by a greater by your Letter in verse , I think it now most seasonable and fashionable for me to break . At least , to write presently , were to accuse my self of not having read yours so often as such a Letter deserves from you to me . To make my debt greater ( for such is the desire of all , who cannot or mean not to pay ) I pray read these two problemes : for such light flashes as these have been my hawkings in my sorry journies . I accompany them with another ragge of verses , worthy of that name for the smalnesse , and age , for it hath long lien among my other papers , and laughs at them that have adventured to you : for I think till now you saw it not , and neither you , nor it should repent it . Sir , if I were any thing , my love to you might multiply it , and dignifie it : But infinite nothings are but one such ; yet since even Chymera's have some name and titles , I am also Yours . To your selfe . SIR , IF this Letter finde you in a progresse , or at Bath , or at any place of equall leasure to our Spá , you will perchance descend to reade so low meditations as these . Nothing in my L. of Salisburies death exercised my poor considerations so much , as the multitude of libells . It was easily discerned , some years before his death , that he was at a defensive war , both for his honour and health , and ( as we then thought ) for his estate : and I thought , that had removed much of the envy . Besides , I have just reasons to think , that in the chiefest businesses between the Nations , he was a very good patriot . But I meant to speake of nothing but the libells , of which , all which are brought into these parts , are so tastelesse and flat , that I protest to you , I think they were made by his friends . It is not the first time that our age hath seen that art practised , That when there are witty and sharp libels made which not onely for the liberty of speaking , but for the elegancie , and composition , would take deep root , and make durable impressions in the memory , no other way hath been thought so fit to suppresse them , as to divulge some course , and railing one : for when the noise is risen , that libels are abroad , mens curiositie must be served with something : and it is better for the honour of the person traduced , that some blunt downright railings be vented , of which every body is soon weary , then other pieces , which entertain us long with a delight , and love to the things themselves . I doubt not but he smoothered some libels against him in his life time . But I would all these ( or better ) had been made then , for they might then have wrought upon him ; and they might have testified that the Author had meant to mend him , but now they can have no honest pretence . I dare say to you , where I am not easily misinterpreted , that there may be cases , where one may do his Countrey good service , by libelling against a live man. For , where a man is either too great , or his Vices too generall , to be brought under a judiciary accusation , there is no way , but this extraordinary accusing , which we call Libelling And I have heard that nothing hath soupled and allayed the D. of Lerma in his violent greatnesse , so much as the often libels made upon him . But after death , it is , in all cases , unexcusable . I know that Lucifer , and one or two more of the Fathers who writ libellous books against the Emperours of their times , are excused by our writers , because they writ not in the lives of those Emperours . I am glad for them that they writ not in their lives , for that must have occasioned tumult , and contempt , against so high and Soveraign persons . But that doth not enough excuse them to me , for writing so after their death ; for that was ignoble , and uselesse , though they did a little escape the nature of libels , by being subscribed and avowed : which excuse would not have served in the Star-chamber , where sealed Letters have been judged Libels ; but these of which we speake at this present , are capable of no excuse , no amolishment , and therefore I cry you mercy , and my self too , for disliking them , with so much diligence , for they deserve not that . But Sir , you see by this , and by my Letter of last week , from hence the peremptory barrennesse of this place , from whence we can write nothing into England , but of that which comes from thence . Till the Lady Worster came hither , I had never heard any thing to make me imagine that Sir Rob. Rich was in England ; the first hour that I had knowledge of it , I kisse his hands by this Letter . I make account to be in London , transitorily , about the end of August . You shall do me much favour , if I may finde a Letter from you ( if you shall not then be there ) at the Lady Bartlets : I shall come home in much ignorance , nor would I discern home by a better light , or any other then you . I can glory of nothing in this voyage , but that I have afflicted my Lady Bedford with few Letters . I protest earnestly to you , it troubles me much more to dispatch a pacquet into England , without a Letter to her , then it would to put in three . But I have been heretofore too immodest towards her , and I suffer this Purgatory for it . We make account to leave this place within 8 or 10 days , and hence to make our best haste to the Count Maurice , where we think to finde again the young Palatine : all this I tell you only because when you know , that we shall run too fast to write any more Letters , you may easily pardon the importunities and impertinencies of this , and cast into no lower place of your love Your very true friend and servant J. Donne . Spâ , 26 July here 1612. To my Lord G. H. SIR , I Am near the execution of that purpose for France ; though I may have other ends , yet if it do but keep me awake , it recompenses me well . I am now in the afternoon of my life , and then it is unwholesome to sleep . It is ill to look back , or give over in a course ; but worse never to set out . I speake to you at this time of departing , as I should do at my last upon my death-bed ; and I desire to deliver into your hands a heart and affections , as innocent towards you , as I shall to deliver my soul into Gods hands then . I say not this out of diffidence , as though you doubted it , or that this should look like such an excuse , as implyed an accusation ; but because my fortune hath burdened you so , as I could not rectifie it before my going , my conscience and interpretation ( severer I hope then yours towards my self ) calls that a kinde of demerit , but God who hath not only afforded us a way to be delivered from our great many debts , contracted by our Executorship to Adam , but also another for our particular debts after , hath not left poor men unprovided , for discharge of morall and civill debts ; in which , acknowledgement , and thankfulnesse is the same , as repentance and contrition is in spiritual debts : and though the value and dignity of all these be not perchance in the things , but in the acceptation , yet I cannot doubt of it , either in God , or you . But Sir , because there is some degree of thankfulnesse in asking more ( for that confesses all former obligations , and a desire to be still in the same dependency ) I must intreat you to continue that wherein you have most expressed your love to me , which is , to maintain me in the same room in my Lady Bedfords opinion , in the which you placed me . I prosesse to you that I am too much bound to her , for expressing every way her care of my fortune , that I am weary before she is ; and out of a loathnesse , that so good works should be bestowed upon so illstuffe , or that somuchill fortune should be mingled with hers , as that she should misse any thing that she desired , though it were but for me ; I am willing to depart from farther exercising her indevours in that kinde . I shall be bold to deliver my poor Letters to her Ladiships hands , through yours , whilest I am abroad ' though I shall ever account my self at home , whilest I am in your memory . Your affectionate servant and lover J. Donne . To Sir H. G. SIR , NAture hath made all bodies alike , by mingling and kneading up the same elements in every one . And amongst men , the other nature , Custome , hath made every minde like some other ; we are patterns , or copies , we informe , or imitate . But as he hath not presently attained to write a good hand , which hath equalled one excellent Master in his A , another in his B , much lesse he which hath sought all the excellent Masters , and imployed all his time to exceed in one Letter , because not so much an excellency of any , nor every one , as an evennesse and proportion , and respect to one another gives the perfection : so is no man vertuous by particular example . Not he that doth all actions to the pattern of the most valiant , or liberall , which Histories afford : nor he which chuses from every one their best actions , and thereupon doth something like those . Perchance such may be in via perficiendorum , which Divines allow to Monasticall life , but not perfectorum , which by them is only due to Prelacy . For vertue is even , and continuall , and the same , and can therefore break no where , nor admit ends , nor beginnings : it is not only not broken , but not tyed together . He is not vertuous , out of whose actions you can pick an excellent one . Vice and her fruits may be feen , because they are thick bodies , but not vertue , which is all light ; and vices have swellings and fits , and noise , because being extreams , they dwell far asunder , and they maintain both a forein war against vertue , and a civill against one another , and affect Soveraignty , as vertue doth society . The later Physitians say , that when our naturall inborn preservative is corrupted or wasted , and must be restored by a like extracted from other bodies ; the chief care is that the Mummy have in it no excelling quality , but an equally digested temper : And such is true vertue . But men who have preferred money before all , think they deal honourably with vertue , if they compare her with money : And think that as money is not called base , till the allay exceed the pure ; so they are vertuous enough , if they have enough to make their actionscurrant , which is , if either they get praise , or ( in a lower abasing ) if they incurre not infamy or penalty . But you know who said , Augusta innocentia est ad legem bonum esse : which rule being given for positive Laws , severe mistakers apply even to Gods Law , and ( perchance against his Commandment ) binde themselves to his Counsails , beyond his Laws . But they are worse , that thinke that because some men formerly wastfull , live better with half their rents then they did with all , being now advantaged with discretion and experience , therefore our times need lesse moral vertue then the first , because we have Christianity , which is the use and application of all vertue : as though our religion were but an art of thrift , to make a little vertue go far . For as plentifull springs are fittest , and best become large Aqueducts , so doth much vertue such asteward and officer as a Christian. But I must not give you a Homily for a Letter . I said a great while since , that custome made men like ; we who have been accustomed to one another are like in this , that we love not businesse : this therefore shall not be to you nor me a busie Letter . I end with a probleme , whose errand is , to aske for his fellowes . I pray before you ingulfe your self in the progresse , leave them for me , and such other of my papers as you will lend me till you return . And besides this Allegoricall lending , lend me truely your counsails , and love God and me , whilest I love him and you . To my very true and very good friend Sir Henry Goodere . SIR , AT some later reading , I was more affected with that part of your Letter , which is of the book , and the namelesse Letters , then at first . I am not sorry , for that affection were for a jealousie or suspicion of a flexibilty in you . But I am angry , that any should think , you had in your Religion peccant humours , defective , or abundant , or that such a booke , ( if I mistake it not ) should be able to work upon you ; my comfort is , that their judgment is too weak to endanger you , since by this it confesses , that it mistakes you , in thinking you irresolved or various : yet let me be bold to fear , that that sound true opinion , that in all Christian professions there is way to salvation ( which I think you think ) may have been so incommodiously or intempestively sometimes uttered by you ; or else your having friends equally near you of all the impressions of Religion , may have testified such an indifferency , as hath occasioned some to further such inclinations , as they have mistaken to be in you . This I have feared , because hertofore the inobedient Puritans , and now the over-obedient Papists attempt you . It hath hurt very many , not in their conscience , nor ends , but in their reputation , and ways , that others have thought them fit to be wrought upon . As some bodies are as wholesomly nourished as ours , with Akornes , and endure nakednesse , both which would be dangerous to us , if we for them should leave our former habits , though theirs were the Primitive diet and custome : so are many souls well fed with such formes , and dressings of Religion , as would distemper and misbecome us , and make us corrupt towards God , if any humane circumstance moved it , and in the opinion of men , though none . You shall seldome see a Coyne , upon which the stamp were removed , though to imprint it better , but it looks awry and squint . And so , for the most part , do mindes which have received divers impressions . I will not , nor need to you , compare the Religions . The channels of Gods mercies run through both fields ; and they are sister teats of his graces , yet both diseased and infected , but not both alike . And I think , that as Copernicisme in the Mathematiques hath carried earth farther up , from the stupid Center ; and yet not honoured it , nor advantaged it , because for the necessity of appearances , it hath carried heaven so much higher from it : so the Roman profession seems to exhale , and refine our wills from earthly Drugs , and Lees , more then the Reformed , and so seems to bring us nearer heaven ; but then that carries heaven farther from us , by making us pass so many Courts , and Offices of Saints in this life , in all our petitions , and lying in a painfull prison in the next , during the pleasure , not of him to whom we go , and who must be our Judge , but of them from whom we come , who know not our case . Sir , as I said last time , labour to keep your alacrity and dignity , in an even temper : for in a dark sadnesse , indifferent things seem abominable , or necessary , being neither ; as trees , and sheep to melancholique night-walkers have unproper shapes . And when you descend to satisfie all men in your own religion , or to excuse others to al ; you prostitute your self and your understanding , though not a prey , yet a mark , and a hope , and a subject , for every sophister in Religion to work on . For the other part of your Letter , spent in the praise of the Countesse , I am always very apt to beleeve it of her , and can never beleeve it so well , and so reasonably , as now , when it is averred by you ; but for the expressing it to her , in that sort as you seem to counsaile , I have these two reasons to decline it . That that knowledge which she hath of me , was in the beginning of a graver course , then of a Poet , into which ( that I may also keep my dignity ) I would not seem to relapse . The Spanish proverb informes me , that he is a fool which cannot make one Sonnet , and he is mad which makes two . The other stronger reason , is my integrity to the other Countesse , of whose worthinesse though I swallowed your opinion at first upon your words , yet I have had since an explicit faith , and now a knowledge : and for her delight ( since she descends to them ) I had reserved not only all the verses , which I should make , but all the thoughts of womens worthinesse . But because I hope she will not disdain , that I should write well of her Picture , I have obeyed you thus far , as to write : but intreat you by your friendship , that by this occasion of versifying , I be not traduced , nor esteemed light in that Tribe , and that house where I have lived . If those reasons which moved you to bid me write be not constant in you still , or if you meant not that I should write verses ; or if these verses be too bad , or too good , over or under her understanding , and not fit ; I pray receive them , as a companion and supplement of this Letter to you ; and as such a token as I use to send , which use , because I wish rather they should serve ( except you wish otherwise ) I send no other ; but after I have told you , that here at a Christning at Peckam , you are remembred by divers of ours , and I commanded to tell you so , I kisse your hands , and so seal to you my pure love , which I would not refuse to do by any labour or danger . Your very true friend and servant J. Donne . To S r G.M. IF you were here , you would not think me importune , if I did you good morrow every day ; and such a patience will excuse my often ' Letters . No other kinde of conveyance is better for knowledge , or love : What treasures of Morall knowledge are in Senecaes Letters to onely one Lucilius ? and what of Naturall in Plinies ? how much of the storie of the time , is in Ciceroes Letters ? And how all of these times , in the Jesuites Eastern and Western Epistles ? where can we finde so perfect a Character of Phalaris , as in his own Letters , which are almost so many writs of Execution ? Or of Brutus , as in his privie seals for monie ? The Evangiles and Acts , teach us what to beleeve , but the Epistles of the Apostles what to do . And those who have endevoured to dignifie Seneca above his worth , have no way fitter , then to imagine Letters between him and S. Paul. As they think also that they have expressed an excellent person , in that Letter which they obtrude , from our B. Saviour to King Agabarus . The Italians , which are most discursive , and think the world owes them all wisdome , abound so much in this kinde of expressing , that Michel Montaige saies , he hath seen , ( as I remember ) 400 volumes of Italian Letters . But it is the other capacity which must make mine acceptable , that they are also the best conveyers of love . But , though all knowledge be in those Authors already , yet , as some poisons , and some medicines , hurt not , nor profit , except the creature in which they reside , contribute their lively activitie , and vigor ; so , much of the knowledge buried in Books perisheth , and becomes ineffectuall , if it be not applied , and refreshed by a companion , or friend . Much of their goodnesse , hath the same period , which some Physicians of Italy have observed to be in the biting of their Tarentola , that it affects no longer , then the flie lives . For with how much desire we read the papers of any living now , ( especially friends ) which we would scarce allow a boxe in our cabinet , or shelf in our Library , if they were dead ? And we do justly in it , for the writings and words of men present , we may examine , controll , and expostulate , and receive satisfaction from the authors ; but the other we must beleeve , or discredit ; they present no mean. Since then at this time , I am upon the stage , you may be content to hear me . And now that perchance I have brought you to it , ( as Thom. Badger did the King ) now I have nothing to say . And it is well , for the Letter is already long enough , else let this probleme supply , which was occasioned by you , of women wearing stones ; which , it seems , you were afraid women should read , because you avert them at the beginning , with a protestation of cleanlinesse . Martiall found no way fitter to draw the Romane Matrons to read one of his Books , which he thinks most morall and cleanly , then to counsell them by the first Epigram to skip the Book , because it was obscene . But either you write not at all for women , or for those of sincerer palates . Though their unworthinesse , and your own ease be advocates for me with you , yet I must adde my entreaty , that you let goe no copy of my Problems , till I review them . If it be too late , at least be able to tell me who hath them . Yours , J. Donne . To S r H. G. I Send not my Letters as tribute , nor interest , not recompense , nor for commerce , nor as testimonials of my love , nor provokers of yours , nor to justifie my custome of writing , nor for a vent and utterance of my meditations ; for my Letters are either above or under all such offices ; yet I write very affectionately , and I chide and accuse my self of diminishing that affection which sends them , when I ask my self why : onely I am sure that I desire that you might have in your hands Letters of mine of all kindes , as conveyances and deliverers of me to you , whether you accept me as a friend , or as a patient , or as a penitent , or as a beadsman , for I decline no jurisdiction , or refuse any tenure . I would not open any doore upon you , but look in when you open it . Angels have not , nor affect not other knowledge of one another , then they list to reveal to one another . It is then in this onely , that friends are Angels , that they are capable and fit for such revelations when they are offered . If at any time I seem to studie you more inquisitively , it is for no other end but to know how to present you to God in my prayers , and what to ask of him for you ; for even that holy exercise may not be done inopportunely , no nor importunely . I finde little errour in that Grecians counsell , who saies , If thou ask any thing of God , offer no sacrifice , nor ask elegantly , nor vehemently , but remember that thou wouldest not give to such an asker : Nor in his other Countriman , who affirms sacrifice of blood to be so unproportionable to God , that perfumes , though much more spirituall , are too grosse . Yea words which are our subtillest and delicatest outward creatures , being composed of thoughts and breath , are so muddie , so thick , that our thoughts themselves are so , because ( except at the first rising ) they are ever leavened with passions and affections : And that advantage of nearer familiarity with God , which the act of incarnation gave us , is grounded upon Gods assuming us , not our going to him . And , our accesses to his presence are but his descents into us ; and when we get any thing by prayer , he gave us before hand the thing and the petition . For , I scarce think any ineffectuall prayer free from both sin , and the punishment of sin : yet as God seposed a seventh of our time for his exterior worship , and as his Christian Church early presented him a type of the whole year in a Lent , and after imposed the obligation of canonique hours , constituting thereby morall Sabbaths every day ; I am farre from dehorting those fixed devotions : But I had rather it were bestowed upon thanksgiving then petition , upon praise then prayer ; not that God is indeared by that , or wearied by this ; all is one in the receiver , but not in the sender : and thanks doth both offices ; for , nothing doth so innocently provoke new graces , as gratitude . I would also rather make short prayers then extend them , though God can neither be surprised , nor besieged : for , long prayers have more of the man , as ambition of eloquence , and a complacencie in the work , and more of the Devil by often distractions : for , after in the beginning we have well intreated God to hearken , we speak no more to him . Even this Letter is some example of such infirmitie , which being intended for a Letter , is extended and strayed into a Homilie . And whatsoever is not what it was purposed , is worse , therefore it shall at last end like a Letter by assuring you I am To your selfe . SIR , SIr Germander Pool , your noble friend and fellow in Armes , hath been at this house . I finde by their diligent inquiring from me , that he hath assured them that he hath much advanced your proceeding , by his resignation ; but cooled them again with this , that the L. Spencer pretends in his room . I never feared his , nor any mans diligence in that ; I feared onely your remisnesse , because you have a fortune that can endure , and a nature that can almost be content to misse . But I had rather you exercised your Philosophy and evennesse in some things else . He doth not nothing which falls cleanly and harmelesly ; but he wrastles better which stands . I know you can easily forgive your self any negligences and slacknesses , but I am glad that you are ingaged to so many friends , who either by your self , or fame have knowledge of it . In all the rest of them there is a worthinesse , and in me a love which deserves to be satisfied . In this therefore , as you are forward in all things else , be content to do more for your friends then you would for your self ; endevour it , that is effect it . Your very true friend and lover J. Donne . Tuesday . To Sir H. G. SIR , IN the History or style of friendship , which is best written both in deeds and words , a Letter which is of a mixed nature , and hath something of both , is a mixed Parenthesis : It may be left out , yet it contributes , though not to the being , yet to the verdure , and freshnesse thereof . Letters have truly the same office , as oaths . As these amongst light and empty men , are but fillings , and pauses , and interjections ; but with weightier , they are sad attestations : So are Letters to some complement , and obligation to others . For mine , as I never authorized my servant to lie in my behalfe , ( for if it were officious in him , it might be worse in me ) so I allow my Letters much lesse that civill dishonesty , both because they go from me more considerately , and because they are permanent ; for in them I may speak to you in your chamber a year hence before I know not whom , and not hear my self . They shall therefore ever keep the sincerity and intemeratenesse of the fountain , whence they are derived . And as wheresoever these leaves fall , the root is in my heart , so shall they , as that sucks good affections towards you there , have ever true impressions thereof . Thus much information is in very leaves , that they can tell what the tree is , and these can tell you I am a friend , and an honest man. Of what generall use , the fruit should speake , and I have none : and of what particular profit to you , your application and experimenting should tell you , and you can make none of such a nothing ; yet even of barren Sycamores , such as I , there were use , if either any light flashings , or scorching vehemencies , or sudden showres made you need so shadowy an example or remembrancer . But ( Sir ) your fortune and minde do you this happy injury , that they make all kinde of fruits uselesse unto you ; Therefore I have placed my love wisely where I need communicate nothing . All this , though perchance you read it not till Michaelmas , was told you at Micham , 15. August . 1607. To my most worthy friend Sir Henry Goodere . SIR , BEcause evennesse conduces as much to strength and firmnesse as greatnesse doth , I would not discontinue my course of writing . It is a sacrifice , which though friends need not , friendship doth ; which hath in it so much divinity , that as we must be ever equally disposed inwardly so to doe or suffer for it , so we must sepose some certain times for the outward service thereof , though it be but formall and testimoniall : that time to met towards you is Tuesday , and my Temple , the Rose in Smith-field . If I were by your appointment your Referendarie for news , I should write but short Letters , because the times are barren . The low Countries , which used to be the Mart of news for this season , suffering also , or rather enjoying a vacation . Since therefore I am but mine own Secretary ( and what 's that ? ) I were excusable if I writ nothing , since I am so : Besides that , your much knowledge brings you this disadvantage , that as stomachs accustomed to delicacies , finde nothing new or pleasing to them when they are sick ; so you can hear nothing from me ( though the Countrey perchance make you hungry ) which you know not . Therefore in stead of a Letter to you , I send you one to another , to the best Lady , who did me the honour to acknowledge the receit of one of mine , by one of hers ; and who only hath power to cast the fetters of verse upon my free meditations : It should give you some delight , and some comfort , because you are the first which see it , and it is the last which you shall see of this kinde from me . Your very affectionate lover and servant J. Donne . Micham the 14 August , To Sir I. H. SIR , I Would not omit this , not Commodity , but Advantage of writing to you . This emptinesse in London , dignifies any Letter from hence , as in the seasons , earlinesse and latenesse , makes the sowrenesse , and after the sweetnesse of fruits acceptable and gracious . We often excuse and advance mean Authors , by the age in which they lived , so will your love do this Letter ; and you will tell your self , that if he which writ it knew wherein he might expresse his affection , or any thing which might have made his Letter welcommer , he would have done it . As it is , you may accept it so , as we do many China manufactures , of which when we know no use , yet we satisfie our curiosity in considering them , because we knew not how , nor of what matter they were made . Near great woods and quarries it is no wonder to see faire houses , but in Holland which wants both , it is . So were it for me who am as farre removed from Court , and knowledge of forein passages , as this City is now from the face and furniture of a City , to build up a long Letter and to write of my self , were but to inclose a poor handfull of straw for a token in a Letter : yet I will tell you , that I am at London onely to provide for Monday , when I shall use that favour which my Lady Bedford hath afforded me , of giving her name to my daughter ; which I mention to you , as well to shew that I covet any occasion of a gratefull speaking of her favours , as that , because I have thought the day is likely to bring you to London , I might tell you , that my poor house is in your way and you shall there finde such company , as ( I think ) you will not be loth to accompany to London . Your very true friend J. Donne . 6 Aug. 1608. To Sir H. Wootton . SIR , THat which is at first but a visitation , and a civill office , comes quickly to be a haunting , and an uncivill importunity : my often writing might be subject to such a misinterpretation , if it were not to you , who as you know that the affection which suggests and dictates them , is ever one , and continuall , and uninterrupted ; may be pleased to think my Letters so too , and that all the pieces make but one long Letter , and so I know you would not grudge to read any intire book of mine , at that pace , as you do my Letters , which is a leafe a week : especially such Letters as mine , which ( perchance out of the dulnesse of the place ) are so empty of any relations , as that they oppresse not your meditations , nor discourse , nor memory . You know that for aire we are sure we apprehend and enjoy it , but when this aire is rarified into fire , we begin to dispute whether it be an element , or no : so when Letters have a convenient handsome body of news , they are Letters ; but when they are spun out of nothing , they are nothing , or but apparitions , and ghosts , with such hollow sounds , as he that hears them , knows not what they said . You ( I think ) and I am much of one sect in the Philosophy of love ; which though it be directed upon the minde , doth inhere in the body , and find piety entertainment there : so have Letters for their principall office , to be seals and testimonies of mutuall affection , but the materialls and fuell of them should be a confident and mutuall communicating of those things which we know . How shall I then who know nothing write Letters ? Sir , I learn knowledge enough out of yours to me . I learn that there is truth and sirmnesse and an earnestness of doing good alive in the world ; and therefore , since there is so good company in it , I have not so much desire to go out of it , as I had , if my fortune would afford me any room in it . You know I have been no coward , nor unindustrious in attempting that ; nor will I give it over yet . If at last , I must confesse , that I dyed ten years ago , yet as the Primitive Church admitted some of the Jews Ceremonies , not for perpetuall use , but because they would bury the Synagogue honourably , though I dyed at a blow then when my courses were diverted , yet it wilplease me a little to have had a long funerall , and to have kept my self so long above ground without putrefaction . But this is melancholique discourse ; To change therefore from this Metaphoricall death to the true , and that with a little more relish of mirth , let me tell you the good nature of the executioner of Paris : who when Vatan was beheaded , ( who dying in the profession of the Religion , had made his peace with God in the prison , and so said nothing at the place of execution ) swore he had rather execute forty Huguenots , then one Catholique , because the Huguenot used so few words , and troubled him so little , in respect of the dilatory ceremonies of the others , in dying . Cotton the great Court Jesuite hath so importuned the Q. to give some modifications to the late interlocutory arrest against the Jesuits , that in his presence , the C. Soisons , who had been present in the Court at the time of the arrest , and Servin the Kings Advocate , who urged it , and the Premier president , were sent for : They came so well provided with their books , out of which they assigned to the Q. so many , so evident places of seditious doctrine , that the Q. was well satisfied , that it was fit by all means to provide against the teaching of the like doctrine in France . The D. of Espernon is come to Paris , with ( they say ) 600 horse in his train ; all which company , came with him into the Court : which is an insolency remarkable here . They say that scarce any of the Princes appear in the streets , but with very great trains . No one enemy could wast the treasures of France so much , as so many friends do : for the Q. dares scarce deny any , that so she may have the better leave to make haste to advance her Marquis of Ancre , of whose greatnesse , for matter of command , or danger , they have no great fear , he being no very capable nor stirring man : and then for his drawing of great benefits from the Q. they make that use of it , that their suits passe with lesse opposition . I beleeve the treasure is scattered , because I see the future receipt charged with so very many and great pensions . The Q. hath adventured a little to stop this rage of the Princes importunity , by denying a late suit of Soissons : which though the other Princes grudge not that Soisson should faile , for he hath drawn infinite sums already , yet they resent it somewhat tenderly , that any of them should be denyed , when the Marquis obtains . That which was much observed in the Kings more childish age , when I was last here , by those whom his father appointed to judge , by an assiduous observation , his naturall inclination , is more and more confirmed , that his inclinations are cruell , and tyrannous ; and when he is any way affected , his stammering is so extreme , as he can utter nothing . They cannot draw him to look upon a son of the Marquis , whom they have put into his service . And he was so extremely affectionate towards the younger son of Beaufort , that they have removed him to a charge which he hath , as he is made Prieur of Malta ; but yet there passe such Letters between them , by stealth and practise , as ( though it be between children ) it is become a matter of State , and much diligence used to prevent the Letters . For the young Marquis of Vervueil , the K. speaks often of transplanting him into the Church , and once this Christmas delighted himself to see his young brother in a Cardinalls habit . Sir , it is time to take up , for I know , that any thing , from this place , as soon as it is certain , is stale . I have been a great while more mannerly towards my Lady Bedford , then to trouble her with any of mine own verses , but having found these French verses accompanied with a great deal of reputation here , I could not forbear to aske her leave to send them . I writ to you by M r. Pory the 17 of Jan. here , and he carried that Letter to Paris , to gather news , like a snow-ball . He told me that Pindar is gone to Constantinople with Commission to remove and succeed Glover : I am afraid you have neglected that businesse . Continue me in M. Martins good opinion : I know I shall never fall from it , by any demerit of mine , and I know I need not fear it , out of any slacknesse or slipperinesse in him , but much businesse may strangle me in him . When it shall not trouble you to write to me , I pray do me the favour to tell me , how many you have received from me , for I have now much just reason to imagine , that some of my Pacquets have had more honour then I wished them : which is to be delivered into the hands of greater personages , then I addressed them unto . Hold me still in your own love , and proceed in that noble testimony of it , of which your Letter by M. Pory spoke , ( which is the only Letter that I have received , since I came away ) and beleeve me that I shall ever with much affection , and much devotion joine both your fortune and your last best happinesse , with the desire of mine own in all my civill , and divine wishes , as the only retribution in the power of Your affectionate servant Jo. Donne . To the Honorable Knight Sir H. Goodere . SIR , IF I would go out of my way for excuses , or if I did not go out of my way from them ; I might avoid writing now because I cannot chuse but know , that you have in this town abler servants , and better understanding the persons and passages of this Court. But my hope is not in the application of other mens merits , to me however abundant . Besides , this town hath since our comming hither , afforded enough for all to say . That which was done here the 25 of March , and which was so long called a publication of the marriages , was no otherwise publique then that the Spa. Ambassador , having that day an audience delivered to the Queen that his Master was well pleased with all those particulars which had been formerly treated . And the French Ambassador in Spain is said to have had instruction , to do the same office in that Court , the same day . Since that , that is to say , these 4 last days , it hath been solemnized with more outward bravery then this Court is remembred to have appeared in . The main bravery was the number of horses which were above 800 Caparazond . Before the daies , the town was full of the 5 Challengers cartells , full of Rodomontades : but in the execution , there were no personall reencounters , nor other triall of any ability , then running at the Quintain , and the Ring . Other particulars of this , you cannot chuse but hear too much , since at this time there cometoyouso many French men . But lest you should beleeve too much , I presentyou these 2 precautions , that for their Gendarmery , there was no other trial then I told you ; & for their bravery , no true stuffe . You must of necessity have heard often of a Book written against the Popes jurisdiction , about three moneths since , by one Richer , a D r and Syndique of the Sorbonists , which Book hath now been censured by an assembly of the Clergie of this Archbishoprick , promoved with so much diligence by the Cardinall Peroun , that for this businesse he hath intermitted his replie to the Kings answer , which now he retires to intend seriously : I have not yet had the honour to kisse his Graces hand , though I have received some half-invitations to do it . Richer was first accused to the Parliament , but when it was there required of his delators to insist upon some propositions in his Book , which were either against Scripture , or the Gallican Church , they desisted in that pursuit . But in the censure which the Clergie hath made , though it be full of modifications and reservations of the rights of the King , and the Gallican Churches , there is this iniquitie , that being to be published by commandement of the Assembly , in all the Churches of Paris , which is within that Diocese , and almost all the Curates of the Parishes of Paris being Sorbonists , there is by this means a strong party of the Sorbonists themselves raised against Richer ; yet against this censure , and against three or four which have opposed Richer in print , he meditates an answer . Before it should come forth I desired to speak with him , for I had said to some of the Sorbonist of his party , that there was no proposition in his Book , which I could not shew in Catholique authors of 300 years : I had from him an assignation to meet , and at the hour he sent me his excuse , which was , that he had been traduced to have had conference with the Ambassadors of England , and the States , and with the D. of Bovillon , and that he had accepted a pension of the King of England ; and with all , that it had been very well testified to him that day , that the Jesuits had offered to corrupt men with rewards to kill him . Which I doubt not but he apprehended for true , because a messenger whom I sent to fixe another time of meeting with him , found him in an extreme trembling , and irresolutions : so that I had no more , but an intreaty to forbear comming to his house , or drawing him out of it , till it might be without danger or observation . They of the Religion held a Synod at this time in this Town , in which the principall businesse is to rectifie , or at least to mature , against their Provinciall Synod , which shall be held in May , certain opinions of Tilenus a Divine of Sedan , with which the Churches of France are scandalized . The chief point is , Whether our salvation be to be attributed to the passive merit of Christ , which is his death , or to his active also , which is his fulfilling of the Law. But I doubt not but that will be well composed , if Tilenus who is here in person with two other assistants , bring any disposition to submit himself to the Synod , and not onely to dispute . I doe ( I thank God ) naturally and heartily abhorre all schism in Religion so much , as , I protest , I am sorry to finde this appearance of schism amongst our adversaries the Sorbonists ; for I had rather they had held together , to have made a head against the usurpations of the Ro. Church , then that their disuniting should so enfeeble them , as that the Parliament should be left alone to stand against those tyrannies . Sir , you will pardon my extravagancies in these relations . I look upon nothing so intentively as these things , nor fals there any thing within my knowledge , which I would conceal from you . Though it concern not you to know it , yet me thinks it concerns me to tell it . That Cook of which you writ to me , is come hither , and hath brought me other Letters , but not those of which you writ to me , which pacquet , he saies , you received again of him ; whether by his falshood , or by your diligence in seeking a worthier messenger , I know not ; but I am sure I never lost any thing with more sorrow , because I am thereby left still in uncertainties , and irresolutions , of that which I desire much to know in womens businesses . If you write this way any more , chuse no other means , then by M r Bruer at the Queens Arms a Mercer in Cheapside : he shall alwaies know where we are , and we are yet in a purpose to go from hence within a fortnight , and dispose our selves to be at Frankford the 25 of May , when the election of the Emperor shall be there . Though I be meerly passive in all this pilgrimage , yet I shall be willing to advance that design ; because upon my promise that I would doe so , Sir Rob. Rich gave me his , that he would divert from his way to Italy so much , as to be there then . When I came to this Town I found M r Matthew , diligent to finde a means to write to you ; so that at this time , when there go so many , I cannot doubt but he provides himself , therefore I did not ask his commandement , nor offer him the service of this Pacquet . Sir , you are not evener to your self , in your most generall wishes of your own good , then I am in my particular , of which none rises in me , that is not bent upon your enjoying of peace and reposednesse in your fortunes , in your affections , and in your conscience ; more then which I know not how to wish to Your very affectionate servant and lover J. Donne . Paris the 9 Apr. 1612. here . To Sir H. Wotton . Octob. the 4 th 1622. almost ad midnight . SIR , ALL our moralities are but our out-works , our Christianity is our Citadel ; a man who considers duty but the dignity of his being a man , is not easily beat from his outworks , but from his Christianity never ; and therefore I dare trust you , who contemplates them both . Every distemper of the body now , is complicated with the spleen , and when we were young men we scarce ever heard of the spleen . In our declinations now , every accident is accompanied with heavy clouds of melancholy ; and in our youth we never admitted any . It is the spleen of the minde , and we are affected with vapors from thence ; yet truly , even this sadnesse that overtakes us , and this yeelding to the sadnesse , is not so vehement a poison ( though it be no Physick neither ) as those false waies , in which we sought our comforts in our looser daies . You are able to make rules to your self , and our B. Saviour continue to you an ability to keep within those rules . And this particular occasion of your present sadnesse must be helped by the rule , for , for examples you will scarce finde any , scarce any that is not encombred and distressed in his fortunes . I had locked my self , sealed and secured my self against all possibilities of falling into new debts , and in good faith , this year hath thrown me 400 l lower then when I entred this house . I am a Father as well as you , and of children ( I humbly thank God ) of as good dispositions ; and in saying so , I make account that I have taken my comparison as high as I could goe ; for in good faith , I beleeve yours to be so : but as those my daughters ( who are capable of such considerations ) cannot but see my desire to accommodate them in this world , so I think they will not murmure if heaven must be their Nunnery , and they associated to the B. virgins there : I know they would be content to passe their lives in a Prison , rather then I should macerate my self for them , much more to suffer the mediocrity of my house , and my means , though that cannot preferre them : yours are such too , and it need not that patience , for your fortune doth not so farre exercise their patience . But to leave all in Gods hands , from whose hands nothing can be wrung by whining but by praying , nor by praying without the Fiat voluntas tua . Sir , you are used to my hand , and , I think have leisure to spend some time in picking out sense , in ragges ; else I had written lesse , and in longer time . Here is room for an Amen ; the prayer — so I am going to my bedside to make for all you and all yours , with Your true friend and servant in Chr. Jesus J. Donne . A. V. Merced . SIR , I Write not to you out of my poor Library , where to cast mine eye upon good Authors kindles or refreshes sometimes meditations not unfit to communicate to near friends ; nor from the high way , where I am contracted , and inverted into my self ; which are my two ordinary forges of Letters to you . But I write from the fire side in my Parler , and in the noise of three gamesome children ; and by the side of her , whom because I have transplanted into a wretched fortune , I must labour to disguise that from her by all such honest devices , as giving her my company , and discourse , therefore I steal from her , all the time which I give this Letter , and it is therefore that I take so short a list , and gallop so fast over it , I have not been out of my house since I received your pacquet . As I have much quenched my senses , and disused my body from pleasure , and so tried how I can indure to be mine own grave , so I try now how I can suffer a prison . And since it is but to build one wall more about our soul , she is still in her own Center , how many circumferences soever fortune or our own perversnesse cast about her . I would I could as well intreat her to go out , as she knows whither to go . But if I melt into a melancholy whilest I write , I shall be taken in the manner : and I sit by one too tender towards these impressions , and it is so much our duty , to avoid all occasions of giving them sad apprehensions , as S. Hierome accuses Adam of no other fault in eating the Apple , but that he did it Ne contristaretu● delicias suas . I am not carefull what I write , because the inclosed Letters may dignifie this ill favoured bark , and they need not grudge so course a countenance , because they are now to accompany themselves , my man fetched them , and therefore I can say no more of them then themselves say , M ris Meauly intreated me by her Letter to hasten hers ; as I think , for by my troth I cannot read it . My Lady was dispatching in so much haste for Twicknam , as she gave no word to a Letter which I sent with yours ; of Sir Tho. Bartlet , I can say nothing , nor of the plague , though your Letter bid me : but that he diminishes , the other increases , but in what proportion I am not clear . To them at Hammersmith , and M ris Herbert I will do your command . If I have been good in hope , or can promise any little offices in the future probably , it is comfortable , for I am the worst present man in the world ; yet the instant , though it be nothing , joynes times together , and therefore this unprofitableness , since I have been , and will still indevour to be so , shall not interrupt me now from being Your servant and lover J. Donne . To the best Knight Sir H. Wootton . SIR , VVHen I saw your good Countesse last , she let me think that her message by her foot-man would hasten you up . And it furthered that opinion in me , when I knew how near M. Mathews day of departing this kingdome was . To counterpoyse both these , I have a little Letter from you brought to me to Micham yesterday , but left at my lodging two days sooner : and because that speaks nothing of your return , I am content to be perplexed in it : and as in all other , so in this perplexity to do that which is safest . To me it is safest to write , because it performes a duty , and leaves my conscience well : and though it seem not safest for the Letter , which may perish , yet I remember , that in the Crociate for the warres in the Holy Land , and so in all Pilgrimages enterprised in devotion , he which dies in the way , enjoyes all the benefit and indulgences which the end did afford . Howsoever , all that can encrease the danger of your Letter , encrease my merit ; for , as where they immolate men , it is a a scanter devotion , to sacrifice one of many slaves or of many children , or an onely child , then to beget and bring up one purposely to sacrifice it , so if I ordain this Letter purposely for destruction , it is the largest expressing of that kinde of piety , and I am easie to beleeve ( because I wish it ) your hast hither : Not that I can fear any slacknesse in that business which drew you down , because your fortune and honour are a paire of good spurs to it ; but here also you have both true businesse and many Quasi negotia , which go two and two to a businesse ; which are visitations , and such , as though they be not full businesses , yet are so near them that they serve as for excuses , in omissions of the other . As when abjurations was in use in this land , the State and law was satisfied if the abjuror came to the sea side , and waded into the sea , when windes and tydes resisted , so we think our selves justly excusable to our friends and our selves , if when we should do businesse , we come to the place of businesse , as Courts and the houses of great Princes and officers . I do not so much intimate your infirmity in this , as frankly confesse mine own . The master of Latine language says , Oculi & aures aliorum te speculantur & custodiunt . So those two words are synonimous , & only the observation of others upon me , is my preservation from extream idlenesse , else I professe , that I hate businesse so much , as I am sometimes glad to remember , that the Roman Church reads that verse A negotio perambulante in tenebris , which we reade from the pestilence walking by night , so equall to me do the plague and businesse deserve avoiding , but you will neither beleeve that I abhor businesse , if I inlarge this Letter , nor that I would afford you that ease which I affect , Therefore returne to your pleasures . Your unprofitablest friend Jo. Donne . March 14. 1607. It is my third Letter : which I tell you , because I found not M r. Rogers , but left the Letter which I sent last , with a stranger at Cliffords Inne . To Sir H. G. SIR , THis 14 of November last I received yours of the 9 , as I was in the street going to sup with my Lady Bedford , I found all that company forepossessed with a wonder why you came not last saturday . I perceive , that as your intermitting your Letters to me , gave me reason to hope for you , so some more direct addresse or conscience of your businesse here , had imprinted in them an assurance of your comming , this Letter shall but talke , not discourse ; it shall but gossip , not consider , nor consult , so it is made halfe with a prejudice of being lost by the way . The King is gone this day for Royston : and hath left with the Queen a commandment to meditate upon a Masque for Christmas , so that they grow serious about that already ; that will hasten my Lady Bedfords journey , who goes within ten days from hence to her Lord , but by reason of this , can make no long stay there . Justinian the Venetian is gone hence , and one Carraw come in his place : that State hath taken a fresh offence at a Friar , who refused to absolve a Gentleman , because he would not expresse in confession what books of Father Paul , and such , he knew to be in the hands of any others ; the State commanded him out of that territory in three hours warning , and he hath now submitted himself , and is returned as prisoner for Mantua , and so remains as yet . Sir H. Wootton who writ hither , addes also that upon his knowledge there are 14000 as good Protestants as he in that State. The Duke Joyeuse is dead , in Primont , returning from Rome , where M. Mole who went with the L. Rosse , is taken into the Inquisition , and I see small hope of his recovery ( for he had in some translations of Plessis books talked of Babylon and Antichrist . Except it fall out that one Strange a Jesuit in the Tower , may be accepted for him . To come a little nearer my self , Sir Geffery Fenton one of his Majesties Secretaries in Ireland is dead ; and I have made some offer for the place , in preservation whereof , as I have had occasion to imploy all my friends , so I have not found in them all ( except Bedford ) more hast and words ( for when those two are together , there is much comfort even in the least ) then in the L. Hay . In good faith he promised so roundly , so abundantly , so profusely , as I suspected him , but performed what ever he undertook , ( and my requests were the measures of his undertakings ) so readily and truly , that his complements became obligations , and having spoke like a Courtier , did like a friend . This I tell you , because being farre under any ability of expressing my thankfulnesse to him by any proportionall service , I do , as much as I can , thank him by thanking of you , who begot , or nursed these good impressions of me in him . Sir , as my discretion would do , my fortune doth bring all my debts into one hand , for I owe you what ever Court friends do for me , yea , whatsoever I do for my self , because you almost importune me , to awake and stare the Court in the face . I know not yet what conjecture to make of the event . But I am content to go forward a little more in the madnesse of missing rather then not pretend ; and rather wear out , then rust . It is extreme late ; and as this Letter is nothing , so if ever it come to you , you will know it without a name , and therefore I may end it here . To the Honourable Knight Sir H. Goodere . SIR , THough you escape my lifting up of your latch by removing , you cannot my Letters ; yet of this Letter I do not much accuse my self , for I serve your Commandment in it , for it is only to convey to you this paper opposed to those , with which you trusted me . It is ( I cannot say the waightyest , but truly ) the saddest lucubration and nights passage that ever I had . For it exercised those hours , which , with extreme danger of her , whom I should hardly have abstained from recompensing for her company in this world , with accompanying her out of it , encreased my poor family with a son . Though her anguish , and my fears , and hopes , seem divers and wild distractions from this small businesse of your papers , yet because they all narrowed themselves , and met in Via regia , which is the consideration of our selves , and God , I thought it time not unfit for this dispatch . Thus much more then needed I have told you , whilest my fire was lighting at Tricombs 10 a clock . Yours ever intirely J. Donne . To the Honourable Knight H. G. SIR , YOur Son left here a Letter for me , from you . But I neither discern by it that you have received any of mine lately ; which have been many , and large , and too confident to be lost , especially since , ( as I remember ) they always conveyed others to that good Lady ; neither do I know where to finde , by any diligence , your sons lodging . But I hope he will apprehend that impossibility in me , and finde me here , where he shall also finde as much readinesse to serve him , as at Polesworth . This Letter of yours makes me perceive , that that Lady hath expressed her purpose to you in particular , for the next term . Accordingly , I make my promises : for since one that meant but to flatter , told an Emperour , that his benefits were to be reckoned from the day of the promise , because he never failed , it were an injury from me to the constancy of that noble Lady , if I should not , assoon as she promises , do some act of assurance of the performance ; which I have done , as I say , in fixing times to my creditors ; for by the end of next terme , I will make an end with the world , by Gods grace . I lack you here , for my L. of Dorset , he might make a cheap bargain with me now , and disingage his honour , which in good faith , is a little bound , because he admitted so many witnesses of his large disposition towards me . They are preparing for a Masque of Gentlemen : in which M. Villars is , and M. Karre , whom I told you before my L. Chamberlain had brought into the bed-chamber . I pray , if you make not so thick goings as you used , send this Letter to that good woman , for it is not only mine . If I could stay this Letter an hour , I should send you something of Savoy , for Sir Rob. Rich , who is now come from Court , hath laid a commandment upon me by message to waite upon him ; and I know his busines , because he never sought me , but in one kinde . But the importuny of the houre excuses me , and delivers you from further trouble from Your very true friend and servant J. Donne . 13 Decemb. To Sir H. G. SIR , I Love to give you advantages upon me , therefore I put my self in need of another pardon from you , by not comming to you ; yet I am scarce guilty enough to spend much of your vertue from you , because I knew not of your being come till this your Letter told me so , in the midst of dinner at Peckham , this Monday . Sir , I am very truly yours ; if you have overvalued me in any capacity , I will do what I can to overtake your hopes of me . I wish my self whatsoever you wish me ; and so I do , what ever you wish your self . I am prisoner and close ; else I had not needed this pardon , for I long much , and much more by occasion of your Letter , to see you : when you finde that good Lady emptiest of businesse and pleasure , present my humble thanks ; you can do me no favour , which I need not , nor any , which I cannot have some hope to deserve , but this ; for I have made her opinion of me , the ballance by which I weigh my self . I will come soon enough to deliver my thanks to Sir J. Harr. for your ease , whom I know I have pained with an ilfavoured Letter , but my heart hath one style , and character ; and is yours in wishing , and in thankfulnesse . J. Donne . Peckham Monday afternoon . To the Honourable Sir R. D. SIR , I Gave no answer to the Letter I received from you upon Tuesday , both because I had in it no other commandment by it but to deliver your Letter therein , which I did , and because that Letter found me under very much sadnesse , which ( according to the proportion of ills that fall upon me ) is since also increased , so that I had not written now , if I had been sure to have been better able to write next week , which I have not much appearance of : yet there was committed to my disposition ( that is , left at my house in my absence ) a Letter from Sir W. Lover , but it was some hours after all possibility of sending it by the carrier , so that M r. W. Stanhope giving me the honour of a visite at that time , and being instantly to depart , for your parts , did me the favour to undertake the delivery of it to you . With me , Sir , it is thus , there is not one person ( besides my self ) in my house well . I have already lost half a child , and with that mischance of hers , my wife fallen into an indisposition , which would afflict her much , but that the sicknesse of her children stupefies her : of one of which , in good faith , I have not much hope . This meets a fortune so ill provided for physique and such relief , that if God should ease us with burialls , I know not well how to performe even that . I flatter my self in this , that I am dying too : nor can I truly dye faster , by any waste , then by losse of children . But Sir , I will mingle no more of my sadness to you , but wil a little recompense it , by telling you that my L. Harrington , of whom a few days since they were doubtfull , is so well recovered that now they know all his disease to be the Pox , and Measels mingled . This I heard yesterday : for I have not been there yet . I came as near importunity as I could , for an answer from Essex house , but this was all , that he should see you shortly himselfe . Your servant J. Donne . I cannot tell you so much , as you tell me , of anything from my Lord of Som. since the Epithalamion , for I heard nothing . To the Honour able Knight Sir H. Goodere . SIR , I Have but one excuse for not sending you the Sermon that you do me the honour to command , and I foresee , that before I take my hand from this paper , I shall lose the benefit of that excuse ; it is , that for more then twenty days , I have been travelled with a pain , in my right wrist , so like the Gout , as makes me unable to write . The writing of this Letter will implore a commentary for that , that I cannot write legibly ; for that I cannot write much , this Letter will testifie against me . Sir , I befeech you , at first , tell your company , that I decline not the service out of sullennesse nor lazinesse , nor that any fortune damps me so much , as that I am not sensible of the honour of their commanding it , but a meer inexperience whether I be able to write eight hours or no ; but I will try next week , and either do it , for their service , or sink in their service . This is Thursday : and upon Tuesday my Lady Bedford came to this town : this afernoon I presented my service to her , by M ris Withrington : and so asked leave to have waited upon them at supper : but my messenger found them ready to go into their Coach : so that a third Letter which I received from M ris Dadley , referring me to M ris Withringtons relation of all that State , I lose it till their return to this town . To clear you in that wherein I see by your Letter that I had not well expressed my self in mine , Sir Ed. Herbert writ to Sir Ed. Sackvil , not to presse the King to fix any certain time of sending him , till he was come over , and had spoken with the King : Sir Ed. Sackvil collects upon that , that Sir Ed. H. meanes to go again ; I think it is only , that he would have his honour so saved , as not to seem to be recalled , by having a successor , before he had emptied the place . We hear nothing from my Lord of Doncaster ; nor have we any way to send to him . I have not seen my Lady Doncaster , for she crost to Penhurst , and from thence to Petworth , my Lady Isabella came to this Town ; where , before her comming , a Letter attended her from my Lady of Tichfield : and thither she went , with their servants , who staid her comming . Hither came lately Letters with goodspeed from Vienna , in which there is no mention of any such defeat , as in rumour C. Mansfeld hath been said to have given to the D. of Bavyer : but their forces were then within such distance , as may have procured something before this time . Those which watched advantages in the Court of the Emperour , have made that use of C. Mansfelds proceedings , as that my Lord Digby complains , that there by , the forwardnesse in which his negotiation was , is somewhat retarded . He proceeds from thence into Spain . The D. of Bavyer hath presented the Emperour an account of 1200 ml . sterling in that warre , to be reimbursed : and finding the Palatinate to be in treaty , hath required a great part of Austria for his security , and they say , it is so transacted ; which is a good signe of a possibility in the restitution of the Palatinate . For any thing I discern , their fears are much greater from Hungary , then from Bohemia ; and the losse of Canon , in a great proportion , and other things , at the death of Bucquoy , was much greater , then they suffered to be published . We here Spinola is passed over at Rhenebery ; if it be so , they are no longer distracted , whether he would bend upon Juliers , or the Palatinate . I know not what you hear from your noble son in law , who sees those things clearly in himself , and in a near distance ; but I hear here , that the King hath much lost the affection of the English in those parts . Whether it proceed from any sowrenesse in him , or that they be otherwise taken off , from applying themselves to him , I know not . My Lord of S. Albons hath found so much favour as that a pension of 2000 l. will be given him ; he desires that he might have it for years , that so he might transferre it upon his creditors ; or that in place of it he might have 8000 l. for he hath found a disposition in his creditors ( to whom I hear he hath paid 3000 l. since by retyring ) to accept 8000 l. for all his debts , which are three times as much . I have been some times with my L. of Canterbury , since by accident , to give you his own words . I see him retain his former cheerfulnesse here and at Croydon , but I do not hear from Court , that he hath any ground for such a confidence , but that his case may need favour , and not have it . That place , and Bedington , and Chelsey , and Highgate , where that very good man my Lord Hobard is , and Hackney , with the M. of the Rolls , and my familiar Peckham , are my circumferrence . No place so eccentrique to me , as that I lye just at London ; and with those fragmentary recreations I must make shift to recompense the missing of that contentment which your favour opens to me , and my desire provokes me to , the kissing of your hands at Polesworth . My daughter Constance is at this time with me ; for the emptinesse of the town , hath made me , who otherwise live upon the almes of others , a houskeeper , for a moneth ; and so she is my servant below stairs , and my companion above : she was at the table with me , when your Letter was brought , and I pay her a piece of her petition in doing her this office , to present her service to my Lady Nethersoles , and her very good sister . But that she is gone to bed two hours before I writ this , she should have signed , with such a hand as your daughter Mary did to me , that which I testifie for her , that she is as affectionate a servant to them all , as their goodnesse hath created any where . Sir , I shall recompense my tediousnesse , in closing mine eyes with a prayer for yours , as for mine own happinesse , for I am almost in bed ; if it were my last bed , and I upon my last businesse there , I should not omit to joyn you with Your very humble and very thankfull servant in Christ Jesus J. Donne . Aug. 30. 1611. To his honourable friend S r H. G. SIR , TO you that are not easily scandalized , and in whom , I hope , neither my Religion nor Morality can suffer , I dare write my opinion of that Book in whose bowels you left me . It hath refreshed , and given new justice to my ordinary complaint , That the Divines of these times , are become meer Advocates , as though Religion were a temporall inheritance ; they plead for it with all sophistications , and illusions , and forgeries : And herein are they likest Advocates , that though they be feed by the way , with Dignities , and other recompenses , yet that for which they plead is none of theirs . They write for Religion , without it . In the main point in question , I think truly there is a perplexity ( as farre as I see yet ) and both sides may be in justice , and innocence ; and the wounds which they inflict upon the adverse part , are all se defendendo : for , clearly , our State cannot be safe without the Oath ; since they professe , that Clergie-men , though Traitors , are no Subjects , and that all the rest may be none to morrow . And , as clearly , the Supremacy which the Ro. Church pretend , were diminished , if it were limited ; and will as ill a bide that , or disputation , as the Prerogative of temporall Kings , who being the onely judges of their prerogative , why may not Roman Bishops , ( so enlightned as they are presumed by them ) be good witnesses of their own supremacie , which is now so much impugned ? But for this particular Author , I looked for more prudence , and humane wisdome in him , in avoiding all miscitings , or mis-interpretings , because at this time , the watch is set , and every bodies hammer is upon that anvill ; and to dare offend in that kinde now , is , for a theef to leave the covert , and meet a strong hue and cry in the teeth : and yet truly this man is extremely obnoxious in that kinde ; for , though he have answered many things fully , ( as no book ever gave more advantage then that which he undertook ) and abound in delicate applications , and ornaments , from the divine and prophane authors , yet being chiefly conversant about two points , he prevaricates in both . For , for the matter , which is the first , he referres it intirely , and namely , to that which D. Morton hath said therein before , and so leaves it roundly : And for the person ( which is the second ) upon whom he amasses as many opprobries , as any other could deserve , he pronounceth , that he will account any answer from his adversary , slaunder , except he do ( as he hath done ) draw whatsoever he saith of him , from Authors of the same Religion , and in print : And so , he having made use of all the Quodlibetaries , imputations against the other , cannot be obnoxious himself in that kinde , and so hath provided safely . It were no service to you , to send you my notes upon the Book , because they are sandy , and incoherent ragges , for my memory , not for your judgement ; and to extend them to an easinesse , and perspicuity , would make them a Pamphlet , not a Letter . I will therefore deferre them till I see you ; and in the mean time , I will adventure to say to you , without inserting one unnecessary word , that the Book is full of falsifications in words , and in sense , and of falshoods in matter of fact , and of inconsequent and unscholarlike arguings , and of relinquishing the King , in many points of defence , and of contradiction of himself , and of dangerous and suspected Doctrine in Divinitie , and of silly ridiculous triflings , and of extreme flatteries , and of neglecting better and more obvious answers , and of letting slip some enormous advantages which the other gave , and he spies not . I know ( as I begun ) I speak to you who cannot be scandalized , and that neither measure Religion ( as it is now called ) by Unitie , nor suspect Unity , for these interruptions . Sir , not onely a Mathematique point , which is the most indivisible and unique thing which art can present , flowes into every line which is derived from the Center , but our soul which is but one , hath swallowed up a Negative , and feeling soul ; which was in the body before it came , and exercises those faculties yet ; and God himselfe , who only is one , seems to have been eternally delighted , with a disunion of persons . They whose active function it is , must endevour this unity in Religion : and and we at our lay Altars ( which are our tables , or bedside , or stools , wheresoever we dare prostrate our selves to God in prayer ) must beg it of him : but we must take heed of making misconclusions upon the want of it : for , whether the Maior and Aldermen fall out , ( as with us and the Puritans ; Bishops against Priests ) or the Commoners voyces differ who is Maior , and who Aldermen , or what their Jurifdiction , ( as with the Bishop of Rome , or whosoever ) yet it is still one Corporation . Your very affectionate servant and lover J. Donne . Micham , Thursday late . Never leave the remembrance of my poor service unmentioned when you see the good Lady . Tos T. H. SIR , THis evening , which is 5 o October , I finde your Letter of Michaelmas day , and though I see by it , that it is a return of a Letter , not of the last weeks , and thereupon make account , that my last weeks Letter hath satisfied you in some things which this Letter commands , concerning Pauls , yet for other things I would give you a drowsie relation , for it is that time of night , though I called it evening . At the Kings going from hence , upon Munday last , we made account to have seen Sir John Sutclin Secretary , and Sir Rob. Weston Chancellor of the Exchequer , but they are not done , but both are fixed : my L. Cranfield received his staffe , with these two suits obtained from the King , That all Assignations might be transferred into the Exchequer , and so no paiments charged upon the Customes , nor Receivers , nor the Court of Wards , &c. And that for a time there might be a damp cast upon Pensions , till they might be considered . In the Low Countries the Armies stirre not . In the Palatinate Sir H. Vere attempting the regaining of Stenie Castle , was surprised with the Enemy in so much strength , that they write it over for a Master-piece , that he was able to make a retreat to Manheme : so that now the Enemy is got on that side the River which Heydelberg is on , and I know nothing that can stand in his way . My L. Digby comes from Vienna , before he goes into Spain , by Count Mansfield , by the Palatinate , by Paris ; and therefore upon his comming , I shall be able to say something to you . In Sir John Sutclin I presume you see an end of Sir Ro. Naunton , and we see an end of M r Tho. Murray too ; I beleeve he comes no more to the Prince . For the triall of my L. of Canterburies irregularity , there is a Commission to sixe Bishops , London , Winchester , Rochester , and three onely elect , Lincoln , S. Davids , and Exeter : two Judges , L. Hobard , and Dodridge ; two Civilians , Sir H. Martin , and D. Steward . The consecration of these elect Bishops , and consequently , my being Dean , must attend the issue of this Commission . Sir Tho. Roe is gone . The Proclamations of putting off the Parliament , till February , are like to out-run this Letter . It is very late ; and it is one act , to say Grace after Supper , and to commend my self into the hands of my blessed Saviour , in my bed , and so close this Letter , and mine eies , with the same blessing upon all your family . Amen . Your poor servant in Chr. fes . J. Donne . To Sir H. G. SIR , I Receive this 14 your Letter of the 10. yet I am not come to an understanding how these Carriers keep daies : for I would fain think that the Letters which I sent upon Thursday last might have given you such an account of the state of my family , that you needed not have asked by this . But Sir , it hath pleased God to adde thus much to my affliction , that my wife hath now confessed her self to be extremely sick ; she hath held out thus long to assist me , but is now overturn'd , & here we be in two beds , or graves ; so that God hath marked out a great many of us , but taken none yet . I have passed ten daies without taking any thing ; so that I think no man can live more thriftily . I have purged and vexed my body much since I writ to you , and this day I have missed my fit : and this is the first time , that I could discern any intermission . This is enough , the rest I will spend upon the parts of your Letter : Your Letter at Pauls is delivered . In the History of that remove , this onely perchance may be news to you , that M r Alabaster hath got of the King the Deans best Living worth above 300 l , which the Dean had good hope to have held a while . Of that which you writ concerning a Book of the Nullity , I have heard no syllable any other way . If you have received it by good hands , I beleeve it with you : otherwise the report is naturally very incredible . Though the answering of it be a work for some , both of better abilities really , and in common reputation also , yet I was like enough to have had some knowledge thereof . You mention again some thing which it seems you are not willing I should understand of my Lady Huntington : some of your former Letters , have spoken of some other former Letters , ( which I never saw ) which speak of the matter as of a history and thing done ; and these later Letters speak of it Prophetically , as of a future contingent . I am glad the often remembrance of it , gives me often occasion of thankfulnesse to her , for retaining me in her memory , and of professing my self in my end , and ways , her most humble servant . For your Parliament businesse , I should be very sorry , if you came not up , because I presume you had seposed many businesses , to have been done at that time ; but in the ways wherein you have gone , I protest I am diffident . For first , for that L. whom you solicited by Letters through me , I tell you with the whispering of a secret , but the confidence of a friend , that you will be deceived whensoever you think that he should take any delight in doing you a courtesie . And I am afraid , the true heartinesse of the other noble Gentleman M. Howard , will be of small use in this perticular , if he have but solicited my L. his father to reserve a blanke for his friend , for my L. hath suffered more denialls , even in places where he sent names , then could have been feared . Besides M. How. hath not written to his father therein , but to M. Woodward , who perceiving those Letters to be written , before his purpose of being Knight for the shire , thinkes these Letters extinguished . You made me offer so long since of a place ( it was when you writ into the west ) yet I could think it no merit to have offered you one since , otherwise it hath been since in my power , for since the M r. of the Rolls provided me one , Sir Ed. Herbert , who makes haste away , made me a present of his ; and I have had a third offer . The businesse of your last weeks Letter concerning the widow , is not a subject for a feverous mans consideration . Therefore I only send you back those Letters which you sent ; and aske you leave to make this which I am fain to call my good day , so much truly good , as to spend the rest of it with D. Layfield , who is , upon my summons , at this hour come to me My Physicians have made me afraid , that this disease will work into my head , and so put me into lightnesses , therefore I am desirous that I be understood before any such danger overtake me . Your true poor servant J. Donne . 14. March. To the Honourable Knight Sir H. G. SIR , AFter I have told you , that the Lady Hay dyed last Tuesday , and that to her end she was anguished with the memory of the execution of that fellow which attempted her in the coach . I have told you all which hath fallen out here . Except between you and me that may be worth the telling , that my L. Chancellor gave me so noble and so ready a dispatch ; accompanied with so fatherly advise , and remorse for my fortunes , that I am now , like an Alchymist , delighted with discoveries by the way , though I attain not mine end . It spent me so little time after your going , that , although you speak in your Letter of good dispatchin your going , yet I might have overtaken you . And though perchāce if I had gone , it might have been inconvenient for me , to have put my self into my L. Chamberlains presence , if that sicknesse be earnest at Ashby , and so I should nothing have advanced my businesse , yet I should have come to that noble Lady with better confidence , and more assurance of a pardon , when I had brought a conscience , that I came despoiled of all other respects , only to kisse her hands , in whose protection I am , since I have , nor desire other station , then a place in her good opinion . I took so good contentment in the fashion which my L. Chancellor used towards me , that out of a voluptuous loathnesse to let that taste go out of my mouth , I forbear to make any further tryall in that businesse till the King come into these quarters . So that , Sir , I am here in place to serve you , if either I be capable of your commandements , or this town give any thing worth the writing . As often as you see your noble friend , and her good sister , allow my name a room in your discourse , it is a short one , and you will soon have done . But tell them not my desire to do them service , for then you engage your self in a longer discourse , then I am worthy . Only in pursuit of your commandment I sent the Paquet to the Post , for in mine own understanding , there should appear small hope of arriving by that way , except you know otherwise that the LL. mean to make some stay in their return , in those parts : but the Letter is brought back again , for the Post went away yesterday , and they knew of no occasion of sending till next week . Therefore except I can inform my self of some good means , I will retain it , till I have a fresh commandment from you . I see M. Taverner still in this town , the Lady Carey went from hence but yesterday . I am in some perplexity what to doe with this pacquet , till some good fortune , or your Letters clear me . Your humble servant J. Donne . Aug. 19. To Sir H. Goodere at Polesworth . SIR , IT is true that M. Gherard told you , I had that commandment from the King signified to me by my L. and am still under it , and we are within fourteen days of our time for going . I leave a scattered flock of wretched children , and I carry an infirme and valetudinary body , and I goe into the mouth of such adversaries , as I cannot blame for hating me , the Jesuits , and yet I go . Though this be no service to my Lord : yet I shall never come nearer doing him a service , nor do any thing liker a service then this . Yesterday we had news by Sir Nowell Carou , from Paris , that the D. of Savoy was elected King of Bohemia ; which would cut off a great part of the occasion of our going : but it is not much credible in it self , nor at all beleeved here , because it is not signified from Savoy , nor Heidelberg . Since M. Gher . continues your Gazittier , I need tell you nothing of the Q. of Frances estate . For your commandment in memory of M. Martin , I should not have sate so many processes , if I could incline my thoughts that way . It is not lazinesse , it is not gravity , nor coldnesse towards his memory , or your service ; for I have thought of it oftner , and longer , then I was wont to do in such things , and nothing is done . Your last pacquet , in which your daughter and I were joynt-commissioners , was brought to me , because she was at Hampton , with the Queens body : but I sent her part to her , and my La. Uvedalls to her , who presents her service to you by me now , and says she will write next week , and so will I too , by Gods grace . You forget me absolutely and intirely , whensoever you forget me to that noble Countesse . God blesse you in all , Amen . Your true servant in Jes. Chr. J. Donne . 9 Martii . To the best Knight Sir H. G. SIR , AT your conveniency , I pray send my Lady Bedford this inclosed , but be pleased to put your self to some inconvenience , ( if it be so ) to kisse my Lady Ruthins hands in my name , and to present my very humble service to her , and tell her , that no ill conscience of having deserved her , but only an obedience to her commandments , keeps me from saying to her self thus much ; that this day I received a letter from my L. of Kent , written yesterday at Wrest : in that his Lordships sends me word , that that favour which he hath formerly done me , in giving me Blouham , is now likely to fall upon me , because the Incumbent is dangerously ill : and because this is the season in which he removes from Wrest thither , he desires ( for I give you his own word ) that he may be accommodate there , ( if it fall now ) as heretofore . Out of my absolute and intire readiness to serve that family , I sent back his messenger with this answer , that I esteemed it a great part of my good fortune , that I should become worthy to be commanded by him . If my Lady will be pleased to direct me in what particular manner I may best serve her purposes , I shall gladly waite upon her at any time , to receive her command with as much devotion and thankfulnesse as I received the benefit . I beseech you make her beleeve it , as in any place you beleeve Your poor servant in Chr. Jes. J. Donne . 26 Febr. 1621. To my best of friends Sir H. G. SIR , I Heard not from you this week ; therefore I write more willingly , because it hath in it so much more merit . And I might do it very cheaply , since to convey to you this Letter , which mine hath the honour to bring , any little Letter would serve , and be acceptable for that . Because it came not last week , I went now to solicite it , and she sent it me next day with some thankes , and some excuse that she knew not me , when I was with her . You know , I do not easily put my self into those hazards , nor do much brag of my valor now , otherwise then I purposed it for a service to you . The newest thing that I know in the world , is my new son : whose mothers being well takes off from me any new waightupon my fortune . I hear in Newgate , that M. Mathew is dead . The Catholiques beleeve it there : perchance out of a custome of credulity . But the report , is close prisoner ; for I never met it abroad . This is my third letter , all which I sent by Spelty whom my boy found at Abington house . I have now two of the best happinesses which could befall me , upon me ; which are , to be a widower and my wife alive , which may make you know , that it is but for your ease , that this letter is no longer , in this leasure in which ( having nothing else to write ) I might vary a thousand ways that I am Your very affectionate servant J. Donne . Monday at night . To my worthy friend G. K. SIR , I Receive this heare that I begin this return , your Letter by a servant of Sir G. Greseley , by whom also I hasten this dispatch . This needs no enlargement since it hath the honour to convey one from M. Gherard . But though by telling me , it was a bold letter , I had leave to open it , and that I have a little itch to make some animadversions & Criticismes upon it ( as that there is a ciphar too much in the sum of the Kings debts , and such like ) yet since my eyes do easily fall back to their distemper , and that I am this night to sup at Sir A● . Ingrams , I had rather forfeit their little strength at his supper , then with writing such impertinencies : the best spending them , is upon the rest of your Letter , to which , Sir , I can only say in generall , that some appearances have been here , of some treatise concerning this Nullity , which are said to proceed from Geneva ; but are beleeved to have been done within doors , by encouragements of some whose names I will not commit to this letter . My poor study having lyen that way , it may prove possible , that my weak assistance may be of use in this matter , in a more serious fashion , then an Epithalamion . This made me therefore abstinent in that kinde ; yet by my troth , I think I shall not scape . I deprehend in my self more then an alacrity , a vehemency to do service to that company ; and so , I may finde reason to make rime . If it be done , I see not how I can admit that circuit of sending them to you , to be sent hither ; that seems a kinde of praying to Saints , to whom God must tell first , that such a man prays to them to pray to him . So that I shall lose the honour of that conveyance ; but , for recompense , you shall scape the danger of approving it . My next Letter shall say more of this . This shall end with delivering you the remembrance of my Lady Bartlet , who is present at the sealing hereof , Your very true and affectionate servant J. Donne . Jan. 19. Which name when there is any empty corner in your discourse with that noble Lady at Ashby , I humbly beseech you to present to her as one more devoted to her service then perchance you will say . To Sir G. B. SIR , BEtween the time of making up my other Letters , and the hour that your man limited me to call for them , came to my house an other pacquet directed to him : for by this time , the carrier is as wise , as his horse , to go to the house that he hath used to go . I found liberty in the superscription to open , and so I did ; but for that part which concerns him , I must attend his comming hither , for I know not where to seek him ; and besides , I have enough to say for that part which concerns my self . Sir , even in the Letter it self to me , I deprehend much inclination , to chide me : and it is but out of your habit of good language that you spare me . So little occasion as that postscript of mine , could not bring you so near to it , if nothing else were mistaken , which ( so God help me ) was so little , that I remember not what it was , and I would no more hear again what I write in an officious Letter , then what I said at a drunken supper . I had no purpose to exercise your diligence in presenting my name to that Lady , but either I did , or should have said , that I writ onely to fill up any empty corner in your discourse . So , Sir , the reading of the Letter , was a kinde of travell to me , but when I came to the paper inclosed , I was brought to bed of a monster . To expresse my self vehemently quickly , I must say , that I can scarce think , that you have read M. Gherards letter rightly , therefore I send you back your own again . I will not protest against my beingsuch a knave , for no man shall have that from me , if he expect it : but I will protest against my being such a fool , as to depose any thing in him with hope of locking it up , and against that lownesse , of seeking reputation by so poor a way . I am not so sorry , that I am a narrow man , as that for all the narrownesse , you have not seen through me yet , nor known me perfectly ; for I might think by this , ( if I had not other testimony ) that I have been little in your contemplation . Sixteen letters from M. Gherard , could not ( I think ) perswade a Middlesex Jury of so much dishonesty in Your true servant J. Donne . To the Honourable Knight Sir G. P. SIR , I Would have intermitted this week without writing , if I had not found the name of my Lady Huntington in your Letter . The devotion which I owe , and ( in good faith ) pay in my best prayers for her good , in all kinde awakens me to present my humble thanks for this , that her Ladiship retains my name in her memory : she never laid obligation upon any man , readier to expresse his acknowledgement of them , to any servant of her servants ; I am bound to say much of this , for your indemnity ; because though I had a little preparation to her knowledge in the house where I served at first , yet , I think , she took her characters of me , from you : And , at what time soever she thought best of me in her life , I am better then that , for my goodnesse is my thankfulnesse , and I am every day fuller of that then before , to her La p. I say nothing to you of forein names in this Letter , because your son Sir Francis is here . For that which you write concerning your son , I onely gave my man Martin in charge , to use his interest in the Keeper , that your son should fall under no wants there , which it seems your son discharged , for I hear not of them . For other trifles , I bad my man let him have whatsoever he asked , so , as it might seem to come from him , and not me ; and laying that look upon it , it came to almost nothing . Tell both your daughters a peece of a storie of my Con. which may accustome them to endure disappointments in this world : An honourable person ( whose name I give you in a schedule to burn , lest this Letter should be mis-laid ) had an intention to give her one of his sons , and had told it me , and would have been content to accept what I , by my friends , could have begged for her ; but he intended that son to my Profession , and had provided him already 300 l a year , of his own gift in Church livings , and hath estated 300 l more of inheritance for their children : and now the youth , ( who yet knows nothing of his fathers intention nor mine ) flies from his resolutions for that Calling , and importunes his Father to let him travell . The girle knows not her losse , for I never told her of it : but truly , it is a great disappointment to me . More then these , Sir , we must all suffer , in our way to heaven , where , I hope you and all yours shall meet Your poor friend , and affectionate servant J. Donne . 18 Octob. 1622. To my much honoured friend S r T. Lucy . SIR , I Have scarce had at any time any thing so like news to write to you , as that I am at this Town ; we came from Spâ with so much resolution of passing by Holland . But at Mastricht we found that the lownesse , and slacknesse of the River , would incommodate us so much , as we charged our whole gests , and came hither by Land. In the way at Lovaine we met the E. of Arondel , to recompense the losse wee had of missing my L. Chandis and his company , who came to Spâ within a few hours after we came away . Sir Ed. Conaway , by occasion of his bodies indisposition , was gone home before : he told me he had some hope of you about Bartholomewtide : But because I half understood by a Letter from you , that you were determined upon the Countrie till Michaelmas , I am not so earnest in endevouring to prolong our stay in these parts , as otherwise I should . If I could joine with him in that hope of seeing you on this side the water ; and if you should hold that purpose of comming at that time , I should repent extremely my laying of our journies ; for ( if we should by miracle hold any resolution ) we should be in England about that time , so that I might misse you both here , and there . Sir , our greatest businesse is more in our power then the least , and we may be surer to meet in heaven then in any place upon earth ; and whilst we are distant here , we may meet as often as we list in Gods presence , by soliciting in our prayers for one another . I received 4 Letters from you at Spâ by long circuits . In the last , one from my L. Dorset : I , who had a conscience of mine own unworthinesse of any favour from him , could not chuse but present my thanks for the least . I do not therefore repent my forwardnesse in that office ; and I beseech you not to repent your part therein . Since we came to this Town , there arrived an Extraordinary from Spain , with a reconfirmation of the D. d'Aumals Pension , which is thereby 2400 l a year , & he brings the title of Count , to Rodrigo de Calderon , who from a very low place , having grown to be Secretary to Lerma , is now Ambassador here , and in great opinion of wisdome : They say yet he goes to Prague with the Marquis Spinola , and the G. Buquoy , to congratulate the Emperour : but we all conclude here , that persons of such quality , being great in matter of Warre , are not sent for so small an emploiment : we beleeve certainly , that they deliberate a Warre , and that the reduction of Aix being not worthy this diligence , their intentions must be upon Cleve , for the new Town which the two Princes make by Collen , despites them much . The Elector of Ments hath lately been here , upon pretence of comming in devotion to Sichem , and shortly the Electors of Colein and Saxony are to be here severally : all concurs to a disposition of such a Warre , and the Landsgrave of Hasse ( who is as yet in the Union ) is much solicited and caressed by this party , and I doubt , will prove a frail and corruptible man. I durst think confidently , that they will at least proceed so far towards a Warre , as to try how France will dispose it self in the businesse : for it is conceived that the D. of Bovillon brought to our K. good assurances from the Qu. Regent , that she would pursue all her husbands purposes in advancing the designes of those Princes who are in possession of Cleve , and in the Union . If she declare her self to do so , when they stirre , they are like to divert their purposes ; but if she stand but neutrall ( as it is likely , considering how Spanish the Court is at this time ) I see not that the Princes of the Union are much likely to retard them . Sir , you see what unconcerning things I am fain to write of , lest I should write of my self , who am so little a history or tale , that I should not hold out to make a Letter long enough to send over a Sea to you ; for I should dispatch my self in this one word that I am Your affectionate servant and lover J. Donne . Aug. 16. here . 1612. To the honour able Knight Sir H. G. SIR , SInce I received a Letter by your sonne , whom I have not yet had the honour to see , I had a Letter Pacquet from you by M r Roe : To the former , I writ before : In this I have no other commandement from you , but to tell you , whether M r Villers have received from the K , any additions of honour , or profit . Without doubt he hath yet none . He is here , practising for the Mask ; of which , if I mis-remember not , I writ as much as you desire to know , in a Letter which seems not , to have been come to you , when you writ . In the Savoy business , the King hath declared himself by an engagement , to assist him with 100000 l a year , if the Warre continue . But I beleeve , he must farm out your Warwickshire Benevolence for the paiment thereof . Upon the strength of this engagement , Sir Rob. Rich becomes confident in his hopes . If you stood in an equall disposition for the West , and onely forbore , by reason of M r Martins silence , I wonder ; for I think , I told you , that he was gone ; and I saw in Sir Tho. Lucies hand , a Letter from him to you which was likely to tell you as much . Since I came from Court , I have stirred very little : Now that the Court comes again to us , I may have something which you may be content to receive from Your very affectionate servant J. Donne . 18 Decemb. To my good friend S r H.G. SIR , THE Messenger who brought me your Letter presented me a just excuse , for I received them so late upon Thursday night , that I should have dispatched before I could begin ; yet I have obeyed you drowsily , and coldly , as the night and my indisposition commanded : yet perchance those hinderances have done good , for so your Letters are the lesse curious , in which , men of much leasure may soon exceed , when they write of businesse , they having but a little . You mention two more letters then I send . The time was not too short for me to have written them , ( for I had an whole night ) but it was too short to work a beleefe in me , that you could think it fit to go two so divers ways to one end . I see not , ( for I see not the reason ) how those letters could well have concurred with these , nor how those would well have been drawn from them , in a businesse wholly relating to this house . I was not lazie in disobeying you , but ( I thought ) only thrifty , and your request of those was not absolute , but conditioned , if I had leasure . So though that condition hinder them not , since another doth ( and you forethought , that one might ) I am not stubborn . The good Countesse spake somewhat of your desire of letters ; but I am afraid , she is not a proper Mediatrix to those persons , but I counsail in the dark . And therefore return to that , of which I have clear light , that I am always glad , when I have any way to expresse my love ; for in these commandments you feed my desires , and you give me means to pay some of my debts to you : the interest of which I pay in all my prayers for you , which , if it please not God to shew here , I hope we shall finde again together in heaven , whither they were sent . I came this morning to say thus much , and because the Porter which came to Micham summoned me for this hour to London : from whence I am this minute returning to end a little course of Physick . Yours very truly J. Donne . Friday 8 in the morning . To Sir H. G. SIR , I Writ to you yesterday taking the boldnesse to put a letter into the good Ladies pacquet for you . This morning I had this new occasion of writing , that Sir Tho. Roe , who brought this inclosed Letter to me , and left it unsealed , intreated me to take the first opportunity of sending it . Besides that which is in that letter ( for he read it to me ) I came to the knowledg in Yorkhouse that my L. Chancellor hath been moved , and incensed against you ; and asking Sir Tho. Roe , if he were directly or occasionally any cause of that , he tells me thus much , that Sir W. Lover , and Sir H. Carey , have obtained of my L. to have a Pursevant , and consequently a Serjeant sent into the Countrey for you . My L. grounds this earnestnesse against you , upon some refusing to appear upon processe which hath been taken out against you . And I perceive Sir Ed. Eston , and both the other , admit consultations , of ways by petition to the King , or Counsail , or L. Chamberlain , or any other . The great danger , obliquely likely to fall , is that when it comes to light , how you stand towards M. Mathew , you may lose the ease which you have by colour of that extent , and he may lose the benefit , of having had so much of his estate concealed . You will therefore at least pardon my advising you , to place those sums , which by your retiring I presume you do imploy upon payment of debts , in such places as that these particular friends be not forced to leave being so . I confesse , the going about to pay debts , hastens importunity . I finde in my self , that where I was not asked money before , yet when I offered to pay next Terme , they seem loth to afford me that time , which might justly have been desperate before : but that which you told me out of the Countrey , with the assistance which I hope to finde here , ( especially if your indevour may advance it at Dorset house ) I hope will inable me to escape clamor , and an ill conscience , in that behalf . One thing more I must tell you ; but so softly , that I am loath to hear my self : and so softly , that if that good Lady were in the room , with you and this Letter , she might not hear . It is , that I am brought to a necessity of printing my Poems , and addressing them to my L. Chamberlain . This I mean to do forth with ; not for much publique view , but at mine own cost , a few Copies . I apprehend some incongruities in the resolution ; and I know what I shall suffer from many interpretations : but I am at an end , of much considering that ; and , if I were as startling in that kinde , as ever I was , yet in this particular , I am under an unescapable necessity , as I shall let you perceive , when I see you . By this occasion I am made a Rhapsoder of mine own rags , and that cost me more diligence , to seek them , then it did to make them . This made me aske to borrow that old book of you , which it will be too late to see , for that use , when I see you : for I must do this , as a valediction to the world , before I take Orders . But this is it , I am to aske you ; whether you ever made any such use of the letter in verse , A nostre Countesse chez vous , as that I may not put it in , amongst the rest to persons of that rank ; for I desire very very much , that something should bear her name in the book , and I would be just to my written words to my L. Harrington , to write nothing after that . I pray tell me as soon as you can , if I be at liberty to insert that : for if you have by any occasion applied any pieces of it , I see not , that it will be discerned , when it appears in the wholepiece . Though this be a little matter , I would be sorry not to have an account of it , within as little after Newyears tide , as you could . I have something else to say , of M. Villars , but because I hope to see you here shortly , and because new additions , to the truths or rumours , which concern him , are likely to be made by occasion of this Masque , I forbear to send you the edition of this Mart , since I know it will be augmented by the next : of which , if you prevent it not by comming , you shall have , by letter an account from Your very affectionate friend and servant J. Donne . Vigilia S t. Tho. 1614. To the worthy Knight Sir Tho. Lucy . SIR , YOur Letter comes to me , at Grace after supper ; it is part of the prayer of that Grace , that God will blesse you , and all yours with his best blessings of both kinde . I would write you news ; but your love to me , may make you apt to over-beleeve news for my sake . And truly all things that are upon the stage of the world now , are full of such uncertanities , as may justly make any man loth to passe a conjecture upon them ; not only because it is hard to see how they wil end , but because it is misintertable and dangerous to conjecture otherwise , then some men would have the event to be . That which is especially in my contemplation , which is the issue of my L. of Canterburies businesse , ( for thereupon depends the consecration of my predecessor , upon which the Deanery devolves to the King ) is no farther proceeded in yet , then that some of the 10 Commissioners have met once ; and upon Saterday next there will be a fuller meeting , and an entrance into the businesse , upon which , much , very much in consequence , depends . Of my L. of Donc . we are only assured , that he is in a good way of convalescence ; but of any audience nothing yet . Slacken not your hold of my L. Treasurer , for I have been told that you are in his care . I send you a Copy of that Sermon , but it is not my copy , which I thought my L. of South-hampton would have sent me backe . This you must be pleased to let me have again , for I borrow it : for the other , I will pretermit no time to write it ; though in good faith , I have half forgot it . If in any letter I leave out the name of the La. Hunt. or La. Burdell , or your daughters , tell them , that I named them . I take the falshood upon me ; for I intend it very really , and very humbly , where I am good for any thing in any of their services . Our blessed Saviour continue and enlarge his blessings to you all , Amen . Your humble servant in Chr. Jes. J. Donne . 11 Octob. 1621. Why do you say nothing of , my little book of Cases . To Sir G.B. SIR , IT is one of my blinde Meditations to think what a miserable defeat it would be to all these preparations of braverie , if my infirmity should overtake others : for , I am at least half blinde , my windows are all as full of glasses of Waters , as any Mountebanks stall . This messenger makes haste , I thank him for it ; therefore I onely send you this Letter , which was sent to me about three daies past , and my promise to distribute your other Letters , according to your addresses , as fast as my Monsieur can doe it ; for , for any personall service , you must be content , at this time , to pardon Your affectionate servant J. Donne . Decemb. 23. To Sir H. Goodere . SIR , AGreeably to my fortune , and thoughts , I was crawld this back way from Keyston ; through my broken casement at Bedford , I saw , for my best dish at dinner , your Coach : I studied your gests , but when I knew where you were , I went out of this Town , in a doubt whether I should turn in to Wrest ; and you know the wisdome of the Parliament is , to resolve ever in the Negative : Therefore it is likeliest I shall not come in there ; yet , let me give you in passing , thus much account of my self : I thought to kisse my L. Spencers hands , at one house , and have passed three . If you know nothing to the contrary , risen since I came from London , I am likely to have a room in my L. of Dov . train , into the Countrie ; if I have , I do not ask , but use the leave of waiting upon you at home : There and ever elswhere , our blessed Saviour blesse you , and all yours , in which number , I pray , account ever Your very thankfull servant in Chr. Jes. J. Donne . To Sir H. G. SIR , I Cannot obey you , if you go to morrow to Parsons-green , your company , that place , and my promise are strong inducements , but an Ague flouts them all , of which I have had two such threatnings , that I provide against it by a little Physick . This is one fetter ; but I have a pair : for I attend Sir Geo. Mores answer in a little businesse , of which I can have no account till his return , so I am fastned here , till after Sunday . As you are sure that I love you thorowly , so think this a good expressing of that , that I promise now , that I will certainly goe with you on Munday , in despite of these interruptions , and serve you with my company to the Bathe ; which journie , it is time to hasten . But I pray think this promise so much worth , that it may deserve your comming this way on Munday , for I make it with that reservation . God send you Hawks and fortunes of a high pitch . Your honest affectionate J. Donne . To Sir T.R. SIR , I Have bespoke you a New-years-gift , that is , a good New year , for I have offered your name with my soul heartily to God in my mornings best Sacrifice : If for custome you will doe a particular office in recompense , deliver this Letter to your Lady , now , or when the rage of the Mask is past . If you make any haste into the Country , I pray let me know it . I would kisse your hands before you goe , which I doe now , and continue Your affectionate servant and lover J. Donne . Micham , the last of 1607. as I remember . To Sir Henry Goodere . SIR , I Speak to you before God , I am so much affected with yesterdaies accident , that I think I prophane it in that name . As men which judge Nativities , consider not single Starres , but the Aspects , the concurrence and posture of them ; so in this , though no particular past arrest me , or divert me , yet all seems remarkable and enormous . God , which hath done this immediately , without so much as a sickness , will also immediately without supplement of friends , infuse his Spirit of comfort , where it is needed and deserved . I write this to you from the Spring Garden , whither I withdrew my self to think of this ; and the intensenesse of my thinking ends in this , that by my help Gods work should be imperfected , if by any means I resisted the amasement . Your very true friend J. Donne . To my good friend G. H. SIR , THE little businesse which you left in my hands is now dispatched ; if it have hung longer then you thought , it might serve for just excuse , that these small things make as many steps to their end , and need as many motions for the warrant , as much writing of the Clerks , as long expectation of a Seal , as greater . It comes now to you sealed , and with it as strong and assured seals of my service and love to you , if it be good enough for you . I owe you a continuall tribute of Letters . But Sir , even in Princes and Parents , and all States that have in them a naturall Soveraignty , there is a sort of reciprocation , and as descent to doe some offices due to them that serve them : which makes me look for Letters from you , because I have another as valuable a pawn therefore , as your friendship , which is your promise ; lest by the Jailors fault this Letter stick long , I must tell you , that I writ and sent it 12 o Decemb. 1600. Your friend and servant and lover J. Donne . 12. Decemb. 1600. To your self . SIR , I Send you here a Translation ; but it is not onely to beleeve me , it is a great invention to have understood any piece of this Book , whether the gravity of the matter , or the Poeticall form , give it his inclination , and principium motus ; you are his center , or his spheare , and to you as to his proper place he addresses himself . Besides that all my things , not onely by obligation , but by custome , know that that is the way they should goe . I spake of this to my L. of Bedford , thinking then I had had a copy which I made long since , at Sea , but because I finde it not , I have done that again : when you finde it not unseasonable , let her see it ; and if you can think it fit , that a thing that hath either wearied , or distasted you , should receive so much favour , put it amongst her papers : when you have a new stomach to it , I will provide you quickly a new Copy . Your very true friend and servant and lover J. Donne . At my Micham Hospitall , Aug. 10. To the gallant Knight Sir Tho , Lucy . SIR , BEcause in your last Letter , I have an invitation to come to you , though I never thought my self so fallen from my interest , which , by your favour , I prescribe in , in you , and therefore when in the spring I hoped to have strength enough , to come into those parts , upon another occasion , I always resolved to put my self into your presence too , yet now I aske you more particularly how you dispose of your self ; for though I have heard , that you purpose a journey to the Bath , and from thence hither , yet I can hope , that my service at Lincolns Inne being ended for next Terme , I may have intermission enough to waite upon you at Poleseworth , before the season call you to Bath . I was no easie apprehender of the fear of your departing from us ; neither am I easie in the hope of seeing you intirely over suddenly . God loves your soul , if he be loth to let it go inch-meale , and not by swallowings ; and he loves it too , if he build it up again stone after stone ; his will is not done except his way , and his leasure be observed . In my particular , I am sorry , if my ingenuity and candor in delivering my self in those points , of which you speak to me , have defaced those impressions which were in you before : if my freedome have occasioned your captivity , I am miserably sorry . I went unprofitably and improvidently , to the utmost end of Truth , because I would go as farre as I could to meet Peace ; if my going so far in declaring my self , brought you where you could not stop . But I was as confident in your strength , as in mine own , so am I still , in him , who strengthens al our infirmities and will , I doubt not , bring you and me together , in all those particulars , so as we shall not part in this world , nor the next . Sir , your own soul cannot be more zealous of your peace , then I am : and God , who loves that zeale in me , will not suffer you to suspect it . I am surprised with a necessity of writing now , in a minute ; for I sent to Bedford house to informe my self of means to write , and your daughter sent me word , of a present messenger , and therefore the rest of this , I shall make up in my prayers to our blessed Saviour , for all happinesses to you . Your poor servant in Chr. Jesus J. Donne . Drury house the 22 of Decemb. 1607. To Sir H.G. SIR , THis is a second Letter : the enclosed was written before . Now we are sure that Heidelberge is taken , and entred with extreme cruelties . Almost all the defendors forsook their stations ; only Sir Ger. Herbert maintained his nobly , to the repulsing of the enemy three times , but having ease in the other parts , 800 new fresh men were put upon his quarter , and after he had broke 4 Pikes , and done very well , he was shot dead in the place . Manheim was soon after besieged , and is still . Heydelth was lost the 6 of this moneth . the K. upon news of this , sent to the Spanish Ambassaour , that the people were like to resent it , and therefore , if he doubted ought , he should have a Guard : but I do not see , that he seems to need it , in his own opinion , neither , intruth does he ; the people are flat : or trust in God , and the Kings ways : Sir Hor. Vere hath written to his wife , ( as I am told ) a Letter in the nature of a will , for the disposing of his estate and children , as though he did not account to see her any more , but yet Manheim cannot be lost , but by storming . Your man stays , and our bell rings me into the Church ; there Sir , I shall recommend you to Gods goodnesse , with Your friend J. Donne . 24 Septemb. To Sir H. G. SIR , I Live so farre removed , that even the ill news of your great losse ( which is ever swiftest and loudest ) found me not till now , your letter speaks it not plain enough but I am so accustomed to the worst , that I am sure it is so in this . I am almost glad that I knew her so little : for I would have no more additions to sorrow . if I should comfort you , it were an almes acceptable in no other title , then when poor give to poor ; for I am more needy of it then you . And I know you well provided of Christian , and learned , and brave defences against all humane accidents . I will make my best haste after your messenger : and if my self and the place had not been ill provided of horses , I had been the messenger , for you have taught me by granting more to deny no request . Your honest unprofitable friend J. Donne . Pyesford 3 a clock just as yours came . To Sir H. G. SIR , I Cannot yet serve you with those books of which your Letter spake . In recompense I will tell you a story , which if I had had leasure to have told it you when it was fresh , which was upon Thursday last , might have had some grace for the rareness , and would have tried your love to me , how farre you would adventure to beleeve an improbable thing for my sake who relates it . That day in the morning , there was some end made , by the E. of Salisbury and others , who were Arbitrators in some differences between Herford and Mountegle , Herford was ill satisfied in it , and declared himself so farre as to say , he expected better usage in respect not only of his cause but of his expence and service in his Ambastage : to which Salisbury replied , that considered how things stood between his Majesty and Herford house at the Kings enterance , the King had done him especiall favour in that employment of honour and confidence , by declaring in so publique and great an act and testimony , that he had no ill affections toward him . Herford answered , that he was then and ever an honest man to the King : and Salisbury said , he denied not that , but yet solemnly repeated his first words again . So that Herford seemed not to make answer , but pursuing his own word , said , that whosoever denied him to have been an honest man to the King , lyed . Salisbury asked him if he directed that upon him , Herford said , upon any who denied this . The earnestnes of both was such , as Salisbury accepted it to himself , and made protestation before the LL. present , that he would do nothing else , till he had honorably put off that lye . Within an hour after , Salisbury sent him a direct challenge , by his servant M r Knightley ; Herford required only an hours leisure of consideration ( it is said , it was onely to inform himself of the especiall danger , in dealing so with a Counsellor ) but he returned his acceptation : And all circumstances were so clearly handled between them , that S t James was agreed for the place , and they were both come from their severall lodgings , and upon the way to have met , when they were interrupted by such as from the King were sent to have care of it . So these two have escaped this great danger ; but ( by my troth ) I fear earnestly that Mistresse Bolstrod will not escape escape that sicknesse in which she labours at this time . I sent this morning to aske of her passage of this night ; and the return is , that she is as I left her yesternight , and then by the strength of her understanding , and voyce , ( proportionally to her fashion , which was ever remisse ) by the eavennesse and life of her pulse , and by her temper , I could allow her long life , and impute all her sicknesse to her minde . But the History of her sicknesse , makes me justly fear , that she will scarce last so long , as that you when you receive this letter , may do her any good office , in praying for her ; for she hath not for many days received so much as a preserved Barbery , but it returnes , and all accompanied with a Fever , the mother , and an extream ill spleen . Whilest I write this Tuesday morning , from Bartlet house one brings me a pacquet to your Master : he is gone ; and that Lady and all the company is from town . I thought I might be pardoned , if I thought my self your man for that service to open it , which I did , and for the Letters I will deliver them . What else you bid Foster do in his Letter , bid him do it there , for ( so God help me ) I know not what it is . I must end now , else the carrier will be gone . God be with you . Yours intirely . You know me without a name , and I know not how this Letter goes . To Sir H. G. SIR , I Had destined all this Tuesday , for the Court , because it is both a Sermon day , and the first day of the Kings being here . Before I was to go forth , I had made up this inclosed pacquet for you , and then came this messenger with your pacquet , of which if you can remember the number , you cannot expect any account thereof from me , who have not half an hour left me before I go forth , and your messenger speakes of a necessity of returning homward before my returning home . If upon the delivery of them , or any other occasion , there intervene new subject of writing , I shall relieve my selfe upon Tuesday , if Tamworth carrier be in town . To the particulars of the Letter to my self , I will give this paper , and line . Of my Lady Bedford , I must say so much as must importune you to burn the Letter ; for I would say nothing of her upon record , that should not testifie my thankfulnesse for all her graces . But upon this motion , which I made to her by letter , and by S r Tho. Roes assistance , if any scruple should arise in her , she was somewhat more startling , then I looked for from her : she had more suspicion of my calling , a better memory of my past life , then I had thought her nobility could have admitted : of all which , though I humbly thank God , I can make good use , as one that needs as many remembrances in that kinde , as not only friends but enemies can present , yet I am afraid , they proceed in her rather from some ill impression taken from D. Burges , then that they grow in her self . But whosoever be the conduit , the water is the holy Ghosts , and in that acceptation I take it . For her other way of expressing her favour to me , I must say , it is not with that cheerfulnesse , as heretofore she hath delivered her self towards me . I am almost sorry , that an Elegy should have been able to move her to so much compassion heretofore , as to offer to pay my debts ; and my greater wants now , and for so good a purpose , as to come disingaged into that profession , being plainly laid open to her , should work no farther but that she sent me 30 l. which in good faith she excused with that , which is in both parts true , that her present debts were burdensome , and that I could not doubt of her inclination , upon all future emergent occasions , to assist me . I confesse to you , her former fashion towards me , had given a better confidence ; and this diminution in her makes me see , that I must use more friends , then I thought I should have needed . I would you could burn this letter , before you read it , at least do when you have read it . For , I am afraid out of a Contemplation of mine own unworthinesse , and fortune , that the example of this Lady , should work upon the Lady where you are : for though goodnesse be originally in her , and she do good , for the deeds sake , yet , perchance , she may think it a little wisdome , to make such measure of me , as they who know no better , do . Of any new treaty of a match with Spain , I hear nothing . The warres in the Lowcountries , to judge by their present state , are very likely to go forward . No word of a Parliament , and I my self have heard words of the K. as directly against any such purpose , as any can sound . I never heard word , till in your letter , of any stirres in Scotland , for that of the French K. which you aske , it hath this good ground , That in the Assembly there a proposition hath been made , and well entertained , that the K. should be declared , to have full Jurisdiction in France ; and no other person to have any . It hath much of the modell and frame of our Oath of Allegeance , but with some modification . It is true , it goes farther , then that State hath drove in any publique declarations , but not farther then their Schools have drove often and constantly : the easinesse that it hath found in passing thus farre without opposition , puts ( perchance unnecessarily ) in me a doubt , that they are sure to choak it , at the Royall assent , and therefore oppose it not , by the way , to sweeten the conveyance of their other purposes . Sir , if I stay longer I shall lose the Text , at Court , therefore I kisse your hand , and rest Your very true servant J. Donne . We hear ( but without second as yet ) that Sir Rich. Philips brother in France , hath taken the habit of a Capuchin . To Sir Thomas Lucy . SIR , THis first of Aprill I received yours of 21 of Martii , which being two days after the ordinary Smithfield day , I could do no more , but seal this letter to be sent to you next Tuesday , because I foresee that I shall not then be in town . Whatsoever I should write now , of any passages of these days , would lose the verdure before the letter came to you , only give me leave to tell you that I need none of those excuses , which you have made to your self in my behalfe , for my not writing . For your son in law came to me , so near the time of his going away , as it had been impossible to have recovered him with a letter at so farre a distance , as he was lodged . And my L. Hunt. messenger received that answer , which , I hope , before this time , you know to be true , that I had sent the day before , by the infallible carrier of Smithfield . The Emperours death may somewhat shorten our way ; for I disoern now no reason of going to Vienna ; but I beleeve it wil extēd our busines ; so that I promise my self no speedier return by that . If I write no letters into England out of these parts ; I cannot be without your pardon , if I write not to you , but if I write to any and leave you out , lay all the faults which you have ever pardonedin me , to my charge again . I foresee some reasons , which may make me forbeare ; but no flacknesse of mine own , shall . Sir , if I have no more the commodity of writing to you here in England , ( as , we may be gon before next Tuesday ) I tell you , in this departing from you , with the same truth and earnestnesse as I would be beleeved to speake in my last departing , and transmigration from the whole world , that I leave not behinde me a heart , better affected to you , nor more devoted to your service , then I carry with me . Almighty God blesse you , with such a reparation in your health , such an establishment in your estate , such a comfort in your children , such a peace in your conscience , and such a true cheerfulnesse in your heart , as may be strong seales to you , of his eternall gracious purpose upon you . This morning I spend in surveying and emptying my Cabinet of Letters ; and at the top of all I light upon this Letter lately received , which I was loth to bury . I chose to send it you , to mine own condemnation ; because a man so busie as he is , descending to this expressing of himself in verse , I am inexcusable towards you , for disobeying a commandement of yours , of that kinde ; but I relie upon the generall , that I am sure you are sure , that I never refuse any thing for lazinesse , nor morosity , and therefore make some other excuse for me . You have beenso long used to my hand that I stand not to excuse the hasty raggednesse of this Letter . The very ilnesse of the writing , is a good argument that I forced a time , in the fulnesse of businesse , to kisse your hand , and to present my thanks as for all your favours , and benefits , so principally for keeping me alive in the memory of the noblest Countesse , whose commandement , if it had been her La ps pleasure to have any thing said or done in her service , at Heydelberg , I should have been glad to have received . Sir , God blesse you , & spiritu principali confirmet te ; and Your very true and affectionate servant in Chr. fes . J. Donne . 4. Apr. 1619. To the honourable Knight S r Henry Goodere . SIR , AS you are a great part of my businesse , when I come to London , so are you when I send . More then the office of a visitation brings this Letter to you now ; for I remember that about this time you purposed a journey to fetch , or meet the Lad. Huntington . If you justly doubt any long absence , I pray send to my lodging my written Books : and if you may stay very long , I pray send that Letter in which I sent you certain heads which I purposed to enlarge , for I have them not in any other paper : and I may finde time in your absence to do it , because I know no stronger argument to move you to love me , but because you have done so , doe so still , to make my reason better , and I shall at last prescribe in you Yours , J. Donne . Micham Wednesday . To Sir H. G. at Polesworth . SIR , THis 25 I have your letter of 21 , which I tell you so punctually , because by it , nor by any other , I doe not discern that you received my pacquet of Books ; not that I looked for so quick a return of the Sermon , nor of my Cases of conscience , but that I forget so absolutely what I write , and am so sure that I write confidently to you , that it is some pain to remain in any jealousie that any Letter is miscarried . That which I writ to you of my L. Treasur . disposition to you , I had from M r Har ; and I understood it to be his desire to convey it through me . The last account which we have of my L. Douc . is , by Letters of the 2 o of this ; by which also we saw , that the first Letters of his convalescence , were but propheticall ; for he was let blood a second time , and is not strong enough yet to receive audience . Though I be not Dean of Pauls yet , my L. of Warwick hath gone so low , as to command of me the office of being Master of my game , in our wood about him in Essex . I pray be you content to be my officer too , the Steward of my services to all to whom you know them to be due in your walk , and continue your own assurance that I am Your affectionate servant in Chr. fes . J. Donne . To my worthy friend F. H. SIR , I Can scarce doe any more this week then send you word why I writ not last . I had then seposed a few daies for my preparation to the Communion of our B. Saviours body ; and in that solitarinesse and arraignment of my self , digested some meditations of mine , and apparelled them ( as I use ) in the form of a Sermon : for since I have not yet utterly delivered my self from this intemperance of scribling ( though I thank God my accesses are lesse and lesse vehement ) I make account that to spend all my little stock of knowledge upon matter of delight , were the same error , as to spend a fortune upon Masks and Banque●ing houses : I chose rather to build in this poor fashion , some Spittles , and Hospitals , where the poor and impotent sinner may finde some relief , or at least understanding of his infirmity . And if they be too weak to serve posterity , yet for the present by contemplation of them , &c. To Sir H. G. SIR , I Have the honour of your Letter , which , I am almost sorry to have received : some few daies before the receit thereof D. Turner , who accompanied my L , Carow to Sion to dinner , shewed me a Letter from you , from which I conceived good hopes that your businesses being devolved into the hands of the Treasurer , had been in much more forwardnesse , then by your Letter to me they appear to be . I beseech God establish them , and hasten them , and with them , or without them , as he sees most conducible to his purpose upon you , continue in you a relying upon him , and a satisfaction in his waies . I know not whether any Letter from your son , or any other report , may have given you any mention of me ; he writ to me from the Compter , that he was under a trifling arrest , and that 3 l and some little more would discharge him . I sent my man with that money , but bid him see it emploied for his discharge : he found more actions , and returned . Next day he writ to me that 8 l would discharge him , and that M r Selden would lay down half . But M r Selden and I speaking together , thought it the fittest way , to respite all , till , in a few daies , by his writing to you , we might be directed therein ; and in the mean time , took order with the Keeper to accommodate him , and I bade my man Martin , as from himself , to serve his present want with somethings . Since we told him , that we would attend a return of his Letter to you , I heard no more of him , but I hear he is out . Whosoever serves you with relations from this Town , I am sure prevents me of all I can say . The Palatinate is absolutely lost ; for before this Letter come to you , we make account that Heydelberg and Frankindale is lost , and Manheme distressed . Mansfield came to Breda , and Gonzales , to Brussels , with great losses on both sides , but equall . The P. of Orange is but now come to Breda , and with him , all that he is able to make , even out of the Garrisons of their Towns. The ways of victuall to Spinolaes Army , are almost all precluded by him , and he likely to put upon the raising of Spinola , between whom and the Town , there are hotter disputes , then ever our times saw . The Secretary of the States here shewed me a Letter yesternight , that the Town spends 6000 pound of powder a day , and hath spent since the siege 250 m pounds . Argits Regiment and my L. Vaux , are so diminished by commings a way , as that both ( I think ) make not now in Muster above 600. M r Gage is returning to Rome , but of his Negotiation I dare say nothing by a Letter of adventure . The direction which his Ma ty gave for Preachers , had scandalized many ; therefore he descended to pursue them with certain reasons of his proceedings therein ; and I had commandment to publish them in a Sermon at the Crosse , to as great a Congregation as ever I saw together , where they received comfortable assurance of his Ma ties constancy in Religion , and of his desire that all men should be bred in the knowledge of such things , as might preserve them from the superstition of Rome . I presume it is but a little while before we shall see you here , but that little time is likely to produce many things greatly considerable . Present , I pray , my thankfull services to your good daughters . I can give them no better a room in my prayers , and wishes , then my poore Constance hath , and they have that ; so have you Sir , with Your very true friend and servant in Chr. Jes. J. Donne . To the worthiest Knight Sir Henry Goodere . SIR , OUr blessed Saviour , who abounds in power and goodnesse towards us all , blesse you , and your family , with blessings proportioned to his ends in you all , and blesse you with the testimony of a rectified conscience , of having discharged all the offices of a father , towards your discreet and worthy daughters , and blesse them with a satisfaction , and quiescence , and more , with a complacency and a joy , in good ends , and ways towards them , Amen . Your man brought me your Letter of the 8 of December this 21 of the same , to Chelsey , and gives me the largenesse , till friday to send a letter to Pauls house . There can scarce be any peece of that , or of those things whereof you require light from me , that is not come to your knowledge , by some clearer way , between the time of your Letter , and this . Besides the report of my death , hath thus much of truth in it , that though I be not dead , yet I am buried within a few weeks after I immured my self in this house , the infection strook into the town , into so many houses , as that it became ill manners , to make any visits . Therefore I never went to Knoll , nor Hanworth , nor Kenton , nor to the Court , since the Court came into these quarters , nor am yet come to London ; therefore I am little able to give you account of high stages . Perchance you look not so low , as our ordinary Gazetta , and that tells us , ( with a second assurance ) that the D. of Brunswick , Christian , is dead of an Ague . My L. of Dorset even upon the day , when he should have been installed with his six fellowes , fell sick at London ; and at Court ( which does not exalt all men ) his Fever was exalted to the plague ; but he is in good convalescence . Of the Navy I hear of no great lim come back yet , but my L. of Essex ; something of the disappointing of the designe they had , is imputed to some difference , in point of command , between him and the M r. of the Ordinance , my L. of Valencia , but as yet , there is little manifested . Already is issued a Proclamation , that there be no disbanding of the Souldiers , upon their landing , in what part soever , and that his Majesty hath present imployment for them . What the main busines at Haghe hath been , I know nothing ; but I hear , that their offer of pawning of Jewells to a very very great value , to the States or private men , hath found no acceptance , at least found no money . Occasionally I heard from the Haghe , that the Queen having taken into her care , the promoving and advancing of some particular mens businesses , by way of recommendations to the Duke , expressed her self very royally , in your behalf . This I tell you not , as though you knew it not , but because I had the fortune to see it in a Letter of the simple Gentlewoman , from thence ; by which name , if you know her not , I have omitted heretofore to tell you a good tale . They continue at Court , in the resolution of the Queen pastorall ; when Q. Anne loved gamboils , you loved the Court ; perchance you may doubt whether you be a thorough Courtier , if you come not up to see this , The Queen a Shepperdesse : but I speak not this , by way of counsail , to draw you up , it is not only Non Dominus , sed ego , but nec Deus nec ego , to call you hither , but upon fair appearances of usefull commings . Mr George Herbert is here at the receipt of your letter , and with his service to you , tells you that all of Uvedall house are well . I reserve not the mention of my Lady Huntington to the end of my Letter , as grains to make the gold weight , but as tincture to make the better gold , when you finde room to intrude so poor and impertinent a name , as mine is , in her presence . I beseech you , let her Lad : know , that she hath sowed her favours towards me , in such a ground , that if I be grown better ( as I hope I am ) her favours are grown with me , and though they were great when she conferred them , yet , ( if I mend every day ) they increase in me every day , and therefore every day multiply my thankfulnesse towards her Ladiship : say what you will ( if you like not this expression ) that may make her Ladiship know , that I shall never let fall the memory , nor the just valuation of her noble favours to me , nor leave them unrequited in my Exchequer , which is , the blessings of God upon my prayers . If I should write another sheet , I should be able to serve your curiosity no more of Dukes nor LL. nor Courts , and this half line serves to tell you , that I am truly Your poor friend and humble servant in Chr. fes . J. Donne . To my honoured friend G. G. Esquire . SIR , NEither your Letters , nor silence , needs excuse ; your friendship is to me an abundant possession , though you remember me but twice in a year : He that could have two harvests in that time , might justly value his land at a high rate ; but , Sir , as we doe not onely then thank our land , when we gather the fruit , but acknowledge that all the year she doth many motherly offices in preparing it : so is not friendship then onely to be esteemed , when she is delivered of a Letter , or any other reall office , but in her continuall propensnesse and inclination to do it . This hath made me casie in pardoning my long silences , and in promising my self your forgivenesse for not answering your Letter sooner . For my purpose of proceeding in the profession of the law , so farre as to a title you may be pleased to correct that imagination , wheresoever you finde it . I ever thought the study of it my best entertainment , and pastime , but I have no ambition , nor designe upon the style . Of my Anniversaries , the fault that I acknowledge in my self , is to have descended to print any thing in verse , which though it have excuse even in our times , by men who professe , and practise much gravitie ; yet I confesse I wonder how I declined to it , and do not pardon my self : But for the other part of the imputation of having said too much , my defēce is , that my purpose was to say as well as I could : for since I never saw the Gentlewoman , I cannot be understood to have bound my self to have spoken just truths , but I would not be thought to have gone about to praise her , or any other in rime ; except I took such a person , as might be capable of all that I could say . If any of those Ladies think that Mistris Drewry was not so , let that Lady make her self fit for all those praises in the book , and they shall be hers . Sir , this messenger makes so much haste that I cry you mercy for spending any time of this letter in other imployment then thanking you for yours . I hope before Christmas to see England , and kisse your hand , which shall ever , ( if it disdain not that office ) hold all the keyes of the libertie and affection , and all the faculties of Your most affectionate servant , J. D. Paris the 14 of Aprill , here , 1612. To my honoured friend G. G. Esquire . SIR , I Should not only send you an account by my servant , but bring you an account often my self , ( for our Letters are our selves ) and in them absent friends meet ) how I do , but that two things make me forbear that writing : first , because it is not for my gravity , to write of feathers , and strawes , and in good faith , I am no more , considered in my body , or fortune . And then because whensoever I tell you how I doe , by a Letter , before that Letter comes to you , I shall be otherwise , then when it left me . At this time , I humbly thank God , I am only not worse ; for , I should as soon look for Roses at this time of the year , as look for increase of strength . And if I be no worse all spring , then now , I am much better , for , I make account that those Church services , which I would be very loth to decline , will spend somewhat ; and , if I can gather so much as will bear my charges , recover so much strength at London , as I shall spend at London , I shall not be loth to be left in that state wherein I am now , after that 's done ; But I do but discourse , I do not wish ; life , or health , or strength , ( I thank God ) enter not into my prayers for my self : for others they do ; and amongst others , for your sick servant , for such a servant taken so young , and healed so long , is half a child to a master , and so truly I have observed that you have bred him , with the care of a father . Our blessed Saviour look graciously upon him , and glorifie himself in him , by his way of restitution to health ; And by his way of peace of conscience in Your very true friend and servant in Chr. Jos. J. Donne . SIR , THis advantage you , and my other friends have , by my frequent Fevers , that I am so much the oftener at the gates of heaven , and this advantage by the solitude and close imprisonment that they reduce me to after , that I am thereby the oftener at my prayers ; in which , I shall never leave out your happinesse ; and , I doubt not , but amongst his many other blessings , God will adde to you some one for my prayers . A man would almost be content to dye , ( if there were no other benefit in death ) to hear of so much sorrow , and so much good testimony from good men , as I , ( God be blessed for it ) did upon the report of my death . Yet , I perceive it went not through all ; for , one writ unto me , that some ( and he said of my friends ) conceived , that I was not so ill , as I pretended , but withdrew my self , to save charges , and to live at ease , discharged of preaching . It is an unfriendly , and God knows , an ill grounded interpretation : for in these times of necessity , and multitudes of poor there is no possibility of saving to him that hath any tendernesse in him ; and for affecting my ease , I have been always more sorry , when I could not preach , then any could be , that they could not hear me . It hath been my desire , ( and God may be pleased to grant it me ) that I might die in the Pulpit ; if not that , yet that I might take my death in the Pulpit , that is , die the sooner by occasion of my former labours . I thanke you , for keeping our George in in your memory , I hope God reserves it for so good a friend as you are , to send me the first good newes of him . For the Diamond Lady , you may safely deliver Roper , whatsoever belongs to me , and he will give you a discharge for the money . For my L. Percy , we shall speake of it , when we meet at London ; which , as I do not much hope before Christmas , so I do not much fear at beginning of Tearm ; for I have intreated one of my fellowes to preach to my Lord Maior , at Pauls upon Christmas day , and reserved Candlemas day to my self for that service , about which time also , will fall my Lent Sermon , except my Lord Chamberlaine beleeve me to be dead , and leave me out ; for as long as I live , and am not speechlesse , I would not decline that service . I have better leasure to write , then you to read , yet I will not oppresse you with too much letter , God blesse you , and your sonne , as Your poor friend and humble servant in Christ Jesus J. Donne . To the Lady G. MADAM , I Am not come out of England , if I remain in the Noblest part of it , your minde ; yet I confesse , it is too much diminution to call your minde , any part of England , or of this world , since every part even of your body , deserves titles of higher dignity . No Prince would be loth to die , that were assured of so faire a tombe to preserve his memory : but I have a greater vantage then so ; for since there is a Religion in friendship , and a death in absence , to make up an intire frame there must be a heaven too : and there can be no heaven so proportionall to that Religion , and that death , as your favour . And I am gladder that it is a heaven , then that it were a Court , or any other high place of this world , because I am likelier to have a room there then here ; and better cheap . Madam my best treasure , is time ; and my best imployment of that , is to study good wishes for you , in which I am by continuall meditation so learned , that your own good Angell , when it would do you most good , might be content to come and take instructions from Your humble and affectionate servant J. Donne . To your selfe . SIR , THe first of this moneth I received a Letter from you , no Letter comes so late , but that it brings fresh newes hither . Though I presume , M r Pore , and since , Sir Rob. Rich came after the writing of that Letter , yet it was good newes to me , that you thought me worthy of so good a testimony . And you were subtile in the disguise : for you shut up your Letter , thus , Lond. 22. in our stile , but I am not so good a Cabalist , as to finde in what moneth it was written . But , Sir , in the offices of so spirituall a thing as friendship , so momentary a thing as time , must have no consideration . I keep it therefore to read every day , as newly written : to which vexation it must be subject , till you relieve it with an other . If I ought you not a great many thankes for every particular part of it , I should yet thanke you for the length ; and love it , as my mistresses face , every line and feature , but best all together . All that I can do towards retribution , is , ( as other bankrupts do in prison ) to make means by Commissioners , that a great debt may be accepted by small summes weekly . And in that proportion I have paid my tribute to you , almost ever since I came , and shall still do so . You know that they say , those are the strongest , and the firmest , and most precious things , which are composed of the most , and smallest parts . I will flatter my self therefore , that the number of my Letters may at last make a strong argument of my desire to serve you , but because I remember , out of this Philosophy , that they should be little , as well as many , lest this Letter should not get into the building , it shall be no bigger ; thus much addition will not much disfigure it , that it sweare to you that I am Your affectionate servant J. Donne . Sir , I cry you mercy for sealing your sisters letter , but I deliver you up my authority , and I remember you , that you have hers to open it again . You will the easilier forgive me , that I write no newes , when you observe by this transgression , that I live in a place which hath quenched in me even the remembrance of good manners , By naming her , I have made my postscript the worthyest place of my letter : and therefore I chuse that place to present my service to all the company at our lodging ; in which house , if I cannot get room for a pallat , at my return , my comfort is , that I can ever hope to be so near them as the Spittle in the Savoy , where they receive Travellers . To the Honourable Knight , Sir ROBERT KARRE . Sir , THough I have left my bed , I have not left my bed-side ; I sit there still , and as a Prisoner discharged , sits at the Prison doore , to beg Fees , so sit I here , to gather crummes . I have used this leisure , to put the meditations had in my sicknesse , into some such order , as may minister some holy delight . They arise to so many sheetes ( perchance 20. ) as that without staying for that furniture of an Epistle , That my Friends importun'd me to Print them , I importune my Friends to receive them Printed . That , being in hand , through this long Trunke , that reaches from Saint Pauls , to Saint James , I whisper into your eare this question , whether there be any uncomlinesse , or unseasonablenesse , in presenting matter of Devotion , or Mortification , to that Prince , whom I pray God nothing may ever Mortifie , but Holinesse . If you allow my purposes in generall , I pray cast your eye upon the Title and the Epistle , and rectifie me in them : I submit substance , and circumstance to you , and the poore Author of both , Your very humble and very thankfull Servant in Christ Jesus J. Donne . To your selfe . SIR , AGE becomes nothing better then Friendship ; therefore your Letters , which are ever good effects of friendship , delight to be old before I receive them : for it is but a fortnight since those Letters which you sent by Captain Peter found me at Spâ ; presently upon the receit , I adventured by your leave to bestow the first minutes upon this Letter to your faire Noble Sister ; And because I found no voice at Spâ of any Messenger , I respited my Writing to you , till I came thus much nearer . Upon the way hither , another Letter from you overtooke me , which by my L. Chandos love to me for your sake , was sent after me to Mastricht : He came to Spâ within two houres after I went away ; which I tell you to let you see , that my Fortune hath still that spitefull constancy , to bring me near my desires , and intercept me . If I should write to you any newes from this place , I should forestall mine owne Market , by telling you beforehand that which must make me acceptable to you at my comming . I shall sneake into London , about the end of August . In my remotest distances I did not more need your Letters then I shall then . Therefore if you shall not be then in London , I beseech you to think mee at Constantinople , and write one large Letter to be left at my Ladie Bartlets my lodging ; for I shall come in extreame darknesse and ignorance , except you give me light . If Sir John Brooke be within your reach , present my humble service and thankfulnesse to him ; if he be not , I am glad , that to my Conscience , which is a thousand witnesses , I have added you for one more , that I came as near as I could to doe it . I shall run so fast from this place , through Antwerpe , and some parts of Holland , that all that love which you could perchance be content to expresse by Letters if I lay still , may be more thriftily bestowed upon that one Letter , which is by your favour , to meet me , and to welcome to London Your unworthy , but very true Friend , J. Donne . SIR , IT is one ill Affection of a desperate debtor , that he dares not come to an account , nor take knowledge how much he owes ; this makes me that I dare not tell you how manie letters I have received from you since I came to this Towne ; I had three the first by the Cooke , who brought none but yours , nor ever came to me , to let me know what became of the rest : the two other of the 7. and 8. of March , came in a letter which Sir H. Wotton writ to me from Amyens ; there is not a size of paper in the Palace , large enough to tell you how much I esteeme my selfe honoured in your remembrances ; nor strong enough to wrap up a heart so ful of good affections towards you , as mine is . When any thing passes between Sir Thomas Roe and you , tell him I am not the lesse his Servant , for not saying so by often letters : for by my troth , I am that so much as he could desire I should be , when he began to love me . Sir Thomas Lucies businesse , and perchance sadnesse forbid me writing now . I have written to him ( whilest I lived in darknesse , whether my Letters came to you or no ) by another way ; and if my poore Letters were any degree of service , I should doe it often , and rather be mine own Post , then leave any thing undone , to which he would give such an interpretation , as that it were an Argument of my Devotion to him . For my purpose of proceeding in the profession of the Law , so far as to a Title , you may be pleased to correct that imagination where you finde it . I ever thought the study of it my best entertainment and pastime , but I have no ambition , nor design upon the Stile . Of my Anniversaries the fault which I acknowledge in my selfe , is to have descended to print any thing in Verse , which though it have excuse , even in our times , by example of men , which one would thinke should as little have done it , as I ; yet I confesse I wonder how I declined to it , and doe not pardon my self . But for the other part of the imputation , of having said so much , my defence is , that my purpose was to say as well as I could : for since I never saw the Gentlewoman , I cannot be understood to have bound my selfe to have spoken just Truth : but I would not be thought to have gone about to praise any bodie in rime , except I tooke such a Person , as might be capable of all that I could say . If any of those Ladies think that Mistris Drury was not so , let that Ladie make her selfe fit for all those praises in the Booke , and it shall be hers . Nothing is farther from colour or ground of Truth , then that which you write of Sir Robert Druries going to Masse . No man of our Nation hath been more forward to apply himselfe to the Church of the Religion where he hath come , nor to relieve their wants , where that Demonstration hath beene needfull . I know not yet whether Sir John Brookes purpose of being very shortly here , be not a just reason to make me forbear writing to him . I am sure that I would fainest do that in writing or abstaining which should be most acceptable to him . It were in vain to put into this letter any relation of the Magnificence which have been here at publication of these marriages ; for at this time there come into England so many Frenchmen , as I am sure you shall heare all at least . If they speak not of above eight hundred horse well caparosond , you may believe it : and you may believe , that no Court in Christendome had beene able to have appeared so brave in that kinde . But if they tell you of any other stuffe , then Copper , or any other exercise of armes then running at the Quintain , and the Ring , you may be bold to say Pardone moy . Sir , this messenger makes so much haste that I cry you mercy for spending any time of this Letter , in other imployment , then thanking you for yours , and promising you more before my remove from hence . I pray venture no Letter to me by any other way then M. John Bruer at the Queens Armes a Mercer in Cheapside , who is always like to know where we are ; And make me by loving me still , worthy to be Your friend and servant J. Donne . To my Honoured friend M r George Gerrard . SIR , I Cannot chuse but make it a presage that I shall have no good fortune in England , that I mist the honour of enjoying that company , which you brought to town . But I beseech you let my ill luck determine in that ominousnesse : for if my not comming should be by her or you interpreted for a negligence or coldnesse in me , I were already in actuall and present affliction . For that Ecclesiasticall Lady of whom you write , since I presume it is a work of darknesse that you go about , we will deferre it for winter . Perchance the cold weather , may be as good physique to you , as she , for quenching you . I have changed my purpose of going to Windsor , and will go directly into the Wight : which I tell you not as a concerning thing , but in obedience to your commandement , as one poor testimony that I am Your affectionate servant J. Donne . To my very worthy friend M r George Gerrard . SIR , THis is the fourth of this moneth , and I receive your Pacquet so late , that I have scarce waking time enough to tell you so , or to write any thing but dreams . I have both your Letters , mother and daughter , and am gladder of them , then if I had the mother and daughter here in our neighbourhood ; you know I mean Sir H. Gooderes parties . Sir , you do me double honour when my name passes through you to that Noble Lady in whose presence you are . It is a better end and a better way to that then I am worth . I can give you nothing in recompense of that favor , but good counsell : which is to speake sparingly of any ability in me , lest you in danger your own reputation , by overvaluing me . If I shall at any time take courage by your Letter , to expresse my meditations of that Lady in writing , I shall scarce think lesse time to be due to that employment , then to be all my life in making those verses , and so take them with me and sing them amongst her fellow Angels in Heaven . I should be loath that in any thing of mine , composed of her , she should not appear much better then some of those of whom I have written . And yet I cannot hope for better expressings then I have given of them . So you see how much I should wrong her , by making her but equall to others . I would I could be beleeved , when I say that all that is written of them , is but prophecy of her . I must use your favour in getting her pardon , for having brought her into so narrow , and low-rooft a room as my consideration , or for adventuring to give any estimation of her , and when I see how much she can pardon , I shall the better discern how far farther I may dare to offend in that kinde . My noble neighbour is well , and makes me the steward of his service to you . Before this Letter reaches you , I presume you will bee gathering towards these parts , and then all newes will meet you so fast , as that out of your abundance you will impart some to Your affectionate friend to serve you J. Donne . To your selfe . SIR , ALl your other Letters , which came to me by more hazardous waies , had therefore much merit in them ; but for your Letter by M. Pory , it was but a little degree of favour , because the messenger was so obvious , and so certain , that you could not chuse but write by him . But since he brought me as much Letter as all the rest , I must accept that , as well as the rest . By this time , M. Garret , when you know in your conscience that you have sent no Letter , you beginne to look upon the superscription , and doubt that you have broken up some other bodies Letter : but whos 's so ever it were it must speak the same language , for I have heard from no body . Sir , if there be a Proclamation in England against writing to me , yet since it is thereby become a matter of State , you might have told M. Pory so . And you might have told him , what became of Sir Tho. Lucies Letter , in my first pacquet , ( for any Letter to him makes any paper a pacquet , and any peece of single money a Medall ) and what became of my Lady Kingsmels in my second , and of hers in my third , whom I will not name to you in hope that it is perished , and you lost the honour of giving it . Sir , mine own desire of being your servant , hath sealed me a Patent of that place during my life , and therefore it shall not be in the power of your for bidding , ( to which your stiffe silence amounts ) to make me leave being Your very affectionate servant J. Donne . To my Honoured friend M. George Garrat . SIR , I Would I were so good an Alchimist to perswade you that all the vertue of the best affections , that one could expresse in a sheet , were in this ragge of paper . It becomes my fortune to deale thus in single money ; and I may hit better with this hail-shot of little Letters ( because they may come thick ) then with great bullets ; and trouble my friends lesse . I confesse it were not long enough if it came to present my thankes for all the favours you have done me ; but since it comes to begge more , perchance it may be long enough , because I know not how short you will be with an absent friend . If you will but write that you give me leave to keep that name still , it shall be the gold of your Letter : and for allay , put in as much newes as you will. We are in a place where scarce any money appeares , but base : as , I confesse , all matters of Letters is in respect of the testimonies of friendship ; but obey the corruption of this place , and fill your Letters with worse stuffe then your own . Present my service to all those Gentlemen whom I had the honour to serve at our lodging , I cannot flie an higher pitch , then to say , that I am so much their servant as you can say I am . At the Queens armes in Cheapside , which is a Mercers , you may hear of one M. John Brewer , who will convay any Letter directed to me at Sir Rob. Druries at Amiens , though he know not me : and I should be glad to hear that this first that I sent into England had the fortune to finde you . Yours J. Donne . To your fair sister . MADAM , THe dignity , and the good fortune due to your Letter , hath preserved a pacquet so well , that through France and Germany it is at last come to me at Spâ . This good experience makes me in despite of contrary appearances , hope that I shall finde some messenger for this , before I remove , though it be but two dayes . For , even Miracles are but little and slight things , when any thing which either concernes your worthinesse is in consideration or my valuation of it . If I faile in this hope of a messenger , I shall not grudge to do my self this service of bringing it into England , that you may hear me say there , that I have thus much profited by the honour of your conversation , and Contemplation , that I am , as your vertues are , every where equall ; and that , that which I shall say then at London , I thought and subscribed at Spâ , which is , that I will never be any thing else , then Your very humble and affectionate servant J. Donne . To the Honourable Knight Sir Henry Goodere . SIR , BEcause to remain in this sort guilty in your Lordships opinion doth not onely defeat all my future indevours , but lay a heavyer burden upon me , of which I am more sensible , which is ingratitude towards your Lordship , by whose favours I have been formerly so much bound ; I hope your Lordship will pardon me this care and diligence which I use to rectifie my self towards you . To which purpose I humbly beseech your Lordship , to admit thus much into your consideration , that I neither hunted after this businesse at first , but apprehended it as it was presented to me , and might perchance have fallen into worse hands , nor proceeded otherwise therin , then to my poor discretion at that time seemed lawfull and requisite and necessary for my reputation , who held my selfe bound to be able to give satisfaction to any who should doubt of the case . Of all which , if your Lordship were returned to your former favourable opinions of me , you might be pleased to make this some argument , that after his Majesty had shewed his inclination to the first motion made in my behalf , I was not earnest to urge and solicit that advantage of priority , but as became me , contented my self to joyne with him who had made a later petition therein : and as soon as I understood how it was opposed or distasted , I threw it down at your Lordships feet , and abandoned it to your pleasure . Which it is necessary for me to say at this time , left , if he who was interessed with me in that businesse shall have proceeded any farther therein since that time , your Lordship might conceive new suspicions of me . That your Lordships name was at all used therein , or that any words of mine occasioned such an errour in my servant , I am so sorry as nothing but a conscience of a true guiltinesse of having performed an injury to your Lordship ( which can never fall upon me ) could affect me more . But I , who to the measure of my comprehension , have ever understood your Lordships nobility and evenness , cannot fear that your Lordship will punish an oversight , like a crime : which should be effected upon me , if your Lordship should continue your disfavour towards me , since no penalty could come so burdenous to my minde and to my fortune as that . And since the repose of both consists in your Lordships favour , I humbly intreat to be restored to your favour , giving your Lordship my faith in pawn that I wil be as wary of forfeting it by any second occasion , as I am sorry for this . Yours J. D. To the Honourable Knight Sir Robert Karre . SIR , I Had rather like the first best ; not onely because it is cleanlier , but because it reflects least upon the other party , which , in all jest and earnest , in this affair , I wish avoided . If my Muse were onely out of fashion , and but wounded and maimed like Free-will in the Roman Church , I should adventure to put her to an Epithalamion . But since she is dead , like Free-will in our Church , I have not so much Muse left as to lament her losse . Perchance this businesse may produce occasions , wherein I may expresse my opinion of it , in a more serious manner . Which I speake neither upon any apparent conjecture , nor upon any overvaluing of my abilities , but out of a generall readinefse and alacrity to be serviceable and gratefull in any kinde . In both which poor vertues of mine , none can pretend a more primary interest , then you may , in Your humble and affectionate servant J. Donne . To the Honourable Knight Sir Robert Karre Gentleman of his Highnesses Bedchamber . SIR , I Have often sinned towards you , with a presumption of being pardoned , but now I do it , without hope , and without daring to intreat you to pardon the fault . In which there are thus many degrees of importunity . That I must begge of you to christen a child , which is but a daughter , and in which you must be content to be associated with Ladies of our own alliance , but good women , and all this upon Thursday next in the afternoon . Sir , I have so many and so indeleble impressions of your favour to me , as they might serve to spread over all my poor race . But since I see that I stand like a tree , which once a year beares , though no fruit , yet this Mast of children , and so am sure , that one year or other I should afflict you with this request , I had rather be presently under the obligations and the thankfulnesse towards you , then meditate such a trouble to you against another year . I was desirous this paper might kisse your hands as soon as you came , that if any other diversions made this inconvenient to you , I might have an other exercise of your favor , by knowing so much from you , who in every act of yours make me more and more Your humble and thankfull servant J. Donne . 17 Aprill . To the Honourable Knight , Sir ROBERT KARRE . Sir , PErchance others may have told you , that I am relapsed into my Fever ; but that which I must intreat you to condole with me , is , that I am relapsed into good degrees of health ; your cause of sorrow for that , is , that you are likely to be the more troubled with such an impertinencie , as I am ; and mine is , that I am fallen from fair hopes , of ending all ; yet I have scaped no better cheap , then that I have paid death one of my Children for my Ransome . Because I loved it well , I make account that I dignifie the memorie of it , by mentioning of it to you , else I should not be so homely . Impute this brevitie of writing to you upon no Subject , to my sicknesse , in which men use to talke idly : but my profession of desiring to bee retained in your memorie , impute to your owne Vertues , which have wrought so much upon Your humble servant John Donne . To the Honourable Knight , Sir Robert Karre . SIR , I Make account that it is a day of great distribution of Honours at Court : I would not therefore lose my part , and increase therein ; since every Letter admitted by you from me , is a new stone in my best building , which is , my roome in your service : so much you adde to me , everie time you give me leave thus to kisse your hands . But , Sir , everie addition preimagins a beeing , and the time of my beeing and Creation is not yet come : which I am sure you will advance ; because else I am no competent Subject of your favours , and additions . I know , by your forbearing to tell mee so , that my L. hath had no commoditie to move the K. and if this Paper speake one word of difference , or impatience in my name , by my troth it lies . Onely give it leave to tell you , that that L. whom perchance the K. may bee pleased to heare in it , is an old and momentanie man , and it may be late labouring for his assistance , next Winter . Besides , since it may bee possible that the Master of the Rolles may a little resent this suite , there could be no fitter time , then now , to make him easie , as things stand with him at this time . If you stay in Towne this Night , and no longer , I beseech you afford me a few of your late Minutes at your own lodging , where I will wait upon you according to any directions , which by this Gent. or otherwise I shall receive from you . Your humble servant John Donne . To the Honourable Knight , Sir Robert Karre . SIR , IF I would calumniate , I could say no ill of that Gentleman : I know not whether my L. or my selfe tooke the first apprehension of it ; but I remember that very soone wee concurred in a good opinion of him ; thereupon for justifying our owne forwardnesse , wee observed him more throughly , and found all the way good reason to ratifie our first estimation of him . This gave my L. occasion to send him abroade in his Service after : how hee satisfied him in that imployment , indeed I know not . But , that I disguise nothing , I remember my L. told mee sometimes in his absence , that hee had not Account from him of some things , which hee had deposed in him . And at his entering into his Coach , at his last going , I asked my L. Goes not the Gentleman with you ? and hee told mee with some coldnesse no. So that if you bee not pressed to a Resolution , you may bee pleased to forbeare a few dayes , till I may occasionally discerne , whether hee have demerited or sunke in my L. opinion : And then you shall have another Character of him from Your very humble and thankfull Servant J. Donne . 25. Julii . To the Honourable Knight , Sir Robert Karre . SIR , THE same houre that I received the honour of your commandments , by your letter left at my poore house , I put my selfe upon the way hither . So that I am here in the habite of a Traveller , and ( suitable to the rest of my unworthinesses ) unfit for great Presences . Therefore , I abstain from waiting upon you presently ; besides that in this abstinence , ( except I misinterpret the last words of your letter to my advantage ) I obey your directions , in sending before I come to you . Howsoever , Sir , I am intirely at your disposing , if you will be pleased to adde this favor to the rest , that I may understand , wherein you will use your Authoritie and Power , which you have over Your poore and humble servant John Donne . To the Honourable Knight , Sir Robert Karre . SIR , THis is but a Postscript to the last Letter , and it is onely to tell you , that it was an impertinent jealousie that I conceived of that Gentlemans absence from my L. for he gives that full Testimonie of him , that he never discerned any kinde of unfitnesse in him for any imployment , except too much goodnesse ; and Conscientiousnesse may sometimes make him somewhat lesse fit for some kindes of businesse , then a man of a looser raine . And this is all , that I conceive to have been in the commandment wherewith you honoured Your very humble and thankfull servant in Christ Jesus John Donne : 2. Aug 1622. To my Honoured Friend , Master George Gherard . SIR , YOur Letter was the more welcome to mee , because it brought your commandment with it , of sending you perfumes : for it is a Service somewhat like a Sacrifice . But yet your commandment surprised me , when neither I had enough to send , nor had means to recover more ; that Ladie being out of Towne which gavethem me . But Sir , if I had 10000000. I could send you no more then I doe ; for I send all . If any good occasion present it selfe to you , to send to my L. Clifford , spare my name a roome , there where you offer him most of your Service . I dare contend with you , that you cannot exceed mee , in desiring to serve him . It is a better office from me to you , that I goe to bed , then that I write a longer letter . For if I doe mine eyes a little more injurie , I shall lose the honour of seeing you at Michaelmas ; for by my troth I am almost blinde : you may be content , to beleeve that I am always disposed to your service , without exception of any time , since now just at midnight , when it is both day , and night , and neither , I tell you that I am Your affectionate friend and servant J. Donne . To my very much honoured friend George Garrard Esquire at Sion . SIR , I Know not which of us wonne it by the hand , in the last charge of Letters . If you wonne , you wonne nothing , because I am nothing , or whatsoever I am , you wonne nothing , because I was all yours before . I doubt not but I were better delivered of dangers of relapses , if I were at London ; but the very going would indanger me . Upon which true debility , I was forced to excuse my selfe to my Lord Chamberlaine , from whom I had a Letter of command to have Preached the fifth of November Sermon to the King. A service which I would not have declined , if I could have conceived any hope of standing it . I beseech you intreat my Lord Percy in my behalfe , that he will be pleased to name George to my L. Carlile , and to wonder , if not to inquire , where he is . The world is disposed to charge my Lords honour , and to charge my naturall affection with neglecting him , and , God knowes , I know not which way to turn towards him ; nor upon any message of mine , when I send to kisse my Lords hands , doth my Lord make any kinde of mention of him . For the Diamond Lady , when time serves , I pray look to it ; for I would fain be discharged of it . And for the rest , let them be but remembred how long it hath been in my hands , and then leave it to their discretion . If they incline to any thing , I should chuse shirt Hollond , rather under then above 4 s. Our blessed Saviour multiply his blessings upon that noble family where you are , and your self , and your sonne ; as upon all them that are derived from Your poor friend and servant J. Donne . To my very much respected friend M r George Garrard . SIR , I Thank you for expressing your love to me , by this diligence , I know you can distinguish between the voyces of my love , and of my necessity , if any thing in my Letters sound like an importunity . Besides , I will adde thus much out of counsell to you , that you can do nothing so thriftily as to keep in your purpose the payment of the rest of this years rent , ( though at your conveniency ) for Sir E H. curiosity being so served at first , I shall be no farther cause , but that the rest be related , and you in as good possession of his love , and to as good use , as your love deserves of him . You mocke us when you aske news from hence . All is created there , or relates thither where you are . For that book which you command me to send , I held it but half an hour : which served me to read those few leafes , which were directed upon some few lines of my book . If you come to town quickly , you may get a fair widow : for M ris Brown is fallen to that state by death of her husband . No man desires your comming more , nor shall be readier to serve you , then Your affectionate friend and servant J. Donne . To my Honoured friend M. George Gherard , over against Salisbury house . SIR , I Do not make account that I am come to London , when I get within the wall : that which makes it London is the meeting of friends . I cannot therefore otherwise bid my self welcome to London , then by seeking of you , which both Sir H. Goodere and I do , with so much diligence , as that this messenger comes two dayes before to intreat you from us both , to reserve your self upon Saterday : so that I may , at our coming to London that night , understand at my house where I may send you word of our supping place that night , and have the honour of your company . So you lay more obligations upon Your poor unprofitable servant J. Donne . To my very much Honoured friend George Garret Esquire . SIR , VVHen we thinke of a friend , we do not count that a lost thought , though that friend never knew of it . If we write to a friend , we must not call it a lost Letter , though it never finde him to whom it was addressed : for we owe our selves that office , to be mindefull of our friends . In payment of that debt , I send out this Letter , as a Sentinell Perdue ; if it finde you , it comes to tell you , that I was possessed with a Fever , so late in the year , that I am afraid I shall not recover confidence to come to London till the spring be a little advanced . Because you did our poor family the favour , to mention our George in your Letters to Spain , with some earnestnesse , I should wonder if you never had any thing from thence concerning him ; he having been now , divers moneths , in Spaine . If you be in London and the Lady of the Jewell there too , at your conveniency informe me , what is looked for at my hands , in that businesse ; for , I would be loath to leave any thing in my house , when I die , that were not absolutely mine own . I have a servant , Roper , at Pauls house , who will receive your commandments , at all times . God blesse you and your sonne , with the same blessings which I begge for the children , and for the person of Your poor friend and humble servant in Chr. Jes. J. Donne . To the Honourable Knight Sir Robert Karre , Gentleman of his Highnesses Bed-chamber . SIR , I Am come to that tendernesse of conscience , that I need a pardon for meaning to come to Newmarket in this weather . If I had come , I must have asked you many reall pardons , for the many importunities that I should have used towards you . But since I have divers errands thither , ( except I belie my self in that phrase , since it is all one errand to promove mine own business , and to receive your commands ) I shall give you but a short respit , since I shall follow this paper within two dayes . And ( that I accuse my self , no farther then I am guilty ) the principall reason of my breaking the appointment of waiting upon M. Rawlins , was , that I understood the King was from Newmarket ; and for comming thither in the Kings absence , I never heard of excuse ; except when Butler sends a desperate Patient in a Consumption thither for good aire , which is an ill errand now . Besides that I could not well come till now , ( for there are very few dayes past , since I took Orders ) there can be no losse in my absence except when I come , my Lord should have thereby the lesse latitude , to procure the Kings Letters to Cambridge . I beseech you therefore , take some occasion to refresh that businesse to his Lordship , by presenting my name , and purpose of comming very shortly : and be content to receive me , who have been ever your servant , to the addition of Your poor Chaplaine J. Donne . 27 January . To the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount of Rochester . My most Honourable good Lord , AFter I was grown to be your Lordships , by all the titles that I could thinke upon , it hath pleased your Lordship to make another title to me , by buying me . You may have many better bargaines in your purchases , but never a better title then to me , nor any thing which you may call yours more absolutely and intirely . If therefore I appeare before your Lordship sometimes in these Letters of thankfulnesse , it may be an excusable boldnesse , because they are part of your evidences by which you hold me . I know there may be degrees of importunity even in thankfulnesse : but your Lordship is got above the danger of suffering that from me , or my Letters , both because my thankfulnesse cannot reach to the benefits already received , and because the favour of receiving my Letters is a new benefit . And since good Divines have made this argument against deniers of the Resurrection , that it is easier for God to recollect the Principles , and Elements of our bodies , howsoever they be scattered , then it was at first to create them of nothing , I cannot doubt , but that any distractions or diversions in the ways of my hopes , will be easier to your Lordship to reunite , then it was to create them . Especially since you are already so near perfecting them , that if it agreed with your Lordships purposes , I should never wish other station , then such as might make me still , and onely Your Lordships Most humble and devoted servant J. Donne . To the Hononrable Knight Sir Robert Karre . SIR , LEst you should think your selfe too much beholding to your fortune , and so relie too much upon her hereafter , I am bold to tell you , that it is not onely your good fortune that hath preserved you from the importunity of my visits all this time . For my ill fortune , which is stronger , then any mans good fortune , hath concurred in the plot to keep us asunder , by infecting one in my house with the Measels . But all that , is so safely overworne , that I dare , not onely desire to put my selfe into your presence , but by your mediation , a little farther . For , esteeming my selfe , by so good a title , as my Lords own words , to be under his providence , and care of my fortune , I make it the best part of my studies how I might ease his Lordship by finding out something for my selfe . Which , because I thinke I have done , as though I had done him a service therein , I adventure to desire to speake with him , which I beseech you to advance , in addition to your many favours and benefits to , me . And if you have occasion to send any of your servants to this town , to give me notice , what times are fittest for me to waite , to injoy your favour herein . My businesse is of that nature , that losse of time may make it much more difficult , and may give courage to the ill fortune of Your humble servant J. Donne . To your selfe . SIR , I Make shift to think that I promised you this book of French Satyrs . If I did not , yet it may have the grace of acceptation , both as it is a very forward and early fruit , since it comes before it was looked for , and as it comes from a good root , which is an importune desire to serve you . Which since I saw from the beginning , that I should never do in any great thing , it is time to begin to try now , whether by often doing little services , I can come towards any equivalence . For , except I can make a rule of naturall philosophy , serve also in morall offices , that as the strongest bodies are made of the smallest particles , so the strongest friendships may be made of often interating small officiousnesses , I see I can be good for nothing . Except you know reason to the contrary , I pray deliver this Letter according to the addresse . It hath no businesse , nor importunity ; but as by our Law , a man may be Felo de se , if he kill himself , so I think a man may be Fur de se , if he steale himselfe out of the memory of them , which are content to harbour him . And now I begin to be loath to be lost , since I have afforded my selfe some valuation and price , ever since I received the stampe and impression of being Your very humble and affectionate servant J. Donne . To the Honourable Knight Sir Robert Karre , Gentleman of his Highnesses Bed chamber . SIR , I Have always your leave to use my liberty , but now I must use my bondage . Which is my necessity of obeying a precontract laid upon me . I go to morrow to Camberwell a mile beyond Southwark . But from this town goes with me my brother Sir Tho. Grimes and his Lady , and I with them . There we dine well enough I warrant you , with his father-in-law , Sir Tho. Hunt. If I keep my whole promise , I shall Preach both forenoon and afternoon . But I will obey your commandments for my return . If you cannot be there by 10 , do not put your selfe upon the way : for , Sir , you have done me more honour , then I can be worthy of , in missing me so diligently . I can hope to hear M. Moulin again : or ruminate what I have heretofore heard . The onely misse that I shall have is of the honour of waiting upon you ; which is somewhat recompensed , if thereby you take occasion of not putting not your self to that pain , to be more assured of the inabilities of Your unworthy servant J. Donne . To the Honourable Knight , Sir Robert Karre . SIR , I Sought you yesterday with a purpose of accomplishing my health , by the honour of kissing your hands . But I finde by my going abroad , that as the first Christians were forced to admit some Jewish Ceremonies , onely to burie the Synagogue with honour , so my Feaver will have so much reverence and respect , as that I must keep sometimes at home . I must therefore be bold to put you to the pain of considering me . If therefore my Lord upon your deliverie of my last Letter , said nothing to you of the purpose thereof ; let me tell you now , that it was , that in obedience of his commandment , to acquaint him with any thing which might advantage me , I was bold to present that which I heard , which was that Sir D. Carlton was likely to bee removed from Venice , to the States ; of which if my Lord said nothing to you , I beseech you adde thus much to your many other Favours , to intreate my Lord at his best commodity , to afford mee the favour of speaking with him . But if hee have already opened himselfe so farre to you , as that you may take knowledge thereof to him , then you may ease him of that trouble of giving mee an Audience , by troubling your selfe thus much more , as to tell him in my behalfe , and from mee , that though Sir D. Carlton bee not removed , yet that place with the States lying open , there is a faire field of exercising his favour towards mee , and of constituting a Fortune to mee , and ( that which is more ) of a meanes for mee to doe him particular services . And Sir , as I doe throughly submit the end and effect of all Projects to his Lordships will , so doe I this beginning thereof , to your Advice and Counsell , if you thinke mee capable of it : as , for your owne sake , I beseech you to doe , since you have admitted mee for Your humble servant J. Donne . To the Honoured Knight , Sir Robert Karre . SIR , I Amend to no purpose , nor have any use of this inchoation of health , which I finde , except I preserve my roome , and station in you . I beginne to bee past hope of dying : And I feele that a little ragge of Monte Magor , which I read last time I was in your Chamber , hath wrought prophetically upon mee , which is , that Death came so fast towards mee , that the over-joy of that recovered mee . Sir , I measure not my health by my appetite , but onely by my abilitie to come to kisse your hands : which since I cannot hope in the compasse of a few dayes , I beseech you pardon mee both these intrusions of this Letter , and of that within it . And though Schoole-men dispute , whether a married man dying , and being by Miracle raised again , must bee remarried ; yet let your Friendship , ( which is a Nobler learning ) bee content to admit mee , after this Resurrection , to bee still that which I was before , and shall ever continue , Your most humble and thankfull Servant J. Donne . 20. Mar. To the Honourable Knight , Sir Robert Karre . SIR , WHen I was almost at Court , I met the Princes Coach : I thinke I obeyed your purposes best therefore , in comming hither . I am sure I provided best for my selfe thereby ; since my best degree of understanding is to bee governed by you . I beseech you give mee an assignation where I may wait upon you at your commoditie this Evening . Till the performance of which commandment from you , I rest here in the red Lion. Your very thankefull and affectionate Servant J. Donne . To the Honourable Knight , Sir Robert Karre . SIR , I Was loth to bee the onely man who should have no part in this great Festivall ; I thought therefore to celebrate that well , by spending some part of it in your company . This made mee seek you againe this after-noone , though I were guilty to my selfe of having done so every day since your comming . I confesse such an importunity is worthy to be punished with such a missing ; yet , because it is the likeliest reparation of my Fortunes to hope upon Reversions , I would be glad of that Title in you : that , after solemnities , and businesses , and pleasures be passed over , my time may come , and you may afford some of your last leisures to Your affectionate and humble servant J. Donne . 4 Novemb. To the Honourable Knight , Sir ROBERT KARRE . Sir , YOur mans haste gives me the advantage , that I am excusable in a short Letter , else I should not pardon it to my selfe . I shall obey your commandment of comming so neare you upon Michaelmas day , as by a Message to aske you whether that or the next morning bee the fittest to sollicite your further Favour . You understand all Vertue so well , as you may be pleased to call to minde what thankefulnesse and services are due to you from me , and beleeve them all to bee expressed in this ragge of Paper , which gives you new assurance , that I am ever Your most humble servant J. Donne . To your selfe . SIR , IF I shall never be able to do you any reall service , yet you may make this profit of me , that you be hereafter more cautelous in receiving into your knowledge , persons so uselesse , and importune . But before you come to so perfect a knowledge of me , as to abandon me , go forward in your favours to me , so farre , as to deliver this Letter according to the addresse . I think I should not come nearer his presence then by a Letter : and I am sure , I would come no other way , but by you . Be you therefore pleased , by these noble favours to me , to continue in me the comfort which I have in being Your very humble and thankfull servant J. Donne . Drury house , 23 Sept. To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Karre . SIR , A Few hours after I had the honour of your Letter , I had another from my Lord of Bath and Wells , commanding from the King a Copy of my Sermon . I am in preparations of that , with diligence , yet this morning I waited upon his Lordship , and laid up in him this truth , that of the B. of Canterburies Sermon , to this hour , I never heard syllable , nor what way , nor upon what points he went : And for mine , it was put into that very order , in which I delivered it , more then two moneths since . Freely to you I say , I would I were a little more guilty : Onely mine innocency makes me afraid . I hoped for the Kings approbation heretofore in many of my Sermons ; and I have had it . But yesterday I came very near looking for thanks ; for , in my life , I was never in any one peece , so studious of his service . Therefore , exceptions being taken , and displeasure kindled at this , I am afraid , it was rather brought thither , then met there . If you know any more , fit for me , ( because I hold that unfit for me , to appear in my Masters sight , as long as this cloud hangs , and therefore , this day forbear my ordinary waitings ) I beseech you to intimate it to Your very humble and very thankfull servant J. Donne . To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Karre , at Court. SIR , I Humbly thanke you , for this continuing me in your memory , and enlarging me so far , as to the memory of my Soveraign , and ( I hope ) my Master . My Tenets are always , for the preservation of the Religion I was born in , and the peace of the State , and the rectifying of the Conscience ; in these I shall walke , and as I have from you a new seal thereof , in this Letter , so I had ever evidence in mine own observation , that these ways were truly , as they are justly , acceptable in his Majesties eare . Our blessed Saviour multiply unto him all blessings ; Amen . Your very true and intire servant in Chr. fes . J. Donne . To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Karre , at Court. SIR , I Was this morning at your door , somewhat early ; and I am put into such a distaste of my last Sermon , as that I dare not practise any part of it , and therefore though I said then , that we are bound to speake aloud , though we awaken men , and make them froward , yet after two or three modest knocks at the door , I went away . Yet I understood after , the King was gone abroad , and thought you might be gone with him . I came to give you an account of that , which this does as well . I have now put into my Lord of Bath and Wells hands the Sermon faithfully exscrcibed . I beseech you be pleased to hearken farther after it ; I am still upon my jealousie , that the King brought thither some disasfection towards me , grounded upon some other demerit of mine , and took it not from the Sermon . For , as Card. Cusanus writ a Book Cribratio Alchorani , I have cribrated , and re-cribated , and post-cribated the Sermon , and must necessarily say , the King who hath let fall his eye upon some of my Poems , never saw , of mine , a hand , or an eye , or an affection , set down with so much study , and diligence , and labour of syllables , as in this Sermon I expressed those two points , which I take so much to conduce to his service , the imprinting of persuasibility and obedience in the subject , And the breaking of the bed of whisperers , by casting in a bone , of making them suspect and distrust one another . I remember I heard the old King say of a good Sermon , that he thought the Preacher never had thought of his Sermon , till he spoke it ; it seemed to him negligently and extemporally spoken . And I knew that he had weighed every syllable , for halfe a year before , which made me conclude , that the King had before , some prejudice upon him . So , the best of my hope is , that some over bold allusions , or expressions in the way , might divert his Majesty , from vouchsafing to observe the frame , and purpose of the Sermon . When he sees the generall scope , I hope his goodnesse will pardon collaterall escapes . I intreated the B. to aske his Majesty , whether his displeasure extended so farre , as that I should forbear waiting , and appearing in his presence ; and I had a return , that I might come . Till I had that , I would not offer to put my self under your roof . To day I come , for that purpose , to say prayers . And if , in any degree , my health suffer it , I shall do so , to morrow . If any thing fall into your observation before that , ( because the B. is likely to speake to the King of it , perchance , this night ) if it amount to such an increase of displeasure , as that it might be unfit for me to appear , I beseech you afford me the knowledge . Otherwise , I am likely to inquire of you personally , to morrow before nine in the morning , and to put into your presence then Your very humble and very true , and very honest servant to God and the King and you J. Donne . I writ yesterday to my L. Duke , by my L. Carlile , who assured me of a gracious acceptation of my putting my self in his protection . To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Karre , at Court. SIR , IF I should refuse the liberty which you enlarge to me , of eating in your chamber , you might suspect that I reserved it for greater boldnesses , and would not spend it in this . But , in good faith , I do not eat before , nor can after , till I have been at home ; so much hath my this years debility disabled me , even for receiving favours . After the Sermon , I will steal into my Coach home , and pray that my good purpose may be well accepted , and my defects graciously pardoned . Amen . Yours intirely J. Donne . I will be at your chamber at one after noon . To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Karre , at Court , SIR , I Pursued my ambition of having the honour to kisse your hands some where , so farre , as to inform my selfe occasionally of my great neighbour . And I perceive he is under an inundation of uncertain commers , which he cannot devest , except I had your leave , to speake plain to him . A second inconvenience is , that he is so deafe , that we must speak to the whole house , if we will speake to him . And a third is , that I am in a riddling , rather a juggling indisposition , fast and loose , and therefore dare not stirre farre . Yet Sir , I am not thereby unfit to receive the honor of seeing you here , if greater businesse have not overcome , or worn out , your former inclinablenesse to come into these quarters . If you shall be pleased to say to my man , that you will make as though you dined with me to day , and come , if your businesse require your going to his Lordship , you may dine with him , after you have fasted with me . To day , or any day , which may be more yours , I aske it of you with all earnestnesse , on this side importunity , which is the detestation of Your humblest and thankfullest servant J. Donne . To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Karre , at Court. SIR , THis morning I have received a signification from my Lord Chamberlaine , that his Majesty hath commanded to morrows Sermon at S. James ; And that it is in the after-noon ; ( for , into my mouth there must not enter the word , after-dinner , because that day there enters no dinner into my mouth . ) Towards the time of the service , I aske your leave , that I may hide my selfe in your out-chamber . Or if businesse , or privatenesse , or company make that inconvenient , that you will be pleased to assigne some servant of yours to shew me the Closet , when I come to your chamber . I have no other way there , but you ; which I say not , as though I had not assurance enough therein , but because you have too much trouble thereby ; nor I have no other end there , then the Pulpit : you are my station , and that my exaltation ; And in both , I shall ever endevour , to keep you from being sorry for having thought well of , or being ashamed of having testified well for Your poor and very true servant in Chr. Jes. J. Donne . To the Honourable Knight Sir Robert Karre , at Court. SIR , I Have obeyed the formes of our Church of Pauls so much , as to have been a solemn Christmas man , and tryed conclusions upon my selfe , how I could sit out the siege of new faces , every dinner . So that I have not seen the B. in some weeks . And I know not whether he be in case , to afford that privacy , which you justly desire . This day , I am in my bondage of entertaining . Suppers I presume , are inconvenient to you . But this evening I will spie upon the B. and give you an account to morrow morning of his disposition ; when , if he cannot be intire to you , since you are gone so farre downwards in your favours to me , be pleased to pursue your humiliation so farre as to chuse your day , and either to suffer the solitude of this place , or to change it , by such company , as shall waite upon you , and come as a visitor and overseer of this Hospitall of mine , and dine or sup at this miserable chezmey . Your humblest and thankfullest servant J. Donne . 4 Jan. 1626. To my Noble friend M ris Cokain at Ashburne . My noblest sister , BUt that it is sweetned by your command , nothing could trouble me more , then to write of my self . Yet , if I would have it known , I must write it my self ; for , I neither tell children , nor servants , my state . I have never good temper , nor good pulse , nor good appetite , nor good sleep . Yet , I have so much leasure to recollect my self , as that I can thinke I have been long thus , or often thus . I am not alive , because I have not had enough upon me to kill me , but because it pleases God to passe me through many infirmities before he take me either by those particular remembrances , to bring me to particular repentances , or by them to give me hope of his particular mercies in heaven . Therefore have I been more affected with Coughs in vehemence , more with deafenesse , more with toothach , more with the vurbah , then heretofore . All this mellows me for heaven , and so ferments me in this world , as I shall need no long concoction in the grave , but hasten to the resurrection . Not onely to be nearer that grave , but to be nearer to the service of the Church , as long as I shall be able to do any , I purpose , God willing , to be at London , within a fortnight after your receit of this , as well because I am under the obligation of preaching at Pauls upon Candlemas day , as because I know nothing to the contrary , but that I may be called to Court , for Lent service ; and my witnesse is in heaven , that I never left out S. Dunstans , when I was able to do them that service ; nor will now ; though they that know the state of that Church well , know that I am not so bound , as the world thinks , to preach there ; for , I make not a shilling profit of S. Dunstans as a Church man , but as my L. of Dorset gave me the lease of the Impropriation , for a certain rent , and a higher rent , thē my predecessor had it at . This I am fain to say often , because they that know it not , have defamed me , of a defectiveness towards that Church ; and even that mistaking of theirs I ever have , and ever shall endevour to rectifie , by as often preaching there , as my condition of body will admit . All our company here is well , but not at home now , when I write ; for , lest I should not have another return to London , before the day of your Carrier , I write this , and rest Your very affectionate servant , and friend , and brother J. Donne . 15 Jan. 1630. Abrey-hatch . 
A36292	----	Biathanatos a declaration of that paradoxe or thesis, that selfe-homicide is not so naturally sinne, that it may never be otherwise : wherein the nature and the extent of all those lawes, which seeme to be violated by this act, are diligently surveyed / written by Iohn Donne ... Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1644 Approx. 420 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 120 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A36292 Wing D1858 ESTC R13744 13137688 ocm 13137688 97946 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A36292) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 97946) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 414:16) Biathanatos a declaration of that paradoxe or thesis, that selfe-homicide is not so naturally sinne, that it may never be otherwise : wherein the nature and the extent of all those lawes, which seeme to be violated by this act, are diligently surveyed / written by Iohn Donne ... Donne, John, 1572-1631. Donne, John, 1604-1662. [18], 218 [i.e. 220] p. Printed by John Dawson, London : [1644] Title transliterated from Greek. The dedicatory epistle signed: Io. Donne. Edited by the author's son, John Donne. "Published by authoritie" Date of publication from Wing. Marginal notes. Reproduction of original in Cambridge University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. 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Suicide -- Early works to 1800. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-04 Apex CoVantage Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-05 TCP Staff (Oxford) Sampled and proofread 2002-05 Emma (Leeson) Huber Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-06 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion ΒΙΑΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ . A DECLARATION OF THAT PARADOXE , OR THESIS , that Selfe-homicide is not so Naturally Sinne , that it may never be otherwise . WHEREIN The Nature , and the extent of all those Lawes , which seeme to be violated by this Act , are diligently surveyed . Written by IOHN DONNE , who afterwards received Orders from the Church of England , and dyed Deane of Saint Pauls , London . Jo : Saresb. de nugis Curial . Prolog . Non omnia vera esse profiteor . Sed legentium usibus inservire . Published by Authoritie . LONDON , Printed by John Dawson , TO THE Right Honourable THE LORD PHILLIP HARBERT . My Lord , ALthough I have not exactly obeyed your commands , yet , I hope , I have exceeded them , by presenting to your Honor , this Treatise , which is , so much the better , by being none of mine owne , and may therefore peradventure , deserve to live , for facilitating the Issues of Death . It was writ●… long since , by my Father , and by him , forbid both the Presse , and the Fire ; neither had I subjected it now , to the publique view , but that , I could finde no certaine way to defend it from the one , but by committing it to the other ; For , since the beginning of this War , my Study having been often searched , all my Books ( and al-most my braines , by their continuall allarums ) sequestred , for the use of the Committee ; two dangers appeared more eminently to hover over this , being then a Manuscript ; a danger of being utterly lost , and a danger of being utterly found ; and fathered , by some of those wild Atheists , who , as if they came into the World by conquest , owne all other mens Wits , and are resolved to be learned , in despite of their Starres , that would fairely have enclined them , to a more modest , and honest course of life . Your Lordships Protection will defend this Innocent from these-two Monsters , Men that cannot write , and Men that cannot reade , and , I am very confi dent , all those that can , will think it may deserve this favour from your Lordship ; For , although this Booke appeare under the notion of a Paradox , yet , I desire your Lordship , to looke upon this Doctrine , as a firme and established truth , Da vida osar morir . Your Lordships most humble Servant Io : DONNE . From my house in Cov●…nt-Garden . 2●… . Authors cited in this Booke . BEza . B. Dorothaeus . Bosquierus . Athenagoras . Causaeus . Trismegistus . Theodoricus A. Niem . Steuchius Engubi . Ennodius . Pererius Zamb ●…us Alcoran Corpus Iur : Canon . Carbo , Summa Summarum Polidorus Virgilius Matalius Metellus , Praefat . in Osor. Histor. Pierius S. Ambrosius Cardanus Tholosa : Syntagm . S. Cyprianus Haedri : Junius Emanu●… Sâ Nicephorus S. Gregorius Vasques Clarus Bonars●…ius Corpus Iur : Civil . Binnius Bracton Plowden A : Gellius Tertullian Climacbus Basil Filesacus Campianus S. Hieronimus Ben : Gorion Plinius Paleotus de Noth . Canones Poenitenti : Clemens Alex : Sotus Bodin Sylvius Middendorpius Lucidus Arpilcueta Fabricius Hist : Ci●…ro . Windeckus Lipsius Porphyrius Damasus Feuardentius Eusebius Vincentii Speculum Prateolus Diodorus Siculus Tho : Morus Anto : Augustin . P. Manutius Sebast : Medices Scotus Calvinus Forestus de Venen . Serarius Biblia Sacra Humfredus Angl. Mallonius in Paleotti Sindon . S. Chrysostomus Pontius Paulinus Aquinas Azorius Sayr Elianus Cajetanus S. Augustinus Artemidorus I. Caesar Josephus Vegetius Acacius Jo : Picus He●… nius Latinus Pacatus Platina Baronius Ignatius Alfon : Castro Schultingius Plato Simancha Alb. Gentilis Pruckmannus P. Pomponatius Buxdorfius Anto : de Corduba Thyraeus Lavater Nauclerus Quintilianus Toletus Sulpitius Adrianus Quodlib . Beccaria Vita Phil : Nerii Maldonatus Bonaventura Gregor : Nazianz. Canones Apostolorum Lucas de Penna Optinellus Laertius Binsfeldius Pedraça Sextus Senensis Par acelsus Metaphrastes . Surius Gregor : de Valentia Brentius Th●…phtlact Hesic ius Marloratus Schlusselburgius Agapetus Reuchlin Martialis ad Tholo : Saravia Sylvester Liber Coformitatum S. Franc. et Christi . Cassianus Procop. Gazaeus Ardoinus Greg. Turon Supplem . Chronic. Nazarius Paneg. Menghi Ioan de Lapide Hippocrates Bellarminus Revelation . Brigidae Regul . Iesuit . Franc. Gregorius Oecumenius Origenes Alcuinus Corn Celsus Id●…ota Contemplatio de morte Baldus Aristoteles Stanford Bartolus P. Martyr Declaration des Doctes en France Sedulius Minorita Io Gerson Lylius Geraldus Mariana Sansovinus Lambert Fra. a Victoria Wierus Keeplerus Lyra B●…rgensis P. Lombard Sophronius Schultetus Euthymius Paterculus Cassanaeus IN citing these authors , for those which I produce only for ornament and illustration , I have 〈◊〉 my owne old notes ; which though I have no reason to suspect , yet I confess here my lazines ; and that I did not refresh them with going to the Originall . Of those few which I have not seene in the bookes themselves , ( for there are some such , even of places cited for greatest strength , ) besides the integrity of my purpose , I have this safe defence against any quarreller , that what place soever I cite from any Catholique Author , if I have not considered the Book it selfe , I cite him from another Catholique Writer . And the like course I hold in the Reformers . So that I shall hardly be condemned of any false citation , except to make me Accessorie , they pronounce one of their owne friends principall . A distribution of this Book , into Parts , Distinctions , and Sections . Preface . 1 THe Reason of this Discourse . 2 Incitements to charity towards those which doe it . 3 Incitements to Charity towards the Author . 4 Why it is not inconvenient now to handle this . 5 Dessentious among schollars more , and harder to end then among others . 6 In such perplexities we ought to incline to that side which favours the dead . 7 Why I make it so publique . 8 What reader I desire to have . 9 The reasons why there are so many citations . 10 God punisheth that sin most , which occasions most sin in others . The first part , first Distinction , first Section . 1 Why we first prove , that this sin is not irremissible . Sect. 2. 1 Three sorts of mistakers of this sin . Sect. 3 1 That all desperation is not haynous ; and that Self-homicide doth not alwaies proc●…ed from desperation . 2 It may be without Infid●…lity . 3 When it is poena peccati it is involuntarium . 4 The reason why men ordinarily aggravate desperation 5 Of the second opinion , which is of impenitiblenes . 6 Of Calvins opinion , that it may be . 7 None impeccable , nor impenitible . Sect. 4. 1 Of the third sort , which presume actuall impenitence by reason of this Act. 2 Which is the safer side in doubtfull cases . 3 In Articulo Mortis , the Church ever interprets favourably . 4 What true repentance is by Clement . 5 Witnesses which acquit , more credited , then they which accuse , in the Cannon Law. Sect. 5. 1 Why we wayve the Ordinary definition of Sin taken from Saint Augustine , and follow another taken from Aquinas . 2 Of the torturing practice of Casuists . 3 Of the eternall Law of God , in Saint Augustines Definition , against which a man may doe without sinne . 4 Of the Definition which we follow . Sect. 6. 1 How Law of Nature , and of reason , and of God exhibited in this definition , are all one ; and how diversly accepted . 2 In some cases all these three Lawes may be broken at once . As 3 In revealing a secret . 4 In Parricide . Sect. 7 1 Of the Law of Nature , and that against it strictly taken , either no sinne , or all sinne is done . 2 To doe against Nature makes us not guilty of a greater sinne , but more inexcusable . 3 No action so evill , that it is never good . 4 No evill in act , but disobedience . 5 Lying naturally worse then Selfe-homicide . 6 Fame may be neglected : yet we are as much bound to preserve fame , as life . 7 God cannot command a sinne , yet he can command a murther . 8 Orginall sin , cause of all sin , is from nature . Sect. 8. 1 That if our Adversaries by Law of nature mean only sensitive Nature , they say nothing , for so most vertuous actions are against nature . Sect. 9. 1 As the Law of nature is recta ratio , that is , Jus gentium . So immolation , and Idolatry are not against law of Nature . Sect. 10. 1 As reason is the form , and so the nature of a man , every sinne is against nature : yea , what soever agrees not exactly with Christian Religion . 2 Vertue produced to Act , differs so from Reason , as a medicine made and applyed , from a boxe of drugs . Dist. 2. Sect. 1. 1 Sinnes against Nature in a particular sense , are by schoolmen said to be unnatural Lusts , and This. But in Scripture only the first is so called . 2 Of the example of the Levite in the Iudges , where the Vulgate Edition , calls it sin against Nature . 3 S. Pauls use of that phrase Law of Nature , in long haire . 4 Vêgetius use of that phrase . Sect. 2. 1 Self preservation is not so of particular Law of Nature , but that Beasts naturally transgresse it , whom it binds more then us . And we , when the reason of it ceases in us , may transgresse it , and sometimes ●…ust . 2 Things naturall to the Species , are not alwaies so to the Individuall . 3 Thereupon some may retire into Solitude . 4 The first principles in Naturall law , are obligatory , but not deductions from thence , and the lower we descend the weaker they are . 5 Pellicans . And by S. Ambrose , Bees kill themselves . 6 The Reason of almost every law is mutable . 7 He that can declare where the reason ceases , may dispence with the Law. 8 In what manner dispensations worke . 9 As nothing can annull the prerogatives of Princes or of Popes , though their own act seem to provide against it , so no law so much destroyes mans liberty , but that he returns to it , when the reason of that law ceases . 10 Self-preservation , which is but an appetition of that which is good in our opinion , is not violated by Self-homicide . 11 Liberty , which is naturally to be preserved , may be departed withall , when our will is to-doe so . Sect. 3. 5 That cannot bee against law of nature , which men have ever affected , if it be also ( as this is ) against sensitive nature , and so want the allurements which other sins have . 2. There are not so many examples of all other vertues , as are of this one degree of fortitude . 3 Of Romane Gladiators . Of their great numbers , great persons , and women . 4 With how small persuasions Eleazar in Iosephus drew men to it . 5 Wives in the Indies doe it yet . 6 The Samanaei Priests in the Indies , notorious for good life and death did it . 7 Latinus Pacatus expresseth this desire pathetically . 8 By what means the Spaniards corrected this natural desire in the Indies . Dist. 3. Sect. 1. 1 After civility and christianity quenched this naturall desire , in the place thereof succeeded a thirst of Martyrdome . 2 How leasurely the custome of killing at funerals wore out . 3 Philosophers saw , and Moses delivered the state of the next life , but unperfectly , Sect. 2. 1 That Martyrdome was by the Fathers insinuated into men , for the most part by naturall Reasons , and much upon humane respects . 2 So proceeded Clement . 3 So did Tertullian . 4 So did Cyprian . 5 Externall honouurs to Martyrs . 6 Monopoly of Martyrdome 7 Gods punishments upon their persecutors encouraged men to it . 8 Priviledges of Martyrs extended to many . 9 Contrary Reasons cherisht this desire in them . 10 Libellatici , or compounders with the state , in Cyprian . 11 Flight in persecution condemned by Tertullian . 12 Death grew to be held necessary to make one a Martyr . 13 In times when they exceeded in indiscreet exposings of themselvs , they taught that Martyrs might be without death . 14 Professors in Cyprian , men who offred themselves before they were called . 15 Enforcers of their own Martyrdome . 16 Examples of inordinate affecting of Martyrdome . 17 Lawes forbidding more executions , made to despite Christians . 18 Glory in their number of Martyrs . Sect. 3. 1 That Hereticks noting the dignity gaind by Martyrdome , laboured to avert them from it , but could not correct this naturall inclination . 2 They laboured the Magistrate to oppose this desire . 3 Basilides denyed Christ to have been crucif●…ed ; and that therefore they dyed madly . 4 Helchesar , that outward profession of Religion was not needfull ; much ●…ffo Martyrdome . 5 Which also the Gnostici taught : and why they prevailed not . Sect. 4. 1 That Heretiques missing their purpose herein , tooke the naturall way of overtaking the Orthodox in numbers of Martyrs . 2 Petilians new way of Martyrdome . 3 Another new way of the Circumcelliones , or Circuitores . 4 The Cataphrygae exceed in number . 5 The Euphemitae for their numbers of Martyrs called Martyrians . Sect. 5. 1 Hereupon Councels tooke it into their care to distinguish Martyrs , from those who dyed for naturall and humane respects . Sect. 6. 1 Therefore later Authors doe somewhat remit the dignity of Martyrdome . 2 The Jesuits still professe an enormous love to such death . Distinction 4. Sect. 1. 1 Lawes and Customes of well pollished Estates having admitted it , it were rash to say it to be against Law of Nature . 2 True and Ideated Common-wealthes have allowed it . 3. 4. Athenians , Romans . 5 Of Depontani . 6 Ethiopians . 7 All Lawes presume this desire in men condemned . 8 In Utopia authorized . 9 And by Plato in certaine cases . 10 Conclusion of the first Part. The Second Part of the Law of Reason . Distinct. 1. Sect. 1. 1 That the Law of Reason is , Conclusions drawn from primary Reason or light of Nature , by discourse . 2 How much strength such deduced reasons have . Sect. 2. 1 Of this kind of reasons , generall Lawes have greatest authoritie . 2 For it is of their essence that they agree with the Law of Nature . 3 And there is better testimony of their producing , then of particular mens opinions . Sect. 3. 1 Of Lawes , the Emperiall Law ought first to be considered . 2 The reason of that Law is not abolished ; but the confession of our dependencie upon it . 3 Why it is called Civill Law. 4 Of the vastnes of the books from whence it is concocted , and of the large extent thereof . 5 That yet in this so large Law there is nothing against our case . 6 Of the Law of Adrian concerning this in Souldiers . 7 Of the other . Law concerning this in off●…ndors already accused . Dist. 2. Sect. 1. 1 Of the Cannon Law. 2 The largenes of the subject , and object thereof . 3 Of Codex Canonum , or the body of the Canon Law , in use in the primitive Church . Of the Additions to this Code since . 4 Canon Law apter to condemn then the Civil , and why . Sect. 2. 1 That this proposition is not haereticall by the Canon Law. 2 Simancha his large Definition of Haeresy . 3 No d●…cision of the church in the point . 4 Nor Canon nor Bull. 5 Of the common opinion of Fathers , and that that varies by times , and by places by Azori●… . 7 Gratian cites but two Fathers , whereof one is on our side . 8 That that part of Canon Law , to which Canonists will stand , condemns not this . 9 A Catholique Bpa●…censure of Gratian , and his decret . Sect. 3. 1 What any Councells have done in this point . 2 Of the Councell of Antisidore under Greg. 1. 590. 3 That it only refusd their oblations . 4 That it was only a Diocesan Councell . 5 The Councell of Braccar . inflicts two punishments . 6 The first , of not praying for them is meant of them who did it , when they were excommunicate . 7 The second , which is denying of buriall , is not always inflicted as a punishment , to an offendor ; as appeares in a punishment , to an offendor ; as appears in a locall interdict . 8 Romans buried such offendors as had satisfied the law within the Towne , as they did Vestalls and Emperours . Dist. 3 Sect. 1 1 Of the Laws of particular Nations . 2 Of our Law of Felo de se. 3 That this is by our Law Murder , and what reasons entitle the King to his good . 4 That our naturall desire to such dying , probably induced this customary Law. 5 As in States abounding with slaves , Law-makers quenched this desire , lest there should have beene no use of them . 6 Forbid lest it should draw too many : as hunting , and vsury : and as wine by Mahomet . 7 Upon reason of generall inclinations we have severe Laws against theft . 8 When a man is bound to steale . 9 Sotus his opinion of Day-theeues . 10 Of a like law against Self-homicide in the Earldome of Flaunders . Sect. 2. 1 Severe Laws are arguments of a generall inclination , not of a hainousnes in the fact . 2 Fasting upon Sundays extremely condemned upon that reason . 3 So Duells in France . 4 So Bull-baitings in Spaine . 5 The hainousnes of Rape , or Witch-craft are not diminished , where the Laws against them were but easie . 6 Publike benefit is the rule of extending odious Laws , and restraining favourable . 7 If other nations concurre in like Laws , it sheweth the inclination to be generall . Sect. 3. 1 The Custome of the Iews not burying till Sunn-set , and of the Athenians cutting off the dead hand evict not . Sect 4. 1 The reasons drawne from remedies , used upon some occasions to prevent it , prove as little . Dist. 4. Sect. 1. 1 Of the reasons used by particular men , being divines . 2 Of S. Aug. and of his argument against Donatus . 3 Of S. Augustine comparatively with other Fathers . 4 Comparison of Navar and Sotus . 5 Iesuits often beholding to Calvin for his expositions . 6 In this place we differ not from S. Augustine . 7 Nor in the second cited by Gratian. 8 That there may be Causa puniendi sine culpa . 9 As Valens the Emperor did misse Theodosius , So S. Augustine praetermitted the right case . 10 Of Cordubensis rule , how we must behave our selves in perplexities . 11 How temporall reward may be taken for spirituall offices . 12 Of Pindarus death praying for he knew not what . 13 In one place we depart from S. Augustine upon the same reason , as the Jesuite Thyraeus doth depart from him in another . Sect. 2. 1 The place cited by Gratian out of S. Hierome , is on our side . Sect. 3. 1 Lavaters confession , that Augustine , Hierome , Chrysostome , Lactantius , are of this opinion . Sect. 4. 1 Of Peter Martyrs reason , Mors malum . 2 Clement hath long since destroyed that reason . 3 Of Malum poenae , how farre it may bee wished , and how farre it condemnes . 4 Possessed men are not alwaies so afflict for sinne . 5 Damnation hath not so much rationem mali , as the least sinne . 6 If Death were of the worst sort of evill , yet there might be good use of it , as of Concupiscence . 7 In what fense S. Paul calles Death Gods enemy . 8 Death , since Christ , is not so evill as before . Sect. 5. 1 Of Peter Martyrs reason , Vita donum Dei. Sect. 6. 1 Of Lavaters reason of Iudges in all causes . 2 Where Confession is not in use , there is no Iudge of secret sinne . 3 Of the Popes Iurisdiction over himselfe . 4 Of such Iurisdiction in other persons by Civil lawes . 5 10 : 22. elected himselfe Pope . 6 Iurisdiction over our selves is therefore denyed us ; 7 because we are presumed favourable to our selves , not in cases esteemed hurtfull . 8 In cases hurtfull we have such Iurisdiction . 9 Oath of Gregory in the great Schisme . 10 When a man becomes to be sui Juris . 11 Warre is just betweene Soveraigne Kings , because they have no Iudge . 12 Princes give not themselves priviledges ; but declare that in that case they will exercise their inherent generall Priviledge . Sect. 7. 1 Josephus reason of Depositum . 2 A Depositarie cannot be accused De Culpa , but De Dolo. 3 A secret received Data fide is In natura Depositi . Sect. 8. 1 Of similitudinary reasons in Authors not Divine . Sect. 9. 1 Of Josephus his reason of Hostis. Sect. 10. 1 Of Josephus reason of Servus . Sect. 11. 1 Of Josephus reason of a Pilot. Distinct. 5. Sect. 1. 1 Of Saint Thomas two reasons from Iustice , and Charitie . 2 Of that part of injustice , which is stealing himselfe from the State. 3 Monastike retyring is , in genere rei , the same fault . 4 The better opinion is , that there is herein no injustice . 5 Of the other Injustice , of usurping upon anothers Servant . 6 Though we have not Dominium , we have Usum of this life : And we may relinquish it when we will. 7 The State is not Lord of our life , yet may take it away . 8 If injustice were herein done to the State , then by a licence from the State it may be lawfull . 9 And the State might recompence her Domage upon the goods or Heirs of the Delinquent . 10 In a man necessary to the State , there may bee some Injustice herein . 11 No man can doe injurie to himselfe . 12 The question whether it be against Charity , respited to the third part . Sect. 2. 1 Of Aristotles two reasons of Misery and Pusillanimitie . Distinct. 6. Sect. 1. 1 Of reasons on the other side . 2 Of the Law of Rome , of asking the Senate leave to kill himselfe . 3 Of the case upon that Law in Quintillian . Sect. 2. 1 Comparisons of desertion and destruction . 2 Of Omissions equall to committings . Sect. 3. 3 In great faults the first step imprints a guiltines , yet many steps to self-homicide are allowable . 4 Dracoes lawes against homicide were retained for the hainousnes of the fault . 5 Tolets five Species of Homicide . 6 Foure of those were to be found in Adams first Homicide in Paradise . Sect. 4. 7 Of Tolets first and second Species , by Precept , and by Advise , or Option . 8 We may wish Malum poenae to our selves , as the Eremite prayed to be possessed . 9 That we may wish death for wearines of this life . 10 It is sin to wish the evill were not evill , that then we might wish it . 11 Of wishing the Princes Death . 12 In many opinions by contrary Religion , a true King becomes a Tyrant . 13 Why an oath of fidelity to the Pope binds no man. 14 Who is a Tyrant by the declaration of the learned men of France . 15 How Death may be wished by Calvins opinion . 16 How we may wish death to another for our own advantage . 17 Phil. Nerius consented that one who wished his own death might have his wish . Sect. 5. 1 Of Tolets third Species of Homicide , by permission , which is Mors Negativa . 2 Of standing mute at the Barre . 3 Three Rules from Scotus , Navar , and Maldonate , to guide us in these desertions of our selves . 4 That I may suffer a Theif to kill me , rather then kill him . 5 Of Se defendendo in our Law. 6 That I am not bound to escape from prison if I can . Nor to eate , rather then starve , 7 For ends better then this life we may neglect this . 8 That I may give my life for another . 9 Chrysostomes opinion of Sarahs lie , and her consent to Adultery . And S. Augustines opinion of this , and of that wife , who prostituted her selfe to pay her husbands debts . 10 That to give my life for another , is not to preferre another before my selfe , as Bonaventure and August . say ; But to prefer vertue before life ; which is lawfull . 11 For spirituall good it is without question . 12 That I may give another that without which I cannot live . 13 That I may lawfully wear out my self with fasting . 14 That this in S. Hier. opinion is selfe-homicide . 15 Of the Fryer whom Cassianus calls a Self-homicide , for refusing bread from a ●…heife , upon an indiscreet Vow . 16 Of Christs fast . 17 Of Philosophers inordinate fasts . 18 Of the Devils threatning S. Francis , for fasting . 19 Examples of long fasts . 20 Reasons , effects , and obligations to rigorous fastings . Corollary of this Section of Desertion . Sect. 6. 1 Of another Species of homicide , which is not in Tolets division by Mutilation . 2 Of Delivering ones selfe into bondage . 3. By divers Cannons homicide and mutilation is the same fault . 4 Of Calvins argument against Divorce , upon this ground of Mutilation . 5 The example of S. Mark , cutting off his thumbe to escape Priesthood 6 In what cases it is clear , that a man may mai●… himself . Sect. 7. 1 Of Tolets fourth Species of Homicide , by actual helping . 2 Ardoynus reckons a flea amongst poysons , because it would destroy 3 David condemned the Amalekite , who said he had helped Saul to kill himselfe . 4 Mariana the Iesuite is of opinion , that a King which may be removed by poyson , may not be put to take it by his owne hands though ignorantly , for he doth then ki●… himself . 5 That a malefactor unaccused may accuse himself . 6 Of Sansovins relation of our custome at executions , and withdrawing the pillow in desperate cases . 7 Of breaking the leggs of men at executions , and of breaking the halter . 8 Of the forme of purgations used by Moses Law in cases of Iealousy . 9 Of formes of Purgation called Uulgares . 10 Charlemaine brought in a new forme of purgation . 11 And Britius a Bishop , being acquitted before , extorted another purgation upon himselfe . 12 Both kindes of Ordalium , by water , and fire , in use here , till King Johns time . 13 In all these purgations , and in that by Battaile , the party himself assisted . 14 Exumples of actuall helpers to their owne destruction in S. Dorothaeus doctrine . 15 Of Ioseph of Arimathaea his drinking of poyson . 16 Of S. Andrew and S. Lawrence . 17 Casuists not cleere whether a condemned man may doe the last act to his death . 18 But in cases without condemnation , it is sub praecepto to Priests , Curats , to goe to infected houses . Sect. 8. 1 Of Tolets last species of Homi-cide which is the act it selfe . 2 How farre an erring conscience may justify this act . 3 Of Pythagoras philosophicall conscience , to dy , rather then hurt a Beane , or suffer his schollers to speak . 4 Of the apparition to Hero a most devout Eremite , by which he killed himself , out of Cassianus . 5 That the Devill sometime sollicites to good . 6 That by Uasques his opinion , it is not Idolatry to worship God in the devil . 7 Rules given to distinguish evil spirits from God are all fallible . 8 Good Angels sometimes move to that which is evill , being ordinarily and morally accepted . 9 As in mis-adoration by Vasques , invincible ignorance excuses , so it may in our cases . 10 Of S. Augustines first reason against Donatus , that we may save a mans life against his will. 11 Of his second reasons , which is want of examples of the faithfull . And of S. Augustines assured escape , if Donatists had produced Examples . 12 Divorce in Rome on either part , And in Jury , on the womans part long without example . 13 Saint Augustines Schollers in this point of examples , 〈◊〉 st●…bborne as Aristotles , for the inalterablenesse of the Heavens , though the reason of both be ceased . 14 Of the Martyr Apollonia who killed her selfe . 15 Of answers in her excuse . 16 Of the Martyr Pelagia who killed her selfe . 17 Though her History bee very uncertaine , yet the Church seems glad of any occasion to celebrate such a fact . 18 Saint Augustines testimony of her . 19 Saint Ambroses Meditation upon her . 20 Eusebius his Oration incitatory , imagined in the person of the Mother . 21 Saint Augustines first of any doubting of their fact , sought such shifts to defend it , as it needed not . 22 S. Augustines example hath drawne Pedraca a Spanish Casuist , and many others , to that shift of speciall Divine inspiration , in such cases . 23 And so sayes Peter Martyr of the Midwives , and of Rahabs lye . 24 To preserve the Seale of Confession , a man may in some case be bound to doe the intire act of killing himselfe . The Third Part , which is of the Law of God. Distinct. 1 Sect. 1. 1 An introduction ' to the handling of these places of Scripture . 2 Why I forbeare to name them who cite these places of Scripture . 3 If any oppose an answer , why I intreat him to avoide bitternes . 4 Why Clergy men , which by Canons may fish , and hunt , yet may not hunt with dogs . 5 Of Bezas answer to Ochius Polygamy . Distinction 2. Sect. 1. 1 No place against this Self-homicide , is produced out of the Iudiciall or Ceremoniall Law. Sect. 2 1 Of the place Gen. 9. 5. I will require your blood . 2 We are not bound to accept the interpretation of the Rabbins . 3 Of Lyra , and of Emmanuel Sâ , both abounding in Hebraisms , yet making no such note upon this place , Sect. 3 , 1 Of the place De●… . 33. 39. I kill , and I give life . 2 Iurisdiction of Parents , Husbands , Masters , Magistrates , must consist with this place . 3 This place must be interpreted as the other places of Scripture , which have the same words . And from them , being three , no such sence can be extorted . Sect. 4. 1 Of the place Iob 7. 1. vita militia . 2 Why they cite this place according to the vulgate copy . 3 Of Soldiers priviledges of absence by Law. 4 Iobs scope is , That as warre works to peace , so heere we labour to death . 5 Of Christs letter to King Abgarus . Sect. 5. 1 Of another place in Iob 7. 15. Anima elegit suspendium . 2 Why it was not lawfull to Iob to kill himself . 3 His words seeme to shew some steps toward a purpose of Self-homicide . 4 Of Sextus S●…nensis , and of Gregories exposition therof 5 How I differ from the Anabaptists , who say that Iob despaired . 6 S. Hierome , and the Trent Councell incurre this errour of condemning all which a condemned man says . 7 Uery holy and learned men impute a more dangerous despaire to Christ , then I doe to Iob. Sect. 6. 1 Of the place Io. 2. 4. Skin for Skin &c. Sect. 7. 1 Of the place Eccles. 30. 16. There is no riches above a sound body . 2 This place is not of safety , but of health . Sect. 8. 1 Of the place Exod. 20. Thou shalt not kill . 2 S. Augustine thinks this Law to concerne ones self more directly , then another . 3 This Law hath many exceptions . 4 Laws of the first table are strictioris vinculi , then of the second . 5 A case wherein it is probable that a man must kill himself , if the person be exemplar . 6 As Laws against Day-theeves may be deduced from the Law of God authorizing Princes , So may this from the commandement , of preferring Gods glory . 7 Whatsoever might have been done before this Law , this Law forbids not . Sect. 9. 1 Of the place Wisd. 1. 12. Seek not death . Distinct. 3. Sect. 1. 1 Of the place Mat. 4. 6. Cast thy self downe . 2 That Christ when it conduced to his owne onds , did as much , as the devill tempted him to , in this place . Sect. 2. 1. Of the place Acts 16. 17. Do thy self no harme . 2 S. Paul knew Gods purpose of baptizing the Iaylour . 3 For else saith Calvin , he had frustrated Gods way of giving him an escape by the faylours death . Sect. 3. 1 Of the place Rom. 3. 8. Do not evill for good . 2 In what sence Paul forbids this . 3 God always inflicts malum poenae by instruments . 4 Induration it selfe is sometimes medicinall . 5 We may inflict upon our selves one disease , to remove another . 6. In things evill , in that sense as S. Paul takes the word bere , Popes daily dispence . 7 So doe the Civill Lawes . 8 So doe the Cannons . 9 So doth God occasion lesse sint to avoid greater . 10 What any other may dispence withall in us , in cases of extremity , we may dispence with it our selves . 11 Yet no dispensation changes the nature of the thing , and therefore that particular thing was never evill . 12 The Law it self , which measures actions , is neither good nor evill . 13 Which Picus notes well , comparing it to the firmament . 14 What evill S. Paul forbids here , and why . 15 Nothing which is once evil , can ever recover of that . 16 These Acts were in Gods decree preserved from those stains of circumstances , which make things evill : So as Miracles were written in his book of Nature , though not in our copy thereof ; and so , as our Lady is said to be preserved from Originall sinne . 17 Of that kind was Moses killing of the Egyptian . 18 If this place of Paul , be understood of all evill . 19 Yet it must admit exceptions , as well as the Decalogue it selfe . 20 Otherwise that application which Bellarmine and others doe make of it will be intollerable . Sect. 4. 1. Of divers places which call us , Temples of God. 2 The dead are still his Temples and Images . 3 Heath●… Temples might be demolished , yet the Soyle remained Sacred . 4 S. Pauls reason holds in cases where we avile our bodies , here we advance them . 5 How we must understand that our body is not our own . Sect. 5. 1. Of the place , Eph. 4. 15. One body with Christ. 2 This place gives Arguments to all which spare not themselves for releif of others , and therefore cannot serve the contrary purpose . Sect. 6. 1. Of the place Eph. 5. No man hates his own f●…esh . 2 How Marlorate expounds this Hate . Distinct. 4. Sect. 1. 1 Of the places of scripture on the other part . 2 We may , but our Adversaries may not make use of Examples . To which the answer of Martyr and Lavat●…r is weake 3 The Nature , Degrees , and Effects of Charity . 4 S. Augustines description of Her. Of her highest perfection beyond that which Lombard observed out of Aug. 5 He wholoves God with all his heart , may love him more . 6 Any suffering in Charity , hath infallibly the grace of God ; by Aquin. Sect. 2. 1. Of the place 1 Cor. 13. 4. Though I give my Body . 2. By this , it was in common reputation , a high degree of perfection to die so , and Charity made it acceptable . 3 S. Paul speaks of a thing which might lawfully be done , for such are all his gradations in this Argument . 4 Tongues of Angels , in what sense in this place . 5 Speech in the Asse , understandings of prophesies in Iudas , or miraculous faith , make not the possessour the better . 6 How I differ from the Donatists , arguing from this place , that in charity there Self-Homicides were alwayes lawfull . 7 To give my body , is more then to let it be taken . 8 How Niccphorus the Martyr gave his Body in Sapritius his roome who recanted . 9 There may be some case that a man who is bound to give his body , cannot doe it otherwise then by self-homicide . Sect. 3. 1. Of the place Joh. 10. 11. & Joh. 15. 13. The good Shepheard . 2 That a man is not bound to purge himself , if anothers crime be imputed to him . Sect. 4. 1 Of the place Ioh. 13. 37. I will lay down my life . 2 Peters readines was naturall ; Pauls deliborate . Sect. 5. 1. Of the place Ioh. 10. 15. Of Christs example . 2 Why Christ spoke this in the present time . 3 Of the abundant charity of Christ. 4 Of his speech going to Emmaus . 5 Of his Apparition to S. Charles . 6 Of the Revelation to S. Brigid . 7 Of his mothers charity . 8 That none could take away Christs soule . 9 His owne will the onely cause of his dying so soon by S. Augustine . 10 And by Aquinas , because he had still all his strength . 11 And by Marlorate because he bowed his head , and it fell not , as ours do in death . 12 In what sense it is true that the Iewes put him to Death . 13 Of Aquinas opinion , and of Silvesters opinion of Aquinas . 14 Christ was so the cause of his death , as he is of his wetting , which might , and doth not shut the window when it rains . 15 Who imitated Christ in this actuall emission of the soul. 16 Upon what Reasons this manner of dying in Christ is called Heroique , and by like Epithets . 17 Christ is said to have done herein , as Saul , and Appollonia , and such . Sect. 6. 1 Of the places Ioh. 12. 25. Luc. 14. 26. Of Hating this life . 2. Iesuits apply particularly this Hate . 3. If the place in the Ephes. No man hateth his flesh , be against self-homicide , this place must by the same reason be for it . 4 S. Augustine denying that this place justifies the Donatists , excludes not all cases . Sect. 7. Of the place 1 Ioh. 3. 16. We ought to lay down our lives , &c. 2 All these places direct us to doe it so , as Christ did it , unconstrained . Sect. 8. 1. Of the place Phil. 1. 23. Cupio dissolvi . 2. Of S. Pauls gradations to this wish , and of his correcting of it . Sect. 9. 1 Of the place Gal. 4. 15. You would have plucked out your own eyes . 2 This was more then vitam profundere by Calvin . Sect. 10. 1. Of the place , Rom. 9. 3. Anathema . 2 That he wished herein Damnation . 3 That he considered not his Election at that time . Sect. 11. Of the place , Exod. 32. 32. Dele me de libro . 2 That this imprecation was not onely to be blotted out of the History of the Scripture as some say . 3 It was stranger that Christ should admit that which might seeme a slip downward , when he wisht an escape from death , then that Moses should have such an exaltation upward , as to save his Nation by perishing , yet both without inordinatenesse . 4 How by Paulinus , a just man may safely say to God , Dele me . Distinct. 5. Sect. 1. 1 Of Examples in Scripture . 2 The phrase of Scripture never imputes this Act to any as a sinne , when it relates the History . 3 Irenaeus forbids man to accuse where God doth not . 4 Beza his answer to Ochius reason , that some Patriarchs lived in Polygamy , reaches not home to our case . 5 For it is not evident by any other place of Scripture , that this is sinne , and here many examples con●…ur . Sect. 2. 1 Examples of Acts which were not fully selfe-homicides , but approaches . 2 Of the Prophet who punished him that would not strike him . 3. That when God doth especially invite men to such violence , he says so plainly . And therefore such particular invitations may not be presumed where they are not expressed . Sect. 3. 1 Of Jonas . 2 Why S. Hierome calls only Jonas of all the Prophets holy . Sect. 4. 1 Of Samson . 2 The Church celebrates him as a Martyr . 3 Paulinus wishes such a death as Samsons . 4 They which deny that he meant to kill himself , are confuted by the text . 5 They which say , he intended not his owne death principally , say the same as we doe . 6 That S. Augustines answer to this fact , that it was by speciall instinct , hath no ground in the history . 7 Of Sayr his reason , in confirmation of Augustine , That Samson prayed . 8 Of Pedraca his reason , that it was therefore the work of God , because God effected it so , as it was desired . 9 That he had as much reason , and as much authority to kill himselfe , as to kill the Philistims . And that was only the glory of God. 10 That in this manner of dying , be●… was a type of Christ. Sect. 5. 1 Of Saul . 2 Whether the Amalekite did helpe to kill Saul . Whether Saul be saved or no. 3 In what cases the Iewes , and Lyra confesse , that a man may kill himselfe . 4 Lyra's reasons why Saul is to be presumed to have dyed well . 5 Burgensis reason to the contrary ; That if Saul were excusable , the Amalekite was so too , is of no force . 5 Of Sauls Armour-bearer . Sect. 6. 1 Of Achitophel . 2 He set his house in order , and he was buried . Sect. 7. 1 Of Judas . 2 He dyed not by hanging in the opinion of Euthymius , Occumenius , Papias S. Johns disciple , and Theophilact . 3 By what meanes many places of Scripture have been generally otherwise accepted , then the text enforceth . 4 Judas not accused of this in the story , nor in the two Propheticall Psalmes of him . 5 Origens opinion of his repentance . 6 Calvin acknowledgeth all degrees of Repentance , which the Romane Church requires to Salvation to have been in Judas . 7 Petilians opinion that Judas was a Martyr . 8 His Act had some degrees of Iustice , by S. August . Sect. 8. 1 Of Eleazar . 2 All confesse that it was an Act of vertue . 3 His destruction was certaine to him . 4 He did as much to his owne death , as Samson . 5 The reasons of thus Act , alleadged in the Text , are Morall . 6 Saint Ambrose extols this by many concurrences . 7. Cajetans reason for justification thereof , is app●…able to very many other cases of Selfe-homicide . Sect. 9. 1 Of Rasis . 2 His reasons in the Text Morall . 3 Whether it be Pusillanimity , as Aristotle , August . and Aquinas urge . 4 Saint Augustine confesseth that in Cleombrotus it was greatnesse of minde . 5 How much great Examples governe . 6 That it was reputed Cowardlinesse in Antisthenes , being extremely sicke , not to kill himselfe . 7 Vpon what reasons Lyra excuses this , and like actions . 8 Burgensis his reason confesseth that there might have beene just causes for this act . Conclusion 1 Why Jrefrained discourse of destiny herein . 2 Man made of shadow , and the Devill of fire by the Alcoran . 3 Our adversaries reasons contradict one another . 4 No precapt given of loving our selves . 5 Encouragemens to contempt of death . 6 Why I abstaine from particular directions . 7 Laws forbid ordinary men to oure by extraordinary meanes , yet Kings o●… England , Fra. and Spaine doe it . 8 As Hierom Origen Chrysost. and Cassianus are excused for following Plato , in toleration of a ly , because the church had not then pronounced ; so may it be in this . THE PREFACE Declaring the Reasons , the Purpose , the way , and the end of the AVIHOR . BEZA , A man as eminent and illustrious , in the full glory and Noone of Learning , as others were in the dawning , and Morning , when any , the least sparkle was notorious , a confesseth of himself , that only for the anguish of a Scurffe , which over-ranne his head , he had once drown'd himselfe from the Millers bridge in Paris , if his Uncle by chance had not then come that way ; I have often such a sickely inclination . And , whether it be , because I had my first breeding and conversation with men of a suppressed and afflicted Religion , accustomed to the despite of death , and hungry of an imagin'd Martyrdome ; Or that the common Enemie ●…nd that doore worst locked against him in mee ; Or that there bee a perplexitie and flexibility in the doctrine it selfe ; Or because my Conscience ever assures me , that no rebellious grudging at Gods gifts , nor other sinfull concurrence accompanies these thoughts in me , or that a brave scorn , or that a faint cowardlinesse beget it , whensoever any affliction assailes me , mee thinks I have the keyes of my prison in mine owne hand , and no remedy presents it selfe so soone to my heart , as mine own sword . Often Meditation of this hath wonne me to a charitable interpretation of their action , who dy so : and prov●…ked me a little to watch and ex●…gitate their reasons , which pronounce so peremptory judgements upon them . b A devout and godly man , hath guided us well , and rectified our uncharitablenesse in such cases , by this remembrance , [ Sois lapsum , &c. Thou knowest this mans fall , but thou knowest not his wra●…ling ; which perchance was such , that almost his very fall is justified and accepted of God. ] For , to this ●…nd , saith one , c [ God hath appointed us tentations , that we might have some 〈◊〉 for our 〈◊〉 , when he calles us to ●…count . ] An uncharitable mis-interpreter un●…tily demolishes his own house , and rep●…s not onothers . He loseth without any gaine or profit to any . And , as d Te●…tullian comparing and making equall , him which provokes another , 〈◊〉 him who will be provoked by another , sayes , [ There is no difference , but that the 〈◊〉 offen●… first , And that is nothing , because in 〈◊〉 there is no respect of Order or Prioritie . ] So wee may soone becomes as ill as any offendor , if we offend in a severe increpation of the fact . For , e Climachus in his Ladder of Paradise , places these two steps very neere one another , when hee sayes , [ Though in the world it were possible for thee , to escape all defiling by actuall sinne , yet by judging and condemning those who are defiled , thou art defiled . ] In this thou act defiled , as f Basil notes , [ That in comparing others sinnes , thou canst not avoid excusing thi●…mne . ] Especially this is done , if thy ze●…le be too fervent in the reprehension of others : For , as in most other Accidents , so in this also , Sinne hath the nature of Poyson , that g [ It enters eas●…st , and works fastest upon cholerique constitutions . ] It is good counsell of the Pharises stiled , h [ 〈◊〉 judices proximum , don●… ad ejus locum pertingas . Feeleand wrastle with such tentations as he hath done , and thy ●…le will be tamer . For , [ i Therefore ( saith the Apostle ) it became Christ to be like us , that he might be mercifull . ] If therefore after a Christian protestation of an innocent purpose herein , And after a submission of all which is said , not only to every Christian Church , but to every Christian man , and after an entreaty , that the Reader will follow this advise of Tabaus , [ k Qui litigant , sint ambo in oonspd●… tuo mali & rei , and trust neither me , nor the adverse part , but the Reasons , there be any scandall in this 〈◊〉 of mine , it is Taken , not Given . And though I know , that the malitious prejudged man , and the lazy affectors of ignorance , will use the same calumnies and obtrectations toward me , ( for the voyce and sound of the Snake and Goose is all one ) yet because I thought , that as in the poole of Bethsaida , l there was no health till the water was troubled , so the best way to finde the truth in this matter , was to deb●…te and vexe it , ( for m [ We must as well dispute de veritate , as pro veritate , ] ) I abstained not for feare of mis-interpretation from this undertaking . Our stomachs are not now so tender , and queasie , after so long feeding upon folid Divinity , nor we so umbragious and startling , having been so long enlightned in Gods path , that wee should thinke any truth strange to us , or relapse into that childish age , in which m a Councell in France forbad Aristotles Metapbysiq●…es , and punished with Excommunication the excribing , reading , or having that booke . Contemplative and bookish men , must of necessitie be more quarrelsome then others , because they contend not about matter of fact , nor can determine their controversies by any certaine witnesses , no●… judges . But as long as they go●… towards peace , that is Truth , it is no matter which way . o The tutelare Angels resisted one another in Persia , but neither resisted Gods revealed purpose . p Hierome and Gregorie seem to be of opinion , that Salo●…n is damned , Ambr●…se and Augustine , that he is saved 〈◊〉 All Fathers , all zealous of Gods glory . q At the same time when the Romane Church canonized Becket , the Schooles of Paris disputed whether hee could be saved ; both Catholique Judges , and of reverend authoritie . And after so many Ages of a devout and religious celebrating the memory of Saint Hierome , Causaeus hath spoken so dangerously , that r Campian saies , hee pronounces him to be as deepe in hell as the Devill . But in all such intricacies , where both opinions seem equally to conduce to the honor of God , his Justice being as much advanced in the one , as his Mercie in the other , it seemes reasonable to me , that this turne the scales , if on either side there appeare charity towards the poore soule departed . s The Church in her Hymnes and Antiphones , doth often salute the Nayles and Crosse , with Epithets of sweetnesse , and thanks ; But the Speare which pierced Christ when he was dead , it ever calles , dirum M●…ucronem . This pietie , I protest againe , urges me in this discourse ; and what infirmity soever my reasons may have , yet I have comfort in Tresmeg●…tus Axiome , t [ Qui pius est , s●…mmè Philosophatur . ] And therefore without any disguising , or curious and libellous concealing , I present and object it , to all of candor , and indifferencie , to escape that just taxation , u [ Novum malitiae genus est , & intemperantis , scribere quod occultes . ] For as , x when Ladijlaus tooke occasion of the great schisme , to corrupt the Nobility in Rome , and hoped thereby to possesse the Towne , to their seven Governours whom they called Sapientes , they added three more , whom they called Sapientes , and consided in them ; So doe I wish , and and as much as I can , effect , ) that to those many learned and subtile men which have travelled in this point , some charitable and compassionate men might be added . If therefore , of Readers , which y Gorionides observes to be of foure sorts , ( Spunges which attract all without distinguishing ; ●…owre-glufles , which receive and powre out as fast ; B●…gges , which retaine onely the dregges of the Spices , and let the Wine escape ; And Sives , which retaine the best onely , 〈◊〉 I finde s●…me of the last-sort , I doubt not but they may bee hereby enlightened . And z as the eyes of Eve , were opened by the taste of the Apple , though it hee said before that shee saw the beauty of the tree , So the digesting of this may , though not present faire obj●…cts , yet bring them to 〈◊〉 the nakednesse and deformity of their owne reasons , founded upon a rigorous suspition , and wi●…e them to be of that temper , which a Chrisostome commends , [ He which suspects benignly would faine be deceived , and bee overcome . and is p●…ously glad , when he findes it to be false , which he did uncharitably suspect . ] And it may have as much vigour ( as b one observes of another Author ) as the Sunne in March ; it may stirre and dissolve humors , though not expell them ; for that must bee a worke of a stronger power . Every branch which is excerpted from other authors , and engrafted here , is not written for the readers faith , but for illustration and comparison . Because I undertooke the declaration of such a proposition as was controverted by many , and therefore was drawne to the citation of many authorities , I was willing to goe all the way with company , and to take light from others , as well in the iourney as at the journeys end . If therefore in multiplicity of not necessary citations there appeare vanity , 〈◊〉 ostentation , or digression my honesty must make my excuse and compensation , who acknowledg as c Pliny doth [ That to chuse rather to be taken in a theft , then to gave every man due , is obnoxii animi , et infelicis ingenii . ] I did it the rather because scholastique and artificiall men use this way of instructing ; and I made account that I was to deale with such , because I p●…esume that naturall men are at least enough inclinable of themselves to this doctrine . This my way ; and my end is to remove ●…andall . For certainly God often punisheth a sinner much more severely , because others have taken occasion of sinning by his fact . If therefore wee did correct in our selves this easines of being scandalized , how much easier and lighter might we make the punishment of many transgressors ? for God in his judgemen●…s hath almost made us his assistants , and counsellers , how far he shall punish ; and our interpretation of anothers sinne doth often give the measure to Gods Justice or Mercy . If therefore , since d [ disorderly long haire which was pride and wantonnesse in Absolon , and squallor and horridnes in Nebuchodonozor was vertue and strength in Samson , and sanctification in Samuel , ] these severe men will not allow to indifferent things the best construction they are capable of , nor pardon my inclination to do so , they shall pardon this opinion , that their severity proceeds from a self-guiltines , and give me leave to apply that of Ennodius , e [ That it is the nature of stiffe wickednesse , to think that of others , which themselves deserve and it is all the comfort which the guilty have , not to find any innocent . ] THE FIRST PART . OF LAW and NATURE . Distinction I. SECT . I. AS a Lawyers use to call that impossible , which is so difficult ; that by the rules of law it cannot be afforded , but by the indulgence of the Prince , and excercise of his Prerogative : So Divines are accustomed to call that sinne , which for the most part is so , and which naturally occasions and accompanies sinne . Of such condition is this SELF-HOMICIDE : which to be sinne every body hath so sucked , and digested , and incorporated into the body of his Faith and Religion , that now they prescribe against any opposer ; and all discourse in this point is upon the degrees of this sinne , and how farre it exceeds all other : So that none brings the metall now to the test , nor touch , but onely to the balance . Therefore although whatsoever is in our appetite good or bad , was first in our understanding true or false , and therefore if wee might proceed orderly , our first disquisition should be employd upon the first source , and origen , which is , whether this opinion be true or false , yet finding our selves under the iniquity and burden of this custome , and prescription , we must obey the necessitie , and preposterously examine : First , why this fact should be so resolutely condemned , and why there should be this precipitation in our judgement , to pronounce this above all other sins irremissible : and then , having removed that which was neerest us , and delivered our selves from the tyranny of this prejudice : our judgment may be brought neerer to a straightnesse , and our charity awakned , and entendred to apprehend , that this act may be free not onely from those enormous degrees of sinne , but from all . SECT . II. They who pronounce this sinne to be so necessarily damnable , are of one of these three perswasions . Either they mis-affirme that this act alwaies proceeds from desperation ; and so they load it with all those comminations with which from Scriptures , Fathers , Histories , that common place abounds . Or else they entertaine that dangerous opinion , that there is in this life an impenitiblenesse , and impossibilitie of returning to God , and that apparent to us ( for else it could not justifie our uncharitable censure ; ) Or else they build upon this foundation , that this act being presum'd to be sinne , and all sinne unpardonable without repentance , this is therefore unpardonable , because the very sin doth preclude all ordinary wayes of repentance . SECT . III. To those of the first Sect , if I might be as vainly subtile , as they are uncharitably severe , I should answer , that all desperation is not sinnefull . For in the devill it is not sinne , nor doth hee demerit by it , because he is not commanded to hope . Nor in a man which undertook an austere and disciplinary taming of his body by fasts or corrections , were it sinfull to despaire that God would take from him stimulum carnis . Nor in a Priest employ'd to convert infidels , were it sinfull to despaire ; that God would give him the power of miracles ; If therefore to quench and extinguish this stimulum carnis , a man should kill himselfe ; the effect and fruit of this desperation were evill , and yet the root it selfe not necessarily so . No detestation nor dehortation against this sinne of desperation ( when it is a sinne ) can be too earnest . But yet a since it may be without infidelitie , it cannot be greater then that . And though Aquinas there calls it sinne truly , yet he sayes hee doth so , because it occasions many sinnes . And if it bee as b others affirme , Poena peccati , it is then involuntarium , which will hardly consist with the nature of sinne : Certainly , though many devout men have justly imputed to it the cause and effect of sin , yet as in the c penitentiall Cannons , greater Penance is inflicted upon one who kills his wife , than one who kills his mother ; and the reason added , not that the fault is greater , but that otherwise more would commit it ; So is the sinne of desperation so earnestly aggravated ; because springing from Sloth , and Pusillanimity , our nature is more slippery and inclinable to such a descent , than to presumptions , which yet without doubt do more wound and violate the Majesty of God , then desperation doth . But howsoever , that none may justly say , that all which kill themselves , have done it out of a despaire of Gods mercy , ( which is the onely sinnefull despaire ) we shall in a more proper place , when we come to consider the examples exhibited in Scriptures , and other Histories ; finde many who at that act have been so far from despaire , that they have esteemed it a great degree of Gods mercy , to have been admitted to such a glorifying of his name , and have proceeded therein as religiously as in a sacrifice ; and as d one sayes , elegantly , of Job , venere in gloriosa Proverbia , and of whom we may properly say , that which Moses said , when they punished upon one another their Idolatry , Consecrastis man●… vestras Domino . When I come to consider their words who are of the second opinion , and which allow an impenitiblenesse in this life ( of which Calvin is a strong Authorizer , if not an Authour ; who sayes , that actuall impenitence is not the sinne intimated in Matth. 12. 30 , & 31. But it is a willing resisting of the holy Ghost , into which whosoever falls , Tenendum est , saith he , we must hold that he never riseth again ) because these hard and mis-interpretable words fall from them , when they are perplexed , and intricated with that heavy question of sinne , against the holy Ghost , and because I presume them to speak proportionally and analogally to their other Doctrine , I rather incline to afford them this construction , that they place this impenitiblenesse onely in the knowledge of God , or that I understand them not , then either beleeve them literally , or beleeve that they have clearly expressed their own meanings . For I see not why we should be lother to allow , that God hath made some impeccable , then impenitible . Neither do I perceive , that if they had their purpose , and this were granted to them , that therfore such an impenitiblenesse must of necessity be concluded to have been in this person , by reason of this act . SECT . IIII. But the third sort is the tamest of all the three , and gives greatest hope of being reduced , and rectifyed : For though they pronounce severely upon the fact , yet it is onely upon one reason , that the fact precludes all entrance to repentance . Wherein I wonder why they should refuse to apply their opinions to the milder rules of the Casuifts a which ever in doubtfull cases , teach an inclination to the safer side . And though it be sa●…er to thinke a thing to be fin , then not , yet that rule serves for your own information , and for a bridle to you , not for anothers condemnation . They use to interpret that rule of taking the safer side , that in things necessary ( necessitate finis , as repentance is to salvation ) wee must follow any probable opinion , though another bee more probable ; and that , directly that opinion is to be followed , Quae favet animae : which they exemplifie thus . b That though all Doctors hold that baptisme of a childe not yet throughly born , in the hand or foot to be ineffectuall , yet all Doctors counsell to baptize in that case , & to beleeve of good effect . And the example of the good theife informes us , that repentance works immediately ; and from that history Calvin collects , That such paine in articulo mortis , is naturally apt to be get repentance ; Since the Church is so indulgent , and liberall to her children , c that at the point of death shee will afford her treasure of baptisme to one which hath been mad from his birth , by the same reason us to a child ; d yea , to one fallen lately into madnesse , though it appeare he were in mortall sinne , if he have but attrition , which is but a feare of hell , & no tast of Gods glory ; And ●…uch attrition shall be presum'd to be in him , if nothing appeare evidently to the contrary : e If she be content to extend and interpret this point of death , of every danger by sea , or travell ; f If she will interpret any mortall sinne , in a man provoked by sodain passion , and proceeding from indeliberation , to be no worse nor of greater malignity , then the act of a childe . If being unable to succour one before g she will deliver him from excommunication after he is dead . h If she bee content that both the penitent and confessor , bee but diligentes , not diligentissimi ; i If rather then she will be frustrate of her desire to dispense her treasure , she yeelds that mad and possessed men , shall be bound till they may receive extreame unction . k If lastly she absolve some whether they will or no , why should we abhorre our mothers example , and being brethren , be severer than the Parent ? Not to pray for them which dye without faith is a precept so obvious to every Religion , that even l Mahomet hath inhibited it : But to presume impenitence , because you were not by , and heard it , is an usurpation . This is true repentance ( saith Clement ) [ m To doe no more , and to speake no more , those things , whereof you repent ; and not to be ever sinning , and ever asking pardon . ] Of such a repentance as this our case is capable enough . And of n one who died before he had repented , goo●… Paulinus would charitably interpret his haste , [ That he chose rather to go to God debitor quam liber ] and so to die in his debt rather than to carry his acquittance . As therefore in matters of fact , the delinquent is so much favor'd that o a Lay-man shall sooner be beleeved which acquits him , then a Clork which accuseth ( though in p other cases there be much disproportion betweene the value of these two testimonies ; ) So , if any will of necessitie proceede to judgement in our case , those reasons , which are most benigne , and which , ( as I sayd ) favent anima , ought to have the best acceptation and entertainment . SECT . V. Of all those definitions of sinne , which the first Rhapsoder Pet. Lombard hath presented out of ancient learning , as well the Summists as Casuists doe most insist upon that which he brings from a S. Augustine , as , commonly , where that Father serves their turnes , they never goe further . This definition is , that sinne is dictum , factum , concupitum , contra aternam legem Dei. This they stick too , because this definition ( if it be one ) best b●…ares their descant ; and is the easiest conveyance , and cariage , and vent for their conceptions ; and applying rules of Divinitie to particular cases : by which they have made all our actions perplex'd and litigious , in foro interiori , which is their tribunall : by which torture they have brought mens consciences to the same reasons of complaint , which b Pliny attributes to Rome , till Trajans time ; that Civit●… f●…-aata legibus , legibus evertebatur . For as Informers vext them with continuall delations upon penall Lawes , so doth this act of sinning entangle wretched consciences in manifold and desp●…ate anxi eties . But for this use this definition cannot be thought to be applyable to sinne onely , since it limits it to the externall Law of God , ( which word though Lombard have not , c Sa●… and all the rest r●…tain for this eternall Law is d ratio gub●…rnativa Dei , which is no other then his eternall decree for the government of the whole world , and that is Providence . And certainly against this , because it is not alwayes revealed , a man may without sinne both think and speak and doe : as I may resist a disease , of which God hath decreed I shall die . Yea though he seeme to reveale his will , we may resist it , with prayers against it , because it is often conditioned , and accompanied with limitations and exceptions . Yea though God dealt plainly by Nathan , e [ The child shall surely die ] David resisted Gods decree by prayer and penance . We must therefore seek another definition of sinne which I think is not so well delivered in those words of Aquinas f [ Omnis defectus debiti actus habet rationem peccati ] as in his other ; [ Peccatum est actus devians ab ordine debiti finis , contra regulam naturae rationis , aut legis aeternae ] For here lex aeterna being put as a member and part of the definition , it cannot admit that vast and large acceptation , which it could not escape in the description of S. Augustine , but must in this place be necessarily intended of lex divina . Through this definition therefore , we will trace this act of Self-homicide , and see whether it offend any of those three sorts of Law. SECT . VI. Of all these three Laws , of Nature , of Reason , and of God , every precept which is permanent , and binds alwayes , is so compos'd and elemented and complexion'd , that to distinguish and seperate them is a Chymick work : And either it doth only seeme to be done , or is done by the torture and vexation of schoole-limbicks , which are exquisite and violent distinctions . For that part of Gods Law which bindes alwayes , bound before it was written , and so it is but dictamen rectae rationis ; and that is the Law of nature . And therefore Jsidore as it is related into the a Canons , dividing all Law into divine and humane , addeth [ Divine consists of nature , Humane of custome ] Yet though these three be almost all one ; yet because one thing may be commanded divers waies , and by divers authorities , as the common Law , a Statute , and a Decree of an arbitrary Court , may bind me to do the same thing , it is necessary that we weigh the obligation of every one of these Laws which are in the Definition . But first I will only mollify and prepare their crude and undigested opinions and prejudice which may be contracted from the often iteration , and specious but sophisticate inculcatings of Law , and Nature , and Reason , and God , with this Antidote , that many things which are of Naturall and Humane and Divine Law may be broken . Of which sort b to conceale a secret delivered unto you is one . And the Honour due to Parents is so strictly of all these Laws , as none of the second Table more . Yet in a iust warre a Parricide is not guilty ; yea by a law of Venice , though c Bodin say , it were better the Towne were sunk then ever there should be any example or president therein ; A sonne shall redeeme himselfe from banishment by killing his Father being also banished . And we d read of another state ( and Laws of Civil Common-wealths may not easily be pronounced to be against Nature ) where when Fathers came to be of an unprofitable and uselesse age , the sons must beat them to death with clubs : And of another , where all persons of above 70 years were dispatched . SECT . VII . This terme the law of Nature , is so variously and unconstantly deliver'd , as I confesse I read it a hundred times before I understand it once , or can conclude it to signifie that which the author should at that time meane . Yet I never found it in any sence which might justifie their vociferations upon sinnes against nature . For the transgressing of the Law of nature in any act doth not seeme to me to increase the hay nousnesse of that act , as though nature were more obligatory than divine Law : but only in this respect it aggravates it , that in such a sin we are inexcusable by any pretence of ignorance since by the light of nature we might discern it . Many things which we call sin , and so evill have been done by the commandement of God ; by Abraham and the Jsraelites in their departing from Aegypt . So that this evill is not in the nature of the thing , nor in the nature of the whole harmony of the world , and therefore in no Law of nature , but in violating , or omitting a Commandement : All is obedience or disobedience . Whereupon our Country-man a Sayr confesseth , that this SELF-HOMICIDE is not so intrinsecally ill , as to Ly. Which is also evident by Cajetan b where he affirmes , that I may not to save my life , accuse my self upon the Racke . And though Cajetan extend no farther her●…in , then that I may not bely my sel●… : Yet c 〈◊〉 evicts , that Cajetans reasons , with as much force forbid any accusation of my self , though it be true . So much easier may I dep●…rt with life then with truth , or with fame , by Cajetan . And yet we find that of their fame many holy men have been very negligent . For not onely Augustine , Anselm , and Hier●… betray themselves by unurged confessi ns , but d St Ambrose procur'd certain prostitute women , to come into his chamber , that by that he might be defamed , and the People thereby abstaine from making him Bishop . This intrinsique and naturall evill therefore will hardly be found . For , e God who can command a murder , cannot command an evill , or a sinne ; because the whole frame and government of the world b●…ing his , he may vse it as he will. As , though he can doe a miracle , he can do nothing against nature ; because f [ That is the nature of every thing , which he works in it . ] Hereupon , & upon that other true rule , g [ whatsoever is wrought by a superior Agent , upon a patient , who is naturally subject to that Agent , is naturall ] we may safely infer , that nothing which we call si●…ne is so against nature , but that it may be sometimes agreeable to nature . On the other side , nature is often taken so widely and so extensively , as all sinne is very truely said to be against nature . Yea , before it come to be sinne . For S. Augustine sayes n [ Every vice , as it is vice , is against nature . ] And vice is but habite which being produced to act , is then sinne . Yea the parent of all sinne , which is hereditary originall sin , which i Aquinas calls , [ a languor and faintnesse in our nature , and an indisposition , proceeding from the dissolution of the harmony of originall Justice ] is by him said to be in us , [ k quasi naturale ] And is , as he saith in another place , so l naturall , [ that though it is propagated with our nature , in generation , though it be not caused by the principles of nature . ] So m as if God would now miraculously frame a man , as he did the first woman , of another's flesh and bone , and not by way of generation , into that creature , all infirmities of our flesh would be derived but not originall Sin. So that originall sinne is traduced by nature onely , and all actuall sinne issuing from thence , all sinne is naturall . SECT . VIII . But to make our approaches neerer . Let us leave the consideration of the Law of nature , as it is Providence , and Gods decree for his government of the great world ; and contract it only to the law of nature in the lesse world , our selves . There is then in us a a double law of nature , Sensitive and Rationall ; and b the first doth naturally lead and conduce to the other . But because by the languor and faintnesse of our nature , we lazily rest there , and for the most part goe no further in our journeys therfore out of this ordinary indisposition , Aquinas pronounceth , that the inclination of our sensitive nature is against the law of reason . And this is that which the Apostle calls the law of the flesh , and opposeth against the law of the spirit . Now although it be possible to sinne and transgresse against this sensitive nature , which naturally and lawfully c is inclined upon bonum delectabile , by denying to it lawfull refreshings , and fomentations ; yet I think this is not that law of nature which these abhorrers of SELF-HOMICIDE complaine to bee violated by that Act. For so they might aswell accuse all discipline and austeritie , and affectation of Martyrdome , which are as contrarie to the Law of sensitive Nature . SECT . IX . And therefore , by law of nature , if they will meane any thing , and speak to be understood , they must entend the law of rationall nature : which is that light which God hath afforded us of his eternall law ; and which is usually call'd recta ratio . Now this law of nature as it is onely in man and in him directed upon Piety , Religion , Sociablenesse ; and such ( for as it reacheth to the preservation both of Śpecies and individualls , there are lively prints of it in beasts ) is with most authors confounded and made the same with jus gentium . So a Azorius , and so b Sylvius delivers [ That the law of nature , as it concerns only reason is j●… gentium ; ] and therefore whatever is jus gentium that is , practised ( and accepted in most , especially civil'st nations ) is also law of nature , which c Artemidorus ex●…mplifies , in these two , Deum colere , mulie●…ibus vinci . How then shall we ●…ccuse Idolarry , or immolation of men to be sinnes against nature ? For ( not to speak of the first , which like a de●…uge overflowed the whole world , and only Canaan , was a little Ark swimming upon it , delivered fr●…m utter drowning , but yet not from sto●…mes and and leakes , and dangerous weather-beatings , ) immolation of men was so ordinary , that d [ almost every nation , though not batba●…ous , had received it . ] the e D●…uids of France made their divinations from sacrifices of men . f And in their wars they presaged also after the same fashion . And for our times it appeares , by the Spanish relations , g that in only Hispaniola they sacrific'd yearly 20000 children . SECT . X. However since this is receiv'd [ a that the nature of every thing is the forme by which it is constituted , and that to doe against it , is to doe against nature ] since also this forme in man is reason , and so to commit against reason is to sin against nature , what sin can be exempt from that charge , that it is a sin against nature , since every sin is against reason . And in this acceptation b Lucidus takes the law of nature , when he sayes [ God hath written in our hearts such a law of nature , as by that , we are saved in the coming of Christ. ] And so every act which concurres not exactly with our religion shall bee sinne against nature . Which will appeare evidently out of c Jeremies words , where God promiseth as a future blessing , that he will write his lawes in their hearts , which is the Christian law . So that the Christian law , and the law of nature , ( for that is the law written in hearts ) must be all one . Sinne therefore against nature is not so enormous , but that that may stand true , which Navar saith d [ that many lawes both naturall and divine doe bind onely ad veniale . ] And so ( nor disputing at this time , whither it be against reasonal waies or no , ) ( for reason and vertue differ no otherwise than a close box of druggs , and an emplaister or medicine made from thence and applyed to a particular use and necessitie ; and in the box are not onely aromatike simples , but many poysons , which the nature of the disease , and the art of the Administrer make wholsome . ) This SELF-HOMICIDE is no more against the law of nature , then any other sinne , nor in any of the acceptations which we touch'd before . And this is as much as I determined for this first Distinction . Distinction II. SECT . I. THere is a lower and narrower acceptation of this law of nature ( which could not well be discerned but by this light , and fore-discoursing ) against which law , this sinne , and a very few more , seeme to be directly bent , and opposed . For a Azorius sayes , [ That there are sinnes peculiarly against nature , which are contra naturalem usum hominis ] which he exemplifies in unnaturall lusts , and in this . And of the former example b Aquinas sayes , [ That there are some kinds of lusts which are sinnes against nature , both as they are generally vices , and as they are against the naturall order of the act of generation . ] In the Scriptures also this sinne of mis-using the Sexe , is called against nature , by c S. Paul. And once ( in the vulgar edition ) in the d old Testament . But ( as I intimated once before ) this sinne against nature is so much abhor'd , not because the being against nature makes it so abominable , but because the knowledge therof is so domestique , so neare , so inward to us , that our conscience cannot slumber in it , nor dissemble it , as in most other sinnes it doth . For , in that example of the Levite in the booke of Judges , ( if those wicked men did seeke him for that abominable use , which e Iosephus sayes , was onely for his wife ; And when himself relates to the people the history of his injury in the next chapter , he complains that they went about to kill him to enjoy his wife , and of no other kind of injury ; ) though the Host which had harbor'd him disswade the men thus , [ solum non operemini hoc contra naturam ] will any man say , that the offer which he made them to extinguish their furious lust , to expose to them his owne daughter , a virgine , and the wife of his guest , ( which Iosephus encreases by calling her a Levite and his kins-woman , ) was a lesse sinne , then to have given way to their violence , or lesse against nature , because that which they sought was contra naturalem usum . Is not every voluntary pollution , in genere peccati , as much against the law of nature , as this was , since it strayes and departs from the way , and defeats the end of that facultie in us , which is generation ? The violating therefore of the law of nature , doth in no acceptation aggravate the sinne . Neither doth the Scripture call any other sinne , then disorderly lust by that name ; S. Paul once appeals to the law of nature , when arguing about the covering of heads , of men or women at publique prayer , hee sayes , [ Judge in your selves ; ] And [ Doth not nature teach you , that if a man have long haire , it is a shame . ] Not that this was against that law of nature to which all men were bound , for it was not alwayes so . For , in most places , shavings and cuttings , a●…d pullings , are by the Batyriques and Epigrammatists of those times , reprehended for delicacy and effeminatenesse . And the Romans till for rain corruption had envenom'd them , were ever call'd gloriously Intonsi ; but because ( sayes Calvine ) [ it was at that time received as a custome throughout all Greece , to weare short haire , S. Paul calls it naturall . ] So Vegetius sayes [ That from f November to March the Seas are shut up , and intractable lege naturae , ] which now are tame and tractable enough , and this also lege naturae . And that custome which S. Paul call'd naturall in Greece , was not long naturall there . For the Bishops of Rome , when they made their Canons for Priests shavings , g did it because they would have their Priests differ from the Priests of the Greek Church . So that S. Paul mentioning the law of nature , argues not from the weight and hainousnesse of the fault , as our adversaries use ; but useth it as the nearest and most familiar and easie way to lead them to a knowledge of decencie , and a departing from scandalous singularitie in those publique meetings . SECT . II. And though Azorius ( as I said ) and many others , make this Selfe-homicide an example of sin , against particular Law of Nature ; yet it is onely upon this reason , that selfe-preservation is of Naturall Law. But that Naturall Law is so generall , that it extends to beasts more then to us , because they cannot compare degrees of obligation and distinctions of duties and offices , as we can . For we know that a [ some things are naturall to the species , and other things to the particular person ] and that the latter may correct the first . And therefore when b Cicero consulted the oracle at Delph●s , he had this answer , [ Follow your owne nature . ] And so certainly that place , c [ It is not good for the man to be alone , ] is meant there , because if he were alone , Gods purpose of multiplying mankinde had beene frustrate . Yet though this be ill for conservation of our species in generall , yet it may be very fit for some particular man , to abstaine from all such conversation of marriage or men , and retire to a sollitude . For some may need that counsell of d Chrysostome , [ Depart from the high way , & transplant thy self in some inclosed ground : for it is hard for a tree which stands by the way side , to keep her fruit , till it be ripe . ] Our safest assurance , that we be not mislead with the ambiguity of the word Naturall Law , and the perplex'd variety thereof in Authors , will be this , That [ all the precepts of Naturall Law , result in these , Fly evill , seek good ; ] That is , doe according to Reason . For these , as they are indispensable by any authority , so they cannot be abolished nor obscur'd , but that our hearts shall ever not onely retaine , but acknowledge this Law. From these are deduced by consequence , other precepts which are not necessary alwaies ; as Redde deposit●… . For though this seeme to follow of the first , Doe according to reason , yet it is not alwaies just . And as Aquinas saies , The lower you goe towards particulars , the more you depart from the necessitie of being bound to it . So f Acacius illustrates it more clearely , [ It is naturall , and bindes all alwaies , to know there is a God. From this is deduced by necessary consequence , that God ( if he be ) must be worshipped ; and after this , by likely consequence , that he must be worshipped in this or this manner . ] And so every Sect will a little corruptly and adulterately call their discipline Naturall Law , and enjoyn a necessary obedience to it . But g though our substance of nature , ( which is best understood of the foundations and principles , and first grounds of Naturall Law , ) may not be changed , yet functio nat●… a , ( which is the exercise and application therof , ) and deduction from thence may , and must . The like danger is in deducing consequences from this naturall Law , of Selfe-preservation ; which doth not so rigorously , and urgently , and illimitedly binde , but that by the Law of Nature it selfe , things may , yea must neglect themselves for others ; of which the Pellican is an instance , or an embleme . And h St. Ambrose Philosophying divinely in a contemplation of Bees , after he hath afforded them many other prayses , sayes [ That wh●…n they finde themselves guilty of having broken any of their Kings Lawes , P●…nitenti condemnatione se mul●…tant , ut immoriantur a●…ulet sui vulnore . ] Which magnanimity and justice , he compares there with the Subjects of the Kings of Persia , who in like cases are their owne executioners . As this naturall instinct in beasts , so rectified reason belonging onely to us , instructs us often to preferre publique and necessary persons , by exposing our selves to unevitable destruction . No law is so primary and simple , but it fore-imagines a reason upon which it was founded : and scarce any reason is so constant , but that circumstances alter it . In which case a private man is Emperor of himselfe ; for so i a devout man interprets those words , [ Faciamus hominem ad i●…ginom nostrum , id est , sui juris . ] And he whose conscience well tempred and dispassion'd , assures him that the reason of selfe-preservation ceases in him , may also presume that the law ceases too , and may doe that then which otherwise were against that law . And therefore if it be true that [ it k belongs to the Bishop of Rome , to declare , interpret , limit , distinguish the law of God , ] as their Doctors teach , which is , to declare when the reason of the Law ceases : it may be as true which this Author , and the l Canons affirme , that he may dispense with that Law : for hee doth no more , then any man might doe of himselfe , if he could judge as infallibly . Let it be true that no man may at any time doe any thing against the law of nature , yet , m [ As a dispensation workes not thus , that I may by it disobey a law , but that that law becomes to me no law , in that case wher the reason ceases ; ] So may any man be the Bishop & Magistrate to himselfe , and dispense with his conscience , where it can appeare that the reason which is the soule and forme of the law , is ceased . Because , n as in Oathes and Vowes , so in the Law , the necessitie of dispensations proceedes from this , that a thing which universally considered in it selfe is profitable and honest , by reason of some particular event , becomes either dishonest or hurtfull ; neither of which , can fall within the reach , or under the Commandement of any law ; and in these exempt and priviledged cases , o [ the priviledge is not contrajus universale , but contra universalitem juris . ] It doth onely succor a person , not wound , nor infirme a law . No more , then I take from the vertue of light , or dignitie of the Sunne , if to escape the scortching thereof , I allow my selfe the reliefe of a shadow . And , as neither the watchfulnesse of Parliaments , nor the descents and indulgences of Princes , which have consented to lawes derogatory to themselves , have beene able to prejudice the Princes non obstantes , because prerogative is incomprehensible , and over-flowes and transcends all law . And as those Canons which boldly ( and as some School-men say ) blasphemously say , Non licebit Papae , diminish not his fulnesse of power , nor impeach his motus propriores , ( as they call them ) nor his non obstante jure divino , because they are understood ever to whisper some just reservation , sine justa causa , or rebus sic stantibus , so , what law soever is cast upon the conscience or liberty of man , of which the reason is mutable , is naturally condition'd with this , that it binds so long as the reason lives . Besides , Selfe-preservation , which wee confesse to be the foundation of generall naturall Law , is no other thing then a naturall affection and appetition of good , whether true or seeming . For certainly the desire of Martyrdome , though the body perish , is a Selfe-preservation , because thereby , out of our election our best part is advanc'd . For heaven which we gaine so , is certainly good ; Life , but probably and possibly . For here it holds well which p Athenagoras sayes , [ Earthly things and Heavenly differ so , as Veri-simile , & Verum ; ] And this is the best description of felicitie that I have found , That [ q it is reditus uniuscujusque rei ad suum principium . ] Now since this law of Selfe-preservation is accomplish'd in attaining that which conduces to our ends , and is good to us , ( for r libertv , which is a faculty of doing that which I would , is as much of the law of nature as preservation is ; yet if for reasons seeming good to me , ( as to preserve my life when I am justly taken prisoner , I will become a slave ; I may doe it without violating the law of nature . ) If I propose to my selfe in this SELF-HOMICIDE a greater good , though I mistake it , I perceive not wherein I transgresse the generall law of nature , which is an affection of good , true , or seeming : and if that which I affect by death , bee truely a greater good , wherein is the other stricter law of nature , which is rectified reason , violated ? SECT . III. Another reason which prevailes much with me and delivers it from being against the Law of nature , is this , that in all ages , in all places , upon all occasions , men of all conditions , have affected it , and inclin'd to doe it . And as a Gardan sayes it , [ Mettall is planta sepulta , and that a Mole is Animal sepultum . ] So man , as though he were Angelus sepultus , labours to be discharged of his earthly Sepulchre , his body . And though this may be said of all other sinnes , that men are propense to them , and yet for all that frequency , they are against nature , that is rectifyed reason , yet if this sinne were against particular Law of nature , ( as they must hold , which aggravate it by that circumstance , ) and that so it wrought to the destruction of our species , any otherwise then intemperate lust , or surfer , or incurring penall Lawes , and such like doe , it could not be so generall ; since being contrary to our sensitive nature , it hath not the advantage of pleasure and delight , to allure us withall , which other sinnes have . And when I frame to my selfe a Martyrologe of all which have perished by their own meanes for Religion , Countrey , Fame , Love , Ease , Feare , Shame ; I blush to see how naked of followers all vertues are in respect of this fortitude ; and that all Histories afford not so many examples , either of cunning and subtile devises , or of forcible and violent actions for the safeguard of life , as for destroying . Petronius Arbiter who served Nero ; a man of pleasure , in the office of Master of his pleasures , upon the first frowne went home , and cut his Veines . So present and immediate a step was it to him , from full pleasure to such a death . How subtilly and curiously Attilius Regulus destroyed himselfe ? Wo being of such integritie , that he would never have lyed to save his life , lyed to lose it ; falsely pleading , that the Carthaginians had given him poyson , and that within few dayes he should dye , though he stayed at Rome . Yet Codrus forcing of his death , exceeded this , because in that base disguise he was likely to perish without fame . Herennius the Sicilian , could endure to beat out his own braines against a post ; and as though he had owed thanks to that braine which had given him this devise of killing himselfe , would not leave beating , till he could see and salute it . Comas who had been a Captaine of theeves , when he came to the to ture of examination , scorning all forraigne and accessorie helps to dye , made his owne breath , the instrument of his death , by stopping and recluding it . Annibal , because if hee should be overtaken with extreame necessitie , he would be beholden to none for life nor death , dyed with poyson which he alwaies carryed in a ring . As Demosthenes did with poyson carryed in a penne . Aristarchus when he saw that 72 yeares , nor the corrupt and malignant disease of being a severe Critique , could weare him out , sterved himselfe then . Homer which had written a thousand things , which no man else understood , is said to have hanged himselfe , because he understood not the Fishermens riddle . Othryades who onely survived of 300 Champions , appointed to end a quarrell between the Lacedemonians and Athenians , when now the lives of all the 300 were in him , as though it had been a new victory to kill them over again , kill'd himselfe . Democles , whom a Greeke Tyrant would have forced , to show that he could suffer any other heat , scalded himselfe to death . P●…rtia , Cato's daughter , and Catulus Luctatius sought new conclusions , and as Quintilian calls them , [ Nova Sacramenta pereundi , ] and dyed by swallowing burning coales . Poore Terence because he lost his 108 translated Comedies , drown'd himselfe . And the Poet Labienus , because his Satyricall Bookes were burned by Edict , burnt himselfe too . And Zeno , before whom scarce any is preferr'd , because he stumbled , and hurt his finger against the ground , interpreted that as a Summons from the earth , and hang'd himselfe , being then almost ●…oo yeares old . For which act , Diogenes Laertius proclaimes him to have been [ Mira falicitate vir , qui incolumis , integer , sine Morbo excessit . ] To cure himselfe of a quartane , Portius Latro killed himselfe . And Festus , Domicians Minion , onely to hide the deformity of a Ringworme in his face . Hippionas the Poet rimed Bubalus the Painter to death with his Iambiques . Macer bore well enough his being called into question for great faults , but hanged himselfe when hee heard that Cicero would plead against him , though the Roman condemnations at that time inflicted not so deep punishments . And so Cessius Licinius to escape Cicero's judgement , by choaking himselfe with a napkin , had ( as Tacitus calls it ) precium festinandi . You can scarce immagine any person so happy , or miserable , so repos'd or so vaine , or any occasion either of true losse , or of shamefastnesse , or frowardnesse , but that there is some example of it . Yet no man , to me seemes to have made harder shift to dy , then Charondas , who first having made a new law , that it should be death to enter the Counsell Chamber armed , not onely offended that Law , but punished it presently by falling upon his sword . But the generall houre of such death is abundantly expressed , in those swarmes of the Roman Gladiatory Champions , which , as b Lipsius collects , in some one month cost Europe 30000 men , and to which exercise and profusion of life , till expresse Lawes forbade it , c not onely men of great birth , and place in the State , but also women coveted to be admitted . By Eleazars Oration recorded in d Josephus , we may see how small perswasions moved men to this . [ Hee onely told them , that the Philosophers among the Indians did so . And that we and our children ●…ere borne to dy , but neither borne to serve . ] And we may well collect , that in Caesars time , in France , for one who dyed naturally , there dyed many by this devout violence . For e hee sayes there were some , whom he calls Devotos , and Clientes , ( f the latter Lawes call them Soldurios ) which enjoying many benefits , and commodities , from men of higher ranke , alwaies when the Lord dyed , celebrated his Funerall with their owne . And Caesar adds , that in the memorie of man , no one was found that ever refused it . Which devotion I have read some where continues yet in all the wives in the Kingdome of Bengala in the Indies . And there not onely such persons , as doe it in testimony of an entire dependency , and of a gratitude , but the g Samanaei , ( which did not inherite Religion , and Priesthood , and wisedome , as Levites did amongst the Jewes , and the Gymnosophists amongst them , but were admitted by election , upon notice taken of their sanctity ) are sayd to have studied wayes how to dye , and especially then when they were in best state of health . And yet h these Priests whose care was to dye thus , did ever summe up , and abridge all their precepts into this one , Let a pious death determine a good life . Such an estimation had they of this manner of dying . i How pathetically Latinus Pacatus expresses the sweetnesse of dying when we will ; [ Others , sayth he , after the conquest , making a braver bargaine with Destiny , prevented uncertaine death by certaine ; and the slaves scaped whipping by strangling . For who ever fear'd , after there was no hope●… Or who would therefore for beare to kill himselfe , that another might ? Is anothers hand easier then thine own ? Or a private death fouler then a publique ? Or is it more pain●… to fall upon thy sword , and to oppresse the wound with thy body , and so receive death at once , then to divide the torment , bend the knee , stretch out the necke ; perchance to more then one blow ? ] And then wondring why Maximus , who had before murdered Gratia●… , and was now suppressed by Theodosius , had not enjoyed the common benefit of killing himselfe , he turnes upon Gratian , and sayes , [ Thou Reverend Gratian , hast chased thin●… Executioner , and would'st not allow him leasure for so honest a death , least he should staine the sacred Imperiall robe with so i●…pious bloud , or that a Tyrants hand should performe thy revenge , or thou bee beholden to him for his owne death . ] And with like passion speakes another Panegyrique to Constantine , who after a victorie , tooke their swords from the conquered , Ne quis incumberet dolori . By which language one may see , how naturall it was to those times , to affect such dispatch . And in our age , k when the Spaniards extended that Law , which was made onely against the Canibals , that they who would not accept Christian Religion , should incurre bondage ; the Indians in infinite numbers escaped this by killing themselves ; and never ceased , till the Spaniards by some counterfeitings made them thinke , that they also would kill themselves , and follow them with the same severity into the next life . And thus much seeming to me sufficient , to defeate that argument which is drawen from Selfe-preservation , and to prove that it is not so of particular law of Nature , but that it is often transgressed naturally , wee will here end this second Distinction . Distinction III. SECT . I. AFter this when men by civ●…litic and mutuall use one of another , became more thrifty of themselves , and sparing of their lives , this solemnity of killing themselves at funeralls wore out a and vanish'd ; yet leysurely , and by unsensible dimunitions . [ For first in shew of it , the men wounded themselves , and the women scratch'd and defaced their cheekes , and sacrific'd so by that aspersion of blo●…d . After that , by their friends graves they made graves for themselves , and entred into them alive , ( as Nunnes doe when they renounce the world . ) And after in show of this show , they onely tooke some of the earth , and were it upon their heads : and so for the publique benefit were content to forfeit their custome of dying ] And after Christianitie , which besides the many advantages above all other Phylosophies , that it hath made us clearely to understand the state of the next life : which Moses and his followers ( though they understood it ) disguis'd ever under earthly rewards , and punishments ; either because humane nature after the first fall , till the restituti on and dignification thereof by Christ , was generally incapable of such mysteries , or , because it was reserved to our blessed Saviour to interpret and comment upon his owne Law , and that great successive Trinity of humane wisedome , Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle , saw but glimmeringly and variously ; as also for matters of this life , the most Stoick and severe Sect that ever Cast bridle upon mankind , I say , after Christianity had quench'd those respects of fame , ease , shame , and such , how quickly naturally man snatch'd and embraced a new way of profusing his life by Martyrdome ? SECT . II. For whil'st the famous acts , or famous suffrings of the Jewes , for defence even of Ceremonies , ( many thousands of them being slaine , onely because they would not defend themselves upon the Saboth ; ) And whil'st the custome of that Nation ever embrued in sacrifices of blood , and all , most of all other Nations devout and carnest even in the immolation of men . And whil'st the example of our blessed Saviour , who chose that way for our Redemption to sacrifice his life , and profuse his blood , was now fresh in them , and govern'd all their affections , it was not hard for their Doctors even by naturall reasons , and by examples to invite , or to cherish their propensnesse to Martyrdome . Clement therefore when h●… handles this point , scarce presents to them any other argument then naturall men were capable of , and such food , and such fuell , as would serve the tast and fervour of such an one as were not curious above Nature . As , that Death was not naturally evill : That Martyrdome was the beginning of another life . That the Heathen endured greater paines for lesse reward . That a Barbarous people immolated every yeare a principall Philosoper to Xamolxis an Idol ; and they upon whom the lot fell not , mourn'd for that . And with most earnestnesse that Martyrdome is in our owne power : which be arguments better proportioned to Nature , then to Divinity ; and therefore Clement presumed them men inclined , or inclinable by nature to this affection . Tertullians Reasons are somewhat more sublime ; yet rather fine , and delightfull , then sollid and weighty ; As , That God knowing man would sin after Baptisme , provided him , Secunda solatia , lavacrum Sanguinis : That the death of Saints , which is said to be precious in Gods sight , cannot bee understood of the naturall death common to all : And that from the beginning in Abel righteousnesse was afflicted . And these reasons were not such as would have entred any , in whom a naturall inclination had not set open the gates before . Cyprian also takes the same way ; and insists upon application of Prophecies of these two sorts ; That they should bee despised in this world , and that they should be rewarded in the next . To these were added externall Honours , a Annuall celebrating their Memories , and entitling their deaths , Natalitia ; And b that early instituting of the office of Notaries to regulate their passions , even i●… Clemens time ; And c the proposing their Salita capita to bee worshipped ; which word ( though Eunapius speake it prophanely ) was not undeserved by the generall misuse of such devotion . And d after the Monopoly of appropriating Martyrdome , and establishing the benefit thereof upon them onely which held the integritie of faith , and were in the unity of the Church ; of which persuasion Augustine , and Hierom , and most of the Ancients are cited to be ; and then by continuall increasing the dignity and merit of it , as that e ex opere operato , it purged actuall sinne , as Baptisme did originall ; And f that without Charitie , and in Schisme , though it merited not salvation , yet it diminished the intensnesse of Damnation . And by these they incited mans nature to it , which also might be a little corruptly warmed towards it , by seeing them ever punisht who afflicted them , for so g Tertullian saies , that [ no City escaped punishment , which had shed Christian bloud . ] After this , they descended to admit more into their fellowship , and communicate and extend these p●…iviledges : for by such indulgence are h Herods Infants Martyrs : So is John Baptist , though he dyed not for a matter of Christian faith : So i is he which suffers for any vertue , and he which dyes in his mothers womb , if she be a Martyr . k And so is he which being for Christian profession wounded deadly , recovers : and hee which being not deadly wounded , dyes after of sicknesse contracted by his owne negligence , if that negligence amounted not to mortall sinne . So not onely the sickly and infirme succeeding Ages , but even the purest-times did cherrish in men this desire of death , even by contrary reasons ; both which notwithstanding by change of circumstances , had apparance of good . For as fire is made more intense , sometimes by sprinkling water , sometimes by adding fuell . So when their teachers found any coolenesse or remissenesse in them , and an inclination to flight , or composition with the State , then l Cyprian noted such with the ignominy of Libellatici , because they had taken an acquittance of the State , and sayes of them [ Culpa minor sacrificatorum , sed non innocens cons●…entis . ] And then m Terrullian equally infames flying away , and such marchandizing , when hee sayes , [ Persecution must not be redeemed ; for running away is a buying of your peace for nothing , and a buying of your peace for money is a running away . ] And then we shall finde that even against the nature of the word Martyre , it became the common opinion , that death was requisite and necessarie to make one a Martyr . So in n Eusebius , the Christians though afflicted , modestly refuse the name of Martyrs , and professe that they have not deserved it , except they may be kill'd . Contrary wise in other times when the disease of head-long dying at once , seemed both to weare out their numbers , and to lay some scandall upon the cause , which wrought such a desire in men , which understood not why they did it , but uninstructed , uncatechized , yea unbaptized , ( but that the charity of the Supervivers imputed to them Baptisma fluminis , as they hope , or at least , Sanguinis , for that they saw ) did onely , as they saw others doe ; Then I say ( as o a Learned Writer of our time sayes , [ That the Church abstaines from easie Canonizing , Ne vilesceret Sanctit as ] ( which is not here Holinesse , but Saintship ) least the dignity of Martyrdome should be aviled by such promiscuous admittance to it , they were often contented to allow them the comfort of Martydome without dying ; which was but a returning to the natuturall sense of the word . So Ignatius stiles himselfe in his Epistles , Martyr . Yea more then the rest he brought down the value thereof , and the deare purchase , for he sayes p [ That as he which honors a Prophet in the name of a Prophet , shall have a Prophets reward ; So hee shall have a Martyrs reward which honors [ vinctum Christi . ] And so our most blessed Saviour , proceeding in his mercifull purpose of encreasing his Kingdome upon earth , yet permitting the Heathen Princes to continue theirs as yet , the Christian Religion was dilated and oppressed ; and the professors thereof , so dejected and worne with confiscations and imprisonments , thought that as in the q Passeover from Egypt every doore was sprinkled with blood ; So Heaven had no doore from this world but by fires , crosses , and bloody persecutions : and presuming Heaven to be at the next step , they would often stubbornly or stupidly winke , and so make that one step . God forbid any should be so malignant , so to mis-interpret mee , as though I thought not the blood of Martyrs to be the seed of the Church , or diminished the dignity thereof ; yet it becomes any ingenuity to confesse , that those times were affected with a disease of this naturall desire of such a death ; and that to such may fruitfully be applyed those words of the good B : Paulinus , r [ Athleta non vincit statim , quia eruitur : nec ideo transnatant , quia sespoliant . ] Alas ! we may fall & drown at the last stroke ; for , to say le to heaven it is not enough to cast away the burdenous superfluities which we have long carried about us , but we must also take in a good frayte . It is not lightnesse , but an even-reposed stedfastnesse , which carries us thither . But s Cyprian was forced to finde out an answer to this lamentation , which he then found to be common to men on their death beds , [ Wee m●…urne because with all our strength we had vowed our selves to Martyrdome , of which we are thus deprived , by being prevented by naturall death . ] And t for them who before they were called upon , offered themselves to Martyrdome , he is faine to provide the glorious and satisfactory name of Professors . From such an inordinate desire , too obedient to nature , proceeded the fury of some Christians u who when sentence was pronounced against others , standing by , cryed out , Wee also are Christians . And that inexcusable forwardnesse of Germanus , x who drew the beast to him , and enforced it to teare his body ; And why did he this ? Eusebius delivers his reason ; That he might bee the sooner delivered out of this wicked and sinfull life . Which y acts Eusebius glorifies with this prayse , [ That they did them mente digna Philosophis ] So that it seemes wisest men provoked this by their examples ; As z at the burning of the temple at Hierusalem , Meirus and Iosephus , though they had way to the Romans , cast themselves into the fire . How passionately a Ignatius solicites the Roman Christians not to interrupt his death . [ I feare saith he , your charity will hurt me , and put me to beginne my course again , except you endeavour that it may be sacrificed now . I professe to all Churches ; quod voluntarius morior ] And after , Blandiciis demulcere feras ; entice and corrupt the Beasts to devoure me , and to be my sepulchre , fruar best is , Let me enjoy those beasts , whom I wish much more cruell then they are ; and if they will not attempt me , I will provoke and draw them by force ] And what was Ignatius reason for this , being a man necessary to those Churches , and having allowable excuses of avoiding it ? [ quia mihi utile mori est . ] such an intemperance urged the woman of Edissa , b when the Emperour Valens had forbidden the Christians one temple , to which particular reasons of devotion invited them , to enrage the Officers with this Contumely , when they asked her , why thus squallid , and headlong she dregg'd her sonne through the streets , I do it least when you have slaine all the other Christians , I and my sonne should come to late to partake that benefit . And such a disorderly heate possessed that c old wretched man , which passing by after the execution of a whole legion of 6666 , by iterated decimation , under Maximianus , although he were answered that they dyed , not onely for resisting the Roman Religion , but the State , for all that , wish't that he might have the happines to be with them , and so extorted a Martyrdome . For that age was growne so hungry and ravenous of it , that many were baptized onely because they would be burnt , and children taught to vexe and provoke Executioners , that they might be thrown into the fire . And this assurednesse that men in a full perswasion of doing well would naturally runne to this , made d the proconsul in Africk proclaime , Is there any more Christians which desire to dy , and when a whole multit●…de by gen●…rall voice discovered themselves , he bid them [ Goe hang and drown your selves and ease the Magistrate . ] A●…d this naturall disposi●…ion , e afforded Mahomet an arg●…ment against the Jews , [ if your Religion be so good , why doe you not dy ? ] for our p●…mitive Chu●…ch was so enamo●…ed of death , and so satisfied with it , that to vex and torture them more , f the M●…gistrate made lawes to take from them the com●…ort of d●…ing , and encreased thei●… persecu●…ion by c●…asing it , for they gloried in their Numbers . And as in o●…her w●…fares men m●…ster an●… reckon how m●…ny they bring into the 〈◊〉 , their confidence of victory was in the multitudes of t●…em which were lost . So th●…y adm●…t into the Catalogue Herods●…nfants ●…nfants , and the 〈◊〉 Virgins . And g when 9000 Souldiers u●…der Adrian by apparition of an Angel are said to have embraced Christian Religion , and when ●…he E●…perour sent others to execute them , 1000 of those ex●…cutioners joyn'd to them and so the who●…e 10000 were crucifi●…d h And of an intirelegion massacred at once we spoke but now . And Baronius i speakes of 10000 cr●…cified in Armenia , celebrate upon the 22th . of June : whether divers from the ●…0000 under Adrian or no , I have not examined . k Saint Gregory says , [ Let God number our Martyrs , for to us they are more in number then then the sands . ] And l Baronius saies , That excepting the first of January , ( whic●… ye●… in the Rom●…n Martyrologe records as many , as most other daies ) there is no day which hath not 500 Martyres ; almost every one hath 900 , or 800. SECT . III. And when the Church encreased abundantly under all these 〈◊〉 for , As in profane and secular wars , the greater the Triumphs of a 〈◊〉 are , the greater also are his Armies , because the●… more and more co●…cur to his splendor , and to prat●…ipate his fortu●…es ; So in this spirituall warfare , t●…e greater the triumphant Church was , the greate●… g●…ew the Militant , assisted both with the Example & 〈◊〉 of the o●…her . And when all these treadings downe did but harrow our Saviours field , a●…d prepare and better it for his Harvest , The bl●…ud of the 〈◊〉 ( for though , a●… say still , very many dyed out of a naturall 〈◊〉 of despis●…g th●…s 〈◊〉 , a great number had their di●…ect ma●…ke upon the glory of God , and went to it awake ) having , as a a N●…cephorus sayes , almost strangled the Devill , hee trye●… by his two greatest Instr●…ments , ( when they are ●…is ) the Magistrate , and the Learned , to ave●…t them fr●…m this inclination . For , suggesting to the Magistrate that their forwardn●…sse to dy●… , gr●…w onely from their faith in the Resurrection , he b procur'd th●…re bo dyes to be burnt , and their ashes scattered into Rivers , to frustrate and defeat that expectation ; And he raised up subtile Heretiques , to infirme and darken the vertue and majestic of Martyrdome . Of which the most pestilently cunning Basilides , foresuspecting that hee should not easily remove that desire of dying , which Nature had bred , and Custome confirmed in them , tryed to remove that which had root onely in their Religion , as being yet of tenderer growth , and more removable then naturall impressions . Therfore he offered not to impugne their exposing themselves to death in all cases , but onely said , c that it was madnesse to dye for Christ , since he , by whose example they did it , was not crucified , but Symon who bore the Crosse. Another d Heretique , called Helchesar , perceiving that it was too hasty to condemne the act of Martyrdome even for Christ , thought onely to slacken their desire to it , by teaching , that in time of Persecution , so wee kept our heart at Anchor safe , we were not bound to testifie our Religion by any outward act , much lesse by dying . Which Doctrine the Gnostici also taught , but prevailed little , both because the contrary was rooted in Nature , and because they accompanied this doctrine , with many others , foule and odious even to sense ; and because they were resisted by Tertullian , a man mighty , both in his generall abilities , and in his particular and professed earnestnesse to magnifie Martyrdome : And against these he writ his Scorpiacum . SECT . IIII. This way giving no advantage to Hereticks , they let loose the bridle of their owne nature too , and apprehended any occasion of dying as forwardly as the Orthodoxall Christians . And because the other prescrib'd against them , and were before hand with them in number , to redeeme time and overtake them , they constituted new occasions of Martyrdome . a Petilian against whom St. Aug : writ , taught , that whosoever kill'd himself as a Magistrate , to punish a sinne committed before , was a Martyr . And they who are by Saint Augustine , and others , called Circumcelliones , and Circuitores , ( because ( I thinke ) as their Master , they went about to devoure ) would entreate , perswade , enforce others to kill them , and frustrated after all those provocations , would doe it themselves , and by their survivors bee celebrated for Martyrs . These were of the b Donatists , of whom Saint Augustine sayes , To kill themselves out of respect of Martyrdome , was Ludus Quotidianus Other Hereticks also , whose errors were not about Martyrdome , hastened to it . So the c Cataphrygae , who erroniously baptizing the dead , Ordaining Women , Annulling second Marriges , and erring in such points , d could soone boast of their number of Martyrs ; perchance because Tertullian being then on their part , they found him , as he was wheresoever hec me , a hot encourager of men to Martyrdome . It is complain'd in e Euse●…ius , that Heretiques seeing their arguments confuted , fled ●…ow to their number of Martyrs , in wh●…cn they pretended to exceed the others . And from their numbers of Martyres , f the Euphenita called themselves Martyrians . And thereupon g Baro●…us saies , [ Amongst the heath●…n , perchance you may heare , and the e●…fina one Emped●…cles , which will burne himself , but amongst the Donat●…sts , Hominum examina . ] SECT . V. So that the authoritie gained by their forwardnesse to equall the number of true Martyrs , w●…s so great , and began so farre to perplex the world , that some Councels foreseeing , that if both sides did it equally , it would all be imp●…ted to humane respects , began to take it into their care to provide against it . And th●…reupon Councell exhibites an expresse Canon . That no Christian leaving true Martyrs , should goe to false , ●…uia alteni à D●…o . And b another corrects the other H●…esie of diminishing the reputation of Martyrs thus , Martyr●…m dignitatem nemo profanus infamet . SECT . VI. Thus when the true Spirit of God drew many , the spirit of Contention m●…ny , and other naturall infirmities more , to expose themselves easily to death , it may well be thought , that from thence the Au●…hors of these lat●…er Ages ; have somewhat remitted the intensn●…sse of Martyrdome , and mingled more all●…yes , or rather more m●…tall , and not made it of so great valu●… alone , as those earnest times did : for since a Saint ●…homas said , [ That though Martyrdome be a worke of greatest perfection , yet it is not of it selfe , but as it is wrought by charity , and expresses that ] Vasquis b 〈◊〉 Cord●…bensis for saying that it is any worship of God : ●…or [ it is not sayes he , a Sacrifice nor worke of Religion , but of fortitude , which is but a morall virtue ] Therefore it is now c taught , [ that it is a mortall sinne to provoke another to inflict Martyrdome . ] And d a Martyr , ( though 〈◊〉 purge much ) is bound to clense himselfe by everv one of the Deg●…ees of penance , for saith Ca●…bo , [ it is not Sacramentum , but opus 〈◊〉 . ] So they seeme tender and 〈◊〉 by addition of 〈◊〉 inc●…ements , to cherish or further that 〈◊〉 of dying , to which by reason of our 〈◊〉 , and this worlds encumbrances , our nature is too propense and inclined . Onely the Iesuits boast of their hunting out of Martyrdome in the new worlds , and of their rage till they finde it . e He which hath brought them all upon one Scene , saies that [ Altonsus Castro at his execution in the Molucca , was so overjoyed that he forgot his modesty : [ Rapimus Martyrium , sayes he , spontanea irruptione , ] And [ one would think that it were a disease in us , ] [ Which we doe , least the rest of our life should be Meritis sterile , & gloria vacuum ] [ we bargaine and contract with our profession , upon that Condition , that we may prodigere animas in hostili ferro ; ] [ And we possesse no more , then such small matters as onely serve to cut off our life . ] So that , if this desire of dying be not agreeable to the nature of man , but against it , yet it seemes that it is not against the nature of a Iesuite . And so we end this Distinction , which we purposed onely for the consideration of this desire of Martyrdome , which swallowed up all the other inducements , which , before Christianity contracted them , tickled and inflamed mankinde . Distinction IIII. SECT . I. THere remaines onely for the fourth and last Distinction of this first part , our reason by which this SELF-HOMICIDE seemes to me to escape the breach of any Law of Nature , which is , that both expresse literall Lawes , and mute Law , custome , hath authorized it , not onely by suffering , and connivency , but by appointing it . And it hath the countenance not onely of many flourishing and well policed states , but also of Imaginary Common-wealths , which cunning Authors have Idaeated , and in which such enormous faults are not like to be admitted . Amongst the Athenians condemned men were their own executioners by poyson . And amongst the Romans often by bloodlettings . And it is recorded of many places , that all the Sexagenarii , were by the lawes of wise States , precipitated frō a bridge . Of which , if a Pierius his conjecture be true , that this report was occasioned by a custome in Rome , by which men of that age were not admitted to surffage ; And because the way to the Senate was per pontem , they which for age were not permitted to come thither , were called Depontani , yet it is more certaine , that b amongst the Ceans unprofitable old men poysoned themselves ; which they did crown with garlands , as triumphers over humane misery . And the c Ethiopians loved death so well , that their greatest Malefactors being condemned to banishment , escaped it Ordinarily by killing themselves . d The civill law , where it appoints no punishment to the delinquent in this case , neither in his estate nor memory , punishes a keeper , if his prisoner kill himselfe ; out of a prejudice , that if meanes may be afforded them , they will all doe so . And do not we see it to be the custome of all Nations now , to manacle and disarme condemned men , out of a fore-assurance that else they would escape death by death ? e Sir Thomas Moore ( a man of the most tender and delicate conscience , that the world saw since Saint Augustine ) not likely to write any thing in jest mischieuously interpretable , sayes , That in Vtopia , the Priests and Magistrates did use to exhort men afflicted with incurable diseases , to kill themselves , and that they were obeyed as the interpreters of Gods will ; But that they who killed themselves without giving an account of their reasons to them , were cast out unburied . And f Plato who is usually cited against this opinion , disputes in it , in no severer ●…ashion , nor more peremptory then thus , [ What shall we say of him , which kills his nearest and most deare friend ? which deprives himselfe of life , and of the purpose of destiny ? And not urged by any Sentence , or Heavy Misfortune , nor extreame shame , but out of a cowardlinesse , and weaknesse of a fearfull minde , doth unjustly kill himselfe ? What Purgatory , and what buriall by law b●…longs to him , God himselfe knowes . But let his friends inquire of the Interpretors of the law , and doe as they shall direct . ] You see nothing is delivered by him against it , but modestly , limitedly , and perplexedly . And this is all which I will say of the first member of that definition of sinne which I undertooke , which is , transgressing of the Law of Nature . Wherein I make account that I have sufficiently delivered and rescued this Selfe-homicide , from any such violating of the Law , as may aggravate the fact , or make it hainous . Second Part. Distinction I. Of the Law of Reason . SECT . I. THat part of the Definition of sin , which wee received for the second place , is , That it be against the Law of Reason ; where , if we should accept Reason for Recta Ratio , ( especially primarily , and originally , ) it would be the same as Law of Nature . Therefore I rather choose to admit such an acceptation thereof , as may bring most doubts into disputation , and so into clearenesse . Reason therefore in this place shall signifie conclusions drawne and deduced from the primary Reason , by our discourse and ratiocination : And so sinne against reason , is sinne against such arguments and conclusions as may by good consequence be de●…ived from primary and originall Reason , which is light of nature . This primary reason therefore , against which none can plead lycense , law , custome , or pardon , hath in us a soveraigne , and masculine force ; and by it , through our Discourse , which doth the motherly office of shaping them , and bringing them forth and up , it produces conclusions and resolutions . SECT . II. And as in earthly Kingdoms , the Kings children , and theirs , and their race , as farre as we may reasonably presume any tincture of blood , have many priviledges and respects due to them , which yet were forfeited if there appeared any bastardy or interruption of lawfull descent from that roote ; And though these respects and obsequiousnesse , belong to them as they are propagated from that roote , and as some sparks of that Soveraignty glimmer in them , yet their Servants and Officers take them where they finde them , and consider them onely as Dukes , or Lords , and possessors of patrimoniall estates , but every mans heart and allegeance is directed and fastned upon the Prince , and perchance a step or two lower , with a present and immed ate relation to the father , and what they have from him . So whē from those true propositions , which are the eldest children and issue of our light of Nature , and of our discourse , conclusions are produced , those conclusions also have now the Nature of propositions , and beget more ; and to all these there belongs an assent and submission on our parts , if none by the way have beene corrupted and bastarded by fallacy . And though ( as in the other case ) men of a weake disposition , or lazey , or flattering , looke no farther into any of these propositions , then from whose mouth it proceeds , or what authority it hath now , not from whence it was produced , yet upon the heire apparent , which is , every necessary consequence from naturall light , every mans resolution is determin'd , and arrested by it , and submitted to it . And though humane lawes , by which Kingdomes are policed , be not so very neare to this Crown of certaine Truth , and first light , ( for if they were necessary consequences from that law of nature , they could not be contrary in divers places and times , as we see lawes to be ) yet I doe justly esteeme them neerer , and to have more of that bloud royall in them , then the resolutions of particular men , or of Schooles . Both because it is of the essence of all humane law , that it agrees with nature , ( I meane for the obligation in interiori fore , without which a law hath no more strength , then an usurper , whom they which obey , watch an oportunity to dispossesse . ) And because Assemblies of Parliaments , and Councels , and Courts , are to be presumed more diligent for the delivery and obstetrication of those children of naturall law , and better witnesse that no false nor supposititious issue be adm●…tted , then any one man can be . For a the law is therefore well call'd Communis Reip. sponsio , because that word signifies as well , that , to which they have all betroth'd themselves , as , the securitie and stipulation which the State gives for every mans direction and assurance in all his civill actions . Since therefore we have in the first part throughly examined , whether this Selfe homicide be alwayes of necessitie against the law of nature , it deserves the first consideration in this second part , to inquire how farre humane Lawes have determin'd against it , before wee descend to the arguments of particular Authors , of whatsoever reverence or authoritie . SECT . III. And because in this disquisition , that law hath most force and value , which is most generall , and there is no law so generall , that it deserves the name of Jus gentium ; or if there be , a it will bee the same , ( as wee said before ) as Rocta Ratio , and so not differ from the law of Nature . To my understanding , the Civill or Imperiall law , having had once the largest extent , and being not abandon'd now , in the reason , and essence , and nature thereof , but onely least the accepting of it should testifie some dependencie upon the Empire , we owe the first place in this consideration to that Law. This therefore which we call the Civill Law , ( for , though properly the Municipall Law of every Nation be her Civill Law , yet Romes Emperors esteeming the whole world to be one City , as her Bishops doe esteeme it one Diocesse , the Romane Law hath wonne the name of Civill Law , being a b decoction and composition of all the Regall Lawes , Dec●…ees of the Senate , Plebescites , Responsa Prudentum , and Edicts of Emperors , from 1400. yeares before Justinian , to so long time after , as the Easterne Emperors made them authentique ; being of such largenesse , as c Iustinians part thereof consists of 150000. of those distinctions which he calls verses , and is the summe and marrow of many millions , extracted from 2000. Volumes . This Law which is so abundant , that d almost all the points controverted betweene the Romane and the reformed Churches , may be decided and appointed by it . This Law , I say , which both by penalties , and Ana●…hemaes , hath wrought upon bodies , fortunes , and consciences , hath pronounced nothing against this Selfe-homicide , which we have now in disputation . It is true that of Adrian the Emperor , who was about 120. yeares after Christ , we finde one Rescript , in the body of the Law , [ d That if a Souldier do attempt to kill himselfe , and not effect it , except he offred it upon impatience of griefe , or sicknesse , or sorrow , or some other cause , capite plectatur . ] Which Rescript is repeated againe in another e Title , and there ( though the other generall clause , or some other cause , might seeme to have reach'd farre inough , ) are added especially for excusing causes , [ wearinesse of life , madnesse , or shame . ] You see with what moderate gradations this Law proceeded , which being ( as it seemes ) to contend and wrestle with a thing customary , and naturally affected , extends not at all to punish it when it is done , as in many other crimes the Lawes doe , by confiscation , and by condemning the memory of the delinquent , and ignobling his race . Nor embraces it all manners of doing it ; ( yea scarce any , considering how benignly , and favorably penall Lawes are to be interpreted : ) Nor overtakes it all men , but onely such as being of present use , as well much disadvantage might grow to the Army , if sodainly any numbers of them should be suffered to turne upon this naturall and easie way of delivering themselves from painfull danger , as much dammage to the State , if those men matriculated for Souldiers , to whom there belong'd by the lawes , as many priviledges and immunities under the Romane Emperors , as ever did to the Clergy under their Romane Bishops , after they had thus maym'd themselves , and defrauded the State of their service , should by this inh●…rent character of Souldiership , enjoy all those advantages , which those Lawes afforded them . There is h one law more in the body of the Civill Law , which seemes to reach farther , because it binds not it selfe to any one condition of men ; which is , [ That if a man already accus'd , or taken in the manner , for any such crime , upon which his goods should be forfeited upon conviction , kill himselfe before judgement , his goods shall be forfeit ; ] else nor . For the Law addes her opinion of the fact . [ Non facti celeritas est obnoxia , sed conscientia metus ] And proceeds , [ Qui causam mortis habet , habeat successorem . ] So that that Law presumes there are just causes to worke such an effect . And upon the consideration of this Civill Law , I determin'd to bestow this first Distinction . Distinction II. SECT . 1. THat which they call the Canon Law is of larger extent then this ; for it reaches to bind the Princes themselves , at least by their acceptation and submission to it . And as the subject of it , is greater , being people and Prince ; so is the object , being the next and eternall life . Yea it is so vast and undetermin'd , as we know not in what books to seeke the limits thereof , nor by what rules to set the land-marks of her jurisdiction . For , ( for the booke , ) it is evident that the Primitive Church had Codicem Canonum , which was inserted into the body of the Romane Law , and had no other subfistence , but as it was incorporated there . Thereupon a Gelatius writes to Theodorus the Goth , King of Italy , to intreat him , that as by his authoritie the Romane Law was observed in Civill matters , so it might be still in Ecclesiastique . And after the expulsion of the Goths , b Leo 4. intreated and obtained the same from Lotharius . From this Codex Canonnm ; the Emperors determined and decreed in many Ecclesiastique causes ; From this Codex the Councels after were governed in making their Canons : as wee may see particular Canons of this Booke cited , the booke being often call'd for in the Councels , and being then ordinarily named , The body of the Canon Law. This body consisted of the Canons of nine Councels authorized by the Emperors . But for those immense additions growne to it since that time , of Bulls , and Decretall Letters of Popes , Decrees of suspitious and partiall and S●…hismatick Councels , ( for nothing is more properly Schisme , and Solutio continui , than a rent betweene the Civill and Ecclesiastique State ; which occasion'd many of the later Councels , ) the rags of Fathers decerpted and decocted by Gratian , and the glosses of these made also as authentique as the Text. I perceive not what title they have to bee of the body of the Canon Law , except where the Princes have incorporated and denizen'd them . But least to quarrell with their authority now , might seeme in us a subter-fuge and shift to decline them , as though they were heavy against us , in this point which we have now in hand ; wee will accept them as they are obtruded , and dissemble nothing , which in them seemes to resist this opinion , though in common entendment this law is likely to be severe against it , because the civill lawes content themselves ever with any excuse or colour in favour of the Delinquents , because when a fault is proved it punishes severely , but c the Canon Lawes which punish onely medicinally , and for the soules health , are apt to presume or beleeve a guiltinesse , upon light evidence , because those punishments ever worke good effects , whether just or no. SECT . II. And first because heresie which is laesa Majestas Divina , of all crimes is the principall object of that Court , I say , that this proposition , is not by any thing extant in the Canon law , ( and therefore not at all ) hereticall , allowing to them their largest definition of heresie ; which is , a [ Any thing which is against Catholique faith , that is Scriptures rightly understood ; Or the traditions and definitions of the Church , or generall Councells lawfully gathered , or definition of the sea Apostolique , or the common opinion of Fathers , in a matter of faith . ] The proposition may perchance seeme to some so ill qualified , as it may be male sonans , or temeraria , or perchance sapiens heresis , for all these proceed from the indisposition and distempred taste of the apprehendor , which must not alwaies be idly flattred and pampred , but invited to the search and discovery of truth , who else being the greatest Prince in the world , should have no progresse , but be straightned in a wretched corner . First therefore , ( to cast a glance upon every part of the definition of heresie ) whether it be against the Scriptures rightly understood or no will be more properly and naturally examined , when we come to the last part , which is of Divine law . Next , there is no tradition nor definition of the Church in the point at all , much lesse as of a matter of faith , which is the second limbe of the definition . No decree of any generall Councell . No rescript or Bull of any Pope . And for the common opinion of the Fathers ( besides that it can be no safe rule , because b as [ Azorius notes , Controverters often say on both sides , this is the common opinion ; And certainely that is the common opinion in one Age which is not in another ; yea , in one Kingdome at the same time , which is not in another , though both be Catholik : As in Germany and France , by the common opinion Latreia is not due to the Crosse , in Spaine by the common opinion it is , ] it cannot appeare , by the Canon law , that this is the common opinion of the Fathers ; for c Gratian who onely of the Compilers of the Canon law toucheth the point , ( as farre as either my reading or search hath spied out ) cites but two Fathers , Augustine , and Hierome . Whereof the latter is of opinion , that there may be some cause to do it . But in the Canon law I finde no words , not onely to lay the infamous name of heresie upon it , but that affects it with the mark or stile of sinne , or condemnes the fact , by inflicting any punishment upon the offender . I speake here of the Canon law , to which the Canonist will stand : which are the Decretall letters , and all the extravagants . For , of Gratians Decret . that learned and ingenious Bishop of Tarracon , hath taught us what we should thinke , when he sayes , [ d That he is scarce worth so much reprehension ; who having nothing that is profi●…able or of use , except he borrows it , is admired of the ignorant , and laughed at of the learned , ] e [ who never saw the bookes of the Councells , nor the works of the Fathers , nor the Registers of the Popes letters . ] f And whose compilation had not that confirmation from Eugenius 3 , as is fasly attributed to it . ] Yet allthough Gratian have not so much authority , that by his inserting an imperiall law , or fragment of a Father , it should therefore be canoniz'd and grow into the body , and strength of the Canon law , ( for then though that law were abrogated againe by the Emperour , it should still be alive and bin●…e by a stronger obligation in the Canon , which g Alb. Gentilis proves to be against the common opinion . ) yet by consent , thus much is afforded him , that places cited by him , have as much authority in him , as th●…y had in the Author from whom he tooke them . And therefore when we come to handle the Reasons of particular Authors , we will pretermit none whom Gratian hath cited , for that is their proper place . SECT . III. And in this Distinction where we handle the opinion of the Canon Law in the point ( not because Gratian cites it , but because the Canons of all Councels are now usurped as Canon Law ) we will consider a a Canon of the Braccarense Councell cited by him . But first , ( although he have it not ) wee will not conceale the b Antisidorense Councel , ( which was before the other , under Gregor . 1. Anno 590. ) For as the Civill Lawes by limitation of persons and causes , gave some restraint and correction to this naturall desire of dying when we would , which they did out of a duty to sinew and strengthen , as much as they were able , the Doctrine of our blessed Saviour , who having determined all bloudy sacrifices ; enlightens us to another Doctrine , that to endure the miseries & afflictions of this life , was wholsome , and advantagious to us ; the Councels also perceiving that this first ingraffed and inborne desire , needed all restraints , contributed their help . This c Canon then hath these words , [ If any kill themselves , Istorum oblata non recipiantur . ] For it seemes , that Preaching and Catechizing had wrastled , and fought with their naturall appetite , and tamed them to a perplexity whether it might be done or no ; and so thinking to make sure worke , in an indiscreet devotion , they gave oblations to the Church , to expiate the fault , if any were . These oblations the Councell forbids to bee accepted , not decreeing any thing of the point , as of matter of faith , but providing against an inconvenient practice . Neither was it much obligatory , or considerable , what it had decreed , being onely d a Diocesan Councell , of one Bishoppe , and his Abbats , and whose Canons Binnius presents , because ( though some of them be out of use , of which this may be one ) yet they are ( saies he ) some discoverers of Antiquity . The other Councell which e Gratian cites and besides which two I finde none ) hath these words , [ For those that kill themselves , there shall be no commemoration at the oblation , nor shall they bee brought to buriall with Psalmes . ] which intimates , as the language of the Canon Law is , Caninam sepulturam . But the f glosse upon this doth evict from another Canon , that if the person were not under excommunication , it is not so ; [ For we may communicate with him dead , with whom we may communicate living . ] Which showes that his act of dying so , put him not into worse state in this respect . This answers the first punishment inflicted by that Canon . And for the second which is deniall of Cristian buriall , it is very rigorous to conclude a hainousnesse of the fact , from that , since the g true Canon Law denyes that to men slaine at Tilt , though it afford them , if they be not presently dead , all the Sacraments applyable in that extreamitie , as Penance , Eucharist , and Unction . So that , though since it denies buriall to men whom they esteeme in state and way of salvation , the Glosse here collects reasonably , [ That this punishment reaches not to the dead , but onely to deterre the living ; ] referring to this purpose an h Epistle of Gregory , saying , [ So much as a sumptuous funerall profits a wicked man , so much a base , or none at all hurts a godly . ] Lastly , that i Clementine which reckons up many causes for which Christian buriall is denyed , amongst which one is a locall interdict , at what time the holyest man which dyes in that place cannot bee buried , which sometimes extends to whole Kingdomes , instructs us sufficiently , that one may be subject to that punishment , if it be any in that Law ) and yet not guilty of such a crime as this is reputed to be . And k the Romans in their Religious Discipline , refused solemne buriall , to any which perished by lightnings , l though they buried offenders in the towne , as they did Vestals and Emperours ; because as their Dedication to God had delivered the Nunnes , and Soveraigntie the Emperours from bondage of Law ; so did Justice , to which they had made full satisfaction deliver offenders punished . And since both Saint Hierome , and the Bracarense Councell , inflict the same punishments upon those Catechumeni , who although they had all other preparations , and degrees of maturity in the Christian Faith , yet departed out of this world without Baptisme , as they doe upon Selfe murtherers , and so made them equall in punishment , and consequently in guiltinesse ; I thinke it will ill become the Doctrines of our times , and the Analogy thereof , to pronounce so desperately of either of their damnations . Sert. Senen . lib. 6. Annot. 7. p. 311. And here wee end our second Distinction of this second Part , which was allotted for the examination of the Canon Law. Distinction III. SECT . I. OF Arguments of this Nature , which are conclusions deduced out of reason and discourse , next to these generall Lawes of the Empire , and of the Church , ( which though it might seeme for the generality thereof , to have deserved the first place , we handled in the second roome , because the power thereof hath beene ever litigious and questionable , ) I may justly ranke the Lawes of particular states . By our Law therefore , as it hath not beene long in practise , ( for a Bracton seemes not to know such a Law , when allowing an intire chapter to that title , he onely repeats the words in that Emperiall Law , which I cited before , and so admitts , ( if he admit that Law , that exception , Sine justa causa ) he which kills himselfe is reputed felo de se ; and whether he be chargeable with any offence or no , he sorfeits his goods : which devolving to the Kings Almoner , should on the Kings behalfe be employed in pious and charitable uses . And b it is not onely Homicide , but Murder , And yet the reasons alledged there , are but these , That the King h●…h lost a Subject , that his Peace is broken , and that it is of evill example . Since therefore , to my understanding , it hath no foundation in Naturall nor Emperiall Law , nor receives much strength from those reasons , but having b●… custome onely put on the nature of law , as most of our law hath , I beleeve it was first induced amongst us , because we exceeded in that naturall desire of dying so . For it is not a better understanding of nature , which hath reduced us from it ; But the wisedome of Law-makers and observers of things fit for the institution and conservation of states . For in ancient Common-wealths , the numbers of slaves were infinite , as ever both c in Rome and Athens , there were 10 slaves for one Citizen ; and d Pliny sayes that in Augustus time , Isidorus had above 4000. And e Vedius Pollio so many , that he alwayes fed his fish in ponds with their blood ; and since servitude hath worne out , yet the number of wretched men exceeds the happy ( for every labourer is miserable and beastlike in respect of the idle abounding men ; ) It was therefore thought necessary by lawes , and by opinion of Religion , ( as f Scaevola is alleaged to have said , Expetit in Religione Givitates falli , ) to take from these weary and macerated wretches , their ordinary and open escape , and ease , voluntary death . And therfore it seemes to be so prohibited , as a g Lawyer sayes , hunting and usery is [ Ne inescarentur homines ] and as h Mahomet to withdraw his Nation from wine , brought them to a religious beliefe , that in every grape there was a Devill . As therefore amongst us a naturall disease of stealing , ( for as all other , so this vice may as well abound in a Nation as in a particular man , and i Dorotheus relates at large , the sicknesse of one of his fryars , who could not abstaine from stealing , though he had no use of that which he stole ) hath draw from a k Councell holden at London under Hen 3. a Canon which excommunicates the Harbourers of Theeves ( quibus abundat Regio Angliae , and mentions no other fault but this , and from the Custome , and Princes , and Parliaments severe Lawes against theft , then are justifiable by Nature , or the Iewes Judiciall Law , ( for our Law hangs a man for stealing in extreame necessity , when not onely all things , to him , returne to their first community , but he is bound in conscience to steale , and were , in some opinions , ( though others say he might neglect this priviledge ) a Selfe-murderer if he stole not . And l Scotus disputing against the Lawes of those Nations , which admit the death of a theife robbing by day , because m whoever kills such a theife , is expresly by Gods Law a murderer , ask where have you read an exception of such a theife from the Law , Non occides , or where have you seene a Bull fallen from Heaven to justifie such executions ? So it may be , a naturall declination in our people to such a manner of death , which weakned the state , might occasion severer Lawes , then the common ground of all Lawes seemes well to beare . And therefore , as when the Emperour had made a Law , to cut off a common abuse of misdevout men , that no man might give any thing to the Clergy , no not by Testament , Saint Hierome said , I lament and grieve , but not that such a Law is made , but that our manners have deserved such a Law , so doe I in contemplation of these Lawes mourne , that the infirmity and sicknesse of our Nation should neede such Medecines . The like must be said of the like Law in the Earldome of Flaunders ; If it be true , n That they allow confiscation of goods , in onely five cases , whereof this is one ; and so it is rankt with Treason , Heresie , Sedition , and forsaking the Army against the Turk , which be strong and urgent circumstances to reduce men from this desire . SECT . II. For wheresoever you finde many and severe Lawes against an offence it is not safe from thence to conclude an extreame enormity or hainousnesse in the fault , but a propensnesse of that people , at that time , to that fault . Thereupon a Ignatius and many others , even intire Councells , were forced to pronounce , that whosoever fasted upon Sundayes were Murderers ' of Christ. So in France the Lawes abound against Duells , to which they are headlongly apr . So are the resolutions of the Spanish Casuists , and the Bulls of the Popes , iterated and aggravated in that Nation , against there Bull-bayting , to which they are so enormously addicted , which yet of it selfe is no sinne , as Navar retracting his opinion after 70 yeares holds at last . These severe lawes therefore do no more aggravate a fault , then milde punishments diminish it . And no man thinks Rape a small fault , though Solon punish it , if she be a Virgin , and freeborn , with so much money as would amount to our five shillings : and the b Salique law punishes a witch , which is convict to have eaten a man , pecuniarily , and la●… no high price . And therefore c Bartolus allowes that in cases of publique profit or detriment , the Judges may extend an odious and burdenous law beyond the letter , and restraine a favourable and beneficiall law , within it , though this be against the Nature and common practise of both these lawes . If therefore our , and the Flemish law be severe in punishing it , and that this argument have the more strength , because more Nations concurre in such lawes , it may well from hence be retorted , that every where men are inclinable to it : which establisheth much our opinion , considering that none of those lawes , which prescribe Civill restraints from doing it , can make it sinne ; and the act is not much descredited , if it be but therefore evill , because it is so forbidden , and binds the conscience no farther , but under the generall precept of obedience to the law , or to the forfeiture . SECT . III. It seemes also by the practise of the Jewes , ( for a Josephus speaks of it , as of a thing in use ) that they did not bury such as killed themselves , till the Sunne set . But though I know not upon what Law of theirs they grounded this , and I finde not by writers of either of their Policies since their dispersion , ( for though they have no Magistracie , but bee under the Lawes of those places into which they are admi●…ted , in all cases except where they be exempted by priviledg , yet they doe also testifie a particular derestation of some sins by outward penances among themselves , b as in theft , they binde , and whip , and enjoyne to publike confession , and in Adultery the offender sits a day in Winter in freezing water , and in Sommer upon an Anthill , or amongst hives of Bees naked , though , I say , I finde not by Galatine , Sigontus , Buxdorfius , nor Molther , that this was or is in use amongst them , yet because Josephus , though but Oratorily sayes it , we will accept it ; and beleeve that it was upon the reason common almost to all Nations , to deterre men from doing it , and not to punish it being done . And of like use , that is , in terrorem , was also that Law of the Athenians , who cut off that hand after death which perpetrated that fact ; which Law Josephus remembers in the same place . SECT . IIII. That reason which is grounded upon the Edict of Tarquinius Priscus , a who when this 〈◊〉 of Death raigned amongst his men like a contagion , cured it by an opprobrious hanging up their bodies , and exposing them to birds and beasts . And b upon that way of reducing the Virgins of Mil●…sium , who when they had a want●…nnesse of dying so , and did it for fashion , were by Decree dishonourably exhibited as a spectacle to the people naked , prevailes no farther then the argument before , and proves onely a watchfull sol●…citude in every State , by all meanes to avert men from this naturall love of ease , by which their strength in numbers would have been very much empaired . And thus wee determine this Distinction . Distinct. IV. WEe will now descend to those reasons which particular men have used for the detestation of this action . And first we will pay our debt to Gratian , in considering the places cited by him , and after , the other reasons of Divine Authors , if they bee not grounded upon places of Scriptures , which we repose for the last part , shall have there ventilation in this Distinction . SECT . I. The a first place then , is in an Epistle of Saint Augustine to Donatus the Heretique ; who having beene apprehended by the Catholikes , fell from his Horse , and would have drown'd himselfe : and after complaines of violence used towards him , in matter of Religion , wherein he claimes the freedome of Election , and conscience . Saint Augustine answers , wee have power to endeavour to ●…ave thy soule against thy will , as it was lawfull to us , to save thy body so . If thou wert constrained to doe evill , yet thou oughtest not to kill thy selfe . Consider whether in the Scriptures , thou finde any of the faithfull that did so , when they suffered much from them , who would have forced them to do things to their soules destruction . To speake a little of Saint Augustine in generall , because from him are derived almost all the reasons of others , he writing purposely thereof , from the 17 to the 27 Chapter of his first book De Civitate Dei , I say , as the Confessaries of these times , comparing Nav●… and Sotu●… two of the greatest Casuists , yeeld sometimes that Navar , is the sounder and learneder , but Sotus more usefull and applyable to practique Divinitie ; So , though Saint Augustine for sharpe insight , and conclusive judgement , in exposition of places of Scripture , which he alwaies makes so liquid , and pervious , that he hath scarce been equalled therein , by any of all the Writers in the Church of God , except Calvin may have that honour , whom ( where it concernes not points in Controversie , ) I see the Jesuits themselves often follow , though they dare not name him , have a high degree and reverence due to him , yet in practique learning , and morall Divinity , he was of so nice , and refin'd , and rigorous a conscience , ( perchance to redeeme his former licenciousnesse , as it fals out often in such Convertits , to be extreamely zealous ) that for our direction in actions of this life , Saint Hierome , and some others , may bee thought sometimes fitter to adhere unto , then St. Augustine ; Yet I say not this , as though wee needed this medicament for this place . For I agree with Saint Augustine here , That neither to avoid occasion of sinne , nor for any other cause , wherein my selfe am meerely or principally interessed , I may doe this act ; which also serves justly for answer to the same zealous Father in the other place , b cited by Gratian ; for with him I confesse , [ That he which kills himselfe , is so much the more guilty herein , as hee was guiltlesse of that fact for which hee killed himselfe . ] Though , by the way , this may not passe so generally , but that it must admit the exception , which the c Rule of Law upon which it is grounded , carries with it , [ Nemo sine culpa puniendus , nist subsit causa . ] And so , as Saint Augustine , we , with as much earnestnesse , say , [ Hoc asserimus , hoc dicimus , hoc omnibus modis approbamus . That neither to avoid temporall trouble , nor to remove from others occasion of sinne , nor to punish our owne past sinnes nor to prevent future , nor in a desire of the next life , ( wherethese considerations are only , or principally ) it can be lawfull for any man to kill himselfe . ] But neither Saint Augustine nor we deny , but that if there be cases , wherein the party is dis-interested , and only or primarily the glory of God is respected and advanced , it may be lawfull . So that , as Valens the Emperour , having surprised Jamblicus , when his divining cock had described three lette●…s of his name who should succeede , slew all whose names were Theodor●… Theodotes , or Theodulus , but escaped Theodosius who fulfilled the Prophecy , So Saint Augustine hath condemned those causes which we defend not , but hath omitted those wherein it is justifiable . In which case being hard to be discern'd and distinguished 〈◊〉 others arising from humane infirmity , it that rule which d Antonius de Corduba , gives in cases of simony , be as he sayes it is , a good guide in all perplexities , it will ease very much . He sayes , because in the case of simony , many difficulties g●…ow , because not onely by cleare and common judgements , temporall reward may be taken for spirituall offices , by way of gift , stipend , wages , almes , sustenation , or fulfilling the law or custome of that place , but also by some . Doctors , even by way of pr●…ce , and bargaine , if not directly for the spirituall part thereof , yet for the labour necessarily annexed to it , because every Curate cannot distinguish in these cures , he bids him [ ever doe it , with an intention to doe it so , as God knowes it may de done , and as wise men know a●…d would teach that it might be done : For thus saith he , humbly remitting our selves to the learned , which are our fathers instruction , what ever defect be in us , yet Saluamur in fide parentum . ] And in this sort ( e ) Pindarus making an implicite prayer to God , that he would give him that which he knew to be best for him , died in that very petition . Except therefore f Saint Augustine have that moderation in his resolution ; That a better life never receives a man after a death whereof himselfe was guilty , we will be as bould with him , as g one who is more obliged to him then we , who repeating Augustines opinion , That the Devill could possesse no body , except he entred into him by sinne , rejects the opinions , and saies , The holy Father speaks not , of what must of necessity be , but what for the most part uses to bee . SECT . II. And in our case we ought ( as I thinke rather to follow a Saint Hieromes temper , who in his exposicion upon Jonas , ( which I wonder why Gratian cited being so farre from his end and advantage ) sayes , [ In persecution I may not kill my selfe , absque eo , ubi cassitas periclitatur ] where I am so ●…arre from agreeing with b Gratian , that [ Absque eo , is inclusivoly spoken , and amounts to this phrase , no not though ] as I thinke that good learned father , included in that word Castitas , all purity of Religion and manners ; for to a man so rectified death comes ever , and every way seasonably and welcome . For [ c qualem mors invenit hominem , ita homo inveni●… mortem . ] SECT . III. From this place of Saint Hierome , I beleeve , and some other , which perchance I have not rea●… , and some other places in others , of like charitable d●…scent to this opinion . a Lavater having made his profit of all Peters Martyrs reasons almost against this act , and adding some of his owne , when they both handle the duties of Saul , confesseth that in this case of preserving Chastity , Augustine , Chrysostome , and Lactant us , and Hierome departed from their opinion who condemned this Act. SECT . IIII. Peter Martyr also presents one other reason , of which he seemes glad , and well contented in it , which is , That we may not hasten death , because Mors malum . But it is not worthy of his gravity , especially so long after a Clemens Alex. had so throughly defeated that opinion . But if it be Malum , it is but Malum poena . And that is an evill of which God is Authour , and is not that b Malum quo mali suinus ; neither doth it alwayes prove the patient to be evill , ( though God for all that be alwaies iust , ) for himselfe said of the man borne blinde c [ Neither he , nor his parents have sinned . ] And of that Malum poenae , which is esteemed the greatest in this life , of temporall affictions , because of the neere danger of empairing our soule , which is to be possessed , d Thyraeus , from Saint Hierome and Chrysostome sayes , that it is not alwayes inflicted for sinne , but to manifest the glory of God. And therefore the greatest evill which can be imagined , of this kinde of evill , which is [ e Damnation , hath not so much Rationem mali , as the least sinne that drawes Damnation . ] Death therefore is an act of Gods justice , and when he is pleased to inflict it , he may chuse his Officer , and constitute my selfe as well as any other . And if it were of the worst sort o●… evill , ●…et as f Saint Augustine sayes that [ in the Act of Marriage , there is Bonus usus mali , id est concupiscentiae , quo malo male utuntur adulteri . ] And as good Paulinus prayses Severus , that g [ he having in Conjugio peccandi licentiam , departed not from his accustomed austerity , ] so may the same be said of death in some cases , as in Martyrdome . For though Martyr urge farther , that death is called h Gods enemy , and is therefore evil , yea i Musculus sayes upon that place , [ It is often commended in Scriptures , because towards the faithfull God useth it to good ends , and makes it Cooperari ad salutem . ] And by what authority can they so assuredly pronounce that it falls out never in our case ? Besides this , death hath lost much of her naturall malignity already , and is not now so ill , as at first she was naturally ; for as k Calvin notes here , [ she is already so destroyed , that she is not lethalis , but molesta . ] SECT . V. One reason more Martyr offers of his owne , which is , Vita Donum , life , because it is the gift of God may not be profused ; but when we have agreed to him , that it may not be unthriftily and prodigally cast away , how will he conclude from thence , such an ingratitude , as that I shall forfake Gods glory ? and may in no case ponere animam ? How will it follow from I must not alwaies , to I may never ? SECT . VI. Lavater after many other urges this reason ; That because Judges are established , therefore no man should take Dominion over himselfe . But in the Church of England , where auricular confession is not under precept , nor much in practise , ( for that we admit it not at all , or refuse it so , as the Waldenses did , though a a reverend man say it , is more then I knew ) who is judge of sin against which no civill law provides , or of which there is no evidence ? May not I accuse and condemne my selfe to my selfe , and inflict what penance I will for punishing the past , and avoiding like occasion of sinne ? Upon this reason depends that perplex●…d case , whether the Pope may not give himselfe a●…olution from Acts and Vowes , and partake his owne 〈◊〉 , although by the best opinion it is agr●…ed , that to do so is an act o●… jurisdiction , which by Lavaters rule , no man may 〈◊〉 upon himselfe . b The Emperiall lawes forbid i●… a generality any to be judge in his own●… cause , but all Expositors , except Soveraignes . And in ordinary Judges , all agree with c Baldus [ That in facto notorio if the dignity of the Iudge be concerned , he is the proper Iudge of it . And he sayes that it belongs to the Pretor to judge , whether such a cause belong to his judgement or no ] d And with a Non obstante even upon Naturall law , as the words of the priviledge are , Theodorius allowed Bishops to be Judges in their owne cause . e So [ if a sonne which had not beene Sui juris had beene made ●…onsul , 〈◊〉 he have emancipated himselfe , or authorized another to have adopted him . ] And besides th●… , it appeares , that the Popes have exercised ju●…sdiction upon themselves , even before they were Popes , ( for f Ioha 22 having permission to chu●…e o●…e Pope , chose himselfe , which deed Naucler relates and just●…fies ) by Canonicall rules it is plaine , that he may exercise jurisdiction upon himselfe in an●… case where there is not a distinction of persons enjoyned Iure Divine , as in Baptisme : which will not be stretched to our case . And certainly the reason of the Law , why none should be judge in his owne cause , is , because every one is presumed favourable towards himselfe . And therefore if it be dispensable in some cases beneficiall to a man , much more may it be in cases of inflicting punishment , in which none is im●…gined to be over rigorous to himselfe . And if man were by nature as slavish , as the [ g Esseni , by profession and rule , who had power of themselves in nothing , but juvando & miserendo ] I see not , but when this becomes an act of advantage to our selves , we may have jurisdiction enough to doe it . And what is more evident to prove , that in some cases derogatory and prejudiciall to us , we have this right over our selves , then that every man may cedere suo jure , And Non uti privilegio . And h it was by all condemned in Gregorie , in the great Scisme , that after hee had promised to depart from the Papacie , by oath , in which was a clause , that he should neither aske , give , nor accept absolution from that oath , hee induced his Mendicants to preach , that it were deadly sinne in him to de-relinquish the Church . So also have many Kings departed from , their Government , and despoiled them of their burden , at their pleasure . For , as i one sayes , of the whole Church , it may bee said of every particular member ; it was ever in Politicall bondage , but not in Spirituall . So that , if there bee cases , wherein one may assuredly , or probaly , after just diligence used , conclude upon an illumination of the Spirit of God , or upon a ceasing of the reason of the Law at that time in him , that man is then Sui Iuris . For though in cases where there is a proper Court , I am bound to it ; yet , as Kings which are both Soveraignes , may therefore justly decide a cause by Warre , because there can bee no competent Judge between them ; So in secret cases betweene the Spirit of God , and my conscience , of which there is not certainly constituted any exterious Judge , we are our selves sufficient to doe all the Offices ; and then delivered from all bondage , and restored to our naturall libertie , we are in the same condition as k Princes are , who if in the rigour of words they may not properly bee said to give themselves Priviledges , have yet one generall inherent Privilege , and when they will , they may declare , that in that particular case , they will not take a new , but exercise their old Priviledge . SECT . VII . And because a Iosephus hath one reason which tasts of Divinitie , we will consider it in this place . He sayes , our Soule is , particula Dei , and deposed and committed in trust to us , and we may not neglect on disharbour it , before he withdraw it . But we are still upon a safe ground , That whensoever I may justly depart with this life , it is by a S●…mmons from God ; and it cannot then bee imputed to any corruption of my will : for , b Velle non creaitur , qui obsequitur Imperio . Yet I expect not ever a particular : inspiration , or new commission , such as they are forced to purchase for Sampson , and the rest ; but that resident and inherent grace of God , by which he excites us to works of morrall , or higher vertues . And so , when it is so called for againe , c it were a greater injustice in us to deny or withhold any thing , of which wee were Depositaries , then if we were Debtors ; yea , ( not to depart ) from Josephus . Allusion or Metaphor of Depositum . If it were a fault to let goe that of which I were Depositary , before it were truely called for , yet in Consc●…entia errante , I were excusable ; for it d is [ Ex substantia depositi , ut deposit arius tantum de dolo teneatur non de culpa . ] Yea , when e I have a secret from another , Data fide , I have this in all respects , in Natura Depositi ; and yet no man doubts , but that I may in many cases , depart with this secret . SECT . VIII . There are many Metaphoricall and Similitudinarie Reasons , scattered amongst Authors , as in Cicero and Macrobius , made rather for illustration , then for argument or answer ; which I will not stand to gleane amongst them , since they are almost all bound up in one sheafe , in a that Oration of Josephus . Or else will be fitly handled in those places of Scripture , which make some such allusions . SECT . IX . Josephus then in that Oration hath one Reason drawen from the custome of an Enemy . We esteeme them enemies , who attempt our lives , and shall we bee enemies to our selves ? But besides that , in this place , Iosephus speakes to save his owne life , and may justly be thought to speak more ex animo , and dispassioned , wherein the a person of Eleazar hee perswades to kill themselves , there is neither certaine truth in the Assertion , nor in the Consequence . For do we esteeme God , or the Magistrate our enemy , when by them death is inflicted ? And do not Martyrs , in whose death God is glorified , kisse the Executioners , and the Instruments of their death ? Nor is it unlawfull , unnaturall , or unexpedient for us , in many ca●…es , to be so much our owne Enemies , as to deny our selves many things agreeable to our sensitive nature , and to inflict upon our selves many things repugnant to it , as was abundantly shewed in the first part . SECT . X. In the same Oration he hath another allusorie argument , [ That a Servant which runnes away , is to be punished by the Law , though his Master bee severe ; much more if we runne away from so indulgent a Master , as God is to us . ] But not to give strength or delight to this reason , by affording it a long or diligent answer ; wee say , In our case the Servant runnes not from his Master , but to him , and at his call obeys his voyce . Yet it is as truely , as devoutly sayd . [ The devill is overcome by resisting , but the world , and the flesh by running away . ] And the farther , the better . SECT . XI . His last , which is of any taste , is [ That in a tempest , it were the part of an idle and treacherous Pylot , to sinke the Ship. ] But I say , if in a Tempest we must cast out the most precious ware aboard , to save the lives of the Passengers , and the Marchant who is damnified thereby , cannot impute this to any , nor remedie himselfe , how much more may I , when I am weather beaten , and in danger of betraying that precious soule which God hath embarqued in me , put off this burdenous flesh , till his pleasure be that I shall resume it ? For this is not to sinck the ship but to retire it to safe Harbour , and assured Anchor . And thus our fourth Distinction , which was to embrace the reasons proposed by particular Authors , whether Divine or Prophane , and as well Oblique and Metaphoricall , as Direct , shall here be determined . Distinction V. SECT . I. ANother sort of Reasons is produced from grounds of Morall Vertues . Of which a S. Thomas proposeth two , which we limit for this Distinction ; for that of Saint Augustine , That it is against Fortitude , hath another roome . ) First then Aquinas saies , it is against justice , and against Charity . And the first in two respects , both because he steales from the Universe , or from that State , to which his service is due , one person , and member of the body ; and also , because he usurpes upon the right of God. But the first of these may as well be said of all who retyring themselves from functions in the Common-wealth , defraud the State of their assistance , and attend onely their owne ends , whether in this life , or the next . For certainely to doe even that , so intensly , as we neglect ou●… office of Society is in genere rei , the same offence , as this . But as there are many which follow Aquinas herein ; So Navar , and Sayr , and others are up●…n better reason of opinion , that this can be no sinne against Justice . And for the second reason , This is not to usurpe upon Gods Authoritie , or to deale with another's servant ; if I become his Servant , and his Delegate , and his Commissioner , in doing this , when he can be no other way so much gloryfied . And though the passage from this life to the next , bee not generally left to our free-will , and no body be properly Lord of his own life , yet b [ Though we have not Dominium , we have Usum , and it is lawfull for us , to lose that when we will ] Betweene which negative killing , and positive killing , how little and narrow a distance t●…ere is , and how contiguous they are , we shall see in another place . If therefore the reason why we may not dye thus , be , because we are not Lords of our own life , but only God , then the State cannot take away our life ; for c [ That is no more Lord of our life , then we are , ] ●…hat is , she cannot doe it , but in cases where she is Gods Officer . And if in this case , there were any injury done to the State , then certainly it were in the power of the State , to license a man to doe it , and he should upon such a license be excusable in conscience . For this , in the State , were but Cedere in re suo , which any may lawfully doe . And lastly , if the State were injured in this , the State might lawfully recompence the dammage , upon the heire and goods of the Delinquent ; which , except in those places , where expresse Lawes allow it , cannot be done . Yet , I thinke , the better opinion , ( to judge by number of Authors ) will be , That if that person be of necessary use to that State , there are in it some degrees of injustice ; but yet no more , then if a Generall of much use , should retire into a Monasterie . But if we may safely take this resolution , That it is not against justice , we may ease our selves of all that labour which must bee spent upon the third part ; for , since the foundation of that will be principally the Commandement , Thou shalt not kill ; If this killing be not against Justice , it is no breach of any part of the Decalogue , and so no sinne . If any should thinke , that it may be an injustice to our selves , d Aquinas in the same place cleares it . And if it were possible , for a man to injure himselfe , which is not , yet this injury might be oftentimes such an one , as Cicero sayes , his banishment was , [ Non modo non propul sands , sed emenda , ] considering how much happinesse might recompence it . And whether it be against Charity or no , because Charity is not properly a Morall vertue , nor of this place , because many of those places of Scripture , which we must handle in the last part , are built upon this ground of Charitie , we will not examine , till we come thither . Here I will onely say , That though it be yet under D●…putation and questionable , whether this be against Charity , or no ; this is certainly against Charity to pronounce so desperatly , as men use to doe , against them who fall into it . SECT . II. Of such reasons derived from the rules of Morall vertue , Aristotle insinuates two . For observing that this kinde of death caught men by two bai●…s , Ease and Honour , Against them who would dy to avoide Miserie , a Hee teaches Death to be the greatest misery which can fall upon us . Which ( not to examine how it can consist with the rest of his Doctrine ) was to that purpose , the most slipperie and insinuating perswasion . And then , that Honour and Fame might draw none , b he sayes , It is Cowardlinesse , and Dejection , and an argument of an unsufferable and impatient minde . But of the first of these we have spoken before , in answer to one of P. Martyrs reasons . And of the other we shall have occasion to say in ugh , when wee come to a place where Saint Augustine sayes the same thing , and so we may ease this Distinction of that businesse . Distinct. VI. SECT . I. HAving thus considered those Reasons , which in the best Authors are to be found , and shewed such Rules , as serve for the true understanding of them , and of all others which spring from the same , or like heads , before wee determine this Second Part , which is of the law of Reason ; it shall bee requisit that wee also touch those Reasons , which on our part are by others , and may bee by us produced , by which this Selfe-homicide may be delivered either a toto , or a tanto But not to stop long upon that Law and practise in the State of Rome , That any who had his causes allowed in the Senate , might kill himselfe ; upon which a Quintilian frames a Case , That a Sonne who by Math maticians Predictions , was first to kill many Enemies , and then his Father ; having in the warres performed the first part , makes petition to the Senate , that before he come to performe the last part , he may be admitted to kill himselfe , and argues it for the Sonne , by many reasons appliable to his particular case , and to our maine question , I will hasten to our chiefe strength . SECT . II. It may then give much light to this businesse , if we compare Desertion and Destruction , and consider where and wherein they differ . Certainly , in Almighty God , it is not the same thing to forsake and to destroy , because he owes us nothing ; and ever in his forsakings there are degrees of Mercy , because hee might then justly destroy us , and may after at his good pleasure returne againe to us . But betweene men who are mutuall Debtors , and naturally bound to one another , it is otherwise . For a Magistrate , or Minister that abandons his charge , and neglects it , destroies it . So sayes a Agapetus the Deacon to Justinian the Emperour , Privati vitium est patrare , principis omittere . Yea , a private man which hinders not a mans wrong , ( when it belongs to him to do it ) offers it . b [ Fame morientem si non paveris , occidisti , ] saith Ambrose . And c [ That Clergie , man which hinders not a manslaughter , if hee can , is thereby irregular . ] And he which to himselfe denies necessarie things , or exposes himselfe inordinatly to such dangers as men use not to escape , kills himselfe . He that is as sure that this Medicine will recover him , as that this Poyson will destroy him , is as guilty if he forbeare the Physicke , as if he swallow the Poyson . For what is this lesse , then to attend the ruine of a house , or inundation of a streame , or incursion of mad beasts ? They which compare Omissions , and Committings , require no more to make them equall , but that we omit something which we could , and should doe . SECT . III. First , therefore in all Lawes , in such faults as are greatest , either in their owne nature , or in an irremediablenesse when they are done ; all approaches , yea the very first step to them , hath the same guiltinesse , and is under the same punishment , as the fault it selfe . As in Treason and Heresie , the first consent is the absolute fault . And a we have an example of a Woman b●…rnt for petie T●…eason , for compassing the death of her husband , though it were not effected . Homicide is one of those crying sins , and hath ever beene reckoned in Atrocibus . For though the b Athenians removed all Dracoes Lawes by disuse , for their extreame severity , yet they retained those against Homicide . And this Homicide , c saies Tolet , may bee done five wayes , by 1. Commandement , by 2. Advise , by 3. Permission , by 4. H●…lpe , or by the fact it selfe . And in the fi●…st and worst Homicide committed in Paradise , in which were employed all the persons in the world , which were able to 〈◊〉 to evill , when though there was but one man , all the Millions which have been and shall be , were massacred at once and himselfe too , as many of these kindes of Homici●…es were found , as was possible in so few persons . For as c one notes , [ The Serpent counsailed , the Woman helped , and Adam perpetrated , ] and wee ●…ay safely and reverently say ) God permitted If then every one of these be a kind of Homicide , no approach towards it can be lawfull , if any bee lawfull , that is not Homicide . Let us therefore consider how farre , and in how many of these waies Selfe-homicide may bee allowable . SECT . IIII. First therefore , though it be the common received opinion , a [ Mandatorem , & Man●…atarium eidem poenae subjici , ] Yet by the way of Prec●…pt , we cannot properly work upon our selv●…s , because in this act , the same partie must be agent , and patient , and instrument . Nor very properly by the second way of advise ; yet so neere , we may come to the nature of it , that after discourse we may advise●…ly chuse one part , an●… refuse the other , ( for b Cujus est velle , ejus est & nolle ) and so we may w●…sh to our selves , that which is naturally evill , I meane , Malum poenae ; as the c Eremite by earnest prayer obtained of God , that he might be possessed of the Devill for certaine moneths , because he found in himselfe an inclination to pride and securitie . Thus certainely in some cases , we may without sinne wish Death ; and that not onely for enjoying the sight of God , ( for so d sayes a holy man , Pro visione Dei , millies corpus nostrum morti dare optamus ) but even to be so delivered from the encumbrances of this life ; for so it hath [ rationem boni ] e as Peter Martyr argues ; and then , [ f Nove meliorem est Corruptio p●…imae habitudinis . ] This therefore we may wish ; and yet it is so farre from being lawfull to wish any thing which were evill ; that [ g It is sinne to wish , that any thing which is naturally evill , were not so , that so wee might then wish it , when it were discharged of that naturall illnesse . ] Death it selfe therefore is not evill , nor is it evill to wish it , is it evill to further that with more actuall helpe , which we may lawfully wish to be done ? These two extreme Religions , which seem to avile secular Magistr●…cie , and subject Monarchs either to an O●…dinarie , or else to a Consistorie , accept willingly this saying , Curse not the King , no not in thy heart ; That is , wish not ill to him . Nor have I observed that the Authors of either distemper have in their Books allowed , that the Subject might wish the death of the Prince , but in the same cases , where he might contribute his actuall helpe . For both Papists and Puritanes teaching that a lawfull King may become a tyrant , ( which to my understanding cannot consist with the forme and right of an inheritable Monarchie . ) Yet h one who pretends to go the middle way ( and that is truely in this case , Via Regia , sayes , [ That as well wee , as the Romanists esteeme a King of another Religion a Tyrant . ] And [ That it is impossible to make such a King , but he must be a Tyrant , in the opinion of one side . ] And for his own opinion delivers [ i That no man can be bound by oath of fidelity to the Pope , upon this reason , because he is not indeed Vicarius Dei , as he presumed him , and swore him to be . ] And conformably to this , k that book whose title and scope is of the foundation of matter of State in France , and ( as it pretends in all Christendome ) when after it hath enraged Subjects against Tyrants , it comes to declare what a Tyrant is , exemplifies in the King of Spaine , and upon such reasons , as any Malignitie equall to that Author , may cast upon what Prince it will. And lastly , who ever shall well compare ( l ) Beccariaes booke , with Bezaes , if that other be Bezaes ) though they differ Diametrally in many things , yet by their collision and beating together , arise abundantly sparkes of this pestilent Doctrine , That as Tranquillity was , so now Religion is , the reason why wee admit Kings , and why they are none , when they neglect Religion ; upon these Doctrines , I say , it is inferred , m [ That it is lawfull to wish the death of a Tyrant , or of a favourer of Heretiques , though he dye in mortall sinne . ] To wish therefore , and to doe , are naturally the same fault ; and yet , though it be n [ a sinne to offer my selfe even to Martyrdome , only for wearinesse of life . ] o [ Or to wish death simply for Impaciencie , Anger , Shame , Povertie , or Misfortune ; ] yea to wish heaven meerely for mine owne happinesse ; yet certainely p S. Paul had some allowable reasons , to desire to be dissolved , and to be with Christ. And q Calvine by telling us upon what reason , and to what end he wished this , instructs us how we may wish the same . He sayes , Paul desired not death , for deaths sake , for that were against the sense of Nature , but he wished it , to be with Christ. Now , ( besides that , by his leave , ) we desire many things which are against the sense of Nature , to grant that we may wish death to be in heaven , ( though Peter Martyr before alledged , be of the same perswasion ) is a larger scope , and somewhat more dangerous and slippery a graunt , then wee urge towards , because herein onely the interest and good of the party seeme to be considered ; And yet ( a ) Emanuel Sâ extends it farther . [ That wee may wish sicknesse to one , for his correction ; and death for the good of the State ; yea to our Enemie which is like to doe us much harme for avoiding this our particular damage ; and we may rejoyce at his death , even for that respect of our owne d●…livery ] All which will hold as well , if we be urged with like reasons , to wish it to our selves . To conclude therefore this point , That it may become lawfull to wish our owne death ; I will onely relate an History , which though it be but matter of fact ( if it be so much ) yet it is of such a person , as his acts governe and perswade , with very many , as farre as Rules . s In the life of Philip Nerius , who in our age instituted the last Religion approved and established in the Church of Rome , we read , that he being entreated ( as he was ordinarily in like desperate cases , ) to come to one Paulus Maximus a youth of 14. who was then ready to expire his soule by sickenesse , before he could perfit his Sacrifice , and the office which hee had begunne , before the message came to him , the young man dyed . When hee had been dead about halfe an houre , Nerius came , and after he had used some lowd exclamations , the youth revived againe , looked up , and talked in secret with Nerius a quarter of an houre . The discourse ●…nded , Nerius gave him his choise , whether he would live , or dye ; and when the boy wished death , he gave him leave to dy againe . Now , though it were a greater miracle , then any in that book ; if any man should beleeve all that are in it , ( for in it are attributed to Nerius , stranger things then the t book of Conformities imagined in Saint Francis ( for I beleeve that Authuor purposed onely like Xenophon or Plato , or Sir Thomas Moore , to ideate and forme , then to write a credible History , though u Sedulius have defended it , with so much earnestnesse of late ; yet thus much is established out of this , whether Fable or History , that their opinion , who authorised this book , is , that it was lawfull in Maximus to wish his own death , since a man of so much sanctity as Nerius , did approve and second , and accomplish that opinion of his . SECT . V. The next species of Homicide in Tolets division , is Permission ; which when it is toward our selves , is by the Schoole-men usually called Desertion , or Dereliction , and Mors negativa . Of which I perceive not any kinde to be more obnoxious , or indefensible then that which is so common with our Delinquents , to stand mute at the Barre . And though Civill Lawes which are often enfo●…ced to chuse of two evills , the least , that is to say , the least hurtfull to civility and society , and must admit sometimes particular mischiefe , rather then a●… generall inconvenience , may excuse this ; yet , since out of the law of Conscience , which can in no case come to be so entangled and perplexed , that it can be forced to ch●…se any thing naturally evill , no man hath as yet , to my knowledge , impugned this custome of ours , it seemes to me , that aswell our Church as our State , justifies this Desertion of our selves : and this , for so low and worldly a respect , as the saving of our temporall estate , or escaping the ignominy of another death . But that we may the better discerne the limits , how farre these Omissions , and Desertions , and Exposings of our selves , are allowed us ; first I must interpret one a rule , [ That charity begins with it selfe , to bee understood onely in spirituall things . ] For I may not doe a sinne , to save ( in the language of Schoole-men ) the goods , or honour , or li●…e , of the Pope ; but for temporall things I must prefer others before my selfe , if a publique profit recompence my private Domage . b I must also lay down another rule , [ That as for my selfe , So for my neighbour whom I am bound to love as my selfe , ] . I may expose goods , to safegard honour , and honour , for life , and life for 〈◊〉 profit . And to these I must joyn a third rule , c [ That no man is at any time enforced to exercise his priviledge . ] [ For the written Law every man is bound to kn●…w , but d pr●…viledges and exemptions from that Law , he may be exc●…sably ignorant of and in such ignorance transgresse them . ] Hereupon i●… is sa●…ely infer'd , that though every man have naturally this priviledge , to resist force with force , and be authorised by that , to lay violent hands , even upon the Popes life , as e Gerson exemplifies , or upon the Emperours , as f Acacius , when either of them exceeds the limits of their Magistracy , ( for then the party becomes the Depu●…y , and Lieutenant to Nature , which is a common and equall Soveraigne to them all . ) Yet I may wayve this benefit , if I will , and even by a theefe , I may suffer my selfe to be killed , rather then kill him in that mortall sinne . g Which our Countryman Sayr , holds as the common opinion from S●…tus , Navar , Cajetan , and many others . And none , that I have seen excepts to it , in any other person then a Souldier , or such as hath the lives and dignities of others so enwrapped in theirs , as they cannot give away themselves , but by betrayin●… others . And this Desertion seems to bee of Naturall reason , because it is to be found in all lawes ; for even in the h Alcorum we read [ Vindicans non est reus , Patiens tamen optime facit . ] And our law , which if a man kill another in his own necessary defence , punishes him with losse of goods , and delivers him from death , not by acquitall , but by way of pardon , seemes to me , to pronounce plainly , that it is not lawfull to defend my life by killing another ; which is farther , then any of the others went. And when I c●…mpare our two lawes , That if I defend my se●…fe I am punished , and the other before mentioned , That if I kill my selfe I am punished in the same manner , and measure ; they seeme to me , to be somewhat perplexed and captious . And as I may depart from my naturall priviledge of defending my selfe , so I may obtain from any extrinsique or accessory helpe , which is casually , or by providence ( if God reveale not his will therein ) presented unto me , i [ for a man condemned to death , is not bound in conscience to redeeme his life with money , though by the law of the place he might doe it . And though k Saint Thomas say , [ That he which is condemned to dy , kills himselfe , if he apprehend not , an opportunity to escape by flight , when it is presented , and likewise if he refuse meate , when he is condemned to be famished , ] yet the l whole streame is against him , Sotus , Navar , Cajetan , and Sayr . And Navar adds , that in these dayes ( and yet now it is not so likely to be Symbolum Idolotricae pravitatis ) a man is bound rather to famish , then to eat meat offred to Idols . And therefore they say ; that Aquinas his opinion , That a man is bound to use his priviledge for safegard of his life , is onely true then , when he doth not wayve it , for some end berter and worthier then our naturall life ; of which sort all spirituall advantages are . So that in such cases they all agree , we may abandon and forsake our selves . And we may step farther yet in this Desertion ; for we may offer our selves for the good of our neighbour . For the temporall life cannot be more precious then our soule ; which , in rigour is murdered by every sinne consented unto . Yet m Chrisostome sayes , [ No praise is enough to give Sara for consenting to ly , and to submit herselfe to Adultery for salvation of her husbands life . ] I know n Saint Augustine is earnest against this . But his earnestnesse is upon the matter of fact , for he denyes that either Abraham or Sara consented to any sinne ; But when he o disputes De jare , whether Sara by Abrahams consent might expose her selfe , to save his life , and is much troubled with the example of one which was prisoner , for debt to the State , under Acindinus a Praefect , under Constantius , whose wife being solicited by a rich man , who would give so much as would discharge her husband , to possesse her own night , by her husbands consent , earned his liberty in that manner ; at last he leaves it indifferent for any man to think it lawfull or unlawfull in such a necessity , though indeede his own opinion decline from it . p Bonaventure denies , that for the temporall good of another , I may offer willinlgy my life . But he grounds it upon the same reason that q Augustine doth ; That we may not love another more then our selves , which in this case we seeme to doe . But many of the Fathers , Hierome , Ambrose , and Lactantius , and many of the Schoole , as Aqui●… Fra. Victoria , Sotus , Bannes , and infinite are against him : and answer Saint Augustine thus , That in that case , a man doth not prefer his friend before himselfe , but he prefers an Act of vertue , and of friendship , as things of more spirituall Nature , before his own temporall life . But that for the spirituall good of another , a man should expose his own life , is an unresisted doctrine , and as r Sayr saies , [ It is sub praecepto , ] So s a Curate is bound to baptize , and to anoint in the plague time . Yea , it is an act of Vertue , though not of necessity , ( as in the Curates case ) t [ To visit a sick man , in such a time , though you bee a private man , and your end be not spirituall comfort . And we may yet proceed farther , for wee may lawfully dispossesse our selves of that , which was before afforded us , and without which we can have no hope to sustaine our lives . u As in a persecution , a private man , having food left sufficient only to sustaine one man , may give it to a publike person , and so perish . And only Sotus denyes , that in a shipwrack , if after wee have both beene in equall danger , I catch and possesse my selfe of any thing to sustaine me , I may give this to my Father , or to a Magistrate : against the strength of Navar , Tolet , Fra. Victor . and many others . The farthest , and uttermost degree of this Desertion , is inordinate and indiscreete voluntary fasting , of which Saint Hierome , ( as it is x related into the Canons ) sayes , [ That by such an immoderate innocence , and indiscreete singing of Psalmes , and Offices , a man looseth his dignity , and incurres the note of madnesse , ] And upon this place y Navar sayes , That Saint Hierome pronounceth , an [ Indiscreete fasting which shortens the life , if the party perceive that it worke that effect , though it be without intention to shorten his life , and that he doe it , to be the better able to satisfie God , yet it is a Selfe-Homicide . ] And z hee adds in another place , speaking of the same purpose , [ It makes no difference whether thou be long in killing thy selfe , or doe it at once ] And a so Cassianus sayes expresly , [ That that Friar killed himselfe , which having vowed in his journey , to eat nothing except Godgave him meat immediately , refused to eat , when theeves accustomed to kill passengers by that place , came and presented him bread . ] And yet , though he saies he killed himselfe , he imputes nothing to him but Indiscretion . And therefore saith b one , [ Our Saviour Christ exceeded not 40. dayes in his fast , Ne sui Homicida videretur . ] And he interprets that word , d Esuriit , [ That then he perceived his body to languish and suffer detriment by fasting ] For , if he had not hungred till then , his fasting had had no vertue . So that he gave over , when he found the state of his body impaired by fasting , yet pursuing and imitating the superstition of the Philosophers , who taught that e [ Dum corpus augemus , mortaliores efficimar , ] And that ( e ) [ Per tenuitatem assimilamur Deo , ] How much the writers in the Romane Church suffer , and obliquely adhort these inordinate Fasts , and other disciplines , appears by that which I cited out of Clarus Bonarscius before , and wheresoever they have occasion to speake thereof . And in no one thing more , then that they inculcate so often , [ That it was the practise of the Devill , to appeare to Saint Francis , and cry out to him , that no man which kills himselfe with such maceration , could be saved , ] which f Bonaventure relates in his life . Whatsoever hath beene done by others , they teach , we ought to exceede . And since g [ The Monkes in Prester John his Dominions , fast strictly fifty dayes , and stand all that time to the chinne in water . ] Since they finde in h Abbas Vrsperg , a maid that fasted two year and a halfe after she had received the body of our blessed Saviour . And an Eremit 22. yeares , without receiving any thing , they say no fast can be too severe , which is undertaken to reduce our body to a tamenesse . Yea , i [ though that be already perfectly effected , yet a man is bound to the fasts injoyned . ] For k [ Fasting , without charity , doth wash away sinne . ] By this rigor of fasting , they seeme sure , that our Saviour watched all those 40 dayes : because l [ Qui dormit , prandet . ] And as it is not likely that Moses slept in his 40 dayes conversation with God , so is it unlikely that Christ did lesse then he . And so Saint Francis is extoll'd by them , for observing three Lents every year , which m Saint Hierome so much detests in the Montanists . And though their ends were divers , yet this shewes , that to some ends , these enormous witherings of our bodies are allowable . Upon which reason n John Baptists austerity is so much dignified ; And o Saint Peters feeding upon Lupins ; And p Saint Matthewes living without flesh . And not onely the Emperour Iustinians choise , q [ Who in an extreme sickenesse in Lent , would take nothing but hearbs , and salt , and water , ] but also the r Carthusian Rule , by which though it appeare that flesh would save the Patients life , hee may not eate it . And by the s Apostolicall constitutions , ( which Turrianus extols so much , that by them he confutes much of the Reformed Churches doctrine ) [ A man must fast to death , rather then receive any meat , from an Excommunicate person . ] And in another Chapter , t [ If any thing be in a case of extreame necessity accepted from such a person , it may bee bestowed in full , that so their Almes may be burnt , and consumed to ashes , but not in meate to nourish our selves withall . ] So , to determine this Section of Desertion , since we may wayve our defence which Law gives , by putting our selves upon a Jurie ; and which Nature gives , to repell force with force , since I may without slying , or eating when I have meanes , attend an Executioner , or Famine , since I may offer my life , even for anothers temporall good , since I must doe it for his Spirituall , since I may give another my board in a Shipwracke , and so drowne , since I may hasten my arrivall to heaven , by consuming penances , it is a wayward and unnoble stubbornesse in argument , to say still , I must not kill my selfe , but I may let my selfe dye ; since of Affirmations and Denyals , of Omissions and Committings , of Enjoy●…ing and Proh●…bitory Commands , ever the one implies and enwraps the other . And if the matter shall bee resolved and governed only by an outward act , and ever by that ; if I forbeare to swimme in a river and so perish , because there is no act , I shall not be guilty , and I shall bee guilty if I discharge a Pistoll upon my selfe , which I knew not to be charged , nor intended harme , because there is an act . Of which latter opinion u Mariana the Jesuite seemes to be , as we shall have occasion to note , in the next Member and species of Homitide , which is , Assistance . SECT . VI. But before we come to that , we must , though it be not , nor naturally could be delivered in Tolets Division ; consider another species of Homicide , which is Mutilation or Mayming . For , though in Civill Courts , it be not subject to like penaltie , yet if it bee accompanied with the same Malignitie , it is in conscience the same sinne , especially towards our selves ; because it violates the same reason , which is , that none may usurpe upon the bodie over which he hath no Dominion . Upon which reason , it is also unlawfull for us to deliver our selves into bondage ; ( which I mention here , because it ariseth from the same ground , and I am loath to afford it a particular Section . Yet a holy Paulinus , a Confessor , and Bishop of Nola , then whom I find no man celebrated with more fame of sanctitie and integrity , to redeeme a Widowes Sonne , delivered himselfe as a a slave to the Vandals , and was exported from Italy to Afrique ; and this , as I thinke , when hee was necessary to that place , being then there Bishop ; for that was but five yeares before his death . But to returne to Mutilation , b it is cleare by the Canons , that towards irregularity , it works as much , and amounts as farre , to have maymed , as to have killed . And c in a Councell at London , Anno 1075 one Canon forbids a Clergy man , to bee present at judgement of death , or of Mutilation . And amongst the d Apostles Canons this is one , [ He that gelds himselfe cannot be a Clerke , because he is an Homicide of himselfe , and an enemy to Gods creature . [ e And to geld , is to maime in our Law. ] So in the next Canon it is said , [ f A Clerk which gelds himselfe must be deposed , Quia homicida sui . ] g And a Lay-man must for that fault be excommunicated three yeares , quia vitae suae posuit insidias . ] It was therefore esteemed equivalent to killing . And h Calvine , esteemed it so hainous , that he builds his Argument against Divorce upon this ground , [ God made them one Body , and it is in no case lawfull , for a man to teare his owne body . ] But if this be so lawfull as Divorces are lawfull , certainly this peremptorie sentence against it , must admit some modification . Without doubt , besides the examples of holy men who have done it , to disable themselves from taking the burden of Priesthood , of which i Saint Marke the Evangelist was one , who to that end cut off his thombe . And besides , that as our Saviour said , k [ Many should geld themselves for the Kingdome of heaven . ] So l Athenagoras , 50 yeares after Christ , saies , [ that many did practise it . ] It is doubted by none , [ But m that a man unjustly detained to a certaine execution , may cut off that limbe by which he is tyed , if he have no other way to escape : or being encompassed with doggs , he may cut off a hand , and cast it to them , to entertaine them while he escape . SECT . VII . The last species of Homicide , on this side ; the last act , is an actuall helping and concurrence to it . And every step and degree conducing purposely to that end , is as justly by Judges of Consciences , called Homicide , as a Ardoinus recknoning up all poysons , which have a naturall malignity and affection to destroy mans body , forbeares not a Flea , though it never kill , because it endeavours it , and doth all the hurt it can ; and he is diligent in assigning preservatives and restoratives against it . And b so to that Amalekite , which told David he helped Saul to dy , when hee found him too weake to pierce himselfe , David pronounced judgement of death , for ( saith hee ) thine owne mouth hath confessed , That thou hast kill'd the Lords Anointed . Certainely , c Mariana the Jesuite , whom I named before ) esteemes this actuall concurrence to ones death , as heavy as the act it selfe ; yea , as it seemes , though the party bee ignorant thereof . For , after hee concluded how an Hereticall King may be poisoned , he is diligent in this prescription , [ That the King bee not constrained to take the poyson himselfe , but that some other may administer it to him : And that therefore it be prepared , and conveied in some other way then meate or drinke , because else , saith he , either willingly or ignorantly he shall kill himselfe . ] So that hee provides , that that King who must dye under the sinnes of Tyranny and Heresie , must yet be defended from concurring to his owne death , though ignorantly , as though this were a greater sinne . Since therefore this hastning of our death by such an act , is the same , as the intire Selfe-homicide , let us consider how far●…e irreproved Custome , and example , and Law doth either allow or command it . For that it is allowable , it seemes to me some proofe , [ d That before any man accuses him , a Malefactor may go and declare his fault to the Iudge . ] Though amongst Italian relations , e that in Sansovine concerning England have many marks and impressions of malice , yet of that custome , which hee falsely sayes to bee observed here , [ That men condemned to be hanged are ever accompanied to their Executions by all their kinred , who then hang at their feet , to hasten their ende ; And that when a Patient is abandoned by the Physicians , his neerest kinsman strangles him with a pillow . ] Of this , I say , that Author had thus much ground , that ordinarily at Executions , men , out of a Charitie , as they thinke , doe so ; and women which are desperate of sicke persons recovery , use to take the pillow from under them , and so give them leave to dye sooner . Have they any more the Dominion over these bodies , then the person himselfe ? Or if a man were able to doe these Offices to himselfe , might he not doe it ? Or might he not with a safe conscience put so much waights in his pockets , as should countervaile their stretchings ? I speake but comparatively ; might not he doe it as well as they ? For to my understanding such an act , either in Executioner or by-stander , is no way justifiable ; for it is both an injury to the party , whom a sudden pardon might redeeme ; and to the Justice , who hath appointed a painfull death to deterre others . f The breaking of legs in Crucified men , which was done to hasten death , was not allowed but upon Petition . And the Law might be much defrauded , if such violence might be used , where the breaking of the halter delivered the Prisoner from death ; as in some places it doth ; and g good opinions concurre , that it is to doe ever without doubt , whatsoever is for ease , or escaping painfull passage out of this life ; in such cases , a man may more allowably doe by his owne act , then a stranger may . For Law of Nature enclines and excuses him , but they are by many Lawes forbidden to hasten his death ; for they are no otherwayes interessed in it , then as parts of the whole body of the State , and so it concernes them , that Justice be executed . Yet we see , this , and the other of withdrawing the pillowes , is ordinarily done , and esteemed a pious office . The Athenian Executions were ever by the hand of the offendor , in judgements of poyson . And in h that law of Purgation assigned by God , to ease a man on whom the spirit of Jealousie was come , the Woman was to take the water of curses and bitternesse , which should make her infamous , and her belly swell , and her thighs to rot . And those formes of Purgation , which were called Vulgares , lasted long , even in the Church ; For there is nothing extant against them , till i Stephen the fift , Anno 885. And not onely k Charles the great , in whom the Church acknowledged Piety enough , induced one forme severer then the rest , which was to walke upon 9 burning Harrows . But l Britius a Bishop , being but callumniated by the people extrajudicially , to have got his Laundresse with child , after his innocence had prevailed so farre with God , that the childe of 30 daies age , being adjured in the name of Christ , had acquitted him , did not admit , but chose and extort a forme of Purgation , to carry burning coales upon his head . With us , m both the species of Ordalium lasted evidently till King Johns time . And though into that of boyling water men were forced to goe , yet that was but for the meaner sort ; but to carry the three pound weight of red hot Iron , which was for the Purgation of the persons of better qualitie , was an act , as all the former were , in which a man must of necessitie doe some thing actually himselfe , and bee the Executioner of his owne Judgement ; which as long as these formes of Purgation , and the other by Battell , were lawfull , was lawfull also to be done . And in S. Dorothaus , who euery where professes a love to that obedience , which himselfe calles indiscreet , you shall reade many prayses given to men , who did not onely forsake themselves , but actually further their destruction ; though not effectually ; which makes no difference , if it be in dangers , which usually men escape not . n He prayseth one Fryar , who being by his Abbat commanded to returne that night , the waters being risen , committed himselfe to a raging torrent , in such an obedience . And another , who being bid by his Abbat , to goe into the Towne , where he doubted hee should fall into some tentation , by some spectacle , went but with this protestation , That he hoped not in the protection of God , but in him who sent him . But the most naturall to our present purpose is this ; o That a holy old man seeing his servant mistake poyson for honey , and put it into his broth , eate it neverthelesse without chiding ; and when the servant perceived it , and exclaimed , Sir , I have kill'd you , answere , it is all one , for if God would have had mee eate honey , he would have directed thy hand to honey . Of the holynesse of Joseph of Arimathaea , we have testimony enough ; p who being sent by the Apostles to preach the Gospel , amongst other persecutions , was constrained to drinke poyson : in which there must of necessitie bee such an act , as we dispute of now . How much did q Baint Andrew contribute to his owne Crucifying ? How much Saint Laurence to his broyling , when he called to the Tyrant , This side is enough , turne the other , and then eate ? ] [ r Magni quod faciunt , praecipiunt , ] sayes , Quintillian . And these acts of men , otherwise esteemed holy , may ever be good warrants and examples to us , when the cause is not prejudged by any greater authoritie , as Scripture , or Councells , nor that very act accused by any Author . But to stay no longer upon Examples , amongst Casuists I observe the greater number to deny , that it is lawfull for a man condemned , to doe the last and immediate act conducing to death , as the drinking of poyson ; But the acts some what more removed , they agree he may doe . And even this act of drinking poyson , s Fra : a Victoria defends , to be lawfull . So that amongst them it is not clear , but that a man may do it . Yea , in very many cases , it is not onely lawfull to doe as much , without any condemnation , but it is necessary , and by their rules , sinnefull to omit it . For Curates must goe to infected houses , to minister the Sacraments . And t if a Priest enter a wood , where three waite to kill him , and one of them repenting that purpose meet him ; and by way of Confession sub Sigillo , discover the fault , the Priest is bound to goe forward to a certaine death into a wood , rather then by returning to let the others know , that he knew it by confession . So peremptory is their Doctrine , how ever their practise be , against revealing Confessions . And though perchance this seeme a wanton case , framed upon impossible concurrences , as u Soto esteemes of it , yet the reason may have use ; That though selfe-preservation be Divine Naturall Law , and the seale of Confession but Divine Positive Law , yet because circumstances are not alike , in this , a publique good shall be preferred before his private life . So that we may doe some Acts our selves , which conduceth probably , yea certainly , as farre as humane knowledge can reach , to our destruction : which is the neerest step to the last act of doing it intirely our selves . SECT . VIII . Of which last act , as we spoke whilst we considered the Law of Nature , and must againe when we come to understand those places of Scripture , which seeme to ayme towards it , so before wee conclude this part , of the Law of Reason , we may fitly present such deductions , comparisons , and consequences , as may justly seeme in reason , to annihilate or diminish this fault . Of which , because most will be grounded , either upon the conscience of the Doer , or upon the Churches opinion of the fact when it is done , wee will onely consider how farre an erring Conscience may justifie any act , and then produce some examples of persous guilty of this , and yet canonized by the Church , by admission into the Martyrologe , and assigning them their Feasts , and Offices , and Vigils , and like religious Celebrations . Therefore to make no use of a Pythagorus example , who rather then hee would offend his Philosophicall conscience , and either tread upon the Beanes himselfe , or suffer his Scholers to speake before their time , delivered up himselfe , and forty of them to his Enemies sword . And to avoide the ambages and multiforme entangling of Schoolemen ; herein we will follow that which is delivered for the common opinion ; which is , b that not onely a conscience which errs justly probably and Bona side , that is , after all Morall industry and diligence hath beene used , ( yet I meane not exquisite diligence , but such as is proportionall to the person , and his quality , and to the knowledge which that man is bound to have of that thing , at that time ) is bound to doe according to that mis-information , and mis-perswasion so contracted . But also , if it erre negligently , or otherwise viciously , and mala side , as long as that errour remaines and resides in it , a man is bound not to doe against his conscience . In the first case , if one in his conscience thinke that hee ought to lye , to save an innocent , or that he ought to steale to save a famished man , he is a Homicide if he lye not , or steale not . And in the second case , though he bee not bound to any Act , yet it is lawful to him then , to omit any thing necessary otherwise . And this obligation which our Conscience casts upon us , is of stronger hold , and of straighter band , then the precept of any Superiour , whether Law , or person ; and is so much juris naturalis , as it cannot be infringed nor altered , beneficio divinae indulgentiae , to use their owne words . Which Doctrin , as it is every where to be gathered among the Casuists , so is it well collected and amassed , and and argued , and confirmed , especially by Azorius . If then a man after convenient and requisite diligence , despoiled of all humane affections , and self-interest , and [ Sancto bonaee impatientiae igne exardens , ] as Paulinus speaks ; do in his conscience beleeve that he is invited by the Spirit of God to doe such an act as Ionas , Abraham , and perchance Sampson was , who can by these rules condemne this to be sinne ? And therefore I doubt there was some haste and praecepitation in c Cassianus his judgement , though otherwise , a very just esteemer and valuer of works of devotion and obedience ; who pronounces that that apparition of an Angell , to Hero an Eremit , after 50 yeares so intense and earnest attending of Gods service , and religious negligence of himselfe , that he would scarse intermit Easter day , from his strict fasting , and being now d Victoriarum conscientia plenus , ( as the Panegyrique saies ) was an illusion of the Devill to make him destroy himselfe . Yet Hero being drawn out of the Well into which he had cast himselfe , and living three dayes after , persisted in a devout acknowledgement that it was the Spirit of God , which sollicited him to that , and dyed in so constant an assurance and alacrity , that Paphnutius the Abbat , though at first in some suspence , did not number him inter Biathanatos , which were persons reputed vitiously to have killed themselves . Nor may it be necessarily concluded , that this act was therefore evill , if it appeared to be from the Devill . For e Wierus , tells us of a maid whom the Devill perswaded to goe such a Pilgrimage , and at such an Altar , to hear a Masse , for recovery of her health . Certainly if as f Vasquez holds , [ it be not Idolatry to worship the Devill in an Apparition , which I thinke to be God ] it can be no offence to beleeve him , after I have used all meanes to discerne and distinguish : For not onely those Rules which are delivered ordinarily to know him by , are apparantly false , which are a difference in his hands or feet , or some notable deformity by hornes , or a tayle , of which g Binsfeldius seems confident of the first , and ( h ) Menghi of the second . But that Rule that God alwaies infuseth or commands good things , if it be understood of that which is good , in the common and naturall course is not alwaies safe , for it held not in Abraham , nor the Israelites case . Therefore though Vasquez his first excuse , That such a worship is not Idolatry , because by reason of our immediate relation to God , we never arrest nor stop upon the Devill by the way , will doe no good in our case of beleeving , yet his other will , which he hath in the same place , That there may be an invincible ignorance , and that in that any exterior act whatsoever , proceeding from a sincere and pure intention of the mind , is an act of true Religion . For safelier then the i Panegyrick could say to Constantine , [ Suacuique Prudentia Deu●… est ] may we say of every mans conscience thus rectified . If therefore they will still turn in their circle , and say , God concurs to no evill , we say nothing is so evill , but that it becomes good , it God command it ; and that this is not so naturally evill , that it requires a speciall commission from God●… ; but as it becomes good , if he commands it , so it becomes indifferent , if he remove the reasons with which the precept against it was conditioned . If they returne to S. Augustins two reasons against Donatus , whereof the first was , [ we have authority to save thy body against thy will , ] And the second , [ None of the faithfull ever did this act ] we are thereby hastned to the other consideration , how they which have done it , have been esteemed of by the Catholique Church . But to speake a little in passing of Saint Augustines second reason , ( for the first hath very little force , since though it may be lawfull to preserve a man willing to die , yet it is not alwaies of merit , nor obligatory ; And therefore k Ignatius doth so earnestly dehort the Rom●…ns from endeavouring to succour him . And l Corona Civica which was given to any which had rescued a Citizen in the warres , was not given though he produced witnesses of the fact , except the person so rescued confessed that he received a benefit thereby ; ) why doth S. Augustine referre Donatus in that second reason , to examples . For if Donatus had produced any ( as out of credible and authentique History he might very many , and out of Scriptures Canonick in m St. Augustines opinion , he might have alledged the example Eleazar , and of Rasis , ) Saint Augustine was ever provided for this retrait , That it was a speciall inspiration , and not to be drawn into consequence or imitation . Had it been a good Argument in Rome for 500. yeeres , that Divorce was not lawfull , because n no example was of it ? Or almost for 2000. That a woman might not sue it against her Husband , because o till Herods daughter there was no example of it ? But now when the Church hath thus long persevered , in not only justifying but solemnizing many examples hereof , are not Saint Augustines Disciples guilty of the same pertinacy which is imputed to Aristotles followers , p who defending the Heavens to be inalterable , because in so many ages nothing had been observed to have been altered , his Schollers stubbornly maintain his Proposition still , though by many experiences of new Stars , the reason which moved Aristotle seems now to be utterly defeated ? Thus much being spoken by the way of Saint Augustine , and having purposely sepos'd the examples recorded in the Scriptures , for our third part , we will consider some Examples registred in the Ecclesiastick History . The Church whose dignity and constancy it becomes well , that that Rule of her owne Law , be ever justly said of her self , q [ Quod s●…mel placuit amplius displicere non potest ] where new reasons do not interpose , r celebrates upon the 9. of February the Birth , ( that is the death , of the Virgin and Martyr Appollonia ; who , after the persecutors had beat out her teeth , and vexed her with many other tortures , when she was presented to the fire , being inflamed with a more burning fire of the Holy Ghost , broke from the Officers hands , and leapt into the fire . For this act of hers many Advocates rise up for her , and say , that either the History is not certain , ( yet the Authors are Beda , Usuardus , Ado , and ( as Barronius sayes ) Latinorum caeteri ) Or else , s says Sayr , you must answer that she was brought very neer the fire , and as good as thrown in : Or else that she was provoked to it by divine inspiration . But , but that another divine inspiration , which is true Charity , moved the beholders then to beleeve , and the Church ever since to acknowledge , that she did therein a Noble and Christian act , to the speciall glory of God , this act of hers , as well as any other , might have been calumniated to have been done , out of wearinesse of life , or fear of relapse , or hast to Heaven , or ambition of Martyrdome . The memory of t Pelagia , as of a virgin and Martyr , is celebrated the ninth of June . And though the History of this woman suffer some perplexity , and giue occasion of doubting the truth thereof , ( for Ambrose says , That she and her Mother drownd themselves ; and Chrysostome that they slung themselves downe from a house top . And Baronius saw this knot to be so hard to unentangle , that he says , [ Quid ad hac dicamus , non habemus ] ) yet the Church , as I said , celebrates the Act , as though it were glad to take any occasion , of approving such a courage in such a cause , which was but preservation of Chastity . [ u Their Martyrdome saith Saint Augustine was ever in the Catholique Church frequented Veneratione Celeberrima . ] And x Saint Ambrose , when his sister Marcellina , consulted him directly upon the point , what might be thought of them who kill themselves in such cases , ( and then it is agreed by all that the opinions of the Fathers are especially to be valued , when they speake of a matter , not incidently or casually , but directly and deliberately ) answers thus , [ We have an example of such a Martyrdome in Pelagia ] And then he presents her in this religious meditation , [ Let us die , if we may have leave , or if we be denied leave , yet let us die . God cannot be offended with this , when we use it but for a remedy ; ] and our faith takes a way all offence . Here is no difficulty : for who is willing to dye , & cannot , since there are so many waies to death ? I will not trust my hand least it strike not home : nor my breast , least it withdraw it selfe : I will leave no escape to my flesh , for we can dve with our own weapons , and without the benefit of an Executioner . And then having drest her selfe as a Bride , and going to the water , Here , sayes she , let us be baptized ; this is the Baptisme where sinnes are forgiven , and where a kingdome is purchased : and this is the baptisme after which none sinnes . This water regenerates ; this makes us virgines , this opens heaven , defends the feeble , delivers from death , and makes us Martyrs . Onely we pray to God , that this water scatter us not , but reserve us to one funerall . Then entred they as in a dance , hand in hand , where the torrent was deepest , and most violent . And thus dyed , ( as their mother upon the bank called them ) [ These Prelates of virginitie , Captaines of Chastitie , and companions in Martyrdome . ] And before Ambrose , we finde y Eusebius to have been of the same perswasion , who thus produces the Mother encouraging them ; [ You know how I have brought you up , in the feare of God ; and shall your nakednesse , which the publike ayre hath not ha●… leave to see , now be prostituted in the Stewes ? Have not so little faith in God , as to feare death , Despise not Chastity so much , as to live with shame ; but with a pure and chaste death condemne this world . And so , deluding their Keepers , as though they withdrew for naturall necessities , they drowned themselves . ] All Authors of that time are so profuse in the praise of this fact , that it is just to say thereof , as z Pliny sayes of Nervaes adopting Trajane , [ It was impossible it should have pleased all when it was done , except it had pleased all before it was done . ] For no Author , that I have lighted upon , diminished the glory of these and such other , untill Saint Augustine out of his most zealous and startling tendernesse of conscience , began to seeke out some waies , how these Selfe-homicides might be justified , because he doubted that this act naturally was not exempt from taxation . And yet ever hee brings himselfe to such perplexitie , as either he must defend it , and call in question , the authority of a generall consonance of all times and Authors , or retire to that poore and improbable defence , that it was done by Divine instinct . Which can very hardly be admitted in this case , where not their Religion but onely their Chastitie was solicited and attempted . Nor can Saint Ambrose , or Eusebius be drawn to that opinion of especiall Divine instinct , because speaking ex animo , though in the mothers person , they incite them to it with reasons from Morrall vertues . Yet Saint Augustines example , ( as it prevailes very much , and very justly for the most part ) hath drawne many others since to the like interpretation of the like acts . For when the kingdome of Naples came to bee devided betweene Ferdinand the fifth , and Lewis the twelfth , the French Army being admitted into Capua , upon condition to do no violence , amongst many outrages , a virgin not able to escap the fury of a licentious Souldier , offered for ransome to lead him to treasure : and so tooke advantage of a place in the wall , to fling her selfe into the River . [ Which act , a sayes Pedraça , we must beleeve to be done by Divine inspiration , because God loves chastity now as well as ever he did . ] Which escape every side may finde easie , if being pressed with reason they may say , as Peter Martyr doth of the Egyptian Midwives , and of Rahab , and such , b [ If they did lye , they did it , impulsu Dei. ] But as our custome hitherto hath been , let us depart from Examples to Rules ; though concurrence of Examples , and either an expresse or interpretative approbation of them , much more such a dignifying of them , as this , of the whole Church , and of Catholike Authors approved by that Church , bee equivalent to a Rule . And to ease the Reader , and to continue my first resolution of not descending into many particulars , I will onely present one Rule , but so pregnant , that from it many may be derived ; by which , not onely a man may , but must doe the whole and intire action of killing himselfe ; which is , to preserve the scale of Confession . For though c the Rule in generall bee , [ That if a Spider fall into the Chalice , the Wine may be changed , because , Nihil abominabile debet sumi occasione hujus Sacramenti . ] And so d it may , if the Priest after Consecration come to the knowledge that the Wine is poysoned , [ Ne calix vitae vertatur in mortem ; ] Yet e if hee know this by Confession , from his assistant , or any other , and cannot by any diversion , nor disguise , escape the discovering , that this was confessed to him , without drinking it , if it bee poyson , he m●…st drinke it . But because men of more abundant reading , active discourse , and conclusive judgement , will easily provide themselves of more Reasons and Examples , to this purpose ; it shall satisfie me , to have awakened them thus much , and shewed them a marke to direct their Meditations upon . And so I may proceed to the third Part , which is of the Law of God. The Third Part. OF THE LAW OF GOD. Distinction I. SECT . I. THat light which issues from the Moone , doth best represent and expresse that which in our selves we call the light of Nature ; for as that in the Moone is permanent and ever there , and yet it is unequall , various , pale , and languishing , So is our light of Nature changeable . For being at the first kindling at full , it wayned presently , and by dedeparting further and further from God , declined by generall sinne , to almost a totall Eclipse : till God comming neerer to us first by the Law , and then by Grace , enlightned and repayred it againe , conveniently to his ends , for further exercise of his Mercy and Justice . And then those Artificiall Lights , which our selves make for our use and service here , as Fires , Tapers , and such resemble the light of Reason , as wee have in our Second part accepted that Word . For though the light of these Fires and Tapers be not so naturall , as the Moone , yet because they are more domestique , and obedient to us , wee distinguish particular objects better by them , then by the Moone ; So by the Arguments , and Deductions , and Conclusions , which our selves beget and produce , as being more serviceable and under us , because they are our creatures ; particular cases are made more cleare and evident to us ; for these we can be bold withall , and put them to any office , and examine , and prove their truth , or likeliehood , and make them answere as long as wee will aske ; whereas the light of Nature , with a solemne and supercilious Majestie , will speake but once , and give no Reason , nor endure Examination . But because of these two kindes of light , the first is to weake , and the other false , ( for onely colour is the object of sight , and we not trust candlelight to discerne Colours ) we have therefore the Sunne , which is the Fountaine and Treasure of all created light , for an Embleme of that third best light of our understanding , which is the Word of God. a Mandatum lucerna , & Lex lux , ] sayes Solomon . But yet b as weake credulous men , thinke sometimes they see two or three Sunnes , when they see none but M●…teors , or other apparance , so are many t●…ansported with like facilitie or dazeling , that for some opinions which they maintaine , they think they have the light and authority of Scripture , when , God knowes , truth , which is the light of Scriptures , is Divine truely under them , and removed in the farthest distance that can bee . I●… any small place of Scripture , mis-appeare to them to bee of use for justifying any opinion of theirs ; then ( as the Word of God hath that precious nature of gold , that a little q●…antity thereof , by reason of a faithfull tenacity and ductilenesse , will be brought to cover 10000. times as much of any other Mertall , ) they extend it so farre , and labour , and beat it , to such a thinnesse , as it is scarce any longer the Word of God , only to give their other reasons a little tincture and colour of gold , though they have lost all the waight and estimation But since the Scripture it self teaches , c [ That no Proph●…cie in the Scripture , is of private interpretation , ] the whole Church may not be bound and concluded by the fancie of one , or of a few , who being content to enslumber themselves in an opinion , and lazy prejudice , dreame arguments to establish , and authorize that . A d professed interpreter of Dreames , tells us , [ That no Dreame of a privat●… man may be interpreted to signifie a publike businesse , ] This I say , because of those places of 〈◊〉 , which are aledged for the Doctrin which we now examine , scarce any one , ( except the Precept , Thou shalt not kill ) is offered by any two Authors . But to one , one place , to another , another seemes directly to governe in the point , and to me , ( to allow Truth her naturall and comely boldnesse ) no place , but that seemes to looke towards it . And therefore in going over all those sentences , which I have gathered from many Authors , and presenting convenient answers and interpretations thereof , I will forbeare the names of those Authors , who produced them so impertinently , least I should seeme to discover their nakednesse , or insimulat them even of prevarication . If any Divine shall thinke the cause , or persons injured herein , and esteeme me so much worth the reducing to the other opinion , as to apply an answer hereunto , with the same Charitie which provoked me , and which , I thanke God ha●…h accompanied me from the beginning , I beseech him , to take thus much advantage from me and my instruction , that he will doe it without bitternesse . He shall see the way the better , and shew it the better , and saile through it the better , if he raise no stormes . Such men , e as they are [ Fishers of men , ] so may they also hunt us into their nets , for our good . But there is perchance , some mystique interpretation belonging to that f Canon which allowes Clergy men to hunt ; for they may doe it by Nets and Snares , but not by Dogges ; fo●… clamour and bitings are forbidden them . And I have been sorry to see , that even Beza himselfe , writing against an Adversary , and a cause equally and extreamely obnoxious , onely by allowing too much fuell to his zeale , enraged against the man , and neglecting , or but prescribing in the cause , hath with lesse thoroughnesse and satisfaction , then either became his learning and watchfulnesse , or answered his use and custome , given an answer to Ochiu●… booke of Polygamy . Distinction II. SECT . I. IN all the Iudiciall , in all the Ceremoniall Law delivered by Moses , who was the most particular in his Lawes of any other , there is no abomination , no mention of this Selfe-Homicide . He teacheth what we shall , and shall not , eate , and weare , and speake , and yet nothing against this . SECT . II. But the first place that I find offered against it is , in Genesis . [ I will require your bloud wherein your lives are , at the hand of every beast will I requireit ; and at the hand of man , even at the hand of a mans brother will I require the life of man ; who so sheddeth mans bloud , by man shall his bloud be shed . ] And this place a very learned man of the Reformed Church , sayes , the Jewes understand of Selfe-homicide . But sh●…ll wee put our selves under the Iewes yoake , a [ That if we finde in the Rabbins , things contrary to Nature , wee must dare to accuse nothing but our owne weakenesse , because their word is Gods Word , and if they contradict one another , yet both are from God. ] b Lyra who seldome departs from the Iewes , in matters not controverted between them , and us , toucheth upon no such exposition ; yet hee expounds it more then one way , and with liberty enough , and farre straying . And c Emanuel Sâ , who in his notes is more curious , and superstitious , in restoring all the Hebraismes , and oftentimes their interpretations , then perchance that Church would desire at his hands , offers at no other sense then the words present . Nor ●…an Selfe homicide fall within the commination and 〈◊〉 of that Law , for how can the Magistrate shed his bloud , who hath killed himselfe ? SECT . III. The next is in De●…eronomie : [ I kill , and I give life . ] Our of which is concluded , that all authority of life and death is from God , and none in our selves . But shall we therefore dare to condemne utterly , all those states and governments , where Fathers , Husbands , and Masters , had jurisdiction over Children , wives , and servants lives ? If we dare , yet how shall we defend any Magistracy , if this be so strictly accepted ? and if it admit exceptions , why may not our case be within those ? Howsoever that this place is incongruously brought , appears by the next words , [ There is not any that can deliver from my hand ] or this being a Verse of that divine poem , which God himselfe made and delivered Moses , as a stronger and more slippery insinuation and impression into the Isr●…lites hearts , then the language of any Law would make , expresses onely that the mercies and judgements of God , are safe and removed from any humane hinderance , or interruption . So a in another gratulatory Song made by Samuels mother , the same words are repeated , [ The Lord killeth and maketh alive , ] and this because God had given her a son , when she was past hope . That place also in Tobit b is fitly paraleld with this , [ He leadeth to hell , and bringeth up , no●… is there any that can avoid his hand . ] And can these two places be detorted to their purpose , That none but God may have jurisdiction over our temporall life ? Or c that place of the book of Wisdome , which is also ever joyned , as of the same signification with these , [ for thou hast the power of life , and death ] which is spoken of his miraculous curing by the Brazen Serpent . So that all these foure places have one respect and ayme , and none of them look towards our question . SECT . IIII. In the order of the Divine books , the next place is produced out of Job , [ Militia est vita hominis super terram . ] for , though our translation give it thus , [ Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth ? ] yet the Latine Text is thus cited to this purpose , by some not addicted to the Vulgat Edition , because it seems in Latine better to afford an argument against Self homicide . For therupon they infer , that we may not depart at our own pleasure from the battell . But because onely the Metaphor and not the extending of it , nor inference upon it , is taken out of the Scripture , it brings no strong obligation with it , nor deserves much earnestnesse in the answer , yet to follow him a little in his Allusion , a [ A Souldier may by Law , be ignorant of the Law , and is not much accusable if he transgresse it . ] And by b another Law , 〈◊〉 [ o●… Souldier whose presence is necessary for the safeguard of the Army , may be absent cau●… Reipub. and being absent , his absence shall be interpreted to be so . ] And c even to those which killed themselvs in the Army , we noted before in the second part , That the lawes were not severe , if they had any colour of just cause : So that this figurative argument profits then nothing , especially being taken from this place where the scope of Job was to prove that our felicity and end upon which our actions are bent , is not in this li●…e , but as wars work to peace , so we labour here to death , to that happines which we shall have after . And therfore whosoever were author of that letter which hath d Christs name to Abgarus , doth not make Christ say , that when he hath done that for which he was sent hither , he will come to him , and take his offer of halte his Kingdome , but that when he hath done , he will returne to him which sent him : That is he will die , so that if either side have advantage by this place of Job , we have it . SECT . V. And by the other place of Job much more , which is , [ Therefore my soule chuseth rather to bee strangled , and to die , then to be in my bones . ] Hereuupon they infer , That if it might have been lawfull to die so , Job would have done it . But besides that the wretched poverty and feeblenesse of this manner of Negative arguments , Iob did it not , therefore he might not do it , we may perceive by the whole frame of the History , that God had chosen him for another use , and an example of extream patience . So that for any thing that appears in Iobs case , he might not lawfully doe it , because he could propose nothing but his own eas●… . Y●…t Iob whose sanctity I thinke it facriledge to diminish , whether he were a person or personate in their confession strayed thus farre towards killing himself●… , as to wish his death , and curse his birth ; for his whole third Chapter is a bitter and malignant invective against it , and a violent wishing of his own death . a Sextu●… Sexens●… gives an answer for him so literall , as it can admit or reach to no sense , which is , [ That cursing his birth day which then was past , he cursed nothing . ] And b Saint Gregory gives an answer so mysticall , as no s●…nse can reach to it , which is , [ That there is a second bi●…th into Sinne in this world , and Job cursed his entrance into that . ] And so because these words might bee readily taken for an inordinate wishing of death ; Gregory provides them also a mysticall interpretation , for the Latine reading it thus , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anima me●… , ] he saye , [ This was Suspendium spi●…ituale which was but an elevation of the minde ; as S. Paul said , Christe crucifixu●… sum cru●… ] But besides that this escape will not serve , when the Originall word is considered , and that the next verse is , Desperavi , 〈◊〉 ultra vivam ] in the twentieth verse , he chides God by the name of [ O thou preserver of man ] as being angry that he preserved him , [ Being now a ●…rthen to himselfe , and would not leave him alone , whilst he might swallow his spittle . ] And he ends that Chapter thus , [ If th●…n se●…kest me in the 〈◊〉 , I shall not be found . ] This I say , onely to show that one whom none hath exceeded in 〈◊〉 , may without any de●…ortion of his words , be argued to have step farr●… towards a purpose of killing himselfe . Who list to give any other construction to his words shall not displease me , nor impaire the strength of our 〈◊〉 . And though I confesse , I have not read any to expound these word●… of Iob directly thus , and though . I know the opinion in generall of his despairing , be thus I much discredited , that it is held by the 〈◊〉 , yet , besides that , it is not just ●…or ingenuous , to condemn all that a conde●…nd man says , ( for even a leprous man may have one hand clean to take and give withall . And S. Hier. is inexcusable , in that point of his slippery zeal , in his behaviour towards 〈◊〉 , y●…a the Tr●… Councell it selfe is obnoxious therein , for condemning Names of Authors , and not Books . Besides this I say , the Anabaptists differ from me in their end and purpose , for they impute despaire to Iob , onely to infirme the Authority of the booke , which scismatically they labour to rent from the Canon of Scripture : But I justly with the consent of all Christian Churches admitting it for such say that Job might keep his sanctity and the Book his Dignity , and yet he might have a purpose to kill himselfe . For very many reverend Authors in the Reformed Church , not rashly to be fors●…en , have imputed to our most bless●…d Saviour , as neer approaches to a more dangerous kind of despaire , then we impute to Iob , without diminishing him , or his Scriptures . SECT . VI. I finde also another place . of Job obtruded . [ Skin for skin , and all that ever I a 〈◊〉 ●…ath will he give for life . ] From which words they argue a Naturall love in us to this life . Let it be true , ( though the Devill say it , for the words are his ) that our sensitive Nature is too indulgent to this life , ( though I feare I have offended and furfetted you in the first Part with Examples of meer Naturall and Sensitive men , which have chosen death , ) yee will that prove that our Reasonable Nature may in no ●…afe correct that enormity ? This is as strong against Gods outward calling us to him by sicknesse , or persecution , as against any such inward motions . SECT . VII . As unproperly , and unprofitably to their ends and purpose , do they offer that place of Ecclestasticus , [ Non est census supra censum falutis Corporis , ] which I place here , though out of Order , because of the affinity betweene this place , and the last , and that one answer , is , at least , enough for them both . For , tho●…gh this place may prove that wee naturally love this body , ( yet it is not of the fafety of the body , as it all men desired that the body might live , but it is of bodily health whilst it doth live , ) yet it proves not , that wee may in no case abandon it . SECT . VIII . The most proper , and direct , and strongest place is the Commandement ; for that is of Morall Law , [ Thou shalt not kill ; ] and this place is cited by all to this purpose . But I must have leave to depart from a S. Augustines opinion here , who thinks that this Commandement is more earnestly bent upon a mans selfe , then upon another ; because here is no addition , and in the other , there is , [ Against thy Neighbour , ] or certainely , I am as much forbid by that Commandement to accuse my selfe falsely , as my Neighbour , though onely he be named . And by this I am as much forbid to kill my neighbour as my selfe , though none be named . So , as it is within the circuit of the Command , it may also bee within the exceptions thereof . For though the words be generall , Thou shall not kill , we may kill beasts ; Magistrates may kill men ; and a private man in a just warre , may not onely kill , contrary to the sound of this Commandement , but hee may kill his Father , contrary to another . When two naturall Lawes contrary to one another occurre , we are bound to that which is strictioris vin●…li . As all Lawes concerning the Honour of God , and Faith , are in respect of the second Table , which is directed upon our Neighbour by Charitie . If therefore there could bee a necessity , that I must doe an act of Idolatry , or kill , I were bound to the later . By which Rule If perchance a publique exemplary person , which had a just assurance that his example would governe the people , should be forced by a Tyrant , to doe an act of Idolatry , ( although by circumstances he might satisfie his owne conscience , that he sinned not in doing it . ) and so scandalize and endanger them , if the matter were so carried and disguised , that by no way he could let them know , that he did it by constraint , but voluntarily , I say , perchance he were better kill himselfe . It is a safe Rule , [ a Iury Divino derogani non potest , nisi ipsa derogatio suri Divino conste●… . ] But since it is not thought a violating of that Rule , [ b To kill by publique Authority or in a just Warre , or defence of his life , or of anothers . ] why may not our case be as safe and innocent ? If any importune me to shew this Priviledge , or exemption of this case from the Commanment , I may with c Sotus retort it , and call for their priviledge to kill a Day thiefe , or any man in defence of another . And as these Lawes may be mediately and secondarily deduced from the conformity of other Lawes , and from a generall Authority which God hath afforded all Soveraignes , to provide as necessities arise ; So may our case bee derived as well from that necessary obligation which lyes alwayes upon us , of preferring Gods glorie above all humane respects . So that we cannot be put to shew , or pleade any exemption , but when such a case arises , wee say that that case never was within the reach of that Law. Which is also true of all the other which we called exemptions before . For , whatsoever might have beene done before the Law , as this might , if it be neither against Nature , nor Justice , from both which we make account that wee have acquitted it , ) upon that , this Commandement never fell , not extended to it . SECT . IX . I have found also a place urged out of the Booke of Wisdome , which is , [ Seeke not death in the errour of your life . ] Which being ever coupled with another place in Deuteronomie , by collation of the two places it appeares , That that which is forbidden there , is Idolatry , and by Death is meant the Second Death , or the way to it . And so this Distinction which was intended for the places cited from the Books of the old Testament , shall here have an end ; and to the next we allow those of the New. Distinct. III. SECT . I. OF which the first that I have observed is in Matthew when the Devil tempts Christ thus , [ If thou be the Son of God , cast thy self downe . ] With all Expositors I confesse , this was a temptation to vain glory , and therefore most appliabl to our case , where we make account , that we work somwhat to the service of God , and advancement of his glory , when we allow this to be done ; and it is a very slippery passage , and a devout man were out of the nature of devotion , 〈◊〉 to erre that way , then a worldly , but that the ha●…d of God is extended to the protection of such . But directly this place will not shake , nor attempt our proposition , for though Christ would not satisfie the Devill , nor discover himselfe , yet he did as much whe●… it conduced to his owne ends , as the Devill tempted him to in this place , or the other ; both in changing the species and nature of water into Wine , and in exposing himselfe to certaine danger when he walked upon the waters . Christ refused no difficultie , nor abstained from Miracles , when he knew he profited the beholders ; nor doe I say , that in any other case , then when we are probably and excusably assured , that it isto a good end , this may be lawfull to us . SECT . II. The next place is in the Acts of the Apostles . [ The keeper of the prison drew out his Sword , and would have killed himselfe , supposing the Prisoners had beene gone ; But Paulcryed , Doe thy selfe no harme , for we are all here . ] To which I say , That by the same Spirit by which Paul being in the inner Prison in the darke , knew what the Keeper thought , and what hee was about to doe without , hee knew also Gods purpose to be glorified in the conversion of him and his Family ; and therefore did not onely reclaime him from that purpose , which was inordinate , and for his owne sake , to escape punishment , ( in which yet wee may observe how presently Mans nature inclines him to this remedy ) but also forbears to to make his benefit of this Miracle , and to escape away : and so , though he rescue the Keeper , he betrayes himselfe . And therefore Calvin upon this place makes to himselfe this objection , [ That Paul seeing all his hope of escape to consist in the death of the Keeper , neglected that way of liberty which God offered him , when he restnained the Keeper from killing himselfe . ] And he answers it onely thus , [ That hee had a conscience and insight into Gods purpose and decree herei●… ] For otherwise , if he had not had that ( which very few attaine to have ) it seemes he ought to have permitted the keeper to proceed , to facilitate thereby his way of escaping . SECT . III. Which also inferres some answer to another place of Saint Paul , where hee delivers and discharges himselfe , and his fellow Apostles , of having taught this Doctrine , [ That a man might doe evill , that good might come thereof . ] And consequently it is well and by just Collection pronounced that he forbids that Doctrine . And we also humbly subscribe to that Rule , and accept it so , as Saint Paul intends it ; that is , in things which Nature , and not Circumstance makes evi●…l . And in these also , when any such circumstance doth make them evill , as another circumstance to the contrary doth not praeponderate and over-rule this . This therefore we must have liberty to enlighten with a larger discourse . Of the evils which seeme to us to bee of punishment , of which kind Death is , God ever makes others his executioners ; for the greatest of all , though it be spirituall , which is Induration , is not so wrought by God himselfe immediately , as his spirituall comforts are , but Occasionally , and by Desertion . Sometimes in these God imployes his Angels , sometime the Magistrate , sometimes our selves . Yet all which God doth in this life by any of these , is but Physicke : for a ●…n excaecation and induration is sent to further Salvation in some , and inflicted medicinally . And these ministers and instruments of his , are our Physitians , and wee may not refuse any bitternesse , no not that which is naturally poyson , being wholesomely corrected by them : For as in b Cramps which are contortions of the Sinewes , or in Tetars , which are rigors and stiffenesses in the Muscles , wee may procure to ourselfe a fever to thaw them , or we may procure them in a burning feaver , to condense and attemper our bloud againe , so in all rebellions and disobediences of our flesh , wee may minister to our selves such corrections and remedies , as the Magistrate might , if the fact were evident . But , because though for prevention of evill , wee may doe all the offices of a Magistrate upon our selves , in such secret cases , but whether we have that authority to doe it after or no , especially in Capitall matters , is disputable , and at this time , wee need not affirme it precisely , I will examine the largenesse of that power no farther now . But descend to that kinde of evill , which must of necessity be understood in this place of Paul ? which is , that we account naturally evill . And even in that , the Bishops of Rome have exercised their power , c to dispence with Bigamy , which is in their doctrine directly against Gods Commandement , and therefore naturally evill . So did d Nicholas the fift , dispense with a Bishop in Germany , to consult with W●…tches , for recovery of his health ; and it were easie to amasse many cases of like boldnesse . In like manner e the Imperiall Law tollerates Vsurie , Prescription , Mala fidei , and Deceit ad Medium , and expressely allowes f Witchcraft , to good purposes . [ Conformably to which Law , Paracelsus sayes , It is all one whether God or the Devill cure , so the Patient be well . ] And so the g Canons have prescribed certain rules of doing evill , when we are overtaken with perplexities , to chuse the least , of which h S Gregory gives a naturall example , [ That a man attempted upon a high wall , and forced to leape it , would take the lowest place of the wall . ] And agreeably to all these , the k Casuist say , [ That in extreame necessitie , I si●… not if I induce a man to lend me mony upon usury : And the reason is , because I incline him to a lesse sinne , which is usury , when else he should be a h●…icide , by not releiving me . ] And in this fashion l God him selfe is said to work evill in us , because when our heart is full of evill purposes , he governs and disposes us rather to this then to that evill , wherin though all the vitiousnesse be ours , and evill , yet the order is from God , and good . Yea , he doth positively encline one to some certain evill thus , That he doth infuse into a man some good thoughts , by which , he , out of his vitiousnesse takes occasion to thinke he were better doe some other sinne then that which he intended . Since therefore all these lawes and practises concurre in this , that we sometime doe such evill , not onely for expresse and positive good , but to avoid greater evill , all which seems to be against this doctrine of S. Paul. And since , whatsoever any humane power may dispence withall in us , we , in extream necessity , in impossibility of recourse to better counsell , in an erring conscience , and in many such cases , may dispence with our selves , ( for that Canon of duo mala , leaves it to our naturall reason , to judge , and value , and compare , and distinguish betweene those two evills which shall concurre . ) And since for all this , it is certaine , that no such dispensation from another , or from my selfe , doth so alter the nature of the thing , that it becomes thereby the more or the lesse evill , to mee there appeares no other interpretation safe , but this , That there is no externall act naturally evill ; and that circumstances condition them , and give them their nature ; as scandall makes an indifferent thing hainous at that time , which , if some person go out of the roome , or winke , is not so . The Law it sel●…e , which is given us as a light , that we might not stumble , and by which we see , not what is evill naturally ( for that we see naturally , and that was so even , to us , before the law declared it ) but what would bee evill ( that is produce evill effects , ) if we did it at that time , and so circumstanced , is not absolutely good , but in such measure , and in such respects , as that which it forbids is evill . And therefore m Picus comparing the Law , to the firmament , ( as Moses accepts the word ) as he observes , that the second day , when God made the firmament , he did not say , that it was good , as he did of every other days work ; and yet it was not evill , ( for then saith Picus , it could not have received the sunne , as if it had beene good , it had not needed it . ) So he reprehends the Manichees , for saying that the Law was evill , yet he sticks to that of n Ezechiel , That it was not good . That evill therefore which by this place of S. Paul is forbidden , is either Acts , of infidelity , which no dispensation can deliver from the reach of the Law , or els , such acts as being by our nature , and reason , and approbation of nations reputed evill , or declared by law or custome to be such , because of there ordinary evill effects , doe cast a guiltines upon the doer , ordinarily , and for the most part , and ever except his case be exempt and priviledged . This moved Chrysostome , ( whom I cited before ) to think a●…ly , and a consent to adulttery , not evill in Sarah : and this rectified S. Augustines squeamishnes so farre , as to leave us at liberty , to think what we would of that wifes act , which to pay her husbands debt , let out her self one night . For if any of these things had been once evill naturally , they could never recover of that sicknesse ; but ( as I insinuated before ) as those things which we call miracles , were written in the history of Gods purpose , as exactly , and were as certainly to come to passe , as the rising and setting of the sunne , and as naturally , in 〈◊〉 compagine naturae , ( for there is no interlining in that book of God : ) So in that his eternall Register where he foresees all our acts , he hath preserued and defended , from that ordinary corruption of evill purpose , of inexcusable ignorance , of scandall , and of such other inquinations of indifferent things , ( as he is said to have done our B. Lady from originall sinne in her inanimation , ) Some of those acts of ours , which to those who do●… not studiously distinguish circumstances , or see not the doers conscience , and testimony of Gods spirit , may at the first tast have some of the brachishnes of sin . Such was o Moses killing of the Egyptians ; for which there appears no especiall calling from God. But because this falls not often : S. Paul would not embolden us , to do any of those things which are customarily reputed evill . But if others be delighted with the more ordinary interpretation of this place , that it speaks of all that which we call sinne , I will not refute that interpretation , so they make not the Apostles rule , ( though in this place this be not given properly and exactly for a rule ; ) more strickt than the morall praecepts of the Decalogue it self , in which , as in all rules there are naturally included and incorporated some exceptions , which if they allow in this , they are still at the beginning ; for this case may fall within those exceptions . Otherwise , that the generall application of this rule , is not proper , as by infinite other places , so it appears evidently by that in p Bellarmine , where he says , that by reason of this rule , a man may not with neglecting a poore neighbour , adorne a church ; Yet there are a great many cases , wherein we may neglect this poore neighbour ; and therefore that is not naturally evill . And certainly whosoever is delighted with such arguments , and such an application of this text , would not only have objected this rule to Lot , when he offered his Daughters , ( for there it might have colour ) but would have joyned with Iudas , when the woman anointed Christ ; and have told her , that allthough the office which shee did were good , yet the wast which shee made first , was evill , and against this rule . SECT . IIII. The same Apostle doth in divers other places use this phrase , That we are the Temples of the Holy Ghost ; And from thence is argued , that it is an unlawfull Sacriledge to demolish or to deface those Temples . But wee are so the Temples of God , as we are his Images ; that is , by his residing in our hearts . And who may doubt , but that the blessed Soules of the departed , are still his Temples , and Images : Even amongst heathens , those Temples which were consecrated to their gods , might in cases of publique good or harme , be demolished , and yet the ground remaine sacred . And in the two first places , is one●… a Dehortation from polluting our hearts , which are Gods Temples , with Idolatry , o●… other sinne . In the other place he calles our materiall body , the temple : and he makes it to us an argument that we should flye from fornication , because therein wee trespas against our owne body . And so here arises a double argument , that we may not doe injurie to our owne body , neither as it is ours , nor as it is Gods. In the first of these then , he sayes , [ A Fornicator sinnes against , his body ; ] for as hee sayd two verses before , [ Hee makes himselfe one body with an Harlot , ] and so hee diminishes the dignity of his owne person . But is it so , in our Case ? When he withdrawes and purges it from all corruptions , and delivers it from all the inquinations , and venime , and maligne Machinations of his , and Gods adversaries , and prepares it by Gods insinuation and concurrence , to that glory , which without death , cannot bee attained . Is it a lesse dignitie , that himselfe bee the Priest of God , and that himselfe be the Sacrifice of God , then that he be the Temple ? But sayes Paul , [ a Your body is the Temple of God , and you are not your owne . ] But saies Calvine here , you are not so your owne , that you may live at your owne will , or abuse your body with pollutions and uncleannesse . Our body is so much ●…r owne , as we may use it to Gods glory , a●… it is so little our owne , as when hee is pleased to have in , we doe well in resigning it to him , by what Officer soever he accept it , whether by Angell , Sicknesse , Persecutron , Magistrate , or our selves . Onely bee carefull of this last lesson , in which hee amasses and gathers all his former Doctrine , [ b Glorifte God in your body , and in your spirit , for they are his . ] SECT . V. The place of the Ephesians hath some assinity with this ; which is , [ But let us follow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in love , and in all things grow up into him , which is the head , that is Christ , till we are all met together , unto a perfect man. ] By which wee receive the honour to be one body with Christ our head ; which is a after more expressely declared . [ We are Members of his body , of his flesh , and of his bone . ] And therefore , they say , that to withdraw our selves , which are limmes of him , is not onely homicide of our selves , who cannot live without him , but a Paricide towards him , who is our common Father . But as in Fencing , Passion layes a man as open , as unskilfulnesse , and a troubled desire to hitt , makes one not onely misse , but receive a wound ; so out of an inordinate fervour , to strike home , hee which alledgeth this place , over-reacheth to his owne danger ; for onely this is taught herein , that all our growth and vegetation : flowes from our head , Christ. And that he hath chosen to himselfe for the perfection of his body , limmes proportionall thereunto , and that , as a soule through all the body , so this care must live , and dwell in every part , that it be ever ready to doe his proper function , and also to succour those other parts , for whose reliefe or sustentation it is framed , and planted in the body . So that herein there is no litterall construction to be admitted , as though the body of Christ could be imperfited , by the removing of any man. For , as from a tree , some leaves passe their naturall course and season , and fall againe being withered by age , and some fruits are gathered unripe , and some ripe , and some branches which in a storme fall off , are carryed to the fire ; So in this body of Christ , the Church , ( I meane that which is visible ) all these are also fulfilled and performed , and yet the body suffers no maims , much lesse the head any detriment . This place therefore is so farre from giving encouragement to any particular man to be carefull of his owne well being , as the Expositors ( of what perswasion soever in controverted points ) accept from hence an argument , that for the establishing , and sustentation of the whole body , a man is bound to depart with all respects to himselfe , and give his life to strengthen them which are weake . And this place , as a common Conduit head hath affoorded justification for Martyrdomes , for pestilent visitations , and for all those Desertions of our selves , and of our naturall right of preserving our selves , which wee had occasion to insist upon before . SECT . VI. As therefore that construction doth well consist with those words , so doth it also with the words in the next Chapter , [ No man ever hated his owne flesh , but nourished it , &c. ] Of which Hate , because we are to speake when wee come to Christs Commandement of Hating our life , we will here onely say , with a Marlorate upon this place , [ He hates not his flesh , who hates the desires thereof , and would subject it to the Spirit : no more then a Goldsmith hates that gold , which hee casts into a furnace to purifie , and reduce to a better fashion . ] And , because out of the Armory of Scripture I have not found that they take any better weapons , nor any more , we may here end this Distinction . Distinction IV. SECT . 1. IN the next our busines is , to try of what force and proofe their armes are against their adversaries forces . Of which we shall oppose two sorts ; The first naturall and assured Subjects , which are , Reasons arising naturally from places of Scripture , and these , in this distinction ; The other , Examples , as Auxiliaries . For though we rely not upon them , yet we have this advantage in that kind , that our aduersaries can make no use , nor profit of Examples . And therefore that answer which both Peter Martyr , and Lavater from him make , that we must not live by examples , and that if examples proved any thing they had the stronger side , ( that is , there have beene more men which have not killed themselves , then which have , ) may well seeme from p●…rem pro●…inesse , and lazinesse , and impossibillity of better defence , to have too much allay , to be currant . To prepare us therefore to a right understanding , and application of these places of scripture , we must arrest awhile vpon the nature , and degrees , and effects of charity ; the mother , and forme of all vertue ; which shall not onely lead us to heaven , ( for faith opens us the doore ) but shall continue with us when we are there , when both Faith , and Hope , are spent and uselesse . We shall no where find a better pourtrait of charity , then that which S. Augustine hath drawne : she loves not that which should not be loved ; she neglects not that which should be loved ; she bestows not more love upon that , which deserves lesse ; nor doth she equally love more and lesse worthines ; nor upon equall worthines , bestow more and lesse love . a To this charity the same blessed and happy Father , proportions this growth . [ Inchoated , increased , growne great , and perfected , and this last is , saith he ; when in respect of it , we contemne this life ] And yet he acknowledgeth a higher charity then this . For b P. Lombard allowing charity this growth , [ beginning , proficient , perfect , more , and most perfect . ] he cites c S. Augustine who calls [ that perfect charity to be readie to dy for another . ] But when he comes to that , then which none can be greater , he says then , the Apostle came to d cupto dissolvi . For as [ e one may love God , with all his heart , and yet he may grow in that , and love God more with all his heart , for f the first was commanded in the Law , and yet g counsail of perfection was given to him , who said that he had fullfilled the first commandement , ] So as S. Augustine found a degree above that charity , which made a man paratum ponere which is cupere , so there is a degree above that , which is to doe it . This is that vertue , by which h Martyrdome , which is not such of it self , becomes an act of highest perfection . And this is that vertue , which i assureth any suffering which proceeds from it to be infallibly accompanied with the grace of God. Vpon assurednes therefore , and testimony of a rectified conscience , that we have a charitable purpose , let us consider how farre we may adventure upon authority of Scripture in this matter which we have in hand . SECT . 11. First therefore by the frame and working of Saint Pauls argument to the Corinthians , [ Though I give my body that I be burned , and have not love , it 〈◊〉 nothing . ] These two things appeare evidently . First , That in a generall notion and common reputation , it was esteemed a high degree of perfection to dye so , and therefore not against the Law of Nature . And secondly , by this exception , ( without Charity ) it appeares , that with Charity it might well and profitably be done . For the first , if any thinke that the Apostle here takes example of an impossible thing , as when it is sayd , [ If an Angel from heaven teach other doctrine , ] he will , I thinke , correct himselfe , if he consider the former verses , and the Apostles progresse in his argument ; wherein to dignifie Charity , the most that hee can , hee undervalues all other gifts , which were there ambitiously affected . For Eloquence he sayes , it is nothing to have all Languages , no not of Angels ; which is not put literally , for they have none ; but to expresse a high degree of Eloquence , as Calvine sayes here . Or , as Lyra sayes , by language of Angels is meant , the desire of communicating our conceptions to one another . And then he adds , That knowledge of Mysteries and Prophecies , is also nothing ; which was also much affected . And for Miraculous Faith , it is also nothing . For the first of these guifts , doth not make a man better ; for Balams Asse could speake , and was still an Asse . And the second Judas had , and the Pharisees . And the third is so small a matter , that as much as a graine of Musterseed is enough to remove mountaines . All these therefore were faisable things , and were sometimes done . So also , after he had passed through the gifts of knowledge , and gifts of utterance , hee presents the gifts of working in the same manner ; and therefore , as he sayes , If I feed the poore with all my goods , ( which he presents as a harder thing then either of the other , ( for in the other God gives me , but here I give other ) yet possible to be done . ) So he presents the last , If I give my body , as the hardest of all , and y●…t , as all the rest , sometimes to be done . That which I observed secondly to arise from this argument , was , That with Charity such a death might be acc●…ptable . And though I know the Donatists are said to have made this use of these words , yet , because the intent and end conditions every action , and infuses the poyson , or the nourishment which they which follow suck from thence , and we know that the Donatists rigorously and tyrannously racked and detorted thus much from this place , That they might present themselves to others promiscuously to bee killed , and if that were denied to them , they might kill themselves , and them who refused it . Yet , I say , I doubt not but thus much may naturally be collected from hence , that by this word , If I give my body , is insinuated somewhat more then a prompt and willing yeelding of it , when I am enforced to it , by the persecuting Magistrate . And that these words will justifie the fact of the Martyr Nicephorus , being then in perfect Charity . Whose case was , That having had some enmitie with Sapritius , who was brought to the place where he was to receive the bloudy crowne of Martyredome , he fell downe to Sapritius , and begged from him then , a pardon of all former bitternesses . But Sapritius elated with the glory of Martyredome , refused him ; but was presently punished ; for his faith coold , and he recanted , and lived . And Nicephorus standing by , stepped into his roome , and cryed , I am also a Christian , and so provoked the Magistrate to execute him ; least from the faintnesse of Sapritius , the cause might have received a wound , or a scorne . And this I take to bee Giving of his body . Of which , as there may be such necessitie for confirming of weaker Christians , that a man may be bound to doe it , as in this case , is very probable . So there may bee cases in men very exemplary , and in the cunning and subtile carriage of the Pesecutor , as one can no other way give his body for testimony of Gods truth , to which he may then be bound , but by doing it himselfe . SECT . III. As therefore Naturally and Customarily men thought it good to dye so , and that such a death with charity was acceptable , so is it generally said by Christ , [ That the good Shepherd doth give his life for his sheepe . ] Which is a justifying and approbation of our inclination thereunto . For to say , The good doe it , is to say , They which doe it are good . And as we are all sheep of one fold , so in many cases , we are all shepherds of one another , and owe one another this dutie , of giving our temporall lives , for anothers spirituall advantage ; yea , for his temporall . For a that I may abstaine from purging my selfe , when anothers crime is imputed to me , is grounded upon such another b Text as this , where it is said , The greatest love , is to bestow his life for his friend . In which , and all of this kind , we must remember , that we are commanded to doe it so , as Christ did it ; and how Christ gave his body , we shall have another place to consider . SECT . IV. Hereupon because Saint Peters zeale so forward , and carried him so high , that hee would dye for the Shepherd ; for so he saies , [ I will lay downe my life , for thy sake . ] And this , as all Expositors say , was meerely and purely out of naturall affection , without examination of his owne strength to performe it ; but presently and roundly Nature carryed him to that promise . And upon a more deliberate and orderly resolution , Saint Paul witnesseth of himselfe such a willingnesse to dye for his brethren , [ I will be gladly bes●…ed for your s●…es . ] SECT . V. A Christian nature rests not in knowing thus much , That we may doe it , That Charitie makes it good , That the good doe it , and that wee must alwaies promise , that is , encline to doe it , and doe something towards it , but will have the perfect fulnesse of doing it in the resolution and doctrine , and example of our blessed Saviour , who saies , de facto , [ I lay down my life for my sheepe . ] And saith M●…lus , hee useth the present word , because hee was ready to doe it : and as a Paul and 〈◊〉 , men yet alive ; are said to have laid downe their lives for Christ. ] But I rather thinke , ( because exposing to danger , is not properly call'd a dying , ) that Christ said this now , because his Passion was begun ; for all his conversations here were degrees of exinanition . To expresse the abund●… and overflowing charitie of our Saviour , all words are defective ; for if we could expresse all which he did , that came not neere to that which he would doe , if need were . It is observed by b one , I ( confesse , too credulous an Authour , but yet one that administers good and wholesome incitements to Devotion , ) That Christ going to Emaus spake of his Passion so sleightly , as though he had in three dayes forgot all that he had suffered for us . And that Christ in an apparition to Saint Charles , sayes , that he would be content to dy againe , if need were . Yea , to c Saint Brigit he said , [ That for any one soule he would suffer as much in every limme , as he had suffered for all the world in his whole body . ] And d this is noted for an extreame high degree of Charity , out of Ans●…lme , that his B. Mother said , [ Rather then he should not have been Crucified , shee would have done it with her owne hands . And certainly his charity was not inferiour to hers ; He did as much as any could be willing to doe . And therefore , as himself said , [ No man can take away my soule ] And [ I have power to lay it down ; ] So without doubt , no man did take it away , nor was there any other then his own will , the cause of his dying at that time ; many Martyrs having hanged upon Crosses many days alive : And the theeves were yet alive ; And therefore e Pilate wondred to heare that Christ was dead . [ His Soule , saith f S●… Aug. did not leave his body constrained , but because he would , and when he would , and how he would . ] Of which g S. Thomas produces this symptome , That he had yet his bodies nature in her full strength , because at the last moment he was able to cry with a loud voice . And h Marlorate gathers it upon this , that whereas our heads decline after our death by the slacknesse of the sinews and muscles , Christ did first of himself bow downe his head , and then give up the ghost . So , though it be truly said i [ After they have scourged him , they will put him to death , ] yet it is said so , because malitiously and purposely to kill him they inflicted those paines upon him ; which would in time have killed him , but yet nothing which they had done occasioned his death so soone . And therefore k S. Thomas , a man neither of unholy thoughts , nor of bold or irreligious or scandalous phrase or elocution , ( yet I adventure not so farre in his behalfe as l Sylvester doth , [ that it is impossible that hee should have spoken any thing against faith or good manners , ] forbeares not to say , [ That Christ was ●…so much the cause of his death , as he is of his wetting , which might and would not shut the windowe , when the raine beats in . ] This actuall emission of his soule , which is death , and which was his own act , and before his naturall time , m ( which his best beloved Apostle could imitate , who also died when he would , and went into his grave , and there gave up the Ghost , and buried himselfe , which is reported but of very ( n ) few others , and by no very credible Authors , ) we find thus celebrated , ( o ) That that is a brave death , which is accepted unconstrained ; and that it is an Heroique Act of Fortitude , if a man when an urgent occasion is presented , expose himselfe to a certaine and assured death , as he did . And it is there said , that Christ did so , as Saul did , who thought it foule , and dishonourable to dye by the hand of an Enemy . And that Apollonia , and others who prevented the fury of Executioners , and cast themselves into the fire , did therein immitate this act of our Saviour , of giving up his soule , before hee was constrained to do it . So that if the act of our blessed Saviour , in whom there was no more required for death , but that he should wil that his soule should goe out , were the same as Sauls , and these Martyrs actuall furtherance , which could not dye without that , then wee are taught that all those places , of Giving up our bodies to death , and of Laying downe the soule , signifie more then a yeelding to death when it comes . SECT . VI. And to my understanding there is a further degree of alacrity , and propensenesse to such a death , expressed in that phrase of John , [ Hee that hateth his life in this world , shall keepe it unto life eternall . And in that of Luke , [ Except he hate his owne life , he cannot be my Disciple . ] Such a lothnesse to live is that which is spoken of in the Hebrews , a [ Some were rack'd , and would not bee delivered , that they might receive a better Resurrection . ] This place b Calvine interprets of a readinesse to dye , and expresses it elegantly , To carrie our life in our hands , offering it to God for a Sacrifice . And this c the Jesuits in their rule extend thus farre , [ Let every one thinke that this was said directly to him , Hate thy life . ] And they who in the other place , accept this phrase , No man hateth his owne flesh , to yeeld an argument against Selfe-homicide in any case , must also allow that the same hate being commanded here , authorises that act in some case . And Saint Augustine apprehending the strength of this place , denies that by the authoritie of it , the Donatists can justifie their Selfe-homicide when they list to dye , but yet in these cases which are exempt from his rules , this place may encourage a man n●…t to neglect the honour of God , onely upon this reason , that no body else will take his life . SECT . VII . And therefore the holy ghost proceeds more directly in the first Epistle of Saint Iohn , and shews us a necessary duty , [ Because he laid 〈◊〉 his life for us , therefore we ought to lay downe our lives for our brethren . ] All these places work us to a true understanding of charity , and to a contempt of this life , in respect of it . And as these informe us how ready we must be , So all those places which direct us by the example of Christ , to doe it as he did , shew , that in cases when our lives must be given , we neede not ever attend extrinsique force of others , but as he did in perfect charity , so we in such degrees of it , as this life , and our nature are capable of , must dy by our owne will , rather then his glory be neglected , whensoever , a as Paul saith , Christ may be magnified in our bodies , or the spirituall good of such another as wee are bound to advance , doth importune it . SECT . VIII . To which readines of dying for his bretheren , Saint Paul had so accustomed himself , and made it his nature , that but for his generall resolution of doing that ever which should promove their happines , he could scarce have obtain'd of himself leave to live . For , at first he says , he knew not which to wish , life or , death ; ( and therefore generally without some circumstance incline or avert us , they are equall to our nature . ) Then after much perplexity , he was resolved , and desired to be loose , and to be with Christ ; ( therefore a holy man may wish it . ) But yet he corrected that againe , because saith he , [ To abide in the flesh , is more needfull for you . ] And therefore charity must be the rule of our wishes , and actions in this point . SECT . IX . There is another place to the Galatians , which though it reach not to death , yet it proves that holy men may be ready to expresse their loves to another , by violence to themselves . For he saith , [ If it had bene possible , you would have plucked out your own eies , and given me : ] . And Calvin saith , [ this was more then vitam profundere . ] And this readines Saint Paul reprehends not in them . SECT . X. But of the highest degrees of compassionate charity for others , is that of the Apostle , in contemplation of the Jewes dereliction . [ I would wish my selfe to be seperated from Christ , for my brethren . The bitternesse of which Anathema , himself teaches us to understand , when in a another place , he wishes the same , [ To those which love not Jesus Christ. And this fearefull wish which charitie excused in him , was utter damnation , as all Expositors say . And though I beleeve with Cal●in● , that at this time , in a zealous fury he remembred not deliberately his own election , and therefore cannot in that respect , be said to have resisted the will of God , yet it remaines , as an argument to us , That Charitie will recompence , and justifie many excesses , which seeme unnaturall , and irregular , and enormous transportations . SECT . XI . As in this Apostle of the Gentiles , so in the Law-giver of the Jewes , the like compassion wrought the like effect ; and more . For Moses●…sted ●…sted not in wishing , but face to face argued with God , [ If thou pardon them , thy mercie shall appeare , but if then will not , I pray thee blot my name 〈◊〉 of the booke which thou hast written ] I know , that many out of a reasonable Collection , that it became Moses to bee reposed , and dispassioned , and of ordinare affection in his conversation with God , are of op●…on , that he strayed no further in this wish , and imprecation , then to be content that his name should bee blotted out of the Scriptures , and so to lose the honour of being known to posterity for a remarkable instrument of Gods power and mercie . But , since a naturall infirmity could worke so much upon Christ , in whom there may be suspected no inordinatenesse of affections , as to divert him a little , and make him slip a faint wish of escaping the Cup ; why might not a brave and noble zeale , exalt Moses so much , as to desire to restore such a Nation to the love of God , by his owne destruction . For , as certainely the first of these was without sinne , so the other might be , out of an habituall assurednesse of his salvation , as a Paulinus sayes , to Amandus , [ Thou maist bee bold in thy prayers to God for mee , to say , forgive him , or blot out me , for thou canst not bee blottedout ; Instum delere non potest Iustitia . ] And thus retaining ever in our minds , that our example is Christ , and that he dyed not constrained , it shall suffice to have learned by these places , that in Charitie men may dye so , and have done , and ought to doe . The last thing which remaines yet , is to consider the Examples reported in the Scriptures : which cannot possesse us long , because a few Rules will include many examples ; and those few rules which are applyable to these Histories , have been often iterated already ; and , for other Rules , which may enlighten and governe us in all occurrences , for many Reasons I respite to a maturer deliberation and discourse . Distinct. V. SECT . I. AS when I entred into the examination of places of Scriptures , it seemed to me to have some weight , that in all the Judiciall and Ceremoniall Law , there was no abomination of Selfe-homicide . So doth it , That in relating the Histories of them who killed themselves , the phrase of Scripture never diminishes them by any aspersion or or imputation for that fact , if they were otherwise vertuous , nor aggravates thereby their former wickednesse , if they were wicked . Formy part , I am content to submit my self to that Rule , which is delivered from a Iraeneus , [ That those things which the Scripture doth not reprehend , but simply lay downe , it becomes not us to accuse ; nor to make our selves more diligent then God ; but if any thing seeme to us irregular , our endeavour must be , to serch out the Type , and signification thereof . ] Neither shall I , for all this , be in danger of b Bezaes answer to that Argument of Ochius , That though some of the Patriarches lived unreprehended in Polygamie , it concluded nothing , because ( saith Beza ) The silence of Scripture in c Jacobs Incest , and in d Lots , and in e Davids unjust judgement ; For Siba doth not deliver them from guiltinesse and transgression therein . For our case differs from all others , both because this act is not from any place of the Law evicted to be sinne . And because here is a concurrence of Examples , of this fact without any reprehension : So that that answere is so farre short from reaching us , that it reached not home to that argument of Ochius against which it was opposed . And if in debating these Examples , it be found , that some very reverend Authors , have concluded impenitence , and consequently utter desertion on Gods part , and so eternall perishing ; the circumstances as they appeared to him then , may have made his judgement just : but for any other thereupon to apply that case to others , will not be safe . For f [ Though a Iudge may in causa versanti interpret the Law , that Interpretation makes not Law. ] SECT . II. As therfore in the former Distinctions wee spoke of some approaches to the act of self-killing , so will wee in this pause a very little upon two such steps . a The first shal be of the prophet in the book of Kings , [ who bad a stranger strike him , and because he would not , pronounc'd a heavy judgement upon him , which was presently excecuted . And then he importuned another to doe it , who did it throughly , for he wounded him with the stroake . ] This was , to common understanding an unnaturall thing , that so holy a man should make such meanes to have his body violated , and so it seems the first apprehended it , however it pleased God to enlighten the second . This I produce not as though the prophet inclind to it of his owne disposition , for it is expressely in the text , that God commanded him to doe it . But because this is the only place in all the scriptures , where those which offer , or desirously admit violence to their owne bodies , are said to have done it , by the expresse motion of God , I collect from it , that it is not without some boldness , if others affirme without authority of the text , that the death of Samson and others , had the same foundation , when it appeares by this , that God when he would have it understood so , is pleased to deliver it plainly and expressely . SECT . III. The next before we come to those who entirely killed themselves , is Io●…as , who by often wishing his own death , and moving the ma●…ers to cast him out into the sea , made many steps towards the very act . I know that it is everie where said , that those words , a [ Take me●… , and cast me into the Sea , ] proceeded from a prophetique spirit ; And b St. Hierome saith [ that in this prophetique spirit , he foresaw that the Ninivites would repent , and so his preaching would be discredited . ] But if this be so , must he not also in the same Prophetique Spirit see , that their repentance must be occasioned by his going thither and preaching there ? And if this perswading to his destruction , being now innocent in their understanding ; for they prayed , [ Lay not innocent bloud upon us . ] were from Divine motion , shall wee dare to impute also to like motions and spirit , his angry importuning of death ? [ Take I beseech thee , my life from me , for it is better for me , to dye then to live . ] And after he wished from his heart to dye , and said , [ I doe well to be angry unto the death . ] c St. Hierome calles him Sanctum Ionam ; and when Lyra observes that he had not done so , to any of the other Prophets , he concludes , that this testimony needed most in Ionas , who by his many reluctations against Gods will , might else fall into some suspition of eternall perishing . Which since we must be f●…r from fearing in so eminent and exemplary a type of Christ , and yet have no ground to admit any such particular impulsion of Gods Spirit , as Hierome and Lyra pronounce him holy , for all these reluctations ; so may we esteeme him advised , and ordinate , and rectified , for all these approches , which in wishing and consenting he made to his owne death . SECT . IV. Of those which in the Scriptures are registred to have killed themselves , Samson is the first . A man so exemplar , that not onely the times before him had him in Prophecy , a ( for of him it is said , ) [ Dan shall judge his people , ] and the times after him more consummately in Christ , of whom he was a Figure , but even in his own time , other nations may seeme to have had some Type , or Copy of him , in Hercules . His fact of selfe-killing is celebrated by the Church to everlasting memory , as the act of a Martyr ; and as very many others in their Homilies and expositions . So that renowned b Paulinus sayes , [ God send me the death of Sampson , and Sampsons blindnesse , that I may live to God , and looke to God. ] And this generall applause and concurrence in the praise of the fact , hath made many think , or at least write , that he purposed not to kill himselfe : being loath either to depart from their opinion who extoll him , or to admit any thing which may countenance that manner of dying . Of which perswasion c two very learned men labour to seeme to be . But , besides that such an exposing of himselfe to unevitable danger , is the same fault as Selfe-homicide , when there is any fault in it , the very Text is against them ; for Samson dyed with these words in his mouth , d [ Let mee lose my life with the philistims . ] And though sometimes these Authors adde , That hee intended not his owne death principally , but accidentally ( as Calvine also sayes , that Saint Paul did not desire death for deaths sake , but to be with Christ , ) this can remove no man from our side , for wee say the same , that this may be done onely , when the honour of God may bee promoved by that way , and no other . Therefore to justifie this fact in Samson , e Saint Augustine equally zealous of Samsons honour , and his own conscience , builds still upon his old foundation , [ That this was by the speciall inspiration from God. ] Which , because it appeares not in the History , nor lyes in proofe , may with the same easinesse be refused , as it is presented . To give strength to this opinion of Augustine , f our Countreyman Sayr presents one reason preceding the fact , and g Pedraca the Spaniard , another subsequent . The first is that hee prepared himselfe to it by Prayer . But in this prayer , you may observe much humanity , and weakenesse and selfe-respect . [ O Lord , saith he , I beseech thee , Strenghthen me at this time onely , that I may be ave●…d of the Philistims for my two eyes . The second reason is , that because hee effected that which he desired , it is to be presumed , that God restored him his strength to that end , which he asked it . But , besides that in the text it appeares , that h his haire before that time , was begunne to be growne out againe , and so his strength somewhat renewed ; doth this prove any impulsion , and incitement , and prevention of the holy Ghost , to that particular act , or rather only an habituall accompanying and awaking him , to such actions by which God might be honoured and glorified , whensoever any occasion should be presented ? When therefore he felt his strength in part refreshed , and had by Prayer intreated the perfecting thereof , seeing they tooke continuall occasion from his dejection to ●…orne and reproach his God , burning with an equall fervour to revenge their double fault , and to remove the wretched occasion thereof , he had i as a very subtile Author sayes , the same reason to kill himselfe , which hee had to kill them , and the same authoritie , and the same priviledge , and safeguard from sinne . And he dyed , as the same man sayes , with the same zeale as Christ , unconstrained ; for k In this manner of dying , as much as in any thing els , he was a Type of Christ. SECT . V. The next example is Saul . And whether he did perfect and consummat the act of killing himself , or the Amalekite contribute his help , it makes no difference to our purpose ; But that the latter was true , may wel enough consist with the relation of the history in the a first place , and it appeares to be the more likely and probable out of the b second : And by c Iosephus it is absolutely so delivered ; And the d scholastique history saith also , that Saul was too weake to force the sword through his body . Two things use to be disputed of Saul . Whether hee were saved or no ; And whether if hee perished , it was for impenitence testified or presumed by this act of his . The Iewes are generally indulgent to him : And the Christians generally severe upon this reason , that it is said of him , e [ Saul dyed for his transgressions against the Lord , and his word , and asking counsaile of a witch . ] But this doth not necessarily conclude an impenitence , or a second death . For the Iews say , That beleeving the sentence of Samuel in the apparitions , and accepting that decree as from God , he repented his formet life , and then presented and delivered up himselfe and his sonnes , conformably to the revealed will of God , there in the field to be sacrificed to him : understanding Samuells words you shall be with me , to be spoken , not generally of the state of the dead , but of the state of the just , because both Samuel himself was so , and so was Jonathan , whose condition in this promise of being with Samuel , was the same as his Fathers . And therefore saith Lyra , [ all Iews and some Christians agree , that least by his reproach dishonour might redound upon God , a good and Zealous man may kill himself , as Samson did , and the Virgins . ] And he addeth , [ If other reasons were not sufficient to excuse Saul , this also might justly be applied to him , that he did it by divine instinct . ] Out of which I observe these two things , that he presumes there are other reasons sufficient in some cases , whether they were in Sauls case or no. And then the reason upon which Lyra●… presumes he dyed well , [ because the contrary is not declared in Scriptures , nor determined by the Church . ] And Saul hath a good testimony of sanctity in this act , from f Mallonius , [ That as Christ died when he would , so did Saul , thinking it dishonourable to dye by the hand of his , and Gods enemies . ] That argument which Burgensis bringeth to the contrary , suffereth more force and violence in being brought in , then it giveth strength to his opinion . It is , [ That if the fact were justifiable in Saul , it had beene so too in the Amalekite , if his profession to David were true , That he had killed Saul , and consequently David unjust in that execution . ] But , besides that , that Amalekite had no conscience , nor inward knowledge of Sauls just reasons , nor other warrant but his commandement , which might , and was to him likely to proceed from Sauls infirmities , it might well appeare to David , by his comming to tell him the newes , that he had humane respects in doing it , and a purpose onely to deserve well of David . And when both Judge and prisoner are innocent , oft times the Executioner may be a Murtherer . And such humane respects of wearinesse and despaire , and shame , and feare , and fidelity to his Master , and amazement , and such , stand in the way betweene Sauls Armour-bearer and all excuses , to our understandings . For though the phrase of Scripture impute nothing to him for that fact of killing himselfe , yet I have found none that offer any particular excuse in his defence . SECT . VI. Neither doe I finde any thing to excuse Achitophels death ; though ( as I said of the other ) the History doe not accuse that particular fact . The Text calles his counsaile good , and it seems he was not transported with passion , because he set his house in order ; And he was buried in his Fathers grave , when Absalou slaine by anothers hand was cast into a pit . But if it were upon a meere dispute of his owne disgrace , or feare of ill successe , or upon any selfe respect , without proposing Gods glorie , and he repented not , he perished . SECT . VII . Of Judas , the most sinnefull instrument of the most mercifull Worke , the common , ( though not generall ) opinion is , that he killed himselfe ; but whether by hanging , or no , is more controverted . For from the words in the a Acts , [ That he threw himselfe downe headlong , and burst asunder , and his bowels gushed out . ] b Euthymius thinks , That he was rescued whilst he hanged , and carryed away , and that after that hee killed himselfe by throwing himselfe headlong . And c Brentius leaves that indifferent to us , to thinke what we will thereof . But it seemes by d Oecumenius , that he did not only overlive this hanging , but that he grew to so enormous a bignesse , and burden to himselfe , that he was not able to withdraw himselfe out of a Coaches way , but had his guts crushed out so ; which he receives from Papias the Disciple to Saint Iohn , whose times cannot be thought ignorant , or incurious of Iudas History . And it is there said further , that by others it was said , that being swolne to that vastnesse , and corrupted with vermine , hee laid himselfe down upon his field , and there his guts broke out . And this e Theophilact followes . And it falls out very often , that some one Father , of strong reputation and authority in his time , doth snatch and swallow some probable interpretation of Scripture : and then digesting it into his Homilies , and applying it in dehortations , and encouragements , as the occasions and diseases of his Auditory , or his age require , and imagining thereupon delightfull and figurative insinuations , and setting it to the Musique of his stile , ( as every man which is accustomed to these Meditations , shall often finde in himselfe such a spirituall wantonnesse , and devout straying into such delicacies , ) that sense which was but probable , growes necessary , and those who succeed , had rather enjoy his wit , then vexe their owne ; as often times we are loath to change or leave off a counterfeit stone , by reason of the well setting thereof . By this meanes , I thinke , it became so generally to be beleeved , that the fruit which Eve eat , was an Apple ; And that Lots wife was turned to a pillar of Salt ; And that Absalon was hanged by the haire of the head ; And that Iephthe killed his Daughter ; And many other such , which grew currant , not from an evidence in the Text , but because such an acceptation , was most usefull , and applyable . Of this number , Iudas case might be . But if it were not , that act of killing himselfe , is not added to his faults in any place of Scriptures ; no not in those f two Psalmes of particular accusations , and bitter imprecations against him , as they are ordinarily taken to be Prophetically purposed and directed . And even of this man , whose sinne , if any can exceed mercy , was such , Origen durst hope , not out of his erronious compassion , and sinnefull charity , by which he thinks that even the Devill shall be saved , but out of Iudas repentance . He sayes , g [ The Devill led him to the sinne , and then induced him to that sorrowfulnesse which swallowed him . ] But speaking of his repentance , he sayes , [ h Those words , when Iudas saw that he was condemned , belong to Judas himselfe , for Christ was not then condemned . And upon this conscience and consideration , began his repentance . [ For , it may be , saith Origen , that Satan which had entred into him , staid with him till Christ was betray'd , and then left him , and thereupon repentance followed . ] And perchance , sayes he , he went to prevent , and goe before his Master , who was to dye , and so to meet him with his naked soule , that he might gaine Mercy by his confession and prayers . ] And i Calvine , ( though his purpose be , to enervate and maime , ( or at least , declare it to be so defective , ) that repentance which is admitted for sufficient in the Romane Church , sayes that [ In Iudas there was perfect contrition of heart , Confession of the mouth , and satisfaction for the money . ] But k Petilian , against whom Saint Augustine writes , proceeded further in justification of Iudas last act , then any . For hee said , [ That in suffering death when hee repented , and so was a Confessor , hee became a Martyr . ] Which opinion being pronounced singularly and undefensibly ; l Saint Augustine answers as choleriquely , [ Laqueum talibus reliquit . ] Yet Saint Augustine himselfe confesseth , that an innocent man , should more have sinned in such an act , then Iudas did , because in his execution there were some degrees of justice . But of his actuall impenitence I purposed not to speake , nor of his repentance , but onely to observe to you , that this last fact is not imputed to him , nor repentance said to be precluded thereby . SECT . VIII . For the Passive action of Eleazar , none denies , but that that endangering of himselfe , was an act of Vertue : yet it was a forsaking and exposing himselfe to certaine Destruction . For every Elephant had thirty two men upon him : and was guarded with one thousand Foot , and five hundred Horse : And this which he slew , was in his opinion , the Kings Elephant , and therefore the better provided . Howsoever hee might hope to escape before the very act of killing the Elephant , by creeping under it , was a direct killing of himselfe , as expressely as Samson pulling down the house . And the reasons of this action , are rendered in the Text to have been , To deliver his people , and to get a perpetuall name . And this fact doth Saint Ambrose extoll by many glorious circumstances ; As [ That hee flung away his Target , which might have sheltred him , That despising death , he forced into the midst of the Army , and Inclusus ruin●… , magis quam oppressus , suo est sepultus Triumpho ; And that by death he begot peace , as the heire of his valour . ] And as very many Schoolemen have intended and exercised their wits in the praise of this action , So a Cajetan gives such a reason thereof , as is applyable to very many Selfe-homicides . [ That to expose our selves to certaine death , if our first end be not our owne death , but common good , it is lawfull . For , saith hee , Our actions which bee Morally good or bad , must bee judged to bee such , by the first reason which moves them ; not by any accident , or concomitance , accompanying , or succeding them , though necessarily . ] And this resolution of Cajetan , will include many Cases , and instances , which are headlongly by intemperate censures condemned . SECT . IX . The fall of Rasis , which is the last Example , is thus reported . [ Hee was besieged and fired ; willing to dye manfully , and escape repr●… , unworthy of his House , hee fell upon his Sword ; for haste , hee mist his stroke , and threw himselfe from the Castle wall ; yet rose up againe , and ranne to a high Rocke , tooke out his owne bowells , and threw them among the people , calling upon the Lord of life and spirit , and so died . ] Which Act the Text accuseth not ; nor doth St. a Thomas accuse it of any thing else , but that it was Cowardlinesse . Which also b Aristotle imputes to this manner of dying , as wee said c before . But either he spoke at that time , serviceably and advantagiously to the point which hee had then in hand ; or else hee spoke , ut plurimum , because for the most part infirmities provoke men to this act . For d S. Augustine who argues as earnestly as Aristotle , that this is not greatnesse of minde , confesseth yet , that in Cleombrotus it was : who onely upon reading Plato his Phoedo , killed himselfe ; for , saith Augustine : [ When no calamitie urged him , no crime , either true or imputed , nothing but greatnesse of minde moved him , to apprehend death , and to breake the sweet bands of this life . ] And though he adde , [ That it was done rather Magnè then Benè ; ] yet by this , that which wee seeke now is in Confession , that sometimes there is in this act , Greatnesse and Courage . Which upon the same reason which moved Aristotle , and all the rest , which is , to quench in men their naturall love to it , he is loth to affoord in too many cases . For hee e sayes [ That , except Lucrece , it is not easie to finde any example worth the prescribing , or imitating , but Cato : Not because hee onely did it , but because being reputed learned and honest , men might justly thinke , that that was well done , and might well bee done againe , which hee did . ] Yet for all this , hee is loth to ler Catoes act passe with so much approbation , For hee addes , [ That yet many of his learned friends thought it a weaknesse to let him dye so . ] And this hee doth because when men have before them the precedent of a brave example , they contend no further , then what he did , not why . For it is truely said , f Examples doe not stoppe , nor consist in the Degree where they begunne , but grow , and no man thinkes that unworthy for him , which profiteth another . ] Yet , Saint Augustine though upon this reason loth to give glory to many examples , allows all greatnesse and praise to Regulus , g of whom we spoke before : though , to my understanding there are in it many impressions of falsehood , and of ostentation , from all which Cat●…es history is delivered . And , to end this point , whether it be alwais pusillanimity , Laertius says h [ That in Antisthenes the philosopher , videbatur firme mollius , that lying extreame sick , and Diogenes asking him , if he lacked a freind , ( meaning to kill him , ) and offering him also his dagger , to doe it himselfe , the Philosopher said he desired an end of paine , but not of life . ] As therefore this fact of Rasis , may have proceeded from greatnesse , So is it by Lyra excused from all sin , by reasons applyable to many other . For he sayes , [ Either to escape torment , by which probably a man might be seduced to Idolatry , or take away occasion of making them reproach God in him , a man may kill himselfe ; For , saith hee , Both these cases , Ordi●…ntur in Deum . ] And this i Francis a Victoria allowes as the more probable opinion . ] And k Sotus , and l Valentia , follow Thomas his opinion herein ; And Burgensis condemnes it upon this presumption , That hee could not doe this for love of the common good , because this could not redeeme his people , being already captive . So that his accusing him helpes us thus much , that if by his death hee could have redeemed them , hee might lawfully have done it . Conclusion . ANd this is as farre as I allowed my discourse to progesse in this way : forbidding it earnestly all darke and dangerous Secessions and divertings into points of our Free-will , and of Gods Destiny : though allowing many ordinary contingencies , to be under our Election , it may yet seem reasonable , that our maine periods , of Birth , of Death , and of chief alterations in this life be more immediately wrought upon by Gods determination . It is usefully said , and appliable to good purpose ( though a by a wicked man , and with intention to crosse Moses , ) [ That man was made of shaddow , and the Devil of fire . ] For as shaddow is not darknes , but grosser light , so is mans understanding in those mysteries , not blind but clouded . And as fire doth not always give light ( for that is accidentall , and it must have ai●…e to work upon , ) but it burneth naturally , so that desire of knowledge which the Devill kindles in us , ( as he doth as willingly bring bellows to inflame a heart curious of knowledge , as he doth more ashes to stupifie and bury deeper , a slumbering understanding ) doth not alwaies give us light , but it always burnes us , and imprints upon our judgment stigmaticall marks , and at last seares up our conscience . If then reasons which differ from me , and my reasons be otherwise equall , yet theirs have this disadvantage , that they fight with themselves and suffer a Civill Warre of contradiction . For many of their reasons incline us to a love of this life , and a ho●…or of death , and yet they say often , that wee are too much addicted to that naturally . But it is well noted by b Al●…s , ( and I thinke from Saint A●…stine ) [ That though there bee foure things which wee must love , yet there is no precept given upon any more then two , God and our neighbour . So that the other which concerne our selves , may be pretermitted in some occasions . But because of the benefits of death , enough hath beene occasionally intersertted before , having presented c Cyprians encouragement to it , who out of a contemplation that the whole frame of the world decayed and languished , cries to us , [ Nutant parietes , The walls and the roofe shake , and would'st not thou goe out ? Thou art tyred in a pilgrimage , and wouldst thou not goe home ? ] I will end with applying d Ausonius thanks to the Emperour , to death , which deserveth it better , [ Thou providest that thy benefits , and the good which thou bringest shall not be transitory ; and that the ills from which thou deliverest us , shall never returne . ] Since therefore because death hath a little bitternes , but medicinall , and a little allay , but to make it of more use , they would utterly recline & avert our nature from it , ( as e Paracelsus says , of that foule contagious disease which then had invaded mankind in a few places , and since overflown in all , that for punishment of generall licentiousnes , God first inflicted that disease , and when the disease would not reduce us , he sent a second worse affliction , which was ignorant , and torturing Physitians . So I may say of this case , that in punishment of Adams sinne , God cast upon us an infectious death , and since hath sent us a worse plague of men , which accompanie it with so much horrour and affrightment , that it can scarce be made wholsome and agreeable to us . That which f Hippocrates admitted in cases of much profit , and small danger , they teach with too much liberty , [ That worse meat may be given to a patient , so it be pleasanter , and worse drink , so it be more acceptable . ] But though I thought it therefore needfull , to oppose this ●…efensative , as well to re-encourage men to a just contempt of this life , and to restore them to their nature , which is a desire of supreame happines in the next life by the losse of this , as also to rectify , and wash again their fame , who religiously assuring themselves that in some cases , when wee were destitute of other meanes , we might be to our selves the stewards of Gods benefits , and the Ministers of his mercifull Iustice , had yet , being , g as Ennodius says ) Innocent within themselves , incurred damnum opinionis , yet ( as I said before ) I abstained purposely from extending this discourse to particular rules , or instances , both because I dare not professe my self a Maister in so curious a science , and because the limits are obscure , and steepy , and slippery , and narrow , and every errour deadly , except where a competent dilligence being fore-used , a mistaking in our conscience may provide an excuse . As to cure diseases by touch , or by charme , ( both which one h excellent Chirurgian , and one i excellent philosopher , are of opinion may be done , because what vertue soever the heavens infuse into anycreature , man , who is Al , is capable of , and being borne when that vertue is , may receive a like impression , or may give it to a word , or character made at that instant , if he can understand the time ) though these , I say be forbidden by divers Lawes , out of a Just prejudice that vulgar owners of such a vertue , would mis-imploy , it , yet none mislikes that the Kings of England & France , should cure one sicknesse by such meanes , nor k that the Kings of Spaine , should dispossess Daemoniaque persons so , because Kings are justly presumed to use all their power to the glory , of God ; So is it fit , that this priviledge of which we speak should be contracted and restrained . For , that is certainly true of this , which l Cassianus saith of a ly , [ That it hath the nature of Ellebore , wholsome in desperate diseases , but otherwise poyson . ] though I dare not averre with him , [ That we are in desperate diseases , whensoever we are in ingenti ●…ucro , aut damno , et in humilitate , ad evitandam gloriam . ] Howsoeveri i●… Cassianus mistake that , and we this , yet m as he , and Origen , and Chrysostome , and Hierome , are excused for following Platoes opinion , that a ly might have the nature of medicine , and be admitted in many cases , because in their time the church had not declared herself in that point , nor pronounced that a ly was naturally ill , by the same reason am I excusable in this Paradox . Against the reasons whereof , and against charity , if prejudice , or contempt of my weaknes , or mis-devotion have so precluded any , that they have not beene pleased to tast and digest them , I must leave them to their drowsines still , and bid them injoy the favour of that indulgent Physitian , Qui non concoxit , dormiat . FINIS . 20. Sept. 1644. Imprimatur IO : RUSH WORTH . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A36292-e13430 1. The reason of this discourse . a Epist. ante confessionem . Incitements to charity towards the doer . b B. Dorethcus doctrin . 6. c Bosq. conc 2. d lib. de patientia . e Scala paradis . grad 3. f In quaest . fuse disp . ad q. 6. g Forest. de venen . not . in observat . 2. h Serar . Trihaeres . l. 2. c●…p . 17. i Heb. 2. 17. Incitements to charity toward the Author . k Serar . Trihaeres . l. 2. cap. 17. l 10. 5. 2. m Athenag . de resur . Why it is not inconvenient now to handle this point . m Filesacus de authorit . Epis. cap. 1. 97. Dissentions among schollars more and harder to end then others . o Dan. 10. p Humf. Iesui . part . 2. ad rat . 5 q ejusd . part 1 praefat . ad Com Leicest . r Ratio 5. n Such perplexities wee ought to enclin to that side that favoureth the dead . s Notae Mallon . in Pale●…t . Sin. part . 1. cap. 2. t De pietate et ●…blilosophia . Why I make it so publique . u H●…er . Apol. advers . Ruffin . x Theodor. a Niem . l. 2. ca. 37. y Tessarid . 6. What reader I wish . z Gen. 3. 6. et 7. a Hom. de S. Susanna . b Ste●…ch . de Valla de Don. const . The reason of so many citations . c Epist. Tit. Vesp. God punishes that sinn most which occasions most sinne in others . d Paulin. Ep. 4. Severo . e Epist. ad Astyriion . Notes for div A36292-e14500 a Palaeotus de notbis . c. 28. 1. Why wee first prove that this sinne is not irremissible . 1. Three sorts of mistakers of this sinne . 1. That all desperation is not hainous ; and that this act doth not alwaies proceed from desperation . 2. It may bee without infidelitie . a Tho. 22. q. 2. ar . 2. 3 When it is poena peccati it is involuntarium . b Perer. Exod. c. 1. dijp . 4. 4. The reason why men ordinarily aggravate it . c Cau. 17. d Bosquier Con. 2. Exod. 32. 29. 5. Of the second opinion , impenitiblenesso . 6. Of Calvins opinion , Mat. 12. 30. 7. None impeccable , nor impenitible . 1. Of the third sort , and that we ought not to presume actuall impenitence in this case . a Azor. Mor. Instit. pa. 1. l. 2. c. 16. 2. Which is the safer side in doubts . b Zambran . de poeniten . dub . 2. n. 39. 1. Inarticulo mortis , the Church interprets ever favourably . c Idem de bap . dub . 8. n. 1. d Ibid. n. 2. e Idem praelud . 1. n. 7. f Idem de poenitent . dub . 3. nu . 2. g Ibidem . h Dub. 7. nu . 9. i Idem de unct . dub . 2. nu . 3. k Sayr Thesaur cas . consci . tom . 1. l. 2. c. 21. nu . 2. l Alcor . azoar . 19. m Stromat . l. 2 4. What true repentance is . n Lib. 3. ad amandum . cp . 1. 5. Witnesses which acquit , more acceptable then accusers . o Dist. 81. ca. Clerici . p 12. q. 1. c. duo sunt . 1. Why wee wave the ordinary definition of sinne ta●…en from S. Augustine , and follow that of Aquinas . a Lib. 2. Dist. 35. 〈◊〉 . Of the torturing practise of Casuists . b Panegyr . Traian . c Thesaur . Cas. Consc. l. 1. Ca. 5. d Tho. 22. q. 91. ar . 2. 3. Of the eternall law of God in Augustines definition against which a man may doe without sinne . e 2. S●… . 12. 14. f 22. q. 64. ar . 1. Con. 4. Of the Denition which we follow . 1. How the law of nature , of reason , and of God , exhibited in this definition , are all one ; and how diversly accepted . a Dist. 1. Om●…es . 2. In some eases all these three lawes may be broke at once . b Soto de teg . Secr. membr . 1. q. 2. 3. Revealing a secret . c de Rep. l. 1. cap. 4. 4. Parricide . d Aelian . l. 4. cap. 1. 1. Of the law , of nature ; and that against it strictly taken , either no sin , or all sinne is done . 2. To doe against nature , makes us not guilty of a greater sinne , but more inexcusable . 3. Nothing so evill , that is never good . 4. No evill but disobedience . 5. Lying naturally worse then Selfe-homicide . a Thesa●… . cas . cons. l. 7. c. 9. n. 9. b sup . 22. q. 37. ar . 2. c de teg . secr . memb . 1. q. 3. 6 Fame may be neglected ; yet we are as much bound to preserve it , as life . d Soto ihid . e Th. 22. q. 104. ar . 4. ad 2. m. 7 God cannot command a sin , yet he can command murder . f Aug. cont . faust . l. 26. ca. g Th. 1. q. 105. at . 6. ad . 1. n De li. Arb. l. 13. ca. 13. 8 Originall sin is from nature . i 12. q. 81. ar . 4. k 3. q. 8. ar . 5. ad 7. l 1. q. 100. ar . 1. ad 3. m 12. q. 81. ar . 4. 1 That if our adversaries by law of Nature meane onely Sensitive Nature , they say nothing , for so most vertuous actions are against Nature . a Tho. 12. q. 71. ar . 2. Con. b C●…rbo Cas. Cons. To. 2. pa. 1. 6. 5. Rom. 7. 23. c Tho. ibid. 1 As the law of Nature is Recta Ratio , it is jus gentium . So Immolation of men and Idolatry , are not against Nature . a Mor. Inst. 〈◊〉 . 1. l. 5. cap. 1. b Com. ad leg . Reg. prae . c De Som. sign . d Pol. Virg. de Invent. r●…r . l. 5. cap. 8. e Middendorp . de Acad. l. 6. ●…x Io. Bormo . f Casar . Bell. Gall. l. 6. g Mat. Met. praef . ad Oscr. Hist. 1 A reason is the forme , and so the Nature of man , every sin is against Nature , yea , whatsoever agrees not exactly with Christian Religion . a 12. q. 71. ar . 2. Con. b Epistola mult is ep●…ft . c 31. 33. d Manual . ca. 23. nu . 50. 2. Vertue produced to act , differs so from reason , as a medicine made and applyed , from a box of druggs . 1. Sinnes against nature in a particular sense , are by Schoolm●…n said to be unnaturall lusts ; and this . But in Scriptures onely the first is so called . a Mor. Instit. p. 1. l. 4. cap. 1. b 22. q. 154. ar . 11. Con. c Rom. 1. 20. d Judg. 19. 24 2. Of the example of the Levite in the Judges . e Antiq. l. 5. 〈◊〉 . 2. 1 Cor. 11. 14. 3. S Pauls use of the phrase Law of nature in long haire . f De re milit . l. 4. c. 39. 4. Vegetius use of that phrase . g Picrius de barbis Sacerdotum . 1. Selfe-preservation is not so of particular law of nature , but that beasts naturally transgresse it , whom it binds more then us ; and we , when the reason thereof ceases in us , may transgresse it , and sometimes must . a Tho. 12. q. 51. ar . 7. Con. ● . Things naturall to the species , are not alwaies so to the individuum b Fabricius Hist. Cicero , Ann. 30. c Gen. 2. 18. 3 Therefore some may abandon the world . d Homil. 36. Oper. imperf . in Matth. e Th. 12. q. 94. ar . 4. 4. First principles in naturall Law are obligatory , but not deductions from thence , and the lower we descend , the weaker they are . f De privilegiis Juris . l. 1. c. 8. g Sylvius Comment . ad leg . reg . proefat . c. 1. 5 Pellicans , and Bees ; by S. 〈◊〉 , kill themselves . h Hea●… . 5. cap. 1. 6 The reason of almost every Law is mutable . i B. Dorotheus Doctrinâ 12. k Windeck , ●…anonum & legum consens . & dissens . ca. 12. 7 He that can declare when the reason ceases , may dispence with the Law. l 25. q. 1. su●… quid●… . m Tho. 22. q. 88. ar . 10. 8. How dispensations worke . n Tho. 32. q. 89. ar . 9. o Acacius de privilegijs l. 1. ca. 3. 9. As nothing can annull the prerogative of Princes or Popes , though their own act seeme to provide against it ; so no law doth so destroy mans liberty , but that he returnes to it , when the reason of the law ceases . 10. Selfe-preservation being but an appetition of that which is good to us , is not violated by this act . p De resurrect . q Heptapl . 10. Pici. l. 7. proem . r Sylvius Com. ad leg . reg . praefat . l. 1. 11. Liberty , which is naturally to be preserved , may be departed with . 1. That cannot be against Law of Nature , which men have ever affected ; if it be also , ( as this is ) against sensitive Nature , and so want the alluremēts of other sins . a De Subtil . lib. 5. 2. There are not so many examples of all other vertues , as of this one degree of Fortitude . Petr. Arbiter . Attil . Regulus . Codrus . Herennius . Comas . Annibal . Demosthenes . Aristarthus . Homer . Othryades . Democles . P●…rtia . Luctati●… . Declam . 17. Terence . Labienus . Zeno. Por. Latro. Festus . Hippionas . Macer . Licinius . Annal●…ib . 〈◊〉 Charondas . 3. Of the Romane Gladiators in great persons , and great numbers b L : 1. cap. 12. de Gladiator . c Idem . l. 2. cap. 3. d De bell . Judai . l. 7. c. 28. 4 Small perswasions drew men to it . 5 By the Soldurii in France it may be gathered , that more dyed so , then naturally . e Lib. 3. com . Bell. Gall. f Tholosa . Synt. lib. 14. cap. 10. N. 14. 6. Wives in Bengala doe so yet . 7. The Samanaei which were Priests in the Indies used to doe it . g Porphyr . de Abstin . antiq . h Heurnius de philosoph . Barbar . l. 2. ca. 2. i Panegyr . Theodosio . 8. Lat. Pacat. expresseth this death pathetically . k Matal . Metel . praefat . in hist. Osorij . 9. How the Spaniards corrected this naturall desire in the Indians . a Sylvius Com. ad leg . reg . c. 24. 1 After civility and christianity quen ched this naturall desire , in the place therof , there succeeded a thirst of Martyrdome . 2 How leisurely the custome of killing at funerals wore out . 3 Moses delivered , and the philosophers saw the state of the next life , but unperfectly . 1 That this was for the most part insinuated into men by Naturall reasons , and much upon humane respects . Stromat . l. 4. 2 So proceeded Clement . L. cont . Gnostic . 3. So did Tertullian . Lib. de exhort . Martyrii ad fortunatum . So did Cyprian . a Tertul. de Corona Milit. b Damasc. & Platin. 4 Externall Honours to Martyrs . c Hadr. Junius in Eunapii vita 5 Monopolie of Martyrdom d Fevardentius l. 8. c. 13. Baron . Martyr . cap. 0. e Carbo . Cas. Cons. To. 2. pa. 2. c. 6. f De poeuiten . Dist. 1. Si qui autē . Ex Aug. de poenitent . 6 Gods punishments up●…n their persecutors , encouraged men to Martyrdome . g Ad Scapulam . 7. Extending priviledges of Martyrs to many . h Aug. Epist. ad Hieron . 28. De Nat. & Orig. Anim. i Aph●…ris : Eman . Sa. verbo Martyr . k Tho. 22 r q. 124. ar . 4. ad quart . 8. Contrary reasons cheerished this desire in them . 9 Cyprian Libellatici . Compounders with the State. l Serm●… de lapsis . m De suga . pr●…positio , 2. 10 Ter●…llian condemnes flying in persecution . 11 Death became to bee held necessary to make one a Martyr . n Hist. l. 5. 6. 2. 12. In times when they exceeded in discreet exposing themselves , they taught that Martyres might be without dying . o Azor. Mor. Inst. p. 2. l. 5. cap. 7. Ad Polycarp . p Ad Smirnen . q Exed . 12. 7. r Sever●… . cp . 2. s De Contempt . mortis . 13 Cyprian . profes . Men who offered their lives before they were called . t Baroni . Mar. 2. Ian. H. 14 Enforcers of their owne Martyrdome . u Euseb. Hist. l. 8. c. 9. x Hict . l. 4. c. 14. 15 Examples of inordinate affecting of Martyrdome . Germanus . y Hist. l. 4. c. 10. Meir . & Iosep. z Ioseph . de bel . Iud. l. 7. c. 11. a Ignati . epist. ad Roman . 16 Ignatius solicitation for it . b Nicephor . l. 11. c. 21. Edissenae . c Speculum vinc . To. 4. l. 11. c. 40. 17 Lawes forbidding more executions made to despite Christians . d Bod. Daemon . l. 4. c. 3. ex Tertulli . e Alc. 72. Az. f Ex Tert●…l . Bod●… . s●…ra 18 Glory in the nu●…bers of Martyrs . g Stecul . Vin. To. 4. l. 10 c. 88. h Supra . so . 66. i Barom . Mart. 22. Iune . k Homil. 27. in Evangel . l Martyrolog . cap. 8. 1. That Heretiques seeing the dignity gained by Martyrdome , laboured to avert them from it , but could not correct this naturall inclination . a Lib. 4. cap. 2. 2. The Devill labo●…s the Magistrates to 〈◊〉 their , d●…sire of dying b Specul . Vinc. To. a. cap. 102. lib. 10. Basilides heref . Anno 13●… . 3. Basilides denyed Christ to have been crucifyed , & that therefore they dyed madly . c Alfon. Castr. verb. Martyr . ex Philast . d Prateolus l. 5. ex Niceph. 4. Helchesar that outward profession of Religion was not needfull . 5. That also the Gnostici taught , and why they prevailed not . 1. That Hetiques failing herein , tooke naturall ways , of overtaking the Orthodox in Numbers of Martyrs . a Alf. Castr. ver . Martyrium 2. Petilian new way of Martyrdom . 3. Another new way of the Circumcelliones & Circuitores . b To. 2. Ep. 50. 4. The Cataphrgyae exceed in Number . c Prateolus . d Baron . Martyr . C. 10. e Hist. l. 5. c. 15 f Baron . Martyrol . ca. 10. Ex Epiph. Haer. 80 g Schul●…ingius , To. 3. ca. 177. 10. Euphemitae therefore called Martyrians 1. Hereupon Councels took it into their care to distinguish true Martyrs , from those who dyed for naturall and humane respects . a Conc. Laodic . Can. 33. b Conc. Carth. 1. C. 2. 1 Therefore later Authors do somewhat remit the Dignity of Martyrdome . a 2●… . q. 124. ar . 3. b De Adoratione l. 1. N. 42. c Navar. Man. c. 1. Nu. 40. d Carbo . Cas. Cons. To. p. 2. c. 6. 2 The Iesuits still professe an enormous love to such death . e Clarus Bonarsicus Amphitheat . Hono. l. 1. 〈◊〉 . 4. 1 Lawes and customes of well policed estates having admitted it , it is not likely to be against law of Nature . 2 True and Idaeated common-wealths have allowed it . At benians . Romans . Depontum . a Hierogliph . l. 17. Ceans . b Aelianus . l. 3. cap. 26. c Diod. Sicul. l. 2. bib . Aethiopians . d Dig. l. 48. tit . 3. leg . final . 3 Civill law and all others , presume it , in condemned men . e Vtop . l. 2. c. de servis . 4 In Vtopia authorised . f De leg . 9. 5 And by Plato in certaine cases . 6 Conclusion of the first part . Notes for div A36292-e23090 1. That the law of reason , is , conclusions drawne from primary reason by discourse . 2. How much strength , Reasons deduced have . 1. Of this sort of Reasons , generall lawes have the greatest authority . 2. For that is of there essence that they agree with law of Nature . 3. And there is better testimony of their producing , then of private mens opinions a Dig. l. 1. tit . 3. le . 1. lex est . 1. Of lawes , the Imperiall law ought first to be considered . a Dig. l. 1. T. 1. le . 9. omnes . 2 The reason of that law is not abolished , but our dependency upon it . 3 Why this is called civill Law. 4 Of the vastnes of the books from whence it is concocted , and and of the extent thereof . b Iustinian . ep . ad Trebonian . c Iustinian cpi. ad DD. de Jur. docend . arte . d Wind. Theolog . Iur. 5 Nothing in this law against our case . 6. Of the law of Adrian . d Dig. lib. 48. tit . 19. le . 38. Si quis aliquid . § Qui miles . e Dig. lib. 49. tit . 10. le . 6. Omne delictum . h Dig. l. 48. tit . 21. le . 3. Qui rei . 7 Of the other law for guilty men . 1 Of the Canon Law. 2 The largnes of the subject , and object thereof . 3 Of Codex Canonum ; or the body of the llaw , in use in the primitive Church . a Dist. 10. certum est . b Dist. 10. vestr●… . 4 Of the Additions to this Codex . 5 Canon law apter to condemne then Civill , and why . c Paleotus de nothis c. 19. 1 That this proposition is not hereticall . a Simancha Enchirid. Iud : tit . 24. nu . 2. 2 A large definition of heresie . 3 No definition of the Church in the point . 4 Nor Canon 5 Nor Bull. 6 Of the comon opinion of Fathers , how it varies in times and places . b Moral . Instit. to . 1. l. 2. c. 13. c 23. q. 5. 7 Gratian cites but two fathers , one of which is of our side . 8 Of that part of the Canon Law , to which Canonists will stand . d Auto. Augustin . l. de ●…mendat . Gratian. l. 1. dial . 1. de titulo . e Idem dial . 4. 9 A Cathol . Bishops censure of Gratians Decret . f Idem dial . 3. g De libris juris Canon . c. 2. 1 What any Councels have done in this point . a 23. q. 5. placuit . b Concll . Antisidor . sub Greg. 1. An. 590. c Canon . 17. 3 The Councel of Antisid . onely refused their oblations 3 This was but a Diocesan Councell . d Notae Binnij in Conc. Antis . To. 2. fo . 955. e 23. q. 5. placuit . 4 The Braccar Councel inflicts two punishments . f 24. q. 2. Sane quid . 5 The first , not praying for them , is of them who did it when they were excommunicate . g Decret . l. 5. tit . 13. de torneamentis . 6 The second , which is deniall of buriall , is not alwayes inflicted for offences ; as appears in an interdict locall . h 13. q. 2. anim . i Li. 3. tit . 7. de sepulchris . Eos qui. k Sylv. ad leg . Reg. c. 11. l P. Manut. de leg . Rom. 7 Romans buried such offenders as had satisfied the Law within the towne , as Vestals , and Emperors . 1 Of the laws of particular Nations . 2 Of our law of Felo de se. Br act . f. 150. a 〈…〉 b ●…lowd . Com. Hales his case . 3. That this is murder in our law ; And the reasons which entitle the King. 4 Our naturall desire to such dying , probably induced this law . c Bodin Rep. l. 1. c. 2. & l. 6. c. 1. 5 As in States abounding with slaves , the Law-makers quenched this desire . d l. 33. c. 10. e Scbast . Med. de Venat . Pisca . et aucup . q. 41. f Aug. de Civi . Dei l. 4. c. 27. 6 Least it should draw too fast ; as Hunting and Vsury are ; and as wine by Mahom. g Pruckinan . de Venat . Pisc. & Aucup . c. 4. h Pompon . de Incantat . c. 10. 7 And as severe lawes against stealing i B. Dorotheus doct . 11. k Binnius to . 3. par . 2. f. 1476. An. 1237. 8 When a man is bound to steale . l 14. Dist. 15. q. 3. 9 Scotus opinion of day theeves . m Exod. 22. 3. n Tholosa . Syn. l. 36. c. 22. nu . 13. ex Buteler . in summa rurall . 10 Of such a law in Flaunders . 1 Severe lawes are arguments of the peoples inclination , not of the hainousnesse of the fault . a Epist. ad Philip. 2 Sunday fast extremly condemned thereupon . 3 So Duells in France . 4 So Bull-baitings in Spain . Navar. Manu . li. 15. nu . 18. 5 Gentle laws diminish not the nature of rape , nor witchcraft . b Cap. 67. c H●…de his qui not . infam . l. 2. §. 1. 〈◊〉 . 2. 6 Publique benefit is the rule of extending or restraining all lawes by Bartel . 7 If other Nations concur in like lawes , it shews their inclination to be generall . 1 The custom of the Iewes , and the law of the Athenians evict nothing . a De bello Jud. l. 3. c. 13. b Buxdor . Syn. Iudais c. 34. a Pliny . li. 36. cap. 13. 1 The reason drawne from remedies against it , proves no more . b A. Gellius li. 15. c. 10. 1. Of reasons used by particular men , being Divines . a 23. q. 5. Duplicet . 1. Of S. Augustine and his Argument . 2. Of St. Aug. comparatively with other Fathers . 3. Comparison of Navar and Sotus . 4 Jesuists often beholden to Calvin for expositions . 5. In this place we differ not from St. Aug. b 22. q. 5. S●… non . 6. Nor in the second . 7. That then may be Causa puniendi sinc culp●… . c Reg. sur . 6. 8. As Valens missed Theodosius ; So did Augustine pretermit the right cause . 9 Of Cordubensis rule , how we must do in perplexities ; d A●…t . Cordub . de simonia q. 27. Editione . Hispani . 10 How temporall reward may be taken for spirituall office . Hesychius vitae philosophorum . 11. Of Pindarus death praying for he knew not what . f Vb●… supra . 2 In our place we depart from St. Aug. upon the same reason as the Jesuit Thyraeus doth . g Thyrae . Jesui . de Daemoniacis c. 31. 〈◊〉 . 428. a 23. q. 5. Non est , 1 The place out of S. Hi●…rome cited by Gratian. b Gloss. in locum supra . c Idiotae Contemplatio de morte . 1. Lavater confesses Aug. Hie●… Cry●… and Lactan●… to be of this opinion . a Lavater in 1 Sam. Ca●…lti . 1 Of P. Mar. reason Mors malum . a Stromat . l. 4. 2 Clement . hath long since destroyed that opinion . 3 Of Malum 〈◊〉 . b Aqui. 1. q. 48. ar . 6. C●…n . c Jo. 9. 3. 4 Possessed men are not alwaies so afflicted for sin . d Thyraeus de Daemon . c. 31. e Aqui. 1. q. 48. ar . 6. Con. 5 Damnation hath not so much rationem mali as the least sin . 6 If death were of the sorts of evill , yet there may be good use of it . f Aug. de . bono Conjug●… . g Paulin. Severo esist . 1. 7 How Paul calls Death Gods enemy . h 1 Cor. 15. 20. i Marlorat . in bunc locum . k Calvin in hunc locum . 8 Death since Christ is not so evill as before . 1 Of Martyrs reason , Vita donum . 1 Of Lavaters reason of Judges . 2 Where confession is not in use , there is no exterior Judge of secret sinne . a Humfred . Iesui . pa. 2. ad Ratio . 3. Cam. 3 Of the Popes jurisdiction over himselfe . b C●…d . l. 3. tit . 5. le . Generati . 4 Of such jurisdiction in other persons by civll lawes . c Bald. F le . 5. de . j●…diciis . d Filesacus de Episc. autorit . Ca. 1. 〈◊〉 . 17. e Dig. l. 1. ti●… . 7. le . 3. si Cons. 5 Ioh. 22. elected hi●…selfe Pope . f Uol●… . 2. Genera . 44. 6. Jurisdiction over our selves ●…s denyed us , because we are presumed favourable to our selves ; Not in cases hurtfull to our selves . g Heurnius de Philos. Barbar . 7. Even in cases hurtfull , we have such jurisdiction . h Theod. a Nice . l. 3. c. 3. & 23. 8. Gregories oath in the great Scisme . i Schlusselburgius . Catul. Here●…ico , l. 13. 9. When a man becomes to be sui juris . 10. Warre is just betweene Soveraigne Kings , because they have no Judge . k Accacius de privileg . juris . l. 1. cap. 7. 11. Princes give not themselves priviledges , but declare that in that case they will exercise their inherent priviledge . Josephus Reason of Deposi tum . a De bell . Iud. l. 3. ca. 13. b Regula juris 4. c Arist. Probl. Sect. 29. q. 2. 2. In these cases a depositarie cannot bee accused De culpa , if he be sine Dolo. 3. A secret received , Data fide , is in Natura depositi . d Tholos . Syntag . l 23. ca. 3. Nu. 17. e Soto de Teg. Secr. membr . 1. q. 1. 1. Of similitudinary Reasons in Authors not Divine . a De Bello Iuda . l. 3. ca. 14. 1. Of his reason of Hoslis . a lib. 7. c. 28. 1. Of his reason of Servus . Bosquier . Conc. 7. Of his reason of a Pilot. 1. Of Aquin. two reasons , from Justice and Charity . a 22. q. 64. ar . 5. Of stealing away himselfe from the State. 3. Monastique retiring is , in genere rei , the same offence . 4. The better opinion , that herein is no sinne against Justice . 5. I usurpe not upon his servant , but am his servant herein . b Sayr . Thesau . Cas. Consc. l 7. ca. 9. Nu. 19. 6. Though we have not Dominium , wee have Vsum of this life , and we leave that when we will. 7. The State is not Lord of our life , yet takes it away . c Sayr . l. 9. c. 7. Nu. 2. 8. If injurie were herein done to the State , then by a license from the State , it might be lawfull . 9. And the State might recompence her domage upon the goods , or h●…i . e 10. In a man necess●…y there may be some injustice in this act . d 22. q. 59. ar . 4. ad 3●… . 11. No man can doe injurie to himselfe . 12. The question , whether it be against Charity , 〈◊〉 ted to the third part . Of Aristotles two reasons . Of Misery , & Pusilanimity . a Arist. Eth. l. 3. c. 6. b Cap. 7. Infra fol. 249. 1. Of Reasons to be made on the other part . 2. Of the Law of Rome , of asking the S●…nate leave to kill himselfe . a Decl●…m . 4. 3. Of the case in Quintilian . 1. Comparison of Desertion and Destruction . 2. Of Omissions equall to Committings . a In admonitorio . b Dist. 86. pasce●… . c Tabula Paris . censuraru●… . 1. In great sinnes , the first step imprints a guiltinesse , yet many steps to Self-homicide are lawfull . a Stanf. Plees de Cor●…n . cap. Petie treason . b Elian. l. 8. cap. 10. 2. Dra●…s laws against Homicide were retained . c Precepto 5. 3. Tolets five Homicides . 4. Foure of th●…se were to be found in Adams first Homicide in Paradise . c Reuchlin . de verbo Mirisico . lib. 2. cap. 14. 1. Of Tolets first & second way by Precept , and Advi●…e , or option . a Bartol . le . Non solum . F. de injuriis , . Si mandato . b Reg. Jur. 3. 2. We may wish Malum poenae to our selves , as the Eremite did to be possessed . c Sulpit. in vita Martini . Dialo . 1. 3. Wee may wish death for wearinesse of this life . d Martialis ad Tholosanos . e Coment . in Sam. l. 1. c. vlt. f Heptap . Pici. l. 7. Proem . 4. It is sin to wish that evill were not so , that then wee might wish it . g Adrian . quodlib . 10. ar . 2. 5. What wee may lawfully with , we may lawfully further . 6. Of wishing the Princes death . h Saxavia de Imp. Author . Epistola . 7. In some opinions , false Religiō makes a Tirant . i Lib. 2. ca. 36. 8. Why an oth of fidelity to the Pope binds no man. k Declaration & Protestation des Doctes de France . Anno 1605. 9. Who is a Tyrant in these mens opinions . Beccar . cont . lib. De. jure Magistrat . m Carbo . Cas. Conc. Summa Summarum . Tom. 3. lib. 3. cap. 9. n Sylvest . verb. Martyr . o Navar. Manual . Ca. 15. Nu. 11. p Phil. 1. 23. 10 How death may be wished by Calvine . q In 2 Cor. 5. 1 Marlorate . Supra . 9 Eman. Sâ Aphor. Confes. ver . Charitas . 11 How we may with death to another for our owne advantage . 12 Ph. Nerius consented to the death of one who wished his own death . s Vita Phil. Ner. fol. 284. t Liber Conformi . Fran. & Christi . u Sedulius Minor . advers . Alcor . Francis. 1 Of Tolets 3. species . by permission which is Mors Negativa . 2 Of standing mute at the Barre . 3 Three rules from Sotus , Navar , and Mald. to guide us in these Desertions of our selves . a Soto . de teg . saeret . membr . 1. q. 3. b Nava . Manual . c Sum. Maldo . q. 14. ar . 6. d Acacius de privilegiis l. 1. cap. 9. e Gerson . f Acacius de privile . l. 1. c. 8. 4 I may suffer a thiefe to kill me . g Sayr Thesau . Cas. Cons. l. 7. cap. 9. nu . 17. h Alcor . Azoar . 52. 5 Of se desendendo in our law . 6 I am not bound to escape from prison if I can , nor to eate rather then starve . i Eman. Sa. Aphor. Conses . ver . Charitas . k Aquin. 22. q. 69. ar . 4. ad 2. l Sayr Thesau . Cas. Cons. l. 7. cap. 9. 7 For ends better then this life , we may neglect this . 8 I may give my life for another . m Chris. Hom. 32. in Genes . n Aug. l. 22. adver . faustum . cap. 33. 9 Chrisostomes opinion of Sarahs ly , and Adultery . And St. Aug. of that wife who prostituted her selfe to pay her husbands debt . o Ca. 27. & primo : Deserm . Dom. in monte . p Bonavent . 3. Dist. 29. q. 3. q Aug. de mendacio . c. 6. 10 That to give my life for another is not to prefer another , as Bonaventure , and Aug. say , but to prefer vertue before . life . 11 For spirituall good is without question . r Sayr Thesau . Cas. Cons. l. 7. c. 9. nu . 17. s Eman Sa. Aphor. Converbo Charit . t Idem verbo Ho. 12 I may give another that without which I cannot live . u Aquin. 22. q. 32. ar . 6. Sotus . 13 I may over-fast my selfe . x De Consecr . Dist. 5. Non Mediocriter y Navar ex Dist. 5. de cons. This in Saint Hieroms opinion is Self-homicide . z Soto de tegsecret mem . 1. q. 3. ex Hieron a Cas. Collatione 2. c. 6. 15 Of the Friar whom Cassianus calls a Selfe-Homicide for refusing bread from a theefe , upon a vow . Of Christs fast . b Bosquier Cove . 17. c Idem Cove . 18. 16 Of Philosophers inordinate fasts . d Porphir . de Abstiu . Anti. e Idem de occasionibus . Supra . 17 Of the devills threatning S. Francis for fasting . f Cap. de Austeritate . 8 Examples of long fasts . g Middendor . de Academiis fol. 298. h Lilius Gyr. Dialog . 17. 19 Reasons , effects , and obligations , to rigorous fasts . i Sayr Tbesaur . Cas. Cons. l. 3. cap. 7. 11. 13. k Azor. Mor. Inst. pa. 1. l. 7. cap. 3●… . l Bosqui . Coue. 17. m Hier. Epist. ad Marcell . n Mat. 3. 4. o Greg. Naz. Oratio , de Cura pauperum . p Clem. Alex. l. 2. Paedag. c 1. q Procop. Gaz. l. 1. de aedificiis Iustiniani . r Sayr . Thesau . Cas. Cons. l. 7. c. 9. N. 30. s Clem. Apostol . Constit. l. 4. cap. 7. t Ibid. cap. 9. 20 Corollary of this Section of Desertion . u Mariana de Rege , l. x. cap. 7. 1. Of another degree of Homicide , by Mutilation , which is not in Tolets Division . 2 Of delivering ones selfe into bondage . a Baron . Martirol , Junii 2. b Tabula Paris . irregularit . c Binius To. 2. pa. 2. fo . 1280. 3 By divers Canons it is all one fault . d Can. Apost . Can. 21. e Stanf. Plees del Coron . f Canon . 23. g Canon . 23. h Calv. in Mat. 19. 4. Marlorate . 4 Of Calvins argument against divorce , upon the ground of Mutilation . 5 The example of Saint Mark to escape Priesthood . i Hicr . Prolog . in Marcum . k Mat. 19. 12. l Orat. vero Anto. & commodo Philosophis . m Sayr Thes. Cas. Cons. l. 7. cap. 9. 6 In what cases it is cleare that a man may mayme himselfe . 1 Of Tolets fourth way , by actual helping a Ardoinus de venenis l. 8. c. 20 Ardonius reekóns a Flea amongst poysons because it would kill . b 2 Sam. 1. 16. 2 David condemned the Amalekite , who said , he helped Saul to dye . c Mariana de Rege . l. 1. c. 7. 3 Marianaes opinion , that a King drinking poyson , prepared and ministred by another , he being ignorant , is a Selfe-homicide . d Sotus de teg . Secret. Memb. 1. q. 〈◊〉 e Sansovin . de Gover. 4 A Malefactor unaccused , may accuse himselfe . 5 Of Sansovinus relation of our customes at Executions , and withdrawing the pillow in desperate cases . 6 Of breaking leggs of men at executions : And of breakinge the halter . f Iohn 19. g Lucas depenna l. 1. c. de descr . et occult . Iohan. de Ant. Soliloq . 5. Optine . in D : leg . Imperium . h Num : 5. 7 Of the purgations assigned by Moses●…n ●…n cases of jealousie . Of formes of purgation called Vulgares . i 2. q. 5. consuluisti . k Tholos . Syn. l : 48 : c : 15. n : 7. l Greg. Turo . Hist. Fraucor . l : 2 : c : 〈◊〉 : 9 Charlemaine brought in a new purgation . And Britius a B. another being acquitted before m Lamb. de legibus priscis Anglorum . 10 With us bothkindes of Ordalium , by water , and fire lasted till K. Iohns time . 11 In al these , and in battaile the party himself assisted to his payne . 12 Three examples of actuall helpers to their owne destruction in S. Doroth. n B : Doroth. doctrinâ 1. de Renunciatione . o Idem Doct : 7. de accus . sili ipsius . p Supplement : Chron. an . Chr. 3. 13. Of ●…oseph of Arimathaea his drinkinge poyson . q Navar man. ca : 1. n. 28. 14. Of Saint Andrew and Saint Lawr. r Controv. 3. 15. Casuists not clear whether a condemned man may doe the last act to his death . s Relect. de Homicid : n : 30 : in refp . ad 8. 16. But unto Curates and Priests sometimes it is sub praecepto , even without condemnation . t Sayr Sum : Sacram. poenit : cap 32. u De teg . Sec. memb . 3. q. 4. 1. Of Tolets last Species of Homicide which is the act it selfe . 2. How farre an erring conscience may justifie . a Diog. Laert. lib. 8. 3 Pythagoras conscience . b Azor. Inst. Mor p. 1. l. 2. cap. 8. Epist. 3. Sever. lib. 1. c Cassia●… . Collat . 2. cap. 5. 4 Of the apparition to Hero an Eremit by which he killed himselfe ; out of Cassianus . d Nazarius constantio . 5 The Devill sometimes sollicites to good . e Wier . l. 5. c. 1●… . f Vasq. de adorat . l. 3 disp . 1. cap. 5. 6 By Vasquez it is not Idolatry to worship God in the Divell . 7 Rules to distinguish the spirits by marks are false . g Binsfeld . de confes . sagarum , f. 67. Menghi fustis Daemonum , cap. 8. 8 So is the Rule , That good Angels alwaies move to good ordinarily . 9. As in adoration , so in this case , invincible ignorance may excuse . i Inc. Constan Supra . 10. Of Saint Aug. his first reason to Donatus , that we may save one against his will. k Ignatius ep : ad Romanos . l Ant. August . Episc. Tarrac : de leg . Roman . cap. 44. 11. Of his second of examples : and of his escape if Donatus had produced examples . m De civitate Dei l. 18. cap. 38. et lib. 2. cont . Gaudent . cap. 23. 12 Divorce in Rome , and in Jurie long without example . n A : Gellius l : 4. cap. 3. o Serarius de Rabbin . et Herodibus cap. 17. 13. S. August . schollers in this point of examples , as stubborne as Aristotles , for the heavens inalterablnes , though the reason of both be ceased . p Kepplerus de Stella Serpent . cap. 23. q Sextus Reg. Iur : quod semel . r Baron . Martyrolog . 14. Of the Martyr Apollonia . 15 Of answers in her excuse . s Sayr . Thesaur . Cas. Cons. l. 9. c. 7. num . 11. t Baron . Mart. 16. Of the Martyr Pelagia . 17. Though her History be very uncertain the Church seems glad of occasion to celebrate so noble a fact . 18. Augustins testimonie of her . u August . de Civitate Dei l. 1. cap. 26. x De Virg. l. 3. 19 Ambrose meditation upon her . 29. Eusebius his Oration imagind in the person of her mother . y Eusebius Eccles. Histor : l. 8. cap. 4. z Plin. paneg . Trajan . 21. S. August . first of any doubted their fact , and did seeke shifts to defend it which it needed not . 22. S. August . example hath drawne Pedraca to the same shift , of special divine Instinct in a like case . a Pedraca Cas. de consc . 5. praec . Hispanica Editio . 23. So says P. Martyr of the Midwiues and of Rahabs lye . b In Jud 3. c Io : de Lap. Cas. Missales c. 6 : art . 5. 24. To preserue the seale of confession a man may be bound to kill himselfe . d Ibid. e Sotus de teg . secret . memb : 3. q : 4. Notes for div A36292-e37130 1 An induction to the handlinge of these places of scripture . a Prov. 6. b Plin : l. 2 : cap 31. c 2. Pet. 1 : 20. d Artemidorus de som●… . Int●…rp . l : 1. cap : 2. 2. Why I forbeare to name them who cite these places of Scripture . 3. If any oppose an answer what I intreat of him . e Mar●… . 1. 17. 4. Why Clergy men may fish , or hunt but not with doggs . f Ex Dist. 86. Esau. 5. Of Beza's answer to Ochius Polygamy . 1. No place offered out of Iudiciall nor Ceremoniall law . Of the place in Gen. 9. 5. 2. We are not bound to accept the interpretations of the Rabbins . a Buxdorfius Synag . Iudaica ex Rahbi Isaac cap : 1. fol. 62. b Lyra in hunc locum . 3. Of Lyra and of Sâ his Hebraismes . c Ema . Sâ Not : in univers : Script . Of the place in Deuter. 33. 39. 4. Iurisdiction of Parents , Husbands , Masters , and Magistrates , must consist with this place . 5. This place must be interpreted , as the other places of Scripture which have the same word , from which no conclusion can be wrested against this fact . a 1. Sam : 2. 6. b Tob : 13. 2. c Sap : 16. 13. 1. Of the place of Iob 7. 1. 2. Why they cite this place In Latine . a Digest . li : 22. tit : 6. le : 9. b L. 4. tit : 6. leg : 44. 3. Of souldiers priviledges of absence by law . c Supra . 4 Iobs scope is , that as war works to peace So here we only labour to Death . d Euseb. l. 1. cap. 13. 5. Of Christs letter to King Abgarus . 1. Of the place Iob 7. 15. 2. Why this was not lawfull to Job . 3 His words seeme to s●…ew some steps toward a purpose of Selfe-homicide . a Sex ; Sen ; Bibliot . S●…nst . lib : 8. Heres . 10. 4 : Sex : Sen●… and Gregories exposition thereof . b Greg. Mor : l : 4. cap. 6. Gal : 2. 〈◊〉 . Wherin I differ from the Anabapt . who affirme that Iob despaired . 6. S. Hierome and the Trent Councell erre in condemning all which a condemned man saith . 7. Of them which impute despayre unto Christ. 1. Of the place Iob. 2. 4. 1. Of the place Eccl. 20. 16. 2. This place is not of safety , but of health . 1. Of the place Exodus 20. a 23. q : 5. Si non licet . 2. S. August . thinks this law to concerne ones self more directly then another . 3. This law hath many exceptions . 〈◊〉 . Lawes of the first Table are stric●…ioris vincull , then of the lato●… . 5. A case wherin it is probable that a man must kill himself . a Acatius de privil . l. c. 3. b Navr . Manu●…l . cap. 15. n. 2. c Supra . 6 As Lawes against Day-theeves may be deduced from the Law of God authorizing Princes , so may this from the Commandement , of preferring Gods glory . 7 Whatsoever might have been done before the Law , this Law forbids not . 1 Of the place Sap. 1. 12. D●…ut . 4. 24. 1. Of the place Matt. 4. 6. 2. Christ , where it conduced to his owne ends , did as much as the Devill did tempt him to in this place . 1. Of the place Acts 16. 17. 2. S. Paul knew Gods purpose of baptising the keeper . 3. Els saith Caluin , he had frustrated Gods way to give him an escape by the keepers death . 1. Of the place Rom. 3. 8. 2. How Paul forbids evil to be done for good . 3. God always inflicteth Malum poenae by Instruments . 4. Induration it self is sometime medicinall . a Aqui. 12. q. 79. ar . 4. con . b Hippocrat . A●…bor . l. 2. 38. 5. Wee may correct in our selves one disease by another . 6. In things evill in such sence as Paul taketh them here , Popes dayly doe dispence . c Dist. 34. lector gloss . d Bodin●… Daemon . l. c5 . e Windek de consens . et dissens . leg . et Can. ca. 11. f Cod. tit . de malef . l. 4. §. ●…rum . 7. So doe the Civill Laws . g Paracel . l. de morb . ca l. h Dist. 14. cap. Duo mala . Dist. ead . cap. Nerui . k Nav. Man. c. 17. num . 263. 8 So do Canons . l Bellar. de Amis . grat . & stat . peccat . l. 2 , c. 3. ex H●… . de vict & Tho. 9 So doth God occasion lesse sin to avoid greater . 9. What any other may dispence withall in us , in extremity we may dispence within our selves . Supra . 10. Yet noe such dispensation changeth the nature of things , therefore that particular was never naturally evill . 11. The Law it self is neither good nor evill . 12. As Picus notes comparing it to the firmament . m Heptapl . l. 7. proem . n Ezech. 20. 25. 13. What evill Pa●…l forbids ; and why . Supra . 14. Nothing which is once evill can ever recover of that Supra . 15. Three acts were in God's decree preserued from those staines which make things evill , so as miracles were written in his book of nature , though not in our copy ; and so , as our Lady is said to be preseru'd from originall sinne . o Exod. 1. 12. 16. Such was Moses killing the Egyptian . 17. If this place be taken of all kind of evill , it must admit exception , as well as the Decalogu . 18. Otherwise the application which Bellarm. and others make of it will be intollerable . p De eul . sanct . l. 4. cap. 7. Of the places 2 Cor. 6. 16. 1 Cor. 〈◊〉 . 16. & 6. 16. 19 The dead are still his Temples , and Images . Silvius Com : ad leges . 20 Heathens te●…ples might be demolished , yet the soile remain sacred . 21 Pauls reason is in Cases where we avile our selves : here wee advance our selves . 22 That our body is not our own , how it is to be understood here in Paul. a Vers. 19. b Vers. 20. Of the place Ephes. 4. 15. 16 a Cap. 5. v. 〈◊〉 . 2 This place gives arguments to all which spare not themselves for reliefe of others . 1. Of the place Epb. 5. a Marlor . in hunc locum . 2. How Marlor . expounds this hate . 1. Of places of scriptures on the other part . 2. We may , but our adversaries may not make use of examples . to which the answer of Martyr and Lavater is weake . 3. The Nature , degrees , and effects of Charity . 4. S. August . pourtraite of her . a De natura et gratia cap. ult . 5. Of her highest perfection , beyond that which P. Lombard obsorved out of Aug. b Lomb. l. 3. Dist. 3. c I●… epist. ●…tract . 5. d Phil. 1. 23 e Serarius triheresi . l. 1. ca. 8. f Deut. 6. 5. g Mat. 5. 6. He who loves God with all his heart , may love him more h Aqui. 22. q. 124. ar . 3. i Aqui. 22. q. 136. ar . 3. 7. Any suffering in charity hath Infalibly the grace of God. By Aquin. 1. Of the place 1 Cor. 13. 4. 2. By this in common reputation , that was a degree of perfection to dye so . And charity made it acceptable . 3. Paul speaks of a thing which might lawfully be done , for such are all his gradations in this argument . 4. Tongues of Angels in what sence in this place . Calvin . 5. Speech in the Asse , understanding of mysteries in Iudas , miraculous faith make not the possessor the better . 6 How I differ from the Donatists arguing from this place , that in charity self-homicide was alwaies lawfull . 7 To give my Body , is more then to let it be taken . Metaph. in Niceph . Martyr . 8 How Nicephorus the martyre , gave his body in Sapritius his roome , who recanted . 9 There may be a case that a man bound to give his body , cannot doe it otherwise then by selse-homicide . 1 Of the places Joh. 10. 11. & Joh. 15. 13. 2 I need not purge my self , when anothers crime is imputed to me . a Sot. de teg . Secret. Memb. 1. q. 3. b Job . 15. 13. 1 Of the place Ioh. 13. 37. 2 Peters readinesse was naturall . Pauls deliberate . 2 Cor. 12. 15. 1 Of the place Ioh. 10. 15. 2 Why Christ saies this in the present time . a Act. 15. 26. 3 Of the aboundant charity of Christ. b De Suidone . pa. 1. Notae in Ca. 11. 4 Of his speech going to Emaus . 5 Of his Apparition to Saint Charles . c Revel . Brig . l. 1. ca. 59. 6 Of the Revelation to St. Brigit . d Suidon . p. 1. Not. in Ca. 16. 7 Of his Mothers Charitiy . 8 That none could take away his foule . 9 His owne will the onely cause of his dying so soone . by St. Aug. 10 And by Aquin. because he had all his strength . e Mar. 15. f De T●…nit . l. 1 : cap. 13. g 2. q. 47. ar . 1. ad 2. h Mat. 27. 50. 11. And by Marl. because he bowed his head , and it fell not , as ours in death . i Luc. 18. 33. How it is true that the Jewes put him to death . 13. Of Aquin. and Syluesters opinion of him . k 2. q. 47. ar . 1. Con. l Verbo matrimonium . 14. Christ was so the cause of his death , as he is of his wetting , which might , and doth not shut the window , in raine by Aqui. 15. Who imitated Christ in this actuall emission of the soule . m Aquin. supr . Ioh. cap , 21. l Sophro. prat . spir . cap. 90. dephter . Anco . Et Surius To. 1. feb . de Sever. Raven . m Sind . Not. inc . 21. ad 6. 16. Vpon what reasons this fashion of dying in Christ is calld Heroique , and by like epithites . 17. Christ is said to have done herein as Saul and Apol. and such . 1 Of the places Iohn 12. 25. and Luc. 14. 26. a Heb. 11. 35. b In Ioh. 12. 25. 2. Iesuites apply particularly this hate . c Reg. Iesuit . Constit. spirit . 8. 3. If the other place , noe man hates his owne flesh , be against homicide ; This must be for it . 4. S. August . denies that this place justifies the Donatists . but not in all cases . 1. Of the place 1. Iohn 3. 16. 2. All these places direct us to do it , as Christ did it , unconstraind . a Phil. 1. 20. 1. Of the place Phil 1. 23. 2 Of S. Pauls gradations to this wish ; and his correcting of it . 1 Of the place Gal. 4. 15. 2. This was more then vitam profundere by Calvin . 1 Of the place Rom. 9. 3. a 1 Cor. 16. 22. 2. That this Anathema was damnation . 3. That he considered not his election at that time . 1 Of the place Exod. 〈◊〉 . 3 2. That this imprecation was not only to be blotted out of the history of the scriptures . 3. It was stranger that Christ should admit such a slip downward as to wish an escape from death , then that Moses should have such an exaltation upward as to save his nation by pe●…ing . Yet both without inordinatenes . a Pont. Paul. ad Amand. Epist. 2. 4. How by Paulinus a just man may safely say to God , Dele me , 1. Of examples in Scriptures . 2. The phrase of Scriptures , never imputes this act to any as a sin , when it relates the history . a Schultet . Medul . patr . pag. 1. in l. 4. Irenaei . 3. Irenaeus forbids us to accuse where God doth not . 4. Bezas answer to Ochius reason , that some Patriarchs lived in polygamy reacheth not our case . b Beza de polyg . fo . 7. c Gen. 29. d Gen. 19. e 2 Sam. 9. 2. 5 For it is not evident , that this is sinne , by any other place of the Law ; which was in all his cases . And here many examples concurre . f Acacius de privileg . l. 1. c. 3 1 Of Acts which were not fully ●…murders , but approaches . a 1 Reg. 20. 35 2 Of the Prophet who punished him who would not strike him . 3 That when God invites men to such violence , hee sayes so plainly . And therefore such particular invitations may not be presumed , where they are not expressed . 1 Of Io●…as . a 1. 12. b Proem . in Com. in Iona , Vers. 14. 43. 9. c Lyra prolog . in Iona. 2 Why Saint Hier. calls only Ionas , of all the Prophets , Holy. 1. Of Samson Iudg. 16. a Pererius in Gen. 49. 16. 2 The church celebrates him as a Martyr . b Paul. Sever. Epist. 4. 3 Paulinus wishes such a death . 4 They which deny that he meant to kill himselfe , are cofuted by the text . c Fran. de Vict. in relect . de Hom. Greg. Valent. tom . 3. disp . 5. q. 8. p. 1. d Jud. 16. 30. 5 They which say he did not intend his own death principally say the same as we . Supra . 6 That Saint Aug. his answer to this fact , that it was by speciall instinct , hath no ground in the history . e Aug. de civit . Dei cap. 12. f Sayr Thesau . Cas. Conse . l. 7. cap. 9. Nu. 9. g Pedr. pr. 5. Hisp. 7 Of Says reasons in confirmation of August . that Samson pray'd . 8. Of Pedr. his reason , that it was against the work of God , because it was done as it was desired . h v. 22. 9 That he had as much reason , and authority to kill himselfe as to kill the Philistims , and that it was only the glory of God. i Fra. Georg. probl . 438. 10. Samson in this manner of dying was a type of Christ. k Perer. in Gen. 49. 16. 1 Of Saul 1 Sam. ult . 2. Whether the Amalekite did help to kill Saul . a 1. Sam. ult . b 2. Sam. 1. c Antiq. l. 7. cap. 15 d Hist. Schol. 3. Whether Saul be saved or no. e 1 Cro. 10. 13. Lyra. 4. In what cases the Iews . and Lyra confess that a man may kill himselfe . 5. Lyra's reasons why Saul is to be presumed to have dyed well . f Notae in Sindou . c. 21. Nu. 6. 6. Burgensis reason to the contrary , that if Saul were excusable , the Amalckite was so to . 7. Of Sauls Armor-bearer 1. Of Achitophel . 2 Sam. 15. vers . 14. 2 He set his house in order , And he was buried . 1 Of Judas . Mat. 27. 5. Act. 1. 18. a Act. 1. 18. b Euthym. in Com. in Matt. c Brent . in Act. 1. 18. d Oecum . ●…n Collect. Act. Apost . 2. He dyed not by hanging himself , in the opinion of Euthymius , 〈◊〉 Oecum . Papias S. Iohns disciple . and Theoph. e Theophilact in Mat. 7. 3. By what meanes many places of scriptures have beene otherwise accepted , then they intend . 4 Iudas not accused of this in the story , nor in the two propheticall Psalms of him . f Psal. 69. ct 109. 5 Origens opinion of his repentance . g Ex not . Em. Sâ in Mat. 27. h Aquin. catena aurea . 6. Calvin acknowledges all degrees of repentance which the Romane Church requireth , to salvation , to have beene in Iudas . i Iu Mat. 27. 4. k 23. q. 5. Tu dixisti . glos . 7 Petilianus his opinion of his Martyrdome . l Ibid. Si non licet . 〈◊〉 . Iudas act had some degrees of justice by S. Aug. 1. Of Eleazar Macab . 1. 6. 46. Jos. Aut. 12. 15. 2. All confess that an act of vertue . 3. The destruction was certaine . 4. He did as much to his owne death as Samson . 5 The reasons of his act in the text , 6. S. Ambrose his extolling thereof . a Cajet . in 16. Iud. 7. Cajetanus his reason for Eleazer's justification , appliable to very many other cases of Self-homicide . 1. Rasis Mat. 2. 14. 2. His reasons in the text . a Aquin. 22. q. 64. ar . 5. b Aristotel●… Ethic. l. 3. c. 7. c Supra fo . 130 3. Whether it be pusillanimity , as Aqui. August . and Aristot. says . d August . de civit . Dei l. 1. c. 22. 4. S. Aug. confesses that to have beene greatnes of mind , in Cleombrotus . e c. 23. 5. How much great examples governe . f Vell. Paterc . de morte Grac. g Supra h Diog. Laer. l. 6. 6. That it was reputed cowardlines in Antistbenes extreamly sick not to kill himself . 7. Vpon what reasons Lyra excuseth this and like actions . i Relect. de homicid . resp . ad ult . argum . k Sotus l. 2. de just . q. 3. ar . 8. l Valeu . to . 3. disp . 5. q. 8. 8 Burgensis reasons confesses he might have had just causes . Notes for div A36292-e48470 1. Why I refraind discours of destinie herein . a Alcor . A20 . 65. 2. Man made of shadow and the devill of fire by the Alcoran . 3. Our adversaries reasons contradict one another . b Alcuin . Ep. 23. 4 No praecept given to love our selves . 5 Encouragements to contempt of death c Cypr. Serm. de mortalitate . d Gratiar . act . de cons. e Chyrurgia mag . de ulcer . f Aphor. l. 2. 38. 6. Why I abstaine from particular directions . g Ennodius ad Celul . 7. Laws forbid ordinarie men to cure by extraordiry meanes , yet the Kings of England , and France , & Spaine cure so . h Paracelsus Chyrurg . Mag. tract . 2. cap. 8. et de trans . cap. 10. i Pet. Pomp. de incant . c. 4. k Cassanaeus catal . glo . mun . par . 5. consider . 1. l Cassian . l. 17 cap. 17. ad 25. As Hier. Orig. Chrysost. and Cassianus are excusd for following Plato in the toleration of a ly , because the church had not then pronounced , so may it be in this . m Observat. in Cassian . in fine l. fo . 740. Cornelius Celsus sent . 15. 
A69225	----	Poems, by J.D. VVith elegies on the authors death Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1633 Approx. 527 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 207 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A69225 STC 7045 ESTC S121864 99857025 99857025 22691 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A69225) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 22691) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 881:25, 922:22) Poems, by J.D. VVith elegies on the authors death Donne, John, 1572-1631. [12], 406, [2] p. Printed by M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, and are to be sold at his shop in St Dunstans Church-yard in Fleet-street, London : 1633. J.D. = John Donne. Printer's name from STC. The first leaf and the last leaf are blank. The position of ² A² ("The printer to the understanders") varies, but most commonly falls after ¹A2. It is sometimes missing, being apparently a slightly later addition. 2N1 is a cancel, lacking running title on recto. Variant: 2N1 is cancellandum, with running titles but with text omitted. Identified as STC 7045a on UMI microfilm reel 922. Reproductions of the originals in Harvard University. Library and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Appears at reel 881 (Harvard University. Library copy) and at reel 922 (Folger Shakespeare Library copy). Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. 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Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng 2007-02 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-02 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2007-03 Celeste Ng Sampled and proofread 2007-03 Celeste Ng Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion ANNO DNI . 1591 AETATIS SVAE 18 ANTES MVI●TO QVE MVDADO This was for youth , Strength , Mirth , and wit that Time Most count their golden Age ; but t' was not thine . Thine was thy later yeares , so much refind From youths Drosse , Mirth , & wit ; as thy pure mind Thought ( like the Angels ) nothing but the Praise Of thy Creator , in those last , best Dayes . Wimes this Booke , ( thy Embleme ) which begins With Love ; but endes , with Sighes , & Teares for sins . Will : Marshall . sculpsit . IZ : WA : POEMS , By J. D. WITH ELEGIES ON THE AUTHORS DEATH . LONDON . Printed by M. F. for IOHN MARRIOT , and are to be sold at his shop in St Dunstans Church-yard in Fleet-street . 1633. INFINITATI SACRUM , 16. Augusti 1601. METEMPSYCOSIS . Poêma Satyricon . EPISTLE . OThers at the Porches and entries of their Buildings set their Armes ; I , my picture ; if any colours can deliver a minde so plaine , and flat , and through light as mine . Naturally at a new Author , I doubt , and sticke , and doe not say quickly , good . I censure much and taxe ; And this liberty costs mee more then others , by how much my owne things are worse then others . Yet I would not be so rebellious against my selfe , as not to doe it , since I love it ; nor so unjust to others , to do it sine talione . As long as I give them as good hold upon mee , they must pardon mee my bitings . I forbid no reprehender , but him that like the Trent Councell forbids not bookes , but Authors , damning what ever such a name hath or shall write . None writes so ill , that he gives not some thing exemplary , to follow , or flie . Now when I beginne this booke , I have no purpose to come into any mans debt , how my stocke will hold out I know not ; perchance waste , perchance increase in use ; if I doe borrow any thing of Antiquitie , besides that I make account that I pay it to posterity , with as much and as good : You shall still finde mee to acknowledge it , and to thanke not him onely that hath digg'd out treasure for mee , but that hath lighted mee a candle to the place . All which I will bid you remember , ( for I will have no such Readers as I can teach ) is , that the Pithagorian doctrine doth not onely carry one soule from man to man , nor man to beast , but indifferently to plants also : and therefore you must not grudge to finde the same soule in an Emperour , in a Post-horse , and in a Mucheron , since no unreadinesse in the soule , but an indisposition in the organs workes this . And therefore though this soule could not move when it was a Melon , yet it may remember , and now tell mee , at what lascivious banquet it was serv'd . And though it could not speake , when it was a spider , yet it can remember , and now tell me , who used it for poyson to attaine dignitie . How ever the bodies have dull'd her other faculties , her memory hath ever been her owne , which makes me so seriously deliver you by her relation all her passages from her first making when shee was that aple which Eve eate , to this time when shee is hee , whose life you shall finde in the end of this booke . THE PROGRESSE OF THE SOULE . First Song . I. I Sing the progresse of a deathlesse soule , Whom Fate , which God made , but doth not controule , Plac'd in most shapes ; all times before the law Yoak'd us , and when , and since , in this I sing . And the great world to his aged evening ; From infant morne , through manly noone I draw . What the gold Chaldee , or silver Persian saw , Greeke brasse , or Roman iron , is in this one ; A worke t'outweare Seths pillars , bricke and stone , And ( holy writs excepted ) made to yeeld to none . II. Thee , eye of heaven , this great Soule envies not , By thy male force , is all wee have , begot , In the first east , thou now begins to shine , Suck'st early balme , and Iland spices there , And wilt anon in thy loose-rein'd careere At Tagus , Po , Sene , Thames , and Danon dine . And see at night thy Westerne land of mine , Yet hast thou not more nations seene then shee , That before thee , one day beganne to be , And thy fraile light being quench'd , shall long , long out live thee . III. Nor holy Ianus in whose soveraigne boate The Church , and all the Monarchies did floate ; That swimming Colledge , and free Hospitall Of all mankinde , that cage and vivarie , Of fowles , and beasts , in whose wombe , Destinie Us , and our latest nephewes did install ( From thence are all deriv'd , that fill this All ) Did'st thou in that great stewardship embarke So diverse shapes into that floating parke , As have beene moved , and inform'd by this heavenly sparke . IV. Great Destiny the commissary of God , That hast mark'd out a path and period For every thing , who , where wee of-spring tooke , Our wayes and ends seest at one instant . Thou Knot of all causes , thou whose changelesse brow Ne're smiles nor frownes , O vouch-safe thou to looke And shew my story , in thy eternall booke . That ( if my prayer be fit ) I may ' understand So much my selfe , as to know with what hand , How scant , or liberall this my lifes race is spand . V. To my sixe lusters almost now outwore , Except thy booke owe mee so many more , Except my legend be free from the letts Of steepe ambition , sleepie povertie , Spirit-quenching sicknesse , dull captivitie , Distracting businesse , and from beauties nets , And all that calls from this , and to others whets , O let me not launch out , but let mee save Th' expence of braine and spirit ; that my grave His right and due , a whole unwasted man may have . VI. But if my dayes be long , and good enough , In vaine this sea shall enlarge , or enrough It selfe ; for I will through the wave , and fome , And shall in sad love wayes , a lively spright Make my darke heavy Poëm light , and light . For though through many streights , & lands I roame , I launch at paradise , and I saile towards home ; The course I there began , shall here be staid , Sailes hoised there , stroke here , and anchors laid In Thames , which were at Tigrys , and Euphrates waide . VII . For the great soule which here amongst us now Doth dwell , and moves that hand , and tongue , & brow , Which as the Moone the sea , moves us , to heare Whose story , with long patience you will long ; ( For 't is the crowne , and last straine of my song ) This soule to whom Luther , and Mahomet were Prisons of flesh ; this soule which oft did teare , And mend the wracks of th' Empire , and late Rome , And liv'd when every great change did come , Had first in paradise , a low , but fatall roome . VIII . Yet no low roome , nor then the greatest , lesse , If ( as devout and sharpe men fitly guesse ) That Crosse , our joy , and griefe , where nailes did tye That All , which alwayes was all , every where Which could not sinne , and yet all sinnes did beare ; Which could not die , yet could not chuse but die ; Stood in the selfe same roome in Calvarie , Where first grew the forbidden learned tree , For on that tree hung in security . This Soule , made by the Makers will from pulling free . IX . Prince of the orchard , faire as dawning morne , Fenc'd with the law , and ripe as soone as borne That apple grew , which this Soule did Till the then climing serpent , that now creeps For that offence , for which all mankinde weepes , Tooke it , and t' her whom the first man did wive ( Whom and her race , only forbiddings drive ) He gave it , she , t' her husband , both did eate ; So perished the eaters , and the meate : And wee ( for treason taints the blood ) thence die and sweat . X. Man all at once was there by woman slaine , And one by one we' are here slaine o'er againe By them . The mother poisoned the well-head , The daughters here corrupts us , No smalnesse scapes , no greatnesse breake their nets , She thrust us out , and by them we are led Astray , from turning , to whence we are fled , Were prisoners Judges , t' would seeme rigorous , Shee sinn'd , we here , part of our paine is , thus To love them , whose fault to this painfull love yoak'd us . XI . So fast in us doth this corruption grow , That now wee dare aske why wee should be so , Would God ( disputes the curious Rebell ) make A law , and would not have it kept ? Or can His creatures will , crosse his ? Of every man For one , will God ( and be just ) vengeance take ? Who sinn'd ? t' was not forbidden to the snake Nor her , who was not then made ; nor i' st writ That Adam cropt , or knew the apple ; yet The worme and she , and he , and wee endure for it . XII . But snatch mee heavenly Spirit , from this vaine Reckoning their vanities , lesse is their gaine Then hazard still , to meditate on ill , Though with good minde , their reasons like those toyes Of glassie bubles , with the gamesome boyes Stretch to so nice a thinnes through a quill That they themselves breake , doe themselves spill , Arguing is heretiques game , and Exercise As wrastlers , perfect them ; Not liberties Of speech , but silence ; hands , not tongues , end heresies . XIII . Just in that instant when the serpents gripe , Broke the slight veines , and tender conduit-pipe , Through which this soule from the trees root did draw Life , and growth to this apple , fled away This loose soule , old , one and another day . As lightning , which one scarce dares say , he saw , 'T is so soone gone , ( and better proofe the law Of sense , then faith requires ) swiftly she flew To a darke and foggie Plot ; Her , her fates threw There through th'earth-pores , and in a Plant hous'd her a new . XIV . The plant thus abled , to it selfe did force A place , where no place was ; by natures course As aire from water , water fleets away From thicker bodies , by this root thronged so His spungie confines gave him place to grow , Just as in our streets , when the people stay To see the Prince , and so fill'd the way That weesels scarce could passe , when she comes nere They throng and cleave up , and a passage cleare , As if , for that time , their round bodies flatned were . XV. His right arme he thrust out towards the East , West-ward his left ; th' ends did themselves digest Into ten lesser strings , these fingers were : And as a slumberer stretching on his bed ; This way he this , and that way scattered His other legge , which feet with toes upbeare ; Grew on his middle parts , the first day , haire , To show , that in loves businesse hee should still A dealer bee , and be us'd well , or ill : His apples kinde , his leaves , force of conception kill . XVI . A mouth , but dumbe , he hath ; blinde eyes , deafe eares , And to his shoulders dangle subtile haires ; A young Colossus there hee stands upright , And as that ground by him were conquered A leafie garland weares he on his head Enchas'd with little fruits , so red and bright That for them you would call your Loves lips white ; So , of a lone unhaunted place possest , Did this soules second Inne , built by the guest This living buried man , this quiet mandrake , rest ▪ XVII . No lustfull woman came this plant to grieve , But t' was because there was none yet but Eve : And she ( with other purpose ) kill'd it quite ; Her sinne had now brought in infirmities , And so her cradled child , the moist red eyes Had never shut , nor sleept since it saw light , Poppie she knew , she knew the mandrakes might ; And tore up both , and so coold her childs blood ; Unvirtuous weeds might long unvex'd have stood ; But hee 's short liv'd , that with his death can doe most good . XVIII . To an unfetterd soules quick nimble hast Are falling stars , and hearts thoughts , but slow pac'd : Thinner then burnt aire flies this soule , and she Whom foure new comming , and foure parting Suns Had found , and left the Mandrakes tenant , runnes Thought lesse of change , when her firme destiny Confin'd , and enjayld her , that seem'd so free , Into a small blew shell , the which a poore Warme bird orespread , and sat still evermore , Till her uncloath'd child kickt , and pick'd it selfe a dore . XIX . Outcrept a sparrow , this soules moving Inne , On whose raw armes stiffe feathers now begin , As childrens teeth through gummes , to breake with paine , His flesh is jelly yet , and his bones threds , All downy a new mantle overspreads , A mouth he opes , which would as much containe As his late house , and the first houre speaks plaine , And chirps alowd for meat . Meat fit for men His father steales for him , and so feeds then One , that within a moneth , will beate him from his hen . XX In this worlds youth wise nature did make hast , Things ripened sooner , and did longer last ; Already this hot cocke in bush and tree In field and tent oreflutters his next hen , He asks her not , who did so tast , nor when , Nor if his sister , or his neece shee be , Nor doth she pule for his inconstancie If in her sight he change , nor doth refuse The next that calls ; both liberty doe use ; Where store is of both kindes , both kindes may freely chuse . XXI . Men , till they tooke laws which made freedome lesse , Their daughters , and their sisters did ingresse , Till now unlawfull , therefore ill ; t' was not So jolly , that it can move this soule ; Is The body so free of his kindnesses , That selfe preserving it hath now forgot , And slackneth so the soules , and bodies knot , Which tēperance streightens ; freely on his she friends He blood , and spirit , pith , and marrow spends , Ill steward of himself , himselfe in three yeares ends . XXII . Else might he long have liv'd ; man did not know Of gummie blood , which doth in holly grow How to make bird-lime , nor how to deceive With faind calls , his nets , or enwrapping snare The free inhabitants of the Plyant aire . Man to beget , and woman to conceive Askt not of rootes , nor of cock-sparrowes , leave : Yet chuseth hee , though none of these he feares , Pleasantly three , then streightned twenty yeares To live , and to encrease , himselfe outweares . XXIII . This cole with overblowing quench'd and dead , The Soule from her too active organs fled T' a brooke ; a female fishes sandie Roe With the males jelly , newly lev'ned was , For they intertouched as they did passe , And one of those small bodies , fitted so , This soule inform'd , and abled it to roe It selfe with finnie oares , which she did fit , Her scales seem'd yet of parchment , and as yet Perchance a fish , but by no name you could call it . XXIV . When goodly , like a ship in her full trim , A swan , so white that you may unto him Compare all whitenesse , but himselfe to none , Glided along , and as he glided watch'd , And with his arched necke this poore fish catch'd . It mov'd with state , as if to looke upon Low things it scorn'd , and yet before that one Could thinke he sought it , he had swallowed cleare This , and much such , and unblam'd devour'd there All , but who too swift , too great , or well arm'd were XXV . Now swome a prison in a prison put , And now this Soule in double walls was shut , Till melted with the Swans digestive fire , She left her house the fish , and vapour'd forth ; Fate not affording bodies of more worth For her as yet , bids her againe retire T'another fish , to any new desire Made a new prey ; For , he that can to none Resistance make , nor complaint , sure is gone . Weaknesse invites , but silence feasts oppression . XXVI . Pace with the native streame , this fish doth keepe , And journeyes with her , towards the glassie deepe , But oft retarded , once with a hidden net Though with great windowes , for when need first taught These tricks to catch food , thē they were not wrought As now , with curious greedinesse to let None scape , but few , and fit for use to get , As , in this trap a ravenous pike was tane , Who , though himselfe distrest , would faine have slain This wretch ; So hardly are ill habits left again . XXVII . Here by her smallnesse shee two deaths orepast , Once innocence scap'd , and left the oppressor fast ; The net through-swome , she keepes the liquid path , And whether she leape up sometimes to breath And suck in aire , or finde it underneath , Or working parts like mills , or limbecks hath To make the wether thinne , and airelike faith Cares not , but safe the Place she 's come unto Where fresh , with salt waves meet , and what to doe She knowes not , but betweene both makes a boord or two XXVIII . So farre from hiding her guests , water is That she showes them in bigger quantities Then they are . Thus doubtfull of her way , For game and not for hunger a sea Pie Spied through this traiterous spectacle , from high , The seely fish where it disputing lay , And t' end her doubts and her , beares her away , Exalted she'is , but to the exalters good , As are by great ones , men which lowly stood . It 's rais'd , to be the Raisers instrument and food . XXIX . Is any kinde subject to rape like fish ? Ill unto man , they neither doe , nor wish : Fishers they kill not , nor with noise awake , They doe not hunt , nor strive to make a prey Of beasts , nor their yong sonnes to beare away ; Foules they pursue not , nor do undertake To spoile the nests industruous birds do make ; Yet them all these unkinde kinds feed upon , To kill them is an occupation , And lawes make fasts , & lents for their destruction . XXX . A sudden stiffe land-winde in that selfe houre To sea-ward forc'd this bird , that did devour The fish ; he cares not , for with ease he flies , Fat gluttonies best orator : at last So long hee hath flowen , and hath flowen so fast That leagues o'er-past at sea , now tir'd hee lyes , And with his prey , that till then languisht , dies , The soules no longer foes , two wayes did erre , The fish I follow , and keepe no calender Of the other ; he lives yet in some great officer . XXXI . Into an embrion fish , our Soule is throwne And in due time throwne out againe , and growne To such vastnesse , as if unmanacled From Greece , Morea were , and that by some Earthquake unrooted , loose Morea swome , Or seas from Africks body had severed And torne the hopefull Promontories head , This fish would seeme these , and , when all hopes faile , A great ship overset , or without saile Hulling , might ( when this was a whelp ) be like this whale . XXXII . At every stroake his brazen finnes do take More circles in the broken sea they make Then cannons voices , when the aire they teare : His ribs are pillars , and his high arch'd roofe Of barke that blunts best steele , is thunder-proofe , Swimme in him swallowed Dolphins , without feare , And feele no sides , as if his vast wombe were Some Inland sea , and ever as hee went Hee spouted rivers up , as if he ment To joyne our seas , with seas above the firmament . XXXIII . He hunts not fish , but as an officer , Stayes in his court , at his owne net , and there All suitors of all sorts themselves enthrall ; So on his backe lyes this whale wantoning , And in his gulfe-like throat , sucks every thing That passeth neare . Fish chaseth fish , and all , Flyer and follower , in this whirlepoole fall ; O might not states of more equality Consist ? and is it of necessity That thousand guiltlesse smals , to make one great , must die ? XXXIV . Now drinkes he up seas , and he eates up flocks , He justles Ilands , and he shakes firme rockes . Now in a roomefull house this Soule doth float , And like a Prince she sends her faculties To all her limbes , distant as Provinces . The Sunne hath twenty times both crab and goate Parched , since first lanch'd forth this living boate . 'T is greatest now , and to destruction Nearest ; There 's no pause at perfection . Greatnesse a period hath , but hath no station . XXXV . Two little fishes whom hee never harm'd , Nor fed on their kinde , two not throughly arm'd With hope that they could kill him , nor could doe Good to themselves by his death : they did not eate His flesh , nor suck those oyles , which thence outstreat , Conspir'd against him , and it might undoe The plot of all , that the plotters were two , But that they fishes were , and could not speake . How shall a Tyran wise strong projects breake , If wreches can on them the common anger wreake ? XXXVI . The flaile-find Thresher , and steel-beak'd Sword-fish Onely attempt to doe , what all doe wish . The Thresher backs him , and to beate begins ; The sluggard Whale yeelds to oppression , And t'hide himselfe from shame and danger , downe Begins to sinke ; the Swordfish upward spins , And gores him with his beake ; his staffe-like finnes , So were the one , his sword the other plyes , That now a scoffe , and prey , this tyran dyes , And ( his owne dole ) feeds with himselfe all companies . XXXVII . Who will revenge his death ? or who will call Those to account , that thought , and wrought his fall ? The heires of slaine kings , wee see are often so Transported with the joy of what they get , That they , revenge , and obsequies forget , Nor will against such men the people goe , Because h 'is now dead , to whom they should show Love in that act . Some kings by vice being growne So needy of subjects love , that of their won They thinke they lose , if love be to the dead Prince shown . XXXVIII . This Soule , now free from prison , and passion , Hath yet a little indignation That so small hammers should so soone downe beat So great a castle . And having for her house Got the streight cloyster of a wreched mouse ( As basest men that have not what to eate , Nor enjoy ought , doe farre more hate the great Then they , who good repos'd estates possesse ) This Soule , late taught that great things might by lesse Be slain , to gallant mischiefe doth herselfe addresse . XXXIX . Natures great master-peece , an Elephant , The onely harmlesse great thing ; the giant Of beasts ; who thought , no more had gone , to make one wise But to be just , and thankfull , loth to offend , ( Yet nature hath given him no knees to bend ) Himselfe he up-props , on himselfe relies And foe to none , suspects no enemies , Still sleeping stood ; vex't not his fantasie Blacke dreames , like an unbent bow , carelesly His sinewy Proboscis did remisly lie . XL. In which as in a gallery this mouse Walk'd , and surveid the roomes of this vast house , And to the braine , the soules bed chamber , went , And gnaw'd the life cords there ; Like a whole towne Cleane undermin'd , the slaine beast tumbled downe , With him the murtherer dies whom envy sent To kill , not scape , for , only hee that ment To die , did ever kill a man of better roome , And thus he made his foe , his prey , and tombe : Who cares not to turn back , may any whither come . XLI . Next , hous'd this Soule a Wolves yet unborne whelp , Till the best midwife , Nature , gave it helpe , To issue . It could kill , as soone as goe , Abel , as white , and milde as his sheepe were , ( Who in that trade of Church , and kingdomes , there Was the first type ) was still infested soe , With this wolfe , that it bred his losse and woe ; And yet his bitch , his sentinell attends The flocke so neere , so well warnes and defends , That the wolfe , ( hopelesse else ) to corrupt her , intends . XLII . Hee tooke a course , which since , succesfully , Great men have often taken , to espie The counsels , or to breake the plots of foes , To Abels tent he stealeth in the darke , On whose skirts the bitch slept ; ere she could barke , Attach'd her with streight gripes , yet hee call'd those , Embracements of love ; to loves worke he goes , Where deeds move more then words ; nor doth she show , Nor much resist , nor needs hee streighten so His prey , for , were shee loose , she would not barke , nor goe . XLIII . Hee hath engag'd her ; his , she wholy bides ; Who not her owne , none others secrets hides , If to the flocke he come , and Abell there , She faines hoarse barkings , but she biteth not , Her faith is quite , but not her love forgot . At last a trap , of which some every where Abell had plac'd , ends all his losse , and feare , By the Wolves death ; and now just time it was That a quicke soule should give life to that masse Of blood in Abels bitch , and thither this did passe . XLIV . Some have their wives , their sisters some begot , But in the lives of Emperours you shall not Reade of a lust the which may equall this ; This wolfe begot himselfe , and finished What he began alive , when hee was dead , Sonne to himselfe , and father too , hee is A ridling lust , for which Schoolemen would misse A proper name . The whelpe of both these lay In Abels tent , and with soft Moaba , His sister , being yong , it us'd to sport and play . XLV . Hee soone for her too harsh , and churlish grew , And Abell ( the dam dead ) would use this new For the field , being of two kindes made , He , as his dam , from sheepe drove wolves away , And as his Sire , he made them his owne prey . Five yeares he liv'd , and cosened with his trade , Then hopelesse that his faults were hid , betraid Himselfe by flight , and by all followed , From dogges , a wolfe ; from wolves , a dogge he fled ; And , like a spie to both sides false , he perished . XLVI . It quickned next a toyfull Ape , and so Gamesome it was , that it might freely goe From tent to tent , and with the children play , His organs now so like theirs hee doth finde , That why he cannot laugh , and speake his minde , He wonders . Much with all , most he doth stay With Adams fift daughter Siphatecia , Doth gaze on her , and , where she passeth , passe , Gathers her fruits , and tumbles on the grasse , And wisest of that kinde , the first true lover was . XLVII . He was the first that more desir'd to have One then another ; first that ere did crave Love by mute signes , and had no power to speake ; First that could make love faces , or could doe The valters sombersalts , or us'd to wooe With hoiting gambolls , his owne bones to breake To make his mistresse merry ; or to wreake Her anger on himselfe . Sinnes against kinde They easily doe , that can let feed their minde With outward beauty , beauty they in boyes and beasts do find . XLVIII . By this misled , too low things men have prov'd , And too high ; beasts and angels have beene lov'd ; This Ape , though else through-vaine , in this was wise , He reach'd at things too high , but open way There was , and he knew not she would say nay ; His toyes prevaile not , likelier meanes he tries , He gazeth on her face with teare-shot eyes , And up lifts subtly with his russet pawe Her kidskinne apron without feare or awe Of nature ; nature hath no gaole , though shee hath law . XLIX . First she was silly and knew not what he ment , That vertue , by his touches , chaft and spent , Succeeds an itchie warmth , that melts her quite , She knew not first , now cares not what he doth , And willing halfe and more , more then halfe Tooth She neither puls nor pushes , but outright Now cries , and now repents ; when Tethelemite Her brother , entred , and a great stone threw After the Ape , who , thus prevented , flew , This house thus batter'd downe , the Soule possest a new . L. And whether by this change she lose or win , She comes out next , where the Ape would have gone in , Adam and Eve had mingled bloods , and now Like Chimiques equall fires , her temperate wombe Had stew'd and form'd it : and part did become A spungie liver , that did richly allow , Like a free conduit , on a high hils brow , Life keeping moisture unto every part , Part hardned it selfe to a thicker heart , Whose busie furnaces lifes spirits do impart . LI. Another part became the well of sense , The tender well arm'd feeling braine , from whence , Those sinowie strings which do our bodies tie , Are raveld out , and fast there by one end , Did this Soule limbes , these limbes a soule attend , And now they joyn'd : keeping some quality Of every past shape , she knew treachery , Rapine , deceit , and lust , and ills enow To be a woman . Themech she is now , Sister and wife to Caine , Caine that first did plow. LII . Who ere thou beest that read'st this sullen Writ , Which just so much courts thee , as thou dost it , Let me arrest thy thoughts , wonder with mee , Why plowing , building , ruling and the rest , Or most of those arts , whence our lives are blest , By cursed Cains race invented be , And blest Seth vext us with Astronomie , Ther 's nothing simply good , nor ill alone , Of every quality comparison , The onely measure is , and judge , opinion . HOLY SONNETS . La Corona . 1. DEigne at my hands this crown of prayer and praise , Weav'd in my low devout melancholie , Thou which of good , hast , yea art treasury , All changing unchang'd Antient of dayes , But doe not , with a vile crowne of fraile bayes , Reward my muses white sincerity , But what thy thorny crowne gain'd , that give mee , A crowne of Glory , which doth flower alwayes ; The ends crowne our workes , but thou crown'st our ends , For , at our end begins our endlesse rest , The first last end , now zealously possest , With a strong sober thirst , my soule attends . 'T is time that heart and voice be lifted high , Salvation to all that will is nigh , ANNVNCIATION . 2 Salvation to all that will is nigh , That All , which alwayes is All every where , Which cannot sinne , and yet all sinnes must beare , Which cannot die , yet cannot chuse but die , Loe , faithfull Virgin , yeelds himselfe to lye In prison , in thy wombe ; and though he there Can take no sinne , nor thou give , yet he'will weare Taken from thence , flesh , which deaths force may trie . Ere by the spheares time was created , thou Wast in his minde , who is thy Sonne , and Brother , Whom thou conceiv'st , conceiv'd ; yea thou art now Thy Makers maker , and thy Fathers mother , Thou'hast light in darke ; and shutst in little roome , Immensity cloysterd in thy deare wombe . NATIVITIE . 3 Immensitie cloysterd in thy deare wombe , Now leaves his welbelov'd imprisonment , There he hath made himselfe to his intent Weake enough , now into our world to come ; But Oh , for thee , for him , hath th'Inne no roome ? Yet lay him in this stall , and from the Orient , Starres , and wisemen will travell to prevent Th' effects of Herods jealous generall doome ; Seest thou , my Soule , with thy faiths eyes , how he Which fils all place , yet none holds him , doth lye ? Was not his pity towards thee wondrous high , That would have need to be pittied by thee ? Kisse him , and with him into Egypt goe , With his kinde mother , who partakes thy woe . TEMPLE . 4 With his kinde mother who partakes thy woe , Ioseph turne backe ; see where your child doth sit , Blowing , yea blowing out those sparks of wit , Which himselfe on the Doctors did bestow ; The Word but lately could not speake , and loe It sodenly speakes wonders , whence comes it , That all which was , and all which should be writ , A shallow seeming child , should deeply know ? His Godhead was not soule to his manhood , Nor had time mellowed him to this ripenesse , But as for one which hath a long taske , 'T is good , With the Sunne to beginne his businesse , He in his ages morning thus began By miracles exceeding power of man. CRVCIFYING . 5 By miracles exceeding power of man , Hee faith in some , envie in some begat , For , what weake spirits admire , ambitious , hate ; In both affections many to him ran , But Oh! the worst are most , they will and can , Alas , and do , unto the immaculate , Whose creature Fate is , now prescribe a Fate , Measuring selfe-lifes infinity to span , Nay to an inch , loe , where condemned hee Beares his owne crosse , with paine , yet by and by When it beares him , he must beare more and die ; Now thou art lifted up , draw mee to thee , And at thy death giving such liberall dole , Moyst , with one drop of thy blood , my dry soule . RESVRRECTION . 6 Moyst with one drop of thy blood , my dry soule , Shall ( though she now be in extreme degree Too stony hard , and yet too fleshly , ) bee Freed by that drop , from being starv'd , hard , or foule , And life , by this death abled , shall controule Death , whom thy death slue ; nor shall to mee Feare of first or last death , bring miserie , If in thy little booke my name thou enroule , Flesh in that long sleep is not putrified , But made that there , of which , and for which 't was ; Nor can by other meanes be glorified . May then sinnes sleep , and death soone from me passe , That wak't from both , I againe risen may Salute the last , and everlasting day . ASCENTION . 7 Salute the last and everlasting day , Joy at the uprising of this Sunne , and Sonne , Yee whose just teares , or tribulation Have purely washt , or burnt your drossie clay ; Behold the Highest , parting hence away , Lightens the darke clouds , which hee treads upon , Nor doth hee by ascending , show alone , But first hee , and hee first enters the way , O strong Ramme , which hast batter'd heaven for mee , Mild lambe which with thy blood , hast mark'd the path ; Bright torch , which shin'st , that I the way may see , Oh , with thy owne blood quench thy owne just wrath , And if thy holy Spirit , my Muse did raise , Deigne at my hands this crowne of prayer and praise . Holy Sonnets . I. AS due by many titles I resigne My selfe to thee , O God , first I was made By thee , and for thee , and when I was decay'd Thy blood bought that , the which before was thine , I am thy sonne , made with thy selfe to shine , Thy servant , whose paines thou hast still repaid , Thy sheepe , thine Image , and till I betray'd My selfe , a temple of thy Spirit divine ; Why doth the devill then usurpe on mee ? Why doth he steale nay ravish that 's thy right ? Except thou rise and for thine owne worke fight , Oh I shall soone despaire , when I doe see That thou lov'st mankind well , yet wilt'not chuse me . And Satan hates mee , yet is loth to lose mee . II. Oh my blacke Soule ! now thou art summoned By sicknesse , deaths herald , and champion ; Thou art like a pilgrim , which abroad hath done Treason , and durst not turne to whence hee is fled , Or like a thiefe , which till deaths doome be read , Wisheth himselfe delivered from prison ; But damn'd and hal'd to execution , Wisheth that still he might be imprisoned ; Yet grace , if thou repent , thou canst not lacke ; But who shall give thee that grace to beginne ? Oh make thy selfe with holy mourning blacke , And red with blushing , as thou art with sinne ; Or wash thee in Christs blood , which hath this might That being red , it dyes red soules to white . III. This is my playes last scene , here heavens appoint My pilgrimages last mile ; and my race Idly , yet quickly runne , hath this last pace , My spans last inch , my minutes latest point , And gluttonous death , will instantly unjoynt My body , and my soule , and I shall sleepe a space , But my'ever-waking part shall see that face , Whose feare already shakes my every joynt : Then , as my soule , to'heaven her first seate , takes flight , And earth borne body , in the earth shall dwell , So , fall my sinnes , that all may have their right , To where they' are bred , and would presse me , to hell . Impute me righteous , thus purg'd of evill , For thus I leave the world , the flesh the devill . IV. At the round earths imagin'd corners , blow Your trumpets , Angells , and arise , arise From death , you numberlesse infinities Of soules , and to your scattred bodies goe , All whom the flood did , and fire shall o'erthrow , All whom warre , death , age , agues , tyrannies , Despaire , law , chance , hath slaine , and you whose eyes , Shall behold God , and never tast deaths woe , But let them sleepe , Lord , and mee mourne a space , For , if above all these , my sinnes abound , 'T is late to aske abundance of thy grace , When wee are there ; here on this lowly ground , Teach mee how to repent ; for that 's as good As if thou'hadst seal'd my pardon , with thy blood . V. If poysonous mineralls , and if that tree , Whose fruit threw death on else immortall us , If lecherous goats , if serpents envious Cannot be damn'd ; Alas ; why should I bee ? Why should intent or reason , borne in mee , Make sinnes , else equall , in mee , more heinous ? And mercy being easie , and glorious To God , in his sterne wrath , why threatens hee ? But who am I , that dare dispute with thee ? O God , Oh! of thine onely worthy blood , And my teares , make a heavenly Lethean flood , And drowne in it my sinnes blacke memorie , That thou remember them , some claime as debt , I thinke it mercy , if thou wilt forget , VI. Death be not proud , though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull , for , thou art not soe , For , those , whom thou think'st , thou dost overthrow , Die not , poore death , nor yet canst thou kill mee ; From rest and sleepe , which but thy pictures bee , Much pleasure , then from thee , much more must flow , And soonest our best men with thee doe goe , Rest of their bones , and soules deliverie Thou art slave to Fate , chance , kings , and desperate men , And doth with poyson , warre , and sicknesse dwell . And poppie , or charmes can make us sleepe as well , And better then thy stroake ; why swell'st thou then ? One short sleepe past , wee wake eternally , And death shall be no more , death thou shalt die . VII . Spit in my face you Jewes , and pierce my side , Buffet , and scoffe , scourge , and crucifie mee , For I have sinn'd , and sinn'd , and onely hee , Who could do no iniquitie , hath dyed : But by my death can not be satisfied My sinnes , which passe the Jewes impiety : They kill'd once an inglorious man , but I Crucifie him daily , being now glorified ; Oh let mee then , his strange love still admire : Kings pardon but he bore our punishment . And Iacob came cloth'd in vile harsh attire But to supplant , and with gainfull intent God cloth'd himselfe in vile mans flesh , that so Hee might be weake enough to suffer woe . VIII . Why are wee by all creatures waited on ? Why doe the prodigall elements supply Life and food to mee , being more pure then I , Simple , and further from corruption ? Why brook'st thou , ignorant horse , subjection ? Why dost thou bull , and bore so seelily Dissemble weaknesse , and by'one mans stroke die , Whose whole kinde , you might swallow & feed upon ? Weaker I am , woe is mee , and worse then you , You have not sinn'd , nor need be timorous , But wonder at a greater wonder , for to us Created nature doth these things subdue , But their Creator , whom sin , nor nature tyed , For us , his Creatures , and his foes , hath dyed . IX . What if this present were the worlds last night ? Marke in my heart , O Soule , where thou dost dwell , The picture of Christ crucified , and tell Whether his countenance can thee affright , Teares in his eyes quench the amasing light , Blood fills his frownes , which from his pierc'd head fell And can that tongue adjudge thee unto hell , Which pray'd forgivenesse for his foes fierce spight ? No , no ; but as in my idolatrie I said to all my profane mistresses , Beauty , of pitty , foulnesse onely is A signe of rigour : so I say to thee , To wicked spirits are horrid shapes assign'd , This beauteous forme assumes a pitious minde . X. Batter my heart , three person'd God ; for , you As yet but knocke , breathe , shine , and seeke to mend ; That I may rise , and stand , o'erthrow mee , ' and bend Your force , to breake , blowe , burn and make me new , I , like an usurpt towne , to'another due , Labour to'admit you , but Oh , to no end , Reason your viceroy in mee , mee should defend , But is captiv'd , and proves weake or untrue , Yet dearely'I love you , and would be lov'd faine , But am betroth'd unto your enemie , Divorce mee , ' untie , or breake that knot againe , Take mee to you , imprison mee , for I Except you'enthral mee , never shall be free , Nor ever chast , except you ravish mee . XI . Wilt thou love God , as he thee ! then digest , My Soule , this wholsome meditation , How God the Spirit , by Angels waited on In heaven , doth make his Temple in thy brest , The Father having begot a Sonne most blest , And still begetting , ( for he ne'r begonne ) Hath deign'd to chuse thee by adoption , Coheire to'his glory , ' and Sabbaths endlesse rest ; And as a robb'd man , which by search doth finde His stolne stuffe sold , must lose or buy'it againe : The Sonne of glory came downe , and was slaine , Us whom he'had made , and Satan stolne , to unbinde . 'T was much , that man was made like God before , But , that God should be made like man , much more . XII . Father , part of his double interest Unto thy kingdome , thy Sonne gives to mee , His joynture in the knottie Trinitie , Hee keepes , and gives to me his deaths conquest , This Lambe , whose death , with life the world hath blest , Was from the worlds beginning slaine , and he Hath made two Wills , which with the Legacie Of his and thy kingdome , doe thy Sonnes invest , Yet such are these laws , that men argue yet Whether a man those statutes can fulfill ; None doth , but thy all-healing grace and Spirit , Revive againe what law and letter kill , Thy lawes abridgement , and thy last command Is all but love ; Oh let this last Will stand ! EPIGRAMS . Hero and Leander . BOth rob'd of aire , we both lye in one ground , Both whom one fire had burnt , one water drownd . Pyramus and Thisbe . Two , by themselves , each other , love and feare Slaine , cruell friends , by parting have joyn'd here . Niobe . By childrens births , and death , I am become So dry , that I am now mine owne sad tombe . A burnt ship . Out of a fired ship , which , by no way But drowning , could be rescued from the flame , Some men leap'd forth , and ever as they came Neere the foes ships , did by their shot decay ; So all were lost , which in the ship were found , They in the sea being burnt , they in the burnt ship drown'd . Fall of a wall . Under an undermin'd , and shot-bruis'd wall A too-bold Captaine perish'd by the fall , Whose brave misfortune , happiest men envi'd , That had a towne for tombe , his bones to hide . A lame begger . I am unable , yonder begger cries , To stand , or moue ; if he say true , hee lies . A selfe accuser . Your mistris , that you follow whores , still taxeth you : 'T is strange that she should thus confesse it , though'it be true . A licentious person . Thy sinnes and haires may no man equall call , For , as thy sinnes increase , thy haires doe fall . Antiquary . If in his Studie he hath so much care To'hang all old strange things , let his wife beware . Disinherited . Thy father all from thee , by his last Will Gave to the poore ; Thou hast good title still , Phryne . Thy flattering picture , Phryne , is like thee , Onely in this , that you both painted be . An obscure writer . Philo , with twelve yeares study , hath beene griev'd , To'be understood , when will hee be beleev'd . Klockius so deeply hath sworne , ne'r more to come In bawdie house , that hee dares not goe home . Raderus . Why this man gelded Martiall I muse , Except himselfe alone his tricks would use , As Katherine , for the Courts sake , put downe Stewes . Mercurlus Gallo-Belgicus . Like Esops fellow-slaves , O Mercury , Which could do all things , thy faith is ; and I Like Esops selfe , which nothing ; I confesse I should have had more faith , if thou hadst lesse ; Thy credit lost thy credit : 'T is sinne to doe , In this case , as thou wouldst be done unto , To beleeve all : Change thy name : thou art like Mercury in stealing , but lyest like a Greeke . Compassion in the world againe is bred : Ralphius is sick , the broker keeps his bed . ELEGIE . I. FOnd woman which would'st have thy husband die , And yet complain'st of his great jealousie ; If swolne with poyson , hee lay in'his last bed , His body with a sere-barke covered , Drawing his breath , as thick and short , as can The nimblest crocheting Musitian , Ready with loathsome vomiting to spue His Soule out of one hell , into a new , Made deafe with his poore kindreds howling cries , Begging with few feign'd teares , great legacies , Thou would'st not weepe , but jolly , ' and frolicke bee , As a slave , which to morrow should be free , Yet weep'st thou , when thou seest him hungerly Swallow his owne death , hearts-bane jealousie . O give him many thanks , he 'is courteous , That in suspecting kindly warneth us . Wee must not , as wee us'd , flout openly , In scoffing ridles , his deformitie ; Nor at his boord together being satt , With words , nor touch , scarce lookes adulterate . Nor when he swolne , and pamper'd with great fare Sits downe , and snorts , cag'd in his basket chaire , Must wee usurpe his owne bed any more , Nor kisse and play in his house , as before . Now I see many dangers ; for it is His realme , his castle , and his diocesse . But if , as envious men , which would revile Their Prince , or coyne his gold , themselves exile Into another countrie , ' and doe it there , Wee play'in another house , what should we feare ? There we will scorne his houshold policies , His seely plots , and pensionary spies , As the inhabitants of Thames right side Do Londons Major , or Germans , the Popes pride . Elegie II. Marry , and love thy Flavia , for , shee Hath all things , whereby others beautious bee , For , though her eyes be small , her mouth is great , Though they be Ivory , yet her teeth be jear , Though they be dimme , yet she is light enough , And though her harsh haire fall , her skinne is rough ; What though her cheeks be yellow , her haire 's red , Give her thine , and she hath a maydenhead . These things are beauties elements , where these Meet in one , that one must , as perfect , please . If red and white and each good quality Be in thy wench , ne'r aske where it doth lye . In buying things perfum'd , we aske ; if there Be muske and amber in it , but not where . Though all her parts be not in th'usuall place , She'hath yet an Anagram of a good face . If we might put the letters but one way , In the leane dearth of words , what could wee say ? When by the Gamut some Musitions make A perfect song , others will undertake , By the same Gamut chang'd , to equall it . Things simply good , can never be unfit ; She 's faire as any , if all be like her , And if none bee , then she is singular . All love is wonder ; if wee justly doe Account her wonderfull , why not lovely too ? Love built on beauty , soone as beauty , dies , Chuse this face , chang'd by no deformities ; Women are all like Angels ; the faire be Like those which fell to worse ; but such as shee , Like to good Angels , nothing can impaire : 'T is lesse griefe to be foule , then to'have beene faire . For one nights revels , silke and gold we chuse , But , in long journeyes , cloth , and leather use . Beauty is barren oft ; best husbands say There is best land , where there is foulest way . Oh what a soveraigne Plaister will shee bee If thy past sinnes have taught thee jealousie ! Here needs no spies , nor eunuches ; her commit Safe to thy foes ; yea , to a Marmosit . When Belgiaes citties , the round countries drowne , That durty foulenesse guards , and armes the towne : So doth her face guard her ; and so , for thee , Which , forc'd by businesse , absent oft must bee , Shee , whose face , like clouds , turnes the day to night , Who , mightier thē the sea , makes Moores seem white , Who , though seaven yeares , she in the Stews had laid , A Nunnery durst receive , and thinke a maid , And though in childbeds labour she did lie , Midwifes would sweare , 't were but a tympanie , Whom , if shee accuse her selfe , I credit lesse Then witches , which impossibles confesse . One like none , and lik'd of none , fittest were , For , things in fashion every man will weare . Elegie III. Although thy hand and faith , and good workes too , Have seal'd thy love which nothing should undoe , Yea though thou fall backe , that apostasie Confirme thy love ; yet much , much I feare thee . Women , are like the Arts , forc'd unto none , Open to'all searchers , unpriz'd , if unknowne . If I have caught a bird , and let him flie , Another fouler using these meanes , as I , May catch the same bird ; and , as these things bee , Women are made for men , not him , nor mee . Foxes and goats ; all beasts change when they please , Shall women , more hot , wily , wild then these , Be bound to one man , and did Nature then Idly make them apter to'endure then men ? They' are our clogges , not their owne ; if a man bee Chain'd to a galley , yet the galley'is free ; Who hath a plow-land , casts all his seed corne there , And yet allowes his ground more corne should beare ; Though Danuby into the sea must flow , The sea receives the Rhene , Volga , and Po. By nature , which gave it , this liberty Thou lov'st , but Oh! canst thou love it and mee ? Likenesse glues love : and if that thou so doe , To make us like and love , must I change too ? More then thy hate , I hate'it , rather let mee Allow her change , then change as oft as shee , And soe not teach , but force my'opinion To love not any one , nor every one . To live in one land , is captivitie , To runne all countries , a wild roguery ; Waters stincke soone , if in one place they bide , And in the vast sea are more putrifi'd : But when they kisse one banke , and leaving this Never looke backe , but the next banke doe kisse , Then are they purest ; Change'is the nursery Of musicke , joy , life , and eternity . Elegie IV. Once , and but once found in thy company , All thy suppos'd escapes are laid on mee ; And as a thiefe at barre , is question'd there By all the men , that have beene rob'd that yeare , So am I , ( by this traiterous meanes surpriz'd ) By thy Hydroptique father catechiz'd . Though hee hath oft sworne , that hee would remove Thy beauties beautie , and food of our love , Hope of his goods , if I with thee were seene , Yet close and secret , as our soules , we'have beene . Though thy immortall mother which doth lye Still buried in her bed , yet will not dye , Takes this advantage to sleepe out day-light , And watch thy entries , and returnes all night , And , when she takes thy hand , and would seeme kind , Doth search what rings , and armelets she can finde , And kissing notes the colour of thy face , And fearing least thou' art swolne , doth thee embrace ; To trie if thou long , doth name strange meates . And notes thy palenesse , blushing , sighs , and sweats ; And politiquely will to thee confesse The sinnes of her owne youths ranke lustinesse ; Yet love these Sorceries did remove , and move Thee to gull thine owne mother for my love . Thy little brethren , which like Faiery Sprights Oft skipt into our chamber , those sweet nights , And kist , and ingled on thy fathers knee , Were brib'd next day , to tell what they did see . The grim-eight-foot-high-iron-bound serving-man , That oft names God in oathes , and onely than , He that to barre the first gate , doth as wide As the great Rhodian Colossus stride , Which , if in hell no other paines there were , Makes mee feare hell , because he must be there : Though by thy father he were hir'd to this , Could never witnesse any touch or kisse ; But Oh , too common ill , I brought with mee That , which betray'd mee to my enemie : A loud perfume , which at my entrance cryed Even at thy fathers nose , so were wee spied . When , like a tyran King , that in his bed Smelt gunpowder , the pale wretch shivered ; Had it beene some bad smell , he would have thought That his owne feet , or breath , that smell had wrought But as wee in our I le emprisoned , Where cattell onely , ' and diverse dogs are bred , The pretious Vnicornes , strange monsters , call , So thought he good , strange , that had none at all . I taught my silkes , their whistling to forbeare , Even my opprest shoes , dumbe and speechlesse were , Onely , thou bitter sweet , whom I had laid Next mee , mee traiterously hast betraid , And unsuspected hast invisibly At once fled unto him , and staid with mee . Base excrement of earth , which dost confound Sense , from distinguishing the sicke from sound ; By thee the seely Amorous sucks his death By drawing in a leprous harlots breath , By thee , the greatest staine to mans estate Falls on us , to be call'd effeminate ; Though you be much lov'd in the Princes hall , There , things that seeme , exceed substantiall . Gods , when yee fum'd on altars , were pleas'd well , Because you'were burnt , not that they lik'd your smell , You' are loathsome all , being taken simply alone , Shall wee love ill things joyn'd , and hate each one ? If you were good , your good doth soone decay ; And you are rare , that takes the good away . All my perfumes , I give most willingly To'embalme thy fathers corse ; What ? will hee die ? Elegie V. Here take my Picture , though I bid farewell ; Thine , in my heart , where my soule dwels , shall dwell . 'T is like me now , but I dead , 't will be more When wee are shadowes both , then 't was before . When weather-beaten I come backe ; my hand , Perhaps with rude oares torne , or Sun beams tann'd , My face and brest of hairecloth , and my head With cares rash sodaine stormes , being o'rspread , My body'a sack of bones , broken within , And powders blew staines scatter'd on my skinne ; If rivall fooles taxe thee to'have lov'd a man , So foule , and course , as , Oh , I may seeme than , This shall say what I was : and thou shalt say , Doe his hurts reach mee ? doth my worth decay ? Or doe they reach his judging minde , that hee Should now love lesse , what hee did love to see ? That which in him was faire and delicate , Was but the milke , which in loves childish state Did nurse it : who now is growne strong enough To feed on that , which to disus'd tasts seemes tough . Elegie VI. Sorrow , who to this house scarce knew the way : Is , Oh , heire of it , our All is his prey . This strange chance claimes strange wonder , and to us ' Nothing can be so strange , as to weepe thus ; 'T is well his life 's loud speaking workes deserve , And give praise too , our cold tongues could not serve : 'T is well , hee kept teares from our eyes before , That to fit this deep ill , we might have store . Oh , if a sweet briar , climbe up by'a tree , If to a paradise that transplanted bee , Or fell'd , and burnt for holy sacrifice , Yet , that must wither , which by it did rise , As wee for him dead : though no familie Ere rigg'd a soule for heavens discoverie With whom more Venturers more boldly dare Venture their states , with him in joy to share Wee lose what all friends lov'd , him , he gaines now But life by death , which worst foes would allow , If hee could have foes , in whose practise grew All vertues , whose names subtile Schoolmen knew ; What ease , can hope that wee shall see'him , beget , When wee must die first , and cannot dye yet ? His children are his pictures , Oh they bee Pictures of him dead , senselesse , cold as he , Here needs no marble Tombe , since hee is gone , He , and about him , his , are turn'd to stone . Elegie VII . Oh , let mee not serve so , as those men serve Whom honours smoakes at once fatten and sterve ; Poorely enrich't with great mens words or lookes ; Nor so write my name in thy loving bookes As those Idolatrous flatterers , which still Their Princes stiles , which many Realmes fulfill Whence they no tribute have , and where no sway . Such services I offer as shall pay Themselves , I hate dead names : Oh then let mee Favorite in Ordinary , or no favorite bee . When my Soule was in her owne body sheath'd , Nor yet by oathes betroth'd , nor kisses breath'd Into my Purgatory , faithlesse thee , Thy heart seem'd waxe , and steele thy constancie . So , carelesse flowers strow'd on the waters face , The curled whirlepooles suck , smack , and embrace , Yet drowne them ; so , the tapers beamie eye Amorously twinkling , beckens the giddie flie , Yet burnes his wings ; and such the devill is , Scarce visiting them , who are intirely his . When I behold a streame , which , from the spring , Doth with doubtfull melodious murmuring , Or in a speechlesse slumber , calmely ride Her wedded channels bosome , and then chide And bend her browes , and swell if any bough Do but stoop downe , or kisse her upmost brow : Yet , if her often gnawing kisses winne The traiterous banks to gape , and let her in , She rusheth violently , and doth divorce Her from her native , and her long-kept course , And rores , and braves it , and in gallant scorne , In flattering eddies promising retorne , She flouts the channell , who thenceforth is drie ; Then say I ; that is shee , and this am I. Yet let not thy deepe bitternesse beget Carelesse despaire in mee , for that will whet My minde to scorne ; and Oh , love dull'd with paine Was ne'r so wise , nor well arm'd as disdaine . Then with new eyes I shall survay thee , ' and spie Death in thy cheekes , and darknesse in thine eye ; Though hope bred faith and love ; thus taught , I shall As nations do from Rome , from thy love fall . My hate shall outgrow thine , and utterly I will renounce thy dalliance : and when I Am the Recusant , in that resolute state , What hurts it mee to be'excommunicate ? Elegie VIII . Natures lay Ideot , I taught thee to love , And in that sophistrie , Oh , thou dost prove Too subtile : Foole , thou didst not understand The mystique language of the eye nor hand : Nor couldst thou judge the difference of the aire Of sighes , and say , this lies , this sounds despaire . Nor by the'eyes water call a maladie Desperately hot , or changing feaverously . I had not taught thee then , the Alphabet Of flowers , how they devisefully being set And bound up , might with speechlesse secrecie Deliver arrands mutely , and mutually . Remember since all thy words us'd to bee To every suitor ; I , if my friends agree . Since , houshold charmes , thy husbands name to teach , Were all the love trickes , that thy wit could reach ; And since , an houres discourse could scarce have made One answer in thee , and that ill arraid In broken proverbs , and torne sentences . Thou art not by so many duties his , That from the worlds Common having sever'd thee , Inlaid thee , neither to be seene , nor see , As mine : who have with amorous delicacies Refin'd thee'into a blis-full paradise . Thy graces and good words my creatures bee , I planted knowledge and lifes tree in thee , Which Oh , shall strangers taste ? Must I alas Frame and enamell Plate , and drinke inglasse ? Chafe waxe for others seales ? breake a colts force And leave him then , beeing made a ready horse ? THE STORME . To Mr Christopher Brooke . THou which art I , ( 't is nothing to be soe ) Thou which art still thy selfe , by these shalt know Part of our passage ; And , a hand , or eye By Hilliard drawne , is worth an history , By a worse painter made ; and ( without pride ) When by thy judgment they are dignifi'd , My lines are such . 'T is the preheminence Of friendship onely to'impute excellence . England to whom we'owe , what we be , and have , Sad that her sonnes did seeke a forraine grave ( For , Fates , or Fortunes drifts none can Southsay , Honour and misery have one face and way . ) From out her pregnant intrailes sigh'd a winde Which at th'ayres middle marble roome did finde Such strong resistance , that it selfe it threw Downeward againe ; and so when it did view How in the port , our fleet deare time did leese , Withering like prisoners , which lye but for fees , Mildly it kist our sailes , and , fresh , and sweet , As , to a stomack sterv'd , whose insides meete , Meate comes , it came ; and swole our sailes , when wee So joyd , as Sara ' her swelling joy'd to see . But 't was , but so kinde , as our countrimen , Which bring friends one dayes way , and leave them then . Then like two mighty Kings , which dwelling farre blew , Asunder , meet against a third to warre , The South and West winds joyn'd , and , as they blew , Waves like a rowling trench before them threw . Sooner then you read this line , did the gale , Like shot , not fear'd , till felt , our sailes assaile ; And what at first was call'd a gust , the same Hath now a stormes , a non a tempests name . Ionas , I pitty thee , and curse those men , Who when the storm rag'd most , did wake thee then ; Sleepe is paines easiest salue , and doth fullfill All offices of death , except to kill . But when I wakt , I saw , that I saw not . I , and the Sunne , which should teach mee'had forgot East , West , day , night , and I could onely say , If the world had lasted , now it had beene day . Thousands our noyses were , yet wee ' mongst all Could none by his right name , but thunder call : Lightning was all our light , and it rain'd more Then if the Sunne had drunke the sea before ; Some coffin'd in their cabbins lye , ' equally Griev'd that they are not dead , and yet must dye . And as sin-burd'ned soules from grave will creepe , At the last day , some forth their cabbins peepe : And tremblingly'aske what newes , and doe heare so , Like jealous husbands , what they would not know . Some sitting on the hatches , would seeme there , With hideous gazing to feare away feare . Then note they the ships sicknesses , the Mast Shak'd with this ague , and the Hold and Wast With a salt dropsie clog'd , and all our tacklings Snapping , like too-high-stretched treble strings . And from our totterd sailes , ragges drop downe so , As from one hang'd in chaines , a yeare agoe . Even our Ordinance plac'd for our defence , Strive to breake loose , and scape away from thence . Pumping hath tir'd our men , and what 's the gaine ? Seas into seas throwne , we suck in againe ; Hearing hath deaf'd our saylers ; and if they Knew how to heare , there 's none knowes what to say . Compar'd to these stormes , death is but a qualme , Hell somewhat lightsome , and the' Bermuda calme . Darknesse , lights eldest brother , his birth-right Claim'd o'r this world , and to heaven hath chas'd light . All things are one , and that one none can be , Since all formes , uniforme deformity Doth cover , so that wee , except God say Another Fiat , shall have no more day . So violent , yet long these furies bee , That though thine absence sterve me , ' I wish not thee . THE CALME . OUr storme is past , and that storms tyrannous rage , A stupid calme , but nothing it , doth swage . The fable is inverted , and farre more A blocke afflicts , now , then a storke before . Stormes chafe , and soone weare out themselves , or us ; In calmes , Heaven laughs to see us languish thus . As steady'as I can wish , that my thoughts were , Smooth as thy mistresse glasse , or what shines there , The sea is now . And , as the Iles which wee Seeke , when wee can move , our ships rooted bee . As water did in stormes , now pitch runs out As lead , when a fir'd Church becomes one spout . And all our beauty , and our trimme , decayes , Like courts removing , or like ended playes . The fighting place now seamens ragges supply ; And all the tackling is a frippery . No use of lanthornes ; and in one place lay Feathers and dust , to day and yesterday . Earths hollownesses , which the worlds lungs are , Have no more winde then the upper valt of aire . We can nor lost friends , nor sought foes recover , But meteorlike , save that wee move not , hover . Onely the Calenture together drawes Deare friends , which meet dead in great fishes jawes : And on the hatches as on Altars lyes Each one , his owne Priest , and owne Sacrifice . Who live , that miracle do multiply Where walkers in hot Ovens , doe not dye . If in despite of these , wee swimme , that hath No more refreshing , then our brimstone Bath , But from the sea , into the ship we turne , Like parboyl'd wretches , on the coales to burne . Like Bajazet encag'd , the sheepheards scoffe , Or like-slacke sinew'd Sampson , his haire off , Languish our ships . Now , as a Miriade Of Ants , durst th' Emperours lov'd snake invade , The crawlin ▪ Gallies , Sea-goales , finny chips , Might brave our venices , now bed-ridde ships . Whether a rotten state , and hope of gaine , Or , to disuse mee from the queasie paine Of being belov'd , and loving , or the thirst Of honour , or faire death , out pusht mee first , I lose my end : for here as well as I A desperate may live , and a coward die . Stagge , dogge , and all which from , or towards flies , Is paid with life , or pray , or doing dyes . Fate grudges us all , and doth subtly lay A scourge , ' gainst which wee all forget to pray , He that at sea prayes for more winde , as well Under the poles may begge cold , heat in hell . What are wee then ? How little more alas Is man now , then before he was ? he was Nothing ; for us , wee are for nothing fit ; Chance , or our selves still disproportion it . Wee have no power , no will , no sense ; I lye , I should not then thus feele this miserie . To Sr Henry Wotton . SIr , more then kisses , letters mingle Soules ; For , thus friends absent speake . This ease controules The tediousnesse of my life : But for these I could ideate nothing , which could please , But I should wither in one day , and passe To'a botle'of Hay , that am a locke of Grasse . Life is a voyage , and in our lifes wayes Countries , Courts , Towns are Rockes , or Remoraes ; They breake or stop all ships , yet our state 's such , That though then pitch they staine worse , wee must touch . If in the furnace of the raging line , Or under th' adverse icy pole thou pine , Thou know'st two temperate Regions girded in , Dwell there : But Oh , what refuge canst thou winne Parch'd in the Court , and in the country frozen ? Shall cities built of both extremes be chosen ? Can dung , and garlike be'a perfume ? or can A Scorpion , or Torpedo cure a man ? Cities are worst of all three ; of all three ( O knottie riddle ) each is worst equally . Cities are Sepulchers ; they who dwell there Are carcases , as if no such they were . And Courts are Theaters , where some men play Princes , some slaves , all to one end , and of one clay ▪ The Country is a desert , where no good , Gain'd , as habits , not borne , is understood . There men become beasts , and prone to more evils ; In cities blockes , and in a lewd court , devills . As in the first Chaos confusedly Each elements qualities were in the'other three ; So pride , lust , covetize , being severall To these three places , yet all are in all , And mingled thus , their issue incestuous . Falshood is denizon'd . Virtue is barbarous . Let no man say there , Virtues flintie wall Shall locke vice in mee , I 'll do none , but know all . Men are spunges , which to poure out , receive , Who know false play , rather then lose , deceive . For in best understandings , sinne beganne , Angels sinn'd first , then Devills , and then man. Onely perchance beasts sinne not ; wretched wee Are beasts in all , but white integritie . I thinke if men , which in these places live Durst looke in themselves , and themselves retrive , They would like strangers greet themselves , seeing then Utopian youth , growne old Italian . Be thou thine owne home , and in thy selfe dwell ; Inne any where , continuance maketh hell . And seeing the snaile , which every where doth rome , Carrying his owne house still , still is at home . Follow ( for he is easie pac'd ) this snaile , Bee thine owne Palace , or the world 's thy goale ; And in the worlds sea , do not like corke sleepe Upon the waters face ; nor in the deepe Sinke like a lead without a line : but as Fishes glide , leaving no print where they passe , Nor making sound ; so , closely thy course goe , Let men dispute , whether thou breath , or no : Onely'in this one thing , be no Galenist . To make Courts hot ambitions wholesome , do not take A dramme of Countries dulnesse ; do not adde Correctives , but as chymiques , purge the bad . But , Sir , I advise not you , I rather doe Say o'er those lessons , which I learn'd of you . Whom , free from German schismes , and lightnesse Of France , and faire Italies faithlesnesse , Having from these suck'd all they had of worth , And brought home that faith , which you carried forth , I throughly love . But if my selfe , I'have wonne To know my rules , I have , and you have DONNE : The Crosse . SInce Christ embrac'd the Crosse it selfe , dare I His image , th' image of his Crosse deny ? Would I have profit by the sacrifice , And dare the chosen Altar to despise ? It bore all other sinnes , but is it fit That it should beare the sinne of scorning it ? Who from the picture would avert his eye , How would he flye his paines , who there did dye ? From mee , no Pulpit , nor misgrounded law , Nor scandall taken , shall this Crosse withdraw , It shall not , for it cannot ; for , the losse Of this Crosse , were to mee another Crosse . Better were worse , for , no affliction No Crosse is so extreme , as to have none ; Who can blot out the Crosse , which th' instrument Of God , dew'd on mee in the Sacrament ? Who can deny mee power , and liberty To stretch mine armes , and mine owne Crosse to be ? Swimme , and at every stroake , thou art thy Crosse , The Mast and yard make one , where seas do tosse . Looke downe , thou spiest out Crosses in small things ; Looke up , thou seest birds rais'd on crossed wings ; All the Globes frame , and spheares , is nothing else But the Meridians crossing Parallels . Materiall Crosses then , good physicke bee , But yet spirituall have chiefe dignity . These for extracted chimique medicine serve , And cure much better , and as well preserve ; Then are you your own physicke , or need none , When Still'd , or purg'd by tribulation . For when that Crosse ungrudg'd , unto you stickes , Then are you to your selfe , a Crucifixe . As perchance , Carvers do not faces make : But that away , which hid them there , do take . Let Crosses , soe , take what hid Christ in thee , And be his image , or not his , but hee . But , as oft , Alchimists doe coyners prove , So may a selfe-dispising , get selfe-love . And then as worst surfets , of best meates bee , Soe is pride , issued from humility , For , 't is no child , but monster ; therefore Crosse Your joy in crosses , else , 't is double losse , And crosse thy senses , else , both they , and thou Must perish soone , and to destruction bowe . For if the'eye seeke good objects , and will take No crosse from bad , wee cannot scape a snake . So with harsh , hard , sowre , stinking , crosse the rest , Make them indifferent ; call nothing best . But most the eye needs crossing , that can rome , And move ; To th' other th' objects must come home . And crosse thy heart : for that in man alone Pants downewards , and hath palpitation . Crosse those dejections , when it downeward tends , And when it to forbidden heights pretends . And as the braine through bony walls doth vent By sutures , which a Crosses forme present , So when thy braine workes , ere thou utter it , Crosse and correct concupiscence of witt . Be covetous of Crosses , let none fall . Crosse no man else , but crosse thy selfe in all . Then doth the Crosse of Christ worke faithfully Within our hearts , when wee love harmlesly The Crosses pictures much , and with more care That Crosses children , which our Crosses are . Elegie on the Lady Marckham . MAn is the World , and death th' Ocean , To which God gives the lower parts of man. This Sea invirons all , and though as yet God hath set markes , and bounds , twixt us and it , Yet doth it rore , and gnaw , and still pretend , And breaks our banke , when ere it takes a friend . Then our land waters ( teares of passion ) vent ; Our waters , then , above our firmament . ( Teares which our Soule doth for her sins let fall ) Take all a brackish tast , and Funerall . And even those teares , which should wash sin , are sin . We , after Gods Noe , drowne the world againe . Nothing but man of all invenom'd things Doth worke upon itselfe , with inborne stings . Teares are false Spectacles , we cannot see Through passions mist , what wee are , or what shee . In her this sea of death hath made no breach , But as the tide doth wash the slimie beach , And leaves embroderd workes upon the sand , So is her flesh refin'd by deaths cold hand . As men of China , ' after an ages stay Do take up Porcelane , where they buried Clay ; So at this grave , her limbecke , which refines The Diamonds , Rubies , Saphires , Pearles , & Mines , Of which , this flesh was , her soule shall inspire Flesh of such stuffe , as God , when his last fire Annuls this world , to recompence it , shall , Make and name then , th'Elixar of this All. They say , the sea , when it gaines , loseth too ; If carnall Death ( the yonger brother ) doe Usurpe the body , 'our soule , which subject is To th' elder death , by sinne , is freed by this ; They perish both , when they attempt the just ; For , graves our trophies are , and both , deaths dust . So , unobnoxious now , she'hath buried both ; For , none to death sinnes , that to sinne is loth . Nor doe they die , which are not loth to die , So hath she this , and that virginity . Grace was in her extremely diligent , That kept her from sinne , yet made her repent . Of what small spots pure white complaines ! Alas , How little poyson cracks a christall glasse ? She sinn'd , but just enough to let us see That , extreme truth lack'd little of a lye , Making omissions , acts ; laying the touch Of sinne , on things that sometimes may be such . As Moses Cherubines , whose natures doe Surpasse all speed , by him are winged too : So would her soule , already'in heaven , seeme then , To clyme by teares , the common staires of men . How fit she was for God , I am content To speake , that death his vaine hast may repent . How fit for us , how even and how sweet , How good in all her titles , and how meet , To have reform'd this forward heresie , That woman can no parts of friendship bee ; How Morall , how Divine shall not be told , Lest they that heare her vertues , thinke her old . And lest we take Deaths part , and make him glad Of such a prey , and to his tryumph adde . Elegie on Mris Boulstred . DEath I recant , and say , unsaid by mee What ere hath slip'd , that might diminish thee . Spirituall treason , atheisme 't is , to say , That any can thy Summons disobey . Th' earths face is but thy Table ; there are set Plants , cattell , men , dishes for Death to eate . In a rude hunger now hee millions drawes Into his bloody , or plaguy , or sterv'd jawes . Now hee will seeme to spare , and doth more wast , Eating the best first , well preserv'd to last . Now wantonly he spoiles , and eates us not , But breakes off friends , and lets us peecemeale rot . Nor will this earth serve him ; he sinkes the deepe Where harmelesse fish monastique silence keepe . Who ( were Death dead ) by Roes of living sand , Might spunge that element , and make it land . He rounds the aire , and breakes the hymnique notes In birds , Heavens choristers , organique throats , Which ( if they did not dye ) might seeme to bee A tenth ranke in the heavenly hierarchie . O strong and long-liv'd death , how cam'st thou in ? And how without Creation didst begin ? Thou hast , and shalt see dead , before thou dyest , All the foure Monarchies , and Antichrist . How could I thinke thee nothing , that see now In all this All , nothing else is , but thou . Our births and life , vices , and vertues , bee Wastfull consumptions , and degrees of thee . For , wee to live , our bellowes weare , and breath , Nor are wee mortall , dying , dead , but death . And though thou beest , O mighty bird of prey , So much reclaim'd by God , that thou must lay All that thou kill'st at his feet , yet doth hee Reserve but few , and leaves the most to thee . And of those few , now thou hast overthrowne One whom thy blow , makes , not ours , nor thine own . She was more stories high : hopelesse to come To her Soule , thou'hast offer'd at her lower roome . Her Soule and body was a King and Court : But thou hast both of Captaine mist and fort . As houses fall not , though the King remove , Bodies of Saints rest for their soules above . Death gets'twixt soules and bodies such a place As sinne insinuates 'twixt just men and grace , Both worke a separation , no divorce . Her Soule is gone to usherup her corse , Which shall be'almost another soule , for there Bodies are purer , then best Soules are here . Because in her , her virtues did outgoe Her yeares , would'st thou , O emulous death , do so ? And kill her young to thy losse ? must the cost Of beauty , ' and wit , apt to doe harme , be lost ? What though thou found'st her proofe'gainst sins of youth ? Oh , every age a diverse sinne pursueth . Thou should'st have stay'd , and taken better hold , Shortly ambitious , covetous , when old , She might have prov'd : and such devotion Might once have stray'd to superstition . If all her vertues must have growne , yet might Abundant virtue'have bred a proud delight . Had she persever'd just , there would have bin Some that would sinne , mis-thinking she did sinne . Such as would call her friendship , love , and faine To sociablenesse , a name profane . Or sinne , by tempting , or , not daring that , By wishing , though they never told her what . Thus might'st thou'have slain more soules , had'st thou not crost Thy selfe , and to triumph , thine army lost . Yet though these wayes be lost , thou hast left one , Which is , immoderate griefe that she is gone . But we may scape that sinne , yet weepe as much , Our teares are due , because we are not such . Some teares , that knot of friends , her death must cost , Because the chaine is broke , but no linke lost . To Sr Henry Goodyere . WHo makes the Past , a patterne for next yeare , Turnes no new leafe , but still the same things reads , Seene things , he sees againe , heard things doth heare , And makes his life , but like a paire of beads . A Palace , when 't is that , which it should be , Leaves growing , and stands such , or else decayes , But hee which dwels there , is not so ; for hee Strives to urge upward , and his fortune raise ; So had your body'her morning , hath her noone , And shall not better ; her next change is night : But her faire larger guest , to'whom Sun and Moone Are sparkes , and short liv'd , claimes another right . The noble Soule by age growes lustier , Her appetite , and her digestion mend , Wee must not sterve , nor hope to pamper her With womens milke , and pappe unto the end . Provide you manlyer dyet , you have seene All libraries , which are Schools , Camps , & Courts ; But aske your Garners if you have not beene In harvests , too indulgent to your sports . Would you redeeme it ? then your selfe transplant A while from hence . Perchance outlandish ground Beares no more wit , then ours , but yet more scant Are those diversions there , which here abound . To be a stranger hath that benefit , Wee can beginnings , but not habits choke . Goe , whither ? hence ; you get , if you forget ; New faults , till they prescribe in us , are smoake . Our soule , whose country'is heaven , & God her father , Into this world , corruptions sinke , is sent , Yet , so much in her travaile she doth gather , That she returnes home , wiser then she went ; It payes you well , if it teach you to spare , And make you'asham'd , to make your hawks praise , yours , Which when herselfe she lessens in the aire , You then first say , that high enough she toures . However , keepe the lively tast you hold Of God , love him as now , but feare him more , And in your afternoones thinke what you told And promis'd him , at morning prayer before . Let falshood like a discord anger you , Else be not froward ; But why doe I touch Things , of which none is in your practise new , And Tables , or fruit-trenchers teach as much ; But thus I make you keepe your promise Sir , Riding I had you , though you still staid there , And in these thoughts , although you never stirre , You came with mee to Micham , and are here . To Mr Rowland Woodward . LIke one who'in her third widdowhood doth professe , Her selfe a Nunne , tyed to retirednesse , So'affects my muse now , a chast fallownesse . Since shee to few , yet to too many'hath showne How love-song weeds , and Satyrique thornes are growne Where seeds of better Arts , were early sown . Though to use , and love Poëtrie , to mee , Betroth'd to no'one Art , be no'adulterie ; Omissions of good , ill , as ill deeds bee . For though to us it seeme , ' and be light and thinne , Yet in those faithfull scales , where God throwes in Mens workes , vanity weighs as much as sinne . If our Soules have stain'd their first white , yet wee May cloth them with faith , and deare honestie , Which God imputes , as native puritie , There is no Vertue , but Religion , Wise , valiant , sober , just , are names , which none Want , which want not Vice-covering discretion . Seeke wee then our selves in our selves ; for as Men force the Sunne with much more force to passe , By gathering his beames with a christall glasse ; So wee , If wee into our selves will turne , Blowing our sparkes of vertue , may outburne The straw , which doth about our hearts sojourne . You know , Physitians , when they would infuse Into any'oyle , the Soules of Simples , use Places , where they may lie still warme , to chuse . So workes retirednesse in us ; to rome Giddily and bee every where , but at home , Such freedome doth a banishment become . Wee are but termers of our selves , yet may , If we can stocke our selves , and thrive , uplay Much , much deare treasure for the great rent day . Manure thy selfe then , to thy selfe be'approv'd , And with vaine outward things be no more mov'd , But to know , that I love thee'and would be lov'd . To Sr Henry Wootton . HEre 's no more newes , then vertue , ' I may as well Tell you Calis , or St Michaels tale for newes , as tell That vice doth here habitually dwell . Yet , as to'get stomachs , we walke up and downe , And toyle to sweeten rest , so , may God frowne , If , but to loth both , I haunt Court , or Towne . For here no one is from the'extremitie Of vice , by any other reason free , But that the next to'him , still , is worse then hee . In this worlds warfare , they whom rugged Fate , ( Gods Commissary , ) doth so throughly hate , As in'the Courts Squadron to marshall their state If they stand arm'd with seely honesty , With wishing prayers , and neat integritie , Like Indians ' gainst Spanish hosts they bee . Suspitious boldnesse to this place belongs , And to'have as many eares as all have tongues ; Tender to know , tough to acknowledge wrongs . Beleeve mee Sir , in my youths giddiest dayes , When to be like the Court , was a playes praise , Playes were not so like Courts , as Courts'are like playes . Then let us at these mimicke antiques jeast , Whose deepest projects , and egregious gests Are but dull Moralls of a game at Chests . But now 't is incongruity to smile , Therefore I end ; and bid farewell a while , At Court , though from Court , were the better stile ▪ To the Countesse of Bedford . MADAME , REason is our Soules left hand , Faith her right , By these wee reach divinity , that 's you ; Their loves , who have the blessings of your light , Grew from their reason , mine from faire faith grew . But as , although a squint lefthandednesse Be'ungracious , yet we cannot want that hand , So would I , not to encrease , but to expresse My faith , as I beleeve , so understand . Therefore I study you first in your Saints , Those friends , whom your election glorifies , Then in your deeds , accesses , and restraints , And what you reade , and what your selfe devize . But soone , the reasons why you' are lov'd by all , Grow infinite , and so passe reasons reach , Then backe againe to'implicite faith I fall , And rest on what the Catholique faith doth teach ; That you are good : and not one Heretique Denies it : if he did , yet you are so . For , rockes , which high top'd and deep rooted sticke , Waves wash , not undermine , nor overthrow . In every thing there naturally growes A Balsamum to keepe it fresh , and new , If 't were not injur'd by extrinsique blowes ; Your birth and beauty are this Balme in you . But , you of learning and religion , And vertue , ' and such ingredients , have made A methridate , whose operation Keepes off , or cures what can be done or said . Yet , this is not your physicke , but your food , A dyet fit for you ; for you are here The first good Angell , since the worlds frame stood , That ever did in womans shape appeare . Since you are then Gods masterpeece , and so His Factor for our loves ; do as you doe , Make your returne home gracious ; and bestow Thy life on that ; so make one life of two . For so God helpe mee , ' I would not misse you there For all the good which you can do me here . To the Countesse of Bedford . MADAME , YOu have refin'd mee , and to worthyest things Vertue , Art , Beauty , Fortune , now I see Rarenesse , or use , not nature value brings ; And such , as they are circumstanc'd , they bee . Two ills can nere perplexe us , sinne to'excuse ; But of two good things , we may leave and chuse . Therefore at Court , which is not vertues clime , ( Where a transcendent height , ( as , lownesse mee ) Makes her not be , or not show : all my rime Your vertues challenge , which there rarest bee ; For , as darke texts need notes : there some must bee To usher vertue , and say , This is shee . So in the country'is beauty ; to this place You are the season ( Madame ) you the day , 'T is but a grave of spices , till your face Exhale them , and a thick close bud display . Widow'd and reclus'd else , her sweets she'enshrines As China , when the Sunne at Brasill dines . Out from your chariot , morning breaks at night , And falsifies both computations so ; Since a new world doth rise here from your light , We your new creatures , by new recknings goe . This showes that you from nature lothly stray , That suffer not an artificiall day . In this you'have made the Court the Antipodes , And will'd your Delegate , the vulgar Sunne , To doe profane autumnall offices , Whilst here to you , wee sacrificers runne ; And whether Priests , or Organs , you wee'obey , We sound your influence , and your Dictates say ▪ Yet to that Deity which dwels in you , Your vertuous Soule , I now not sacrifice ; These are Petitions , and not Hymnes ; they sue But that I may survay the edifice . In all Religions as much care hath bin Of Temples frames , and beauty , ' as Rites within . As all which goe to Rome , doe not thereby Esteeme religions , and hold fast the best , But serve discourse , and curiosity , With that which doth religion but invest , And shunne th'entangling laborinths of Schooles , And make it wit , to thinke the wiser fooles ▪ So in this pilgrimage I would behold You as you' are vertues temple , not as shee , What walls of tender christall her enfold , What eyes , hands , bosome , her pure Altars bee ; And after this survay , oppose to all Bablers of Chappels , you th'Escuriall . Yet not as consecrate , but merely'as faire ; On these I cast a lay and country eye . Of past and future stories , which are rare , I finde you all record , and prophecie . Purge but the booke of Fate , that it admit No sad nor guilty legends , you are it . If good and lovely were not one , of both You were the transcript , and originall , The Elements , the Parent , and the Growth And every peece of you , is both their All , So'intire are all your deeds , and you , that you Must do the same things still : you cannot two . But these ( as nice thinne Schoole divinity Serves heresie to furder or represse ) Tast of Poëtique rage , or flattery , And need not , where all hearts one truth professe ; Oft from new proofes , and new phrase , new doubts grow , As strange attire aliens the men wee know . Leaving then busie praise , and all appeale , To higher Courts , senses decree is true , The Mine , the Magazine , the Commonweale , The story of beauty ' , in Twicknam is , and you . Who hath seene one , would both ; As , who had bin In Paradise , would seeke the Cherubin . To Sr Edward Herbert . at Iulyers . MAn is a lumpe , where all beasts kneaded bee , Wisdome makes him an Arke where all agree ; The foole , in whom these beasts do live at jarre , Is sport to others , and a Theater , Nor scapes hee so , but is himselfe their prey ; All which was man in him , is eate away , And now his beasts on one another feed , Yet couple'in anger , and new monsters breed ; How happy'is hee , which hath due place assign'd To'his beasts , and disaforested his minde ? Empail'd himselfe to keepe them out , not in ; Can sow , and dares trust corne , where they have bin ; Can use his horse , goate , wolfe , and every beast , And is not Asse himselfe to all the rest . Else , man not onely is the heard of swine , But he 's those devills too , which did incline Them to a headlong rage , and made them worse : For man can adde weight to heavens heaviest curse . As Soules ( they say ) by our first touch , take in The poysonous tincture of Originall sinne , So , to the punishments which God doth fling , Our apprehension contributes the sting . To us , as to his chickins , he doth cast Hemlocke , and wee as men , his hemlocke taste . We do infuse to what he meant for meat , Corrosivenesse , or intense cold or heat . For , God no such specifique poyson hath As kills we know not how ; his fiercest wrath Hath no antipathy , but may be good At lest for physicke , if not for our food . Thus man , that might be'his pleasure , is his rod , And is his devill , that might be his God. Since then our businesse is , to rectifie Nature , to what she was , wee'are led awry By them , who man to us in little show , Greater then due , no forme we can bestow On him ; for Man into himselfe can draw All , All his faith can swallow , ' or reason chaw . All that is fill'd , and all that which doth fill , All the round world , to man is but a pill , In all it workes not , but it is in all Poysonous , or purgative , or cordiall , For , knowledge kindles Calentures in some , And is to others jcy Opium . As brave as true , is that profession than Which you doe use to make ; that you know man. This makes it credible , you have dwelt upon All worthy bookes ; and now are such an one . Actions are authors , and of those in you Your friends finde every day a mart of new . To the Countesse of Bedford . T' Have written then , when you writ , seem'd to mee Worst of spirituall vices , Simony , And not t' have written then , seemes little lesse Then worst of civill vices , thanklessenesse . In this , my doubt I seem'd loath to confesse , In that , I seem'd to shunne beholdingnesse . But 't is not soe , nothing , as I am , may , Pay all they have , and yet have all to pay . Such borrow in their payments , and owe more By having leave to write so , then before . Yet since rich mines in barren grounds are showne , May not I yeeld ( not gold ) but coale or stone ? Temples were not demolish'd , though prophane : Here Peter Ioves , there Paul have Dian's Fane . So whether my hymnes you admit or chuse , In me you'have hallowed a Pagan Muse , And denizend a stranger , who mistaught By blamers of the times they mard , hath sought Vertues in corners , which now bravely doe Shine in the worlds best part , or all , in you . I have beene told , that vertue'in Courtiers hearts Suffers an Ostracisme , and departs . Profit , ease , fitnesse , plenty , bid it goe , But whither , only knowing you , I know ; Your , or you vertue , two vast uses serves , It ransomes one sex , and one Court preserves ; There 's nothing but your worth , which being true , Is knowne to any other , not to you . And you can never know it ; To admit No knowledge of your worth , it some of it . But since to you , your praises discords bee , Stop others ills , to meditate with mee . Oh! to confesse wee know not what we sould , Is halfe excuse , wee know not what we would . Lightnesse depresseth us , emptinesse fills , We sweat and faint , yet still goe downe the hills ; As new Philosophy arrests the Sunne , And bids the passive earth about it runne , So wee have dull'd our minde , it hath no ends ; Onely the bodie 's busie , and pretends ; As dead low earth ecclipses and controules The quick high Moone : so doth the body , Soules . In none but us , are such mixt engines found , As hands of double office : For , the ground We till with them ; and them to heav'n wee raise ; Who prayer-lesse labours , or , without this , prayes , Doth but one halfe , that 's none ; He which said , Plough And looke not back , to looke up doth allow . Good sced degenerates , and oft obeyes The soyles disease , and into cockle strayes . Let the minds thoughts be but transplanted so , Into the body , ' and bastardly they grow . What hate could hurt our bodies like our love ? Wee but no forraigne tyrans could remove , These not ingrav'd , but inborne dignities Caskets of soules ; Temples , and Palaces : For , bodies shall from death redeemed bee , Soules but preserv'd , not naturally free ; As men to'our prisons , new soules to us are sent , Which learne it there , and come in innocent . First seeds of every creature are in us , What ere the world hath bad , or pretious , Mans body can produce , hence hath it beene That stones , wormes , frogges , and snakes in man are seene : But who ere saw , though nature can worke soe , That , pearle , or gold , or corne in man did grow . We'have added to the world Virginia , ' and sent Two new starres lately to the firmament ; Why grudge wee us ( not heaven ) the dignity T' increase with ours , those faire soules company . But I must end this letter , though it doe Stand on two truths , neither is true to you . Vertue hath some perversenesse ; For she will Neither beleeve her good , nor others ill , Even in your vertues best paradise , Vertue hath some , but wise degrees of vice . Too many vertues , or too much of one Begets in you unjust suspition . And ignorance of vice , makes vertue lesse , Quenching compassion of our wrechednesse . But these are riddles ; Some aspersion Of vice becomes well some complexion . Statesmen purge vice with vice , and may corrode The bad with bad , a spider with a toad : For so , ill thralls not them , but they tame ill And make her do much good against her will , But in your Commonwealth or world in you Vice hath no office , or good worke to doe . Take then no vitious purge , but be content With cordiall vertue , your knowne nourishment . To the Countesse of Bedford . On New-yeares day . THis twilight of two yeares , not past nor next , Some embleme is of mee , or I of this , Who Meteor-like , of stuffe and forme perplext , Whose what , and where , in disputation is , If I should call mee any thing , should misse . I summe the yeares , and mee , and finde mee not Debtor to th' old , nor Creditor to th' new , That cannot say , My thankes I have forgot , Nor trust I this with hopes , and yet scarce true , This bravery is since these time shew'd mee you . In recompence I would show future times What you were , and teach them to'urge towards such , Verse embalmes vertue ; ' and Tombs , or Thrones of rimes , Preserve fraile transitory fame , as much As spice doth bodies from corrupt aires touch . Mine are short liv'd ; the tincture of your name Creates in them , but dissipates as fast , New spirit : for , strong agents with the same Force that doth warme and cherish , us doe wast ; Kept hot with strong extracts , no bodies last : So , my verse built of your just praise , might want Reason and likelihood , the firmest Base , And made of miracle , now faith is scant , Will vanish soone , and so possesse no place , And you , and it , too much grace might disgrace . When all ( as truth commands assent ) confesse All truth of you , yet they will doubt how I One corne of one low anthills dust , and lesse , Should name know or expresse a thing so high , And not an inch , measure infinity . I cannot tell them , nor my selfe , nor you , But leave , lest truth b'endanger'd by my praise , And turne to God , who knowes I thinke this true , And useth oft , when such a heart mis-sayes , To make it good , for , such a prayer prayes . Hee will best teach you , how you should lay out His stock of beauty , learning , favour , blood , He will perplex security with doubt , And cleare those doubts , hide from you , ' and shew you good , And so increase your appetite and food ; Hee will teach you , that good and bad have not One latitude in cloysters , and in Court , Indifferent there the greatest space hath got , Some pitty'is not good there , some vaine disport , On this side , sinne ; with that place may comport . Yet he as hee bounds seas , will fixe your houres , With pleasure , and delight may not ingresse , And though what none else lost , be truliest yours , Hee will make you , what you did not , possesse , By using others , not vice , but weakenesse . He will make you speake truths , and credibly , And make you doubt , that others doe not so : Hee will provide you keyes , and locks , to spie , And scape spies , to good ends , and hee will show What you may not acknowledge , what not know . For your owne conscience , he gives innocence , But for your fame , a discreet warinesse , And though to scape , then to revenge offence Be better , he showes both , and to represse Ioy , when your state swells , sadnesse when 't is lesse . From need of teares he will defend your soule , Or make a rebaptizing of one teare ; Hee cannot , ( that 's , he will not ) dis-inroule Your name ; and when with active joy we heare This private Ghospell , then 't is our new yeare , To the Countesse of Huntingdon . MADAME , MAn to Gods image , Eve , to mans was made , Nor finde wee that God breath'd a soule in her , Canons will not Church functions you invade , Nor lawes to civill office you preferre . Who vagrant transitory Comets sees , Wonders , because they' are rare ; But a new starre Whose motion with the firmament agrees , Is miracle ; for , there no new things are ; In woman so perchance milde innocence A seldome comet is , but active good A miracle , which reason scapes , and sense ; For , Art and Nature this in them withstood . As such a starre , which Magi led to view The manger-cradled infant , God below . By vertues beames by fame deriv'd from you , May apt soules , and the worst may vertue know . If the worlds age , and death be argued well By the Sunnes fall , which now towards earth doth bend , Then we might feare that vertue , since she fell So low as woman , should be neare her end . But she 's not stoop'd , but rais'd ; exil'd by men , She fled to heaven , that 's heavenly things that 's you , She was in all men , thinly scatter'd then , But now amass'd , contracted in a few . She guilded us : But you are gold , and Shee , Us she inform'd , but transubstantiates you , Soft dispositions which ductile bee , Elixarlike , she makes not cleane , but new . Though you a wifes and mothers name retaine , 'T is not as woman , for all are not soe , But vertue having made you vertue , ' is faine T' adhere in these names , her and you to show , Else , being alike pure , wee should neither see , As , water being into ayre rarify'd , Neither appeare , till in one cloud they bee , So , for our sakes you do low names abide ; Taught by great constellations , which being fram'd , Of the most starres , take low names , Crab , and Bull , When single planets by the Gods are nam'd , You covet not great names , of great things full . So you , as woman , one doth comprehend , And in the vaile of kindred others see ; To some ye are reveal'd , as in a friend , And as a vertuous Prince farre off , to mee . To whom , because from you all vertues flow , And 't is not none , to dare contemplate you , I , which to you as your true subject owe Some tribute for that , so these lines are due , If you can thinke these flatteries , they are , For then your judgement is below my praise , If they were so , oft , flatteries worke as farre , As Counsels , and as farre th'endeavour raise . So my ill reaching you might there grow good , But I remaine a poyson'd fountaine still ; But not your beauty , vertue , knowledge , blood Are more above all flattery , then my will. And if I flatter any , 't is not you But my owne judgement , who did long agoe Pronounce , that all these praises should be true , And vertue should your beauty , ' and birth outgrow . Now that my prophesies are all fulfill'd , Rather then God should not be honour'd too , And all these gifts confess'd , which hee instill'd , Your selfe were bound to say that which I doe . So I , but your Recorder am in this , Or mouth , or Speaker of the universe , A ministeriall notary , for 't is Not I , but you and fame , that make this verse ; I was your Prophet in your yonger dayes , And now your Chaplaine , God in you to praise . To M. I. W. ALl haile sweet Poët , more full of more strong fire , Then hath or shall enkindle any spirit , I lov'd what nature gave thee , but this merit Of wit and Art I love not but admire ; Who have before or shall write after thee , Their workes , though toughly laboured , will bee Like infancie or age to mans firme stay , Or earely and late twilights to mid-day . Men say , and truly , that they better be Which be envyed then pittied : therefore I , Because I wish thee best , doe thee envie : O wouldst thou , by like reason , pitty mee , But care not for mee , I , that ever was In Natures , and in fortunes gifts , ( alas , Before thy grace got in the Muses Schoole ) A monster and a begger , am a foole . Oh how I grieve , that late borne modesty Hath got such root in easie waxen hearts , That men may not themselves , their owne good parts Extoll , without suspect of surquedrie , For , but thy selfe , no subject can be found Worthy thy quill , nor any quill resound Thy worke but thine : how good it were to see A Poëm in thy praise , and writ by thee . Now if this song be too'harsh for rime , yet , as The Painters bad god made a good devill , 'T will be good prose , although the verse be evill . If thou forget the rime as thou dost passe , Then write , then I may follow , and so bee Thy debter , thy'eccho , thy foyle , thy zanee . I shall be thought , if mine like thine I shape , All the worlds Lyon , though I be thy Ape . To M. T. W. HAst thee harsh verse as fast as thy lame measure Will give thee leave , to him ; My pain , & pleasure I have given thee , and yet thou art too weake , Feete and a reasoning soule and tongue to speake . Tell him , all questions , which men have defended Both of the place and paines of hell , are ended ; And 't is decreed our hell is but privation Of him , at least in this earths habitation : And 't is where I am , where in every street Infections follow , overtake , and meete : Live I or die , by you my love is sent , And you' are my pawnes , or else my Testament . To M. T. W. PRegnant again with th' old twins Hope , and Feare , Oft have I askt for thee , both how and where Thou wert , and what my hopes of letters were ; As in our streets sly beggers narrowly Watch motions of the givers hand or eye , And evermore conceive some hope thereby . And now thy Almes is given , thy letter'is read , The body risen againe , the which was dead , And thy poore starveling bountifully fed . After this banquet my Soule doth say grace , And praise thee for'it , and zealously imbrace Thy love , though I thinke thy love in this case To be as gluttons , which say ' midst their meat , They love that best of which they most do eat . At once , from hence , my lines and I depart , I to my soft still walks , they to my Heart ; I to the Nurse , they to the child of Art ; Yet as a firme house , though the Carpenter Perish , doth stand : as an Embassadour Lyes safe , how e'r his king be in danger : So , though I languish , prest with Malancholy , My verse , the strict Map of my misery , Shall live to see that , for whose want I dye . Therefore I envie them , and doe repent , That from unhappy mee , things happy'are sent ; Yet as a Picture , or bare Sacrament , Accept these lines , and if in them there be Merit of love bestow that love on mee . To M. C. B. THy friend , whom thy deserts to thee enchaine , Urg'd by this unexcusable occasion , Thee and the Saint of his affection Leaving behinde , doth of both wants complaine ; And let the love I beare to both sustaine No blott nor maime by this division , Strong is this love which ties our hearts in one , And strong that love pursu'd with amorous paine ▪ But though besides thy selfe I leave behind Heavens liberall and earths thrice-faire Sunne , Going to where sterne winter aye doth wonne , Yet , loves hot fires , which martyr my sad minde , Doe send forth scalding sighes , which have the Art To melt all Ice , but that which walls her heart . To M. S. B. O Thou which to search out the secret parts Of the India , or rather Paradise Of knowledge , hast with courage and advise Lately launch'd into the vast Sea of Arts , Disdaine not in thy constant travailing To doe as other Voyagers , and make Some turnes into lesse Creekes , and wisely take Fresh water at the Heliconian spring ; I sing not , Siren like , to tempt ; for I Am harsh , nor as those Scismatiques with you , Which draw all wits of good hope to their crew ; But seing in you bright sparkes of Poetry , I , though I brought no fuell , had desire With these Articulate blasts to blow the fire . To M. B. B. IS not thy sacred hunger of science Yet satisfy'd ? Is not thy braines rich hive Fulfil'd with hony which thou dost derive From the Arts spirits and their Quintessence ? Then weane thy selfe at last , and thee withdraw From Cambridge thy old nurse , and , as the rest , Here toughly chew , and sturdily digest Th' immense vast volumes of our common law ; And begin soone , lest my griefe grieve thee too , Which is , that that which I should have begun In my youthes morning , now late must be done ; And I , as Giddy Travellers , must doe , Which stray or sleepe all day , and having lost Light and strength , darke and tir'd must then ride post . If thou unto thy Muse be marryed , Embrace her ever , ever multiply , Be far from me that strange Adulterie To tempt thee and procure her widdowhood , My nurse , ( for I had one , ) because I 'am cold , Divorc'd her selfe , the cause being in me , That I can take no new in Bigamye , Not my will only but power doth withhold . Hence comes it , that these Rymes which never had Mother , want matter , aud they only have A little forme , the which their Father gave ; They are prophane , imperfect , oh , too bad To be counted Children of Poetry Except confirm'd and Bishoped by thee . To M. R. W. IF , as mine is , thy life a slumber be , Seeme , when thou read'st these lines , to dreame of me , Never did Morpheus nor his brother weare Shapes soe like those Shapes , whom they would appeare , As this my letter is like me , for it Hath my name , words , hand , feet , heart , minde and wit ; It is my deed of gift of mee to thee , It is my Will , my selfe the Legacie . So thy retyrings I love , yea envie , Bred in thee by a wise melancholy , That I rejoyce , that unto where thou art , Though I stay here , I can thus send my heart , As kindly'as any enamored Patient His Picture to his absent Love hath sent . All newes I thinke sooner reach thee then mee ; Havens are Heavens , and Ships wing'd Angels be , The which both Gospell , and sterne threatnings bring ; Guyanaes harvest is nip'd in the spring , I feare ; And with us ( me thinkes ) ▪ Fate deales so As with the Jewes guide God did ; he did show Him the rich land , but bar'd his entry in , Our slownes is our punishment and sinne ; Perchance , these Spanish businesse being done , Which as the Earth betweene the Moone and Sun Eclipse the light which Guyana would give , Our discontinued hopes we shall retrive : But if ( as All th' All must ) hopes smoake away , Is not Almightie Vertue'an India ? If men be worlds , there is in every one Some thing to answere in some proportion All the worlds riches : And in good men , this Vertue , our formes forme and our soules soule is . To M. I. L. OF that short Roll of friends writ in my heart Which with thy name begins , since their depart , Whether in the English Provinces they be , Or drinke of Po , Sequan , or Danubie , There 's none that sometimes greets us not , and yet Your Trent is Lethe ' , that past , us you forget , You doe not duties of Societies , If from the'embrace of a lov'd wife you rise , View your fat Beasts , stretch'd Barnes , and labour'd fields , Eate , play , ryde , take all joyes which all day yeelds , And then againe to your embracements goe : Some houres on us your frends , and some bestow Upon your Muse , else both wee shall repent , I that my love , she that her guifts on you are spent To M. I. P. BLest are your North parts , for all this long time My Sun is with you , cold and darke'is our Clime ▪ Heavens Sun , which staid so long from us this yeare , Staid in your North ( I thinke ) for she was there , And hether by kinde nature drawne from thence , Here rages chafes and threatens pestilence ; Yet I , as long as shee from hence doth staie , Thinke this no South , no Sommer , nor no day . With thee my kinde and unkinde heart is run , There sacrifice it to that beauteous Sun : So may thy pastures with their flowery feasts , As suddenly as Lard , fat thy leane beasts ; So may thy woods oft poll'd , yet ever weare A greene , and when thee list a golden haire ; So may all thy sheepe bring forth Twins ; and so In chace and race may thy horse all out goe ; So may thy love and courage ne'r be cold ; Thy Sonne ne'r Ward ; Thy lov'd wife ne'r seem old ▪ But maist thou wish great things , and them attaine , As thou telst her and none but her my paine . To E. of D. with six holy Sonnets . SEE Sir , how as the Suns hot Masculine flame Begets strange creatures on Niles durty slime , In me , your fatherly yet lusty Ryme ( For , these songs are their fruits ) have wrought the same ; But though the ingendring force from whence they came Bee strong enough , and nature doe admit Seaven to be borne at once , I send as yet But six , they say , the seaventh hath still some maime ; I choose your judgement , which the same degree Doth with her sister , your invention , hold , As fire these drossie Rymes to purifie , Or as Elixar , to change them to gold ; You are that Alchimist which alwaies had Wit , whose one spark could make good things of bad . To Sir H. W. at his going Ambassador to Venice . AFter those reverend papers , whose soule is Our good and great Kings lov'd hand and fear'd name ▪ By which to you he derives much of his , And ( how he may ) makes you almost the same , A Taper of his Torch , a copie writ From his Originall , and a faire beame Of the same warme , and dazeling Sun , though it Must in another Sphere his vertue streame : After those learned papers which your hand Hath stor'd with notes of use and pleasures too , From which rich treasury you may command Fit matter whether you will write or doe : After those loving papers , where friends send With glad griefe , to your Sea-ward steps , farewel , Which thicken on you now , as prayers ascend To heaven in troupes at'a good mans passing bell : Admit this honest paper , and allow It such an audience as your selfe would aske ; What you must say at Venice this meanes now , And hath for nature , what you have for taske . To sweare much love , not to be chang'd before Honour alone will to your fortune fit ; Nor shall I then honour your fortune , more Then I have done your honour wanting it . But'tis an easier load ( though both oppresse ) To want , then governe greatnesse , for wee are In that , our owne and onely businesse , In this , wee must for others vices care ; 'T is therefore well your spirits now are plac'd In their last Furnace , in activity ; Which fits them ( Schooles and Courts and warres o'rpast To touch and test in any best degree . For mee , ( if there be such a thing as I ) Fortune ( if there be such a thing as shee ) Spies that I beare so well her tyranny , That she thinks nothing else so fit for mee ; But though she part us , to heare my oft prayers For your increase , God is as neere mee here ; And to send you what I shall begge , his staires In length and ease are alike every where . To M. M. H. MAd paper stay , and grudge not here to burne With all those sonnes whom my braine did create , At lest lye hid with mee , till thou returne . To rags againe , which is thy native state . What though thou have enough unworthinesse To come unto great place as others doe , That 's much , emboldens , pulls , thrusts I confesse , But 't is not all , thou should'st be wicked too . And , that thou canst not learne , or not of mee ; Yet thou wilt goe , Goe , since thou goest to her Who lacks but faults to be a Prince , for shee , Truth , whom they dare not pardon , dares preferre . But when thou com'st to that perplexing eye Which equally claimes love and reverence . Thou wilt not long dispute it , thou wilt die ; And , having little now , have then no sense . Yet when her warme redeeming hand , which is A miracle ; and made such to worke more , Doth touch thee ( saples leafe ) thou grow'st by this Her creature ; glorify'd more then before . Then as a mother which delights to heare Her early child mispeake halfe uttered words , Or , because majesty doth never feare Ill or bold speech , she Audience affords . And then , cold speechlesse wretch , thou diest againe , And wisely ; what discourse is left for thee ? For , speech of ill , and her thou must abstaine , And is there any good which is not shee ? Yet maist thou praise her servants , though not her , And wit , and vertue , ' and honour her attend , And since they' are but her cloathes , thou shalt not erre If thou her shape and beauty'and grace commend . Who knowes thy destiny ? when thou hast done , Perchance her Cabinet may harbour thee , Whither all noble ambitious wits doe runne , A nest almost as full of Good as shee . When thou art there , if any , whom wee know , Were sav'd before , and did that heaven partake , When she revolves his papers , marke what show Of favour , she alone , to them doth make . Marke , if to get them , she o'r skip the rest , Marke , if shee read them twice , or kisse the name ; Marke , if she doe the same that they protest , Marke , if she marke whether her woman came . Marke , if slight things be'objected , and o'r blowne , Marke , if her oathes against him be not still Reserv'd , and that shee grieves she 's not her owne , And chides the doctrine that denies Freewill . Ibid thee not doe this to be my spie ; Nor to make my selfe her familiar ; But so much I doe love her choyce , that I Would faine love him that shall be lov'd of her . To the Countesse of Bedford . HOnour is so sublime perfection , And so refinde ; that when God was alone And creaturelesse at first , himselfe had none ; But as of the elements , these which wee tread , Produce all things with which wee'are joy'd or fed , And , those are barren both above our head : So from low persons doth all honour flow ; Kings , whom they would have honoured , to us show , And but direct our honour , not bestow . For when from herbs the pure part must be wonne From grosse , by Stilling , this is better done By despis'd dung , then by the fire or Sunne . Care not then , Madame , ' how low your prayses lye ; In labourers balads oft more piety God findes , then in Te Deums melodie . And , ordinance rais'd on Towers so many mile Send not their voice , nor last so long a while As fires from th' earths low vaults in Sicil Isle . Should I say I liv'd darker then were true , Your radiation can all clouds subdue , But one , 't is best light to contemplate you . You , for whose body God made better clay , Or tooke Soules stuffe such as shall late decay , Or such as needs small change at the last day . This , as an Amber drop enwraps a Bee , Covering discovers your quicke Soule ; that we May in your through-shine front our hearts thoughts see . You teach ( though wee learne not ) a thing unknowne To our late times , the use of specular stone , Through which all things within without were shown . Of such were Temples ; so and such you are ; Beeing and seeming is your equall care , And vertues whole summe is but know and dare . But as our Soules of growth and Soules of sense Have birthright of our reasons Soule , yet hence They fly not from that , nor seeke presidence . Natures first lesson , so , discretion , Must not grudge zeale a place , nor yet keepe none , Not banish it selfe , nor religion . Discretion is a wisemans Soule , and so Religion is a Christians , and you know How these are one , her yea , is not her no. Nor may we hope to sodder still and knit These two , and dare to breake them ; nor must wit Be colleague to religion , but be it . In those poore types of God ( round circles ) so Religions tipes , the peeclesse centers flow , And are in all the lines which alwayes goe . If either ever wrought in you alone Or principally , then religion Wrought your ends , and your wayes discretion . Goe thither stil , goe the same way you went , Who so would change , do covet or repent ; Neither can reach you , great and innocent . To the Countesse of Bedford . Begun in France but never perfected . THough I be dead , and buried , yet I have ( Living in you , ) Court enough in my grave , As oft as there I thinke my selfe to bee , So many resurrections waken mee . That thankfullnesse your favours have forgot In mee , embalmes mee ; that I doe not rot ; This season as'tis Easter , as'tis spring , Must both to growth and to confession bring My thoughts dispos'd unto your influence , so , These verses bud , so these confessions grow ; First I confesse I have to others lent Your stock , and over prodigally spent Your treasure , for since I had never knowne Vertue or beautie , but as they are growne In you , I should not thinke or say they shine , ( So as I have ) in any other Mine ; Next I confesse this my confession , For , 't is some fault thus much to touch upon , Your praise to you , where half rights seeme too much , And make your minds sincere complexion blush . Next I confesse my'impenitence , for I Can scarce repent my first fault , since thereby Remote low Spirits , which shall ne'r read you , May in lesse lessons finde enough to doe , By studying copies , not Originals , Desunt caetera . A Letter to the Lady Carey , and Mrs Essex Riche , From Amyens . MADAME , HEre where by All All Saints invoked are , 'T were too much schisme to be singular , And ' gainst a practise generall to warre . Yet turning to Saincts , should my'humility To other Sainct then you directed bee , That were to make my schisme , heresie . Nor would I be a Convertite so cold , As not to tell it ; If this be too bold , Pardons are in this market cheaply sold . Where , because Faith is in too low degree , I thought it some Apostleship in mee To speake things which by faith alone I see . That is , of you , who is a firmament Of virtues , where no one is growne , or spent , They' are your materials , not your ornament . Others whom wee call vertuous , are not so In their whole substance , but , their vertues grow But in their humours , and at seasons show . For when through tastlesse flat humilitie In dow bak'd men some harmelessenes we see , 'T is but his flegme that 's Vertuous , and not Hee : Soe is the Blood sometimes ; who ever ran To danger unimportun'd , he was than No better then a sanguine Vertuous man. So cloysterall men , who , in pretence of feare All contributions to this life forbeare , Have Vertue in Melancholy , and only there . Spirituall Cholerique Crytiques , which in all Religions find faults , and forgive no fall , Have , through their zeale , Vertue but in their Gall. We are thus but parcel guilt ; to Gold we' are growne When Vertue is our Soules complexion ; Who knowes his Vertues name or place , hath none . Vertue'is but aguish , when 't is severall , By occasion wak'd , and circumstantiall . True vertue is Soule , Alwaies in all deeds All. This Vertue thinking to give dignitie To your soule , found there no infirmitie , For , your soule was as good Vertue , as shee ; Shee therefore wrought upon that part of you Which is scarce lesse then soule , as she could do , And so hath made your beauty , Vertue too . Hence comes it , that your Beauty wounds not hearts , As Others , with prophane and sensuall Darts , But as an influence , vertuous thoughts imparts . But if such friends by the honor of your sight Grow capable of this so great a light , As to partake your vertues , and their might , What must I thinke that influence must doe , Where it findes sympathie and matter too , Vertue , and beauty of the same stuffe , as you ? Which is , your noble worthie sister , shee Of whom , if what in this my Extasie And revelation of you both I see , I should write here , as in short Galleries The Master at the end large glasses ties , So to present the roome twice to our eyes , So I should give this letter length , and say That which I said of you ; there is no way From either , but by the other not to stray . May therefore this be enough to testifie My true devotion , free from flattery ; He that beleeves himselfe , doth never lie . To the Countesse of Salisbury . August . 1614. FAire , great , and good , since seeing you , wee see What Heaven can doe , and what any Earth can be : Since now your beauty shines , now when the Sunne Growne stale , is to so low a value runne , That his disshevel'd beames and scattered fires Serve but for Ladies Periwigs and Tyres In lovers Sonnets : you come to repaire Gods booke of creatures , teaching what is faire . Since now , when all is withered , shrunke , and dri'd , All Vertues ebb'd out to a dead low tyde , All the worlds frame being crumbled into sand , Where every man thinks by himselfe to stand , Integritie , friendship , and confidence , ( Ciments of greatnes ) being vapor'd hence , And narrow man being fill'd with little shares , Court , Citie , Church , are all shops of small-wares , All having blowne to sparkes their noble fire , And drawne their sound gold-ingot into wyre ; All trying by a love of littlenesse To make abridgments , and to draw to lesse , Even that nothing , which at first we were ; Since in these times , your greatnesse doth appeare , And that we learne by it , that man to get Towards him , that 's infinite , must first be great . Since in an age so ill , as none is fit So much as to accuse , much lesse mend it , ( For who can judge , or witnesse of those times Where all alike are guiltie of the crimes ? ) Where he that would be good , is thought by all A monster , or at best fantasticall : Since now you durst be good , and that I doe Discerne , by daring to contemplate you , That there may be degrees of faire , great , good , Through your light , largenesse , vertue understood ▪ If in this sacrifice of mine , be showne Any small sparke of these , call it your owne . And if things like these , have been said by mee Of others ; call not that Idolatrie . For had God made man first , and man had seene The third daies fruits , and flowers , and various greene He might have said the best that he could say Of those faire creatures , which were made that day : And when next day he had admir'd the birth Of Sun , Moone , Stars , fairer then late-prais'd earth , Hee might have said the best that he could say , And not be chid for praising yesterday : So though some things are not together true , As , that another is worthiest , and , that you : Yet , to say so , doth not condemne a man , If when he spoke them , they were both true than . How faire a proofe of this , in our soule growes ? Wee first have soules of growth , and sense , and those , When our last soule , our soule immortall came , Were swallowed into it , and have no name . Nor doth he injure those soules , which doth cast The power and praise of both them , on the last ; No more doe I wrong any ; I adore The same things now , which I ador'd before , The subject chang'd , and measure ; the same thing In a low constable , and in the King I reverence ; His power to worke on mee ; So did I humbly reverence each degree Of faire , great , good , but more , now I am come From having found their walkes , to finde their home . And as I owe my first soules thankes , that they For my last soule did fit and mould my clay , So am I debtor unto them , whose worth , Enabled me to profit , and take forth This new great lesson , thus to study you ; Which none , not reading others , first , could doe . Nor lacke I light to read this booke , though I In a darke Cave , yea in a Grave doe lie ; For as your fellow Angells , so you doe Illustrate them who come to study you . The first whom we in Histories doe finde To have profest all Arts , was one borne blind : He lackt those eyes beasts have as well as wee , Not those , by which Angels are seene and see ; So , though I 'am borne without those eyes to live , Which fortune , who hath none her selfe , doth give , Which are , fit meanes to see bright courts and you , Yet may I see you thus , as now I doe ; I shall by that , all goodnesse have discern'd , And though I burne my librarie , be learn'd . An Epithalamion , Or mariage Song on the Lady Elizabeth , and Count Palatine being married on St. Valentines day . I. HAile Bishop Valentine , whose day this is , All the Aire is thy Diocis , And all the chirping Choristers And other birds are thy Parishioners , Thou marryest every yeare The Lirique Larke , and the grave whispering Dove , The Sparrow that neglects his life for love , The household Bird , with the red stomacher , Thou mak'st the black bird speed as soone , As doth the Goldfinch , or the Halcyon ; The husband cocke lookes out , and straight is sped , And meets his wife , which brings her feather-bed . This day more cheerfully then ever shine . This day , which might enflāe thy self , Old Valentine , II. Till now , Thou warmd'st with multiplying loves Two larkes , two sparrowes , or two Doves , All that is nothing unto this , For thou this day couplest two Phoenixes , Thou mak'st a Taper see What the sunne never saw , and what the Arke ( Which was of foules , and beasts , the cage , and park , ) Did not containe , one bed containes , through Thee , Two Phoenixes , whose joyned breasts Are unto one another mutuall nests , Where motion kindles such fires , as shall give Yong Phoenixes , and yet the old shall live . Whose love and courage never shall decline , But make the whole year through , thy day , O Valētine . III. Up then faire Phoenix Bride , frustrate the Sunne , Thy selfe from thine affection Takest warmth enough , and from thine eye All lesser birds will take their Jollitie . Up , up , faire Bride , and call , Thy starres , from out their severall boxes , take Thy Rubies , Pearles , and Diamonds forth , and make Thy selfe a constellation , of them All , And by their blazing , signifie , That a Great Princess falls , but doth not die ; Bee thou a new starre , that to us portends Ends of much wonder ; And be Thou those ends , Since thou dost this day in new glory shine , May all men date Records , from this thy Valentine . IIII. Come forth , come forth , and as one glorious flame Meeting Another , growes the same , So meet thy Fredericke , and so To an unseparable union goe , Since separation Falls not on such things as are infinite , Nor things which are but one , can disunite . You' are twice inseparable , great , and one ; Goe then to where the Bishop staies , To make you one , his way , which divers waies Must be effected ; and when all is past , And that you' are one , by hearts and hands made fast , You two have one way left , your selves to'entwine , Besides this Bishops knot , O Bishop Valentine . V. But oh , what ailes the Sunne , that here he staies , Longer to day , then other daies ? Staies he new light from these to get ? And finding here such store , is loth to set ? And why doe you two walke , So slowly pac'd in this procession ? Is all your care but to be look'd upon , And be to others spectacle , and talke ? The feast , with gluttonous delaies , Is eaten , and too long their meat they praise , The masquers come too late , and ' I thinke , will stay , Like Fairies , till the Cock crow them away . Alas , did not Antiquity assigne A night , as well as day , to thee , O Valentine ? VI. They did , and night is come ; and yet wee see Formalities retarding thee . What meane these Ladies , which ( as though They were to take a clock in peeces , ) goe So nicely about the Bride ; A Bride , before a good night could be said , Should vanish from her cloathes , into her bed , As Soules from bodies steale , and are not spy'd . But now she is laid ; What though shee bee ? Yet there are more delayes , For , where is he ? He comes , and passes through Spheare after Spheare . First her sheetes , then her Armes , then any where , Let not this day , then , but this night be thine , Thy day was but the eve to this , O Valentine . VII . Here lyes a shee Sunne , and a hee Moone here , She gives the best light to his Spheare , Or each is both , and all , and so They unto one another nothing owe , And yet they doe , but are So just and rich in that coyne which they pay , That neither would , nor needs forbeare nor stay , Neither desires to be spar'd , nor to spare , They quickly pay their debt , and then Take no acquittance , but pay again ; They pay , they give , they lend , and so let fall , No such occasion to be liberall . More truth , more courage in these two do shine , Then all thy turtles have , and sparrows , Valentine . VIII . And by this act of these two Phenixes Nature againe restored is , For since these two are two no more , Ther 's but one Phenix still , as was before . Rest now at last , and wee As Satyres watch the Sunnes uprise , will stay Waiting , when your eyes opened , let out day . Onely desir'd , because your face wee see ; Others neare you shall whispering speake , And wagers lay , at which side day will breake , And win by'observing , then , whose hand it is That opens first a curtaine , hers or his ; This will be tryed to morrow after nine , Till which houre , wee thy day enlarge , O Valentine . ECCLOGUE . 1613. December 26. Allophanes finding Idios in the country in Christmas time , reprehends his absence from court , at the mariage Of the Earle of Sommerset , Idios gives an account of his purpose therein , and of his absence thence . Allophanes . VNseasonable man , statue of ice , What could to countries solitude entice Thee , in this yeares cold and decrepit time ? Natures instinct drawes to the warmer clime Even small birds , who by that courage dare , In numerous fleets , saile through their Sea , the aire . What delicacie can in fields appeare , Whil'st Flora ' herselfe doth a freeze jerkin weare ? Whil'st windes do all the trees and hedges strip Of leafes , to furnish roddes enough to whip Thy madnesse from thee ; and all springs by frost Have taken cold , and their sweet murmures lost ; If thou thy faults or fortunes would'st lament With just solemnity , do it in Lent ; At Court the spring already advanced is , The Sunne stayes longer up ; and yet not his The glory is , farre other , other fires . First , zeale to Prince and State ; then loves desires Burne in one brest , and like heavens two great lights , The first doth governe dayes , the other nights . And then that early light , which did appeare Before the Sunne and Moone created were ; The Princes favour is defus'd o'r all , From which all Fortunes , Names , and Natures fall ; Then from those wombes of starres , the Brides bright eyes , At every glance , a constellation flyes , And sowes the Court with starres , and doth prevent In light and power , the all-ey'd firmament ; First her eyes kindles other Ladies eyes , Then from their beames their jewels lusters rise , And from their jewels torches do take fire , And all is warmth , and light , and good desire ; Most other Courts , alas , are like to hell , Where in darke places , fire without light doth dwell : Or but like Stoves , for lust and envy get Continuall , but artificiall heat ; Here zeale and love growne one , all clouds disgest , And make our Court an everlasting East . And can'st thou be from thence ? Idios . No , I am there As heaven , to men dispos'd , is every where , So are those Courts , whose Princes animate , Not onely all their house , but all their State , Let no man thinke , because he is full , he hath all , Kings ( as their patterne , God ) are liberall Not onely in fulnesse , but capacitie , Enlarging narrow men , to feele and see , And comprehend the blessings they bestow . So , reclus'd hermits often times do know More of heavens glory , then a worldling can . As man is of the world , the heart of man , Is an epitome of Gods great booke Of creatures , and man need no farther looke ; So is the Country of Courts , where sweet peace doth , As their one common soule , give life to both , I am not then from Court. Allophanes . Dreamer , thou art , Think'st thou fantastique that thou hast a part In the Indian fleet , because thou hast A little spice , or Amber in thy taste ? Because thou art not frozen , art thou warme ? Seest thou all good because thou seest no harme ? The earth doth in her inner bowels hold Stuffe well dispos'd ▪ and which would faine be gold , But never shall , except it chance to lye , So upward , that heaven gild it with his eye ; As , for divine things , faith comes from above , So , for best civill use , all tinctures move From higher powers ; From God religion springs , Wisdome , and honour from the use of Kings . Then unbeguile thy selfe , and know with mee , That Angels , though on earth employd they bee , Are still in heav'n , so is hee still at home That doth , abroad , to honest actions come . Chide thy selfe then , O foole , which yesterday Might'st have read more then all thy books bewray ; Hast thou a history , which doth present A Court , where all affections do assent Unto the Kings , and that , that Kings are just ? And where it is no levity to trust . Where there is no ambition , but to'obey , Where men need whisper nothing , and yet may ; Where the Kings favours are so plac'd , that all Finde that the King therein is liberall To them , in him , because his favours bend To vertue , to the which they all pretend . Thou hast no such ; yet here was this , and more , An earnest lover , wise then , and before , Our little Cupidhath sued Livery , And is no more in his minority , Hee is admitted now into that brest Where the Kings Counsells and his secrets rest ▪ What hast thou lost , O ignorant man ? Idios . I knew , All this , and onely therefore I withdrew To know and feele all this , and not to have Words to expresse it , makes a man a grave Of his owne thoughts ; I would not therefore stay At a great feast , having no grace to say , And yet I scap'd not here ; for being come Full of the common joy ; I utter'd some , Reade then this nuptiall song , which was not made Either the Court or mens hearts to invade , But since I 'am dead , and buried I could frame No Epitaph , which might advance my fame , So much as this poore song , which testifies I did unto that day some sacrifice . I. The time of the Mariage . THou art repriv'd old yeare , thou shalt not die , Though thou upon thy death bed lye , And should'st within five dayes expire Yet thou art rescu'd by a mightier fire , Then thy old Soule , the Sunne , When he doth in his largest circle runne . The passage of the West or East would thaw , And open wide their easie liquid jawe To all our ships , could a Promethean art Either unto the Northerne Pole impart The fire of these inflaming eyes , or of this loving heart . II. Equality of persons . But undiscerning Muse , which heart , which eyes , In this new couple , dost thou prize , When his eye as inflaming is As hers , and her heart loves as well as his ? Be tryed by beauty , and than The bridegroome is a maid , and not a man , If by that manly courage they be tryed , Which scornes unjust opinion ; then the bride Becomes a man. Should chance or envies Art Divide these two , whom nature scarce did part ? Since both have th'enflaming eye , and both the loving heart . III. Raysing of the Bridegroome . Though it be some divorce to thinke of you Single , so much one are you two , Let me here contemplate thee , First , cheerfull Bridegroome , and first let mee see , How thou prevent'st the Sunne , And his red foming horses dost outrunne , How , having laid downe in thy Soveraignes brest All businesses , from thence to reinvest Them , when these triumphs cease , thou forward art To shew to her , who doth the like impart , The fire of thy inflaming eyes , and of thy loving heart . IIII. Raising of the Bride . But now , to Thee , faire Bride , it is some wrong , To thinke thou wert in Bed so long , Since Soone thou lyest downe first , t is fit Thou in first rising should'st allow for it , Pouder thy Radiant haire , Which if without such ashes thou would'st weare , Thou , which , to all which come to looke upon , Are meant for , Phoebus , would'st be Phaëton , For our ease , give thine eyes , th'unusuall part Of joy , a Teare ; so quencht , thou maist impart , To us that come , thy inflaming eyes , to him , thy loving heart . V. Her Apparrelling . Thus thou descend'st to our infirmitie , Who can the Sun in water see . Soe dost thou , when in silke and gold , Thou cloudst thy selfe ; since wee which doe behold , Are dust , and wormes , 't is just Our objects be the fruits of wormes and dust ; Let every Jewell be a glorious starre , Yet starres are not so pure , as their spheares are . And though thou stoope , t o'appeare to us , in part , Still in that Picture thou intirely art , Which thy inflaming eyes have made within his loving heart . VI. Going to the Chappell . Now from your Easts you issue forth , and wee , As men which through a Cipres see The rising sun , doe thinke it two , Soe , as you goe to Church , doe thinke of you , But that vaile being gone , By the Church rites you are from thenceforth one . The Church Triumphant made this match before , And now the Militant doth strive no more , Then , reverend Priest , who Gods Recorder art , Doe , from his Dictates , to these two impart All blessings , which are seene , Or thought , by Angels eye or heart . VII : The Benediction . Blest payre of Swans , Oh may you interbring Daily new joyes , and never sing , Live , till all grounds of wishes faile , Till honor , yea till wisedome grow so stale , That , new great heights to trie , It must serve your ambition , to die ; Raise heires , and may here , to the worlds end , live Heires from this King , to take thankes , you , to give , Nature and grace doe all , and nothing Art , May never age , or error overthwart With any West , these radiant eyes , with any North , this heart , VIII . Feasts and Revells . But you are over-blest . Plenty this day Injures ; it causeth time to stay ; The tables groane , as though this feast Would , as the flood , destroy all fowle and beast . And were the doctrine new That the earth mov'd , this day would make it true ; For every part to dance and revell goes . They tread the ayre , and fal not where they rose . Though six houres since , the Sunne to bed did part , The masks and banquets will not yet impart A sunset to these weary eyes , A Center to this heart . IX . The Brides going to bed . What mean'st thou Bride , this companie to keep ? To sit up , till thou faine wouldst sleep ? Thou maist not , when thou art laid , doe so . Thy selfe must to him a new banquet grow , And you must entertaine And doe all this daies dances o'r againe . Know that if Sun and Moone together doe Rise in one point , they doe not set so to . Therefore thou maist , faire Bride , to bed depart , Thou art not gone , being gone , where e'r thou art , Thou leav'st in him thy watchfull eyes , in him thy loving heart . X. The Bridegroomes comming . As he that sees a starre fall , runs apace , And findes a gellie in the place , So doth the Bridegroome hast as much , Being told this starre is falne , and findes her such , And as friends may looke strange , By a new fashion , or apparrells change , Their soules , though long acquainted they had beene , These clothes , their bodies , never yet had seene . Therefore at first shee modestly might start , But must forthwith surrender every part , As freely , as each to each before , gave either eye or heart . XI . The good night . Now , as in Tullias tombe , one lampe burnt cleare ▪ Unchang'd for fifteene hundred yeare , May these love-lamps we here enshrine , In warmth , light , lasting , equall the divine ; Fire ever doth aspire , And makes all like it selfe , turnes all to fire , But ends in ashes , which these cannot doe , For none of these is fuell , but fire too . This is joyes bonfire , then , where loves strong Arts Make of so noble individuall parts One fire of foure inflaming eyes , and of two loving hearts . Idios . As I have brought this song , that I may doe A perfect sacrifice , I 'll burne it too . Allophanes . No Sr. This paper I have justly got , For , in burnt incense , the perfume is not His only that presents it , but of all , What ever celebrates this Festivall Is common , since the joy thereof is so . Nor may your selfe be Priest : But let me goe , Backe to the Court , and I will lay'it upon Such Altars , as prize your devotion . Epithalamion made at Lincolnes Inne . THe Sun-beames in the East are spred , Leave , leave , faire Bride , your solitary bed , No more shall you returne to it alone , It nourseth sadnesse , and your bodies print , Like to a grave , the yielding downe doth dint ; You and your other you meet there anon ; Put forth , put forth that warme balme-breathing thigh , Which whē next time you in these sheets wil smother There it must meet another , Which never was , but must be , oft , more nigh ; Come glad from thence , goe gladder then you came , To day put on perfection , and a womans name . Daughters of London , you which bee Our Golden Mines , and furnish'd Treasurie , You which are Angels , yet still bring with you Thousands of Angels on your mariage daies , Help with your presence , and devise to praise These rites , which also unto you grow due ; Conceitedly dresse her , and be assign'd , By you , fit place for every flower and jewell , Make her for love fit fewell As gay as Flora , and as rich as Inde ; So may shee faire and rich , in nothing lame , To day put on perfection , and a womans name . And you frolique Patricians Some of these Senators wealths deep oceans , Ye painted courtiers , barrels of others wits , Yee country men , who but your beasts love none , Yee of those fellowships whereof hee 's one , Of study and play made strange Hermaphrodits , Here shine ; This Bridegroom to the Temple bring Loe , in yon path which store of straw'd flowers graceth , The sober virgin paceth ; Except my sight faile , 't is no other thing ; Weep not nor blush , here is no griefe nor shame , To day put on perfection , and a womans name . Thy two-leav'd gates faire Temple unfold , And these two in thy sacred bosome hold , Till , mystically joyn'd , but one they bee ; Then may thy leane and hunger-starved wombe Long time expect their bodies and their tombe , Long after their owne parents fatten thee ; All elder claimes , and all cold barrennesse , All yeelding to new loves bee far for ever , Which might these two dissever , Alwaies , all th' other may each one possesse ; For , the best Bride , best worthy of praise and fame , To day puts on perfection , and a womans name . Winter dayes bring much delight , Not for themselves , but for they soon bring night ; Other sweets wait thee then these diverse meats , Other disports then dancing jollities , Other love tricks then glancing with the eyes ; But that the Sun still in our halfe Spheare sweates ; Hee flies in winter , but he now stands still , Yet shadowes turne ; Noone point he hath attain'd , His steeds will bee restrain'd , But gallop lively downe the Westerne hill ; Thou shalt , when he hath come the worlds half frame , To night but on perfection , and a womans name . The amorous evening starre is rose , Why then should not our amorous starre inclose Her selfe in her wish'd bed ? Release your strings Musicians , and dancers take some truce With these your pleasing labours , for great use As much wearinesse as perfection brings ; You , and not only you , but all toyl'd beasts Rest duly ; at night all their toyles are dispensed ; But in their beds commenced Are other labours , and more dainty feasts ; She goes amaid , who , least she turne the same , To night puts on perfection , and a womans name . Thy virgins girdle now untie , And in thy nuptiall bed [ loves alter ] lye A pleasing sacrifice ; now dispossesse Thee of these chaines and robes which were put on T' adorne the day , not thee ; for thou , alone , Like vertue ' and truth , art best in nakednesse ; This bed is onely to virginitie A grave , but , to a better state , a cradle ; Till now thou wast but able To be what now thou art ; then that by thee No more be said , I may bee , but , I am , To night put on perfection , and a womans name . Even like a faithfull man content , That this life for a better should be spent ; So , shee a mothers rich stile doth preferre , And at the Bridegroomes wish'd approach doth lye , Like an appointed lambe , when tenderly The priest comes on his knees t'embowell her ; Now sleep or watch with more joy ; and O light Of heaven , to morrow rise thou hot , and early ; This Sun will love so dearely Her rest , that long , long we shall want her sight ; Wonders are wrought , for shee which had no maime , To night puts on perfection , and a womans name . To the Countesse of Bedford . MADAME , I Have learn'd by those lawes wherein I am a little conversant , that hee which bestowes any cost upon the dead , obliges him which is dead , but not the heire ; I do not therefore send this paper to your Ladyship , that you should thanke mee for it , or thinke that I thanke you in it ; your favours and benefits to mee are so much above my merits , that they are even above my gratitude , if that were to be judged by words which must expresse it : But , Madame , since your noble brothers fortune being yours , the evidences also concerning it are yours , so his vertue being yours , the evidences concerning it , belong also to you , of which by your acceptance this may be one peece , in which quality I humbly present it , and as a testimony how intirely your familie possesseth Your Ladiships most humble and thankfull servant JOHN DONNE . Obsequies to the Lord Harringtons brother . To the Countesse of Bedford . FAire soule , which wast , not onely , as all soules bee , Then when thou wast infused , harmony , But did'st continue so ; and now dost beare A part in Gods great organ , this whole Spheare : If looking up to God ; or downe to us , Thou finde that any way is pervious , Twixt heav'n and earth , and that mans actions doe Come to your knowledge , and affections too , See , and with joy , mee to that good degree Of goodnesse growne , that I can studie thee , And , by these meditations refin'd , Can unapparell and enlarge my minde , And so can make by this soft extasie , This place a map of heav'n , my selfe of thee . Thou seest mee here at midnight , now all rest ; Times dead-low water ; when all mindes devest To morrows businesse , when the labourers have Such rest in bed , that their last Church-yard grave , Subject to change , will scarce be'a type of this , Now when the clyent , whose last hearing is To morrow , sleeps , when the condemned man , ( Who when hee opes his eyes , must shut them than Againe by death , ) although sad watch hee keepe , Doth practice dying by a little sleepe , Thou at this midnight seest mee , and as soone As that Sunne rises to mee , midnight's noone , All the world growes transparent , and I see Through all , both Church and State , in seeing thee ; And I discerne by favour of this light , My selfe , the hardest object of the sight . God is the glasse ; as thou when thou dost see Him who sees all , seest all concerning thee , So , yet unglorified , I comprehend All , in these mirrors of thy wayes , and end ; Though God be our true glass , through which we see All , since the beeing of all things is hee , Yet are the trunkes which doe to us derive Things , in proportion fit by perspective , Deeds of good men , for by their living here , Vertues , indeed remote , seeme to be nere ; But where can I affirme , or where arrest My thoughts on his deeds ? which shall I call best ? For fluid vertue cannot be look'd on , Nor can endure a contemplation ; As bodies change , and as I do not weare Those Spirits , humors , blood I did last yeare , And , as if on a streame I fixe mine eye , That drop , which I looked on , is presently Pusht with more waters from my sight , and gone , So in this sea of vertues , can no one Bee'insisted on , vertues , as rivers , passe , Yet still remaines that vertuous man there was ; And as if man feeds on mans flesh , and so Part of his body to another owe , Yet at the last two perfect bodies rise , Because God knowes where every Atome lyes ; So , if one knowledge were made of all those , Who knew his minutes well , hee might dispose His vertues into names , and ranks ; but I Should injure Nature , Vertue , and Destinie , Should I divide and discontinue so , Vertue , which did in one intirenesse grow . For as , hee that would say , spirits are fram'd Of all the purest parts that can be nam'd , Honours not spirits halfe so much , as hee Which sayes , they have no parts , but simple bee ; So is't of vertue ; for a point and one Are much entirer then a million . And had Fate meant to have his vertues told , It would have let him live to have beene old , So then , that vertue in season , and then this , We might have seene , and said , that now he is Witty , now wise , now temperate , now just : In good short lives , vertues are faine to thrust , And to be sure betimes to get a place , When they would exercise , lacke time , and space . So was it in this person , forc'd to bee For lack of time , his owne epitome . So to exhibit in few yeares as much , As all the long breath'd Chronicles can touch ; As when an Angell down from heav'n doth flye , Our quick thought cannot keepe him company , Wee cannot thinke , now hee is at the Sunne , Now through the Moon , now he through th' aire doth run , Yet when he 's come , we know he did repaire To all twixt Heav'n and Earth , Sunne , Moon , and Aire . And as this Angell in an instant , knowes , And yet wee know , this sodaine knowledge growes By quick amassing severall formes of things , Which he successively to order brings ; When they , whose slow-pac'd lame thoughts cannot goe So fast as hee , thinke that he doth not so ; Just as a perfect reader doth not dwell , On every syllable , nor stay to spell , Yet without doubt , hee doth distinctly see And lay together every A , and B ; So , in short liv'd good men , is'not understood Each severall vertue , but the compound good . For , they all vertues paths in that pace tread , As Angells goe , and know , and as men read . O why should then these men , these lumps of Balme Sent hither , the worlds tempest to becalme , Before by deeds they are diffus'd and spred , And so make us alive , themselves be dead ? O Soule , O circle , why so quickly bee Thy ends , thy birth and death clos'd up in thee ? Since one foot of thy compasse still was plac'd In heav'n , the other might securely'have pac'd In the most large extent , through every path , Which the whole world , or man , the abridgment hath . Thou knowst , that though the tropique circles have ( Yea and those small ones which the Poles engrave , ) All the same roundnesse , evennesse , and all The endlesnesse of the equinoctiall ; Yet , when we come to measure distances , How here , how there , the Sunne affected is , When he doth faintly worke , and when prevaile , Onely great circles , then , can be our scale : So , though thy circle to thy selfe expresse All , tending to thy endlesse happinesse , And wee , by our good use of it may trye , Both how to live well young , and how to die , Yet , since we must be old , and age endures His Torrid Zone at Court , and calentures Of hot ambitions , irrelegions ice , Zeales agues ; and hydroptique avarice , Infirmities which need the scale of truth , As well , as lust and ignorance of youth ; Why did'st thou not for these give medicines too , And by thy doing tell us what to doe ? Though as small pocket-clocks , whose every wheele Doth each mismotion and distemper feele , Whose hands get shaking palsies , and whose string ( His sinewes ) slackens , and whose Soule , the spring , Expires , or languishes , whose pulse , the flye , Either beates not , or beates unevenly , Whose voice , the Bell , doth rattle , or grow dumbe , Or idle , ' as men , which to their last houres come , If these clockes be not wound , or be wound still , Or be not set , or set at every will ; So , youth is easiest to destruction , If then wee follow all , or follow none ; Yet , as in great clocks , which in steeples chime , Plac'd to informe whole towns , to'imploy their time , An error doth more harme , being generall , When , small clocks faults , only'on the wearer fall . So worke the faults of age , on which the eye Of children , servants , or the State relie . Why wouldst not thou then , which hadst such a soule , A clock so true , as might the Sunne controule , And daily hadst from him , who gave it thee , Instructions , such as it could never be Disordered , stay here , as a generall And great Sun-dyall , to have set us All ? O why wouldst thou be any instrument To this unnaturall course , or why consent To this , not miracle , but Prodigie , That when the ebbs , longer then flowings be , Vertue , whose flood did with thy youth begin , Should so much faster ebb out , then flow'in ? Though her flood was blowne in , by thy first breath , All is at once sunke in the whirle-poole death . Which word I would not name , but that I see Death , else a desert , growne a Court by thee . Now I grow sure , that if a man would have Good companie , his entry is a grave . Mee thinkes all Cities , now , but Anthills bee , Where , when the severall labourers I see , For children , house , Provision , taking paine , They' are all but Ants , carrying eggs , straw , and grain ; And Church-yards are our cities , unto which The most repaire , that are in goodnesse rich . There is the best concourse , and confluence , There are the holy suburbs , and from thence Begins Gods City , New Jerusalem , Which doth extend her utmost gates to them ; At that gate then Triumphant soule , dost thou Begin thy Triumph ; But since lawes allow That at the Triumph day , the people may , All that they will , ' gainst the Triumpher say , Let me here use that freedome , and expresse My griefe , though not to make thy Triumph lesse . By law , to Triumphs none admitted bee , Till they as Magistrates get victorie , Though then to thy force , all youthes foes did yield , Yet till fit time had brought thee to that field , To which thy ranke in this state destin'd thee , That there thy counsailes might get victorie , And so in that capacitie remove , All jealousies , 'twixt Prince and subjects love , Thou could'st no title , to this triumph have , Thou didst intrude on death , usurp'st a grave . That ( though victoriously ) thou hadst fought as yet But with thine owne affections , with the heate Of youths desires , and colds of ignorance , But till thou should'st successefully advance Thine armes'gainst forraine enemies , which are Both Envy , and acclamation popular , ( For , both these engines equally defeate , Though by a divers Mine , those which are great , ) Till then thy War was but a civill War , For which to Triumph , none admitted are ; No more are they , who though with good successe , ●n a defensive war ▪ their power expresse , Before men triumph , the dominion Must be enlarg'd , and not preserv'd alone ; Why should'st thou then , whose battailes were to win Thy selfe , from those straits nature put thee in , And to deliver up to God that state , Of which he gave thee the vicariate . ( Which is thy soule and body ) as intire As he , who takes endeavours , doth require , But didst not stay , t' enlarge his kingdome too , By making others ; what thou didst , to doe ; Why shouldst thou Triumph now , when Heav'n no more Hath got , by getting thee , then t 'had before ? For , Heav'n and thou , even when thou livedst here , Of one another in possession were ; But this from Triumph most disables thee , That , that place which is conquered , must bee Left safe from present warre , and likely doubt Of imminent commotions to breake out . And hath he left us so ? or can it bee His territory was no more then Hee ? No , we were all his charge , the Diocis Of ev'ry exemplar man , the whole world is , And he was joyned in commission With Tutelar Angels , sent to every one . But though this freedome to upbraid , and chide Him who Triumph'd , were lawfull , it was ty'd With this , that it might never reference have Unto the Senate , who this triumph gave ; Men might at Pompey jeast , but they might not At that authoritie , by which he got Leave to Triumph , before , by age , he might ; So , though triumphant soule , I dare to write , Mov'd with a reverentiall anger , thus , That thou so earely wouldst abandon us ; Yet I am farre from daring to dispute With that great soveraigntie , whose absolute Prerogative hath thus dispens'd with thee , ' Gainst natures lawes , which just impugners bee Of early triumphs ; And I ( though with paine ) Lessen our losse , to magnifie thy gaine Of triumph , when I say , It was more fit , That all men should lacke thee , then thou lack it . Though then in our time , be not suffered That testimonie of love , unto the dead , To die with them , and in their graves be hid , As Saxon wives , and French soldarii did ; And though in no degree I can expresse , Griefe in great Alexanders great excesse , Who at his friends death , made whole townes devest Their walls and bullwarks which became them best : Doe not , faire soule , this sacrifice refuse , That in thy grave I doe interre my Muse , Who , by my griefe , great as thy worth , being cast Behind hand , yet hath spoke , and spoke her last . Elegie . AS the sweet sweat of Roses in a Still , As that which frō chaf'd muskats pores doth trill , As the Almighty Balme of th' early East , Such are the sweat drops of my Mistris breast . And on her necke her skin such lustre sets , They seeme no sweat drops , but pearle coronets . Ranke sweaty froth thy Mistresse's brow defiles , Like spermatique issue of ripe menstruous boiles . Or like the skumme , which , by needs lawlesse law Enforc'd , Sanserra's starved men did draw From parboild shooes , and bootes , and all the rest Which were with any soveraigne fatnes blest , And like vile stones lying in saffrond tinne , Or warts , or wheales , it hangs upon her skinne . Round as the world 's her head , on every side , Like to the fatall Ball which fell on Ide , Or that whereof God had such jealousie , As , for the ravishing thereof we die . Thy head is like a rough-hewne statue of jeat , Where marks for eyes , nose , mouth , are yet scarce set ; Like the first Chaos , or flat seeming face Of Cynthia , when th' earths shadowes her embrace . Like Proserpines white beauty-keeping chest , Or Joues best fortunes urne , is her faire brest . Thine's like worme eaten trunkes , cloth'd in seals skin , Or grave , that 's dust without , and stinke within . And like that slender stalke , at whose end stands The wood-bine quivering , are her armes and hands , Like rough bark'd elmboughes , or the russet skin Of men late scurg'd for madnes , or for sinne , Like Sun-parch'd quarters on the citie gate , Such is thy tann'd skins lamentable state . And like a bunch of ragged carrets stand The short swolne fingers of her gouty hand ; Then like the Chymicks masculine equall fire , Which in the Lymbecks warme wombe doth inspire Into th' earths worthlesse part a soule of gold , Such cherishing heat her best lov'd part doth hold . Thine's like the dread mouth of a fired gunne , Or like hot liquid metalls newly runne Into clay moulds , or like to that Aetna Where round about the grasse is burnt away . Are not your kisses then as filthy , and more , As a worme sucking an invenom'd sore ? Doth not thy fearefull hand in feeling quake , As one which gath'ring flowers , still feares a snake ? Is not your last act harsh , and violent , As where a Plough a stony ground doth rent ? So kisse good Turtles , so devoutly nice Are Priests in handling reverent sacrifice , And nice in searching wounds the Surgeon is As wee , when wee embrace , or touch , or kisse . Leave her , and I will leave comparing thus , She , and comparisons are odious . Elegie . The Autumnall . NO Spring , nor Summer Beauty hath such grace , As I have seen in one Autumnall face , Yong Beauties force our love , and that 's a Rape , This doth but counsaile , yet you cannot scape . If t' were a shame to love , here t' were no shame , Affections here take Reverences name . Were her first yeares the Golden Age ; That 's true , But now they' are gold oft tried , and ever new . That was her torrid and inflaming time , This is her tolerable Tropique clyme . Faire eyes , who askes more heate , then comes from hence , He in a fever wishes pestilence . Call not these wrinkles , graves ; If graves they were , They were Loves graves ; for else he is no where . Yet lies not love dead here , but here doth sit Vow'd to this trench , like an Anachorit . And here , till hers , which must be his death , come , He doth not digge a Grave , but build a Tombe . Iere dwells he , though he sojourne ev'ry where ; In Progresse , yet his standing house is here . Iere , where still Evening is ; not noone , nor night ; Where no voluptuousnesse , , yet all delight . In all her words , unto all hearers fit , You may at Revels , you at counsaile , sit . This is loves timber , youth his under-wood ; There he , as wine in Iune , enrages blood , Which then comes seasonabliest , when our tast And appetite to other things , is past ; Xerxes strange Lydian love , the Platane tree , Was lov'd for age , none being so large as shee , Or else because , being yong , nature did blesse Her youth with ages glory , Barrennesse . If we love things long sought , Age is a thing Which we are fifty yeares in compassing . If transitory things , which soone decay , Age must be lovelyest at the latest day . But name not Winter-faces , whose skin 's slacke ; Lanke , as an unthrifts purse ; but a soules sacke ; Whose Eyes seeke light within , for all here 's shade ; Whose mouthes are holes , rather worne out , then made Whos 's every tooth to a severall place is gone , To vexe their soules at Resurrection ; Name not these living Deaths-heads unto mee , For these , not Ancient , but Antique be ; I hate extreames ; yet I had rather stay With Tombs , then Cradles , to weare out a day . Since such loves motion natural is , may still My love descend , and journey downe the hill , Not panting after growing beauties , so , I shall ebbe out with them , who home-ward goe . Elegie . IMage of her whom I love , more then she , Whose faire impression in my faithfull heart , Makes mee her Medall , and makes her love mee , As Kings do coynes , to which their stamps impart The value : goe , and take my heart from hence , Which now is growne too great and good for me : Honours oppresse weake spirits , and our sense , Strong objects dull , the more , the lesse wee see . When you are gone , and Reason gone with you , Then Fantasie is Queene and Soule , and all ; She can present joyes meaner then you do ; Convenient , and more proportionall . So , if I dreame I have you , I have you , For , all our joyes are but fantasticall . And so I scape the paine , for paine is true ; And sleepe which locks up sense , doth lock out all . After a such fruition I shall wake , And , but the waking , nothing shall repent ; And shall to love more thankfull Sonnets make , Then if more honour , teares , and paines were spent . But dearest heart , and dearer image stay ; Alas , true joyes at best are dreame enough ; Though you stay here you passe too fast away : For even at first lifes Taper is a snuffe . Fill'd with her love , may I be rather grown Mad with much heart , then ideott with none . Elegie on Prince Henry . LOoke to mee faith , and looke to my faith , God ; For both my centers feele this period . Of waight one center , one of greatnesse is ; And Reason is that center , Faith is this ; For into'our reason flow , and there do end All , that this naturall world doth comprehend : Quotidian things , and equidistant hence , Shut in , for man , in one circumference . But for th'enormous greatnesses , which are So disproportion'd , and so angulare , As is Gods essence , place and providence , Where , how , when , what soules do , departed hence , These things ( eccentrique else ) on faith do strike ; Yet neither all , nor upon all , alike . For reason , put to'her best extension , Almost meetes faith , and makes both centers one . And nothing ever came so nere to this , As contemplation of that Prince , wee misse . For all that faith might credit mankinde could , Reason still seconded , that this prince would . If then least moving of the center , make More , then if whole hell belch'd , the world to shake . What must this do , centers distracted so , That wee see not what to beleeve or know ? Was it not well beleev'd till now , that hee , Whose reputation was an extasie , On neighbour States , which knew not why to wake , Till hee discover'd what wayes he would take ; For whom , what Princes angled , when they tryed , Met a Torpedo , and were stupified ; And others studies , how he would be bent , Was his great fathers greatest instrument , And activ'st spirit , to convey and tie This soule of peace , through Christianity ; Was it not well beleev'd , that hee would make This generall peace , th' Eternall overtake , And that his times might have stretch'd out so farre , As to touch those , of which they emblems are ? For to confirme this just beleefe , that now The last dayes came , wee saw heav'n did allow , That , but from his aspect and exercise , In peacefull times , Rumors of war did rise . But now this faith is heresie : we must Still stay , and vexe our great grand mother , Dust . Oh , is God prodigall ? hath he spent his store Of plagues , on us , and onely now , when more Would ease us much , doth he grudge misery ; And will not let 's enjoy our curse ; to dy . As , for the earth throwne lowest downe of all , T' were an ambition to desire to fall , So God , in our desire to dye , doth know Our plot for ease , in being wretched so . Therefore we live ; though such a life wee have , As but so many mandrakes on his grave . What had his growth , and generation done , When , what we are , his putrefaction Sustaines in us ; Earth , which griefes animate ; Nor hath our world now , other Soule then that . And could griefe get so high as heav'n , that Quire , Forgetting this their new joy , would desire ( With griefe to see him ) hee had staid below , To rectifie our errours , They foreknow . Is th' other center , Reason , faster then ? Where should we looke for that , now we' are not men ? For if our Reason be'our connexion Of causes , now to us there can be none . For , as if all the substances were spent , 'T were madnesse , to enquire of accident , So is't to looke for reason , hee being gone , The onely subject reason wrought upon . If Fate have such a chaine , whose divers links Industrious man discerneth , as hee thinks , When miracle doth come , and so steale in A new linke , man knowes not , where to begin ▪ At a much deader fault must reason bee , Death having broke off such a linke as hee . But now , for us , with busie proofe to come , That we'have no reason , would prove wee had some . So would just lamentations : Therefore wee May safelyer say , that we are dead , then hee . So , if our griefs wee do not well declare , We'have double excuse ; he 'is not dead ; and we are . Yet I would not dy yet ; for though I bee Too narrow , to thinke him , as hee is hee , ( Our Soules best baiting , and midd-period , In her long journey , of considering God ) Yet , ( no dishonour ) I can reach him thus , As he embrac'd the fires of love , with us . Oh may I , ( since I live ) but see , or heare , That she-Intelligence which mov'd this spheare , I pardon Fate , my life : who ere thou bee , Which hast the noble conscience , thou art shee , I conjure thee by all the charmes he spoke , By th'oathes , which onely you two never broke , By all the soules yee sigh'd , that if you see These lines , you wish , I knew your history . So much , as you , two mutuall heav'ns were here , I were an Angell , singing what you were . Psalme 137. I. BY Euphrates flowry side We did bide , From deare Juda farre absented , Tearing the aire with our cryes , And our eyes , With their streames his streame augmented . II. When , poore Syons dolefull state , Desolate ; Sacked , burned , and inthrall'd , And the Temple spoil'd , which wee Ne'r should see , To our mirthlesse mindes wee call'd ▪ III. Our mute harpes , untun'd , unstrung , Up wee hung On greene willowes neere beside us , Where , we sitting all forlorne ; Thus , in scorne , Our proud spoylers 'gan deride us . IV. Come , sad Captives , leave your moanes , And your groanes Under Syons ruines bury ; Tune your harps , and sing us layes In the praise Of your God , and let 's be merry , V. Can , ah , can we leave our moanes ? And our groanes Under Syons ruines bury ? Can we in this Land sing Layes In the praise Of our God , and here be merry ? VI. No ; deare Syon , if I yet Do forget Thine affliction miserable , Let my nimble joynts become Stiffe and numme , To touch warbling harpe unable . VII . Let my tongue lose singing skill , Let it still To my parched roofe be glewed , If in either harpe or voice I rejoyce , Till thy joyes shall be renewed VIII . Lord , curse Edom's traiterous kinde , Beare in minde In our ruines how they revell'd , Sack , kill , burne , they cry'd out still , Sack , burne , kill , Downe with all , let all be levell'd . IX . And , thou Babel , when the tide Of thy pride Now a flowing , growes to turning ; Victor now , shall then be thrall , And shall fall To as low an ebbe of mourning . X. Happy he who shall thee waste , As thou hast Us , without all mercy , wasted , And shall make thee taste and see What poore wee By thy meanes have seene and tasted . XI . Happy , who , thy tender barnes From the armes Of their wailing mothers tearing , ' Gainst the walls shall dash their bones , Ruthlesse stones With their braines and blood besmearing . Resurrection , imperfect . SLeep sleep old Sun , thou canst not have repast As yet , the wound thou took'st on friday last ; Sleepe then , and rest ; The world may beare thy stay , A better Sun rose before thee to day , Who , not content to'enlighten all that dwell On the earths face , as thou , enlightned hell , And made the darke fires languish in that vale , As , at thy presence here , our fires grow pale . Whose body having walk'd on earth , and now Hasting to Heaven , would , that he might allow Himselfe unto all stations , and fill all , For these three daies become a minerall ; Hee was all gold when he lay downe , but rose All tincture , and doth not alone dispose Leaden and iron wills to good , but is Of power to make even sinfull flesh like his . Had one of those , whose credulous pietie Thought , that a Soule one might discerne and see ▪ Goe from a body , ' at this sepulcher been , And , issuing from the sheet , this body seen , He would have justly thought this body a soule , If , not of any man , yet of the whole . Desunt caetera . An hymne to the Saints , and to Marquesse Hamylton . VVHither that soule which now comes up to you Fill any former ranke or make a new , Whither it take a name nam'd there before , Or be a name it selfe , and order more Then was in heaven till now ; ( for may not hee Bee so ? if every severall Angell bee A kind alone ; ) What ever order grow Greater by him in heaven , wee doe not so ; One of your orders growes by his accesse ; But , by his losse grow all our orders lesse ; The name of Father , Master , Friend , the name Of Subject and of Prince , in one are lame ; Faire mirth is dampt , and conversation black , The household widdow'd , and the garter slack ; The Chappell wants an eare , Councell a tongue ; Story , a theame ; and Musicke lacks a song ; Blest order that hath him , the losse of him Gangred all Orders here ; all lost a limbe . Never made body such hast to confesse What a soule was ; All former comelinesse ▪ Fled , in a minute , when the soule was gone , And , having lost that beauty , would have none , So fell our Monasteries , in one instant growne Not to lesse houses , but , to heapes of stone ; So sent this body that faire forme it wore , Unto the spheare of formes , and doth ( before His soule shall fill up his sepulchrall stone , ) Anticipate a Resurrection ; For , as in his fame , now , his soule is here , So , in the forme thereof his bodie 's there ; And if , faire soule , not with first Innocents Thy station be , but with the Paenitents , ( And , who shall dare to aske then when I am Dy'd scarlet in the blood of that pure Lambe , Whether that colour , which is scarlet then , Were black or white before in eyes of men ? ) When thou rememb'rest what sins thou didst finde Amongst those many friends now left behinde , And seest such sinners as they are , with thee Got thither by repentance , Let it bee Thy wish to wish all there , to wish them cleane ; Wish him a David , her a Magdalen . SIR , I Presume you rather try what you can doe in me , then what I can doe in verse , you know my uttermost when it was best , and even then I did best when I had least truth for my subjects , In this present case there is so much truth as it defeats all Poetry . Call therefore this paper by what name you will , and , if it bee not worthy of you nor of him , we will smother it , and be it your sacrifice . If you had commanded mee to have waited on his body to Scotland and preached there , I would have embraced your obligation with much alacrity ; But , I thanke you that you would command me that which I was loather to doe , for , even that hath given a tincture of merit to the obedience of Your poore friend and servant in Christ Jesus I. D. An Epitaph upon Shakespeare . REnowned Chaucer lie a thought more nigh so rare Beaumond ; and learned Beaumond lie A little nearer Spencer , to make roome For Shakespeare in your threefold fourefold tombe . To lie all foure in one bed make a shift , For , untill doomesday hardly will a fift Betwixt this day and that be slaine , For whom your curtaines need be drawne againe ; But , if precedency of death doth barre A fourth place in your sacred sepulchre , Under this curled marble of thine owne Sleepe rare Tragedian Shakespeare , sleepe alone , That , unto Vs and others it may bee Honor , hereafter to be laid by thee . Sapho to Philaenis . VVHere is that holy fire , which Verse is said To have , is that inchanting force decai'd ? Verse that drawes Natures workes , from Natures law , Thee , her best worke , to her worke cannot draw . Have my teares quench'd my old Poetique fire ; Why quench'd they not as well , that of desire ? Thoughts , my mindes creatures , often are with thee , But I , their maker ; want their libertie . Onely thine image , in my heart , doth sit , But that is waxe , and fires environ it . My fires have driven , thine have drawne it hence ; And I am rob'd of Picture , Heart , and Sense . Dwells with me still mine irksome Memory , Which , both to keepe , and lose , grieves equally . That tells me'how faire thou art : Thou art so faire , As , gods , when gods to thee I doe compare , Are grac'd thereby ; And to make blinde men see , What things gods are , I say they' are like to thee . For , if we justly call each silly man A litle world , What shall we call thee than ? Thou art not soft , and cleare , and strait , and faire , As Down , as Stars , Cedars , and Lillies are , But thy right hand , and cheek , and eye , only Are like thy other hand , and cheek , and eye . Such was my Phao awhile , but shall be never , As thou , wa●t , art , and , oh , maist be ever . Here lovers sweare in their Idolatrie , That I am such ; but Griefe discolors me . And yet I grieve the lesse , least Griefe remove My beauty , and make me'unworthy of thy love . Plaies some soft boy with thee , oh there wants yet A mutuall feeling which should sweeten it . His chinne , a thorny hairy unevennesse Doth threaten , and some daily change possesse . Thy body is a naturall Paradise , In whose selfe , unmanur'd , all pleasure lies , Nor needs perfection ; why shouldst thou than Admit the tillage of a harsh rough man ? Men leave behinde them that which their sin showes ▪ And are , as theeves trac'd , which rob when it snows . But of our dallyance no more signes there are , Then fishes leave in streames , or Birds in aire . And betweene us all sweetnesse may be had ; All , all that Nature yields , or Art can adde . My two lips , eyes , thighs , differ from thy two , But so , as thine from one another doe ; And , oh , no more ; the likenesse being such , Why should they not alike in all parts touch ? Hand to strange hand , lippe to lippe none denies ; Why should they brest to brest , or thighs to thighs ? Likenesse begets such strange selfe flatterie , That touching my selfe , all seemes done to thee . My selfe I embrace , and mine owne hands I kisse , And amorously thanke my selfe for this . Me , in my glasse , I call thee ; But alas , When I would kisse , teares dimme mine eyes , and glasse . O cure this loving madnesse , and restore Me to mee ; shee , my halfe , my all , my more ▪ So may thy cheekes red outweare scarlet dye , And their white , whitenesse of the Galaxy , So may thy mighty amazing beauty move Envy ' in all women , and in all men ▪ love , And so be change , and sicknesse , farre from thee , As thou by comming neere , keep'st them from me . The Annuntiation and Passion . TAmely fraile body'abstaine to day ; to day My soule eates twice , Christ hither and away . She sees him man , so like God made in this , That of them both a circle embleme is , Whose first and last concurre ; this doubtfull day Of feast or fast , Christ came , and went away ; Shee sees him nothing twice at once , who'is all ; Shee sees a Cedar plant it selfe , and fall , Her Maker put to making , and the head Of life , at once , not yet alive , yet dead ; She sees at once the virgin mother stay Reclus'd at home , Publique at Golgotha . Sad and rejoyc'd shee 's seen at once , and seen At almost fiftie , and at scarce fifteene . At once a Sonne is promis'd her , and gone , Gabriell gives Christ to her , He her to John ; Not fully a mother , Shee 's in Orbitie , At once receiver and the legacie ; All this , and all betweene , this day hath showne , Th' Abridgement of Christs story , which makes one ( As in plaine Maps , the furthest West is East ) Of the'Angels Ave , ' and Consummatum est . How well the Church , Gods Court of faculties Deales , in some times , and seldome joyning these ; As by the selfe-fix'd Pole wee never doe Direct our course , but the next starre thereto , Which showes where the'other is , and which we say ( Because it strayes not farre ) doth never stray ; So God by his Church , neerest to him , wee know , And stand firme , if wee by her motion goe ; His Spirit , as his fiery Pillar doth Leade , and his Church , as cloud ; to one end both : This Church , by letting those daies joyne , hath shown Death and conception in mankinde is one . Or 't was in him the same humility , That he would be a man , and leave to be : Or as creation he hath made , as God , With the last judgement , but one period , His imitating Spouse would joyne in one Manhoods extremes : He shall come , he is gone : Or as though one blood drop , which thence did fall , Accepted , would have serv'd , he yet shed all ; So though the least of his paines , deeds , or words , Would busie a life , she all this day affords ; This treasure then , in grosse , my Soule uplay , And in my life retaile it every day . Goodfriday , 1613. Riding Westward . LEt mans Soule be a Spheare , and then , in this , The intelligence that moves , devotion is , And as the other Spheares , by being growne Subject to forraigne motion , lose their owne , And being by others hurried every day , Scarce in a yeare their naturall forme obey : Pleasure or businesse , so , our Soules admit For their first mover , and are whirld by it . Hence is 't , that I am carryed towards the West This day , whē my Soules forme bends toward the East . There I should see a Sunne , by rising set , And by that setting endlesse day beget ; But that Christ on this Crosse , did rise and fall , Sinne had eternally benighted all . Yet dare I'almost be glad , I do not see That spectacle of too much weight for mee . Who sees Gods face , that is selfe life , must dye ; What a death were it then to see God dye ? It made his owne Lieutenant Nature shrinke , It made his footstoole crack , and the Sunne winke . Could I behold those hands which span the Poles , And tune all spheares at once peirc'd with those holes ? Could I behold that endlesse height which is Zenith to us , and our Antipodes , Humbled below us ? or that blood which is The seat of all our Soules , if not of his , Made durt of dust , or that flesh which was worne By God , for his apparell , rag'd , and torne ? If on these things I durst not looke , durst I Upon his miserable mother cast mine eye , Who was Gods partner here , and furnish'd thus Halfe of that Sacrifice , which ransom'd us ? Though these things , as I ride , be from mine eye , They' are present yet unto my memory , For that looks towards them ; & thou look'st towards mee , O Saviour , as thou hang'st upon the tree ; I turne my backe to thee , but to receive Corrections , till thy mercies bid thee leave . O thinke mee worth thine anger , punish mee , Burne off my rusts , and my deformity , Restore thine Image , so much , by thy grace , That thou may'st know mee , and I 'll turne my face . THE LITANIE . I. The FATHER . FAther of Heaven , and him , by whom It , and us for it , and all else , for us Thou madest , and govern'st ever , come And re-create mee , now growne ruinous : My heart is by dejection , clay , And by selfe-murder , red . From this red earth , O Father , purge away All vicious tinctures , that new fashioned I may rise up from death , before I 'am dead . II. The SONNE . O Sonne of God , who seeing two things , Sinne , and death crept in , which were never made , By bearing one , tryed'st with what stings The other could thine heritage invade ; O be thou nail'd unto my heart , And crucified againe , Part not from it , though it from thee would part , But let it be by applying so thy paine , Drown'd in thy blood , and in thy passion slaine . III. The HOLY GHOST . O Holy Ghost , whose temple I Am , but of mudde walls , and condensed dust , And being sacrilegiously Halfe wasted with youths fires , of pride and lust , Must with new stormes be weatherbeat ; Double in my heart thy flame , Which let devout sad teares intend ; and let ( Though this glasse lanthorne , flesh , do suffer maime ) Fire , Sacrifice , Priest , Altar be the same . IV. The TRINITY . O Blessed glorious Trinity , Bones to Philosophy , but milke to faith , Which , as wise serpents diversly Most slipperinesse , yet most entanglings hath , As you distinguish'd undistinct By power , love , knowledge bee , Give mee a such selfe different instinct Of these let all mee elemented bee , Of power , to love , to know , you unnumbred three . V. The Virgin MARY . For that faire blessed Mother-maid , Whose flesh redeem'd us ; That she-Cherubin , Which unlock'd Paradise , and made One claime for innocence , and disseiz'd sinne , Whose wombe was a strange heav'n , for there God cloath'd himselfe , and grew , Our zealous thankes wee poure . As her deeds were Our helpes , so are her prayers ; nor can she sue In vaine , who hath such titles unto you . VI. The Angels . And since this life our nonage is , And wee in Wardship to thine Angels be , Native in heavens faire Palaces Where we shall be but denizen'd by thee , As th' earth conceiving by the Sunne , Yeelds faire diversitie , Yet never knowes which course that light doth run , So let mee study , that mine actions bee Worthy their sight , though blinde in how they see . VII . The Patriarches . And let thy Patriarches Desire ( Those great Grandfathers , of thy Church , which saw More in the cloud , then wee in fire , Whom Nature clear'd more , then us grace and law , And now in Heaven still pray , that wee May use our new helpes right , ) Be sanctified , and fructifie in mee ; Let not my minde be blinder by more light Nor Faith by Reason added , lose her sight . VIII . The Prophets . Thy Eagle-sighted Prophets too , Which were thy Churches Organs , and did sound That harmony , which made of two One law , and did unite , but not confound ; Those heavenly Poëts which did see Thy will , and it expresse In rythmique feet , in common pray for mee , That I by them excuse not my excesse In seeking secrets , or Poëtiquenesse . IX . The Apostles . And thy illustrious Zodiacke Of twelve Apostles , which ingirt this All , From whom whosoever do not take Their light , to darke deep pits , throw downe , and fall , As through their prayers , thou'hast let mee know That their bookes are divine ; May they pray still , and be heard , that I goe Th' old broad way in applying ; O decline Mee , when my comment would make thy word mine . X. The Martyrs . And since thou so desirously Did'st long to die , that long before thou could'st , And long since thou no more couldst dye , Thou in thy scatter'd mystique body wouldst In Abel dye , and ever since In thine , let their blood come To begge for us , a discreet patience Of death , or of worse life : for Oh , to some Not to be Martyrs , is a martyrdome . XI . The Confessors . Therefore with thee triumpheth there A Virgin Squadron of white Confessors , Whose bloods betroth'd , not marryed were ; Tender'd , not taken by those Ravishers : They know , and pray , that wee may know , In every Christian Hourly tempestuous persecutions grow , Tentations martyr us alive ; A man Is to himselfe a Dioclesian . XII . The Virgins . The cold white snowie Nunnery , Which , as thy mother , their high Abbesse , sent Their bodies backe againe to thee , As thou hadst lent them , cleane and innocent , Though they have not obtain'd of thee , That or thy Church , or I , Should keep , as they , our first integrity ; Divorce thou sinne in us , or bid it die , And call chast widowhead Virginitie . XIII . The Doctors . Thy sacred Academie above Of Doctors , whose paines have unclasp'd , and taught Both bookes of life to us ( for love To know thy Scriptures tells us , we are wrought In thy other booke ) pray for us there That what they have misdone Or mis-said , wee to that may not adhere , Their zeale may be our sinne . Lord let us runne Meane waies , and call them stars , but not the Sunne . XIV . And whil'st this universall Quire , That Church in triumph , this in warfare here , Warm'd with one all-partaking fire Of love , that none be lost , which cost thee deare , Prayes ceaslesly , ' and thou hearken too ( Since to be gratious Our taske is treble , to pray , beare , and doe ) Heare this prayer Lord , O Lord deliver us Frō trusting in those prayers , though powr'd out thus . XV. From being anxious , or secure , Dead clods of sadnesse , or light squibs of mirth , From thinking , that great courts immure All , or no h●ppinesse , or that this earth Is only for our prison fram'd , Or that thou art covetous To them whom thou lovest , or that they are maim'd From reaching this worlds sweet , who seek thee thus , With all their might , Good Lord deliver us . XVI . From needing danger , to bee good , From owing thee yesterdaies teares to day , From trusting so much to thy blood , That in that hope , wee wound our soule away , From bribing thee with Almes , to excuse Some sinne more burdenous , From light affecting , in religion , newes , From thinking us all soule , neglecting thus Our mutuall duties , Lord deliver us . XVII . From tempting Satan to tempt us , By our connivence , or slack companie , From measuring ill by vitious , Neglecting to choake sins spawne , Vanitie , From indiscreet humilitie , Which might be scandalous , And cast reproach on Christianitie , From being spies , or to spies pervious , From thirst , or scorne of flame , deliver us . XVIII . Deliver us for thy descent Into the Virgin , whose wombe was a place Of midle kind ▪ and thou being sent To'ungratious us , staid'st at her full of grace , And through thy poore birth , where first thou Glorifiedst Povertie , And yet soone after riches didst allow , By accepting Kings gifts in the Epiphanie , Deliver , and make us , to both waies free . XIX . And though that bitter agonie , Which is still the agonie of pious wits , Disputing what distorted thee , And interrupted evennesse , with fits , And through thy free confession Though thereby they were then Made blind , so that thou might'st from thē have gone , Good Lord deliver us , and teach us when Wee may not , and we may blinde unjust men . XX. Through thy submitting all , to blowes Thy face , thy clothes to spoile ; thy fame to scorne , All waies , which rage , or Justice knowes , And by which thou could'st shew , that thou wast born , And through thy gallant humblenesse Which thou in death did'st shew , Dying before thy soule they could expresse , Deliver us from death , by dying so , To this world , ere this world doe bid us goe . XXI . When senses , which thy souldiers are , Wee arme against thee , and they fight for sinne , When want , sent but to tame , doth warre And worke despaire a breach to enter in , When plenty , Gods image , and seale Makes us Idolatrous , And love it , not him , whom it should reveale , When wee are mov'd to seeme religious Only to vent wit , Lord deliver us . XXII . In Churches , when the'infirmitie Of him which speakes , diminishes the Word , When Magistrates doe mis-apply To us , as we judge , lay or ghostly sword , When plague , which is thine Angell , raignes , Or wars , thy Champions , swaie , When Heresie , thy second deluge , gaines ; In th' houre of death , the'Eve of last judgement day , Deliver us from the sinister way . XXIII . Heare us , O heare us Lord ; to thee A sinner is more musique , when he prayes , Then spheares , or Angels praises bee , In Panegyrique Allelujaes , Heare us , for till thou heare us , Lord We know not what to say . Thine eare to'our sighes , teares , thoughts gives voice and word . O Thou who Satan heard'st in Jobs sicke day , Heare thy selfe now , for thou in us dost pray . XXIV . That wee may change to evennesse This intermitting aguish Pietie , That snatching cramps of wickednesse And Apoplexies of fast sin , may die ; That musique of thy promises , Not threats in Thunder may Awaken us to our just offices , What in thy booke , thou dost , or creatures say , That we may heare , Lord heare us , when wee pray . XXV . That our eares sicknesse wee may cure , And rectifie those Labyrinths aright , That wee by harkning , not procure Our praise , nor others dispraise so invite , That wee get not a slipperinesse , And senslesly decline , From hearing bold wits jeast at Kings excesse , To'admit the like of majestie divine , That we may locke our eares , Lord open thine . XXVI . That living law , the Magistrate , Which to give us , and make us physicke , doth Our vices often aggravate , That Preachers taxing sinne , before her growth , That Satan , and invenom'd men Which well , if we starve , dine , When they doe most accuse us , may see then Us , to amendment , heare them ; thee decline ; That we may open our eares , Lord lock thine . XXVII . That learning , thine Ambassador , From thine allegeance wee never tempt , That beauty , paradises flower For physicke made , from poyson be exempt , That wit , borne apt , high good to doe By dwelling lazily On Natures nothing , be not nothing too , That our affections kill us not , nor dye , Heare us , weake ecchoes , O thou eare , and cry . XXVIII . Sonne of God heare us , and since thou By taking our blood , owest it us againe Gaine to thy selfe , or us allow ; And let not both us and thy selfe be slaine ; O lambe of God , which took'st our sinne Which could not stick to thee , O let it not returne to us againe , But Patient and Physition being free , As sinne is nothing , let it no where be . SEnd home my long strayd eyes to mee , Which ( Oh ) too long have dwelt on thee , Yet since there they have learn'd such ill , Such forc'd fashions , And false passions , That they be Made by thee Fit for no good sight , keep them still . Send home my harmlesse heart againe , Which no unworthy thought could staine , Which if it be taught by thine To make jestings Of protestings , And breake both Word and oath , Keepe it , for then 't is none of mine . Yet send me back my heart and eyes , That I may know , and see thy lyes , And may laugh and joy , when thou Art in anguish And dost languish For some one That will none , Or prove as false as thou art now . A nocturnall upon S. Lucies day , Being the shortest day . T Is the yeares midnight , and it is the dayes , Lucies , who scarce seaven houres herself unmaskes , The Sunne is spent , and now his flasks Send forth light squibs , no constant rayes ; The worlds whole sap is sunke : The generall balme th'hydroptique earth hath drunk , Whither , as to the beds-feet life is shrunke , Dead and enterr'd ; yet all these seeme to laugh , Compar'd with mee , who am their Epitaph . Study me then , you who shall lovers bee At the next world , that is , at the next Spring : For I am every dead thing , In whom love wrought new Alchimie . For his art did expresse A quintessence even from nothingnesse , From dull privations , and leane emptinesse He ruin'd mee , and I am re-begot Of absence , darknesse , death ; things which are not . All others , from all things , draw all that 's good , Life , soule , forme , spirit , whence they beeing have , I , by loves limbecke , am the grave Of all , that 's nothing . Oft a flood Have wee two wept , and so Drownd the whole world , us two ; oft did we grow To be two Chaosses , when we did show Care to ought else ; and often absences Withdrew our soules , and made us carcasses . But I am by her death , ( which word wrongs her ) Of the first nothing , the Elixer grown ; Were I a man , that I were one , I needs must know , I should preferre , If I were any beast , Some ends , some means ; Yea plants , yea stones detest , And love , all , all some properties invest , If I an ordinary nothing were , As shadow , a light , and body must be here . But I am None ; nor will my Sunne renew . You lovers , for whose sake , the lesser Sunne At this time to the Goat is runne To fetch new lust , and give it you , Enjoy your summer all , Since shee enjoyes her long nights festivall , Let mee prepare towards her , and let mee call This houre her Vigill , and her eve , since this Both the yeares , and the dayes deep midnight is . Witchcraft by a picture . I Fixe mine eye on thine , and there Pitty my picture burning in thine eye , My picture drown'd in a transparent teare , When I looke lower I espie , Hadst thou the wicked skill By pictures made and mard , to kill ? How many wayes mightst thou performe thy will ? But now I have drunke thy sweet salt teares , And though thou poure more I 'll depart ; My picture vanish'd , vanish feares , That I can be endamag'd by that art ; Though thou retaine of mee One picture more , yet that will bee , Being in thine owne heart , from all malice free . COme live with mee , and bee my love , And wee will some new pleasures prove Of golden sands , and christall brookes : With silken lines , and silver hookes . There will the river whispering runne Warm'd by thy eyes , more then the Sunne . And there the'inamor'd fish will stay , Begging themselves they may betray . When thou wilt swimme in that live bath , Each fish , which every channell hath , Will amorously to thee swimme , Gladder to catch thee , then thou him . If thou , to be so seene , beest loath , By Sunne , or Moone , thou darknest both , And if my selfe have leave to see , I need not their light , having thee . Let others freeze with angling reeds , And cut their legges , which shells and weeds , Or treacherously poore fish beset , With strangling snare , or windowie net : Let coarse bold hands , from slimy nest The bedded fish in banks out-wrest , Or curious traitors , sleavesicke flies Bewitch poore fishes wandring eyes . For thee , thou needst no such deceit , For thou thy selfe art thine owne bait , That fish , that is not catch'd thereby , Alas , is wiser farre then I. The Apparition . WHen by thy scorne , O murdresse , I am dead , And that thou thinkst thee free From all solicitation from mee , Then shall my ghost come to thy bed , And thee fain'd vestall in worse armes shall see ; Then thy sicke taper will begin to winke , And he , whose thou art then , being tyr'd before , Will , if thou stirre , or pinch to wake him , thinke Thou call'st for more , And in false sleepe will from thee shrinke , And then poore Aspen wretch , neglected thou Bath'd in a cold quicksilver sweat wilt lye A veryer ghost then I ; What I will say , I will not tell thee now , Lest that preserve thee ' ; and since my love is spent , I 'had rather thou shouldst painfully repent , Then by my threatnings rest still innocent . Dull sublunary lovers love ( Whose soule is sense ) cannot admit Absence , because it doth remove Those things which elemented it . But we by a love , so much refin'd , That our selves know not what it is , Inter-assured of the mind , Care lesse , eyes , lips , hands to misse . Our two soules therefore , which are one , Though I must goe , endure not yet A breach , but an expansion , Like gold to ayery thinnesse beate . If they be two , they are two so As stiffe twin compasses are two , Thy soule the fixt foot , makes no show To move , but doth , if the'other doe . And though it in the center sit , Yet when the other far doth rome , It leanes , and hearkens after it , And growes erect , as that comes home . Such wilt thou be to mee , who must Like th' other foot , obliquely runne . Thy firmnes makes my circle just , And makes me end , where I begunne . The good-morrow . I Wonder by my troth , what thou , and I Did , till we lov'd , were we not wean'd till then ? But suck'd on countrey pleasures ; childishly ? Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers den ? T' was so ; But this , all pleasures fancies bee . If ever any beauty I did see , Which I desir'd , and got , t' was but a dreame of thee . And now good morrow to our waking soules , Which watch not one another out of feare ; For love , all love of other sights controules , And makes one little roome , an every where . Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone , Let Maps to other , worlds on worlds have showne , Let us possesse one world , each hath one , and is one . My face in thine eye , thine in mine appeares , And true plaine hearts doe in the faces rest , Where can we finde two better hemispheares Without sharpe North , without declining West ? What ever dyes , was not mixt equally ; If our two loves be one , or , thou and I Love so alike , that none doe slacken , none can die . Song . Goe , and catche a falling starre , Get with child a mandrake roote , Tell me , where all past yeares are , Or who cleft the Divels foot , Teach me to heare Mermaides singing , Or to keep off envies stinging , And finde What winde Serves to advance an honest minde . If thou beest borne to strange sights , Things invisible to see , Ride ten thousand daies and nights , Till age snow white haires on thee , Thou , when thou retorn'st , wilt tell mee All strange wonders that befell thee , And sweare No where Lives a woman true , and faire . If thou findst one , let mee know , Such a Pilgrimage were sweet , Yet doe not , I would not goe , Though at next doore wee might meet , Though shee were true , when you met her , And last , till you write your letter , Yet shee Will bee False , ere I come , to two , or three . Womans constancy . NOw thou hast lov'd me one whole day , To morrow when thou leav'st , what wilt thou say ? Wilt thou then Antedate some new made vow ? Or say that now We are not just those persons , which we were ? Or , that oathes made in reverentiall feare Of Love , and his wrath , any may forsweare ? Or , as true deaths , true maryages untie , So lovers contracts , images of those , Binde but till sleep , deaths image , them unloose ? Or , your owne end to Justifie , For having purpos'd change , and falsehood ; you Can have no way but falsehood to be true ? Vaine lunatique , against these scapes I could Dispute , and conquer , if I would , Which I abstaine to doe , For by to morrow , I may thinke so too . I Have done one braver thing Then all the worthies did , And yet a braver thence doth spring , Which is , to keepe that hid . It were but madnes now t' impart The skill of specular stone , When he which can have learn'd the art , To cut it can finde none . So , if I now should utter this , Others ( because no more Such stuffe to worke upon , there is , ) Would love but as before . But he who lovelinesse within Hath found , all outward loathes , For he who colour loves , and skinne , Loves but their oldest clothes . If , as I have , you also doe Vertue ' attir'd in woman see , And dare love that , and say so too , And forget the Hee and Shee ; And if this love , though placed so , From prophane men you hide , Which will no faith on this bestow , Or , if they doe , deride : Then you have done a braver thing Then all the Worthies did . And a braver thence will spring . Which is , to keepe that hid . The Sunne Rising . BUsie old foole , unruly Sunne , Why dost thou thus , Through windowes , and through curtaines call on us ? Must to thy motions lovers seasons run ? Sawcy pedantique wretch , goe chide Late schoole boyes , and sowre prentices , Goe tell Court-huntsmen , that the King will ride , Call countrey ants to harvest offices , Love , all alike , no season knowes , nor clyme , Nor houres , dayes , moneths , which are the rags of time . Thy beames , so reverend , and strong Why shouldst thou thinke ? I could eclipse and cloud them with a winke , But that I would not lose her sight so long : If her eyes have not blinded thine , Looke , and to morrow late , tell mee , Whether both the'India's of spice and Myne Be where thou leftst them , or lie here with mee . Aske for those Kings whom thou saw'st yesterday , And thou shalt heare , All here in one bed lay . She 'is all States , and all Princes , I , Nothing else is . Princes doe but play us , compar'd to this , All honor's mimique ; All wealth alchimie ; Thou sunne art halfe as happy'as wee , In that the world 's contracted thus . Thine age askes ease , and since thy duties bee To warme the world , that 's done in warming us . Shine here to us , and thou art every where ; This bed thy center is , these walls , thy spheare . The Indifferent . I Can love both faire and browne , Her whom abundance melts , and her whom want betraies , Her who loves lonenesse best , and her who maskes and plaies , Her whō the country form'd , & whō the town , Her who beleeves , and her who tries , Her who still weepes with spungie eyes , And her who is dry corke , and never cries ; I can love her , and her , and you and you , I can love any , so she be not true . Will no other vice content you ? Wil it not serve your turn to do , as did your mothers ? Or have you all old vices spent , and now would finde out others ? Or doth a feare , that men are true , torment you ? Oh we are not , be not you so , Let mee , and doe you , twenty know . Rob mee , but binde me not , and let me goe . Must I , who came to travaile thorow you , Grow your fixt subject , because you are true ? Venus heard me sigh this song , And by Loves sweetest Part , Variety , she swore , She heard not this till now ; and that it should be so no more , She went , examin'd , and return'd ere long , And said , alas , Some two or three Poore Heretiques in love there bee , Which thinke to stablish dangerous constancie . But I have told them , since you will be true , You shall be true to them , who'are false to you . Loves Vsury . FOr every houre that thou wilt spare mee now , I will allow , Usurious God of Love , twenty to thee , When with my browne , my gray haires equall bee ; Till then , Love , let my body raigne , and let Mee travell , sojourne , snatch , plot , have , forget , Resume my last yeares relict : thinke that yet We'had never met . Let mee thinke any rivalls letter mine , And at next nine Keepe midnights promise ; mistake by the way The maid , and tell the Lady of that delay ; Onely let mee love none , no , not the sport From country grasse , to comfitures of Court , Or cities quelque choses , let report My minde transport . This bargaine 's good ; if when I 'am old , I bee Inflam'd by thee , If thine owne honour , or my shame , or paine , Thou cover most , at that age thou shalt gaine , Doe thy will then , then subject and degree , And fruit of love , Love I submit to thee , Spare mee till then , I 'll beare it , though she bee One that loves mee . The Canonization . FOr Godsake hold your tongue , and let me love , Or chide my palsie , or my gout , My five gray haires , or ruin'd fortune flout , With wealth your state , your minde with Arts improve Take you a course , get you a place , Observe his honour , or his grace , Or the Kings reall , or his stamped face Contemplate , what you will , approve , So you will let me love . Alas , alas , who 's injur'd by my love ? What merchants ships have my sighs drown'd ? Who saies my teares have overflow'd his ground ? When did my colds a forward spring remove ? When did the heats which my veines fill Adde one more , to the plaguie Bill ? Soldiers finde warres , and Lawyers finde out still Litigious men , which quarrels move , Though she and I do love . Call us what you will , wee are made such by love ; Call her one , mee another flye , We' are Tapers too , and at our owne cost die , And wee in us finde the'Eagle and the dove , The Phoenix ridle hath more wit By us , we two being one , are it . So , to one neutrall thing both sexes fit . Wee dye and rise the same , and prove Mysterious by this love . Wee can dye by it , if not live by love , And if unfit for tombes and hearse Our legends bee , it will be fit for verse ; And if no peece of Chronicle wee prove , We 'll build in sonnets pretty roomes ; As well a well wrought urne becomes The greatest ashes , as halfe-acre tombes , And by these hymnes , all shall approve Us Canoniz'd for Love. And thus invoke us ; You whom reverend love Made one anothers hermitage ; You , to whom love was peace , that now is rage , Who did the whole worlds soule contract , & drove Into the glasses of your eyes So made such mirrors , and such spies , That they did all to you epitomize , Countries , Townes , Courts : Beg frow above A patterne of our love . The triple Foole. I am two fooles , I know , For loving , and for saying so In whining Poëtry ; But where 's that wise man , that would not be I , If she would not deny ? Then as th' earths inward narrow crooked lanes Do purge sea waters fretfull salt away , I thought , if I could draw my paines , Through Rimes vexation , I should them allay , Griefe brought to numbers cannot be so fierce , For , he tames it , that fetters it in verse . But when I have done so , Some man , his art and voice to show , Doth Set and sing my paine , And , by delighting many , frees againe Griefe , which verse did restraine . To Love , and Griefe tribute of Verse belongs , But not of such as pleases when'tis read , Both are increased by such songs : For both their triumphs so are published , And I , which was two fooles , do so grow three ; Who are a little wise , the best fooles bee . Lovers infinitenesse . IF yet I have not all thy love , Deare , I shall never have it all , I cannot breath one other sigh , to move ; Nor can intreat one other teare to fall . And all my treasure , which should purchase thee , Sighs , teares and oathes , and letters I have spent , Yet no more can be due to mee , Then at the bargaine made was ment , If then thy gift of love were partiall , That some to mee , some should to others fall , Deare , I shall never have Thee All. Or if then thou gavest mee all , All was but All , which thou hadst then , But if in thy heart , since , there be or shall , New love created bee , by other men , Which have their stocks intire , and can in teares , In sighs , in oathes , and letters outbid mee , This new love may beget new feares , For , this love was not vowed by thee , And yet is was , thy gift being generall , The ground , thy heart is mine , what ever shall Grow there , deare , I should have it all . Yet I would not have all yet , Hee that hath all can have no more , And since my love doth every day admit New growth , thou shouldst have new rewards in store , Thou canst not every day give me thy heart , If thou canst give it , then thou never gavest it : Loves riddles are , that though thy heart depart , It stayes at home , and thou with losing savest it : But wee will have a way more liberall , Then changing hearts , to joyne them , so wee shall Be one , and one anothers All. Song . SWeetest love , I do not goe , For wearinesse of thee , Nor in hope the world can show A fitter Love for mee , But since that I Must dye at last , 't is best , To use my selfe in jest Thus by fain'd deaths to dye ; Yesternight the Sunne went hence , And yet is here to day , He hath no desire nor sense , Nor halfe so short a way : Then feare not mee , But beleeve that I shall make Speedier journeyes , since I take More wings and spurres then hee . O how feeble is mans power , That if good fortune fall , Cannot adde another houre , Nor a lost houre recall ? But come bad chance , And wee joyne to'it our strength , And wee teach it art and length , It selfe o'r us to'advance . When thou sigh'st , thou sigh'st not winde , But sigh'st my soule away , When thou weep'st , unkindly kinde , My lifes blood doth decay . It cannot bee That thou lov'st mee , as thou say'st , If in thine my life thou waste , Thou art the best of mee . Let not thy divining heart Forethinke me any ill , Destiny may take thy part , And may thy feares fulfill , But thinke that wee Are but turn'd aside to sleepe ; They who one another keepe Alive , ne'r parted bee . The Legacie . VVHen I dyed last , and , Deare , I dye As often as from thee I goe , Though it be ▪ but an houre agoe , And Lovers houres be full eternity , I can remember yet , that I Something did say , and something did bestow ; Though I be dead , which sent mee , I should be Mine owne executor and Legacie . I heard mee say , Tell her anon , That my selfe , that 's you , not I , Did kill me , and when I felt mee dye , I bid mee send my heart , when I was gone , But I alas could there finde none , When I had ripp'd me , ' and search'd where hearts did lye , It kill'd mee againe , that I who still was true , In life , in my last Will should cozen you . Yet I found something like a heart , But colours it , and corners had , It was not good , it was not bad , It was intire to none , and few had part . As good as could be made by art It seem'd , and therefore for our losses sad , I meant to send this heart in stead of mine , But oh , no man could hold it , for t was thine . A Feaver . OH doe not die , for I shall hate All women so , when thou art gone , That thee I shall not celebrate , When I remember , thou wast one . But yet thou canst not die , I know , To leave this world behinde , is death , But when thou from this world wilt goe , The whole world vapors with thy breath . Or if , when thou , the worlds soule , goest , It stay , t is but thy carkasse then , The fairest woman , but thy ghost , But corrupt wormes , the worthyest men . O wrangling schooles , that search what fire Shall burne this world , had none the wit Unto this knowledge to aspire , That this her feaver might be it ? And yet she cannot wast by this , Nor long beare this torturing wrong , For much corruption needfull is To fuell such a feaver long . These burning fits but meteors bee , Whose matter in thee is soone spent . Thy beauty , ' and all parts , which are thee , Are unchangeable firmament . Yet t' was of my minde , seising thee , Though it in thee cannot persever . For I had rather owner bee Of thee one houre , then all else ever . Aire and Angels . Twice or thrice had I loved thee , Before I knew thy face or name ; So in a voice , so in a shapelesse flame , Angells affect us oft , and worship'd bee , Still when , to where thou wert , I came Some lovely glorious nothing I did see , But since , my soule , whose child love is , Takes limmes of flesh , and else could nothing doe , More subtile then the parent is , Love must not be , but take a body too , And therefore what thou wert , and who I bid Love aske , and now That it assume thy body , I allow , And fixe it selfe in thy lip , eye , and brow . Whilst thus to ballast love , I thought , And so more steddily to have gone , With wares which would sinke admiration , I saw , I had loves pinnace overfraught , Ev'ry thy haire for love to worke upon Is much too much , some fitter must be sought ; For , nor in nothing , nor in things Extreme , and scattring bright , can love inhere ; Then as an Angell , face , and wings Of aire , not pure as it , yet pure doth weare , So thy love may be my loves spheare ; Just such disparitie As is twixt Aire and Angells puritie , 'Twixt womens love , and mens will ever bee . Breake of day . 'T Is true , 't is day , what though it be ? O wilt thou therefore rise from me ? Why should we rise , because 't is light ? Did we lie downe , because 't was night ? Love which in spight of darknesse brought us hether , Should in despight of light keepe us together . Light hath no tongue , but is all eye ; If it could speake as well as spie , This were the worst , that it could say , That being well , I faine would stay , And that I lov'd my heart and honor so , That I would not from him , that had them , goe . Must businesse thee from hence remove ? Oh , that 's the worst disease of love , The poore , the foule , the false , love can Admit , but not the busied man. He which hath businesse , and makes love , doth doe Such wrong , as when a maryed man doth wooe . The Anniversarie . ALL Kings , and all their favorites , All glory of honors , beauties , wits , The Sun it selfe , which makes times , as they passe , Is elder by a yeare , now , then it was When thou and I first one another saw : All other things , to their destruction draw , Only our love hath no decay ; This , no to morrow hath , nor yesterday , Running it never runs from us away , But truly keepes his first , last , everlasting day . Two graves must hide thine and my coarse , If one might , death were no divorce , Alas , as well as other Princes , wee , ( Who Prince enough in one another bee , ) Must leave at last in death , these eyes , and eares , Oft fed with true oathes , and with sweet salt teares ; But soules where nothing dwells but love ; ( All other thoughts being inmates ) then shall prove This , or a love increased there above , When bodies to their graves , soules from their graves remove . And then wee shall be throughly blest , But now no more , then all the rest . Here upon earth , we' are Kings , and none but wee Can be such Kings , nor of such subjects bee ; Who is so safe as wee ? where none can doe Treason to us , except one of us two . True and false feares let us refraine , Let us love nobly , and live , and adde againe Yeares and yeares unto yeares , till we attaine To write threescore , this is the second of our raigne . A Valediction of my name , in the window . I. MY name engrav'd herein , Doth contribute my firmnesse to this glasse , Which , ever since that charme , hath beene As hard , as that which grav'd it , was , Thine eye will give it price enough , to mock The diamonds of either rock . II. 'T is much that Glasse should bee As all confessing , and through-shine as I , 'T is more , that it shewes thee to thee , And cleare reflects thee to thine eye . But all such rules , loves magique can undoe , Here you see mee , and I am you . III. As no one point , nor dash , Which are but accessaries to this name , The showers and tempests can outwash , So shall all times finde mee the same ; You this intirenesse better may fulfill , Who have the patterne with you still . IIII. Or if too hard and deepe This learning be , for a scratch'd name to teach , It , as a given deaths head keepe , Lovers mortalitie to preach , Or thinke this ragged bony name to bee My ruinous Anatomie . V. Then , as all my soules bee , Emparadis'd in you , ( in whom alone I understand , and grow and see , ) The rafters of my body , bone Being still with you , the Muscle , Sinew , and Veine , Which tile this house , will come againe . VI. Till my returne , repaire And recompact my scattered body so . As all the vertuous powers which are Fix'd in the starres , are said to flow , Into such characters , as graved bee When these starres have supremacie : VII . So since this name was cut When love and griefe their exaltation had , No doore'gainst this names influence shut , As much more loving , as more sad , 'T will make thee ; and thou shouldst , till I returne , Since I die daily , daily mourne . VIII . When thy inconsiderate hand Flings ope this casement , with my trembling name , To looke on one , whose wit or land , New battry to thy heart may frame , Then thinke this name alive , and that thou thus In it offendst my Genius . IX . And when thy melted maid , Corrupted by thy Lover's gold , and page , His letter at thy pillow'hath laid , Disputed it , and tam'd thy rage , And thou begin'st to thaw towards him , for this , May my name step in , and hide his . X. And if this treason goe To an overt act , and that thou write againe ; In superscribing , this name flow Into thy fancy , from the pane . So , in forgetting thou remembrest right , And unaware to mee shalt write . XI . But glasse , and lines must bee , No meanes our firme substantiall love to keepe ; Neere death inflicts this lethargie , And this I murmure in my sleepe ; Impute this idle talke , to that I goe , For dying men talke often so . Twicknam garden . BLasted with sighs , and surrounded with teares , Hither I come to seeke the spring , And at mine eyes , and at mine eares , Receive such balmes , as else cure every thing , But O , selfe traytor , I do bring The spider love , which transubstantiates all , And can convert Manna to gall , And that this place may thoroughly be thought True Paradise , I have the serpent brought . 'T were wholsomer for mee , that winter did Benight the glory of this place , And that a grave frost did forbid These trees to laugh and mocke mee to my face ; But that I may not this disgrace Indure , nor yet leave loving , Love let mee Some senslesse peece of this place bee ; Make me a mandrake , so I may grow here , Or a stone fountaine weeping out my yeare . Hither with christall vyals , lovers come , And take my teares , which are loves wine , And try your mistresse Teares at home , For all are false , that tast not just like mine ; Alas ▪ hearts do not in eyes shine , Nor can you more judge womens thoughts by teares , Then by her shadow , what she weares . O perverse sexe , where none is true but shee , Who 's therefore true , because her truth kills mee . Valediction to his booke . I 'Ll tell thee now ( deare Love ) what thou shalt doe To anger destiny , as she doth us , How I shall stay , though she Esloygne me thus And how posterity shall know it too ; How thine may out-endure Sybills glory , and obscure Her who from Pindar could allure , And her , through whose helpe Lucan is not lame , And her , whose booke ( they say ) Homer did finde , and name . Study our manuscripts , those Myriades Of letters , which have past twixt thee and mee , Thence write our Annals , and in them will bee To all whom loves subliming fire invades , Rule and example found ; There , the faith of any ground No schismatique will dare to wound , That sees , how Love this grace to us affords , To make , to keep , to use , to be these his Records . This Booke , as long-liv'd as the elements , Or as the worlds forme , this all-graved tome In cypher writ , or new made Idiome ; Wee for loves clergie only'are instruments , When this booke is made thus , Should againe the ravenous Vandals and the Goths invade us , Learning were safe ; in this our Universe Schooles might learne Sciences , Spheares Musick , Angels Verse , Here Loves Divines , ( since all Divinity Is love or wonder ) may finde all they seeke , Whether abstract spirituall love they like , Their Soules exhal'd with what they do not see , Or loth so to amuze , Faiths infirmitie , they chuse Something which they may see and use ; For , though minde be the heaven , where love doth sit , Beauty a convenient type may be to figure it . Here more then in their bookes may Lawyers finde , Both by what titles , Mistresses are ours , And how prerogative these states devours , Transferr'd from Love himselfe , to womankinde . Who though from heart , and eyes , They exact great subsidies , Forsake him who on them relies And for the cause , honour , or conscience give , Chimeraes , vaine as they , or their prerogative . Here Statesmen , ( or of them , they which can reade , ) May of their occupation finde the grounds , Love and their art alike it deadly wounds , If to consider what 't is , one proceed , In both they doe excell Who the present governe well , Whose weaknesse none doth , or dares tell ; In this thy booke , such will there something see , As in the Bible some can finde out Alchimy . Thus vent thy thoughts ; abroad I 'll studie thee , As he removes farre off , that great heights takes ; How great love is , presence best tryall makes , But absence tryes how long this love will bee ; To take a latitude Sun , or starres , are fitliest view'd At their brightest , but to conclude Of longitudes , what other way have wee , But to marke when , and where the darke eclipses bee ? GOod wee must love , and must hate ill , For ill is ill , and good good still , But these are things indifferent , Which wee may neither hate , nor love , But one , and then another prove , As wee shall finde our fancy bent . If then at first wise Nature had , Made women either good or bad , Then some wee might hate , and some chuse , But since shee did them so create , That we may neither love , nor hate , Onely this rest , All , all may use . If they were good it would be seene , Good is as visible as greene , And to all eyes it selfe betrayes , If they were bad , they could not last , Bad doth it selfe , and others wast , So , they deserve nor blame , nor praise . But they are ours as fruits are ours , He that but tasts , he that devours , And he that leaves all , doth as well , Chang'd loves are but chang'd sorts of meat , And when hee hath the kernell eate , Who doth not fling away the shell ? Loves growth . I Scarce beleeve my love to be so pure As I had thought it was , Because it doth endure Vicissitude , and season , as the grasse ; Me thinkes I lyed all winter , when I swore , My love was infinite , if spring make'it more . But if this medicine , love , which cures all sorrow With more , not onely bee no quintessence , But mixt of all stuffes , paining soule , or sense , And of the Sunne his working vigour borrow , Love 's not so pure , and abstract , as they use To say , which have no Mistresse but their Muse , But as all else , being elemented too , Love sometimes would contemplate , sometimes do And yet no greater , but more eminent , Love by the spring is growne ; As , in the firmament , Starres by the Sunne are not inlarg'd , but showne , Gentle love deeds , as blossomes on a bough , From loves awakened root do bud out now . If , as in water stir'd more circles bee Produc'd by one , love such additions take , Those like so many spheares , but one heaven make , For , they are all concentrique unto thee , And though each spring doe adde to love new heate , As princes doe in times of action get New taxes , and remit them not in peace , No winter shall abate the springs encrease . Loves exchange . LOve , any devill else but you , Would for a given Soule give something too . At Court your fellowes every day , Give th' art of Riming , Huntsmanship , or play , For them which were their owne before ; Onely I have nothing which gave more , But am , alas , by being lowly , lower . I aske no dispensation now To falsifie a teare , or sigh , or vow , I do not sue from thee to draw A non obstante on natures law , These are prerogatives , they inhere In thee and thine ; none should forsweare Except that hee Loves minion were . Give mee thy weaknesse , make mee blinde , Both wayes , as thou and thine , in eies and minde ; Love , let me never know that this Is love , or , that love childish is . Let me not know that others know That she knowes my paines , least that so A tender shame make me mine owne new woe . If thou give nothing , yet thou' art just , Because I would not thy first motions trust ; Small townes which stand stiffe , till great shot Enforce them , by warres law condition not . Such in loves warfare is my case , I may not article for grace , Having put love at last to shew this face . This face , by which he could commnd And change the Idolatrie of any land , This face , which wheresoe'r it comes , Can call vow'd men from cloisters , dead from tombes , And melt both Poles at once , and store Deserts with cities , and make more Mynes in the earth , then Quarries were before . For , this love is enrag'd with mee , Yet kills not ; if I must example bee To future Rebells ; If th' unborne Must learne , by my being cut up , and torne : Kill , and dissect me , Love ; for this Torture against thine owne end is , Rack't carcasses make ill Anatomies . SOme man unworthy to be possessor Of old or new love , himselfe being false or weake , Thought his paine and shame would be lesser , If on womankind he might his anger wreake , And thence a law did grow , One might but one man know ; But are other creatures so ? Are Sunne , Moone , or Starres by law forbidden , To smile where they list , or lend away their light ? Are birds divorc'd , or are they chidden If they leave their mate , or lie abroad a night ? Beasts doe no joyntures lose Though they new lovers choose , But we are made worse then those . Who e'r rigg'd faire ship to lie in harbors , And not to seeke new lands , or not to deale withall ? Or built faire houses , set trees , and arbors , Only to lock up , or else to let them fall ? Good is not good , unlesse A thousand it possesse , But doth wast with greedinesse . The Dreame . DEare love , for nothing lesse then thee Would I have broke this happy dreame , It was a theame For reason , much too strong for phantasie , Therefore thou wakd'st me wisely ; yet My Dreame thou brok'st not , but continued'st it , Thou art so truth , that thoughts of thee suffice , To make dreames truths ; and fables histories ; Enter these armes , for since thou thoughtst it best , Not to dreame all my dreame , let 's act the rest . As lightning , or a Tapers light , Thine eyes , and not thy noise wak'd mee ; Yet I thought thee ( For thou lovest truth ) an Angell , at first sight , But when I saw thou sawest my heart , And knew'st my thoughts , beyond an Angels art , When thou knew'st what I dreamt , whē thou knew'st whē Excesse of joy would wake me , and cam'st then , I must confesse , it could not chuse but bee Prophane , to thinke thee any thing but thee . Comming and staying show'd thee , thee , But rising makes me doubt , that now , Thou art not thou . That love is weake , where feare 's as strong as hee ; 'T is not all spirit , pure , and brave , If mixture it of Feare , Shame , Honor have ; Perchance as torches which must ready bee , Men light and put out , so thou deal'st with mee , Thou cam'st to kindle , goest to come ; Then I Will dreame that hope againe , but else would die . A Valediction of weeping . LEt me powre forth My teares before thy face , whil'st I stay here , For thy face coines them , and thy stampe they beare , And by this Mintage they are something worth , For thus they bee Pregnant of thee , Fruits of much griefe they are , emblemes of more , When a teare falls , that thou falst which it bore , So thou and I are nothing then , when on a divers shore On a round ball A workeman that hath copies by , can lay An Europe , Afrique , and an Asia , And quickly make that , which was nothing , All , So doth each teare , Which thee doth weare , A globe , yea world by that impression grow , Till thy teares mixt with mine doe overflow This world , by waters sent from thee , my heaven dissolved so . O more then Moone , Draw not up seas to drowne me in thy spheare , Weepe me not dead , in thine armes , but forbeare To teach the sea , what it may doe too soone , Let not the winde Example finde , To doe me more harme , then it purposeth , Since thou and I sigh one anothers breath , Who e'r sighes most , is cruellest , and hasts the others death . Loves Alchymie . SOme that have deeper digg'd loves Myne then I , Say , where his centrique happinesse doth lie : I have lov'd , and got , and told , But should I love , get , tell , till I were old , I should not finde that hidden mysterie ; Oh , 't is imposture all : And as no chymique yet th'Elixar got , But glorifies his pregnant pot , If by the way to him befall Some odoriferous thing , or medicinall , So , lovers dreame a rich and long delight , But get a winter-seeming summers night . Our ease , our thrift , our honor , and our day , Shall we , for this vaine Bubles shadow pay ? Ends love in this , that my man , Can be as happy'as I can ; If he can Endure the short scorne of a Bridegroomes play ? That loving wretch that sweares , 'T is not the bodies marry , but the mindes , Which he in her Angelique findes , Would sweare as justly , that he heares , In that dayes rude hoarse minstralsey , the spheares . Hope not for minde in women ; at their best , Sweetnesse , and wit they' are , but , Mummy , possest ▪ The Flea . MArke but this flea , and marke in this , How little that which thou deny'st me is ; It suck'd me first , and now sucks thee , And in this flea , our two bloods mingled bee ; Thou know'st that this cannot be said A sinne , nor shame nor losse of maidenhead , Yet this enjoyes before it wooe , And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two , And this , alas , is more then wee would doe . Oh stay , three lives in one flea spare , Where wee almost , yea more then maryed are . This flea is you and I , and this Our mariage bed , and mariage temple is ; Though parents grudge , and you , w' are met , And cloysterd in these living walls of Jet . Though use make you apt to kill mee , Let not to that , selfe murder added bee , And sacrilege , three sinnes in killing three . Cruell and sodaine , hast thou since Purpled thy naile , in blood of innocence ? Wherein could this flea guilty bee , Except in that drop which it suckt from thee ? Yet thou triumph'st , and saist that thou Find'st not thy selfe , nor mee the weaker now ; 'T is true , then learne how false , feares bee ; Just so much honor , when thou yeeld'st to mee , Will wast , as this flea's death tooke life from thee . The Curse . WHo ever guesses , thinks , or dreames he knowes Who is my mistris , wither by this curse ; His only , and only his purse May some dull heart to love dispose , And shee yeeld then to all that are his foes ; May he be scorn'd by one , whom all else scorne , Forsweare to others , what to her he' hath sworne , With feare of missing , shame of getting torne ; Madnesse his sorrow , gout his cramp , may hee Make , by but thinking , who hath made him such : And may he feele no touch Of conscience , but of fame , and bee Anguish'd , not that 't was sinne , but that 't was shee ▪ In early and long scarcenesse may he rot , For land which had been his , if he had not Himselfe incestuously an heire begot : May he dreame Treason , and beleeve , that hee Meant to performe it , and confesse , and die , And no record tell why : His sonnes , which none of his may bee , Inherite nothing but his infamie : Or may he so long Parasites have fed , That he would faine be theirs , whom he hath bred , And at the last be circumcis'd for bread : The venom of all stepdames , gamsters gall , What Tyrans , and their subjects interwish , What Plants , Myne , Beasts , Foule , Fish , Can contribute , all ill , which all Prophets , or Poets spake ; And all which shall Be annex'd in schedules unto this by mee , Fall on that man ; For if it be a shee Nature before hand hath out-cursed mee . AN ANATOMIE OF THE WORLD . Wherein , By occasion of the untimely death of Mistris ELIZABETH DRVRY , the frailty and the decay of this whole World is represented . The first Anniversary . To the praise of the dead , and the ANATOMIE . VVEll dy'd the World , that we might live to see This world of wit , in his Anatomie : No evill wants his good ; so wilder heires Bedew their Fathers Tombes , with forced teares , Whose state requites their losse : whiles thus we gain , Well may wee walke in blacks , but not complaine . Yet how can I consent the world is dead While this Muse lives ? which in his spirits stead Seemes to informe a World ; and bids it bee , In spight of losse or fraile mortalitie ? And thou the subject of this welborne thought , Thrice noble maid , couldst not have found nor sought A fitter time to yeeld to thy sad Fate , Then whiles this spirit lives , that can relate Thy worth so well to our last Nephews eyne , That they shall wonder both at his and thine : Admired match ! where strives in mutuall grace The cunning pencill , and the comely face : A taske which thy faire goodnesse made too much For the bold pride of vulgar pens to touch ; Enough is us to praise them that praise thee , And say , that but enough those prayses bee , Which hadst thou liv'd , had hid their fearfull head From th' angry checkings of thy modest red : Death barres reward and shame , when envy 's gone , And gaine , 't is safe to give the dead their owne . As then the wise Egyptians wont to lay More on their Tombes , then houses : these of clay , But those of brasse , or marble were : so wee Give more unto thy Ghost , then unto thee . Yet what wee give to thee , thou gav'st to us , And may'st but thanke thy selfe , for being thus : Yet what thou gav'st , and wert , O happy maid , Thy grace profest all due , where'tis repayd . So these high songs that to thee suited bin Serve but to sound thy Makers praise and thine , Which thy deare soule as sweetly sings to him Amid the quire of Saints , and Seraphim , As any Angels tongue can sing of thee ; The subjects differ , though the skill agree : For as by infant yeares men judge of age , Thy early love , thy vertues did presage , What high part thou bear'st in those best of songs , Whereto no burden , nor no end belongs . Sing on thou virgin Soule , whose lossfull gaine Thy lovesick parents have bewail'd in vaine ; Never may thy Name be in our songs forgot , Till wee shall sing thy ditty and thy note . An Anatomy of the World. The first Anniversary . WHen that rich Soule which to her heaven is gone , Who all do celebrate , who know they have one , ( For who is sure he hath a Soule , unlesse It see , and judge , and follow worthinesse , And by deeds praise it ? hee who doth not this , May lodge an immate soule , but'tis not his . ) When that Queene ended here her progresse time , And , as t' her standing house to heaven did climbe , Where loath to make the Saints attend her long , She 's now a part both of the Quire , and Song . This World , in that great earthquake languished ; For in a common bath of teares it bled , Which drew the strongest vitall spirits out : But succour'd then with a perplexed doubt , Whether the world did lose , or gaine in this , ( Because since now no other way there is , But goodnesse , to see her , whom all would see , All must endeavour to be good as shee . ) This great consumption to a fever turn'd , And so the world had fits ; it joy'd , it mourn'd ; And , as men thinke , that Agues physick are , And th'Ague being spent , give over care . So thou sicke World , mistak'st thy selfe to bee Well , when alas , thou' rt in a Lethargie . Her death did wound and tame thee than , and than Thou might'st have better spar'd the Sunne , or man. That wound was deep , but 't is more misery , That thou hast lost thy sense and memory . 'T was heavy then to heare thy voyce of mone , But this is worse , that thou art speechlesse growne . Thou hast forgot thy name thou hadst ; thou wast Nothing but shee , and her thou hast o'rpast . For as a child kept from the Fount , untill A prince , expected long , come to fulfill The ceremonies , thou unnam'd had'st laid , Had not her comming , thee her palace made : Her name defin'd thee , gave thee forme , and frame , And thou forgett'st to celebrate thy name . Some moneths she hath beene dead ( but being dead , Measures of times are all determined ) But long she'ath beene away , long , long , yet none Offers to tell us who it is that 's gone . But as in states doubtfull of future heires , When sicknesse without remedie empaires The present Prince , they 're loth it should be said , The Prince doth languish , or the Prince is dead : So mankinde feeling now a generall thaw , A strong example gone , equall to law ; The Cyment which did faithfully compact , And glue all vertues , now resolv'd , and slack'd , Thought it some blasphemy to say sh'was dead , Or that our weaknesse was discovered In that confession ; therefore spoke no more Then tongues , the Soule being gone , the losse deplore . But though it be too late to succour thee , Sicke World , yea , dead , yea putrified , since shee Thy'intrinsique balme , and thy preservative , Can never be renew'd , thou never live , I ( since no man can make thee live ) will try , What wee may gaine by thy Anatomy . Her death hath taught us dearely , that thou art Corrupt and mortall in thy purest part . Let no man say , the world it selfe being dead , 'T is labour lost to have discovered The worlds infirmities , since there is none Alive to study this dissection ; For there 's a kinde of World remaining still , Though shee which did inanimate and fill The world , be gone , yet in this last long night , Her Ghost doth walke , that is , a glimmering light , A faint weake love of vertue , and of good , Reflects from her , on them which understood Her worth ; and though she have shut in all day , The twilight of her memory doth stay ; Which , from the carcasse of the old world , free , Creates a new world , and new creatures bee Produc'd : the matter and the stuffe of this , Her vertue , and the forme our practice is : And thought to be thus elemented , arme These creatures , from homeborne intrinsique harme , ( For all assum'd unto this dignitie , So many weedlesse Paradises bee , Which of themselves produce no venemous sinne , Except some forraine Serpent bring it in ) Yet because outward stormes the strongest breake , And strength it selfe by confidence growes weake , This new world may be safer , being told The dangers and diseases of the old : For with due temper men doe then forgoe , Or covet things , when they their true worth know . There is no health ; Physitians say that wee , At best , enjoy but a neutralitie . And can there bee worse sicknesse , then to know That we are never well , nor can be so ? Wee are borne ruinous : poore mothers cry , That children come not right , nor orderly ; Except they headlong come and fall upon An ominous precipitation . How witty's ruine , how importunate Upon mankinde ? it labour'd to frustrate Even Gods purpose ; and made woman , sent For mans reliefe , cause of his languishment . They were to good ends , and they are so still , But accessory , and principall in ill ; For that first marriage was our funerall : One woman at one blow , then kill'd us all , And singly , one by one , they kill us now . We doe delightfully our selves allow To that consumption ; and profusely blinde , Wee kill our selves to propagate our kinde . And yet we do not that ; we are not men : There is not now that mankinde , which was then , When as , the Sunne and man did seeme to strive , ( Joynt tenants of the world ) who should survive . When , Stagge , and Raven , and the long-liv'd tree , Compar'd with man , dy'd in minoritie , When , if a slow pac'd starre had stolne away From the observers marking , he might stay Two or three hundred yeares to see 't againe , And then make up his observation plaine ; When , as the age was long , the sise was great ; Mans growth confess'd , and recompenc'd the meat ; So spacious and large , that every Soule Did a faire Kingdome , and large Realme controule : And when the very stature , thus erect , Did that soule a good way towards heaven direct . Where is this mankinde now ? who lives to age , Fit to be made Methusalem his page ? Alas , we scarce live long enough to try Whether a true made clocke run right , or lie . Old Gransires talke of yesterday with sorrow : And for our children wee reserve to morrow . So short is life , that every pesant strives , In a torne house , or field , to have three lives . And as in lasting , so in length is man , Contracted to an inch , who was a spanne ; For had a man at first in forrests stray'd , Or shipwrack'd in the Sea , one would have laid A wager , that an Elephant , or Whale , That met him , would not hastily assaile A thing so equall to him : now alas , The Fairies , and the Pigmies well may passe As credible ; mankinde decayes so soone , We' are scarce our Fathers shadowes cast at noone : Onely death ads t' our length : nor are wee growne In stature to be men , till we are none . But this were light , did our lesse volume hold All the old Text ; or had wee chang'd to gold Their silver , or dispos'd into lesse glasse Spirits of vertue , which then scatter'd was . But 't is not so : w' are not retir'd , but dampt ; And as our bodies so our mindes are crampt : 'T is shrinking , not close weaving that hath thus , In minde , and body both bedwarfed us . Wee seeme ambitious , Gods whole worke t' undoe ; Of nothing hee made us , and we strive too , To bring our selves to nothing backe ; and wee Doe what wee can , to do 't so soone as hee . With new diseases on our selves wee warre , And with new Physicke , a worse Engin farre . Thus man , this worlds Vice-Emperour , in whom All faculties , all graces are at home ; And if in other creatures they appeare , They 're but mans Ministers , and Legats there , To worke on their rebellions , and reduce Them to Civility , and to mans use . This man , whom God did wooe , and loth t' attend Till man came up , did downe to man descend , This man so great , that all that is , is his , Oh what a trifle , and poore thing he is ! If man were any thing ; he 's nothing now : Helpe , or at least some time to wast , allow T' his other wants , yet when he did depart With her whom we lament , hee lost his heart . She , of whom th'Ancients seem'd to prophesie , When they call'd vertues by the name of shee ; Shee in whom vertue was so much refin'd , That for allay unto so pure a minde Shee tooke the weaker Sex : shee that could drive The poysonous tincture , and the staine of Eve , Out of her thought , and deeds ; and purifie All , by a true religious Alchymie ; She ▪ she is dead ; shee 's dead : when thou knowest this , Thou knowest how poore a trifling thing man is . And learn'st thus much by our Anatomie , The heart being perish'd , no part can be free . And that except thou feed ( not banquet ) on The supernaturall food , Religion : Thy better growth growes withered , and scant ; Be more then man , or thou' rt lesse then an Ant. Then as mankinde , so is the worlds whole frame Quite out of joynt , almost created lame : For , before God had made up al the rest , Corruption entred , and deprav'd the best : It seis'd the Angells , and then first of all The world did in her cradle take a fall , And turn'd her braines , and tooke a generall maime , Wronging each joynt of th'universall frame . The noblest part , man , felt it first ; and than Both beasts and plants , curst in the curse of man , So did the world from the first houre decay , That evening was beginning of the day , And now the Springs and Sommers which we see , Like sonnes of women after fiftie bee . And new Philosophy calls all in doubt , The Element of fire is quite put out ; The Sun is lost , and th' earth , and no mans wit Can well direct him where to looke for it . And freely men confesse that this world 's spent , When in the Planets , and the firmament They seeke so many new ; they see that this Is crumbled out againe to his Atomies . 'T is all in peeces , all coherence gone ; All just supply , and all Relation : Prince , Subject , Father , Sonne , are things forgot , For every man alone thinkes he hath got To be a Phoenix , and that then can bee None of that kinde , of which he is , but hee . This is the worlds condition now , and now She that should all parts to reunion bow , She that had all Magnetique force alone , To draw , and fasten sundred parts in one ; She whom wise nature had invented then When she observ'd that every sort of men Did in their voyage in this worlds Sea stray , And needed a new compasse for their way ; She that was best , and first originall Of all faire copies , and the generall Steward to Fate ; she whose rich eyes , and breast , Guilt the West-Indies , and perfum'd the East , Whose having breath'd in this world , did bestow Spice on those Iles , and bad them still smell so , And that rich Indie which doth gold interre , Is but as single money coyn'd from her : She to whom this world must it selfe refer , As Suburbs , or the Microcosme of her , Shee , shee is dead ; shee 's dead : when thou knowest this Thou knowest how lame a criple this world is . And learn'st thus much by our Anatomy , That this worlds generall sicknesse doth not lie In any humour , or one certaine part ; But as thou sawest it rotten at the heart , Thou seest a Hectique feaver hath got hold Of the whole substance , not to be contrould , And that thou hast but one way , not t' admit The worlds infection , to be none of it . For the worlds subtilst immateriall parts Feele this consuming wound , and ages darts . For the worlds beauty is decai'd , or gone , Beauty , that 's colour , and proportion . We thinke the heavens enjoy their Sphericall Their round proportion embracing all , But yet their various and perplexed course , Observ'd in divers ages , doth enforce Men to finde out so many Eccentrique parts , Such divers downe right lines , such overthwarts , As disproportion that pure forme : It teares The Firmament in eight and forty sheires , And in these Constellations then arise New starres , and old doe vanish from our eyes : As though heav'n suffered earthquakes , peace or war , When new Towers rise , and old demolish't are . They have impal'd within a Zodiake The free-borne Sun , and keepe twelve Signes awake To watch his steps ; the Goat and Crab controule , And fright him backe , who else to either Pole ( Did not these tropiques fetter him ) might runne : For his course is not round ; nor can the Sunne Perfit a Circle , or maintaine his way One inch direct ; but where he rose to day He comes no more , but with a couzening line , Steales by that point , and so is Serpentine : And seeming weary with his reeling thus , He meanes to sleepe , being now falne nearer us . So , of the Starres which boast that they doe runne In Circle still , none ends where he begun . All their proportion's lame , it sinkes , it swels . For of Meridians , and Parallels , Man hath weav'd out a net , and this net throwne Upon the Heavens , and now they are his owne . Loth to goe up the hill , or labour thus To goe to heaven , we make heaven come to us . We spur , we reine the starres , and in their race They 're diversly content t' obey our peace . But keepes the earth her round proportion still ? Doth not a Tenarus or higher hill Rise so high like a Rocke , that one might thinke The floating Moone would shipwrack there & sinke ? Seas are so deepe , that Whales being strucke to day , Perchance to morrow scarse at middle way Of their wish'd journies end , the bottome , die . And men , to sound depths , so much line untie , As one might justly thinke , that there would rise At end thereof , one of th'Antipodies : If under all , a vault infernall bee , ( Which sure is spacious , except that we Invent another torment , that there must Millions into a straight hot roome be thrust ) Then solidnesse , and roundnesse have no place . Are these but warts , and pockholes in the face Of th' earth ; Thinke so : but yet confesse , in this The worlds proportion disfigured is ; That those two legges whereon it doth rely , Reward and punishment are bent awry . And , Oh , it can no more be questioned , That beauties best , proportion , is dead , Since even griefe it selfe , which now alone Is left us , is without proportion . Shee by whose lines proportion should bee Examin'd , measure of all Symmetree , Whom had that Ancient seen , who thought soules mad● Of Harmony , he would at next have said That Harmony was shee , and thence infer That soules were but Resultances from her , And did from her into our bodies goe , As to our eyes , the formes from objects flow : Shee , who if those great Doctors truly said That the Arke to mans proportion was made , Had been a type for that , as that might be A type of her in this , that contrary Both Elements and Passions liv'd at peace In her , who caus'd all Civill war to cease . Shee , after whom , what forme soe'r we see , Is discord , and rude incongruitie ; She , she is dead , she 's dead ; when thou know'st this , Thou knowest how ugly a monster this world is : And learn'st thus much by our Anatomie , That here is nothing to enamour thee : And that , not only faults in inward parts , Corruptions in our braines , or in our hearts , Poysoning the fountaines , whence our actions spring , Endanger us : but that if every thing Be not done fitly'and in proportion , To satisfie wise , and good lookers on , ( Since most men be such as most thinke they bee ) They 're lothsome too , by this deformitie . For good , and well , must in our actions meet ; Wicked is not much worse then indiscreet . But beauties other second Element , Colour , and lustre now , is as neere spent . And had the world his just proportion , Were it a ring still , yet the stone is gone . As a compassionate Turcoyse which doth tell By looking pale , the wearer is not well , As gold falls sicke being stung with Mercury , All the worlds parts of such complexion bee . When nature was most busie , the first weeke , Swadling the new borne earth , God seem'd to like That she should sport her selfe sometimes , and play , To mingle , and vary colours every day : And then , as though shee could not make enough , Himselfe his various Rainbow did allow , Sight is the noblest sense of any one , Yet sight hath only colour to feed on , And colour is decai'd : summers robe growes Duskie , and like an oft dyed garment showes . Our blushing red , which us'd in cheekes to spred , Is inward sunke , and only our soules are red . Perchance the world might have recovered , If she whom we lament had not beene dead : But shee , in whom all white , and red , and blew ( Beauties ingredients ) voluntary grew , As in an unvext Paradise ; from whom Did all things verdure , and their lustre come , Whose composition was miraculous , Being all colour , all diaphanous , ( For Ayre , and Fire but thick grosse bodies were , And liveliest stones but drowsie , and pale to her , ) She , she is dead ; shee 's dead : when thou know'st this , Thou knowest howwan a Ghost this our world is : And learn'st thus much by our Anatomie , That it should more affright , then pleasure thee . And that , since all faire colour then did sinke , 'T is now but wicked vanitie , to thinke To colour vicious deeds with good pretence , Or with bought colors to illude mens sense . Nor in ought more this worlds decay appeares , Then that her influence the heav'n forbeares , Or that the Elements doe not feele this , The father , or the mother barren is . The cloudes conceive not raine , or doe not powre , In the due birth time , downe the balmy showre ; Th' ayre doth not motherly sit on the earth , To hatch her seasons , and give all things birth ; Spring-times were common cradles , but are tombes ; And false-conceptions fill the generall wombes ; Th' ayre showes such Meteors , as none can see , Not only what they meane , but what they bee ; Earth such new wormes , as would have troubled much Th'Aegyptian Mages to have made more such . What Artist now dares boast that he can bring Heaven hither , or constellate any thing , So as the influence of those starres may bee Imprison'd in an Hearbe , or Charme or Tree , And doe by touch , all which those stars could doe ? The art is lost , and correspondence too . For heaven gives little , and the earth takes lesse , And man least knowes their trade and purposes . If this commerce twixt heaven and earth were not Embarr'd , and all this traffique quite forgot , She , for whose losse we have lamented thus , Would worke more fully , and pow'rfully on us : Since herbes , and roots , by dying lose not all , But they , yea ashes too , are medicinall , Death could not quench her vertue so , but that It would be ( if not follow'd ) wondred at : And all the world would be one dying swan , To sing her funerall praise , and vanish than . But as some Serpents poyson hurteth not , Except it be from the live Serpent shot , So doth her vertue need her here , to fit That unto us ; shee working more then it . But shee , in whom to such maturity Vertue was growne , past growth , that it must die ; She , from whose influence all impression came , But by receivers impotencies , lame , Who , though she could not transubstantiate All states to gold , yet guilded every state , So that some Princes have some temperance ; Some Counsellers some purpose to advance The common profit ; and some people have , Some stay , no more then Kings should give , to crave ; Some women have some taciturnity , Some nunneries some graines of chastitie . She that did thus much , and much more could doe , But that our age was Iron , and rustie too , Shee , she is dead , she 's dead ; when thou knowst this , Thou knowst how drie a Cinder this world is . And learn'st thus much by our Anatomy , That 't is in vaine to dew , or mollifie It with thy teares , or sweat , or blood : nothing Is worth our travaile , griefe , or perishing , But those rich joyes , which did possesse her heart , Of which she 's now partaker , and a part . But as in cutting up a man that 's dead , The body will not last out , to have read On every part , and therefore men direct Their speech to parts , that are of most effect ; So the worlds carcasse would not last , if I Were punctuall in this Anatomy ; Nor smels it well to hearers , if one tell Them their disease , who faine would think thy're well . Here therefore be the end : and , blessed maid , Of whom is meant what ever hath been said , Or shall be spoken well by any tongue , Whose name refines course lines , and makes prose song , Accept this tribute , and his first yeares rent , Who till his darke short tapers end be spent , As oft as thy feast sees this widowed earth , Will yearely celebrate thy second birth , That is , thy death ; for though the soule of man Be got when man is made , 't is borne but than When man doth die ; our body 's as the wombe , And , as a Mid-wife , death directs it home . And you her creatures , whom she workes upon , And have your last , and best concoction From her example , and her vertue , if you In reverence to her , do thinke it due , That no one should her praises thus rehearse , As matter fit for Chronicle , not verse ; Vouchsafe to call to minde that God did make A last , and lasting'st peece , a song . He spake To Moses to deliver unto all , That song , because hee knew they would let fall The Law , the Prophets , and the History , But keepe the song still in their memory : Such an opinion , in due measure , made Me this great office boldly to invade : Nor could incomprehensiblenesse deterre Mee , from thus trying to emprison her , Which when I saw that a strict grave could doe , I saw not why verse might not do so too . Verse hath a middle nature , heaven keepes Soules , The Grave keepes bodies , Verse the Fame enroules . A Funerall ELEGIE . 'T Is lost to trust a Tombe with such a guest , Or to confine her in a marble chest , Alas , what 's Marble , Jeat , or Porphyrie , Priz'd with the Chrysolite of either eye , Or with those Pearles , and Rubies , which she was ? Joyne the two Indies in one Tombe , 't is glasse ; And so is all to her materials , Though every inch were ten Escurials ; Yet she 's demolish'd : can wee keepe her then In works of hands , or of the wits of men ? Can these memorials , ragges of paper , give Life to that name , by which name they must live ? Sickly , alas , short-liv'd , aborted bee Those carcasse verses , whose soule is not shee . And can shee , who no longer would be shee , Being such a Tabernacle , stoop to be In paper wrapt ; or when shee would not lie In such a house , dwell in an Elegie ? But'tis no matter ; wee may well allow Verse to live so long as the world will now , For her death wounded it . The world containes Princes for armes , and counsellors for braines , Lawyers for tongues , Divines for hearts , and more , The rich for stomackes , and for backs the poore ; The officers for hands , merchants for feet , By which , remote and distant Countries meet . But those fine spirits which do tune , and set This Organ , are those peeces , which beget Wonder and love ; and these were shee ; and shee Being spent , the world must needs decrepit bee ; For since death will proceed to triumph still , He can finde nothing , after her , to kill , Except the world it selfe , so great was shee . Thus brave and confident may Nature bee , Death cannot give her such another blow , Because shee cannot such another show . But must wee say she 's dead ? may 't not be said That as a sundred clocke is peecemeale laid , Not to be lost , but by the makers hand Repollish'd , without errour then to stand , Or as the Affrique Niger streame enwombs It selfe into the earth , and after comes ( Having first made a naturall bridge , to passe For many leagues ) farre greater then it was , May 't not be said , that her grave shall restore Her , greater , purer , firmer , then before ? Heaven may say this , and joy in 't , but can wee Who live , and lacke her , here , this vantage see ? What is 't to us , alas , if there have beene An Angell made a Throne , or Cherubin ? Wee lose by 't : and as aged men are glad Being tastlesse growne , to joy in joyes they had , So now the sick starv'd world must feed upon This joy , that we had her , who now is gone . Rejoyce then Nature , and this World , that you , Fearing the last fires hastning to subdue Your force and vigour , ere it were neere gone , Wisely bestow'd and laid it all on one ; One , whose cleare body was so pure and thinne , Because it need disguise no thought within . 'T was but a through-light scarfe , her minde t'inroule ; Or exhalation breath'd out from her Soule . One , whom all men who durst no more , admir'd : And whom , who ere had worke enough , desir'd ; As when a Temple 's built , Saints emulate To which of them , it shall be consecrate . But , as when heaven lookes on us with new eyes , Those new starres every Artist exercise , VVhat place they should assigne to them they doubt , Argue , ' and agree not , till those starres goe out : So the world studied whose this peece should be , Till shee can be no bodies else , nor shee : But like a Lampe of Balsamum , desir'd Rather t' adorne , then last , she soone expir'd , Cloath'd in her virgin white integritie , For marriage , though it doth not staine , doth die . To scape th'infirmities which wait upon VVoman , she went away , before sh'was one ; And the worlds busie noyse to overcome , Tooke so much death , as serv'd for opium ; For though she could not , nor could chuse to dye , She'ath yeelded to too long an extasie : Hee which not knowing her said History , Should come to reade the booke of destiny , How faire , and chast , humble , and high she'ad been , Much promis'd , much perform'd , at not fifteene , And measuring future things , by things before , Should turne the leafe to reade , and reade no more , VVould thinke that either destiny mistooke , Or that some leaves were torne out of the booke . But 't is not so ; Fate did but usher her To yeares of reasons use , and then inferre Her destiny to her selfe , which liberty She tooke , but for thus much , thus much do die . Her modestie not suffering her to bee Fellow-Commissioner with Destinie , She did no more but die ; if after her Any shall live , which dare true good prefer ; Every such person is her deligate , T' accomplish that which should have beene her Fate . They shall make up that Booke and shall have thanks Of Fate , and her , for filling up their blankes . For future vertuous deeds are Legacies , VVhich from the gift of her example rise ; And 't is in heav'n part of spirituall mirth , To see how well the good play her , on earth . OF THE PROGRESSE OF THE SOULE . Wherein , By occasion of the Religious death of Mistris ELIZABETH DRVRY , the incommodities of the Soule in this life , and her exaltation in the next , are contemplated . The second Anniversary . The Harbinger to the PROGRESSE . TWo Soules move here , and mine ( a third ) must move Paces of admiration , and of love ; Thy Soule ( deare virgin ) whose this tribute is , Mov'd from this mortall Spheare to lively blisse ; And yet moves still , and still aspires to see The worlds last day , thy glories full degree : Like as those starres which thou o'r-lookest farre , Are in their place , and yet still moved are : No soule ( whiles with the luggage of this clay It clogged is ) can follow thee halfe way ; Or see thy flight , which doth our thoughts outgoe So fast , that now the lightning moves but slow : But now thou art as high in heaven flowne As heaven's from us ; what soule besides thine owne Can tell thy joyes , or say he can relate Thy glorious Journals in that blessed state ? I envie thee ( Rich soule ) I envy thee , Although I cannot yet thy glory see : And thou ( great spirit ) which hers follow'd hast So fast , as none can follow thine so fast ; So far , as none can follow thine so farre , ( And if this flesh did not the passage barre Hadst caught her ) let me wonder at thy flight Which long agone hadst lost the vulgar sight , And now mak'st proud the better eyes , that they Can see thee less'ned in thine ayery way ; So while thou mak'st her soule by progresse knowne Thou mak'st a noble progresse of thine owne . From this worlds carkasse having mounted high To that pure life of immortalitie ; Since thine aspiring thoughts themselves so raise That more may not beseeme a creatures praise , Yet still thou vow'st her more ; and every yeare Mak'st a new progresse , while thou wandrest here ; Still upward mount ; and let thy Makers praise Honor thy Laura , and adorne thy laies . And since thy Muse her head in heaven shrouds , Oh let her never stoope below the clouds : And if those glorious sainted soules may know Or what wee doe , or what wee sing below , Those acts , those songs shall still content them best Which praise those awfull Powers that make them blest . OF THE PROGRESSE OF THE SOULE . The second Anniversarie . NOthing could make me sooner to confesse That this world had an everlastingnesse , Then to consider , that a yeare is runne , Since both this lower world 's , and the Sunnes Sunne , The Lustre , and the vigor of this all , Did set ; 't were blasphemie to say , did fall . But as a ship which hath strooke saile , doth runne By force of that force which before , it wonne : Or as sometimes in a beheaded man , Though at those two Red seas , which freely ranne , One from the Trunke , another from the Head , His soule he sail'd , to her eternall bed , His eyes will twinckle , and his tongue will roll , As though he beckned , and cal'd backe his soule , He graspes his hands , and he pulls up his feet , And seemes to reach , and to step forth to meet His soule ; when all these motions which we saw , Are but as Ice , which crackles at a thaw : Or as a Lute , which in moist weather , rings Her knell alone , by cracking of her strings . So struggles this dead world , now shee is gone ; For there is motion in corruption . As some daies are , at the Creation nam'd , Before the Sunne , the which fram'd daies , was fram'd : So after this Sunne 's set , some shew appeares , And orderly vicissitude of yeares . Yet a new deluge , and of Lethe flood , Hath drown'd us all , All have forgot all good , Forgetting her , the maine reserve of all , Yet in this deluge , grosse and generall , Thou seest me strive for life ; my life shall bee , To be hereafter prais'd , for praysing thee ; Immortall maid , who though thou would'st refuse The name of Mother , be unto my Muse A Father , since her chast Ambition is Yearely to bring forth such a child as this . These Hymnes may worke on future wits , and so May great Grand children of thy prayses grow . And so , though not revive , embalme and spice The world , which else would putrisie with vice . For thus , Man may extend thy progeny , Untill man doe but vanish , and not die . These Hymnes thy issue , may encrease so long , As till Gods great Venite change the song . Thirst for that time , O my insatiate soule , And serve thy thirst , with Gods safe-fealing Bowle . Be thirstie still , and drinke still till thou goe To th' only Health , to be Hydroptique so , Forget this rotten world ; And unto thee Let thine owne times as an old storie bee Be not concern'd : studie not why nor when ; Doe not so much as not beleeve a man. For though to erre , be worst , to try truths forth , Is far more businesse , then this world is worth . The world is but a carkasse ; thou art fed By it , but as a worme , that carkasse bred ; And why should'st thou , poore worme , consider more When this world will grow better then before , Then those thy fellow wormes doe thinke upon That carkasses last resurrection . Forget this world , and scarce thinke of it so , As of old clothes , cast off a yeare agoe . To be thus stupid is Alacritie ; Men thus Lethargique have best Memory . Look upward ; that 's towards her , whose happy state We now lament not , but congratulate . Shee , to whom all this world was but a stage , Where all sat harkning how her youthfull age Should be emploi'd , because in all shee did , Some Figure of the Golden times was hid . Who could not lacke , what e'r this world could give , Because shee was the forme , that made it live ; Nor could complaine , that this world was unfit To be staid in , then when shee was in it ; Shee that first tried indifferent desires By vertue , and vertue by religious fires , Shee to whose person Paradise adher'd , As Courts to Princes , shee whose eyes ensphear'd Star-light enough , t' have made the South controule , ( Had shee beene there ) the Star-full Northerne Pole , Shee , she is gone ; she is gone ; when thou knowest this , What fragmentary rubbidge this world is Thou knowest , and that it is not worth a thought ; He honors it too much that thinkes it nought . Thinke then , my soule , that death is but a Groome , Which brings a Taper to the outward roome , Whence thou spiest first a little glimmering light , And after brings it nearer to thy sight : For such approaches doth heaven make in death . Thinke thy selfe labouring now with broken breath , And thinke those broken and soft Notes to bee Division , and thy happyest Harmonie . Thinke thee laid on thy death-bed , loose and slacke ; And thinke that , but unbinding of a packe , To take one precious thing , thy soule from thence . Thinke thy selfe patch'd with fevers violence , Anger thine ague more , by calling it Thy Physicke ; chide the slacknesse of the fit . Thinke that thou hear'st thy knell and think no more , But that , as Bels cal'd thee to Church before , So this , to the Triumphant Church , calls thee . Thinke Satans Sergeants round about thee bee , And thinke that but for Legacies they thrust ; Give one thy Pride , to'another give thy Lust : Give them those sinnes which they gave thee before , And trust th' immaculate blood to wash thy score . Thinke thy friends weeping round , & thinke that they Weepe but because they goe not yet thy way . Thinke that they close thine eyes , and thinke in this , That they confesse much in the world , amisse , Who dare not trust a dead mans eye with that , Which they from God , and Angels ●●er not . Thinke that they shroud thee up , & think from thence They reinvest thee in white innocence . Thinke that thy body rots , and ( if so low , Thy soule exalted so , thy thoughts can goe , ) Think thee a Prince , who of themselves create Wormes which insensibly devoure their State. Thinke that they bury thee , and thinke that right Laies thee to sleepe but a Saint Lucies night . Thinke these things cheerefully : and if thou bee Drowsie or slacke , remember then that shee , Shee whose complexion was so even made , That which of her ingredients should invade The other three , no Feare , no Art could guesse : So far were all remov'd from more or lesse . But as in Mithridate , or just perfumes , Where all good things being met , no one presumes To governe , or to triumph on the rest , Only because all were , no part was best . And as , though all doe know , that quantities Are made of lines , and lines from Points arise , None can these lines or quantities unjoynt , And say this is a line , or this a point : So though the Elements and Humors were In her , one could not say , this governes there , Whose even constitution might have woon Any disease to venter on the Sunne , Rather then her : and make a spirit feare , That hee too disuniting subject were . To whose proportions if we would compare Cubes , th' are unstable ; Circles , Angular ; She who was such a chaine as Fate employes To bring mankinde all Fortunes it enjoyes ; So fast , so even wrought , as one would thinke , No accident could threaten any linke ; Shee , shee embrac'd a sicknesse , gave it meat , The purest blood , and breath , that e'r it eate ; And hath taught us , that though a good man hath Title to heaven , and plead it by his Faith , And though he may pretend a conquest , since Heaven was content to suffer violence , Yea though hee plead a long possession too , ( For they 're in heaven on earth who heavens workes do ) Though hee had right and power and place , before , Yet death must usher , and unlocke the doore . Thinke further on thy selfe , my Soule , and thinke How thou at first wast made but in a sinke ; Thinke that it argued some infirmitie , That those two soules , which then thou foundst in me , Thou fedst upon , and drewst into thee both My second soule of sense , and first of growth . Thinke but how poore thou wast , how obnoxious ; Whom a small lumpe of flesh could poyson thus . This curded milke , this poore unlittered whelpe My body , could , beyond escape or helpe , Infect thee with Originall sinne , and thou Couldst neither then refuse , nor leave it now . Thinke that no stubborne sullen Anchorit , Which fixt to a pillar , or a grave , doth sit Bedded , and bath'd in all his ordures , dwels So fowly as our Soules in their first built Cels. Thinke in how poore a prison thou didst lie After , enabled but to suck , and crie . Thinke , when 't was growne to most , 't was a poore Inne , A Province pack'd up in two yards of skinne , And that usurp'd or threatned with a rage Of sicknesses , or their true mother , Age. But thinke that death hath now enfranchis'd thee , Thou hast thy'expansion now , and libertie ; Thinke that a rustie Peece discharg'd is flowne In peeces , and the bullet is his owne , And freely flies : this to thy Soule allow , Thinke thy shell broke , thinke thy Soule hatch'd but now . And think this slow-pac'd soule which late did cleave To'a body , and went but by the bodies leave , Twenty perchance or thirty mile a day , Dispatches in a minute all the way Twixt heaven , and earth ; she stayes not in the ayre , To looke what Meteors there themselves prepare ; She carries no desire to know , nor sense , Whether th'ayres middle region be intense ; For th' Element of fire , she doth not know , Whether she past by such a place or no ; She baits not at the Moone , nor cares to trie Whether in that new world , men live , and die . Venus retards her not , to'enquire , how shee Can , ( being one starre ) Hesper , and Vesper bee ; Hee that charm'd Argus eyes , sweet Mercury , Workes not on her , who now is growne all eye ; Who if she meet the body of the Sunne , Goes through , not staying till his course be runne ; Who findes in Mars his Campe no corps of Guard ; Nor is by Iove , nor by his father bard ; Bee ere she can consider how she went , At once is at , and through the Firmament . And as these starres were but so many beads Strung on one string , speed undistinguish'd leads Her through those Spheares , as through the beads , a string , Whose quick successiō makes it still one thing : As doth the pith , which , lest our bodies slacke , Strings fast the little bones of necke , and backe ; So by the Soule doth death string Heaven and Earth ; For when our Soule enjoyes this her third birth , ( Creation gave her one , a second , grace , ) Heaven is as neare , and present to her face , As colours are , and objects , in a roome Where darknesse was before , when Tapers come . This must , my Soule , thy long-short Progresse bee , To'advance these thoughts ; Remember then that she , She , whose faire body no such prison was , But that a Soule might well be pleas'd to passe An age in her ; she whose rich beauty lent Mintage to other beauties , for they went But for so much as they were like to her ; Shee , in whose body ( if we dare preferre This low world , to so high a marke as shee , ) The Westerne treasure , Easterne spicetie , Europe , and Afrique , and the unknowne rest Were easily found , or what in them was best ; And when w'have made this large discoverie Of all , in her some one part then will bee Twenty such parts , whose plenty and riches is Enough to make twenty such worlds as this ; Shee , whom had they knowne who did first betroth The Tutelar Angels , and assigned one , both To Nations , Cities , and to Companies , To Functions , Offices , and dignities , And to each severall man , to him , and him , They would have given her one for every limbe ; She , of whose soule , if wee may say , 't was gold , Her body was th'Electrum , and did hold Many degrees of that ; wee understood Her by her sight ; her pure , and eloquent blood Spoke in her cheekes , and so distinctly wrought , That one might almost say , her body thought ; Shee , shee , thus richly and largely hous'd , is gone : And chides us slow-pac'd snailes who crawle upon Our prisons prison , earth , nor thinke us well , Longer , then whil'st wee beare our brittle shell . But 't were but little to have chang'd our roome , If , as we were in this our living Tombe Oppress'd with ignorance , wee still were so . Poore soule , in this thy flesh what dost thou know ? Thou know'st thy selfe so little , as thou know'st not , How thou didst die , nor how thou wast begot . Thou neither know'st , how thou at first cam'st in , Nor how thou took'st the poyson of mans sinne . Nor dost thou , ( though thou know'st , that thou art so ) By what way thou art made immortall , know . Thou art too narrow , wretch , to comprehend Even thy selfe . yea though thou wouldst but bend To know thy body . Have not all soules thought For many ages , that our body , is wrought Of aire , and fire , and other Elements ? And now they thinke of new ingredients . And one Soule thinkes one , and another way Another thinkes , and 't is an even lay . Knowst thou but how the stone doth enter in The bladders cave , and never brake the skinne ? Know'st thou how blood , which to the heart doth flow , Doth from one ventricle to th' other goe ? And for the putrid stuffe , which thou dost spit , Know'st thou how thy lungs have attracted it ? There are no passages , so that there is ( For ought thou know'st ) piercing of substances . And of those many opinions which men raise Of Nailes and Haires , dost thou know which to praise ? What hope have wee to know our selves , when wee Know not the least things , which for our use be ? Wee see in Authors , too stiffe to recant , A hundred controversies of an Ant ; And yet one watches , starves , freeses , and sweats , To know but Catechismes and Alphabets Of unconcerning things , matters of fact ; How others on our stage their parts did Act ; What Caesar did , yea , and what Cicero said , Why grasse is greene , or why our blood is red , Are mysteries which none have reach'd unto In this low forme , poore soule , what wilt thou doe ? When wilt thou shake off this Pedantery , Of being taught by sense , and Fantasie ? Thou look'st through spectacles ; small things seeme great Below ; But up unto the watch-towre get , And see all things despoyl'd of fallacies : Thou shalt not peepe through lattices of eyes , Nor heare through Labyrinths of eares , nor learne By circuit , or collections to discerne . In heaven thou straight know'st all , concerning it , And what concernes it not , shalt straight forget . There thou ( but in no other schoole ) maist bee Perchance , as learned ; and as full , as shee , Shee who all libraries had throughly read At home in her owne thoughts , and practised So much good as would make as many more : Shee whose example they must all implore , Who would or doe , or thinke well , and confesse That all the vertuous Actions they expresse , Are but a new , and worse edition Of her some one thought , or one action : She who in th' art of knowing Heaven , was growne Here upon earth , to such perfection , That she hath , ever since to Heaven she came , ( In a far fairer point , ) but read the same : Shee , shee not satisfied with all this waight , ( For so much knowledge , as would over-fraight Another , did but ballast her ) is gone As well t' enjoy , as get perfection . And cals us after her , in that shee tooke , ( Taking her selfe ) our best , and worthiest booke . Returne not , my Soule , from this extasie , And meditation of what thou shalt bee , To earthly thoughts , till it to thee appeare , With whom thy conversation must be there , With whom wilt thou converse ? what station Canst thou chose out , free from infection , That will not give thee theirs , nor drinke in thine ? Shalt thou not finde a spungie slacke Divine , Drinke and sucke in th' instructions of great men , And for the word of God , vent them agen ? Are there not some Courts ( and then , no things bee So like as Courts ) which , in this let us see , That wits , and tongues of Libellers are weake , Because they do more ill , then these can speake ? The poyson's gone through all , poysons affect Chiefly the chiefest parts , but some , effect In nailes , and haires , yea excrements , will show ; So lyes the poyson of sinne in the most low . Up , up , my drowsie Soule , where thy new eare Shall in the Angels songs no discord heare ; Where thou shalt see the blessed Mother-maid Joy in not being that , which men have said . Where she is exalted more for being good , Then for her interest of Mother-hood . Up to those Patriarchs , which did longer sit Expecting Christ , then they'have enjoy'd him yet . Up to those Prophets , which now gladly see Their Prophesies growne to be Historie . Up to th'Apostles , who did bravely runne All the Suns course , with more light then the Sunne . Up to those Martyrs , who did calmly bleed Oyle to th'Apostles Lamps , dew to their seed . Up to those Virgins , who thought , that almost They made joyntenants with the Holy Ghost , If they to any should his Temple give . Up , up , for in that squadron there doth live She , who hath carried thither new degrees ( As to their number ) to their dignities . Shee , who being to her selfe a State , injoy'd All royalties which any State employ'd ; For shee made warres , and triumph'd ; reason still Did not o'rthrow , but rectifie her will : And she made peace , for no peace is like this , That beauty , and chastity together kisse : She did high justice , for she crucified Every first motion of rebellious pride : And she gave pardons , and was liberall , For , onely her selfe except , she pardon'd all : Shee coy'nd , in this , that her impression gave To all our actions all the worth they have : She gave protections ; the thoughts of her brest Satans rude Officers could ne'r arrest . As these prerogatives being met in one , Made her a soveraigne State ; religion Made her a Church ; and these two made her all . She who was all this All , and could not fall To worse , by company , ( for she was still More Antidote , then all the world was ill , Shee , shee doth leave it , and by Death , survive All this , in Heaven ; whether who doth not strive The more , because shee s there , he doth not know That accidentall joyes in Heaven doe grow . But pause , my soule ; And study ere thou fall On accidentall joyes , th'essentiall . Still before Accessories doe abide A triall , must the principall be tride . And what essentiall joy can'st thou expect Here upon earth ? what permanent effect Of transitory causes ? Dost thou love Beauty ? ( And beauty worthy'st is to move ) Poore cousened cousenor , that she , and that thou , Which did begin to love , are neither now ; You are both fluid , chang'd since yesterday ; Next day repaires , ( but ill ) last dayes decay . Nor are , ( although the river keepe the name ) Yesterdaies waters , and to daies the same . So flowes her face , and thine eyes ; neither now That Saint nor Pilgrime , which your loving vow Concern'd , remaines ; but whil'st you thinke you bee Constant , you' are hourely in inconstancie . Honour may have pretence unto our love , Because that God did live so long above Without this Honour , and then lov'd it so , That he at last made creatures to bestow Honour on him ; not that he needed it , But that , to his hands , man might grow more fit . But since all Honours from inferiours flow , ( For they doe give it ; Princes doe but shew Whom they would have so honor'd ) and that this On such opinions , and capacities Is built , as rise and fall , to more and lesse : Alas , 't is but a casuall happinesse . Hath ever any man to'himselfe assign'd This or that happinesse to'arrest his minde , But that another man which takes a worse , Thinks him a foole for having tane that course ? They who did labour Babels tower to'erect , Might have considered , that for that effect , All this whole solid Earth could not allow Nor furnish forth materialls enough ; And that his Center , to raise such a place Was farre too little , to have beene the Base ; No more affords this world , foundation To erect true joy , were all the meanes in one . But as the Heathen made them severall gods , Of all Gods benefits , and all his rods , ( For as the Wine , and Corne , and Onions are Gods unto them , so Agues bee , and warre ) And as by changing that whole precious Gold To such small Copper coynes , they lost the old , And lost their only God , who ever must Be sought alone , and not in such a thrust : So much , mankinde true happinesse mistakes ; No Joy enjoyes that man , that many makes . Then , Soule , to thy first pitch worke up againe ; Know that all lines which circles doe containe , For once that they the Center touch , doe touch Twice the circumference ; and be thou such ; Double on heaven thy thoughts on earth emploid ; All will not serve ; Only who have enjoy'd The sight of God , in fulnesse , can thinke it ; For it is both the object , and the wit. This is essentiall joy , where neither hee Can suffer diminution , nor wee ; 'T is such a full , and such a filling good ; Had th'Angels once look'd on him , they had stood . To fill the place of one of them , or more , Shee whom wee celebrate , is gone before . She , who had here so much essentiall joy , As no chance could distract , much lesse destroy ; Who with Gods presence was acquainted so , ( Hearing , and speaking to him ) as to know His face in any naturall Stone , or Tree , Better then when in Images they bee : Who kept by diligent devotion , Gods Image , in such reparation , Within her heart , that what decay was growne , Was her first Parents fault , and not her owne : Who being solicited to any act , Still heard God pleading his safe precontract ; Who by a faithfull confidence , was here Betroth'd to God , and now is married there ; Whose twilights were more cleare , then our mid-day ; Who dreamt devoutlier , then most use to pray ; Who being here fil'd with grace , yet strove to bee , Both where more grace , and more capacitie At once is given : she to Heaven is gone , Who made this world in some proportion A heaven , and here , became unto us all , Joy , ( as our joyes admit ) essentiall . But could this low world joyes essentiall touch , Heavens accidentall joyes would passe them much . How poore and lame , must then our casuall bee ? If thy Prince will his subjects to call thee My Lord , and this doe swell thee , thou art than , By being greater , growne to bee lesse Man. When no Physitian of redresse can speake , A joyfull casuall violence may breake A dangerous Apostem in thy breast ; And whil'st thou joyest in this , the dangerous rest , The bag may rise up , and so strangle thee . What e'r was casuall , may ever bee . What should the nature change ? Or make the same Certaine , which was but casuall , when it came ? All casuall joy doth loud and plainly say , Only by comming , that it can away . Only in Heaven joyes strength is never spent ; And accidentall things are permanent . Joy of a soules arrivall ne'r decaies ; For that soule ever joyes and ever staies . Joy that their last great Consummation Approaches in the resurrection ; When earthly bodies more celestiall Shall be , then Angels were , for they could fall ; This kinde of joy doth every day admit Degrees of growth , but none of losing it . In this fresh joy , 't is no small part , that shee , Shee , in whose goodnesse , he that names degree , Doth injure her ; ( 'T is losse to be cal'd best , There where the stuffe is not such as the rest ) Shee , who left such a bodie , as even shee Only in Heaven could learne , how it can bee Made better ; for shee rather was two soules , Or like to full on both sides written Rols , Where eyes might reade upon the outward skin , As strong Records for God , as mindes within , Shee , who by making full perfection grow , Peeces a Circle , and still keepes it so , Long'd for , and longing for it , to heaven is gone , Where shee receives , and gives addition . Here in a place , where mis-devotion frames A thousand Prayers to Saints , whose very names The anciēt Church knew not , Heaven knows not yet : And where , what lawes of Poetry admit , Lawes of Religion have at least the same , Immortall Maide , I might invoke thy name . Could any Saint provoke that appetite , Thou here should'st make me a french convertite . But thou would'st not ; nor would'st thou be content , To take this , for my second yeares true Rent . Did this Coine beare any other stampe , then his , That gave thee power to doe , me , to say this . Since his will is , that to posteritie , Thou should'st for life , and death , a patterne bee , And that the world should notice have of this , The purpose , and th' authoritie is his ; Thou art the Proclamation ; and I am The Trumpet , at whose voyce the people came . The Extasie . WHere , like a pillow on a bed , A Pregnant banke swel'd up , to rest The violets reclining head , Sat we two , one anothers best ; Our hands were firmely cimented With a fast balme , which thence did spring , Our eye-beames twisted , and did thred Our eyes , upon one double string , So to'entergraft our hands , as yet Was all the meanes to make us one , And pictures in our eyes to get Was all our propagation . As 'twixt two equall Armies , Fate Suspends uncertaine victorie , Our soules , ( which to advance their state , Were gone out , ) hung 'twixt her , and mee . And whil'st our soules negotiate there , Wee like sepulchrall statues lay , All day , the same our postures were , And wee said nothing , all the day . If any , so by love refin'd , That he soules language understood , And by good love were growen all minde , Within convenient distance stood , He ( though he knowes not which soule spake , Because both meant , both spake the same ) Might thence a new concoction take , And part farre purer then he came . This Extasie doth unperplex ( We said ) and tell us what we love , Wee see by this , it was not sexe Wee see , we saw not what did move : But as all severall soules containe Mixture of things , they know not what , Love , these mixt soules , doth mixe againe , And makes both one , each this and that . A single violet transplant , The strength , the colour , and the size , ( All which before was poore , and scant , ) Redoubles still , and multiplies . When love , with one another so Interanimates two soules , That abler soule , which thence doth flow , Defects of lonelinesse controules . Wee then , who are this new soule , know , Of what we are compos'd , and made , For , th'Atomies of which we grow , Are soules , whom no change can invade . But O alas , so long , so farre Our bodies why doe wee forbeare ? They are ours , though not wee , Wee are The intelligences , they the spheares . We owe them thankes , because they thus , Did us , to us , at first convay , Yeelded their senses force to us , Nor are drosse to us , but allay . On man heavens influence workes not so , But that it first imprints the ayre , For soule into the soule may flow , Though it to body first repaire . As our blood labours to beget Spirits , as like soules as it can , Because such fingers need to knit That subtile knot , which makes us man : So must pure lovers soules descend T'affections , and to faculties , Which sense may reach and apprehend , Else a great Prince in prison lies . To'our bodies turne wee then , that so Weake men on love reveal'd may looke ; Loves mysteries in soules doe grow , But yet the body is his booke . And if some lover , such as wee , Have heard this dialogue of one , Let him still marke us , he shall see Small change , when we' are to bodies gone . Loves Deitie . I Long to talke with some old lovers ghost , Who dyed before the god of Love was borne : I cannot thinke that hee , who then lov'd most , Sunke so low , as to love one which did scorne . But since this god produc'd a destinie , And that vice-nature , custome , lets it be ; I must love her , that loves not mee . Sure , they which made him god , meant not so much : Nor he , in his young god head practis'd it . But when an even flame two hearts did touch , His office was indulgently to fit Actives to passives . Correspondencie Only his subject was ; It cannot bee Love , till I love her , that loves mee . But every moderne god will now extend His vast prerogative , as far as Jove . To rage , to lust , to 〈◊〉 , to commend , All is the purlewe of the God of Love. Oh were wee wak'ned by this Tyrannie To ungod this child againe , it could not beo I should love her , who loves not mee . Rebell and Atheist too , why murmure I , As though I felt the worst that love could doe ? Love may make me leave loving , or might trie A deeper plague , to make her love mee too , Which since she loves before , I 'am loth to see ; Falshood is worse then hate ; and that must bee , If shee whom I love , should love mee . Loves diet . TO what a combersome unwieldinesse And burdenous corpulence my love had growne , But that I did , to make it lesse , And keepe it in proportion , Give it a diet , made it feed upon That which love worst endures , discretion . Above one sigh a day I'allow'd him not , Of which my fortune , and my faults had part ; And if sometimes by stealth he got A she sigh from my mistresse heart , And thought to feast on that , I let him see 'T was neither very sound , nor meant to mee ; If he wroung from mee'a teare , I brin'd it so With scorne or shame , that him it nourish'd not ; If he suck'd hers , I let him know 'T was not a teare , which hee had got , His drinke was counterfeit , as was his meat ; For , eyes which rowle towards all , weepe not , but sweat . What ever he would dictate , I writ that , But burnt my letters ; When she writ to me , And that that favour made him fat , I said , if any title bee Convey'd by this , Ah , what doth it availe , To be the fortieth name in an entaile ? Thus I redeem'd my buzard love , to flye At what , and when , and how , and where I chuse ; Now negligent of sports I lye , And now as other Fawkners use , I spring a mistresse , sweare , write , sigh and weepe : And the game kill'd , or lost , goe talke , and sleepe . The Will. BEfore I sigh my last gaspe , let me breath , Great love , some Legacies ; Here I bequeath Mine eyes to Argus , if mine eyes can see , If they be blinde , then Love , I give them thee ; My tongue to Fame ; to'Embassadours mine eares ; To women or the sea , my teares ; Thou , Love , hast taught mee heretofore By making mee serve her who 'had twenty more , That I should give to none , but such , as had too much before . My constancie I to the planets give , My truth to them , who at the Court doe live ; Mine ingenuity and opennesse , To Jesuites ; to Buffones my pensivenesse ; My silence to'any , who abroad hath beene ; My mony to a Capuchin . Thou Love taught'st me , by appointing mee To love there , where no love receiv'd can be , Onely to give to such as have an incapacitie . My faith I give to Roman Catholiques ; All my good works unto the Schismaticks Of Amsterdam ; my best civility And Courtship , to an Universitie ; My modesty I give to souldiers bare ; My patience let gamesters share . Thou Love taughtst mee , by making mee Love her that holds my love disparity , Onely to give to those that count my gifts indignity . I give my reputation to those Which were my friends ; Mine industrie to foes ; To Schoolemen I bequeath my doubtfulnesse ; My sicknesse to Physitians , or excesse ; To Nature , all that I in Ryme have writ ; And to my company my wit ; Thou love , by making mee adore Her , who begot this love in mee before , Taughtst me to make , as though I gave , when I did but restore . To him for whom the passing bell next tolls , I give my physick bookes ; my writen rowles Of Morall counsels , I to Bedlam give ; My brazen medals , unto them which live In want of bread ; to them which passe among All forrainers , mine English tongue . Thou , Love , by making mee love one Who thinkes her friendship a fit portion For yonger lovers , dost my gifts thus disproportion . Therefore I 'll give no more ; But I 'll undoe The world by dying ; because love dies too . Then all your beauties will bee no more worth Then gold in Mines , where none doth draw it forth . And all your graces no more use shall have Then a Sun dyall in a grave , Thou Love taughtst mee , by making mee Love her , who doth neglect both mee and thee , To'invent , and practise this one way , to'annihilate all three . The Funerall . WHo ever comes to shroud me , do not harme Nor question much That subtile wreath of haire , which crowne , my arme ; The mystery , the signe you must not touch , For'tis my outward Soule Viceroy to that , which unto heaven being gone , Will leave this to controule , And keepe these limbes , her Provinces , from dissolution . For if the sinewie thread my braine le ts fall Through every part , Can tye those parts , and make mee one of all ; Those haires which upward grew , and strength and art Have from a better braine , Can better do' it ; except she meant that I By this should know my pain , As prisoners then are manacled , when they' are condem'nd to die . What ere shee meant by'it , bury it by me , For since I am Loves martyr , it might breed idolatrie , If into others hands these reliques came ; As 't was humility To afford to it all that a Soule can doe , So , 't is some bravery , That since you would have none of mee , I bury some of you . The Blossome . LIttle think'st thou , poore flower , Whom I have watch'd sixe or seaven dayes , And seene thy birth , and seene what every houre Gave to thy growth , thee to this height to raise , And now dost laugh and triumph on this bough , Little think'st thou That it will freeze anon , and that I shall To morrow finde thee falne , or not at all . Little think'st thou poore heart That labours yet to nestle thee , And think'st by hovering here to get a part In a forbidden or forbidding tree , And hop'st her stiffenesse by long siege to bow : Little think'st thou , That thou to morrow , ere that Sunne doth wake , Must with this Sunne , and mee a journey take . But thou which lov'st to bee Subtile to plague thy selfe , wilt say , Alas , if you must goe , what 's that to mee ? Here lyes my businesse , and here I will stay : You goe to friends , whose love and meanes present Various content To your eyes , eares , and tast , and every part . If then your body goe , what need your heart ? Well then , stay here ; but know , When thou hast stayd and done thy most ; A naked thinking heart , that makes no show , Is to a woman , but a kinde of Ghost ; How shall shee know my heart ; or having none , Know thee for one ? Practise may make her know some other part , But take my word , shee doth not know a Heart . Meet mee at London , then , Twenty dayes hence , and thou shalt see Mee fresher , and more fat , by being with men , Then if I had staid still with her and thee . For Gods sake , if you can , be you so too : I will give you There , to another friend , whom wee shall finde As glad to have my body , as my minde . The Primrose . VPon this Primrose hill , Where , it Heav'n would distill A shoure of raine , each severall drop might goe To his owne primrose , and grow Manna so ; And where their forme , and their infinitie Make a terrestriall Galaxie , As the small starres doe in the skie : I walke to finde a true Love ; and I see That 't is not a mere woman , that is shee , But must , or more , or lesse then woman bee . Yet know I not , which flower I wish ; a sixe , or foure ; For should my true-Love lesse then woman bee , She were scarce any thing ; and then should shee Be more then woman , shee would get above All thought of sexe , and thinke to move My heart to study her , and not to love ; Both these were monsters ; Since there must reside Falshood in woman , I could more abide , She were by art , then Nature falsify'd . Live Primrose then , and thrive With thy true number five ; And women , whom this flower doth represent , With this mysterious number be content ; Ten is the farthest number , if halfe ten Belongs unto each woman , then Each woman may take halfe us men , Or if this will not serve their turne , Since all Numbers are odde , or even , and they fall First into this five , women may take us all . The Relique . WHen my grave is broke up againe Some second ghest to entertaine , ( For graves have learn'd that woman-head To be to more then one a Bed ) And he that digs it , spies A bracelet of bright haire about the bone , Will he not let'us alone , And thinke that there a loving couple lies , Who thought that this device might be some way To make their soules , at the last busie day , Meet at this grave , and make a little stay ? If this fall in a time , or land , Where mis-devotion doth command , Then , he that digges us up , will bring Us , to the Bishop , and the King , To make us Reliques ; then Thou shalt be a Mary Magdalen , and I A something else thereby ; All women shall adore us , and some men ; And since at such time , miracles are sought , I would have that age by this paper taught What miracles wee harmelesse lovers wrought . First , we lov'd well and faithfully , Yet knew not what wee lov'd , nor why , Difference of sex no more wee new , Then our Guardian Angells doe , Comming and going , wee , Perchance might kisse , but not between those meales Our hands ne'r toucht the seales , Which nature , injur'd by late law , sets free , These miracles wee did ; but now alas , All measure , and all language , I should passe , Should I tell what a miracle shee was . The Dampe . WHen I am dead , and Doctors know not why , And my friends curiositie Will have me cut up to survay each part , When they shall finde your Picture in my heart , You thinke a sodaine dampe of love Will through all their senses move , And worke on them as mee , and so preferre Your murder , to the name of Massacre . Poore victories ; But if you dare be brave , And pleasure in your conquest have , First kill th'enormous Gyant , your Disdaine , And let th'enchantresse Honor , next be slaine , And like a Goth and Vandall rize , Deface Records , and Histories Of your owne arts and triumphs over men , And without such advantage kill me then . For I could muster up as well as you My Gyants , and my Witches too , Which are vast Constancy , and Secretnesse , But these I neyther looke for , nor professe , Kill mee as Woman , let mee die As a meere man ; doe you but try Your passive valor , and you shall finde than , In that you'have odds enough of any man. The Dissolution . SHee'is dead ; And all which die To their first Elements resolve ; And wee were mutuall Elements to us , And made of one another . My body then doth hers involve , And those things whereof I consist , hereby In me abundant grow , and burdenous , And nourish not , but smother . My fire of Passion , sighes of ayre , Water of teares , and earthly sad despaire , Which my materialls bee , But ne'r worne out by loves securitie , Shee , to my losse , doth by her death repaire , And I might live long wretched so But that my fire doth with my fuell grow . Now as those Active Kings Whose foraine conquest treasure brings , Receive more , and spend more , and soonest breake : This ( which I am amaz'd that I can speake ) This death , hath with my store My use encreas'd . And so my soule more earnestly releas'd , Will outstrip hers ; As bullets flowen before A latter bullet may o'rtake , the pouder being more . A Ieat King sent THou art not so black , as my heart , Nor halfe so brittle , as her heart , thou art ; What would'st thou say ? shall both our properties by thee bee spoke , Nothing more endlesse , nothing sooner broke ? Marriage rings are not of this stuffe ; Oh , why should ought lesse precious , or lesse tough Figure our loves ? Except in thy name thou have bid it say I 'am cheap , & nought but fashion , fling me'away . Yet stay with mee since thou art come , Circle this fingers top , which did'st her thombe . Be justly proud , and gladly safe , that thou dost dwell with me , She that , Oh , broke her faith , would soon breake thee . Negative love . I Never stoop'd so low , as they Which on an eye , cheeke , lip , can prey , Seldome to them , which soare no higher Then vertue or the minde to'admire , For sense , and understanding may Know , what gives fuell to their fire : My love , though silly , is more brave , For may I misse , when ere I crave , If I know yet , what I would have . If that be simply perfectest Which can by no way be exprest But Negatives , my love is so . To All , which all love , I say no. If any who deciphers best , What we know not , our selves , can know , Let him teach mee that nothing ; This As yet my ease , and comfort is , Though I speed not , I cannot misse . The Prohibition . TAke heed of loving mee , At least remember , I forbade it thee ; Not that I shall repaire my'unthrifty wast Of Breath and Blood , upon thy sighes , and teares , By being to mee then that which thou wast ; But , so great Joy , our life at once outweares , Then , least thy love , by my death , frustrate bee , If thou love mee , take heed of loving mee . Take heed of hating mee , Or too much triumph in the Victorie . Not that I shall be mine owne officer , And hate with hate againe retaliate ; But thou wilt lose the stile of conquerour , If I , thy conquest , perish by thy hate . Then , least my being nothing lessen thee , If thou hate mee , take heed of hating mee . Yet , love and hate mee too , So , these extreames shall ne'r their office doe ; Love mee , that I may die the gentler way ; Hate mee , because thy love is too great for mee ; Or let these two , themselves , not me decay ; So shall I live thy stay , not triumph bee ; Lest thou thy love and hate and mee undoe To let mee live , Oh love and hate mee too . The Expiration . SO , so , breake off this last'lamenting kisse , Which sucks two soules , and vapors Both away , Turne thou ghost that way , and let mee turne this , And let our selves benight our happiest day , Wee aske none leave to love ; nor will we owe Any , so cheape a death , as saying , Goe ; Goe ; and if that word have not quite kil'd thee , Ease mee with death , by bidding mee goe too . Oh , if it have , let my word worke on mee , And a just office on a murderer doe . Except it be too late , to kill me so , Being double dead , going , and bidding , goe . The Computation . FOr the first twenty yeares , since yesterday , I scarce beleev'd , thou could'st be gone away , For forty more , I fed on favours past , And forty'on hopes , that thou would'st , they might last . Teares drown'd one hundred , and sighes blew out two , A thousand , I did neither thinke , nor doe . Or not divide , all being one thought of you ; Or in a thousand more , forgot that too . Yet call not this long life ; But thinke that I Am , by being dead , Immortall ; Can ghosts die ? Elegie . LAnguage thou art too narrow , and too weake To ease us now ; great sorrow cannot speake ; If we could sigh out accents , and weepe words , Griefe weares , and lessens , that tears breath affords , Sad hearts , the lesse they seeme the more they are , ( So guiltiest men stand mutest at the barre ) Not that they know not , feele not their estate , But extreme sense hath made them desperate , Sorrow , to whom we owe all that we bee ; Tyrant , in the fift and greatest Monarchy , Was 't , that she did possesse all hearts before , Thou hast kil'd her , to make thy Empire more ? Knew'st thou some would , that knew her not , lament , As in a deluge perish th' innocent ? Was 't not enough to have that palace wonne , But thou must raze it too , that was undone ? Had'st thou staid there , and look'd out at her eyes , All had ador'd thee that now from thee flies , For they let out more light , then they tooke in , They told not when , but did the day beginne ; She was too Saphirine , and cleare to thee ; Clay , flint , and jeat now thy fit dwellings be ; Alas , shee was too pure , but not too weake ; Who e'r saw Christall Ordinance but would break ? And if wee be thy conquest , by her fall Th' hast lost thy end , for in her perish all ; Or if we live , we live but to rebell , They know her better now , that knew her well ; If we should vapour out , and pine , and die ; Since , shee first went , that were not miserie ; Shee chang'd our world with hers ; now she is gone , Mirth and prosperity is oppression ; For of all morall vertues she was all , The Ethicks speake of vertues Cardinall ; Her soule was Paradise ; the Cherubin Set to keepe it was grace , that kept out sinne ; Shee had no more then let in death , for wee All reape consumption from one fruitfull tree ; God tooke her hence , lest some of us should love Her , like that plant , him and his lawes above , And when wee teares , hee mercy shed in this , To raise our mindes to heaven where now she is ; Who if her vertues would have let her stay Wee'had had a Saint , have now a holiday ; Her heart was that strange bush , where , sacred fire , Religion , did not consume , but'inspire Such piety , so chast use of Gods day , That what we turne to feast , she turn'd to pray , And did prefigure here , in devout tast , The rest of her high Sabaoth , which shall last ; Angels did hand her up , who next God dwell , ( For she was of that order whence most fell ) Her body left with us , lest some had said , Shee could not die , except they saw her dead ; For from lesse vertue , and lesse beautiousnesse , The Gentiles fram'd them Gods and Goddesses . The ravenous earth that now woes her to be , Earth too , will be a Lemnia ; and the tree That wraps that christall in a wooden Tombe , Shall be tooke up spruce , fill'd with diamond ; And we her sad glad friends all beare a part Of griefe , for all would waste a Stoicks heart . Elegie to the Lady Bedford . YOu that are she , and you that 's double shee , In her dead face , halfe of your selfe shall see ; Shee was the other part , for so they doe Which build them friendships , become one of two ; So two , that but themselves no third can fit , Which were to be so , when they were not yet Twinnes , though their birth Cusco , and Musco take , As divers starres one Constellation make , Pair'd like two eyes , have equall motion , so Both but one meanes to see , one way to goe ; Had you dy'd first , a carcasse shee had beene ; And wee your rich Tombe in her face had seene ; She like the Soule is gone , and you here stay Not a live friend ; but thother halfe of clay ; And since you act that part , As men say , here Lies such a Prince , when but one part is there ; And do all honour : and devotion due ; Unto the whole , so wee all reverence you ; For , such a friendship who would not adore In you , who are all what both was before , Not all , as if some perished by this , But so , as all in you contracted is ; As of this all , though many parts decay , The pure which elemented them shall stay ; And though diffus'd , and spread in infinite , Shall recollect , and in one All unite : So madame , as her Soule to heaven is fled , Her flesh rests in the earth , as in the bed ; Her vertues do , as to their proper spheare , Returne to dwell with you , of whom they were ; As perfect motions are all circular , So they to you , their sea , whence lesse streames are ; Shee was all spices , you all metalls ; so In you two wee did both rich Indies know ; And as no fire , nor rust can spend or waste One dramme of gold , but what was first shall last , Though it bee forc'd in water , earth , salt , aire , Expans'd in infinite , none will impaire ; So , to your selfe you may additions take , But nothing can you lesse , or changed make . Seeke not in seeking new , to seeme to doubt , That you can can match her , or not be without ; But let some faithfull booke in her roome be , Yet but of Iudith no such booke as shee . Elegie . TO make the doubt cleare , that no woman's true , Was it my fate to prove it strong in you ? Thought I , but one had breathed purest aire , And must she needs be false because she 's faire ? Is it your beauties marke , or of your youth , Or your perfection , not to study truth ? Or thinke you heaven is deafe , or hath no eyes ? Or those it hath , smile at your perjuries ? Are vowes so cheape with women , or the matter Whereof they are made , that they are writ in water , And blowne away with winde ? Or doth their breath ( Both hot and cold ) at once make life and death ? Who could have thought so many accents sweet Form'd into words , so many sighs should meete As from our hearts , so many oathes , and teares Sprinkled among , ( all sweeter by our feares And the divine impression of stolne kisses , That seal'd the rest ) should now prove empty blisses ? Did you draw bonds to forfet ? signe to breake ? Or must we reade you quite from what you speake , And finde the truth out the wrong way ? or must Hee first desire you false , would wish you just ? O I prophane , though most of women be This kinde of beast , my thought shall except thee ; My dearest Love , though froward jealousie , With circumstance might urge thy'inconstancie , Sooner I 'll thinke the Sunne will cease to cheare The teeming earth , and that forget to beare , Sooner that rivers will runne back , or Thames With ribs of Ice in June would bind his streames ; Or Nature , by whose strength the world endures , Would change her course , before you alter yours ; But O that treacherous breast to whom weake you Did trust our Counsells , and wee both may rue , Having his falshood found too late , 't was hee That made me cast you guilty , and you me , Whilst he , black wrech , betray'd each simple word Wee spake , unto the cunning of a third ; Curst may hee be , that so our love hath slaine , And wander on the earth , wretched as Cain , Wretched as hee , and not deserve least pitty ; In plaguing him , let misery be witty ; Let all eyes shunne him , and hee shunne each eye , Till hee be noysome as his infamie ; May he without remorse deny God thrice , And not be trusted more on his Soules price ; And after all selfe torment , when hee dyes , May Wolves teare out his heart , Vultures his eyes , Swine eate his bowels , and his falser tongue That utter'd all , be to some Raven flung , And let his carrion coarse be a longer feast To the Kings dogges ; then any other beast ; Now have I curst , let us our love revive ; In mee the flame was never more alive ; I could beginne againe to court and praise , And in that pleasure lengthen the short dayes Of my lifes lease ; like Painters that do take Delight , not in made worke , but whiles they make ; I could renew those times , when first I saw Love in your eyes , that gave my tongue the law To like what you lik'd ; and at maskes and playes Commend the selfe same Actors , the same wayes ; Aske how you did , and often with intent Of being officious , be impertinent ; All which were such soft pastimes , as in these Love was as subtilly catch'd , as a disease ; But being got it is a treasure sweet , Which to defend is harder then to get : And ought not be prophan'd on either part , For though 't is got by chance , 't is kept by art . NO Lover saith , I love , nor any other Can judge a perfect Lover ; Hee thinkes that else none can or will agree , That any loves but hee : I cannot say I lov'd , for who can say Hee was kill'd yesterday . Love with excesse of heat , more yong then old , Death kills with too much cold ; Wee dye but once , and who lov'd last did die , Hee that saith twice , doth lye : For though hee seeme to move , and stirre a while , It doth the sense beguile . Such life is like the light which bideth yet When the lifes light is set , Or like the heat , which , fire in solid matter Leaves behinde , two houres after . Once I love and dyed ; and am now become Mine Epitaph and Tombe . Here dead men speake their last , and so do I ; Love-slaine , loe , here I dye . A Hymne to Christ , at the Authors last going into Germany . IN what torne ship soever I embarke , That ship shall be my embleme of thy Arke ; What sea soever swallow mee , that flood Shall be to mee an embleme of thy blood ; Though thou with clouds of anger do disguise Thy face ; yet through that maske I know those eyes , Which , though they turne away sometimes , They never will despise . I sacrifice this Iland unto thee , And all whom I lov'd there , and who lov'd mee ; When I have put our seas twixt them and mee , Put thou thy seas betwixt my sinnes and thee . As the trees sap doth seeke the root below In winter , in my winter now I goe , Where none but thee , th' Eternall root Of true Love I may know . Nor thou nor thy religion dost controule , The amorousnesse of an harmonious Soule , But thou would'st have that love thy selfe : As thou Art jealous , Lord , so I am jealous now , Thou lov'st not , till from loving more , thou free My soule : Who ever gives , takes libertie : O , if thou car'st not whom I love Alas , thou lov'st not mee . Seale then this bill of my Divorce to All , On whom those fainter beames of love did fall ; Marry those loves , which in youth scattered bee On Fame , Wit , Hopes ( false mistresses ) to thee . Churches are best for Prayer , that have least light : To see God only , I goe out of sight : And to scape stormy dayes , I chuse An Everlasting night . The Lamentations of Ieremy , for the most part according to Tremelius . CHAP. I. 1 HOw sits this citie , late most populous , Thus solitary , and like a widdow thus ? Amplest of Nations , Queene of Provinces She was , who now thus tributary is ? 2 Still in the night shee weepes , and her teares fall Downe by her cheekes along , and none of all Her lovers comfort her ; Perfidiously Her friends have dealt , and now are enemie . 3 Unto great bondage , and afflictions Juda is captive led ; Those nations With whom shee dwells , no place of rest afford , In streights shee meets her Persecutors sword . 4 Emptie are the gates of Sion , and her waies Mourne , because none come to her solemne dayes . Her Priests doe groane , her maides are comfortlesse , And shee 's unto her selfe a bitternesse . 5 Her foes are growne her head , and live at Peace , Because when her transgressions did increase , The Lord strooke her with sadnesse : Th' enemie Doth drive her children to captivitie . 6 From Sions daughter is all beauty gone , Like Harts , which seeke for Pasture , and find none , Her Princes are , and now before the foe Which still pursues them , without strength they go . 7 Now in their daies of Teares , Jerusalem ( Her men slaine by the foe , none succouring them ) Remembers what of old , shee esteemed most , Whiles her foes laugh at her , for what she hath lost . 8 Jerusalem hath sinn'd , therefore is shee Remov'd , as women in uncleannesse bee ; Who honor'd , scorne her , for her foulnesse they Have seene , her selfe doth groane , and turne away . 9 Her foulnesse in her skirts was seene , yet she Remembred not her end ; Miraculously Therefore shee fell , none comforting : Behold O Lord my affliction , for the Foe growes bold . 10 Upon all things where her delight hath beene , The foe hath stretch'd his hand , for shee hath seene Heathen , whom thou command'st , should not doe so , Into her holy Sanctuary goe . 11 And all her people groane , and seeke for bread ; And they have given , only to be fed , All precious things , wherein their pleasure lay : How cheape I'am growne , O Lord , behold , and weigh . 12 All this concernes not you , who passe by mee , O see , and marke if any sorrow bee Like to my sorrow , which Jehova hath Done to mee in the day of his fierce wrath ? 13 That fire , which by himselfe is governed He hath cast from heaven on my bones , and spred A net before my feet , and mee o'rthrowne , And made me languish all the day alone . 14 His hand hath of my sinnes framed a yoake Which wreath'd , and cast upon my neck , hath broke My strength . The Lord unto those enemies Hath given mee , from whence I cannot rise . 15 He under foot hath troden in my sight My strong men ; He did company invite To breake my young men , he the winepresse hath Trod upon Juda's daughter in his wrath . 16 For these things doe I weepe , mine eye , mine eye Casts water out ; For he which should be nigh To comfort mee , is now departed farre , The foe prevailes , forlorne my children are . 17 There 's none , though Sion do stretch out her hand To comfort her , it is the Lords command That Iacobs foes girt him . Ierusalem Is as an uncleane woman amongst them . 18 But yet the Lord is just , and righteous still , I have rebell'd against his holy will ; O heare all people , and my sorrow see , My maides , my young men in captivitie . 19 I called for my lovers then , but they Deceiv'd mee , and my Priests , and Elders lay Dead in the citie ; for they sought for meat Which should refresh their soules , they could not get . 20 Because I am in streights , Iehova see My heart return'd , my bowells muddy bee , Because I have rebell'd so much , as fast The sword without , as death within , doth wast . 21 Of all which heare I mourne , none comforts mee , My foes have heard my griefe , and glad they be , That thou hast done it ; But thy promis'd day Will come , when , as I suffer , so shall they . 22 Let all their wickednesse appeare to thee , Doe unto them , as thou hast done to mee , For all my sinnes : The sighs which I have had Are very many , and my heart is sad . CHAP. II. 1 HOw over Sions daughter hath God hung His wraths thicke cloud ? and from heaven hath flung , To earth the beauty of Israel , and hath Forgot his foot-stoole in the day of wrath ? 2 The Lord unsparingly hath swallowed All Jacobs dwellings , and demolished To ground the strengths of Iuda , and prophan'd The Princes of the Kingdome , and the land . 3 In heat of wrath , the horne of Israel hee Hath cleane cut off , and lest the enemie Be hindred , his right hand he doth retire , But is towards Iacob , All-devouring fire . 4 Like to an enemie he bent his bow , His right hand was in posture of a foe , To kill what Sions daughter did desire , ' Gainst whom his wrath , he poured forth , like fire . 5 For like an enemie Iehova is , Devouring Israel , and his Palaces , Destroying holds , giving additions To Iuda's daughters lamentations . 6 Like to a garden hedge he hath cast downe The place where was his congregation , And Sions feasts and sabbaths are forgot ; Her King , her Priest , his wrath regardeth not . 7 The Lord forsakes his Altar , and detests His Sanctuary , and in the foes hands rests Palace , and the walls , in which their cries Are heard , as in the true solemnities . 8 The Lord hath cast a line , so to confound And levell Sions walls unto the ground , He drawes not back his hand ; which doth oreturne The wall , and Rampart , which together mourne . 9 Their gates are sunke into the ground , and hee Hath broke the barre ; their King and Princes bee Amongst the heathen , without law , nor there Unto their Prophets doth the Lord appeare . 10 There Sions Elders on the ground are plac'd , And silence keepe ; Dust on their heads they cast , In sack cloth have they girt themselves , and low The Virgins towards ground , their heads do throw . 11 My bowells are growne muddy , and mine eyes Are faint with weeping : and my liver lies Pour'd out upon the ground , for miserie That sucking children in the streets doe die . 12 When they had cryed unto their Mothers , where Shall we have bread , and drinke ? they fainted there And in the street like wounded persons lay Till 'twixt their mothers breasts they went away . 13 Daughter Ierusalem , Oh what may bee A witnesse , or comparison for thee ? Sion , to case thee , what shall I name like thee ? Thy breach is like the sea , what help can bee ? 14 For , the vaine foolish things thy Prophets sought , Thee , thine iniquities they have not taught , Which might disturne thy bondage : but for thee False burthens , and false causes they would see . 15 The passengers doe clap their hands , and hisse And wag their head at thee , and say , Is this That citie , which so many men did call Joy of the earth , and perfectest of all ? 16 Thy foes doe gape upon thee , and they hisse , And gnash their teeth , and say , Devoure wee this , For this is certainly the day which wee Expected , and which now we finde , and see . 17 The Lord hath done that which he purposed , Fulfill'd his word of old determined ; He hath throwne downe , and not spar'd , and thy foe Made glad above thee , and advanc'd him so . 18 But now , their hearts against the Lord do call , Therefore , O walls of Sion , let teares fall Downe like a river , day and night ; take thee No rest , but let thine eye incessant be . 19 Arise , cry in the night , poure , for thy sinnes , Thy heart , like water , when the watch begins ; Lift up thy hands to God , lest children dye , Which , faint for hunger , in the streets doe lye . 20 Behold O Lord , consider unto whom Thou hast done this ; what , shall the women come To eate their children of a spanne ? shall thy Prophet and Priest be slaine in Sanctuary ? 21 On ground in streets , the yong and old do lye , My virgins and yong men by sword do dye ; Them in the day of thy wrath thou hast slaine , Nothing did thee from killing them containe . 22 As to a solemne feast , all whom I fear'd Thou call'st about mee ; when his wrath appear'd . None did remaine or scape , for those which I Brought up , did perish by mine enemie . Chap. III. 1 I Am the man which have affliction seene , Under the rod of Gods wrath having beene , 2 He hath led mee to darknesse , not to light , 3 And against mee all day , his hand doth fight . 4 Hee hath broke my bones , worne out my flesh and skinne , 5 Built up against mee ; and hath girt mee in With hemlocke , and with labour ; 6. and set mee In darke , as they who dead for ever bee . 7 Hee hath hedg'd me lest I scape , and added more To my steele fetters , heavier then before , When I crie out , he out shuts my prayer : 9 And hath Stop'd with hewn stone my way , & turn'd my path . 10 And like a Lion hid in secrecie , Or Beare which lyes in wait , he was to mee , 11 He stops my way , teares me , made desolate , 12 And hee makes mee the marke he shooteth at . 13 Hee made the children of his quiver passe Into my reines , 14 I with my people was All the day long , a song and mockery . 15 Hee hath fill'd mee with bitternesse , and he Hath made me drunke with wormewood . 16 He hath burst My teeth with stones , and covered mee with dust ; 17 And thus my Soule farre off from peace was set , And my prosperity I did forget . 18 My strength , my hope ( unto my selfe Isaid ) Which from the Lord should come , is perished . 19 But when my mournings I do thinke upon , My wormwood , hemlocke , and affliction , 20 My Soule is humbled in remembring this ; 21 My heart considers , therefore , hope there is , 22 'T is Gods great mercy we' are not utterly Consum'd , for his compassions do not die ; 23 For every morning they renewed bee , For great , O Lord , is thy fidelity . 24 The Lord is , saith my Soule , my portion , And therefore in him will I hope alone . 25 The Lord is good to them , who on him relie , And to the Soule that seeks him earnestly . 26 It is both good to trust , and to attend ( The Lords salvation ) unto the end : 27'Tis good for one his yoake in youth to beare ; 28 He sits alone , and doth all speech forbeare , Because he hath borne it . 29 And his mouth he layes Deepe in the dust , yet then in hope he stayes . 30 He gives his cheekes to whosoever will Strike him , and so he is reproched still . 31 For , not for ever doth the Lord forsake , 32 But when he' hath strucke with sadnes , hee doth take Compassion , as his mercy ' is infinite ; 33 Nor is it with his heart , that he doth smite , 34 That underfoot the prisoners stamped bee , 35 That a mans right the Judge himselfe doth see To be wrong from him . 36 That he subverted is In his just cause ; the Lord allowes not this : 37 Who then will say , that ought doth come to passe , But that which by the Lord commanded was ? 38 Both good and evill from his mouth proceeds ; 39 Why then grieves any man for his misdeeds ? 40 Turne wee to God , by trying out our wayes ; 41 To him in heaven , our hands with hearts upraise . 42 Wee have rebell'd , and falne away from thee , Thou pardon'st not . 43 Usest no clemencie ; Pursuest us , kill'st us , coverest us with wrath , 44 Cover'st thy selfe with clouds , that our prayer hath No power to passe . 45 And thou hast made us fall As refuse , and off-scouring to them all . 46 All our foes gape at us . 47 , Feare and a snare With ruine , and with waste , upon us are . 48 With water rivers doth mine eye oreflow For ruine of my peoples daughters so ; 49 Mine eye doth drop downe teares incessantly , 50 Untill the Lord looke downe from heaven to see . 51 And for my city daughters sake , mine eye Doth breake mine heart . 52 Causles mine enemy ; Like a bird chac'd me . 53 In a dungeon They have shut my life , and cast me on a stone . 54 Waters flow'd o'r my head , then thought I , I am Destroy'd ; 55 I called Lord , upon thy name Out of the pit . 56 And thou my voice didst heare ; Oh from my sigh , and crye , stop not thine eare . 57 Then when I call'd upon thee , thou drew'st nere Unto mee , and said'st unto mee , do not feare . 58 Thou Lord my Soules cause handled hast , and thou Rescuest my life . 59 O Lord do thou judge now , Thou heardst my wrong . 60 Their vengeance all they have wrought ; 61 How they reproach'd , thou hast heard , and what they thought , 62 What their lips uttered , which against me rose , And what was ever whisper'd by my foes . 63 I am their song , whether they rise or sit , 64 Give them rewards Lord , for their working fit , 65 Sorrow of heart , thy curse . 66 And with thy might Follow , and from under heaven destroy them quite . CAP. IV. 1 HOw is the gold become so dimme ? How is Purest and finest gold thus chang'd to this ? The stones which were stones of the Sanctuary , Scattered in corners of each street do lye . 2 The pretious sonnes of Sion , which should bee Valued at purest gold , how do wee see Low rated now , as earthen Pitchers , stand , Which are the worke of a poore Potters hand . 3 Even the Sea-calfes draw their brests , and give Sucke to their young ; my peoples daughters live By reason of the foes great cruelnesse , As do the Owles in the vast Wildernesse . 4 And when the sucking child doth strive to draw , His tongue for thirst cleaves to his upper jaw . And when for bread the little children crye , There is no man that doth them satisfie . 5 They which before were delicately fed , Now in the streets forlorne have perished , And they which ever were in scarlet cloath'd , Sit and embrace the dunghills which they loath'd . 6 The daughrers of my people have sinned more , Then did the towne of Sodome sinne before ; Which being at once destroy'd , there did remaine No hands amongst them , to vexe them againe . 7 But heretofore purer her Nazarite Was then the snow , and milke was not so white ; As carbuncles did their pure bodies shine , And all their polish'dnesse was Seraphine . 8 They are darker now then blacknes , none can know Them by the face , as through the street they goe , For now their skin doth cleave unto their bone , And withered , is like to dry wood growne . 9 Better by sword then famine 't is to dye ; And better through pierc'd , then by penury , 10 Women by nature pitifull , have eate Their children drest with their owne hand for meat . 11 Iehova here fully accomplish'd hath His indignation , and powr'd forth his wrath , Kindled a fire in Sion , which hath power To eate , and her foundations to devour . 12 Nor would the Kings of the earth , nor all which live In the inhabitable world beleeve , That any adversary , any foe Into Ierusalem should enter so ; 13 For the Priests sins , and Prophets , which have shed Blood in the streets , and the just murthered : 14 Which when those men , whom they made blinde , did stray Thorough the streets , defiled by the way With blood , the which impossible it was Their garments should scape touching , as they passe , 15 Would cry aloud , depart defiled men , Depart , depart , and touch us not , and then They fled , and strayd , and with the Gentiles were , Yet told their friends , they should not long dwell ; there . 16 For this they are scattered by Jehovahs face VVho never will regard them more ; No grace Unto their old men shall the foe afford , Nor , that they are Priests , redeeme them from the sword . 17 And wee as yet , for all these miseries Desiring our vaine helpe , consume our eyes : And such a nation as cannot save , VVe in desire and speculation have : 18 They hunt our steps , that in the streets wee feare To goe : our end is now approached neere , Our dayes accomplish'd are , this the last day , Eagles of heaven are not so swift as they 19 VVhich follow us , o'r mountaine tops they flye At us , and for us in the desart lye . 20 The annointed Lord , breath of our nostrils , hee Of whom we said , under his shadow , wee Shall with more ease under the Heathen dwell , Into the pit which these men digged , fell 21 Rejoyce O Edoms daughter , joyfull bee Thou which inhabitst her , for unto thee This cup shall passe , and thou with drunkennesse Shalt fill thy selfe , and shew thy nakednesse . 22 And then they sinnes O Sion , shall be spent , The Lord will not leave thee in banishment . Thy sinnes O Edoms daughter , hee will see , And for them , pay thee with captivitie . CAP. V. 1 REmember , O Lord , what is fallen on us See , and marke how we are reproached thus , 2 For unto strangers our possession Is turn'd , our houses unto Aliens gone , 3 Our mothers are become as widowes , wee As Orphans all , and without fathers be ; 4 Waters which are our owne , wee drunke , and pay , And upon our owne wood a price they lay , 5 Our persecutors on our necks do sit , They make us travaile , and not intermit , 6 We stretch our hands unto th' Egyptians To get us bread ; and to the Assyrians . 7 Our Fathers did these sinnes , and are no more , But wee do beare the sinnes they did before . 8 They are but servants , which do rule us thus , Yet from their hands none would deliver us . 9 With danger of our life our bread wee gat ; For in the wildernesse , the sword did wait . 10 The tempests of this famine wee liv'd in , Black as an Ocean colour'd had our kinne : 11 In Iudaes cities they the maids abus'd By force , and so women in Sion us'd . 12 The Princes with their hands they hung ; no grace Nor honour gave they to the Elders face . 13 Unto the mill our yong men carried are , And children fell under the wood they bare . 14 Elders , the gates ; youth did their songs forbeare , Gone was our joy ; our dancings , mournings were . 15 Now is the crowne falne from our head ; and woe Be unto us , because we'have sinned so . 16 For this our hearts do languish , and for this Over our eyes a cloudy dimnesse is . 17 Because mount Sion desolate doth lye , And foxes there do goe at libertie : 18 But thou O Lord art ever , and thy throne From generation , to generation . 19 Why should'st thou forget us eternally ? Or leave us thus long in this misery ? 20 Restore us Lord to thee , that so we may Returne , and as of old , renew our day . 21 For oughtest thou , O Lord , despise us thus 22 And to be utterly enrag'd at us ? SATYRES . Satyre I. AWay thou fondling motley humorist , Leave mee , and in this standing woodden chest , Consorted with these few bookes , let me lye In prison , and here be coffin'd , when I dye ; Here are Gods conduits ; grave Divines , and here Natures Secretary , the Philosopher . And jolly Statesmen , which teach how to tie The sinewes of a cities mistique bodie ; Here gathering Chroniclers , and by them stand Giddie fantastique Poëts of each land . Shall I leave all this constant company , And follow headlong , wild uncertaine thee ? First sweare by thy best love in earnest ( If thou which lov'st all , canst love any best ) Thou wilt not leave mee in the middle street , Though some more spruce companion thou dost meet , Not though a Captaine do come in thy way Bright parcell gilt , with forty dead mens pay , Not though a briske perfum'd piert Courtier Deigne with a nod , thy courtesie to answer . Nor come a velvet Justice with a long Great traine of blew coats , twelve , or fourteen strong , Wilt thou grin or fawne on him , or prepare A speech to Court his beautious sonne and heire ? For better or worse take mee , or leave mee : To take , and leave mee is adultery . Oh monstrous , superstitious puritan , Of refin'd manners , yet ceremoniall man , That when thou meet'st one , with enquiring eyes ; Dost search , and like a needy broker prize The silke , and gold he weares , and to that rate So high or low , dost raise thy formall hate : That wilt consort none , untill thou have knowne What lands hee hath in hope , or of his owne , As though all thy companions should make thee Jointures , and marry thy deare company . Why should'st thou that dost not onely approve , But in ranke it chie lust , desire , and love The nakednesse and barrennesse to enjoy , of thy plumpe muddy whore , or prostitute boy Hate vertue , though shee be naked , and bare , At birth , and death , our bodies naked are ; And till our Soules be unapparrelled Of bodies , they from blisse are banished . Mans first blest state was naked , when by sinne Hee lost that , yet hee was cloath'd but in beasts skin , And in this course attire , which I now weare With God , and with the Muses I conferre . But since thou like a contrite penitent , Charitably warm'd of thy sinnes , dost repent These vanities , and giddinesses , loe I shut my chamber doore , and come , le ts goe , But sooner may a cheape whore , who hath beene Worne by as many severall men in sinne , As are black feathers , or musk-colour hose , Name her childs right true father , ' mongst all those : Sooner may one guesse , who shall beare away The infant of London , Heire to an India , And sooner may a gulling weather Spie By drawing forth heavens Sceanes tell certainly What fashioned hats , or ruffes , or suits next yeare Our subtile wittied antique youths will weare ; Then thou , when thou depart'st from mee , can show Whither , why , when , or with whom thou wouldst go . But how shall I be pardon'd my offence That thus have sinn'd against my conscience . Now we are in the street ; He first of all Improvidently proud , creepes to the wall , And so imprisoned , and hem'd in by mee Sells for a little state high libertie , Yet though he cannot skip forth now to greet Every fine silken painted foole we meet , He then to him with amorous smiles allures , And grins , smacks , shrugs , and such an itch endures , As prentises , or schoole boyes which doe know Of some gay sport abroad , yet dare not goe . And as fidlers stop lowest , at highest sound , So to the most brave , stoopt hee nigh'st the ground . But to a grave man , he doth move no more Then the wise politique horse would heretofore , Now leaps he upright , Joggs me , & cryes , Do you see Yonder well favoured youth ; Which ? Oh , 't is hee That dances so divinely ; Oh , said I , Stand still , must you dance here for company ? Hee droopt , wee went , till one ( which did excell Th'Indians , in drinking his Tobacco well ) Met us , they talk'd ; I whispered , let us goe , 'T may be you smell him not , truely I doe ; He heares not mee , but , on the other side A many-coloured Peacock having spide , Leaves him and mee ; I for my lost sheep stay ; He followes , overtakes , goes on the way , Saying , him whom I last left , s'all repute For his device , in hansoming a sute , To judge of lace , pinke , panes , print , cut , and plight , Of all the Court , to have the best conceit ; Our dull Comedians want him , let him goe ; But Oh , God strengthen thee , why stoop'st thou so ? Why , he hath travailed long ? no , but to me Which understand none , he doth seeme to be Perfect French , and Italian ; I replyed , So is the Poxe ; He answered not , but spy'd More men of sort , of parts , and qualities ; At last his Love he in a windowe spies , And like light dew exhal'd , he flings from mee Violently ravish'd to his liberty ; Many were there , he could command no more ; Hee quarrell'd , fought , bled ; and turn'd out of dore Directly came to mee hanging the head , And constantly a while must keepe his bed . Satyre II. SIr ; though ( I thanke God for it ) I do hate Perfectly all this towne , yet there 's one state In all ill things so excellently best , That hate , toward them , breeds pitty towards the rest ; Though Poëtry indeed be such a sinne As I thinke that brings dearth , and Spaniards in , Though like the Pestilence and old fashion'd love , Ridlingly it catch men ; and doth remove Never , till it be sterv'd out ; yet their state Is poore , disarm'd , like Papists , not worth hate : One , ( like a wretch , which at Barre judg'd as dead , Yet prompts him which stands next , and cannot reade , And saves his life ) gives ideot actors meanes ( Starving himselfe ) to live by his labor'd sceanes . As in some Organ , Puppits dance above And bellows pant below , which thē do move . One would move Love by rithmes ; but witchchrafts charms Bring not now their old feares , nor their old harmes . Rammes , and slings now are seely battery , Pistolets are the best Artillerie . And they who write to Lords , rewards to get , Are they not like singers at doores for meat ? And they who write , because all write , have still That excuse for writing , and for writing ill ; But hee is worst , who ( beggarly ) doth chaw Others wits fruits , and in his ravenous maw Rankly digested , doth those things out-spue , As his owne things ; and they are his owne , 't is true , For if one eate my meate , though it be knowne The meate was mine , th'excrement is his owne : But these do mee no harme , nor they which use To out-doe , and out-usure Jewes ; To out-drinke the sea , to out-sweare the Who with sinnes of all kindes as familiar bee As Confessors ; and for whose sinfull sake Schoolemen , new tenements in hell must make : Whose strange sinnes , Canonists could hardly tell In which Commandements large receit they dwell . But these punish themselves ; the insolence Of Coscus onely breeds my just offence , Whom time ( which rots all , and makes botches poxe , And plodding on , must make a calfe an oxe ) Hath made a Lawyer ; which was alas of late But scarce a Poët , jollier of this state , Then are new benefic'd ministers , he throwes Like nets , or lime-twigs , wheresoever he goes , His title of Barrister , on every wench , And wooes in language of the Pleas , and Bench : A motion , Lady , Speake Coscus ; I have beene In love , ever since tricesimo of the Queene , Continuall claimes I have made , injunctions got To stay my rivals suit , that hee should not Proceed , spare mee ; In Hillary terme I went , You said If I Returne next size in Lent , I should be in remitter of your grace ; In th' interim my letters should take place Of affidavits : words , words , which would teare The tender labyrinth of a soft maids eare . More , more , then ten Sclavonians scolding , more Then when winds in our ruin'd Abbeyes rore ; When sicke with Poëtrie , and possest with muse Thou wast , and mad , I hop'd ; but men which chuse Law practise for meere gaine ; bold soule repute Worse then imbrothel'd strumpets prostitute . Now like an owlelike watchman , hee must walke His hand still at a bill , now he must talke Idly , like prisoners , which whole months will sweare That onely suretiship hath brought them there , Like a wedge in a blocke , wring to the barre , Bearing like Asses , and more shamelesse farre Then carted wheres , lye , to the grave Judge ; for As these things do in him ; by these he thrives . Shortly ( as the sea ) hee will compasse all the land ; Form Scots , to Wight ; from Mount , to Dover strand , And spying heires melting with luxurie , Satan will not joy at their sinnes , as hee . For as a thrifty wench scrapes kitching-stuffe , And barrelling the droppings , and the snuffe , Of wasting candles , which in thirty yeare ( Reliquely kept ) perchance buyes wedding geare ; Peecemeale he gets lands , and spends as much time Wringing each Acre , as men pulling prime . In parchment then , large as his fields , hee drawes Assurances , bigge , as gloss'd civill lawes , So huge , that men ( in our times forwardnesse ) Are Fathers of the Church for writing lesse . These hee writes not ; nor for these written payes , Therefore spares no length ; as in those first dayes When Luther was profest , he did desire Short Pater nosters , saying as a Fryer Each day his beads , but having left those lawes , Addes to Christs prayer , the Power and glory clause , But when he sells or changes land , he'impaires His writings , and ( unwatch'd ) leaves out , ses heires As slily as any Commenter goes by , Hard words , or sense ; or in Divinity As controverters , in vouch'd Texts , leave out Shrewd words , which might against them cleare the doubt : Where are those spred woods which cloth'd hertofore Those bought lands ? not built , nor burnt within dore . Where 's th' old landlords troops , & almes , great hals ? Carthusian fasts , and fulsome Bachanalls Equally I hate , meanes blesse ; in rich mens homes I bid kill some beasts , but no Hecatombs , None starve , none surfet so ; But ( Oh ) we allow , Good workes as good , but out of fashion now , Like old rich wardrops ; but my words none drawes Within the vast reach of th'huge statute lawes . Satyre III. KInde pitty chokes my spleene ; brave scorn forbids Those teares to issue which swell my eye-lids , I must not laugh , nor weepe sinnes , and be wise , Can railing then cure these worne maladies ? Is not our Mistresse faire Religion , As worthy of all our Soules devotion , As vertue was in the first blinded age ? Are not heavens joyes as valiant to asswage Lusts , as earths honour was to them ? Alas , As wee do them in meanes , shall they surpasse Us in the end , and shall thy fathers spirit Meete blinde Philosophers in heaven , whose merit Of strict life may be imputed faith , and heare Thee , whom hee taught so easie wayes and neare To follow , damn'd ? O if thou dar'st , feare this . This feare great courage , and high valour is ; Dar'st thou ayd mutinous-Dutch , and dar'st thou lay Thee in ships woodden Sepulchers , a prey To leaders rage , to stormes , to shot , to dearth ? Dar'st thou dive seas , and dungeons of the earth ? Hast thou couragious fite to thaw the ice Of frozen North discoueries , and thrise Colder then Salamanders ? like divine Children in th'oven , fires of Spaine , and the line ; Whose countries limbecks to our bodies bee , Canst thou for gaine beare ? and must every hee Which cryes not , Goddesse , to thy Mistresse , draw , Or eate thy poysonous words , courage of straw ! O desperate coward , wilt thou seeme bold , and To thy foes and his ( who made thee to stand Sentinell in his worlds garrison ) thus yeeld , And for forbidden warres , leave th' appointed field ? Know thy foe , the foule devill h 'is , whom thou Strivest to please : for hate , not love , would allow Thee faine , his whole Realme to be quit ; and as The world 's all parts wither away and passe , So the worlds selfe , thy other lov'd foe , is In her decrepit wayne , and thou loving this , Dost love a withered and worne strumpet ; last , Flesh ( it selfe death ) and joyes which flesh can taste , Thou lovest ; and thy faire goodly soule , which doth Give this flesh power to taste joy , thou dost loath ; Seeke true religion . O where ? Mirreus Thinking her unhous'd her , and fled from us , Seekes her at Rome , there , because hee doth know That shee was there a thousand yeares agoe , He loves the ragges so , as wee here obey The statecloth where the Prince sate yesterday . Crants to such brave Loves will not be inthrall'd , But loves her onely , who at Geneva is call'd Religion , plaine , simple , sullen , yong , Contemptuous , yet unhansome . As among Lecherous humors , there is one that judges No wenches wholsome , but course country drudges : Graius stayes still at home here , and because Some Preachers , vile ambitious bauds , and lawes Still new like fashions , bids him thinke that shee Which dwels with us , is onely perfect , hee Imbraceth her , whom his Godfathers will Tender to him , being tender , as Wards still Take such wives as their Guardians offer , or Pay valewes . Carelesse Phrygius doth abhorre All , because all cannot be good , as one Knowing some women whores , dares marry none . Graccus loves all as one , and thinkes that so As women do in divers countries goe In divers habits , yet are still one kinde ; So doth , so is Religion ; and this blindnesse too much light breeds ; but unmoved thou Of force must one , and forc'd but one allow ; And the right ; aske thy father which is shee , Let him aske his ; though truth and falshood bee Neare twins , yet truth a little elder is ; Be busie to seeke her , beleeve mee this , Hee 's not of none , nor worst , that seekes the best . To adore , or scorne an image , or protest , May all be bad ; doubt wisely , in strange way To stand inquiring right , is not to stray ; To sleepe , or runne wrong , is : on a huge hill , Cragg'd , and steep , Truth stands , and hee that will Reach her , about must , and about must goe ; And what the hills suddennes resists , winne so ; Yet strive so , that before age , deaths twilight , Thy Soule rest , for none can worke in that night , To will , implyes delay , therefore now doe Hard deeds , the bodies paines ; hard knowledge to The mindes indeavours reach , and mysteries Are like the Sunne , dazling , yet plaine to all eyes ; Keepe the truth which thou hast found ; men do not stand In so ill case , that God hath with his hand Sign'd Kings blanck-charters to kill whom they hate , Nor are they Vicars , but hangmen to Fate . Foole and wretch , wilt thou let thy Soule be tyed To mans lawes , by which she shall not be tryed At the last day ? Will it then boot thee To say a Philip , or a Gregory , A Harry , or a Martin taught thee this ? Is not this excuse for mere contraries , Equally strong cannot both sides say so ? That thou mayest rightly obey power , her bounds know ; Those past , her nature , & name is chang'd to be , Then humble to her is idolatrie ; As streames are , Power is , those blest flowers that dwell At the rough streames calme head , thrive and do well , But having left their roots , and themselves given To the streames tyrannous rage , alas are driven Through mills , & rockes , & woods , and at last , almost Consum'd in going , in the sea are lost : So perish Soules , which more chuse mens unjust Power from God claym'd , then God himselfe to trust . Satyre IIII. WEll ; I may now receive , and die ; My sinne Indeed is great , but I have beene in A Purgatorie , such as fear'd hell is A recreation , and scant map of this . My minde , neither with prides itch , nor yet hath been Poyson'd with love to see , or to bee seene , I had no suit there , nor new suite to shew , Yet went to Court ; But as Glaze which did goe To Masse in jest , catch'd , was faine to disburse The hundred markes , which is the Statutes curse ; Before he scapt , So'it pleas'd my destinie ( Guilty of my sin of going , ) to thinke me As prone to all ill , and of good as forgetfull , as proud , as lustfull , and as much in debt , As vaine , as witlesse , and as false as they Which dwell in Court , for once going that way . Therefore I suffered this ; Towards me did runne A thing more strange , then on Niles slime , the Sunne E'r bred , or all which into Noahs Arke came : A thing , which would have pos'd Adam to name , Stranger then seaven Antiquaries studies , Then Africks Monsters , Guianaes rarities , Stranger then strangers ; One , who for a Dane , In the Danes Massacre had sure beene slaine , If he had liv'd then ; And without helpe dies , When next the Prentises'gainst Strangers rise . One , whom the watch at noone lets scarce goe by , One , to whom , the examining Justice sure would cry , Sir , by your priesthood tell me what you are . His cloths were strāge , though coarse ; & black , though bare ; Sleevelesse his jerkin was , and it had beene Velvet , but 't was now ( so much ground was seene ) Become Tufftaffatie ; and our children shall See it plaine Rashe awhile , then nought at all . This thing hath travail'd , and saith , speakes all tongues And only knoweth what to all States belongs , Made of th' Accents , and best phrase of all these , He speakes one language ; If strange meats displease , Art can deceive , or hunger force my tast , But Pedants motley tongue , souldiers bumbast , Mountebankes drugtongue , nor the termes of law Are strong enough preparatives , to draw Me to beare this , yet I must be content With his tongue : in his tongue , call'd complement : In which he can win widdowes , and pay scores , Make men speake treason , cosen subtlest whores , Out-flatter favorites , or out lie either Jovius , or Surius , or both together . He names mee , and comes to mee ; I whisper , God! How have I sinn'd , that thy wraths furious rod , This fellow chuseth me ? He saith , Sir , I love your judgement ; Whom doe you prefer , For the best linguist ? And I seelily Said , that I thought Calepines Dictionarie ; Nay , but of men , most sweet Sir. Beza then , Some Jesuites , and two reverend men Of our two Academies , I named ; There He stopt mee , and said ; Nay , your Apostles were Good pretty linguists , and so Panirge was ; Yet a poore gentleman ; All these may passe By travaile . Then , as if he would have sold His tongue , he praised it , and such words told That I was faine to say , If you'had liv'd , Sir , Time enough to have beene Interpreter To Babells brick layers , sure the Tower had stood . He adds , If of court life you knew the good , You would leave lonelinesse ; I said , not alone My lonelinesse is , but Spartanes fashion , To teach by painting drunkards , doth not last Now ; Aretines pictures have made few chast ; No more can Princes courts , though there be few Better pictures of vice , teach me vertue ; He , like to a high stretcht lute string squeakt , O Sir , 'T is sweet to talke of Kings . At Westminster , Said I , The man that keepes the Abbey tombes , And for his price doth with who ever comes , Of all our Harries , and our Edwards talke , From King to King and all their kin can walke : Your eares shall heare nought , but Kings ; your eyes meet Kings only ; The way to it , is Kingstreet . He smack'd , and cry'd , He 's base , Mechanique , coarse , So are all your Englishmen in their discourse . Are not your Frenchmen neate ? Fine , as you see , I have but one frenchman , looke , hee followes mee . Certes they are neatly cloth'd . I , of this minde am , Your only wearing is your Grogaram ; Not so Sir , I have more . Under this pitch He would not flie ; I chaff'd him ; But as Itch Scratch'd into smart , and as blunt iron grown'd Into an edge , hurts worse : So , I foole found , Crossing hurt mee ; To fit my sullennesse , He to another key , his stile doth addresse . And askes , what newes ? I tell him of new playes . He takes my hand , and as a Still , which staies A Sembriefe , 'twixt each drop , he nigardly , As loth to enrich mee , so tells many a lie , More then ten Hollensheads , or Halls , or Stowes , Of triviall houshold trash ; He knowes ; He knowes When the Queene frown'd , or smil'd , and he knowes A subtle States-man may gather of that ; He knowes who loves ; whom ; and who by poyson what Hasts to an Offices reversion ; He knowes who'hath sold his land , and now doth beg A licence , old iron , bootes , shooes , and egge - shels to transport ; Shortly boyes shall not play At span-counter , or blow-point , but shall pay Toll to some Courtier ; And wiser then all us , He knowes what Ladie is not painted ; Thus He with home-meats tries me ; I belch , spue , spit , Looke pale , and sickly , like a Patient ; Yet He thrusts on more ; And as if he'undertooke To say Gallo-Belgicus without booke Speakes of all States , and deeds , that hath been since The Spaniards came , to the losse of Amyens . Like a bigge wife , at sight of loathed meat , Readie to travaile : So I sigh , and sweat To heare this Makeron talke in vaine : For yet , Either my humour , or his owne to fit , He like a priviledg'd spie , whom nothing can Discredit , Libells now ' gainst each great man. He names a price for every office paid ; He saith , our warres thrive ill , because delai'd ; That offices are entail'd , and that there are Perpetuities of them , lasting as farre As the last day ; And that great officers , Doe with the Pirates share , and Dunkirkers . Who wasts in meat , in clothes , in horse , he notes ; Who loves Whores , who boyes , and who goats . I more amas'd then Circes prisoners , when They felt themselves turne beasts , felt my selfe then Becomming Traytor , and mee thought I saw One of our Giant Statutes ope his jaw To sucke me in , for hearing him . I found Therefore I did shew All signes of loathing ; But since I am in , I must pay mine , and my forefathers sinne To the last farthing ; Therefore to my power Toughly and stubbornly I beare this crosse ; But the ' houre Of mercy now was come ; He tries to bring Me to pay a fine to scape his torturing , And saies , Sir , can you spare me ; I said , willingly ; Nay , Sir , can you spare me a crowne ? Thankfully I Gave it , as Ransome ; But as fidlers , still , Though they be paid to be gone , yet needs will Thrust one more jigge upon you : so did hee With his long complementall thankes vexe me . But he is gone , thankes to his needy want , And the prerogative of my Crowne : Scant His thankes were ended , when I , ( which did see All the court fill'd with more strange things then hee ) Ran from thence with such or more hast , then one Who feares more actions , doth hast from prison ; At home in wholesome solitarinesse My precious soule began , the wretchednesse Of suiters at court to mourne , and a trance Like his , who dreamt he saw hell , did advance It selfe on mee , Such men as he saw there , I saw at court , and worse , and more ; Low feare Becomes the guiltie , not the accuser ; Then , Shall I , nones slave , of high borne , or rais'd men Feare frownes ? And , my Mistresse Truth , betray thee To huffing , braggart , puft Nobility . No , no , Thou which since yesterday hast beene Almost about the whole world , hast thou seene , O Sunne , in all thy journey , Vanitie , Such as swells the bladder of our court ? I Thinke he which made your waxen garden , and Transported it from Italy to stand With us , at London , flouts our Presence , for Just such gay painted things , which no sappe , nor Tast have in them , ours are , And naturall Some of the stocks are , their fruits , bastard all . 'T is ten a clock and past ; All whom the Mues , Baloune , Tennis , Dyet , or the stewes , Had all the morning held , now the second Time made ready , that day , in flocks , are found In the Presence , and I , ( God pardon mee . ) As fresh , and sweet their Apparrells be , as bee The fields they sold to buy them ; For a King Those hose are , cry the flatterers ; And bring Them next weeke to the Theatre to sell ; Wants reach all states ; Me seemes they doe as well At stage , as court ; All are players , who e'r lookes ( For themselves dare not goe ) o'r Cheapside books , Shall finde their wardrops Inventory ; Now , The Ladies come ; As Pirats , which doe know That there came weak ships fraught with Cutchannel , The men board them ; and praise , as they thinke , well , Their beauties ; they the mens wits ; Both are bought . Why good wits ne'r weare scarlet gownes , I thought This cause , These men , mens wits for speeches buy , And women buy all reds which scarlets die . He call'd her beauty limetwigs , her haire net . She feares her drugs ill laid , her haire loose set ; Would not Heraclitus laughto see Macrine , From hat , to shooe , himselfe at doore refine , As if the Presence were a Moschite , and lift His skirts and hose , and call his clothes to shrift , Making them confesse not only mortall Great staines and holes in them ; but veniall Feathers and dust , wherewith they fornicate . And then by Durers rules survay the state Of his each limbe , and with strings the odds tries Of his neck to his legge , and wast to thighes . So in immaculate clothes , and Symetrie Perfect as circles , with such nicetie As a young Preacher at his first time goes To preach , he enters , and a Lady which owes Him not so much as good will , he arrests , And unto her protests protests protests So much as at Rome would serve to have throwne Ten Cardinalls into the Inquisition ; And whisperd by Jesu , so often , that A Pursevant would have ravish'd him away For saying of our Ladies psalter ; But 't is fit That they each other plague , they merit it . But here comes Glorius that will plague them both , Who , in the other extreme , only doth Call a rough carelessenesse , good fashion ; Whose cloak his spurres teare ; whom he spits on He cares not , His ill words doe no harme To him ; he rusheth in , as if arme , arme , He meant to crie ; And though his face be as ill As theirs which in old hangings whip Christ , yet still He strives to looke worse , he keepes all in awe ; Jeasts like a licenc'd foole , commands like law . Tyr'd , now I leave this place , and but pleas'd so As men from gaoles to'execution goe , Goe through the great chamber ( why is it hung With the seaven deadly sinnes ) being among Those Askaparts , men big enough to throw Charing Crosse for a barre , men that doe know No token of worth , but Queenes man , and fine Living barrells of beefe , flaggons of wine . I shooke like a spyed Sple ; Preachers which are Seas of Wits and Arts , you can , then dare , Drowne the sinnes of this place , for , for mee Which am but a scarce brooke , it enough shall bee To wash the staines away ; though I yet With Macchabees modestie , the knowne merit Of my worke lessen : yet some wise man shall , I hope , esteeme my writs Canonicall . Satyre V. THou shalt not laugh in this leafe , Muse , nor they Whom any pitty warmes ; He which did lay Rules to make Courtiers , ( hee being understood May make good Courtiers , but who Courtiers good ? ) Frees from the sting of jests all who in extreme Are wreched or wicked : of these two a theame Charity and liberty give me . What is hee Who Officers rage , and Suiters misery Can write , and jest ? If all things be in all , As I thinke , since all , which were , are , and shall Bee , be made of the same elements : Each thing , each thing employes or represents , Then man is a world ; in which , Officers , Are the vast ravishing seas ; and Suiters , Springs ; now full , now shallow , now drye ; which , to That which drownes them , run : These selfe reasons do Prove the world a man , in which , officers Are the devouring stomacke , and Suiters The excrements , which they voyd ; all men are dust , How much worse are Suiters , who to mens lust Are made preyes . O worse then dust , or wormes meat , For they do eate you now , whose selves wormes shall eate . They are the mills which grinde you , yet you are The winde which drives them ; and a wastfull warre Is fought against you , and you fight it ; they Adulterate lawe , and you prepare their way Like wittals , th' issue your owne ruine is ; Greatest and fairest Empresse , know you this ? Alas , no more then Thames calme head doth know Whose meades her armes drowne , or whose corne o'rflow : You Sir , whose righteousnes she loves , whō I By having leave to serve , am most richly For service paid , authorized , now beginne To know and weed out this enormous sinne . O Age of rusty iron ! Some better wit Call it some worse name , if ought equall it ; The iron Age that was , when justice was sold , now Injustice is sold deerer farre ; allow All demands , fees , and duties ; gamsters , anon The mony which you sweat , and sweare for , is gon Into other hands : So controverted lands Scape , like Angelica , the strivers hands . If Law be in the Judges heart , and hee Have no heart to resist letter , or fee , Where wilt thou appeale ? powre of the Courts below Flow from the first maine head , and these can throw Thee , if they sucke thee in , to misery , To fetters , halters ; But if the injury Steele thee to dare complaine ; Alas , thou goest Against the stream , when upwards : when thou art most Heavy and most faint ; and in these labours they , ' Gainst whom thou should'st complaine , will in the way Become great seas , o'r which , when thou shalt bee Forc'd to make golden bridges , thou shalt see That all thy gold was drown'd in them before ; All things follow their like , only , who have , may have more Judges are Gods ; he who made and said them so , Meant not that men should be forc'd to them to goe , By meanes of Angels ; When supplications We send to God , to Dominations , Powers , Cherubins , and all heavens Court , if wee Should pay fees as here , Daily bread would be Scarce to Kings ; so 't is , would it not anger A Stoicke , a coward , yea a Martyr , To see a Pursivant come in , and call All his cloathes , Copes ; Bookes , Primers ; and all His Plate , Challices ; and mistake them away , And lack a fee for comming ; Oh , ne'r may Faire lawes white reverend name be strumpeted , To warrant thefts : she is established Recorder to Destiny , on earth , and shee Speakes Fates words , and tells who must bee Rich , who poore , who in chaires , who in jayles : Shee is all faire , but yet hath foule long nailes , With which she scracheth Suiters ; In bodies Of men ; so in law , nailes are extremities , So Officers stretch to more then Law can doe , As our nailes reach what no else part comes to . Why barest thou to you Officer ? Foole , Hath hee Got those goods , for which men bared to thee ? Foole , twice , thrice , thou hast bought wrong , and now hungerly Beg'st right ; But that dole comes not till these dye . Thou had'st much , & lawes Urim and Thummim trie Thou wouldst for more ; and for all hast paper Enough to cloath all the great Carricks Pepper . Sell that , and by that thou much more shalt leese , Then Haman , when he sold his Antiquities . O wretch that thy fortunes should moralize Esops fables , and make tales , prophesies . Thou art the swimming dog whom shadows cosened , And div'st , neare drowning , for what vanished . A Hymne to God the Father : I. WIlt thou forgive that sinne where I begunne , which was my sin , though it were done before ? Wilt thou forgive that sinne ; through which I runne , And do run still : though still I do deplore ? When thou hast done , thou hast not done , For , I have more . II. Wilt thou forgive that sinne which I have wonne Others to sinne ? and , made my sinne their doore ? Wilt thou forgive that sinne which I did shunne A yeare , or two : but wallowed in , a score ? When thou hast done , thou hast not done , For I have more . III. I have a sinne of feare , that when I have spunne My last thred , I shall perish on the shore ; But sweare by thy selfe , that at my death thy sonne Shall shine as he shines now , and heretofore ; And , having done that , Thou haste done , I feare no more . Letters . HEN. GOODEERE . ETiam vulgari linguâ scriptae testantur literae nos amicorum meminisse , sed alienâ , nos de illis meditari . In illis enim affulgent nobis de amicis cogitatiunculae , sed ut matutinae stellae transeunt , & evanescunt : In his autē haeremus , & immoramur , & amicos uti solem ipsum permanentem nobiscum degentemque contemplamur ; Habes cur Latinè . Ipsius etiam scribendi audi rationem . Peto consilium , in quo simul amicitiam profiteor meam , tuâmque agnosco : Etenim non libenter nosmetipsos exuimus , aut in ingenij prudentiaeve dotibus aliorum nos fatemur indigos . Nec certè quicquam quisquam ( sit modò ingenuus ) ei denegabit à quo consilium petiit . Quod enim divina sapientia extremum charitatis terminum posuerat , animam ponere , idem regularum Ecclesiae tractatores ( quod ipsimet Canonici crassam aequitatem vocant ) de fama & honore cedendo asserunt & usurpant . Certè , non tam beneficiis obnoxii quam consiliis reddimur . Sed ad rem . Philosophentur otiosiores , aut quibus otia sua negotia appellare lubet : Nobis enim nos dudum perspicui sumus & fenestrati . Elucescit mihi nova , nec inopportuna , nec inutilis ( paulò quàm optaram fortassis magis inhonora ) occasio extera visendi regna , liberosque perquam amantissimae conjugis charissima pignora , caeteraque hujus aurae oblectamenta , aliquot ad annos relinquendi . De hoc ut tecum agerem te convenire cupio : Quod ( etsi nec id recusem ) nollem in aedibus Barlotianis . Habeo cur abstineam . Amicitiae enim nec veteris , nec ita strictae munera paulò quàm deceat imprudentiori impetu mihi videor ibi peregisse . Prandere si vacat foras , aut caenare , horulamve perdere pomeridianam , aut matutinam liceat mihi illud apud Rabbinum Lincombum jam commoranti per te intelligere , & satis mihi fiet . Interim seponas ero chartulas meas , quas cum sponsione citae redhibitionis ( ut barbarè , sed cum ingeniosissimo Appollinari loquar ) accepisti . Inter quas , si epigrammata mea Latina , & Catalogus librorum satyricus non sunt , non sunt ; extremum iuditium , hoc est , manum ultimam jamjam subiturae sunt . Earum nonnullae Purgatorium suum passurae , ut correctiores emanent . Alia quorum me inscio in mundum erepserunt , exempla tamen in archetypis igne absumpta fatebuntur se à me ad Inferos damnata esse . Reliquae quae aut virgines sunt ( nisi quod à multis contrectatae ) aut ita infoeliciter steriles , ut ab illis nulla ingenita sunt exemplaria , penitus in annihilationem ( quod flagitiosissimis non minatur Deus ) corruent & dilabentur . Vale & amore meo fruere quem vetat fortuna sola ne uti possis . Et nisi animo candido ingenuave mea libertate gaudere malis , habe tibi mancipium JO. DONNE . To Sir. H. G. I Send not my Letters as tribute , nor interest , nor recompence , nor for commerce , nor as testimonialls of my love , nor provokers of yours , nor to justifie my custome of writing , nor for a vent and utterance of my meditations ; For my letters are either above or under all such offices , yet I write very affectionately , and Lehide and accuse my selfe of diminishing that affection which sends them , when I aske my selfe why . Only I am sure that I desire that you might have in your hands letters of mine of all kindes , as conveyances and deliverers of mee to you , whether you accept me as a friend , or as a patient , or as a penitent , or as a Bedesman , for I decline no jurisdiction , nor refuse any tenure . I would not open any doore upon you , but looke in when you open it . Angells have not , nor affect not other knowledge of one another then they list to reveale to one another . It is then in this only , that friends are Angells , that they are capable and fit for such revelations when they are offered . If at any time I seeme to study you more inquisitively , it is for no other end but to know how to present you to God in my prayers , and what to aske of him for you ; For even that holy exercise may not be done inopportunely , no nor importunely . I finde little errour in that Grecians counsell who sayes , If thou aske any thing of God , offer no sacrifice , nor aske elegantly , nor vehemently , but remember that thou would'st not give to such an asker . Nor in his other countryman , who affirmes sacrifice of blood to be so unproportionable to God , that perfumes , though much more spirituall , are too grosse ; Yea words which are our subtlest and delicatest outward creatures , being composed of thoughts and breath , are so muddy , so thicke , that our thoughts themselves are so , because ( except at the first rising ) they are ever leavened with passions and affections . And , that advantage of neerer familiarity with God , which the Act of incarnation gave us , is grounded upon Gods assuming us , not our going to him . And , our accesses to his presence are but his descents into us . And , when we get any thing by prayer , hee gave us before hand the thing and the petition : for , I scarce thinke any ineffectuall prayer free from both sinne and the punishment of sinne : Yet as God seposed a seventh of our time for his exterior worship , and as his Christian Church early presented him a Type of the whole yeare in a Lent , and after imposed the obligation of canonique houres , constituting therby morall Sabbaths every day , I am far frō dehorting those fixed devotions : But I had rather it were bestowed upon thanksgiving then petition , upon praise then prayer . Not that God is endeared by that , or wearied by this ; All is one in the receiver , but not in the sender . And thankes doth both offices . For , nothing doth so innocently provoke new graces , as gratitude . I would also rather make short prayers then extend them , though God can neither bee surprised , nor besieged : For , long prayers have more of the man , as ambition of eloquence , and a complacency in the worke , and more of the devill by often distractions : For , after in the beginning wee have well intreated God to hearken , we speake no more to him . Even this letter is some example of such infirmity ; which being intended for a letter is extended and strayed into a Homily . And whatsoever is not what it was purposed , is worse . Therefore it shall at last end like a letter by assuring you I am &c. To Sir H. G. SIR , NAture hath made al bodies like , by mingling and kneading up the same elements in every one . And amōgst mē , the other nature , custōe , hath made every mind like some other . We are patternes or copies , we inform , or imitate . But as he hath not presētly attain'd to write a good hand , which hath equaled one excellent master in his A , another in his B , much lesse hee which hath sought all the excellent masters , and employed all his time to exceede in one letter , because not so much an excellency of any nor every one , as an evennesse and proportion , and respect to one another gives the perfection ; So is no man vertuous by particular example . Not he which doth all actions to the patterne of the most valiant , or liberall , which Histories afford : Nor he which chuses from every one their best actions , and therupon doth something like those . Perchance such may bee in via perficiendorum , which Divines allow to Monasticall life , but not Perfectorum , which , by them , is only due to prelacy ; For vertue is even , and continuall , and the same , and can therefore breake no where , nor admit ends , nor beginnings ; It is not only not broken , but not tyed together . He is not vertuous , out of whose actions vou can pick an excellent one . Vice and her fruits may be seene , because they are thick bodies , but not vertue , which is all light . And vices have swellings and fits , and noise , because being extremes , they dwel far asunder , and they maintaine both a foraine warre against vertue , and a civill against one another , and affect soveraignty , as vertue doth society . The later Physitians say , that when our naturall inborne preservative is corrupted or wasted , and must be restored by alike extracted from other bodies , the chiefe care is , that the mummy have in it no excelling quality , but an equally digested temper : And such is true vertue . But men who have preferred money before all , thinke they deale honourably with vertue , if they compare her with money : And think , that as mony is not called base , til the allay exceed the pure ; So they are vertuous enough , if they have enough to make their actions currant , which is , if either they get praise , or ( in a lower abasing ) if they incurre not infamy or penalty . But you know who said Angusta innocentia est ad legem bonum esse , which rule being given for positive lawes , severe mistakers apply even to Gods law , and ( perchance against his commandement ) binde themselves to his counsailes , beyond his lawes . But they are worse , that think that because some men formerly wastfull , live better with halfe their rents then they did with all , being now advantaged with discretion and experience , therefore our times need lesse morall vertue then the first , because we have Christianity , which is the use and application of all vertue . As though our religion were but an art of thrift , to make a little vertue goe far . For as plentifull springs are fittest , and best become large Aqueducts , so doth much vertue such a steward and officer as a Christian . But I must not give you a Homily for a letter . I said a great while since , that custome made men like ; We who have beene accustomed to one another are like in this , that we love not businesse . This therefore shall not be to you nor me a busie letter . I end with a probleme , whose errand is , to aske for his fellowes . I pray before you ingulfe your selfe in the Progresse , leave them for mee , and such other of my papers as you will lend mee till your returne . And besides this allegoricall lending , lend me truly your counsells . And love God and me , whilest I love him and you . To Sir H. G. SIR , THis Teusday morning , which hath brought me to London , presents mee with all your letters . Mee thought it was a rent day , I meane such as yours , and not as mine . And yet such too , when I considered how much I ought you for them . How good a mother , how fertile and abundant the understanding is , if shee have a good father . And how well friendship performes that office . For that which is denyed in other generations is done in this of yours . For hers is superfaetation , child upon child , and , that which is more strange , twinnes at a latter conception . If in my second religion , friendship , I had a conscience , either Errantem to mistake good and bad , and indifferent , or Opinantem to be ravished by others opinions or examples , or Dubiam to adhere to neither part , or Scrupulosam to encline to one , but upon reasons light in themselves or indiscussed in mee ( which are almost all the diseases of conscience ) I might mistake your often , long , and busie letters , and feare you did but intreate me to have mercy upon you and spare you . For you know our court tooke the resolution , that it was the best way to dispatch the French Prince backe againe quickly , to receive him solemnely , ceremoniously ; and expensively , when he hoped a domestique and durable entertainment . I never meant to excell you in waight nor price , but in number and bulke I thought I might : Because he may cast up a greater summe who hath but forty small moneyes , then hee with twenty Portuguesses . The memory of friends , ( I meane only for letters ) neither enters ordinarily into busied men , because they are ever employed within , nor into men of pleasure , because they are never at home . For these wishes therefore which you wonne out of your pleasure and recreation , you were as excusable to mee if you writ seldome as Sir H. Wotton is under the oppression of businesse or the necessity of seeming so : Or more then hee , because I hope you have both pleasure and businesse . Only to me , who have neither , this omission were sinne . For though writing be not of the precepts of friendship , but of the counsells : yet , as in some cases to some men counsells become precepts , though not immediately from God , yet very roundly and quickly from his Church , ( as selling and dividing goods in the first time , continence in the Romane Church , and order and decency in ours ) so to mee who can doe nothing else , it seemes to binde my conscience to write . And it is sinne to doe against the conscience , though that erre ; Yet no mans letters might be better wanted then mine , since my whole letter is nothing else but a confession that I should and would write . I ought you a letter in verse before by mine owne promise , & now that you thinke you have hedged in that debt by a greater by your letter in verse I thinke it now most seasonable and fashionall for mee to breake . At least , to write presently were to accuse my selfe of not having read yours so often as such a letter deserves from you to mee . To make my debt greater ( for such is the desire of all , who cannot or meane not to pay ) I pray reade these two problemes : for such light flashes as these have beene my hawkings in my Surry journies . I accompany them with another ragge of verses , worthy of that name for the smalnesse , and age , for it hath long lyen among my other papers , and laughs at them that have adventured to you : for I thinke till now you saw it not , and neither you , nor it should repent it . Sir , if I were any thing , my love to you might multiply it , and dignifie it : But infinite nothings are but one such : Yet since even Chymeraes have some name , and titles , I am also Yours . To Sr. H. G. SIR , IN the history or stile of friendship , which is best written both in deeds and words , a letter which is of a mixed nature , and hath something of both is a mixt parenthesis : It may be left out , yet it contributes , though not to the beeing , yet to the verdure , and freshnesse thereof . Letters have truly the same office , as oathes . As these amongst light and empty men , are but fillings , and pauses , and interjections : but with waightier , they are sad attestations : So are letters , to some complement , and obligation to others . For mine , as I never authorized my servant to lye in my behalfe ( for if it were officious in him , it might be worse in mee ) so I allow my letters much lesse that civill dishonesty , both because they goe from mee more considerately , and because they are permanent , for in them I may speake to you in your chamber a yeare hence before I know not whom , and not heare my selfe . They shall therefore ever keepe the sincerity and intemeratenesse of the fountaine whence they are derived . And as wheresoever these leaves fall , the root is in my heart , so shall they , as that sucks good affections towards you there , have ever true impressions thereof . Thus much information is in very leaves , that they can tell what the tree is , and these can tell you I am a friend and an honest man. Of what generall use , the fruit should speake , and I have none : and of what particular profit to you , your application and experimenting should tell you , and you can make none of such a nothing ; Yet even of barren Sicamores , such as I , there were use , if either any light flashings , or scorching vehemencies , or sudden showers made you need so shadowie an example or Remembrancer . But ( Sir ) your fortune and minde do you this happy injury , that they make all kinde of fruits uselesse unto you ; Therefore I have placed my love wisely where I need communicate nothing . All this , though perchance you reade it not till Michaelmas , was told you at Michin . 15. Aug. 1607. To Sr H. G. SIR , IT should be no interruption to your pleasures to heare mee often say that I love you , and that you are as much my meditation as my selfe : I often compare not you and mee , but the Spheare in which your resolutions are , and my wheele ; both I hope concentrique to God : for me thinkes the new Astronomie is thus applyable well , that wee which are a little earth should rather move towards God , then that hee which is fulfilling , and can come no whither , should move towards us . To your life full of variety , nothing is old , nor new to mine . And as to that life , all stickings and hesitations seeme stupid and stony , so to this , all fluid slipperinesses and transitory migrations seeme giddy and feathery . In that life one is ever in the porch or posterne , going in or out , never within his house , himself : It is a garment made of remnants , a life raveld out into ends , a line discontinued , & a number of small wretched points ; uselesse , because they concurre not : A life built of past & future , not proposing any constant present . They have more pleasures then wee , but not more pleasure : they joy oftner , wee longer ; and no man but of so much understanding as may deliver him from being a foole , would change with a mad-man , which had a better proportion of wit in his often Lucidis . You know , they which dwell farthest from the Sunne , if in any convenient distance , have longer dayes , better appetites , better digestion , better growth , and longer life . And all these advantages have their mindes who are well removed from the scorchings , and dazlings , and exhalings of the worlds glory ; but neither of our lifes are in such extremes ; for you living at Court without ambition , which would burne you , or envy which would devest others , live in the Sunne , not in the fire ; and I which live in the Country without stupifying , am not in darknesse , but in shadow , which is not no light , but a pallid , watrish , and diluted one . As all shadowes are of one colour if you respect the body from which they are cast ( for our shadows upon clay will be dirty , and in a garden greene , and flowery , ) so all retyrings into a shadowie life are alike from all causes , and alike subject to the barbarousnesse and insipid dulnes of the countrie : Only the employment , and that upon which you cast and bestow your pleasure , businesse , or bookes , gives it the tincture , and beauty . But truly wheresoever we are , if wee can but tell our selves truly what & where we would be , we may make any state & place such : For we are so composed , that if abundance , or glory scorch & melt us , we have an earthly cave , our bodies to go into by consideration , & coole our selves : and if we be frozen , and contracted with lower and darke fortunes , wee have within us a torch , a soule , lighter and warmer then any without : we are therefore our owne umbrellas , and our owne Sun● . These Sir , are the Sallads , and Onyons of Michin , sent to you with as wholsome affection as your other friends send Melons and Quelque choses from Court and London . If I present you not as good dyet as they , I would yet say grace to theirs , and bid much good do it you . I send you , with this , a letter which I sent to the Countesse . It is not my use nor duty to do so . But for your having of it , there were but two consents , and I am sure you have mine , and you are sure you have hers : I also writ to her Ladiship for the verses shee shewed in the garden , which I did not onely to extort them , nor onely to keepe my promise of writing , for that I had done in the other letter , and perchance shee hath forgotten the promise , nor onely because I thinke my letters just good enough for a Progresse , but because I would write apace to her , whilst it is possible to expresse that which I yet know of her , for by this growth I see how soone she will be ineffable . To the Countesse of Bedford . Happiest and worthyest Lady , I Do not remember that ever I have seen a petition in verse , I would not therefore be singular , nor adde these to your other papers . I have yet adventured so neare as to make a petitiō for verse , It is for those your Ladiship did me the honor to see in a Twicknam garden , except you repēt your making & having mended your judgement by thinking worse , that is , better , because juster , of their subject . They must needs be an excellent exercise of your wit , which speake so well of so ill . I humbly begge them of your Ladiship , with two such promises , as to any other of your compositions were threatnings : That I will not shew them , & that I will not beleeve them ; And nothing should be so used which comes from your braine or heart . If I should confesse a fault in the boldnesse of asking them , or make a fault by doing it in a longer letter , your Ladiship might use your stile and old fashion of the Court towards mee , and pay mee with a pardon . Here therefore I humbly kisse your Ladiships faire learned , hands and wish you good wishes and speedy grants . Your Ladiships servant JO. DONNE . To Sr H. G. SIR , BEcause I am in a place and season where I see every thing bud forth , I must do so too , and vent some of my meditations to you ; the rather because all other buds being yet without taste or vertue , my letters may be like them . The pleasantnes of the season displeases mee . Every thing refreshes , and I wither , and I grow older and not better . My strength diminishes , and my load growes , and being to passe more and more stormes , I finde that I have not only cast out all my ballast which nature and time gives , reason & discretion , & so am as empty & light as vanity can make me , but I have over-fraught my selfe with vice , and so am riddingly subject to two contrary wrackes , sinking and over-setting , and under the iniquity of such a disease as enforces the patient when hee is almost starv'd , not onely to fast , but to purge ; for I have much to take in , and much to cast out . Sometimes I thinke it easier to discharge my selfe of vice then of vanity , as one may sooner carry the fire out of a roome then the smoke : And then I see it was a new vanity to thinke so . And when I thinke sometimes , that vanity , because it is thinne and airy , may be expelled with vertue or businesse , or substantiall vice ; I finde that I give entrance thereby to new vices . Certainly as the earth & water , one sad , the other fluid , make but one body : so to vice , and vanity , there is but one Centrum morbi . And that which later Physitiās say of our bodies , is fitter for our mindes ; for that which they call destruction , which is a corruption and want of those fundamentall parts whereof we consist , is vice : And that Collectio Stercorum , which is but the Excrement of that corruption , is our vanity and indiscretion . Both these have but one root in mee , and must bee pulled out at once , or never . But I am so far from digging to it , that I know not where it is . For it is not in mine eyes only , but in every sense , nor in my concupiscence only , but in every power and affection . Sir , I was willing to let you see how impotent a man you love , not to dishearten you from doing so still ( for my vices are not infectious , nor wandring , They came not yesterday , nor meane to goe away to day : They Inne not , but dwell in mee , and see themselves so welcome , and finde in mee so good bad company of one another , that they will not change , especially to one not apprehensive , nor easily accessible ) but I doe it , that your counsell might cure mee , and if you deny that , your example shall , for I will as much strive to be like you as I will wish you to continue good . To Sir H. G. SIR , I Hope you are now welcome to London , and well , and well comforted in your fathers health and love , and well contented that we aske you how you doe , and tell you how we are , which yet I cannot of my selfe ; If I knew that I were ill , I were well ; For we consist of three parts , a Soule , and Body , and Mind : which I call those thoughts and affections and passions , which neither Soule nor Body hath alone , but have beene begotten by their communication , as Musique results out of our breath and a Cornet . And of all these the diseases are cures , if they be knowne . Of our Soules sicknesses , which are sinnes , the knowledge is , to acknowledge , and that is her physick , in which wee are not dieted by drams and scruples , for we cannot take too much . Of our bodies infirmities , though our knowledge be partly ab extrinseco , from the opinion of the Physitian , and that the subject and matter be flexible , and various ; Yet their rules are certaine , and if the matter be rightly applyed to the rule , our knowledge thereof is also certaine . But of the diseases of the minde , there is no Cryterium , no Canon , no rule ; for , our owne tast and apprehension & interpretation should be the judge , and that is the disease it selfe . Therefore sometimes when I finde my selfe transported with jollity , and love of company , I hang leads at my heeles , and reduce to my thoughts my fortunes , my yeares , the duties of a man , of a friend , of a husband , of a father , and all the incumbencies of a family . When sadnesse dejects me , either I countermine it with another sadnesse , or I kindly squibs about mee againe , and flie into sportfulnesse and company . And I finde ever after all , that I am like an Exorcist , which had long laboured about one , which at last appeares to have the Mother , that I still mistake my disease . And I still vexe my selfe with this , because if I know it not , no body can know it . And I comfort my selfe because I see dispassioned men are subject to the like ignorances . For divers mindes out of the same thing often draw contrary conclusions , as Augustine thought devout Anthony to bee therfore full of the holy Ghost , because , not being able to read , he could say the whole Bible , and interpret it . And Thyraeus the Jesuite for the same reason doth thinke all the Anabaptists to be possessed . And as often out of contrary things men draw one conclusion . As , To the Romane Church , Magnificence and Splendor hath ever beene an argument of Gods favour , and Poverty and Affliction , to the Greeke . Out of this variety of mindes it proceeds , that though all our Soules would goe to one end , Heaven , and all our bodies must goe to one end , the Earth : Yet our third part , the minde , which is our naturall Guide here , chuses to every man a severall way . Scarce any man likes what another doth , nor , advisedly , that which himselfe . But , Sir , I am beyond my purpose ; I meant to write a letter , and I am fallen into a discourse , and I doe not only take you from some businesse , but I make you a new businesse by drawing you into these meditations . In which yet let my opennes be an argument of such love as I would fain expresse in some worthier fashion . Elegies upon the Author . TO THE MEMORIE OF MY EVER DESIRED FRIEND Dr. DONNE : TO have liv'd eminent , in a degree Beyond our lofty'st flights , that is , like Thee , Or t' have had too much merit , is not safe ; For , such excesses finde no Epitaph . At common graves we have Poetique eyes Can melt themselves in easie Elegies , Each quill can drop his tributary verse , And pin it , like the Hatchments , to the Hearse : But at Thine , Poeme , or Inscription ( Rich soule of wit , and language ) we have none . Indeed a silence does that tombe befit , Where is no Herald left to blazon it . Widow'd invention justly doth forbeare To come abroad , knowing Thou art not here , Late her great Patron ; Whose Prerogative Maintain'd , and cloth'd her so , as none alive Must now presume , to keepe her at thy rate , Though he the Indies for her dowre estate . Or else that awfull fire , which once did burne In thy cleare Braine , now falne into thy Urne Lives there , to fright rude Empiricks from thence , Which might prophane thee by their Ignorance . Who ever writes of Thee , and in a stile Unworthy such a Theme , does but revile Thy precious Dust , and wake a learned Spirit Which may revenge his Rapes upon thy Merit . For , all a low pitch't phansie can devise , Will prove , at best , but Hallow'd Injuries . Thou , like the dying Swanne , didst lately sing Thy Mournfull Dirge , in audience of the King ; When pale lookes , and faint accents of thy breath , Presented so , to life , that peece of death , That it was fear'd , and prophesi'd by all , Thou thither cam'st to preach thy Funerall . O! had'st Thou in an Elegiacke Knell Rung out unto the world thine owne farewell , And in thy High Victorious Numbers beate The solemne measure of thy griev'd Retreat ; Thou might'st the Poets service now have mist As well , as then thou did'st prevent the Priest ; And never to the world beholding bee So much , as for an Epitaph for thee . I doe not like the office . Nor is 't fit Thou , who did'st lend our Age such summes of wit , Should'st now re-borrow from her bankrupt Mine , That Ore to Bury Thee , which once was Thine . Rather still leave us in thy debt ; And know ( Exalted Soule ) more glory 't is to owe Unto thy Hearse , what we can never pay , Then , with embased Coine those Rites defray . Commit we then Thee to Thy selfe : Nor blame Our drooping loves , which thus to thy owne Fame Leave Thee Executour . Since , but thine owne , No pen could doe Thee Justice , nor Bayes Crowne Thy vast desert ; Save that , wee nothing can Depute , to be thy Ashes Guardian . So Jewellers no Art , or Metall trust To forme the Diamond , but the Diamonds dust , H. K. To the deceased Author , Upon the Promiscuous printing of his Poems , the Looser sort , with the Religious . WHen thy Loose raptures , Donne , shall meet with Those That doe confine Tuning , unto the Duller line , And sing not , but in Sanctified Prose ; How will they , with sharper eyes , The Fore-skinne of thy phansie circumcise ? And feare , thy wantonnesse should now , begin Example , that hath ceased to be Sin ? And that Feare fannes their Heat ; whilst knowing eyes Will not admire At this Strange Fire , That here is mingled with thy Sacrifice : But dare reade even thy Wanton Story , As thy Confession , not thy Glory . And will so envie Both to future times , That they would buy thy Goodnesse , with thy Crimes . Tho : Browne On the death of Dr DONNE . I Cannot blame those men , that knew thee well , Yet dare not helpe the world , to ring thy knell In tunefull Elegies ; there 's not language knowne Fit for thy mention , but 't was first thy owne ; The Epitaphs thou writst , have so bereft Our tongue of wit , there is not phansie left Enough to weepe thee ; what henceforth we see Of Art or Nature , must result from thee . There may perchance some busie gathering friend Steale from thy owne workes , and that , varied , lend , Which thou bestow'st on others , to thy Hearse , And so thou shalt live still in thine owne verse ; Hee that shall venture farther , may commit A pitied errour , shew his zeale , not wit. Fate hath done mankinde wrong ; vertue may aime Reward of conscience , never can , of fame , Since her great trumpet's broke , could onely give Faith to the world , command it to beleeve ; Hee then must write , that world define thy parts : Here lyes the best Divinitie , All the Arts. Edw. Hyde . On Doctor Donne , By Dr C. B. of O. HEe that would write an Epitaph for thee , And do it well , must first beginne to be Such as thou wert ; for , none can truly know Thy worth , thy life , but he that hath liv'd so ; He must have wit to spare and to hurle downe : Enough , to keepe the gallants of the towne . He must have learning plenty ; both the Lawes , Civill , and Common , to judge any cause ; Divinity great store , above the rest ; Not of the last Edition , but the best . Hee must have language , travaile , all the Arts ; Judgement to use ; or else he wants thy parts . He must have friends the highest , able to do ; Such as Mecoenas , and Augustus too . He must have such a sicknesse , such a death ; Or else his vaine descriptions come beneath ; Who then shall write an Epitaph for thee ▪ He must be dead first , let'it alone for mee . An Elegie upon the incomparable Dr DONNE . ALl is not well when such a one as I Dare peepe abroad , and write an Elegie ; When smaller Starres appeare , and give their light , Phoebus is gone to bed : Were it not night , And the world witlesse now that DONNE is dead , You sooner should have broke , then seene my head . Dead did I say ? Forgive this Injury I doe him , and his worthes Infinity , To say he is but dead ; I dare averre It better may be term'd a Massacre , Then Sleepe or Death ; See how the Muses mourne Upon their oaten Reeds , and from his Vrne Threaten the World with this Calamity , They shall have Ballads , but no Poetry . Language lyes speechlesse ; and Divinity , Lost such a Trump as even to Extasie Could charme the Soule , and had an Influence To teach best judgements , and please dullest Sense . The Court , the Church , the Vniversitie , Lost Chaplaine , Deane , and Doctor , All these , Three . It was his Merit , that his Funerall Could cause a losse so great and generall . If there be any Spirit can answer give Of such as hence depart , to such as live : Speake , Doth his body there vermiculate , Crumble to dust , and feele the lawes of Fate ? Me thinkes , Corruption , Wormes , what else is foule Should spare the Temple of so faire a Soule . I could beleeve they doe ; but that I know What inconvenience might hereafter grow : Succeeding ages would Idolatrize , And as his Numbers , so his Reliques prize . If that Philosopher , which did avow The world to be but Mores , was living now : He would affirme that th' Atomes of his mould Were they in severall bodies blended , would Produce new worlds of Travellers , Divines , Of Linguists , Poets : sith these severall Lines In him concentred were , and flowing thence Might fill againe the worlds Circumference . I could beleeve this too ; and yet my faith Not want a President : The Phoenix hath ( And such was He ) a power to animate Her ashes , and herselfe perpetuate . But , busie Soule , thou dost not well to pry Into these Secrets ; Griefe , and Iealousie , The more they know , the further still advance , And finde no way so safe as Ignorance . Let this suffice thee , that his Soule which flew A pitch of all admir'd , known but of few , ( Save those of purer mould ) is now translated From Earth to Heavên , and there Constellated . For , if each Priest of God shine as a Starre , His Glory is as his Gifts , 'bove others farre . HEN. VALENTINE . An Elegie upon Dr Donne . IS Donne , great Donne deceas'd ? then England say Thou'hast lost a man where language chose to stay And shew it's gracefull power . I would not praise That and his vast wit ( which in these vaine dayes Make many proud ) but as they serv'd to unlock That Cabinet , his minde : where such a stock Of knoweledge was repos'd , as all lament ( Or should ) this generall cause of discontent . And I rejoyce I am not so severe , But ( as I write a line ) to weepe a teare For his decease ; Such sad extremities May make such men as I write Elegies . And wonder not ; for , when a generall losse Falls on a nation , and they slight the crosse , God hath rais'd Prophets to awaken them From stupifaction ; witnesse my milde pen , Not us'd to upbraid the world , though now it must Freely and boldly , for , the cause is just . Dull age , Oh I would spare thee , but th' art worse , Thou art not onely dull , but hast a curse Of black ingratitude ; if not , couldst thou Part with miraculous Donne , and make no vow For thee and thine , successively to pay A sad remembrance to his dying day ? Did his youth scatter Poetrie , wherein Was all Philosophie ? Was every sinne , Character'd in his Satyres ? made so foule That some have fear'd their shapes , & kept their soule Freer by reading verse ? Did he give dayes Past marble monuments , to those , whose praise He would perpetuate ? Did hee ( I feare The dull will doubt : ) these at his twentieth yeare ? But , more matur'd : Did his full soule conceive , And in harmonious-holy-numbers weave A Crowme of sacred sonets , fit to adorne A dying Martyrs brow : or , to be worne On that blest head of Mary Magdalen : After she wip'd Christs feet , but not till then ? Did hee ( fit for such penitents as shee And hee to use ) leave us a Litany ? Which all devout men love , and sure , it shall , As times grow better , grow more classicall . Did he write Hymnes , for piety and wit Equall to those great grave Prudentius writ ? Spake he all Languages ? knew he all Lawes ? The grounds and use of Physicke ; but because 'T was mercenary wav'd it ? Went to see That blessed place of Christs nativity ? Did he returne and preach him ? preach him so As none but hee did , or could do ? They know ( Such as were blest to heare him know ) 't is truth . Did he confirme thy age ? convert thy youth ? Did he these wonders ? And is this deare losse Mourn'd by so few ? ( few for so great a crosse . ) But sure the silent are ambitious all To be Close Mourners at his Funerall ; If not ; In common pitty they forbare By repetitions to renew our care ; Or , knowing , griefe conceiv'd , conceal'd , consumes Man irreparably , ( as poyson'd fumes Do waste the braine ) make silence a fafe way To'inlarge the Soule from these walls , mud and clay , ( Materialls of this body ) to remaine With Donne in heaven , where no promiscuous paine Lessens the joy wee have , for , with him , all Are satisfyed with joyes essentiall . My thoughts , Dwell on this Ioy , and do not call Griefe backe , by thinking of his Funerall ; Forget he lov'd mee ; Waste not my sad yeares ; ( Which haste to Davids seventy ) fill'd with feares And sorrow for his death ; ) Forget his parts , Which finde a living grave in good mens hearts ; And , ( for , my first is daily paid for sinne ) Forget to pay my second sigh for him : Forget his powerfull preaching ; and forget I am his Convert . Oh my frailtie ! let My flesh be no more heard , it will obtrude This lethargie : so should my gratitude , My vowes of gratitude should so be broke ; Which can no more be , then Donnes vertues spoke By any but himselfe ; for which cause , I Write no Encomium , but an Elegie . IZ . WA . An Elegie upon the death of the Deane of Pauls , Dr. Iohn Donne : By Mr. Tho : Carie. CAn we not force from widdowed Poetry , Now thou art dead ( Great DONNE ) one Elegie To crowne thy Hearse ? Why yet dare we not trust Though with unkneaded dowe-bak't prose thy dust , Such as the uncisor'd Churchman from the flower Of fading Rhetorique , short liv'd as his houre , Dry as the sand that measures it , should lay Upon thy Ashes , on the funerall day ? Have we no voice , no tune ? Did'st thou dispense Through all our language , both the words and sense ? 'T is a sad truth ; The Pulpit may her plaine , And sober Christian precepts still retaine , Doctrines it may , and wholesome Uses frame , Grave Homilies , and Lectures , But the flame Of thy brave Soule , that shot such heat and light , As burnt our earth , and made our darknesse bright , Committed holy Rapes upon our Will , Did through the eye the melting heart distill ; And the deepe knowledge of darke truths so teach , As sense might judge , what phansie could not reach ; Must be desir'd for ever . So the fire , That fills with spirit and heat the Delphique quire , Which kindled first by thy Promethean breath , Glow'd here a while , lies quench't now in thy death ; The Muses garden with Pedantique weedes O'rspred , was purg'd by thee ; The lazie seeds Of servile imitation throwne away ; And fresh invention planted , Thou didst pay The debts of our penurious bankrupt age ; Licentious thefts , that make poëtique rage A Mimique fury , when our soules must bee Possest , or with Anacreons Extasie , Or Pindars , not their owne ; The subtle cheat Of slie Exchanges , and the jugling feat Of two-edg'd words , or whatsoever wrong By ours was done the Greeke , or Latine tongue , Thou hast redeem'd , and open'd Us a Mine Of rich and pregnant phansie , drawne a line Of masculine expression , which had good Old Orpheus seene , Or all the ancient Brood Our superstitious fooles admire , and hold Their lead more precious , then thy burnish't Gold , Thou hadst beene their Exchequer , and no more They each in others dust , had rak'd for Ore. Thou shalt yield no precedence , but of time , And the blinde fate of language , whose tun'd chime More charmes the outward sense ; Yet thou maist claime From so great disadvantage greater fame , Since to the awe of thy imperious wit Our stubborne language bends , made only fit With her tough-thick-rib'd hoopes to gird about Thy Giant phansie , which had prov'd too stout For their soft melting Phrases . As in time They had the start , so did they cull the prime Buds of invention many a hundred yeare , And left the rifled fields , besides the feare To touch their Harvest , yet from those bare lands Of what is purely thine , thy only hands ( And that thy smallest worke ) have gleaned more Then all those times , and tongues could reape before ; But thou art gone , and thy strict lawes will be Too hard for Libertines in Poetrie . They will repeale the goodly exil'd traine Of gods and goddesses , which in thy just raigne Were banish'd nobler Poems , now , with these The silenc'd tales o'th'Metamorphoses Shall stuffe their lines , and swell the windy Page , Till Verse refin'd by thee , in this last Age , Turne ballad rime , Or those old Idolls bee Ador'd againe , with new apostasie ; Oh , pardon mee , that breake with untun'd verse The reverend silence that attends thy herse , Whose awfull solemne murmures were to thee More then these faint lines , A loud Elegie , That did proclaime in a dumbe eloquence The death of all the Arts , whose influence Growne feeble , in these panting numbers lies Gasping short winded Accents , and so dies : So doth the swiftly turning wheele not stand In th' instant we withdraw the moving hand , But some small time maintaine a faint weake course By vertue of the first impulsive force : And so whil'st I cast on thy funerall pile Thy crowne of Bayes , Oh , let it crack a while , And spit disdaine , till the devouring flashes Suck all the moysture up , then turne to ashes . I will not draw the envy to engrosse All thy perfections , or weepe all our losse ; Those are too numerous for an Elegie , And this too great , to be express'd by mee . Though every pen should share a distinct part , Yet art thou Theme enough to tyre all Art ; Let others carve the rest , it shall suffice I on thy Tombe this Epitaph incise . Here lies a King , that rul'd as hee thought fit The universall Monarchy of wit ; Here lie two Flamens , and both those , the best , Apollo's first , at last , the true Gods Priest . An Elegie on Dr. DONNE : By Sir Lucius Carie. POets attend , the Elegie I sing Both of a doubly-named Priest , and King : In stead of Coates , and Pennons , bring your Verse , For you must bee chiefe mourners at his Hearse , A Tombe your Muse must to his Fame supply , No other Monuments can never die ; And as he was a two-fold Priest ; in youth , Apollo's ; afterwards , the voice of Truth , Gods Conduit-pipe for grace , who chose him for His extraordinary Embassador , So let his Liegiers with the Poets joyne , Both having shares , both must in griefe combine : Whil'st Johnson forceth with his Elegie Teares from a griefe-unknowing Scythians eye , ( Like Moses at whose stroke the waters gusht From forth the Rock , and like a Torrent rusht . ) Let Lawd his funerall Sermon preach , and shew Those vertues , dull eyes were not apt to know , Nor leave that Piercing Theme , till it appeares To be good friday , by the Churches Teares ; Yet make not griefe too long oppresse our Powers , Least that his funerall Sermon should prove ours . Nor yet forget that heavenly Eloquence , With which he did the bread of life dispense , Preacher and Orator discharg'd both parts With pleasure for our sense , health for our hearts , And the first such ( Though a long studied Art Tell us our soule is all in every part , ) None was so marble , but whil'st him he heares , His Soule so long dwelt only in his eares . And from thence ( with the fiercenesse of a flood Bearing downe vice ) victual'd with that blest food Their hearts ; His seed in none could faile to grow , Fertile he found them all , or made them so : No Druggist of the Soule bestow'd on all So Catholiquely a curing Cordiall . Nor only in the Pulpit dwelt his store , His words work'd much , but his example more , That preach't on worky dayes , His Poetrie It selfe was oftentimes divinity , Those Anthemes ( almost second Psalmes ) he writ To make us know the Crosse , and value it , ( Although we owe that reverence to that name Wee should not need warmth from an under flame . ) Creates a fire in us , so neare extreme That we would die , for , and upon this theme . Next , his so pious Litany , which none can But count Divine , except a Puritan , And that but for the name , nor this , nor those Want any thing of Sermons , but the prose . Experience makes us see , that many a one Owes to his Countrey his Religion ; And in another , would as strongly grow , Had but his Nurse and Mother taught him so , Not hee the ballast on his Judgement hung ; Nor did his preconceit doe either wrong ; He labour'd to exclude what ever sinne By time or carelessenesse had entred in ; Winnow'd the chaffe from wheat , but yet was loath A too hot zeale should force him , burne them both ; Nor would allow of that so ignorant gall , Which to save blotting often would blot all ; Nor did those barbarous opinions owne , To thinke the Organs sinne , and faction , none ; Nor was there expectation to gaine grace From forth his Sermons only , but his face ; So Primitive a looke , such gravitie With humblenesse , and both with Pietie ; So milde was Moses countenance , when he prai'd For them whose Satanisme his power gain said ; And such his gravitie , when all Gods band Receiv ' his word ( through him ) at second hand ; Which joyn'd , did flames of more devotion move Then ever Argive Hellens could of love . Now to conclude , I must my reason bring , Where fore I call'd him in his title King , That Kingdome the Philosophers beleev'd To excell Alexanders , nor were griev'd By feare of losse ( that being such a Prey No stronger then ones selfe can force away ) The Kingdome of ones selfe , this he enjoy'd , And his authoritie so well employ'd , That never any could before become So Great a Monarch , in so small a roome ; He conquer'd rebell passions , rul'd them so , As under-spheares by the first Mover goe , Banish't so farre their working , that we can But know he had some , for we knew him man. Then let his last excuse his first extremes , His age saw visions , though his youth dream'd dreams . On Dr. DONNES death : By Mr. Mayne of Christ-Church in Oxford . WHo shall presume to mourn thee , Donne , unlesse He could his teares in thy expressions dresse , And teach his griefe that reverence of thy Hearse , To weepe lines , learned , as thy Anniverse , A Poëme of that worth , whose every teare Deserves the title of a severall yeare . Indeed so farre above its Reader , good , That wee are thought wits , when 't is understood , There that blest maid to die , who now should grieve ? After thy sorrow , 't were her losse to live ; And her faire vertues in anothers line , Would faintly dawn , which are made Saints in thine . Hadst thou beene shallower , and not writ so high , Or left some new way for our pennes , or eye , To shed a funerall teare , perchance thy Tombe Had not beene speechlesse , or our Muses dumbe ; But now wee dare not write , but must conceale Thy Epitaph , lest we be thought to steale , For , who hath read thee , and discernes thy worth , That will not say , thy carelesse houres brought forth Fancies beyond our studies , and thy play Was happier , then our serious time of day ? So learned was thy chance ; thy haste had wit , And matter from thy pen flow'd rashly fit , What was thy recreation turnes our braine , Our rack and palenesse , is thy weakest straine . And when we most come neere thee , 't is our blisse To imitate thee , where thou dost amisse , Here light your muse , you that do onely thinke , And write , and are just Poëts , as you drinke , In whose weake fancies wit doth ebbe and flow , Just as your recknings rise , that wee may know In your whole carriage of your worke , that here This flash you wrote in Wine , and this in Beere , This is to tap your Muse , which running long Writes flat , and takes our eare not halfe so strong ; Poore Suburbe wits , who , if you want your cup , Or if a Lord recover , are blowne up . Could you but reach this height , you should not need To make , each meale , a project ere you feed , Nor walke in reliques , clothes so old and bare , As if left off to you from Ennius were , Nor should your love , in verse , call Mistresse , those , Who are mine hostesse , or your whores in prose ; From this Muse learne to Court , whose power could move A Cloystred coldnesse , or a Vestall love , And would convey such errands to their eare , That Ladies knew no oddes to grant and heare ; But I do wrong thee , Donne , and this low praise Is written onely for thy yonger dayes . I am not growne up , for thy riper parts , Then should I praise thee , through the Tongues , and Arts , And have that deepe Divinity , to know , What mysteries did from thy preaching flow , Who with thy words could charme thy audience , That at thy sermons , eare was all our sense ; Yet have I seene thee in the pulpit stand , Where wee might take notes , from thy looke , and hand ; And from thy speaking action beare away More Sermon , then some teachers use to say . Such was thy carriage , and thy gesture such , As could divide the heart , and conscience touch . Thy motion did confute , and wee might see An errour vanquish'd by delivery . Not like our Sonnes of Zeale , who to reforme Their hearers , fiercely at the Pulpit storme , And beate the cushion into worse estate , Then if they did conclude it reprobate , Who can out pray the glasse , then lay about Till all Predestination be runne out . And from the point such tedious uses draw , Their repetitions would make Gospell , Law. No , In such temper would thy Sermons flow , So well did Doctrine , and thy language show , And had that holy feare , as , hearing thee , The Court would mend , and a good Christian bee . And Ladies though unhansome , out of grace , Would heare thee , in their unbought lookes , & face ▪ More I could write , but let this crowne thine Urne , Wee cannot hope the like , till thou returne . Vpon Mr J. Donne , and his Poems . VVHo dares say thou art dead , when he doth see ( Unburied yet ) this living part of thee ? This part that to thy beeing gives fresh flame , And though th' art Donne , yet will preserve thy name . Thy flesh ( whose channels left their crimsen hew , And whey-like ranne at last in a pale blew ) May shew thee mortall , a dead palsie may Seise on 't , and quickly turne it into clay ; Which like the Indian earth , shall rise refin'd : But this great Spirit thou hast left behinde , This Soule of Verse ( in it's first pure estate ) Shall live , for all the World to imitate ▪ But not come neer , for in thy Fancies flight Thou dost not stoope unto the vulgar sight , But , hovering highly in the aire of Wit , Hold'st such a pitch , that few can follow it ; Admire they may . Each object that the Spring ( Or a more piercing influence ) doth bring T' adorne Earths face , thou sweetly did'st contrive To beauties elements , and thence derive Unspotted Lillies white ; which thou did'st set Hand in hand , with the veine-like Violet , Making them soft , and warme , and by thy power , Could'st give both life , and sense , unto a flower . The Cheries thou hast made to speake , will bee Sweeter unto the taste , then from the tree . And ( spight of winter stormes ) amidst the snow Thou oft hast made the blushing Rose to grow . The Sea-nimphs , that the watry cavernes keepe , Have sent their Pearles and Rubies from the deepe To deck thy love , and plac'd by thee , they drew More lustre to them , then where first they grew . All minerals ( that Earths full wombe doth hold Promiscuously ) thou couldst convert to gold , And with thy flaming raptures so refine , That it was much more pure then in the Mine . The lights that guild the night , if thou did'st say , They looke like eyes , those did out-shine the day ; For there would be more vertue in such spells , Then in Meridians , or crosse Parallels : What ever was of worth in this great Frame , That Art could comprehend , or Wit could name , It was thy theme for Beauty ; thou didst see , Woman , was this faire Worlds Epitomie . Thy nimble Satyres too , and every straine ( With nervy strength ) that issued from thy brain , Will lose the glory of their owne cleare bayes , If they admit of any others praise . But thy diviner Poëms ( whose cleare fire Purges all drosse away ) shall by a Quire Of Cherubims , with heavenly Notes be set ( Where flesh and blood could ne'r attaine to yet ) There purest Spirits sing such sacred Layes , In Panegyrique Alleluiaes . Arth. Wilson . In memory of Doctor Donne : By Mr R. B. DOnne dead ? 'T is here reported true , though I Ne'r yet so much desir'd to heare a lye , 'T is too too true , for so wee finde it still , Good newes are often false , but seldome , ill : But must poore fame tell us his fatall day , And shall we know his death , the common way , Mee thinkes some Comet bright should have foretold The death of such a man , for though of old 'T is held , that Comets Princes death foretell , Why should not his , have needed one as well ? Who was the Prince of wits , ' mongst whom he reign'd , High as a Prince , and as great State maintain'd ? Yet wants he not his signe , for wee have seene A dearth , the like to which hath never beene , Treading on harvests heeles , which doth presage The death of wit and learning , which this age Shall finde , now he is gone ; for though there bee Much graine in shew , none brought it forth as he , Or men are misers ; or if true want raises The dearth , then more that dearth Donnes plenty praises . Of learning , languages , of eloquence , And Poësie , ( past rauishing of sense , ) He had a magazine , wherein such store Was laid up , as might hundreds serve of poore . But he is gone , O how will his desire Torture all those that warm'd them by his fire ? Mee thinkes I see him in the pulpit standing , Not eares , or eyes , but all mens hearts commanding , Where wee that heard him , to our selves did faine Golden Chrysostome was alive againe ; And never were we weari'd , till we saw His houre ( and but an houre ) to end did draw . How did he shame the doctrine-men , and use , With helps to boot , for men to beare th' abuse Of their tir'd patience , and endure th' expence Of time , O spent in hearkning to non-sense , With markes also , enough whereby to know , The speaker is a zealous dunce , or so . 'T is true , they quitted him , to their poore power , They humm'd against him ; And with face most sowre : Call'd him a strong lin'd man , a Macaroon , And no way fit to speake to clouted shoone , As fine words [ truly ] as you would desire , But [ verily , ] but a bad edifier . Thus did these beetles slight in him that good , They could not see , and much lesse understood . But we may say , when we compare the stuffe Both brought ; He was a candle , they the snuffe . Well , Wisedome's of her children justifi'd , Let therefore these poore fellowes stand aside ; Nor , though of learning he deserv'd so highly , Would I his booke should save him ; Rather slily I should advise his Clergie not to pray , Though of the learn'dst sort ; Me thinkes that they Of the same trade , are Judges not so fit , There 's no such emulation as of wit. Of such , the Envy might as much perchance Wrong him , and more , then th' others ignorance . It was his Fate ( I know 't ) to be envy'd As much by Clerkes , as lay men magnifi'd ; And why ? but ' cause he came late in the day , And yet his Penny earn'd , and had as they . No more of this , least some should say , that I Am strai'd to Satyre , meaning Elegie . No , no , had DONNE need to be judg'd or try'd , A Jury I would summon on his side , That had no sides , nor factions , past the touch Of all exceptions , freed from Passion , such As nor to feare nor fratter , e'r were bred , These would I bring , though called from the dead : Southampton , Hambleton , Pēbrooke , Dorsets Earles , Huntingdon , Bedfords Countesses ( the Pearles Once of each sexe . ) If these suffice not , I Ten decem tales have of Standers by : All which , for DONNE , would such a verdict give , As can belong to none , that now doth live . But what doe I ? A diminution 't is To speake of him in verse , so short of his , Whereof he was the master ; All indeed Compar'd with him , pip'd on an Oaten reed . O that you had but one ' mongst all your brothers Could write for him , as he hath done for others : ( Poets I speake to ) When I see 't , I 'll say , My eye-sight betters , as my yeares decay , Meane time a quarrell I shall ever have Against these doughty keepers from the grave , Who use , it seemes their old Authoritie , When ( Verses men immortall make ) they cry : Which had it been a Recipe true tri'd , Probatum esset , DONNE had never dy'd . For mee , if e'r I had least sparke at all Of that which they Poetique fire doe call , Here I confesse it fetched from his hearth , Which is gone out , now he is gone to earth . This only a poore flash , a lightning is Before my Muses death , as after his . Farewell ( faire soule ) and deigne receive from mee This Type of that devotion I owe thee , From whom ( while living ) as by voice and penne I learned more , then from a thousand men : So by thy death , am of one doubt releas'd , And now beleeve that miracles are ceas'd . Epitaph . HEere lies Deane Donne ; Enough ; Those words Shew him as fully , as if all the stone His Church of Pauls contains , were through inscrib'd alone Or all the walkers there , to speake him , brib'd . None can mistake him , for one such as Hee DONNE , Deane , or Man , more none shall ever see . Not man ? No , though unto a Sunne each eye Were turn'd , the whole earth so to overspie , A bold brave word ; Yet such brave Spirits as knew His Spirit , will say , it is lesse bold then true . Epitaph upon Dr. DONNE , By Endy : Porter . THis decent Urne a sad inscription weares , Of Donnes departure from us , to the spheares ; And the dumbe stone with silence seemes to tell The changes of this life , wherein is well Exprest , A cause to make all joy to cease , And never let our sorrowes more take ease ; For now it is impossible to finde One fraught with vertues , to inrich a minde ; But why should death , with a promiscuous hand At one rude stroke impoverish a land ? Thou strict Attorney , unto stricter Fate , Didst thou confiscate his life out of hate To his rare Parts ? Or didst thou throw thy dart , With envious hand , at some Plebeyan heart ; And he with pious vertue stept betweene To save that stroke , and so was kill'd unseene By thee ? O 't was his goodnesse so to doe , Which humane kindnesse never reacht unto . Thus the hard lawes of death were satisfi'd , And he left us like Orphan friends , and di'de . Now from the Pulpit to the peoples eares , Whose speech shall send repentant sighes , and teares ? Or tell mee , if a purer Virgin die , Who shall hereafter write her Elegie ? Poets be silent , let your numbers sleepe , For he is gone that did all phansie keepe ; Time hath no Soule , but his exalted verse ; Which with amazements , we may now reherse . FINIS Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A69225-e62510 The sicknes of the World Impossibility of health Shortnesse of life . Smalnesse of stature . Decay of nature in other parts . Disformity of parts . Disorder in the world . Weaknesse in the want of correspondence of heaven and earth . Conclusion . Notes for div A69225-e69060 A iust disestimation of this world . Contemplation of our state in our death-bed . Her liberty by death . Of our company in this life , and in the next . Of essentiall joy in this life and in the next . Of accidentall joyes in both places . Conclusion . Notes for div A69225-e96340 La Corona . 
A20647	----	Pseudo-martyr Wherein out of certaine propositions and gradations, this conclusion is euicted. That those which are of the Romane religion in this kingdome, may and ought to take the Oath of allegiance. Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1610 Approx. 742 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 217 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A20647 STC 7048 ESTC S109984 99845610 99845610 10519 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A20647) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 10519) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 727:04) Pseudo-martyr Wherein out of certaine propositions and gradations, this conclusion is euicted. That those which are of the Romane religion in this kingdome, may and ought to take the Oath of allegiance. Donne, John, 1572-1631. [40], 392 p. Printed by W. Stansby for Walter Burre, London : 1610. Dedication signed: Iohn Donne. Reproduction of the original in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Catholics -- Great Britain -- Early works to 1800. Oath of allegiance, 1606 -- Early works to 1800. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-05 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-06 Allison Liefer Sampled and proofread 2002-06 Allison Liefer Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion PSEVDO-MARTYR . Wherein OVT OF CERTAINE Propositions and Gradations , This Conclusion is euicted . THAT THOSE WHICH ARE of the Romane Religion in this Kingdome , may and ought to take the Oath of Allegeance . DEVT. 32.15 . But he that should haue beene vpright , when he waxed fatte , spurned with his heele : Thou art fat , thou art grosse , thou art laden with fatnesse . IOB . 11.5 . But oh that God would speake and open his lips against thee , that he might shew thee the secrets of wisedome , how thou hast deserued double according to right . 2. CHRO . 28.22 . In the time of his tribulation , did he yet trespasse more against the Lord , for he sacrificed vnto the ●ods of Damascus , which plagued him . LONDON Printed by W. Stansby for Walter Burre . 1610. TO THE HIGH AND Mightie Prince IAMES , by the Grace of God , King of Great Britaine , France and Ireland , defender of the FAITH . Most mightie and sacred Soueraigne . AS Temporall armies consist of Press'd men , and voluntaries , so doe they also in this warfare , in which your Maiestie hath appear'd by your Bookes . And not only your strong and full Garisons , which are your Cleargie , and your Vniuersities , but also ob●cure Villages can minister Souldiours . For , the equall interest , which all your Subiects haue in the cause ( all being equally endanger'd in your dangers ) giues euery one of vs a Title to the Dignitie of this warfare ; And so makes tho●e , whom the Ciuill Lawes made opposite , all one , Paganos , Milites . Besides , since in this Battaile , your Maiestie , by your Bookes , is gone in Person out of the Kingdome , who can bee exempt from waiting vpon you in such an expedition ? For this Oath must worke vpon vs all ; and as it must draw from the Papists a profession , so it must from vs , a Confirmation of our Obedience ; They must testifie an Alleageance by the Oath , we , an Alleageance to it . For , since in prouiding for your Maiesties securitie , the Oath defends vs , it is reason , that wee defend it . The strongest Castle that is , cannot defend the Inhabitants , if they sleepe , or neglect the defence of that , which defends them ; No more can this Oath , though framed withall aduantagious Christianly wisedome , secure your Maiestie , and vs in you , if by our negligence wee should open it , either to the aduersaries Batteries , or to his vnderminings . The influence of those your Maiesties Bookes , as the Sunne , which penetrates all corners , hath wrought vppon me , and drawen vp , and exhaled from my poore Meditations , these discourses : Which , with all reuerence and deuotion , I present to your Maiestie , who in this also haue the power and office of the Sunne , that those things which you exhale , you may at your pleasure dissipate , and annull ; or suffer them to fall downe againe , as a wholesome and fruitfull dew , vpon your Church & Commonwealth . Of my boldnesse in this addresse , I most humbly beseech your Maiestie , to admit this excuse , that hauing obserued , how much your Maiestie had vouchsafed to descend to a conuersation with your Subiects , by way of your Bookes , I also conceiu'd an ambition , of ascending to your presence , by the same way , and of participating , by this meanes , their happinesse , of whome , that saying of the Queene of Sheba , may bee vsu●p'd : Happie are thy men , and happie are those thy Seruants , which stand before thee alwayes , and heare thy wisedome● For , in this , I make account , that I haue performed a duetie , by expressing in an exterior , and ( by your Maiesties permission ) a publicke Act , the same desire , which God heares in my daily prayers , That your Maiestie may very long gouerne vs in your Person , and euer , in your Race and Progenie . Your Maiesties most humble and loyall Subiect : IOHN DONNE . A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS handled in this Booke . CHAP. I. OF Martyrdome and the dignity thereof . CHAP. II. That there may be an inordinate and corrupt affectation of Martyrdome . CHAP. III. That the Roman Religion doth by many erroneous doctrines mis-encourage and excite men to this vitious affectation of danger : first by inciting secular Magistracy : Secondly by extolling the value of Merites , and of this worke in special , by which the treasure of the Church is so much aduanced : And lastly , by the doctrin of Purgatory , which by this act is said certainly to be escaped . CHAP. IIII. That in the Romane Church the Iesuits exceed all others , in their Constitutions and practise , in all those points , which beget or cherish this corrupt desire of false-Martyrdome . CHAP. V. That the Missions of the Pope , vnder Obedience whereof they pretend that they come into this Kingdome , can be no warrant , since there are laws established to the contrary , to giue them , or those which harbor them , the comfort of Martyredome . CHAP. VI. A Comparison of the Obedience due to Princes , with the seuerall Obediences required and exhibited in the Romane Church : First , of that blinde Obedience and stupiditie , which Regular men vow to their Superiours : Secondly , of that vsurped Obedience to which they pretend by reason of o●r Baptisme , wherin we are said to haue made an implicite surrender of our selues , and all that we haue , to the church : and thirdly , of that obedience , which the Iesuits by a fourth Supernumerary vow make to be disposed at the Popes absolute will. CHAP. VII . That if the meere execution of the function of Priests in this Kingdome , and of giuing to the Catholiques in this land , spiritual sustentation , did assure their consciences , that to dye for that were martyrdome : yet the refusall of the Oath of Alleageance doth corrupt and vitiate the integrity of the whole act , and dispoile them of their former interest and Title to Martyrdome . CHAP. VIII . That there hath beene as yet no fundamental and safe ground giuen , vpon which those which haue the faculties to heare Confessions , should informe their owne Consciences , or instruct their Penitents : that they are bound to aduenture the heauy and capitall penalties of this law , for refusall of this Oath . And that if any man haue receiued a scruple against this Oath , which he cannot depose and cast off , the Rules of their own Casuists , as this case stands , incline , and warrant them , to the taking therof . CHAP. IX . That the authority which is imagined to be in the Pope , as he is spiritual Prince of the monarchy of the Church , cannot lay this Obligation vpon their Consciences : First because the Doctrine it selfe is not certaine , nor presented as matter of faith : Secondly because the way by which it is conueyed to them , is suspitious and dangerous , being but by Cardinall Bellarmine , who is various in himselfe , and reproued by other Catholiques of equall dignity , and estimation . CHAP. X. That the Canons can giue them no warrant , to aduenture these dangers , for this refusall : And that the Reuerend name of Canons , is falsly and cautelously insinuated , and stolne vpon the whole body of the Canon law , with a breefe Consideration vpon all the bookes thereof : and a particular suruay , of all those Canons , which are ordinarily cyted by those Authours , which maint●ine this temporall Iurisdiction in the Pope . CHAP. XI . That the two Breues of Paulus the fift , cannot giue this assurance to this Conscience ; First , for the generall infirmities , to which all Rescripts of Popes are obnoxious : And then for certaine insufficiencies in these . CHAP. XII . That nothing requir'd in this Oath , violates the Popes spirituall Iurisdiction ; And that the clauses of swearing that Doctrine to bee Hereticall , is no vsurping vpon his spirituall right , either by preiudicating his future definition , or offending any former Decree . CHAP. XIII . That all which his Maiesty requires by this Oath , is exhibited to the Kings of Fraunce , And not by vertue of any Indult , or Concordate , but by the inhaerent right of the Crowne . CHAP. XIIII . Lastly , That no pretence , eyther of Conuersion at first , Assistance in the Conquest , or Acceptation of any Surrender from any of our Kings , can giue the Pope any more right ouer the Kingdome of England , then ouer any other free State whatsoeuer . AN ADVERTISEMENT TO the Reader . THough I purposed not to speake any thing to the Reader , otherwise then by way of Epilogue in the end of the Booke , both because I esteemed that to be the fittest place , to giue my Reasons , why I respited the handling of the two last Chapters , till another time , and also , because I thought not that any man might well and properly be called a Reader , till he were come to the end of the Booke : yet , because both he , and I , may suffer some disaduantages , if he should not be fore-possessed , and warned in some things , I haue changed my purpose in that point . For his owne good therefore ( in which I am also interessed ) I must first intreat him , that he will be pleased , before hee reade , to amend with his pen , some of the most important errors , which are hereafter noted to haue passed in the printing . Because in the Reading , he will not perchance suspect nor spy them , and so he may runne a danger , of being either deceiued , or scandalized . And for my selfe , ( because I haue already receiued some light , that some of the Romane profession , hauing onely seene the Heads and Grounds handled in this Booke , haue traduced me , as an impious and profane vnder-valewer of Martyrdome , ) I most humbly beseech him , ( till the reading of the Booke , may guide his Reason ) to beleeue , that I haue a iust and Christianly estimation , and reuerence , of that deuout and acceptable Sacrifice of our lifes , for the glory of our blessed Sauiour . For , as my fortune hath neuer beene so flattering nor abundant , as should make this present life sweet and precious to me , as I am a Moral man : so , as I am a Christian , I haue beene euer kept awake in a meditation of Martyrdome , by being deriued from such a stocke and race , as , I beleeue , no family , ( which is not of farre larger extent , and greater branches , ) hath endured and suffered more in their persons and fortunes , for obeying the Teachers of Romane Doctrine , then it hath done . I did not therefore enter into this , as a carnall or ouer-indulgent fauourer of this life , but out of such reasons , as may arise to his knowledge , who shall be pleased to read the whole worke . In which , I haue abstained from handling the two last Chapters vpon diuers reasons ; whereof one is , that these Heads hauing beene caried about , many moneths , and thereby quarrelled by some , and desired by others , I was willing to giue the Booke a hasty dispatch , that it might cost no man much time , either in expecting before it came , or in reading , when it was come . But a more principall reason was , that since the two last Chapters depend vpon one another , and haue a mutuall Relation , I was not willing to vndertake one , till I might perseuere through both . And from the last chapter it became me to abstaine , till I might vnderstand their purposes , who were formerly engaged in the same businesse . For the first Discouerie giues some title to the place , and secludes others , without the Discouerers permission ; And in men tender and iealous of their Honour , it is sometimes accounted as much iniurie to assist , as to assault . When therefore I considered , that the most Reuerend and learned Sir Edward Coke , Lord chiefe Iustice of the cōmon Pleas ( whom , they which are too narrow to comprehend him , may finde arguments enow to loue , and admire , out of the measure and proportion of his malice who hath written agains● him , ( since wee ought to loue h●m so much , as such men hate him ) had in this point of Iurisdiction , laid so solid foundations , raised so strong walls , & perfited his house vpon so sure a Rocke , as the lawes of this Kingdome are . And when I saw , that as the diuell himselfe is busiest to attempt them , who abound in strength of Grace , ( not forbearing our Sauiour himselfe ) so an ordinary Instrument of his , ( whose continuall libels , and Incitatorie bookes , haue occasioned more afflictions , and drawne more of that bloud , which they call Catholique , in this Kingdome , then all our Acts of Parliament haue done , ) had oppugned his Lordships Booke , and iterated and inconculcated those his oppositions , I could not know whether his Lordship reserued any farther consideration of that matter to his owne leasures , or had honoured any other man , with his commandement , or allowance to pursue it . Till therefore I might know , whether any such were embarqued therein , as would either accept my Notes , and dignifie them with their stile , or submit their Notes to my method , and the poore apparell of my language , or vndertake it entirely , or quit it absolutely , as a body perfit already , by that forme which his Lordship hath giuen it , I chose to forbeare the handling thereof at this time . One thing more I was willing the Reader should be forewarned of ; which is , that when he findes in the printing of this Booke oftentimes a change of the Character , hee must not thinke that all those words or sentences so distinguished , are cited from other Authors ; for I haue done it sometimes , onely to draw his eye , and vnderstanding more intensly vpon that place , and so make deeper impressions thereof . And in those places which are cited from other Authors ( which hee shall know by the Margine ) I doe not alwayes precisely and superstitiously binde my selfe to the words of the Authors ; which was impossible to me , both because sometimes I collect their sense , and expresse their Arguments or their opinions , and the Resultance of a whole leafe , in two or three lines , and some few times , I cite some of their Catholique Authors , out of their owne fellowes , who had vsed the same fashion of collecting their sense , without precise binding themselues to All , or onely their words . This is the comfort which my conscience hath , and the assurance which I can giue the Reader , that I haue no where made any Author , speake more or lesse , in sense , then hee intended , to that purpose , for which I cite him . If any of their owne fellowes from whom I cite them , haue dealt otherwise , I cannot be wounded but through their sides . So that I hope either mine Innocence , or their own fellowes guiltinesse , shall defend me , from the curious malice of those men , who in this sickly decay , and declining of their cause , can spy out falsifyings in euery citation : as in a iealous , and obnoxious state , a Decipherer can pick out Plots , and Treason , in any familiar letter which is intercepted . And thus much it seemed necessary to mee , to let the Reader know , to whose charitable and fauourable opinion● I commit the booke , and my selfe to his Christianly and deuout Prayers . Those literall and punctuall Errors , which doe not much endanger the sense , I haue left to the discretion and fauour of the Reader , as he shall meete with them . The rest he may be pleased to mend thus . In the Preface , § . 24. For Sacerdotes non●ntes . Reade Sacerdoturientes . Pa. Li. Faults . Correct . 3 1 During . Daring . 14 14 Inciting . Auiling . 15 vlt. Princesse . Prince 18 14. To proceede . So proceedes 29 vlt. Churches church . 30 11 Establing . Establishing . 38 28 Genuit Gemunt . 41 8 Vestram Nostram 45 21 I● . T● Ibid. 26 Princes . Prince 47 14 calles call 57 2 Emperours . Emperour . 58 22 Profession possession 66 10 Now here . No where . Ibid. 16 VVrit . VVrits . 68 7 VVent . Meant Ibid. 18 Ingenious Ingenuous . 70 20 The Then 71 vlt. After And● adde As. 72 9 Priuatur . priuetur 73 1 End Ends 74 15 Other Others 75 3 Intituled . Instituted 80 vlt. Exemply Exemplifie . 100 26 Ariseth . Arise● 102 4 After A●e , out out So 107 26 After which , adde That Ibid. vlt. Heaued . Heard . 113 25 Not. Now. 152 7 Enlaline . E●lalias 157 28 Your . The. Pa. Li. Faults . Correct . 169 26 After As put out At 170 18 Thereof for Therefore 172 5 Conduced Conducted 175 20 VVords VVord 179 8 Chappels . Chappell 193 1 After Are adde Not 195 9 Your The 212 26 VVaine VVaiue 218 7 Extend the Sect. 37. one line into the § . 38 225 19 Your The 228 22 After Oath ●dde Bee 229 21 Belong Belongd 233 8 Gaue Giue . 240 11 To bey To obey ●44 14 The This 265 25 After And adde Not 274 8 Re-enuersing renuersing . 275 8 That It Ibid. 14 After B●t add the panegyricke 276 5 Heads Beards 277 6 Hyol Holy 278 17 Fall Fallen 280 13 Certaintie ( Certainely ) 297 21 After Alleadge adde This 304 27 Name Nature 305 5 Recei●e Relieue 313 20 God The good . 322 2 There This 324 25 Since Sinne 378 21 A● Vs 379 11 Dominium . Domicilium Those Faults which are in the Margin by placing the Citations higher or lower , I must leaue to the Readers discretion , the rest he may mend thus . PReface § . 8. Pilireade Poli. Fol. 7. lin . 28. adde Homil. de Dauid & Saul . ibid. 24. adde Mar. 10.29 . fol. 9. lin . 7. for Rauolta reade Raccolta . fol. ●7 . lin . 27. for Poss●re . reade Possessor . fol. 31. lin . 11. for Hu. reade Offi. fol. 40. lin . 5. adde 1. Sam. 24.15 . fol. 309. lin . 3. adde De potest . Eccles. § . 6 Nn. 2. A PREFACE TO The PRIESTES , and IESVITS , and to their Disciples in this KINGDOME . I Am so well acquainted with the phrases of Diminution and Disparagement , and other personall aspersions , which your writers cast , and imprint vpon such of your owne side , as depart from their opinions in the least dramme or scruple ; as I cannot hope that any of them will spare me , who am further remoued from them : For since Cassander , whom the two Emperour● Ferdinand and Maximilian consulted , and called to them ; not in any schisme betweene the Emperours and Popes , about temporall Iurisdiction : in which quarrell , whensoeuer it happened , the Emperours cause was euer sustained by as learned , and as Religious , and as many men , as the Popes , but in matters of Doctrine , and for a way of Reformation , when the Popes themselues confessed , that the Church was in extreame neede thereof : Since hee ( I say ) is called by one of them but a Grammarian ( to which honour , if he , which cals him so in scorne , had beene arriued , he would neuer haue translated vindiciae contra Tyrannos , reuenge vpon Tyrants , since vindiciae signifies a Decree or Order of the Iudge , in a cause of Bondage and Liberty depending before him , by which it is ordered , that the party whose condition is in question , shall remaine either free or bond , till the matter be heard without any preiudice , if it fall out otherwise vpon the hearing : ) And since of Caietane ( when hee differs from them in the point of the Canon of scriptures ) they say , That though he were well seene in Scholastique subtilties , yet he was not so in the Fathers : though in that very matter the same Authour confesse , that a Caietane followed Saint Hieromes foot-steps : b since ( because he denies marriage to be proued a Sacrament out of one place of Saint Paul ) they say that he fell into grieuous errors in both Testaments , Hebraizando and Erasmizando : Since , when he distasts the coursenesse of the vulgar edition , they say , that in three or foure pages of his Psalter , there are more Barbarismes and Solaecismes then in the whole vulgar Bible : Since Erasmus ( following the opinion of Driedo and other Catholickes , and so denying some part of Daniel to be Canonicall ) is called by Bellarmine a Halfe-Christian , these men will certainely be more rigid and seuere vpon me . 2 And if they will be content to impute to me all humane infirmities , they shall neede to faine nothing : I am , I confesse , obnoxious enough . My naturall impatience not to digge painefully in deepe , and stony , and sullen learnings : My Indulgence to my freedome and libertie , as in all other indifferent things , so in my studies also , not to betroth or enthral my selfe , to any one science , which should possesse or denominate me : My easines , to affoord a sweete and gentle Interpretation , to all professors of Christian Religion , if they shake not the Foundation , wherein I haue in my ordinary Communication and familiar writings , often expressed and declared my selfe : hath opened me enough to their malice , and put me into their danger , and giuen them aduantage to impute to me , whatsoeuer such degrees of lazines , of liberty , of irresolution , can produce . 3 But if either they will transferre my personall weakenesses vpon the cause , or extend the faults of my person to my minde , or to her purest part , my conscience : If they will calumniate this poore and innocent worke of mine , as if it were written , either for Ostentation of any ability or faculty in my selfe ; or for Prouocation , to draw them to an aunswere , and so continue a Booke-warre ; or for Flattery to the present State ; which , thogh my seruices be by many iust titles due to it , needs it not ; or for exasperation , to draw out the ciuill sword in causes , which haue some pretence and colour of being spirituall ; or to get Occasion hereby to vncouer the nakednes , and lay open the incommodious and vndefensible sentences and opinions , of diuers seuerall Authors in that Church ; or to maintaine and further a scisme and diuision amongst you , in this point of the Popes pretence to temporall iurisdiction : I haue no other shelter against these imputations , but an appeale to our blessed Sauiour , and a protestation before his face , that my principall and direct scope and purpose herein , is the vnity and peace of his Church . For as when the roofe of the Temple rent asunder , not long after followed the ruine of the foundation it selfe : So if these two principall beames and Toppe-rafters , the Prince and the Priest , rent asunder , the whole frame and Foundation of Christian Religion will be shaked . And if we distinguish not between Articles of faith & iurisdiction , but account all those super-edifications and furnitures , and ornaments which God hath affoorded to his Church , for exteriour gouernment , to be equally the Foundation it selfe , there can bee no Church ; as there could be no body of a man , if it were all eye . 4 They who haue descended so lowe , as to take knowledge of me , and to admit me into their consideration , know well that I vsed no inordinate hast , nor precipitation in binding my conscience to any locall Religion . I had a longer worke to doe then many other men ; for I was first to blot out , certaine impressions of the Romane religion , and to wrastle both against the examples and against the reasons , by which some hold was taken ; and some anticipations early layde vpon my conscience , both by Persons who by nature had a power and superiority ouer my will , and others who by their learning and good life , seem'd to me iustly to claime an interest for the guiding , and rectifying of mine vnderstanding in these matters . And although I apprehended well enough , that this irresolution not onely retarded my fortune , but also bred some scandall , and endangered my spirituall re●putation , by laying me open to many mis-interpretations ; yet all these respects did not transport me to any violent and sudden determination , till I had , to the measure of my poore wit and iudgement , suruayed and digested the whole body of Diuinity , controuerted betweene ours and the Romane Church . In which search and disquisition , that God , which awakened me then , and hath neuer forsaken me in that industry , as he is the Authour of that purpose , so is he a witnes of this protestation ; that I behaued my selfe , and proceeded therin with humility , and diffidence in my selfe ; and by that , which by his grace , I tooke to be the ordinary meanes , which is frequent praier● and equall and indifferent affections . 5 And this course held in rectifying and reducing mine vnderstanding and iudgment , might iustifie & excuse my forwardnes ; if I shold seeme to any to haue intruded and vsurped the office of others , in writing of Diuinity and spirituall points , hauing no ordinary calling to that function . For , to haue alwaies abstained from this declaration of my selfe , had beene to betray , and to abandon , and prostitute my good name to their misconceiuings and imputations ; who thinke presently , that hee hath no Religion , which dares not call his Religion by some newer name then Christian. And then , for my writing in Diuinity , though no professed Diuine ; all Ages , all Nations , all Religions , euen yours , which is the most couetous and lothest to diuide , or communicate with the Layety , any of the honours reserued to the Clergie , affoord me abundantly examples , and authorities for such an vndertaking . 6 But for this poore worke of mine , I need no such Aduocates , nor Apologizers ; for it is not of Diuinity , but meerely of temporall matters , that I write . And you may as iustly accuse Vitr●uius , who writ of the fashion of building Churches , or those Authors which haue written of the nature of Bees and vse of Waxe , or of Painting , or of Musique , to haue vsurped vpon the office of Diuines , and to haue written of Diuinity , because all these are ingredients into your propitiatory medicine , the Masse , and conduce to spirituall and diuine worship : as you may impute to any , which writes of ciuil obedience to the Prince , that he meddles with Diuinity : not that this obedience is not safely grounded in Diuinity , or that it is not an act of Religion , but that it is so well engrau'd in our hearts , and naturally obuious to euery vnderstanding , that men of all conditions haue a sense and apprehension , and assurednes of that obligation . 7 The cause therefore is reduced to a narrow issue , and contracted to a strict point , when the differences betweene vs are brought to this ; Whether a Subiect may not obey his Prince , if the Turk or any other man forbid it ? And as his Maiestie in his Kingdomes , is Religiously and prudently watchfull , to preserue that Crowne , which his Predecessors had redeemed from the rust , and drosse , wherewith forraine vsurpation had infected it ; so is it easie to be obserued , that all the other Princes of Christendome , beginne to shake off those fetters , which insensibly and drowsily they had admitted ; and labour by all waies , which are as yet possible to them , to returne to their naturall Supremacy and Iurisdiction : which besides many other pregnant euidences , appeares by Ba●ronius his often complayning thereof ; both in his Annals , when he sayes , That the Princes of this age do exercise so much Iurisdiction ouer the Clergie , that the Church suffers some scandall thereby : And in his Apologie of his owne writings , against the Cardinall Columna , where he notes , That the Cardinals deputed for the hearing of those causes at Rome , are tired and oppressed in these later times , with the Messengers and Appeales of Bishoppes , which in euery Countrey complaine , how much the secular Princes iniure them . And this must of necessity be vnderstood of Countries , which professe the Romane Religion , because such as are Apostoliquely reformed , or are in that way , haue shut vp all waies of Appellations to Rome , or remedies from thence . 8 And not to speake of the Kingdome of France at this time , because I haue sepos'd and destin'd a particular Chapter for that consideration , nor of the fresh Historie of the Venetians , maintaining their iust Lawes for this temporall Iurisdiction : which lawes Parsons , without any colour of truth , or escape from malitious and grosse deceiuing , saies they haue recalled , when as ( not to affright you with any of those Authours which write on the Venetian part , ) you may see an excellent relation of that negotiation , and vpon what conditions the Pope withdrew his censures , in that letter of Cardinall Peron to his Master the French King , about Cardinal Ioyeuse his instructions , when the Pope sent him to Venice for that purpose ; nor to looke so farre backe , as to consider what the other States of Italy and of Rome it selfe haue done herein , which , as an Author which liued in profession of that Religion , informes vs ; durst alwaies brauely and boldly defend it selfe against the Popes vsurpations , though he protested , that if they would but admit him to enter againe into the towne , hee would deale no more with temporall matters ; and this , at that time when England vnder Henry the second , and the remoter parts trembled at him , who trembled at his owne neighbours and Subiects , as he pretended : To omit all these , the Kingdome of Spaine , which they call so super-eminently Catholicke ; and of whose King , the Cardinall which writes against Baronius saies , that he is the only Prince , who bends all the sinewes of his power , and all the thoughts of his minde , not only to oppresse barbarous enemies of Christianity , but to containe christian Kings in their duetie : This Kingdome ( I say ) hath by all meanes , which it can , expressed how weary it is of that iurisdiction which the Pope exerciseth there , in these points which we complaine of : though the Popes haue euer beene most readie to recompence these temporall detriments to those kings ; as the Donations of the Indyes , and of the Kingdome of Nauarre , and of England , testifie at full . 9 And yet if we consider , what all sorts of persons in that Nation haue done against this temporall power , wee cannot doubt , but that they trauaile of the same childe , which our Kingdome and diuers others haue brought forth , which is their libertie from this weakning and impouerishing thraldome . For first , for Booke-men and Writers , a great Idolatrer of this temporall Iurisdiction in the Pope , Confesses , That many of the principall Authours of the Spanish nation , concurre in this opinion , that these exemptions and immunities of the Clergie , so much debated , are not Iuris diuini . And it is easie to obserue , what the Collection and resultanse vpon this conclusion will be ; Since , if they bee enioyd by the fauour of Princes , though a conueniencie , and a kind of right grounded in the law of nature , haue moued Princes to graunt them● yet all graunts of Princes are mortall , and haue a naturall frailtie in them , and vpo● iust cause are subiect to Reuocation . 10 And for the Sword-men , by that hostile Act vpon Rome it-selfe , by Charles Bourbon , which was done at least by the conniuencie of Charles the fift ; and by that preparation made against the same place , by the expresse commaundement of Philip the second , vnder the Duke of Aluaes conduct , and by many other associations and Leagues against the Pope : It appeares how iealous and watchfull , they are vpon this Temporall iurisdiction , and how they oppose themselues against any farther groweth thereof . For wh●n in the differences about the Kingdome of Portugall , the Pope made offers to Ph●lip the second , to interpose himselfe for the setling of all pretences to that Crowne , the King , though with sweete and dilatorie answers , refusd that offer , because ( sayes the Author of that Storie ) he would not by this example , acknowledge him to be the Iudge of Kingdomes . And after this , when the King had proceeded farther therein , and Antonie was proclaimed , and that a Legate came into Spaine , and offred there , in the name of the Pope , to be a Iudge betweene all pretenders , though Philip did not doubt the Legates inclination to his part , because he came into his Countrey to make the offer , and though he had more vse of such a seruice then , then before , yet he abstaind from vsing him therein , because hee thought that the Pope , vnder colour of doing the Office of a common father , went about to make himselfe absolute Iudge of Kingdomes ; and besides the extraordinarie Authority , which he endeuoured to draw to his Sea , would oblige the Kings of Spaine to his house , as the same Author expresses that Kings iealousies . 11 And for the politique gouernement of that State euen in that Kingdome , which they pretend to hold of the Church , which is Sicily , they exercise a stronger Iurisdiction , and more derogatorie to the Pope , then this which our King claimes . And though Parsons● who is no longer a subiect , and Sonne of the Church of Rome , then as that Church is an enemy to England ( for in the differences betweene her and Spaine , he abandons ●er ) a●erre in one place , that this iurisdiction is by Indult , & Dispensation from the Pope , yet a more credible man then he , and a natiue Subiect to the King of Spaine , hath vtterly annuld and destroyed that opinion , that any graunt or permission of the Popes , hath enabled the Kings of Spaine to that Authoritie , which they exercise there . And he hath not onely told his brother Cardinall Columna , that the matter it-selfe , Is a point of the Catholicke faith , but in his Epistle to King Philip the third , hee extols and magnifies that Booke , in which he had deliuered that Doctrine , so authentically , as if he meant to draw it into the Canon of the Scriptures : for do these words import any lesse ? The Booke issued frō the very Chaire of S. Peter , by the commandement of S. Peter , and is confirmed by S. Peter , and shal without doubt endure for euer . And he addes this Commination , speaking to the King , Let them which resist these writings take heede , least they stumble , In hanc Petram , and least they bee vtterly trode in pieces , Ab ipsa , ab alto ruente Petra . But of Baronius his detestation of Monarchie , and ill behauiour towards all Kings , as well as his owne Soueraigne , I haue another occasion to speake . All which I purpose to euict here , was , that if Parsons haue spoken so heretically , in saying , that this is done by vertue of the Popes Indult ; that remaines true , which I said before , that that Kingdome of Spaine , endeuours by all wayes it can , to redeeme it-selfe from these vsurpation● , and re-inuest it-selfe in her originall Supremacie . 12 For as in one of the Greeke States when Nycippus sheepe brought forth a Lyon , it was iustly concluded that , that p●rtended a Tyrannie , and change of the State , from a peaceable to a bloody Gouernement : so since the Spirituall principalitie hath produced a Temporall , since this mild and Apostolique sheepe hath brought forth this Lyon , which seekes whom hee may deuour : as by his first Iurisdiction , he would make in this Kingdome a spirituall shambles of your soules , by corrupt Doctrines : so by the latter , he labours to make a Temporall shambles and market of your bodies , by selling you for nothing , and thrusting you vpon the Ciuill sword , which it is a sinne to sheath , when the Law commaunds to draw it , in so dangerous cases of polluting the Land. And though it be pretended by you , and for you ; that the Popes haue laide both a spirituall and temporall Obligation vpon you : Because , besides their care for instructing your soules ; they haue also with some charge erected and endowed some Colledges for your Temporall sustentation , who come into those parts : yet , as the wisemen of Persia , being set to obserue the first actions of their new King Ochus , when they marked that be reachd out his hand at the Table to Bread , and to a Knife , presumd by that , that his time would be plentifull and bloody , and faild not in their coniecture : So since the Pope reaches out to you , with his small Collegiate pittance , the Doctrine of the materiall and temporall sword , howsoeuer hee may seeme to relieue your miserie and penurie , which you drawe vpon your selues , yet it is accompanied with the presage of much blood , since either his purposes must be executed vpon vs by you , or our iust Lawes for preuention thereof be Executed vpon you . 14 One of your owne Authors relates , that Anastatius a Monke , had a hundred Diuels appointed to vexe and tempt him for foure yeares , and after hee had ouercome that trouble , and tamed them , he set them on work to build him a great Monastery , & to bring Aqueducts , and other conueniencies therunto , for his temporal prouision : so after the Pope hath passed ouer that little cost which he is at , to feede you a few yeares , you are euer after his instruments , to build vp his spirituall Monarchy to the ruine of all others , and your selues must ciment and morter the wals with your blood . 15 To let blood in some diseases , saith the eloquentest Physitian , is no new thing ; but that there should ●carce be any disease , in which we should not let blood , is ( saith he ) a strange and new fashion : So to offer our liues for defence of the Catholique faith , hath euer beene a religious custome ; but to cal euery pretence of the Pope , Catholique faith , and to bleede to death for it , is a sickenesse and a medicine , which the Primitiue Church neuer vnderstood . For the implicite faith , and blinde assent , which you were vsed heretofore to giue to the spirituall supremacy , was put vpon you , as Annibal , to entrappe and surprise his enemies , mingled their wine with Mandrake , whose operation is betwixt sleepe and poyson : for though it brought you into a drowsie and stupid adoration of the Pope , & some dull lethargies & forgetfulnesses of your temporall dueties , yet it was not so pestilent and contagious , but that a ciuill state might consist with it , though in a continual languishing and consumption . But this doctrine of temporall Iurisdiction , is not onely a violent and dispatching poyson , but it is of the nature of those poysons , which destroy not by heat nor cold , nor corrosion , nor any other discerneable quality , but ( as physitians say ) out of the specifique forme , and secret malignity , and out of the whole substance . For as no Artist can finde out , how this malignant strength growes in that poyson , nor how it workes , So can none of your Writers tell , how this temporall Iurisdiction got into the Pope , or how he executes it , but are anguished and tortured , when they come to talke of it , as Physitians and Naturalists are , when they speake of these specifique poysons , or of the cause and origen thereof , which is , Antipathie . 16 And yet we finde it reported of one woman , that she had so long accustomed her body to these poysons , by making them her ordinary foode , that shee had brought her selfe , and her whole complexion and constitution , to be of the same power as the poyson was , and yet retaind so much beauty , as shee allurd Kings to her embracement , and kild and poisond them by that meanes : So hath the Romane faith beene for many yeares , so fedde and pampred with this venemous doctrine of temporall iurisdiction , that it is growne to some few of them to bee matter of faith it selfe ; and shee is able to drawe and hold some Princes to her loue , because for all this infection , she retaines some colour and probability of being the same shee was . And as that Fish which Aelianus speakes of , lies neere to the rocke , and because it is of the colour of the rocke , surprises many fishes which come to refresh themselues at the rocke : so doth the Romane doctrine , because it can pretend by a locall and personall succession ( though both interrupted ) that it is so much of the colour of the rocke , and so neare it , as Petrus and Petra , enuegle and entrappe many cred●lous persons , who haue a zealous desire to build vpon the rocke it selfe . 17 It is an Aphorisme of an auncient Physitian , that we must not purge raw humours , but such as are matur'd and con●octed , except they be stirred and moued with their owne violence . Such a patience and moderation this State vsed towards professors of your Religion ; and onely prouiding some better lawes , to haue them in a readinesse in occasions of much necessity ; the rest of the Statutes were onely medicinall and preparatory , to lead them to Church sometimes , and so to mollifie their obduratenes , by making diuine seruice their physicke , since they would not admit it for their ordinary dyet ; and so in time to draine them , and deliuer them from those inundations of errours , which the Sea of Rome had degorged vpon them . And though it might seeme vnseasonable , by any sharper meanes to haue wrastled or contended with them at beginning , because euerie sudden remoue , euen into a better ayre , is vnwholsome , and the worse , the purer the aire is ; yet now it is time to worke vpon you , being of better experience , since you may haue obserued the birth and prosperous growth of this Reformation ; and seene , that though diseases affect and corrupt suddenly and violently , and the cures thereof are orderly and long in accomplishing ; yet this Reformation spent lesse time then the corruption , and the Church hath recouered more health in one age , then she had lost in a●ie two : In so firme and constant a state of health , did the Apostles and their followers , especially the first Bishoppes of Rome , deliuer her ouer , that shee was able a long time , to resist those infectious , and was likely to haue done it much longer , if her danger had beene onely intrinsique , by breeding Heresies in her selfe , and that shee had not receiued the outward poysons of Riches and Honour , and the naturall companions of those , Auarice and Ambition . 18 If you will consider the occasion of this Reformation , which Pope Adrian the sixt ( as your Espencaeus relates it ) ingenuously confessed in the Imperiall Parliament , That it was occasioned chiefly by the sinnes of the Priests and Prelates , whose abuses and excesses had beene for many yeeres abominable , And that all things were peruersly ouerturnd , And that the Disease was in the head , And that therefore he would prouide that the Court of Rome , from whence all this corruption was deriued , should be reformed , since all the world did hungerly expect it at that time : which Reformation , sayes Espencaeus , he died before he could performe , and his successor would not performe it ; If you consider by what instruments it tooke first hold , and that your owne Authors , euen when they meane to calumniate these beginnings , say , that the desire of the French King Francis the first , and of his sister Margaret , and of the Bishop of Meaux , and the rest of the Lords by their example , to haue about them learned and vnderstanding persons , an● such as were conuersant in the holy and originall languages , gaue the first entrance and way to this Reformation : If you consider with what prosperity and blessing Almightie God hath aduanced it ; and that in a few yeares it hath produced so many excellent authors in the Artes , and in Diuinity , that neither our Schooles nor our Pulpits neede bee beholding to them , who deliuer no golde without some drosse . and that for temporall blessings hee hath made vs as numerous , and as potent as his aduersaries , the aduerse partie : If you consider the good health and sound constitution of the Reformed Religion , and that it is in all likelyhood long-liued , because it neither admits vnwholesome and putrifying Traditions , and Postscripts , after the holy Ghost had perfited his writings ; which Additions enuenome the pure blood inwardly : nor is it outwardly in her practise deformed with the leprosies and vlcers of admitting Iewes and Stewes : nor proposes and iustifies any such books , as your Taxa Camerae Apostolicae is , in which ( saies your Espencaeus ) a man may learne more sinne , then in all the Summists and Casuists : and in which the price of all sinnes are taxed ; so that one may know before hand , what an Adultery , an Incest , a Parricide , or any other enormious sinne will stand him in , before he resolue to doe it : If you consider how peaceable and compatible it is with secular Magistracy , by this experience , that more Catholique Princes admit toleration of the reformed Religion , then princes of our profession , admit yours ; out of an assurance of the turbulency , and tempestuousnesse naturally venting out of the grounds of the Iesuits : you will then perceiue how blinde a prognosticator that Dutch-man is , who vpon two and fortie vaine and imaginary reasons , hath grownded a prophecy of the imminent ruine of this Religion ; and how hasty that abortion , and precipitation was in the French-man , who hath written the history of the actuall ruine of this profession , whilst it is yet in her growing estate , and by the mercy of our Saui●ur , euery day more and more aduanced . 19 And if you will suffer these things to enter your vnderstanding and iudgement , I cannot doubt of your will to conforme your selues : For it is truely said , Nothing is so contrarie to the will and consent , as Errour : And whatsoeuer appeares true to the Iudgment , seemes good to our will , and begets a desire to doe it . But if you shut vp that dore , and so expose your selues , that men may possesse your Will , without entring by your Iudgement , they enter like Theeues at the window , and in the night . For , though the will bee as a window , somewhat capable of light , yet your selues benight your whole house , by drawing these Curtaines vpon your iudgement . And in all afflictions drawne vpon your selues by this will or wilfulnes , when you shall say to God , as his people did by Esay , Wherefore haue we fasted , and thou seest it not ? we haue punished our selues , and thou regard'st it not : God will answere , as he did then ; Beholde , in the day of your fasts you seeke your will : That is , you pursue your owne stubborne determinations , and haue humane and corrupt respects in all your tribulations . 20 There was a law amongst some Grecians , that if a sicke man drunke wine without aduise of his Physitian ; though that ●aued his life , he should be put to death , for doing it before he was commaunded . O what bitter punishment must then attend your presumption , who in stead of their wine , take Gall and poyson , and instead of their recouery , endanger your selues to a double perishing ; and are so farre from hauing any direct commandement for it , that you haue expresse and iust inhibitions against it ? O what spirituall Calenture possesses you , to make this hard shift to destroy your selues ? If you be fishers of men , why dooth hee which sends you , first raise stormes and tempests of Treason , and scandall ; and expose you to a certaine shipwracke ? It is a note which one of your famous Preachers hath giuen ; That fish will not be taken with a bloody Nette ; and yet your Fishermen are sent with no other nets , then such as must be stained with our blood , if they can get it , or if they misse it , with yours and their owne . 21 They are content to teach in other places , That the Pope cannot binde a man to impossible things ; and to extend the worde Impossible to any thing , which cannot iustly , honestly , or conueniently bee done ; they are content to teach , That the Pope cannot command somethings , though they be naturally good and meritorious , as to iterate a Confession after it is once made : Onely to you they are so rigid and sowre , that a Breue which you are not sure was sent , and you are sure that it ought not to haue beene sent , must binde you to an obedience in these Capitall dangers ; and like Pythagoras schollers , you must suffer your selues to be slaine , rather then stirre your foote , and tread downe a Beane . 22 And what is your recompence ? You shall bee Martyrs ; and yet Baronius himselfe , who is liberall enough of Martyrdome , speakes of your case somewhat inconstantly and irresolutely , when he sayes of English and French Martyrs , Scimus eos esse in Caelo , vt par est credere , We know they are in heauen , as it is fit for vs to beleeue . But as he which died of the bite of a Weasell , lamented because it was not a Lyon : So consider , it is not the Catholicke faith , which you smart for , but an vniust vsurpation , and that it is not the Lyon of Iuda , for whose seruice and honour your liues were well giuen , but it is for a Weasell , which crept in at a litle hole , and since is growne so full and pamperd , that men will rather die , then beleeue that he got in at so little an entrance . 23 How hungerie of poyson , how Ambitious of ruine , how peruious and penetrable to all meanes of destruction are you , vpon whom your Iesuits and other Confessors , haue not onely the force of those men , who are said to haue beene able to kill men by looking vpon them in anger , but of those also , which can bewitch by faire words , and can prayse a man to death ? For as the angrie eye of the first sort slew some : So doe the comminations and terrors of these Breues , thrust some of you into these dangers . And as , if the men of the second sort ( whereof there were whole families in Afrique ) did but commend Trees , Corne , Cattell , or Children , they prosperd no farther , but perish'd presently : So , after these men , with whose families Europe abounds , doe but tell you , that you are borne of Catholicke parents , That onely you are in the Arke , That you are in possession of good estates , fit sacrifices for the Catholicke Church , That tyou are remarkeable and exemplar men , by whom your Tenants , and Seruants , and Children are led and guided ; That you are chosen by God for pillars to sustaine his materiall Church , as Priests are for the spirituall : That you are Martyrs apparant , and attended and staid for in the triumphant Church : you prosper no more , but wit●er in a Consumption , and hauing headlongly dissipated and scattered your estates , you runne desperately into the danger of the Law , or sustaine a wretched life by the poore Crummes of others pensions . 24 And that vicious affectation of Priesthood , or of Regular Religion , which one of your Preachers notes out of Cassianus , to possesse many men , whome therupon he cals Sacerdotes non entes , hath bewitched you with a stronger charme . And as that drawes them from their Office of societie , by a ciuill and Allegoricall Death , in departing from the world into a Cloyster , so this throwes you into a naturall , or vnnaturall and violent Death , by denying due Obedience , and by entring into Rebellious actions . Many men , sayes that Preacher , are caried to this desire by humane respects , and by the spirit , either of their blood and Parents when they doe it to please them , or by the spirit of giddinesse and leuitie , or by the spirit of libertie , to be deliuered from the bondage and encombrances o● wife and child●en , or else violently , by aduersitie and want . And these diseases , which hee obserued in them , I know you cannot chuse but find in your selues , and in a more dangerous , and deadly measure and proportion . 25 And if there bee not too much shame and horror in such a Meditation , but that you dare to looke backe vpon all the passages betweene your Church and ours , in the time of the late Queene , and his Maiestie who now gouernes , you shall see , that the Rocke was here , and all the stormes and tempests proceeded from you , when from you came the thunders a●d lightnings of Excommunications . But as in those times , when diuinations and coniectures were made vpon the fall of lightnings , those lightnings which fel in the Sea , or tops of Mountaines , were neuer brought into obseruation , but were cald Bruta fulmina : so how vaine his Excommunications against Islanders , and dwellers in the Sea , haue proued , we and Venice haue giuen good testimonie , as many other great Princes haue done , by despising his Bruta fulmina , when they haue beene cast vpon so great and eminent Mountaines , as their Supremacie is . 26 From you also haue come the subtill whisperings of Rebellious doctrines , the frequent and personall Trayterous practises , the intestine Commotions , and the publique and foraine Hostile attempts , in which , as we can attribute our deliuerance to none but God , so we can impute the malignitie thereof originally , to none but the deuill . Whose instruments the Iesuites ( as we in our iust warres haue giuen ouer long bowes for Artillerie ) being men of rounder dispatch , then the Church had before , impatient of the long Circuit and Litigiousnes of excommunications , haue attempted a readier waie : and as the inuention of Gun-powder is attributed to a contemplatiue Monke ; so these practique Monkes thought it belonged to them , to put it into vse and execution , to the destruction of a State and a Church ; through which nimblenesse and dangerous actiuitie , they haue corrupted the two noble Inuentions of these later ages , Printing and Artillery by filling the world with their Libels , and Massacres . 27 It becomes not me to say , that the Romane Religion begets Treason ; but I may say , that within one generation it degenerates into it : for if the temporall iuris●diction ( which is the immediate parent of Treason ) be the childe of the Romane faith , and begot by it , treason is the Grand-childe . But as Erasmus said of that Church in his time , Syllogismi nunc sustinent Ecclesiam , wee may iustlie say , that this Doctrine of temporall Iurisdiction , is sustained but by Syllogismes , and those weake , and impotent , and deceiueable . And as it cannot appeare out of all the Authors , which speake of Saint Peters remaining at Rome , whether his body be there , or onely his ashes : So can it not be cleare to you , that the body of Christian Religion is there , since it is oppressed with such heapes of ashes , and dead Doctrine , as this of temporall Iurisdiction ; so that diuers other Churches , which perchance were kindled at that , may burne more clearely and feruently , then that from which they were deriued● 28 But my purpose is not to exasperate , and aggrieue you , by traducing or drawing into suspition the bodie of your Religion , otherwise then as it conduces to this vicious and inordinate affectation of danger : Yet your charitie may giue me leaue to note , that as Physitians , when to iudge of a disease , they must obserue Decubitum , that is , the time of the Patients lying downe , and yeelding himselfe to his bedde ; because that is not alike in all sicke men , but that some walke longer before they yeelde , then others doe ; therefore they remooue that marke , and reckon ab Actionibus laesis : that is , when their appetite , and digestion , and other faculties fail'd in doing their functions and offices : so , if we will iudge of the diseases of the Romane Church , though because they crept in insensiblie , and the good state of health , which her prouident Nources indued her withall , made her hold out long ; we cannot well pitch a certaine time of her lying downe and sickning , yet we may wel discern Actiones laesas , by her practise , and by her disusing her stomach from spirituall foode , and surfetting vpon this temporall Iurisdiction : For then she appeared to be lame and impotent , when she tooke this staffe and crouch to sustaine her selfe , hauing lost the abilitie of those two legges , whereon shee should stand , The Word and Censures . 29 And if the suspicious and quarrelsome title and claime to this temporall Iurisdiction ; If Gods often and strange protection of this Kingdome against it , by which he hath almost made Miracles ordinarie and familiar , If your owne iust and due preseruation , worke nothing vpon you , yet haue some pitie and compassion towards your Countrey , whose reputation is defaced and scandalized by this occasion , when one of your owne Authors , being anguished and perplexed , how to answere these often Rebellions and Treasons , to put it off from that Religion , layes it vpon the nature of an Englishman , whom , in all professions he accuses to be naturally disloyall and trecherous to his Prince . 30 And haue some pitie and compassion ( though you neglect your particulars ) vpon that cause , which you call the Catholicke cause : Since , as we say of Agues , that no man dies by an Ague , nor without an Ague : So at Executions for Treasons , we may iustly say , No man dies for the Romane Religion , nor without it . Such a naturall consequence , or at least vnluckie concomitance they haue together , that so many examples will at last build vp a Rule , which a few exceptions , and instances to the contrarie will not destroy . 31 I call to witnesse against you , those whose testimonie God himselfe hath accepted . Speake then and testifie , O you glorious and triumphant Army of Martyrs , who enioy now a permanent triumph in heauen , which knew the voice of your Shepheard , and staid till he cald , and went then with all alacritie : Is there any man receiued into your blessed Legion , by title of such a Death , as sedition , scandall , or any humane respect occasioned ? O no , for they which are in possession of that Laurell , are such as haue washed their garments , not in their owne blood onely ( for so they might still remaine redde and staind ) but in the blood of the Lambe which changes them to white . Saint Chrisostome writes well , that the Sinner in the Gospel bath'd and wash'd her selfe in her teares , not in her blood : And of Saint Peter , hee askes this question ; When he had denied Christ , Numquid sanguinem fudit ? No , sayes he , but hee powrd foorth teares , and washed away his transgression . 32 That which Christian Religion hath added to old Philosophie , which was , To doe no wrong , is in this point , no more but this , To keepe our mind in an habituall preparation of suffering wrong : but not to vrge and prouoke , and importune affliction so much , as to make those punishments iust , which otherwise had beene wrongfully inflicted vpon vs. Wee are not sent into this world , to Suffer , but to Doe , and to performe the Offices of societie , required by our seuerall callings . The way to triumph in secular Armies , was not to be slaine in the Battell , but to haue kept the station , and done all Militarie dueties . And as it was in the Romane Armies , so it ought to be taught in the Romane Church , I●s legionis fac●le● Non sequi , non fugere . For we must neither pursue persecution so forwardly , that our naturall preseruation be neglected , nor runne away from it so farre , that Gods cause be scandaliz'd , and his Honour diminished . 33 Thus much I was willing to premit , to awaken you , if it please you to ●eare it , to a iust lo●e of your owne safetie , of the peace of your Countrey , of the honour and reputation of your Countreymen , and of the integritie of that , which you call the Catholicke cause ; and to acquaint you so farre , with my disposition and temper , as that you neede not be afraid to reade my poore writings , who ioyne you with mine owne Soule in my Prayers , that your Obedience here , may prepare your admission into the heauenly Hierusalem , and that by the same Obedience , Your dayes may bee long in the land , which the Lord your God hath giuen you . Amen . PSEVDO-MARTYR . CHAP. I. Of Martyrdome and the dignitie thereof . AS a Depositarie to whose trust some pretious thing were committed , is not onely encombred and anxious , to defend it from the violencies and subtleties of outward attempters , but feeles within himselfe some interrupt●ons of his peace , and some inuasions vpon his honesty , by a corrupt desire , and temptation to possesse it , and to employ vpon his owne pleasure or profit , that of which he is no Proprietary : and neuer returnes to his security , out of these watchfulnesses against other , and reluctations with himselfe ; till he who deliuered this Iewell , resume it againe : So , till it please the Lord , and owner of our life to take home into his treasurie , this rich Carbuncle our soule , which giues vs light in our night of ignorance , and our darke body of earth , we are still anguished and trauelled● as well with a continuall defensiue warre , to preserue our life from sickenesses , and other offensiue violences ; as with a diuers and contrary couetousnes , sometimes to enlarge our State and terme therein , somtimes to make it so much our owne , that we may vnthriftily spend it vpon surfets , or licentiousnes , or reputation . 2 From thence proceeded that corrupt prodigality of their liues , with examples whereof all Histories abound ; honour , ease , deuotion , shame , want , paine , any thing serued for a reason , not only to forsake themselues , or to expose themselues to vn-euitable dangers , but also to be their owne executioners● yea we read of the women of a certaine town , that in a wantonnes had brought it vp for a fashion , to kill themselues . 3 Which corruption , and Ambition of beeing Lord of our selues , euery sort of men , which contributed their helpes to the preseruation and tranquility of States , laboured against● as first the Philosopher , who obseruing that honour and ●ase did principally draw men into this inclination , because they were desirous to get a name of during , and of greatnes , and to escape the miseries which euery day in this life presents , and heapes vpon vs ; did therefore teach , That nothing was more base and cowardly , then to kill ones selfe , so to correct that opinion of getting honour by that Act : and to ouerthrow the other opinion of ease , they taught Death to be the most miserable thing which could fall vpon vs. 4 And when the Spaniard in the Indies found a generall inclination , and practise in the inhabitants to kill themselues , to auoide slauer●e ; they had no way to reduce them , but by some dissemblings and outward counterfeitings , to make them beleeue , that they also killed themselues , and so went with them into the next world , and afflicted them more then , then they did in this . 5. The Emperors also by their lawes and ciuil Constitutions , haue opposed remed●es against this ordinary disease , by inflicting forfaitures and infamou● mulctes vpon them which shold do it . And the Church hath resisted it by her Canons , which denie them Christian buriall , and refuse their oblations at the Altars . And with what seuere lawes , other particular States haue laboured against it , appeares by the law of our nation , which esteemes it not only Man●slaughter but Murder . And by that law in the Ea●ledome of Flanders , which reckons it amongst the heinous names of Treason , Heresie , and Sedition . 6 And yet it was obserued , that this corruption was so inhaerent and rooted , and had so ouergrowne our nature , or that corruption which depraues it , that neither those imperiall lawes , nor that forme of a State which Plato Ide●ted , nor that which Sir Tho. Moore did imagine and delineate thought it possible vtterly to extirpate and roote out this disposition , but onely to stoppe and retard the generall precipitation therein : And therefore in their lawes they haue flattered our corruption so much , as to appoint certaine cases and reasons , and circumstances , in which it might be lawfull to kill ones selfe . 7 And Almightie God himselfe , who disposes all things sweetely , hath beene so indulgent to our nature , and the frailty thereof , that he hath affoorded vs a meanes , how wee may giue away our life , and make him , in a pious interpretation , beholden to vs for it ; which is by deliuering our selues to Martyredome , for the testimony of his name , and aduancing his glorie : for in this we restore him his Talent with profite ; our owne soule , with as many more , as our example workes vpon , and winnes to him . To denie him this , is not onely to steale from him , that which is his , by many deare titles ; as Creating , Redeeming , and Preseruing ; but at such a time , as his honour hath vse of such a seruice at our handes , then to withdraw our testimony from him , is as much a betraying and crucifying of him againe , as it was in them , who by their false witnesse , occasioned his death before . 8 Saint Iohn saith , that the Baptist was not that light , but ( as though that were the next dignity ) hee came to beare witnesse of that light . And when our blessed Sauiour re●used to beare witnesse o● him●elfe ; those , whom he reckons as his witnesses , are all of ●o high dignity , as no ambition can be higher , then to be admitted amongst those witnesses of Christ ; ●or they are thus laide downe ; First the Bapt●st , then his Miracles , then his Father , and then the Scriptures . 9 How soone God beganne to call vpon man for this seruice , by sealing his acceptation of Abels sacrifice , in accepting Abel for a Sacrifice : for so saith Chrysostome , Abel , in the beginning , before any example , first of all Dedicated Martyredome . And as soone as Christ came into the world , after he receiued the oblations of the kings , presenting part of their temporall fortunes ; the next thing wherein he would be glorified , was that Holocaust and Hecatombe of the innocent children , martyrd for his name . 10 And though wee cannot by infinite degrees , attaine to our patterne Christ , the generall Sacrifice ; yet we must exceed those Typique times , and Sacrifices of the old law ; and be no more couetous of our selues , then they were of their beasts , when that Sacrifice is required at our hands : for when we sacrifice our concupiscences , by rooting them out we equall them , who sacrificed their beasts ; but we exceede them , when we immolate our soule and body to God. 11 The blood of the Martyres was the milke which nourished the Primitiue Church , in her infancy , and shall it be too hard for our digestion now ? It was the seede of the Church , out of which we sprung ; and shall wee grudge to Tithe our selues to God , in any proportion that hee will accept ? As Zipporah said to Moses , vere sponsus sanguinum es mihi ; the Church may well say to Christ , who lookes for this Circumcision at her hands , and this tribute of blood , which he hath so well deser●ed● both by begetting the Church by his blood vpon the Crosse● and feeding her still wi●h the same blood in the Sacrament . 12 But those whom hee hath pre-ordained to this supreame Dignity of Martyrdome , God doth ordinarily bring vp in a nouitiate , and Apprentisage of worldly Crosses and Tribulations . And as I●stinians great Officer Tiberius , when out of a reuerence to the signe of the Crosse , he remoued a Marble stone from the Pauement , and vnder it found a second stone , with the same Sculpture , and vnder that a third , and vnder all , great plenty of treasure , had not this treasure in his hope , nor purpose , nor desire before hand , but satisfied himselfe in doing that honour to that signe , which those first times needed : So is the treasure and crowne of Martyredome seposed for them , who take vp deuoutly the crosses of this life , whether of pouerty , or anguish'd consciences , or obedience of lawes which seeme burdenous , and distastefull to them ; for all that time a man serues for his freedome , and God keeps his reckoning , from the inchoation of his Martyredome , which was from his first submission to these tribulations : which Chrysostome testifies thus ; That when one is executed , he is then made a Martyr ( that is , declared and accepted ●or a Martyre by the Church ) but from that time , when he begunne to shewe , that he would professe that Religion , he was a Martyre , though he endured not that which Martyres doe . 13 Saint Paul●aith ●aith of himselfe , I die daily ; and Chrysostome of Dauid , He merited the Crowne of Martyrdome a thousand times in his purpose and disposition , and was slaine for God a thousand times . And these persecutions are not onely part of the Martyredome , but they are part of the reward : for so St. Marke seemes to intimate , when hee expresseth Christ thus ; No man shall forsake any thing for my ●ake , but he shall receiue a hundred folde now at this pre●ent , houses Brothers , Sisters , Mothers and Children , and land , with Persecutions . So that Christ promises a reward , but not to take away the persecution ; but so to mingle and compound them , and make them both of one taste , and indifferency , that wee shall not distinguish , which is the meate and which is the sawce , but nouri●h our spirituall growth as well with the persecution , as with the reward . 14 For this high degree of a consummate Martyre , is not ordinarily attained to per Saltum , but we must be content to ●erue God first in a lower ranke and Order : for as much Kings , as come to the possession of a Kingdome , by a new , or a violent , or a litigious Title , doe vse at the beginning to signe their Graunts , and Edicts , and o●her publ●que Acts , not onely themselues , but admit the Subscription and testimony of their Counsellers , and Nobility , and Bishoppes ; but being est●blished by a long succession , and entring by an indubitate Title , are confident in their rights , and come to signe Teste me ipso : So doth our Sauiour Christ ordinarily in these times , when hee is in possession of the world , seale his graces to vs by himselfe in his word and Sacraments , and do●h not so frequently c●ll witnesses and Martyrs , as he did in the Primitiue Church , when he induced a new Religion , and saw that , that maner of confirmation was expedient for the credite and conueiance thereof . And if a man should in an immature and vndigested zeale , expose his life for testimony of a matter , which were already beleeued , or to which he were not called by God , he did no more honor God in that acte , then a Subiect should honour the King by subscribing his name , and giuing his T●stimony to any of the Kings Graunts . CHAP. II. That there may be an inordinate and corrupt affectation of Martyrdome . THe externall honours , by which the memories of the Orthodox Martyres in the Primitiue Church were celebrated and enobled , ( as styling their deaths Natalitia , obseruing their Anniuersaries , commemorating them at their Altars , and instituting Notaries , to register their actions and passions ) inflamed the Heretiques also to an ambition of getting the like glory . And thereupon they did not onely expose and precipitate themselues into ●ll d●ngers , but also inuented new wayes of Martyredome ; with hunger whereof they were so m●ch enraged and transported , that some of them taught , That vpon conscience of sinne to kill ones selfe , was by this acte of Iustice , a Martyrdome● vpon which ground Petilian , against whom Saint Augustine writes , canonized Iudas for a x Martyre . The rage and fury of the Circumcelliones , in extorting this imagined Martyrdome ; brought them first to solicite and importune others to kill them ; and if they fail'd in that suite , they did it themselues . And another Sect prospered so farre in heaping vp numbers of Martyres , that their whole sect was called Martyriani . 2 And a zealous scorne to be ouertaken , and ●qual'd in this honor , prouoked sometimes those who write the Actes of the Orthodoxe Martyrs , to insert into their Histories some particulars which were not true , and some which were not iustifiable : for of the first sort of these insertions , which proceeded ( as he saith ) out of too much loue to the Martyrs , Baronius in his Martyrologe complaines ; and by the Canon which forbids these Histories to be reade publiquely in the Romane Church , it seems they were careful that the people should not thereby be taught and encouraged , to bring such actions into consequence and imitation , as , ( if the immediate instinct of Gods spirit , did not iustifie them ) would seeme indiscreete and intemperate . Nor were they onely , which corrupted the stories in fault , but out of Binius , the last compiler of the Councels , we may perceiue , that euen they which were Orthodoxe pro●essors , had some tincture of this ouer-vehement affectation of Martyredome : for he saies , that the sixeteth Canon of the Eliberitane councell ( by which it is enacted , That those Christians which attempted to breake the Idols of the Gentiles , and were slaine by them , should not be numbred amongst the Martyrs ) was made to deterre men from following such examples , as Eulalia , who being a maide of twelue years , came from her fathers house , declared her selfe to be a Christian , spit in the Iudges face , and prouoked him to execute her . To which they were then so inclin●ble , that as a Catholique Author hath obserued , that state which inflicted those persecutions ; sometimes made Edicts , that no more Christians should be executed , because they perceiued how much contentment and satisfaction , and complacency some of them had in such dying . 3 And although these irregular and exorbitant actes be capable of a good interpretation ; that is , that the spirit of God did by secret insinuations e●cite and inflame them , and such as they were , to pu● feruor into others at that time ; yet certainly God hath already made his vse of them , and their examples belong no more to vs , in this part and circumstance of such excesses . 4 And though this secret and inward instinct and mouing of the holy Ghost , which the Church presumes , to haue guided not onely these martyres , in whose forwardnesse these authors haue obserued some incongruity with the rules of Diuinity , but also Sampson , and those Virgines which drowned themselues ●or preseruation of their chastity , which are also acounted by that Church as martyres ; although ( I say ) this instinct lie not in proofe , nor can be made euident ; yet there are many other reasons , which authorize and iustifie those zealous transgressions of theirs ( if any such were ) : or make them much more excuseable , then any man can be in these times , and in these places wherein we liue . 5 For the persecutions in the Primitiue Church were raised either by the Gentiles or the Arrians ; either the vnity of the God-head , or the Trinity of the persons was euer in question : which were the Elements of the Christian Religion , of which it was fram'd and complexioned ; and so to shake that , was to ruine and demolish all . And they were also the Alphabet of our Religion , of which no infant or Neophyte might be ignorant . But now the integrity of the beliefe of the Roman Church , is the onely forme of Martyrdome ; for it is not allowed for a Martyrdome to witnes by our blood , the vnity of God against the Gentiles , nor the Trinity of persons against the Turke or Iew , except we be ready to seale with our blood contradictorie things , and incompatible for the time past : ( since euidently the Popes haue taught contradictorie things ) and for the time present , obscure and irreuealed thinges , and entangling perplexities of Schoolemen ; for in these , yea in future contingencies , we must seale with our blood , that part which that Church shall hereafter declare to be true . 6 This constant defence of the foundation , and this vndisputable euidence of the truth , was their warrant : And they had another double reason , of making them extremely tender , and fearefull of slipping from their profession ; which was first the subtilties and Artifices of their aduersaries , to get them to doe some acte , which might imply a transgressing and dereliction of their Religion , though it were not directly so ; and so draw a scandall vpon their cause , and make their simplicity seeme infirmity , and impiety : and secondly , the seuerity which the Church vsed towards them , who had done any such acte , and her bitternesse and a●ersenes , from re assuming them , euen after long penances , into her bosome . For by the third Canon of the Eliberitane Counc●l , which I ment●oned before , it appeares , that euen they whom they called Libellaticos , because they had for money bargained and contracted with the State , to spare them from sacrificing to Idolles ( though this were done but to redeeme their vexation and trouble ) were seperated from the holy Communion . But none of these reasons can aduantage or relieue those of the Romane perswasion in these times , because no point of Catholique faith , either primary and radicall , or issuing from thence by necessary deduction and consequence , is impugned by vs ; nor their faith in those points , wherin it abounds aboue ours , explicated to them by any euidence , which is not subiect to iust quarrell and exception ; nor are our Magistrates laborious or actiue to withdrawe them by any snares from their profession , but only by the open and direct way of the word of God , if they would heare it nor is the Church so sowre and tetricall , but that she admits with ease and ioy , those , which after long straying , not only into that Religion , but into such treasons and disobediences , as that Religion produces , returne to her againe . CHAP. III. That the Romane Religion doth by many erroneous doctrines mis-encourage and excite men to this vicious affectation of danger : first by inciting secular Magistracy : secondly by extolling the value of merites , and of this worke in special , by which the treasure of the Church is so much aduanced : and lastly , by the doctrine of Purgatory , which by this acte is said certainely to be escaped . The first part of Principallity and Priest-hood . HAuing laide this foundation , that the greatest Dignitie , wherewith God hath enriched mans nature , ( next to his owne assuming thereof ) may suffer some infirmitie : yea , putrefaction , by admixture of humane and passionate respects , if when we are admitted to bee witnesses of Gods honour , we loue our owne glory too much , or the Authoritie by which this benefit is deriu'd vpon vs , too little , which is the function of secular Magistracie : We are next to consider , by what inducements , and prouocations , the Doctrine and practise of the Romane Church doth put forward , and precipitate our slipperie disposition into this vicious and inordinate affection , and dangerous selfe-flatterie . 2 In three things especially they seeme to me , to aduance and ●oment this corrupt inclination . First , by abasing , and auiling the Dignitie and persons of secular Magistrates , by extolling Ecclesiasticke immunities and priuiledges : Secondly , by dignifying and ouer-valewing our merits and satisfactions , and teaching that the treasure of the Church , is by this expence of our blood increased . And thirdly , by the Doctrine of Purgatorie , the torments whereof are by this suffering said to be escaped and auoided . 3 And in the first point , which is a dis-estimation of Magistracie , they offend two wayes . Comparatiuely , when they compare together that and Priest-hood , and Positiuely , when not bringing the Priestly function into the ballance , or disputation , they giue the Pope authority as Supreame spirituall Princesse , ouer all Princes . 4 When the first is in question of Priesthood and Magistracy , then enters the Sea , yea Deluge of Canonists , and ouerflowes all , and carries vp their Arke ( that is the Romane Church , that is the Pope ) fifteene cubites aboue the highest hils , whether Kings or Emperours . And this makes the Glosser vpon that Canon , where Priesthood is said to exceede the Layetie , as much as the Sunne , the Moone , so diligent to calculate those proportions , and to repent his first account as too low , and reforme i● by later calculations , and after much perplexity to say , That since he cannot attaine to it , he will leaue it to the Astronomers ; so that they must tell vs , how much the Pope exceedes a Prince : which were a fit work for their Iesuite Clauius , who hath expressed in one summe , how many granes of Sand would fill all the place within the concaue of the firmament , if that number will seeme to them enough for ●his comparison . But to all these Rhapsoders , and fragmentar● compilers of Canons , which haue onely am●ss'd and shoueld together , whatsoeuer the Popes themselues or their creatures haue testified in their owne cause ; Amandus Polanus applies a round , and pregnant , and proportionall answere , by presenting against them the Edicts and Rescripts of Emperours to the contrary , as an equiualent proo●e at least . 5 And for the matter it selfe , wherein the Ecclesiastique and Ciuill estate are vnder and aboue one another , with vs it is euident and liquid enough , since no Prince was euer more indulgent to the Clergie , by encouragements and reall adu●ncing , nor more frequent in accepting the foode of the worde and Sacrament at their hands , in which he acknowledges their superiority , nor the Clergy of any Church more inclinable to preserue their iust limits ; which are , to attribute to the king so much , as the good kings of Israel , and the Emperours in the Primitiue Church had . 6 It is intire man that God hath care of , and not the soule alone ; therefore his first worke was the body , and the last worke shall bee the glorification thereof . He hath not deliuered vs ouer to a Prince onely , as to a Physitian , and to a Lawyer , to looke to our bodies and estates ; and to the Priest onely , as to a Confessor , to looke to , and examine our ●oules , but the Priest must aswel endeuour , that we liue ver●uously and innocently in this life for society here , as the Prince , by his lawes keepes vs in the way to heauen : for thus they accomplish a Regale Sacerdotium ; when both doe both ; ●or we are sheepe to them both , and they in diuers relations sheepe to one another . 7 Accordingly they say , that the subiect of the Canon law is Homo dirigibilis in Deum , & Bouū Commune ; so that that Court which is , forum spirituale , considers the publique tranquility . And on the other side Charles the great , to establish a meane course between those two extreame Councels , of which a one had vtterly destroyed the vse of Images in b Churches● the other had induced their adoration , takes it to belong to his care and function , not onely to call a c Synode to determine herein , but to write the booke of that important and intricate point , to Adrian then Pope ; which d Steuchius saith , remaines yet to be seene in Bibliotheca Palatina , and vrges and presses that booke for the Popes aduantage . And in the preface of that booke , the Emperour hath these wordes : e In sinu Regni Ecclesiae gubernacula suscepimus ; and to proceede , that not only he , to whom the Church is committed , ad regendum , in those stormy times , but they also which are Enutriti ab vberibus must ioine with him in that care : and therefore he addes , That he vndertooke this worke , Cum Conhibentia Sacerdotum in regno suo ; neither would this Emperour ( of so pious affections towards that Sea , expressed in pro fuse liberalities ) haue vsurped any part of Iurisdiction , which had not orderly deuolued to him , and which he had not knowne to haue beene duely executed by his predecessors . 8 Whose authoritie , in disposing of Church matters , and direct●on in matters of Doctrine , together with the Bishops , appeares abundantly and euidently out of their owne Lawes , and out of their Rescripts to Popes , and the Epistles of the Popes to them . For we see , by the Imperial Law , the Authoritie of the Prince and the Priest made equall , when it is decreed , a That no man may remoue a body out of a Monument in the Church , without a Decree of the Priest , or Commandement of the Prince . And yet there appeares much difference , in degrees of absolutenesse of power , betweene these limitations of a Decree and a Commandement . And Leo the first , writing to the Emperour Martianus , reioyses , that he found b In Christianiss mo Principe Sacerdot alem affectum . And in his Epistle to Leo the Emperour , vsing this preface for feare least hee should seeme to diminish him in that comparison ( Christiana vtor libertate ) he saith , I exhort you to a fellowshippe with the Prophets and Apostles , because you are to be numbred inter Christi praedicatores : Hee addes , that kings are instituted , not onely ad mundi regimen , but chiefly ad Ecclesiae presidium : and ●herefore he praies God to keepe in him still , Animum eius Apostolicum & Sacerdotalem . 9 So for his diligence in the Church gouernement , Simplicius , the Pope salutes the Emperour Zeno. E●ultamus vo●i● in esse animum Sacerdotis & principis : For which respect his successor a Felix the third , writing to thesame Emperour , salutes him wi●h his stile : Dilectissimo fratri Zenoni , which is a stile so peculiar to those , which are constituted in the highest Ecclesiastique dignities as Bishoppes and Patriarches , b that if the Pope should write to any of them by the name of Sons , which is his ordinary stile to secular princes , it vitiates the whole Diplome , and makes it false . 10 And a c Synodicall letter from a whole Councell to a King of France , acknowledges this Priestly care in the king , thus , Quia Sacerdotalimentis affectu , you haue commaunded your Priests to gather together , &c. which right of general superintendencie ouer the whole Church , d Anastasius the Emperour dissembled not , when writing to the Senate of Rome to compose dissentions there , hee called Hormisda the pope , Papam Almae vrbis Romae , but in the Inscription of the Letter , amongst his owne Titles , he writes Pontifex inclitus . 11 e Gregory himselfe ( though his times to some tastes , seeme a little brackish , and deflected from vpright obedience to princes ) saith of the Emperours● That no man can rightly gouerne earthly matters , except he know also how to handle Diuine . And in the weakest estate , and most dangerous fitt that euer secular Magistrate suffered and endured , Gregory the seuenth denied not , that these two dignities were as the two eyes of the body , which gouernd the bodie of the Church in spirituall light ; which is more , then the Comparisons of Soule and Body , and of Golde and Leade , as they are now vsurped and detorted , can affoord . And the euidence of this truth hath extorted from Binius ( a seuere and heauie depresser of kings , ) thus much ( though but in a marginall note ) Imperatores Sacra & secularia ex aequo curant . And so much did pope Iohn the eight willingly acknowledge to Lodouic the sonne of Charles , That he was Cooperator sui certaminis . And as Balsamo saith upon the fourth generall Councell of Chalcedon , that it belongs to the Emperour to designe the limits of Diocesses , and to erect a Bishopricke into a Metrapolitane seate , and to appoint who shall possesse them . So to that Canon in the Councell of Trullo which forbidding all Lay persons to come within a certaine distance of the Altar , doth not extend to the Emperours , Si quidem voluerit Creatori dona offerre ex antiquissima consuetudine : And to Balsamoes Notes thereupon , that Orthodoxe Emperours , because they are Christi Domini , haue also Pontificall Graces from God , and by Inuocation of the holy Trinity , they create Patriarchs , they come vnto the Altar , Et sufficiunt sicut & Antistites : Binius opposes no more , but that the Canon was made in flatterie of the Emperour , which is not enough to defeate the Canon , nor eneruate the credite thereof , since that Canon was not introductory then , but Declaratorie of an auncient custome , as the words thereof doe fully euict and proue . 12 And not onely Councels submitted their Decrees to the Emperours for Authoritie , and supplemen● of defects , but the Popes themselues con●ul●ed the Emperours be●ore hand , by their Letters , in matters of greatest difficultie and importance : So Leo the fi●st writes to Martianus the Emperour , about the establishing of Easter , in which point the Church suffered more stormes & schismes , then almost in any other , that did not concerne the Trinitie , and at this time nothing was certainely determined and decreed therein . Thus then he writes to him , Cupio vestrae Clementiae studijs adiuuari , That so no error may be committed in the obseruation thereof . And Leo the eight , exhorts the Sonnes of Charles , as partners in his Pastorall care to imploy Baculos redargutionis . And concerning some spiritual matters , then to be determined , he ends his Epistle thus , The penne must first be dipped in the fountaine of your heart , and then my Hand shall frame the Characters . And so when a Bishop of Constantinople stood out in some things against the Emperor , the Bishop of Rome , who at that time had iustly acquir'd a great reputation in the Catholicke Church , writes to the Emperour , That if that Bishop perseuer in such courses , as displease God , and the Emperour , Salua Mansuetudinis vestrae Reuerentia , vtar in e●m liberiori Constantia . So that hauing first asked the Emperour leaue , he offers him his assistance . 13 And though Gregorie the first ( whom wee may iustly call a border-pope , because though hee made no deepe roades into the iurisdiction of Princes , yet he extended his owne to the vtte●most inch , and sometimes transgressed a little beyond ) though he , I say , suspended one , to whome Orders were giuen by the Emperours commandement , yet hee doeth not this absolutely , but because he knew ( as he said ) the Emperours minde therein , and that particular parties vnworthinesse ; he suspended him , vntill he might vnderstand from his Responsall with the Emperor , whether that pretended Commandement from the Emperour were not subreptitious . 14 And when this correspondence was intermitted , as it appeares often to haue beene , to the preiudice of the whole Church , the Emperours were euer forwardest to labour a re-union and concurrence of their powers , to the benefit and peace thereof ; as Anastatius testifies thoroughly in a Letter to Hormisda , in these words ; Before this time , the hardnesse of them , to whom the care of this Bishopricke , which you now gouerne , was committed , made vs abstaine from sending any Letters ; but now , since their runnes a sweete opinion of you , it hath brought backe to our memorie , the goodnesse of a fatherly affection , that we should require those things , and so foorth . By which , all these circumstances appeare , That the Emperours did vse to write , and that the fault which induced a discontinuance thereof , proceeded From the Pope ; and that the Emperour pretermitted no opportunitie of resuming that custome ; and that where he writ , he did it out of a fatherly care , and by the way of ●equiring . And how mu●h ioy Hormisda conceiued by this Letter , ap●●ares by his phrase of expressing it , Sacros affatus congrua veneratione acc●pimus . 15 With like care Iustinus the Emperour exhorts the same Pope , to a Peace and Vnion with the Easterne Church , by his Letters which hee cals Diuinos Apices . And scarse by any one thing doth this care of Princes , and obsequiousnesse of Popes appeare more , then by the Letter of Pelagius the first ( who was littl● aboue 550. yeares ●rom Christ ) to Childebert King of France , in these words . We must endeuour , for the taking away of all scandall of suspition , to present the obsequiousnesse of our Confession , vnto Kings , to whom the holy Scriptures command euen vs to bee subiect . For Ruffi●●s , your Excellencies Ambassadour , asked from vs confidently , as became him , that either we should signifie to you , that we did obserue in all points the Faith , which Leo had described , or send a Confession of our Faith in our owne words . And ●o accordingly he perfor●es both , as well binding himselfe to the Faith of his predecessours , as exhibiting to the King another forme of the same Faith , compos'd and digested by himselfe ; which , if the Bishops of that Se● would accept now , I doe not perceiue wherein there could be any Schisme . 16 And as the Emperours were carefull assistants of the Popes , that that mother Church at whose breast most o● the Westerne Churches sucked their spiri●u●ll no●rishment , should be infected with no poison , because it might easily be deriued from thence to the other members ; so did they not attend the leisure of that Churches resolution , nor the incommodity of Generall Councels but vsed their owne power to gouerne their Churches , by constitutions of their owne ; for so a Iustinian the Emperour sayes of his owne lawe , by which he priu●ledges certain religious houses ; We offer vp this Diuine law as a faire and conuenient sacrifice to Christ. So that eyther that attribute Diuinum was then affoorded to ciuill Constitutions , or the ●mperour made Ecclesiastique lawes , if that word belong on●ly to such . b The Emperours tooke it into their care , to dispose of their estates which entred into Monasteries ; c And of thei●s also which dyed in Monasteries ; so that neither the pu●pose of entring , nor the acte , nor the habite , and pe●seuerance deuested the Emperour of his right , or hindred the working of the Law. a The Emperours also by their lawes appointed which of their subiects might not take Orders , b and at what age Orders might be confer'd ; and that no woman after a second marriage might be Diaconissa ; c which was , to make a law of Bigamy . 17 Yea they commanded and instructed in matter of Faith ; for so d Iustinian saies of himselfe , we are forward to teach , what is the right ●aith of Christians , and we Anathematize Apollinarius e . So also Honorius and Theodosius inflict the punishment of death vpon any Catholique Minister ( for then neither that name was abhorred by Priests , nor they exempt from criminall lawes ) which shold re-baptize any man ; and yet this was a meere spirituall offence . And so f Valentinian , and his Co-emperours pronounce marriage betweene Iewes and Christians to be adultery . And g Iustinian interprets how a Testator shall bee vnderstood , when he appoints Christ , or an Angell , or a Saint to be his heyre . 18 Nor deale they onely with temporall punishments vpon Ecclesiast●que persons , which is farder then is affoorded them now , but they inflict also spirituall censures : for Gratian and his Co-emperours pronounce against Heretiques , ( that is , Impugners of the Nicene councell ) That they shall be vtterly secluded from the threshold of the Church : And in the next law , which is against Nestorians , they say , If the offenders be Laymen , Anathematizentur , if Clergie men , Eijciantur ab Ecclesijs . a And another of their lawes doth not only inflict temporal & ignominious punishmēt vpon Clergy men , but Ecclesiastique censures also in these words : If a Clergy man be guilty of fals witnes in a pecuniary cause● let him be suspended three yeares , and in a criminall , let him be depriued . b And another susspends for three yeares , euen Sanctissimos & venerabiles Episcopos ; if they doe but looke vpon players at Tables : and that law authorizes him , vnder whose power that offender is , if he appeare penitent , to abbreuiate his punishment ; c and of Bishoppes which will not forsake women , it pronounces thus ; Abiiciantur Episcopatibus . And in the matter of establishing and ordering Sanctuaries , d one of the writers of the Romane parte hath presented ciuill constitutions enow , to teach vs that , that was within the care and Iurisdiction of secular Princes . 19 e And when an Emperour had created a Bishop of Antioch , contrary to the forme prescrib'd in the Nicene Councell , of an intire obseruation , whereof the christian Church was extremly zealous , the Pope proceedes not by anullings and vociferations , but writes thus to the Emperour : We may not dissallow that which you haue done holily and religiously out of a loue to peace and quietnes : by which we see that Canons of Councels , though they were Directions , yet they were not Obligations vpon Princes for their gouernement . By all which it appeares , that those Christian and Orthodoxe Emperors , iustifying their inherent right , by these frequent and vn-interrupted matters of fact , apprehended not this vast and incomprehensible distance betweene secular and ecclesiastique power , but that they were compatible enough , and conduced , and concurred to one perfection , and harmony of the whole state . 20 And it is related by a an Author of great estimation in the Romane profession , that Gregory the seuenth was author of a new scisme , diuiding and tearing priesthood and principality . b And it is euident that Bertram a priest vnder Carolus Caluus , almost eight hundred yeares since , writing of that Diuine and abstruse mysterie , De corpore Domini , submits his opinion to the iudgement of the King and his Counsaile , as competent Iudges of that question : and c Cochlaeus saith , that Luthers doctrine was condemned for hereticall by an edict of the Emperours , with the common assent of the Princes and the States . And the holy Ghost had well intimated the concurrence of their two powers in d Deuter. if those wordes which are in the Text , Nolens obedire sacerdotis Imperio , & Decreto Iudici , moriatur ; were not chaunged by the vulgate edition , into Ex Decreto ; and thereby only the priest made Iudge of the controuersies , and the Magistrate onely executioner of his Sentences . 21 For certainely these two functions are not in their nature so distinct , and Diametrically oppo●ed , but that they may meete in one matter , yea sometimes in one man , and one man may doe both : for amongst the Gentiles , it was so for the most part : and sometimes amongst the Israelites . And in late times a Maximilian the first , a Catholique Emperour , thought it belonged to the Empire , to haue also the Papacy vnited to it : and therfore when Iulius the second lay desperately sicke , he endeuoured to bring to execution , that which he had often meditated , and consul●ed , and receiued as approued from some great persons of dignity in that Church , which was to bee elected Pope in the next Conclaue , and to restore the Papacy ( as he thought or pretended ) to the Emperiall Crowne . 22 b And if a Lay-man be elected Pope , he need not presently be made Priest , but he may , if hee will , stay in Subdiaconatu . And to that degree they seeme to admit the Emperour , when he comes to be crowned at Rome ; c for at the Communion he administers to the Pope in the place of Subdeacon . And this in the Primitiue Church was not ( as d themselues confesse ) Ordo Sacer : though of late it be growne to be such a perplexed case , whether it were or no , that of those commissioners , which two Popes made to suruay the Decretals , one company expunged , the other re-assumed e one place in that book , which denies this to haue beene amongst holy Orders . 23 The Emperour also puts on a Surplis , and is admitted as a Canonick not only of Saint Peters Church , but of Saint Iohn Laterane ; to which particular Churches ( of which the Pope is Parson , as he is Bishoppe of Rome , Metropolitane of Italy , patriarch of the West , and pope of the world , all those blessings and priuiledges which are ordinarily spoken of the Catholique Church are said by a some to bee irremoueably annexed and appropriate : hereupon some of their owne lawyers say , b That all kings are clergie men ; and that therefore it is sacriledge ●o dispute of the authority of a King. 24 But howsoeuer these two functions , since the establing of Christianity , haue for the most part beene preserued distinct , and ought so to be ; yet they are at most , but so distinct as our Body and Soule : and though our Soule can contemplate God of herself , yet she can produce no exterior act without the body . Nothing in the world is more spirituall and delicate , and tender then the conscience of a man ; yet by good consent of Diuines , otherwise diuersly perswaded in Religion , the ciuill lawes of Princes doe binde our consciences : and shall the persons of any men , or their temporal goods , be thought to be of so sublimed , and spirituall a nature , that the ciuill constitutions of Princes cannot worke vpon them ? Nor doe we therfore decline the comparison , so much vrged by the Romanes , that the Clergie exceede the Laiety as much as the body the soule , when it is so conditioned and qualified , as the authors thereof intended it ; That is , that the seales and instruments of Gods grace , the Sacraments , are in the dispensing of the Clergy , as temporall blessings are in the Prince and his lawes , strictly and properly , though concurrently both in both , ( for the execution of the most spirituall function of the priest , as it is circumstanced with time and place ; and such , is ordinarily from the Prince ) ● But we are a litle affraid , that by a literall and punctuall acceptation of this comparison , we may giue way to that Supremacy , which they affect ouer Princes ; because their Sepulueda saith , That the soule doth exercise ouer the body , Herile Imperium , vt Dominus in seruum● and so by this insinuation should the pope doe ouer the prince . 25 Howsoeuer in their first institution Popes were meere Soules , and purely spirituall , yet as the purest Soule becomes stain'd and corrupt with sinne , assoone as it touches the body : so haue they by entring into secular businesse , contracted all the corruptions and deformities thereof , and now transferre this originall disease into their successours . And as in the second Nicene Councell● when the Bishop of Thessalonica a●err'd it to be the opinion of Basil , Athanasius , and Methodius , and the Vniuersall Church , that Angels , and Soules were not meerely incorporeall , but had bodies● The Councell in a prudent con●i●enc●e , fo●bore to oppose any thing against that asseueration , because it facilitated their purpose then , of making Pictures and representations of Spirits ( though Binius now vpon that place , say , his Assertion was false and iniurious to the Church : ) So though in true Diuinitie the Pope is meerely spiritual , yet to enable him to depose Princes , they will inuest and organize him with bodily and secular Iurisdiction , and auerre that all the Fathers , and all the Catholicke Church were euer of that opinion . For the Pope will not now be a meere Soule and Spirit , but Spiritualis homo , qui iudicat omnia , & a nemine iudicatur . For so a late writer stiles him , and by that place of Scripture enables him to depose Princes . No● will this serue , but he must be also spirit●alis Princeps ; of which we shall hereaf●er haue occasion to speake . 26 And as a cunning Artificer can produce greater effects , vpon matter conueniently dispos'd thereunto , then nature could haue done , ( as a Statuarie can make an Image , which the Timber and the Axe could neuer haue ef●ected without him : And as the Magicians in Egypt could make liuing Creatures , by applying and suggesting Passiue things to Actiue , which would neuer haue met , but by their mediation : ) So , after this Soule is entred into this Body , this spirituall Iurisdiction into this temporall , it produces such effects , as neither pow●r alone could worke , nor they naturally would vnite and combine themselues to that end , if they were not thus compressed , and throng'd together like wind in a Caue . Such are the thunders of vniust Excommunications , and the great Earthquakes of trans●er●ing Kingdomes . 27 And these vsurpations of your Priests haue deseru'd , that that stygmaticall note should still l●e vpon them , which your Canons retaine , a That all euill proceedes from Priests . For though b Manriqe whom Sixtus the fift employ'd , had remooued that glosse , yet Faber to whom Gregorie the thirteenth committed the suruey of the Canons , re●aines it still . And ( if the Text be of better credit then the glosse ) the Text hath auerred Saint Hieromes words , That searching ancient Histories , he cannot find , that any did rent the Church● and seduce the people from the house of God , but those which were placed by God , as Priests , and Prophets , that is , Ouersee●s ; for these are turnd into winding Snares , and lay scandals in euery place . 28 Euen the Name of King , presents vs an argument of pure , and absolute , and independant Authori●ie● for it e●presses immediatly , and radically his Office of gouerning , wher●s the name of Bishop hath a metaphorica●l , and similitudinarie deriuation , and being before Christianitie applied to Officers , which had the ouerseeing of others , but yet with relation to Superiours , to whom they were to giue an account , deuolu'd conueniently vpon such Prelates , as had the ouerseeing of the inferiour Clergie , but yet gaue them no acquitance and discharge of their dueties to the Prince . 29 And God hath dignified many races of Kings , with many markes and impressions of his power . For by such an influence , and infusion , our kings cure a di●ease by touch , and so doe the French Kings worke vpon the same infirmitie . And it is said that the kings of Spaine cure all Daemoniaque and possessed persons . And if it bee thought greater , that the Pope cures spirituall Leprosies , and lamenesses of sinne , his Office therein is but accessorie and subsequent ; and after an Angel hath troubled our waters , and put vs into the Poole , that is , after we are troubled and anguished for our sinnes , and after we haue washed our selues often in the riuer Iordan , in our tea●es , and in our Sauiours blood vpon the Crosse , and in the Sacrament , then is his Office to distinguish betweene Leaper and Leaper , and pronounce who is clensed : which all his Priests could doe as well as he , if he did not Monopolize our sinnes by reseruations . 30 And this is as much as seemes to me needfull to bee said of their auiling Magistracy , in respect of Priesthood : for , for vs priuate men it must content vs , to be set one 〈◊〉 higher then dogges ; for so they say in their Missall cases , that if any of the consecrated wine fall downe , the Priest or his assistant ought to licke it vp ; but if they be not prepar'd , any Lay-man may be admitted to licke it , least the dogge should . And of the comparison of these two great functions● Principality and Priesthood , I will say no more , least the malignity of any mis-interpreter might throw these aspersions , which I lay vppon persons , vpon the Order . And therefore since we haue sufficiently obserued , how neare approaches to Priest hood the Christian Emperours haue iustly made , and thereby seene the iniustice of the Romane Church , in deiecting Princes so farre vnder it : we will now descend to the second way , by which they debase Princes , and derogate from their authority . 31 For it is not onely in comparisons with Priesthood , that the Romane writers diminish secular dignity , but simply and absolutely , when they make the Title and Iurisdiction of a king so smoakie a thing , that it must euaporate and vanish away by any lightning of the popes Breues or censures , except they will all yeeld to build vp his Monarchy , and make him heyre to euery kingdome , as he pretends to be to the Empire : for a of that ( saith a Iesuite ) now there is no more controuersie . b And if the electors dissagree in their election , then the election belongs to him . And whether they agree or no , c this forme of Election is to continue but so long , as the Church shall thinke it expedient . And if he had such title to all the rest , that Monarchie might in a vaster proportion extend it selfe , as farre as one limme thereof , the Iacobins , do in Paris : d to whom Philip le longe , gaue a Charter for their dwelling in that Citie , in these wordes : A porta eorum , ad portam Inferni , inclusiue . 32 And how easily and slipperily Princes incurre these censures , may be collected by Nauarrus , who saies , It is the Catholique faith , without firm beleefe whereof , no man can be saued ; that no Prince can erect or extinguish a benefice without the Pope ; and to thinke the contrary ( saith he ) doth taste of the English Heresie . 33 Scarce any amongst themselues can escape that excommunication Dormant , which they call Bullam Caenoe ; in which Nauarrus reckons vp so many hooks , with which it takes hold , that euery honest man , and good subiect with vs now , ought to be affraide , least he haue not incurred it , since all they are within the danger thereof , that adhere to any , who hath bu● offended a Cardinall : of whose safety the popes are growne so carefull , that in the later Decretals it is made treason , euen in a stranger and no sub●ect ; If he haue any kind of knowledge , or coniectu●e of any harme , intended to any of them . And the Emperour himselfe if he abett , or receiue , or fauour , or countenance any that doth , or intends personall harme to a Cardinall , becomes a traytor . For they are the eldest sonnes of the Church , and partake of the Maiesty of their father . Nor are they brethren to any of lesse ranke , but to such , their stile is but vester vti frater , as Baronius writes to Schultingius his abbreuiator . And though Bishops and the Emperour swear fidelity to the pope ; yet , saies Gigas , the Cardinals doe not take that oa●h , because they are parts of his body , and his owne Bowels . 34 And n●t onely all princes are bound to a reuerend respect of them , but a in solemne processions , the Image of Christ must looke backward , if a Cardinall follow ; and God himselfe in the Host , must giue them place : for at the Coronation of the pope , b when they prouide twelue horses for the Pope , and one gentle one for the Host , the dignity of the place being measured by the nearenesse to the Popes person ; the Cardinals place is , to ride betweene the Host and the Pope . And in their mysterious passages vpon Ash-wednesday , c when the Pope laies the ashes vpon a Cardinall , he saies not to him , as to all others , Memen●o homo , quia Cinis es , but quia puluis es : Intimating perchance , that they are neuer so burnt to ashes , but that the fires of lust or ambition are still aliue in them . To which , I thin●e there was some regard had , when it was so wisely prouided , d that when a Cardinall did celebrate masse , there might enter no woman , nor man without a beard . 35 Nor doth the Pope improuidently , in aduancing them with these dignities and priuiledges , nor in multiplying their number , so directly against the Councell of Basil , e which limits them to twentie foure ( except , vpon vniting the Greek Church , it might be thought fit to add two more ) and forbids expresly any Nephues of the Popes to be admitted . For no excesse in number , f ( though they were returned to two hundred and thirty at once , as they are said to haue beene in Pontianus his time ; and though he should pile them vp , and throw them downe , as fast as those Popes which created sixe and twenty in one day , and executed sixe in another ) could disaduantage that Sea of Rome , if they might be prouided out of the states of other Princes ( as in a great measure they are ) since the Church is their heyre , and they are all but stewards for her . Of which the Pope gaue a dangerous instance , when he put in his claime for the kingdome of Portugall , because the last king was a Cardinall . These p●inces , no secular prince may dare to offend , nor subiect adhere to him , if he doe , vpon danger of that Bull : and yet they are made Iudges of the actions of all Princes , as Baronius saies ; and so oppressed with infinit suits against Princes , that it may be fitly sa●d of them , which Iob saies , Ecce genuit gigantes sub aquis , & qui habitant cum eis : which wordes the Cardinals will not thanke Baronius for applying to them , if they consider that Lyra interprets this place of Gyants drowned in the flood , and now damn'd and lamenting in hell . But now , a Cardinall cannot chuse but bee a person of great holinesse and integritie , since there is a Decretall in a gen●rall Councell , and a Bull of Leo the tenth , which doe not only Hortari , and Mouere , but Statuere , and Ordinare , that euery Cardinal shall be of good life . 36 And as these censures and Excommunications of the Pope , inuolue all causes , so doe they all persons , except the Pope himselfe , and such companie , as the Canons haue appointed him in this e●emption , which are , Locusts , ●nfid●ls , and the Diuell . For these , and the Pope , sayes Nauarrus , cannot be Excommunicated : Yet as in their exorcismes of persons possessed , it is familiar to them , when the Diuell is stubborne , to call him a Heretique , and b Excommunicate , so some Popes haue kept him companie in both those titles . And as they cal their Hermits Locusts ( because as it is in Salomon , They haue no Kings , yet they goe forth by bands ) and accordingly the Hermits are subiect to no Superiour , and in that sense Locusts , as their owne Glosser stiles them : so may they prodigally extend the name and priuiledge of Ine●communicable Locusts , to many in the other Orders , since as the Hermits haue no kings , so many of the others wish , that none else had any King , and doe their best end●uour by au●ling them , to bring them into contempt , and to an nihilate their dignitie and them . 37 He that should compare the stile of Thomas Becket to his King ( Olim seruus , nunc in Christo Dominus ) with that of Dauid , after he knew Saule to be reproued by God , and himselfe anoynted , ( After whom is the King of Israel come out ? After a dead Dogge , and after a Flea ? ) Would suspect that this difference of st●le , was not from one Author . Saint Chrisostome notes , that euen to Nabuchonozor , who persecuted them for their faith , they which were condemned , said : Notum sit tibi Rex ; and would not offer to the Tyrant , that contumelious name . And to prophane and irreligious Princes , God himselfe in his Bookes , affoords one of his owne names , Christ. 38 What high stiles did many Christian and Orthodoxe Emperours assume to themselues ? The Law stiles the Emperour , a Sanctissimum Imperatorem . And his priuiledges , b Diuinas Indulgentias . So Gratian and his Colleagues in the Empire , in the first Law of the Code , call their c Motus animi , Caeleste arbitrium . And Theodosius and Valentinian making a Law with a non obstante , preclude all dispensations , which the Emperours themselues might graunt , in these words , d Si Caeleste proferatur Oraculum , aut Diuina pragmatica Sanctio . So also Theodosius and Arcadius , when they make a Law for dispatch of Suites , begin thus , e Nemo deinceps tardiores affatus nostrae Perennitatis expectet . And Iustinian in the inscription of one of his owne Lawes , ins●rts amongst his owne Ti●les , f S●mper Adorandus Augustus . And in a Lawe of Monasteriall , and Matrimoniall causes , ( which are now onely of spirituall Iurisdiction ) he threatens , that if any Bishop infringe that Law , g Quam nostra sanxit Aeternitas Capitis supplicio ferietur . In which stile also Theodosius and Arcadius ioyne , h Adoraturus aeternitat●m vestr●m di●igatur . And an other proceedes somewhat further , i Beneficio numinis nostri . And Theodosius , and Valentinian deliuer it more plainely , k Vt sciant omnes , quantum nostra Diuinitas auersatur Nestorium ; and so in fauour of the puritie and integritie of Christian Religion , in contemplation whereof , it seemes they were Religiously exercised , euen at that time , when hee assum'd these high st●les , they proceede in the same Law , We anathematize all Nestorius followers , according to those things which are already constituted A Diuinitate nostra . And Constantius , and Irene write themselues Di●os ; and the●r owne Acts , Diualia● And this , Pope Adrian , to whom they writ , r●prehended not ; but the Emperour Charles did , and another phrase of as much exorbitance , which was , Deus qui nobis conregnat . 39 The highest that I haue obser●ed any of our Kings to haue vsed , is in Edward the fourth , who in his creation of Marques Dor●e● , speakes thus of himselfe , Cum n●stra Maiestas , ad Regium Culmen subl●●ata existat ; and after , Tantum sp●endoris nostri nomen . But a little before his time Baldus gaue as much to the king of France , as euer any had ; for he said he was in his kingdome , Quidam Corporalis Deus . And in our present age , a Roman Author in a Dedication of his booke , thus salutes our Queene Mary : because your Highnesse is the strongest bul-warke of the Faith , Tua N●mina supplex posco ; which is also at●ributed to the Emperour in a late Oration to him , and to other Princes . And in some Funerall Monuments of Queene Maries time , I haue read this inscription ; Di●is Philippo & Maria Regibus , which word Di●us , Bellarmine values at so high a rate , that he repents to haue bestowed it vpon any of the Saints ; and therefo●e in his la●e Recognition blots it out : which tendernesse in him , another Ies●ite since disallowes , and iustifies the vse of the worde against Bellarmines squeamish abstinence ; because the worde , saies Se●arius , may be vsed aswel as temple or as fortune , which are also Ethnique wordes . But by his leaue he is too hasty with the Cardinall , who do●h not refuse the word , because the Ethniques vsed it , but because they appointed it onely to their Gods ; Bellarmine insimulates al them , which allow that worde to Saints , of making Saints Gods. 40 And though in some of these Ti●les of great excesse , which these Emp●rous ass●●●'d to themselues ; we may easily discerne some impressions of Gentilisme , which they retain'd sometimes , after Christian Religion had receiued roote amongst them ; as they did also their Gladiatorie spectacles , and other wastefull prodigalities of mens liues ; and Bondage and seruility , and some other such : yet neither in them , nor in other Princes , is the danger so great , if they should continue in them , as it is in the Bishoppes of Rome . For Princes , by assuming these Titles , do but draw men to a iust reuerence , and estimation of that power , which subiects naturally know to be in them : but the other , by these Titles seeke to build vp , and establish a power , which was euer litigious and controuerted , either by other Patriarchs , or by the Emperours : for Bellarmine hauing vndertaken to proue the Pope , to be Peters successor in the Ecclesiastique Monarchy ( which Monarchy it selfe is denyed , and not onely the popes right to it ) labors to proue this assumption , by the fifteene great names , which are attributed to the Popes . 41 And the farthest mischiefe , which by this excesse Princes could stray into , or subiects suffer , is a deuiation into Tyranny , and an ordinary vse of an extraordinary power and prerogatiue , and so making subiects slaues , and ( as the Lawyers say ) Personas Res. But by the magni●ying of the Bishoppe of Rome with these Titles , our religion degenerates into superstition ; which is a worse danger : and besides our temporall fortunes suffer as much danger and detriment , as in the other ; for P●inces by their lawes worke onely vpon the faculties and powers of the soule , and by reward and punishment , they encline or auert our dispositions to a loue or feare . But those Bishopps pretend a power vpon the substance of our soules , which must be in their disposition , for her condition and state in the next life . And therefore to such as claime such a power , it is more dangerous to allow and countenance any such Titles , as participate in any significa●ion of Diuinity . 42 For since they make their Tribunall and Consistory the same with Christ , since they say a It is Heresie and Treason to decline the Popes iudgement , per ludibria friuolarum Appellationum , ad futurum Concilium , as one Pope saies ; since they teach , b that one may not appeale from the Pope to God himselfe ; c since they direct vs to bow at the name of Iesus , and at the name of the Pope , but not at the name of Christ ; for that being the name of Annointed , it might induce a reuerence to Princes ( who partake that name ) if they should bow to that name ; since they esteeme their lawes Diuine , not as Princes doe , by reason of the power of God inherent in all iust lawes , and by reason of the common matter and subiect of all such lawes ( which is publique vtility and generall good ) but because their lawes are in particular dictated by the holy Ghost , and therefore it is Blaspemy and sinne against the holy Ghost to violate any of them ; since themselues make this difference betweene the name of God , as it is giuen to Princes , and as it is giuen to them : that Princes are called Dij laicorum , and they Dij principum ; since to proue this , they assume a power aboue God , to put a new sense into his word , which they doe , when they proue this assertion out of these words in Exodus ; Dijs non detra●es , & principi populi non maledices , for by the first , they say , the popes are vnderstood , and by the second princes ; when as Saint Paul himselfe applies the latter part to the high priest , and their expositor Lyra , and the Iesuite Sâ , interpret the first part of this Scripture of Iudges : Since , I say , they entend worse ends then Princes doe , in accepting or assuming like Titles ; and since they worke vpon a more dangerous and corruptible subiect , which is the Conscience and Religion ; since they require a stronger assurance in vs by faith ; since they threaten greater penalties in any which doubt thereof , which is damnation ; the popes cannot be so excuseable in this excesse as princes may be . And yet princes neuer went so farre as the popes haue done , as we shall see , when we come to consider the title and power of spirituall princes . All this I say , not to encourage princes to returne to those stiles , which Christian humilitie hath made them dis-accustome , and leaue off , and which could not be reassum'd without much scandall , but to shew the iniquitie and peruersnesse of those men , who thinke great Titles belong to Kings , not as Kings , but as Papisticall Kings . 43 For so at a Consultation of Iesuites in the Tower , in the late Queenes time , I saw it resolued , that in a Petition to bee exhibited to her , shee might not be stiled Sacred . Though one of their owne Order haue obserued that attribute to bee so cheape , that it was vsuall to say , Sancti Patres conscripti , and Sacratissimi Quirites , and Sanctissimi Milites . And our English Iesuites vse to aggrauate her defection much , by that circumstance , that shee had beene Consecrated , and pontifically Anoynted , and inuested at her Coronation , and therefore was Sacred . 44 How great a detestation they had of her Honour , and of all Princes which professe the same Religion that shee did , appeares in no one such thing more , then in Quirogaes expurgatorie Index , where admitting all the reprochfull calumnies of Eunapius against Martyrs , whose reliques he cals Salita Capita , with other opprobrious contumelies , they haue onely expunged an Epistle of Iunius to her , in which there was no words concerning Religion , but onely a gratulation of her Peace , and of her Learning ; which also they haue done in Serranus his Edition of Plato . And as God hath continued his fauours showen to her , vpon her successour , so haue they their malice : For in the second Tome of that worke , they haue taken away an Epistle Dedicatorie to his Maiestie , that now is . 45 And as in many of their Rules , for that Dissection and Anatomising of Authours , they haue prouided that all Religion , and all prophane knowledge shall depend vpon their will : So haue they made a good offer , that all cariage of State businesse shall bee open to them , by expunging all such sentences , as instructor remember Princes , in that learning , which those Rules cals Rationem status , and which ( because Italians haue beene most conuersant therein ) is vulgarly called Ragion di stato . For this Ragion di stato , is , as the Lawyers call it , Ius Dominationis ; And as others call it , Arcana Imperij . And it pretends no farther but to teach , by what meanes a Prince , or any Soueraigne state , may best exercise that power which is in them , and giue least offence to the Subiects , and yet preserue the right and dignitie of that power . 46 For it is impossible , that any Prince should proceede in all causes & occurrences , by a downright Execution of his Lawes : And he shall certainely be frustrated of many iust and lawfull ends , if he discouer the way by which he goes to them . And therefore these disguisings , and auerting of others from discerning them , are so necessarie , that though , In Genere rei , they seeme to be within the compasse of deceite and falshood , yet the end , which is , maintenance of lawfull Authoritie , for the publike good , iustifies them so well , that the Lawyers abhorre not ●o giue them the same definition ( with that Addition of publike good ) which they doe to deceit it selfe . For they define Ragion di stato to be , Cumaliud agitur , aliud simulatur , bono publico . 47 And the Romane Authors doe not onely teach , that deceit is not Intrinsecè malum , but vpon that ground and foundation , they build Equiuocation , which is like a Tower of Babel , both because thereby they get aboue all earthly Magistracie , and because therein no men can vnderstand one another . Nor can there be a better example giuen of the vse of this Ragion di stato , then their forbidding it● Because nothing conduces more to the aduancing of their strength , then that Princes should not know , or not vse their owne , or proceede by any wayes remou'd from their discernings . Indeed those bookes of Expurgation , are nothing else but Ragion di stato : That is , a disguised and dissembled way , of preferring their double Monarchie . And they that fordid Princes the lawfull vse of these Arcana Imperij , practise for their owne ends , euen Flagitia Imperij , which are the same things , when they exceede their true endes ( which are iust authority , and the publique good ) or their lawfull waies to those ends , which should euer be within the compasse of vertue , and religion . 48 Of which sort are all those enormous dispensations from Rome , which no interpretation nor pretence can iustifie● as ( to omit some sacrilegious and too immodest licenses ) that of Gregory the third is one , who writ to Boniface his Legate in Germany , that they , whose wiues being ouertaken with any infirmity , would not reddere Debitum , might marry other wiues : which Binius hath wisely left out . 49 But they are in these expurgations iniurious also to the memorie of dead princes : for a they will not admit our k. Edward the sixt , to be said to be Admirandae indolis , nor the Duke of b Wittenberg praeclarus . They will not allow c Vlrichus Huttenus to be called A learned Knight : no , d neither him , nor Oebanus Hessus to be so much as good poets . But with the same circumspection , that the e Belgique Index could add to Borrhaeus writing vppon Aristotles politiques , in this sentence , Religionis cura semper pertinuit ad principes , this clause , & Sacerdotem ; the f Spanish Index dooth mutilate Velcurio vpon Liuy , and from this sentence ( the fift age was decrepite vnder the Popes and Emperours ) takes out the Popes , and leaues the Emperours obnoxious to the whole imputation . And as with extreame curious malignity , they haue watched that none of our side be celebrated , so haue they spied some inuisible dangers , which the Popes honor might incurre : and therfore as the g Spanish Copie , hath before Luthers name expunged the letter D , least it might intimate Doctor , or Diuus ; so the h Duch Copie , hauing found nothing to quarrel at in Schonerus the Mathematician , expunges in many places a great D. at beginning of Diuisions , because in it ( as ordinarily those great initiall letters , haue some figure ) there is imprinted the popes head , and by it the diuell , presenting him a Bull. 50 But this inhumanity of theirs hath not deterr'd Thuanus from his ingenuity , in giuing to all those learned men , whom he hath occasion to mention , the attributes an● epithetes due to their vertues , though they be of a diuers perswasion in Religion from himselfe : But those other men , who in a proude humility will say brother Thiefe , and brother Wolfe , and brother Asse , ( as Saint Francis ( perchance not vn-prophetically ) is said to haue done ) will admit no fraternity nor fellowshippe with Princes . 51 And though the Iesuites by the aduantage of their fourth Supernumerary vow , of sustaining the Papacy , by obeying the Popes will ; seeme to haue gone further herein then the rest , yet the last Order erected by Philip Nerius , which was saide to haue beene purposed to eneruate the Iesuites ; and by a continual preaching the liues of Saints , and the Ecclesiastique story , to counterpoise with deuotion , the Iesuites secular and actiue learning , though they set out late , haue aemulously endeuoured to ouertake the Iesuites themselues in this doct●ine of auiling Princes : For Bozius hath made all Princes Tributary or Feudatary to the Pope , if not of worse condition . And Gallonius seemes to haue vndertaken the History of the persecutions in the Primitiue Church , onely to haue occasion by comparison thereof , to defame and reproach the lawes , and Gouernement of our late Queene . 52 But Baronius more then any other exceeds in this point , for obeying his owne scope and first purpose to aduance the Sea of Rome , he spares not the most obedient childe of that mother , the Catholique King of Spaine : for , speaking of the Title which that King hath to the Kingdome of Sicily , he imputes thus much to Charles the fift , that being possessed with employments of the fielde , hee gaue way to an Edict , by which , Grande piaculum perpetratur against the Apostolique authority and al Ecclesiastqiue lawes were vtterly dissipated : And that hee ioyned together temporall and spirituall iurisdiction● and pretended a power to excommunicate and to absolue euen Cardinals , and the Pop●s Nuncioes , and so , saies he , hath raised another Head of the Church , pro monstro , & ostento . He addes with extreame intemperance , that this claime to that Kingdome was buried a while , but reuiued againe by Tyrannicall force , by violent grassation , and by the robbery of Princes , who commaunded that to be obeyed as reasonable , which they had extorted by Tyranny . And least hee should not seeme to extend his bitternes to the present time , he saies , those Princes which hold Sicily by the same reasons , doe imitate those tyrants . And so he imputes vppon all the later kings of Spaine , as much vsupation of Ecclesiastique Iurisdiction , and as monstrous a Title of head of the Church , as euer their malice degorged vppon our king Henrie the eight . 53 And though in some passages of that history , he hath left some wayes to escape , by laying those imputations rather vpon the kings officers then vpon ●he king , yet that Cardinall who hath censured that part of his worke , espies his workemanshippe and arte of deceiuing , and therefore tels him , that he hath inuayd against Monarchy it selfe , and all defenders thereof ; and that him● Nor doth Baronius repent that , which hee hath spoken of those kings , but in his answere to this Cardinall ; he saies , that if the King were impeccable , if he were an Angell , if he were God himselfe , yet he is subiect to iust reproofe . And in his Epistle to Phil. 3. in excuse of himselfe , though hee seeme to spare the present king , yet it is ( as he professes ) because he hopes that he will relinguish that Iurisdiction in Sicily ; els he is subiect to all those reproofs & reproches , which Baro. hath laid vpon his father and Grandfather . 54 And though this were a great excesse in Baronius , to lay such aspersions vpon those Princes , yet his malice appeares to bee more generall ; for the reason why he makes this pretence so intollerable , is , because thereby ( saies he ) that King becomes a Monarch ; and there can be no other Monarch in the world , then the Pope ; and therefore that name must be cutte off , least by this example it should propagate , and a whole wood of monarchs should grow vp , to the perpetuall infamy of the Primacy of the Church . And so this care of his , that no Monarches be admitted , implies his confession , that they which are Monarches haue right in their Dominions , to all that which those kings claime in Sicily , which is as much as our kings exercise in England , ( if Baronius do not exceede in his imputation . ) 55 But because there is nothing more tender then honour , which as God will giue to none from himselfe , being a iealous God , so neither ought his Vic●gerents to doe ; it shall not be an vnseasonable and impertinent , at most , an excuseable and pardonable diuersion , to obserue onely by such impressions , as remaine in the letters betweene the Emperours and Popes , at what times , and vpon what occasions the Clergie of that Sea insulted vpon secular Magistacy ; and by what either dilatory circumuentions , or violent irruptions , they are arriued to this enormous contempt of Principality , as of a subordinate instrument of theirs . 56 Before they had much to doe with Emperours , ( for they were a long time religiously , and victoriously exercised with suffering ) we may obse●ue in Cyprians time , that he durst speake brotherly and fellowly to that Sea , and intimate the resolu●ions of his Church to that , without asking approbation and strength from thence : for to Pope Stephen , he writes , Stephano fratri ; and then Nos qui gubernandae Ecclesiae libram tenemus : and after , Hoc facere te oportet : with many like impressions of equality : But in Fir●ilianus his Epistle to Cyprian , written in opposition to Stephanus his Epistle ; who was growne into some bitternesse against Cyprian , there appeares more liberty : for thus he saies ; Though by the inhumanity of Stephen , we haue the better tryall of Cyprians wisedome , we are no more beholden to him for that , then we are to Iudas for our saluation . He addes after , That that Church doth in vaine pretend the authority of the Apostles ; since in many sacraments Diuinae rei , it differs from the beginning , and from the Church of Hierusalem , and defames Peter and Paul as Authors thereof . And therefore ( ●aies he ) I doe iust●y disdaine the open and manifest ●oolishnesse of Stephen , by whom the truth of the Christian Rocke is abolished . So roundly and constantly were their first attempts and intrusions resisted , and this not onely by this Aduocate of Cyprian , but euen by himselfe also , in as sharpe words as these , in his Epistle to Pompeius . 57 And for their behauiour to the Empero●s , as long as Zeale and Pouertie restrain'd them , it cannot be doubted , but that they were respectiue enough . The preambulatorie Letters before the Councell of Chalcedon , testifie it well : Where the Letters of the Emperours , yea , of their Wiues , are accepted by the name of Diuales , and Sacrae literae , and Diuinae syllabae . And about the same time , Leo the Pope writing to Leo the Emperour , he sayes ; Hanc Paginam necessariae supplicationis adieci ; And in the next Epistle but one , Literas Clementiae tuae veneranter accepi , quibus cuperem obedire . So also Felix the third , to Zeno the Emperour , cals himselfe Famulum vestrum , and such demissions as these ; Liceat , venerabilis Imperator , exponere ; And , Per mei Ordinis paruitatem audias , are frequent in him . And in Iustinians time , which was presently after , that Church sensible of the vse and neede , which it had of his fauour , so hee would be content to extend to their benefit , prescription , which before was limited in thir●ie yeares , to a hundred , neuer grudged at t●e phrase and language of his Law , by which he affoorded the Church that priuiledge , though it were very high ; Being willing to illustrate Rome , Lege specialj nostri Numinis , That that Church may eternally by this , remember the prouidence of our Gouernement , we graunt , &c. 58 And Gregorie the first was , out of his wisedome at least , if not Deuotion , as temperate as the rest , when he w●it to the Emperour Maurice , to sweeten and modifie that Law , which forba● some persons to enter into Monasteries ; For there he cals himselfe Famulum , and Seruum : And addes this , Whiles I speake thus with my Lords , What am I , but dust and wormes ? And though Binius is loth to pardon him this duetifulnesse , and respect to his Princes , and there●ore sayes , That he protested in the begining of that Letter , that hee spoke not as a Bishop , but Iure priuato , And so out of Baronius , he sayes , That he plaide another part , as vpon a stage : Yet , if he wore this maske and disguise cleane through the Epistle , then he spoke personately , and dissemblingly , as well with Christ , as with the Emperour , when he sayes : I , the meanest of Christs s●ruants and yours . Nor do I thinke that Binius or Baronius would say , that he spoke personately of the Execution of the Emperours Law , but that hee had truely done as he said : I haue done all which I ought to doe● for I haue both performed my obedience to the Emperor , and I haue vttered that which I thought fit concerning God. And he was wisely careful that his Letter to the Emperour , concerning his opnion of the iniquitie of that Law , should not come to the Emperours inopportunely , nor as from a person of equall ranke to him ; and therefore he forbids his own Responsall ( for the dignitie of a Nuncio , was not yet in vse ) to deliuer it , but sends it to the Emperours Phisitian , because saith he , Vestra Gloria , may secretly , at some conueniet time , offer him this suggestion ; And that this Phisitian might be confident in this employment , he assures him of his affection and Allegeance to his Prince , by this Confession , God hath appointed the Emperour to rule , not onely Souldiours ( which were the persons forbid in that Law ) but also Priests ( whose priuileges seem'd to be impayr'd thereby . ) 59 With like respect doth one of his successors Vitalian , write to Vaanus , who was Cubi●ularius , et Chartularius Imperialis , to mediate & prouide , that a Bishoppe vniustly deposed , might be restored . And to him the Pope affoords this stile , Celsitudo vestra , and addresses the depos'd Bishop , Ad vestra ambulaturum vestigia , and promises that they both shall all the daies of their liues , pray to God for the prosperity , and long liuing Suae excellentissimae Charitatis . 60 And in all this course of time , the Popes , some out of a iust contemplation of their duety , some out of the neede , which they had of the Emperours , from whom they receiued daily some additions to their immunities and exemptions , were agreeable and appliable enough to them . And when Italy suffered a dereliction , by the absence of the Emperours in the East , and thereby was prostituted and exposed to barbarous Inuaders , the Bishoppes of this Citie , which was the fairest marke to inuite the Lumbards and the rest , solicited those Easterne Emperours to their succour , with all sweetnesse and humility ; but at last , desperate of such reliefe , casting their eyes vppon the mightiest kingdome of the West , they inuited the French to their succour . 61 And at this time came from them those lamentable supplications , which Stephen the third sent to Pipin and Carloman : In the first whereof , he vrges them with their promise of certaine lands , by them vowed to the Church : And hauing called them , Dominos excellentissimos , and spiritualem Compatrem , and prepared them with wordes of much sweetenesse , Mellifluam bonitatem , Mellifluos obtutus , and such , hee comes to the point : That which you haue offered to Peter by promise , you ought to deliuer him in profession , least when the Porter of heauen , the Prince of the Apostles , at the daie of iudgement shall shew your hand-writing you be put to make a more strict account with him . So therefore he felt and lamented their slackenes in endowing the Church ; yet at that time he would not vndertake to be the Iudge , nor make the Camera Apostolica the Court ; but he referres it to Saint Peter , and to the last day , and onely remembers them , That Dominus per meam humilitatem , mediante B. Petro , vos vnxit in reges . 62 The next letter written in the person of the Pope , and all the Romane people , and Romane armie , et omnium in afflictione positorum , is an earnest and violent coniuration ; per Deum viuum vos coniuro , Saue vs , most Christian Princes before we perish ; the soules of all the Romans hang vpon you , and so forth . And when all this did not effectually stirre them to come , as the letter solicited , Cum nimia festinatione ; then came a third letter in the name and person of Saint Peter himselfe , in this stile : I Peter the Apostle , and by me all the Catholique Romane Church , Head of all the Churches of God , vobis viris excellentissimis . I Peter , exhort you , my adopted Sonnes , to defend that house , where I rest in my flesh : and with me Marie , with great Obligations , Aduises , and Protests , and so forth . And whatsoeuer you shall aske of me , I will giue you . If you doe not performe this , know ye , that by the authoritie of the Apostleshippe giuen me by Christ , you are alienated from the Kingdome of God , and from life euerlasting . 63 And when Stephen the fourth came to that Sea , and tha● the sonnes of these Princes beganne to incline to ally themselues by marriage with the Lombards ; the Pope seeing then his whole temporal ●ortune at the stake , neglects no way of withdrawing them , from that inclination : hee saies therefore , Saint Peter , by our vnhappines , beseecheth your Excellence : and then , vouchsafe to bend your eares , inspired by God , to our Petition , and to him whom we haue sent , ad Regale vestrum Culmen . And then , in an inconstant distemper , he threatens , and he promises in St. Peters name , as bitterly , and as liberally , as his predecessor had bid S. Peter himselfe to doe , in the former Epistle . 64 And when these Princes after much entreaty , had deliuered Italy from the infestation of the Lombards , and deuided the profite and spoile with the Church , and that that Sea had reco●ered some breath and heart , then their Bishopps began to reprehend with some bitternesse , the Easterne Emperours : And then came that notorious letter of Nicholas to Michael the Emperour ; In which though he stile him , Superatorem Gentium , pr●ssimum filium , Dulcissimum , Tranquillissimum ( for as yet hee doubted that he might be necessary to him ) yet he cals him also Golias , and himselfe Hymnidicum Dauidem . And part of the quarrell was , because the Emperour had written Insolentia quae●am , cert●ine vnusuall phrases : which were , ●ussimus , vt quosdam ad nos mitteretis : for , saies Nicholas , Honorius said to Boniface , Petimus ; and other Emp●rours , Inuitamus , and Rogamus , and Constantine and Irene , Rogamus , magis quidem Dominus Deus rogat : which phrase , though Charles the great , at that time , when it was written , rep●ehended , and allowed a whole Chapter in his booke for the reproofe thereof , yet not onely that Pope dissembled it , but this drawes it into example and precedent . 65 And in this letter the Pope giues the Emperour some light , that hee is not long to enioy the stile of Romane Emperour ; for he hauing despised the Romane tongue as Barbarous , ( as euery Prince loues to be saluted in his owne , or in an equall language ) the Pope replies : That if hee call the Romane tongue barbarous , because ●ee vnderstands it not , it is a ridiculous thing , to call himselfe Romane Emperour . 66 And thus hauing at once receiued and recompensed a benefite , by concurring in the aduancement of the French to the Empire , they kept good hold vpon that Kingdome , by continuall correspondencies , and by interceding with those Kings , for p●rdons and fauours , when any delinquents fled ouer to them , and by aduising them in all emergent causes , and by doing them many seruices in Italy , and so establishing the Empire in that family , vpon good conditions to them both . For so Iohn the eight writes to Charles , as well to refresh his benefit in his memorie , as the reasons that moued him to conferre it . Well knowes your Kingly Highnesse , that I was desirous a long time , for the profit and exaltation of the Apostolicke Sea , to bring you Ad Culmen Imperij . And as we with all our endeuour , haue desired to giue perfection to your Honour and glorie , you also must performe those things , which are profitable to the vtiliti● and exalt●tion of that Seate . And there he addes , That for Conference about that , he came to meete him at Rauenna , leauing his owne Church in the cruell hands of enemies . And in the next Epistle , he sends to the same purpose his Nephew Faru●fus , Deliciosum consiliarium nostrum ; Becau●e , sa●es he in anoth●r place , We desire greedily to accomplish this . And yet at this very time , for his better indemnitie , hee practis'd with the Esterne Emperour , and kept faire quarter with him also , as appeares by his Letter to him . 67 Hauing thus establish'd a stronger reputation , and laide earnest Oblig●tions vpon France , and by example and authoritie thereof , in other places also , they beganne to feele their st●ength , and to draw their swords as farre as they would goe , which was to excommunication , euen in France it selfe . 68 But because in the excommunications issuing in ●hese times , and in the ti●es betweene this , and Gregory the seuenth , and perchance in some b●fore this time , there is found often mention of p●nishment after e●communication● whi●h hath occasioned some to erre in an opinion , that besides spi●ituall c●nsures , temporall penalties were al●o inflicted vpon p●iuate persons , and consequently eradication vpon Princes , we w●●l arrest , and stay a little vppon the stile and phrase of some of those excommunications , by which it wil appeare , that they intended nothing but spirituall punishment . 69 The first which I haue obserued , is a letter of Innocent the first , to Arcadius the Emperour , whom he thought guilty of the eiecting & of the death of Chrysostome : His words are ; Ego minimus & peccator , segrego te a perceptione mysteriorum Christi . This then went no farther then to depriue him of spirituall foode , and the Pope ( if tha● Epistle be genuine ) was very hasty in it ; for the Emp●rour discharged himselfe presently , by pleading ignorance of the fact ; which that Bishoppe ought to haue tried , before hee had proc●eded to excommunic●tion . Chrysostome himselfe , whose quarrell it was , had taught s●fficiently the limits of that iurisdict●●n ; for he said , When the Pri●st had reprehended Ozias , De spreto Sacerdotio , he could doe no more ; for it is his part onely to reprooue , and to perswade , not to stirre warre : and he addes , that God himselfe ( to whom onely it belongs to punish so ) inflicted a leprosie vpon the King , in which ( saies he ) we see Humanitatem Diuinae ultionis , who sent not lightning , nor shaked the earth , nor moued the Heauens : So farre was Chrysostome from counsayling any such punishment , as should be accompanied with tumult . 70 And so a iust estimation , and true vnderstanding of their liberties , in Ecclesiastique causes , were the Fathers in the Councell at Ephesus arriued , when in that Synodicall Letter to the Emperour , which they call , Libellum supplicem , they make this protestation , The scope of our profession prouides , that we be obedient to all Princes and Potentates , as long as that obedience brings no detriment to our Soul●● health ; but if it come to that , we must dare to vse our libertie , Aduersus Regium fastigium . And how farre , may this courage and libertie carie vs , if the Prince command any thing in detriment of our soule ? As farre , as tho●e Fathers durst aduenture vpon that ground , which they expressed thus to the Emperour , If you approue the banishment of C●rill and Memnon , which were banished by persons Excommunicate , then know you , that we are ready , with that alacritie which becomes Christians , to vndergoe any danger with them , that is , to suffer as they goe . 71 But about this time of Iohn 8. it was very frequent , that Excommunications had a farther comminatorie clause . For so , against a Bastard of Lotharius , who had broke an Oath made to a French King , he sayes , VVe depriue him of all Christian Comunion , and if he perseuer , let him know , that Anathematis vinculis innodabitur . So to an Earle and h●s Lady , which had seduced a Nunne from her profession , ●e sayes , We seperate them from the body and blood , and all fellowship with Christians , and if they neglect to restore her , Anathemate innodamus . So in the next Epistle he threatens a Bishop , that refus'd to come to him , Know that you are to be Excommunicate , and if you perseuer , A Communione alienandus . And against another Bishop , and his whole charge he pronounces Priuation from the Communion , seperation from the Church , and except they conuert , Maioris damnationis sententiam , and with such as these , his time abounds . 72 And his predecessour Adrian the second , had gone thus farre towards the King of France , when hee attempted to inuade his Brothers Dominion , VVe admonish you , by our Apostolique Authoritie , and by all spirituall meanes , which we may vse , we perswade you , and in a Fatherly effection command you to forbeare ; els● , we will performe t●at which belongs to out Ministerie . But in another letter to his Nobles , he threatens them , That if they aide the Father to warre against the Sonne , who was then in his displeasure , They shall not onely be enwrapp'd in the bands of Excōmunication , but cast into hell , Vinculis Anathema●is . And this Iohn the eight , at the same time when he alowes him all due attributes , & desires him to incline his sacredeares to him , threatens Charles himself , that if he restore not certain things , taken from a Nunnerie , by a certaine day , He should bee Excommunicate till restitution , and if , being thus lightly touch●d , he repented not , Durioribus verberibus erudie●dus erat . 73 So that whether this farther punishment were no other , then that which is now called excommunicatio Maior , or that which is called in the Canons Anathema maranatha , the denouncing of which , and the absoluing from it , was acted with many ●ormalities , and solemnities , and had many ingredients , of burning tapers , and diuers others , to which none could be subiected without the knowledge of the Arch-Bishoppe , it appeares that it now here extends to temporall punishment , or forfaitures and confiscations . 74 Of which there appeares to me no euidence , no discernable impression , no iust suspition , till Gregory the seuenths time : And then , as it may well be said of Phalaris his letters , that they were al writ for execution , and of Brutus his letters , that they were all Priuy Seales for money : so may wee ●ay of Gregories iudging , by the frequency thereo● , that they were all cholerique excommunications ; and that with Postscripts worse then the body of the letter ; which were Confiscations , neuer found in his predecessors , which should haue beene his precedents . 75 And for this large and new addition of Eradication , hee first threatned it to the Fench King , and then practised it effectually vpon the Emperour . To the Bishoppes of France he writes , That their King Philip is not to be called King , but a Tyrant , which by perswasion of the Diuel is become the cause and the head of all mischiefe : Therefore ( saies he ) all you must endeauour to bow him . ( And thus farre his Pastorall care might binde him ) And to shew him , that he cannot escape the sword of Apostolique animadu●rsion ( and thus farre his iealousie of his spiritual Primacy might excuse him . ) But when he adds , Depart from communion with him , and obedience to him , forbid Diuine Seruice throughout all France , and if he repent not , we will attempt to take the Kingdome from his possession they are wordes of Babel , which no man at that time vnderstood : yet he writes in the same tenour to the Earle of Poicton , That if the king perseuere , both he and all which giue any obedience to him , shall be sequestred from the communion of the Church , by a Councell to be held at Rome . So assuredly , and confidently could hee pronounce before hand of a future determination in a Councell there . 76 And of his owne seuerity , vsed towards the Emperour , whom vpon seuere penances hee had resumed ●nto the Church , he blushes not to m●ke an Historical Narration , to the Bishops and Princes of Germany , thus : He stood three daies before the gate , despoiled of all Kingly ornaments , miserable and barefoo●e ; till all men wondred at the vnaccustomed hardnesse of our minds . And some cryed out that this was not the grauity of Apostolique seuerity , but almost the cruelty of Tyrannique sauagenesse . 77 And when Rodulphus whom he had set vp against the Emperour , was dead , seeing now , as himselfe confesses , almost all the Italians enclin'd to admit the Emperour Henry , euen they whom he trusted most ( for so he saies , ●ene omnes nostri fideles ) he protesteth that Rodolphus was made without his consent , Ab vltramont●nis , and that he went to depose him , and to call those Bishops to account which adhered to him● And then he writes to certaine Prelates , to slacken the Election of a new Emperour , and giues instruction what kind of person hee would haue to bee elected ; One which should be obedient , humbly deuout , and profitable to the Church : and that would take an oath to doe any thing which the Pope would commaund him , in these wordes : Per veram obedientiam ; and that hee would be made a Knight of Saint Peter , and of the Pope . 78 But although many watchfull and curious men of our Church , and many ingenious of the Romane , haue obse●ued many enormous vsurpations , and odious intemperances in this tempestuous Pope Gregory the seuenth , and amongst them , almost anatomiz'd euery limme of his Story ; yet it may bee lawfull for mee , to draw into obseruation , and short discourse , two points thereof , perchance not altogether for their vnworthines , pretermitted by others : Of which the first shall be the forme of the excommunication against Henry , because by that it will appeare what authority hee claimed ouer Princes : And the other ●ha●● be ●is lette●●o a Bishop , w●o desired to draw from him , some rea●ons by which he might defend that which the Pope h●d done ; because by that it will appeare , vpon what foundations he grounded th●s prete●ce and author●ty . 79 The excōmunica●ion is thus deliuered ; Con●tradico ei , I denie him the gouernment of al the kingdom of Germany , & of Italy : and I absolue all Christians , frō the band of the oth , which they haue made to him , or shall make : and I forbid any man to serue him as his king : for it is fit , that he which endeuors to diminish the honor of the Church● should loose his owne honour . And because he hath contemned to obey as a Christian , participating with excommunicated persons , and despising my admonitions , and seperating himselfe from the Church , I tie him , in vinculo Anathematis . By which we see , that he beginnes with Confiscation : And because it had neuer beene heard , that the Popes authority extended beyond Excommunication , therefore hee makes Deposition a lesse punishment then that , and naturally to precede it : for he makes this to bee reason enough , why he should forfait his dignity , because he attempted to dim●nish the Dignity of the Church : But for his Disobedience to the Chu●ch and him , he inflicts Excommunication as the greater , and g●eatest punishment which he could lay vpon him . And it is of dangerous c●nsequence , if Excommunication b● of so high a nature , and of so vast an ex●ent , that wheresoeuer it is iustly inflicted , that presupposes Confiscation and Deposition . 80 And another dangerous preiudice to the safet●e of all Princes , ariseth out of this p●ecedent , which is , that hee absolues the Subiects of all Oathes of Alleageance , which they shall make after that Denunciation : For if his successor that now gouernes , shall be pleased to doe the same in England at this time , and so giue his partie here such leaue to take the Oath of Alleageance ; doth he not thereby vtte●ly frustrate and annihilate all that , which the indulgence of a mercifull Prince , and the watchfulnesse of a diligent Parliament , haue done for the Princes safety , and for distinction betweene trayterous and obedient subiects ? Yet both this Deposition , and this Absolution of subiects and this Interdiction were all heaped , and amass'd vpon a Catholique Prince , before the excommunication it selfe , or any other fault intimated the d●minishing of the honour of that Church , and participating with excommunicated persons . 81 And now we may discend to the suruay of that letter , which he writes to a Bishoppe , who desired to haue something written by him , wherby he might be help'd and arm'd against such as de●yed that by the authority of that Sea , he could excommunicate that Prince , or absolue his subiects . First therefore he saies , That there are manie , and most certaine Documents in the Scriptures to that purpose , of which hee cites , 〈◊〉 which are ordinarily offered , as Tu es Petrus , and Tibi dabo Claues , and Quodcunqe ligaue●is : and then he askes , Whether Kings be excepted ? But , Kings are not excepted ; but this proceeding against Kings is excepted : That is , it is not included in that Commission , as hath beene enough and enough proued by many . 82 Then followes that t●stimony of Gelasius a Pope , That Priest-hood is aboue Principality , and that the Bishoppe of Rome is the chiefe Priest , If wee allow both Testem , & Testimonium , yet the c●use is safe ; he may be ●boue all , in some functions , yet not in temporall . 83 His next authority , is Iulius , another Pope , who expounding the wordes , Tibi dabo Claues , to certaine Easterne Bisho●pes , saies , Shall not ●e that opens heauen , iudge of the earth ? But this dooth as much destroy all Iudicature and all Magistracy , as iustifie the deposing of ●ings . 84 After this , he cites ( though not as Gregories words are ) a priuiledge graunted by Gregory the fi●st , to a Monasterie and depriuation from secular dignity , and excommunications to any that in ●ringe that priuiledge . And this priuiledge Bellarmine also produces , to proue the Popes soueraignty in tempo●all mat●ers . It is the pr●uiledge of the Monastery of S. Medard , which is in Gregories Epistle : and it is cyted by this other Gregory , it makes deposition the lesser punishment , and to precede excommunication , for he sayes ; That Gregory though a milde Doctor , did not onely depose , but excommunicate the transgressors : But both this Pope that cytes it , deceiues vs , by putting in the word Decreuit , as though this had the solemnities of a Popes Decree , which presumes an infallibility , and Bellarmine deceiues vs , by mutilating the sentence , and ending at that word Honore priuetur : for he that reads the whole sentence , shall see , that all this Decree of Deposition and Excommunication , was no more then a comminatory imprecation , to testifie earnestly the Founders affection to haue those priuiledges obserued , and deterre men from violating thereof ; as the vehemence and insolent phrase of the Instrument do intimate , by a bitternes vnvsuall in medicinall excommunications : For all the curses due to Heretiques ; and all the torments which Iudas endures are imprecated vpon him ; & it is subscribed not only by Gregory , with 30. Bishops , but by a King and a Queene , no competent Iudges ( in this Gregories opiniō ) of faults punishable by excōmunication . 85 And the same Pope in erecting of an Hospitall , and endowing it with some immunities , vses the same language , that the infringers thereof , should loose all their power , and honour , and dignity , and after be excōmunicate ; and yet this is neuer produced , nor vnderstood to confirme his temporall soueraignty . 86 The Donation of Constantine , which was not much lesse then 300. yeare be●ore this , end in like words : If any man violate this Donation , let him be eternally condemned , let him finde Peter and Paul in this life , and in the next his enemies , and le● him perish with the Diuell and al the reprobate , burning in Inferno inferiore . And wil they from this argue in Constantine a power , to open and shut hel gates ? And will they endanger al those Catholique authors to this eternall damnation , which haue violated this Donation of Constantine by publique bookes ? 87 And ●uch a Commination as this of Greg●ry appeares in a Canon of the first Councell at Paris , not long before his , where it is threatned , that whoso●uer shall ●eceiue a person suspended from the Communion , himself shal be seperated A concordia fratrum , and ( as we hope , or trust ) shall sustaine the wrath of the eternall iudge for ●uer . And ( not to insist long vpon examples of such imprecations ) about 160 yeare after Gregory , Paulus 1. erecting a Monastery in his owne house , ma●es this Constitution ; If any of the Popes , our successors , or any mighty or Inferiour person , of what dignity soeuer , alien any of these things , let him know , that he is anathematiz'd by Christ and Peter , and estr●nged from the Kingdome of God : and that he shall giue an account thereof to the Saints , in the day of iudgement : For ( sayeth hee ) I desire the Iudge himselfe , that hee will cast vppon them the wrath of his power , that their life may bee laborious and mournefull , and they may die consuming , and may bee burnt eternally with Iudas , in hell fire , in voragine chao● And that they that obserue this Constitution , may enioy all blessednes at the right hand of God. 88 And when in the behalfe of the Kings of Spaine , the same argument is made for them , that because there are many Diplomes extant in Sicily , by which the Kings Anathematise in●ring●rs of their Constitutions , that therefore they exe●cised Spirituall Iurisdiction : Baronius saies , that this argument is ridiculous , because i● is hard to finde any instrument of Donations from Princes , or from priuate men , or from women ; in which these bitter formes of excommunication are not : Which ( saies he ) do not containe any sentence of excommunication , but Imprecations to deterre other , as euery man was at libertie ●o doe , when he made any such graunts . So that Baronius hath laughed out of countenance this argument vpon Medardus priuiledge , which hath beene so o●●en , and so solemnly offered and iterated . And it appeares hereby that the punishments mentioned in these Constitu●ions , were not such as the makers thereo● could inflict , but onely such as ●hey wished to fall vpon them that offended : and such I doubt not , was Gregories Imprecation , in his successors interpretations , that is , that hee wished all Kings to be depriued . 89 His next reason why Princes may be deposed by Priests , is the diuersity of their Beginning and first Institution● for , as before he had said to another Bishop of the same place , Regall Dignity was found out and inuented by humane pride , but Priests were intituled by the Diuine pietie , So here he repeates it with more contumely ; Who knowes not that Kings had their beginnings from those men● who being ignorant of God , and prouoked by the prince of the world the Diuell , through Pride , Rapine , Perfidiousnesse , Murder , and all wickednesse , affected a gouernment ouer their equalls , by a blind Ambition , and intolerable presumption . 90 Then he proceeds to the examples , of Innocent who excomunicated Arcadius , and of Zachary who deposed Childerique . The first of which is not to the purpose , Except Excommunication presume Deposing which Innocent intended not . And the second hath beene abundantly , and satisfactorily spoken to , by very many of ours , and of their owne authors , who determine it roundly , Deposuit , id est , Deponentibus consensit . 91 And therefore insisting little vpon these , hee makes hast to that wherein he excels , which is , to reproach and debase the State and Order of Kings . For he says , That euen Exorcists ( which is no sacred order ) are superiour to Princes . Nor is his intemperance therefore excessiue , because hee subiects men to such as are in the way going towards Priesthood , for that will bee still vpon the old ground , that priesthood is in an incomprehensible distance and proportion aboue principalitie , but his reasons why Exorcists are aboue Princes , discouers more malignitie to Princes absolutely ; which is , That since they are aboue the Diuell himselfe , much more are they Superiour to those which are subiect to the deuill , and members of the deuill . Nor could his argument haue any life or force here , except he presum'd Kings to be poysoned & corrupted by the very place , & by the order it selfe ; for otherwise , if he meant it onely of vicious Kings , why should he institute this comparison of Exorcists and Kings , since it ought to bee of Exorcists and vicious men ? And therefore ( as he sayes after in this Ep●stle , ) That he finds in his owne experience , that the Papacie either finds good men , or makes them good , and that if they want goodnesse of their owne , they are supplied by their predecessours , and so , Aut Clari eriguntur , aut Erecti illustrantur : So he thinkes either , that onely members of the deuill come to be Kings , or that kings grow to be such , when they are kings . For so much he intimates euen in this place , when hee sayes , In Regall dignitie very few are saued , and from the beginning of the world til now , we find not one King equal in sanctitie to innumerable Religious men . What King hath done any miracles ? To what King haue Churches or Altars beene erected ? How man● Kings are Saints ? Whereas , onely in our Sea there are almost a hundred . 92 And thus I thought it fit to runne ouer this Letter , becau●e here s●emes the first fire to haue beene giuen , and the first drop of poyson to haue beene instil'd of all those virulenc●es and combustions , with which the later Authours in that Church , are inflam'd and swollen vp , in this point of auiling Princes . Of which ranke , this Pope had respect to none , but those who were really profitable to him : Nor haue I obserued any words of sweetenesse in him towards any of them , but onely to our King the Conquerour , and to one King of Spaine . To ours he sayes , VVe account you the onely man amongst Kings , that performes his duetie , and this he ●ayes , because ●e should graunt more to God , and Saint Peter , and Saint Stephen , and be vigilant vpon Saint Peters estate in England , that he m●ght find him a propitious debter . And to the king of Spaine he sayes , The present which you sent me , is so ample , and so magnificent , as became a King to giue , and Saint Peter to receiue ; and you show by your present , how much you esteeme him . 93 And such Princes as these he was loath to loose : For he accounted that a losse , which now they call the onely perfection , that is , to enter into a Religious and regular Order . For this Gregorie chides an Abbot bitterly , for admitting a Prince , who might haue beene profitable to his state , into the Cloyster . For he sayes : To doe so , is but to seeke their owne ease ; and now , not onely the Shepheards depart from the care of the Church , but the Dogges also ; which he speakes of Princes . He tels him , That he hath done against the Canons , in admitting him : and that he is therein an occasion , that a hundred thousand persons doe lacke their guide . And therefore sayes he , Since there are scarce any good Princes to bee found , I am grieu'd that so good a Prince , is taken away from his mother ; That is from the Churc● , as it must necessarily be intended in this Epistle . So pliant and seruiceable to his vses , would Gregorie make Regall dignitie , or else breake it in peeces . 94 And where could our later men find better light in this mischeiuous and darke way , then in this Gregories Dictates , of which , these are some , That onely the Pope may vse Imperiall Ornaments ; That all Princes must kisse his feete : That onely his Name must be rehearsed in the Church ; That there is no other Name in the world , with many such transcendencies . And accordingly he is wel second●d by others , which say , that he is Superillustris ; and may not be cald so neither , because he is so much aboue all Dignitie , that our thought cannot extend to his Maiestie : And to preuent all opposition against it , Baldus in a choler sayes , That he that sayes the contrarie , Lyes . 95 And vpon what place of Scripture may ●hey not build this supremacy , and this obedience to it , after a Pope , who is heire to an Actiue and Passiue infallibility , and can neither deceiue nor be deceiued , hath extorted from Samuel , so long before the Apostolique Sea was established , a testimony , That not to obey the Apostolique Sea , was the sinne of Idolatrie , teste Samuele : which he iterates againe , and againe in diuers other Epistles . 96 From this example , and from this libertie proceedes that malignity , wherewith the later writers wrest euery thing to ●he disgrace of Principality . By this authority Symancha drawes into consequence , and vrges as a precedent to be imitated , the example of the Scythians , who killed their king for admitting some new rytes in diuine worshippe ; Which ( sayes Simancha ) was iustly done ; for the Subiects of hereticall Princes are deliuered from their Iurisdiction . And in like maner , Schultingius an Epitomizer of Baronius , finding in him out of Strabo , that in Egypt the Priests had so much authority ouer the Kings , that sometimes by a bare message they would put one King to death , and erect another : and repeating the same gloriously and triumphantly a second time ; at last in a Marginall note hee claimes the same authority for the Pope , when he notes , and sayes thereupon , The supreame authority of the Clergy , is proued against the Caluinists : So that we may easily discerne , by these examples which they propose for imitation , what authority they ayme at . But Schultingius might also haue obserued , as a prophecy of the ruine of their vsurpation , that as soone as a learned and vnderstanding king Ergamenes , came amongst them , he tooke away that custome . 97 From this libertie , Bellarmine also , to the danger of any Prince , differing in any point from the integrity of the Romane profession , hath pronounced , That Heretiques are depriued of all ●urisdiction , euen before excommunication . And that therefore an Emperour cannot call a Councell , because that must be done in Nomine Christi : and that Princes haue not their precedencies , as they are members of the Church , for so Ecclesiastique Ministers are aboue them . 98 And this hath made a Contry-man of ours deliuer as mischeuous doctrine , that the power of excommunication , is got by prescription ; And so saies another great Patron of that greatnesse , the Priests obeyed the Kings of Israel , but contrarily our Priests doe prescribe ouer the temporall power . And Sayr proceedes further , and saies , that though Panormitane be of opinion , That one can prescribe in no more then that which he hath put in practise , yet if hee haue so exercised any one act of Iurisdiction ( as excōmunication is ) as that he had a will to doe all , he prescribes in all . And there is no doubt , but that when Pius the fift excommunicated , he had a good will to Depose also . 99 From this also haue proceeded all those enormous deiections of Princes , which they cast and deriue vpon al Kings when they speake them of the Emperour : for though the later writers , are broder with the Emperour , and chose rather to exemply in him , then in any other Soueraigne Prince ; vpon this aduantage , that they can more easily proue a Supremacy ouer him , by reason of the pretended translation of the Empire , yet it is a slippery way and conueyance of that power ouer all other Princes ; since in common intendment and ordinary acceptation , no man can be exempt from that , to which the Emperour is subiect . And of the Emperour they say , a That not onely he may be guilty of ●reason to the Pope , b but if a subiect of the Pope offend the Emperour , the treason is done to the Pope . Yea , c if it be the Emperours subiect , and the iniury done to the Emperour , yet this is treason to the Pope : So that the Emperour doth but beare his person ; for in his presence hee must descend : and in d a Councell his ●eate must be no higher , then the Popes footstoole , nor any State he hunge ouer his head . 100 And from hence also hath growne that Distinction , Superstitious on one part , & Seditious on the other , of Mediate and Immediate institution of the two powers : for Eccl●siastique authority is not so immediate from God , that he hath appointed any such certaine Hierarchy , which may vpon no occasion suffer any alteration or interuption : Nor is secular authority so mediate , or dependant vpon men , as that it may at any time be extinguished , but must euer reside in some forme or other . And Bellarmine himselfe confesses , That as Aaron was made Priest ouer the Iewes , and Peter ouer the Christian Church , immediately from God , so also some Kings haue beene made so immediately without humane election , or any such concurrence : So that Regal Digni●y hath had as great a dignification in this point from God , as Sacerdotall ; and to neither hath God giuen any necessary obligation of perpetuall enduring in that certaine forme . So that , that which Bellarmine in another place sayes to be a speciall obseruation , wee acknowledge to bee so : which is , That in the Pope are three things ; His place , his person , and the vnion of them : the first is onely from Christ , the second , from those that elect him , and the third from Christ , by mediation of a humane act . And as wee confesse all this in the Pope , so hath he no reason to denie it to be also in kings : he addes further , That the Cardinals are truly said , To create the Pope , and to be the cause why such a man is Pope , and why he hath that power ; but yet they doe not giue him that power : as in generation , a father is a cause of the vnion of the body and soule , which yet is infused onely from God. And in all this we agree with Bellarmine ; and we adde , that all this is common to all supreame , secular , or Ecclesiastique Magistrates . 101 And yet in Hereditary kings , there is lesse concurrence , or assistance of humane meanes , then either in elected kings , or in the Pope himselfe : for in such secular states , as are prouided by election , without all controuersie the supreame power , in euery vacancy , resides in some subiect , and inheres in some body , which as a Bridge , vnites the defunct , and the succeeding Prince . And how can this be denied to be in the Colledge of Cardinals , a If ( as one saies ) the dominion temporall be then in them , and b that they in such a vacancy , may absolue any , whom the Pope might absolue . If therefore in all the cases reserued to himselfe , as namely in deposing Princes , and absoluing subiects , he proceed not as he is Pope , but as he is spiritual Prince , as Bellarmine saies , and wee shall haue occasion hereafter to examine ; If that Colledge may absolue subiects as he might , this supreamacy and spirituall Principality resides in them , and is transfer'd from them to the Successor . 102 Certainely all power is from God ; And as if a companie of Sauages , should consent and concurre to a ciuill maner of liuing , Magistracie , & Superioritie , would necessarily , and naturally , and Diuinely grow out of this consent ( for Magistracie and Superioritie is so naturall and so immediate from God , that Adam was created a Magistrate , and he deriu'd Magistracie by generation vpon the eldest Children , and ( as the Schoolemen say ) if the world had continued in the first Innocency , yet there should haue beene Magistracie . ) And into what maner and forme soeuer they had digested and concocted this Magistracie , yet the power it-selfe was Immediately from God : So also , if this Companie , thus growen to a Common-wealth , should receiue further light , and passe , through vnderstanding the Law written in all hearts , and in the Booke of creatures , and by relation of some instructers , arriue to a sauing knowledge , and Faith in our blessed Sauiours Passion , they should also bee a Church , and amongst themselues would arise vp , lawfull Ministers for Ecclesiastique function , though not deriued from any other mother Church , & though different from all the diuers Hierarchies established in other Churches : and in this State , both Authorities might bee truely said to bee from God. To which purpose Aquinas sayes express●ly and truely , That Priesthood ( that is all Church function ) before the Law giuen by Moses , was , as it pleasd men , and that by such determination of men , it was euer deriued vpon the eldest Sonne ; And we haue also in the same point Bellarmines voice and confession , That in that place of S. Paul to the Ephesians , which is thought by many to be so pregnant for the proofe of a certaine Hierarchie , The Apostle did not so delineate a certaine and constant Hierarchie , but onely reckoned vp those gifts , which Christ gaue diuersly , for the building vp of the body of the Church . 103 To conclude therefore this point of the distinction of Mediate and Immediate Authoritie , a Councell of Paris vnder Gregorie the fourth , and Lodouicke and Lotharius Emperours , which were times and persons obnoxious enough to that Sea , hath one expresse Chapter , Quod Regnum non ab hominibus , sed a Deo detur . There it is said , Let no King thinke that the Kingdome was preseru'd for him , by his Progenitors , but he must beleeue that it was giuen him by God. For he which is King of men , had not this Kingdome from men , but from God : And so hee proceedes to apply many places of Scripture to this purpose , to the shame and confusion of them , who to ouerthrow , or subiect secular principalitie , detort Scriptures for the aduancement of Ecclesiastique immunit●es : As in the Septimes , that new limme of the body of the Canon Law , those priuiledges are proued to be Iure Diuino , out of the word of the Psalme , Nolite tangere Christos meos , which was spoken of all the Children of Israel , as they were protected in their passage to the land of Canaan , and cannot be appropriated to Priests onely . 104 And from this libertie which men of this Religion , haue taken to speake slightly , and malignantly of the Person and dignitie of Kings , a long and inue●erate custome hath so wrought vpon them , that it hath caried them farther , and made them as bold with the word of God himselfe . Out of which they can deduce principall and direct Prophecies for euery passage in Saint Francis his storie . For a the Dreame of Pharoes officer ( A vine was before me , and in the Vine were three branches ) signifies Saint Francis , and the ●hree Orders deriued from him , sayes the Booke of Conformities , and Sedulius the fresh Apologer thereof . So he sayes , b Christ prophecied of this Order ; and it is fulfilled in this Order which hee said , Feare not little flocke , for it is your Fathers pleasure , to giue you the Kingdome . And c of these it is spoken , sayes hee , The sound of them is gone into all Nations . Of these prophanations the examples are too frequent ; for as they haue fitted all other things spoken of Christ , to Saint Francis in the Booke of Conformities , so doth d Sedulius maintaine the giuing to him , the title of Iesus of Nazareth , King of the Iewes . 105 So also must the Scriptures affoord prophesies for euery ragge and inch of the Sindon , which wrapped our Sauiour in the Sepulchre . For in e that Liturgie or Office , ( as they call it ) which is appointed by the Pope to be said in the Chappell where this Sindon is preserued , all those places of Scripture , which speake of Christs body sprinkled with blood , are referred and saide to bee intended of this Sindon . And therefore saies the Author thereof , Since the Pope hath so applyed them , this exposition thereof cannot be reprehended . 106 By this license they giue all the names of Christ to the Pope ; f yea the name of God himselfe ; And of a Goddesse to our Lady . And by this license did b Crusius the Iesuit , call Ignatius Constitutions the Decalogue : because saies Gretzer , his fellow Iesuite , Metaphorically and instruction of our life , is call'd the Decalogue . 107 Nor can these blasphemous detorsions , & bold mis-applications , besalued , by Sedulius his guiltie excuse , that they c are somewhat too freely written , according to the simplicitie of the age , And d such as some men would rather wish vnwritten , and e Circumspect men wish'd vnsaid ; And some things too f rawly , somethings too couragiously vttered . And these which he so tenderly , and calmely passes ouer , with light animaduersion , are such sayings as these , That S. Franc●s was g deified ; That h hee was made one spirit with God : That i hee saw the secrets of hearts : And k that he was more then Iohn Baptist , and better then the Apostles : And l that God did obay him at a beck in euery thing . 108 Nor will Serarius his elegant euasion serue them in this , m That some men too indulgent and carefull of their verse , or the delicacie of the Latine language , may haue gone into these excesses . For the fi●st place , where the Pope is called the Lord our God , is in a place barbarous and loose inough , which is the glosse vpon an Extrauagant . And though Bembus , in whose letters written for Leo the 10 our Lady is called Goddesse , doe often stray in●o prophane elegancies ( as n in another place , when he would expr●sse an inspiration of the Holy ghost in one , he saies , he was afflatus Zephiri caelestis a●rà , And o calls Excommunication , Interdictionem aquae & ignis ) yet this will neither excuse that Pope which sign'd those Letters , nor those to whose c●re the expurgation of bookes , hath beene committed . So that none of their piae fraudes , with wh●ch they emplaster this venemous & contagious wounding the scriptures of God , & the phrase of his spirit , will acquit or excuse them . 109 And if their mis●applying of Scriptures carried them no further , then to simple and childish actions ( as Saint Francis commanded Massaeus to tumble round like a childe ; because , saies Sedulius , it is written , Nisi Conuersi fueritis , & efficiamini sicut paruuli , non intrabitis ) : Or if it carried them but to stupid actions ( as the penitent which confessed to S. Anthony , that he had kicked his mother , receiuing this answere : If thy foote offend thee , cut it off , went , and cut off his foote , ( but S. Anthony honestly set it on againe , ) Or if it carried them but to bolde and confident actions ( as Saint Anthony , when his Host set him a Toade vpon the Table , and tolde him that it was written in the Gospell , De omni quod tibi apponitur , comedes , he with the signe of the Crosse , made it a Capon ready rosted ) sillinesse or some such disease might lessen the fault . 110 But then is there extreame horrour and abominations therein , when God and his Lieuetenants are at once iniur'd , which is , when places of Scripture are malitiously or rid●culously detorted to the auiling of Princes : With what soule then could Pope Alexander say , treading vppon Fredericke , Super aspidem & Basiliscum ambulabis : of which Acte , a Bishoppe in that Church saies , that it ought to be commended , and that it was lawfully and worthily done . And with what conscience could the same seruile Bishopp of Sixtus the fift , proue the kissing of the popes feete , out of those wordes of Esay , Kings and Queenes shall worshippe thee , with their faces towards the Earth , and licke vp the dust of thy feete ? how durst hee say , that this kissing of the popes feete , was established in saint Luke , when the sinner kissed Christs feete ? Because ( saies he ) if it were affoorded Christ● belongs it not to his Church , which is bone of his bone ? And out of Deuteronomy hee thinkes this reuerence is euidenly enough demonstrated , because it is saide of God , the saints of God , are said to be humbled at his feete . So that whatsoeuer is applyed to the Church , or to God , by this detorsion is giuen to the pope : But this Bishoppe is so transported with this rage of detorting scriptures , that rather then not mis-applie them , hee will apply them to his owne Condemnation : For thus hee concludes his Epistle with the wordes of the Apostle : Gaudeo siue per veritatem , siue per occasionem , Romanae Ecclesiae dignitatem extolli : so that it is all one to him , whether scriptures bee faithfully applyed or no , so it be to the profit and aduantage of that Church . 111 And though Bellarmine seeme to deplore and lament that vnworthy manner of handling serious Controuersies , of which hee accus'd that Authour , which called his booke Auiso Piaceuole , because he cytes some of the Italian Poets against the Church of Rome , yet is this fashion still in so much vse amongst them , that in their last busines with the state of Venice , one authour , though in a disguised name , that vndertooke the defence of Baronius his furious instigation of the Pope , doth not onely wound and staine the memory of our late Queene , with impious calumniations , and wrest the Scriptures , to defame our present King ; but he protests that hee chuses this way of doing it , to imitate Socrates , who was ( saies he ) Derisor hominum , maxime potentum , and exhibites his booke as a sacrifice , Risui , & Lubentiae . 112 Where then shall we hope , that these men will stoppe or limit their blasphemies ? when in the licentious fury thereof , hauing made it habituall to them , and an Idio●isme of that Religion , they set ( in their account ) God against God ; that is the word of God against the Pope , and defame him in their owne Pasquils by the phrase of Scripture . In which kind of prophane libelling , I had thought their malignity , and irreligion had beene at the highest , when they called Lucretiaes bastard , by Pope Alexander , and his sonne , the holy Ghost● till of late we see one of our owne nation hath drunke so deepe of that cuppe , that he hath swallowed the dregges also ; and in a childish and trayterous itch of witte , at once wounded the Maiestie , both of his God , and of his King , by imputing false faults to the one , that hee might misuse the word of the other . And by this meanes , as when they determined to kill the Emperor Henry the seuenth , that they might poison him , they forbore not to poison their owne God in the Sacrament first : so when they purposed to teare and deface the name and honour , and lawes of the King , they first offer the same violence to the word of God himselfe . 113 Thus the scriptures serue them for Panegyriques , to aduance the Pope ; a Omnia Subiecisti sub pedibus eius : which being spoken of beasts subiection to men , b they make it of men to the Pope . Thus the scriptures serue them to deuest and disarme Princes ; c Ecceduo gladij , which being ( if we d beleeue the Iesuite Sd ) no other then those knifes , with which they had cutte vp the paschal Lambe , e a pope applies to the spirituall and temporall Iurisdiction . And thus the scripture serues them for prouocation , and incitements to warre , and deuastation : f Macta & Manduca : which being spoken of baptizing the Gentiles , g Baronius detorts to the excommunication of Christians . Onely they are content to spare scriptures , when they come to defend their late-borne Heresies ; for , for the necessity of beleeuing Purgatory , Inuocation , Transubstantiation , and some others of the same age , they offer no scripture ; but they thinke it victory enough that Galatine can proue all these out of the Talmud , and Cusanus out of the Alcoran : For , for the olde and new Testaments , they finde other employment . They must serue them against the office and dignity of Princes , to exhibite them as a prey to their neighbours , and a scorne to their owne Subiects . 114 As Christ asked of the Iewes , for which of his good workes they would stone him : Princes may aske of the Romane Church , for which of their benefites they are so iniurious to them ? Is it for hauing established a Primacy vpon that Bishoppe , aboue his fellow Patriarches , which was so long litigious ? Or for withdrawing him from the iawes of the Barbarous deuourers of Italy ? Or for enriching him with a Patrimony , and Priuiledges almost equall to their owne ? Is it for any of these , that you say , A Clergy man cannot be a traytor , though he rebell● because he is no subiect ? By which you cut off so great and so good a part , as in your opinion the st●te without it , is but a meere Carcasse , for the Clergie is the soule . And you extend those immunities , not onely to your boyes which light your Candles , and locke the Church doores , but to euery sullen fellow , that will retire himselfe into a wood , without either assuming Orders , or subiecting himself to any Religious Rule , or despoiling himselfe of his temporall possessions , as you say of your Ermits : Yea to Nunnes , who though they be not of the Clergie , yet are Ecclesiastique persons , and yet they are so prophane , as they may not be admitted to touch any thing which belongs to the Altar . And not onely the Nunnes within profession , haue these priuiledges , but also their Nouices , who are vnder no vow : yea they enioy them , whom you call Canonicas Saeculares , which may trauell , traffique , marry , and do any ciuill , or vnciuil function : ( for of the continency of Nunnes● am of a better perswasion , for this reason especi●lly ; that the Iesuites by a Constitution , are forbid to haue the care of them : and those secular women , which I mentioned , are Ecclesiastici fori ( by a late Decision in the Rota ) because though they be not Ecclesiasticae , yet they are Personae Miserabiles , and weare an vniforme habite : and to raise the number , you say , If an iniury be done to any kinsman of an Ecclesiastique person , it is done to him . And that if any offence bee committed by diuers persons , amongst whome there is one Clergie man , none of the offenders can bee subiect to Temporall Iurisdiction . 115 And not onely all these persons , but all which appertaines to them , becomes spirituall : and by a new Alchimy , they doe not onely extract spirit out of euery thing , but transmute it all into spirit , and by their possessing them , Houses , Horses , and Concubines are spirituall . But as euery thing returnes to his first state and being ; and so Rome which was at first built , and gouerned by Shepheards , i● returned to the same forme after the decay of the Empire : and as the name of Bishopp , which was at first giuen to Clerkes of the Market , and Ouerseers of things to be bought and solde , agrees still with these Symoniaque Bishoppes of Rome : so many of these pretious Iewels , which are employed about the Images and Reliques , which were at first temporall , and then by this tincture growne to be spirituall , returne againe to their temporall nature , when any of the Popes ●ake ocsion to serue their pleasure , or foment dissensions amongst other Princes , and schisme amongst themselues , by coyning the Images , as Vrbanus did , in such a case . 116 But the greatest iniury that is done to Princes in this matter of Exemption , is , that they will not be beholden to Princes for it : but plead their Ius Diuinum , not onely the positiue Diuine Law , by which , they say , that the Popes if they had not found these men naturally exempted , and if Princes had not granted these exemptions , might by their Constitutions , haue exempted them , without asking leaue of Princes , but they pretend text of Scriture , though detorted and mis-vs'd , to proue this Exemption . And for the Persons they pretend many ; but with no more directnes , then that by which they proue exemption of their goods , from secular charges and burdens , which is , Domini est terra , & plenitudo eius , and since it is the Lords , it is theirs . 117 But all Princes grow weary and iealous of that claime ; and a Catholique Writer hath obserued , that many of the Writers of the Spanish Nation in these later times , haue resisted that opinion , of which he names Medina , Victoria , Soto , Ledesma , and Bannes . And if that Nation grow into iealousies , and feele her right , as France hath done before , all the Italian Writers , will be but weake euidence , to proue this exemption to bee Iure Diuino . But as though all this were not enough , and that the states of Princes were not enough infirm'd by withdrawing of all these , they teach , That a Subiect by remouing into another Prouince hath deuested his allegeance and subiection : And that euery man is free concerning his owne person : And that the band is stronger between a Creditor and a Debtor , then between a Prince and subiect . Vpon all which , what mischieuous conclusions will follow , is euident and obuious enough . 118 To conclude therefore this point this Ecclesiastique immunity which they clayme , is the debasing of Princes ; And the defence of this immunity , and consequently of this deb●sing of Princes , is so iust a cause of Martyredome , that Baronius saies ; The Students in the English Colledge ; haue good title to two Crownes of Martyrdome , because they return into England , both to defend the Catholique faith , and the immunity of the Church . Where we will content our selues , till wee come to a ●urther exagitation of that point , with this confession from Baronius , that they are by your doctrin receiued in that Colledge , incited to Martyredome , for the Immunities of the Churche , which himselfe in the same place distinguishes from the Catholique faith . And thus farre I was willing to extend this point , That the Romane Doctrine by extolling Church Priuiledges aboue Princes , and by an absolute and direct auiling them , doth mis-prouoke her disciples to a vicious affectation of imaginarie Martyrdome . In the two other points of Merite and Purgatory , which produce the same effect , I may haue leaue to contract my selfe , into a shorter roome , because of those , many others haue spoken more abundantly , then of this last point which I vndertooke . THE SECOND PART OF MERIT . THe next Doctrine which I noted to mis-incite men to an imagined Martyrdome , is the Doctrine of Merites . a In euery good worke , you say , there is somewhat of merite , and somewhat of satisfaction . The first is said to belong to our selues , and that by it we establish our saluation : So that the passion of our Sauiour is but as Baptisme to vs , and our owne workes , as Confirmation : b Which Sacrament you say , confers more grace then baptisme dooth , for strengthning vs against the Diuell : c And that the holy Ghost is giuen more fully therein . And accordingly you teach , that iustice of workes doth giue the forme and life to faith . And the second , which is Satisfaction , is reserued in the common stocke , the treasury of the Church , and husbanded and dispensed by the generall steward thereof the Bishoppe of Rome . 2 But for that Merite , which you teach , to say That our workes of their owne nature , without considering any Couenant or Contract with GOD , deserue Heauen , dooth not onely diminish CHRISTS Passion , by associating an Assistant to it , and determine his Priesthood , which is euerlasting , by vsurping that office our selues , but it preferres our worke before his , because if wee could consider the passion of Christ , without the eternall Decree , and Couenant , and Contract with his father , his worke ( sauing the dignity which it had by Acceptation , by which the least step of his humiliation might worthily haue redeemed tenne thousand worlds ) had not naturally merited our saluation . 3 Now betwixt God and vs there is no such Couenant ; our best plea is , The sinner must repent , and God will blotte out his sinnes . If a Prince should so farre prostitute his mercie , as to proclaime a veniall Pardon , by which for certaine money , any Malefactor might be pardoned , no such Malefactor as by the nature of his fault , had at that instant forfaited and confiscated all his estate , should haue benefite by that pardon , because he had nothing to giue . All these dis-aduantages and infirmities oppresse vs ; no good worke is naturally large enough to reach heauen ; no promise nor acceptation of God hath changed the nature of a good worke : And lastly , we can do no perfit good work ; for originall sin hath poisoned the fountaines , our hearts : and those degrees and approaches , which we seeme to make towards good workes , are as if a condemned man would make a large will , to charitable vses . For , as that which hee giues is not his owne , so that goodnesse of good workes is not ours ; and as it is in the Princes pleasure and allowance , whether his will shall take any effect , or no ; so is it in the pleasure of God , whether any workes of ours shal be accepted . 4 Yet there is more Deuotion in our Doctrine of good works , then in that of the Romane Church , because wee teach as much necessity of them as they doe , and yet tye no reward to them . And we acknowledge , that God doth not onely make our faith , to fructifie and produce good workes as fruits thereof , but sometimes beginnes at our workes : and in a mans hart morally enclined to doe good , dooth build vp faith : for if an Angell could transport Abacuc , for Gods seruice , by onely taking hold of his haire , God can take such holde of our workes , and carrie vs further by them . And fu●ther then this I see not that moderate men may goe : and they startle too easilie that dare not come so farre . And if it had beene expedient for Bellarmine , to haue spoken plaine , I thinke he would haue come to that , when hee was so neere towards it , as to say , That it is the safest way to place all our confidence in the onely mercy of God , by reason of the incertainety of our owne righteousnesse , and the danger of vaine-glory : for he seemes else where to be so farre from doubting , that a man may not be sure of his owne righteousnesse , that himselfe had such an assurance of righteousnesse in another man , that vpon his Oath before a publique Notarie he affirmes , That hee verily beleeues that Gonzaga , ( who left the dignitie and inheritance of a Marquisate ) neuer cōmitted mortall sin , and that from his age of seuen yeares , he is certaine of it . 5 The Doctrine of good workes in the Reformed Churches , is vniforme and consonant . For though Luther , to relieue and succour the doctrine of faith , which then languish'd desperately in the Romane Church , for iust dignification thereof , sometimes omitted , sometimes spoke remissely of good workes , yet betweene those , who seuerely adhere to him , & other Churches , which in some other things depart a little from them , in this point , I haue obserued no dissention . 6 But the Romane Church at this present is tempested with a violent storme in this ma●ter : that is , by what way and meanes , man can be enabled to doe any meritorious worke . In which Controuersies , after the Dominicans and the Iesuites , had with much earnestnesse prouoked , and with much bitternes replied vpon one another , Benius in a booke as moderate and elegant , as any these later ages haue affoorded , proiecting a way , in his Epistle to Clement the eight , how these dissentions might be re-vnited , and reconciled , obserues that all the Controuersies betweene them , ariseth out of presuming a false ground and foundation to be true , which is the famous Distinction of Sufficient and Efficient Grace . And so he dooth not onely demolish all that they had diuersly built thereupon , but defeats and destroies that foundation , which Bellarmine himselfe was most confident in , and euicts that that distinction , which that Church hath vsed of late yeares against all opposition , is neither containd , nor conueniently deriued , either from Scriptures , Councels or Fathers , but is refeld & resisted by the Councell of Trent it ●elfe . No● can they extenuate this matter , as though it were o●●ma●l consequence ; since neither small matters should produce amongst Religious men , so much and so bitter Argumen●ation : nor can it bee in it selfe esteemed a small matter : vpon which Benius saies , the questions of Predestination , Iustification , Merite , Perseuerance , Glorification , and many more depend , and that all Diuinitie is shaken therein . 7 And if they thinke , howsoeuer they suffer an intestine war , to make vs beleeue that all is peace , and that this variety is onely De modo , they must remember , that that for which they burne and damne men , which is Transubstantiation , is but a question De modo , which may be somet●mes so essentiall , That if the Arrians had agreed with the Orthodox , of the maner of the generatiō of the So● , or the Greeke Church would agree yet with the western● of t●e maner of the proceeding of the Holy Ghost , there could be no diffrence in t●ese points and therfore these d●ffrēces & controuersi●s , & irresolutiōs in the Roman Church ca●not be ●xcu●'d or diminished by this , that they are De modo , since they are not De modo prob●tionis , which is when a certaine truth is illustrated by diuers waies of proofe , but they are so De modo essendi , or existendi ; So , as if you remoue these wayes , by which they are said to be , they are not at all . 8 And howsoeuer those Doctors , whome they stile Seraphicos , and Illustratos , and Irrefragabiles , & Fontes vitae , with which transcendent Titles , they enamell so many of the writers in the Franciscan Families , so are in so high a pi●ch as dazles vs , or diue so low , as we cannot discerne what they ●old in this matter of Merit ; yet what the vulgar doct●ine is in this point , the Expurgatory In●ices shall suffic●ently informe vs : for no opinion of any Fa●her , or Doctor , or of any vniuersity , can be of so m●ch credi●e , and authority , as those books ; since they are compiled by a commission issuing from the Pope himselfe , who was either authorized or entreated to that office , by a generall Councell . So that in these bookes there are all these approaches to an infallibility , that they were determined and prouided by a Councel , executed by a Popes Buls , and iustified by him , when they were perfited ●nd accomplished . 9 And those bookes haue not bestowed so much diligence , vpon any point , as this , that nothing remaine in any Authour , which may pref●rre Christs passion before our merits . And therfore , to omit innumerable instances to this purpose ) a in that Catholique booke , b imprin●ed in a Catholique state , w●ich is stiled , Ordo Baptizandi , & Modus Visitandi , they haue expunged these wordes : Doost thou beleeue to come to glory , not by thine owne merites , but by the vertue and passion of our Lord Iesus Christ ? And a little after they ha●e cut off this question ; Dost thou beleeue that our Lord Iesus Christ died for our saluation , and that no man can be saued by his owne merits , or any other way , but in the merite of the passion of Christ ? And though they might haue excuse to extoll our merites , yet they might haue spared the first part of the sentence , and giuen vs leaue to beleeue , That our Lord Iesus Christ died for our saluation . 10 Amongst these great works , pregnant both of Merite for our selues , and satisfaction for others , Martyrdome is in the●r Doctrin● , that Opus priuilegiatum , which takes away al sinne ; by occasion of which wordes , To take away , I cannot for●beare to warne you in this place , of one ordinarie indirect dealing in Bellarmine ; which is , tha● in his Indices , and Tables , he presents wordes● ve●ie f●r●e from the sense of the place to which they relate . As in this point of merite , where his Index saies , Martyrium tollit peccata , S. Hierome , out of whom the Text , ●o which he relates , is drawn● ; s●ies only per martyrium peccata non imputantur ; which is nothing to the naturall condignit●e of the wo●●e it sel●e . And I should haue neglected to haue noted Bellarmines Index , but that I obserue that they are so seuere vpon the Indices , made by some of their owne Church , that pretending st●ll to haue rased nothing in the body of the fathers , they expunge in the Indices many sentences , though the very wordes be in the Text it selfe : as in t●is point of Merite , Iunius hath no●ed , that these wordes , Meritum nullum , nisi quod a Christo confertur , are cut out of the Index to Chrysostome , though the same wordes be in the text . 11 To proceede then , for the dignity of this wo●ke , Bellarmine against So●o , and Ledesmo maintaines , that martyrdome doth saue a man , ex opere operato . And that there is required in the martyre , no further disposition , nor other preparation , then in one who is to be baptized . For ( saies he ) though Charity be required , it is not precedent Charity , but it is , because a Martyr cannot depart without Charity , because by a couenant from God , Grace is inf●s'd , and so Charity : and therefore it abolishes originall sinne , and actuall sinne , and both eternall and temporall punishment belonging thereunto . And in another place Bellarmine saies , That it is euident that martyredome is so full a satisfaction , that it expiates all guiltinesse , contracted by all sinnes , how huge soeuer the number , or haynousnes therof be : and if any milder man of that Church would say otherwise ( as Ferus doth directly , the Passions in this life , are not worthy of future glorie ) hee must be detorted to the other sense , ( as Senensis saies of this place , I am of opinion , that Ferus his wordes might bee deflected to the other sense : ) Or if the wordes will not confesse vppon ●hat racke , they must bee vtterly expunged , as wee noted of others before . 12 And vpon this superabundant value of the merite of Martyredome , Bellarmine builds that conclusion , which wee now condemne ; which is , That because many martyres haue but fewe sinnes of their owne , and their passion is of a large and rich satisfaction , a mightie heape of Satisfaction superabounds fr●m martyrs . And so they being sent hither , as Factors to encrease that banke and Treasurie , it appears , ● thinke , sufficiently , that this doctrine of merit●s , dooth mis-prouoke and inordina●ly p●●forward inconside●ate men , to this vitious ●ffec●ation of Martyrdome . To which also the Doc●●ine of Purgatory contributes as much perswasion . THE THIRD PART OF PVRGATORY . AS Morbizan the Turke , being mooued by a Bul of Pius 2. by which he granted Indulgences to all thē , that would take Armes against him , by a Letter to the Pope ; required him to call in his Epigrammes againe : And as a great learned man of this time calls Panlus the fifts Excommunication against the Venetians , Dirum Carmen : And as Bellarmine saies of Prudentius , when he appoints certain Holydaies in Hect , Paenarum celebres sub styge feriae , That he did but play More poetico : So all discourse of Purgatorie seemes to me to bee but the Mythologie of the Romane Church , and a morall application of pious and vseful f●bles . 2 To which opinion Canus expresses himselfe to haue an inclination , when he saies , That men otherwise very graue , have gathered vp rumours , and transmitted them to posterity , either too indulgent to themselues , or to the people : and that Noble Authors haue beene content to thinke , that that was the true law of History , to write those things which the common people thought to be true : And this censure he forbears not to lay vpon Gregory , and Bede , by which two , so many fabulous things were conuaied to posterity . To which ingenuity in Canus , Lypsius his Champion saies , iudgement● But in this , onely their discretion , and an abstinence from a slippery and inconsiderate creduli●ie is in q●estion : and euen in matter of iudgement , in as good iudgement as this Authour hat● , Canus w●l● iustly enough in that Church haue a good ●oo me . And if this Authour , as hee pre●ends ●n that pl●ce , acc●pt none of these fables , but such as the authoritie and iudgement of the Church hath approued , either many of the Stories must loose their credit , or els the Popes that approued them . 3 Who haue beene wisely and prouidently most liberall , and carefull to affoord most of that sustentation of Approuing , to ●hose things that were of themselues most weake and indeffensible● so : so S. Brigids Reuelations are not onely approued by Boniface the ninth , but confirmed by Martin the fift : Both which hauing concurred to her canonization , one reason why it was done , on her part , is , because at her marriage , being at thirteene yeares of age , and her husband eighteene , she vowed one yeares continency ; and the reason on the Popes part was : That there might some goodnesse proceede out of the North for she was o● Swethland . According to which superstition , in their Mysterious ceremonies , when the Gospell is song , all other parts being done towards the East , hee must turne to the North , from whence all euill is deriued , and where the Diuels dwell . But for all their barbarous and prophane despite and contumelies , which they impute ( not to the Diuell ) but to Princes , and all sorte of people beyond their Hilles , their Stories are full of the memorie of Benefites which Sea hath receiued from Northern Princes , and Binius confesses , that the remote and Northerne people , did so much honour the Romane Church , that whomsoeuer they hea●ed to sit in that Chaire , and to be Pope , though but in name , without any discussion of his entrance , they reuerenced him as S. Peter himselfe , which ( saies he ) is a wonderfull thing to be spoken . Which imputation since Binius laies vpon Northerne Catholiques , they are fairely warned to bee more circumspect in their obsequiousnesse to that Church , without discussing the persons , and the matter which is commaunded them . 4 But to returne to this Comique-Tragicall doctrine of Purgatory , if Canus weigh nothing with them : Sir Thomas Moore , of whose firmenesse to the integrity of the Romane fa●th , that C●urch neede not be ashamed , intimates as much , when he saies , That hee therefore vn●ertooke to transl●te Lucianus Dialogue Philopseudes , to deliuer the world from superstition : which was crept in vnder Religion : For ( saies he ) superstitious lies haue beene tolde with so much authority , that a Cosoner was able to perswade S. Augustine , thog● a graue man , & a vehement enemy of lies , that a tale which Lucian had before derided in this Dialogue , was thē newly done in his daies . Some therfore think● ( saies he ) that they haue made Christ beholden to them for euer , if they inuent a fable of some Saint , or some Tragedie of hell , to make an olde woman weepe or tremble So that scarce the life of any Martyr or virgine ●ath escaped their lies , which makes me suspect , that a great part of those fables , hath beene ins●rted by Heretiques , by mingling therof to withdraw the credite due to Christian Histories . 5 And in our daies , Philip Nerius the Institutor of the last Order amongst them , who was so familiar in heauen , whilst hee liued vpon earth , that a he was faine to intreat God to depart further from him , And b to draw back his minde from heauenly matters , and turne them vpon earthly , before he was able to say Masse , And c could heare the Musique and Symphonie of the Angels , And could distinguish any vertue , or any vice , by his smelling , This man I say was euer an enemie to these Apparitions : and vsed to say , That God would not take it ill , not to be beleeued , though he should truly appeare to vs in any shape . And to a Scholler that tolde him that our Lady appeared to him in the night , he said , next time she comes , spit in her face , which he did , and found it to be the diuell . Nor did hee easily beleeue possessions , but referred it commonly to the indispositions of the body : and suspecting iustly the same diffidence in others , which he found in himselfe , hee prayed to God , that he would worke no miracles by him . 6 So that not onely for feare of illusions , and mistaking bad spirits for good , ( for for that , their greatest Authors which haue writ of that subiect , euen in these cleare & curious times , are still confident , that An euill spirit , what shape so euer hee appeare in , may be knowne by his feete or hands , And that he is euer notoriously deformed either by a Tayle , or by Hornes , And that hee will van●sh , if one vse him , as Friar Ruffin did , who when the diuell appeared to him ordinarily in the forme of Christ crucified , by S. Francis his counsaile , said to him : Open thy mouth , & implebo stercore , and thereupon was deliuered from that apparition . And some of their saddest Diuines , haue eased them thus much in any such perplexitie , that to worship the diuell himselfe in such a forme , with opinion that it were God , is not Idolatry , ) not onely for these inconueniences , but euen for a generall infamy and suspition , that these apparitions which begot Purgatorie haue in them , the more moderate sort of Catholiques haue declined from any great approuing of them . 7 Yea Serarius , though of that order that hath lost all ingenuity , confesses from Baronius and Villa Vincentius , that in these legends , in their Histories there are vaine and vitious relations , and that the pictures of those Saints , are but Symbolicall . And Sedulius acknowledges , that , that storie in the booke of Conformities , that S. Francis was seene to goe out of the wound in Christs side with a banner , and a great Armie , is but figuratiue . Of which , sayes he , there are many so highly mysterious , that it is not fit to discouer and explicate them to the wicked . So that these Mirabilarij & Mythologistes of that Church , wil solemnly reserue these their Arcana Ecclesiae to themselues , and shall without any enuie from vs. 8 And yet I denie not , but that in sober antiquitie , and in the grauest Fathers , there are some impressions , which occasioned this error , of purifying soules after this life , As Bellarmine sayes truly , that for the most part , lies haue their foundation vpon some truth ; For it was very long in the Church of God , before the state of the soule after our death , was cleare , and constant and vniforme : the Fathers being diuided in their opinions , whether our soules enioyed perfect happinesse presently , or expected and attended it till the generall iudgement . And the phrase and language , in which sometimes they spoke of the last consummation of our happinesse , in the re-vnion of the body and soule , being obscure , and various , gaue occasion of doubting , that they reserued and adiourn'd all our happinesse till that time . And that which they meant of that perfect and consummate happinesse , not to bee enioyed till then , hath beene mis-vnderstood , or detorted to the soule alone . And by such irresolution in some , and perplexity in collating their opinions , and misapplying their words , haue been imprinted indelible characters of Purgatorie , and of prayer for the dead , of whose condition in the next worlde , they were not t●roughly assured . 9 If any of the Fathers haue strayed farther then so , to speak doubtfully of some such thing as Purgatorie : Wee will not say , as you doe , a Let vs excuse it , or extenuate it , or denie it by some deuise , or faine some other conuenient sense , when it is opposed in Disputation . Nor dare we obtrude a contrarie exposition , as you doe , when you make Pope Telesphorus instituting the Quinquag●sima for the Clergy , by his worde Statuimus , to meane Abrogamus ; Or when Pope Innocent writes to Decentius a Bishop , that it is not reade , that in all Italie , France , Spaine , Affrique , and the Ilands , there was Alius Apostolus prae●er Petrum , to make him meane by Alius Contrarius ; which the glosse vpon the glosse in the Margine mis-likes , because no Apostle was contrarie to Peter , and therefore makes the Pope to meane ; that there was no other Apostle in those places , then Peter , or such as he sent . We dare not correct so boldly as to make Bertram , who for 800. yeares together had said Visibiliter , now to say Inuisibiliter . Wee dare not hope to scape with such a small insertion , as Non , which you haue intruded to the destruction of Didacus Stellaes sense , in his Commentarie vppon Saint Luke , and in Eucherius his Commentarie vppon Genesis . Wee dare not steale out that little particle , to alter the whole intention of him that hath it ; as Bellarmine hath done , out of a sentence cited by Gratian , out of Leo , by which Mariage is no Sacrament , if , Non , be admitted . Wee will not be so vnnaturall to the Fathers , as Bellarmine makes the Pope to be , when being pressed by Nilus , to followe in the question of the Primacie , the opinion of the Fathers , sayes , that the Pope hath no Fathers in the Church , but that they are all his Sonnes . Nor can wee exceede Bellarmine in dis-esteeming the Fathers , who hath called in question some bookes of almost euerie one of them , as Clement , Anicetus , Cyprian , Tertullian , Ambrose , Augustine , Hierome , Damasus , Damascen , Basil , Iustine , Nyssene , Honorius , Eusebius , Chrysostome and others . And when Damascene cites out of Palladius , That a dead scull beeing asked , whether our Prayers did them any good in hell , aunswered , that it brought them some ease and relaxation , Bellarmine sayes , This is false , and Apocryphall , and that there is no such thing in Paladius : So ill a Patrone is hee , of Damascenes credite heerein . Nor doth hee onely indefinitely say of the Fathers , That it is euident that some of the chiefest of them haue grieuously erred , but as of Tertullian , who imputes Montanisme to Pope Zephirine , hee sayes , There is no faith at all to be giuen to him , And in another place somewhat more sharply ; Wee doe not reckon Tertullian amongst the Catholiques , So doth he to very many of the other Fathers , boldly impute such errours , as would vitiate any Author not to haue but obserued them , and for touching whereof the Centuriators are by him accounted prophane and blasphemous . So also doth Medina say , That Hierome , Ambrose , Augustine , Sedulius , Primasius , Chrysostome , Theodoret , Oecumenius , Theophilact , and others , were of the same opinion as Aerius was , and the Waldenses , and Wickliffe . 10 But as Gratian preferred Hierome before a Councell , because hee had Scripture on his side , And as your Expurgatorie Index ( which I cite so often , because no booke of equall authoritie , doth shew so well your corrupt doctrine , that is , what you cannot endure to heare , and your indirect practise , to make Authors speake your words ) addes to one Author in the Margine , Wee must giue no credit to these words of Eusebius , and after ; This opinion of Iustin , and of Epiphanius , is not true : So , if for the defence of Purgatorie , in the full sense of the Trent Councell , you obtrude any Father ( which yet I professe that I haue neuer seene ) if that Father be destitute of the support of Scripture , you must allow vs , some of that libertie which you take , since we are more modest in the vse thereof then you are . 11 For we need not ( euen by your frequent examples , ) binde our selues to that seruility , which your Azorius subiects himselfe vnto : who disputing of the immolation of Iepthes daughter , confessing , That it is not euident , that she was killed , nor likely ; nor that she could be comprehended in that vow , any more then any vncleane thing which might haue met him , and That the contrarie is more Analogall to the other places of Scripture , and that the Rabbines , Lyra , and some other Catholiques , denie her death , yet , saies he , because we are bound ( that is , by the oath of the Trent Councell ) to expound Scriptures according to the sense of the Fathers , I thinke we ought to adhere to the opinion that she was slaine . But if the sense of the Fathers did not stand in my way , to confesse the truth , I should approue the other opinion , because that deliuers so great a person as Iephthe was , both from rashnesse and foolishnesse in making the vow , and from impietie and cruelty in keeping it . 12 This bondage and yoake we need not cast vpon our selues , but may lawfully take Chrisostomes libertie , ( since our cause is better then his , for hee dis-approued all Oathes ) Neuer produce to me , saies that Father , this Saint or this chaste man , or this milde man , or this Priest ; for if you tell mee of Peter , and Paul , or of an Angell from Heauen , you shall not thereby terrifie me with the dignitie of the persons . 13 The Fathers which must gouerne in these points , must not be the Fathers of the Societie ; but they must be Patres Patrati ; Fathers which haue Fathers ; that is , whose words are propagated from the Apostles . Of which sort of Fathers , in my poore reading , I neuer found any that consented with the Doctrine of Purgatorie now established . 14 In which , that which we principally complaine of at this time , is , that it incites to this false martyrdome . Not but that they confesse , that there are also some other wayes besides martyrdome to escape Purgatorie ; else how got Lypsius so soone to heauen ? for as soone as his Champian Cochelet calls him , Lypsius aunswers , Wee that are receaued into heauen , doe not despise our fellowes : And that powerfull Indulgence ( which , though Saint Francis obtained immediately from Christ , yet Christ sent him to aske it againe , at the Popes hands , because , sayes Sedulius , hee would not derogate from the power , which he had deliuered to his Vicar ) deliuers as many as doe but come to a certaine place , from all sinne , and danger of Purgatorie . All which die in that Order , are saued ; yea , All which loue that Order hartily , how great a sinner soeuer he be , shall haue mercie . And yearely on his birthday , all which are in purgatory , especially of his Order , flie vp to heauen . And hee himselfe carried aboue 1000. away with him from thence , when he went. At one Masse , at the Commemoration of the Dead , a Friar saw soules flie from Purgatorie as thicke as sparks from a furnace . and this Masse he celebrated euery day , and so did infinite others . If then that Friar made a true relation of the state of Purgatorie in his time , That of 5000 which died in the world since his comming thether , there came but three to that place , there is no great vse of heaping so much treasure , for that imployment , since by these computations , neither the Number can bee great , nor the st●y long . 15 And if the authoritie of this Sedulius seeme light , yet his booke is dignified with this Approbation , That the impudency of Heretiques , may bee beat backe , with most firme arguments , and with most cleare reasons ) Soto might weigh more ; who considering the intensnes of the fire of Purgatory , thinkes none shall remaine there aboue tenne yeares . But for all this Bellarmine saies , That by most certaine apparitions it is euident , that some soules already there , shall remaine there till the day of iudgement : And though hee make an impertinent doubt , Whether euer any Popes haue graunted Indulgences for many thousand yeares , yet in another place he assignes certain reasons , why conueniently the Popes may do so ; because the penitentiall Canons inflict many yeares punishment , for diuers sinnes which many men cōmit often euery day . But of this the Popes are so lib●ral ( though it is impossible they should keepe any iust Audit , or account since they neither know what they receiue , nor what they lay out ) that they will put in 1000. yeares more rather thē remit that six pence , which you must paie , not for the pardon , but for the paper . And therefore Martin 5. had a iust and proportionall respect to the nature of this ware , when he appointed a yearly Faire , and yearely Indulgence , both of three moneths continuance , to be kept together at Loretta ; and that the Priests and Merchants should open and shut vp shoppes together . 17 But Martyrdome is of much more value , then these Indulgences , because it is infallible for , some incapacity , and indisposition in the partie , may hinder the working of an Indulgence , but Martyredome cannot faile of the effect , to worke our deliuerance , as appeared by that which we cyted out of Bellarmine in the end of the last part of Merite . And therfore that doctrine , which teaches such a Purgatory as you speak of , incytes to such a Martyrdome , as we speake of , & disapproue . 18 Hauing therefore proceeded thus farre , That the purest and acceptablest Sacrifice which we can offer to God , which is our liues , may be corrupted and enuenomed with di●tastefull mixtures , and that euen in the deuotedst and safest times , it fell out , not seldome to be so ; And that our corruption now is more obnoxious and apter to admitte and inuite such poys●nous ingredients , and temporall respects , then in those purer times , especially in the Romane Church , which misinflames the minde to false Martyredome , both by depressing and trampling vppon the dignity of Princes , and maintayning euery litigious clause of Ecclesiastique immunity with our blood ; And also by extolling our owne Merites , and encouraging vs thereby , to trafique , though with losse of our life , for the benefit and aduancement of the treasury of that Church ; And lastly by the certaine●y , seuerenesse , and length of Purgatory , which are infallibly hereby auoided : the next thing which I present to your discourse , and consideration , is , That the Iesuites more then any other Order , claim to themselues a greater forwardnesse , and alacrity to this , and are therefore busier and apter to prouoke seuere lawes , against themselues , and to incurre the dangers thereof . CHAP. IIII. That in the Romane Church the Iesuites exceed all others , in their Constitutions and practise , in all those points , which beget or cherish this corrupt desire of false-Martyrdome . TIll the Iesuites haue a Pope of their owne , it will be ( I hope ) no Heresie , to doubt , or call in question their sanctity : they may be content yet to affoord vs ( since our cause is safer ) the same excuse which is allowed for Origen , Chrysostome , Hierome , and Cassianus , euen for maintaining a lawfulnesse in lying , That the Church had not then determined the contrary . They may fauour our weakenesse with the same helpe , which they apply to a Pope himselfe , That it was then lawfull , without danger of Heresie , for him to beleeue in earnest , that our soules should not see God , till the resurrection , because there was no Definition o● the Church in that point . Their Charity may relieue vs with the same Indulgence , which they affoord to Senensis , who reiects some part of the Canonicall Scripture , after the determination of the Trent Councel , Because he did not reach and attaine to the force of that Canon , saies Gretzer , who allowes him all these escapes , That he did it either by negligence , inconsideration , a fore conceiu'd perswasion , or some other cause , which is large enough . 2 But if euer a Iesuite come to be the Church , that is , the Pope , we shall soo●e be precluded by the Churches Definitions . And as now to doubt whether the Pope without a Councell , may teach an Heresie , is Haeresi proximum , and so is Semi-haereticum , when a Iesuite is Pope , it will be Hyper-haereticum , and Sesqui-haereticum : for we haue beene already taught , that something may be more thenheresie , when by a new Decretall of Paul the fourth , they say , That any great person falling into Heresie or Schisme , shall for the first offence be esteemed relapsed , and be in the same desperate state , as if he had formerly iuridically abiurd the same heresie . At least , when a Iesuite comes to that Throne , as in this last volume of the Canon law , we haue a new title presented , De Cardinalibus , which was in none of the rest , where they are call'd , The principall members of the Church , constituted by the holy Ghost , And the most noble part of the Popes body , And the clearest lights , and most speciall children of the Church ; where , to take any thing from them is called Sacrilege , and to fauour any which hath dis-fauoured them , or hurt them , is made Trea●on , so without doubt the Iesuites will be as indulgent to their owne Order , and we shall haue at the next croppe , when there is a new Haruest of ripe Decretals , a title , De patribus Societatis Iesu. 3 As at their first institution they were thus neere the Papacy , that the Order of the Theatines , of which Paulus fourth ( who was at that time Pope ) was either the authour , or a principall man , desired to be vnited to them , by which meanes they might haue compassed the Papacy in th●ir Cradle , so haue they of late made suspicious approaches thereunto , by admitting Cardinal shippes , and other Dignities . 4 Those of thei● Order , who heretofore refused offers of that Dignity ( as you say Laynez did ●rom Paulus the fourth , and Borgia from Iulius the third ) did it Constantissime : and , I beleeeue with such constancy in resistance , Tolet and Bellarmine might haue preuailed . Hee which giues rules for the institution of Monkes , forbiddes not onely Bishopp●ickes , but all acquaintance with Bishoppes : By all meanes ( saith hee ) let a Monke auoide women and Bishops , because both hinder Diuine Contemplation ; which Rule when Iesui●es broke , and came to liue in secular and Ecclesiasticall Courts , they shewed that they were not stubborne and inexorable against these preferments . 5 And if euer they attaine the Papacy , they haue already laide good foundations for the entailing thereof vpon their owne Family , by Azorius his disputation , what the authority of the Pope is in designing a Successor : for he deliuers it , as the common opinion , that the forme of electing the Pope being founded vpon the Canons , it may at his pleasure be changed . So that the Pope may establish the Prouincials of the Iesuites to be the Electors . And then descending to another question , whether the Pope himselfe may designe his Successor , hee saies , that the Canons against it cannot preiudice him , because he is aboue them , and that it is not forbid Iure Diuino ; and that for matter of fact , he beleeues S. Peter did chuse Clement : but least the Popes should haue nothing to auert them from this course , before any Iesuite were Pope , and so worke an exclusion , he saies , It is not lawf●ll , Iure Naturae : that is , saies he , because natural reason informes , that it were inconuenient for the Church : And , but for that inconuenience , he saies , they might cast lots for the papacy : But this inconuenience depends vpon such reasons , and circumstances , as are alterable , and when they cease , this law of nature ceases too . 6 And though Laynez in the vacancy after Paulus the fourth , is said by you to haue had twelue of the best voyces for the Papacy , though he were out of the Colledge of Cardinals ; And in one Conclaue , Bellarmine also is said , to haue had some , yet if any Iesuite had voices enow , would his Supe●iour allow him the Religion of his vow , by which he ought to refuse it , or his naturall liberty , by which , any man that is chosen Pope , may , if he will refuse it ? 7 If it were once come to that , as you are content yet , ●o seeme as modest as the Carthusian , who saies , that he beleeues it to be a singular blessing of God , that no Carthusian hath beene Pope : you would make good hast , to reckon with the forwardest Orders , how many Popes you had had : And quickly in these accounts ouergoe the Franciscans themselues , who reckon of their Order , not onely Popes and Martyres , and such po●sible things , but are so precipitate and transported with this fury , that they reckon , how many of the Apostles , Prophets , and Patriarches they haue had of their Order ; So , as I thought , whilst I reade it , they would neuer haue stopped , till they had tolde vs , how many Adams and Eues had beene of their Order , and how many Iesus Christs besides S. Francis : For I vnderstand not by what other figure they vse this anticipation , and call these auncients Franciscans then that by which Serarius the Iesuit saies Herod was a great Machiauellian : and Gregorie de Valentia , that Plato might learne the doctrine of Purgatory out of the booke of the Machabees , which was written after his de●th . 8 But besides that the Iesuites decay in the hearts of Princes ( which Philip the second of Spaine testified well , because though he had great vse of their seruice , hee neuer did any thing for them ) this also makes me doubt that they will neuer haue Pope , because it is already reueil'd by Christ to S. Francis : that Antichrist shall come out of the family of the Franciscans . 9 This also encreases my suspicion , that they could neuer compasse , that which is much lesse then a Pope , which is a Saint , in their family . For the Authority of the Pope is greater , then of a Saint , sayes Cassanaeus : And in his Indulgences he doth as familiarly command Angels , as the yonger Prentizes , the Exorcists , do deuils : To whom they vse this language , when any spirit possesses a body , I command Lucifer , and all the Furies in hell , to precipitate you into hell fire presently , indispensably and ●ternally , till the day of iudgement : And I forbid the Ayre to haue any power to receiue you . 10 And though Tortus say , That the time of the Canonizing of the founder of that Order is not yet pass'd , and therefore hee may bee Canonized in good time ( which is a poore comfort , since I neuer found any such limitation , nor that a Saint apparant , as Ignatius is , may be superannated , and grow too old to bee Canoniz'd ) yet since those two great Princes , Philip the second of Spaine , and Henry the fourth of France , either out of deuotion to the Order , or for their owne ends , haue both pretended the solicitation of Ignatius his canonizing to belong to them , and both affected the honour of procuring it , the pursuite and effecting thereof hath beene intermitted and retarded . And howsoeuer for Ignatius and for Xauerius , who was also a Nauarrois as well as Ignatius , it might please those Princes , for respect to one another to forbeare any solicitation in their behalfes , yet the King of Spaine had very many subiects in ●hat Order , to whom no o●her Prince pretended any such precontract or interest : and yet he procur'd the canonization of D'Alcala a Franciscane , and Pennafort a Iacobin , and neglected the Iesuites . And though the present Pope Paulus the fift , haue beene much solicited for the Canonizing of Gonzaga the Iesuite by the Princes of that Family ( the memory of his exempler life being yet fresh , and his worthinesse certified ( as the custome is in preparing Canonization ) by Cardinals which had commission to search therinto ) yet he hath allowed him no other title then Beatus : which might haue beene giuen him without that Rescript of the Pope , as Ignatius and many other haue it : since , as Serarius saies , Custome giues that Title to those , of whose saluation there is a strong opinion , and yet are not adorned with the publique testimony of the Church . 11 Nor doe I perceiue that they are in any great forwardnesse , to get a Saint , since in canonizings after the consideration of the truth of the miracles , they fall in the Consistory to another consideration , of the sufficiency of them . And besides that , your own Acosta makes vs doubt of the truth of those miracles , which are related , because he spends a Chapter in giuing reasons , why in our age , in preaching the Gospell in the Indies , there is not that strength of miracles , which was in the primitiue Church , since , as he saies there , It would preuaile very much , if it might be , those which are said to be done by you , are for the most part so poore and beggerly , and silly things in respect of the Franciscans , as betweene yours and theirs there is as much difference , as betweene Iugling and Coniuring . 12 Me thinks you should offer no more to plaie at that game , after you haue beleeued ( as I hope you doe , since so fresh , and so well approoued an author as Sedulius giues new life to these miracles ) That S Anthony when the heretiques refused to heare him preach , went to the Sea side , called the fish , which came of all sorts , staide in peace , put their heads aboue water to hearken , and at the end of the Sermon , some spoke , and some did but bow their heads , and so the Heretiques were conuerted : or that Frier Andrew to correct his appetite of eating birds , at the Table , by the signe of the Crosse , commanded them to flie away , though they were rosted . 13 And how much more luxuriant of Miracles would their Historie be , if they had not commanded Friar Conrade to doe no more Miracles after his death , because he was buried out of their Colledge : And if Saint Francis had not enioyn'd Friar Peter , vpon his Graue , Per sanctam obedientiam , that he should doe no more Miracles , because they were thereby disquieted with concurse of people . Of which kinds there are many Commaundements , which lessons their number of Miracles . 14 And this Philip Nerius , founder of the last Order , fear'd in himselfe , and therefore hee told Baronius , that he had intreated God that he might doe no Miracles . 15 You can therefore in nothing equall that order of Franciscanes ; for if you thinke to ouertake them in number , you will be farre short . Saint Francis saw at the first Chapter or meeting , sixe thousand Friers , and eighteene thousand Deuils , which Ignatius could neuer get neere , except hee made it out in Deuils . For the whole number of his societie , doeth not much exceede ten thousand yet . 16 But that which is truly proper and peculiar to you , you doe earnestly and intensly , and you excell in it ; which is , in kindling and blowing , begetting and nourishing ielowsies in Princes , and contempt in Subiects , dissention in families , wrangling in Schooles , and mutinies in Armies ; ruines of Noble houses , corruption of blood , confiscation of States , torturing of bodies , and anxious entangling and perplexing of consciences . And to facilitate your way to these effects , you are in your institution mixt and complexioned of all Elements , and you hange betweene Heauen and Earth , like Meteors of an ominous and incendiarie presaging . You pretend to forsake the world , and to looke all vpward ; But , saith Cassianus , Such renunciation is threefold ; Of all temporall fortunes , and of our maners and conditions , and of our minds from all present things . But all your labour is to vnderstand the present state of Kingdomes , and where any ouerture is giuen for the Popes aduantage , and where any interposition or hinderance is interiected against his purposes . And therefore that saying of Saint Basil to a Senatour , that seem'd to renounce the world , and yet retain'd part of his state , Thou hast spoyled a Senatour , and hast not made a Monke , belongs almost to all of this Order . For you are but as Eunuches ; you haue lost your apprehension and capacitie of worldly Estates , yet the lust , and itche , and concupiscence , to be conuersant therein , remaines with you still . 17 For this purpose you haue care in admissions , That none be receiued whose Parents bee poore , ( which your Examiner hath in charge ) least that should diuert them from the integritie of this seruice . For this purpose it is , That the Superiour himselfe cannot dispence to admit any deformed person , because you will haue men sociable , acceptable , and agreeable to companie . For this purpose your Superiours and Rectors must write euery weeke to the Prouinciall , not onely of their owne state , but of all things done amongst strangers , by the seruice of this societie . For this purpose you must haue a Proctor generall at Rome , who must buy and studie all the Rules of that Chancerie , and all t●e Breues , and Buls , which the Popes send forth . And to this purpose was that attempt of the Iesuite , who ( if a Catholicke Historiographer relate truely ) published at Rome , That Confession by letters was Sacramentall and effectuall . Into which opinion though a some before had straied , yet it had receiued no such strength and authority as at that time , when it was so hotly pursued , that Clement 8. was forced to oppose a direct Decree against it , and to condemne it as false , rash , and scandalous at least . For if this opinion had beene beleeued and authorized , the secrets of all states , and passages of all Courts , had had no other Register then the breasts of Iesuites ; who are so wise Apothecaries of penances , and haue so plentifull shops of those druggs of Indulgencies , that all those Princes , to whom any of them had beene Confessor , would neither open their disease , nor seeke their physicke at any other place : when they might be deliuered of the painefullest part of Confession , which is the personall shame of accusing ones selfe . 18 And that they may attend this seruice of Intelligencers : Fi●st , they haue one Rule of State , which is , That they let no stranger vnderstand their Rules and Priuiledges , And their Superiours haue the prerogatiue to interpret and extend , and limit the constitutions ; whereas , for the Rule of the Franciscans , Christ himselfe was heard in the aire , saying to S. Francis , This Rule is mine , not thine , and I will haue it obserued , Ad literam , ad literam , sine glossa , sine glossa . 19 And then by one Bull they are enabled ( for at their first institution they were not so ) to heare Confessions , and to change vowes ; And by another Bull , they haue priuiledge to absolue from all censures , except those of Bulla Caenae . And by a another , they are licenced to practise Physique , which doth not onely giue them accesse to Death-beds , which is one of their chiefest Scenes , but excludes all others , because they are competent for all offices . And I wonder that they haue not procured a Bull , that they might be Midwifes . 20 To this purpose also of spying , b their constitu●ion bindes them to no ordinary penances , nor disciplinary m●cera●ions of the bodie : yea , that which they are content to call castigationem● which o●hers magnifie so much , is so much forbid amongst them , c that they are bound to deliuer it in confession , if euer they transgresse into it . And the Rector is to prouide , not onely against these Mortifications , but d against too much Deuotion , as Impedimen●s which call them from their studies And the charge which is giuen to him who is president ouer their spirituall matters , is to see , e That whilst they haue too much desire of Deuotion , they doe not impaire their strength : and therefore that Gonzaga of whom it is often f said in his life , that hee shortned his life with such discipline , g laying sharpe chips betweene his sheetes , h whipping himselfe with Iron chaines , and i putting spurres betweene his Dublet and his flesh , before he came into the Rules of the Iesuites ; wonne , and ouercame his Father and Mother , to encline to his purpose of entring this Order , because they sawe , k That this Order would be wholsome for his body , and not allow him such seuerity . 21 For priuiledges of Addition , they ha●e by l one Bull all the immunities of the Mendicants , which are very many and aduantageous , because thereby they must be receiued , as they trauell into any religious house : And by a another Bull , at one liberalitie , the priuiledges of all Orders , are extended to them . 22 And for Exemptions , they are deliuered by b one Bull from keeping their howres in the Chappell ; and by c another from attending at Procession : and by d another dispenced from fastes , and forbidden meates : and by their e Rule bound to no habite● and by f another Bull , licensed to read all bookes ; which is so great a libertie in that Church , that in the Septims , there is g a Decree of Gregory the thirteenth forbidding euen Arch-Bishops , and Kings , and all persons , but the Inquisitors , to read Hereticall bookes , vppon paine of Heresie . 23 If therefore , as in their h Constitutions they call themselues , they be but Cadauera , they are either such corrupt and putrified carcasses● as in●ect and enuenome all places where they reside , or such Carcasses , as euill spirits haue assumed to walk about in : and if they be ( as they say there ) but Bacula senis , This old man is the pope , whon they cannot put off , and they are such staues , as haue swords sheathed in them , and such as wound and bruise , euen the inwardest marow of Kingdomes . 24 For this purpose is that obedience to their Superiours , wherein Ignatius wils his Disciples to exceed ( Let i vs , saies he , suffer our selues to be exceeded by others , in fastings , and in watchings , and such ; but let our marke be , an abdication of the will , and iudgement . ) And so he giues them good blinde Counsaile , for their beleefe , and for their actions : As to beleeue what the Catholique faith teacheth , so be you carried with a blinde violence of obeying , whatsoeuer your Superiour commands . And though their Superiour command nothing expresly , yet they are bound once in a weeke , to say one Masse , to the Intention of the Generall , though they know not what it is . And of this generall intention the Center , and Basis is , the aduancement of that Sea , about which these plane●a●y Mon●es , haue their course and reuolutions . 25 Olde Monkes were vsed heretofore to be but Coasters , houering about their owne Cloyster ; fur●h●r then the Contemplation of Heauen , which was the Bible , and of t●e starres , which were the deuout interpreters therof , guided them , they did not easily venter : except some storme of dispu●ation or passion transported them : But the Iesuites in this laterage haue found the vse of the Compasse ; which is the Popes will , and ●ow they haue not the patience to be men● but they are Merchants of Kingdomes , and Pyrates both of spirituall and temporall tre●sure . But the eies of a foole , are in the corners of the world , saith Salomon . And euen the desire of going ●o the Indies ( which is their best pretence ) if we beleeue the life of Nerius , was corrected in him , by an apparition of S. Iohn the Euang. who tolde him , That Rome was his Indies , for there was matter enough for his instruction , and his example to worke vpon . 26 And of foure sorts into which they vse to diuide Monks , which are Caenobites , who keepe their Cloyster , Eremites who aduenture into a Solitude , Sarabaits , who by their workes keepi●g still their contract with the world , haue dissembled with God , per tonsuram , and lastly , Gyrouagi , who all their liues wander through diuers Prouinces , the Iesuites seeme guilty of transg●essing in both the last waies . For , besides the Pallaces , and abundant possessions , which they haue as they are Corporations , Onely they of all sorts , are not in their particular incapable of inheritances which deuolue vpon them , by their triple vow made before the Gouernour of that Conuent , till they confirme it againe in a generall Chapter . Quod ita iudicatum , ( sayes a French Lawyer ) Mirabundus accepi . 27 The Franciscane Friar Giles , did so much abhorre all temporall prouisions , that hee told Saint Francis , hee did not like the Antes , because they tooke such paines to prouide victuals for Winter . And when a Friar told Saint Francis , that hee came , A Cella Tuâ , when he heard the word Tu● , he would lie no more there . But the Iesuites haue not so much deuested themselues of Proprietie , but that they may haue proprietie in tempor●ll possession : Yea , they will haue Proprietie in Treas●n ; and will haue proper and singular Plots of their owne , and not ioyne with your Priests , Watson and Clarke , in their Plot , nor bee Traytors in common with them . 28 This is their arrand ; and for this , like him , who imployes them , They compasse the Earth , too and fro . Nor are they more like the Circulatores , and Circumcelliones , a limme of the Donatists , in this their vncertaine running about , then in that other qualitie of theirs , to vrge and importune , and force men to kill them , and if they could not extort this from others , then to kill themselues , and call all this Martyrdome . For onely of this vicious inclination of Iesuits to an imaginarie Martyrdome , I purpos'd to speake in this Chapter ; but that being occasioned by the way , to deale with men of a various vncertaine Constitution and Nature , I haue taken part of their fault , and as a Phisitian comming to cure , sometimes receiues some of the Patients infection , so spe●king of their running and wandring , I haue strayed somewhat from the directnesse , and strictnesse of my purpose . 29 Therefore to pursue it now , they are so much more intemperate and importunate vpon this Pseudo-Martyrdome , then any others ; by how much they are more seuere maintainers and encreasers of those Doctrins of the Roman Church , which we noted to beget this inclination . For when the spirit of God awaked certaine Reformers of his Catholicke Church , of which the Romane Church had long time beene the head , that is , the Principall and most eminent , and exemplar member ( for I am euer loth , to seeme to abhorre , or abstaine from giuing to that Church , any such St●les and Titles , as shee is pleas'd and delighted in , as long as by a pious interpretation thereof , her desire may thereby be satisfied in some measure , our Churches not iniur'd nor preiudiced , and the free spirit of God , which blowes where it pleaseth , not tied nor imprison'd to any place , or person ) at that time , I say , these seruants of God , and of his Church , had no pu●pose ●o runne away from her , and leaue her di●eases to putrifie and ●ester within her bowels . Nor did they vncouer her nakednesse● out of any petulancie of the●r owne , nor proclaime her filthinesse to defame or diminish her dignitie . But with the li●ertie of a Midwife , or Phisician , or Confessor , they suruey'd her secre●est infirmities , they drew to the outward and visible parts , that is into consideration , her inwardest corruptions , and so out of that duetie , were enfo●ced to looke into and bee conuersant about her Ordures , and other foulenesses , and could not dissemble nor forbeare , earnest , and bitter informing her of her owne distemper and danger , which was a worke of more zeale and humilitie , then those childish obediences , which you so much extoll in your Disciples , of sweeping Cobwebs and washing dishes . 30 And they proceeded so wis●ly , and temperately , and blessedly herein , that in a short time many of her swellings were allay'd , and her indurations somewhat mollified , as appeares by the Colloquies , and consultations in many places , ●or a moderate and manerly way of purging her corruptions . For certainely her diseases were not then so much in question or doubt , as whether it were for her honour , to be beholden to so meane Pe●sons for health , as these beginners were : Or for her ●afetie to trust her selfe in such Phisicians hands ; for now diuers secular ●r●nces were come to giue their ass●stance . And as some diseases produce so violent and desperate Symptomes , as the Physician must sometime neglect the maine originall Dise●se , and attend onely to cure the Accidents : So , though the Doctrine of Purgatorie , were at that time no member of the body : That is , no part of the Catholicke faith● but seru'd that body onely for Nayles to scrape and scratche together , Those spirituall Physicians busied themsel●es much , to paire those Nayles which defaced the beautie and integritie of the whole body , and so to slacken that griping hold , which they had taken vpon mens estates and Consciences , by ●he terrour of Purgatorie , and ver●ue of their indulgences . 31 And as to both sides , there appear'd euidently in the Doctrine of Merits , as the Schoolemen ( which then Gouern'd ●n the Church , by reason of the discontinuance of Councels ) had sawced and di●guis'd it , many abominations , derogatorie to the Passion of our Blessed Sauiour : So did they all confesse , in ●he Doctrine of Purgatory so many mixtures of coniecturall , incredible , impossible fables , as might haue scandaliz'd and discredited any certaine trueth by ●heir Addition . But when on the one side , the Reformers encouraged by this entrance , thought they might proceede fu●ther , and so offered to dissect and anatomize the whole Church , and thought to fill euery veine , and restore and rectifie euery Sprane and dislocation , and to take off euery Mole , and paire away euery Wemme , and to alter euen the fashion of her clothes , so that all , both substance and ceremony came in question : And the Romane Church on the other side , foresaw her precipitation , that if they stop'd not at the toppe , they could not at the middle of the hill , thought it better not to beginne , then not to know where to end , and so mistaking the medicine to be worse then the disease , departed from further consultation , iustified their corruptions , and by excommunications put away those seruants , which had done them these offices , and whom now they call Schismatiques and Heretiques , for departing from that Church , which would affoord them , not onely no wages , but no other roome , then a fire . 32 And then , as all recidiuations and relapses , are worse then the disease , vpon this relapse , came the Councell of Trent , which did couer and palliate some of these vlcers , and promised the cure of the rest , though they neuer went about it yet ; And then the Iesuites , who crie that all there is health and soundnesse , and that there is none any where else yea that the Church was borne thus , and that she is as well , as she was in her Cradle , and that whatsoeuer she thinkes , or saies , or does is by a diuine power , inherent in her ; as though there had beene sowed in her at first certaine seedes of Iure Diuino , which now in our age , by the cultiuating , and watering , and industry of the Iesuites must fructifie and produce in her , all these effects . For they will abate nothing ; their consciences are as tender and delicate , as the ground at Coleyne , where some of S. Vrsulaes eleuen thousand Virgines are buried , which will cast vp againe in the night , any that is enterred there , except shee were of that company , though it be a childe newly baptized : So the Iesuites stomaches cannot indure this , that the Popes should be great by Priuiledges of Princes , or Canons of Councels : but all must be Iure Diuino . So that that note , which the law casts vpon some Aduocates , will lie heauie vpon the Iesuites , They are too carefull of their cause , and therfore they are presum'd to inuent falshood . 33 For though it be hard for any man to goe further on the left hand , then the Councell of Trent hath done , in these two doctrines of Merite and Purgatrry , and euery Catholique be bound to that Councell , yet as in most other Doctrines , so in these also , Pelargus hath noted the Iesuites to haue gone beyond others , and therefore more then others , they incite , in these points , to a false Martyrdome . 34 But as the late inuention of Artillery and Gunpowder , though it haue much horrour and aff●ightment in it , yet ha●h not done so much harme , as it threatned , because the fury and violence thereof , hath occasioned men to study more waies of defence and auoidance , so th●t wee see the warres deuoure fewer men now , then before this inuention came : so hath the impetuous rage and pertinacy of the Iesuits , in oppugning euerie thing which they find not to be at Rome encouraged other Churches to oppose strong defences against them , and superstition swallowes fewer men now , then before these new Enginers laboured to promote and aduance her : And as those instruments of battery which the auncients vsed in the warres , were more able to ruine and demolish , then any which are made out of this new inuention , but were left off , and dis accu●tomed only because they were not so maniable and tractable , and apt for transportation , as these are ; So certainely the Arguments and bookes of the Friars , and Schoolemen of the Romane Church , which is the Arsenall from whence the Iesuites prouide and ●urnish themselues , haue as much force against the truth , as the subtilties of the Iesuites , but that these men a●e by their Rule and Constitutions , apter for conueyance and insinuation , then the dull cloysterall Monkes can be . 35 For there are diuers poysons which cannot work , except they be eiaculated from the creature it selfe that possesseth it , and that his personall and present liuely malignity concurre to it , and giue it vigour ; for which these vbiquitary Monks haue the aduantage of all others . 36 Nimietates sunt aequalitates , saies Cassianus . And so , two extreamities , haue made the Schoolemen and the Iesuites equally valiant : for the Schoolemen out of an ignorance of danger , hauing neuer come to hand-blowes , would venter vpon any peece of seruice , and any employment , and pierce through and spie , euen into Gods secret Cabinet of his Essence , and of his Counsails , as a fresh Souldier will goe with alacrity to any breach . And then because these sublime and ayrie meditations must haue some body to inhere in , they vsed to incorporate their speculations of God , in the Pope ; as it were to arrest and conserue them the better , being else too spirituall and transitorie . And so they haue so much exemplified them , one in the other , that they haue made them so like , and equall in their writings , as though they were but one . 37 And the Iesuites out of a desperate necessity must maintain their station , because if they yeeld one steppe , they will be the lesse able to stand in the next ; but after they haue confessed that the Church hath erred in one thing , thinking that will subiect her in all , no place of Scripture is so abundantly and euidently pregnant , no reason or consequence so directly and necessarily deduced , and concluded , no History nor matter of fact so faithfully presented , and so certainly and religiously testified , but they will stand stubbornly , and desperately to oppugne and infirme it . 38 What wound so euer they receiue in this battaile , they disguise and hide from their Disciples , by ●orbidding our bookes . And as Ribadeneyra sayes of their Father Ignatius , That he halted of the wound which he receaued at Pampelune , but so little , that the most curious could scarse discerne that he halted , So by some euasions , or supplements , or concealings , they euer dissemble their maimes and deformities . 39 To which purpose they haue one round and dispatching way , which is , not onely to neglect , but to bragge of all which we impute to them● for so one of them sayes , That it is the greatest Argument of Innocence , to be accused by vs : And that he cannot be guilty of error in Religion , whom an Heretique condemnes . For , as it was pa●t of the Oath of the Grecians , against Xerxes , that those Temples which the barbarous Armie had demolished , they would not reedifie , that thereby there might bee a continuall testimonie remaining of the impiety , So I thinke the Iesuites flatter themselues with some such resolution , by leauing vnanswered the books and arguments of so many reuerent persons , which haue spoken plentifully and prosperously , of these points of Merit and Purgatorie . 40 But of their other Doctrine , by which more then others , they prouoke to this lauish , and contemptuous expence of life , which is , The auiling of the dignitie of Princes , there can neuer enough be said . For all other Orders may consist , and execute and performe all their vowes , without any iniu●ie to Princes : They may be as poore as they will , till they come to that state , if they desire it , which Nerius begd of God , That he might lacke a pennie , and no body might giue it him , They may be as chaste , as that Iesuite which Gretzer sayes hee knew , who being not able to scape from a woman which tempted him , and held him , anointed his owne face , retrimentis suis , that thereby she might abhor him , They may be as obedient as Cassianus sayes the Tabennentiotes we●e , who durst not presume , without leaue of their Superiour , Naturali necessitati satisfacere ; Or as that Friar Iohn , who at his Abbats commaund , planted a dry withered sticke , and twice a day , for a whole yeare , fetched water two miles of , to water it , sparing no festiuall day , nor apprehending any impossibility in it ; Or as Saint Francis his Nouice , who at his bidding set plants , with the head downward . These things they may doe , and yet be good subiects . But the Supernumer●ry Vow of the Iesuites , by which they doe especially oblige themselues to the Popes will , do●h in the nature , and Essence , and scope thereof , make them enemies to the digni●ie of all Princes , because their Soueraigntie cannot consist , with that temporall Supremacie which the Iesuites must maintaine , by the obligation of that vow , by which they are bound , with expence of their lifes , to penetrate any Kingdome , and instill Sedition into their Disciples , and followers . 41 How fast this infection works in them , as by many other Demonstrations , so by this also it appeares euidently , that there are extant more Authors of that one Order , that haue written of Secular businesses , and of Iurisdiction of Princes , then of all the rest , since their beginning . For , their Casuists , which handle Morall Diuinitie , and waigh and measure sinne ( which for all that perplexitie and entangling , we may not condemne too hastily , since in purest Antiquitie there are liuely impressions of such a custome in the Church , to examine with some curiositie the circumstances , by which sinnes were aggrauated or diminished ) doe not onely , abound in Number , especially of the Spanish Nation , but haue filled their bookes with such questions as these , How Princes haue their iurisdiction , How they may become Tyrants , What is lawfull to a priuate man in such a case , and of , like seditious nature . So that they haue abandoned the stale , and obsolete names , of positiue Diuinity , or Controuerted , or Schoole Diuinitie ; and haue reduced all to Crowne Diuinity . 42 And yet they account the handling of these points , to bee but a dull and obuious learning in their Colledges , as though any man were able to resolue questions against Princes● for they haue a Rule , that they which are vnapt for greater studies , shall study cases of conscience . 43 So also of the Immunitie of the Church , out of which , if it be denied to be by the Indulgence of the Prince , issues and results presently the dimunition of the Prince , they haue written abundantly , and desperately . So haue they of the Institution of a Prince ; of which , one of them writing and presuming and taking it as vulgarlie knowne , that it is lawfull in some cases to kill a King , is carefull to prouide , least when you goe about to kill him , by putting poyson in his meat or drink , you make him , though ignorantly , kill himselfe . So haue they also of Militarie institution many Authors ; and of as many sciences as concurre to publique affaires . 44 And with such bookes as these they allure and catch ambitious wits ; which hauing had a lower and darker breeding in schooles and vniuersities , haue some hunger of reading state learning , in any forme , much more , where they shall finde it more freely debated vpon , then if they had had place at twentie Councell Tables , or Conspiracies . And as Auerroes is saide to haue killed Auicen , by anointing the booke which hee knew the other would read , with certaine poison : and as it is said , that what●oeuer flew ouer the Iewes Targum , whilst the authour thereof was compiling it , was scorched with the beames therof , so doe these bookes of theirs enuenome and catch hold of all such , as bring in themselues anie desire to come within too neere a distance of them . 45 And of all these kindes of bookes , without doubt we should haue had many more , but that , as the gatherer of all the writers of the Carth●sian Order , not daring to slippe and leaue out the present Generall Bruno , and finding no books of his making , saies , That since he hath an excellent wit , and singular learning , ●e could write many bookes if he had leisure , and in the meane time , hee tooke care that the missall should be printed in a faire character and delicate paper : So the Iesuites , since ●hey haue a vow to binde them to it , and a na●urall disposition to incline them , could wri●e more booke● to this purpose , but that they are continually exercised in disposing actuall plots : And yet in the meane time they take care , that the Popes Breues be procur'd , promulged , conceal'd interpreted , or burnt , as the cause may be most benefited and aduanced . 46 And I do not remember , that I haue found in the Approbation of any Iesuits booke , this clause which is so ordinary , in most of the workes of other men , Nihil fidei contrarium , aut bonis Moribus , aut Principibus : And yet they say , that in printing their bookes , there is great caution and diligence vsed , and that they passe the hands of men most intelligent , and of mature iudgement : but , as it seems by this remarqueable omission , no good subiects nor fauourers of Princes . 47 If they doe thus much when they are Serui papae , what will they doe when they are famuli ? which diffrence I learned out of the Missal , where a Bishoppe must pray , vnd cum me indigno Seruo tuo ; but the Pope , Famulo : For he may well be said to be in Ordinary with God , since he is one Ordinary with him ; for so saies Aluares , God and the Pope haue one Consistorie : and in another place , All cases reserued to God , are reserued to his Vicar : so that by that Rule , what euer God can do , in disposing the matters of this world , the Pope also can do : for there he saies , out of Hostiensis , that that direction , Dic Ecclesiae , if the Pope sinne , who cannot be complain'd of , is ment , Dic Deo , vt conuertateum , aut Dic Ecclesiae Triumphanti , vt oret pro eo . 48 So when Bellarmine who had done sufficiently for the Pope , whilst he was but a Seruant , that is an Ordinarie Iesuite , came to his familiarity , and housholde seruice , by being a Cardinall in the Consistorie , and so grew more sensible of the Papacy , being now himselfe , as they speake , Papabilis , he takes al new occasions , to extoll his Master , and his Throne and Sea : And hauing manie yeares neglected his owne defence , and answered such great men as opposed him , onely with such Proctors as Gretzer , and Eudaemo-Ioannes , vnprouoked he rises vp in the Venetian , and in the English cause , to establish by new bookes , the new Article of Temporall authority in the Pope . And since that , as Aeneas Syluius , retracted all which he had written before for the Basil Councell , when he came to be Pope : so Bellarmine when perchance hee would be Pope , hath made a new ●uruay and Recognition of all his workes ; in which , as though he had beene too moderate before , in al those places , which concerne this question , he hath expressed a supple and variable conscience , a deiect slauerie to that Sea , and a venemous malignity against Princes ; of which it seemes to me expedient to present a few examples . 49 I allow not now , saies Bellarmine , that which I said before , That Infidell Princes may not be depriued by the Church , of that Iurisdiction which they haue ouer Christians : for though Durandus doe probably teach so , against Saint Thomas , and I then followed his opinion , yet now the authority of S. Thomas preuailes more with me . Yet he had seene and considered both their reasons before . 50 In another place he saies , Now I allow not that which I said before , that Paul appealed to Caesar , as to his Iudge . And after , Whereas I said , that Popes vsed to be chosen by Emperours , the word Emperour , potest & forte debet deleri : For ( saies he ) I followed Gratians Canons , which , as I learned since , are not approued ● And againe , when I said That the Pope was subiect to the Emperour , as to his temporall Lord , I meant De facto , not De iure : and this course he holdes in that booke of Recognitions . 51 And here we may conuen●ently conclud● this Chapter , of the Iesuites speciall aduancing all those doctrines , which incite to this Martyrdome , after we haue produced some of their owne testimonies of their inordinate hunger thereunto , and of the causes for which they affect it . 52 One of their spirituall Constitutions is , That euery one of that Order must thinke that Christ spoke to him when he said , he that doth not hate his owne life , &c. And so they make an obligatorie precept , to binde at all times , of that which vvas but a direction for our preparation and readinesse to suffer for his sa●e . 53 Ribadeneyra names two Iesuites in the ●n●dies , which being sicke in bedde , when they might haue escaped , came forth halfe naked , and voluntarily offring their throates , were slaine . And hee saies that Simon Acosta ( one of the fiue brothers , who were all of this Order ) declared himselfe to bee a Iesuite , when ●e was not knowne , that he might be put to death . And so Aquauiua , being pursued , refused a horse , by which hee might haue scaped , and chose rather to die , then ride . And yet this was amongst Infidels , where the Haruest was great , and the worke-men few : which kind of intemperance hath beene formerly condemned out of their owne authors . 54 But of this point it is enough to relate the wordes of him , who speakes in the person of all the Iesuites ; who cals himselfe Clarus Bonarscius , but is vnmask'd and disanagrammatiz'd by his fellow , who calls him , Carolus Scribanius , he saies , That the Scaeuolaes , the Catoes , the Porciaes , and the Cleopatraes , are nothing to the Iesuites : For they ( saies he ) lacked courage , Ad multas mortes , And in a fewe yeares , he saies , they haue had three hundred Martyres : Therefore he saies , that they of that Order doe violently teare out Martyrdome , rapiunt spontanea irruptione ; and , Crederes Morbo adesos : and for what causes do they this ? Least the rest of their life should be barren of merites , and passe away emptie of glorie : and then hee passes to them who haue died in England ; and as in these men , this hunger of false-Martyrdome , goes euer together with blasphemy against Princes , there he heapes Eulogies vpon Campian , and reproaches vpon that sacred Prince , for treason to whom he perished , whom this wretch dares call Anglicanam Lupam , and after , Saeuientem Caluinianam lupam : and after this he saies , That when they come to this Order , they bargain vpon this condition , vt liceat prodigere animas , hostili ferro . In which , I thinke , he relates to that Oath , which they take in the Colledge at Rome , by a Constitution of the Pope ; that they shall returne into England , to preach the Catholique faith publiquely there : which Oath Nauarrus saies bindes them so strictly , that they are disabled to enter into any rule of stricter religion , though that were a further degree of perfection , but must necessarily returne into England : Of which oath we will say no more , but onely repeat Baronius his Panegyrique , and incitatorie encouragement , speaking thereof : The holy societie in her safe sheep-folds hath fatted you , as innocent lambes for this Martyrdome , and she sends you forth to triumphes , and aduances you to Crownes . Be therefore couragious and valiant , you who haue vowed and betrothed your blood by an Oath : for my part , I enuie you , that are design'd and apparant martyres , and wish that my end may be like yours . And what he assignes for one cause of this Martyrdome , to which he prouokes them , and congratulates their interest therein , we declared out of his words before in the shutting vp of the last Chapter , which was Defence of Ecclesiastique immunity ; that is debasing , and diminishing of Princes . And thus we haue gone one steppe further : and to the former , which were , That the desire of Martyrdome might be vicious , & that , as the Roman authors obserue in the first times , it had beeene so ; and , That by the Romane doctrine it must of necessity be so , vve haue added now , that the Iesuites more then any , inflame thereunto . CHAP. V. That the Missions of the Pope , vnder Obedience whereof they pretend that they come into this Kingdome , can be no warrant , since there are lawes established to the contrarie , to giue them , or those which harbour them , the comfort of Martyrdome . IN the end of the second Chapter , I mentioned a Canon of the Eliberitane Councell ; And as in that place it had this vse and office , to shew that the intemperate and inopportune affectation of Martyrdome , needed a restraint in some , too aemulous thereof , by Eulalines Example , So may it very properly and needfully haue a place here , because it showes the reasons , why certaine men were not receiu'd for Martyrs , by the Church . 2 And the Authoritie of this Councell is of great force , as well by reason of the puritie of the time , in which it was celebrated , which was about three hundred and fiue yeeres after Christ , and twentie yeere before the Nicene Councell , as especially , in this point of Martyrdome , because it was held in continuing Persecution , and when the danger was imminent in those parts , in which the people needed direction and instruction● And also , because now there is no doubt of the genuine integritie of this Councell . For , though Bellarmine imputed some errou●s to it , as being too seuere against such as had slipp'd in time of Persecution , and Baronius spoke sometime of it , Somewhat freely au● sh●rpely , saye● Binius , yet after that , he changed his opinion , and hee , and Biniu● , haue now redeem'd all the Canons of that Councell from any imputation . 3 Of which Canons , this is the sixtieth : That they which breake the Idols of the Gentiles , and are sl●ine by them , shall not be receiued in●o the number of Martyrs . Because , this is not written in the Gospell , nor found that it was euer done by the Apostles . So that by the opinion of that Councell , that onely is a sufficient cause to intitle and interest a man in the Crowne of Martyrdome , VVhich was found written in the Gospell , or practised by the Apostles . And is there any thing found in either of them , which may be a precedent to this mission ? Christ appointed twelue , whom hee might send to Preach ; but what ? The Kingdome of God. And assoone as Saule had an inward mission , the Text sayes● Straightwayes he Preached euen in the Synagogue . But what ? Hee Preached Christ ; And what did hee Preach of him ? That he was the Sonne of God ; And that it was hee that was ordain'd of God , a iudge of quicke and dead : And● as himselfe sayes , of his practise after , We preach Christ crucified . But this mission from Rome , is not to Preach Christ , but his Vicar : Not his kingdome of Grace , or Glorie , but his title to Temporall kingdomes : Not how hee shall iudge quicke and dead at his second comming , but how his Vicar shall inquire , Examine , Syndicate , Sentence , Depose : yea , Murder Princes on earth : Not Christ crucified , languishing for vs vnder Thorns , Nayles , Whippes & Speares , but his Vicar enthron'd , and wantonly groning vnder the waight of his Keyes , and Swords , and Crownes . 4 Christ said to those whom he sent , VVhat I tell you in darkenesse , that speake you in light , and what you heare in the eare , that Preach you on houses , and feare not them that kill the body . And if no other thing were told you in darknesse , and whisper'd into your ears , at your missions hither , then those which our Sauiour deliuer'd to them , you might be as confident in your publicke Preachings , and haue as much comfort of Martyrdome , if you died for executing such a Commission . But what your instructions deliuered in darkenesse , and told in your eares , are , appeares now enough , by Inspection , by Confession , by Testimonie , by Practise , by Analogie of your doctrine , and by Baronius words , That you are sent hither to defend the immunities of the Church , which deliuers you from all subiection to the King , and from being Traytors whatsoeuer you attempt : as also to defend the Catholicke Faith , which first makes it heresie to depart from the subiection to Rome , and then makes it a forfeiture of all Iurisdiction to incurre that heresie . Except this be written in the Gospell , or practised by the Apostles , you cannot be Martyres for this . 5 But to descend to reasons of a lower nature , of the law of Nations , and conueniency and decency ; since all those which maintaine the Spanish Expeditions , and proceedings in the Indies , by the strength of the Popes Donation , concurre in this , That into what place soeuer the Pope , or any Princes may send Priests , they may also send Armies for the security of those Priests , and them whom they haue reduced : and since it is euident by all your Writers , that the Pope hath more Iurisdiction ouer Christian Princes relapsed from Rome , then ouer Infidels , might hee not for safe-guard of his Apostles , sende Fleetes and armies hither ? and is it not the common and receiued opinion , which Maynardus deliuers , that in all cases where the Pope may enioyne , or commaund any thing , he may lawfully proceede by way of warre , against any that hinder the execution thereof . If then such armies and Fleets were sent to conduct you , and were resisted in their landing , or defeated in battell ; had not they as good title to Martyrdome as you ? and may not the Pope as well Canonize the whole Spanish Fleete , which perished in 88. for your Catholique faith , and Ecclesiastique immunitie ? since in many cases , as in the Innocent children ( of whom Hilary saies , that they were exalted to eternity , by Martyrdome ) one may bee an implicite Martyre , though he know not why he died , so he haue no actuall reluctation against it . 6 And it is very probable , that their title was b●tter then yours , for this point of sending , because they were vnder the obedience of them which sent th●m : but for you , ( not to dispute now whether the cause be enough for Martyrdome , or whether your obedience can giue it that forme , and life , and vigour ) you are so farre from being sent , or from exercising any obedience in this act , that your first step , which is going out of the kingdome , is absolutely and euidently disobedience to your Prince , before you haue any colour of hauing submitted your selfe to any other superiour ; and then you enter into the Colledge , vppon condition that you may returne , and you ta●e an Oath before hand that you will returne : So that you returne not hither in obedience of your Superiour , but in performance of your owne vniust , and indiscreete Vowes : both which , in all Vowes , are Annulling or vitiating circumstances . Neither dooth this Oath so farre binde you to returne , ( though Nauarrus say so ) but that one of the learnedst of the Iesuites , thinkes , If that be forborne , and some Order of Religion embraced in stead thereof , the oath is better performde . 7 And , if these lawes which take holde of you , when you returne hither , had been made betweene the time of your vowe , and your returning : and if they had beene made directly to that end , to interrupt and preclude the performance of this Vow , yet naturally they would worke the same effect vpon this Vow of yours , and make it voide , because something was now interpos'd , which may iustly , yea ought to change your purpose : For if that law had beene made before , your Vowe had beene vniust from the beginning ; which is the case of as many of you , as haue gone since the making of those prohibitory lawes . For a law which forbidds vpon paine of losse of goods , death , banishment , or such , bindes a man vpon paine of mortall sinne ; and therfore no Vow can iustifie the breach thereof . 8 All this , if the lawes be iust , is euident and without question , and how could it be euident to all those yong Schollers which went ouer , and made this vowe , that these lawes were vniust ? What infallible assurance could they haue of this , to excuse them of disobedience in going , or indiscretion in swearing ? 9 Their owne men teach , that the lawes of Princes are not therefore necessarily vniust and voide , because the Prince had an ill intention in making them . As if the Prince propose and purpose particular gaine , by exacting the penalty of the law , or reuenge vpon certaine persons , by executing thereof ; this makes not your law voide , so that it be profitable to the bodie of the Common-wealth : much lesse were our l●wes in this case , subiect to that ●railty , and de●eseablenesse , because they were made ( to omit in this place the principall inducement , for the glorie of God , and preseruing his Gospell i●purity and integrity ) in such necessities , as without such defence , the person of the Prince , and the ciuill and Ecclesiast●que state , must haue ●uffered daily , and dangerous fluctuations , and perils of shipwracke ; which dangers continue vpon vs yet ; and therefore the same physick must be continued . 10 For Lawyers teach vs , that the word Potest , doth often signifie Actum : And what the Pope may do , their bookes threaten in euery leafe : and then against such a man a● vseth to doe as much as hee threatens : the Lawyers tell vs , many● And against such all waies of defence are iust , when any danger ( to vse the extent of Lawyers ) are Meditated , Prepared , Likely , or Possible , for it is a beggerly thing , rather to be beholden to others modestie and abstinence , then to our owne Counsaile and strength for our securitie . So that , as when the three Emperours , Valentinian , Valens and Gratian , had made a lawe , that no Ecclesiastique person should haue any capacity to receiue from noble women , who were then obserued to bee profu●e in these liberalities , to the detriment o● their own estates , and of the publique , Saint Hierome 〈◊〉 , Hee did not grieue that such a law was made , but that the couetousnesse of the Clergy had occasioned these most religious Princes to make that law : So you ought rather to lament , that the Doctrine and practise of some of your principall men , hath raised these iealousies and suspitions in a Prince , out of the conscience of his owne equalitie naturally confident , then murmure at the law , or dis-councell the obedience to it . 11 For in these cases of naturall preseruation , it is not onely lawfull to make new lawes , but to breake any other , which are not directly Diuine . And if you impute the worst condition of these lawes , which malignitie can obiect to them , which is , that those Catholiques , which are innocent , which meerely out of conscience , abstaine from communicating with vs , in the Word and Sacraments , shall be vtterly starued and depriued of all spirituall sustentation , if the lawes which forbid all Priests to enter , should be still executed ; yet that inconuenience will not annull and make voide a law , so farre , as that to doe against it shall be a iust cause of Martyrdome : for in making of lawes , those euils which doe occasionally or consequently a●ise from the execution thereof , must not be considered , but what the principall intention of the law-maker was : Which , in our case was , the preseruation of the publique . 12 And yet the Catholiques in England shall for all this be in as good condition here , as they should be in any Catholique Countrie , which were by the Popes displeasure vnder a locall Interdict ; which the Popes doe often impose , with small respect to the Innocents● for in the late businesse betweene the Church and the State of Venice by the Popes Breues , the whole Dominion was Interdicted , because the Senate , which onely was excommunicated , did not within three daies do all those acts , which were so derogatory to the Soueraignty of that State. And so , that punishment , which is so seuere , by the Canons , that as Boniface the eight obserued , It occasions many Heresies and indeuotion , and many dangers to the soule : And , as the Glosse saies there , by experience it appeared , that when a place had lien long vnder an Interdict , the people laughed at the Priests , when they came to say Masse againe ; was inflicted vpon many Millions of innocent persons : all which , if that State had not prouided for their spirituall food by staying the priests , had bin in as ill case by that Interdict , and euocation of the Clergie , as the Catholiques in England were by those lawes of interdicting their entrance , considering with how much lenitie in respect of their extreame prouocations , they were executed . And if that reliefe which Vgolini giues to comfort the Venetians consciences , be of any strength , which is ; that that which they loose in spirituall sustenance , they gaine in the Merite of obedience , it may as effectually worke vpon English Consciences , as it could vpon theirs . 13 No● is it so harsh and strange , as you vse to make it , that Princes should make it Treason , to aduance some Doctrines , though they be obtruded as points of Religion , if they inuolue Sedition , and ruine or danger to the State ; for the Law sayes , That is Maiestatis crimen , which is committed against the securitie of the State ; and in that place , it cals Securitie , Tranquilitie : And whether our Securitie and Tranquilitie haue not beene interrupted by your doctrine , your selues can iudge , and must confesse . 14 These Lawes against which you complaine , drewe not in your Priests which were made in Queene Maries time , though they were Catholicke Priests , and exercis'd their Priestly function ; and though they had better meanes to raise a partie in England , because they were acquainted with the state , and knew where the seedes of that Religion remain'd : But in that Catholicke Religion of which they were Priests , they found not this Article of Tumult and Sedition , and withdrawing Subiects from their obedience . 15 Is there not a Decretall amongst you , by which it Is made Treason to offend a Cardinall ? which is a Spirituall offence ; For it is also Sacriledge . And is ●here not another b● which A●● practisers by Simoney in a conclaue , though they be Ambassadours of other Princes , are punished as Traytors ? And if their Masters seise not their goods , confiscate by this Treason , within a certaine time , the Church may . Doeth not one of your owne Sect v●ge a Statute in Poland , against a Gentleman of that Nation , That whosoeuer shall be infected or suspected of heresie , shall be apprehended as a Traytor , by any man though he bee no Officer ? And we Dispute not now whether your Doctrine be Heresie , but whether such points of Religion , as are no Articles o● Faith , nor deriued from them , if they be Seditious , may not be punished as Treason , and properly enough call'd Treason . In which Pius the second ha●h clear'd vs and giuen vs satisfaction , who sayes , That to appeale to a future Councell , is not onely Heresie , but Treason . And Simancha concurres to that purpose , w●en hee sayes , That they which haue beene teachers of Heresie , cannot be receiued though they recant in Iudgement , because it is enough to forgiue one fault , but such are guiltie of two deaths , and must bee punished , as enemies to the State ; And that therefore he whi●h attempts to corrupt the King or his Queene , or his Children with Heresie , is guiltie of Treason . 16 And that there is a Ciuill trespasse in Heresie , as well as a Spirituall , appeares by confiscation of their goods in your Courts ; which goods and temporall detriments , though the offenders bee pardoned , and receiu'd into the bosome of the Church , and so the Spirituall● offence be remitted , are neuer to be restored● no● repai●d . If therefore the Canon Lawe can extend to create Treason in a Spirituall cause● If amongst you , as it is Heresie to beleeue , ●o it is Treason to teach , that there is no Purgatorie , shall it not be lawfull to a Soueraigne and independent State , to say by a Law ; That he which shall teach , That a Priest cannot be a Traytor though he kill the King : and except a King professe intirely the Romane Faith , he hath lost all title and Iurisdiction , and shall corrupt the Subiects with such seditious instillations as these , shall be guiltie of Treason ? 17 The Parliament of Paris in that Arrest and sentence , by which it condemn'd ●he Iesuites Scholler Cha●tel , who attempted to murder the K●ng , makes it Treason to vtter those scandalous and seditious words● which hee had spoken , and which he had receiu'd from False and damnable instructions ( where●n it intim●tes the ●esuites , whom the ●entence in other pl●ces , name , directly ) which words are expressed or impl●ed almost in all the Iesuits Boo●es of State matters : That sentence also pronounces all the Iesuites Cor●upters of youth , ●roublers of the Peace , enemies of the King and State , And if they depart not within certaine daies , Guiltie of Treason . And this sentence pronounces , That if any of the Kings Subiects , should send his Sonne out of the Realme , to a Iesuites Colledge , hee should incurre treason . 18 And though your Expurgatorie Index can reach into all Libra●ies , and eate and corrupt there more then all the Moathes and Wormes , though you haue beene able to expunge , yea euert , and demolish the Pyramis erected in detestation of you by this Arrest , yet your Deleatur will neuer stretch to the scarre in the Kings face , nor your Inseratur restore his Toothe , nor your expunctions arriue to the Recordes which preserue this sentence . 19 And came it ( thinke you ) euer into the opinion of the Catholickes of France , that if a man by vertue or example and precedent of this Arrest , had beene Executed as a Traitor , for speaking those forbidden words , or for sending his Sonne to the Iesuits , he should haue beene by the Catholicke Church reputed a Martyr ? 20 When the Iesuits were lately expell'd from Venice , and when other Priests which stai'd there , were commanded by Lawes to doe their functions , did either the Iesuites apprehend this opportunitie of Martyrdome , and come backe , or did the Priests find such spirituall comfort in transgressing this Law , that they offred to goe out ? 21 And in all our differences , which fell out in this Kingdome betweene our Kings , and the Popes , when so many capitall Lawes were made against Prouisions and Appeales , ( not to dispute yet whe●her de Iure or de facto only , or whether by way o● Introduction , or Declaration ) doe you finde that the Catholiques then vsed the benefite of those lawes , to the procurement of Martyrdome ? or hath the blood of any men executed by those lawes , died your Martyrologes with any Rubriques ? And yet those times were apt enough to countenance any defender of Ecclesiastique immunity , though with diminution of Ciuill and Secular Magistracie , as appeares by their celebrating of Becket : ye● I find not that they affoorded the title of Martyre to any against whom the State proceeded by the Ordinary way and course of law . 22 Why therefore shall not the French , and Italian , and olde English lawes giue occasion of Martyrdome in the same cases , as these new lawes shall ? At least why should Campian , and those which were executed before these new statutes , be any better Martyres then they ? since they were as good Catholiques as these , and offended the common law of England in the same point , as these . But if the Breach and violating of the later statutes , be the onely or liueliest cause of Martyrdome , then , of Parsons , who euery day of his life doth some act to the breaking thereo● , it is verie properly said by one of his owne sect , That hee is per totam vitam martyr . 23 And this may suffice to remember you , that you intrude into this emploiment , and are not sent , and that our Lawes ought to worke vpon your Oath , of returning to the annihilation thereof , because both the necessit●e of the making and continuing ●hereof and the precedents of our owne , and other Catholicke Kingdomes , giue vs warrant to make seditious Doctrine Treason , and your owne Canons and I●dica●●re giue vs example , and ( if we needed it ) Authoritie to proceede in that maner . CHAP. VI. A comparison of the Obed●●nce due to Princes , with the seuerall obediences requir'd and exhibited in the Romane Church ; First , of that blind Obedience , and stupiditie , which Regular men vow● to their Superiours : Secondly , of th●t vsurpe● Obedience to which they pretend by reason of our Baptisme , wherein we ar said to haue made an implicite surrender of our selues and all that we haue , to the Church ; And thirdly of that Obedience , which the Iesuits by a fourth Supernumera●ie vowe , make to be dispos'd at the Popes absolute will. THere hath not beene a busier disquisition , nor subiect to more perplexitie , then to finde out the first originall roote , and Source , which they call Primogenium subiectum , that may be so capable of Power and Iurisdiction , and so inuested with it immediately from God , that it can transferre and propagate it , or let it passe and naturally deri●e it-selfe into those formes of Gouernement , by which mankind is continued and preserued ; For at the resolution of this , all Qu●stions of Subiection attend their dispatch . And because the Clergie of the Roman Church , hath with so much fierce earnestnesse and apparance of probablenesse , pursued this Assertion , That that Monarchall forme , and that Hierarchie , which they haue , was instituted immediately from God ; Many wise and iealous Aduocates of Secular Authoritie , fearing least otherwise they should diminish that Dignitie , and so preuaricate and betray the cause , haue said the same of Regall power and Iurisdiction . And euen in the Romane Church a great Doctor of eminent reputation there , agrees ( as he sayes ) Cum omnibus sapientibus , That this Regall Iurisdiction and Monarchie ( which word is so odious and detestable to Baronius ) proceedes from God , and by Diuine and naturall Law , and not from the State or altogether from man. And as we haue it in Euidence , ●o we haue it in Confession from them , that God ●ath as immediately created some Kings , as any Priests . And Cassanaeus thinkes this is the highest Secular Authoritie that euer God induced : For he denies That old or new Testament haue any mention of Emperour . 2 But to mine vnderstanding we iniure and endanger this cause more , if wee confesse that that Hierarchie is so Immediately from God as they obtrude it , then we get by offering to drawe Regall power within the same Priuiledge . I had rather thus farre abstaine from saying so of either , that I would pronounce no farther therein , then this , That God hath Immediately imprinted in mans Nature and Reason , to be subiect to a power immediately infus'd from him ; and that hee hath enlightned our Nature and Reason , to digest and prepare such a forme , as may bee aptest to doe those things , for which that Power is infus'd ; which are , to conserue vs in Peace and in Religion : And that since the establishing of the Christian Church , he hath testified abundantly , that Regall Authoritie , by subordination of Bishops is that best and fittest way to those ends . 3 So that , that which a Iesuite said of the Pope , That the Election doth onely present him to God , wee say also of a King ; That whatsoeuer it be , that prepares him , and makes his Person capable of Regall Iurisdiction , that onely presents him to God , who then inanimates him with this Supremacy immediately from himselfe , according to a secret and tacite couenant , which he hath made with mankinde , That when they out of rectified Reason , which is the Law of Nature , haue begot such a forme of Gouernement , he will infuse this Soule of power into it . 4 The way therefore to finde , what Obedience is due to a King , is not to seeke out , how they which are presum'd to haue transferr'd this power into him , had their Authoritie , and how much they gaue , and how much they retain'd ; For in this Discouerie none of them euer went farther , then to Families ; In which , they say , Parents and Masters had Iurisdiction ouer Children , and Seruants ; and these Families concurr'd to the making of Townes , and trans●err'd their power into some Gouernour ouer them all . 5 But , besides that this will not hold , because such Sauadges as neuer rais'd Families , or such men as an ouerburdned kingdom should by lot throw out , which were peeces of diuers families , must haue also a power to frame a forme of Gouernement , wheresoeuer they shall reside , which could not bee if the onely roote of Iurisdiction were in parents & masters ; This also will infirme and ouerthrow that Assertion , that if parents and masters had not this supreme Soueraignty , which is requisite in Kings , they could not transferre it into Kings , and so Kings haue it not from them : And if they were Soueraignes they cold not transfer it , ●or no Soueraigne can deuest himselfe of his Supremacie . 6 Regall authority is not therefore deriued from men , so , as at that certaine men haue lighted a King at their Candle , or transferr'd certaine Degrees of Iurisdiction into him : and therefore it is a cloudie and muddie search , to offer to trace to the first roote of Iurisdiction , since it growes not in man. For , though wee may goe a steppe higher then they haue done which rest and determine in Families , which is , that in euery particular man considered alone , there is found a double Iurisdiction of the soule ouer the body , and of the reason ouer the appetite , yet those will be but examples and illustrations , not Rootes and Fountaines , from which Regall power doth essentially proceede . Sepulueda , whom I cited before , saies well to this purpose ; That the soule doth exercise , Herile Imperium vpon the body : and this can be no example to Kings , who cannot animate and informe their Subiects as the soule doth the body . But the power of our reason vpon our appetite , is , as he saies pertinently , Regale Imperium ; and Kings rule subiects so as reason rules that . 7 To that forme of Gouernement therof for which rectified reason , which is Nature , common to all wise men , dooth iustly chuse , as aptest ●o worke their end , God instils such a power as we wish to be in that person , and which wee beleeue to be infused by him , and therefore obey it as a beame deriued from him , without hauing departed with any thing from our selues . 8 And as to the end of this power , is alwaies one and the same , To liue peaceably and religiously , so is the power it self though it be diuersly complexioned , and of different stature ; for that naturall light and reason , which acknowledges a necessity of a Superiour , that we may enioy peace , and worshippe God , did consent in the common wish and tacite praier to God , and doth rest in the common faith and beliefe , that God hath powred into that person all such authority as is needefull for that vse ; Therefore of what complexion soeuer the forme of gouernement be , or of what stature soeuer it seeme , yet the same authority is in euery Soueraigne State : thus farre , That there are no Ciuill men , which out of rectified Reason haue prouided for their Peaceable and religious Tranquility , but are subiect to this regall authority , which is , a p●●er to vse all those meanes , which conduce to those endes . 9 For those diffrences which appeare to vs in the diuers ●ormes , are no● in the essence of the Soueraignty , which hath no degrees , nor additions , nor diminutions , but they are onely in those instruments , by which this Soueraignty is exercised , which are ordinarily called Arcan● , and Ragion di st●to , as I noted before● and as the soule it selfe , hath as good vnderstanding in an Idiote , and as good a memory in a L●thargique person as in the wises● and liueliest man ; So hath this Soueraignty in ●●●ry state equall vigour , though the Organes by which it workes be not in all alike dis●osed . And therefore the gouerne●e●t amongst the Iewes before Sa●le , was fully a Kingdo●e in this accep●ation : nor did they attend any new addition to this power , in their solicitation for a King : but , because they were a people accustomed to warre , they wished such a Soueraigne as might lead their Armies ; which office their Priestes did not ; and they grudged that their enemies should be conduced by better persons then they were . 10 And so , though some ancient Greeke states , which are called Regna Laconica , because they were shortned and limited to certaine lawes , and some States in our time seeme , to haue Conditionall and Prouisionall Princes , betweene whom and Subiects , there are mutuall and reciprocall obligations ; which if one side breake , they fall on the other , yet that soueraignty , which is a power to doe all things auaileable to the maine end●s , resides somewhere● which● if it be in the hands of one man , erects and perfects that Pambasilia of which we speake . 11 For God inanimates euery State with one power , as euery man with one soule : when therefore people concurre in the desire of such a King , they cannot contract , nor limitte his power : no more then parents can condition with God , or preclude or withdraw any facultie from that Soule , which God hath infused into the bo●dy , which they prepared , and presented to him . For , if such a company of Sauadges , or men vvhom an ouerloaded kingdome ●ad auoided , as vve spake off before , should create a King , and reserue to themselues a libertie to reuenge their owne wrongs , vpon one another , or to doe any act necessary to that end , for which a King hath his authority , this liberty were swallowed in their first acte , and onely the creation of the King were the worke of rectified reason , to which God had concurr'd , and that reseruation a uoide and impotent act of their appetite . 12 If then this giue vs light , what and whence the Kings Iurisdiction is ; we may also discerne by this , what our obedience must be : for power and subiection are so Relatiue , as since the King commaunds in all things conducing to our Peaceable and Religious being , wee must obey in all those . This therefore is our first Originary , naturall , and Congenite obedience , to obey the Prince : This belongs to vs as we are men ; and is no more changed in vs , by being Christians , then our Humanity is changed : yet hath the Romane Church extolled and magnified three sorts of Obedience , to the preiudice of this . 13 The first is , that which they call Caecam obedientiam : which is an inconsiderate & vndiscoursed , and ( to vse their owne word ) an Indiscreete surrendring of themselues , which professe any of the rules of Religion , to the command of their Prelate and Superior ; by which , like the vncleane beasts , They swallow , and neuer chaw the cudde : But this obedience proceeding out of the will and electio● of them , who applie themselues to that course of life , cannot be of so great authority and obligations , as the other which is naturall , and borne in vs ; and therefore , farther then it agrees with that ; it is not out of rectified reason . 14 And though it seeme scarce worthy of any further discourse , yet I cannot deny my selfe the recreation of suruaying some examples of this blinde and stupid obedience , and false humility , nor forbeare to shew , that by their magnifying thereof , and their illations thereupon , not only the offices of mutuall society are vncharitably pretermitted , but the obedience to Princes preiudic'd and maimed , and the liuely and actiue , and vigorous contemplation of God clouded and retarded . 15 For when a distressed Passenger intreated a Monke to come forth , and helpe his Oxe out of the Ditch , was it a charitable answere to tell him , That he had bin twentie years dead , & in his graue , and could not now come forth ? Yet it may seeme excusable in them to neglect others , if this obedience make them forget themselues ; as certaine youthes whom their Abbot sent with Figges to an Ermit , loosing their way , sterued in the Desart , rather then they would eate the Figges , which they were commanded to deliuer . Is it likely that when Mucius a Monke , at the commaund of his Abbot , who bid him cast his crying sonne into the riuer and drowne him , did in the feruor of obedience obey it , God should reueale , That in that acte , he accomplished Abrahams worke ? 16 Are these wholsome instructions , That it is a greater pride to doe a good worke against the Superiours commaund , then a bad , because they are vices vnder pretence of vertue ? or this , That it is better to sinne against God , then our spirituall Father , because he can reconcile vs to God , but no body to him ? Which doctrine it seemes Heli had not accepted , when he said , If one man sinne against another , the Iudge shall iudge it , bu if a man sinne against the Lord , who will pleade for him ? How many grea●er matters must they of necessity leaue vndiscussed , that professe such tendern●sse and scrupu●osity of conscience , as the late Iesuit Gonzaga , w●o doubted that when hee had said he would goe , Ad Domum professorum , he had sinned in an idle word , since he might haue beene vnderstood well enough though he h●d left out the last wordes ? or that he had sinned in answering affirmatiuely to his S●periours question , whether he would go to a certaine place , because he ought to haue left it all to his Superiours will , without any affirmation ? Was it due and necessa●y obedience , when desirous to be instructed in that point of Predestination , and his Superiour turning to a place in S. Augustine , and bidding him read there , being come to the end of the page , but not of the sentence , he durst not turne ouer the leafe , because he was bid to read there ? 17 Sedulius seemes glad that he had examples enough to furnish a Chapter , De simplicita●e Minoritarum ; and hee seemes to haue much comfort that he is of the same order , as Friar Ruffin was , who out of simplicity cut off a liuing Ho●ges foote , to dresse for a sicke bodie , and ●odde his Birds in the feathers : who also out of his humility , desired that he might stinke when he was d●ad , and that he might be eaten with dogges . And he saies that Friar Iuniper was so simple , that a Doemoniaque possessed man , ranne seuen miles from him , because the diuell could not abide Patientiam Iuniperi . 18 Was it not Prodigium Obedientiae , as Sedulius iustly calles it , in Fryar Ruffin to go preach naked ? And were there not some degrees of spirituall pride in Gonzaga , who is praised because he had a paire of patched hose in Delicijs ? and that he refused to put on a paire of old bootes , because a worshipfull man had worne them ? and that when his handes did cleaue with colde , he would put on no gloues ? Was there not some measure of stupid insensiblenesse in him , when he durst not spit in any necessity at his praiers ; and that he knew not how many brothers he had ? And of desperate prouocation , when he heard of a plague likely to be in those parts , to make a vow to visit those which were infected ? And of murmuring , when he grudged and grieued , That he could find out no veniall sinne in himselfe ? And of Inhumanity , when he was sorry , if any body loued him ? And of a sear'd and shamelesse Stubornenesse , when he therefore desi●'d to speake in publicke , because hee had an vng●acious and ridiculous imperfection in pronouncing the letter R. And ask'd leaue , E suggestu dicere , ( which , I thinke , is to Preach ) in Spanish , because he was sure to be laugh'd at by that meanes , being imperfect in that language ? And doeth it not taste of an vnnaturall Indolencie in him , to say no more at the newes of his Fathers death , but that nowe nothing hindered him from saying , OVR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN ; As if it had troubled his conscience , to say so before ? 19 Who would not haue beene glad , that such a Preacher should giue ouer , as when Friar Giles a Lay man , call'd to him , Hold your peace Master , for now I will Preach , gaue him his place ? Who would wish S. Henrie the Dane any health , that had seene him , When wormes crawled out of a corrupted Vlcer in his Knee , put them in againe ? Or who would haue consented to the Christian buriall of that Monke , which Dorotheus speakes off , if he had died of that Poyson , which hee saw his Seruant mistake for Honie , and put it into his Brothe , and neuer reprehended him , before nor after he had eaten the Soppes : But when his Seruant apprehended it , and was much mooued the master pacified him with this , If God would haue had me eate Honie , either thou shouldest haue taken the Honie , or hee would haue changed the Poyson into Honie . Who would euer haue kept companie with the Iesuite Barcena , after he ha● told him , as ●e told another Iesuite , That when the diuell appeard to him one night , out of his profound humilitie , hee rose to meete him , and prayd him to sit in his Chaire , because he was more worthy to sit there then he ? Who would wish Father Peter aliue againe , since being dead , he is so afraid of disquieting his fellowes , that he will giue ouer doing of Miracles , for their ease ? Or who would not wish them all dead , who possessing and filling all good places in their life , will bee content to giue some roome after their death ; as Friar Raynold , who hauing beene three yeres dead , when another Holy man was brought to be buried in the same Vault , rose vp and went to the Wall , and stood vpright there , that the other might haue roome enough . 20 This is that Obedience by which they say , If a man were dignified so much as to talke with Angels , if his Superiour call'd him , he must come away ; Yea , one of them Being in discourse with our Lady , when an inferiour Friar call'd him , vnmannerly quitted her . And of this Obedience is Ignatius himselfe especially caref●ll , Least ( sayes he ) that famous simplicitie of blind Obedience should decay . But this Obedience , and all other , are subordinate to that naturall Obedience to your Prince , as Soueraigne controller of all : For in all Obligations the Authoritie of the Superiour is euer excepted . 21 And this Obedience must not be so blind , but that it may both looke vpward , what God , in his Lieuetenant appoints to bee done , and also round about to see , wherein they may relieue others , and receiue from them . They may be circumspect , though they must not be curious . For Abbayes , at first institution , were not all Chappels but Schooles of Sciences , and Shops of manufactures . Now they are come to that , that they cannot worke , Quia Officia longa . They haue indeede so many Offices , and so many Officers , that they neede not worke . But this strict obedience was impos'd vpon them then , because they were great confluences of men of diuers Nations , Dispositions , Breedings , Ages , and Employments , and they could be tied together in no kno● so strongly , nor meete in any one Center so concurrently , and vniformely , as in the Obedience to one Superiour ; And what this Obedience was , and how farre it extended : Aquinas , who vnderstood it well , hath well express'd , That they are bound to Obey only in those things which may belong to their Regular conuersation . And this vse and office , that obedience which is exhibited in our Colledges , fulfils and ●atisfies , without any of these vnnatural , childish , stupid , mimique , often scandalous , and sometimes rebell●ous singul●rities . 22 Any resolution which is but new borne in vs , must bee abandon'd and forsaken , when that obedience which is borne with vs , is requir'd at our hands . In expressing of which trueth , Saint Bernard goes so exceeding farre , as to say , That Christ gaue ouer his purpose of Preaching , at the increpation , Mulieris vnius , & fabri pauperis : And because his Mother chid him , when shee found him in the Temple , from twelue yeeres to thirtie , we find not , sayes hee , That hee taught or wrought any thing , though this abstinence were contrarie to his determination . So earnest is that deuoute father , to illustrate our Blessed Sauiours obedience , to a iurisdicton which was Naturally Superiour to him . And therefore this submission , by our owne Election , to another Superiour , cannot derogate from the Prince , nor infirme his Title to our Alleageance or obedience . 23 Another obedience derogatorie to Princes , they haue imagined , connaturall , and congenite with our Christianitie , as this is with our Humanitie , and conducing to our Wel-being , and ou● euerlastingnesse , as this doeth to our Being and temporall tranquilitie ; which is , An obedience to the Romane Church , and to him , who must bee esteem'd certainely the Head thereof , a though sometimes he be no member thereof . 24 Certainely the inestimable benefits which wee receiue from the Church , who feedes vs with the Word and Sacraments , deserues from vs an humble acknowledgement , and obedient confidence in her : yea , it is spirituall Treason , not to obey her . And as in temporall Monarchies , the light of nature instructs euery man generally , what is Treason , that is , what violates or wounds or impeaches the Maiestie of the State , and yet he submits himselfe willingly to the Declaration and Constitutions , by which somethings are made to his vnderstanding Treason , which by the generall light he apprehended not to be so dangerous before ; So in this case of spirituall Treason , which is Heresie , or Schisme , though originarily , and fundamentally , the Scriptures of God informe vs , what our subiection to the Church ought to be , yet we are also willing to submit our selues to the lawes and decrees of the Catholique Church her selfe , what obedience is due to her . He therefore that can produce out of eyther of these Authentique sorts of Records , Scripture , or Church , that is , Text or Glosse , any law , by which it is made either High Treason , Heresie , not to beleeue , that in my baptisme I haue implied a confession , That the Bishop of Rome is so monarch of the Church , that he may depose Princes ; or petit Treason , that is Schisme , to adhere to my naturall Soueraigne against a Bull of that Bishop , shall drawe me into his mercy , and I will aske Pardon , where none is graunted , at the Inquisition . 25 Else it is most reasonable ( and that is euer most religious ) to relie vpon this , That obedience to Princes is taught by Nature , and affirm'd and illustrated by Scriptures . If the question be , how much this obedience must be , I must say , all , till it be proued , either that Peaceable and religious being be not all the ends , for which we are placed in this world , or that the authority of Kings , exercised by the Kings of Israell and the Christian Emperours , is not enough to performe these endes . For , to say that a King cannot prouide for meanes of saluation of soules , because he cannot preach , nor administer the Sacraments , hath as much weakenesse , as to say , hee cannot prouide for the health of a City , because he cannot giue physicke . 26 Till then , I shal be deterr'd from declining to this second obedience , by the contemplation of many inconueniencies , and impieties resulting from thence ; first , by the vastnes of that Iurisdiction : For since they haue taught vs to say so , we may say , Dominus non esset discretus , vt cum reuerentia eius loquar , if he had laid the cure of the whole Church and the iudgement of all matters emergent , of fact and faith , vpon one man ; which he hath done , if Pesantius say true , That the Pope is , Iure Diuino , directly Lord of all the World : which booke is dedicated to the present Pope , who by allowing it may iustly be thought to fauour that opinion . 27 How much it is , that they would entitle him to , appeares by their expunction of a Sentence in Roselli a Catholique , though a Lawyer , That it is hereticall to say , that the vniuersall temporall administration is , or may be in the Pope : vpon which booke mine eye fals often , because you haue beene so lauish and prodigall in those expunctions , that a man might well make a good Catechisme , and an Orthodox Institution of Religion , out of those places , which you haue cast away . And by this one place we see what you would haue , For if the vniuersall administration of temporall matters be in the Pope , what neede is there of Kings ? You would soone forget kings , or remember them to their ruine ; and looke that kings should do to you , as condemned men are said to haue done to the kings of Persia , to thanke them that they were pleased to remember them . And Azorius will not pardon their modesty , that say , that the Pope in dealing with temporall matter● vses but a spirituall power ( though this in effect worke as dangerously ) but he vseth ( saies he ) Absolutely and simply a temporall Iurisdiction . 28 And what can impeach this Vniuersall Iurisdiction , since al matter and subiect of Iurisdiction , that is , all men , may by their Rules be vnder him , by another way , that is , by entring into Religion : for first , Tannerus the Iesuit saies , If Princes had their authority immediately from God , yet the Pope might restraine that authority of theirs , that it should fall onely vpon Lay-men : For , saies another , He may take from the Emperour , all his Iurisdiction , therefore any part thereof . And as many as will ( saies Bellarmine ) may without the consent of their Prince , yea though he resist it , thus deuest their Allegeance , as they might resist their parents if they should hynder them . 29 And in contemplation of this Vniuersall Iurisdiction , which might be , if it be not , in the Pope ; the Iesuite whom we first named , breakes out into this , congratulation : If at this instant all the Princes and all their subiects , would enter into Religion , and transferre all that they had into the Church , would it not bee a most acceptable spectacle to God , and Angels , and Men ? Or ( as he saies before ) if their estates were so transferr'd to the Church , though not their persons , could not Ecclesiastique Princes rule and gouerne all these lay men , as well as they doe some others already ? But because , as hee doubts in that place , Hoc in aeternum nunquam fiet , that all Laymen will come vnder them , they haue prouided that all Clergie men which be vnder them , shall be safe enough , as welll by way of Counsell ( for so Mariana modefies his Doctrine , that the Prince should not execute any Clergy man , though hee deserue it ) as by positiue way of Aphorismes , as Emanuel Sâ doth , That they are not subiects , nor can doe treason : and by way of Fact , and publique troubling the peace of al Christendome , as appeared by their late attempt vppon Venice for this Exemption . 30 And as the immensnesse of this power auerts me from beleeuing it to bee iust , so doeth this also decline me , that they will not bee brought to tell vs , How he hath it , nor How hee got it . For as yet they doe but stammer , and the Word stickes in their iawes , and wee know not whether , when it comes , it wil be Directly , or Indirectly . And they are as yet but surueying their Euidence ; they haue ioyn'd no issue ; nor know we whether they will pleade Diuine Law , that is , places of Scripture , or Sub diuine Law , which is interpretation of Fathers , or super diuine law , which is Decretals of Popes . But Kings insist confidently , and openly , and constantly vpon the law of Nature , and of nations , & of God , by all which they are appointed what to do , and enabled to do it , 31 Lastly , this infames and makes this Iurisdiction suspicious to me , to obserue what vse in their Doctrine and Practise they make of this power . For when they haue proceeded to the execution of this Temporall power , it hath beene either for their owne reall and direct profit and aduantage , as in their proceeding with the Easterne Emperours : And drawing the French Armies into Italy , and promouing and strengthning the change of the family and race of the Kings in France , or else the benefit hath come to them by whose aduancement that Church growes and encreases , as in the disposing of the Kingdome of Nauarre ; Or at least , the example and terrour thereof magnifies the dignitie , and reputation of that Church , and facilitates her other enterprises , for a good time after , as a Shippe that hath made good way before a strong winde , and vnder a full Sayle , will runne a great while of her selfe , after shee hath stricken saile . 32 VVhen any of these reasons inuite them , how small causes are sufficient to awake and call vp this temporall Authoritie ? The cause why Childerique was deposed , was not , sayes the Canon , for his Iniquities ; but because he was Inutilis . And this was not , sayes the Glosse , because hee was Insufficient , for then hee should haue an assistant , and coadiutor ; but because hee was Effeminate . So that the Pope may depose vpon lesse cause , then hee can giue an assistant . For to bee Insuficient for the Gouernement , is more directly against the office of a King , then to bee subiect to an infirmitie , which concernes his humanitie , not his office . 33 And when the officers and Commissioners of the Romane Court , come to Syndicate Kings , they haue already declar'd , what they will call Enormities and Excesses , by inuoluing almost all faults , whether by Committing or Omitting in generall words ; As , When he doeth not that for which he is instituted ; when he vseth his prerogatiue without iust cause , when he vexes his Subiects ; when he permits Priests to kisse his hands ; when he proceeds indiscreetly , and without iust reason ; And lastly , For any such hunting as they will call intemperate . To which purpose they cite against Kings generally those Canons which limit certaine men , and times , and maners : And which , as the Glosse sayes of some of them , are meant De venatione arenaria , When men out of vaine-glorie , or for gaine , fought in the Theaters with wild beasts . And least any small errour in a King might escape them , they make account that they haue enwrapp'd and pack'd vp all in this , That it is all one , whether a King bee a Tyrant , or a Foole , or Sacrilegious , or Excommunicate , or an Hereticke . 34 This obedience therfore which we neither find written in the tables of our Hearts , nor in the Scriptures , nor in any other such Record , as either our aduersary wil be tried by , or can bind vs , must not destroy nor shake that obedience which is Naturall and Certaine . Cyril hath made this sentence his owne , by saying it with such allowance , It is wisely said , That hee is an impious man , which sayes to the King , thou dost vniustly . Much more may wee say it of any , that affirmes a King to bee naturally impotent , to doe those things for which he is instituted ; as he is , if he cannot preserue his Subiects in Peace and Religion , which the Heathen kings could doe ; whose Subiects had a Religion , and Ministers thereof , who wrought vpon men to incline them to Morall goodnesse here , and to the expectation of future blessednesse after death , though not by so cleare nor so direct waies as Christian Religion doth . 35 The king therefore defends the Liberties of the Church , as the nature of his office , which he hath acknowledged , and Declar'd , and seal'd to his Subiects by an Oath , binds him to do , if he defend the Church of England from foraine vsurpation . And a most learned and equall man hath obserued well , That sides● And since a Iesuite hath affoorded vs this confession , That the Prince hath this Authoritie ouer Bishops , that hee may call them as Peeres of ●is Realme , And since their Clementines , or the Glosser , yeeldes to vs , That a Church Prelate may bee a Traytor , because hee holdes some temporalities : how can they escape from being ●ubiect in all other cases ; since their naturall and n●tiue obedience is of a stronger obligation , then the accepting or possessing of these Temporalities : for , if ●ure Diuino , the Character of Order , did obliterate and wash out the Character of ciuill Obedience , and subiection , the conferring of any temporall dignity or possession , could not restore it ; for vnder color of a benefit , it should endammage and diminish them , when a little Temporall honour or profit shall draw their spirituall estate and person to secular ●u●i●d●ction : ●or , as Azorius will proue to vs , the king may call a Bishoppe as a Baron to the Parliament , and as the Canonist will prooue to vs , he may call him to the Barre as a Traytor . 36 To recollect therefore now , and to determine & end this point , the title which the Prince hath to vs by Generation , and which the Church hath by Regeneration , is all one now . For we a●e not onely Subiects to a Prin●e , but Christian Subiects to a Christian Prince , and members as well of the Church as of the Common-wealth , in which the Church is . And as by being borne in his Dominions , and of parents in his alleageance , we haue by birth-right interest in his lawes and protection : So by the Couenant of Almighty God to the faithful and their Seede , by being born of Christian Parents , we haue title to the Sacraments ; which the king ( to whom , as all the kingdome is his house , so al the Clergy are chaplaines ) ta●es care , that they duly administer to vs which are his sonnes , and ●eruants . 37 Nor dooth the king and the Church direct vs to diuers ends , one to Tranquility , the other to Saluation , but both concurre in both : For wee cannot ordinarily be saued ( which seemes to be the function of the Clergy ) without the exercise of morall vertue here in this life , nor can Christians do those morall vertues ( which seeme to bee the Princes businesse ) without faith , and keeping the right way to saluation , because a Christian must doe them Christianly . 38 For though Theologall vertues , Faith , Hope , and Charity , are infus'd from God , yet all religious worshippe of God is morall vertue . As therefore the office of all Heathen Princes , was to conserue their subiects in the practise of morall vertue , so farre as it was reuealed to their vnderstanding ; So is it now the office of Christian Princes to doe the same . For God hath now so farre enlightned vs to the vnderstanding of morall vertue , that we see thereby , that after God hath infused Faith , wee make sure our saluation , by a morall obedience to the kings Gouernement , and to their Ministery whō his prouidence appoints ouer vs for our instruction . So that Christiā subiects need no higher power then kings are naturally indued and qualified withall , to direct them to Saluation ; but● because morall vertue is now extended , not in it selfe , but ●o our vnderstanding● or pe●chance perfited ( for the Fathers denie often , that the Philosophers had any true morall vertues ) Christian kings must now prouide lawes , which may reach as far in their d●rection , as morall vertue reaches now ; and Ministers , that may teach vs how farr that is , and to conserue vs in the obseruation therof : For as , when all things are in such sort wel composed and establ●shed , and euery subordinate Wheele set in good order , we are guilty of our owne damnation , if wee obey not the Minister , and the Minister is guilty of it , if hee neglect to instruct vs , so is the Prince guilty of our spirituall ruine , and eternall perishing , if hee doe not both prouide able men to giue vs spirituall foode , and punish both their negligence and our transgressions : So that hee is to account to GOD for our soules , and therefo●e must haue naturall meanes to discharge that duety well , or else could not be subiect to such a reckoning for his transgressions therein . 39 The last Obedience which I intimated , as preiudiciall to this of kings , is that which the Iesuites vowe to the Pope ; which is not the same blind Obedience , which I spoke of before for the Iesuits sweare that also to their Superiours , before they come to the perfection of this : But , as that is blinde out of darkenesse , so this is blinde out of dazeling . For they must be instruments in matters of State , and disposing kingdomes . 40 When some Priests in England were examined , what they would thinke of the Oath of Alleageance , if the pope should pronounce that it were to be held De fide , that hee might depose Princes , they desired to be spared , because they could not pronounce De futuris Contingentibus . But these votaries , the Iesuites are not so scrupulous ; They can resolue to execute whatsoeuer he shall commaund : perchance they thinke the Pope so much God , ( for Iesuites must exceede in euerything ) that in him , as in GOD , there can bee no Contingency . And therefore vowing their trauell and labour , to the corrupting and aliening of subiects , to the combustion or translation of Kingdomes , to the auiling and eradication of Princes , they do not vow De futuris Contingentibus , but of things euer constantly resolued in the Decree , and Counsell , and purpose of the Bishop of Rome . 41 Though therefore Mat. Tortus : be no Iesuite himselfe , yet in respect of his Master , who was one , I wonder he durst say , That the Iesuites made no other vow of obedience to the Pope , then other religious Orders did ; which is such an excuse in their behalf , as no accusation could offend them so much ; since their ambition is to serue the Pope by a neerer Obligation then the rest : which appeares euidently enough , in the Bul of Paul the third , where this fourth vow is repeated . 42 And is it not a stange precipitation to vow their helpe to all his errours ? of which they confesse he may commit many in matter of Fact , by mis-information . So that they sweare to execute that , which they are not bound to beleeue to be well commaunded : yea they are not bound to beleeue , that he which commaunds them , is that person whose commaundements by their vow they a●e bound to doe , and yet they must do them . For though they bee bound to obey the Pope , Yet they are bound to beleeue that Paul the fift is Pope : because those Elections haue many vitiating circum●tances , which annuls them . For if they could be certaine , that the Election were free from all other corruptions , yet that Decretall in the Septimes , of Simoniacall Election , must of necessitie keepe all indifferent men in continuall anxietie and perplexitie . For , if any thing by any Cardinall , were giuen , or promis'd before , though the Election be by way of Assumtion and Adoration , when all concurre in it , which they call , Viam spiritus Sancti , and therefore not subiect to errour , Yet there is a Nullitie in this Election , and the holy Ghosts confirmation workes nothing vpon it , And the Person elected , hath neither spirituall nor temporall Iurisdiction , but looses all the dignities which he had before , and becomes incapable euer after ; And no subsequent Act● of Inthroning , Oathes of Obedience by the Cardinalls , nor possession , though of long time , can make it good : And euen those Cardinals , which were parties to the Simony , may at any time after , depart frō his obedience , & all the rest of the Cardinals , which do not , forfeit their dignities . 43 It is scarce possible to bee hoped , that in Elections there should be no degrees of that corruption , which this Decree labors to preclude , & which , it takes knowledg , to be so clandestine , and secretly caried , that comming to the point of annulling all those promises which were so made● your Law expresses it thus , Cum quauis Inexcogitabili solennitate & formà iurata . And if euer it should breake forth , that any such thing were committed at Paul the fift his Election , then hee was neuer Pope : Which , though perc●ance it will not make voide all his Acts , for some ciuill and conuenient reasons , doth yet show the iniustice , and indiscretion of such a vowe , as binds the Votarie to doe some acts , which were not lawfull for him to doe , except an assured Authoritie of the commander did warrant it . 44 And if that measure which Aquinas gaue before of Blind obedience , must also serue in this , which is ; That they must obey in all things , which belong to their Regular conuersations , that is , In all things to which their Rule , and Vowe obliges them , then as no Sea can wall any kingdome against their entrance : So no watchfulnesse can arme any brest against their violence , since the increasing of that Monarchie which they must aduance , growes from the decay of others . 45 But I forbeare Exasperation ; and will here ende this Chapter ; by which , I hope , it appeares , that no latter band of Obedience , can slacken this first , which was borne with vs. For , though amongst Lawyers , To commit my selfe or my cause , a Liberae voluntati hominis , or to bee vsed by him , b. Prout voluerit , amount ve●y farre , and create a large power in him , yet th●y conclude , That , c In nullo arbitrio , How large so euer , any thing is included which was formerly prohibited . And of these three Obediences which we haue handled , though all the three essentiall proper●ies o● all Oathes and Vowes be wanting in them all , yet the blinde obedience to your spirituall Superiour , doth especially want discretion , and the implicite Obedience , imagin'd to bee vowed to the Church in Baptisme , doeth lacke Trueth , and that seditious and seruile Obedience vowed by the Iesuites to your Popes wil , doeth want Iustice. CHAP. VII . That if the meere execution of the function of Priests in this Kingdome , and of giuing to the Catholickes in this Land , spirituall sustentation , did assure their consciences , that to die for that , were Martyrdome ; yet the refusall of the Oath of Alleageance doeth corrupt and vitiate the integritie of the whole Act , and dispoyle them of their former Interest and Title to Martyrdome . WE speake of Martyrdome now , in the proper and restrain'd sense and acceptation , that is , of Consummate Martyrdome , and so , as Aquinas takes it , when he sayes , Mors est de ratione Martyrij . I know the Primitiue Church denied it not to them , whom the lat●er Church hath call'd Confessors ; So a Ignatius writes himselfe Martyr ; and so doeth b Saint Paul say , that hee dies daily . And sometimes , when the Church enioyed her ease , and was pamper'd with securitie and rest , to excite men to a publicke confession of their Faith , if there arose any case wherein it was needfull , the Ministers of that Church , which was euer apter and forwarde● to suffer Martyrdome , when any long persecution had accustom'd her to the expectation and patience and glorie thereof , then in the times of dull abundance and tranquilitie , would affoord the Title of Martyrs , to any persons who suffred any persecution for the testimonie of Christ , though they died not : As the Church celebrates the Martyrdome of Pope Marcellus , vvho died in Prison . So also sometimes their indulgence alovved that Name , for some abstinencies and forbearings , if they conduced to the depressing of Idolatrie . For so Saint Chrisostome sayes , If thou refuse to be cured by Magique , and die of that sickenes , thou art a Martyr 2 Deuotion is apt to ouerualew other mens actions ; And Bellarmine confesses out of Sulpitius , That the people did long time deuoutely celebrate one for a Martyr , who after appear'd , and told them that he was damn'd . So also were those men inclin'd , whom Alexander the third reprehendes , For giuing the honour of a Martyr to one that died drunke . So doeth another Iesuite prooue Hyrcanus to bee an Hereticke , whom Albertus Magnus hath put into his Litany , and so drawne into continuall Inuocation euer since . And when Gregory the thirteenth made Commissioners to suruay the Martyrologe , they found the Histories of Pope Felix the second , so various and repugnant , that they were determined to expunge his name , but that opportunely there was a Marble Coffin found , with such an Inscription as alterd them , and relieued the Popes fame . And one principall inducement to the Pope , to come to these solemne Canonizations , is , because before the people did often mistake . 3 And this medicine , as it was very late applied ( for Bellarmine cannot finde , that the Popes canonizd any in eight hundred yeares after Christ : ) So neither hath it , nor can it naturally extinguish the disease . The most that it can worke , is an Assurance , that they which are publiquely canonized are true Saints : for Bellarmine saies , That it is the opinion of Heretiques , that the Pope can erre in such Canonizations : and yet , to proue it , he argues but thus : If we beleeue that there was such a man as Caesar , why should we not beleeue that which God testifies by miracles ? But how shall wee beleeue that these miracles are from God , or that he doth them in testimony of that mans sanctity ? For that miracles are done , is not enough to constitute a Saint , for wicked men may doe them , say your Authors : And in this case they can proceede no farther , then to an Historicall beleefe , that Miracles are done . And I had thought that Bellarmine had required a better faith at our h●nds , then Historicall , and such as assures vs , that Caesar was , to ground Inuocation of Saints , and to constitute an Heresie . 4 And though not in Bellarmine , yet in the Pope himselfe , there appeare some scruples of diffidence , and frailty , and fallibility in this acte of Canonizing , because , after all his seuerall Inquisitions and searches which depend vpon matter of Fact , and after his diuers iteration of prayers , That hee may not erre , and That hee may not be permitted to erre , hee makes at last a publique protestation , That he intends not by that act , to do any thing against Faith. 5 But if this can be certaine , That those , and none but those , which are so Canonized , may be publiquely Honoured as Saints , yet that disease , of which we spoke before , is not cured hereby . For it is still lawfull priuately to worshippe any , of whose sanctity I haue an opinion . Nor is this priuate worship , so priuate in Bellarmines account , that it may not bee exhibited before others ; but onely so priuate as it may not be done , In the name of the Church , and as though it were instituted by the Church . So that whole Multitudes , and Congregations may erre still : and this , by the authority of the Canon it selfe . For thus Bellarmine reasons , with more detortion and weakenesse then becomes the cause or his grauity : In the two Canons , saies he , Audiuimus , and Cum ex eo , the Pope forbiddes publique worshippe ; and therefore , a Contrario , permits priuate . If then , that worshippe which in those two Canons he forbiddes to be publiquely exhibited , may priuately be giuen , and this priuatenesse exclude not whole Congregations , then whole Congregations may lawfully worshippe as a Saint , a man slaine in drunkennesse , which is the case of the first Canon , and lawfully worshippe venall and vncertaine Reliques , which is in the second Canon ; since the forbidding of this in publique , hath permitted it in this large and open priuate , by Bellarmines●ashion ●ashion of arguing ; who saies also ●or this , That the Doctors doe commonly affirme it . 6 And whatsoeuer is said heere of Saints , holdes as well in Martyres , for with the same faith , that I beleeue a man to be a martyre , I beleeue him to be a Saint : And so , it seemes , doth that Catholique Priest , who hath lately published a History of English Martyres : For that which in the Title he calls Martyrologe , in his Aduertisement he calles Sanctiloge . And therefore it becomes both our Religion and Discretion , to consider thoroughly the circumstances of their History , whom we admit to the honour of Martyrdome . 7 All Titles to martyrdome seeme to me to be grounded vpon one of these three pretences , and claymes . The first is , to seale with our bloode the profession of some morall Truth , which though it be not directly of the body of the Christian faith , nor expressed in the Articles thereof , yet it is some of those workes , which a Christian man is bound to doe . The second is , to haue maintained with losse of life , the Integrity of the Christian faith , and not to suffer any part thereof to perish or corrupt . The third is , to endeuour by the same meanes to preserue the liberties and immunities of the Church . 8 By the first way they entitle S. Iohn Baptist because he died for reprehending a fault against a morall Truth : and that truth being resisted , the Authour of truth is despised : And therefore all truth is not matter conuenient for the exercise of this vertue , as the conclusions of Artes and Sciences , though perfectly and demonstratiuely true , are not ; but it must be such a truth , as is conuersant about Christian piety , and by which God may be glorified : which cannot be , except he might be iniured by the denying thereof . So , the Euangelist when our Sauiour spake of S. Peters Martyrdome saies , He signified by what death hee should glorifie God : For all Martyredome workes to that end . And this first occasion of martyrdome seldome fals out in Christian Countries , because in Christ , the great Mirrour of all these truthes , we see them distinctly and euidently . But sometimes with Heathen Princes , before they arriue to this rich and pregnant knowledge , men which labour their conuersion , begin , or touch by the way , some of these Morall dueties ; and if they grow odious , and suffer for that , they are perfect Martyrs , dying for a morall Trueth , and in the way to Christ. 9 By the second claime , which is the Integritie of Catholicke Religion , the professors of any Christian Church , will make a specious , and apparant Title , if they suffer persecution in any other Christian Church . For the Church of Rome will call the whole totall body and bulke of the points of their profession , Integritie of Religion , and the Reformed Churches call , soundnesse , puritie , and incorruptnesse , integritie . The Roman thinkes Integritie hurt by nothing but Maimes , and we , by Diseases . And one will prooue by his death , that too little is professed , and the other , that too much . But this aduantage we haue , that by confession of our aduersaries , all that wee affirme , is True , and Necessarie : and vpon good ground we assure our selues , that nothing else is so , and we thinke that , a propensenesse to die , for profession of those points , which are not necessarie , will not constitute a Martyrdome , in such a person especially as is of necessarie vse . 10 Amongst other things which our Blessed Sauiour warnes his followers , this is one , That none of them suffer as a busie body in other mens matters , but if he suffer as a Christian , let him not be ashamed , but glorifie God. And in another place , hee cals them blessed : If others say all maner of euill of them , falsely , and for his sake . So that the prohibition forbids vs , to suffer for those things which doe not certainely appertaine to vs ; And the instruction ties the reward to these conditions , That the imputations be false , That they be imputed for Christs sake , that is , to dishonour him , and that we suffer because we are Christians . 11 Since therefore some of you , at your Executions , and in other conferences , haue added this to your comfo●t , and glory of Martyrdome , That because the Kings mercie hath beene offred you , if you would take the Oath , therefore you died for refusing the same , ( Though your Assertion cannot lay that vpon the State , who hath two discharges ; One , that you were condemn'd for other Treasons , before that off●r ; The other , that the Oath hath no such Capitall clause in it ) yet since , as I said , you take it vpon your Consciences to bee so ; Let vs Examine , whether your refusall of the Oath , bee a iust cause to Die , vpon this point of Integritie of Faith , by that measure which our Sauiour gaue in his Prohibition , and in his Instruction . 12 Is it then any of your matters , or doeth it belong to you , by your Doctrine , and by your Example , in refusing the Oath , to determine against Princes Titles , or Subiects Alleageance ? If this be any of your matters , then you are not sent onely to doe Priestly functions ; And if it be not , then you suffer as busie bodies in other mens matters , if you suffer for the Oath . 13 And then , what is imputed to you , which is false ( which is another condition required by Christ ) if you be called traytors then , when after apparant transgressing of such lawes as make you Traytors , you confirme to vs a perseuerance in that Trayterous disposition , by refusing to sweare Temporall Alleageance ? Wherein are you lesse subiect to that name , then those Priestes which were in Actuall plots , since mentall Treason denominates a man as well as mentall heresie ? You neither can nor will condemne any thing in them , but that they did their treason , before any Resolution of the Church : and haue you any resolution of the Church , for this , That the King may be deposed , when he is excommunicated ? If you haue , you are in a better forwardnesse then they , and you may vndertake any thing , as soone as you will , that is , as soone as you can . For you haue as good opinions already , and as strong authorities , That a King of another Religion then Romane , is in the state of an excommunicate person , before Sentence , as you haue for this , That an Excommunicate King may be deposed ; And would you thinke it a iust cause of Martyrdome , to auerre , that the King is already vnder excommunication ? 14 And ( to proceede farther in Christs Instruction ) are these things said of you for Christs sake ? Are you ( if you be called Traytors for refusing the Oath ) reproued for anie part of his Commandements ? If it were for exercising your Priestlie functions , you might haue some colour , since all your Catholique Religion , must bee the onely Christian Religion . But can that state which labours watchfullie and zealouslie for the promouing of Christs glorie in all other things , bee saide to oppose Christ , or persecute him in his Members , for imputing trayterous inclinations to them , who abhorre to confirme their Alleageance by a iust Oath ? 15 Lastly , can you say , you suffer as Christians , that is ( as Christ there intended ) for Christian faith , which is principally the matter of Martyrdome ? Aquinas cites this , out of Maximus , The Catholique faith is the mother of martyrdome . And he explicates it thus , That though martyrdome be an act of fortitude , and not of faith , yet as a ciuill man will be valiant to defend Iustice , as the Obiect of his valour , so doth a Martyr , faith . If then to refuse this Oath , be an obiect for a Martyrs fortitude , it must be because it opposes some point of faith , and faith is that , which hath beene beleeued euer , and euery where ; And how can that be so matter of faith , which is vnder disputation , and perplexitie with them , and the contrarie whereof we make account , that we see by the light of Nature and Scriptures , and all meanes conducing to a diuine and morall certitude ? 16 Leo the first , in an Epistle to the Emperour , by telling what hath beene , informes ●ummarilie and soundly , what should be a iust cause of Martyrdome . None of the Martyrs , saies he , had any other cause of their suffering , but the confession of the true Diuinitie , and true humanitie in Christ. And this was then the Integritie of faith , in both acceptations ; All , and sound . Which is neither impaired in the extent , nor co●rupted in the puritie , by any thing proposed in the Oath . 17 But as Chrysostome expounding that place of Ieremie , Domus Dei facta est spelunca Hyaenae , applies it to the Priests of the Iewes , as hardest of all , to be conuerted , so may we apply it to the Priests of the Romanes , who abhor the Oath , and deter their Schollers . For , the Hyena , saies Chrysostome , hath but one backe bone , and cannot turne except it turne all at once . So haue these men , one back bone , the Church ; ( for so saies Bellarmine , if we were a greed of that , we should soone be at an end : ) and this Church is the Pope ; And they cannot turne , but all at once , when he turnes ; and this is the Integritie of the faith they talke of . And , as that Father , addes of the Hyena , Delectantur cadaueribus ; they are delighted with impious prouocations to the effusion of bloud , by suggesting a false and imaginarie martyrdome . 18 The third and last iust ground of martyrdome , of those which we mentioned , is Ecclesiastique Immunitie , which is of two sorts ; one inhaerent , and Natiue , and connaturall to the Church , and the other , Accessory , and such , as for t●e furtherance and aduancement of the worship of God , Christian Princes , in performing a religious dutie , haue afforded and established . Of the first sort are , preaching the word , administring the Sacraments , and applying the Medicinall censures . And if any , to whose charge God hath committed these , by an ordinarie calling , loose his life in the execution thereof , with Relation to the cause , we may iustly esteeme him a martyr . And so in the second kinde , if onely for a pious and dutifull admonition to the Prince , to continue those Liberties to the Church , without which she cannot wel doe her offices , hee should incurre a deadly displeasu●e , he were also a Martyr . 19 And if the Romane Priests could transferre vpon themselues this title to Martyrdome , due to defenders of either of these Immunities , yet by refusall of this Oath , which is an implied affirming of some doct●ine contrarie to it , they forfait that interest by ob●ruding , as matter of Ch●istian faith , that which is not so : For Baronius himselfe ( as once before wee had occasion to say ) distinguishes the defence of the liberties of the Church , from the Catholique faith ; and yet he and many others , makes the defence of these immunities the obiect of Martyrdome : so various and vncertaine is the doctrine of defending those priuiledges , whose ground and foundation they cannot agree vpon . 20 And as all right to the crowne of Martyredome , growing from any of these three titles , perishes by their refusal , for the reasons before expressed : so doth it also vpon this ground , that hee which refuses to defend his life by a lawfull acte , and entertaines not those ouertures of escape , which God presents him , destroies himselfe , especially if his life might be of vse and aduantage to others . For when the Prison was opened to Paul and Silas , the learned Expositors excuse his stay there , by no other way , then that it appeares , that he had a reuelation of Gods purpose , that he should conuert the Keeper ; for otherwise not to haue hastened his escape , had beene to abuse Gods mercie by not vsing it . 21 Those lawes from which these conclusions are deduced , that if a man receiue a Corporall iniurie , and remit the offence , yet the state may pursue it against the trespasser , because no man is Lord of himselfe : and that a couenant from a man , that if you finde him in your ground you may beate him , is voide vpon the same reason , Intimate thus much to this purpose , That no man by lawe of nature may deliuer himselfe into a danger which he might auoide . 22 How many actes of good and meritorious nature , if they had all due circumstances , haue beene vitiated by Indiscretion , and changed from nourishment to poison ? of which Cassianus hath am●ss'd many vsefull examples , and made all his second collation of them . Of which I will remember one h●pning about his own time . Herō which had liued fiftie yeares austerely in a Desart , trusting indiscreetely an illusion of an euill spirit , threw himselfe downe into a Well ; and when he was taken out , and in such torment with those bruses , as killed him within three daies , yet he beleeued that he had done well , though the rest beleeued him to be as Cassianus saies , Biothanatum , a sel●e-murderer . 23 How deeply , and how irremediably doth this indiscretion possesse many others , whom themselues only , and a few illuders of their weaknesses , esteeme to be Martyres , for prouoking the execution of iust lawes against them ? For what greater Indiscretion can there be , or what more treacherous betraying of hims●lfe , then to die in despite of such a Princes mercie , as at once directs him to vnderstand his duety to himselfe , and to his Prince : and shewes him , that his owne preseruation is a naturall duety ; and that hee may not neglect it in any cause , but where it appeares euidently , Catholiquely , and indisputably ( amongst them to whose instruct●on he ought to submitte himselfe ) that God may bee glorified in it ; And that his obedience to the King was borne in him , and therfore was once , without all question , due , & could not be taken away , without his consent , who is damnified by the losse of a Subiect ; at least by such a li●igious Authoritie , as is yet in Disputation , What it is , whence it comes , and how it resides in him , and how it is executed . 24 For as a man may be felo de se , by destroying himselfe by our Law ; And fur de se , by departing , and stealing himselfe away , from him to whō his seruice is due , by Imperial law : so he may be proditor de se , by the law of Nature , if hee descend from the Dignitie of humanitie , & submit himselfe to an vsurpation , which he ought to resist , which is ; All violence and danger which hee might auoide . 25 And since , if the King would pardon him , vpon doing of any act , which depended vpon his owne will , he were guiltie of his death , if hee refused it , he is so also in this case , since he can propose to himselfe no such restraint as binds his wil ; For scruples , and things in Opinion and Disputation , do not binde in this c●se ; Of which we shall haue proper occasion to speake in the next Chapter . 26 Let vs then proceede further , to that which giues the forme , and measure , and merit , euen to Martyrdome it-selfe , which is Charitie . And this is not meant onely of Charitie , as it is a Theologall vertue , and vnites vs in an earnest loue to God , which is , Charitas patriae , but also as from that fountaine is deriued vpon all his creatures , which is Charitas viae : For so Saint Iohn sayes , of this charitable act of which wee speake , Greater loue then this no man hath , when hee bestoweth his life for his friend : Which also appeares out of that History recorded of Nicephorus : a who being brought to the place where he was to receiue the Crowne of Martyrdome , and seeing Sapri●ius , betweene whome and him , there had before some bitternesses and enmitie broke foorth , fall downe before him , and begge a Pardon and reconcilement , was so much elated with this glory of Martyrdom , that vncharitably he disdain'd to admit any reconciliation . In punishment of which vncharitablenesse , he lost his whole hope and victorie : For the spirit of God forsooke him , and he Apostated from his Faith : So that Charitie is iustly esteem'd the forme of Martyrdome . 27 And is there any Charitie in this Doctrine , or in this act of Refusall ? Is there any to your self ? ( For , at least in spiritualibus , Charitie begins at home ) when at once you diuorce that body which your Parents prepar'd , from that Soule which God infused and married to it : and so lea●e , not onely to be men , and to be Subiects , but to be Priests , and benefactors to that cause , which you hinder by this pretence of louing it . How much opportunitie of Merit , euen in aduancing the Catholique cause , which to you is so certaine , doe you loose , by exposing your selfe to certaine ruine , vpon vncertaine foundations ? Is there any charitie to the Church , or partie , or faction , which you haue in this Kingdom ? towards whom the King brought with him so much tendernesse , that hee cast in a dead sleepe all bloudy lawes , and in a slumber all pecuniarie lawes which might offend , & aggrieue them . Is it charitably done towards them , that by your vnnecessarie act , their peace be interrupted , his Maiesties sweetnesse distasted , his softnesse indured , and those faire impressions which hee had admitted , That ciuill obed●ence might consist with your Religion , defaced and obliterated ? And that to all these should succeede , iealousies in him , imputations vpon them , and dutifull solicitations from his Parliament , & Co●nsaile , and Subiects of all rankes , to awaken his lawes against these suspitious men ? 28 Was it charitably done of that Priest , who apprehending a generall inclination of taking the Oath , aduanced it so farre , as to make a Declaration that it was lawfull , and neuer re●ract●ng that opinion , yet would die in the ●efusall the●eof , because it seemed not expedient to him , to take it then ; and so to cast snares and tortures vpon thei● consciences , who were before in possessiō of a peaceable , & ( by his own testimony ) a iust ●esolu●ion ? 29 When S. Paul vses that phrase , he expounds the word Expedient , by Profitable and by Edifying : And hath the example of his death profited and edified that Church as much , as the perplexities certainely growne in Catholique consciences thereby , and those exasperations , and bitternesses occasioned , by all probabilitie in the state , by that peruerse and peeuish behauiour , may shake and tempest it ? 30 I doe not thinke that they would haue denied him to haue beene a Martyr , if he had beene executed vpon the Statute against Priests , though he had before taken the oath . If therefore the taking of the oath cannot vitiate and annull martyrdome , the ●efusing it cannot const●tute martyrdome . 31 And if you will make the difference on●ly by reason of the Popes Breue , which perchance came betweene his first resolution , and his last , then you reduce your Martyrdome to a more slipperie and more dangerous ●istresse then before : For as before you quitted all your benefite and interest to martyrdome , for hauing exercised Priestly functions , and procla●med and solaced your selfe wi●h this , that you dyed for refusing the oath ; so now you wa●ne ●hat , and sticke to a worse title , which is , obedience to an ●ncertaine and suspicious Breue ; For , for your first ti●le , which is preaching of the Catholique faith , you haue the intire and vnamine consent and concurrence of the whole Christian Church ; which alwaies confesses , that the profession of the Catholique faith , is , a true and iust cause of Martyrdome ; though she doe not confesse , that that which you teach , is that Cathol●que Faith , but for that Title you had also the consonance and agreement of all the Romane Church . And for your second claim , which is , the defence of the Popes temporall Iurisdiction , by refusing this oath , you had some voices of great authority in that Church , to encourage you , though farr too weak , either to blot out a naturall truth , or to make an indifferent , or perplex'd point so necessary to you , as to dy for it . But for this third title to martyrdome , which arises frō obedience to the Breues , which are matters of fact , & subiect to a thousand infi●mities & nullities , who euer iustly grounded a necessity of dying , vpon thē , or added the comfort of martyrdome to such a precipitatiō ? 32 Thus dooth Aquinas argue against a farre better Title to martyrdome , then this is : Though virginity be more pretious then life , yet if a virgine shold be condemned to be deflowred , Occasione fidei Christianae , because she was a Christian , though all those conditions , which we noted in our Sauiors prohibition , and instruction , concurred in her case , That she were no busie body in prouoking , That she were persecuted , and that vniustly , And with relation and despite to Ch●ist , and so she suffered a● a Christian , yet , saies he , this were no Martyrdome . Yet he assignes not the reason to be , because she died not , but because Martyrdome is a testimony , by which it is made euident to all , that the Martyres loue Christian faith aboue all things , and it cannot appeare by this act of hers , whether she suffer this for the loue of Christian faith , or for contempt of chastitie . But in this acte of dying for obedience to the Breues , there is by many degrees lesse manifestation , that they die for Christian Faith , which is not in question ; and there appeare euident impressions of humane respects , which would vitiate a better title to martyrdome , and of such vnnatural dereliction of themselues , as I doe not see how they could escape being selfe-murderers , but that their other ●reasons , and condemnations for them , make their executions iust . 33 And besides that , Bellarmine makes this hard shift , and earnest propensenesse to die , no good signe of a good cause , or of a true martyrdome ( for thus he makes his gradations , That the Anabaptists are forwardest , and the Caluinists next , and the Lutherans very slacke : So that he makes the vehemency of the p●ofessors , in this kind , some testimony of the ilnesse of the Religion ) we may also obserue , that all circumstances ( except the maine point , with which we intercharge one another , which is Here●ie ) by which they labour to deface and infirme the zeale of our side in this point● and to take from them , all comfort of martyrdome , doe appeare in them directly or implicitely , in this denying of ciuill obedience . 34 And because we may boldly trust his malice in gathering them , that he will omit none we will take them as they are obiected against vs in Feuardentius the Minorite : A man of such dexterity and happines in conuer●ing to the Romane Faith , that all Turquy and the Indies would not bee matter enough for him to worke vpon one yeare , if he should proceed with them in the same pace , as he doth with the Minister of Geneua : For meeting him once vpon a time by chaunce , and falling into talke with him , in the person of a Catholique Doctor , he dispatches a Dialogue of some eight hundred great leaues , and reduces the poore Minister , who scarce euer stands him two blows , from one thousand foure hundred Heresies : And as though he had but drawne a Curtaine , or opened a boxe , and shewed him catholique Religion , he leaues him as ●ound , as the Councell of Trent . 35 First therefore in this matter of Martyrdome , he takes a promise of the Minister , That he will be dilig●nt hereafter , from being amazed at the outward behauiour of men which suffer death . By which d●rection & good counsell , the confident fashion and manner of any Iesuite at his execution , shall make no such impression in vs , as to produce argu●ments of his innocency . After this , he saies , that our men are not martyres , Because they haue departed from the C●urch , in which they were baptized , and haue not kept their promise made in Baptisme● , but are therefore Apostats and Antichrists . Another reason he assignes against them , because they haue beene put to death for conspiracies , rebellions , tumults , and ciuill Warres against lawfull Princes , and that therefore they haue beene proceeded against in Ordinary forme of Iustice , as Traytors . And againe , hee saies , They haue beene iustly executed for making , and diuulging libells against Princes . And for Acts against a Canon of the Eliberitane Councell , of which I spoke before . And lastly , this despoiles vs of the benefite of Martyrdome in his account , Because we offer our selues to dangers , and punish●ents , seeking for honour out of misery , and blowen vp with ambition and greedinesse of vaine glorie . Thus farre Feuardentius charges vs. 36 And is it not your case also , to for●ait your Martyrdome vpon the same circumstances ? Are not many of youd parted ●ro● your promise in baptisme to our Chu●ch ? or did those which vndertooke for you , euer intend this forsaking ? and this act of depar●ing is by Feuardentius , made an Essentiall circumstance , abstract , and independen● and incohaerent with that of the Catholique Church , for that is another alone by it selfe . 37 And haue not you beene proceeded with , in Ordinarie course of Iustice , as Traytors , for Rebellions , and Conspiracies , and Tumults ? And after so many protestations so religiously deliue●ed , so vehemently i●erated , so prodigally sealed with bloud , and engaging your Martyrdome vpon that iss●e , that you neuer intermedled with matters of state , nor had any other scope or marke of all your desires and ende●ours , but the replan●ation of Catholique Religion , hath not the Recorder and mouth of all the English Iesuites , confessed● ( vpon a mistaking , that the euennesse of his Maiesties disposition might be shaked by this insinuation , ) a That in the Sentence of Excommunication against Queene Elizabeth , the Popes relating to a statute in England , respected the Actuall right of his Maiesties mother , and of him , and proceeded for the remouall of that Queene , whom they held an vsurper , in fauour of the true inheritours oppressed by her , not only by spirituall , but temporall armes , also , as against a publique Malefactor , and ●ntruder . And hauing thus like an indiscreete Aduocate , preuaricated for the Pope , doth hee not as much betray all his owne complices , when he addes , This doth greatly iustifie the endeuours and desires of all good Catholique people , both at home , and abroad , against her , their principall meaning being euer knowne to haue beene , the deliuerance and preferment of the true heire , most wrongfully kept out , and vniustly persecuted for righteousnes sake . Did you intend nothing else , but Catholique Religion , and yet was the desire , and endeuour of all good Catholiq●es at home , and abroade , to remoue her , and plant ano●her , and that by vertue of a statute in England ? Did the Popes in their Bulls , intimate any illegitimation , or vsurpation , or touch vpon any such statute ? Or d●d they goe about to aduance the right Heire in the Spanish ●nuasion ? or was the way of the right Heire Catholiquely prepared by Dolemans booke ? 38 Or was the Author thereof no good Catholicke ? For these Conspiracies , and for the same Authors monethly Libels , which cast foule aspersions vpon the whole cause in defence wherof they are vndertaken , and published , are your pre●ences to Martyrdome vniust and inualid , if your Feuardentius giues vs good rules . So are they also because you seeke it against the Eliberitane Councell ; That is , By wayes not found in Scriptures , nor practised by the Apostles : And last of all , b●cause you see●e it with such intemperate hunger , and vaine-glorie , Cultum ex Miseria quaerentes ( as your Friar accuses our Churches ) and hunting and pursuing your owne death ; First , ouer the tops of mountaines , the Popes Spirituall power , then through thicke and entangling woods , without wayes in or out , that is his Temporall power , and then through darke caues and dens of his Chamber Epistles , his Breues , ready , rather then not die , to de●end his personall defects , and humane infirmities . And all these circumstances● are virtually and radically enwrapt in this one refusall of the Oath , which therefore alone doeth defeate all your pretence● to Martyrdome . 39 And though it may perchance truely bee said by you , that all those persons which the Reformed Churches haue Enregistred in their Martyrologies , are not certainely and truely Martyrs , by those Rules to which we binde the signification of the word in this Chapter , and in which you account , all which die by way of Iustice , for aduancing the Romane Doctrine or Dignitie , by what seditious way so euer , to be true Martyrs , yet none of them hath euer transgressed so fa●re , as your Example would warrant them . For , not to speake of Baronius his Martyrologe , where verie many are enrolled , which liued their Naturall time , and without any externall persecu●ion for their faith , and where verie many of the olde Testament are recorded , besides those which a●e canonized in the Epistle to the Hebrewes , and manie which are mentioned in that Epistle are left out by him , not onely Enoch , Noe , and s●ch other as suffered not death in their bod●es , as Martyrs , but euen Abel whom he might haue beene bolde to call a Martyr● to omit him , I say , why doth our Countryman amongst you , which hath lately cōpiled an English Martyrologe , present a Calender● in which of almost 500 whom he names , scarse 6● are Martyrs ; and of the rest , some were not of our Nation , as Constantine the Emperour , whose fe●stiuall hee appoints ●1 of May ; And some neuer saw this Country , as Pope Gregory , whom hee celebrates 25 December . And of those which did suffer death the credit and estimation of as many as died , within 200 yeares of Gregory the I. is much impaired by one to whom I thinke , hee will subscribe , who sayes , That in that 200 yeares , our Nation had no Martyrs , that cōmonly are knowne . And those whom hee reckons , must of necessitie be knowne to them , whom that knowledge concernes , as it did Parsons , when hee writ that booke , since the knowledge thereof was so obuious & easie , that this Author professes , that all their Histories are in Authors approued or permitted by the S●a Apostolique , & that he cites no Apocryphall legend , nor fabulous Historie , that may be suspected of the least Note of falsitie , or errour whatsoeuer . But he which shall suruay his Catalogue of Authors , will finde it safer not to beleeue him , then to bee bound by him , to beleeue all them to be free from the least note of falsitie of error . For we shall be somwhat hard to beleeue this extreme innocence , and inte●gritie in Surius , and in Saunders , or in Cornelius Tacitus . And many of his owne profession will hardly beleeue that Gregory , and Bede were free from all falsitie or error , And himselfe , I beleeue , would not stand to this , if we should presse him with some places , out of Parsiensis , and Westmonasteriensis , and Walsingham , and Polidore Virgil : all which haue beene tried in the furnace o● this Diuine Critique , & are pronounced by him free from the least note of falsitie , or errour whatsoeuer . But if these Authors were knowne to Parsons , and that hee pronounced truely , that that 200 yeares was without Martyrs , then , not onely the Abbesse of Elies hear●sman , S. Alno●h , sla●ne abou● 670 in hatred of Christian Religion , and celeb●ated 27 Febru . but the first Christian King of the Northumbers , S. Edwyn , slaine al●o in hatred of our Religion Anno 634. and obserued 4. Octob. with diuers other after that time , must be expunged out of this new Martyrologe . So also must that Author confesse himselfe to haue been too forward , in canonizing S. Hugh for a Martyr , whom at 10 yeares of age , the Iewes crucified at Lincolne , Anno 1255. since Parsons had told him before , that after Becket , which was An. 1171. our Church had no more Martyrs in 400 yeares . 39 But for all this , it is not your errour , and vicious example which shall excuse vs , if at any time wee haue inserted such , as Martyrs , which were not precisely so . For if we haue committed any such slip in storie and matter of fact , there is not that danger in our transgression , which is in you , because you , by giuing them that title , assure the wo●ld of a certaine and infallible present saluation , by vertue of that suffering , and that they haue title thereby to our Adoration , and are in present possession of the office of Aduocation for vs. Out of which confidence , I haue seene at some Executions of Trayterous Priests , some bystanders , le●uing all old Saints , pray to him whose body lay there dead ; as if hee had more respect , and better accesse in heauen , because he was a stranger , then those which were familiar , had . CHAP. VIII . That there hath beene as yet no fundamentall and safe ground giuen , vpon which , those which haue the faculties to heare Confessions , should informe their owne Consciences , or instruct their penitents ; That they are bound to aduenture the heauie and Capitall penalties of this Lawe , for refusall of this Oath . And that if any Man haue receiued a scruple against this Oath , which he cannot depose and cast off , the Rules of their own Casuists , as this case stands , incline , and warrant them , to the taking thereof . SInce by refusall of this Oath , which his Maiest●e hath rather made an Indulgence then a Vexation , by withdrawing some clauses of bitternesse , and of strict inquisition into the whole Catholicke partie , which the ●resh contemplation of the Powder-Treason , had iustly vrged the Lower-house of Parliament to insert therein : And studying to find a way by which he might discharge both dueties to God and his Kingdome , would in his Princely and Pastorall● care , prouide a triall , by which those which were corrupted with the poyson which broke out in those Treasons , might be distinguish'd from Catholickes of better temper and more due●ifull affections towardes him , and our Peace , from which sort of Catholickes , after so many prouocations , by persons of the same perswasion in Religion , he seem'd loth to withdraw those fauours and graces , which he had euer since his comming expressed towards them . Since , I say , by refusall thereof , both the Catholickes lay a heauie scandal , and dangerous aspersions vpon the cause , and declare themselues more slauish to the Pope , and consequently apter to defection from the Prince , then the Subiects of forraine States now are , or the Subiects of this Kingdome were heretofore , And also his Maiestie , and all those which affect his safetie , which not only inuolues but procures and causes theirs , may iustly encline at last to thinke , that the very ground , and principles of that Religion nourish these rebellious humours , and so finde it necessarie for preseruation of the whole bodie , to apply Medicines more corrosiue and sharpe to that member which appeares so corrupt and dangerous , And euerie Catholique in particular , to whom this Oath is offered , by re●usall ●orfaits his libertie , & by per●inacie therein , incurres other mulcts and penalties , It is therefore the dutie of euerie Catholique , out of his religious zeale to the cause , drawne into suspition thereby , and out of his Naturall obligation for preseruing his life , fame , and fortune , all which are endangered by this refusall , not to aduenture the losse of th●se , but vpon Euidence of much clearenesse , and grounds of strong assuredn●sse , and constancie . 2 And as it is certaine , that at the first promulging of this oath , they had no such ground , nor Euidence ( for then , that light must haue beene vpon them all , and so many good and earnest maintain●rs of that Religion , would not haue enclined to the Oath , if they had had such Euidence against it ) so also after some scruples were iniected , and the tendernesse of some consciences vitiated and distracted with some doubts , and that it had beene submitted to Disputation , and consulting amongst themselues , and so passed all those furnaces of Examination , it was held lawfull , and accordingly many tooke it . So that neither by the Euident and vndeniable authoritie of Nature , or Scripture , nor by Deductions and conclusions necessarily deriued and issuing from thence , any Conscience had su●ficient assurance , to incurre these dangers . 3 If since , by some arguments of probabilitie , and of Conueniencie , or by some propositions propagated & deduced from those first principles o● Nature , and Scripture , by so many descents and Generations , that it is hard to trie whether they doe truly come from that roote , or no , any Conscience haue slackned it selfe , and so be straied , and dissolued , and scattered , by this remi●nesse , and vacillation , it ought rather to recollect it selfe , and returne to those first ingraf●ed principles , then in this dissolute and loose distraction , to suffer an anxious perplexitie , or desperately to arrest it selfe vpon that part , which their owne Rules giuen to reduce men in such deuiations , and settle them in su●h wauerings , cannot assure him to be well chosen , nor deliuer and extricate him , in those laborinths . 4 For , let the first roote and parent of all propositions in this matter of Obedience , be , that which we know by nature , That we must obay such a power , as can preserue vs in Peace and Religion , and that which wee find in Scr●ptures , Let euery Soule be subiect vnto your higher powers ; And let vs drawe downe a Pedigree , and Genealogie of reasons and conclusions deriued from this . The eldest , and that to which most reuerence will belong , will be the Interpr●tation of the Fathers vpon this place , which is ( as your owne men confesse , ) That the Apostle speakes rather of Regall and Secular power , then of that which you call Ecclesiasticke . 5 Let vs then pursue the line , of which the first end is ; Kings must be obeyed . It followes , Therfore they must be able to commaund iustly ; therfore they must haue some to enable and instruct them ; therefore they must doe according to their instruction ; therefore if they doe not , they are subiect to their corrections ; therefore if they be incorrigible , they are no longer Kings ; and therefore no subiect can sweare perpetuall Obedience , to his person , who by his owne fault , and his superiours Declaration , may growe to be no King. 6 Now , as no man can beleeue the last of these propositions , as roundly and constantly , as the first , because though it seeme to be the childe of the first , yet in it self , or in some of the meane parents by the way , there may be fallacies which may corrupt and abastard it ; so is there no other certaine rule to trie it , but to returne to the first principles , and see if it consist with them . For if it destroy the first , it degenerates and rebels , and we may not adhere to it . And if the first may still consist without it , though this may seeme orderly and naturally deduced from thence , yet it imposes not so much necessity vpon vs , as the first doth ; for that bindes vs peremptorily ; this , as it is circumstanced and conditioned . 7 And though these circumstances giue it all the life it hath , so that to make it obligatory , or not so , depends vpon them , yet it is impossible to discerne those circumstances , or vnentangle our consciences by any of those Rules , which their Casuists vse to giue , who to stengthen the possession of the Romane Church , haue bestowed more paines , to reach how strongly a conscience is bound to doe according to a Scruple , or a Doubt , or an Opinion , or an Errour , which it hath conceiued , then how it might depose that Scruple , or cleare that Doubt , or better that Opinion , or rectifie that Errour . 8 For , That we may at once lay open the infirmity , and insufficiency of their Rules , and apply the same to our present purpose ; What vse and profite , can those Catholiques , which doubt whether they may take that Oath , make of that Rule , that they must follow in doubtfull points , that opinion which is most common and generall ? For , though this be vnderstood of the opinion of such men as are intelligent and vnderstanding , and conuersant in the matter in question , yet oftentimes , amongst them , both sides say , This is the common opinion ; and who can iudge it ? Yea many circumstances change the common opinion : For ( saies Azorius ) it fals out often , that that which was not the common opinion a few yeares since now is ; And that that which is the common opinion of Diuines in one Countrie , is not so in another ; As in Spaine and Italy , it is the common opinion , That Latreia is due to the Crosse , which in France and Germany is not so . And Nauarrus s●ies , That at Rome , no man may say , that the Councell is aboue the Pope , nor at Paris , that the Pope is aboue the Councell . Which deuision also there is amongst them , in a maine point which shakes their Doctrine , of the Popes being immediately from God , since they cannot agree , Whether at the Popes death , his power remaine vpon the earth , or flie vp to heauen . He is a Catholique , and a temperate discreete Authour , which notes , That the writings of Catholique men , haue something in them which must be allowed to the times when they writ , which being more diligently examined by them which follow , are found exorbitant from the soundnesse of faith : which hee speakes of those that denie , that the lawes of ciuill Magistrates doe bind the conscience . And after , ●peaking against them which thinke , That if we vndergoe the penaltie of ●he law , we do not sinne in the breach therof ( he saies ) it was the opinion of some Schoolemen , who thought it a glorious matter , and fit to raise them a name , to leaue the common and beaten wayes ; hauing perchance a delight sawcily to prouoke , tognaw , to calumniate , & to draw into hatred those powers and authorities which made those lawes . 8 And if of late daies , The opinion of refusing the Oath , become the more common opinion , it is vpon some of these circumst●nees , that at these times , when Catholiques are called to professe ciuill obedience , in this place , where Iesuites are in possession of most hearts , to get reputation , or to auile secular Magistracy , they haue suddenly made it the more common : for they can raise the Exchange in an howre , and aduance and crie downe an opinion at their pleasure . But to determine of mortall sinne ( as the taking of this Oath must be , if it be matter enough to aduenture these dangers for it ) the same Authour saies well , doth not so much appertaine , Ad pulpita Canonistarum , as it doth ad Cathedras Theologorum : and therefore it ought to be tried by the principles of Diuinity , not by the circumstanciall ragges of Casuists . But , to goe forward with them , if this Common Opinion were certaine , and if it were possible to discerne it , yet it doth not so binde vs , but that we may depart from it , when another opinion is safer : And from that opinion which is safer , wee may also in many cases depart . For which● those examples , which Carbo a good Summist alleages , may giue vs satisfaction , which are , If I doubt of my title to land , I am not bound to restore it ( though that were the safest way ) because in doubtfull matters , Melior est Conditio possidentis . And , but for this helpe , I wonder with what conscience , the Catholiques keepe the possession of such landes as belong to the Church ; for they cannot be without some scruples of an vniust title , and it were safest to restore thē . Another example in Carbo is , If my superior command a difficult thing , and I doubt whether he command lawfully or no , though it were safer to obey , yet I am not bound to doe so . And he giues a Rule , which will include a thousand examples , That that Rule , That the safest part is to be embraced , is then onely true , when by following this safer part , there ensues no notorious detriment . And Soto extends this Doctrine farther , for he saies , Though yo● beleeue the precept of your Superior to be iust ( which creates Conscientiam Opinantem ) yet you may doe against it : Because ( saies he ) it is then onely sinne to doe against your conscience , when to do according to your conscience , is safe , and that no danger to the state , or to a third person , appeares therein . So that Tutius in a spirituall sense , that is , in a doubtfull matter rather to beleeue a thing to be sinne , then not , must yeelde to T●tius in a temporall sense , that is , when it may be done without notorious detriment ; For when it comes to that , we shall finde it to be the common opinion of Casuists , which the same Summist deliuers , That there is no matter so waighty , wherein it is not lawfull for me , to follow an opinion that is probable , though I leaue the opinion which is more probable ; yea though it concerne the right of another person : as in our case of obedience to the King or the Pope . And then , wheresoeuer I may lawfully follow an opinion to mine aduantage , if I will leaue that opinion with danger of my life or notorious losse , I am guilty of all the damage I suffer . For these circumstances make that Necessary to me then , which was indifferent before : the reasons vppon which Carbo builds this Doctrine of following a probable opinion , and leauing a more probable , which are , That no man is bound , Ad m●lius & perfectius , by necessity , but as by Counsell : And that this Doctrine hath this commoditie , opinion● shew euidently , that these Rules giue no infallible direction to the conscience , and yet in this matter of Obedience , considering the first natiue certa●ntie of subiection to the King , and then the damages by the refusall to sweare it , they encline much more to strengthen that ciuill obedience , then that other obedience which is plainly enough claimed , by this forbidding of the Oath . So that in these perplexities , the Casuists are indeede , Nubes Testium : but not in that sense as the holy Ghost vsed the Metaphore . For they are such clouds of wi●nesses , as their testimonie obscures the whole matter . And they vse to deliuer no more , then may beget farther doubts , that so euery man may from the Oracle of his Con●fessors resolution , receiue such direction , as shall be fit at that time , when hee giues the aunswe●e● Which Nauarrus expresses fully , when he confesses , That hauing beene consulted fiftie yeares before , whether they who defrauded Princes in their customes , were bound to restitution , he once gaue an aunswere in writing : but haui●g recouered that writing backe a-againe , he studied twentie yeares for his owne satisfaction , and found no ground whereupon he might rest : And all that while he counsailed Confessors , to absolue th●ir penitents , vpon this condition : That they should retaine a purpose to doe so , as they should vnderstand hereafter to be iust . These spirituall Physitians are therefore like those Physitians , which vse to erect a figure , by that Minute in which the pat●ents Messenger comes to them , and ther●by giue their iudgment . For the Confessours in England , in such resolutions as these , consider first the Aspects , and Relations , and diuerse predominancies of Superiours at that time ; and so make their determinations seasonable● and appropriate . But to insist more closely vpon this point in hand , your Simancha speaking out of the law , saies ; That that witnesse which deposes any thing vpon his knowledge , must also declare and make it appeare , how he comes to that knowledge . And if it bee of a thing belonging to the vnderstanding , hee must make it appeare by what means , and instrument his vnderstanding was instructed . And that which he assignes for the reason , must be of that nature , that it must certainely , and necessarily conclude and prooue it . If then you will subscribe with your blood , or testifie by incur●ing equiualent dangers , this Doctrine vpon your Knowledge , you must bee able to tell the Christian world , how you arri●'d to this Knowledge . If you will say , you haue it Ex Iure Diuino , and meane by that , out of the Scriptures , you must remember that you are bound by Oath neuer to accept nor inter●rete Scriptures , but according to the vnanime consent of the Fathers . And can you produce such a consent , for the establishing this Doctrine , in interpreting those places of Scripture , which are off●ed for this matter ? If you extend this Ius Diuinum , as Bellarmine doeth , not onely to Scriptures , but to Naturall light and reason , and the Law of Nature , ( in which he is no longer a Diuine , as he vses to professe himselfe , but a Canonist , who gaue this large interpretation of Ius Diuinum , whereas Diuines carie it no further , then to that which God hath commanded or forbidden , as Azorius tels vs ) this cannot bee so strong and constant , and inflexible a Rule , but that the diuers obiects of sense , and images of the fancie , and wayes of discourse , will alter and vary it . For though the fi●st notions which wee haue by the light of nature are certaine , yet late conclusions deduced from thence are not so . If you pretend common consent for your ground , and Criterium , by which you know this truth , and so giue it the name of Catholicke Doctrine , and say that Faith is to be bound to that , and Martyrdome to be indur'd for Faith , you must also remember , that that which is so call'd Catholicke , is not onely a common consent of all persons at one time , but of the Catholicke Church euer . For , Quod vbique , quod semper , is the measure of Catholicke Doctrine . And can you produce Authors of any elder times , then within sixe hundred yeares , to haue concurr'd in this ? And in these later times , is not that Squadron in which Nauarrus is , of persons and voyces enow , to infringe all reasons which are grounded vpon this vniuersall consent ? He proclaimes confidently , That the Pope , take him despoiled and naked , from all that which Princes haue bestowed vpon him , hath no tempo●all power , Neque supremam , neque mediam , neque infimam . Doe no● some Catholiques confesse , that they are readie to sweare to the integrity of the Romane faith , according to the Oath of the Councell of Trent , and yet pro●est against this temporall i●risdiction ? And doth not another Catholique say , That when a lay man sweares Obedience to the Pope , according to that Oath of Pius the fourth , it must be restrained , in his vnderstanding , onely to his spiriuall power ? Herein therefore is no vniuersall consent . And are not they which seeme to maintaine this temporall power , so diuided amongst themselues , that in a mutinie , and ciuill dissention , they rather wound one another , then any third enemie , when they labour more , to o●erthrow the way , by which this temporall iurisdiction is claimed , then to establish the certaintie of the matter it selfe ? And though such things as appeare to vs , euidently , and presently out of the Scriptures , binde our assent , and beleefe , though wee may dispute about the way and manner , ( as no man denies the conception of our blessed Lady , though it be disputed , whether shee were conceiued with original sinne , or without it ) And though those things which appeare to vs out of the first intrinsique light of Nature and reason , claime the same authoritie in vs ( as no man doubts whether he haue a soule or no , though many dispute whether ●e haue it by infusion from God , or by propagation from our parents ) yet in things further remoued , and which are directed by more wheeles , and suggestion● , and deducements , we cannot know certainely enough ( for so great a vse , as to testifie them in this fashion , as we speake of ) that they are , except we know first how , and in what manner they are . As if a man be conuented before a Iudge , ●especially when he is bound in conscience not to answere , except he be his competent Iudge , as you teach when Ecclesiastique persons are called to Secular tribunals ) he cannot be sure that man is his competent Iudge except he know first , whether he haue that authority , as Ordinary , or by speciall Commission . Though therefore in this point in question , for a pious credulity , and generall intention to aduance the dignity of the Church of Rome , a Catholique may haue an indigested and raw opinion , that this power is in the Pope , yet when he examines himselfe , and calls himselfe to account , he must first know how it is , before he can resolue , that it is . And though he may erre in the manner , by which he beleeeues it to be in him , yet certainely he must arest himselfe vpon some one of those waies , by which the Pope is said to haue that Iurisdiction , or else hee doth not answere his conscience , that askes him how he knowes it ? and if his conscience doe not aske him , he is in too drowsie and stupid a fit to be a Martyr . Since therefore all his authority must be Direct or Indirect : Ordinary or Extraordinary : as he is Pope or not as he is Pope , whosoeuer will seale with his blood the auerment of this Iurisdiction , auerres one of these waies , how it comes to him : Which being so , he cannot iustly be called a Martyr ; since he only is a Martyr , whom all the Churc● estee●es to be so . And he which should die , for maintenance of Direct power , should neuer be admitted into such a Martyrologe , as the fauourers of Indirect power should compile ; nor these , into the other . And if two should come to execution together , vpon occasion of denying this Oath , of which one refused it , because hee thought the Pope Direct Lorde , the other Indirect , if they forbore hard words to one another at that time , doubtlesse in their consciences they would impute to one another , the same errours , and the same falshoods , of which they inter-accuse one another in their bookes , and neither would beleeue the other to be a true Martyr . And might not a dispassioned and equal spectator apply to them both seuerally , that Rule of the law , That to that , which is forbidden to be had by one way , one may not be admitted by another ? Especially since a Lawyer which hath written on that side , takes the aduantage of this Rule , against Princes , when he saies , That they haue no Iurisdiction vpon Clergie mens goods , because this were indirectly , to haue iurisdiction vpon their persons , which being , saies he , forbidden to be had one way , may not be permitted another . It was saide to Pompey , when hee wore such a scarfe about his legge , as Princes wore about their head , That it was all one in which place he wore the Diademe , and that his Ambition appeared equally in either . And so ought this indirect power , though it pretend more tamenesse , and modestie , aue●t men , as much as the other : for Bellarmine can finde as good an Argument for Peters Supremacie , out of Christs washing his feete , as his appointing him to kill and eate , which is , saies hee , the office of the Head. So that from head to foote , all arguments serue his turne . But to turne a little back to this point of knowledge , since the conscience is by Aquinas his definition , Ordo scientiae ad aliquid , and an Act by which wee apply our knowledge to some particular thing , the Conscience euer presumes Knowledge : and we may no● , ( especially in so great dangers as these ) doe any thing vpon Conscience , if we doe it not vpon ●nowledge . For it is not the Conscience it selfe that bindes vs , but that law which the Conscience takes knowledg● of , and presents to our vnderstanding . And as no ●gnorance excuses vs i● it be of a thing which wee ought to know , and may attaine to : ●o no misconceiued knowledge bindes our conscience in these dangers , if it be of a matter not pertinent to vs , or to which wee haue no such certaine way of attaining , that we can iustly presume our Knowledge to be certaine . For though in the questions raised by Schoolemen of the Essence and Counsailes of God , and of the Creation , and fall , and Ministerie of Angels , and such other remoued matters , to the knowledge whereof , God hath affoorded vs no way of attaining , a man may haue some such knowledge , or opinion , as may sway him in an indifferent action , by reasons of conueniencie , and with an apparant Analogie , with other points of more euident certainty : yet no man may suffer any thing for these points , as for his Conscience , because , though he haue lighted vpon the truth , yet it was not by any certaine way , which God appointed for a constant and Ordinarie meanes to finde out that truth . And if this refusall of the Oath , and implication of a power to depose the King , be a matter pertinent to vs , that we are bound to know it , ( As all men in generall are bound to know the principles and elements of the Christian faith , and the generall precepts of the law , And euery particular man is bound to know , those things which pertaine to his state and office ) Then euery Subiect which doth not know this , is in an inexcu●able and damnable ignorance ; which was the case of as many , as did at first , or do yet , allow the taking of the oath● Or if it be not so immediat to vs , as those principles of faith , or as the duties of euery particular man ( for though we know naturally that Princes must be obeyed , yet , you wil say , som cases may occur , in which we may not obay ) then there must be some certaine way for vs to a●taine to the knowledge therof by discourse & industrie , if we may aduenture these dangers for it , and we may not aduenture them , till we haue by that industrie sought it out . For , if we shall say , that some things are to be held by a man , De fide , of which he shall still be vnder an inuincible ignorance , though he bestow and employ all possible diligence , ( as it is said of Cyprian , that bee did erre in matter of faith , after he had vsed all possible industrie ) then contrarie opinions in matter of faith may be iust ca●ses of Martyrdome , and yet one of these opinions must of necessitie bee Hereticall . For if Cyprian were vnder an inuincible ignorance , he was bound to doe according to his conscience● since he had no way to rectifie it . So that he must haue died for his Conscience in that case , that is , for such an opinion , as all his Aduersaries were bound to die for the con●rarie . But since this seemes incongruous and absurd , the other opinion will stand safe and vncontrouled , that our Conscience , whose office is to apply our knowledge to something , and to present to vs some law that bindes vs in that case , cannot binde vs to these heauy incommodities , for any matter , but that , which wee therefore beleeue that wee know , because there are certainely some meanes naturally and ordinarily prouided for the knowledge thereof ; and that wee haue vsed those meanes . Now , in a man , in whom there are all these iust preiudices and prescriptions , That Nature teaches him to bey him that can preserue him , That the Scriptures prouoke him to this obedience , That the Fathers inte●prete these Scriptures of Regall power , That subsequent acts , and Experience teaches , Regall power to be sufficient for that end ; what can arise , strong enough to defeate all these , or plant a knowledge contrary to this , by any euidence so neere the first Principles , as this is grounded vpon ? If it were possible that any thing could be produced at last , by which all these rea●ons should be destroyed , yet , till that were done ( which is not yet done ) both the priority and birthright of the ●easons and rules of nature , which are on that side ( for Rules are elder then the excep●ion ) and the dangers which would ouertake , and entrap● and depresse such as refused the Oath , must preuaile against any thing yet appearing on this part : for thus farr the Casuists agree , as in the better opinion , That although th●t which they cal Metum iustum , which is , such a feare as may fall vpon a constant man , and yet not remoue his habite of Constancy , doth not excuse a man from doing any Euil , yet that is meant of such an Euill , as is Euill naturally , and accompanied with all his circumstances : for , though no such feare can excuse me in an absolute deniall to restore any thing , w●ich w●s committed to my trust , yet I maybe excused f●om deliuering a sword committed to me , if I haue s●ch a iust feare , that the owner will therewith offend me or another . And th●y account not onely the feare of death , to be this iust feare , which may excuse in transgressions , in any thing which is not naturally euill , but the feare of Torture , Imprisonment , Exile , Bondage , Losse of temporall goods , or the greater part thereof , or infamy , and dishonour . And not onely when these are imminent vppon our selues , but vppon our wiues and children : And not onely when a law hath directly pronounced them , but when the State threatens them , that is , is exasperated and likely to p●oceed to t●ese inflictions . And though Canonists are more seuere and rigid in the obseruation of thei● lawe , yet the common opinion of Diuines is , That this iust feare excuses a man from the breaking of any humane lawe , whether Civill or Ecclesiastique : an● that none of those lawes binde vs to the obseruation therof , in danger of death , or these distresses , except in this case , that these punishments are threatned to vs , because we will not breake the law in contempt and despite of that authority , which made the law : for then no feare can excuse vs , because the obedience to Superiour authority in general ; is morall and naturall ; and therefore the power it selfe may not be contemned ; though in case of this iust feare , I may lawfully thinke , that that power which made the law , meant not to binde me in particular , in these heauy inconueniences . To apply this to our present purpose , since this Oath is not Naturally Euill , so as no circumstance can make it good ( for then , it would haue appeared so at first , and the Pope himselfe could by no Iudult or Dispensation tolerate it , which , I thinke , they will not say ) nor offered in contempt of the Church of Rome , or in such sort as it should be a signe of returning to our Religion , or abandoning the Romane profe●sion , but onely for the Princes security , certainely though the refusall thereof were commanded by any law of humane constitution , and so it became Euill because it was Forbidden , yet in these afflictions certainely to be endured by the letter of an expresse law , by euery Refuser , and in this bitternesse and exasperation of the whole State , against that whole Partie , and the cause of Catholiques , the taking of the Oath were so excusable , as the refusing thereof could not be excused . For in such a iust Feare , euen Diuine Positiue Law looses her hold and obligation , of which sort ●n●egrity of Confession is by all helde to be ; and yet such sinnes may be omitted in confession , as would either Scandalize the Confessor , Endanger the penitent , or Defame a third person . In which the Casuists are so generally concurrent , that wee neede no particular authorities . And in the matter of the greatest importance , which can be in that Church , which is the Election of the Pope , and an assurance , that he whom they acknowledge for Pope , is true Pope , which Comitolius ( a Iesuite as much more peremptorie then the rest of the Iesuites , as they are aboue all other Friars ) sayes , a To be an Article of Faith , and that we are bound to beleeue the present Pope to bee Christs Vicar , with a Diuine and with a Catholicke Faith , and that all Decrees of Popes , which annull all Elections , if they appeare after , to haue beene made by Simonie , intend no more , but to declare that GOD will neuer suffer that to bee done , or discouer it presently ( in which opinion , that matter of fact , should so binde our Faith , hee is ( for any thing which I remember to haue read ) singular , and I had occasion before to name b one grea● Doctor of his owne Religion , directly contrarie to him in the very point . ) In these Elections , I say , which induce ( by his Doctrine ) a Diuine●aith ●aith , and necessarily , such a probable , and morall certitude , that it were sinne in them , who are vnder the obedience of that Church , not to obey the iust Decrees of the present Pope , or quarrell at his Election● The Councell of Constance , ( as c another Iesuite vrges it ) hath decreed that this iust feare of which we speake , Doth make voide any such Election of the Pope . And that , If after the Cardinals are deliuered of that feare , which possessed them at the Election , they then ratifie and confirme that Pope , yet he is no Pope , but the Election voide : So farre doeth this iust feare ( which cannot be denied to bee in your case ) extend , and vpon so solemne , and solid Acts , and Decrees is it able to worke , and prouide vs a iust excuse for transgressing thereof . And in a matter little different from our case , Azorius giues the resolution ; That if an hereticall Prince commaunds his Catholicke Subiectes to goe to Church , vpon paine of death or losse of goods , if hee doe this onely because he will haue his Lawes obeyed , and not to make it Symbolum Hereticae prauitatis , nor haue a purpose to discerne therby Catholickes from Hereticks , they may obey it . And the case in question fals directly and fully within the rule : For this Oath is not offred as a Symbole or ●oken of our Religion , nor to distinguish Papists from Protestants , but onely for a Declaration and Preseruation of such as are well affected in Ciuill Obedience , from others which either haue a rebellious and treacherous disposition already , or may decline and sinke into i● , if they bee not vphelde and arrested with such a helpe , as an Oath to the contrary . And therfore by all the former Rules of iust feare & this last of Azorius , though there were an euident prohibitory act , against the taking of the Oath , yet it might , yea it ought to be taken● For , agreeable to this , Tolet cyte● Caietans opinion , with allowance and commendations , That the Declaration of the Church , that subiects may not adhere to their King , if he be excommunicated , extends not to them , if thereby they be brought into feare of their liues , or losse of their goods . For in Capitall matters , saies your great Syndicator , it is lawfull to redeeme the life , per fas & nefas . which must not haue a wicked interpretation ; and therefore must be meant , whether with , or against any humane lawes ; which he speakes out of the strength and resultance of many lawes and Canons there alleadged . And therfore it can neuer come to be matter of Faith , that subiects may depart from their Prince , if this iust feare may excuse vs from obeying , as these Authors teach ; for that neuer deliuers vs in matters of so strong obligation as matter of Faith , from which no feare can excuse our departing . To conclude therefore this Chapter , since later propositions , either Adulterine , or Suspicious , cannot haue equall authority , and credite , with the first , and radicall trueth , much lesse blot out those certaine and euident Anticipations imprinted by nature , and illustrated by Scriptures , for ciuill obedience , since the Rules of the Casuists●or ●or electing opinions in cases of Doubt , and perplexity are vncertaine and flexible , to both sides , since that Conscience , which we must defend with our liues , must be grounded vpon such things , as wee may , and doe not onely know , but know how we know them , since these iust feares of drawing scandall vpon the whole cause , and afflictions vpon euery particular Refuser , might excuse the transgression of a direct law , which had all her formalities , much more any opinions of Doctors or Canonists , I hope we may now pronounce , That it is the safest , in both acceptations , both of spirituall safety , and Temporall , and in both Tribunals , as well of conscience , as of ciuill Iustice , to take the Oath . CHAP. IX . That the authority which is imagined to be in the Pope , as he is spirituall Prince , of the Monarchy of the Church , cannot lay this Obligation vpon their Consciences : first because the Doctrine it selfe is not certaine , nor presented as matter of faith : Secondly because the way by which it is conueyed to them , is suspitious and dangerous , being but by Cardinall Bellarmine , who is various in himselfe , and reproued by other Catholiques of equall dignity , and estimation . WEe may bee bold to say , that there is much iniquity , and many degrees of Tyranny , in establishing so absolute and transcendent a spiritual Monarchy , by them , who abhorre Monarchy so much , that though one of their greatest Doctors , to the danger of all Kings , say , a That the Pope might , if hee thought it expedient , constraine all Christians to create one temporall Monarch ouer all the world : yet they allow no other Christian Monarchy vpon Earth , so pure and absolute , but that it must confesse some subiection and dependencie . The contrarie to which b Bellarmine saies , is Hereticall ; And yet there is no Definition of the Church , which should make it so . And hereby they make Baptisme in respect of Soueraintie , to bee no better then the bodie in respect of the soule . For , as the bodie by inhaerent corruption vitiates the pure and innocent soule , so they accuse Baptisme to cast an Originall seruitude and frailtie vpon Soueraintie : which , hauing beene strong and able to doe all Kingly offices before , contracts by this Baptisme a debilitie and imperfection , and makes Kings , which before had their Lieutenancie and Vicariate from God , but Magistrates and Vicars to his Vicar , and so makes their Patents the worse by renewing & confirming . 2 Nor doe they only denie Monarchie to Kings of the Earth , but they change the state and forme of gouernment in heauen it selfe ; and ioyne in Commission with God , some such persons , as they are so farre from beeing sure that they are there , that they are not sure , that euer they were heere . For their excuse , that none of those inuocations which are vsed in that Church , are so directly intended vpon the Saints , but that they may haue a lawfull interpretation , is not sufficient . For words appointed for such vses , must not only be so conditioned , that they may haue a good sense , but so , that they may haue no ill . So that to say , That God hath reserued to himselfe the Court of Iustice , but giuen to his Mother , the Court of Mercie , And that a a desperate sicke person was cured by our Lady , when he had no hope in Physitians , nor much in God , howsoeuer subtill men may distill out of them a wholesome sense , yet vulgarly and ordinarily they beget a beliefe , or at least a blinde practise derogatorie to the Maiestie , and Monarchie of God. 3 But for this spirituall Monarchie which they haue fansied , I thinke , that as some men haue imagined , and produced into writing , diuers Idaeas , and so sought what a King , a Generall , an Oratour , a Courtier should be , So these men haue only Idaeated what a Pope would be . For if he could come to a true and reall exercise of all that power which they attribute to him , I doubt not , but that Angell , which hath so long serued in the place of being the particular Assistant in the Conclaue , ( for , since they affoord a particular Tutelar Angell to euerie Colledge and Corporation , And a to the race of Flyes and of Fleas , and of Ants , since they allowe such an Angell b to euery Infidell Kingdome , c yea to Antichrist , d yea to Hell it selfe , it were verie vnequall to denie one to this place , ) This Angell , I say , would be glad of the roome , and become a Suiter to the holy Ghost , to name him in the next Conclaue . For he should not onely enlarge his Diocesse , and haue all the lower world vnder him , but hee shall haue those two principall Seraphins which euer attend the Pope , Michael , and Gabriel ; ( for , that Gabriel is the second , Victorellus produces two very equall witnesses , The Romane Litanie , and Tassoes Hierusalem . ) And all the particular Angels of all spirituall Societies ; And ( because also ( as he saies ) he is Temporall Lord ) all the Archangels , and Principalities , which gouerne particular estates , ●hall concur to his Guard and assistance . 4 As Nero had an officer A voluptatibus , So , it seemes , haue the Popes , A titulis . And flatterers haue alwaies a Complacencie and Delight in themselues , if they can bestow a stile and Title vpon a great Prince , because therein they think they contribute somthing to his greatnesse ; since Ceremonie is a maine part of Greatnesse , and Title , a great part of that . And now they had obserued , that all the chiefe Titles of the Pope had been attributed to others , and were in their Na●ure and vse communicable ; For all the Apostles , and all the Disciples of Christ , are called Vicarij Christi ; And this name will not serue his turne , if it were peculiar to himselfe . For , as his Victoria teaches vs , a This Vicariate doth not enable him to doe all thinges which are not expresly forbidden him ( as some doe thinke ) but onely such things as are expresly graunted vnto him , and therefore his claime by that Title will be too strict . And the name of Vniuersall Bishop , was giuen to Cyprian , when hee was stiled , Totius orbis Praeses . And in that sense it may iustly bee giuen ; For as a Physician or Chyrurgion , which hath taken into his Cure any one part of a mans body , either corrupted , or in danger of being so , may iustly be said to looke to , and preserue the body of such a man ; So that Bishop which gouernes well one Church , is therein a Bishop of the whole Church , & benefits the whole mystical body therof , by reason of the strong relation , & indissoluble cōnexion of all the parts , with one another , and to the head . 5 And for that stile of Pontifex Maximus , which either is not due to the Pope , or else is so sublime and transcendant a name , as Bellarmine could bring it within no Rule nor Predicament , when hee makes vp the Canon of the Popes fifteene Titles , by all and euery one of which , hee sayes , his Primacie is euidently collected ; They saw it giuen to At●ana●ius , in Ruffinus . And the name of Pope was so communicated , that not onely euery Bishop was called a Pope , but Cyprian , The Pope . Quem Christiani suum Papam vocant . In the estimation of which name , they haue often fluctuated and wa●uered . For , almost for nine hundred yeeres , they affoorded it to all : Then they restrain'd it to the Bishops of Rome , to which purpose a Biel vpon the Canon of the Masse , cites diuers Canons , though farre from the matter . 6 And euer since the Reformation of the Church was couragiously begun , and prosperously and blessedly prosecuted , they hauing beene call'd Papists for their implicite relying vpon the Pope , lest their owne Argument against vs , That to bee denominate from any person , is a marke of Heresie , should be retorted vpon themselues , they haue in all Dedications and publike Acts , as much as they can , forborne , and declin'd that name Pope , and still vsurped , Summus Pontifex , and Pontifex Maximus . And yet being stil vrged and followed , and hauing no escape , but that the name of ●apists , stickes to them , and by their Rules imprints some markes of Heresie ; though Bellarmine , a little ashamed of the name Papist , say ; That onely the Lutherans , and a few neighbour Countreyes call them so : Yet that late Carmelite that hath defended Lypsius , sayes confidently . a We are Papists ; we confesse it ; and b we glory in that Name . 7 And this name of Pope , they are the rather content to take to him againe● because they thinke that we grudge him that name . For so that Councellour of the Parliament of Burdeaux , which in his Historie of the progresse and decay of Heresie , hath taken occasion to speake of the affaires of England , in which , because no man should doubt of the trueth therof , he pro●esses to follow Sanders , and Ribadene●ra , ( by whome a Morall man may as well be instructed for matter of Fact , as a Christian might be by Arrius or Mahomet , for his Faith ) sayes , That Henrie the ●ight , made it Felonie to call the holy Father Pope , or to reade that name in any Booke , and not to blot it out . 8 Hauing therefore found such easinesse , and flexibility in all olde Names , they haue prouided him now of this name spirituall Prince ; in a larger sense , then that great Prince , whom they call Praeste-gian assumes it ( for that name signifies Apostolique , and Christs Vicegerent , in his owne kingdomes ) or then Christ himself euer assumed , or the Holy Ghost , by the Prophet Esay , reckoning vp his most glorious titles , euer attributed to him ; and yet in that place of Esay , both his eternall Kingdome by his filiation , and his euerlasting Kingdome of glory , inchoated in his resurrection , and his Kingdome of grace in our consciences , are euidently to bee discerned : For , though there be mention o● Principality , yet it is said , Principatus super humerum eius , which your Doctor expounds of carying the Crosse ; and that he shall be Princeps pacis , which is Intrinsicall , ●aies the same Expositor & belonges to the Conscience . But this Doctrine which must so settle and affirme a Catholique conscience , that it must binde him to die , and entitle him to Martyrdome , hath no touch , nor tincture of either of these Principalities , of Patience , or of Peace ; bu● all therein is Anger and Warre , not onely with that sword of two edges , of the Word and Censures , which is his , but with two swords ; which now we shall see how he claimes . 9 The Pope represents Christ to vs ( saies Bellarmine ) as he was , whilst he liued amongst men : nor can we attribute to the Pope any other office , then Christ had● as he was a mortall man. And in t●is Capacitie , saies he , Christ neither had the execution , nor the power of any temporall Kingdome . And that therefore , if the Pope , as a King , can take from any King the execution of his place , he is greater then Christ ; and if he cannot , then he hath no Regall power . Thus hee disputes against those which entitle the Pope to a Direct , and Ordinary Iurisdiction ouer Prin●es . 10 And the same reasons and groundes , by which he destroies that opinion , will destroy his ; which is , That as Christ was , so the Pope is , spirituall prince , ouer all men , and that by vertue of that power , he may dispose of all temporall things , as hee shall iudge it expedient to his spirituall ends . 11 For first , against that opinion of Ordinarie Iurisdiction hee argues thus ; If it were so , it would appeare out of the Scriptures , or from the Tradition of the Apostles : but in the Scriptures , there is mention of the keyes of Heauen , but none of the Kingdomes of the earth ; nor doe our Aduersaries offer any Apostolique Tradition . Will not you then , before you receiue too deepe impression of Bellarmines doctrine , as to pay your liues for maintenance thereof , tell him , That if his opinion were true , it would appeare in Scripture , or Apostolique tr●dition ? And shal poore and lame , and ●lacke arguments coniecturally and vnnecessarily deduced from similitudes and comparisons , and decency , and conueniency binde your iudgements , and your liues , for reuerence of him , who by his example counsels you , to cal for better proof ? wil you so , in obeying him , disobey him , & swallow his conclusions , & yet accuse his fashiō of prouing them ? which you do , if when he cals for scriptures against others , you a●cept his positions for his sake , without scriptures . 12 Another of Bellarmines reasons against Ordinary Iurisdiction , is , That Regall authority was no● necessary nor of vse in Christ to worke his end , but s●perfluous and vnprofitable . And what greater vse , or necessity can the Pope haue of this Extraordinarie authority ( which is a power to work the same effects , though not by the same way ) then Christ had , if his ends be the same which Christs were ? and it appeares that Christ neither had , nor forsaw vse of either , because he neither exercised nor instistuted either . For , that is not to the purpo●e , which Bellarmine saies , that Christ might haue exercised that power if he would , since the Popes authority is grounded vpon Christs example ; and limited to that : For Christ might haue done many thinges which the Pope cannot do ; as conuerting all the world at once , instituting more sacraments , and many such : and therefore Bellarmine argued well before , that it is enough for him to proue , that Christ did not exercise Regall power , nor declare himselfe to haue it which Declarion onely , and practise , must be drawen into Consequence , and be the precedent for the Pope to follow . 16 The light of which Argument , that the Pope hath no power , but such as Christ exercised , hath brought so many of them to thinke it necessarie to proue That both Christ did exercise Regall aut●ority in accepting Regall reuerence vpon Palme-Sunday , and in his corrections in the temple , And his iudgement in the womans case which was taken in Adulterie . And that S. Peter vsed also the like power , in condemning Ananias and Saphira , and Simon Magus . 14 In another place Bellarmine saies , That S. Paul appealed to Caesar , as to his Superiour Iudge , not onely de facto , but de Iure ; and that the Apostles were subiects to the Ethnique Emperours , in all temporall causes , and that the law of Christ , depriues no man of his right , which he had before . And lately in his Recognitions he departs from this opinion , and denies that he was his Iudge , de Iure . If his first opinion be true , can these consist together , that he which is subiect in temporal causes , can at the same time and in the same causes be superiour ? Or that he ouer whom the Emperour had supreame temporall authority , should haue authority ouer the Emperour in temporall causes ? and what is there in the second opinion , that should induce so strong an Obligation vpon a conscience , as to die for it ; Since the first was better grounded ( for , for that he produ●ed Scriptures ) and the second is de●titute of that helpe , and without further sear●h into it , tels vs , that neither the Doctrine , nor the Doctor are constant enough to build a Mar●yredome vpon . 15 Thus also Bellarmine argues , to our aduantage ( though he doe it to proue a necessity of this power in the Church ) that euery Common-wealth is sufficiently prouided in it selfe , to attaine the end , for which it is instituted . And , as we said before , the end of a Christian Common-wealth , is not onely Tranquility ( for that sometimes may be main●ained by vnchristianly meanes ) but it is the practise of all morall vertue , now explicated to vs , and obserued by vs , in the exercise of Christian Religion ; and therfore such a Common-wealth hath of it selfe , all meanes necessary to those ends , without new additions : as a man consisting of bodie and soule , if he come from Infidelity to the Christian Religion , hath no new third essen●iall p●rt added to him , to gouerne that body , and soule , but onely hath the same soule enlightned with a more explici●e knowledge of her duety . 16 B●llar●ine also tels vs , That in the Apostles time , these two powers were seperated , and ●o all the Temporall was in the Emperour , as all the Ecclesiasticke in the Apostles and that Hierarchie . By what way then , and at what time came this Authoritie into them , if it were once out ? For , to say , that it sprong out of Spirituall Authoritie , when there was any vse of it , were to say , that that Authoritie at Christs institution had not all her perfections and maturity , and to say , that it is no other but the highest act , and a kinde of prerogatiue of the spirituall power , will not reach home● For you must beleeue and die in this , that the Pope as spirituall Prince , may not onely dispose of temporall matters , but that herein hee vses the temporall sword , and temporall iurisdiction . 17 But when Bellarmine saies , That this supreme authority resides in the Pope , yet not as he is Pope , And that the Pope , and none but he , can ●epose Kings , and transfer Kingdomes , and yet , not as Pope , I pro●esse that I know not , how to speake thereof with so much earnestnesse , as becomes a matter of so great waight . For other Princes , when they exercise their extraordinarie and Absolute power , and prerogatiue , and for the publique good put in practise sometimes some of those parts of their power , which are spoken of in Samuel , ( which to many men seeme to exceede Regall p●we● ) yet they professe to doe these things as they are Kings , and not by any other authoritie then that . 18 And if there be some things which the Pope cannot doe as Pope , but as chiefe spirituall Prince , this implies that there are other inferiour spirituall Princes , which are Bishops : ( for so Bellarmine saies , That Bishops in their Diocesses are Ecclesiastique Princes . ) And haue Bishops any such measure of this spirituall principality , that they may do somthings by that , which they cannot doe , as they are Bishops● 19 All Principalities maintaine their being by these two , reward , & punishment . How lame then and vnperfect is this spirituall principality , which can affoord but one halfe ? For it is onely then of vse , when the Pope will punish , and correct a King , by Deposing him : for all Rewards & Indulgences in this life , and in the next , hee conferres and bestowes , as hee is Pope , and needes not this Title , to doe any good which is in his power . And for corrections and punishments , all which we are sure he can lawfully doe , which is , to inflict Church censures , vpon those who are vnder his spirituall obedience , he doth as he is Pope , and needes not this principalitie for that vse neither . 20 But for irregular actions , and such as occasion tumult and sedition , he must be a spirituall Prince . For , sayes Bellarmine , Though the Pope as he is president of a generall Councell , ( and he is that , as he is Pope ) ought to follow the greatest number of voyces in making Decrees● yet as he is chiefe Prince , hee is not bound to doe so , but may follow the lesser number . And yet scarse constant to himselfe , he sayes , That this libertie belongs to the Pope , because he hath the assistance of the holy Ghost : Now the Pope , as Pope , hath the assistance of the holy Ghost , ( for else his Determination in Ca●hedra , in matters of faith , were not by his Ordinarie , and Direct power , ) and therefore as Pope hee may follow the fewer voyces in a Councell , and as Pope ( or no way ) he may depose Princes . 21 For as , though they seeme to place more power , or dignitie , in Pontificatu , then in Apostolatu , because the Popes date their Rescripts , from the time of their Election to their Coronation , thus , Anno Apostolatus primo , &c. and seale but with halfe the seale , but after their Coronation , they begin to call their gouernment Pontificatum : yet all the authority which they haue , is certainly in them from their● Election , because saies the glosse , that conferres praesulatum : so they haue fancied & imagined a Principatum aboue all these , yet certainly all the authoritie they haue , is as they are Popes . Which serued them to doe mischiefe enough , before this title was inuented . And to say , that they haue authoritie , as they are Popes , to doe some acts , as they are not Popes , is such a darke , and mistie , and drowsie Doctrine , as it is the fittest and most proportionall Martyrdome in this businesse , for a man to dreame that he died for it . 22 For it is strange that the●e men can discerne and distinguish in the same office , betweene the Pope , and a spirituall Prince , when as Philip the last King of Spaine , could not distinguish betweene the Person and the Office of the Pope● for being in so much forwardnesse , that he had giuen the D. of Alua Order to besiege Rome , because Paul the fourth had brought into Italy an Armie of French , to infest the Kingdome of Naples , and being solicited by the Venetians , to desist from offending the Pope , though hee aunswered , That his preparations were not against the Pope , but against Peter Caraffa his subiect , and a Rebell , yet when the Venetians replied , that if he could seperate Caraffa from the Pope , they would intercede no farther , else they would giue the Pope their assistance , the King , saies a Catholique writer , gaue ouer , because he saw it impossible to distinguish them . 23 And as the Doctrine it sel●e is too inexplicable , for any man to aduenture thereupon his li●e , or such dangers as the lawe esteemes equiualent to this purpose , which are , all such damages as induce a iust feare : So is the Channell and way by which it is deriued to vs , so various , and muddy , as that also should retard any man , from such a Preiudice , and such an Anticipation of the resolution of the Church herein as it is , to seale with life , that which no man yet knowes , how the Church will determine . For , in Bellarmine , who hath got the reputa●ion to be the principall of t●is faction ( though I confesse he found the foundation of it , and his best Arguments for it , in our Countriman Sanders , out of whom and Stapleton and a few more , that Church hath receiued more strength , then from the late writers of all other Nations , ) his authority and credit is not onely infirmed and impaired , in that , Baronius , a man of as much merit of the Church , and rewarded by her , with the same Dignitie , is of a contrarie opinion , but also , because auerring , that his opinion is the opinion of the Diuines , and the other onely of Canonists , Diuines themselues , ( for such Baronius and Bozius are ) haue more then others oppugned it . 24 And so that new Order of the Congregation , of which both they are , beeing ( as I said before ) laid for a stumbling block , that the world , which in such a rage of Deuotion ranne towards the Iesuites , might be arrested a lit●le vpon the contemplation of an Order which professed Church-knowledge , as the other did state-knowledge , hath exceeded the Iesuites in their owne Art , of flattering and magnifying the Pope . For they haue maintained his Direct and Ordinarie power , whereas the other haue but prouided him a new and specio●s Title . And so not only such as Carerius layes the imputation of Impious Politician vpon Bellarmine and all his followers in this point , And bitterly Anathmatises Bellarmine by name , and maintaines this power to be in the Pope , either as Pope , or not as Christs Vicar , But Bozius also calls these men nouos Theologos , and sayes , They teach doctrine euidently false , and such as fights against all Truth . And another Catholique writer , though hee impugne both these opinions , of Bellarmine , and Baronius , yet he protests , that the opinion which Bellarmine calls the Canonists opinion , is the more probable , and defensible : because , saies hee , that opinion is not against the order of Nature , that the Pope should exercise such a power , which they maintaine to be directly granted to him : but that opinion , which they call the Diuines opinion , is against Nature , since it admits the exercise of such an Authority , as is neither by name granted , nor necessarie to the ends of the Church : And therefore , saies this Catholique , though the Diuines ouerthrow the Canonists , yet they proue not their owne opinion . And in another place he saies , That though Bellarmine haue giuen as much to the Pope , as honestly he could , and more then he should haue done , yet he was so farre from satisfying the Pope herein , that for this opinion the Pope was very neere condemning all his workes , as , saies he , the Iesuites themselues , haue tolde mee . 25 VVhich disposition of enclining to the Canonists opinion , appeares still in the Popes , who accept so well the bookes of that purpose , that the greatest part of those Authors , which I haue cited in this booke , of that matter , are dedicated to the late Popes . So that , that Doctrine , which is so much denied in the substance and Essence therof , that all wayes of the existence thereof are peremptorily denied , hath not yet receaued concoxions enow from the Church , to nourish a conscience to such a strength , as Martyrdome requires . For that , which their great Doctor Franciscus a Victoria pronounces against his direct Authoritie , we may as safely say against that & the indirect , This is the strongest proo●e that can be against him , This Authority is not proued to be in the Pope , by any meanes , and therefore he hath it not . To which purpose he had directly said before , of the direct Authoritie , It is manifestly false , although they say that it is manifestly true ; And I beleeue it to be a meere deuise , only to flatter the Popes . And it is altogether fained , without probability , Reason , Witnesse , Scripture , Father , or Diuine . Onely some Glossers of the law , poore in fortune and learning , haue bestowed this authority vpon them . And therefore , as that Ermit which was fed in the Desert by an Angell , receaued from the Angell withered grapes , when hee said his prayers , after the due time , and ripe grapes when he obserued the iust time , but wilde sower grapes when he preuented the time , so must that hasty and vnseasonable obedience to the Church , to die for her Doctrine , before she her selfe knowes what it is , haue but a sower and vnpleasant reward . CHAP. X. That the Canons can giue them no warrant , to aduenture these dangers , for this refusall : And that the reuerend name of Canons , is falsly , and cautelously insinuated , and stolne vpon the whole body of the Canon law , with a briefe Consideration vpon all the bookes thereof ; and a particular suruay , of all those Canons , which are ordinarily cyted by those Authours , which maintaine this temporall Iurisdiction in the Pope . TO this spirituall Prince , of whom we spoke in the former Chapter , the huge and vast bookes of the Canon law , serue for his Guarde . For they are great bodies loaded with diuers weapons of Excommunications , Anathems , and Interdicts , but are seldome drawen to any presse or close fight . And as with temporall Princes , the danger is come very neere his person , if the remedie lie in his guard , so is also this spirituall Prince brought to a neere exigent , if his title to depose Princes must be defended by the Canons . For , in this spirituall warre which the Reformed Churches vnder the conduct of the Holy Ghost , haue vndertaken against Rome , not to destroy her , but to reduce her to that obedience , from which at first she vnaduisedly strayed , but now stubbornly rebels against it , the Canon law serues rather to stoppe a breach , into which men vse to cast as wel straw and Feathers , as Timber and Stone , then to maintaine a fight and battell . 2 This I speake not to diminish the Reuerence or slacken the obligation which belongs to the ancient Canons and Decrees of the Church ; but that the name may not deceiue vs ; For , as the heretiques Vrsalius , and Valens , got together a company at Nice , because they would establish their Heresies , vnder the name of a Nicene Councell , ( which had euer so much reputation , that all was readily receiued , which was truely offered vnder that name ) so is most pestilent and infectious doctrine , conuayed to vs , vnder the reuerend name of Ecclesiastique Canons . 3 The body of the Canon law , which was called Codex Canonum , which contained the Decrees of certaine auncient Councels , was vsually produced in after - Councels for their direction , and by the intreaty of popes , admitted and incorporated into the body of the Romane and Imperiall law ; and euer in all causes , wherein they had giuen any Decision , it was iudg'd according to them , after the Emperours had by such admittance giuen them that strength . 4 And if the body of that law , were but growen and swelled , if this were a Grauidnes , & Pregnancy which she had conceiued of General Councels lawfully called , and lawfully proceeded in , and so she had brought forth children louing and profitable to the publique , and not onely to the Mother , ( for how many Canons are made onely in fauour of the Canons ? ) all Christian Princes would be as inclinable to g●ue her strength , and dignity , by incorporating her into their lawes , and authorising her thereby , as some of the Emperours were . And had the Bishops of Rome maintained that purity , and integrity of Doctrine , and that compatiblenesse with Princes , which gaue them authority at first , when the Emperours conceiued so well of that Church , as they bound their faith to the faith thereof ( which they might boldly doe at that time ) perchance Princes would not haue refused , that the adiections of those later Popes should haue beene admitted as parts of the Canon law : nor should the Church haue beene pestred , and poisoned with these tumors , & excrescenges , with which it abounds at this time , and swelles daily with new additions . 5 In which , if there bee any thinge which bindes our faith , and deriues vppon vs a Title to Martyrdome , if we die in defence thereof ( as there are many things deriued from Scriptures and Obligatory Councels ) the strength of that band rises so much from the nature of the thing , or from the goodnesse of the soile , from which it was transplanted to that place , that though we might be Martyrs , if we defended it in that respect , yet wee should loose that benefit , though it be an euident and Christian truth , if we defend it vpon that reason , That it is by approbation of the ●ope inserted into the body of the Canon law ; which is a Satyr , and Miscellany of diuers and ill digested Ingredients . 6 The first part whereof , which is the Decretum compiled by Gratian , which hath beene in vse aboue foure hundred yeares , is so diseased and corrupt a member thereof , that all the Medicines , which the learned Archbishop Augustinus , applied to it , and all that the seuerall Commissioners , first by Pius the fift , then by Gregory the thirteenth , haue practised vpon it , haue not brought it to any state of perfect health , nor any degree of conualescence . 7 But though that Bishop say , That Gratian is not worthy of many words , though in his dispraise , yet because he tels vs , That the ignorant admire him , though the Learned laugh at him ; And because hee is accounted so great a part of the Canon Law , as euen the Decretall Epistles of the Popes are call'd , Extra , in respect of him , as being out of the Canon Law , it shall not be amisse to make some deeper impressions of him . 8 Thus farre therefore the Catholicke Archbishop charges him , To haue beene so indiscreete and precipitate , that he neuer stood vpon Authoritie of Bookes , but tooke all , as if they had beene written with the finger of God , as certainely as Moses Tables ; And hee is so well confirm'd in the opinion of his negligence , that he sayes , He did not onely neuer Iudge and waigh , but neuer see the Councels nor the Registers of Popes , nor the workes of the Fathers : And therefore sayes hee , There is onely one remedy left , which is , Vna litura . And in another place , That there can bee no vse at all made of this Collection , but that a better must be attended , out of the Originals . 9 But if his errour were onely in Chronologies , as to giue Pope Nicholas a place in the Councell of Carthage , who was dead before ; Or in Arithmeticke , as when purposely he enumerates all the Councels , to make the number lesse by foure . If this weaknesse had onely beene , that he was not able to spell , and so in a place of much importance , to Read Ephesus for Erphesfurd , Hierome , for Ieremie , and Hereticke for Henrie , and a hundred such ; If he had stopp'd , either at mistaking of true Authors , as to cite out of Saint Peter , that which Saint Paul sayes ( which libertie his Glosser extends farther , and therefore cites a whole sentence , for Scripture , which is no where ) Or if he had stai'd at imagining words out of false Authors , as to cite the Councell of Geneua , and Macharius the Pope , which neuer were , ( as he and the Palea doe ) there were an open way for him , as it is said in that Dialogue , to say with the Apostle , Quia ignorans ●eci . 10 But we also finde malignitie and danger to our cause , in his Falsifications . For , to dignifie the Sea of Rome , hee cites Ambroses wordes thus , Non habent Petri haereditatem , qui non habent Petri sedem ; which in Ambrose is obseru'd to be , Petri fidem . And to establish the exemption of Clergie men from secular Iustice , hee cites this out of a Councell now a thousand yeeres past , Clericum nullus presumat pulsare apud Iudicem Saecularem ; Whereas the words of the Councel are Clericus nullus presumat . And so the Councell layes a Commandement vpon the Clergie , but Gratian layes it vpon the Layetie . 11 Which falsitie , Binius , citing the Councell aright , and Gratians words also right in the Margine , forbeares to obserue or reprehend , and dissembles the iniurie done to the world therein . But Bellarmine hath delt herein with more obnoxiousnesse , and lesse excuse , then Binius , because hauing no reference at all to Gratian , hee cites the words out of the Councell it-selfe ; and hauing said , That Counsell pronounces in this point more clearely , in these words ; He cites the words , falsely , and corruptly as Gratian did before . 12 And as for such iniquities as these , we haue reason to decline Gratian , as iniurious to vs : So al●o in Charitie towards them , which are caried with an implicite Faith in Canons , in which name Gratian is enwrapped , we are bound to tell you how vnworthy he is , to bee relied vpon by you . For in the point of the Emperours Electing the Pope , hee hath spoken so dangerously , that Baronius is forced to giue this censure vpon him , Gratian , out of too much credulitie , improuidently writ out a most manifest imposture , and inserted that , as a most strong Decree , all which , with the Author thereof , should rather haue beene hissed away , and pursued with execrations , which also he saies of another place in Gratian , to the same purpose ; and accuses him of mutilating the famous lawes of Charles the Great , called Capitularia . 13 With like danger to the Romane Sea , hee cites a Canon of a Greeke Councell , whose sense he apprehended not , in the matter of mariage of Priests ; for he saies , that that Canon was grounded vpon the Apostles Canons ; and yet it is contrarie to the Canons of the Romane Church . So that of this place , that Archbishop of whom I spoke before , exclaimes , who can endure this ? and that by no meanes it may be receaued . 14 And not onely in matters of fact ( though that be the right legge vpon which the Romane Religion , ( especially in Crowne Diuinitie ) doth stand ) doth Gratian deceaue you , but euen in such things as are matters of faith : both naturally , and so , common to all men , As when he allowes that there may be perplexities in euill , and so in some cases a necessitie of sinning , and then , sayes he , the remedie is to choose the lesse euill ; as also of that which is matter of faith , especially to the professors of your Religion , which is the necessitie of Orall Confession : for , hauing produced authorities on both sides , whether it be necessarie or no , he leaues it as indifferent to the Reader , to allow & choose which opinion he likes best . 15 And because the Glosse is now by some thought , to be of equal authoritie with the Text , it is not an inconuenient way to eneruate both , by presenting some of the vanities and illusions of that . And though I will not in so serious a businesse , insist vpon such thinges , as might make sport and moue laughter , yet these few I may be excusable to let fall in this place . When Gratian speakes of that Parable of the lost sheepe , and saies , out of the Gospell , that the 99 were left in Deserto , id est , sayes the Glosse , In Coelo , quod Diabolus per peccatum deseruit . Which , besides the detortion , destroyes vtterly the purpose of our Sauiour , in that Parable . And so when Gratian , out of a Councell cites an Act to be done , in Ecclesia Romanorum , id est , saies the Glosse , Constantinopolitanorum . 16 In many places Gratian saies , that a Dioscorus had not erred , in fide ; which being euidently false , for b he followed and defended Eutyches his Heresie , the glosse remedies it thus , Non in fide , id est , non in fide tantum . And out of his fauour to Priests , where Gratian sayes out of Bede , That Priests must alwaies abstain from their wifes , the glosse saies , Semper , id est , Horis debitis . And when out of the Nicene Councell it was produced , That a Prelate might haue in his house no women , except his mother , or sister , or such fit persons , as might auoid suspition , that is , sayes the glosse , His mens wiues . And when Lanfred a young lusty Bishop , and a great huntsman , was defamed also for immoderate familiarity with his owne daughter , the glosse sayes , It was not for any euill , for they were too neere in blood , but because he kissed her so much openly , and put his hand in her bosome . 17 And lastly , to stay you no longer , in this ill aire , where the text saies , Meretrix est , quae multorum libidini patet , the glosse brings this indefinite number to a certaine , and saies , that that name belongs to her , when shee hath lyen with 23000. men . 18 And as these Authors in whom there are these aspersions , and such weedes as these , are therefore vnworthy , that either the Popes approbation should ●all vpon them , or that any obligation should be throwne vpon our consciences , from their authoritie : so is it impossible , that any such approbation should include them both ; for the glosse doth somet●mes ( when no reconciliation can serue him ) depart from Gratian with some disdaine ; as when he sayes , Superficialis est Argumentatio Magistri : and sometimes in c●oler● as one notes him to say , Fateor plane te mentitum , Gratiane : And sometimes hee doth positiuely teach the iust contrarie to Gratian , in matter of faith ; as in the Doctrine of perplexities , which wee noted before . 19 How dangerous therfore it is to confide in Gratian , we see already , & may haue further light , by obseruing , That Ballarmine saies , that in a main point of Canonicall Scriptures , Gratian was deceiued , by trusting a false copie of Saint Augustines workes : And as Bellarmine saies here● that Gratian was deceiued , so Gratian deceiued him ; for in that Canon which we cyted before , of the exemption of Clergy men , either Bellarmine was a direct falsifier of the Councel , or an indiscreet & credulous swallower of Gratians errours ; which in his Recognition he refuseth not to confesse in another matter , whē he retracts some things which he spoke vpon the credit of Gratian , & there repents & recāts thē . 20 But you and Bellarmine may easily be misled by him , since euen a Pope himselfe was brought into a false perswasion by his errour . For , till of late , all the copies of the Decretum , in that famous Canon , Sancta Romana , which distinguishes Canonicall f●om Apocryphall writings , in stead of the wordes , Sedulij opus , Heroicis versibus descriptum , had these wordes , Hereticis versibus . Which saies a Catholique authour , induced not onely many wise men , but euen pope Adrian 6. to a perswasion , that al Poetry was Hereticall ; since Gelasius a Pope , and Author of that Canon , though he praised Sedulius his worke , in that place , yet because it was writ in verse , he c●ls them Hereticos versus . 21 Of them therfore which will binde their faith to the Canons , and aduentu●e these dangers for that faith ( as the Canonists say , that Saterday and Sunday is all one , fictione Canonica so wee may say , tha● they are but Martyres fictione Canonica ; and that not onely a Martyr , and a Selfe-murderer , but a Martyr and a Traytor , may be all one , Fictione Canonica . And by such fiction , that English Priest Bridgewater , which cals himselfe Aquipontanus , ouerturning and re●enuersing his name with h●● conscience , may be beleeued , when he saies , That those Priests which were executed vnder Queene Elizabeth , died pro inficiatione pontificatus faeminei : But their malice was not because she would haue bin a Priest , but because she would not be a Sacrifice to their Idolatry , nor Ambition ; nor open her heart to their inchantments , nor her throate and sides to their poisons and swords . 22 The next limme in this great body of the Canon law , after the Decretum , is the Decretall ; set out by Grego●y the ninth , who was Pope about the yeare one thousand two hundred thirty . And as the Decretum pretends to bring to all purposes , sentences of Fathers , an● Canons of Counsells , So this pretends principally the Rescripts and De●retall letters of Popes . So also , doe all t●e other bookes , which were set out after , in supplement of this : as that , which is called Sextus , set forth by Boniface the eight , who was Pope , An. one thousand three hundred : and the Clementines , which Clement the fift set out , who was Pope within sixe yeares after● and those Extrauagants , which bea●e the name of Iohn the two and twenty , within ten yeares of Clement : and those which are called common Extrauagants because they come from diuers Popes : and to these is added not long since the booke called Septimus Decretalium . 23 And thus this fat law ( for so Ciuilians say of that , that it is Crassa aequitas ; which is a praise beyond desert , though rhey speake it in diminution & scorn ) grows daily so fast , that as any corruption can get entertainment in a grosse body , so I doubt not but this , or the next age , shall see in their Octaues and future Volumes , not onely many of their letters , yet for shame cōcealed , but at Henry the thirds death , canonized in the body of this law . For though they haue denied it with some-earnestnesse , yet they haue also confest , that if it were such as it is said to be , it admits a good interpretation . 24 But for these bookes , though they haue more credit with them then the Decretum hath , I will ease my selfe of that labour , which I tooke in that booke , in presenting particular defects and infirmities , both because we haue Bellarmines confession , That there are many things in the Decretall Epistles , which doe not make a matter to be De fide , but onely doe declare , what the opinions of the Popes were in those causes , and because a Catholique authour of whom we spake before , hath obserued , that the compiler of the Dec●etals , by leauing out a word , in a Canon of a Councell of Car●hage , hath occasion'd the Church euer since , to doe directly aganst the purpose of that Councell , in shauing the heads of Priests . For whereas the Councell is cited by him , Clerici nec Comam Nutriant nec barbam , by occasion whereof , many subsequent orders were brought in , for Shauing , and transgressors seuerely punish'd , it appeares that he left out in the end , the word Radant , which vtterly changed the precept into the contrary . These Canons therefore , of so sickely and weake a constitution , that any thing deiects them , cannot preuaile so much vpon our consciences , as to imprint and worke such a confidence in them , and irremoueablenesse from them , as to maintaine them with the same maner of testimonie , as we would doe the words of God himselfe . 25 For , howsoeuer they depart from them , and seeme somewhat negligent of the Canons , when we make vse of them to our aduantage against them , yet they affright and enthrall the tender consciences of their owne Disciples , with nothing more , then the name of Canons , to which promiscuously they ascribe all reuerence and assent , without distinguishing to them , which are Gratians , and which are opinionate , and which Decretall , for all together are approoued and confirmed . And therefore the Canons themselues not only inflict an Anatheme vp●on any ●ay-ma● , which shall so much as dispute vpon , the text , or any one Iod o● the Epistle of Pope Leo , which is in the Canons , but also pr●nounce it blasphemy against the holy Ghost , to viola●e a Canon willingly , becau●e ●hey are made by the hyol Ghost And Bellarmine also , writing against a Doctor which had defended the Venetian ca●se , against the Popes Censures , saies , That it is a g●ieuous rashnesse , not to be lef● vnpunished , that he should say , ●he Canons , as being but Humane lawes , cannot haue equall authority with Diuine . For this ( saies Bellarmine ) is a contempt of the Canons , as though they were not made by the direction of the holy Ghost . And yet these Canons which that Doctor intimated , were but two , and cy●ed but by Gratian , and concerned onely Exemp●ion of Clergie men from secul●r ●udges . 26 And so ●arsons when he is to ma●e h●s aduantage of any Sentence in Gratian , vses to dignifie it thus , That it is translated by the Popes into the Corps of the Canon law , and so not onely allowed and admitted , and approued , but commended , and commanded ; and as he addes after , Canonized and determined for Canonicall law , and authorized and set forth for Sacred and Authenticall , whatsoeuer● For they continue st●ll that practise which Frederic the Emperour obserued in his time , when they interdict●d his K●ngdome of Sicily , Offundunt bibulis auribus Canon●s . 27 And when they list to vrge a Canon , any litle rag torn or fallen off from ●hence , must bind the Church de fide , as a cathedrall , and Decretall resol●●ion : for so saies he , that made the Notes vppon Cassianus , excusing Origen , Chrysostome , & some other Fathers , for inclining to Platoes opinion of allowing some vse of lies , in wise men , That it was lawfull till the Church had defined the contrary : But now , saies he , the Pope hath decreed it . And how hath he decreed it ? In a letter vpon a question of Vsurie , the Pope saies , a Since the Scriptures forbid lies , euen for defense of any mans life , much lesse may vsury be permitted . But , if in this question of lying , the band did not a●ise out of the euidence and truth of the matter it selfe , but relied vppon the authority of the Popes declaration , and decision , can such a ragge casually and incidentally fall into a letter of another purpose , by way of comparison , binde the whole Church , De fide ? when as , though Sixtus 4. had so much declared himselfe to fauour the opinion of our Ladies conception without originall sinne , that he had by b one Canon instituted a particular Festiuall thereof , and appointed a particular Office for ●hat day , with many Indulgences to the obseruers thereof ; yet the fauourers of the contrary opinion , forbore not for reuerence of that Canon , to preach publiquely against that Doctrine , till some yeares after , he forbad it vnder paine of Excommunication , by another Canon , c that any should affirme that she was conceaued in originall sinne ; and yet , d this is not esteemed as yet for all this , to be decreed as a matter of faith in that Church : yea , it is so farre from it , that after all these solemnities and preiudices of that Pope , yet the Commissioners of Sixtus the fift , and Gregory the thirteenth ( appointed to expunge all dangerous passages in the Canons ) in the Glosse vpon that e Canon , which reckons all the festiuall daies which are to be obserued , haue left these words vntouched , The Conception of our Lady is not named , because it ought not to be kept , though in England , and some other places it be ; And the reason is , because she was conceaued in originall sinne , as all but Christ , were . And after , the Iesuite , of whom I spoke before , had refreshed that Doctrine , That a Confession of a person absent , made by letters , was Sacramentall , and Clement the eight , was so vehement against it , that by a solemne decree he condemned it , for false , rash , and scandalous at least , and commaunded , that no man should speake of it but by way of condemning it , and excluded euen dumbe men from this benefi● , yet another Iesuite since , a great Doctor perplexorum , findes escapes to defend that Doctrine from beeing Hereticall . 28 So that , though in trueth there goe verie many Essentiall formalities to such a Decree as bindes the conscience , De fide , yet these men when they need the Maiestie of a Canon , will euer haue fe●ters in all corne●s , to holde all consciences which off●r to slip or breake from them , and still oppresse them with waights , and with Mountaine of Canons . Which way , the Canonists doe no● only approue as the most conuenient to hold men in that Religion , because the Canons are more easily v●ried , and flex●ble , and appliable to occasion● , then the Scriptures are , but also ( because ordin●rily the Canonists haue no other learning ) they think the way by Canons , to be the fittest means , to reduce them whom they call Heretiques . For so sayes one of them , in his booke to the present Pope , ( with m●ch a●u●enesse , certainty , and subtilty , ) The Canons may well be alleadged against Heretiques ; because they alleadge Scriptures , and they cannot know Scriptures , by any other way then Canons . 29 But besides , that I haue giuen you sufficient light , to look into the deformity and co●ruption of the Canons , ( which , GOD forbid any should vnde●stand me to me●ne of Canons , in that sense and acceptation , that the Ancients receaued it , which is , of the Constitutions of Orthodox Councels , for I take it here , as your Doctors do , & as your Confessors doe , for the whole body of the Canon law , extant ) before I ente● into the suruay of those pa●ticular Canons , which vsually are obtruded in this point of the Popes temporall Supremacie , I will remember you briefly , of some of those re●sons and occasions , ( such as may be fittest to vn-entangle your consciences , and deliuer them from perplexi●ies ) in which the Canons doe not binde vs to the●r obseruation . 30 O● which , one of the most principall and important is , That Canons doe neuer binde , though they be published and knowledge taken of them , except they bee rec●aued , and practised in that Country . So saies Gratian , Lawes are instituted , when they are published , but confi●med , when they are put in practise . And therefore , saies he , none are guilty of transgressing Telesphorus Decree , that the Clergie should fast fiftie dayes , because it was neuer approued by practise . No more doth the Decree of A●exander the third , though vnder excommunication , That in Armies there should bee abstinence , for reuerence of certaine dayes , binde any man● because it was not practised : which op●nion Nauarre also followes ; and a late Canonist writing to this Pope , calls it , Singularem , et Magistralem , et a toto mundo allegatum . And vpon this reason the Councell of Trent bindes not yet in some Countries , in neither Tribunall of conscience , or the outward censures of the Church , because it is not receaued . 31 And can you finde ●hat any such Canons , as enable the Pope to depose a Prince , haue beene admitted by our Princes , and practis●d as ordinarie and currant law ? Or can you finde any Canon to this purpose , with the face and countenance o● a law , made by the Popes in reposed & peaceable times , deliuered quietly as a matter of Doctrine and conscience , and so accepted by the Church and state ? For if in temporall Scismes , and differences , for temporall matters , betweene the Popes and other Princes , the Popes to raise or maintaine a party against their enemies , haue suffered seditio●s Bulls , and Rescripts to passe from them , to facilitate and effect their enterprises then in hand , this is farre from the nature of a law , and from being accepted and practised , and so iustified , as it may be drawne into consequence , and haue power and strength to binde the conscience . 32 And as acceptation giues life to law , so doth disuse , or custome to the contrarie abrogate it . And howsoeuer a superstition toward the Canons , may still be preserued in some of you , yet the generall state , that is , the same authority , by which those Canons were receaued before , which euer had anie strength here , hath disused them , & pronounced against so many of them , as can fall within this question , that is , Such as bee derogatorie to the Crowne . For , if these lawes bee not borne aliue , but haue their quickning by others acceptation , the same power that giues them life , may by desertion withdraw their strength , and leaue them inualid . 33 And thus much seemed needfull to be said in the first part of this chapter , that you might see how putrid and corrupt a thing it is , which is offered to you vnder the reuerend name of Canons ; And that though this Cannon law be declined , and extenuated when we vrge it , yet euery Sentence thereof is equall'd to Diuine Scripture ; and produced as a definition of the Church , when it may worke their ends vpon your consciences , which , for diuers reasons issuing out of their owne rules , should now be deliuered from that yoake . THE SECOND PART . FOr the second place in this Chapter , I reserued the consideration and suruay of those Canons which are Ordinarily vsurped for defence of this temporall Iurisdiction : In which my purpose is not , to amasse all those Canons which incline toward that point , of which condition those which exexempt the Clergy from secular Iurisdiction , and very many other , are , but onely such as belong more directly to this point , to which the Oath stretches , That is , whether the Pope may depose a Soueraine Prince , and so we shall discern whether your consciences may so safely relie vpon any resolution to be had out of the Canons , that you may incurre the dangers of the law , for refusall thereof . 2 Of which Canons , though I will pre●ermit none , which I haue found to haue beene vrged , in any of their Authours , I will first present those Fower , which are alwaies produced with much confidence and triumph : Though one Catholique Author , which might be aliue at the making of the Clementines ( for he liued and flourished about 1350 , and Clement the fift died not much before 1320. ) haue drawen these foure Canons into iust suspition : for thus he saies of them , The Pastors of the Church putting their Hooke into another mans Haruest , haue made foure Decretals , which , God knowes , whether they be iust or no : But I doe not beleeue ( yet I recall it if it be erroneous ) that any of them is agreeable to Law , but I rather beleeue that they were put forth against the libertie of the empire . 3 The fi●st is a letter of Innocent the third , who was Pope about 1199. to the Duke of Caringia the occasion of which Letter , was this ; Henry the son of Frederic the first , of the house of Sueuia , succeeding his Father in the Empire , had obtained of the Princes of Germany , to whom the Election belonged , to chuse as Successo● to him , his sonne Henry : but hee being too young to gouerne● when his father died , they tooke thereby occasion , though against their Oath , to leaue him ; being also d●sirous ●o change the stocke , and chuse an Emperour of some other race ; By this meanes was Duke Ber●holdus , by some of the Pr●nces elected ; but resign'd againe to Philip brother to the dead Emperour , in whom the greatest number consented . But some of the other Princes had called home out of England , Otho of the house of Saxony , and elected him . Here upon arose such a schisme , as rent that country into very many parts : And then Innocent the third , an actiue and busie Pope ( for it was he which so much infested our King Iohn ) sent his Legate into those parts , vpon pretence of composing those differences . And being in displeasure with the house of Sueuia for the Kingdome of Sicily , which was in their possession , but pretended to by the Church , his Legate disallowed the election of Philip , and confirmed Otho . But some of the Princes ill satisfied with the Legates proceeding herein , complained thereof to the Pope ; in aunswere whereof the Pope writes to one of them , this Letter . In which , handling his Right of confirming the elected Emperor , though he speake diuers things derogatorie to the dignity of Princes , discoursiuely , and occasionally , yet is not this letter such a Decree , as being pronounced Cathedrally in a matter of faith , after due consultation , should binde posteritie , but onely a direction to that person , how he ought to behaue himselfe in that businesse . 4 The Letter may be thus abridged ; VVe acknowledge the right of the Election to be in the Princes , especially because they haue it from the Apostolicke Sea , which transferred the Empire vnto them : But , because we must consecrate the Person elected , we must also examine his fitnesse . Our Legate therefore did no Acte concerning the Election , but the person elected . Wee therefore repute OTHO Emperour ; For , if the Electors would neuer agree , should the Apostolicke Sea alwayes be without a defender ? We haue therfore thought it fit , to war●e the Princes , to adhere to him . For there are notorious impediments against the other : as publicke Excommunication , persecuting the Church , and manifest periurie . Therefore wee commaund you to depart from him , notwithstanding any Oath made to him , as Emperour . 5 And is there any matter of Faith in this Decretall ? Or any part thereof ? Is it not all grounded vpon matter of fact , which is , the Translation o● the Empire which is yet vnder disputation● Doe not many Catholicke writers denie the verie act of Transferring by the Pope ; And saye , That the people being now abandoned and forsaken by the Easterne Emperours , had by the law of Na●ure and Nations , a power in themselues to choose a King ? And doe not those which are more liberall in confessing the Translation , denie that the Popes Consecration , or Coronation , or Vnction in●uses any power into the Emperor , or works any fart●er , then w●en a Bishop doeth the same ceremonies to a King ? Is it not iustly said , that i● the Emperour must stay for his Authoritie , till the Pope doe these acts , he is in worse condi●ion , by this increase of his Dominions then he was before . For , before he was Emperour , and had a little of Italy added to him , there was no doub● but that he had full iurisdiction , in his owne Dominions before these Ceremonies , and now hee must stay for them . 6 And may not the Popes question in this le●ter , be well retorted thus , If the Pope will not crowne the Emperour at all , shall the Empire euer lacke a head ? For the Pope may well be presumed to be slacke in that office , because he pretends to be Emperour during the vacancie . But besides that an ouer earnest maintaining of this that the Emperour had no iurisdiction in Italy , before these Ceremonies , would diminish and mutilate the patrimonie of the Church , of which a great part was confe●red and giuen by Pipin , be●ore any of these ceremonies were giuen b● the pope , the glosser vpon the Clementines , is liquid & round in this point , when he sayes , That these ceremonies , and the taking of an Oath , are nothing ; and that now , Resipiscente mundo , the world being growne wiser , there must be no longer striuing for both swords . 7 For those notorious impediments , which the Pope obiects in this letter , against Philip , if they were such as made him incapable of Election , then there was a Nullity in the choise , and the Pope did nothing but declare that ; which may of●en fall out in states , which elect their Princes , because there are many limitations , but in Successorie princes , it cannot hold : but if these were not such impediments , by the lawes which gouerned the Electors , they became not such , by this Declaration . For one of them , which is manifest periurie , the pope himselfe was some cause of his continuing therein . For the oath was made to his brother , in the behalfe of his young Nephew , who should haue beene Emperour . And now the Pope had not onely disabled him , but all the other Princes , from keeping that oath , by electing or confirming another Emperour . 8 But if all which the Pope sayes in that letter , shall not onely bee strong enough to binde the Election , but to binde the consciences of posterity , as matter of faith , his last reason against Philips election , must haue equall strength with the rest , which would bee of dangerous consequence ; for it is , That if after his Father had beene Emperour , and his Brother , he also should succeede , the Empire would passe from Election to succession , and none should be assumed but of one house ; Either then it is matter of faith , that three of one family may not succeed in an Electiue state , or , as this is , so all the rest are but arguments of inconueniencie & vnfitnes . 9 And this absoluing this Duke , to whom he writes , of his Oath , is but of an Oath made Ratione Regni , to him who neuer had the Kingdome : and therefore that power of absoluing , cannot by this Decretall be extended to such Oathes , which are acknowledged to haue beene iust , when they were made , as being made to lawfull and indubitable Princes . And certainly ( for though you dare not heare , yet wee dare speake trueth , ) the whole purpose in that act , of the Pope , was corrupt , and farre from intention of making peace . Of whose profit by reason of that dissention one of your owne Abbats , sayes , That there was scarse any Bishoprick , or Parish Church , which was not litigious , and the Suite brought to Rome , Sed non vacua Manu , And so he proceedes , Gaude , Mater nostra Roma , because all flowes to thee , aperiuntur Cataractae the saurorum . Reioyce for the iniquitie of the Sonnes of men ; Iocundare de Adiutrice tua Discordia . Thou hast now that which thou didst alwaies thirst . Sing thy song , because thou hast ouercome the world , not by thy Religion , but the wickednesse of men , for men are not drawne to thee by their owne Deuotion , or by a pure Conscience , but by the doing of manifolde wickednesses , and by buying the Decision of their Suites and Causes . 10 The second Canon vsually produced , and noted by Albericus ( as I said ) to be against Iustice , issued vpon this occasion . When Otho whom the former Pope had established against Philip , became vnthankfull to the Pope , hee also was excommunicate : and Frederick , the Sonne of the first Frederick , to whom the Princes had sworne in his Cradle , was elected and crowned ; with whom also , b●c●use hee would not goe into the holy land , and expose the Kingdome of Sicily to their Ambition , the Popes fell out , and excommunicated him thrice . And when a generall Councell was gathered by Innocent the fourth , for the reliefe of the holy land , the Pope himselfe proposed Articles against the Emperour . Whose Aduocate Thaddaeus promised all , which might conduce to peace and Reformation on his Maisters behalfe . This satisfied not the Pope , but he asked for Sureties : and when the Kings of England and France , were offered , the pope refused them , vpon pretence , that if the Emperor should remaine incorrigible , the Church should by this means raise more heauy enemies to it selfe . Then Thaddaeus proceeded to excuse his Maister , in all the particular obiections , and desired that hee m●ght be personally heard , but to that the pope replied , If he come I will depart , for I doe not yet finde my selfe fit and ready for martyrdome . Yet the English which were there , extorted a fortnights leasure for the Emperours comming : but he not daring or disdaining to come , the pope proceeded to this sentence of Depriuation ; which , sayes the Relater the●eof , He thundred out terribly , not without the amazement and horrour of all the hearers and by-standers . And Thaddaeus protested vppon it , This day is a day of wrath , and of calamity and miserie . 11 So this Bull proceeded from a distempered Pope , and at a time when hee was not assisted with the Holy Ghost , for he was not in a readines to suffer Martyrdome for him . And where the Inscription saies , it was Presenti Concilio ; the Margin notes , that it is not said approbante Concilio , though it assigne this for the reason , least the Pope should seeme to neede the Councell . 12 So that , though it reach full as farre as Pius the fift his Bull against our late Queene ( for it depriues , it absolues Subiects , and it excommunicates all adherents ) yet it hath nothing by which it should be called a Canon , or lawe to direct and gouerne posterity ; for there might be as much infirmity in this act of Depriuing , as in the former of Excommunicating ; yea it was subiect to much more errour then that acte of spirituall iurisdiction , which hath beene lesse questioned : yet in the preamble of this sentence , the pope saies of those former sentences , If the Church haue iniured him in any thing , she is ready to correct her selfe , to reuoke , and to make satisfaction . So that it may be , the pope erred in both these acts . 13 Nor doe those wordes which are in the Inscription , Ad perpetuam rei Memoriam , giue it the strength of a precedent , and obligatorie Canon , but rather declare out of what shoppe it came , since that is the ordinary stile of the Romane Court , and not of the Canons of Councels . Nor can it euer be deduced by any consequence , out of this Sentence , That the Pope hath the same power ouer other Soueraigne Princes , as he exercised there against the Emperour ; because hee proceeded against him ( though vitiously and iniuriously , and tyrannically ) by colour of a Superiority claimed by him , and then not denied by the Emperour , but testified by diuers Oathes of Fidelity to him , which cannot be extended against those princes , which admit no dependency vpon him , by any reason conteined in this Sentence . 14 By the third of these foure principall Rescripts , Clement the fift annuls a Iudgement made by the Emperour Henry the seuenth , against Robert king of Sicily , whom as a subiect of the Empire , the Emperour had declared a Rebell , and depriued him of his Kingdome and absolued his subiects of their obedience . And the reasons why the Pope interposes himselfe herein , are not grounded vpon his power , as he is Pope , or as he is spirituall Prince , but meerely as he is a temporall Prince . For first he saies , The King of Sicily held that Kingdome of the Church ; and the Pope , who was thereby his ordinary iudge , ought to haue beene called to the iudgement ; And that the Emperour could not take knowledge of faults committed at Rome , as those , with which that King was charged , were laid to be : Nor his Iurisdiction and power of citation extend into the territory of the Church where that King was then residing : nor he bee bound vpon any Citation , to come to a place of so certaine danger . 15 It is not therefore for this part of the Decretall , that either they alleadge it so frequently , or that Albericus laid that marke vpon it , that it betrayed the authority of the Emperours ; for in this particular case , I should not bee difficult to confesse , some degrees of Iustice , in prouiding that the Sentence of the Empe●or should not preuaile , where na●urally and iustly it could not worke ; especially the pope proceeding so manne●ly , as to reuoke it after the Emperors death ; and as the Glosse saies , Ad tollendum murmur Populi , who grudged that the Emperour should dispose of them , who were the subiects of the Church . 16 But the danger is in the last clause , which is , We out of the Superiority , which without doubt we haue ouer the Empire , and out of that power , by which we succeed therein , in a vacancy , and by that power which Christ gaue vs in Peter , declare that iudgement to bee voide , and reu●ke all which hath beene done thereupon . For the first part of which Clause , touching his Superiority ouer the Emperor , if he had any ( which , as many good authors denie , as affirme it● ) he had it by contract betweene the Emperour and the Church ; and he neither can , nor doth claime that , at least not all that which hee pretended in the Empire , in other princes dominions ; for where doth he p●etend to succeede ●n a Vacancy , but in the Empire ? And if he had that right , Iure Diuino , it woul● st●etch to all other places : And ●f it be by Con●ract , that cannot be but conditionall and variable in it selfe , and not to be drawen into e●ample to the preiudice of any other prince . And ●or his last title , which is the power deriued by S. Peter to him , because in this place he extends it no further but to a defence of S. Peters patrimony , and onely by declaring a Sentence to be void , which otherwise might scandalize some of his subiects , we haue no reason to exagitate it in this pl●ce , nor haue you any reason to assure your consciences , by the instruction or light of this Canon , that that power extends to any ●uch case , as should make you , in these substantiall circumstances , of great de●riment refuse this Oa●h . 17 The four●h Canon , which is , the Clementine of the diuers Oathes sworne by the Emperours to the Popes , though it be euer cited , and be by Albericus i●stly accused of iniustice : yet it can by no extension worke vpon your conscience . For the purpose thereof is but this ; That diffe●ences continuing betweene the Emperour and the King of Sicily , and ●he Pope writing to reconcile them , he vseth this as one induction , That they had both sworne Fidelity and Alleageance to him . The Emperor answered , That he vnderstood not that Oath , which he had taken , to be an Oath of Alleageance : And therfore the Pope , afte● the Emperou●s death , in this Decretall pronounces , That they are Oathes of fidelities and Alleageance , and that whosoeuer shall be created Emperour , shall take those Oathes , as such . But , to leaue it to the Lawyers , ( whose tongues , and pennes are not silenc●d by this Decretall , ) to argue whether they be oathes of Alleageance , or no , and imposed by the pope essentially , so as the Emperour had no iurisdiction without them ( the first being a Constitution of the Emperour Otho , and not of the pope , ( if it be rightly cited by Gratian ) The second but an oath of Protection of the Church , and the pope , And the third , only o● a pure and intire obseruing of the Catholique faith ) who can presse an argument out o● this Canon , though it we●e wholy confessed and accepted as it lies , that the pope may depose a king of England ? For Bellarmine informes your consciences ●ee●er then any of those Con●ellors , who auert you from the oath , by this , and such Canons● That the Empire not depending absolutely vpon the Pope , but since Charlemains time , this Oath of Alleageance is taken of the Emperour , because the Pope translated the Empire vpon him . And whether ●his be true or false , in the la●ter part of translation , yet his reason and argument discharges all other supreme princes , ouer whom the pope hath no such pretence . 18 Hauing passed through these foure , wee will consider those Canons , which are in Gratian , to this purpose . The first whereof may iustly be the Donation of Constantine . Which though it be not Gratians , but inserted , by the name of Palea ( of whom , whether hee were a man of that name , a Scho●ler of Gratian , or whether he called his Ad●dition to Gratian , Paleas in humility , the Canonists are like to wrangle , as long as any body will read them ) yet it is in the body and credit of Canon law . 19 Towards the credit of this Donation , there lackes but thus much , to make it possible , That the Emperour had not power , to giue away ha●●e his Empire , and that that Bishop had not capacitie to receiue it , And but thus much of making it likely , That the Church had no possession thereof , but that it remained still with the Successors of the Emperours : for if it had these degrees of possibility or credibility , & did not speake in barbarous language discording from that time , nor in false Latine vnworthy of an Emperours Secre●arie , nor gaue the pope leaue to confer orders vpon whom he would , nor spoke of the Patriarchate of Constantinople , before it had either that Dignity , or that Name , I should be content , as I would in other fables , to study what the Allegory thereof should be . But since the Pope can liue without it , And Az●rius tells vs , that though the Donation bee fal●e , yet the Pope hath other iust titles to his estates , ( though , by his leaue , he hath no such title , as will authorize him to depose Princes , as Soueraigne Lord ouer all the Westerne Kings , as they pretend by this , if it were iustifiable ) I will leaue it as they doe , as a thing too suspicious and doubtfull , to possesse any roome , but that which it doth in Gratian. Onely , this I will adde , that if the power of the Emperour were in the Pope , by vertue of this Donation , yet wee might safely take this Oath , because this Kingdome hath no dependance vpon the Empire . 20 The next that I finde alleadged , ( to keepe this Order , as they lie in Gratian ) is a sentence taken out of S. Augustine , by which you may see how infinite a power , they place in the Pope : His words are : If the King must bee obeyed , though hee commaund contra Societatem , yea , it is contra Societatem , if he be not obeyed , because there is a generall contract in humane Societies , that Kings must be obeyed ; how much more must we obey God , the Gouernour of all Creatures ? And do they which alleadge for the Popes Supremacy ouer Princes , intend the Pope to be Gouernour of all Creatures ? Doth he gouerne Sea , and Elements ? or doe they thinke that the will and commandements of God are deriued to vs onely by the way of the Pope ? or why should not wee thanke them , for producing this Canon , since it is direct , and very strong for Kings , and for the Popes , it is but common with all other Magistrates , who must be obeyed , when God speaks in them , or when they sp●ake not against God ? 21 In the tenth Distinction , one Pope by the testimony of two other popes , saies , That the Ecclesiastique Constitutions must be preferred before the Emperours lawes : And the cases mentioned there , are the constituting of a Met●apolitane , & the dissoluing of a Mariage , vpon entring into Religion ; to which , I say , that these cases , by consent of the Emperours , were vnder their iurisdiction . And if you gather a generall rule by this , of the force of Canons aboue Ciuill lawes , you proceede indirectly accepting the same persons , for Parties , Iudges , and Witnesses : and besides it is not safe arguing from the Emperour to another absolute Prince , nor from the authority , which Canons haue in his Dominions , to what they should haue in all . 22 In the 21. Distinction , A Pope writing to a Bishoppe of Milan , telles him , That the dignities and preheminences of Churches , must be as the Bishoppe of Rome shall ordaine , because Christ committed to Peter , which hath the keyes of eternall life , Iura terreni simul & Caelestis imperij But if he meane by his Terrenum Imperium , the disposing of the dignities and preheminencies of Churches one aboue another in this world : Or if he meane by it , That he hath this Terrenum Imperium , as he hath the keyes of heauen , that is to binde and loose sinnes by spirituall censures and Indulgences of absol●tion , in which capaci●y he may haue authority ouer the highest secular Princes ; for any thing conteined in this Oath , this Canon wil do vs no harme . But if hee meane that Christ gaue him both these authorities together , and that thereby he hath them as Ordinary Iudge , then Bellarmine and all which follow the Diuines opinion of indirect power , will forsake him ; and so may you by their example . 73 After , another Pope , Gelasius writes to Anastasius the Emperour , comparing Secular and Ecclesiastique d●gnity . And he sa●es , You know that you depend vpon their iudgement : but this is , saies the Glosse , in spirituall matters . And because this Canon comes no neerer our question , then to iustifie in the Pope a power of excommunicating Princes , ( for it assumes no more ●hen Ambrose exercised vpon Theodosius ) I will stand no longer vpon it . 24 And these be the Canons , which out of the Distinctions , I haue obserued to be scattered amongst their Authours , when they teach this doctrine : for any that preferres Priest-hood befo●e Principality , seemes to them ●o conduce to that point . Now I will follow Gratian in his other parts where the first is , the Canon Nos si incompetenter , which is ve●y of●en vr●ed , but it is so farre ●rom in●luding this power of Deposing , that it excludes it ; ●or , allowing the Priest powe● to Reprehend , and remembring former examples of Excommunication , hee addes , Nathan in reproouing the King , executed that office , in which he was Superiour to him , but he vsurped not the Kings office , in which he was inferiour ; nor gaue iudgement of death vpon him as Adulterer , or murderer . 25 In the seuenth Question of the ninth Cause , from the Canon Episcopo , to the end of that Question , there are many sayings , which aduance the digni●y of the Romane Seate , and forbidde al men to hinder Appeals thither , or to iudge of the popes Decrees : But all these were in spirituall causes , and directed to spirituall persons , and vnder spirituall punishments . Onely , in the Canon Fratres the king of Spaine seemes to be threatned , but it is with Excommunication onely . And all these Canons together , are deliuered by one Pope of another , In whome , sa●es the Glosse , It is a familiar kinde of proofe , for one one Pope to produce another for witnesse , as God did proue the sinnes of Sodome , by Angels . And as there is much iniustice in this manner of the Popes proceeding , so is there some tincture of blaspemy , in the maner of iustifying it , by this Comparison . 26 The Canon Alius , which droppes out of euery penne , which hath written of this Subiect , is the first wherein I marked any Pope to speake of Deposing ; In this , Gelasius writes to Anastasius ; a Pope to an Emperour , that Pope Zachary his predecessor , had deposed the King of France , because he was vnfit for so great a power . But the Glosser doth the Pope good seruice , and keepes him within such a conuenient sense , as may make him say true ; For , saies ●e , He deposed , that is , Hee gaue consent to them which did depose , which were the States of that Kingdome ; which he saies , out of the Euidence of the history ; for he is so farre f●om coarcting the Popes power , that wee may easily deprehend in the Glosse , more ●raud and iniquity , then arrogance and tyrannie in the Pope . For , saies he , the vnfitnesse of the French King , was licentiousnesse , not infufficiency to gouerne , for then the Pope ought to haue giuen him an assistant . To proue w●ich , he cites two other Canons ; In which places it appeares , That to Bishoppes vnable by reason o● age , to discharge their functions , the Pope assigns Coadiutores , and by this the Glosser might euict , that he hath the same Ordinary authority to dispose of Kingdomes , as of Bishoprickes . This Canon therefore doth onely vnfaithfully relate the act of another Pope , and not determine nor decree any thing , nor binde the conscience . 27 In the same Question , there is a Canon or two , in which our case is thus farre concern'd ; that they handle the Popes authority in Absoluing and Dispensing from Oathes : And the first is c●ted often and with great courage ; because besides the word Ab omnibus Iuramentis , & cuiuscunquemodi obligationibus absoluimus , there followes , parsue thē with the spirituall and materiall sword . But when we consider the case and the History , this power will not extend to our cause . For the Pope thereby doth giue liberty to some Bishops , to recouer by iust violence , such parts of the Church Patrimonie , as were taken away from them , and doth dispence with such oathes as they had beene forced to take , by those which iniuriously infested the Church . Yet I denie not but that the glosser vpon this Canon is liberall enough to the Pope , for he sayes , hee hath power to dispence against the law of Nature , & against the Apostle . 28 After this , followes that solemne and famous Canon of Gregory the seuenth , Nos sanctorum . Of whom , since he had made a new rent in the body of the Church , ( as Authors of his own Religion ( if he had any ) professe , ) it is no maruaile that he patched it , with a new ragge in the body of the Canon law . Thus therefore he saies , Insisting vpon the statutes of our predecessors , by our Apostolique authority , wee absolue from their Oath of Alleageance , all which are bound to persons excommunicate ; And we vtterly forbid them , to beare any Alleageance to such , till they come to satisfaction . But to whom shall these men be subiect in the meane time ? To such a one as will be content to resigne , when so euer the other will aske forgiuenesse ? Ambition is not an ague ; it hath no fits , nor accesses , and remittings ; nor can any power extin●guish it vpon a sodaine warning . And if the purpose of Popes in these deposings , were but to punish with temporarie punishment , why are the Kingdomes , which haue been transferred by that colou● , from Hereticall Princes , still with-held from their Catholique Heires ? 29 But who these predecessors , of whom the Pope speaks in this letter , were , I could neuer find . And it appeares by this , that this was an Innouation , and that he vsed Excommunication to serue his own ends , because in another Canon he sayes , That many perished by reason of Excommunications ; and that therefore he being now ouercome with compassion , did temper that sentence for a time , and withdraw from that band , all such as communicated with the excommunicate person , except those by whose Counsaile , the fault was perpetrated , which induced the Excommunication . And this , sayes the glosse , he did , because he saw them contemne excommunication , and neuer seek Absolution ; for all those whom he exempts by this Canon , were exempt before his time by the law it selfe . So that where he sayes Temperamus , it is but Temperatum esse ostendimus ; and hee did but make them afraid , who were in no danger , and make them beholden to him , whom the law it selfe deliuered . And of this Canon in speciall words a one of their great men sayes , That it binds not , where it may not be done , without great damage of the subiect . 30 Of his Successor , almost immediate , ( for Victor the third lasted but a little ) I finde another Canon , almost to the same purpose ; for he wr●tes to a Bishop , to forbid the Souldiers of an Earle , who was excommunicate , to serue him , though they were sworne to him . For , saye● he● They are not tied by any authority to keepe that alleageance , which they haue sworne to a Christian Prince , which resists God and his Saints , and treads their precepts vnder his feete . But in this man , as Gregories spirit wrought in him , wh●lst he liued , for he was his Messenger to publish the Excommunication against the Emperour in Germany , so Gregories ghost speakes now ; for all this was done to reuenge Gregories quarrell ; though in his owne particular hee had some interest , and reason of bitternesse , for he had beene taken and ill vsed by Henry in Germany . 31 In the 25 Cause there is a Canon which tasts of much boldnesse ; What King so euer , or Bishop , or great person , shall suffer the Decrees of Popes to be violated , Execrandum Anathema sit . But these ( for in this Cause there are diuers Canons , for the obseruing of the Canons ) are for the most part such imprecations , as I noted before , Gregory the first ●o haue made for preseruation of the priuiledges of Medardus Monastery , and some other of the same name ( of which kinde also Villagut , hath gathered some other examples ; ) And at farthest , they extend but ●o excommunication ; and are pronounced by the Popes themselues , and are intended of such Canons , as are of matters of faith , that is , such as euen the Popes themselues are bound to obserue ; as appeares here , by Leo●he ●he fourths Canon , Ideo permittente . And here I will receiue you from Gratian , and leade you into the Decretals , whom they iustly esteeme a little better company . 32 To proue the Popes generall right , to interpose in all causes ( which seemes to conduce to the Question in hand ) they cite often this case falling out in England ; which is , vpon seuerall occasions three or foure times intimated in the Decretals . It was thus : Alexander the third , writes to certaine Bishoppes in England , to iudge , as his Delegates , in a Matrimoniall cause . And because the person whose legitimation was thereby in question , was an ●eire , and the Mother dead , and the Pope thought it not fit , that after her death , her marriage should bee so narrowly looked into , since it was not in her life , therefore he appoints , That possession of the land should bee giuen first , and then the principall point of the marriage proceeded in . And by this they euict for him a title in temporall matters Accessorily , and Consequently . But if they consider the times , they may iustly suspect vniust proceeding ; For it was when Alexander the third did so much infest our King Henry the second . And it seemes he did but trie by this , how much the King would endure at his hands ; for when he vnderstood that the king tooke it ill , then came another Letter , related also in the Canons , wherein hee confesseth , that that matter appertaines to the King , and not to the Church , And therefore commaundes them to proceede in the matter of the marriage , without dealing with the possession of the land . 33 Another Canon , not much vrged by the defenders of direct Authoritie , but by the other faction , is a Letter of Innocent the third . In which Letter , I beleeue the Pope meant to lay downe , purposely and determinately , how farre his power in Temporall matters extended . For it is not likely , that vpon a Petition of a priuate Gentleman , for Legitimation of his Children , who doubted not of his power to doe it , the Pope would descend to a long discourse and proofe out of both testaments , and reasons of conueniencie , that he might doe it , and then in the end , tell him , hee would not , except hee meant , that this Letter should remaine as euidence to posteritie , what the Popes power in Temporall causes was . Let vs see therefore what that is which he claimes . 34 A Subiect of the King of France , who had put away his Wife , desires the Pope to legitimate certaine Children which he had by a second wife . And , it seemes , he was encouraged thereunto , because the Pope had done that fauour to the King of France before : The Pope answers thus , By this , it seemes , that I may graunt your request , because I may certainely Legitimate to all spirituall capacities , and therefore it is Verisimilius , & probabilius , that I may doe it in Temporall . And , sayes he , It seemes that this may be prooued by a similitude , because hee which is assumed to bee a Bishop , is exempted thereby from his fathers iurisdiction ; and a slaue deliuered from bondage , by being made a Priest : And , hee addes , In the patrimonie I may freely doe it , where I am supreme Prince : But your case , is not the same as the Kings was , not o●ly for spirituall considerations , which are , That he was lawfully seperated , and pretended neerenesse of blood , and was not forbid to marrie againe , and your proceeding hath beene without colour , and in contempt of the Church . But the King , who had no Superiour in Temporall matters , might without doing wrong to any other , submit himselfe to our iurisdiction ; But you are knowen to be subiect to another . Thus farre hee proceeded , waueringly , and comparatiuely , and with conditions and limitations . 35 And least this should not stretch farre enough , he addes ; Out of the Patrimonie in certaine causes , wee doe exercise Temporall iurisdiction casually , which the Glosse interprets thus , requested● And the Pope hath said before , That he which makes this request , must be one that hath no Superiour : And in this place he sayes , That this may not be done , to preiudice anothers right . But after this , vpon a false foundation , that is , an errour in their Translation ( where in Deuteronomie , Death being threatned to the transgressour of the sentence , Of the Priest and Iudge , they haue left out the Iudge ) he makes that state of the Iewes , so falsely vnderstood , to be a Type o● Rome , and so Rome at this time to be Iudge of all difficulties , because it is the seate of the high Priest. But he must be thought more constant , then to depart from his first groūd and therefore must meane , When superiour Princes , which haue no other Iudges , are in such doubtes , as none else can determine , Recurrendum est , ad sed●m Apostolicam ; that is , they ought to do it , rather then to go to the onely ordinary Arbitrator betweene Soueraigne Princes , the sword . 36 And when such Princes doe submit their causes to him , in such cases hee de●lares himselfe by this Canon , to be a competent Iudge , though the matter be a ciuill businesse , and he an Ecclesiasticall person : and though he seeme to goe ●omewhat farther , and stre●ch that typicall place in Deuteron . to ●gree with Rome so farre , that as there , so here , he which disobeyes , must die , yet hee explanes this death thus , L●t him as a dead man , be seperated from the Communion , by Excommunication . So that this Canon p●rposely enacted to declare temporall authority , by a Pope , whom none exceeded in a st●ffe and earnest promo●ing the dignity of that Sea , procedes onely by probabilities , and verisimilitudes , and equiualencies , and endes at last with Excommunication ; and therefore can imprint in you no reason to refuse this Oath . For out of this Canon , doth Victoria frame a strong argument , That this most learned Pope doeth openly confesse , by this Canon , that he hath no power ouer the King of France in Temporall matters . 37 Another Canon of the same Pope is often cited , by which , when the King of England complain'd , that the King of France had broken the Peace , which was confirm'd by Oath , the Pope writes to the Bishops of France , That though he intende not to iudge of that Title , in question , which appertaines not to him , yet the periurie belongs to his cognisance : and so , he may reprooue , and in cases of Contumacie , constraine , Per districtionem Ecclesiasticam , without exception of the persons of Kings : And therefore , sayes he , If the King refuse to performe the Articles , and to suffer my Delegates to heare the cause , I haue appointed my Legate , to proceede as I haue directed him . What his Instructions were , I know not by this ; but beyond Excommunication , you see by the Text , he pretends not : Whatsoeuer they were , this is certaine , That the Princes of those times , to aduantage themselues against their enemies , with the Popes helpe , did often admit him , to doe some acts against other Princes , which after , when the Pope became their enemie , themselues felt with much bitternesse . But in this Canon , hee disclaimes any Iurisdiction to iudge of Titles ; which those Popes tooke to themselues , who Excommun●cated our late Queene ( if Parsons say true , That they had respect to the iniustice of her Title , by reason of a Statute ) and all those Popes must doe , which shall doe any act , which might make this Oath vnlawfull to you . 38 In the title De Sent. Excom . there are two Canons , which concernes onely Excommunication of Heretickes , and in●ringers o● Ecclesiasticke Immunitie , and are directed but to one par●icular place . VVhich , though they can impose no●hing vpon your conscience against this Oath , may yet teach you not to grudge , that a State which prouides for her securitie by Lawes and Oathes , expresse it in such words , as may certainely reach to the principall purpose thereof , and admit no euasions . For so these Canons doe , when they Excommunicate , All of all Sexe , , of any Name , Fauourers , Receiuers , Defenders , Lawmakers , Writers , Gouernours , Consuls , Rulers , Councellours , Iudges , and Registers of any statutes , made in that place against Church liberties . 39 That the Canons haue power to abrogate Ciuill lawes of Princes , they vse to cite the Canon Quoniam omne , made by Innocent the third , who hath made more Canons then halfe of the Popes before him . And if this doe not batter downe , yet it vndermines all secular power . For they may easily pretend , that any Lawe , may in some case occasion sinne . This Canon hath also more then Ordinary authority , because it is made in a generall Councell : thus it ●aies , Absque bona fide , nulla valeat praescriptio , tam Canonica , quam ciuilis : And this , saies Bellarmine , doth abrogate an Imperiall lawe , by which prescription would serue , so that it begann Bona fide , though at some time after , he which was in possession , came to know , that his title was ill ; but the Canon l●w requires that he esteeme in h●s conscience , his title to be good , all the time , by which he p●escribes . But by this Canon , that particular Imperiall lawe is no more abrogated , then such other lawes as cannot be obserued without danger of sinne , which includes not onely some Ciuill Constitutions , but also some other Canons ; For your Glosser saies , That the Canon derogates from all Constitutions , Ciuill and Ecclesiastique , which cannot be obserued without deadly sin : that is , it makes them guilty in foro interiori . He addes , That he doth not beleeue , that the Pope did purpose by this Canon , to preiudice the ciuill lawes , nor that the wordes are intended of ciuill and secular law , but that by those wordes , Tam ciuilis , quam Canonica , the Pope meanes , that a prescriber Malae fidei , is guilty in conscience , whether it be of a matter Secular or Ecclesiastique . For ( saies bee ) though some say , the Pope meant to correct the law herein , yet this correction is not obserued in Iudicio Seculari . And therefore ( saies hee ) I doe not beleeue , that the Pope himselfe is bound to iudge according to this Canon , where he hath temporall iurisdiction , because hee hath that Iurisdiction from the Emperour : therefore the Imperiall law standes still , and is not abrogated by this Canon , though of a generall Councell . 40 This Pope also by a Canon in the title de Voto , hath gone the farthest of any , which haue fallen within my obseruation : for a King of Hungary , which had made a vowe to vndertake a warre for Hierusalem , preuented by death , imposed the execution thereof vpon his yonger sonne , who binding himselfe to performe it , with the armie which he leuied for that purpose , in pretence , troubled his brother in his Kingdome : To him therefore Innocentius writes , That except he doe forthwith performe the vow , he shall be excommunicate and depriued of all right to that Kingdome ; and that the kingdome , if his elder brother die without issue , shall deuolue to his younger brother . But all these threatnings , except that one of Excommunication , were not thundered by the Pope , as though hee could inflict them , out of his authority , but he remembers this ill-aduised Prince , that except he performe the will of his father , he looses his inheritance by the law : Which the Glosse in this place , endeuours to proue , and to that purpose cytes , and disputes some of the lawes in that point . 41 The Canon Solitae , though it be euery where alleadged , and therefore it importunes me to mention it , reaches not to our question , for it is onely a Reprehension made by a Pope , to a Greeke Emperour , because hee did not affoord his Patriarch of Constantinople dignity enough in his place . And he tels him , that he mistakes S. Peters meaning , in his Epistle , where he teaches obedience to Emperours ; For , saies he , he writ but to those which were vnder him , and not to al ; and he did prouoke them to a meritorious humility , not informe them of a necessary Duety ; For , saies he , if that place shall be vnderstood of Priests , and literally , then Priests must bee subiect to Slaues , because it is Omni Creaturae , neyther ( saies he ) is it said , To the King , absolutely Precellenti , but tanquam precellenti , which was not added without cause . For ( saies the Glosse ) this word , Tanquam , is Similitudinarium , non expressiuum veritatis ; So that S. Peter doth not call the king Superiour in truth , but as it were Superiour ; as I noted the Cardinals to subscribe Letters to persons of lower ranke , Vester vti frater . And that which followes , of the punishment of euill doers , and praise of God , is not ( saies he ) that the King hath power of the sword ouer good and euill , but onely ouer them , which because they vse the sword , are vnder his iurisdiction . Then proceedes he to magnifie Priesthood , because Ieremie , to whom Commission was giuen ouer Nations , was descended of Priests : and because the Sunne which designes Priesthod , is so much bigger then the Moone : with so many more impertinencies , and barbarismes , and inconsequences , that I wonder why he , who summ'd it , should so specially say of this Canon , that it is Multum Al●egabile . 42 In the Canon Grauem , Honorius the third writes to certaine Prelates , whose Church had receiued much detriment by a Noble-man , That since he hath continued contemptuously vnder Excommunication two yeares , if vpon this last monition he refuse to conforme himselfe , they should discharge those Churches from their obedience to him , and denounce those which ought him alleageance , to be discharged therof , as long as be remained Excommunicate . But it appeares not here , whether hee were a Subiect of the Romane Church or no ; And yet appeares plainely that he was no Soueraigne , and therefore no precedent in our case , in which there could not easily be restitution giuen to any , after another were in possession . 43 In the next volume of the law , which they call Sex●us , I haue noted in their Authours but one Canon , which comes within any conuenient distance of this point , which is a Letter of Innocent the fourth to the Nobility of Portugall , by which , vnder paine of Excommunication hee commaunds them , to receiue the kings brother , as coadiutor to that king , Notwithstanding any Oath of Alleageance , or resistance of the King ; So that they preserued the right in the King , and in his children , if he shall ●aue any : Which , being but matter of fact , doth not constitute a rule , nor binde consciences , especially when for the fact it selfe , the note saies in that place , That the Pope ought not to haue interposed himselfe in that businesse . 44 In the Extrauagants●f ●f Pope Iohn the two and twenteth , there is one Canon which would take great hold of consciences obliged to that Sea , but that it proceedes from a Pope infam'd for heresie , and claimes that Iurisdiction , which it there inculcates , in the right of being Emperour , at that time , when the throne , by the death of Henrie the seuenth , was vacant . Thus it sa●es , Since it is cleare in law , and constantly obserued of olde , that in a vacancy of the Empire , because then there can be no recourse to any Secular Iudge , the Iurisdiction , Gouer●ment , and Disposition of the Empire deuolues to the Pope , who is knowne to haue exercised all these therein by himselfe , or others : whereas diuers continue the offices of the Empire , without our Confirmation , we admonish all vnder Excommunication , euen Kings , to leaue off those titles ; and if they doe not so , within two moneths ( how could hee prophesie so long a vacancie ? ) Wee will Excommunicate the persons , and interdict the Dominions of them all , Etiam superiores et inferiores Reges , and proceede with them , spi●itually and temporally , as we shall farther see to be expedient . And wee absolue all men , of all Oathes , by which they were bound to them . But , as I said before , this right of inflicting temporall punishment hee claim●s as Emperour ; and the spirituall punishments are threatned to no other , nor in any other Capacity , then as they are officers of the Empire , of which then hee imagines himselfe supreme Prince , and so he is enabled to doe all those acts , vpon any Prince which depends vpon the Empire , which he might doe Ordinarily in the Patrimony ; and all , which the Pope and the Emperour together might doe vpon any Prince , which vsurped the titles and dignities of the Empire , without the Emperours approbation . 45 In the Common Extrauagants , that which they call vnam Sanctam , made by Boniface the eight , Anno 1302. hath the greatest force of all : both because it intends to proue and to Decree a certaine proposition , That it is of the necessitie of Saluation to be subiect to the Pope , and also because it determines it with Essentiall and formall words , belonging to a Decree , Declaramus , Definimus , Pronunciamus . And though in the body and passage of the Decree , there are sometimes arrogations of Secular Iurisdiction , by way of argument , and conueniencie , and Probable consequence ; yet is there nothing drawne into the definition , and Decree , and thereby obligatorily cast vpon our Consciences , but onely this , That a Subiection to the Pope is , of the necessitie of Saluation . For , sayes the glosse , it was the intention of the Pope in this Decretall , to bring reasons , examples , and authorities , to proue that Conclusion . So that , as if it pleased him to haue said so definitiuely , without arguing the case , the Decretall had beene as perfit and binding , as it is after all his reasons , and argumentation : so doe not his Reasons bind our reason , or our faith , being no part of the Definition , but leaue to vs our liberty , for all but the Definition it selfe . 46 And a Catholique which beleeues by force of this Decretall , That he cannot be saued except he obay the Pope , is not bound to beleeue there●fore , that these words of S. Iohn , There shall be one sheepe-folde , and one sheepheard , are meant of a Subiection of all Christian Princes to the Pope , as this Decretall , by way of Argument , sayes ; but he may be bold , for all this , to beleeue an elder Pope , that this is spoken of ioyning Iewes and Gentiles in one faith ; or Theophilact , That this proues one God to be the sheepheard of the olde and new Testament , against the Maniches . Nor is he bound , because this Decretall saies it by the way , to beleeue that the words in Saint Luke , Behold here are two swords , to which Christ did not answere , It is too much , but it is enough , doe proue the spirituall and temporall swords to bee in the disposition of the Church ; but he is at liberty for all this , to b●leeue Chrysostome , That Christ by mentioning two swords in that place , did not meane , that they should possesse swords , ( for what good ( sayes he ) could two swords doe ? ) but he forwarned them of such persecutions , as in humane iudgement would neede the defence of swords . Or he may beleeue Ambrose , That these two swords , are the sword of the Worde , and the sword of Martyrdome : of which there is mention in S. Luke , A sword shall passe thorow my soule . So that these swords arme them to seeke the truth , and to defend it with their liues : or hee may beleeue S. Basil , who saies , That Christ spoke Prophetically , that they would encline to vse swordes , though indeede they should not doe so . Both which expositions of Chrysostome and Basil , a Iesuite remembers , and addes for his owne opinion ; That Christ did not confirme two Swords to the Church , by Saying , It is enough , but onely , because they could not vnderstand him , he broke off further talke with them , as we vse when we are troubled with one , who vnderstands vs not , to say , T is well , T is enough . 47 For Bellarmine is our warrant in this case , who saies , That those wordes intimate no more , but that the Apostles , when persecution came , would be in as much feare , as they who would sell all to buy swords : and that Pope Boniface did but mystically interprete this place . 48 And as the exposition of other places there cited by Boniface , and his diuers reasons scattered in the Decretall , ●al not within the Definition therof , no● binde our faith ; so doth it not , that those wordes spoken by God to Ieremy , I haue set thee ouer the nations , and ouer the Kingdomes , and to plucke vp , and roote out , to destroy and to throw downe , to build and to plant , are ve●ifi●d of the Ecclesiastique power , though he say it . But any Catholique may boldly beleeue that they were spokē only to Ieremy , who had no further Commission by them , but to denounce , and not to inflict those punishments . For it were hard , if this Popes Mysticall expositions should binde any man ( contrary to his oath appointed by the Trent Councell ) to leaue the vnanime consent of the Fathers in expounding these Scriptures : and so an obedience to one Pope should make him periured to another . The last D●finition therefore of this Decretall , which was first and principally in the purpose and intention of this Pope , which is , Subiection to him , is ma●ter of faith to all them , in whom the Popes Decre●s beget fai●h , but temporall Iurisdiction is not hereby imposed vpon the conscience , as matter of faith . 49 But because this Canon was suspiciously penn'd , and perchance misinterpretable , and bent against the kingdome of France , betweene which state and the Pope there was then much contention , so that therefore it kept a iealous watch vppon the proceeding of that Church , Clement the fif● , who came to be pope within foure yeares after the making of this Canon , made another Decree , That by this Definition or Declaration of Boniface , that Kingdome was not preiudiced , nor any more subiect to Rome , then it was before the making of that Decree . And though it was not Clements pleasure to deale cleerely , but to leaue the Canon of Boniface , as a stumbling blocke still to others , yet out of the whole History this will result , to vs , that if this temporall Iurisdiction , which some gather out of this Canon , were in the Pope , Iure Diuino , hee could not exempt the kingdome of Fraunce ; and if it were not so , no Canons can create it But euen this exemption of Clement proues Bonifaces acte to be Introductory , and new , for what benefite hath any man by being exempted from a Declaratorie law , when for all that exemption , ●ee remaines still vnder the former law , which that declares : So that nothing concerning temporall Iurisdiction is defined in that Canon ; but it is newly thereby made an Article of faith , that all men must vpon paine of damnation be subiect to the Church in spirituall causes ; from which Article it was necessary to exempt France , because that kingdome was neuer brought to be of that opinion . 50 And in the last Volume of the Canon law , lately set out in the Title , De Rescrip . & Mand. Apost . there is one Canon of Leo the tenth , and another of Clement the seuenth , which annull all Statutes and ciuill constitutions , which stoppe Appeales to Rome , or hinder the execution of the Popes bulles ; and inflicts Excommunication , and Interdicts the Dominions of any , which shall make or fauor such Statutes . But because these Canons doe not define this● , as matter of faith , I doubt not but the Catholiques of England would bee loath to aduenture the daungers which our Lawes inflict , vpon such as seeke Iustice at Rome , which may be had here : And they doe , though contrarie to these Canons , in continuall practise , bring all their causes into the Courtes of Iustice here , which , if the Canons might preuaile , belong'd to Rome . 51 And these be all the Canons , which I haue mark'd either in mine owne reading of them , or from other Authors which write of these questions ; to bee cited to this purpose . Those which concerne Ecclesiasticke immunitie , or the Popes spirituall power I omitted purposely● And of this kind which I haue dealt withall , I doubt not but some haue escaped me . But I may rather be ashamed of hauing read so much of this learning , then not to haue read all . 52 Heere therefore I will conclude , that though to the whole body of the Canon Law , there belong'd as much faith and reuerence , as to the Canons of the old Councels , yet out of them , you can finde nothing to assure your consciences , that you may incurre these dangers for refusall of the Oath . Nor may the Pope bee presum'd to imag●ne , that he shal re-establish himself in any place , which hath escaped , and deliuered it selfe from his vsurpations , by any Canon Law , except he be able to vse that Droict du Canon , which Montmorencie the French Constable , perswaded his King to vse against a Towne which held out against him . CHAP. XI . That the two Breues of Paulus the fift , cannot giue this assurance to this Conscience ; First , for the generall infirmities , to which all Rescripts of Popes are obnoxious : And th●n for certaine insufficiencies in these . THough that which hath beene said in the former Chapter of the Decretall Letters of Popes , extend also to these Breues , since they are all of the same elements and complexion , and subiect to the same diseases and infirmities : Yet because these two Breues , may bee said to haue beene addressed directly and purposely to giue satisfaction in this particular businesse , they may challendge more obedience , and lay a more Obligation then those other Decretals , which issuing vpon other occasions , doe not otherwise concerne the question in hand , then by a certaine relation , and consequence , and comparison of the circumstances which produced them , with the circumstances which begot these Breues . 2 It seemes that the Pope when hee would restraine the subiects of Princes , and keepe them short , when he would cut off there naturall and profitable libertie of obeying Ciuill Lawes , when he would fetter and manacle them in perplexities , and make them doe lesse then they should , to the losse of life , and liberties , he is content to send his Breues ; But when he will swell and blow vp Subiects with Rebellion , when he will fill them with opinions , that they may resist the entrances , or interrupt the possessions of Princes , when hee will haue them doe mo●e then they should doe , then come forth his Buls . For they say their Buls are so called out of the tumor , and swelling of the Seale ; And the other , because they are dispatch'd vnder a lesse Seale , Sub Annulo piscatoris , are therefore called Breues ; For , in temporall businesses of forraigne Princes , his Letters are euer defectiue , or abundant ; they command too much , or too little . 3 And as the Popes haue euer beene abstinent in declaring and expressing in certaine and euident tearmes , how they haue this temporall Iurisdiction , least hauing once ioynde issue vpon some one way , all men should bende their proofes against that , and being once defea●ed , they could be admitted to no other plea , then themselues had chosen to adhere to , and relie vpon : So haue they abstained as much from giuing any binding resolution , in the question , how farre the ciuill lawes of Princes doe binde the subiects conscience . For Nauar●us testifies of himselfe , and of Caietane , and others , that it was much desired of the Councell of Trent ; that it would haue defined something certainely in that point : for the want of this definition brought him to contradict himselfe , and to hang in a perplexed suspence , and various change of opinions , fiftie yeares ; and at last to resolue , That Ciuill lawes do● not binde the consciences , ad Mortale , in some such cases , as Carninus , his Catholique Aduersarie , saies , It is Haeresi proximum , and Temerarium , and sometimes Haereticum to say so . 4 If therefore we shall follow in this point Carninus his opinion , who deliuers as the most common and most probable , yea , necessarie Doctrine , That because Ciuill lawes are no more to be called Humane lawes , then Ecclesiastique are , ( for so also Nauarrus confounds the names ) and that in power of binding , Humane lawes , that is , Ciuill , and Ecclesiastique , are equall to Diuine law , because in euery iust law the power of God is in●used , And therfore , Diuinitas ista ( as he calls it ) inheres in all lawes , & to transgresse them is sin , And not only because the Maiestie of God , who quickens and inanimates this law , by a power deriued vpon his Lieutenant , is violated thereby , but euen in respect of the matter and Subiect , which is in euery law , that is , The common good , and tranquility , and to offend against that , is to offend against rectified Reason , and therefore since , This opinion , I say , being receiued as true , and so this law which commaunds this oath , made by a lawfull power , and for the publique Good , and generall tranquility , being in possession of the Subiects Consciences , and binding them vnder danger of Mortall sinne , whatsoeuer can warrant any man to transgresse this law , must haue both Authority , and Euidence enough , to assure the Conscience , which till then is bound thereby , that either for some Substantiall , or for some formall Defect , this was neuer any law , or that it is Abrogated , or that the persons of Catholiques are exempted from it . 5 And haue these Breues of the Popes gone about to giue your Consciences , as good reasons against the oath , as you were possessed withall before , for it ? Are you as sure that these Breues , or that any Breues can binde your Conscience in this Case , as you were before , that the law could ? And are you as sure that there are Breues , as that there is a law ? 6 If the statute which enacts a Subsidie , which by the Kings accep●ation becomes a law , and so bindes the Conscience , should so esteeme the refusall of the payment of his taxation in any person , to bee an argument of disloyalty , as to make it capitall to refuse it , would you thinke that it such a Breue as these are , should tell you , that you might not pay it , with out detriment of Christian faith , you might die as Martyrs for refusall thereof ? 7 If such a Breue should forbid you to suffer your children to bee wards , to deliuer land escheated , or confiscate , to disobey the Kings emprest when hee leuies an Armie , or any such act due by conscience to his lawes , should this worke so vpon you , as to make you incurre the penalties of lawes , or suspicion of ill affected subiects ? Nor can you say , that these are meere temporall matters , and therefore remoued from his Iurisdiction ; for all sinne is spirituall , and hee is Iudge what is sinne . 8 How weake a ground for Martyredome , and how vnsufficient to deuest a conscience of an obedience , imposed in generall by nature , and fastned with a new knot by an expresse law , are such sickly and fraile Breues , as the smallest and most vndiscernable errour , euen in matter of forme doth annihilate ? for first , in the Ti●le of Constitutions and Rescripts of Popes ( which is alwaies the next Title to that of the Trinity and Cathol●que Faith , in all the bookes of the Canon law , except those bookes which haue no Title of the Trinity & Catholique faith ) there appeares very many Reasons by which a Breue may bee of no force . 9 Alexander the third , w●iting to an Archbishop of Canturbury , giues a rule of large extent ; That in these kinde of letters ( that is , such as proceede vpon information , as our case is ) this condition ; If the request be vpon true grounds , is euer vnderstood , though it be not expressed . And writing to the Archbishoppe of Rauenna , he saies , If at any time we write such things to you , as exasperate your minde , you must not bee troubled ; but diligently considering the quality of the businesse , whereof we write , either reuerently fulfill our command , or pretend by your Letters a reasonable cause why you cannot : for we will endure patiently , if you forbear to performe that , which was suggested to vs by euill information . And so doth that title abound with Interpretations , Limitations , and Reuocations of such Breues . 10 And not onely Delegate Iudges , and such persons as ha●e an inward knowledge , of errour in the cause which mooued the Pope to write , haue power to iudge these Breues , to bee inualid , and of no force , but euery Schoole-master . For Lucius the third , by a Rescript of his forbids any credit to be giuen to any Rescript , in which there is false Latin● to which also the Glosser adds , That it vitiates a Breue , if the Pope speake to any one man in the plurall number ; or call a Patriarch or a Bishop sonne . 11 And , as many Omissions , and many Adiections in the body of the Breue , eyther in matter , or in forme do●h annull it , So would it make any considerate conscience to doubt , whether such a Breue can warrant the expence of blood , or incurring other Capitall dangers , that obserues , how often the Breues which haue issued vpon best consideration and assistance of Counsell , haue beene reuoked ; not vpon new emergent matter , but vpon better knowledge of the former . Of which it seemes to me to be of good vse , to present one illustrous and remarqueable example . 12 Eugenius the fourth , hauing first by one Bull dissolued the Councell held at Basil , and transfered it to another place , the Councell for all that proceeding , the Pope by a second Bull , annuls all which that Councell had yet , or should after Decree ; and this , by the Councell , and Assent of the Cardinals . After this the Councell cytes him , and all his Cardinals , vpon whom it inflicts confiscation , and other penalties , if they forbeare to come . And then the Pope by a third Bull annuls that decree of Citation , and excommunicates al persons , euen Kings and the Emperour , if they execute vpon any , that Decree of the Councell . And then he publishes a fourth Bull , by which he answeres all obiections made against him by the Councel , and hauing so established his owne innocence , he annuls all acts made in preiudice thereof , and this also with assent and subscription of the Cardinals . And at last he sends out a fift Bull , in which hee takes knowledge , that his first Bull of dissoluing the Councell , had occasioned many grieuos dissentions , and was like to occasion more , and therefore now , he Decrees and Declares ( by the Councell and Assent of his Cardinals still ) not only that the Councell of Basil should from thenceforth be good and lawfull , but that it was so , when that Bull came , and that it had beene so from the time of the beginning thereof . And so in expresse wordes , hee annuls his annulling of it : and he reuokes two former Buls , and pronounces them Irritas , Annullatas , Cassatas ; by the first whereof he had disabled the Councell , and by the second had excommunicated Princes , which should execute that , which he pronounces now to be iust : and of the other Bull he saies , It proceeded not from him , nor by his knowledge , though it were testified by the Cardinals , and endorsed formally by his Secretary . And euen this last Bull of so many Reuocations , Annihilations , and Tergiuersations was not thought strong , nor out of the danger of being reuoked againe , till the Councell accepted it , and ratified it by applying the BVLL and Seale of the Councell to it . 13 So is it familiar in the Popes , not for the variety of iust occasion , but for pe●sonall hate to their predecessors , to annull the acts of one another . So Stephen the sixth or seuenth , abrogated Omnes ordinationes , of Pope Formosus , and digged him vp , and cut of some of his fingers , and cast him into Tyber , and made all to whom he had giuen Orders , take new Orders againe . And next yeare Pope Romanus abrogated all Stephens Acts ; and within seuen yeare after , came Sergius , who refreshed the hate against Formosus , and beheaded his body ; which I wonder how he found , since Pope Stephen had so long before cast it into Tyber . 14 And in a matter so mainly concerning faith , as amongst them , an Autentique translation of the Bible , is , betweene the Edition of Sixtus the fift , and the Edition of Clement the eight , there is so much difference , euen in absolute and direct Contradictions , as he which reades the seuerall Breues , by which those two Editions are authorised ; both hauing equall iustifications of the present Editions , equal absolutions from oathes for admitting any other , equall imprecations and curses , for omitting these , may well thinke that that is a weake and litigious title to Ma●tyrdome , which is grounded vpon the Popes Breues , which he himselfe , when he sends them , knowes not whether they be iust or no. 15 For , as they haue forbidden many lawfull things , and offered to destroy the lawes themselues , so haue they allowed and authorized manie things , which our owne Reason , and discourse , and Experience , can conuince of falshood . 16 It is the common opinion that Eugenius the third , confirmed Gratian● Of whom , we may be bolde , out of that learned Bishop which hath made animaduersions vpon him , ●o say , That he knew neither things nor words , mistooke matters and names , erred in places , and times , and had neither seene Fathers , Councels , nor Rolls . And though this B●shop seeme not to beleeue that Eugenius did confirme him , yet hee confesses , That hee which doth beleeue such a confirmation , is bound thereby to beleeue as many errours , as are in Gratian. For , it seemes we haue no longer liberty to doubt , after such a confirmation : as it will follow euidently out of Bellarmines fashion of arguing , when he sayes , We are bound to obay the Pope , when hee institutes a festiuall of a Saint ; yet wee are neuer bound to doe against our conscience ; and therefore we may no longer doubt it ; but wee must make his Decree our conscience . So that if either Eugenius confirmed it before , or Gregory the thirteenth since , our liberty is precluded , and we must credulously , and faithfully swallow , not onely all the vnwholsome , and insipid negligences , ignorances , and barbarismes of Gratian , but all the bitter and venomous mixtures to Christs merit , and all the blasphemies and diminutions of his Maiest●e , which Boniface the ninth , and Martin the fift , haue obtruded to vs , by approuing and confirming by their Bulls , the Reuelations of Saint Brigid ; for so sayes Paleotus they haue done . 17 These heauie inconueniencies , and dangerous precipitations into errours , being foreseene by some of the ancient Schoolemen , out of their Christian libertie , and prudent estimation of the Popes Authoritie , they haue pronounced this infallibilitie of iudgement , to bee onely then in the Pope , When he doeth applie all Morall meanes to come to the knowledge of the trueth ; As , hearing both parties , aud waighing the pressures and afflictions , which he shal induce vpon them whom he inflames against their P●ince , and proceeding mildly and dispassionately , and not like an interessed person , and to the edification , not destruction of them , whom onely he esteemes to be his Catholicke Church . 18 And this seemes so reasonable , that though the Iesuite Tannerus at first cast it away , as the opinion onely , Quorundam ex Antiquioribus Scholasticis , yet afterwards hee affoords an interpretation to it ; but such a one , as I think any Catholique would be loth to venter his Martyrdome thereupon , if he were to die for obedience to a Breue . For thus he saies , In euery matter , when a Hypotheticall proposition is made , of the condition whereof we are certaine , then the whole proposition must not be said to be Hypothetically and Conditionally true , but absolutely . And this he exemplifies by this Proposition : If Christ doe come to iudgement , there shall be a resurrection , which proposition is absolutely and not conditionally true , because we are certaine that Christ will come to Iudgement : And so he saies , That it is the meaning of all them who affirme that the Pope may er●e , except he vse ordinarie meanes , onely to inferre , that hee dooth euer vse those meanes , without all doubt and question . But with what conscience can this Iesuite say , That this was the meaning of these Schoolemen , when in the same place it appeares , that the purpose of those Schoolemen , was ●o bring the Pope to a custome of calling Councels , in determining waighty causes ; for when they say , He may erre except hee vse Ordinarie meanes , and they intended generall Councels for this o●dinary meanes , can they bee intended in s●yin● so● to meane that the Pope did euer in such cases vse Genera●l Councels , when they reprehended his neglecting that ordinary meanes , and laboured to ●educe him ●o the practise thereof ? 19 And though most of these infirmities incident to Breues in generall , doe so reflect vppon these two Breues in question , that any man may apply them , ye it may doe some good to come to a neerer exagitation and tri●l● of the necessary obliga●ion which they are ima●ined to imposed . It is good Doctrine which one of your men teaches ; That euen in lawes , euery particular man hath power to interprete the same to his aduantage , and to dispence with himselfe therein , if there occurre a sudden case of necessity , and there be no open way and recourse to the Superiour . The first part of which Rule would haue iustified them , who tooke the oath before the Breues ( though they had had some scruples in their conscience ) by reason of the great scandall to the cause , and personall detriment , which the refusall was li●ely to draw on . 20 Nor can the Catholiques be said , to haue had as yet recourse to their Superiour , when neither their reasons haue beene aunswered or heard , which thinke the oath naturally and morally law●ull , nor theirs who thinke , that in these times of imminent pressures and afflictions , all inhibitions ought to haue beene forborne , and that any thing which is not ill in it selfe , ought to haue been permit●ed for the sweetning and mollifying of the state towards them . 21 Their immediate Superiours here in England haue beene in different opinions , and therefore a recourse to them cannot determine of the matter : And for recourse to the Pope , the partie of Secular Priests haue long since complained , that all waies haue beene precluded ag●inst them . And if they had iust , or excusable reasons to doubt , that the first Breue issued by Subreption , they had more reasons to suspect as many infirmities in ●he second , because one of the reasons of suspecting the first , being , That their Reasons were not heard , but that the Pope was mis-informed , and so misledde by hearking to one partie onely , the second Breue came , before any remedy or redresse was giuen , or any knowledge taken of the complaint aga●nst ●he first . 22 Certainely I thinke that if he had had true in●ormation , and a sensible apprehension , that the s●ffe●ing of his party in this Kingdome , was like to b● so heauie , as the lawes threatned , and a pertinacy in this re●usall , was likely to extort , hee had beene a lauish and prodigall steward of their liues , and husbanded their bloods vnthriftily , if he had not reserued them to better seruices heereafter , by forbearing all inhibitions for the present , and confiding and relying vpon his power of absoluing them againe ; when any occasion should present it selfe to his aduantage , rather then thus to declare his ambitions , and expose his seruants and instruments to such dangers , when by this violence of his , the state shall be awakened to a iealous watchfulnes ouer them . 23 It is not therefore such a disobedience as contracts , crinduces sinne ( which it must be , i● it be matter enough for Martyrdome ) not to obey these Breues , though thus iterated ; for it is not the adding of mo●e Cyphars after , when there is no figure before , that giues any valew , or encrease to a number . Nauarrus vpon good grounds , giues this as the Resultance of many Canons there by him alleadge , That it is not sinne in a man not to obey his Superiour , when hee hath probable reasons to thinke , that his Superiour was deceiued in so commaunding , or that he would not haue giuen such a command , if he had knowne the truth . And can any Catholique beleeue so profanely of the Pope , as to thinke , that if hee had seene the effects of the powder treason , euery Church filled with deuout and thankfull commemorations of the escape , euery Pulpit iustly drawing into suspition , the Maisters which procured it , and the Doctrine wherewith they were imbued , euery vulgar mouth extended with execrations of the fact , and imprecations vppon such as had like intentions , euery member of the Parliament studying , what clau●es might be inserted for the Kings security , into new lawes , and the King himselfe to haue so much moderated this common iust distemper , by taking out all the bitternesse and sting of the law , and contenting himselfe , with an oath or such obedience as they were borne vnder , which i● they should refuse , there could be no hope of farther easinesse , or of such as his Maiestie had euer shewed to them before , Might any Catholique , I say● beleeue , that the Pope if he had seene this , would haue accelerated these afflictions vpon them , by forbidding an Act , which was no more but an attestation of a morall truth , that is , ciuill obedience , and a profession , that no man had power to absolue them , against that which they iustly auerred to be such a Morall & indelible truth ? Might he not reasonably and iustly haue applied to the Pope , ●hat which Anselmus is said to haue pronoūced of God himselfe , Minimum inconueniens est Deo impossible , and concluded thereupon , that it was impossible for the Pope to be Author of so great inconueniences ? 24 And if the Popes Breues were not naturally conditioned so , that in cases of enormou● de●ri●ment and inconuenience , to the cause and per●ons , the rigour thereof might be remitted , since in such occurrences , the reason of those Breues doth euiden●ly cease , which is euer , vnderstood to be the aduancement of the Romane Church ; And if in all cases , all Breues must haue their full execution vnder the paines and penalties inflicted therein , the Catholiques of England are in worse condition by some former Breues of the Popes , then the offending and violating these two later , can draw them into . For ( to omit many of like , and worse danger ) That generall Rescript of Clement the seuenth , which I mentioned before , pronounces , That not onely by the Bulla Caenae , all such are excommunicated though they be Princes , as hinder the execution of the Apostolique letters , or such as giue such hinderers any Counsaile , helpe , or fauours directly , or indirectly , publiquely , or secretly , or by any colour or pretence , ( which words will reach to all those , who haue refused , or doubted and disputed these Breues ) but also that the Kingdomes and places , where those offende●s are remaining , are interdicted ; And then in the rigour of this Breue , how can the Priests exercise their functions heere in England , if the Bulla Caenae , and a locall interdict oppresse it . 25 And by such seruile obedience to Breues , as this is all suc● Catholickes as haue relieu'd & succor'd themselues , with that weake distinction of the ●ourt of Rome , and the Church of Rome , shall loose and forfeit all the aduantage which that affoorded them ; For , when they shall bee pressed with numbers of Veniall Indulgences , and of ambitious Buls , and vsurpations vpon the right of other Princes , they shall not bee able to finde this ea●e , to dischardge all vpon the Court of Rome , if the Church of Rome make it matter of Faith to obey the Rescripts of the Court of Rome , which produce these enormities . For since the Pope is the Church , how can you diuide the Church from the Court ? Since , either as the Court is Aula or Curia , the Pope is the Prince , and as it is Forum , he is the Iudge , and the Ordinarie . And since all those Buls , which are loaded with censures , or with Indulgences proceede from him as he is the Church , ( for those powers are onely in the Church ) how can you impute to his act any errour of the Court ? 26 It was whilst Nero continued within the limits of a good and a iust Prince , that Tacitus said of him , Discreta fuit domus a Repub. but when hee stray'd into Tyrannie , it was not so . Nor is the Court of Rome , any longer distinguished from the Church of Rome , if the Church iustifie the errours of the Court , and pronounce , that hee which obeyes not that Court , is not in that Church , as it doeth in Excommunicating all them , which obey not the Rescripts and Breues of Popes . 27 So that when Bellarmine vndertooke to aunswere all , which had beene obiected out of Dante , and Bocace , and Petrarche , against Rome , it was but a lasie escape , and around and Summarie dispatch vpon wearinesse , to say , that all that was meant of the Court of Rome , not of the Church ; and therefore it was a wise abstinence in him , not to repeate Petrarchs words , but to recompense them by citing other places of Petrarch in fauour of the Romane Church . For though Petrarch might meane the Court , by the name of Babilon , and by imputing to it Couetousnesse and Licentiousnesse , yet when he charges Rome with Idolatrie , and cals it the Temple of Heresie , can this be intended of the Court of Rome ? 28 The disobedience to Popes ( in whome no moderate men euer denied some degrees of the leauen and corruption , of such passions and respects as vitiate all mens actions ) was not alwayes esteem'd thus hainous , though in matters neerer to the foundations of Faith , then these which are now in question . The famous dissention betweene Pope Stephen and Cyprian , is good euidence thereof . For though now they say , That the Pope did not pronounce , De fide , against rebaptization , but onely say , that it might not bee vsed : And that he did not Excommunicate Cyprian , but onely say , that he ought to be excommunicate ; yet this is as farre as the Pope hath proceeded with you : and after he had done thus much , Bellarmine saies , it was lawfull for Cyprian to differ from him : because hee thought that the Pope was in a pernitious errour . And though Cyprian is neuer found to haue retracted either his Doctrine of rebaptization , or his behauiour to the Pope , yet the seuerest Idolaters of that Sea , haue neuer denied him a roome amongst the blessed Saints of the purest times . 29 And tho●gh they are for their aduantage content to say now , that Cyprian was neuer excommunicated , yet it is not denied by Baronius , but that Ignatius the Patriarch of Constantinople was , and that he died excommunicate ; and resisted to the end of his life , the Popes Rescripts , by which hee was commaunded to leaue all the Countrie of Bulgaria to the iurisdiction of the Church of Rome . But this ( saies Baronius ) he did not out of any displeasure to the Pope , but to defend the iurisdiction of his Church , as he was bound by oath , vnder the da●ger of damnation : for his purpose was not to take away anothers right but to keepe his owne . 30 And was not this your case , before the Breues came ? Is not ciuill obedience either really or by intention and implication sworne by euery subiect to the King in his birth , and after ? and do you not by this last oath defend , not onely the Kings right , as you are bound , vnder danger of damnation , but your owne libertie who otherwise must bee vnder the obedience of two Maste●s ? and haue these two Breues made your case to differ so much from his , that that which was lawfull to him , may not be so to you ? when as to you the Breues haue onely brought a naked and bare commandement , without taking knowledg of your allegations : but the Pope gaue Ignatius three seuerall warnings ; and disputed the case with him : and tolde him that by the records at Rome , it was euident , and that no man was ignorant , that that region belong'd to the Romane Church , and that Ignatius his pretences to it , because the enemy had interrupted the Romane possession were of no force ; which he proues by a Decree of Pope Leo , and diuers other waies : Yet for all this , Ignatius held out , endured the excommunication , and died vnder that burden , and yet God hath testified by many miracles , the holinesse and sanctitie of this reuerent man. 31 Dioscorus the Bishop of Alexandria , exceeded al these passiue disobediences and contempts of the Popes , and proceeded to an Actiue excommunication of the Pope himselfe : and yet for all this , it is said of him , Non errauit in fide . And what opinion was held of our Bishoppe Grosthead , that his disobedience to the Pope despoiled him not of the name of Catholique , a late Neophite of your Church hath obserued . 32 For the Pope is subiect to humane errors , and impotencies ; and when a great sword is put into a weake hand , it cannot alwaies be well gouerned ; And therefore when Bartholinus an aduocate in the Court of Rome , a bolde and wittie man , had aduentured to co●uay secre●ly cer●aine questions , in which he decl●red his owne opinion affirmatiuely ; amongst which , one was , That if the Pope were negligent , or insufficient , or head-strong to the danger of the Church , the Cardinals might appoint him a Curator and Guardian , by whom hee should dispatch the affaires of the Church , his reasons are said to haue preuailed with excellent Masters in Theology , and Doctors in both lawes , and that many Cardinals adbered thereunto , till the Pope comming to the knowledge thereof , imprisoned six of the Cardinals , and confiscated their estates . 33 But if , as it is forbidden vnder Excommunication , to make any Comment vpon one Canon which concernes the priuileges of the Franciscans , ( which were the best labourers in the Popes Vineyard , til the Iesuits came ) so it were forbidden vpō like penaltie , to interpret the Popes Breues , yet no such law can take away our natural libertie , nor silence in vs these dictats which nature inculcates , That against the end for which it was instituted , no power can be admitted to worke . For from your Syluester wee learne , That the Popes precepts binde not , where there is vehement likelyhood of trouble or scandall . And so he puts the iustifying and making valid the Popes Breues , to the iudgement of considerate men , though parties . 34 So also is it said there , That it is not the purpose nor intention of the Church to bee obeyed in such dangers ; For auoydance of scandall , is Diuine law , and to be preferred before any commaund of a Pope , which is but Humane law : for Diuine positiue law yeeldes to this precept of auoyding scandall , as I noted before , in the integrity of confession , where some sinnes may be omitted , rather then any scandall admitted . And therfore their great Victoria complaines iustly of great inconueniences , a If all matters should be left to the will of one man , who is not confirmed in grace , but subiect to error : or which , saies he , I would it were lawfull for vs to doubt , meaning that daily experience made it euident ; for so hee addes in the point of Dispensations , We see daily so large and dissolute dispensations , as the world cannot beare it . And not long after , in the same Lecture he ●aies , b We may philosophy , and we may imagine , that the Popes might be most wise men , and most holymen , and that they would neuer dispense without lawfull cause , but experience cries out to the contrary , and we see that no man which seekes a Dispensation misses it . And therefore we must dispaire if it be left , Arbitrio humano : For ( saies he ) the Pope must trust others , and they may deceiue him , if hee were Saint Gregory himselfe . And he addes further , c We talke as though wee needed great Engines to extort a Dispensation , as though there were not me expecting at Rome , when any man wil come and ask a dispensation of all those things , which are prouided against by the lawes : and though hee confesse , that former Popes were not so limited , as he desiers the Popes in these times , might be , it was , saies hee , because they did not presume , so easily to dispence against Councels . Da mihi Clementes , prouide me , sayes he , such Popes as Clement , Linus and Syluester were , and I will allow all things to be done , as they list . 35 And then since de facto , it may bee , and often is so , whether a Precept of the Popes , doe worke to that end for which the Church gouernment was committed to him , or no , Naturall Reason , sayes a e learned Iesuite , will instruct vs. Who thereupon makes a free and ingenuous conclusion , in a question of the Popes power in making a Law , of Electing a Successour , That the Pope might make such a Law , if hee would , but the Church would neuer receiue it . Which how could Azorius pronounce , or know , but by the insinuation of naturall reason , and conueniencie ; which Counsailer and Instructer , euery other temperate and intelligent , and dispassioned man , hath as well as he ? 36 And so also saies Fran. a Victor . and as manie as speake ingenuously , That where the Mandates of the Pope , are in Destru●tione Ecclesiae , they may be hindred and resisted . For in the greatest effect which can be attributed to the Popes Bulls , in these temporall affaires , which is , discharging of Subiects from their obedience , that peremptorie Canon , Nos Sanctorum , bindes not , except it may bee done without grieuous damage to the Subiect , and though by the vertue of that Canon , they may forbeare their obedience if they will , yet they are not bound thereby to doe it . Yea , it were vnlawfull , to denie that obedience , in cases of scandall or tumult . For so also , sayes another of your great men , It is often expedient to obey euen an vniust law , to auoid scandall . a And the late vn-entangler of perplexities , Comitolus the Iesuite , who vndertakes to cleare so many cases , which Nauarrus and many others left in suspence , when he comes to handle the question , whether a Professor of the Romane faith , being sent into those parts where the Greeke Church obserues other rites , may goe to their seruice ; in such cases as he allowes it , he builds vpon this Reason , That by the law of God , and of Nature , it is lawfull , and the Precepts of the Church , ( which forbid this ) doe not binde Christians , in cases of great detriment to the life , or soule , or honor , or fame , or outward things . 37 Since therefore a ciuill constitution , which in power of binding , and all validities , except immura●lenesse , is by your owne Authors equall to Diuine , had possessed your conscience , and so refreshed by a new solicitation your naturall & natiue Alleageances , so that no Breue could create in you a new conscience , in this case , no more then if it had forbidden Obedience to the common law , or any other statute , because it belongs not to you to iudge what is sinne , and what conduces to spirituall ends , since by the testimonie of the Popes owne Breues , his Breues are subiect to many infirmities , and open to the interpretation of meane men , since they are often reuoked , and pronounced to haue beene voide from the beginning , vppon such reasons as it is impossible for you to suspect or spie in them , when you admit them , since these Breues haue contributed their strength , and giuen authority , to vaine , and to suspitious , and to false , and to blasphemous legends , since the Pope is allowed , to neglect all waies of informing himselfe of the ●ruth , in the most generall & most important matters , since recourse to your Superiours is not affoorded , which you know both by the practises of one partie and faction at Rome , and also by effects thereof , because by the second Breue , the complaints against the first were not remedied , And since in such cases , the interpretation and dispensation of Breues , when necessitie oppresses you , belongs to your selfe , who cannot bee esteemed disobedient , for abstaining from doing such a commaund , as you doe iustly thinke to be erroneous , and that your Superiour would not importune it , if hee knew perfitly your condition , and estate : since their rigorous obseruation of Breues , might cast you vnder a locall interdict , and sterue you for spirituall food , And makes you iustifie all the errou●s of the Court of Rome , by making the Court , & the Church , all one : since Cyprian , Ignatius and others , haue beene iustly reputed holy men , & Saints , though they disobeyed the precepts of Popes , made vpon more reasons , and stronger comminations , and broken with lesse excuse , then these Breues may be by you : since lastly the Pope cannot by pretence of aduauncing the Church serue his owne ambitions to your destruction , you may as well flatter your selfe , with specious Titles , for not swimming if you were cast into a Riuer , or for not running out of a house , if it were ready to fall vppon you , as you may thinke your selues Confessors ( in your sense ) for suffering t●e penalties of this law , or they may thinke themselues Martyrs , whose execution ●or other treasons , this Refusall may hasten . CHAP. XII . That nothing requir'd in this Oath , violates the Popes spirituall Iurisdiction ; And that the clauses of swearing that Doctrine to bee Hereticall , is no vsurping vpon his spirituall right , either by preiudicating his future definition , or offending any former Decree . THe same office which our s●erties performe for vs , at our Baptisme and Regeneration , the Lawe vnder●akes at our Ciuill birth ; For the Law is Communis sponsio Reip. And as they which were our stipulators at the Font , take care when we come to abilitie of Discretion , that we doe by some open declaration , as frequenting Diuine Seruice , and so communicating with the Church in the worde and Sacraments , testifye that wee acknowledge our selues incorporated and matriculated into that Christian warfare , wherin they entred our Names , So hath Law prouided , that when we grow to be capable of Good and Euill , wee should make some publicke protestations of that Obedience to the Prince , which by our birth in his Dominions , and of his Subiects , wee had at first contracted . Thereupon hath it proceeded that by our Lawes at sixteene yeares of age , an Oath hath beene requir'd of euery Subiect . And besides this generall Oath , it hath in all well gouern'd Estates , beene thought necessary , that they which were assum'd to any publicke function in the State , should also by another Oath , appropriated to that calling , be bound to a iust execution of that place ; And therfore it seemes reasonable which a Lawyer sayes , That he which vndertakes to exercise any Office , before he haue taken the Oath , belonging thereunto , Tenetur Maiestatis , because he seemes to doe it by his owne Authoritie . Nor might a Souldier , though hee were in the Tents at the time of Battell , be admitted to fight against the enemie , if he had not taken the Oath . And the Notaries in the Courts of Rome , if they delay to dispatch them , who would by Appeale , or otherwise bring causes into those Courts , are by a l●te Decretall guilty of periury , because being sworne to aduance the profit of that place , and the Apostolique Authority , this is accounted an interpretatiue periury . 2 So also hath it beene a wise and religious custome , in matters newly emergent , and fresh occurrences , if either forraigne pretences , or inward discontentments , threatned any commotions in the State , to minister new Oathes , to all whom it might concerne ; not as newe o●lig●tions , but as volun●ary and publique confessions , that all the former oathes sworne in Nature and in Law , doe re●ch and ex●end to that case then in question , and that they were bound by them , to the maintenance of the peace and tranquility of the present State. 3 And at no time , and to no persons , can such Oathes be more necessary , then to vs now , who haue beene awakened with such drummes as these , There is no warre in the world so iust and honourable , be it ciuill or forraigne , as that which is waged for the Romane Religion . And especially in this consideration are Oathes a fit and proper wall and Rampart , to oppose against these men , because they say , That to the obedience of this Romane Religion , all Princes and people haue yeelded themselues , eyther by Oath , vow , or Sacraments , or euery one of them . For against this their imaginary oath , it is best , that a true , reall , and lawfull oath be administred by vs. 4 The Iesuites which in their Vowe to the Popes will , haue sworne out all their obedience at once , in a Hyperbolicall detestation of oathes , doe almost say true , when they professe , That they auoide an Oath worse then periury : But though they haue borrowed this protestation of the Esseni , who were in so much estimation amongst the Iewes , yet this declining of Oathes wrought not vppon them , as it doth vpon the Iesuites ; for the Esseni did willingly take Oathes , that they would attempt nothing against the Magistrate ; out of this reason , that they beleeued it hapned to no man , to be a gouernour without the pleasure of God● Since therefore the Iesuites abhorre such oaths , & it is a good presumption , that Schollers are guilty if their Masters were , and sonnes are punished , because they are iustly suspected to inherit their fathers malignity , and ill disposition ; It was necessary to present such an oath , as might discouer how much of their Masters poison , and of their Fathers ill affections to this State , the Iesuites disciples , and spirituall sonnes had swallowed and digested . 5 And when an Oath is to bee conceiued and framed , which hath some certaine scope and purpose ; it were a great impo●encie or slackenes in the State , if it should not be able , or not dare to expresse it in such tearmes , as might reach home to that purpose , and accomplish fully all that which was intended therein ; especially in these times of subtile euasions and licentious equiuocations . 6 When Paulus 4. had a purpose to take in , and binde more sorts of men , by that oath which was framed according to the Trent Councell , for them onely who were admitted to spirituall dignities , and some few others , and so to swear all those men fast to the Doctrine of that Councel , and to the obedience of the Church of Rome , it is expressed in so exquisite and so safe wordes , as can admit no escape . For , how ignorant soeuer he be in controuerted Diuinity , euery one which takes that oath , must sweare , That there are seuen Sacraments instituted by Christ ; which any of their Doctors might haue doubted and impugn'd an houre before ; as it appeares by Azorius , that Alensis and Bonauenture did of Confirmation , Hugo Victor and Lombard of extreame vnction , Hostiensis and D●randus of Matrimony , and others of others : and he must sweare , That he beleeues Purgatory , Indulgences , and veneration of Reliques : and hee must sweare , That all things contrary to that Co●ncell are hereticall . And this oath is not onely Canonized ( as their phrase is ) by being inserted into the body of the Canon law , but it is allowed a roome in the Title , De Summa Trinitate , & fide Catholica , and so made of equall credite with that . And that a oath by which the Cardinals are bound to the maintenance of the Church priuileges is conceiued in so strong and forcible wordes , that Baronius calls it Terribile Iuramentum , & saies , that the only remembring of it inflicts a horror vpon his minde , and a trembling vpon his body . 7 And with equall diligence are those oathes framed which are giuen to the Emperours , when they come to be Crowned by the Pope . For before he enters the land of the Church , he takes one oath , Domino Papae iuro , that I will exalt him with all my power . And before he enters Rome , he sweares , that he will alter nothing in that Gouernement , And before he receiues the Crowne , he sweares , that he will protect the Popes person and the Church . And in the creation of a Duke , because hee might haue some dependance vpon another Prince , the Pope exhibites to him this oath ; I vow my reuerence and obedience to you , though I be bound to any other . 8 So did Gregory the seuenth exact a curious oath of the Prince of Capua , that he would sweare Alleageance to the Emperour , when the Pope or his Successors should admonish him thereto , and that when hee did it , he would doe it , with reseruation of his Alleageance to the Pope . And so when the Emperour Henrie the seuenth , though he confessed that he had swo●ne to the Pope , yet denied that hee vnderstood that Oath to be an Oath of Alleageance or Fidelity , the Popes haue tooken order , not onely to insert the oath into the body of the Canon Lawe , but to enact thereby , That whosoeuer tooke that Oath after , should account and esteeme it to bee an Oath of Alleageance . 9 With how much curiositie and vnescapablenesse their formes of Abiuration vnder oath are exhibited ? They thought they had not giuen words enow to Berengarius , till they made h●m sweare , That the body in the Sacrament , was sensibly handled , broken , and ground with the teeth ; which he was bound to sweare , Per Homousion trinitatem . And they dressed and prepard Hierome of Prage , an oath , in the Councell of Constance , by which he must sweare , freely , voluntarily , ( or else bee burned ) and simplie , and without condition , To assent to that Church , in all things , but especially in the Doctrines of the Keyes , and Ecclesiastick immunities and reliques , and all the ceremonies , which were the most obnoxious matters . 10 But yet this seem'd not enough ; And therefore , though Castrensis say , That there is no Law , by which he which abiures , should bee bound to abiure any other Heresie , then that of which he was infamed , yet hee sayes that it stands with reason , that he should abiure all . And accordingly the Inquisition giue an oath , in which , sayes hee , Nulla manet rimula elabendi ; For he must sweare , That he abiures all Heresies , and will alwayes keepe the faith of Rome ; And that he hath told all , of others , and of himselfe , and euer will doe so ; And that if he doe not , he renounces the benefit of this Absolution , and will trouble the Court with no more dayes of hearing ; but sayes he , Ego me iudico . 11 And if wee doe but consider the exacte formes , and the aduantagious words and clauses , which are in their Exorcismes , to cast out , and to keepe out Diuels , they may be good inducements , and precedents to vs , how diligent we should be , in the phrase of our Lawe● , to expell and keepe out Iesuites , and their Legion , which are as craftie , and as dangerous . 12 When therefore it was obserued , that not onely most of the Iesuites Bookes which tooke occasion to speake either of matter of State , or Morall Diuinitie , abounded with trayterous and seditious Aphorismes , and derogatorie from the dignitie of Princes in generall ; but that their Rules were also exemplified , and their speculations drawne into practise in this Kingdome , by more then one Treason ; and by one , which included and exceeded all degrees of irreligion and inhumanity , then was it thought fit to conceiue an oath , whose end , and purpose , and scope was , to try & finde out , who maintained the integrity of their naturall and ciuill obedience so perfectly , as to sweare , that nothing should alter it , but that he would euer do his best endeuour to the preseruation of the Prince , what enemie so euer should rise against him . 13 And if any of the materiall words , or any clause of the Oath , had beene pretermitted , then had not the purpose and intent of the Oath beene fulfilled ; That is , no man had auerr'd by that oath , that he thought himselfe bound to preserue the King against All enemies , which to doe , is meere Ciuill obedience . For though the generall word of Enemie , or Vsurper , would haue encluded and enwrapped as wel the Pope , as the Turke , when either of them should attempt any thing vpon this Kingdome● yet , as it hath euer beene the wisdome of all States , in all Associations and leagues , to ordaine Oathes proper to the busines then in hand , and to the imminent dangers : So now it was most necess●rie to doe so , because the malignitie of men of that perswasion in Religion , had so violently broke foorth , and declar'd it-selfe ; Which happie diligence , the effect praises and iustifies enough , since it appeares , that if these particular clauses had not beene inserted , they would haue swallowed any Oath , which had beene presented in generall termes and haue kept their Consciences at large to haue done any thing , which this Oath purpos'd to preuent . 14 He therefore that should desire to bee admitted to Sweare , that hee would preserue the King against all his enemies , Except the Pope , or those whom he should encourage or imploy ; Or that he would euer beare true Allegeance , Vntill the Pope had discharged him , or that he● would discouer any conspiracie which did happen before the Pope did authorize it ; Or that he would keepe this Oath , Vntill the Pope gaue him leaue to breake it : this man should be farre from performing the intent and scope of an Oath , which should be made for a new attestation , that hee would according to his naturall duetie , and inborne obedience , absolutely desend the King from All his enemies . 15 I make no doubt but the Iesuites would haue giuen way to the Oath , if it had beene conceiu'd in generall words , of All obedience , against all Persons ; for it were stupiditie to denie that ●o be the dutie of all Subiects . Nor would they haue exclaim'd , that spirituall Iurisdiction had beene infringed , if in such times as their Religion gouern'd here , this clause had beene added to defend the King , Though the Metropolitane of England should Excommunicate him . And yet by there Doctors it is auerr'd , that Iure Diuino , and Iure Com●muni Antiquo , A Bishop may Excommunicate a King , as Ambrose did Theodosius , and that excepting onely infallibilitie of iudgement , in matter of Faith , a Bishop might , Iure Diuino , doe all those things in his Diocesse , which the Pope might doe in the whole Church . For , so Bellarmine himselfe concludes , arguing from the Popes Authoritie in all the world , to a Bishop in his Diocesse . If there●ore an Oath had beene lawfull , for defending the King against All enemies , though a Bishop Excommunicate him , And the Pope haue onely by positiue lawes , withdrawne from the Bishops some of the exercise of their iurisdiction , and reserued to himselfe the power of excommunicating Princes , it is as lawfull to defend him a●ter a Popes excommunication now , as it was after a Bishops , when a Bishop might excommunicate : and no man euer said , that a Bishop might haue deposed a King. 16 All which they quarrell at in the oath , is , that any thing should be pronounced , or any limits set , to which the Popes power might not extend : but they might as well say that his spirituall power were limited or shortned , and so the Catholique faith impugned , if one should denie him to haue power ouer the winde and sea ; since to tame and commaund these , in ordine ad spiritualia , would aduance the conuersion of the Indies , and impaire the Turks greatnesse , and haue furthered his fatherly & spirituall care of this Kingdome in 88. 17 All the substance of the oath is virtually comprehended in the first proposition , That king Iames is lawfull King of all these Dominions ; The rest are but declarations , and branches naturally and necessarily proceeding from that roo●e . And as that Catholique which hath sworne , or assented , that Paul the fift , is Pope canonically elected , hath implicitely confessed , that no man can deuest or despoile him of that spirituall iu●isdiction , which God hath deposed in him , nor of those temporall estates , which by iust title his predecessours possessed or pretended too : so that Subiect which sweares king Iames to bee his true and lawfull King , obliges himselfe therein to all obedience , by which hee may still preserue him in t●at state ; which is to resist all which sh●ll vpon any occasion be his enemies . 18 For if a king be a king vpon this condition , that the Pope may vpon such cause as seemes iust to him , depose him , the king is no more a Soueraigne , then if his people might depose him , or if a Neighbour king might depose him : For though it may seeme more reasonable and conuenient , that the Pope , who may bee presumed more equall , and dispassioned then the people , and more disinteressed then the neighbour Princes , should be the Iudge and Magistrate to depose a Prince enormously transgressing the wayes , in which his du●y bound to him to walke , though , I say , the king might hope for better Iustice at his hand , then anothers , yet he is no Soueraigne , if any person whatsoeuer may make him none . For it is as much against the nature of Soueraignty , that it may at any time be iustly taken away , as that it shall cer●ainly bee taken away . And therefore a King whom the Pope may depose , is but a Depositarie● and Guardian of the Souerainty ; ●o whose trust it is committed vpon condition : as the Dictators were Depositaries of it , for a certaine time . And Princes in this case shall bee so much worse then Dictators , as Tenants at will are worse then they which haue certaine leases . 19 And there●ore that suspition and doubt , which a learned Lawyer conceiued , that the Kings of France and Spaine lacked somewhat of Souerainty , because they had a dependance , and relation to the Pope , would haue had much reason and probability in it , ( though he meant this onely of spirituall matters concerning religion ) if that authority which those Kings seeme to be subiect to , were any other , then such , as by assenting to the Ecclesiastique Canons , or confirming the immunities of the Ecclesiastique state , they had voluntarily brought upon themselues , and the better to discharge their duetyes to their Church ; and to their ciuill state , had chosen this way as fittest to gouerne their Church , as other waies , by Iudges and other Magistrates to administer ciuill Iu●stice . 20 So there●ore his Maiesties predecessors in this Kingdome were not the lesse Soueraigne and absolute● by those acts of Iurisdiction which the Popes exercised here . For though some kings in a mis-deuout zeale , and contemplation of the next life , neglected the office of gouernement to which God had called them , by attending which function duely , they might more haue aduanced their saluation , then by Monastique retirings ( of which publique care , and preseruing those which were committed to their charge , and preferring them before their owne happinesse● Moses , and St. Paul were couragious examples ) Though , I say , they spent all their time vpon their owne future happinesse , and so making themselues almost Clergy men , and doing their duties , gaue the Clergie men way and opportunity , to enter vpon their office , and deale with matter of State ; And though some o●her of our kings oppressed with temporall and personall necessities , haue seemed to diminish themselues , by accepting conditions at the Popes hands , or of his Legates , And some others , out of their wisedome auoiding dangers of raw and immature innou●tions , haue digested some indignities and vsurpations , and by the examples of some kingdomes about them , haue continued that forme of Church Gouernment , which they could not resist without tumult at home , and scandall abroad● yet all this extinguished no part of their Souerainty ; which Souerainty without all question they had , before the other entred into the kingdome , intirely : and Souerainty can neither be deuested nor deuided . 21 As therefore Saint Paul suffered Circumcision as long as toleration thereof , aduanced the propagation and growth of the Church , when a seuere and rigid inhibition thereof would haue auerted many tender and scrupulous consciences , which could not so instantly passe from a commandement of a necessity in taking Circumcision , to a necessity in leauing it ; But when as certaine men came downe and taught , that circumcision was necessary to saluation , and so ouerthrewe the whole Gospell , because the necessity of both could not consist together , then Circumcision was vtterly abolished : So , as long as the Romane Religion , though it were corrupted with many sicknesses , was not in this point become so infectious and contagious , as that it would vtterly destroy and abolish the Souerain●y of Princes , the kings of England succourd , relieued , and cherished it , and attended an opportunity , when God would enable them to medecine and recouer her ; but to be so indulgent to her now , is impossible to them , because as euery thing is iealous of his owne being , so are kings most o● any : and kings can haue no assurance of being so , if they admit professors of that Religion , which teache , that the Pope may at any time Depose them . 22 We doe not therefore by this oath exempt the King from any spirituall Iurisdiction ; Neither from o●ten incitations to continue in all his dueties , by Preac●ing the word ; nor from confirming him in grace , by the blessed Sacrament ; Nor from discreet reprehension if hee should transgresse . We doe neither , by this oath , priuiledge him from the Censures of the Church , nor denie , by this oath , that the Pope hath iustly ingrossed and reserued to himselfe the power to inflict those censures vpon Princes . We pronounce therein against no power which pretendes to make Kings better Kings , but onely against that , which threatens to make them no kings . 23 For if such a power as this , of deposing and annihilating Kings , bee necessarie , and certaine in the Church , and the Hierarchie thereof be not well established , nor our saluation well prouided for , without this power , as they teach , why was the Primitiue Church destitute thereof ? For if you allow the answere of Bellarmine , That the Church did not depose Kings then because it lacked strength , you returne to the beginning againe , and goe round in a circle . For the wisedome of our Sauiour is as much impeached , and the frame of the Church is as lame , and impotent , and our saluation as ill prouided for , if Christ doe not alwayes giue strength and abilitie to extirpate wicked kings , if that be necessarie to saluation , as he were if he did not giue them Title and Authoritie to doe it . Yea , all tese defect ; would still remaine in the Church , though Christ had giuen Authoritie enough , and Strength enough , if he did not alwayes infuse in the Pope , a Will to doe it . 24 And where this power of deposing Princes may be lawfully exercised , as in States where Princes are Conditionall , and not absolute and Soueraigne , as if at Venice the State should depose the Duke , for attempting to alter that Religion , and induce Greeke errours , or Turcisme , or if other States , which might lawfully doe so , should depart from the obedience , and resist the force of their Princes , which should offer to bring into that State , the Inquisition , or any other violence to their Conscience , if the people in these States should depose the Prince , did they doe this by any Spirituall Authoritie , or Iurisdiction ? Or were this done by such a Temporall Authoritie , as were indirect , or casuall , or incident , or springing out of the spirituall authoritie , as the Popes ridler makes his authoritie to bee ? Or must they stay , to aske and obtaine leaue of their Clergie , to depose such a transgressor ? If therefore such a particular state , in whom the Soueraignty resides , haue a direct temporall power , which enables it sufficiently to maintaine , and conserue it selfe , such a supreme spirituall power , as they talk of in the Pope , is not necessarie for our saluation , nor for the perfection of the Church gouernment . 25 Nor is there any thing more monstrous , and vnnaturall and disproportioned , that that spirituall power should conceiue or beget temporall : or to rise downwards , as the more degrees of heigth , and Supremacie , and per●●ct●o● it hath , the more it should decline and stoope to the consideration of secular and temporall matters . It may well haue some congruity with your Rules , that the Popes of Rome , in whom the fulnesse of spirituall power is said to be , should haue more iuri●dictiō in spirituall matters , then other Prelates . They may be better trusted with the spirituall food and physicke of the Church , and so prepare and present , the word , and the Sacraments , to vs , in such outward sort and manner , as wee may best digest , and conuert them to nouriture . They may be better trusted with the spirituall Iustice of the Church , and make the censures thereof profitable to the delinquent , and others by his example . They may be better trusted with the spirituall treasure of the Church , and apply and dispence the graces , of which they haue the stewardship , at their discretion . They may be better credited with canonizing of Saints , and such acts of spirituall power , then others : and these are many , and great offices , to be put into one bodies hands . But tha● out of this power , and then onely when this power is at her fulnesse and perfection in the Pope , there should arise and growe a temporall power , which in their estimation , is so poore and wretched a thing , that a boy which doth but shaue his head , and light a candle in the Church , is aboue it , ( for so they say , euen of the lesser Orders ) is either impossible , or to prodigious , as if ( to insist vpon their owne comparisons of spirituall and temporall power ) the Sunne at his highest glory , should be said to produce a Moone-light , or golde , after all trials and purifyings , should bring ●orth Lead . 26 Nor doe they for this Timpany , or false conception , by which spirituall power is blowne vp , and swelled with temporall , pretend any place of Scripture , or make it so much as the putatiue father thereof . For they doe not say , that any place of Scripture doth by the literall sense thereof , immediatly beget in vs , this knowledge , That the Pope may depose a Prince ; but all their arguments are drawne , from naturall reason , and discourse , and conuenience . So that , if either the springe which moues the first wheele , or any wheele by the way be disordered , the whole Engine is defeated , and made of no vse . 27 And in this wee will ioyne and concurre with Azorius the Iesuite , That though there be some●things which neither the Scriptures doe in expresse words forbid the Pope to doe , nor the Canons can disable him● because hee is aboue them , yet the very law of Nature inhibites them , and prouides that by no meanes they may be done ; and that if the Pope should doe such a thing , there were a Nullity in the action , and the Church would neuer permit it , but doe some act in opposition against it , And all this out of this respect , That naturall Reason would teach them , that the generall peace and tranquility of the Christian Common-wealth would be disturbed thereby . 28 If therefore in the point in question , wee must be directed by naturall reason , and dispute which is most profitable and conuenient for the peace of Christian states , though it may bee long vncertaine on both sides , where the victorie will fall , yet , during the suite , Melior est conditio possidentis . And since it is confessed , that Princes before they accepted Christianitie , had no Superiour , and nothing appeares why Princes should not be as well able to gouerne Subiects in Christian Religion , as in Morall vertue , or wherein they neede an equall Assistant , or Superiour , now , more then before , or by what au●horitie the Pope is that Officer , it is a precipitate and hastie preiudice for any man , before iudgement , to set to the seale of his bloud , and a licentious and desperate extending of the Catholique faith , to intrude into the body thereof , and charge vpon our consciences , vnder paine of damnation , such an article , as none but the thirteenth Apostle Iudas would haue made , and in which their owne greatest Doctors , are yet but Ca●echumeni , and haue no explicite beliefe thereof : for they neither bring to that purpose , Scripture , Tradition , consent of Fathers , generall Counsaile , no nor Decree of any Pope . 29 And , I thinke , I may safely auerre , that it will not constitute a Martyrdome , to seale with your bloud any such point heere , as the affirming of the contrary , would not draw you into the fire at Rome . Except you should be burned for an Opinion there , you cannot be reputed Martyrs , for holding the contrarie here . As therefore it were no Heresie at Rome , to denie the Popes direct power , nor his indirect , ( for if it were , Bellarmine and Baronius had made vp an Heresie betweene them , as Sergius and Mahomet did ) so is the affirmation thereof no article of faith in England . 30 This then being so farre from being an Article of faith , by what power the Pope may depose a Prince , as that it is euen amongst them which affect an Ignorance , but Dubium speculatiuū , a man may safely , and ought to take the Oath : For so a man of much authority amongst themselues doth say , That in a doubt which consists in speculation , we doe not sinne , if we doe against it● and himselfe chuses this example , If a Souldier doubt whether the warre which his Prince vndertakes be iust or no , yet in the practique parte , hee may resolue to fight at his Princes command , though he be not able to explicate the speculatiue doubt . And he ads this in confirmation ; That where one part is certaine , and the other doubtful , we may not leaue the sure side , and adhere to the other . In his example that which hee presumes for certaine , is this , That euery man ought to defend his Prince , and the speculatiue doubt is , Whether the warre be iust or no. If this be applied ●o our case , euery man will finde this certaine impression in himsel●e , that hee ought to sweare ciuill obedience to his Prince , and this will be so euident to him , that no doubt can arise , so strong , or so well commended to him , by any pretence of Reason , and deducements , as may make him abstaine from a pract que duety , for a speculatiue doubt . For so , Fran. a Victoria , maintaining the same opinion , giues the●e reasons or it , That not onely in defensiue warre , but in offensiue ( which i● further then our case , in any probability , is like to extend to ) the Prince is not bound to giue an account to the subiect of the iustice of the cause : And therefore ( saies hee ) in doubtfull cases , the safer part is to be followed : And if he should not fight for his Prince , he should expose the State to the enemy , which is a much more grieuous offence , then to fight against the enemy , though he doubt of the cause . ●or if their opinion were an euident Truth , both their Doctors would be able to explica●e it , and their Disciples would neede no explication . 31 This Oath therefore containing nothing , but a profession of a morall Truth , and a protestation that nothing can make that false , impugnes no part of that spirituall power , which the Pope iustly hath , no● of that which he is charged to vsu●pe . That which hath seemed to m●ny of them , to come neerest to his spirituall power is , that the Deponent dot● sweare , That the Pope hath no power to absolue him of this Oath . But besides , that it hath beene strongly and vncontroulably prooued already by diuers , that no absolution of the Popes can wor●e vpon the matter of this Oath , because it is a morall Truth , I doe not perceiue , that to absolue a man from an Oath , belongs to spirituall Iurisdiction . 32 For Dispensations against a law , and absolutions from Oathes and Vowes worke onely as Declaration● , not as Introductions . And that power which giues me a priu●ledge , with a Non obstante vpon a law , or an absolu●ion from an oath , doth not enable mee to breake that lawe , or that Oath , but onely declares , That that law and Oath , shall not extend to me in that case , and that if this particular case could haue beene foreseene , at the making of the law , or the Oath , neither the Oath , nor the law ought to haue beene so generall . 33 So therefore these Absolutions , are but interpre●ations , and it belongs to him who made the law , to interpret it . For without any vse of spiritu●all Iurisdiction , the Emperour Henry●he ●he seuenth , absolued all the Subiects of Robert king of Sicily of their oathes of Alleageance , w●en he rebelled against ●he Emp●●e , of which hee was a feudatarie Prince . And though the Pope annulled this sentence , it was not because the Emperour might not doe this , but because the king of Sicily held also of the Church , and this absoluing of Subiects made by the Emperour , extended to the Subiects of the Church . 34 So also the Emperours Antoninus and Verus , when one had made an oath , that he would neuer come into the Senate , creating him such an Officer , as his personall attendance was necessary in the Senate house , by an expresse Rescript , absolued him of his oath . Of which kinde there are diuers other examples . 35 And your Canons doe not require this spirituall Iurisdiction , alwaies in this Act of absoluing an oath . For if I haue bound my selfe to another by an vniust oath , in many cases I may pronounce my selfe absolued ; and in others I may complaine to the Iudge , that hee may force him , to whom I swore , to absolue me of this oath . And in such cases as we are directed to goe to the Church , and the gouernour thereof , it is not for absolution of the oath , but it is for iudgement , whether there were any sinne in making that oath , or no. For when that appeares , out of the Nature of the matter , arises and results a Declaration sufficient , whether wee are bound or absolued . If therefore the matter of this oath be so euident , as being Morall , & therefore constant and euer the same , that it can neuer neede his iudgement , because it can in no case be sinne , the scruple which some haue had , that by denying this power of absoluing , his spirituall power is endamaged , is vaine and friuolous . THE SECOND PART . FRom this imputation , of impairing his spirituall power , euery limme and part of the oath , hath beene fully acquited , by great , and reuerend persons , so , as it were boldnesse in me , to add to that which they haue perfited ; since additions doe as much deforme , as defects . Onely , because perchance they did not suspect , that any would stumble at that clause , which in the oath hath these words , I abiure as impious , and Hereticall , that position , &c. I haue not obserued that any of them , haue thought it worthy of their defence ; But because I haue found in some Catholiqus , when I haue importuned them to instance , in what part of the oath sp●rituall Iurisdiction was oppugned , or what deterr'd them from taking the same , that they insisted vpon this , That it belonged onely to the Pope to pronounce a Doctrine to be Hereticall , and that , since there was a Canon of a generall Councell pretended for the con●rary opinion , and that it was followed by many learned men , it were too much boldnesse for a priuate man , to a●erre it to be Hereticall , I am willing to deliuer them of that scruple . 37 It is no strange nor insolent thing with their Authors , to lay the Note of Heresie vpon Articles , which can neither be condemned out of the word of God , nor are repugnant to any Article of faith ; for Castrensis , that he might thereby make roome for traditions , liberally confesses , That there are many Doctrines of the Heretiques , which cannot be refelled by the testimonie of the Scriptures . And the Iesuite Tannerus is not squeamish in this , when hee allowes thus much , That in the communion vnder one kinde , and in fasts , and in feasts , and in other Decrees of Popes , there is nothing established properly concerning faith . So that with you , a man may be subiect to the penalties , & so to the infamie , & so to the damnation belonging to an Heretique , though hee hold nothing against the Christian faith . 38 But wee lay not the Name of Heresie ( in that bitter sense which the Canons accept it ) vppon any opinion which is not aga●nst the Catholique faith . Which faith wee beleeue Leo to haue described well , when hee saies , That it is singular , and true , to which nothing can be added , nor detracted : and we accept S. Augustines signific●tion of the word Catholique ; wee interpret the name Catholique , by the Communion with the whole world ; which is so Essentiall & so truly deduced out of the Scriptures , that a man which will speake of another Church , then the Communion of all Nations , which is the name Catholique , is as much Anathematized , as if he denie , the Dea●h and Resurrection of Christ. And what is this Essentiall truth so euident out of Scripture , which designes the Catholique Church ? Because , sayes Augustine , the same Euangelicall truth which tells vs the Death and Resurrection , tells vs also , That Repentance , and R●mission of sinnes shall be preached in his Name , through all Nations . That therefore is Catholique faith , which hath beene alwaies and euery where t●ught ; ●nd Repentance , and Remission of sinnes by the Death and Resurrection o● Christ , and such truthes as the Gospell teaches , are that Doctrine , which coagulates and gathers the Church into a body , and makes it Catholique ; of which opinion Bellarmine himselfe is sometime , as when he argues thus , whatsoeuer is Heresie , the contrarie thereof is veritas fidei ; for then it must be ma●ter of faith , And an errour with pertinacie in those points onely , should bee called Heresie , in that heauie sense , which it hath in a Papists mouth . 40 Castrensis foresaw this Danger of Recrimination , and retorting vpon themselues , t●is opprobrious name of Heretique , if they were so forward to impute it , in matters which belonged not to f●ith , for accordingly he saies , They amongst vs , which doe so easily pronounce a thing to be Heresie● are often striken with their own arrow , & fall into the pit which they digged for others . And certainly as t●e Greeke Church by vsing the same st●●nesse and r●gour towards the Romane , as the Romane vses towards the other Westerne Churches , which is , not onely to iustifie their opinions , but to pronounce the contrarie to be Heresie , hath tamed the Romane writers so farre , as to con●esse that t●ey condemne nothing else in t●eir opinion and practise of consecrating in a different bread , but that they impose it , as a necessitie vpon all other Churches , and hath extorted a Decretall from Pope Eugenius , That Priests in Consecrating ( not onely may ) but ought to follow the custome of that Church where they are , whether in leauened , or vnleauened bread , and ●nnocent the thi●d , required no more of them , in this point , but that they would not shewe so much detestation of the Romane vse therein , as to wash and expiate their Altars , after a Romane Priest had consecrated , So if it should stand with the wisedome and charity of the Reformed Church , Iurid●cally to call , all the Addi●ions which the Romanes haue made to the Catholique faith , and for which , wee are departed from them , absolute and formall Heresie , though perchance it would not make them ab●ndon their opinions , yet I thinke it would reduce them to a mo●e humane and ciuill indifferencie , & to let vs , without imposing t●eir traditions , enioy our own Religion , which is , of ●t self , in their cōfession , so free frō Heresie , that they are forced to ma●e this all our Heresie , that we will not ad●it theirs . 41 Ye● somethings haue so necessary a consequence , and so immediate a dependance vpon the Articles of faith , that a man may be bolde to call the contrary Hereticall , though no Defi●ition of any Councell haue pronounced it so● yea som● Notions doe so precede the Articles of our faith , that the Articles may be said to depend vpon them so far●e , as they were frustrate , if those prenotions were not certaine . Of that sort is the immortal●ty of the soule , without which the worke of redemption we●e vaine . And therefore it had beene a viti●ous tendernesse , and irreligious modesty , if a man du●st not haue called it Hereticall , to say , that the soule was mortall , till Leo the tenth , in the Laterane Councell Decreed it to bee Heresie . For though Bellarmine in one place req●ire it as Essentiall in an Heresie , I hat● haue beene condemned in a Councell of Bishoppes , yet he saies in another place , That the Popes alone without Councels , haue condemned man● Heresies . 42 And this liberty hath beene vsed as well by Epiphanius , and S. Augustine in the purer times , as by Castrensis and Prateolus , in the later Romane Church , and of late yeares ( of those which adhere to Caluins Doctrine , by Danaeus , and of Luthers followers , by Schlusselbergius ; all which in composing Catalogues of Heretiques , haue mentioned diuers , which as yet no generall Councel hath condemned . So did the Emperours in their const●tutions pronoun●e against some Heresies of which no Councell had determined . So did the Parliament of Paris in their sentence against Chastell for the assassinate vppon the person of this King of France , pronounce certaine words , which he had sucked from the Iesuits , and vttered in derogation of Kings , to bee Seditious , Scandalous , and Hereticall . 42 And if the Oath framed by order of the Councell of Trent , and ra●ified and enioyned by the Popes Bull , be to be giuen to all persons , then must many men sweare somethings to be of the Catholique faith , and some other things to be Hereticall , in which he is so farre remooued from the knowledge of the things , that he doth not onely not vnderstand the signification of the wordes , but is not able to sound , nor vtter , nor spell them . 43 And hee must sweare many things determinately , and precisely , which euen after that Councell some learned men still doubt , As , that a license to heare confessions , in euery Priest not beneficed , is so necessarie , necessitate Sacramenti , that except hee haue such a license , the penitent , though neuer so contrite and particular in enumeration of his sinnes , and exact in satisfactions , and performing all penances , is vtterly frustrate of any benefite by vertue of this Sacrament . So therefore a certaine and naturall euidence of a morall truth , such as arises to euery man , That to a King is due perpetuall obedience , is better authority to induce an assurance , and to produce an oath , that the contrary is Hereticall , then an implicite credite rashly giuen to a litigious Councell , not beleeued by all Catholiques , and not vnderstood by al that sweare to beleeue it . 44 For the other obstacle and hinderance which re●ards them , from pronouncing that this position is hereticall , which is , the Canon of the Laterane Councell , enough hath beene said of the infirmity and inualidity of that Councell by others . Thus much I may be bolde to adde , that the Emperour vnder whome that Councell was held , neuer accepted it for a Canon , nei●her in those wordes , not in that sense , as it is presented in the Canon law ; from whence it is transplanted into the body of the Councels . And the Church was so farre from imp●gning the Emperours sense and acceptation thereof , that Innocent the fourth , and diuers other Popes being to make vse thereof , cyte the Constitution of the Emperour , not any Canon of a Councell in their Directions to the Inquisitors , how to proceede against Heretiques . They therefore either knew no s●ch Canon , or suspected and discredited it . 45 Thus therefore that pretended Canon saies , If a temporall Lord warned by the Church , do not purge his land of Heretiques , let him be excommunicate by the Metropolitane and Conprouinciall bishopps ; if he satisfie not within a yeere , let it be signified to the Pope , that he may denounce his subiects to be absolued from their Alleageance , and expose his Land to Catholickes , which may without contradiction possesse it , the right of the principall Lord ( which we call Lord Paramount ) being reserued , if hee giue no furtherance thereunto . And thus farre without doubt the Canon did not include Principall and Soueraigne Lords , because it speakes of such , as had Lords aboue them . And where it concludes with this clause , The same Law being to be obseru'd toward them , Qui non ●abent Dominos principales , The Imperiall Constitution hath it thus , Qui non habent Domos principales . 46 And certainely the most naturall and proper accep●ation of Domos Principales in this place , in the Emperours Lawe , is the same as the word , Domicilium Principale , hath in the Canons , which is a Mans chiefe abiding and Residence , though vpon occasion he may be in another place , or haue some relation and dependance vpon a Prince out of that Territorie . And it may giue as much clearenesse to the vnderstanding of this Lawe , if wee compare with it , the great and solemne Clementine Pastoralis . 47 For then Robert being King of Sicily , that is , such a Principall Lord , as this pretended Canon speakes of , but yet no Soueraigne ( for he depended both vpon the Empire and vpon the Church ) was condemned as a Rebell by the Emperour Henrie the ●euen●h . And Clement the fi●t , ann●l●'d and abrogated that Sentence , of the Emperours , vpon this reason ; That though the King of Sicily held some Lands of the Empire , yet Domicilium suum fouebat in Sicilia , which belong'd to the Churc● , and therefore the Emperors Iurisdiction could not extend to him , b●cause h● had not Imperio● Hereup●on the Glosse enters i●to Disputation , how farre a man which hath goods in one Dominion , sh●ll be subiect to the Lawes of that place , though his Principale Domicilium ( as he still c●ls it ) be in another . So that it seemes the Emperour had this purpose in this Constitution , that t●ose Domini Principales , which were vnder the Iurisdiction and Dependance of the Empire● should indure the penaltie of this Law , if the● transgressed it , though they ●ad not there Domos Prin●ipales within the limi●s of 〈◊〉 ●mpire . For at the time , when this Constitution was made , the Emperours thought i● law●full for them to doe so , though a hundred ye●re a●●er , Clement t●e fift , denied by this Canon , tha● they had so large a power . But this Constitution in●er●es nothing against Soueraigne Lords , whom the Empe●our could not binde by any Constitution of his , bec●use they had no depend●nce vpon him . 48 And as t●e Constitution d●ffers from t●e Canon in such ma●er●all words as ouerthrowes that ●ense which they would exto●t out of it , which is , That Soueraignes are included therein , so doeth it in the sense , and in the appointing of the Officer , who shall expel these fauourers of heretiques . For where the Canon saies , Let it be tolde to the Pope , who may absolue the Subiects , and expose the land the Emperour speakes of himselfe , we do expose the land . So that he takes the authority out of the Popes hand ; which he would not haue done , nor the Pope haue cyted as to his aduantage , that lawe by which it was done , if either Iure Diuino such a power had resided in him , or a Canon of a generall Councell had so freshly inuested him therewith . 49 And as it is neither likely that the Emperour would include himselfe in this Law , nor possible that he should include others as Soueraine as himselfe , at least : so doth it appeare , by the Ordinary Glosse vpon that const●●ution ( which hath more authority , then all other Expositors ) that that law is made against such Lords and Subiects , as haue relation to one another by feudall law ; for so it in●erpre●es Dominum temporalem , and Dominum prin●cipalem , to be , when some Earle holdes something of a King ; which King also must haue a dependency vpon the Empire , because otherwise the Imperiall law could not extend to him . And yet euen against those principal Lords , the law seeme so seuere , that the Glosse saies , Non legitur in Scholis . So that so many proofes hauing beene formerly produced , Canons● but that those which are vsually offered now , are but ragges torne out of one booke , and put into another , out of the Extra●agants into the Councels , and this Imperiall constitution , which to the Pope himselfe seemed of more force , then his Predecessors Decretall , neither concerning Soueraine Lords , nor acknowledging this power of absoluing Subiects , to be in the Pope , but in himselfe , no sufficient reason arises out of this imaginary Canon , which should make a man affraid to call that Hereticall , which is against his naturall reason , and against that maine part of Religion , which is , ciuill obedience . 50 For the Romans dealing more seuer●ly , and more iniuriously with vs , then the Greeke Church did with them , when they presented to the Emperour , vpon a commission to make an Inquisition to that purpose , 99● errours and deuiations in matter of faith , in the Romane Church : of which some were Orthodoxall truths , some , no matter of faith , but circumstantiall indifferencies● though they called them all errours in faith ; the Romane Church , I say , traducing our doctrine , with as much intemperance and sower language giues vs example to call all their errours Hereticall . And so , when Drusius in his owne defence against a Iesuite who had called him Heretique , saies , That Heresie must be in fundamentis fidei ; the Iesuite replies , that euen that assertion of Drusius is Heresie . 51 And this doctrine and position , which this Oath condemnes , will lacke nothing of formall and absolute Heresie , if those notes bee true , by which Bellarmine designes Heresie , and saies , that if that be not Heresie to which those Notes agree , there is no heresie in the world . For , ( as he requires to constitute an heresie ) we can note the Author , to haue beene Gregory the seuenth ; the place to haue been Rome , the time betweene fiue and 600 yeares past , And that it began with a few followers , for a sometimes but fifteene● sometimes but thirteene Bishops adherd to Gregory , ) when euen the Bishops of Italy fauoured the other part : And that it appeared with the admiration of the faithfull ; for so it is noted to haue beene , Nouum scisma : And that contradiction and opposition was made by all the Imperiall Clergy , and much of Italy it selfe ● And , for that which is the last note proposed by Bellarmine , that it bee condemned by a Councell of Bishops , and all faithfull people , though that haue not yet beene done , because God for our sinnes , hath punished vs with a Dearth of Councels , and suffered vs in a hunger , and rage of glory , and false constancie , to eate and gnaw vpon one another , with malignant disputations , and reprochfull virulencies , yet when his gracious pleasure shall affoord the Church , that reliefe , wee doe iustly hope it will haue that condemnation , and so be a ●onsummate heresie , because no Pseudo-Councels as yet haue beene able to establish the con●ra●ie . 52 And though these markes and certaine notes of Heresie be tyrannically , and cau●elously put by Bellarmine ( because it is easie to name manie Heresies , in which many of these markes are wanting , of which wee know neither Parents , Country , nor age , and which in●inuated themselues , and got deepe roote in the Church , before they made any noise or trouble in the state thereof , an● at the first breaking out , were countenanced with many and mighty fauourers , and which no generall Councell hath yet condemned ) yet , as I said , we refuse not these marks , but submit this opinion , to that triall , whether it be properly Hereticall , or no. For it will as well abide this triall , as an other , proposed long before by S. Augustine , That hee is an Heretique , which for any Temporall aduantage , and aduancement of his Supremacie , doth either beget , or fo●low false and new opinions , Which seemes directly spoken of this Temporall Supremacie : to which also , S. Paul may iustly bee thought to haue had some relation , when he reckons Heresie , amongst the workes of the flesh and worldly matters . 53 But leauing this exact and subtill appellation of Heresie , let him whom that scruple deterrs from the oath , That hee must sweare the doctrine to be Hereticall , consider in what sense our law vnderstands the word in that place . 54 The Imperiall Law layes an imputation vpon that man , Qui Saeua verborum praerogatiua fraudulenter contra ●uris sententiam abutitur ; that he is as guilty as he , which breakes the law . For hee which picks a quarrell with a law , by pretence of an ambiguous word , declares that hee would saine escape the obligation thereof . But , saith the same law , A Law●maker hath done enough , when he hath forbidden that which he would not haue to be done ; the rest must bee gathered out of the purpose of the law , as if it had beene exprest . And no man can doubt , but that the law-maker in this law , hath forbidden Defection from the Prince ; and the purpose of the law , was to prouide onely against that . Out of which purpose no man can iustly collect , that the Deponent should pronounce the contrarie Doctrine , so Hereticall , as that he which held it , or relapsed into it , might be burnt ; but that it was apparantly erroneus , and impious , and fit to bee abiured ; And how little erroneous lackes of Hereticall , and wherein they differ , Diuines are not agreed , saies your Simancha , and it is yet vndetermined . 55 Nor is there required in this Deponent , such an assurance in Faith , as belongs to the making of an Article , Formall Heresie , but such an assurance in Morall reason , and Humane discourse , as Bartholus requires in him which takes and Oath , when he sayes , He which sweares the trueth of any thing , vnderstands not his Oath to be of such a trueth● as is subiect to sense , Sed iurat de vehementi opinione . 56 And the word Hereticall in this Oath , hath so much force , as the word to Anathematize , hath in many Councels . As , for example , in that place of the Councell of Constantinople , where it is said , Let him be Anathematiz'd , which doeth not Anathematize Origen . Which is meant of a detestation and abhorring som of his opinions , not of pronouncing him , a formall and consummate Hereticke . For you may well allow a Ciuill and conuenient sense to this word , in this Oath , that it meanes onely Impious , and inducing of Heresie , since you haue bound all the world vpon paine of Damnation to beleeue , That S. Paul call'd Concupiscence sinne , not because it was sinne , but because it proceeded from sinne , and induced to sinne . 57 A great Casuist , and our Countreyman , deliuers safe Rules which may vndeceiue them in these suspicions , if they will not be extremely negligent ; and Negligentia dissoluta Dolus est . For thus hee saies , Though a law should prouide expresly , that the words of the law should bee vnderstood as they lie , yet they must receiue their interpretation from the common vse of speach ; which is , that which the most part in that Country doe vse . And if both significations may be found in common vse , that must be followed , which out of likelihood and reason , seemes to haue beene the meaning of the lawmaker , though it be improper● And his meaning appeares , when the word taken in the other sense , would create some absurd , or vniust matter . And as amongst vs , those with whom this word Hereticall is in most vse , which are Diuines , vse the word promiscuously , and indifferently , against all impious opinions : so especially did the Lawmaker at this time vse it , because otherwise , it had beene both absurd , to decree a point to be properly hereticall , which was not brought into debatement , as matter of faith , and it had beene vniust , vnder colour of requiring ciuill obedience , to haue drawn the deponent , to such a confession , as if he had relapsed and fallen from it after , hee might haue beene burned . 58 And the words of the oath agree precisely to Sayrs rule ; for the deponent must sweare , according to the exp●esse wordes , and the plaine and common sense , and vnderstanding of the same . And Sayr saies , That if we must sweare to a Law , according to the proper signification of the words , then there is no place for such discretion , and for admitting a diuers sense : but the wordes of our Oath , which are , According to the plaine , and common sense , fall directly within his first Rule . 59 And the law hath good warrant and precedent to assume the word , hereticall , in such a moderate signification ; for so the Scriptures vse the word , when S. Paul saies , oportet hereses esse , which Gretzer confesses , when to excuse the vulgate Edition , which hath in that place , left out the wordes , Vobis● he saies , It would do no harme to their cause to admit those wordes , because it is not spoken , De haeresi propriè dicta . 60 And so the generall Councell of Constantinople within the first ●oure hundred yeares , calles some Heretiques , though they be not Anathematized by the Church , because they make Conuenticles against bishopps , and accuse them vnorderly , and against the forme of Canons . So also doth another Councell say of Simony , that it is not onely Sacrilegious , but hereticall . And accordingly to these , a late Pope , Leo 10. in a formall Decree and Bull , vses the worde in a like sense . For he condemnes the Articles imputed to Luther , Tanquam respectiue haereticos , because out of some of them it would follow , that the Church had erred . But that proposition , out of which the next deducted Conclusion , might bee Heresie , is not it sel●e necessarily Heresie , properly vnderstood . 61 And as these do , so also doe the Canons in the law , speake in a moderate phrase : For in one place , wher the text saies , that a thing is done , Contra fidem Catholicam , the Glosse expl●cat●s it , Contra bonos Mores : and in another pl●ce , it interpretes the same wordes so , because it dooth Sapere heresim ; and yet it is not heresie : and so we finde a late Decretall , to call Simony , True and vndoubted heresy ; where Gregory is produced , to giue this reason why Simony is called heresy , because whosoeuer is ordained by Simony , is therfore ordained that he may be an heretique . So th●t we see , such acts as beget or accompany heresy , are called heresy in this milde acceptation , which our law giues it . 62 From which sense the Fathers did not abstaine in vsing that worde ; for Tertullian saies , That no man will doubt to call Adams transgression heresie , since by his owne election , he adhered rather to his owne will , then to Gods. And in another booke he saies , Not so much newnes , as truth doth conuict things to be heresies , for whatsoeuer tastes against truth , is an heresie , though it be an ancient custome . And so saies S. August . ( if their owne men cite him truely ) That Schisme is called Heresie , not that it is heresie , but that it disposes to heresie . 63 And the Iesuits themselues , who are the precisest and seuerest accepters of this word , come thus neere , That some things tolerated by the Church , though they be not propriè haeretica , ●et th●y are haeresi proxima . For so saies Bellarmine ; and hee might iustly make this position which wee speake of , his example . And his defender Gretzer saies , that some opinions are so framed , that though no Decree of the Church haue y●t condemned them , yet they are enormous , Scandalous , and haeresi proximae . 64 And thus also do the Schoolemen somtimes take it ; For so , saies Aquinas out of S. Ierome , that he which expounds the Scriptures against the sense of the holy Ghost may be called an heretique , though he depart not from the Church . And so haue diuers compilers of the Ecclesiastique history done ; for Epiphanius r●ckons diuers sects of the Iewes and Gentile Philosophers , amongst Heretiqu●s . And Bernardus de Lucemburgo inserts into his Catalogue of heretiques , Auerros and Auicen , though they were not Christians . And lastly that the word was vulgarly so vsed , as by many other obseruations , so is it euident by a Story in Math. Paris , where one vpon his death-bed cals the Friers heretiques for not reprehending the Prelates , & the Prelates heretiques , for conferring Benefices vpon vnworthy persons : yea in this very case , which we haue in hand b an authour , of your owne Religion , pronounces thus of those fifteene Bishops , which adhered to Gregory the seuenths party , against the Emperor , It is great heresie to resist the Ordinance of God , who onely hath power to giue Empire , which heresie it appears that those fifteene false Bishops haue committed . 65 As therefore all sorts of men , into whose mouthes vpon any occasion this word was like to come haue vsed the word for Erroneous : and Impious , and Corrupting good manners , and disposing & preparing absolute and proper Heresie , so doth the law accept it in this oath , where it makes it equiualent , and Synonimous , to the wordes which are ioyned with it , which are Impious and Damnable : and therefore it is but a Calumny cast vpon the law , and a tergiuersation picked out for their escape , if any pretend for that word , to decline the Oath . 66 But if this word in this place , were to be vnderstood in the strictest and seuerest sense , that a Iesuite could vse it against vs , yet hee that shall take the Oath , doth not thereby pronounce , that any Position , which attributes any power to the Pope , is hereticall . Not , that hee may excommunicate a King ; no , nor that he may depriue him : but it is thus conceiued , That this position is hereticall , That Princes which be excommunicate , or depriued by the Pope , may be deposed or murdred by their subiects or any other . So that it casts no Manicles vpon the Popes hands ; if he will excommunicate , let him ; if he will depriue , let him . Onely them , who by his act , ( of the goodnes or badnes whereof this Proposition pronounces nothing ) may be mis-led to an vnchristian & vndutifull desperatenes , it forewarnes , and aduises , to a due and iust consideration of such proceedings . For , as when men were content to heare heresies , Leo said wisely , in reprehension of that easinesse , They which can hearken to such things , can beleeue them , So since it is too late to forbid hearing of this heresie , of deposing Princes , since out of Iesuites bookes , which speak of state-learning , scarce any thing is to be sucked , but it , or such preparatiues , as worke and conduce to it , it was necessary to begin a step higher then Leo did , and pronounce it hereticall , that so none might beleeue it , since hee that can beleeue it , can be content to affoord his helpe to the doing thereof . 67 And hauing thus gone as far as I purposed in both parts of this Chapter , in the first whereof I shewed , that in speciall cases new oathes were necessary , and that the forme of them ought to bee such , as might reach home to the intent thereof , and not be eluded , which had beene , if any part of this oath had been omitted , and that their writers , which neuer teach , that vpon a Bishops excommunication a Prince may be deposed , denie implicitely this power in the Pope , because onely that power which was in the Bishops , in this matter , is transferd by Reseruation into the Pope , and that where such Depositions are needefull , the state is prouided naturally with a temporall power to effect it , and therefore it is not necessarie to place it in the spirituall , which were monstrous and vnperfect , if it should produce , as the most excelent issue therof , a power so base in their estimation , And that this possibility of being Deposed , is as contrary to Souerainety , as a certaine limitation , when he shall be remoued , And that those writers , which limit the Popes power by Naturall Reason , and which teach , that in doubts of speculation , we may for all that proceede to practise , as farre , as wee doe in this Oath , And hauing in the second part declared , That though the Papists make proper , and absolute Heresie , to be without matter of faith , yet we doe not so , and yet in points necessarily and immediately issuing out of these principles , a generall Councell needs not be attended to informe a mans vnderstanding what is Hereticall , because the Emperors and other Princes , and diuers Authors , and registers of heresies , haue pronounced therin before any Decision of Councells , and that the Canon which is obtruded , in the name of the Laterane Councell , for diuers reasons , cannot impeach this proposition , That this Doctrine is hereticall , which proposition , though if it were tryed by Bellarmine , and by Saint Augustines description of heresie , it would appeare absolutely hereticall , yet this law giues it that name in a vulgar and common sense , as Scriptures , Councels , Buls of Popes , Fathers , Schoolemen , Historians , Iesuits , and the Common sort hath vsed and accepted it , and that if it be taken in the sharpest sense , the Oath may neuerthelesse be taken without preiudice , or limitation of any power which the Pope himselfe claimes , I make account that I haue discharged my promise and vndertaking in this Chapter , and deliuered as much , as without inculcating that which hath beene formerly said by others , ( which I purposely auoided ) in this point of the oath neede to be said to any , of indifferency or equall inclination . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A20647-e5570 P.R. Trea● . of Mitiga . ● . 6. n. 67. Idem . c. 1. n. 11 & . c. 5. n. 30. Gretz . Append 1. ad l. ● . Bellar. § Idem dictum a Defens . Bella● l. 1. c. 7. Quare . b Ibi. l. 2. c. 14. § Quod Whitak . Gretz . Tractat. de no. Translat . §. Ait . Sixtus . De verbo . Dei l. 1. c. 9. To. 11. Resp. Apolog. cont . Car. Col. Nu. 31. P. R. Treat . of Mitig c. 5. n. 41. In monit . pili . in fine . Machiauel . Hist. Flor. l. 1. f. 34. Edit . Picen . An. 1587. Card. Colum. paris . fo . 158. Rispost . d' Anto . Bouio a P. Paulonella Rauolta . ● . 196. Conestaggio . l. 3. fol. 82. Idem . l. 6. f. 155 Answere to the Reports . c. 5. Bar●n . Annal. To. 11. Epist. Apolog. nu . 21. Epist. ad Philip . 3. Aelian l. 1. c. 29. Numb . 35.33 . Aelian . l. 2. c. 17. Bosquier . Concio . Quadrag . Conci . 6. Sent. Select . ●x Corn. Celso . l. 2. n. 12. Frontinus stratagem . li. 2. c. 5. Forestus de venenis . Obseru . 1. Schol. Lib. 1. c. 1. Hippocrates . l. 1. Apho. 22. In Epist. ad Tit. c. 1. Fl●rimond ●emond Historie de l' Heresie . l. 7. c. 2. & 3. In Epist. ad Tit. c. 1. Prognosticon Windecki . Florimond . Remond Histoire d●l . Heresie . Dig. l. 2. Tit. ● . c. Si per errorē . Esay 58.3 . Ael●a● . l. 2. c. 37. Bosquie● . conc . Quadrag . Dist. 61. Catinensis . Nauar. Manual c. 23 n 38 Diog. Laertius l. 8. Martyrolog . c. 8 Aelian . l. 14. c. 4 Gellius l. 9. c. 4. Bosquior . Monom . Conc. 4. Ibid. Plini . l. ● . c. 43. Annotat. in Hilarium . Examen . Edicti . Anglica . Stanislaus Christianoni cus . Paris . 1607. Reu●l . 7.15 . Homil. 2. in Psal. 50. Vegetius . l. 2. c. 17. Exod. 20. Notes for div A20647-e8770 Gellius l. 15. c. 10 Aristot. Eth. l. 3. cap. 7 Idem l. 3 ● . 6. Maetalius Metellus , prefat . in Histor . Os●ij . Dig. l. 48. Tit. ●9 . le 38. & Dig. l. 49. tit . 10. l● . 6 Concil . Antisi . ca. 17. Conc. Braca● . 23. q. 5. placuit . Tholos . Sy●t . l. 36. c. 22. 〈◊〉 . 13. De leg . 9. V●op . l. 2. ca. de Serius . Io. 1.7 Io. 5.31 . De Martyri Serm. 7. Exod. 4 , 25 Paul. Diaco . ad Eutrop Addit . 18. Homil. in psal . 95. 1. Cor. 15. Alfons . Castr. ver . Martyrium x Prateolus l. 3 cap. 19. Ep●pha . Haeres . 80 Cap. 2 Dist. 15. Sancta Romana To. 1. fo . 248 Prud●nt●us Bodin Daemonom l. 4. c. 3. ex Tertull . Eus●b . l. 8 Hist. Eccl●s . ca. 24 Feuardent●us Theom . Caluin l. 8. c. 13. n. 13. Extra . de maior . & Obed. Solit● . Quinquagesies septies & Centies quadragesies septies & medium , & septies mesies & septingesies , quadragesies , quater & medium . Comment . in Sacro . Bosc. fol. 219. Simphons . 24. T●es . 9. Reg Iu Possore , in 6. Glos. a Constantin . Ann 754. b Nicenum 2. Anno 787. c Francofur . Anno 794. d Donat. Constant l. 2. nu . 60. e Haimius Feldius Decretu . Impp. de Imaginibus . fo . 91. a Dig. li. 11. Tit. 7. l. 8. Osa . b Leo 1. Martia . Epist. 70. Epist. 75. Simplicius Papa An. 471. Epist. 14. a Ann 486. Epist 14. b Extra . de Rescript . Ad audic●●iam●g os . verb manifestum . c Conc. Aurelian . 1. Clodu . regi . c. 2 d Habetur in Binio To. 2. f. 320. Anno. 516. e Li. 4. Epist. 32. Greg. 7. Duci Sue uiae l. 1. Epist. 19. Binius To. 1. fol. 831. A. Ioan. 8. Pap● Ann. 873. Epist. 87. Balsamo . in Conc Chalced. can . 17 Concil . Quinosen in Trullo . ca. 69. Anno 692. Notes in hunc can . To. 3. par . 1. fo . 156. A. Leo , Martiano Epist. 64. Leo 8. Epist. 87. Leo 1. ad Martia● . Epist. 70. Grego . 1. li. 3. Epist. 20. Anastas . Imp. Hormisdae Papae . Binius . To. 2. fo . 315. A. Hormisda Epist. 2. Bi●ius To. 2. so . 335. B. Pelagius 1. Epist. 16. & 25. q. 1 , Satagendum . a Cod. l. 1. Tit. 3. l. vltim . in fine . b Cod. l. 1. Tit. 2. le . ●3 . c Cod. l. 1. Tit. 3. l. 20. a Cod. l. 1. Tit. 3. l. 4. & 27. b Ibid. le . 9. c Ibid. §. Diaconissa . d Cod , li. 1. Tit. 1 l. 6. e Cod. lib. 1. Tit. ● . l. 2. f Cod. l. 1. Tit. 9. lib. 6. g Cod. l. 1. Tit. 2. l. vlt. Cod. l. 1. Tit. 1. ● . 2 a Cod. l. 1. Tit. 3. ● 7. § Presbiter● . b Ibid. ●e . 17. §. Interdi●imus . c Ibid. l. 19. d Simancha . de R●pub . l. 8. c. 40. e Simplicius Zenoni . Ep. 14. a Espen●aeus . Com●n Tim. l. 2. pag. 275. b Index Expur . Belg. fo . 15. c Pref●tio in Histor . de act . & Script . Lutheri . d Deut. 17.11 . a Epist. Maximil● . ad B●ro . Leichtensteni Habetur . in Monit . polit . edit Franct . Ann. 1609. so . 33. b Ceremoniae Sacrae . Cap. de Ordinatione . c Idem . ca. de Coronat . d Alfon. Aluares specul . vtriusque Dig. c. 10. nu . 3. e Extra de bigam . non Ordin . Super eis . glos . verbo Sacros . a Aluares specu . vtri . Digni . ca. 1. nu . 40. b Cassanaeus● par . 5. consid . 24. art . 59. & 181. Be●lar . de P●●t . Ro l. 5 , c. 6. §. Est igit●r . E● Nazi●●z . Sepulueda de regn . & reg . Hu. l. 1. Concil . Nice . 2. Actio 5. To. 3. Par. 1. fol. 399. 1. Cor. 2.15 . Maynardus de Priuileg . Eccles. Art. 9. n. 1. a Dist. 50. Et Purgabit . glos . verb. Domo . b Index . Expur . Belg. fol. 306. 24. q. 3. Transferunt . Valdesius de Digni●●te regum Hispa c. 16. Ioan. de Lapide● Casus missa● . cap. 6. Ar. 5 §. Quo●unque . a Azor. par . 2 l. 10. c. 9. §. Caeterum . b Aluares specutr . Dign . ca. 56. nu . 12. c Idem . ca. 16● nu 15. d Ren. Choppinus de Iure Monast. l. 1. T it 1. nu . 15. Nauar. Manual . c. 27 nu . 13. In septimo . T it 4. c. 3. Hiero. Gigas de laesa ma. l. 1. Rubr. 4. q. 5. nu . 10. Ibid. nu . 2. Ante. librum Schultingij● To. 1 Vbi supra . n. 6. a Paris crassus De ceremo . Episcop . li. 2. ca. 42 b Cerem . Sacrae . cap. de consecrat . fo 36. c Par. crass l. 2. c. 43. d Idem . l. 5. c. 27 e Conc. Basil. Sess 23. cap. de num● . et qualit . Card. f Aluares sp●cutr Dig. c. 1.24 . n. 15 Theod. a Niem . de sc●sm . l. 1 , cap 12. & 57. Conestaggio della vnione di port . Et custig . l. 3. in princip . R●sp . ad Card. Colum. nu . 31. Iob. 26 , 5. Inseptimo . Tit. 4. ca. 4. Nauar. Manu . ca. 27. n. 13. a Menghi . Flagel . Daemo . fo . 42. b fo . 79. Prou. 30.27 . 16. q. 1. qui uere . gl●s . verbo . ●ere . In Epist. cius ms Chrisost. ad Pop. Antioch . Ho. 23. a Dlg. li. 31 . Ti. 1 . l 87. §. Imperator . b Dig. l. 1 . Tit. 4. Le. 3. c Cod. l. 1 . Tit. 1 . L. 1 . d Cod. l. 1 . Tit. 2. Lc. 10. e Cod. l. 1. Tit. 4 L. 3. f Cod l. 1. Tit. 15 Le. 3. g Cod. l. 1. Tit. 3. L. 55 §. His ita . h Cod. l. 11. Tit. 9. l. 2. i Cod l. 1. Tit. 2. Leg. 8. k Cod. l. 1. Tit. 1. L. 3. Carol Mag. l. 1. c 1. & 3. Glouer de Nobilit . fol. 75. Cassanaeus catal Glor. par . 5. consid . 30. Alu●res specul . vtri Dign . Epist . ad Mariam Oratio Coesarij a Branhed●ro in subscriptione . Bell. R●cogn . fo . 2. S●rarius litaneuticus . l. 2. q. 6 De Pont. Ro. li. 2. c. 12. Ibid. ca. 3● . a Epist. ●ij 2. ad Norinbergenses b Maynardus De priuileg . Eccles . art . 27. n 15 c Par. Crassus de Ceremo . Episcop . & Card. l. 1 c. 5 & cap. 22. 25. q. 1. violatores . Maynard● de priuileg . Eccles. ar . 14. nu . 1 Exo. 22 Act. 23.5 . Lyra in ●unc locum & Eman. Sâ . Serarius Litaneutic . l. 2. q. 4. n. 4. Index Expurg . Hispan . fo . 92. Ibid. fol. 150. Ibid. fol. 151. Instruct. circa . lib. corrig . §. 10. Soto de teg . secret . memb . 3. q. 3 Ad tertium . Carranza Sum. Concil . fo . 353. a Hispanic . Ind. fo . 148. b Ibid●m . c Idem . fo . 93. d Id. fo . 148. e Ind. Belg. ●o . 146 f Ind. Hisp. fo . 158. g Fol. 93. h Fo. 154. Sedulius Apol. pro. lib. Conform l. 1. c. 12. & l. 3. c. 28 Congregatio Oratorij . Bozius Gallonius de Cruciat . Martyrum . Baron . Annal. To. 11. Ann. 1097. n. 18 Nu 28 Nu 87. Nu. 88. Card. Colum. fo . 158. paris . Nu. 19. Nu. 28. Nu. 31. Circa . 240. Cypr. Epist. 1. ad Steph. Binius To. 1. fo 191. Anno 451. Binius To. ● i● Princip . Epist 73. Anno 457. Epist. 2. Circa 527. Anno 530. Autent . Coll. 2. prefa●●o 〈◊〉 . ● . 2. Epist. 62. To. 2. fo . 770. ● . An. 593. n. 17. ● . 2. Epist. 65. Theodo . Medico . Epist. 2. An●o . 655. Epist. 2. Epist. 4. Epist. Steph. 4. ad C●rol . et Ca●lom . An. 831 Nichol. Epist. circa . 874. 〈◊〉 1. ● 4. Epist. 216. Epist. 217. Epist. 230. Epist. 251. Epist. 30. De verb. Esaiae . Hom. 4 To. 1. ●o . 207. Binius To. 1. ●ol . 803. Ep●st . 123. Ep●st . 165. L●i●●es●ido . Epist. 166. V●iberto . Epist. 18. Epist. 24. Ep●st 28. Epist. 42. 21. q. 3. cum aliquis . 11. q. 3. Nemo . Anno 1063. I. 2. Ep. 5. Li. 2. Ep. 18. Li. 4. Ep. 12. Lib. 9. ●p . 3. Li. 9. Ep. 28. L. 9. Ep. 3. Binius . To. 3. fo . 1282. A. ●● . S. Sp. 21. Episco . Met●nti De Ponti● l. 1. c. 7. §. Quar●●m L. 2. post . Ep 38. Li. 11. Ep. 10. 〈◊〉 . 96. Constantinus . An. 553. ca. 5 Sumna Carranze . Baron . ● Annal. To. 9 fo . 319. Anno 761. Vbi supra . L. 4. Ep. 2. 15.9 . b. Alius . glo●●er . Deposuit . L. 1. Epist 70. ● . 9. Epist. ● . L. 6. Epist. 17. Abbati Clunia● . Binius To. 3. pa. 2 fol. 1196. Cassanae . Catal. G●or . pa. 4. Consid . 7. L. 4. Epist. 2. 1. Reg. 15. E●chird . Ind. Tit. 21. n. 9. Schultingius . Thesaur . Antiq. Eccles. To. 1. c. 8. & 243. Diod. Sicul. Bibliot . l. 4. ca. 1. Bell. de Pont. l. 2. c. 2. §. Nec ualet . Ide . d● Concil . ●t Eccles. l. 1. ● . 2. § Esse autem . Id● . de●aicis . l. 3 c. 17. § In quem Say● Thesaur . C●s. Consc. par . 1. l. 1. c. 6. nu . ●0 Stephanꝰ De 〈◊〉 . p●d . pont c● . 16. § quare a Hiero. Gigas de laesa mai . l 1. Rubr. 4. q 2. n. 5. b Ibid. q. 4. n. 2. c Ib. q. 1. n. 8. d Ceremo . Sacr. Ca. de Concil . D● tr●nsl●t . In p. l. 1. ● . 8. in p●●●cip . De Pont. l. 2. c. 17. §. Obseruandum . a Theod. a Ni●m de sc●●sm . l. 3. c. 1. b Sayr Thes. Cas consci . par . 1. l. 2 c. 20. nu . 20. De Pont. l. 5. ca. 6 1.2 ae . q. 103. ad 3 De Pont. l. 1. c. 9. § Potest etiam . Ephe. 4.11 . An. 829. Binnius To. 3. ●ar 1. fo . 562. ca. 5. In 7. l 2. Tit. 1. De for . comp . Ca. 1. glos . verbo , cu ipso . a Sedulius . Apol. cont . Alcora . Francisca . l. 2. C. 1. Gen. 40.10 . b Sedul . l. 2. c. 1. Luc. 12.32 . c Sedul . l. 3. c. 13 Psal. 118. d l. 1. Ca. 18. e Mallonij Notae in Paleotum de Syndone . l. 1. C. 1. Nu. 18. f Extraua . Io. 2● . Cum inter . glos . in fine . a Liter Leo. 10. p●r B●nchum . l. 8. Ep. l. 17. b Gretzer . Cont. Hassenmiller . ●o . 141. c Sedul . Apol. pref●t . d l. 1. C. 9. e l. 1. C. 18. f Ibid. & C. 20. g l. 1. C. 20. h l. 1. C. 13. i Ib. C. 15. k Ib. c. 18. l l. 2. C. 6. m Serar . litaneuti . l. C. 13. n Epist. Leo. 10. l. 2. Ep. 21. o l. 4. Ep. 15. Apolog. l. 3. c. 1. nu . 3. Idem . l. 3. c. 13 nu . 3. Idem . l. 3. c. 28● nu . 31. Psal. 90.13 . Ios Stepha . de Osculat . ped . Po●t . cap. 11. §. Ex quo . Esa 49.23 . Ios. Steph. ● . 5. Luc. 7. Idem . ca. 7. Deut. c. 1.3 . Idem . c. 10. Epist. lecto . Append. ad lib. de P●●t . respons . ●d lib. Auiso Pia●●uole ca. 2 Nicod . Ma●er de paren : Baro : ad lecto . a Psal. 8.6 b Maynard●s de p●iuil . Ecc● . Art. 2 ● . 21 c Luc 22.38 d Eman. S● . Scholia in 4. Euang. e Ext●au . Com de Maior . & obed . Vnam sanctam , f Act. 10.13 . g In Voto ad Paul. 5. Io. 10.30 . Eman● Sâ Apho● Confes. verb. Clericus . Dist. 21. Cl●ros , Ren. Choppinus de iu●● Monast. l. ● . Tit. 2. ●u . 25 Dr Aluin de potest . Episcoporum c. 3 n. 11. Dist. 23. Sa●ctimonialis . Regula . 47. D Aluinde pot . Ep●sco . ca. 3. n● . 13. Paris de ●ut ●o de Synd. ca. de exces . reg . n● . 29 Maynardus d● pri●ileg . Eccles. Art. 17. nu . 10. Tholosa . synt . l. 15. c. 2. nu . 4. Theod. a Niem . de schism . l. 1. ca. 22. Laelio Medico . contra . Venet. fo . 196. Nella Raccolta . Risposta di Ant. Bouio al. Paulo . Nella Raccolta fo . 50. Bell. de Clericis l. 1. c. vlt. Martyrolog . Ro. 29. Decemb. a Bell. de Indul. l. 1. c. 2. propos . 1. b Idem de Confirmatione c. 11 § Duplex . c Ibid ca. 2. §. Sed r●spond . Bell. de Iustif. l. 5. c. 17. §. Nobis . De Iustific●t . l. 5. c. 7. Proposit. 3. Ceparius . de vit . Go●zag . l. 3. c. 2. ●enius de Controuersia , de lib. A●b . & Dei aux●l . in●er Catholicos . Epist. ad Cle. 8. Li. 1. de grat . & lib. arb . ca. 11. Fo. 4. Fo. 91. Fo. 2. VVilloti A●benae , Orthodox . Ex Con● . Trid. Bull. Pij 4. de Ind libro . a Index Hispan . fo . 149. b Venet. 1575. B●ll de Iusti●i . l. 2 c. 9. §. Sanct●s Hieron●mus . Epist. ante Ind. Belg. De baptism . l. 1. c. 6. De Indulg . l. 1. c. 2. §. Qu●nto . L. 3. Com. in Mat. 20.8 Sext Sen. Bibliot Sanct. l. 6. Anno● . 89. De Indulg . l. 1. ● . 2. §. Quinto . Historiae & ali● impressa . ante Alcoran . fo . 99. Casabonus pre●atio de libe● . Eccl. De purg . L. 2. c. 18 §. Ad quint. Hymno de nouo lumine pasch . Sabba . L. 11. c. 6. Pal. estrita Honoris . Anastas Cochelet . fo . 285. Paleotus de Syndone , par . 1. Ep. lectori . Reuel . Brigid . Bull Canone . Bonif. 9. Par. Crassus de cerem . Epis. & Cardin. l. 1. c. 39● To. 3. par . 2. fo . 1052. B. Epist. Rutbalo . Reg. Secret. ante Dial. Luciani . a Vita eius . fo . 17. & 24. & 57. b fo . 33. c fo . , 83. fo . 107. fo . 108. fo 229. fo . 488. Binsfeldius . de confel . Sa●ar . fo . 67. & 68 Menghi . fust . Daemo . c. 8. Ibidem . Vasques de Adorati . Litan . l. 2. ca. 2. N. 3. Ibid. N. 4. Sedul . Apol. pro libro . Con●or . l. 1. ● . 20 . N. 7. De Pont. l. 4. c. 8. § Q●ia . a In● . Expurg . belg . fo . 12. Dist. 4 statuimus . gloss . Dist. 12. quis nesciat glos . Ind. expur . belg . fo . 18. Index . Hisp. ●o .. 66. Idem . fo . 92. De Matrimo . l. 1. C. 5. §. vbi tamen . 27. q. 2. Cum societas . De pont . l. 2. c. 27. §. ●espond●o i●●as . De Purgat . l. 2. C. 18 §. preterea . & §. Ad quartum . De verbo Dei. l. 3. C. 10. §. dic●ns . De Pont. l. 4. c. 8. §. respondeo . De penitent . l. 1 . c. 1 . §. igitur . De Sacro . homin . Orig. & contin . l. 1 . ●a . 5. 36. q. 2. placuit . Ind. Hispa fo . 146. Fo. 147. Moral . In●tit . Par. 1. l. 11. C. 14. §. Secundo quaeritur . D● militia spirituali Ho. 4. To. 5. fo . 209. Pa●●●tri●a Hono●is fo . 1. Sedulius Apolo . contr . Alcura . l. 1. C. 16. N. 4. & 6. l. 2. c. 9. N. 1. l. 2. C. 11. N. 4. l. 1. C. 19. N. 3. Ibidem . l. 3. C. 21. N. 4. Ibid. N. 7. In fi●e libri . 4. Sent. dist . 19. q. 3. ar . 2. De purgat . l 2. c. 9. §. Preter●a . De Indulg . l. 2. c. 2. §. Sed primū De Indulg . l. 1. c. 9. §. Respontio . Turselinus Iesuit Histor. laurel . l 1. C● . 22. Obseruationes in Cassian●m . ●o . 739. Ex Collat . 19. Bell. de pont . l. 4. C. 14. §. Respo●deo . De Ioan. 22. Gretzer def●n● Bellar. To. 1. ●o . 362. §. Namquod Bell. de Po●t . l. 1. c. 2 §. Ex h●s . In septimo . l. 5. tit 3. c. 9. In septimo tit . 4. Ibid. ca 3. Ibid. c. 2. Ibid. c. 3. Histor. Ordi . Iesuit resut . a Gr●tz●ro . ●o . 45. R●badencyra de Scrip●● . Iesuit . fo . 100. & fo . 60. Cassia●us l. 11. c. 17. Instit. Moral . to . 2. l. 4. C. 5. § S●cundo . Ibid. §. Tertio . Ibid. §. Ex ploratum . Ribadeney . vbi supra . Cerem : Sacr. Cap. De elect pont . Petr●i Biolioth . Carthusia . ●o 304 Sedulius Apolog cont . Al●ora . l. 2 c. 11. § Innocentius . Serarius . Tri●aeres . l. 2. Cap. 24 Grego . de Valent . De purgat . C. 8. P●erre Mathieu His●●ire de Franc● . l 2. Nirrat . 4. S●du●ius . Apol. l. 2. c. ●2 . a. 8. Catalog Glor. Par. 4. Consid. 7. Menghi . Flagell . Daemon . fo . 9. Ide . fol. 105. Mat. Tortus supra la I ettera di Palmieri Romito . Raccolta . fol. 126. Pierre Mathieu . Histoire de fran . l. 1. Nar. 4. Ceparius de vita Gonzag. Epist. Dedic . Litan eut . l. 2. q. 7 De procurand . Indo . Salut . l. 2. c. 9. Sedul . Apol. l. 3. c. 13. Nu. 8. Idem . l. 3. C. 28. N● . 30. Id. l. 3 c. 24 n. 25 26.27 . Vita . Nerij . fol. 488. Sedul . Apol. l. 2. c. 2. n. 3. An. 1608. they were 10581. Ribad . scrip . Iesuit . in fin . Cassian . l. 7. c. 19. Iesuitar . regula Commu . Cap. Examinator . Regulae P●ouincial . 56. Cap. de formula scribendi . Cap. pro curator Gener. Pier. Mathieus . histoire de Fran. To. 2. l. 7. Nar. 4. a Vide Soto de teg . Secr●t . memb . 3. q. 4. Dub. 4. & Zambran . Cas. Cons●i . cap. 4. de poenit . Dub. 2. Sect. 5. vbi etiam est hoc Decretum ●lem . 8. Nu. 31. Reg. Commu . 38. Sedul . Apolo . l. 2. C. 3. N. 2. Bulla tertia Gretzer in Hateum . fo . 168. D'Auila de Censur . par . 2. Ca. 7. Disp 3. Dub. 8. a Bulla 18. Gretzer in Hatteum . l. fo . 211. b Iesuit Constitut spi●it . 4. c Reg. 48. d Reg. Com. ca. Rector reg . 8. e Cap prefect . Rer. spirit . f C●pariꝰ Iesuit . de vita Gonz●g . fo . 58. & saepe . g Fo. 84. h Fo. 83. i Fo. 84. k Fo. 154. l Bulla . 13. Gretz fo . 195. a Bull. 17. Gretz fo . 207. b Bull. 15. fo . 197. c Bull. 19 f. 217. d Bull. 7. fo . 186. e Re●u●●●●●ouincial . 84. f Bull. 16. fo . 198 g In s●ptimo . l. 5. Tit. 4. c. 6. h Constitut. spirit . 36. i Epist. Ignatij ad fratr in Lusita . Reg. Commu . ca. Missa . Pro. 17.24 . Vita Phil. Nerij fo 110. Rog●la B●nedict . c. 1. Ren. Choppinus de iu●e Coe●obi . .2 . tit . 3. n. 9. Seduli . Apolo . l. 2. c. 6. n. 7. Ibid. n. 14. Iob 2.2 . Danaeus in Aug. de Haeresib . c. 69 Prateolus verbo Circu●tares Alf. Castro . verbo Ecclesia , & Martyrium . Baron . Martyrolo . 21 Oct. ex Lind●no . Par. de puteo . De Syndic . c. de excess . Aduocator nu . 15. Pelargus de Nouo Iesu●tismo l. 4. C. 18. Spongia pro Iesuitis . cont . Equit . Polon . fo . 20 Muretu● . Variar . L●ct●on . l. 3. C. 10. Vita eius . ●o . 591. Gretz . in Hasenmill . fo . 118. De Institut . Renuntiant . l. 4. C. 10. Idem . l. 4. c. 24. Sedul . Apolo . l. 2. c. 5. N. 5. Mariana de R●ge . l. 1. c. 7. Bin●feld . de Confess S●g●●um . fo 216. Pet. Galatin . de verit . Christ. l. 1. ● . 3. Petrei Bibliothe . Carthus fo . 35. Spongia contr . Equit. po●on . f. 78 Missal . Roma . ex Decret . Con. Trid. restitut . Specul . vtriusque Dignit . c. I. n. 34 Idem . c. 18. n. 7. Binius To. 4. fo . 512. De pont . l. 4. c. 8. §. probatur . De pont . l. 2. c. 29 §. secundo . De Clericis l. 1. c. 16. § postea . De Concil . l. 1 c. 13. § Quarta . 〈◊〉 . 4. Catalog . Sc●●p . Ies●it . ●o 100. F● . 196. Ribadeneyr . Catal . Script . Iesuit Amphitheatrum Honoris l. 1. c. 4. § Primo . Fo. 41. Fo. 44. Baron . Martyrolog . Decemb. 29. Nauar. De Regular . Consil. 1. De Imagin . l. 2. c. 9. Ann. 55. n● . 119. Ann. 305 nu . 42. Mat. 3.14 . Luke 9.2 . Act 9.12 . Act. 10.42 . 1. Cor. 1.23 . Matth. 10.27 . Martyrolog . Decemb. 29. Alf. Aluares spec . vtri . Dig. c. 31. N. 1 , 2 , 3 , & 12.16 , 17. & ca. 41.12 . Azor. Mor. Iust. par . 2. l. 4. c. 18. & par . 1. l. 8. ca. 24. De priuileg . Eccles . Ar. 10. n. 25 Commen . in Mat 1. in fine . Azor. par . 1. l. 11. c. 5. §. Animaduertendum . Sayr . Thesau . Cas. Consc. l. 3. c. 7 nu . 25. Alf. Castro de potest . l●gis . l. 1. c. 5. Docuna . 1. Bartol . Dig. Indi . Sol. le . 4. §. Sireus . Aluares spec . v●r Dignit . c. 41. n. 10 ex multis alijs . Gent. de Iure belli . l. 1. c. 14. Cod. Theodos. de Ep. & cler . ●● . 20. Epist. ad Nepotia Aluares spec . vtr . d●g●i . c. 41. n. 7. De sent . Excom . Alma mater in sexto . Verbo , In●urgunt De Int●●d . Ver. §. 1. nu . 11. Dig. ad Ley. in t . Maiest . tit . 4. l●● I● 70. tit . 4. c. 3. Ibid. tit . 3. c. 3. Spongia Contra. Eq. Polon . fo . 29. Epist. ad Norimbergens . Ench●rid . Ind. tit . 56. nu . 5. R●baden . Catal. scrip . Ies●it . ●o . 109. 〈…〉 Ciu● . nu . 3. Catal. Glor. 〈◊〉 Consid. 23. Tannerus de ●●bert . Eccles. l. 2. cap. 5. De regn . & reg . offi . l. 1. Sepul●ed . de regn . & reg . offi . l. 2. ●o . 91. Deu. 14. Cassian . Collat. 24. c. 9. Id●m de Instit. Ren●n● . c. 40. l 4. Ibid. l. 4. c 27. & 28. Idem . Collat. 4. c. 20. Climachus Scala . parad . Grad . 4. 1. Sam● 2.25 . Cepaciꝰ de eius vita . fo . 196. Fo. 242. Fo. 244. Apol. l. 3. c. 1. Idem . l. 2. c. 2. n. 2. Ide . l. 3. c. 14. n. 2 L. 2 , c 5 , n. 7. Vita eius fo . 100 Fo. 306. Fo. 326 Fo. 225. Fo. 191. Fo. 360. Fo. 220. Fo. 346. Fol. 335. Fol. 288. Fol. 187. Sedul . Apolo . l. 3. c. 6. n. 1. Engl. Martyro . Ianua . 16. B. Dorotheus . Doctrina . 7 a. Relatione di Diego Torrez . Edit . Venet. 1604 fo . 5. This Iesuite died in Cusco An. 1598 Sedul . Apolo . l. 3. c. 24. n. 26. Id. l. 3. c. 25. n. 1● Id. l. 2. c. 5. n. 8. Epist , ad fratres in Lusitan . Extra . de Iu● , Iur. su●ficiat . Glo. Regul . Benedict . c. 48. Declarat . 22. ae . q. 104. Ar. 5. ad 3m. Ser. 3. de R●surr . Domini . a Azor. Mor. Instit . To. 2. l 4. c. 7. § Deinde . Extrau . Com. de Maior : & Obed. vnam sanctam Addit . Bertr●● Respondeo & dico . Alex. Pesant . de immunit . Eccles. & potest . pont . pag. 44 Ind. Belg● fo : 86 Simancha de Rep. l. 3. c. 7. ex Stobao . Azor. To 2. l. 4 c , 19. § Mihi De libert . Eccles. l , 2 : c : 1 Maynardus de priuileg . Eccles. Ar. 16. Nu 2. Bell. de Cler. l 1 c. vlt Tannerus l. 2. c. 12 , in fine : De Institut . l. 1 : c : 10 Aphor. confes . verb. clericus 15. q. 6. Alius . Paris de puteo de syndi● . Ca. de Excess● Regum . Dist. 86. qui venatoribus . Par. de Put. ca. Rex autem . In Io. l. 12. c. 56. Casub . de lib. Eccles. fol. 46. Azor. Instit. Moral . To. 1 l. 5. c. 14. in fine . De sent . & re indic . Pastoralis Glossa . S●pr● . la. le●tera de palmieri Romilo . Nella Roccolta fo . 183. Simancha . Ench●r . Iud. Tit. 5. nu . 3. Li. 1. To. 3. c. 1. 22. e. q. 104. Art. 5. ad 3m. Par. de put . de Synd. fo a 179. b. 192. c 193. 22 ● . q. 124. Ar. 4 a Epist. 8. ad Polycarpum . b 1. Cor. 15.31 . Aquin. ibid. Aduers . Iudaeos . Ora● . 5. De Pu●gat . l. 1. c. 7. § Q●into . Extrau . d● Reliquij . Audiuimus . Ser●rius Trihaeres . l. 2. c. 28. Biniꝰ To. 1. f. 490 Bellar. vbi supra Ibid. c. 8. §. Dices Ibid. c. 9. §. 1. §. T●rtio . Extra . de Reliq . gloss . verb. miraculis . Ceremon . Sacrae . Cap. de Canoniz . De Purgat . c. 10. §. 1. Extra . de Relig. C. 1. & ● . Ioh. 21.19 . 1. Pet. 4.15 . Matth. 5.11 . 22 c. q. 124. Art. 2. ad 1m. Epist. 24. In Marc. Hom. 13. To. 2. fo . 270 Acts 16. Par. Put. Syndic . fol. 484. Collat. 2. ca. 5. Io. 13. ●15 a Metaphra●t . in Nicepho . Mar. Ieruase . 1. Co● . 6.12 . & 10.23 . 22 ae . q. 124. ar . 4. ad 2. De Not. Eccles. l. 4. c. 2. § Item . Theomachia Calumist . l. 8. c. 18. nu . 1. Ibid. nu . 3. Nu. 1. Nu. 6. Nu. 10. a Iudgement of a Cathol●que of the Apol●g●e of the O●th . Pag. 91. Ca. 11. 3. Conue●sions . Par. 3. Chap. 1. N● . 19. Iuly . 27. Ibid. Nu. 21. Ro. 13.1 . Carninus de potest . l●g . H●m . Par. 1. C. 6. Instit. Mora. To. ● . lib. 2. c. 12. § si quando . De Iudicijs Ca. Nouit . Ibid. Carni●us de pot●st . l●g . 〈◊〉 . par . 1. c. 6. Idem . par . 2. c. 2. Par. 1. c. 6. Summa Summarum . To. 1. par . 1. c. 14. §. Tertium . De ratio . ●eg . Secret. memb . 3. q. 2. § Sed contra Heb. 12.1 . Ca● Confraterni●as . 12. q. 2. Euchirid . Iudi. Tit. 35. n. 41. Bull. Pij . 4. de ●erm . Iur. Responsio ad Docto. Venet. proposit . 5 a. § ad rationes . To. 2. l. 4. c. 18. § Deinde . Nouit . de Indic . Nu. 41. Marsilius contr . respons . Bellarm. Ad Gener. Inquisitor . venet . Barclaius de potest . pont . ca. 2. in princip . Vgoti●i de Validit . censura . Ca. 3. De pont . l. 1. C. 2. §. Decima et cap. 22. §. Decimasepti . 1. q. 79. Ar. 13. Concl●s . Carbo . summa sum● r. ●o 1. 〈◊〉 ●2 . S●c●●t●um . Carbo . summa summar . To. 2. par . 1. c. 2. §. T●rt●●m . Ibid. C. 3 : §. Tertium . Tractat. 7. Theol. de Interd . Pauli 5. prop●s . 5 a. a Comitol . respo●s . Mo●●l . l. 1. q. 99. b Simancha Ench●rd . Iudic. Tit. 5. nu . 3. c Azor. ●ns●it . Moral . ●ar . 2. l. 4. c. 2. §. Sexto . De●ence of Engl●sh Cathol . ca. 4. ●ar . de Pute●● so 327. & so . 773. a Fran. a Victor . Relect. de potest . Ciuili . Nu. 14. b Respons . ad Doct. Venet. propos . 1. §. Prima haec . a Swertius in Epitaph . Pataui . Nulla erat in Medico spes , neque multa Deo. Victorellus de custod●a Ang●lorum . a Fol. 16. b Fol. 133. c Fol. 121. d Fol. 17. Fo. 104. Fo. 105. Fo. 106. Aquin. contr . Gent. cap. 20. a Fraenc . a Victor . de potest . Papae et Co●cil . ● Ad Quintum . Hiero. de locis Hebr● . De Pont. l. 2. c. 31. § Argumentum . L. 2. c. 26. Hiero. Epist. ad Chromat . Par. 2. l. 4. Azor. Mor. Ins●it . c. 4. § Porro . a Lect. 23. Dist. 96 In Scripturis , &c. 6. q. 1. Sacerdotes , &c. Bellar. de Eccles. milit . l. 4. c. 4. Ibidem § At inquiunt . a Anastas . Cochelet . Pale●●rit . hono . f. 9. b Fo. 6. Florimond . de Remond . l. 6. Brancheda Orarati . ad Imp. de mutat . Imper. fo . 18. Esay . 9.6 . Lyra. De pont . l. 5. c. 4. §. Superest . Ibid. § Sediam . §. Caeterum . Ca. 3. parag . Gregorius . Ca. 3. ●arag . vt igitur . Ca. 3 parag . Eadē Ca. 4. § Confirmatur . Ca. 4. § Vt igitur Ca. 3. § Gregorius . Maynardus de priuil . Eccles. Ar. 7. N. 5.6.9 . Idem . Ar. 8. n. 3.5 De pont . l. 2. c. 29. §. Respond . primo C● . 7. § Secunda ra●● . Ca. 6. § Ita pr●r●u● . l. 5● C. 6. 1. Sam. 8.11 . De Pont. l. 4. C. 15. §. At in . De Concil . l. 1. C. 18. §. Dico . Reg. Iuris in 6. C. ●in . glos . verb. P●ntif●catus . Lelio medici contr . Venetia . Sopra il sunda 2. fo . 194. Titulo libri . De Pont. l● 2. C. 8. l. 2. C. 11. l. 5. C. Vlti . Barclaius de pot . Pap. C. 1. §. mihi . Cap. 3. in Princ. et ca. 40. De potest . Eccles. Sect. 6. Nu. 4. Ibid. Nu. 2. et 3. Aluarez specul . vtri . Dignit . ca. 33. Nu. 4. Carranza . sum . Concil . fo . 92. Cod. de Sum. Trinit . le . 1. Cunctos De Emendat . Grat. l. 1. Dial. 1. Ibid. L. 2. Dial. 8. L. 1. Dial. 4. L. 1. Dial. 19. L. 1. Dial. 16. L. 1. Dial. 3. Ibid. Ibid. L. Dial. 4. Ibid. Dist. 43. si quis . verb. postulat . L. 1. Dial. 4. L. 2. Dial 8. 1. Tim. 1.13 . De paenit . Doct. 1 potest fi●ri . 11. q. 1. Cl●ricum Ex Conc. Agath . Can. 32. Tom. 2. ●o . 306. De Clericis l. 1. c. 28 § Tertia . Baron To. 9. Ann. 774. n. 13. D●st . 65 Hadrianus . St Dist. 63 In Synodo . To 9. Anno 801. ●o . 622.11 . q. 1. Volumus . Dist. 31. quoniam . li. 1. Dial. 8. Dist. 13. Duo Mala. And Nerui . De p●niten● . Dist. 1. Quamuis in fine . L●c. 15.4 . Dist. 5. Quia sanctitas . verb. In Deserto . 24. q. 2. Sane pro●e●tur . Verb. Item . a Dist. 22. in tantum . in fine . 24. q. 2. Sane profertur . b Dist. 15. Canones . et glos . ver . Defe●sorem . Dist 31. Sacerdotibus . ver . semper . Dist. 33. Interd●xit . v●rb . Idoneas . Dist. 34. Quorundam . v●●sama . Ibid. Vidua . ver . multorum . Dist. 68. sicut . ver . sicut . Alb. Gent. de lib. Iur. C. 2. Dist. 13. Duo mal● . De Concil . autor● l. 2. c. 13. § Sea obijciunt . Dist. 19. In Canonicis . Dist. 15. Pierius de Barb. sace●do . §. At videte . Dist. 75. quod a patrib . gloss . ver . sabbati . Respo . ad Georg. Sohn . de Antichrist . Thes. 15. De Pont. l. 4. c. 14. § Respond . nec . Picrius de Barba sacerd . § Hoc in genere . De vit . & hon . Cleri . Clericus . D●st . 1● . s●ncta Romana . 25. q. 1. Viola●ores . Respons . ad Docto T●●●lo . propo●it . t●r●a § Te●tia haec . Marsilij desens . Docto. Ca. 5 , § E●rat . XI . Treat . of mitig . Ca. 7. n. 42. Nu. 43. Nu 43 Petr. de vineis . Epist. 4. l. 1. Ca●si●nus lugd●ni . Ann. 1606 f● 740. a De V●●ris super eo . b Extra● . Com. De reliqui cum perexcelsa . c Ibid Graue . d Victorell de Custod . Ang●lo . fo . 99. e De Consecra . D●st . 3. Pronunciand●m● Glos. ver . Natiuitas . Comitolus R●sp . Mor. lib. 1. q. 16. Maynardus de Priuil . Eccl. Ar. 11. ● . 8.9 . Dist. 4. In istis . De tregua et pace C. 1. Tregu●s . glos . ver . s●ongere . Manual . C. 23. Nu. 41. Vgolini . resp . ad 7. Theolo . §. 1. Nu 9. Azor. To. 2. l. 7. C. 3. §. Quaer●s . Vgotini . vbi supra . Albericus in Dictionar . ver . Elect●o . De Electio & Elect. potest . Venera●●lem . De Iure iurendo . Vspergens . so● 1198. De Sent. et re iudic . in 6. Ad Apostolicae . Binius To. 3. par . 2. fo . 1482. Clement . de Sentent . & re iudic . pastoralis . Anno 1306. Clement . de Iure iurando vnica . Dist. 63. Tibi Domino . De Pontif. l. 5. C. 8. §. septimum . Dist. 96. Constantinus . To. 2. l. 4. C. 19. e● 20. Dist. 9. Quae contrae . Dist. 10. lege . Dist. 21. Omnes . Dist. 96. Du● sunt . 2. ● . 7. Nos si . 9. q. 7. Episcopo . Ca. patet . ver . Innocentius . 15. q. 6. Alius . 7. q. 1. quamuis . petijsti . 15. q 6. Authoritat●m &c. Ibid. 11. q. 3. Quoniam . Ver. Quoniam . Ver. Temperamus . a D'Auila Par. 2. Ca. 6. Disp. 11. Dub. 90 15. q. 6. Iuratis . Binius . To. 3. ●ar 2. fo . 1293. q. 1. G●n●rali . De re●us Eccle● . 〈…〉 2. l. 3. C. 5. N. 17. Qui filij sunt legit . Causam quae . C. 4. &c. 7. & De offic . Deleg . ca. 17. Tit. ●od . per v●nerabilem . Ver. Certis . 1● . 12 . De iudicijs nouit No●erit . Gra●em De prescriptionibus . De Pont. l. 5. c. 6. § Itaque . Ex Cod. De prescriptionibus . Ver. Nota quod ver . Tam Canonica . Cap licet● Verb. priuand●● . De Ma●●r . & Obedient . 1. Tet. 2.13 . Ver. Tanquam De Supplend . neglig . praelat . Grandi●n sexto . Literâ , b. in Margine . Si fratrum . Ver ponatur . 10.16 . Grego Homil. 14. Citat . Ema● Sa. 22 38. Sâ . l. 10. Com. in lacam . Luc 2.35 . Ema . S. ● . De Pont l. 5. c. 5. Secundo . Extra● . Com. de priuileg . M●ruit . Licet ●aelici . Rescriptorum . Anto. August . de Emend . Grat. l. 2 Dial. 2. Tholoza . Syntag. l. 15. c. 4. n. 10. 〈◊〉 c. 23. N● . 48. De vi et Pot. leg . human . Ca. 8. P●r. 1. C. 1. C. 3. Extra . de Rescript . ex par●● . Ibid. Si quando . Ibid. ad Audientiam . Ver. Manifestū . Caranza . fo . 414. Binius . To. 3. par . 2. fo . 1047. Carran . Ibid. Id. fo . 415. Dialo . 3. De purg . l. 1. C. 9. Altera . Histor. de Sacr. Sindone . Par. 1. Epist. ●ector . De libert . Eccles. l. 2. c. 9. Carninꝰ de vi ●t pot . leg Huma . C. 10. Man. C. 23. N. 38. Citat . Theod. Niem . Nem. vitio . Tract . 4. Ca. 9. Annal. 13. Ap●end . ad lib. de Pont. Bell. de Pont. l. 4. c. 7. § tertia ratio I●●d § & 〈◊〉 . To. 10 Anno 878. N. 41. Dist. 22. In tantum . & 24. q. 2. ●●ane profertur . Higgons . fo . 32. Theodor. a Niem de Scrip. l. 1. c. 42 Na●ar . Manual . c. 27. n. 147. Clem. Exiui . Tit. de verb. si●ni● . Ver. Obedientia . a De p●t . pa● . & Conc. § Sed quia b Ibid. § preterea . c Ibid. § & preterea . Ibid. 87. si quis e Azor. To. 2. l. 4. C. 5. §. Tertio . Ibid. §. Decimaseptima . D'Auila de censuris . par . 2. C. 6. disp . 11. Dub. 9. Alf. Castr. de potest . leg . l. 1. C. 5. Docum . a Comitolus . Resp. Moral . li. 1. Q. 47. Dig. Tit. 5. L● . 1. Par. de Put. de Syndic . fo . 481. Mar Donatus in Sueto . c. 16. In septimo Tit. 2. c. 1. Apolog. of Iesuit , c. 5. Ibid. Spongia pro I●suit . fo . 79. Serarius Trihaeres . l. 3. c. 4. Ar. 34 Ar. 37. Par. de Put. de syn . ●c . fo . 990. Hier. Gigas de laes . Ma. l. 3. rubr . 1. q. 5. Nu. 2. Azoriꝰ Insti● . Mor. To. 1. l. 2. ca 9 praecep . prima § quoti●scu●que . In septimo Tit. 1. ca 4. a Baro●res● . ad Card. Colum. Nu. 31. Cerem sacr . Ca. de Coron Imp. Ibid. ca. de creat . Duc. Binius To. 3. Par 2. ●o . 1161. Clem. de Iure iurand . De Consecrat . Dist. 2. Ego . Sess. 19. De i●sta Haereti . Punitio . l. 1. c. 111 D' Auila de Cens● . Par. 2. c. 4. disp . 1. Dub. 4. Ibidem . D● Pont. l. 5. c. 3 § Hem. Alb. G●nt . de l●gatio . l. 4. Exod. 32.32 . Ro. 9.3 . Act. 15. De Pont. l. 5. c. 7. § Quod si . To. 2. l. 4. C. 5. §. Tertio . Carbo . summa summarum . To. 1. Par. 1. C. 14. §. prima . Franc. a Victor . Rele●t 6. De Iure bell● . §. Tertium Dubium . Clem. de Sen. ●t re . ●ud . I●a●●oralis . Dig. li. 50. Tit. 1. Ad munic . le . fin . 15. q. 6. Authoritatem . gloss . Aduer . Haere . l. 1. C 5. in princ . De libe● Eccles. l. 2. C 9. §. Secundus . Ad Leo. A●g . Epist. 97. in princi . Epist. 48. Cont. Rogat . et Donat. De Eu●har . l. 3. C. 8. §. Ac primum . Aduer . Heres . l. 1. C 7 Bo●osius . In 70. tit . 1. C. 2. Azor. To. 2. l. 4. C. 15. §. Item eo . In septimo l. 5. Tit. 3. c. 8. De Euchar. l. 3. c. 8. § Ac primū De Pont. l. 4. c. 3. § Alterum . D'A●●in . de pot . 〈…〉 23. n. 5. ●x 〈…〉 . Ann. 1215. ca. 3. Extra . de Heresi . c. 13. Direct Inqui. l●t . Apostol . pag. 13 , 27 , 51. Cod. l. 1. Tit. 5. l. 4 § Si vero . De Sent. & r●iud Azor par . 2. l. 4 c. 15. § Item eo . Serar . Tri●● . l. 3. c. 20. De Euchar. l. 3. C. 8. §. Ac primum . a Vercelleus . De vnitat Eccles. c●●seru . 24. q. 3. Hoeretic . ex . lib. de vtil . credendi . Gal. 5.20 . Cod. l. 1. tit . 1. ●e . 5 Ibid. En●hird . I●d . Tit. 24. n. 20. In Dig. l. 39. de Dam●nfe . le . 13. Nu● 18. Ca. 11. Conc. Trid. Sess. 4 de Peccat . Orig. Sayr . Thes. Cas. con●c . l. 3. c. 8. n. 6. & 7. 1. Cor. 11.19 . Desensio . B●ll . l. 2. c. 14. ca● . 6. Turon . 2. ca. ●●t . Binius To. 4. fo . 654. Dist. 11. consuet●d●●em . ver . fid●m . De Consecrat . Dist. 4. Si non . ●●r . catholicum . I●septimo Ti● . 3. c. 1. l. 2● ●●uer . 〈◊〉 c. 2. De veland . v●●g . c. 1. Alf. castr . adu . Ha● . l. 1. c. 9. De pont . l. 4. c. 5. § Ex his . Append. ad lib. 1. Bell. § Interin . 22 ae . q. 11. Ar. 2. ad 2. D● Haer●sib . Alf. castr adu . Heres . l. 1. c. 9. catalog . test . ex Mat. Paris . Anno 1253. b Vercell . de vnitat . Eccles. Epist. 39. Turibio . in fine . 
A36296	----	Fifty sermons. The second volume preached by that learned and reverend divine, John Donne ... Donne, John, 1572-1631. 1649 Approx. 2671 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 263 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-01 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A36296 Wing D1862 ESTC R32764 12753626 ocm 12753626 93359 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A36296) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 93359) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1526:4) Fifty sermons. The second volume preached by that learned and reverend divine, John Donne ... Donne, John, 1572-1631. [8], 474 p. Printed by Ja. Flesher for M.F., J. Marriot, and R. Royston, London : MDCXLIX [1649] Imperfect: print show-through with slight loss of print. Pages 173-174 torn with some loss of print. Pages 163-184 from British Library copy spliced at end. Reproduction of original in the Harvard University Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Sermons, English -- 17th century. 2002-04 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-06 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-07 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2002-07 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-08 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Fifty SERMONS , PREACHED BY THAT LEARNED AND REVEREND DIVINE , JOHN DONNE , D r IN DIVINITY , Late Deane of the Cathedrall Church of S. PAULS London . The Second Volume . LONDON , Printed by Ia. Flesher for M. F. I. Marriot , and R. Royston . MDCXLIX . TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE BASIL EARLE OF DENBY , My very good Lord and Patron . My Lord , IN a season so tempestuous , it is a great encouragement to see your Lordship called to the Helme , who ( in your publique negociations ) having spent so many yeares in that so famed Common-wealth of Venice , must of necessity have brought home such excellent Principles of Government , that if our Fate doe not withstand your Directions , we may reasonably , at last , expect to see our new Brittish Lady , excell that ancient Adriatique Queene . Neither can I offend much against the State , in begging your Patronage and perusall of this Book , knowing that your Lordship first mastered all the Learning of Padoa , before you did adventure upon that wise Senate : who amongst all her other greatnesses , has ever had a principall care , that Learning might not be diminished . When these Sermons were preached , they were terminated within the compasse of an houre , but your acceptance may make them outlive the very Churches that they were preached in , and give them such a perpetuity that Nec Jovis Ira , nec Amor , edacior multò , poterit abolere ; For , though a fiery zeale in succeeding ages hath often both ruined the Temples , and casheired the gods , that were worshipped in them : Yet such sacrifices as these , have beemy laies kept unburnt ; and we are suffered to know those religions , that we are not allowed to practice . Nor can I expect any greater advantage , for the paines I have taken in publishing this Book , then that posterity may know , I did it , when I had the favor and protection of your Lordship , and was allowed to stile my selfe Your Lordships most humble Servant JO. DONNE . FOR THE RIGHT HONOURABLE BOLSTRED WHITLOCK , RICHARD KEEBLE , 〈◊〉 JOHN LEILE . Lords Commissioners of the Great Seale . THe reward that many yeares since was proposed for the publishing these Sermons , having been lately conferred upon me under the authority of the Great Seale , I thought my selfe in gratitude bound to deliver them to the world under your Lordships protection ; both to show , how carefull you are in dispensing that part of the Churches treasure , that is committed to your disposing , and to encourage all men to proceed in their industry , when they are sure to find so just and equall Patrons , whose fame and memory must certainely last longer then Bookes can find so noble Readers , and whose present favors doe not onely keep the Living alive , but the Dead from dying . Your Lordships most humble Servant JO. DONNE . A Table directing to the severall Texts of SCRIPTURE , handled in this Book . Sermons preached at Mariages . Sermon I. Preached at the Earl of Bridgwaters house in London , on MATTH . 22. 30. For , in the Resurrection , they neither mary nor are given in Mariage , but are as the Angels of God in heaven . p. 1. Serm ' . II. GEN. 2. 18. And the Lord God said , It is not good , that the man should be alone ; I will make him a Help , meet for him . p. 9. Serm. III. HOSEA 2. 19. And I will mary thee unto me for ever . p. 15 Sermons preached at Christnings . Serm. IV. REVEL . 7. 17. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne , shall governe them , and shall leade them unto the lively fountaines of waters , and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes . p. 23 Serm. V. EPHES. 5. 25 , 26 , 27. Husbands love your wives , even at Christ loved the Church , and gave himselfe for it , that he might sanctifie it , and cleanse it , by the washing of water , through the Word : That he might make it unto himselfe a glorious Church , not having spot , or wrinckle , or any such thing ; but that it should be holy , and without blame . p. 31 Serm. VI. 1 JOH . 5. 7 , 8. For there are three which beare record in Heaven , the Father , the Word , and the Holy Ghost ; and these three are one : And there are three which beare record in the Earth ; The Spirit , and the water , and the blood ; and these three agree in one . p. 39 Serm. VII . GAL. 3. 27. For , all yee that are baptized into Christ , have put on Christ. p. 50. Sermons preached at Churchings . Serm. VIII . CANT . 5. 3. I have washed my feet , how shall I defile them ? p. 59. Serm. IX . MICAH 2. 10. Arise and depart , for this is not your rest . p. 67. Serm. X. A second Serm. on the same Text. p. 74. Sermons preached at Lincolns-Inne . Serm. XI . GEN. 28. 16 , 17. Then Iacob awoke out of his sleep , and said , Surely the Lord is in this place , and I was not aware . And he was afraid , and said , How fearefull is this place ! This is none other but the House of God , and this is the gate of Heaven . p. 83 Serm. XII . JOH . 5. 22. The Father judgeth no man , but hath committed all judgement to the Sonne . p. 94. Serm. XIII . JOH . 8. 15. I judge no man. p. 101. Serm. XIIII . JOB 19. 26. And though , after my skin , wormes destroy this body , yet in my flesh shall I see God. p. 106. Serm. XV. 1 COR. 15. 50. Now this I say Brethren , that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God. p. 118. Serm. XVI . COLOS. 1. 24. Who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you , and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh , for his bodies sake which is the Church . p. 128. Serm. XVII . MAT. 18. 7. Wo unto the world , because of offences . p. 136. Serm. XVIII . A second Serm. on the same Text. p. 142 Serm. XIX . PSAL. 38. 2. For thine arrowes stick fast in me , and thy hand presseth me sore . p. 158. Serm. XX. PSA . 38. 3. There is no soundnesse in my flesh , because of thine anger , neither is there any rest in my bones , because of my sinne . p. 162. Serm. XXI . PSAL. 38. 4. For mine iniquities are gone over my head , as a heavy burden , they are too heavy for me . p. 174. Serm. XXII . A second Serm. on the same Text. p. 186. Serm. XXIII . A third Serm. on the same Text. p. 192. Sermons preached at White-Hall . Serm. XXIV . EZEK , 34. 19. And as for my flocke , they eate that which ye have trodden with your feet , and they drink that which yee have fouled with your feet . 199. Serm. XXV . A second Serm. on the same Text. p. 208. Serm. XXVI . ESAI . 65. 20. For the childe shall die a hundred yeers old , but the sinner being a hundred yeers old , shall be accursed . p. 218 Serm. XXVII . MARK 4. 24. Take heed what you hear . p. 228 Serm. XXVIII . GEN. 1. 26. And God said , Let us make man in our own Image , after our likenesse . p. 239. Serm. XXIX . A second Serm. on the same Text. p. 250 Sermons preached to the Nobility . Serm. XXX . JOB 13. 15. Loe , though he slay me , yet will I trust in him . p. 262. Serm. XXXI . JOB 36. 25. Every man may see it , man may behold it afar off . p. 271. Serm. XXXII . APOC. 7 , 9. After this , I beheld , and loe , a great multitude , which no man could number , of all nations and kindreds , and people , and tongues , stood before the throne , and before the Lambe , clothed with white robes , and Palmes in their hands . p. 279. Serm. XXXIII . CANT . 3. 11. Go forth ye daughters of Sion , and behold King Solomon , with the Crown , wherewith his mother crowned him , in the day of his espousals , and in the day of the gladnesse of his heart . p. 288. Serm. XXXIIII . LUKE 23. 34. Father forgive them , for they know not what they doe . p. 304. Serm. XXXV . MAT. 21. 44. Whosoever shall fall on this stone , shall be broken ; but on whosoever it shall fall , it will grinde him to powder . p. 311. Sermons preached at S. Pauls . Sermon XXXVI . JOH . 1. 8. He was not that Light , but was sent to beare witnesse of that Light. p. 320. Serm. XXXVII . A second Serm. on the same Text. p. 334. Serm. XXXVIII . A third Ser. on the the same Text. p. 343. Serm. XXXIX . PHIL. 3. 2. Beware of the Concision . p. 356. Serm. XL. 2 COR. 5. 20. We pray yee in Christs stead , Be ye reconciled to God. p. 364. XLI . HOSEA 3. 4. For , the Children of Israel shall abide many dayes , without a King , and without a Prince , and without a Sacrifice , and without an Image , and without an Ephod , and without Teraphim . p. 375. Serm. XLII . PROV . 14. 31. He that oppresseth the poor , reprocheth his Maker , but he that honoureth him , hath mercy on the 〈◊〉 . p. 385. Serm. XLIII . LAMENT . 4. 20. The breath of our nostrils , the Anointed of the Lord , was taken in their pits . p. 396. Serm. XLIV . MAT. 11. 6. And blessed is he , whosoever shall not be offended in me . p. 411. Sermons preached at S. Dunstans . Serm. XLV . DEUT. 25. 5. If brethren dwell together , and one of them dye , and have no childe , the Wife of the dead shall not marry without , unto a stranger : her husbands brother shall goe in unto her , and take her to him to wife , and performe the duty of an husbands brother unto her . p. 422. Serm. XLVI . PSAL. 34. 11. Come ye children , Hearken unto me , I will teach you the feare of the Lord. p. 430. Ser. XLVII . GEN. 3. 24. And dust shalt thou eate all the dayes of thy life . p. 439. Ser. XLVIII . LAMENT . 3. 1. I am the man , that hath seen affliction , by the rod of his wrath . p. 445. Serm. XLIX . GEN. 7. 24. Abraham himself was ninety nine yeeres old , when the foreskin of his flesh was Circumcised . p. 456. Serm. L. 1 THES . 5. 16. Rejoyce evermore . p. 466. A SERMON PREACHED At the Earl of Bridgewaters house in London at the mariage of his daughter , the Lady Mary , to the eldest sonne of the L. Herbert of Castle-iland , Novemb. 19. 1627. The Prayer before the Sermon . O Eternall , and most gracious God , who hast promised to hearken to the prayers of thy people , when they pray towards thy house , though they be absent from it , worke more effectually upon us , who are personally met in this thy house , in this place consecrated to thy worship . Enable us , O Lord , so to see thee , in all thy Glasses , in all thy representations of thy selfe to us here , as that hereafter we may see thee face to face , and as thou art in thy self , in thy kingdome of glory . Of which Glasses wherein we may see thee , Thee in thine Unity , as thou art One God ; Thee in thy Plurality , as thou art More Persons , we receive this thy Institution of Mariage to be one . In thy first work , the Creation , the last seale of thy whole work was a Mariage . In thy Sonnes great work , the Redemption , the first seale of that whole work , was a miracle at a Mariage . In the work of thy blessed Spirit , our Sanctification , he refreshes to us , that promise in one Prophet , That thou wilt mary thy selfe to us for ever : and more in another , That thou hast maryed thy selfe unto us from the beginning . Thou hast maryed Mercy and Iustice in thy selfe , maryed God and Man in thy Sonne , maryed Increpation and Consolation in the Holy Ghost , mary in us also , O Lord , a Love and a Fear of thee . And as thou hast maryed in us two natures , mortall and immortall , mary in us also , the knowledge , and the practise of all duties belonging to both conditions , that so this world may be our Gallery to the next ; And mary in us , the Spirit of Thankfulnesse , for all thy benefits already bestowed upon us , and the Spirit of prayer for the continuance , and enlargement of them . Continue , and enlarge them , O'God , upon thine universall Church , &c. SERM. I. MATTH . 22. 30. For , in the Resurrection , they neither mary nor are given in Mariage , but are as the Angels of God in heaven . OF all Commentaries upon the Scriptures , Good Examples are the best and the livelyest ; and of all Examples those that are nearest , and most present , and most familiar unto us ; and our most familiar Examples , are those of our owne families ; and in families , the Masters of families , the fathers of families , are most conspicuous , most appliable , most considerable . Now , in exercises upon such occasions as this , ordinarily , the instruction is to bee directed especially upon those persons , who especially give the occasion of the exercise ; that is , upon the persons to bee united in holy wedlock : for , as that 's a difference betweene Sermons and Lectures , that a Sermon intends Exhortation principally and Edification , and a holy stirring of religious affections , and then matters of Doctrine , and points of Divinity , occasionally , secondarily , as the words of the text may invite them ; But Lectures intend principally Doctrinall points , and matter of Divinity , and matter of Exhortation but occasionally , and as in a second place : so that 's a difference between Christening sermons , and Mariage sermons , that the first , at Christnings , are especially directed upon the Congregation , and not upon the persons who are to be christened ; and these , at mariages , especially upon the parties that are to be united ; and upon the congregation , but by reflexion . When therefore to these persons of noble extraction , I am to say something of the Duties , and something of the Blessing , of Mariage , what God Commands , and what God promises in that state , in his Scriptures , I lay open to them , the best exposition , the best Commentaries upon those Scriptures , that is , Example , and the neerest example , that is , example in their own family , when , with the Prophet Esay , I direct them , To look upon the Rock , from whence they are hewen , to propose to themselves their own parents , and to consider there the performance of the duties of mariage imposed by God in S. Paul , and the blessings proposed by God in David , Thy Wife shall be a fruitfull Vine by the sides of thy House , The children like olive plants round about the table ; For , to this purpose of edifying children by example , such as are truly religious fathers in families , are therein truly learned fathers of the Church ; A good father at home , is a S ●ugustin , and a S. Ambrose in himself ; and such a Thomas may have governed a 〈◊〉 , as shall , by way of example , teach children , and childrens children more to this purpose , then any Thomas Aquinas can . Since therefore these noble persons have so good a glasse to dresse themselves in , the usefull , as the powerfull example of Parents , I shall the lesse need to apply my selfe to them , for their particular instructions , but may have leave to extend my selfe upon considerations more general , and such as may be applyable to all , who have , or shall embrace that honourable state , or shall any way assist at the solemnizing thereof ; that they may all make this union of Mariage , a Type , or a remembrancer of their union with God in Heaven . That as our Genesis is our Exodus , ( our proceeding into the world , is a step out of the world ) so every Gospell may be a Revelation unto us : All good tydings ( which is the name of Gospel ) all that ministers any joy to us here , may reveal , and manifest to us , an Interest in the joy and glory of heaven , and that our admission to a Mariage here , may be our invitation to the Mariage Supper of the Lamb there , where in the Resurrection , we shall neither mary , nor be given in mariage , but shall be as the Angels of God in heaven . These words our blessed Saviour spake to the Sadduces ; who not believing the Resurrection of the Dead , put him a Case , that one woman hath had seven husbands , and then whose wife , of those seven should she be in the Resurrection ? they would needs suppose , and prefume , that there could be no Resurrection of the body , but that there must be to all purposes , a Bodily use of the Body too , and then the question had been pertinent , whose wife of the seven shall she be ? But Christ shews them their errour , in the weaknesse of the foundation , she shall be none of their wives , for , In the Resurrection , they neither mary , &c. The words give us this latitude , when Christ sayes , In the Resurrection they mary not , &c. The words give us this latitude , when Christ sayes , In the Resurrection they mary not , &c. from thence flowes out this concession , this proposition too ; Till the Resurrection they shall mary , and be given in mariage ; no inhibition to be laid upon persons , no imputation , no aspersion upon the state of mariage . And when Christ saies , Then they are as the Angels of God in heaven , from this flowes this concession , this proposition also , Till then we must not look for this Angelicall state , but , as in all other states and conditions of life , so in all mariages there will be some encumbrances , betwixt all maried persons , there will arise some unkindnesses , some mis-interpretations ; or some too quick interpretations may sometimes sprinkle a little sournesse , and spread a little , a thin , a dilute and washy cloud upon them ; Then they mary not , till then they may ; then their state shall be perfect as the Angels , till then it shall not ; These are our branches , and the fruits that grow upon them , we shall pull in passing , and present them as we gather them . First then , Christ establishes a Resurrection , A Resurrection there shall be , for , that makes up Gods circle . The Body of Man was the first point that the foot of Gods Compasse was upon : First , he created the body of Adam : and then he carries his Compasse round , and shuts up where he began , he ends with the Body of man againe in the glorification thereof in the Resurrection . God is Alpha and Omega , first , and last : And his Alpha and Omega , his first , and last work is the Body of man too . Of the Immortality of the soule , there is not an expresse article of the Creed : for , that last article of The life everlasting , is rather de proemio , & poena , what the soule shall suffer , or what the soule shall enjoy , being presumed to be Immortall , then that it is said to be Immortall in that article ; That article may , and does presuppose an Immortality , but it does not constitute an Immortality in our soule , for there would be a life everlasting in heaven , and we were bound to beleeve it , as we were bound to beleeve a God in heaven , though our soules were not immortall . There are so many evidences of the immortality of the soule , even to a naturall mans reason , that it required not an Article of the Creed , to fix this notion of the Immortality of the soule . But the Resurrection of the Body is discernible by no other light , but that of Faith , nor could be fixed by any lesse assurance then an Article of the Creed . Where be all the splinters of that Bone , which a shot hath shivered and scattered in the Ayre ? Where be all the Atoms of that flesh , which a Corrasive hath eat away , or a Consumption hath breath'd , and exhal'd away from our arms , and other Limbs ? In what wrinkle , in what furrow , in what bowel of the earth , ly all the graines of the ashes of a body burnt a thousand years since ? In what corner , in what ventricle of the sea , lies all the jelly of a Body drowned in the generall flood ? What cohaerence , what sympathy , what dependence maintaines any relation , any correspondence , between that arm that was lost in Europe , and that legge that was lost in Afrique or Asia , scores of yeers between ? One humour of our dead body produces worms , and those worms suck and exhaust all other humour , and then all dies , and all dries , and molders into dust , and that dust is blowen into the River , & that puddled water tumbled into the sea , and that ebs and flows in infinite revolutions , and still , still God knows in what Cabinet every seed-Pearle lies , in what part of the world every graine of every mans dust lies ; and , sibilat populum suum , ( as his Prophet speaks in another case ) he whispers , he hisses , he beckens for the 〈◊〉 of his Saints , and in the twinckling of an eye , that body that was fcattered over all the elements , is sate down at the right hand of God , in a glorious resurrection . A D●opsie hath extended me to an enormous corpulency , and unwieldinesse ; a Consumption hath attenuated me to a feeble macilency and leannesse , and God raises me a body , such as it should have been , if these infirmities had not interven'd and deformed it . David could goe no further in his book of Psalms , but to that , Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord ; ye , saies he , ye that have breath , praise ye the Lord , and that ends the book : But , that my Dead body should come to praise the Lord , this is that New Song , which I shall learne , and sing in heaven ; when , not onely my soule shall magnify the Lord , and my Spirit rejoyce in God my Saviour ; but I shall have mine old eies , and eares , and tongue , and knees , and receive such glory in my body my selfe , as that , in that body , so glorifyed by God , I also shall glorify him . So very a body , so perfectly a body shall we have there , as that Mahomet , and his followers , could not consist in those heavenly functions of the body , in glorifying God , but mis-imagine a feasting and banqueting , and all carnall pleasures of the body in heaven too . But there Christ stoppes ; A Resurrection there shall be , but , in the Resurrection we shall not mary , &c. They shall not mary , because they shall have none of the uses of mariage ; not as mariage is physicke against inordinate affections ; for , every soule shall be a Consort in itselfe , and never out of tune : not as mariage is ordained for mutuall helpe of one another ; for God himself shall be intirely in every soul ; And what can that soul lack , that hath all God ? Not as mariage is a second and a suppletory eternity , in the continuation and propagation of Children ; for they shall have the first Eternity , individuall eternity in themselves . Therefore does S. Luke assigne that reason why they shall not mary , Because they cannot dy . Because they have an eternity in themselves , they need not supply any defect , by a propagation of children . But yet , though Christ exclude that , of which there is clearely no use in Heaven , Mariage , ( because they need no physick , no mutuall help , no supply of children , yet he excludes , not our knowing , or our loving of one another upon former knowledge in this world , in the next ; Christ does not say expressely we shall , yet neither does he say , that we shall not , know one another there . Neither can we say , we shall not , because we know not how we should . Adam , who was asleep when Eve was made , and neither saw , nor felt any thing that God had done , knew Eve upon the very first sight , to be bone of his bone , and flesh of his flesh . By what light knew he this ? And in the transfiguration of Christ , Peter , and James , and John knew Moses and Elias , and by what light knew they them , whom they had never seen ? Nor can we , or they , or any , be imagined to have any degree of knowledge of persons , or actions , though but occasionally , and transeuntly , in this life , which we shall not have inherently , and permanently in the next . In the Types of the generall Resurrection , which were particular Resuscitations of the dead in this world , the Dead were restored to the knowledge of their friends : when Christ raised the sonne of the widow of Naim , he delivered him to his Mother ; when Peter raised Tabitha , he called the Saints and the Widows , and presented her alive unto them . So God saies to Abraham , Ibis ad patres , thou shalt goe to thy fathers ; he should know that they were his fathers : so to Moses , Iungeris populis tuis , Thou shalt dy , and be gathered to thy people , as Aaron thy brother dyed , and was gathered to his people . Iohn Baptist had a knowledge of Christ , though they were both in their mothers wombes ; and Dives of Lazarus , though in Hell ; and it is not easily told , by what light these saw these . Whatsoever conduces to Gods glory , or our happinesse , we shall certainly know in heaven : And he that in a rectifyed conscience beleeves that it does so , may piously beleeve that he shall know them there . In things of this nature , where no direct place of Scripture binds up thy faith , beleeve so , as most exalts thine own Devotion ; yet with this Caution too , not to condemn uncharitably , and peremptorily , those that beleeve otherwise . A Resurrection there shall be : In the Resurrection there shall be no Mariage , because it conduces to no end ; but , if it conduce to Gods glory , and my happinesse , ( as it may piously be beleeved it does ) to know them there , whom I knew here , I shall know them . Now from this , In the Resurrection they mary not , flows this also , Till the Resurrection they doe , they may , they shall mary . Nay , in Gods first purpose and institution , They must : For God said , It is not good that the man should be alone . Every man is a naturall body , every congregation is a politik body ; The whole world is a Catholik , an universall body . For the sustentation and aliment of the naturall body , Man , God hath given Meat ; for the Politik , for societies , God hath given Industry , and severall callings ; and for the Catholik body , for the sustentation , and reparation of the world , God hath given Mariage . They that scatter themselves in various lusts , commit wast , and shall undergoe at last , a heavy condemnation upon that Action of wast in their souls , as they shal feel it before in their bodies which they have wasted . They that mary not , do not keep the world in reparation ; And the common law , the law of nature , and the generall law of God bindes man in generall to that reparation of the world , to Mariage : for Continency is Privilegtum , a Privilege ; that is , Privata lex ; when it is given , it becomes a law too ; for he to whom God gives the gift of Continency , is bound by it : it is Privata lex , a Law , an Obligation upon that particular man ; And then Privilegium , is Privatio Legis , it is a dispensation upon that Law , which without that privilege , and dispensation would binde him ; so that all those , who have not this privilege , this dispensation , this continency , by immediate gift from God , or other medicinall Disciplines , and Mortifications , ( which Disciplines and Mortifications , every state and condition of life is not bound to exercise , because such Mortifications as would overcome their Concupiscences , would also overcome all their naturall strength , and make them unable to doe the works of their callings ) all such are bound by the generall law to mary . For , from Nature , and her Law , we have that voice , ut gignamus geniti ; Man is borne into the world , that others might be born from him : And from Gods generall Law , we have that voice , Crescite & Multiplicamini : Therefore God plac'd man here , that he might repair and furnish the world . He is gone at Common Law , that maries not : Not but that he may have reliefe ; but it is onely in Conscience , and by way of Equity , and as in Chancery ; that is , If in a rectified Conscience he know , that he should be the lesse disposed to religious Offices , for mariage , he does well to abstaine : otherwise he must remember that the world is one Body , and Mariage the aliment , that the world is one Building , and Mariage the Reparation . Therefore the Emperor Augustus did not onely encrease the rewards , and privileges which former Laws had given to maried persons , but he laid particular penalties upon them , that liv'd unmaryed . And though that State seem to have countenanced single life , because they afforded dignities to certaine Vestall Virgins , yet the number of those Vestals was small , not above six , and then the dignities and privileges , which those Vestals had , were no other , but that they were made equall in the state to maryed Wives ; They were preferred before all that liv'd unmaryed , but not before maryed persons . This fortification and rampart of the World , Mariage , hath the Devill battered with most artillery , opposed with most instruments : for , as an Army composed of many Nations , more sects of Heretiks have concurr'd in the condemning of Mariage , then in any one Heresie . The Adamites , the Tatians , and those whom Irenaeus cals the Encratites ; all within two thousand years after Christ ; and more after . And yet God kept such a hook in the nostril of this Leviathan , such a bridle in the jaws of these sects of Heretiks , as that never any of them so opposed Mariage , as that they justifyed Incontinency , or various lust , or Indifferency , or Community in that kinde . Now as in the Pelagian Heresie , those that came to modify and mollify that Heresie , and to be Semi-Pelagians , were in some points worse then those that were full Pelagians , ( as truly , in many Cases , the half-papist may doe more harme , and be more dangerous , then the whole Papist that declares himself ) so the Semi-Adamites , the Semi-Tatians , and Semi-Encratites of the Romane Church , who , though they doe not as those whole Heretiks did , condemn mariage intirely , yet they condemn it in Certaine persons , and in so many as constitute a great part of the Body of mankinde , that is , in all their Clergy , exceed those very heretiks , in favour of incontinency , and fornication , and various lusts , which those Heretiks who absolutely condemned Mariage , condemned too , as absolutely ; whereas in the Roman Church a Jesuit tels us ; that there are divers Catholiks of that opinion , That it is not Heresie to say , that Fornication is no deadly sinne : And yet it is Heresie to say , that Mariage in some persons , ( onely disabled by their Canons ) is not deadly sinne . And when they erect and justify their Academies of Incontinency , and various lust , ( various even in the sex ) if some Authors among themselves have not injur'd them ) when they maintaine publik stews , and maintaine their dignity by them , and make that a part of the Revenue of the Church , what Advocate of theirs can deny , but that these Semi-Adamites , Semi-Tatians , Semi-Encratites , are worse then those Heretiks themselves , that did absolutely oppose Mariage ? We depart absolutely from those old Heretiks , who did absolutely condemn Mariage ; and from those latter men , who though they be but Semi-Heretiks in respect of them , because they limit their forbidding of Mariage , to certaine persons , yet they are sequi-Heretiks in this , that they countenance Incontinency , and Fornication , which those very heretiks abhorred ; And wee must have leave too , ( which we are alwaies loath to doe ) to depart from the rigidness of some of those blessed Fathers of the Primitive Church , who found some necessities in their times , to speak so very highly in praise of Continency and Chastity , as reflected somewhat upon mariage it selfe , and may seem to emply some under-valuation of that . Many such things were so said by Tertullian , many by S. Hierome , as being crudely , and nudely taken , not decocted and boyl'd up with the circumstances of those times , not invested with the knowledge of those persons , to whom they were written , might diminish and dishonor mariage . But Tertullian in his most vehement perswasion of Continency , writes to his own wife , and S. Hierome , for the most part , to those Ladies , whom he had taken into his own discipline , and with one of which , he had so near a conversation , as that ( as himself saies ) the world was scandaliz'd with it . and that the world thought him fit to have been made Pope , but for that misconstruction which had been made of that his conversation with that Lady . Tertullian writing to his Wife , S. Hierome to those Ladies , may either have had particular reasons of this vehement proceeding of theirs in advancing Continency , or they may have conceived that way of persuasion of continency to those persons , to have been a fit way to convey down to posterity the love thereof . As Dionysius the Areopagite sayes , That the Church in those times at funerals , did convey their thankes to God , for the party deceased , by way of Prayer : they seemed to pray that those dead persons might be sav'd ; and , indeed , they did but praise God , that they were sav'd . So Tertullian and S. Hierome , when they seem to perswade Continency to those persons , they do but tell us , how continent those persons were . But howsoever it be for that , no such magnifying of Virginity before , as should diminish the honour and dignity of Mariage , no such magnifying of Continency after , as should frustrate the purpose of Mariage after , or the returning to a second Mariage after a true dissolution of the first , can subvert , or contract the Apostles Nubant in Domino , Let them mary in the Lord ; where the In Domino , in the Lord , is not to mary for matter of Title and place ; nor , In Domino , In the Lord , is not to mary for matter of Lordships , and possessions , and worldly preferment ; nor , In Domino , In the Lord , is not in hope to exercise a Dominion and a Lordship over the other party : but In the Lord , is in the feare of the Lord , In the love of the Lord , In the Law , that is , in the true Religion of the Lord ; for this is that that makes the mariages of Christians , Contracts of another kinde , then the mariages of other people are ; with all people of the world , mariage is as fully the same Reall , and Civill , and Morall Contract , as with us Christians . The same Obligations of mutuall help , of fidelity and loyalty to one another , and of communication of all their possessions , lies upon mariage in Turky , or China , as with us . But for Mariage amongst Christians , Sacramentum hoc magnum est , saies the Apostle , This is a great secret , a great mystery . Not that it is therefore a Sacrament , as Baptisme , and the Lords Supper are Sacraments . For , if they will make mariage such a sacrament , because it is expressed there in that word , Magnum sacramentum , they may come to give us an eight sacrament after their seven ; They may translate that name which is upon the mother of Harlots , and abominations of the earth , sacrament , if they will , for it is the same word , in that place of the Revelation , which they translate Sacrament in the other place to the Ephesians ; And in the next verse but one , they doe translate it so there ; I will tell thee , saies the Angel , Sacramentum mulieris , the Sacrament of Babylon . Now if all the mysteries and secrets of Antichrist , all the confused practises of that Babylon , all the emergent and occasionall articles of that Church , and that State-religion , shall become Sacraments , we shall have a Sacrament of Equivocation , a Sacrament of Invasion , a Sacrament of Powder , a Sacrament of dissolving allegeance , sacraments in the Element of Baptism , in the water , in navies , and Sacraments in the Elements of the Eucharist , in Blood , in the sacred blood of Kings . But Mariage amongst Christians , is herein Magnum mysterium , A Sacrament in such a sense ; a mysterious signification of the union of the soule with Christ , when both persons professe the Christian Religion , in generall , there arises some signification of that spirituall union : But when they both professe Christ in one forme , in one Church , in one Religion , and that , the right ; then , as by the Civill Contract , there is an union of their estates , and persons , so , as that they two are made one , so by this Sacramentall , this mysterious union , these two , thus made one , between themselves , are also made one with Christ himself ; by the Civill union , common to all people , they are made Eadem caro ; The same flesh with one another , By this mysterious , this Sacramentall , this significative union , they are made Idem Spiritus cum Domino ; The same Spirit with the Lord. And therefore , though in the Resurrection , they shall not mary , because then all the severall uses of mariage cease , yet till the Resurrection ; that is , as long as this world lasts , for the sustentation of the world , which is one Body , and Mariage the food , and aliment thereof ; for the reparation of the world , which is one Building , and Mariage the supply thereof , to maintaine a second eternity , in the succession of children , and to illustrate this union of our soules to Christ ; we may , and in some Cases , must marry . We are come , in our order proposed at first , to our second Part , Erimus sicut Angeli , we shall be as the Angels of God in heaven ; where we consider , first , what we are compared to , those Angels ; And then in what that Comparison lies , wherein we shall be like those Angels ; And lastly , the Proposition that flowes out of this proposition , In the Resurrection we shall be like them , Till the Resurrection we shall not , and therefore , in the meane time , we must not looke for Angelicall perfections , but beare with one anothers infirmities . Now when we would tell you , what those Angels of God in heaven , to which we are compared , are , we can come no nearer telling you that , then by telling you , we cannot tell . The Angels may be content with that Negative expressing , since we can express God himselfe in no clearer termes , nor in termes expressing more Dignity , then in saying we cannot expresse him . Onely the Angels themselves know one another ; and , one good point , in which we shall be like them then , shall be , that then we shall know what they are ; we know they are Spirits in Nature , but what the nature of a spirit is , we know not : we know they are Angels in office , appointed to execute Gods will upon us ; but , How a spirit should execute those bodily actions , that Angels doe , in their owne motion , and in the transportation of other things , we know not : we know they are Creatures ; but whether created with this world , ( as all our later men incline to think ) or long before , ( as all the Greeke , and some of the Latin Fathers thought ) we know not : we know that for their number ● and for their faculties also , there may be one Angel for every man ; but whether there be so , or no , because not onely amongst the Fathers , but even in the Reformed Churches , in both sub-divisions , Lutheran , and Calvinist , great men deny it , and as great affirme it , we know not : we know the Angels know , they understand , but whether by that way , which we call in the Schoole , Cognitionem Matutinam , by seeing all in God , or that which we call Verspertinam , by a clearer manifestation of the species of things to them , then to us , we know not : we know they are distinguished into Orders ; the Apostle tells us so : but what , or how many their Orders are , ( since S. Gregory , and S. Bernard differ from that Designe of their nine orders , which S. Denis the Areopagite had given before , in placing of those nine , and Athanasius addes more to those nine , ) we know not ; But we are content to say with S. Augustine , Esse firmissimè credo , quaenam sint nescio ; that there are distinct orders of Angels , assuredly I beleeve ; but what they are , I cannot tell ; Dicant qui possunt ; si tamen probare possunt quod dicunt , saies that Father , Let them tell you that can , so they be able to prove , that they tell you true . They are Creatures , that have not so much of a Body as flesh is , as froth is , as a vapor is , as a sigh is , and yet with a touch they shall molder a rocke into lesse Atomes , then the sand that it stands upon ; and a milstone into smaller flower , then it grinds . They are Creatures made , and yet not a minute elder now , then when they were first made , if they were made before all measure of time began ; nor , if they were made in the beginning of Time , and be now six thousand yeares old , have they one wrinckle of Age in their face , or one sobbe of wearinesse in their lungs . They are primogeniti Dei , Gods eldest sonnes ; They are super-elementary meteors , they hang between the nature of God , and the nature of man , and are of middle Condition ; And , ( if we may offencelessely expresse it so ) they are anigmata Divina , The Riddles of Heaven , and the perplexities of speculation . But this is but till the Resurrection ; Then we shall be like them , and know them by that assimilation . We end this branch with this consideration , If by being like the Angels , we shall know the Angels , we are more then like ourselves , we are our selves , why doe we not know our selves ? Why did not Adam know , that he had a Body , that might have been preserved in an immortality , and yet submitted his body , and mine , and thine , and theirs , who by this union are to be made one , and all , that by Gods goodnesse shall be derived from them , to certaine , to inevitable Death ? Why doe not we know our owne Immortality , that dwells in us still , for all Adams fall , and ours in him ; that immortality which we cannot devest , but must live for ever , whether we will or no ? To know this immortality , is to make this immortality , which otherwise is the heaviest part of our Curse , a Blessing unto us , by providing to live in Immortall happinesse : whereas now , we doe so little know our selves , as that if my soule could aske one of those Wormes which my dead body shall produce , Will you change with me ? that worme would say , No ; for you are like to live eternally in torment ; for my part , I can live no longer , then the putrid moisture of your body will give me leave , and therefore I will not change ; nay , would the Devill himselfe change with a damned soule ? I cannot tell ; As we argue conveniently , that the Devil is tormented more then man , because the Devill fel from God , without any other Tempter , then himselfe , but man had a Tempter , so may it be not inconveniently argued too , that man may be more tormented then he , because man continued and relapsed , in his rebellions to God , after so many pardons offered and accepted , which the Devill never had . Howsoever , otherwise their torments may be equall , as the Devill is a Spirit , and a condemned soule a spirit , yet that soule shall have a Body too , to be tormented with it , which the Devill shall not . How little we know our selves , which is the end of all knowledge ! But we hast to the next branch , In the Resurrection we shall be like to the Angels of God in Heaven ; But in what lies this likenesse ? In how many other things soever this likenesse may ly , yet in this Text , and in our present purpose , it lies onely in this , Non nubent , In the Resurrection they shall not mary . But did Angels never mary , or , as good , or , at least , as ill , as mary ? How many of the ancients take those words , That the sonnes of God saw the daughters of Men that they were faire , and they tooke them wives of all which they chose , to be intended of Angels ? They offer to tell us how many these maried Angels were ; Origen saies , sixty , or seventy . They offer to tell us some of their names ; Aza , was one of these maried Angels , and Azael was another . But then all those , who doe understand these words , The sonnes of God , to be intended of Angels , who being sent downe , to protect Men , fell in love with Women , and maried them , all , I say , agree , that those Angels that did so , never returned to God againe , but fell , with the first fallen , under everlasting Condemnation . So that still , the Angels of God in Heaven , those Angels to whom we shall be like in the Resurrection , doe not mary , not so much as in any such mistaking ; they doe not , because they need not ; they need not , because they need no second Eternity , by the continuation of children ; for , says S. Luke , they cannot die . Adams first immortality was but this , Posse non mori , that he needed not to have died , he should not have died ; The Angels immortality , and ours , when we shall be like them , in the Resurrection , is , Non posse mori , that we cannot die , for , whosoever dies , is Homicida sui , sayes Tertullian ; he kills himselfe , and sinne is his sword : In heaven there shall no such sword be drawn ; we need not say , that the Angels in heaven have , that we when we shall be like them , in the Resurrection , shall so invest an immortality in our nature , as that God could not inflict Death upon them , or us there , if we sinned : But because no sinne shall enter there , no Death shall enter there neither , for , Death is the wages of sinne . Not that no sinne could enter there , if we were left to our selves ; for , in that place , Angels did sinne ; ( And , fatendum est Angelos natura mutabiles , saies S. Augustine , Howsoever Angels be changed in their Condition , they retaine still the same nature , and by nature they are mutable ) But that God hath added another prerogative , by way of Confirmation , to that state ; so , as that that Grace which he gives us here , which is , that nothing shall put a necessity of sinning upon us , or that we must needs sinne , God multiplies upon us so there , as that we can conceive no inclination to sinne . Therein we shall be like the Angels , that we cannot die ; And the nearer we come to that state in this life , the liker we are to those Angels here . Now , beloved , onely he that is Dead already , cannot die . He that in a holy mortification is Dead the Death of the righteous , dead to sinne , he lives , ( shall we dare to say so ? yes , we may ) he lives a blessed Death , for such a Death is true life : And by such a heavenly Death , Death of the righteous , Death to sinne , he is in possession of a heavenly life here , in an inchoation , though the consummation , and perfection be reserved for the next world ; which is our last circumstance , and the Conclusion of all , At the Resurrection we shall be like the Angels ; Till then we shall not ; and therefore must not looke for Angelicall perfections here , but beare one anothers infirmities . It is as yet but in Petition , fiat voluntas , Thy will be done in Earth , as it is in Heaven : And as long as there is an Earth it will be but in Petition ; His will will not be done in Earth as it is in Heaven ; when all is Heaven , to his Saints , all will be well ; but not all till then . In the meane time , remember all , ( especially you , whose Sacramentall , that is , Mysterious , and significative union now is a Type of your union with God in as neare , and as fast a band , as that of Angels , for , you shall be as the Angels of God in Heaven ) That the office of the Angels in this world , is to Assist , and to supply Defects . You are both of noble extraction ; there 's no defect in that ; you need not supply one another with Honour : you are both of religious Education ; there 's no defect in that ; you need not supply one another with fundamentall instructions . Both have your parts in that testimony which S. Gregory gave of your Nation , at Rome , Angli Angeli , you have a lovelinesse fit for one another . But , though I cannot Name , no nor Thinke any thing , wherein I should wish that Angelicall disposition of supporting , or supplying defects , yet , when I consider , that even he that said Ego & pater unum sumus , I and the Father are one , yet had a time to say , utquid dereliquisti ? My God , my God why hast thou forsaken me ? I consider thereby , that no two can be so made one in this world , but that that unity may be , though not Dissolved , no nor Rent , no nor Endangered , yet shaked sometimes by domestique occasions , by Matrimoniall encumbrances , by perversnesse of servants , by impertinencies of Children , by private whisperings , and calumnies of Strangers . And therefore , to speake not Prophetically , that any such thing shall fall , but Provisionally , if any such thing should fall , my love , and my duty , and my Text , bids me tell you , that perfect happinesse is to be staid for , till you be as the Angels of God in heaven ; here , it is a faire portion of that Angelicall happinesse , if you be alwaies ready to support , and supply one another in any such occasionall weaknesses . The God of Heaven multiply the present joy of your parents , by that way , of making you joyfull parents also ; and recompense your obedience to parents , by that way , of giving you obedient Children too . The God of heaven so joine you now , as that you may be glad of one another all your life ; and when he who hath joined you , shall separate you againe , establish you with an assurance , that he hath but borrowed one of you , for a time , to make both your joies the more perfect in the Resurrection . The God of Heaven make you alwaies of one will , and that will alwaies conformable to his ; conserve you in the sincere truth of his Religion ; feast you with the best feast , Peace of conscience ; and carry you through the good opinion , and love of his Saints in this world , to the association of his Saints , and Angels , and one another , in the Resurrection , and everlasting possession of that kingdome , which his Sonne , our Saviour , Christ Jesus hath purchased for us , with the inestimable price of his incorruptible Blood , Amen . SERMON II. Preached at a Mariage . GEN. 2. 18. And the Lord God said , It is not good , that the man should be alone ; I will make him a Helpe , meet for him . IN the Creation of the world , when God stocked the Earth , and the Sea , with those creatures , which were to be the seminary , and foundation and roote of all that should ever be propagated in either of those elements , and when he had made man , to rule over them , he ●●oke to man , and to other creatures , in one and the same phrase , and forme of speech , Crescite , & Multiplicamini , Be fruitfull and multiply ; and thereby imprinted in man , and in other creatures , a naturall desire to conserve , and propagate their kinde by way of Generation . But after God had thus imprinted in man , the same naturall desire of propagation , which he had infused into other creatures too , after he had communicated to him that blessing , ( for so it is said , God blessed them , and said , Be fruitfull , and multiply ) till an ability and a desire of propagating their kinde , was infused into the creature , there is no mention of any blessing in the creation ; after God had made men partakers of that blessing , that naturall desire of propagation , he takes a farther care of man , in giving him a proper and peculiar blessing , in contracting and limiting that naturall desire of his : He leaves all other creatures to the● generall use and execution of that Commission , Crescite et multiplicamini , the Male was to take the Female when and where their naturall desire provoked them ; but , for man , Add●xit Deus ad Adam ; God left not them to goe to one another , but God brought the woman to the man : and so this conjunction , this desire of propagation , though it be naturall in man , as in other creatures , by his creation , yet it is limited by God himselfe , to be exercised onely between such persons , as God hath brought together in mariage , according to his Institution , and Ordinance . Though then societies of men doe grow up , and spread themselves into Townes , and into Cities , and into Kingdomes , yet the root of all societies is in families , in the relation between man and wife , parents and children , masters and servants : so though the state of the children of God , in this world be dignified by the name of a Kingdome , ( for , so we pray by Christs owne institution , Thy kingdome come , and so Christ saies , Ecce Regnum , The kingdome of God is amongst you ) and though the state of Gods children here , be called a City , a new Ierusalem , comming downe from heaven , and in David , Glorious things are spoken of thee , O City of God , yet for all these glorious titles of City and Kingdome , we must remember , that it is called a family too● The Houshold of the faithfull : And so the Apostle says , in preferring Christ before Moses , That Christ as the sonne was over Gods house , whose house we are . So that , both of Civill and of Spirituall societies , the first roote is a family ; and of families , the first roote is Mariage ; and of mariage , the first roote , that growes out into words , is in this Text ; And the Lord God said , It is not good &c. If we should employ this exercise onely upon these two generall considerations , first , that God puts even his care and his study to finde out what is good for man , and secondly , that God doth provide and furnish whatsoever he findes to be necessary , faciam , I will make him a Helper , though they be common places we are bound to thanke God that they are so ; that it is a common place to good , that he ever does it towards us , that it is a common place to us , that we ever acknowledge it in him . But you may be pleased to admit a more particular distribution . For , upon the first , will be grounded this consideration , that in regard of the publique good , God pretermits private , and particular respects ; for , God doth not say , Non bonum homini , it is not good for man to be alone , man might have done well enough so ; nor God does not say , non bonum hunc hominem , it is not good for this , or that particular man to be alone ; but non bonum , Hominem , it is not good in the generall , for the whole frame of the world , that man should be alone , because then both Gods purposes had been frustrated , of being glorified by man here , in this world , and of glorifying man , in the world to come ; for neither of these could have been done , without a succession , and propagation of man ; and therefore , non bonum hominem , it was not good , that man should be alone . And then upon the second consideration , will arise these branches ; first , that whatsoever the defect be , there is no remedy , but from God ; for it is , faciam , I will doe it . Secondly , that even the workes of God , are not equally excellent ; this is but faciam , it is not faciamus ; in the creation ●f man , there is intimated a Consultation , a Deliberation of the whole Trinity ; in the making of women , it is not expressed so ; it is but faciam . And then , that that is made here , is but Adjutorium , but an accessory , not a principall ; but a Helper● First the wife must be so much , she must Helpe ; and then she must be no more , she must not Governe . But she cannot be that , except she have that quality , which God intended in the first woman , Adjutoriam simile sibi , a helper fit for him : for otherwise he will ever returne , to the bonum esse solum , it had been better for him , to have been alone , then in the likenesse of a Helper , to have had a wife unfit for him . First then , that in regard of the publique good , God pretermits private respects , if we take examples upon that stage , upon that scene , the face of Nature , we see that for the conservation of the whole , God hath imprinted in the particulars , a disposition to depart from their owne nature : water will clamber up hills , and ayre will sinke down into vaults , rather then admit Vacuity . But take the example nearer , in Gods bosome , and there we see , that for the publique , for the redemption of the whole world , God hath ( shall we say , pretermitted ? ) derelicted , forsaken , abandoned , his own , and onely Sonne . Do you so too ? Regnum Dei intra nos ; the kingdome of God is within you ; planted in your election ; watred in your Baptisme ; fatned with the blood of Christ Jesus , ploughed up with many calamities , and tribulations ; weeded with often repentances of particular sins ; The kingdome of God is within you ; and will ye not depart from private affections , from Ambition and Covetousnesse , from Excesse , and voluptuousnesse , from chambring and wantonnesse , in which the kingdome of God doth not consist , for the conservation of this kingdome ? will ye not pray for this kigdome , in your private , and publique devotions ? will ye not fast for this kingdome , in cutting off superfluities ? will ye not fight for this kingdome , in resisting suggestions ? will ye not take Counsaile for this kingdome , in consulting with religious friends ? will ye not give subsidies for this kingdome , in relieving their necessities , for whom God hath made you his stewards ? weigh and measure your selves , and spend that , be negligent of that , which is least , and worst in you . Is your soule lesse then your body , because it is in it ? How easily lies a letter in a Boxe , which if it were unfolded , would cover that Boxe ? unfold your soule , and you shall see , that it reaches to heaven ; from thence it came , and thither it should pretend ; whereas the body is but from that earth , and for that earth , upon which it is now ; which is but a short , and an inglorious progresse . To contract this , the soule is larger then the body , and the glory , and the joyes of heaven , larger then the honours , and the pleasures of this world : what are seventy years , to that latitude , of continuing as long as the Ancient of dayes ? what is it , to have spent our time , with the great ones of this time ; when , when the Angels shall come and say , that Time shall be no more , we shall have no beeing with him , who is yesterday , and to day , and the same for ever ? we see how ordinarily ships goe many leagues out of their direct way , to fetch the winde . Spiritus spirat ubi vult , sayes Christ ; the spirit blowes where he will ; and , as the Angel took Habakk●k by the haire , and placed him where he would , this winde , the spirit of God , can take thee at last , by thy gray haires , and place thee in a good station then . Spirat ubi vult , he blowes where he will , and spirat ubi vis , he blowes where thou wilt too , if thou beest appliable to his inspirations . They are but hollow places that returne Ecchoes ; last syllables : It is but a hollownesse of heart , to answer God at last . Be but as liberall of thy body in thy mortifications as in thy excesse , and licentiousnesse , and thou shalt in some measure , have followed Gods example , for the publique to pretermit the private , for the larger , and better , to leave the narrower , and worser respects . To proceed , when we made that observation , that God pretermitted the private for the publique , we noted , that God did not say , non bonum Homini , It was not good for man to be alone ; man might have done well enough in that state , so , as his solitarinesse might have been supplied with a farther creation of more men . In making the inventaries of those goods which man possesseth in the world , we see a great Author says , In possessionibus sunt amici , & inimici , not onely our friends , but even our enemies , are part of our goods , and we may raise as much profit from these , as from those , It may be as good a lesson to a mans sonne , Study that enemy , as Observe that friend . As David says , propitius fuisti , & ulciscens , Thou heardst them ô Lord our God , and wast favour able unto them , and didst punish all their inventions : it was part of his mercy , part of his favour , that he did correct them . So we may say to our enemy , I owe you my watchfulnesse upon my selfe , and you have given me all the goodnesse that I have ; for you have calumniated all my indifferent actions , and that kept me ; from committing enormous ill ones . And if then our enemies be in possessionibus , to be inventaried amongst our goods , might not man have been abundantly rich in friends , without this addition of a woman ? Quanto congruentius , says S. Augustine ; how much more conveniently might two friends live together , then a man and a woman ? God doth not then say , non bonum homini , man got not so much by the bargaine , ( especially if we consider how that wife carried her selfe towards him ) but that for his particular , he had been better alone● nor he does not say now , non bonum hunc hominem esse solum , It is not good for any man to be alone ; for , Qui potest capere capiat , says Christ : he that is able to receive it , let him receive it . What ? That some make themselves Eunuchs for the kingdome of heaven : that is , the better to un-entangle themselves from those impediments , which hinder them in the way to heaven , they abstaine from mariage ; and let them that can receive it , receive it . Now certainly few try whether they can receive this , or no. Few strive , few fast , few pray for the gift of continency ; few are content with that incontinency which they have , but are sorry they can expresse no more incontinency . There is a use of mariage now , which God never thought of in the first institution of mariage ; that it is a remedy against burning . The two maine uses of mariage , which are propagation of Children , and mutuall assistance , were intended by God , at the present , at first ; but the third , is a remedy against that , which was not then ; for then there was no inordinatenesse , no irregularity in the affections of man. And experience hath taught us now , that those climates which are in reputation , hottest , are not uninhabitable ; they may be dwelt in for all their heat . Even now , in the corruption of our nature , the clime is not so hot , as that every one must of necessity , mary . There may be fire in the house , and yet the house not on fire : there may be a distemper of heate , and yet no necessity to let blood . The Roman Church injures us , when they say , that we prefer mariage before virginity : and they injure the whole state of Christianity , when they oppose mariage and chastity , as though they were incompatible , and might not consist together . They may ; for mariage is honourable , and the bed undefiled ; and therefore it may be so . S. Augustine observes in mariage , Bonuam fidei , a triall of one anothers truth ; and that 's good ; And bonum prolis , a lawfull meanes of propagation ; and that 's good ; and bonum Sacramenti , a mysticall representation of that union of two natures in Christ , and of him to us , and to his Church ; and that 's good too . So that there are divers degrees of good in mariage . But yet for all these goodnesses , God does not say , non bonum , it is not good for any man to be alone , but Qui capere potest capiat ; according to Christs comment , upon his Fathers text , He that can containe and continue alone , let him doe so . But though God do not say , non homini , It is not good for the man , that he be alone , nor quemvis hominem , it is not good for every man to be alone , yet , considering his generall purpose upon all the world , by man , he sayes non bonum ; for that end , it is not good , that man should be alone , because those purposes of God could not consist with that solitude of man. In that production , and in that survay , which God made of all that he had made , still he gives the testimony , that he saw all was good , excepting onely in his Second dayes worke , and in his making of Man. He forbore it in the making of the firmament , because the firmament was to divide between waters and waters ; it was an embleme of division , of disunion . He forbore it also in the making of man , because though man was to be an embleme of Gods union to his Church , yet because this embleme , and this representation , could not be in man alone , till the woman were made too , God does not pronounce upon the making of man , that the work was good : but upon Gods contemplation , that it was not good , that man should be alone , there arose a goodnesse , in having a companion . And from that time , if we seeke bonum , quia licitum , if we will call that good , which is lawfull , mariage is that , If thou takest a wife thou sinnest not , sayes God by the Apostle . If we seeke bonum , quia bonus autor , if we call that good whose author is good , mariage is that ; Adduxit ad Adam , God brought her to man. If we seek such a goodnesse , as hath good witness , good testimony , mariage is that ; Christ was present at a mariage , and honoured it with his first miracle . If we seek such a goodnesse , as is a constant , and not a temporary , an occasionall goodnesse , Christ hath put such a cement upon mariage , What God hath joined , let no man put as under . If we seek such a goodnesse , as no man , ( that is , no sort nor degree of men ) is the worse for having accepted , we see the holiecst of all , the High Priest , in the old Testament is onely limited , what woman he shall not mary , but not that he shall not mary ; and the Bishop in the new Testament what kinde of husband he must have been , but not that he must have been no husband . To contract this , as mariage in good , in having the best author , God , the best witnesse , Christ , the logest terme , Life , the largest extent , even to the highest persons , Priests , and Bishops ; as it is , all these wayes , Positively good , so it is good in Comparison of that , which justly seemes the best state , that is , Virginity , in S. Augustines opinion , Non impar meritum Iohannis & Abrahae : If we could consider merit in man , the merit of Abraham , the father of nations , and the merit of Iohn , who was no father at all , is equall . But that wherein we consider the goodnesse of it here , is , that God proposed this way , to receive glory from the sonnes of men here upon earth , and to give glory to the sonnes of men in heaven . But what glory can God receive from man , that he should be so carefull of his propagation ? what glory more from man , then from the Sunne , and Moon , and Stars , which have no propagation ? why this , that S. Augustine observes ; Musca Soli praeferenda , quia vivit , A Fly is a nobler creature then the Sunne , because a fly hath life , and the Sunne hath not ; for the degrees of dignity in the creature are esse , vivere , and intelligere : to have a beeing , to have life , and to have understanding : and therefore man , who hath all three , is much more able to glorify God , then any other creature is , because he onely can chuse whether he will glorify God or no ; the glory that the others give , they must give , but man is able to offer to God a reasonable sacrifice . When ye were Gentiles , saies the Apostle , ye were caryed away unto dumb Idols , even as ye were led . This is reasonable service , out of Reason to understand , and out of our willingnesse to doe God service . Now , when God had spent infinite millions of millions of generations , from all un-imaginable eternity , in contemplating one another in the Trinity , and then ( to speake humanly of God , which God in his Scriptures abhors not ) out of a satiety in that contemplation would create a world for his glory , and when he had wrought the first day , and created all the matter , and substance of the future creatures , and wrought foure dayes after , and a great part of the sixth , and yet nothing produced , which could give him any glory ( for glory is rationabile obsequium , reasonable service ; and nothing could give that but a creature that understood it , and would give it , ) at last , as the knot of all , created man ; then , to perpetuate his glory , he must perpetuate man : and to that purpose , non bonum , it was not good for man to be alone ; as without man God could not have been glorified , so without woman man could not have been propagated . But , as there is a place cited by S. Paul out of David , which hath some perplexity in it , we cannot tell , whether Christ be said to have received gifts from men , or for men ; or to have given gifts to men , ( for so S. Paul hath it ) so it is not easse for us to discern , whether God had a care to propagate man , that he might receive glory from man , or that he might give glory to man. When God had taken it into his purpose to people heaven again , depopulated in the fall of Angels , by the substitution of man in their places , when God had a purpose to spend as much time with man in heaven after , as he had done with himself before , ( for our perpetuity after the Resurrection , shall no more have an end , then his Eternity before the Creation had a beginning : ) And when God to prevent that time of the Resurrection , as it were to make sure of man before , would send down his own Son to assume our nature here ; and , as not sure enough so , would take us up to him , and set us , in his Son , at his own right hand , whereas he never did , nor shall say to any of the Angels , Sit thou there : That God might not be frustrated of this great , and gracious , and glorious purpose of his , non bonum , it was not good that man should be alone ; for without man God could not give this glory , and without woman there could be no propagation of man. And so , though it might have been Bonum homini , man might have done well enough alone ; and Bonum hunc hominem , some men may doe better alone , yet God , who ever , for our example , prefers the publique before the private , because it conduced not to his generall end , of Having , and of Giving glory , saw , and said , Non bonum hominem , it was not good that man should be alone . And so we have done with the branches of our first part . We are come now to our second generall part : In which , as we saw in the former , that God studies man , and all things necessary for man , we shall also see , that wherein soever man is defective , his onely supply , and reparation is from God , Faciam , I will doe it . Saul wanted counsell , he was in a perplexity , and he sought to the Witch of Endor , and not to God ; and what is the issue ? he Hears of his own , and of his son Ionathans death the next day . Asa wants health , and he seeks to the Physician , and not to God , and what is the issue ? He dies . Doe not say , says S. Chrysost. Quaero necessaria , I desire nothing but that which is necessary for my birth , necessary for my place : Quod non dat Deus , non est necessarium : God hath made himself thy Steward , thy Bayliffe ; and whatsoever God provides not for thee , is not necessary to thee . It was the poor way that Mahomet found out in his Alchoran , that in the next life all women should have eies of one bignesse , and a stature of one size ; he could finde no means to avoid contention , but to make them all alike : But that is thy complexion , that is thy proportion which God hath given thee . It may be true that S. Hierome notes , who had so much conversation amongst women , that it did him harm , Mult as insognis pudicitiae , quamvis nulli virorum , sibi scimus ornari ; I know , says he , as honest women as are in the world , that take a delight in making themselves handsomely ready , though for no other bodies sake but for their own . That may be ; but , manus Deo inferunt , they take the pencil out of Gods hand , who goe about to mend any thing of his making . Quod nascitur Dei est , quod mutatur Diaboli , says the same Father ; God made us according to his image , and shall he be put to say to any of us , Non imago mea , this picture was not taken by the life , not by me , but is a Copy of the present distemper of the time ? All good remedies are of God ; none but he would ever have conceived such an invention as the Ark , without that modell , for the reparation of the world ; and he hath provided that means for the conservation of the world , mariage , the association of one to one : Plures costae Adae , nec fatig at a manus Dei : Adam had more ribs then one , neither were Gods hands wearied with making one ; and yet he made no more . For him who first exceeded that , Lamech , who had two wives , the first was Adah , and Adah signifies Coetum , congregationem ; there is company enough , society enough in a wife : His other wife was but Zillah , and Zillah is but umbra , but a shadow , but a ghost , that will terrifie at last . To proceed ; Though God always provide remedies , and supplies of defects , it is not always in the greatest measure , nor in the presentest manner , that we conceive to our selves . So much may be intimated even in this , that in this remedy of Gods provision , the woman , God proceeded not , as he did in the making of man ; it is not Faciamus , with such a counsell , such a deliberation as was used in that case . When the Creation of all the substance of the whole world is expressed , it is Creavit Dit , Gods created , as though more Gods were employed ; and in the making of him , who was the abridgement of all , of man , it is faciamus , let us make him , as though more persons were employed : it is not so in the woman , for though the first Translation of the Bible that ever were and the Translation of the Roman Church have it in the plurall , yet it is not so in the Originall ; it is but faci●m . I presse no more upon this , but one lesson to our selves , That if God exercise us with temporall afflictions , narrownesse in our fortunes , infirmities in our constitutions , or with spirituall afflictions , ignorance in our understandings , scruples in our conscience , if God come not altogether in his faciamus , to powre down with both hands abundance of his worldly ●reafures , or of his spirituall light and clearnesse , let us content our selves with one hand from him , with that manner and that measure that he gives , and that time and that leasure which he takes . And then one lesson also to the other sexe , That they will be content , even by this form and change of phrase , to be remembred , that they are the weaker vessell , and that Adam was not deceived but the woman was . For whether you will ease that with Theodorets exposition , Adam was not deceived first , but the woman was first deceived ; Or with Chrys●st●ms exposition , Adam was not deceived by a Serpent , a creature loathsom , & unacceptable , but by a lovely person , with whom he was transported : Or with Oecumenius his exposition ; Adam was not deceived , because there is no charge laid upon him in the Scriptures , no mention that he was deceived in them , as it is said , that Melchisedek had no Father nor Mother , because there is no record of his pedegree in the Scriptures : Or in Ambr●se his exposition ; That Adam was not deceived in praevaricationem , not so deceived as that he deceived any body else : Take it any way , and it implies a weaknesse in the woman , and an occasion of soupling her to that just estimation of her self , That she will be ●ntent to learn in sitence with all subjection● That as she is not a servant , but a Mother in the house , so she is but a Daughter , and not a Mother of the Chur●h . This is presented more fully in the next , that ●he is but Adjutorium , but a Help : and no body values his staffe , as he does his legges● . It is not an ordinary disease now , to be ●xori●●s that needs no great disswasion . But if any one man in a congregation be obnoxious to any one infirmity , one note is not ●ill spent : And let S. Hierome give this note , Sapi●ns judicio am●t , non affectu , Discretion is the weight of love in a wise mans hand , and not affection . S. Hier●●● cannot stay there ; he addes thus much more , Nihil foedius , quàm uxorem amare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adulteram , There is not a more uncomely , a poorer thing , then to love a wife lik● a Mistresse . S. Augustine makes that comparison , That whensoever the Apostles preached , they were glad when their auditory liked their preaching , Non avidita●e consequendae laudis , sed charitate seminande virtutis ; not that they affected the praise of the people , but that thereby they saw , that they had done more good upon the people . And in another place he makes that comparison , That a righteous man desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ , & yet this righteous man dines , and sups , takes ordinary refections and ordinary recreations : So , for mariage , says he , in temperate men , officiosum , non libidinesum , it is to pay a debt , not to satisfie appetite ; lest otherwise she prove in Ruinam , who was given in Adjutorium , and he be put to the first mans plea , Mulier quam dedisti , The woman whom thou gavest me , gave me my death . So much then she should be , A Helper ; for , for that she was made . She is not so , if she remember not those duties which are intimated in the stipulation and contract which she hath made . Call it Conjugium , and that is derived a Iuge , it is an equall patience in bearing the incommodities of this life . Call it Nuptias , and that is derived à Nube , a vaile , a covering ; and that is an estranging , a withdrawing her self from all such conversation as may violate his peace , or her honour . Call it Matrimonium , and that is derived from a Mother , and that implies a religious education of her children . De latere sumpta , nor-discedat à latere , says A●g . Since she was taken out of his side , let her not depart from his side , but shew her self so much as she was made for , Adjutorium , a Helper . But she must be no more ; If she think her self more then a Helper , she is not so much . He is a miserable creature , whose Creator is his Wife . God did not stay to joyn her in Commission with Adam , so far as to give names to the creatures ; much lesse to give essence ; essence to the man , essence to her husband . When the wife thinks her husband owes her all his fortune , all his discretion , all his reputation , God help that man himself , for he hath given him no helper yet . I know there are some glasses stronger then some earthen vessels , and some earthen vessels stronger then some wooden dishes ; some of the weaker sexe , stronger in fortune , and in counsell too , then they to whom God hath given them , but yet let them not impute that in the eye nor eare of the world , nor repeat it to their own hearts , with such a dignifying of themselves , as exceeds the quality of a Helper . S. Hierome shall be her Remembrancer , She was not taken out of the fo●t ; to be troden upon , nor out of the head , to be an overseer of him ; but out of his side , where she weakens him enough , and therefore should do all she can , to be a Helper . To be so , so much , and no more , she must be as God made Eve , fimilis ei , meet and fit for her husband . She is fit for any if she have those vertues , which always make the person that hath them good ; as chastity , sobriety , taciturnity , verity , and such ; for , for such vertues as may be had , and yet the possessor not the better for them , as wit ; learning , eloquence , musick , memory , cunning , and such , these make her never the fitter . There is a Harmony of dispositions , and that requires particular consideration upon emergent occasions ; but the fitnesse that goes through all , is a sober continency ; for without that , Matrimonium jurata fornicatio , Mariage is but a continuall fornication , sealed with an oath : And mariage was not instituted to prostitute the chastity of the woman to one man , but to preserve her chastity from the tentations of more men . Bathsheba was a little too fit for David , when he had tried her so far before ; for there is no fitnesse where there is not continency . To end all , there is a Morall fitnesse , consisting in those morall vertues , of which we have spoke enough ; And there is a Civill fitnesse , consisting in Discretion , and accommodating her self to him ; And there is a Spirituall fitnesse , in the unanimity of Religion , that they be not of repugnant professions that way . Of which , since we are well assured in both these , who are to be joyned now , I am not sorry , if either the houre , or the present occasion call me from speaking any thing at all , because it is a subject too mis-interpretable , and unseasonable to admit an enlarging in at this time . At this time therefore , this be enough , for the explication and application of these words . SERMON III. Preached at a Mariage . HOSEA 2. 19. And I will mary thee unto me for ever . THE word which is the hinge upon which all this Text turns , is Erash , and Erash signifies not onely a betrothing , as our later Translation hath it , but a mariage ; And so it is used by David , Deliver me my wife Michal whom I maried ; and so our former Translation had it , and so we accept it , and so shall handle it , I will mary thee unto me for ever . The first mariage that was made , God made , and he made it in Paradise : And of that mariage I have had the like occasion as this to speak before , in the presence of many honourable persons in this company . The last mariage which shall be made , God shall make too , and in Paradise too ; in the Kingdome of heaven : and at that mariage , I hope in him that shall make it , to meet , not some , but all this company . The mariage in this Text hath relation to both those mariages : It is it self the spirituall and mysticall mariage of Christ Jesus to the Church , and to every mariageable soule in the Church : And it hath a retrospect , it looks back to the first mariage ; for to that the first word carries us , because from thence God takes his metaphor , and comparison , sponsabo , I will mary ; And then it hath a prospect to the last mariage , for to that we are carried in the last word , in aeternum , I will mary thee unto me for ever . Be pleased therefore to give me leave in this exercise , to shift the scene thrice , and to present to your religious considerations three objects , three subjects : first , a secular mariage in Paradise ; secondly , a spirituall mariage in the Church ; and thirdly , an eternall mariage in heaven . And in each of these three we shall present three circumstances ; first the Persons , Me and Tibi , I will mary thee ; And then the Action , Sponsabo , I will mary thee ; And lastly the Term , In aeternam , I will mary thee to mee for ever . In the first acceptation then , in the first , the secular mariage in Paradise , the persons were Adam and Eve : Ever since they are he and she , man and woman : At first , by reason of necessity , without any such limitation , as now : And now without any other limitation , then such as are expressed in the Law of God : As the Apostles say in the first generall Councell , We lay nothing upon you but things necessary , so we call nothing necessary but that which is commanded by God. If in heaven I may have the place of a man that hath performed the Commandements of God , I will not change with him that thinks he hath done more then the Commandements of God enjoyned him . The rule of marriage for degrees and distance in blood , is the Law of God ; but for conditions of men , there is no Rule given at all . When God had made Adam and Eve in Paradise , God did not place Adam in a Monastery on one side , and Eve in a Nunnery on the other , and so a River between them . They that built wals and cloysters to frustrate Gods institution of mariage , advance the Doctrine of Devils in forbidding mariage . The Devil hath advantages enow against us , in bringing men and women together : It was a strange and super-devilish invention , to give him a new advantage against us , by keeping men and women asunder , by forbidding mariage . Between the heresie of the Nicolaitans , that induced a community of women , any might take any ; and the heresie of the Tatians that forbad all , none might take any , was a fair latitude . Between the opinion of the Manichean hereticks , that thought women to be made by the Devil , and your Colliridian hereticks that sacrificed to a women , as to God , there is a fair distance . Between the denying of them souls , which S. Ambrose is charged to have done , and giving them such souls , as that they may be Priests , as your Pepution hereticks did , is a faire way for a moderate man to walk in . To make them Gods is ungodly , and to make them Devils is devillish ; To make them Mistresses is unmanly , and to make them servants is unnoble ; To make them as God made them , wives , is godly and manly too . When in your Roman Church they dissolved mariage in naturall kindred , in degrees where God forbids it not , when they dissolve mariage upon spitituall kindred , because my Grandfather Christned that womans Father ; when they dissolve mariage upon legall kindred , because my Grandfather adopted that womans Father : they separate those whom God hath joyned so , as to give leave to joyn in lawfull mariage . When men have made vows to abstain from mariage , I would they would they would be content to try a little longer then they doe , whether they could keep that vow or no : And when men have consecrated themselves to the service of God in his Church , I would they would be content to try a little farther then they doe , whether they could abstain or no : But to dissolve mariage made after such a Vow , or after Orders , is still to separate those whom God hath not separated . The Persons are he and she , man and woman ; they must be so much ; he must be a man , she must be a woman ; And they must be no more ; not a brother and a sister , not an unckle and aneece ; Adduxit od eum , was the cause between Adam and Eve , God brought them together ; God will not bring me a precontracted person , he will not have me defraud another ; nor God will not bring me a mis-beleeving , a superstitious person , he will not have me drawn from himself : But let them be persons that God hath made , man and woman , and persons that God hath brought together , that is , not put asounder by any Law of his , and all such persons are capable of this first , this secular mariage . In which our second Consideration is the Action , Sponsabe ; where the Active is a kinde of Passive , I will mary thee , is , I will be maried unto thee , for we mary not our selves . They are somewhat hard driven in the Roman Church , when making mariage a Sacrament , and being prest by us with this question , If it be a Sacrament , who administers it , who is the Priest ? They are fain to answer , the Bridegroom and the Bride , he and she are the Priest in that Sacrament . As mariage is a civill Contract , it must be done so in publick , as that it may have the testimony of men ; As mariage is a religious Contract , it must be so done , as that it may have the benediction of the Priest : In a mariage without testimony of men they cannot claim any benefit of the Law ; In a mariage without the benediction of the Priest they cannot claim any benefit of the Church : for how Matrimonially foever such persons as have maried themselves may pretend to love , and live together , yet all that love , and all that life is but a regulated Adultery , it is not mariage . Now this institution of mariage had three objects : first , In ustionem , it was given for a remedy against burning ; And then , In prolem , for propagation , for children ; And lastly , In adjutorium , for mutuall help . As we consider it the first way , In ustionem , every heating is not a burning ; every naturall concupiscence does not require a mariage ; may every flaming is not a burning ; though a man continue under the flame of carnall tentation , as long as S. Paul did ; yet it needs not come presently to a Sponsabo , I will mary . God gave S. Paul other Physick , Gratia mea sufficit , grace to stand under that tentation ; And S. Paul gave himself other Physick , Contundo corpus , convenient disciplines to tame his body . These will keepa man from burning ; for Vriest desideriis vinci , desideria pati , illustris est , & perfecti ; To be overcome by our concupiscences , that is to burn , but to quench the fire by religious ways , that is a noble , that is a perfect work . When God at the first institution of mariage had this first use of mariage in his contemplation , that it should be a remedy against burning , God gave man the remedy , before he had the disease ; for mariage was instituted in the state of innocency , when there was no inordinatenesse in the affections of man , and so no burning . But as God created Reubarb in the world , whose quality is to purge choler , before there was any choler to purge , so God according to his abundant forwardnesse to doe us good , created a remedy before the disease , which he foresaw comming , was come upon us . Let him then that takes a wife in this first and lowest sense , In medicinam , but as his Physick , yet make her his cordiall Physick , take her to his heart , and fill his heart with her , let her dwell there , and dwell there alone , and so they will be mutuall Antidotes and Preservatives one to another , against all forein tentations . And with this blessing , blesse thou , ô Lord , these whom thou hast brought hither for this blessing : make all the days of their life like this day unto them ; and as thy mercies are new every morning , make them so to one another ; And if they may not die together , sustain thou the survivor of them in that sad hour with this comfort , That he that died for them both , will bring them together again in his everlastingnesse . The second use of mariage was In prolificationem , for children : And therefore as S. August . puts the case , To contract before , that they will have no children , makes it no mariage but an adultery : To deny themselves to another , is as much against mariage as to give themselves to another . To hinder it by Physick , or any other practise ; nay to hinder it so far , as by a deliberate wish , or prayer against children , consists not well with this second use of mariage . And yet in this second use , we dòe not so much consider generation as regeneration ; not so much procreation as education , nor propagation as transportation of children . For this world might be filled full enough of children , though there were no mariage ; but heaven could not be filled , nor the places of the fallen Angels supplied , without that care of childrens religious education , which from Parents in lawfull mariage they are likeliest to receive . How infinite , and how miserable a circle of sin doe we make , if as we sinned in our Parents loins before we were born , so we sin in our childrens actions when we are dead , by having given them , either example , or liberty of sinning . We have a fearfull commination from God upon a good man , upon Eli , for his not restraining the licentiousnesse of his sons ; I will doe a thing in Israel , says God there , at which every mans eares that heares it shall single : And it was executed , Eli fell down and broke his neck . We have also a consolation to women for children , She shall be saved in Child-bearing , says the Apostle ; but as Chrysostome and others of the Ancients observe and interpret that place ( which interpretation arises out of the very letter ) it is , Si permanserint , not if she , but if they , if the children continue in faith , in charity , in holinesse , and sobriety : The salvation of the Parents hath so much relation to the childrens goodnesse , as that if they be ill by the Parents example , or indulgence , the Parents are as guilty as the children . Art thou afraid thy childe should be stung with a Snake , and wilt thou let him play with the old Serpent , in opening himself to all tentations ? Art thou afraid to let him walk in an ill aire , and art thou content to let him stand in that pestilent aire that is made of nothing but oaths , and execrations of blasphemous mouths round about him ? It is S. Chrysostomes complaint , Perditionem magno pretio emunt ; Salutem nec done accipere volunt ; we pay dear for our childrens damnation , by paying at first for all their childish vanities , and then for their sinfull insolencies at any rate ; and we might have them saved , and our selves to the bargain , ( which were a frugall way , and a debt well hedg'd in ) for much lesse then ours , and their damnation stands us in . If you have a desire , says that blessed Father , to leave them certainly rich , Deumiis relinque Debitorem , Doe some such thing for Gods service , as you may leave God in their debt . He cannot break ; his estate is inexhaustible ; he will not break promise , nor break day ; He will shew mercy unto thousands in them that love him and keep his Commandements . And here also may another showre of his benedictions fall upon them whom he hath prepared and presented here ; Let the wife be as a fruitfull Vine , and their children like Olive plants : To thy glory , let the Parents expresse the love of Parents , and the children , to thy glory , the obedience of children , till they both loose that secular name of Parents and Children , and meet all alike , in one new name , all Saints in thy Kingdome , and fellow servants there . The third and last use in this institution of secular mariage , was , In adjutorium , for mutuall help . There is no state , no man in any state , that needs not the help of others . Subjects need Kings , and if Kings doe not need their Subjects , they need alliances abroad , and they need Counsell at home . Even in Paradise , where the earth produced all things for life without labour , and the beasts submitted themselves to man , so that he had no outward enemy ; And in the state of innocency in Paradise , where in man all the affections submitted themselves to reason , so that he had no inward enemy , yet God in this abundant Paradise , and in this secure innocency of Paradise , even in the survey of his own work , saw , that though all that he had made was good , yet he had not made all good ; he found thus much defect in his own work , that man lacked a helper . Every body needs the help of others ; and every good body does give some kinde of help to others . Even into the Ark it self , where God blessed them all with a powerfull and an immediate protection , God admitted onely such as were fitted to help one another , couples . In the Ark , which was the Type of our best condition in this life , there was not a single person . Christ saved once one theef at the last gasp , to shew that there may be late repentances ; but in the Ark he saved none but maried persons , to shew , that he eases himself in making them helpers to one another . And therefore when we come to the P●sui Deum adjutorium meum , to rely upon God primarily for our Help , God comes to the faciam tibi adjutorium , I will make thee a help like thy self : not always like in complexion , nor like in years , nor like in fortune , nor like in birth , but like in minde , like in disposition , like in the love of God , and of one another or else there is no helper . It was no kinde of help that Davids wife gave him , when she spoke by way of counsell , but in truth , in scorn and derision , to draw him from a religious act , as the dancing before the Ark , at that time was : It is no help for any respect , to slacken the husband in his Religion . It was but a poor help that Nabals wife was fain to give him by telling David , Al as my husband is but a foole , like his name , and what will you look for at a fools hand ? It is the worst help of all to raise a husband by dejecting her self , to help her husband forward in this world , by forfeiting sinfully , and dishonourably her own interest in the next . The husband in the Helper in the nature of a foundation , to sustain and uphold all ; The wife in the nature of the roof , to cover imperfections and weaknesses : The husband in the nature of the head from whom all the sinews flow ; The wife in the nature of the hands into which those sinews flow , and enable them to doe their offices . The husband helps as legges to her , she moves by his motion ; The wife helps as a staffe to him , he moves the better by her assistance . And let this mutuall help be a part of our present benediction too ; In all the ways of fortune let his industry help her , and in all the crosses of fortune let her patience help him ; and in all emergent occasions and dangers spirituall , or temporall , O God make speed to save them , O Lord , make haste to help them . We have spoken of the persons , man and woman , him and her ; And of the action , first as it is Physick , but cordiall Physick ; and then for children , but children to be made the children of God ; and lastly for help , but true help and mutuall help ; There remains yet in this secular mariage , the Term , how long , for ever , I will mary thee for ever . Now though there be properly no eternity in this secular mariage , nor in any thing in this world , ( for eternity is that onely which never had ●eginning , nor ever shall have end ) yet we may consider a kind of eternity , a kind of circle without beginning , without end , even in this secular mariage : for first , mariage should have no beginning before mariage ; no half-mariage , no lending away of the minde , in conditionall precontracts before , no lending away of the body in unchaste wantonnesse before . The body is the temple of the Holy Ghost ; and when two bodies , by mariage are to be made one temple , the wife is not as the Chancell , reserv'd and shut up , and the man as the walks below , indifferent and at liberty for every passenger . God in his Temple looks for first fruits from both , that so on both sides , mariage should have such a degree of eternity , as to have had no beginning of mariage before mariage . It should have this degree of eternity too , this quality of a circle to have no interruption , no breaking in the way by unjust suspitions and jealousies . Where there is Spiritus immunditei , as S. Paul calls it , a spirit of uncleannesse , there will necessarily be Spiritus zelotypiae , as Moses cals it , a spirit of jealousie . But to raise the Devill in the power of the Devill , to call up one spirit by another spirit , by the spirit of jealousie and suspition , to induce the spirit of uncleannesse where it was not , if a man conjure up a Devill so , God knows who shall conjure it down again , As jealousie is a care and not a suspition , God is not ashamed to protest of himself that he is a jealous God. God commands that no idolatry be committed , Thou shalt not bow down to a graven Image ; and before he accuses any man to have bowed down to a graven Image , before any Idolatry was committed , he tells them that he is a jealous God ; God is jealous before there is any harm done . And God presents it as a curse , when he says , My jealousie shall depart from thee , and I will be quiet , and no more angry ; that is , I will heave thee to thy self , and take no more care of thee . Jealousie that implies care , and honour , and counsell , and tendernesse , is rooted in God , for God is a jealous God , and his servants are jealous servants , as S. Paul professes of himself , I am jealous over you with a gedly jealousie . But jealousie that implies diffidence and suspition , and accusation , is rooted in the Devil , for he is the Accuser of the brethren . So then , this secular mariage should be in aeternum , eternall , for ever , as to have no beginning before , and so too , as to have no jealous interruption by the way ; for it is so eternall , as that it can have no end in this life : Those whom God hath joyned , no man , no Devill , can separate so , as that it shall not remain a mariage so far , as that if those separated persons will live together again , yet they shall not be new maried ; so farre , certainly , the band of mariage continues still . The Devil makes no mariages ; He may have a hand in drawing conveyances ; in the temporall conditios there may be practice , but the mariage is made by God in heaven . The Devil can break no mariages neither , though he can by sin break off all the good uses , and take away all the comforts of mariage . I pronounce not now whether Adultery dissolves mariage or no ; It is S. Augustines wisdome to say , Where the Scripture is silent , let me be silent too : And I may goe lower then he , and say , Where the Church is silent , let me be silent too ; and our Church is so far silent in this , as that it hath not said , That Adultery dissolves mariage . Perchance then it is not the death of mariage , but surely it is a deadly wound . We have Authors in the Romanc Church that think fornicationem non vagam , that such an incontinent life as is limited to one certain person , is no deadly sin , But there is none even amongst them that diminish the crime of Adultery . Habere quasi non haberes , is Christs counsell , To have a wife as though thou hadst none , that is continency , and temperance , and forbearance and abstinency upon some occasions ; But non habere quasi haberes , is not so ; not to have a wife , and yet have her , to have her , that is anothers , that is the Devils counsell . That falutation of the Angle to the blessed Virgin Mary , Blessed art thou amongst memen , we may make even this interpretation , not onely that she was blessed amongst women , that is , above women , but that she was Benedicta , blessed amongst women , that all women blest her , that no woman had occasion to curse her : And this is the eternity of this secular mariage as far as this world admits any eternity ; that it should have no beginning before , no interruption of jealousie in the way , no such approach towards dissolution , as that incontinency , in all opinions , and in all Churches is agreed to be . And here also without any scruple of fear , or of suspition of the contrary , there is place for this benediction , upon this couple ; Build , ô Lord , upon thine own foundations , in these two , and establish thy former graces with future ; that no person ever complain of either of them , nor either of them of one another , and so he and she are maried in aeternum for ever . We are now come in our order proposed at first , to our second Part ; for all is said that I intended of the secular mariage . And of this second , the spirituall mariage , much needs not to be said : There is another Priest that contracts that , another Preacher that celebrates that , the Spirit of God to our spirit . And for the third mariage , the eternall mariage , it is a boldnesse to speak any thing of a thing so inexpressible as the joyes of heaven ; it is a diminution of them to goe about to heighten them ; it is a shadowing of them to goe about to lay any colours or light upon them . But yet your patience may perchance last to a word of each of these three Circumstances , The Persons , the Action , the Term , both in this spirituall , and in the eternall mariage . First then , as in the former Part , the secular mariage , for the persons there , we considered first Adam and Eve , and after every man and woman , and this couple in particular ; so in this spirituall mariage we consider first Christ and his Church , for the Persons , and more particularly Christ and my soul. And can these persons meet ? in such a distance , and in such a disparagement can these persons meet ? the Son of God and the son of man ? When I consider Christ to be Germen Iehovae , the bud and blossome , the fruit and off-spring of Jehovah , Jehovah himself , and my self before he took me in hand , to be , not a Potters vessell of earth , but that earth of which the Potter might make a vessel if he would , and break it if he would when he had made it : When I consider Christ to have been from before all beginnings , and to be still the Image of the Father , the same stamp upon the same metall , and my self a peece of rusty copper , in which those lines of the Image of God which were imprinted in me in my Creation are defaced and worn , and washed and burnt , and ground away , by my many , and many , and many fins : When I consider Christ in his Circle , in glory with his Father , before he came into this world , establishing a glorious Church when he was in this world , and glorifying that Church with that glory which himself had before , when he went out of this world ; and then consider my self in my circle , I came into this world washed in my own tears , and either out of compunction for my self or compassion for others , I passe through this world as through a valley of tears , where tears settle and swell , and when I passe out of this world I leave their eyes whose hands close mine , full of tears too , can these persons , this Image of God , this God himself , this glorious God , and this vessell of earth , this earth it self , this inglorious worm of the earth , meet without disparagement ? They doe meet and make a mariage ; because I am not a body onely , but a body and s , oul there is a mariage , and Christ maries me . As by the Law a man might mary a captive woman in the Warres , if he shaved her head , and pared her nails , and changed her clothes : so my Saviour having fought for my soul , fought to blood , to death , to the death of the Crosse for her , having studied my soul so much , as to write all those Epistles which are in the New Testament to my soul , having presented my soule with his own picture , that I can see his face in all his temporall blessings , having shaved her head in abating her pride , and pared her nails in contracting her greedy desires , and changed her clothes not to fashion her self after this world , my soul being thus fitted by himself , Christ Jesus hath maried my soul , maried her to all the three intendments mentioned in the secular mariage ; first , in ustionem , against burning ; That whether I burn my self in the fires of tentation , by exposing my self to occasions of tentation , or be reserved to be burnt by others in the fires of persecution and martyrdome , whether the fires of ambition , or envy , or lust , or the everlasting fires of hell offer at me in an apprehension of the judgements of God , yet as the Spirit of God shall wipe all tears from mine eyes , so the tears of Christ Jesus shall extinguish all fires in my heart , and so it is a mariage , In ustionem , a remedy against burning . It is so too , In prolificationem , for children ; first , vae soli , woe unto that single soul that is not maried to Christ ; that is not come into the way of having issue by him , that is not incorporated in the Christian Church , and in the true Church , but is yet in the wildernesse of Idolatry amongst the Gentiles , or in the Labyrinth of superstition amongst the Papists , vae soli , woe unto that single man that is not maried unto Christ in the Sacraments of the Church ; and vae sterili , woe unto them that are barren after this spirituall mariage , for that is a great curse in the Prophet Ieremy , Scribe virum istum sterilem , write this man childlesse , that implied all calamities upon him ; And assoon as Christ had laid that curse upon the Fig-tree , Let no fruit grow upon thee for ever , presently the whole tree withered ; no fruit , no leafes neither , nor body left . To be incorporated in the body of Christ Jesus , and bring forth no fruits worthy of that profession , is a wofull state too . Vae soli , woe unto the Gentiles not maried unto Christ ; and vae sterili , woe unto inconsiderate Christians , that think not upon their calling , that conceive not by Christ ; but there is a vae praegnanti too , wo unto them that are with child , and are never delivered ; that have good conceptions , religious dispositions , holy desires to the advancement of Gods truth , but for some collaterall respects dare not utter them , nor bring them to their birth , to any effect . The purpose of his mariage to us , is to have children by us : and this is his abundant and his present fecundity , that working now , by me in you , in one instant he hath children in me , and grand children by me . He hath maried me , in ustionem , and in prolem , against burning , and for children ; but can he have any use of me , in adjutorium , for a helper ? Surely , if I be able to feed him , and clothe him , and harbour him , ( and Christ would not condemne men at the last day for not doing these , if man could not doe them ) I am able to help him too . Great persons can help him over sea , convey the name of Christ where it hath not been preached yet ; and they can help him home again ; restore his name , and his truth where superstition with violence hath disseised him : And they can help him at home , defend his truth there against all machinations to displant and dispossesse him . Great men can help him thus ; and every man can help him to a better place in his own heart , and his own actions , then he hath had there ; and to be so helped in me and helped by me , to have his glory thereby advanced , Christ hath maried my soul : And he hath maried it in aeternum , for ever ; which is the third and last Circumstance in this spirituall , as it was in the secular mariage . And here the aeternum is enlarged ; in the secular mariage it was an eternity considered onely in this life ; but this eternity is not begun in this world , but from all eternity in the Book of life , in Gods eternall Decree for my election , there Christ was maried to my soul. Christ was never in minority , never under years ; there was never any time when he was not as ancient as the Ancient of Days , as old as his Father . But when my soul was in a strange minority , infinite millions of millions of generations , before my soul was a soul , did Christ mary my soul in his eternall Decree . So it was eternall , it had no beginning . Neither doth he interrupt ●his by giving me any occasion of jealousie by the way , but loves my soul as though there were no other soul , and would have done and suffered all that he did for me alone , if there had been no name but mine in the Book of life . And as he hath maried me to him , in aeternum , for ever , before all beginnings , and in aeternum , for ever , without any interruptions , so I know , that whom he loves he loves to the end , and that he hath given me , not a presumptuous impossibility , but a modest infallibility , that no sin of mine shall divorce or separate me from him , for , that which ends the secular mariage , ends not the spirituall : not death , for my death does not take me from that husband , but that husband being by his Father preferr'd to higher titles , and greater glory in another state , I doe but goe by death where he is become a King , to have my part in that glory , and in those additions which he hath received there . And this hath led us to our third and last mariage , our eternall mariage in the triumphant Church . And in this third mariage , the persons are , the Lamb and my soul ; The mariage of the Lamb is come , and blessed are they that are called to the mariage Supper of the Lamb , says S. Iohn speaking of our state in the generall Resurrection . That Lamb that was brought to the slaughter and opened not his mouth , and I who have opened my mouth and poured out imprecations and curses upon men , and execrations and blasphemies against God upon every occasion ; That Lamb who was slain from the beginning , and was slain by him who was a murderer from the beginning ; That Lamb which took away the sins of the world , and I who brought more sins into the world , then any sacrifice but the blood of this Lamb could take away : This Lamb and I ( these are the Persons ) shall meet and mary ; there is the Action . This is not a clandestine mariage , not the private seal of Christ in the obsignation of his Spirit ; and yet such a clandestine mariage is a good mariage : Nor it is not such a Parish mariage , as when Christ maried me to himself at my Baptisme , in a Church here ● and yet that mariage of a Christian soul to Christ in that Sacrament is a blessed mariage : But this is a mariage in that great and glorious Congregation , where all my fins shall be laid open to the eys of all the world , where all the blessed Virgins shall see all my uncleannesse , and all the Martyrs see all my tergiversations , and all the Consessors see all my double dealings in Gods cause ; where Abraham shall see my faithlesnesse in Gods promises ; and Iob my impatience in Gods corrections ; and Lazarus my hardness of heart in distributing Gods blessings to the poore ; and those Virgins , and Martyrs , and Confessors , and Abraham , and Iob , and Lazarus , and all that Congregation , shall look upon the Lamb and upon me , and upon one another , as though they would all forbid those banes , and say to one another , Will this Lamb have any thing to doe with this soule ? and yet there and then this Lamb shall mary me , In aeternum , for ever , which is our last circumstance . It is not well done to call it a circumstance , for the eternity is a great part of the essence of that mariage . Consider then how poore and needy a thing , all the riches of this world , how flat and tastlesse a thing , all the pleasures of this world , how pallid , and faint , and dilute a thing , all the honours of this world are , when the very Treasure , and Joy , and glory of heaven it self were unperfect , if it were not eternall , and my mariage shall be too , In aeternum , for ever . The Angels were not maried so ; they incurr'd an irreparable Divorce from God , and are separated for ever , and I shall be maried to him , in aeternum , for ever . The Angels fell in love , when there was no object presented , before any thing was created ; when there was nothing but God and themselves , they fell in love with themselves , and neglected God , and so fell in aeternum , for ever . I shall see all the beauty , and all the glory of all the Saints of God , and love them all , and know that the Lamb loves them too , without jealousie , on his part , or theirs , or mine , and so be maried in aeternum , for ever , without interruption , or diminution , or change of affections . I shall see the Sunne black as sackcloth of hair , and the Moon become as blood , and the Starres fall as a Figge-tree casts her untimely Figges , and the heavens roll'd up together as a Scroll . I shall see a divorce between Princes and their Prerogatives , between nature and all her elements , between the spheres , and all their intelligences ; between matter it self , and all her forms , and my mariage shall be , in aeternum , for ever . I shall see an end of faith , nothing to be beleeved that I doe not know ; and an end of hope , nothing to be wisht that I doe not enjoy , but no end of that love in which I am maried to the Lamb for ever . Yea , I shall see an end of some of the offices of the Lamb himself ; Christ himself shall be no longer a Mediator , an Intercessor , an Advocate , and yet shall continue a Husband to my soul for ever . Where I shall be rich enough without Joynture , for my Husband cannot die ; and wise enough without experience , for no new thing can happen there ; and healthy enough without Physick , for no sicknesse can enter ; and ( which is by much the highest of all ) safe enough without grace , for no tentation that need particular grace , can attempt me . There , where the Angels , which cannot die , could not live , this very body which cannot choose but die , shall live , and live as long as that God of life that made it . Lighten our darkness , we beseech thee , ô Lord , that in thy light we may see light : Illustrate our understandings , kindle our affections , pour oyle to our zeale , that we may come to the mariage of this Lamb , and that this Lamb may come quickly to this mariage : And in the mean time bless these thy servants , with making this secular mariage a type of the spirituall , and the spirituall an earnest of that eternall , which they and we , by thy mercy , shall have in the Kingdome which thy Son our Saviour hath purchased with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood . To whom , &c. SERMON IV. Preached at a Christning . REVEL . 7. 17. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throns , shal● g●vern them , and shall leade them unto the lively furnteins of maters , and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes . IF our conversation be in heaven , as the Apostle says his was , and if that conversation be , ( as Testullian reads that place ) Municipatus noster , our City , our dwelling , the place from whence onely we receive our Laws , to which onely we direct our services , in which onely we are capable of honours , and offices , where even the office of a doore-keeper was the subject of a great Kings ambition ; if our conversation be there , even there , there cannot be better company met , then we may see and converse withall in this Chapter . Upon those words , doth the Eagle mount up at the Cominandement , or make his nest on high ; S. Gregory says , Videamus aquilam , nidum sibi , in arduis construentem ; Then we say an Eagle make his nest on high , when we heard S. Petter say so , Our conversation is in heaven ; and then doth an Eagle mount up at our commandement , when our soul , our devotion , by such a conversation in heaven , associates itself with all this blessed company that are met in this Chapter , that our fellow ship may be with the Father , and with his Son Iesus Christ , and with all the Court and Quire of the Triumphant Church . If you go to feasts , if you goe to Comedies , fometimes onely to meet company , nay if you come to Church sometimes onely upon that errand , to meet company , ( as though the House of God , were but as the presence of an earthly Prince , which upon solemne Festivall days must be fill'd and furnished , though they that come , come to doe no service there ) command year Eagle to mount up , and to build his nest on high , command your souls to have their conversation in heaven by meditation of this Scripture , and you shall meet company , which no stranger shall interrupt , for they are all of a knot , and such a knot as nothing shall unty , as inseparably united to one another , as that God , with whom they are made one Spirit , is inseparable in himself . Here you shall see the Angell that comes from the East , ( yea , that Angel which is the East , from whence all beams of grace and glory arise , for so the Prophet calls Christ Iesus himself , ( as S. Hierome reads that place ) Eccevir , Oriens nomen ejus , Behold him , whose name is the East ) you shall see him come with the seal of the living God , and hold back those Angels which had power given them to hurt the Sea , and the Earth , and you shall her him say , Hurt not the earth , nor the sea , nor the trees , till we have sealed the servants of our God in the forecheads . And as you shall see him forward , so you shall see him large , and bountifull in imprinting that Seal , you shall see an hundred and forty four thousand of the Tribes of the Children of Israel , and you shall see a great multitude , which no man can number , of al Nations , and kindreds , and people , and tongues , stand before the Throne , and before the Lamb , and cry out , and say , Salvation commeth of our God , that sitteth upon the Throne , and of the Lamb : and you shall see all the Angels stand round about the Throne , and about the Elders , and the four Beasts , all falling upon their faces , and worshipping God , saying , Amen , praise , and glory , and wisdome , and thanks , and honour , and power , and might be unto our God , for evermore , Amen . And this is good company , and good Musique . And lest you should lose any of the Joy of this conversation , of this society , by ignorance what they were , one of the Elders prevents you ; and ( as the Text says ) answers you , saying , what are these that are araid in white ? he answers by a question , which is some what strange ; but he answers before any question , which is more strange : but God fees questions in our hearts before he hears them from our lips ; and as soon as our hearts conceive a desire to be informed , he gives a full and a present satisfaction ; he answers before we ask ; but yet he answers by a question , that thereby he may give us occasion of farther discourse , of farther questioning with him . There , this Elder shall tell thee , that those are they which are come out of the Tribulations of this world , and have made their Robes white in the blood of the Lamb , that therefore they are in the presence of the Throne of God , that they serve him day and night in the Temple , that they shall hunger no more , thrist no more , nor be offended with heat , or Sun ; That is , as many as are appointed to receive this Seal of the living God upon their foreheads , though they be not actually delivered from all the incommodities of this life , yet nothing in this life shall deprive them of the next . For as you see the Seal given in this Chapter , and the promise of all these blessings annexed to it , so you see in this Text the reason of all this , for the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall govern them , and shall leade them unto the lively fountains of waters , and God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes . In which words , we shall consider for order and distincton , first the matter , and then the form : by the matter we mean the purpose and intention of the Holy Ghost in these words ; and by the form , the declaring , the proving , the illustrating , and the heightning of that purpose of his . For the matter ; we take this imprinting or the Seal of the living God in the forehead of the Elect , and this washing in the blood of the Lamb , to be intended of the Sacrament of Baptisme : In that which we call the form , which is the illustrating of this , we shall first look upon the great benefits and blessings which these servants of God so sealed , and so washed , are made partakers of ; for those blessings which are mentioned in the verses before , are rooted and enwrapped in this particular of this Text , Quoniam , for ; they are blessed ; for the Lamb shall dòe this and this for them ; And then we shall consider what that is which this Lamb will doe for them ; first , Reget illos , He shall govern them , take them into his care , make them heirs of the Covenant , breed them in a visible Church : secondly , Deducet eos , He shall lead them to the lively fountains of waters ; give them outward and visible means of Sanctification ; thirdly , Absterget omnem lachtymam , He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; even in this life he shall settle and establish a heavenly joy in the faithfull appreliension of the joyes of heaven here . First then to speak of the matter , that is of the purpose and intention of these words , it is true , they are diversly understood : They have been understood of the state of the Martyrs , which are now come to the possesion of their Crown in heaven , because they are said to have made their long Robes white in the blood of the Lamb ; And so S. August . and S. Gregory ( when , by occasion of the subject which they were then in hand with , they were full of the contemplation of Martyrdome , and encouragements to that ) doe seem to understand these words , of Martyrs . But since it is not said , that they washed their robes in their own blood , which is proper to Martyrs , but in the blood of the Lamb , which is communicated to all that participate of the merit of Christ , the words seem larger then so , and not to be restrained onely to Martyrs . Others have enlarged them farther then so , beyond Martyrs : but yet limit them to the Triumphant Church ; that because it is said , that they are come out of great tribulation , and that they are in the presence of the Throne of God , and that they shall hunger no more , they see no way of admitting these perfections , in this life . But S. Paul saw a way , when he said of the Elect , even in this life , God which is rich in mercy , Convivificavit , conresuscitavit , considere fecit , he hath quickned us , he hath raised us , he hath made us fit together in the heavenly places , in Christ Iesus : That is , as he is our Head , and is there himself , and we with Christ Jesus , as we are his Members ; we are with him there too . In the same place where the Apostle says , That we look for our Saviour from heaven , ( there is our future , our expectation ) he says also , our conversation is in heaven , there is our present , our actuall possession . That is it which S. Augustine intends , Dilexisti me Domine plusquam te ; Lord thou hast loved me more then thou hast loved thy self : Not onely that thou gavest thy self for me , that thou didst neglect thy self to consider me , but whereas thou hadst a glory with the Father , before the world was made , thou didst admit a cloud , and a slumber upon that glory , and staiedst for thy glory till thy death , yet thou givest us , ( naturally inglorious , and miserable creatures ) a reall possession of glory , and of inseparablenesse from thee , in this life . This is that Copiosa redemptio , there is with the Lord plentifull redemption ; though that were Matura redemptio , a seasonable redemption , if it should meet me upon my death-bed , and that the Angels then should receive my soul , to lay it in Abrahams bosome , yet this is my Saviours plentifull redemption , that my soul is in Abrahams bosome now whilest it is in this body , and that I am already in the presence of his Throne , now when I am in your sight , and that I serve him already day and night in his Temple , now when I meditate , or execute his Commission , in this service , in this particular Congregation . Those words are not then necessarily restrained to Martyrs , they are not restrained to the state of the Triumphant Church , they are spoken to all the Children of righteousnesse , and of godlines ; and godlinesse hath the promises of the life present , and that , that is to come . That which involves all these promises , that which is the kernell , and seed , and marrow of all , the last clause of the text , God shall wipe all teares from their eyes , those words , that clause , is thrice repeated intirely in the Scriptures : When it is spoken here , when it is spoken in the one and twentieth Chapter of the Revelation , and at the fourth verse , in both places , it is derived from the Prophet Esay , which is an Eacharisticall chapter , a Chapter of thanksgiving for Gods deliverance of his children , even in this world , from the afflictions , and tribulations thereof , and therefore this text belongs also to this world . This imprinting then of the seale in the forehead , this washing of the robes in the bloud of the Lambe , S. Ambrose places conveniently to be accomplished in the Sacrament of Baptisme : for this is Copiosissima Redemptio , this is the most plentiful redemption , that that be applied to us , not onely at last in Heaven , nor at my last step towards heaven , at my death , nor in all the steps that I make in the course of my life , but in my first step into the Church , nay before I can make any step , when I was carried in anothers armes thither , even in the beginning of this life ; and so do divers of the later Men , and of those whom we call ours , understand all this , of baptisme ; because if we consider this washing away of teares , as Saint Cyprian says , young children doe most of all need this mercy of God and this assistance of Man , because as soone as they come into this world Plorantes , ac flentes , nihil aliud faciunt , quam deprecantur , they beg with teares something at our hands , and therefore need this abstersion , this wiping . For though they cannot tell us , what they aile , though ( if we will enter into curiosities ) we cannot tell them what they aile , that is , we cannot tell them what properly , and exactly Originall sin is , yet they aile something , which naturally disposes them , to weep , and beg , that something might be done , for the wiping away of teares from their eyes . And therefore though the other errors of the Anabaptist be ancient , 1000. year old , yet the denying of baptisme to children , was never heard of till within 100. years , and lesse . The Arrians , and the Donatists did rebapsize those who were baptized by the true Christians , whom they counted Heretiques ; but yet they refused not to baptize children : The Pelegians denied originall sin in children ; but yet they baptized them . All Churches , Greek , and Russian , and Ethiopique , howsoever they differ in the body of the Church , yet they meet , they agree in the porch , in Limine Ecclesiae , in the Sacrament of baptisme , and acknowledge that it is communicable to all children , and to all Men ; from the child new borne to the decrepit old Man , from him that is come out of one mothers wombe , to him that is going into another , into his grave , Sicut nullus prohibendus à baptisme , it a nullus est qui non peccate moritur in baptismo , As baptisme is to be denied to none , so neither is it to be denied , that all , that are rightly baptized , are washed from sin . Let him that will contentiously say , that there are some children , that take no profit by baptisme , shew me which is one of them , and qui testatur de scientia , testetur de mode scientiae ; If he say he knowes it , let him tell us how he knowes that which the Church of God doth not know . We come now to the second part ; in which we consider first , this firstword , quoniam , for , which is verbum praegnans , a word that includes all those great blessings , which God hath ordained for them , whom in his eternall decree , he hath prepared for this sealing and this washing . Those blessings , which are immediately before the text , are , that in Gods purpose , they are already come out of great tribulations , they have already received a whitenes by the bloud of the Lambe , they are already in the presence of the threne of the Lambe , they have already overcome all hunger , and thirst , and heat . Those particular blessings we cannot insist upon ; that requires rather a Comment upon the Chapter , then a Sermon upon the text . But in this word of inference , for , we onely wil observe this : That though all the promises of God in him , are Yea , and Amen , certain , and infallible in themselves , though his Name , that makes them be Amen , ( Thus saith Amen , the faithfull and true witnesse ) and therefore there needs no better security , then his word , for all those blessings , yet God is pleased to give that abundant satisfaction to Man , as that his reason shall have something to build upon , as well as his faith , he shall know why he should beleeve all these blessings to belong to them who are to have these Seales , and this washing . For God requires no such faith , nay he accepts , nay he excuses no such faith , as beleeves without reason ; beleeves he knows not why . As faith witout fruit , witout works , is no faith ; to faith without a roct , without reason , is no faith , but an opinion . All those blessings by the Sacrament of Baptism , & all Gods other promises to his children , and all the mysteries of Christrian Religion , are therefore beleeved by us , becuase they are grounded in the Scriptures of God ; we beleeve them for that reason ; and then it is not a worke of my faith primarily , but it is a worke of my reason , that assures me , that these are the Scriptures , that these Scriptures are the word of God. I can answer other Mens reasons , that argue against it , I can convince other men by reason , that my reasons are true : and therefore it is a worke of reason , that I beleeve these to be Scriptures . To prove a beginning of the world , I need not the Scriptures , reason will evict it forceibly enough against all the world ; but , when I come beyond all Philosophy , that for Adams fault six thousand year agoe , I should be condemned now , because that fault is naturally in me , I must find reason , before I beleeve this , and my reason is , because I find it in the Scrpiture ; Nascimur filii Irae , and therefore , nifi renatus , we are borne children of wrath , and therefore must be borne againe . That a Messias should come to deliver Mankind from this sinne , and all other fins , my reason is , the Semen mulieris , the seed of the woman , for the promise , and the Ecce agnus Dei , Behold the Lambe of God , for the performance . That he should come , I reft in that , The seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head ; And that he is come , I rest in this , that Iohn Baptist shewed the Lambs of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world . That this merit of his should be applied to certaine Men , my reason is in the Semini two , Gods Covenant , to Abraham , and to his seed ; That we are of that number , included in that Covenant to Abraham , my reason is , in spiritu adoptionis , the spirit of adoption hath ingraffed us , inserted us into the same Covenant . When my reason tells me that the Seale of that Covenant , Circumcision is gone , ( I am not circumcised , and therefore might doubt ) my reason tells me too , that in the Scriptures , there is a new Seals , Baptisme : when my reason tells mee , that after that regeneration , I have degenerated againe , I have fallen from those graces which I received in Baptisme , my reason leades mee againe to those places of Scripture , where God hath established a Church for the remession and absolution of sinnes . If I have been negligent of all these helpes , and now my reason beginnes to worke to my prejudice , that I beginne to gather and heape up all those places of the Law , and Prophets , and Gospell , which threaten certaine condemnation unto such sinners , as I find my selfe to bee , yet if my reason can see light at the Nolo mortem peccatoris , at the Quandocunque resipiscct ; That God would not the death of any sinner , That no time is unseasonable for repentance : That scatters the clands of witnesses againe ; and to till my reason can tell me ( which it can never doe ) that it hath found places in Scripture , of a measure , and finitenesse in God , ( that his mercy can goe no farther ) and then of an infinitenesse in Man ( that his finne can goe beyond God ) my reason will defend me from desperation ; I meane the reason , that is grounded upon the Scripture ; still I shall find there , that Quia , which David delighted in so much , as that he repears it almost thirty times , in one Psalm , For his mercy endureth for ever . God leaves no way of satisfaction unperformed unto us ; sometimes he workes upon the phantasie of Man ; as in those often ●isions , which he presented to his Prophets in dreames ; sometimes he workes upon the senses , by preparing objects for them ; So he filled the Mountaine round about with horses , and chariots , in defense of Elisha ; but alwayes he workes upon our reason ; he bids us feare no judgment , he bids us hope for no mercy , except it have a Quia , a reason , a foundation , in the Scriptures . For God is Logos , speech and reasone He declares his will by his Word , and he proved it , he confirmes it , he is Logos , and he proceeds Logically . It is true , that we have a Sophistry , which as farre as concerns our owne destruction , frustrates his Logique ; If Peter make a Quia , a reason why his fellowes could not bee drunke , Because it was but nine a Clocke , wee can find Men that can overthrow that reason , and rise drunke out of their beds ; If Christ make a Quia , a reason against fashionall , and Circumstantiall christians , that doe sometimes some offices of religion , out of custome , or company , or neighborhood , or necessity , because no man peecethan old garment with new cloth , nor puts new wine into old vessells , yet since S. Augustine says well , Carnalitas vetustas , gratia novitas , our carnall delights , are our old garments , and those degrees and beames of grace , which are shed upon us , are the new , we do peece this old with this new , that is , long habits of sin , with short repentances ; flames of concupiscence , with little sparks of remorse ; and into old vessells , ( our sin-worne bodies ) we put in once a year , some drops , of new wine , of the bloud of our Saviour Christ Iesus , in the Sacrament , ( when we come to his table , as to a vintage , because of the season , and we receive by the Almanack , because it is Easter ) and this new wine so taken in , breakes the vessells , ( as Christ speakes in that similitude ) And his breaking shall be , as the breaking of a Potters pot , which is broken without pity , and in the breaking thereof is not found a shard , to take fire at the hearth , nor to take water out of the pit ; No way in the Church of God , to repaire that Man , because he hath made either a Mockery , or at best , but a Civil action of Gods institution in the Church . To conclude this , all sin is but fallacy and Sophistry ; Religion is reason and Logique ; The devill hides , and deludes , Almighty God demonstrates and proves : That fashion of his goes through all his precepts , through all his promises , which is in Esay , Come now , and let us reason together ; that which was in Iob , is a bundantly in God , That he did not contemne the judgment of his servant , nor of his maid , when they did contend with him . Nec decet Dei judicium quicquid habere affine tyrannidi , we may not think that here is any thing in God , like a Tyran ; and it is a Tyrannicall proceeding , as to give no reason of his cruelties , so to give no assurance of his benefits ; and therefore God seales his promises with a Quia , a reason , an assurance . Now much of the strength of the assurance , consists in the person , whose seale it is ; and therefore as Christ did , we aske next , Cujus inscriptio , whose Image , whose inscription is upon his seale , who gives this assurance ? And it is the Lambe that is in the midst of the throne ; If it werethe Lion , the Lion of the tribe of Iuda , is able to perform his promises : but there are more then Christ , out of this world , that beare the Lion ; The devill is a Lion too , that seeketh whom he may devoure : but he never seales with that Lambe , with any impression of humility ; to a Lambe he is never compared ; in the likenesse of a lambe , he is never noted to have appeared , in all the Legends . It is the Lambe , that is in the midst , thereby disposed to shed , and dispense his spirituall benefits on all sides ; The Lambe is not immured in Rome , not coffined up in the ruines , and tubbidge of old wals , nor thrust into a corner in Conventicles . The Lambe is in the midst ; & he is in the midst of the throne ; though al his great , & glorious company be round about him , one hundred and forty foure thousand Israelites , innumerable multitudes of all Nations , Angels , and Elders , yet it is the Lambe , that is in the midst of them , and not they that are about him , that sheds down these blessings upon us ; And it is the Lambe , that is there still , in the midst of the throne ; not kneaded into an Agnus Dei , of wax , or wafer here , not called down from heaven , to an Altar , by every Priests charme , to be a witnesse of secrecy in the Sacrament , for every bloudy , and feditious enterprise , that they undertake ; It is Agnus qui est in medio Throni , the Lambe that is there , and shall be so , till he come at last , as a Lion also , to devoure them , who have made false opinions of him to serve their mischievous purposes here . This is the person then , that gives the assurance , that all these blessings belong to them who are ordained to be so sealed , and so washed ; this is he that assures us , and approves to us , that all this shall be , first , Quia reget , because he shall govern them , secondly , Quia deducet , because he shall lead them to the fountaines of waters ; thirdly , Quia absterget , because he shall wipe all teares from their eyes . First , he shall govern them ; he shall establish a spiritual Kingdome for them in this world ; for to govern , which is the word , of the first translation , and to feed , which is in the second , is all one in Scriptures . Dominabitur gentium , he shall be Lord of the Gentiles ; but Rex Israelis , he shall governe his people Israel , as a King , by a certain , and a cleare law ; So that , as we shal have interest in the Covenant , as well as the Israclites , so we shal have interest in that glorious acclamation of theirs ; Unto what nation are their Gods come so neare unto them , as the Lord our God , is come near unto us ; what nation hath Laws , and ordinances so righteous as we have ? for in that Paul & Barnabas express the heaviest indignation of God upon the Gentiles , that God suffered the Gentiles to walke in their own ways ; he shewed them not his ways , he setled no church , no kingdome , amongst them , he did not govern them . Except one of those Eight persons whom God preserved in the Arke , were here to tell us , the unexpressible comfort , that he conceived in his safety , when he saw that flood wash away Princes from their thrones , misers from their bagges , lovers from their embracements , Courtiers from their wardrobes , no man is able to expresse that true comfort , which a Christian is to take , even in this , That God hath taken him into his Church , and not left him in that desperate , and irremediable inundation of Idolatry , and paganisace that overflowes all the world beside . For beloved , who can expresse , who can conceive that strange confusion , which shall overtake , and oppresse those infinite multitudes of Soules , which shall be changed at the last day , and shall meet Christ Jesus in the clouds , and shall receive an irrevocable judgment , of everlasting condemnation , dut of his mouth , whose name they never heard of before , that must be condemned by a Judge , of whom they knew nothing before , and who never had before any apprehension of torments of Hell , till by that lamentable experience they began to learn it ? What blessed meanes of preparation against that fearfull day doth he afford us , even in this , that he governes us by his law , delivered in his Church . The first thing , that the housholder in the parable , is noted to have done for his Vineyard was , Sepe circumdedit , he hedged it in . That , God hath done for us , in making us his Church ; he hath inlaid us , he hath hedged us in . But he that breaketh the hedge , a Serpent shall bite him , he that breaketh this hedge , the peace of the Church , by his Schisme , the old Serpent hath bitten , and poysoned him , and shall bite worse hereafter : and if God , having thus severed us , and hedged us in , have expected grapes , and we bring none , though we breake no hedge here amongst our selves , that is , no Papist breaks in upon us , no Separatist breakes out from us , we enjoy security enough , yet even for our own barrennes , Godwill take away the hedge , and it shall be eaten up , he will breake the wall , and it shall be troden down . Surely , says the Prohet there , The Vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel , and the Men of Indah are his pleasant plans : Surely we are the Church , which God hath hedged in ; but yet if we answer not his expectation , certainly the confusion of the Gentiles , at the last day , ( when they shal say to themselves of Christ Nescivi te , dost thou condemne us , and we know thee not ? ) shall not be so great , as out confusion shall be , when we shall hear Christ say to us , whom he bred in his Church , Nesiciovos , I know not whence you are . Even this , that the ill use of this mercy of having been bred in his Church , shall aggravate our condemnation then , shewes the great benefit , which we may receive now by this Quod regit nos , that he takes care of us in his Church ; for how many in the world would have lived ten times more christianly then we do , if they had but halfe that knowledge of Christ , which we have ? When he hath then brought us into his kingdome , that we are his subjects , ( for all the heathen are in the condition of slaves ) he brings us nearer , into his service ; he gives us outward distinctions , liveries , badges , names , visible markes in Baptisme : yea he incorporates us more inseparably to himself , then that which they imagine to be done in the Church of Rome , where their Canonists , say ; that a Cardinall is to incorporated in the Pope , he is so made one flesh , and bloud with him , as that he may not let bloud without his leave , because he bleeds not his own , but the Popes bloud : But of us it is true , that by this Sacramēs we are so incorporated into Christ , that in all our afflictions after we fulfill the sufferings of Christ in our flesh , and in all afflictions , which we lay upon any of our Christian brethren , our consciences hear Christ crying to us , Quid me persequerts ? why persecutest thou me ? Christs body is wounded in us , when we suffer , Christs body is wounded by us , when we violate the peace of the Church , or offend the particular members thereof . First then deducet , he shall lead them , it is not he shall force them , he shall thrust them , he shall compell them ; it implies a gentle , and yet an effectuall way , he shall lead them . Those which come to Christianity , from Iudaisme , or Gentisme , when they are of years of discreation , he shall lead them by instruction , by Catechisme , by preaching of his word , before they be baptized , for they that are of years & are baptized , without the word , that is , without understanding , or considering the institution , & vertue of baptisime , expressed in Gods word , and so receive baptisme onely for temporall , and naturall respects , they are not led to the waters , but they fall into them : and so , as a Man may be drowned in a wholsome bath , so such a Man , may perish eternally in baptisme , if he take it , for satisfaction of the State , or any other by respect , to which that Sacrament is not ordained , in the word of God. He shall lead Men of years , by Instruction ; and he shall lead young children in good company , and with a strong guard , he shall lead them by the faith of his Church , by the faith of their Parents , by the faith of their sureties and undertakers . He shall lead them ; and then , when he hath taken them into his government ; for first it is Reget , he shall govern them , and then Deducet , that is , he shall lead them , in his Church ; and therefore they that are led to baptisme , any other way then by the Church , they are misled ; nay they are miscarried , misdriven , Spiritu vertiginis , with the spirit of giddinesse . They that joyne any in commission with the Trinity , though but as an asstsant , ( for so they say in the Church of Rome , baptisme may be administred , in the name of the Father , Sonne , and holy Ghost , and the virgin Mary ) they follow not , as Christ led in his Church , Non fuit sic ab initio , it was not so from the beginning : for quod extra hos tres est , totum Conservum est ; though much dignity belong to the memory of the Saints of God , yet whosoever is none of the three Persons , Conservus est , he is our fellow-servant : though his service lie above staires , and ours below , his in the triumphant , ours in the militant Church , Conservus est , yet he , or she , is in that respect , but our fellow-servant , and not Christs fellow-redeemer . So also , if we be led to Marah , to the waters of bitternesse , that we bring a bitter taste , of those institutions of the Church for the decency , and signification in Sacramentall things , things belonging to Baptisme , if we bring a misinterpretation of them , an indisposition to them , an aversnesse from them , and so nourish a bitternes , and uncharitablenesse towards one another , for these Ceremonies , if we had rather crosse one another , and crosse the Church , then , crosse the child , as God shewed Moses , a tree , which made those waters in the wildernesse sweet , when it was cast in , so remember that there is the tree of life , the crosse of Christ Iesus , and his Merits , in this water of baptisme , & when we all agree in that , that all the vertue proceeds from the crosse of Christ , the God of unity and peace and concord , let us admit any representation of Christs crosse , rather then admit the true crosse of the devill , which is a bitter and schismaticall crossing of Christ in his Church : for it is there in his Church , that he leads us to these waters . Well then , they to whom these waters belong , have Christ in his Church to lead them ; and therefore they need not stay , till they can come alone , till they be of age and years of discretion , as the Anabaptists say : for it is Deducet , and Deducet cos ; generally , universally ; all that are of this government , all that are appointed for the Seal , all the one hundred and forty foure thousand , all the Innumerable multitudes of all Nations Christ leads them all . Be Baptized every one of you , in the name of Iesus Christ , for the remission of sinnes ; for the promise is made unto you , and your children . Now all promises of God , are sealed in the holy Ghost ; To whom soever any promise of God belongs , he hath the holy Ghost ; and therefore Nunquid aquam quis prohibere potest ? Can any Man forbid water , that these should not be baptized , which havereceived the holy Ghost , as well as we ? says S. Peter . And therfore the Children of the Covenant which have the promise , have the holy Ghost , & all they are in this Regiment , Deducet cos , Christ shall lead them all . But whither ? unto the lively , ( says our first edition ) unto the living , ( says our last edition ) fountaines of waters ; In the originall , unto the fountaines of the water of life ; now in the Scriptures nothing is more ordianry , then by the name of waters to designe and meane tribulations : so , amongst many other , God says of the City of Tyre , that he would make it a desolate : City , and bring the deep upon it , and great waters should cover it . But then there is some such addition , as leads to that sense ; either they are called Aqua multae , great waters , or Profunda aquarum , deep waters , or Absorbebit aqua , whirlepooles of waters , or Tempestas aquae , tempestuous waters , or Aqua Fellis , bitter water , ( God bath mingled gall in our water : ) but we shall never read fontes aquarum , fountaines of waters , but it hath a gratious sense , and presents Gods benefits . So , they have forsaken me the fountaine of living waters ; So , the water , that I shall give , shall be in him , a well of water , springing up unto everlasting life ; and so , every where else , when we are brought to the fountaines , to this water , in the fountaine , in the institution , howsover we puddle it with impertinent questions in disputation , however we soule it with our finnes , and all conversation , the fountaine is pure ; Baptisme presents , and offers grace , and remission of sinnes to all . Nay not onely , this fountaine of water , but the greatest water of all , the flood it selfe , Saint Basil understands , and applies to Baptisme , as the Apostle himselfe does , Baptisme was a figure , of the flood , and the Arke , for upon that place , The Lord sitseth upon the flood , and the Lord doth remaine King for ever , he says , Baptismi gratiam Diluvium nominat , nam deles & purgat ; David calls Baptisme the flood , because it destroyes all that was sinfull in us ; and so also he referrs to Baptisme , those words , ( when David had confessed his sinnes ) I thought I would confesse against my selfe my wickednesse , unto the Lord ; and when it is added , Surely in the flood of great waters , they shall not come near him , peccato non appropinquabunt ; says he , originall sinne shall not come neare him , that is truly baptized ; nay all the actuall sinnes in his future life , shall be drowned in this baptisme , as often , as he doth religiously , and repentantly consider , that in Baptisme , when the merit of Christ was communicated to him , he received an Antidote against all poyson , against all sinne , if he applied them together , sinne and the merit of Christ ; for so also he says , of that place , God will subdue all our iniquities , and cast our sinnes into the bottome of the Sea , Hoc est , in mare Baptismi , says Basil , into the Sea of Baptisme ; There was a Brasen Sea in the Temple ; and there is a golden Sea in the Church of Christ , which is Baptistrisum , the font , the Sea , into which God flings all their sinnes , who rightly , and effectually receive that Sacrament . These fountaines of waters then in the text , are the waters of baptisime : and if we should take them also , in that sense , that waters signifie tribulations , and afflictions , it is true too , that in baptisme , ( that is , in the profession of Christ , ) we are delivered over to many tribulations ; The rule is generall , Castigat omnes , he chastiseth all ; The example , the precedent is peremptory , Opertuit pati , Christ ought to suffer , and so enter into glory : but howsoever waters be affictions , they are waters of life , too , says the text ; Though baptisme imprint a crosse upon us , that we should not be ashamed of Christ crosse , that we should not be afraid of our owne crosses , yet by all these waters , by all these Crosse ways , we goe directly to the eternall life , the kingdome of heaven , for they are lively fountaines , fountaines of life . And this is intended , and promised , in the last words , Absterget omnem Lachrymam , God shall wipe all teares from our eyes ; God shall give us a joyfull apprehension of heaven , here in his Church in this life . But is this a way to wipe teares from the childes face , to sprinkle water upon it . Is this a wiping away , to powre more on ? It is the powerfull , and wonderfull way of his working ; for as his red bloud , makes our red soules , white , that his rednesse , gives our rednesse a candor , so his water , his baptisime , and the powerfull effect thereof ; shall dry up , and wipe away Omnem ●achrymam , all teares from our Eyes , howsoever occasioned . This water shall dry them up ; Christ had many occassion of teares ; we have more ; some of our owne , which he had not : we must weep because we are not so good , as we should be : we cannot performe the law . We must weepe , because we are not so good , as we could be ; our free will is lost ; but yet every Man findes , he might be better , if he would : but the sharpest , and saltest , and smartest occasion of our teares , is from this , that we must not be so good , as we would be ; that the prosanenesse of the Libertine , the reproachfull slanders , the contumelious scandalls , the seornfull names , that the wicked lay upon those , who in their measure desire to expresse their zeale to Gods glory , makes us afraid , to professe our selves so religious as we could find in our hearts to be , and could truly be if we might . Christ went often in contemplation of others ; foreseeing the calamities of Ierualem , he wept over the City . comming to the grave of Lazarus , he wept with them , but in his owne Agony in the garden , it is not said that he weps ; If we could stop the stood of teares , in our afflictions , yet there belongs an excessive griefe to this , that the ungodly disposion of other Men , is slacking of our godlinesse , of our sanctification too . Christ Jesus for the joy that was set before him endured the Crosse ; we for the joy of this promise , that God will wipe all teares from our eyes ; must suffer all this , whether they be teares of Compunction , or teares of Compassion , teares for our selves , or teares for others ; whether they be Magdalens teares , or Peters teares ; teares for sinnes of infirmity of the flesh , or teares for weaknesse of our faith ; whether they be teares for thy parents ; because they are improvident towards thee , or teares for thy children , because they are disobedient to thee , whether they be teares for Church , because our Sermons , or our Censures pinch you , or teares for the State , that penall laws , pecuniary , or bloudy , lie heavy upon you , Deus absterget omneni lachryman , here 's your comfort ; that as he hath promised inestimable blessings to them , that are sealed , and washed in him , so he hath given you security , that these blessings belong to you : for , if you find , that he hath govened you , ( bred you in his visible Church ) and led you to his fountaine of the water of lifein baptisme , you may be sure , that he will in his due time , wipe all teares from your eyes , establish the kingdome of heaven upon you , in this life , in a holy , and modest infallibility . SERMON V. Preached at a Christning . EPHES. 5. 25 , 26 , 27. Husbands love your wives , even as Christ loved the Church , and gave himselfe for it , that he might sanctisie it , and cleanse it , by the washing of water , through the Word : That he might make it unto himselfe a glorious Church , not having spot , or wrinkle , on any such thing ; but that it should be holy , and without blame . ALmighty God ever loved unity , but he never loved singularity ; God was always alone in heaven , there were no other Gods , but he ; but he was never singular , there was never any time , when there were not three persons in heaven ; Pater & ego unum summi ; The father and I are one , says Christ : one in Esseuct , and one in Consent ; our substance is the same , and our will is the same ; but yet , Tecum fui ab initio , says Christ , in the person of Wisdome , I was with thee , disposing all things , at the Creation , As then God seemes to have been eternally delighted , with this eternall generation , ( with persons that had ever a relation to one another , Father , and Sonne ) so when he came to the Creation of this lower world , he came presently to those three relations , of which the whole frame of this world consists ; of which , ( because the principall foundation , and preservation of all States that are to continue , is power ) the first relation was between Prince and Subject , when God said to Man , Subjecite & dominamini , subdue and govern all Creatures ; The second relation was between husband and wife , when Adam said , This now is house of my bone , and flesh of my flesh ; And the third relation was between parents and children , when Eve said , that she had obtained a Man by the Lord , that by the plentifull favour of God , she had conceived and borne a sonne : from that time , to the dissolution of that frame , from that beginning to the end of the world , these three relations , of Master and Servant , Mans and Wife , Father and Children , have been , and ever shall be the materialls , and the elements of all society , of families , and of Cities , and of Kingdomes . And therefore it is a large , and a subtill philosophy which S. Paul professes in this place , to shew all the qualities , and properties of these several Elements , that is , all the duties of these severall callings ; but in this text , he handles onely the mutuall duties of the second couple , Man , and Wife , and in that consideration , shall we determine this exercise , because a great part of that concernes the education of Children , ( which especially occasions our meeting now . ) The generall duty , that goes through all these three relations , is expressed , Subditi estate invicevs , Submit your selves to one another , in the feare of God ; for God hath given no Master such imperiousnesse , no husband such a superiority , no father such a soverainty , but that there lies a burden upon them too , to consider with a compassionate sensiblenesse , the grievances , that oppresse the other part , which is coupled to them . For if the servant , the wife , the sonne be oppressed , worne out , annihilated , there is no such thing left as a Master , or a husband , or a father ; They depend upon one another , and therefore he that hath not care of his fellow , destroys himselfe . The wife is to submit herselfe ; and so is the husband too : They have a burden both , There is a greater subjection lies upon her , then upon the Man , in respect of her transgression towards her husband at first : Eyen before there was any Man in the world , to sollicite , or tempt her chastity , she could sinde another way to be salfe and treacherous to her husband : both the husband , and the wife offended against God , but the husband offended not towards his wife , but rather eate the Apple , Ne contristaretur delicias suas , as S. Hierome assignes the cause , left by refusing to cate , when she had done so , he should deject her into a desperate sense of her sinne . And for this fault of hers , her Subjection was so much aggravated , Thy desire shall be subject to thy husband , and he shall rule over thee , But if she had not committed that fault , yet there would have been a mutuall subjection between them ; as there is even in Nature , between both the other couples ; for if Man had continued in innocency , yet it is most probably thought , that as there would certainly have been Mariage , and so children , so also there would have been Magistracy , and propriety , and authority , and so a mutuall submitting , a mutuall assisting of one another , in all these three relations . Now , that submitting , of which the Apostle speakes of here ; is a submitting to one another , a bearing of one anothers burthens : what this submission is on the wives part , is expressed in the two former verses ; And I forbeare that , because husbands at home , are likely enough to remember them of it ; but in the duty , in the submitting of the husband , we shall consider first , what that submitting is , and that is love , Husbands love your wives ; Even the love of the husband to the wife , is a burthen , a submitting , a descent ; and secondly , the patterne and example of this love , Even as Christ loved his Church . In which second part , as sometimes the accessory is greater then the principall , the Symptome , the accident , is greater then the disease , so that from which the comparison is drawn in this place , is greater then that which is illustrated by it ; the love of Christ to his Church requires more consideration , then the love of the husband to the wife ; and therefore it will become us to spend most of our thoughts upon that ; and to consider in that , Quod factum , and Quis sinis ; what Christ did for his Church ; and that was , a bounty , which could not be exceeded , seipsum tradidit , he gave , he delivered himselfe for it ; And then , secondly , what he intended that should worke ; and that was , first , that he might make it to himselfe a glorious Church , and without spot and wrinkle , in the Triumphant state of the Church at last ; And then , that whilst it continues in a Militant state upon Earth , it might have preparations to that glory , by being sanctified and cleansed by the washing of water , through his Word ; he provides the Church meanes of sanctification here , by his Word , and Sacraments . First then De Amoremaritali , of this contracting a Mans love to the person of a wife , of one woman , as we find an often exclamation in the Prophets , Onus visionis , The burden of my prophecy upon Nineveh , and Onus verbi Domini , The burden of the word of God upon Israel , so there is Onus amoris , a burden of love , when a Man is appointed whom he shall love . When Onan was appointed by his father Iudah , to goe in to his brothers widow , and to doe the office of a kinsman to her , he conceived such an unwillingnesse to doe so , when he was bid , as that he came to that detestable act , for which God slew him . And therefore the Panegyrique , that raised his wit as high as he could , to praise the Emperour Constantine , and would expresse it , in praising his continence , and chastity , he expressed it by saying that he waried young ; that as soon as his years endangered him , formavit animum maritalem , nihil de concessu atati voluptatibus admittens : he was content to be a husband , and accepted not that freedome of pleasure , which his years might have excused . He concludes it thus , Novum jam tum miraculum , Iuvenis ●xorius ; Behold a miracle , such a young Man , limiting his affections , in a wife . At first the heates and lusts of youth overflow all , as the waters overflowed all at the beginning ; and when they did so , the Earth was not onely barren , ( there were no Creatures , no herbs produced in that ) but even the waters themselves , that did overflow all , were barren too ; there were no fishes , no fowls produced out of that ; as long as a Mans affections are scattered , there is nothing but accursed barrennesse ; but when God says , and is heard , and obeyed in it , Let the waters be gathered into one place , let all thy affections be setled upon one wife , then the earth and the waters became fruitfull , then God gives us a type , and figure of the eternity of the joyes of heaven , in the succession , and propagation of children here upon the earth . It is true , this contracting of our affections is a burden , it is a submitting of our selves ; All States that made Lawes , and proposed rewards for maried Men , conceived it so ; that naturally they would be loth to doe it . God maried his first couple , as soone as he made them ; he dignified the state of Mariage , by so many Allegories , and figures , to which he compares the uniting of Christ to his Church , and the uniting of our soules to Christ , and by directing the first Miracle of Christ , to be done at a Mariage . Many things must concurre to the dignifying of Mariage , because in our corrupt nature , the apprehension is generall , that it is burdenous , and a submitting , and a descending thing , to mary . And therefore Saint Hierome argues truly out of these words , Husbands love your Wifes , Audiant Episcopi , audiant presbyteri , audiant doctores , subjectis suis se esse subjectos , let Bishops , and Priests , and Doctors learne in this , that when they have maried themselves to a charge , They are become subject to their Subjects . For by being a husband , I become subject , to that sex which is naturally subject to Man , though this subjection be no more in this place , but to love that one woman . Love then , when it is limited by a law , is a subjection , but it is a subjection commanded by God ; Nihil majus à te subjecti animo factum est , quam quod imper are coepisti● A Prince doth nothing so like a subject as when he puts himselfe to the pain to consider the profit , and the safety of his Subjects ; and such a subjection is that of a Husband , who is bound to study his wife , and rectify all her infirmites ; Her infirmities he must bear ; but not her sins ; if he bear them they become his own . The pattern , the example goes not so far ; Christ maried himself to our Nature , and he bare all our infirmities , hunger , and wearinesse , and sadnesse , and death , actually in his own person ; but so , he contracted no sin in himselfe , nor encouraged us to proceed in sin . Christ was Salvator corporis , A Saviour of his body , of the Church , to which he maried himselfe , but it is a tyranny , and a devastation of the body , to whom we mary our selves , if we love them so much , as that we love their Sin too , suffer them to goe on in that , or if we love them so little , as to make their sin our way to profit , or preferment , by prostituting them , and abandoning them to the solicitation of others . still we must love them so , as that this love be a subjection ; not a neglecting , to let them doe , what they will , nor a tyrannizing , to make them doe what we will. You must love them then , first , Quia vestrae , because they are yours ; As we said at first , God loves Couples ; He suffers not our body to be alone , nor our soule alone , but he maries them together ; when that 's done , to remedy the vae soli , left this Man should be alone , he maries him to a help meet for him● and to avoid fornication , ( that is , if fornication cannot be avoided otherwise ) Every Man is to have his wife , and every woman her own husband . When the love comes to exceed these bounds , that it departs à vestris , from a Man 's own wife , and settles upon another , though he may think he discharges himselfe of some of his subjection which he was in before , yet he becomes much more subject , subject to houshold and forain Iealousies , subject to ill grounded quarrels , subject to blasphemous protestations , to treacherous misuse of a confident friend , to ignoble an unworthy disguises , to base satisfactions ; subject , lastly , either to a clamorous Conscience , or that which is worse slavery , to a sear'd and obdurate , and stupefied Conscience , and to that Curse , which is the heavier because it hath a kind of scorn in it , Be not deceived , ( as though we were co●sened of our souls ) Be not deceived , for no adulterer shal enter into the kingdom of heaven . All other things , that are ours , we may be the better for leaving ; Vade & vende , which Christ said to the yong Man , that seemed to desire perfection , reached to all his goods ; Goe and sell them sayes Christ , and thou shalt follow me the better . But there is no selling , nor giving , nor lending , nor borrowing of wives ; we must love them Quia nostrae , because they are ours ; and if that be not a ty , and obligation strong enough , that they are Nostrae , ours , we must love them Quia nos , because they are our selves ; for no man yet ever hated his own flesh . We must love them then , Quia nostrae , because they are ours , those whom God hath given us , and Quia uxores , because they are our wives . Saint Paul does not bid us love them here , Quanquam uxores , but Quia , not though they be , but because they are our wives ; Saint Paul never thought of that indisposition , of that disaffection , of that impotency , that a Man should come to hate her , whom he could love well enough , but that she is his wife . Were it not a strange distemper , if upon consideration of my soule , finding it to have some seeds of good dispositions in it , some compassion of the miseries of others , some inclination of the glory of God , some possibility , some interest in the kingdome of heaven , I should say of this soule , that I would fast , and pray , and give , and suffer any thing for the salvation of this Soule if it were not mine own soule , if it were any bodies else , and now abandon it to eternall destruction , because it is mine own ? If no Man have felt this barbarous inhumanity towards his owne soul , I pray God no man have felt it towards his own wife neither , That he loves her the lesse , for being his own wife . For we must love them , not Quanquam , says Saint Paul , though she be so ; That was a Caution , which the Apostle never thought he needed , but Quia , because in the sight of God , and all the Triumphant Church , we have bound our selves , that we would do so . Here Mariages are sometimes clandestine , and witnesses dye , and in that case no Man can bind me to love her● Quia ux●r , because she is my wife , because it lyes not in proofe , that she is so ; Here sometimes things come to light , which were concealed before , and a Mariage proves no Mariage , Decepta est Ecclesia , The Church was deceived , and the poor woman loses her plea , Quia ux●r , because she is his wife , for it fals out that she is not so ; but , if thou have maried her , in the presence of God , and all the Court , and Quire of heaven , what wilt thou doe to make away all these witnesses ? who shall be of thy Councell to assign an Error in Gods judgement ? whom wilt thoubribe to embezill the Records of heaven ? It is much that thou are able to doe in heaven ; Thou art able , by thy sins , to blot thy name out of the book of life , but thou are not able to blot thy wifes name out of the Records of heaven , but there remains still the Quia ux●r , because she is thy wife . And this Quia ux●r is Qua●diu ux●r ; since thou art bound to love her because she is thy wife , it must be as long as she is so . You may have heard of that quinqu●nnium Neronis ; The worst tyran that ever was , was the best Emperour that ever was for five years ; the most corrupt husbands may have been good at first : but that love may have been for other respects : satisfaction of parents , establishing of hopes , and sometimes Ignorance of evill ; that ill company had not taught them ill conditions ; it comes not to be Quia uxor , because she is thy wife , to be the love which is commanded in this text , till it bring some subjection , some burthen . Till we love her then , when we would not love her , except she were our wife , we are not sure , that we love her Quia uxor , that is , for that , and for no other respect . How long that is , how long she is thy wife , never ask wrangling Controverters , that make Gypsie-knots of Mariages ; ask thy Conscience , and that will tell thee that thou wast maried till death should depart you . If thy mariage were made by the D●vill ( upon dishonest Conditions ) the Devill may break it by sin ; if it were made by God , Gods way of breaking of Mariages , is onely by death . It is then a Subjection , and it is such a subjection , as is a love ; and such a love , as is upon a Reason , ( for love is not alwayes so . ) This is ; Quiauxor , because our wife , and that implies these three uses ; God hath given Man a wife , Ad adjutorium , ad sobolem , ad medicinam ; for a Help , for Children , and for a Remedy , and Physick . Now the first , Society , and encrease , we love naturally ; we would not be banish'd , we would not be robb'd , we would not be alone , we would not be poor ; Society and encrease , every Man loves ; but doth any Man love Physick ? he takes it for necessity ; but does he love it ; Husbands therefore are to love wives Ad Sobolem , as the Mothers of their Children ; Ad adjutorium , as the comforters of their lives ; but for that , which is Ad medicinam , for physick , to avoid burning , to avoid fornication , that 's not the subject of our love , our love is not to be placed upon that ; for so it is a love , Quia mulier , because she is a woman , and not Quia uxor , because she is my wife . A Man may be a drunkard at home , with his own wine , and never goe out to Taverns ; A man may be an adul●erer in his wives bosome , though he seek not strange women . We come now to the other part , the pattern of this love , which is Christ Jesus : we are commanded to be holy , and pure , as our Father is holy , and pure ; but that 's a proportion of which we are incapable ; And therefore we have another Commandement , from Christ , Discite à me , learn of me ; there is no more looked for , but that we should still be Scholars , and learners how to love ; we can never love so much as he hath lov'd : It is still Discite ; still something to be learnt , and added ; and this something is , Quia mitis , learn of me , make me your pattern , because I am meek , and gentle ; not suspitious , not forward , not hard to be reconcil'd ; not apt to discomfort my spouse , my Church ; not with a sullen silence , for I speak to her alwayes in my Word ; not apt to leave her unprovided of apparell , and decent ornaments , for I have allow'd her such Ceremonies , as conduce to edification ; not apt to pinch her in her diet ; she hath her two Courses , the first , and the second Sacrament : And whensoever she comes to a spirituall hunger and thirst under the heat , and weight of sin , she knowes how , and where there is plentifull refreshing and satisfaction to be had , in the absolution of sinne . Herein consists the substance of the Comparison , Husbands love your wives , as Christ did his Church : that is , expresse your loves in a gentle behaviour towards them , and in a carefull providence of Conveniencies for them . The comparison goes no farther , but the love of Christ to his Church goes farther . In which we consider first , Quid factum , what Christ did for his spouse , for his Church . It were pity to make too much hast , in considering so delightfull a thing , as the expressing of the love of Christ Jesus to his Church . It were pity to ride away so fast from so pleasant , so various a prospect , where we may behold our Saviour , in the Act of his liberality , Giving ; in the matter of his liberality , Giving himselfe ; and in the poor exchange that he took , a few Contrite hearts , a few broken spirits , a few lame , and blind , and leprous sinners , to make to himselfe , and his Spirit a Church , a house to dwell in ; no more but these , and glad if he can get these . First then , Ille dedit , He gave , it was his own act ; as it was he , that gave up the ghost , he that laid down his soule , and he that took it again ; for no power of Man had the power , or disposition of his life . It was an insolent , and arrogant question in Pilate to Christ , Nescis , quia potestatem habc● , Knowest not thou that I have power to Crucifie thee , and have power to loose thee ? If Pilate thought that his power extended to Christ , yet Tua damnaris sententia qui potestate latrone● abs●lvis , autorem vitae interficis . His own words and actions condemned him , when having power to condemn and absolve , he would condemn the Innocent , and absolve the guilty . A good Judge does nothing , sayes he . Do●●estice proposito voluntatis , according to a resolution taken at home ; Nihil meditatum deme defert , he brings not his judgement from his chamber to the bench , but he takes it there according to the Evidence . If pilate thought he had power , his Conscience told him he misused that power ; but Christ tels him he could have none , Nisi datum desuper , Except it had been given him from above ; that is , except Christ had given him power over himselfe : for Christ speaks not in that place of Pilates generall power and Jurisdiction , ( for so , also , all power is Desuper , from above ) but for this particular power that Pilate boasts to have over him , Christ tels him that he could have none over him , except himselfe had submitted himselfe to it . So , before this passage with Pilat , Iud●s had delivered Christ ; and there arose a sect of Heretiques , Iudaists , that magnified this act of Iudes , and said that we were beholden to him for the hastning of our salvation , because when he was come to the knowledge that God had decreed the Crucifying of Christ for Mankind , Iudas took compassion of Mankind , and hastned their Redemption , by delivering up of Christ to the Iewes . But Iudas had no such good purpose in his hast ; though our Iesus permitted Iudas to doe it , and to doe it quickly , when he said Quod facis fac citò . For out of that ground in the Schooles , Missia in divinis ●st mov● operacio in Creatura , When any person of the Trinity , is said to be sent , that onely denotes an extraordinary manner of working of that person : Saint Augustine sayes truly , that as Christ Misit seipsum , he sent himself , and Sanitificavit seipsum , he sanctified himselfe , so tradidit seipsum ; Iudas could not have given him , if he had not given himselfe , Pilate could not give him , Iudas could not give him ; nay , if we could consider severall wils in the severall Persons of the Trinity , we might be bold to say , That the Father could not have given him , if he had not given himselfe . We consider the unexpressible mercy of the Father , in that he would accept any satisfaction at all for all our Sinnes . We consider the unexpressible working of the Holy Ghost that brings this satisfaction and our soules together ; for without that , without the application of the Holy Ghost , we are as far from Christ's love now , as we were from the Father 's before Christ suffered . But the unexpressible and unconceiveable love of Christ is in this , that there was in him a willingnesse , a propensnesse , a forwardnesse to give himselfe to make this great peace and reconciliation , between God and Man ; It was himselfe that gave himselfe ; Nothing enclined him , nothing wrought upon him , but his own goodnesse . It was then his Deed ; and it was his gift ; it was his Deed of gift : and it hath all the formalities and circumstances that belong to that ; for here is a seale in his blood ; and here is a delivering , pregnantly implied in this word , which is not onely Dedit , he gave , but Tradidit , he delivered . First , Dedit , he gave himselfe for us to his Father , in that eternall Decree , by which he was Agnus occisus ab origine mundi , The Lamb slain from the beginning of the world . And then Tradidit , he delivered possession of himselfe to Death , and to all humane infirmities , when he took our Nature upon him , and became one of us . Yea this word implies a further operativenesse , and working upon himself , then all this ; for the word which the Apostle uses here , for Christ giving of himselfe , is the same word , which the Evangelists use still , for Iudas betraying of him : so that Christ did not onely give himselfe to the will of the Father , in the eternall Decree ; nor onely deliver himselfe to the power of death in his Incarnation , but he offered , he exhibited , he exposed , ( we may say ) he betrayed himselfe to his enemies ; and all this , for worse enemies ; to the Iewes , that Crucified him once , for us , that make finne our sport , and so make the Crucifying of the Lord of life a Recreation . It was a gift then , free , and absolute ; Hee keeps us not in fear of Resumption ; of ever taking himselfe from the Church again ; nay he hath left himself no power of Revocation : I am with you , sayes he , to the end of the world . To particular men , he comes , & he knocks , and he enters , and he stays , and hesups , and yet for their unworthinesse goes away again ; but with the Church he is usque ad consummationem , till the end ; It is a permanent gift ; Dedit , and Dedit seipsum ; It was he that did it ; That which he did was to give ; and that which he gave , was himselfe . Now since the Holy Ghost , that is the God of unity and peace , hath told us at once , that the satisfaction for our sins is Christ himselfe , and hath told us no more , Christ entirely , Christ altogether , let us not divide and mangle Christ , or tear his Church in pieces , by froward and frivolous difputations , whether Christ gave his divinity for us , or his humanity ; whether the divine Nature , or the humane Nature redeemed us ; for neither his divinity nor his humanity , is Ipse , He himselfe , and Dedit seipsum , He gave himselfe : Let us not subdivide him into lesse pieces , then those , God , and Man ; and enquire contentiously , whether he suffered in soul , as well as in body , the pains of H●ll , as well as the sting of Death ; the Holy-Ghost hath presented him unite , and knit together . For neither soul nor body was Ipse . He himselfe , and Dedit seipsum , He gave himselfe ; let us least of all shred Christ Iesus into lesse scruples and atoms then these , Soul , and body ; and dispute whether consisting of both , it were his active , or his passive obedience that redeemed us ; whether it were his death and passion onely , or his innocency , and fulfilling of the Law too ; let us onely take Christ , himselfe , for onely that is said , he gave himselfe , It must be an Innocent person , and this Innocent person must die for us ; seperate the Innocency , and the Death , and it is not Ipse , it is not Christ himselfe : and Dedit seipsum , it was himselfe . Let us abstain from all such curiosities , which are all but forc'd dishes of hot brains , and not sound meat , that is , from all perverse wranglings , whether God , or Man redeemed us ; and then , whether this God , and Man suffered in soule , or in body ; and then whether this person , consisting of soule and body , redeemed us , by his action , or by his passion onely ; for as there are spirituall wickednesses , so there are spirituall wantonnesses , and unlawfull and dangerous dallyings with mysteries of Divinity . Money that is changed into small pieces is easily lost ; gold that is beat out into leaf-gold , cannot be coyned , nor made currant money : we know the Heathens lost the true God , in a thrust ; they made so many false gods , of every particular quality , and attribute of God , that they scattered him , and evacuated him , to an utter vanishing ; so doth true , and sound , and nourishing Divinity vanish away , in those impertinent Questions . All that the wit of Man adds to the Word of God , is all quicksilver , and it evaporates easily . Beloved , Custodi Depositum , sayes the Apostle , keep that which God hath revealed to thee ; for that God himselfe cals thy Talent ; it hath weight and substance in it . Depart not from thy old gold ; leave not thy Catechism-divinity , for all the School-divinity in the world ; when we have all , what would we have more ? if we know that Christ hath given himselfe for us , that we are redeemed , and not redeemed with corruptible things but with the precious blood of Christ Jesus , we care for no other knowledge but that , Christ , and Christ crucified for us ; for this is another , and a more peculiar and profitable giving of himselfe for thee , when he gives himselfe to thee , that is , when he gives thee a sense , and apprehension , and application of the gift , to thy self , that Christ hath given himselfe , to thy selfe . We are come now to his exchange ; what Christ had for himselfe when he gave himselfe ; And he had a Church . So this Apostle , which in this place , writes to the Ephesians , when he preached personally to the Ephesians , he told them so too , The Church is that Quam acquisivit sanguine suo , which he purchased with his bloud . Here Christ bought a Church , but I would there were no worse Simony then this . Christ received no profit from the Church , and yet he gave himselfe for it ; and he stayes with it to the end of the world ; Here is no such Non-residency , as that the Church is left unserved : other men give enough for their Church , but they withraw themselves , and necessary provision ; And if we consider this Church that Christ bought , and paid so dearly for , it was rather an Hospitall , then a Church : A place where the blind might recover sight ; that is , Men borne in Paganisme , or Superstition , might see the true God , truly worshipped : and where the lame might be established ; that is , those that Halted between two Religions , might be rectified in the truth : where the Deaf might receive so quicke a hearing , as that they might discerne Musique in his Thunder , in all his fearefull threatnings ; that is , mercy in his Judgments , which are still accompanied with conditions of repentance ; and they might finde Thunder , in his Musique , in all his promises ; that is , threatnings of Judgements , in our misuse of his mercies . Where the hereditary Leper , the new borne Child , into whose marrow , his fathers transgression , cleaves in originall sinne , and he that hath enwrapped Implicatos morbos , one disease in another , in Actuall sinnes , might not onely come , if he would but be intreated to come , yea compelled to come , as it is expressed in the Gospell , when the Master of the feast sends into the streets , and to the hedges to compell blind and lame to come in to his feast . A fountaine breaks out in the wildernesse , but that fountaine cares not , whether any Man come to fetch water , or no ; A fresh , and fit gale blowes upon the Sea , but it cares not whether the Mariners hoise saile or no ; A rose blowes in your garden , but it calls you not to smell to it . Christ Jesus hath done all this abundantly ; he hath bought an Hospitall , he hath stored it with the true balme of Palestine , with his bloud , which he shed there , and he calls upon you all to come for it , Hoe every one that thirsteth ; you that have no money , come buy Wine , and Milke without money : eate that which is good , and let your soules delight in fatnesse , and I will make an everlasting Covenant with you , even the sure mercies of David . This Hospitall , this way , and meanes to cure spirituall diseases , was all that Christ had for himselfe : but he improved it , he makes it a Church , and a glorious Church : which is our last consideration , Quis sinis , to what end , he bestowed all this cost . His end was , that he might make it to himselfe a glorious Church , not having spot , or wrinkle ; but that end , must be in the end of all ; here it cannot be : Cum tot a dicat ecclesia , quamdiu hîc est , Dimitte debita nostra , non utique hîc est sine macula et ruga , Since as yet the whole Church says , forgive us our Trespasses , the Church as yet is not without spots or wrinkles . The wrinkles are the Testimonies of our age ; that is , our sinne derived from Adam ; and the spots are the sinnes , which we contract our selves ; and of these spots , and wrinkles , we cannot be delivered in this world . And therefore the Apostle says here , that Christ hath bestowed all this cost on this purchase , ut sisteret sibi Ecclesiam , that he might setle such a glorious , and pure Church to himselfe : first , ut sisteret , that he might setle it ; which can onely be done in heaven ; for here in Earth , the Church will always have earthquakes . Opartet haereses esse ; stormes , and schismes must necessarily be ; the Church is in a warfare , the Church is in a pilgrimage , and therefore here is no setling . And then he doth it , ut sisteret sibi , to setle it to himselfe ; for , in the tyranny of Rome , the Church was in some sort setled , things were carried quietly enough ; for no Man durst complaine ; but the Church was setled all upon the Vicar , and none upon the Parson : the glory of the Bishop of Rome , had eclipsed , and extinguished the glory of Christ Iesus . In other places we have seen the Church setled , so as that no man hath done or spoken any thing against the government thereof ; but , this may have been a setling by strong hand , by severed discipline , and heavy Lawes ; we see where Princes have changed the Religion , the Church may be setled upon the Prince , or setled upon the Prelates , that is , be serviceable to them , and be ready to promote and further any purpose of theirs , and all this while , not be setled upon Christ : this purpose , ut sisteret sibi , to setle such a glorious Church , without spot , or wrinkle , holy to himselfe , is reserved for the Triumphant time when she shall be in possession of that beauty , which Christ foresaw in her , long before when he said , Thou art all faire my love , and there is no spot in thee ; and when we that shall be the Children of the Mariage Chamber● shall be glad and rejoice , and give glory to him , because the Mariage of the Lambe is come , and his wife hath made her selfe ready ; that is , we that are of that Church , shall be so clothed , as that our own clothes shall not defile us againe ; as Io● complaines that they doe , as long as we are in this world ; for , though I make me never so cleane , yet mine own clothes defile me againe , as it is in that place . But yet , Beloved , Christ hath not made so improvident a bargaine , as to give so great a rate , himselfe , for a Church , so farre in reversion , as till the day of Judgement : That he should enter into bonds for this payment , from all eternity , even in the eternall decree between the Father , and him , that he should really pay this price , his precious bloud , for this Church , one thousand six hundred years agoe , and he should receive no glory by this Church till the next world● Here was a long lease , here were many lives ; the lives of all the men in the world , to be served before him ; But it is not altogether so ; for he gave himselfe , that he might settle such a Church then , a glorious , and a pure Church : but all this while , the Church is building in heaven , by continuall accesse of holy Soules , which come thither , and all the way he workes to that end , He sanctifies it , and cleanses it , by the washing of water , through the word , as we find in our Text. He therefore stays not so long , for our Sanctification , but that we have meanes of being sanctified here ; Christ stays not so long for his glory , but that he hath here a glorious Gospell , his Word , and mysterious Sacraments here . Here then is the writing , and the Seale , the Word , and the Sacrament ; and he hath given power , and commandement to his Ministers to deliver both writing , and Seale , the Word and Baptisme to his children . This Sacrament of Baptisme is the first ; It is the Sacrament of inchoation , of Initiation ; The Sacrament of the Supper , is not given but to them , who are instructed and presum'd to understand all Christian duties , and therefore the Word , ( if we understand the Word , for the Preaching of the Word ) may seeme more necessary at the administration of this Sacrament , then at the other . Some such thing seems to be intimated in the institution of the Sacraments . In the institution of the Supper , it is onely said , Take , and eate and drinke , and doe that in remembrance of me ; and it is onely said that they sand a Pslame , and s● departed . In the institution of Baptisme there is more solemnity , more circumstance ; for first , it was instituted after Christs Resurrection , and then Christ proceeds to it , with that majesticall preamble , All power is given unto me in heaven , and in earth● and therefore , upon that title he gives power to his Apostles , to joine heaven and earth by preaching , and by baptisme : but here is more then singing of a Psalme ; for Christ commands them first to teach , and then to baptize , and then after the commandement of Baptisme , he refreshes that commandement againe of teaching them , whom they baptized , to observe all things , that he had commanded them . I speake not this , as though Baptisme were uneffectuall without a Sermon ; S. Angustines words , Accedat yerbum , & fiat Sacramentum , when the Word is joyned to the element , or to the Action , then there is a true Sacrament , are ill understood by two sorts of Men● first by them , that say that it is not verbum Deprecatorium , nor verbum Conci●nat●riu● , not the word of Prayer , nor the word of preaching , but verbum Consecratorium , and verbum Sacramentale , that very phrase , and forme of words , by which the water is sanctified , and enabled of it selfe to cleanse our Soules ; and secondly , these words are ill understood by them , who had rather their children dyed unbaptized , then have them baptized without a Sermon ; whereas the use of preaching at baptisme is , to raise the whole Congregation , to a consideration , what they promised by others , in their baptisme ; and to raise the Father and the Sureties to a consideration , what they undertake for the childe , whom they present then to be baptized ; for therefore says Saint Augustine , Acoeda● verbum , there is a necessity of the word , Non qu●a dicitur , sed quia creditur , not because the word is pr●ached , but because it is beleeved ; and That , Beleese , faith , belongs not at all to the incapacity of the child , but to the disposition of the rest ; A Sermon is usefull for the congregation , not necessary for the child , and the accomplishment of the Sacrament . From hence then arises a convenience , little lesse , then necessary , ( in a kind ) that this administration of the Sacrament be accompanied with preaching ; but yet they that would evict an absolute necessity of it , out of these words , force them too much , for here the direct meaning of the Apostle is , That the Church is cleansed by water , through the word , when the promises of God expressed in his word , are sealed to us by this Sacrament of Baptisme : for so Saint Augustine answers himselfe in that objection , which he makes to himselfe , Cum per Baptis●●● fundati sint , quare sermoni tribuit radicem . He answers , In Sermone intelligendus Baptismus● Quia sine Sermone non perficitur . It is rooted , it is grounded in the word ; and therefore true Baptisme , though it be administred , without the word , that is , without the word preached , yet it is never without the word , because the whole Sacrament , and the power thereof is rooted in the word , in the Gospell . And therefore since this Sacrament belongs to the Church , as it is said here ( that Christ doth cleanse his Church by Baptisme ) as it is argued with a strong probability , That because the Apostles did baptize whole families , therefore they did baptize some children , so we argue with an invincible certainty , that because this Sacrament belongs generally to the Church as the initiatory Sacrament , it belongs to children , who are a part , and for the most part , the most innocent part of the Church . To conclude , As all those Virgins which were beautifull , were brought into Susan , Ad domum mulierum , to be anointed , and persumed , and prepared there for Assuerus delight , and pleasure , though Assuerus tooke not delight , and pleasure in them all , so we admit all those children which are within the Covenant made by God , to the elect , and their seed , In domum Sanctorum , into the houshold of the faithfull , into the communion of Saints : whom he chooseth for his Mariage day , that is , for that Church which he will settle upon himselfe in heaven , we know not ; but we know that he hath not promised , to take any into that glory , but those upon whom he hath first shed these fainter beames of glory , and sanctification , exhibited in this Sacrament : Neither hath he threatned to exclude any but for sinne after . And therefore when this blessed child derived from faithfull parents , and presented by sureties within the obedience of the Church , shall have been so cleansed , by the washing of water , through the word , it is presently sealed to the possession of that part of Christs purchase , for which he gave himselfe , ( which are the meanes of preparing his Church in this life ) with a faithfull assurance , I may say of it and to it , Iam mundus es , Now you are clean● . through the word , which Christ hath spoken unto you : The Seale of the promises of his Gospell hath sanctified , and cleansed you ; but yet , Mandatus mundandus , says Saint Augustine upon that place , It is so sanctified by the Sacrament , here , that it may be farther sanctified by the growth of his graces , and be at last a member of that glorious Church , which he shall settle upon himselfe , without spot , or wrinkle ; which was the principall , and final purpose of that great love of his , whereby he gave himselfe for us , and made that love , first a patterne of Mens loves to their wives here , and then a meanes to bring Man , and wife , and child , to the kingdome of heaven . Amen . SERMON VI. Preached at a Christning . 1 JOHN 5. 7 , 8. For there are three which beare record in heaven ; The Father , the Word , and the Holy Ghost ; and these three are one : And there are three which beare record in the Earth ; The Spirit , and the water , and the bloud ; and these three agree in one . IN great and enormous offences , we find that the law , in a well governed State , expressed the punishment upon such a delinquent , in that form , in that curse , Igni & aqua interdicitor ; let him have no use of fire , and water , that is , no use of any thing , necessary for the sustentation of life . Beloved , such is the miserable condition of wretched Man , as that we come all into the world under the burden of that curse ; Aqua , & igni interdicim●r ; we have nothing to doe , naturally , with the spirituall water of life , with the fiery beames of the holy Ghost , till he that hath wrought our restitution from this banishment , restore us to this water , by powring out his owne bloud , and to this lively fire , by laying himselfe a cold , and bloudlesse carcasse in the bowels of the Earth : till he who haptized none with wa●er , direct his Church to doe that office towards us ; and he without whom , none was baptized with fire , perfect that Ministeriall worke of his Church with the effectuall seales of his grace ; for this is his testimony , the witnesse of his love . Yea , that law , in cases of such great offences , expressed it selfe in another Malediction , upon such offenders , appliable also to us , Intestabiles sunte , let them be Intestable . Now , this was a sentence , a Condemnation so pregnant , so full of so many heavy afflictions , as that he , who by the law was made intestable , was all these ways intestable : First , he was able to make no Testament of his owne , he had lost all his interest in his owne estate , and in his owne will ; Secondly , he could receive no profit by any testament of any other Man , he had lost all the effects of the love , and good disposition of other Men to him ; Thirdly , he was Intestable , so , as that he could not testifie , he should not be beleeved in the behalfe of another ; and lastly the testimony of another could doe him no good , no Man could be admitted to speake for him . After that first , and heavy curse of Almighty God upon Man , Morte morieris , If thou eate , thou shalt die , and die twice , thou shall die a bodily , thou shalt die a spirituall death ( a punishment which no sentence of any law , or law-maker could ever equall , to deterre Men from offending , by threatning to take away their lives twice , and by inflicting a spirituall death eternally upon the Soule , ) after we have all incurred that malediction , Morte moriemur , we shall die both death , we cannot thinke to scape any lesse malediction of any law , and therefore we are all Intestabiles we are all intestable , in all these senses , and apprehensions , which we have touched upon . We can make no testament of our owne ; we have no good thing in us to dispose ; we have no good inclination , no good disposition , in our Will ; we can make no use of anothers testament ; not of the double testaments of Almighty God ; for in the Old testament , he gives promises of a Messias , but we bring into the world no Faith , to apprehend those promises ; and in the New testament , he gives a performance , the Messias is come , but he is communicable to us , no way but by baptisme , and we cannot baptize our selves ; we can profit no body else by our testimony , we are not able to endure persecution , for the testimony of Christ , to the edification of others , we are not able to doe such workes , as may shine before Men , to the glorifying of our God. Neither doth the testimony of others doe us any good ; for neither the Martyrdome of so many Millions , in the primitive Church , nor the execution of so many judgments of God , in our owne times , doe restifie any thing to our Consciences ; neither at the last day , when those Saints of God , whom we have accompanied in the outward worship of God here in the visible Church , shall be called to the right hand , and we detruded to the left , shall they dare to open their mouthes for us , or to testifie of us , or to say , Why Lord , these Men , when they were in the world , did as we did , appeared , and served thee in thy house , as we did , they seem'd to goe the same way that we did upon Earth , why goe they a sinister way now in heaven ? We are utterly intestable ; we can give nothing ; we can take nothing ; nothing will be beleeved from us , who are all falshood it selfe ; nor can we be releeved by any thing , that any other will say for us . As long , as we are considered under the penalty of that law , this is our case ; Interdicti , intestabiles , we are accursed , and so , as that we are intestable . Now as this great malediction , Morte marieris , in volves all other punishments , ( upon whom that falls , all fall ) so when our Saviour Christ Jesus hath a purpose to take away that , or the most dangerous part of that , the spirituall death , when he will reverse that judgment , Aqua & igni interdicitur , to make us capable of his water , and his fire ; when he will reverse the intestabiles , the inte●●ability , and make us able to receive his graces by faith , and declare them by works ; then , as he that will reedifie a demolished house , begins not at the top but at the bottome , so Christ Jesus , when he will make this great preparation , this great reedification of mankind , he beginnes at the lowest step , which is , that we may have use of the testimony of others , in our behalfe : and he proceeds strongly , and effectually ; he produces three witnesses from heaven , so powerfull , that they will be heard , they will be beleeved ; and three witnesses on earth , so neare us , so familiar so domestique as that they will not be denied , they will not be discredited ; Three are three that beare Record in heaven , and three that beare record in earth . Since then Christ Jesus makes us all our owne Iury , able to conceive , and judge upon the Evidence , and testimony of these three heavenly , and three earthly witnesses , let us draw neare , and hearken to the evidence , and consider three things ; Testimonium esse . Quid sit , and Qui testes . That God descends to meanes proportionable to Man ; he affords him witnesse ; and secondly , the matter of the proofe , what all these six witnesses testifie , what they establish ; Thirdly , the quality , and value of the witnesses , and whether the matter be to be beleeved , for their sakes , and for their reasons . God requires nothing of us , but Testimony : for Martyrdome is but that ; A Martyr is but a witnesse . God offers us nothing without testimony : for his Testament , is but a witnesse . Teste ipso , is shrewd evidence ; when God says , I will speake , and I will testifie against thee ; I am God , even thy God : when the voice of God testifies against me in mine owne conscience . It is more pregnant evidence then this , when his voice testifies against me in his word , in his Scriptures : The Lord testified against Israel , by all the Prophets and by all the Seers . When I can never be alone , but that God speakes in me , but speakes against me ; when I can never open his booke , but the first sentence mine eye is upon , is a witnesse against me , this is fearfull evidence . But in this text , we are not in that storme , for he hath made us Testabiles , that is , ready to testifie for him , to the effusion of our bloud ; and Testabiles , that is , fit to take benefit by the testament , that hee hath made for us , The effusion of his bloud ; which is our second branch : what is testified for us , what these witnesses establish . First then , that which a sinner must be brought to understand , and beleeve , by the strength of these witnesses , is Integritas Christi ; not the Integrity , as it signifies the Innocency of Christ : but integrity , as it signifies Intireness , not as it is Integer vitae , but Integra vita ; not as he kept an integrity in his life , but as he onely , is intirely our life . That Christ was a person composed of those two Natures , divine , and humane , whereby he was a fit , and a full satisfaction for all our sinnes , and by death could be our life : for when the Apostle writ this Epistle , it seemes there had been a schisme , not about the Mysticall body of Christ , the Church , but even about the Naturall ; that is to say , in the person of Christ , there had been a schisme , a separation of his two natures : for , as we see certainly before the death of this Apostle , that the Heresie of Ebion and of Cerinthus , ( which denied the divine nature of Christ ) was set on foot , ( for against them purposely was the Gospell of Saint Iohn written ) so by Epiphanius his ranking of the Heresies , as they arose , where he makes Basilides his Heresie , ( which denied that Christ had any naturall body ) to be the fourth herefie , and Ebions , to be the tenth , it seemes , that they denied his humanity , before they denied his Divinity . And therefore it is well collected , that this Epistle of Saint Iohn , being written long before his Gospell , was written principally , and purposely against the opposers of Christs humanity , but occasionally also , in defence of his divine nature too . Because there is Solutio Iesu , a dissolving of Jesus , a taking of Jesus in peeces , a dividing of his Natures , or of his Offices , which overthrowes all the testimonies of these six great witnesses when Christ said , Solvite templum hoc , destroy , dissolve this temple , and in three dayes I will raise it , he spoke that but of his naturall body ; there was Solutio corporis , Christs body and soule were parted , but there was not Solutio Iesu ; the divine nature parted not from the humane , no not in death , but adhered to , and accompanied the soule , even in hell , and accompanied the body in the grave . And therefore , says the Apostle , Omnis spiritus qui solvit Iesum , ex deo non est ; ( for so Irenaeus , and Saint Augustine , and Saint Cyrill with the Grecians , read those words ) That spirit which receives not Jesus intirely , which dissolves Jesus and breakes him in peeces , that spirit is not of God. All this then is the subject of this testimony ; first that Christ Jesus is come in the flesh ; ( there is a Recognition of his humane nature ) And then that this Jesus is the sonne of God ; ( there is a subscription to his divine nature : ) he that separates these , and thereby makes him not able , or not willing to satisfie for Man , he that separates his Nature , or he that separates the worke of the Redemption , and says , Christ suffered for us onely as Man , and not as God , or he that separates the manner of the worke , and says that the passive obedience of Christ onely redeemed us , without any respect at all , to his active obedience , onely as he died , and nothing as he died innocently , or he that separates the perfection , and consummation of the worke , from his worke , and findes something to be done by Man himselfe , meritorious to salvation , or he that separates the Prince , and the Subject , Christ and his members , by nourishing Controversies in Religion , when they might be well reconciled , or he that separates himselfe from the body of the Church , and from the communion of Saints , for the fashion of the garments , for the variety of indifferent Ceremonies , all these do Solvere Iesum , they slacken , they dissolve that Jesus , whose bones God provided for , that they should not be broken , whose flesh God provided for , that it should not see Corruption , and whose garments God provided , that they should not bee divided . There are other luxations , other dislocations , of Jesus , when we displace him for any worldly respect , and prefer preforment before him ; there are other woundings of Jesus , in blasphemous oathes , and exerations ; there are other maimings of Jesus , in pretending to serve him intirely , and yet retaine one particular beloved sinne still ; there are other rackings , and extendings of Jesus when we delay him and his patience to our death-bed , when we stretch the string so farre , that it cracks there , that is , appoint him to come then , and he comes not ; there are other dissolutions of Jesus , when men will melt him , and powre him out , and mold him up in a waser Cake , or a peece of bread ; there are other annihilations of Jesus when Men will make him , and his Sacraments , to be nothing but bare signes ; but all these will be avoided by us , if we be gained by the testimony of these six witnesses to hold fast that integrity , that intirensse of Jesus , which is here delivered to us by this Apostle . In which we beleeve first I●sum , a Saviour ; which implies his love , and his will to save us ; and then we beleeve Christum , the anointed , that is God and man , able , and willing to doe this great worke , and that he is anointed , and sealed for that purpose ; and this implies the decree , the contract , and bargaine , of acceptation by the Father , that Pactum salis , that eternall covenant which seasons all , by which , that which he meant to doe , as he was Iesus , should be done , as he was Christ. And then as the intirenesse of Jesus is expressed , in the verse before the text , we beleeve , Quod venit , that as all this might be done , if the Father and Sonne would agree , as all this must be done , because they had agreed it , so all this was done , Qu●a venit , because this Jesus is already come ; and that , for the father intirenesse , for the perfection , and consummation , and declaration of all , venit per aquam & sanguinem , He came by water , and bloud . Which words Saint Bernard understands to imply but a difference between the comming of Christ , and the comming of Moses ; who was drawen out of the water , and therefore called by that name of Moses . But before Moses came to be a leader of the people , he passed through bloud too , through the bloud of the Egyptian , whom he slew ; and much more when he established all their bloudy sacrifices , so that Mases came not onely by water . Neither was the first Testament ordained without bloud . Others understand the words onely to put a difference between Iohn Baptist , and Christ : because Iohn Baptist is still said to baptize with water● Because he should be declared to Israel ; therefore am I come , baptizing with water : but yet Iohn Baptists baptisme had not onely a relation to bloud , but a demonstration of it , when still he pointed to the Lambe , Ecce Agnus , for that Lambe was sl●ine from the beginning of the world . So that Christ , which was this Lambe , came by water , and bloud , when he came , in the risuall types , and figures of Moses ; and when he came in the baptisme of Iohn : for in the Law of Moses , there was so frequent use of water , as that we reckon above fifty severall Immunditi as uncleannesses , which might receive their expiation by washing , without being put to their bloudy sacrifies for them : And then there was so frequent use of bloud , that almost all things are by the Law purged with bloud , and without shedding of bloud , is no Remission , But this was such water , and such bloud , as could not perfect the worke , but therefore was to be renewed every day . The water that Jesus comes by , is such a water , as he that arinketh of it , shall thirst no more ; nay there shall spring up in him a well of water ; that is , his example shall worke to the satisfaction of others ; ( we doe not say to a satisfaction for others . ) And then this is that bloud , that perfected the whole worke at once , By his own bloud entred he once into the holy place , and obtained eternall Redemption for us . So that Christ came by water , and bloud , ( according to the old ablutions , and old sacrifices ) when he wept , when he sweat , when he powred out bloud ; pretious , incorruptible , inestimable bloud , at so many channels , as he did , all the while that he was upon the altar , sacrificing himselfe in his passion . But after the immolation of this sacrifice , after his Consummatum est ; when Christ was come and gone for so much as belonged to the accomplishing of the types of the old law , then Christ came againe to us by water and bloud , in that wound , which he received upon his side , from which there flowed out miraculously true water , & true bloud . This wound Saint Augustine calls Ianuam utriusque Sacramenti , the doore of both sacraments ; where we see he acknowledges but two , and both presented in this water , and bloud and so certainely doe most of the fathers , make this wound if not the foundation , yet at least a sacrament of both the sacraments . And to this water and bloud doth the Apostle here , without doubt , aime principally ; which he onely of all the Evangelists hath recorded ; and with so great asseveration , and assurednesse in the recording thereof , He that saw it bare record , and his record is true , and he knoweth that he saith truth , that yee might beleeve it . Here then is the matter which these six witnesses must be beleeved in , here is Integritas Iesu , quae non solvenda , the intirenesse of Christ Jesus , which must not be broken , That a Saviour , which is Iesus , appointed to that office , that is Christ , figured in the law , by ablutions of water , and sacrifices of bloud , is come , and hath perfected all those figures in water , and bloud too ; and then , that he remaines still with us in water , and bloud , by meanes instituted in his Church , to wash away our uncleannesses , and to purge away our iniquities , and to apply his worke unto our Soules ; this is Integritas Iesu , Iesus the sonne of God in heaven , Jesus the Redeemer of man , upon earth , Jesus the head of a Church to apply that to the end , this is Integritas Iesu ; all that is to be beleeved of him . Take thus much more , that when thou comest to hearken what these witnesses shall say to this purpose , thou must finde something in their testimony , to prove him to be come not onely into the world , but into thee ; He is a mighty prince , and hath a great traine ; millions of ministring spirits attend him , and the whole army of Martyrs follow the Lambe wheresoever he goes : Though the whole world be his Court , thy soule is his bedchamber ; there thou maist contract him , there thou maist lodge , and entertaine Integrum Iesum , thy whole Saviour . And never trouble thy selfe , how another shall have him , if thou have him all ; leave him , and his Church to that ; make thou sure thine owne salvation . When he comes to thee , he comes by water and by bloud ; If thy heart , and bowels have not yet melted in compassion of his passion for thy soule , if thine eyes have not yet melted , in tears of repentanc● and contrition , he is not yet come by water into thee ; If thou have suffered nothing for sinne , nor found in thy selfe a chearfull disposition to suffer , if thou have found no wresting in thy selfe , no resistance of Concupiscences , he that comes not to set peace , but to kindle this war , is not yet come into thee , by bloud . Christ can come by land , by purchases , by Revenues , by temporall blessings , for so he did still convey himselfe to the Jewes , by the blessing of the land of promise , but here he comes by water , by his owne passion , by his sacraments , by thy tears : Christ can come in a mariage and in Musique , for so he delivers himselfe to the spouse in the Canticles ; but here he comes in bloud ; which comming in water , and bloud ( that is , in meanes for the salvation of our soules , here in the militant Church ) is the comming that he stands upon and which includes all the Christian Religion ; and therefore he proves that comming to them , by these three great witnesses in heaven , and three in earth . For there are three which beare record in heaven . The Father , the word , and the holy Ghost : and these three are one . And there are three which bear record in the earth ; The spirit , and the water , and the bloud , and these three agree in one . By the mouth of two , or three witnesses every word shall be confirmed , says Christ out of the law . That 's as much as can be required , in any Civill , or Criminall businesse ; and yet Christ gives more testimony of himselfe , for here he produces not Duos testes , but Duas Classes ; two rankes of witnesses ; and the fullest number of each , not two , but three in heaven , and three in earth . And such witnesses upon earth , as are omni exceptione majores , without all exception . It is not the testimony of earthly men ; for when Saint Paul produces them in abundance , ( The Patriarch , the Iudges , the Prophets , the elders of the old times ; of whom he exhibits an exact Catalogue , ) yet he calls all them but Nubes testium cloudes of witnesses ; for though they be cloudes in Saint Chrysostomes sense , ( that they invest us , and enwrap us , and so defend us from all diffidence in God , ) ( we have their witnesse what God did for them , why should we doubt of the like ? ) though they be cloudes in Athanasius sense , they being in heaven , showre downe by their prayers , the dew of Gods grace upon the Church ; Though they be cloudes , they are but cloudes ; some darkenesse mingled in them , some controversies arising from them ; but his witnesses here , are Lux inaccessibilis , that light , that no eye can attaine to , and Pater Luminum , the father of lights , from whom all these testimonies are derived . When God imployed a man , to be the witnesse of Christ , because men might doubt of his testimony , God was content to assigne him his Compurgators ; when Iohn Baptist must preach , that the kingdome of God , was at hand , God fortifies the testimony of his witnesse , then , Hic enim est , for this is he of whom that is spoken by the prophet Esay ; and lest one were not enough , he multiplies them , as it is written , in the prophets . Iohn Baptist might be thought to testifie as a man , and therefore men must testifie for him ; but these witnesses are of a higher nature ; these of heaven are the Trinity , and those of earth , are the sacraments and seales of the Church . The prophets were full of favor with God , Abraham full of faith , Stephen full of the Holy Ghost , many full of grace , and Iohn Baptist a prophet , and more then a prophet , yet never any prophet , never any man , how much soever interessed in the favor of Almighty God was such an instrument of grace , as a sacrament or as Gods seales and institutions in his Church : and the least of these six witnesses , is of that nature , and therefore might be beleeved without more witnesses . To speake then first of the three first , the Father , the Word , and the Holy Ghost , it was but a poore plot of the devill , to goe about to rob us , of their testimony ; for as long as we have the three last , the spirit , the water , and bloud , we have testimony enough of Christ , because God is involved in his ordinance ; and though he be not tyed to the worke of the Sacrament , yet he is always present in it . Yet this plot , the devill had upon the Church : And whereas this first Epistle of Saint Iohn was never doubted to be Canonicall , ( whereas both the other have been called into some question ) yet in this first Epistle , the first verse of this text , was for a long time removed , or expung'd , whether by malice of Heretiques , or negligence of transcribers . The first Translation of the new testament , ( which was into Syriaque ) hath not this verse ; That which was first called Vulgata editio , had it not , neither hath Luther it in his Germane translation : very many of the Latine Fathers have it not ; and some very ancient Greeke Fathers want it , though more ancient then they , have it ; for Athanasius in the Councell of Nice cites it , and makes use of it ; and Cyprian , beheaded before that Councell , hath it too . But now , he that is one of the witnesses himselfe , the Holy Ghost hath assured the Church , that this verse belongs to the Scripture ; and therefore it becomes us to consider thankfully , and reverently , this first ranke of witnesses , the Father , the Word , and the Holy Ghost . The Father then hath testified De integritate Christi , of this intirenesse , that Christ should be all this and doe all this , which we have spoken of , abundantly : he begunne before Christ was borne ; in giving his name , Thou shalt call his name Iesus : for he shall save his people from sin . Well ; how shall this person be capable to doe this office of saving his people from sinne ? Why , in him say God the father , ( in the representation of an Angell ) shall be fulfilled that prophecy , A virgin shall beare a Sonne , and they shall call his name Emanuel , which is by interpretation God with us : This seemes somewhat an incertaine testimony , of a Man , with an Aliàs dictus , with two names . God says he shall be called Iesus , that the prophecy may be fulfilled which says he shall be called Emanuel : but therein consists , Integritas Christi , this intirenesse ; he could not be Jesus , not a Saviour , except he were Emanuel , God with us , God in our nature . Here then is Jesus , a Saviour , a Saviour that is God , and Man , but where is the Testimony De Christo ; that he was anointed , and prepared for this sacrifice ; that this worke of his was contracted between the Father , and him , and acceptable to him ? It is twice testified by the Father ; both in Christs act of humiliation , when he would be Baptized by Iohn ; when he would accept an ablution , who had no uncleannesse , then God says , This is my beloved Sonne , in whom I am well pleased , he was well pleased in his person , and he was well pleased , in his act , in his office . And he testifies it againe in his first act of glory , in his transfiguration ; where the Father repeates the same words with an addition , Heare him : God is pleased in him , and would have Men pleased in him too . He testified first , onely for Iosephs sak that had entertained , and lodged some scrupulous suspition against his wife , the Blessed Virgine ; His second testimony at the baptisme , had a farther extent ; for that was for the confirmation of Iohn Baptist , of the preacher himselfe , who was to convey his doctrine to many others ; His third testimony in the transfiguration , was larger then the Baptisme ; for that satisfied three , and three such as were to carry it farre , Peter , and Iames , and Iohn : All which no doubt made the same use of his testimony , as we see Peter did , who preached out of the strength of his manifestation , we followed not deceivable fables , but with our owne eyes we saw his Majesty ; for he received of God the Father , honor , and glory , when there came such a voice to him , from the Excellent glory , This is my beloved Sonne , in whom I am well pleased . But yet the Father gave a more free , a more liberall testimony of him , then this , at his Conception , or Baptisme , or Transfiguration : when upon Christs prayer , Father glorifie thy Name , there came a voice from heaven , I have both glorified it and will glorifie it againe . For this all the people apprehended ; some imputed it to Thunder , some to an Angel ; but all heard it ; and all heard Christs comment upon it , That that voice came not for him , but for their sakes ; so that when the Father had testified of a Iesus , a Saviour , and a Christ , a Saviour sent to that purpose , and a Sonne in whom he is pleased , and whom we must heare , when it is said of him , moreover , Gratificavit ●●s in Dilect● , he hath made us accepted in his beloved , this is his way of comming in water , and bloud , that is , in the sacraments of the Church , by which we have assurance of being accepted by him ; and this is this Integritas Christi , the intirenesse of Christ , testified by our first witnesse , that bears record in heaven . The father . The second witnesse in heaven , is ver●um , The Word : and that is a welcome message , for it is Christ himselfe : It is not so when the Lord sends a word ; The Lord sent a word unto Iacob , and it lighted upon Israel● there the word is a judgement , and an execution of the Judgement : for that word , that signifies , 2 word there , in the same letters exactly signifies , a pestilence , a Calamity ; It is a word , and a blow ; but the word here , is verbum cara , that Word which for our sakes was made our selves . The word then in this place , is the second person in the Trinity , Christ Iesus , who in this Court of heaven , where there is no corruption , no falsification , no passion , but fair and just proceeding , is admitted to be a witnesse in his owne cause ; It is Iesus , that testifies for Iesus now , when he was upon earth , and said , If I should beare witnesse of my selfe , my witnesse were not true , whether we take those words to be spoken , per Co●nlventiam , by an allowance , and concession , ( It is not true , that is , I am content that you should not beleeve my witnesse of my selfe to be true ) ( as Saint Cyrill understand them ) or whether we take them , Humana mare , that Christ as a man , acknowledged truely , and as he thought , that inlegall proceeding a mans owne testimony ought not to be beleeved in his owne behalfe , ( as Athan●●ius and Saint Ambrose understand them ) yet Christ might safely say as he did , Though I beare a record of my selfe , yet my record is true ; why ? because I know whence I come , and whither I goe . Christ could not be Singularis ●●stis , a single witnesse● He was alwayes more then one witnesse , because he had alwayes more then 〈◊〉 ; God and man ; and therefore Christ instructing Nicodemus , speakes plurally , we speake , that 〈◊〉 know , we testifie that we have seene , and you receive not Testimoni●● n●strum , our witnesse● he does not say my witnesse , but ours , because although a singular , yet he was a plurall person too . His testimony then was credible , but how did he testifie Integritatem , this intirenesse , all that belonged to our faith● All consists in this , that he was Iesus , capable in his nature , to be a Saviour , that he was Christus , ordained , and sent for that office , and then Quod venit , that be was come , and come , in aqus & sanguine , in water and bloud , in sacraments , which might apply him to us . That he was Iesus a person capable , his miracles testified aloud and frequently : that he was Christ , anointed , and sent for that , his reference of all his actions to his Father testified ; both these were enwrapped in that , that he was the Sonne of God ; and that he professed himselfe upon the earth to be so ; for so it appeares plainely , that he had plainely done : We have a law , say the Jews to Pilate , and by our law , he ought to die , because he made himselfe the Sonne of God. And for the last part , that he came In aqua & sanguine , in water , and bloud , in such meanes , as were to continue in the Church , for our spirituall reparation , and sustentation , he testified that , in preaching so piercing Sermons , in instituting so powerfull Sacraments , in assuring us , that the love of God expressed to mankind in him , extended to all persons , and all times , God so loved the world , that he gave his onely begotten Sonne , that whoseever beleeveth in him , should not perish , but have life everlasting . And so the words beare record , De Integritate , of this Intirenesse , of the whole worke of our Redemption : and therefore , Christ is not onely truely called a Martyr , in that sense , as Martyr signifies a witnesse , but he is truly called a Martyr , in that sense , as we use the word ordinarily ; for he testified this truth , and suffered for the testimony of it : and therefore he is called Jesus Christ , Martyr , a faithfull witnesse . And there is Martyrium , a Martyrdome attributed to him , where it is said , Jesus Christ under Pontius Pilate , witnessed a good confession ; so he was a speaking , and a doing , and a suffering witnesse . Now for the third witnesse in heaven , which is the holy Ghost ; we may contract our selves in that ; for the whole work was his ; Before Ioseph and Mary came together , she was found with Child of the holy Ghost : which ( if we take it , as Saint Basil , and divers others of the Fathers doe ) that Ioseph found it , by the holy Ghost , that is , the holy Ghost informed him of it , then here the holy Ghost was a witnesse to Ioseph , of this Conception : but we rather take it ( as it is most ordinarily taken ) that the Angell intimated this to Ioseph , That that which was conceived in her , was of the holy Ghost ; and then the holy Ghost did so primarily testifie , this decree of God , to send a Iesus , and a Christ , for our Redemption , that himselfe was a blessed and bountifull actor in that Conception , he was conceived by him , by his overshadowing . So that the holy Ghost did not onely testifie his comming , but he brought him : And then , for his comming in Aqua & sanguine , in water and bloud , that is , in Sacraments , in meanes , by which he might be able to make his comming usefull , and appliable to us , first the holy Ghost , was a pregnant witnesse of that , at his Baptisme ; for the holy Ghost had told Iohn Baptist before-hand , That upon whomsoever he should descend , and tarry still , that should be he , that should baptize with the holy Ghost : and then according to those Markes , he did descend , and tarry still upon Christ Iesus , in his baptisme . And after this falling upon him , and tarrying upon him , ( which testified his power ) in all his life , expressed in his doctrine , and in his Sermons , after his death , and Resurrection , and Ascension , the holy Ghost gave a new testimony , when he fell upon the Apostles in Cloventongues , and made them spirituall channells , in which this water and bloud , the meanes of applying Christ to us , should be convey'd to all Nations ; and thus also the third witnesse in heaven , testified De integritate , of this intirenesse of Iesus . Of these three witnesses then , which are of heaven , we shall need to adde no more , but that which the text addes , that is , That these three are one ; that is , not onely one in Consent , ( they all testifie of one point , they all speake to one Intergatory ; Ad integritatem Christi , to prove this intirenesse of Christ ; ) but they are Vnum Essentia , The Father , the Sonne , and the holy Ghost are all one Godhead , and so meant and intended to be in this place . And therefore as Saint Hierome complained , when some Copies were without this seventh verse , that thereby we had lost a good argument for the unity of the three Persons , because this verse said plainely that the three witnesses were all one , so I am sorry , when I see any of our later expositors deny , that in this place , there is any proofe , of such an unity , but that this Vnum sunt , ( They are one ) is onely an unity of consent , and not of essence . It is an unthrifty prodigality ( howsoever we be abundantly provided with arguments , from other places of Scriptures , to prove this Vnity in Trinity ) to cast away so strong an argument , against Iew , and Turke , as is in these words , for that , and for the consubstantiality of Christ , which was the Tempest , and the Earthquake of the Primitive Church , raised by Arius ; and his followers then , and ( God knowes ) not extinguished yet . Thus much I adde of these three witnesses , that though they be in heaven , their testimony is upon the earth ; for they need not to testifie to one another , this matter of Jesus : The Father heares of it every day , by the continuall intercession of Christ Jesus : The Sonne feeles it every day ; in his new crucifying by our sinnes , and in the perfecution of his Mysticall body here : The holy Ghost hath a bitter sense of it , in our sinnes against the holy Ghost , and he hath a loving sense of it , in those abundant seas of graces , which flow continually from him upon us ; They need no witnesses in heaven ; but these three witnesses testifie all this , to our Consciences . And therefore the first author , that is observed to have read , and made use of this seventh verse ( which was one of the first Bishops of Rome ) he reads the words thus , Tres in nobis , there are three in us , which beare witnesse in heaven ; they testifie for our sakes , and to establish our assurance , De Integritate Iesu ; that Jesus is come , and come with meanes , to save the world , and to save us . And therefore upon these words , Saint Bernard collects thus much more , that there are other witnesses in heaven , which restifie this worke of our Redemption , Angels , and Saints , all the Court , all the Quire of heaven testifie it ; but catera nobis occults , says he , what all they doe we know not : but ( according to the best dispositions here in this world ) we acquaint our selves , and we choose to keep company with the best , and so not onely the poore Church s the earth , but every poore soule in the Church , may heare all these three witnesses testifying to him , Integrum Iesum suum , that all , which Christ Jesus hath done , and suffered , appertaines to him : but yet , to bring it nearer him , in visible and sensible things , There are , tres de terra , three upon earth too . The first of these three upon earth , is the Spirit : which Saint Augustine understands of the spirit , the soule of Christ : for when Christ commended his spirit , into the hands of his Father , this was a testimony , that he was Verus hemo , that he had a soule ; and in that he laid downe his spirit , his soule , ( for no Man could take it from him ) and tooke it againe , at his pleasure , in his resurrection , this was a testimony , that he was Verus Deus , true God ; And so says Saint Augustine , Spiritus , The spirit , that is anima Christi , the soule of Christ , did testifie De integritate Iesu , all that belonged to Jesus , as he was God , and as he was Man. But this makes the witnesses in heaven , and the witnesses in earth all one ; for the personall testimony of Christs preaching , and living , and dying , the testimony which was given by these three Persons of the Trinity , was all involv'd in the first rank of witnesses : Those three which are in heaven . Other later Men understand by the Spirit here the Spirit of every Regenerate Man ; and that in the other heavenly witnesses , the spirit is Spiritus sanctus , the spirit that is holy in it selfe , the holy Ghost , and here it is Spiritus sanctificatus , that spirit of Man , which is made holy by the holy Ghost , according to that , The same spirit , beareth witnesse , with our spirit , that we are the children of God. But in this sense , it is too particular a witnesse , too singular , to be intended here ; for that speakes but to one Man , at once ; The spirit therefore here is ; Spiritus oris , the word of God , the Gospell ; and the preaching , and ministration thereof . We are made Ministers of the New testament of the spirit , that giveth life : And if the ministration of death were glorious , how shall not the ministration of the spirit , be more glorious ? It is not therefore the Gospell meerly , but the preaching of the Gospell , that is this spirit . Spiritus sacerdotis vehioulum Spiritus Dei ; The spirit of the Minister , is not so pure , as the spirit of God , but it is the chariot , the meanes , by which God will enter into you . The Gospell is the Gospell , at home , at your house ; and there you doe well to read it , and reverence it , as the Gospell : but yet it is not Spiritus , it is not this Spirit , this first witnesse upon earth , but onely there , where God hath blessed it with his institution , and ordinance , that is , in the preaching thereof . The stewardship , and the dispensation of the graces of God , the directing of his threatnings against refractary , and wilfull sinners , the directing of his promises to simple , and supple , and con●rite penitents , the breaking of the bread , the applying of the Gospell according to their particular indigences , in the preaching thereof , this is the first witnesse . The second witnesse here is The water , and I know there are some Men which will not have this to be understood of the water of Baptisme ; but onely of the naturall effect of water ; that as the abtutions of the old law , by water did purge us , so we have an inward testimony , that Christ doth likewise wash us cleane ; so the water here , must not be so much as water ; but a metaphoricall , and figurative water . These men will not allow water , in this place , to have any relation to the sacrament ; and Saint Ambrose was so far from doubting that water in this place belonged to the sacrament , that he applies all these three witnesses to the Sacrament of Baptisme : Spiritus mentem renovat , All this is done in Baptisme , says he ; The Spirit renewes and disposes the mind ; Aqua perficit ad Lavacrum ; The water is applied to cleanse the body ; Sanguis Spectat ad pre●lium ; and the bloud intimates the price , and ransome , which gives force , and virtue to this sacrament : And so also ( says he in another place ) In sanguine mors , in the bloud there is a representation of death , in the water , of our buriall , and in the spirit , of our owne life . Some will have none of these witnesses on earth to belong to baptisme , not the water ; and Ambrose will have all , spirit , and water , and bloud to belong to it . Now both Saint Ambrose , who applies all the three witnesses to Baptisme , and those later men which deny any of the witnesses to belong to baptisme , doe both depart from the generall acceptation of these words , that water here , and onely that , signifies the Sacrament of baptisme . For as in the first creation , the first thing , that the spirit of God , is noted to have moved upon , was the waters , so the first creature , that is sanctified by Christs institution , to our Salvation , is this element of water . The first thing that produced any living sensible creature was the water ; Primus liquor qnod viveret edidit ; ne mirum sit quod in Baptismo , aquae a●nimare noverunt ; water brought forth the first creatures , says Tertullian ; That we should not wonder , that water should bring forth Christians . The first of Gods afficting miracles in Egypt , was the changing of water into bloud ; and the first miracle of grace , in the new Testament , was the changing of water into wine at the mariage . So that water hath still been a subject , and instrument of Gods conversation with man : So then Aqua janua ecclesiae , we cannot come into the Church , but by water , by baptisme : for though the Church have taken knowledge of other Baptismes , ( Baptisma sanguinis , which is Martyrdome , and Baptisma Flaminis , which is a religious desire to be baptized when no meanes can be got ) yet there is no other sacrament of Baptisme , but Baptisma Fluminis , the Baptisme of water ; for the rest , Conveniunt in causando , sed non in significando , says the Schoole ; that is , God doth afford a plentifull retribution to the other baptismes Flaminis and Sanguinis , but God hath not ordained them , to be outward seales , and significations of his grace , and to be witnesses of Iesus his comming upon earth , as this water is . And therefore they that provide not duly to bring their children to this water of life , ( not to speake of the essentiall necessity thereof ) they take from them one of the witnesses , that Iesus is come into them ; and ( as much as they can ) they shut the Church dore against them , they leave them out of the Arke , and for want of this water , cast them into that generall water , which overflowes all the rest of the world , which are not brought within the Covenant , by this water of baptisme . For , though in the first Translation of the new Testament , into Syriaque , that be said in the sixth verse , that Jesus is come per manus aquarum , by the power of waters , many waters , and in this verse , this witnesse is delivered in the plurall , spirit and waters , ( and so , waters in that signification , ( which signification they have often in the Scriptures ) that is , affliction , and tribulation , be good testimonies that our Lord Jesus doth visit us ) though the waters of Co●trition , and repentant teares be another good testimony of that too , yet that water , which testifies the presence of Jesus so , as that it doth always infallibly bring Jesus with it , ( for the Sacraments are never without Grace ) whether it be accepted or no , there it is ) ● That water which is made equall with the preaching of the Word , ( so farre as to be a fellow-witnesse with the Spirit ) that is onely the Sacrament of baptisme , without which ( in the ordinary dispensation of God ) no soule can be surer that Jesus is come to him , then if he had never heard the Word preached ; he mistakes the spirit , the first witnesse ; if he refuse the water the second . The third witnesse upon earth , is bloud : and that is briefly the Communion of the body , and bloud of Iesus , in the Lords Supper . But how is that bloud upon earth ? I am not ashamed to confesse , that I know not how , but the bloud of Christ is a witnesse upon earth , in the Sacrament , and therefore , upon the earth it is . Now this Witnesse being made equall with the other two , with preaching , and with baptisme , it is as necessary , that he that will have an assurance● that Iesus is come into him , doe receive this Sacrament , as that he doe heare Serm●n● , and that he be baptized . An over vehement urging of this necessity , brought in an erroneous custome in the Primitive Church : That they would give the Sacrament of the body of Christ to Children , as soon as they were baptized ; yea , and to dead man too . But because this Sacrament is accompanied with precepts , which can belong onely to Men of understanding , ( for they must doe it in Remembrance , and they must discerne the Lords body ) therefore the necessity lies onely upon such , as are come to those graces , and to that understanding . For they that take it , and doe not discerne it , ( not know what they do ) they take it dangerously . But else , for them , to whom this Sacrament belongs , if they take it not , their hearing of Sermons , and their baptisme doth them no good ; for what good can they have done them , if they have not prepared themselves for it ? And therefore , as the Religion of the Church holds a stubborne Recusant at the table , at the Communion bord , as farre from her , as a Recusant at the Pew , that is , a Non-communicant as ill , as a not commer , or a not hearer , so I doubt not but the wisdome of the state weighs them in the same balance ; For these three agree in one , says the text : that is , first they meet in one Man , and then they testifie the same thing , that is , Integritatem Iesu , that Iesus is come to him in outward Meanes , to save his soule . If his conscience find not this testimony , all these availe him nothing . If we remaine vessells of anger , and of dishonour still , we are under the Vae v●bis Hypocritis : woe unto you Hypocrites , that make cleane onely the outside of your cuppes and Platters . That baptize , and wash your owne , and your childrens bodies , but not their mindes with instructions . When we shall come to say Docuisti in plateis , we have heard thee preach in our streets , we have continued our hearing of thy Word , when we say Manducavimus coram te , we have eate in thy presence , at thy table , yea Manducavimus t● , we have eaten thee thy selfe , yet for all this outward show of these three witnesses , of Spirit , and Water , and bloud , Preaching , and Baptisme and Communion , we shall heare that fearfull disclaiming from Christ Jesus , Nescio vos , I know not whence you are . But these witnesses , he will always heare , if they testifie for us , that Jesus is come unto us ; for the Gospell , and the preaching thereof , is as the deed that conveys Iesus unto us ; the water , the baptisme , is as the Seale , that assures it ; and the bloud , the Sacrament , is the delivery of Christ into us ; and this is Integritas Iesu , the entire , and full possession of him . To this purpose therefore , as we have found a Trinity in heaven , and a Trinity in earth , so we must make it up a Trinity of Trinities , and finde a third Trinity in our selves . God created one Trinity in us ; ( the observation , and the enumeration is Saint Bernards ) which are those three faculties of our soule , the reason , the memory , the will ; That Trinity in us , by another Trinity too , ( by suggestion towards sin , by delight in sinne , by consent to sinne ) is fallen into a third Trinity ; The memory into a weaknesse , that that comprehends not God , it glorifies him not for benefits received ; The reasen to a blindnesse , that that discernes not what is true ; and the will to a perversnesse , that that wishes not what 's good ; But the goodnesse of God , by these three witnesses on earth regenerates , and reestablishes a new Trinity in us , faith , and hope , and charity ; Thus farre that devout Man carries it ; And if this new Trinity , faith , and hope , and charity , witnesse to us Integritatem Christi , all the worke of Christ , If my faith testifie to me , that Christ is sealed to my soule ; and my hope , testifie , that at the Resurection , I shall have a perfect fruition in soule , and body , of that glory which he purchased for every beleever ; and my charity testifies to the world , that I labour to make sure that salvation , by a good life , then there 's a Trinity of Trinities , and the six are made nine witnesses : There are three in heaven that testifie that this is done for all Mankinde , Three in the Church that testifie , this may be done for me , and three in my soule , that testifie , that all this is applied to me ; and then the verdict , and the Judgement must necessarily goe for me . And beloved , this Judgement will be grounded upon this intirenesse of Jesus , and therefore let me dismisse you with this note , That Integritas is in continuitate , not in contignitate ; It is not the touching upon a thing , nor the comming neare to a thing , that makes it intire ; a fagot , where the sticks touch , a peece of cloth , where the threds touch , is not intire ; To come as neare Christ as we can conveniently , to trie how neare we can bring two Religions together , this is not to preserve Integritatem Iesu : In a word , Intirenesse excludes deficiency , and redundancy , and discontinuance ; we preserve not intirenesse , if we preserve not the dignity of Christ , in his Church , and in his discipline , and that excludes the defective Separatist ; we doe not preserve that entirenesse if we admit traditions , and additions of Men , in an equality to the word of God , and that excludes the redundant Papist ; neither doe we preserve the entirenesse , if we admit a discontinuance , a slumbring of our Religion for a time , and that excludes the temporisers , the Statist , the Politician . And so , beloved , I recommend unto you Integritatem Iesu , Jesus , and his truth , and his whole truth , and this whole Truth , in your whole lives . SERMON VII . Preached at a Christning . GAL. 3. 27. For , all yee that are baptized into Christ , have put on Christ. THis text is a Reason of a Reason ; an Argument of an Argument ; The proposition undertaken by the Apostle to prove , is , That after faith is come , we are no longer under the Schoolmaster , the law . The reason , by which he proves that , is : For yee are all the Sonnes of God by faith , in Christ Jesus ; And then the reason of that , is this text , for all yee that are baptized into Christ , have put on Christ. Here then is the progresse of a sanctified Man , and here is his standing house ; here is his journey , and his Lodging ; his way , and his end . The house , the lodging , the end of all is faith ; for whatsoever is not of faith , is sinne . To be sure that you are in the right way to that , you must find your selves to be the Sonnes of God ; And you can prove that , by no other way to your selves , but because you are baptized into Christ. So that our happinesse is now at that height , and so much are we preferred before the Iews , that whereas the chiefest happinesse of the Jews was to have the law , ( for without the law they could not have known sinne , and the law was their Schoolmaster to find out Christ ) we are admitted to that degree of perfection , that we are got above the law ; It was their happinesse to have had the law , but it is ours , not to need it : They had the benefit of a guide , to direct them , but we are at our journies end ; They had a schoolmaster to lead them to Christ ; but we have proceeded so farre , as that we are in possession of Christ. The law of Moses therefore , binds us not at all , as it is his Law ; Whatsoever binds a Christian , in that law , would have bound him , though there had been no law given to Moses . The Ceremoniall part of that law , which was in the institution , Mortale , ( it was mortall , It might die ) and by Christs determination of those Typicall things , Mortuum , ( It did die ) is now also Mortiferum , ( deadly ) so that it is sinne to draw any part of that law , into a necessity of observation ; because the necessary admission of any Type , or figure , implies a confession , that that which was signified , or figured , is not yet come ; So that that law , and Christ cannot consist together . The Iudiciall law of Moses , was certainly the most absolute , and perfect law of government , which could have been given to that people , for whom it was given ; but yet to thinke , that all States are bound to observe those lawes , because God gave them , hath no more ground , then that all Men are bound to goe clothed in beasts skinnes , because God apparelled Adam , and Eve in that fashion . And for the morall part of that law , and the abridgement of that morall part , the decalogue , that begunne not to have force , and efficacy then , when God writ it in the tables ; but was always , and always shall be written in the hearts of Men ; And though God of his goodnesse , was pleased to give that declaration of it , and that provocation to it , by so writing it , yet if he had not written it , or if ( which is impossible ) that writing could perish , yet that morall law , those commandements , would bind us , that are Christians , after the expiration of that law , which was Moses law , as it did ( de Iure ) bind all those which lived , before any written law was . So that he that will perfectly understand , what appertaines to his duty in any of the ten Commandements ; he must not consider that law , with any limitation , as it was given to the Iews , but consider what he would have done , if he had lived before the Tables had been written . For certainely , even in the Commandement of the Sabbath , which was accompanied with so many Ceremonies amongst the Iews , that part onely is morall , which had bound us , though that Commandement had never been given ; and he that performes that part , keepes the Sabbath ; the Ceremoniall part of it , is not onely not necessary ; but when it is done with an opinion of necessity , it is erroneous , and sinfull . For neither that Commandement nor any other of the ten , began to bind them , when they were written , nor doth bind now , except it bound before that . Thus far then we are directed by this Text , ( which is as far , as we can goe in this life ) To prove to our selves , that we have faith , we must prove , that wee need not the law ; To prove that emanecipation , and liberty , we must prove , that we are the sonnes of God ; To prove that ingraffing , and that adoption , we must prove , that we have put on Christ Iesus ; And to prove that apparelling of our selves , our proofe is , that we are baptized into him . All proofes must either arrest , and determine in some things confessed , and agreed upon , or else they proceed in infinitum . That which the Apostle takes to be that which is granted on all sides , and which none can deny , is this , that to be baptized is to put on Christ : And this putting on of Christ , doth so far carry us to that Infinitissimum , to God himselfe , that we are thereby made Semen Dei , the seed of God ; The field is the world , and the good seed are the Children of the kingdome ; And we are translated even into the nature of God , By his pretious promises we are made partakers of the Divine nature ; yea , we are discharged of all bodily , and earthly incombrances , and we are made all spirit , yea the spirit of God himselfe , He that is joyned to the Lord , is one spirit with him . All this we have , if we doe put on Christ : and we doe put on Christ , if we be baptized into him . These then are the two actions which we are now to consider : Baptizari , To be washed . Induere , To be cloathed . Induere , is to cover so far , as that Covering can reach ; A hat covers the head ; a glove the hand ; and other garments , more ; But Christ , when he is put on , Covers us all . If we have weake heads , shallow brains , either a silexce , and a reservednes , which make the foole and the wise equall , or the good interpretation of friends , which put good Constructions upon all that we say , or the dignity of autority , and some great place , which we hold , which puts an opinion in the people , that we are wise , or else we had never been brought thither , these cover our heads , and hide any defect in them . If we have foule hands , we can cover them , with excuses ; If they be foule with usurious Extortion , we can put on a glove , an excuse , and say , He that borrowed my money , got more by it , then I that lent it ; If , with bribery in an office , we can cover it and say , He that knew , that I bought my office , will be content to let me be a saver by it ; If our hands be foule with shedding of innocent bloud , as Saint Hierome sayes that Adam eate the Apple , Ne contristaretur Delicias suas , left he should over grieve his wife , by refusing it , Ne contristaremur Delicias nostras , either because we would not displease another , or because our beloved sinne , to which we had maried our selves , did sollicite us to it . Particular excuses cover our particular defects , from the sight of men , but to put on Christ , covers us all over , even from the sight of God himselfe . So that how narrowly so ever he search into us , he sees nothing but the whitenesse of his Sonnes innocency , and the rednesse of his Sonnes bloud . When the prodigall child returned to his father , his father clothed him intirely , and all at once ; he put a robe upon him , to cover all his defects : which Robe , when God puts upon us , in clothing us with Christ , that robe is not onely Dignitaes quam perdidit Adam , as Augustine says , but it is Amictus sapientiae , as Ambrase enlarges it , It does not onely make us aswell , as we were in Adam , but it enables us better , to preserve that state ; It does not onely cover us , that is , make us excusable , for our past , and present sinnes , but it indues us with grace ; and wisdome to keep that robe still , and never to returne to our former foulnesses , and deformities . Our first parents Adam and Eve were naked all over ; but they were not sensible of all their nakednesse , but onely of those parts whereof they were ashamed . Nothing but the shame of the world makes us discerne our deformities ; And onely for those faults , which shame makes us take knowledge of , we goe about to provide ; And we provide nothing but short Aprons , as that word signified ; and those but of fig-leaves ; That which comes first to hand , and that which is withered before it is made , that doe we take for an excuse , for an aversion of our owne conscience , when she begins to cast an eye , or to examine the nakednesse , and deformities of our soules . But when God came to cloath them , their short aprons were extended to coates , that covered them all over , and their fig-leaves to strong skins ; for God saw that not onely those parts , of which they were already ashamed , needed covering , but that in all their other parts , if they continued , naked , and still exposed to the Injurie , and violence of the weather , they would contract diseases , and infirmities ; and therefore God covers them so throughly , as he doth not onely provide for reparation of former inconveniences , but prepare against future . And so perfect effects doth this garment , Christ Iesus , work upon us , if we put him on ; He doth not onely cover Originall sinnes , ( which is the effect of those disobedient Members , which derive sinne , upon us , in the sinfull generation of our parents ) but he covers all our actuall sinnes , which we multiplie every day : and not onely those , which the world makes us ashamed of , but which we hide from the world ; yea which we hide from our selfes ; that is , sinnes , which by a long custome of practise , we commit so habitually , and so indifferently , as that we have forgot , that they are sinnes . But as it was in Adams Clothing there , so must it be in our spirituall putting on of Christ. The word used there , Labash , doth not signifie that God cloathed Adam , nor that Adam cloathed himselfe ; but as the Grammarians call it , it is in Hiphil , and it signified Induere fecit eos ; God caused them to be cloathed , or God caused them to cloath themselves ; which is also intimated , nay evidently expressed in the words of this text ; we are our selves poore , and impotent creatures , we cannot make our selves ready ; we are poore and beggerly creatures , we have nothing to put on ; Christ is that garment ; and then Christ is the very life , by which we stretch out our armes and our legs , to put on that garment ; yea he puts it on upon us , he doth the whole worke : but yet he doth not thrust it on : He makes us Able to put it on : but if we be not willing , then he puts no necessity upon our will : but we remaine naked still . Induere then , to put on , is an extension , a dilatation over all ; And sometimes it signifies an abundant , and overflowing , and overwhelming measure of Gods judgements upon us , Princeps Induetur desolatione , The prince shal be 〈◊〉 with desolation and with astonishment : But most commonly , the rich and all-sufficient proportion of his mercies and spirituall benefits : as he expressed it to his Apostles , at his ascension , Stay you in the Citty , quousque Induamini virtute ex alto ; till ye be indued ( so we translate it ) that is , cloathed with power from on high . And this was per fidem ei innitends , and per opera cum declar ando , says Saint Augustine , He onely hath pat on Christ , which hath Christ in himselfe by faith , and shewes him to others by his works , which is Lucern● ardens , ( as Christ said of Iohn Baptist ) a burning lamp , and a shining lamp , profitable to others , as well as to himselfe . There is a degree of vanity , and pride , whereby some Men delight to weare their richest clothes innermost , and most out of sight ; But in this double garment of a Christian , it is necessarily so ; for faith is the richest , and most precious part of this garment ; an this , which is our Holy-day garment , is worne innermost ; for that ( our faith ) is onely seen by God ; but our outward garment , of workes , which is our worky-day garment , that is our sanctification is seen of all the world . And that also must be put on , or else we have not put on Christ : and it must cover us all over ; that is , our sanctification must goe through our whole life in a constant , and an even perseverance ; we must not onely be Hospitale , and feed the poore at Christmas , be sober , and abstinent , the day that we receive , repent , and thinke of amendment of life , in the day of visitation , and sicknesse ; but as the garment , which Christ wore , was seamlesse , and intire , so this garment , which is Christ Iesus , that is , our sanctification , should be intire , and uninterrupted , in the whole course of our lives , we must remember , that at the Mariage which figured the kingdome of heaven , the master of the feast reprehended , and punished him , that was come in , not expresly because he had not a wedding garment , but Qu●modo intrasti , says he , how camest thou in not having on thy wedding garment ? So that ( if it could be possible ) though we had put on the inside of this garment , which is Christ , that is , if we had faith , yet if we have not the outside too , that is sanctification , we have not put on Christ , as we should ; for this is Indui virtute ex alto ; to have both inside , faith , and outside , sanctification : and to put it on so , that it may cover us all over , that is all our life ; because it is not in our power , if we put it off , by new sinnes , to put it on againe , when we will. I have put off my coate , how shall I put it on , was the doubt of the spouse , in the Canticles , even when Christ had called her : So hard a thing is it , if we devest the righteousnesse of Christ , after we have put it on , to cloth our selves againe in that garment . As then this word , Induere , to put on , to be clothed , signifies a largenesse , and an abundance , according to that , The pastures are clothed with sheep , and the vallies with corne : So is this garment , Christ Jesus , such a garment , as is alone so all sufficient , as that if we doe put on that , we need no other ; Put yee on the Lord Iesus Christ , and take no thought for the flesh ; if ye have put on that , you are clothed , and armed , and adorned sufficiently . In the first creation , in the Faciamus hominem ad Imaginem nostrûm , when God seems to have held a consultation about the making of Man , man put on all the Trinity , all God ; & in the redemption God put on all Man ; not onely all the nature of Mankind in generall , but in particular , every Man. But as the spirit of God , is said to have put on a particular Man , Spiritus Domini induit Gedeon , the spirit of the Lord , clothed , or put on Gedeon , when he selected him for his service , so must the spirit of every particular Man , put on Christ , he must not be content , to be under the generall cover , ( either under his general providence , because he is a Creature , or a member of his Mysticall body , because he adheres to a visible Church ) he must not say , I am as warm clothed , as another , I have as much of Christ in me , as a great many , that doe well enough in the world , but he must so inwrap himselfe in Christ , and in his Merits , as to make all that to be his owne . No man may take the frame of Christs merit in peeces ; no Man may take his forty days fasting and put on that , and say , Christ hath fasted for me , and therefore I may surfeit ; No man may take his Agony , and pensivenesse , and put on that , and say , Christ hath been sad for me , and therefore I may be merry . He that puts on Christ , must put him on all● and not onely find , that Christ hath dyed , nor onely that he hath died for him , but that he also hath died in Christ , and that whatsoever Christ suffered , he suffered in Christ. For , as Christs merit , and satisfaction , is not too narrow for all the world , so is it not too large for any one Man ; Infinite worlds might have been saved by it , if infinite worlds had been created ; And , if there were no more Names in the book of life , but thine , all the Merit of Christ were but enough to save thy one sinfull soule , which could not have been redeemed , though alone , at any lesse price , then his death . All that Christ did , and suffered , he did and suffered for thee , as thee ; not onely ●s Man , but as that particular Man , which bears such , or such a name ; and rather , then any of those , whom he loves , should appeare naked before his Father , and so discover to his confusion , those scarres , and deformities , which his sinnes have imprinted upon him , ( as his love is devoutly , and plously extended by the Schooles and some contemplative Men ) Christ would be content to doe , and suffer , as much as he hath done , for any one particular Man yet : But beyond Infinite , there is no degree : and his merit was infinite , both because an infinite Majesty resided in his person , and because an infinte Majesty accepted his sacrifice for infinite . But this act of Christ , this redemption makes us onely servants ; servi à servand● , we are servants to him , that preserved , and saved us , is the derivation of the Law. But the application of this redemption ( which is the putting on of Christ , ) makes us s●ns ; for we are not to put on Christ , onely as a Livery , to be distinguished by externall marks of Christianity ; but so , as the sonne puts on his father ; that we may be of the same nature and substance as he ; and that God may be in us , Non tanquam in denario , not as the King is in a peece of coine , or a medall , but tanquam in filio , as he is in his sonne , in whom the same nature both humane , and Royall doth reside . There is then a double Induere , a twofold clothing ; we may 〈◊〉 1. Vestem , put on a garment ; 2. Personam , put on a person . We may put on Christ so , as we shall be his , and we may put him on so , as we shall be He. And even to put him on as a garment is also twofold ; The first is to take onely the outward name , and profession of Christians upon us ; and this do●h us no good ; yee cloth ye , but are not warme , says the Prophet , of this kind of putting on of Christ. For this may be done onely to delude others ; which practise God discovered , and threatned , in the false Prophets , The Prophets shall not weare a rough garment to deceive ; As God himselfe cannot be deluded , so for the encouragement of his Church , he will take off this garment of the Hypocrite , and discover his nakednesse , and expose him to the open shame of the world ; He shall not weare arough garment to deceive . For this is such an affront and scorne to Christ , as Han●● cutting off of Davids servants clothes at the middle , was ; we make this garment of what stuffe , and what fashion we list ; As Hanun did , we cut it off in the middle ; we will be Christians till noone , ( in the outward acts of Religion ) and Liberti●es in the after-noone , in putting off that garment againe ; we will be Christians all day , and returne to wanto●nesse , and licentiousnesse at night ; we do that which Christ says , no Man doth , ( that is , no Man should doe ) we put new peeces to an old garment ; and to that habite of sinne , which covers us as a garment , we put a few new patches of Religion , a few flashes of repentance , a few shreds of a Sermo● , but we put not on , that intire and feamlesse garment Christ Jesus . And can we hope , that these disguises , these halfe coates , these imperfect services will be acceptable to God , when we our selves would not admit this , at our children , or at our servants hands ? It is the argument by which the Prophet convinces the Israelites , about their uncleane sacrifices ; offer this now unto the Prince ; will he be conte●t with thee , and accept thy person ? If thou shouldest weare the princes Livery , in a scantler proportion , or in a different fashion , or in a courset stuffe , then belongs to thy place , would he accept it at thy hands ? No more will Christ if thou put him on , ( that is , take his profession upon thee ) either in a co●●ser stuffe , ( Traditions of Men , in stead of his word ) or in scantler measure , ( not to be always a Christian , but then , when thou hast use of being one ) or in a different fashion , ( to be singular and Schis●aticall in thy opinion ) for this is one , but an ill manner of putting on of Christ as a garment . The second , and the good way is , to put on his righteousnesse , and his innocency , by imitation , and conforming our selves to him . Now when we goe about earnestly to make our selves Temples , and Altars , and to dedicate our selves to God , we must change our clothes ; As when God bad Iacob , to goe up to Bethel , to make an Altar , he commanded all his family to change their clothes ; In which work , we have two things , to doe ; first , we must put off those clothes which we had ; and appeare naked before God , without presenting any thing of our owne ; ( for when the Spirit of God came upon Saul , and that he prophecyed , his first act was , to strip himselfe naked : And then s●condly , we come to our transfiguration , and to have those garments of Christ communicated to us which were as white , as the light ; and we shall be admitted into that little number , of which it is said , Thou hast a few Namees in Sardis , which have not defiled their garments , and they shall walke with ●e in white . And from this ( which is Induere vestem , ) from this putting on Christ as a garment , we shall grow up to that perfection , as that we shall In●●ere personam , put on hi● , his person ; That is , we shall so appeare before the Father , as that he shall take us for his owne Christ ; we shall beare his name and person ; and we shall every one be so accepted , as if every one of us were all Mankind ; yea , as if we were he himselfe . He shall find in all our bodies his woundes , in all our mindes , his 〈◊〉 ; in all our hearts , and actions his obedience . And as he shall doe this by imp●tation , so really in all our Agonies , he shall send his Angels to minister unto us , as he did to Eli●s ; In all our tentations he shall furnish us with his Scriptures to confo●●d the Tempter , as be in person , did in his tentation , and in our heaviest tribulation , which may ex●●●● from us the voice of diffidence , My God , My God , why hast 〈◊〉 forsaken me ? He shall give us the assurance to say , In manus tuas & c● Into thy ●ands O Lord have I co●●●●nded my spirit , and there I am safe ; He shall use us in all things , as his sonne ; and we shall find restored in us , the Image of the whole Trinity , imprinted at our creation ; for by this Regeneration , we are adopted by the Father in the bloud of the Sonne by the sanctification of the holy Ghost . Now this putting on of Christ , whereby we stand in his place at Gods Tribunall , implies , as I said , both our Election , and our sanctification ; both the eternall purpose of God upon us , and his execution of that purpose in us . And because by the first ( by our Election ) we are members of Christ , in Gods purpose , before baptisme , and the second , ( which is sanctification ) is expressed after baptisme , in our lives , and conversation , therefore Baptisme intervenes , and comes between both , as a seale of the first , ( of Election ) and as an instrument , and conduit of the second , Sanctification . Now , Abscendita Domin● , Dea nostro , quae manifesta su●s nobis ; let no Man be too curiously busie , to search what God does in his hedchamber ; we have all enough to answer , for that , which we have done in our bedchamber . For Gods eternall decree , himselfe is master of those Rolls ; but out of those Rolls he doth exemplifie those decrees in the Sacrament of baptisme ; by which Copy , and exemplification of his invisible and unsearchable decree , we plead to the Church , that we are Gods children , we plead to our owne consciences , that we have the Spirit of adoption , and we plead to God himselfe , the obligation of his own promise , that we have a right to this garment , Christ Iesus , and to those graces , which must sanctifie us ; for from thence comes the reason of this text , for all ye● that are baptized into Christ , have put on Christ. As we cannot see the Essence of God , but must see him in his glasses , in his Images , in his Creatures , so we cannot see the decrees of God , but must see them in their duplicats , in their exemplification , in the sacraments . As it would doe him no good , that were condemned of treason , that a Bedchamber man should come to the Judge , and swear he saw the king signe the prisoners pardon , except he had it to pleade : so what assurance soever , what pri●y marke soever , those men , which pretend to be so well acquainted , and so familiar with the decrees of God , to give thee to know , that thou art elect to eternall salvation , yea if an Angel from heaven comedowne and tell thee , that he saw thy name in the booke of life , if thou have not this Exemplification of the decree , this seale , this Sacrament , if thou beest not baptized , never delude thy selfe with those imaginary assurances . This Baptisme then is so necessary , that first , as Baptisme ( in a large acceptation ) signifies our dying , and buriall with Christ , and all the acts of our regeneration , so in that large sense , our whole life is a baptisme : But the very sacrament of Baptisme● the actuall administration , and receiving thereof , was held so necessary , that even for legall and Civill uses , ( as in the law , that child , that dyed without circumcision , had no interest in the family , no participation of the honor , nor name thereof ) So that we see in the reckning of the Genealogy , and pedegree of David , that first sonne of his , which he had by Bathshebae , which dyed without circumcision is never mentioned , nor toucht upon . ) So also , since the time of M●ses law , in the Imperiall law , by which law , a posthume child , borne after the fathers death , is equall with the rest in division of the state , yet if that child dye before he be baptized , no person which should derive a right from him , ( as the mother might , if he dyed ) can have any title by him ; because he is not considered to have been at all , if he dye unbaptized . And if the State will not beleeve him to be a full Man , shall the Church beleeve him to be a full Christian , before baptisme ? Yea , the apprehension of the necessity of this Sacrament , was so common , and so generall , even in the beginning of the Christian Church , that out of an excessive advancing of that trnth , they came also to a falshood● to an error , That even they that dyed without baptisme , might have the benefit of baptisme , if another were baptized in their name , after their death● And so , out of a mistaking of those words , Else what shall they doe , Qui baptizantur pro mortuis ( which is , that are ready to dye , when they are baptized ) the Marcionites induc'd a custome , to lay one under the dead bodyes bed , that he , in the name of the dead man , might answer to all the questions usually asked , in administring of Baptisme . But this was a corrupt effect of pure , and sincere doctrine , which doctrine is , That Baptisme is so necessary , as that God. hath placed no other ordinary scale , nor conveyance of his graces in his Church , to them that have not received that , then buptisme . And they , who doe not provide duly , for the Baptisme of their children , if their children die , have a heavier accompt to make to God for that child , then if they had not provided a Nurse , and suffered the child to starve . God can preserve the child without Milke ; and he can save the child without a sacrament ; but as that mother that throwes out , and forsakes her child in the field , or wood , is guilty before God of the Temporall murder of that child , though the child die not , so are those parents of a spirituall murder , if their children , by their fault die unbaptized , though God preserve that child out of his abundant , and miraculous mercy , from spirituall destruction . When the custome of the Christian Church was to baptize but twice in the year , at Easter , and Whi●sontide , for the greater solemnity of that action , yea when that ill custome was grown ( as it was even in the Primitive Church ) that upon an opinion , that all sins were absolutely forgiven in Baptisme , Men did defer their Baptisme , till their death-bed , ( as we see the Ecclesiasticall histories full of such examples , even in some of the Christian Emperors : and according to this ill custome , we see Tertullian chides away young children for comming so soon to Baptisme , quid festinat innocens aetas , ad rem●ssionem peccatorum , why should this child , that as yet hath done no sinne , make such hast to be washed from sinnce ? ) which opinion had got so much strength , that Saint Basil was faine to oppose it , in the Easterne Church , and both the Gregories , Nazianzen and Nissen , and Saint Ambrose in the Western ; yet , in the height of both their customes , of seldome baptizing , and of late baptizing , the case of insants , that might be in danger of dying without baptisme , was ever excepted , So that none of those old customes , ( though some of them were extreamly ill ) went ever so farre , as to an opinion , that it were all one , whether the child were baptized or no. I speake not this , as though the state of children that died without baptisme were desperate ; God forbid , for who shall shorten the Arme of the Lord ? God is able to raine downe Manna and Quailes into the soules of these children , though negligent parents turne them out into the wildernesse , and put God to that extraordinary work . They may have Manna , and Quailes , but they have not the Milke , and Hony , of the Land of promise ; They may have salvation from God , but they have not those graces , so sealed , and so testified to them , as God hath promised they should be in his Sacraments . When God in spirituall offences , makes Inquisition of bloud , he proceeds not , as Man proceeds ; for we , till there appear a Man to be dead , never inquire who killed him ; but in the spirituall Murder , of an unbaptized child , though there be no child spiritually dead , ( though Gods mercy have preserved the child from that ) yet God imputes this as such a murder to them , who endangered the child , as farre as they could , by neglecting his ordinance of baptisme . This is then the necessity of this Sacrament ; not absolutely necessary , but necessary by Gods ordinary institution ; and as it is always necessary , so is it always certaine ; whosoever is baptized according to Christs institution , receives the Sacrament of baptisme ; and the truth is always infallibly annexed with the signe ; Nec fieri potest visio hominis , ut non sit Sacramentum quod figurat ; Though the wicked may feele no working by the Sacrament , yet the Sacrament doth offer , and present grace as well to the unworthy as to the worthy Receiver : Nec fallaciter promittit ; The wicked may be a cause , that the Sacrament shall doe them no good ; but that the Sacrament , become no Sacrament , or that God should be false in his promises , and offer no grace , where he pretends to offer it , this the wicked cannot doe ; baptisme doth truly , and without collusion , offer grace to all ; and nothing but baptisme , by an ordinary institution , and as an ordinary meanes , doth so : for when baptisme is called a figure , yet both that figure is said there to save us , ( The figure that now saveth us , baptisme ; and it is a figure of the Arke ; it hath relation to it , to that Arke which did save the world , when it is called a figure ; So it may be a figure ; but if we speake of reall salvation by it , baptisme is more then a figure . Now as our putting on of Christ was double , by faith , and by sanctification , so by this Sacrament also , we are baptized in Nomen Christi , into the Name of Christ , and in mortem Christi , into the death of Christ : we are not therefore baptized into his Name , because names are imposed upon us in our baptisme : for that was not always permanently accustomed , in the Christian Church , to give a name at baptisme . To men who were of years , and well known in the world already by their name● if they were converted to the Christian faith , the Church did not use to give new names at their baptisme : neither to Children alwayes ; but sometimes as an indifferent thing , they left them to the custome of that country , or of that family , from which they were derived . When Saint Augustine sayes , that he came to Milan , to S. Ambrose , at that time , qu● dari nomina oportuit , when Names were to be given , it is true , that he speaks of a time , when Baptisme was to be administred , but that phrase of Giving of Names , was not a receiving of Names at Baptisme , ( for neither Ambrose , nor Augustine , received any new name at their Baptisme ) but it was a giving up of their Names , a Registring , a Matriculating of their Names in the book of the profession of the Christian Religion , and a publique declaration of that profession . To be baptized therefore into the name of Christ , is to be translated into his Family , by this spirituall adoption , in which adoption ( when it was legall ) as they that were adopted , had also the name of the family into which they were adopted , as of octavius Octavianus , and the rest , so are we so baptized , into his name , that we are of Christus Christiani ; and therefore to become truly Christians , to live Christianly , this is truly to be baptized into his name . No other name is given under heaven , whereby we can be saved ; nor must any other name accompany the name of God , in our Baptisme . When therefore they teach in the Romane Church , that it is a good Baptisme , which is administred in this forme , I baptize thee in the name of the Father , and Sonne , and holy Ghost , and the virgin Mary , if he which baptizes so , doe not meane in his intention , that the virgin Mary is equall to the Trinity , but onely an assistant , this is not onely an impertinent , but an impious addition to that God , that needs no assistant . And as in our baptisme , we take no other name necessarily , but the name of Christ : So in our Christian life , we accept no other distinctions of Iesuits , or Franciscans ; but onely Christians : for we are baptized into his name , and the whole life of a regenerate man is a Baptisme . For as in putting on Christ , sanctification doth accompany faith , so in baptisme , the imitation of his death ( that is , mortification ) and the application of his passion , ( by fulfilling the sufferings of Christ in our flesh ) is that baptisme into his death . Which doe so certainly follow one another , ( that he that is truly baptized into the name of Christ , is also baptized into his death ) as that Saint Paul couples them together , Was Paul crucified for you , or were you baptized into the name of Pa●l ? If you were not baptized into his name , then you have no interest , no benefit by his death , nor by any thing which he suffered , that his merits , or his works of supereragation should be applied to you : And if he did not suffer for you , ( if all that any Paul ( much lesse any Ignatins ) could doe , were but enough , and too little for himselfe ) then you are not baptized into his name , nor to be denominate by him . This is then to be Baptized into Christs death , Habere , & reddere testimonium , Christam pro me mortuum , to be sure that Chirst dyed for me ; and to be ready to dye for him ; so that I may fulfill his sufferings , and may think that all is not done , which belongs to my Redemption , except I finde a mortification in my selfe . Not that any mortification of mine , works any thing , as a cause of my redemption , but as an assurance and testimony of it ; 〈◊〉 sit pignus & sigillu● redemptionis ; It is a pledge , and it is a Seale , of my redemption . Christ calls his death a Baptisme ; So Saint Augustine calls our Baptisme a death , Quod crux Christo , & Sep●lcr●m , id nobis Baptisma ; Baptisme to us , says he , is our Croffe , and our passion , and our buriall ; that is , in that , we are conformed to Christ as he suffered , dyed , and was buried . Because if we be so baptized into his Name , and into his death , we are thereby dead to sinne , and have dyed the death of the righteous . Since then Baptisme is the death of sinne , and there cannot be this death , this conquest , this victory over sinne , without faith , there must necessarily faith , concurre with this baptisme ; for if there be not faith , ( none in the child , none in the parents , none in the sureties , none in the Church ) then there is no baptisme performed ; Now , in the Child there is none actually ; In the sureties , we are not sure , there is any ; for their infidelity cannot impeach the sacrament ; The child is well baptized though they should be misbeleevers ; for , when the Minister shall aske them , Doest thou beleeve in God ? dost thou renounce the Devill ? perchance they may ly in their owne behalfes ; perchance they doe not beleeve , they doe not renounce , but they speake truth in the behalfe of the child , when they speake in the voyce of the Church who receives this child for her childe , and binds her selfe to exhibit , and reach out to that child , her spirituall paps , for her future nourishment thereof . How comes it to passe , says Saint Augustine , that when a man presents another mans child at the font , to be baptized , if the Minister should aske him , Shall this man child be a valiant man , or a wise man , shall this woman child , be a chast , and a continent woman ? the surety would answer , I cannot tell , and yet , if he be ask'd , of that child , of so few dayes old , Doth that child beleeve in God now , will he renounce the Devill hereafter ? the surety answers confidently , in his behalfe , for the beleefe , and for the renouncing : How comes this to passe , says Saint Augustine ? He answers to this , that as Sacramentum Corporis Christi , est secundum modum Corpus Christi , so Sacramentum fidei est fides ; As the Sacrament of the body , and bloud of Christ is , in some sense , and in a kinde , the body , and bloud of Christ , says Augustine , so in the sacrament of faith , says he , ( that is , Baptisme ) there is some kinde of faith . Here is a child borne of faithfull parents ; and there is the voyce of God , who hath sealed a Covenant to them , and their seed ; Here are sureties , that live ( by Gods gratious spirit ) in the unity , and in the bosome of the Church : and so , the parents present it to them , they present it to the Church , and the Church takes it into her care ; It is still the naturall child , of her parents , who begot it , it is the spirituall child of the Sureties that present it ; but it is the Christian child of the Church , who in the sacrament of Baptisme , gives it a new inanimation , and who , if either parents , or sureties , should neglect their parts , will have a care of it , and breed it up to a perfection , and full growth of that faith , whereof it hath this day , an inchoation and beginning . As then we have said , that Baptisme is a death , a death of sinne , and as we said before , sinne dyes not without faith , so also can there be no death of sinne , without sorrow , and contrition , which onely washes away sinne : as therefore we see the Church , and Christs institution , furnishes this child , with faith , which it hath not of it selfe , so let us bring to this action , that sorrow and that condoling , that we produce into the world such miserable wretches , as even by peccatum involuntarium , by that sinne , to which no act , nay no will of theirs concurred , that is , Originall sinne , are yet put into the state of damnation . But let us also rejoyce , in our owne , and this childes behalfe , that as we that have been baptized , so this child , that shall be , have , and shall put on Christ Jesus in Baptisme . Both as a garment , for Sacramenta sunt vestimenta , As Christ is a garment , so the Sacraments are Christs garment , and as such a garment ; as Ornat militem , and convincit desertores , It gives him , that continues in Gods battailes , a dignity , and discovers him that forsakes Gods tents , to be a fugitive ; Baptisme is a garland , in which two ends are brought together , he begins aright , and perseveres , so , Ornat militem , It is an honour to him , that fights out in Gods battaile , but Convincit Desertorem , Baptisme is our prest-money , and if we forsake our colours , after we have received that , even that forfaits our lives ; our very having been baptized , shall aggravate our condemnation . Yea it is such a garment , as those of the children of Israel in the wildernesse , which are ( by some expositors ) thought to have growne all the forty yeares , with their bodies ; for so by Gods blessed provision , shall grace grow with this infant , to the lifes end . And both we and it , shall not onely put on Christ , as a garment , but we shall put on his person , and we shall stand before his Father , with the confidence , and assurance of bearing his person , and the dignity of his innocence . SERMON VIII . Preached at Essex house , at the Churching of the Lady Doncaster . CANT . 5. 3. I have washed my feet , how shall I defile them ? ALL things desire to goe to their owne place , and that 's but the effect of Nature ; But if Man desires to goe the right way , that 's an effect of grace , and of Religion . A stone will fall to the bottome naturally , and a flame will goe upwards naturally ; but a stone cares not whether it fall through cleane water , or through Mud ; a flame cares not whether it passe through pure aire , or cloudy ; but a Christian , whose end is heaven , will put himselfe into a faire way towards it , and according to this measure , be pure as his father in heaven is pure . That which is our end , salvation , we use to expresse in Schooles by these two termes , we call it visionem Dei , the sight of God , and we call it unionem , an union with God ; we shall see God , and we shall be united to God : for our seeing , we shall see him Sicuti est , as he is ; which we cannot expresse , till we see him ; Cognoscam ut cognitus , I shall know as I am known , which is a knowledge reserved for that Schoole , and a degree for that Commencement , and not to be had before . Moses obtained a sight of God here , that he might see , Posterior a , Gods hinder parts ; and if we consider God in posterioribus , in his later works , in the fulfilling of all his Prophecies , concerning our Redemption , how he hath accomplished in novissimis , in the later times , all that which he spake ab initio , by the mouth of his Prophets , which have been since the world began , if we see God in them , it is a great beame of that visio beatifica , that beautificall sight of God in heaven ; for herein we see the whole way of our salvation , to be in Christ Iesus ; all promise , all performance , all prophecy , all history concern us , in and by him . And then for that union with God , which is also our salvation ( as this vision is ) when we shall be so united , as that we shall follow the Lambe whither soever he goes , though that union be unexpressible here , yet here , there is an union with God , which represents that too . Such an union , as that the Church of which we are parts , is his spouse , and that 's Eadem care , the same body with him ; and such an union as that the obedient children of the Church , are Idem spiritus cum Domin● , we are the same body , and the same spirit : So united , as that by being sowed in the visible Church , we are Semen Dei , the seed of God , and by growing up there in godlinesse , and holinesse , we are participes Divinae naturae , partakers of the divine Nature it selfe . Now these two unions , which represent our eternall union with God ( that is , the union of the Church to him , and the union of every good soule in the Church to him ) is the subject of this Song of songs , this heavenly Poeme , of Solomons ; and our baptisme , at our entrance into this world , is a Seale of this union ; our mariage , in the passage of this world , is a Sacrament of this union ; and that which seems to be our dissolution , ( our death ) is the strongest ●and of this union , when we are so united , as nothing can disunite us more . Now , for uniting things in this world , we are always put to imploy baser , and courser stuffe , to unite them together , then they themselves ; If we lay Marble upon Marble , how well soever we polish the Marble , yet we must unite them with morter : If we unite riches to riches , we temper a morter ( for the most part ) of our owne covetou●nesse , and the losse , and opressing of some other Men ; if we unite honours to honours , titles to titles , we temper a morter , ( for the most part ) of our owne Ambition , and the supplanting , or excluding of some other Men ; But in the uniting of a Christian soule to Christ Jesus , here is no morter , all of one Nature ; Nothing but spirit , and spirit , and spirit , the soule of Man to the Lord Jesus , by the holy Ghost . Worldly unions have some corrupt foulnesses in them , but for this spirituall union , Lavi pedes , I have washed my feet , how shall I defile them ? Which words , though in the rigor of the coherence , and connexion of this Scripture , they imply a delay in the spouse of Christ , and so in every soule too , that when Christ called here , the soule was not ready to come forth to him , but made her excuses , that she had put off her coate , and was loath to rise to put it on , that she had washed her feet , and was loath to rise , and foule them againe , yet because the excuse it selfe , ( if it were an excuse ) hath a piety , and a Religious care in it , the Fathers for the most part , pretermit that weaknesse that produced an excuse , and consider in their expositions , the care that the soule had , not to defile her selfe againe , being once washed . Saint Gregory says , that the soule had laid off , Omnia externa , quae non tam ornant quàm ●nerant , all outward ornaments , which are rather encumbrances , then ornaments ; And Saint Ambrose says , Pedes lavi , dum egrederer de corporis contubernio , when I departed from the confederation of my body , and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that , I wash'd my feet , Quomod● in tenebr●sum carcerem reverterer ? And 〈◊〉 I returne into that darke , and durty prison , againe , the love of mine owne body● 〈◊〉 suing therefore their pious acceptation of these words , we have in them , two festivalls of the soule , a Resurrection , and an ascension of it ; This soule hath raised it selfe , from the durt and Mud of this world , Lavit pedes , she hath washed her feet , and then she hath ascended to a resolution , of keeping herselfe in that state , Quom●do inquinab●eos , how shall I defile them ? Call these two parts a Gratulation of the soule , and an Indignation ; first she congratulates with her good , and gratious God , that she is cleansed from worldly corruptions , Lavi pedes , I have washed my feet● and then she conceives a Religious scorne and indignation , of setting her foot in the same foule way againe . Quom●do , how , how is it possible that I should descend , to so low a disposition , as to foule them againe ? This Resurrection then of the soule , and grat●lation , & this Ascension of the soul & Indignation , will be our two parts . And in the first , we shal stop a little , upon every one of these five branches ; There is abluti● necessaria ; There is a washing , that is necessary to all ; for we enter in foulenesse , and corruption into this world ; and that we have in Baptisme for Originall sinne ; Secondly , there is abluti● pedum , a washing of our feet , of our steps , and walkes in this world , and that 's by repentance , sealed in the other Sacrament , and properly , that is for actuall sinnes ; Thirdly , in this ablution , there is an Ego lavi , there is a washing , and I my selfe doe something towards this cleansing of my selfe ; And fourthly , it is Lavi , it is , I have washed , not Lavabo , it is not , I will wash ; it is already done , it is not put off to mine age , nor to my death bed , but Lavi , I have washed ; And lastly , it is Pedes meas , I have washed mine owne feet ; for if by my teaching , I cleanse others , and remaine , by my bad life , in foule ways my selfe , I am not within this text , Lavi pedes meos ; I have not washed my feet ; But if we have sincerely performed the first part , we shall performe the other too , Quomodo , we shall come into a religious detestation , and indignation of falling into the same foulenesse againe . To passe then through all these ( for of all these that 's true which Saint Basil says of all words in the Scriptures , Habent minutissime particulae suae mysteria , Every word hath force and use , as in Pearle , every seed Pearle is as medicinall , as the greatest , so there is a restorative nature in every word of the Scriptures , and in every word , the soule findes a rise , and help for her devotion , ) To begin with the first , the necessity of washing , consider us in our first beginning , Concepti in peccatis , our Mothers conceived us in sin ; and being wrapped up in uncleannesse there , can any Man bring a cleane thing out of filthinesse ? There is not one ; for as we were planted , in our Mothers wombe , in conception , so we were transplanted from thence into this world , in our Baptisme , Nascimur filii ●rae , for we are by nature the children of wrath , as well as others . And as in the bringing forth , and bringing up , of the best , and most precious , and most delicate plants , Men employ most dung , so the greatest persons , where the spirit and grace of God , doth not allay that intemperance , which naturally arises , out of abundance , and provocation , and out of vanity , and ambitious glory , in outward oftentations ; there is more dung , more uncleannesse , more sinne in the conception , and birth of their children , then of meaner and poorer parents ; It is a degree of uncleannesse , to fixe our thoughts too earnestly upon the uncleannesse of our conception , and of our birth : when wee call that a testimony of a right comming , if we come into the world with our head forward , in a head-long precipitation ; and when we take no other testimony of our being alive , but that we were heard cry ; and for an earnest , and a Prophecy , that we shall be viri sanguinum , et d●losi , bloudy , and deceitfull Men , false and treacherous , to the murdering of our owne soules we come into this world , as the Egyptians went out of it , swallowed , and smothered in a red sea , Pueri sanguinum , & infirmi , weake , and bloudy infants at our birth . But to carry our thoughts from materiall , to sptrituall uncleannesses , In peccat● concepti , we were conceived in sinne , but who can tell us how ? That flesh in our mothers wombe , which we are , having no sinne in it selfe , ( for that masse of flesh could not be damned , if there never came a soule into it ) and that soule , which comes into that flesh from God● having no sinne in it neither , ( for God creates nothing infected with sinne , neither should that soule be damned , if it came not into that body ) The body , being without sinne , and the soule being without sinne , yet in the first minute , that this body and soule meet , and are united , we become in that instant , guilty of Adams sinne , committed six thousand years before . Such is our sinne and uncleannesse , in Originall sinne , as the subtillest Man in the Schooles , is never able to tell us , how , or when we contracted that sinne , but all have it ; And therefore if there be any , any any-where , of that generation , that are pure in their owne eyes , and yet are not washed from their filthinesse , as Solomon speakes , Erubesce vas stercorum , says good Saint Bernard , If it be a vessell of gold , it is but a vessell of excrements , if it be a bed of curious plants , it is but a bed of dung ; as their tombes hereafter shall be but glorious covers of rotten carcasses , so their bodies are now , but pampered covers of rotten soules ; Erubescat vas stercorum , let that vessell of uncleannesse , that barrell of dung , confesse a necessity of washing , and seeke that , and rejoyce in that , for thus farre , ( that is , to the pollution of Originall sinne , ) in peccato concepti , and nas●imur filii ira● , wee are conceived in sinne , first , and then we are borne the children of wrath . But where 's our remedy ? Why for this , for this originall uncleannesse , is the water of Baptisme . Op●rtet nos renasci ; we must be borne againe ; we must ; There is a necessity of Baptisme : As we are the children of Christian parents , we have Ius ad rem , a right to the Covenant , we may claime baptisme , the Church cannot deny it us ; And as we are baptized in the Christian Church , we have Ius in re , a right in the Covenant , and all the benefits thereof , all the promises of the Gospell : we are sure that we are conceived in sinne , and sure that we are borne children of wrath , but not sure that we are cleansed , or reconciled to God , by any other meanes then that , which he hath ordained , Baptisme . The Spirit of God moved first upon the water ; and the spirit of life grew first in the water ; Primus liquor , quod viveret edidit : The first living creatures in the first creation , were in the waters ; and the first breath of spirituall life , came to us , from the water of baptisme . In the Temple there was Mare aeneum , a brasen sea ; In the Church there is Mare aureum , a golden sea , which is Baptisterium , the font , in which we discharge our selves , of all our first uncleannesses , of all the guiltinesse of Originall sinne ; but because we contract new uncleannesses , by our uncleane ways here ; therefore there must bee Ablutio pedum , a washing of our feet , of our ways , of our actions , which is our second branch . Cecidimus in lutum , & super acervum lapidum , says Saint Bernard ; we fell by Adams fall , into the durt ; but from that , we are washed in baptisme ; but we fell upon a heape of sharpe stones too ; and we feel those wounds , and those bruises , all our lives after ; Impingimus meridie , we stumble at noone day ; In the brightest light of the Gospell , in the brightest light of grace , in the best strength of Repentance , and our resolutions to the contrary , yet we stumble , and fall againe . Duo nobis pedes , says that Father , Natura , & Cons●e●●do ; we stand , says he , upon two feet , Nature , and Custome ; and we are lame of one foot hereditarily , we draw a corrupt Nature from our parents ; and we have lamed the other foot , by crooked , and perverse customes . Now , as God provided a liquor in his Church , for Originall sinne , the water of Baptisme , so hath he provided another for those actuall sinnes ; that is , the bloud of his owne body , in the other Sacrament . In which Sacrament , besides the naturall union , ( that Christ hath taken our Nature , ) and the Mysticall union , ( that Christ hath taken us into the body of his Church ) by a spirituall union , when we apply faithfully his Merits to our soules , and by a Sacramentall union , when we receive the visible seales thereof , worthily , we are so washed in his bloud , as that we stand in the sight of his Father , as cleane , and innocent , as himselfe , both because he and we are thereby become one body , and because the garment of his righteousnesse covers us all . But , for a preparation of this washing in the bloud of Christ , in that Sacrament , Christ commended to his Apostles , and in them , to all the world , by his practise , and by his precept too , ablutionem pedam , a washing of their feet ; before they came to that Sacrament he washed their feet ; And in that exemplary action of his , his washing of their feet , he powred water into a Bason , says the text : Aqua spiritus sanctus , pelvis Ecclesia , ; These preparatory waters are the gift of the holy Ghost , the working of his grace in repentance ; but pelvis Ecclesia , the bason is the Church ; that is , these graces are distributed , and dispensed to us , in his institution , and ordinance in the Church : No Man can wash himselfe at first , by Baptisme ; no Man can baptize himselfe ; no Man can wash in the second liquor , no Man , ( that is but a Man ) can administer the other Sacrament to himselfe : Pelvis ecclesia , the Church is the bason , and Gods Minister in the Church , washes in both these cases . And , in this ablutione pedum , in the preparatory washing of our feet , by a survey of all our sinfull actions and repentance of them , no Man can absolve himselfe , but pelvis ecclesia , the bason of this water of absolution , is in the Church and in the Minister thereof . First then this washing of the feet , which prepares us for the great washing , in the bloud of Christ , requires a stripping of them , a laying of them naked ; covering of the feet in the Scriptures , is a phrase , that denotes a foule , and an uncleane action ; Saul was said to cover his feet , in the Cave , and Eglon was said to cover his feet in his Parler ; and we know the uncleane action , that is intended here : but for this cleane action , for washing our feet , we must discover all our sinfull steps , in a free and open confession to almighty God. This may be that which Solomon calls , sound wisdome ; My sonne keep sound wisdome , and discretion . There is not a more silly folly , then to thinke to hide any sinfull action from God. Nor sounder wisdome then to discover them to him , by an humble , and penitent confession ; This is sound wisdome , and then , discretion is , to wash , and discerne , and debate , and examine all our future actions , and all the circumstances , that by this spirit of discretion we may see , where the sting , and venome of every particular action lies : My sonne keep sound wisdome , and discretion , says he , And then shalt thou walke in thy way safely , and thy foot shall not stumble ; If thy discretion be not strong enough , ( if thou canst not always discerne , what is , and what is not sinne ) he shall give his Angells charge over thee , that thou dash not thy foot against a stone ; and that 's good security ; and if all these faile , though thou doe fall , thou shalt not be utterly cast downe , for the Lord shall uphold thee with his hand , says David ; God shall give that Man , that loves this found wisdome , ( humble confession of sinnes past ) this spirituall discretion , the spirit of discerning spirits , that is , power to discerne a tentation , and to overcome it ; confesse that which is past with true sorrow , that is sound wisdome , and God shall enlighten thee for the future , and that 's holy discretion . The washing of our feet then , being a cleane , and pure and sincere examination of all our actions , we are to wash all the instruments of our actions , in repentance ; Lavanda facies , we are to wash our face , as Ioseph did , after he had wept , before he looked upon his brethren againe : If we have murmured , and mourned , for any crosse , that God hath laid upon us , we must returne to a cheerfull countenance towards him , in embracing whatsoever he found best for us ; we must wash our Intestina , our bowels , ( as it is after commanded in the law ) when our bowels , which should melt at the relation , and contemplation , and application of the passion of our Saviour , doe melt at the apprehension , or expectation , or fruition of any sinfull delight , Lavanda intestina , we must wash those bowells ▪ Lavanda vestimenta , we must wash our clothes ; when we apparell and palliate our sinnes with excuses , of our owne infirmity , or of the example of greater Men , these clothes must be washed , these excuses ; Lavanda currus & arma , as Ahabs chariot and armour were washed ; If the power of our birth or of our place , or of our favour , have armed us against the power of the law , or against the clamour of Men justly incensed , Lavandi currus , these chariots , and armes , this greatnesse must be washed ; Lavanda retia ; what Nets soever we have fished with , by what meanes soever we raise , or sustaine our fortune , Lavanda retia , These nets must be washed . Saint Bernard hath drawn a great deale of this heavenly water together , for the washing of all , when he presents , ( as he cals it ) Martyrium , sine sanguine , triplex , a threefold Martyrdome , & all without bloud ; and that is , Largitas in paupertate , a bountifull disposition , even in a low fortune ; parcitas in ubertate , a frugall disposition in a full fortune ; and Castitas in Iuventute , a pure , and chaste disposition , in the years , and places of tentation . These are Martyrdomes , without bloud , but not without the water that washes our feet ; This is sound wisdome , and discretion , to strip , and lay open our feet , our sinfull actions , by Confession ; To cover them , and wrap them up by precaution , from new uncleannesse ; and then to tye and bind up all safe , by participation of the bloud of Christ Jesus , in the Sacrament ; for that 's the seale of all ; And Christ in the washing of his disciples feet , tooke a towell to dry them , as well , as water to wash them ; so when he hath brought us to this washing of our feet , to a serious consideration of our actions , and to repentant teares , for them , Absterget omnem lachrymam , he will wipe all teares from our eyes ; all teares of confusion towards Men , or of diffidence towards him ; Absterget omnem lachrymam , and deliver us over to a setled peace of conscience . There is a washing then , absolutely , generally necessary , the water of Baptisme ; and a washing occasionally necessary , because we fall into actuall sinnes , the bloud of our Saviour in the Sacrament ; and there is a washing between these , preparatory to the last washing , the water of Contrite , and repentant teares , in opening our selves to God , and shutting up of our selves against future tentations : of the two first , the two Sacraments , sons in Ecclesia , the whole spring , and river is in the Church , there is no baptisme , no bloud of Christ , but in the Church ; And of this later , which is most properly ablutio pedum , the washing of the feet , that is , teares shed in repentance of our sinfull lives , of this water , there is Pelvis in Ecclesia , the Bason is in the Church ; for our best repentance ( though this repentance be at home in our owne hearts ) doth yet receive a Seale , from the absolution of Gods Ministers in the Church . But yet though there be no cleansing , but from the spirit of God , no ordinary working of Gods spirit , but in the Church , and his ordinances there , yet we our selves are not so left out , in this work , but that the spouse here , and every carefull soule here says , truly , Ego lavi , I my selfe have washed my feet ; which is our third branch . It is said often in Philosophy , Nihil in intellectu , quod non prius in sensu ; till some sense apprehend a thing , the Iudgment cannot debate it , nor discourse it ; It may well be said in Divinity too , Nihil in gratia , quod non prius in natura , there is nothing in grace , that was not first in nature , so farre , as that grace always finds nature , and naturall faculties to work on ; though that nature be not disposed to the receiving of grace , when it comes , yet that nature , and those faculties , which may be so disposed by grace , are there , before that grace comes . And the grace of God doth not work this cleansing , but where there is a sweet , and souple , and tractable , and ductile disposition wrought in that soule . This disposition is no cause why God gives his grace ; for there is no cause , but his own meer , and unmeasurable goodnesse ; But yet , without such a disposition , God would not give that ; and therefore let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse , says the Apostle ; There is something , which we ourselves may doe . A Man that had powred out himselfe in a vehement , and corrupt solicitation of the chastity of any woman , if he found himselfe surprized by the presence of a husband , or a father , he could give over in the midst of a protestation ; A Man that had set one foot into a house of dangerous provocations , if he saw ● bill of the plague , upon the doore , he could goe backe ; A Man that had drawne his sword to rob a passenger , if he saw a hue and cry come , could give over that ; and all this is upon the Ego lavi , I have washed ; without use of grace , his owne naturall reason declines him from that sinne then . How long shall we make this bad use , of this true doctrine , that , because we cannot doe enough , for our salvation , therefore we will doe nothing ? Shall I see any Man shut out of heaven , that did what he could upon earth ? Thou that canst mourne for any worldly losse , mourne for thy sinne ; Thou that lovest meetings of company for society , and conversation , love the meeting of the Saints of God , in the Congregation , and communion of Saints ; Thou that lovest the Rhetorique , the Musique , the wit , the sharpnesse , the eloquence , the elegancy , of other authors , love even those things in the Scriptures , in the word of God , where they abound more , then in other authors . Put but thy affections out of their ordinary sinfull way , and then Lavasti pedes , thou hast washed thy feet ; and God will take thy work in hand , and raise a building farre beyond the compasse , and comprehension of thy foundation ; that which the soule began , but in good nature , shall be perfected in grace . But doe it quickly ; for the glory of this soule here was in the Lavi ; It is not Lavabo ; that she had already ; not that she would wash her feet ; since thou art come to know thy naturall uncleannesse , and baptisme for that , and thine actuall uncleannesse ; and that for that , there is a River , that brings thee into the maine Sea , ( the water of repentance leads thee to the bottomelesse Sea of the bloud of thy Saviour , in the Sacrament ) continue not in thy foulenesse , in confidence that all shall be drowned in that at last , whensoever thou wilt come to it . It was a common , but an erroneous practise , even in the Primitive Church , to defer their baptisme , till they were old ; because an opinion prevailed upon them , that baptisme discharged them of all sinnes , they used to be baptized then , when they were past sinning , that so they might passe out of this world , in that innocency , which their baptisme imprinted in them : And out of this custome ; Men grew to be the more carelesse all their lives , because all was done at once in baptisme . But says Saint Augustine in that case , ( and it was his owne case ) It were uncharitably said , Vulneretur amplius , that if we saw a Man welter in his bloud , and wounded in divers places , it were uncharitably said , Vulneretur amplius , give him two or three wounds more , for the Surgeon is not come yet ; It is uncharitably said to thine owne soule , Vulneretur amplius , take thy pleasure in sinne yet , when I come to receive the Sacrament , I will repent altogether , doe not thinke to put off all to the washing weeke ; all thy sinnes , all thy repentance , to Easter , and the Sacrament then ; There may be a washing then , and no drying ; thou maist come to weep the teares of desperation , to seek mercy with teares , and not find it ; teares for worldly losses , teares for sinne , teares for bodily anguish , may overflow thee then ; and whereas Gods goodnesse to those , that are his , is , ut abstergat omnem Lachrymam , to wipe all teares from their eyes ; absterget nullam Lachrymam , he may leave all unwiped upon thee , he may leave thy soule to sinke , and to shipwracke , under this tempest , and inundation , and current of divers tides ; teares of all kinds , and ease of none : for those of whom it is said , Deus absterget omnem lachrymam , God shall wipe all teares from their eyes , are they Qui laverunt Stolas , ( as we see there ) who have already washed their long robes , and made them white in the bloud of the Lambe : who have already by teares of repentance , become worthy receivers of the seale of reconciliation , in the Sacrament of his body , and bloud ; To them , God shall wipe all teares from their eyes ; but to the unrepentant sinner , he shall multiply teares ; from teares , for the losse , of a horse , or of a house , to teares for the losse of a soule , and wipe no teare from his eyes . But yet though this Lavi , exclude the Lavabo , as it is dilatory , that is , I will wash , but not yet , yet it excludes not the Lavabo , I will wash , as it is an often washing ; I must come to that , Lavi , I have washed , but yet I will wash againe : for till our feet be so washed , as that they be wrapped up in our last linnen , and so raised from the ground , as that they be laid upon other Mens shoulders , our feet will touch the ground againe and need new washing . When Christ washed his disciples feet , there is agreat difference amongst the Fathers , where he beganne , whose feet he washed first : Saint Augustine , and Saint Bernard thinke he beganne with Peter ; they thinke Christ respected the dignity of his person : origen , and Chrysostome thinke he beganne with Iudas ; they thinke Christ respected the necessity of the Patient , and applied the Physique soonest , where the disease was most malignant , and venemous . None of them say he beganne with Iohn , whom it is cleere he loved most . If any soule have apprehended that Christ came late to her washing , not till now , let her not argue , to her owne danger , that he loved her the lesse for that : if he have suffered sinne to abound , that grace might abound , what Patient shall dare to appoint , that Physitian his Dosis , or his times ; whomsoever he washed first of his Apostles , he washed them all ; and to him that was forwardest ever in his owne strength , to Peter , he said , Non habebis partem , If I wash thee not , thou shalt have no part with me ; If we come not to this washing of our feet , this preparatory washing by teares of repentance , we can have no part in him , that is , in the participation of his body , and his bloud ; but when he hath brought us to this Iordan , which is Fluvius Iudicii , the water of Judgment , and that we have judged , and condemned our selves of this Leprosie of sinne , Lavemur septies , let us often call our selves to account , implore the councell often , often accept the absolution of Gods Minister , and often settle our soules , in a true peace , by a worthy receiving of the seale thereof , in the Sacrament : And as in that we come to the Lavi , ( a peacefull testimony , that we have washed our consciences ) so let us pursue it with a Lavabo , with an humble acknowledgment , that we fall every day , and every day need a new washing ; for as from poore tenants , Landlords are not content to receive their rent at the years end , but quarterly , or in shorter termes , so from such beggerly and bankrupt soules as ours are , God is not content with an anniversary repentance once a yeare , at Easter ; but we shall finde our rent , our payment heavy enough , if we pay every day , and wash our feet every night , for the uncleannesses of that one day . To shut up this part then ; This washing of the feet , is the spirit of discerning , and censuring particular actions : but it is pedes meos , a discerning , and censuring of my actions , not onely , or not principally the actions of other Men ; Quàm speciosi pedes Evangelizantium , how beautifull are the feet of them , that preach peace , says Saint Paul , out of the mouth of two witnesses , two Prophets , that had said so before . If we will preach peace , that is , relieve the consciences of others , by presenting them their sinnes , we must have speciosos pedes , cleane ways , and a cleane life of our owne ; so it is with us , and our profession ; But Gens sancta , regale Sarcerdotium , as the Apostle joines them , If you be a holy people , you are also a royall preisthood ; If you be all Gods Saints , you are all Gods Preists ; and if you be his preists , it is your office to preach too ; as we by words , you by your holy works ; as we by contemplation , you by conversation ; as we by our doctrine , so you by your lives , are appointed by God to preach to one another : and therefore every particular Man , must wash his owne , feet , looke that he have speciosos pedes , that his example may preach to others , for this is truly Regale Sacerdotium , a regall preisthood , not to work upon others by words , but by actions . If we love one another , as Christ loved us , we must wash one anothers feet , as he commanded his Apostles ; There is a preistly duty lies upon every Man , brotherly to reprehend a brother , whom he sees trampling in foule ways , wallowing in foule sinnes ; but I may preach to others and be my selfe a reprobate● ( as Saint Paul speakes with terror to Men of our coate ) in his owne person , I may bring others to heaven , and bee shut out my selfe ; And thou maist preach that a Man should not steale , and steale , That a Man should not commit adultery , and commit it ; And in these cases , Non speciosi pedes , here are no cleane , no faire feet , and therefore no edifying . Nay if , in either kind , we , or you , abhor Idols , and yet commit sacriledge , that is , reprehend a sinne in another , which we are free from our selves , but yet are guilty our selves , of another sinne as great , here 's no cleane feet no profitable preaching ; And therefore the onely way to doe God service , is , to wash and to censure the feet , ( that is , particular actions ) but principally , our owne feet , that which we doe our selves . There remaines yet a second part : and perchance but a little time for it ; and I shall proportion , and fit my selfe to it . It is , That as this soule had a Resurrection , she hath an ●scension ; As she had vocem gratulantis , a thanksgiving , that she hath washed her feet , so she hath vocem indignantis , a religious scorne and indignation , to fall into those foule ways againe . For this holy indignation , is one linke in the Apostles chaine of Repentance , where , upon Godly sorrow , depends care , and upon that , cleansing of our selves , and upon that indignation , and so feare , and so desire , and so zeale , and so punishments of our selves : every linke worthy of a longer consideration ; but here we consider onely this indignation ; when that soule that is washed , and thereby sees , to what a faire conformity with her Saviour she is come , is come also to a scorne , to a disdaine to compare any beauty in this world , to that face , which Angells desire to looke upon ; any nearenesse to great persons in this world , to the following of the Lambe wheresoever he goes ; any riches of this world , to that riches wherewith the poverty of Christ Jesus hath made us rich ; any length of life in this world , to that union which we shall have , to the Antient of dayes ; where even the everliving God , shall not overlive us , but carry out our days to the unmeasured measure of his owne , to eternity . This indignation , this soule expresses here , in this question , Quomodo , how shall I defile them ? First then , this voice of indignation , hath this force ; Quomodo , how shall I defile them , is , how is it possible , that I should defile them ? I have washed my feet , repented my sinnes and taken the seale of my Reconciliation , the Sacrament , and that hath this effect , ut sensum minuat in minimis , & toliat consensum in magnis peccatis , That grace , that God gives in the Sacrament , makes us lesse sensible of small tentations , ( they move us not ) and it makes us resist , and not yeild to the greatest tentations ; since I am in this state , Quomodo inquinubo ? How shall I defile them ? The difference will be , of whom thou askest this question : If thou aske the world , the world will tell thee , well enough . Quomodo , How ; It will tell thee , that it is a Melancholy thing , to sit thinking upon thy sinnes ; That it is an unsociable thing , to seeke him , who cannot be seen , an invisible God ; That it is poore company , to passe thy time with a Priest ; Thou maiest defile thy selfe againe , by forgetting thy sinnes , and so doing them over againe : And thou maist defile thy selfe againe by remembring thy sins , and so sinne over thy sinnes againe , in a sinfull delight of thy passed sinnes , and a desire that thou couldst commit them againe . There are answers enough to this Quomodo , How , how should I defile them , if thou aske the world : but aske thy Saviour , and he shall tell thee , That whosoever hath this water , shall never thirst more , but that water shall be in him an everlasting spring ; that is , he shall find meanes to keep himselfe in that cleannesse , to which he is come ; and neither things present , nor things to come shall separate him from the love of God. Thus the voice of this religious indignation , Quomodo , is , how is it possible , but it is also , Quomodo , how , that is , why should I ? The first is , how should I be so base , the other , how should I be so bold ? Though I have my pardon , written in the bloud of my Saviour ; sealed to me in his Sacrament , brought home to me in the testimony of the holy Ghost , pleaded for me , at the tribunall of the Father , yet as Princes pardons have , so Gods pardons have too , this clause , It a quod se bene gerat ; He that is pardoned must continue of good behaviour ; for whensoever he breakes the peace , he forfeits his pardon ; When I returne to my repented sinnes againe , I am under the burden of all my former sinnes , and my very repentance , contracts the nature of a sinne : and therefore Quomodo , how should I , that is , why should I defile them ? To restore you to your liberty , and to send you away with the meditation , which concernes you most , consider , what an astonishment this would be , that when Christ Jesus shall lay open the great volumes of all your sinnes , to your sight , who had forgot them , and to their sight , from whom you had disguised them , at the last judgement , when you shall heare all the wantonnesses of your youth , all the Ambitions of your middle years , all the covetous desires of your age , published in that presence , and thinke then , this is the worst that can be said , or laid to my charge , this is the last indictment , and the last evidence , there shall follow your very repentances in the list of your sinnes , and it shall be told you , and all the world then , Here , and here you deluded that God , that forbore to inflict his Judgements , upon new vowes , new contracts , new promises , between you and him ; even your repentances shall bind up that booke , and tye your old sinnes , and new relapses into one body . And let this meditation bring you ad vocem gratulantis , to rejoyce once againe in this Lavi pedes , that you have now washed your feet , in a present sorrow , and ad vocem indignantis , to a stronger indignation , and faster resolution , then heretofore you have had , never to defile them againe . SERMON IX . Preached at a Churching . MICAH 2. 10. Arise and depart , for this is not your Rest. ALL that God asks of us , is , that we love him with all our heart : All that he promises us , is , that he will give us rest , round about us ; Judah sought the Lord with a whole desire , and he gave her rest , round about her . Now a Man might think himselfe well disposed for Rest , when he lies down , I will lay me down , and sleep in peace , sayes David ; but it is otherwise here ; Arise , and depart ; for here , ( that is , in lying , and sleeping ) is not your Rest , sayes this Prophet . These words have a three-fold acceptation , and admit a three-fold exposition ; for , first , they are a Commination , the Prophet threatens the Jewes ; Secondly , they are a Commonition , the Prophet instructs all future ages ; Thirdly , they are●a Consolation , which hath reference to the Consummation of all , to the rising at the generall Judgement . First , he foretels the Jewes of their imminent captivity ; Howsoever you build upon the pactum salis , the Covenant of salt , the everlasting Covenant , that God will be your God , and this land your land , yet since that confidence sears you up in your sins , Arise and depart , for this is not your rest , your Ierusalem must be chang'd into Babylon ; there 's the Commination : Secondly , he warns us , who are bedded and bedrid in our sins ; howsoever you say to your selves , Soule take thy rest , enjoy the honors , the pleasures , the abundances of this world , Tush the Lord sees it not , The Master will not come , we may ly still safely , and rest in the fruition of this Happinesse , yet this Rest will betray you , this rest will deliver you over to eternall disquiet : And therefore arise and depart , for this is not your Rest , and that 's the Commonition . And in the third acceptation of the words as they may have relation to the Resurrection , they may well admit a little inversion ; Howsoever you feel a Resurrection by grace from the works of death , and darknesse in this life , yet in this life , there is no assurednesse , that he that is risen , and thinks he stands , shall not fall ; here you arise and depart , that is , rise from your sins , and depart from your sinfull purposes , but you arise , and depart so too , that you fall , and depart again into your sinfull purposes , after you have risen ; and therefore Depart and arise , for here is not your rest ; till you depart altogether out of this world , and rise to Judgement , you can have no such rest , as can admit no disquiet no perturbation ; but then you shall ; and that 's the Consolation . First then , as the words concern the Iewes ; Here is first an increpation , a rebuke , that they are fallen from their station , and their dignity , implied in the first word , Arise , for then they were fallen ; Secondly , here is a demonstration in the same word , That though they lik'd that state into which they were fallen , which was a security , and stubbornnesse in their sins , yet they should not enjoy even that security , and that stubbornnesse , that fall of theirs , but they should lose that ; though it were but a false contentment , yet they should be rou●'d out of that , Arise ; first arise , because you are fallen , and then , arise , though you think your selves at ease● by that fall . And then thirdly , here is a continuation of Gods anger , when they are risen ; for they are not rais'd to their former state and dignity , from which they were fallen , they are not rais'd to be established , but it is arise , and depart ; And in all this ( which is a fourth Consideration ) God precludes them from any hope by solicitation , he reveales his purpose his Decree , and consequently his inexorablenesse evidently , in that word , for ; never murmur , never dispute , never intreat , you must depart , For it is determined , it is resolved , and here is not your Rest ; In which also the Commination is yet more and more aggravated ; first , in that they lose their Rest , which God hath sold them so dearly , by so many battailes , and so many afflictions , and which God had sworn to them so solemnly by so many ratifications ; they must lose their Rest , they must have no Rest , Here ; not there ; not in the Land of Promise it selfe ; And then lastly , as they are denied all rest there ; There , where was the wombe , and Center of their Rest , so there is no intimation , no hope given , that they should have rest any where else , for as they were to rise , onely to depart , so they were to depart into Captivity . The first is an increpation , they were fallen ; but from whence ? It was once said , Qui jacet in terra , non habet unde cadat , but he that is earth it selfe , whither can he fall ? whither can Man , derived from earth before his life , enamored of the earth , embracing it , and maried to it in his life , destined to the earth , betrothed to it for a second mariage after this life , whither can he fall ? It is true of us all , I shall say to corruption , Thou art my father , and to the worme , Thou art my Mother , and my sister ; and can we fall into worse company , contract an alliance with a more base , and beggerly kindred then this ? Not if we were left there ; then we could not : but when we consider a nation , of whom God hath said , sponsabo te mihi , I will mary thee , without any respect of disparagement in thy lownesse , I will not refuse thee for it , I will not upbraid thee with it , I will mary thee for ever , and without any purpose of divorce ( sponsabo in aeternum , ) of this nation thus assum'd , thus contracted , thus endowed , thus assured , why may not we wonder as vehemently , as the Prophet did , of the fallen Angels , Quomodo cecidisti de caelo , Lucifer filius Orientis , how did this nation fall out of Gods armes , out of Gods bosome ? Himselfe tells us how ; what he had done to exalt them , what they had done to devest his favours : for their naturall lownes , he says , In thy nativity when thou wast born , thy Navell was not cut , thou wast not washed , thou wast not salted , thou wast not swadled ; No eye pitied thee , but thou wast cast into the open fields in contempt , I passed by , and saw thee in thy bloud , and said thou shalt live ; I sware unto thee , and entred into a covenant with thee , and thou becamest mine ; I washed thee , anointed thee , and adorned thee : and thou wast perfect through my beauty , which I set upon thee ; well then , in this state , Quomodo cecidisti de caelo ; how fell she out of Gods armes , out of his bosome ? thus ; Thou didst trust in thine owne beauty , because of thy renowne , and so playedst the harlor . When that nation was in massa damnata , a loafe of Adams dow , through all which the infectious leaven of sin had passed without difference , when that nation had no more title , nor pretence to Gods mercy , then any of their fellow wormes , when God had heaped , and accumulated his tempor all blessings upon them , and above all , dwelt with them , in the alliance , and in the familiarity of a particular Religion , which contracted God and them , and left out all the world beside , when God had imprinted this beauty in them , and that they had a renowne , and reputation for that , they trusted to their owne beauty , ( to worship whom they would , and how they would ) they followed their own invention ; yea they trusted in beauty , which was not their owne , in borrowed beauty , in painted beauty , and so tooke in , and applied themselves to all the spirituall fornications , to all the Idolatries of the nations about them ; some that were too absurd to be hearkned to ; some too obscene , and foule to be named now by us , though the Prophets , ( to their farther reproach , and confusion ) have named them ; some , too ridiculous to fall into any Mans consideration , that could seriously thinke of a Majesty , in a God , which should be worshipped ; yet all these , absurd , and obscene , and ridiculous Idolatries , they prostituted them selves unto . Take them in their lowness , for any disposition towards the next world , and this was their state , Their navell was not cut ; that is , they were still incorporated into their mother , to earth , and to sinne ; and they were not one step higher , then all the world beside , in Iacobs ladder , whose top is in heaven . Take them in their dignity in this world , and then we finde them in Egypt , where they were not Personae , but Res , they were not their Masters Men , but their Masters goods ; they were their cattell , to vex , and wear out , with their labours spent upon the delights of others ; They must goe farre for straw ; a great labour , for a little matter ; and they must burne it , when they had brought it ; they must make bricke , but others must build houses , with their materialls , and they perish in the fields ; they must beget children , but onely for the slaughter , and to be murdred as soone●● they were borne ; what nation , what Man , what beast , what worme , what weed , if it could have understood their state , would have changed with them then ? This was their dejection , their exinanition in Egypt , if we shall beginne there to consider , what he did for them : As after , in the Christian Church , he made the bloud of the Martyrs , the seed of the Church , so in Egypt , he propagated , and multiplied his Children , in the midst of their cruell oppressions , and slaughters , as though their bloud had been seed to encrease by ; under the weight of their depressions , he gave them growth , and stature , and strength , as though their wounds had been playsters , and their vexations cordials ; when he had made Egypt as a Hell , by kindling all his plagues , in her bosome , yet Non dereliquit in Inferno , he left not his beloved in this Hell , he paled in a Paradise in this Hell , a Goshen in Egypt , and gave his servants security ; briefly , those whom the sword should have lessen'd , whom labour should have creepled , whom contempt should have begger'd , he brought out , numerous , and in multitudes , strong , and in courage , rich , and in abundance ; and he opened the Red-sea , as he should have opened the booke of life , to shew them their Names , their security , and he shut the sea , as that book , upon the Egyptians , to shew them their irrecoverable exclusion . If we consider , what he did for them , what he suffered from them , in their way , the battailes , that he fought for them , in an out-stretched arm , the battails , that they fought against him , in the stifnesse of their necks , and their murmuring , we must , to their confusion , acknowledge , that at a great deale a lesse price , then he paid for them , he might have gained all the people of the earth ; all the Nations of the earth , ( in app●arance ) would have come in to his subjection , upon the thousand part of that which he did for the Israelites in their way . But for that which he did for them , at home , when he had planted them in the Land of Promise , as it were an ungratefull thing , not to remember those blessings , so it is some degree of ingratitude , to think them possible to be numbred . Consider the narrownesse of the Land , ( scarce equall to three of our shires ) and their innumerable armies ; consider the barrennesse of many parts of that Countrey , and their innumerable sacrifices of Cattell ; consider their little trade , in respect , and their innumerable treasures ; but consider especially , what God had done for their soules , in promising , and ratifying so often a Messias unto them , and giving them Law and Prophers , in the mean time , and there you see their true height ; and then consider the abominations , and Idolatries , in which they had plung'd , and buried themselves , and there you see their lownesse , how far they were fallen . This then was their descent ; and as Saint Paul sayes ( when he describes this descent of the Jewes , into all manner of abominations ) one step of this stayre , of this descent , is , unnaturall affection , they were unnaturall to themselves ; that is , not sensible of their own misery , but were proud of their fall , and thought themselves at ease in their ruine ; and another stayre in this fall is , that God had delivered them up to a reprobate mind , to suffer them to think so still . And then for their farther vexation , God would take from them , even that false , that imaginary comfort of theirs . Surgite , sayes God , since you have made that perverse shift , to take comfort in your fall , Arise from that , from that security , from that stupidity , for you shall not chuse but see your misery ; when all the people were descended to that basenesse , ( as nothing is more base , then to court the world , and the Devill , for poore and wretched delights , when we may have plentifull , and rich abundance in our confidence in God ) when the people were all of one mind , and one voice , omnes unius labii , their hearts , and tongues spoke all one language , and , ( populus tanto deterior , quanto in deterioribus concors , Men are the worse , the more they are , and the more unanime , and constant they are in ill purposes ) when they were all come to that Venite comburamus , Come , and let us burn brick , and trust in our own work , and Venite , aedificemus , Come , and let us build a tower , and provide a safety for our selves ; since they would descend from their dignity , ( which dignity consists in the service of God , whose service is perfect freedome ) God would descend with them , Venite descendamus , sayes God ; but what to doe ? Descendamus , ut confundamus , let us goe down to confound their language , and to scatter them upon the earth . Ascensio mendax , descensio crudelis , sayes holy Bernard , A false ascending , is a cruell descending : when we lye weltring in our bloud , secure in our sins , and can flatter our selves , that we are well , and where we would be , this deceitfull ascension , is a cruell descent into hell ; we lye still , we feel no pain , but it is because we have broke our necks ; we doe not grone , we doe not sigh , but it is , because our breath is gone , the spirit of God is departed from us . They were descended to a flatnesse of tast , Egyptian Onions had a better savor , then the Manna of heaven ; They were descended to a new-fanglednesse in Civill government , they liked the form of government amongst their neighbours , better then that of Iudges , which God had established for them then ; They were descended to a newfanglednesse in matter of Religion , to the embracing of a foraine , and a frivolous , and an Idolatrous worship of God : but then being in their descent , when they delighted in it , as Sea-sick men , who had rather be troden upon , then rise up , then God frustrate that false joy and false ease of theirs , he rouses them from all that , which they had proposed to themselves , Surgite , arise , arise from this security , because you are fallen , you should rise , but because you love your misery , you shall rise , you shall come to a sense , and knowledge of it , you shall not enjoy the ease of an ignorance . But he raised them not , to reestablish them , to restore them to their former dignity ; there was no comfort in that Surgite , which was accompanied with an Ite , arise and depart : and depart into captivity . If we compare the captivity , which they were going into , ( that of Babylon ) with the other bondage , which they had been delivered from , ( that of Egypt ) it is true , there were many , and reall , and important differences . That of Egypt was Ergastulum , a prison ; and it was fornax ferrea , an Iron fornace ; but in Babylon , they were not slaves , as they were in Egypt , but they were such a kind of prisoners , as onely had not liberty , to returne to their owne countrey . But yet , if we consider their state in Egypt in their roote , in Iacob , and in his sonnes , they came for food thither in a time of necessity ; and consider them in that branch that overshadowed , and refreshed them , in Ioseph , he came thither as a bondman , in a servile condition . So that they were but few persons , and not so great , as that their pressures could be aggravated , or taste much more the bitterly , by comparing it , with any greatnesse which they had before ; Though they were fallen into great misery , they were not fallen from any remarkeable greatnesse . But between the two captivities of Egypt , and Babylon , they were come to that greatnesse , and reputation , as that they had the testimony of all the world , Onely this people is wise , and of understanding , and a great nation . Now wherein ? In that which followes ; what nation is so great , as to have the Lord come so neare unto them ; so great , as to have Lawes , and Ordinances , so righteous , as they had ? Now this peculiar greatnesse , they lost in this captivity ; whether they lost absolutely the bookes of the Law , or not , and that they were reinspired , and redictated againe by the holy Ghost to Esdras , or whether Esdras did but recollect them , and recompile them , Saint Hierome will not determine : He will not say whether Moses , or Esdras , be author of the first five bookes of the Bible ; but it is cleare enough , that they were out of that ordinary use wherein they had been before : and though they kept their Circumcision , and their Sabbaths in Babylon , yet being cast thither for their sinnes , they had lost all ordinary expiations of their sinnes , for they had no sacrifices there ; ( as the Iews , which are now in dispersion , are everywhere without their sacrifices ) They were to rise , but not to stay , Arise and depart ; And they were to depart , both from their Imaginary comforts , which they had framed , and proposed to themselves ( when they were fallen from God , they should be deceived in their trust in themselves ) and they were to depart even with the law , and ordinances , in which their preheminence , and prerogative above all nations consisted : when Man comes to be content with this world , God will take this world from him : when Man frames to himselfe imaginary pleasures , God will inflict reall punishments ; when he would lie still , he shall not sleep ; but God will take him and raise him , but to a farther vexation . And this vexation hath another heavy weight upon it , in this little word , for ; for this drawes a Curtain between the face of God , and them : this locks a dore between the Court of mercy , and them , when God presents his judgements with such an assurednesse , such a resolution , as leaves no hope in their heart , that God will alter it , no power in themselves to solicite God to a pardon , or a reprieve ; but as he was led as a foole to the stocks , when he hearkened to pleasant sins before , so he is led as an oxe to the slaughters , when he hears of Gods Judgements now ; his own Conscience prevents God , and tels him , there is a for , a reason , a necessity , an irrecoverablenesse in his condemnation . God had iterated , and multiplied this Quia , this for , oftentimes in their ears : This Prophet was no upstart , no sodain , no transitory Man , to passe through the streets with a Vae , Vae , Wo , wo unto this City , and no more ; but he prophecied constantly , during the reign of three Kings , of Iotham , Ahaz , and Hezekiah : He was no suspitious Man out of his singularity ; but he prophecied jointly with Isaiah , without separation , and he held the communion of his fellow-Prophets ; He was no particular man , ( as many Interpreters have taken it ) so , as that he addressed his prophecies upon Iudah onely ; but he extended it to all , to all the Tribes . It is not a prophecy limited to Idolatry , and the sins against the first Table , but to robbery , and murder , and fornication , and oppression , and the sins between Man , and Man : It is not a timorous prophecy , directed onely to persons , whom a low fortune , and a miserable estate , or a sense of sin , and a wounded Conscience , had depress'd , and dejected , but principally bent upon rulers and Magistrates , and great persons . So that no Man hath a Quia against this Quia , a for against this for , to say , we need not heed him , for he is an upstart , a singular person , and all these his threatnings are rather Satyricall , then Propheticall , or Theologicall ; but this thunderbolt , this Quia , this reason , why these judgements must necessarily fall upon them , fell upon them with so much violence , as that it stupefied with the weight , and precluded all wayes of escape . These be the heaviest Texts that a Man can light upon in the Scriptures of God , and these be the heaviest Commentaries , that a Man can make upon these Texts , that when God wakens him and raises him from his dream , and bed of sin , and pleasure , and raises him with the voice of his judgements , he suffers him to read to the Quia , but not to come to the Tamen ; He comes to see reason why that Judgement must fall , but not to see any remedy . His inordinate Melancholy , and halfe desperate sadnesse carries his eye , and mind upon a hundred places of Commination , of threatning in the Prophets , and in them all he finds quickly that Quia , This curse must fall upon me , for I am faln into it ; but he comes not to the Tamen , to that reliefe , yet turn to the Lord , and he will turne to thee . This was a particular step in their misery , that when they were awaked , and risen , that is , taken away from all tast , and comfort , in their own imaginations , and pleasures , when God was ready to give fire to all that artillery , which he had charged against them , in the service of all the Prophets , they could see no refuge , no sanctuary , nothing but a quia , an irresistiblenesse , an irremediablenesse , a necessity of perishing ; a great while there was no such thing , as Judgement , ( God cannot see us ) Now , there is no such thing as Mercy , ( God will not see us . ) What then is this heavy Judgement , that is threatned ● It is the deprivation of Rest. Though there be no war , no pestilence , no new positive calamity , yet privative calamities are heavy Judgements ; to lose that Gospell , that Religion , which they had , is a heavy losse ; Deprivations are heavy Calamities ; and here they are deprived of Rest ; Here is not your Rest : Now , besides that betwixt us and heaven , there is nothing that rests , ( all the Elements , all the planets , all the spheres are in perpetuall motion , and vicisitude ) and so the Joyes of heaven are express'd unto us , in that name of Rest ; Certainly this blessing of Rest was more pretious , more acceptable to the Jewes , then to any other Nation ; and so they more sensible of the losse of it , then any other . For as Gods first promise , and the often ratification of it , had ever accustom'd them to a longing for that promis'd rest , as their long , and laborious peregrinations , had made them ambitious , and hungry of that Rest , so had they ( which no other Nation had but they ) a particular feast of a Sabhath , appointed for them , both for a ●●all cessation and rest from bodily labours , and for a figurative expressing of the eternall Rest , their imagination , their understanding , their faith , was fill'd with this apprehension of Rest. When the contentment and satisfaction , which God took in 〈◊〉 sacrifice , after he came out of the Ark , is express'd , it is express'd thus , The Lord 〈◊〉 a savor of Rest ; our services to God , are a Rest to him ; he rests in our devotions ; And when the Idolatrous service , and forbidden sacrifices of the people are expressed , they are expressed thus , When I had brought them into the Land , Po●u●runt ibi ●dorem quieturn suarum , they placed there the sweet savors of their own Rest ; not of Gods Rest , ( his true Religion ) but their own Rest , a Religion , which they , for collaterll respects , rested in . And therefore when God threatens here , that there shall be no rest , that is , none of his rest , he would take from them their Law , their Sacrifices , their Religion , in which he was pleas'd , and rested gratious towards them , he will change their Religion : And when he sayes , Here is not your Rest , he threatens to take from them , that Rest , that Peace , that Quiet which they had propos'd , and imagin'd to themselves ; when they say to themselves , Why , 't is no great matter ; we may doe well enough for all that , though our Religion be chang'd ; he will impoverish them , he will disarm them , he wil infatuate them , he wil make them a prey to their enemies , & take away all true , and all imaginary rest too . Briefly , it is the mark of all men , even naturall men , Rest : for though Tertullian condemn that , to call Quietis Magisterium Sapientiam , The act of being , and living at quiet , wisdome , therein seeming to exclude all wisdome , that conduces not to rest , as though there were no wisdome , in action , and in businesse ; Though in the person of Epicurus he condemn that , and that saying , Nemo alii nascitur , moriturus sibi , It is no reason , that any Man should think himselfe born for others , since he cannot live to himselfe , or to labour for others , since himselfe cannot enjoy rest , yet Tertullian leaving the Epicures , that placed felicity in a stupid , and unsociable retiring , sayes in his own person , and in his own opinion , almost as much , Vnicum mihi negotium , nec aliud curo , quam ne curem , All that I care for , is that I might care for nothing ; and so , even Tertullian , in his Christian Philosophy , places happinesse in rest ; Now , he speaks not onely of the things of this world , they must necessarily be car'd for , in their proportion ; we must not decline the businesses of this life , and the offices of society , out of an aëry , and imaginary affection of rest : our principall rest is , in the testimony of our Conscience , and in doing that which we were sent to doe ; And to have a Rest , and peace , in a Conscience of having done that religiously , and acceptably to God , is our true Rest : and this was the rest , which the Jewes were to lose in this place , the testimony of their consciences , that they had perform'd their part , their Conditions , so , that they might rely upon Gods promises , of a perpetuall rest in the Land of Canaan ; and that rest they could not have ; not that peacefull testimony of their Consciences . They could not have that rest , no Rest , not there , not in Canaan ; which was the highest degree of the misery , because they were confident in their term , their state in that Land , that it should be perpetuall ; and they were confident in the goodnesse of the Land , that it should evermore give them all conveniencies in abundance , conducing to all kind of rest : for , this Land , God himself cals by the name of rest , and of his rest ; I sware they should not enter into my rest ; So that , rest was proper to this Land , and this Land was proper to them . For , ( as St. Augustine notes well ) though God recover'd this Land for them , and reestablish'd miraculously their possession , yet they came but in their Remitter , and in postliminio , the inheritance of that Land , was theirs before : for , Sem the son of Neah , was in possession of this Land ; and the sons of Cham , the Canaanites , expel'd his race out of it ; and Abraham of the race of Sem , was restor'd unto it again : So that , as the goodnesse of the Land promis'd rest , so the goodnesse of the title promis'd them the Land ; and yet they might have no rest there . They had a better title then that ; Those often oathes , which God had sworne unto them , that that land should be theirs forever , was their evidence ; If then that land were Requies Domini , the rest of the Lord , that is , the best , and the safest Rest , and that land were their land , why should they not have that rest here , when the Lord had sworne they should ? Why , because he swore the contrary after ; but will God sweare contrary things ? why , s●lus securus jurat , qui falli●non potest , says Saint Augustine , onely he can sweare a thing safely , that sees all circumstances , and foresees all occurrances ; onely God can sweare safely , because nothing can be hid from him . God therefore that knew upon what conditions he had taken the first oath , and knew againe how contemptuously those conditions were broken , he takes knowledge that he had sworne , he denies not that , but he sweares againe , and in his anger , I sware in my wrath , that they should not enter into my rest . Those Men ( says he ) which have seen my glory and my Miracles , and have tempted me tenne times , and not obeyed my voyce , certainly they shall not see the land whereof I sware unto their fathers ; neither shall any that provoke me see it ; He pleads not Non est factum , but he pleads conditions performed ; he denies not that he swore but he justifies himselfe , that he had done as much as he promised ; for his promise was conditionall . The Apostle seemes to assigne but one reason of their exclusion , from this Land , and from this rest , and yet he expresses that one Reason so , as that it hath two branches ; He sayes , we see that they could not enter , because of unbeleef and yet he asks the question ; To whom sware he , that they should not enter into his Rest , but unto them , that obeyed not ? Vnbeleef is assigned for the cause , and yet they were shut out for disobedience ; now , if the Apostle make it all one , whether want of faith , or want of works , exclude us from the Land of Rest , let not us be too curious enquirers , whether faith or works bring us thither ; for neither faith , nor works bring us thither , as a full cause ; but if we consider mediate causes , so they may be both causes ; faith , instrumentall , works , declaratory ; faith may be as evidence , works as the scale of it ; but the cause is onely , the free election of God. Nor ever shall we come thither , if we leave out either ; we shall meet as many Men in heaven , that have lived without faith , as without works . This then was the case ; God had sworne to them an inheritance permanently there , but upon condition of their obedience ; If they had not had a privity in the condition , if they had not had a possibility to perform the condition , their exclusion might haveseemed unjust : and it had been so ; for though God might justly have forborne the promise , yet he could not justly breake the promise , if they had kept the conditions ; therefore he expressed the condition without any disguise , at first , If thy heart turne away , ●●pr●nounce unto you this day that you shall surely perish● you shall not prolong your dayes in the land . And then , when those conditions were made , and made knowne , and made easie , and accepted , when they so rebelliously broke all conditions , his first oath lay not in his way , to stop him from the second , As I live , saith the Lord , I will surely bring mine oath that they have broken , and my covenant that they have despised upon their head , shall they breake my covenant , and he delivered , says God there . God confesses the oath and the covenant , to be his covenant and his oath , but the breach of the oath , and covenant , was theirs , and not his . He expresses his promise to them , and his departing from them together , in another Propher ; God says to the Propher , Buy thee a girdle , bury it in the ground , and fetch it againe ; And then it was rotten , and good for nothing : for says he , as the girdle cleaveth to the loines , so have I tyed to me the house of Israel , and Iudah , that they might be my people , that they might have a name and a praise , and a glory , but they would not heare ; Therefore , say unto them , Every bottle shall be filled with wine ; ( Here was a promise of plenty : ) and they shall say unto thee , Doe not we know , that every bottle shall be filled with wine● ( that God is bound to give us this plenty ? ) because he hath tyed himselfe by oath , and covenunt , and promise . ) But behold , I fill all the inhabitants with drunkennesse ; ( since they trust in their plenty , that shall be an occasion of sinne to them ) and I will dash them against one another , even the father , and sonnes together ; I will not spare , I will not pity , I will not have compassion , but destroy them . God could not promise more , then he did in this place at first ; he could not depart farther from that promise , then by their occasion , he came to at last . Gods promise goes no farther with Moses himselfe ; My presence shall goe with thee , and I will give thee rest ; If we will steale out of Gods presence , into darke and sinfull corners , there is no rest promised . Receive my words , says Solomon , and the years of thy life shall be many ; Trust in the Lord , says David , and doe good , ( performe both , stand upon those two leggs , faith , and works ; not that they are alike ; there is a right , and a left legge : but stand upon both ; upon one in the sight of God ; upon the other in the sight of Man ; ) Trust in the Lord , and doe good , and then shall dwell in the land , and be fed assuredly . That paradise , that peace of Conscience , which God establishes in thee , by faith , hath a condition , of growth , and encrease , from faith to faith ; heaven it selfe , in which the Angells were , had a condition ; they might , they did fall from thence ; The land of Canaan , was their own land , and the rest of that land , their Rest by Gods oath , and covenant ; and yet here was not their rest : not here ; nor for any thing expressed , or intimated in the word , any where else . Here was a Nunc dimittis , but not in pace ; The Lord lets them depart , and makes them depart , but not in peace , for their eyes saw no salvation ; they were sent away to a heavy captivity . Beloved , we may have had a Canaan , an inheritance , a comfortable assurance in our bosomes , in our consciences , and yet heare that voice after , that here is not our rest , except , as Gods goodnesse at first moved him to make one oath unto us , of a conditionall rest , as our sins have put God to his second oath , that he sware we should not have his rest , so our repentance bring him to a third oath , as I live I would not the death of a sinner , that so he doe not onely make a new contract with us , but give us withall an ability , to performe the conditions , which he requires . SERMON X. Preached at the Churching of the Countesse of Bridgewater . MICAH 2● 10. [ second Sermon . ] THus far we have proceeded in the first acceptation of these words , according to their principall , and literall sense , as they appertain'd to the Iewes , and their sta●e ; so they were a Commination ; As they appertain to all succeeding Ages , and to us , so they are a Commonition , an alarm , to raise us from the sleep , and death of sin : And then in a third acceptation , they are a Consolation , that at last we shall have a rising , and a departing into such a state , in the Resurrection , as we shall no more need this voice , Arise , and depart , because we shall be no more in danger of falling , no more in danger of departing from the presence , and contemplation ; and service , and fruition of God ; And in both these latter senses , the words admit a just accommodation to this present occasion , God having rais'd his honorable servant , and hand-maid here present , to a sense of the Curse , that lyes upon women , for the transgression of the first woman , which is painfull , and dangerous Child-birth ; and given her also , a sense of the last glorious resurrection , in having rais'd her , from that Bed of weaknesse , to the ability of coming into his presence , here in his house . First then to consider them , in the first of these two latter senses , as a Commonition to them , that are in the state of sin , first there is an increpation implied in this word Arise ; when we are bid arise , we are told , that we are faln : sin is an unworthy descent , and an ignoble fall ; Secondly , we are bid to doe something , and therefore we are able to doe something , God commands nothing impossible so , as that that degree of performance , which he will accept , should be impossible , to the man , whom his grace hath affected ; That which God will accept , is possible to the godly ; And thirdly , that which he commands here , is deriv'd into two branches ; We are bidden to rise● that is , to leave our bed , our habit of sin ; and then not to be idle , when we are up , but to depart ; not onely to depart from the Custom● , but from tentations of Recidi●ation ; and not onely that but to depart into another way , a habit of Actions , contrary to our former Sins . And then , all this is press'd , and urged upon us , by a Reason ; The Holy Ghost appears not like a ghost in one sodain glance , or glimmering , but he testifies his presence , and he presses the businesse , that he comes for ; And the reason that he uses here , is , Quia non requies , because otherwise we lose the Pondus animae , the weight , the ballast of our soule , rest , and peace of Conscience : for how●ever there may be some rest , some such shew of Rest , as may serve a carnall man a little while , yet , sayes our Text , it is not your Rest , it conduces not to that Rest , which God hath ordained for you , whom he would direct to a better Rest. That Rest , ( your Rest ) is not here ; not in that , which is spoken of here ; not in your lying still , you must rise from it ; not in your standing still , you must depart from it ; your Rest is not here : but yet , since God sends us away , because our Rest is not here , he does tacitly direct ●s thereby , where there is Rest ; And that will be the third acceptation of these words ; to which we shall come anone . For that then , which rises first ; the increpation of our fall implied in the word , Arise , there is nothing , in which , that which is the mother of all vertues , discretion , is more tryed , then in the conveying , and imprinting profitably a rebuke , an increpation , a knowledge , and sense of sinne , in the conscience of another . The rebuke of sin , is like the fishing of Whales ; the Marke is great enough ; one can scarse misse hitting ; but if there be not sea room and line enough , & a dexterity in letting out that line , he that hath fixed his harping Iron , in the Whale , endangers himselfe , and his boate ; God hath made us fishers of Men ; and when we have struck a Whale , touch'd the conscience of any person , which thought himselfe above rebuke , and increpation , it struggles , and strives , and as much as it can , endevours to draw fishers , and boate , the Man and his fortune into contempt , and danger . But if God tye a sicknesse , or any other calamity , to the end of the line , that will winde up this Whale againe , to the boate , bring back this rebellious sinner better advised , to the mouth of the Minister , for more counsaile , and to a better souplenesse , and inclinablenesse to conforme himselfe , to that which he shall after receive from him ; onely calamity makes way for a rebuke to enter . There was such a tendernesse , amongst the orators , which were used to speake in the presence of the people , to the Romane Emperors , ( which was a way of Civill preaching ) that they durst not tell them then their duties , nor instruct them , what they should doe , any other way then by saying , that they had done so before ; They had no way to make the Prince wise , and just , and temperate , but by a false praising him , for his former acts of wisedome , and justice , and temperance , which he had never done ; and that served to make the people beleeve , that the Princes were so ; and it served to teach the Prince , that he ought to be so . And so , though this were an expresse , and a direct flattery , yet it was a collaterall increpation too ; And on the other side , our later times have seen , another art , another invention , another workmanship , that when a great person hath so abused the favour of his Prince , that he hath growne subject to great , and weighty increpations , his owne friends have made Libells against him , thereby to lay some light aspersions upon him , that the Prince might thinke , that this comming with the malice of a Libell , was the worst that could be said of him : and so , as the first way to the Emperors , though it were a direct flattery , yet it was a collater all Increpation too , so this way , though it were a direct increpation , yet it was a collater all flattery too . If I should say of such a congregation as this , with acclamations and showes of much joy , Blessed company , holy congregation , in which there is no pride at all , no vanity at all , no prevarication at all , I could be thought in that , but to convey an increpation , and a rebuke mannerly , in a wish that it were so altogether . If I should say of such a congregation as this , with exclamations and show of much bitternesse , that they were sometimes somewhat too worldly in their owne businesse , sometimes somewhat too remisse , in the businesses of the next world , and adde no more to it , this were but as a plot , and a faint libelling , a publishing of small sinnes to keep greater from being talk'd of : slight increpations are but as whisperings , and work no farther , but to bring men to say , Tush , no body hears it , no body heeds it , we are never the worse , nor never the worse thought of for all that he says . And loud and bitter increpations , are as a trumpet , and work no otherwise , but to bring them to say , Since he hath published all to the world already , since all the world knowes of it , the shame is past , and we may goe forward in our ways againe : Is there then no way to convey an increpation profitably ? David could find no way ; Vidi praevaricatores & tabescebam , says he , I saw the transgressors , but I languished and consumed away with griefe , because they would not keep the law ; he could not mend them , and so impaired himselfe with his compassion : but God hath provided a way here , to convey , to imprint this increpation , this rebuke , sweetly , and succesfully ; that is , by way of counsaile : by bidding them arise , he chides them them for falling , by presenting the exaltation and exultation of a peacefull conscience , he brings them to a foresight , to what miserable distractions , and distortions of the soule , a habite of sinne will bring them to . If you will take knowledge of Gods fearfull judgements no other way , but by hearing his mercies preached , his Mercie is new every morning , and his dew falls every evening ; and morning , and evening we will preach his mercies unto you . If you will beleeve a hell no other way , but by hearing the joyes of heaven presented to you , you shall heare enough of that ; we will receive you in the morning , and dismisse you in the evening , in a religious assurance , in a present inchoation of the joyes of heaven . It is Gods way , and we are willing to pursue it ; to shew you that you are Enemies to Christ , we pray you in Christs stead , that you would be reconciled to him : to shew you , that you are faln , we pray you to arise , and si audieritis , if you hear us so , if any way , any means , convey this rebuke , this sense into you , Si audieritis , lucrati sumus fratrem , If you hear , we have gain'd a brother ; and that 's the richest gain , that we can get , if you may get salvation by us . Gods rebukes and increpations then are sweet , and gentle , to the binding up , not to the scattering of a Conscience ; And the particular Rebuke in this place , conveyed by way of counsail , is , That they were faln ; and worse could not be said , how mild , and easie soever the word be . The ruin of the Angels in heaven , the ruin of Adam in Paradise , is still call'd by that word , it is but the fall of Angels , and the fall of Adam ; and yet this fall of Adam cost the bloud of Christ , and this bloud of Christ , did not rectifie the Angels after their fall . Inter objectos , objectissimus peccator ; amongst them that are faln , he fals lowest , that continues in sin : for ( sayes the same Father , ) Man is a king in his Creation ; he hath that Commission , Subjicite , & dominamini ; the world , and himselfe , ( which is a lesse world , but a greater dominion ) are within his Jurisdiction ; and then servilly , he submits himselfe , and all , to that , Qua nihil magis barbarum , then which nothing is more tyrannous , more barbarous . All persons have naturally , all Nations ever had , a detestation of falling into their hands who were more barbarous , more uncivill then themselves , & peccato nihil magis barbarum ; ( sayes that Father ) sin doth not govern us by a rule , by a Law , but tyrannically , impetuously , and tempestuously ; It hath been said of Rome , Romae regulariter malè agitur ; There a man may know the price of a sin , before he doe it ; and he knowes what his dispensation will cost ; whether he be able to sin at that rate , whether he have wherewithall , that if not , he may take a cheap sin . Thou canst never say that of thy soule , Intus regulariter malè agitur ; Thou canst never promise thy selfe to sin safely , and so to elude the Law , for the Law is in thy heart ; nor to sin wisely , and so to escape witnesses , for the testimony is in thy Conscience ; nor to sin providently , and thriftily , and cheaply , and compound for the penalty , and stall the fine , for thy soule , that is the price , is indivisible , and perishes entirely , and eternally at one payment , and yet ten thousand thousand times over and over . Thou canst not say : Thou wilt sin , that sin , and no more ; or so far in that sin , and no farther ; If thou fall from an high place , thou maist fall through thick clouds , and through moist clouds , but yet through nothing that can sustain thee , but thou fall'st to the earth ; If thou fall from the grace of God , thou maist passe through dark Clouds , oppression of heart , and through moist Clouds , some compunction , some remorsefull tears ; but yet , ( of thy selfe ) thou hast nothing to take hold of , till thou come to that bottome , which will embrace thee cruelly , to the bottomlesse bottome of Hell it selfe . Our dignity , and our greatest height , is in our interest in God , and in the world , and in our selves ; and we fall from all , either non utend● , or abutendo ; either by neglecting God , or by over-valuing the world ; our greatest ●all of all is , into Idolatry ; and yet Idolatry is an ordinary fall ; for tot habemus Deas recentes , quot habemus vitia , As many habituall sins as we embrace , so many Idols we worship ; If all sins could not be call'd so , Idols , yet for those sins , which possesse us most ordinarily , and most strongly , we have good warrant to call them so ; which sins are Licentiousnesse in our youth , and Cov●tousnesse in our age , and voluptuousnesse in our middle time . For , for Licentiousnesse , Idolatry , and that , are so often call'd by one anothers names in the Scriptures , as many times we cannot tell , when the Propehts mean spirituall Adultery , and when Carnall ; when they mean Idolatry , and when Fornication . For Covetousnesse , that is expresly called Idolatry by the Apostle : and so is voluptuousnesse too , in those men , whose belly is their God. We fall then into that desperate precipitation of Idolatry , by 〈◊〉 , when by fornication , we profane the temple of the Holy Ghost , and make even his temple , our bodies , a Stewes : And we fall into Idolatry by Covetousnesse , when we come to be , tam putidi minutíque animi , of so narrow , and contracted a soule ; and of so sick , and dead , and buried , and putrefied a soule , as to lock up our soule , in a Cabinet where we lock up our money , to ty our soul in the corner of a handkerchiefe , where we ty our money , to imprison our soule , in the imprisonment of those things , Quae te ad gloriam ●●bvectur●e , the dispensation , and distribution whereof , would carry thy soul to eternall glory . And when by our voluptuousnesse , we raise the prices of necessary things , Et eorum vulnera , qui à Deo flagris caeduntur , adangemus ; and thereby scourge them with deeper lashes of famine , whom God hath scourged with poverty before , we fall into Idolatry by voluptuousnesse ; Numismatis inscriptiones inspicuis , & non Christi in sratre , thou takest a pleasure , to look upon the figures , and Images of Kings in their severall coyns ; and thou despisest thine own Image in thy poore brother , and Gods Image in thy ruinous , and defaced soule , and in his Temple , thy body , demolished by thy Licentiousnesse , and by all these Idolatries . This is the fall , when we fall so farre into those sins , which have naturally a tyranny in them , and that that sinne becomes an Idoll to us ; which fall of ours , God intimates unto us , and rebukes us for , by so mild a way , as to bid us rise from it . Now when God bids us rise , as the Apostle sayes , Be not deceived , Non irridetur Deus , God cannot be mocked by any man , so we may boldly say , Be not afraid , Non irridet Deus ; God mocks no man ; God comes not to a miserable bedrid man , as a man would come in scorn to a prisoner , and bid him shake off his fetters , or to a man in a Consumption , and bid him grow strong ; when God bids us arise , he tels us , we are able to rise ; God bad Moses goe to Pharaoh ; Moses said he was Incircumcisus labiis , heavy , and slow of tongue ; but he did not deny , but he had a tongue : God bade him goe , and I will be with thy mouth , sayes he ; He does not say , I will be thy mouth ; but , thou hast a mouth , and I will be with thy Mouth . It was Gods presence , that made that mouth serviceable , and usefull , but it was Moses mouth ; Moses had a mouth of his own ; we have faculties , and powers of our own , to be employed in Gods service . So when God employed Ieremy , the Prophet sayes , O Lord God , behold , I cannot speak , for I am a child ; but God replies , say not thou , I am a child ; for whatsoever I command thee , thou shalt speake : When God bids thee rise from thy sin , say not thou it is too late , or that thou art bedrid in the custome of thy sin , and so canst not rise ; when he bids thee rise , he enables thee to rise ; and thou maist rise , by the power of that will which onely his mercy , and his grace , hath created in thee ; for as God conveyes a rebuke in that counsaile , Surgite , arise , so he conveyes a power in it too ; when he bids thee rise , he enables thee to rise . That which we are to doe then , is to rise ; to leave our bed , our sleep of Sin. Saint Augustine takes knowledge of three wayes , by which he escaped sins ; first , occasionis substractione ; and that 's the safest way , not to come within distance of a tentation ; secondly , resistendi data virtute , That the love , and the fear of God , imprinted in him , made him strong enough for the sin ; Can I love God , and love this person thus ? thus , that my love to it , should draw away my love from God ? Can I feare God , and fear any Man , ( who can have power but over my body ) so , as for feare of him , to renounce my God , or the truth , or my Religion ? Or affectionis sanitate , that his affections , had , by a good diet , by a continuall feeding upon the Contemplation of God , such a degree of health , and good temper , as that some sins he did naturally detest , and , though he had not wanted opportunity , and had wanted particular grace , yet he had been safe enough from them . But , for this help , this detestation , of some particular sins , that will not hold out ; We have seen men infinitely prodigall grow infinitely Covetous at last . For the other way , ( the assistance of particular grace ) that we must not presume upon ; for , he that opens himselfe to a tentation , upon presumption of grace to preserve him , forfaits by that , even that grace , which he had . And therefore there is no safe way , but occasionis substractio , the forbearing of those places , and that Conversation , which ministers occasion of tentation to us . First therefore , let us find , that we are in our bed , that we are naturally unable to rise ; We are not born Noble : Saint Paul considers himselfe , and his birth , and his Title to grace , at best ; That he was a Iew , and of the Tribe of Benjamin , and of holy parents , and within the Covenant ; yet all this rais'd him not out of his bed , for , sayes he , we were by nature the Children of wrath , as well as others . But where then was the rising ? that is , in the true receiving of Christ. To as many as received him , he gave , Potestatem praerogativae , to be the sons of God ; yea , power to become the sons of God , as it is in our last Translation . Christianus non de Christiano nascitur , nec facit generatio , sed regeneratio Christianum ; A Christian Mother does not conceive a Christian ; onely the Christian Church conceives Christian Children . Iudaeus circumcisus generat filium incircumcisum , A Jew is circumcised , but his child is born uncircumcised : The Parents may be up , and ready , but their issue abed , and in their bloud , till Baptisme have wash'd them , and till the spirit of Regeneration have rais'd them , from that bed , which the sins of their first Parents have laid them in , and their own continuing sins continued them in . This rising is first , from Originall sin , by baptism , and then from actuall sin , best , by withdrawing from the occasions of tentation to future sins , after repentance of former . But it is not , Arise , and stand still : But Surgite , & ite , arise , and depart ; But whither ? Into actions , contrary to those sinfull actions , and habits contrary to those habits . Let him that is righteous , be righteous still , and him that is holy , be holy still ; and that cannot be , without this ; for it is but a small degree of Convalescence , and reparation of health , to be able to rise out of our bed , to be able to forbear sin : Qui febri laborat , post morbum infirmior est ; though the fever be off , we are weake after it ; though we have left a sinne , there is a weaknesse upon us , that makes us reel , and leane towards that bed , at every turne ; decline towards that sinne , upon every occasion . And therefore according to that example , and pattern , of Gods proceeding at the creation , who first made all , and then digested , and then perfected them ; Primò faciamus , deinde venustemus , says Saint Ambrose ; first let us make us up a good body , a good habitude , a good constitution , by leaving our beds , our occasions of tentations ; and then venustemus , let us dresse our selves , adorne our selves , yea , arme our selves , with the whole armour of God , which is faith in Christ Jesus , and a holy and sanctified conversation . Memento peregisse te aliquid , restare aliquid : Remember , ( and do not deceive thy selfe , to remember that , which was never done ) but remember truely , that thou hast done something , towards making sure thy salvation already , and that thou hast much more to doe ; Divertisse te ad Refectionem , non ad defectionem , that God hath given thee a bayting place , a resting place ; peace in conscience , for all thy past sinnes , in thy present repentance ; but it is , to refresh thy selfe with that peace ; it is not to take new courage , and strength to sinne againe . Let not the ease which thou hast found in the remission of sinnes now embolden thee to commit them againe ; not to trust to that strength which thou hast already recovered ; but arise and depart ; avoid old tentations , and apply thy selfe to a new course in the world , and in a calling ; for there may be as much sinne , to leave the world , as to cleave to the world : and he may be as inexcusable at the last day , that hath done Nothing in the world , as hee that hath done some ill . Now , we noted it to be a particular degree of Gods mercy , that he insisted upon it , that he pressed it , that he urged it with a reason ; doe thus , says God , for , it stands thus with you . It is always a boldnesse , to aske a reason of those decrees of God , which were founded , and established onely in his owne gratious will , and pleasure ; In those cases , Exitiales vaculae , our & quomodo ; to aske , why God elected some , and how it can consist with his goodnesse , to leave out others there the how , and why are dangerous , and deadly Monosyllables . But of Gods particular purposes upon us , and revealed to us , which are so to be wrought and executed upon us , as that we our selves have a fellow-working , and co-operation with God , of those , it becomes us to aske , and to know the reason . When the Angell Gabriel promised such unexpected blessings to Zachary , Zachary askes , whereby shall I know this ? and the Angel does not leave him unsatisfied . When that Angel promises a greater miracle to the blessed Virgin Mary , she says also , Quomodo , how shall this be ? and the Angel settles , and establishes the assurance in her : Whatsoever we are bid to beleeve , whatsoever we are bid to doe , God affords us a reason for it , and we may try it by reason , but because that sinner , whom in this text , he speakes to , to arise and depart , is likely to stand upon false reasons , against his rising , to murmur , and ask Cur or quomodo , why should I arise , since me thinkes I lye at my ease , how shall I arise , that am already at the top of my wishes ? God who is loath to lose any soule , that he undertakes , followes him with this reason . Quia non requies , Arise , and depart , for here is not your rest . Now this rest , is in it selfe , so gratefull , so acceptable a thing , as all the service , which David , and Solomon , could expresse towards God , in the dedication of the Temple , ( which was then in intention , and project ) is described in that phrase , Arise O Lord , and come into thy rest , thou and the Arke of thy strength ; God himselfe hath a Sabbath , in our Sabbaths ; It is welcome to God , and it is so welcome to Man , as that Saint Augustine preaching upon those words , Qui posuit fines tuos pacem , He maneth peace in thy borders , ( as we translate it ) he observed such a passion , such an alteration in his auditory , as that he tooke knowledge of it in his Sermon ; Nihil dixeram , nihil exposuerans , verbum pronunciavi & exclamastis , says he ; I have entred into no part of my text ; I have scarce read my text ; I did but name the word , Rest , and Peace of conscience , and you are all transported , affected , with an exultation , with an acclamation , in the hunger , and ambition of it ; That , that the naturall , that , that the supernaturall Man affects , is Rest ; Inquire pacem , & persequere eam ; it is not onely seque●t , but persequere ; seek peace & ensue it ; follow this rest , this peace so , as if it fly from you , if any interruption , any heavinesse of heart , any warfare of this world , come between you , and it , yet you never give over the pursuite of it , till you overtake it . Persquere , follow it , but first Inquire , says David , seek after it , find where it is , for here is not your rest . Vnaqu●que res in sua patria fortior ; If a Starre were upon the Earth , it would give no light ; If a tree were in the Sea , it would give no fruit ; every tree is fastest rooted , and produces the best fruit , in the soile , that is proper for it . Now , here we have no continuing City , but we seek one ; when we finde that , we shall finde rest . Here how shall we hope for it ? for our selves , Intus pugnae , foris timores ; we feel a warre of concupiscencies within , aand we feare a battery of tentations without : Si dissentiunt in domo uxor & maritus : pericul●sa molestia , says Saint Augustine ; If the Husband , and wife agree not at home , it is a troublesome danger ; and that 's every mans case ; for Care conjux , our flesh is the wife , and the spirit is the husband , and they two will never agree . But si dominetur uxor , perversa pax , says he , and that 's a more ordinary case , then we are aware of , that the wife hath got the Mastery , that the weaker vessell , the flesh , hath got the victory ; and then , there is a show of peace , but it is a stupidity , a security , it is not peace . Let us depart out of our selves , and looke upon that , in which most ordinarily we place an opinion of rest , upon worldly riches ; They that will be rich , fall into tentations , and snares , and into many foolish , and noysome lusts , which drowne Men in perdition , and in destruction , for the desire of money is the root of evill ; Not the having of Money , but the desire of it ; for it is Theophylacts observation , that the Apostle does not say this , of them that are rich , but of them , that will be made rich ; that set their heart upon the desire of riches , and will be rich , what way soever . As the Partridge gathereth the young , which she hath not brought forth , so he that gathereth riches , and not by right , shall leave them in the midst of his dayes , and at his end shall be a foole ; ( he shall not make a wise will ) But shall his folly end , at his end , or the punishment of his folly ? We see what a restlesse fool he is , all the way ; first , because he wants roome , he says , he will pull downe his barnes , and build new ; ( thus farre there 's no rest ; in the Diruit , and adificat , in pulling downe , and building up ; ) Then he says to his soule , live at ease ; he says it , but he gives no ease ; he says it as he shall say to the Hills , fall downe , and cover us● but they shall stand still ; and his soule shall heare God say , whilest he promises himselfe this case , O foole , this night , they shall fetch away thy soule ; God does not onely not tell him , who shall have his riches , but he does not tell him , who shall have his soule . He leaves him no affurance , no ease , no peace , no rest , Here. This rest is not then in these things ; not in their use ; for they are got with labor , and held with feare ; and these , labour and feare , admit no rest ; not in their nature ; for they are fluid , and transitory , and moveable , and these are not attributes of rest . If that word doe not reach to Land , ( the land is not movable , ) yet it reaches to thee ; when thou makest thine Inventory , put thy selfe amongst the moveables , for thou must remove from it , though it remove not from thee . So that , what rest foever may be imagined in these things , it is not your rest , for howsoever the things may seem to rest , yet you doe not . It is not here at all : not in that Here , which is intimated in this Text ; not in the falling , that is Here ; for sinne is a stupidity , it is not a rest ; not in the rising that is Here , for this remorse , this repentance , is but as a surveying of a convenient ground , or an emptying of an inconvenient ground , to erect a building upon ; not in the departing that is here , for in that , is intimated a building of new habits , upon the ground so prepared , and so a continuall , and laborious travaile , no rest ; falling , and rising , and departing , and surveying , and building , are no words of rest , for give these words their spirituall sense , that this sense of our fall , ( which is remorse after sinne ) this rising from it , ( which is repentance after sinne ) this departing into a safer station , ( which is the building of habits contrary to the former ) doe bring an ease to the conscience , ( as it doth that powerfully , and plentifully ) yet , as when we journey by Coach , we have an ease in the way , but yet our rest is at home , so in the ways of a regenerate Man , there is an unexpressible ease , and consolation here , but yet even this is not your rest ; for , as the Apostle says , If I be not an Apostle unto others , yet doubtlesse I am unto you , so what rest soever others may propose unto themseleves , for you , whose conver sation is in heaven , ( for this world to the righteous is Atrium templi , and heaven is that Temple it selfe , the Militant Church , is the porch , the Triumphant , is the Sanctum Sanctorum , this Church and that Church are all under one roofe , Christ Jesus ) for you , who appertaine to this Church , your rests is in heaven ; And that consideration brings us to the last of the three interpretations of these words . The first was a Commination , a departing without any Rest , propos'd to the Jewes : The second was a Commonition , a departing into the way towards Rest , proposed to repentant sinners ; And this third is a Consolation , a departing into Rest it selfe , propos'd to us , that beleeve a Resurrection . It is a consolation , and yet it is a funerall ; for to present this eternall Rest , we must a little invert the words , to the departing out of this world , by death , and so to arise to Judgement ; Depart , and arise ; for , &c. This departing then , is our last Exodus , our last passeover , our last transmigration , our departing out of this life . And then , the Consolation is placed in this , that we are willing , and ready for this departing ; Qua gratia breve nobis tempus praescripsit Deus ? How mercifully hath God proceeded with Man , in making his life short ? for by that means he murmurs the lesse at the miseries of this life , and he is the lesse transported upon the pleasures of this life , because the end of both is short . It is a weaknesse , sayes Saint Ambrose , to complain , De immaturitate mortis , of dying before our time ; for we were ripe for death at our birth ; we were born mellow : Secundum aliquem modum , immortalis dici posset homo , si esset tempus intra quod mori non posset , is excellently said by the same Father ; If there were any one minute in a mans life , in which he were safe from death , a man might in some sort be said to be immortall , for that minute ; but Man is never so ; Nunquam ei vicinius est , posse vivere , quàm posse mori : That proposition is never truer , This man may live to morrow , then this proposition is , This man may dy this minute . Though then shortnesse of life be a malediction to the wicked , ( The bloudy and deceitfull men shall not live halfe their dayes ) there 's the sentence , the Judgement , the Rule , ( And they were cut down before their time ) there 's the execution , the example , God hath threatned , God hath inflicted , shortnesse of dayes to the wicked , yet the Curse consists in their indisposition , in their over-loving of this world , in their terrors concerning the next world , and not meerly in the shortnesse of life ; for this Ite , depart out of this world , is part of the Consolation . I have a Reversion upon my friend , and ( though I wish it not ) yet I am glad , if he die ; Men that have inheritances after their fathers , are glad when they dye ; though not glad that they die , yet glad when they die : I have a greater , after the death of this body , and shall I be loath to come to that ? Yet , it is not so a Consolation , as that we should by any means , be occasions to hasten our own death ; Multi Innocentes ab aliis occiduntur , à seipso nemo ; Many men get by the malice of others , if thereby , they dy the sooner ; for they are the sooner at home , and dy innocently : but no man dies innocently , that dies by his own hand , or by his own hast . We may not doe it , never ; we may not wish it , alwayes , nor easily . Before a perfect Reconciliation with God , it is dangerous to wish death . David apprehended it so , I said , O my God , take me not away in the midst of my dayes . In an over tender sense , and impatience of our own Calamities , it is dangerous to desire death too . Very holy men have transgressed on that hand : Elias in his persecution came inconsiderately to desire that he might die ; It is enough , ô Lord , take away my soule ; He would tell God how much was enough . And so sayes Iob , My soule chuseth rather to be strangled and to die , then to be in my bones ; He must have that that his soule chuses . But to omit many cases wherein it is not good , nor safe to wish Death , certainly , when it is done primarily in respect of God , for his glory , and then , for the respect which is of our selves , it is onely to enjoy the sight , and union of God , and that also with a Conditionall submission to his will , and a tacite , and humble reservation of all his purposes , we may think David's thought , and speak David's words , My soule thirsteth for God , even for the living God , when shall I come , and appeare before the presence of my Living God ? Saint Paul had David's example for it , when he comes to his Cupio dissolvi , to desire to be dissolved ; And Saint Augustine had both their examples , when he sayes so affectionately , Eia Domine videam , ut hîc moriar , O my God , let me see thee in this life , that I may die the death of the Righteous , dy to sin ; & moriar ut te videam , let me dy absolutely , that I may see thee essentially . Here we may be in his Presence , we see his state ; there we are in his Bedchamber , and see his eternall and glorious Rest. The Rule is good , given by the same Father , Non injustum est justo optare mortem , A righteous man , may righteously desire death● Si Deus non dederit , injustum erit , non tolerare vitam amarissimam , but if God affords not that ease , he must not refuse a laborious life ; So that , this departing , is not a going before we be call'd : Christ himselfe stay'd for his ascension , till he was taken up . But when these comes a Lazare veni foras , that God calls us , from this putrefaction , which we think life , let us be not onely obedient , but glad to depart . For without such an Ite , there is no such Surgite , as is intended here ; without this departing there is no good rising , without a joyfull Transmigration , no joyfull Resurrection ; He that is loth to depart , is afraid to rise againe ; and he that is afraid of the Resurrection , had rather there were none ; and he that had rather there were none , a●t ●aecitate , aut animos●tate , says S. Augustine , either he will make himselfe beleeve , that there is none , or if he cannot overcome his Conscience so absolutely , he will make the world beleeve , that he beleeves there is none : and truly to lose our sense of the Resurrection , is as heavy a losse , as of any one point of Religion ; It is the knot of all , and hath this priviledge , above all , that though those Joyes of heaven , which we shall possesse immediately after our death , be infinite , yet even to these infinite Joyes , the Resurrection given an addition , and enlarges even that which was infinite . And therefore is Iob so passionately desirous , that this doctrine of the Resurrection , might be imparted to all , imprinted in all ; Oh that my words more now written , Oh that they were written in a book ; and graven with an Iron pen in lead , and stone , for ever : what is all this , that Iob recommends with so much devotion to all ? I am sure that my Redeemer liveth , and be shall stand the last on Earth , and though after my skin , wormes destroy this body , yet I shall see God in my flesh ; whom I my selfe shall see ; and mine eyes shall behold , and none either for me . This doctrine of the Resurrection , had Iob , so vehement , and so early a care of . Neither could the malicious , and pestilent inventions of man , no not of Satan himselfe , abolish this doctrine of the Resurrection : for , as Saint Hierome observes , from Adrian's time , to Constantin's , for 180 yeares , in the place of Christs birth , they had set up an Idoll , a statue of Adonis : In the place of his Crucifying , they had set up an Idoll of Venus ; and in the place of his Resurrection , they had erected a I●●p●ter : in opinion , that these Idolatrous provisions of theirs , would have abolish'd the Mysteries of our Religion ; but they have outliv'd all them , and shall outlive all the world , eternally beyond all Generations . And therefore doth Saint Ambrose apply well , and usefully to our Death , and Resurrection , to our departing , and rising , these words , Come my people , enter then into thy Chambers , and shut thy dores after thee ; Hide thy selfe for a very little while , untill the Indignation passeover thee ; that is , Goe quietly , to your graves , attend your Resurrection , till God have executed his purpose upon the wicked of this world ; Murmur not to admit the dissolution of body , and soul , upon your death-beds , nor the resolution , and putrefaction of the body alone in your graves , till God be pleased to repaire all , in a full consummation , and reuniting of body and soule , in a blessed Resurrection . Ite & Surgite , depart so , as you may desire to rise ; Depart with an In manus tuas , and with a Veni Domi●e Iesu ; with a willing surrendring of your soules , and a cheerfull meeting of the Lord Jesus . For else , all hope of profit , and permanent Rest is lost : for , as Saint Hierome interprets these very words ; Here we are taught that there is no rest , in this life , Sed quasi●●● mortuis resurgentes ; ad sublime tendere , & ambulare post Daminum Iesum ; we depart when we depart from sin , and we rise , when we raise our selves to a conformity with Christ : And not onely after his example , but after his person , that is , to hasten thither , whither he is gone to prepare us a Room . For , this Rest , in the Text , though it may be understood of the Land of Promise ; and of the Church , and of the Arke , and of the Sabbath , ( for , if we had time to pursue them , we might make good use of all these acceptations ) yet we accept Chrysost●me's acceptation best , Requies est ipse Christus , our rest is Christ himselfe . Not onely that rest that is in Christ , ( peace of conscience in him ) but that Rest , that Christ is in ; eternall rest in his kingdome , There remaineth a Rest , to the people of God ; besides that inchoation of Rest , which the godly have here , there remains a fuller Rest. Iesus is entred into his Rest , sayes the Apostle there ; his Rest was not here , in this world ; and , Let us study to enter into that● Rest , sayes he ; for no other can accomplish our peace . It is righteousnesse with God , is recompence tribulation to them , that trouble you , and , to you , which are troubled , Rest ; but , when ? in this world ? no : when the Lord Iesus shall she● himselfe from heaven , with his mighty Angels , then comes your Rest ; for , for the grave , the body lies still , but it is not a Rest , because it is not sensible of that lying still ; In heaven the body shall rest , rest in the sense of that glory . This Rest then is not here , Not onely not Here , at this Here was taken in the first interpretation , Here in the Earth ; but not Here in the second interpretation , not in Repentance it selfe ; for all the Rest of this life , even the spirituall Rest , is rather a Truce , then a peace , rather a Cessation , then an end of the war. For when these words , ( I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians , Every one shall fight against his brother , and every one against his neighbour , City against City , and Kingdome against Kingdome ) may be interpreted , and are so interpreted of the time of the Gospell of Christ Jesus , when Christ himselfe says , Nolite putare quod venerim mittere pacem in terrâ , Never think that I came to settle peace , or Rest in this world ; Nay , when Christ sayes , None of them that were bidden shall come to his supper , and that may be verified of any Congregation , none of us that are call'd now , shall come to that Rest , a Man may be at a security in an opinion of Rest , and be far from it ; A man may be neerer Rest in a troubled Conscience , then in a secure . Here we have often Resurrections , that is , purposes to depart from sin : but they are such Resurrections , as were at the time of Christs Resurrection : when ( as the strongest opinion is ) Resurrexerunt iterum morituri , Many of the dead rose , but they died again ; we rise from our sins here , but here we fall again ; Monumenta aperta sunt ; ( it is Saint Hierome's note , ) The graves were opened , presently upon Christs death ; but yet the bodies did not arise , till Christs Resurrection : The godly have an opening of their graves , they see some light , some of their weight , some of their Earth is taken from them , but a Resurrection to enter into the City , to follow the Lamb , to come into an established security , that they have not , till they be united to Christ in heaven . Here we are still subject to relapses , and to looking back ; Memento uxoris L●t , Ipsa in loco manet , transeuntes monet , Shee is fixed to a place , that she might settle those , that are not fix'd ; Vt quid in statuam salis conversa , si non homines , ut sapiant , condiat ? to teach us the danger of looking back , till we be fix'd , she is fix'd . When the Prophet● Eliah● was at the dore of Desperation , an Angell touch'd him , and said , Vp , and eat : and there was bread , and water provided , and he did eat ; but he slept again ; and we have some of these excitations , and we come , and eat , and drink , even the body , and bloud of Christ , but we sleep again , we doe not perfect the work . Our Rest Here then , is never without a fear of losing it : This is our best state , To fear le●t at any time , by forsaking the promise of entring into his rest , we should seem to be depriv'd . The Apostle disputes not , ( neither doe I ) whether we can be depriv'd or no ; but he assures us , that we may fall back so far , as that to the Church , and to our own Consciences we may seem to be depriv'd ; and that 's argument enough , that here is no Rest. To end all , though there be no Rest in all this world , no not in our sanctification here , yet this being a Consolation , there must be rest some where ; And it is , In superna Civitate , unde amicus non exit , quâ inimicus non intrat , In that City , in that Hierusalem , where there shall never enter any man , whom we doe not love , nor any goe from us , whom we doe love . Which , though we have not yet , yet we shall have : for upon those words , ( because I live , ye shall live also ) Saint Augustine sayes , that because his Resurrection was to follow so soon , Christ takes the present word , because I doe live . But because their life was not to be had here , he says , Vivetis , you shall live , in heaven ; not Vivitis ; for here , we doe not live . So , as in Adam we all die , even so in Christ shall all be made alive ; says the Apostle : All our deaths are here , present now ; now we dy ; our quickning is reserv'd for heaven , that 's future . And therefore let us attend that Rest , as patiently as we doe the things of this world , and not doubt of it therefore , because we see it not yet : even in this world we consider invisible things , more then visible ; Vidimus pelagus , non autem mercedem , The Merchant sees the tempestuous Sea , when he does not see the commodities , which he goes for : Videmus terram , non autem messem , The Husbandman sees the Earth , and his labour , when he sees no harvest ; and for these hopes , that there will be a gain to the Merchant , and a harvest to the Labourer , Naturae fidimus , we rely upon Creatures ; for our Resurrection , fide us●orem habemus Coranatum ; Not Nature , not Sea , nor Land , is our surety , but our surety is one , who is already crown'd , with that Resurrection . Num in hominibus terrae legenera● , quae omnia regenerat , sayes Saint Ambrose , will the earth , that gives a new life to all Creatures , faile in us , and hold us in an everlasting winter , without a spring , and a Resurrection ? Certainly no ; but if we be content so to depart into the wombe of the Earth , our grave , as that we know that , to be but the Entry into glory , as we depart contentedly , so we shall arise gloriously , to that place , where our eternall Rest shall be , though here there be not our Rest ; for he that shoots an arrow at a mark , yet means to put that arrow into his Quiver again ; and God that glorifies himselfe , in laying down our bodies in the grave , means also to glorifie them , in reaffirming them to himselfe , at the last day . SERMON XI . Preached at Lincolns Inne , preparing them to build their Chappell . G●N . 28. 16 , 17. Then Iacob aw●ke out of his sleep , and said , Surely the Lord is in this place , and I was not aware . And he was afraid , and said , Now fearfull us this place ! This is none other but the House of God , and this is the gate of Heaven . IN these verses Iacob is a Surveyor , he considers a fit place for the house of God ; and in the very next verse , he is a Builder , he erects Bethel , the house of God it selfe . All was but a drowsinesse , but a sleep , till he came to this Consideration ; as soon as he awoke , he took knowledge of a fit place ; as soon as he found the place , he went about the work . But to that we shall not come yet . But this Text , being a preparation for the building of a house to God , though such a house as Iacob built then , require no contribution , yet because such Churches , as we build now , doe , we shall first say a little , of that great vertue of Charity ; and then somewhat of that vertue , as it is exercis'd by advancing the house of God , and his outward worship ; And thirdly we shall consider Iacob's steps , and proceedings , in this action of his . This vertue then , Charity , is it , that conducts its in this life , and accompanies us in the next . In heaven , where we shall know God , there may be no use of faith ; In heaven , where we shall see God , there may be no use of hope ; but in heaven , where God the Father , and the Son , love one another in the Holy Ghost , the bond of charity shall everlastingly unite us together . But Charitas in patria , and Charitas in via , differ m this , That there we shall love one another because we shall not need one another , for we shall all be full● Here the exercise of our charity is , because we doe stand in need of one another . Dives & pauper duo sunt sibi contraria ; sed iterum duo sunt sibi necessaria ; Rich , and poor are contrary to one another , but yet both necessary to one another ; They are both necessary to one another ; but the poor man is the more necessary ; because though one man might be rich , though no man were poor , yet he could have no exercise of his charity , he could send none of his riches to heaven , to help him there , except there were some poor here . He that is too fat , would fain devest some of that , though he could give that to no other man , that lack'd it ; And shall not he that is wantonly pampered , nay , who is heavily laden , and encombred with temporall abundances , be content to discharge himself of some of that , wherewith he is over-straighted , upon those poor souls , whom God hath not made poor for any sin of theirs , or of their fathers , but onely to present rich men exercise of their charity , and occasions of testifying their love to Christ ; who having given himselfe , to convey salvation upon thee , if that conveyance may be sealed to thee , by giving a little of thine own , is it not an easie purchase ? When a poore wretch beggs of thee , and thou givest , thou dost but justice , it is his . But when he begs of God for thee , and God gives thee , this is mercy ; this was none of thine . When we shall come to our Redde rationem villicationis , to give an accompt of our Stewardship , when we shall not measure our inheritance by Acres , but all heaven shall be ours , and we shall follow the Lamb , wheresoever he goes , when our estate , and term shall not be limited by years , and lives , but , as we shall be in the presence of the Ancient of dayes , so our dayes shall be so far equall to his , as that they shall be without end ; Then will our great Merchants , great practisers , great purchasers , great Contracters , find another language , another style , then they have been accustom'd to , here . There no man shall be call'd a prodigall , but onely the Covetous man ; Onely he that hath been too diligent a keeper , shall appear to have been an unthrift , and to have wasted his best treasure , the price of the bloud of Christ Iesue , his own soule . There no man shall be call'd good security , but he that hath made sure his salvation . No man shall be call'd a Subsidy man , but he that hath relieved Christ Jesus ; in his sick , and hungry Members . No man shall be call'd a wise Steward , but he that hath made friends of the wicked Mammon ; Nor provident Merchant , but he that sold all to buy the pearle ; Nor a great officer , but he that desires to be a dore-keeper in the kingdome of Heaven . Now , every man hath a key to this dore of heaven . Every man hath some means to open it ; every man hath an oyle to anoint this key , and make it turn easily ; he may goe with more case to Heaven , then he doth to Hell. Every man hath some means to pour this oile of gladnesse and comfort into anothers heart ; No man can say , Quid retribuam tibi Domine ; Lord what have I to give thee ? for every man hath something to give God : Money , or labor , or counsail , or prayers . Every man can give , and he gives to God , who gives to them that need it , for his sake . Come not to that expostulation , When did we see thee hungry , or sick , or imprisoned , and did not minister ? Nor to that , Quid retribuam , What can I give , that lack my selfe : lest God come also to that silence , and wearinesse of asking at thy hands , to say , as he sayes in the Psalme , If I be hungry , I will not tell thee ; That though he have given thee abundance , though he lack himselfe in his children , yet he will not tell thee , he will not ask at thy hands , he will not enlighten thine understanding , he will not awaken thy charity , he will not give thee any occasion of doing good , with that which he hath given thee . But God hath given thee a key : yea as he sayes to the Church of Philadelphia , Behold I set before thee an open dore , and no man can shut it . Thou hast a gate into Heaven in thy selfe ; If thou beest not sensible of others mens poverties , and distresses , yet Miserere animae tuae , have mercy on thine own soule ; thou hast a poor guest , an Inmate , a sojourner , within these mudwals , this corrupt body of thine ; be mercifull and compassionate to that Soule ; cloath that Soul , which is stripp'd and left naked , of all her originall righteousnesse ; feed that Soule , which thou hast starv'd ; purge that Soule , which thou hast infected ; warm , and thaw that Soul ; which thou hast frozen with indevotion ; coole , and quench that Soul which thou hast inflamed with licentiousness ; Miserere animae tuae , begin with thine own Soule ; be charitable to thy self first , and thou wilt remember , that God hath made of one bloud , all Mankind , and thou wilt find out thy selfe , in every other poor Man , and thou wilt find Christ Jesus himselfe in them all . Now of those divers gates , which God opens in this life , those divers exercises of charity , the particular which we are occasion'd to speak of here , is not the cloathing , nor feeding of Christ , but the housing of him , The providing Christ a house , a dwelling ; whether this were the very place , where Solomons Temple was after built , is perplexedly , and perchance , impertinently controverted by many ; but howsoever , here was the house of God , and here was the gate of Heaven . It is true , God may be devoutly worshipped any where ; In omni loco dominationis ejus benedic anima mea Domino ; In all places of his dominion , my Soule shall praise the Lord , sayes David . It is not only a concurring of men , a meeting of so many bodies that makes a Church ; If thy soule , and body be met together , an humble preparation of the mind , and a reverent disposition of the body , if thy knees be bent to the earth , thy hands and eyes lifted up to heaven , if thy tongue pray , and praise , and thine ears hearken to his answer , if all thy senses , and powers , and faculties , be met with one unanime purpose to worship thy God , thou art , to this intendment , a Church , thou art a Congregation , here are two or three met together in his name , and he is in the midst of them , though thou be alone in thy chamber . The Church of God should be built upon a Rock , and yet Iob had his Church upon a Dunghill ; The bed is a scene , and an embleme of wantonnesse , and yet Hezekiah had his Church in his Bed ; The Church is to be placed upon the top of a Hill , and yet the Prophet Ieremy had his Church in Luto , in a miry Dungeon ; Constancy , and setlednesse belongs to the Church , and yet Ionah had his Church in the Whales belly ; The Lyon that roares , and seeks whom he may devour , is an enemy to this Church , and yet Daniel had his Church in the Lions den ; Aquae quietudinum , the waters of rest in the Psalme , were a figure of the Church , and yet the three children had their Church in the fiery furnace ; Liberty & life appertaine to the Church , and yet Peter , & Paul had their Church in prison , and the thiefe had his Church upon the Crosse. Every particular man is himselfe Templum Spiritus sancti , a Temple of the holy Ghost ; yea , Solvite templum hoc , destroy this body by death , and corruption in the grave , yet there shall be Festum encaeniorum , a renuing , a reedifying of all those Temples , in the generall Resurrection : when we shall rise againe , not onely as so many Christians , but as so many Christian Churches , to glorifie the Apostle , and High-priest of our profession , Christ Jesus , in that eternall Sabbath . In omni loco domi●ationis ejus , Every person , every place is fit to glorifie God in . God is not tyed to any place ; not by essence ; Implet & continendo implet , God fills every place , and fills it by containing that place in himselfe ; but he is tyed by his promise to a manifestation of himselfe , by working in some certain places . Though God were long before he required , or admitted a sumptuous Temple , ( for Solomons Temple was not built , in almost five hundred years after their returne out of Egypt ) though God were content to accept their worship , and their sacrifices , at the Tabernacle , ( which was a transitory , and moveable Temple ) yet at last he was so carefull of his house , as that himselfe gave the modell , and platforme of it ; and when it was built , and after repaired again , he was so jealous of appropriating , and confining all his solemne worship to that particular place , as that he permitted that long schisme , and dissention , between the Samaritans , and the Iews , onely about the place of the worship of God ; They differed not in other things : but whether in Mount Sion , or in Mount Garizim . And the feast of the dedication of this Temple , which was yearly celebrated , received so much honor , as that Christ himselfe vouchsafed to be personally present at that solemnity ; though it were a feast of the institution of the Church , and not of God immediatly , as their other festivalls were , yet Christ forbore not to observe it , upon that pretence , that it was but the Church that had appointed it to be observed . So that , as in all times , God had manifested , and exhibited himselfe in some particular places , more then other , ( in the Pillar in the wildernesse , and in the Tabernacle , and in the poole , which the Angell troubled ) so did Christ himselfe , by his owne presence , ceremoniously , justifie , and authorise this dedication of places consecrated to Gods outward worship , not onely once , but anniversarily by a yearly celebration thereof . To descend from this great Temple at Jerusalem , to which God had annexed his solemne , and publique worship , the lesser Synagogues , and Chappell 's of the Iews , in other places , were ever esteemed great testimonies of the sanctity and piety of the founders , for Christ accepts of that reason which was presented to him , in the behalfe of the Centurion , He is worthy that thou shouldst do this for him , for he loveth our Nation ; And how hath he testified it ? He hath built us a Synagogue . He was but a stranger to them , and yet he furthered , and advanced the service of God amongst them , of whose body he was no member . This was that Centurions commendation ; Et quanto commedatior qui adificat Ecclesiam , How much more commendation deserve they , that build a Church for Christian service ? And therefore the first Christians made so much haste to the expressing of their devotion , that even in the Apostles time , for all their poverty , and persecution , they were come to have Churches : as most of the Fathers , and some of our later Expositors , understand these words , ( Have ye not houses to eate and drinke , or doe ye despise the Church of God ? ) to be spoken , not of the Church as it is a Congregation , but of the Church as it is a Material building . Yea , if we may beleeve some authors , that are pretended to be very ancient , there was one Church dedicated to the memory of Saint Iohn , and another by Saint Marke , to the memory of Saint Peter , whilest yet both Saint John , and Saint Peter were alive . Howsoever , it is certaine , that the purest and most innocent times , even the infancy of the Primitive Church , found this double way of expressing their devotion , in this particular of building Churches , first that they built them onely to the honour , and glory of God , without giving him any partner , and then they built them for the conserving of the memory of those blessed servants of God , who had sealed their profession with their bloud , and at whose Tombs , God had done such Miracles , as these times needed , for the propagation of his Church . They built their Churches principally for the glory of God , but yet they added the names of some of his blessed servants and Martyrs ; for so says he , ( who as he was Peters successor , so he is the most sensible feeler , and most earnest , and powerfull promover and expresser , of the dignities of Saint Peter , of all the Fathers ) speaking of Saint Peters Church , Beato Petri Basilica , quae uni Deo vero & vivo dicata est , Saint Peters Church is dedicated to the onely living God ; They are things compatible enough to beare the name of a Saint , and yet to be dedicated to God. There the bodies of the blessed Martyrs , did peacefully attend their glorification ; There the Histories of the Martyrs were recited and proposed to the Congregation , for their example , and imitation ; There the names of the Martyrs were inserted into the publique prayers , and liturgies , by way of presenting the thanks of the Congregation to God , for having raised so profitable men in the Church ; and there the Church did present their prayers to God , for those Martyrs , that God would hasten their glory , and finall consummation , in reuniting their bodies , and soules , in a joyfull resurrection . But yet though this divers mention were made of the Saints of God , in the house of God , Non Martyres ipsi , sed Deus ●orum , nobis est Deus , onely God , and not those Martyrs , is our God ; we and they serve all one Master ; we dwell all in one house ; in which God hath appointed us severall services ; Those who have done their days work , God hath given them their wages , and hath given them leave to goe to bed ; they have laid down their bodies in peace to sleep there , till the Sunne rise againe ; till the Sunne of grace and glory , Christ Iesus , appeare in judgment ; we that are yet left to work , and to watch , we must goe forward in the services of God in his house , with that moderation , and that equality , as that we worship onely our Master , but yet despise not our fellow servants , that are gone before us : That we give to no person , the glory of God , but that we give God the more glory , for having raised such servants : That we acknowledge the Church to be the house onely of God , and that we admit no Saint , no Martyr , to be a lointenant with him ; but yet that their memory may be an encouragement , yea and a seale to us , that that peace , and glory , which they possesse , belongs also unto us in reversion , and that therefore we may cheerfully gratulate their present happinesse , by a devout commemoration of them , with such a temper , and evennesse , as that we neither dishonor God , by attributing to them , that which is inseparably his , nor dishonor them in taking away that which is theirs , in removing their Names out of the Collects , and prayers of the Church , or their Monuments , and memorialls out of the body of the Church : for , those respects to them , the first Christian founders of Churches did admit in those pure times , when Illa obsequia , ornamenta memoriarum , n●n sacrificia mortuorum , when those devotions in their names , were onely commemorations of the dead , not sacrifices to the dead , as they are made now in the Romane Church : when Bellarmine will needs falsifie Chrysostome , to read Adoramus monumenta , in stead of Adornamus ; and to make that which was but an Adorning , an adoring of the Tombes of the Martyrs . This then was in all times , a religious work , an acceptable testimony of devotion , to build God a house ; to contribute something to his outward glory . The goodnesse , and greatnesse of which work , appears evidently , and shines gloriously , even in those severall names , by which the Church was called , and styled , in the writings , and monuments of the Ancient Fathers , and the Ecclesiastique story . It may serve to our edification ( at least ) and to the axalting of our devotion , to consider some few of them : First then the Church was called Ecclesia , that is , a company , a Congregation ; That whereas from the time of Iohn Baptist , the kingdome of heaven suffers violence , and every violent Man , that is , every earnest , and zealous , and spiritually valiant Man , may take hold of it , we may be much more sure of doing so , in the Congregation , Quando ag●●ine fact● Deum obsidemus , when in the whole body , we Muster our forces , and besiege God. For , here in the congregation , not onely the kingdome of heaven , is fallen into our hands , The kingdome of heaven is amongst you , ( as Christ says ) but the King of heaven is fallen into our hands ; When two , or three are gathered together in my Name , I will be in the midst of you ; not onely in the midst of us , to encourage us , but in the midst of us , to be taken by us , to be bound by us , by those hands , those covenants , those contracts , those rich , and sweet promises , which he hath made , and ratified unto us in his Gospell . A second name of the Church 〈◊〉 in use , was Dominicum : The Lords possession ; It is absolutely , it is intirely his ; And therefore , as to shorten , and contract the possession and inheritance of God , the Church , so much , as to confine the Church onely within the obedience of Rome , ( as the Donatists imprisoned it in Afrique ) or to change the Landmarks of Gods possession , and inheritance , which is the Church ; either to set up new works , of outward prosperity , or of personall , and Locall succession of Bishops , or to remove the old , and true marks , which are the Word , and Sacraments , as this is Injuria Dominico mystico , a wrong to the mysticall body of Christ , the Church , so is it Injuria Dominico materiali , an injury to the Materiall body of Christ sacrilegiously to dilapidate , to despoile , or to demolish the possession of the Church , and so farre to remove the marks of Gods inheritance , as to mingle that amongst your temporall revenues , that God may never have , nor ever distinguish his owne part againe . And then ( to passe faster over these names ) It is called Domus Dei , Gods dwelling house . Now , his most glorious Creatures are but vehicula Dei ; they are but chariots , which convey God , and bring him to our sight ; The Tabernacle it selfe was but Mobilis domus , and Ecclesia portatilis , a house without a foundation ; a running , a progresse house : but the Church is his standing house ; there are his offices fixed : there are his provisions , which fat the Soule of Man , as with marrow and with fatnesse , his precious bloud , and body : there work his seales ; there beats his Mint ; there is absolution , and pardon for past sinnes , there is grace for prevention of future in his Sacraments . But the Church is not onely Domus Dei , but Basilica ; not onely his house , but his Court : he doth not onely dwell there , but reigne there : which multiplies the joy of his houshold servants : The Lord reigneth , let all the earth rejoyce , yea let the multitude of the Islands be glad thereof . That the Church was usually called Martyrium , that is , a place of Confession , where we open our wounds and receive our remedy , That it was called Oratorium , where we might come , and aske necessary things at Gods hands , all these teach us our severall duties in that place , and they adde to their spirituall comfort , who have been Gods instruments , for providing such places , as God may be glorified in , and the godly benefited in all these ways . But of all Names , which were then usually given to the Church , the name of Temple seems to be most large , and significant , as they derive it à Tuendo ; for Tueri signifies both our beholding , and contemplating God in the Church : and it signifies Gods protecting , and defending those that are his , in his Church : Tueri embraces both ; And therefore , though in the very beginning of the Primitive Church , to depart from the custome , and language , and phrase of the Iews , and Gentiles , as farre as they could , they did much abstain from this name of Temple , and of Priest , so that till Ireneus time , some hundred eighty years after Christ , we shall not so often find those words , Temple , or Priest , yet when that danger was overcome , when the Christian Church , and doctrine was established , from that time downward , all the Fathers did freely , and safely call the Church the Temple , and the Ministers in the Church , Priests , as names of a religious , and pious signification ; where before out of a loathnesse to doe , or say any thing like the Iews , or Gentiles , where a concurrence with them , might have been misinterpretable , and of ill consequence , they had called the Church by all those other names , which we passed through before ; and they called their Priests , by the name of Elders , Presbyteros : but after they resumed the use of the word Temple againe , as the Apostle had given a good patterne , who to expresse the principall holinesse of the Saints of God , he chooses to doe it , in that word , ye are the Temples of the holy Ghost : which should encline us to that moderation , that when the danger of these ceremonies which corrupt times had corrupted , is taken away , we should returne to a love of that Antiquity , which did purely , and harmelesly induce them : when there is no danger of abuse , there should be no difference for the use of things , ( in themselves indifferent ) made necessary by the just commandement of lawfull authority . Thus then you see as farre ( as the narrownesse of the time will give us leave to expresse it ) the generall manner of the best times , to declare devotion towards God , to have been in appropriating certaine places to his worship ; And since it is so in this particular history of Iacobs proceeding in my text , I may be hold to invert these words of David , Nisi Deus aedificaverit domum , unlesse the Lord doe build the house , in vaine doe the labourers work , thus much , as to say , Nisi Domino aedificaveritis domum , except thou build a house for the Lord , in vaine dost thou goe about any other buildings , or any other businesse in this world . I speake not meerly literally of building Materiall Chappell 's ; ( yet I would speake also to further that ; ) but I speake principally of building such a Church , as every man may build in himselfe : for whensoever we present our prayers , and devotions deliberately , and advisedly to God , there we consecrate that place , there we build a Church . And therefore , beloved , since every master of a family , who is a Bishop in his house , should call his family together , to humble , and powre out their soules to God , let him consider , that when he comes to kneele at the side of his table , to pray , he comes to build a Church there ; and therefore should sanctifie that place , with a due , and penitent consideration how voluptuously he hath formerly abused Gods blessings at that place , how superstitiously , and idolatrously he hath flatter'd and humour'd some great and usefull ghests invited by him to that place , how expensively , he hath served his owne ostentation and vain-glory , by excessive feasts at that place , whilest Lazarus hath lien panting , and gasping at the gate ; and let him consider what a dangerous Mockery this is to Christ Iesus , if he pretend by kneeling at that table , fashionally to build Christ a Church by that solemnity at the table side , and then crucifie Christ again , by these sinnes , when he is sat at the table . When thou kneelest down at thy bed side , to shut up the day at night , or to beginne it in the morning , thy servants , thy children , thy little flock about thee , there thou buildest a Church too : And therefore sanctifie that place ; wash it with thy tears , and with a repentant consideration ; That in that bed thy children were conceived in sinne , that in that bed thou hast turned mariage which God afforded thee for remedy , and physique to voluptuosnesse , and licenciousnesse ; That thou hast made that bed which God gave thee for rest , and for reparation of thy weary body , to be as thy dwelling , and delight , and the bed of idlenesse , and stupidity . Briefly , you that are Masters , continue in this building of Churches , that is , in drawing your families to pray , and praise God , and sanctifie those severall places of bed , and board , with a right use of them ; And for you that are servants , you have also foundations of Churches in you , if you dedicate all your actions , consecrate all your services principally to God , and respectively to them , whom God hath placed over you . But principally , let all of all sorts , who present themselves at this table , consider , that in that receiving his body , and his bloud , every one doth as it were conceive Christ Jesus anew ; Christ Jesus hath in every one of them , as it were a new incarnation , by uniting himselfe to them in these visible signes . And therefore let no Man come hither , without a search , and a privy search , without a consideration , and re-consideration of his conscience . Let him that beganne to think of it , but this morning , stay till the next . When Moses pulled his hand first out of his bosome , it was white as snow , but it was leprous ; when he pulled it the second time , it was of the color of flesh , but it was sound . When thou examinest thy conscience but once , but flightly , it may appear , white as snow , innocent ; but examine it againe , and it will confesse many fleshly infirmities , and then it is the sounder for that ; though not for the infirmity , yet for the confession of the infirmity . Neither let that hand , that reaches out to this body , in a guiltinesse of pollution , and uncleannesse , or in a guiltinesse of extortion , or undeserved see , ever hope to signe a conveyance , that shall fasten his inheritance upon his children , to the third generation , ever hope to assigne a will that shall be observed after his death ; ever hope to lift up it selfe for mercy to God , at his death ; but his case shall be like the case of Iudas , if the devill have put in his heart , to betray Christ , to make the body and bloud of Christ Jesus false witnesses to the congregation of his hypocriticall sanctity , Satan shall enter into him , with this sop , and seale his condemnation . Beloved , in the bowels of that Jesus , who is coming into you , even in spirituall riches , it is an unthrifty thing , to anticipate your monies , to receive your rents , before they are due : and this treasure of the soule , the body , and bloud of your Saviour , is not due to you yet , if you have not yet passed , a mature , and a severe examination , of your conscience . It were better that your particular friends , or that the congregation , should observe in you , an abstinence and forbearing to day , and make what interpretation , they would of that forbearing then that the holy Ghost should deprehend you , in an unworthy receiving ; lest , as the Master of the feast said to him that came without his wedding garment , then when he was set , Amice quomodo intrâsti , friend how came you in ? so Christ should say to thee , then when thou art upon thy knees , and hast taken him into thy hands , Amice quomodo intrabo , friend how can I enter into thee , who hast not swept thy house , who hast made no preparation for me ? But to those that have , he knocks and he enters , and he ●ups with them , and he is a supper to them . And so this consideration of making Churches of our houses , and of our hearts , leads us to a third part , the particular circumstances , in Iacobs action . In which there is such a change , such a dependence , whether we consider the Metall , or the fashion , the severall doctrines , or the sweetnesse , and easinesse , of raising them , as scarce in any other place , a fuller harmony . The first linke is the Tunc Iacob , then Iacob ; which is a Tunc consequentiae , rather then a Tunc temporis ; It is not so much , at what time Iacob did , or said this , as upon what occasion . The second linke is , Quid operatum , what this wrought upon Iacob ; It awaked him out of his sleep , A third is Quid ille , what he did , and that was , Et dixit , he came to an open profession of that , which he conceived , he said ; and a fourth is , Quid dixit , what this profession was ; And in that , which is a branch with much fruit , a pregnant part , a part containing many parts , thus much is considerable , that he presently acknowledged , and assented to their light which was given him , the Lord is in this place ; And he acknowledged his owne darknesse , till that light came upon him , Et ego nesciebam , I knew it not ; And then upon this light received , he admitted no scruple , no hesitation , but came presently to a confident assurance , Verè Dominus , surely , of a certainty , the Lord is in this place ; And then another doctrine is , Et timuit , he was afraid ; for all his confidence he had a reverentiall feare ; not a distrust , but a reverent respect to that great Majesty ; and upon this feare , there is a second , Et dixit , he spoke againe ; this feare did not stupifie him , he recovers againe and discerned the manifestation of God , in that particular place , Quam terribilis , how fearfull is this place ; And then the last linke of this chaine is , Quid inde , what was the effect of all this ; and that is , that he might erect a Monument , and marke for the worship of God in this place , Quia non nisi domus , because this is none other then the house of God , and the gate of heaven . Now I have no purpose to make you afraid of enlarging all these points : I shall onely passe through some of them , paraphrastically , and trust them with the rest , ( for they insinuate one another ) and trust your christianly meditation with them all . The first linke then is , the Tunc Iacob , the occasion , ( then Iocob did this ) which was , that God had revealed to Iocob , that vision of the ladder , whose foot stood upon earth , and whose top reached to heaven , upon which ladder God stood , and Angels went up and down . Now this ladder is for the most part , understood to be Christ himselfe ; whose foot , that touched the earth , is his humanity , and his top that reached to heaven , his Divinity ; The ladder is Christ , and upon him the Angels , ( his Ministers ) labour for the edifying of the Church ; And in this labour , upon this ladder , God stands above it , governing , and ordering all things , according to his providence in his Church . Now when this was revealed to Iacob , now when this is revealed to you , that God hath let fall a ladder , a bridge between heaven , and earth , that Christ , whose divinity departed not from heaven , came downe to us into this world , that God the father stands upon this ladder , as the Originall hath it , Nitzab , that he leanes upon this ladder , as the vulgar hath it , Innixus scalae , that he rests upon it , as the holy Ghost did , upon the ●ame ladder , that is , upon Christ , in his baptisme , that upon this ladder , which stretches so farre , and is provided so well , the Angels labour , the Ministers of God doe their offices , when this was , when this is manifested , then it became Iacob , and now it becomes every Christian , to doe something for the advancing of the outward glory , and worship of God in his Church : when Christ is content to be this ladder , when God is content to govern this ladder , when the Angels are content to labour upon this ladder , which ladder is Christ , and the Christian Church , shall any Christian Man forbeare his help to the necessary building , and to the sober and modest adorning of the materiall Church of God ? God studies the good of the Church , Angels labour for it ; and shall Man , who is to receive all the profit of this , doe nothing ? This is the Tunc Iacob ; when there is a free preaching of the Gospell , there should be a free , and liberall disposition , to advance his house . Well ; to make haste , the second linke is Quid operatum , what this wrought upon Iacob : and it is , Iacob awoke out of his sleep . Now in this place , the holy Ghost imputes no sinfull sleep to Iacob ; but it is a naturall sleep of lassitude and wearinesse after his travell , there is an ill sleep , an indifferent , and a good sleep , which is that heavenly sleep , that tranquillity , which that soul , which is at peace with God , and divided from the storms , and distractions of this world , enjoys in it selfe . That peace , which made the blessed Martyrs of Christ Jesus sleep upon the rack , upon the burning coales , upon the points of swords , when the persecutors were more troubled to invent torments , then the Christians to suffer . That sleep , from which , ambition , not danger , no nor when their own house is on fire , ( that is , their own concupiscences ) cannot awaken them ; not so awaken them , that it can put them out of their own constancy , and peacefull confidence in God. That sleep , which is the sleep of the spouse , Ego dormio , sed cor meum vigil●t , I sleep , but my heart is awake ; It was no dead sleep when shee was able to speak advisedly in it , and say she was asleep , and what sleep it was : It was no stupid sleep , when her heart was awake . This is the sleep of the Saints of God , which Saint Gregory describes , Sancti non t●rpore ; sed virtue s●piuntur ; It is not sluggishnesse , but innocence , and a good conscience , that casts them asleep . Laboriosi●s dormium , they are busier in their sleep , nay , Vigita●●ius , dor●●iunt ; they are more awake in their sleep , then the watchfull men of this world ; for when they close their eyes in meditation of God , even their dreames are services to him , S●mniant se dicere Psalmos , says Saint Ambrose ; they dream that they sing psalmes ; and they doe more then dream it , they do sing . But yet even from this holy , and religious sleep ( which is a departing from the allurements of the world , and a retiring to the onely contemplation of heaven , and heavenly things ) Iacob may be conceived to have awaked , and we must awake ; It is note enough to shut our selves in a cloister , in a Monastery , to sleep out the tentations of the world , but since the ladder is placed , the Church established , since God , and the Angels are awake in this businesse , in advancing the Church , we also must labour , in our severall vocations , and not content our selves with our own spirituall sleep ; the peace of conscience in our selves ; for we cannot have that long , if we doe not some good to others . When the storm had almost drown'd the ship , Christ was at his ease in that storm , asleep upon a pillow . Now Christ was in no danger himself ; All the water of Noahs flood , multiplyed over again by every drop , could not have drown'd him . All the swords of an Army could not have killed him , till the houre was come , when hee was pleased to lay down his soul. But though he were safe , yet they awaked him , and said , Master car'st thou not though we perish ? So though a man may be in a good state , in a good peace of conscience , and sleep confidently in it , yet other mens necessities must awaken him , and though perchance he might passe more safely , if he might live a retired life , yet upon this ladder some Angels ascended , some descended , but none stood still but God himself . Till we come to him , to sleep an eternall Sabbath in heaven , though this religious sleep of enjoying or retiring and contemplation of God , be a heavenly thing , yet we must awake even out of this sleep , and contribute our paines , to the building , or furnishing , or serving of God in his Church . Out of a sleep ( conceive it what sleep soever ) Iacob awaked ; and then , Quid ille ? what did he ? Dixit , he spoke , he entred presently into an open profession of his thoughts , he smother'd nothing , he disguised nothing . God is light , and loves cleernesse ; thunder , and wind , and tempests , and chariots , and roaring of Lyons , and falling of waters are the ordinary emblems of his messages , and his messengers in the Scriptures . Christ who is Sapientia Dei , the wisdome of God , is Verb●● , Serm● Dei , the word of God , he is the wisdome , and the uttering of the wisdome of God , as Christ is express'd to be the word , so a Christians duty is to speak dearly , and professe his religion . With how much scorn and reproach Saint Cyprian fastens the name of Libellatices upon them , who in time of persecution durst not say they were Christians , but under-hand compounded with the State , that they might live unquestioned , undiscovered , for though they kept their religion in their heart , yet Christ was defrauded of his honour . And such a reproach , and scorn belongs to them , who for fear of losing wordly preferments , and titles , and dignities , and rooms at great Tables , dare not say , of what religion they are . Beloved , it is not enough to awake out of an ill sleep of sinne , or of ignorance , or out of a good sleep , out of a retirednesse , and take some profession , if you winke , or hide your selves , when you are awake , you shall not see the Ladder , not discern Christ , nor the working of his Angels , that is , the Ministery of the Church , and the comforts therein , you shall not hear that Harmony of the quire of heaven , if you will bear no part in it ; an inward acknowledgment of Christ is not enough , if you forbear to professe him , where your testimony might glorify him . Si sufficeret fides cordis , non creasset tibi Deus ●s , If the heart were enough , God would never have made a mouth ; And to that , we may adde , Si sufficeret os , non creasset manus , if the mouth were enough , God would never have made hands ; for as the same Father says , Omni tuba clarior est per opera 〈◊〉 , no voice more audible , none more credible , then when thy hands speak as well as thy heart or thy tongue ; Thou art then perfectly awaked out of thy sleep , when thy words and works declare , and manifest it . The next is , Quid dixit ; be spake , but what said he ● first , he assented to that light which was given him . The Lord is in his place . He resisted not this light , he went not about to blow it out , by admitting reason , or disputation against it . He imputed it not to witchcraft , to illusion of the Devill ; but Dominus est in loco isto , The Lord is in this place ; O how many heavy sinnes , how many condemnations might we avoid , if wee would but take knowledge of this , Dominus in loco isto , That the Lord is present , and sees us now , and shall judge hereafter , all that we doe , or think . It keeps a man sometimes from corrupting , or solliciting a woman , to say , Peter , Maritus in loco , the Father , or the Husband is present ; it keeps a man from an usurious contract to say , Lex in loco , the Law will take knowledge of it ; it keeps a man from slandering or calummating another , to say , Testis in loco , here is a witnesse by ; but this is Catholica Medicina , and Omni morbia , an universall medicine for all , to say , Dominus in loco , The Lord is in this place , and sees , and hea●es , and therefore I will say , and think , and do , as if I were now summon'd by the last● Trumpet , to give an account of my thoughts , and words , and deeds to him . But the Lord was there and Iacob knew it not . As he takes knowledge by the first light of Gods presence , so he acknowledges that he had none of this light , of himself , Ego nesciebam , Iacob a Patriarch and dearly beloved of God , knew not that God was so near him . How much lesse shall a sinfull man , that multiples sinnes , like clouds between God and him , know , that God is near him ? As Saint Augustine said , when hee came out of curiousty to hear Saint Ambrose preach at Mila● , without any desire of profiting thereby , Appropinquavi , & vesciebam , I came 〈◊〉 God , but knew it not ; So the customary and habituall sinners , may say , Elo●gavi , & nisciebam , I have ●loyn'd my selfe , I have gone farther , and farther from my God , and was never sensible of it ; It is a desperate Ignorance , not to bee sensible of Gods absence ; but to acknowledge with Iacob , that we cannot see light , but by that light , that we cannot know Gods presence but by his revealing of himself , is a religious , and a Christian humility . To know it by Reason , by Philosophy , is a dimme and a faint knowledge , but onely by the testimony of his own spirit , and his own revealing , we come to that confidence , Verè Domine , Surely the Lord is in this place . Est apud 〈◊〉 , sed de●●●●lans , God is with the wicked , but he dissembles his beeing there , that is , conceals it , he will not be known of it ; Et 〈◊〉 , mal●rum dissi●●●latio quodammodo Veritas non est , when God winks at mens sinnes , when he dissembles , or disguises his knowledge , we may almost say , says Saint Bernard , Veritas non est , Here is not direct dealing , here is not intire truth , his presence is scarce a true presence . And therefore as the same Father proceeds , Si dicere licet , if we may be bold to expresse it so , Apud impios est , sed in dissimulatione , he is with the wicked , but yet he dissembles , he disguises his presence , he is there to no purpose , to no profit of theirs ; but Est apud justos in veritate , with the righteous he is in truth , and in clearnesse . Est apud Angel●s in foelicitate , with the Angels and Saints in heaven , he is in an established happinesse , Est apud inferos in feritate , he is in Hell in his ●ury , in an irrevocable , and undeterminable execution of his severity : God was surely , and truly with Iacob , and with all them , who are sensible of his approaches , and of his gracious manifestation of himself . Verè non erat apud eos quibus dixit , quid vocati●● me Dominum , & non facitis qua dixi vobis ? God is not truly with them , whom he rebukes for saying ; Why call ye 〈◊〉 Lord , and do not my Commandements ? but ubi in ejus nomive Angeli simul & homines congregantur , When Angels and men , Priest and people , the Preacher and the congregation labour together upon this Ladder , study the advancing of his Church ( as by the working of Gods gratious Spirit we doe at this time ) 〈◊〉 verè est & ibi verè Dominus est , surely he is in this place , and surely he is Lord in this place , he possesses , he fills us all , he governs us all : and as , though we say to him , Our Father which art in heaven , yet we beleeve that he is within these walls , so though we say Adveniat regnum tuum , thy kingdome come , we beleeve that his kingdome is come , and is amongst us in grace now , as it shall be in glory hereafter . When he was now throughly awake , when he was come to an open profession , when he acknowledged himselfe to stand in the sight of God , when he confessed his owne ignorance of Gods presence , and when after all he was come to a setled confidence , Verè Dominus , surely the Lord is here , yet it is added , Et timuit , and he was afraid . No man may thinke himselfe to bee come to that familiar acquaintance with God , as that it should take away that reverentiall feare which belongs to so high and supreme a Majesty . When the Angell appeared to the wife of Manoah , foretelling Samsons birth , she says to her husband , the fashion of him was like the fashion of the Angell of God ; what 's that ? Exceeding fearfull . When God appears to thy soule , even in mercy , in the forgivenes of thy sins , yet there belongs a fear even to this apprehension of mercy : Not a fearfull diffidence , not a distrust , but a fearfull consideration , of that height , and depth ; what a high Majesty thou hast offended , what a desperate depth thou wast falling into , what a fearfull thing it had been , to have fallen into the hands of the living God , and what an irrecoverable wretch thou hadst been , if God had not manifested himselfe , to have been in that place , with thee And therefore though he have appeared unto thee in mercy , yet be afraid , lest he goe away againe ; As Manoab prayed , and said , I beseech thee my Lord , let the Man of God , whom thou sentest , come againe unto us , and teach us , what we shall doe with the child ; when he is born , so when God hath once appeared to thy soul in mercy , pray him to come again , and tell thee what thou shouldest doe with that mercy , how thou shouldest husband those first degrees of grace and of comfort , to the farther benefit of thy soule , and the farther glory of his name , and be afraid that thy dead flyes may putrefie his ointment ; those reliques of sinne , ( though the body of sinne , be crucified in thee ) which are left in thee , may overcome his graces : for upon those words , Pavor tenuit me & tremor , & emni●●ssa mea perterrita sunt , feare came upon me , and trembling , which made all my bones to shake , Saint Gregory says well , Quid per ●ssa nisi fortia act a designantur , our good deeds , our strongest works and those which were done in the best strength of grace , are meant by our bones , and yet ossa perterrita our strongest works tremble at the presence and examination of God. And therefore to the like purpose ( upon those words of the Psalme ) the same Father says , Omnia ossa mea dicent , Domine quis similis tibi , all my bones say , Lord who is like unto thee ? Carnes meae , verba non habent , ( my fleshly parts , my carnall affections ) Infirma mea funditus silent , my sinnes ; or my infirmities dare not speak at all , not appear at all , Sed ossa mea , quae fortia credidi , sua consideratione tremiscunt , my very bones shake , there is no degree , no state neither of innocence , nor of repentance , nor of faith , nor of sanctification , above that fear of God : and he is least acquainted with God , who things that he is so familiar , that he need not stand in feare of him . But this fear hath no ill effect . It brings him to a second profession , Et dixit ; and he spoke againe . He waked , and then he spoke , as soon as he came out of ignorance ; He was afraid , and then he spoke againe that he might have an increase of grace . The earth stands still : and earthly Men may be content to doe so : but he whose conversation is in heaven , is as the heavens are in continuall progresse . For Inter profectum , & defectum & defectum , medium in hac vita non datur . A Christian is always in a proficiency , or deficiency : If he goe not forward , he goes backward . Nemo dicat , satis est , sic manere vol● ; Let no man say , I have done enough , I have made my profession already , I have been catechiz'd , I have been thought fit to receive the Communion , sufficit mihi esse sicut heri & nudiustertius ; though he be in the way , in the Church , yet he sleeps in the way , he is got no farther in the way , then his godfathers carried him in their armes , to engraffe him in the Church by Baptisme : for this man , says he , In via residet , in scala subsistit , quod nemo angelorum fecit , he stands still upon the ladder , and so did none of the Angels . Christ himself , increased in wildome , and in stature , and in favour with God , and Man ; so must a Christian also labour to grow and to encrease , by speaking and speaking again , by asking more , and more questions , and by farther , and farther informing his understanding , and enlightening his faith ; per transiit benefaciendo , & sanavit omnes , says Saint Peter of Christ ; He went about doing good , and healing all that were oppressed of the Devill ; and it was prophesied of him , Exultavit ut Gigas ad currendam vim , He went forth as a Gyant , to run a race ; If it be Christs pace , it must be a Christians pace too . Currentem non apprehendit , nisi qui & pariter currit ; There is no overtaking of him that runnes , without running too . Quid prodest Christum sequi , si non consequamur ? and to what purpose do we follow Christ , if not to overtake him , and lay hold upon him ? Sic currite , ut comprehendatis , fige Christiane cursus & profectus metam ubi Christus suum ; runne so as ye may obtain ; and if thou beest a Christian , propose the same end of thy course , as Christ did ; factus est obediens usque ad mortem ; and the end of his course was , to be obedient unto death . Speak then , and talke continually of the name , and the goodnesse of God ; speak again , and again ; It is no tautology , no babling , to speak , and ●terate his prayses : Who accuses Saint Paul for repeating the sweet name of Jesus so very many times in his Epistles ? Who accuses David for repeating the same phrase , the same sentence [ for his mercy endureth for ever ] so many times , as he doth in his Psalms ? nay , the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm is scarce any thing else , then an often repetition of the same thing . Thou spokest assoon as thou wast awake , as soon as thou wast born , thou spokest in Baptism . So proceed to the farther knowledge of Religion , and the mysteries of Gods service in his house ; and conceive a fearfull reverence of them in their institution , and speak again , enquire what they mean , what they signify , what they exhibit to thee . Conceive a reverence of them , first , out of the authority that hath instituted them , and then speak , and inform thy self of them . God spent a whole week in speaking for thy good ; Dixit Deus , God spake that there might be light , Dixit Deus , God sp●ke that there might be a firmament ; for immediately upon Gods speaking , the work follow'd : Dixit & factum , he spake the word , and the world was created . As God did , a godly man shall do ; If he delight to talk of God , to mention often upon all occasions , the greatnesse , and goodnesse of God , to prefer that discourse , before obscene , and scurrile , and licentious , and profane , and defamatory , and ridiculous , and frivolous talke ; If he delight in professing God with his tongue , out of the abundance of his heart , his works shall follow his words , he will do as he says . If God had given over , when he had spake of Light , and a Firmament , and Earth , and Sea , and had not continued speaking till the last day , when he made thee , what hadst thou got by all that ? what hadst thou been at all for all that ? If thou canst speak when thou awakest , when thou beginnest to have an apprehension of Gods presence , in a remorse , if then , that presence , and Majesty of God , make thee afraid , with the horrour and greatnesse of thy sinnes , if thou canst not speak again then , not goe forward with thy repentance ; thy former speech is forgotten by God , and unprofitable to thee . Iacob at first speaking confessed God to be in that place ; but so he might be every where ; but he conceived a reverentiall fear at his presence ; and then he came to speak the second time , to professe , that that was none other but the house of God , and the gate of heaven ; that there was an entrance for him in particular , a fit place for him to testifie and exercise his Devotion ; he came to see , what it was fit for him to doe , towards the advancing of Gods house . Now whensoever a man is proceeded so far with Iacob , first to sleep , to be at peace with God , and then to wake , to doe something for the good of others , and then to speak , to make profession , to publish his sense of Gods presence , and then to attribute all this onely to the Light of God himself , by which light he grows from faith to faith , and from grace to grace , whosoever is in this disposition , he may say in all places , and in all his actions , This is none other but the house of God , and this is the gate of heaven . He shall see heaven open , and dwell with him , in all his undertakings : and particularly , and principally in his expressing of a care , and respect , both to Christs Mysticall , and to his materiall body ; both to the sustentation of the poor , and to the building up of Gods house . In both which kinds of Piety , and Devotion , ( non nobis Domine , non nobis , sed nomini tuo da gloriam ; Not unto us O Lord , not unto us , but unto thy Name be given the glory ; ) As to the confusion of those shamelesse slanderers , who place their salvation in works , and accuse us to avert men from good works , there have been in this Kingdome , since the blessed reformation of Religion , more publick charitable works perform'd , more Hospitals and Celleges erected , and endowed in threescore , then in some hundreds of years , of superstition before , so may God be pleased to adde one example more amongst us , that here in this place , we may have some occasion to say , of a house erected , and dedicated to his service , This is none other but the house of God , and this is the gate of heaven : and may he vouchsafe to accept at our hands , in our intention , and in our endevour to consummate that purpose of ours , that thanksgiving , that acclamation which he received from his Royall servant Salomon , at the Consecration of his great Temple , when he said , Is it true indeed , that God will dwell on the earth ? Behold , the heavens , and the heaven of heavens are not able to contain thee , how much more unable shall this house bee , that we intend to build ? But have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant , and to his supplication , O Lord , my God , to hear the cry & the prayer that thy servant shall make before thee that day ; That thine eye may bee open towards that house night and day , that thou mayst heare the supplications of thy servants , and of thy people , which shall pray in that place , and that thou mayst hear them in the place of thy habitation even in heaven , and when thou hearest , mayst have mercy . Amen . SERMON XII . Preached at Lincolns Inne . JOHN 5. 22. The Father judgeth no man , but hath committed all judgement to the Sonne . When our Saviour forbids us to cast pearl before swine , we understand ordinarily in that place , that by pearl , are understood the Scriptures , and when we consider the naturall generation and production of Pearl , that they grow bigger and bigger , by a continuall succession , and devolution of dew , and other glutinous moysture that fals upon them , and there condenses and hardens , so that a pearl is but a body of many shels , many crusts , many films , many coats enwrapped upon one another . To this Scripture which we have in hand , doth that Metaphor of pearl very properly appertain , because our Saviour Christ in this Chapter undertaking to prove his own Divinity and God-head to the Jews , who acknowledged , and confessed the Father to be God , but denyed it of him , he folds and wraps up reason upon reason , argument upon argument , that all things are common between the Father and him , That whatsoever the Father does , he does , whatsoever the Father is , he is ; for first , he says , he is a partner , a cooperator with the Father , in the present administration and government of the world , My Father worketh hitherto , and I work ; well , if the Father do ease himself upon instruments now , yet was it so from the beginning ? had he a part in the Creation ? Yes ; What things soever the Father doth , those also doth the Son likewise . But doe those extend to the work properly , and naturally belonging to God , to the remission , to the effusion of grace , to the spirituall resurrection of them that are dead in their iniquities ? Yes , even to that too , For as the Father raiseth up the dead , and quickneth them , even to the Son quickneth whom he will. But hath not this power of his a determination , or expiration ? shall it not end , at least when the world ends ? no , not then , for God hath given him authority to execute judgment , because he is the Son of man. Is there then no Supersedeas upon this commission ? Is the Sonne equall with the Father in our eternall election , in our creation , in the meanes of our salvation , in the last judgement , in all ? In all , Omne judicium , God hath committed all judgement to the Son ; And here is a pearl made up , the dew of Gods grace sprinkled upon your souls , the beams of Gods Spirit shed upon your soules , that effectuall and working knowledge ; That he who dyed for your salvation is perfect God , as well as perfect man , fit , as willing to accomplish that salvation . In handling then this Iudgement , which is a word that embraces and comprehends all , All from our Election , where no merit or future actions of ours were considered by God to our fruition and possession of that election , where all our actions shall be considered and recompensed by him , we shall see first that Judgment belongs properly to God ; And secondly , that God the Father whom we consider to be the root and foundation of the Deity , can no more devest his Judgment then he can his Godhead , and therefore in the third place we consider , what that committing of Judgment , which is mentioned here imports , and then to whom it is committed , To the Sonne : and lastly the largnesse of that which is committed , Omne , all Judgment , so that we cannot carry our thoughts so high , or so farre backwards , as to think of any Judgment given upon us in Gods purpose or decree without relation to Christ ; Nor so far forward , as to think that there shall be a Judgment given upon us , according to our good , morall dispositions or actions , but according to our apprehension and imitation of Christ. Judgment is a proper and inseparable Character of God ; that 's first , the Father cannot devest himself of that ; that 's next . The third is that he hath committed it to another ; And then the person that is his delegate , is his onely Sonne , and lastly his power is everlasting ; And that Judgment day that belongs to him , hath , and shall last from our first Election , through the participation of the meanes prepared by him in his Church , to our association and union with him in glory , and so the whole circle of time , and before time was , and when time shall be no more , makes up but one Judgment day to him , to whom the Father who judgeth no man hath committed all Judgment . First then Judgment appertaines to God , It is his in Criminall causes , ● Vindicta mihi , Vengeance is mine , I will repay , saith the Lord ; It is so in civill things too ; for God himself is proprietary of all , Domini est terra et plenitudo ejus , The earth is the Lords , and all that is in , and on the earth ; Your silver is mine , and your gold is mine , says the Prophet , and the beasts on a Thousand hills are mine , says David , you are usu●●ructuaries of them , but I am proprietary ; No attribute of God is so often iterated in the Scriptures , no state of God so often incultated , as this Judge , and Judgment : no word concerning God so often repeated , but it is brought to the height , where in that place of the Psalm , where we read , God judgeth among the Gods , the Latine Church ever read it , Deus dijudicat De●s , God judgeth the Gods themselves , for though God say of Judges and Magistrats , Ego dixi dii estis ; I have said ye are Gods , ( and if God say it , who shall gainsay it ? ) yet he says too , Moriemini , sicut homines , The greatest Gods upon earth shall die like men ; And if that be not humiliation enough , there is more threatned in that which follows , yee shall fall like one of the Princes , for the fall of a Prince involves the ruine of many others too , and it fills the world with horror for the present , and ominous discourse for the future ; but the farthest of all is Deus dijudicat Deos , even these Judges must come to Judgment , and therefore that Psalme which begins so , is concluded thus , Surge Domine , arise ô God , and judge the earth : If he have power to judge the earth , he is God , and even in God himselfe it is expressed as a kind of rising , as some exaltation of his power , that he is to Judge ; And that place in the beginning of that Psalme many of the antients read in the future Dijudicabit , God , shall judge the Gods , because the frame of the Psalme seems to referre it to the last Judgment ; Turtullian reads it Dijudicavit , as a thing past , God hath judged in all times ; and the letter of the text requires it to be in the present , Dijudicat . Collect all , and Judgment is so essentiall to God , as that it is coeternall with him , he hath , he doth , and he will judge the world , and the Judges of the world , other Judges die likemen , weakely , and they fall , that 's worse ignominiously , and they fall like Princes , that 's worst , fearfully , and yet scornfully , and when they are dead and faln , they rise no more to execute Judgment , but have Judgment executed upon them the Lord dyes not , nor he falls not , and if he seem to slumber , the Martyrs under the Altar awake him with their Vsque quo Domine , how long O Lord before thou execute Iudgment ? And he will arise and Judge the world , for Judgment is his ; God putteth downe one , and setteth up another , says David ; where hath he that power ? Why , God is the Judge , not a Judge , but the Judge , and in that right he putteth downe one , and setteth up another . Now for this Judgment , which we place in God , we must consider in God three notions , three apprehensions , three kinds of Judgment . First , God hath Iudicium detestationis , God doth naturally know , and therefore naturally detest evill ; for no man in the extreamest corruption of nature is yet fallen so far , as to love or approve evill at the same time that he knows , and acknowledges it to be evill . But we are so blind in the knowledge of evill , that we needed that great supplement , and assistance of the law it self to make us know what was evill ; Moses magnifies ( and justly ) the law , Non appropinqu●vit , says Moses , God came not so neare to any nation as to the Iews ; Non taliter fecit , God dealt not so well with any nation , as with the Iews , and wherein ? because he had given them a law , and yet we see the greatest dignity of this law , to be , That by the law is the knowledge of sinne ; for though by the law of nature written in our hearts , there be some condemnation of some sinnes , yet to know that every sinne was Treason against God , to know that every sinne hath the reward of death , and eternall death annexed to it ; this knowledge we have onely by the law . Now if man will pretend to be a Judge , what an exact knowledge of the law is required at his hand ? for some things are sinne to one nation , which are not to another , as where the just authority of the lawfull Magistrate , changes the nature of the thing , and makes a thing naturally indifferent , necessary to them , who are under his obedience ; some things are sinnes at one time , which are not at another , as all the ceremoniall law , created new sinnes which were not sinnes before the law was given , nor since it expir'd ; some things are sinnes in a man now , which will not be sinnes in the same man to morrow , as when a man hath contracted a just scruple , against any particular action , it is a sinne to doe it during the scruple , and it may be sinne in him to omit it , when he hath devested the scruple ; onely God hath Iudicium detestationis , he knows , and therefore detests evill , and therefore flatter not thy self with a Tush , God sees it not , or , Tush , God cares not , Doth it disquiet him or trouble his rest in heaven that I breake his Sabbath here ? Doth it wound his body , or draw his bloud there , that I swear by his body and bloud here ? Doth it corrupt any of his virgins there , that I sollicit the chastity of a woman here ? Are his Martyrs withdrawn from their Allegeance , or retarded in their service to him there , because I dare not defend his cause , nor speake for him , nor fight for him here ? Beloved , it is a degree of superstition , and an effect of an undiscreet zeale , perchance , to be too forward in making indifferent things necessary , and so to imprint the nature , and sting of sin where naturally it is not so : certainly it a more slippery and irreligious thing to be too apt to call things meerely indifferent , and to forget that even in eating and drinking , waking and sleeping , the glory of God is intermingled , as if we knew exactly the prescience and foreknowledge of God , there could be nothing contingent or casuall , ( for though there be a contingency in the nature of the thing , yet it is certain to God ) so if we considered duly , wherein the glory of God might be promov'd in every action of ours , there could scarce by any action so indifferent , but that the glory of God would turne the scale and make it necessary to me , at that time ; but then private interests , and private respects create a new indifferency to my apprehension , and calls me to consider that thing as it is in nature , and not as it is considered with that circumstance of the glory of God , and so I lose that Iudicium detestationis , which onely God hath absolutely and perfectly to know , and therefore to detest evill , and so he is a Judge . And as he is a Judge , so Iudicat rem , he judges the nature of the thing , he is so too , as he hath Iudicium discretionis , and so Iudicat personam , he knows what is evill , and he discernes when thou committest that evill . Here you are fain to supply defects of laws , that things done in one County may be tryed in another ; And that in offences of high nature , transmarine offences may be inquir'd and tryed here ; But as the Prophet says ; Who measured the waters in the hollow of his hand , or meted 〈◊〉 the heavens with a span , who comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure , or weighed the mountains in a scale ? So I say , who hath divided heaven into shires or parishes , or limited the territories and Jurisdictions there , that God should not have Iudicium discretionis , the power of discerning all actions , in all places ? When there was no more to be seen , or considered upon the whole earth but the garden of Paradise , for from the beginning Deliciae ejus esse cum filiis hominum , Gods delight was to be with the sons of men , and man was only there , shal we not deminish God nor speak too vulgarly of him to say , that he hovered like a Falcon over Paradise , and that from that height of heaven , the piercing eye of God , saw so little a thing , as the forbidden fruit , and what became of that , and the reaching ●are of God heard the hissing of the Serpent , and the whispering of the woman , and what was concluded upon that ? Shall we think it little to have seen to have things done in Paradise when there was nothing else to divert his eye , nothing else to distract his counsels , nothing else done upon the face of the earth ? Take the earth now as it is replenished , and take it either as it is torn and crumbled into raggs , and shivers , not a kingdome , not a family , not a man agreeing with himselfe ; Or take it in that concord which is in it , as All the Kings of the earth set themselves , and all the Rulers of the earth take counsell together against the Lord ; take it in this union , or this division , in this concord , or this discord , still the Lord that sitteth in the heavens discernes all , looks at all , laughs at all , and hath them all in derision . Earthly Judges have their distinctions , and so their restrictions , some things they cannot know , what mortall man can know all ? Some things they cannot take knowledge of , for they are bound to evidence : But God hath Iudicium discretionis , no mist , no cloud , no darknesse , no disguise keeps him from discerning , and judging all our actions , and so he is a Judge too . And he is so lastly , as he hath Iudicium retributionis , God knows what is evill , he knows when that evill is done , and he knows , how to punish and recompense that evill : for the office of a Judge who judges according to a law , being not to contract , or extend that law , but to declare what was the true meaning of that Law-maker when hee made that law , God hath this judgement in perfection , because hee himself made that law by which he judges , and therefore when he hath said , Morte morieris ; If thou do this , thou shalt die a double death , where he hath said , Stipendium peccati mors est , every sin shall be rewarded with death ; If I sinne against the Lord , who shall entreat for me ? Who shall give any other interpretation , any modification , any Non obstante upon his law in my behalf , when he comes to judge me according to that law which himself hath made ? Who shall think to delude the Judge , and say , Surely this was not the meaning of the Law-giver , when he who is the Judge was the Law-maker too ? And then as God is Judge in all these respects , so is he a Judge in them all , Sine Appellatione , and Sine judiciis , man cannot appeal from God , God needs no evidence from man ; for , for the Appeal first , to whom should we appeal from the Soveraign 〈◊〉 Wrangle as long as ye will who is Chief Justice , and which Court hath Juris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over another ; I know the Chief Justice , and I know the Soveraign 〈…〉 the King of heaven and earth shall send his ministring Spirits , his Angels to the 〈◊〉 , and bowels of the Earth , and to the bosome , and bottome of the Sea , and Earth must deliver , Corpus cum causâ , all the bodies of the dead , and all their actions , to receive a judgement in this Court : when it will be but an erroneous , and frivolous Appeal , to call to the Hils to fall down upon us , and the Mountains to cover , and hide us from the wrathfull judgment of God. He is a Judge then Sine appellatione , without any Appeal , from him , he is so too Sine judiciis , without needing any evidence from us . Now if I be wary in my actions here , incarnate Devils , detractors , and informers cannot accuse me ; If my sinne come not to action , but lye onely in my heart , the Devill himself who is the accuser of the brethren , hath no evidence against me , but God knows my heart ; doth not he that pondereth the heart , understand it ? where it is not in that faint word , which the vulgar Edition hath expressed it in , inspector cordium , That God sees the heart ; but the word is Tochen , which signifies every where to weigh , to number , to search , to examine , as the word is used by Salomon again , The Lord weigheth the spirits , and it must be a ready hand , and exact scales that shall weigh spirits . So that though neither man , nor Devill , nay nor my self give evidence against me , yea , though I know nothing by my selfe , I am not thereby justified , why ? where is the farther danger ? In this which follows there in Saint Paul , He that judges me is the Lord , and the Lord hath meanes to know my heart better then my self : And therefore , as Saint Augustine makes use of those words , Abyssus Abyssum invocat , one depth cals upon another , The infinite depth of my sins must call upon the more infinite depth of Gods mercy , for if God , who is Judge in all these respects , judicio detestationis , he knows , and abhors evill , and judicio discretionis , he discerns every evill person , and every evill action , judicio retributionis , he can , and will recompense evill with evill ; And all these Sine Appellatione , we cannot appeal from him , & Sine judiciis , he needs no evidence from us ; If this judgement enter into judgement with me , not onely not I , but not the most righteous man , no , nor the Church whom he hath washed in his blood , that she might be without spot or wrinckle , shall appear righteous in his sight . This being then thus , that Iudgement is an unseparable character of God the Father , being Fons Deitatis , the root and spring of the whole Deity , how is it said , that the Father judgeth no man ? Not that we should conceive a wearinesse , or retiring in the Father , or a discharging of himself upon the shoulders , and labours of another , in the administration , and judging of this world ; for as it is truly said , that God rested the seventh day , that is , he rested from working in that kind , from creating , so it is true that Christ says here ; My Father worketh yet , and I work , and so as it is truly said here , The Father judgeth no man , it is truly sayd by Christ too , of the Father , I seek not mine own glory , there is one that seeketh , and judgeth ; still it is true , that God hath Iudicium detestationis , Thy eyes are pure eyes O Lord , and cannot behold iniquity , says the Prophet , still it is true , that hee hath Iudicium discretionis ( because they committed villany in Israel , and I know it , saith the Lord ; ) still it is true , that he hath Iudicium retributionis , The Lord killeth and maketh alive , he bringeth down to the grave , and bringeth up ; still it is true , that he hath all these sine appellatione ; for go to the Sea , or Earth , or Hell , as David makes the distribution , and God is there ; and he hath them sine judiciis , for our witnesse is in heaven , and our record is on high : All this is undeniably true , and besides this , that great name of God , by which he is first called in the Scriptures Elohim , is not inconveniently deriv'd from Elah , which is Iurare to swear , God is able as a Judge to minister an oath unto us , and to draw evidence from our own consciences against our selves , so that then , the Father he judges still , but he judges as God , and not as the Father . In the three great judgements of God , the whole Trinity judges , In the first judgement , before all times , which was Gods Judiciary separating of vessels of honour , from vessels of dishonour , in our Election , and Reprobation ; In his second judgement , which is in execution now , which is Gods judiciary separating of servants from enemies , in the seales , and in the administration of the Christian Church ; and in the last judgement , which shall be Gods Judiciary separating of sheep from goats , to everlasting glory , or condemnation ; in all these three judgements , all the three Persons of the Trinity are Judges . Consider God altogether , and so in all outward works , all the Trinity concurres , because all are but one God ; but consider God in relation , in distinct Persons , and so the severall Persons do something in which the other Persons are not interessed ; The Sonne hath not a generation from himself , so , as he had from the Father , and from the holy Ghost , as a distinct person , he had none at all ; the holy Ghost had a proceeding from the Father and Son , but from the Sonne as a person , who had his generation from another , but not so from the Father . Not to stray into clouds , or perplexities in this contemplation , God , that is , the whole Trinity , judges still , but so as the Sonne judgeth , the Father judgeth not , for that Judgment he hath committed . That we may husband our hour well , and reserve as much as we can for our two last considerations , the Cui , & Quid , to whom , and that 's to the Sonne , and what he hath committed , and that 's all Iudgement , we will not stand much upon this , more needs not then this ; That God in his wisdome foreseeing , that man for his weaknesse would not be able to settle himself upon God and his judgments , as they are meerly heavenly , and spirituall , out of his abundant goodnesse hath established a judgement , and ordained a Judge upon earth like himself , and like our selves too , That as no man hath seen God , so no man should goe about to see his unsearchable decrees , and judgements , but rest in those sensible , and visible meanes which he hath afforded , that is , Christ Jesus speaking in his Church , and applying his blood unto us in the Sacraments to the worlds end : God might have suffered Abraham to rest in the first generall promise , Semen mulieris , the Seed of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head , but he would bring it neerer to a visible , to a personall Covenant , In semine tuo , In thy Seed shall all nations be blessed ; he might well have let him rest in that appropriation of the promise to his race , but he would proceed farther , and seal it with a sensible seal in his flesh with Circumcision ; he might have let him rest in that ratification , that a Messias should come by that way , but he would continue it by a continuall succession of Prophets , till that Messias should come ; and now that he is come and gone , still God pursues the same way ; How should they believe , except they hear ? and therefore God evermore supplies his Church with visible and sensible meanes , and knowing the naturall inclination of man , when he cannot have , or cannot comprehend the originall , and prototype , to satisfie , and refresh himself with a picture , or representation ; So , though God hath forbidden us that slippery , and frivolous , and dangerous use of graven Images , yet hee hath afforded us his Sonne , who is the image of the invisible God , and so more proportionall unto us , more apprehensible by us ; And so this committing is no more but that God in another form , then that of God , hath manifested his power of judging , and this committing , this manifestation is in Filio , in his Son. But in the entrance into the handling of this , we aske onely this question , Cui filio , to which Sonne of God is this commission given ? Not that God hath more Sons then one ; but because that Sonne is his Sonne by a two-fold filiation ; by an eternall , and inexpressible generation , and by a temporary , but miraculous incarnation , in which of these rights is this commission derived upon him ? doth he judge as he is the Son of God ? or as he is the Son of man ? I am not ordinarily bold in determining points ( especially if they were fundamentall ) wherein I find the Fathers among themselves , and the School in it selfe , and the reverend Divines of the Reformation amongst themselves to differ ; But yet neither am I willing to raise doubts , and leave the auditory unsatisfyed , and unsetled ; we are not upon a Lecture , but upon a Sermon , and therefore we will not multiply variety of opinions ; summe up the Fathers upon one side in Saint Ambrose mouth , and they will say with him , Huic dedit ubique generundo , non largiendo , God gave his Sonne this commission then ( and when was that then ? ) then when he begot him , and then he must have it by his eternall generation , as the Son of God : sum up the Fathers on the other side , in Saint Augustines mouth , and there they will say with him , that it is so clear , and so certain , that whatsoever is said in the Scripture to be committed , and given to Christ , belongs to Christ as the Son of man , and not as the Son of God , as that th' other opinion cannot be maintained ; and at this distance we shall never bring them to meet , but take in this rule , Iudicium convenit ei ut homo , causa ut Deus , God hath given Christ this commission as man , but Christ had not been capable of this commission if he had not been God too , and so it is easily reconcil'd : If we shall hold simply to the letter of the text , Pater dedit , then it will seem to have been committed to him in his eternall generation , because that was a work of the Fathers onely , and in that generation the holy Ghost had no part ; But since in this judgement , which is now committed to him , the holy Ghost hath a part , ( for as we said before , the Judgement is an act of the whole Trinity ) we must look for a commission from the whole Trinity , and that is as he is man , for , tota Trinitas univit humanitatem , The hypostaticall union of God and man in the person of Christ , was a work of the whole Trinity . Taking it then so setled , that the capacity of this Judgment , and ( if we may say so ) the future title to it , was given to him , as God by his essence , in his eternall generation , by which non vitae particeps , sed vitae naturaliter est , we cannot say that Christ hath life , but that he is life , for whatsoever the Father is , he is , excepting onely the name and relation of Father , the capacity , the ability is in him , eternally before any imaginable , any possible consideration of time ; But the power of the actuall execution of this Judgement , which is given , and is committed , is in him as man : because as the same Father says , Ad heminem dicitur , Quid habes quod non accepisti ? When Saint Past says , What hast thou that thou hast not received ? he asks that question of a man , that which is received , is received as man , For as Bellarmine in a place where he disposes himself to quarrell , at some few words of Calvins , though he confesse the matter to be true , and ( as he cals it there ) Catholique , says , Essentiam genitam negamus , we confesse that Christ hath not his essence from his Father by generation , the relation , the filiation , he hath from his Father , he hath the name of Son , but he hath not this execution of this judgement by that relation , by that filiation , still as the Son of God , he hath the capacity , as the Sonne of man , he hath the execution ; And therefore Prosper that follows S. Augustine limits perchance too narrowly to the very flesh , to the humanity , Ipsa ( not Ipsae ) ●rit Iudex , quae sub Iudice stetit , and ipsa judicabit , quae judicatae est , where he places not this Judgement upon the mixt person ( which is the safest way ) of God and man , but upon man alone , God hath appointed a day , in which he will judge the world in righteousnesse ; But by whom ? By that man whom he hath ordained God will judge still ; but still in Christ ; and therefore says S. Augustine upon those words : Arise O Lord , and judge the earth , Cui Deo dicitur surge , nisi ei qui dormivit ? What God doth David call upon to arise , but that God who lay down to sleep in the grave ? as though he should say ( says August . ) Dormivisti judicatus à terra , surge & jud●ca terram . So that to collect all , though judgement be such a character of God as he cannot devest , yet the Father hath committed such a Judgement to the Sonne , as none but he can execute . And what is that ? Omne judicium , all judgement , that is , omne imperium , omnem potestatem ; It is presented in the name of Judgement , but it involves all , It is literally , and particularly Judgement in S. Iohn , The Father hath given him authority to execute judgement , It is extended unto power in Saint Matthew , All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth ; And it is enlarg'd as far farther , as can be expressed or conceived in another place of Saint Matthew , All things are deliver'd to me of my Father . Now all things our Saviour Christ Jesus exercises , either per carnem , or at least in carne , whatsoever the Father does , the Sonne does too , In carne , because now there is an unseparable union betwixt God and the humane nature : The Father creates new souls every day in the inanimation of Children , and the Sonne creates them with him ; The Father concurs with all second causes as the first moving cause of all naturall things , and all this the Sonne does too ; but all this in carne ; Though he be in our humane flesh , he is not the lesse able to doe the acts belonging to the Godhead , but per carnem , by the flesh instrumentally , visibly , he executes judgement , because he is the Son of man , God hath been so indulgent to man , as that there should be no judgement given upon man , but man should give it ; Christ then having all Judgment , we refresh to your memory those three Judgements which we toucht upon before ; first , the Judgement of our Election , severing of vessels of honour and dishonor ; next , the Judgement of our Justification here severing of friends from enemies ; and then the Judgment of our Glorification , severing sheep from goats ; and for the first , of our Election , As if I were under the condemnation of the Law , for some capitall offence , and going to execution , and the Kings mercy expressed in a sealed pardon were presented me , I should not stand to enquire what mov'd the King to doe it , what hee said to any body else , what any body else said to him , what hee saw in mee , or what hee look't for at my hands , but embrace that mercy cheerfully , and thankfully , and attribute it onely to his abundant goodnesse : So , when I consider my selfe to have been let fall into this world , in massa Damnata , under the generall condemnation of mankind , and yet by the working of Gods Spirit , I find at first a desire , and after a modest assurance , that I am delivered from that condemnation , I enquire not what God did in his bed-chamber , in his cabinet counsell , in his eternall decree , I know that hee hath made Iudicium electionis in Christ Jesus : And therefore that I may know , whether I doe not deceive my selfe , in presuming my self to be of that number , I come down , and examine my selfe whether I can truly tell my conscience , that Christ Jesus dyed for mee , which I cannot doe , if I have not a desire and an endevour to conform my self to him ; And if I do that , there I finde my Predestination , I am a Christian , and I will not offer to goe before my Master Christ Jesus , I cannot be sav'd before there was a Saviour , In Christ Jesus is Omne judicium , all judgement , and therefore the judgment of Election , the first separation of vessels of honour and dishonour in Election and Reprobation was in Christ Jesus . Much more evidently is the second judgement of our Justification by means ordain'd in the Christian Church , the Judgement of Christ , it is the Gospel of Christ which is preacht to you there , There is no name given under heaven whereby you should be saved , there are no other means wherby salvation should be applyed in his name given , but those which he hath instituted in his Church ; So that when I come to the second ●udgement , to try whether I stand justifyed in the sight of Christ , or no , I come for that Judgement to Christ in his Church ; Doe I remember what I contracted with Christ Jesus , when I took the name of a Christian at my entrance into his Church by Baptism ? Doe I find I have endevoured to perform those Conditions ? Doe I find a remorse when I have not performed them ? Doe I feele the remission of those sinnes applyed to me when I hear the gracious promises of the Gospel shed upon repentant sinners by the mouth of his Minister ? Have I a true and solid consolation , ( without shift , or disguise , or flattering of my conscience ) when I receive the seal of his pardon in the Sacrament ? Beloved , not in any morall integrity , not in keeping the conscience of an honest man , in generall , but in using well the meanes ordain'd by Christ in the Christian Church , am I justified . And therefore this Judgement of Justification is his too . And then the third and last judgement , which is the judgment of Glorification , that 's easily agreed by all to appertain unto Christ , Idem Iesus , The same Iesus that ascended , shall come to judgement , Videbunt quem pupugerant , Every eye shall see him , and they also which pierc't him ; Then the Son of man shall come in glory , and he , as man , shall give the judgement , for things done , or omitted towards him as man , for not feeding , for not clothing , for not harbouring , for not visiting . The sum of all is , that this is the overflowing goodnesse of God , that he deales with man by the sonne of man ; and that hee hath so given all judgement to the Sonne , as that if you would be tryed by the first judgement ; are you elected or no ? The issue is , doe you believe in Christ Jesus , or no ? If you would be tryed by the second judgement , are you justified or no ? The issue is , doe you find comfort in the application of the Word , and Sacraments of Christ Jesus , or no ? If you would be tryed by the third Judgement , do you expect a Glorification , or no ? The issue is , Are you so reconcil'd to Christ Jesus now , by hearty repentance for sinnes past , and by detestation of occasion of future sin , that you durst welcome that Angel which should come at this time , and sweare that time should be no more , that your transmigration out of this world should be this minute , and that this minute you might say unfeignedly and effectually , Veni Domine Iesu ; come quickly , come now ; if this be your state , then are you partakers of all that blessednesse , which the Father intended to you , when for your sake , he committed all Judgment to the Son. SERMON XIII . Preached at Lincolns Inne . JOHN 8. 15. I judge no man. THe Rivers of Paradise did not all run one way , and yet they flow'd from one head ; the sentences of the Scripture flow all from one head , from the holy Ghost , and yet they seem to present divers senses , and to admit divers interpretations ; In such an appearance doth this Text differ from that which I handled in the forenoon , and as heretofore I found it a usefull and acceptable labour , to employ our Evening exercises , upon the vindicating of some such places of Scripture , as our adversaries of the Roman Church had detorted in some point of controversie between them and us , and restoring those places to their true sense , ( which course I held constantly for one whole year ) so I think it a usefull and acceptable labour , now to employ for a time those Evening exercises to reconcile some such places of Scripture , as may at first sight seem to differ from one another ; In the morning we saw how Christ judged all ; now we are to see how he judges none ; I judge no man. To come then to these present words , here we have the same person Christ Jesus , and hath not he the same Office ? Is not he Judge ? certainly though he retain'd all his other Offices , though he be the Redeemer , and have shed his blood in value satisfactory for all our sins , though he be our Advocate and plead for us in heaven , and present our evidence to that Kingdome , written in his blood , seal'd in his wounds , yet if hee bee not our Judge , wee cannot stand in judgement ; shall hee bee our Judge , and is hee not our Judge yet ? Long before wee were hee was our Judge at the separation of the Elect and Reprobate , in Gods eternall Decree . Was he our Judge then , and is hee not so still ? still he is present in his Church , and cleares us in all scruples , rectifies us in all errors , erects us in all dejections of spirit , pronounces peace and reconciliation in all apprehensions of his Judgements , by his Word and by his Sacraments , was hee , and is he , and shall he not be our Judge still ? I am sure my Redeemer liveth , and he shall stand the last on earth . So that Christ Jesus is the same to day , and yesterday , and for ever , before the world begun , and world without end , Sicut erat in principio , as he was in the beginning , he is , and shall be ever our Judge . So that then these words are not De temp●re , but De modo , there was never any time when Christ was not Judge , but there were some manner of Judgements which Christ did never exercise , and Christ had no commission which he did not execute ; for hee did all his Fathers will. 1. In secularibus , in civill , or criminall businesses , which belong meerly to the Judicatures , and cognisance of this world , Iudicat neminem , Christ judges no man. 2. Secundum carnem , so as they to whom Christ spake this ; who judged , as himself says here , according to fleshly affections , Iudicat neminem , he judges no man : and 3. Ad internecionem , so as that upon that Judgement , a man should despair of any reconciliation , any redintegration with God again , and be without hope of pardon , and remission of sins in this world , Iudicat neminem , he judges no man ; 1. Christ usurps upon no mans Jurisdiction , that were against justice . 2. Christ imputes no false things to any man , that were against charity . 3. Christ induces no man to desperation , that were against faith ; and against Justice , against charity , against faith , Iudicat neminem . First then , Christ judgeth not in secular judgements , and we note his abstinence therein ; first , in civill matters , when one of the company said to him , Master , bid my brother divide the inheritance with me , as Saint Augustine says , the Plaintiffe thought his cause to be just , and hee thought Christ to bee a competent Judge in the cause , and yet Christ declines the judgement , disavows the authority , and he answers , Homo , quis me constituit Iudicem , Man , who made me a Judge between you ? To that Generall , which we had in the morning , Omne judicium , the Son hath all judgement ; here is an exception of the same Judges own making , for in secular judgements , Nemo constituit , he had no commission , and therefore Iudicat neminem , he judges no man ; he forbore in criminall matters too , for when the woman taken in adultery , was brought before him , he condemned her not ; It is true , he absolv'd her not , the evidence was pregnant against her , but he condemned her not , he undertook no office of a Judge , but of a sweet and spirituall Counsellor , Go , and sinne no more , for this was his Element , his Tribunall . When then Christ says of himself , with such a pregnant negative , Quis me constituit Iudicem , may not we say so too , to his pretended Vicar , the Bishop of Rome , Qui●te ? Who made you Judge of Kings , that you should depose them , in criminall causes ? Or who made you proprietary of Kingdomes , that you should dispose of them , as of civill inheritances ? when to countenance such a pretence , they detort places of Scripture , not onely perversly , but senselesly , blasphemously , ridiculously , ( as ridicolously as in their pasquils , whē in an undiscreet shamlesnes , to make their power greater then it is , they make their fault greater then it is too , & fil their histories with examples of Kings deposed by Popes , which in truth were not depos'd by them , for in that they are more innocent then they will confesse themselves to be ) when some of their Authors say , that the Primitive Church abstain'd from deposing Emperors , onely because she was not strong enough to do it , when some of them say , That all Christian Kingdomes of the earth , may fall into the Church of Rome , by faults in those Princes , when some of them say , that De facto , the Pope hath already a good title to every Christian Kingdome , when some of them say , that the world will never he well governed , till the Pope put himself into possession of all ( all which severall propositions are in severall Authors of good credit amongst them ) will be not endure Christs own question , Quis te constituit ? Who made you Judge of all this ? If they say Christ did ; did he it in his Doctrine ? It is hard to pretend that , for such an institution as that must have very cleer , very pregnant words the carry in ; did he doe it by his example and practice ? wee see hee abstain'd in criminall causes , when they come to their last shift , that is , that Christ did exercise Judiciary Authority , when he whipped Merchants out of the Temple , when he curs'd the fig-tree , and damnified the owner thereof , and when he destroyed the Heard of Swine , ( for there , say they , the Devill was but the Executioner , Christ was the Judge ) to all these , and such as these , it is enough to say , All these were miraculous , and not ordinary ; and though it might seem half a miracle how that should exercise so much authority as he hath done over the world , yet when we look neerer , and see his means , that he hath done all this by Massacres of millions , by withdrawing Subjects from their Allegiance , by assasinating and murthering of Princes , when we know that miracles are without meanes , and we see the means of his proceedings , the miracle ceases , howsoever that Bishop as Christs Vicar can claim no other power , then was ordinary in Christ , and so exercis'd by Christ , and so Iudicavit neminem ; In secular judgement , Christ judges no man , and therefore that Bishop as his Vicar should not . Secondly , Christ judges no man by calumny , by imputing , or laying false aspersions upon him , nor truths extrajudicially , for that 's a degree of calumny ; We enter into a large field , when we go about to speak against calumny , and slander , and detracti●on , so large a field , as that we may fight out the last drop of our bloud , preach out the last gaspe of our breath , before we overcome it , those to whom Christ spake here , were such as gave perverse judgments , caluminiating censures upon him , and so he judges no man , we need not insist upon that , for it is manifestè verum ; but that we may see our danger , and our duty , what calumny is , and so how to avoid it actively , and how to beare it passively , I must by your leave stop a little upon it . When then we would present unto you that monster Slander , and Calumny , though it be hard to bring it within any compasse of a division , yet to take the largenesse of the schoole , and say , that every calumny is either direct , or indirect , that will comprehend all , and then a direct calumny , will have three branches , either to lay a false and unjust imputation , or else to aggravate a just imputation , with unnecessary , but heavy circumstances , or thirdly to reveale of fault which in it selfe was secret and I by no duty bound to discover it , and then the indirect calumny will have three branches too , either to deny expressly some good that is in another , or to smother it in silence , when my testimony were due to him , and might advantage him , or lastly to diminish his good parts , and say they are well , but not such as you would esteeme them to be ; collect then again , for that 's all , that we shall be able to doe , that he is a calumniator directly , that imputes a false crime , that aggravates a true crime , that discovers any crime extrajudicially ; That he is an indirect calumniator , that denies another mans sufficiencies , that conceales them , that diminishes them ; Take in some of Saint Bernards examples of these rules , that it is a calumny to say , Doles vehementer , I am sorry at the heart for such a man because I love him , but I could never draw him from such and such a vice , or to say , per me nunquam innotuisset , I would never have spoken of it , yet since all the world talkes of it , the truth must not be disguised , and so take occasion to discover a fault which no body knew before , and thereby ( as the same Father says ) cum gravitate et tarditate aggredi maledictionem , to cut a mans throat gravely , and soberly , and so much the more perswasively ; because he seems , and pretends to do it all against his will ; This being the rule , and this the exumple , who amongst us is free from the passive calumny ? Who amongst us hath not some other man calumniated ? Nay who is free from the active part ? Which of us in some of these degrees hath not calumniated some other ? But those to whom Christ makes his exception here , that he judges no man as they judge , were such calumniators , as David speaks of , Sede● adversus fratrem tuum loque ba●is , Then sittest and speakest against thy neighbour , as Saint Augastin notes upon that place , Non transitoriè , non surreptionis passione , sed quasi ad hoc vacans , not by chance , & unawares , not in passion because he had offended thee , not for company , because thou wouldest be of their minds , but as though thy profession would beare thee out in it , to leave the cause and lay aspersion upon the person , so thou art a calumniator , They up 〈◊〉 my people as bread , as David says in Gods person : And upon those words of the same Prophet , says the same Father , De caeteris , when we eate of any thing else , we taste of this dish , and we tast of that , non semper hoc ●lus , says he we doe not always eate one sallet , one meate , one kinde of fruit , sed semper panem , whatsoever we eate else wee always eate bread , howsoever they implored their thoughts , or their wits otherways , it was always one exercise of them to calumniate Christ Jesus , and in that kinde of calumny , which is the bitterest of all , they abounded most , which is in scorne and derision , David , and Iob , who were slander proofe , in a good measure , yet every where complaine passionately that they were made a scorne , that the wits made libells , that drunkards sung songs , that fooles , and the children of fooles derided them ; And when Saul was in his last , and worst agony , and had abandoned himselfe to a present death , and prayed his armourbearer to kill him , it was not because the uncircumcised should not kill him ( for he desired death , and he had their deadly arrowes already in his bosome ) but it was ( as it is expressed there ) lest the uncircumcised should come and abuse him , he was afraid of scorne when he had but a few minutes of life . Since then Christ judges no man ( as they did ) secundum carnem ejus , according to the outward appearance , for they thought no better of Christ then he seemed to be , ( as Fathers take that phrase , nor secundum carnem suam , according to his owne fleshly passions , ( as some others take it ) judge not you so neither , first judge not that ye be not judged , that is , as Saint Ambrose interprets it well enough , Nolite ●udicare de judiciis Dei , when you see Gods judgments fall upon a man , when you see the tower of Silo fall upon a man , doe not you judge that that man had sinned more then you , when you see another borne blind , doe not you thinke that he or his Father had sinned , and that you onely are derived from a pure generation , especially n●n maledic as surdo , speake not evill of the deafe that heares not ; That is , ( as Gregory interprets it if not literally , yet appliably , and usefully ) calumniate not him who is absent , and cannot defend himselfe , it is the devills office to be Accusator fratrum , and though God doe not say in the law , Non erit , yet he says , Non erit criminator , it is not plainely , there shall be no Informer : ( for as we dispute , and for the most part affirme in the Schoole , that though we could , we might destroy no intire species of those creatures , which God made at first , though it be a Tyger , or a viper , because this were to take away one link of Gods chaine out of the world , so such vermine as Informers may not , for some good use that there is of them , be taken away ) though it be not non erit , there shall be none , yet it is at least by way of good counsaile to thee , non eris , thou shalt not be the man , thou shalt not be the Informer , and for resisting those that are , we are bound , not onely not to harme our neighbours house , but to help him , if casually his house fall on fire , wee are bound where where wee have authority to stoppe the mouthes of other calumniators where wee have no authority , yet since as the North wind driveth away raine , an angry countenance driveth away a back-biting tongue , at least deale so with a libeller , with a calumniator , for he that lookes pleasantly , and hearkens willingly to one libell , makes another , occasions a second ; always remember Davids case , when he thought that he had been giving judgment against another he was more severe , more heavy , then the law admitted ; The law was , that he that had stoln the sheep should returne fourefold , and Davids anger was kindled says the text , and he said , and he swore , As the Lord liveth , that man shall restore fourfold , Et filius mortis , and he shall surely dyes O judicis superfluentem justitiam , O superabundant and overflowing Justice , when we judge another in passion ; But this is judicium secundum carnem , according to which Christ judges no man , for Christ is love , and that non cogitat malum , love thinks no evill any way ; The charitable man neither meditates evill against another , nor beleeves not easily any evill to be in another , though it be told him . Lastly , Christ judges no man Ad internecionem , he judges no man so , in this world , as to give a finall condemnation upon him here ; There is no error in any of his Judgments , but there is an appeal from all his Judgments in this world ; There is a verdict against every man , every man may find his case recorded , and his sinne condemned in the law , and in the Prophets , there is a verdict , but before Judgment , God would have every man sav'd by his book , by the apprehension , and application of the gratious promises of the Gospell , to his case , and his conscience , Christ judges no man so , as that he should see no remedy , but to curse God , and die , not so , as that he should say , his sinne is greater then God could forgive , for God sent not his Sonne into the world to condemne the world , but that the world through him might be saved . Doe not thou then give malitious evidence against thy selfe , doe not weaken the merit , nor lessen the value of the bloud of thy Saviour , as though thy sinne were greater then it ; Doth God desire thy bloud now , when he hath abundantly satisfied his justice with the bloud of his Sonne for thee ? what hast thou done ? hast thou come hypocritically to this place upon collaterall reasons , and not upon the direct service of God ? not for love of Information , of Reformation of thy selfe ? If that be thy case , yet if a man hear my words , says Christ , and beleeve not , I judge him not , he hath one that judgeth him , says Christ , and who is that ? The word that I have spoken , the same shall judge him ; It shall , but when ? It shall judge him , says Christ , at that last day , for till the last day , the day of his death , no man is past recovery , no man's salvation is impossible : Hast thou gone farther then this ? Hast thou admitted scruples of diffidence , and distrust in Gods mercy , and so tasted of the lees of desperation ? It is true , perpetrare flagitium est mors anima , sed desper are est descensus ad inferos , In every sinne the soule dies , but in desperation it descends into hell , but yet portae inferi non praevalebunt , even the gates of this hell shall not prevaile against thee ; Assist thy selfe , argue thine own case , desperation it selfe may be without infidelity ; desperation aswell as hope is rooted in the desire of happinesse ; desperation proceeds out of a feare and a horror of sinne , desperation may consist with faith thus farre , that a man may have a true , and faithfull opinion in the generall , that there is a remission of sinne , to be had in the Church , and yet have a corrupt imagination in the particular , that to him in this sinfull state that he is in , this remission of sinnes shall not be applied , so that the resolution of the Schoole is good , Desperatio potest esse 〈◊〉 solo excessu boni ; desperation may proceed from an excesse of that which is good in it selfe , from an excessive over fearing of Gods justice , from an excessive over hating thine own sinnes , Et virtute quis malè utitur ? Can any man make so ill use of so great virtues , as the feare of God and the hare of sinne ? yes they may , so froward a weed is sinne , as that it can spring out of any roote , and therefore if it have done so in thee , and thou thereby have made thy case the harder , yet know stil , that Objectum spe● est ardu● , et possibile , the true object of hope is hard to come by , but yet possible to come by , and therefore as David said , By my God have I leaped over a wall , so by thy God maist thou breake through a wall , through this wall of obduration , which thou thy selfe hast begunne to build about thy selfe . Feather thy wings againe , which even the flames of hell have touched in these beginnings of desperation , feather them againe with this text Neminem judicat , Christ judges no man , so as a desperate man judges himselfe , doe not make thy selfe beleeve , that thou hast sinned against the holy Ghost ; for this is the nearest step thou hast made to it , to think that thou hast done it ; walke in that large field of the Scriptures of God , and from the first flower at thy entrance , the flower of Paradise , Semen mulieris , the generall promise of the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head , to the last word of that Messias upon the Crosse , Consummatum est , that all that was promised for us is now performed , and from the first to the last thou shalt find the savour of life unto life in all those flowers ; walke over the same alley againe and consider the first man Adam in the beginning who involv'd thee in originall sinne ; and the thiefe upon the Crosse who had continued in actuall sinnes all his life , and sealed all with the sinne of reviling Christ himselfe a little before his expiration , and yet he recovered Paradise , and Paradise that day , and see if thou canst make any shift to exclude thy selfe , receive the fragrancy of all these Cordialls , Vivit Domin●● , as the Lord liveth I would not the death of a sinner , Quandocunque , At what time soever a sinner repenteth , and of this text Neminem judieat , Christ judgeth no man to destruction here , and if thou find after all these Antidotes a suspitious ayre , a suspicious working in that Impossibi●e est , that it is impossible for them , who were once inlightened if they fall away , to renew them againe by repentance , sprinkle upon that worme wood of Impossibile est , that Manna of Quorum remiseritis , whose sinnes yee remit , are remitted , and then it will have another tast to thee , and thon wilt see that that impossibility lies upon them onely , who are utterly fallen away into an absolute Apostasie , and infidelity , that make a mocke of Christ , and crucifie him againe , as it is expressed there , who undervalue , and despise the Church of God , & those means which Christ Jesus hath instituted in his Church for renewing such as are fallen . To such it is impossible , because there are no other ordinary meanes possible , but that 's not thy case , thy case is onely a doubt , that those meanes that are sha●● not be applied to thee , and even that is a slippery state to doubt of the mercy of God to thee in particular , this goes so neare making thy sinne greater then Gods mercy , as that it makes thy sinne greater then daily adulteries , daily murthers , daily blasphemies , daily prophanings of the Sabbath could have done , and though thou canst never make that true in this life that thy sinnes are greater then God can forgive , yet this is a way to make them greater , then God will forgive . Now to collect both our Exercises , and to connexe both Texts , Christ judgeth all men and Christ judgeth no man , he claimes all judgment , and he disavows all judgement , and they consist well together , he was at our creation , but that was not his first sense ; the Arians who say , Erat quando non erat , there was a time when Christ was not , intimating that he had a beginning , and therefore was a creature , yet they will allow that he was created before the generall creation , and so assisted at ours , but he was infinite generations before that , in the bosome of his Father , at our election , and there in him was executed the first judgment of separating those who were his , the elect from the reprobate , and then he knows who are his by that first Judgment : And so comes to his second Judgment , to seale all those in the visible Church with the outward mark of his baptisme , and the inward marke of his Spirit , and those whom he calls so , he justifies , and sanctifies , and brings them to his third Judgment , to an established and perpetuall glory . And so all Judgment is his . But then to judge out of humane affections , and passions , by detraction , and calumny , as they did to whom he spoke at this time , so he judges no man , so he denies judgment : To usurpe upon the jurisdiction of others , or to exercise any other judgment , then was his commission , as his pretended Vicar doth so he judges no man , so he disavows all judgment : To judge so as that our condemnation should be irremediable in this life , so he judges no man , so he forswears all judgment , As I live , saith the Lord of hosts , and as I have died , saith the Lord Jesus , so I judge none . Acknowledge his first Judgment , thy election in him , Christ his second Judgment , thy justification by him , breath and pant after his third Judgement , thy Crown of glory for him ; intrude not upon the right of other men , which is the first , defame not , calumniate not other men , which is the second , lay not the name of reprobate in this life upon any man , which is the third Judgement , that Christ disavows here , and then thou shalt have well understood , and well practised both these texts , The Father hath committed all Iudgment to the Sonne , and yet The Sonne judges no man. SERMON XIIII . Preached at Lincolns Inne . JOB 19. 26. And though , after my skin , wormes destroy this body , yet in my flesh shall I see God. AMongst those Articles , in which our Church hath explain'd , and declar'd her faith , this is the eight Article , that the three Creeds , ( that of the councell of Nice , that of Athanasius , and that which is commonly known by the name of the Apostles Creed ) ought throughly to be received , and embrac'd . The meaning of the Church is not , that onely that should be beleev'd in which those three Creeds agree ; ( for , the Nicen Creed mentions no Article after that of the holy Ghost , not the Catholique Church , not the Communion of Saints , not the Resurrection of the flesh ; Athanasius his Creed does mention the Resurrection , but not the Catholique Church , nor the communion of Saints , ) but that all should be beleev'd , which is in any of them , all which is summ'd up in the Apostles Creed . Now , the reason expressed in that Article of our Church , why all this is to be beleeved , is ; Because all this may be prov'd by most certaine warrants of holy Scriptures . The Article does not insist upon particular places of Scripture ; not so much as point to them . But , they who have enlarged the Articles , by way of explanation , have done that . And when they come to cite those places of Scripture , which prove the Article of the Resurrection , I observe that amongst those places they forbeare this text ; so that it may seem , that in their opinion , this Scripture doth not concerne the Resurrection . It will not therefore be impertinent , to make it a first part of this exercise , whether this Scripture be to be understood of the Resurrection , or no ; And then , to make the particular handling of the words , a second part . In the first , we shall see , that the Iews always had , and have still , a persuasion of the Resurrection . We shall look after , by what light they saw that ; whether by the light of naturall reason ; And , if not by that , by what light given in other places of Scripture ; and then , we shall shut up this inquisition with a unanime consent , ( so unanime , as I can remember but one that denies it , and he but faintly ) that in this text , the doctrine of the resurrection is established . In the second part , the doctrine it selfe comprised in the words of the text , ( And though after my skin , wormes destroy this body , yet in my flesh shall I see God ) we shall see first , that the Saints of God themselves , are not priviledged from the common corruption and dissolution of the body ; After that curse upon the Serpent , super pectus gradieris , upon thy belly shalt thou goe , we shall as soon see a Serpent goe upright , and not craule , as , after that Judgment , In pulverem revertêris , to dust thou shalt returne , see a man , that shall not see death , and corruption in death . Corruption upon our skin , says the text , ( our outward beauty ; ) corruption upon our body , ( our whole strength , and constitution . ) And , this corruption , not a green palenesse , not a yellow jaundise , not a blue lividnesse , not a black morpheu upon our skin , not a bony leannesse , not a sweaty faintnesse , not an ungratious decrepitnesse upon our body , but a destruction , a destruction to both , After my skin my body shall be destroyed . Though not destroyed by being resolved to ashes in the fire , ( perchance I shall not be burnt ) not destroyed by being washed to slime , in the sea , ( perchance I shall not be drowned ) but destroyed contemptibly , by those whom I breed , and feed , by wormes ; ( After my skin wormes shall destroy my body . ) And thus farre our case is equall ; one event to the good and bad ; wormes shall destroy all in them all . And farther then this , their case is equall too , for , they shall both rise againe from this destruction . But in this lies the future glory , in this lies the present comfort of the Saints of God , that , after all this , ( so that this is not my last act , to dye , nor my last scene , to lie in the grave , nor my last exit , to goe out of the grave ) after , says Iob ; And indefinitely , After , I know not how soone , nor how late , I presse not into Gods secrets for that ; but , after all this , Ego , I , I that speak now , and shall not speak then , silenced in the grave , I that see now , and shall not see then , ego videbo , I shall see , ( I shall have a new faculty ) videbo Deam , I shall see God ( I shall have a new object ) and , In carne , I shall see him in the flesh , ( I shall have a new organ , and a new medium ) and , In carne mea , that flesh shall be my flesh , ( I shall have a new propriety in that flesh ) this flesh which I have now , is not mine , but the wormes ; but that flesh shall be so mine , as I shall never devest it more , but in my flesh I shall see God for ever . In the first part then , which is an inquiry , whether this text concerne the Resurrection , or no , we take knowledge of a Crediderunt , and of a Credunt in the Iews , that the Iews did beleeve a Resurrection , and that they doe beleeve it still . That they doe so now , appears out of the doctrine of their Talmud , where we find , that onely the Iews shall rise againe , but all the Gentiles shall perish , body and soule together , as Korah , Dathan , and Abiram were swallowed all at once , body , and soule into hell . And to this purpose , ( for the first part thereof , that the Iews shall rise ) they abuse that place of Esay ; Thy dead men shall live ; awake and sing , yee that dwell in the dust . And , for the second part , that the Gentiles shall not rise , they apply the words of the same Prophet before , They are dead , they shall not live , they are deceased , they shall not rise . The Iews onely , say they shall rise ; but , not all they ; but onely the righteous amongst them . And , to that purpose , they abuse that place of the Prophet Zachary , two parts shall be cut off , and dye , but the third shall be left therein , and I will bring that third part , through the fire , and will refine them , as silver is refined , and try them , as gold is tried . The Iews onely of all men , the good Iews onely of all Iews , and of these good Iews , onely they who were buried in the land of promise shall have this present , and immediate resurrection ; And to that purpose they force that place in Genesis where Iacob , upon his death-bed , advised his sonne Ioseph , to bury him in Canaan , and not in Egypt , and to that purpose , they detort also , that place of Ieremy , where the Prophet lays that curse upon Pashur , That he should dye in Babylon , and be buried there . For , though the Iews doe not absolutely say , that all that are buried out of Canaan , shall be without a resurrection , yet , they say , that even those good and righteous Iews , which are not buried in that great Churchyard , the land of promise , must , at the day of judgment , be brought through the hollow parts of the earth into the land of promise at that time , and onely in that place , receive their resurrection , wheresoever they were buried . But yet , though none but Iews , none but righteous Iews , none but righteous Iews in that place , must be partakers of the Resurrection , yet still a Resurrection there is in their doctrine . It is so now ; it was so always . We see , in that time , when Christ walked upon the earth , when he came to the raising of Lazarus , and said to his sister Martha , Thy brother shall rise againe , she replies to Christ , Alas , I know he shall rise againe , at the Resurrection of the last day , I make no doubt of that , we all know that . So also , when Christ put forth that parable , that in placing of benefits , we should rather choose such persons , as were able to make no recompense , he gives that reason , Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just . The Resurrection was a vulgar doctrine , well knowne to the Iews then , and always . For , even Herod , when Christ preached and did miracles , was apt to say , Iohn Baptist is risen from the dead ; And when it is said of those two great Apostles , ( the loving , and the beloved Apostle , Peter , and Iohn ) that as yet they knew not the Scripture , that Christ must rise from the dead , this argues no more , but that as Peters compassion before Christs death , made him disswade Christ from going up to Ierusalem , to suffer , so their extreme passion after Christs death , made them the lesse attentively to consider those particular Scriptures , which spoke of the Resurrection . For , the Iews in generall , ( much more , they ) had always an apprehension , and an acknowledgment of the Resurrection of the dead . By what light they saw this , and how they came to this knowledge , is our next consideration . Had they this by the common notions of other men , out of naturall Reason ? Melanothon , ( who is no bold , nor rash , nor dangerous expressor of himselfe ) says well , Articulus resurrectionis propria Ecclesiaevox ; It is the Christian Church , that hath delivered to us the article of the resurrection . Nature says it not , Philosophy says it not ; it is the language and the Idiotisme of the Church of God , that the resurrection is to be beleeved as an article of faith . For , though articles of faith be not facta Ecclesiae , they are dicta Ecclesiae , though the Church doe not make articles , yet she declares them . In the Creation , the way was , Dixit & facta sunt , God spake , and so things were made ; In the Gospell , the way is , Fecit , & dicta sunt , God makes articles of faith , and the Church utters them , presents them . That 's manifestè verum , evidently , undeniably true , that Nature , and Philosophy say nothing of articles of faith . But , even in Nature , and in Philosophy , there is some preparation A priore , and much illustration A posteriore , of the Resurrection . For , first , we know by naturall reason , that it is no such thing , as God cannot doe ; It implies no contradiction in it selfe , as that new article of Transubstantiation does ; It implies no defectivenesse in God , as that new article , The necessity of a perpetuall Vicar upon earth , does . For , things contradictory in themselves , ( which necessarily imply a falshood ) things arguing a defectivenesse in God , ( which implies necessarily a derogation , to his nature , to his naturall goodnesse , to that which we may justly call even the God of God , that which makes him God to us , his mercy ) such things God himselfe cannot doe , not things which make him an unmercifull , a cruell , a precondemning God. But , excepting onely such things , God , who is that , Quod cum dicitur , non potest dici , whom if you name you cannot give him halfe his name ; for , if you call him God , he hath not his Christen name , for he is Christ as well as God , a Saviour , as well as a Creator ; Quod cum astimatur , non potest aestimari , If you value God , weigh God , you cannot give him halfe his weight ; for , you can put nothing into the balance , to weight him withall , but all this world ; and , there is no single sand in the sea , no single dust upon the earth , no single atome in the ayre , that is not likelyer to weigh down all the world , then all the world is to co●●●pose pose God ; What is the whole world to a soule ? says Christ ; but what are all the soules of the world , to God ? What is man , that God should be mindefull of him , that God should ever thinke of him , and not forget that there is such a thing , such a nothing ? Quod cum definitur , ipsa definitione crescit , says the same Father ; If you limit God with any definition , hee growes larger by that definition ; for even by that definition you discerne presently that he is something else then that definition comprehends . That God , Quem omnia nesciunt , & metuendo sciunt , whom no man knows perfectly , yet every man knows so well , as to stand in feare of him , this incomprehensible God , I say , that works , and who shall let it ? can raise our bodies again from the dead , because , to doe so , implies no derogation to himselfe , no contradiction to his word . Our reason tells us , he can doe it ; doth our reason tell us as much of his will , that he will doe it ? Our reason tells us , that he will doe , whatsoever is most convenient for the Creature , whom , because he hath made him , he loves , and for his owne glory . Now this dignity afforded to the dead body of man , cannot be conceived , but , as a great addition to him . Nor can it be such a diminution to God , to take man into heaven , as it was for God to descend , and to take mans nature upon him , upon Earth . A King does not diminish himselfe so much , by taking an inferior person into his bosome at Court , as he should doe by going to live with that person , in the Countrey , or City ; and this God did , in the incarnation of his Sonne . It cannot be thought inconvenient , it cannot be thought hard . Our reason tells us , that in all Gods works , in all his materiall works , still his latter works are easier then his former . The Creation , which was the first , and was a meer production out of nothing , was the hardest of all . The specific ation of Creatures , and the disposing of them , into their severall kinds , the making of that which was made something of nothing before , a particular thing , a beast , afowle , a fish , a plant , a man , a Sun or Moon , was not so hard , as the first production out of nothing . And then , the conservation of all these , in that order in which they are first created , and then distinguished , the Administration of these creatures by a constant working of second causes , which naturally produce their effects , is not so hard as that . And so , accordingly , and in that proportion , the last worke is easiest of all ; Distinction and specification easier then creation , conservatio● , and administration easier then that distinction , and restitution by resurrection , easiest of all . Tertullian hath expressed it well , Plus est fecisse quam refecisse , & dedisse quam reddidisse ; It is a harder work to make , then to mend , and , to give thee that which was mine , then to restore thee that which was thine . Et institutio carnis quàm destitutio ; It is a lesse matter to recover a sicke man , then to make a whole man. Does this trouble thee , says Iustin Martyr , ( and Athenagor as proceeds in the same way of argumentation too , in his Apology ) does this trouble thee , Quòd homo à piscibus , & piscis ab homine comeditar , that one man is devoured by a fish , and then another man that eats the flesh of that fish , eats , and becomes the other man ? Id nec hominem resolvit in piscem , nec piscem in hominem , that first man did not become that fish that eate him , nor that fish become that second man , that eate it ; sed utriusque resolutio fit in elementa , both that man , and that fish are resolved into their owne elements , of which they were made at first . Howsoever it be , if thine imagination could carry thee so low , as to thinke , not onely that thou wert become some other thing , a fish , or a dogge that had fed upon thee , and so , thou couldst not have thine owne body , but therewithall must have his body too , but that thou wert infinitely farther gone , that thou wert an●●ilated , become nothing , canst thou chuse but thinke God as perfect now , at least as he was at first , and can hee not as easily make thee up againe of nothing , as he made thee of nothing at first ? Recogita quid fueris , antequam esses ; Thinke over thy selfe ; what wast thou before thou wast any thing ? Meminisses utique , si fuisses ; If thou hadst been any thing then , surely thou wouldst remember it now . Qui non eras , factus es ; Cum iterum non eris , fies ; Thou that wast once nothing , wast made this that thou art now , and when thou shalt be nothing againe , thou shalt be made better then thou art yet . And , Redderationem quâ factus es , & ego reddam rationem quâ fies ; Doe thou tell me , how thou wast made then , and I will tell thee how thou shalt be made hereafter . And yet as Solomon sends us to creatures , & to creatures of a low rank & station , to Ants & Spiders , for instruction , so Saint Gregory sends us to creatures , to learne the Resurrection . Lux quotidie moritur , & quotidie resurgit ; That glorious creature , that first creature , the light , dyes every day , and every day hath a resurrection . In arbustis folia resurrectione erumpunt ; from the Cedar of Libanus , to the Hyssop upon the wall , every leafe dyes every yeare , and every yeare hath a Resurrection . Vbi in brevitate seminis , tam immensa arbor latuit ? ( as he pursues that meditation . ) If thou hadst seen the bodies of men rise our of the grave , at Christs Resurrection , could that be a stranger thing to thee , then , ( if thou hadst never seen , nor hard , not imagined it before ) to see an Oake that spreads so farre , rise out of an Akorne ? Or if Churchyards did vent themselves every spring , and that there were such a Resurrection of bodies every yeare , when thou hadst seen as many Resurrections as years , the Resurrection would be no stranger to thee , then the spring is . And thus , this , and many other good and reverend men , and so the holy Ghost himselfe sends us to Reason , and to the Creature , for the doctrine of the Resurrection ; Saint Paul allowes him not the reason of a man , that proceeds not so ; Thou fool , says he , that which thou sowest , is not quickned except it dye ; but then it is . It is truly harder to conceive a translation of the body into heaven , then a Resurrection of the body from the earth . Num in hominibus terra degenerat , quae omnia regenerare consuevit ? Doe all kinds of earth regenerate , and shall onely the Churchyard degenerate ? Is there a yearely Resurrection of every other thing , and never of men ? Omnia pereunde servantur , All other things are preserved , and continued by dying ; Tu homo solus ad hoc morieris , ut pereas ? And canst thou , O man , suspect of thy selfe , that the end of thy dying is an end of thee ? Fall as low as thou canst , corrupt and putresie as desperately as thou canst , sis nihil , thinke thy selfe nothing ; Ejus est nihilum ipsum cujus est totum , even that nothing is as much in his power , as the world which he made of nothing ; And , as he called thee when thou wast not , as if thou hadst been , so will he call thee againe , when thou art ignorant of that being which thou hast in the grave , and give thee againe thy former , and glorifie it with a better being . The Iews then , if they had no other helpes , might have , ( as naturall men may ) preparations a Priore , and illustrations a Posteriore , for the doctrine of the Resurrection . The Iews had seen resuscitations , from the dead in particular persons , and they had seen miraculous cures done by their Prophets . And Gregory Nyssen says well , that those miraculous cures which Christ wrought , with a Tolle grabatum , and an Este sanus , and no more , they were praeludia resurrectionis , halfe-resurrections , prologues , and inducements to the doctrine of the resurrection , which shall be transacted with a Surgite mortui , and no more . So these naturall helps in the consideration of the creature , are praeludia resurrectionis , they are halfe-resurrections , and these naturall resurrections carry us halfe way to the miraculous resurrection . But certainely , the Iews , who had that , which the Gentiles wanted , The Scriptures , had from them , a generall , though not an explicite knowledge of the resurrection . That they had it , we see by that practise of Iudas the Maccabee , in gathering a contribution to send to Ierusalem , which is therefore commended , because he was therein mindefull of the Resurrection . Neither doth Christ find any that opposed the doctrine of the Resurrection , but those , who though they were tolerated in the State , because they were otherwise great persons , were absolute Heretiques , even amongst the Iews , The Sadduces . And Saint Paul , when , finding himselfe to bee oppressed in Judgement , hee used his Christian wisedome , and to draw a strong party to himselfe , protested himselfe to bee of the sect of the Pharisees ; and that , as they , and all the rest , in generall , did , he maintained the Resurrection , he knew it would seem a strange injury , and an oppression , to be called in question for that , that they all beleeved ; Though therefore our Saviour Christ , who disputed then , onely against the Sadduces , argued for the doctrine of the Resurrection , onely from that place of the Scripture , which those Sadduces acknowledged to be Scripture , ( for they denied all but the bookes of Moses ) and so insisted upon those words , I am the God of Abraham , the God of Isaac , and the God of Iacob , yet certainely the Iews had established that doctrine , upon other places too , though to the Sadduces who accepted Moses onely , Moses were the best evidence . It is evident enough in that particular place of Daniel , Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth , shall awake , some to everlasting life , and some to shame and everlasting contempt . And in Daniel , that word many , must not be restrained to lesse then all ; Daniel intends by that many , that how many soever they are , they shall all arise ; as Saint Paul does , when he says , By one mans disobedience , many were made sinners ; that is , All , for , death passed over all men , for all have sinned . And Christ doth but paraphrase that place of Daniel , who says , Multi , many , when he says , Omnes , all ; All that are in the grave shall heare his voyce and shall come forth ; They that have done good , unto the resurrection of life , and they that have done evill to the resurrection of damnation . This then being thus far settled , that the Iews understood the resurrection , and more then that , they beleeved it , and therefore , as they had light in nature , they had assurance in Scripture , come we now , to that which was our last purpose in this first part , whether in this text , in these words of Iob , ( though after my skin , wormes destroy my body ) there be any such light of the Resurrection given . It is true , that in the new Testament , where the doctrine of the resurrection is more evidently , more liquidly delivered , then in the old , ( though it be delivered in the old too ) there is no place cited out of the book of Iob , for the resurrection ; and so , this is not . But it is no marvaile ; both upon that reason which we noted before , that they who were to be convinced , were such as received onely the books of Moses , and therefore all citations from this booke of Iob , or any other had been impertinently and frivolously employed , and , because in the new Testament , there is but one place of this booke of Iob cited at all . To the Corinthians the Apostle makes use of those words in Iob , God taketh the wise in their owne craft ; And more then this one place , is not , ( I thinke ) cited out of this booke of Iob in the new Testament . But , the authority of Iob is established in another place ; you have heard of the patience of Iob , and you have seen the end of the Lord , says Saint Iames. As you have seen this , so you have heard that ; seen and heard one way , out of the Scripture ; you have hard that out of the booke of Iob , you have seen this out of the Gospell . And further then this , there is no naming of Iobs person , or his booke in the new Testament . Saint Hierome confesses , that both the Greeke , and Latine Copies of this booke , were so defective in his time , that seven or eight hundred verses of the originall were wanting in the booke . And , for the originall it selfe , he says , Obliquus totus liber fertur , & lubricus , it is an uncertaine and slippery book . But this is onely for the sense of some places of the book ; And that made the authority of this book , to be longer suspended in the Church , and oftner called into question by particular men , then any other book of the Bible . But , in those who have , for many ages , received this book for Canonicall , there is an unanime acknowledgement , ( at least , tacitely ) that this peece of it , this text , ( When , after my skin , wormes shall destroy my body , yet in my flesh I shall see God ) does establish the Resurrection . Divide the expositors into three branches ; ( for , so , the world will needs divide them ) The first , the Roman Church will call theirs ; though they have no other title to them , but that they received the same translation that they doe . And all they use this text for the resurrection . Verba viri in gentilitate positi erubescamus ; It is a shame for us , who have the word of God it selfe , ( which Iob had not ) and have had such a commentary , such an exposition upon al the former word of God , as the reall , and actuall , and visible resurrection of Christ himselfe , Erubescamus verba viri in gentilitate positi , let us be ashamed and confounded , if Iob , a person that lived not within the light of the covenant , saw the resurrection more clearly , and professed it more constantly then we doe . And , as this Gregory of Rome , so Gregory Nyssen understood Iob too . For , he considers Iobs case thus ; God promised Iob twofold of all that he had lost ; And in his sheep and camels , and oxen , and asses , which were utterly destroyed , and brought to nothing , God performes it punctually , he had all in a double proportion . But Iob had seven sonnes ; and three daughters before , and God gives him but seven sonnes ; and three daughters againe ; And yet Iob had twofold of these too ; for Postnati cum prioribus numerantur , quia omnes deo vivunt ; Those which were gone , and those which were new given , lived all one life , because they lived all in God ; Necquicquam aliud est mors nisi viti , ositatis expiatio ; Death is nothing else , but a devesting of those defects , which made us lesse fit for God. And therefore , agreeably to this purpose , says Saint Cyprian , Scimus non amitti , sed praemitti ; thy dead are not lost , but lent . Non recedere , sed praecedere ; They are not gone into any other wombe , then we shall follow them into ; nec acquirendae , atrae vestes , pro iis qui albis induuntur , neither should we put on blacks , for them that are clothed in white , nor mourne for them , that are entred into their Masters joy . We can enlarge our selfes no farther in this consideration of the first branch of expositors , but that all the ancients tooke occasion from this text to argue for the resurrection . Take into your Consideration the other two branches of moderne expositors , ( whom others sometimes contumeliously , and themselves sometimes perversly have call'd Lutherans and Calvinists , and you may know , that in the first ranke , Osiander , and with him , all his interpret these words so ; And in the other ranke , Tremellius , and Pellicanus , heretofore , Polanus lately , and Piscator , for the present ; All these , and all the Translators into the vulgar tongues of all our neighbours of Europe , do all establish the doctrine of the Resurrection by these words , this place of Iob. And therefore , though one , ( and truly for any thing I know , but one ) though one , to whom we all owe much , for the interpretation of the Scriptures , do think that Iob intends no other resurrection in this place , but that , when he shall be reduc'd to the miserablest estate that can bee in this life , still he will look upon God , and trust in him for his restitution , and reparation in this life ; let us with the whole Christian Church , embrace and magnifie this Holy and Heroicall Spirit of Iob ; Scio , says he ; I know it , ( which is more in him , then the Credo is in us , more to know it then , in that state , then to believe it now , after it hath been so evidently declar'd , not onely to be a certain truth , but to be an article of faith ) Scio Redemptorem , says he ; I know not onely a Creator , but a Redeemer ; And , Redemptorem meum , My Redeemer , which implies a confidence , and a personall application of that Redemption to himself . Scio vivere , says he ; I know that he lives ; I know that hee begunne not in his Incarnation , I know he ended not in his death , but it always was , and is now , and shall for ever be true , Vivit , that he lives still . And then , Scio venturum , says he too ; I know hee shall stand at the last day to Judge me and all the world ; And after that , and after my skinne and body is destroyed by worms , yet in my flesh I shall see God. And so have you as much as we proposed for our first part ; That the Jews do now , that they always did believe a Resurrection ; That as naturall men , and by naturall reason they might know it , both in the possibility of the thing , and in the purpose of God , that they had better helpes then naturall reason , for they had divers places of their Scripture , and that this place of Scripture , which is our text , hath evermore been received for a proof of the Resurrection . Proceed we now , to those particulars which constitute our second part , such instructions concerning the Resurrection , as arise out of these words , Though after my skinne , worms destroy my body , yet in my flesh I shall see God. In this second part , the first thing that was propos'd , was , That the Saints of God , are not priviledg'd from this , which fell upon Iob , This Death , this dissolution after death . Upon the Morte morieris , that double death , interminated by God upon Adam , there is a Non obstante ; Revertere , turn to God , and thou shalt not dy the death , not the second death . But upon that part of the sentence , In pulverem reverteris , To dust thou shalt return , there is no Non obstante ; though thou turn to God , thou must turn into the grave ; for , hee that redeem'd thee from the other death , redeem'd not himself from this . Carry this consideration to the last minute of the world , when we that remain shall bee caught up in the clouds , yet even that last fire may be our fever , those clouds our winding sheets , that rapture our dissolution ; and so , with Saint Augustine , most of the ancients , most of the latter men think , that there shall be a sudden dissolution of body and soul , which is death , and a sudden re-uniting of both , which is resurrection , in that instant ; Quis Homeo , is Davids question ; What man is he that liveth and shall not see death ? Let us adde , Quis Deoram ? What god is he amongst the Gentiles , that hath not seen death ? Which of their three hundred Iupiters , which of their thousands of other gods , have not seen death ? Mortibus morjuntur ; we may adde to that double death in Gods mouth , another death ; The gods of the Gentiles have dyed thrice ; In body , in soul , and in fame ; for , though they have been glorified with a Deification , nor one of all those old gods , is , at this day , worshipt , in any part of the world , but all those temporary , and transitory Gods , are worn out , and dead in all senses . Those gods , who were but men , fall under Davids question , Quis Home ? And that man who was truly God , fals under it too , Christ Jesus ; He saw death , though he saw not the death of this text , Corruption . And , if we consider the effusion of his precious blood , the contusion of his sacred flesh , the extention of those sinews , and ligaments which tyed heaven , and earth together , in a reconciliation , the departing of that Intelligence from that sphear , of that high Priest from that Temple , of that Dove from that Arke , of that soul from that body , that dissolution ( which , as an ordinary man he should have had in the grave , but that the decree of God , declar'd in the infallibility of the manifold prophesies , preserv'd him from it ) had been but a slumber , in respect of these tortures , which he did suffer ; The Godhead staid with him in the grave , and so he did not corrupt , but , though our souls be gone up to God , our bodies shall . Corruption in the skin , says Iob ; In the outward beauty , These be the Records of velim , these be the parchmins , the endictments , and the evidences that shall condemn many of us , at the last day , our own skins ; we have the book of God , the Law , written in our own hearts ; we have the image of God imprinted in our own souls ; wee have the character , and seal of God stamped in us , in our baptism ; and , all this is bound up in this velim , in this parchmin , in this skin of ours , and we neglect book , and image , and character , and feal , and all for the covering . It is not a clear case , if we consider the originall words properly , That Iesabel did paint ; and yet all translators , and expositors have taken a just occasion , out of the ambiguity of those words , to cry down that abomination of painting . It is not a clear case , if we consider the propriety of the words , That Absolon was hanged by the hair of the head ; and yet the Fathers and others have made use of that indifferency , and verisimilitude , to explode that abomination , of cherishing and curling haire , to the enveagling , and ensnaring , and entangling of others ; Iudicium patietur aeternum , says Saint Hierome , Thou art guilty of a murder , though no body die ; Quia vinum attulisti , si faisset qui bibisset ; Thou hast poyson'd a cup , if any would drink , thou hast prepar'd a tentation , if any would swallow it . Tertullian thought he had done enough , when he had writ his book De Habitu muli●bri , against the excesse of women in clothes , but he was fain to adde another with more vehemence , De cultu foeminarum , that went beyond their clothes to their skin . And he concludes , Illud ambitionis crimen , there 's vain-glory in their excesse of clothes , but , Hoc prostitutionis , there 's prostitution in drawing the eye to the skin . Pliny says , that when their thin silke stuffes were first invented at Rome , Excogitatum ad faeminas denudandas , It was but an invention that women might go naked in clothes , for their skins might bee seen through those clothes , those thinne stuffes : Our women are not so carefull , but they expose their nakednesse professedly , and paint it , to cast bird-lime for the passengers eye . Beloved , good dyet makes the best Complexion , and a good Conscience is a continuall feast ; A cheerfull heart makes the best blood , and peace with God is the true cheerfulnesse of heart , Thy Saviour neglected his skin so much , as that at last , hee scarse had any ; all was torn with the whips , and scourges ; and thy skin shall come to that absolute corruption , as that , though a hundred years after thou art buryed , one may find thy bones , and say , this was a tall man , this was a strong man , yet we shall soon be past saying , upon any relique of thy skinne , This was a fair man ; Corruption seises the skinne , all outward beauty quickly , and so it does the body , the whole frame and constitution , which is another consideration ; After my skinne , my Body . If the whole body were an eye , or an ear , where were the body , says Saint Paul ; but , when of the whole body there is neither eye nor ear , nor any member left , where is the body ? And what should an eye do there , where there is nothing to be seen but loathsomnesse ; or a nose there , where there is nothing to be smelt , but putrefaction ; or an ear , where in the grave they doe not praise God ? Doth not that body that boasted but yesterday of that priviledge above all creatures , that it onely could goe upright , lie to day as flat upon the earth as the body of a horse , or of a dogge ? And doth it not to morrow lose his other priviledge , of looking up to heaven ? Is it not farther remov'd from the eye of heaven , the Sunne , then any dogge , or horse , by being cover'd with the earth , which they are not ? Painters have presented to us with some horrour , the s●cleton , the frame of the bones of a mans body ; but the state of a body , in the dissolution of the grave , no pencil can present to us . Between that excrementall jelly that thy body is made of at first , and that jelly which thy body dissolves to at last ; there is not so noysome , so putrid a thing in nature . This skinne , ( this outward beauty ) this body , ( this whole constitution ) must be destroy'd , says Iob● in the next place . The word is well chosen , by which all this is expressed , in this text , Nakaph , which is a word of as heavy a signification , to expresse an utter abolition , and annihilation , as perchance can be found in all the Scriptures . Tremellius hath mollifyed it in his translation ; there it is but Confodere , to pierce . And yet it is such a piercing , such a sapping , such an undermining , such a demolishing of a fort of Castle , as may justly remove us from any high valuation , or any great confidence , in that skinne , and in that body , upon which this Confoderint must fall . But , in the great Bible it is Contriverint , Thy skinne , and thy body shall be ground away , trod away upon the ground . Aske where that iron is that is ground off of a knife , or axe ; Aske that marble that is worn off of the threshold in the Church-porch by continuall treading , and with that iron ; and with that marble , thou mayst finde thy Fathers skinne , and body ; Contrita sunt , The knife , the marble , the skinne , the body are ground away , trod away , they are destroy'd , who knows the revolutions of dust ? Dust upon the Kings high-way , and dust upon the Kings grave , are both , or neither , Dust Royall , and may change places ; who knows the revolutions of dust ? Even in the dead body of Christ Jesus himself , one dram of the decree of his Father , one sheet , one sentence of the prediction of the Prophets preserv'd his body from corruption , and incineration , more then all Iosephs new tombs , and fine linnen , and great proportion of spices could have done . O , who can expresse this inexpreffible mystery ? The foul of Christ Jesus , which took no harm by him , contracted no Originall sin , in coming to him , was guilty of no more sin , when it went out , then when it came from the breath and bosome of God , yet this soul left this body in death . And the Divinity , the Godhead , incomparably better then that soul , which soul was incomparably better then all the Saints , and Angels in heaven , that Divinity , that God-head did not forsake the body , though it were dead If we might compare things infinite in themselves , it was nothing so much , that God did assume mans nature , as that God did still cleave to that man , then when he was no man , in the separation of body and soul , in the grave . But full we from incomprehensible mysteries ; for , there is mortification enough , ( and mortification is vivification , and aedification ) in this obvious consideration ; skinne and body , beauty and substance must be destroy'd ; And , Destroyed by wormes , which is another descent in this humiliation , and ex●anition of man , in death ; After my skinne , wormes shall destroy this body . I will not insist long upon this , because it is not in the Originall , In the Originall there is no mention of wormes . But because in other places of Iob there is , ( They shal lye down alike in the dust , and the worms shall cover them ) ( The womb shal forget them , and the worm shal feed sweetly on them ; & because the word Destroying is presented in that form & number , Contriverint , when they shall destroy , they and no other persons , no other creatures named ) both our later translations , ( for indeed , our first translation hath no mention of wormes ) and so very many others , even Tremell●s that adheres most to the letter of the Hebrew , have filled up this place , with that addition , Destroyed by worms . It makes the destruction the more contemptible ; Thou that wouldest not admit the beames of the Sunne upon thy skinne , and yet hast admitted the pollutions of sinne ; Thou that wouldst not admit the breath of the ayre upon thy skinne , and yet hast admitted the spirit of lust , and unchast solicitations to breath upon thee , in execrable oathes , and blasphemies , to vicious purposes ; Thou , whose body hath ( as farre as it can ) putrefyed and corrupted even the body of thy Saviour , in an unworthy receiving thereof , in this skinne , in this body , must be the food of worms , the prey of destroying worms . After a low birth thou mayst passe an honourable life , after a sentence of an ignominious death , thou mayst have an honourable end ; But , in the grave canst thou make these worms silke worms ? They were bold and early worms that eat up Herod before he dyed ; They are bold and everlasting worms , which after thy skinne and body is destroyed , shall remain as long as God remains , in an eternall gnawing of thy conscience ; long , long after the destroying of skinne and body , by bodily worms . Thus farre then to the destroying of skinne and body by worms , all men are equall ; Thus farre all 's Common law , and no Prerogative , so is it also in the next step too ; The Resurrection is common to all . The prerogative lies not in the Rising , but in the rising to the fruition of the sight of God ; in which consideration , the first beam of comfort is the Postquam , After all this , destruction before by worms ; ruinous misery before ; but there is something else to be done upon me after . God leaves no state without comfort . God leaves some inhabitants of the earth , under longer nights then others , but none under an everlasting night ; and , those , whom he leaves under those long nights , he recompenses with as long days , after . I were miserable , if there were not an Antequam in my behalfe ; if before I had done well or ill actually in this world , God had not wrapped me up , in his good purpose upon me . And I were miserable againe , if there were not a Postquam in my behalfe ; If , after my sinne had cast me into the grave , there were not a lowd trumpet to call me up , and a gracious countenance to looke upon me , when I were risen . Nay , let my life have been as religious , as the infirmities of this life can admit , yet , If in this life onely we have hope in Christ , we are , of all men , most miserable . For , for the worldly things of this life , first , the children of God have them in the least proportions of any ; and besides that , those children of God , which have them in larger proportion , do yet make the least use of them , of any others , because the children of the world , are not so tender conscienced , nor so much afraid , lest those worldly things should become snares , and occasions of tentation to them , if they open themselves to a full enjoying thereof , as the children of God are . And therefore , after my wanting of many worldly things , ( after a penurious life ) and , after my not daring to use those things that I have , so freely as others doe , after that holy and conscientious forbearing of those things that other men afford themselves , after my leaving all these absolutely behind me here , and my skin and body in destruction in the grace , After all , there remaines something else for me . After ; but how long after ? That 's next . When Christ was in the body of that flesh , which we are in , now , ( sinne onely excepted ) he said , in that state that he was in then , Of that day and houre , no man knoweth , not the Angels , not the Sonne . Then , in that state , he excludes himselfe . And when Christ was risen againe , in an uncorruptible body , he said , even to his nearest followers , Non est vestru●● , it is not for you , to know times , and seasons . Before in his state of mortality , 〈…〉 ignor antibus , he pretended to know no more of this , then they that knew nothing . After , when he had invested immortality , per sui exceptionem , ( says that Father ) he excepts none but himselfe ; all the rest , even the Apostles , were left ignorant thereof . For this non est vestrum , ( it is not for you ) is part of the last sentence that ever Christ spake to them . If it be a convenient answer to say , Christ knew it not , as man , how bold is that man that will pretend to know it ? And , if it be a convenient interpretation of Christs words , that he knew it not , that is , knew it not so , as that he might tell it them , how indiscreet are they , who , though they may seem to know it , will publish it ? For , thereby they fill other men with scruples , and vexations , and they open themselves to scorne and reproach , when their predictions prove false , as Saint Augustine observed in his time , and every age hath given examples since , of confident men that have failed in these conjectures . It is a poore pretence to say , this intimation , this impression of a certaine time , prepares men with better dispositions . For , they have so often been found false , that it rather weakens the credit of the thing it selfe . In the old world they knew exactly the time of the destruction of the world ; that there should be an hundred & twenty years , before the flood came ; And yet , upon how few , did that prediction , though from the mouth of God himselfe , work to repentance ? Na●● found grace in Gods eyes ; but it was not because he mended his life upon that prediction , but he was grations in Gods sight before . At the day of our death , we write Pridi●r●surr●ctioni● , the day before the resurrection ; It is Vigilia resurectionis ; Our Easter Eve. Adveniat regnum tuum , possesse my soule of thy kingdome then : And , Fi●● voluntas tua , my body shall arise after , but how soon after , or how late after , thy will bee done then ; by thy selfe , and thy will bee knowne , till then , to thy selfe . We passe on . As in Massa damnata , the whole lump of mankind is under the condemnation of Adams sinne , and yet the good purpose of God severs some men from that condemnation , so , at the resurrection , all shall rise ; but not all to glory . But amongst them , that doe , Ego , says Iob , I shall . I , as I am the same man , made up of the samebody , and the same soule . Shall I imagine a difficulty in my body , because I have lost an Arme in the East , and a leg in the West ? because I have left some bloud in the North , and some bones in the South ? Doe but remember , with what ease you have sate in the chaire , casting an account , and made a shilling on one hand , a pound on the other , or five shillings below , ten above , because all these lay easily within your reach . Consider how much lesse , all this earth is to him , that sits in heaven , and spans all this world , and reunites in an instant armes , and legs , bloud , and bones , in what corners so ever they be scattered . The greater work may seem to be in reducing the soul ; That that soule which sped so ill in that body , last time it came to it , as that it contracted Originall sinne then , and was put to the slavery to serve that body , and to serve it in the ways of sinne , not for an Apprentiship of seven , but seventy years after , that that soul after it hath once got loose by death , and liv'd God knows how many thousands of years , free from that body ; that abus'd it so before , and in the sight and fruition of that God , where it was in no danger , should willingly , nay desirously . ambitiously seek this scuttered body ; this Eastern , and Western , and Northern , and Southern body , this is the most inconsiderable consideration , and yet , Ego , I , I the same body , and the same soul , shall be recompact again , and be identically , numerically , individually the same man. The same integrity of body , and soul , and the same integrity in the Organs of my body , and in the faculties of my soul too ; I shall be all there , my body , and my soul , & all my body , & all my soul I am not all here , I am here now preaching upon this text , and I am at home in my Library considering whether S. Gregory , or S. Hierome , have said best of this text , before . I am here speaking to you , and yet I consider by the way , in the same instant , what it is likely you will say to one another , when I have done , you are not all here neither ; you are here now , hearing me , and yet you are thinking that you have heard a better Sermon somewhere else , of this text before , you are here , and yet you think you could have heard some other doctrine of down-right Predestinations and Reprobation roundly delivered somewhere else with more edification to you● you are here , and you remember your selves that now yee think of it . This had been the fittest time , now , when every body else is at Church , to have made such and such a private visit ; and because you would bee there , you are there . I cannot say , you cannot say so perfectly , so entirely now , as at the Resurrection , Ego , I am here ; I , body and soul ; I , soul and faculties : as Christ sayd to Peter , Noli timere , Ego sum , Fear nothing , it is I ; so I say to my selfe , Noli timere ; My soul , why art thou so sad , my body , why dost thou languish : Ego , I , body and soul , soul and faculties , shall say to Christ Jesus , Ego sum , Lord , it is I , and hee shall not say , Nescio te , I know thee not , but avow me , and place me at his right hand . Ego sum , I am the man that hath seen affliction , by the rod of his wrath ; Ego sum , and I the same man , shall receive the crown of glory which shall not fade . Ego , I , the same person ; Ego videbo , I shall see ; I have had no looking-glasse in my grave , to see how my body looks in the dissolution ; I know not how . I have had no houre-glasse in my grave to see how my time passes ; I know not when : for , when my eylids are closed in my death-bed , the Angel hath said to me , that time shall be no more ; Till I see eternity , the ancient of days , I shall see no more ; but then I shall : Now , why is Iob gladder of the use of this sense of seeing , then of any of the other ? He is not ; He is glad of seeing , but not of the sense , but of the Object . It is true that is said in the School , Viciniùs se habent potentiae sensitivae ad animam quàm corpus ; Our sensitive faculties have more relation to the soul , then to the body ; but yet to some purpose , and in some measure , all the senses shall be in our glorifyed bodies , In actu , or in potentiâ , say they ; so as that wee shall use them , or so as that we might . But this sight that Iob speaks of , is onely the fruition of the presence of God , in which consists eternall blessednesse . Here , in this world , we see God per speculum , says the Apostle , by reflection , upon a glasse ; we see a creature ; and from that there arises an assurance that there is a Creator ; we see him in aenigmate , says he ; which is not ill rendred in the margin , in a Riddle , we see him in the Church ; but men have made it a riddle ; which is the Church , we see him in the Sacrament , but men have made it a riddle ; by what light , and at what window : Doe I see him at the window of bread and wine ; Is he in that ; or doe I see him by the window of faith ; and is he onely in that ? still it is in a riddle . Doe I see him à Priore , ( I see that I am elected , and therefore I cannot sinne to death . ) Or doe I see him à Posteriore , ( because I see my selfe carefull not to sin to death , therefore I am elected ) I shall see all problematicall things come to be dogmaticall , I shall see all these rocks in Divinity , come to bee smooth alleys ; I shall see Prophe●ies untyed , Riddles dissolved , controversies reconciled ; but I shall never see that , till I come to this sight which follows in out text , Videbo Deum , I shall see God. No man ever saw God and liv'd ; and yet , I shall not live till I see God ; and when I have seen him I shall never dye . What have I ever seen in this world , that hath been truly the same thing that it seemed to me ? I have seen marble buildings , and a chip , a crust , a plaster , a face of marble hath pilld off , and I see brick-bowels within . I have seen beauty , and a strong breath from another , tels me , that that complexion is from without , not from a sound constitution within . I have seen the state of Princes , and all that is but ceremony ; and , I would be loath to put a Master of ceremonies to define ceremony , and tell me what it is , and to include so various a thing as ceremony , in so constant a thing , as a Definition . I see a great Officer , and I see a man of mine own profession , of great revenues , and I see not the interest of the money , that was paid for it , I see not the pensions , nor the Annuities , that are charged upon that Office , or that Church . As he that fears God , fears nothing else , so , he that sees God , sees every thing else : when we shall see God , Sicuti est , as he is , we shall see all things Sicuti sunt , as they are ; for that 's their Essence , as they conduce to his glory . We shall be no more deluded with outward appearances : for , when this sight , which we intend here comes , there will be no delusory thing to be seen . All that we have made as though we saw , in this world , will be vanished , and I shall see nothing but God , and what is in him ; and him I shall see in carne , in the flesh , which is another degree of Exaltation in mine Exinanition . I shall see him , In car●e suâ , in his flesh : And this was one branch in Saint Augustines great wish , That he might have seen Rome in her state , That he might have heard S. Paul preach , That he might have seen Christ in the flesh : Saint Augustine hath seen Christ in the flesh one thousand two hundred yeares ; in Christs glorifyed flesh ; but , it is with the eyes of his understanding , and in his soul. Our flesh , even in the Resurrection , cannot be a spectacle , a perspective glasse to our soul. We shall see the Humanity of Christ with our bodily eyes , then glorifyed ; but , that flesh , though glorifyed , cannot make us see God better , nor clearer , then the soul alone hath done , all the time , from our death , to our resurrection . But as an indulgent Father , or as a tender mother , when they go to see the King in any Solemnity , or any other thing of observation , and curiosity , delights to carry their child , which is flesh of their flesh , and bone of their bone , with them , and though the child cannot comprehend it as well as they , they are as glad that the child sees it , as that they see it themselves , such a gladnesse shall my soul have , that this flesh , ( which she will no longer call her prison , nor her tempter , but her friend , her companion , her wife ) that this flesh , that is , I , in in the re-union , and redintegration of both parts , shall see God ; for then , one principall clause in her rejoycing , and acclamation , shall be , that this flesh is her flesh ; In carne meâ , in my flesh I shall see God. It was the flesh of every wanton object here , that would allure it in the petulancy of mine eye . It was the flesh of every Satyricall Libeller , and defamer , and calumniator of other men , that would call upon it , and tickle mine ear with aspersions and slanders of persons in authority . And in the grave , it is the flesh of the worm ; the possession is transfer'd to him . But , in heaven , it is Caro mea , My flesh , my souls flesh , my Saviours flesh . As my meat is assimilated to my flesh , and made one flesh with it ; as my soul is assimilated to my God , and made partaker of the divine nature , and Idem Spiritus , the same Spirit with it ; so , there my flesh shall be assimilated to the flesh of my Saviour , and made the same flesh with him too . Verbum caro factum , ut caro resurgeret ; Therefore the Word was made flesh , therefore God was made man , that that union might exalt the flesh of man to the right hand of God. That 's spoken of the flesh of Christ ; and then to facilitate the passage for us , Reformat ad immortalitatem suam participes sui ; those who are worthy receivers of his flesh here , are the same flesh with him ; And , God shall quicken your mortall bodies , by his Spirit is that dwelleth in you . But this is not in consummation , in full accomplishment , till this resurrection , when it shall be Caro mea , my flesh , so , as that nothing can draw it from the allegiance of my God ; and Caro mea , My flesh , so , as that nothing can devest me of it . Here a bullet will aske a man , where 's your arme ; and a Wolf wil ask a woman , where 's your breast . A sentence in the Star-chamber will aske him , where 's your ear , and a mouths close prison will aske him , where 's your flesh ? A fever will aske him , where 's your Red , and a morphew will aske him , where 's your white ? But when after all this , when after my skinne worms shall destroy my body , I shall see God , I shall see him in my flesh , which shall be mine as inseparably , ( in the effect , though not in the manner ) as the Hypostaticall union of God , and man , in Christ , makes our nature and the God-head one person in him . My flesh shall no more be none of mine , then Christ shall not be man , as well as God. SERMON XV. Preached at Lincolns Inne . 1 COR. 15. 50. Now this I say Brethren , that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God. SAint Gregory hath delivered this story ; That Eutychius , who was Bishop of Constantinople , having written a book of the Resurrection , and therein maintained that errour , That the body of Christ had not , that our bodies , in the Resurrection should not have any of the qualities of a naturall body , but that those bodies were , in subtilitatem redacta , so rarifyed , so refined , so atten●ated , and reduced to a thinnesse , and subtlenesse , that they were aery bodies , and not bodies of flesh and blood . This error made a great noise , and raised a great dust , till the Emperour , to avoid scandall , ( which for the most part arises out of publick conferences ) was pleased to hear Eutychius , and Gregory dispute this point privately before himself , and a small company ; And , that upon conference , the Emperour was so well satisfyed , that hee commanded Eutychius his books to bee burnt . That after this , both Gregory and Eutychius fell sicke ; but Eutychius dyed ; and dyed with this protestation , In hâc carne , in this flesh , ( taking up the flesh of his hand in the presence of them that were there ) in this flesh , I acknowledge , that I , and all men shall arise at the day of Judgement . Now , the principall place of Scripture , which in his book , and in that conference Eutychius stood upon , was this Text , these words of Saint Paul ; ( This I say brethren , that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God. ) And the directest answer that Gregory gave to it was , Caro secundum culpam non regnabit , sed Caro secundum naturam ; sinfull flesh shall not , but naturall flesh , that is , flesh indued with all qualities of flesh , all such qualities as imply no defect , no corruption , ( for there was flesh before there was sin ) such flesh , and such blood shall inherit the Kingdome of God. As there have been more Heresies about the Humanity of Christ , then about his Divinity , so there have been more heresies about the Resurrection of his body , and consequently of ours , then about any other particular article , that concerns his Humiliation , or Exaltation . Simon Magus strook deepest at first , to the root ; That there was no Resurrection at all ; The Gnosticks , ( who took their name from knowledge , as though they knew all , and no body else any thing , which is a pride transferr'd through all Heretickes : for , as that sect in the Roman Church , which call themselves Ignorantes , and seem to pretend to no knowledge , doe yet believe that they know a better way to heaven , then all other men doe , so that sect amongst them , which called themselves Nullanos , Nothings , thought themselves greater in the Kingdome of God , then either of the other two sects of diminution , the Minorits , or the Minims did ) These Gnosticks acknowledged a Resurrection , but they said it was of the soul onely , and not of the body , for they thought that the soul lay dead ( at least , in a dead sleep ) till the Resurrection . Those Heretickes that are called the Arabians , did ( as the Gnosticks did ) affirm a temporary death of the soul , as well as of the body , but then they allowed a Resurrection to both soul , and body , after that death , which the Gnostickes did not , but to the soul onely . Hymeneus and Philetus , ( of whom Saint Paul speakes ) they restrained the Resurrection to the soule , but then they restrained this Resurrection of the soule to this life , and that in those who were baptized , the Resurrection was accomplished already . Eutychius , ( whom wee mentioned before ) enlarged the Resurrection to the body , as well as to the soul , but enlarged the qualities of the body so far , as that it was scarce a body . The Armenian hereticks said ; that it was not onely Corpus hum●num , but Corpus masculinum , That all should rise in the perfecter sex , and none , as women . Origen allowed a Resurrection , and allowed the Body to be a naturall body ; but the contracted the time ; he said , that when we rose we should enjoy the benefits of the resurrection , even in bodily pleasures , for a thousand years , and then be annihilated , or absorpted and swallowed up into the nature , and essence of God himselfe ; ( for , it will be hard to state Origens opinion in this point ; Origen was not , herein , well understood in his owne time ; not doe we understand him now , ( for the most part ) but by his accusers , and those that have written against him . ) Divers of these Heretiques , for the maintenance of their severall heresies , perverted this Scripture , ( Flesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdome of God ) and that occasioned those Fathers who opposed those heresies , so diverse from one another , to interpret these words diversly , according to the heresie they opposed . All agree , that they are an argument for the resurrection , though they seem at first , to oppose it . For , this Chapter hath three generall parts ; first , Resurrectionem esse , that there shall be a Resurrection , which the Apostle proves by many and various arguments to the thirty fifth verse . And then Quati corpore , the body shall rise , but some will say , How are the dead raised , and with what body , doe they come ? in that thirty fifth verse : And lastly , Quid de superstitibus , what shall become of them , who shall be found alive , at the day ? We shall all be changed , verse fifty one . Now , this text is the knot , and corollary or all the second part , concerning the qualities of the bodies in the resurrection ; Now , says the Apostle , now that I have said enough to prove that a resurrection there is , now , now that I have said enough what kind of bodies shall arise , now , I show you as much in the Negative as I have done in the Affirmative , now I teach you what to avoid , as well as I have done what to affect , now this I say brethren , that flesh and bloud cannot inherit the kingdome of God. Now , though those words be primarily , principally intended of the last Resurrection , yet in a secondary respect , they are appliable in themselves , and very often applied by the ancients , to the first Resurrection , our resurrection in this life . Tertullian hath intimated , and presented both together , elegantly , when he says of God , Nobis arrhabonem spiritus reliquit , & arrhabonem à nobis accepit , God hath given us his earnest , and a pawn from him upon earth , in giving us the holy Ghost , and he hath received our earnest , and a pawn from us into heaven , by receiving our nature , in the body of Christ Jesus there . Flesh and bloud , when it is conformed to the flesh and bloud of Christ now glorified , and made like his , by our resurrectien , may inherite the kingdome of God , in heaven . Yea flesh and bloud being conformed to Christ by the sanctification of the holy Ghost , here , in this world , may inherit the kingdome of God , here upon earth ; for , God hath a kingdome here ; and there is a Communion in Armes , as well as a communion in Triumph . Leaving then that acceptation of flesh and bloud , which many thinke to be intended in this text , that is , Animalis caro , flesh and bloud that must be maintained by eating , and drinking , and preserved by propagation and generation , that flesh , and that bloud cannot inherit heaven , where there is no marying , nor giving in mariage , but Erimus sicut Angeli , we shall be as the Angels , ( though such a heaven , in part , Mahomet hath proposed to his followers , a heaven that should abound with worldly delights , and such a heaven the Disciples of Origen , and the Millenarians , that look for one thousand years of all temporall felicity , proposed to themselves ; And , though amongst our latter men , Cajetan doe thinke , that the Apostle in this text , bent himselfe upon that doctrine , non caro , non Animalis caro , flesh and bloud , that is , no carnall , no worldly delights are to be looked for , in heaven , ) leaving that sense , as too narrow , and too shallow for the holy Ghost , in this place , in which he hath a higher reach , we shall determine our selves at this time , in these too acceptations of this phrase of speech ; first , non caro , that is , non caro corrupta , flesh and bloud cannot , sinfull flesh , corrupt flesh , flesh not discharged of sinfull corruption here , by repentance , and Sanctification , and the operation of Gods spirit , such flesh cannot inherit the kingdome of God here . Secondly , noncar● , is non car● corruptibilis , flesh and bloud cannot , that is , flesh that is yet subject to corruption , and dissolution , and naturall passions and impressions , tending to defectivenesse , flesh that is still subject to any punishment that God lays upon flesh , for sinne , such flesh cannot inherit the kingdome of God hereafter ; for our present possession of the kingdome of God here , our corrupt flesh must be purged by Sanctification here , for the future kingdome , our naturall Corruptiblenesse must be purged by glorification there . We will make the last part first , as this flesh , and this bloud , by devesting the corruptiblenesse it suffers here , by that glorification , shall inherit that kingdome ; and , not stay long upon it neither . For , of that we have spoken conveniently before , of the resurrection it selfe . Now we shall looke a little into the qualities of bodies in the resurrection ; and that , not in the intricacies , and subtilties of the Schoole , but onely in that one patterne , which hath been given us of that glory , upon earth , which is the Transfiguration of Christ ; for , that Transfiguration of his , was a representation of a glorified body in a glorified state . And then in the second place , we shall come to our first part , what that flesh and bloud is that is denied to be capable of the inheritance of that kingdome here , that is , that earnest of heaven , and that inchoation of heaven which may be had in this world ; and , in that part we shall see , what this inheritance , what this title to heaven here , and what this kingdome of God , that heaven which is proposed to us here , is . First then , for the first acceptation , ( which is of the later resurrection ) no man denies that which Melancthon hath collected and established to be the summe of this text , Statuit resurrectionem in corpore , sed non quale jam corpus est ; The Apostle establishes a resurrection of the body , but yet not such a body as this is . It is the same body , and yet not such a body ; which is a mysterious consideration , that it is the same body , and yet not such as it selfe , nor like any other body of the same substance . But , what kind of body then ? We content ourselves with that , Transfiguratio specimen appositissimum Resurrectionis , the Transfiguration of Christ , is the best glasse to see this resurrection , and state of glory in . But how was that transfiguration wrought ? We content our selves with Saint Hieromes expressing of it , non pristinam amisit veritatem , vel formam corporis ; Christ had still the same ture , and reall body , and he had the same forme , and proportion , and lineaments , and dimensions of his body , in it selfe . Transfiguratio non faciem subtraxit , sed splendorem ad didit , sayes he ; It gave him not another face , but it super-immitted such a light , such an illustration upon him , as , by that irradiation , that coruscation , the beames of their eys were scattered , and disgregated , dissipated so , as that they could not collect them , as at other times , nor constantly , and confidently discerne him . Moses had a measure , a proportion of this ; but yet when Moses came down with his shining face , though they were not able to looke long upon him , they knew him to be Moses . When Christ was transfigured in the presence of Peter , Iames and Iohn , yet they knew him to be Christ. Transfiguration did not so change him , nor shall glorification so change us , as that we shall not be known . There is nothing to convince a man of error , nothing in nature , nothing in Scriptures , if he beleeve that he shall know those persons in heaven , whom he knew upon earth ; and , if he conceive soberly , that it were a lesse degree of blessednesse , not to know them , then to know them , he is bound to beleeve that he shall know them , for he is bound to beleeve , that all that conduces to blessednes shall be given him . The School resolves , that at the Judgement , all the sins of all , shall be manifested to all ; even those secret sinfull thoughts that never came out of the heart . And , when any in the School differs or departs from this cōmon opinion , they say onely , that those sins which have been , in particular , repented , shall not be manifested : all others shall . And therefore it is a deep uncharitablenes , to reproach any man , of sins formerly repented ; and a deep uncharitablenesse not to beleeve , that he whom thou seest at the Communion , hath repented his former sins ; Reproach no man , after thou hast seen him receive , with last years sins ; except thou have good evidence of his Hypocrisie then , or of his Relapsing after ; For , in those two cases , a man remaines , or becomes againe guilty of his former sinnes . Now , if in heaven they shall know the hearts of one another , whose faces they never knew before , there is lesse difficulty in knowing them , whom we did know before . From this transfiguration of Christ , in which , the mortall eye of the Apostles , did see that representation of the glory of Christ , the Schooles make a good argument , that in heaven we shall doe it much more . And though in this case of the Transfiguration , in which the eyes of mortall men could have no proportion with that glory of heaven , this may bee well said to have been done , either Moderando lumen , ( that God abated that light of glory ) or Confortando visum , ( that God exalted their sense of seeing supernaturally ) no such distinctions , or modifications will bee needfull in heaven , because how highly soever the body of my Father , or of my friend shall bee glorifyed there , mine eyes shall be glorifyed as much , and we are both kept in the same proportion there , as wee had towards one another here ; here my naturall eye could see his naturall face , and there mine eye is as much mended , as his body is , and my sense as much exalted as mine object ; And as well , as I may know , that I am I ; I may know , that He is He ; for , I shall not know my selfe , nor that state of glory which I am then in , by any light of Nature which I brought thither , but by that light of Glory which I shall receive there . When therefore a man finds , that this consideration does him good in his conversation , and retards him towards some sinnes ; how shall I stand then , when all the world shall see , that my solicitation hath brought such a woman to the stews , to the Hospitall , to hell , who had scap'd all this , if I had not corrupted her at first , ( which no man in the world knew before , and all shall know then . ) Or that my whispering , and my calumny hath overthrown such a man in his place , in his reputation , in his fortune ( which he himself knew not before , and all shall know then . ) Or , that my counsell , or my example hath been a furtherance to any mans spirituall edification here . He that in rectified reason , and a rectified conscience finds this , in Gods name let him beleeve ; yea , for Gods sake let him take heed of not beleeving that we shall know one another , Actions and Persons , in the Resurrection , as the Apostles did know Christ at the Transfiguration , which was a Type of it . This Transfiguration then upon earth ; was the same glory , which Christ had after , in heaven . Qualis venturus , talis apparuit ; such as all eyes shall see him to be , when he comes in glory at last , those Apostles saw him then , but of the particular circumstances , even of this transfiguration upon earth , there is but little said to us . Let us modestly take that which is expressed in it , and not search over-curiously farther into that which is signifyed , and represented by it ; which is , the state of glory in the Resurrection . First , his face shin'd as the Sunne , says that Gospell , he could not take a higher comparison , for our Information , and for our admiration in this world , then the Sunne . And then , the Saints of God in their glorifyed state are admitted to the same comparison . The righteous shall shine out as the Sunne in the Kingdome of the Father ; the Sunne of the firmament which should be their comparison , will be gone ; But the Sun of grace and of glory , the Son of God shall remain ; and they shall shine as he ; that is , in his righteousnesse . In this transfiguration , his clothes were white , says the text ; but how white , the holy Ghost does not tell us at once , as white as snow , says Saint Mark , as white as light , says Saint Matthew . Let the garments of the glorifyed Saints of God be their bodies , and then , their bodies are as white as snow , as snow that fall's from heaven , and hath tou●ht no pollution of the earth . For , though our bodies have been upon earth , and have touched pitch , and have been defiled , yet that will not lye in proof , not be given in evidence ; Though he that drew me , and I that was drawen too , know , in what unclean places , and what unclean actions , this body of mine hath been , yet it lyes not in proof , it shall not be given in evidence , for , Accusator fratrum , The accuser of the brethren is cast down , the Devill shall find nothing against me ; And if I had spontaneum Daemonem , as Saint Chrysostome speaks , a bosome Devill , and could tempt my self , though there had been no other tempter in this world , so I have spontan●um Demonem , a bosome accuser , a conscience that would accuse me there , if I accuse my self there , I reproach the mercy of God , who hath seal'd my pardon , and made even my body , what sins soever had discoloured it , as white as snow . As white as snow , and as white as light , says that Gospel . Light implies an active power , Light is operative , and works upon others . The bodies of the Saints of God ; shall receive all impressions of glory in themselves , and they shall doe all that is to bee done , for the glory of God there . There , they shall stand in his service , and they shall kneel in his worship , and they shall fall in his reverence , and they shall sing in his glory , they shall glorifie him in all positions of the body ; They shall be glorified in themselves passively , and they shall glorifie God actively , sicut Nix , sicut Lux , their beeing , their doing shall be all for him ; Thus they shall shine as the Sun ; Thus their garments shall be white , white as snow , in being glorified in their own bodies , white as light , in glorifying God in all the actions of those bodies . Now , there is thus much more considerable , and applyable to our present purpose , in this tranfiguration of Christ , that there was company with them . Be not apt to think heaven in an Ermitage , or a Monastery , or the way to heaven a sullen melancholy ; Heaven , and the way to it , is a Communion of Saints , in a holy cheerfulnesse . Get thou thither ; make sure thine own salvation ; but be not too hasty to think , that no body gets thither , except he go thy way in all opinions , and all actions . There was company in the transfiguration ; but no other company then Moses , and Elias , and Christ , and the Apostles ; none but they , to whom God had manifested himself otherwise then to a meer naturall man , otherwise then as a generall God. For , in the Law , and in the Padagogie , and Schoolmastership , and instruction thereof , God had manifested himself particularly by Moses , In Elias and the Prophets , whom God sent in a continuall succession , to refresh that manifestation which he had given of himself in the Law , before , in the example of these rules , in him , who was the consummation of the Law , and the Prophets , Christ Iesus ; And then , in the Application of all this , by the Apostles , and by the Church established by them , God had more particularly manifested himself , then to naturall men . Moses , Elias , Christ , and the Apostles , make up the houshold of the faithfull ; and none have interest in the Resurrection , but in , and by these ; These , to whom , and by whom , God hath exhibited himself , to his Church , by other notions , then as one universall God ; For , nothing will save a man , but to believe in God ; so as God hath proposed himself , in his Son , in his Scriptures , in his Christ. These were with him in the transfiguration , and they talked with him , says that text . As there is a Communion of Saints , so there is a Communication of Saints . Think not heaven a Charter-house , where men , who onely of all creatures , are enabled by God to speak , must not speak to one another . The Lord of heaven is Verbum , The word , and his servants there talk of us here , and pray to him for us . They talked with him ; but of what ? They talked of hi● Decease , ( says the text there ) which he should accomplish at Jerusalem , all that they talked of , was of his Passion . All that we shall say , and sing in heaven , will be of his Passion , accomplished at Jerusalem , in that Hymn , This Lamb hath redeemed as to God , by his blood ; Worthy is the Lamb that was slaine , to receive power , and riches , and wisdome , and strength , and honour , and glory , and blessing , Amen . Even our glory in heaven , at last , is not principally for our selves , but to contribute to the glory of Christ Jesus . If we inquire further then this , into the state of our glorifyed bodies , remember that in this reall Parable , in this Type of the Resurrection , the transfiguration of Christ , it is said , that even Beter himself wist not what to say ; and remember too , That even Christ himself forbad them to say any thing at all of it , till his Resurrection . Till our Resurrection , we cannot know clearly , we should not speak boldly , of the glory of the Saints of God , nor of our blessed endowments in that state . The summe of all is , Fiducis Christianorum est resurrectio mortuorum ; My faith directs it self first upon that which Christ hath done , he is dead , he is risen ; and my hope directs it selfe upon that which shall bee done , I shall rise again . And yet says Luther , Papa , Cardinales & primarii viri , I know the Pope , the Cardinals , the Bishops are I●genio , doctrinâ , ratione , prudentiâ excellentes , they abound in naturall parts , in reading , in experience , in civill wisdome : yet says he , si tres sunt , qui hunc ●●ticulum indubitanter ●redunt , If there be three amongst them . that do faithfully and undoubtedly believe this article of the Resurrection of the body , three are more then I look for amongst them . Beloved , as no things are liker one another , then Court and Court , the same ambitions , the same underminings in one Court as in another , so Church and Church is alike too ; All persecured Churches are religious , all peaceable Churches are dissolute , when Luther said that of the Church of Rome , ( That few of them believed the Resurrection ) the Roman Church wall owed in all abundances , and dissolutenesse● and scarce a man , ( in respect ) opened his mouth against her , otherwise then that the holy Ghost , to make his continuall 〈◊〉 , and to interrupt their prescription , in every age raised up some to declare their impieties and usurpations . But then , when they bent all their thoughts entirely , and prosperously upon possessing this world , they thought they might spare the Resurrection well enough ; As hee that hath a plentifull fortune in Europe , cares not much though there be no land of perfumes in the East , nor of gold , in the West-Indies ; God in our days , hath given us , and our Church , the fat of the glory of this world too , and we also neglect the other : But when men of a different religion from them , ( for they will needs call a differing from their errours , a different Religion , as though all their religion were errours , for ( excepting errours ) we differ in no point ) when , I say , such men came to enquire into them , to discover them , and to induce or to attempt in divers parts of their government a reformation , then they shut themselves up closer , then they grew more carefull of their manners , and did reform themselves somewhat , though not thoroughly , and are the better for that reformat on which was offered to them , and wrought more effectually upon others ? As we say in the School , that even the Devill is somewhat the better for the death of Christ , so the Roman Church is somewhat the better for the Reformation . Our assiduity of preaching hath brought them to another manner of frequency in preaching , then before the Reformation they were accustomed to , and our answers to their books have brought them to a more reserved manner of writing , then they used before . Let us therefore by their example , make as good use of our enemies , as our enemies have done of us . For , though we have no military enmity , no hostility with any nation , though we must all , and doe , out of a true sense of our duty to God , pray ever for the continuance of peace amongst Christian Princes , and to withhold the effusion of Christian blood , yet to that intendment , and in that capacity as they were our enemies in 88. when they provoked by their Excommunications , dangerous invasions , and in that capacity as they were our enemies in 603. when they bent their malice even against that place , where the Laws for the maintenance of our religion were enacted , so they are our enemies still , if we be still of the same religion . He that by Gods mercy to us , leads us , is as sure that the Pope is Antichrist , now , as he was then ; and we that are blessedly led by him , are as sure , that their doctrine is the doctrine of Devils , now , as we were then . Let us therefore make use of those enemies , and of their aery insolences , and their frothy confidences , as thereby to be the firmer in our selves , and the carefuller of our children , and servants , that we send not for such a Physitian as brings a Roman Priest for his Apothecary , nor entertain such a School-master , as brings a Roman Priest for his Vsher , nor such a Mercer , as brings a Priest for his Tayler ; ) for , in these shapes they have , and will appear . ) But in true faith to God , true Allegiance to our Prince , true obedience to the Church , true dealing with all men , make our selves sure of the Resurrection in the next life ; In carne incorruptibili , in flesh that shall bee capable of no corruption , by having that resurrection in this life , in carne incorruptâ , in devesting or correcting the corruptions which cleave to our flesh here , that we bee not corrupted spiritually , ( not disputed out of our Religion , nor jeasted out , nor threatened out , nor bought out , nor beat out of the truth of God ) nor corrupted carnally by the pleasures or profits of this world , but that wee may conforme our selves to the purity of Christ Jesus , in that measure , which wee are able to attain to , which is our spirituall Resurrection , and constitutes our second part , That Kingdome of God , which flesh and blood may inherit in this life . From the beginning we setled that , That the primary purpose of the Apostle in these words , was to establish the doctrine of the last Resurrection . But in Tertullians exposition , Arrabonem dedit , & arrabonem accepit ; That God hath left us the earnest of his Spirit upon earth , and hath taken the earnest of our flesh into heaven , it grew indifferent , of which Resurrection , spirituall , or bodily , first , or last , it be accepted . but take Tertullian in another place , upon the verse immediately preceding our Text ( Sicut portavimus , portemus , ( for so Tertullian reads that place , and so does the Vulgate ) As we have born the image of the earthly , so let us beare the Image of the heavenly ) there from Tertullian it must necessarily be referred to the first Resurrection , the Resurrection by grace in this life , for , says he there , Non refertur ad substantiam resurrectionis , sed ad pr●●sentis temporis disciplinam ; the Apostle does not speak of our glorious resurrection at last , but of our religious resurrection now . Portemus , non portabimus , Let us bear his image , says the Apostle ; Let us now , not that we shall bear it at the last day . Praeceptive dictum , non promissive ; The Apostle delivers it as a duty , that we must , not as a reward , that wee shall bear that image . And therefore in Tertulli●● construction , it is not onely indifferent , and probable , but necessary to refer this Text to the first Resurrection in this life ; where it will be fittest , to pursue that order , which we proposed at first , first to consider Quid regnum , what Kingdome it is , that is pretended to ; And then , Quid haeredetas , what estate and term is to be had in it : It is an Inheritance . And lastly , Quid care , & sanguis , what flesh and blood it is , that is excluded out of this Kingdome . Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God. First , for this kingdome of God in this world , let us be glad that it is a kingdome , that it is so much , that the government is taken out of the hands of Saints , and Angels and re-united , re-annexed to the Crown , restoted to God , to whom we may come immediately , and be accepted . Let us be glad that it is a kingdome , so much , and let us be glad that it is but a kingdome , and no more , not a Tyranny ; That we come not to a God that will dam●e us , because he will dam●e us , but a God that proposes Conditions , and enables us to performe those conditions , in such a measure as he will vouchsafe to accept from us ; A God that governs us by his word , for in his word is truth , and by his law , for in his law is clearnesse . Will you aske what this kingdome of God is ? What did you take it to be , or what did you mean by it , when , even now , you said with me , in the Lords prayer , Thy kingdome come ? Did you deliberately , and determinately pray for the day of Judgment , and for his comming in the kingdome of glory , then ? Were you all ready for that , when you said so ? Purae conscientiae , & grandis audaciae est , It is a very great confidence , and ( if it be not grounded upon a very pure conscience ) it must have a worse name , Regnum Dei postul are , & judicium non time●● ; To call upon God for the day of Judgment , upon confidence of our own righteousnesse , is a shrewd distemper ; To say , V●ni Domine Iesu , come Lord Iesu● come and take us , as thou findst us , is a dangerous issue . But Adveniat regnum , and then veniat Rex , let his kingdome of grace come upon us , in this life , and then let himselfe come too , in his good time , and when his good pleasure shall be , in the kingdome of Glory : Sive velimus sive nolimus , regnum Dei utique veniet , what need we hasten him , provoke him ? says Saint Augustine ; whether we will or no , his kingdome , his Judgment will come . Nay , before we called for it , even his kingdome of grace was come . Christ said to the Scribe , Non longè , Thou art not far from the kingdome of God ; And to the Pharisees themselves he said ; Intra vos , the kingdome of God is among you , within you . But , where there is a whole Hospitall of three hundred blinde men together , ( as there is at Paris ) there is as much light , amongst them there , as amongst us here , and yet all they have no light , so this kingdome of God is amongst us all , and yet God knows whether we see it , or no. And therefore Adveniat ut manifestet●r Deus , says S. Augustine , his kingdom come , that we may discerne it is come , that we may see that God offers it to us ; and , Adveniat regnum , ut manefestemur Deo , his kingdome come so , that he may discernus in our reception of that Kingdom , and our obedience to it . He comes when we see him , and he comes again , when we receive him : Quid est , Regnum ejus veniat , quàm ut nos bonos inveniat ? Then his Kingdome comes , when he finds us willing to be Subjects to that Kingdome . God is a King in his own right . By Creation , by Redemption , by many titles , and many undoubted claimes . But , Aliud est Regem esse , aliud regnare , It is one thing to be a King , another to have Subjects in obedience ; A King is not the lesse a King , for a Rebellion ; But , Verè justum regnum est , ( says that Father ) quando & Rex vult homines habere sub se , & cupiunt homines esse sub ●o , when the King would wish no other Subjects , nor the Subjects other King , then is that Kingdom come , come to a durable , and happy state . When God hath shewed himself in calling us , and wee have shewed our willingnesse to come , when God shewes his desire to preserve us , and we adhere onely to him , when there is a Dominus regnat , Latetur terra , When our whole Land is in possession of peace , and plenty , and the whole Church in possession of the Word and Sacraments , when the Land rejoyces because the Lord reigns ; and when there is a Dominus regnat , Laetentur Insulae , Because the Lord reigneth , every Island doth rejoice ; that is , every man ; that every man that is encompassed within a Sea of calamities in his estate , with a Sea of diseases in his body , with a Sea of scruples in his understanding , with a Sea of transgressions in his conscience , with a Sea of sinking and swallowing in the sadnesse of spirit , may yet open his eyes above water , and find a place in the Arke above all these , a recourse to God , and joy in him , in the Ordinances of a well established , and well governed Church , this is truly Regnum Dei , the Kingdome of God here ; God is willing to be present with us , ( that he declares in the preservation of his Church ) And we are sensible of his presence , and residence with us , and that wee declare in our frequent recourses to him hither , and in our practise of those things which we have learnt here , when we are gone hence . This then is the blessed state that wee pretend to , in the Kingdome of God in this life ; Peace in the State , peace in the Church , peace in our Conscience : In this , that wee answer the motions of his blessed Spirit here in his Ordinance , and endevour a conformity to him , in our life , and conversation ; In this , hee is our King , and wee are his Subjects , and this is this Kingdome of God , the Kingdome of Grace . Now the title , by which we make claim to this Kingdome , is in our text Inheritance : Who can , and who cannot inherit this Kingdome of God. I cannot have it by purchase , by mine own merits and good works ; It is neither my former good disposition , nor Gods fore-sight of my future cooperation with him , that is the cause of his giving mee his grace . I cannot have this by Covenant , or by the gift , or bequeathing of another , by works of Supererogation , ( that a Martyr of the primitive Church should send mee a violl of his blood , a splinter of his bone , a Collop of his flesh , wrapped up in a halfe sheet of paper , in an imaginary six-penny Indulgence from Rome , and bid mee receive grace ; and peace of Conscience in that . ) I cannot have it by purchase , I cannot have it by gift , I cannot have it by Curtesie , in the right of my wife , That if I will let her live in the obedience of the Roman Church , and let her bring up my children so , for my selfe , I may have leave to try a Court , or a worldly fortune , and bee secure in that , that I have a Catholique wife , or a Catholique child to pray , and merit for mee ; I have no title to this Kingdome of God. but Inheritance , whence growes mine Inheritance ? Ex semine Dei ; because I am propagated of the seed of God , I inherit this peace . Whosoever is born of God doth not commit finne ; for , his seed remaineth in him , and hee cannot sinne , because hee is born of God : That is , hee cannot desire to sinne ; Hee cannot antidate a sinne , by delighting in the hope of a future sin , and sin in a praefruition of his sinne , before the act ; Hee cannot post-date a sinne , delight in the memory of a pastsinne , and sin it over againe , in a post-fruition of that sinne ; Hee cannot boast himself of sinne , much lesse bely himself in glorying in sinnes , never done ; Hee cannot take sinnes dyet , therefore , that hee may bee able to sinne againe next Spring ; Hee cannot hunger and thirst , and then digest and sleepe quietly after a sinne ; and to this purpose , and in this sense Saint Bernard says , Praedestinati non possunt peccare , That the Elect cannot sinne ; And in this also , That when the sinnes of the Elect , are brought to tryall , and to judgement , there their sinnes are no sinnes ; not because they are none in themselves , but because the blood of Jesus covering them , they are none in the eyes of God. I am Heir then as I am the Son of God , born of the seed of God. But , what is that seed ? Verbum Dei , the seed is the word of God , Of his own will beg at he us , ( says that Apostle ) with the word of truth ; And our Saviour himselfe speaks very clearly in expounding the Parable ; The seed is the word of God. We have this Kingdome of God , as we have an inheritance , as we are Heirs ; we are Heirs as we are Sons ; we are Sons as we have the seed , and the seed is the Word . So that all ends in this ; We inherit not this Kingdome if we possesse not the preaching of the Word ; if we professe not the true ●ligion still : for , the word of this text which we translate to inherit , for the most part , in the translation of the Septuagint , answers the Hebrew word , Nachal ; and Nachal is Haereditas cum possessione ; not an inheritance in reversion , but in possession . Take us O Lord for thine inheritance , says Moses ; Et possideas nos , as Saint H●erome translates that very place ; Inherit us , and Possesse us ; Et erimus tibi , whatsoever we are , we will bee thine , says the Septuagint : You see then how much goes to the making up of this Inheritance of the Kingdome of God in this world , First , Vt habeamus verbum , That we have this seed of God , his word ; ( In the Roman Church they have it not ; not that that Church hath it not , not that it is not there ; but they , the people that have it not ) and then , Vt possideamus , That we possesse it , or rather that it possesse us ; that we make the Word the onely rule of our faith , and of our actions ; ( In the Roman Church they do not so , they have not pure wheat , but mestlin , other things joyned with this good seed , the word of God ) and lastly , Vt simus Deo , That we be his , that we be so still , that we doe not begin with God , and give over , but that this seed of God , of which we are born , may ( as Saint Peter says ) be incorruptible , and abide for ever ; that wee may be his so entirely , and so constantly , as that we had rather have no beeing , then for any time of suspension , or for any part of his fundamentall truth , be without it , and this the Roman Church cannot be said to do , that expunges and interlines articles of faith , upon Reason of State , and emergent occasions . God hath made you one , says the Prophet , who bee the parties whom God hath maryed together , and made One , in that place ? you and your religion ; ( as our expositors interpret that place . ) And why One , says the Prophet there ; That God might have a godly seed , says he , that is , a continuation , a propagation , a race , a posterity of the same religion ; Therefore says he , Let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth . Let none divorce himself from that religion , and that worship of God , which God put into his armes , and which he embraced in his Baptism . Except there be errour in fundamentall points , such as make that Church no Church , let no man depart from that Church , and that religion , in which he delivered himself to the service of God at first . Wo be unto us , if we deliver not over our religion to our posterity , in the same sincerity , and the same totality in which our Fathers have delivered it us ; for that , that continuation , is that , that makes it an inheritance : for , ( to conclude this ) every man hath an inheritance in the Law , and yet if he be hanged , he is hanged by the Law , in which hee had his inheritance : so wee have our inheritance in the Word of God , and yet , if wee bee damned , we are damned by that Word ; If thy heart turn away , so as that thou worship other Gods , I denounce unto you this day , that you shall surely perish . So then , wee have an inheritance in this Kingdome , if we preserve it , and we incurre a forfeiture of it , if wee have not this seed , ( The Word , the truth of Religion ) so as that we possesse it ; that is , conform our selves to him , whose Word it is , by it , and possesse it so , as that we persevere in the true profession of it , to our end ; for , Perseverance , as well as Possession , enters into our title , and inheritance to this Kingdome . You see then , what this Kingdome of God is ; It is , when he comes , and his welcome , when he comes in his Sacraments , and speaks in his Word ; when he speaks and is answered ; knocks and is received , ( he knocks in his Ordinances , and is received in our Obedience to them , he knocks in his example , and most holy conversation , and is received in our conformity , and imitation . ) So have you seen what the Inheritance of this Kingdome is , it is a Having , and Holding of the Gospel , a present , and a permanent possession , a holding fast , lest another ( another Nation , another Church ) take our Crown . There remains onely that you see , upon whom the exclusion fals ; and for the clearing of that , This I say brethren , that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God. It is fully express'd by Saint Paul , The carnall mind is enmity against God. It is not a coldnesse , a slacknesse , an omission , a preterition of some duties towards God , but it is Enmity , and that 's an exclusion out of the Kingdome ; for , ( says the Apostle there ) it is not subject to the Law of God ; and no subjection , no Kingdome ; it is not , says hee , neither can it be ; It is not , that excludes the present ; It cannot be , that excludes the future ; so that it is onely this incorrigible , this desperate state that constitutes this flesh , and blood , that cannot inherit the Kingdome of God ; for this implies impenitablenesse , which is the sin against the holy Ghost . Take the word flesh , so literally , as that it be either the adorning of my flesh in pride , or the polluting of my flesh in wantonnes , whether it be a pampering of my flesh with voluptuous provocations , or a withering , a shriveling of my flesh with superstitious and meritorious fastings , or other macerations , and lacerations by inhumane violence upon my body ; Take the word Bloud so literally , as that it be either an admiring and adoring of honourable blood , in a servile flattering of great persons , or an insinuating of false and adulterous blood , in a bastardizing a race , by supposititious children , whether it bee the inflaming the blood of young persons by lascivious discourse , or shedding the blood of another in a murderous quarrell , whether it be in blaspheming the blood of my Saviour , in execrable oathes , or the prophaning of his blood in an unworthy receiving thereof , all these ways , and all such , doth this flesh and blood exclude from the Kingdome of God ; It is summarily , all those works which proceed meerly out of the nature of man , without the regeneration of the Spirit of God ; all that is flesh and blood , and enmity against God , says the Apostle in that place . But in another place , that Apostle leads us into other considerations ; to the Galatians he says , The works of the flesh are manifest : And amongst those manifest works of the flesh , he reckons not onely sins of wantonnesse , and sins of anger , not onely sins in concupiscibili , and in irascibili , but in intelligibili , sins and errours in the understanding , particularly Heresie , and Idolatry are works of the flesh , in Saint Pauls inventory , in that place , Heresie and Idolatry , are that flesh and blood which shall not inherit the Kingdome of God. Bring wee this consideration home to our selves . The Church of Rome does not charge us with affirming any Heresie , nor does she charge us with any Idolatry in our practise . So far we are discharged from the works of the flesh . If they charge us with Doctrine of flesh and blood because we prefer Mariage before Chastity , it is a charge ill laid , for Mariage and Chastity consist well together ; The bed undefiled is chastity . If they charge us that wee prefer Mariage before Continency , they charge us unjustly , for we do not so : Let them contain that can , and blesse God for that heavenly gift of Continency , and let them that cannot , mary , and serve God , and blesse him for affording them that Physick for that infirmity . As Mariage was ordained at first , for those two uses , Procreation of children , and mutuall assistance of man , and wife , so Continency was not preferr'd before Mariage . As there was a third use of Mariage added after the fall , by way of Remedy , so Mariage may well be said to be inferiour to continency , as physick is in respect of health . If they charge us with it , because our Priests mary , they doe it frivolously , and impertinently , because they deny that wee are Priests . We charge them with Heresie in the whole new Creed of the Councell of Trent , ( for , if all the particular doctrines be not Hereticall , yet , the doctrine of inducing new Articles of faith is Hereticall , and that doctrine runs through all the Articles , for else they could not be Articles . ) And we charge them with Idolatry , in the peoples practise , ( and that practise is never controld by them ) in the greatest mystery of all their Religion , in the Adoration of the Sacrament ; And Heresie and Idolatry are manifest works of the flesh . Our Kingdome is the Gospel ; our Inheritance is our holding that ; our exclusion is flesh and blood , Heresie and Idolatry . And therefore let us be able to say with the Apostle , when God had called us , and separated us , immediately we conferred not with flesh and blood . Since God hath brought us into a fair prospect , let us have no retrospect back ; In Canaan , let us not look towards Aegypt , nor towards Sodom being got to the Mountain ; since God hath setled us in a true Church , let us have no kind of byas , and declination towards a false ; for that is one of Saint Pauls manifest works of the flesh , and I shall lose all the benefit of the flesh and bloud of Christ Jesus , if I doe so , for flesh and bloud cannot inherite the kingdome of God. We have done ; Adde we but this , by way of recollecting this which hath been said now , upon these words , and that which hath been formerly said upon those words of Iob , which may seem to differ from these , ( In my flesh I shall see God ) Omne verum omni vero consentiens , whatsoever is true in it selfe agrees with every other truth . Because that which Iob says , and that which Saint Paul says , agree with the truth , they agree with one another . For , as Saint Paul says , Non omni● caro eadem caro , there is one flesh of man , another of beasts , so there is one flesh of Iob , another of Saint Paul ; And Iobs flesh can see God , and Pauls cannot ; because the flesh that Iob speakes of hath overcome the destruction of skin and body by wormes in the grave , and so is mellowed and prepared for the sight of God in heaven ; And Pauls flesh is overcome by the world . Iobs flesh triumphes over Satan , and hath made a victorious use of Gods corrections , Pauls flesh is still subject to tentations , and carnalities . Iobs argument is but this , some flesh shall see God , ( Mortified men here , Glorified men there shall ) Pauls argument is this , All flesh shall not see God , ( Carnall men here , Impenitent men there , shall not . ) And therefore , that as our texts answer one another , so your resurrections may answer one another too , as at the last resurrection , all that heare the sound of the Trumpet , shall rise in one instant , though they have passed thousands of years between their burialls , so doe all ye , who are now called , by a lower and infirmer voice , rise together in this resurrection of grace . Let him that hath been buried sixty years , forty years , twenty years , in covetousnesse , in uncleannesse , in indevotion , rise now , now this minute , and then , as Adam that dyed five thousand before , shall be no sooner in heaven , in his body , then you , so Abel that dyed for God , so long before you , shall be no better , that is , no fuller of the glory of heaven , then you that dye in God , when it shall be his pleasure to take you to him . SERMON XVI . Preached at Lincolns Inne . COLOS. 1. 24. Who now rejoyce in my sufferings for you , and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh , for his bodies sake which is the Church . WE are now to enter into the handling of the doctrine of Evangelicall counsailes ; And these words have been ordinarily used by the writers of the Roman Church , for the defence of a point in controversie between them and us ; which is a preparatory to that which hereafter is to be more fully handled upon another Text. Out of these words , they labour to establish works of supererogation , in which ( they say ) men doe or suffer more then was necessary for their owne salvation ; and then the superfluity of those accrues to the Treasury of the Church , and by the Stewardship , and dispensation of the Church may be applied to other men living here , or suffering in Purgatory by way of satisfaction to Gods justice ; But this is a doctrine which I have had occasion heretofore in this place to handle ; And a doctrine which indeed deserves not the dignity to be too diligently disputed against ; And as we will not stop upon the disproving of the doctrine , so we need not stay long , nor insist upon the vindicating of these words , from that wresting and detortion of theirs , in using them for the proofe of that doctrine . Because though at first , they presented them with great eagernesse and vehemence , and assurance , Quicquid haeretici obstrepunt , illustris hic locus , say the Heretiques what they can , this is a clear and evident place for that doctrine , yet another after him is a little more cautelous and reserv'd , Negari non potest quin ita expeni possint , it cannot be denied , but that these words may admit such an exposition ; And then another more modified then both says , Primò & propriè non id intendit Apostolus ; the Apostle had no such purpose in his first and proper intention to prove that doctrine in these words . Sed innuitur ille sensus ; qui et si non genuinus , tamen à pari deduci potest : some such sense ( says that author ) may be implied and intimated , because , though it be not the true and naturall sense , yet by way of comparison , and convenience , such a meaning may be deduced . Generally their difference in having any patronage for that corrupt doctrine out of these words , appeares best in this , that if we consider their authors who have written in controversies , we shall see that most of them have laid hold upon these words for this doctrine ; because they are destitute of all Scriptures , and glad of any , that appear to any , any whit that way inclinable ; But if we consider those authors , who by way of commentary and exposition ( either before , or since the controversies have been stirred ) have handled these words , we shall find none of their owne authors of that kind , which by way of exposition of these words doth deliver this to be the meaning of them , that satisfaction may be made to the justice of God by the works of supererogation one man for another . To come then to the words themselves in their true sense , and interpretation , we shall find in them two generall considerations . First , that to him that is become a new creature , a true Christian , all old things are done away , and all things are made new : As he hath a new birth , as he hath put on a new man , as he is going towards a new Ierusalem , so hath he a new Philosophy , a new production , and generation of effects out of other causes , then before , he finds light out of darknesse , fire out of water , life out of death , joy out of afflictions , Nunc ga●de● , now I rejoyce in my sufferings &c. And then in a second consideration he finds that this is not by miracle , that he should hope for it but once , but he finds an expresse , and certaine , and constant reason why it must necessarily be so , because I still up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ &c. It is strange that I should conceive joy out of affliction , but when I come to see the reason that by that affliction , I fill up the sufferings of Christ &c. it is not strange , it cannot chuse but be so . The parts then will be but two , a proposition , and a reason ; But in the first part it will be sit to consider first , the person , not meerely who it is , but in what capacity , the Apostle conceives this joy ; And secondly , the season , Now , for joy is not always seasonable , there is a time of mourning , but now rejoycing ; And then in a third place we shall come to the affection it selfe , Joy , which when it is true , and truly placed , is the nearest representation of heaven it selfe to this world . From thence we shall descend to the production of this joy , from whence it is derived , and that is out of sufferings , for this phrase in passionibus , in my sufferings , is not in the middest o● my sufferings , it is not that I have joy and comfort , though I suffer , but in passionibus is so in suffering as that the very suffering is the subject of my joy , I had no joy , no occasion of joy , if I did not suffer . But then these sufferings which must occasion this joy , are thus conditioned , thus qualified in our text ; That , first , it be passio mea , my suffering , and not a suffering cast by my occasion upon the whole Church , or upon other men , mea , it is determined and limited in my selfe , and mea , but not prome , not for my selfe , not for mine owne transgressions , and violating of the law , but it is for others , pro vobis , says the Apostle , for out of that root springs the whole second part why there appertaines a joy to such sufferings , which is that the suffering of Christ being yet , not unperfect , but unperfected , Christ having not yet suffered all , which he is to suffer to this purpose , for the gathering of his Church , I fill up that which remaines undone ; And that in Carne , not onely in spirit and disposition , but really in my flesh , And all this not only for making sure of mine own salvation , but for the establishing and edifying a Church , but yet , his Church , for men seduced , and seducers of men have their Churches too , and suffer for those Churches ; but this is for his Church , and that Church of his which is properly his body , and that is the visible Church : and these will be the particular branches of our two generall parts , the proposition , Gaudeo in afflictionibus &c. And the reason , Quiae adimpleo &c. To beginne then with the first branch of the first part , The person ; we are sure it was Sain● Paul , who we are sure was an Apostle , for so he tells the Colo●sians in the beginning of the Epistle ; Paul an Apostle of Iesus Christ , by the will of God , but yet he was not properly , peculiarly their Apostle , he was theirs as he was the Apostle of the Gentiles ; but he was not theirs , as he was the Apostle of the Corinthians ; If I be not an Apostle to others ( says he ) yet doubtlesse I am to you ; for amongst the Corinthians he had laid the foundations of a Church , Are ye not my worke in the Lord ? ( says he there ) but for the Colossians , he had never preached to them , never seen them ; Epaphras had laid the foundation amongst them ; And Archippus was working , now at the writing of this Epistle , upon the upper buildings , as we may see in the Epistle it selfe ; Epaphras had planted , and Archippus watered ; How entred Paul ? First as an Apostle , he had a generall jurisdiction , and superintendency over them , and over all the Gentiles , and over all the Church ; And then , as a man whose miraculous conversion , and religious conversation , whose incessant preaching , and whose constant suffering , had made famous , and reverend over the whole Church of God , all that proceeded from him had much authority , and power , in all places to which it was directed ; As himselfe says of Andronicas and Iunia his kinsmen ; that they were Nobiles in Apostolis , Nobly spoken of amongst the Apostles , so Saint Paul himselfe was Nobilis Apostolus in Discipulis , reverendly esteemed amongst all the Disciples , for a laborious Apostle ; Saint Augustine joyned his desire to have heard Saint Paul preach , with his other two wishes , to have seen Christ in the flesh , and to have seen Rome in her glory ; And Saint Chrysostome admires Rome , so much admired for other things , for this principally , that she had heard Saint Paul preach ; And that , Si●ut●orpus magnum & validum , ita duos haberet illustres oculos , as she was a great and glorious body , so she had two great and glorious eyes ; The presence and the memories of Saint Peter , and Saint Paul ; he writes not to them then meerely as an Apostle not in that capacity , for he joines Timothy with himselfe at the beginning of the Epistle , who was no Apostle , properly ; though upon that occasion , of Pauls writing in his owne , and in Timothies name , Saint Chrysostame say , in a larger sense , Ergo Timothe●s Apostolus , if Timothy be in commission with Paul , Timothy is an Apostle too : But Saint Paul by his ●ame and estimation , having justly got a power and interest in them , he cherishes that by this salutation , and he binds them the more to accept his instructions , by giving them a part in all his persecutions , and by letting them see , how much they were in his care , even in that distance ; A servile application of himselfe to the humors of others , becomes not th● ministers of God ; It becomes him not to depart from his ingenuity , and freedome , to a servile humoring , but to be negligent of their opinion of him , with whom he is to converse , and upon whose conscience he is to worke , becomes him not neither . It is his doctrine that must beare him out ; But if his discretion doe not make him acceptable too , his doctrine will have the weaker root when ; Saint Paul and the Colossians thought well of one another , the work of God was likely to goe forward amongst them ; And where it is not so , the work prospers not . This was then the person ; Paul , as he had a calling , and an authority by the Apostleship , and Paul as he had made his calling , and authority , and Apostleship acceptable to them , by his wisedome and descreet behaviour towards them , and the whole Church . The season followes next , when he presents this doctrine to them Nunc Gaudeo , now I rejoyce , and there is a Nunc illi , and a Nunc illis to be considered , one time it hath relation to Saint Paul himselfe , and another that hath relation to the Colossians . His time , the Nunc illis , was nunc in vinculis , now when he was in prison at Rome , for from thence he writ this Epistle ; Ordinarily a prisoner is the lesse to be beleeved for his being in prison and in fetters , if he speak such things as conduce to his discharge of those fetters , or his deliverance from that imprisonment , it is likely enough that a prisoner will lye for such an advantage ; But when Saint Paul being now a prisoner for the preaching of the Gospell , speaks still for the advancement of the Gospell , that he suffers for , and finds out another way of preaching it by letters and by epistles , when he opens himselfe to more danger , to open to them more doctrine , then that was very credible which he spake , though in prison ; There is in all his epistles impetus Spiritus Christi , as Irenaeus says , a vehemence of the holy Ghost , but yet amplius habent quae è vinculis , says Chrisostome , Those epistles which Saint Paul writ in prison , have more of this vehemency in them : a sentence written with a cole upon a wall by a close prisoner , affects us when we come to read it ; Stolne letters , by which a prisoner adventers the losse of that liberty which he had , come therefore the more welcome , if they come ; It is not always a bold and veliement reprehension of great persons , that is argument enough of a good and a rectified zeale , for an intemperate use of the liberty of the Gospell , and sometimes the impotency of a satyricall humor , makes men preach freely , and over-freely , offensively , scandalously ; and so exasperate the magistrate ; God forbid that a man should build a reputation of zeale , for having been called in question for preaching of a Sermon ; And then to think it wisdome , redimere se quo queat minimo , to sinke againe and get off as good cheape as he can ; But when the malignity of others hath slandred his doctrine , or their galled consciences make them kicke at his doctrine , then to proceed with a Christian magnanimity , and a spirituall Nobility in the maintenance of that doctrine , to preferre then before the greatnesse of the their persons and the greatnesse of his owne danger , the greatnesse of the glory of God , and the greatnesse of the losse which Gods Church should suffer by his lenity and prevarication : To edifie others by his constancy , then when this building in apparence and likelyhood must be raised upon his owne ruine , then was Saint Pauls Nunc , concerning himselfe , then was his season to plant and convey this doctrine to these Colossians , when it was most dangerous for him to doe so . Now to consider this season and fitnesse as it concerned them ; The Nunc illis , It was then , when Epaphras had declrared unto him their love , and when upon so good testimony of their disposition , he had a desire that they might be fulfilled with knowledge of Gods will in all wisdome and spirituall understanding , as he says verse 9. when he knew how farre they had proceeded in mysteries of the Christian Religion , and that they had a spirituall hunger of more , then it was seasonable to present to them this great point , that Christ had suffered throughly , sufficiently , aboundantly , for the reconciliation of the whole world , and yet that there remained some sufferings , ( and those of Christ too ) to be fulfilled , by us ; That all was done ; and yet there remained more to be done , that after Christs consummatum est , which was all the text , there should be an Adimplendum est , interlined , that after Christ had fulfilled the Law , and the Prophets by his sufferings , Saint Paul must fulfill the residue of Christs sufferings , was a doctrin unseasonably taught , till they had learnt much , and shewed a desire to learn more ; In the Primitive Church men of ripe understandings were content to think two or three yeares well spent in learning of Catechisms and rudiments of Christian Religion ; and the greatest Bishops were content to think that they discharged their duties well , if they ca●echized ignorant men in such rudiments , for we know from Genna●dius an Ecclesiasticall author , that the Bishops of Greece , and of the Eastern Church , did use to con S. Cyrils sermons ( made at Easter and some other Festivals ) without book , and preached over those Sermons of his making , to Congregations of strong understanding , and so had more time for their Ca●echizing of others ; Optatus thinks , that when Saint Paul says , Ego plantavi , Apollos rigavit , I planted the faith , and Apollos watered , he intended in those words , Ego de pagano feci catechumenum , ille de catechumeno Christianum , That Saint Paul took ignorant persons into his charge , to catechize them at first , and when they were instructed by him , Apollos watered them with the water of Baptism , Tertullian thought hee did young beginners in Christianity no wrong , when he called them catulos infantiae re●entis , nec perfectis luminibus reptantes , Young whelps which are not yet come to a perfect use of their eyes , in the mysteries of Religion . Now God hath delivered us in a great measure from this weaknesse in seeing , because we are catechized from our cra●●●s , and from this penury in preaching , we need not preach others Sermons , nor feed upon cold meat , in Homilies , but wee are fallen upon such times too , as that men doe not thinke themselves Christians , except they can tell what God meant to doe with them before he meant they should bee Christians ; for we can be intended to be Christians , but from Christ ; and wee must needs seek a Predestination , without any relation to Christ ; a decree in God for salvation , and damnation , before any decree for the reparation of mankind , by Christ , every Common-placer will adventure to ●each , and every artificer will pretend to understand the purpose , yea , and the order too , and method of Gods eternall and unrevealed decree , Saint Paul required a great deal more knowledge then these men use to bring , before he presented to them , a great deal , a lesse point of Doctrin then these men use to aske . This was then the Nunc illis their season , when they had humbly received so much of the knowledge of the fundamentall points of Religion . Saint Paul was willing to communicate more and more , stronger and stronger meat unto them ; That which he presents here is , that which may seem least to appertain to a Christian , ( that is loy ) because a Christian is a person that hath surrendred himself over to a sad and serious , and a severe examination of all his actions , that all bee done to the glory of God ; but for all this , this joy , true joy is truly , properly , onely belonging to a Christian ; because this joy is the Testimony of a good conscience , that wee have received God , so as God hath manifested himself in Christ , and worshipt God , so God hath ordained : In a true Church there are many tesserae externae , outward badges and marks , by which others may judge , and pronounce mee to bee a true Christian ; But the tessera interna● , the inward badge and marke , by which I know this in my selfe , is joy ; The blessednesse of heaven it selfe , Salvation , and the fruits of Paradise , ( that Paradise which cannot be expressed , cannot be comprehended ) have yet got no other name in the subtilty of the Schools , nor in the fulnesse of the Scriptures , but to be called the joys of heaven ; Essentiall blessednesse is called so , Enter into thy Masters joy , that is , into the Kingdome of heaven ; and accidentall happinesse added to that essentiall happinesse is called so too : There is joy in heaven at the conversion of a sinner ; and so in the Revela●ion , Rejoyce ye heavens , and yee that dwell in them , for the a●c●ser of our brethren is cast down● There is now joy even in heaven , which was not there before ; Certainly as that man shall never see the Father of Lights after this , to whom the day never breaks in this life : As that man must never look to walk with the Lamb wheresoever he goes in heaven , that ranne away from the Lamb whensoever he came towards him , in this life ; so he shall never possesse the joyes of heaven hereafter , that feels no joy here ; There must be joy here , which Tanquam Cellulae mellis ( as Saint Bernard says in his mellifluous language ) as the honey-comb walles in , and prepares , and preserves the honey , and is as a shell to that kernell ; so there must bee a joy here , which must prepare and preserve the joys of heaven it self , and be as a shell of those joys . For heaven and salvation is not a Creation , but a Multiplication ; it begins not when wee dye , but it increases and dilates it self infinitely then ; Christ himself , when he was pleased to feed all that people in the wildernesse , he asks first , Quot panes habetis , how many loafes have you ? and then multiplyed them abundantly , as conduced most to his glory ; but some there was before . When thou goest to eat that bread , of which whosoever eates shall never dye , the bread of life in the Land of life , Christ shall consider what joy thou broughtest with thee out of this world , and he shall extend and multiply that joy unexpressibly ; but if thou carry none from hence , thou shalt find none there . Hee that were to travell into a far country , would study before , somewhat the map , and the manners , and the language of the Country ; Hee that looks for the fulnesse of the joyes of heaven hereafter , will have a taste , an insight in them before he goe : And as it is not enough for him that would travail , to study any language indifferently ( were it not an impertinent thing for him that went to lye in France , to study Dutch ? ) So if wee pretend to make the joys of heaven our residence , it is a madnesse to study the joys of the world ; The Kingdome of heaven is righteousnesse , and peace , and joy in the Holy Ghost , says Saint Paul ; And this Kingdome of heaven is Intra nos , says Christ , it is in us , and it is joy that is in us ; but every joy is not this Kingdome , and therefore says the same Apostle , Rejoyce in the Lord ; There is no other true joy , none but that ; But yet says he there , Rejoyce , and again , I say rejoi●e ; that is , both again we say it , again , and again we call upon you to have this spirituall joy , for without this joy ye have not the earnest of the Spirit ; And it is again rejoyce , bring all the joys ye have , to a second examination , and see if you can rejoyce in them again ; Have you rejoyced all day in Feasts , in Musickes , in Conversations ? well , at night you must be alone , hand to hand with God. Again , I say rejoyce , sleep not , till you have tryed whether your joy will hold out there too . Have you rejoyced in the contemplation of those temporall blessings● which God hath given you ? 't is well , for you may do so : But yet again I say Rejoyce ; call that joy to an accompt , and see whether you ca●● rejoyce again , in such a use of those blessings as he that gave them to you , requires of you . Have you rejoyced in your zeal of Gods service ? that 's a true rejoycing in the Lord ; But yet still rejoyce again , see that this joy be accompanyed with another joy ; that you have zeal with knowledge : Rejoyce , but rejoyce again , refine your joy , purge away all drosse , and lees from your joy , there is no false joy enters into heaven , but yet no sadnesse neither . There is a necessary sadnes in this life , but even in this life necessary only so , as Physick is necessary , Tristitia data , ut peccata deleamus , It is Data , a gift of God , a sadnes and sorrow infused by him , & not assumed by our selves upon the crosses of this world ; And so it is physick , and it is Morbi illius peccati , it is proper and peculiar physick for that disease for sinne ; But , ( as that Father pathetically enlarges that consideration ) Remedium lippitudinis non t●llit alios morbos , water for fore eyes , will not cure the tooth-ach , sorrow and sadnesse which is prescribed for sinne , will not cure , should not be applyed to the other infirmities and diseases of our humane condition ; Pecunia mulctatus est , ( says that Father still ) Doluit , non emendavit , A man hath a decree passed against him in a Court of Justice , or lost a Ship by tempest , and hee hath griev'd for this , hath this revers'd the decree , or repaired the shipwrack ? Filium amisit , doluit , non resuscitavit . His Son , his eldest Son , his onely Son , his towardly Son is dead , and he hath grieved for this ; hath he raised his Son to life again ? Infirmatur ipse , doluit , abstulit morbum ? Himself is fallen into a consumption , and languishes , and grieves , but doth it restore him ? Why no , for sadnesse , and sorrow is not the physick against decrees , and shipwracks , and consumptions , and death : But then Peccavit quis ( says he still ) & deluit ? peccata delevit ; Hath any man sinned against his God , and come to a true sorrow for that sinne ? peccata delevit he hath wash't away that sinne , from his soule ; for sorrow is good for nothing else , intended for nothing else , but onely for our sinnes , out of which sadnesse first arose : And then , considered so , this sadnesse is not truly , nor properly sadnesse , because it is not so intirely ; There is health in the bitternesse of physique ; There is joy in the depth of this sadnesse ; Saint Basill inforces those words of the Apostle , 2 Cor. 6. 10. Quasi tristes , semper autem gandentes , usefully to this point ; Tristitia nostra habet quasi , gaudium non habet , Our sorrow , says he , hath a limitation , a modification , it is but as it were sorrow , and we cannot tell whether we may call it sorrow or no , but our joy is perfect joy , because it is rooted in an assurance : Est in spe certa , our hope of deliverance is in him that never deceived any ; for says he then , our sadnesse passes away as a dreame , Et qui insomnium judicat , addit quasi , quasi dicebam , quasi equitabam , quasi cogitabam , he that tells his dreame , tells it still in that phrase , me thought I spoke , me thought I went , and me thought I thought , so all the sorrow of Gods children is but a quasi tristes , because it determines in joy , and determines soon . To end this , because there is a difference inter delectationem & gaudium , between delight and joy ( for delight is in sensuall things , and in beasts , as well as in men , but joy is grounded in reason , and in reason rectified , which is , conscience ( therefore we are called to rejoyce againe ; to try whether our joy be true joy , and not onely a delight , and when it is found to be a true joy , we say still rejoyce , that is , continue your spirituall joy till it meet the eternall joy in the kingdome of heaven , and grow up into one joy , but because sadnesse and sorrow have but one use , and a determined and limited imployment , onely for sin , we doe not say , be sorry , and again be sorry , but when you have been truly sorry for your sinnes , when you have taken that spirituall physique , beleeve your selfe to be well , accept the seale of the holy Ghost , for the remission of your sins , in Christ Jesus , and come to that health which that physique promises , peace of conscience . This joy then which Saint Paul found to be so essentiall , so necessary for man , he found that God placed within mans reach ; so neare him as that God afforded man this joy where he least looked for it , even in affliction ; And of this joy in affliction , we may observe three steps , three degrees ; one is indeed but halfe a joy ; and that the Philosophers had ; A second is a true joy , and that all Christians have ; but the third is an overflowing , and aboundant joy , to which the Apostle was come , and to which by his example , hee would rouse others , that joy , of which himselfe speaks againe ; I am filled with comfort and am exceeding joyfull , in all our tribulations ; The first of these , which we call a halfe joy , is but an indolency , and a forced unsensiblenesse of those miseries which were upon them ; a searing up , a stupefaction , is not of the senses , yet of the affections ; That resolution which some morall men had against misery , Non facies ut te dicam malam , no misery should draw them to doe misery that honour , as to call it misery ; And , in respect of that extreme anguish which out of an over tendernesse , ordinary men did suffer under the calamities of this life , even this poore indolency and privation of griefe , was a joy , but yet but a halfe joy ; the second joy , which is a true joy , but common to all Christians , is that assurance , which they have in their tribulations , that God will give them the issue with the temptation ; not that they pretend not to feel that calamity , so the Philosophers did , but that it shall not swallow them , this is naturall to a Christian , he is not a Christian without this ; Thinke it not strange , says the Apostle , as though some strange thing were come unto you , ( for we must accustome our selves to the expectation of tribulation ) but rejoyce , says he , and when his glory shall appeare , yee shall be made glad and rejoyce ; He bids us rejoyce , and yet all that he promises , is but rejoycing at last , he bids us rejoyce , all the way ; though the consummate , aud determinable joy come not till the end , yet God hath set bounds to our tribulations , as to the sea , and they shall not overflow us ; But this perfect joy ( to speake of such degrees of perfection , as may be had in this life ) this third joy , the joy of this text , is not a collaterall joy , that stands by us in the tribulation , and sustaines us , but it is a fundamentall joy , a radicall joy , a viscerall , a gremiall joy , that arises out of the bosome and wombe and bowels of the tribulation it selfe . It is not that I rejoyce , though I be afflicted , but I rejoyce because I am afflicted ; It is not because I shall not sink in my calamity , and be buried in that valley , but because my calamity raises me , and makes my valley a hill , and gives me an eminency , and brings God and me nearer to one another , then without that calamity I should have been , when I can depart rejoycing , and that therefore , because I am worthy to suffer rebuke for the name of Christ , as the Apostles did , when I can feel that pattern proposed to my joy , and to my tribulation , which Christ gives , Rejoyce and be glad , for so persecuted they the Prophets , when I can find that seale printed upon me , by my tribulation , If ye be railed on for the name of Christ , blessed are ye , for the spirit of God and of glory resteth on you , that is , that affliction fixes the holy Ghost upon me , which in prosperity , falls upon me but as Sun-beames ; Briefly if my soule have had that conference , that discourse with God , that he hath declared to me his purpose in all my calamities , ( as he told Ananias that he had done to Paul , he is a chosen vessell unto me , for I will shew him how many things he must suffer for my sake ) If the light of Gods Spirit shew us the number , the force , the intent of our tribulations , then is our soule come to that highest joy , which she is capable of in this life , when as cold and dead water , when it comes to the fire , hath a motion and dilatation and a bubling and a kind of dancing in the vessell , so my soule , that lay asleep in prosperity , hath by this fire of Tribulation , a motion , a joy , an exaltation . This is the highest degree of suffering ; but this suffering hath this condition here , that it be passio mea ; And this too , that it be mea , and not pro me , but pro aliis : that it be mine , and no bodies else , by my occasion ; That it be mine without any fault of mine , that I be no cause that it fell upon me , and that I be no occasion , that it fall upon others . And first , it is not mine , if I borrow it ; I can have no joy in the sufferings of Martyrs and other Saints of God , by way of applying their sufferings to me , by way of imitation and example I may , by way of application and satisfaction I cannot , borrowed sufferings are not my sufferings : They are not mine neither , if I steale them , if I force them ; If my intemperate , and scandalous zeal , or pretence of zeal , extort a chastisement from the State , if I exasperate the Magistrate and draw an affliction upon my self , this stoln suffering , this forced suffering is not passio mea , it is not mine , if it should not be mine ; Natura cujusque rei est , quam Deus indidit , That onely is the nature of every thing which God hath imprinted in it : That affliction onely is mine , which God hath appointed for me , and what he hath appointed we may see by his exclusions : Let none of you suffer as a murtherer , or as a thief , or as an evill doer , or as a busie-body in other mens matters , ( and that reaches far : ) I am not possess●r bonae fidei , I come not to this suffering by a good title , I cannot call it mine ; I may finde joy in it , that is , in the middest of it , I may finde comfort in the mercy of Christ , though I suffer as a malefactor ; But there is no joy in the suffering it self , for it is not mine , it is not I , but my sinne , my breach of the law , my disobedience that suffers . It is not mine again , if it be not mine in particular , mine , and limited in me . To those sufferings that fall upon me for my conscience , or for the discharge of my duty , there belongs a joy , but when the whole Church is in persecution , and by my occasion especially , or at all , woe unto them , by whom the first offence comes ; this is no joyfull matter , and therefore vae illis per quos scandalum , they who by their ambition of preferment , or indulgence to their present case , or indifferency how things fall out , or presumptuous confidence in Gods care , for looking well enough to his own , how little soever they doe , give way to the beginnings of superstition , in the times of persecution ; when persecutions come , either they shall have no sufferings , that is , God shall suffer them to fall away , and refuse their testimony in his cause , or they shall have no joy in their sufferings , because they shall see this persecution is not theirs , it is not limited in them , but induced by their prevarication upon the whole Church ; And lastly , this suffering is not mine , if I stretch it too far ; if I over-value it , it is not mine ; A man forfeits his priviledge , by exceeding it ; There is no joy belongs to my suffering , if I place a merit in it ; Meum non est cujus nomine nulla mihi superest acti● , says the Law ; That 's none of mine for which I can bring no action ; and what actio● can I bring against God , for a reward of my merit ? Have I given him any thing of mine ? Quid habeo quod non accepi ? what have I that I received not from him ? Have I given him all his own ? how came I to abound then , and see him starve in the streets in his distressed members ? Hath he changed his blessings unto me in single mony ? Hath he made me rich by half pence and farthings ; and yet have I done so much as that for him ? Have I suffered for his glory ? Am not I vas figuli , a potters vessell , and that Potters vessel ; and whose hand soever he imploys , the hand of sicknesse , the hand of poverty , the hand of justice , the hand of malice , still it is his hand that breakes the vessell , and this vessell which is his own ; for , can any such vessell have a propriety in it selfe , or bee any other bodies primarily then his , from whom it hath the beeing ? To recollect these , if I will have joy in suffering it must be mine , mine , and not borrowed out of an imaginary treasure of the Church ; from the works of others Supererogation : mine , and not stollen or enforced by exasperating the Magistrate to a persecution : mine by good title and not by suffering for breach of the Law , mine in particular , and not a generall persecution upon the Church by my occasion ; And mine by a stranger title then all this , mine by resignation , mine by disavowing it , mine by confessing that it is none of mine ; Till I acknowledge , that all my sufferings are even for Gods glory , are his works , and none of mine , they are none of mine , and by that humility they become mine , and then I may rejoyce in my sufferings . Through all our sufferings then , there must passe an acknowledgement that we are unprofitable servants ; towards God utterly unprofitable ; So unprofitable to our selves , as that we can merit nothing by our sufferings ; but still we may and must have a purpose to profit others by our constancy ; it is Pro vobis , that Saint Paul says hee suffers for them , for their souls ; I will most gladly bestow , and be bestowed for your soules , ( says he . ) But Numquid Paulus crucifixus pro vobis , was Paul crucified for you ? is his own question , as he suffered for them here , so we may be bold to say he was crucified for them ; that is , that by his crucifying and suffering , the benefit of Christs sufferings , and crucifying might be the more cheerfully embraced by them , and the more effectually applyed to them ; Pro vobis , is Pro vestro commodo , for your advantage , and to make you the more active in making sure your own salvation ; We are afflicted ( says he ) for your consolation ; that 's first , that you might take comfort , and spirituall courage by our example , that God will no more forsake you , then he hath done us , and then , hee addes salvation too ; for your consolation and salvation ; for our sufferings beget this consolation ; and then , this consolation facilitates your salvation ; and then , when Saint Paul had that testimony in his own conscience , that his purpose in his sufferings , was Pro illis , to advantage Gods children , and then saw in his experience so good effect of it , as that it wrought , and begot faith in them , then the more his sufferings encreast , the more his joys encreast ; Though ( says he ) I be offered up , upon the service , and sacrifice of your faith , I am glad and rejoyce with you all ; And therefore hee calls the Philippians , who were converted by him , Gaudium , & Coronam , his Joy and his Crown ; not onely a Crown , in that sense , as an auditory , a congregation that compasses the Preacher , was ordinarily called a Crown , Cor●na . ( In which sense that Martyr Cornelius answered the Judge , when he was charged to have held intelligence , and to have received Letters from Saint Cyprian against the State , Ego de Corona Domini , ( says he , from Gods Church , 't is true , I have , but Contra Rempublicam , against the State , I have received no Letters . ) But not onely in this sense , Saint Paul calls those whom he had converted , his Crown , his Crown , that is , his Church ; but he cals them his Crown in heaven , What is our hope , our joy , our Crown of rejoycing , are not even you it ? and where ? even in the presence of our Lord Iesus Christ at his coming , says the Apostle ; And therefore not to stand upon that contemplation of Saint Gregories , that at the Resurrection Peter shall lead up his converted Jewes , and Paul his converted Nations , and every Apostle his own Church ; Since you , to whom God sends us , doe as well make up our Crown , as we doe yours , since your being wrought upon , and our working upon you conduce to both our Crowns , call you the labour , and diligence of your Pastors , ( for that 's all the suffering they are called to , till our sins together call in a persecution ) call you their painfulnesse your Crown , and we shall call your applyablenesse to the Gospel , which we preach , our Crown , for both conduce to both ; but especially childrens children , are the Crown of the Elders , says Solomon : If when we have begot you in Christ , by our preaching , you also beget others by your holy life and conversation , you have added another generation unto us , and you have preached over our Sermons again , as fruitfully as we our selves ; you shall be our Crown , and they shall be your Crowns , and Christ Jesus a Crown of everlasting glory to us all . Amen . SERMON XVII . Preached at Lincolns Inne . MATTH . 18. 7. We unto the world , because of offences . THe Man Moses was very meeke , above all the men which were upon the face of the Earth . The man Moses was so ; but the Child Iesus was meeker then he . Compare Moses with men , and Moses will scarce be parallel'd ; Compare him with him , who being so much more then man , as that he was God too , was made so much lesse then man , as that he was a worme and no man , and Moses will not be admitted . If you consider Moses his highest expression , what he would have parted with for his brethren , in his Dele me , Pardon them , or blot my name out of thy book , yet Saint Pauls zeale will enter into the balance , and come into comparison with Moses in his Anathema pro fratribus , in that he wished himselfe to be separated from Christ , rather then his brethren should be . But what comparison hath a sodaine , a passionate , and indigested vehemence of love , expressed in a phrase that tasts of zeale , but is not done , ( Moses was not blotted out of the book of life , nor Saint Paul was not separated from Christ for his brethren ) what comparison hath such a love , that was but said , and perchance should not have been said ( for , we can scarce excuse Moses , or Saint Paul , of all excesse and inordinatenesse , in that that they said ) with a deliberate and an eternall purpose in Christ Jesus conceived as soon as we can conceive God to have knowen that Adam would fall , to come into this world , & dye for man , and then actually and really , in the fulnesse of time , to do so ; he did come , and he did dye . The man Moses was very meeke , the child Jesus meeker then hee . Moses his meeknesse had a determination , ( at least an interruption , a discontinuance ) when hee revenged the wrong of another upon that Egyptian whom he slew . But a bruised reed might have stood unbroken , and smoking flax might have lien unquenched for ever , for all Christ. And therefore though Christ send his Disciples to School , to the Scribes and Pharisees , because they sate in Moses seat , for other lessons , yet for this , hee was their School-master himselfe , Discite à me , learne of mee , for I am meek . In this Chapter hee gives them three lessons in this doctrine of meeknesse ; Hee gives them foundations , and upperbuildings , The Text , and a Comment , all the Elements of true instruction , Rule and Example . First , hee findes them contending for place , Quis maximus , who should be greatest in the kingdome of heaven . The disease which they were sick of , was truly an ignorance what this kingdome was ; For , though they were never ignorant that there should bee an eternall kingdome in heaven , yet they thought not that the kingdome of Christ here should onely be a spirituall kingdome , but they looked for a temporall inchoation of that kingdome here . That was their disease , and a dangerous one . But as Physitians are forced to doe sometimes , to turne upon the present cure of some vehement symptome , and accdient , and leave the consideration of the maine disease for a time , so Christ leaves the doctrine of the kingdome for the present , and does not rectifie them in that yet , but for this pestilent symptome , this malignant accident of precedency , and ambition of place , he corrects that first , and to that purpose gives them the example of a little child , and tells them , that except they become as humble , as gentle , as supple , as simple , as seely , as tractable , as ductile , as carelesse of place , as negligent of precedency , as that little child , they could not onely not be great , but they could not at all enter into the kingdome of heaven . He gives them a second lesson in this doctrine of meeknesse against scandals , and offences , against an easinesse in giving or an easinesse in taking offences . For , how well soever we may seeme to be in our selves , we are not well , if we forbear not that company , and abstaine not from that conversation , which by ill example may make us worse , or if wee forbear not such things , as , though they bee indifferent in themselves , and can do us no harme , yet our example may make weaker persons then we are , worse , because they may come to doe as we do , and not proceed upon so good ground as we doe ; They may sin in doing those things by our example , in which we did not sinne , because we knew them to be indifferent things , and therefore did them , and they did them though they thought them to bee sinnes . And for this Doctrine , Christ takes an example very near to them , If thy hand , or foot , or eye offend thee , cut it off , pull it out . His third lesson in this doctrine of meeknes is against hardnesse of heart , against a loathnesse , a wearinesse in forgiving the offences of other men , against us , occasioned by Peters question , Quoties remittam , How oft shall my brother sinne against me , and I forgive him ? and the example in this rule Christ hath wrapped up in a parable , The Master forgave his servant ten thousand Talents , ( more money then perchance any private man is worth ) and that servant took his fellow by the throat , and cast him into prison , because he did not presently pay an hundred pence , perchance fifty shillings , not three pound of our money : in such a proportion was Christ pleased to expresse the Masters inexhaustible largenesse and bounty , ( which is himselfe , ) and the servants inexcusable cruelty , and penuriousnesse , ( which is every one of us . ) The root of all Christian duties is Humility , meeknesse , that 's violated in an ambitious precedency , for that implyes an over-estimation of our selves , and an undervalue of others ; And it is violated in scandals , and offences , for that implies an unsetlednesse and irresolution in our selves , that we can bee so easily shaked , or a neglecting of weaker persons , of whom Christ neglected none ; and it is violated in an unmercifulnesse , and inex●rablenesse , for that implies an indocilenesse , that we will not learn by Christs doctrine ; & an ungratefulnesse , that we will not apply his example , and do to his servants , as he , our Master , hath done to us : And so have you some Paraphrase of the whole Chapter , as it consists of Rules and Examples in this Doctrine of meeknes , endangered by pride , by scandall , by uncharitablenes . But of those two , pride & uncharitabenes ( though they deserve to be often spoken of , ) I shal have no occasion from these words of my text , to speak , for into the second of these three parts , The Doctrine of scandals , our text fals , and it is a Doctrine very necessary , and seldome touched upon . As the words of our Text are , our parts must be three . First , that heavy word Vae , woe ; Secondly , that generall word , Mundo , Woe be unto the world ; And lastly , that mischievous word , A scandalis , Woe bee unto the , world because of scandals , of offences . each of these three words wil receive a twofold consideration ; for the first , Vae , is first Vox dolentis , a voice of condoling and lamenting , Christ laments the miseries imminent upon the world , because of scandals , and then it is Vox minantis , a voice of threatning , and intermination , Christ threatens , he interminates heavy judgements upon them , who occasion and induce these miseries by these scandals ; This one Vae denotes both these ; sorrow , and yet infallibility ; They always go together in God ; God is loath to doe it , and yet God will certainly inflict these judgements . The second word , Mundo , Woe be unto the world , lookes two ways too ; Vae malis , woe unto evill men that raise scandals , vae bonis , woe unto them who are otherwise good in themselves , if they be so various , as to be easily shaked and seduced by scandals . And then upon the last word A scandalis , Woe be unto the world , because of scandals , of offences , wee must look two ways also ; first , as it denotes Scandalum activum , a scandall given by another , and then , as it denotes Scandalum passivum , a scandal taken by another . First then , our first word , in the firrst acceptation thereof , is Vae dolentis , the voice of condoling and lamentation ; God laments the necessity that he is reduced to , and those judgements which the sinnes of men have made inevitable . In the person of the Prophets which denounced the judgements of God , it is expressed so , Onus Babyl●nis , Onus Egypti , Onus Damasci ? O the burthen of Damascus , the burthen of Egypt , the burthen of Babylon ; And not only so , but Onus visionis , Not onely that that judgment would be a heavy burthen , when it fell upon that Nation , but that the very pre-contemplation , and pre-denunciation of that judgement upon that people , was a burthen and a distastfull bitternesse , to the Prophet himself , that was sent upon that message . In reading of an Act of Parliament , or of any Law that inflicts the heaviest punishment that can be imagined upon a delinquent , and transgressour of that Law , a man is not often much affected , because hee needs not , when he does but read that law , consider that any particular man is fallen under the penalty , and bitternesse thereof . But if upon evidence and verdict he be put to give judgement upon a particular man that stands before him , at the bar , according to that Law , That that man that stands there that day , must that day be no man ; that that breath breathed in by God , to glorify him , must be suffocated and strangled with a halter , or evaporated with an Axe , he must be hanged or beheaded , that those limbs which make up a Cabinet for that precious Jewell , the image of God , to be kept in , must be cut into quarters , or torne with horses ; that that body which is a consecrated Temple of the Holy Ghost , must be chained to a stake , and burnt to ashes , hee that is not affected in giving such a judgment , upon such a man , hath no part in the bowels of Christ Jesus , that melt in cōpassion , when our sinnes draw and extort his Judgements upon us in the mouth of those Prophets , those men whom God sends , it is so , and it is so in the mouth of God himself that sends them . Heu vindicabor , ( says God ) Alas , I will revenge mee of mine enemies ; Alas , I will , is Alas , I must , his glory compels him to doe it , the good of his Church , and the sustentation of his Saints compell him to it , and yet he comes to it with a condolency , with a compassion , Heu vindicabor , Alas , I will revenge mee of mine enemies : so also in another Prophet , Heu abominationes , Alas for all the evill abominations of the house of Israel ; for ( as it is added there ) they shall fall , ( that is , they will fall ) by the sword , by famine , by pestilence , and ( as it follows ) I will accomplish my fury upon them ; Though it were come to that height , fury , and accomplishment , consummation of fury , yet it comes with a condolency , and compassion , Heu abominationes , Alas for all the evill abominations of the house of Israel , I would they were not so ill , that I might be better to them . Men sent by God do so , so does God that sends those men , & he that is both God and man , Christ Jesus does so too : We have but two clear records in the Scriptures of Christs weeping , and both in compassion for others , when Mary wept for her dead brother Lazarus , and the Jews that were with her wept too , Iesus also wept , and he groan'd in the spirit , and was troubled . This was but for the discomfort of one family , ( it was not a mortality over the whole Country ) It was but for one person in that family , ( it was not a contagion that had swept , or did threaten the whole house ) it was but for such a person in that family , as he meant forthwith to restore to life again , and yet Iesus wept , & groaned in the Spirits , & was trobled ; he would not lose that opportunity of shewing his tendernesse , and compassion in the behalf of others . How vehement , how passionate then , must we beleeve his other weeping to have been , when hee had his glorious and beloved City Jerusalem in his sight , and wept over that City , and with that stream of tears powred out that Sea , that tempestuous Sea , those heavy judgements , which , ( though he wept in doing it ) he denounced upon that City , that glorious , that beloved City , which City ( though Christ charge , to have stoned them that were sent to her , and to bee guilty of all the righteous blood shed upon the earth ) the holy Ghost cals the holy City for all that , not onely at the beginning of Christs appearance , ( The Devill took him up into the holy City ) ( for at that time she was not the unholyer for any thing that shee had done upon the person of Christ , ) but when they had exercised all their cruelty , even to death , the death of the Crosse upon Christ himselfe , the Holy Ghost calls still the holy City ; Many bodies of Saints , which slept , arose , and went into the holy City . When the Fathers take into their contemplation and discourse , that passionate exclamation of our Saviour upon the Crosse , My God , my God , why hast thou forsaken me ? those blessed Fathers , that never thought of any such sense of that place , that Christ was , at that time , actually in the reall torments of hell , assign no fitter sense of those words , then that the foresight of those insupportable , and inevitable , and imminent judgements upon his City , and his people , occasioned that passionate exclamation , My God , my God , why hast thou forsaken me ? That as , after he was ascended into heaven , he said to Saul , Cur me persequeris ? He called Sauls persecuting of his Church , a persecuting of him , so when hee considered that God had forsaken his people , his Citie , his Jerusalem , he cryed out , that God had forsaken him . God that sent the Prophets ; the Prophets that were sent ; Christ who was both , the person sent , and the sender , came to the inflicting and denouncing of judgements , with this Vae dolentis , a heart , and voice of condoling and lamentation . Grieve not then the holy Spirit of God , says the Apostle ; extort not from him those Judgements , which he cannot in justice forbear , and yet is grieved to inflict . How often doe we use that motive , to divert young men from some ill actions , and ill courses , How will this trouble your friends , how will this grieve your Mother , this will kill your Father ? The Angels of heaven who are of a friendship and family with us , as they rejoyce at our conversion , so are they sorry and troubled at our aversion from God. Our sins have grieved our Mother ; that is , made the Church ashamed , and blush that he hath washed us , and clothed us , in the whitenesse and innocency of Christ Jesus in our baptisme , and given us his bloud to drinke in the other Sacrament . Our sins have made our mother the Church ashamed in her selfe , ( we have scandalized and offended the Congregation ) and our sinnes have defamed and dishonoured our mother abroad , that is , imprinted an opinion in others , that that cannot be a good Church , in which we live so dissolutely , so falsely to our first faith , and contract , and stipulation with God in Baptisme . Wee have grieved our brethren , the Angels , our mother , the Church , and we have killed our Father : God is the father of us all ; and we have killed him ; for God hath purchased a Church with his bloud , says Saint Paul. And , oh , how much more is God grieved now , that we will make no benefit of that bloud which is shed for us , then he was for the very shedding of that bloud ! We take it not so ill , ( pardon solow a comparison in so high a mystery ; for , since our blessed Saviour was pleased to assume that metaphor , and to call his passion a Cup , and his death a drinking , we may be admitted to that Comparison of drinking too ) we take it not so ill , that a man go down into our Cellar , and draw , and drinke his fill , as that he goe in , and pierce the vessells , and let them runne out , in a wastfull wantonneste . To satisfie the thirst of our soules , there was a necessity that the bloud of Christ Jesus , should be shed ; To satisfie Christs own sitto , that thirst which was upon him , when he was upon the Crosse , there was a necessity too , that Christ should bleed to death . On our part there was an absolute and a primary necessity ; God in his justice requiring a satisfaction , nothing could redeem us , by way of satisfaction , but the bloud of his Sonne . And though there were never act more voluntary , more spontaneous , then Christs dying for man , nor freer from all coaction , and necessity of that kind , yet after Christ had submitted himselfe to that Decree and contract that passed between him , and his Father , that he , by shedding his bloud , should redeem Mankind , there lay a necessity upon Christ himselfe to shed his bloud , as himselfe says first to his Disciples that went with him to Emans , Nonne op●rtuit , ought not Christ to suffer all these things ? do ye not find by the prophets that he was bound to do it ? and then to his Apostles at Ierusalem , Sic opertuit , Thus it behoved Christ to suffer . There was then an absolute necessity upon us , an obedientiall necessity upon Christ , that his bloud must be shed ; But to let him dye in a wantonnesse , to let out all that precious liquor , and taste no drop of it , to draw out all that immaculate and unvaluable bloud , and make no balsamum , no antidote , no plaister , no fomentation in the application of that bloud , to labour still under a burning fever of lust , and ambition , and presumption , and finde no cooling julips there , in the application of that bloud , to labour under a cold damp of indevotion , and under heartlesse desperation , and find no warming Cordialls there , to be still as farre under judgements and executions for finne , as if there had been no Messias sent , no ransome given , no satisfiaction made , not to apply this bloud thus shed for us , by those meanes which God in his Church presents to us , this puts Christ to his wofull Interjection , to cast out this wo upon us , ( which he had rather have left out ) wo be unto the world , which , though it begin in a vae dolentis , a voice of condoling and lamenting , yet it is also vae minantis , a voice of threatning , and intermination , denoting the infallibility of Judgements , and that 's our next consideration . I thinke we find no words in Christs mouth so often , as vae , and Amen . Each of them hath two significations ; as almost all Christs words , and actions have ; consolation , and commination . For , as this vae signifies ( as before ) a sorrow , ( wo , that is , wo is me , for this will fall upon you ) and signifies also a Judgment inevitable and infallible , ( wo , that is , wo be unto you , for this Judgement shall fall upon you ) so Amen is sometimes vox Asserentis , and signifies verè , verily , Verily I say unto you , when Christ would confirm , and establish a beleefe in some doctrine , or promise of his , ( as when he says Amen , Amen , verily verily I say unto you , he that beleeveth on me , the works that I doe , shall he doe also , and greater works then these shall he doe ) so it is vox Asserentis , a word of assertion , and it is also vox Deserentis , a word of desertion , when God denounces an infallibility , an unavoydablenesse , an inevitablenesse in his judgements , Amen dico , verily I say unto thee , thou shalt by no meanes come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing ; so this Amen signifies Fiat , this shall certainly be thus done . And this seale , this Amen , as Amen is Fiat , is always set to his vae , as his vae is vox minantis ; whensoever God threatens any Judgement , he meanes to execute that Judgement as farre as he threatens it ; God threatens nothing in terrorem onely , onely to frighten us ; every vae hath his Amen , every Judgement denounced , a purpose of execution . This then is our wofull case ; every man may find upon record , in the Scriptures , a vae denounced upon that sinne , which he knows to be his sinne ; and if there be a vae , there is an Amen too , if God have said it shall , it shall be executed , so that this is not an execution of a few condemned persons , but a Massacre of all : It is not a Decimation , as in a rebellion , to spare nine , and hang the tenth , but it is a washing , a sweeping away of all : every man may find a Judgement upon record against him . It doth not acquit him that he hath not committed an adultery ; and yet , is he sure of that ? He may have done that in a looke , in a letter , in a word , in a wish : It doth not acquit him , that he hath not done a murder ; and yet , is he sure of that ? He may have killed a man , in not defending him from the oppression of another , if he have power in his hand , and he may have killed in not relieving , if he have a plentifull fortune . He may have killed in not reprehending him who was under his charge , whē he saw him kil himself in the sinful ways of death . As they that write of Poysons , and of those creatures that naturally maligne and would destroy man , do name the Flea , as well as the Viper , because the Flea sucks as much bloud as he can , so that man is a murderer that stabs as deep as he can , though it be but with his tongue , with his pen , with his frowne ; for a man may kill with a frowne , in withdrawing his countenance from that man , that lives upon so low a pasture as his countenance , nay he may kill with a smile , with a good looke , if he afford that good looke with a purpose to delude him . And , beloved , how many dye of this disease ; how many dye laughing , dye of a tickling ; how many are overjoyed with the good looks , and with the familiarity of greater persons then themselves , and led on by hopes of getting more , wa st that they have ? An adultery , a murder may be done in a dreame , if that dreame were an effect of a murderous , or an adulterous thought conceived before . The Apostle says , I know nothing by my selfe , yet am I not thereby justified , we sinne some sinnes , that all the world sees , and yet we see not , but then , how many more , which none in the world sees but our selves ? Scarce any man scapes all degrees of any sinne ; scarce any man some great degree of some great sinne ; no man escapes so , but that he may find upon record , in the Scriptures , a vae , and an Amen , a Judgment denounced , and an execution sealed against him . And , if that be our case , where is there any roome for this milder signification of these two words , vae , and Amen , which we spoke of before , as they are words of Consolation ? If because God hath said Stipendium peccati mors est , the wages of sinne is death , because I have sinned , I must dye , what can I doe in a Prayer ? can I flatter God ? what can I doe in an Almes ? Can I bribe God , or frustrate his purpose ? Can I put an Euge upon his vae , a vacat upon his Fiat , a Nonobstante upon his Amen . God is not man , not a false man that he can lie , nor a weake man that he can repent . Where then is the restorative , the consolatory nature of these words ? In this , beloved , consists our comfort , that all Gods vae's and Amens , all judgments , and all his executions are Conditionall ; There is a Crede & vives , Beleeve and thou shalt live ; there is a Fac hoc & vives , doe this and thou shalt live ; If thou have done otherwise , there is a Converte & vives , turne unto the Lord and thou shalt live ; If thou have done so , and fallen off , there is a Revertere & vives , returne againe unto the Lord , and thou shalt live . How heavy so ever any of Gods judgements be , yet there is always roome for Davids question , Quis scit , who can tell whether God will be gracious unto mee ? What better assurance could one have , then David had ? The Prophet Nathan had told David immediately from the mouth of God , this child shall surely dye , and ratified it by that reason , because thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme , this child shall surely dye , yet David fasted , and wept , and said , who can tell whether the Lord will be gratious unto me , that the child may live ? There is always roome for Davids question , Quis scit , who can tell ? Nay there is no roome for it , as it is a question of diffidence and distrust ; every man may and must know , that whatsoever any Prophet have denounced against any sinne of his , yet there are conditions , upon which the Lord will be gracious and thy soule shall live . But if the first condition , that is Innocency , and the second , that is Repentance , be rebelliously broken , then every man hath his vae , and every vae hath his Amen , the judgements are denounced against him ; and upon him they shall bee executed ; for God threatens not to fright children , but the Mountains melt , and Powers , and Thrones , and Principalities tremble at his threatning . And so have you the doubled signification of the first word vae , as it is vox Dolentis , and as it is Vox minantis , God is loath , but God will infallibly execute his judgement , and we proceed to the extension of this vae , over all , vae mundo , woe unto the world , and the double signification of that word . I have wondred sometimes that that great Author , and Bishop in the Roman Church , Abulensis , is so free , as to confesse that some Expositors amongst them , have taken this word in our Text , Mundo , adjectivè , not to signify the world , but a clean person , a free man , that it should be vae immuni , woe unto him that is free from offences , that hath had no offences ; perchance they mean from crosses . And so , though it be a most absurd , and illiterate , and ungrammaticall construction of the place that they make , yet there is a doctrine to bee raised from thence , of good use . As God brought light out of darknesse , and raises glory out of sin , so we may raise good Divinity out of their ill Grammar ; for vae mundo , indeed , vae immuni , woe be unto him that hath had no crosses . There cannot be so great a crosse as to have none . I lack one loaf of that dayly bread that I pray for , if I have no crosse ; for afflictions are our spirituall nourishment ; I lacke one limb of that body I must grow into , which is the body of Christ Jesus , if I have no crosses ; for , my conformity to Christ , ( and that 's my being made up into his body ) must be accomplished in my fulfilling his sufferings in his flesh . So that , though our adversaries out of their ignorance mislead us in a wrong sense of the place ; the Holy Ghost leads us into a true , and right use thereof . But there is another good use of their error too , another good doctrine out of their ill Grammar ; Take the word mundo , adjectivè , for an adjective , and vae mundo , vae immuni , wo unto him that is so free from all offences , as to take offence at nothing ; to be indifferent to any thing , to any Religion , to any Discipline , to any form of Gods service ; That from a glorious Masse to a sordid Conventi●le , all 's one to him , all one to him whether that religion , in which they meet , and light candles at Noon ; or that , in which they meet , and put out candles at midnight ; what innovations , what alterations , what tolerations of false , what extirpations of true Religion soever come , it shall never trouble , never offend him ; 'T is true , Vae mundo indeed , wo unto him that is so free , so unsensible , so unaffected with any thing in this kinde ; for , as to bee too inquisitive into the proceedings of the State , and the Church , out of a jealousie and suspicion that any such alterations , or tolerations in Religion are intended or prepared , is a seditious disaffection to the government , and a disloyall aspersion upon the persons of our Superiours , to suspect without cause , so , not to be sensible that the Catterpillars of the Roman Church , doe eat up our tender fruit , that the Jesuites , and other enginiers of that Church , doe seduce our forwardest and best spirits , not to be watchfull in our own families , that our wives and children and servants be not corrupted by them , for the Pastor to s●acken in his duty , ( not to be earnest in the Pulpit ) for the Magistrate to slacken in his , ( not to be vigilant in the execution of those Laws as are left in his power ) vae mundo , vae immuni , woe unto him that is unsensible of offences . Jealously , suspiciously to mis-interpret the actions of our Superiours , is inexcusable , but so is it also not to feel how the adversary gains upon us , and not to wish that it were , and not to pray that it may be otherwise ; vae mundo , vae immuni , wo to him that is un-offended unsensible , thus . But as I have wondred that that Bishop would so easily confesse , that some of their Expositors were so very unlearned , so barbarously ignorant , so enormously stupid , as to take this vae mundo adjective , so doe I wonder more , that after such confessions , and acknowledgements of such ignorances and stupidities amongst them , they will not remedy it in the cause , but still continue so rigid , so severe in the maintenance of their own Translation , their Vulgate Edition , as in places , and cases of doubt , not to admit recourse to the Originall , as to the Supreme Judge , nor to other Translations : for , by either of those ways , it would have appeared , that this vae mundo could not be taken adjectivè , but is a cloud cast upon the whole world , a woe upon all , no place , no person , no calling free from these scandals , and offences , from tentations , and tribulations ; when there was a vae Sodom , that God raigned fire and brimstone upon Sodom , yet there was a Zoar , where Let might be safe . When there was a vae Egypto , wo and wo upon wo upon Aegypt , there was a Go●hen a Sanctuary for the children of God in Egypt . When there is a vae inhabitantibus , a persecution in any place , there is a Fuge in aliam , leave to fly into another City . But in such an extension , such an expansion , such an exaltation , such an inundation of woe , as this in our text , Vae mundo , woe to the world , to all the world , a tide , a flood without any ebbe , a Sea without any shoare , a darke skie without any Horizon ; That though I doe withdraw my selfe from the wofull uncertainties , and irresolutions and indeterminations of the Court , and from the snares and circumventions of the City ; Though I would devest , and shake off the woes and offences of Europe in Afrique , or of Asia in America , I cannot , since wheresoever , or howsoever I live , these woes , and scandals , and offences , tentations , and tribulations will pursue mee , who can expresse the wretched condition , the miserable station , and prostration of man in this world ? vae mundo . Take the word , World , in as ill a sense as you will , as ill as when Christ says , I pray not for the world , ( and they are very ill , for whom Christ Jesus who prayed for them that crucifyed him , would not pray : ) Take the word world , in as good a sense as you will , as good as when Christ says , I give my flesh for the life of the world , ( and they are very good that are elemented , made up with his flesh , and alimented and nursed with his blood : ) Take it for the Elect , take it for the Reprobate , the Reprobate and the Elect too are under this vae , wo to the world , from tentations , and tribulations , scandals , and offences . So it is if the world be persons , and it is so also , if it be times ; Take the world for the times wee live in now , and it is Novissima hora , this is the last time , and the Apostle hath told us , that the last times are the worst . Take the world for the Old world , Originalis mundus , as Saint Peter call's it ; the Originall world , of which , this world ; since the flood , is but a copy , and God spared not the Old world , says that Apostle . Take it for an elder world then that , the world in Paradise , when one Adam , the Son of God , and one Eve produced by God , from him , made up the world : or take it for an elder world then that , the world in heaven , when onely the Angels , and no other creatures made up the world ; Take it any of these ways , we in this latter world do , Noah in the old world did , so did Adam in the world in Paradise , and so did the Angels in the oldest world of all , find these woes from offences , and scandals , tentations , and tribulations . So it is in all persons , in all men , so it is in all times , in all ages , and so it is in all places too ; for hee that retires into a Monastery upon pretence of avoiding tentations , and offences in this world , he brings them thither , and hee meets them there ; Hee sees them intramittendo , and extramittendo , he is scandalized by others , and others are scandalized by him . That part of the world that sweats in continuall labour in severall vocations , is scandalized with their laziness , and their riches , to see them anoint themselves with other mens sweat , and lard themselves with other mens fat ; and then these retired and cloistrall men are scandalized with all the world , that is out of their walls . There is no sort of men more exercised with contentious and scandalous wranglings , then they are : for , first , with all eager animosity they prefer their Monasticall life before all other secular callings , yea , before those Priests , whom they call Secular Priests , such as have care of souls , in particular parishes , ( as though it were a Diminution , and an inferiour state to have care of souls , and study and labour the salvation of others . ) And then as they undervalue all secular callings , ( Mechaniques , and Merchants , and Magistrates too ) in respect of any Regular order , ( as they call them ) so with the same animosity doe they prefer their own Order , before any other Order . A Carthusian is but a man of fish , for one Element , to dwell still in a Pond , in his Cell alone , but a Jesuit is a usefull ubiquitary , and his Scene is the Court , as well as the Cloister . And howsoever they pretend to bee gone out of the world , they are never the farther from the Exchange for all their Cloister ; they buy , and sell , and purchase in their Cloister . They are never the farther from Westminster in their Cloister , they occasion and they maintain suits from their Cloister ; and there are the Courts of Justice noted to abound most with suits , where Monasteries abound most . Nay , they are never the farther from the field for all their Cloister ; for they give occasions of armies , they raise armies , they direct armies , they pay armies from their Cloister . Men should not retire from the mutuall duties of this world , to avoid offences , tentations , tribulations , neither doe they at all avoid them , that retire thus , upon that pretence . Shall we say then , as the Disciples said to Christ ; If the case of the man be so with his wife , it is not good to mary ? If the world be nothing but a bed of Adders , a quiver of poysoned arrows , from every person , every time , every place , woes by occasion of offences , and scandals , it had been better God had made no world , better that I had never been born into the world , better , if by any meanes I could get out of the world quickly , shall we say so ? God forbid . As long as Iob charged not God foolishly , it is said , in all this Iob sinned not ; but when he came to curse his birth , and to loath his life , then Iob charged God foolishly . When one Prophet ( Eliah ) comes to proportion God the measure of his corrections , Satisest , Lord , this is enough ; Thou hast done enough , I have suffered enough , now take away my life . When another Prophet comes to wish his own death in anger , and to justify his anger , and dispute it out with God himselfe , for not proceeding with the Ninivites , as he would have had him doe ; nay for the withering of his gourd that shadowed him , in all these , they did , in all such , we doe charge God foolishly ; And shall we that are but wormes , but silke-wormes , but glow-wormes at best , chide God that hee hath made slow-wormes , and other venimous creeping things ? shall we that are nothing but boxes of poyson in our selves , reprove God for making Toads and Spiders in the world ? shall we that are all discord , quarrell the harmony of his Creation , or his providence ? Can an Apothecary make a Soveraign triacle of Vipers , and other poysons , and cannot God admit offences , and scandals into his physick ? scandals , and offences , tentations , and tribulations , are our leaven that ferment us , and our lees that preserve us . Use them to Gods glory , and to thine own establishing , and then thou shall be a particular exception to that generall Rule , the Vae mundo à scandalis , shall be an Euge tibi à scandalis , thou shalt see that it was well for thee , that there were scandals and offences in the world , for they shall have exercised thy patience , they shall have occasioned thy victory , they shall have assured thy triumph . SERMON XVIII . Preached at Lincolns Inne . The second Sermon on MATTH . 18. 7. Wo unto the world , because of offences . WEe have seen in the first word the vae , as it is vox Dolentis , the voice of condoling and lamenting , that it is accompanyed with a Heu ; Gods judgements come against his will , he had rather they might be forborn , he had rather those easie conditions had been performed ; And as it is vox minantis , a voice of threatning and intermination , it is accompanyed with an Amen ; if conditions be rebelliously broken , Gods judgements doe come infallibly , inevitably ; And we have seen in the second word , vae mundo , and the twofold signification of that , that these offences , and scandals fall upon all the world ; the wicked embrace tentations , and are glad of them , and sorry when they are but weak ; the godly meet tentations , and wrastle with them , and sometimes doe overcome them , and are sometimes overcome by them ; but all have them , and yet we must not break out of the world by a retired life , nor break out of the world by a violent death , but take Gods ways , and stay Gods leasure . In this our third part , we are to consider the root from which this over-spreading vae , this woe proceeds , A scandalis , from scandals , from offences , and the double signification of that word , first , Scandalum activum , the active scandall , which is a malice , or at least an indiscretion in giving offence , and Scandalum passivum , the passive scandall , which is a forwardnesse , at least an easinesse in taking offence ; To know the nature of the thing , look we to the derivation , the extraction , the Origination of the word . The word from which scandall is derived ( scazein ) signifies claudicare , to halt ; and thence , a scandall is any trap , or Engin , any occasion of stumbling , and laming , hid in the way that I must goe , by another person ; and as it is transferred to a spirituall use , appropriated to an Ecclesiasticall sense , it is an occasion of sinning . It hath many branches ; too many to bee so much as named ; but some fruits from some of them we shall gather , and present you . First , in our first , the Active Scandall , to doe any thing that is naturally ill , formally sin , whereby another may be occasioned or encouraged by my example to do the like , this is the active scandall most evidently , and most directly , and this is morbus complicatus , a disease that carries another disease in it , a fever exalted to a frenzy ; It is Peccatum pragnans , peccatum gravidum , a spauning sin , a sin of multiplication , to sinne purposely , to lead another into tentation . But there is a lesse degree then this , and it is an active scandall too ; To doe any thing that in it selfe is indifferent , ( and so no sin in mee , that do it ) in the sight of another that thinks it not indifferent , but unlawfull , and yet because he hath a reall , or a reverentiall dependence upon me , ( my Son , my Servant , my Tenant ) and thinks I would be displeased if he did it not , does it against his conscience by my example , though the sinne be formally his , radically it is mine , because I gave the occasion , And there is a lower degree then this ; and yet is an active scandall . If I doe an indifferent thing in the sight and knowledge of another , that thinks it unlawfull , though he doe not come to doe it , out of my example , by any dependence upon me , yet if he come to think uncharitably of me , or to condemn me for doing it , though this uncharitablenesse in him bee his sinne , yet the root grew in me , and I gave the scandall . And there is a lower degree then this , and yet is an Active scandall too . Origen hath expressed it thus , Scandalum est quo scandentium pedes offenduntur ; To hinder the feet of another , that would goe farther , or climbe higher in the ways of godlinesse ; but for me , to say to any man , What need you be so pure , so devout , so godly , so zealous , will this make you rich , will this bring you to preferment ? this is an active scandall in me , though hee that I speak to , be not damnified by me . Of which kind of scandall , there is an evident , and an illustrious example , between Saint Peter , and Christ ; Christ cals Peter a scandall unto him , when Peter rebuked Christ for offering to goe up to Jerusalem in a time of danger . Christ was to accomplish the work of our salvation at Jerusalem , by dying , and Peter disswades , discounsels that journey ; and for this , Christ lays that heavy name upon his indiscreet zeal , and that heavy name upon his person , Vade retro , Get thee behind me Satan , thou art a scandall unto me . This is Scandalum oppositionis , the scandall of opposing , disswading , discounselling , discountenancing , and consequently the frustrating of Gods purpose in man ; This is but by word , and yet there is a lesse then this , which is Scandalum timoris , when he that hath power in his hand , in a family , in a parish , in a City , in a Court , intimidates them who depend upon him , ( though nothing bee expressely done or said that way ) and so slackens them in their religious duties to God ; and in their constancy in Religion it selfe ; And vae illis , woe unto them that doe so , and vae mundo ab illis ; woe unto the world , because there are so many that doe so . And yet there is another scandall which seems lesse then this , Scandalum amoris , the scandall of love ; as Saul gave David his daughter Mich●l , ut esset ei in scandalum , that she might be a snare unto him ; that is , that David being over-uxorious , and over-indulgent to his wife , might thereby lye the more open to Sauls mischievous purposes upon him , and vae illis , woe unto them that doe so ; and vae munde ab illis , woe unto the world , because there are so many that doe so , that study the affections , and dispositions , and inclinations of men , and then , minister those things to them , that affect them most , which is the way of the instruments of the Roman Church , to promise preferments to discontented persons , and is indeed , his way , whose instrument the Roman Church is , The Devill ; for this is all that the Devill is able to doe , in the ways of tentation , Applicare passivis activa , To finde out what will work upon a man , and to work by that . The Devill did not create me , nor bring materials to my creation ; The Devill did not infuse into mee , that choler , that makes me ignorantly and indiscreetly zealous , nor that flegm that choakes mee with a stupid indevotion ; Hee did not infuse into mee that bloud , that inflames mee in licentiousnesse , nor that melancholy that dampes me in a jealousie and suspicion , a diffidence and distrust in God. The Devill had no hand in composing me in my constitution . But the Devill knows , which of these govern , and prevail in me , and ministers such tentations , as are most acceptable to me , and this is Scandalum amoris , the scandall of Love. So have ye then the Name , and Nature , and extent of the Active Scandall ; against which , the inhibition given in this Text is generall , wee are forbidden to scandalize any person by any of these ways , The scandall of Example , or the scandall of Perswasion , The scandall of Fear , or the scandall of Love. For , there is scarce any so free to himselfe , so entirely his own , so independent upon others , but that Example , or Perswasion , or Fear , or Love may scandalize him , that is , Lead him into tentation , and make him doe some things against his own mind . Our Saviour Christ had spoken , De pusillis , of little children , of weak persons , easie to be scandalized , before this Text , and he returns , ad pusillos , to the consideration of little children , persons easie to bee scandalized again ; this Text is not of them , or not of them onely , but of all ; say not thou of any man , aetatem habet , he is old enough , let him look to himselfe , he hath reason as other men have , he hath had a learned and a religious education , ill example can doe him no harm ; but give no ill example to any , study the setling , and the establishing of all ; for , scarce is there any so strong , but may bee shaked by some of these scandals , Example , Perswasion , Fear , or Love. And hee that employs his gift of wit , and Counsell to seduce and mislead men , or his gift of Power , and Authority to intimidate , and affright men , or his gift of other graces , lovelinesse of person , agreeablenesse of Conversation , powerfulnesse of speech , to ensnare and entangle men by any of these scandals , may draw others into perdition , but he falls also with them , and shall not be left out by God in the punishments inflicted upon them that fall by his occasion . The Commandement is generall , scandalize none , scarce any but may bee overthrown , by some of these ways ; And then the Apostles practise was generall too , we give no occasion of offence in any thing . As he requires that wee should eat and drinke to the glory of God , so hee would have us study to avoid scandalizing of others , even in our eating and drinking ; If meat make my brother to offend , ( offend either in eating against his own conscience , or offend in an uncharitable mis-interpretation of my eating ) In aeternum , says the Apostle there , I will eat no flesh while the world standeth ; Nor , destroy my brother with my meat , for whom Christ dyed . That 's the Apostles tendernesse in things ; ( He would give no occasion of offence in any thing ) And it is as generall in contemplation of persons , he would have no offence given , neither to the Iew , nor to the Grecian , nor to the Church of God : He was as carefull not to scandalize , not to give just occasion of offence to Jew , not Gentile , as not to the Church of God ; so must we be towards them of a superstitions religion amongst us , as carefull as towards one another , not to give any scandall , any just cause of offence . But what is to be called a just cause of offence towards those men ? Good ends , and good ways , plain , and direct , and manifest proceedings , these can be called no scandall , no just cause of offence , to Jew , nor Gentile , to Turk , nor Papist ; nor does Saint Paul intend that we should forbear essentiall and necessary things , for fear of displeasing perverse and peevish men . To maintain the doctrinall truths of our religion , by conferences , by disputations , by writing , by preaching , to avow , and to prove our religion to be the same , that Christ Jesus and his Apostles proposed at beginning , the same that the generall Councels established after , the same that the blessed Fathers of those times , unanimely , and dogmatically delivered , the same that those glorious Martyrs quickned by their death , and carryed over all the world in the rivers , in the seas of their blood , to avow our religion by writing , and preaching , to be the same religion , an then to preserve and protect that religion which God hath put into our hearts , by all such meanes as hee hath put into our hands , in the due execution of just Laws , this is no scandall , no just cause of offence to Jew not Gentile , Turke nor Papists . But when leaving fundamentall things , and necessary truths , we wrangle uncharitably about Collaterall impertinencies , when wee will refuse to doe such things as conduce to the exaltation of Devotion , or to the order , and peace of the Church , not for any harme in the things , but onely therefore because the Papists doe them , when , because they kneel in the worship of the bread in the Sacrament , wee will not kneel in Thanksgiving to God for the Sacrament ; when because they pray to Saints , we will reproach the Saints , or not name the Saints , when because they abuse the Crosse , we will abhor the Crosse ; This is that that Saint Paul protests against , and in that protestation Catechizes us , that as he would give no just occasion of offence to the true Church of God , so neither would hee doe it to a false or infirme Church . He would not scandalize the true Church of God , by any modifications , any inclinations towards the false ; nor hee would not scandalize the false and infirme Church , by refusing to communicate with them , in the practise of such things , as might exalt our Devotion , and did not endanger nor shake any foundation of religion : which was the wisdome of our Church , in the beginning of the Reformation , when the Injuctions of our Princes forbad us to call one another by the odious names of Papist , or Papisticall Heretique , or Schismatique , or Sacramentary , or such convitions ( as the word of the Injunction is ) and repr●achfull names ; but cleaving always intirely , and inseparably to the fundamentall truths of our own religion , as farre as it is possible we should live peaceably with all men . Saint Paul would give no offence to the true Church of God , he would not prevaricate , nor to the Jew nor Gentile neither , he would not exasperate . And this may bee enough to have been said of the active scandall● , and passe we now , in our order , to the Passive . It is no wonder to see them who put all the world , into differences , ( the Jesuits ) to differ sometimes amongst themselves . And therefore though the Jesuit Maldonat say of this Text , That Christ did not here intend to warne , or to arm his Disciples against scandals , as scandals occasions of sin , but onely from offering injury to one another , That scandall in this text is nothing but wrong , yet another Jesuit , ( Vincemius Rhegius ) is not onely of another opinion himselfe , but thinks that opinion ( as he calls it ) absurd ; It is absurd , says he , to interpret it so ; for , can a mans own hand or foot , or eye , be said to injure him ? And yet , in this place , they are often said to scandalize him , to offend him . The interpretation that Maldonat departs from , himselfe acknowledges to be the interpretation of Saint Chrysostome , of Euthymius , of Theophylact , of others of the Fathers ; and , by the councell of Trent , he is bound to interpret Scriptures according to the Fathers , and he is angry with us , if at any time we doe not so ; and here he departs from them , where , not onely his reverence to them , but the frame , and the evidence of the place should have kept them to him ; for here Christ utters his vae , as it is vae Dolentis , as he laments their miseries , and as it is vae Minantis , as he threatens his judgements , not onely upon them that offend and scandalize others , but upon them also that are easily scandalized by others , and put from their religion , and Christian constancy with every rumour . Par●m distat scandalizare , & scandalizari ; It is almost as great a sin to be shaked by a scandall given , as to give it . Christ intends both in this Text ; the Active , and the Passive scandall ; but the latter , meliùs quadrat , says a later Divine , worthy to be compared to the Ancients , for the exposition of Scriptures , it fits the scope and purpose of Christ best , to accept and interpret this vae , ( Woe be unto the world ) of the Pas●ive scandall , the scandall taken . In that , we consider the working of this Vae , three ways ; first , vae quia illusiones fortes , woe unto the world because these scandals and offences , tentations , and tribulations are so strong in their nature ; and then vae quia infirmi vas , woe because you are so weak in your nature ; and again , vae quia Pravaricatores , woe because wee prevaricate in our own case , and make our selves weaker then we are , and are scandalized with things which are not in their nature scandalous , nor were scandalously intended . The two first , are woe because we shall be scandalized , for scandals are truly strong , and you are truly weak ; The other is woe because ye will bee scandalized , when , and where you might easily unentangle the snare , and devest the ●scruple . First , for the vehemence , the violence , the unavoydablenesse and impetuousnesse of these scandals , tentations , and tribulations under which wee all suffer in this world , it may bee enough to consider that one saying of our Saviours , They shall seduce , Si possibile , even the elect , where ( by the way , it is not meerly , not altogether , as we have translated it , If it were possible , for that sounds , as if Christ had positively , and dogmatically determined , that it is not possible for the elect to be seduced ; but Christ says onely , Si possibile , if it be possible , as being willing to leave it in doubt , and in suspense how farre , in so great scandals , so very great tentations , even the elect might bee seduced . Ista Dominici sermonis dubitatto , trepidationem mentis in electis relinquit ; this doubtfulnesse in Christs speech , makes the very elect stand in fear of falling , in the midst of such tentations , for , howsoever the elect shall rise again , the elect may fall by these scandals , and though they may be reduced , they may be seduced . We are to consider men , as they are delivered in the approbation , and testimony of the Church , that judges s●cundum allegata & probata , according to the evidence that she sees and heares , and not as they are wrapped up in the infallible knowledge of God ; and so , our election admits an outward tryall , that is , Sanctification : so S. Peter writes , to the strangers elect through sanctification . They were strangers , strangers to the Covenant , and yet Elect ; for , as all of the houshold , all within the Covenant , all children of the faithfull , are not elect , ( for to be born of Christian parents within the Covenant , gives us a title to the Sacrament of Baptism , so as that we may claim it , and the Church cannot deny it us ; but this birth doth not give us that title to heaven , which Baptisin it self does ) so all strangers , all that are without the Covenant , are not excluded in the election . S. Peter admits stragers to election , but yet no otherwise then through sanctification ; when we are come to that hill , to sanctification , we have a fair prospect to see our election ; in : so , God hath elected you to salvation , says S. Paul , to the Thes. but how ? To salvation through sanctification ; that 's your hill , there opens your prospect . Agreeably to these two great Astles , says the beloved Apostle , the Elder unto the elect Lady , and her children ; but still , how elect ? as he tels you , elect if she walk in the Commandements of God , elect if she lose not her former good works , that she may receive a full reward ; elect , if she abide in the doctrine of Christ. Always from that mount of sanctification arises our prospect to election ; and sanctification were glorification , if it were impossible to fall from it . If a tentation of mony made Iudas an Apostle fall from his Master , how easily will such a tentation make men fall with their Master , that is , run into dangerous and ruinous actions with them ? How easily will our children , our servants , our tenants fall form the truth of God , if they have both the example of their superiors to countenance them , and their purse to reward them for it ? That scandal , that tentation is a Giant , and an armed Gyant , a Goliah , and a Goliah with a speare like a weavers beame , that marches upon those two leggs , Example to doe it , and Preferment for doing it . This is the vae , in the consideration of the passive scandal , as it arises out of the vehemence of the scandal , and tentation , Quia illusiones fortes , because they are so strong in themselves . It arises also out of our weaknesse , Quia infirmi nos , because we are so weak , even the strongest of us . And for this , it may also be enough to consider those words of our Saviour ; That a man may receive the word , and receive it with joy , and yet , Temporalis est , says Christ , it may bee but for a while , hee may be but a time-server , for , assoon as persecution comes , Illico continuò scandalizatur , by and by , instantly , forthwith hee is scandalized and shaked . Hee stays not to give God his leasure , whether God will succour his cause to morrow , though not to day . Hee stays not to give men their Law , to give Princes , and States time to consider , whether it may not be fit for them to come to leagues , and alliances , and declarations for the assistance of the Cause of Religion next year , though not this . But continuò scandalizatur , as soon as a Catholique army hath given a blow , and got a victory of any of our forces , or friends , or as soon as a crafty Iesuit hath forged a Relation , that that Army hath given such a blow , or that such an Army there is , ( for many times they intimidate weake men , when they shoote nothing but Paper , when they are onely Paper-Armies , and Pamphlet-Victories , and no such in truth ) Illico scandalizatur , yet with these forged rumours , presently hee is scandalized , and hee comes apace to those dangerous conclusions , Non potens Deus , ( for any thing I see , God is not so powerfull a God , as they make him , for his enemies Armies prevaile against his ) Non sapiens Deus , ( for any thing I see , God does not take so wise courses for his glory , of which hee talkes so much , and pretends to bee so jealous , for his enemies Counsels prevaile against his ; ) And hee comes at last to the Non est Deus , to labour to over-rule his own Conscience , and make himselfe bebeleeve , or ( at least ) to wish , though hee cannot beleeve it , that there were no God. Now to correct , or to repair this weaknesse , you see our Saviours physique here ; If thy foot , thy hand , thine eye , scandalize thee , offend thee , abscinde & proj●ce , erue & projice , Cut it off , pull it out , and then cast it away . You see Christs method in his physique , It determines not in a preparative , that does but stirre the humours , ( for every remorse , and every compunction , and every sense that a man hath , that such , and such company leades him into tentation , does that , it workes in the nature of such a preparative , as stirres the humours , affects the soul , ) Christs physique determines not in a blood-letting , no not in cutting off the gangren'd part , for it is not onely Cut off , and pull out , but , Cast away , it is an absolute evacuation and purging out of the peccant humour . It is not a halting with the foot , nor a shifting with the hand , it is not a winking with the eye , but abscinde , and erue , Cut off , pull out ; and , after that , Though hee bee the foot upon which thou standest , thy Master , thy Patron , thy Benefactor ; Though hee be thy hand by which thou gettest thy living , thy meanes , the instrument of thy maintenance , or preferment ; Though hee bee thine eye , the man from whom thou receivest all thy Light , and upon whose learning thou engagest thy Religion , abscindatur , & projice , if hee scandalize thee , shake thee in thy Religion at the heart , or in the ways of godlinesse in thine actions , Cut him off ; that is , cut off thy selfe from that conversation , and cast him away , returne no more within distance of that tentation : for , as sinne hath that quality of a worm , that it gnawes , ( it gnawes the conscience ) so hath it also that quality of a worm , that if you cut it into pieces , yet if those pieces come together again , they will re-unite again ; sinne , though discontinued , will finde his old pieces , if they keep not farre asunder . And since it is said of God himself by David , Cum perverso perverteris , That God will grow froward with the froward , and since God says of himselfe , That with them that goe crookedly , hee will goe crookedly too , that the behaviour of other men are said to make impressions upon God himselfe , cosider the slipperinesse of our corrupt nature , how easily the vices of other men insinuate and infuse themselves into us , and how much need wee have of all Christs physique , abscinde , erue , projice , Cut off , pull out , and cast away . But to come to our last note , Besides the woe arising from the strength of the scandall , and the woe from the corruptnesse of our weak nature , there is a woe upon our wilfulnesse , upon our easinesse in being scandalized by an over-jealousie , and suspicious mis-interpretations of the actions of other men . And for this , in the highest consideration , as it hath relation to our Saviour himselfe , and his Gospell , it may be enough to consider that which himselfe says , Blessed is hee , whosoever shall not be offended in me . But , Quis homo , What man is hee that is not offended in him , and his Gospel ? Qui non crubescit , aut timet , what man is he that is not ashamed of the Gospel , or afraid of it ; that does not desire that the religion that he professes , were a religion of more liberty & of less threatnings ? We see , that though the Cross of Christ , that is , Christ crucified , were daily represented to the Jews in their sacrifices , & preached to the in the succession of their Prophets , yet this Crosse of Christ was Scandalum Iudais , a scandal to the Jews ; It was , ( as the Apostle says there ) Stultitia Gracis , to the Gentiles , that had no such preparation to the Gospel , as the Jews had in their Law , and Sacrifices , the Gospel was meer foolishnes , a religion unconformable to nature , and to reason , but even to the Jews themselves , it was a scandal , a stumbling block ; they grudged that that religion left them so narrow a way open to pleasure , and to profit , and that it referred all to a spirituall Kingdome , whereas the Jews looked for a temporall Kingdome in their Messias . And so truly Christ and his Gospel will be a scandal to all them that will needs set Christ a price , at which hee shall sell his Gospel . If Tithes , or some some small matter in lieu of Tithes , will serve his turn , and now and then a groat to a Brief , and sometimes an extraordinary contribution , when extraordinary knowledge may bee taken of it , if this will serve his turn hee shall have it . But if it must come to a Non pacem , that Christ profess hee comes not to settle peace , but to kindle a warre , if wee must maintain armies for his Gospel , if it come to an Odisse vitam , to hate Father , and Mother , and Wife , and Children , and our owne lifes for his Gospel , this is too high a price , Nolumus hunc regnare , now the Gospell growes a Tyran , and wee will not be under a tyrannous government ; If hee will govern by his Law , that hee be content with our coming to Church every Sunday , and our receiving every Easter , wee will live under his Law ; but if he come to exercise his Prerogative , and presse us to extraordinary duties , in watching all our particular actions , and calling our selves to an account , for words and thoughts , then Christ and his Gospell become a scandall , a stumbling block unto us , and lye in our way , and retard our ends , our pleasures , and our profits . But if we can overcome this one scandall of the Gospell , that we be not ashamed nor afraid of that , ( that is , well satisfied in the sufficiency of that Gospel for our salvation , and then content to suffer for that Gospel ) if we can devest this scandall , no other shall trouble us . Great peace have they which love thy Law , says David ; To love it , is to prefer it before all things ; and great peace have they that doe so , says he ; Wherein consists this peace ? In this , Et non est illis scandalum , Great peace have they that love thy Law , for they have no scandals ; nothing shall offend them . There shall no evill happen to the just , says his son Solomon ; not that the just shall feel no worldly misery , but that that misery shall not make them miserable ; how evill so ever it be in it self , it shall not be evill to them , but Omnia in bonum , All things work together for good , to them that love God. Who is he that will harme you , if you be followers of God ? says Saint Peter , The wicked will not follow you in that strange Country ; their conversation is not in heaven ; if yours be , they will not follow you thither . They will doe , as he , whose instruments they are , do , the Devill ; and Resist the Devill , and he will flee from you . A religious constancy blunts the edge of any sword , dampes the spirits of any counsel , benums the strength of any arme , opens the corners of any Labyrinth , and brings the subtilest plots against God and his servants , not onely to an invalidnesse , an ineffectualnesse , but to a derision ; not onely to a Dimicatum de coelis , that the world shall see , that the Lord fights for his servants from heaven , but to an Irridebit in coelis , that he that sits in heaven , shall laugh them to scorn ; he shall ruine them , and ruine them in contempt . That prayer that David makes , Libera me Domine ab homine malo , deliver me O Lord , from the evill man , is a large , an extensive , an indefinite prayer ; for , there is an evill man ( occasion of tentation ) in every man , in every woman , in every action ; there is Coluber in via , a snake in every path , danger in every calling . But Saint Augustine contracts that prayer , and fixes it , Liberet te Deus à temes , noli tibi esse malius ; God blesse me from my selfe , that I be not that evill man to my selfe , that I lead not my selfe into tentation , and nothing shall scandalize me . To which purpose it concerns us to devest that naturall , but corrupt easinesse of uncharitable mis-construing that which other men doe , especially those whom God hath placed in his own place , for government over us ; that we doe not come to think that there is nothing done , if all bee not done ; that no abuses are corrected , if all be not removed ; that there 's an end of all Protestants , if any Papists bee left in the world . Upon those words of our Saviour , speaking of the last day of Judgement , The son of man shall send forth his Angels , and they shall gather out of his Kingdome , Omnia scandala , All things that might offend : Calvin says learnedly and wisely , Qui ad extirpandum quicquid displicet praepostere festinant , They that make too much haste to mend all at once , antevertunt Christi judicium , & ereptum Angelis officium sibi temereusurpant , They prevent Christs judgment , and rashly , and sacrilegiously they usurp the Angels office . Christ hath reserved the cleansing and removing of all scandals , all offences to the last day ; the Angels of the Church , the Minister , the Angels of the State , the Magistrate , cannot doe it ; not the Angels of heaven themselves , till the day of judgement . All scandals cannot be removed in this life ; but a great many more might be then are , if men were not so apt to suspect , and mis-constru , and imprint the name of scandall upon every action , of which they see not the end , nor the way ; for from this jealousie and suspicion ; and misconstruction of the Angels of Church and State ( our Superiours in those sphears ) wee shall become jealous , and suspicious of God himselfe , that he hath neglected us , abandoned us , if he do not deliver us , and establish us , at those times , and by those means , which we prescribe him ; we shall come to argue thus against God himselfe , Surely , if God meant any good to us , he would not put us into their hands , who doe us no good . Reduce all to the precious mediocrity ; To be unsensible of any declination , of any diminution of the glory of God , or his true worship and religion , is an irreligious stupidity ; But to bee so ombragious , so startling , so apprehensive , so suspicious , as to think every thing that is done , is done to that end ; this is a seditious jealousie , a Satyr in the heart , and an unwritten Libell ; and God hath a Star-chamber , to punish unwritten Libels before they are published ; Libels against that Law , Curse not , or speak not ill of the King , no not in thy thought . Not to mourn under the sense of evils , that may fall upon us , is a stony disposition ; Nay , the hardest stone , marble , will weep towards foul weather . But , to make all Possible things Necessary , ( this may fall upon us , therefore it must fall upon us , ) and to make contingent , and accidentall things , to be the effects of counsels , ( this is fallen upon us , therefore it is fallen by their practise that have the government in their hands ) this is a vexation of spirit in our selves , and a defacing , a casting of durt in the face of Gods image , of that representation , and resemblance of God , which he hath imprinted in them , of whom hee hath sayd , They are Gods. In divine matters there is principally exercise of our faith , That which we understand not , we beleeve . In civill affairs , that are above us , matters of State , there is exercise of our Hope ; Those ways which we see not , wee hope are directed to good ends . In Civill actions amongst our selves , there is exercise of our Charity , Those hearts which we see not , let us charitably beleeve to bee disposed to Gods service . That when as Christ hath shut up his w●e onely in those two , Va quia f●rtes illusiones , W●e because scandals and offences are so strong in their nature ; and Va quia infirmivos , w●e because you are so weak in yours , we doe not create a third Woe , Va quia praevaricatores , in an uncharitable jealousie , and mis-interpretation of him , ( that we are not in his care ) nor of his Ministers ( that they doe not execute his purposes , ) nor of one another ; that when as God hath placed us in a Land , where there are no w●lfes , we doe not think Hominem homini Lupum , imagine every man to be a wolf to us , or to intend our destruction . But as in the Arke there were Lions , but the Lion shut his mouth , and clincht his paw , ( the Lion hurt nothing in the Arke ) and in the Arke there were Vipers and Scorpions , but the Viper shewed no teeth , nor the Scorpion no taile , ( the Viper bit none , the Scorpion stung none in the Arke ) ( for , if they had occasioned any disorder there , their escape could have been but into the Sea , into irreparable ruine ) so , in every State , ( though that State be an Arke of peace , and preservation ) there will be some kind of oppression in some Lions , some that will abuse their power ; but Vae si scandalizemur , woe unto us if we be scandalized with that , and seditiously lay aspersions upon the State and Government , because there are some such in every Church , ( though that Church bee an Arke , for integrity and sincerity ) there will bee some Vipers , Vipers that will gnaw at their Mothers belly , men that will shake the articles of Religion ; But Vae si scandalizemur , woe if we be so scandalized at that , as to defame that Church , or separate our selves from that Church which hath given us our Baptism , for that . It is the chasing of the Lion , and the stirring of the Viper , that aggravates the danger ; The first blow makes the wrong , but the second makes the fray ; and they that will endure no kind of abuse in State or Church , are many times more dangerous then that abuse w ch they oppose . It was only Christ Jesus himself that could say to the Tempest , Tace , ●b●utesce , peace , be still , not a blast , not a sob more ; onely he could becalm a Tempest at once . It is well with us , if we can ride out a storm at anchour , that is , lie still and expect , and surrender ourselves to God , and anchor in that confidence , till the storm blow over . It is well for us if we can beat out a storm at sea , with boarding to and again ; that is , maintain and preserve our present condition in Church , and State , though we encrease not , that though we gain no way , yet wee lose no way whilst the storm lasts . It is well for us , if , though we be put to take in our sayls , and to take down our masts , yet we can hull it out ; that is , if in storms of contradiction , or persecution , the Church , or State , though they be put to accept worse conditions then before , and to depart with some of their outward splendor , be yet able to subsist and swimme above water , and reserve it selfe for Gods farther glory , after the storme is past ; onely Christ could becalm the storme ; He is a good Christian that can ride out , or board out , or hull out a storme , that by industry , as long as he can , and by patience , when he can do no more , over-lives a storm , and does not forsake his ship for it , that is not scandalized with that State , nor that Church , of which he is a member , for those abuses that are in it . The Arke is peace , peace is good dispositions to one another , good intepretations of one another ; for , if our impatience put us from our peace , and so out of the Arke , all without the Arke is sea ; The bottomlesse and boundlesse Sea of Rome , will hope to swallow us ; if we dis-unite our selves , in uncharitable mis-interpretations of one another ; The peace of God is the peace that passeth all understanding ; That men should subdue and captivate even their understanding to the love of this peace , that when in their understanding they see no reason why this or this thing should be thus or thus done , or so and so suffered , the peace of God , that is , charity , may passe their understanding , and goe above it ; for , howsoever the affections of men , or the vicissitudes and changes of affairs may vary , or apply those two great axiomes , and aphorisms of ancient Rome , Salus populi suprema lex est●● , The good of the people is above all Law , and then , Quod Principi places , lex esto , The pleasure of the Prince is above all Law , howsoever I say , various occasions may vary their Laws , adhere we to that Rule of the Law , which the Apostle prescribes , that we always make , Finem pra●cepti charit●tem , The end of the Commandement charity ; for , no Commandement , ( no not those of the first Table ) is kept , if , upon pretence of keeping that Commandement , or of the service of God , I come to an uncharitable opinion of other men . That so first , Fundemur & radic●mur in charitate , that wee be planted , and take root in that ground , in charity , ( so wee are , by being planted in that Church , that thinks charitably even of that Church , that uncharitably condemns us ) And then , Vt ●ultiplice●ur , That Grace and peace may be multiplyed in us , ( so it is , if to our outward peace , God adde the inward peace of conscience in our own bosomes ) and lastly , Vt abundemus , that we may not onely encrease , ( as the Apostle says there ) but ( as he adds ) abound in charity towards one another , and towards all men , for this abundant and overflowing charity , ( as long as we can , to beleeve well , for the present , and where we cannot do so , to hope well of the future ) is the best preservative and antidote against the woe of this Text , Woe unto the world because of scandals and offences ; which , though it be spoken of the Active , is more especially intended of the Passive scandal ; and though it be pressed upon us , first , Quia Illusiones fortes , because those scandals are so strong , and then , Quia infer●● nos , because we are so weak , doe yet endanger us most , in that respect , Quia pr●varicatores , because we open ourselves , nay offer our selves to the vexation of scandals , by an easie , a jealous , a suspicious , an uncharitable interpreting of others . SERMON XIX . Preached at Lincolns Inne . PSAL. 38. 2. For thine arr●wes stick fast in me , and thy hand presseth me sore . ALmost every man hath his Appetite , and his tast disposed to some kind of meates rather then others ; He knows what dish he would choose , for his first , and for his second course . We have often the same disposition in our spirituall Diet ; a man may have a particular love towards such or such a book of Scripture , and in such an affection , I acknowledge , that my spirituall appetite carries me still , upon the Psalms of David , for a first course , for the Scriptures of the Old Testament : and upon the Epistles of Saint Paul , for a second course , for the New , and my meditations even for these publike exercises to Gods Church , returne oftnest to these two . For , as a hearty entertainer offers to others , the meat which he loves best himself , so doe I oftnest present to Gods people , in these Congregations , the meditations which I feed upon at home , in those two Scriptures . If a man be asked a reason why he loves one meat better then another , where all are equally good , ( as the books of Scripture are ) he will at least , finde a reason in some good example , that he sees some man of good tast , and temperate withall , so do : And for my Diet , I have Saint Augustines protestation , that he loved the Book of Psalms , and Saint Chrysostomes , that he loved Saint Pauls Epistles ; with a particular devotion , I may have another more particular reason , because they are Scriptures , written in such forms , as I have been most accustomed to ; Saint Pauls being Letters , and Davids being Poems : for , God gives us , not onely that which is meerly necessary , but that which is convenient too ; He does not onely feed us , but feed us with marrow , and with fatnesse ; he gives us our instruction in cheerfull forms , not in a sowre , and sullen , and angry , and unacceptable way , but cheerfully , in Psalms , which is also a limited , and a restrained form ; Not in an Oration , not in Prose , but in Psalms ; which is such a from as is both curious , aud requires diligence in the making , and then when it is made , can have nothing , no syllable taken from it , nor added to it : Therefore is Gods will delivered to us in Psalms , that we might have it the more cheerfully , and that we might have it the more certainly , because where all the words are numbred , and measured , and weighed , the whole work is the lesse subject to falsification , either by substraction or addition . God speaks to us in or atione strictâ , in a limited , in a diligent form ; Let us speak to him in or atione solutâ ; not pray , not preach , not hear , flackly , suddenly , unadvisedly , extemporally , occasionally , indiligently ; but let all our speech to him , be weighed , and measured in the weights of the Sanctuary , let us be content to preach , and to hear within the compasse of our Articles , and content to pray in those formes which the Church hath meditated for us , and recommended to us . This whole Psalm is a Prayer , and recommended by David to the Church ; And a Prayer grounded upon Reasons . The Reasons are multiplyed , and dilated from the second to the 20. verse . But as the Prayer is made to him that is Alpha , and Omega , first , and last ; so the Prayer is the Alpha and Omega of the Psalme ; the Prayer possesses the first and the last verse thereof ; and though the Reasons be not left out , ( Christ himself settles that Prayer , which he recommended to our daily use , upon a Reason , Quia tuum est Regnum , for thine is the Kingdome , ) yet David makes up his Circle , he begins , and ends in prayer . But our text fals within his Reasons ; He prays in the first verse that God would forbear him , upon the Reasons that follow ; of which some are extrinsecall , some arising out of the power , some out of the malice , some out of the scorn of other men ; And some are intrinsecall , arising out of himself , and of his sense of Gods Judgements upon him ; and our Text begins the Reasons of that last kind , which because David enters , with that particle , not onely of Connexion , but of Argumentation too , For , ( Rebuke me not O Lord , for it stands thus and thus with me ) we shall make it a first short part , to consider , how it may become a godly man , to limit God so far , as to present and oppose Reasons against his declared purpose , and proceedings . And then in those calamities which he presents for his Reasons in this Text , For thine arrows stick fast in me , and thy hand presseth me sore , we shall passe by these steps , first , we shall see in what respect , in what allusion , in what notification he cals them arrows : And therein first , that they are alienae , they are shot from others , they are not in his own power ; a man shoots not an arrow at himselfe ; And then , that they are Veloces , swift in coming , he cannot give them their time ; And again , they are Vix visibiles , though they bee not altogether invisible in their coming , yet there is required a quick eye , and an expresse diligence , and watchfulnesse to discern and avoid them ; so they are arrows in the hand of another ; not his own ; and swift as they come , and invisible before they come . And secondly , they are many arrows ; The victory lies not in scaping one or two ; And thirdly , they stick in him ; they finde not David so good proof , as to rebound back again , and imprint no sense ; And they stick fast ; Though the blow be felt , and the wound discerned , yet there is not a present cure , he cannot shake them off ; Infixae sunt ; And then , with all this , they stick fast in him ; that is , in all him ; in his body , and soul ; in him , in his thoughts , and actions ; in him , in his sins and in his good works too ; Infixae mihi , there is no part of him , no faculty in him , in which they stick not : for , ( which may well bee another consideration ) That hand , which shot them , presses him : follows the blow , and presses him sore , that is , vehemently . But yet , ( which will be our conclusion ) Sagittaetuae , and manus tua , These arrows that are shot , and this hand that presses them so sore , are the arrows , and is the hand of God ; and therefore , first , they must have their Effect , they cannot be dis-appointed ; But yet they bring their comfort with them , because they are his , because no arrows from him , no pressing with his hand , comes without that Balsamum of mercy , to heal as fast as he wounds . and of so many pieces will this exercise consist , this exercise of your Devotion , and perchance Patience . First then , this particle of connexion and argumentation , For , which begins our text , occasions us , in a first part , to consider , that such an impatience in affliction , as brings us toward a murmuring at Gods proceedings , and almost to a calling of God to an account , in inordinate expostulations , is a leaven so kneaded into the nature of man , so innate a tartar , so inherent a sting , so inseparable a venim in man , as that the holyest of men have scarce avoided it in all degrees thereof . Iob had Gods testimony of being an upright man ; and yet Iob bent that way , O that I might have my request , says Iob , and that God would grant me the thing that I long for . Well , if God would , what would , Iob aske ? That God would destroy me , and cut me off . Had it not been as easie , and as ready , and as usefull a prayer , That God would deliver him ? Is my strength the strength of stones , or is my flesh of brasse ? says hee , in his impatience . What though it bee not ? Not stones , not brasse ; is there no remedy , but to wish it dust ? Moses had Gods testimonies of a remarkable and exemplar man , for meeknesse . But did God always finde it so ? was it a meek behaviour towards God , to say , Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant ? Have I conceived all this people , have I begotten them , that thou shouldest say unto me , Carry them in thy bosome ? Elias had had testimonies of Gods care and providence in his behalf ; and God was not weary of preserving him , and he was weary of being preserved ; He desired that he might dye , and said , Sufficit Domine , It is enough O Lord , now take my soul. Io●as , even then , when God was expressing an act of mercy , takes occasion to be angry , and to bee angry at God , and to be angry at the mercy of God. we may see his fluctuation and distemper , and irresolution in that case , and his transportation ; He was a●gry , says the text ; very angry ; And yet , the text says , He prayed , but he prayed angerly ; O Lord take , I beseech thee , my life from me ; for it is better for me to dye , then to live . Better for him , that was all he considered ; not what was best for the service and glory of God , but best for him . God asks him , If he doe well to be angry ? And he will not tell him there ; God gives him time to vent his passion , and he askes him again ●after : Doest thou well to bee angry ? And he answers more angerly , I doe well to be angry , even unto death . Ieremy was under this tentation too . Ionas was angry because his Prophesie was not performed ; because God would not second his Prophesie in the destruction of Nineveh . Ieremy was angry because his Prophesie was like to be performed ; he preached heavy Doctrin , and therfore his Auditory hated him ; Woe is me , my Mother , says he , that thou hast born me a man of strife , and a man of contention to the whole earth ! I preach but the messages of God ; and ( vae mihi si non , wo be unto me if I preach not them ) I preach but the sense of Gods indignation upon mine own soul , in a conscience of mine own sins , I impute nothing to another , that I confesse not of my selfe , I call none of you to confession to me , I doe but confesse my self to God , and you , I rack no mans memory , what he did last year , last week , last night , I onely gather into my memory , and powr out in the presence of my God , and his Church , the sinfull history of mine own youth , and yet I am a contentious man , says Ieremy , a worm , and a burthen to every tender conscience , says he , and I strive with the whole earth , I am a bitter , and satyricall preacher ; This is that that wearies mee , says hee , I have neither lent on usury , nor men have lent me on usury , yet , as though I were an oppressing lender , or a fraudulent borrower , every one of them doth curse me . This is a naturall infirmity , which the strongest men , being but men , cannot devest , that if their purposes prosper not , they are weary of their industry , weary of their lifes ; But this is Summa ingratitude in Deum , m●lle non esse , quàm miserum esse : There cannot be a greater unthankfulnesse to God then to desire to be Nothing at all , rather then to be that , that God would have thee to be ; To desire to be out of the world , rather then to glorifie him , by thy patience in it . But when this infirmity overtakes Gods children , Patiuntur ut homtines , sustinent ut Dei amici ; They are under calamities , as they are r●en , but yet they come to recollect themselves and to beat those calamities , as the valiant Souldiers , as the faithfull servants , as the bosome friends of almighty God : Si vis discere , qualis esse debi●s , disce post gratiam , says the same Father ; Learn patience , not from the stupidity of Philosophers , who are but their own statues , men of stone , without sense , without affections , and who placed all their glory , in a Non facies ut te dicam analum , that no pain should make them say they were in pain ; nor from the per●i●acy of Heretiques , how to bear a calamity , who gave their bodies to the fire , for the establishing of their Disciples , but take out a new lesson in the times of Grace ; Consider the Apostles there , Gaudentes & Gloriantes , They departed from the Councell , rejoycing that they were counted worthy , to suffer rebuke for his name . It was Ioy , and all Ioy , says S. Iames ; It was Glory , and all Glory , says S. Paul , Absit mihi , God forbid that I should glory , save in the Crosse of our Lord Iesus Christ ; And if I can glory in that , ( to glory in that , is to have a conscience testifying to me , that God receives glory by my use of his correction ) I may come to God , reason with God , plead with God , wrastle with God , and be received and sustained by him . This was Davids case in our Text : therefore he doth not stray into the infirmities of these great , and good Men , Moses , Iob , Elias , Ieremy , and Ionah ; whose errours , it is labour better bestowed carefully to avoid , then absolutely to excuse , for that cannot be done . But David presents onely to God the sense of his corrections , and implies in that , that since the cure is wrought , since Gods purpose , which is , by corrections , to bring a sinner to himself , and so to God , is effected in him , God would now be pleased to remember all his other gracious promises too ; and to admit such a zealous prayer as as he doth from Esay after , Be not angry , O Lord , above measure ; ( that is , above the measure of thy promises to repentant souls , or the measure of the strength of our bodies ) Neither remember iniquities for ever ; But , loe , wee beseech thee , Behold , we are thy people . To end this first part , ( because the other extends it self in many branches . ) Then when we are come to a sense of Gods purpose , by his corrections , it is a seasonable time to flie to his mercy , and to pray , that he would remove them from us ; and to present our Reasons , to spare us , for thy corrections have wrought upon us ; Give us this day , our daily bread , for thou hast given us stones , and scorpions , tribulations and afflictions , and we have fed upon them , found nourishment even in those tribulations and afflictions , and said thee grace for them , blessed and glorified thy name , for those tribulations , and afflictions ; Give us our Cordials now , and our Restoratives , for thy physick hath evacuated all the peccant humour , and all our naturall strength ; shine out in the light of thy countenance now , for this long cold night hath benum'd us ; since the dr●sse is now evaporated , now withdraw thy fire ; since thy hand hath anew cast us , now imprint in us anew thine Image ; since we have not disputed against thy corrections , all this while , O Lord open thou our lips now , and accept our remembring of thee , that we have not done so ; Accept our Petition , and the Reason of our Petition , for thine Arrows stick fast in us , and thy hand presseth us sore . David in a rectified conscience findes that he may be admitted to present reasons against farther corrections , And that this may be received as a reason , That Gods Arrows are upon him ; for this is phrase or a Metaphore , in which Gods indignation is often expressed in the Scripture . He sent out his Arrows , and scattered them ; sayes David ; magnifying Gods goodness in his behalf , against his enemies . And so again , God will ordaine his Arrrowes for them that persecute me . Complebo sagittas , says God , I will heap mischiefs upon them , and I will spend mine arrows upon them : yea , Inebriabo sanguine , I will make mine Arrows drunk in their bloud . It is Idiotismus Spiritus sancti , a peculiar character of the holy Ghosts expressing Gods anger , in that Metaphore of shooting Arrows . In this place , some understand by these Arrows , foul and infectious diseases , in his body , derived by his incontinence . Others , the sting of Conscience , and that fearfull choice , which the Prophet offered him , war , famine , and pestilence . Others , his passionate sorrow in the death of Bethsheba's first childe ; or in the Incest of Amnon upon his sister , or in the murder upon Amnon by Absolon ; or in the death of Absolen by Ioab ; or in many other occasions of sorrow , that surrounded David and his family , more , perchance , then any such family in the body of story . But these Psalmes were made , not onely to vent Davids present holy passion , but to serve the Church of God , to the worlds end . And therefore , change the person , and wee shall finde a whole quiver of arrows . Extend this Man , to all Mankind ; carry Davids History up to Adams History , and consider us in that state , which wee inherit from him , and we shall see arrows fly about our ears , A Deo prosequente , the anger of God hanging over our heads , in a cloud of arrows ; and à conscientia remordente , our own consciences shooting poisoned arrows of desperation into our souls ; and ab Homine Contemnente , Men multiplying arrows of Detraction , and Calumny , and Contumely upon our good name , and estimation . Briefly , in that wound , as wee were all shot in Adam , we bled out Impassibilitatem , and we sucked in Impossibilitatem ; There we lost our Immortality , our Impassibility , our assurance of Paradise , and then we lost Possibilitatem boni , says S. August : all possibility of recovering any of this by our selves . So that these arrows which are lamented here , are all those miseries , which sinne hath cast upon us ; Labor , and the childe of that , Sicknesse , and the off-spring of that , Death ; And the security of conscience , and the terrour of conscience ; the searing of the conscience , and the over-tendernesse of the conscience ; Gods quiver , and the Devils quiver , and our own quiver , and our neighbours quiver , afford , and furnish arrows to gall , and wound us . These arrows then in our Text , proceeding from sin , and sin proceeding from tentations , and inducing tribulations , it shall advance your spirituall edification most , to fixe your consideration upon those fiery darts , as they are tentations , and as they are tribulations . Origen says , he would wish no more , for the recovery of any soul , but that she were able to see Cicatrices suas , those scars which these fiery darts have left in her , the deformity which every sinne imprints upon the soul , and Contritiones suas , the attenuating and wearing out , and consumption of the soul , by a continuall succession of more , and men wound , ● upon the same place . An ugly thing in a Consumption , were a fearfull spectacle , And such Origen imagins a soul to be , if she could see Cicatrices , and Contritiones , her ill-favourednesse , and her leannesse in the deformity , and consumption of sin . How provident , how diligent a patience did our blessed Saviour bring to his Passion , who foreseeing that that would be our case , our sicknesse , to be first wounded with single tentations , and then to have even the wounds of our soul wounded again , by a daily reiterating of tentations in the same kinde , would provide us physick agreeable to our Disease , Chyrurgery conformable to our wound , first to be scourged so , as that his holy body was torn with wounds , and then to have those wounded again , and often , with more violatings . So then these arrows , are those tentations and those tribulations , which are accompanied with these qualities of arrows shot at us , that they are alienae , shot from others , not in our power ; And veloces , swift and sudden , soon upon us ; And vix visibiles , not discernible in their coming , but by an exact diligence . First then , these tentations are dangerous arrows , as they are alienae , shot from others , and not in our own power . It was the Embleme , and Inscription , which Darius took for his coin , Insculpere sagittarium , to shew his greatnesse , that he could wound afar off , as an Archer does . And it was the way , by which God declared the deliverance of Israel from Syria ; Elisha bids the King open the window East-ward , and shoot an arrow out . The King does shoot : And the Prophet says , Sagitta salutis Domini , The arrow of the Lords deliverance : He would deliver Israel , by shooting vengeance into Syria . One danger in our arrows , as they are tentations , is , that they come unsuspectedly ; they come , we know not , from whence ; from others ; that 's a danger ; But in our tentations , there is a greater danger then that , for a man cannot shoot an arrow at himself ; but we can direct tentations upon our selves ; If we were in a wildernesse , we could sin ; and where we are , we tempt temptations , and wake the Devil , when for any thing that appears , he would sleep . A certain man drew a bow at a venture , says that story ; He had no determinate mark , no expresse aime , upon any one man ; He drew his bow at a venture , and he hit , and he flew the King Ahab . A woman of tentation , Tendit areum in incertum , as that story speaks ; shee paints , she curls , she sings , she gazes , and is gazed upon ; There 's an arrow shot at randon ; shee aim'd at no particular mark ; And thou puttest thy self within shot , and meetest the arrow ; Thou soughtest the tentation , the tentation sought not thee . A man is able to oppresse others ; Et gl●riatur in mal● quia potens , He boasts himselfe because he is able to doe mischief ; and tendit arcum in incertum , he shoots his arrow at randon , he lets it be known , that he can prefer them , that second his purposes , and thou putt'st thy self within shot , and meet'st the arrow , and mak'st thy self his instrument ; Thou sought'st the tentation , the tentation sought not thee ; when we expose our selves to tentations , tentations hit us , that were not expresly directed , nor meant to us . And even then , when we begin to flie from tentations , the arrow overtakes us . Iehoram fled from Iehu , and Iehu shot after him , and shot him through the heart . But this was after Iehoram had talk'd with him . After wee have par●ed with a tentation , debated whether we should embrace it or no , and entertain'd some discourse with it , though some tendernesse , some remorse , make us turn our back upon it , and depart a little from it , yet the arrow overtakes us ; some reclinations , some retrospects we have , a little of Lots wife is in us , a little sociablenesse , and conversation , a little point of honour , not to be false to former promises , a little false gratitude , and thankfulnesse , in respect of former obligations , a little of the compassion and charity of Hell , that another should not be miserable , for want of us , a little of this , which is but the good nature of the Devill , arrests us , stops us , fixes us , till the arrow , the tentation shoot us in the back , even when wee had a purpose of departing from that sin , and kils us over again . Thus it is , when we meet a tentation , and put our selves in the arrows way ; And thus it is when we fly not fast enough , nor farre enough from a tentation . But when we doe all that , and provide as safely as we can to get , and doe get quickly out of distance , yet , The wicked bend their bowes , that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart ; In occulto ; It is a work of Darknesse , Detraction ; and they can shoot in the dark ; they can wound , and not be known . They can whisper Thunder , and passe an arrow through another mans eare , into mine heart ; Let a man be zealous , and fervent in reprehension of sin , and there flies out an arrow , that gives him the wound of a Puritan . Let a man be zealous of the house of God , and say any thing by way of moderation , for the repairing of the ruines of that house , and making up the differences of the Church of God , and there flies out an arrow , that gives him the wound of a Papist . One shoots East , and another West , but both these arrows meet in him , that means well , to defame him . And this is the first misery in these arrows , these tentations , Quia alienae , they are shot from others , they are not in our own quiver , not in our own government . Another quality that tentations receive from the holy Ghosts Metaphore of arrows is , Quia veloces , because this captivity to sin , comes so swiftly , so impetuously upon us . Consider it first in our making ; In the generation of our parents , we were conceiv'd in sin ; that is , they sinn'd in that action ; so we were conceiv'd in sinne ; in their sin . And in our selves , we were submitted to sin , in that very act of generation , because then we became in part the subject of Originall sin . Yet , there was no arrow shot into us then ; there was no sinne in that substance of which we were made ; for if there had been sin in that substance , that substance might be damn'd , though God should never infuse a soul into it ; and that cannot be said well then ; God , whose goodnesse , and wisdome will have that substance to become a Man , he creates a soul for it , or creates a soul in it , ( I dispute not that ) he sends a light , or hee kindles a light , in that lanthorn ; and here 's no arrow shot neither ; here 's no sin in that soul , that God creates ; for there God should create something that were evill ; and that cannot be said ; Here 's no arrow shot from the body , no sin in the body alone ; None from the soul , no sin in the soul alone ; And yet , the union of this soul and body is so accompanied with Gods malediction for our first transgression , that in the instant of that union of life , as certainly as that body must die , so certainly the whole Man must be guilty of Originall sin . No man can tell me out of what Quiver , yet here is an arrow comes so swiftly , as that in the very first minute of our life , in our quickning in our mothers womb , wee become guilty of Adams sin done 6000 years before , and subject to all those arrows , Hunger , Labour , Grief , Sicknesse , and Death , which have been shot after it . This is the fearfull swiftnesse of this arrow , that God himself cannot get before it . In the first minute that my soul is infus'd , the Image of God is imprinted in my soul ; so forward is God in my behalf , and so early does he visit me . But yet Originall sin is there , as soon as that Image of God is there . My soul is capable of God , as soon as it is capable of sin ; and though sin doe not get the start of God , God does not get the start of sin neither . Powers , that dwell so far asunder , as Heaven , and Hell , God and the Devill , meet in an instant in my soul , in the minute of my quickning , and the Image of God , and the Image of Adam , Originall sin , enter into me at once , in one , and the same act . So swift is this arrow , Originall sin , from which , all arrows of subsequent tentations , are shot , as that God , who comes to my first minute of life , cannot come before death . And then , a third , and last danger , which we noted in our tentations , as they are represented by the holy Ghost , in this Metaphore of arrows , is , that they are vix visibiles , hardly discernible . 'T is true , that tentations doe not light upon us , as bullets , that we cannot see them , till we feel them . An arrow comes not altogether so : but an arrow comes so , as that it is not discern'd , except we consider which way it comes , and watch it all the way . An arrow , that findes a man asleep , does not wake him first , and wound him after ; A tentation that findes a man negligent , possesses him , before be sees it . In gravtssimis criminibus , confinia virtutum ladunt ; This is it that undoes us , that vertues and vices are contiguous , and borderers upon one another ; and very often , we can hardly tell , to which action the name of vice , and to which the name of vertue appertains . Many times , that which comes within an inch of a noble action , fals under the infamy of an odious treason ; At many executions , half the company will call a man an Heretique , and half , a Martyr . How often , an excesse , makes a naturall affection , an unnaturall disorder ? Vtinam aut sororem non amasset , Hamon , aut non vindicasset Absolon ; Hamon lov'd his sister Tamar ; but a little too well ; Absolon hated his brothers incest , but a little too ill . Though love be good , and hate be good , respectively , yet , says S. Ambrose , I would neither that love , nor that hate had gone so far . The contract between Ionathan and David , was , If I say , The arrow on this side of thee , all is wel ; If I say , The arrow is beyond thee , thou art in an ill case . If the arrow , the tentation , be yet on this side of thee , if it have not lighted upon thee , thou art well ; God hath directed thy face to it , and thou may'st , if thou wilt , continue thy diligence , watch it , and avoid it . But if the arrow be beyond thee , and thou have cast it at thy back , in a forgetfulnesse , in a security of thy sin , thy case is dangerous . In all these respects , are these arrows , these infirmities , deriv'd from the sin of Adam , dangerous , as they are alienae , in the hand of others , as they are veloces , swift in seising us , and as they are vix visibiles , hardly discern'd to be such ; And these considerations fell within this first branch of this second part , Thine arrows , tentations , as they are arrows , stick fast in me . These dangers are in them , as they are sagittae , arrows ; and would be so , if they were but single arrows ; any one tentation would endanger us , any one tribulation would encumber us ; but they are plurall , arrows , and many arrows . A man is not safe , because one arrow hath mist him ; nor though he be free from one sin . In the execution of Achan , all Israel threw stones at him , and stoned him . If Achan had had some brother , or cousin amongst them , that would have flung over , or short , or weakly , what good had that done him , when he must stand the mark for all the rest ? All Israel must stone him . A little disposition towards some one vertue , may keep thee from some one tentation ; Thou mayst think it pity to corrupt a chast soul , and forbear soliciting her ; pity to oppresse a submitting wretch , and forbear to vex him ; and yet practise , and that with hunger and thirst , other sins , or those sins upon other persons . But all Israel stones thee ; arrows flie from every corner ; and thy measure is not , to thank God , that thou art not as the Publican , as some other man , but thy measure is , to be pure and holy , as thy father in heaven is pure , and holy , and to conform thy self in some measure , to thy pattern , Christ Jesus . Against him it is noted , that the Jews took up stones twice to stone him . Once , whē they did it , He went away and hid himself . Our way to scape these arrows , these tentations , is to goe out of the way , to abandon all occasions , and conversation , that may lead into tentation . In the other place , Christ stands to it , and disputes it out with them , and puts them from it by the scriptum est ; and that 's our safe shield , since we must necessarily live in the way of tentations , ( for coluber in via , there is a snake in every path , tentation in every calling ) still to receive all these arrowes , upon the shield of faith , still to oppose the scriptum est , the faithfull promises of God , that he will give us the issue with the tentation , when we cannot avoid the tentation it self . Otherwise , these arrows are so many , as would tire , and wear out , all the diligence , and all the constancy of the best morall man. Wee finde many mentions in the Scriptures of filling of quivers , and emptying of quivers , and arrows , and arrows , still in the plurall , many arrows . But in all the Bible , I think , we finde not this word , ( as it signifies tentation , or tribulation ) in the singular , one arrow , any where , but once , where David cals it , The arrow that flies by day ; And is seen , that is , known by every man ; for , for that , the Fathers , and Ancients runne upon that Exposition , that that one arrow common to all , that day-arrow visible to all , is the naturall death ; ( so the Chalde paraphrase calls it there expresly , Sagitta m●rtis , The arrow of death ) which every man knows to belong to every man ; ( for , as clearly as he sees the Sunne set , he sees his death before his eyes . ) Therefore it is such an arrow , as the Prophet does not say , Thou shalt not feel , but , Thou shalt not feare the arrow that flies by day . The arrow , the singular arrow that flies by day , is that arrow that fals upon every man , death . But every where in the Scriptures , but this one place , they are plurall , many , so many , as that we know not whence , nor what they are . Nor ever does any man receive one arrow alone , any one tentation , but that he receives another tentation , to hide that , though with another , and another sin . And the use of arrows in the war , was not so much to kill , as to rout , and disorder a battail ; and upon that routing , followed execution . Every tentation , every tribulation is not deadly . But their multiplicity disorders us , discomposes us , unse●●les us , and so hazards us . Not onely every periodicall variation of our years , youth and age , but every day hath a divers arrow , every houre of the day , a divers tentation . An old man wonders then , how an arrow from an eye could wound him , when he was young , and how love could make him doe those things which hee did then ; And an arrow from the tongue of inferiour people , that which we make shift to call honour , wounds him deeper now ; and ambition makes him doe as strange things now , as love did then ; A fair day shoots arrows of visits , and comedies , and conversation , and so wee goe abroad : and a foul day shoots arrows of gaming , or chambering , and wantonnesse , and so we stay at home . Nay , the same sin shoots arrows of presumption in God , before it be committed , and of distrust and diffidence in God after ; we doe not fear before , and we cannot hope after : And this is that misery from this plurality , and multiplacity of these arrows , these manifold tentations , which David intends here , and as often as he speaks in the same phrase of plurality , vituli multi , many buls , canes multi , many dogs , and bellantes multi , many warlike enemies , and aquae● multae , many deep waters compasse me . For as it is said of the spirit of wisdome , that it is unicus multiplex , manifoldly one , plurally singular : so the spirit of tentation in every soul is unicus multiplex , singularly plurall , rooted in some one beloved sin , but derived into infinite branches of tentation . And then , these arrows stick in us ; the raine fals , but that cold sweat hangs not upon us ; Hail beats us , but it leaves no pock-holes in our skin . These arrows doe not so fall about us , as that they misse us ; nor so hit us , as they rebound back without hurting us : But we complain with Ieremy , The sons of his quiver are entred into our reins . The Roman Translation reads that filias , The daughters of his quiver ; If it were but so , daughters , we might limit these arrows in the signification of tentations , by the many occasions of tentation ; arising from that sex . But the Originall hath it filios , the sons of his quiver , and therefore we consider these arrows in a stronger signification , tribulations , as well as tentations ; They stick in us ; Consider it but in one kinde , diseases , sicknesses . They stick to us so , as that we are not sure , that any old diseases mentioned in Physicians books are worn out , but that every year produces new , of which they have no mention , we are sure . We can scarce expresse the number , scarce sound the names of the diseases of mans body ; 6000 year hath scarce taught us what they are , how they affect us , how they shall be cur'd in us , nothing , on this side the Resurrection , can teach us . They stick to us so , as that they passe by inheritance , and last more generations in families , then the inheritance it self does ; and when no land , no Manor , when no title , no honour descends upon the heir , the stone , or the gout descends upon him . And as though our bodies had not naturally diseases , and infirmities enow , we contract more , inflict more , ( and that , out of necessity too ) in mortifications , and macerations , and Disciplines of this rebellious flesh . I must have this body with me to heaven , or else salvation it self is not perfect ; And yet I cannot have this body thither , except as S. Paul did his , I beat down this body , attenuate this body by mortification ; Wretched man that I am , who shall deliver me from this body of death ? I have not body enough for my body , and I have too much body for my soul ; not body enough , not bloud enough , not strength enough , to sustain my self in health , and yet body enough to destroy my soul , and frustrate the grace of God in that miserable , perplexed , riddling condition of man ; sin makes the body of man miserable , and the remedy of sin , mortification , makes it miserable too ; If we enjoy the good things of this world , Duriorem carcerem praeparamus , wee doe but carry an other wall about our prison , an other story of unwieldy flesh about our souls ; and if wee give our selves as much mortification as our body needs , we live a life of fridays , and see no Sabbath , we make up our years of Lents , and see no other Easters , and whereas God meant us Paradise , we make all the world a wildernesse . Sin hath cast a curse upon all the creatures of the world , they are all worse then they were at first , and yet we dare not receive so much blessing , as is left in the creature , we dare not eat or drink , and enjoy them . The daughters of Gods quiver , and the sons of his quiver , the arrows of tentation , and the arrows of tribulation , doe so stick in us , that as he lives miserably , that lives in sicknes , and he as miserably , that lives in physick : so plenty is a misery , and morti●ication is a misery too ; plenty , if we consider it in the effects , is a disease , a continuall sicknes , for it breeds diseases ; And mortification , if we should consider it without the effects , is a disease too , a continuall hunger , and fasting ; and if we consider it at best , and in the effects , mortification is but a continuall physick , which is misery enough . They stick , and they stick fast ; altè infixae ; every syllable aggravates our misery . Now for the most part , experimentally , we know not whether they stick fast or no , for we never goe about to pull them out : these arrows , these tentations , come , and welcome : we are so far from offering to pull them out , that we fix them faster and faster in us ; we assist our tentations : yea , we take preparatives and fomentations , we supple our selves by provocations , lest our flesh should be of proof against these arrows , that death may enter the surer , and the deeper into us by them . And he that does in some measure , soberly and religiously , goe about to draw out these arrows , yet never consummates , never perfects his own work ; He pulls back the arrow a little way , and he sees blood , and he feels spirit to goe out with it , and he lets it alone : He forbears his sinfull companions , a little while , and he feels a melancholy take hold of him , the spirit and life of his life decays , and he falls to those companions again . Perchance he rushes out the arrow with a sudden , and a resolved vehemence , and he leaves the head in his body : He forces a divorce from that sinne , he removes himself out of distance of that tentation ; and yet he surfets upon cold meat , upon the sinfull remembrance of former sins , which is a dangerous rumination , and an unwholesome chawing of the cud ; It is not an ill derivation of repentance , that poenitere is poenam tenere ; that 's true repentance , when we continue in those means , which may advance our repentance . When Ioash the King of Israel came to visit Elisha upon his sick bed , and to consult with him about his war , Elisha bids the King smite the ground , and he smites it thrice , and ceases : Then the man of God was angry , and said , Thou shouldst have smitten five or sixe times , and so thou shouldst have smitten thine enemies , till thou hadst consumed them . Now , how much hast thou to doe , that hast not pull'd at this arrow at all yet ? Thou must pull thrice and more , before thou get it out ; Thou must doe , and leave undone many things , before thou deliver thy selfe of that arrow , that sinne that transports thee . One of these arrows was shot into Saint Paul himselfe , and it stuck , and stuck fast ; whether an arrow of tentation , or an arrow of tribulation , the Fathers cannot tell ; And therefore , wee doe now , ( not inconveniently ) all our way , in this exercise , mingle these two considerations , of tentation , and tribulation . Howsoever Saint Paul pull'd thrice at this arrow , and could not get it out ; I besought the Lord thrice , says he , that it might depart from mee . But yet , Ioash his thrice striking of the ground , brought him some victory ; Saint Pauls thrice praying , brought him in that provision of Grace , which God cals sufficient for him . Once pulling at these arrows , a slight consideration of thy sins will doe no good . Do it thrice ; testifie some true desire by such a diligence ; Doe it now as thou sitt'st , doe it again at the Table , doe it again in thy bed ; Doe it thrice , doe it in thy purpose , do it in thine actions , doe it in thy constancy ; Doe it thrice , within the wals of thy flesh , in thy self , within the wals of thy house in thy family , and in a holy and exemplar conversation abroad , and God will accomplish thy work , which is his work in thee ; And though the arrow be not utterly pull'd out , yet it shall not fester , it shall not gangrene ; Thou shalt not be cut off from the body of Christ , in his Church here , nor in the Triumphant Church hereafter , how fast soever these arrows did stick upon thee before . God did not refuse Israel for her wounds , and bruises , and putrefying sores , though from the sole of the foot , to the crown of the head , but because those wounds were not closed , nor bound up , nor suppled with ointments , therefore he refused her . God shall not refuse any soul , because it hath been shot with these arrows ; Alas , God himself hath set us up for a mark , says Iob , and so says Ieremy , against these arrows . But that soul that can pour out flouds of tears , for the losse , or for the absence , or for the unkindnes , or imagination of an unkindness of a friend , mis-beloved , beloved a wrong way , and not afford one drop , one tear , to wash the wounds of these arrows , that soul that can squeaze the wound of Christ Jesus , and spit out his bloud in these blasphemous execrations , & shed no drop of this bloud upon the wounds of these arrows , that soul , and only that soul , that refuses a cure , does God refuse ; not because they fell upon it , and stook , and stook fast , and stook long , but because they never , never went about to pull them out ; never resisted a tentation , never lamented a transgression , never repented a recidivation . Now this is more put home to us in the next addition , Infixae mihi , they stick , and stick fast , in mee , that is , in all mee . That that sin must be sav'd or damn'd ; That 's not the soul alone , nor body alone , but all , the whole man. God is the God of Abraham , as he is the God of the living ; Therefore Abraham is alive ; And Abraham is not alive , if his body be not alive ; Alive actually in the person of Christ ; alive in an infallible assurance of a particular resurrection . Whatsoever belongs to thee , belongs to thy body and soul ; and these arrows stick fast in thee ; In both . Consider it in both ; in things belonging to the body and to the soul ; We need clothing ; Baptisme is Gods Wardrobe ; there Induimur Christo ; In Baptisme we put on Christ ; there we are invested , apparell'd in Christ ; And there comes an arrow , that cuts off half our garment , ( as Hammon did Davids servants ) A tentation that makes us think , it is enough to be baptized , to professe the name of Christ ; for Papist , or Protestant , it is but the train of the garment , matter of civility , and policy , and government , and may be cut off , and the garment remain still . So we need meat , sustenance , and then an arrow comes , a tentation meets us , Edite , & bibite , Eat and drink , tomorrow you shall die ; That there is no life , but this life , no blessednesse but in worldly abundances . If we need physick , and God offer us his physick , medicinall corrections , there flies an arrow , a tentation , Medice cura teipsum , that hee whom wee make our Physician , died himselfe , of an infamous disease , that Christ Jesus from whom we attend our salvation , could not save himself . In our clothing , in our diet , in our physick , things which carry our consideration upon the body , these arrowes stick fast in us , in that part of us . So in the more spirituall actions of our souls too . In our alms there are trumpets blowne , there 's an arrow of vaine-glory ; In our fastings , there are disfigurings , there 's an arrow of Hypocrisie ; In our purity , there is contempt of others ; there 's an arrow of pride ; In our coming to Church , there is custome and formality ; In hearing Sermons , there is affection to the parts of the Preacher . In our sinfull actions these arrows abound ; In our best actions they lie hid ; And as thy soul is in every part of thy body , so these arrows are in every part of thee , body , and soul ; they stick , and stick fast , in thee , in all thee . And yet there is another weight upon us , in the Text , there is still a Hand that follows the blow , and presse it , Thy hand presses me sore ; so the Vulgat read it , Confirmasti super me manum tuam , Thy hand is settled upon mee ; and the Chalde paraphrase carries it farther then to man , Sit super me vulnus manus tua ; Thy hand hath wounded mee , and that hand keeps the wound open . And in this sense the Apostle says , It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But as God leaves not his children without correction , so he leaves them not without comfort , and therefore it behoves us to consider his hand upon these arrows , more then one way . First , because his hand is upon the arrow , it shall certainly hit the mark ; Gods purpose cannot be disappointed . If men , and such men , left-handed men , and so many 700 left-handed men , and so many of one Tribe , 700 Benjamites , could sling stones at a hairs breadth , and not fail , God is a better Mark-man then the left-handed Benjamites ; his arrows alwayes hit as he intends them . Take them then for tribulation , his hand is upon them ; Though they come from the malice of men , his hand is upon them . S. Ambrose observes , that in afflictions , Gods hand , and the Devils are but one hand . Stretch out thy hand , says Satan to God , concerning Iob ; And , all that he hath is in thy hand , says God to Satan . Stretch out thy hand , and touch his bones , says Satan again to God ; And again , God to Satan , He is in thy hand , but touch not his life . A difference may be , that when Gods purpose is but to punish , as he did Pharaoh , in those severall verall premonitory plagues , there it is Digitus Dei ; It was but a finger , and Gods finger . When Balshazzar was absolutely to be destroyed , there were Digiti , and Manus hominis , mens fingers , and upon a mans hand . The arrows of men are ordinary , more venimous , and more piercing , then the arrows of God. But as it is in that story of Elisha , and Ioash , The Prophet bade the King shoot , but Elisha laid his hand upon the Kings hand ; So from what instrument of Satan soever , thy affliction come , Gods hand is upon their hand that shoot it , and though it may hit the mark according to their purpose , yet it hath the effect , and it works according to his . Yea , let this arrow be considered as a tentation , yet his hand is upon it ; at least God sees the shooting of it , and yet lets it flie . Either hee tries us by these arrows , what proof we are ; Or he punishes us by those arrows of new sins , for our former sins ; and so , when he hath lost one arrow , he shoots another . He shoots a sermon , and that arrow is lost ; He shoots a sicknesse , and that arrow is lost ; He shoots a sin ; not that he is authour of any sin , as sin ; but as sin is a punishment of sin , he concurs with it . And so he shoots arrow after arrow , permits sin after sin , that at last some sin , that draws affliction with it , might bring us to understanding ; for that word , in which the Prophet here expresses this sticking , and this fast sticking of these arrows , which is Nachath , is here , ( as the Grammarians in that language call it ) in Niphal , figere factae , they were made to stick ; Gods hand is upon them , the work is his , the arrows are his , and the sticking of them is his , whatsoever , and whosesoever they be . His hand shoots the arrow , as it is a tribulation , he limits it , whosoever inflict it . His hand shoots it , as it is a tentation ; He permits it , & he orders it , whosoever offer it . But it is especially from his hand , as it hath a medicinall nature in it ; for in every tentation , and every tribulation , there is a Catechisme , and Instruction ; nay , there is a Canticle , a love-song , an Epithalamion , a mariage song of God , to our souls , wrapped up , if wee would open it , and read it , and learn that new tune , that musique of God ; So when thou hear●st Nathans words to David , The child that is born unto thee , shall surely die , ( let that signifie , the children of thy labour , and industry , thy fortune , thy state shall perish ) so when thou hear'st Gods word to David , Choose famine , or war , or pestilence , for the people , ( let that signifie , those that depend upon thee , shal perish ) so when thou hear'st Esays words to Hezekiah , Put thy house in order , for thou shalt die ; ( let that signifie , thou thy self in person shalt perish ) so when thou hear'st all the judgements of God , as they lie in the body of the Scriptures , so the applications of those judgements , by Gods Ministers , in these services , upon emergent occasions , all these are arrows shot by the hand of God , and that child of God , that is accustomed to the voice , and to the ear of God , to speak with him in prayer , when God speaks to him , in any such voice here , as that to David , or Hezekiah , though this be a shooting of arrows , Non sugabit eum vir sagittarius , The arrow , ( as we read it ) The Archer , ( as the Romane Edition reades it ) cannot make that child of God afraid , afraid with a distrustfull fear , or make him loth to come hither again to hear more , how close soever Gods arrow , and Gods archer , that is , his word in his servants mouth , come to that Conscience now , nor make him mis-interpret that which he does hear , or call that passion in the Preacher , in which the Preacher is but sagittarius Dei , the deliverer of Gods arrows ; for Gods arrows , are sagitta Compunctionis , arrows that draw bloud from the eyes ; Tears of repentance from Mary Magdalen , and from Peter ; And when from thee ? There is a probatum est in S. Aug. Sagittaveras cor meum , Thou hast shot at my heart ; and how wrought that ? To the withdrawing of his tongue , à nundinis loquacitatis , from that market in which I sold my self , ( for S. Aug. at that time taught Rhetorique ) to turn the stream of his eloquence , and all his other good parts , upon the service of God in his Church . You may have read , or heard that answer of a Generall , who was threatned with that danger ; that his enemies arrows were so many , as that they would cover the Sun from him ; In umbra pugnabimus ; All the better , says he , for then we shall fight in the shadow . Consider all the arrows of tribulation , even of tentation , to be directed by the hand of God , and never doubt to fight it out with God , to lay violent hands upon heaven , to wrastle with God for a blessing , to charge and presse God upon his contracts and promises , for in umbra pugnabis , though the clouds of these arrows may hide all suns of worldly comforts from thee , yet thou art still under the shadow of his wings . Nay , thou art still , for all this shadow , in the light of his countenance . To which purpose there is an excellent use of this Metaphor of arrows , H●bak . 3. 11. where it is said , that Gods servants shall have the light of his arrows , and the ●●ining of his glittering spear : that is , the light of his presence , in all the instruments , and actions of his corrections . To end all , and to dismisse you with such a re-collection , as you may carry away with you ; literally , primarily , this text concerns David : He by tentations to sin , by tribulations for sin , by comminations , and increpations upon sin , was bodily , and ghostly become a quiver of arrows of all sorts ; they stook , and stook fast , and stook full in him , in all him . The Psalm hath a retrospect too , it looks back to Adam , and to every particular man in his loines , and so , Davids case is our case , and all these arrowes stick in all us . But the Psalm and the text hath also a prospect , and hath a propheticall relation from David to our Saviour Christ Jesus . And of him , and of the multiplicity of these arrows upon him in the exinanition , and evacuation of himself , in this world for us , have many of the Ancients interpreted these words literally , and as in their first and primary signification ; Turne we therefore to him , before we goe , and he shall return home with us . How our first part of this text is applyable to him , that our prayers to God , for ease in afflictions , may be grounded upon reasons , out of the sense of those afflictions , Saint Basil tels us , that Christ therefore prays to his Father now in heaven , to spare mankinde , because man had suffered so much , and drunk so deep of the bitter cup of his anger , in his person and passion before : It is an avoidable plea , from Christ in heaven , for us , Spare them O Lord in themselves , since thou didst not spare them in me . And how far he was from sparing thee , we see in all those severall weights which have aggravated his hand , and these arrowes upon us : If they be heavy upon us , much more was their weight upon thee , every dram upon us was a Talent upon thee , Non del●r sicut dolor tuus , take Rachel weeping for her children , Mary weeping for her brother Lazarus , Hezekiah for his health , Peter for his sins , Non est delor sicut dolor ●uus . The arrows that were shot at thee , were Alienae , Afflictions that belonged to others ; and did not onely come from others , as ours doe ; but they were alienae so , as that they should have fallen upon others ; And all that should have fallen upon all others , were shot at thee , and lighted upon thee . Lord , though we be not capable of sustaining that part , this passion for others , give us that , which we may receive , Compassion with others . They were veloces , these arrows met swiftly upon thee ; from the sin of Adam that induced death , to the sin of the last man , that shall not sleep , but be changed , when thy hour came they came all upon thee , in that hour . Lord put this swiftnesse into our fins , that in this one minute , in which our eyes are open towards thee , and thine eares towards us , our sins , all our sins , even from the impertinent frowardnesse of our childhood , to the unsufferable frowardnesse of our age , may meet in our present confessions , and repentances , and never appear more . They were ( as ours are too ) Invisibiles ; Those arrows which fell upon thee , were so invisible , so undiscernible , as that to this day , thy Church , thy School cannot see , what kinde of arrow thou tookest into thy soul , what kinde of affliction it was , that made thy soul heavy unto death , or dissolved thee into a gelly of blood in thine agony . Be thou O Lord , a Father of Lights unto us , in all our ways and works of darkenes ; manifest unto us , whatsoever is necessary for us to know , & be a light of understanding and grace before , and a light of comfort and mercy after any ●in hath benighted us . These arrows were , as ours are also , plures , plurall , many , infinite ; they were the sins of some that shall never thank thee , never know that thou borest their sins , never know that they had any such sins to bee horn . Lord teach us to number thy corrections upon us , so , as still to see thy torments suffered for us , and our own sins , to be infinitely more that occasioned those torments , then those corrections that thou layst upon us . Thine arrows stook and stook fast in thee ; the weight of thy torments , thou wouldest not cast off , nor lessen , when at thy execution they offered thee , that stupesying drink , ( which was the civil charity of those times to condemned persons , to give them an easier passage , in the agonies of death ) thou wouldest not tast of that cup of ease . Deliver us , O Lord , in all our tribulations , from turning to the miserable comforters of this world , or from wishing or accepting any other deliverance , then may improve and make better our Resurrection . These arrows were in thee , in all thee : from thy Head torn with thorns , to thy feet pierced with nayls ; and in thy soul so as we know not how , so as to extorta Si possibile , If it be possible let this cup passe , and an Vt quid dereliquisti , My God , my God , why half thou forsaken me ? Lord , whilest we remain entire here , in body and soul , make us , and receive us an entire sacrifice to thee , in directing body and soul to thy glory , and when thou shalt be pleased to take us in pieces by death , receive our souls to thee , and lay up our bodies for thee , in consecrated ground , and in a Christian buryall . And lastly , thine arrows were followed , and pressed with the hand of God ; The hand of God pressed upon thee , in that eternall decree , in that irrevocable contract , between thy Father and thee , in that Oportuit pati , That all that thou must suffer , and so enter into our glory . Establish us , O Lord , in all occasions of diffidences here ; and when thy hand presses our arrows upon us , enable us to see , that that very hand , hath from all eternity written , and written in thine own blood , a decree of the issue , as well , and as soon , as of the tentation . In which confidence of which decree , as men , in the virtue thereof already in possession of heaven , we joyn with that Quire in that service , in that Anthem , Blessing , and glory , and wisdome , and thanksgiving , and honour , and power , and might , be unto our God for ever , and ever , Amen . SERMON XX. Preached at Lincolns Inne . PSAL. 38. 3. There is no soundnesse in my flesh , because of thine anger , neither is there any rest in my bones , because of my sinne . IN that which is often reported to you , out of Saint Hierome , Titulus clavis , that the title of the Psalme , is the key of the Psalm , there is this good use , That the book of Psalms is a mysterious book ; and , if we had not a lock , every man would thrust in , and if we had not a key , we could not get in our selves . Our lock is the analogy of the Christian faith ; That wee admit no other sense , of any place in any Psalm , then may consist with the articles of the Christian faith ; for so , no Heretique , no Schismatique , shall get in by any countenance of any place in the Psalms ; and then our key is , that intimation which we receive in the title of the Psalm , what duty that Psalm is principally directed upon ; and so we get into the understanding of the Psalm , and profiting by the Psalm . Our key in this Psalm , given us in the title thereof , is , that it is Psalmus ad Recordationem , a Psalm of Remembrance ; The faculty that is awakened here , is our Memory . That plurall word nos , which was used by God , in the making of Man , when God said Faciamus , Let us , us make man , according to our image , as it intimates a plurality , a concurrence of all the Trinity in our making , so doth it also a plurality in that image of God , which was then imprinted in us ; As God , one God created us , so wee have a soul , one soul , that represents , and is some image of that one God ; As the three Persons of the Trinity created us , so we have , in our one soul , a threefold impression of that image , and , as Saint Bernard calls it , A trinity from the Trinity , in those three faculties of the soul , the Vnderstanding , the Will , and the Memory . God calls often upon the first faculty , O that this people would but understand ; But understand ? Inscrutabili● judicia tua ; Thy judgements are unsearchable , and thy ways past finding out ; And , oh that this people would not goe about to understand those unreve●led decrees , and secrets of God. God calls often upon the other faculty , the Will too , and complaines of the stiffe perversnesse , and opposition of that . Through all the Prophets runs that charge , Noluerunt , and Noluerunt , they would not , they refused me , Noluerun● audire , says God in Esay ; They are rebellious children , that will not hear . Domus Israel noluit , says God to Ezekiel , The house of Israel will not hear thee ; not Thee , not the minister ; That 's no marvail ; it is added by God there , Noluit me , they will not hear me . Noluerunt erubescere , says God to Ieremy , They will not be ashamed of their former ways , And therefore Noluerunt reverti , They will not return to better ways : Hee that is past shame of sin , is past recovery from sin . So Christ continues that practise , and that complaint in the Gospel too ; He sends forth his servants , ( us ) to call them , that were bidden , Et noluerunt venire , and they would not come upon their call ; Hee comes himself , and would gather them , as hen her chickens , and they would not ; Their fault is not laid in this , that they had no such faculty , as a will , ( for then their not coming were not their fault ) but that they perverted that will. Of our perversenesse in both faculties , understanding , and will , God may complain , but as much of our memory ; for , for the rectifying of the will , the understanding must be rectified ; and that implies great difficulty : But the memory is so familiar , and so present , and so ready a faculty , as will always answer , if we will but speak to it , and aske it , what God hath done for us , or for others . The art of salvation , is but the art of memory . When God gave his people the Law , he proposes nothing to them , but by that way , to their memory ; I am the Lord your God , which brought you out of the land of Egypt ; Remember but that . And when we expresse Gods mercy to us , we attribute but that faculty to God , that he remembers us ; Lord , what is man , that thou art mindfull of him ? And when God works so upon us , as that He makes his wonderfull works to be had in remembrance , it is as great a mercy , as the very doing of those wonderfull works was before . It was a seal upon a seal , a seal of confirmation , it was a sacrament upon a sacrament , when in instituting the sacrament of his body and his bloud , Christ presented it so , Doe this in remembrance of me . Memorare novissima , remember the last things , and fear will keep thee from sinning ; Memorare praeterita , remember the first things , what God hath done for thee , and love , ( love , which , mis-placed , hath transported thee upon many sins ) love will keep thee from sinning . Plato plac'd all learning in the memory ; wee may place all Religion in the memory too : All knowledge , that seems new to day , sayes Plato , is but a remembring of that , which your soul knew before . All instruction , which we can give you to day , is but the remembring you of the mercies of God , which have been new every morning . Nay , he that hears no Sermons , he that reads no Scriptures , hath the Bible without book ; He hath a Genesis in his memory ; he cannot forget his Creation ; he hath an Exodus in his memory ; he cannot forget that God hath delivered him , from some kind of Egypt , from some oppression ; He hath a Leviticus in his memory ; hee cannot forget , that God hath proposed to him some Law , some rules to be observed . He hath all in his memory , even to the Revelation ; God hath revealed to him , even at midnight alone , what shall be his portion , in the next world ; And if he dare but remember that nights communication between God and him , he is well-near learned enough . There may be enough in remembring our selves ; but sometimes , that 's the hardest of all ; many times we are farthest off from our selves ; most forgetfull of our selves . It was a narrow enlargement , it was an addition that diminish'd the sense , when our former Translators added that word , themselves ; All the world shall remember themselves ; there is no such particularity , as themselves , in that text ; But it is onely , as our later Translators have left it , All the world shall remember , and no more ; Let them remember what they will , what they can , let them but remember thoroughly , and then as it follows there , They shall turn unto the Lord , and all the kindreds of the Nations shall worship him . Therefore David makes that the key into this Psalme ; Psalmus ad Recordationem , A Psalm for Remembrance . Being lock'd up in a close prison , of multiplied calamities , this turns the key , this opens the door , this restores him to liberty , if he can remember . Non est sanitas , there is no soundnesse , no health in my flesh ; Doest thou wondet at that ? Remember thy selfe , and thou wilt see , that thy case is worse then so ; That there is no rest in thy bones . That 's true too ; But doest thou wonder at that ? Remember thy self , and thou wilt see the cause of all that , The Lord is angry with thee ; Find'st thou that true , and wondrest why the Lord should be angry with thee ? Remember thy self well , and thou wilt see , it is because of thy sins , There is no soundnesse in my flesh , because of thine anger , neither is there any rest in my bones , because of my sinne . So have I let you in , into the whole Psalm , by this key , by awaking your memory , that it is a Psalm for Remembrance : And that that you are to remember , is , that all calamities , that fall upon you , fall not from the malice or power of man , but from the anger of God ; And then , that Gods anger fals not upon you , from his Hate , or his Decree , but from your sins , There is no soundnesse in my flesh , because of thine anger , neither is there any rest in my bones , because of my sinne . Which words we shall first consider , as they are our present object , as they are historically , and literally to be understood of David ; And secondly , in their retrospect , as they look back upon the first Adam , and so concern Mankind collectively , and so you , and I , and all have our portion in these calamities ; And thirdly , we shall consider them in their prospect , in their future relation to the second Adam , in Christ Iesus , in whom also all mankinde was collected , and the calamities of all men had their Ocean and their confluence , and the cause of them , the anger of God was more declared , and the cause of that anger , that is sin , did more abound ; for the sins of all the world were his , by imputation , for this Psalm , some of our Expositors take to be a historicall , and personall Psalm , determin'd in David ; some , a Catholique , and universall Psalm , extended to the whole condition of man , and some a Propheticall , and Evangelicall Psalm , directed upon Christ. None of them inconveniently ; for we receive help and health , from every one of these acceptations ; first , Adam was the Patient , and so , his promise , the promise that he received of a Messiah , is our physick ; And then David was the Patient , and there , his Example is our physick ; And lastly , Christ Iesus was the Patient , and so , his blood is our physick . In Adam we shall finde the Scriptum est , the medicine is in our books , an assurance of a Messiah there is ; In David we shall find the Probatum est , that this medicine wrought upon David ; and in Christ we finde the deceit it self ; Thus you may take this physick , thus you may apply it to your selves . In every acceptation , as we consider it in David , in our selves , in Christ , we shall consider first , That specification of humane misery and calamity , expressed here , sicknesse , and an universall sicknesse ; No soundnesse in the flesh : And more then that , trouble , and an universall trouble ; No peace , no rest , not in the bones . And then in a second branch , we shall see , that those calamities proceed from the anger of God ; we cannot discharge them , upon Nature , or Fortune , or Power , or Malice of Men or Times ; They are from the anger of God , and they are , as the Originall Text hath it , à facie irae Dei , from the face of the anger of God , from that anger of God that hath a face , that looks upon something in us , and growes not out of a hate in God , or decree of God against us . And then lastly , this that Gods anger lookes upon is sin ; God is not angry till he see sin ; nor with me , till it come to be my sinne ; and though Originall sinne be my sinne , and sicknesse , and death would follow , though there were no more but Originall sinne , yet God comes not to this , Non sanitas , N● soundnesse in my flesh , nor to this , N●n pax , No rest in my bones , till I have made sinne , my sinne , by act , and habit too , by doing it , and using to doe it . But then , though it bee but Peccatum in the singular , ( so the Text hath it ) One sinne , yet for that one beloved sinne , especially when that my sinne comes to have a face , ( for so , the Originall phrase is in this place too , à facie peccati , from the face of my sinne ) when my sin looks bigge , and justifies it self , then come these calamities , No soundnesse in the flesh , ●o rest in the bones , to their heighth , because the anger of God which exals them , is in the exaltation : There is no soundnesse in my flesh , because of thine anger , neither any rest in my bones , because of my sin . All these particulars will best arise to us in our second consideration , when wee consider , Hamanitatem , not Hominem , our humane condition , as we are all kneaded up in Adam , and not this one person David . But because we are in the consideration of health , and consequently of physick , ( for the true and proper use of physick , is to preserve health , and , but by accident to restore it ) we embra●e that Rule , Medio●rum theoria experientia est , Practise is a Physicians study ; and he concludes out of events : for , says he , He that professes himself a Physician , without experience , Chronica de future scribit , He undertakes to write a Chronicle of things before they are done , which is an irregular , and a perverse way . Therefore , in this spirituall physick of the soul , we will deal upon Experience too , and see first , how this wrought upon this particular person , upon David . David durst not presume , that God could not , or would not bee angry . Anger is not always a Defect , nor an inordinatenesse in man ; Be angry , and sin not : anger is not utterly to be rooted out of our ground , and cast away , but transplanted ; A Gardiner does wel to grub up thornes in his garden ; there they would hinder good herbes from growing ; but he does well to plant those thorns in his hedges , there they keep bad neighbours from entring . In many cases , where there is no anger , there is not much zeal . David himself came to a high exaltation in this passion of anger . He was ordinarily so meek , as that that which we translate afflictions , the Vulgat Edition translates mecknesse , and patience in his afflictions . Remember David and all his afflictions , says our translation ; and Memento David & omnis mansuetudinis ejus , say they , Remember David , and all his mildness . How mildly he endured Ioabs insultation ; Thou lovest , says Ioab , thine enemies , and thou hatest thy friends . Bitterly spoken ; Come out , and speak comfortably , says Ioab , or , I swear by the Lord , there will not tarry a man with thee this night ; Seditiously spoken ; And David obeyed him . How mildly he endured Shimei's cursing ? He cast stones at him and at all his servants ; He charges him with murder ; and , that which is heaviest of all , he cals Absolons rebellion , a judgement of God ; and David accepts it so , and says , The Lord hath bidden him to curse David . And yet this exemplar mild man , David himself , upon a scorn offered to him by Hanun in the abuse of his Ambassadours , goes himself in person , into a dangerous war , against the Ammonites , assisted with 32000 chariots of their neighbours the Aramites , and there he destroys those great numbers , which are mentioned in that story : and after this defeat , in cold blood , he goes out against them , that had assisted them ; He takes the City Rabbah , and the people he cuts with Saws , and with Harrows of iron , and with Axes ; David saw that a mild man can grow angry , and that a fire that is long kindling , burns most vehemently . That which is an Adage , and Proverb now , was ever true in substance , Ab inimico flegmatico libera me Domine ; from him that is long before hee be angry , for he is long before hee be reconciled again . Gods goodnesse hath that disposition , to bee long suffering ; mans ilnesse and abuse of that , is able to inflame God. So Davids sin had inflamed him ; and the fire of Gods anger produced the calamities of this text upon him : which our Expositors ordinarily take to have been historically this , that when David had provoked God , with that sinfull confidence in numbring his people , when Gods anger was executed in that devouring plague , and David saw the persecuting Angel , then à facie irae Domini , from that face , that manifestation of Gods anger , he fell into that dampe , and dead cold , that howsoever they covered him , they could never get heat in him : And this was the sin , say our Expositors , and this was the anger , and this was the manifestation , and this was the disease that David complains of here . And be this enough of the personall acceptation of these words ; There is no soundness in my flesh , because of thine anger , neither is there rest in my bones , because of my sinne ; for in their second acceptation as they are referred to the miserable condition of all mankinde by sinne , the particulars which we laid down before , will fall into more particular consideration . In this second part , first we contemplate man , as the Receptacle , the Ocean of all misery . Fire and Aire , Water and Earth , are not the Elements of man ; Inward decay , and outward violence , bodily pain , and sorrow of heart may be rather styled his Elements ; And though he be destroyed by these , yet he consists of nothing but these . As the good qualities of all creatures are not for their own use , ( for the Sun sees not his own glory , nor the Rose smells not her own breath : but all their good is for man ) so the ill conditions of the creature , are not directed upon themselves , ( the Toad poisons not it selfe , nor does the Viper bite it self ) but all their ill powrs down upon man. As though man could be a Microcosm , a world in himself , no other way , except all the misery of the world fell upon him . Adam was able to decypher the nature of every Creature in the name thereof , and the Holy Ghost hath decyphered his in his name too ; In all those names that the Holy Ghost hath given man , he hath declared him miserable , for , Adam , ( by which name God calls him , and Eve too ) signifies but Redness , but a Blushing : and whether we consider their low materials , as it was but earth , or the redness of that earth , as they stained it with their own blood , and the blood of all their posterity , and as they drew another more precious blood , the blood of the Messias upon it , every way both may be Adam , both may blush . So God called that pair , our first Parents , man in that root , Adam : But the first name , by which God called man in generall , mankinde , is Ish , Therefore shall a man leave his Father , &c. And Ish , is but à sonitu , à rugitu : Man hath his name from crying , and the occasion of crying , misery , testified in his entrance into the world , for he is born crying ; and our very Laws presume , that if he be alive , he will cry , and if he be not heard cry , conclude him to be born dead . And where man is called Gheber , ( as he is often ) which is derived from Greatness , man is but great so , as that word signifies ; It signifies a Giant , an oppressour , Great in power , and in a delight to doe great mischiefs upon others , or Great , as he is a Great mark , and easily hit by others . But man hath a fourth name too in Scripture , Enosh , and that signifies nothing but misery . When David says , Put them in fear O Lord , that the Nations may know they are but men ; there 's that name Enosh , that they are but miserable things . Adam is Blushing , Ish is lamenting , Geber is oppressing , Enosh is all that ; but especially that● which is especially notified for the misery in our Text , Enosh is Homo aeger , a man miserable , in particular , by the misery of sicknesse , which is our next step , Non sanitas , There is no soundnesse , no health in me . God created man in health , but health continued but a few hours , and sicknesse hath had the Dominion 6000 years . But was man impassible before the fall ? Had there been no sicknesse , if there had been no sinne ? Secundum passiones perfectivas , we acknowledge in the School , man was passible before : Every alteration is in a degree a passion , a suffering ; and so , in those things which conduced to his well-being , eating , and sleeping , and other such , man was passible : that is , subject to alteration , But , Secundum passiones destructiv●● , to such sufferings , as might frustrate the end for which he was made , which was Immortality , he was not subject , and so , not to sicknesse . Now he is ; and put all the miseries , that man is subject to , together , sicknesse is more then all . It is the immediate sword of God. Phalaris could invent a Bull , and others have invented Wheels and Racks ; but no persecutor could ever invent a sicknesse or a way to inflict a sicknesse upon a condemned man : To a galley he can send him , and to the gallows , and command execution that hour ; but to a quartane fever , or to a g●ut , hee cannot condemn him . In poverty I lack but other things ; In banishment I lack but other men ; But in sicknesse , I lack my self . And , as the greatest misery of war , is , when our own Country is made the seat of the war ; so is it of affliction , when mine own Body is made the subject thereof . How shall I put a just value upon Gods great blessings of Wine , and Oyle , and Milke , and Honey , when my cast is gone , or of Liberty , when the gout fetters my feet ? The King may release me , and say , Let him goe whither he will , but God says , He shall not goe till I will. God hath wrapped up all misery , in that condemnation , Morte morietur , That the sinner shall die twice : But if the second death did not follow , the first death were an ease , and a blessing in many sicknesses . And no sicknesse can be worse , then that which is intended here , for it is all over , Non sanitas , no soundnesse , no health in any part . This consideration arises not onely from the Physicians Rule , that the best state of Mans body is but a Neutrality , neither well nor ill , but Nulla sanitas , a state of true and exquisit health , say they , no man hath . But not onely out of this strictnesse of Art , but out of an acknowledgment of Nature , we must say , sanitas hujus vitae , b●ne intelligentibus , sanitas non est ; It is but our mistaking , when we call any thing Health . But why so ? fames naturalis morbus est ; Hunger is a sicknesse ; And that 's naturally in us all . Medicamentum famis cibus , & potus sitis , & fatigationis somnus ; when I eate , I doe but take Physique for Hunger , and for thirst , when I drink , and so is sleep my physique for wearinesse . Detrahe medicamentum , & interficient ; for beare but these Physiques , and these diseases , Hunger , and thirst , and wearinesse , will kill thee . And as this sickness is upon us all , and so non sanitas , there is no Health , in none of us , so it is upon us all , at all times , and so Non sanitas , there is never any soundness in us : for , saemper deficimus ; we are Borne in a Consumption , and as little as we are then , we grow less from that time . Vita cursus ad mortem , Before we can craule , we runne to meet death ; & urgemur ownes pari passu : Though some are cast forward to death , by the use , which others have of their ruine , and so throw them , through Discontents , into desperate enterprises , and some are drawn forward to death , by false Markes , which they have set up to their own Ambitions , and some are spurred forward to death , by sharp Diseases contracted by their own intemperance and licentiousness ; and some are whip'd forward to death , by the Miseries , and pen●ries of this life , take away all these accidentall furtherances to death , this drawing , and driving , and spurring , and whipping , pari paessu urgemur omnes , we bring all with us into the world , that which carries us out of the world , a naturall , unnaturall consuming of that radicall vertue , which sustaines our life . Non sanitas , there is no health in any , so universall is sickness , nor at any time in any , so universall ; and so universall too , as that not in any part of any man , at any time . As the King was but sick in his feet , and yet it killed him : It was but in his fact , yet it flew up into his head , it affected his head ; as our former translation observed it in their margin ; that the disease did not onely grow to a great height in the disease , but to the highest parts of the body : It was at first but in the feet , but it was presently all over . Iosiah the King was shot with an arrow at the battail of Megiddo ; One book that reports the story says he was carried out of the field alive & dyed at Ierusalem and another , that he was carried out of the field dead . Deadly wounds & deadly sicknesses spread themselvs all over , so fast , as that the holy Ghost , in relating it , makes it all one , to tell the beginning , and the end thereof . If a man doe but prick a finger , and binde it above that part , so that the Spirits , or that which they call the Balsamum of the body , cannot descend , by reason of that ligature , to that part , it will ga●grene ; And , ( which is an argument , and an evidence , that mischiefes are more operative , more insinuating , more penetrative , more diligent , then Remedies against misch●efes are ) when the Spirits , and Balsamum of the body cannot passe by that ligature to that wound , yet the Gangrene will passe from that wound , by that ligature , to the body , to the Heart , and destroy . In every part of the body death can finde a door , or make a breach ; Mortall diseases breed in every part . But when every part at once is diseased , death does not bsie ge him , but inhabit him . In the day , when the keepers of the house shall tremble , and the strong men shall how themselves , and the grinders cease , because they are few , and those that look out at the windows , he darkned , when age of Gods making , age grown by many years , or age of the Devills making , age grown by many sinnes , hath spred an universall debility upon me , that all sicknesses are in me , & have all lost their names , as all simples have in Triacle , I am sick of sicknesse , and not of a Fever , or any particular distemper , then is the misery of this Text fallen upon me , Non sanitas , no health , none at any time , none in any part , non in Carne , not in my flesh , not in my whole substance , which is also another circumstance of exaltation in humane misery . Take flesh in the largest extent and signification , that may be , as Moses calls God , The God of the spirits of all flesh , that is , of the Beeing of all Creatures , and take all these Creatures to be ours in that Donation , Subjicite & dominamini , subdue , and rule all Creatures , yet there is no soundnesse in our flesh , for , all these Creatures are corrupted , and become worse then they were , ( to us ) by the sinne of Adam . Bring flesh to a nearer signification , to our own , there was Caro juxta naturam , and there is Caro juxta culpam . That flesh which was naturall , to man , that which God gave man at first , that had health and soundnesse in it ; but yet not such a degree of soundnesse , as that it needed no more , then it then had . That had been naturally enough , ( if that had been preserved to carry that flesh it selfe to heaven , but even that flesh if it had not sinned , though it had an Immortality in it self , yet must have received a glorification in heaven ; as well , ( though in another measure ) as those bodies , which shall be alive at the last day , and shall be but changed , and not dissolved in the dust , must receive a glorification there , besides that preservation from dissolution . Now this Caro juxta culpam , sinfull flesh , is farther from that Glorification ; Our naturall flesh , when it was at best , had some thing to put on ; but our sinfull flesh hath also something to put off , before it can receive glory . So then , for flesh in generall , the body of Creatures , though that flesh be our flesh , because all Creatures are ours , in that flesh there is no soundnesse , because they are become worse ; for that flesh , which we call naturall Adams first flesh , besides that it was never capable of glory in it selfe , but must have received that , by receiving the light of Gods presence , there is none of that flesh remaining now ; now universa caro , all flesh is corrupted ; and that curse is gone upon it , The glory of Iacob shall be empoverished , and the fatnesse of his flesh shall be made leane . Quia elatum sumpsimus spiritum , because we have raised our spirits in pride , higher then God would , Ecce defluens quotidie portamus lutum , Behold God hath walled us with mud walls , and wet mud walls , that waste away faster , then God meant at first , they should . And by sinnes , this flesh , that is but the loame and plaster of thy Tabernacle , thy body , that , all , that , that in the intire substance is corrupted . Those Gummes , and spices , which should embalme thy flesh , when thou art dead , are spent upon that diseased body whilest thou art alive : Thou seemest , in the eye of the world , to walk in silks , and thou doest but walke in searcloth ; Thou hast a desire to please some eyes , when thou hast much to doe , not to displease every Nose ; and thou wilt solicite an adulterous entrance into their beds , who , if they should but see thee goe into thine own bed , would need no other mortification , nor answer to thy solicitation . Thou pursuest the works of the flesh , and hast none , for thy flesh is but dust held together by plaisters ; Dissolution and putrefaction is gone over thee alive ; Thou hast over liv'd thine own death , and art become thine own ghost , and thine own hell ; No soundnesse in all thy flesh ; and yet beyond all these , beyond the generall miserable condition of man , and the highest of humane miseries , sicknesse , and sicknesse over all the parts , and so over them all , as that it hath putrefied them all , there is another degree , which followes in our Text , and David calls Trouble , There is no soundnesse in my flesh , nor rest in my bones . That which such a sicke man most needs , this sick soule shall not have , Rest. The Physician goes out , and says , hee hath left him to Rest , but hee hath left no Rest to him . The anguish of the disease , nay , the officiousnesse of visitors , will not let him rest . Such send to see him as would faine heare hee were dead , and such weep about his sick-bed , as would not weep at his grave . Mine enemies speake evill of mee , ( says David ) and say , When shall hee die , and his name perish ? And yet these evill-speaking enemies come there to see him . They say , an evill disease cleaveth fast unto him ; and that they say is true , but they say it not out of compassion , for they adde , And now that hee lyeth , let him rise no more . Hee shall not get to that good trouble , to that holy disquiet of a conscientious consideration , how his state was got ; and , it shall bee a greater trouble then hee can overcome , how to dispose it : He shall not onely not make a religious restitution , but he shall not make a discreet Will. He shall suspect his wifes fidelity , and his childrens frugality , and clogge them with Executors , and them with Over-seers , and be , or be afraid hee shall bee over-seen in all . And yet a farther trouble then all this , is intended in the other word , which is the last and highest of these vexations , Non in ossibus , no rest in my bones . Saint Basil will needs hav● us leave the obvious , and the naturall signification of this , Bones ; for , Habet & anima ossa sua , says he , The soule hath Bones , as well as the body , and there shall be no Rest in those Bones . Such a signification is applyable to the Flesh , as well as the Bones ; The flesh may signifie the lower faculties of the soule , or the weaker works of the higher faculties thereof ; There may bee a Carnality in the understanding ; a concupiscence of disputation , and controversie in unnecessary points . Requirit quod sibi respondere nequit , The mind of a curious man delights to examine it selfe upon Interrogatories , which , upon the Racke , it cannot answer , and to vexe it selfe with such doubts as it cannot resolve . Sub eo ignara deficit , quod prudenter requirit ; Wee will needs shew wit in moving subtile questions , and the more ignorance , in not being able to give our selves satisfaction . But not onely seditions , and contentions , but Heresies too , are called workes of the flesh ; howsoever men thinke themselves wittie , and subtile , and spirituall in these wranglings , yet they have carnall respects , they are of the flesh , and there is no soundnes in them . But beyond this carnality in matters of Opinions , in points of a higher nature , this diseased man in our Text , comes to trouble in his Bones , S. Basils spirituall bones : Hee shall suspect his Religion , suspect his Repentance , suspect the Comforts of the Minister , suspect the efficacy of the Sacrament , suspect the mercy of God himselfe . Every fit of an Ague is an Earth-quake that swallows him , every fainting of the knee , is a step to Hell ; every lying down at night is a funerall ; & every quaking is a rising to judgment ; every bell that distinguishes times , is a passing-bell , and every passing-bell , his own ; every singing in the ear , is an Angels Trumpet ; at every dimnesse of the candle , he heares that voice , Fool , this night they will fetch away thy soul ; and in every judgement denounced against sin , he hears an lto maledicte upon himselfe , Goe thou accursed into hell fire . And whereas such meditations as these , might sustaine a rectified soule , as Bones in this sinner , despaire shall have suck'd out all the marrow of these Bones , and so there shall bee no soundnesse in his flesh , no rest in his bones . And so have you this sicke sinner dissected and anatomized ; Hee hath not onely his portion in misery that lies upon all mankinde , which was our first branch , but in the heavyest of all , sicknesse , which was a second , and then a third sicknesse spread over all , no soundnesse , nor rest in that sicknesse , which was a fourth consideration , No soundnesse in his flesh , in his weaker faculties and operations , No rest in his bones , no acquiescence in his best actions , with which we end this first part . In which , wee consider sinfull man , in himself , and so all is desperate ; But in the second , where we find him upon the consideration of the cause of all these distresses , That it is from the Contemplation of the anger of God , There is no soundnesse in my flesh , because of thine Anger , there wee shall finde a way offered to him , that may , if hee pursue it aright , bring him to a Reparation , to a Redintegration ; for , if hee look upon the Anger of God in a right line , it will shew him , that as that Anger is the cause of his Calamities , so his sinnes are the cause of that Anger . May wee not piously apply that Proverbiall speech , Corruptio optimi pessima , ( that when good things take in another nature then their own , they take it in the highest exaltation ) thus , that when God , who is all mercy , growes angry , he becomes all anger ? The Holy Ghost himselfe seemes to have given us leave to make that application , when expressing God in the height of his anger , hee calls God then , in that anger , a Dove ; wee read it the fiercenesse of an oppressour , but Saint Hierome reads it , The anger of a Dove . And truly there is no other word then that , in that tongue , ( the word is Ionah , ) that signifies a Dove , and that word does signifie a Dove , in many other places of Scripture ; And that Prophet which made his flight from God , when hee sent him to Nineveh , is called by that name , Ionah , a Dove ; And the Fathers of the Latine Church , have read , and interpreted it so , of a Dove . Some of them take Nebuchadnezzar to be this angry Dove , because hee left his owne Dove-coat to feed abroad , to prey upon them ; and some , because the Dove was the Armes and Ensigne of the Assyrians from the time of Semiramis ; But the rest take this Dove to bee God himselfe , and that the sinnes of men had put a Gall into a Dove , Anger into God. And then , to what height that anger growes , is expressed in the Prophet Hosea ; I will meet them , says God , ( when hee is pleased , he says , hee will wait for them ) as a Bear , ( no longer a Dove ) as a Bear robbed of her whelpes , ( sensible of his injuries ) and I will rent the caule of their hearts , ( shiver them in peeces with a dispersion , with a discerption ) And I will devour them as with a Lyon , ( nothing shall re-unite them again But I will break them as a Potters vessell , that cannot be made whole again . ) Honour not the malice of thine enemy so much , as to say , thy misery comes from him : Dishonour not the complexion of the times so much , as to say , thy misery comes from them ; justifie not the Deity of Fortune so much , as to say , thy misery comes from her ; Finde God pleased with thee , and thou hast a hook in the nostrils of every Leviathan , power cannot shake thee , Thou hast a wood to cast into the waters of Marah , the bitternesse of the times cannot hurt thee , thou hast a Rock to dwell upon , and the dream of a Fortunes wheel , can not overturn thee . But if the Lord be angry , he needs no Trumpets to call in Armies , if he doe but sibilare muscam , hisse and whisper for the flye , and the Bee , there is nothing so little in his hand , as cannot discomfort thee , discomfit thee , dissolve and powr-out , attenuate and annihilate the very marrow of thy soul. Every thing is His , and therefore every thing is Hee ; thy sicknesse is his sword , and therefore it is Hee that strikes thee with it , still turne upon that consideration , the Lord is angry ; But then look that anger in the ●face , take it in the right ●line , as the Originall phrase in this text directs , à facieirae Dei , There is no soundnesse in my flesh , from the face of thine anger . As there is a Manifestation of Gods anger in this phrase , The face of Gods anger , so there is a Multiplication , a plurality too , for it is indeed , Mippenei à faciebus , the faces , the divers manifestations of Gods anger ; for , the face of God , ( and so of every thing proceeding from God ) is that , by which God , or that work of God is manifested to us . And therefore since God manifests his anger so many usefull , and medicinall ways unto thee , take heed of looking upon his anger , where his anger hath no face , no manifestation ; take heed of imagining an anger in God , amounting to thy Damnation , in any such Decree , as that God should be angry with thee in that height , without looking upon thy sinnes , or without any declaration why hee is angry . Hee opens his face to thee in his Law , he manifests himself to thee in the Conditions , by which he hath made thy salvation possible , and till he see thee , in the transgression of them , he is not angry . And when he is angry so , be glad he shews it in his face , in his outward declarations ; that fire smothered , would consume all Gods anger reserved till the last day , will last as long as that day , as that undeterminable day , for ever . When should we goe about to quench that fire , that never bursts out , or to seek reconciliation , before a hostility be declared ? Therefore Saint Bernard begs this anger at Gods hands , Irascaris mihi Domine , O Lord , be angry with me ; And therefore David thanks God , in the behalf of that people , for his anger , Thou forgavest them , though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions . The fires of hell , in their place , in hell , have no light ; But any degrees of the fires of Hell , that can break out in this life , have , in Gods own purpose , so much light , as that through the darkest smother of obduration ; or desperation , God would have us see him . Therefore Saint Hierome makes this milder use of this phrase , that God shewes faciem irae , but non iram , that his face of anger is rather a telling us , that hee will bee angry , then that hee is angry yet ; the corrections that God inflicts to reduce us , if wee profit not by them , were anger Ab initio , wee shall suffer for the sinnes , from which those corrections should have reduced us , and for that particular sinne , of not being reduced by them ; but if they have their effect , there was not a drop of gall , there was not a dramme of anger in the anger . Now that that God intends in them is , that as wee apprehend our calamities to proceed from Gods anger , and to discharge Destiny , and Fortune , so wee apprehend that anger to proceed from our own sinnes , and so discharge God himselfe ; There is no rest in my bones because of my sin . As we are the sons of Dust , ( worse , the sonnes of Death ) we must say to Corruption , Thou art my Father , and to the worm , Thou art my Mother , so we may say to the anger of God , it is our grandfather , that begot these miseries , but wee must say too , to our sinne , Thou art my great-grandfather , that begot Gods anger upon us : and here is our wofull pedegree , howsoever wee be otherwise descended . 'T is true , there is no soundnesse , there is misery enough upon thee ; and true , that God is angry , vehemently angry ; But , Expone juststiam irae Dei , deal clearly with the world , and clear God , and confesse it is because of thy sinne . When Cain says , My sin is greater then can be forgiven , that word Gnavon is ambiguous , it may bee sinne , it may bee punishment , and wee know not whether his impatience grew out of the horrour of his sinne , or the weight of his punishment . But here wee are directed by a word that hath no ambiguity ; Kata signifies sin , and nothing but sinne ; Here the holy Ghost hath fixed thee upon a word , that will not suffer thee to consider the punishment , nor the cause of the punishment , the anger , but the cause of that anger , and all , the sin . Wee see that the bodily sicknesse , and the death of many is attributed to one kind of sinne , to the negligent receiving of the Sacrament , For this cause many are weak and sick amongst you , and many sleep . Imaginem judicii ostenderat , God had given a representation of the day of Judgement in that proceeding of his , for then we shall see many men condemned for sinnes , for which we never suspected them : so wee thinke men dye of Fevers , whom we met lately at the Sacrament , and God hath cut them off perhaps for that sin of their unworthy receiving the Sacrament . My miseries are the fruits of this Tree ; Gods anger is the arms that spreads it ; but the root is sin . My sin , which is another consideration . We say of a Possession , Transit cum onere , It passes to me , with the burthen that my Father laid upon it ; his debt is my debt : so does it , with the sin too ; his sin , by which he got that possession , is my sin , if I know it : and , perchance , the punishment mine , though I know not the sin . Adams sin , 6000 years agoe , is my sin ; and their sin , that shall sinne by occasion of any wanton writings of mine , will be my sin , though they come after . Wofull riddle ; sin is but a privation , and yet there is not such another positive possession : sin is nothing , and yet there is nothing else ; I sinned in the first man that ever was ; and , but for the mercy of God , in something that I have said or done , might sin , that is , occasion sin , in the last man that ever shall be . But that sin that is called my sinne in this text , is that that is become mine by an habituall practise , or mine by a wilfull relapse into it . And so my sin may kindle the anger of God , though it bee but a single sinne , One sinne , as it is delivered here in the singular , and no farther , Because of my sinne . Every man may find in himself , Peccatum complicatum , sinne wrapped up in sinne , a body of sin . We bring Elements of our own ; earth of Covetousnesse , water of unsteadfastnesse , ayre of putrefaction , and fire of licentiousnesse ; and of these elements we make a body of sinne ; as the Apostle says of the Naturall body , There are many members , but one body , so we may say of our sin , it hath a wanton eye , a griping hand , an itching ear , an insatiable heart , and feet swift to shed blood , and yet it is but one body of sin ; It is all , ●and yet it is but One. But let it be simply , and singularly but One , ( which is a miracle in sin , truly I think an impossibility in sin , to be single , to be but One ) ( for that unclean Spirit , which possessed the man that dwelt amongst the tombs , carryed it at first , as though he had been a single Devill , and he alone in that man , I , I adjure thee , says he to Christ , and torment not me , not me , so far in the singular , but when Christ puts him to it , he confesses , we are many , and my name is legion : So though thy sinne , slightly examined , may seem but One , yet if thou dare presse it , it will confesse a plurality , a legion ) if it be but One , yet if that One be made thine , by an habituall love to it , as the plague needs not the help of a Consumption to kill thee , so neither does Adultery need the help of Murder to damn thee . For this making of any One sin , thine , thine , by an habituall love thereof , will grow up to the last and heaviest waight , intimated in that phrase , which is also in this clause of the Text , In facie paccati ; that this sin will have a face , that is , a confidence , and a devesting of all 〈◊〉 or disguises . There cannot bee a heavier punishment laid upon any sinne , then Christ lays upon scandall : It were better for him a mil-stone were hanged about his neck , and hee drowned in the Sea. If something worse , then such a death , belong to him , surely it is eternall Death . And this , this eternall death , is interminated by Christ , in cases , where there is not always sinne , in the action which wee doe , but if we doe any action , so , as that it may scandalize another , or occasion sin in him , we are bound to study , and favour the weaknesse of other men , and not to doe such things , as they may think sins . We must prevent the mis-interpretation , yea the malice of other men ; for though the fire be theirs , the fewell , or at least , the ●ellows , is ours ; The uncharitablenesse , the malice is in them , but the awaking , and the stirring thereof , is in our carelesnesse , who were not watchfull upon our actions . But when an action comes to be sin indeed , and not onely occasionally sin , because it scandalizes another , but really sin in it selfe , then even the Poet tels you , Maxima debetur pueris reverentia , si quid T●rpe paras , Take heed of doing any sinne , in the sight of thy Child : for , if we break through that wall , we shall come quickly to that faci●m Sacerdotis non erubuerunt , they will not be afraid , nor ashamed in the presence of the Priest , they will look him in the face , nay receive at his hands , and yet sin their sinne , that minute , in their hearts ; and to that also , faciem seniorum non erubuerunt , they will not be afraid , nor ashamed of the Office of the Magistrate ; but sin for nothing , or sin at a price , bear out , or buy out all their sins . They sin as Sodom , and bide it not , is the highest charge that the Holy Ghost could lay upon the sinner . When they come to say , Our lips are ours , who is Lord ever us ? They will say so of their hands , and of all their bodies , They are ours , who shall forbid us , to doe what wee will with them ? And what lack these open sinners of the last judgement , and the condemnation therof ? That judgement is , that men shall stand naked in the sight of one another , and all their sinnes shall be made manifest to all , and this open sinner , does so , and chuses to doe so , even in this world . When David prays so devoutly , to be cleansed from his secret sins ; and Saint Paul glories so devoutly , in having renounced the hidden things of dishonesty , how great a burthen is there , in these open and avowed sins ; sins that have put on so brasen a face , as to out-face the Minister , and out-face the Magistrate , and call the very Power , and Justice of God in question , whether he do hate or can punish a sinne ? for , they doe what they can to remove that opinion out of mens hearts . Truly , as an Hypocrite at Church , may doe more good , then a devout man in his Chamber at home , be cause the Hypocrites outward piety , though counterfeit , imprints a good example upon them , who doe not know it to bee counterfeit , and wee cannot know , that he that is absent from Church now , is now at his prayers in his Chamber : so a lesser sinne done with an open avowment , and confidence , may more prejudice the Kingdome of God , then greater in secret . And this is that which may be principally intended , or , atleast , usefully raised our of this phrase of the Holy Ghost in David , A facie peccati , that the habituall sinner comes to sin , not onely with a negligence , who know it , but with a glorious desire , that all the world might know it ; and with a shame , that any such Iudge as feared not God nor regarded man , should be more feareless of God , or regardless of man , then he . But now , beloved , when we have laid man thus low , Miserable , because Man , and then Diseased , and that all over , without any soundnesse , even in his whole substance , in his flesh , and in the height of this disease , Restlesse too , and Restlesse even in his bones , diffident in his strongest assurances ; And when we have laid him lower then that , made him see the Cause of all this misery to be the Anger of God , the inevitable anger of an incensed God , and such an anger of God as hath a face , a manifestation , a reality , and not that God was angry with him in a Decree , before he shewed man his face in the Law , and saw Mans face in the transgression of the law ; And laid him lower then that too , made him see the cause of this anger , as it is sinne , so to be his sinne , sinne made his by an habituall love thereof , which , though it may be but one , yet is become an out-facing sinne , a sinne in Contempt and confidence , when we have laid Man , laid you , thus low , in your own eyes , we returne to the Canon and rule of that Physician whom they call Evangelist a●● medicinae , the Evangelist of Physique , Sit intentio prima in omni medicina comf●rtare , whether the physician purge , or lance , or sear , his principall care , and his end , is to comfort and strengthen : so though we have insisted upon Humane misery , and the cause of that , the anger of God , and the cause of that anger , sinne in that excesse , yet we shall dismisse you with that Consolation , which was first in our intention , and shall be our conclusion , that as this Text hath a personall aspect upon David alone , and therefore we gave you hit case , and then a generall retrospect upon Adam , and all in him , and therefore we gave you your own case , so it hath also an Evangelicall prospect upon Christ , and therefore , for your comfort , and as a bundle of Myrrhe in your bosomes , we shall give you his case too , to whom these words belong , as well as to Adam , or David , or you ; There is no soundnesse in my flesh , because of thine anger , neither is there any rest in my bones , because of my sinne . If you will see the miseries of Man , in their exaltation , and in their accumulation too , in their weight , and in their number , take them in the Ecce home , when Christ was presented from Pilate , scourged and scorned , Ecce home , behold man , in that man , in the Prophets ; They have reproched the feetsteps of thine Anointed , says David , slandred his actions , and conversation ; He hath no form , nor comlinesse , nor beauty , that we should desire to see him , says Esay ; Despised , rejected of men ; A man of sorrows , and acquainted with griefes . And Ecce homo , behold man , in that man , in the whole history of the Gospell . That which is said of us , of sinfull men , is true in him , the salvation of men , from the sole of the foot , even unto the Head , there is no soundnesse , but wounds , and bruises , and putrefying sores . That question will never receive answer , which Christ askes , Is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow ? Never was , never will there be any sorrow like unto his sorrow , because there can never be such a person , to suffer sorrow . Affliction was upon him , and upon all him ; for , His soule was heavy unto death ; Even upon his Bones ; fire was sent into his bones , and it prevailed against him . And the highest cause of this affliction was upon him , the anger of God ; The Lord had afflicted him , in the day of his fierce anger . The height of Gods anger , is Dereliction ; and he was brought to his Vt quid dereliquisti , My God , my God why hast thou forsaken me ? We did esteem him striken of the Lord , says Esay ; And we were not deceived in it ; Percutiam pastorem , says Christ himselfe of himselfe , out of the Prophet , I will smite the shepheard , and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered ; And then , the cause of this anger , sinne , was so upon him , as that , though in one consideration , the raine was upon all the world , and onely this fleece of Gedeon dry , all the world surrounded with sinne , and onely He innocent , yet in another line we finde all the world dry , and onely Gedeons fleece wet , all the world innoce● , and onely Christ guilty . But , as there is a Verè tulit , and a Verè portavit , surely he bore those griefes , and surely he carried those sorrows , so they were Verè nostri , surely he hath borne our griefes , and carried our sorrows , he was wounded for our transgressio●● and bruised for our iniquitles ; The Chastisement of our peace was upon him ; 〈◊〉 ●efore it must necessarily follow , ( as it does follow there ) with his stripes wee 〈◊〉 ; for , God will not exact a debt twice ; of Christ for me , and of me too . 〈◊〉 therefore , Quare moriemini Domus Israel ? since I have made ye of the houshold ● of Israel , why will ye die ? since ye are recovered of your former sicknesses , why will die of a new disease , of a suspicion , or jealousie , that this recovery , this redemption in Christ Iesus belongs not to you ? Will ye say , It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands , Dei viventis , of the living God ? 'T is so ; a fearfull thing ; But if De●s mortuus , the God of life bee but dead for mee , be fallen into my hands , applied to mee , made mine , it is no fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Non sat is est medicum fecisse suum officium , nisi agrotus , & adstantes sua ; It is not enough for Christ Jesus to have prepared you the balm of his bloud , not enough for us , to minister it to you , except every one of you help himself , in a faithfull application , and help one another , in a holy and exemplar conversation . Quàm exactè , & accuratè usus dictionibus ? How exact and curious was the holy Ghost , in David , in choice of words ? he does not say , Non sanitas mihi , sed non in car ne ; not that there is no health for me , but none in me ; non in carne mea , not in my flesh , but in carne ejus , in the flesh and bloud of my Saviour , there is health , and salvation . In ossibus ejus , in his bones , in the strength of his merits , there is rest , and peace , à facie peccati , what face soever my sin have had , in my former presumptions , or what face soever they put on now , in my declination to desperation . The Lord wait●th that he may have mercy upon you ; He stays your leisure ; and therefore will he be exalted , ( says that Prophet there ) that hee may have mercy upon you ; He hath chosen that for his way of honour , of exaltation , that he may have mercy upon you . And then , Quare moriemini ? If God bee so respective towards you , as to wait for you , if God be so a●bitions of you , as to affect a kingdome in you , why will ye die ? since he will not let ye die of Covetousnesse , of adultery , of ambition , of prophanenesse in your selves , why will yee die of jealousie , of suspition in him ? It was a mercifull voice of David ; Is there yet any man left of the house of Saul , that I may shew mercy for Jonathans sake ? It is the voice of God to you all , Is there yet any man of the house of Adam , that I may shew mercy for Christ Iesus sake ? that takes Christ Jesus in his arms , and interposes him , between his sins , and mine indignation , and non morietur , that man shall not die . We have done ; Est ars ●anandorum morborum medicina , non rhetorica ; Our physick is not eloquence , not directed upon your affections , but upon your conscien●os ; To thus wee present this for physick , The whole need not a Physician , but the sick doe . If you mistake your selves to be well , or think you have physick enough at home , knowledge enough , divinity enough , to save you without us , you need no Physician ; that is , a Physician can doe you no good ; but then is this Gods physick , and Gods Physician welcome unto you , if you be come to a remorsefull sense , and to an humble , and penitent acknowledgement , that you are sick , and that there is no so●ndnesse in your flesh , because of his anger , nor any rest in your bones , because of your sins , till you turn upon him , in whom this anger is appeas'd , and in whom these sins are forgiven , the Son of his love , the Son of his right hand , at his right hand Christ Jesus . And to this glorious Sonne of God , &c. SERMON XXI . Preached at Lincolns Inne . PSALME 38. 4. For mine iniquities are gone over my head , as a heavy burden , they are too heavy for mee . DAvid having in the former verses of this Psalm assign'd a reason , why he was bound to pray , because he was in misery , ( O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger , for thine arrows stick fast in mee ) And a reason why hee should be in misery , because God was angry , ( Thy hand presseth 〈◊〉 v. 2. And , there is no soundnesse in my flesh , because of thine anger , 〈◊〉 And a reason , why God should be angry , because he had finn'd , ( There is no 〈◊〉 my bones , because of my sin , in the same verse ) He proceeds to a reason , why this prayer of his must be vehement , why these miseries of his are so violent , and why Gods anger is permanent , and he findes all this to be , because in his sins , all these venimous qualities , vehemence , violence , and continuance , were complicated , and enwrapp'd ; for , hee had sinn'd vehemently , in the rage of lust , and violently , in the effusion of bloud , and permanently in a long , and senslesse security . They are all contracted in this Text , into two kinds , which will be our two parts , in handling these words ; first , the supergressa super , Mine iniquities are gone over my head , there 's the multiplicity , the number , the succession , and so the continuation of his sin : and then , the Gravatae super , My sins are as a heavy burden , too heavy for me , there 's the greatnesse , the weight , the insupportablenesse of his sin . S. Augustine cals these two distinctions , or considerations of sin , Ignorantiam , & Difficultatem ; first , that David was ignorant , that he saw not the Tide , as it swell'd up upon him , Abyssus Abyssum , Depth call'd upon Depth ; and , all thy wat●rs , and all thy billows are gone ever me , ( says he in another place ) hee perceiv'd them not coming till they were over him , he discern'd not his particular sins , then when he committed them , till they came to the supergressae super , to that height , that he was overflowed , surrounded , his iniquities were gone over his head , and in that S. Aug. notes Ignoranti●m , his in-observance , his inconsideration of his own case ; and then he notes Difficultatem , the hardnesse of recovering , because he that is under water , hath no aire to see by , no aire to hear by , he hath nothing to reach to , he touches not ground , to push him up , he feels no bough to pull him up , and therein that Father notes Difficultatem , the hardnesse of recovering . Now Moses expresses these two miseries together , in the destruction of the Egyptians , in his song , after Israels deliverance , and the Egyptians submersion , The Depths have covered them , ( there 's the supergressa super , their iniquities , in that punishment of their iniquities , were gone over their heads ) And then , They sank into the bottome as a stone ( says Moses ) there 's the gravata super , they depressed them , suppressed them , oppressed them , they were under them , and there they must lie . The Egyptians had , David had , we have too many sins , to swim above water , and too great sins to get above water again , when we are sunk ; The number of sins then , and the greatnesse of sin , will be our two parts ; the dangers are equall , to multiply many lesser sins , or to commit a few , more hainous : except the danger be greater , ( as indeed it may justly seem to be ) in the multiplication , and custome , and habit of lesser sins ; but how great is the danger then , how desperate is our state , when our sins are great in themselves , and multiplied too ? In his many sins , we shall touch thus many circumstances : First , they were pecca●a , sins , iniquities ; and then peccata sua , his sins , his iniquities , which intimates actuall sins ; for though God inflict miseries for originall sin , ( death , and that , that induces it , sickn●sse , and the like ) yet those are miseries common to all , because the sin is so too ; But these , are his punishments , personall calamities , and the sins are his own sins ; And then , ( which is a third circumstance ) they are sins in the plurall , God is not thus angry for one sin ; And again , they are such sins , as have been long in going , and are now got over , supergressae sunt , they are gone , gone over ; And then lastly , for that first part , supergressae Caput , they are gone my head . In which exaltation , is intimated all this ; first , sicut tectum , sicut fornix , they are over his head , as a roofe , as a cieling , as an Arch , they have made a wall of separation , betwixt God and us , so they are above our head ; And then sicut clamor , they are ascended as a noise , they are got up to heaven , and cry to God for vengeance , so they are above our head ; And again sicut aquae , they are risen and swollen as waters , they compass us , they smother us , they blinde us , they stupefie us , so they are above our head ; But lastly and principally , sicut Dominus , they are got above us , as a Tyran , and an usurper , for so they are above our head too : And in these we shall determine our first part . When from thence we come to our second part , in which , ( as in this we shall have done their number ) we shall consider their greatnesse , we finde them first heavy sinne is no light matter ; And then , they are too heavy , a little weight would but ballast us , this sinkes us ; Too heavy for me , even for a man equall to David ; and where is he ? when is that man ? for , says our text , they are as heavy , Burden ; And the nature , and incovenience of a Burden is , first to Crooken , and bend us downward from our naturall posture , which is erect , for this incurvation implies a declination in the inordinate love of the Creature , Incurvat . And then the nature of a burden is , to Tyre us ; our very sinne becomes fulsome , and wearisome to us , fatigat ; and it hath this inconvenience too , ut retardet , it slackens our pace , in our right course though we be not tried , yet we cannot goe so fast , as we should in any way towards godliness ; and lastly , this is the inconvenience of a burden too , ut praecipitet , it makes us still apt and ready to stumble , and to fall under it : It crookens us , it deprives us of our rectitude ; it tires us , extinguishes our alacrity ; It slackens us , enfeebles and intepidates our zeale ; It occasions our stumbling , opens and submits us , to every emergent tentation . And these be the dangers , and the mischievous inconveniences , notified to us , in those two Elegancies of the holy Ghost , the supergressae , the multiplicity of sinnes , They are gone over my head , and the gravatae , They are a heavy burden , too heavy for me . First then , all these things are literally spoken of David ; By application , of us ; and by figure , of Christ. Historically , David ; morally , we ; Typically , Christ is the subject of this text . In Davids person , we shal insist no longer upon them , but onely to look upon the two generall parts , the multiplicity of his sinne , and the weight and greatnesse thereof : And that onely in the matter of Vriah , as the Holy Ghost , ( without reproching the adultery or the murder , after Davids repentance ) vouchsafes to mollifie his manifold , and his hainous sinne . First , he did wrong to a loyall and a faithfull servant ; and who can hope to be well served , that does so ? He corrupted that woman , who for ought appearing to the contrary , had otherwise preserved her honour , and her Conscience entire ; It is a sinne , To runne with a theife when thou seest him , or to have thy p●rtion with them that are adulterers already ; to accompany them in their sinne , who have an inclination to that sinne before , is a sinne ; but to solicite them , who have no such inclination , nor , but for thy solicitation , would have had , is much more inexcusable . In Davids sinne , there was thus much more , he defrauded some , to whom his love was due , in dividing himselfe with a strange woman . To steale from another man , though it be to give to the poor , and to such poor , as would otherwise sterve , if that had not been stollen , is injustice , is a sinne . To divide that heart , which is intirely given to a wife , in mariage , with another woman , is a sinne , though she , to whom it is so given , pretend , or might truly suffer much torment and anguish if it were not done . Davids sinne flew up to a higher spheare ; He drew the enemy to blaspheme the name of God , in the victory over Israel , where Vriah was slaine : God hates nothing more in great persons , then that prevarication , to pretend to assist his cause , and promove his Religion , and yet underhand give the enemies of that Religion , way to grow greater . His sinnes , indeed , were too many to be numbred ; too great too , to be weighed in comparison with others . Vriah was innocent towards him , and faithfull in his imployment , and , at that time , in an actuall , and in a dangerous service , for his person , for the State , for the Church . Him David betrays in his letter to Ioab ; Him David makes the instrument of his own death , by carrying those letters , the warrants of his own execution ; And he makes Ioab , a man of honour , his instrument for a murder to cover an adultery . Thus many sinnes , and these heavy degrees of sin , were in this one ; and how many , and how weighty , were in that , of numbring of his people , wee know not . We know , that Satan provoked him to doe it ; and we know , that Ioab , who seconded and accomplished his desire in the murder of Vriah , did yet disswade , and dis-counsell this numbring of the people , and not out of reason of State , but as an expresse sin . Put all together , and lesse then all , we are sure David belied not himself , His iniquities were gone over his head , and as a heavy burden , they were too heavy for him ; Though this will be a good rule , for the most part , in all Davids confessions and lamentations , that though that be always literally true of himself , for the sinne , or for the punishment , which he says , personally David did suffer , that which he complains of in the Psalms , in a great measure , yet David speaks prophetically , as well as personally , and to us , who exceed him in his sins , the exaltation of those miseries , which we finde so often in this book , are especially intended ; That which David relates to have been his own case , he foresees will be ours too , in a higher degree . And that 's our second , and our principall object of all those circumstances , in the multiplicity , and in the hainousnesse of sin ; And therefore , to that second part , these considerations in our selves , we make thus much hast . First then , they were peccata , sins , iniquities . And we must not think to ease our selves in that subtilty of the School , Peccatum nihil ; That sin is nothing , because sinne We are not all Davids , amabiles , lovely and beloved in that measure that David was , men according to Gods heart : But we are all Adams , terrestres , and lutosi , earth , and durty earth , red , and bloudy earth , and therefore in our selves , as deriv'd from him , let us finde , and lament all these numbers , and all these weights of sin . Here we are all born to a patrimony , to an inheritance ; an inheritance , a patrimony of sin ; and we are all good husbands , and thrive too fast upon that stock , upon the encrease of sin , even to the treasuring up of sin , and the wrath of God for sin . How naked soever we came out of our mothers wombe , otherwise , thus we came all apparell'd , apparell'd and invested in sin ; And we multiply this wardrobe , with new habits , habits of customary sins , every day . Every man hath an answer to that question of the Apostle , What hast thou , that thou hast not received from God ? Every man must say , I have pride in my heart , wantonnesse in mine eyes , oppression in my hands ; and that I never receiv'd from God. Our sins are our own ; and we have a covetousnesse of more ; a way , to make other mens sins ours too , by drawing them to a fellowship in our sins . I must be beholden to the loyalty and honesty of my wife , whether my children be mine own , or no ; for , he whose eye waiteth for the evening , the adulterer , may rob me of that propriety . I must be beholden to the protection of the Law , whether my goods shall be mine , or no ; A potent adversary , a corrupt Judge may rob me of that propriety . I must be beholden to my Physician , whether my health , and strength shal be mine , or no ; A garment negligently left off , a disorderly meal may rob me of that propri●ty . But without asking any man leave , my sins will be mine own . When the presumptuous men say , Our lips are our own , and our tongues are our own , the Lord threatens to cut off those lips , and those tongues . But except we doe come to say , Our sins are our own , God will never cut up that root in us , God will never blot out the memory in himself , of those sins . Nothing can make them none of ours , but the avowing of them , the confessing of them to be ours . Onely in this way , I am a holy lier , and in this the God of truth will reward my lie ; for , if I say my sins are mine own , they are none of mine , but , by that confessing and appropriating of those sins to my selfe , they are made the sins of him , who hath suffered enough for all , my blessed Lord , and Saviour Christ Ies●s . Therefore that servant of God , S. August . confesses those sins , which he never did , to be his sins , and to have been forgiven him : Peccata mihi dimissa a fate●r & quae med sponte feci , & quae te duce non feci ; Those sins which I have done , and those , which , but for thy grace , I should have done , are all , my sins . Alas , I may die here , and die under an everlasting condemnation of fornication with that woman , that lives , and dies a Virgin , and be damn'd for a murderer of that man , that out-lives me , and for a robbery , and oppression , where no man is damnified , nor any penny lost . The sin that I have done , the sin that I would have done , is my sin . We must not therefore transfer our sins upon any other . Wee must not think to discharge our selves upon a Peccata Patris ; To come to say , My father thriv'd well in this course , why should not I proceed in it ? My father was of this Religion , why should not I continue in it ? How often is it said in the Scriptures , of evill Kings , he did evill in the sight of the Lord , and walk'd in via Patris , in the way of his father ? father in the singular ; It is never said plurally , In via Patrum ; in the way of his fathers . Gods blessings in this world , are express'd so , in the plurall , thou gavest this land patribus , to their fathers , says Solomon , in the dedication of the Temple ; And , thou brought'st Patres , our Fathers out of Egypt ; And again , Be with us , Lord , as thou wast with our Fathers ; So ; in Ezekiel , where your Fathers dwelt , you , their children , shall dwell too , and your children , and their childrens children for ever . His blessings upon his Saints , his holy ones in this world , are expressed so , plurally , and so is the transmigration of his Saints out of this world also ; Thou shalt sleep cum patribus , with thy fathers , says God to Moses ; And David slept cum patribus , with his fathers ; And Iacob had that care of himselfe , as of that in which consisted , or in which , was testified the blessing of God , I will lie cum patribus , with my fathers , and be buried in their burying place , says Iacob to his son Ioseph Good ways , and good ends are in the plurall , and have many examples ; else they are not good , but sins are in the singular , He walk'd in the way of his father , is in an ill way : But carry our manners , or carry our Religion high enough , and we shall finde a good rule in our fathers : Stand in the way , says God in Ieremy , and ask for the old way , which is the good way . We must put off veterem hominem , but not antiq●●m ; Wee may put off that Religion , which we think old , because it is a little elder then our selves , and not rely upon that , it was the Religion of my Father . But Antiquissimum die●um , Him , whose name is , He that is , and was , and is for ever , and so involves , and enwraps in himself all the Fathers , him we must put on . Be that our issue with our adversaries at Rome , By the Fathers , the Fathers in the plurall , when those fathers unanimely deliver any thing dogmatically , for matter of faith , we are content to be tried by the Fathers , the Fathers in that plurall . But by that 〈◊〉 Father , who begers his children , not upon the true mother , the Church , but upon the Court , and so produces articles of faith , according as State businesses , and civill occasions invite him , by that father we must refuse to be tried : for , to limit it in particular , to my father , we must say with Nehemiah , Ege & domus patris mei , If I make my fathers house my Church , my father my Bishop , I , and my fathers house have sinned , says he ; and with Mordecai to Esther , Thou , and thy fathers house shall be destroyed . They are not 〈◊〉 a patris , I cannot excuse my sins , upon the example of my father : nor are they 〈◊〉 Temp●ris , I cannot discharge my sins upon the Times , and upon the present ill disposition that reigns in men now , and doe ill , because every body else does so . To say , there is a rot , and therefore the sheep must perish , Corruptions in Religion are crept in , and work in every cornet , and therefore Gods sheep , simple souls , must be content to admit the infection of this rot . That there is a murrain , and therefore cattell must die , superstition practis'd in many places and therefore the strong servants of God , must come to sacrifice their obedience to it , or their bloud for it . Then no such rot , no such murrain , no such corruption of times , as can lay a necessity , or can afford in excuse so them who are corrupted with the times . As it is not pax temporis , such a State-peace , us takes away honour , that secures a Nation , nor such a Church-peace , as takes away ze●l , that secures a conscience , so neither is it peccatum temporis , an observation what other men incline to , but what truth , what integrity thou declin'st from , that appertains to thy consideration . It is not peccatum ●●atis ; not the sin of thy father , not the sin of the times , not the sin of thine own years . That thou shouldest say in thy old age , in excuse of thy Covet●●snesse , All these things have I observed from my youth , I have lived temperately , continently all my life , and therefore may be allowed one sin for mine case in mine age . Or , that thou shouldest say in thy youth , I will re●re my self in mine age , and live contentedly with a little then , but now , how vain were it to goe about to keep out a tide , or to quench the heats , and imperuous violence of youth ? But ●uge ●venilis defideria 〈◊〉 also youthfull lusts ; And left God hear not thee at last , when thou comost with that petition , Remember not the sins of my youth , Remember thou thy Creator , now in the days of thy youth : for , if thou think it enough to say , I have but liv'd as other men have liv'd , wantonly , thou wilt finde some examples to die by too , and die , as other old men , old in years , and old in sins , have died too , negligently , or fearfully ; without any sense at all , or all their sense turned into fearfull apprehensions , and desperation . They are not peccata et atis , such sins , as men of that age must needs commit , nor pec●● ar●tis , such sins as men of thy calling , or thy profession , cannot avoid ; that thou should'st say , I shall not be beleeved to understand my profession , as well as other men , if I live not by it , as well as other men doe . Is there no being a Carp●nter , but that after he hath warmed him by the chips , and baked , and roasted by it , hee must needs make an idoll of his wood , & worship it ? Is there no being a Silver-smith , but he must needs make shrines for Dia●a of the Ephesians , as Demetrius did ? No being a Lawyer , without serving the passion of the Client ? no being a Divine , without sowing pillows under great mens elbows ? It is not the sin of thy Calling that oppresses thee ; As a man may commit a massacre , in a single murder and kill many in one man , if he kill one , upon whom many depended , so is that man a generall libeller , that defames a lawfull Calling , by his abusing thereof ; that lives so scandalously in the Ministery , as to defame the Ministery it self , or so imperiously in the Magistracy , as to defame the Magistracy it self , as though it were but an engine , and instrument of oppression , or so unjustly in any Calling , as his abuse dishno●rs the Calling it self . God hath institured Calling , for the conservation of order in generall , not for the justification of disorders in any particular . For he that justifies his faults by his calling , hath not yet received that calling from above , whereby he must be justified , and sanctified in the way , and glorified in the end . There is no lawfull calling , in which , a man may not be an honest man. It is not peccatum Magistratus , thou canst not excuse thy selfe upon the unjust command of thy superiour ; that 's the blinde and implicite obedience practised in the Church of Rome ; Nor peccatum Pastoris , the ill example of thy Pastor , whose life counter-preaches his doctrine , for , that shall aggravate his , but not excuse thy sinne ; Nor Peccata Coeli , the influence of Stars , concluding a fatality , amongst the Gentiles , or such a working of a necessary , and inevitable , and unconditioned Decree of God , as may shut up the ways of a Religious walking in this life , or a happy resting in the life to come ; It is none of these , not the sinne of thy Father , not the sinne of the present times , not the sin of thy years , and age , nor of thy calling , nor of the Magistrate , nor of thy Pastor , nor of Destiny , nor of decrees , but it is peccatum tuum , thy sin , thy own sin . And not onely thy sin so , as Adams sin is communicated to thee , by propagation of Originall sin ; for , so thou mightest have some colour to discharge thy selfe upon him , as he did upon Eve , and Eve upon the Serpent ; Though in truth it make no difference , in this spirituall debt , of that sin , who is first in the bond : Adam may stand first , but yet thou art no surety but a Principall , and for thy selfe ; and he , and thou are equally subject to the penalty . For though Saint Augustine confesse , that there are many things concerning Originall sin , of which he is utterly ignorant , yet of this he would have no man ignorant , that to the guiltinesse of originall sin , our own wills concurre as well as to any actuall sin : An involuntary act , cannot be a sinfull act ; and though our will work not now , in the admitting of originall sin , which enters with our soule in our conception , or in our inanimation and quickening , yet , at first , Sicut ominium natura , ita omnium voluntates erant in Adam , as every man was in Adam , so every faculty of every man , and consequently the will of every man concurred to that sin , which therefore lies upon every man now : So that that debt , Originall sin , is as much thine as his ; And for the other debts , which grow out of this debt , ( as nothing is so generative , so multiplying , as debts are , especially spirituall debts , sins ) for actuall sins , they are thine , out of thine own choice ; Thou mightest have left them undone , and wouldest needs doe them ; for God never induces any man into a perplexity , that is , into a necessity of doing any particular sin . Thou couldest have disswaded a Son , or a friend , or a servant , from that sin , which thou hast embraced thy selfe : Thou hast been so farre from having been forced to those sins , which thou hast done , as that thou hast been sorry , thou couldest not doe them , in a greater measure . They are thine , thine own , so , as that thou canst not discharge thy selfe upon the Devill ; but art , by the habit of sin , become Spontaneus Damon , a Devill to thy selfe , and wouldest minister tentations to thy selfe , though there were no other Devill . And this is our propriety in sin ; They are our own . This is the propriety of thy sin ; The next is the Plurality , the multiplicity , iniquitates ; Not onely the committing of one sin often ; and yet , he deceives himselfe in his account dangerously , that reckons but upon one sin , because he is guilty but of one kinde of sin . Would a man say he had but one wound , if he were shot seven times in the same place ? Could the Iews deny , that they flead Christ , with their second or third or twentieth blow , because they had torne skin , and flesh , with their former scourges , and had left nothing but bones to wound ? But it is not onely that , the repeating of the same sin often , but it is the multiplicity of divers kinds of sins , that is here lamented in all our behalfes . It is not when the conscience is tender , and afraid of every sin , and every appearance of sin . When Naaman desired pardon of God by the Prophet , for sustaining the King upon his knees , in the house of Rimmon , the Idol , and the Prophet bad him goe in peace , it is not that he allows him any peace under the conscience , and guiltinesse of a sin ; That was indispensable . Neither is their any dispensation in Naamans case , but onely a rectifying of a tender and timoruos conscience , that thought that to be a sin , which was not , if it went no further , but to the exhibiting of a Civill duty to his Master , in what place soever , Religious , or prophane , that service of kneeling were to be done . Naamans service was truely no sin ; but it had been a sin in him to have done it , when he thought it to be a sin . And therefore the Prophets phrase , Goe in peace , may well be interpreted so , set thy minde at rest● for all that , that thou requirest , may be done without sin . Now that tendernesse of conscience is not in our case in the Text. He that proceeds so , to examine all his actions , may meet scruples all the way , that may give him some anxiety and vexation , but he shall never come to that overflowing of sin , intended in this plurality , and multiplicity here . For , this plurality , this multiplicity of sin , hath found first a spunginesse in the soul , an aptnesse to receive any liquor , to embrace any sin , that is offered to it , and after a while , a hunger and thirst in the soul , to hunt , and pant and draw after a tentation , and not to be able to endure any vacuum , any discontinuance , or intermission of sinne : and hee will come to think it a melancholique thing , still to stand in fear of Hell ; a sordid , a yeomanly thing , still to be plowing , and weeding , and worming a conscience ; mechanicall thing , still to be removing logs , or filing iron , still to be busied in removing occasions of tentation , or filing and clearing particular actions : and , at last he will come to that case , which S. Augustine out of an abundant ingenuity , and tendernesse , and compunction , confesses of himself , Ne vituperarer ; vitiosior fiebam , I was fain to sin , left I should lose my credit , and be under-valued ; Et ubi non suberat , quo admisso , aquarer perditis , when I had no means to doe some sins , whereby I might be equall to my fellow , Fingebam me fecisse quod non feceram , ne viderer abjectior , quo innocentior , I would bely my self , and say I had done that , which I never did , lest I should be under-valued for not having done it . Audiebam eos exaltantes flagitia , sayes that tender blessed Father , I saw it was thought wit , to make Sonnets of their own sinnes , Et libebat facere , non libidine facti , sed libidine laudis , I sinn'd , not for the pleasure I had in the sin , but for the pride that I had to write feelingly of it . O what a Leviathan is sin , how vast , how immense a body ! And then , what a spawner , how numerous ! Between these two , the denying of sins , which we have done , and the bragging of sins , which we have not done , what a space , what a compasse is there , for millions of millions of sins ! And so have you the nature of sin , which was our first ; The propriety of sin , which was our second ; and the plurality , the multiplicity of sin , which was our third branch ; And follows next , the exaltation thereof ; supergressae sunt , My sins are gone over my head . They are , that is , they are already got above us ; for in that case we consider this plurall , this manifold sinner , that he hath slipt his time of preventing , or resisting his sins ; His habits of sins are got , already got above him . Elisha bids his man look towards the Sea , and he saw nothing ; He bids him look again , and again to a seventh time , and he saw nothing . After all , he sees but a little cloud , like a mans hand ; and yet , upon that little appearance , the Prophet warns the King , to get him into his Chariot , and make good hast away , lest the rain stopp'd his passage , for , instantly the heaven was black , with clouds , and rain . The sinner will see nothing , till he can see nothing ; and , when he sees any thing , ( as to the blindest conscience something will appear ) he thinks it but a little cloud , but a melancholique fit , and , in an instant , ( for 7 years make but an instant to that man , that thinks of himself , but once in 7 years ) Supergresae sunt , his sins are got above him , and his way out is stopp'd . The Sun is got over us now , though we saw none of his motions , and so are our sins , though we saw not their steps . You know how confident our adversaries are in that argument , Why doe ye oppugne our doctrine of prayer for the dead , or of Invocation of Saints , or of the fire of Purgatory , since you cannot assigne us a time , when these doctrines came into the Church , or that they were opposed or contradicted , when they entred ? When a conscience comes to that inquisition , to an iniquitates supergressae , to consider that our sins are gone over our head , in any of those ways , w ch we have spoken of if we offer to awaken that conscience farther , it startles , & it answers us drowsily , or frowardly , like a new wak'd man , Can you remember when you sin'd this sin first , or did you resist it then , or since ? whence comes this troublesome singularity now ? pray let me sleep still , says this startled conscience . Beloved , if we fear not the wetting of our foot in sin , it will be too late , when we are over head and ears . Gods deliverance of his children , was sicco pede , hee made the sea dry land , and they wet not their foot . At first , in the creation , subjecit omnia sub pedibus , God put all things under their feet ; In mans wayes , in this world , his Angels beare us up in their hands ; why ? Ne impingamus pedem , that we should not hurt our foot against a stone , but have a care of every step we make . If thou have defiled thy feet , ( strayed into any unclean ways ) wash them again , and stop there , and that will bring thee to the consideration of the Spouse , I have washed my feet , how shall I then defile thē again ? I have found mercy for my former sins , how shal I dare to provoke God w th more ? stil God appoints us a permanēt means to tread sin under our feet here , in this life ; The woman , that is , the Church , hath the Moon , that is , all transitory things , ( & so , all tentatiōs ) under her feet ; As Christ himself expressed his care of Peter , to consist in that , That if his feet were washed , all was clean ; And as in his own person he admitted nails in his feet , as wel as in his hands , so crucifie thy hands , abstain frō unjust actions but crucifie thy feet too , make not one step towards the way of Idolaters , or other sinners . If we watch not the ingressus sum , we shall be insensible of the supergressae sunt ; If we look not to a sin , when it comes towards us , we shal not be able to look towards it , when it is got over us : for , if a man come to walk in the counsel of the ungodly , he wil come to fit in the seat of the scornful ; for , that 's the sinners progress , in the first warning that David gives in the beginning of his 1 t Psal. If he give himself leave to enter into sinful ways , he wil sit & sin at ease , & make a jest of sin ; & he that loveth danger , shal perish therein . So have you then the nature of sin ; it was sin ; it was sin that oppressed him ; and the propriety of sin , it was his sin , actuall sin ; and the plurality of sin , habituall , customary sin and the victory of sin , they had been long climing , and were now got up to a height ; and this height & exaltation of theirs , is expressed thus , super caput , Mine iniquities are got above my head . S. Augustine , ( who truly had either never true copy of the Bible , or else cited sometimes , as the words were in his memory , and not as they were in the Text ) he reads not these words so , supergressae super caput , but thus , sustulerunt caput ; And so he interprets the words , not that his sins had got over his head , and depressed his head , subdued and subjugated his head , but that they had extoll'd his head , made him life his head high , and say , Who is the Lord ? Sursum tellitur , says he upon this place cui erigitur caput contra Deum , his head is exalted , who is set against God. And certainly , that 's a desperate state in sin , when a man thinks himself the wiser , or the better , or the more powerfull for his sin ; That he can the better stand upon his own legs , or the lesse needs the assistance of God , because he hath prosper'd in the world , by the ways of sin . S. August is an useful mistaking , but it is a mistaking . But to pursue the right word , and the true meaning of this metaphoricall expressing , supergressae caput , My sins are got above my head , sin may be got to our foot , & yet not to the eye . A man may stray into company of tentations , & yet not be tempted ; A man may make a covenant with his eye , that he will not see a maid . Sin may come to the eye , & yet the hand be above water ; we may look , & lust , & yet , by Gods watchfull goodnes , & studious mercy , escape action . But if it be above our head , then the brain is drown'd that is , our reason , and understanding , which should dispute against it , and make us asham'd of it , or afraid of it ; And our memory is drown'd , we have forgot that there belongs a repentance to our sins , perchance forgot that there is such a sin in us ; forgot that those actions are sins , forgot that we have done those actions ; and forgot that there is a law , even in our own hearts , by which we might try , whether our actions were sins , or no. If they be above our heads , they are so , in many dangerous acceptations . Of which , the first is , that they cover our heads sicut tectum , sicut fornix , as a roof , as an arch , as a separation between God and us . Your iniquities have separated between you and your God , says the Prophet . A wall of separation between man and man , even in the service of God , there was always ; a wall of Gods making ; that is , the Ceremoniall Law , by which God enclos'd the Iews from the Gentiles . But this was but a side wall , and Christ threw it down ; He is our peace , says the Apostle , and hath made of both one , and hath broken the stop of the partition wall ; This he did when he opened the Gentiles a way into his religion . This wall was the distinction between the Iew , & Gentile , when the Iew call'd the ignominiously Incircumcisos , uncircumcised , and they call'd the Iews , with as much scorn , Recutitos , & Apellas ; when the Iew wondred at the Gentises eating of unclean things , and the Gentiles wondred to hear them call things , of as good nourishment , as their clean meats , uncleane ; when the Iew placed his holinesse in singularity , and ceremonies of distinction , and the Gentiles call'd that but a pride in them , and a scornefull detestation of their neighbours . And truly it is a lamentable thing , when ceremoniall things in matter of discipline , or problematicall things in matter of doctrine , come so farre , as to separate us from one another , in giving ill names to one another . Zeal is directed upon God , and charity upon our brethren , but God will not be seen , but by that spectacle ; not accept any thing for an act of zeal to himself , that violates charity towards our brethren , by the way . Neither should we call any man Lutheran , or Calvinist , or by any other name , ignominiously , but for such things , as had been condemned in Luther , or Calvin , and condemned by such , as are competent Judges between them , and us ; that is , by the universall , or by our own Church . This wall then , between the Iew and Gentile , ( as it was the ceremony it self , and not the abuse of it ) God built , and Christ threw downe . There are outward things , Ceremoniall things , in the worship of God , that are temporary , and they did serve God that brought them in , and they doe serve God also , that have driven them out of the Church , because their undeniable abuse had clog'd them with an impossibility of being restor'd to that good use , which they were at first ordained for ; of which , the brazen serpent is evidence enough . God set up a wall , which God himself meant should be demolish'd again . Such another wal , ( as well as the Devil can imitate Gods workmanship ) the Devil hath built now in the Christian Church ; and hath morter'd it in the brains & bloud of men , in the sharp and virulent contentions arisen , and fomented in matters of Religion . But yet , says the Spouse , My well bel●ved stands behind the wall , shewing himself through the grates : he may be seen on both sides . For all this separation , Christ Jesus is amongst us all , and in his time , will break downe this wall too , these differences amongst Christians , & make us all glad of that name , the name of Christians , without affecting in our selves , or inflicting upon others , other names of envy , and subdivision . But besides this wall of Gods making , the Ceremoniall law , & this wall of the Devils making , dissention in Christian Churches , there is a wall of our own making , a roof , an arch above our heads , by which our continuall sins have separated God and us . God had covered himself with a cloud , so that prayer could not passe thorough ; That was the misery of Ierusalem . But in the acts and habits of sin , we cover our selves , with a roof , with an arch , which nothing can shake , nor remove , but Thunder , and Earthquakes , that is , the execution of Gods fiercest judgments ; And whether in that fall of the roof , that is , in the weight of Gods judgments upon us , the stones shall not brain us , overwhelm and smother , and bury us , God only knows . How his Thunders , and his Earthquakes , when we put him to that , will work upon us , he onely knows , whether to our amendment , or to our destruction . But whil'st we are in the consideration of this arch , this roof of separation , between God and us , by sin , there may be use in imparting to you , an observation , a passage of mine own . Lying at Ai● at Aquisgrane , a well known Town in Germany , and fixing there some time , for the benefit of those Baths , I found my self in a house , which was divided into many families , & indeed so large as it might have been a little Parish , or , at least , a great lim of a great one ; But it was of no Parish : for when I ask'd who lay over my head , they told me a family of Anabaptists ; And who over theirs ? Another family of Anabaptists ; and another family of Anabaptists over theirs ; and the whole house , was a nest of these boxes ; severall artificers ; all Anabaptists ; I ask'd in what room they met , for the exercise of their Religion ; I was told they never met : for , though they were all Anabaptists , yet for some collaterall differences , they detested one another , and , though many of them , were near in bloud & alliance to one another yet the son would excommunicate the father , in the room above him , and the Nephew the Uncle . As S. Iohn is said to have quitted that Bath , into which Cerinthus the Heretique came , so did I this house ; I remembred that Hezekiah in his sicknesse , turn'd himself in his bed , to pray towards that wall ; that look'd to Ierusalem ; And that Daniel in Babylon , when he pray'd in his chamber , opened those windows that look'd towards Ierusalem ; for , in the first dedication of the Temple , at Ierusalem , there is a promise annext to the prayers made towards the Temple : And I began to think , how many roofs , how many floores of separation , were made between God and my prayers in that house . And such is this multiplicity of sins , which we consider to be got over us , as a roof , as an arch , many arches , many roofs : for , though these habituall sins , be so of kin , as that they grow from one another , and yet for all this kindred excommunicate one another , ( for covetousnesse will not be in the same roome with prodigality ) yet it is but going up another stair , and there 's the tother Anabaptist ; it is but living a few years , and then the prodigall becomes covetous . All the way , they separate us from God , as a roof , as an arch , & then , an arch will bear any weight ; An habituall sin got over our head as an arch will stand under any sicknesse , any dishonour , any judgement of God , and never sink towards any humiliation . They are above our heads , sicus tectum , as a roofe , as an arch , and they are so toe sicut clamor , as a voice ascending , & not stopping , till they come to God. O my God , I am confounded and ashamed to lift up mine eyes to ther , O my God ; why not thine eyes ? there is a cloud , a clamour in the way ; for as it follows , Our iniquities are encreased over our heads , and our trespasse is grown up to the heaven . I think to retain a learned man of my counsell , and one that is sute to be heard in the Court , and when I come to instruct him , I finde mine adversaries name in his book before , and he is all ready for the other party . I think to finde an Advocate in heaven , when I will , and my sin is in heaven before mee . The voice of Abels bloud , and so , of Cains sin , was there : The voice of Sodomes transgression was there . Bring down that sin again from heaven to earth : Bring that voice that cries in heaven , to speake to Christ here in his Church , upon earth , by way of confession ; bring that clamorous sin to his bloud , to be washed in the Sacrament ; for , as long as thy sin cries in heaven , thy prayers cannot be heard there . Bring thy sinne under Christs feet there , when hee walks amongst the Candlesticks , in the light , and power of his Ordinances in the Church , and then , thine absolution will be upon thy head , in those seals which he hath instituted , and ordained there , and thy cry will be silenced . Till then , supergr●sse , caput , thine iniquities will be over thy head , as a roof , as a cry , and , in the next place , sicut aqua , as the overflowing of waters . We consider this plurality , this multiplicity of habituall sinnes , to bee got over our heads , as waters , especially in this , that they have stupefied us , and taken from us all sense of reparation of our sinfull condition . The Organ that God hath given the naturall man , is the eye ; he sees God in the creature . The Organ that God hath given the Christian , is the ear ; he hears God in his Word . But when we are under water , both senses , both Organs are vitiated , and depraved , if not defea●ed . The habituall , and manifold sinner , sees nothing aright ; Hee sees a judgement , and cals it an accident . He hears nothing aright ; He hears the Ordinance of Preaching for salvation in the next world , and he cals it an invention of the State , for subjection in this world . And as under water , every thing seems distorted and crooked , to man , so does man himself to God , who sees not his own Image in that man , in that form as he made it . When man hath drunk iniquity like water , then , The flouds of wickadnesse shall make him afraid ; The water that he hath swum in , the sin that he hath delighted in , shall appear with horrour unto him . As God threatens the pride of Tyrus , I shall bring the deep upon thee , and great waters shall cover thee , That , God will execute upon this sinner ; And then , upon every drop of that water , upon every affliction , every tribulation , he shall come to that fearfulnesse , Waters flowed over my head ; then said I , I am c●● off ; Either he shall see nothing , or see no remedy , no deliverance from desperation . Keep low these waters , as waters signifie sin , and God shall keep them low , as they signifie punishments ; And his Dove shall return to the Ark with an Olive leaf , to shew thee that the waters are abated ; he shall give thee a testimony of the return of his love , in his Oyle , and Wine , and Milk , and Honey , in the temporall abundances of this life . And , si impleat Hydrias aqua , if he doe fill all your vessels with water , with water of bitternesse , that is , fill and exercise all your patience , and all your faculties with his corrections , yet he shall doe that , but to change your water into wine , as he did there , he shall make his very Judgements , Sacraments , conveyances and seals of his mercy to you , though those manifold sins be got over your heads , as a roof , as a noise , as an overflowing of waters : And , that , which is the heaviest of all , and our last consideration , sicut Dominus , as a Lord , as a Tyran , as an Usurper . Preti● redempti es●is , nolite fieri servi , says the Apostle , you are bought with a price , therefore glorifie God. There he shews you , your own value , and then , Ne dominetur peccas●um , Let not sin have dominion over you ; there he shews you the insolency of that Tyran . You shall know the truth , and the truth shall make you free , says Christ to the Iews . Well ; They stood not much upon the truth , but for the freedome , We were Abrahams seed , and were never bound to any ; but Christ replies , Whosoever committesh sin , is the servant of sin ; And , of whomsoever a man is overcome , to the same he is in bondage . Now we are slaves to sin , not onely as we have been overcome by sin for he that is said to be overcome by sin , is presumed to have made some resistance ) but as we have sold our selves to sin , which is a worse , and a more voluntary act . There was none like him , like Ahab ; ( says the holy Ghost ) wherein was his singularity above all ? He had sold himself , to work wickednesse , in the fight of the Lord. Now , how are we sold to sin ? By Adam ? That 's true ; Ejus praevaricatione , & ut it a dicam , Negotiatione , demnoso , & frandulento commercio venditi sumus : Wee were all sold under hand , fraudulently sold , and sold under foot , cheaply sold by Adam . But thus , wee might seem to be sold by others ; so Ioseph was , and no fault in himself ; But we have sold our selves since . Did not Adam sell himself too ? Did God sell him by any secret Decree , or contract , between the Devil and him ? Was God of counsel in that bargain ? God forbid . Thus faith the Lord , Where is the bill of your mothers divorce , whom I have put away ? or , which of my creditours is it , to whom I have sold you ? Behold , for your iniquities you have sold your selves ; and for your transgressions , is your mother put away . In Adam we were sold in grosse ; in our selves we are sold by retail , In the first , and generall sale , we all pass'd , even the best of us . We know the Law is spirituall , but I am carnall , sold under sin , says the Apostle , even of himselfe . But when does the Apostle say this ? in what state was hee , when he accuses himselfe of this mancipation , and sale under sin ? Says he this onely with relation to his former times , when he was a Iew , and under the Law ? Or , but then when he was newly come to the light of the Gospel , and not to a clear sight of it ? It is true , that most of the Eastern Fathers , and it is true , that S. Augustine himselfe was of that opinion , that S. Paul said of himselfe , that he was sold under sin , respecting himself before his regeneration . Non qui vult esse sapiens , statim fit sapiens , says Origen ; A man is not presently learned , because he hath a good desire to be learned ; nor hath he that hath begun a conversion , presently accomplished his regeneration ; nor is he discharged of his bargain of being sold under sin , as soon as hee sees that he hath made an ill bargain . But when he growes up in grace , ( say they ) as S. Paul had done , when hee said this , then he is discharged . But , as S. Augustine ingenuously retracts that opinion , which , ( as he says ) he had held , when he was a young Priest at Carthage , so is there nothing clearer , by the whole purpose of the Apostle in that place , then that he in his best state , was still sold under sin . As David speaks of himself being then regenerated , In thy sight shall no man living be justified . So S. Paul speaks of himself in his best state , still he was sold under sin , because still , that concupiscence , under which he was sold in Adam , remains in him . And that concupiscence is sin , Quia inest ei inobedientia contra domin●●m mentis . Because it is a rebellion against that soveraignty which God hath instituted in the soul of man , and an ambition of setting up another Prince ; so it is peccatum , sin in it self ; And it is poena peccati , says that Father , Quia reddita est meritis inobedientis ; Because it is laid upon us for that disobedience , it hath also the nature of a punishment of sin , as well as so sin it self ; And then it is Causa peccati too , Defectione consentientis , because man is so enfeebled by this inherence , and invisceration of Originall sin , as that thereby he is exposed to every emergent tentation , to any actuall sin . So , Originall sinne , is called by many of the Ancients , the cause of sin , and the effect of sin , but not so , exclusively , as that it is not sin , really sin in it self too . Now , as Originall sin causes Actuall , in that consideration ( as we sell our selves over again in our acts of recognition , in ratifying our first sale , by our manifold sins here ) so is sin gone over our heads , by this dominion , as a Tyran , as an usurper . Hoc lex posuit , Non concupisces ; This is the Law , Thou shalt not covet : Non quod sic valcamus , sed ad quod persiciendo tendamus ; Not that we can perform that Law , but that that Law might be a rule to direct our endevours : Multum boni facit , qui facit quod scriptum est , Post concupiscentias tuas non eas ; He does well , and well in a fair measure , that fulfils that Commandement , Thou shalt not walk in the concupiscences of thine own heart ; sed non perficit , quia non implet quod scriptum est , Non concupisces , But yet , says he , hee does not all that is commanded , because he is commanded not to covet at all : Vt sciat , quò debeat in hac m●●talitate conari , That that commandement might teach him , what he should labour for in this life , Et quò possit in illa immortalitate pervenire , to what perfection wee shall come in the life to come , but not till then . Though therefore we did our best , yet we were sold under sin , that is , sold by Adam ; but because we doe not , but consent to that first sale , in our sinfull acts , and habits , wee have sold our selves too , and so sin is gone over our heads ; in a dominion , and in a tyrannicall exercise of that dominion . If we would goe about to expresse , by what customes of sin this dominion is established , we should be put to a necessity of entring into every profession , and every conscience . And the morall man says usefully , Si tantum irasci vis sapientem , quantum exigit indignitas scelerum , ( we will translate it in the Church tongue , and make his morality divinity ) If we would have a zealous Preacher , cry out as fast , or as loud , as sins are committed , non irascendum , sed in santiendum , says he , you would not call that man an angry man , but a mad man , you would not call that Preacher , a zealous preacher , but a Puritan . Touch we but upon one of his reprehensions , because that may have the best use now ; he considers the iniquities , and injustices , admitted , and committed in Courts of justice ; and he says , Turpes lites , turpiores Advocati ; Ill sutes are set on foot , and worse advocates defend them . Delator est criminis qui manifestior reus , even in criminall matters , he informes against another , that should be but defendant in that crime ; And ( as he carries it higher ) Iudex damnaturus quae fesit , eligitur , the Judge himself condemns a man for that , which himselfe is farre more guilty of , then the prisoner . Nullus nisi ex alieno damno quaestus , and one man growes rich , by the empoverishing of many . But then it is so in all other professions too . And this Tyranny , and dominion is justly permitted by God upon us , ut qui noluit superiorr obedire , nec et obediat inferior caro , we have been rebellious to our Soveraigne , to God , and therefore our subject , the flesh , is first rebellious against us , and then Tyrannicall over us . But he that leadeth into captivity shall goe into captivity ; yea , Christ hath led captivity it selfe captive , and given gifts to men ; that is , he hath established his Church , where , by a good use of those meanes which God hath ordained for it , the most oppressed soule , may raise it selfe above those exaltations , and supergressions of sin ; And so we have done with our first part , and with all that will enter into this time , where David in his humble spirit feels in himselfe , but much more in his propheticall spirit , foresees , and foretells in others , the infectious nature of sin ; It is a mortall wound , and in a strange consideration ; for , it is a wound upon God , and mortall upon man ; And then the propriety of sin , that sin is not at all from God , nor it is not all from the Devill , but our sin is our own ; Our sins in a Pl●rality ; our sins of one kind , determine not in one sin , we sin the same sin often , and then we determine not in one kinde , but slide into many . And after this multiplication of sin , the continuation thereof , to an irrecoverablenesse , supergressae sunt , we thinke not of them , till it be too late to think of them , till they produce no thought but despaire ; for supergressae Caput , they are got above our Heads , above our strongest faculties ; Above us , in the nature of an arched roof , they keep Gods grace in a separation from us , and our prayers from him , so they have the nature of a roof , and then , they feel no weight , they bend not under any judgement , which he lays upon us , so they have the nature of an Arch. Above us , as a voice , as a cry ; Their voice is in possession of God , and so prevents our prayers ; above us as waters , they disable our eyes , and our eares , from right conceiving all apprehensions ; And above us , as Lords , and Tyrans , that came in by conquest , and so put what Laws they list upon us . And these instructions have arisen from this first , the Multiplicity , Mine iniquities are gone over my Head , and more will from the other , the weight and burden , They are as a heavy burden , too heavy for me . SERMON XXII . Preached at Lincolns Inne . Second Sermon on PSAL. 38. 4. For mine iniquities are gone over my head , as a heavy burden , they are too heavy for me . AS the Philosopher says , if a man could see vertue , he would love it , so if a man could see sin , he would hate it . But as the eye sees every thing but it selfe , so does sinne , too . It sees Beauty , and Honour , and Riches , but it sees not it selfe , not the sinfull coveting and compassing of all these . To make , though not sin , yet the sinner to see himselfe , for the explication , and application of these words , we brought you these two lights ; first , the Multiplicity of sin , in that elegancy of the holy Ghost , supergressae sunt , Mine iniquities are gone over my head , and the weight , and oppression of sin , in that , Gravatae nimis , As a heavy burden they are too heavy for me ; In the first , how numerous , how manifold they are , in the other , how grievous , how insupportable ; first , how many hands , then how fast hold sinne lays upon me . The first of these two , was our exercise the last day , when we proposed and proceeded in these words , in which we presented to you , the dangerous multiplicity of sinne , in those pieces , which constituted that part . But because , as men , how many soever , make but a Multitude , or a Throng , and not an Army , if they be unarmed , so sin , how manifold , and multiform so ever , might seem a passable thing , if it might be easily shaked off , we come now to imprint in you a sense of the weight and oppression thereof , As a heavy burthen , they are too heavy for mee ; The particular degrees whereof , we laid down the last day , in our generall division of the whole Text , and shall now pursue them , according to our order proposed then . First then , sinne is heavy . Does not the sinner finde it so ? No marvail , nothing is heavy in his proper place , in his own Sphear , in his own Center , when it is where it would be , nothing is heavy . He that lies under water finds no burthen of all that water that lies upon him ; but if he were out of it , how heavy would a small quantity of that water seem to him , if he were to carry it in a vessell ? An habituall sinner is the naturall place , the Center of sinne , and he feels no weight in it , but if the grace of God raise him out of it , that he come to walke , and walke in the ways of godlinesse , not onely his watery Tympanies , and his dropsies , those waters which by actuall and habituall sinnes he hath contracted , but that water , of which he is properly made , the water that is in him naturally , infused from his parents , Originall sinne , will be sensible to him , and oppresse him . Scarce any man considers the weight of Originall sinne ; And yet , as the strongest tentations fall upon us when wee are weakest , in our death-bed , so the heavyest sinne seises us , when wee are weakest ; as soon as wee are any thing , we are sinners , and there , where there can be no more tentations ministred to us , then was to the Angels that fell in heaven , that is , in our mothers womb , when no world , nor flesh , nor Devill could present a provocation to sinne to us , when no faculty of ours is able to embrace , or second a provocation to sin , yet there , in that weaknesse , we are under the weight of Originall sin . And truly , if at this time , God would vouchsafe mee my choice , whether hee should pardon me all those actuall and habituall sins , which I have committed in my life , or extinguish Originall sinne in me , I should chuse to be delivered from Originall sin , because , though I be delivered from the imputation thereof , by Baptism , so that I shall not fall under a condemnation for Originall sin onely , yet it still remains in me , and practises upon me , and occasions all the other sins , that I commit : now , for all my actuall and habituall sins , I know God hath instituted meanes in his Church , the Word , and the Sacraments , for my reparation ; But with what a holy alacrity , with what a heavenly joy , with what a cheerfull peace , should I come to the participation of these meanes and seals of my reconciliation , and pardon of all my sins , if I knew my selfe to be delivered from Originall sinne , from that snake in my bosome , from that poyson in my blood , from that leaven and tartar in all my actions , that casts me into Relapses of those sins which I have repented ? And what a cloud upon the best serenity of my conscience , what an interruption , what a dis-continuance from the sincerity and integrity of that joy , which belongs to a man truly reconciled to God , in the pardon of his former sins , must it needs be still to know , and to know by lamentable experiences , that though I wash my selfe with Soap , and Nit●e , and Snow water , mine own cloathes will defile me again , though I have washed my selfe in the tears of Repentance , and in the blood of my Saviour , though I have no guiltinesse of any former sin upon me at that present , yet I have a sense of a root of sin , that is not grub'd up , of Originall sinne , that will cast me back again . Scarce any man considers the weight , the oppression of Originall sinne . No man can say , that an Akorn weighs as much as an Oak ; yet in truth , there is an Oak in that Akorn : no man considers that Originall sinne weighs as much as Actuall , or Habituall , yet in truth , all our Actuall and Habituall sins are in Originall . Therefore Saint Pauls vehement , and frequent prayer to God , to that purpose , could not deliver him from Originall sin , and that stimulus carnis , that provocation of the flesh , that Messenger of Satan , which rises out of that , God would give him sufficient grace , it should not worke to his destruction , but yet he should have it : Nay , the infinite merit of Christ Jesus himself , that works so upon all actuall and habituall sins , as that after that merit is applyed to them , those sins are no sins , works not so upon Originall sin , but that , though I be eased in the Dominion , and Imputation thereof , yet the same Originall sin is in me still ; and though God doe deliver me from eternall death , due to mine actuall and habituall sins , yet from the temporall death , due to Originall sin , he delivers not his dearest Saints . Thus sin is heavy in the seed , in the grain , in the akorn , how much more when it is a field of Corn , a barn of grain , a forest of Oaks , in the multiplication , and complication of sin in sin ? And yet wee consider the weight of sin another way too , for as Christ feels all the afflictions of his children , so his children will feel all the wounds that are inflicted upon him ; even the sins of other men ; as Lots righteous soule was grieved with sins of others . If others sin by my example & provocation , or by my connivence and permission , when I have authority , their sin lies heavyer upon me , then upon themselves ; for they have but the weight of their own sinne ; and I have mine , and theirs upon me ; and though , I cannot have two souls to suffer , and though there cannot be two everlastingnesses in the torments of hell , yet I shall have two measures of those unmeasurable torments upon my soul. But if I have no interest in the sins of other men , by any occasion ministred by me , yet I cannot chuse but feel a weight , a burthen of a holy anguish , and compassion and indignation , because every one of these sins inflict a new wound upon my Saviour , when my Saviour says to him , that does but injure me , Why persecutest thou me , and feels the blow upon himselfe , shall not I say to him that wounds my Saviour , Why woundest thou me , and groane under the weight of my brothers sin , and my Fathers , my Makers , my Saviours wound ? If a man of my blood , or allyance , doe a shamefull act , I am affected with it ; If a man of my calling , or profession , doe a scandalous act , I feel my self concerned in his fault ; God hath made all mankinde of one blood , and all Christians of one calling , and the sins of every man concern every man , both in that respect , that I , that is , This nature , is in that man that sins that sin ; and I , that is , This nature , is in that Christ , who is wounded by that sin . The weight of sin , were it but Originall sin , were it but the sins of other men , is an insupportable weight . But if a sinner will take a true balance , and try the right weight of sin , let him goe about to leave his sin , and then he shall see how close , and how heavily it stook to him . Then one sin will lay the weight of seelinesse , of falshood , of inconstancy , of dishonour , of ill nature , if you goe about to leave it : and another sin will lay the weight of poverty , of disestimation upon you , if you goe about to leave it . One sin will lay your pleasures upon you , another your profit , another your Honour , another your Duty to wife and children , and weigh you down with these . Goe but out of the water , goe but about to leave a sin , and you will finde the weight of it , and the hardnesse to cast it off . Gravatae sunt , Mine iniquities are heavy , ( that was our first ) and gravatae nimis , they are too heavy , which is a second circumstance . Some weight , some balast is necessary to make a ship goe steady ; we are not without advantage , in having some sinne ; some concupiscence , some tentation is not too heavy for us . The greatest sins that ever were committed , were committed by them , who had no former sinne , to push them on to that sin : The first Angels sin , and the sin of Adam are noted to be the most desperate and the most irrecoverable sins , and they were committed , when they had no former sin in them . The Angels punishment is pardoned in no part ; Adams punishment is pardoned in no man , in this world . Now such sins as those , that is , sins that are never pardoned , no man commits now ; not now , when he hath the weight of former sins to push him on . Though there be a heavy guiltinesse in Originall sin , yet I have an argument , a plea for mercy out of that , Lord , my strength is not the strength of stones , nor my flesh brasse ; Lord , no man can bring a clean thing out of uncleannesse ; Lord , no man can say after , I have cleansed my heart , I am free from sinne , I could not be borne cleane , I could not cleanse my selfe since . It magnifies Gods glory , it amplifies mans happinesse , that he is subject to tentation . If man had been made impeccable , that he could not have sinned , he had not been so happy ; for then , he could onely have enjoyed that state , in which he was created , and not have risen to any better ; because that better estate , is a reward of our willing obedience to God , in such things , as we might have disobeyed him in . Therefore when the Apostle was in danger , of growing too light , lest he should be exalted out of measure , through the abundance of revelation , ( says that Scripture ) he had a weight hung upon him ; There was something given him , therefore it was a benefit , a gift ; And it was Angelus , an Angel , that was given him ; But it was not a good Angel , a Tutelar , a Gardian Angel , to present good motions unto him , but it was Angelus Satane , a messenger of Satan , sent , as he says , to buffet him ; and yet this hostile Angel , this messenger of Satan was a benefit , a gift , and a fore-runner , and some kind of Inducer of that Grace , which was sufficient for him ; and it would not have appeared to us , no nor to himselfe , that he had had so much of that grace , if he had not had this tentation . God is as powerfull upon us when he delivers us from tentation , that it doe not overtake us ; but not so apparent , so evident , so manifest , as when he delivers us in a tentation , that it doe not overcome us : some weight does but ballast us , as some enemies never doe us more harme , but occasion us , to arme and to stand upon our gard . Therefore , this weight that is complained of here , is not In carne , in our naturall flesh ; ( though in that be no goodnesse ) it is nothing that God from the beginning hath imprinted in our nature , not that peceability , and possibility of sinning ; nor it is not in stimule carnis , in these accessary tentations , and provocations which awaken , and provoke the malignity of this flesh , and put a sting into it ; we doe not consider this heavy weight to be the naturall possibility which was in man , before Originall sinne entred , nor to be that naturall pronenesse to sinne , which is originall sinne it selfe . But it is , when we our selves whet that sting , when we labour to breake hedges , and to steale wood , and gather up a stick out of one sin , and stick out of another , and to make a fagot to load us , in this life , and burne us in the next , in multiplying sins , and aggravating circumstances , so it is Heavy , so it is too heavy , It is too heavy for me , ( for that 's also another circumstance ) for David himselfe , for any man even in Davids state . Though this consideration might be enlarged , and usefully carried into this expostulation , can sin be too heavy for me , any burden of sin sink me into a dejection of spirit , that am wrapped up in the Covenans , borne of Christian Parents , that am bred up in an Orthodox , in a Reformed Church , that can perswade my selfe sometimes , that I am of the number of the elect ; Can any sin be too heavy for me , can I doubt of the execution of his first purpose upon me , or doubt of the efficacy of his ordinances here in the Church , what sin soever I commit , can any sins be too heavy for me ? yet it is enough that in this Se● , God holds no man up by the chin so , but that if he sin in confidence of that sustentation , he shall sink . But in this personall respect in our text we consider onely with what weights David weighed his sins , when hee found here that they were too heavy for him . He weighed his sin with his punishment , and in his punishment hee saw the anger , and indignation of God , and when we see sin through that spectacle , through an angry God , it appears great , and red , and fearefull unto us ; when David came to see himselfe in his infirmity , in his deformity , when his body could not hear the punishment here in this world , he considered how insupportable a weight the sin , and the anger of God upon that sin , would be in the world to come . For me that rise to preferment by my sin , for me that come to satisfie my carnall app●tites by my sin , my sin is not too heavy ; But for me that suffer penury in the bottome of a plentifull state exhausted by my sin , for me that languish under diseases and putrefaction contracted by my sin , for me upon whom the hand of God lies heavy in any affliction for my sin , for me , my sins are too heavy . Till I come to hear that voice , Come unto me all you that labour , and are heavy laden , and I will refresh you , till I come to consider my sin in the mercy of God , and not onely in his justice , in his punishments , my sins will be too heavy for me ; for , though that be a good way , to consider the justice of God , yet it is not a good end ; I must stop , but not stay at it , I must consider my sin in his justice , how powerfull a God I have provoked ; but I must passe through his justice to his mercy ; his justice is my way , but his mercy is my ledging ; for wee cannot tell by the construction and origination of the words , whether Cain said , My sin is greater then can b●e pardoned , or , my punishment is greater then can bee borne : But it needes not bee disputed ; for it is all one ; He that considers onely the anger of God in the punishment , will thinke his sin unpardonable , his sinne will be see heavy for him . But as a feaver is well spent , when the patient is fit to take physick , so if God give me physick , if I take his corrections as medicines , and not as punishments , then my disease is well spent , my danger is well overcome ; If I have buryed my sins in the wounds of my Saviour , they cannot be too heavy for me , for they are not upon me at all ; But if I take them out again , by relapsing into them , or imagine them to rise again , by a suspicion and jealousie in God , that he hath not forgiven them , because his hand lies still upon me , in some afflictions , so , in such a relapse , so , in such a jealous mis-interpretation of Gods proceeding with me , my sins are too heavy for me ; for me , because I do not sustain my self by those helps that God puts into my hands . It is heavy , too heavy , too heavy for me , says David ; if you consider the elect themselves , their election will not beare them out in their sins . But here we consider the insupportablenesse , in that , wherein the holy Ghost hath presented it , Quia onus , because it lies upon me , in the nature and quality of a Burden , Mine iniquities are as a burden , too heavy for me . When all this is packed up upon me , that I am first under a Calamity , a sicknesse , a scorne , an imprisonment , a penury , and then upon that calamity , there is laid the anger and indignation of God , and then upon that , the weight of mine own sinnes ; this is too much to settle me , it is enough to sinke me , it is a burden , in which the danger arises from the last addition , in that , which is last laid on : for , as the sceptique Philosopher pleases himselfe in that argumentation , that either a penny makes a man rich , or he can never be rich , for says he , if he be not rich yet , the addition of a penny more would make him rich : or if not that penny , yet another , or another , so that at last it is the addition of a penny that makes him rich ; so without any such fallacious or facetious circumvention in our case , it is the last addition , that that we look on last , that makes our burden insupportable , when upon our calamity we see the anger of God piled up , and upon that , our sin , when I come to see my sin , in that glasse , in that glasse , not in a Saviour bleeding for me , but in a Judge frowning upon mee ; when my sins are so far off from me , as that they are the last thing that I see ; for , if I would look upon my sins , first , with a remorsefull , a tearfull , a repentant eye , either I should see no anger , no calamity ; or it would not seem strange to me , that God should bee angry , nor strange , that I should suffer calamities , when God is angry ; Therefore is sin heavy as a burden , because it is the last thing that I lay upon my selfe , and feel not that till a heavy load of calamity and anger be upon me before . But then , as when we come to be unloaded of a burden , that that was las● laid on , is first taken off , so when we come , by any meanes , though by the sense of a calamity , or of the anger of God , to a sense of our sin , before the calamity it selfe be taken off , the sin is forgiven . When the Prophet found David in this state , the first act that the Prophet came to was the Transtulit peccatum , God hath taken away thy sinne , but the calamity was not yet taken away . The child begot in sin shall surely die , though the sin be pardoned . The fruit of the tree may be preserved and kept , after the tree it selfe is cut down and burnt ; The fruit , and off spring of our sin , calamity , may continue upon us , after God hath removed the guiltinesse of the sin from us . In the course of civility , our parents goe out before us , in the course of Mortality , our parents die before us ; In the course of Gods mercy , it is so too ; The sin that begot the calamity , is dead , and gone , the calamity , the child , and off spring of that sin , is alive and powerfull upon us . But for the most part , as if I would lift an iron chain from the ground , if I take but the first linke , and draw up that , the whole chain follows , so if by my repentance , I remove the uppermost weight of my load , my sin , all the rest , the declaration of the anger of God , and the calamities that I suffer , will follow my sin , and depart from me . But still our first care must be to take off the last weight , the last that comes to our sense , The sin . You have met , I am sure , in old Apophtbegms , an answer of a Philosopher celebrated , that being asked , what was the heaviest thing in the world , answered , Senex Tyrannus , An old Tyran ; For a Tyran , at first , dares not proceed so severely ; but when he is established , and hath continued long , he prescribes in his injuries , and those injuries become Laws . As sin is a Tyran , so he is got over our head , in Dominie , as we shewed you in the supergressaesunt , in our former part ; As he is an , old Tyran , so he is the heaviest burden that can be imagined ; An inveterate sin , is an inveterate sore , we may hold out with it , but hardly cure it ; we may slumber it , but hardly kill it . Weigh sin in heaven ; heaven could not beare it , in the Angels ; They fell : In the waters ; The Sea could not beare it in Ionas ; He was cast in : In the earth ; That could not beare it in Dathan , and Abiram ; They were swallowed : And because all the inhabitants of the earth are sin it selfe , The earth it selfe shall reel to and fro , as a Drunkard , and shall be removed like a Cottage , and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it , and it shall fall and notrise againe ; There 's the totall , the finall fall , proper to the wicked ; they shall fall ; so shall the godly ; And fall every day ; and fall seven times a day ; but they shall rise againe and stand in judgement ; The wicked shall not doe so ; They shall rise , rise to judgement ; and they shall stand , stand for judgement , stand to receive judgement ; and then not fall , but be cast out , out of the presence of God , and cast down , down into an impossibility of rising , for ever , for ever , for ever . There is a lively expressing of this deadly weight , this burden in the Prophet Zechary . First , there was a certaine vessell , a measure shewed , and the Angel said , Hic est oculus , This is the sight , ( says our first translation ) This is the resemblance through all the earth , ( says our second . ) That is , to this measure , and to that that is figured in it , every man must look , this every man must take into his consideration ; what is it ? In this measure sate a woman whose name was Wickednesse ; At first , this woman , this wickednesse , sate up in this vessell , she had not filled the measure , she was not laid securely in it , she was not prostrate , not groveling , but her nobler part , her head , was yet out of danger , she sate up in it . But before the Vision departs , she is plunged wholly into that measure ; ( into darknesse , into blindnesse ) and not for a time ; for , then , there was a cover , ( says the text ) and agreat cover , and a great cover of Lead put upon that vessell ; and so , a perpetuall imprisonment , no hope to get out ; and heavy fetters , no ease to be had within ; Hard ground to tread upon , and heavy burdens to carry ; first a cover , that is , an excuse ; a great cover , that is , a defence , and a glory ; at last , of Lead ; all determines in Desperation . This is when the multiplicity and indifferencie to lesser sins , and the habituall custome of some particular sin , meet in the aggravating of the burden : for then , they are heavyer then the sand of the Sea , says the holy Ghost : where he expresses the greatest weight by the least thing ; Nothing lesse then a graine of sand , nothing heavyer then the sands of the Sea , nothing easier to resist then a first tentation , or a single sinne in it selfe , nothing heavyer , nor harder to devest , then sinnes complicated in one another , or then an old Tyran , and custome in any one sin . And therefore it was evermore a familiar phrase with the Prophets , when they were to declare the sins , or to denounce the punishments of those sins upon the people , to call it by this word , Onus visionis , Onus Babylonis , Onus Ninives , O the burden of Babylon , the burden of Niniveh . And because some of those woes , those Iudgements , those burdens , did not always fall upon that people presently , they came to mock the Prophets , and say to them , New , what is the burden of she Lord , What Burden have you to preach to us , and to talke of now● Say unto them , says God to the Prophet there ; This is the Burden of the Lord , I will even forsake you . And , as it is elegantly , emphatically , vehemently added , Every mans word shall be his burden ; That which he says , shall be that that shall be laid to his charge ; His scorning , his idle questioning of the Prophet , What burden now , what plague , what famine , what warre now ? Is not all well for all your crying The burden of the Lord ? Every mans word shall be his burden , the deriding of Gods Ordinance , and of the denouncing of his Judgements in that Ordinance shall be their burden , that is , aggravate those Judgements upon them , Nay , there is a heavyer weight then that , added ; Ye shall say no more ( says God to the Prophet ) the burden of the Lord , that is , you shall not bestow so much care upon this people , as to tell them , that the Lord threatens them . Gods presence in anger , and in punishments , is a heavy , but Gods absence , and dereliction , a much heavyer burden ; As ( if extremes will admit comparison ) the everlasting losse of the fight of God in hell , is a greater torment , then any lakes of inextinguishable Brimstone , then any gnawing of the incessant worme , then any gnashing of teeth can present unto us . Now , let no man ease himself upon that fallacy , sin cannot be , nor sin cannot induce such burdens as you talk of , for many men are come to wealth , and by that wealth , to honour , who , if they had admitted a tendernesse in their consciences , and forborn some sins . had lost both ; for , are they without burden , because they have wealth , and honour ? In the Originall language , the same word , that is here , a burden , Ch●bad , signifies honour , and wealth , as well as a burden . And therefore says the Prophet , Woe unto him that loadeth himselfe with thick clay . Non densantur nisi per laborem ; There goes much pains to the laying of it thus thick upon us ; The multiplying of riches is a laborious thing ; and then it is a new pain to bleed out those riches for a new office , or a new title ; Et tamen lutum , says that Father , when all is done , we are but rough-cast with durt ; All those Riches , all those Honours are a Burden , upon the just man , they are bu● a multiplying of fears , that they shall lose them ; upon the securest man , they are but a multiplying of duties & obligations ; for the more they havet , he more they have to answer ; and upon the unjust , they are a multiplying of everlasting torments . They possess months of vanity , and wearisom nights are appointed them . Men are as weary of the day , upon Carpets and Cushions , as at the plough . And the labourers wearinesse , is to a good end ; but for these men , They weary themselves to commit iniquity . Some doe , and some doe not ; All doe . The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them ; Why ? Because he knows not how to goe to the City . He that directs not his labours to the right end , the glory of God , he goes not to Jerusalem , the City of holy peace , but his sinfull labours shall bee a burden to him ; and his Riches , and his Office , and his Honour hee shall not be able to put off , then when he puts off his body in his death-bed ; He shall not have that happinesse , which he , till then , thought a misery , To carry nothing out of this world , for his Riches , his Office , his Honour shall follow him into the next world , and clog his soule there . But we proposed this consideration of this Metaphor , That sinne is a burden , ( as there is an infinite sweetnesse , and infinite latitude in every Metaphor , in every elegancy of the Scripture , and therefore I may have leave to be loath to depart from it ) in some particular inconveniences , that a burden brings , and it is time to come to them . SERMON XXIII . Preached at Lincolns Inne . The third Sermon on PSAL. 38. 4. For mine iniquities are gone over my head , as a heavy Burden , they are too heavy for mee . AS a Torch that hath been lighted , and used before , is easier lighted then a new torch , so are the branches , and parts of this Text , the easier reduced to your memory , by having heard former distributions thereof . But as a Torch that hath been lighted & us'd before , will not last so long as a new one , so perchance your patience which hath already been twice exercised with the handling of these words , may be too near the bottom to afford much . And therefore much I have determined not to need . God did his greatest work upon the last day , and yet gave over work betimes . In that day he made man , and , ( as the context leades us , most probably , to thinke ) he made Paradise , and placed man in Paradise that day . For the variety of opinions amongst our Expositors , about the time when God made Paradise , arises from one errour , an errour in the Vulgat Edition , in the translation of the Roman Church , that reads it Plantaver at , God had planted a garden , as though God had done it before . Therefore some state it before the Creation , which Saint Hierome follows , or at least relates , without disapproving it ; and others place it , upon the third day , when the whole earth received her accomplishment ; but if any had looked over this place with the same ingenuity as their own great man Tyr : ( an active man in the Councell of Trent ) hath done over the Book of Psalms , in which one Booke he hath confessed 6000 places , in which their translation differs from the Originall , they would have seen this difference in this place , that it is not Plantaver at , but Plantavit , not that God had before , but that he did then , then when hee had made man , make a Paradise for man. And yet God made an end of all this days work betimes ; in that day , He walked in the garden in the cool of the Evening . The noblest part of our work , in handling this Text falls upon the conclusion , reserved for this day ; which is , the application of these words to Christ. But for that , I shall be short , and rather leave you to walke with God in the cool of the Evening , to meditate of the sufferings of Christ , when you are gone , then pretend to expresse them here . The Passion of Christ Jesus is rather an amazement , an astonishment , an extasie , a consternation , then an instruction . Therefore , though something we shall say of that anone . First , we pursue that which lies upon our selves , the Burden , in those four mischievous inconveniences wrapped up in that Metaphor . Of them , the first was , Inclinat ; That a Burden sinkes a man , declines him , crookens him , makes him stoop . So does sin . It is one of Saint Augustines definitions of sinne , Conversio ad creaturam , that it is a turning , a withdrawing of man to the creature . And every such turning to the creature , let it be upon his side , to her whom he loves , let it be upwards , to honour that he affects , yet it is still down-ward , in respect of him , whom he was made by , and should direct himselfe to . Every inordinate love of the Creature is a descent from the dignity of our Creation , and a disavowing ' , a disclaiming of that Charter , Subjicite & dominamini , subdue , and govern the Creature . Est quoddam bonum , quod si diligat anima rationalis , peccat . There are good things in the world , which it is a sin for man to love , Quia infra illam ordinantur , because though they be good , they are not so good as man ; And man may not decline , and every thing , except God himself , is inferiour to man , and so , it is a declination , a stooping in man , to apply himselfe to any Creature , till he meet that Creature in God ; for there , it is above him ; And so , as Beauty and Riches , and Honour are beames that issue from God , and glasses that represent God to us , and idea's that return us into him , in our glorifying of him , by these helpes , so we may apply our selves to them ; for , in this consideration , as they assist us in our way to God , they are above us , otherwise , to love them for themselves , is a declination , a stooping under a burden ; And this declination , this incurvation , this descent of man , in the inordinate love of the Creature , may very justly seem to be forbidden in that Commandement , that forbids Idolatry , Thou shalt not bow down to them , nor worship them ; If we bow down to them , we doe worship them ; for it is in the love of all Creatures , as it is in money ; Covetousnesse , that is , the love of money , is Idolatry , says the Apostle ; and so is all other inordinate love of any , Idolatry . And then , as we have seen some grow crooked , by a long sitting , a lying in one posture , so , by an easie resting in these descents and declination of the soule , it comes to bee a fashion to stoop , and it seemes a comely thing to be crooked ; and we become , infruniti , that is , quibus nem● frui velit , such as no body cares for our conversation , or company , except we be ill company , sociable in other sinnes , Et viliores quò castiores , if we affect Chastity , or any other vertue , we disaffect and distast other men ; for one mans vertue chides , and reproaches a whole vicious company . But if he will needs bee in fashion , C●m pervers● perverti , to grow crooked with the crooked , His iniquities shall take him , and hee shall be holden with the cards of his sinne ; that is , in that posture that he puts himself , he shall be kept ; kept all his life ; and then , ( as it follows there ) He shall die without instruction ; Die in a place , where he can have no Absolution , no Sacrament , or die , in a disposition , that he shall receive no benefit by them , though he receive them . He hath packed a burden upon himself , in habituall sinne , he hath chosen to stoop under this burden , in an Idolatrous love of those sinnes , and nothing shall be able to erect him again , not Preaching , not Sacraments , no not judgements . And this is the first inconvenience , and mischief , implyed in this Metaphor which the holy Ghost hath chosen , Mine iniquities are as a burden , Inclinant , they bend down my soule , created streight , to an incurvation , to a crookednesse . A second inconvenience intimated in this Metaphore , a burden , is the fatigat , a burden wearies us , tires us : and so does our sinne , and our best beloved sinne . It hath wearied us , and yet we cannot devest it . We would leave that sin , and yet there is one talent more to be added , one childe more to be provided for , one office , or one title more to be compassed , one tentation more to be satisfied . Though we grumble , not out of remorse of conscience , but out of a bodily wearinesse of the sinne , yet wee proceed in it . How often men goe to Westminster , how often to the Exchange , called by unjust suits , or called by corrupt bargaines to those places , when their case , or their health perswades them to stay at home ? How many go to forbidden beds , then when they had rather stay at home , if they were not afraid of an unkind interpretation ? We have wearied our selves in the ways of wickednesse ; Plus miles in uno torneamento , quam sanctus Monachus in decem annis , says our Holkot , upon that place , a soldier suffers more in one expedition , then a Monk does , in ten years , says he , and perchance he says true , and yet no commendation to his Monke neither ; for that soldier may doe even the cause of God , more good , in that one expedition , then that Monke in ten years : But it is true as Holkot intended it , ( though perchance his example doe not much strengthen it ) vicious men are put to more pains , and to doe more things against their own mindes , then the Saints of God are in the ways of holinesse . We have wearied our selves in the ways of wickednesse , says he , that is , in doing as other wicked men have done , in ways which have been beaten out to us , by the frequent practise of other men ; but he addes more , We have gone the rough Deserts , where there lay no way ; that is , through sins , in which , wee had no example , no precedent , the inventions of our hearts . The covetous man lies still , and attends his quarter days , and studies the endorsements of his bonds , and he wonders that the ambitious man can endure the shuttings and thrustings of Courts , and can measure his happinesse by the smile of a greater man : And , he that does so , wonders as much , that this covetous man can date his happinesse by an Almanack , and such revolutions , and though he have quick returns of receipt , yet scarce affords himself bread to live till that day come , and though all his joy be in his bonds , yet demes himself a candles end to look upon them . Hilly ways are wearisome ways , and tire the ambitious man ; Carnall pleasures are dirty ways , and tire the licentious man ; Desires of gain , are thorny ways , and tire the covetous man ; Aemulations of higher men , are dark and ●linde ways , and tire the envious man , Every way , that is out of the way , wearies us ; But , lass●it sumus ; sed 〈◊〉 non datur requires , we labour , and have no rest , when we have done ; we are wearied with our sins , and have no satisfaction in them ; we goe to bed to night , weary of our sinfull labours , and we will rise freshly to morrow , to the same sinfull labours again ; And when a sinner does so little remember yesterday , how little does he consider to morrow ? He that forgets what he hath done , foresees not what he shall suffer : so sin is a burden , it crookens us , it wearies us ; And those are the two first inconveniences . And then a third is Retardat . Though a man can stand under a burden , that he doe not sink , but be able to make some steps , yet his burden slackens his pace , and he goes not so fast , as without that burden he could have gone . So it is an habituall sinnes ; though we doe not sinke into desperation , and stupefaction , though we doe come to the participation of outward means , and have some sense , some feeling thereof , yet , as long as any one beloved and habituall sin hangs upon us , it slackens our pace in all the ways of godlinesse . And we come not to such an appropriation of the promises of the Gospel , in hearing Sermons , nor to such a re-incarnation , and invisceration of Christ and his merits into our selves , in the Sacrament ; as if wee were altogether devested of that sin , and not onely at that time , we should doe . Quis ascendes , says David ; who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord ? It is a painfull clambring ; up a hill . And Saint August . makes use of the answer , Innocens manibus , He that hath clean hands ; first , he must have hands , as well as feet ; He must doe something for himself ; And then , Innocent hands ; such as doe no harme to others , such as hold , and carry no hurtfull thing to himself ; Either he must have the first Innocence , Abstinence from ill getting , or the second Innocence , Restitution of that which was ill gotten , or he shall never get up that hill ; for , it is a steep hill , and there is no walking up , but he must crawle , hand and foot . Therefore , says the Apostle , Deponamus pondus , Let us lay aside every weight ; He does not say , sin in generall , but every weight , every circumstance that may aggravate our sin , every conversation that may occasion our sin ; And , ( as hee addes , particularly and emphatically ) The sin , that does so easily beset us ; Easily , because customarily , habitually ; And then , says that Apostle , in that place , Let us run ; when we have laid down the sin , that does so easily beset us , our beloved and habituall sinne , and laid down every weight , every circumstance that aggravates that sin , then we may be able to run , to proceed with a holy chearfulnesse and proficiency in the wayes of sanctification ; but till that we cannot , how due observers soever we be of all outward means ; for , sin is a burden , in perverting us , in tyring us , in retarding us . And last of all , it is a burden , quaetenus praecipitat , as it gives him ever new occasion of stumbling ; He that hath not been accustomed to a sin , but exercised in resisting it , will finde many tentations , but as a wash way that he can trot thorough , and goe forward religiously in his Calling for all them ; ) for though there be coluber in via , A snake in every way , tentations in every calling , yet , In Christo omnia possumus , In Christ , we can doe all things , and therefore , in him , we can bruise the Serpents head ) and spurn a tentation out of his way . But he that hath been long under the custome of a sin , evermore meets with stones to stumble at , and bogges to plunge in . It is S. Chrys●stomes application ; He that hath had fever , though he have cast it off , yet he walks weakly , and he hath an inclination to the beds side , or to a chaire , at every turn that he makes about his chamber . So hath he to relapses , that hath been under the custome of an habituall sin , though he have discontinued the practise of that sin . And these be the inconveniences , the mischiefs , represented to us in this metaphore , A burden , Mine iniquities are as a burden too heavy for me , Because they sink me down , from the Creator to the creature ; Because they tire and weary me , and yet I must bear them ; Because when they doe not absolutely tire me , yet they slacken my pace ; and because , though I could lay off that burden , leave off that sin , for the present practise , yet the former habit hath so weakned me , that I always apt to stumble , and fall into relapses . Thus have you the mischievous inconveniences of habituall sin laid open to you , in these two elegancies of the holy Ghost , supergressae , Mine iniquities are gone over my head , and the gravatae , As a burden they are too heavy for me . But as a good Emperour received that commendation , that no man went ever out of his presence discontented , so our gracious God never admits us to his presence in this his Ordinance , but with a purpose to dismisse us in heart , and in comfort ; for , his Almoner , he that distributeth his mercies to Congregations , is the God of comfort , of all comfort , the holy Ghost himself . Nay , they whom he admits to his presence here , goe not out of his presence , when they goe from hence ; He is with them , whilst they stay here , and hee goes home with them , when they goe home . Princes out of their Royall care call Parliaments , and graciously deliver themselves over to that Representative Body ; God out of his Fatherly love calls Congregations , and does not onely deliver himself over , in his ordinance , to that Representative Body , the whole Church there , but when every man is become a private man again , when the Congregation is dissolv'd , and every man restored to his own house , God , in his Spirit , is within the doores , within the bosomes of every man that receiv'd him here . Therefore we have reserved for the conclusion of all , the application of this Text to our blessed Saviour ; for so our most ancient Expositors direct our meditations , first , historically , and literally , upon David , and that we did at first ; Then morally , and by just application to our selves , and that we have most particularly insisted upon ; And lastly , upon our Saviour Christ Iesus himself ; and that remains for our conclusion and consolation ; for , even from him , groaning under our burden , we may hear these words , Mine iniquities are gone over my head , and , &c. First then , that that lay upon Christ , was sin , properly sin . Nothing could estrange God from man , but sin ; and even from this Son of man , though he were the Son of God too , was God far estranged ; therefore God saw sin in him . Non novit peccatum , He knew no sin ; not by any experimentall knowledge , not by any perpetration ; for , Non fecit peccatum , He did no sin , be committed no sin . What though ? we have sin upon us , sin to condemnation , Originall sin before we know sin , before we have committed any sinne . They esteemed him stricken , and smitten of God ; and they mistook not in that ; He was stricken and smitten of God ; It pleased the Lord to bruile him , and to put him to grief ; And the Lord proceeds not thus , where he sees no sin . Therefore the Apostle carries it to a very high expression , God made him to be sin for our sakes ; not onely sinfull , but sin it self . And as one cruell Emperour wished all mankinde in one man , that hee might have beheaded mankinde at one blow , so God gathered the whole nature of sinne into one Christ , that by one action , one passion , sin , all sin , the whole nature of sinne might bee overcome . It was sin that was upon Christ , else God could not have been angry with him , nor pleased with us . It was sin , and his own sin ; Mine iniquities , says Christ , in his Type , and figure , David ; and in his body , the Church ; and , ( we may be bold to adde ) in his very person ; Mine iniquities . Many Heretiques denied his body , to be his Body , they said it was but an airy , an imaginary , an illusory Body ; and denied his Soul to be his Soul , they said he had no humane soul , but that his divine nature supplied that , and wrought all the operations of the soul. But we that have learnt Christ better , know , that hee could not have redeemed man , by that way that was contracted betweene him and his Father , that is , by way of satisfaction , except he had taken the very body , and the very soul of man : And as verily as his humane nature , his body and soul were his , his sins were his too . As my mortality , and my hunger , and thirst , and wearinesse , and all my naturall infirmities are his , so my sins are his sins . And now when my sins are by him thus made his sins , no Hell-Devill , not Satan , no Earth-Devill , no Calumniator , can any more make those sins my sins , then he can make his divinity , mine . As by the spirit of Adoption , I am made the childe of God , the seed of God , the same Spirit with God , but yet I am not made God , so by Christs taking my sins , I am made a servant of my God , a Beads-man of my God , a vassall , a Tributary debtor to God , but I am no sinner in the sight of God , no sinner so , as that man or the Devill can impute that sin unto me , then when my Saviour hath made my sins his . As a Soldier would not part with his scars , Christ would not . They were sins , that lay upon him , part with our sins ; And his sins ; and , as it follows in his Type , David , sins in a plurality , many sins . I know nothing in the world so manifold , so plurall , so numerous , as my sins ; And my Saviour had all those . But if every other man have not so many sins , as I , he owes that to Gods grace , and not to the Devils forbearance , for the Devill saw no such parts , nor no such power in me to advance or hinder his kingdome , no such birth , no such education , no such place in the State or Church , as that he should be gladder of me , then of other men . He ministers tentations to all ; and all are overcome by his tentations ; And all these sins , in all men , were upon Christ at once . All twice over ; In the root , and in the fruit too ; In the bullein , and in the coin too ; In grosse , and in retail ; In Originall , and in Actuall sin . And , howsoever the sins of former ages , the sins of all men for 4000 years before , which were all upon him , when he was upon the Crosse , might possibly be numbred , ( as things that are past , may easilier fall within a possibility of such an imagination ) yet all those sinnes , which were to come after , he himself could not number ; for , hee , as the Sonne of man , though hee know how long the world hath lasted , knowes not how long this sinfull world shall last , and when the day of Judgement shall be ; And all those future sins , were his sins before they were committed ; They were his before they were theirs that doe them . And lest this world should not afford him sins enow , he took upon him the sins of heaven it self ; not their sins , who were fallen from heaven , and fallen into an absolute incapacity of reconciliation , but their sins , which remained in heaven ; Those sins , which the Angels that stand , would fall into , if they had not received a confirmation , given them in contemplation of the death and merits of Christ , Christ took upon him , for all things , in Earth , and Heaven too , were reconciled to God by him : for , if there had been as many worlds , as there are men in this , ( which is a large multiplication ) or as many worlds , as there are sins in this , ( which is an infinite multiplication ) his merit had been sufficient to all . They were sins , his sins , many sinnes , the sinnes of the world ; and then , as in his Type , David , Supergressae , his sins , these sins were got above him . And not as Davids , or ours , by an insensible growth , and swelling of a Tide in Course of time , but this inundation of all the sins of all places , and times , and persons , was upon him in an instant , in a minute ; in such a point as admits , and requires a subtile , and a serious consideration ; for it is eternity ; which though it doe infinitely exceed all time , yet is in this consideration , lesse then any part of time , that it is indivisible , eternity is so ; and though it last for ever , is all at once , eternity is so . And from this point , this timelesse time , time that is all time , time that is no time , from all eternity , all the sins of the world were gone over him . And , in that consideration , supergressae caput , they were gone over his head . Let his head bee his Divine nature , yet they were gone over his head : for , though there bee nothing more voluntary , then the love of God to man , ( for , he loves us , not onely for his own sake , or for his own glories sake , but he loves us for his loves sake , he loves us , and loves his love of us , and had rather want some of his glory , then wee should not have , nay , then he should not have so much love towards us ) though this love of his be an act simply voluntary , yet in that act of expressing this love , in the sending a Saviour , there was a kinde of necessity contracted on Christs part ; such a contract had passed between him and his Father , that as himself says , there was an oportuit pati , a necessity that he should suffer all that he suffered , and so enter into glory , when he was come ; so there was an oportuit venire a necessity , ( a necessity induced by that contract ) that he should come in that humiliation , and smother , and suppresse the glory of the divine nature , under a cloud of humane , of passible , of inglorious flesh . So , be his divine nature this head , his sins , all our sins made his , were gone above his head ; And over his head , all those ways , that we considered before , in our selves ; Sicut tectum , sicut fornix , as a roof , as an arch , that had separated between God , and him , in that he prayed , and was not heard ; when in that Transeat Calix , Father , if it be possible , let this cup passe from me , the Cup was not onely not taken out of his hands , but filled up again as fast , as he , in obedience to his Father , dranke of it , more and worse miseries succeeding , and exceeding those which hee had born before . They were above him in clamore , in that voice , in that clamour which was got up to heaven , and in possession of his Fathers ears , before his prayer came , Father , forgive them , for they are not forgiven that sinne of crucifying the Lord of life , yet . They were above his head , tanquam aquae , as an inundation of waters , then when he swet water and bloud , in the Agony , when hee , who had formerly passed his Israel thorough the Red Sea , as though that had not been love large enough , was now himself overflowed with a Red Sea of his owne bloud , for his Israel again . And they were over his head in Dominio , in a Lordship , in a Tyranny , then when those marks of soveraign honour , a robe , and a scepter , and a Crown of thorns were added to his other afflictions . And so is our first part of this Text , the supergressae sunt , the multiplicity of sin , appliable to Christ , as well as to his Type , to David , and to us , the members of his body . And so is the last part , that which we handled to day , too , the gravata sunt , the weight and insupportablenesse of sin . They were heavy , they weighed him down from his Fathers bosome , they made God Man. That one sin could make an Angel a Devill , is a strange consideration ; but that all the sins of the world , could make God Man , is stranger . Yet sinne was so heavy ; Too heavy , sayes the Text. It did not onely make God Man ; in investing our nature by his birth , but it made him no Man , by devesting that body , by death ; and , ( but for the vertue , and benefit of a former Decree ) submitting that body , to the corruption , and putrefaction of the grave ; But this was the peculiar , the miraculous glory of Christ Jesus . He had sin , all our sin , and yet never felt worme of conscience ; He lay dead in the grave , and yet never felt worm of corruption . Sin was heavy ; It made God Man ; Too heavy ; It made Man no Man ; Too heavy for him , even for him , who was God and Man together ; for , even that person , so composed , had certain velleitates , ( as wee say in the School ) certain motions arising sometimes in him , which required a veruntamen , a review , a re-consideration , Not my will , O Father , but thine be done ; and such , as in us , who are pushed on by Originall sinne , and drawn on by sinfull concupiscences in our selves , would become sins , though in Christ they were farre from it . Sin was heavy , even upon him , in all those inconveniences , which wee noted in a burden ; Incurvando , when he was bowed down , and gave his back to their scourges ; Fatigando , when his soul was heavy unto death ; Retardando , when they brought him to think it long , Viquid dereliquisti , Why hast thou forsaken mee ? And then , praecipitando , to make that haste to the Consummatum est , to the finishing of all , as to die before his fellows that were crucified with him , died ; to bow down his head , and to give up his soul , before they extorted it from him . Thus we burdned him ; And thus he unburdned us ; Et cum exonerat nos onerat , when he unburdens us , he burdens us even in that unburdening : Onerat beneficio , cum exonerat peccato . He hath taken off the obligation of sinne , but he hath laid upon us , the obligation of thankfulnesse , and Retribution . Quid retribuam ? What shall I render to the Lord , for all his benefits to me ? is vox onerati , a voyce that grones under the burden , though not of sinne , yet of debt , to that Saviour , that hath taken away that sinne . Exi à me Domine , that which Saint Peter said to Christ , Lord depart from me , for I am a sinfull man , is , says that Father , vox onerati , the voyce of one oppressed with the blessings and benefits of God , and desirous to spare , and to husband that treasure of Gods benefits , as though he were better able to stand without the support of some of those benefits , then stand under the debt , which so many , so great benefits laid upon him : Truly he that considers seriously , what his sins have put the Son of God to , cannot but say , Lord lay some of my sinnes upon me , rather then thy Sonne should beare all this ; that devotion , that says after , Spare thy people , whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious bloud , would say before , spare that Son , that must die , spare that precious bloud , that must be shed to redeeme us . And rather then Christ should truely , really beare the torments of hell , in his soule , ( which torments cannot be severed from obduration , nor from everlastingness ) I would , I should desire , that my sins might return to me , and those punishments for those sins ; I should be ashamed to be so farre exceeded in zeal , by Moses , who would have been blotted out of the book of life , or by Paul , who would have been separated from Christ for his brethren , as that I would not undertake as much , to redeem my redeemer , and suffer the torments of Hell my selfe , rather then hee should ; But it is an insupportable burden of debt , that he hath laid upon me , by suffering that which he suffered , without the torments of Hell. Those words , Vis sanus fieri , hast thou a desire to be well , and a faith that I can make thee well ? are vox ex●nerantis , the words of him that would take off our burden ; But then , the Tolle grabatum & ambula , Take up thy bed and walke , this is vox oncrantis , the voyce of Christ , as he lays a new burden upon us ; ut quod prius suave , jam onerosum sit , that bed which he had ease in before , must now be born with pain ; that sin which was forgotten with pleasure , must now be remembred with Contrition Christ speaks not of a vacuity , nor of a levity ; when he takes off one burden , he lays on another ; nay , two for one . He takes off the burden , of Irremediablenesse , of irrecoverablenesse , and he reaches out his hand , in his Ordinances , in his Word and Sacraments , by which we may be disburdened of all our sins ; but then he lays upon us , Onus resipiscentiae , the burden of Repentance for our selves , and Onus gratitudinis , the burden of retribution , and thankfulnesse to him , in them who are his , by our relieving of them , in whom he suffers . The end of all , ( that we may end all in endlesse comfort ) is , That our word , in the originall , in which the holy Ghost spoake , is Iikkebedu , which is not altogether , as we read them , graves sunt , but graves fieri ; not that they are , but that they were as a burden , too heavy for me ; till I could lay hold upon a Saviour to sustaine me , they were too heavy for me : And by him , I can runne through a troop ( through the multiplicity of my sins , ) and by my God I can leap over a wall ; Though mine iniquities be got over my head , as a wall of separation , yet in Christo omnia possum , In Christ I can doe all things ; Mine iniquities are got over my head ; but my head is Christ ; and in him , I can doe whatsoever hee hath done , by applying his sufferings to my soule for all ; my sins are his , and all his merit is mine : And all my sins shall no more hinder my ascending into heaven , nor my sitting at the right hand of God , in mine own person , then they hindered him , who bore them all in his person , mine onely Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus , blessed for ever . SERMON XXIV . Preached at White-Hall . EZEK . 34. 19. And as for my flock , they eate that , which yee have troen with your feet , and they drink that which yee have foulded with your feet . THose four Prophets , whom the Church hath called the great Prophets , Esay , and Ieremy , Ezekiel and Daniel , are not onely therefore called great , because they writ more , then the lesser Prophets did , ( for Zecbary , who is amongst the lesser , writ more then Daniel who is amongst the greater ) but because their Prophecies are of a larger comprehension , and extent , and , for the most part , speake more of the comming of Christ , and the establishing of the Christian Church , then the lesser Prophets doe , who were more conversant about the temporall deliverance of Israel from Babylon , though there be aspersions of Christ , and his future government in those Prophets too , though more thinly shed . Amongst the four great ones , our Prophet Ezekiel is the greatest . I compare not their extraction and race ; for , though Ezekiel were de genere sacerdotali , of the Leviticall and Priestly race ; ( And , as Philo Iud●us notes , all nations having some markes of Gentry , some calling that ennobled the professors thereof , ( in some Armes , and Merchandize in some , and the Arts in others ) amongst the Iews , that was Priesthood , Priesthood was Gentry ) though Ezekiel were of this race , Esay was of a higher , for he was of the extraction of their Kings , of the bloud royall . But the extraordinary greatnesse of Ezekiel , is in his extraordinary depth , and mysteriousnesse , for this is one of those parts of Scripture , ( as the beginning of Genesis , and the Canticles of Solomon , also are ) which are forbid to be read amongst the Iews , till they come to be thirty years old , which was the Canonicall age to be made Priests ; In so much , that Saint Gregory says , when he comes to expound any part of this Prophet , Noctunum iter ago , that he travelled by night , and did but ghesse at his way . But , besides that many of the obscure places of the Prophets are more open to us , then they were to the ancients , because many of those prophecies are now fulfilled , and so that which was Prophecy to them , is History to us , in this place , which we have now undertaken , there never was darknesse , not difficulty , neither in the first emanation of the light thereof , nor in the reflection ; neither in the Literall , nor in the Figurative sense thereof ; for the literall sense is plainly that , that amongst the manifold oppressions , under which the Children of Israel languished in Babylon , this was the heaviest , that their own Priests joyned with the State against them , and infused pestilent doctrines into them , that so themselves might enjoy the favour of the State , and the people committed to their charge , might slacken their obedience to God , and surrender themselves to all commandements of all men ; This was their oppression , the Church joyned with the Court , to oppresse them ; Their own Priests gave these sheep grasse which they had troden with their feet , ( doctrines , not as God gave them to them , but as they had tampered , and tempered them , and accommodated them to serve turnes , and fit their ends ; whose servants they had made themselves , more then Gods ) And they gave them water to drink which they had troubled with their feet , that is , doctrines mudded with other ends then the glory of God ; And that therefore God would take his sheep into his own care , and reduce them from that double oppression of that Court , and that Church , those Tyrannous officers , and those over-obsequious Priests . This is the literall sense of our text , and context , evident enough in the letter thereof . And then the figurative and Mysticall sense is of the same oppressions , and the same deliverance over againe in the times of Christ , and of the Christian Church ; for that 's more then figurative , fully literall , soon after the Text , I will set up one shepheard , my servant David , And I will raise up for them a plant of renoune , which is the same that Esay had called A rod out of the stem of Iesse , and Ieremy had called A righteous br●nch , a King thus should raigne , and prosper . This prophecy then comprehending the kingdome of Christ , it comprehends the whole kingdome of Christ , not onely the oppressions , and deliverances of our forefathers , from the Heathen , and the Heretiques in the Primitive Church , but that also which touches us more nearly , the oppressions and deliverance of our Fathers , in the Reformation of Religion , and the shaking off of the yoak of Rome , that Italian Babylon , as heavy as the Chald●an . We shall therefore at this time fix our meditations upon that accommodation of the Text , the oppression that the Israel of God was under , then , when he delivered them by that way , the Reformation of Religion , and consider how these metaphors of the holy Ghost , The treading with their feet the grasse that the sheep were to eae , and the troubling with their feet the water that the sheep were to drink , doe answer and set out the oppressions of the Roman Church then , as lively as they did in the other Babylon . And so , having said enough of the primary sense of these words , as they concern Gods Israel , in the first Babylon , and something by way of commemoration , and thankfulnesse , for Gods deliverance of his Israel , from the persecutions in the Primitive Church , insist we now , upon the severall metaphors of the Text , as the holy Ghost continues them to the whole reigne of Christ , and so to the Reformation . First , the greatest calamity of those sheep in Babylon , was that their own shepherds concurred to their oppression . In Babylon they were a part , but in Rome they were all ; In Babylon they joyned with the State , but in Rome they were the State. Saint Hierome notes out of a Tradition of the Iews , that those loafes which their priests were to offer to the Lord , were to be of such corne as those Priests had sowed , and reaped and threshed , and ground , and baked all with their own hands . But they were so farre from that at Babylon , and at Rome , as that they ploughed iniquity , and sowed wickednesse , and reaped the same ; and ( as God himselfe complaines ) trod his portion under foot ; That is , first , neglected his people , ( for Gods people are his portion ) And then whatsoever pious men had given to the Church , is his portion too , and that portion they had troden under foot ; not neglected it , not despised it , for they collected it , and audited it providently enough , but they trod it under foot , when that which was given for the sustentation of the Priest , they turned upon their own splendour , and glory , and surfet : Christ will be fed in the poor that are hungry , and hee will be cloathed in the poore that are naked , so he would be enriched in those poor Ministers that serve at his Altar ; when Christ would be so fed , he desires not feasts and banquets ; when he would be so cloathed , hee desires not soft rayment fit for Kings houses , nor embroyderies , nor perfumes ; when he would be enriched in the poor Church-man , he desires not that he should be a spunge , to drinke up the sweat of others , and live idly ; but yet , as he would not be starved in the hungry , nor submitted to cold and unwholesome ayre in the naked , so neither would he be made contemptible , nor beggerly in the Minister of his Church . Nor , was there in the world , ( take in Turky , and all the heathen ) ( for they also have their Clergy ) a more contemtible & more beggerly Clergy then that of Rome ; I speak of the Clergy in the most proper sense , that is , they that minister , they that officiate , they that execute , they that personally & laboriously do the service of the Church . The prelacies , and Dignities of the Church , were multiplyed in the hands of them , who under pretext of Government , took their ease , and they that labored , were attenuated & macerated , with lean , & penurious pensions . In the best governed Churches there are such Dignities , & supplies without Cure of soules , or personall service ; but they are intended for recompence of former labours , and sustentation of their age , of whose youth , and stronger days , the Church had received benefit . But in the Roman Church these preferments are given almost in the wombe ; and children have them not onely before they can merit them , but before they can speake for them ; and they have some Church-names , Dean , or Bishop , or Abbat , as soon almost as they have any Christian names . Yea , we know many Church dignities , entailed to noble families , and , if it fall void , whilest the child is so incapable , it must be held for him , by some that must resigne it , when it may , by any extent of dispensation , be asked for him . So then the Church joyned with the State , to defraud the people ; The Priest was poorly maintained , and so the people poorely instructed . And this is the first conformity between the two Babylons , the Chaldean and the Italian . Pursue we then the holy Ghosts purpose and manner of implying , and expressing it the food ordained for sheep , Grasse . In which make we onely these two stops , that the sheep are to eate their grasse super terram , upon the ground ; And they are to eate it sinerore , when the dew is off . First , upon the ground ; that is , where the hand of God hath set it ; which for spirituall food is the Church . In hard winters we give sheep hay , but in open times open grasse . In persecutions of Tyrans , in Interdicts of Antichristian Bishops , who sometimes out of passion , or some secular respect shut up Church dores and forbid service , and Sacraments , to whole Cities , to whole nations , sheep must live by hay , Gods Children must relieve themselves at home , by books of pious and devout meditation ; But when God affords abundant pastures , and free entrance thereunto , Gods sheep are to take their grasse upon the ground , Gods grace at the Church . Impossibile est eum corrigere , qui omnia scit , Chrysost : It is an impossible thing to correct him , that thinks he knows all things already . As long as he will admit counsaile from another , he acknowledges the other , to know more then he ; but if he thinks , he knows all before , he hath no room for farther instruction , nor love to the place where it is to be had . We read in the Eastern Histories , of a navigable River , that afforded all the inhabitants exportation , and importation , and all commerce . But when every particular man , to serve his own curiosity , for the offices of his house , for the pleasures of his gardens , and for the sumptuousnesse of Grots and aqueducts , and such water-works , drew severall channells , infinite channells our of this great River , this exhausted the maine channell , and brought it to such a shallownesse , as would beare no boats , and so , took from them the great and common commodities that it had afforded them . So if every man think to provide himselfe Divinity enough at home , for himselfe and his family , and out of laziness and singularity , or state , or disaffection to the preacher leave the Church unfrequented , he frustrates the Ordinance of God , which is , that his sheep should come to his pastures , and take his grasse upon his ground , his instructions at his house at Church . And this we could not doe in the Roman Church , where all our prayers , and all Gods service of that kinde , were in a language , not onely not understood by him that heard it , but for the most part , not by him that spoke it , It is not of their manifold , and scornfull , and ridiculous and histrionicall Ceremonies in their service , nor of the dangerous poysons , the direct Idolatries ( in the practise of the people ) in their service , that we complain of now , but of this , that though it had been never so wholesome grasse , it was not so to those sheep , they could not know it to be their proper aliment , for certainly they aske without faith , that aske without understanding ; nor can I beleeve or hope that God will give me that I aske , if I know not what I asked . And what a miserable supply had they for this in their Legends ; for many of those Legends were in vulgar tongues and understood by them . In which Legends , the Virgin Mary was every good mans wife , and every good womans mid-wife , by a neighborly , and familiar , and ordinary assistant in all houshold offices , as we see in those Legends , and revelations . In which Legends , they did not onely faine actions , which those persons never did , but they fained persons which never were ; and they did not onely mis-canonize men , made Devils Saints , but they mis-christened men , put names to persons , and persons to names that never were . And these legends being transferred into the Church , the sheep lacke their grasse upon the ground , that is , the knowledge of Gods will , in his house , at Church . And this is another conformity between the two Babylons , the Chaldean , and the Italian Babylon , that the sheep lacked due food in the due place . So is it also , that the sheep eat their grasse , whilest the Dew was upon it , which is found by experience to be unwholesome . The word of God is our grasse , which should be delivered purely , simply , sincerely , and in the naturall verdure thereof . The Dews which we intend , are Revelations , Apparitions , Inspirations , Motions , and Interpretations of the private spirit . Now , though we may see the naturall dew to descend from heaven , yet it did first ascend from the earth , and retains still some such earthly parts , as sheep cannot digest . So howsoever these Revelations and Inspirations seem to fall upon us from heaven , they arise from the earth , from our selves , from our own melancholy , and pride , or our too much homelinesse and familiarity in our accesses , and conversation with God , or a facility in beleeving , or an often dreaming the same thing . And with these Dews of Apparitions and Revelations , did the Romane Church make our fathers drunk and giddy ; And against these does S. Augustine devoutly pray , and praise God , that he had delivered him from the curiosity of sipping these dews , of hearkning after these apparitions and revelations . But so ordinary were these apparitions then , as that any son , or nephew , or friend , could discern his fathers , or uncles , or companions soul , ascending out of Purgatory into heaven , and know them as distinctly , as if they kept the same haire , and beard , and bodily lineaments , as they had upon earth . And as a ship which hath struck Sail , will yet goe on with the winde it had before , for a while , so now , when themselves are come to acknowledge , That it was the unanime opinion of the Fathers , that the souls of the dead did not appeare after death , but that it was still the Devil , howsoever sometimes that that he proposed were holy & religious , yet we see a great Author of theirs attribute so much to these apparitions , and revelations , that when he pretends to prove all controversies by the Fathers of the Church , he every where intermingles that reverend Book , of Brigids Revelations , that they might also have some Mothers of the Church too ; which is not disproportionall in that Church ; if they have had a woman Pope , to have Mothers of the Church too . I speak not this , as though God might not , or did not manifest his will by women ; The great mystery of the Resurrection of Christ was revealed to women before men ; and to the sinfullest woman of company , first . But I speak of that bold injury done to the mysteries of the Christian Religion , by pouring out that dew upon the grasse , the Revelations of S. Brigid , upon the controversies of Religion . A book of so much blasphemy , and impertinency , and incredibility , that if a Heathen were to be converted , he would sooner be brought to beleeve Ovids Metamorphoses , then Brigids Revelations , to conduce to Religion . And this is also another conformity between the two Babylons , the Chaldean , and the Italian Babylon , that we could not receive our grasse pure , but infected , and dewed with these frivolous , nay pernicious apparitions , and Revelations . But press we a little closer to the very steps , & metaphor of the holy Ghost , who here lays the corrupting of the sheeps grasse in this , That the shepheards had troden it down . And this treading down will be pertinently considered two ways . Tertullian in his Book De habitu muliebri , notes two excesses in womens dressing ; One he cals Ornatum , the other cultum ; One mundum muliebrem , the other , ( according to the liberty that he takes in making words ) Immundum muliebrem ; the first is a superfluous diligence in their dressing , but the other an unnaturall addition to their complexion ; the first he pronounces to be always ad ambitionem , for pride , but the other , ad prostitutionem , for a worse , for the worst purpose . These two sorts of Excesses doe note these two kindes of treading down the grasse , which we intend ; of which one is , the mingling of too much humane ornament , and secular learning in preaching , in presenting the word of God , which word is our grasse ; The other is of mingling humane Traditions , as of things of equall value , and obligation , with the Commandements of God. For the first , humane ornament , if in those pastures , which are ordain'd for sheep , you either plant rare and curious flowers , delightfull onely to the eye , or fragrant and odoriferous hearbs delightfull onely to the smell , nay , be they medicinall hearbs , usefull , and behovefull for the preservation , and restitution of the health of man , yet if these specious and glorious flowers , and fragrant , and medicinall hearbs , be not proper nourishment for sheep , this is a treading down of the grasse , a pestering and a suppressing of that which appertained to them . So if in your spirituall food , our preaching of the Word , you exact of us more secular ornament , then may serve , as Saint Augustine says , Ad ancillationem , to convey , and usher the true word of life into your understandings , and affections , ( for both those must necessarily be wrought upon ) more then may serve ad vehiculum , for a chariot for the word of God to enter , and triumph in you , this is a treading down of the grasse , a filling of that ground which was ordained for sheep , with things improper , and impertinent to them . If you furnish a Gallery with stuffe proper for a Gallery , with Hangings and Chairs , and Couches , and Pictures , it gives you all the conveniencies of a Gallery , walks and prospect , and ease ; but if you pester it with improper and impertinent furniture , with Beds , and Tables , you lose the use , and the name of a Gallery , and you have made it a Wardrobe ; so if your curiosity extort more then convenient ornament , in delivery of the word of God , you may have a good Oration , a good Panegyrique , a good Encomiastique , but not so good a Sermon . It is true that Saint Paul applies sentences of secular Authors , even in matters of greatest importance ; but then it is to persons that were accustomed to those authors , and affected with them , and not conversant , not acquainted at all , with the phrase and language of Scripture amongst us now , almost every man ( God be blessed for it ) is so accustomed to the text of Scripture , as that he is more affected with the name of David , or Saint Paul , then with any Seneca or Plutarch . I am far from forbidding secular ornament in divine exercises , especially in some Auditories , acquainted with such learnings . I have heard men preach against witty preaching ; and doe it with as much wit , as they have ; and against learned preaching , with as much learning , as they could compasse . If you should place that beast , which makes the Bezoar stone , in a pasture of pure , but onely grasse , it is likely , that out of his naturall faculty , he would petrifie the juyce of that grasse , and make it a stone , but not such a medicinall stone , as he makes out of those herbes which he feeds upon . Let all things concur in the name of God , to the advancing of his purpose , in his ordinance , which is , to make his will acceptable to you , by his word ; onely avoid excesse in the manner of doing it . Saint Augustines is an excellent rule , when after in his book De Doctrina Christiana , he had taught a use of all Arts in Divinity , he allows them onely thus far , ut cum ingenia his reddantur exercitatiora , cavendum ne reddantur maligniora , that when a man by these helps is the more ful , and the more ready & the more able for Church service , he be not also thereby made the more bold and the more confident ; Nec ament decipere verisimili sermone , lest because he is able to make any thing seem probable and likely to the people , by his eloquence , he come to infuse paradoxicall opinions , or schismaticall , or ( which may be beleeved either way ) problematicall opinions , for certain and constant truths , and so be the lesse conversant , and the lesse diligent in advancing plaine , and simple , and fundamentall doctrines and catechisticall , which are truely necessary to salvation , as though such plaine , and ordinary , and catechisticall doctrines were not worthy of his gifts and his great parts . In a word , in sheep-pastures you may plant fruit trees in the hedge-rowes ; but if you plant them all over , it is an Orchard ; we may transfer flowers of secular learning , into these exercises ; but if they consist of those , they are but Themes , and Essays . But why insist we upon this ? Was there any such conformity between the two Babylons as that the Italian Babylon can be said to have troden down the grasse in that kinde , with overcharging their Sermons with too much learning . Truly it was far , very very far from it ; for when they had prevailed in that Axiome , and Aphorisme of theirs , that it was best to keep the people in ignorance , they might justly keep the Priest in ignorance too ; for when the people needed no learned instruction , what needed the Church a learned instructer ? And therefore I laid hold of this consideration , the treading down of grass , by oppressing it with secular learning , there by to bring to your remembrance , the extreme ignorance that damp'd the Roman Church , at that time ; where Aristotles Metaphysicks were condemned for Heresie , and ignorance in generall made not onely pardonable , but meritorious . Of which times , if at any time , you read the Sermons , which were then preached , and after published , you will excuse them of this treading down the grass , by oppressing their auditories with over-much learning , for they are such Sermons as will not suffer us to pity them , but we must necessarily scorne , and contemne , and deride them ; Sermons , at which the gravest , and saddest man could not choose but laugh ; not at the Sermon , God forbid ; nor at the plainness , and homeliness of it ; God forbid ; but at the Soloecismes , the barbarismes , the servilities , the stupid ignorance of those things which fall within the knowledge of boys of the first forme in every School . This was their treading down of grass , not with over-much learning , but with a cloud , a dampe , an earth of ignorance . After an Oxe that oppresseth the grass , after a Horse that devours the grass , sheep will feed ; but after a Goose that stanches the grass , they will not ; no more can Gods sheep receive nourishment from him that puts a scorne upon his function , by his ignorance . But in the other way of treading down grass , ( that is , the word of God ) by the Additions and Traditions of men , the Italian Babylon Rome abounded , superabounded , overflowed , surrounded all . And this is much more dangerous then the other ; for this mingling of humane additions , and traditions , upon equall necessity , and equall obligation as the word of God it selfe , is a kneading , an incorporating of grasse and earth together , so , as that it is impossible for the weake sheep , to avoid eating the meat of the Serpent , Dust shalt thou eate all the days of thy life . Now man upon his transgression , was not accursed , nor woman ; The sheep were not accursed ; But the earth was , and the Serpent was ; and now this kneading , this incorporating of earth with grasse , traditions with the word , makes the sheep to eate the cursed meat of the cursed Serpent , Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life . Now , in this treading down this grasse , this way , this suppressing it by traditions , be pleased to consider these two applications ; some traditions doe destroy the word of God , extirpate it , annihilate it , as when a Hog doth root up the grass ; In which case , not onely that turfe withers , and is presently useless , and unprofitable to the sheep , but if you dig never so low after , down to the Center of the earth , it is impossible ever to finde any more grass under it : so some traditions doe utterly oppose the word of God , without having under them , any mysterious signification , or any occasion or provocation of our devotion , which is the ordinary pretext of traditions , and Ceremoniall additions in their Church . And of this sort was that amongst the Iews , of which our blessed Saviour reproches them , that whereas by the law , children were to relieve decayed parents , they had brought in a tradition , of Commutation , of Compensation , that if those children gave a gift to the Priest , or compounded with the Priest , they were discharged of the former obligation . And of this sort are many traditions in the Roman Church ; where , not onely the doctrines of men but the doctrine of Devills , ( as the Apostle calls the forbidding of Mariage , and of meats ) did not onely tread down , but root up the true grass . The other sort of Traditions , and Ceremonies , doe not as the Hog , root up the grass , but as a Mole , cast a slack , and thin earth upon the face of the grass . Now , if the shepheard , or husbandman be present to scatter this earth againe , the sheep receive no great harme , but may safely feed upon the wholesome grass , that is under ; but if the sheep , who are not able to scatter this earth , nor to finde the grass that lies under , be left to their own weakness , they may as easily starve in this case , as in the other ; the Mole may damnifie them as much as the Hog . And of this sort , are those traditions , which induce Ceremonies into the Church , in vestures , in postures of the body , in particular things , and words , and actions , in Baptisme or Mariage , or any other thing to be transacted in the Church . These ceremonies are not the institutions of God immediately , but they are a kind of light earth , that hath under it good and usefull significations , which when they be understood conduce much to the encrease and advancement of our devotion , and of the glory of God. And this is the iniquity that we complaine of in the Roman Church , that when we accuse them of multiplying impertinent , and insupportable ceremonies , they tell us , of some mysterious and pious signification , in the institution thereof at first ; They tell us this , and it is sometimes true ; But neither in Preaching nor practise , doe they scatter this earth to their own sheep , or shew them the grass that lies under , but suffer the people , to inhere , and arrest their thoughts , upon the ceremony it selfe , or that to which that ceremony mis-leads them ; as in particular , ( for the time will not admit many examples ) when they kneel at the Sacrament , they are not told , that they kneel because they are then in the act of receiving an inestimable benefit at the hands of God , ( which was the first reason of kneeling then ) And because the Priest is then in the act of prayer in their behalfe , that that may preserve them , in body and soule , unto eternall life . But they are suffered to go one , in kneeling in adoration of that bread , which they take to be God. We deny not that there are Traditions , nor that there must be ceremonies , but that matters of faith should depend of these , or be made of these , that we deny ; and that they should be made equall to Scriptures ; for with that especially doth Tertullian reproch the Heretiques , that being pressed with Scriptures , they fled to Traditions , as things equall or superiour to the word of God. I am loth to depart from Tertullian , both because he is every where a Patheticall expresser of himselfe , and in this point above himselfe . Nobis curiositate opus non est , post Iesum Christum , nec Inquisitione , post Evangelium . Have we seen that face of Christ Jesus here upon earth , which Angels desired to see , and would we see a better face ? Traditions perfecter then the word ? Have we read the four Evangelists , and would we have a better Library ? Traditions fuller then the word ? Cum credimus● nihil desideramus ultra credere ; when I beleeve God in Christ , dead , and risen againe according to the Scriptures , I have nothing else to beleeve ; Hoc enim prius credimus , non esse quod ultra credere debeamus ; This is the first Article of my Faith , that I am bound to beleeve nothing but articles of faith in an equall necessity to them . Will we be content to be well , and thank God , when we are well ? Hilary tells us , when we are well ; Bene habet quod iis , quae scripta sunt , contentus sis ; then thou art well , when thou satisfiest thy self with those things , which God hath vouchsafed to manifest in the Scriptures . Si aliquis aliis verbis , quàm quibus à Deo dictum est , demonstrare velit , if any man will speake a new language , otherwise then God hath spoken , and present new Scriptures , ( as he does that makes traditions equall to them ) Aut ipse non intelligit , aut legentibus non intelligendum relinquit , either he understands not himself , or I may very well be content not to understand him , if I understand God without him . The Fathers abound in this opposing of Traditions , when out of those traditions , our adversaries argue an insufficiency in the Scriptures . Solus Christus audiendus , says Saint Cyprian , we hearken to none but Christ ; nec debemus attendere quid aliquis ante nos faciendum putarit , neither are we to consider what any man before us thought fit to be done , sed quid qui ante emnes est , fecerit ; but what he , who is before all them , did ; Christ Iesus and his Apostles , who were not onely the primitive but the pre-primitive Church , did and appointed to be done . In this treading down of our grasse then in the Roman Church , first by their supine Ignorance , and barbarisme , and then by traditions , of which , some are pestilently iufectious and destroy good words , some cover it so , as that not being declared to the people in their signification , they are uselesse to them , no Babylon could exceed the Italian Babylon , Rome , in treading down their grasse . Their oppression was as great in the other , In troubling their water , My sheep drink that which you have troubled . When the Lord is our shepherd , he leadeth us ad aquas quietudinum , to the waters of rest , of quietnesse ; of these , in the plurall , quietudinum , quietness of body , and quietness of Conscience too . The endowments of heaven are Ioy , and Glory ; joy , and glory are the two Elements , the two Hemispheres of Heaven ; And of this Joy , and this Glory of heaven , we have the best earnest that this world can give , if we have rest ; satisfaction and acquiescence in our religion , for our beleefe , and for our life and actions , peace of Conscience . And where the Lord is our shepherd he leads us , and ad aquas quietudinum , to the waters of rest , multiplyed rest ; all kind of rest . But the shepherds , in our text , troubled the waters ; and more then so ; for we have just cause to note the double signification of this word , which we translate Trouble , and to transfer the two significations to the two Sacraments , as they are exhibited in the Roman Babylon ; The word is Mirpas ; and it denotes not onely Conturbationem , a troubling , a mudding , but Obturationem too , an interception , a stopping , as the Septuagint translates it , Prov. 35. and in these two significations of the word , a troubling , and a stopping of the waters , hath the Roman Church exercised her tyranny , and her malignity , in the two Sacraments . For , in the Sacrament of Baptisme , they had troubled the water , with additions of Oile , and salt , and spittle , and exorcismes ; But in the other Sacrament of they came Ad obturationem , to a stopping , to an intercision , to an interruption of the water , the water of life , Aquae quietudinum , the water of rest to our souls , and peace to our consciences , in withholding the Cup of salvation , the bloud of Christ Jesus from us . So that if thou come to Davids holy expostulation , Quid retribuam , what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me ; And pursue it to Davids holy resolution , Accipiam Calicem , I will take the Cup of salvation , you shall be told , Sir you must take Orders first , or you cannot take that Cup. But water is as common as Aire ; And as that Element Aire , in our spirituall food , that is preaching , ( which is Spiritus Domini , the breath of God ) is common to all , I●e , praedicate omni Creaturae , goe preach the Gospell to every Creature , so is this water of life in the Sacrament , common to all , Bibite ex eo omnes , Drink yee all of this ; and thereby doe the names of Communion , and participation accrew to it , because all have an interest in it . This is that bloud , of which Saint Chrysostome says , Hic sanguis facit , ut Imago Dei in nobis floreat ; That we have the Image of God in our souls , we have by the benefit of the same nature , by which we have our souls ; There cannot be a humane soule without the Image of God in it . But , ut floreat , that this Image appear to us , and be continually refreshed in us , ut non Languescat animae nobilitas , that this holy noblenesse of the soule doe not languish not degenerate in us , we have by the benefit of this bloud of Christ Iesus the seale of our absolution in that blessed and glorious Sacrament ; And that bloud they deny us . This is that bloud of which they can make as much as they will , with a thought , with an intention ; so , as they pretend a power , of changing a whole vintage at once , all the wine of all the nations in the world , into the bloud of Christ , if the Priest have an intention to doe so , in the time of his Consecration ; And yet , as easily as they come by it , they will givesus none . They have told us , that we had it per Concomitantiam , by a necessary concomitancy ; That because we had the body in the bread , and that body could not be without the bloud , that therefore we had the bloud also . But if the bread alone be enough , if the Cup be impertinent , why did Christ give it ? If we have no losse in their detaining it from us , what gain have they in retaining it to themselves , let all have it , or none ? It is true that they can performe all the ill , that they would doe , by the bread alone . They can worke the spirituall ill , of inducing adoration to a Creature , by the bread alone ; And they could work the temporall ill , of poysoning an Emperour in the Sacrament , by the bread alone . They can come to all their purposes , to all their ill , by the bread alone , but we have not all our good , because we have not Christs intire Institution . And so in this troubling , and in this stopping of these waters , in these confusions , we challenge any Babylon , in the behalfe of this Italian Babylon , Rome . All these oppressions are aggravated by the last , and ( as weightiest things sink to the bottome ) so is this in the bottome the heaviest pressure , that they did this with their feet , they corrupted the grasse with their feet , and troubled the waters with their feet . Now in the Scriptures , when this word , feet , doth not signifie that part of mans body which is ordinarily so called , but is transferred to a Metaphoricall signification , ( as in our text it is ) it does most commonly signifie Affections , or Power . So the Lord will keep the feet of his Saints ; that is , direct their desires , and affections in the ways of holinesse . And then for Power , ( which is the more frequent acceptation of the word ) he will not suffer thy foot to be moved , that is , thy power to be shaked ; And all such places , qui festinus , he hath hasteth with his feet sinneth , our interpreters expound of a hasty abuse of Power ; And those , they have not refrained their feet , and then , thy feet are sunk in the mire , are still interpreted of Power , of a wonton abuse of Power , or of a withdrawing this Power from man , by God ; feet signifies Affections , and them corrupted and depraved , and power , and that abused . David seems to have joyned them , ( as when they are joyned , they must necessarily be the most heavy ) in that prayer , Let not the foot of pride come against me . The hand of pride , nay the sword of pride , affects not a tender soule so much , as the foot of pride ; to be oppressed , and that with scorne ; not so much in an anger , as in a wantonnesse . Rehoboams people were more confounded , with that scornfull answer of his to them , when they were come , ( My little finger shall be thicker then my Fathers loynes ; my father chastised you with whips , but I will chastise you with Scorpions ) then they were with the grievances themselves , for which they came ; when the King would not onely be cruelly sharp , but wittily sharp upon them , this cut on every side , and pierced deep . And so doe the Rabbins , the Jewish expositors expound this text , literally , that in the captivity of Babylon , the great men of their Synagogues , compounded with the State , and for certain tributes , had commissions , by which they governed their people at their pleasure , and so milked them to the last drop , the last drop of bloud , and sheared them to the naked skin , & then flead off that , & al this while laughed at them , contemned them , because they had no where , to appeal , nor relieve themselves : And this we complain to have been the proceeding in the Italian Babylon , Rome , with our Fathers , They oppressed them , with their feet , that is , with Power , and with scorne . First , for their illimited and enormous Power , they had so slumbred , so intoxicated the Princes of the Earth , the weaker by intimidations , the stronger by communicating the spoile , and suffering those Princes to take some fleeces , from some of the sheep in their dominions , as there was no reliefe any way . They record , nay they boast , gloriously , triumphantly , of three score thousand of the Waldenses , slain by them in a day , in the beginning of the Reformation ; and Possevine the Jesuit will not lose the glory of recording the five hundred thousand , slain in a very few years , onely in France , and the low Countrey , for some declarations of their desire of a Reformation . Let all those innumerable numbers of wretches , ( but now victorious Saints in the Triumphant Church ) who have breathed out their souls in the Inquisition ( where even the solicitations of Kings , and that for their own sons , have not prevailed ) confess the power , the immensness of that power , then , when as under some of the Roman Emperours , it was treason to weep , treason to sigh , treason to look pale , treason to fall sicke , and all these were made arguments of discontent , and ill affection , to the present government : so in Rome , there were Hereticall sighes , Hereticall teares , palenesse , and Hereticall sicknesse ; every things was interpreted to be an accusation of the present times , and an anhelation after a Reformation , and that was formall heresie , three pil'd , deep-died heresie : so that a man durst scarce have prayed for the enlarging of Gods blessings to the Church , because to with it better , seemed a kind of accusing of it , that it was not well already ; and it was heresie to thinke so . Let those Israelites , which found no way from this Egypt , but by the red sea , no way out of Idolatry , but by Martyrdome , as they have testified for Christ , so testifie against Antichrist , how heavy his feet , as feet signifie Power , trod upon the necks of Princes and people . But that that affected and afflicted most , was the scorne and the contempt , that accompanied their oppressions . To bring Kings to Kisse his feet , was a scorne ; but that scorne determined in man ; but it was a scorne to God himselfe , to say that he had said , it should be so , to apply Scripture to the justification thereof , Kings and Queens shall bow down to thee , their faces towards the Earth , and lick up the dust of thy feet . But limit we all considerations of their scorne in one ; In this , that they did these wrongs professedly , and without any disguise . Great men will oppress and ruine others , a great while before they will be content to be seen and known to doe it . There is such a kinde of reverence , not onely to Law , but even to honour , and opinion , as that men are lothe to publish their evill actions ; To sinne as Sodome did , and not to hide it , is an evidence , of neglecting , and scorning of all the world . And therefore the Roman Historiographers would not forbeare to note the insolency of that young gallant , who knowing what any man whom he strook could recover by action against him , would strike every poor soul or inferiour person , whom he met in the street and then bid his man give him so much money , as the Law would for damages . And this oppressing with scorne , this proceeding without any respect of fame , we note ( for hast ) but in two things , in the Italian Babylon Rome ; first , in that Book , their Taxa Camerae , and then in that doctrine , their Reservatio Casuum , that they durst compose , and divulge such a book , as their , Taxa Camerae , which is an Index , a Repertory for all sinnes , and in which every man may see beforehand , how much money , an Adultery , an Incest , a Murder , a Parricide , or any other sinne , whose name he would never have thought of , but by that Remembrancer , that book will cost him , that so , he may sinne , and not undoe himself , sinne according to his means , and within his compasse , that they durst let the world see such a book , was argument enough that they were fear'd up , and scorned all that all men could think , or say , or doe in opposition . So also is their Reservation of Cases ; that though all Priests have an equall power of remitting all sins , yet are some sinnes reserved onely to Prelates , some onely to the Popes Legats , some onely to the Pope himselfe . Is not this a scornfull spurning and kicking of the world , a plain telling them that all is done for money , and shall be so , say all the world what it can . They have a nationall custome in civill curtesies in that place in Italy , to offer entertainments and lendings of money , and the like , but it must not be accepted . It is a discurtesie , to take their courteous offers in earnest . Will they play so with the great Seale of heaven , the remission and absolution of sins , and send out their Priests with that commission , whose sinnes yee forgive , are forgiven , but see you forgive none upon which we have set a higher price , and reserved to our selves . They had such a fashion in old Rome , whilest the Republique stood ; He that was admitted to Triumph must invite the Consuls to the feast , and the Consuls must promise to come , but they must forbeare , lest their presence should diminish the glory of the Triumpher . So the Priest must professe that he hath ( as he hath indeed ) power to remit all sinnes , but there are a great many , that he must not meddle withall . They practise this reservation upon higher persons then their ordinary Priests , upon Cardinals . A Cardinall is created , and by that creation he hath a voice in all the great affairs of the world , but at his creation Os clauditur à Papa , he that made him , makes him dumbe , and he that out of the nature of his place is duly to be heard over all the world , must not be heard in the Consistory , the Pope gives him an universall voice , and then shuts his mouth ; He makes him first a Giant , and then a dwarfe in an houre ; He makes him thunder , and speechlesse , all at once ; fearfull to the Kings of the earth , if he might speak , but he must not . They were not content to make Merchandize of our souls , but they make plays , jests , scornes , of matter of salvation , and play fast and loose with that soveraign Balsamum of our souls , the absolution and remission of sins . Though , no doubt , many of them confess in their own bosomes , that which one of them professes ingenuously , and publiquely , Diffiteri non possumus abusum Reservationum , & stragem animarum in iis ; we cannot deny the abuse of reservations , even to the butchery of those poor souls , who , by reason of these reservations , want their absolution , Dolendum , deflendum , pecuniâ numeratâ , omnia dispensare ; This deserves all our teares , all our sighs , that for money , and not without it , all sinnes are dispensed withall ; but there are fixed seasons for salvation , ( some remissions and pardons are reserved to certain times of the year ) and there are fixt shops of salvation , ( some remissions and pardons are appropriated to certain Fairs and Markets , and cannot be given ( that is sold ) at any other time , or place . And farther we cannot ( we need not ) extend this accommodation of the words of our text , literally intended of the condition of Gods Children in Babylon , but pregnantly appliable to the condition of our Fathers in the Italian Babylon , Rome . But having at this time seen the oppressions that those shepheards inflicted there , for the rest which are many and important considerations , as first that they staid , that they eate that grasse , that yet they remained Gods sheep , and remained his flock , his Church , though a Church under a greater Church ; And then the behaviour of the sheep , whilst they staid there , their obedience to Gods call in comming from them when he called them , and made them way ; And lastly the little ground that our Separatists can have , for their departing from us either by Israels departing from Babylon , or our Fathers departing from Rome , must be the exercise of your devotion another day . SERMON XXV . Preached at White-Hall . The second Sermon on EZEK . 34. 19. And as for my flock , they eate that , which yee have troden with your feet , and they drink that which yee have fouled with your feet . AS by way of accommodation , we have considered these words , as they concern the iniquity and oppression of the shepheards , ( that is , the chief rulers amongst the Iews ) in the Chaldean Babylon , and as they are appliable to the condition of our Fathers in the Italian Babylon , Rome , so now in this exercise are we to consider , the behaviour of the sheep , their nature , and their demeanour under all these pressures ; in which we have many steps to goe ; All these ; first , Manebant , that for all this ill usage there they did stay , they did not breake out , not scatter themselves , manebant ; And then Edebant , though their grasse were troden , and their water troubled , yet they did eat that grasse , and they did drink that water , Edebant ; And doing so , Manebant Oves , they continued sheep , they lost not the nature , nor property of sheep , Manebant Oves , and Oves Dei , they continued Gods sheep ; ( for the Devill hath his sheep too ) my sheep , says God ; not those which bad been mine , when they eat fresh grasse , and drunke pure water , but then , when they eat troden grasse , and drunke troubled water , they were Gods sheep ; And more then that , they were Grex Dei , Gods flock ; for those whom our former translation calls my sheep , the latter calls my flock ; God hath single sheep in many corners of the heathen , but these , though thus fed , were his flock , his Church . But then , though they staid Gods leasure , and lived long upon this ill diet , yet when God was pleased to call them out of Babylon , out of Babylon they went , when God was pleased to lead our Fathers out of Rome , they left it . And justly , howsoever our Adversaries load us with contumelious names for that departure ; in which branch , we shall see the vanity of their criminations , and imputations to us for that secession from them . And then lastly , by way of condoling and of instructing , we shall make it appear to our weak brethren , that our departing from Rome , can be no example , no justification of their departing from us . Our branches then , from whence we are to gather our fruit , being thus many , it is time to lay hold upon the first , which is Manebant , Though these sheep were thus ill fed , yet they did stay . Optimis ovibus pedes breves ; The best sheep have-shortest leggs ; Their commendation is , not to make hast in straying away . He that hasteth with his feet sinneth ; that is , from the station in which God hath placed him . Si innumera bona fecerimus , If we have abounded in good works , and done God never so good service , Non minores Poenas dabimus , quàm qui Christi corpus proscindebant , si integritatem Ecclesiarum discerpserimus , we are as guilty in the eies of God , as they that crucifyed the Lord of life himselfe , if we violate his spouse , or rent the intirenesse of his Church . Vir quidam sanctus dixit , ( says the same father of another , Chrysostome of Cyprian ) A certaine holy man hath ventured to say , Quod audaciùs sapere videtur , attamen dixit , That which perchance may seem bodily sayd , but yet he sayd it ; what was it ? This , peccatum istud nec martyrio deleri ; That this sin of schisme , of renting the unity of the Church , cannot be expiated no not by Martyrdome it self . When God had made but a hedge about Iob , yet that hedge was such a ●ence as the Devill could not break in : when God hath carryed Murum aeneum a wall of brasse , nay Murum igneum , a wall of fire about his Church , wilt thou break out through that wall , that brasse , that fire ? Paradise was not walled , nor hedged ; and there were serpents in Paradise too ; yet Adam offered not to goe out of Paradise , till God drove him out ; and God saw that he would have come in againe , if the Cherubims and the flaming sword had not been placed by God to hinder him . Charme the Charmer never so wisely , ( as David speaks ) he cannot utter a sweeter , nor a more powerfull charme , ●hen that , Ego te baptizo , I baptize thee in the name of the Father , and of the Sonne , and of the Holy Ghost ; And , Nos admittimus , we receive this child , into the congregation of Christs slock ; There is a sweet and a powerfull charm , in the Ego te absolvo , I absolve thee from all thy sins ; But this blessed charm I may heare from another , if I stray into another Church . But the Ego te baptizo I can heare but once ; and to depart from that Church , in which I have received my baptism , and in which I have made my Contracts and my stipulations with God , and pledged and engaged my sureties there , deserve a mature consideration ; for I may mistake the reasons upon which I goe , and I may finde after , that there are more true errours in the Church I goe to , then there were imaginary in that that I left . Truly I have been sorry to see some persons converted from the Roman Church , to ours ; because I have known , that onely temporall respects have moved them , and they have lived after rather in a nullity , or indifferency to either religion , then in a true , and established zeale . Of which kinde , I cannot forbeare to report to you so much of the story of a French gentleman , who though he were of good parts , and learned , yet were not worthy to be mentioned in this place , but that he soar'd so high , as to write against the learnedst King , that any age hath produc'd , our incomparable King Iames. This man , who was turned from the Reformed to the Roman religion , being asked , halfe in jest ; Sir , which is the best religion , you must needs know , that have been of both ? answered , Certainely , the religion I left , the reformed religion , must needs be the best religion , for when I changed , I had this religion , the Romans religion , for it , and three hundred Crowns a year to boot ; which was a pension given him , upon his conversion . Neither truely doth any thing more loosen a mans footing , nor slacken his hold upon that Church in which he was baptized , nor open him more to an undervaluation of all Churches , then when he gives himselfe leave , to thinke irreverently , slightly , negligently of the Sacraments , as of things , at best , indifferent , and , many times , impertinent . I should thinke I had no bowels , if they had not earn'd and melted , when I heard a Lady , whose child of five or sixe daies , being ready to die every minute , she being mov'd often that the child might be christened , answered , That , if it were Gods will , that the child should live to the Sabbath , that it might be baptized in the Congregation , she should be content , otherwise , Gods will be done upon it , for God needs no Sacrament . With what sorrow ; with what holy indignation did I heare the Sonne of my friend , who brought me to that place , to minister the Sacrament to him , then upon his death-bed , and almost at his last gaspe , when my service was offered him in that kinde , answer his Father , Father , I thanke God , I have not lived so in the sight of my God , as that I need a Sacrament . I name a few of these , because our times abound with such persons as undervalue , not onely all rituall , and ceremoniall assistances of devotion , which the wisdome , and the piety of the Church hath induced , but even the Sacraments themselves , of Christs owne immediate institution , and are alwaies open to solicitations to passe to another Church , upon their own surmises of errours in their own . Whereas there belongs much consideration , and a well grounded assurance , of fundamentall errours in one Church , and that those errours are repayred , and no other , as great as those , admitted , in the other Church , before , upon any collaterall pretences , we abandon that Church , in which God hath sealed us to himselfe in Baptisme . Our Fathers stayd in Rome ; Manebant , They stayd , and Edebant , they eat that grasse , and they drunke that water , which was troden and troubled . Alasse , what should they have eaten , what should they have drunke ? should a man strangle himselse rather then take in an ill ayre ? Or forbear a good table , because his stomach cannot digest every dish ? We doe not call money , base money , till the Allay exceed the pure metall ; and if it doe so , yet it may be currant , and serve to many offices ; Those that are skilfull in that art , know how to sever the base from the pure , the good parts of the religion from the bad ; and those that are not , will not cast it away , for all the corrupt mixture . It is true , they had been better to have stayd at home and served God in private , then to have communicated in a superstitious service . Domum vestram Christi Ecclesian deputamus , I shall never doubt to call your House the Church of Christ. But this was not permitted to our Fathers ; to serve God at home ; to Church they must come , and there , all their grasse was troden , and all their water troubled . What should they doe ? God never brings us to a perplexity , so as that we must necessarily do one sinne to avoyd another . Never● It seemes that the Apostles had been traduced , and insimulated of teaching this Doctrine , That in some cases evill might be done that good might follow ; and therefore doth S. Paul with so much diligence discharge himself of it . And yet , long after this , when those men , who attempted the Reformation , whom they called Pauperes de Lugduno , taught that Doctrine , That no lesse sinne might he done , to escape a greater , this was imputed to them , then , by the Roman Church , for an Heresie ; That that was Orthodox in Saint Paul , was Heresie in them that ●studyed a Reformation . But the Doctrine stands like a rocke against all waves , That nothing that is naturally ill , intrinsecally sinne , may upon any pretence be done , not though our lifes , nor the lifes of all the Princes in the world , though the frame , and beeing of the whole world , though the salvation of our souls lay upon it ; no sinne , naturally , intrinsecally sinne might be done , for any respect . Christus peccatum factus est , sed non fesit peccatum , Though Christ pursued our redemption with hunger , and thirst , yet he would have left us unredeemed , rather then have committed any sinne . Of this kinde therefore , naturally , intrinsecally sinne , and so known to be to them that did it , certainely our Fathers coming to the superstitious service in the Church of Rome , was not : for had it been , naturally sinne , and so known to them , when they did it , they could not have been saved , otherwise then by repentance after , which we cannot presume in their behalfe , for there are not testimonies of it . If any of them had invested at any time a scruple , a doubt whether they did well or no , alasse how should they devest and overcome that scruple ? To whom durst they communicate that doubt ? They were under an invincible ignorance , and sometimes under an indevestible scruple . They had heard that Christ commanded to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees , and Sadduces , and so of the Herodians ; that is , of the doctrines of those particular sects ; of affirming Fate , and Destiny , and Stoicall necessity , with the Pharisees ; of denying Spirits , and Resurrection with the Sadduces ; of mis-applying the prophesies concerning the Messias , to the person of Herod , or any earthly King ; But yet , after all this , he commands them to observe , and performe the doctrine of the Pharisees , because they sate in Moses chaire ; Though with much vehemence and bitternesse , he call them Hypocrites , though with many ingeminations upon every occasion , he reiterate that name , though he aggravate that name with other names of equall reproach , Fools , blinde guides , painted tombes , and the like , yet he commands to obey them ; and , which is most remarkable , this is sayd , not onely to the common sort , but even to his own disciples too ; Christ had begunne his work of establishing a Church , which should empty their Synagogues ; but because that worke was not yet perfected , he would not withdraw the people from their Synagogues ; for there wrought Gods Ordinance , ( though corrupted by the workmen ) which Ordinance was , that the law should be publiquely expounded to the people ; and so it was there ; There God was present ; And though the Devill ( by their corruption ) were there too , yet , the Devill came in at the window , God at the dore ; the Devill by stealth , God by his declared Ordinance , and Covenant . And this was the case of our Fathers in the Roman Church ; They must know that all that hath passed between God and man hath passed Ex pacto , by way of contact and covenant . The best works of the best man have no proportion with the kingdome of heaven , for I give God but his own : But I have it Ex pacto , God hath covenanted so , Fac , hoc & vives , Doe this and thou shalt live ; and at the last judgement , Christ shall ground his Venite benedicti , Come ye blessed , and his Ite maledicti , Goe ye accursed , upon the Quia , and upon the Quia non , Because you have , and Because you have not done this and this . Faith , that is of infinite value above works , hath yet no proportion to the kingdome of heaven ; Faith saves mee , as my hand feeds mee ; It reaches the food , but it is not the food ; but faith saves Ex pacto , by vertue of that Covenant ; which Christ hath made , Tantummodo crede , Onely beleeve . To carry it to the highest , the merit of Christ Iesus himselfe , though it bee infinite so , as that it might have redeemed infinite worlds , yet the working thereof is safeliest considered in the School to be Ex pacto , by vertue of that contract which had passed between the Father and him , that all things should thus and thus be transacted by Christ , and so man should be saved ; for , if we shall place it meerely , onely in the infinitenesse of the merit , Christs death would not have needed ; for his first drops of bloud in his Circumcision , nay his very Incarnation ( that God was made man ) and every act of his humiliation after , being taken singly , yet , in that person , God and man , were of infinite merit ; and also , if it wrought meerly by the infinitnesse of the merit , it must have wrought , not onely upon all men , but to the salvation of the Devill ; for , certainely there is more merit in Christ then there is sinne in the Devill . But the proceeding was Ex pacto , according to the contract made , and to the conditions given ; Ipse conteret caput tuum , That the Messias should bruise the Serpents head for us , included our redemption , That the Serpents head should be bruised , excluded the Serpent himselfe . This contract , then between God and man , as it was able to put the nature of a great fault , in a small offence , if we consider onely the eating of an apple , and so to make even a Trespass High-Treason , ( because it was so contracted ) so does this contract , the Ordinance of God , infuse a great vertue & efficacie , in the instruments of our reconciliation , how mean in gifts , or how corrupt in manners soever they be . Circumcision in it self a low thing , yea obscene , & subject to mis-interpretation , yet by reason of the covenant , He that is not circumcised , that person shall be cut off from my people . So also Baptism , considered in it selfe , a vulgar , and a familiar thing ; yet , except a man be born of water , and of the Spirit , he cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven . The Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ , a domestique , a dayly thing ; if we consider onely the breaking of the bread and participation of the Cup , but if we ascend up to the contract in the institution , it is to every worthy receiver , the seale , and the Conduit of all the merits of Christ , to his soule . God threw down the walls of Jericho , with the sound of Horns , not of Trumpets . A homely sound ; yet it did the worke ; so neither is the weaknesse , no , nor the corruptnesse of the instruments always to be considered in the Church of God. Our Fathers knew there had passed a contract between God and man , A Church there should be Ad consummationem , to the end of the world , therefore they might safely make their recourse thither ; and Porta Inferi , the gates of hell should not prevaile against it , therefore they might confidently dwell there ; They knew there was a Dic Ecclesiae a bill to be exhibited to the Church , upon any disorder , and a Si noluerit , an excommunication upon disobedience , If he neglect to heare the Church , let him be unto thee as a heathen man , and as a Publican . This Church they saw , and Gods contract upon them sealed in Baptism , they knew , God had revealed no other Church , nor contract to them . And therefore , though they did not eat their troden grasse , with that ridiculous tentation , as the Fryar is boasted to have eaten a Toad which was set upon the Table , because he had read , whatsoever is set before you eat ; Nor , as their Dorotheus , who when his man had reachd him rats-bane , in stead of honey , which he called for , refused it not , because sayd he , If Gods will had been , that I should have had honey , he would have directed thy hand to the honey , but being under an invi ciblenignorance , and indevestible scruples , and having this contract , and this Church , to give them some satisfaction and acquiescence , they were partakers of that blessing , That though Serpents and Scorpions lurked in their grasse , they had power to tread on scorpions and on serpents , and nothing could hurt them , and That if they drinke any deadly thing , it shall doe them no harme . And so our Fathers with a good conscience , Manebant , stayd there , and Edebant , they eat troden grasse , and drunke troubled water , and yet Manebantoves , they continued sheep still . Sheep , that is , without Barking , or biting . Some faint and humble bleatings there were alwaies in the daies of our Fathers ; In every age there arose some men , who did modestly , and devoutly , but yet couragiously and confidently appear , and complaine against those treadings , and those troublings . Every age , every nation had some such bleatings , some men who by writing or preaching against those abuses , interrupted the tyrannicall prescriptions of that Church , and made their continuall claime , to their Christian liberty ; But still they continued sheep , without denying either their fleece or their throats to those Pastors . We read in Naturall story of divers pastures , and divers waters , which will change the colour of cattell , or sheep , but none that changes the forme , and makes them no such cattell , or no sheep . Some waters change sheep of any colour to white . And these troubled waters , temporall or spirituall afflictions , may bring Gods children to a faint and leane , and languishing palenesse . If it doe , as Daniel and his fellows , appeared fairer , and fatter in flesh , with their pults and water , which they desired rather then the Kings polluted delicates , then others that sed voluptuously : so the hearts of Gods children shall be filled , as with marrow and with fatnesse , when others shall have all their hearts desire , but leannesse in their soules . There are waters that change all coloured sheep to black . So may these troubled waters , afflictions , effect that upon Gods children , The enemy shall come , and before him all faces shall gather blacknesse ; as Jerusalem complains , That their faces were blacker then coals . If it doe , yet as long as they stay , and continue sheep , members of the body , as long as they partake of the body , they shall partake of the complexion of the Church , who saies of her selfe , I am black , O daughters of Ierusalem , but comely , ( acceptable in the sight of my Christ ) and that shall be verifyed in them , which Salomon says , By the sadnesse of the countenance , the heart is made better ; that is , by the occasion of the sadnesse , Gods correction . But the strangest change is , that some waters change sheep into red , the most unlikely , most extraordinary , most unproper colour for sheep , of any other . Yet there is one rednesse naturall to our sheep in the Text , the rednesse of blushing , and modesty , and selfe-accusing ; And there is another rednesse , which is not improper , the rednesse of zeale and godly anger . The worst rednesse that can befall them , is the rednesse of sinne , and yet , lest that should deject them , God proceeds familiarly with them , Come now , and let us reason together , Though your sinnes be as scarlet , they shall be as white as snow , though they be red like Crimson , they shall be as wooll . Yea , to shew , that where sinne abounds , grace also may abound , to shew that that whitenesse of Gods mercy doth pursue and overtake this rednesse of sinne , it pleases the Holy Ghost to use such a phrase as expresses a rednesse in whitenesse it self ; He says , that the religious men of the Jewes before that time , were whiter then milke , and redder then pearle : Mippeninim is the originall word , which the Rabbins translate pearle ; And the Vulgate Edition hath it , Rubicundiores ebore antiquo , redder then the oldest yvory , which is the whitest thing , that can be presented . Perchance to intimate thus much , that there is neither in the holiest actions , of the holiest man , any such degree of whitenesse , but that it is always accompanied with some rednes , some tincture , some aspersion of sin , nor any such deep rednesse in sin , any sin so often , and deeply died in grain , but that it is capable of whitenesse , in the application of the candor , and purenesse , and innocency of Christ Jesus : Therefore may the Holy Ghost have wrapped up this whitenesse in rednesse , redder then Pearl . Our Fathers were not discouraged , when they were discolored ; what palenesse , what blacknesse , what rednesse soever , these troubled waters induced upon them , still they were sheep ; They become not Foxes , to delude the State with equivocations ; nor Wolves , to join with the State to the oppression of the rest ; nor Horses , to suffer themselves to be ridden by others , and so made instruments of their passions ; no nor Vnicorns , to think to purge and purifie the waters for all the forest , to think to reforme all abuses in State , and Church at once ; but they continued sheep ; opened not their mouthes in biting , nor barking , in murmuring , or reproaching the present government . So our Fathers staid , Manebant , so they eat that grasse , so they continued sheep , and , as it followes next , Oves Dei , Gods sheep , my sheep have eaten , my sheep have drunken . Gods sheep ; for nature hath her sheep ; some men by naturall constitution , are lazy , drowsie , frivolous , unactive , sheepish men . And States have their sheep ; timorous men , following men , speechlesse men , men , who because they abound in a plentifull State , are loth to stire . Nay the Devill hath his sheep too ; Men whom he possesses so entirely , that , as the Law says , Domintum est potestas , tum utendi , tum abutendi , Onely he is truly Lord of any thing , who may doe what he will with it , he does what he will with those men , even to their own ruine . And from these folds and flocks did the Devill always serve his shambles , in his false Martyrdomes in the Primitive Church ; when ( as Eusebius notes ) envying the honour which the Orthodox Christians had in their thousands of Martyrs , the Heretiques studied ways of equalling them in that . And though within four hundred years after Christ , the Church , ( who could not possibly take knowledge of all ) was come to celebrate , by name , five thousand Martyrs ( as some books have the account ) for every day in the year , yet the Heretiques went so far towards equalling them , as that they had some whole sects , ( particularly the Euphemitae ) which called themselves Martyrians , men exposed to the slaughter . One limbe of the Donatists , the Circumcelliones , might have furnished their shambles ; They would provoke others to kill them ; and if they fail'd in that , they would kill themselves . And this was , as Saint Augustine says , Ludus quotidianus , their daily sport , they plaid at no other game . And left all these meanes should not have provided Martyrs enow , Petilian , against whom Saint Augustine writes , invented a new way of Martyrdome , when he taught , that if a man were guilty in his Conscience of any great offence to God , and onely to punish that fault , did kill himselfe , he was by that act of Justice a Martyr . The Devill had his sheep then ; He hath so still ; Those Emissarii papae , those whom the Bishop of Rome sends hither into this kingdome ; whom Baronius calls Candidates Martyrii , pretenders to Martyrdome , suters for Martyrdome ; Men , who ( as he adds there ) do sacramento spondere sanguinem , take an oath at Rome that they will be hanged in England ; and , in whose behalfe he complaines de sterilitate Martyrii , that there is such a dearth of Martyrdome , that they finde it hard to be hanged ; and therefore , ( perchance ) they finde it necessary to enter into Powder plots , and actuall Treasons , because they see that for Religion meerly , this State would never draw drop of bloud , & sacramento sanguinem , they have taken an oath to be hanged , and are loth to be forsworne . But the sheep of our text , were not Natures sheep , men naturally lazy , and unactive , nor State sheep , men loth to adventure , by stirring , nor the Devills sheep , men headlong to their own ruine , even by way of provocation ; But they were Gods sheep , men , who , out of a rectified conscience , would not prevaricate , not betray nor forsake God , if his glory required the expense of their lives , and yet would not exasperate nor provoke their superiours , how corrupt soever , by unseasonable , and unprofitable complaints : so our Fathers staied in Rome , so they eat troden grasse , and drunke troubled waters , so they continued harmlesse sheep towards others , and the sheep of God , such as though they staid there and fed upon an ill diet , God had distinguished from Goats , and reserved for his right hand , at the day of separation . And they were more then so ; they were not onely his sheep , but his flock ; for so , this translation reads it , my flock hath eaten , my flock hath drunk . God had single sheep in many nations ; Iobs , and Naamans , and such ; servants , and yet not in the Covenants , sheep , and yet not brought into his flock . For though God have revealed no other way of salvation to us , but by breeding us in his Church , yet we must be so far , from straitning salvation , to any particular Christian Church , of any subdivided name , Papist or Protestant , as that we may not straiten it to the whole Christian Church , as though God could not , in the largenesse of his power , or did not , in the largenesse of his mercy , afford salvation to some , whom he never gathered into the Christian Church . But these sheep in our text , were his flock , that is , his Church . Though they durst not communicate their sense of their miseries , and their desires to one another , yet they were a flock . When Elias complained , I , even I onely am left , and God told him , that he had seven thousand besides him , perchance Elias knew none of this seven thousand , perchance none of this seven thousand and knew one another , and yet , they were his flock , though they never met . That timber that is in the forest , that stone that is in the quarry , that Iron , that Lead that is in the mine , though distant miles , Counties , Nations , from one another , meet in the building of a materiall Church ; So doth God bring together , living stones , men that had no relation , no correspondence , no intelligence together , to the making of his Mysticall body , his visible Church . Who ever would have thought , that we of Europe , and they of the Eastern , or Western Indies , should have met to the making of Christ a Church ? And yet , before we knew , on either side , that there was such a people , God knew there was such a Church . He that lies buried , in the consecrated dust under your feet , knowes not who lies next him ; but one Trumpet at last shall raise them both together , and show them to one another , and joyn them , ( by Gods grace ) in the Triumphant Church . These that knew not one another , that knew not of one another , were yet Gods flock , the Church in his eye ; for there , ( and onely there ) the Church is always visible . So were our Fathers in Rome , though they durst not meet , and communicate their sorrows , nor fold themselves so in the fold of Christ Jesus , that is in open , and free Confessions . They therefore that aske now , Where was your Church before Luther , would then have asked of the Iews in Babylon , Where was your Church before Esdras ; that was in Babylon , ours was in Rome . Now , beloved , when our Adversaries cannot deny us this truth , that our Church was enwrapped , ( though smothered ) in theirs , that as that Balsamum naturale , which Paracelsus speaks of , that naturall Balme which is in every body , and would cure any wound , if that wound were kept clean , and recover any body , if that body were purged , as that naturall balme is in that body , how diseased soever that body be , so was our Church in theirs , they vexe us now , with that question , Why , if the case stood so , if your Fathers , when they eat our troden grasse , and drunk our troubled waters , were sound and in health , and continued sheep , and Gods sheep , and Gods flock , his Church with us , why went they from us ? They ought us their residence , because they had received their Baptisme from us . And truly , it is not an impertinent , a frivolous reason , that of Baptisme , where there is nothing but conveniency , and no necessity in the case . But , if I be content to stay with my friend in an aguish aire , will he take it ill , if I go when the plague comes ? Or if I stay in town till 20 die of the plague , shall it be lookd that I should stay when there die 1000 ? The infection grew hotter and hotter in Rome ; & their may , came to a must , those things which were done before de facto , came at last to be articles of Faith , and de jure , must be beleeved and practised upon salvation . They chide us for going away , and they drove us away ; If we abstained from communicating with their poysons , ( being now growen to that height ) they excommunicated us ; They gave us no room amongst them but the fire , and they were so forward to burne Heretiques , that they called it heresie , not to stay to be burnt . Yet we went not upon their driving , but upon Gods calling . As the whole prophecy of the deliverance of Israel , from Babylon , belongs to the Christian Church , both to the Primitive Church , at first , and to the Reformed since , so doth that voice , spoken to them , reach unto us , Egredimini de Babylone , Goe ye out of Babylon with a voice of singing , declare , show to the ends of the earth , that the Lord hath redeemed his servant Iacob . For , that Rome is not Babylon , they have but that one half-comfort , that one of their own authors hath ministred , that Romae regulariter male agitur ; that Babylon is Confusion , disorder , but at Rome all sinnes are committed in order , by the book , and they know the price , and therefore Rome is not Babylon . And since that many of their authors confesse , that Rome was Babylon , in the time of the persecuting Emperours , and that Rome shall be Babylon againe , in the time of Antichrist , how they will hedge in a Ierusalem , a holy City , between these two Babylons , is a cunning peece of Architecture . From this Babylon then were our Fathers called by God ; not onely by that whispering sibilation of the holy Ghost , sibilab● populum , I will hisse for my people , and so gather them , for I have redeemed them , and they shall increase , not onely by private inspirations , but by generall acclamations ; every where principall writers , and preachers , and Princes too , ( as much as could stand with their safety ) crying out against them before Luther , howsoever they will needs doe him that honour , to have been the first mover , in this blessed revolution . They reproach to us our going from them , when they drove us , and God drew us , and they discharge themselves for all , by this one evasion ; That all that we complain of , is the fault of the Court of Rome , and not of the Church ; of the extortion in the practise of their Officers , not of error in the doctrine of their Teachers . Let that be true , ( as in a great part it is ) for , almost all their errors proceed from their covetousness and love of money ) this is that that we complain most of , and in this especially lies the conformity of the Iewish Priests in the Chaldean Babylon , and these Prelates in the Roman Babylon , that the Court , and the Church , joined in the oppression . But since the Court of Rome , and the Church of Rome are united in one head , I see no use of this distinction , Court and Church . If the Church of Rome be above the Court , the Church is able to amend these corruptions in the Court. If the Court be got above the Church , the Church hath lost , or sold away , her supremacy . To oppresse us , and ease themselves , now , when we are gone from them , they require Miracles at out hands ; when indeed it was miracle enough , how we got from them . But , magnum charitatis argumentum , credere absque pignoribus miraculorum , He loves God but a little that will not beleeve him without a miracle . Miracles are for the establishing of new religions ; All the miracles of , and from Christ and his Apostles , are ours , because their Religion is ours . Indeed it behooves our adversaries to provide new miracles every day , because they make new articles of Faith every day . As Esop therefore answered in the Market , when he that sold him was asked what he could do , that he could do nothing , because his fellow had said , that he could do all , so we say , we can do no miracles , because they do all ; all ordinary cures of Agues , and tooth-ach being done by miracle amongst them . We confesse that we have no such tye upon the Triumphant Church , to make the Saints there do those anniversary miracles , which they do by their reliques here , upon their own holy days , ten days sooner every year , then they did before the new computation . We pretend not to raise the dead , but to cure the sick ; and that but by the ordinary Physique , the Word , and Sacraments , and therefore need no miracles . And we remember them of their own authors , who do not onely say , that themselves do no miracles , in these latter times , but assigne diligently strong reasons , why it is that they doe none . If all this will not serve , we must tell them , that we have a greater miracle , then any that they produce ; that is , that in so few years , they that forsook Rome , were become equall , even in number , to them that adhered to her . We say , with Saint Augustine , That if we had no other miracle , hoc unum stupendum & potentissimum miraculum esse , that this alone were the most powerfull , and most a mazing miracle , ad hanc religionem , totius orbis amplitudinem , sine miraculis subjugatam , that so great a part of the Christian world , should become Protestants of Papists , without any miracles . They pursue us still , being departed from them , and they aske us , How can ye pretend to have left Babylon confusion , Dissention , when you have such dissentions , & confusions amongst your selves ? But neither are our differences in so fundamental points , as theirs are , ( for a principall author of their own , who was employed by Clement the eight , to reconcile the differences between the Iesuits and the Dominicans , about the concurrence of the grace of God , and the free will of man , confesses that the principall articles , and foundations of faith were shaken between them , between the Iesuits , and Dominicans ) neither shall we finde such heat , and animosity , and passion between any persons amongst us , as between the greatest amongst them ; The succeeding Pope mangling the body of his predecessor , casting them into the river for buriall , disannulling all their decrees , and ordinations ; their Ordinations ; so that no man could be sure who was a Priest , nor whether he had truely received any Sacrament , or no. Howsoever , as in the narrowest way there is most justling , the Roman Church going that broad way , to beleeve as the Church beleeves , may scape some particular differences , which we that goe the narrower way , to try every thing by the exact word of God , may fall into . Saint Augustine tells us of a City in Mauritania Caesarea , in which they had a custome , that in one day in the year , not onely Citizens of other parishes , but even neighbours , yea brethren , yea Fathers , did fling stones dangerously , and furiously at one another in the streets , and this they so solemnized , as a custome received from their ancestors ; which was a licentious kind of Carnavall . If any amongst us have fallen into that disease , to cast stones , or dirt at his friends , it is an infection from his own distemper , not from our doctrine ; for , if any man list to be contentious , we have no such custome , neither the Church of God. We departed not from them then , till it was come to a hot plague , in a necessity of professing old opinions to be new articles of Faith ; not till we were driven by them , and drawn by the voice of God , in the learnedest men of all nations ; when they could not discharge themselves by the distinction of the Court of Rome , and the Church of Rome , because , if the abuses had been but in the Court , it was the greatest abuse of all , for that Church , which is so much above that Court , not to mend it . Nor can they require Miracles at our hands , who doe none themselves , and yet need them , because they induce new articles of Religion ; neither can they reproach to us our Dissentions amongst our selves ; because they are neither in so fundamentall points , nor pursued with so much uncharitablenesse , as theirs . So we justifie our secession from them ; but all this justifies in no part , the secession of those distempered men , who have separated themselves from us , which is our next , and our last consideration . When the Apostle says , study to be quiet , ( 1 Thes. 4. 11. me thinks he intimates something towards this , that the lesse we study for our Sermons , the more danger is there to disquiet the auditory ; extemporall , unpremeditated Sermons , that serve the popular care , vent , for the most part , doctrines that disquiet the Church . Study for them , and they will be quiet ; consider ancient and fundamentall doctrines , and this will quiet and settle the understanding , and the Conscience . Many of these extemporall men have gone away from us , and vainly said , that they have as good cause to separate from us , as we from Rome . But can they call our Church , a Babylon ; Confusion , disorder ? All that offends them , is , that we have too much order , too much regularity , too much binding to the orderly , and uniforme service of God in Church . It affects all the body , when any member is cut off ; Cum dolore amputatur , etiam quae putruit , pars corporis ; and they cut off themselves , and feel it not ; when we lose but a mysticall limbe , and they lose a spirituall life , we feel it and they doe not . When that is pronounced sit tibi sicut ethnicus , if he hear not the Church , let him be to thee as a Heathen , gravius est quàm si gladio feriretur , flammis absumeretur , feris subigeretur , it is a heavier sentence , then to be beheaded , to be burnt , or devoured with wild beasts ; and yet these men , before any such sentence pronounced by us , excommunicate themselves . Of all distempers , Calvin falls oftenest upon the reproof of that which he calls Morositatem , a certain peevish frowardnesse , which , as he calls in one place , deterrimam pestem , the most infectious pestilence , that can fall upon a man , so , in another , he gives the reason , why it is so , semper nimia morositas est ambitiosa , that this peevish frowardnesse , is always accompanied with a pride , and a singularity , and an ambition to have his opinions preferred before all other men , and to condemn all that differ from him . A civill man will depart with his opinion at a Table , at a Councell table , rather then hold up an argument to the vexation of the Company ; so will a peaceable man doe , in the Church , in questions that are not fundamentall . That reverend man whom we mentioned before , who did so much in the establishing of Geneva , professes , that it was his own opinion , that the Sacrament might be administred in prisons , and in private houses ; but because he found the Church of Geneva , of another opinion , and another practise before he came , he applied himself to them and departed , ( in practise ) from his own opinion , even in so important a point , as the ministration of the Sacrament . Which I present to consideration the rather , both because thereby it appears , that greater matters then are now thought fundamentall , were then thought but indifferent , and arbitrary , ( for , surely , if Calvin had thought this a fundamentall thing , he would never have suffered any custome to have prevailed against his conscience ) and also , because divers of those men , who trouble the Church now , about things of lesse importance , and this of private Sacraments in particular ) will needs make themselves beleeve , that they are his Disciples , and always conclude that whatsoever is practised at Geneva was Calvins opinion . Saint Augustine saith excellently , and appliably , to a holy Virgin , who was ready to leave the Church , for the ill life of Church-men , Christus nobis imperavit Congregationem , sibi servavit separationem ; Christ Jesus hath commanded us to gather together , and recommended to us the Congregation ; as for the separation , he hath reserved it to himself , to declare at the last day , who are Sheep and who are Goats . And hee wrought that separation which our Fathers made from Rome , by his expresse written Word , and by that which is one word of God too , Vox populi , The invitation and acclamation of Doctors , and People , and Princes ; but have our Separatists any such publique , and concurrent authorising of that which they doe , since of all that part from us , scarse a dozen meet together in one confession ? When you have heard the Prophet say , Can two walke toge●her , except they be agreed , when you have heard the Apostle say , I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Iesus Christ , that ye all speake the same things , and that there be no divisions among you , ( for , if preachers speake one one way , another another , there will be divisions among the people ) And then , it is not onely , that in obedience to authority , they speake the same things ; But , Be perfectly joyned in the same mind , and in the same judgement , you had need make haste to this union , this pacification ; for when we are come thither , to agree among our selves , we are not come to our journeys end . Our life is a warfare ; other wars , in a great part , end in mariages : Ours in a divorce , in a divorce of body and soule in death . Till then , though God have brought us , from the First Babylon , the darknesse of the Gentiles , and from the Second Babylon , the superstitions of Rome , and from the third Babylon , the confusion of tongues , in bitter speaking against one another , after all this , every man shall finde a fourth Babylon , enough to exercise all his forces , The civill warre , the rebellious disorder , the intestine confusion of his own Concupiscencies . This is a transmigration , a transportation layd upon us all , by Adams rebellion , from Jerusalem to Babylon , from our innocent State in our Creation , to this confusion of our corrupt nature . God would have his children first brought to Babylon , before he would be glorifyed in their deliverance , Venies usque ad Babylonem ; Ibi liberaberis ; To Babylon thou shalt come ; there I will deliver thee ; but not till then ; that is , till you come to a holy sense of the miseries you are in , and what hath brought you to them . Though then you have suffred the calamities of all these Babylons in some proportions , though you be not Incolae but Indigenae , not naturalized but borne Babylonians , ( Originall sinne makes you so ) yet since you are within the Covenant , heare him , that sayd to you in Abrahams ears , Egredere de terrâ tuâ , Get thee out of thy Country , and from thy kindred , unto the land I will shew thee ; Come out of Babylon to Jerusalem ; since ye are within his Adoption , and may cry Abba father , hear that voice , Egredimini filiae Sion , Come forth ye daughters of Sion , come to Jerusalem . Though ye be dead , and buryed , and putrefyed in this corrupted , and corrupting flesh , yet since he cries with a loud voice , ( as it is said in that Text ) Lazare veni for as , Lazarus come forth , come forth of your Tombs in Babylon , to this Jerusalem , come from your troubled waters , your waters of contention , of anxiety , of envy , of solicitude , and vexation for worldly encumbrances , and come Ad aquas quietudinum , to the waters of rest , the application of the merits of Christ , in a true Church : Vinum non habetis ? have ye no wine to refresh your hearts ; no merits of your own to take comfort in ? Implete Hydrias aquâ , fill all your vessels with water , that water of life , remorsefull teares , perchance he will change your water into wine , as he did in that place ; perchance he will give you abundance of temporall blessings ; perchance he will change that water into blood , as in Egypt ; that is , into persecutions , into afflictions , into Martyrdome , for his sake , for hee will accept our water for blood , our tears of repentance and contrition for Martyrdome , ut cum desit Martyrium sanguinis , habeamus Martyrium aquae , that we may be Martyrs in his sight , and shed no blood ; Martyrs of a new die , white Martyrs . That our waters of sorrow for sinne may answer our Saviours tears over Lazarus and over Ierusalem ; and the sweat of our brows in a lawfull calling may answer our Saviours sweat of water and blood in his agony ; and that our reverent and profitable receiving of the Sacrament , may answer the water and blood that issued from his side , which represented omnia Sacramenta , all the Sacraments ; That , as we do , we may still feed upon grace that is not troden , and drink water , that is not troubled , with the feet of others , or our own ; that we be never shaked in the sinceritie nor in the integritie of Religion with their power , nor our own distempers of fears or hopes . But that our meat may be , to do the will of him that sent us , and to finish his work , Joh. 4. 2. SERMON XXVI . Preached to the King , at White-Hall , the first Sunday in Lent. ESAI . 65. 20. For the child shall die a hundred years old ; But the sinner , being a hundred years old , shall be accursed . PEace is in Sion ; Gods whole Quire is in tune ; Nay , here is the musick of the Sphears ; all the Sphears ( all Churches ) all the Stars in those Sphears ( all Expositours in all Churches ) agree in the sense of these words ; and agree the words to be a Prophesie , of the Distillation , nay Inundation , of the largenesse , nay the infinitenesse of the blessings , and benefits of Almighty God , prepared and meditated before , and presented , and accomplisht now in the Christian Church . The Sun was up betimes , in the light of nature , but then the Sun moved but in the winter Tropick , short and cold , dark and cloudy dayes ; A Diluculum and a Crepusculum , a Dawning and a Twilight , a little Traditionall knowledge for the past , and a little Conjecturall knowledge for the future , made up their day . The Sunne was advanced higher to the Iewes in the Law ; But then the Sunne was but in Libra ; as much day as night : There was as much Baptisme , as Circumcision in that Sacrament ; and as much Lamb as Christ , in that Sacrifice ; The Law was their Equinoctiall , in which , they might see both the Type , and that which was figured in the Type : But in the Christian Church the Sun is in a perpetuall Summer Solstice ; which are high degrees , and yet there is a higher , the Sun is in a perpetuall Meridian and Noon , in that Summer solstice . There is not onely a Surge Sol , but a Siste Sol : God hath brought the Sunne to the height , and ●ixt the Sun in that height in the Christian Church● where he in his own Sonne by his Spirit hath promised to dwell , usque ad consummationem , till the end of the world . Here is Manna ; and not in Gomers , but in Barns ; and Quails ; and not in Heaps , but in Hills ; the waters above the Firmament , and not in drops of Dew , but in showers of former and latter Rain ; and the Land of Canaan ; not in Promise onely , nor onely in performance , and Possession , but in Extention , and Dilatation . The Graces , and blessings of God , that is , means of salvation , are so aboundantly poured upon the Christian Church , as that the triumphant Church if they needed means , might fear they should want them . And of these means and blessings , long life , as it is a Modell and abridgement of Eternity , and a help to Eternitie , is one● and one in this Text , The Childe shall die 100. yeares old . But shall we receive good from God , and not receive evill too ? shall I shed upon you Lumen visionis , the light of that vision , which God hath afforded me in this Prophecie , the light of his countenance , and his gracious blessings upon you , and not lay upon you Onus visionis , as the Prophetts speak often , The burthen of that vision which I have seen in this Text too ? It was a scorn to David , that his servants were half cloath'd ; The Samaritane woman beleeved , that if she might see Christ , he would tell her all things : Christ promises of the Holy Ghost , that he should lead them into all Truth : And the Apostles discharge in his office was , that he had spoken to them all Truth : And therefore lest I should be defective in that integritie , I say with Saint Augustine , Non vos fallo , non praesumo , non vos fallo ; I will not be so bold with you as flatter you , I will not presume so much upon your weaknesse , as to go about to deceive you , as though there were nothing but blessing in God , but shew you the Commination , and judgement of this Text too , that though the childe should die a hundred years old , yet the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed . If God had not lengthened his childes life , extended my dayes , but taken me in the sinnes of my youth , where had I been , may every soul here say ? And where would you be too ; if no man should tell you , that though The childe should die a hundred years old , yet the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed ? What can be certain in this world , if even the mercy of God admit a variation ? what can be endlesse here , if even the mercy of God receive a determination ? and sin doth vary the nature , sin doth determine even the infinitenesse of the mercy of God himself , for though The childe shall die a hundred yeares old , yet the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed . Disconsolate soul , dejected spirit , bruised and broken , ground and trodden , attenuated , evaporated , annihilated heart come back ; heare thy reprieve , and sue for thy pardon ; God will not take thee away in thy sins , thou shalt have time to repent , The childe shall die a hundred years old . But then lame and decrepit soul , gray and inveterate sinner , behold the full ears of corn blasted with a mildew , behold this long day shutting up in such a night , as shall never see light more , the night of death ; in which , the deadliest pang of thy Death will be thine Immortality : In this especially shalt thou die , that thou canst not die , when thou art dead ; but must live dead for ever : for The sinner being a hundred yeers old , shall be accursed , he shall be so for ever . In this discovery from this Red Sea , to this dead Sea ; from the mercy of God , in the blood of his Son , to the malediction of God , in the blood of the sinner , be pleased to make these the points of your Compasse , and your Land-marks by the way , in those , the two parts of this exercise . First , in the first , consider the precedencie , and primogeniture of Mercy ; God begins at Mercy , and not at Iudgement : God's method here , is not , The sinner shall be accursed , but The childe shall have long life : but first , the blessing , and then the malediction . And then secondly , we shall see , in what form the particular blessing is given here ; In long life ; The childe shall die a hundred years old . And then also , because we find it in the company of Mercies , in the region of Mercies , in this first part of the Text , which is the Sphear of Mercy ; we shall look also how this very dying is a Mercy too : The mercy is especially plac'd in the long life : The childe shall live a hundred yeares ; but the Holy Ghost would not leave out that , that he should die ; The childe shall die a hundred yeares old . And in these three , first the precedencie , and primogeniture of God's mercy , and then the specification of that mercy in long life , and lastly , the association of mercy , that death as well as life is a blessing to the Righteous ; we shall determine that first part . And in the second , But the sinner being a hundred years old , shall be accursed , we shall see first , that the malediction of God hath no object but a sinner : God antidates no malediction : Till there be a sinner , there is no malediction ; nay not till there be an inveterate sinner ; A sinner of a hundred yeares , at least , such a sinner , as would be so , if God would spare him a hundred yeares here . And upon such a sinner , God thunders out this Prosternation , this Consternation , in this one word of our Text , which involves and inwraps all kinds of miseries , feeblenesse in body , infatuation in mind , evacuation of power , dishonour in ●ame , eclipses in favour , ruine in fortune , dejection in spirit , He shall be accursed . Where , because in this second part we are in the Region and Sphear of maledictions , we cannot consider this future , He shall be , as a future of favour , a prorogation , a deferring of the malediction : He shall be , is not , he shall be hereafter , but not yet : but it is a future of continuation ; He shall be accursed , that is , he shall be so for ever . And so have you the frame , and partitions of this B●thel , this House of God in which he dwells , which is both Iosuah's Beth-hagla , the house of Joy , and Iohn's Bethania , his house of affliction too ; and we passe now to the furnishing of these roomes , with such stuff as I can have laid together . First , in our first part , we consider the precedency , and primogeniture of Mercy . It is a good thing to be descended of the eldest Brother ; To descend from God , to depend upon God , by his eldest Son , the Son of his love , the Sonne of his right hand , Mercy , and not to put God to his second way , his sinister way , his way of judgement . David prophesies of God's exaltation of Solomon so , Ponam in Primogenitum , I will make him my first-born : Though Solomon were not so , God would make him so . And in that Title , the Wiseman makes his prayer for Israel ; Quem coaequasti Primogegenito , whom thou hast nam'd thy first-born ; for so God had in Exod. Israel is my Sonne , even my first-born : and in Iob , the fiercest terrour of death is exprest so , Primogenitus mortis , the first-born of Death shall devour his strength : Still the exaltation , the Superlative is called so ; The first-born . And in such a sense ; if we could think of more degrees of goodnesse in God , of an exaltation of God himself in God , of more God in God , of a Superlative in God , we must necessarily turn upon his mercy , for that Mercie must be the Superlative : So is it too , if we consider Gods first action , or God's first thought towards Man ; Mercy was the first-born by every Mother ; by that Understanding , by that Will , by that Power , which we conceive in God ; Mercy was the first-born , and first-mover in all . We consider a preventing Grace in God ; and that preventing Grace is before all ; for that prevents us so , as to Visite us when we sit in darknesse . And we consider an Antecedent-Will in God , and that Antecedent Will is before all ; for by that Will , God would have all men saved . And when we call Gods Grace by other names then Preventing , whether Assisting Grace , that it stand by us and sustain us , or Concomitant Grace , that it work with us , and inanimate our action , when it is doing , or his Subsequent Grace , that rectifies or corrects an action , when it is done ; when all is done , still it is the Preventing Power , and quality of that Grace , that did all that in me : If I stand by his Assisting Grace , if I work with his Concomitant Grace , if I rectifie my errour by his Subsequent Grace , that that moves upon me in all these , is still the preventing power of that Grace . For as all my Naturall actions of life are done by the power of that Soul , which was in me before , so all the Supernaturall actions of that Soul , are done by that power of that Grace , that prevents and preinanimates that action ; and all my co-operation is but a post-operation , a working by the Power of that All-preventing Grace . I moved not at first by the Tide , by the strength of naturall faculties , nor do I move after by that wind● which had formerly fill'd my sails : I proceed not now by the strength of that Grace which God gave me heretofore . But as God infuseth a Soul into every man , and that Soul elicites a new Act in it self , before that man produce any action ; so God infuses a particular Grace into every good work of mine , and so prevents me , before I co-operate with him . For as Nature in her highest exaltation , in the best Morall man that is , cannot flow into Grace , Nature cannot become Grace ; so neither doth former Grace flow into future Grace , but I need a distinct influence of God , a particular Grace , for every good work I do , for every good word I speak , for every good thought I conceive . When God gives me accesse into his Library , leave to consider his proceedings with man , I find the first book of Gods making to be the Book of Life . The Book where all their names are written that are elect to Glory . But I find no such Book of Death : All that are not written in the Book of Life , are certainly the sonnes of Death : To be pretermitted there , there to be left out , wraps them up , at least leaves them wrapt up , in death . But God hath not wrought so positively , nor in so primary a consideration in a book of Death , as in the Book of Life . As the aftertimes made a Book of Wisdome out of the Proverbs , of Salomon , and out of his Ecclesiastes ; but yet it is not the same Book , nor of the same certainty : so there is a Book of Life ●ere , but that is not the same book that is in Heaven , nor of the same certainty : For in this Book of Life , which is the Declaration and Testimony which the Church gives of our Election , by those marks of the Elect , which she seeth in the Scriptures , and believeth that she seeth in us , a man may be Blotted out of the Book of the living , as David speaketh ; and as it is added there , Not written with the Righteous : Intimating that in some cases , and in some Book of Life , a man may have been written in , and blotted out , and written in again . The Book of Life in the Church , The Testimony of our Election here , admits such expunctions , and such redintegrations : but Gods first Book , his Book of Mercy ; ( for this Book in the Church , is but his Book of Evidence ) is inviolable in it self , and all the names of that Book indelible . In Gods first Book , the Book of Life , Mercy hath so much a precedency , and primogeniture , as that there is nothing in it , but Mercy . In Gods other Book , his Book of Scripture , in which he is put often to denounce judgements , as well as to exhibite mercies , still the Tide sets that way , still the Biass leads on that hand , still his method directs us ad Primogenitum , to his first-born , to his Mercy . So he began in that Book : He made man to his Image , and then he blest him . Here is no malediction , no intermination mingled in Gods first Act , in Gods first purpose upon man : In Paradise there is , That if he eat the forbidden fruit , if he will not forbear that , that one Tree , He shall die . But God begins not there : before that , he had said , of every tree in the Garden thou maist freely eat ; neither is there more vehemency in the punishment , then in the libertie . For as in the punishment there is an ingemination , Morte morieris , Dying thou shalt die ; that is , thou shalt surely die ; so in the liberty , there was an ingemination too , Comedendo comedes , Eating thou shalt eat ; that is , thou maist freely eat . In Deut. we have a fearfull Chapter of Maledictions ; but all the former parts of that Chapter , are blessings in the same kind : And he that reads that Chapter , will beginne at the beginning , and meet Gods first-born , his Mercy first . And in those very many places of that Book where God divides the condition , If you obey you shall live , if you rebell you shall die , still the better Act , and the better condition , and the better reward , is placed in the first place , that God might give us possession , In jure Primogeniti , in the right of his first-born , his mercy . And where God pursues the same method , and first dilates himself , and expatiates in the way of mercy , I will beat down his foes before his face , and plague them that hate him ; when after that he is brought to say , If his children forsake my Law , I will visit their transgression with the rod ; where first he puts it off for one Generation from himself , to his Children , which was one Mercy : And then he puts it upon a forsaking , an Apostasie , and not upon every sinne of infirmity , which was another Mercy ; when it comes to a correction , it is but a milde correction , with the r●d : And in that , he promises to visite them ; to manifest himself , and his purpose to them in the correction ; all which are higher and higher degrees of Mercy : yet because there is a spark of anger , a tincture of judgement mingled in it , God remembers his first-born , his Mercy , and returns where he begun : Neverthelesse my Covenant will I not break , nor alter the things that is gone out of my lips ; once have I sworn by my Holinesse , that I will not lie unto David . There are elder pictures in the world of Water , then there are any of oyl ; but those of oyl have got above them , and shall outlive them . Water is a frequent embleme of Affliction , in the Scriptures ; and so is oyl of Mercy ; If at any time in any place of Scripture , God seemed to begin with water , with a judgement , yet the oyl will get to the top : in that very judgement , you may see that God had first a mercifull purpose in inflicting that medicinall judgement ; for his mercy is his first-born . His Mercy is new every morning , saith the Prophet ; not onely every day , but as soon as it is day . Trace God in thy self , and thou shalt find it so . If thou beest drowzie now , and unattentive , curious or contentious , or quarrelsome now , now God leaves thee in that indisposition , and that is a judgement : But it was his Mercy that brought thee hither before . In every sinne thou hast some remorse , some reluctation , before thou do that sinne ; and that pre-reluctation , and pre-remorse was Mercy . If thou hadst no such remorse in thy last sinne , before the sinne , and hast it now , this is the effect of Gods former mercy , and former good purpose upon thee , to let thee see that thou needest the assistance of his Minister , and of his Ordinance , to enable thee to lay hold on Mercy when it is offered thee . Can any calamity fall upon thee , in which thou shalt not be bound to say , I have had blessings in a greater measure then this ? If thou have had losses , yet thou hast more , out of which God took that . If all be lost , perchance thou art but where thou begunst at first , at nothing . If thou begunst upon a good heighth , and beest fallen from that , and fallen low , yet as God prepared a Whale to transport Ionas , before Ionas was cast into the Sea , God prepared thee a holy Patience , before he reduced thee to the exercise of that Patience . If thou couldest apprehend nothing done for thy self , yet all the mercies that God hath exhibited to others , are former mercies to thee , in the Pattern , and in the Seal , and in the Argument thereof : They have had them , therefore thou shalt . All Gods Prophecies , are thy Histories : whatsoever he hath promised others , he hath done in his purpose for thee : And all Gods Histories are thy Prophesies ; all that he hath done for others , he owes thee . Hast thou a hardnesse of heart ? knowest thou not that Christ hath wept before to entender that hardnesse ? hast thou a palenesse of soul , in the apparition of God in fire , and in judgement ? knowest thou not , that Christ hath bled before , to give a vigour , and a vegetation , and a verdure to that palenesse ? is thy sinne Actuall sinne ? knowest thou not , that there is a Lamb bleeding before upon the Altar , to expiate that ? Is thy terrour from thy inherence , and encombrance of Originall sinne ? knowest thou not , that the effect of Baptism hath blunted the sting of that sinne before ? art thou full of sores , putrid and ulcerous sores ? full of wounds , through and through piercing wounds ? full of diseases , namelesse and complicate diseases ? knowest thou not that there is a holy Charm , a blessed Incantation , by which thou art , though not invulnerable , yet invulnerable unto death , wrapt up in the eternall Decree of thine Election ? that 's thy pillar , the assurance of thine Election : If thou shake that , if thou cast down that Pillar , if thou distrust thine Election , with Samson , who pulled down pillars in his blindnesse , in thy blindnesse thou destroyest thy self . Begin where thou wilt at any Act in thy self , at any act in God , yet there was mercy before that , for his mercy is eternall , eternall even towards thee . I could easily think that that , that past between God and Moses in their long conversation ; that that , that past between Christ and Moses in his trans-figuration ; that that , that past between Saint Paul and the Court of Heaven in his extasie was instruction and manifestation on one part , and admiration and application on the other part of the mercy of God. Earth cannot receive , Heaven cannot give such another universall soul to all : all persons , all actions , as Mercy . And were I the childe of this Text , that were to live a hundred years , I would ask no other marrow to my bones , no other wine to my heart , no other light to mine eyes , no other art to my understanding , no other eloquence to my tongue , then the power of apprehending for my self , and the power of deriving and conveying upon others by my Ministery , the Mercy , the early Mercy , the everlasting Mercy of yours , and my God. But we must passe to the consideration of this immense Light , in that one Beam , wherein it is exhibited here , that is , long life : The childe shall die a hundred years old . Long life is a blessing , as it is an image of eternity : as Kings are blessings , because they are Images of God. And as to speak properly , a King that possest the whole earth , hath no proportion at all to God , ( he is not a dramme , not a grain , not an atome to God ) so neither if a thousand Methusalems were put in one life , had that long life any proportion to eternity ; for Finite and Infinite have no proportion to one another . But yet when we say so , That the King is nothing to God , we speak then between God and the King ; and we say that ; onely to assist the Kings Religious humiliation of himself in the presence of God. But when we speak between the King and our selves his Subjects , there we raise our selves to a just reverence of him , by taking knowledge that he is the Image of God to us . So though long life be nothing to eternity , yet because we need such Glasses and such Images , as God shews us himself in the King , so he shewes us his eternitie in a long life . In this , that the Patriarchs complain every where of the shortnesse of life , and neernesse of death ; ( Iacob at a hundred and thirtie yeares tells Pharaoh , that his dayes were few , ) In this , that God threatens the shortnesse of life for a punishment to Eli , God saies , There shall not be an old man in thy house for ever : In this , that God brings it into Promise , and enters it , as into his Audite , and his revenue , ( With long life will I satisfie him , and shew him my salvation , ) That God would give him long life , and make that long life a Type of Eternity ; In this , that God continues that promise into performance , and brings it to execution , in some of his chosen servants ; at a hundred and twenty Moses his eyes were not dim , nor his naturall force abated ; and Caleb saith of himself , I am this day 85. yeares old , and as my strength was at first , for warre , so is my strength now ; In all these and many others , we receive so many testimonies that God brings long life out of his Treasurie , as an immediate blessing of his . And therefore , as such his blessing , let us pray for it , where it is not come yet , in that apprecation and acclamation of the antient generall Councells , Multos annos Caesari , Aetern●s annos Caesari , Long life to our Cesar in this world , everlasting life to our Cesar in the world to come : and then let us reverence this blessing of long life , where it is come , in honouring those Ancient heads , by whose name , God hath been pleased to call himself , Antiquu● dierum , the ancient of dayes : and let us not make this blessing of long life , impossible to our selves , by disappointing Gods purpose of long life upon us , by our surfets , our wantonnesse , our quarrels , which are all Goths , and Vandals , and Giants , called in by our selves to fight with God against us . But yet , so receive we long life , as a blessing , as that we may also find a blessing in departing from this life : For so manifold , and so multiforn are his blessings , as even death it self hath a place in this Sphear of blessings , The childe shall live a hundred yeares , but yet The childe shall die . When Paradise should have extended , as man should have multiplied , and every holy family , every religious Colony have constituted a new Paradise , that as it was said of Egypt , when it abounded with Hermitages in the Primitive persecutions , That Egypt was a continuall City of Hermitages ; so all the world should have been a continuall Garden of Paradises , when all affections should have been subjects , and all creatures servants , and all wives helpers , then life was a sincere blessing . But , but a mixt blessing now , when all these are so much vitiated ; onely a possible blessing ; a disputable , a conditionable , a circumstantiall blessing now . If there were any other way to be saved and to get to Heaven , then by being born into this life , I would not wish to have come into this world . And now that God hath made this life a Bridge to Heaven ; it is but a giddy , and a vertiginous thing , to stand long gazing upon so narrow a bridge , and over so deep and roaring waters , and desperate whirlpools , as this world abounds with : So teach us to number our dayes , saith David , that we may apply our hearts unto wisedome : Not to number them so , as that we place our happinesse , in the increase of their number . What is this wisedome ? he tells us there ; He asked life of thee , and thou gavest it him : But was that this life ? It was Length of dayes for ever and ever , the dayes of Heaven . As houses that stand in two Shires , trouble the execution of Justice , the house of death that stands in two worlds , may trouble a good mans resolution . As death is a sordid Postern , by which I must be thrown out of this world , I would decline it : But as death is the gate , by which I must enter into Heaven , would I never come to it ? certainly now , now that Sinne hath made life so miserable , if God should deny us death , he multiplied our misery . We are in this Text , upon blessings appropriated to the Christian Church , and so to these times . And in theseTimes , we have not so long life , as the Patriarchs had before . They were to multiply children for replenishing the world , and to that purpose had long life . We multiply sinnes , and the children and off-spring of sinnes , miseries , and therefore may be glad to get from this generation of Vipers . God gave his Children Manna and Quails , in the Wildernesse , where nothing else was to be had ; but when they came to the Land of Promise , that Provision ceas'd : God gave them long life in the times of Nature , and long , ( though shorter then before ) in the times of the Law ; because in nature especially , but in the Law also , it was hard to discern , hard to attain the wayes to Heaven . But the wayes to Heaven are made so manifest to us in the Gospel , as that for that use , we need not long life ; and that is all the use of our life here . He that is ready for Heaven , hath lived to a blessed age ; and to such an intendment , a childe newly baptized may be elder then his Grandfather . Therefore we receive long life for a blessing , when God is pleased to give it ; though Christ entered it into no Petition of his Prayer , that God would give it : and so though we enter it into no Petition , nor Prayer , we receive it as a blessing too , when God will afford us a deliverance , a manumission , an emancipation from the miseries of this life . Truely I would not change that joy and consolation , which I proposed to my hopes , upon my Death-bed , at my passage out of this world , for all the joy that I have had in this world over again . And so very a part of the Joy of Heaven is a joyfull transmigration from hence , as that if there were no more reward , no more recompence , but that I would put my self to all that belongs to the duty of an honest Christian in the world , onely for a joyfull , a cheerfull passage out of it . And farther we shall not exercise your patience , or your devotion , upon these three pieces which constitute our first part : The Primogeniture of Gods Mercy , which is first in all ; The specification of Gods Mercy , long Life , as it is a figure of , and a way to eternity ; and then the association of Gods Mercy ; that Death , as well as Life , is a blessing to the Righteous . So then we have brought our Sunne to his Meridianall height , to a full Noon , in which all shadows are removed : for even the shadow of death , death it self is a blessing , and in the number of his Mercies . But the Afternoon shadows break out upon us , in our second part of the Text. And as afternoon shadowes do , these in our Text do also ; they grow greater and greater upon us , till they end in night , in everlasting night , The sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed . Now of shadowes it is appliably said , Vmbrae non sunt tenebrae sed densior lux , shadowes are not utter darknesse , but a thicker light ; shadowes are thus much nearer to the nature of light then darknesse is , that shadowes presume light , which darknesse doth not ; shadowes could not be , except there were light . The first shadowes in this dark part of our Text , have thus much light in them , that it is but the sinner , onely the sinner that is accursed . The Object of Gods malediction , is not man , but sinfull man. If God make a man sinne , God curses the man ; but if sinne make God curse , God curses but the sinne . Non talem Deum tuum putes , qualis nec tu debes esse , Never propose to thy self such a God , as thou wert not bound to imitate : Thou mistakest God , if thou make him to be any such thing , or make him to do any such thing , as thou in thy proportion shouldst not be , or shouldst not do . And shouldst thou curse any man that had never offended , never transgrest , never trespast thee ? Can God have done so ? Imagine God , as the Poet saith , Ludere in humanis , to play but a game at Chesse with this world ; to sport himself with making little things great , and great things nothing : Imagine God to be but at play with us , but a gamester , yet will a gamester curse , before he be in danger of losing any thing ? Will God curse man , before man have sinned ? In the Law there are denuntiations of curses enjoyned and multiplied : There is maledictus upon maledictus ; but it is maledictus homo , cursed be the man ; He was not curst by God , before he was a man ; nor curst by God , because he was a man ; but if that man commit Idolatry , Adultery , Incest , Beastiality , Bribery , Calumny , ( as the sinnes are reckoned there ) there he meets a particular curse , upon his particular sinne . The book of Life is but names written in Heaven ; all the Book of Death , that is , is but that in the Prophet , when names are written in the Earth . But whose names are written in the Earth there ? They that depart from thee , shall be written in the Earth : They shall be , when they depart from thee . For saith he , They have forsaken the Lord , the Fountain of Living water ; They did not that , because their names were written in the Earth , but they were written there , because they did that . Our Saviour Christ came hither to do all his Fathers will ; and he returned cheerfully to his Father again , as though he had done all , when he had taken away the sinnes of the world by dying for all sinnes , and all sinners . But if there were an Hospitall of miserable men , that lay under the reprobation and malediction of Gods decree , and not for sinne ; the blood of that Lamb is not sprinkled upon the Postills of that doore . Forgive me O Lord , O Lord forgive me my sinnes , the sinnes of my youth , and my present sinnes , the sinne that my Parents cast upon me , Originall sinne , and the sinnes that I cast upon my children , in an ill example ; Actuall sinnes , sinnes which are manifest to all the world , and sinnes which I have so laboured to hide from the world , as that now they are hid from mine own conscience , and mine own memory ; Forgive me my crying sins , and my whispering sins , sins of uncharitable hate , and sinnes of unchaste love , sinnes against Thee and Thee , against thy Power O Almighty Father , against thy Wisedome , O glorious Sonne , against thy Goodnesse , O blessed Spirit of God ; and sinnes against Him and Him , against Superiours and Equals , and Inferiours ; and sinnes against Me and Me , against mine own soul , and against my body , which I have loved better then my soul ; Forgive me O Lord , O Lord in the merits of thy Christ and my Iesus , thine Anointed , and my Saviour ; Forgive me my sinnes , all my sinnes , and I will put Christ to no more cost , nor thee to more trouble , for any reprobation or malediction that lay upon me , otherwise then as a sinner . I ask but an application , not an extention of that Benediction , Blessed are they whose sinnes are forgiven ; Let me be but so blessed , and I shall envy no mans Blessednesse : say thou to my sad soul , Sonne be of good comfort , thy sinnes are forgiven thee , and I shall never trouble thee with Petitions , to take any other Bill off of the fyle , or to reverse any other Decree , by which I should be accurst , before I was created , or condemned by thee , before thou saw'st me as a sinner ; For the object of malediction is but a sinner , ( which was our first ) and an Inveterate sinner , A sinner of a hundred yeares , which is our next consideration . First , Quia centum annorum , because he is so old ; so old in sinne , He shall be accur sed . And then , Quamvis centum annorum , though he be so old , though God have spared him so long , he shall be accursed . God is not a Lion in his house , nor frantick amongst his servants , saith the Wiseman ; God doth not rore , nor tear in pieces for every thing that displeaseth him . But when God is prest under us , as a cart is prest that is full of sheaves ; the Lord will grone under that burthen a while , but he will cast it off at last . That which is said by David , is , if it be well observed , spoken of God himself , Cum perverso pervertêris ; from our frowardnesse God will learn to be froward : But he is not so , of his own nature . If you walk contrary unto me , I will walk contrary unto you , saith God. But this is not said of one , first , wry step ; but it is a walking , which implies a long , and a considerate continuance . And if man come to sinne so , and will not walk with God , God will walk with that man in his own pace , and overthrow him in his own wayes . Nay , it is not onely in that place , If you walk contrary to me , In occursu , as Calvin hath it , ex adverso , as the vulgate hath it , which implies an Actuall Opposition against the wayes of God : but the word is but Chevi , and Chevi is but In accidente , in contingente ; if you walk negligently , inconsiderately ; if you leave out God , pretermit , and slight God ; if you come to call Gods Providence Fortune , to call Gods Judgements Accidents , or to call the Mercies of a God , favours of great Persons , if you walk in this neglect of God , God shall proceed to a neglect of you ; and then though God be never the worse for your leaving him out , ( for if it were in your power to annihilate this whole world , God were no worse , then before there was a World ) yet if God neglect you , forget , pretermit you , it is a miserable annihilation , a fearfull malediction . But God begins not before sinne , nor at the first sinne . God did not curse Adam and Eve for their sinne ; it was there first , and God foresaw they would not be sinners of a hundred yeares . But him that was in the Serpent , that inveterate sinner , him , who had sinned in Gods Court , in Heaven , before , and being banished from thence , fell into this transmarine treason , in another land , to seduce Gods other Subjects there , him God accurs'd . Who amongst us can say , that he had a Fever upon his first excesse , or a Consumption upon his first wantonnesse , or a Commission put upon him for his first Briberie ? Till he be a sinner of a hundred yeares , till he have brought age upon himself , by his sinne , before the time , and thereby be a hundred yeares old at fourtie , and so a sinner of a hundred yeares , till he have a desire that he might , and a hope that he shall be able to sinne to a hundred yeares ; and so be a sinner of a hundred yeares ; Till he sinne hungerly and thirstily , and ambitiously , and swiftly , and commit the sinnes of a hundred yeares in ten , and so be a sinner of a hundred yeares ; till he infect and poyson that age , and spoile that time that he lives in by his exemplary sinnes , till he be Pestis secularis , the plague of that age , peccator secularis , the proverbiall sinner of that age , and so be a sinner of a hundred yeares , till in his actions he have been , or in his desires be , or in the fore-knowledge of God would be a sinner of a hundred yeares , an inveterate , an incorrigible , an everlasting sinner , God comes not to curse him . But then Quamvis centum annorum , though he have lived a hundred yeares , though God have multiplied upon him Evidences , and Seals , and Witnesses , and Possessions , and Continuances , and prescriptions of his favour , all this hath not so riveted God to that man , as that God must not depart from him . God was crucified for him , but will not be crucified to him ; still to hang upon this Crosse , this perversnesse of this habituall sinner , and never save himself and come down , never deliver his own Honour , by delivering that sinner to malediction . It is true , that we can have no better Title to Gods future Blessings , then his Blessings formerly exhibited to us ; God former blessings are but his marks set up there , that he may know that place , and that man the better against another time , when he shall be pleased to come thither again with a supply of more Blessings : God gives not Blessings as payments , but as obligations ; and becomes a debtor by giving . If I can produce that , Remember thy mercies of old , I need ask no new ; for even that is a Specialty by which God hath bound himself to me for more . But yet not so , if I abuse his former Blessings , and make them occasions of sinne . How often would I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chickens , saith Christ , I know not how often ; surely very often ; for many hundreds of yeares : But yet , how often soever , God left them open to the Eagle , the Romane Eagle at last . God gives thee a recovery from sicknesse , that doth not make thee Immortall . God gives thee a good interpretation of thine actions from a gracious Prince , this doth not make thee impeccable in thy self . God gives thee titles of Honour upon thy self , this doth not alwayes give thee honour , and respect from others . For as it is God that Raiseth up the poore out of the dust , and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill , that he may set him with Princes ; so it is God that Cuts off the spirit of Princes , and is terrible to the Kings of the Earth . It is God that maketh the devices of the People of none effect , and it is God that destroyes the Counsels of Egypt . It is God that maketh their Nobles like Oreb , and like Zeb , and like them that perisht at Endor , and became as dung for the Earth ; that is , profitable onely in their ruine , and conculcation . And so with the same unwillingnesse , that God comes to the execution , we come to the denunciation of this malediction . They , They , these inveterate , incorrigible sinners , Quamvis centum annorum , though God have spared them so long , yet Quia centum annorum , because they have imployed all that time in sinne , They shall be accursed . Accursing is malediction , malediction is literally but maledicence ; and that is but evill speaking . Now all kinds of evill speaking do not inwrap a man within the curse of this Text ; For , though it be a shrewd degree of this curse of God , to be generally ill spoken of by sad , sober , and discreet , and dis-passioned , and dis-interessed Men , yet we are fallen into times , when men will speak ill of men , in things which they do not know , nor should not know , and out of credulity and easie beleeving of men , whom they should not beleeve ; men distempered and transported with passion : So men speak evill out of passion , and out of compassion ; out of humour , and out of rumour . But malediction in our Text , is an Imprecation of evil , by such men as would justly inflict it if they could , and because they cannot , they pray to God that he would , and he doth : When God seconds the Imprecations of good men , that is this curse . The Person that is curst here is Peccator centum annorum ; an habituall , an incorrigible sinner . If you put me to assigne , in what rank of men , Magistrates or Subjects , rich or poore , Judges or prisoners , All. If you put me to assigne , for what sinnes , sins of complexion and constitution , sinnes of societie and conversation , sinnes of our profession , and calling , sinnes of the particular place , or of the whole times , that we live in , sins of profit , or sins of pleasure , or sins of glory ; ( for we all do some sins which are sins merely of glory ; sins that we make no profit by , nor take much pleasure in , but do them onely out of a mis-imagined necessity , left we should go too much lesse , and sink in the estimation of the World , if we did them not ; ) if I must say which of these sinnes put us under this curse , All ; If he be centum annorum , Inveterate , Incorrigible , He is accursed . But then who curses him ? God put an extraordinary spirit , and produc'd extraordinary effects from curses , in the mouths of his Prophets which have been since the World began . So Elizeus curses , and two Bears destroy fourty two persons . These curses are deposited by God , in the Scriptures , and then inflicted by the Church , in her ordinary jurisdiction , by excommunications , and other censures . But this may be but matter of form in the Church , or matter of indignation in the Prophet . Not so , but as God saith , That the rod in Ashurs hand is his rod , and the sword in Babylons hand his sword , so the curse deposited in the Scripture , and denounced by the Church , is his curse . For as the Prophet saith , Non est malum , all the evill ( that is , all the penall ill , all plagues , all warre , all famine , ) that is done in the World , God doth ; so all the evill that is spoken , all the curses deposited in the Scriptures , and denounced by the Church , God speaks . But be all this so ; there is a curse deposited , denounced , seconded by God ; yet , all this is but malediction , but a speaking , here is no execution spoken of : yes , there is , for as the sight of God is Heaven , and to be banisht from the sight of God , is Hell in the World to come , so the blessing of God , is Heaven , and the curse of God is Hell and damnation , even in this Life . The Hieroglyphique of silence , is the hand upon the mouth ; If the hand of God be gone from the mouth , it is gone to strike . If it be come to an Os Domini locutum , that the mouth of the Lord have spoken it , it will come presently to an Immittam manum , That God will lay his hand upon us , in which one Phrase , all the plagues of Egypt are denounced . Solomon puts both hand and tongue together ; In manibus linguae , saith he , Death and Life are in the hand of the tongue : Gods Tongue hath a hand ; where his Sentence goeth before , the execution followeth . Nay , in the execution of the last sentence , we shall feel the Hand , before we heare the Tongue , the execution is before the sentence ; It is , Ite maledicti , go ye accursed : First , you must Go , go out of the presence of God ; and by that being gone , you shall know , that you are accursed ; Whereas in other proceedings , the sentence denounces nounces the execution , here the execution denounces the sentence . But be all this allowed to be thus ; There is a malediction deposited in the Scriptures , denounced by the Church , ratified by God , brought into execution , yet it may be born , men doe bear it . How men do bear it , we know not ; what passes between God and those men , upon whom the curse of God lieth , in their dark horrours at midnight , they would not have us know , because it is part of their curse , to envy God that glory . But we may consider in some part the insupportablenesse of that weight , if we proceed but so farre , as to accommodate to God , that which is ordinarily said of naturall things . Corruptio optimi pessima ; when the best things change their nature , they become worst . When God , who is all sweetnesse , shall have learned frowardnesse from us , as David speaks ; and being all rectitude , shall have learned perversenesse and crookednesse from us , as Moses speaks ; and being all providence , shall have learned negligence from us : when God who is all Blessing , hath learned to curse of us , and being of himself spread as an universall Hony-combe over All , takes in an impression , a tincture , an infusion of gall from us , what extraction of Wormwood can be so bitter , what exaltation of fire can be so raging , what multiplying of talents can be so heavy , what stifnesse of destiny can be so inevitable , what confection of gnawing worms , of gnashing teeth , of howling cries , of scalding brimstone , of palpable darknesse , can be so , so insupportable , so inexpressible , so in-imaginable , as the curse and malediction of God ? And therefore let not us by our works provoke , nor by our words teach God to curse . Lest if with the same tongue that we blesse God , we curse Men ; that is , seem to be in Charity in our Prayers here , and carry a ranckerous heart , and venemous tongue home with us God come to say , ( and Gods saying is doing ) As he loved cursing , so let it come unto him ; as he clothed himself with cursing , as with a garment , so let it be as a girdle , wherewith he is girded continually : When a man curses out of Levity , and makes a loose habit of that sinne , God shall so gird it to him , as he shall never devest it . The Devils grammar is Applicare Activa Passivis , to apply Actives to Passives ; where he sees an inclination , to subminister a temptation ; where he seeth a froward choler , to blow in a curse . And Gods grammar is to change Actives into Passives : where a man delights in cursing , to make that man accursed . And if God do this to them who do but curse men , will he do lesse to them , who blaspheme himself ? where man wears out Aeternum suum , ( as Saint Gregory speaketh ) his own eternity , his own hundred yeares ; that is , his whole life , in cursing and blaspheming , God shall also extend his curse , In aeterno suo , in his eternity , that is , for ever . Which is that , that falls to the bottome , as the heaviest of all , and is our last consideration ; that all the rest , that there is a curse deposited in the Scriptures , denounced by the Church , avowed by God , reduced to execution , and that insupportable in this life , is infinitely aggravated by this , that he shall be accursed for ever . This is the Anathema Maran-atha , accursed till the Lord come ; and when the Lord cometh , he cometh not to reverse , nor to alleviate , but to ratifie and aggravate that curse . As soon as Christ curst the fig-tree , it withered , and it never recovered : for saith that Gospell , he curst it Inaeternum , for ever . In the course of our sinne , the Holy Ghost hath put here a number of yeares , a hundred yeares : We sinne long , as long as we can , but yet sinne hath an end . But in this curse of God in the Text , there is no number ; it is an indefinite future ; He shall be accursed : A mile of cyphers or figures , added to the former hundred , would not make up a minute of this eternity . Men have calculated how many particular graines of sand , would fill up all the vast space butween the Earth and the Firmament : and we find , that a few lines of cyphers will designe and expresse that number . But if every grain of sand were that number , and multiplied again by that number , yet all that , all that inexpressible , inconsiderable number , made not up one minute of this eternity ; neither would this curse , be a minute the shorter for having been indured so many Generations , as there were grains of sand in that number . Our Esse , our Being , is from Gods saying , Dixit & facti , God spoke , and we were made : our Bene esse , our well-being , is from Gods saying too ; Bene-dicit God blesses us , in speaking gratiously to us . Even our ill-being , our condemnation is from Gods saying also : for Malediction is Damnation . So far God hath gone with us that way , as that our Being , our well-being , our ill-being is from his saying : But God shall never come to a Non esse , God shall never say to us , Be nothing , God shall never succour us with an annihilation , nor give us the ease of resolving into nothing , for this curse flowes on into an everlasting future , He shall be accurst , he shall be so for ever . In a true sense we may say , that Gods fore-knowledge growes lesse and lesse every day ; for his fore-knowledge is of future things , and many things which were future heretofore are past , or present now ; and therefore cannot fall under his fore-knowledge : His fore-knowledge in that sense , growes lesse , and decaieth . But his eternity decayeth in no sense ; and as long as his eternity lasts , as long as God is God , God shall never see that soul , whom he hath accurst , delivered from that curse , or eased in it . But we are now in the work of an houre , and no more . If there be a minute of sand left , ( There is not ) If there be a minute of patience left , heare me say , This minute that is left , is that eternitie which we speake of ; upon this minute dependeth that eternity : And this minute , God is in this Congregation , and puts his eare to every one of your hearts , and hearkens what you will bid him say to your selves : whether he shall blesse you for your acceptation , or curse you for your refusall of him this minute : for this minute makes up your Century , your hundred yeares , your eternity , because it may be your last minute . We need not call that a Fable , but a Parable , where we heare , That a Mother to still her froward childe told him , she would cast him to the Wolf , the Wolf should have him ; and the Wolf which was at the doore , and within hearing , waited , and hoped he should have the childe indeed : but the childe being still'd , and the Mother pleased , then she saith , so shall we kill the Wolf , the Wolf shall have none of my childe , and then the Wolf stole away . No metaphor , no comparison is too high , none too low , too triviall , to imprint in you a sense of Gods everlasting goodnesse towards you . God bids your Mother the Church , and us her Servants for your Souls , to denounce his judgements upon your sinnes , and we do it ; and the executioner Satan , beleeves us , before you beleeve us , and is ready on his part . Be you also ready on your part , to lay hold upon those conditions , which are annext to all Gods maledictions , Repentance of former , preclusion against future sinnes , and we shall be alwayes ready , on our part to assist you with the Power of our Intercession , to deliver you with the Keies of our Absolution , and to establish you with the seales of Reconciliation , and so disappoint that Wolf , that roaring Lion , that seeks whom he may devour : Go in Peace , and be this your Peace , to know this , Maledictus qui pendet in Cruce , God hath laid the whole curse belonging to us upon him , that hangs upon the Crosse ; But Benedictus qui pendet in pendentem ; To all them that hang upon him , that hangeth there , God offereth now , all those blessings , which he that hangeth there hath purchased with the inestimable price of his Incorruptible blood ; And to this glorious Sonne of God , who hath suffered all this , and to the most Almighty Father , who hath done all this , and to the blessed Spirit of God , who offereth now to apply all this , be ascribed by us , and by the whole Church , All power , praise , might , majesty , glory , and dominion , now and for evermore Amen . SERMON XXVII . Preached to the King , at White-Hall , the first of April , 1627. MARK . 4. 24. Take heed what you heare . WHether that which is recorded by this Evangelist , in , and about this Chapter , be one intire Sermon of our Saviours , preached at once , or Notes taken and erected from severall Sermons of his , we are no further curious to inquire , then may serve to ground this Note , that if it were one intire Sermon our Saviour preached methodically , and eased his hearers with certain landmarks by the way , with certain divisions , certain transitions , and callings upon them , to observe the points as they arose : For as he beginneth so , Hearken , Behold , so he returneth to that refreshing of their considerations , Et dixit illis , He said unto them ; and , Again , he said unto them , seaven or eight times , in this Chapter ; so many times he calleth upon them , to observe his passing from one point to another . If they be but Notes of severall Sermons , we onely note this from that , That though a man understand not a whole Sermon , or remember not a whole Sermon , yet he doth well , that layeth hold upon such Notes therein as may be appliable to his own case , and his own conscience , and conduce to his own edification . The widow of Sarepta had no Palaces to build , and therefore she went not out to survay Timber ; she had onely a poore cake to bake to save her own and her childs life , and she went out to gather a few sticks , two sticks as she told the Prophet Elias , to do that work . Every man that cometh to heare here , every man that cometh to speak here , cometh not to build Churches , nor to build Common-wealths ; to speak onely of the duties of Kings , and of Prelates , and of Magistrates ; but that poore soul that gathers a stick or two , for the baking of her own cake , that layeth hold upon any Note for the rectifying of her own perverseness hath performed the commandment of this Text , Take heed what ye heare . He that is drowning , will take hold of a bulrush ; and even that bulrush may stay him , till stronger means of succour come . If you would but feel , that you are drowning in the whirlepooles of sinne , and Gods judgements for sin , and would lay hold upon the shallowest man , ( be that man dignified with Gods Character , the Character of Orders , ) and lay hold upon the meanest part of his speach , ( be that speach dignified with Gods Ordinance , be it a Sermon ) even I , and any thing that I say here , and say thus , ( spoken by a Minister of God , in the house of God , by the Ordinance of God ) might stop you till you heard better , and you might be the fitter for more , if you would but take heed now what you heard ; Take heed what you heare . These words were spoken by Christ , to his Apostles upon this occasion . He had told them before , That since there was a candle lighted in the world , it must not be put under a bushell , nor under a bed , verse 21. That all that is hid , should be made manifest ; That all that was kept secret , should come abroad , verse 22. That if any man had ears to heare , he might heare , verse 23. That is , that the Mystery of salvation , which had been hid from the world till now , was now to be published to the world , by their Preaching , their Ministery , their Apostleship : And that therefore , since he was now giving them their Commission , and their instructions ; since all that they had in charge for the salvation of the whole world , was onely that , that he delivered unto them , that which they heard from him , they should take heed what they heard ; Take heed what you heare . In which he layeth a double obligation upon them : First , All that you hear from me , you are to preach to the world ; and therefore Take heed what you heare ; forget none of that ; And then , you are to preach no more then you heare from me ; and therefore Take heed what you heare ; adde nothing to that . Be not over-timorous so to prevaricate and forbear to preach that , which you have truely heard from me ; But be not over-venturous neither , to pretend a Commission when you have none , and to preach that for my word , which is your own passion , or their purpose that set you up . And when we shall have considered these words in this their first acceptation , as they were spoken literally , and personally to the Apostles , we shall see also , that by reflexion they are spoken to us , the Ministers of the Gospell ; and not onely to us , of the Reformation , but to our Adversaries of the Romane perswasion too ; and therefore , in that part , we shall institute a short comparison , whether they or we do best observe this commandment , Take heed what you heare ; Preach all that , preach nothing but that , which you have received from me . And having passed through these words , in both those acceptations , literally to the Apostles , and by reflexion to all the Ministers of the Gospell , the Apostles being at this time , when these words were spoken , but Hearers , they are also by a fair accommodation appliable to you that are Hearers now , Take heed what you heare : And since God hath extended upon you that glorification , that beatification , as that he hath made you regale Sacerdotium , a royall Priesthood , since you have a Regality and a Priesthood imprinted upon you , since by the prerogative which you have in the Gospell of the Kingdome of Christ Jesus , and the co-inheritance which you have in that Kingdome with Christ Jesus himself , you are Regum genus , and Sacerdotum genus , of kin to Kings , and of kin to Priests , be carefull of the honour of both those , of whose honour , you have the honour to participate , and take heed what you heare of Kings , take heed what you heare of Priests , take heed of hearkning to seditious rumours , which may violate the dignity of the State , or of schismaticall rumours , which may cast a cloud , or aspersion upon the government of the Church ; Take heed what you hear . First then as the words are spoken , in their first acceptation , literally to the Apostles , the first obligation that Christ layes upon them , is the publication of the whole Gospell . Take heed what you heare ; for , all that , which you hear from me , the world must heare from you ; for , for all my death and resurrection the world lies still surrounded under sinne , and Condemnation , if this death and resurrection , be not preached by you , unto them . Therefore the last words that ever our Saviour spoke unto them , were a ratification of this Commission , You shall be my witnesses both in Ierusalem , and in Iudea , and in Samaria , and unto the uttermost parts of the earth . God proceeds legally ; Publication before Judgement . God shall condemn no man , for not beleeving in Christ , to whom Christ was never manifested . 'T is true , that God is said to have come to Eliah in that still small voice , and not in the strong wind , not in the Earth-quake , not in the fire . So God says , Sibilab● populum meum , I will but kisse , I will but whisper for my people , and gather them so . So Christ tells us things in darknesse ; And so Christ speakes to us in our Ear ; And these low voices , and holy whisperings , and halfe-silences , denote to us , the inspirations of his Spirit , as his Spirit beares witnesse with our spirit ; as the Holy Ghost insinuates himselfe into our soules , and works upon us so , by his private motions . But this is not Gods ordinary way , to be whispering of secrets . The first thing that God made , was light ; The last thing , that he hath reserved to doe ; is the manifestation of the light of his Essence in our Glorification . And for Publication of himselfe here , by the way , he hath constituted a Church , in a Visibility , in an eminency , as a City upon a hill ; And in this Church , his Ordinance is Ordinance indeed ; his Ordinance of preaching batters the soule , and by that breach , the Spirit enters ; His Ministers are an Earth-quake , and shake an earthly soule ; They are the sonnes of thunder , and scatter a cloudy conscience ; They are as the fall of waters , and carry with them whole Congregations ; 3000 at a Sermon , 5000 at a Sermon , a whole City , such a City as Niniveh at a Sermon ; and they are as the roaring of a Lion , where the Lion of the tribe of Juda , cries down the Lion that seekes whom he may devour ; that is , Orthodoxall and fundamentall truths , are established against clamorous , and vociferant innovations . Therefore what Christ tels us in the darke , he bids us speake in the light ; and what he saies in our eare , he bids us preach on the house top . Nothing is Gospell , not Evangelium , good message , if it be not put into a Messengers mouth , and delivered by him ; nothing is conducible to his end , nor available to our salvation , except it be avowable doctrine , doctrine that may be spoke alowd , though it awake them , that sleep in their sinne , and make them the more froward , for being so awaked . God hath made all things in a Roundnesse , from the round superficies of this earth , which we tread here , to the round convexity of those heavens , w ch ( as long as they shal have any beeing ) shall be our footstool , when we come to heaven , God hath wrapped up all things in Circles , and then a Circle hath no Angles ; there are no Corners in a Circle . Corner Divinity , clandestine Divinity are incompatible termes ; If it be Divinity , it is avowable . The heathens served their Gods in Temples , sub dio , without roofs or coverings , in a free opennesse ; and , where they could , in Temples made of Specular stone , that was transparent as glasse , or crystall , so as they which walked without in the streets , might see all that was done within . And even nature it self taught the naturall man , to make that one argument of a man truly religious , Aperto vivere voto , That he durst pray aloud , and let the world heare , what he asked at Gods hand ; which duty is best performed , when we joyne with the Congregation in publique prayer . Saint Augustine , hath made that note upon the Donatists , That they were Clancularii , clandestine Divines , Divines in Corners . And in Photius , we have such a note almost upon all Heretiques ; as the Nestorian was called Coluber , a snake , because though he kept in the garden , or in the meadow , in the Church , yet he lurked and lay hid , to doe mischief . And the Valentinian was called a Grashopper , because he leaped and skipped from place to place ; and that creature , the Grashopper , you may hear as you passe , but you shall hardly find him at his singing ; you may hear a Conventicle Schismatick , heare him in his Pamphlets , heare him in his Disciples , but hardly surprize him at his exercise . Publication is a fair argument of truth . That tasts of Luthers holy animosity , and zealous vehemency , when he says , Audemus gloriari Christum à nobis primo vulgatum ; other men had made some attempts at a Reformation , and had felt the pulse of some persons , and some Courts , and some Churches , how they would relish a Reformation ; But Luther rejoyces with a holy exultation , That he first published it , that he first put the world to it . So the Apostles proceeded ; when they came in their peregrination , to a new State , to a new Court , to Rome it selfe , they did not enquire , how stands the Emperour affected to Christ , and to the preaching of his Gospel ; Is there not a Sister , or a Wife that might be wrought upon to further the preaching of Christ ? Are there not some persons , great in power and place , that might be content to hold a party together , by admitting the preaching of Christ ? This was not their way ; They only considered who sent them ; Christ Jesus : And what they brough ; salvation to every soul that embraced Christ Jesus . That they preached ; and still begunne with a Vae si non ; Never tell us of displeasure , or disgrace , or detriment , or death , for preaching of Christ. For , woe be unto us , if we preach him not : And still they ended with a Qui non crediderit , Damnabitur , Never deceive your own souls , He , to whom Christ hath been preached , and beleeves not , shall be damned . All Divinity that is bespoken , and not ready made , fitted to certaine turnes , and not to generall ends ; And all Divines that have their soules and consciences , so disposed , as their Libraries may bee , ( At that end stand Papists , and at that end Protestants , and he comes in in the middle , as neare one as the other ) all these have a brackish taste ; as a River hath that comes near the Sea , so have they , in comming so neare the Sea of Rome . In this the Prophet exalts our Consolation , Though the Lord give us the bread of Adversity , and the water of Affliction , yes shall not our Teachers be removed into corners ; ( They shall not be silenced by others , they shall not affect of themselves Corner Divinity . But ( saies he there ) our eyes shall see our Teachers , and our eares shall hear a word , saying , This is the way , walke in it . For so they shall declare , that they have taken to heart this Commandement of him that sent them , Christ Jesus . All that you receive from me , you must deliver to my people ; therefore , Take heed what you hear ; forget none of it . But then you must deliver no more then that ; and therefore in that respect also , Take heed what you hear ; adde nothing to that , and that is the other obligation which Christ laies here upon his Apostles . That reading of those words of Saint Iohn , Omnis spiritus qui solvit Iesum , Every spirit that dissolves Jesus , that takes him asunder , in pieces , and beleeves not all , is a very ancient reading of that place . And upon that Ancient reading , the Ancients infer well , That not onely that spirit that denies that Christ being God , assumed our flesh , not onely he that denies that Christ consists of two natures , God and Mam , but he also that affirmes this Christ , thus consisting of two natures , to consist also of two persons , this man dissolves Iesus , takes him asunder , in pieces , and slackens the band of the Christian faith , which faith is , That Christ consisting of two natures , in one person , suffered for the salvation of man. So then , not onely to take from Jesus , one of his natures , God or man , but to adde to him , another person , this addition is a Diminution , a dissolution , an annihilation of Jesus . So also to adde to the Gospel , to adde to the Scriptures , to adde to the articles of faith , this addition is a Diminution , a Dissolution , an Annihilation of those Scriptures , that Gospel , that faith , and the Author , and finisher thereof . Iesus grew in stature , says the Gospel ; But he grew not to his lifes end ; we know to , how many feet he grew . So the Scriptures grew to ; the number of the books grew ; But they grow not to the worlds end , we know to how many bookes they grew . The body of man and the vessels thereof , have a certain , and a limited capacity , what nourishment they can receive and digest , and so a certaine , measure and stature to extend to . The soul , and soul of the soul , Faith , and her faculties , hath a certain capacity too , and certain proportions of spirituall nourishments exhibited to it , in certaine vessels , certaine measures , so many , these Bookes of Scriptures . And therefore as Christ saies , Which of you can adde one Cubit to your stature ? ( how plentifully , and how delicately soever you feed , how discreetly , and how providently soever you exercise , you cannot doe that ) so may he say to them who pretend the greatest power in the Church , Which of you can adde another booke to the Scriptures , A Codicill to either of my Testaments ? The curse in the Revelation fals as heavy upon them that adde to the booke of God , as upon them that take from it : Nay , it is easie to observe , that in all those places of Scripture which forbid the taking away , or the adding to the Book of God , still the commandment that they shall not , and still the malediction if they do , is first placed upon the adding , and after upon the taking away . So it is in that former place , Plagues upon him , that takes away : but first , Plagues upon him , that addes : so in Deut. you shall not diminish , but first , you shall not adde : So again in that Book , whatsoever I command you observe to do it : Thou shalt not diminish from it ; but first , Thou shalt not adde to it . And when the same commandment seems to be given in the Proverbs , there is nothing at all said of taking away , but onely of adding , as though the danger to Gods Church consisted especially in that ; Every word of God , is pure , saith Solomon there : Adde thou not unto his word , lest thou be reproved and found a lyer . For , though heretofore some Heretiques have offered at that way , to clip Gods coin in taking away some book of Scripture , yet for many blessed Ages , the Church hath enjoyed her peace in that point : None of the Books are denied by any church , there is no substraction offered ; But for addition of Apocryphal Books to Canonicall , the Church of God is still in her Militant state , and cannot triumph : and though she have victory , in all the Reasons , the cannot have peace . You see Christs way , to them that came to heare him ; Audiistis , and Audiistis , This , and that you have heard others say ; Eg● autem dico ; your Rule is , what I say ; for Christ spoke Scripture ; Christ was Scripture . As we say of great and universall Scholars , that they are viventes Bibliothecae , living , walking , speaking Libraries ; so Christ was l●quens Scriptura ; living , speaking Scripture . Our Sermons are Text and Discourse ; Christ Sermons were all Text : Christ was the Word ; not onely the Essentiall Word , which was alwayes with God , but the very written word too ; Christ was the Scripture , and therefore , when he refers them to himselfe , he refers them to the Scriptures , for though here he seem onely , to call upon them , to hearken to that which he spoke , yet it is in a word , of a deeper impression ; for it is Videte ; See what you hear . Before you preach any thing for my word , see it , see it written , see it in the body of the Scriptures . Here then lies the double obligation upon the Apostles , The salvation of the whole world lies upon your preaching of that , of All That , of onely That , which you hear from me now , And therefore , take heed what you hear . And farther we carry not your consideration , upon this first acceptation of the words as they are spoken personally to the Apostles , but passe to the second , as by reflexion , they are spoken to us , the Ministers of the Gospel . In this consideration , we take in also our Adversaries ; for we all pretend to be successors of the Apostles ; though not we , as they , in the Apostolicall , yet they as well as we in the Evangelicall , and Ministeriall function : for , as that which Christ said to Saint Peter , he said in him , to all the Apostles , Vpon this Rock will I build my Church , so in this which he saith to all the Apostles , he saith to all us also , Take heed what you heare . Be this then the issue between them of the Roman distemper , and us ; whether they or we , do best perform this commandment , Take heed what you heare , conceal nothing of that which you have heard , obtrude nothing but that which you have heard : Whether they or we do best apply our practise to this rule , Preach all the Truth , preach nothing but the Truth , be this lis contestata , the issue joyned between us , and it will require no long pleading for matter of evidence ; first , our Saviour saith , Man liveth by every word , that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And this Christ saith from Moses also : so that in the mouth of two unreproachable witnesses , Moses , and Christ , the Law , and the Gospel , we have this established , Mans life is the Word of God , the Word is the Scripture . And then our Saviour saith further , The Holy Ghost shall teach you all things , and bring all things to your remembrance : and here is the Latitude , the Totality , the Integrality of the meanes of salvation ; you shall have Scriptures delivered to you , by them the Holy Ghost shall teach you all things ; and then you shall be remembred of all , by the explication and application of those Scriptures , at Church , where lies the principall operation of the Holy Ghost . Now , is this done in the Roman Church ? Are the Scriptures delivered , and explicated to them ? To much of the Scriptures as is read to them , in their Lessons and Epistles , and Gospels , is not understood when it is read , for it is in an unknown language ; so that , that way , the Holy Ghost teaches them nothing . Neither are all the Scriptures distributed into these Lessons and Epistles , and Gospels which are read : so that if they did understand all they heard , yet they did not heare all they were bound to understand . And for remembring them by the way of preaching , though it be true , that the Reformation ( by way of example , though not by Doctrine ) have so much prevailed upon them , as that they have now twenty Sermons in that Church , for one that they had before Luther , yet if a man could heare six Sermons a day , all the days of his life , he might die without having heard all the Scriptures explicated in Sermons : But when men have a Christian liberty afforded to them to read the Scriptures at home , and then are remembred of those things at Church , and there taught to use that liberty modestly , to establish their faith upon places of Scripture that are plain , and to suspend their judgment upon obscurer places , till they may , by due meanes , preaching or conference , receive farther satisfaction therein , from them , who are thereunto authorized by God in his Church , there certainly is this Rule of our Saviours , Take heed what you hear , preach all that you have received from me , likelyer to be observed then there , where the body of the conveyance , the Scripture it self is locked up from us ; and the soule of the conveyance , the sense , and interpretation of the Scriptures , is locked into one mans brest ; and the Great Seal of that conveyance , the Sacrament of our Reconciliation , is broken , and mutilated , and given us but by halfe . But they do not onely stray on that hand , in not giving all that the Scripture gives ; ( They doe not give the liberty of meates , nor the liberty of mariage , which the Scripture gives ; Nay , they doe not give the liberty of trying , whether the Scripture give it or no ; for they doe not give the liberty of reading the Scriptures ) But on the other hand , they stray too , and further , That they deliver more then the Scriptures doe , and make other Rules and Canons equall to Scriptures . In which excesse , they doe not onely make the Apocryphall Books , ( Books that have alwaies had a favourable aspect , and benigne countenance from the Church of God ) equall to Canonicall Scriptures , But they make their decretall Epistles of their Popes and of their Extravagants , ( as they call them ) and their occasionall Bulls , nay their Bull-baitings , their Buls fighting , and crossing and contradicting one another , equall to Canonicall Scripture . So that these men have put the salvation of the world , upon another science , upon another profession ; It is not the Divine , that is the Minister of salvation , but the Canonist . I must not determine my beleef in the Apostles Creed , nor in Athanasius , nor in that of the Nicen Fathers ; not onely not the Scriptures , but not the Councels , nor Fathers must give the Materials , and Elements of my faith , but the Canon law ; for so they rule it : Gratian that hath collected the sentences of Fathers and Councels , and digested them into heads of Divinity , he is no rule of our beleef , because , say they , he is no part of the body of the Canon law ; But they that first compiled the Decretals , and the Extravagants , and they who have since recompiled more Decretals , and more Extravagants , the Clementins , and the Sextins , and of late yeares the Septims , with those of Iohn the 22. these make up the body of the Canon law , and these must be our Rule ; what to beleeve . How long ? Till they fall out with some State , with whom they are friends yet , or grown friends with some State , that they are fallen out with now ; and then upon a new Decretall , a new Extravagant , I must contract a new , or enlarge , or restrain my old beleef . Certainly , as in naturall things , the assiduity takes off the admiration , ( The rising , and the setting of the sunne , would be a miracle to him , that should see it but once ) and as in civill things , the profusenesse , and the communication , and the indifferency takes off the Dignity , ( for , as gold is gold still , the heaviest metall of all , yet if it be beat into leaf gold , I can blow it away ; so Honour is honour still , the worthyest object of the worthyest spirits , and the noblest reward of the greatest Princes , yet the more have it , the lesse every one hath of it ) So in the Roman Church , they have not found a better way to justify their blasphemy of the insufficiency of the Scriptures , then by making contemptible writings , as sufficient as Scriptures , equall to Scripture . If they could make me beleeve , the Scriptures were no more sufficient then their Decretals , and Extravagants , I should easily confesse there were no Scriptures sufficient for salvation . And farther we presse not this evidence , how farre they depart from this rule , Take heed what you heare , How much lesse , and how much more then Christ gave , they give , but passe to the third acceptation of these words , as , in a fair accommodation , they are spoken to you , who are now as the Apostles were then , Hearers , Take heed what you heare . And into this part I enter with such a protestation , as perchance may not become me : That this is the first time in all my life , ( I date my life from my Ministery ; for I received mercy , as I received the ministery , as the Apostle speaks ) this is the first time , that in the exercise of my Ministery , I wished the King away ; That ever I had any kinde of loathnesse that the King should hear all that I sayd . Here , for a little while , it will be a little otherwise ; because in this branch , I am led , to speak of some particular duties of subjects ; and in my poor way , I have thought it somewhat an Eccentrique motion , and off of the naturall Poles , to speake of the Duties of subjects before the King , or of the duties of Kings , in publike and popular Congregations . As every man is a world in himself , so every man hath a Church in himself ; and as Christ referred the Church for hearing to the Scriptures , so every man hath Scriptures in his own heart , to hearken to . Obedience to Superiours , and charity to others , are In-nate Scriptures ; Obedience and Charity , are the Naturall mans , the Civill mans , the Morall mans Old and New Testament . Take heed , that is , observe what you heare from them , and they will direct you well . And first , Take heed what you heare , is , take heed that you hear ; That you do hearken to them , whom you should hear . Our Saviour saith , He that is of God , heareth his words ; ye therefore hear them not , because you are not his . Transferre this to a civill application ; to obedience to Superiors . Christ makes account that he hath argued safely so ; If you heare him not , you are none of his . If you heare him not in his Lawes , heare him not in his Proclamations , heare him not in the Declarations of his wants and necessities , you are none of his , that is , you had rather you were none of his : There is a Nolumus hunc regnare smothered in our breasts , if we will not hear , and we had rather we might devest our Allegeance , rather we might be no subjects . By the Law , he that was willing to continue in the service of his Master , was willing to bee boared in the eare , willing to testify a readinesse of hearing and obedience . And when David describes the refractary man so , He is like the deafe Adder , that stoppeth her eare , which will not hearken to the voyce of Charmers , charming never so wisely , that word Charmer , signifies an eloquent , a persuasive man , a powerfull speaker ; this Viper will not hear such . And for the sinnes of a Nation , when those sinnes come to the height , God will first inflict that punishment in the Prophet Ieremy , I will send Serpents , Cockatrices amongst you , which will not be charmed , that is , venimous , and mutinous , and seditious spirits , upon whom , no language , no reason , no counsell , no perswasion can prevail ; And then , he will second , and aggravate that punishment , with that in Esay , The Lord shall take from Ierusalem , the man of warre , and the Iudge , and the Prophet , and the honourable man , and the Counseller , and the eloquent Oratour . As when they will not embrace religious duties , God shall take away their Preachers , so when they will not believe their Civill dangers , God shall take from them the spirit of persuasibility , and the power of perswasivenesse towards them , from them who should work upon them ; and leave them a miserable example of that fearefull rule , whom God will destroy , he will infatuate first ; from that Nation from whom God will depart , as he is the Lord of hosts , and not fight their battels , he will depart first , as he is the Angel of the great counsell , and not enlighten their understandings , that they might see their dangers . The Potion of jealousie , was a bitter potion , and a putrefying potion , where it was to be ministred ; and it was to be ministred to them , who gave the occasion of the jealousie . Now not to have brought Saul presents , not to have contributed to his present wars , and his present wants , this occasioned the jealousie ; for so , says the text , They despised Saul , and brought him no presents ; This was evidence enough of their contempt , That they brought him no presents . And where jealousies are so occasioned , much bitternesse may follow ; many bitter potions may be administred ; many bitter pilles may be swallowed . And therefore , take heed that you heare , and hear so , as may in one act testify your obedience to Superiours , and charity towards others , who are already enwrapped in the same miseries , that may reach you ; for obedience and charity are an Old , and a New Testament . Take heed that you heare them whom God hath appointed to speake to you ; But , when you come abroad , take heed what you hear ; for , certainely , the Devill doth not cast in more snares at the eye of man , then at the eare . Our Saviour Christ proposes it as some remedy against a mischief , That if the eye offend thee , thou mayst pull it out , and if thy hand or foot offend thee , thou mayst cut it off , and thou art safe from that offence . But he does not name nor mention the ear : for , if the ear betray thee , though thou doe cut it off , yet thou art open to that way of treason still , still thou canst heare . Where one man libels with the tongue , or hand , a hundred libel with the ear ; One man speakes , or writes , but a hundred applaud and countenance a calumny . Therefore sepi aures tuas spinis , as the Vulgate reads that place , hedge thine eares with thornes ; that he that would whisper a calumny in thine ear , against another man , may be pricked with those thornes , that is , may discern from thee , that he is not welcome to thee , and so forbear ; or if he will presse upon thee , those thorns may prick thee , and warne thee that there is an uncharitable office done which thou shouldest not countenance . Neither onely may thy charity towards another , be violated by such a whisperer , but thine own safety endangered ; And therefore , Take heed what you hear . There are two dangerous sorts of men , whom we call Auricularios , Earwigs transformed into men . And certainely there is no Lycanthropie so dangerous , not when men are changed into devouring wolfes , as when these Earwigs are metamorphos'd into men . The first sort is of those , who take us into their eares ; the other , that put themselves into ours . The first are they , that receive Auricular confessions ; in which a man will propose to his Confessar , treasonable and bloody purposes ; and if he allow them , then it is no longer a confession , but a consultation , and he may disclose it to any , whom he may thereby draw in ; But if his Confessar disallow it , then it retaines the nature of a confession still , and being delivered under that Seale , it may not be revealed , though the concealing cost Christendome , or , ( as they expresse it ) all the souls , that Christ hath dyed for . And of these Earwigs , of these Auricular men , we had shrewd experience in the carriage of that treason , the Emphaticall Treason , in respect of which , all other Treasons are but Trespasses , all Rebellions but Ryots , all Battayls but Frays . But then , the more frequent , and the more dangerous Earwig is he , that upon pretence of trusting thee with a secret , betrays thee , and therefore Take heed what you hear . Bartelus that great Lawyer , had delivered it for law , that whosoever hears treason , and reveals it not , is a Traitour . And though Baldus , a great Lawyer , and one between whom , and Bartolus , the scales are even , say , That Bartolus his soule , and all their soules that follow him in that opinion , burne in hell for that uncharitablenesse , yet , to verify that , that the most doe goe to hell , the most doe follow Bartolus , and so thy danger , that huntest after the knowledge of great secrets , is the greater , and therefore , Take heed what you heare . Arridet tibi homo , & instar privati sermones occupat , says the little great Epictetus , or Arrian upon him , a man will put himself into thy company , and speake in the confidence of a deare friend , and then , De Principe inclementer loquitur , he comes to speake boldly and irreverently of the greatest persons ; and thou thinkest thou hast found Exemplum & monumentum fidei , a rare , a noble , an ingenuous , a free , and confident Spirit , Et pertexis , quod prior inceperat ; Thou doest but say on that which he was saying , and make up his sentence , or doest but believe him , or doest but not say , that thou doest not believe him , and thy few words , thy no words , may cost thee thy life . Per ornamenta ferit , says the Patriarch , and Oracle of Morall men , Seneca ; This whisperer wounds thee , and with a stilletta of gold , he strangles thee with scarfes of silk , he smothers thee with the down of Phoenixes , he stifles thee with a perfume of Ambar , he destroys thee by praising thee , overthrows thee by exalting thee , and undoes thee by trusting thee ; By trusting thee with those secrets that bring thee into a desperate perplexity , Aut alium accusare in subsidium tui , ( as the Patriarch , and Oracle of States-men , Tacitus , says ) Either to betray another , that pretends to have trusted thee , or to perish thy selfe , for the saving of another , that plotted to betray thee . And therefore , if you can heare a good Organ at Church , and have the musique of a domestique peace at home , peace in thy walls , peace in thy bosome , never hearken after the musique of sphears , never hunt after the knowledge of higher secrets , then appertaine to thee ; But since Christ hath made you Regale Sacerdotium , Kings and Priests , in your proportion , Take heed what you hear , in derogation of either the State , or the Church . In declaring ill affections towards others , the Holy Ghost hath imprinted these steps . First , he begins at home , in Nature , He that curseth Father or Mother shall surely be put to death ; and then , as families grow out into Cities , the Holy Ghost goes out of the house , into the consideration of the State , and says , Thou shalt not curse the Ruler of the people , no Magistrate . And from thence he comes to the highest upon earth , for in Samuel , it comes to a cursing of the Lords Anointed ; and from thence to the highest in heaven , Whosoever curseth his God , shall bear his sinne ; and as though both those grew out of one another , The cursing of the King , and the cursing of God , the Prophet Esai hath joyned them together , They shall be hungry , says he , ( indigent , poor , penurious ) and they shall fret , ( be transported with ungodly passion ) and they shall curse their King and their God : If they doe one , they will doe the other . The Devil remembers from what height he is fallen , and therefore still clambers upward , and still directs all our sinnes , in his end , upon God : Our end , in a sin , may be pleasure , or profit , or satisfaction of affections , or passions ; but the Devils end in all is , that God may be violated and dishonoured in that sinne : And therefore by casting in ill conceptions and distasts , first , against Parents and Masters at home , and then against subordinate Magistrates abroad , and so against the Supreme upon earth , He brings us to ill conceptions and distasts against God himself ; first , to thinke it liberty to bee under no Governour , and then , liberty to be under no God ; when as , onely those two services , of a gracious God , and of a good King , are perfect freedome . Therefore the wise King Solomon meets with this distemper in the root , at first ebullition , in the heart ; Curse not the King , no not in thy thought ; for , that Thought hath a tongue , and hath spoken , and sayd Amen in the eares of God ; That which thy heart hath said , though the Law have not , though the Jury have not , though the Peers have not , God hath heard thee say . The word which Solomon uses there , is Iadung ; and that our Translators have in the margin called Conscience ; Curse not the King , no not in thy conscience ; Doe not thou pronounce , that whatsoever thou dislikest , cannot consist with a good conscience ; never make thy private conscience the rule of publique actions ; for to constitute a Rectitude , or an Obliquity in any publique action , there enter more circumstances , then can have fallen in thy knowledge . But the word that Selomon takes there , Iad●ng , signifies properly all waies of acquiring knowledge , and Hearing is one of them , and therefore , Take heed what you heare : Come not so neare evill speaking , as to delight to heare them , that delight to speake evill of Superiours . A man may have a good breath in himself , and yet be deadly infected , if he stand in an ill ayre ; a man may stand in a cloud , in a mist , in a fogge of blasphemers , till , in the sight of God , himself shall be dissolved into a blasphemous wretch , and in that cloud , in that mist , God shall not know him , that endured the hearing , from him , that adventured the speaking of those blasphemies . The ear , in such cases , is as the clift in the wall , that receives the voice , and then the Echo is below , in the heart ; for the most part , the heart affords a returne , and an inclination to those things that are willingly received at the ear ; The Echo returnes the last syllables ; The heart concludes with his conclusions , whom we have been willing to hearken unto . We make Satyrs ; and we looke that the world should call that wit ; when God knowes , that that is in a great part , self-guiltinesse , and we doe but reprehend those things , which we our selves have done , we cry out upon the illnesse of the times , and we make the times ill : so the calumniator whispers those things , which are true , no where , but in himselfe . But thy greater danger , is that mischievous purpose , ( which we spake of before ) to endanger thee by hearing , and to entangle thee in that Dilemma , of which , an ingenuous man abhors one part , as much as a conscientious man does the other , That thou must be a Delinquent , or an Accuser , a Traitour or an Informour : God hath imprinted in thee characters of a better office , and of more dignity , of a Royall Priesthood ; as you have sparks of Royaltie in your soules , Take heed what you hear of State-government ; as you have sparks of holy fire , and Priesthood in your soules , Take heed what you heare of Church-government , which is the other consideration . The Church is the spouse of Christ : Noble husbands do not easily admit defamations of their wives . Very religious Kings may have had wives , that may have retained some tincture , some impressions of errour , which they may have sucked in their infancy , from another Church , and yet would be loth , those wives should be publikely traduced to be Heretiques , or passionately proclaimed to be Idolaters for all that . A Church may lacke something of exact perfection , and yet that Church should not be said to be a supporter of Antichrist , or a limme of the beast , or a thirster after the cup of Babylon , for all that . From extream to extream , from east to west , the Angels themselves cannot come , but by passing the middle way between ; from that extream impurity , in which Antichrist had damped the Church of God , to that intemerate purity , in which Christ had constituted his Church , the most Angelicall Reformers cannot come , but by touching , yea , and stepping upon some things , in the way . He that is come to any end , remembers when he was not at the middle way ; he was not there as soon as he set out . It is the posture reserved for heaven , to sit down , at the right hand of God ; Here our consolation is , that God reaches out his hand to the receiving of those who come towards him ; And nearer to him , and to the institutions of his Christ , can no Church , no not of the Reformation , be said to have come , then ours does . It is an ill nature in any man , to be rather apt to conceive jealousies , and to suspect his Mothers honour , or his sisters chastity , then a strange womans . It is an irreverent unthankfulnesse , to think worse of that Church , which hath bred us , and fed us , and led us thus far towards God , then of a forein Church , though Reformed too , and in a good degree . How often have I heard our Church condemned abroad , for opinions , which our Church never held ? And how often have I heard forein Churches exalted and magnified at home , for some things in the observation of the Sabbath , and in the administration of the Sacrament , which , indeed , those Churches doe not hold , nor practise ? Take heed what you heare ; And that ill , which you heare of your own Church , at home , by Gods abundant goodnesse to it , is not true ; And , I would all that good , which you heare of Churches abroad , were true ; but I must but wish , that it were so , and pray that it may be so , and praise God , for those good degrees towards it , which they have attained ; But no Church in the world , gives us occasion of emulation towards them , or of undervaluing Gods blessings upon ours . And therefore , as to us , who pretend an ambassage from him , if we make our selves unworthy of that employment , God shall say , What hast thou to doe , to declare my statutes , or that thou shouldest take my Covenant into thy mouth , seeing thou hatest instruction , and castest my words behind thee ? So to them , that hearken greedily after defamations of the persons and actions of his Church , God shall say , Why takest thou mine Ordinance into thy construction , or my servants into thy consideration , since thou hatest my yoake , and proposest to thy selfe no other end , in defaming others , then a licentious liberty , and an uncontrolled impunity in thy selfe ? As you are Christians , God hath given you a Royall Priesthood ; be so Noble , be so Holy , as to take heed what you heare , of State and Church , and of those persons , whom God hath called Gods , in both those firmaments . And , for conclusion of all , Take heed what you heare of yourselves . Men speake to you , and God speakes to you , and the Devill does speake to you too ; Take heed what you hear of all three . In all three the words look two ways ; for , in them , there is both a Videte , and a Cavete , first see that you doe heare them , and then take heed what you heare from them . Men will speake ; and they will speake of you : Men will discourse , and you must be their subject ; Men will declame , and you must be their Theme . And truely you should desire to be so : As onely man can speake , so onely man can desire to be spoken of . If gold could speake , if gold could wish , gold would not be content to lie in the darke , in the mine , but would desire to come abroad , to entertain Armies , or to erect , or endow Civill , or Ecclesiasticall buildings . He that desires to Print a book , should much more desire , to be a book ; to do some such exemplar things , as men might read , and relate , and profit by . He that hath done nothing worth the speaking of , hath not kept the world in reparations , for his Tenement and his Terme . Videte , see that you doe hear , That you doe give occasion to be spoken of , that you doe deserve the praise , the thankes , the testimony , the approbation of the good men of your own times , for that shall deliver you over fairely to posterity . But then , Cavete , Take heed what you hear , that you suffer not these approbations to swerve , or swell into flattery : for , it is better to hear the Rebuke of the wise , then to heare the songs of fools , says the wise King : And , when the flatterer speaks thee faire , says he , beleeve him not , for there are seven abominations in his heart ; And , ( by the way ) the Holy Ghost at any time , had as lieve say seventy millions , as seven ; for seven is the holy Ghosts Cyphar of infinite ; There are infinite abominations , in the flatterers heart . And of these flatterers , these waspes , that swarme in all sweet , and warme places , and have a better outside● then the Bee , ( the Waspe hath a better shape , and a better shape , and a better appearance then the Bee , but a sharper and a stronger sting , and , at last , no hony ) of these , no authors of any books of the Bible , have warned us so much , and armed us so well , as those two Royall Authors , those two great Kings , David , and Solomon ; In likelyhood because they , as such , had been most offered at by them , and could best give a true character of them , as David does , Their words are smoother then butter , but warre is in their hearts , and softer then oile , and yet they are naked swords . Videte , Cavete , see that you do hear , that you give good men occasion to speak well of you ; But take heed what you hear , that you encourage not a flatterer , by your over easie acceptation of his praises . Man speakes ; and God speakes too ; and first Videte , see that you do heare him ; for , as he that fears God , fears nothing else , so he that hears God hears nothing else , that can terrifie him . Ab Auditione mala non timebit , says David , a good man shall not be afraid of evill tydings , for his heart is fixed , trusting in the Lord. A rumor shall come one year , says Ieremy , and next year another rumor ; new inventions from Satan , for new intimidations ; but still he is at home , for he dwells in God. Videte , see that you heare him ; But then Cavete , take heed what you heare , even from God himself , that you mistake not what God says , for as all Gods pardons have an Ita quòd se bene gerat ; He whom God pardons , for that that is past , is bound to the good behaviour for the future , so all Gods promises have a Si audiertis , si volueritis , if I hearken , if I obey , I shall eat the good things of the land ; otherwise I shall sterve , body , and soule . There is a Vives proposed to me , I may conceive justly an infallibility of eternall life , but still it is ; fac hoc & vives , this I must doe , and then I shall live ; otherwise , moriar , and morte moriar , I shall dy both ways , body and soule . There is not much asked of Ioshua , but something there is ; It is but a Tantummodo hoc , onely this ; but a Tantummodo hoc , an onely this there is , Onely be thou valiant , and of a good courage ; forsake not the cause of God , and God will never forsake thee . There is not much asked of Iairus , for the resuscitation of his dead daughter , but something there is , it is Tantummodo hoc , but onely this ; but an onely this there is , Tantummodo crede , & non metuas ; doe not mistrust Christ , doe not disable Christ , from doing a miracle , in thy behalfe , by not beleeving ; as , in one place , where he came , it is said that Christ could not doe much , by reason of their unbeleefe . Heare God there , where God speaks to thee , and then thou shalt heare , that , that he speakes to thee . Above , in heaven , in his decrees , he speakes to himselfe , to the Trinity : In the Church , and in the execution of those decrees , he speakes to thee . Climbe not up , to the search of unsearchable things , to the finding out of investigable things , as Tertullian speakes ; but look to that which is neare thee ; not so much to those Decrees which have no conditions , as to be able to plead conditions performed , or , at least , a holy sorrow , that thou hast not performed them . Videte , Cavete ; see that you doe heare God , else every rumor will scatter you ; But take heed what you heare , else you may come to call conditionall things absolute . And lastly , since Satan will be speaking too , Videte , be sure you doe heare him , be sure you discerne it to be his voice , and know what leads you into tentation . For , you may hear a voice that shall say , youth must have pleasures , and greatnesse must have State , and charge must have support . And this voice may bring a young man to transfer all his wantonesse upon his years , when it is the effect of high dyet , or licentious discourse , or wanton Images admitted , and cherished in his fancy ; and this voice may bring great officers , to transfer their inaccessiblenesse , upon necessary State , when it is an effect of their own lazinesse , or indulgence to their pleasures ; and this voice may bring rich landlords to transfer all their oppression of tenants , to the necessity of supporting the charge of wives and children , when it is an effect of their profusenesse and prodigality . Nay you may heare a voice , that may call you to this place , and yet be his voice ; which is that , which Saint Augustine confesses and laments , that even to these places persons come to look upon one another , that can meet no where else . Videte ; see you doe heare , that you doe discerne the voice ; for , that is never Gods voice that puts upon any man , a necessity of sinning , out of his years and constitution , out of his calling and profession , out of his place , and station , out of the age , and times that he lives in , out of the pleasure of them , that he lives upon , or out of the charge of them , that live upon him . But then , Cavete , take heed what you heare from him too , especially then , when he speakes to thee upon thy death-bed , at thy last transmigration ; then when thine eares shall be deafe , with the cryes of a distressed , and a distracted family , and with the found , and the change of the found of thy last bell ; then when thou shalt heare a hollow voice in thy selfe , upbraiding thee , that thou hast violated all thy Makers laws , worn out all thy Saviours merits , frustrated all the endeavours of his blessed Spirit upon thee , evacuated all thine own Repentances , with relapses ; then when thou shalt see , or seem to see his hand turning the streame of thy Saviours bloud into another channell , and telling thee , here 's enough for Iew and Turke , but not a drop for thee ; then when in that multiplying glasse of Despaire , which he shall present , every sinfull thought shall have the proportion of an Act , and every Act , of a Habite , when every Circumstance of every sin , shall enter into the nature of the sin it selfe , and vary the sinne , and constitute a particular sinne ; and every particular sinne , shall be a sinne against the holy Ghost ; Take heed what you heare ; and be but able to say to Satan then , as Christ said to Peter , in his name , Vade retro Satan , come after me Satan , come after me tomorrow ; come a minute after my soule is departed from this body , come to me , where I shall be then , and when thou seest me washed in the bloud of my Saviour , clothed in the righteousnesse of my Saviour , lodged in the bosome of my Saviour , crowned with the merits of my Saviour , confesse , that upon my death-bed , thou wast a lyer , and wouldest have been a murderer , and the Lord shall , and I , in him , shall rebuke thee . See that yee refuse not him , that speaketh , says the Apostle ; not any that speakes in his name ; but especially not him , whom he names there , that speakes better things , then the bloud of Abel ; for , the bloud of Abel speakes but by way of example , and imitation ; the bloud of Christ Jesus , by way of Ransome , and satisfaction . Heare what that bloud says for you , in the eares of the Father , and then no singing of the flatterer , no lisping of the tempter , no roaring of the accuser , no thunder of the destroyer shall shake thy holy constancy . Take heed what you heare , remember what you have heard ; and the God of heaven , for his Sonne Christ Jesus sake , by the working of his blessed Spirit , prosper and emprove both endeavours in you . Amen . SERMON XXVIII . Preached to the King , at the Court in April , 1629. GEN. 1. 26. And God said , Let us make man , in our Image , after our likenesse . NEver such a frame , so soon set up , as this , in this Chapter . For , for the thing it selfe , there is no other thing to compare it with . For it is All , it is the whole world . And for the time , there was no other time to compare it with , for this was the beginning of time , In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth . That Earth , which in some thousands of years , men could not look over , nor discern what form it had : ( for neither Lactantius , almost three hundred years after Christ , nor Saint Augustine , more then one hundred years after him , would beleeve the earth to be round ) that earth , which no man , in his person , is ever said to have compassed , till our age ; That earth which is too much for man yet , ( for , as yet , a very great part of the earth is unpeopled ) that earth , which , if we will cast it all but into a Mappe , costs many Months labour to grave it , nay , if we will cast but a peece of an acre of it , into a garden , costs many years labour to fashion , and furnish it : All that earth , and then , that heaven , which spreads so farre , as that subtile men have , with some appearance of probability , imagined , that in that heaven , in those manifold Sphears of the Planets , and the Starres , there are many earths , many worlds , as big as this , which we inhabite ; That earth and that heaven , which spent God himselfe , Almighty God , six days in furnishing ; Moses sets up in a few syllables , in one line , In principio , in the beginning God created heaven and earth . If a Livy or a Guicciardine , or such extensive and voluminous authors , had had this story in hand ; God must have made another world , to have made them a Library to hold their Books , of the making of this world . Into what Wire would they have drawn out this earth ? Into what leafe-gold would they have beate out these heavens ? It may assist our conjecture herein to consider , that amongst those men , who proceed with a sober modesty , and limitation in their writing , and make a conscience not to clogge the world with unnecessary books ; yet the volumes which are written by them , upon this beginning of Genesis , are scarce lesse then infinite , God did no more but say , let this and this be done ; And Moses does no more but say , that upon Gods saying it was done . God required not nature to help him to do it : Moses required not reason to help him to be beleeved . The holy Ghost hovered upon the waters , and so God wrought : The holy Ghost hovered upon Moses too , and so he wrote . And we beleeve these things to be so , by the same Spirit in Moses mouth , by which they were made so , in Gods hand . Onely , beloved , remember , that a frame may be thrown down in much lesse time , then it was set up . A child , an Ape can give fire to a Canon : And a vapour can shake the earth : And these fires , and these vapours can throw down cities in minutes . When Christ said , Throw down this Temple , and in three days I will raise it ; they never stopped upon the consideration of throwing it down ; they knew , that might be soon done ; but they wondred at the speedy raising of it . Now , if all this earth were made in that minute , may not all come to the generall dissolution in this minute ? Or may not thy acres , thy miles , thy Shires shrinke into feet , and so few feet , as shall but make up thy grave ? When he who was a great Lord , must be but a Cottager ; and not so well ; for a Cottager must have so many acres to his Cottage ; but in this case , a little peece of an acre , five foot , is become the house it selfe ; The house , and the land ; the grave is all : lower then that ; the grave is the Land , and the Tenement , and the Tenant too : He that lies in it , becomes the same earth , that he lies in . They all make but one earth , and but a little of it . But then raise thy selfe to a higher hope againe . God hath made better land , the land of promise ; a stronger city , the new Ierusalem ; and , inhabitants for that everlasting city , Vs ; whom he made , not by saying , let there be men , but by consultation , by deliberation , God said , Let us make Man in our Image , after our likenesse . We shall pursue our great examples ; God in doing , Moses in saying ; and so make hast in applying the parts . But first receive them . And since we have the whole world in contemplation , consider in these words , the foure quarters of the world , by application , by fair , and just accommodation of the words . First , in the first word , that God speaks here , Faciamus , Let us , us in the plurall , ( a denotation of divers Persons in one Godhead ) we consider our East where we must beginne , at the knowledge and confession of the Trinity . For , though in the way to heaven , we be travelled beyond the Gentiles , when we come to confess but one God , ( The Gentiles could not do that ) yet we are still among the Iews , if we thinke that one God to be but one Person . Christs name is Oriens the East , if we will be named by him , ( called Christians ) we must look to this East , the confession of the Trinity . There 's then our East , in the Faciamus ; Let us , us make man : And then our West is in the next word , Faciamus Hominem . Though we be thus made , made by the counsell , made by the concurrence , made by the hand of the whole Trinity ; yet we are made but men : And man , but in the appellation , in this text : and man there , is but Adam : and Adam is but earth , but red earth , earth dyed red in bloud , in Soul-bloud , the bloud of our own soules . To that west we must all come , to the earth . The Sunne knoweth his going down : Even the Sun for all his glory , and heighth , hath a going down , and he knowes it . The highest cannot devest mortality , nor the discomfort of mortality . When you see a cloud rise out of the west , straightway you say there commeth a storme , says Christ. When out of the region of your west , that is , your later days , there comes a cloud , a sicknesse , you feele a storme , even the best morall constancy is shaked . But this cloud , and this storme , and this west there must be ; And that 's our second consideration . But then the next words designe a North , a strong , and powerfull North , to scatter , and dissipate these clouds : Ad imaginem , & similitudinem ; That we are made according to a pattern , to an image , to a likenesse , which God proposed to himselfe for the making of man. This consideration , that God did not rest , in that praeexistent matter , out of which he made all other creatures , and produced their formes , out of their matter , for the making of man ; but took a forme , a patterne , a modell for that work , this is the North winde , that is called upon to carry out of the perfumes of the garden , to spread the goodnesse of God abroad . This is that which is intended in Iob ; faire weather commeth out of the North. Our West , our declination is in this , that we are but earth , our North , our dissipation of that darknesse , is in this , that we are not all earth ; Though we be of that matter , we have another forme , another image , another likenesse . And then , whose image and likenesse it is , is our Meridionall height , our noon , our south point , our highest elevation . In Imagine nostra , Let us make man in our Image . Though our Sun set at noon , as the Prophet Amos speakes ; though we die in our youth , or fall in our height : yet even in that Sunset , we shall have a Noon . For this Image of God shall never depart from our soule ; no , not when that soule departs from our body . And that 's our South , our Meridionall height and glory . And when we have thus seen this East , in the faciamus , That I am the workmanship and care of the whole Trinity ; And this West in the Hominem , That for all that , my matter , my substance , is but earth : But then a North , a power of overcomming that low and miserable state , In Imagine ; That though in my matter , the earth , I must die ; yet in my forme , in that Image which I am made by , I cannot die : and after all a South , a knowledge , That this Image is not the Image of Angels , to whom we shall be like , but it is by the same life , by which those Angels themselves were made ; the Image of God himselfe : When I am gone over this east , and west , and north , and south , here in this world ; I should be as sorry as Alexander was , if there were no more worlds . But there is another world , which these considerations will discover , and lead us to , in which our joy , and our glory shall be , to see that God essentially , and face to face , after whose Image , and likenesse we were made before . But as that Pilot which had harbor'd his ship so farre within land , as that he must have change of Winds , in all the points of the Compasse , to bring her out , cannot hope to bring her our in one day : So being to transport you , by occasion of these words , from this world to the next ; and in this world , through all the Compasse , all the foure quarters thereof ; I cannot hope to make all this voyage to day . To day we shall consider onely our longitude , our East , and West ; and our North and South at another tyde , and another gale . First then we looke towards our East , the fountaine of light , and of life . There this world beganne ; the Creation was in the east . And there our next world beganne too . There the gates of heaven opened to us ; and opened to us in the gates of death ; for , our heaven is the death of our Saviour , and there he lived , and dyed there , and there he looked into our west , from the east , from his Terasse , from his Pinacle , from his exaltation ( as himselfe calls it ) the Crosse. The light which arises to us , in this east , the knowledge which we receive in this first word of our text , Faciamus , Let us , ( where God speaking of himselfe , speakes in the Plurall ) is the manifestation of the Trinity ; the Trinity , which is the first letter in his Alphabet , that ever thinks to read his name in the book of life ; The first note in his Gammut , that ever thinks to sing his part , in the Quire of the Triumphant Church . Let him him have done as much , as all the Worthies ; and suffered as much as all Natures Martyrs , the penurious Philosophers ; let him have known as much , as they that pretend to know , Omne scibile , all that can be known nay , and in-intelligibilia , In-investigabilia , ( as Turtullian speakes ) un-understandable things , unrevealed decrees of God ; Let him have writ as much , as Aristotle writ , or as is written upon Aristotle , which is , multiplication enough : yet he hath not learnt to spel , that hath not learnt the Trinity ; not learnt to pronounce the first word that cannot bring three Persons into one God. The subject of naturall philosophy , are the foure elements , which God made , the Subject of supernaturall philosophy , Divinity , are the three elements , which God is ; and ( if we may so speake ) which make God , that is , constitute God , notifie God to us , Father , Sonne , and holy Ghost . The naturall man , that hearkens to his owne heart , and the law written there ; may produce Actions that are good , good in the nature and matter , and substance of the worke . He may relieve the poore , he may defend the oppressed . But yet , he is but as an open field ; and though he be not absolutely barren , he bears but grasse . The godly man ; he that hath taken in the knowledge of a great , and a powerfull God , and enclosed , and hedged in himselfe with the feare of God , may produce actions better then the meere naturall man , because he referres his actions to the glory of his imagined God. But yet this man , though he be more fruitfull , then the former , more then a grassy field ; yet he is but a ploughed field , and he bears but corne , and corne , God knowes , choaked with weeds . But that man , who hath taken hold of God , by those handles , by which God hath delivered , and manifested himselfe in the notions of Father , Sonne , and holy Ghost ; he is no field , but a garden , a Garden of Gods planting , a Paradise in which grow all things good to eate , and good to see , ( spirituall resection , and spirituall recreation too ) and all things good to cure . He hath his beeing , and his diet , and his physique , there , in the knowledge of the Trinity ; his beeing in the mercy of the Father ; his physique in the merits of the Sonne ; his diet , his daily bread , in the daily visitations of the holy Ghost . God is not pleased , not satisfied , with our bare knowledge , that there is a God. For , it is impossible to please God , without faith : and there is no such exercise of faith , in the knowledge of a God , but that reason , and nature will bring a man to it . When we professe God , in the Creed , by way of beleefe , Credo in Deum , I beleeve in God , in the same article we professe him to be a Father too , I beleeve in God the father Almighty : And that notion , the Father , necessarily implies , a second Person , a Sonne : And then we professe him to be maker of heaven , and earth : And in the Creation , the holy Ghost , the Spirit of God , is expresly named . So that we doe but exercise reason , and nature , in directing our selves upon God. We exercise not faith , ( and without faith it is impossible to please God ) till we come to that , which is above nature , till we apprehend a Trinity . We know God , we beleeve in the Trinity . The Gentiles multiplyed Gods. There were almost as many Gods as men , that beleeved in them . And I am got out of that thrust , and out of that noise , when I am come into the knowledge of one God : But I am got above staires , got in the Bedchamber , when I am come to see the Trinity , and to apprehend not onely , that I am in the care of a great , and a powerfull God , but that there is a Father , that made me , a Sonne that Redeemed me , a holy Ghost , that applies this good purpose of the Father , and Sonne , upon me , to me . The root of all is God. But it is not the way to receive fruits , to dig to the root , but to reach to the boughs . I reach for my Creation to the Father , for my Redemption to the Sonne , for my sanctification to the holy Ghost : and so I make the knowledge of God , a Tree of life unto me ; and not otherwise . Truly it is a sad Contemplation , to see Christians scratch and wound & teare one another , with the ignominious invectives , and uncharitable names of of Heretique , and Schismatique , about Ceremoniall , and Problematicall , and indeed but Criticall , verball controversies : and in the meane time , the foundation of all , the Trinity , undermined by those numerous , those multitudinous Anthills of Socinians , that overflow some parts of the Christian world , and multiply every where . And therefore the Adversaries of the Reformation , were wise in their generation , when to supplant the credit of both those great assistants of the Reformation , Luther , and Calvin , they impute to Calvin fundamentall error , in the Divinity of the second Person of the Trinity , the Sonne ; And they impute to Luther , a detestation of the very word Trinity , and an expunction thereof , in all places of the Liturgy , where the Church had received that word . They knew well , if that slander could prevaile against those persons , nothing that they could say , could prevaile upon any good Christians . But though in our doctrine , we keep up the Trinity aright ; yet , God knowes , in our practice we doe not . I hope it cannot be said of any of us , that he beleeves not the Trinity , but who amongst us thinkes of the Trinity , considers the Trinity ? Father , and Sonne doe naturally imply , and induce one another ; and therefore they fall oftner into our consideration . But for the holy Ghost , who feels him , when he feels him ? Who takes knowledge of his working , when he works ? Indeed our Fathers provided not well enough , for the worship of the whole Trinity , nor of the holy Ghost in particular , in the endowments of the Church , and Consecrations of Churches , and possessions in their names . What a spirituall dominion , in the prayers , and worship of the people , what a temporall dominion in the possessions of the world had the Virgin Mary , Queen of heaven , and Queen of earth too ? She was made joint purchaser of the Church with her Sonne , and had as much of the worship thereof as he , though she paid her fine in milke , and he in bloud . And , till a new Sect came in her Sonnes name ; and in his name , the name of Jesus , tooke the regency so farre out of that Queen Mothers hands , and sued out her Sonnes Livery so farre , as that though her name be used , the Virgin Mary is but a feoffee in trust , for them ; all was hers . And if God oppose not these new usurpers of the world , posterity will soon see Saint Ignatius worth all the Trinity in possessions and endowments , as that sumptuous , and splendid foundation of his first Temple at Rome , may well create a conjecture , and suspicion . Travaile no farther ; Survay but this City ; And of their not one hundred Churches , the Virgin Mary hath a dozen ; The Trinity hath but one ; Christ hath but one ; The holy Ghost hath none . But not to goe into the City , nor out of our selves ; which of us doth truly , and considerately ascribe the comforts , that he receives in dangers , or in distresses , to that God of all comfort , the comforter , the holy Ghost ? We know who procured us , our Presentation , and our dispensation : you know who procured you , your offices , and your honours . Shall I ever forget who gave me my comfort in sicknesse ? Who gave me my comfort , in the troubles , and perplexities , and diffidencies of my conscience ? The holy Ghost brought you hither . The holy Ghost opens your eares , and your hearts here . Till in all your distresses , you can say , Veni Creator Spiritus , come holy Ghost , and that you feel a comfort in his comming : you can never say Veni Domine Iesu , come Lord Jesus , come to Judgement . Never to consider the day of Judgement , is a fearfull thing . But to consider the day of Judgement , without the comfort of the holy Ghost , is a thousand times more fearfull . This Seale then , this impression , this notion of the Trinity being set upon us , in the first Creation , in this first plurall word of our text , Faciamus ; Let us , ( for Father , Sonne , and holy Ghost made man ) and this seale being re-imprinted upon us , in our second Creation , our Regeneration , in Baptisme , ( Man is Baptized In the name of the Father , of the Sonne , and of the holy Ghost ) This notion of the Trinity being our distinctive Character , from Iew and Gentile ; This being our specifique forme : why does not this our forme , this soule of our Religion denominate us ? why are we not called Trinitarians , a name that would embrace the profession of all the Persons , but onely Christians , which limits , and determines us upon one ? The first Christians , amongst whose manifold Persecutions , scorne , and contempt , was not the least , in contempt and scorne , were called Nazarai , Nazarites in the mouth of the Vulgar ; and Galil●i , Galilaeans in the mouth of Iulian ; and Iudaei , Iews in the mouth of Nero , when he imputed the burning of Rome ( his owne act ) to them ; and Christiani ; ( as Tertullian says ) that they could accuse Christians of nothing , but the name of Christians ; and yet they could not call them by their right name , but Chrestians , ( which was gentle , quiet , easie patient men , made to be troden upon ) They gave them divers names in scorne , yet never called them Trinitarians . Christians themselves amongst themselves were called by divers names in the Primitive Church , for distinction ; Fideles , the faithfull , and Fratres , the Brethren , and Discipuli , Disciples ; And , after , by common custome at Antioch , Christians . And after that , ( they say ) by a councell which the Apostles held , at the same city , at Antioch , there passed an expresse Canon of the Church , that they should be called so , Christians . And before they had this name at Antioch , first by common usage , after by a determinate Canon , to be called Christians , from Christ , at Alexandria , they were called ( most likely from the name of Jesus ) Iesseans . And so Philo Iudaeus , in that book , which he writes De Iessenis , intends by his Iessenis , Christians ; and in divers parts of the world , into which Christians travell now , they find some elements ; some fragments , some reliques of the Christian Religion , in the practice of some religious Men , whom those Countreys call , Iesseans , doubtlesly derived , and continued from the name of Jesus . So that the Christians took many names to themselves for distinction , ( Brethren , Disciples , faithfull ) And they had many names put upon them in scorne , ( Nazarites , Galilaeans , Iews , Chrestians , ) and yet they were never , never by Custome amongst themselves , never by commandement from the Church , never in contempt from others , called Trinitarians , the profession of the Trinity being their specifique forme , and distinctive Character ; why so ? Beloved , the name of Christ involv'd all : not onely , because it is a name , that hath a dignity in it , more then the rest ; ( for Christ is an anointed person , a King , a Messiah , and so the profession of that Name , conferrs an Unction , a regall and a holy Unction upon us ) ( for we are thereby a royall Priesthood ) but because in the profession of Christ , the whole Trinity is professed . How often doth the Sonne say , that the Father sent him ? And how often that the Father will , and that he will send the Holy Ghost ? This is life eternall , says he , to know thee , the onely true God , and Jesus Christ , whom thou hast sent ; And sent , with all power , in heaven , and in earth . This must be professed , Father , and Sonne ; And then , no man can professe this ; no man can call Jesus the Lord , but by the holy Ghost . So that , as in the persecutions , in the primitive Church , the Martyrs which were hurried to tumultuary executions , and could not be heard for noise , in excusing themselves of Treason , and sedition , and crimes imputed to them , to make their cause odious , did use in the sight of the people , ( who might see a gesture , though they could not heare a protestation ) to signe themselves with the signe of the Crosse , to let them know , for what profession they died , so that the signe of the Crosse , in that use thereof , in that time , was an abridgement , and a Catechisme of the whole Christian Religion , so is the professing of the name of Christ , the professing of the whole Trinity . As he that confesses one God , is got beyond the meer naturall man ; And he that confesses a Sonne of God , beyond him : So is neither got to the full truth , till he confesse the holy Ghost too . The foole sayes in his heart , there is no God. The foole , says David , The emphaticall foole , in the highest degree of folly . But though he get beyond that folly , he is a foole still , if he say there is no Christ ; For Christ is the wisdome of the Father : And a foole still , if he deny the holy Ghost : for who shall apply Christ to him , but the holy Ghost ? Etiam Christiani Nomen superficies est , is excellently said by Tertullian , the name , and profession of a Christian , is but a superficiall outside , sprinckled upon my face in Baptisme , or upon mine outward profession , in actions : if I have not in my heart , a sense of the holy Ghost , that he applies the mercies of the Father , and the merits of the Sonne to my soule . As Saint Paul said , Whilest you are without Christ , you are without God. It is an Atheisme , with Saint Paul , to be no Christian. So whilest you are without the holy Ghost , you are without Christ. It is Antichristian , to deny , or not to confesse the holy Ghost . For as Christ is the manifestation of the Father , so the holy Ghost is the application of the Sonne . Therein onely are we Christians , that in the profession of that name of Christ , we professe all the three Persons : In Christ is the whole Trinity ; because , as the Father sent him , so he sent the holy Ghost . And that 's our specifique forme , that 's our distinctive Character , from Iew , and Gentile , the Trinity . But then , is this specifique forme , this distinctive Character , the notion of the Trinity , conveied to us , exhibited , imprinted upon us , in our Creation , in this word , this plurall word , in the mouth of our one God , Faciamus , Let us , us . It is here , and here first . This is an intimation , and the first intimation , of the Trinity , from the mouth of God , in all the Bible . It is true , that though the same faith , which is necessary to salvation now , were always necessary , and so in the old Testament , they were bound to beleeve in Christ , as well , as in the new , and consequently in the whole Trinity ; yet not so explicitly , nor so particularly as now . Christ calling upon God , in the name of Father , says ; I have manifested thy name unto the men , thou gavest me out of the world . They were men appropriated to God , men exempt out of the world ; yet they had not a cleer manifestation of Father , and Sonne , the doctrine of the Trinity , till Christ manifested it to them . I have manifested thy name , thy name of Father . And therefore the Jewish Rabbins say that the Septuagint , the first translators of the Bible , did disguise some places of the Scriptures , in their translation , lest Ptolomee , for whom they translated it , should be scandalized w h those places , & that this textwasone of those places , which say they though it be otherwise in the Copies of the Septuagint , which we have now , they translated Faciam , and not Faciamus , that God said here , I will make , in the singular ; and not , Let us make man , in the plurall , lest that plurall word , might have misled King Pt●lomee to thinke , that the Iews had a plurall Religion , and worshipped divers Gods. So good an evidence doe they confesse this text to be , for some kinde of plurality in the Godhead . Here then God notified the Trinity ; and here first , for though we accept an intimation of the Trinity , in the first line of the Bible , where Moses joynes a plurall name , Elohim , with a singular Verbe , Bara ; and so in construction , it is , Creavit Dii , Gods created heaven , and earth : yet , besides that , that is rather a mysterious collection , then an evident conclusion of a plurality of Persons , though we read that in that first verse , before this in the twenty sixth , yet Moses writ that , which is in the beginning of this chapter , more then two thousand years after God spake this , that is in our text . So long was Gods plurall , before Moses his plurall ; Gods Faciamus , before Moses Bara Elohim . So that in this text , beginnes our Catechisme . Here we have , and here first the saving knowledge of the Trinity . For , when God spake here , to whom could God speake but to God ? Non cum rebus Creandis , nox cum re nihili , says , Athanasius , speaking of Gods first speaking , when he said , of the first creature , Let there be light . God spake not then to future things , to things that were not . When God spake first , there was no creature at all , to speake to . When God spake of the making of man , there were creatures . But were there any creatures able to create , or able to assist him , in the creation of man ? Who ? Angels ? Some had thought so in Saint Basils time ; and to them Saint Basil says , Súntne Illi ? God says , let us make man to our Image , And could he say so to Angels ? Are Angels and God all one ? Or is that that is like an Angell , therefore like God ? It was Sua Ratio , Suum verbum , Sua sapientia , says that Father , God spake to his own word , and wisdome , to his own purpose , and goodnesse . And the Sonne is the word and wisdome of God : and the holy Ghost is the goodnesse , and the purpose of God ; that is , the administration , the dispensation of his purposes . 'T is true , that when God speakes this over againe in his Church , as he does every day , now , this minute then God speakes it to Angels ; to the Angels of the Church , to his Ministers , he says Faciamus , Let us , us both together , you , and we make a man ; join mine Ordinance ( your preaching ) with my Spirit , ( says God to us ) and so make man. Preach the oppressor , and preach the wanton , and preach the calumniator into another nature . Make the ravening Wolfe a Man , that licentious Goate a man , that insinuating Serpent a man , by thy preaching . To day if you will heare his voice , heare us . For here he calls upon us , to joine with him for the making of man. But for his first Faciamus , which is in our text ; it is excellently said , Dictum in senatu , & soliloquio ; It was spoken in a Senat , and yet in a solitarinesse ; spoken in private , and yet publiquely spoken ; spoken where there were divers , and yet but one ; one God , and three Persons . If there were no more intended in this plurall expression , us , but , ( as some have conceived ) that God spake here in the person of a Prince , and Soveraigne Lord , and therefore spake as Princes doe , in the plurall , We command , and We forbid , yet Saint Gregories caution would justly fall upon it , Reverenter pensandum est , it requires a reverend consideration , if it be but so . For , God speakes so , like a King , in the plurall , but seldome , but five times , ( in my account ) in all the Scriptures ; and in all five , in cases of important consequence . In this text first , where God creates man , whom he constitutes his Viceroy in the World : here he speakes in his royall plurall . And then in the next Chapter , where he extends mans terme in his Vicegerency to the end of the world , in providing man , meanes of succession ; Faciamus , Let us , us make him a helper ; There he speakes in his royall plurall . And then also in the third Chapter , in declaring the hainousnesse of mans fault , and arraigning him , and all us , in him , God says , Sicut unus ex nobis , Man is become as one of us , not content to be our Viceroy , but our selves ; There 's his royall plurall too . And againe in that declaration of his Justice , in the confusion of the builders of Babel , Descendamus , confundamus , Let us doe it : And then lastly , in that great worke of mingling mercy with justice , which ( if we may so speake ) is Gods master-peece , when he says , Quis ex nobis , who will goe for us , and publish this ? In these places , and these onely , ( and not all these neither , if we take it exactly according to the originall ; for in the Second , the making of Eve , though the Vulgat have it in the plurall , it is indeed but singular in the Hebrew ) God speakes as a King in his royall plurall still . And when it is but so , Reverenter pensandum est , says that Father ; it behoves us to hearken reverently to him , for Kings are Images of God ; such Images of God , as have eares , and can heare ; and hands and can strike . But I would aske no more premeditation at your hands , when you come to speake to God in this place , then if you sued to speake with the King : no more fear of God here , then if you went to the King , under the conscience of a guiltinesse towards him ; and a knowledge that he knew it . And that 's your case here ; Sinners , and manifest sinners . For even midnight is noone in the sight of God , and when your candles are put out , his Sunne shines still . Nec quid absconditum à calcre ejus , says David , there is nothing hid from the heate thereof : not onely , no sinne , hid from the light thereof , from the sight of God ; but not from the heate therof , not from the wrath & indignation of God. If God speak plurally onely in the Majesty of a soveraign Prince , still Reverenter pensandum , that calls for reverence . What reverence ? There are nationall differences in outward worships , and reverences . Some worship Princes , and Parents , and Masters , in one , some in another fashion . Children kneele to aske blessing of Parents in England , but where else ? Servants attend not with the same reverence upon Masters , in other nations , as with us . Accesses to their Princes are not with the same difficulty , nor the same solemnity in France , as in Turkey . But this rule goes thorough all nations , that in that disposition , and posture , and action of the body which in that place is esteemed most humble , and reverend , God is to be worshipped . Doe so then here , God is your Father : aske blessing upon your knees ; pray in that posture . God is your King : worship him with that worship , which is highest in our use , and estimation . We have no Grandees that stand covered to the King ; where there are such , though they stand covered in the Kings presence , they doe not speake to him , for matters of Grace ; they doe not sue to him : so ancient Canons make differences of Persons in the presence of God ; where , and how , these , and these shall dispose of themselves in the Church , dignity , and age , and infirmity will induce differences . But for prayer there is no difference , one humiliation is required of all ; As when the King comes in here ; howsoever , they sate diversly before , all returne to one manner of expressing their acknowledgement of his presence . So at the Oremus , Let us pray , let us all fall down , and worship , and kneel before the Lord our maker . So he speakes in our text ; not onely as the Lord our King , intimating his providence , and administration ; but as the Lord our maker , and then a maker so , as that he made us in a councell , Faciamus , Let us ; and that that he speakes , as in councell , is another argument for reverence . For what interest , or freedome soever I have , by his favour , with any Counseller of State : yet I should surely use another manner of behaviour towards him , at the Councell Table , then at his owne Table . So does there belong another manner of consideration to this plurality in God , to this meeting in Councell , to this intimation of a Trinity , then to those other actions in which God is presented to us , singly , as one God , for so he is presented to the naturall man , as well , as to us . And here enters the necessity of this knowledge , Oportet denuo nasci ; without a second birth no salvation ; And no second birth without Baptisme ; no Baptisme , but in the name of Father , Sonne , and holy Ghost . It was the entertainment of God himselfe , his delight , his contemplation , for those infinite millions of generations , when he was without a world , without Creatures , to joy in one another , in the Trinity , as Gregory Nazianz : ( a Poet , as well as a Father , as most of the Fathers were ) expresses it : ille suae splendorem cernere formae , Gaudebat : It was the Fathers delight , to looke upon himselfe in the Sonne ; Numenque suum triplicique parique Luce nitens , and to see the whole Godhead , in a threefold , and an equall glory . It was Gods owne delight , and it must be the delight of every Christian , upon particular occasions to carry his thoughts upon the severall persons of the Trinity . If I have a bar of Iron , that bar in that forme will not naile a doore ; If a Sow of Lead , that Lead in that forme will not stop a leake ; If a wedge of Gold , that wedge will not buy my bread . The generall notion of a mighty God , may lesse fit my particular purposes . But I coine my gold into currant money , when I apprehend God , in the severall notions of the Trinity . That if I have been a prodigall Sonne , I have a Father in heaven , and can goe to him , and say , Father I have sinned , and be received by him . That if I be a decayed Father , and need the sustentation of mine own children ; there is a Sonne in heaven , that will doe more for me , then mine own , of what good meanes or what good nature so ever they be , can or will doe . If I be dejected in spirit , there is a holy Spirit in heaven , which shall beare witnesse to my spirit , that I am the child of God. And if the ghosts of those sinners , whom I made sinners , haunt me after their deaths , in returning to my memory , and reproaching to my conscience , the heavy judgements that I have brought upon them : If after the death of mine own sinne , when my appetite is dead , to some particular sinne , the memory and sinfull delight of passed sinnes , the ghosts of those sinnes haunt me againe ; yet there is a holy Ghost in heaven , that shall exorcise these , and shall overshadow me , the God of all Comfort and Consolation . God is the God of the whole world , in the generall notion , as he is so , God ; but he is my God , most especially , and most applyably , as he receives me in the severall notions of Father , Sonne , and holy Ghost . This is our East , here we see God , God in all the persons , consulting , concurring to the making of us . But then my West presents it selfe , that is , an occasion to humble me in the next words . He makes but Man ; A man that is but Adam , but Earth . I remember foure names , by which man is often called in the Scriptures : and of those foure , three doe absolutely carry misery in their significations : Three to one against any man , that he is miserable . One name of Man is Ish ; and that they derive à Sonitu ; Man is but a voice , but a sound , but a noise , he begins the noise himselfe , when he comes crying into the world , and when he goes out ; perchance friends celebrate , perchance enemies calumniate him , with a diverse voice , a diverse noise . A melancholique man , is but a groaning ; a sportfull man , but a song ; an active man , but a Trumpet ; a mighty man , but a thunderclap . Every man but Ish , but a found , but a noyse . Another name is Enosh . is meer Calamity , misery , depression . It is indeed most properly Oblivion . And so the word is most elegantly used by David , Quid est homo ? where the name of man , is Enosh : And so , that which we translate What is man , that thou art mindefull of him ; is indeed , What is forgetfulnesse , that thou shouldest remember it ; That thou shouldest thinke of that man , whom all the world hath forgotten ? First , man is but a voice , but a sound . But because fame , and honour may come within that name of a sound , of a voice ; therefore he is overtaken , with another dampe : man is but oblivion : his fame , his name shall be forgotten . One name man hath , that hath some taste of greatnesse , and power in it , Gheber . And yet , I that am that man , says the Prophet , ( for there that name of man Gheber is used ) I am the man , that hath seen affliction , by the rod of Gods wrath . Man , Ish , is so miserable , as that he afflicts himselfe , cryes , and whines out his own time . And man , Enosh , so miserable , as that others afflict him , and bury him , in ignominious oblivion ; And man , that is Gheber , the greatest , and powerfullest of men , is yet , but that man , that may possibly , nay that may justly see affliction by the rod of Gods wrath , and from Gheber be made Adam , which is the fourth name of man , indeed the first name of man , the name in this text , and the name to which every man must refer himselfe , and call himselfe by , Earth , and red Earth . Now God did not say of man , as of other creatures ; Let the earth bring forth hearbs , and fruits , and trees as upon the third day ; nor let the earth bring forth cattell , and wormes , as upon the sixth day , the same day that he made man ; Non imperia●i verbo , sed familiari manu , says Tertullian , God calls not man out with an imperious Command , but he leads him out , with a familiar , with his own hand . And it is not Fiat homo , but Faciamus ; not let there be , but let us make man. Man is but an earthen vessell . 'T is true , but when we are upon that consideration , God is the Potter . If God will be that , I am well content to be this . Let me be any thing , so that that I am be from my God , I am as well content to be a sheep , as a Lion , so God will be my Shepheard : and the Lord is my shepheard : To be a Cottage , as a Castle , so God will be the builder ; And the Lord builds , and watches the City , the house , this house this City , mee , To be Rye , as Wheate , so God will be the husbandman ; And the Lord plants me : and waters , and weeds , and gives the encrease : and to be clothed in leather , as well , as in silke , so God will be the Merchant : and he cloathed me in Adam , and assures me of clothing , in clothing the Lillies of the field , and is fitting the robe of Christs righteousness to me now , this minute . Adam is as good to me as Ghebaer , a clod of earth , as a hill of earth ; so God be the Potter . God made man of earth , not of ayre , not of fire . Man hath many offices , that appertaine to this world , and whilest he is here , must not withdraw himselfe , from those offices of mutuall society , upon a pretence of zeale , or better serving God in a retired life . A ship will no more come to the harbour without Ballast , then without Sailes ; a man will no more get to heaven , without discharging his duties to other men , then without doing them to God himselfe . Man liveth not by bread onely , says Christ ; But yet he liveth by bread too . Every man must doe the duties ; every man must beare the incumbrances of some calling . Pulvises : Thou art earth , he whom thou treadest upon is no less ; and he that treads upon thee is no more . Positively it is a low thing , to be but earth ; and yet thy low earth , is the quiet Center . There may be rest , acquiescence , content in the lowest Condition . But comparatively earth is as high as the highest . Challenge him , that magnifies himselfe above thee , to meet thee in Adam . There bid him , if he will have more Nobility , more Greatness , then thou , take more originall sinne then thou hast . If God have submitted thee , to as much sinne , and penalty of sinne , as him ; he hath afforded thee as much , and as noble earth as him . And if he will not try it in the root , in your equality in Adam ; yet , in another Test , another Furnace , in the grave he must . There all dusts are equall . Except an Epitaph tell me , who lies there , I cannot tell by the dust ; nor by the Epitaph , know which is the dust it speakes of , if another have been laid before , or after in the same grave . Nor can any Epitaph be confident in saying here lies ; but here was laid . For , so various , so vicissitudinary is all this world , as that even the dust of the grave hath revolutions . As the motions of an upper Spheare , imprint a motion in a lower Spheare , other then naturally it would have : So the changes of this life worke after death . And , as envy supplants , and removes us alive ; a shovell removes us , and throwes us out of our grave , after death . No limbeque , no weights can tell you , this is dust Royall , this Plebeian dust : no Commission , no Inquisition can say , this is Catholique , this is Hereticall dust . All lie alike ; and all shall rise alike : alike , that is , at once , and upon one Command . The Saint cannot acclerate ; The Reprobate cannot retard the Resurrection . And all that rise to the right hand , shall be equally Kings : and all at the left , equally , what ? The worst name we can call them by , or affect them with , is Devill . And then they shall have bodies to be tormented in , which Devills have not . Miserable , unexpressible , unimaginable . Miserable condition , where the sufferer would be glad to be but a Devill ; where it were some happinesse , and some kinde of life , to be able to dye ; and a great preferment , to be nothing . He made us all of earth , and all of red earth . Our earth was red , even when it was in Gods hands : a rednesse that amounts to a shamefastnesse , to a blushing at our own infirmities , is imprinted in us , by Gods hand . For this rednesse , is but a Conscience , a guiltinesse of needing a continuall supply , and succession of more , and more grace . And we are all red , red so , even from the beginning , and in our best state . Adam had , the Angells had thus much of this infirmity , that though they had a great measure of grace , they needed more . The prodigall child grew poore enough , after he had received his portion : and he may be wicked enough , that trusts upon former , or present grace , and seeks not more . This rednesse , a blushing , that is , an acknowledgement , that we could not subsist , with any measure of faith , except we pray for more faith ; nor of grace , except we seek more grace , we have from the hand of God : And another rednesse from his hand too , the bloud of his Sonne , so that bloud was effused by Christ , in the value of the ransome for All , and accepted by God , in the value thereof for All : and this redness , is , in the nature thereof , as extensive , as the redness derived from Adam is ; Both reach to all . So we were red earth in the hands of God , as redness denotes our generall infirmities , and as redness denotes the bloud of his Sonne , our Saviour , all have both . But that redness , which we have contracted from bloud shed by our selves , the bloud of our own soules by sinne , was not upon us , when we were in the hands of God. That redness is not his tincture , not his complexion . No decree of his is writ in any such red inke . Our sinnes are our owne , and our destruction is from ourselves . We are not as accessaries , and God as principall in this soule-murder . God forbid , we are not as executioners of Gods sentence , and God the Malefactor , in this soule-damnation . God forbid . Cain came not red in his brothers bloud , out of Gods hands ; nor David red with Vriahs bloud ; nor Achitophel with his own ; nor Iudas with Christs , or his owne . That that Pilat did illusorily , God can doe truely ; wash his hands from the bloud of any of these men . It were a weake Plea to say , I killed not that man ; but 't is true , I commanded one , who was under my command to kill him . It is rather a prevarication , then a justification of God to say , God is not the author of sinne in any man , but t is true , God makes that man sinne , that sinne . God is Innocency ; and the beames that flow from him are of the same nature , and colour . Christ when he appeared in heaven , was not red but white . His head and haires were white , as white wooll , and as snow ; not head onely , but haires too . He , and that that growes from him ; he , and we , as we come from his hands are white too . His Angels that provoke us to the Imitation of that pattern , are so ; in white . Two men , two Angels stood by the Apostles in white apparell . The imitation is laid upon us by precept too : At all times let thy garments be white ; Those actions in which thou appearest to the world , innocent . It is true , that Christ is both . My beloved is white and ruddy , says the Spouse . But the white was his owne : his rednesse is from us . That which Zipporah said to her husband Moses in anger ; the Church may say to Christ in thankfulnesse , Verè sponsus Sanguinum , thou art truly a bloudy husband to me ; Damim , sanguinum , of blouds , blouds in the plurall ; for all our blouds are upon him . This was a mercy to the Militant Church , that even the Triumphant Church wondred at it . They knew not Christ , when he came up to heaven in red . Who is this that commeth in red garments ? Wherefore is thy apparell red , like him that treadeth in the winepresse ? They knew he went down in white , in intire innocency : and they wondred to see him returne in red . But he satisfies them ; Calcavi , you thinke I have troden the winepresse , and you mistake it not : I have troden the winepresse ; and Calcavi solus , I have troden it alone , all the redness , all the bloud of the whole world is upon me . And as he adds Non vir de gentibus , of all people there was none with me , with me so , as to have any part in the Merit ; So , of all people there was none without me ; without me so , as to be excluded by me , without their own fault , from the benefit of my merit . This redness he carried up to heaven : for , by the bloud of his Crosse came peace , both to the things in earth , and the things in heaven . For that peccability , that possibility , of sinning , which is in the Nature of the Angels of heaven , would breake out into sinne , but for that confirmation , which those Angels have received in the bloud of Christ. This rednesse he carried to heaven ; and this rednesse he hath left upon earth , that all we miserable clods of earth , might be tempered with his bloud ; that in his bloud exhibited in his holy and blessed Sacrament , our long robes might be made white in the bloud of the Lambe : that though our sinnes be robes , habits of sinne ; though long robes , habits of long continuance in sinne : yet through that rednesse , which our sinnes have cast upon him , we might come to participate of that whitenesse , that righteousnesse , which is his owne . We , that is , all we ; for , as to take us in , who are of low condition , and obscure station , a cloud is made white by his sitting upon it , He sate upon a great white cloud , so to let the highest see , that they have no whitenesse , but from him , he makes the Throne white by sitting upon it . He sate upon a great white Throne . It had not been great , if it had not been white . White is the colour of dilatation ; goodnesse onely enlarges the Throne . It had not been white , if he had not sate upon it . That goodness onley , which consists in glorifying God , and God in Christ , and Christ in the sincerity of his truth , is true whitenesse . God hath no rednesse in himselfe , no anger towards us , till he considers us as sinners . God cast no rednesse upon us ; inflicts no necessity , no constraint of sinning upon us . We have dyed ourselves in sinnes , as red as Scarlet : we have drowned our selves in such a red Sea. But as a garment , that were washed in the red Sea , would come out white , ( so wonderfull works hath God done at the red Sea , says David ) so doth his whitenesse worke through our red , and makes this Adam , this red earth , Calculum candidum , that white stone , that receives a new name , not Ish , not Enosh , not Gheber , no name that tasts of misery or of vanity ; but that name , renewed , and manifested , which was imprinted upon us , in our elections , the Sonnes of God ; the irremoveable , the undisinheritable Sonnes of God. Be pleased to receive this note at parting , that there is Macula Alba , a spot , and yet white , as well as a red spot : a whitenesse , that is an indication of a Leprosie , as well as a rednesse . Whole-pelagianisme , to thinke nature alone sufficient ; Halfe-pelagianisme , to thinke grace once received to be sufficient ; Super-pelagianisme , to thinke our actions can bring God in debt to us , by merit , and supererogation , and Catarisme , imaginary purity , in Canonizing our selves , as present Saints , and condemning all , that differ from us , as reprobates . All these are white spots , and have the colour of goodnesse ; but are indications of leprosie . So is that that God threatens , Decorticatio ficus & albi rami , that the figtree shall be bark'd , and the boughes thereof left white : to be left white without barke , was an indication of a speedy withering . Ostensa candescunt , & arescunt , says Saint Gregory of that place , the bough that lies open without barke looks white , but perishes : the good works that are done openly to please men have their reward , says Christ , that is , shall never have reward . To pretend to doe good , and not meane it ; To doe things , good in themselves , but not to good ends ; to goe towards good ends , but not by good ways ; to make the deceiving of men , thine end ; or the praise of men , thine end : all this may have a whiteness , a colour of good : but all this , is a barking of the bough , and an indication of a mischievous leprosie . There is no good whiteness , but a reflection from Christ Jesus , in an humble acknowledgement that wee have none of our own , and in a consident assurance , that in our worst estate we may be made partakers of his . We are all red earth . In Adam we would not , since Adam we could not , avoid sinne , and the Concomitants thereof , miseries ; which we have called our West , our cloud , our darknesse . But then we have a North that scatters these clouds , in the next word , Ad imaginem ; that we are made to another patterne , in another likenesse , then our own . Faciamus hominem ; so far are we gone , East , and West ; which is halfe our Compasse , and all this days voiage . For we are strooke upon the sand ; and must stay another Tyde , and another gale for our North , and South . SERMON XXIX . Preached to the King , at the Court. The second Sermon on GEN. 1. 26. And God said , Let us make man , in our Image , after our likenesse . BY fair occasion from these words , we proposed to you the whole Compasse of mans voyage , from his lanching forth in this world , to his Anchoring in the next ; from his hoysing sayle here , to his striking sayle there . In which Compasse we designed to you his foure quarters ; first , his East , where he must beginne , the fundamentall knowledge of the Trinity ( for , that we found to be the specification , and distinctive Character of a Christian ) where , though that be so , we shewed you also , why we were not called Trinitarians , but Christians : and we shewed you , the advantage , that man hath , in laying hold upon God , in these severall notions ; that the Prodigall sonne hath an indulgent Father ; that the decayed Father hath an abundant Sonne ; that the dejected spirit hath a Spirit of comfort , to fly to in heaven . And , as we shewed you from Saint Paul , that it was an Atheisme to be no Christian , ( without God , says he , as long as without Christ ) so we lamented the slacknesse of Christians , that they did not seriously , and particularly , consider the persons of the Trinity , and especially the holy Ghost , in their particular actions . And then we came to that consideration , whether this doctrine were established , or directly insinuated , in this plurall word of our text , Faciamus , Let us , us make man : and we found that doctrine , to be here , and here first of any place in the Bible . And finding God to speake in the plurall , we accepted ( for a time ) that interpretation , which some had made thereof ; that God spake in the Person of a Soveraigne Prince ; and therefore ( as they do ) in the plurall , We. And thereby having established reverence to Princes , we claim'd in Gods behalfe the same reverence to him : That men would demeane themselves , here , when God is spoken to in prayer , as reverently , as when they speake to the King. But after this , we found God to speake here , not onely as our King ; but as our maker ; as God himselfe ; and God in Counsell , Faciamus : and we applied thereunto , the difference of our respect to a Person of that honorable rank , when we came before him at the Counsell Table , and when we came to him at his own Table : and thereby advanced the seriousnesse of this consideration , God in the Trinity . And farther we failed not , with that our Eastern winde . Our West we considered in the next word , Hominem ; that though we were made by the whole Trinity , yet the whole Trinity made us but men , and men , in this name of our text , Adam ; and Adam is but earth , and that 's our West , our declination , our Sunset . We passed over the foure names , by which man is ordinarily expressed in the Scriptures ; and we found necessary misery in three of them ; and possible , nay likely misery in the fourth , in the best name . We insisted upon the name of our text , Adam , earth ; and had some use of these notes ; First , that if I were but earth , God was pleased to be the Potter ; If I but a sheep , he a shepheard ; If I but a cottage , he a builder . So he worke upon me , let me be what he will. We noted that God made us earth , not ayre , not fire : That man hath bodily , and worldly duties to performe ; and is not all Spirit in this life . Devotion , is his soule ; but he hath a body of discretion , and usefulnesse to invest in some calling . We noted too , that in being earth , we are equall . We tryed that equality , first in the root , in Adam ; There if any man will be nobler earth then I , he must have more originall sinne then I : for that was all Adams patrimony , all that he could give . And we tryed this equality in another furnace , in the grave ; where there is no meanes to distinguish Royall from Plebeian , nor Catholique from Hereticall dust . And lastly we noted , that this our earth , was red earth : and considered in what respect it was red , even in Gods hands , but found that in the bloud-rednesse of sinne , God had no hand : but sinne , and destruction for sinne , was wholly from our selves : which consideration , we ended with this , that there was Macula alba , a white spot of leprosie , as well , as a red ; and we found the over-valuation of our own purity , and the uncharitable condemnation of all that differ from us , to be that white spot . And so far we sayled , with that Western winde . And are come to our third point in this our Compasse , our North. In this point , the North , we place our first comfort . The North is not always the comfortablest clime : nor is the North always a type of happines in the Scriptures . Many times God threatens stormes from the North. But even in those Northern stormes , we consider that action , that they scatter , they dissipate those clouds , which were gathered , and so induce a serenity : And so , fair weather comes from the North. And that 's the use which we have of the North in this place . The consideration of our West , our low estate ; that we are but earth , but red earth , dyed red by our selves : and that imaginary white , which appeares so to us , is but a white of leprosie . This West enwraps us in heavy clouds of murmuring , in this life ; that we cannot live so freely as beasts doe ; and in clouds of desperation for the next life ; that we cannot dye so absolutely as beasts doe , we dye all our lives , and yet we live after our deaths . These are our clouds ; And then the North shakes these clouds . The North Winde driveth away the raine , says Solomon . There is a North in our text , that drives all those teares from our eyes . Christ calls upon the North , as well as the South , to blow upon his Garden , and to diffuse the perfumes thereof . Adversity , as well as prosperity , opens the bounty of God unto us : and oftentimes better . But that 's not the benefit of the North in our present consideration . But this is it , that first our sunne sets in the West . The Eastern dignity , which we received in our first Creation , as we were the worke of the whole Trinity , falls under a Western cloud , that that Trinity made us but earth . And then blowes our North , and scatters this cloud . That this earth hath a nobler forme , then any other part or limbe of the world . For , we are made by a fairer pattern , by a nobler Image , by a higher likenesse . Faciamus ; Though we make but a man , Let us make him , in our Image , after our likenesse . The variety which the holy Ghost uses here , in the pen of Moses , hath given occasion to divers , to raise divers observations , upon these words , which seem divers , Image and likenesse ; as also in the variety of the pharse . For it is thus conceived , and laid , in our Image and then after our likenesse . I know it is a good rule , that Damascen gives , Parva , parva non sunt , ex quibus magna proveniunt : Nothing is to be neglected as little , from which great things may arise . If the consequence may be great , the thing must not be thought little . No Jod in the Scripture shall perish ; therefore no Jod is superfluous . If it were superfluous , it might perish . Words , and lesse particles then words have busied the whole Church . In the Councell of Ephesus , where Bishops in a great number excommunicated Bishops in a greater , Bishop , against Bishop , and Patriarch , against Patriarch ; in which case , when both parties had made strong parties in Court , and the Emperor forbare to declare himselfe , on either side for a time , he was told , that he refused to assent to that , which six thousand Bishops had agreed in : the strife was but for a word , whether the blessed Virgin might be called Deipara , the mother of God , for Christipara , the mother of Christ , ( which Christ all agree to be God ) Nestorius , and all his party agreed with Cyrill , that she might be . In the Councell of Chalcedon , the difference was not so great , as for a word composed of syllables . It was but for a syllable , whether Ex , or In. The Heretiques condemned then , confessed Christ , to be Ex duabus naturis , to be composed of two natures , at first ; but not to be in duabus naturis , not to consist of two natures after : and for that In , they were thrust out . In the councell of Nice , it was not so much as a syllable made of letters . For it was but for one letter ; whether Homoousion , or Homousion , was the issue . Where the question hath not been of divers words , nor syllables , nor letters , but onely of the place of words ; what tempestuous differences have risen ? How much Sola fides and fides sola , changes the case ? Nay where there hath been no quarrell for precedency , for transposing of words , or syllables , or letters ; where there hath not been , so much as a letter in question ; how much doth an accent vary a sense ? An interrogation , or no interrogation will make it directly contrary . All Christian expositors read those words of Cain , My sin is greater then can be pardoned , positively ; and so they are evident words of desperation . The Jews read them with an interrogation , Are my sinnes greater , then can be pardoned ? And so they are words of compunction , and repentance . The Prophet Micah says , that Bethlehem is a small place ; the Evangelist Saint Matthew says no small place . An interrogation in Micahs mouth reconciles it ; Art thou a small place ? amounts to that , thou art not . Sounds , voices , words must not be neglected . For , Christs forerunner Iohn Baptist qualified himselfe no otherwise : He was but a voice . And Christ himselfe is Verbum ; the Word , is the name , even of the Sonne of God. No doubt but Statesmen and magistrates finde often the danger of having suffered small abuses to passe uncorrected . We that see State businesse but in the glasse of story , and cannot be shut out of Chronicles , see there , upon what little objects , the eye , and the jealousie of the State is oftentimes forced to bend it selfe . We know in whose times in Rome a man might not weep ; he might not sigh ; he might not looke pale ; he might not be sicke ; but it was informed against , as a discontent , as a murmuring against the present government , and an inclination to change . And truly many times upon Damascens true ground , though not always well applied , Parva non sunt parva , nothing may be thought little , where the consequence may prove great . In our own Spheare , in the Church , we are sure it is so . Great inconveniencies grew upon small tolerations . Therefore in that businesse , which occasioned all that trouble , which we mentioned before , in the Councell of Ephesus , when Saint Cyrill writ to the Clergy of his Dioces about it ; at first , he says prastiterat abstinere , it had been better , these questions had not been raised . But says he , Si his nugis nos adoriantur , if they vex us with these impertinencies these trifles ; And yet these which were but trifles at first , came to occasion Councells ; and then to divide Councell , against Councell ; and then to force the Emperour to take away the power of both Councells , and govern in Councell , by his Vicar generall , a secular Lord , sent from Court. And therefore did some of the Ancients , ( particularly Philastrius ) cry down some opinions for Heresies , which were not matters of faith , but of Philosophy ; and even in Philosophy truly held by them , who were condemned for heretiques , and mistaken by their Judges , that condemned them . Little things were called in question , left great things should passe unquestioned . And some of these upon Damascens true ground , ( still true in the rule , but not always in the application ) Parva non sunt parva , nothing may be thought little , where the consequence may be great . Descend we from those great Spheares , the State , and the Church , into a lesser , that is , the Conscience of particular men , and consider the danger of exposing those vines to little Foxes ; of leaving small sinnes unconsidered , unrepented , uncorrected . In that glistring circle in the firmament , which we call the Galaxy , the milky way , there is not one Star of any of the six great magnitudes , which Astronomers proceed upon , belonging to that circle . It is a glorious circle , and possesses a great part of heaven : and yet is all of so little stars , as have no name , no knowledge taken of them . So certainly are there many Saints in heaven , that shine as stars ; and yet are not of those great magnitudes , to have been Patriarchs , or Prophets , or Apostles , or Martyrs , or Doctors , or Virgins : but good and blessed soules , that have religiously performed the duties of inferiour callings , and no more . And , as certainly are there many soules tormented in hell , that never sinned sinne of any of the great magnitudes , Idolatry , Adultery , Murder , or the like ; but inconsiderately have slid , and insensibly continued in the practise , and habite of lesser sinnes . But Parva non sunt parva , nothing may be thought little , where the consequence may prove great . When our Saviour said , that we shall give an account of every Idle word , in the day of Judgement ; what great hills of little sands will oppresse us then ? And , if substances of sinne were removed , yet what circumstances of sinne would condemne us ? If idle words have this weight , there can be no word thought idle , in the Scriptures . And therefore I blame not in any , I decline not in mine own practise , the making use of the variety , and copiousnesse of the holy Ghost , who is ever abundant , and yet never superfluous in expressing his purpose , in change of words . And so no doubt we might doe now , in observing a difference between these words in our text , Image , and likenesse ; and between these two formes of expressing it , in our Image , and after our likenesse . This might be done : but that that must be done , will possesse all our time ; that is , to declare , ( taking the two words for this time to be but a farther illustration of one another , Image , and likenesse , to our present purpose , to be all one ) what this Image , and this likenesse imparts ; and how this North scatters our former cloud , what our advantage is , that we are made to an Image , to a pattern ; and our obligation to set a pattern before us , in all our actions . God appointed Moses to make all that he made according to a pattern . God himselfe made all that he made according to a pattern . God had deposited , and laid up in himselfe certain formes , patternes , Idea's of every thing that he made . He made nothing of which he had not preconceived the forme , and predetermined in himselfe , I will make it thus . And when he had made any thing , he saw it was good ; good because it answered the pattern , the Image ; good , because it was like to that . And therefore , though of other creatures , God pronounced they were good , because they were presently like their pattern , that is , like that forme , which was in him for them , yet of man , he forbore to say that he was good because his conformity to his pattern was to appeare after in his subsequent actions . Now , as God made man after another pattern , and therefore we have a dignity above all , that we had another manner of creation , then the rest : so have we a comfort above all , that we have another manner of Administration then the rest . God exercises another manner of Providence upon man , then upon other creatures . A Sparrow falls not without God , says Christ : yet no doubt God works otherwise in the fall of eminent persons , then in the fall of Sparrows . For yee are of more value then many Sparrows , says Christ there of every man ; and some men single , are of more value then many men . God does not thanke the Ant for her industry , and good-husbandry in providing for her selfe . God does not reward the Foxes , for concurring with Sampson in his revenge . God does not fee the Lion , which was the executioner upon the Prophet , which had disobeyed his commandement : nor those two she-Beares , which slew the petulant children , who had caluminated and reproached Elisha . God does not fee them before , nor thanke them after , not take knowledge of their service . But for those men , that served Gods execution upon the Idolaters of the Goden Calfe , it is pronounced in their behalfe , that therein they consecrated themselves to God ; and for that service God made that tribe , the tribe of Levi his portion , his Clergy , his consecrated Tribe . So , Quiae fecisti hoc , says God to Abraham , by my selfe I have sworn ; because thou hast done this thing , and hast not withheld thy Sonne thine onely sonne : in blessing , I will blesse thee , and in multiplying , I will multiply thee . So neither is God angry with the dog that turnes to his vomit , nor with the sow , that after her washing wallowes in the mire . But of Man in that case he says ; It is impossible for those who were once enlightned , if they fall away , to renew them againe by repentance . The creatures live under his law ; but a law imposed thus , This they shall doe , this they must doe . Man lives under another manner of law ; This you shall doe ; that is , this you should doe , this I would have you doe : And fac hoc , doe this , and you shall live ; disobey , and you shall die . But yet , the choise is yours : Choose ye this day life , or death . So that this is Gods administration in the Creature , that he hath imprinted in them an Instinct , and so he hath something to preserve in them : In man his administration is this , that he hath imprinted in him a faculty of will , and election ; and so hath something to reward in him . That instinct in the creature God leaves to the naturall working thereof in it selfe : But the free will of man God visites , and assists with his grace to doe supernaturall things . When the creature does an extraordinary action above the nature thereof , ( as , when Balaams Asse spake ) the creature exercises no faculty , no will in it selfe ; but God forced it to that it did . When man does any thing conducing to supernaturall ends ; though the worke be Gods , the will of man is not meerly passive . The will of man is but Gods agent ; but still an agent it is : And an agent in another manner , then the tongue of the beast . For , the will considered , as a will , ( and grace never destroyes nature , nor , though it make a dead will a live will , or an ill will a good will , doth it make the will , no will ) might refuse or omit that that it does . So that because we are created by another pattern , we are governed by another law , and another providence . Goe thou then the same way . If God wrought by a pattern , and writ by copy , and proceeded by a precedent , doe thou so too . Never say , there is no Church without error : therefore I will be bound by none ; but frame a Church of mine owne , or be a Church to my selfe . What greater injustice , then to propose no Image , no pattern to thy selfe to imitate ; and yet propose thy selfe for a pattern , for an Image to be adored ? Thou wilt have singular opinions , and singular ways differing from all other men ; and yet all that are not of thy opinion must be heretiques ; and all reprobates , that goe not thy wayes . Propose good patterns to thy selfe ; and thereby become a fit pattern for others . God , we see , was the first , that made Images ; and he was the first , that forbad them . He made them for imitation ; he forbad them in danger of adoration . For , Qualis dementiae est id colere , quod melius est ? What a drowzinesse , what a lazinesse , what a cowardlinesse of the soule is it , to worship that , which does but represent a better thing then it selfe ? Worship belongs to the best , know thou thy distance , and thy period , how far to goe , and where to stop . Dishonor not God by an Image in worshiping it ; and yet benefit thy selfe by it , in following it . There is no more danger out of a picture , then out of a history , if thou intend no more in either , then example . Though thou have a West , a darke and a sad condition , that thou art but earth , a man of infirmities , and ill counsailed in thy selfe : yet thou hast herein a North , that scatters and dispells these clouds that God proposes to thee in his Scriptures , and otherwise ; Images , patterns , of good and holy men to goe by . But beyond this North this assistance of good examples of men ; thou hast a South , a Meridionall heighth , by which thou seest thine Image , they pattern , to be no copy ; no other man , but the originall it selfe , God himselfe : Faciamus ad nostram , Let us make man in our Image , after our likenesse . Here we consider first , where this Image is , and then what it does : first , in what part of man God hath imprinted this his Image ; And then what this Image confers , and derives upon man ; what it works in man. And , as when we seek God in his essence , we are advised to proceed by negatives , God is not mortall , not passible : so when we seek the Image of God in man , we beginne with a negative ; This Image is not in his body . Teriullian declined to thinke it was ; nay Tertullian inclined others to thinke so . For he is the first , that is noted , to have been the author of that opinion , that God had a body . Yet Saint Augustine excuses Tertullian from heresie : because ( says he ) Tertullian might meance , that it was so sure , that there is a God ; and that that God was a certaine , though not a finite Essence ; that God was so far from being nothing , as that he had rather a body . Because it was possible to give a good interpretation of Tertullian , that charitable Father Saint Augastine , would excuse him of heresie . I would Saint Augustines charity might prevaile with them , that pretend to be Augustinianissimi , and to adore him so much in the Roman Church , not to cast the name of Heresie upon every probleme ; nor the name of Heretique , upon every inquirer of Truth . Saint Augustine would deliver Tertullian from heresie in a point concerning God , and they will condemne us of heresie , in every point that may be drawne to concerne not the Church , but the Court of Rome ; not their doctrine , but their profit . Malo de Misericordia Deo rationem reddere , quàm de crudelitate , I shall better answer God for my mildenesse , then for my severity . And , though anger towards a brother , or a Raca , or a foole , will beare an action : yet he shall recover lesse against me at that bar , whom I have called weake , or mislead , ( as I must necessary call many in the Roman Church ) then he whom I have passionately and peremptorily called heretique . For , I dare call an opinion heresie for the matter , a great while before I dare call the man that holds it an heretique . For that consists much in the manner . It must be matter of faith , before the matter be heresie . But there must be pertinacy after convenient instruction , before that man be an heretique . But how excusable so ever Tertullian be herein in Saint Augustines charity : there was a whole sect of heretiques , one hundred years after Tertullian , the Audiani , who over literally taking those places of Scripture , where God is said to have hands , and feet , and eyes , and eares , beleeved God to have a body like ours ; and accordingly interpreted this text ; that in that Image , and that likenesse , a bodily likenesse , consisted this Image of God in man. And yet even these men , these Audians , Epiphanius , who first takes knowledge of them , calls but Schismatiques , not Heretiques : so loth is charity to say the worst of any . Yet we must remember them of the Roman perswasion , that they come too neare giving God a body in their pictures of God the Father . And they bring the body of God , that body which God the Sonne hath assumed , the body of Christ too neare , in their Transubstantiation : not too near our faith , ( for so it cannot be brought too near ; so , it is as really there as we are there ) too neare to our sense : not too neare in the Vbi ; for so it is there : There , that is , in that place to which the Sacrament extends it selfe . For the Sacrament extends as well to heaven , from whence it fetches grace , as to the table , from whence it delivers Bread and Wine : but too neare in modo . For it comes not thither that way . We must necessarily complaine , that they make Religion too bodily a thing . Our Saviour Christ corrected Mary Magdalens zeale , where she flew to him , in a personall devotion ; and he said , Touch me not : for I am not yet ascended to my Father . Fix your meditations upon Christ Jesus so , as he is now at the right hand of his Father in heaven , and entangle not your selves so with controversies about his body , as to lose reall charity , for imaginary zeale ; nor enlarge your selves so far in the pictures and Images of his body , as to worship them , more then him . As Damdscen says of God , that he is Super-principale principium , a beginning , before any beginning we can conceive ; and prae-aeterna aeternitas , an eternity infinitely elder then any eternity we can imagine : so he is Super-spiritualis Spiritus , such a Super-spirit , as that the soule of man , and the substance of Angels is but a body , compared to this Spirit . God hath no body , though Tertullian disputed it ; though the Audians preached it ; though the Papists paint it . And therefore this Image of God is not in the body of man , that way . Nor that way neither , which some others have assigned , that God , who hath no body as God , yet in the creation did assume that forme , which man hath now , and so made man in his Image , that is , in that forme , which he had then assumed . Some of the Ancients thought so ; and some other men of great estimation in the Roman Church have thought so too ; In particular , Oleaster , a great officer in the Inquisition of Spaine . But great inquirers into other men , are easie neglecters of themselves . The Image of God is not in mans body this way . Nor that third way , which others have imagined ; that is , that when God said , Let us make man after our likenesse , God had respect to that forme , which in the fulnesse of time , his Sonne was to take upon him , upon earth . Let us make him now , ( says God at first ) like that which I intend hereafter , my Son shall be . For , though this were spoken before the fall of man , and so before any occasion of decreeing the sending of Christ : yet in the Schoole a great part of great men adhered to that opinion , that God from all eternity had a purpose that his Sonne should become man in this world , though Adam had not fallen : Non ut Medicus , sed ut Dominus ad nobilitandum genus humanum , say they : though Christ had not come as a Redeemer , if man had not needed him by sin , but had kept his first state ; yet as a Prince that desired to heap honour upon him whom he loves , to doe man an honour , by his assuming that nature , Christ , say they , should have come , and to that Image , that forme , which he was to take then was man made in this text , say these imaginers . But alas , how much better were wit , and learning bestowed to prove to the Gentiles ; that a Christ must come ; ( that they beleeve not ) to prove to the Iews , that the Christ is come ; ( that they beleeve not ) to prove to our own Consciences , that the same Christ may come again this minute to Judgment , ( we live as though we beleeved not that ) then to have filled the world , and torne the Church , with frivolous disputations , whether Christ should have come , if Adam had not fallen ? Wo unto fomentors of frivolous disputations . None of these ways , not because God hath a body ; not because God assumed a body , not because it was intended , that Christ should be born , before it was intended , that man should be made , is this Image of God in the body of man. Nor hath it in any other relation , respect to the body , but as we say in the Schoole , Arguitivè , and Significativè that because God hath given man a body of a nobler forme , then any other creature ; we inferre , and argue , and conclude from thence , that God is otherwise represented in man , then in any other creature . So far is this Image of God in the body , that as you see some Pictures , to which the very tables are Jewells ; some . Watches , to which the very cases are Jewells , and therefore they have outward cases too ; and so the Picture , and the Watch is in that outward case , of what meaner stuffe soever that be : so is this Image in this body as in an outward case ; so , as that you may not injure , nor enfeeble this body , neither by sinfull intemperance and licentiousnesse , nor by inordinate fastings or other disciplines of imaginary merits , while the body is alive ; ( for the Image of God is in it ) nor to defraud thy body of decent buriall , and due solemnities after death ; for the Image of God is to returne to it . But yet the body is but the out-cafe , and God lookes not for the gilding , or enamelling , or painting of that : but requires the labour , and cost therein to be bestowed upon the Tablet it selfe , in which this Image is immediately , that is the soule . And that 's truly the Vbi , the place where this Image is : And there remaines onely now , the operation thereof , how this Image of God in the soule of man works . The Sphear then of this intelligence , the Gallery for this Picture , the Arch for this Statue , the Table , and frame and shrine for this Image of God , is properly immediately the soule of man. Not immediately so , as that the soule of man is a part of the Essence of God : For so effentially , Christ onely is the Image of God. Saint Augustine at first thought so : Putaham te Deus , Corpus Lucidum , & me frustum de illo Corpore ; I tooke thee , ô God , ( says that Father ) to be a Globe of fire , and my soule a sparke of that fire ; thee to be a body of light , and my soule to be a beame of that light . But Saint Augustine does not onely retract that in himselfe , but dispute against it , in the Manichees . But this Image is in our soule , as our soule is the wax , and this Image the seale . The Comparison is Saint Cyrills , and he addes well , that no seale but that , which printed the wax at first , can fit that wax , and fill that impression after . No Image , but the Image of God can fit our soule . Every other seale is too narrow , too shallow for it . The magistrate is sealed with the Lion ; The woolfe will not fit that seale : the Magistrate hath a power in his hands , but not oppression . Princes are sealed with the Crown ; The Miter will not fit that seale . Powerfully , and gratiously they protect the Church , and are supreame heads of the Church ; But they minister not the Sacraments of the Church . They give preferments ; but they give not the capacity of preferment . They give order who shall have ; but they give not orders , by which they are enabled to have , that have . Men of inferiour and laborious callings in the world are sealed with the Crosse ; a Rose , or a bunch of Grapes will not answer that seale . Ease , and plenty in age , must not be looked for without Crosses and labour and industry in youth . All men , Prince , and People ; Clergy , and Magistrate , are sealed with the Image of God , with the profession of a conformity to him : and worldly seales will not answer that , nor fill up that seale . We should wonder to ses a Mother in the midst of many sweet Children passing her time in making babies and puppets for her own delight . We should wonder to see a man , whose Chambers and Galleries were full of curious master-peeces , thrust in a Village Fair to looke upon six-penny pictures , and three farthing prints . We have all the Image of God at home , and we all make babies , fancies of honour , in our ambitions . The master-peece is our own , in our own bosome ; and we thrust in countrey Fairs , that is , we endure the distempers of any unseasonable weather , in night-journies , and watchings : we indure the oppositions , and scornes , and triumphs of a rivall , and competitor , that seeks with us , and shares with us : we indure the guiltinesse , and reproach of having deceived the trust , which a confident friend reposes in us , and solicit his wife , or daughter : we endure the decay of fortune , of body , of soule , of honour , to possesse lower Pictures ; pictures that are not originalls , not made by that hand of God , nature ; but Artificiall beauties . And for that body , we give a soule , and for that drugge , which might have been bought , where they bought it , for a shilling , we give an estate . The Image of God is more worth then all substances ; and we give it , for colours , for dreames , for shadowes . But the better to prevent the losse , let us consider the having of this Image : in what respect , in what operation , this Image is in our soule . For , whether this Image , bee in those faculties , which we have in Nature ; or in those qualifications , which we may have in Grace ; or in those super-illustrations , which the blessed shall have in Glory ; hath exercised the contemplation of many . Properly this Image is in Nature ; in the naturall reason , and other faculties of the immortall Soule of man. For , thereupon does Saint Bernard say , Imago Dei uri potest in Gehenna , non exuri : Till the soule be burnt to ashes , to nothing , ( which cannot be done no not in hell ) the Image of God cannot be burnt out of that soule . For it is radically , primarily , in the very soule it selfe . And whether that soule be infused into the Elect , or into the Reprobate , that Image is in that soule , and as far , as he hath a soule by nature , he hath the Image of God by Nature in it . But then the seale is deeper cut , or harder pressed , or better preserved in some , then in others ; and in some other considerations , then meerly naturall . Therefore we may consider Man who was made here to the Image of God ; and of God , in three Persons , to have been made so , in Gods intendment , three ways : Man had this Image in Nature , and does deface it ; he hath it also in Grace here , and so does refresh it ; and he shall have it in Glory hereafter , and that shall fix it , establish it . And in every of these three , in this Trinity in man , Nature , Grace , and Glory , man hath not onely the Image of God , but the Image of all the Persons of the Trinity , in every of the three capacities . He hath the Image of the Father , the Image of the Sonne , the Image of the holy Ghost in Nature ; and all these also in Grace ; and all in Glory too . How all these are in all , I cannot hope to handle particularly ; not though I were upon the first graine of our sand , upon the first dram of your patience , upon the first flash of my strength . But a cleare repeating of these many branches , that these things are thus , that all the Persons of the heavenly Trinity , are ( in their Image ) in every branch of this humane Trinity , in man , may , at least must suffice . In Nature then , man , that is , the soule of man hath this Image , of God , of God considered in his Unity , intirely , altogether , in this , that this soule is made of nothing , proceeds of nothing . All other creatures are made of that pre-existent matter , which God had made before , so were our bodies too ; But our soules of nothing . Now , not to be made at all , is to be God himselfe : Onely God himselfe was never made . But to be made of nothing ; to have no other parent but God , no other element but the breath of God , no other instrument but the purpose of of God , this is to be the Image of God. For this is nearest to God himselfe , who was never made at all , to be made of nothing . And then man , ( considered in nature ) is otherwise the nearest representation of God too . For the steppes , which we consider are four ; First , Esse , Beeing ; for some things have onely a beeing , and no life , as stones : Secondly , Vivere , Living ; for some things have life , and no sense ; as Plants : and then , thirdly , Sentire Sense ; for some things have sense , and no understanding . Which understanding and reason , man hath with his Beeing , and Life , and Sense ; and so is in a nearer station to God , then any other creature , and a livelier Image of him , who is the root of Beeing , then all they , because man onely hath all the declarations of Beeings . Nay if we consider Gods eternity , the soule of man hath such an Image of that , as that though man had a beginning , which the originall , the eternall God himselfe had not ; yet man shall no more have an end , then the originall , the eternall God himselfe shall have . And this Image of eternity , this past Meridian , this after-noone eternity , that is , this Perpetuity and after everlastingnesse is in man meerly as a Naturall man , without any consideration of grace . For the Reprobate can no more die , that is , come to nothing , then the Elect. It is but of the naturall man , that Theodoret says , a King built a City , and erected his statue in the midst of the City ; that is , God made man , and imprinted his Image in his soule . How will this King take it , ( says that Father ) to have his statue thrown down ? Every man does so , if he doe not exalt his naturall faculties ; If he doe not hearken to the law written in his heart ; if he doe not as much as Plato , or as Socrates in the wayes of vertuous actions , he throwes down the Statue of this King ; he defaces the Image of God. How would this King take it ( says he ) if any other Statue , especially the Statue of his enemy , should be set up in this place ? Every man does so too , that embraces false opinions in matter of doctrine , or false appearances of happinesse in matter of conversation . For these a naturall man may avoid in many cases , without that addition of grace , which is offered to us as Christians . That comparison of other creatures to man , which is intimated in Ieb , is intended but of the naturall man. There speaking of Behemoth , that is , of the greatest of Creatures , he says , in our translation , that he is the chiefe of the ways of God : Saint Hierome hath it , Principium ; and others before him , Initium viarum Dei : That when God went that progresse over all the world , in the Creation thereof , he did but beginne , he did but set out at Behemoth , at the best of all such Creatures ; he , all they were but Initium viarum , the beginning of the wayes of God. But Finis viarum , the end of his journey , and the Eve , the Vespers of his Sabbath was the making of man , even of the naturall man. Behemoth , and the other creatures were Vestigia , ( says the Schoole ) in them we may see , where God hath gone , for all beeing is from God , and so every thing that hath a beeing hath filiationem vestigii a testimony of Gods having passed that way , and called in there . But man hath filiationem Imaginis , an expression of his Image ; and does the office of an Image or Picture , to bring him , whom it represēts , the more lively to our memory . Gods abridgement of the whole world was man. Reabridge man into his least volume , in pura naturalia , as he is but meer man , & so he hath the Image of God in his soul. He hath it , as God is considered in his Unity , ( for as God is , so the soule of man is , indivisibly , impartibly one , intire ) and he hath it also , as God is notified to us in a Trinity . For as there are three Persons in the Essence of God : so there are three faculties in the Soule of man. The Attributes , and some kind of specification of the Persons of the Trinity are , Power to the Father , Wisedome to the Sonne , and Goodnesse to the holy Ghost . And the three faculties of the Soule have the Images of these three . The Understanding is the Image of the Father , that is , Power . For no man can exercise power , no man can governe well without understanding the natures and dispositions of them whom he governes . And therefore in this consists the power , which man hath over the creature , that man understands the nature of every creature , For so Adam did , when he named every creature according to the nature thereof . And by this advantage of our understanding them , and comprehending them , we master them , and so obliviscuntur quod nata sunt , says Saint Ambrose ; the Lion , the Beare , the Elephant have forgot what they were borne to . Induuntur quod jubentur ; they invest and put on such a disposition , and such a nature , as we enjoine them , and appoint to them . Serviunt ut famuli ; ( as that Father pursues it elegantly ) and verberantur , ut timidi : they waite upon us as servants ; who , if they understood us as well , as we understand them , might be our Masters : and they receive correction from us , as though they were afraid of us ; when , if they understood us , they would know , that we were not able to stand in the teeth of the Lion , in the horne of the Bull , in the heels of the Horse . And adjuvantur ut infirmi ; they counterfeit a weakenesse , that they might be beholden to us for help : and they are content to thanke us , if we afford them any rest , or any food ; who , if they understood us , as well , as we doe them , might teare our meate out of our throates ; nay teare out our throats for their meat . So then in this first naturall faculty of the soule , the Understanding , stands the Image of the first Person , the Father , Power : and in the second faculty which is the Will , is the Image , the Attribute of the second Person the Sonne , which is Wisdome : for wisdome is not so much in knowing , in understanding , as in electing , in choosing , in assenting . No man needs goe out of himselfe , nor beyond his owne legend , and the history of his owne actions for examples of that , that many times we know better , and choose ill wayes . Wisdome is in choosing in Assenting . And then , in the third faculty of the soule , the Memory , is the Image of the third person , the holy Ghost , that is , Goodnesse . For to remember , to recollect our former understanding , and our former assenting , so far as to doe them , to Crowne them with action , that 's true goodnesse . The office , that Christ assignes to the holy Ghost , and the goodnesse , which he promises in his behalfe is this , that he shall bring former things to our remembrance . The wiseman places all goodnesse in this faculty , the memory , properly nothing can fall into the memory , but that which is past , and yet he says , Whatsoever thou takest in hand , remember the end , and thou shalt never doe amisse . The end cannot be yet come , and yet we are bid to remember that . Visus per omnes sensus recurrit , says Saint Augustine . As all senses are called fight , in the Scriptures , ( for there is Gustate Dominum , and Audite , and Palpate ; Taste the Lord , and heare the Lord , and feele the Lord , and still the Videte , is added , taste , and see the Lord ) so all goodnesse is in remembring , all goodnesse , ( which is the Image of the holy Ghost ) is in bringing our understanding and our assenting into action . Certainly beloved , if a man were like the King but in countenance , and in proportion , he himselfe would thinke somewhat better of himselfe , and others would be the lesse apt to put scornes , or injuries upon him , then if he had a Vulgar , and course aspect . With those , who have the Image of the Kings power , ( the Magistrate ) the Image of his Wisdome , ( the Counsell ) the Image of his Goodnesse , ( the Clergy ) it should be so too . There is a respect due to the Image of the King in all that have it . Now , in all these respects man , the meer naturall man , hath the Image of the King of Kings . And therefore respect that Image in thy selfe , and exalt thy naturall faculties . Aemulate those men , and be ashamed to be outgone by those men , who had no light but nature . Make thine understanding , and thy will , and thy memory ( though but naturall faculties ) serviceable to thy God ; and auxiliary and subsidiary for thy salvation . For , though they be not naturally instruments of grace ; yet naturally they are susceptible of grace , and have so much in their nature , as that by grace they may be made instruments of grace : which no faculty in any creature , but man , can be . And doe not thinke that because a naturall man cannot doe all , therefore he hath nothing to doe for himselfe . This then is the Image of God in man , the first way , in nature ; and most literally this is the intention of the text . Man was this Image thus ; and the roome furnished with this Image was Paradise . But there is a better roome then that Paradise for the second Image , ( the Image of God in man by grace ) that is , the Christian Church . For though for the most part this text be understood De naturalibus , of our naturall faculties : yet Origen , and not onely such Allegoricall Expositors , but Saint Basill , and Nyssen and Ambrose , and others , who are literall enough , assigne this Image of God , to consist in the gifts of Gods grace , exhibited to us here in the Church . A Christian then in that second capacity , as a Christian , and not onely as a man , hath this Image of God ; of God first considered intirely . And those expressions of this impression , those representations of this Image of God , in a Christian by grace , which the Apostles have exhibited to us ; that we are the sonnes of God ; the feed of God ; the off-spring of God ; and partakers of the divine nature , ( which are high and glorious exaltations ) are enlarged , and exalted by Damascen to a farther height , when he says ; Sicut Deus homo , it a ego Deus ; As God is man , so I am God , says Damascen . I , taken in the whole mankinde , ( for , so Damascen takes it out of Nazianzen ; and he says , Sicut verbum caro , ita caro verbum , as God was made man , man may become God ) but especially I ; I , as I am wrought upon by grace , in Christ Jesus . So a Christian is made the Image of God intirely . To which expression Saint Cyrill also comes neare , when he calls a Christian Deiformem hominem , man in the forme of God ; which is a mysterious , and a blessed metamorphosis , and transfiguration : that , whereas it was the greatest trespasse , of the greatest trespasser in the world , the Devill , to say Similis ero Altissimo , I will be like the Highest : it would be as great a trespasle in me , not to be like the Highest , not to conforme my selfe to God , by the use of his grace , in the Christian Church . And whereas the humiliation of my Saviour is in all things to be imitated by me : yet herein I am bound to depart , from his humiliation ; that whereas he being in the forme of God , tooke the forme of a servant ; I being in the forme of a servant , may , nay must take upon me the forme of God , in being Deiformis homo , a man made in Christ , the Image of God. So have I the Image of God intirely , in his unity , because I professe that faith , which is but one faith ; and under the seale of the Baptisme , which is but one Baptisme . And then , as of this one God ; so I have also the Image of the severall persons of the Trinity , in this capacity , as I am a Christian , more then in my naturall faculties . The Attributes of the first Person , the Father , is Power , and none but a Christian hath power over those great Tyrants of the world , Sinne , Satan , Death , and Hell. For thus my Power accrues and growes unto me . First , Possum Iudicare , I have a Power to Judge ; a judiciary , a discretive power ; a power to discerne between a naturall accident ; and a Judgement of God , and will never call a Judgement , an accident ; and between an ordinary occasion of conversation and atentation of Satan , Possum judicare , and then Possum resistere , which is another act of power . When I finde it to be a tentation , I am able to resist it : and Possum stare , ( which is another ) I am able , not onley to withstand , but to stand out this battell of tentations to the end ; And then Possum capere , that which Christ proposes for a tryall of his Disciples , Let him , that is able to receive it , receive it , I shall have power to receive the gift of continency , against all tentations of that kinde . Bring it to the highest act of power , that with which Christ tryed his strongest Apostles , Possum bibere calicem , I shall be able to drinke of Christs Cup ; even to drinke his bloud , and be the more innocent for that , and to powre out my bloud , and be the stronger for that . In Christo omnia possum , there 's the fulnesse of Power , in Christ I can doe all things , I can want , or I can abound , I can live , or I can die . And yet there is an extension of Power , beyond all this , in this Non possum peccare , being borne of God in Christ , I cannot sinne . This that seemes to have a name of impotence , Non possum , I cannot , is the fullest omnipotence of all , I cannot sinne ; not sinne to death ; not sinne with a desire to sinne ; not sinne , with a delight in sinne ; but that tentation , that overthrowes another , I can resist , or that sinne , which being done , casts another into desperation , I can repent . And so I have the Image of the first Person , the Father , in Power . The Image of the second Person , whose Attribute is Wisdome , I have in this , that Wisdome being the knowledge of this world , and the next , I embrace nothing in this world , but as it leads me to the next . For , thus my wisdome , my knowledge growes . First , Scio cui credidi , I know whom I have beleeved in : I have not mislaid my foundation ; my foundation is Christ ; and then Scio non moriturum ; my foundation cannot sinke , I know that Christ being raised from the dead , dies no more ; againe Scio quod desideret Spiritus , I know what my spirit , enlightned by the Spirit of God , desires ; I I am not transported with illusions , and singularities of private spirits . And as in the Attribute of Power , we found an omnipotence in a Christian , so in this , there is an omniscience , Scimus , quia omnem Scientiam habemus ; there 's all together ; we know that we have all knowledge , for all Saint Pauls universall knowledge was but this , Iesum Crucifixum , I determine not to know any thing , save Jesus Christ , and him Crucified ; and then , the way by which he would proceed , and take degrees in this Wisdome , was Sultitia praedicandi , the way that God had ordained , when the world by Wisedome knew not God , it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to save them that beleeve . These then are the steps of Christian Wisedome , my foundation is Christ , of Christ I enquire no more , but fundamentall doctrines , him Crucified , and this I apply to my selfe , by his ordinace of Preaching . And in this wisdome , I have the Image of the second Person . And then , of the third also in this , that his Attribute beeing Goodnesse , I as a true Christian , call nothing good , that conduces not to the glory of God in Christ Jesus , nor any thing ill , that drawes me not from him . Thus I have an expresse Image of his Goodnesse , that Omnia cooperantur in bonum , all things worke together for my good , if I love God. I shall thanke my fever , blesse my poverty , praise my oppressor , nay thanke , and blesse , and praise , even some sinne of mine , which by the consequences of that sinne , which may be shame , or losse , or weaknesse , may bring me to a happy sense of all my former sinnes ; and shall finde it to have been a good fever , a good poverty , a good oppression , yea a good sinne . Vertit in bonum , says Ioseph to his brethren , you thought evill , but God meant it unto good ; and I shall have the benefit of my sinne , according to his transmutation , that is , though I meant ill , in that sinne , I shall have the good , that God meant in it . There is no evill in the City , but the Lord does it ; But , if the Lord doe it , it cannot be evill to me . I beleeve that I shall see Bona Dei , the goodnesse of the Lord , in the land of the living , that 's in heaven ; but David speakes also of Signum in bonum , shew me a token of good , and God will shew me a present token of future good , an inward infallibility , that this very calamity shall be beneficiall , and advantageous unto me . And so , as in Nature I have the Image of God , in my whole soule , and of all the three Persons , in the three faculties thereof , the Understanding , the Will , and the Memory , so in Grace , in the Christian Church , I have the same Images , of the Power of the Father , of the Wisedome of the Sonne , of the Goodnesse of the holy Ghost , in my Christian profession : And all this we shall have in a better place , then Paradise , where we considered it in nature , and a better place then the Church , as it is Militant , where we considered it in grace , that is , in the kingdome of heaven , where we consider this Image in glory ; which is our last word . There we shall have this Image of God in perfection ; for , if Origen could lodge such a conceit , that in heaven , at last , all things should ebbe backe into God , as all things flowed from him , at first , and so there should be no other Essence but God , all should be God , even the Devill himselfe , how much more may we conceive an unexpressible association , ( that 's too far off ) an assimilation , ( that 's not neare enough ) an identification , ( the Schoole would venture to say so ) with God in that state of glory . Where , as the Sunne by shining upon the Moone , makes the Moone a Planet , a Star , as well , as it selfe , which otherwise would be but the thickest , and darkest part of that Spheare , so those beames of Glory which shall issue from my God , and fall upon me , shall make me , ( otherwise a clod of earth , and worse , a darke Soule , a Spirit of darkenesse ) an Angell of Light , a Star of Glory , a something , that I cannot name now , not imagine now , nor to morrow , nor next yeare , but , even in that particular , I shall be like God , that as he , that asked a day to give a definition of God , the next day asked a week , and then a moneth , and then a yeare , so undeterminable would my imaginations be , if I should goe about to thinke now , what I shall be there : I shall be so like God , as that the Devill himselfe shall not know me from God , so far , as to finde any more place , to fasten a tentation upon me , then upon God , nor to conceive any more hope of my falling from that kingdome , then of Gods being driven out of it ; for , though I shal not be immortall as God , yet I shall be as immortall , as God. And there 's my Image of God ; of God considered altogether , and in his unity , in the state of Glory . I shall have also then ; the Image of all the three Persons of the Trinity . Power is the Fathers ; and a greater Power , then he exercises here , I shall have there : here he overcomes enemies ; but yet here he hath enemies ; there , there are none ; here they cannot prevaile , there they shall not be . So Wisedome is the Image of the Sonne ; And there I shall have better Wisdome , then spirituall Wisdome it selfe is here : for , here our best Wisedome is , but to goe towards our end , there it is rest in our end ; here it is to seek to bee Glorified by God , there it is , that God may be everlastingly glorified by mee . The Image of the holy Ghost is Goodnesse , here our goodnesse is mixt with some ill ; faith mixt with scruples and good workes mixt with a love of praise , and hope of better , mixt with feare of worse . There I shall have sincere goodnesse , goodnesse impermixt , intemerate , and indeterminate goodnesse ; so good a place , as no ill accident shall annoy it ; so good company , as no impertinent , no importune person shall disorder it ; so full a goodnesse , as no evill of sinne , no evill of punishment for former sinnes , can enter ; so good a God , as shall no more keep us in fear of his anger , nor in need of his mercy , but shall fill us first , and establish us in that fulnesse in the same instant ; and give us a satiety , that we can with no more , and an infallibility , that we can lose none of that , and both at once . Where , as the Cabalists expresse our nearenesse to God , in that state , in that note , that the name of man , and the name of God , Adam , and Iehovah ; in their numerall letters , are alike , and equall , so I would have leave , to expresse that inexpressible state , so far , as to say , that if there can be other world imagined besides this that is under our Moone , and if there could be other Gods imagined of those worlds , besides this God , to whose Image we are thus made , in Nature , in Grace , in Glory ; I had rather be one of these Saints in this heaven , then of those Gods in those other worlds ; I shall be like the Angels in a glorified Soul , and the Angels shall not be like me in a glorified body . The holy noblenesse , and the religious ambition , that I would imprint in you , for attaining of this Glory , makes me medismiss you with this note , for the feare of missing that Glory ; that as we have taken just occasion , to magnifie the goodnesse of God , towards us , in that he speakes plurally , Faciamus , Let us , All us do this , and so powers out the blessings of the whole Trinity upon us , in this Image of himselfe , in every Person of the three , and in all these wayes , which we have considered : so when the anger of God is justly kindled against us , God collects himselfe , summons himself assembles himselfe , musters himselfe , and threatens plurally too : for , of those foure places in Scripture , in which onely ( as we noted before ) God speakes of himselfe in a Royall plurall , God speakes in anger , and in a preparation to destruction , in one of those foure , intirely ; as intirely , he speakes of mercy , but in one of them , in this text ; here he says , meerly out of mercy , Faciamus , Let us , us , all us , make man , and in the same plurality , the same universality , he says after , Descendamus & confundamus , Let us , us , all us , goe downe to them , and confound them , as meerly out of indignation , and anger , as here out of mercy . And in the other two places where God speakes plurally , he speakes not meerly in mercy , nor meerly in justice , in neither ; but in both he mingles both . So that God carries himselfe so equally herein , as that no Soul , no Church , no State , may any more promise it selfe patience in God , if it provoke him , then suspect anger in God , if we conforme our selves to him . For , from them , that set themselves against him , God shall withdraw his Image , in all the Persons , and all the Attributes ; the Father shall withdraw his Power , and we shall be enfeebled in our forces , the Sonne his Wisdome , and we shall be infatuated in our counsailes , the holy Ghost his Goodnesse , and we shall be corrupted in our manners , and corrupted in our Religion , and be a prey to temporall , and spirituall enemies , and change the Image of God into the Image of the Beast : and as God loves nothing more then the Image of himselfe , in his Sonne , and then the Image of his Sonne Christ Jesus , in us , so he hates nothing more , then the Image of Antichrist , in them , in whom he had imprinted his Sonnes Image , that is , declinations towards Antichrist , or concurrencies with Antichrist in them , who were borne , and baptized , and catechised , and blessed in that profession of his truth . That God who hath hitherto delivered us from all cause , or colour of jealousies , or suspitions thereof , in them , whom he hath placed over us , to conforme us to his Image , in a holy life , that sinnes continued , and multiplyed by us against him , doe not so provoke him against us , that those two great helps , the assiduity of Preaching , and the personall , and exemplary piety and constancy in our Princes , be not by our sinnes made unprofitable to us . For that 's the heighth of Gods malediction upon a Nation , when the assiduity of preaching , and the example of a Religious Prince , does them no good , but aggravates their fault . SERMON XXX . Preached to the Countesse of Bedford , then at Harrington house . January 7. 1620. JOB 13. 15. Loe , though he slay me , yet will I trust in him . THe name , by which God notified himselfe , to all the world , at first , was , Qui sum , I am ; this was his style , in the Commission , that he gave to Moses to Pharaoh ; say , that he whose name is , I am , hath sent thee , forthere , God would have it made known , that all Essence , all Beeing , all things , that fall out , in any time , past , or present , or future , had their dependece upon him , their derivation from him , their subsistence in him . But then , when God contracts himselfe into a narrower consideration , not to be considered as God , which implies the whole Trinity , but as Christ , which is onely the second Person , and when he does not so much notifie himselfe to the whole world , as to the Christian Church , then he contracts his name too , from that spacious and extensive Qui sum , I am , which includes all time , to Alpha and Omega , first and last , which are peeces of time , as we see , in severall places of the Revelation , he styles himselfe : when God speakes to the whole world , his name is , Qui sum , I am , that all the world may confesse , that all that is , is nothing , but with relation to him ; when he speakes to a Christian , his name is Alpha and Omega , first and last , that a Christian may , in the very name of God , fixe his thoughts upon his beginning , and upon his end , and ever remember , that as a few years since , in his Cradle , he had no sense of that honour , those riches , those pleasures , which possesses his time now , so , God knowes how few days hence , in his grave , he shall have no sense , no memory of them . Our whole life is but a parenthesis , our receiving of our soule , and delivering it back againe , makes up the perfect sentence ; Christ is Alpha and Omega , and our Alpha and Omega is all we are to consider . Now , for all the letters in this Alphabet of our life , that is , for all the various accidents in the course thereof , we cannot study a better booke , then the person of Iob. His first letter , his Alpha , we know not , we know not his Birth ; His last letter , his Omega , we know not , we know not his Death : But all his other letters , His Children , and his riches , we read over and over againe , How he had them , how he lost them , and how he recovered them . By which though it appeare that those temporall things doe also belong to the care and provision of a godly man , yet it appears too , that neither his first care , nor his last care appertaines to the things of this world , but that there is a Primùm quaerite , something to be sought for before , The kingdome of God ; And there is a Memorare novissima , something to be thought on after , The Ioyes of heaven ; And then , Catera adjicientur , says Christ , All other cares are allowable by way of Accessary , but not as principall . And therefore , though this History of Iob , may seeme to spend it selfe , upon the relation of Iobs temporall passages , of his wealth , and poverty , of his sicknesse , and recovery , yet , if we consider the Alpha and Omega of the booke it selfe , the first beginning , and the later end thereof , we shall see in both places , a care of the Holy ghost , to shew us first Iobs righteousnesse , and then his riches , first his Goodnesse , and then his Goods ; in both places , there is a Catechisme , a Confession of his faith before , and then an Inventory , and Catalogue of his wealth ; for , in the first place , it is sayd , He was an upright and just man , and feared God , and eschewed evill , and then , his Children , and his substance follow ; And in the last place , it is said , That Iob was accepted by God , and that he prayed for those friends , which had vext him , and then it is , that his former substance was doubled unto him . This world then is but an Occasionall world , a world onely to be us'd ; and that but so , as though we us'd it not : The next world is the world to be enjoy'd , and that so , as that we may joy in nothing by the way , but as it directs and conduces to that end ; Nay , though we have no Joy at al , though God deny us all conveniencies here , Etiamsi occiderit , though he end a weary life , with a painefull death , as there is no other hope , but in him , so there needs no other , for that alone is both abundant , and infallible in it selfe . Now , as no History is more various , then Iobs fortune , so is no phrase , no style , more ambiguous , then that in which Iobs history is written ; very many words so expressed , very many phrases so conceived , as that they admit a diverse , a contrary sense ; for such an ambiguity in a single word , there is an example in the beginning , in Iobs wife ; we know not ( from the word it selfe ) whether it be Benedicas , or maledicas , whether she sayd Blesse God , and die or Curse God : And for such an ambiguity , in an intire sentence , the words of this text are a pregnant , and evident example , for they may be directly , and properly thus rendered out of the Hebrew , Behold he will kill me , I will not hope ; and this seemes to differ much from our reading , Behold , though he kill me , yet will I trust in him . And therefore to make up that sense , which our translation hath , ( which is truely the true sense of the place ) we must first make this paraphrase , Behold he will kill me , I make account he will kill me , I looke not for life at his hands , his will be done upon me for that ; And then , the rest of the sentence ( I will not hope ) ( as we read it in the Hebrew , ) must be supplyed , or rectified rather , with an Interrogation , which that language wants , and the translators use to add it , where they see the sense require it : And so reading it with an Interrogation , the Originall , and our translation will constitute one and the same thing ; It will be all one sense to say , with the Originall , Behold he will kill me , ( that is , let him kill me ) yet shall not I hope in him ? and to say with our translation , Behold though he kill me , yet will I hope in him : And this sense of the words , both the Chaldee paraphrase , and all translations ( excepting onely the Septuagint ) do unanimously establish . So then , the sense of the words being thus fixed , we shall not distract your understandings , or load your memories , with more then two parts : Those , for your ease , and to make the better impression , we will call propositum , and praepositum ; first , the purpose , the resolution of a godly man , which is , to rely upon God ; and then the consideration , the inducement , the debatement of this beforehand , That no Danger can present it selfe , which he had not thought of before , He hath carried his thoughts to the last period , he hath stirred the potion to the last scruple of Rheuharb , and Wormewod , which is in it , he hath digested the worst , he hath considered Death it selfe , and therefore his resolution stands unshak'd , Etiamsi occiderit , Though he dy for it , yet he will trust in God. In the first then , The Resolution , the purpose it selfe , we shall consider , Quem , and Quid ; The Person , and the Affection : To whom Iob will beare so great , and so reverent a respect ; and then , what this respect is , I will trust in him . I would not stay you , upon the first branch , upon the person , as upon a particular consideration ( though even that , The person upon whom , in all cases , we are to rely , be entertainement sufficient for the meditation of our whole life ) but that there arises an usefull observation , out of that name , by which Iob delivers that person , to us , in this place : Iob says , though He kill me , yet he will trust in him ; but he tells us not in this verse , who this He is . And though we know , by the frame , and context , that this is God , yet we must have recourse to the third verse , to see , in what apprehension , and what notion , in what Character , and what Contemplation , in what name , and what nature , what Attribute , and what Capacity , Iob conceived and proposed God to himselfe , when he fix'd his resolution so intirely to rely upon him ; for , as God is a jealous God , I am sure I have given him occasion of jealousy , and suspicion , I have multiplied my fornications , and yet am not satisfied , as the prophet speakes : As God is a Consuming fire , I have made my selfe fuell for the fire , and I have brought the fires of lust , and of ambition , to kindle that fire : As God visits the sinnes of fathers upon Children , I know not what sinnes my fathers and grandfathers have layd up in the treasure of Gods indignation : As God comes to my notion , in these formes , Horrendum , it were a fearefull thing to flesh and bloud , to deliver ones selfe over to him , as he is a jealous God , and a Consuming fire ; But in that third verse , Iob sets before him , that God , whom he conceives to be Shaddai , that is , Omnipotens , Allmighty ; I will speake to the Allmighty , and I desire to dispute with God. Now , if we propose God to our selves , in that name , as he is Shaddai , we shall find that word in so many significations in the scriptures , as that no misery or calamity , no prosperity or happinesse can fall upon us , but we shall still see it ( of what kinde so ever it be ) descend from God , in this acceptation , as God is Shaddai . For , first , this word signifies Dishoner , as the Septuagint translate it in the Proverbs , He that Dishonoreth his parents , is a shamelesse child ; There 's this word ; Shaddai is the name of God , and yet Shaddai signifies Dishonor . In the prophet Esay it signifies Depredation , a forcible and violent taking away of our goods ; vae praedanti , says God in that place , woe to thee that spoyledst , and wast not spoyled ; Shaddai is the name of God , and yet Shaddai is spoyle , and violence and depredation . In the prophet Ieremy , the word is carried farther , there it signifies Destruction , and an utter D●vastation ; D●vastati sumus , says he , we unto us , for we are Destroy'd ; The word is Shaddai , and is Destruction , though Shaddai be the name of God : yea , the word reaches to a more spirituall affection , it extends to the understanding , and error in that , and to the Conscience , and sinne in that ; for so the Septuagint makes use of this word in the Proverbs , To deceive , and to ly ; and in one place of the Psalmes , they interpret the word , of the Devil himselfe . So that , ( recollecting all these heavy significations of the word ) Dishonor and Disreputation , force and Depredation , Ruine and Devastation , Error and Illusion , the Devill and his Tentations , are presented to us , in the same word , as the name and power of God is , that , when so ever any of these doe fall upon us , in the same instant when we see and consider the name and quality of this calamity that falls , we may see and consider the power and the purpose of God which inflicts that Calamity ; I cannot call the calamity by a name , but in that name , I name God ; I cannot feel an affliction , but in that very affliction I feel the hand ( and , if I will , the medicinall hand ) of my God. If therefore our Honour and Reputation decay , all honor was a beame of him , and if he have sucked that beame into himselfe , let us follow it home , let us labor to be honorable in him , glorified in him , and our honor is not extinguished in this world , but growne too glorious for this world to comprehend . If spoyle and Depredation come upon us , that we be covered with wrath , and persecuted , slaine and not spared , That those that fed delicately perish in the streets , and they that were brought up in scarlet embrace the Dunghill , and that the hands of pitifull women have sodden their owne children , as the prophet complains in the Lamentations ; if there be such an irreparable Devastation upon us , as that we be broken as an Earthern vessell , in the breaking whereof there remaines not a sheard to fetch fire from the hearth , nor water from the pit , That our estate be ruined so , as that there is nothing left , not onely for future posterity , but not for the present family , yet still God and the calamity are together ; God does not send it , but bring it , he is there as soone as the calamity is there , and calling that calamity by his owne name , Shaddai , he would make that very calamity a candle to thee , by which thou mightst see him ; that , if thou wert not so puffed up before , as that thou forgotst to say , Dominus dedit , It was the Lord that gave all , thou shouldst not be so dejected , so rebellious now , as not to say Dominus tulit , It is the Lord that hath taken , and committed to some better steward , those treasures of his , which he saw , thou dost employ to thine owne danger . Yea , if those spirituall afflictions , which reach to the understanding , and are intimated and involved in this word , in this name of God , doe fall upon us , That we call for our lovers , and they deceive us ( as we told you , the word did signifie deceit ) that is , we come to see how much we mistooke the matter , when we fell in love with wordly things , ( as certainely , once in our lives , though it be but upon our Death beds , we doe come to discover that deceit ) yea , when the deceit is so spirituall , as that it reaches not onely to the understanding , but to the Conscience , that that have been deceived either with security at one time , or with anxieties , and unnecessary scruples , and impertinent perplexities at another ; if this spirituall deceit have gone so high , as that wee came to thinke our selves to be amongst them , of whom the prophet sayes , Ah Lord God , surely thou hast deceived thy people , and Ierusalem , that we come to suspect , that God hath misled us in a false religion all this while , and that there is a better then this , if we would looke to it ; if God to punish our negligence , and surfet of his word , should suffer the prophet to prophecy lyes , That the prophet should be a foole , and the spirituall man mad , ( that is , as Saint Hierom reads that place , Arreptitius , possessed , possessed with the spirit of ambition , and flattery , and temporizing , to preach to their appetites , who governe the times , and not to his instructions , who sent them to preach ) yea , where this word is carried the highest of all , that this word , which is the name of God , is used for the Devill , ( as we noted before , out of the Psalmes ) That Satan was let loose , and polluted the kingdome , and the princes thereof , with false worships , yet to what height to ever , this violence , or this deceit , or this tentation should come , God comes with it ; and , with God , there is strength and wisdome , He discerns our Distresses , and is able to succour us in them ; And , ( as it is added there ) He that is deceived , and he that deceives are his ; The deceiver is his , because he catcheth the crafty in their owne nets , and the deceived are his , that he may rectifie and unbeguile them . So then the children of God , are the Marble , and the Ivory , upon which he workes ; In them his purpose is , to re-engrave , and restore his Image ; and affliction , and the malignity of man , and the deceits of Heretiques , and the tentations of the Devill him selfe , are but his instruments , his tools , to make his Image more discernible , and more dnrable in us . Iob will speake to God , hee will dispute with God , he will trust in God , therefore , because he is Shaddai , because neither dishonor , nor Devastation , of fortune , or understanding , or Conscience , by deceit of treacherous friends , by backsliding of false teachers , by illusion of the Devill himselfe , can be presented him , but the name and power of God accompanies that calamity , and he sees that they came from God , and therefore he should be patient in them , and how impatient so ever he be , he sees he must beare them , because they came from him . But Iob hath another hold too , another assurance , for his Confidence in God , from this name Shaddai ; It is not onely because all Calamity comes from him , and therefore should be borne , or therefore must be borne ; but all Restitution , all Reparation of temporall , or spirituall detriment , is included in that name too , for Shaddai is Omnipotens , Almighty , He can do all things ; And the consolation is brought nearer then so , in one place , it is Omnia faciens , That , not onely for the future he can , but for the present , he does study , and he does accomplish my good ; even then , when his hand is upon me , in a calamity , his hand is under me , to raise me up againe ; as he that flings a ball to the ground , or to a wall , intends in that action , that that ball should returne back , so even now , when God does throw me down , it is the way that he hath chosen to returne me to himselfe . Since therefore this name Shaddai assured Iob , that all which we call Good ; and all which we call Evill , that is , prosperity , and adversity , proceed from God ; that God ( who in the signification of this name ) is able to shatter , and scatter , to devastate and depopulate , not onely our estate , but our Conscience , in an instant , with the horror of his Iudgements ; and then is able to binde up , and consolidate all this againe , with his temporall , and spirituall Comforts , since he can destroy in an instant that Temple , which was so long in building , that is , overthrow that fortune , which employed the industry of man , the favor of princes , and the ruine and supplantations of other men , for many yeares , to the making thereof , and then can raise this ruin'd Temple , this overthrowne man , in three dayes , or hours , or minutes , as it pleaseth him , to measure his owne purposes since good and bad , peace and anguish , life and death proceed from him , who is Shaddai , the Almighty God , Iob had good reasons , to trust in him , in that God , though hee , that God , should kill him ; which Emphaticall , and applyable significations of the name , hath occasion'd me ( though it be obvious and present to every apprehension , that God is the person , who in this text , is to be relied upon ) to insist upon this , as a particular part of branch ; And so we passe to that , which we proposed for a second branch , from the person , ( God , and God in this notion , Shaddai , Almighty ) to the respect , which he promises , Trust , Though hee kill me , yet will I trust in him . It is a higher degree of Reverence and Confidence , to trust in one , then to trust one . we see it so expressed in the Articles of our Creed ; Credimus in Deum , we beleeve in God , and in Christ , and in the Holy Ghost ; And then Credimus Ecclesiam Catholicam , we beleeve the Catholique Church . We will beleeve a honest man , that he will doe as he sayes , we beleeve God much more , that he will performe his promises ; we will trust God , that he will doe as he sayes ; But then , Iob will trust in God , That though God have not spoken to his soule as yet , though he have not interessed him in his promises , and in his Covenant , ( for Iob is not conceived to be within the Covenant made by God to his people ) yet he will trust in him , that in his due time , he will visit him , and will apply him those mercies , and those means , which no man , that had interest in them , can doubt , or distrust . And therefore Iob professes his trust in God , in that word , which hath in the use thereof in Scriptures , ordinarily three acceptations ; The word is Iakal , and Iakal signifies Expectavit Deum , his eye , his expectation was upon nothing but God ; And then it signifies speravit , he Hoped for him , As he looked for nothing else , so he doubted not of him ; And then it is Moratus est , As he was sure of him , so he prescribed him not a time , but humbly attended his Ieasure , and received his temporall , or spirituall blessings thankefully , whensoever it should be his pleasure to afford them . First then , Expectavit , He trusted in him , that is , he trusted in nothing but him . For , beloved , as we have in the Schooles , a short and a round way , to prove that the world was made of nothing , which is , onely to aske that man , who will need deny the world to be made of nothing , of what it was made ; and , if he could find a preexistent matter , of which he thought the world was made , yet we must aske him againe , of what , that preexistent matter was made , and so upwards stil , till at last it must necessarily come to nothing : so we must aske that man , that will not be of Iobs mind , to trust in God , in what he would trust ; would he trust in his riches ? who shall preserve them to him ? The Law ? Then he trusts in the Law. But who shall preserve the Law ? The King ? Then his trust is in him . And who shall preserve him ? Almighty God ; and therefore his trust must be at last in him . To what nation is their God come so near to them as the Lord our God is come neare unto us ? what nation hath laws , and ordinances , so righteous as we have ? Moses sayd this historically of the Iew , and prophetically of us ; T is true , we are governed by a peaceable , and a just law ; Moses his prophecy is fulfilled upon us , and so is Esays too , Reges nutricii , Kings shall be thy nursing fathers ; It is true to us , The law is preserved to us , by a just , and a peacefull prince ; but how often have the sinnes of the people , and their unthankfulnesse especially , induc'd new laws , and new princes ? The prince , and the law , are the two most reverend , and most safe things , that man can rely upon ; but yet ( in other nations at least ) sacred , and secular story declares , that for the iniquity of the people the law hath been perverted by princes , and for the sinne of the people , the prince hath been subverted by God. Howsoever there may be some collaterall , and transitory trust in by things , the radicall , the fundamentall trust , is onely in God. Iob trusted in him , that is , in nothing but him : but then , speravit , he hoped for something at his hands ; none can give but God ; but God will give to none that doe not hope for it , and that doe not expresse their hope , by asking , by prayer ; God scatters not his blessings , as Princes doe money , in Donatives at Coronations or Triumphes , without respect upon whom they shall fall . God rained downe Manna and Quailes , plentifully , abundantly ; but he knew to what hand every bird , and every graine belonged . To trust in nothing else , is but halfe way ; it is but a stupid neglecting of all ; It is an ill affection to say , I look for nothing at the worlds hands , nor at Gods neither . God onely hath all , and God hath made us capable of all his gifts ; and therefore we must neither hope for them , any where else , nor give over our hope of them , from him , by intermitting our prayers , or our industry in a lawfull calling ; for we are bound to suck at those breasts which God puts out to us , and to draw at those springs , which flow from him to us ; and prayer , and industry , are these breasts , and these springs ; and whatsoever we have by them , we have from him . Expectavit , Iob trusted not in the meanes , as in the fountaine , but yet speravit , he doubted not , but God , who is the fountaine , would , by those meanes , derive his blessings , temporall and spirituall , upon him . Hee Hoped ; now Hope is onely , or principally of invisible things , for Hope that is seen , is not hope , says the Apostle . And therefore , though we may hope for temporall things , for health , wealth , strength , and liberty , and victory where Gods enemies oppresse the Church , and for execution of laws , where Gods enemies undermine the Church ; ( for , whatsoever we may pray for , we may hope for , and all those temporall blessings are prayed for , by Christs appointment , in that petition , Give us this day our daily bread ) yet our Hope is principally directed upon the invisible part , and invisible office of those visible and temporall things ; which is , that by them , we may be the better able to performe religious duties to God , and duties of assistance to the world . When I expect a friend , I may go up to a window , and wish I might see a Coach ; or up to a Cliffe , and wish I might see a ship , but it is because I hope , that that friend is in that Coach , or that ship : so I wish , and pray , and labour for temporall things● because I hope that my soule shall be edified , and my salvation established , and God glorified by my having them : And therefore every Christian hope being especially upon spirituall things , is properly , and purposely grounded , upon these stones ; that it be spes veniae , a hope of pardon , for that which is past , and then spes gratiae , a hope of Grace , to establish me in that state with God , in which , his pardon hath placed mee , and lastly spes gloriae , a hope that this pardon , and this grace , shall lead me to that everlasting glory , which shall admit no night , no eclipse , no cloud . First , for the first object of this hope , pardon , we are to consider sinne , in two aspects , two apprehensions ; as sinne is an injury , a treason ; yea a wound to God ; And then as sinne is a Calamity , a misery fallen inevitably upon man. Consider it the first way , and there is no hope of pardon , Nectalem Deum tuum putes , qualis nec tu debes esse , is excellently said by Saint Augustine : never imagine any other quality to be in Christ , then such , as thou , as a Christian , art bound to have in thy selfe . And , if a Snake have stung me , must I take up that Snake , and put it into my bosome ? If so poore a snake , so poore a worme as I , have stung my Maker , have crucified my Redeemer , shall he therefore , therefore take me into his bosome , into his wounds , and save me , and glorifie me ? No , if I look upon sinne , in that line , in that angle , as it is a wound to God , I shall come to that of Cain , Major iniquitas , my sinne is greater , then can be forgiven , and to that of Iudas , Peccavi tradens , I have sinned in betraying the innocent bloud , that is , in Crucifying him againe , who was crucified for me , in betraying his righteous bloud , as much , by my unworthy receiving , as Iudas did , in an unjust delivering of it . But if I look upon sinne , as sinne is now , the misery and calamity of man , the greater the misery appears , the more hope of pardon I have ; Abyssus Abyssum , as David speakes , One Depth calls upon another ; Infinite sinnes call for infinite mercy ; and where sinne did abound , grace , and mercy shall much more . First David presents the greatnesse of his sinnes , and then followes the Miserere mei , have mercy upon me , according to the greatnesse of thy mercy . Is there any little mercy in God ? Is not all his mercy infinite , that pardons a sinne done against an infinite majesty ? yes ; but herein the greatnesse appeares to us , that it delivers us from a great calamity . Quia infirmus , Because I am weake , ( borne weake , and subject to continuall infirmities ) Quia oss a conturbata , Because my bones are troubled , ( my best repentances , and resolutions are shaked ) Quia vexata anima , because my soule is in anguish , when after such resolutions , and repentances ; and vowes , I relapse into those sinnes , these miseries of his , were Davids inducements why God should pardon him , because it is thus with me , have mercy upon me . And so God himselfe seemes to have had a diverse , a two-fold apprehension of our sinnes , when he says , that because all the imaginations of the thoughts of mans heart , were onely evill continually , therefore he would spare none , he would destroy all , and after he says , that because the imaginations of the thoughts of mans heart , were evill from his youth , he would no more smite all things living , as he had done ; for sinne , he would destroy them , and yet for sinne , he would spare them : when we examine our sinnes , and finde them to be out of infirmity , and not out of rebellion , we may conclude Gods corrections , to be by way of Medicin , and not of poyson , to be for our amendment , and not for our annihilation , and in that case , there is spes veniae , just hope of pardon . Another degree of hope is , spes gratiae , hope of subsequent grace ; for , as Saint Paul builds his argument , If when we were enemies , we were reconciled to God , by the death of his Sonne , much more , being reconciled , shall we be saved by his life : in like manner , every sinner may build his trust , and hope in God , He that hath pardoned us , the sinnes we have done , will much more assist us with his grace , that we may be able to stand in that state with him , to which he hath brought us . He that succoured us , when there was nothing in us , but his enemies , will much more send new supplies , when the town is held for him , and by his friends . And this hope of pardon , for that which is past , and of grace for the present , continues to the hope of glory to come : of which glory we apprehend strong and effectuall beames here , by conforming our selves , to that Gospell , which the Apostle calls the glorious Gospell of the blessed God ; and for the consummation of this glory , we doe with patience abide for it , says the Apostle : which is the last of those three senses , in which we noted , this word , in which Iob expresses his trust in God , to be used in the Scriptures , Iakal , moratus est ; he did trust in nothing else , did trust in him , and then , he staied his leasure . Iacob makes a solemne prayer to God , in Genesis , 32. O God of my Fathers , Abraham , and Isaac , then he remembers God of his promise , ( Thou saydst unto me returne , and I will doe thee good ) he tells him his danger , ( I feare my brother Esau , will come and smite me ) he makes his petition , ( Deliver me from the hand of my brother ) And yet , for all this , though he trusted in God , yet God infuses not that confidence into him , as to goe on : He sent his present to his brother , but himselfe tarried there all night , says the text . Yea , God was so far , from giving him present meanes of deliverance , that he made him worse able to deliver himselfe , he wrastled with him , and lam'd him : but after all , in Gods appointed time , he and his brother were reconciled . If thou pray to Almighty God , in temporall , in spirituall calamities , if God doe not presently enlighten thine understanding in every controversie of Religion , in every scruple of Conscience , if he doe not rectifie thine estate , when it is decayed , thy reputation , when thou art reproached , yea if he wrastle with thee , and lame thee , that is , bring all to a greater impotency , and improbability of amendment then before , yet thou hast thy Rule from Iob , thou hast thy example from Iacob , that to trust in God , is not onely to trust in nothing else , nor onely to hope particularly , for pardon , for grace , for glory from him , but it is to stay his leasure , for the outward , and inward seales of all his mercies , and his benefits , which he shall , in his time , bestow upon thee . The ambitious man must stay , till he , whose office he expects , be dead : the Covetous man must stay , till the six moneths be run , before his use come in . Though thou have a religious ambition , a holy covetousnesse even at Gods graces , thou must stay his time . Os aperui , & attraxi , says David , I opened my mouth , and panted , because I loved thy Commandements ; He loved them , and he longed for them , yet he had not presently a full satisfaction . Domine labia mea aperies , says he also first it must be the Lord that must open our lippes , in all our petitions ; It must not be the anguish of the calamity onely , nor the desire of that which thou prayest for onely , that must open thy lippes , but the Lord , that is , the glory of God : when the Lord hath opened thy lips in a rectified prayer , then followes the Aperuit manus , the eyes of all things waite upon him , & he gives them their meate in due season ; he opens his hand , & filles every living thing , at his good pleasure : Here 's plentifull opening , and filling , and filling every thing , but still in due season , & that due season expressed , At his pleasure : for , as that is the Nature of every thing , which God hath imprinted in it , so that is the season of every thing , which God hath appointed for it . Thou wouldest not pray for harvest at Christmas ; seek not unseasonable comforts , out of Musique , or Comedies , or Conversation , or Wine in thy distresses , but seek it at the hand of God , and stay his leasure , for else thou doest not trust in him . We have now passed over all those branches , which constituted our first part , that which we called Propositum , what is the purpose and resolution of a godly man , in Iob : that he would not scatter his thoughts in trusting upon Creatures , and yet he would not suffer his thoughts to vanish and evaporate , he would rest them upon something , and not leave all to fortune , he would rest upon God , and yet stay his time for the execution of his gracious purposes . There remaines yet , that which we called praepositum , in which we intended , the foundation , and ground of that purpose and resolution ; which seems in Iob , to have been , a debatement in himselfe , a contemplation of all dangers , the worst was death , and yet , Si occiderit , if I dye for it , and dye at his hands , Though he kill me , yes will I trust in him . For when the children of God take that resolution , to suffer any affliction , which God shall lay upon them , patiently , and cheerfully , it must not be a sodaine , a rash , an undebated resolution , but they must consider why they undertake it , and in whose strength , they shall be able to doe it : They must consider what they have done for God , before they promise themselves the glory of suffering for him . When they which enterprised the building of Babel , did no more but say to one another , Come let us make bricke , go to , let us build a towre , whose top may reach to heaven , how quickly they were scattered over the earth ? The way is , if you minde to build , to sit downe and count the cost ; if you purpose to suffer for Christ , to look to your stock , your strength , and from whence it comes . The King that intends a war , in that Gospell , takes counsaile , whether he be able with his tenne thousand to meet the enemy with twenty thousand . We are too weake for our enemy ; the world , the flesh , and the Devill , are mustered against us ; but yet , with our ten thousand , we may meet their twenty thousand , if we have put on Christ , and be armed with him , and his holy patience , and constancy ; but from whom may we derive an assurance , that we shall have that armor , that patience , that constancy ? First , a Christian must purpose to Doe , and then in cases of necessity , to suffer : And give me leave to make this short note by the way , no man shall suffer like a Christian , that hath done nothing like a Christian : God shall thanke no man , for dying for him , and his glory , that contributed nothing to his glory , in the actions of his life : very hardly shall that man be a Martyr in a persecution , that did not what he could , to keep off persecution . Thus then Iob comes first , to the Si occiderit ; If he should kill me ; If Gods anger should proceed so far , as so far , it may proceed . Let no man say in a sicknesse , or in any temporall calamity , this is the worst ; for a worse thing then that may fall : five and thirty years sicknesse may fall upon thee ; and , ( as it is in that Gospell ) a worse thing then that ; Distraction , and desperation may fall upon thee : let no Church , no State , in any distress say , this is the worst , for onely God knowes , what is the worst , that God can doe to us . Iob does not deny here , but that this Si occiderit , if it come to a matter of life , it were another manner of triall , then either the si irruerent Sabaei , if the Sabaeans should come , and drive his Cattell , and slay his servants ; more , then the si ignis caderet ; if the fire of God should fall from heaven , and devoute all ; more , then the si ventus concuteret , if the winde of the wildernesse , should shake downe his house , and kill and all his children . The Devill in his malice saw , that if it came to matter of life , Iob was like enough to be shaked in his faith ; Skin for skin , and all that ever a man hath will he give for his life . God foresaw that , in his gracious providence too ; and therefore he took that clause out of Satans Commission , and inserted his veruntamen animam ejus servae , medle not with his life . The love of this life , which is naturall to us , and imprinted by God in us , is not sinfull : Few and evill have the days of my pilgrimage been , says lacob to Pharaeoh : though they had been evill , ( which makes our days seem long ) and though he were no young man , when he said so , yet the days which he had past , he thought few , and desired more . When Eliah was fled into the wildernesse , and that in passion , and vehemence he said to God , Sufficit Domine , tolle animam meam , It is enough O Lord , now take away my life , if he had been heartily , thoroughly weary of his life , he needed not to have fled from Iesabel , for he fled but to save his life . The Apostle had a Cupie dissolvi , a desire to be dissolved ; but yet a love to his brethren corrected that desire , and made him finde that it was far better for him to live . Our Saviour himselfe , when it came to the pinch , and to the agony , had a Transeat Calix , a naturall declining of death . The naturall love of our naturall life is not ill : It is ill , in many cases , not to love this life : to expose it to unnecessary dangers , is alwayes ill ; and there are overtures to as great sinnes , in hating this life , as in loving it ; and therefore Iobs first consideration is , si occideret , if he should kill me , if I thought he would kill me , this were enough to put me from trusting in any . But Iobs consideration went farther , then to the si occideret , Though he should kill me , for it comes to an absolute assurance that God will kill him ; for so it is in the Originall , Ecce occidet , Behold , I see he will kill me ; I have , I can have no hope of life , at his hands . T is all our cases ; Adam might have liv'd , if he would , but I cannot . God hath placed an Ecce , a marke of my death , upon every thing living , that I can set mine eye upon ; every thing is a remembrancer , every thing is a Judge upon me , and pronounces , I must dye . The whole frame of the world is mortall , Heaven and Earth passe away : and upon us all , there is an irrecoverable Decree past , statutum est , It is appointed to all men , that they shall once dye . But when ? quickly ; If thou looke up into the aire , remember that thy life is but a winde ; If thou see a cloud in the aire , aske St. Iames his question , what is your life ? and give St. Iames his answer , It is a vapour that appeareth and vanisheth away . If thou behold a Tree , then Iob gives thee a comparison of thy selfe ; A Tree is an embleme of thy selfe ; nay a Tree is the originall , thou art but the copy , thou art not so good as it : for , There is hope of a tree ( as you reade there ) if the roote wax old , if the stock be dead , if it be cut down , yet by the sent of the waters , it will bud , but man is sick , and dyeth , and where is he ? he shall not wake againe , till heaven be no more . Looke upon the water , and we are as that , and as that spilt upon the ground : Looke to the earth , and we are not like that , but we are earth it self : At our Tables we feed upon the dead , and in the Temple we tread upon the dead : and when we meet in a Church , God hath made many echoes , many testimonies of our death , in the walls , and in the windowes , and he onely knowes , whether he will not make another testimony of our mortality , of the youngest amongst us , before we part , and make the very place of our buriall , our deathbed . Iobs contemplation went so far ; not onely to a Si occideret , to a possibility that he might dye , but to an Ecce occidet , to an assurance that he must dye ; I know there is an infalliblenesse in the Decree , an inevitablenesse in nature , an inexorablenesse in God , I must dye . And the word beares a third interpretation beyond this ; for si occiderit , is not onely , if he should kill me , as he ma● , if he will , and it may be he will ; nor onely , that I am sure he will kill me , I know I must dye , but the word may very well be also , though he have killed me . So that Iobs resolution that he will trust in God , is grounded upon all these considerations , That there is exercise of our hope in God , before death , in the agony of death , and after death . First , in our good dayes , and in the time of health , Memorare novissima , sayes the wise man , we must remember our end , our death . But that we cannot forget , every thing presents that to us ; But his counsell there , is , in omnibus operibus , In all thine undertakings , in all thine actions , remember thine end ; when thou art in any worldly work , for advancing thy state , remember thy naturall death , but especially when thou art in a sinfull worke , for satisfying thy lusts , remember thy spirituall death : Be afraid of this death , and thou wilt never feare the other : Thou wilt rather sigh with David , My soule hath too long dwelt with him that hateth peace : Thou wilt be glad when a bodily death may deliver thee from all farther danger of a spirituall death : And thou wilt be ashamed of that imputation , which is layd upon worldly men , by St. Cyprian , Ad nostros navigamus , & ventos contrarios optamus , we pretend to be sayling homewards , and yet we desire to have the winde against us ; we are travelling to the heavenly Ierusalem , and yet we are loath to come thither . Here then is the use of our hope before death , that this life shall be a gallery into a better roome , and deliver us over to a better Country : for , if in this life onely we have hope in Christ , we are of all men the most miserable . Secondly , in the agony of death ; when the Sessions are come , and that as a prisoner may looke from that Tower , and see the Judge that must condemne him to morrow , come in to night ; so we lye upon our death-bed , and apprehend a present judgement to be given upon us , when , if we will not pleade to the Indictment , if we will stand mute , and have nothing to say to God , we are condemned already , condemned in our silence ; and if we do plead , we have no plea , but guilty ; nothing to say , but to confesse all the Indictment against our selves ; when the flesh is too weake , as that it can performe no office , and yet would faine stay here , when the soule is laden with more sins then she can bear , and yet would faine contract more ; in this agony , there is this use of our hope , that as God shall then , when our bodily eares are deaf , whisper to our soules , and say , Memento homo , Remember , consider man , that thou art but dust , and art now returning into dust , so we , in our hearts , when our bodily tongues are speechlesse , may then say to God , as it is in Iob , Memento quaeso , Remember thou also , I beseech thee , O God , that it is thou that hast made me as clay , and that it is thou that bringest me to that state againe ; and therefore come thou , and looke to thine owne worke ; come and let thy servant depart in peace , in having seen his salvation . My hope before death is , that this life is the way ; my hope at death is , that my death shall be a doore into a better state . Lastly , the use of our hope , is after death , that God by his promise , hath made himself my debter , till he restore my body to me againe , in the resurrection : My body hath sinned , and he hath not redeemed a sinner , he hath not saved a sinner , except he have redeemed and saved my body , as well as my soule . To those soules that lye under the Altar , and solicite God , for the resurrection , in the Revelation , God sayes , That they should rest for a little season , untill their fellow-servants , and their brethren , that should be killed , even as they were , were fulfilled . All that while , while that number is fulfilling , is our hopes exercised after our death . And therefore the bodies of the Saints of God , which have been Temples of the Holy Ghost , when the soule is gone out of them , are not to be neglected , as a sheath that had lost the knife , as a shell that had spent the kernell ; but as the Godhead did not depart from the dead body of Christ Jesus , then when that body lay dead in the grave , so the power of God , and the merit of Christ Jesus , doth not depart from the body of man , but his blood lives in our ashes , and shall in his appointed time , awaken this body againe , to an everlasting glory . Since therefore Iob had , and we have this assurance before we dye , when we dye , after we are dead , it is upon good reason , that he did , and we do trust in God , though he should kill us , when he doth kill us , after he hath killed us . Especially since it is Ille , He who is spoken of before , he that kills , and gives life , he that wounds , and makes whole againe . God executes by what way it pleases him ; condemned persons cannot chuse the manner of their death ; whether God kill by sicknesse , by age , by the hand of the law , by the malice of man , si ille , as long as we can see that it is he , he that is Shaddai , Vastator , & Restaurator , the destroyer , and the repairer , howsoever he kill , yet he gives life too , howsoever he wound , yet he heales too , howsoever he lock us into our graves now , yet he hath the keys of hell , and death , and shall in his time , extend that voyce to us all , Lazare veni for as , come forth of your putrefaction , to incorruptible glory . Amen . SERMON XXXI . Preached at Hanworth , to my Lord of Carlile , and his company , being the Earles of Northumberland , and Buckingham , &c. Aug. 25. 1622. JOE 36. 25. Every man may see it , man may behold it afar off . THe words are the words of Elihu ; Elihu was one of Iobs friends , and a meer naturall man : a man not captivated , not fettered , not enthralled , in any particular forme of Religion , as the Iewes were ; a man not macerated with the feare of God ; not infatuated with any preconceptions , which Nurses , or Godfathers , or Parents , or Church , or State had infused into him ; not dejected , not suppled , not matured , not entendred , with crosses in this world , and so made apt to receive any impressions , or follow any opinions of other men , a meer naturall man ; and in the meer use of meer naturall reason , this man sayes of God in his works , Every man may see it , Man may behold it afar off . It is the word of a naturall man ; and the holy Ghost having canonized it , sanctified it , by inserting it into the booke of God , it is the word of God too . Saint Paul cites sometimes the words of secular Poets ; and approves them ; and then the words of those Poets , become the word of God ; Elihu speakes , a naturall man , and God speakes , in canonizing his words ; and therefore when we speake to godly men , we are sure to be believed , for God sayes it ; if we were to speake to naturall men onely , we might be believed , for Elihu , a naturall man , and wise in his generation , sayes it , that for God in his works , Every man may see it , man may behold it afar off . Be pleased to admit , and charge your memories with this distribution of the words ; Let the parts be but two , so you will be pleased to stoop , and gather , or at least to open your hands to receive some more ( I must not say flowers , for things of sweetnesse , and of delight grow not in my ground ) but simples rather , and medicinall herbs ; of which as there enter many into good cordials , so in this supreme cordiall , of bringing God into the eyes of man , that every man may see it , men may behold it afar off , there must necessarily arise many particulars to your consideration . I threaten you but with two parts ; no farther tediousnesse ; but I aske roome for divers branches ; I can promise no more shortnesse . The first part is a discovery , a manifestation of God to man ; though that be undeniably true , Posuit tenebra s latibulum , God hath made darknesse his secret place , yet it is as true , which proceeds from the same mouth , and the same pen , Amictus tanquam pallio , God covers himselfe with light as with a garment , he will be seene through his works : As we shall stand naked to one another , and not be ashamed of our scars , or morphews , in the sight of God , so God stands naked to the eyes of man , and is not ashamed of that humiliation , Every man may see it , man may behold it afar off . This proposition , this discovery , will be the first part ; and the other will be a tacite answer , to a likely objection , is not God far off , and can man see at that distance ? yes , he may . Man may behold that afar off . Every man may see it , man may behold it afar off . God is the subject of both parts ; God alone ; one God. But in both parts there is a Trinity too ; three branches in each part ; for in each , there is an object , something to be apprehended ; there is a meanes of apprehending it , it is to be seene ; there is a person enabled to see it , Every man may see it , man may behold it afar off . But these three are not alike in each part ; for in the first , that object is determined , limited ; it is illud ; it ; God in his works . In the second , there is no object limited , for it is not illud , but there is more left to be seene ; not onely God in his works , as here below , but God in his glory above ; Man may behold , but he does not offer to tell us what ; there is an object , but another object . In the second there is a difference too , in the meanes of apprehending : It is but Casah in the first , it is Nibbat in the second ; in that , every man may see , in the other , man may behold . And in the third , there is also a difference , the man , that may see God , is Adam ; Adam is a man , made of earth , the weakest man , even in nature may see God ; but the man that must behold afar off , is Enoch , and Enoch is homo aeger , a miserable man , a man that hath tasted affliction , and calamity , for that man lookes after God in the next world , and as he feeles God with a rod in his hand here , so he beholds God with a crown in his hand there . And of those sticks of sweet wood , of those drops of sweet gums , shall we make up this present sacrifice . In our first part , the manifestation of God to man , the first branch is the object , the limited object , illud , Every man may see it ; what is that ? That which was proposed in the verse immediately before , Remember that thou magnifie his worke which men behold ; First , it is a worke , and therefore it is made , it hath an author , a creator ; and then it is his worke , the worke of God , and therefore manifests him . It is a worke , a deliberate , not a casuall matter , this frame , this world . It is a worke , it was begun , and made up , not an eternall matter , this frame , this world . Epiphanius sayes well , Omnis error à caecitate ad vanitatem ; that 's the progresse of error ; every error begins in blindnesse , and ignorance , but proceeds , and ends , in absurdity , in frivolousnesse . If men had not put out the light of nature , they might discerne a creation in the world , that that was made , it is a worke ; but when they do put out that light , and deny a creation , into what frivolous opinions they scatter themselves ; what contradictory things , men that seeme constant , say ; what childish , what ridiculous things , men that seeme grave , and sober fathers in Philosophy , say of this world ? when they have said all , this one thing will destroy all , if the world be eternall , it is God ; for whatsoever had no beginning , whatsoever needed nothing to give it a beeing , whatsoever was always of it selfe , is God. So that to build up their opinions in one part , they destroy it in another ; and to overthrow our Hall , they build up our Chappell ; by denying that the world was made , they imply , they confesse a God ; for if it had no Creator , it is no Creature , it is God ; so that they lose more then they gaine , and they seek damnation , unthriftily , and perish prodigally ; they deny the Creation , left by the Creation , we should prove God , and their very deniall of a Creation , their making of the world eternall , constitutes it to be God. They deny any God , and then make a worse God. This world then is a work , a limited , a determined , a circumscribed work ; and it is Opus ejus , his work , says Elihu there . But whose ? Will you lay hold upon that ? upon that , that Elihu onely says , Remember his work , but names none ? But two verses before , ( with which this verse hath connexion ) he does name God. But let the work be whose it will , whosoever be this He , this He must be God , whosoever gave the first beeing to Creatures , must be the Creator . If you will thinke , that Chance did it , and fortune , then fortune must be your God ; and destiny must be your God , if you thinke destiny did it ; and therefore you were as good attribute it to the right God , for a God it must have ; if it be a work , it was made , if it be a Creature , there is a Creator ; and if it be his work , that He , must be God , and there are no more Gods , but one . Every man hath a delight , and complacency in knowledge , and is ashamed of ignorance , even in booklearning : a man would have a Library pro supellectile ; even for a part of furniture , a man would read for Ornament : His house is not well furnished , he is not well furnished , without bookes . Many a man , who lets the Bible dust , and rust , because the Bible hath a kinde of majesty and prerogative , and command over a man ; it will not be jested withall , it will not be disputed against ; a man can very hardly devest the reverence , that appertaines to that book , and therefore he had rather deale with his fellowes , more humane Authors , that will hear reason , and not binde his faith ; many a man can let the Fathers stand , because they write out of a pious credulity , and such anticipations , and preconceptions , as the Bible hath submitted them under , and captivated them to ; But if thou let the Bible , and Fathers alone , and yet love bookes , what book ( what kinde of book ) canst thou take into thy hand , that proves not this world to be Opus , a work , made , and opus ejus , his work made by him , by God ? Dost thou love learning , as it is expounded , dilated , by Orators ? The Father of Orators testifies , Nihil tam perspicuum , there is nothing so evident , as that there is a soveraigne power , that made , and governes all . Dost thou love learning , as it is contracted , brought to a quintessence , wrought to a spirit , by Philosophers ? the eldest of all them in that whole book , Quod Deus latens , simul & patens est , testifies all that , and nothing but that , that as there is nothing so dark , so there is nothing so cleare , nothing so remote , nothing so neare us , as God. Dost thou love learning , as it is sweetned and set to musique by Poets ? the King of the Poets testifies the same , Mens agitat molem , & magno se corpore miscet ; that is , a great , an universall spirit , that moves , a generall soule , that inanimates , and agitates every peece of this world . But Saint Paul is a more powerfull Orator , then Cicero , and he says , The invisible things of God , are seen by things which are made ; and thereby man is made inexcuseable : Moses is an ancienter Philosopher , then Trismegistus ; and his picture of God , is the Creation of the world . David is a better Poet then Virgil ; and with David , Coeli enarrant , the heavens declare the glory of God ; The power of oratory , in the force of pe●swasion , the strength of conclusions , in the pressing of Philosophy , the harmony of Poetry , in the sweetnesse of composition , never met in any man , so fully as in the Prophet Esay , nor in the Prophet Esay more , then where he says , Levate Oculos , Lift up your eyes , on high , and behold who hath created these things ; behold them , therefore , to know that they are created , and to know who is their creator . All other authors we distinguish by tomes , by parts , by volumes ; but who knowes the volumes of this Author ; how many volumes of Spheares involve one another , how many tomes of Gods Creatures there are ? Hast thou not room , hast thou not money , hast thou not understanding , hast thou not leasure , for great volumes , for the bookes of heaven , ( for the Mathematiques ) nor for the books of Courts , ( the Politiques ) take but the Georgiques , the consideration of the Earth , a farme , a garden , nay seven foot of earth , a grave , and that will be book enough . Goel lower ; every worme in the grave , lower , every weed upon the grave , is an abridgement of all ; nay lock up all doores and windowes see nothing but thy selfe ; nay let thy selfe be locked up in a close prison , that thou canst not see thy selfe , and doe but feel thy pulse ; let thy pulse be intermitted , or stupefied , that thou feel not that , & doe but thinke , and a worme , a weed , thy selfe , thy pulse , thy thought , are all testimonies , that All , this All and all the parts thereof , are opus , a work made , and opus ejus , his work , made by God. He that made a Clock or an Organ , will be sure to ingrave his Me fecit , such a man made me ; he that builds a faire house , takes it ill , if a passenger will not aske , whose house is it ; he that bred up his Sonne to a capacity of noble employments , looks that the world should say , he had a wise and an honourable Father ; Can any man look upon the frame of this world , and not say , there is a powerfull , upon the administration of this world , and not say , there is a wise and a just hand over it ? Thus is the object , 't is but Illud , the world ; but such a world , as may well justifie Saint Hieromes translation , who renders it Illum ; not onely that every man may see it , the work , the world ; but may see him ; God in that work . That 's the object , not onely the work , but the workman , God in the work ; and the meanes is , that man may see it ; that is , by that spectacle , he may see God ; what of God ? how much of God ? Is it his essence ? For that , the resolution of the School is sufficient ; Nulla visio naturalis in terris ; no man can see God in this world , and live , but no man can see God in the next world , and dye , there visio is beatitudo , sight is salvation . Yet , Nulla visio corporalis in Coelis : These bodily eyes , even then , when they are glorified , shall not see the Essence of God : our mortal eyes do not see bodies here ; they see no substance , they see onely quantities , and dimensions ; our glorified bodily eyes , shall see the glory shed out of God , but the very essence of God , those glorified bodily eyes shall not see : but the eyes of our soul , shall be so enlightned , as that they shal see God Sicuti est , even in his essence , which the best illumined & most sanctified men are very far from in this life . Now the sight of God in this text , is the knowledge of God , to see God , is but to know , that there is a God. And can man as a naturall man , doe that ? See God so , as to know that there is a God ? Can hee doe it ? Nay can he chuse but doe it ? The question hath divided the School ; those two great , and well known families of the School , whom we call , Thomists , and Scotists : the first say , that this proposition , Deus est , is per se nota , evident in it selfe , and the others deny that . But yet they differ , but thus far , that Thomas thinks that it is so evident , that man cannot chuse but know it , though he resist it ; The other thinks , in it selfe , it is but so evident , as that a man may know it , if he imploy his naturall faculties , without going any farther ; thus much , indeed , thus little , they differ . Now the holy Ghost is the God of Peace , and doth so far reconcile these two , in this text , as that first in our reading , it is , That man may see God ; and that Scotus does not deny ; but in the Originall , in the Hebrew , it is Casu , and Casu is , viderunt : not , every man may , but every man hath seen God : Though it goe not absolutely , so far , as Thomas , every man must , no man can chuse but see God , yet it goes so far further then Scotus , ( who ends in every man may ) as that it says , every man hath seen God. So that our labour never lies in this , to prove to any man , that he may see God , but onely to remember him that he hath seen God : not to make him beleeve that there is a God , but to make him see , that he does beleeve it . Quid habes , quod non accepisti ? And hast thou received any thing and not seen , not known him that gave it ? Who hath infused comfort into thee , into thy distresses ? Thine own Morall constancy ? Who infused that ? Who hath imprinted terrors in thee ? A dampe in thine owne heart ? Who imprinted it ? Sweare to me now that thou beleevest not in God , and before midnight , thou wilt tell God , that thou dost ; Miserable distemper ! not to see God in the light , and see him in the darke : not to see him at noon , and see him fearfully at midnight : not to see , where we all see him , in the Congregation , and to see him with terror , in the Suburbs of despaire , in the solitary chamber . Man may , sayes Scotus , man must , he cannot chuse , sayes Thomas , man hath seen God , sayes the holy Ghost . Man , that is , every man ; and that 's our last branch in this first part . The inexcusablenesse goes over man , over all men : Because they would not see invisible things in visible , they are inexcusable , all . Death passed upon all men , for all have sinned . All sinners , all dead . Is Gods right hand shorter then his left ? his mercy shrunk , and his justice stretched ? no certainly ; certainly every man may see him . Man cannot hide himselfe from God ; God does not hide himselfe from man : not from any man. Col-Adam , Omnis home ; even in that low name , that lowest acceptation of man , as he is but derived from earth , as he is but earth , he may see God. We have divers names for man in Hebrew , at least foure ; This that makes him but earth , Adam , is the meanest , and yet Col-Adam , Every man may see God. David cals us to the contemplation of the heavens , Coeli enarrant , and Iob to the contemplation of the firmament , of the Pleiades , and Orion , and Arcturus , and the ordinances of heaven ; but it is not onely the Mathematician , that sees God , Demini terra , the earth is the Lords , and all that dwell therein ; all , in all corners of the earth , may see him . David tels us , They that go down to the sea , in ships , they see the works of the Lord , and his wonders in the deep : but it is not onely the Mariner , the discoverer , that discovers God : but he that puts his hand to the plough , and looks not back , may see God there . Let him be filius terra , the sonne of the earth , without noble extraction , without knowne place , of uncertaine parents , ( even Melchisedeck was so ) Let him be filius percussionis , the sonne of affliction , a man that hath inward heavy sentences , and heavy executions of the law ; Let him be filius mortis , the sonne of death ( as Saul said to Ionathan of David ) a man designed to dye ; nay let him be filius Belial , the sonne of iniquity , and of everlasting perdition , there is no lownesse , no naturall , no spirituall dejection so low , but that that low man may see God. Let him be filius terrae , the sonne of the earth , and of no body else , let him be Dominus terrae , Lord of the earth , busied upon the earth , and nothing else , let him be hospes terrae , a guest , a tenant , an inmate of the earth , halfe of him in the earth , and the rest no where else , this poore man , this worldly man , this dying man , may see God. To end this , you can place the spheare in no position , in no station , in which the earth can eclipse the Sun ; you can place this clod of earth , man , in no ignorance , in no melancholy , in no oppression , in no sinne , but that he may , but that he does see God. The Marrigold opens to the Sunne , though it have no tongue to say so , the Atheist does see God , though he have not grace to confesse it . We have past through our first part , and the three branches of that ; The object , God in his works , and the faculty that apprehends , seeing , that is knowing , and the person indued with the faculty , every man , even Adam . In our second part , which is a tacite answer to a likely objection , ( Is not God in the highest heaven , afar off ? yes ; but man may see afar off ) we have the same three branches too , and yet not the same ; the same object , God , but in another manifestation , then in his worke , in glory ; the same faculty , seeing , but with other manner of eyes , glorified eyes ; the same person , man , but not man , as he is Adam , a meere naturall and earthly man , but man , as he is Enosh , who by having tasted Gods corrections , or by having considered the miseries of this world , is prepared for the joy and glory of the next . And in this part we will begin with the person , man ; Man may behold it afar off . How different are the wayes of God , from the ways of man ? the eyes of God from the eyes of man ? and the wayes , and eyes of a godly man , from the eyes , and wayes of a man of this world ? We looke still upon high persons , and after high places , and from those heights , we thinke , we see far ; but he that will see this object , must lye low ; it is best discerned in the dark , in a heavy , and a calamitous fortune . The naturall way is upward ; I can better know a man upon the top of a steeple , then if he were halfe that depth in a well ; but yet for higher objects , I can better see the stars of heaven , in the bottome of a well , then if I stood upon the highest steeple upon earth . If I twist a cable of infinite fadomes in length , if there be no ship to ride by it , nor anchor to hold by it , what use is there of it ? If Mannor thrust Mannor , and title flow into title , and bags powre out into chests , if I have no anchor , ( faith in Christ ) if I have not a ship to carry to a haven , ( a soule to save ) what 's my long cable to me ? If I adde number to number , a span , a mile long , if at the end of all that long line of numbers , there be nothing that notes , pounds , or crownes , or shillings , what 's that long number , but so many millions of millions of nothing ? If my span of life become a mile of life , my penny a pound , my pint a gallon , my acre a sheere ; yet if there be nothing of the next world at the end , so much peace of conscience , so much joy , so much glory , still all is but nothing multiplied , and that is still nothing at all . 'T is the end that qualifies all ; and what kinde of man I shall be at my end , upon my death-bed , what trembling hands , and what lost legs , what deafe eares , and what gummy eyes , I shall have then , I know ; and the nearer I come to that disposition , in my life , ( the more mortified I am ) the better I am disposed to see this object , future glory . God made the Sun , and Moon , and Stars , glorious lights for man to see by ; but mans infirmity requires spectacles ; and affliction does that office . Gods meaning was , that by the sun-shine of prosperity , and by the beames of honour , and temporall blessings , a man should see farre into him ; but I know not how he is come to need spectacles ; scarse any man sees much in this matter , till affliction shew it him . God made the ballance even ; riches may show God , and poverty may show God ; let the two Testaments , the old and the new , be the ballance , and so they are even ; the blessednesse of the old Testament runs all upon temporall blessings , and worldly riches ; Blessed in the city , and in the field ; blessed in the fruit of thy cattell , and of thy wombe ; In the new Testament utterly otherwise ; Blessed are the poore , Blessed are they that mourne , Blessed are they that are persecuted , and reviled ; but the blessednesse of the old Testament , temporall blessings , are temporary , as the old Testament was ; that 's expir'd . The blessednesse of the Gospell , is as the Gospell , everlasting : and therfore the low way is the best way ; adversity will be the best way to see God by . I speake not of meere beggery , of having nothing ; but of having lesse then we had ; the losse of some of that possession , or honour , or wealth , or health , which we had , conduces more to this sight of God , then the additions of any of these . Extreme want may put a man out of his way to God , as far as abundance and superfluity ; as we say in civill things , the midde men aise the Subsidy , not the great men , nor the beggers ; so the middle men see farthest into God , and serve him best ; not the abounding , not the wanting man. Solomon prayes against both ; against riches , and against poverty too ; but yet not as though the danger were equall , if the words be well considered ; the danger of his poverty is , lest he steale , and take the Name of God in vaine ; that is , forsweare the theft ; a great fault , two great faults ; but these two amount not to that one , which arises out of abundance , Lest I be full , and deny thee , and say , Who is the Lord ? And that Proverb , that Solomon speaks of , Saint Hierome cals not , paupertatem , but mendicitatem ; and that is often indeed , the mother and nurse of many enormous mischiefs . Saint Bernard takes the word , poverty , in that place , but he multiplies it , Paupertates ne dederis , Give me not , O Lord , a double poverty ; poverty indeed , and poverty in opinion ; poverty , and a murmurning with my poverty ; for that also is the mother , and nurse of many enormous mischiefs . I know how to abound , and how to want ; It is the harder worke , ferre abundantiam ; aboundance is a burden , want is but a weaknesse ; and it is a greater torment , to be pressed under a great weight , then to lye bed-rid . To end this , the person in our Text is Enosh , man ; but not every man , as before , Adam ; but that man upon whom Gods hand hath been in the losse of something , that he had before . As the body of man is mellowed in the grave , and made fit for glory in the resurrection , so the minde of man by suffering is suppled ; Adam is made Enosh ; and he may see . The person is the same , and yet changed ; man , but another kinde of man ; The means of apprehending is the same , and yet changed too , seeing , but another kinde of seeing . This man , thus disposed , thus matured , thus mellowed , thus suppled , thus entendred by Gods easie corrections , he whom God hath not left to himself , nor yet put him beyond himself , not fulfilled all , but yet not frustrated all his desires neither , laid his hand upon him , so as to keep him downe from swelling up against him , but yet so too , as to keep him up , from sinking , or falling from him , that man , that Enosh may see the hand of God , and take God by the hand , and bid him welcome , and finde a rich , and a sweet advantage in that correction ; it is a seeing of God , not as before , in his works abroad , but in his working upon himself , at home . Such a man God strikes so , as that when he strikes , he strikes fire , and lights him a candle , to see his presence by ; we doe not finde that Iob came to his Dominus dedit , to his confession , The Lord giveth , till he came to the Dominus abstulit ; to the sense of Gods taking away , not to expresse his sense of Gods blessings to him , till he felt his corrections upon him ; and then they came together , Dominus dedit , and abstulit , The Lord giveth , and the Lord taketh away . Darknesse is that , by which the holy Ghost himselfe hath chosen to expresse hell ; hell is darknesse ; and the way to it , to hell , is Excacation in this life , blindnesse in our spirituall eyes . Eternall life hereafter is Visio Dei , the sight of God , and the way to that here , is to see God here : and the eye-salve for that is , to be crossed in our desires in this world , by the hand of God. When Christ presents things necessary for his service , he proposes them thus ; this is his Inventary ; Gold against poverty , white clothes against nakednesse , and collyrium , eye-salve to see by . Now for the two first he bids us buy them ; buy-gold , buy clothes , that is , labour , endeavour to get thm ; he does not say , buy the eye-salve , that is , affliction ; no man is to thrust himselfe into unnecessary dangers , or persecutions , and call his indiscretion Martyrdome ; It is to be presumed , that every man , how high or how abundant soever , hath eye salve enough , affliction and crosses enough , if he do apply them : and therefore Christ does not say , buy them ; hunt after them , expose thy selfe to them ; but he sayes onely , Anoynt thy eyes with them , I will give thee the physick , ( crosses and calamities here ) do thou apply them according to the nature of the medicine , and to the purpose of the physitian , and by them thou shalt see God. Our translation carries this word no farther in this part of the Text , then the other in the former ; There it was , every man may see ; here it is , man , that is , this man may behold . But as we showed you , that the former was in the originall Casu , viderunt , every man , ( let him say what he will to the contrary ) yet he hath seen God , so in this part , the word in the originall , is Iabbit , and that is videbit , in the future , he shall see , This sight of God is not in him , naturally , that we can be sure he hath seen him , but it is reserved to the future ; let him be thus wrought upon by Gods hand , and videbit , in the future , he shall see . Now , you remember what designes the future ; he shall see ; is a note of the future , and so is , he will see . This man , this Enosh , thus moulded , thus kneaded , by the hand of God , he shall see God , he shall ( in a manner ) whether he will or no , a holy , and a heavenly violence shall be offered him , it shall not be in the power of the world , the flesh or the devill , to blind him , he shall see God ; and then he will see God , his will shall be inclined , and disposed to it , and every first beame of Gods grace , every influence of the Spirit of God , shall open his eyes ; God shall be so jealous of him , as that he shall see God , he shall be so watchfull upon God , and his motions , as that he will see him . And more then see him ; for Iabbit , is Intuebitur , he will behold him , contemplate God , ruminate , meditate upon God. Man sees best in the light , but meditates best in the darke ; for our sight of God , it is enough , that God gives the light of nature ; to behold him so , as to fixe upon him in meditation , God benights us , or eclipses us , or casts a cloud of medicinall afflictions , and wholsome corrections upon us . Naturally we dwell longer upon the consideration of God , when we see the Sun eclipsed , then when we see it rise , we passe by that as an ordinary thing ; and so in our afflictions we stand , and looke upon God , and we behold him . A man may see God , and forget that ever he saw him ; When saw we thee hungry , or naked , or sick , or in prison , say those mercilesse men ; they forgot ; but Christ remembers that they did see him , but not behold him , see him , and looke off , see him so as aggravated their sin , more then if they had never seene him . But that man , who through his owne red glasse , can see Christ , in that colour too , through his own miseries , can see Christ Jesus in his blood , that through the calumnies that have been put upon himselfe , can see the revilings that were multiplyed upon Christ , that in his own imprisonment , can see Christ in the grave , and in his owne enlargement , Christ in his resurrection , this man , this Enosh , beholds God , and he beholds him é longinquo , which is another step in this branch , he sees him afar off . Now this seeing afar off , is not a phrase of diminution , a circumstance of extenuation , as though it were lesse , to see God afar off , and more to see him neerer . This far off , is far from that ; it is a power of seeing him so , as wheresoever I am , or wheresoever God is , I can see him at any distance . Being established in my foundation upon God , being built up by faith , in that notion of God , in which he hath manifested himselfe to me in his Sonne , being mounted , and raised by dwelling in his Church , being made like unto him , in suffering , as he suffered , I can see round about me , even to the Horizon , and beyond it , I can see both Hemispheres at once , God in this , and God in the next world too . I can see him , in the Zenith , in the highest point , and see how he works upon Pharaoh , on the Throne , and I can see him in the Nadir , in the lowest dejection , and see how he workes upon Ioseph in the prison ; I can see him in the East , see how mercifully he brought the Christian Religion amongst us , and see him in the West , see how justly he might remove that againe , and leave us to our own inventions ; I can see him in the South , in a warme , and in the North , in a frosty fortune : I can see him in all angles , in all postures ; Abraham saw God coming to him , as he fate at the doore of his Tent ; and though ( as the Text sayes there ) God stood by him , ( yet sayes the Text too ) Abraham ran to meet God ; I can see God in the visitation of his Spirit come to me ; and when he is so , he is already in me ; but I must run out to meet him ; that is , labour to hold him there , and to advance that manifestation of himselfe in me . Abraham saw God comming ; Moses saw God going , his glory passing by ; he saw posteriora , his hinder parts ; so I can see God in the memory of his blessings formerly conferred upon me ; And Moses saw him too , in a burning bush , in thornes and fire : And had I no other light , but the fire of a pile of faggots , in that light I could see his light , I could see himselfe . Let me be the man of this Text , this Enosh , to say with Ieremy , I am the man that hath seene affliction , by the rod of his wrath , Let me have had this third concoction , that as I am Adam , a man of earth , ( wrought upon that wheele ) and , as I am a Christian , a vessell in his house , a member of his Church ( wrought upon that wheele ) so let me be vir dolorum , a man of affliction , a vessell baked in that furnace , fitted by Gods proportion , and dosis of his corrections , to make a right use of his corrections , and I can see God , E longinquo , afar off , I can see him writing downe my name in the booke of life , before I was borne , and I can see him giving his Angels , The Angell of the great Counsell , Christ Jesus himselfe , and his spirit , charge of my preservation , all the way , and of my transmigration upon my death-bed , and that is E longinquo , from before I was , to after I shall be no more . There remaines a word more ; 'T is scarce well said ; for there remaines not a word more . There is not another word , and yet there is another branch in the Text. This man , ( not every man , as before ) this Enosh , ( not every Adam as before ) he sees not onely as before , but he beholds afarre off ; and so farre we are gone ; but what beholds he afarre off ? That the Text tels us not . Before there was an illud , Every man may see that , aske what is that , and I can tell you , I have told you out of the coherence of the Text , It is Gods workes , manifesting himselfe even to the naturall man. But this man , this Enosh , raised by his dejection , rectified by humiliation , may behold , what ? here is no illud , no such word as that , no object limited , and therefore it is that which no eye hath seene , nor eare heard , nor heart of man conceived , it is God in the glory , and assembly of his immortall Saints in heaven . How many times go we to Comedies , to Masques , to places of great and noble resort , nay even to Church onely to see the company ? If I had no other errand to heaven , but the communion of Saints , the fellowship of the faithfull , Lo see that flock of Lambs , Innocent , unbaptized children , recompensed with the twice-baptized Martyrs , ( baptized in water , and baptized in their owne blood ) and that middle sort , the children baptized in blood , and not in the water , that rescued Christ Jesus , by their death , under Herod ; to see the Prophets and the Evangelists , and not know one from the other , by their writings , for they all write the same things ( for prophecy is but antidated Gospell , and Gospell but postdated prophecy ; ) to see holy Matrons saved by the bearing , and bringing up of children , and holy Virgins , saved by restoring their bodies in the integrity , that they received them , sit all upon one seate ; to see Princes , and Subjects crowned all with one crowne , and rich and poore inherit one portion ; to see this scene , this Court , this Church , this Catholique Church , not onely Easterne and Westerne , but Militant and Triumphant Church , all in one roome together , to see this Communion of Saints , this fellowship of the faithfull , is worth all the paynes , that that sight costs us in this world . But then to see the head of this Church , the Sunne , that shed all these beames , the God of glory face to face , to see him sicuti est , as he is , to know him , at cognitus , as I am knowne , what darke , and inglorious fortune would I not passe thorow , to come to that light , and that glory ? How then hath God doubled his mercies upon those persons to whom he hath afforded two great lights , a Sunne to rule their day , honour and prosperity , and a Moone to rule their night , humiliation and adversity , to whom he hath given both Types , in themselves , to see this future glory by , that is , Titles and places of honour in this world , and spectacles in themselves to see this glory by afflictions , and crosses in this world . And therefore since God gives both these no where so plentifully , as in Courts the place of Honour , and the place of Crosses too , the place of rising and the place of falling too , you , you especially , who by having your station there , in the Court it selfe , are in the Court exemplified , and copied in your owne noble house , you that have seen God characterized in his Types , in titles of greatnesse , you that have beheld God presented in his spectacle of Crosses and afflictions , the daily bread of Courts , Blesse ye the Lord ; praise him , and magnifie him for ever , and declare the wondrous workes that he hath done for the Sonnes of men ; for certainly many woes , and invincible darknesse attend those , to whom neither the hand of God in his works , nor the hand of God upon themselves , neither the greatnesse of this world , nor the cr●sses of this world , can manifest God ; for what picture of God would they have , that will neither have him in great , nor litle ? SERMON XXXII . Preached to the Earl of Exeter , and his company , in his Chappell at Saint Iohns ; 13. Iun. 1624. APOC. 7. 9. After this , I beheld , and loe , a great Multitude , which no man could number , of all nations , and kindreds , and people , and tongues , stood before the Throne , and before the Lambe , clothed with white robes , and Palmes in their hands . WE shall have occasion by and by , to say something of the danger of Curiosity , and something of the danger of the broad way , in which , too many walk : we will not therefore fall into either of these faults , at first , we will not be over curious , nor we will not stray , nor cast our selves into that broad , and boundlesse way , by entring into those various , and manifold senses , which Expositors have multiplyed , in the handling of this place , and this part of this book ; but we take the plainest way , and that in which , the best meet , and concur , that these words are spoken of the Ioyes , and Glory , reserved for them , who overcome the fraud , and the fury , the allurements , and the violences of Antichrist ; in whom , in that name , and person of Antichrist , we consider all supplanters , and all seducers , all opposers of the kingdome of Christ , in us ; for , as every man hath spontaneum daemonem , ( as S. Chrysostome speakes ) a devill of his own making , ( which is , some customary , and habituall sin in him ) so every man hath spontaneū Antichristum , an Antichrist of his own making , some objections in the weakness of his faith , some oppositions in the perverseness of his manners , against the kingdom of Christ in himself ; & as , if God would suspend the devill , or slumber the devill a day , I am afraid we should be as ill that day , as if the devill were awake , and in action , so if those disputed , & problematical Antichrists , Eastern & Western Antichrist , Antichrist of Rome , and Antichrist of Constantinople , Turk and Pope , were removed out of the world , we should not for all that be delivered of Antichrist , that is , of that opposition to the kingdome of Christ , which is in our selvs . This part of the book of the Revelation , is literally , and primarily , the glorious victory of them , who , in the later end of the world , having stood out the persecutions of the Antichrist , enter into the triumph of heaven : And it extends it self to all , by way of fair accommodation , who after a battel with their own Antichrists , and victory over their owne enemies , are also made partakers of those triumphs , those joyes , those glories , of which S. Iohn , in this propheticall glasse , in this perspective of visions , saw A great multitude , which no man could number , of all nations &c. We are then upon the contemplation of the joyes of heaven , which are everlasting , & must we wring them into the discourse of an houre ? of the glory of heaven which is intire , and must we divide it into parts ? we must ; we will ; we doe ; into two parts ; first , the number , the great number of those that shall be saved ; And then , the glorious qualities , which shall be imprinted on them , who are saved : first , that salvation is a more extensive thing , & more communicable , then sullen cloystrall , that have walled salvation in a monastery , or in an ermitage , take it to be ; or then the over-valuers of their own purity , and righteousnesse , which have determined salvation in themselves , take it to be ; for , It is a great multitude , which no man can number , of all nations &c. And then , in the second place , salvation is the possession of such endowments , as naturally invite all , to the prosecution of that , which is exposed and offered to all ; that we all labour here , that we may all stand hereafter , before the Throne , and before the Lambe , clothed in white robes &c. In the first of these , we shall passe by these steps ; first , we shall consider the sociablenesse , the communicablenesse of God himself , who gives us the earth , and offers us heaven , and desires to have his kingdome well peopled ; he would have many , he would have all , he would have every one of them have all . And then , the first word of the text , ( After this ) will carry us to the consideration of that which was done before ; which was , first , that they which were of this number , were sealed , and then they which were so sealed before , were a great number , one hundred forty four thousand ; but they who were made partakers of all this after , were innumerable , After this I beheld a great multitude , which no man could number ; And therefore we shall shut up that first part with this consideration , what sense , what interpretation may belong unto those places , where Christ says , that the way to heaven is narrow , and the gate straight : of these peeces we shall make up our first part ; And for the particulars belonging to the second , we shall fitliest open them , then , when we come to the handling of them . Our first step then in this first part , is , the sociablenesse , the communicablenesse of God ; He loves holy meetings , he loves the communion of Saints , the houshold of the faithfull : Deliciae ejus , says Solomon , his delight is to be with the Sons of men , and that the Sons of men should be with him : Religion is not a melancholy ; the spirit of God is not a dampe ; the Church is not a grave : it is a fold , it is an Arke , it is a net , it is a city , it is a kingdome , not onely a house , but a house that hath many mansions in it : still it is a plurall thing , consisting of many : and very good grammarians amongst the Hebrews , have thought , and said , that that name , by which God notifies himself to the world , in the very beginning of Genesis , which is Elohim , as it is a plurall word there , so it hath no singular : they say we cannot name God , but plurally : so sociable , so communicable , so extensive , so derivative of himself , is God , and so manifold are the beames , and the emanations that flow out from him . It is a garden worthy of your walking in it : Come into it , but by the gate of nature : The naturall man had much to do , to conceive God : a God that should be but one God : and therefore scattered his thoughts upon a multiplicity of Gods : and he found it , ( as he thought ) reasonable , to think , that there should be a God of Iustice , a God of Wisedome , a God of Power , and so made the severall Attributes of God , severall Gods , and thought that one God might have enough to do , with the matters of Iustice , another with the causes that belonged to power , and so also , with the courts of Wisedome : the naturall man , as he cannot conceive a vacuity , that any thing should be empty , so he cannot conceive that any one thing , though that be a God , should fill all things : and therefore strays upon a pluralty of Gods , upon many Gods , though , in truth , ( as Athanasius expresses it ) ex multitudine numinum , nullitas numinum , he that constitutes many Gods destroys all God ; for no God can be God , if he be not all-sufficient ; yet naturally , ( I mean in such nature , as our nature is ) a man does not easily conceive God to be alone , to be but one ; he thinks there should be company in the Godhead . Bring it farther then so . A man that lies in the dregs of obscured , and vitiated nature , does not easily discern , unicum Deum , a God that should be alone , a God that should be but one God. Reason rectified , ( rectified by the word of God ) can discern this , this one God. But when by that means of the Scripture , he does apprehend Deum unicum , one God ; does he finde that God alone ? are there not three Persons , though there be but one God ? 'T is true the Romās mis-took infinitely , in making 300 Iupiters ; Varro mis-took infinitely , in making , Deos terrestres , and Deos c●les●es , sub-lunary , and super-lunary , heavenly , and earthly Gods , and Deus marinos , and fluviatiles , Sea Gods , and River Gods , salt , and fresh-water Gods , and Deos mares , and faeminas , he Gods , and she Gods , and ( that he might be sure to take in all ) Deos certos & incertos , Gods , which they were sure were Gods , & Gods w ch might be Gods , for any thing they knew to the contrary . There is but one God ; but yet was that one God ever alone ? There were more generations ( infinitely infinite ) before the world was made , then there have been minutes , since it was made : all that while ; there were no creasures ; but yet was God alone , any one minute of al this ? was there not alwais a Father and a Son , & a holy Ghost ? And had not they , always an acquiescence in one another , an exercise of Affection , ( as we may so say ) a love , a delight , and a complacency towards one another ? So , as that the Father could not be without the Son and the holy Ghost , so as neither Sonne , nor holy Ghost could be without the Father , nor without one another ; God was from all eternity collected into one God , yet from all eternity he derived himselfe into three persons : God could not be so alone , but that there have been three persons , as long as there hath been one God. Had God company enough of himselfe ; was he satisfied in the three Persons ? We see he proceeded further ; he came to a Creation ; And as soon as he had made light , ( which was his first Creature ) he took a pleasure in it ; he said it was good ; he was glad of it ; glad of the Sea , glad of the Earth , glad of the Sunne , and Moone , and Starres , and he said of every one , It is good ; But when he had made All , peopled the whole world , brought all creatures together , then he was very glad , and then he said , not onely , that it was good , but that it was very good : God was so far from being alone , as that he found not the fulnesse of being well , till all was made , till all Creatures met together , in an Host , as Moses calls it , then the good was extended into very good . Did God satisfie himselfe with this visible and discernible world ; with all on earth , and all between that , and him ? were those foure Monarchies , the foure Elements , and all the subjects of those foure Monarchies , ( if all the foure Elements have Creatures ) company enough for God ? was that Heptarchie , the seven kingdomes of the seven Planets , conversation enough for him ? Let every Starre in the firmament , be ( so some take them to be ) a severall world , was all this enough ? we see , God drew persons nearer to him , then Sunne , or Moon , or Starres , or any thing , which is visible , and discernible to us , he created Angels ; How many , how great ? Arithmetique lacks numbers to to expresse them , proportion lacks Dimensions to figure them ; so far was God from being alone . And yet God had not shed himselfe far enough ; he had the Leviathan , the Whale in the Sea , and Behemoth and the Elephant upon the land ; and all these great heavenly bodies in the way , and Angels in their infinite numbers , and manifold offices , in heaven ; But , because Angels , could not propagate , nor make more Angels , he enlarged his love , in making man , that so he might enjoy all natures at once , and have the nature of Angels , and the nature of earthly Creatures , in one Person . God would not be without man , nor he would not come single , not alone to the making of man ; but it is Faciamas hominem , Let us , us , make man ; God , in his whole counsail , in his whole Colledge , in his whole society , in the whole Trinity , makes man , in whom the whole nature of all the world should meet . And still our large , and our Communicable God , affected this association so , as that having three Persons in himselfe , and having Creatures of divers natures , and having collected all natures in man , who consisted of a spirituall nature , as well as a bodily , he would have one liker himselfe , then man was ; And therefore he made Christ , God and Man , in one person , Creature and Creator together ; One greater then the Seraphim , and yet lesse then a worme ; Soveraigne to all nature , and yet subject to naturall infirmities ; Lord of life , life , it selfe , and yet prisoner to Death ; Before , and beyond all measures of Time , & Born at so many moneths , yet Circumcised at so many days , Crucified at so many years , Rose againe at so many Houres ; How sure did God make himselfe of a companion in Christ , who united himselfe , in his godhead , so inseparably to him , as that that godhead left not that body , then when it lay dead in the grave , but staid with it then , as closely , as when he wrought his greatest miracles . Beyond all this , God having thus maried soule and body in one man , and man and God , in one Christ , he maries this Christ to the Church . Now , consider this Church in the Type and figure of the Church , the Arke ; in the Arke there were more of every sort of cleane Creatures reserved , then of the uncleane ; seven of those , for two of these : why should we feare , but that in the Church , there are more reserved for salvation then for destruction ? And into that room ( which was not a Type of the Church , but the very Church it selfe ) in which they all met upon whitsunday , the holy Ghost came so as that they were enabled , by the gift of tongues , to convay , and propagate , and derive God , ( as they did ) to every nation under heaven : so much does God delight in man , so much does God desire to unite and associate man unto him ; and then , what shall disappoint , or frustrate Gods desires and intentions so farre , as that they should come to him , but singly , one by one , whom he cals , and wooes , and drawes by thousands , and by whole Congregations ? Be pleased to carry your considerations , upon another testimony of Gods love to the society of man , which is , his dispatch in making this match , his speed in gathering and establishing this Church ; for , forwardnesse is the best argument of love , and dilatory interruptions by the way , argue no great desire to the end ; disguises before , are shrewd prophecies of jealousies after : But God made hast to the consummation of this Marriage , between Christ and the Church . Such words as those to the Colosrians , ( and such words , that is , words to such purpose , there are divers ) The Gospell is come unto you , as it is into all the world ; And againe ; It bringeth forth fruit , as it doth in you also ; And so likewise , The Gospell which is preached to every creature which is under heaven ; such words , I say , a very great part of the Antients have taken so literally , as thereupon to conclude , That in the life of the Apostles themselves , the Gospell was preached , and the Church established over all the world . Now will you consider also , who did this , what persons ? cunning and crafty persons are not the best instruments in great businesses , if those businesses be good , as well as great . Here God imployed such persons , as would not have perswaded a man , that grasse was green , that blood was red , if it had been denyed unto them : Persons that could not have bound up your understanding , with a Syllogisme , nor have entendred , or mollified it with a verse : Persons that had nothing but that which God himselfe calls the foolishnesse of preaching , to bring Philosophers that argued , Heretiques that wrangled , Lucians , and Iulians , men that whet their tongues , and men that whet their swords against God , to God. Unbend not this bowe , blacken not these holy thoughts , till you have considered , as well , as how soone , and by what persons , so to what Doctrine , God brought them . Wee aske but St. Augustins question , Quis tantam multitudinem , ad legem , carni & sanguini centrariam , induceret , nisi Deus ? Who but God himselfe , would have drawn the world to a Religion so contrary to flesh and blood ? Take but one piece of the Christian Religion , but one article of our faith , in the same Fathers mouth ; Res incredibilis resurrectio ; That this body should be eaten by fishes in the sea , and then those fishes eaten by other men , or that one man should be eaten by another man , and so become both one man , and then that for all this assimilation , and union , there should arise two men , at the resurrection , Res incredibilis , sayes he , this resurrection is an incredible thing , Sed magis incredibile , totum mundum credidisse rem tam incredibilem , That all the world should so soone believe a thing so incredible , is more incredible , then the thing it selfe . That any should believe any , is strange , but more that all such believe all , that appertains to Christianity . The Valentinians , and the Marcionites , pestilent Heretiques , grew to a great number , Sed vix duo vel tres , de iisdem , eadem docebant , says Irenaeus , scarce any two or three amongst them , were of one opinion . The Acatians , the Eunomians , and the Macedonians , omnes Arium parentem agnoscunt , sayes the same Father , they all call themselves Arians , but they had as many opinions , not onely as names , but as persons . And that one Sect of Mahomet , was quickly divided , and sub-divided into 70 sects . But so God loved the world , the society and company of good soules , ut quasi una Domus Mundus , the whole world was as one well governed house ; similiter credunt quasi una anima , all beleeved the same things , as though they had all but one soule ; Constanter praedicabant , quasi unum os , At the same houre there was a Sermon at Ierusalem , and a Sermon at Rome , and both so like , for fundamentall things , as if they had been preached out of one mouth . And as this Doctrine , so incredible in reason , was thus soone , and by these persons , thus uniformely preached over all the world , so shall it , as it doth , continue to the worlds end ; which is another argument of Gods love to our company , and of his loathnesse to lose us . All Heresies , and the very names of the Heretiques , are so utterly perished in the world , as that if their memories were not preserved in those Fathers which have written against them , we could finde their names no where . Irenaeus , about one hundred and eighty yeers after Christ , may reckon about twenty heresies : Tertullian , twenty or thirty yeares after him , perchance twenty seven ; and Epiphanius , some a hundred and fifty after him , sixty ; and fifty yeare after that , St. Augustine some ninety : yet after all these , ( and but a very few yeares , after Augustine ) Theodoret sayes , that in his time , there was no one man alive , that held any of those heresies : That all those heresies should rot , being upheld by the sword , and that onely the Christian Religion should grow up , being mowed down by the sword , That one graine of Corne should be cast away , and many eares grow out of that , ( as Leo makes the comparison ) That one man should be executed , because he was a Christian , and all that saw him executed , and the Executioner himself , should thereupon become Christians , ( a case that fell out more then once , in the primitive Church ) That as the flood threw down the Courts of Princes , and lifted up the Arke of God , so the effusion of Christian blood , should destroy heresies , and advance Christianity it self ; this is argument abundantly enough , that God had a love to man , and a desire to draw man to his society , and in great numbers to bring them to salvation . I will not dismisse you from this consideration , till you have brought it thus much nearer , as to remember a later testimony of Gods love to our company , in the reformation of Religion ; A miracle scarce lesse , then the first propagation thereof , in the primitive Church . In how few yeares , did God make the number of learned ●riters , the number of persons of all qualities , the number of Kings , in whose Dominions the reformed Religion was exercised , equall to the number of them , who adhered to the Roman Church ? And yet , thou must not depart from this contemplation , till thou have made thy self an argument of all this ; till thou have concluded out of this , that God hath made love to thy soule , thy weake soule , thy sick , and foule , and sinfull soule , That he hath written to thee , in all his Scriptures , sent Ambassage to thee , in all his preachers , presented thee , in all his temporall , and spirituall blessings , That he hath come to thee , even in actions of uncle annesse , in actions of unfaithfulnesse towards men , in actions of distrustfulnesse towards God , and hath checked thy conscience , and delivered thee from some sins , even then when thou wast ready to commit them , as all the rest , ( That that God , who is but one in himselfe , is yet three persons , That those three , who were all-sufficient to themselves , would yet make more , make Angels , make man , make a Christ , make him a Spouse , a Church , and first propagate that , by so weake men , in so hard a doctrine , and in so short a space , over all the world , and then reforme that Church againe , so soone , to such a heighth ) as these , I say , are to all the world , so be thou thy self , and Gods exceeding goodnesse to thee , an argument , That that God who hath shewed himself so loath to lose thee , is certainly loath to lose any other soule ; but as he communicates himself to us all here , so he would have us all partake of his joy , and glory hereafter ; he that fils his Militant Church thus , would not have his Triumphant Church empty . So far we consider the accessiblenesse , the communicablenesse , the conversation of our good , and gracious God to us , in the generall . There is a more speciall manner intimated , even in the first word of our Text , After this ; After what ? After he had seene the servants of God sealed ; sealed : This seale seales the contract betweene God and Man : And then consider how generall this seale is : First , God sealed us , in imprinting his Image in our soules , and in the powers thereof , at our creation ; and so , every man hath this seale , and he hath it , as soone as he hath a soule : The wax , the matter , is in his conception ; the seale , the forme , is in his quickning , in his inanimation ; as , in Adam , the waxe was that red earth , which he was made of , the seale was that soule , that breath of life , which God breathed into him . Where the Organs of the body are so indisposed , as that this soule cannot exercise her faculties , in that man , ( as in naturall Idiots , or otherwise ) there , there is a curtaine drawn over this Image , but yet there this Image is , the Image of God , is in the most naturall Idiot , as well as in the wisest of men : worldly men draw other pictures over this picture , other images over this image : The wanton man may paint beauty , the ambitious may paint honour , the covetous wealth , and so deface this image , but yet there this image is , and even in hell it selfe it will be , in him that goes down into hell : uri potest in gehenna , non exuri , sayes St. Bernard , The image of God may burne in hell , but as long as the soule remaines , that image remaines there too ; And then , thou who wouldest not burne their picture , that loved thee , wilt thou betray the picture of the Maker , thy Saviour , thy Sanctifier , to the torments of hell ? Amongst the manifold and perpetuall interpretations of that article , He descended into hell , this is a new one , that thou sen●est him to hell in thy soule : Christ had his Consummatum est , from the Iewes ; he was able to say at last , All is finished , concerning them ; shall he never have a Consummatum est from thee ; never be at an end with thee ? Never , if his Image must burne eternally in thy soule , when thou art dead , for everlasting generations . Thus then we were sealed ; all sealed ; all had his image in our creation , in the faculties of our soules : But then we were all sealed againe , sealed in our very flesh , our mortall flesh , when the image of the invisible God , Christ Iesus , the onely Sonne of God , tooke our nature : for , as the Tyrant wished , that all mankinde were but one body , that he might behead all mankinde at a blow , so God tooke into his mercie , all mankinde in one person : As intirely , as all mankinde was in Adam , all mankinde was in Christ ; and as the seale of the Serpent is in all , by originall sinne , so the seale of God , Christ Iesus , is on us all , by his assuming our nature . Christ Jesus tooke our souls , and our bodies , our whole nature ; and as no Leper , no person , how infectiously soever he be diseased in his body , can say , surely Christ never tooke this body , this Leprosie , this pestilence , this rottennesse , so no Leprous soule must say , Christ never tooke this pride , this adultery , this murder upon himself ; he sealed us all in soule and body , when he tooke both , and though both dye , the soule in sin daily , the body , in sicknesse , perchance this day , yet he shall afford a resurrection to both , to the soule here , to the body hereafter , for his seale is upon both . These two seales then hath God set upon us all , his Image in our soules , at our making , his Image , that is his Sonne , upon our bodies and soules , in his incarnation ; And both these seales he hath set upon us , then when neither we our selves , nor any body else knew of it : He sets another seale upon us , when , though we know not of it , yet the world , the congregation does , in the Sacrament of Baptisme , when the seale of his Crosse , is a testimony , not that Christ was borne , ( as the former seale was ) but that also he dyed for us ; there we receive that seale upon the forehead , that we should conforme our selves to him , who is so sealed to us . And after all these seales , he offers us another , and another seale , Set me as a seale upon thy heart , and as a seale upon thine arme , says Christ to all us , in the person of the spouse ; in the Heart , by a constant faith , in the Arme , by a declaratory works ; for then are we sealed , and delivered , and witnessed ; that 's our full evidence , then have we made sure our salvation , when the works of a holy life , doe daily refresh the contract made with God there , at our Baptisme , and testifie to the Church , that we doe carefully remember , what the Church promised in our behalfe , at that time : for , otherwise beloved , without this seale upon the arme , that is , a stedfast proceeding in the works of a holy life , we may have received many of the other seales , and yet deface them all . Grieve not the holy Ghost , whereby you are sealed , unto the day of Redemption , says the Apostle : they were sealed , and yet might resist the Spirit , and grieve the Spirit , and quench the Spirit , if by a continuall watchfulnesse over their particular actions , they did not refresh those seales ( formerly received in their Creation , in Christs incarnation , in their Baptisme , and in their beginnings of faith ) to themselves , and plead them to the Church , and to the world , by such a declaration of a holy life . But these seales being so many , and so univesall , that argues still , that which we especially seek to establish , that is , the Accessiblenesse , the communicablenesse , the sociablenesse , the affection , ( shall I say ) the Ambition , that God hath , to have us all . Now how is this extensivenesse declared here , in our text ? It is declared in the great number of those who were sealed , both before , and after ; to the consideration of both which , we are invited , by this phrase , which beginnes the text , After this : for , before that Iohn saw this , there were one hundred forty foure thousand sealed ; Is that then , ( that one hundred forty foure thousand ) intended for a small number ? If it had been so , it would rather have been said , of such a Tribe but twelve thousand , and but twelve thousand of such a Tribe ; but God as expressing a joy , that there were so many , repeats his number of twelve thousand , twelve times over , of Iuda twelve thousand , of Levi twelve thousand , and twelve thousand of every Tribe . So that then , we may justly take this number of twelve and twelve thousand , for an indefinite , and uncertain number ; and as Saint Augustine does , wheresoever he finds that number of twelve , ( as the twelve Thrones , where the Saints shall judge the world , and divers such ) we may take that number of twelve , and twelve , pro universitate salvandorum , that that number signifies , all those who shall be saved . If we should take the number to be a certaine and exact number , so many , and no more , yet this number hath relation to the Iews onely ; And of the Iews , it is true , that there is so long a time of their exclusion , so few of them doe come in , since Christ came into the world , as that we may , with Saint Augustine , interpret that place of Genesis , where Abrahams seed is compared both to the Starres of heaven , and to the dust of the earth , that the Stars of heaven signifie those that shall be saved in heaven , and the dust of the earth , those that perish ; and the dust of the earth may be more then the Stars of heaven ; though ( by the way ) there are an infinite number of Stars more then we can distinguish , and so , by Gods grace , there may be an infinite number of soules saved , more then those , of whose salvation , we discerne the ways , and the meanes . Let us embrace the way which God hath given us , which is , the knowledge of his Sonne , Christ Iesus : what other way God may take with others , how he wtought upon Iob , and Naaman , and such others as were not in the Covenant , let us not inquire too curiously , determine too peremptorily , pronounce too uncharitably : God be blessed , for his declaring his good-wil towards us , & his will be done his way upon others . Truly , even those places , which are ordinarily understood of the pa●city of the Iews , that shall be saved , will receive a charitable interpretation , and extension . God says , in Ieremy , I will take you , one out of a City , & two out of a family ; yet he says , he wil do this therefore , because he is married to them ; so that this seems to be an act of his love ; And therefore , I had rather take it , that God would take a particular care of them , one by one , then that he would take in but one and one : As it is in that place of Esay , In that day ye shall be gathered one by one , o yee children of Israel ; that is , in the day of Christ , of his comming to and toward Judgement ; Howsoever they come in but thinly yet , by the way , yet the Apostle pleads in their behalfe thus , Hath God cast away his people ? God forbid . At this present , says he , there is a Remnant ; then when they had newly crucified Christ , God had a care of them . God hath given them the spirit of slumber , says he also ; it is but a slumber , not a death , not a dead sleep . Have they stumbled that they should fall ? Fall utterly ? God forbid . But says he , as concerning the Gospell , they are enemies , for your sakes ; ( that is , that room might be made for you the Gentiles ) but , as touching election , they are beloved for their Fathers sakes ; that is , they have interest by an ancient title , which God will never disannull . And therefore a great part , of the ancient , and later men too , doe interpret divers passages of Saint Paul , of a generall salvation of the Iews , that all shall be effectually wrought upon , to salvation , before the second comming of Christ. I end this , concerning the Iews , with this note , that in all these Tribes , which yeelded to this sealing , twelve thousand a peece , the Tribe of Dan is left out , it is not said , that any were sealed of the Tribe of Dan ; many have enquired the reason , and satisfied themselves over easily with this , that because Antichrist was to come of that Tribe , that Tribe is forsaken . It is true , that very many of the Fathers , Irenaeus , Ambrose , Augustine , Gregory , ( and more then these ) have thought so , that Antichrist must be of that Tribe ; but yet for all that profession , which they make in the Roman Church , of adhering to the Fathers , one amongst them , says , Incertum , be the Fathers as clear , and as unanimous as they will in it , it is a very uncertain , a very disputable thing ; and another says , fabulosum est , be the Fathers as earnest , as they will , it is but a poeticall and a fabulous thing , that Antichrist must come of the Tribe of Dan. But he that hath most of the workes of Antichrist upon him , of any person in the world now , is thus far of the Tribe of Dan ; Dan signifies Iudgement ; And he will needs be the Judge of all faith , and of all actions too , and so severe a Judge , as to give an irrevocable Judgement of Damnation , upon all that agree not with them , in all points . Certainly this Tribe of Dan , that is , of such uncharitable Judges of all other men , that will afford no salvation to any but themselves , are in the greatest danger to be left out , at this generall seale ; nothing hinders our own salvation more , then to deny salvation , to all but our selves . This then which was done before , though it concerne but the Iews , was in a great number , and was a great argument , of Gods sociable application of himselfe to man , but that which was after , was more , A great multitude , which no man could number , of all nations &c. Gods mercy was not confined , nor determined upon the Iews ; Other sheep have I , which are not of this fold , says Christ , them also I must bring in : I must ; it is expressed , not onely as an act of his good will , but of that eternall decree , to which , he had , at the making thereof , submitted himself : I must bring them ; who are they ? Many shall come from the east , and from the west , and shall sit downe with Abraham , Isacc , and Iacob , in the kingdom of heaven ; from the Eastern Church , and from the WesterN Church too , from the Greek Church , and from the Latine too , and , ( by Gods grace ) from them that pray not in Latine too , from every Church , ( so it be truly , and fundamentally a Church ) Many shall come ; How many ? a multitude that no man can number : For , the new Ierusalem , in the Revelation , ( which is heaven ) hath twelve gates , three to every corner of the world ; so that no place can be a stranger , or lacke accesse to it : Nay , it hath ( says that Text ) twelve foundations , Other foundation can no man lay , then that which is layd , Christ Iesus : But that first foundation-stone being kept , though it be not hewed , nor layd alike in every place , though Christ be not preached , nor presented in the same manner , for outward Ceremonies , or for problematicall opinions , yet the foundation may remaine one , though it be , in such a sort , varied ; and men may come in at any of the twelve gates , and rest upon any of the twelve foundations , for they are all gates , and foundations of one and the same Ierusalem ; and they that enter , are a multitude that no man can number . If then there be this sociable , this applyable nature in God , this large and open entrance for man , why does Christ call it a straite gate , and a narrow way ? Not that it is strait in it self , but that we think it so , and , indeed , we make it so . Christ is the gate , and every wound of his admits the whole world . The Church is the gate ; And in omnem terram , says David , she hath opened her mouth , and her voice is gone over all the world . His word is the gate ; And , thy Commandement is exceeding broad , says David too ; His word and his light reaches to all cases , and all distresses . Lata porta Diabolus ; saith Saint Chrysostome , The Devill is a broad gate ; but he tells us how he came to be so , Mon magnitudine potestatis extensus , sed superbiae licentia dilatatus ; not that God put such a power into his hands , at first , as that we might not have resisted him , but that he hath usurp'd upon us , and we have given way to his usurpations : so , says that Father , Angusta porta Christus , Christ is a narrow gate , but he tels us also wherein , and in what respect , Non parvitate potestatis exiguus , sed humilitatis ratione collectus ; Christ is not a narrow gate , so as that the greatest man may not come in , but called narrow , because he fits himselfe to the least child , to the simplest soule , that will come in : not so strait , as that all may not enter , but so strait as that there can come in but one at once , for he that will not forsake Father and Mother , and wife , and children for him , cannot enter in . Therefore we call the Devils way broad , because men walke in that , with all their equipage , all their sumpters , all their state , all their sinnes ; and therefore we call Christs way strait , because a man must strippe himselfe of all inordinate affections , of all desires of ill getting , and of all possessions that are ill gotten . In a word , it is not strait to a mans selfe , but if a man will carry his sinfull company , his sinfull affections with him , and his sinfull possessions , it is strait , for then he hath made himselfe a Camel , and to a Camel Heaven gate is as a needles eye : But it is better comming into heaven with one eye , then into hell with two ; Better comming into heaven without Master , or Mistresse , then into hell for over-humouring of either . There , The gates are not shut all day ; says the Prophet , and , there is no night there ; And here , if we shut the doore , yet Christ stands at the doore and knocks ; Be but content to open thy doore , be but content to let him open it , and he will enter , and be but thou content to enter into his , content to be led in by his preaching , content to be drawn in by his benefits , content to be forced in by his corrections , and he will open his : since thy God would have dyed for thee , if there had been no man born but thou , never imagine , that he who lets in multitudes , which no man can number , of all Nations , &c. would ever shut out thee , but labour to enter there ; ubi non intrat inimicus , ubi non exit amicus , where never any that hates thee , shall get to thee , nor any that loves thee , part from thee . We have but ended our first part , The assurance which we have from Gods manner of proceeding , that Religion is not a sullen , but a cheerfull Philosophy , and salvation not cast into a corner , but displayed as the Sunne , over all . That which we called at first , our second part , must not be a Part , admit it for a Conclusion ; It is that , and beyond that ; It is beyond our Conclusion , for it is our everlasting endowment in heaven : and if I had kept minutes enough for it , who should have given me words for it ? I will but paraphrase the words of the Text , and so leave you in that , which , I hope , is your gallery to heaven , your own meditations : The words are , You shall stand before the Throne , and before the Lamb , clothed with white Fobes , and palms in their hands . First , stabitis , you shall stand ; which is not , that you shall not sit , for the Saints shall sit & judg the world ; & they shall sit at the right hand of God● It is not , that you shall not sit , nor that you shall not lie , for you shall lye in Abraham bosom : But yet you shal stand , that is , you shall stand sure , you shall never fall , you shall stand , but yet you shall but stand , that is , remaine in a continuall disposition and readinesse to serve God , and to minister to him . And therefore account no abundance , no height , no birth , no place here , to exempt you from standing and labouring in the service of God , since even your glorious state in heaven is but a station , but a standing in readinesse to doe his will , and not a posture of idlenesse : you shall stand , that is , stand sure , but you shall but stand , that is , still be bound to the service of God. Stabitis ante Thronum ; you shall stand , and stand before the Throne ; Here in the militant Church , you stand , but you stand in the porch , there , in the triumphant , you shall stand in Sancto sanctorum , in the Quire , and the Altar . Here you stand , but you stand upon Ice , perchance in high and therefore in slippery places ; And at the judgement you shall stand , but stand at the barre ; But when you stand before the Throne , you stand , ( as it is also added in this place ) before the Lamb : who having not opened his mouth , to save his owne fleece , when he was in the shearers hand , nor to save his own life , when he was in the slaughterers hand , will much lesse open his mouth to any repentant sinners condemnation , or upbrayd you with your former crucifyings of him , in this world , after he hath nailed those sinnes to that crosse , to which those sinnes nayled him . You shall stand amicti stolis , ( for so it follows ) covered with Robes , that is , covered all over : not with Adams fragmentary raggs of fig-leafes , nor with the halfe-garments of Davids servants : Though you have often offered God halfe-confessions , and halfe-repentances , yet if you come at last , to stand before the Lambe , his fleece covers all ; hee shall not cover the sinnes of your youth , and leave the sinnes of your age open to his justice , nor cover your sinfull actions , and leave your sinfull words and thoughts open to justice , nor cover your own personall sinnes , and leave the sinnes of your Fathers before you , or the sinnes of others , whose sins your tentations produced and begot , open to justice ; but as he hath enwrapped the whole world in one garment , the firmament , & so cloathed that part of the earth , which is under our feet , as gloriously as this , which we live , and build upon : so those sinnes which we have hidden from the world , and from our own consciences , and utterly forgotten , either his grace shall enable us , to recollect , and to repent in particular , or ( we having used that holy diligence , to examine our consciences so ) he shall wrap up even those sinnes , which we have forgot , and cover all , with that garment of his own righteousnesse , which leaves no foulnesse , no nakednesse open . You shall be covered with Robes , All over ; and with white Robes ; That as the Angels wondred at Christ coming into heaven , in his Ascension , Wherefore art thou red in thine Apparell , and thy garments like him that treadeth the wine fat ? They wondred how innocence it selfe should become red , so shall those Angels wonder at thy coming thither , and say , Wherefore art thou white in thine apparell ? they shall wonder how sinne it selfe shall be clothed in innocence . And in thy hand shall be a palm , which is the last of the endowments specifyed here . After the waters of bitternesse , they came to seventy ( to innumerable ) palmes ; even the bitter waters were sweetned , with another wood cast in : The wood of the Crosse of Christ Jesus , refreshes all teares , and sweetnes all bitternesse , even in this life : but after these bitter waters , which God shall wipe from all our eies , we come , to the seventy , to the seventy thousand palms ; infinite seales , infinite testimonies , infinite extensions , infinite durations of infinite glory : Go in , beloved , and raise your own contemplations , to a height worthy of this glory ; and chide me for so lame an expressing of so perfect a state , and when the abundant spirit of God hath given you some measure , of conceiving that glory here , Almighty God give you , and me , and all , a reall expressing of it , by making us actuall possessors of that Kingdome , which his Sonne , our Saviour Christ Jesus hath purchased for us , with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood . Amen . SERMON XXXIII . Preached at Denmark house , some few days before the body of King Iames , was removed from thence , to his buriall , Apr. 26. 1625. CANT . 3. 11. Goe forth ye Daughters of Sion , and behold King Solomon , with the Crown , wherewith his mother crowned him , in the day of his espousals , and in the day of the gladnesse of his heart . IN the Creation of man , in that one word , Faciamus , let Vs make man , God gave such an intimation of the Trinity , as that we may well enlarge , and spread , and paraphrase that one word , so farre , as to heare therein , a councell of all the three Persons , agreeing in this gracious designe upon Man , faciamus , let us make him ; make and him , mend him , and make him sure : I , the Father , will make him by my power ; if he should fall , Thou the Sonne shalt repayr him , re-edify him , redeem him ; if he should distrust , that this Redemption belonged not to him , Thou , the Holy Ghost , shalt apply to his particular soule , and conscience , this mercy of mine , and this merit of the Sonnes ; and so let us make him . In our Text there is an intimation of another Trinity . The words are spoken but by one , but the persons in the text , are Three ; For first , The speaker , the Director of all , is the Church , the spouse of Christ , she says , Goe forth ye daughters of Sion ; And then the persons that are called up , are , as you see , The Daughters of Sion , the obedient children of the Church , that hearken to her voice : And then lastly , the persons upon whom they are directed , is Solomon crowned , That is , Christ invested with the royall dignity of being Head of the Church ; And in this , especially , is this applyable to the occasion of our present meeting ( All our meetings now , are , to confesse , to the glory of God , and the rectifying of our own consciences , and manners , the uncertainty of the prosperity , and the assurednesse of the adversity of this world ) That this Crown of Solomons in the text , will appear to be Christs crown of Thornes , his Humiliation , his Passion ; and so these words will dismisse us in this blessed consolation , That then we are nearest to our crown of Glory , when we are in tribulation in this world , and then enter into full possession of it , when we come to our dissolution and transmigration out of this world : And these three persons , The Church , that calls , The children that hearken , and Christ in his Humiliation , to whom they are sent , will be the three parts , in which we shall determine this Exercise . First then , the person that directs us , is The Church ; no man hath seen God , and lives ; but no man lives till he have heard God ; for God spake to him , in his Baptisme , and called him by his name , then . Now , as it were a contempt in the Kings house , for any servant to refuse any thing , except he might heare the King in person command it , when the King hath already so established the government of his house , as that his commandements are to be signifyed by his great Officers : so neither are we to look , that God should speak to us mouth to mouth , spirit to spirit , by Inspiration , by Revelation . for it is a large mercy , that he hath constituted an Office , and established a Church , in which we should heare him . When Christ was baptized by Iohn , it is sayd by all those three Evangelists , that report that story , in particular circumstances , that there was a voice heard from heaven saying , This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased : and it is not added in any of those three Evangelists , that that voice added , Hear him : for , after that Declaration , that he , who was visibly and personally come amongst them , was the Sonne of God , there was no reason to doubt of mens willingnesse to hear him , who went forth in person , to preach unto them , in this world ; As long as he was to stay with them , it was not likely that they should need provocation , to hear him , therefore that was not added at his Baptisme , and entrance into his personall ministery : But when Christ came to his Transfiguration , which was a manifestation of his glory , in the next world , and an intimation of the approaching of the time of his going away , to the possession of that glory , out of this world , there that voyce from heaven sayes , This is my beloved Sonne , in whom I am well pleased , heare him : When he was gone out of this world , men needed a more particular solicitation to heare him ; for how , and where , and in whom should they heare him , when he was gone ? In the Church , for the same testimony that God gave of Christ , to authorize and justifie his preaching , hath Christ given of the Church , to justifie her power : The holy Ghost fell upon Christ , at his Baptism , and the holy Ghost fell upon the Apostles , ( who were the representative Church ) at Whitsontide : The holy Ghost tarried upon Christ then , and the holy Ghost shall tarry with the Church , usque ad consummationem , till the end of the world , And therefore , as we have that institution from Christ , Dic Ecclesiae , when men are refractary and perverse , to complaine to the Church , so have they who are complained of to the Church , that institution from Christ also , Audi Ecclesiam , Hearken to the voyce of God , in the Church ; and they have from him that commination , If you disobey them , you disobey God ; in what fetters soever they binde you , you shall rise bound in those fetters ; and , as he who is excommunicated in one Diocese , should not be received in another ; so let no man presume of a better state , in the Triumphant Church , then he holds in the Militant , or hope for communion there , that despises excommunication here . That which the Scripture says , God sayes , ( says St. Augustine ) for the Scripture is his word ; and that which the Church says , the Scriptures say , for she is their word , they speak in her ; they authorize her , and she explicates them ; The Spirit of God inanimates the Scriptures , and makes them his Scriptures , the Church actuates the Scriptures , and makes them our Scriptures : Nihil salubrius , says the same Father , There is not so wholsome a thing ; no soule can live in so good an aire , and in so good a diet , Quàm ut Rationem praecedat authoritas , Then still to submit a mans owne particular reason , to the authority of the Church expressed in the Scriptures : For , certainly it is very truly ( as it is very usefully ) said by Calvin , Semper nimia morositas , est ambitiosa , A frowardnesse , and an aptnesse to quarrell at the proceedings of the Church , and to be delivered from the obligations , and constitutions of the Church , is ever accompanied with an ambitious pride , that they might enjoy a licentious liberty ; It is not because the Church doth truly take too much power , but because they would be under none ; it is an ambition , to have all government in their own hands , and to be absolute Emperors of themselves , that makes them refractary : But , if they will pretend to believe in God , they must believe in God so , as God hath manifested himself to them , they must believe in Christ ; so if they will pretend to heare Christ , they must heare him there , where he hath promised to speake , they must heare him in the Church . The first reason then in this Trinity , the person that directs , is the Church ; the Trumpet in which God sounds his Iudgements , and the Organ , in which he delivers his mercy ; And then the persons of the second place , the persons to whom the Church speakes here , are Filiae Sion , The daughters of Sion , her owne daughters . We are not called , Filii Ecclesiae , sonnes of the Church : The name of sonnes may imply more virility , more manhood , more sense of our owne strength , then becomes them , who professe an obedience to the Church : Therefore , as by a name , importing more facility , more supplenesse , more application , more tractablenesse , she calls her children , Daughters . But then , being a mother , and having the dignity of a Parent upon her , she does not proceed supplicatorily , she does not pray them , nor intreat them , she does not say , I would you would go forth , and I would you would looke out , but it is Egredimini , & videte , imperatively , authoritatively , Do it , you must do it : So that she showes , what , in important and necessary cases , the power of the Church is , though her ordinary proceedings , by us , and our Ministery , be , To pray you , in Christs stead , to be reconciled to God. In your baptisme , your soules became daughters of the Church ; and they must continue so , as long as they continue in you ; you cannot devest your allegiance to the Church , though you would ; no more then you can to the State , to whom you cannot say , ● will be no subject . A father may dis-inherit his son , upon reasons , but even that dis-inherited childe cannot renounce his father . That Church which conceived thee , in the Covenant of God , made to Christians , and their seed , and brought thee forth in baptisme , and brought thee up in catechizing , and preaching , may yet , for thy misdemeanor to God in her ; separate thee , à Mensa & Toro , from bed and board ; from that sanctuary of the soule , the Communion Table , and from that Sanctuary of the body , Christian buriall , and even that Christian buriall gives a man a good rise , a good helpe , a good advantage , even at the last resurrection , to be laid down in expectation of the Resurrection , in holy ground , and in a place accustomed to Gods presence , and to have been found worthy of that Communion of Saints , in the very body , is some earnest , and some kinde of first-fruits , of the joyfull resurrection , which we attend : God can call our dead bodies from the sea , and from the fire , and from the ayre , for every element is his ; but consecrated ground is our element . And therefore you daughters of Sion , holy and religious souls , ( for to them onely this indulgent mother speaks here ) hearken ever to her voice ; quarrell not your mothers honor , nor her discretion : Despise not her person , nor her apparell ; Doe not say , she is not the same woman , she was heretofore , nor that she is not so well dressed , as she was then ; Dispute not her Doctrine , Despise not her Discipline ; that as you sucked her breasts in your Baptism , & in the other Sacrament , when you entred , and whilst you stayd in this life , so you may lie in her bosome , when you goe out of it . Hear her ; & a good part of that , which you are to hear from her , is envolv'd & inwrapped in that w ch we have propos'd to you , for our third part , Goe forth , & behold Solomon , &c. Here are two duties enjoyn'd ; at least two steps , two degrees ; Egredimini , Go forth , and then , Videte , Behold , contemplate ; And , after the duty , or wrap'd in the duty , we have the Object , which we are to look upon , & in that , divers things to be considered ; as we shall see in their order . First , when we are bid to Go forth , it is not to go so far , as out of that Church , in which God hath given us our station ; for , as Moses says , That the word of God is not beyond Sea ; so the Church of God , is not so beyond Sea , as that we must needs seek it there , either in a painted Church , on one side , or in a naked Church , on another ; a Church in a Dropsie , overflowne with Ceremonies , or a Church in a Consumption , for want of such Ceremonies , as the primitive Church found usefull , and beneficiall for the advancing of the glory of God , and the devotion of the Congregation . That which Christ says to the Church it selfe , the Church says to every soule in the Church : Goe thy way forth , by the footsteps of the flocke ; Associate thy selfe to the true shepheard , and true sheep of Christ Jesus , and stray not towards Idolatrous Chappels , nor towards schismaticall Conventicles , but goe by the footsteps of the flock ; there must be footsteps , some must have gone that way before , take heed of Opinions , that begin in thy selfe ; and the whole flock must have gone that way , take heed of opinions vented by a few new men , which have not had the establishment of a Church . And truly the best way to discerne footsteps , is Daniels way , Daniels way was to straw ashes , and so their footsteps that had been there , were easily discerned : Walke in thine own ashes , in the meditation of thine own death , or in the ashes of Gods Saints , who are dead before thee , in the contemplation of their example , and thou wilt see some footsteps of the flock , some impressions , some directions , how they went , and how thou art to follow , to the heavenly Jerusalem . In conversing evermore , with them which tread upon Carpets , or upon Marbles , thou shalt see no footsteps , Carpets and Marbles receive no impressions ; Amongst them that tread in ashes , in the ways of holy sorrow , and religious humiliation , thou shalt have the way best marked out unto thee . Goe forth , that is , goe farther then thy selfe , out of thy selfe ; at least out of the love of thy self , for that is but a short , a giddy , a vertiginous walk how little a thing is the greatest man ? If thou have many rooms in thy selfe , many capacities to contemplate thy selfe in , if thou walke over the consideration of thy selfe , as thou hast such a title of Honour , such an Office of Command , such an Inheritance , such a pedegree , such a posterity , such an Allyance , if this be not a short walke , yet it is a round walke , a giddy , a vertiginous proceeding . Get beyond thine own circle ; consider thy selfe at thine end , at thy death , and then Egredere , Goe further then that , Go forth and see what thou shalt be after thy death . Still that which we are to look upon , is especially our selves , but it is our selves , enlarg'd & extended into the next world ; for till we see , what we shall be then , we are but short-sighted . Wouldst thou say , thou knew'st a man , because thou hadst seen him in his Cradle ? no more canst thou be said , to have known thy self , because thou knowest the titles , and additions , which thou hast received in this world ; for all those things w ch we have here , are but swadling clouts , & all our motions , & preferments , from place , to place , are but the rocking of a cradle . The first thing that Christ says to his spouse in the Canticles , is , If thou know not thy selfe , ( for so all the Ancients read it , and so the Originall beares it ) If thou know not thy selfe , O thou fairest of women ; she might know , that she was the fairest of women , and yet not know her selfe ; Thou mayst know , that thou art the happyest of men , in this world , and yet not know thy self . All this life is but a Preface , or but an Index and Repertory to the book of life ; There , at that book beginnes thy study ; To grow perfect in that book , to be dayly conversant in that book , to find what be the marks of them , whose names are written in that book , and to finde those marks , ingenuously , and in a rectified conscience , in thy selfe , To finde that no murmuring at Gods corrections , no disappointing of thy hopes , no interrupting of thy expectations , no frustrating of thy possibilities in the way , no impatience in sicknesse , and in the agony of death , can deface those marks , this is to goe forth , and see thy self , beyond thy self , to see what thou shalt be in the next world . Now , we cannot see our own face , without a glasse : and therefore in the old Temple , In , or about that laver of brasse , where the water , for the uses of the Church was reserved , Moses appointed looking-glasses to be placed ; that so , at the entring into the Temple , men might see themselves , and make use of that water , if they had contracted any foulnesse , in any part about them . Here , at your coming hither now , you have two glasses , wherein you may see your selves from head to foot ; One in the Text , your Head , Christ Iesus , represented unto you , in the name and person of Solomon , Behold King Solomon crowned , &c. And another , under your feet , in the dissolution of this great Monarch , our Royall Master , now layd lower by death then any of us , his Subjects and servants . First then , behold your selves in that first glasse , Behold King Solomon ; Solomon the sonne of David , but not the Son of Bathsheba , but of a better mother , the most blessed Virgin Mary . For , Solomon , in this text , is not a proper Name , but an Appellative ; a significative word : Solomon is pacificus , the Peacemaker , and our peace is made in , and by Christ Jesus : and he is that Solomon , whom we are called upon to see here . Now , as Saint Paul says , that he would know nothing but Christ , ( that 's his first abridgement ) and then he would know nothing of Christ , but him crucifyed , ( and that 's the re-abridgement ) so we seek no other glasse , to see our selves in , but Christ , nor any other thing in this glasse , but his Humiliation . What need we ? Even that , his lowest humiliation , his death , is expressed here , in three words of exaltation , It is a Crown , it is a Mariage , it is the gladnesse of heart : Behold King Salomon crowned , &c. The Crown , which we are called to see him crowned with , his mother put upon him ; The Crown which his Father gave him , was that glory , wherewith he was glorifyed , with the Father , from all eternity , in his divine nature : And the Crown wherewith his Father crowned his Humane nature , was the glory given to that , in his Ascension . His Mother could give him no such Crown : she her selfe had no Crown , but that , which he gave her . The Crown that she gave him , was that substance , that he received from her , our flesh , our nature , our humanity ; and this , Athanasius , and this , Saint Ambrose , calls the Crown , wherewith his Mother crowned him , in this text , his infirm , his humane nature . Or , the Corwn wherewith his Mother corwned him , was that Crown , to which , that infirme nature which he tooke from her , submitted him , which was his passion , his Crown of thornes ; for so Tertullian , and divers others take this Crown of his , from her , to be his Crown of thorns : Woe to the Crown of pride , whose beauty is a fading flower , says the Prophet ; But blessed be this Crown of Humiliation , whose flower cannot fade . Then was there truly a Rose amongst Thorns , when through his Crown of Thorns , you might see his title , Iesus Nazarenus : for , in that very name Nazarenus , is involved the signification of a flower ; the very word signifies a flower . Esay's flower in the Crown of pride fades , and is removed ; This flower in the Crown of Thornes fades not , nor could be removed ; for , for all the importunity of the Jews , Pilate would not suffer that title to be removed , or to be changed ; still Nazarenus remained , and still a rose amongst thorns . You know the curse of the earth , Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee ; It did so to our Solomon here , it brought forth thornes to Christ , and he made a Crown of those thorns , not onely for himself , but for us too , Omnes aculei mortis , in Dominici Corporis tolerantia , ●btusi sunt , All the thorns of life and death , are broken , or blunted upon the head of our Solomon , and now , even our thorns , make up our Crown , our tribulation in life , our dissolution in death , conduce to our glory : Behold him crowned with his Mothers Crown , for even that brought him to his Fathers Crown , his humiliation to exaltation , his passion to glory . Behold your Solomon , your Saviour again , and you shall see another beam of Comfort , in your tribulations from his ; for even this Humiliation of his , is called his Espousals , his marriage , Behold him crowned in the day of his Espousals . His Spouse is the Church , His marriage is the uniting of himselfe to this Spouse , in his becomming Head of the Church . The great City , the heavenly Jerusalem , is called The Bride , and The Lambs wife , in the Revelation : And he is the Head of this body , the Bridegroom of this Bride , the Head of this Church , as he is The first-borne of the Dead ; Death , that dissolves all ours , made up this marriage . His Death is his Marriage , and upon his Death flowed out from his side , those two Elements of the Church , water and bloud ; The Sacraments of Baptisme , and of the Communion of himself . Behold then this Solomon crowned and married ; both words of Exaltation , and Exultation , and both by Death and trust him for working the same effects upon thee ; That thou ( though by Death ) shalt be crowned with a Crown of Glory , and married to him , in whose right and merit thou shalt have that Crown . And Behold him once again , and you shall see not a beam , but a stream of comfort ; for this day , which is the day of his death , he calls here The day of the gladnesse of his heart . Behold him crowned in the day of the gladnesse of his heart . The fulnesse , the compasse , the two Hemispheres of Heaven , are often designed to us , in these two names , Ioy and Glory : If the Crosse of Christ , the Death of Christ , present us both these , how neare doth it bring , how fully doth it deliver Heaven it self to us in this life ? And then we heare the Apostle say , We see Iesus , for the suffering of Death , crowned with Honour and Glory : There is half Heaven got by Death , Glory . And then , for the joy that was set before him , he indured the Crosse ; There is the other half , Ioy ; All Heaven purchased by Death . And therefore , if any man suffer as a Christian , let him not be ashamed , saith the Apostle ; but let him glorifie God , In isto Nomine , as the vulgate read it ; In that behalfe , as we translate it . But , In isto Nomine , saith S. August : Let us glorifie God , in that Name ; Non solum in nomine Christiani , sed Chriani patientis , not onely because he is a Christian in his Baptisme , but a Christian in a second Baptisme , a Baptisme of bloud ; not onely as he hath received Christ , in accepting his Institution , but because he hath conformed himself to Christ , in fulfilling his sufferings . And therefore , though we admit naturall and humane sorrow , in the calamities which overtake us , and surround us in this life : ( for as all glasses will gather drops and tears from externall causes , so this very glasse which we looke upon now , our Solomon in the Text , our Saviour , had those sadnesses of heart toward his Passion , and Agonies in his passion ) yet count it all Ioy when you fall into tentations , saith the Apostle : All Ioy , that is , both the interest , and the principall , hath the earnest and the bargain ; for if you can conceive joy in your tribulations in this world , how shall that joy be multiplied unto you , when no tribulation shall be mingled with it ? There is not a better evidence , nor a more binding earnest of everlasting Joy in the next world , then to find Ioy of heart in the tribulations of this ; fixe thy self therefore upon this first glasse , this Solomon , thy Saviour , Behold King Solomon crownd , &c. and by conforming thy self to his holy sadnesse , and humiliation , thou shalt also become like him , in his Joy , and Glory . But then the hand of God , hath not set up , but laid down another Glasse , wherein thou maist see thy self ; a glasse that reflects thy self , and nothing but thy selfe . Christ , who was the other glasse , is like thee in every thing , but not absolutely , for sinne is excepted ; but in this glasse presented now ( The Body of our Royall , but dead Master and Soveraigne ) we cannot , we doe not except sinne . Not onely the greatest man is subject to naturall infirmities , ( Christ himself was so ) but the holiest man is subject to Originall and Actuall sinne , as thou art , and so a ●it glasse for thee , to see thy self in . Ieat showes a man his face , as well as Crystall ; nay , a Crystall glasse will not show a man his face , except it be steeled , except it be darkned on the backside : Christ as he was a pure Crystall glasse , as he was God , had not been a glasse for us , to have seen our selves in , except he had been steeled , darkened with our humane nature ; Neither was he ever so throughly darkened , as that he could present us wholly to our selves , because he had no sinne , without seeing of which we do not see our selves . Those therefore that are like thee in all things , subject to humane infirmities , subject to sinnes , and yet are translated , and translated by Death , to everlasting Ioy , and Glory , are nearest and clearest glasses for thee , to see thy self in ; and such is this glasse , which God hath proposed to thee , in this house . And therefore , change the word of the Text , in a letter or two from Egredimini , to Ingredimini ; never go forth to see , but Go in and see a Solomon crowned with his mothers crown , &c. And when you shall find that hand that had signed to one of you a Patent for Title , to another for Pension , to another for Pardon , to another for Dispensation , Dead : That hand that settled Possessions by his Seale , in the Keeper , and rectified Honours by the sword , in his Marshall , and distributed relief to the Poore , in his Almoner , and Health to the Diseased , by his immediate Touch , Dead : That Hand that ballanced his own three Kingdomes so equally , as that none of them complained of one another , nor of him , and carried the Keyes of all the Christian world , and locked up , and let out Armies in their due season , Dead ; how poore , how faint , how pale , how momentany , how transitory , how empty , how frivolous , how Dead things , must you necessarily thinke Titles , and Possessions , and Favours , and all , when you see that Hand , which was the hand of Destinie , of Christian Destinie , of the Almighty God , lie dead ? It was not so hard a hand when we touched it last , nor so cold a hand when we kissed it last : That hand which was wont to wipe all teares from all our eyes , doth now but presse and squeaze us as so many spunges , filled one with one , another with another cause of teares . Teares that can have no other banke to bound them , but the declared and manifested will of God : For , till our teares flow to that Heighth , that they might be called a murmuring against the declared will of God , it is against our Allegiance , it is Disloyaltie , to give our teares any stop , any termination , any measure . It was a great part of Annaes prayse , That she departed not from the Temple , day nor night ; visit Gods Temple often in the day , meet him in his owne House , and depart not from his Temples , ( The dead bodies of his Saints are his Temples still ) even at midnight ; at midnight remember them , who resolve into dust , and make them thy glasses to see thy self in . Looke now especially upon him whom God hath presented to thee now , and with as much cheerfulnesse as ever thou heardst him say , Remember my Favours , or remember my Commandements ; heare him say now with the wise man , Remember my Iudgement , for thine also shall be so ; yesterday for me , and to day for thee ; He doth not say to morrow , but to Day , for thee . Looke upon him as a beame of that Sunne , as an abridgement of that Solomon in the Text ; for every Christian truely reconciled to God , and signed with his hand in the Absolution , and sealed with his bloud in the Sacrament , ( and this was his case ) is a beame , and an abridgement of Christ himselfe . Behold him therefore Crowned with the Crown that his Mother gives him : His Mother , The Earth . In an●ient times , when they used to reward Souldiers with particular kinds of Crowns , there was a great dignity in Corona graminea , in a Crown of Grasse : That denoted a Conquest , or a Defence of that land . He that hath but Coronam Gramineam , a turfe of grasse in a Church yard , hath a Crown from his Mother , and even in that buriall taketh seisure of the Resurrection , as by a turfe of grasse men give seisure of land . He is crowned in the day of his Marriage ; for though it be a day of Divorce of us from him , and of Divorce of his body from his soul , yet neither of these Divorces breake the Marriage : His soule is married to him that made it , and his body and soul shall meet again , and all we , both then in that Glory where we shall acknowledge , that there is no way to this Marriage , but this Divorce , nor to Life , but by Death . And lastly , he is Crowned in the day of the gladnesse of his heart : He leaveth that heart , which was accustomed to the halfe joyes of the earth , in the earth ; and he hath enlarged his heart to a greater capacity of Joy , and Glory , and God hath filled it according to that new capacity . And therefore , to end all with the Apostles words , I would not have you to be ignorant , Brethren , concerning them , which are asleepe , that ye sorrow not , as others that have no hope ; for if ye beleeve that Iesus died , and rose again , even so , them also , which sleepe in him , will God bring with him . But when you have performed this Ingredimini , that you have gone in , and mourned upon him , and performed the Egredimini , you have gone forth , and laid his Sacred body , in Consecrated Dust , and come then to another Egredimini , to a going forth in many severall wayes : some to the service of their new Master , and some to the enjoying of their Fortunes conferred by their old ; some to the raising of new Hopes ● some to the burying of old , and all ; some to new , and busie endeavours in Court , some to contented retirings in the Countrey ; let none of us , goe so farre from him , or from one another , in any of our wayes , but that all we that have served him , may meet once a day , the first time we see the Sunne , in the eares of almighty God , with humble and hearty prayer , that he will be pleased to hasten that day , in which it shall be an addition , even to the joy of that place , as perfect as it is , and as infinite as it is , to see that face againe , and to see those eyes open there , which we have seen closed here . Amen . SERMON XXXIIII . LUKE ●●●● Father forgive them , for they know not what they do . THe word of God is either the co-eternall and co-essentiall Sonne , our Saviour , which tooke flesh ( Verbum Caro factum est ) or it is the spirit of his mouth , by which we live , and not by bread onely . And so , in a large acceptation , every truth is the word of God ; for truth is uniforme , and irrepugnant , and indivisible , as God Omne verum est omni vero consentiens . More strictly the word of God , is that which God hath uttered , either in writing , as twice in the Tables to Moses ; or by ministery of Angels , or Prophets , in words ; or by the unborne , in action , as in Iohn Baptists exultation within his mother ; or by new-borne , from the mouths of babes and sucklings ; or by things unreasonable , as in Balaams Asse ; or insensible , as in the whole booke of such creatures , The heavens declare the glory of God , &c. But nothing is more properly the word of God to us , then that which God himself speakes in those Organs and Instruments , which himself hath assumed for his chiefest worke , our redemption . For in creation God spoke , but in redemption he did ; and more , he suffered . And of that kinde are these words . God in his chosen man-hood saith , Father , forgive them , for they know not what they do . These words shall be fitliest considered , like a goodly palace , if we rest a little , as in an outward Court , upon consideration of prayer in generall ; and then draw neare the view of the Palace , in a second Court , considering this speciall prayer in generall , as the face of the whole palace . Thirdly , we will passe thorow the chiefest rooms of the palace it self ; and then insist upon foure steps : 1. Of whom he begs , ( Father ) 2. What he asks , ( forgive them . ) 3. That he prays upon reason , ( for . ) 4. What the reason is , ( they know not . ) And lastly , as into the backside of all , we will cast the objections : as why onely Luke remembers this prayer : and why this prayer , ( as it seemes by the punishment continuing upon the Jews to this day ) was not obtained at Gods hands . So therefore prayer is our first entry , for when it is said , Ask and it shall be given , it is also said , Knock and it shall be opened , showing that by prayer our entrance is . And not the entry onely , but the whole house : My house is the house of prayer . Of all the conduits and conveyances of Gods graces to us , none hath been so little subject to cavillations , as this of prayer . The Sacraments have fallen into the hands of flatterers and robbers . Some have attributed too much to them , some detracted . Some have painted them , some have withdrawn their naturall complexion . It hath been disputed , whether they be ● how many they be , what they be , and what they do . The preaching of the word hath been made a servant of ambitions , and a shop of many mens new-fangled wares . Almost every meanes between God and man , suffers some adulteratings and disguises : But prayer least : And it hath most wayes and addresses . It may be mentall , for we may thinke prayers . It may be vocall , for we may speake prayers . It may be actuall , for we do prayers . For deeds have voyce ; the vices of Sodome did cry , and the Almes of Toby . And if it were proper for St. Iohn , in the first of the Revelations to turne back to see a voyce , it is more likely God will looke down , to heare a worke . So then to do the office of your vocation sincerely , is to pray . How much the favourites of Princes , and great personages labour , that they may be thought to have been in private conference with the Prince . And though they be forced to wait upon his purposes , and talk of what he will , how fain they would be thought to have solicited their own , or their Dependants businesse . With the Princes of Princes , this every man may doe truly ; and the sooner , the more begger he is : for no man is heard here , but in form● pauperis . Here we may talk long , welcomely , of our own affaires , and be sure to speed . You cannot whisper so low alone in your Chamber , but he heares you , nor sing so lowd in the Congregation , but he distinguishes you . He grudges not to be chidden and disputed with , by Iob. The Arrows of the Almighty are in me , and the venim thereof hath drunk up my spirit . Is my strength , the strength of stones , or is my flesh of brasse , &c. Not to be directed and counselled by Ionas : who was angry and sayd ; Did not I say , when I was in my Country , thou wouldest deale thus ? And when the Lord sayd , Doest thou well to be angry ? He replyed , I doe well to be angry to the death . Nor almost to be threatned and neglected by Moses : Doe this , or blot my name out of thy book . It is an Honour to be able to say to servants , Doe this : But to say to God , Domine fac hoc , and prevail , is more ; And yet more easie . God is replenishingly every where : but most contractedly , and workingly in the Temple . Since then every rectified man , is the temple of the Holy Ghost , when he prays ; it is the Holy Ghost it selfe that prays ; and what can be denyed , where the Asker gives ? He plays with us , as children , shewes us pleasing things , that we might cry for them , and have them . Before we call , he answers , and when we speak , he heares : so Esay 65. 24. Physicians observe some symptomes so violent , that they must neglect the disease for a time , and labour to cure the accident ; as burning fevers , in Dysenteries . So in the sinfull consumption of the soule , a stupidity and indisposition to prayer , must first be cured . For , Ye lust , and have not , because ye aske net , Jam. 4. 2. The adulterous Mother of the three great brothers , Gratian , Lombard , and Comestor , being warned by her Confessour , to be sorry for her fact , sayd , she could not , because her fault had so much profited the Church . At least , sayd he , be sorry that thou canst not be sorry . So whosoever thou be , that canst not readily pray , at least pray , that thou mayst pray . For , as in bodily , so in spirituall diseases , it is a desperate state , to be speechlesse . It were unmannerlinesse to hold you longer in the Entry . One turne in the inner Court , of this speciall prayer in generall , and so enter the Palace . This is not a prayer for his own ease , as that in his Agony seemes . It hath none of those infirmities , which curious schismatikes finde in that . No suspicion of ignorance , as there , ( If it be possible . ) No tergiversation nor abandoning the noble worke which he had begunne , as there , ( Let this cup passe . ) It is not an exemplar , or forme , for us to imitate precisely , ( otherwise then in the Doctrine ) as that Prayer , Mat. 6. which we call the Lords Prayer , not because he sayd it , for he could never say , forgive us our trespasses , but because he commanded us to say it . For though by Matthew , which saith , After this manner pray , we seem not bound to the words , yet Luke sayth , When you pray , say , Our Father which art , &c. But this is a prayer of God , to God. Not as the Talmudists Jews faine God to pray to himselfe , Sit voluntas mea , ut misericordia mea superet iram meam ; But as when forain merchandise is mis-ported , the Prince may permit , or inhibit his Subjects to buy it , or not to buy it . Our blessed Saviour arriving in this world fraited with salvation , a thing w ch this world never had power to have without him , except in that short time , between mans Creation and fall , he by this prayer begs , that even to these despisers of it , it may be communicable , and that their ignorance of the value of it , may not deprive them of it . Teaching that by example here , which he gave in precept before , Mat. 5. 44. Pray for them which persecute you , that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven . Therefore , doing so now , he might well say , Father , forgive them , which is the first room in this glorious Palace . And in this contemplation , my unworthy soule , thou art presently in the presence . No passing of guards , nor ushers . No examination of thy degree or habit . The Prince is not asleep , nor private , nor weary of giving , nor refers to others . He puts thee not to prevaile by Angels nor Archangels . But lest any thing might hinder thee , from coming into his presence , his presence comes into thee . And lest Majesty should dazell thee , thou art to speake but to thy Father . Of which word , Abba , the root is , To will ; from which root , the fruit also must be willingnesse , and propensenesse to grant . God is the Father of Christ , by that mysticall and eternall unexpressible generation , which never began nor ended . Of which incomprehensible mystery , Moses and the ancient Prophets spake so little , and so indirectly , that till the dawning of the day of Christ , after Esdras time , those places seem not to be intended of the Trinity . Nay , a good while after Christ , they were but tenderly applyed to that sense . And at this day , the most of the writers in the reformed Churches , considering that we need not such farre fetcht , and such forced helps , and withall , weighing how well the Jews of these times are provided with other expositions of those places , are very sparing in using them , but content themselves modestly herein , with the testimonies of the New Testament . Truly , this mystery is rather the object of faith then reason ; and it is enough that we believe Christ to have ever been the Son of God , by such generation , and our selves his sonnes by adoption . So that God is Father to all ; but yet so , that though Christ say , Iohn 10. My Father is greater then all , he addes , I and my Father are all one , to shew his eternall interest : and Iohn 20. Hee seemes to put a difference , I goe to my Father , and your Father , my God , and your God. The Roman stories have , that when Claudius saw it conduce to his ends , to get the tribuneship , of which he was incapable , because a Patrician , he suffered himself to be adopted . But against this Adoption , two exceptions were found ; one , that he was adopted by a man of lower ranke , a Plebeian ; which was unnaturall ; and by a younger man then himselfe , which took away the presentation of a Father . But our Adoption is regular . For first , we are made the sonnes of the Most High , and of the ancient of daies , there was no one word , by which he could so nobly have maintained his Dignity , kept his station , justified his cause , and withall expressed his humility and charity , as this , Father . They crucifyed him , for saying himself to be the Sonne of God. And in the midst of torment , he both professes the same still , and lets them see , that they have no other way of forgivenesse , but that he is the Sonne of that Father . For no man cometh to the Father but by the Son. And at this voice ( Father ) O most blessed Saviour , thy Father , which is so fully thine , that for thy sake , he is ours too , which is so wholly thine , that he is thy selfe , which is all mercy , yet will not spare thee , all justice , yet will not destroy us . And that glorious Army of Angels , which hitherto by their own integrity maintained their first and pure condition , and by this worke of thine , now neare the Consummatum est , attend a confirmation , and infallibility of ever remaining so ; And that faithfull company of departed Saints , to whom thy merit must open a more inward and familiar room in thy Fathers Kingdome , stand all attentive , to heare what thou wilt aske of this Father . And what shall they hear ? what doest thou aske ? Forgive them , forgive them ? Must murderers be forgiven ? Must the offended aske it ? And must a Father grant it ? And must he be solicited , and remembred by the name of Father to doe it ? Was not thy passion enough , but thou must have compassion ? And is thy mercy so violent , that thou wilt have a fellow-feeling of their imminent afflictions , before they have any feeling ? The Angels might expect a present employment for their destruction : the Saints might be out of feare , that they should be assumed or mingled in their fellowship . But thou wilt have them pardoned . And yet doest not out of thine own fulnesse pardon them , as thou didst the theef upon the Crosse , because he did already confesse thee ; but thou tellest them , that they may be forgiven , but at thy request , and if they acknowledge their Advocate to be the Son of God. Father , forgive them . I that cannot revenge thy quarrell , cannot forgive them . I that could not be saved , but by their offence , cannot forgive them . And must a Father , Almighty , and well pleased in thee , forgive them ? Thou art more charitable towards them , then by thy direction wee may be to our selvs . We must pray for our selvs limitedly , forgive us , as we forgive . But thou wilt have their forgivenes illimited and unconditioned . Thou seemest not so much as to presume a repentance ; which is so essentiall , and necessary in all transgressions , as where by mans fault the actions of God are diverted from his appointed ends , God himself is content to repent the doing of them . As he repented first the making of man , and then the making of a King. But God will have them within the armes of his generall pardon . And we are all delivered from our Debts ; for God hath given his word , his co-essential word , for us all . And though , ( as in other prodigall debts , the Interest exceed the Principall ) our Actuall sinnes exceed Originall , yet God by giving his word for us , hath acquitted all . But the Affections of our Saviour are not inordinate , nor irregular . He hath a For , for his Prayer : Forgive them , for , &c. And where he hath not this For , as in his Praier in his agony , he quickly interrupts the violence of his request , with a But , Father , let this cup passe ; but not my will : In that form of Prayer which himself taught us , he hath appointed a for , on Gods part , which is ever the same unchangeable : For thine is the Kingdome ; Therefore supplications belong to thee : The power , Thou openest thy hand and fillest every living thing : The Glory , for thy Name is glorified in thy grants . But because on our part , the occasions are variable , he hath left our for , to our religious discretion . For , when it is said , James 4. You lust and have not , because you aske not ; it followeth presently , You aske and misse , because you aske amisse . It is not a fit for , for every private man , to aske much means , for he would doe much good . I must not pray , Lord put into my hands the strength of Christian Kings , for out of my zeale , I will imploy thy benefits to thine advantage , thy Souldiers against thine enemies , and be a bank against that Deluge , wherewith thine enemy the Turk threatens to overflow thy people . I must not pray , Lord fill my heart with knowledge and understanding , for I would compose the Schismes in thy Church , and reduce thy garment to the first continuall and seemlesse integrity ; and redresse the deafnesses and oppressions of Judges , and Officers . But he gave us a convenient scantling for our fo rs , who prayed , Give me enough , for I may else despair , give me not too much , for so I may presume . Of Schoolmen , some affirm Prayer to be an act of our will ; for we would have that which we aske . Others , of our understanding ; for by it we ascend to God , and better our knowledge , which is the proper aliment and food of our understanding ; so , that is a perplexed case . But all agree , that it is an act of our Reason , and therefore must be reasonable . For onely reasonable things can pray ; for the beasts and Ravens , Psalme 147. 9. are not said to pray for food , but to cry . Two things are required to make a Prayer . 1. Pius affectus , which was not in the Devills request , Matth. 8. 31. Let us goe into the Swine ; nor Job 1. 2. Stretch out thy hand , and touch all he hath ; and , stretch out thy hand , and touch his bones ; and therefore these were not Prayers . And it must be Rerum decentium : for our government in that point , this may inform us . Things absolutely good , as Remission of sinnes , we may absolutely beg : and , to escape things absolutely ill , as sinne . But mean and indifferent things , qualified by the circumstances , we must aske conditionally and referringly to the givers will. For 2 Cor. 8. when Paul begged stimulum Carnis to be taken from him , it was not granted , but he had this answer , My grace is sufficient for thee . Let us now ( not in curiosity , but for instruction ) consider the reason : They know not what they doe . First , if Ignorance excuse : And then , if they were ignorant . Hast thou , O God , filled all thy Scriptures , both of thy Recorders and Notaries , which have penned the History of thy love , to thy People ; and of thy Secretaries the Prophets , admitted to the foreknowledge of thy purposes , and instructed in thy Cabinet ; hast thou filled these with prayses and perswasions of wisedome and knowledge , and must these persecutors be pardoned for their ignorance ? Hast thou bid Esay to say , 27. 11. It is a people of no understanding , therefore he that made them , shall not have compassion of them . And Hosea 4. 6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge : and now dost thou say , Forgive them because they know not ? Shall ignorance , which is often the cause of sinne , often a sinne it self , often the punishment of sinne , and ever an infirmity and disease contracted by the first great sinne , advantage them ? Who can understand his faults , saith the man according to thy heart , Psalme 19. 12. Lord cleanse me from my secret faults : He durst not make his ignorance the reason of his prayer , but prayed against ignorance . But thy Mercy is as the Sea : both before it was the Sea , for it overspreads the whole world ; and since it was called into limits : for it is not the lesse infinite for that . And as by the Sea , the most remote and distant Nations enjoy one another , by traffique and commerce , East and West becoming neighbours : so by mercy , the most different things are united and reconciled ; Sinners have Heaven ; Traytors are in the Princes bosome ; and ignorant persons are in the spring of wisdome , being forgiven , not onely though they be ignorant , but because they are ignorant . But all ignorance is not excusable ; nor any lesse excusable , then not to know , what ignorance is not to be excused . Therefore , there is an ignorance which they call Nescientiam , a not knowing of things not appertaining to us . This we had had , though Adam had stood ; and the Angels have it , for they know not the latter day , and therefore for this , we are not chargeable . They call the other privation , which if it proceed meerly from our owne sluggishnesse , in not searching the meanes made for our instruction , is ever inexcusable . If from God , who for his owne just ends hath cast clouds over those lights which should guide us , it is often excusable . For 1 Tim. 1. 13. Paul saith , I was ablasphemer , and a persecutor , and an oppressor , but I was received to mercy , for I did it ignorantly , through unbelief . So , though we are all bound to believe , and therefore faults done by unbeliefe cannot escape the name and nature of sinne , yet since beliefe is the immediate gift of God , faults done by unbeliefe , without malicious concurrences and circumstances , obtaine mercy and pardon from that abundant fountaine of grace , Christ Jesus . And therefore it was a just reason , Forgive them , for they know not . If they knew not , which is evident , both by this speech from truth it self , and by 2 Cor. 2. 8. Had they known it , they would not have crucified the Lord of glory ; and Acts 3. 17. I know that through ignorance ye did it . And though after so many powerfull miracles , this ignorance were vincible , God having revealed enough to convert them , yet there seemes to be enough on their parts , to make it a perplexed case , and to excuse , though not a malitious persecuting , yet a not consenting to his Doctrine . For they had a Law , Whosoever shall make himself the sonne of God , let him dye : And they spoke out of their Lawes , when they said , We have no other King but Caesar. There were therefore some among them reasonably , and zealously ignorant . And for those , the Sonne ever-welcome , and well-heard , begged of his Father , ever accessible , and exorable , a pardon ever ready and naturall . We have now passed through all those roomes which we unlockt and opened at first . And now may that point , Why this prayer is remembred onely by one Evangelist , and why by Luke , be modestly inquired : For we are all admitted and welcommed into the acquaintance of the Scriptures , upon such conditions as travellers are into other Countries : if we come as praisers and admirres of their Commodities and Government , not as spies into the mysteries of their State , nor searchers , nor calumniators of their weaknesses . For though the Scriptures , like a strong rectified State , be not endangered by such a curious malice of any , yet he which brings that , deserves no admittance . When those great Commissioners which are called the Septuagint , sent from Hierusalem , to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into Greeke , had perfected their work , it was , and is an argument of Divine assistance , that writing severally , they differed not . The same may prove even to weake and faithlesse men , that the holy Ghost super-intended the foure Evangelists , because they differ not ; as they which have written their harmonies , make it evident : But to us , faith teacheth the other way . And we conclude not , because they agree , the holy Ghost directed ; for heathen Writers and Malefactors in examinations do so ; but because the holy Ghost directed , we know they agree , and differ not . For as an honest man , ever of the same thoughts , differs not from himself , though he do not ever say the same things , if he say not contraries ; so the foure Evangelists observe the uniformity and samenesse of their guide , though all did not say all the same things , since none contradicts any . And as , when my soule , which enables all my limbs to their functions , disposes my legs to go , my whole body is truly said to go , because none stayes behinde ; so when the holy Spirit , which had made himself as a common soule to their foure soules , directed one of them to say any thing , all are well understood to have said it . And therefore when to that place in Matth. 27. 8. where that Evangelist cites the Prophet Ieremy , for words spoken by Zachary , many medicines are applyed by the Fathers ; as , That many copies have no name , That Ieremy might be binominous , and have both names , a thing frequent in the Bible , That it might be the error of a transcriber , That there was extant an Apocryph booke of Ieremy , in which these words were , and sometimes things of such books were vouched , as Iannes and Iambres by Paul ; St. Augustine insists upon , and teaches rather this , That it is more wonderfull , that all the Prophets spake by one Spirit , and so agreed , then if any one of them had spoken all those things ; And therefore he adds , Singula sunt omnium , & omnia sunt singulorum , All say what any of them say ; And in this sense most congruously is that of St. Hierome applyable , that the foure Evangelists are Quadriga Divina , That as the foure Chariot wheeles , though they looke to the foure corners of the world , yet they move to one end and one way , so the Evangelists have both one scope , and one way . Yet not so precisely , but that they differ in words : For as their generall intention , common to them all begat that consent , so a private reason peculiar to each of them , for the writing of their Histories at that time , made those diversities which seem to be for Matthew , after he had preached to the Jewes , and was to be transplanted into another vineyard , the Gentiles , left them written in their owne tongue , for permanency , which he had preached transitorily by word . Mark , when the Gospell fructified in the West , and the Church enlarged her self , and grew a great body , and therefore required more food out of Peters Dictates , and by his approbation published his Evangile . Not an Epitome of Matthewes , as Saint Ierome ( I know why ) imagines , but a just and intire History of our blessed Saviour . And as Matthewes reason was to supply a want in the Eastern Church , Markes in the Western ; so on the other side Lukes was to cut off an excesse and superfluitie : for then many had undertaken this Story , and dangerously inserted and mingled uncertainties and obnoxious improbabilities : and he was more curious and more particular then the rest , both because he was more learned , and because he was so individuall a companion of the most learned Saint Paul , and did so much write Pauls words , that Eusebius thereupon mistaketh the words 2 Tim. 2. 1. Christ is raised according to my Gospell , to prove that Paul was author of this Gospell attributed to Luke . Iohn the Minion of Christ upon earth , and survivor of the Apostles , ( whose books rather seem fallen from Heaven , and writ with the hand which ingraved the stone Tables , then a mans work ) because the heresies of Ebion and Cerinthus were rooted , who upon this true ground , then evident aud fresh , that Christ had spoke many things which none of the other three Evangelists had Recorded , uttered many things as his , which he never spoke : Iohn I say , more diligently then the rest handleth his Divinity , and his Sermons , things specially brought into question by them . So therefore all writ one thing , yet all have some things particular . And Luke most , for he writ last of three , and largeliest for himselfe , 1 Act. 1. saith , I have made the former Treatise of all that Iesus began to doe and teach , untill the Day that he was taken up ; which speech , lest the words in the last of Iohn , If all were written which Iesus did , the world could not contain the Bookes , should condemne , Ambrose and Chrysostome interpret well out of the words themselves , Scripsit de omnibus , non omnia , He writ of all , but not all : for it must have the same limitation , which Paul giveth his words , who saith , Acts 20. in one verse , I have kept nothing back , but have shewed you all the counsell of God ; and in another , I kept back nothing that was profitable . It is another peculiar singularity of Lukes , that he addresseth his History to one man , Theophilus . For it is but weakely surmised , that he chose that name , for all lovers of God , because the interpretation of the word suffereth it , since he addeth most noble Theophilus . But the work doth not the lesse belong to the whole Church , for that , no more then his Masters Epistles doe though they be directed to particulars . It is also a singularitie in him to write upon that reason , because divers have written . In humane knowledge , to abridge or suck , and then suppresse other Authors , is not ever honest nor profitable : We see after that vast enterprise of Iustinian , who distilled all the Law into one vessell , and made one Booke of 2000. suppressing all the rest , Alciate wisheth he had let them alone , and thinketh the Doctors of our times , would better have drawn usefull things from those volumes , then his Trebonian and Dorothee did . And Aristotle after , by the immense liberality of Alexander , he had ingrossed all Authors , is said to have defaced all , that he might be in stead of all : And therefore , since they cannot rise against him , he imputes to them errours which they held not : vouches onely such objections from them , as he is able to answer ; and propounds all good things in his own name , which he ought to them . But in this History of Lukes , it is otherwise : He had no authority to suppresse them , nor doth he reprehend or calumniate them , but writes the truth simply , and leaves it to outweare falshood : and so it hath : Moses rod hath devoured the Conjurers rods , and Lukes Story still retains the majestie of the maker , and theirs are not . Other singularities in Luke , of form or matter , I omit , and end with one like this in our Text. As in the apprehending of our blessed Saviour , all the Evangelists record , that Peter cut off Malchus eare , but onely Luke remembers the healing of it again : ( I think ) because that act of curing , was most present and obvious to his consideration , who was a Physician : so he was therefore most apt , to remember this Prayer of Christ , which is the Physick and Balsamum of our Soule , and must be applied to us all , ( for we doe all Crucifie him , and we know not what we do ) And therefore Saint Hierome gave a right Character of him , in his Epistle to Paulinus , Fuit Medicus , & pariter omnia verba illius , Animae languentis sunt Medicinae , As he was a Physitian , so all his words are Physick for a languishing soule . Now let us dispatch the last consideration , of the effect of this Prayer . Did Christ intend the forgivenesse of the Jewes , whose utter ruine God ( that is , himselfe ) had fore-decreed ? And which he foresaw , and bewaild even then hanging upon the Crosse ? For those Divines which reverently forbeare to interpret the words Lord , Lord , why hast thou forsaken me ? of a suffering hell in his soule , or of a departing of the Father from him ; ( for Ioh. 16. it is , I am not alone , for the Father is with me ) offer no exposition of those words more convenient , then that the foresight of the Jewes imminent calamities , expressed and drew those words from him : In their Afflictions , were all kindes , and all degrees of Miserie . So that as one writer of the Roman Story saith elegantly , He that considereth the Acts of Rome , considereth not the Acts of one People , but of Mankinde : I may truly of the Jewes Afflictions , he that knoweth them , is ignorant of nothing that this world can threaten . For to that which the present authority of the Romanes inflicted upon them , our Schools have added upon their posterities ; that they are ●laves to Christians , and their goods subject to spoile , if the Lawes of the Princes where they live , did not out of indulgency defend them . Did he then aske , and was not heard ? God forbid . A man is heard , when that is given which his will desired ; and our will is ever understood to be a will rectified , and concurrent with God. This is Voluntas , a discoursed and examined will. That which is upon the first sight of the object , is Velleit as , a willingnesse , which we resist not , onely because we thought not of it . And such a willingnesse had Christ , when suddenly he wished that the cup might passe : but quickly conformed his will to his Fathers . But in this Prayer his will was present , therefore fulfilled . Briefly then , in this Prayer he commended not all the Jewes , for he knew the chief to sin knowingly , and so out of the reach of his reason , ( for they know not . ) Nor any , except they repented after : for it is not ignorance , but repentance , which deriveth to us the benefit of Gods pardon . For he that sinnes of Ignorance , may be pardoned if he repent ; but he that sinnes against his Conscience , and is thereby impenitible , cannot be pardoned . And this is all , which I will say of these words , Father forgive them , for they know not what they do . O eternall God , look down from thy Throne to thy footstoole : from thy blessed Company of Angels and Saints , to us , by our own faults made more wretched and contemptible , then the wormes , which shall eat us , or the dust which we were , and shall be . O Lord , under the weight of thy Iustice we cannot stand . Nor had any other title to thy mercie , but the Name of Father , and that we have forfeited . That name of Sonnes of God , thou gavest to us , all at once in Adam ; and he gave it away from us all by his sinne . And thou hast given it again to every one of us , in our regeneration by Baptisme , and we have lost it again by our transgressions . And yet thou was not weary of being mercifull , but diddest choose one of us , to be a fit and worthy ransome for us all ; and by the death of thy Christ , our Iesus , gavest us again the title and priviledge of thy Sonnes ; but with conditions , which though easie , we have broke , and with a yoke , which though light , and sweet , we have cast off . How shall we then dare to call thee Father ? Or to beg that thou wilt make one triall more of us ? These hearts are accustomed to rebellions , and hopelesse . But , O God , create in us new hearts , hearts capable of the love and feare , due to a Father . And then we shall dare to say , Father , and to say , Father forgive us . Forgive us O Father , and all which are engaged , and accountable to thee for us : forgive our Parents , and those which undertooke for us in Baptisme . Forgive the civill Magistrate , and the Minister . Forgive them their negligences , and us our stubbornnesses . And give us the grace that we may ever sincerely say , both this Prayer of Example and Counsell , Forgive our enemies , and that other of Precept , Our Father which art in Heaven , &c. SERMON XXXV . Preached February 21. 1611. MATTHEVV 21. 44. Whosoever shall fall on this stone , shall be broken ; but on whomsoever it shall fall , it will grinde him to powder . ALmighty God made us for his glory , and his glory is not the glory of a Tyrant , to destroy us , but his glory is in our happinesse . He put us in a faire way towards that happinesse in nature , in our creation , that way would have brought us to heaven , but then we fell , and ( if we consider our selves onely ) irrecoverably . He put us after into another way , over thorny hedges and ploughed Lands , through the difficulties and incumbrances of all the Ceremoniall Law ; there was no way to heaven then , but that ; after that , he brought us a crosse way , by the Crosse of Jesus Christ , and the application of his Gospell , and that is our way now . If we compare the way of nature , and our way , we went out of the way at the Townes end , as soone as we were in it , we were out of it . Adam dyed as soone as he lived , and fell as soone as he was set on foote ; If we compare the way of the Law , and ours , the Jewes and the Christians , their Synagogue was but as Gods farme , our Church is as his dwelling house ; to them locavit vineam , he let out his Vine to husbandmen , and then peregrè profectus , he went into a farre Countrey , he promised a Messias , but deferred his coming a long time ; but to us Dabitur Regnum , a Kingdome is given ; the Vineyard is changed into a Kingdome , here is a good improvement , and the Lease into an absolute deed of gift , here is a good inlargement of the Terme . He gives , therefore he will not take away againe . He gives a Kingdome , therefore there is a fulnesse and all-sufficiency in the gift ; and he does not go into any farre Countrey , but stayes with us , to governe us , usque ad consummationem , till the end of the world ; here therefore God takes all into his owne hands , and he comes to dwell upon us himself , to which purpose he ploughs up our hearts , and he builds upon us ; Vos Dei agricultura , & Dei aedificium , Ye are Gods husbandry , and Gods building : Now of this , this husbandry God speaks familiarly and parabolicaly many times in Scriptures : of this building particularly and principally in this place , where having intimated unto us the severall benefits we have received from Christ Jesus in that appellation , as he is a stone ; he tells us also our dangers in mis-behaving our selves towards it , Whosoever shall fall on this &c. Christ then is a stone , and we may run into two dangers : first , we may fall upon this stone , and then this stone may fall upon us ; but yet we have a great deale of comfort presented to us , in that Christ is presented to us as a stone , for there we shall finde him , first , to be the foundation stone , nothing can stand which is not built upon Christ ; Secondly , to be Lapis Angularis , a corner stone , that unites things most dis-united ; and then to be Lapis Iacob , the stone that Iacob slept upon ; fourthly , to be Lapis Davidis , the stone that David flew Golih withall ; And lastly , to be Lapis Petra , such a stone as is a Rock , and such a Rock as no Waters nor Stormes can remove or shake , these are benefits : Christ Jesus is a stone , no firmnesse but in him ; a fundamentall stone , no building but on him ; a corner stone , no piecing nor reconciliation , but in him ; and Iacobs stone , no rest , no tranquillity , but in him ; and Davids stone , no anger , no revenge , but in him ; and a rocky stone , no defence against troubles and tribulations , but in him ; And upon this stone we fall and are broken , and this stone may fall on us , and grinde us to powder . First in the metaphor , that Christ is called a stone , the firmnesse is expressed : Forasmuch as he loved his owne which were in the world , In finem dilexit eos , sayes St. Iohn , He loved them to the end ; and not to any particular end , for any use of this owne , but to their end ; Qui erant in mundo , sayes Cyrill , ad distinctionem Angelorum , he loved them in the world , and not Angels ; he loved not onely them who were in a confirmed estate of mutuall loving him too , but even them who were themselves conceived in sinne , and then conceived all their purposes in sinne too , them who could have no cleansing but in his blood , and when they were cleansed in his blood , their owne clothes would defile them againe , them who by nature are not able to love him at all , and when by grace they are brought to love him , can expresse their love no other way , but to be glad that he was betrayed , and scourged , and scorned , and nayled , and crucified ; and to be glad , that if all this were not already done , it might be done yet , to long , and wish , that if Christ were not crucified , he might be crucified now , ( which is a strange manner of expressing love ) those men he loved , and loved unto the end ; Men and not Angels ; and then men , Ad distinctionem mortuorum , sayes Chrysostome , not onely the Patriarchs , who were departed out of the world , who had loved him so well , as to take his word for their salvation , and had lived and dyed in the faithfull contemplation of a future promise , which they never saw performed ; but those who were partakers of the performance of all those promises , those into the midst of whom he came in person , those upon whom he wrought with his piercing Doctrine , and his powerfull miracles , those who for all this loved not him , he loved : Et in finem , he loved them to the end : It is much that he should love them in fine , at their end , that he should looke graciously on them at last , that when their sunne sets , their eyes faint , his sunne of grace should arise , and his East be brought to their West , that then in the shadow of death , the Lord of life should quicken and inanimate their hearts : that when their last bell tolls , and calls them to their first Judgement , ( and first and last Judgement to this purpose is all one ) the passing bell , and Angels trump sound all but one note , Surgite qui dormitis in pulvere , Arise ye that sleepe in the dust , which is the voyce of the Angels , and Surgite qui vigilatis in plumis , Arise ye that cannot sleepe in feathers , for the pangs of death , which is the voyce of the bell , is but one voyce ; for God at the generall Judgement , shall never reverse any particular Judgement , formerly given ; that God should then come to the beds side , ad sibilandum populum suum , as the Prophet Ezekiel speaks , to hisse softly for his childe , to speake comfortably in his eare , to whisper gently to his departing soule , and to drowne and overcome with this soft Musick of his , all the danger of the Angels Trumpets , all the horror of the ringing Bell , all the cryes , and vociferations of a distressed , and distracted , and scattering family , yea all the accusations of his owne conscience , and all the triumphant acclamations of the Devill himselfe ; that God should love a man thus in fine , at his end , and returne to him then , though he had suffered him to go astray from him before , it is a great testimony of an unspeakable love : but his love is not onely in fine , at the end , but in finem , to the end , all the way to the end . He leaves them not uncalled at first , he leaves them not unaccompanied in the way , he leaves them not unrecompensed at the last , that God who is Almighty , Alpha and Omega , first and last , that God is also love it selfe , and therefore this love is Alpha and Omega , first and last too ; Consider Christs proceeding with Peter in the ship , in the storme ; first he suffered him to be in some danger , but then he visites him with that strong assurance , Noli timere , Be not afraid , it is I , any testimony of his presence rectifies all . This puts Peter into that spirituall knowledge and confidence , Iube me venire , Lord bid me come to thee ; he hath a desire to be with Christ , but yet stayes his bidding ; he puts not himselfe into an unnecessary danger , without a commandment ; Christ bids him , and Peter comes , but yet , though Christ were in his sight , and even in the actuall exercise of his love to him , yet as soone as he saw a gust , a storme , timuit , he was afraid , and Christ letteth him feare , and letteth him sinke , and letteth him crie ; But he directeth his feare , and his crie to the right end . Domine salvum me fac , Lord save me , and thereupon he stretcheth out his hand and saved him : God doth not raise his children to honour , and great estates , and then leave them , and expose them to be subjects , and exercises of the malice of others , nor he doth not make them mightie , and then leave them , ut glorietur in malo qui potens est , that he should thinke it a glory to be able to do harm . He doth not impoverish and dishonour his children , and then leave them ; leave them unsensible of that Doctrine , that patience is as great a blessing as aboundance : God giveth not his children health , and then leaveth them to a boldnesse in surfetting ; nor beauty , and leave them to a confidence of opening themselves to all sollicitations ; nor valour , and then leaveth them to a spirit of quarrelsomnesse : God maketh no patterns of his works , no modells of his houses , he maketh whole pieces , he maketh perfect houses , he putteth his children into good wayes , and he directeth and protecteth them in those wayes : For this is the constancy and the perseverance of the love of Christ Jesus , as he is called in this Text a stone . To come to the particular benefits ; the first is that he is lapis fundamentalis , a foundation stone ; for other foundation can no man lay then that which is laid , which is Christ Jesus . Now where Saint Augustine saith , ( as he doth in two or three places ) that this place of Saint Pauls to the Corinthians , is one of these places of which Saint Peter saith Quaedam difficilia , There are some things in Saint Paul hard to be understood : Saint Augustines meaning is , that the difficulty is in the next words , how any man should build hay or stubble upon so good a foundation as Christ , how any man that pretendeth to live in Christ , should live ill , for in the other there can be no difficulty , how Christ Jesus to a Christian , should be the onely foundation : And therefore to place salvation or damnation in such an absolute Decree of God , as should have no relation to the fall of man , or reparation in a Redeemer ; this is to remove this stone out of the foundation , for a Christian may be well content to beginne at Christ : If any man therefore have laid any other foundation to his Faith , or any other foundation to his Actions , possession of great places , alliance in great Families , strong parties in Courts , obligation upon dependants , acclamations of people ; if he have laid any other foundations for pleasure , and contentment , care of health , and complexion , appliablenesse in conversation , delightfulnesse in discourses , cheerefulnesse in disportings , interchanging of secrets , and such other small wares of Courts and Cities as these are : whosoever hath laid such foundations as these , must proceed as that Generall did , who when he received a besieged Towne to mercy , upon condition that in signe of subjection they should suffer him to take off one row of stones from their walls , he tooke away the lowest row , the foundation , and so ruined and demolished the whole walls of the Citie : So must he that hath these false foundations , ( that is , these habits ) divest the habite , roote out the lowest stone , that is , the generall , and radicall inclination to these disorders : For he shall never be able to watch and resist every particular temptation , if he trust onely to his Morall Constancy ; No , nor if he place Christ for the roofe to cover all his sinnes , when he hath done them ; his mercy worketh by way of pardon after , not by way of Non obstante , and priviledge to doe a sinne before hand ; but before hand we must have the foundation in our eye ; when we undertake any particular Action , in the beginning , we must looke how that will suite with the foundation , with Christ ; for there is his first place , to be Lapis fundamentalis . And then , after we have considered him , first , in the foundation ( as we are all Christians ) he growes to be Lapis Angularis , the Corner stone , to unite those Christians , which seem to be of divers ways , divers aspects , divers professions together ; as wee consider him in the foundation , there he is the root of faith , As we consider him in the Corner , there hee is the root of charity , In Esay hee is both together , A sure foundation and a Corner stone , as he was in the place of Esay , Lapis probatus , I will lay in Sion a tryed stone ; and in the Psalm , Lapis reprobatus , a stone that the builders refused , In this consideration , he is Lapis approbatus , a stone approved by all sides , that unites all things together : Consider first , what divers things he unites in his own person ; That he should be the sonne of a woman , and yet no sonne of man , That the sonne of a woman should be the sonne of God , that mans sinfull nature , and innocency should meet together , a man that should not sinne , that Gods nature and mortality should meet together , a God that must die ; Briefly , that he should doe and suffer so many things impossible as man , impossible as God. Thus hee was a Corner stone , that brought together natures , naturally incompatible . Thus he was Lapis Angularis , a Corner stone in his Person , Consider him in his Offices , as a Redeemer , as a Mediatour , and so , hee hath united God to man ; yea , rebellious man to jealous God : Hee is such a Corner stone , as hath united heaven , and earth , Jerusalem and Babylon together . Thus in his Person , and thus in his Offices , Consider him in his power , and hee is such a Corner stone , as that hee is the God of Peace , and Love , and Union , and Concord . Such a Corner stone as is able to unite , and reconcile ( as it did in Abrahams house ) a Wife , and a Concubine in one bed , a covetous Father , and a wastfull Sonne in one family , a severe Magistrate , and a licentious people in one City , an absolute Prince , and a jealous People in one Kingdome , Law , and Conscience in one Government , Scripture , and tradition in one Church . If we would but make Christ Jesus and his peace , the life and soule of all our actions , and all our purposes ; if we would mingle that sweetnesse and supplenesse which he loves , and which he is , in all our undertakings ; if in all controversies , booke controversies , and sword controversies , we would fit them to him , and see how neere they would meet in him , that is , how neere we might come to be friends , and yet both sides be good Christians ; then wee placed this stone in his second right place , who as hee is a Corner stone reconciling God and man in his owne Person , and a Corner stone in reconciling God and mankinde in his Office , so hee desires to bee a Corner stone in reconciling man and man , and setling peace among our selves , not for worldly ends , but for this respect , that wee might all meet in him to love one another , not because wee made a stronger party by that love , not because wee made a sweeter conversation by that love , but because wee met closer in the bosome of Christ Jesus ; where wee must at last either rest altogether eternally , or bee altogether eternally throwne out , or bee eternally separated and divorced from one another . Having then received Christ for the foundation stone , ( wee beleeve aright ) and for the Corner stone ( we interpret charitably the opinions , and actions of other men ) The next is , that hee bee Lapis Iacob , a stone of rest and security to our selves . When Iacob was in his journey , hee tooke a stone , and that stone was his pillow , upon that hee slept all night , &c. resting upon that stone , hee saw the Ladder that reached from heaven to earth ; it is much to have this egresse and regresse to God , to have a sense of being gone from him , and a desire and meanes of returning to him ; when wee doe fall into particular sinnes , it is well if wee can take hold of the first step of this Ladder , with that hand of David , Domine respice in Testamentum , O Lord , consider thy Covenant , if wee can remember God of his Covenant , to his people , and to their seed , it is well ; it is more , if wee can clamber a step higher on this ladder to a Domine labia mea aperies , if we come to open our lips in a true confession of our wretched condition and of those sinnes by which we have forfeited our interest in that Covenant , it is more ; and more then that too , if we come to that inebriabo me lacrymis , if we overflow and make our selves drunke with teares , in a true sense , and sorrow for those sinnes , still it is more ; And more then all this , if we can expostulate with God in an Vsque quo Domine , How long , O Lord , shall I take counsell in my self , having wearinesse in my heart ? These steps , these gradations towards God , do well ; warre is a degree of peace , as it is the way of peace ; and these colluctations and wrestlings with God , bring a man to peace with him ; But then is a man upon this stone of Iacob , when in a faire , and even , and constant religious course of life , he enters into his sheets every night , as though his neighbours next day were to shrowd and wind him in those sheets ; he shuts up his eyes every night , as though his Executors had closed them ; and lies downe every night , not as though his man were to call him up next morning , or to the next dayes sport , or businesse , but as though the Angels were to call him to the resurrection ; And this is our third benefit , as Christ is a stone , we have security and peace of conscience in him . The next is , That he is Lapis David , the stone with which David slew Goliah , and with which we may overcome all our enemies ; Sicut baculus crucis , ita lapis Christi habuit typum ; Davids sling was a type of the Crosse , and the stone was a type of Christ , we will chuse to insist upon spirituall enemies , sinnes ; And this is that stone that enables the weakest man to overthrow the strongest sinne , if he proceed as David did : David sayes to Goliah , Thou comest to me with a speare and a shield , but I come to thee in the name of the God of the hosts of Israel , whom thou hast railed upon , ) if thou watch the approach of any sinne , any giant sinne that transports thee most ; if thou apprehend it to rayle against the Lord of Hosts , ( that is , that there is a loud and active blasphemy against God , in every sinne ) if thou discerne it to come with a sword , or a speare , ( that is , perswasions of advancement if thou do it , or threatings of dishonour , if thou do it not , ) if it come with a shield , ( that is , with promises to cover and palliate it , though thou do it , ) If then this David , ( thy attempted soule ) can put his hand into his bag ( as David did ) ( for quid cor hominis nisi sacculus Dei ? a mans heart is that bag in which God layes up all good directions ) if he can but take into his consideration his Jesus , his Christ , and sling one of his works , his words , his commandments , his merits , This Goliah , this Giant sinne , will fall to the ground , and then , as it is said of David , that he slew him when he had no sword in his hand , and yet in the next verse , that he tooke his sword and slew him with that : so even by the consideration of what my Lord hath done for me , I shall give that sinne the first deaths wound , and then I shall kill him with his owne sword , that is , his owne abomination , his owne foulenesse shall make me detest him . If I dare but looke my sinne in the face , if I dare tell him , I come in the name of the Lord , if I consider my sinne , I shall triumph over it , Et dabit certan●● victoriam qui dedit certandi audaciam , That God that gave me courage to fight , will give me strength to overcome . The last benefit which we consider in Christ , as he is a stone , is , That he is Petra , a Rock ; The Rock gave water to the Israelites in the wildernesse ; and he gave them honey out of the stone , and oyle out of the hard Rock : Now when Saint Paul sayes , That our Fathers dranke of the same Rock as we , he adds that the same Rock was Christ ; So that all Temporall , and all Spirituall blessings to us , and to the Fathers , were all conferred upon us in Christ ; but we consider not now any miraculous production from the Rock , but that which is naturall to the Rock ; that it is a firme defence to us in all tempests , in all afflictions , in all tribulations ; and therefore , La●date Dominum habitatores petrae , sayes the Prophet , You that are inhabitants of this Rock , you that dwell in Christ , and Christ in you , you that dwell in this Rock , Prayse ye the Lord , blesse him , and magnifie him for ever . If a sonne should aske bread of his father , will he give him a stone , was Christs question ? Yes , O blessed Father , we aske no other answer to our petition , no better satisfaction to our necessity , then when we say , Da nobis panem , Give us this day our daily bread , that thou give us this Stone , this Rock , thy self in thy Church , for our direction , thy self in the Sacrament , for our refection ; what hardnesse soever we finde there , what corrections soever we receive there , all shall be easie of digestion , and good nourishment to us● Thy holy spirit of patience shall command , That these stones be made bread ; And we shall finde more juice , more marrow in these stones , in these afflictions , then worldly men shall do in the softnesse of their oyle , in the sweetnesse of their honey , in the cheerefulnesse of their wine ; for as Christ is our foundation , we beleeve in him , and as he is our corner-stone , we are at peace with the world in him ; as he is Iacobs stone , giving us peace in our selves and Davids stone , giving us victory over our enemies , so he is a Rock of stone , ( no affliction , no tribulation shal shake us . ) And so we have passed through all the benefits proposed to be considered in this first part , As Christ is a stone . It is some degree of thankfulnesse , to stand long in the contemplation of the benefit which we have received , and therefore we have insisted thus long upon the first part . But it is a degree of spirituall wisdome too , to make haste to the consideration of our dangers , and therefore we come now to them , Wee may fall upon this stone , and be broken . This stone may fall upon us , and grinde us to powder , and in the first of these , we may consider , Quid cadere , what the falling upon this stone is : and secondly , Quid frangi , what it is to broken upon it : and then thirdly , the latitude of this unusquisque , that whosoever fals so , is so broken ; first then , because Christ loves us to the end , therefore will we never put him to it , never trouble him till then ; as the wiseman sayd of Manna , that it had abundance of all pleasure in it , and was meat for all tasts , that is , ( as Expositors interpret it ) that Manna tasted to every one , like that which every one liked best : so this stone Christ Jesus , hath abundance of all qualities of stone in it , and is all the way such a stone to every man , as he desires it should be . Unto you that beleeve saith , Saint Peter , it is a precious stone , but unto the disobedient , a stone to stumble at : for if a man walke in a gallery , where windowes , and tables , and statues , are all of marble , yet if he walke in the darke , or blindfold , or carelesly , he may breake his face as dangerously against that rich stone , as if it were but brick ; So though a man walke in the true Church of God , in that Jerusalem which is described in the Revelation , the foundation , the gates , the walls , all precious stone , yet if a man bring a mis-belief , a mis-conceipt , that all this religion is but a part of civill government and order ; if a man be scandalized , at that humility , that patience , that poverty , that lowlinesse of spirit which the Christian Religion inclines us unto ; if he will say , Si Rex Israel , If Christ will be King , let him come downe from the Crosse , and then we will beleeve in him , let him deliver his Church from all crosses , first , of doctrine , and then of persecution , and then we will beleeve him to be King ; if we will say , Nolumus hunc regnare , we will admit Christ , but we will not admit him to reign over us , to be King ; if he will be content with a Consulship , with a Collegueship , that he & the world may joyn in the government , that we may give the week to the world , and the Sabbath to him , that we may give the day of the Sabbath to him and the night to our licentiousnesse , that of the day we may give the forenoon to him , and the afternoon to our pleasures , if this will serve Christ , we are content to admit him , but Nolumus regnare , we will none of that absolute power , that whether we eat or drink , or whatsoever we doe , we must be troubled to thinke on him , and respect his glory in every thing . If he will say , Praecepit Angelis , God hath given us in charge to his Angels , and therefore we need not to look to our own ways , He hath locked us up safely , and lodged us softly under an eternall election , and therefore we are sure of salvation , if he will walke thus blindely , violently , wilfully , negligently in the true Church , though he walke amongst the Saphires , and Pearls , and Chrysolytes , which are mentioned there , that is , in the outward communion and fellowship of Gods Saints , yet he may bruise and break , and batter himselfe , as much against these stones , as against the stone Gods of the heathen , or the stone Idols of the Papists ; for first , the place of this falling upon this stone , is the true Church ; Qui jacet in terra , he that is already upon the ground , in no Church , can fall no lower , till he fall to hell ; but he whom God hath brought into his true Church , if he come to a confident security , that he is safe enough in these outward acts of Religion , he falls , though it be upon this stone , he erreth , though in the true Church . This is the place then , the true Church ; the falling it selfe ( as farre as will fall into our time of consideration now ) is a falling into some particular sinne , but not such as quenches our faith ; wee fall so , as we may rise againe . Saint Hierome expresseth it so , Qui cadit , & tamen credit , he that falls , but yet beleeves , that fals and hath a sense of his fall , reservatur per paenitentiam ad salutem , that man is reserved by Gods purpose , to come by repentance , to salvation ; for this man that fals there , fals not so desperately , as that he feeles nothing between hell and him , nothing to stop at , nothing to check him by the way , Cadit super , he falls upon some thing ; nor he falls not upon flowers , to wallow and tumble in his sinne , nor upon feathers , to rest and sleep in his sinne , nor into a cooling river , to disport , and refresh , and strengthen himself in his sinne ; but he falls upon a stone , where he may receive a bruise , a pain upon his fall , a remorse of that sinne he is fallen into : And in this fall , our infirmitie appears three wayes : The first is Impingere in lapidem , To stumble , for though he be upon the right stone in the true Religion , and have light enough , yet Impingimus meredie , as the Prophet saith , even at noon we stumble ; we have much more light , by Christ being come , then the Jewes had , but we are sorry we have it : when Christ hath said to us for our better understanding of the Law , He that looketh and lusteth hath committed Adultery , He that coveteth hath stollen , He that is angry hath murdered , we stumble at this , and we are scandalized with it ; and we thinke that other Religions are gentler , and that Christ hath dealt hardly with us , and we had rather Christ had not said so , we had rather he had left us to our libertie and discretion , to looke , and court , and to give a way to our passions , as we should finde it most conduce to our ease , and to our ends . And this is Impingere , to stumble , not to goe on in an equall and even pace , not to doe the will of God cheerefully . And a second degree is calcitrare , to kick , to spurre at this stone ; that is , to bring some particular sinne , and some particular Law into comparison : To debate thus , if I doe not this now , I shall never have such a time ; if I slip this , I shall never have the like opportunitie ; if I will be a foole now , I shall be a begger all my life : and for the Law of God that is against it , there is but a little evill for a great deale of good ; and there is a great deale of time to recover and repent that little evill . Now to remove a stone which was a landmarke , and to hide and cover that stone , was all one fault in the Law ; to hide the will of God from our owne Consciences with excuses and extenuatious , this is , calcitrare , as much as we can to spurn the stone , the landmarke out of the way ; but the fulnesse and accomplishment of this is in the third word of the Text , Cadere , to fall ; he falls as a piece of money falls into a river ; we heare it fall , and we see it sink , and by and by we see it deeper , and at last we see it not at all : So no man falleth at first into any sinne , but he heares his own fall . There is a tendernesse in every Conscience at the beginning , at the entrance into a sinne , and he discerneth a while the degrees of sinking too : but at last he is out of his owne sight , till he meete this stone ; ( this stone is Christ ) that is , till he meete some hard reprehension , some hard passage of a Sermon , some hard judgement in a Prophet , some crosse in the World , some thing from the mouth , or some thing from the hand of God , that breaks him : He falls upon the stone and is broken . So that to be broken upon this stone , is to come to this sense , that though our integrity be lost , that we be no more whole and intire vessells , yet there are meanes of piecing us again : Though we be not vessells of Innocency , ( for who is so ? ) ( and for that enter not into judgement with thy servants O Lord ) yet we may be vessells of repentance acceptable to God , and usefull to his service : for when any thing falls upon a stone , the harme that it suffereth , is not alwayes ( or not onely ) according to the proportion of the hardnesse of that which it fell upon , but according to the heighth that it falleth from , and according to that violence that it is throwne with : If their fall who fall by sinnes of infirmitie , should referre onely to the stone they fall upon , ( the Majestie of God being wounded and violated in every sinne ) every sinner would be broken to pieces , and ground to powder : But if they fall not from too far a distance , if they have lived within any nearnesse , any consideration of God , if they have not fallen with violence , taken heart and force in the way , grown perfect in the practise of their sinne , if they fall upon this stone , that is , sinne , and yet stoppe at Christ , after the sinne , this stone shall breake them ; that is , breake their force , and confidence , breake their presumption , and security , but yet it shall leave enough in them , for the Holy Ghost to unite to his Service ; yea , even the sinne it self , cooperabitur in bonum , as the Apostle saith , the very fall it selfe shall be an occasion of his rising : And therefore though Saint Augustine seeme to venture farre , it is not too farre , when he saith , Audeo dicere , it is boldly said , and yet I must say it , utile est ut caderem in aliquod manifestum peccatum ; A sinner falleth to his advantage , that falleth into some such sinne , as by being manifested to the World , manifesteth his owne sinnefull state , to his owne sinnefull Conscience too : It is well for that man that falleth so , as that he may thereby looke the better to his footing ever after ; Dicit Domino Susceptor meus es tu , sayes St. Bernard , That man hath a new Title to God , a new name for God ; all creatures ( as St. Bernard inlarges this meditation ) can say , Creator meus es tu , Lord thou art my Creator ; all living creatures can say , Pastor meus es tu , Thou art my shepheard , Thou givest me meat in due season ; all men can say , Redemptor meus es tu , thou art my Redeemer ; but onely he which is fallen , and fallen upon this stone , can say , Susceptor meus es tu , only he which hath been overcome by a temptation , and is restored , can say , Lord thou hast supported me , thou hast recollected my shivers , and reunited me ; onely to him hath this stone expressed , both abilities of stone ; first to breake him with a sense of his sin , and then to give him peace and rest upon it . Now there is in this part this circumstance , Quicunque cadit , whosoever falleth ; where the quicunque is unusquisque , whosoever falls , that is , whosoever he be , he falls ; Quo●odo de coelo cecidisti Luciter ? says the Prophet , the Prophet wonders how Lucifer could fall , having nothing to tempt him ( for so many of the Antiens interpret that place of the fall of the Angels , and when the Angels fell , there were no other creatures made , ) but Quid est homo aut filius hominis ? since the Father of man , Adam , could not , how shall the sonnes of him , that inherit his weaknesse , and contract more , and contribute their temptations to one another , hope to stand ? Adam fell , and he fell à longè , farre off , for he could see no stone to fall upon , for when he fell , there was no such Messias , no such meanes of reparation proposed , nor promised when he fell , as now to us ; The blessed Virgin , and the forerunner of Christ , Iohn Baptist , fell too , but they fell propè , neerer hand , they fell but a little way , for they had this stone ( Christ Jesus ) in a personall presence , and their faith was alwaies awake in them ; but yet he , and she , and they all fell into some sinne . Quicunque cadit is unusquisque cadit , whosoever falls , is , whosoever he be , he falls , and whosoever falls , ( as we said before ) is broken ; If he fall upon something , and fall not to an infinite depth ; If he fall not upon a soft place , to a delight in sinne , but upon a stone , and this stone , ( no harder , sharper , ruggedder then this , not into a diffidence , or distrust in Gods mercy ) he that falls so , and is broken so , that comes to a remorsefull , to a broken , and a contrite heart , he is broken to his advantage , left to a possibility , yea brought to a neerenesse of being pieced againe , by the Word , by the Sacraments , and other medicinall institutions of Christ in his Church . We must end onely with touching upon the third part , upon whom this stone falls , it will grinde him to powder ; where we shall onely tell you first , Quid conteri , what this grinding is ; and then , Quid cadere , what the falling of this stone is ; And briefly this grinding to powder , is to be brought to that desperate and irrecoverable estate in sinne , as that no medicinall correction from God , no breaking , no bowing , no melting , no moulding can bring him to any good fashion ; when God can worke no cure , do no good upon us by breaking us ; not by breaking us in our health , for we will attribute that to weaknesse of stomach , to surfeit , to indigestion ; not by breaking us in our states , for we will impute that to falshood in servants , to oppression of great adversaries , to inquity of Judges ; not by breaking us in our honour , for we will accuse for that , factions , and practises , and supplantation in Court ; when God cannot breake us with his corrections , but that we will attribute them to some naturall , to some accidentall causes , and never thinke of Gods judgements , which are the true cause of these afflictions ; when God cannot breake us by breaking our backs , by laying on heavy loads of calamities upon us , nor by breaking our hearts , by putting us into a sad , and heavy , and fruitlesse sorrow and melancholy for these worldly losses , then he comes to breake us by breaking our necks , by casting us into the bottomlesse pit , and falling upon us there , in this wrath and indignation , Comminuam eos in pulverem , sayth he , I will beate them as small as dust before the winde , and tread them as flat as clay in the streets , the breaking thereof shall be like the breaking of a Potters vessell , which is broken without any pity . ( No pity from God , no mercy , neither shall any man pity them , no compassion , no sorrow : ) And in the breaking thereof , saith the Prophet , there is not found a sheard to take fire at the hearth , nor to take water at the pit : that is , they shall be incapable of any beam of grace in themselves from heaven , or any spark of zeale in themselves , ( not a sheard to fetch fire at the hearth ) and incapable of any drop of Christs blood from heaven , or of any teare of contrition in themselves , not a sheard to fetch water at the pit , I will breake them as a Potters vessell , quod non potest instaurari , says God in Ieremy , There shall be no possible meanes ( of those means which God hath ordained in his Church ) to recompact them againe , no voice of Gods word to draw them , no threatnings of Gods judgements shall drive them , no censures of Gods Church shall fit them , no Sacrament shall cement and glue them to Christs body againe ; In temporall blessings , he shall be unthankfull , in temporall afflictions , he shall be obdurate : And these two shall serve , as the upper and nether stone of a mill , to grinde this reprobate sinner to powder . Lastly , this is to be done , by Christs falling upon him , and what is that ? I know some Expositors take this to be but the falling of Gods judgements upon him in this world ; But in this world there is no grinding to powder , all Gods judgements here , ( for any thing that we can know ) have the nature of Physick in them , & may , & are wont to cure ; & no man is here so absolutely broken in pieces , but that he may be re-united : we chuse therefore to follow the Ancients in this , That the falling of this stone upon this Reprobate , is Christs last & irrecoverable falling upon him , in his last judgment ; that when hee shall wish that the Hills might fall and cover him , this stone shall fall , & grinde him to powder ; He shall be broken , and he no more found , says the Prophet , yea , he shall be broken and no more sought : No man shall consider him what he is now , nor remember him what he was before : For , that stone , which in Daniel , was cut out without hands ( which was a figure of Christ , who came without ordinary generation ) when that great Image was to be overthrown , broke not an arme or a leg , but brake the whole Image in peeces , and it wrought not onely upon the weak parts , but it brake all , the clay , the iron , the brasse , the silver , the gold ; so when this stone fals thus , when Christ comes to judgement , he shall not onely condemn him for his clay , his earthly and covetous sinnes , nor for his iron , his revengefull oppressing , and rustly sinnes , nor for his brasse , his shining , and glittering sinnes , which he hath filed and polished , but he shall fall upon his silver and gold , his religious and precious sinnes , his hypocriticall hearing of Sermons , his singular observing of Sabbaths , his Pharisaicall giving of almes , and as well his subtill counterfeiting of Religion , as his Atheisticall opposing of religion , this stone , Christ himselfe , shall fall upon him , and a showre of other stones shall oppresse him too . Sicut pluit laque●s , says David , As God rained springs and snares upon them in this world ( abundance of temporall blessings to be occasions of sinne unto them : ) So plues grandinem , he shall raine such haile-stones upon them , as shall grinde them to powder ; there shall fall upon him the naturall Law , which was written in his heart , and did rebuke him , then when he prepared for a sinne ; there shall fall upon him the written Law , which cryed out from the mouthes of the Prophets in these places , to avert him from sinne ; there shall fall upon him those sinnes which he hath done , and those sins which he hath not done , if nothing but want of means & opportunity hindred him from doing them ; there shall fall upon him those sinnes which he hath done after anothers dehortation , and those , which others have done after his provocation ; there the stones of Nineveh shall fall upon him , and of as many Cities as have repented with lesse proportions of mercy and grace , then God afforded him ; there the rubbage of Sodom and Gomorrah shall fall upon him , and as many Cities as in their ruine might have been examples to him . All these stones shall fall upon him , and to add weight to all these , Christ Jesus himselfe shall fall upon his conscience , with unanswerable questions , and grinde his soule to powder . But hee that overcometh , shall not bee hurt by the second death , he that feeles his own fall upon this stone , shall never feel this stone fall upon him , he that comes to a remorse , early , and earnestly after a sinne , and seeks by ordinary meanes , his reconcileation to God in his Church , is in the best state that man can be in now ; for howsoever we cannot say that repentance is as happy an estate as Innocency , yet certainly every particular man feels more comfort and spirituall joy , after a true repentance for a sin , then he had in that degree of Innocence which he had before he committed that sinne ; and therefore in this case also we may safely repeat those words of Augustine , Audeo dicere , I dare be bold to say , that many a man hath been the better for some sin . Almighty God , who gives that civill wisdome , to make use of other mens infirmities , give us also this heavenly wisdome , to make use of our own particular sins , that thereby our own wretched conditions in our selves , and our meanes of reparation in Iesus Christ , may be the more manifested unto us ; To whom with the blessed Spirit , &c. SERMON XXXVI . Preached at Saint Pauls upon Christmasse day , 1621. JOHN 1. 8. He was not that Light , but was sent to bear witnesse of that Light. IT is an injury common to all the Evangelists , ( as Irenaeus notes ) that all their Gospels were severally refused by one Sect of Hereticks or other . But it was proper to Saint Iohn alone , to be refused by a Sect , that admitted all the other three Evangelists , ( as Epiphanius remembers ) and refused onely Saint Iohn . These were the Alogiani , a limme and branch of the Arians , who being unable to looke upon the glorious Splendour , the divine Glory , attributed by Saint Iohn to this Logos , ( which gave them their name of Alogiani ) this Word , this Christ , not comprehending this Mystery , That this Word was so with God , as that it was God ; they tooke a round way , and often practised , to condemne all that they did not understand , and therefore refuse the whole Gospell . Indeed his whole Gospell is comprehended in the beginning thereof . In this first Chapter is contracted all that which is extensively spred , and dilated through the whole Booke . For here is first , the Foundation of all , the Divinitie of Christ , to the 15. verse . Secondly , the Execution of all , the Offices of Christ , to the 35. verse . And then the Effect , the Working , the Application of all , that is , who were to Preach all this , to the ends of the world , the calling of his Apostles , to the end of the Chapter : for the first , Christs Divinity , there is enough expressed in the very first verse alone : for , there is his Eternitie , intimated in that word , In principio , in the beginning . The first booke of the Bible , Genesis , and the last booke , ( that is , that which was last written ) this Gospell , begin both with this word , In the beginning . But the last beginning was the first , if Moses beginning doe onely denote the Creation , which was not 6000. yeares since , and Saint Iohns , the Eternity of Christ , which no Millions , multiplied by Millions , can calculate . And then , as his Eternitie , so his distinction of Persons , is also specified in this 1. verse , when the Word , ( that is , Christ ) is said to have been apud Deum , with God. For , therefore , ( saith Saint Basil ) did the Holy Ghost rather choose to say apud Deum , then in Deo , with God , then in God , ne auferenda Hypostaseos occasionem daret , lest he should give any occasion of denying the same Nature , in divers Persons ; for it doth more clearly notifie a distinction of Persons , to say , he was with him , then to say , he was in him ; for the severall Attributes of God , ( Mercy and Iustice , and the rest ) are in God , and yet they are not distinct Persons . Lastly , there is also expressed in this 1. verse Christs Equality with God , in that it is said , & Verbum erat Deus , and this Word was God. As it was in the beginning , and therefore Eternall , and as it was with God , and therefore a distinct Person , so it was God , and thereforre equall to the Father ; which phrase doth so vexe and anguish the Arians , that being disfurnished of all other escapes , they corrupted the place , onely with a false interpunction , and broke of the words , where they admitted no such pause ; for , they read it thus , Verbum erat apud Deum ; ( so far , well ) Et Deus erat . There they made their point ; and then followed in another sentence : Verbum hoc erat in principio , &c. The first part then of this Chapter , ( and indeed of the whole Gospell ) is in that 1. verse the manifestation of his Divine Nature , in his Eternitie , in the distinction of Persons , in the equalitie with the Father . The second part of the Chapter layeth downe the Office of Christ , his Propheticall , his Priestly , his Royall Office. For the first , the Office of a Prophet consisting in three severall exercises , to manifest things past , to foretell things to come , and to expound thing present , Christ declared himself to be a Prophet in all these three : for , for the first , he was not onely a Verball , but an Actuall manifester of former Prophecies , for all the former Prophecies were accomplished in his Person , and in his deeds , and words , in his actions and Passion . For the second , his foretelling of future things , he foretold the state of the Church , to the end of the world . And for the third ( declaring of present things ) He told the Samaritan woman , so exquisitely , all her own History , that she gave presently that attestation , Sir , I see that thou art a Prophet : so his Propheticall Office , is plainly laid down . For his second Office , his Priesthood , that is expressed in the 36. verse , Behold the Lambe of God ; for , in this , he was our Priest , that he was our Sacrifice ; he was our Priest , in that he offered himselfe for our sinnes . Lastly , his Royall Office was the most naturall to him of all the rest . The Office of a Prophet was Naturall to none ; none was born a Prophet . Those who are called the children of the Prophets , and the sonnes of the Prophets , are but the Prophets Disciples . Though the Office of Priesthood , by being annexed to one Tribe , may ( in some sense ) be called Naturall , yet in Christ it could not be so , for he was not of that Tribe of Levi : so that he had no interest in the legall Priesthood , but was a Priest according to the Order of Melchisedec . But his Title to be King , was naturall , by descent , he was of the bloud Royall , and the nearest in succession ; so that he , and onely he , had , De Iure , all the three unctions upon him . David had two ; he was both a Prophet , and a King ; he had those two capacities ; Melchisedec had two too ; he was both a King and a Priest ; he had two : Onely Christ had all three , both a Prophet , and Priest , and King. In the third part of the Chapter , which is the calling of foure of his Apostles , we may observe that the first was called , was not Peter , but Andrew ; that there might be laid at first some interruption , some stop to their zealous fury , who will still force , and heap up every action which any way concerns Saint Peter , to the building up of his imaginary primacy , which primacy , they cared not though Peter wanted , if they could convey that primacy to his Successor , by any other Title ; for which Successours sake it is , and not for Saint Peters own , that they are so over diligent in advancing his prerogative . But , it was not Peter , that was called , but Andrew . In Andrews present and earnest application of himself to Christ , we may note , ( and onely so ) divers particulars , fit for use and imitation . In his first question , Master , where dwellest thou ? there is not onely , ( as Cyrill observes ) a reverent ascribing to him a power of instructing in that compellation , Master , but a desire to have more time afforded to hearken to his instructions , Where dwellest thou , that I may dwell with thee ? And as soon as ever he had taken in some good portion of knowledge himselfe , he conceives presently a desire to communicate his happinesse with others ; and he seeks his brother Peter , and tells him , Invenimus Messiam , we have found the Messias ; which is , ( as Saint Chrysostome notes ) vox quaerentis : In this , that he rejoyces in the finding of him , he testifies that he had sought him , and that he had continued in the expectation of a Messias before . Invenit Messiam , he had found the Messias ; but , saith the Text , Duxit ad Iesum , he brought his brother the glorious newes of having found a King , the King of the Jewes , but he led him to Iesus , to a Saviour ; that so , all kinds of happinesse , temporall and spirituall , might be intimated in this discovery of a King , and of a Saviour ; What may not his servants hope for at his hands , who is both those , a King and a Saviour , and hath worldly preferments , and the Glory of Heaven in his power ? Now , though the words of this Text , ( He was not that light , but was sent to beare witnesse of that light ) are placed in the first part of the Chapter , that which concernes Christs Divine nature , yet they belong , and they have a respect to all three ; To his Divine nature , to his Offices , and to his Calling of his Apostles : For , first , light denotes his Divine nature ; secondly , the testimony that is given of him by Iohn Baptist , ( of whom the words of our Text are spoken ) declares him to be the Messias , and Messias , ( which signifies anointed ) involves all his Offices , are his three Offices , are his three vocations ; and thirdly , the Application of this testimony , given by Iohn Baptist here , by the Apostles and their Successors after , intimates or brings to our memory this their first vocation , in this Chapter . So that the Gospel of Saint Iohn containes all Divinity , this Chapter all the Gospell , and this Text all the Chapter . Therefore it is too large to goe through at this time ; at this time we shall insist upon such branches as arise out of that consideration , what , and who this light is , ( for , we shall finde it to be both a personall light , ( it is some body ) and , otherwise too , a reall light , ( it is some thing ) therefore we inquire , what , this light is , ( what thing ) and who this light is , ( what person ) which Iohn Baptist is denied to be . Hereafter we shall consider , the Testimony which is given of this light ; in which part in due time , we shall handle , the person of the witnesse Iohn Baptist , in whom we shall finde many considerable , and extraordinary circumstances : and then , his Citation , and calling to this testimony ; and thirdly , the testimony it selfe that he gave : and lastly , why any testimony was requisite to so evident a thing as light . But the first part , who , and what this light is , belongs most properly to this day , and will fill that portion of the day , which is afforded us for this exercise . Proceed we therefore to that , Iohn Baptist was not that light , who was , what was ? Though most expositors , as well ancient , as modern agree with one generall , and unanime consent , that light in this verse is intended and meant of Christ , Christ is this light , yet in some precedent and subsequent passages in this Chapter , I see other senses have been admitted of this word , light , then perchance those places will beare ; certainly other then those places need : particularly , in the fourth verse ( In it was life , and that life was the light of men ) there they understand life , to be nothing but this naturall life which we breath , and light to be onely that naturall life , naturall reason , which distinguishes us men , from other creatures . Now , it is true that they may have a pretence for some ground of this interpretation in antiquity it selfe , for , so says Saint Cyrill , Filius Dei Creativè illuminat , Christ doth enlighten us , in creating us . And so some others of the Fathers , and some of the Schooles , understand by that light naturall Reason , and that life , conservation in life . But this interpretation seemes to me subject to both these dangers , that it goes so farre , and yet reaches not home . So far , in wresting in divers senses into a word , which needs but one , and is of it selfe cleare enough , that is light , and yet reaches not home , for it reaches not to the essentiall light , which is Christ Iesus , nor to the supernaturall light , which is Faith and Grace , which seemes to have been the Evangelists principall scope , to declare the comming of Christ , ( who is the essentiall light ) and his purpose in comming , to raise and establish a Church , by Faith and Grace , which is the supernaturall light : For , as the holy Ghost himselfe interprets life to be meant of Christ , ( He that hath the Sonne hath life ) so we may justly doe of light too , he that sees the Sonne , the Sonne of God hath light . For , light is never , ( to my remembrance ) found in any place of the Scripture , where it must necessarily signifie the light of nature , naturall reason ; but wheresoever it is transferred from the naturall to a figurative sense , it takes a higher signification then that ; either it signifies Essentiall light , Christ Jesus , ( which answers our first question , Quis lux , who is this light , it is Christ , personally ) or it signifies the supernaturall light of Faith and Grace , ( which answers our second question , Quid lux , what is this light , for it is the working of Christ , by his Spirit , in his Church , in the infusion of Faith and Grace , for beliefe , and manners ) And therefore though it be ever lawfull , and often times very usefull , for the raising and exaltation of our devotion , and to present the plenty , and abundance of the holy Ghost in the Scriptures , who satisfies us as with marrow , and with fatnesse , to induce the diverse senses that the Scriptures doe admit , yet this may not be admitted , if there may be danger thereby , to neglect or weaken the literall sense it selfe . For there is no necessity of that spirituall wantonnesse of finding more then necessary senses ; for , the more lights there are , the more shadows are also cast by those many lights . And , as it is true in religious duties , so is it in interpretation of matters of Religion , Necessarium & Satis convertuntur ; when you have done that you ought to doe in your calling , you have done enough ; there are no such Evangelicall counsailes , as should raise workes of supererogation , more then you are bound to doe , so when you have the necessary sense , that is the meaning of the holy Ghost in that place , you have senses enow , and not till then , though you have never so many , and never so delightfull . Light therefore , is in all this Chapter fitliest understood of Christ ; who is noted here , with that distinctive article , Illa lux , that light . For , non sic dicitur lux , sicut lapis ; Christ is not so called Light , as he is called a Rock , or a Cornerstone ; not by a metaphore , but truly , and properly . It is true that the Apostles are said to be light , and that with an article , the light ; but yet with a limitation and restriction , the light of the world , that is , set up to convey light to the world . It is true that Iohn Baptist himselfe was called light , and with large additions , Lucerna ardens , a burning , and a shining lampe , to denote both his owne burning zeale , and the communicating of this his light to others . It is true , that all the faithfull are said to be light in the Lord ; but all this is but to signifie that they had been in darknesse before ; they had been beclouded , but were now illustrated ; they were light , but light by reflexion , by illustration of a greater light . And as in the first creation , vesper & mane dies unus , The evening and the morning made the day , evening before morning , darknesse before light , so in our regeneration , when wee are made new Creatures , the Spirit of God findes us in naturall darknesse , and by him we are made light in the Lord. But Christ himselfe , and hee onely , is Illa lux , vera lux ; that light , the true light . Not so opposed to those other lights , as though the Apostles , or Iohn Baptist , or the faithfull , who are called lights , were false lights ; but that they were weake lights . But Christ was fons lucis , the fountaine of all their light ; light so , as no body else was so ; so , as that hee was nothing but light . Now , neither the Apostles , nor Iohn Baptist , nor the Elect , no nor the virgin Mary ( though wee should allow all that the Roman Church aske in her behalfe ) for the Roman Church is not yet come to that searednesse , that obduratenesse , that impudency , as to pronounce that the virgin Mary was without originall sinne , ( though they have done many shrewd acts towards it , to the prejudice of the contrary opinion ) yet none of these were so light , as they were nothing but light . Moses himselfe who received and delivered the law , was not so ; and to intimate so much , there was an illustration , and irradiation upon his face , but not so of all his body . Nay , Christ Iesus himselfe , who fulfilled the law , as man , was not so ; which he also intimated in the greatest degree of glorification which he accepted upon earth , which was his transfiguration , for , though it be said in that , That the fashion of his Countenance was changed , and his garment was white , and glistered , yet , lineamenta Petro agnoscibilia servavit , hee kept that former proportion of body , that Peter could know him by it . So that this was not a glorifying of the body , and making it thorough light ; but hee suffered his Divine nature to appeare and shine thorough his flesh , and not to swallow , or annihilate that flesh . All other men , by occasion of this flesh , have darke clouds , yea nights , yea long and frozen winter nights of sinne , and of the works of darknesse . Christ was incapable of any such nights , or any such clouds , any approaches towards sinne ; but yet Christ admitted some shadowes , some such degrees of humane infirmity , as by them , he was willing to show , that the nature of man , in the best perfection thereof , is not vera lux , tota lux , true light , all light , which he declared in that Si possible , and that Transeat calix , If it hee possible , let this cup passe ; words , to which himselfe was pleased to allow so much of a retractation , and a correction , Veruntamen , yet Father , whatsoever the sadnesse of my soule have made mee say , yet , not my will but thine be done ; not mine , but thine ; so that they were not altogether , all one ; humane infirmity made some difference . So that no one man , not Christ , ( considered but so as man ) was tota lux , all light , no cloud . No not mankinde , consider it collectively , can bee light so , as that there shall bee no darknesse . It was not so , when all mankind was in one person , in Adam . It is said sometimes in School , that no man can keep the commandements , yet man , collectively , may keep them . They intend no more herein , but that some one man may abstaine from doing any act against worshipping of Images , another from stealing , another from adultery , and others from others . But if it were possible to compose a man of such elements , as that the principallest vertues , and eminencies of all other men , should enter into his composition , and if there could bee found a man , as perfect in all particular vertues , as Moses was in meeknesse , ( who was a meeke man , above all the men that were upon the earth ) yet this man would not bee vera lux , tota lux , true light , all light . Moses was not so meeke , but that hee slew the Egyptian , nor so meek , but that hee disputed and expostulated with God many times , passionately . Every man is so far from beeing tota lux , all light , as that he hath still within him , a darke vapor of orginall sinne , and the cloud of humane flesh without him . Nay not onely no man , ( for so we may consider him in the whole course of his life ) but noone act , of the most perfect , and religious man in the world , though that act employ but halfe a minute in the doing thereof , can bee vera lux , true light , all light , so perfect light , as that it may serve another , or thy selfe , for a lanthorne to his , or thy feet , or a light to his , or thy steps , so that hee or thou may thinke it enough to doe so still . For , another man may doe so good works , as it may justly work to thy shame , and confusion , and to the aggravating of thy condemnation , that thou livest not as well as hee , yet , it would not perchance serve thy turne , to live but so well ; for , to whom God gives more , of him he requires more . No man hath veram lucem , true light , thorough light ; no man hath meridiem , Augem , that high point that casts no shadow , because , besides originall sinne , that ever smoakes up , and creates a foote in the soule , and besides naturall infirmities , which become sinnes , when wee consider Grace , no man does carry his good actions to that heighth as , by that grace , which God affords him , hee might doe . Slacker men have a declination even in their mornings ; a West even in their East ; coolings , and faintnesses and after-noones , as soon as they have any dawnings , any breake of day , any inchoation of any spirituall action or purpose . Others have some farther growth , and increasing , and are more diligent in the observation of spirituall duties ; but yet they have not their meridiem , their Augem , their noon , their south point , no such heighth , as that they might not have a higher , by that grace which they have received . In the best degree of our best actions , particularly in this service , which wee doe to God at this houre , if we brought with us hither a religious purpose to sanctifie this festivall , if wee answer to the callings of his most blessed Spirit , whilest wee are here , if wee carry away a detestation of our sinnes , and a holy purpose of amendment of life , this is a good degree of proficiency , and God bee blessed , if any of us all arrive to that degree ; but yet , this is not vera lux , true light , all light ; for , who amongst us can avoid the testimony of his conscience , that since he begun this present service to God , his thoughts have not strayed upon pleasures and vanities or profit , and leapt the walls of this Church , yea , perchance within the walls of this flesh , which should bee the Temple of the holy Ghost ? Besides , to become vera lux , tota lux , true light , thorough light , requires persebrrance to the end . So that till our naturall light goe out , wee cannot say that wee have this light ; for , as the darknesse of hell fire is , so this light of this heavenly fire , must bee everlasting . If ever it go cleane out , it was never throughly kindled , but kindled to our farther damnation ; it was never vera lux , true light , for , as one office of the law is , but to show sinne , so all the light of grace may end in this , to show me my desperate estate , from the abuse of grace . In all Philosophy there is not so darke a thing as light ; As the sunne , which is fons lucis naturalis , the beginning of naturall light , is the most evident thing to bee seen , and yet the hardest to be looked upon , so is naturall light to our reason and understanding . Nothing clearer , for it is clearnesse it selfe , nothing darker , it is enwrapped in so many scruples . Nothing nearer , for it is round about us , nothing more remote , for wee know neither entrance , nor limits of it . Nothing more easie , for a child discerns it , nothing more hard , for no man understands it . It is apprehensible by sense , and not comprehensible by reason . If wee winke , wee cannot chuse but see it , if we stare , wee know it never the better . No man is yet got so neare to the knowledge of the qualities of light , as to know whether light it selfe be a quality , or a substance . If then this naturall light be so darke to our naturall reason , if wee shall offer to pierce so far , into the light of this text , the Essentiall light Christ Iesus , ( in his nature , or but in his offices ) or the supernaturall light of faith and grace , ( how far faith may be had , and yet lost , and how far the freewill of man may concur and cooperate with grace , and yet still remaine nothing in it selfe ) if wee search farther into these points , then the Scripture hath opened us a way , how shall wee hope to unentangle , or extricate our selves ? They had a precious composition for lamps , amongst the ancients , reserved especially for Tombes , which kept light for many hundreds of yeares ; we have had in our age experience , in some casuall openings of ancient vaults , of finding such lights , as were kindled , ( as appeared by their inscriptions ) fifteen or sixteen hundred years before ; but , as soon as that light comes to our light , it vanishes . So this eternall , and this supernaturall light , Christ and faith , enlightens , warmes , purges , and does all the profitable offices of fire , and light , if we keep it in the right spheare , in the proper place , ( that is , if wee consist in points necessary to salvation , and revealed in the Scripture ) but when wee bring this light to the common light of reason , to our inferences , and consequencies , it may be in danger to vanish it selfe , and perchance extinguish our reason too ; we may search so far , and reason so long of faith and grace , as that we may lose not onely them , but even our reason too , and sooner become mad then good . Not that we are bound to believe any thing against reason , that is , to believe , we know not why . It is but a slacke opinion , it is not Beliefe , that is not grounded upon reason . He that should come to a Heathen man , a meere naturall man , uncatechized , uninstructed in the rudiments of the Christian Religion , and should at first , without any preparation , present him first with this necessitie ; Thou shalt burn in fire and brimstone eternally , except thou believe a Trinitie of Persons , in an unitie of one God , Except thou believe the Incarnation of the second Person of the Trinitie , the Sonne of God , Except thou believe that a Virgine had a Soone , and the same Sonne that God had , and that God was Man too , and being the immortall God , yet died , he should be so farre from working any spirituall cure upon this poore soule , as that he should rather bring Christian Mysteries into scorne , then him to a beliefe . For , that man , if you proceed so , Believe all , or you burne in Hell , would finde an easie , an obvious way to escape all ; that is , first not to believe Hell it selfe , and then nothing could binde him to believe the rest . The reason therefore of Man , must first be satisfied ; but the way of such satisfaction must be this , to make him see , That this World , a frame of so much harmony , so much concinnitie and conveniencie , and such a correspondence , and subordination in the parts thereof , must necessarily have had a workeman , for nothing can make it selfe : That no such workeman would deliver over a frame , and worke , of so much Majestie , to be governed by Fortune , casually , but would still retain the Administration thereof in his owne hands : That if he doe so , if he made the World , and sustaine it still by his watchfull Providence , there belongeth a worship and service to him , for doing so : That therefore he hath certainly revealed to man , what kinde of worship , and service , shall be acceptable to him : That this manifestation of his Will , must be permanent , it must be written , there must be a Scripture , which is his Word and his Will : And that therefore , from that Scripture , from that Word of God , all Articles of our Beliefe are to bee drawne . If then his Reason confessing all this , aske farther proofe , how he shall know that these Scriptures accepted by the Christian Church , are the true Scriptures , let him bring any other Booke which pretendeth to be the Word of God , into comparison with these ; It is true , we have not a Demonstration ; not such an Evidence as that one and two , are three , to prove these to be Scriptures of God ; God hath not proceeded in that manner , to drive our Reason into a pound , and to force it by a peremptory necessitie to accept these for Scriptures , for then , here had been no exercise of our Will , and our assent , if we could not have resisted . But yet these Scriptures have so orderly , so sweet , and so powerfull a working upon the reason , and the understanding , as if any third man , who were utterly discharged of all preconceptions and anticipations in matter of Religion , one who were altogether neutrall , disinteressed , unconcerned in either party , nothing towards a Turke , and as little toward a Christian , should heare a Christian pleade for his Bible , and a Turke for his Alcoran , and should weigh the evidence of both ; the Majesty of the Style , the punctuall accomplishment of the Prophecies , the harmony and concurrence of the foure Evangelists , the consent and unanimity of the Christian Church ever since , and many other such reasons , he would be drawne to such an Historicall , such a Grammaticall , such a Logicall beliefe of our Bible , as to preferre it before any other , that could be pretended to be the Word of God. He would believe it , and he would know why he did so . For let no man thinke that God hath given him so much ease here , as to save him by believing he knoweth not what , or why . Knowledge cannot save us , but we cannot be saved without Knowledge ; Faith is not on this side Knowledge , but beyond it ; we must necessarily come to Knowledge first , though we must not stay at it , when we are come thither . For , a regenerate Christian , being now a new Creature , hath also a new facultie of Reason : and so believeth the Mysteries of Religion , out of another Reason , then as a meere naturall Man , he believed naturall and morall things . He believeth them for their own sake , by Faith though he take Knowledge of them before , by that common Reason , and by those humane Arguments , which worke upon other men , in naturall or morall things . Divers men may walke by the Sea side , and the same beames of the Sunne giving light to them all , one gathereth by the benefit of that light pebles , or speckled shells , for curious vanitie , and another gathers precious Pearle , or medicinall Ambar , by the same light . So the common light of reason illumins us all ; but one imployes this light upon the searching of impertinent vanities , another by a better use of the same light , finds out the Mysteries of Religion ; and when he hath found them , loves them , not for the lights sake , but for the naturall and true worth of the thing it self . Some men by the benefit of this light of Reason , have found out things profitable and usefull to the whole world ; As in particular , Printing , by which the learning of the whole world is communicacable to one another , and our minds and our inventions , our wits and compositions may trade and have commerce together , and we may participate of one anothers understandings , as well as of our Clothes , and Wines , and Oyles , and other Merchandize : So by the benefit of this light of reason , they have found out Artillery , by which warres come to quicker ends then heretofore , and the great expence of bloud is avoyded : for the numbers of men slain now , since the invention of Artillery , are much lesse then before , when the sword was the executioner . Others , by the benefit of this light have searched and found the secret corners of gaine , and profit , wheresoever they lie . They have found wherein the weakenesse of another man consisteth , and made their profit of that , by circumventing him in a bargain : They have found his riotous , and wastefull inclination , and they have fed and fomented that disorder , and kept open that leake , to their advantage , and the others ruine . They have found where was the easiest , and most accessible way , to sollicite the Chastitie of a woman , whether Discourse , Musicke , or Presents , and according to that discovery , they have pursued hers , and their own eternall destruction . By the benefit of this light , men see through the darkest , and most impervious places , that are , that is , Courts of Princes , and the greatest Officers in Courts ; and can submit themselves to second , and to advance the humours of men in great place , and so make their profit of the weakenesses which they have discovered in these great men . All the wayes , both of Wisdome , and of Craft lie open to this light , this light of naturall reason : But when they have gone all these wayes by the benefit of this light , they have got no further , then to have walked by a tempestuous Sea , and to have gathered pebles , and speckled cockle shells . Their light seems to be great out of the same reason , that a Torch in a misty night , seemeth greater then in a clear , because it hath kindled and inflamed much thicke and grosse Ayre round about it . So the light and wisedome of worldly men , seemeth great , because he hath kindled an admiration , or an applause in Aiery flatterers , not because it is so in deed . But , if thou canst take this light of reason that is in thee , this poore snuffe , that is almost out in thee , thy saint and dimme knowledge of God , that riseth out of this light of nature , if thou canst in those embers , those cold ashes , finde out one small coale , and wilt take the paines to kneell downe , and blow that coale with thy devout Prayers , and light thee a little candle , ( a desire to read that Booke , which they call the Scriptures , and the Gospell , and the Word of God ; ) If with that little candle thou canst creep humbly into low and poore places , if thou canst finde thy Saviour in a Manger , and in his swathing clouts , in his humiliation , and blesse God for that beginning , if thou canst finde him flying into Egypt , and finde in thy selfe a disposition to accompany him in a persecution , in a banishment , if not a bodily banishment , a locall banishment , yet a reall , a spirituall banishment , a banishment from those sinnes , and that sinnefull conversation , which thou hast loved more then thy Parents , or Countrey , or thine owne body , which perchance thou hast consumed , and destroyed with that sinne ; if thou canst finde him contenting and containing himselfe at home in his fathers house , and not breaking out , no not about the worke of our salvation , till the due time was come , when it was to be done . And if according to that example , thou canst contain thy selfe in that station and vocation in which God hath planted thee , and not , through a hasty and precipitate zeale , breake out to an imaginary , and intempestive , and unseasonable Reformation , either in Civill or Ecclesiasticall businesse , which belong not to thee ; if with this little poore light , these first degrees of Knowledge and Faith , thou canst follow him into the Garden , and gather up some of the droppes of his precious Bloud and sweat , which he shed for thy soule , if thou canst follow him to Ierusalem , and pick up some of those teares , which he shed upon that City , and upon thy soule ; if thou canst follow him to the place of his scourging , and to his crucifying , and provide thee some of that balme , which must cure thy soule ; if after all this , thou canst turne this little light inward , and canst thereby discerne where thy diseases , and thy wounds , and thy corruptions are , and canst apply those teares , and blood and balme to them , ( all this is , That if thou attend the light of naturall reason , and cherish that , and exalt that , so that that bring thee to a love of the Scriptures , and that love to a beleefe of the truth thereof , and that historicall faith to a faith of application , of appropriation , that as all those things were certainly done , so they were certainly done for thee ) thou shalt never envy the lustre and glory of the great lights of worldly men , which are great by the infirmity of others , or by their own opinion , great because others think them great , or because they think themselves so , but thou shalt finde , that howsoever they magnifie their lights , their wit , their learning , their industry , their fortune , their favour , and sacrifice to their owne nets , yet thou shalt see , that thou by thy small light hast gathered Pearle and Amber , and they by their great lights nothing but shels and pebles ; they have determined the light of nature , upon the booke of nature , this world , and thou hast carried the light of nature higher , thy naturall reason , and even humane arguments , have brought thee to reade the Scriptures , and to that love , God hath set to the seale of faith . Their light shall set at noone ; even in their heighth , some heavy crosse shall cast a damp upon their soule , and cut off all their succours , and devest them of all comforts , and thy light shall grow up , from a faire hope , to a modest assurance and infallibility , that that light shall never go out , nor the works of darknesse , nor the Prince of darknesse ever prevaile upon thee , but as thy light of reason is exalted by faith here , so thy light of faith shall be exalted into the light of glory , and fruition in the Kingdome of heaven . Before the sunne was made , there was a light which did that office of distinguishing night and day ; but when the sunne was created , that did all the offices of the former light , and more● Reason is that first , and primogeniall light , and goes no farther in a naturall man ; but in a man regenerate by faith , that light does all that reason did , and more ; and all his Morall , and Civill , and Domestique , and indifferent actions , ( though they be never done without Reason ) yet their principall scope , and marke is the glory of God , and though they seeme but Morall , or Civill , or domestique , yet they have a deeper tincture , a heavenly nature , a relation to God , in them . The light in our Text then , is essentially and personally Christ himself , from him flowes the supernaturall light of faith and grace , here also intended ; and because this light of faith , and grace flowing from that fountaine of light Christ Jesus , works upon the light of nature , and reason , it may conduce to the raising of your devotions , if we do ( without any long insisting upon the severall parts thereof ) present to you some of those many and divers lights , which are in this world , and admit an application to this light in our Text , the essentiall light , Christ Iesus ; and the supernaturall light , faith and grace . Of these lights we shall consider some few couples ; and the first payre , Lux Essentiae , and Lux Gloriae , the light of the Essence of God , and the light of the glory of his Saints . And though the first of these , be that essentiall light , by which we shall see God face to face , as he is , and the effluence and emanation of beams , from the face of God , which make that place Heaven , of which light it is said , That God who onely hath Immortality , dwels in luce inaccessibili , in the light that none can attaine to , yet by the light of faith , and grace in sanctification , we may come to such a participation of that light of Essence , or such a reflection of it in this world , that it shall be true of us , which was said of those Ephesians , You were once darknesse , but now are light in the Lord ; he does not say enlightned , nor lightsome , but light it self , light essentially , for our conversation is in heaven ; And as God sayes of Ierusalem , and his blessings here in this world , Calceavit Ianthino , I have shod thee , with Badgers skinne , ( some translate it ) ( which the Antients take for some precious stuffe ) that is , I have enabled thee to tread upon all the most estimable things of this world , ( for as the Church it self is presented , so every true member of the Church is endowed , Luna sub pedibus , the Moone , and all under the Moone is under our feet , we tread upon this world , even when we are trodden upon in it ) so the precieus promises of Christ , make us partakers of the Divine Nature , and the light of faith , makes us the same Spirit with the Lord ; And this is our participation of the light of essence , in this life . The next is the light of glory . This is that Glorification which we shall have at the last day , of which glory , we consider a great part to be in that Denudation , that manifestation of all to all ; as , in this world , a great part of our inglorious servitude is in those disguises , and palliations , those colours , and pretences of publique good , with which men of power and authority apparell their oppressions of the poore ; In this are we the more miserable , that we cannot see their ends , that there is none of this denudation , this laying open of ourselves to one another , which shall accompany that state of glory , where we shall see one anothers bodies , and soules , actions and thoughts . And therefore , as if this place were now that Tribunall of Christ Jesus , and this that day of Judgement , and denudation , we must be here , as we shall be there , content to stand naked before him ; content that there be a discovery , a revealing , a manifestation of all our sinnes , wrought upon us , at least to our owne consciences , though not to the congregation ; If we will have glory , we must have this denudation . We must not be glad , when our sins scape the Preacher . We must not say , ( as though there were a comfort in that ) though he have hit such a mans Adultery , and anothers Ambition , and anothers extortion , yet , for all his diligence , he hath missed my sinne ; for , if thou wouldest faine have it mist , thou wouldest faine hold it still . And then , why camest thou hither ? What camest thou for to Church , or to the Sacrament ? Why doest thou delude God , with this complementall visit , to come to his house , if thou bring not with thee , a disposition to his honour , and his service ? Camest thou onely to try whether God knew thy sinne , and could tell thee of it , by the Preacher ? Alas , he knowes it infallibly ; And , if he take no knowledge of his knowing it , to thy conscience , by the words of the Preacher , thy state is the more desperate . God sends us to preach forgivenesse of sinnes ; where wee finde no sinne , we have no Commission to execute ; How shall we finde your sinnes ? In the old sacrifices of the law , the Priest did not fetch the sacrifice from the herd , but he received it from him that brought it , and so sacrificed it for him . Doe thou therefore prevent the Preacher ; Accuse thyselfe before he accuse thee ; offer up thy sinne thy selfe ; Bring it to the top of thy memory , and thy conscience , that he finding it there , may sacrifice it for thee ; Tune the instrument , and it is the fitter for his hand . Remember thou thine own sins , first and then every word that fals from the preachers lipsshall be a drop of the dew of heaven , a dram of the balme of Gilead , a portion of the bloud of thy Saviour , to wash away that sinne , so presented by thee to be so sacrificed by him ; for , if thou onely of all the congregation finde that the preacher hath not touched thee , nor hit thy sinnes , know then , that thou wast not in his Commission for the Remission of sinnes , and be afraid , that thy conscience is either gangrend , and unsensible of all incisions , and cauterizations , that can be made by denouncing the Iudgements of God , ( which is as far as the preacher can goe ) or that thy whole constitution , thy complexion , thy composition is sinne ; the preacher cannot hit thy particular sinne , because thy whole life , and the whole body of thy actions is one continuall sin . As long as a man is alive , if there appeare any offence in his breath , the physician will assigne it to some one corrupt place , his lungs , or teeth , or stomach , and thereupon apply convenient remedy thereunto . But if he be dead , and putrefied , no man askes from whence that ill aire and offence comes , because it proceeds from thy whole carcasse . So , as long as there is in you a sense of your sinnes , as long as we can touch the offended and wounded part , and be felt by you , you are not desperate , though you be froward , and impatient of our increpations . But when you feele nothing , whatsoever wee say , your soule is in an Hectique fever , where the distemper is not in any one humor , but in the whole substance ; nay , your soule it selfe is become a carcasse . This then is our first couple of these lights , by our Conversation in heaven here , ( that is , a watchfulnesse , that we fall not into sinne ) we have lucem essentiae , possession and fruition of heaven , and of the light of Gods presence ; and then , if we doe , by infirmity , fall into sinne , yet , by this denudation of our soules , this manifestation of our sinnes to God by confession , and to that purpose , a gladnesse when we heare our sinne spoken of by the preacher , we have lumen gloriae , an inchoation of our glorified estate ; and then , an other couple of these lights , which we propose to be considered , is lumen fidei , and lumen naturae , the light of faith , and the light of nature . Of these two lights , Faith and Grace , first , and then Nature and Reason , we said something before , but never too much , be cause contentious spirits have cast such clouds upon both these lights , that some have said , Nature doth all alone , and others , that Nature hath nothing to do at all , but all is Grace : we decline wranglings , that tend not to edification , we say onely to our present purpose , ( which is the operation of these severall couples of lights ) that by this light of Faith , to him which hath it , all that is involved in Prophecies , is clear , and evident , as in a History already done ; and all that is wrapped up in promises , is his own already in performance . That man needs not goe so high , for his assurance of a Messias and Redeemer , as to the first promise made to him in Adam , nor for the limitation of the stock and race from whence this Messias should come : so far as to the renewing of this promise in Abraham : nor for the description of this Messias who he should be , and of whom he should be born , as to Esaias ; nor to Micheas , for the place ; nor for the time when he should accomplish all this , so far as to Daniel ; no , nor so far , as to the Evangelists themselves , for the History and the evidence , that all this that was to be done in his behalf by the Messias , was done 1600. yeares since . But he hath a whole Bible , and an abundant Library in his own heart , and there by this light of Faith , ( which is not onely a knowing , but an applying , an appropriating of all to thy benefit ) he hath a better knowledge then all this , then either Propheticall , or Evangelicall ; for though both these be irrefragable , and infallible proofs of a Messias , ( the Propheticall , that he should , the Evangelicall , that he is come ) yet both these might but concern others : this light of Faith brings him home to thee . How sure so ever I be , that the world shall never perish by water , yet I may be drowned ; and how sure so ever that the Lamb of God hath taken away the sinnes of the world , I may perish , without I have this applicatory Faith. And as he needs not looke back to Esay , nor Abraham , nor Adam , for the Messias , so neither needs he to looke forward . He needs not stay in expectation of the Angels Trumpets , to awaken the dead ; he is not put to his usquequo Domine , How long , Lord , wilt thou defer our restitution ? but he hath already died the death of the righteous ; which is , to die to sinne ; He hath already had his buriall , by being buried with Christ in Baptisme , he hath had his Resurrection from sinne , his Ascension to holy purposes of amendment of life , and his Iudgement , that is , peace of Conscience , sealed unto him , and so by this light of applying Faith , he hath already apprehended an eternall possession of Gods eternall Kingdome . And the other light in this second couple is Lux naturae , the light of Nature . This , though a fainter light , directs us to the other , Nature to Faith : and as by the quantitie in the light of the Moone , we know the position and distance of the Sunne , how far , or how neare the Sunne is to her , so by the working of the light of Nature in us , we may discern , ( by the measure and virtue and heat of that ) how near to the other greater light , the light of Faith , we stand . If we finde our naturall faculties rectified , so as that that free will which we have in Morall and Civill actions , be bent upon the externall duties of Religion , ( as every naturall man may , out of the use of that free will , come to Church , heare the Word preached , and believe it to be true ) we may be sure , the other greater light is about us . If we be cold in them , in actuating , in exalting , in using our naturall faculties so farre , we shall be deprived of all light ; we shall not see the Invisible God , in visible things , which Saint Paul makes so inexcusable , so unpardonable a thing , we shall not see the hand of God in all our worldly crosses , nor the seal of God in all our worldly blessings ; we shall not see the face of God in his House , his presence here in the Church , nor the mind of God in his Gospell , that his gracious purposes upon mankinde , extend so particularly , or reach so far , as to include us . I shall heare in the Scripture his Vinite omnes , come all , and yet I shall thinke that● his eye was not upon me , that his eye did not becken me and I shall heare the Deus vult omnes salves , that God would save all , and yet I shall finde some perverse reason in my selfe , why it is not likely that God will save me . I am commanded scrutari Scripturas , to search the scriptures ; now , that is not to be able to repeat any history of the Bible without booke , it is not to ruffle a Bible , and upon any word to turne to the Chapter , and to the verse ; but this is exquisit a scrutatio , the true searching of the Scriptures , to finde all the histories to be examples to me , all the prophecies to induce a Saviour for me , all the Gospell to apply Christ Jesus to me . Turne over all the folds , and plaits of thine owne heart , and finde there the infirmities , and waverings of thine owne faith , and an ability to say , Lord , I beleeve , help mine unbeleefe , and then , though thou have no Bible in thy hand , or though thou stand in a dark corner , nay though thou canst not reade a letter , thou hast searched that Scripture , thou hast turned to Marke 9. ver . 24 Turne thine eare to God , and heare him turning to thee , and saying to thy soule , I will marry thee to my selfe for ever ; and thou hast searched that Scripture , and turned to Hos. 2. ver . 19. Turne to thine owne histery , thine owne life , and if thou canst reade there , that thou hast endeavoured to turne thine ignorance into knowledge , and thy knowledge into Practice , if thou finde thy selfe to be an example of that rule of Christs , If you know these things , blessed are you , if you do them , then thou hast searched that Scripture , and turned to Io. 13. ver . 14. This is Scrutari Scripturas , to Search the Scriptures , not as though thou wouldest make a concordance , but an application ; as thou wouldest search a wardrobe , not to make an Inventory of it , but to finde in it something fit for thy wearing . Iohn Baptist was not the light , he was not Christ , but he bore witnesse of him . The light of faith , in the highest exaltation that can be had , in the Elect , here , is not that very beatificall vision , which we shall have in heaven , but it beares witnesse of that light . The light of nature , in the highest exaltation is not faith , but it beares witnesse of it . The lights of faith , and of nature , are subordinate Iohn Baptists : faith beares me witnesse , that I have Christ , and the light of nature , that is , the exalting of my naturall faculties towards religious uses , beares me witnesse , that I have faith . Onely that man , whose conscience testifies to himself , and whose actions testifie to the world , that he does what he can , can beleeve himself , or be beleeved by others , that he hath the true light of faith . And therefore , as the Apostle saith , Quench not the Spirit , I say too , Quench not the light of Nature , suffer not that light to goe out ; study your naturall faculties ; husband and improve them , and love the outward acts of Religion , though an Hypocrite , and though a naturall man may doe them . Certainly he that loves not the Militant Church , hath but a faint faith in his interest in the Triumphant . He that cares not though the materiall Church fall , I am afraid is falling from the spirituall . For , can a man be sure to have his money , or his plate , if his house be burnt ? or to preserve his faith , if the outward exercises of Religion faile ? He that undervalues outward things , in the religious service of God , though he begin at ceremoniall and rituall things , will come quickly to call Sacraments but outward things , and Sermons , and publique prayers , but outward things , in contempt . As some Platonique Philosophers , did so over-refine Religion , and devotion , as to say , that nothing but the first thoughts and ebullitions of a devout heart , were fit to serve God in . If it came to any outward action of the body , kneeling , or lifting up of hands , if it came to be but invested in our words , and so made a Prayer , nay if it passed but a revolving , a turning in our inward thoughts , and thereby were mingled with our affections , though pious affections , yet , say they , it is not pure enough for a service to God ; nothing but the first motions of the heart is for him . Beloved , outward things apparell God ; and since God was content to take a body , let not us leave him naked , nor ragged ; but , as you will bestow not onely some cost , but some thoughts , some study , how you will clothe your children , and how you will clothe your servants , so bestow both cost and thoughts , thinke seriously , execute cheerfully in outward declarations , that which becomes the dignity of him , who evacuated himselfe for you . The zeale of his house needs not eat you up , no nor eat you out of house and home ; God asks not that at your hands . But , if you eat one dish the lesse at your feasts for his house sake , if you spare somewhat for his reliefe , and his glory , you will not be the leaner , nor the weaker , for that abstinence . Iohn Baptist bore witnesse of the light , outward things beare witnesse of your faith , the exalting of our naturall faculties beare witnesse of the supernaturall . We do not compare the master and the servant , and yet we thank that servant that brings us to his master . We make a great difference between the treasure in the chest , and the key that opens it , yet we are glad to have that key in our hands . The bell that cals me to Church , does not catechise me , nor preach to me , yet I observe the sound of that bell , because it brings me to him that does those offices to me . The light of nature is far from being enough ; but , as a candle may kindle a torch , so into the faculties of nature , well imployed , God infuses faith . And this is our second couple of lights , the subordination of the light of nature , and the light of faith . And a third payre of lights of attestation , that beare witnesse to the light of our Text , is Lux aeternorum Corporum , that light which the Sunne and Moone , and those glorious bodies give from heaven , and lux incensionum , that light , which those things ; that are naturally combustible , and apt to take fire , doe give upon earth ; both these beare witnesse of this light , that is , admit an application to it . For , in the first of these , the glorious lights of heaven , we must take nothing for stars , that are not stars ; nor make Astrological and fixed conclusions out of meteors , that are but transitory ; they may be Comets , and blazing starres , and so portend much mischiefe , but they are none of those aeterna corpora , they are not fixed stars , not stars of heaven . So is it also in the Christian Church , ( which is the proper spheare in which the light of our text , That light the essentiall light Christ Jesus moves by that supernaturall light of faith and grace , which is truly the Intelligence of that spheare , the Christian Chruch ) As in the heavens the stars were created at once , with one Fiat , and then being so made , stars doe not beget new stars , so the Christian doctrine necessary to salvation , was delivered at once , that is , intirely in one spheare , in the body of the Scriptures . And then , as stars doe not beget stars , Articles of faith doe not beget Articles of faith ; so , as that the Councell of Trent should be brought to bed of a new Creed , not conceived before by the holy Ghost in the Scriptures , and , ( which is a monstrous birth ) the child greater then the Father , as soon as it is borne , the new Creed of the Councell of Trent to containe more Articles , then the old Creed of the Apostles did . Saint Iude writing of the common salvation ( as he calls it ) ( for , Saint Iude , it seems , knew no such particular salvation , as that it was impossible for any man to have , salvation is common salvation ) exhorts them to contend earnestly for that faith , which was once delivered unto the Saints . Semel , once ; that is ; at once , semel , simul , once altogether . For this is also Tertullians note ; that the rule of faith is , that it be una , immobilis , irreformabilis ; it must not be deformed , it cannot be Reformed ; it must not be mard , it cannot be mended ; whatsoever needs mending , and reformation , cannot be the rule of faith , says Tertullian . Other foundation can no man lay then Christ ; not onely no better , but no other ; what other things soever are added by men , enter not into the nature and condition of a foundation . The additions , and traditions , and superedifications of the Roman Church , they are not lux aeternorum corporum , they are not fixed bodies , they are not stars to direct us ; they may be meteors , and so exercise our discourse , and Argumentation , they may raise controversies ; And they may be Comets , and so exercise our feares , and our jealousies , they may raise rebellions and Treasons , but they are not fixed and glorious bodies of heaven , they are not stars . Their non-communions , ( for , communions where there are no communicants , are no communions ) when they admit no bread at all , no wine at all , all is transubstantiated , are no communions ; their semi-communions , when they admit the bread to be given , but not the wine ; their sesqui-communions , Bread and Wine to the taste , and to all other trialls of bread and wine , and yet that bread and wine , the very body , and the very bloud of Christ ; their quotidian miracles , which destroy and contradict even the nature of the miracle , to make miracles ordinary , and fixed , constant and certain ; ( for , as that is not a miracle which nature does , so that 's not a miracle which man can doe certainly , constantly , infallibly every day , and every day , every Priest can miraculously change bread into the body of Christ , and besides they have certaine fixed shops , and Marts of miracles , in one place a shop of miracles for barrennesse , in another , a shop for the tooth-ache ) To contract this , their occasionall Divinity , doctrines to serve present occasions , that in eighty eight , an Hereticall Prince must necessarily be excommunicated , and an Hereticall Prince excommunicated must necessarily be deposed , but at another time it may be otherwise , and conveniencies , and dispensations may be admitted , these , and such as these , traditionall , occasionall , Almanack Divinity , they may bee Comets , they may be Meteors , they may raine bloud , and raine fire , and raine hailestones , hailstones as big as Talents , ( as it is in the Revelation ) milstones , to grinde the world by their oppressions , but they are not lux aeternorum corporum , the light of the stars and other heavenly bodies , for , they were made at once , and diminish not , encrease not . Fundamentall articles of faith , are always the same . And that 's our application of this lux aeternorum corporum , the light of those heavenly bodies , to the light of our Text , Christ working in the Church . Now , for the consideration of the other light in this third couple , which is lux incensionum , the light of things , which take , and give light here upon earth , if we reduce it to application and practise , and contract it to one Instance , it will appeare that the devotion and zeale of him , that is best affected , is , for the most part , in the disposition of a torch , or a knife , ordained to take fire , and to give light . If it have never been lightned , it does not easily take light , but it must be bruised , and beaten first ; if it have been lighted and put out ; though it cannot take fire of it self , yet it does easily conceive fire , if it be presented within any convenient distance . Such also is the soule of man towards the fires of the zeale of Gods glory , and compassion of others misery . If there be any that never tooke this fire , that was never affected with either of these , the glory of God , the miseries of other men , can I hope to kindle him ? It must be Gods worke to bruise and beat him , with his rod of affliction , before he will take fire . Paulus revelatione compulsus ad fidem , St. Paul was compelled to believe ; not the light which he saw , but the power which he felt wrought upon him ; not because that light shined from heaven , but because it strooke him to the earth . Agnoscimus Christum in Paulo prius cogentem , deinde docentem ; Christ begun not upon St. Paul , with a catechisme , but with a rod. If therefore here be any in Pauls case , that were never kindled before , Almighty God proceed the same way with them , and come so neare to a friendship towards them , as to be at enmity with them ; to be so mercifull to them , as to seeme unmercifull ; to be so well pleased , as to seeme angry ; that so by inflicting his medicinall afflictions , he may give them comfort by discomfort , and life by death , and make them seeke his face , by turning his face from them ; and not to suffer them to continue in a stupid inconsideration , and lamentable senslesnesse of their miserable condition , but bruise and breake them with his rod , that they may take fire . But for you , who have taken this fire before , that have been enlightned in both Sacraments , and in the preaching of the word ; in the meanes , and in some measure of practise of holinesse heretofore , if in not supplying oyle to your Lamps , which God by his ordinance had kindled in you , you have let this light go out by negligence or inconsideration , or that storms of worldly calamities have blowne it out , do but now at this instant call to minde , what sin of yesterday , or t'other day , or long ago , begun , and practised , and prevailed upon you , or what future sinne , what purpose of doing a sinne to night , or to morrow , possesses you ; do but thinke seriously what sinne , or what crosse hath blown out that light , that grace , which was formerly in you , before that sinne , or that crosse invaded you , and turne your soul , which hath been enlightned before , towards this fire which Gods Spirit blowes this minute , and you will conceive new fire , new zeale , new compassion . As this Lux incensionum , kindles easily , when it hath been kindled before , so the soule accustomed to the presence of God in holy meditations , though it fall asleep in some darke corner , in some sinne of infirmity , a while , yet , upon every holy occasion , it takes fire againe , and the meanest Preacher in the Church , shall worke more upon him , then the foure Doctors of the Church should be able to do , upon a person who had never been enlightned before , that is , never accustomed to the presence of God in his private meditations , or in his outward acts of Religion . And this is our third couple of lights , that beares witnesse , that is , admit an application to the light of our Text ; and then the fourth and last couple , which we consider , is Lux Depuratarum Mixtionum , the light and lustre of precious stones , and then Lux Repercussionum , the light of Repercussion , and Reflexion , when one body , though it have no light in it self , casts light upon other bodies . In the application of the first of these lights , Depuratarum Mixtionum , precious stones , we shall onely apply their making and their value . Precious stones are first drops of the dew of heaven , and then refined by the sunne of heaven . When by long lying they have exhal'd , and evaporated , and breathed out all their grosse matter , and received another concoction from the sunne , then they become precious in the eye , and estimation of men : so those actions of ours , that shall be precious or acceptable in the eye of God , must at first have been conceived from heaven , from the word of God , and then receive another concoction , by a holy deliberation , before we bring those actions to execution , lest we may have mistaken the roote thereof . Actions precious , or acceptable in Gods eye , must be holy purposes in their beginning , and then done in season ; the Dove must lay the egge , and hatch the bird ; the holy Ghost must infuse the purpose , and sit upon it , and overshadow it , and mature and ripen it , if it shall be precious in Gods eye . The reformation of abuses in State or Church , is a holy purpose , there is that drop of the dew of heaven in it ; but if it be unseasonably attempted , and have not a farther concoction , then the first motions of our owne zeale , it becomes ineffectuall . Stones precious in the estimation of men , begin with the dew of Heaven , and proceed with the sunne of Heaven ; Actions precious in the acceptation of God , are purposes conceived by his Spirit , and executed in his time to his Glory , not conceived out of Ambition , nor executed out of sedition . And this is the application of this Lux depuratarum mixtionum , of precious stones , out of their making , we proposed another out of their valuation ; which is this , That whereas a Pearle or Diamond of such a bignesse , of so many Carats , is so much worth , one that is twice as big , is ten times as much worth . So , though God vouchsafe to value every good work thou dost , yet as they grow greater he shall multiply his estimation of them infinitely , When he hath prized at a high rate , the chastitie and continency of thy youth , if thou adde to this , a moderation in thy middle age , from Ambition , and in thy latter age from covetousnesse and indevotion , there shall be no price in Gods treasure ( not the last drop of the blood of his Sonne ) too deare for thee , no roome , no state in his Kingdome ( not a Iointenancie with his onely Sonne ) too glorious for thee . This is one light in this Couple ; The lustre of precious stones : the other the last is Lux Repercussionum , The light of Repercussion , of Reflexion . This is , when Gods light cast upon us , reflecteth upon other men too , from us ; when God doth not onely accept our works for our selves , but imployes those works of ours upon other men . And here is a true , and a Divine Supererogation ; which the Devill , ( as he doth all Gods Actions , which fall into his compasse ) did mischievously counterfeit in the Romane Church , when he induced their Doctrine of Supererogation , that a man might do so much more then he was bound to do for God , as that that superplusage might save whom he would ; and that if he did not direct them in his intention , upon any particular person , the Bishop of Rome , was generall Administrator to all men , and might bestow them where he would . But here is a true supererogation ; not from Man , or his Merit , but from God ; when our good works shall not onely profit us , that do them , but others that see them done ; and when we by this light of Repercussion , of Reflexion , shall be made specula divinae gloriae , quae accipiunt & reddunt , such looking glasses as receive Gods face upon our selves , and cast it upon others by a holy life , and exemplary conversation . To end all , we have no warmth in our selves ; it is true , but Christ came even in the winter : we have no light in our selves ; it is true , but he came even in the night . And now , I appeall to your own Consciences , and I aske you all , ( not as a Iudge , but as an Assistant to your Consciences , and Amicus Curiae , ) whether any man have made a good use of this light , as he might have done . Is there any man that in the compassing of his sinne , hath not met this light by the way , Thou shouldest not do this ? Any man , that hath not onely as Balaam did , met this light as an Angell , ( that is , met Heavenly inspirations to avert him , ) but that hath not heard as Balaam did , his own Asse ; that is , those reasons that use to carry him , or those very worldly respects that use to carry him , dispute against that sinne , and tell him , not onely that there is more soule and more heaven , and more salvation , but more body , and more health , more honour , and more reputation , more cost , and more money , more labour , and more danger . spent upon such a sinne , then would have carried him the right way . They that sleep , sleep in the night , and they that are drunke , are drunke in the night . But to you the Day starre , the Sunne of Righteousnesse , the Sonne of God is risen this day . The day is but a little longer now , then at shortest ; but a little it is . Be a little better now , then when you came , and mend a little at every coming , and in lesse then seaven yeares app●entissage , which your occupations cost you , you shall learn , not the Mysteries of your twelve companies , but the Mysteries of the twelve Tribes , of the twelve Apostles , of their twelve Articles , whatsoever belongeth to the promise , to the performance , to the Imitation of Christ Jesus . He , who is Lu● una , light and light alone , and Lux tota , light and all light , shall also , by that light , which he sheddeth from himselfe upon all his , the light of Grace , give you all these Attestations , all these witnesses of that his light ; he shall give you Lucem essentiae , ( really , and essentially to be incorporated into him , to be made partakers of the Divine Nature , and the same Spirit with the Lord , by a Conversation in Heaven , here ) and lucem gloriae , ( a gladnesse to give him glory in a donudation of your souls , and your sinnes , by humble confession to him , and a gladnesse to receive a denudation and manifestation of your selves to your selves , by his messenger , in his medicinall and musicall increpations , and a gladnesse to receive an inchoation of future glory , in the remission of those sinnes . ) He shall give you lucem fidei , ) ( faithfull and unremovable possession of future things , in the present , and make your hereafter , now , in the fruition of God. ) And Lucem naturae ( a love of the outward beauty of his house , and outward testimonies of this love , in inclining your naturall faculties to religious duties . ) He shall give you Lucem aeternorum Corporum , ( a love to walk in the light of the stars of heaven , that never change , a love so perfect in the fundamentall articles of Religion , without impertinent additions . ) And Lucem incensionum , ) ( an aptnesse to take holy fire , by what hand , or tongue , or pen soever it be presented unto you , according to Gods Ordinance , though that light have formerly been suffered to go out in you . ) He shall give you Lucem depuratarum Mixtionum , ( the lustre of precious stones , made of the dew of heaven , and by the heat of heaven , that is , actions intended at first , and produced at last , for his glory ; and every day multiply their value , in the sight of God , because thou shalt every day grow up from grace to grace . ) And Lucem Repercussionum , ( he shall make you able to reflect and cast this light upon others , to his glory , and their establishment . ) Lighten our darknesse , we beseech thee , O Lord , with all these lights ; that in thy light we may see light ; that in this Essentiall light , which is Christ , and in this Supernaturall light , which is grace , we may see all these , and all other beames of light , which may bring ut to thee , and him , and that blessed Spirit which proceeds from both . Amen . SERMON XXXVII . Preached at St. Pauls on Midsommer day . 1622. JOHN 1. 8. He was not that light , but was sent to beare witnesse of that light . OF him , who was this light , which Iohn Baptist is here denyed to be , I spoke out of these words , and out of this place , the first time that I ascended to it , upon the great Epiphany , ( as the first Church used to call it ) the manifestation of Christ Iesus in the flesh , Christmas day ; I reserved the rest of the Text , which concernes Iohn Baptist himself , and his office , for this day , in which the Church celebrates his memory , who , though he were not that light , was sent to beare witnesse of that light . We shall make our parts but two , Testem , and Testimonium , the person , and the Office ; first , who the witnesse is , and then what he witnesses . In the first , we shall consider first , the dignity , the fitnesse of the person , implyed in the first word of this part of our Text , but ; he was not that light ; that is true , but yet he was something towards it ; he was nothing considered with Christ , but he was much considered with any other man. And then we shall see his title to his office , Missus est , as he was fit in himself , so he was sent by him that had power to give Commission ; and from these two , in which we shall determine our first part , the consideration of his person , we shall descend to the other , his office ; and therein stop but upon two steps neither ; first , why any testimony was required to so cleare a thing as light , and such a light , that light ; and then , what kinde of testimony Iohn Baptist did give to that light . So have you the designe , and frame of our building , and the severall partitions , the roomes ; passe we now to a more particular survey , and furnishing of them . The first branch of the first part , is the Idoneus , that he was fit to be a witnesse . If we should insist upon the nobility of his race , his father and mother , ( his father a Priest , and his mother also descended of Aaron ) ( and , as all Nations have some notes and marks of nobility , ( Merchandize , or Arms , or Letters , amongst the Jewes Priesthood was that , the Priesthood enobled men ) in all well policed States , caeteris paribus , if they were not otherwise defective , they have ever thought it fittest to imploy persons of good families , and of noble extraction , as well because , in likelihood they had had the best education , from their parents , and the best knowledge of things that concerne the publique , by having had their conversation with the best , and most intelligent persons ; as also , because they have for the most part , more to lose them inferiour persons have , and therefore are likelier to be carefull and vigilant in their imployment ; And againe , because they draw a better respect from those to whom they are imployed , ( which is of great importance in such negotiations , to send persons acceptable to them to whom they are sent ) and yet , do not lye so open to the tentations and corruptions of their Ministers , as men of needy fortunes , and obscure extractions do . This fitnesse Iohn Baptist had , he was of a good family and extraction . It addes to him , that as he had a noble , he had a miraculous birth ● for , to be born of a Virgin , is but a degree more , then to be borne of a barren woman . A birth , which onely of all others the Church celebrates ; for , though we finde the dayes of the Martyrs still called , Natalitia Martyrum , their birth-dayes , yet that is always intended of the dayes of their death ; onely in Iohn Baptist it is intended literally of his naturall birth ; for , his spirituall birth , his Martyrdome , is remembred by another name , Decollatio Ioannis , Iohn Baptists beheading . If we should enlarge all concerning him , as infinitely , as infinite Authors have done , or contract all as summarily , as Christ hath done , ( Amongst those that are borne of women , there is not a greater Prophet then Iohn the Baptist ) yet we should finde that Saint Augustine had done all this before , Non est quod illi adjiciat homo , cui Deus contulit totum , What man can adde more , where God said all , and he hath said of Iohn Baptist , Spiritu Sa●cto replebitur , He shall be filled with the holy Ghost . Two things especially make a man a competent witnesse : First , that he have in himselfe a knowledge of the thing that he testifies ; else he is an incompetent witnesse : And then , that he have a good estimation in others , that he be reputed an honest man ; else he is an unprofitable witnesse . If he be ignorant , he sayes truth , but by chance ; if he be dishonest , and say truth , it is but upon designe , and not for the truths sake ; for , if those circumstances did not leade him , he would not say truth . Iohn Baptist had both , knowledge and estimation . He knew , per scientiam infusam , by infused knowledge ; as he was a Prophet ; for so Christ testifies that he was . But all Prophets knew not all things ; therefore he was more then a Prophet , which is also testified by Christ , in his behalfe . More then any former Prophet . And yet , the Prophet Esaiah was ( even in his Prophecy ) an Evangelist , his Prophecy of Christ was so cleer , so particular , as that it was rather Gospell , and History , then Prophecy . Iohn Baptist was more then that ; for , he did not onely declare a present Christ , ( in that , Esay may seem to come neer him ) but he was Propheta Prophetatus , A Prophet that was prophesied of ; even Esay himself bore witnesse of this witnesse ; ( A voyce cried in the wildernesse , Prepare the way of the Lord. ) And the Prophet Malachi bore witnesse of this witnesse too , ( Behold , I will send my messenger , and he shall prepare the way before me . ) So he hath the restimony of the first and last of the Prophets ; and of him too , who was the first and the last , the cause and the effect , the moving and fulfilling of all prophecy , of Christ himself , ( This is he , of whom it is written , ) and so he cites those words of Malachi concerning Iohn Baptist. Iohn Baptist then had this competency , by knowledge infused by God , declared in former Prophecies , he knew the matter , which he was to testifie . Which is so essentiall , so substantiall a circumstance in matter of testimony , in what way soever we will be witnesses to God , as that no man is a competent witnesse for God , not in his preaching , not in his living , not in his dying , ( though he be a witnesse in the highest sense , that is , a Martyr ) if he do not know , upon what ground , he sayes , or does , or suffers that , which he suffers , and does , and sayes . Howsoever he pretend the honour of God in his testimony , yet , if the thing be materially false , ( false in it self , though true in his opinion ) or formally false , ( true in it self , but not known to be so , to him that testifies it ) both ways he is an incompetent witnesse . And this takes away the honour of having been witnesses for Christ , and the consolation and style of Martyrs , both from them , who , upon such evidence , as can give no assurance ( that is , traedi tions of men ) have grounded their faith in God , and from them , who take their light in corners , and conventicles , and not from the City set upon the top of a hill , the Church of God. Those Roman Priests who have given their lives , those Separatists which have taken a voluntary banishment , are not competent witnesses for the glory of God ; for a witnesse must know ; and qui testatur de scientia , testetur de modo scientiae , sayes the Law , He that will prove any thing by his knowledge , must prove how he came by that knowledge ; The Papist hath not the knowledge of his Doctrine from any Scripture , the Separatist hath not the knowledge of his Discipline from any precedent , any example in the primitive Church . How farre then is that wretched and sinfull man , from giving any testimony or glory to Christ in his life , who never comes to the knowledge , and consideration , why he was sent into this life ? who is so farre from doing his errand , that he knowes not what his errand was ; not whether he received any errand or no. But , as though that God , who for infinite millions of ages , delighted himself in himself , and was sufficient in himself , and yet at last did bestow six dayes labour for the creation , and provision of man , as though that God , who when man was sowr'd in the lumpe , poysoned in the fountaine , withered in the roote , in the loins of Adam , would then ingage his Sonne , his beloved Sonne , his onely Sonne to be man , by a temporary life , and to be no man , by a violent and a shamefull death , as though that God , who when he was pleased to come to a creation , might have left out thee , amongst privations , amongst nothings , or might have shut thee up , in the close prison , of a bare being , and no more , ( as he hath done earth and stones ) or , if he would have given thee life , might have left thee a Toad , or , if he would have given thee a humane soule , might have left thee a heathen , without any knowledge of God , or , if he had afforded thee a Religion , might have left thee a Iew , or , though he had made thee a Christian , might have left thee a Papist ; as though that God that hath done so much more , in breeding thee in his true Church , had done all this for nothing , thou passest thorough this world , like a flash , like a lightning , whose beginning or end no body knowes , like an Ignis fatuus in the aire , which does not onely not give light for any use , but not so much as portend or signifie any thing ; and thou passest out of the world , as thy hand passes out of a basin of water , which may bee somewhat the fouler for thy washing in it , but retaines no other impression of thy having been there ; and so does the world for thy life in it . When God placed Adam in the world , he bad him fill it , and subdue it , and rule it ; and when he placed him in paradise , he bad him dresse , and keepe paradise ; and when he sent his children into the over-flowing Laud of promise , he bad them fight , and destroy the Idolaters ; to every body some task , some errand for his glory ; And thou comest from him , into this world , as though he had said nothing unto thee , but Go and do as you see cause , Go , and do as you see other men do . Thou knowest not , that is , considerest not , what thou wast sent to doe , what thou shouldest have done , but thou knowest much lesse , what thou hast done . The light of nature hath taught thee to hide thy sinnes from other men , and thou hast been so diligent in that , as that thou hast hid them from thy self , and canst not finde them in thine owne conscience , if at any time the Spirit of God would burne them up , or the blood of Christ Jesus wash them out ; thou canst not finde them out so , as that a Sermon or Sacrament can work upon them . Perchance thou canst tell , when was the first time , or where was the first place , that thou didst commit such or such a sinne ; but as a man can remember when he began to spell , but not when he began to reade perfectly , when he began to joyne his letters , but not when he began to write perfectly , so thou remembrest when thou wentest timorously and bashfully about sinne , at first , and now perchance art ashamed of that shamefastnesse , and sorry thou beganst no sooner . Poore bankrupt ! that hast sinned out thy soule so profusely , so lavishly , that thou darest not cast up thine accounts , thou darest not aske thy selfe whether thou have any soule left ; how farre art thou , from giving any testimony to Christ , that darest not testifie to thy selfe , nor heare thy conscience take knowledge of thy transgressions , but haddest rather sleepe out thy daies , or drinke out thy daies , then leave one minute for compunction to lay hold on ; and doest not sinne alwaies for the love of that sinne , but for feare of a holy sorrow , if thou shouldest not fill up thy time , with that sinne . God cannot be mocked , saith the Apostle , nor God cannot be blinded . He seeth all the way , and at thy last gaspe , he will make thee see too , through the multiplying Glasse , the Spectacle of Desperation . Canst thou hope that that God , that seeth this darke Earth through all the vaults and arches of the severall spheares of Heaven , that seeth thy body through all thy stone walls , and seeth thy soul through that which is darker then all those , thy corrupt flesh , canst thou hope that that God can be blinded with drawing a curtain between thy sinne and him ? when he is all eye , canst thou hope to put out that eye , with putting out a candle ? when he hath planted legions of Angels about thee , canst thou hope that thou hast taken away all Intelligence , if thou have corrupted , or silenced , or sent away a servant ? O bestow as much labour , as thou hast done , to finde corners for sin to finde out those sinnes , in those corners where thou hast hid them . As Princes give● pardons by their own hands , but send Judges to execute Justice , come to him for mercy in the acknowledgement of thy sinnes , and stay not till his Justice come to thee , when he makes inquisition for blood ; and doe not think , that if thou feel now at this present● a little tendernesse in thy heart , a little melting in thy bowels , a little dew in thine eyes , that if thou beest come to know , that thou art a sinner , thou dost therefore presently know thy sinnes . Thou wouldst have so much tendernes , so much compassion , if thou knewest that he that fits next thee , were in this danger of Gods heavy indignation ; thou wouldst commiserate thy neighbours wretched condition so much . But proceed with thy self further , bring this dawning and breake of day to a full light , and this little sparke to a perfect acknowledgement of thy sinnes . Go home , with this spark of Gods Spirit in you , and there looke upon your Rentalls , and know your oppressions , and extorsions ; looke upon your shop-bookes , and know your deceits and falsifications ; looke upon your ward-robes , and know your excesses ; looke upon your childrens faces , and know your fornications . Till then , till you come to this scrutiny , this survey , this sifting of the Conscience , if we should cry peace , peace , yet there were no peace . The Oratour said , Imposuimus populo , & Oratores visi sumus ; we have cousened the people , and they say we are excellent Oratours , powerfull , well spoken men . We might flatter you , and you would say , we were sweet , and smooth , and comfortable Preachers , and we might perish together . But if you study your selves , reade your own History , if you get to the knowledge of your errand hither , and the ill discharge of those duties here , the sorrow and compunction which will grow from thence , is a faire degree of Martyrdome , ( for as Saint Hierome saith of Chastitie , Habet pudicitia servata , Martyrium suum , Chastity preserved is a continuall Martyrdome , so a true remorse , if that Chastity have not been preserved , and likewise a true remorse for every sinne , is a fair degree of Martyrdome ) for , Martyr is Testis , the very name of Martyr signifieth a Witnesse ; and this Martyrdome , this true remorse and sorrow , and compunction for your sinnes , becomes a witnesse to your selves of your reconciliation to God in the merits of Christ Jesus . But we may carry this branch no further , that Iohn Baptist being a competent witnesse therefore , because he understood the matter hee testified , before wee can bee competent witnesses to our owne Consciences , of our Reconciliation to God , wee must understand , ( and therefore search into our particular sinnes ) not onely that wee are sinners , but sinners in such and such kindes , such times , such places , such persons ; for that Soule , that is content to rest in generalls , would but deceive it selfe . Iohn Baptists other qualification was , That as hee knew the matter about which hee was sent , so hee had , ( and justly ) a good estimation amongst them , to whom hee was imployed . If I have a prejudice against a Man , and suspect his honestie , I shall not bee much moved with his Testimony . The Devill testified for Christ ; but , if there were no other Testimony but his , I should demurre upon the Gospell , I should not die for that Faith. Iohn Baptist was a credible person amongst them . How was this credit acquired ? It seemeth Iohn Baptist did no Miracles ; Whether hee did or no , is not a cleare Case ; for that which is said , ( Iohn Baptist did no miracles ) is not said by the Evangelist himselfe ; Saint Iohn doeth not say , that Iohn Baptist did no miracles ; but those that resorted to him at that place , said that ( He doth no miracles ) for they had seene none . If he did none , that reason may be good enough , ne aequalis Christo putaretur , it was forborne in him , that he might appeare to be inferiour to Christ. And , if he did none , yet there were miracles done by him . The reformation of manners , and bringing men to repentance , is a miracle . It is a lesse miracle to raise a man from a sick bed , then to hold a man from a wanton bed , a litentious bed ; lesse to overcome and quench his fever , then to quench his lust . Ioseph that refused his mistris was a greater miracle then Lazarus raised from the dead . Of these resurrections , we have divers examples , Iosephs case , ( I thinke ) is singular . There were miracles done so , by Iohn Baptist preaching to others ; and there were miracies done upon himself ; & early ; for , his springing in his mothers womb , was a miracle ; and a miracle done for others : Significatio rei à majoribus cognoscende , non à minori cognitae ; The child catechized his elders , in that which himselfe understood not ; that is , the presence of his Saviour , in the virgin then present , Divinitus in infante , non humanitus ab infante , says the same Father ; it was not a joy , and exultation in the child , but an institution , an instruction to the rest . But miracle or no miracle is not our issue ; witnesses for Christ , require not wonder , but beliefe ; we pretend not miracles , but propose Gods ordinary meanes , we look not for Admiration , but Assent . And therefore forbeare you acclamations and expectations of wonderfull good preachers , and admirable good Sermons . It was enough for Iohn Baptist that even they confessed , that all that he said was true . Content thy selfe with truths evident truths , fundamentall truths , let matter of wonder and admiration alone . He was a witnesse competent to them for his truth , and integrity , and he was so also for the outward holinesse of his life ; which , for the present , we consider onely in the strict and austere manner of living , that he embraced . For , certainly , he that uses no fasting , no discipline , no mortification , exposes himselfe to many dangers in himselfe , and to a cheape and vulgar estimation amongst others . Caro mea jumentum meum , says S. Augustine , my body is the horse I ride ; iter ago in Ierusalem , my businesse lies at Ierusalem ; thither I should ride ; De via conatur excutere , my horse over pampered casts me upon the way , or carries me out of the way ; non cohibebo jejunio , says he ; must not that be my way , to bring him to a gentler riding , & more command , by lessening his proportions of provender ? S. Augustine meanes the same that S. Paul preached , I beat down my body , says he , and bring it in subjection ; And , ( as Paulinus reades that place ) Lividum reddo , I make my body blacke and blue ; white and red were not Saint Pauls colours . Saint Paul was at this time departed , ( in outward profession ) from the sect of the Pharisees , and from their ostentations of doing their disciplines in the sight and for the praise of man ; but yet , being become a Christian he left not his austerity ; And it is possible for us , to leave the leaven of the Papist , the opinion of merit , and supererogation , and doing more then we are bound to doe in the ways of godlinesse , and yet nourish our soules , with that wholesome bread of taming our bodies . Saint Paul had his Disciplines , his mortifications ; he tells us so , but he does not tell us what they were ; lest perchance a reverence to his person , and example , might binde mis-devout men , to doe punctually as Saint Paul did . The same Rule cannot serve all ; but the same Reason may . The institution of friars under a certain Rule , that all of them , just at this time , shall doe just thus , cannot be a rule of Iustice ; but the generall doctrine , that every body needs at some times , some helpes , some meanes , is certainly true . Shall the riotous , the voluptuous man stay till this something bee a surfet or a fever ? 'T is true , this surfet and this fever , will subdue the body , but then thou doest it not . Shall a lascivious wanton stay , till a consumption or such contagious diseases as shall make him unsociable , and so , unable to exercise his sinne , subdue his body ? These can doe it , but this is Perimere , non subjugare , not a subduing of the body alone , but a destroying of body and soule together . Moderate disciplines subdue the body , as under the government of a King , a father of his people , that governs them by a law . But when the body comes to bee subdued , by paines , and anguish , and loathsome diseases , this becomes a tyranny , a conquest ; and he that comes in by conquest , imposes what lawes hee will ; so that these subduings of the body brought in by sinne , may worke in us , an obduration ; we shall feel them , but not discerne the hand of God in them ; or , if his hand , yet not his hand to that purpose , to relieve us , but to seale our condemnation to us . Beloved , because our Adversaries of the Romane heresie , have erroneously made a pattern for their Eremiticall and Monasticall life in Iohn Baptist , and coloured their idlenesse , by his example ; some of the Reformation have bent a little too far the other way , and denied , that there was any such austerity in the life of St. Iohn , as is ordinarily conceived : They say that his conversation in the Desert , may well be understood to have been but a withdrawing of himself from publique and civill businesses , home to his fathers house ; for , his father dwelt in that Desert , and thither went Mary to salute Elizabeth . And Ioab had his house in this Desert ; and in this Desert are reckoned five or fixe good Townes ; so that indeed it was no such savage solitude as they fancie . But yet , for a Sonne of such Parents , an onely Sonne , a Sonne so miraculously afforded them , to passe on with that apparell● and that diet , is certainly remarkable , and an evidence of an extraordinary austerity , and an argument of an extraordinary sanctity . Especially to the Jewes it was so ; amongst them this austerity of life , and abstaining from those things which other men imbraced , procured ordinarily a great estimation ; We know that amongst them , the Essaei a severe Sect , had a high reverence : They did not marry , they did not eate flesh , they did not ease themselves by servants , but did all their own work , they used no proprietie , they possessed nothing , called nothing their own ; Vicatim habitant , & urbes fugiunt , they forsake all great Townes , and dwell in Villages ; And yet , flying the world , they drew the world so much after● them , as that it is noted with wonder , per saeculorum Milia gens aeterna , in qua nemo nascitur ; that there was an eternall Nation , that had lasted many Generations , and yet never any borne amongst them ; I am foecunda illis aliorum vitae poenitentia , for , every man that was crossed or wearied in his owne course of life , applied himselfe to their Sect and manner of living , as the onely way to Heaven . And Iosephus writing his owne life and forwardnesse , and pregnancy , ( perchance a little too favourably or gloriously in his owne behalfe , to be throughly beleeved ; for he saith , that when he was but fourteen yeares old , the greatest Doctours of the Law , came to him to learne penitiorem sensum juris , the secretest Mysteries of the Law ; and their Law , was Divinity ) thought himselfe unperfect till he had spent some time , in the strictnesse of all the three Sects of the Jewes ; and after he had done all that , he spent three yeares more , with one Bannus an Ermit , who lived in the wildernesse , upon herbs and roots , Iohn Baptists austerity of life made him a competent and credible witnesse to them , who had such austeritie in estimation . And truely , hee that will any way bee a witnesse for Christ , that is , glorifie him , hee must endevour , even by this outward holinesse of life , to bee acceptable to good men . Vox Populi , vox Dei , the generall voyce is seldome false ; so also Oculi populi , Oculi Dei , In this case God looketh upon man , as man doth ; Singuli decipi & decipere possunt , One man may deceive another , & be deceived by another ; Nemo omnes , neminem omnes fefellerunt , no man ever deceived all the world , nor did all the world ever joyn to deceive one man. The generall opinion , the generall voyce , is for the most part , good evidence , with , or against a man. Every one of us is ashamed of the prayse and attestation of one , whom all the world besides , taketh to be dishonest ; so , will Christ be ashamed of that witnesse , that seeketh not the good opinion of good men . When I see a Iesuit solicite the chastity of a daughter of the house , where he is harboured , and after knowledge taken by the Parents , upon her complaint , excuse it with saying , that he did it but to trie her , and to be the better assured of her religious constancy ; when I see a Iesuit conceale and foment a powder Treason , and say he had it but in Confession , and then see these men to proclaim themselves to be Martyrs , witnesses for Christ in the highest degree ; I say still , the Devill may be a witnesse , but I ground not my Faith upon that Testimony : A competent witnesse must be an honest man. This competency Iohn Baptist had , the good opinion of good men ; And then , he had the seale of all , Missus est , he had his Commission , He was sent to bear witness of that Light. Though this word Missus est , He was sent , be not literally in the Text here , yet it is necessarily implyed , and therefore providently supplyed by the Translatours in this verse , and before in the sixt verse , it is literally expressed , There was a man sent from God , whose name was John. The Law saith , concerning witnesses , Qui se ingerunt & offerunt , suspecti habentur , those that offer their testimony before they be cited , are suspicious witnesses . Therefore they must have a Mission , a sending . For , by Saint Pauls rule , How can they preach except they be sent ? Preach they may ; but how ? with what successe , what effect , what blessing ? So that the good successe of Iohn Bapstists preaching , ( For , the multitudes , The people came to him ; and not light people carried about with every winde of rumour and noise , and noveltie , but Pharises , and Sadduces , men of learning , of sadnesse and gravity ; and not onely Scholars affected with subtilties , but , Publicans too , men intent upon the world ; and other men , whose very profession submits them to many occasions of departing from the strict rules , which regularly binde other men , and therefore may be in some things , ( which tast of injustice ) more excusable then other men ; The souldiers likewise came to him , and said , What shall we doe ? ) This his working upon all sorts of men , the blessing that accompanied his labours , was a subsequent argument of his Mission , that he was sent by God. God himself argues against them , that were not sent , so , They were not sent , for they have done no good . I have not sent those Prophets , saith the Lord , yet they ran , I have not spoken to them , and yet they prophecied ; but , if they had stood in my counsell , then they should have turned the people from their evill wayes , and from the wickednesse of their inventions . This note God layes upon them , to whom he affords this vocation of his internall Spirit , that though others which come without any calling , may gather men in corners , and in Conventicles , and work upon their affections and passions , to singularity , to schisme , to sedition : and though others which come with an outward , and ordinary calling onely , may advance their own Fortunes , and increate their estimation , and draw their Auditory to an outward reverence of their Persons , and to a delight in hearing them rather then other men , yet , those onely who have a true inward Calling from the Spirit , shall turn the people from their evill wayes , and from the wickednesse of their inventions . To such mens planting and watering God gives an increase ; when as others which come to declame , and not to preach , and to vent their own gifts , or the purposes of great men for their gifts , have onely a proportionable reward , winde for winde , Acclamation for Declamation , popular praise for popular eloquence : for , if they doe not truly beleeve themselves , why should they looke that others should believe them ? Qui loquitur ad cor , loquatur ex corde ; he that will speake to the heart of another , must finde that that he saith in his own heart first . Whether the Mission of the Church of Rome of Priests and Jesuites hither , be sufficient to satisfie their consciences who are so sent , and sent ( in intendment of the Law ) to inevitable losse of life here , hath been laboriously enough debated , and safely enough concluded , that such a Mission cannot satisfie a rectified conscience . What are they sent for ? To defend the Immunities of the Church : that is , to take away the inherent right of the Crown , the supremacy of the King : What seconds them ? what assures them ? That which is their generall Tenent , that into what place so ever the Pope may send Priests , he may send Armies for the security of those Priests ; and ( as another expresses it ) in all Cases , where the Pope may injoyne any thing , he may lawfully proceed by way of Warre against any that hinder the execution thereof . That these Missions from the Bishop of Rome are unlawfull , is safely enough concluded , A priori , in the very nature of the commandement and Mission . For , it is to a place , in which he that sends hath no power , for it is into the Dominions of another absolute King ; and it is of Persons ; in whom he hath no interest , for they are the subjects of another Prince ; and my neighbours setting his mark upon my sheep , doth not make my sheep his . Now , beloved , if that which they cannot make lawfull A priori , in the Nature of the thing , you will make lawfull in their behalf , A posteriori , in the effect and working thereof ; that is , if when these men are thus sent hither , you will run after them to their Masses , though you pretend it be but to meet company , and to see who comes , and to hear a Church-Comedy ; if , though you abstain your self , you will lend them a wife , or a childe , or a servant to be present there , A posteriori , by this effect , by this their working upon you , you justifie their unjust Mission , and make them thinke their sending and coming lawfull . So also , ( to return to our former consideration ) If you depart not from your evill wayes , and from the wickednesse of your own inventions : If for all our preaching you proceed in your sinnes , you will make us afraid , that our Mission , our Calling is not warrantable , for thereby you take away that consolation , which is one seale of our Mission , when we see a good effect of our preaching in your lives . It lyes much in you , to convince them , and to establish us , by that way , which is Gods own way of arguing , à posteriori , by the effect , by our working upon you . If you say God is God , we are sent ; if you say Baal is God , you justifie their sending . Missus est , Iohn Baptist was sent , it appeared by the effect of his preaching ; but it appeares too , by a divers and manifold citation , which he had received , upon some of which , there may be good use to insist a little . First , he was cited , called , before he was at all ; and called againe before he was borne ; called a third time , out of the desert , into the world ; and called lastly out of this world into the next ; and by all these callings , these citations , these missions , he was a competent witnesse . His first citation was before he was any thing , before his conception . Out of the dead embers of Zacharies aged loins , and Elizabeths double obstacle , age and barrennesse , when it was almost as great a worke as a creation , to produce a childe out of the corners , and inwardest bowels of all possibility , and with so many degrees of improbability , as that Zachary , who is said to have been just before God , and to have walked in all his commandments without reproofe , and had , without doubt , often considered the like promise of such a childe , made and performed to Abraham , was yet incredulous of it , and asked , how he should know it . Out of this nothing , or nothing naturally disposed to be such a thing , a childe , did God excite , and cite this Io. Baptist to beare witnesse of this light , and so made the sonne of him , who , for his incredulity , was strooke with dumbnesse , all voyce . And , beloved , such a citation as this , when thou wast meerly nothing , hast thou had too , to beare witnesse of this light , that is , to do something for the glory of God. When thy free will is as impotent and as dead as Zacharies loins , when thou art under Elizabeths double obstacle of age and barrennesse , ( barrennesse in good works , age in ill ) then when thou thinkest not of God , then when thou art walking for ayre , or sitting at a feast , or slumbring in a bed , God opens these doors , he rings a bell , he showes thee an example in the concourse of people hither , and here , he sets up a man , to present the prayer of the Congregation to him , and to deliver his messages to them ; and whether curiosity , or custome , or company , or a loathnesse to incurre the penalties of Lawes , or the censures and observations of neighbours , bring thee hither , though thou hadst nothing to do with God , in comming hither , God hath something to do with thee , now thou art here , even this is a citation , a calling , by being personally here at these exercises of Religion , thou art some kinde of witnesse of this light . For , in how many places of the world hath Christ yet never opened such doors for his ordinary service , in all these 1600. yeers ? And in how many places hath he shut up these doors , of his true worship , within these three or foure yeers ? Quod citaris huc , That thou art brought hither , within distance of his voyce , within reach of his food , intra sphaeram Activitatis , within the spheare and latitude of his ordinary working , that is , into his house , into his Church , this is a citation , a calling , answerable to Iohn Baptists first calling , from his fathers dead loins , and his mothers barren wombe ; and his second citation was before he was borne , in his mothers wombe . When Mary came to visit Elizabeth , the childe sprang in her belly , as soone as Maries voice sounded in her eares . And though naturally , upon excesse of joy in the mother , the childe may spring in her ; yet the Evangelist meanes to tell an extraordinary and supernaturall thing ; and whether it were an anticipation of reason in the childe , ( some of the Fathers think so , though St. Augustine do not , that the childe understood what he did ) or that this were a fulfilling of that prophecy , That he should be filled with the holy Ghost from his mothers wombe , all agree that this was an exciting of him to this attestation of his Saviours presence , whether he had any sense of it , or no. Exultatio significat , sayes St. Augustine , This springing declared , that his mother , whose forerunner that childe should be , was come . And so both Origen , and St. Cyrill , refer that commendation , which our Saviour gives him , Inter natos Mulierum , Among those that were born of women , there was not a greater Prophet ; that is , none that prophecyed before he was borne , but he . And such a citation , beloved , thou mayest have , in this place , and at this time . A man may upon the hearing of something that strikes him , that affects him , feel this springing , this exultation , this melting , and colliquation of the inwardest bowels of his soule ; a new affection , a new passion , beyond the joy ordinarily conceived upon earthly happinesses ; which , though no naturall Philosopher can call it by a name , no Anatomist assigne the place where it lyes , yet I doubt not , through Christ jesus , but that many of you who are here now , feele it , and understand it this minute . Citaris huc , thou wast cited to come hither , whether by a collaterall , and oblique , and occasionall motion , or otherwise , hither God hath brought thee , and Citaris hîc , here thou art cited to come neerer to him . Now both these citations were before Iohn Baptist was borne ; both these affections , to come to this place , and to be affected with a delight here , may be before thy regeneration , which is thy spirituall birth ; a man is not borne , not borne againe , because he is at Church , nor because he likes the Sermon , Iohn Baptist had , and thou must have a third citation ; which was in him , from the desert into the publique , into the world , from contemplation to practice . This was that mission , that citation , which most properly belongs to this Text , when the word came to the voyce , ( The word of God came to Iohn in the wildernesse , and he came into all the Countrey preaching the Baptisme of repentance . ) To that we must come , to practise . For , in this respect , an Vniversity is but a wildernesse , though we gather our learning there , our private meditation is but a wildernesse , though we contemplate God there , nay our being here , is but a wildernesse , though we serve God here , if our service end so , if we do not proceed to action , and glorifie God in the publique . And therefore Citaris huc , thou art cited hither , here thou must be , and Citaris hîc , thou art cited here , to lay hold upon that grace which God offers in his Ordinance ; and Citaris hinc , thou art cited from hence , to embrace a calling in the world . He that undertakes no course , no vocation , he is no part , no member , no limbe of the body of this world ; no eye , to give light to others ; no eare to receive profit by others . If he think it enough to be excrementall nayles , to scratch and gripe others by his lazy usury , and extortion , or excrementall hayre , made onely for ornament , or delight of others , by his wit , or mirth , or delightfull conversation , these men have not yet felt this third citation , by which they are called to glorifie God , and so to witnesse for him , in such publique actions , as Gods cause for the present requires , and comports with their calling . And then Iohn Baptist had a fourth citation to bear witnesse for Christ , by laying down his life for the Truth ; and this was that that made him a witnesse , in the highest sense , a Martyr . God hath not served this citation upon us , nor doth he threaten us , with any approches towards it , in the feare of persecution for religion . But remember that Iohn Baptists Martyrdome , was not for the fundamentall rock , the body of the Christian religion , but for a morall truth , for matter of manners . A man may be bound to suffer much , for a lesse matter then the utter overthrow , of the whole frame and body of religion . But leaving this consideration , for what causes a man is bound to lay downe his life , consider we now , but this , that a man lays downe his life for Christ , and beares witnesse of him , even in death , when he prefers Christ before this world , when he desires to be dissolved , and be with him , and obeyes cheerefully that citation , by the hand of death , whensoever it comes ; and that citation must certainly be served upon you all ; whether this night in your beds , or this houre , at the doore , no man knowes . You who were cited hither , to heare , and cited here , to consider , and cited hence , to worke in a calling in the world , must be cited from thence too , from the face to the bosome of the earth , from treading upon other mens , to a lying downe in your owne graves . And yet that is not your last citation , there is fifth . In the grave , Iohn Baptist does , and we must attend a fifth citation , from the grave to a Iudgement . The first citation hither to Church , was served by Example of other men , you saw them come , and came . The second citation , here , in the Church , was served by the Preacher , you heard him and beleeved . The third , from hence , is served by the law , and by the Magistrate , they binde you to embrace a profession , and a calling , and you do so . The fourth , which is from thence , from this , to the next world , is served by nature in death , he touches you , and you sinke . This fifth to Iudgement shall be by an Angell , by an Archangell , by the Lord himself , The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout , with the voyce of the Archangell , and with the Trump of God , and the dead in Christ shall rise . This citation is not served by a bell , that tolls to bring you hither ; not by a man that speaks to instruct you here ; not by a law , that compells you to live orderly in the world ; not by a bell , that rings out to lay thee in thy grave ; but by the great shout of the Lord descending from heaven , with the voyce of the Archangel , and with the Trump of God , to raise the dead in Christ. It is not the Apeperire fores , That the Levites have charge to open these doores every day to you , that you may come in , ( that is your first citation , hither ) it is not the Domine labia mea aperies , That God opens our mouth , the mouth of the Preacher , to worke upon you , ( that is your second citation , here , ) it is not that aperuimus saccos , The opening of your sack of Corne , and finding that , and your money too , that is , your trading in this world , in a calling , ( that is your third citation from hence ) nor it is not the Aperuit terra os situm , That the earth opens her mouth , and swallowes all in the grave , ( that is your fourth citation from thence , ) it is none of these Apertions , these openings ; but it is the Aperta monumenta , The grave it self shall be open againe ; and Aperti coeli , The heavens shall be open , and I shall see the Sonne of man , the Sonne of God , and not see him at that distance , that Stephen saw him there , but see him , and sit down with him . I shall rise from the dead , from the darke station , from the prostration , from the prosternation of death , and never misse the sunne , which shall then be put out , for I shall see the Sonne of God , the Sunne of glory , and shine my self , as that sunne shines . I shall rise from the grave , and never misse this City , which shall be no where , for I shall see the City of God , the new Ierusalem . I shall looke up , and never wonder when it will be day , for , the Angell will tell me that time shall be no more , and I shall see , and see cheerefully that last day , the day of judgement , which shall have no night , never end , and be united to the Antient of dayes , to God himselfe , who had no morning , never began . There I shall beare witnesse for Christ , in ascribing the salvation of the whole world , to him that sits upon the Throne , and to the Lamb , and Christ shall bear witnesse for me , in ascribing his righteousnesse unto me , and in delivering me into his Fathers hands , with the same tendernesse , as he delivered up his owne soule , and in making me , who am a greater sinner , then they who crucified him on earth for me , as innocent , and as righteous as his glorious selfe , in the Kingdome of heaven . And these occasions of advancing your devotion , and edification , from these two branches of this part , first , the fitnesse of Iohn Baptist to be sent , and then his actuall sending , by so divers callings , and citations in him , appliable , as you have seene , to us . More will be ministred , in due time , out of the last part , and the two branches of that ; first , why this light required any witnesse , and then , what witnesse Iohn Baptist gave to this light . But those , because they leade us not to the celebration of any particular Festivall , ( as these two former parts have done , to Christmas and Midsommer ) I may have leave to present to you at any other time . At this time let us onely beg of God a blessing upon this that hath been said &c. SERMON XXXVIII . Preached at Saint Pauls 13. Octob. 1622. JOHN 1. 8. He was not that light , but was sent to beare witnesse of that light . THis is the third time that I have entertained you ( in a businesse of this nature , intended for Gods service , and your edification , I must not say , troubled you ) with this Text. I begun it at Christmas , and in that darke time of the yeer told you who , and what was this light which Iohn Baptist is denied to be . I pursued it at Midsommer , and upon his owne day , insisted upon the person of Iohn Baptist , who , though he were not this light , was sent to beare witnesse of this light . And the third consideration , which ( as I told you then ) was not tied nor affected to any particular Festivall , you shall ( by Gods grace ) have now , the office of Iohn Baptist , his testimony ; and in that , these two parts ; first , a problematicall part , why so evident a thing as light , and such a light , that light , required testimony of man : and then a dogmaticall part , what testimony this man gives of this light . And in the first of these we shall make these two steps , first , why any testimony at all , then why , after so many others , this of Iohn . First then God made light first , ut innotescerent omnia , that man might glorifie God in seeing the creature , and him in it ; for , frustra fecisset , ( says the same Father ) it had been to no purpose to have a world , and no light . But though light discover and manifest every thing else to us , and it selfe too , if all be well disposed , yet , in the fifth verse of this chapter , there is reason enough given , why this light in our text , requires testimony ; that is , the light shines in darknesse , and the darknesse comprehends it not ; and therefore , Propter non intelligentes , propter incredulos , propter in●rmos , Sol lucernas quaerit ; for their sakes that are weak in their understanding , and not enlightned in that faculty , the Gentiles ; for their sakes who are weake in their faith , that come , and heare , and receive light , but beleeve not ; for their sakes that are perverse in their manners , and course of life , that heare , and beleeve , but practise not , sol lucernas quaerit , this light requires testimony . There may be light then and we not know it , because we are asleep ; and asleep so , as Iairus daughter was , of whom Christ says , the maid is not dead but asleep . The maide was absolutely dead ; but because he meant forthwith to raise her , he calls it a sleep . The Gentiles , in their ignorance , are dead ; we , in our corrupt nature , dead , as dead as they , we cannot heare the voice , we cannot see the light ; without Gods subsequent grace , the Christian can no more proceed , then the Gentile can beginne without his preventing grace . But , because , amongst us , he hath established the Gospell , and in the ministery and dispensation thereof , ordinary meanes for the conveyance of his farther grace , we noware but asleep and may wake . A sodain light brought into a room doth awaken some men ; but yet a noise does it better , and a shaking , and a pinching . The exalting of naturall faculties , and good morall life , inward inspirations , and private meditations , conferences , reading , and the life , doe awaken some ; but the testimony of the messenger of God , the preacher , crying according to Gods ordinance , shaking the soule , troubling the conscience , and pinching the bowells , by denouncing of Gods Judgements , these beare witnesse of the light , when otherwise men would sleep it out ; and so propter non intelligentes , for those that lye in the suddes of nature , and cannot , or of negligence , and will not come to heare , sol lucernas , this light requires testimony . These testimonies , Gods ordinances , may have wakened a man , yet he may winke , and covet darknesse , and grow weary of instruction , and angry at increpation ; And , as the eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight , so , the eare of this fastidious and impatient man , longeth for the end of the Sermon , or the end of that point in the Sermon , which is a thorne to his conscience ; But as , if a man wink in a cleare day , he shall for all that discerne light thorough his eylids , but not light enough to keep him from stumbling : so the most perverse man that is , either in faith or manners , that winkes against the light of nature , or light of the law , or light of grace exhibited in the Christian Church , the most determined Atheist that is , discernes through all his stubbornnesse , though not light enough to rectifie him , to save him , yet enough to condemne him , though not enough to enable him , to reade his owne name in the book of life , yet so much , as makes him afraid to read his own story by , and to make up his owne Audit and account with God. And doth not this light to this man need testimony , That as he does see , it is a light , so he might see , that there is warmth and nourishment in this light , and so , as well see the way to God by that light , as to see by it , that there is a God ; and , this he may , if he doe not sleep nor winke ; that is , not forbeare comming hither , nor resist the grace of God , always offred here , when he is here . Propter incredulos , for their sakes , who though they doe heare , heare not to beleeve , sol lucernas , this light requires testimony ; and it does so too , propter infirmos , for their sakes , who though they doe heare , and beleeue , yet doe not Practise . If he neither sleep , nor wink , neither forbeare , nor resist , yet how often may you surprise and deprehend a man , whom you thinke directly to look upon such an object , yet if you aske him the quality or colour of it , he will tell you , he saw it not ? That man sees as little with staring , as the other with winking . His eye hath seen , but it hath returned nothing to the common sense . We may pore upon books , stare upon preachers , yet if we reflect nothing , nothing upon our conversation , we shall still remaine under the increpation and malediction of Saint Paul , out of Esay , Seeing yee shall see , and shall not perceive ; seeing and hearing shall but aggravate our condemnation , and it shall be easier at the day of Judgement , for the deaf and the blinde that never saw Sacrament , never heard Sermon , then for us , who have frequented both , propter infirmos , for their sakes , whose strength though it serve to bring them hither , and to beleeve here , doth not serve them to proceed to practise , sol lucernas , this light requires testimony . Yet , if we be neither dead , nor asleep , nor winke , nor looke negligently , but doe come to some degrees of holinesse in practise for a time , yet if at any time , we put our selves in such a position and distance from this light , as that we suffer dark thick bodies to interpose , and eclipse it , that is , sadnesse and dejection of spirit , for worldly losses ; nay , if we admit inordinate sadnesse for sinne it selfe , to eclipse this light of comfort from us , or if we suffer such other lights , as by the corrupt estimation of the world , have a greater splendour to come in ; ( As the light of Knowledge and Learning , the light of Honour and Glory , of popular Applause and Acclamation ) so that this light which we speake of , ( the light of former Grace ) be darkned by the accesse of other lights , worldly lights , then also you shall finde that you need more and more Testimony of this light . God is light in the Creature , in nature ; yet the naturall Man stumbles and falls , and lies in that ignorance , Christ bears witnesse of this light , in establishing a Chrishian Church ; yet many Christians fall into Idolatry and Superstition , and lie and die in it . The Holy Ghost hath born further witnesse of this light , and , ( if we may take so low a Metaphore in so high a Mystery ) hath snuffed this candle , mended this light , in the Reformation of Religion ; and yet there is a damp , or a cloud of uncharitablenesse , of neglecting , of defaming one another ; we deprave even the fiery , the claven tongues of the Holy Ghost : Our tongues are fiery onely to the consuming of another , and they are cloven , onely in speaking things contrary to one another . So that still there need more witnesses , more testimonies of this light . God the Father is Pater Luminum the Father of all Lights ; God the Sonne , is Lumen de lumine , Light of light , of the Father ; God the Holy Ghost is Lumen de luminibus , Light of lights , proceeding both from the Father , and the Sonne ; and this light the Holy Ghost kindles more lights in the Church , and drops a coale from the Altar upon every lamp , he lets fall beams of his Spirit upon every man , that comes in the name of God , into this place ; and he sends you one man to day , which beareth witnesse of this light ad ignaros , that bends his preaching to the convincing of the naturall man , the ignorant soul , and works upon him . And another another day , that bears witnesse ad incredulos , that fixeth the promises of the Gospell , and the merits of Christ Jesus , upon that startling and timorous soul , upon that jealous and suspicious soul , that cannot beleeve that those promises , or those merits appertain to him , and so bends all the power of his Sermon to the binding up of such broken hearts , and faint beleevers . He sendeth another to bear witnesse ad infirmos , to them who though they have shaked off their sicknesse , yet are too weake , to walke , to them , who though they doe beleeve , are intercepted by tentations from preaching , and his Sermon reduces them from their ill manners , who thinke it enough to come , to hear , to beleeve . And then he sendeth another ad Relapsos , to bear witnesse of this light to them who have relapsed into former sinnes , that the merits of Christ are inexhaustible , and the mercies of God in him indefatigable : As God cannot be deceived with a false repentance , so he cannot resist a true , nor be weary of multiplying his mercies in that case . And therefore thinke not that thou hast heard witnesses enow of this light , Sermons enow , if thou have heard all the points preached upon , which concerne thy salvation . But because new Clouds of Ignorance , of Incredulitie , of Infirmitie , of Relapsing , rise every day and call this light in question , and may make thee doubt whether thou have it or no , every day , ( that is , as often as thou canst ) heare more and more witnesses of this light ; and bless that God , who for thy sake , would submit himselfe to these Testimonia ab homine , these Testimonies from men , and being all light himselfe , and having so many other Testimonies , would yet require the Testimony of Man , of Iohn ; which is our other branch of this first part . Christ , ( who is still the light of our Text , That light , the essentiall light ) had testimony enough without Iohn . First , he bore witness of himselfe . And though he say of himself , ( If I beare witnesse of my self , my witnesse is not true ) yet that he might say either out of a legall and proverbiall opinion of theirs , that ordinarily they thought , That a witness testifying for himself , was not to be beleeved , whatsoever he said ; Or , as Man , ( which they then took him to be ) he might speake it of himselfe out of his own opinion , that , in Iudicature it is a good rule , that a man should not be beleeved in his own case . But , after this , and after he had done enough to make them see , that he was more then man , by multiplying of miracles , then he said , though I beare witnesse of my selfe , my witnesse is true . So the onely infallibility and unreproachable evidence of our election , is in the inward word of God , when his Spirit beares witnesse with our Spirit , that we are the Sonnes of God ; for , if the Spirit , ( the Spirit of truth ) say he is in us , he is in us . But yet the Spirit of God is content to submit himselfe to an ordinary triall , to be tried by God and the Countrey ; he allowes us to doubt , and to be afraid of our regeneration , except we have the testimony of sanctification . Christ bound them not to his own testimony , till it had the seale of workes , of miracles ; nor must we build upon any testimony in our selves , till other men , that see our life , testifie for us to the world . He had also the testimony of his Father , ( the Father himselfe which hath sent me , beareth witnesse of me . ) But where should they see the Father , or heare the Father speak ? That was all which Philip asked at his hands , ( Lord show us the Father , and it sufficeth us . ) He had the testimony of an Angel , who came to the shepheards so , as no where in all the Scriptures , there is such an Apparition expressed , ( the Angel of the Lord came upon them , and the glory of the Lord shone round about them ) but where might a man talke with this Angel , and know more of him ? As Saint Augustine says of Moses , Scripsit & abiit , he hath written a little of the Creation , and he is gone ; Si hîc esset , tenerem & rogarem , if Moses were here , says he , I would hold him fast , till I had got him to give me an exposition of that which he writ . For , beloved , we must have such witnesses , as we may consult farther with . I can see no more by an Angel , then by lightning . A star testified of him , at his birth . But what was that star ? was it any of those stars that remaine yet ? Gregory Nissen thinkes it was , and that it onely then changed the naturall course , and motion for that service . But almost all the other Fathers thinke , that it was a light but then created , and that it had onely the forme of a star , and no more ; and some few , that it was the holy Ghost in that forme . And , if it were one of the fixed stars , and remaine yet , yet it is not now in that office , it testifies nothing of Christ now . The wise men of the East testified of him , too ; But what were they , or who , or how many , or from whence , were they ; for , all these circumstances have put Antiquity it selfe into more distractions , and more earnest disputations , then circumstances should doe . Simeon testified of him , who had a revelation from the holy Ghost , that he should not see death , till he had seen Christ. And so did the Prophetess Anna , who served God , with fasting and prayer , day and night . Omnis sexus & aetas , both sexes , and all ages testified of him ; and he gives examples of all , as it was easie for him to doe . Now after all these testimonies , from himselfe , from the Father , from the Angel , from the star , from the wise men , from Simeon , from Anna , from all , what needed the testimony of Iohn ? All those witnesses had been thirty years before Iohn was cited for a witnesse , to come from the wildernesse and preach . And in thirty years , by reason of his obscure and retired life , in his father Iosephs house , all those personall testimonies of Christ might be forgotten ; and , for the most part , those witnesses onely testified that he was borne , that he was come into the world , but for all their testimony , he might have been gone out of the world long . Before this , he might have perished in the generall flood , in that flood of innocent blood , in which Herod drowned all the young children of that Countrey . When therefore Christ came forth to preach , when he came to call Apostles , when he came to settle a Church , to establish meanes for our ordinary salvation , ( by which he is the light of our text , the Essentiall light shining out in his Church , by the supernaturall light of faith and grace ) then he admitted , then he required Testimonium ab homine , testimony from man. And so , for our conformity to him , in using and applying those meanes , which convay this light to us , in the Church , we must doe so too ; we must have the seale of faith , and of the Spirit , but this must be in the testimony of men ; still there must be that done by us , which must make men testifie for us . Every Christian is a state , a common-wealth to himselfe , and in him , the Scripture is his law , and the conscience is his Iudge . And though the Scripture be inspired from God , and the conscience be illumined and rectified by the holy Ghost immediately , yet , both the Scriptures and the Conscience admit humane arguments . First , the Scriptures doe , in all these three respects ; first that there are certaine Scriptures , that are the revealed will of God. Secondly , that these books which we call Canonicall , are those Scriptures . And lastly , that this and this is the true sense and meaning of such and such a place of Scripture . First , that there is a manifestation of the will of God in certain Scriptures , if we who have not power to infuse Faith into men , ( for that is the work of the Holy Ghost onely ) but must deal upon the reason of men , and satisfie that , if we might not proceed , per testimonia ab homine , by humane Arguments , and argue , and infer thus , That if God will save man for worshipping him , and damne him for not worshipping him , so as he will be worshipped , certainly God hath revealed to man , how he will be worshipped , and that in some visible , in some permanent manner in writing , and that that writing is Scripture , if we had not these testimonies , these necessary consequences derived even from the naturall reason of man to convince men , how should we convince them , since our way is not to create Faith , but to satisfie reason ? And therefore let us rest in this testimony of men , that all Christian men , nay Iewes and Turkes too , have ever beleeved , that there are certain Scriptures , which are the revealed will of God , and that God hath manifested to us , in those Scriptures , all that he requires at our hands for Faith or Manners . Now , which are those Scriptures ? As for the whole body intirely together , so for the particular limbs and members of this body , the severall books of the Bible , we must accept testimonium ab homine , humane Arguments , and the testimony of men . At first , the Jewes were the Depositaries of Gods Oracles ; and therefore the first Christians were to aske the Jewes , which books were those Scriptures . Since the Church of God is the Master of those Rolls , no doubt but the Church hath Testimonium à Deo , The Spirit of God to direct her , in declaring what Books make up the Scripture ; but yet even the Church , which is to deal upon men , proceedeth also per testimonium ab homine , by humane Arguments , such as may work upon the reason of man , in declaring the Scriptures of God. For the New Testament , there is no question made of any Book , but in Conventicles of Anabaptists ; and for the Old , it is testimony enough that we receive all that the Jews received . This is but the testimony of man , but such as prevails upon every man. It is somewhat boldly said , ( not to permit to our selves any severer , or more bitter animadversion upon him ) by a great man in the Romam Church , that perchance the book of Enoch , which S. Iude cites in his Epistle , was not an Apocryphal book , but Canonicall Scripture in the time of the Iews . As though the holy Ghost were a time-server , and would sometimes issue some things , for present satisfaction , which he would not avow nor stand to after ; as though the holy Ghost had but a Lease for certain years , a determinable estate in the Scriptures , which might expire , and he be put from his evidence ; that that book might become none of his , which was his before . We therefore , in receiving these books for Canonicall , which we do , and in post-posing the Apochryphall , into an inferior place , have testimonium ab homine , testimony from the People of God , who were , and are the most competent , and unreproachable witnesses herein : and we have Testimonium ab inimico , testimony from our adversary himself , Perniciosius est Ecclesiae librum recipere pro sacro , qui non est , quàm sacrum rejicere , It is a more pernicious danger to the Church , to admit a book for Canonicall , which is not so , then to reject one that is so . And therefore , ne turberis novitie , ( saith another great Author of theirs ) Let no young student in Divinity be troubled , si alicubi repererit , libros istos supputari inter Canonicos , if he finde at any time , any of these books reckned amongst the Canonical , nam ad Hiero. limam , verba Doctorum & Concilio rum reducenda , for saith he , Hieroms file must passe over the Doctors , and over the Councels too , and they must be understood , and interpreted according to S. Hier. now this is but testimonium ab homine , S. Hier. testimony , that prevailed upon Cajetan , and it was but testimonium ab homine , the testimony of the Iews , that prevailed upon S. Hierom himself . It is so for the whole body , The bible ; it is so for all the limbs of this body , every particular book of the Bible ; and it is so , for the soul of this body , the true sense of every place , of very book thereof ; for , for that , ( the sense of the place ) we must have testimonium ab homine , the testimony , that is , the interpretation of other men . Thou must not rest upon thy self , nor upon any private man. Iohn was a witnesse that had witnesses , the Prophets had prophesied of Iohn Baptist. The men from whom we are to receive testimony of the sense of the Scriptures , must be men that have witnesses , that is , a visible and outward calling in the Church of God. That no sense be ever admitted , that derogateth from God , that makes him a false , or an impotent , or a cruell God , That every contradiction , and departing from the Analogy of Faith , doth derogate from God , and divers such grounds , and such inferences , as every man confesses , and acknowledges to be naturally and necessarily consequent , these are Testimonia ab homine , Testimonies that passe like currant money , from man to man , obvious to every man , suspicious to none . Thus it is in the generall ; but then , when it is deduced to a more particular triall , ( what is the sense of such or such a place ) when Christ saith , Scrutamini Scripturas , search the Scriptures , non mittit ad simplicem lectionem , sed ad scrutationem exquisitam , It is not a bare reading , but a diligent searching , that is enjoyned us . Now they that will search , must have a warrant to search ; they upon whom thou must rely for the sense of the Scriptures , must be sent of God by his Church . Thou art robbed of all , devested of all , if the Scriptures be taken from thee ; Thou hast no where to search ; blesse God therefore , that hath kept thee in possession of that sacred Treasure , the Scriptures ; and then , if any part of that treasure ly out of thy reach , or ly in the dark , so as that thou understandest not the place , search , that is , apply thy self to them that have warrant to search , and thou shalt lack no light necessary for thee . Either thou shalt understand that place , or the not understanding of it shall not be imputed to thee , nor thy salvation hindred by that Ignorance . It is but to a woman that Saint Hierome saith , Ama Scripturas , & amabit te Sapientia , Love the Scriptures , and Wisdome will love thee : The weaknesse of her Sex must not avert her from reading the Scriptures . It is instruction for a Childe , and for a Girle , that the same Father giveth , Septem annorum discat memoriter Psalterium , As soone as she is seaven yeares old , let her learn all the Psalmes without book ; the tendernesse of her age , must not avert her from the Scriptures . It is to the whole Congregation , consisting of all sorts and sexes , that Saint Chrysostome saith , Hortor , & hortari non desinam , I alwayes doe , and alwayes will exhort you , ut cum domi fueritis , assiduae lectioni Scripturarum vacetis , that at home , in your owne houses , you accustome your selves to a dayly reading of the Scriptures . And after , to such men as found , or forced excuses for reading them , he saith with compassion , and indignation too , O homo , non est tuum Scripturas evolvere , quia innumeris curis distraheris ? Busie man , belongeth it not to thee to study the Scriptures , because thou art oppressed with worldly businesse ? Imòmagis tuum est , saith he , therefore thou hadst the more need to study the Scriptures ; Illi non tam egent , &c. They that are not disquieted , nor disordered in their passions , with the cares of this world , doe not so much need that supply from the Scriptures , as you that are , doe . It is an Authour that lived in the obedience of the Romane Church , that saith , the Councell of Nice did decree , That every man should have the Bible in his house . But another Authour in that Church saith now , Consilium Chrysostomi Ecclesiae nunc non arridet ; The Church doth not now like Chrysostomes counsell , for this generall reading of the Scriptures , Quia etsi ille locutus ad plebem , plebs tunc non erat haeretica ; Though Saint Chrysostome spoke that to the people , the people in his time were not an Hereticall people : And are the people in the Roman Church now an Hereticall people ? If not , why may not they pursue Saint Chrystomes counsel , and reade the Scriptures ? Because they are dark ? It is true , in some places they are dark ; purposely left so by the Holy Ghost , ne semel lectas fastidiremus , lest we should think we had done when we had read them once ; so saith S. Gregory too , In plain places , fami occurrit , he presents meat for every stomach ; In hard and dark places , fastidia detergit , he sharpens the appetite : Margarita est , & undique perforari potest ; the Scripture is a Pearl , and might be bored through every where . Not every where by thy self ; there may be many places , which thou of thy self canst not understand ; not every where by any other man ; no not by them , who have warrant to search , Commission from God , by their calling , to interpret the Scriptures , not every where by the whole Church , God hath reserved the understanding of some places of Scripture , till the time come for the fulfilling of those Prophecies ; as many places of the Old Testament were not understood , till Christ came , in whom they were fulfilled . If therefore thou wilt needs know , whether , when Saint Paul took his information of the behaviour of the Corinthians , from those of Chloe , whether this Chloe , were a woman , or a place , the Fathers cannot satisfie thee , the latter Writers cannot satisfie thee , there is not Testimonium ab homine , no such humane Arguments as can determine thee , or give thee an Acquittance ; the greatest pillars whom God hath raised in his Church , cannot give a satisfaction to thy curiosity . But if the Doctrine of the place will satisfie thee , ( which Doctrine is , that S. Paul did not give credit to light rumors against the Corinthians , nor to clandestine whisperers , but tells them who accused them , and yet , as well as he loved them , he did not stop his eares against competent witnesses , ( for he tells them , they stood accused , and by whom ) then thou maist bore this pearle thorough , and make it fit for thy use , and wearing , in knowing so much of Saint Pauls purpose therein , as concerns thy edification , though thou never know , whether Chloe were a Woman , or a Place . Tantum veritati obstrepit adulter sensus ; quam corruptor stylus ; a false interpretation may doe thee as much harme , as a false translation , a false Commentary , as a false copy ; And therefore , forbearing to make any interpretation at all , upon dark places of Scripture , ( especially those , whose understanding depends upon the future fulfilling of prophecies ) in places that are clear , & evident thou maist be thine own interpreter ; In places that are more obscure , goe to those men , whom God hath set over thee , and either they shall give thee that sense of the place , which shall satisfie thee , by having the sense thereof , or that must satisfie you , that there is enough for your salvation , though that remaine uninterpreted . And let this Testimonium ab homine , this testimony of man establish thee for the Scripture , that there is a Scripture , a certaine book , that is the word ; and the revealed will of God ; That these books which we receive for Canonicall , make up that book ; And then , that this and this is the true sense of every place , which the holy Ghost hath opened to the present understanding of his Church . We said before , that a Christian being a Common-wealth to himselfe , the Scripture was his law , ( and for that law , that Scripture , he was to have Testimonium ab homine , the testimony of man ) And then , his Conscience is his Iudge , and for that he is to have the same testimony too . Thou must not rest upon the testimony and suggestions of thine owne conscience ; Nec illud de trivio paratum habere , thou must not rest in that vulgar saying , sufficit mihi &c. As long as mine owne Conscience stands right , I care not what all the world say . Thou must care what the world says , and study to have the approbation and testimony of good men . Every man is enough defamed in the generall depravation of our whole naturē : Adam hath cast an infamy upon us all : And when a man is defamed , it is not enough that he purge himselfe by oath , but he must have compurgators too : other men must sweare , that they beleeve he sweares a truth . Thine owne conscience is not enough , but thou must ●atisfie the world , and have Testimonium ab homine , good men must thinke thee good . A conscience that admits no search from others , is cauterizata , burnt with a hot Iron ; not cured , but seared ; not at peace , but stupefied . And when in the verse immediately before our text , it is said , That Iohn came to beare witnesse of that light , it is added , that through him , ( that is , through that man , through Iohn , not through it , through that light ) that through him all men beleeve . For though it be efficiently the operation of the light it selfe , ( that is , Christ himselfe ) that all men beleeve yet the holy Ghost directs us to that that is nearest us , to this testimony of man , that instrumentally , ministerially works this beliefe in men . If then for thy faith , thou must have testimonium ab homine , the testimony of men , and maist not beleeve as no man but thy selfe beleeves , much more for thy manners , and conversation . Thinke it not enough to satisfie thy self , but satisfie good men ; nay weake men ; nay malicious men : till it come so far , as that for the desire of satisfying man , thou leave God unsatisfied , endeavour to satisfie all . God must waigh down all ; thy selfe and others ; but as long as thy selfe onely art in one balance , and other men in the other , let this preponderate ; let the opinion of other men , waigh downe thine owne opinion of thy selfe . 'T is true , ( but many men flatter themselves too far , with this truth ) that it is a sin , to do any thing in Conscientiâ dubiâ , when a man doubts whether he may doe it , or no , and in Conscientiâ scrupulosâ , when the conscience hath received any single scruple , or suspicion to the contrary , and so too in conscientiâ opinante , in a conscience that hath conceived , but an opinion , ( which is far from a debated , and deliberate determination ) yea in conscientiâ errante , though the conscience be in an error , yet it is sin to do aright against the conscience ; but then , as it is a sin , to do against the conscience labouring under any of these infirmities , so is it a greater sin , not to labour to recover the conscience , and devest it of those scruples , by their advise , whom God hath indued with knowledg , and power , for that purpose . For , ( as it is in civill Iudicature ) God refers causes to them , and according to their reports , Gods ordinary way is to decree the cause , to loose where they loose , to binde where they binde . Their imperfections , or their corruptions God knowes how to punish in them ; but thou shalt have the recompense of thy humility and thy obedience to his ordinance , in hearkning to them , whom he hath set over thee , for the rectifying of thy conscience . Neither is this to erect a parochiall popacy , to make every minister a Pope in his own parish , or to re-enthrall you to a necessity of communicating all your sinnes , or all your doubtfull actions to him ; God forbid . God of his goodnesse hath delivered us , from that bondage , and butchery of the conscience , which our Fathers suffered from Rome , and Anathema , and Anathema Maran-atha , cursed be he till the Lord comes , and cursed when the Lord comes , that should go about to bring us in a relapse , in an eddy , in a whirlepoole , into that disconsolate estate , or into any of the pestilent errors of that Church . But since you think it no diminution to you , to consult with a Physician for the state of your body , or with a Lawyer for your Lands , since you are not borne , nor grown good Physicians , and good Lawyers , why should you think your selves born , or grown so good Divines , that you need no counsell , in doubtfull cases , from other men ? And therefore , as for the Law that governs us , that is , the Scripture , we go the way that Christ did , to receive the testimony of man , both for the body , that Scriptures there are , and for the limbs of that body , that these books make up those Scriptures , and for the soule of this body , that this is the sense of the holy Ghost in that place ; so , for our Iudge , which is the conscience , let that be directed before hand , by their advise whom God hath set over us , and setled , and quieted in us , by their testimony , who are the witnesses of our conversation . And so we have done with our Problematicall part ; we have asked and answered both these questions , Why this light requires any testimony , ( and that is because exhalations , and damps , and vapours arise , first from our ignorance , then from our incredulity , after from our negligence in practising , and lastly , from our slipperinesse in relapsing , and therefore we need more and more attestations , and remembrances of this light ) and the other question , Why after so many other testimonies , ( from himself , from his Father , from the Angell , from the Star , from the Magi , from Simeon , from Anna , from many , many , very many more ) he required this testimony of Iohn ; and that is , because all those other witnesses had testified long before , and because God in all matters belonging to Religion here , or to salvation hereafter , refers us to man , but to man sent , and ordained by God , for our direction , that we may do well ; and to the testimony of good men , that we have done well . And so we passe to our dogmaticall part , what his testimony was ; what Iohn Baptist and his successors in preaching , and preparing the ways of Christ , are sent to do ; he was sent to beare witnesse of that light . Princes which send Ambassadors , use to give them a Commission , containing the generall scope of the businesse committed to them , and then Instructions , for the fittest way to bring that businesse to effect . And upon due contemplation of both these , ( his Commission , and his Instructions ) arises the use of the Ambassadors judgement and discretion , in making his Commission , and his Instructions , ( which do not always agree in all points , but are often various , and perplext ) serve most advantagiously towards the ends of his negotiation . Iohn Baptist had both ; therefore they minister three considerations unto us ; first , his Commission , what that was ; and then his Instructions , what they were ; and lastly , the execution , how he proceeded therein . His Commission was drawn up , and written in Esa● , and recorded and entred into Gods Rolls by the Evangelists . It was , To prepare the way of the Lord , to make streight his paths , that therefore every valley should be exalted , every mountaine made law ; and all this he was to cry out , to make them inexcusable , who contemne the outward Ministery , and relie upon private inspirations . This Commission lasts during Gods pleasure ; and Gods pleasure is , that it should last to the end of the world ; Therefore are we also joyned in Commission with Iohn , and we cry out still to you to all those purposes . First , that you prepare the way of the Lord. But when we bid you do so , we do not meane , that this preparing or pre-disposing of your selves , is in your selves , that you can prevent Gods preventing grace , or mellow , or supple , or fit your selves for the entrance of that grace , by any naturall faculty in your selves . When we speak of a co-operation , a joint working with the grace of God , or of a post-operation , an after working upon the virtue of a former grace , this co-operation , & this post-operation must be mollified with a good concurrent cause with that grace . So there is a good sense of co-operation , and post-operation , but praeoperation , that we should work , before God work upon us , can admit no good interpretation . I could as soon beleeve that I had a being before God was , as that I had a will to good , before God moved it . But then , God having made his way into you , by his preventing grace , prepare that way , not your way , but his way , ( sayes our Commission ) that is , that way that he hath made in you , prepare that by forbearing and avoiding to cast new hinderances in that way . In sadnesse and dejections of spirit , seek not your comfort in drinke , in musique , in comedies , in conversation ; for , this is but a preparing a way of your owne . To prepare the Lords way , is to look , and consider , what way the Lord hath taken , in the like cases , in the like distresses with other servants of his , and to prepare that way in thy self , and to assure thy selfe , that God hath but practised upon others , that he might be perfect when he comes to thee , and that he intends to thee , in these thy tribulations , all that he hath promised to all , all that he hath already performed to any one . Prepare his way ; apply that way , in which he hath gone to others , to thy self . And then , by our Commission we cry out to you , to make streight his paths . In which we do not require , that you should absolutely rectifie all the deformities and crookednesse , which that Tortuositas Serpentis , the winding of the old Serpent hath brought you to ; for , now the streame of our corrupt nature , is accustomed to that crooked channell , and we cannot divert that , we cannot come to an absolute directnesse , and streightnesse , and profession in this life ; and , in this place , the holy Ghost speaks but of a way , a path ; not of our rest in the end , but of our labour in the way . Our Commission then is not to those sinlesse men , that think they have nothing for God to forgive ; But , when we bid you make streight his paths , ( as before we directed you , to take knowledge what his wayes towards others had been ) so here we intend , that you should observe , which is the Lords path into you , by what way he comes oftnest into you , who are his Temple , and do not lock that doore , do not pervert , do not crosse , do not deface that path . The ordinary way , even of the holy Ghost , for the conveying of faith , and supernaturall graces , is ( as the way of worldly knowledge is ) by the senses : where his way is by the care , by hearing his word preached ; do not thou crosse that way of his , by an inordinate delight , in hearing the eloquence of the preacher ; for , so thou hearest the man , and not God , and goest thy way , and not his . God hath divers wayes into divers men ; into some he comes at noone , in the sunshine of prosperity ; to some in the dark and heavy clouds of adversity . Some he affects with the musick of the Church , some with some particular Collect or Prayer ; some with some passage in a Sermon , which takes no hold of him , that stands next him . Watch the way of the Spirit of God , into thee ; that way which he makes his path , in which he comes oftnest to thee , and by which thou findest thy self most affected , and best disposed towards him , and pervert not that path , foule not that way . Make streight his paths , that is , keepe them streight ; and when thou observest , which is his path in thee , ( by what means especially he workes upon thee ) meet him in that path , embrace him in those meanes , and alwayes bring a facile , a fusil , a ductile , a tractable soule , to the offers of his grace , in his way . Our Commission reaches to the exalting of your valleys , Let every valley be exalted ; In which , we bid you not to raise your selves in this world , to such a spirituall heighth , as to have no regard to this world , to your bodies , to your fortunes , to your families . Man is not all soule , but a body too ; and , as God hath married them together in thee , so hath he commanded them mutuall duties towards one another ; and God allowes us large uses of temporall blessings , and of recreations too . To exalt valleyes , is not to draw up flesh , to the heighth of spirit ; that cannot be , that should not be done . But it is to draw you so much towards it , as to consider ( and consider with an application ) that the very Law , which was but the schoolmaster to the Gospell , was given upon a mountaine ; That Moses could not so much as see the Land of promise , till he was brought up into a mountaine ; That the inchoation of Christ glory , which was his transfiguration , was upon a mountaine ; That his conversation with God in prayer ; That his returne to his eternall Kingdom by his ascension , was so too , from a mountaine ; even his exinanition , his evacuation , his lowest humiliation , his crucifying was upon a mountaine ; and he calls , even that humiliation , an exaltation , Si exaltatus , If I be exalted , lifted up , sayes Christ signifying what death he should die . Now , if our depressions , our afflictions be exaltations , ( so they were to Christ , so they are to every good Christian ) how far doth God allow us , an exalting of our vallies , in a considering with a spirituall boldnesse , the heighth and dignity of mankind , and to what glory God hath created us . Certainly man may avoid as many sinnes , by this exalting his vallies , this considering the heighth and dignity of his nature , as by the humblest meditations in the world . For , upon those words of Iob , Manus tuae fecerunt me , Saint Gregory says , Misericordiae judicis , dignitatem suae conditionis opponit ; Iob presents the dignity of his creation , by the hand of God , as an inducement why God should regard him ; It is not his valley , but his mountaines , that he brings into Gods sight ; not that dust which God took into his hands , when he made him , but that person which the hands of God had made of that dust . Man is an abridgement of all the world ; and as some Abridgements are greater , then some other authors , so is one man of more dignity , then all the earth . And therefore exalt thy vallies , raise thy selfe above the pleasures that this earth can promise . And above the sorrowes , it can threaten too . A painter can hardly diminish or contract an Elephant into so little a forme , but that that Elephant , when it is at the least , will still be greater then an Ant at the life , and the greatest . Sinne hath diminished man shrowdly , and brought him into a narrower compasse ; but yet , his naturall immortality , ( his soule cannot dye ) and his spirituall possibility , even to the last gaspe , of spending that immortality in the kingdome of glory , and living for ever with God , ( for otherwise , our immortality were the heaviest part of our curse ) exalt this valley , this cold of earth , to a noble heighth . How ill husbands then of this dignity are we by sinne , to forfeit it by submitting our selves to inferior things ? either to gold , then which every worme , ( because a worme hath life , and gold hath none ) is in nature , more estimable , and more precious ; Or , to that which is lesse then gold , to Beauty ; for there went neither labour , nor study , nor cost to the making of that ; ( the Father cannot diet himselfe so , nor the mother so , as to be sure of a faire child ) but it is a thing that hapned by chance , wheresoever it is ; and , as there are Diamonds of divers waters , so men enthrall themselves in one clime to a black , in another to a white beauty . To that which is lesse then gold or Beauty , voice , opinion , fame , honour , we sell our selves . And though the good opinion of good men , by good ways , be worth our study , yet popular applause , and the voice of inconsiderate men , is too cheape a price to set our selves at . And yet , it is hardly got too ; for as a ship that lies in harbour within land , sometimes needs most of the points of the Compasse , to bring her forth : so if a man surrender himselfe wholly to the opinion of other men , and have not his Criterium , his touchstone within him , he will need both North and South , all the points of the Compasse , the breath of all men ; because , as there are contrary Elements in every body , so there are contrary factions in every place , and when one side cries him up , the other will depresse him , and he shall , ( if not shipwrack ) lie still . But yet we doe forfeit our dignity , for that which is lesse then all , then Gold , then Beauty , then Honour ; for sinne ; sinne which is but a privation , ( as darknesse is but a privation ) and privations are nothing . And therefore exalt every valley , consider the dignity of man in his nature , and then , in the Sonne of God his assuming that nature , which gave it a new dignity , and this will beget in thee a Pride that God loves , a valuing of thy selfe above all the tentations of this world . But yet exalt this valley temperately , consider and esteem this dignity modestly , for our Commission goes farther , not onely to the exalting of every valley , but , Omnis mons humiliabitur , every mountain must be made low : which is not to bring our mountainous , and swelling affections , and passions , to that flatnesse , as that we become stupid , and insensible . Mortification is not to kill nature , but to kill sinne . Bring therefore your Ambition to that bent , to covet a place in the kingdome of heaven , bring your anger , to flow into zeale , bring your love to enamour you of that face , which is fairer then the children of men , that face , on which the Angels desire to look , Christ Jesus , and you have brought your mountains to that lownesse , which is intended , and required here . Now , this Commission , Iohn Baptist was , and we are , to publish in deserto , in the Desert , in the wildernesse ; that is , as Saint Hierome notes , not in Ierusalem , in a tumult●ary place , a place of distraction , but in the Desert , a place of solitude , and retirednesse . And yet this does not imply an abandoning of society , and mutuall offices , and callings in the world , but onely informes us , that every man is to have a Desert in himself , a retiring into himself , sometimes of emptying himself of worldly businesses , and that he spend some houres in such solitudes , and lay aside , ( as one would lay aside a garment ) the Lawyer , the Physician , the Merchant , or whatsoever his profession be , and say , Domine hîe sum , Lord , I am here , I , he whom thou madest , and such as thou madest him , not such as the world hath made me , Hî sum , I am here , not where the affairs of the world scatter me , but here , in this retirednesse , Lord , I am here , command what thou wilt ; in this retirednesse , in this solitude , ( but is not a Court , is not an Army , is not a Fair a solitude , in respect of this association , when God and a good soul are met ? ) but in this home solitude , in this home Desert , are we commanded to publish this Commission , as the fittest time to make impressions of all the parts thereof , Prepare the way of the Lord , make streight his path , exalt your vallies , and bring down your mountains . And this was Iohn Baptists Commission , What to do , And then he had Instructions with his Commission , how to doe it ; which is another consideration . His Commission was long before in Esay , so he was Legatus natus , born an Ambassadour ; his Instructions were delivered to him by God immediately , when The Word of God came unto John , in the wildernesse . Princes oftentimes vary their Instructions from their Commissions , and to perplex their Ambassadours , God proceeded with Iohn Baptist , and doth with us directly . Our Commission is to conform you to him , our Instructions are to doe that , that way , By preaching the Baptisme of Repentance , for the remission of sinnes . It is , in a word , by the Word and Sacraments . First , he sends us not as Spies , to lie , and learn , nor to learn and lie ; but to deale apertly , manifestly , to publish , to preach ; which as it forbids forcible and violent pressing the Conscience by secular or Ecclesiasticall authority , so it forbids clandestin and whispering Conventicles ; It is a Preaching , a working by instructing and informing the understanding ; it is a Preaching a publique avowing of Gods Ordinance , in a right Calling . He gives us not our Instructions to offer Peace and reconciliation to all , and yet he not mean it to all ; He bids us preach unto all ; he bids all hearers repent , and he allowes us to set to his seales of reconciliation , to all that come as penitents . He knowes who will , and who will not repent , we doe not ; but both he knowes , and so doe we , that all may , so far as that , if they doe not , they finde enough in themselves to condemne themselves , and to discharge God and us . Our Instructions are to preach , that is our way , and to preach Repentance ; there begin you in your own bosoms : He that seeks upwards to a River , is sure to finde that head ; but he that upon every bubling spring , will think to finde a River , by that may erre many wayes . If thou repent truely , thou art sure to come up to Gods Decree for thy salvation ; but if thou begin above at the Decree , and say , I am saved , therefore I shall repent , thou mayest misse both . Repent , and you shall have the Seals ; the Seals are the Sacraments ; Iohns was Baptisme ; but to what ? He baptized to the amendment of life . This then is the chain ; we preach , you repent ; then we give you the Seals , the Sacraments , and you plead them , that is , declare them in a holy life ; for , till that ( Sanctification ) come , Preaching , and Repentance , atd Seals , are ineffectuall . A good life inanimates all . And so , having done with his Commission , what he was to do , and his Instructions , how he was to do it , we passe to our last branch , in this last part , The execution of his Commission , and Instructions , what , and how he did it , what Testimony he gave of this light . First , he testified , se non esse , that he was not this light , this Christ , this Messias . And secondly , Christum esse , that this light , this Christ , this Messias was come into the world , there was no longer expectation : And lastly , hunc esse , that this particular person whom he designed and specified in the Ecce Agnus , behold the Lambe of God , was this Light , this Christ , this Messias . He was not , One was , Christ was ; In these three consists his Testimony . First , he testified that himself was not the Messias , he confessed and denied not , and said plainly , I am not the Christ. Therefore , lest I. Baptist might be overvalued , and their devotions fixed and determined in him , S. Augstine enlarges this consideration , Erat Mons illustratus , non ipse Sol ; Iohn Baptist was a hill , and a hill gloriously illustrated by the Sun , but he was not that Sun ; Mirare , mirare , sed tanquam montem ; Iohn Baptist deserves a respect , and a regard ; but regard him , and respect him but as an hill , which though high , lis but the same earth ; and mons ●int ●●ebiis est nisi luce luce vestiatur , A hill hath no more light in it self , then the valley , till the light invest it ; Si montem esse lucem putas , in monte naufragium facies ; If you take the hill , because it shines , to be the light it self , you shipwrack upon the top of a hill . If we rest in the person , or in the gifts of any man , to what heighth soever this hill be raised in opinion , or in the Church , still we mistake ; Iohn Baptist , men of the greatest endowments , and goodnesse too , are but instruments , they are not the workman himself . And therefore as they are most inexcusable , that put an infallibility in the breast of one man , ( our adversaries of Rome ) so do they transgresse too farre that way , that runne , and pant , and thrust after strange preachers , and leave their owne Church deserted , and their owne Pastour discouraged ; for some one family , by the greatnesse thereof , or by the estimation thereof , may induce both those inconveniences . Truly , though it may seeme boldly said , it may be said safely , that we were better heare some weaknesses from our owne Pastour , then some excellencies from another ; go farther , some mistakings from our own , then some truths from another ; for , all truths are not necessary ; nor all mistakings pernicious ; but obedience to order is necessary , and all disorder pernicious . Now what a way had Iohn Baptist open to him , if he had been popularly disposed . Amongst a people , that at that time expected their Messias , ( for , all the Prophecies preceding his comming were then fulfilled ) and such a Messias as should be a Temporall King , and had invested an opinion , that he , Iohn Baptist , was that Christ , what rebellions , what earth-quakes , what inundations of people might he have drawne after him , if he would have countenanced and cherished their error to his advantage ? They would have lacked no Scriptures , to authorize their actions . They would have found particular places of the Prophets , to have justified any act of theirs , in advancing their Messias , then expected . Therein he is our patterne ; not to preach our selves , but Christ Iesus ; not to preach for admiration , but for edification ; not to preach to advance civill ends , without spirituall ends ; to promote all the way the peace of all Christian Kingdomes , but to refer all principally to the Kingdome of peace , and the King of peace , the God of heaven . He confessed , and denied not , and said plainly , I am not the Christ ; That was his Testimony ; we confesse , and deny not , and say plainly , That our own parts , our owne passions , the purpose of great persons , the purpose of any State , is not Christ ; we preach Christ Iesus , and him crucified ; and whosoever preaches any other Gospell , or any other thing for Gospell , let him be accursed . I am not the man , sayes Iohn Baptist , for , that man is God too ; but yet that man , that God , that Messias consisting of both , is come , though I be not he . There is one amongst you , whom you know not , whose shooe-latchet I am not worthy to loose . In which , he says all this ; There is one among you ; you need seek no farther ; all the promises , and Prophecies , ( the Semen mulieris , That the seed of the woman should bruise the Serpents head ; the appropriation to Abraham , In semine tuo , In thy seed shall all Nations be blessed : the fixation upon David , Donec Shiloh , till Shiloh come ; Esay's Virgo concipiet , Behold a Virgin shall conceive ; Micah's & tu Bethlem , that Bethlem should be the place , Daniels seventy Hebdomades , that that should be the time , ) all promises , all prophecies , all computations are at an end , the Messias is come . Is he come , and amongst you , and do you not know him ? what will make you know him ? You beleeve you need a Messias ; you cannot restore your selfe . You beleeve this Messias must come at a certaine time , specified by certaine marks ; were all these marks upon any other ? or lacks there any of these in him ? Do you thus magnifie me , and neglect a person , whose shooe-latchet I am not worthy to loose . Iohn Baptist was a Prophet , more then a Prophet , The greatest of the sonnes of women : Who could be so much greater then he , and not the Messias ? we must necessarily enwrap all these three in one another , and into one another they do easily and naturally fall : He testifies that he was not the man , ( he preaches not himself ) he testifies that that man is come ; ( future expectations are frivolous ) and he testifies , that the characters and marks of the expected Messias , can fall upon none but this man , and therefore he delivers him over to them with that confidence , Ecce Agnus Dei , Behold the Lambe of God , there you may see him ; and this is his Testimony . These three , we , we to whom Iohn Baptists Commission is continued , testifie too . First , we tell you , what is not Christ ; austerity of life , and outward sanctity is not hee ; Iohn Baptist had them abundantly , but yet permitted not , that they should have that opinion of him . But yet , much lesse is chambring and wantonnesse , and persevering in sinne , that Christ , or the way to him . We tell you , stetit in medio , he hath been amongst you , you have heard him preached in your ears ; yea yee have heard him knock at your hearts , and for all that , we tell you that you have not known him . Which , though it be the discomfortablest thing in the world , ( not to have known Christ in those approches ) yet we tell it you somewhat to your comfort ; and to your excuse , for , had you known● it , you would not have crucified the Lord of glory , as we doe all , by our daily sinnes . And though God have winked at these times of ignorance , ( pretermitted your former inconsiderations ) now , he commandeth all men every where to repent . And therefore , that thou maist know , even thou , ( as Christ iterates it ) at least in this thy day , the things which belong to thy Peace , we tell you who he is , and where he is ; Ecce agnus Dei , Behold the lambe of God , Here , here in this his ordinance he supplicates you , when the Minister , how meane soever , prays you , in his stead , be yee reconciled to God. Here he proclaims , and cries to you , Venite omnes , come all that are weary and heavy laden . Here he bleeds in the Sacrament , here he takes away the sinnes of the world , in deriving a jurisdiction upon us , to binde and loose upon earth , that which he will binde and loose in heaven . This we testifie to you ; Doe you but receive this testimony . Till you hear that voice of consummation in heaven , Venite benedicti , come yee blessed , you shall never heare a more comfortable Gospell then this , which was preached by Christ himselfe , the Spirit of the Lord is upon me , to preach the Gospell to the poore , to heale the broken hearted , to preach deliverance to the captives , and the acceptable yeare of the Lord : for , this was not a deliverance from their brick-making in Egypt , nor from their scornes and contempts in Babylon , but a deliverance from that unexpressible , that unconceivable bondage of sinne , and death , not by the hand of a Moses , but a Messias , Opt as dare qui praecipit petere , he that commands us to aske , would faine give : Cupit largiri , qui desider at postulari , he that desires us to pray to him , hath that ready , and a readinesse to give that , that he bids us pray for . If the King give a generall pardon , will any man be so suspiciously trecherous in his own behalfe , as to say , for all this large extent of his mercy , he meant not me , and therefore I will sue out no pardon ? If the King cast a donative , at his Coronation , will any man lie still and say , he meant none of that money to me ? When the master of the feast sent his servants for guests , had it become those poor , and mai●ed , and halt , and blind , to have stood and disputed with the steward , and said , Surely sir , you mistooke your Master , your Master did not meane us ? Why should any man thinke that God meanes not him ? When he offers grace , and salvation to all , why not to him ? Should God exclude him as a man ? Why , God made him good , and , as a man and his creature , he is good still . But , non Deus Esan hominem odit , fed odit Esau peccatorem ? God did not hate Esau , as he was a man , but as he was a sinner . Should he exclude him as a sinner ? Why then he should receive none , for we are all so ; and he came for none but such , but sinners . Perfectiorum est nihil in peccatore odiisse praeter peccata , To hate nothing in a sinner , but his sinne , is a great degree of perfection ; God is that perfection ; he hates nothing in thee but thy sinne ; and that sinne he hath taken upon himself , and sees it not in thee . Should he exclude thee because thou art impenitent , because thou hast not repented ? Doe it now . Peccasti , paenitere , Hast thou sinned ? repent . Millies peccasti ? millies poenitere ? Hast thou multiplied thy sinnes by thousands ? multiply thy penitent teares so too . Should he exclude thee , because thou art impenitible , thou canst not repent ; how knowest thou thou canst not repent ? Doest thou try , doest thon endevour , doest thou strive ? why , this , this holy contention of thine is repentance . Discredit not Gods evidence ; he offers thee Testimonium ab homine , the testimony of man , of the man of God , the Minister , that the promises of the Gospell belong to thee . Judge not against that evidence ; confesse that there is no other name given under heaven , to be saved , but the name of Iesus , and that that is . And then , when thou hast thus admitted his witnesses to thee , that his preaching hath wrought upon thee , be thou his witnesse to others , by thy exemplar life , and holy conversation . In this chapter , in the calling of the Apostles some such thing is intimated , when of those two Disciples , which , upon Iohns testimony , followed Christ , one is named , ( Andrew ) and the other is not named . No doubt , but the other is also written in the book of life , and long since enjoyes the blessed fruit of that his forwardnesse . But in the testimony of the Gospell , written for posterity , onely Andrew is named , who sought out his brother Simon , and drew him in , and so propagated the Church , and spread the Glory of God. They who testifie their faith by works , give us the better comfort , and posterity the better example . It will be but Christs first question at the last day , What hast thou done for me ? If we can answer that , he will aske , What hast thou suffered for me ? and if we can answer that , he will aske , at last , Whom hast thou won to me , what soul hast thou added to my Kingdome ? Our thoughts , our words , our doings , our sufferings , if they bring but our selves to Heaven , they are not Witnesses ; our example brings others ; and that is the purpose , and the end of all we have said , Iohn Baptist was a witnesse to us , we are so to you , be you so to one another . SERMON XXXIX . Preached at Saint Pauls . PHILIP . 3. 2. Beware of the Concision . THis is one of those places of Scripture , which afford an argument for that , which I finde often occasion to say , That there are not so eloquent books in the world , as the Scriptures . For there is not onely that non refugit , which Calvin speaketh of in this place , ( Non refugit in Organis suis Spiritus Sanctus leporem & facetias , The Holy Ghost in his Instruments , ( in those whose tongues or pens he makes use of ) doth not forbid , nor decline elegant and cheerfull , and delightfull expression ; but as God gave his Children a bread of Manna , that tasted to every man like that that he liked best , so hath God given us Scriptures , in which the plain and simple man may heare God speaking to him in his own plain and familiar language , and men of larger capacity , and more curiosity , may heare God in that Musique that they love best , in a curious , in an harmonious style , unparalleled by any . For , that also Calvin adds in that place , that there is no secular Authour , Qui jucundis vocum allusionibus , & figuris magis abundat , which doth more abound with perswasive figures of Rhetorique , nor with musicall cadences and allusions , and assimilations , and conformity , and correspondency of words to one another , then some of the Secretaries of the Holy Ghost , some of the authours of some books of the Bible doe . Of this Rule , this Text is an example . These Philippians , amongst whom Saint Paul had planted the Gospell in all sincerity , and impermixt , had admitted certain new men , that preached Traditionall , and Additionall Doctrines , the Law with the Gospell , Moses with Christ , Circumcision with Baptisme . To these new Convertites , these new Doctors inculcated often that charm , You are the Circumcision , you are they whom God hath sealed to himself by the Seale of Circumcision ; They whom God hath distinguished from all Nations , by the marke of Circumcision ; They in whom God hath imprinted , ( and that in so high a way , as by a Sacrament ) an internall Circumcision , in an externall ; and will you breake this Seale of Circumcision ? will you deface this marke of Circumcision ? will you depart from this Sacrament of Circumcision ? You are the Circumcision . Now Saint Paul meets with these men upon their haunt ; and even in the sound of that word which they so often pressed ; he sayes they presse upon you Circumcision , but beware of Concision , of tearing the Church of God , of Schismes , and separations from the Church of God , of aspersions and imputations upon the Church of God , either by imaginary superfluities , or imaginary defectivenesse , in that Church : for , saith the Apostle , We are the Circumcision , we who worship God in the Spirit , and rejoyce in Christ Iesus , and have no confidence in the flesh . If therefore they will set up another Circumcision beyond this Circumcision , if they will continue a significative , a relative , a preparative figure , after the substance , the body , Christ Jesus is manifested to us , a legall Circumcision in the flesh , after the spirituall Circumcision in the heart is established by the Gospell , their end is not Circumcision , but Concision : they pretend Reformation , but they intend Destruction , a tearing , a renting , a wounding the body , and frame , and peace of the Church , and by all means , and in all cases Videte Concisionem , Beware of Concision . First then , we shall from these words consider , the lothnesse of God to lose us . For , first , he leaves us not without a Law , he bids and he forbids , and then he does not surprise us with obsolete laws , he leaves not his laws without proclamations , he refreshes to our memories , and represents to us our duties , with such commonefactions as these in our Text , Videte , Cavete , this and this I have commanded you , Videte , see that ye do it , this and this will hinder you , Cavete , beware ye do it not , Beware of Concision . And this , thus derived , and digested into these three branches : first , Gods lothnesse to lose us ; and then his way of drawing us to him , by manifestation of his will in a law ; and lastly his way of holding us with him , by making that law effectuall upon us , by these his frequent commonefactions , Videte , Cavete , looke to it , beware of it , this will be our first part . And then our second will be the thing it self that falls under this inhibition , and caution , which is Concision , that is , a tearing , a renting , a shredding in peeces that which should be intire . In which second part , we shall also have , ( as we had in the former ) three branches ; for , we shall consider , first , Concisionem corporis , the shredding of the body of Christ into fragments , by unnecessary wrangling in Doctrinall points ; and then , Concisionem vestis , the shredding of the garment of Christ into rags , by unnecessary wrangling in matter of Discipline , and ceremoniall points ; and lastly , Concisionem spiritus , ( which will follow upon the former two ) the concision of thine owne spirit , and heart , and minde , and soule , and conscience , into perplexities , and into sandy , and incoherent doubts , and scruples , and jealousies , and suspitions of Gods purpose upon thee , so as that thou shalt not be able to recollect thy self , nor reconsolidate thy self , upon any assurance , and peace with God , which is onely to be had in Christ , and by his Church . Videte Concisionem , beware of tearing the body , the Doctrine ; beware of tearing the Garment , the Discipline ; beware of tearing thine owne spirit , and conscience , from her adhaesion , her agglutination , her cleaving to God , in a holy tranquillity , and acquiescence in his promise , and mercy , in the merits of his Sonne , applyed by the holy Ghost , in the Ministry of the Church . For our first consideration , of Gods lothnesse to lose us , this is argument enough● That we are here now , now at the participation of that grace , which God alwayes offers to al such Congregations as these , gathered in his name . For , I pray God there stand any one amongst us here now , that hath not done something since yesterday , that made him unworthy of being here to day ; and who , if he had been left under the damp , and mist of yesterdayes sinne , without the light of new grace , would never have found way hither of himself . If God be weary of me , and would faine be rid of me , he needs not repent that he wrapped me up in the Covenant , and derived me of Christian parents , ( though he gave me a great help in that ) nor repent that he bred me in a true Church , ( though he afforded me a great assistance in that ) nor repent that he hath brought me hither now , to the participation of his Ordinances , ( though thereby also I have a great advantage ) for , if God be weary of me , and would be rid of me , he may finde enough in me now , and here , to let me perish . A present levity in me that speake , a present formality in you that heare , a present Hypocrisie spread over us all , would justifie God ; if now , and here , he should forsake us . When our blessed Saviour sayes , When the Son of man comes , shall he finde faith upon earth ? we need not limit that question so , if he come to a Westminster , to an Exchange , to an Army , to a Court , shall he finde faith there ? but if he come to a Church , if he come hither , shall he finde faith here ? If ( as Christ speaks in another sense , That Iudgement should begin at his owne house , ) the great and generall judgement should begin now at this his house , and that the first that should be taken up in the clouds , to meet the Lord Jesus , should be we , that are met now in this his house , would we be glad of that acceleration , or would we thank him for that haste ? Men of little faith , I feare we would not . There was a day , when the Sonnes of God presented themselves before the Lord , and Satan came also amongst them ; one Satan amongst many Sonnes of God. Blessed Lord , is not our case far otherwise ? do not we , ( we , who , as we are but we , are all the Sonnes of Satan ) present our selves before thee , and yet , thou Lord art amongst us ? Is not the spirit of slumber and wearinesse upon one , and the spirit of detraction , and mis-interpretation upon another ; upon one the spirit of impenitence for former sinnes , and the spirit of recidivation into old , or of facility and opennesse to admit tentations into new upon another ? We , as we are but we , are all the Sonnes of Satan , and thou Lord , the onely Sonne of God , onely amongst us . If thou Lord wert weary of me , and wouldest be rid of me , ( may many a soule here say ) Lord thou knowest , and I know many a midnight , when thou mightest have been rid of me , if thou hadst left me to my selfe then . But vigilavit Doninus , the Lord vouchsafed to watch over me , and deliciae ejus , the delight of the Lord was to be with me ; And what is there in me , but his mercy ? but then , what is there in his mercy , that that may not reach to all , as well as to me ? The Lord is loth to lose any , the Lord would not the death of any ; not of any sinner ; much lesse if he do not see him , nor consider him so ; the Lord would not lose him , though a sinner , much lesse make him a sinner , that he might be lost : Vult omnes , the Lord would have all men come unto him , and be saved , which was our first consideration , and we have done with that , and our second is , The way by which he leads us to him , that he declares and manifests his will unto us , in a Law , he bids , and he forbids . The laborers in the Vine-yard took it ill at the Stewards hand , and at his Masters too , that those which came late to the labour , were made equall with them , who had borne the heate , and the burden of the day . But if the Steward , or the Master had never meant , or actually never had given any thing at all , to them that had borne the heate and the burden of the day , there had been much more cause of complaint , because there had passed a contract between them . So hath there passed a contract between God , and us , Beleeve , and thou shalt live , Do this and thou shalt live . And in this especially hath God expressed his love to us , and his lothenesse to lose us , that he hath passed such a contract with us , and manifested to us a way , to come to him . We say , every day , in his owne prayer , Fiat voluntas tua , thy will be done ; that is , done by us , as well as done upon us . But this petition presumes another ; the Fiat suposes a Patefiat voluntas , if it must be done , it must be known . If man were put into this world , & under an obligation of doing the will of God , upon damnation , and had no meanes to know that will which he was bound to doe , of all creatures he were the most miserable . That which we read , Lord what is man that thou takest knowledge of him ? the Vulgat edition ; and the Fathers following the Septuagint , read thus , Quia innotuisti ei , Lord what is man that he should have any knowledge of thee , that thou shouldest make thy selfe known to him ? This is the heighth of the mercy of God , this innotescence , this manifestation of himselfe to us . Now what is this innotescence , this manifestation of God to us ? It is , say our old Expositors , the law . That 's that , which is so often called the face of God , and the light of his Countenance ; for , facies Dei est , qua nobis innotescit , that 's Gods face , by which God is known to us , and that 's his law , the declaration of his will to me , and my way to him . When Christ reproaches those hard-hearted men , that had not fed him , when he was hungry , nor clothed him , when he was naked , and that they say , Lord when did we see thee naked , or see thee hungry ? ( inconsiderate men , or men loth to give , the penurious and narrow soule , shall not see an occasion of charity , when it is presented , which is a heavy blindnesse , and obcaecation , not to see occasions of doing good ) yet those men doe not say , when did we see thee at all , as though they had never seen him ? The blindest man that is , hath the face of God so turned towards him , as that he may be seen by him ; even the naturall man hath so ; for , therefore does the Apostle make him inexcusable , if in the visible worke , he doe not see the invisible God. But all sight of God , is by the benefit of a law ; the naturall man sees him by a law written in his heart , the Iew , by a law given by Moses , the Christian , in a clearer glasse , for , his law is the Gospell . But there is more mercy , that is , more manifestation in this text , then all this . For , besides the naturall mans seeing God , in a law , in the faculties of his owne nature , ( which we consider to be the work of the whole Trinity , in that Faciamus hominē , Let us make man in our own Image , let us shine out in him , so as that he may be a glasse , in which he may see us , in himselfe ) and besides the Iews seeing of God in the law written in the stone tables , ( which we consider to be the worke of the Father ) And besides the Christians seeing of God , in the law written in bloud , ( in which we consider especially the Sonne ) there is in this text an operation , a manifestation of God , proper to the holy Ghost , and wrought by his holy suggestions and inspirations , That God does not onely speake to us , but call upon us ; not onely give us a Law , but Proclamations upon that law , that he refreshes to our memories , generall duties , by such particular warnings , and excitations , and commonefactions , as in this text , Videte , Beware , which is the last branch of this part , though it be the first word of our text , Videte , Beware . Nothing exalts Gods goodnesse towards us , more then this , that he multiplies the meanes of his mercy to us , so , as that no man can say , once I remember I might have been saved , once God called unto mee , once hee opened mee a doore , a passage into heaven , but I neglected that , went not in then , and God never came more . No doubt , God hath come often to that doore since , and knocked , and staid at that doore ; And if I knew who it were that said this , I should not doubt to make that suspitious soule see , that God is at that doore now . God hath spoken once , and twice have I heard him ; for the foundation of all . God hath spoken but once , in his Scriptures . Therefore doth Saint Iude call that fidem semel traditam , the faith once delivered to the Saints ; once , that is , at once ; not at once so , all at one time , or in one mans age ; the Scriptures were not delivered so ; for , God spoke by the mouth of the Prophets , that have been , since the world beganne ; But , at once , that is , by one way , by writing , by Scriptures ; so , as that after that was done , after God had declared his whole will , in the Law , and the Prophets , and the Gospell , there was no more to bee added . God hath spoken once , in his Scriptures , and wee have heard him twice , at home , in our owne readings , and againe and againe here , in his Ordinances . This is the heighth of Gods goodnesse , that he gives us his Law , and a Comment upon that Law , Proclamations , declarations upon that Law. For , without these subsequent helpes , even the law it selfe might be mistaken ; as you see it was , when Christ was put to rectifie them , with his Audiistis , and Audiistis , this you have heard , and this hath been told you , Ego autem dico , but this I say , ab initio , from the beginning it was not so , the foundations were not thus laid , and upon the foundations laid by God in the Scriptures , and not upon the superedifications of men , in traditionall additions , must wee build . In stormes and tempests at sea men come sometimes to cut down Galleries , and teare up Cabins , and cast them over-board to ease the ship , and sometimes to hew downe the Mast it selfe , though without that Mast the ship can make no way ; but no soule weather can make them teare out the keele of the ship , upon which the ship is built . In cases of necessity , the Church may forbeare her Galleries , and Cabinets , meanes of ease and conveniency ; yea , and her Mast too , meanes of her growth , and propagation , and enlarging of her selfe , and be content to hull it out , and consist in her present , or a worse state , during the storme . But to the keele of the ship , to the fundamentall articles of Religion , may no violence , in any case , be offered . God multiplies his mercies to us , in his divers ways of speaking to us . Caeli enarrant , says David , The heavens declare the glory of God ; and not onely by showing , but by saying ; there is a language in the heavens ; for it is enarrant , a verball declaration ; and , as it followes literally , Day unto day uttereth speech . This is the true harmony of the Spheares , which every man may heare . Though he understand no tongue but his owne , he may heare God in the motions of the same , in the seasons of the yeare , in the vicissitudes and revolutions of Church , and State , in the voice of Thunder , and lightnings , and other declarations of his power . This is Gods English to thee , and his French , and his Latine , and Greek , and Hebrew to others . God once confounded languages ; that conspiring men might not understand one another , but never so , as that all men might not understand him . When the holy Ghost fell upon the Apostles , they spoke so , as that all men understood them , in their owne tongues . When the holy Ghost fell upon the waters , in the Creation , God spoke so , in his language of Workes , as that all men may understand them . For , in this language , the language of workes , the Eye is the eare , seeing is hearing . How often does the holy Ghost call upon us , in the Scriptures , Ecce , quia os Domini locutum , Behold , the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it ? he calls us to behold , ( which is the office of the eye ) and that that we are to behold , is the voice of God , belonging to the eare ; seeing is hearing , in Gods first language , the language of works . But then God translates himself , in particular works ; nationally , he speaks in particular judgments , or deliverances to one nation ; & , domestically , he speaks that language to a particular family ; & so personally too ; he speaks to every particular soul. God will speak unto me , in that voice , and in that way , which I am most delighted with , & hearken most to . If I be covetous , God wil tel me that heaven is a pearle , a treasure . If cheerfull and affected with mirth , that heaven is all Ioy. If ambitious , and hungry of preferment , that it is all Glory . If sociable , and conversable , that it is a communion of Saints . God will make a Fever speake to me , and tell me his minde , that there is no health but in him , God will make the disfavour , and frowns of him I depend upon , speake to me , and tell me his minde , that there is no safe dependence , no assurance but in him ; God will make a storme at Sea , or a fire by land , speake to me , and tell mee his minde , that there is no perpetuity , no possession but in him ; nay , God will make my sinne speake to me , and tell me his minde ; even my sinne shall be a Sermon , and a Catechisme to me ; God shall suffer mee me to fall into some such sinne , as that by some circumstances in the sinne , or consequences from the sinne , I shall be drawn to hearken unto him ; and whether I heare Hosannaes , acclamations , and commendations , or Crucifiges , exclamations and condemnations from the world , I shall still finde the voice and tongue of God , though in the mouth of the Devill , and his instruments . God is a declaratory God. The whole yeare , is , to his Saints , a continuall Epiphany , one day of manifestation . In every minute that strikes upon the Bell , is a syllable , nay a syllogisme from God. And , and in my last Bell , God shall speake too ; that Bell , when it tolls , shall tell me I am going , and when it rings out , shall tell you I am gone into the hands of that God , who is the God of the living and not of the dead , for , they dye not that depart in him . Dives pressed Abraham to send a preacher from the dead , to his brethren . This was to put God to a new language , when he had spoken sufficiently by Moses , and the Prophets . And yet , even in this language , the tongue of the dead , hath God spoken too . Saint Hierome says , that that Prophet Ionas , who was sent to Niniveh , was the same man , whom , beeing then a child , and dead in his mothers house , the widow of Zarepta's house , Elias the Prophet raised to life againe ; and so , God spoke to Niniveh in that language , in the tongue of the dead . But be that but Problematicall , wrapped up in a Traditionall , and Historicall faith , this is Dogmaticall , and irrefragable , that God hath spoken to the whole world in the tongue of the dead , in his Sonne Christ Iesus , the Lord of life , and yet the first borne of the dead . God is lothe to lose us , at worst , and therefore , did not , surely , reject us , before we were ill , ( And that was our first ) God hath drawn us to him , by manifesting his will , and our way in a law , and therefore , will not judge us at last , by any thing never revealed to us , ( And that was our second ) God holds us to him by these remembrances , these common manifestations in our text , Videte , Cavete , and therefore let no man that does not heare God speaking to him , in this present voice , despaire that hee shall never heare him , but hearken still , and in one language or other , perchance a sicknesse , perchance a sinne , hee shall heare him , for these are severall Dialects in Gods language , severall instruments in Gods Consort ; And this is our third consideration , and the end of this first part , the Prohibition , the Commonefaction , Videte , Cavete ; And wee passe to our second generall part , and the three branches of that , that that falls under this Prohibition , Videte Concisionem , Beware the Concision . Saint Paul embraces here , that elegancy of language familiar to the holy Ghost , They pretend Circumcision , they intend Concision ; there is a certaine elegant and holy delicacy , a certaine holy juvenility in Saint Pauls choosing these words of this musicall cadence and agnomination , Circumcision , and Concision ; But then this delicacy , and juvenility presents matter of gravity and soundnesse . Language must waite upon matter , and words upon things . In this case , ( which indeed makes it a strange case ) the matter is the forme ; The matter , that is , the doctrine that we preach , is the forme , that is , the Soule , the Essence ; the language and words wee preach in , is but the Body , but the existence . Therefore , Saint Paul , who would not allow Legall figures , not Typicall figures , not Sacramentall figures , not Circumcision it selfe , after the body , Christ Jesus , was once exhibited , does not certainely allow Rhetoricall figures , nor Poeticall figures , in the preaching , or hearing of Christ preached , so , as that that should bee the principall leader of hearer , or speaker . But this Saint Paul authoriseth in his owne practise , and the holy Ghost in him , That in elegant language , he incorporates , and invests sound and important Doctrine ; for , though he choose words of musicall sound , Circumcision and Concision , yet it is a matter of weighty consideration that he intends in this Concision . Saint Chrysostome , and Saint Hierome both agree in this interpretation , That whereas Circumcision is an orderly , a usefull , a medicinall , a beneficiall pruning and paring off , that which is superfluous , Conciditur quod temere , & inutiliter decerpitur , Concision is a hasty and a rash plucking up , or cutting downe , and an unprofitable tearing , and renting into shreds and fragments , such , as the Prophet speaks of , The breaking of a Potters vessell , that cannot be made up again . Concision is , at best , Solutio Continui , The severing of that , which should be kept intire . In the State , the aliening of the head from the body , or of the body from the head , is Concision ; and videte , it is a fearefull thing to be guilty of that . In the Church , ( which Church is not a Monarchy , otherwise then as she is united in her head , Christ Jesus ) to constitute a Monarchy , an universall head of the Church , to the dis-inherison , and to the tearing of the Crownes of Princes , who are heads of the Churches in their Dominions , this is Concision ; and videte , it is a fearefull thing to be guilty of that , to advance a forein Prelate . In the family , where God hath made man and wife , one , to divide with others , is Concision ; and videte , it is a fearefull thing to be guilty of that . Generally , the tearing of that in peeces , which God intended should be kept intire , is this Concision , and falls under this Commonefaction , which implies an increpation , videte , beware . But because thus , Concision would receive a concision into infinite branches , we determined this consideration , at first , into these three ; first , Concisio Corporis , the concision of the body , dis-union in Doctrinall things ; and Concisio vestis , the Concision of the garment , dis-union in Ceremoniall things ; and then Concisio Spiritus , the Concision of the Spirit , dis-union , irresolution , unsetlednesse , diffidence , and distrust in thine owne minde and conscience . First , for this Concision of the body , of the body of Divinity , in Doctrinall things , since still Concision is Solutio continui , the breaking of that which should be intire , consider we first , what this Continuum , this that should be kept intire , is ; and it is , sayes the Apostle , Iesus himself . Omnis spiritus qui solvit Iesum , ( so the Antients reade that place ) Every spirit which dissolveth Iesus , that breakes Jesus in peeces , that makes Religion serve turnes , that admits so much Gospell as may promove and advance present businesses , every such spirit is not of God. Not to professe the whole Gospell , Totum Iesum , not to beleeve all the Articles of faith , this is Solutio continui , a breaking of that which should be intire ; and this is truly concision . Now with concision in this kinde , our greatest adversaries , they of the Romane heresie , and mis-perswasion , do not charge us . They do not charge us that we deny any article of any antient Creed : nor may they deny , that there is not enough for salvation in those antient Creeds . This is Continuitas universalis , a continuity , an intirenesse that goes through the whole Church ; a skin that covers the whole body ; the whole Church is bound to beleeve all the articles of faith . But then , there is Continuitas particularis , Continuitas modi , a continuity , a harmony , an intirenesse , that does not go through the whole Church ; the whole Church does not alwaies agree in the manner of explication of all the articles of faith ; but this may be a skin that covers some particular limbe of the body , and not another ; one Church may expound an article thus , and some other some other way , as , in particular , the Lutheran Church expounds the article of Christs descent into hell , one way , and the Calvinist another . Now , in cases , where neither exposition destroyes the article , in the substance thereof , it is Concision , that is , Solutio continui , a breaking of that which should be kept intire , for any man to breake the peace of that Church , in which he hath received his baptisme , and hath his station , by advancing the exposition of any other Church , in that . And as this is Concision , Solutio continui , a breaking of that which is intire , to break the peace of the Church , where we were baptized , by teaching otherwise then that Church teaches , in these things De modo , of the manner of expounding such or such articles of faith , so is there another dangerous Concision too . For , to inoculate a forein bud , or to engraffe a forein bough , is concision , as well as the cutting off an arme from the tree ; to inoculate , cleaves the rinde , the bark ; and to engraffe , cleaves the tree : it severs that which should be entire . So , when a particular Church , in a holy , and discreet modesty , hath abstained from declaring her self in the exposition of some particular Articles , or of some Doctrines , by faire consequence deducible from those Articles , and contented her self with those generall things which are necessary to salvation , ( As the Church of England hath , in the Article of Christs descent into Hell ) it is Concision , it is solution Continui , a breaking of that which should be intire , to inoculate a new sense , or engraffe a new exposition , which howsoever it may be true in it selfe , it cannot be truly said , to be the sense of that Church ; not perchance because that Church was not of that mind , but because that Church finding the thing it self to be no fundamentall thing , thought it unnecessary to descend to particular declarations , when as in such declarations she must have departed from some other Church of the Reformation , that thought otherwise , and in keeping her self within those generall termes that were necessary , and sufficient , with a good conscience she conserved peace and unity with all . David , in the person of every member of the Church , submits himself to that increpation , Let my right hand forget her cunning , and let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth , if I prefer not Ierusalem before my chiefest joy . Our chiefest joy , is , for the most part , our own opinions , especially when they concur with other learned and good men too . But then , Ierusalem is our love of the peace of the Church ; and in such things as do not violate foundations , let us prefer Ierusalem before our chiefest Joy , love of peace before our own opinions , though concurrent with others . For , this is that , that hath misled many men , that the common opinion in the Church is necessarily the opinion of the Church . It is not so ; not so in the Romane Church : There the cōmon opinion is , That the blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without originall sin : But cannot be said to be the opinion of that Church ; nor may it be safely concluded in any Church : Most Writers in the Church have declared themselves this way , therefore the Church hath declared her self , for the declarations of the Church are done publiquely , & orderly , and at once . And when a Church hath declared her self so , in all things necessary and sufficient , let us possess our souls in peace , and not say that that Church hath , or presse that that Church would proceed to further declarations in lesse necessary particulars . When we are sure we have beleeved & practised , all that the Church hath recōmended to us , in these generals , then , and not till then , let us call for more declarations ; but in the mean time prefer Ierusalem before our chiefest joy , love of peace by a generall forbearance on all sides , rather then victory by wrangling , and uncharitablenesse . And let our right hand forget her cunning , ( let us never set pen to paper to write ) Let our tongue cleave to the roofe of our mouth , ( let us never open our mouth to speake of those things ) in which Silence was an Act of Discretion , and Charity before , but now is also an Act of Obedience , and of Allegiance and Loyaltie . But that which David said to the Lord , ( Psalme 65. 1. ) Let us also accommodate to the Lords anointed , Tibi laus silentium , our best sacrifice to both , is to be silent in those things . So then , this is Concisio corporis , that Concision of the body , which you are to beware in Doctrinall things , first , non solvere Iesum , not to dissolve , not to break Jesus in pieces , not to depart , in any respect , with any fundamentall Article of faith , for that is a skin that covers the whole body , an obligation that lies upon the whole Church , and then for that particular Church , in which you have your station , first , to conform your self to all that , in which she had evidently declared herself , and then not to impute to her , not to call such articles hers , as she never avowd . And our next consideration is Concisio vestis , the tearing of the garment , matter of discipline , and government . To a Circumcision of the garment , that is , to a pa●ing , and taking away such Ceremonies , as were superstitious , or superfluous , of an ill use , or of no use , our Church came in the beginning of the Reformation . To a Circūcision we came ; but those Churches that came to a Concision of the garment , to an absolute taking away of all ceremonies , neither provided so safely for the Church it self in the substance thereof , nor for the exaltation of Devotion in the Church . Divide the law of the Iews into 2 halfs , and the Ceremoniall will be the greater ; we cannot cal the Morall law , the Iews law ; that was ours as wel as their , peculiar to none ; but of that law w ch is peculiar to the Jews ▪ judicial & Ceremonial , the Ceremonial is far the greater part . So great a care had God , of those thing , which though they be not of the revenue of Religion , yet are of the subsidy of Religion , and , though they be not the soule of the Church , yet are they those Spirits that unite soule and body together . H's man did but shave the beards of Davids servants , he did not cut off their heads ; He did not cut their clothes so , as that he stripped them naked . Yet , for that that he did , ( says that story ) he stanke in Davids sight , ( which is a phrase of high indignation in that language ) and so much , as that it cost him forty thousand of his horsemen in one battell . And therefore as this Apostle enters this Caveat in another place , If yee bite one another , cavete , take heed yee be not consumed of one another , so cavete , take heed of this concision of the garment , lest if the garment be torne off , the body wither , and perish . A shadow is nothing , yet , if the rising or falling Sunne shine out , and there be no shadow , I will pronounce there is no body in that place neither . Ceremonies are nothing ; but where there are no Ceremonies , order , and uniformity , and obedience , and at last , ( and quickely ) Religion it selfe will vanish . And therefore videte concisionem , beware of tearing the body , or of tearing the garment , which will induce the other , and both will induce the third , concisionem spiritus , the tearing of thine owne spirit , from that rest which it should receive in God ; for , when thou hast lost thy hold of all those handles which God reaches out to thee , in the Ministery of his Church , and that thou hast no means to apply the promises of God in Christ to thy soule , which are onely applied by Gods Ordinances in his Church , when anything falls upon thee , that overcomes thy morall constancy ( which morall constancy , God knowes , is soon spent , if we have lost our recourse to God ) thou wilt soon sinke into an irrecoverable desperation , which is the fearfullest concision of all ; and videte , beware of this concision . When God hath made himselfe one body with me , by his assuming this nature , and made me one spirit with himselfe , and that by so high a way , as making me partaker of the divine nature , so that now , in Christ Iesus , he and I are one , this were solutio Iesus , a tearing in peeces , a dissolving of Jesus , in the worst kinde that could be imagined , if I should teare my selfe from Jesus , or by any jealousie or suspicion of his mercy , or any horror in my own sinnes , come to thinke my selfe to be none of his , none of him . Who ever comes into a Church to denounce an excommunication against himselfe ? And shall any sad soule come hither , to gather arguments , from our preaching , to excommunicate it selfe , or to pronounce an impossibility upon her owne salvation ? God did a new thing , Says Moses , a strange thing , a thing never done before , when the earth opened her mouth ( and Dathan , and Abiram went downe quicke into the pit . Wilt thou doe a stranger thing then that ? To teare open the jawes of Earth , and Hell , and cast thy self actually and really into it , out of mis-imagination , that God hath cast thee into it before ? Wilt thou force God to second thy irreligious melancholy , and to condemne thee at last , because thou hadst precondemned thy selfe , and renounced his mercy ? Wilt thou say with Cain , My sinne is greater then can be pardoned ? This is Concisio potestatis , a cutting off the power of God , and Treason against the Father , whose Attribute is Power . Wilt thou say , God never meant to save me ? this is Concisio Sapientiae , a cutting off the Wisdome of God , to thinke , that God intended himselfe glory in a kingdome , and would not have that kingdome peopled , and this is Treason against the Son whose Attribute is wisdoms ? Wilt thou say , I shall never finde comfort in Praying , in Preaching , in Receiving ? This is Concisio consolationis , the cutting off consolation , and treason against the holy Ghost , whose office is comfort . No man violates the Power of the Father , the Wisedome of the Sonne , the Goodnesse of the holy Ghost , so much as he , who thinkes himselfe out of their reach , or the latitude of their working . Rachel wept for her children , and would not be comforted ; but why ? Because they were not . If her children had been but gone for a time from her , or but sicke with her , Rachel would have been comforted ; but , they were not . Is that thy case ? Is not thy soule , a soule still ? It may have gone from thee , in sins of inconsideration ; it may be sicke within thee , in sins of habit and custome ; but is not thy soul , a soul still ? And hath God made any species larger then himself ? is there more soul , then there is God , more sin then mercy ? Truly Origen was more excusable , more pardonable , if he did beleeve , that the Devill might possibly be saved , then that man , that beleeves that himself must necessarily be damned . And therefore , videte concisionem , beware of cutting off thy spirit from this spirit of comfort , take heed of shreading Gods generall promises ; into so narrow propositions , as that they will not reach home to thee , cover thee , invest thee ; beware of such distinctiōs , & such subdivisiōs , as may make the way to heaven too narrow for thee , or thegate of heaven too strait for thee . 'T is true , one drop of my Saviours bloud would save me , if I had but that , one teare from my Saviours eye , if I had but that ; but he hath none that hath not all ; A drop , a teare , would wash away an Adultery , a murder , but lesse then the whole sea of both , will not wash away a wanton looke , an angry word . God would have all , and gives all to all . And for Gods sake , let God be as good as he will ; as mercifull , and as large , as liberall , and as generall as he will. Christ came to save sinners ; thou are sure thou art one of them ; At what time soever a sinner repents , he shall be heard ; be sure to be one of them too . Beleeve that God in Christ proposes conditions to thee ; endevour the performing , repent the not performing of those conditions , and be that the issue between God and thy soule ; And lest thou end in this concision , the concision of the Spirit , beware of the other two concisions , of the body , and of the garment , by which onely , all heavenly succors are appliable to thee . SERMON XL. Preached at Saint Pauls . 2 Cor. 5. 20. We pray yee in Christs stead , Be ye reconciled to God. IN bestowing of Benefits , there are some Circumstances , that vitiate and deprave the nature of the benefit ( as when a man gives onely in contemplation of Retribution , for then he is not Dator , but Mercator , this is not a giving , but a Merchandising , a permutation , or when he is Cyminibilis Dator , ( as our Canons speake ) one that gives Mint and Cumin , so small things , and in so small proportions , as onely keeps him alive that receives , and so Ipsum quod dat , perit , & vitam producit ad miseriam , that that is given is lost , and he that receives it , is but continued in misery , and so the benefit , hath almost the nature of an injury , because but for that poore benefit , hee might have got out of this life . And then there are circumstances , that doe absolutely annihilate a benefit , amongst which , one is , if the giver take so expresse , so direct , so publique knowledge of the wants of the receiver , as that he shall be more ashamed by it , then refreshed with it ; for in many courses of life , it does more deject a man , in his own heart , and in the opinion of others too , and more retard him in any preferment , to be known to be poore , then to be so indeed ; And he that gives so , does not onely make him that receives , his Debtor , but his Prisoner , for he takes away his liberty of applying himselfe to others , who might be more beneficiall to him , the he that captivated , and ensnared him , with that small benefit . And therefore many times in the Scripture , the phrase is such in doing a curtesie , as though the receiver had done it , in accepting it ; so when Iacob made a present to his brother Esau , I beseech thee , says he , to take my blessing that I may finde favour in thy sight ; so he compelled him to take it . So when Christ recommends here to his people , the great , and inestimable benefit in our text , Reconciliation to God , he delivers that benefit of all those accidents , or circumstances , that might vitiate it ; and amongst those , of this , that we should not be confounded with the notice taken of our poverty , and indigence ; for he proceeds with man , as though man might be of some use to him , and with whom it were fit for him to hold good correspondence , he sends to him by Ambassadors , ( as it is in the words immediately before the text ) and by those Ambassadors he prays him , that he would accept the benefit of Reconciliation . To us , who are his Creatures , and therefore might be turned and wound by his generall providence , without employment of any particular messengers , he sends particular messengers ; to us that are his enemies , and fitter to receive denunciations of a war , by a Herald , then a Message , by Ambassadors , he sends Ambassadors , to us , who are indeed Rebells , and not enemies , and therefore rather to be reduced and reclaimed by Executioners , then by Commissioners , he sends Commissioners , not to article , not to capitulate , but to pray , and to intreat , and not to intreat us to accept Gods reconciliation to us , but , as though God needed us , to intreat us to be reconciled to him ; We pray you in Christs stead , be ye reconciled to God. In these words , our parts will be three : Our Office towards you ; yours towards us ; and the Negotiation it self , Reconciliation to God. In each of these three , there is a rederivation into three branches : for , in the two first ( besides the matter ) there are two kinds of persons , we and you , The Priest and the People ( we pray you . ) And in the last there are two kinds of persons too , you and God ; Be ye reconciled to God. But because all these kinds of persons , God , and we , and you , fall frequently into our consideration , there is the lesse necessity laid upon us to handle them , as distinct branches , otherwise then as they fall into the Negotiation it self . Therefore we shall determine our selves in these three : First , our office towards you , and our stipulation and contract with you , We pray you ; we come not as Lords or Commanders over you , but in humble , in submissive manner , We pray you . And then your respect to us , because in what manner soever we come , we come in Christs stead , and though dimly , yet represent him . And lastly , the blessed effect of this our humility to you , and this your respect to us , Reconciliation to God. Humility in us , because we are sent to the poorest soul ; respect in you , because we are sent to represent the highest King , work in you this reconciliation to God , and it is a Text well handled ; practice makes any Sermon a good Sermon . First , then , for our office towards you , because you may be apt to say , You take too much upon you , you sonnes of Levi ; We the sonnes of Levi , open unto you our Commission , and we pursue but that we professe , that we are sent but to pray , but to intreat you ; and we accompany it with an outward declaration , we stand bare , and you sit covered . When greater power seems to be given us , of treading upon Dragons and Scorpions , of binding and loosing , of casting out Devills , and the like , we confesse these are powers over sinnes , over Devills that doe , or endevour to possesse you , not over you , for to you we are sent to pray and intreat you . Though God sent Ieremy with that large Commission , Behold this day , I have set thee over the Nations , and over the Kingdomes , to pluck up , and to rout out , to destroy and to throw down ; and though many of the Prophets had their Commissions drawn by that precedent , we claime not that , we distinguish between the extraordinary Commission of the Prophet , and the ordinary Commission of the Priest , we admit a great difference between them , and are farre from taking upon us , all that the Prophet might have done ; which is an errour , of which the Church of Rome , and some other over-zealous Congregations have been equally guilty , and equally opposed Monarchy and Soveraignty , by assuming to themselves , in an ordinary power , whatsoever God , upon extraordinary occasions , was pleased to give for the present , to his extraordinary Instruments the Prophets ; our Commission is to● pray , and to intreat you . Though upon those words , Ascendunt salvatores in Montem Sion , there shall arise Saviours in Mount Sion , in the Church of God , Saint Hierom saith , That as Christ being the light of the world , called his Apostles the light of the world too ; so , Ipse Salvator Apostolas voluit esse Salvatores , The Saviour of the world communicates to us the name of Saviours of the world too , yet howsoever instrumentally and ministerially that glorious name of Saviour may be afforded to us , though to a high hill , though to that Mount Sion , we are led by a low way , by the example of our blessed Saviour himself ; and since there was an Oportuit pati , laid upon him , there may well be an Op●rte● Obsecrare laid upon us ; since his way was to be dumb , ours may well be to utter no other voyce but Prayers ; since he bled , we may well sweat in his service , for the salva●ion of your souls . If therefore our selves , who are sent , be under contempt , or under persecution , if the sword of the Tongue , or the sword of the Tyrant be drawn against us , against all these , Arma nostra , preces & fletus , we defend with no other shield , we return with no other sword , but Tears and Prayers , and blessing of them that curse us . Yea , if he that sent us suffer in us , if we see you denounce a warre against him , nay , triumph over him , and provoke him to anger , and because he showes no anger , conclude our of his patience , an impotency , that because he doth not , he cannot , when you scourge him , and scoffe him , and spit in his face , and crucifie him , and practise every day all the Jews did to him once , as though that were your pattern , and your businesse were to exceed your pattern , and crucifie your Saviour worse then they did , by tearing & mangling his body , now glorified , by your blasphemous oaths , and execrable imprecations , when we see all this , Arma nostra preces & fletus , we can defend our selves , nor him , no other way , we present to you our tears , and our prayers , his tears , and his prayers that sent us , and if you will not be reduced with these , our Commission is at an end . I bring not a Star-chamber with me up into the Pulpit , to punish a forgery , if you counterfeit a zeale in coming hither now ; nor an Exchequer , to punish usurious contracts , though made in the Church ; nor a high Commission , to punish incontinencies , if they be promoted by wanton interchange of looks , in this place . Onely by my prayers , which he hath promised to accompany and prosper in his service , I can diffuse his overshadowing Spirit over all the corners of this Congregation , and pray that Publican , that stands below afar off , and dares not lift up his eyes to heaven , to receive a chearfull confidence , that his sinnes are forgiven him ; and pray that Pharisee , that stands above , and onely thanks God , that he is not like other men , to believe himselfe to be , if not a rebellious , yet an unprofitable servant . I can onely tell them , that neither of them is in the right way of reconciliation to God , Nec qui impugnant gratiam , nec qui superbè gratias agunt , neither he who by a diffidence hinders the working of Gods grace , nor he that thanks God in such a fashion , as though all that he had received , were not of meer mercy , but between a debt and a benefit , and that he had either merited before , or paid God after , in pious works , for all , and for more then he hath received at Gods hand . Scarce any where hath the Holy Ghost taken a word of larger signification , then here ; for , as though it were hard , even to him , to expresse the humility which we are to use , rather then lose any soul for which Christ hath dyed , he hath taught us this obsecration , this praying , this intreating in our Text , in a word , by which the Septuagint , the first Translators into Greek , expresse divers affections , and all within the compasse of this Obsecramus , We pray you . Some of them we shall present to you . Those Translators use that word for Napal . Napal is Ruere , Postrare , to throw down , to deject our selves , to admit any undervalue , any exinanition , any evacuation of our selves , so we may advance this great work . I fell down before the Lord , says Moses of himself ; and Abraham fell upon his face , says Moses of him , and in no sense is this word oftner used , by them , then in this humiliation . But yet , as it signifies to need the favour of another , so does it also to be favourable , and mercifull to another ; for so also , the same Translators use this word for Chanan , which is to oblige and binde a man by benefits , or to have compassion upon him ; Have pity upon me , have pity upon me , O ye my friends , for the hand of God hath touched me ; there is our word repeated . So that , whether we professe to you , that as Physicians must consider excrements , so we must consider sin , the leprosie , the pestilence , the ordure of the soule , there is our dejection of our selves , or make you see your poverty and indigence , and that that can be no way supplied , but by those means , which God conveys by us , both ways we are within our word , Obsecramus , we pray you , we intreat you . They use this word also for Calah , and Calah is Dolere , to grieve within our selves , for the affliction of another ; But it signifies also vulnerare , to wound , and afflict another ; for so it is said in this word , Saul was sore wounded . So that , whether we expresse our grief , in the behalf of Christ , that you will not be reconciled to God , or whether we wound your consciences , with a sense of your sins , and his judgements , we are still what in the word of our Commission , Obsecramus , we pray , we intreat . To contract this consideration , they use this word for Cruciare , to vex , and for Placare too , to appease , to restore to rest and quiet . Therefore will I make thee sick in smiting thee ; there it is vexation ; And then , They sent unto the House of the Lord , Placare Dominum , to appease the Lord , as we translate it , and well , To pray . And therefore , if from our words proceed any vexation to your consciences , you must not say , Transeat calix , let that Cup passe , no more of that matter , for it is the physick that must first stirre the humour , before it can purge it ; And if our words apply to your consciences , the soverain balm of the merits of your Saviour , and that thereupon your troubled consciences finde some rest , be not too soon secure , but proceed in your good beginnings , and continue in hearing , as we shall continue in all these manners of praying and intreating , which fall into the word of our Text , Obsecramus , by being beholden to you for your application , or making you beholden to us , for our ministration , which was the first use of the words , of grieving for you , or grieving you for your fins , which was the second , of troubling your consciences , and then of setling them again , in a calm reposednesse , which was the third signification of the word in their Translation . Yet does the Holy Ghost carry our office , ( I speak of the manner of the execution of our office , for , for the office it self , nothing can be more glorious , then the ministration of the Gospel , into lower terms then these . He suffered his Apostles to be thought to be drink ; They were full of the Holy Ghost , and they were thought full of new wine . A dramme of zeal more then ordinary , against a Patron , or against a great Parishioner , makes us presently scandalous Ministers . Truly , beloved , we confesse , one sign of drunkennesse is , not to remember what we said . If we doe not in our practise , remember what we preached , and live as we teach , we are dead all the week , and we are drunk upon the Sunday . But Hannah praid , and was thought drunk , and this grieved her heart ; so must it us , when you ascribe our zeale to the glory of God , and the good of your souls , to any inordinate passion , or sinister purpose in us . And yet hath the Holy Ghost laid us lower then this . To be drunk is an alienation of the minde , but it is but a short one ; but S. Paul was under the imputation of madnesse . Nay , our blessed Saviour himself did some such act of vehement zeal , as that his very friends thought him mad . S. Paul , because his madnesse was imputed to a false cause , to a pride in his much learning , disavowed his madnesse , I am not mad , O noble Festus . But when the cause was justifiable , he thought his madnesse justifiable too ; If we be besides our selves , it is for God ; and so long well enough . Insaniebat amatoriam insaniam Paulus , S. Paul was mad for love ; S. Paul did , and we doe take into our contemplation , the beauty of a Christian soul ; Through the ragged apparell of the afflictions of this life ; through the scarres , and wounds , and palenesse , and morphews of sin , and corruption , we can look upon the soul it self , and there see that incorruptible beauty , that white and red , which the innocency and the blood of Christ hath given it , and we are mad for love of this soul , and ready to doe any act of danger , in the ways of persecution , any act of diminution of our selves in the ways of humiliation , to stand at her doore , and pray , and begge , that she would be reconciled to God. And yet does the Holy Ghost lay us lower then this too . Mad men have some flashes , some twilights , some returns of sense and reason , but the foole hath none ; And , we are fools for Christ , says the Apostle ; And not onely we , the persons , but the ministration it self , the function it self is foolishnesse ; It pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to save them that beleeve . Anger will bear an action , and Racah will bear an action , but to say Foole , was the heaviest imputation ; and we are fooles for Christ , and pretend nothing to work by , but the foolishnesse of preaching . Lower then this , we cannot be cast , and higher then this we offer not to climbe ; Obsecramus , we have no other Commission but to pray , and to intreat , and that we doe , in his words , in his tears , in his blood , and in his bowels who sent us , we pray you in Christs stead , which is that that constitutes our second Part , with what respect you should receive us . In mittendariis servanda dignitas mittentis . To diminish the honour of his Master , is not an humility , but a prevarication in any Ambassadour ; and that is our quality , expressed in this verse . God is the Lord of Hosts , and he is the Prince of peace ; He needs neither the Armies of Princes , nor the wisdome of Councell Tables , to come to his ends . He is the Proprietary and owner of all the treasures in the world ; Ye have taken my silver and my gold ; and , The silver is mine , and the gold is mine . All that you call yours , all that you can call yours , is his ; your selves are but the furniture of his house , and your great hearts are but little boxes in his cabinet , and he can fill them with dejection , and sadnesse , when he will. And does any Prince govern at home , by an Ambassadour ? he sends Pursuivants , and Serjeants ; he sends not Ambassadours ; God does , and we are they ; and we look to be received by you , but as we perform those two laws which binde Ambassadours , First , Reisuae ne quis legatus esto , Let no man be received as an Ambassadour , that hath that title , onely to negotiate for himself , and doe his own businesse in that Country ; And then , Nemini credatur sine principale mandato , Let no man be received for an Ambassadour ; without his Letters of Credence , and his Masters Commission . To these two we submit our selves . First , we are not Rei nostrae legati , we come not to doe our own businesse ; what businesse of ours is it , what is it to us , that you be reconciled to God ? Vae mihi si non , Necessity is laid upon me , and ●oe unto me , if I preach not the Gospel ; but if I doe , I have nothing to glory in ; nay , I may be a reprobate my self . I can claim no more at Gods hand , for this service , then the Sun can , for shining upon the earth , or the earth for producing flowers , and fruits ; and therefore we are not Rei nostrae● legati , Ambassadours in our own behalfs , and to doe our own businesse . Indeed where men are sent out , to vent and utter the ware and merchandises of the Church and Court of Rome , to proclaime , and advance the value , and efficacy of uncertain reliques , and superstitious charms , and incantations , when they are sent to sell particular sinnes at a certain price , and to take so much for an incest , so much for a murder , when they are sent with many summs of Indulgencies at once , as they are now to the Indies , and were heretofore to us , when these Indulgencies are accompanied with this Doctrine , that if the Indulgence require a certain peece of money to be given for it , ( as for the most part they doe ) if all the spirituall parts of the Indulgence be performed by the poore sinner , yet if he give not that money , though he be not worth that money , though that Merchant of those Indulgencies , doe out of his charity give him one of those Indulgencies , yet all this doth that man no good , in these cases , they are indeed Rei suae Legati , Ambassadours to serve their own turns , and do their owne businesse . When that Bishop sends out his Legatos à latere , Ambassadours from his own chair and bosome into forain Nations , to exhaust their treasures , to alien their Subjects , to infect their Religion ; these are Rei suae Legati , Ambassadours that have businesses depending in those places , and therefore come upon their own errand . Nor can that Church excuse it self , ( though it use to do so ) upon the mis-behaviour of those officers ) when they are imployed ; for , they are imployed to that purpose : And , Tibi imputae quicquid pateris ab eo , qui sine te , nihil potest facere : Since he might mend the fault , it is his fault , that it is done ; he cannot excuse himself , if they be guilty , and with his privity : for , as the same devout man saith , to Eugenius , then Pope , Ne te dixeris sanum dolentem latera ; If thy sides ake , ( if thy Legats à latere , be corrupt ) call not thy self well , nec bonum malis innitentem , nor call thy self good , if thou rely upon the counsell of those that are ill ; They , those Legats à latere , are , ( as they use to expresse it ) incorporated in the Pope , and therefore they are Rei sui Legati , Ambassadours that ly to doe their own businesse . But when we seek to raise no other warre in you , but to arme the spirit against the flesh , when we present to you no other holy water , but the teares of Christ Jesus , no other reliques , but the commemoration of his Passion in the Sacrament , no other Indulgencies , and acquittances , but the application of his Merits to your souls , when we offer all this without silver , and without gold , when we offer you that Seal which he hath committed to us , in Absolution , without extortion or fees , wherein are we Rei nostrae Legati , Ambassadours in our own behalfs , or advancers of our owne ends ? And as we are not so , so neither are we in the second danger , to come sine Principali Mandato , without Commission from our Master . Christ himselfe would not come of himselfe , but acknowledged and testified his Mission , The Father which sent me , he gave me commandment , what I should say , and what I should speake . Those whom he imployed produced their Commissions , Neither received I it of man , neither was I taught it , but by the revelation of Iesus Christ. How should they preach except they be sent ? is a question which Saint Paul intended for a conclusive question , that none could answer , till in the Romane Church they excepted Cardinals , Quibus sine literis creditur , propter personarum solennitatem , who for the dignity inherent in their persons , must be received , though they have no Commission . When our adversaries do so violently , so impetuously cry out , that we have no Church , no Sacrament , no Priesthood , because none are sent , that is , none have a right calling , for Internall calling , who are called by the Spirit of God , they can be no Judges , and for Externall calling , we admit them for Judges , and are content to be tried by their own Canons , and their own evidences , for our Mission and vocation , or sending and our calling to the Ministery . If they require a necessity of lawfull Ministers to the constitution of a Church , we require it with as much earnestnesse as they ; Ecclesia non est quae now habet sacerdotem , we professe with Saint Hierome , It is no Church that hath no Priest. If they require , that this spirituall power be received from them , who have the same power in themselves , we professe it too , Nemo dat quod non habet , no man can confer other power upon another , then he hath himself . If they require Imposition of hands , in conferring Orders , we joyn hands with them . If they will have it a Sacrament ; men may be content to let us be as liberall of that name of Sacrament , as Calvin is ; and he says of it , Institut . l. 4. c. 14. § 20. Non invitus patior vocari Sacramentum , it a inter ordinaria Sacramenta non numero , I am not loth , it should be called a Sacrament , so it be not made an ordinary , that is , a generall Sacrament ; and how ill hath this been taken at some of our mens hands , to speak of more such Sacraments , when indeed they have learnt this manner of speech , and difference of Sacraments , not onely from the ancient Fathers , but from Calvin himself , who always spoke with a holy warinesse , and discretion . Whatsoever their own authors , their own Schools , their own Canons doe require to be essentially and necessarily requisite in this Mission in this function , we , for our parts , and as much as concerns our Church of England , admit it too , and professe to have it . And whatsoever they can say for their Church , that from their first Conversion , they have had an orderly derivation of power from one to another , we can as justly and truly say of our Church , that ever since her first being of such a Church , to this day , she hath conserved the same order , and ever hath had , and hath now , those Ambassadours sent , with the same Commission , and by the same means , that they pretend to have in their Church . And being herein convinced , by the evidence of undeniable Record , which have been therefore shewed to some of their Priests , not being able to deny that such a Succession and Ordination , we have had , from the hands of such as were made Bishops according to their Canons , now they pursue their common beaten way , That as in our Doctrine , they confesse we affirm no Heresie , but that we deny some Truths , so in our Ordination , and sending , and Calling , when they cannot deny , but that from such a person , who is , by their own Canons , able to confer Orders , we , in taking our Orders , ( after their own manner ) receive the Holy Ghost , and the power of binding and loosing , yet , say they , we receive not the full power of Priests , for , we receive onely a power in Corpus mysticum , upon the mysticall body of Christ , that is , the persons that constitute the visible Church , but we should receive it in Corpus verum , a power upon the very naturall body , a power of Consecration , by way of Transubstantiation . They may be pleased to pardon , this , rather Modesty , then Defect , in us , who , so we may work fruitfully , and effectually upon the mysticall body of Christ , can be content that his reall , and true body work upon us . Not that we have no interest to work upon the reall body of Christ , since he hath made us Dispensers even of that , to the faithfull , in the Sacrament ; but for such a power , as exceeds the Holy Ghost , who in the incarnation of Christ , when he overshadowed the blessed Virgin , did but make man of the woman , who was one part disposed by nature thereunto , whereas these men make man , and God too of bread , naturally wholly indisposed to any such change , for this power we confesse it is not in our Commission ; and their Commission , and ours was all one ; and the Commission is manifest in the Gospel ; and , since they can charge us with no rasures , no expunctions , we must charge them with interlinings , and additions , to the first Commission . But for that power , which is to work upon you , to whom we are sent , we are defective in nothing , which they call necessary thereunto . This I speak of this Church , in which God hath planted us , That God hath afforded us all that might serve , even for the stopping of the Adversaries mouth , and to confound them in their own way : which I speak , onely to excite us to a thankfulnesse to God , for his abundant grace in affording us so much , and not to disparage , or draw in question any other of our neighbour Churches , who , perchance , cannot derive , as we can , their power , and their Mission , by the ways required , and practised in the Romane Church , nor have had from the beginning a continuance of Consecration by Bishops , and such other concurrences , as those Canons require , and as our Church hath enjoyed . They , no doubt , can justly plead for themselves , that Ecclesiasticall positive Laws admit dispensation in cases of necessity ; They may justly challenge a Dispensation , but we need none ; They did what was lawfull in a case of necessity , but Almighty God preserved us from this necessity . As men therefore , Qui nec jussi renuunt , nec non jussi affectant , which neither neglect Gods calling , when we have it , nor counterfeit it , when wee have it not , Qui quod verecundè excusant , obstinatiùs non recusant , who though wee confesse our selves altogether unworthy , have yet the seales of God , and his Church upon us , Nec rei nostrae legati , not to promove our own ends , but your reconciliation to God , Nec sine principali mandate , not without a direct and published Commission , in the Gospell , we come to you in Christs stead , and so should be received by you . As for our Mission , that being in the quality of Ambassadours , we submitted our selves to those two obligations , which we noted to lie upon Ambassadours , so here in our Reception , we shall propose to you two things , that are , for the most part , practised by Princes , in the reception of Ambassadours . One is , that before they give audience , they endevour , by some confident servant of theirs , to discern and understand the inclination of the Ambassadour , and the generall scope , and purpose of his negotiation , and of the behavior that he purposeth to use in delivering his Message ; left for want of thus much light , the Prince might either be unprepared in what manner to expresse himselfe , or be surprised with some such message , as might not well comport with his honour to heare . But in these Ambassages from God to man , no man is made so equall to God , as that he may refuse to give Audience , except he know before hand that the message be agreeable to his minde . Onely he that will be more then man , that Man of sinne , who esteemeth himselfe to be joyned in Commission with God , onely he hath a particular Officer to know before hand , what message Gods Ambassadours bringeth , and to peruse all Sermons to be preached before him , and to expunge , correct , alter , all such things as may be disagreeable to him . It cannot therefore become you to come to these Audiences upon conditions ; to informe your selves from others first , what kinde of messages , such or such an Ambassadour useth to deliver ; whether he preach Mercy or Iudgement ; that if he preach against Vsury , you will heare Court-sermons , where there is less occasion to mention it ; If hee preach against Incontinency , you will goe ; whither ? Is there any place that doth not extort from us , reprehensions , exclamations against that sinne ? But if you beleeve us to come in Christs stead , what ever our message be , you must hear us . Doe that , and for the second thing that Princes practise in the Reception of Ambassadours , which is , to referre Ambassadours to their Councell , we are well content to admit from you . Whosoever is of your nearest Councell , and whose opinion you best trust in , we are content to submit it to . Let naturall reason , let affections , let the profits or the pleasures of the world be the Councell Table , and can they tell you , that you are able to maintaine a warre against God , and subsist so , without being reconciled to him ? Deceive not your selves , no man hath so much pleasure in this life , as he that is at peace with God. What an Organe hath that man tuned , how hath he brought all things in the world to a Consort , and what a blessed Anthem doth he sing to that Organe , that is at peace with God ? His Rye-bread is Manna , and his Beefe is Quailes , his day-labours are thrustings at the narrow gate into Heaven , and his night●watchings are extasies and evocations of his soule into the presence and communion of Saints , his sweat is Pearls , and his bloud is Rubies , it is at peace with God. No man that is at suite in himselfe , no man that carrieth a Westminster in his bosome , and is Plaintiffe and Defendant too , no man that serveth himself with Process out of his owne Conscience , for every nights pleasure that he taketh , in the morning , and for every dayes pound that he getteth , in the evening , hath any of the pleasure , or profit , that may be had in this life ; nor any that is not at peace with God. That peace we bring you ; how will you receive us ? That vehemence of zeale which the Apostle found , we hope not for ; you received me as an Angell of God , even as Christ Iesus . And , if it had been possible , you would have plucked out your owne eyes , and have given them to me . Consider the zeale of any Church to their Pastor , it will come short of the Pastor to the Church . All that Saint Paul saith of the Galatians towards him , is farre short of that which he said to the Romanes , That he could wish himselfe separated from Christ , for his brethren ; or that of Moses , that he would be blotted out of the Booke of Life , rather then his charge should . When we consider the manner of hearing Sermons , in the Primitive Church , though we doe not wish that manner to be renewed , yet we cannot deny , but that though it were accompanied with many inconveniences , it testified a vehement devotion , and sense of that that was said , by the preacher , in the hearer ; for , all that had been formerly used in Theaters , Acclamations and Plaudites , was brought into the Church , and not onely the vulgar people , but learned hearers were as loud , and as profuse in those declarations , those vocall acclamations , and those plaudites in the passages , and transitions , in Sermons , as ever they had been at the Stage , or other recitations of their Poets , or Orators . S. Hierom charges Vigilantius , that howsoever he differed from him in opinion after , yet when he had heard him preach of the Resurrection before , he had received that Doctrine with Acclamation and Plaudites . And as Saint Hierome saith of himselfe , that he was thus applauded in his Preaching ; he saith it also of him whom he called his Master , Gregory Nazianzen , a grave and yet a facetious man , of him he telleth us this Story . That he having intreated Nazianzen , to tell him the meaning of that place , What that second Sabbath after the first was ? he played with me , he jested at me , saith he , Eleganter lusit , and he bad me be at Church next time he preached , and he would preach upon that Text , Et toto acclamante populo , cogeris invitus scire quod nescis , and when you see all the Congregation applaued me , and cry out that they are satisfied , you will make your self beleeve you understand the place , as they doe , though you doe not ; Et si solus tacueris , solus ab omnibus stultitiae condemnaberis , And if you doe not joyne with the Congregation in those Plaudites , the whole Congregation will thinke you the onely ignorant person in the Congregation ; for , as we may see in Saint Augustin , the manner was , that when the people were satisfied in any point which the Preacher handled , they would almost tell him so , by an acclamation , and give him leave to passe to another point ; for ; so saith that Father , Vidi in voce intelligentes , plures video in silent●o requirentes , I heare many , to whom , by this acclamation , I see , enough hath been said , but I see more that are silent , and therefore , for their sakes , I will say more of it , Saint Agustine accepted these acclamations more willingly , at least more patiently , then some of the Fathers before had done ; Audistis , laudastis ; Deo gratias ; you have heard that hath been said , and you have approved it with your praise ; God be thanked for both ; Et laudes vestrae foliae sunt arborum , sed fructus quaero ; Though I looke for fruit from you , yet even these acclamations are Leafes , and Leafes are Evidences that the tree is alive . Saint Chrysostome was more impatient of them , yet could never overcome them . To him , they came a little closer ; for it was ordinary , that when he began to speake , the people would cry out , Audiamus tertiumdecimum Apostolum ; Let us hearken to the thirteenth Apostle . And he saith , Si placet , hanc nunc legem firmabimus , I pray let us now establish this for a Law , between you and mee , Ne quis auditor plaudat , quamdiu nos loquimur ; That whilest I am speaking , I may speaking , I may heare no Plaudate ; yet he saith in a Sermon preached after this , Animo cogitavi Legem ponere , I have often purposed to establish such a Law , Vt decore , & cum silentio audiatis , that you would be pleased to heare with silence , but he could never prevail . Sidonius Apollinaris , ( a Bishop himselfe , but whether then or no , know not ) saith of another Bishop , that hearing even praedicationes repentinas , his extemporall Sermons raucus plausor audivi , I poured my selfe out in loud acclamations , till I was hoarse : And , to contract this consideration , wee see evidently , that this fashion continued in the Church , even to Saint Bernards time . Neither is it left yet in some places , beyond the Seas , where the people doe yet answer the Preacher , it his questions be applyable to them , and may induce an answer , with these vocall acclamations , Sir , we will , Sir , we will not . And truely wee come too neare re-inducing this vain glorious fashion , in those often periodicall murmurings , and noises , which you make , when the Preacher concludeth any point ; for those impertinent Interjections swallow up one quarter of his houre , and many that were not within distance of hearing the Sermon , will give a censure upon it , according to the frequencie , or paucitie of these acclamations . These fashions then , howsoever , in those times they might be testimonies of Zeale , yet because they occasioned vain glory , and many times , faction , ( as those Fathers have noted ) we desire not , willingly we admit not . We come in Christs stead ; Christ at his comming met Hosann ' as and Crucifige's ; A Preacher may be aplauded in his Pulpit , and crucified in his Barne : but there is a worse crucifying then that , a piercing of our hearts , Because we are as a very lovely song , of one that hath a pleasant voyce , and can play well on an Instrument , and you heare our words , and doe them not . Having therefore said thus much to you , first of our manner of proceeding with you , Obsecramus , of all those waies of humiliation , which we insisted upon , and ingaged our selves in , we pray , & intreat you , and the respect which should come from you , because we come in Christs stead , if , as the E●●●ch said to Philip , Here is water , what doth hinder me to be baptized ? so you say to us , we acknowledge that you do your duties , and we do receive you in Christs stead ; what is it that you would have us doe ? it is but this , We pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God ; which is our third , and last part , and that to which all that we have said of a good Pastor and a good people ; ( which is the blessedest union of this world ) bendeth , and driveth , what , and how blessed a thing it is to be reconciled to God. Reconciliation is a redintegration , a renewing of a former friendship , that hath been interrupted and broken . So that this implyeth a present enmity , and hostility with God ; and then a former friendship with God , and also a possibility of returning to that former friendship ; stop a little upon each of these , and we have done . Amongst naturall Creatures , because howsoever they differ in bignesse , yet they have some proportion to one another , we consider that some very little creatures , contemptible in themselves , are yet called enemies to great creatures , as the Mouse is to the Elephant . ( For the greatest Creature is not Infinite , nor the least is not Nothing . ) But shall man , betweene whom and nothing , there went but a word , Let us make Man , That Nothing , which is infinitely lesse then a Mathematicall point , then an imaginary Atome , shall this Man , this yesterdayes Nothing , this to morow worse then Nothing , be capable of that honour , that dishonour able honour , that confounding honour , to be the enemy of God , of God who is not onely a multipled Elephant , millions of Elephants multiplied into one , but a multiplied World , a multiplied All , All that can be conceived by us , infinite many times over ; Nay , ( if we may dare to say so , ) a multiplyed God , a God that hath the Millions of the Heathens gods in himselfe alone , shall this man be an enemy to this God ? Man cannot be allowed so high a sinne , as enmity with God. The Devill himselfe is but a slave to God , and shall Man be called his enemy ? It is true , if we consider the infinite disproportion between them , he cannot ; but to many sad purposes , and in many heavy applications Man is an enemy to God. Iob could goe no higher in expressing his misery , Why hidest thou thy face , and holdest me for thine enemy ? and againe , Behold , he findeth occassions against me , and counteth me for his enemy . So man is an enemy to God ; And then to adhere to an enemy , is to become an enemy ; for Man to adhere to Man , to ascribe any thing to the power of his naturall faculties , to thinke of any beame of clearnesse in his own understanding , or any line of rectitude in in his owne will , this is to accumulate and multiply enmities against God , and to assemble and muster up more , and more man , to fight against God. A Reconciliation is required , therefore there is an enmitie ; but it is but a reconciliation , therefore was a friendship ; There was a time when God and Man were friends , God did not hate man from all Eternitie , God forbid . And this friendship God meant not to breake ; God had no purpose to fall out with man , for then hee could never have admitted him to a friendship . Net hominem amicum quisquam potest fidelitter amare , cui se noverit futurum inimicum : No man can love another as a friend this yeare , and meane to bee his enemy next . Gods foreknowledge that man and he should fall out , was not a foreknowledge of any thing that he meant to doe to that purpose , but onely that Man himselfe would become incapable of the continuation of this friendship . Man might have persisted in that blessed amitie ; and , since if he had done so , the cause of his persisting had beene his owne will , I speak of the next and immediate Cause , ( As the cause why the Angels that did persist , was Bona ipsorum Angelorum voluntas ; the good use of their own free-will ) much more was the cause of their defection and breaking this friendship ( in their owne will ; God therefore , having made man , that is Mankinde , in a state of love , and friendship , God having not by any purpose of his done any thing toward the violation of this friendship , in man , in any man , God continueth his everlasting goodnesse towards man , towards mankinde still , in inviting him to accept the means of Reconciliation , and a returne to the same state of friendship , which hee had at first , by our Ministery . Be ye reconciled unto God. You see what you had , and how you lost it . If it might not bee recovered , God would not call you to it . It was piously declared in a late Synod , That in the offer of this Reconciliation , God meanes , as the Minister meanes ; and I am sure I meane it , and desire it to you all ; so does God. Nec Deus est qui inimicitias gerit , sed vos , it is not God , but you , that oppose this Reconciliation ; O my people what have I done unto thee , or wherein have I grieved thee , testifie against me ; testifie if I did any thing towards inducing an enmity , ot doe any thing towards hindring this Reconciliation ; which reconciliation is , to be restored to as good an estate in the love of God , as you had in Adam , and our estate is not as good , if it be not as generall , if the merit of Christ be not as large , as the sinne of Adam ; and if it be not as possible for you to be saved by him , as it is impossible for you to be saved without him . It is therefore but praying you in Christs stead , that you be reconciled to God. And , if you consider what God is , The Lord of hosts , and therefore hath meanes to destroy you , or what he is not , He is not man that he can repent , and therefore it belongs to you , to repent first , If you consider what the Lord doth , He that dwells in the heavens doth laugh them to scorne , and hath them in derision , or what he doth not , He doth not justifie the wicked balance , nor the bag of deceitfull waights , If you consider what the Lord would doe , Ierusalem , Ierusalem , how often would I have gathered thy children together , as the Hen gathereth her Chickens , and yee would not , or what he would not doe , As I live , sayeth the Lord , I desire not the death of the wicked , if yee consider all this , any of this , dare you , or can you if you durst , or would you if you could , stand out in an irreconciliable war against God ? Especially if you consider , that that is more to you , then what God is , and does , and would doe , and can doe , for you or against you , that is , what he hath done already ; that he who was the party offended , hath not onely descended so low , as to be reconciled first , and to pay so deare for that , as the bloud of his owne , and onely Sonne , but knowing thy necessity better then thy selfe , he hath reconciled thee to him , though thou knewest it not ; God was in Christ , reconciling the world unto himselfe , as it is in the former verse ; there the worke is done , thy reconciliation is wrought ; God is no longer angry so , as to withhold from thee the meanes ; for , there it followes , Hee hath committed to us the word of Reconciliation ; That wee might tell you the instrument of Reconciliation is drawn between God and you , and , as it is written in the history of the Councell of Nice , that two Bishops who died before the establishing of the Canons , did yet subscribe and set their names to those Canons , which to that purpose were left upon their graves all night , so though you were dead in your sinne and enemies to God , and Children of wrath , ( as all by nature are ) when this Reconciliation was wrought , yet the Spirit of God may give you this strength , to dip your pennes in the bloud of the Lambe , and so subscribe your names , by acceptation of this offer of Reconciliation . Doe but that , subscribe , accept , and then , Caetera omnia , all the rest that concernes your holy history , your Iustification and Sanctification , nonne scripta sunt , are they not written in the bookes of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel , says the Holy Ghost , in another case ; Are they not written in the books of the Chronicles of the God of Israel ? Shalt thou not finde an eternall Decree , and a Book of life in thy behalfe , if thou looke for it by this light , and reach to it with this Hand , the acceptation of this Reconciliation ? They are written in those reverend and sacred Records , and Rolls , and Parchments , even the skinne and flesh of our Blessed Saviour ; written in those his stripes , and those his wounds , with that bloud , that can admit to Index expurgatorius , no expunction , no satisfaction ; But the life of his death lies in thy acceptation , and though he be come to his , thou art not come to thy Consummatum est , till that be done . Doe that , and then thou hast put on thy wedding garment . A man might get into that feast , without his wedding garment ; so a man may get into the Church , to bee a visible part of a Christian Congregation , without this acceptation of reconciliation , that is the particular apprehension , and application of Christ ; but hee is still subject to a remove , and to that question of confusion , Quomodo intrasti , How came you in ? That man in the Gospell could have answered to that question , directly , I came in by the invitation , and conduct of thy servants , I was called in , I was led in ; So they that come hither without this wedding garment , they may answer to Christs Quomodo intrasti , How camest thou in ? I came in by faithfull parents , to whom , and their seed thou hast sealed a Covenant ; I was admitted by thy Servants and Ministers in Baptisme , and have been led along by them , by comming to hear them preach thy word , and doing the other externall offices of a Christian. But there is more in this question ; Quomodo intrasti , is not onely how didst thou come in , but how durst thou come in ? If thou camest to my feast , without any purpose to eate , and so to discredit , to accuse either my meat , or the dressing of it , to quarrell at the Doctrine , or at the Discipline of my Church , Quomodo intrasti , How didst thou , how durst thou come in ? If thou camest with a purpose to poison my meat , that it might infect others , with a determination to goe forward in thy sinne , whatsoever the Preacher say , and so to encourage others by thy example , Quomodo intrasti , How durst thou come in ? If thou camest in with thine own provision in thy pocket , and didst not relie upon mine , and think that thou canst be saved without Sermons , or Sacraments , Qvmodo intrasti , How durst thou come in ? Him that came in there , without this Wedding garment , the Master of the Feast cals Friend ; but scornfully , Friend how camest thou in ? But he cast him out . God may call us Friends , that is , admit , and allow us the estimation and credit of being of his Church , but at one time or other , hee shall minister that Interrogatory , Friend , how came you in ? and for want of that Wedding garment , and for want of wearing it in the sight of men , ( for it is not said that that man had no such Wedding garment at home , in his Wardrobe , but that hee had none on ) for want of Sanctification in a holy life , God shall deliver us over to the execution of our own consciences , and eternall condemnation . But be ye reconciled to God , embrace this reconciliation in making your use of those means , and this reconciliation shall work thus , it shall restore you to that state , that Adam had in Paradise . What would a soule oppressed with the sense of sin give , that she were in that state of Innocency , that she had in Baptisme ? Be reconciled to God , and you have that , and an elder Innocency then that , the Innocency of Paradise . Go home , and if you finde an over-burden of children , negligence in servants , crosses in your tradings , narrownesse , penury in your estate , yet this penurious , and this encumbred house shall be your Paradise . Go forth , into the Country , and if you finde unseasonablenesse in the weather , rots in your sheep , murrains in your cattell , worms in your corn , backwardnesse in your rents , oppression in your Landlord , yet this field of thorns and brambles shall be your Paradise . Lock thy selfe up in thy selfe , in thine own bosome , and though thou finde every roome covered with the ●oot of former sins , and shaked with that Devill whose name is Legion , some such sin as many sins depend upon , and are induced by , yet this prison , this rack , this hell in thine own conscience shall be thy Paradise . And as in Paradise Adam at first needed no Saviour , so when by this reconciliation , in apprehending thy Saviour , thou art restored to this Paradise , thou shalt need no sub-Saviour , no joint-Saviour , but Caetera adjicientur , no other Angel , but the Angel of the greas Councell , no other Saint , but the Holy One of Israel , he who hath wrought this reconciliation for thee , and brought it to thee , shall establish it in thee ; For , if when we were enemies , we were reconciled to God , by the death of his Son , much more being reconciled , shall we be saved by his life . This is the summe and the end of all , That when God sends humble and laborious Pastors , to souple and appliable Congregations ; That we pray , and you receive us in Christs stead , we shall not onely finde rest in God , but , ( as it is said of No●hs sacrifice ) God shall finde the savour of rest in us ; God shall finde a Sabbath to himself in us , and rest from his jealousies , and anger towards us , and we shall have a Sabbatary life here in the rest and peace of conscience , and a life of one everlasting Sabbath hereafter , where to our Rest there shall be added Ioy , and to our Ioy Glory , and this Rest , and Ioy , and Glory superinvested with that which crownes them all , Eternity . SERMON XLI . Preached at Saint Pauls Crosse. 6 May. 1627. HOSEA 3. 4. For , the Children of Israel shall abide many dayes , without a King , and without a Prince , and without a Sacrifice , and without an Image , and without an Ephod , and without Teraphim . SOme Cosmographers have said , That there is no land so placed in the world , but that from that land , a man may see other land . I dispute it not , I defend it not ; I accept it , and I apply it ; there is scarce any mercy expressed in the Scriptures , but that from that mercy you may see another mercy . Christ sets up a candle now here , onely to lighten that one roome , but as he is lumen de lumine , light of light , so he would have more lights lighted at every light of his , and make every former mercy an argument , an earnest , a conveyance of more . Between land and land you may see seas , and seas enraged with tempests ; but still , say they , some other land too . Between mercy , and mercy , you may finde Comminations , and Judgements , but still more mercy . For this discovery let this text be our Mappe . First we see land , we see mercy in that gracious compellation , Children , ( the Children of Israel ) Then we see sea , then comes a Commination , ● Judgement that shall last some time , ( many days shall the Children of Israel suffer ) But there they may see land too , another mercy , even this time of Judgement shall be a day , they shall not be benighted , not left in darkenesse in their Judgement ; ( many dayes , all the while , it shall bee day ) Then the text opens into a deep Ocean , a spreading Sea , ( They shall bee without a King , and without a Prince , and without a Sacrifice , and without an Image , and without an Ephod , and without Teraphim . ) But even from this Sea , this vast Sea , this Sea of devastation , wee see land ; for , in the next verse followes another mercy , ( The Children of Israel shall returne , and shall seeke the Lord their God , and David their King , and shall feare the Lord , and his goodnesse in the later dayes . ) And beyond this land , there is no more Sea ; beyond this mercy , no more Judgement , for with this mercy the Chapter ends . Consider our text then , as a whole Globe , as an intire Spheare , and then our two Hemispheares of this Globe , our two parts of this text , will bee , First , that no perversnesse of ours , no rebellion , no disobedience puts God beyond his mercy , nor extinguishes his love ; still hee calls Israel , rebellious Israel his Children ; nay his owne anger , his owne Judgements , then , when hee is in the exercise thereof , in the execution thereof , puts him not beyond his mercy , extinguishes not his love ; hee hides not his face from them then , hee leaves them not then , in the darke , hee accompanies their calamity with a light , hee makes that time , though cloudy , though overcast , yet a day unto them ; ( the Children of Israel shall abide many days in this case . ) But then , as no disobedience removes God from himself , ( for he is love , and mercy ) so no interest of ours in God , doth so priviledge us , but that hee will execute his Judgements upon his Children too , even the Children of Israel shall fall into these Calamities . And from this first part , wee shall passe to the second ; from these generall considerations , ( That no punishments should make us desperate , that no favours should make us secure ) we shall passe to the particular commination , and judgements upon the children of Israel in this text , without King , without Prince &c. In our first part , we stop first , upon this declaration of his mercy , in this fatherly appellation , Children , ( the children of Israel ) He does not call them children of Israel , as though hee disavowed them , and put them off to another Father ; but therefore , because they are the Children of Israel , they are his Children , for , hee had maried Israel ; and maried her to himselfe for ever . Many of us are Fathers ; and , from God , here may learne tendernesse towards children . All of us are children of some parents , and therefore should hearken after the name of Father , which is nomen pietatis & potestatis , a name that argues their power over us , and our piety towards them ; and so , concernes many of us , in a double capacity , ( as we are children , and parents too ) but all of us in one capacity , as we are children derived from other parents . God is the Father of man , otherwise then he is of other creatures . He is the Father of all Creatures ; so Philo calls all Creatures sor●res suas , his sisters ; but then , all those sisters of man , all those daughters of God are not alike maried . God hath placed his Creatures in divers rankes , and in divers conditions ; neither must any man thinke , that he hath not done the duty of a Father , if he have not placed all his Sonnes , or not matched all his daughters , in a condition equall to himselfe , or not equall to one another . God hath placed creatures in the heavens , and creatures in the earth , and creatures in the sea , and yet , all these creatures are his children , and when he looked upon them all , in their divers stations , he saw , omnia valde bora , that all was very well ; And that Father that imploies one Sonne in learning ; another to husbandry , another to Merchandise , pursues Gods example , in disposing his children , ( his creatures ) diversly , and all well . Such creatures as the Raine , ( though it may seem but an imperfect , and ignoble creature , fallen from the wombe of a cloud ) have God for their Father ; ( God is the Father of the Raine . ) And such creatures as light , have but God for their Father . God is Pater l●minum , the Father of lights . Whether we take lights there to be the Angels , created with the light , ( some take it so ) or to be the severall lights set up in the heavens , Sun , and Moon and Stars , ( some take it so ) or to be the light of Grace in infusion by the Spirit , or the light of the Church , in manifestation , by the word , ( for , all these acceptations have convenient . Authors , and worthy to be followed ) God is the Father of lights , of all lights ; but so he is of raine , and clouds too . And God is the Father of glory ; ( as Saint Paul styles him ) of all glory ; whether of those beames of glory which he sheds upon us here , in the blessings , and preferments of this life , or that waight of glory which he reserves for us , in the life to come . From that inglorious drop of raine , that falls into the dust , and rises no more , to those glorious Saints who shall rise from the dust , and fall no more , but , as they arise at once to the fulnesse of Essentiall joy , so arise daily in accidentiall joyes , all are the children of God , and all alike of kin to us . And therefore let us not measure our avowing , or our countenancing of our kindred , by their measure of honour , or place , or riches in the world , but let us looke how fast they grow in the root , that is , in the same worship of the same God , who is ours , and their Father too . He is nearest of kin to me , that is of the same religion with me ; as they are creatures , they are of kin to me by the Father , but , as they are of the same Church , and religion , by Father and mother too . Philo calls all creatures his sisters , but all men are his brothers . God is the Father of man in a stronger and more peculiar , and more masculine sense , then of other Creatures . Filius particeps & con-dominus cum patre : as the law calls the Sonne , the partner of the Father , and fellow-Lord , joint-Lord with the Father , of all the possession that is to descend , so God hath made man his partner , and fellow-Lord of all his other creatures in Moses his Dominamini , when he gives man a power to rule over them , and in Davids Omnia subjecisti , when he imprints there , a naturall disposition in the creature to the obedience of man. So high , so very high a filiation , hath God given man , as that , having another Sonne , by another filiation , a higher filiation then this , by an eternall generation , yet he was content , that that Sonne should become this Sonne , that the Sonne of God should become the Sonne of Man. God is the Father of all ; of man otherwise then of all the rest ; but then , of the children of Israel , otherwise then of all other men . For he bought them ; and , is not be thy Father that hath bought thee ? says God by Moses . Not to speake of that purchase , which he made by the death of his Sonne , ( for that belongs to all the world ) he bought the Jews in particular , at such a price , such silver , and such gold , such temporall , and such spirituall benefits , such a Land , and such a Church , such a Law , and such a Religion , as , certainly , he might have had all the world at that price . If God would have manifested himselfe , poured out himselfe to the Nations , as hee did to the Iews , all the world would have swarmed to his obedience , and herded in his pale . God was their father● and , as S. Chrysost●me , ( that he might be sure to draw in all degrees of tender affection ) cals him , Their Mother too . For , Matris nutrire , Patris erudire ; It was a Mothers part to give them suck , and to feed them with temporall blessings ; It was a Fathers part to instruct them , and to feed them with spirituall things ; and God did both abundantly . Therefore doth God submit himself to the comparison of a Mother in the Prophet Esay , Can a woman forget her sucking child ? But then , he stays not in that inferiour , in that infirmer sex , but returns to a stronger love , then that of a Mother , ( yes , ( says he ) she may forget , yet will not I forget thee . ) And therefore , when David says , Blesse the Lord , O my soul , and forget not all his benefits ; David expresses that , which we translate in a generall word , Benefits , in this word , Gamal , which signifies Ablactationes ; forget not that God nursed thee as a Mother , and then , Ablactavit , we and thee , and provided thee stronger food , out of the care of a father . In one word , all creatures are Gods children ; man is his sonne ; but then , Israel is his first-born son ; for that is the addition , which God gives Israel by Moses to Pharaoh , ( Say unto Pharaoh , Israel is my son , even my first-born . ) Why God adopted Israel into this siliation , into this primogeniture , before all the people of the world , we can assign no reason , but his love only . But why he did not before this Text , dis-inherit this adopted son , is a higher degree , and exercise of his love , then the Adoption it self , if we consider , ( which is a usefull consideration ) their manifold provocations to such an exhaeredation , and what God suffered at their hands . The ordinary causes of Exhaeredation , for which , a man might dis-inherit his son , are assigned and numbred in the law , to be fourteen . But divers of them grow out of one root , ( Vndutifulnesse , Inofficiousnesse towards the father ) and as , by that reason , they may be extended to more , so they may be contracted to sewer , to two . These two , Ingratitude , and Irreligion . Vnthankfulnesse , and Idolatry were ever just causes of Exhaeredation , of Dis-inheriting . And with these two , did the Jews more provoke Almighty God , then any children , any father . Stop we a little our Consideration upon each of these . He is not always ungratefull , that does not recompense a benefit , but he onely that would not , though he could make , and though the Benefactor needed a recompense . When Furnius , upon whom Augustus had multiplied benefits , told him , that in one thing he had damnified him , in one thing he had undone him , Effecisti at viverem & mo●erer ingratus , You have done so much for me , ( says he ) that I must live , and die unthankfull , that is , without shewing my thankfulnesse by equivalent recompenses : This which he cals unthankfulnesse , was thankfulnesse enough . There are men , ( says the Morall man ) Qui quo plus debent , magis od●rant , that hate those men most , who have laid most obligations upon them . Leve as alienum debitorem facit , grave inimicum ; for a little debt he will be content to look towards me , but when it is great , more then he can pay , or as much as he thinks he can get from me , then he would be glad to be rid of me . Acknowledgement is a good degree of thankfulnesse . But , ingratitude at the highest , ( and the Iews ingratitude was at the highest ) involves even a concealing , and a denying of benefits , and even a hating , and injuring of Benefactors . And so , Res peremptoria ingrati●udo , says Bernard significantly , Ingratitude is a peremptory sin ; it does Perimere , that is , destroy , not onely all vertues , but it destroys , that is , overflows all other particular Vices ; no vice can get a name , where ingratitude is ; it swallows all , devours all , becomes all ; Ingratum dicas , omnia dixisti , If you have called a man unthankfull , you have called him by all the ill names that are : for this complicated , this manifold , this pregnant vice , Ingratitude , the holy language , the Hebrew , lacks a word . The nearest root that they can draw Ingratitude into , is Caphar , and Caphar is but Tegere , to hide , to conceal a benefit ; but to deny a benefit , or to hate or injure a Benefactor , they have not a word . And therefore , as S. Hierome found not the word in the Hebrew , so in all Saint Hieromes translation of the Old Testament , ( or in that which is reputed his , the vulgat Edition ) you have not that Latine word , Ingratus ; Curious sinners , subtile self-damners ; they could not name Ingratitude , and in all the steps of Ingratitude , they exceeded all men , all Nations . From the Ingratitude of murmuring , upon which , God lays that woe , ( Woe unto him that says to his father , What begettest thou ? or to the woman , What hast thou brought forth ? A dogge murmures not that he is not a Lion , nor a blinde-worm without eyes , that he is not a Basilisk to kill with his eyes ; Dust murmures not that it is not Amber , nor a Dunghill that it is not a Mine , nor an Angel that he is not of the Seraphim ; and every man would be something else then God hath made him , ) from this murmuring for that which he hath not , to another degree of Ingratitude , The appropriation of that which he hath , to himself , Vti Datis tanquam Innatis , ( as S. Bernard speaks in his musick ) To attribute to our selves that which we have received from God , to think our selves as strong in Nature as in Grace , and as safe in our own free-will , as in the love of God ; as God says of Ierusalem , ( That he had given her her beauty , and then she plaid the harlot , as if it had been her own ) by these steps of Ingratitude to the highest of all which is , rather then to confesse her self beholden to God , to change her God , and so to ●lide from Ingratitude to Idolatry , Ierusalem came , and over-went all the Nations upon the earth . Their Ingratitude induced Idolatry in an instant . As soon as they came to that ungratefull murmuring , ( As for Moses we cannot tell what is become of him ) they came presently to say to Aaron , ( Vp and make us Gods that may goe before us ) which is an impotency , a leprosie , that derives it self farre , spreads farre , that as soon as our sins induce any worldly crosse , any clamity upon us , we come to think of another Church , another Religion , and conclude , That that cannot be a good Church , in which we have lived in . Now , against this impious levity , of facility in changing our Religion , God seemes to expresse the greatest indignation , when he says , They sacrificed unto gods whom they knew not , to new gods . Men , amongst us , that have been baptized , and catechized in the truth , and in the knowledge thereof , fall into ignorant falshood , and embrace a Religion which they understand not , nor can understand , because it lies in the breast of one man , and is therefore subject to alterations . They sacrifice to gods whom they know not , ( says God ) and those gods new gods too ; The more suspicious , for their newnesse ; and , ( as it is added there ) unto gods whom their fathers feared not . Men , that fall from us , ( whose fathers were of that Religion ) put themselves into more bondage and slavery to the Court of Rome now , then their fathers did to the Church of Rome then ; They sacrifice to gods , whom they know not , and whom their fathers feared not , so much as they doe . But , they have corrupted themselves ; ( as God charges them farther ) They are fallen from us , whom no example of their fathers led that way ; fathers have left their former superstition , which they were born and bred in , and the sonnes , which were born , and bred in the truth , have embraced those superstitions ; Their spot is not the spot of children , ( so it follows in the same place ) a weaknesse that might have that excuse , that they proceeded out of a reverentiall respect to their fathers , and followed their example ; ( for their fathers have stood , and they are fallen . ( Their spot is not the spot of children . ) And , because Kings are pictures of God , when they trun upon new gods , they turn to new pictures of God too , and with a forein Religion , invest a forein Allegiance . Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians , says God , and from the Ammonites . and from the Amorites , and Philistims ? from a succession of enemies , at times , and from a league of enemies at once , Yet you have forsaken me , and served other gods , says God there ; And therefore , ( to that resolution God comes ) Therefore , I will deliver you no more . And yet , how often did God deliver them after this ? Ingratitude , Idolatry , are just causes of Exhaeredation ; Israel abounded in both these , and yet , after all these , in this Text , he cals them Children , The Children of Israel , and therefore his children . God is kinde even to the unthankfull , saith christ himself , and himself calls Jerusalem , The holy City , even when she was de●iled with many and manifold uncleannesses , because she had been holy , and had the outward help of holinesse remaining in her still . Christ doth not disavow , not disinherit those children which gave most just cause of exheredation ; much lesse doth he justify , by his example , finall and totall disinheriting of children , occasioned by single and small faults in the children , and grounded in the Parents , upon sudden , and passionate , and intemperate , and imaginary vowes , They have vowed to doe it , therefore they will doe it ; for , so they put a pretext of Religion upon their impiety , and make God accessary to that which he dislikes , and upon colour of a vow , doe that which is far from a service to God , as the performance of every lawfull , and discreet vow is . God calls them his Children , ( which is one ) and then , though as a Father he correct them , yet he shewes them his face , in that correction , ( which is another beam of his mercy ) He calls their calamity , their affliction , Not a night , but a day , ( many dayes shall the children of Israel suffer this . ) We finde these two words often joyned together in the Scriptures , Dies visitationis , The day of visitation ; though as it is a visitation , it be a sad , a dark contemplation , yet as it is a day , it hath alwayes a cheerfulnesse in it . If it were called a night , I might be afraid , that this night , They ( I am not told who ) would fetch away my soul ; but , being a day , I have assurance , that the Sunne , the Sunne of Righteousnesse will arise to me . At the light of thine Arrowes , they went forward , saith the Prophet Habakkuk . Though they be Arrowes , yet they are Torches too , though they burn , yet they give light too ; though God shoot his Arrowes at me , even by them , I shall have light enough to see that it is God that shoots . As there is a heavy commination in that of Amos , ( I will cause the Sunne to goe down at noone , and I will darken the earth , in clear day ) so is there a gracious promise , and a constant practise in God , That he will ( as he hath done ) command light of darknesse , and inable thee to see a clear day , by his presence , in the darkest night of tribulation . For , truly , such a sense , ( I think ) belongs to those words in Hosea , That when God had said , The dayes of visitation are come , the dayes of recompence are come , God adds that , as an aggravating of the calamitie ; yea , woe also to them , when I depart from them ; as though the oppression of the affliction , the peremptorinesse of the affliction , were not in the affliction it self , hut in Gods departing from them , when he afflicted them ; they should be visited , but see no day in their visitations , afflicted from God , but see no light from him , receive no consolation in him . In this place we take it , ( for the exaltation of your devotion ) as a particular beam of his mercy ) That though the Children of Israel were afflicted many dayes , yet still he affords them the name of Children , and still their darke and cloudy dayes were accompanied with the light , and presence of God , still they felt the Hand of God under them , the Face of God upon them , the Heart of God towards them . Those then , which have this filiation , God doth not easily disinherit ; because they were his Children , after unnaturall disobediencies , he avowes them , and continues that name to them . But yet , this must not imprint a security , a presumption ; for , even the children here , are submitted to heavie and dangerous calamities ; when Christ himselfe saith , The children of the kingdome shall be cast into utter darknesse , who can promise himselfe a perpetuall , or unconditioned station ? we have in the Scriptures two especiall Types of the Church , Paradise , and the Arke . But , in that Type , the Arke , we are principally instructed , what the Church in generall shall doe , and in that in Paradise , what particular men in the Church should do . For , we doe not reade , that in the Arke Noah , or his company , did waigh any anchor , hoyst any saile , ship any oare , steare any rudder ; but , the Arke , by the providence of God , who onely was Pilot , rode safe upon the face of the waters . The Church it selfe , ( figured by the Arke ) cannot shipwrack ; though men sleep , though the Devill wake , The gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church . But in the other Type of the Church , where every man is instructed in his particular duty therein , Paradise , Adam himself was commanded to dresse Paradise , and to keep Paradise . And when he did not that which he was injoyned to doe in that place , he forfeited his interest in it , and his benefit by it . Though we be born and bred in Gods house , as Children Baptized , and Catechized in the true Church , if we slacken our holy industry in making fare our salvation , we , though Children of the Kingdome , may becast out , and all our former helps , and our proceedings by the benefit of those helps , shall but aggravate our condemnation . Alpha and Omega make up the Name of Christ ; and , between Alpha and Omega , are all the letters of the Alphabet included . A Christian is made up of Alpha and Omega , and all between . He must begin well , ( imbrace the true Church ) and live well according to the profession of that true Church , and die well , according to that former holy life , and practise . Truth in the beginning , Zeale all the way , and Constancie in the end make up a Christian. Otherwise for all this filiation , children may be disinherited , or submitted to such calamities as these which are interminated upon the children of Israel , which constitute our second part , They shall be without a King , and without a Prince , and without a Sacrifice , and without an Ephod , and without a Teraphim . Disobedient children are not cast off ; but yet disobedience is not left uncorrected . Be mercifull , but mercifull so , as your Father in Heaven is mercifull ; Be not so mercifull upon any private respect , as to be thereby cruell to the publique . And be Iust ; but , just , as your Father in Heaven is just ; Hate not the vice of a man so , as thereby to hate the man himself . God hath promised to be an enemy to our enemies , an adversary to our adversaries ; but , God is no irreconciliable enemy , no implacable , no inexorable Adversary . For , that hatred which David calls Odium perfectum , ( I have hated them with a perfect hatred ) is not onely a vehement hatred , but ( as Saint Hilary calls it ) Odium religiosum , a hatred that may consist with religion : That I hate not another man , for his religion , so as that I lose all religion in my self , by such a hating of him . And Saint Augustine calls it Odium Charitativum , a hate that may consist with Charitie ; that I hate no man for his peremptory uncharitablenesse towards my religion , so as to lose mine own Charity ; for , I am come to one point of his religion , if I come to be as uncharitable as he . God and Kings are at a near distance , All gods ; Magistrates , and inferiour persons are at a near distance , all dust . As God proceeds with a King , with Iehosaphat , in that temper , that moderation , ( Shouldst thou help the ungodly , and love them that hate the Lord ? ) So men with men , Magistrates with inferiour men , learned men with ignorant men , should proceed with Saint Pauls moderation , If any man obey not ( but be refractary , unconformable ) note that man ( saith the Apostle ) and have no company with him , but yet count him not as an enemy . The union of the two Natures in Christ , give us a faire example , that Divinity and Humanity may consist together . No Religion induces Inhumanity ; no Piety , no Zeal destroyes nature ; and since there is a time to hate , and a time to love , then is love most seasonable , when other civill contracts , civill alliances , civill concurrences , have soupled and intenerated the dispositions of persons , or nations , formerly farther asunder , to a better possibility , to a fairer probability , to a nearer propinquity of hearkning to one another , That Christ might reconcile both unto God , in one body , by the Crosse , having slain the enmity thereby . Civill Offices may worke upon religions too ; and where that may follow , ( That our mildnesse in civill things , may prevail upon their obduration in religion ) there is the time to love . But in cases , where civill peace and religious foundations are both shaked , that the State and the Church , as they are both in one bottome , so they are chased by one Pirate , I hate not with a perfect hatred , not perfect towards God , except I declare , and urge , and presse home , the truth of God , against their errours in my Ministery , nor perfect towards man , except I advance , in my place , the execution of those Lawes against their practises , without which , they are inabled , nay incouraged , nay perswaded , nay intreated to goe forward in those practises . God himself proceeds against his own children so farre , ( and dearer then those children were to God , can no friends be to us , no allies to any Prince ) That they should be without King , without Prince , without Sacrifice , without Image , without Ephod , without Teraphim ; that is , without Temporall , without Ecclesiasticall Government . First , then , we presume , we presuppose , ( and that necessarily ) every peece of this part of our Text , to fall under the Commination ; they were threatned with the losse of every particular , and therefore they were the worse for every particular losse . Not the worse onely because they thought themselves the worse , because they had fixed their love and their delight upon these things , but because they were really the better for having them , it was really a curse , a Commination , that they should lose them ; as well that they should lose their Ephod , and their Image , and their Teraphim , as that they should lose their Sacrifices . But first , ( though that other fall also within the Commination , that they should be without a setled form of Religion , without Sacrifice , and Ephod , and the rest ) the first thing that the Commination falls upon , is , That they should be without a Civill form of government , without King , and without Prince . For , though our Religion prepare us to our Bene esse , our well-being , our everlasting happinesse , yet it is the State , the civill and peaceable government , which preserves our very Esse , our very Being ; and there cannot be a Bene esse , without an Esse , a well and a happy Being , except there be first a Being established . It is the State , the Law , that constitutes Families and Cities , and Propriety , and Magistracy , and Jurisdiction . The State , the Law preserves and disting●●shes , not onely the Meum & Tuum , the Possessions of men , but the Me & Te , the very persons of men ; The Law tels me , not onely whose land I must call every Acre , but whose son I must call every man. Therefore God made the Body before the Soule ; Therefore there is in man a vegetative , and a sensitive soule , before an immortall , and reasonable soule enter . Therefore also , in this place , God proposes first the Civil State , the temporall Government , ( what it is , to have a King and a Prince ) before he proposes the happinesse of a Church , and a Religion ; not but that our Religion conduces to the greater happinesse , but that our Religion cannot be conserved , except the Civil State , and temporall Government be conserved too . The first thing then that the Commination fals upon , is the losse of their Temporall State. But the Commination doth not fall so fully upon the exclusion of all formes of Government , as upon the exclusion of Monarchy ; It does not so expresly threaten an An●●chy , that they should have no Government , no Governours ; It is not sine Regimine , but sine Rege , If they had any , they should not have the best , They should be without a King. Now , if with S. Hierome , and others that accompany him in that interpretation , we take the Prophecy of this Text , to be fulfilled in that Dispersion which hath continued upon the Jews , ever since the destruction of Ierusalem , the Jews have been so far from having had any King , as that they have not had a Constable of their owne , in any part of the world ; no interest at all , in any part of the Magistracy and Jurisdiction of the world , any where , but they are a whole Nation of Cains , fugitives , and vagabonds . But howsoever it be , the heat , and the vehemency of this Commination fals upon this particular , sine Rege , they shall be without a King. It was long before God afforded the Jews a King ; and he did not easily doe it , then when he did it . Not , that he intended not that form of Government for them , but because they would extort it from him , before his time , and because they asked it onely in that respect , That they might be like their neighbours , to whom God would not have had them too like : And also , because God , to keep their thankfulnesse still awake , would reserve , and keep back some better thing , then he had given them yet , to give them at last . For , so he says , ( as the Coronation of all his benefits to Israel , of which there is a glorious Inventary in that Chapter ) Thou didst prosper into a Kingdome ; Till the Crown of glory be presented , in the comming of the Messias , thou canst not be happier . Those therefore that allow but a conditionall Soveraignty in a Kingdome , an arbitrary , a temporary Soveraignty , that may be transferred at the pleasure of another , they oppose the Nolumus hoc , we would not have , we would not live under this form of Government , not under a temporall Monarchy , Nolumus hoc . Those that determine Allegiance , and civil obedience onely by their own religion , and think themselves bound to obey none , that is of another perswasion , they oppose the Nolumus hunc , We will not have this man to reign over us ; and so , make their relations , and fix their dependencies upon forein hopes , Nolumus hunc . Those that fix a super-Soveraignty in the people , or in a Presbytery , they oppose the Nolumus sic , we would not have things carried thus ; They pretend to know the happinesse of living under that form , A Kingdome , and to acknowledge the person of the King , but they would be governed every man according to his own minde . And all these , the Nolumus hoc , ( they that desire not the continuance of that form , of a Kingdome in an Independency , but would have a dependency upon a forein power ; ) And the Nolumus hunc , ( they that are disaffected to the person of him that governs for the present ; ) And the Nolumus sic , ( they that will prescribe to the King , ends , and ways to those ends : ) all these assist this malediction , this commination , which God interminates here , as the greatest calamity , sine Rege , They shall be without a King ; for this is to Canton out a Monarchy , to Ravell out a Kingdome , to Crumble out a King. There is another branch in this Part , which is of Temporall calamities , That they shall be sine Principe , Without a King , and without a Prince . The word in the originall is Sar ; and take it , as it sounds most literally in our Translation , The Prince is the Kings Son ; so , this very word is used in Esay ; Sar Salem ; The Son of God , is called the Prince of Peace . And so , the commination upon the Jews is thus farre aggravated , That they shall be without a Prince , that is , without a certain heire ; and Successor ; which uncertainty , ( more then any thing else ) slackens the industry of all men at home , and sharpens the malice of all men abroad ; fears at home , and hopes abroad , discompose and disorder all , where they are sine Principe , without a certain heire . But the word enlarges it selfe farther ; for , Sar signifies a Iudge ; when Moses rebuked a Malefactor , he replies to Moses , Who made thee a Iudge ? And in many , very many places , Sar signifies a Commander in the Warres . So that where the Iustice of the State , or the Military power of the State faile , ( and they faile , where the men who doe , or should execute those places , will not , or dare not doe , what appertains to their places ) there this Commination fals , They are without a Prince , that is , without future assurance , without present power , or Justice . But we passe to the spirituall Commination ; that is , They shall be without Sacrifice , without Ephod , without Image , without Teraphim . It is not that their understanding shall be taken away , no , nor that the tendernesse of their conscience , or their zeale shall be taken away ; It is not that they shall come to any impiety , or ill opinion of God ; They may have religious , and well-disposed hearts , and yet be under a curse , if they have not a Church , an outward Discipline established amongst them . It is not enough for a man to beleeve aright , but he must apply himself to some Church , to some outward form of worshipping God ; It is not enough for a Church , to hold no error in doctrine , but it must have outward assistances for the devotion of her children , and outward decency for the glory of her God. Both these kindes are intended in the particulars of this Text , Sacrifice and Ephod , Image and Teraphim . First , it is a part of the curse , to be without Sacrifice . Now , if according to S. Hieromes interpretation , this Text be a Prophecy upon the Jews , after Christs time , and that the Malediction consist in this , That they shall not embrace the Christian Religion , nor the Christian Church entertain them ; if the Prophet drive to this , They shall bee without Sacrifices , because they shall not be of the Christian Church , certainly the Christian Church is not to be without Sacrifice . It is a miserable impotency , to be afraid of words ; That from a former holy and just detestation of reall errors , we should come to an uncharitable detestation of persons , and to a contentious detestation of words . We dare not name Merit , nor Penance , nor Sacrifice , nor Altar , because they have been abused . How should we be disappointed , and disfurnished of many words in our ordinary conversation , if we should be bound from all words , which blasphemous men have prophaned , or uncleane men have defiled with their ill use of those words ? There is Merit , there is Penance , there is Sacrifice , there are Altars , in that sense , in which those blessed men , who used those words first , at first used them . The Communion Table is an Altar ; and in the Sacrament there is a Sacrifice . Not onely a Sacrifice of Thanksgiving , common to all the Congregation , but a Sacrifice peculiar to the Priest , though for the People . There he offers up to God the Father , ( that is , to the remembrance , to the contemplation of God the Father ) the whole body of the merits of Christ Iesus , and begges of him , that in contemplation of that Sacrifice so offered , of that Body of his merits , he would vouchsafe to return , and to apply those merits to that Congregation . A Sacrifice , as farre from their blasphemous over-boldnesse , who constitute a propitiatory Sacrifice , in the Church of Rome , as from their over-tendernesse , who startle at the name of Sacrifice . We doe not , ( as at Rome ) first invest the power of God , and make our selves able to make a Christ , and then invest the malice of the Jews , and kill that Christ , whom we have made ; for , Sacrifice , Immolation , ( taken so properly , and literally as they take it ) is a killing ; But the whole body of Christs actions and passions ; we sacrifice , wee represent , wee offer to God. Calvin alone , hath said enough , Non possumus , except we be assisted with outward things , wee cannot fixe our selves upon God. Therefore is it part of the malediction here , that they shall be sine Sacrificio , without Sacrifice ; so is it also in inferiour helps , sine Ephod , they shall be without an Ephod . The Ephod amongst the Jews , was a garment , which did not onely distinguish times , ( for it was worne onely in time of divine Service ) but , even in time of divine Service , it distinguished persons too . For , we have a Pontificall Ephod , peculiar onely to the high Priest ; And we have a Leviticall Ephod , belonging to all the Levites ; ( Samuel ministred before the Lord , being a child , girded with a linnen Ephod . ) And wee have a common Ephod , which , any man , that assisted in the service of God might weare ; That linnen Ephod , which David put on , in that Procession , when he daunced before the Ark. But all these Ephods were bound under certain Laws , to be worn by such men , and at such times . Christs garment was not divided ; nay , the Soldiers were not divided about it , but agreed in one way ; And shall wee , ( the Body of Christ ) bee divided about the garment , that is , vary in the garment , by denying a conformity to that Decency which is prescribed ? When Christ devested , or supprest the Majesty of his outward appearance , at his Resurrection , Mary Magdalen took him but for a Gardiner . Ecclesiasticall persons in secular habits , lose their respect . Though the very habit bee but a Ceremony , yet the distinction of habits is rooted in nature , and in morality ; And when the particular habit is enjoyned by lawfull Authority , obedience is rooted in nature , and in morality too . In a Watch , the string moves nothing , but yet , it conserves the regularity of the motion of all . Rituall , and Ceremoniall things move not God , but they exalt that Devotion , and they conserve that Order , which does move him . Therefore is it also made a part of the Commination , that they shall be sine Ephod , without these outward Rituall , and Ceremoniall solemnities of a Church ; first , without Sacrifices , which are more substantiall and essentiall parts of Religion , ( as wee consider Religion to be the outward worship of God , and then , without Ephod , without those other assistances , which , though they be not of Gods Revenue , yet they are of his Subsidies , and though they be not the soule , yet are the breath of Religion . And so also is it of things of a more inferiour nature then Sacrifice or Ephod , that is of Image and Teraphim , which is our next , and last Consideration . Both these words , ( that which is translated , and called Image , and that which is not translated , but kept in the originall word , Teraphim ) have sometimes a good , sometimes a bad sense in the Scriptures . In the First , Image , there is no difficulty ; good and bad significations of that word , are obvious every where . And for the other , though when Rachel stole her fathers Teraphim , ( Images ) though when the King of Babylon consulted with Teraphim , ( Images ) the word Teraphim have an ill sense , yet , when Michal , Davids wife , put an Image into his bed , to elude the fury of Saul , there the word hath no ill sense . Accept the words in an Idolatrous sense , yet , because they fall under the commination , and that God threatens it , as a part of their calamity , that they should bee without their Idols , it hath beene , not inconveniently , argued from this place , that even a Religion mixt with some Idolatry , and superstition , is better then none , as in Civill Government a Tyranny is better then an Anarchy . And therefore we must not bring the same indisposition , the same disaffection towards a person mis-led , and soured with some leaven of Idolatry , as towards a person possest with Atheisme . And yet , how ordinarily wee see , zealous men start , and affected , and troubled at the presence of a Papist , and never moved , never forbeare the society and conversation of an Atheist : Which is an argument too evident , that wee consider our selves more then God , and that peace which the Papist endangers , more then the Atheist , ( which is , the peace of the State , and a quiet enjoying our ease ) above the glory of God , which the Atheist wounds , and violates more then the Papist ; The Papist withdraws some of the glory of God , in ascribing it to the Saints , to themselves , and their own merits , but the Atheist leaves no God to be glorified . And this use we have of these words , Images , and Teraphim , if they should have an ill sense in this place , and signifie Idols . But Saint Hierome , and others with him , take these words , in a good sense ; to bee the Cherubim , and Palmes , and such other representations , as God himselfe had ordained in their Temple ; and that the Commination falls upon this , That in some cases , it may bee some want , to bee without some Pictures in the Church . So farre as they may conduce to a reverend adoring of the place , so farre as they may conduce to a familiar instructing of unlettered people , it may be a losse to lack them . For , so much Calvin , out of his religious wisdome , is content to acknowledge , Fateor , ut res se habet hodiè , &c. I confesse , as the case stands now , ( says hee ) ( speaking of the beginning of the Reformation ) there are many that could not bee without those Bookes , ( as hee calls those Pictures ) because then they had no other way of Instruction ; but , that that might bee supplied , if those things which were delivered in picture , to their eyes , were delivered in Sermons to their eares . And this is true , that where there is a frequent preaching , there is no necessity of pictures ; but will not every man adde this , That if the true use of Pictures bee preached unto them , there is no danger of an abuse ; and so , as Remembrancers of that which hath been taught in the Pulpit , they may be retained ; And that was one office of the Holy Ghost himselfe , That he should bring to their remembrance those things , which had been formerly taught them . And since , by being taught the right use of these pictures , in our preaching , no man amongst us , is any more enclined , or endangered to worship a picture in a Wall or Window of the Church , then if he saw it in a Gallery , were it onely for a reverent adorning of the place , they may bee retained here , as they are in the greatest part of the Reformed Church , and in all that , that is properly Protestant . And though the Injunctions of our Church , declare the sense of those times , concerning Images , yet they are wisely and godly conceived ; for the second is , That they shall not extoll Images , ( which is not , that they shall not set them up ) but , ( as it followeth ) They shall declare the abuse thereof . And when in the 23 Injunction , it is said , That they shall utterly extinct , and destroy , ( amongst other things ) pictures , yet it is limited to such things , and such pictures , as are monuments of feigned miracles ; and that Injuction reaches as well to pictures in private houses , as in Churches , and forbids nothing in the Church , that might be retained in the house . For those pernicious Errors , which the Romane Church hath multiplied in this point , not onely to make Images of men , which never were , but to make those Images of men , very men , to make their Images speak , and move , and weep , and bleed ; to make Images of God who was never seen , and to make those Images of God , very gods ; to make their Images doe daily miracles ; to transferre the honour due to God , to the Image , and then to encumber themselves with such ridiculous riddles , and scornfull distinctions , as they doe , for justifying unjustifiable , unexcusable , uncolourable enormities , Va Idololatris , woe to such advancers of Images , as would throw down Christ , rather then his Image : But Vae Iconeclastis too , woe to such peremptory abhorrers of Pictures , and to such uncharitable condemners of all those who admit any use of them , as had rather throw down a Church , then let a Picture stand . Laying hold upon S. Hieromes exposition , that fals within the Vae , the Commination of this Text , to be without those Sacrifices , those Ephods , those Images , as they are outward helps of devotion . And , laying hold , not upon S. Hierome , but upon Christ himselfe , who is the God of love , and peace , and unity , yet fals under a heavy , and insupportable Vae , to violate the peace of the Church , for things which concern it not fundamentally . Problematicall things are our silver , but fundamentall , our gold ; problematicall out sweat , but fundamentall our blood . If our Adversaries would be bought in , with our silver , with our sweat , we should not be difficult in meeting them halfe way , in things , in their nature , indifferent . But if we must pay our Gold , our Blood , our fundamentall points of Religion , for their friendship , A Fortune , a Liberty , a Wife , a Childe , a Father , a Friend , a Master , a Neighbour , a Benefactor , a Kingdome , a Church , a World , is not worth a dramme of this Gold , a drop of this Blood. Neither will that man , who is truly rooted in this foundation , redeeme an Empoverishing , an Emprisoning , a Dis-inheriting , a Confining , an Excommunicating , a Deposing , with a dramme of this Gold , with a drop of this Blood , the fundamentall Articles of our Religion . Blessed be that God , who , as he is without change or colour of change , hath kept us without change , or colour of change , in all our foundations ; And he in his time bring our Adversaries to such a moderation as becomes them , who doe truly desire , that the Church may bee truly Catholique , one stock , in one fold , under one Shepherd , though not all of one colour , of one practise in all outward and disciplinarian points . Amen . SERMON XLII . A Sermon Preached in Saint Pauls in the Evening , November 23. 1628. PROV . 14. 31. He that oppresseth the poore , reprocheth his Maker , but he that honoureth him , hath mercy on the poore . Part of the first Lesson , for that Evening Prayer . THese are such words , as if we were to consider the words onely , might make a Grammar Lecture , and a Logick Lecture , and a Rhetorick and Ethick , a Philosophy Lecture too ; And of these foure Elements might a better Sermon then you are like to heare now , be well made . Indeed they are words of a large , of an extensive comprehension . And because all the words of the Word of God , are , in a great measure , so , that invites me to stop a little , as upon a short first part before the rest , or as upon a long entrie into the rest , to consider , not onely the powerfulnesse of the matter , but the sweetnesse and elegancy of the words of the Word of God in generall , before I descend to the particular words of this Text , He that oppresseth the poore , &c. We may justly accommodate those words of Moses , to God the Father , What God is there in Heaven , or in Earth , that can doe according to thy workes ? And those words of Ieremie , to God the Sonne , Behold , and see , if there be any sorrow , like unto my sorrow ; And those to the Holy Ghost which are in Esay , Loquimini , ad Cor , speake to the heart , speake comfortably to my People , And those of Saint Iohn too , A voyce of Thunder , and after , A voyce of seaven Thunders talking with me : for , who can doe , like the Father , who can suffer like the Sonne , who can speake like the Holy Ghost ? Eloquia Domini , eloquia casta , saith David , The words of the Lord are chaste words , sincere , pure words , no drosse , no profanenesse , no such allay mingled with them ; for , as it followeth there , They are as silver tried and purified seaven times in the fire . They are as that silver , that is so tried , and they are as that fire that trieth it . It is Castum , a Pure Word in it self , and then it is powerfull upon the Hearer too ; Ignitum Eloquium tuum vehementer , saith he , Thy word hath the vehement operation of fire ; and therefore , thy servant loveth it well , as it followeth there ; Therefore , because it pierces ; But therefore especially , because it carrieth a sweetnesse with it . For , the sting of the Serpent pierces , and the toothe of the Viper pierces , but they carry venenosam salivam , a venimous and mischievous liquour with them . But Dulcia faucibus super Mel , Thy words are sweeter to my mouth , then Hony ; then Hony it selfe . For , verba composita , saith Solomon , chosen words , studied , premeditated words , pleasing words , ( so we translate it ) are as a Hony-combe . Now , in the Hony combe , the Hony is collected and gathered , and dispensed , and distributed from the Hony-combe , And of this Hony-combe is wax , wax apt for sealing , derived too . The distribution of this Hony to the Congregation , The sealing of this Hony to the Conscience , is in the outward Ordinance of God , and in the labour of the Minister , and his conscionable fitting of himselfe for so great a service . But the Hony-Combe is not the Hony , The gifts of the man , is not the Holy Ghost . Iacob laid this blessing upon his sonne Naphtali , Dabit Eloquia pulchritudinis ; That he should be a well-spoken , and a perswasive man. For , of a defect in this kinde , Moses complained , and so did Esay , and Ieremie did so too , when they were to be imployed in Gods service , Moses that he was of uncircumcised ; Esay that he was of unclean lips , and Ieremie that he was a Childe , and could not speak ; and therefore this was a Blessing upon Naphtali , that hee should bee a well-spoken , and a perswasive man. For so , Moses , after God had farther inabled him , saith , Give eare , O yee Heavens , and I will speake ; Heare O Earth , the words of my mouth , My mouth , saith Moses ; The Minister of God , that cometh with convenient gifts , and due preparation , may speak such things , as Earth , and Heaven it selfe may be content to heare . For , when Saint Paul saith , That to the Principalities , and Powers in Heavenly places , the manifold wisdome of God , is made known by the Church , that is , by the Ministery , and Service of the Church , and by that which is done here , wee may congruously and piously beleeve , that even those Principalities and Powers in Heavenly places , The Angels of Heaven doe heare our Sermons , and hearken how the glory of God is communicated , and accepted , and propagated through the Congregation ; and as they rejoyce at the conversion of a Sinner , so rejoyce also at the means of their Conversion , the powerfull , and the congruous preaching of the Word of God. And therefore , let no man , though an Angell of the Church , though an Archangell of the Church , Bishop or Archbishop , refuse to heare a man of imeriour place , or inferiour parts to himself ; neither let any man be discouraged by the fewnesse or meannesse of his Hearers : For , as the Apostle saith , with relation to Abraham , Entertain strangers , for thereby some have entertained Angels unawares , so , preach to all , and that seat that thou thinkest empty , may have Angels in it : To them is the manifold Wisedome of God made knowne by the Church , and Angels are here ; here , for the augmentation of their owne Ioy , in their fresh knowledge of the propagation of the Kingdome of God , in this Congregation , and they are here , for their Accusation that are not here , but frivolously and causelessely absent , or negligently , absently present , if they be here . Therefore Moses might say , Give eare O yee Heavens , though it bee but I , that speake ; And hee might add , as he doth there , My Doctrine shall droppe as the rain , and my speech shall distll as the dew . And why ? Because I will publish the Name of the Lord , saith Moses there ; because I will deliver the Messages of my God to his People . What though you doe , must this be ascribed unto you ? no , Moses claimeth not that ; for when hee had said , Give eare , O yee Heavens , ( let no man thinke himselfe too high , or too wise to heare me ) and called it his Doctrine , and his speech , because he published the Name of the Lord , yet he transferreth all upon God himselfe , He establisheth their attentions with that Ascribe yee Greatnesse unto our God. It becommeth me to make my selfe as acceptable a messenger as I can , and to infuse the Word of God into you , as powerfully as I can , but all that I can doe , is but a small matter , the greatnesse of the worke lieth in your Application , and that must proceed from the Word of God it selfe , quickned by his Spirit , and therefore Ascribe all Greatnesse unto our God , for that is the Hony , whatsoever , or whosoever be the Hony-combe . Truely , when I reade a Sermon of Chrysostome , or of Chrysologus , or of Ambrose , Men , who carry in the very signification of their Names , and in their Histories , the attributes of Hony mouthed , and Golden-mouthed Men , I finde my selfe oftentimes , more affected , with the very Citation , and Application of some sentence of Scripture , in the middest or end of one of their Sermons , then with any witty , or forcible passage of their owne . And that is it , which Saint Hierome doth especially magnifie in Saint Paul. After he had said , Quotiescunque lego , non verba mihi videor , sed tonitrua audire , wheresoever I open Saint Pauls Epistles , it is not a word or a sentence , but a clappe of Thunder , that flieth out ; he addeth moreover , Legatis , doe but use your selves to the reading of Saint Pauls Epistles , Videbitis , in testimoniis quae sumit , ex veteri Testamento , quàm Artifex sit , quàm prudens , you will easily see how artificially , how dexterously , how cunningly , and how discreetly he makes his use of those places which he citeth out of the Old Testament ; Videntur verba Innocontis , & rusticani ; you would take them saith hee , sometimes for words of some plain Country-man , ( as some of the Prophets were no other ; ) But before Saint Paul have done with those words , Fulmina sunt , & capiunt omne quod tangunt , hee maketh you see , that they are flashes of lightning , and that they possesse , and melt , affect and dissolve every soul they touch . And hence it is , Beloved , that I return so often at home in my private Meditations , that I present so often to Gods People in these Exercises , this Consideration , That there are not so exquisite , so elegant Bookes in the World , as the Scriptures ; neither is any one place a more pregnant example thereof , for the purity and elegancy , for the force and power , for the largenesse and extention of the words , then these which the Holy Ghost hath taken in this Text , Hee that oppresseth the poore , reproaches his Master , &c. And so we passe from this first Consideration , The power and Elegancy of the whole word of God , in generall , to the same consideration in these particular words . The Matter , which in the generall is but this , That the poor must bee relieved , being a Doctrine obvious to all ; The Manner wil rather be our object , at this time : How the Holy Ghost , by Solomons hand , hath enwrapped this Doctrine , in these words , How the Omission of this Duty is aggravated , how the performance thereof is celebrated in this Text , and in the force and elegancies thereof . Mans perversenesse hath changed Gods method ; God made man good , but in a possibility of being ill ; Now , God findes man ill , but in a possibility of being good . When man was good , and enabled to continue so , God began with him , with affirmative Commandements ; Commandements that implied liberty and Soveraignty ; such as that , Subjicite & Dominamini , Subdue the Creature , and rule over the Creature ; and he comes not till after , to Negative , to Prohibitive Commandments , Commandments that imply infirmity , and servility ; such as this , Of this Tree thou shalt not eate , upon thy life ; this life , and the next , thou shalt not . But now , because God findes man ill , and prone to bee worse , God is faine to change his method , and to begin , and stop him at first with negative , and prohibitive Commandments . So he does in the thirty fourth Psalm , ver . 14. ( which is also again repeated ) first , Depart from evill , and then , Doe good . For man brings with him something into the world now , to forget , and to unlearn , before he can take out any new lesson : Man is so farre from being good of himselfe , as that he must forget himselfe , devest himselfe , forsake himselfe , before he can be capable of any good . And such is the method of our Text ; Because God sees a naturall declination in man , to abuse his power , to the oppression of inferiours , hee begins with that Prohibition , Oppresse not the poore ; And then when he hath brought them to that moderation , and that temper , then he carries them farther towards perfection , to an honouring of God in shewing mercy to the poor . In which method , so disposed into two parts , the fault first , and then the duty , we shall proceed by these steps ; First , in the first , we shall consider the fault it self , Oppression ; which , in generall , is an unjust damnifying of others . And secondly , the specification of the Persons , the Poore ; for others , our Superiours , we may unjustly damnifie too ; but that is a fault of another nature ; I should rather call it envy , or emulation , or ambition , or supplantation , then oppression ; and therefore that second branch will fairly admit a little disquisition , a short comparison of those two kindes of sinnes , Whether emulation of superiours , or oppression of inferiours , bee in the nature , and roote thereof , the greater sinne . In which latter sinne , which is properly the sinne of our Text , that is , oppression of the poore , we shall see , ( in a third branch ) the iniquity , and hainousnesse thereof aggravated in this , that it is said to bee a Reproach , a Contumely ; and Contumely , and Reproach , against whomsoever it bee bent ; hath always a venemous , and a mischievous Nature . But much more here , where it is bent against God himselfe ; and against God in that supreme , and primary notion , as a Creator , as a Maker , He reproaches the Maker ; But then whose Maker ? If I should say I cannot tell , the words themselves , and the construction thereof , in the variety of the Hebrew Grammars , would justifie mine ignorance , for they will not admit it to bee easily determined , whether it bee Factorem ejus , or Factorem suum , whether he that oppresses the poore , be said to reproach his Maker that is made poore , or his own Maker : And therefore we shall make our use of both ; for both meet to aggravate the fault ; If I oppresse the poore , I reproach him that made that poore man , and made that man poore , and I reproach him that made me . And in these circumstances , The fault , Oppression ; the specification of the Persons , the Poore ; the Probleme , the Comparison of the two sinnes ; the Aggravation , as it is a Reproach , a reproach against God , and God as a Creator , as his Creator , as my Creator , wee shall determine that first part . And when in our order thus proposed , wee shall come to our second Part , which is the recommendation , and celebration of the Duty it selfe , To honour God , by shewing mercy to the poore , wee shall first consider the persons , the poore ; and then the act , to shew mercy to the poore ; and lastly the effect , and benefit thereof ; for , as the omission of the duty was aggravated with that , that it was a reproaching of God , the performance thereof is exalted by this , That it is an honouring of God. After all which we shall conclude all , with the consideration of that which is indeed the poorest of all , the sickest , and forest , and saddest , the feeblest and faintest , the wretchedest , and miserablest thing in the world , your owne souls ; and lead you to see , how you do reproach God in oppressing , how you might honour God in shewing mercy to those poore souls of yours . And this will be the compasse , in which I shall lead your devotions for this houre ; this will be the circle , which from this center , reliefe of the poore , ( which is the summe , and resultance of the Text ) and by these poles , the hainousnesse of the fault , the happinesse of the duty , I shall designe unto you . We proposed at first , to consider our two parts , the fault , and the duty , in the elegancy of the words chosen by the holy Ghost here , according to their origination , and extraction , in the nature of the words , and their latitude and extension , in their use , in other places of Scripture . That we shall do ; and in that way , our first word is oppression ; Gnashak in the Originall ; and Gnashak , as it does oftentimes signifie vim , violence , and force , so does it often signifie dolum , deceit and fraud also : so that violence and deceit concurre in this oppression . And more then they . For Solomon does not depart from that which he meanes , when he sayes here , He that oppresses the poore , reproaches his Maker , when he sayes in another place , He that macks the poore , reproaches his Maker . So that now these three , violence , and deceit , and scorne are the elements , the ingredients that make up this oppression . There is not a more brutish thing then violence ; amongst beasts all goes by force . There is not a more devillish thing then deceit ; the Serpent destroyed us all by that . But man hath raised a degree of oppression , beyond beasts , and their violence , and beyond the devill , and his falshood , that is , scorn . For , though the devill oppresse man , and hate man , he does not scorne man ; he findes man a considerable enemy . For when he hath throwne a man into the world , oppressed with originall sinne , that man is not therefore his ; the Sacrament of Baptisme frustrates him of that Title . When he hath oppressed him in the world , by actuall and habituall sinnes , that man is not therefore his , for a worthy receiving of the body and blood of Christ Jesus frustrates him of that Title . And how weake soever man be in himselfe , yet , in Christo omnia possumus , There is one man ( and in that one man are all men , that is , all mankinde , enwrapped ) who lye open to the Serpent onely in his heele , and the Serpent to him , in his head ; and in him , Omnia possumus , in Christ , the weakest man can do any thing . The Devill could oppresse Iob with violence ; fire , and sword , and ruine upon his goods , and cattell , and servants , and children , and himself too . The Devill could oppresse him with deceit , corrupt the wife of his bosome , to tempt him to desperation ; but he never came to scorne Iob ; for he saw Iob did not serve God for nought ; Iob had good wages , and God had hedged him , enclosed him , for himself . Scorne is an affection , that implies such a heighth above another , as cannot be justified in any but God himself . Man can oppresse by deceit ; The Kings of the earth take counsell together ; they study how to circumvent ; and man can oppresse with violence ; there they breake bands asunder , and cast away cords ; they will be bound by no lawes . But then , it is onely God , who there laughs them to scorne , and hath them in derision . Now here , the oppressor practises the beasts part , he comes to violence , and the Devils part , he comes to deceit , and he usurps upon Gods part , he comes to that heighth , as to think he may scorn and contemne . And whom ? for that is our next consideration ; he oppresseth the poore , he treads down the poore ; him that was dust before , he treads into dirt , macerated with his own sweat , his own tears , his own blood . He oppresses him with deceit ; the credulous and confident wretch , who , because he is harmlesse in himself , is fearelesse of others , he betrayes , he circumvents . And he oppresses with scorne ; him whom poverty hath made the subject of pity and of prayers , he makes the anvile of scorne and of jeasts . For , so far , our first word , Gnashak , carries his signification and our meditation , he oppresses by violence , by deceit , by scorne , brutishly , devillishly , and more , ( which is the qualification of the fault , and was our first consideration ) and all this upon the poore , ( which is the specification of the persons , and is our second . ) You see who this oppressor is , and how you may know him ; you have his markes ; Violence , deceit , scorne . But who is this poor man , and how shall you know him ? How shall you know , whether he that askes be truly poor or no ? Truly , beloved , there is scarce any one thing , in which our ignorance is more excusable then in this , To know whether he to whom we give , be truly poor , or no : In no case is our inconsideration more pardonable , then in this . God will never examine me very strictly , why I was no stricter in examining that mans condition to whom I gave mine almes . If I give to one that is poor in my sight , I shall finde that almes upon Gods score , amongst them , who were poor in Gods sight : And my mistaking the man , shall never make God mistake my meaning . Where I finde undeniable , unresistible evidence to the contrary , when I see a man able in his limbes live in continuall idlenesse , when I see a man poore in his meanes , and oppressed with his charge , spend in continuall drunkennesse , in this case , I were the oppressor of the poor , if I should give to that man , for this were to give the childrens bread to dogs . And that is not a name too bad for them ; for , foris Canes , they are dogs that are without , that is , without the Church : And how few of these , who make beggery an occupation from their infancy , were ever within Church , how few of them ever Christned , or ever maried ? Foris Canes , they are dogs , that are without ; and the Childrens bread must not be given to Dogs . But to pursue our first intention , and so to finde out these poor in the origination of the words chosen by the holy Ghost here , we have in this text two words for the poor . One is Ebion ; and Ebion is a begger . It was the name given to one of those first heretiques who occasioned the writing of St. Iohns Gospell ; he was called Ebion . So that it may well be imagined , that those first Heretiques were Mendicants : Men that professed begging , and lived upon the labours , and sweat of other men . For the Ebionit is a begger ; not onely he that needs , but he that declares his need , that askes , that craves , that begs : for , the root of Ebion is Ahab ; which is not onely to desire , but to declare that desire , to aske , to crave , to beg . Now , this poor man must be relieved . The charity that God required in Israel , was , that no man should be put to this necessity , but provided for otherwise ; There shall be no begger amongst you ; for , there is our very word , no Ebionite ; that is , no poor man shall be put to beg . But yet in the Prophet Ieremy , that man is well spoken of , that did good even to the Ebionit , to the begger ; he that is brought to a necessity of asking , must be relieved . Not that we are not bound to give , till another aske , or never to open our hand , till another open his mouth ; for , as Saint Iohn did , in the beginning of the Revelation , a man may see a sound , see a voice . A sad aspect , a pale look , a hollow cheek , a bloudlesse lip , a sonke eye , a trembling hand , speake so lowd , as that if I will not heare them from him , God will heare them against me . In many cases , and with many persons , it is a greater anguish to aske , then to want ; and easier to starve , then to beg ; therefore I must hearken after another voice , and with another organ ; I must hearken with mine eye . Many times I may see need speake , when the needy man says nothing , and his case may cry aloud , when he is silent . Therefore I must lay mine eare to the ground , and hearken after them that lie in the dust , and enquire after the distresses of such men ; for this is an imitation of Gods preventing grace , that grace , then which we can conceive no higher thing in God himselfe , ( that God should be found of them , that seek him not ) if I relieve that man , that was ashamed to tell me he wanted . The Ebionit the begger , but not he onely , must be relieved : for our word , in this part of the text , is not Ebion , but a word derived from Dalal ; and Dalal , in this word , signifies Exhaustum , attenuatum , a man whose former estate is exhausted , and gone , or whose present labours doe not prosper , but that God , for ends best known to himselfe , exercises him with continuall poverty ; the word signifies also a man enfeebled , and decrepit with age ; and more then that , the word signifies sicknesse too : for this very word we have in Hezekiahs mouth , The Lord will cut me off with sicknesse . So that now you have the specification of the person , who is the poor man , that is most properly the object of your charity , he whose farmer estate is wasted , and not by his vices , but by the hand of God , He whose present industry does not prosper , He who is overtaken with Age , and so the lesse able to repaire his wants , and in his age , afflicted with sicknesse , and so the lesse able to indure his wants . And this poor man , this labouring man , this decayed man , this aged man , this sickly man , this oppressor in our text pursues ; and pursues with violence , with deceit , with scorne . And so have you the qualification of the fault , ( which was our first ) and the specification of the persons , which was our second consideration . But before we depart from this branch , I remember , I asked leave at first , onely to stirre this consideration , onely to propound this Probleme , onely to aske this question , whether Envy , and Emulation , and supplantation of Superiors , or this oppression , and conculcation of Inferiours in this kinde , were in the nature , and root thereof , the greater sinne ; and surely the sentence , and the Judgement will be against this oppressor of the poor . For , Envy , conceived against a man in place , hath evermore some emulation of those gifts , which enable a man for that place . Whosoever labours to supplant another , that he may succeed , will in some measure endevour to be fit for that succession . So that , though it be but a squint-eye , and not a direct look , yet some eye , some aspect , the envious man hath upon vertue . Besides , he that envies a higher person , he does not practise ( as the Poet says ) sine talione ; He deales with a man that can be at full even with him , and can deale as ill with him . But he that oppresses the poor , digs in a dunghill for wormes ; And he departs from that posture , which God , in nature gave him , that is , erect , to look upward ; for his eye is always down , upon them , that lie in the dust , under his feet . Certainly , he that seares up himselfe , and makes himselfe insensible of the cries , and curses of the poor here in this world , does but prepare himselfe for the howlings , & gnashings of teeth , in the world to come . It is the Serpents taste , the Serpents diet , Dust shalt thou eate all the days of thy life ; and he feeds but on dust , that oppresses the poor . And as there is evidently , more inhumanity , more violation of nature , in this oppression , then in emulation , so may there well seem to be more impiety , and more violation of God himselfe , by that word , which the holy Ghost chooses in the next place , which is Reproach , He that oppresses the poor , reproaches his Maker . This word , which we translate to Reproach , Theodotion translates to Blaspheme : And blasphemy is an odious thing , even towards men . For , men may be blasphemed . The servant of God , Moses , is blasphemed , as well as God : And Goliah blasphemed the Israel of God , as well as the God of Israel ; and , for the most part , where we read Reviling , the word is Blaspheming . Our word here , ( that we may still pursue our first way , a reverent consideration of the elegancy of the Scriptures , in the origination of the words ) is Charak ; and this word Iob uses , as it is used in our text , for reproach , My heart shall not reproach me , so long as I live . And this , this reproaching of the heart , is , in many cases , a Blaspheming , and a strange one , a self-blaspheming . When I have had , by the goodnesse of Gods Spirit , a true sense of my sinnes , a true remorse , and repentance of those sinnes , true Absolution from those sinnes , true seales of reconciliation after those sinnes , true diligence , and preclusion of occasions of relapsing into those sinnes , still to suspect my state in Gods favour , and my full redintegration with him , still to deny my selfe that peace , which his Spirit , by these meanes , offers me , still to call my repentance imperfect , and the Sacramentall seales ineffectuall , still to accuse my selfe of sinnes , thus devested , thus repented , this is to reproach , this is to to blaspheme mine owne soule . If I will say with Iob , My heart shall reproach me of nothing , this is not , that I will accuse my selfe of no sinne , or say , the elect of God cannot sinne , no , nor that God sees not the sinnes of the elect , nor that God is not affected , or angry with those sinnes , and those sinners , as long as they remaine unrepented , but after I have accused my selfe of those sinnes , and brought them into Judgement , by way of Confession , and received my pardon under seale , in the Sacrament , and pleaded that pardon , to the Church , by a subsequent amendment of life , then I reproach my selfe of nothing , for this were a self-blaspheming , and a reproaching of mine owne soule . Now , the word of our text , in the root thereof , Charak , is manifestare ; prostituere ; It is to publish the fault , or to prostitute the fame of any man , extrajudicially , not in a right forme of Judgement , and amongst those men , who are not to be his Judges . So to fill itching eares with rumours , and whisperings , so to minister matter and fuell to fiery tongues , so to lay imputations , and aspersions upon men , though that which we say , of those men , be true , is a libelling , is a calumny , is a blaspheming and a reproach , in the word of this text : for it is manifestare , prostituere , to publish a mans faults , and to prostitute a mans fame , there , where his faults can receive no remedy , if they be true , nor his fame Reparation , if they be false . It is properly , to speake ill of a man , and not before a competent Judge . And in such a sense , a man may reproach God himselfe . But is there then a Judge between God and man ? Shall not the Iudge of all the earth doe right ? is Abrahams question ; but there , that Judge of all the earth , is God himself . But is there a Judge of heaven too ? A Judge between God and man , for Gods proceeding there ? There is . The Scripture is a Judge , by which God himself will be tryed . As the Law is our Judge , and the Judge does but declare what is Law , so the Scripture is our Judge , and God proceeds with us according to those promises and Judgements , which he hath laid down in the Scripture . When God says in Esay , Iudge betweene me and my Vineyard , certainly , God means that there is something extant , some contract , some covenant , something that hath the nature of a Law , some visible , some legible thing , to judge by . And Christ tels us what that is ; Search the Scriptures . says hee ; for , by them wee must bee tryed for our lives . So then , if I come to thinke that God will call me in question for my life , for my eternall life , by any way that hath not the Nature of a Law , ( And , by the way , it is of the Nature and Essence of a Law , before it come to bind , that it be published ) if I think that God will condemn me , by any unrevealed will , any reserved purpose in himself , this is to reproach God , in the word of this Text , for it is prostituere , to prostitute , to exhibit God , otherwise then he hath exhibited himselfe , and to charge God with a proceeding upon secret and unrevealed purposes , and not rest in his Scriptures . God will try us at last , God himself will be tryed all the way by his Scriptures ; And to charge God with the damnation of men , otherwise then by his Tantummodo Crede , I have commanded thee to beleeve , and thou hast not done that , And by his Fac hoc & vives , I have commanded thee , to live well , and thou hast not done that , which are conditions evidently laid downe in the Scriptures , and not grounded upon any secret purpose , is a reproaching of God , in the word of this Text. This , this Oppressor of the poor is said to doe here ; He reproaches the Maker ; God , in that notion , as he is the Creator . Now this is the clearest notion , and fastest apprehension , and first handle that God puts out to man , to lay hold upon him by , as hee is The Creator . For though God did elect mee , before hee did actually create mee , yet God did not mean to elect mee , before hee meant to create mee ; when his purpose was upon me , to elect me , surely his purpose had passed upon me , to create mee ; for when he elected me , I was I. So that this is our first notion of God towards us , as he is The Creator . The School will receive a pregnant child from his parents , and work upon him ; The Vniversity will receive a grounded Scholar from the School , and work upon him ; The State , or the Church , will receive a qualified person from the University , and worke by him . But still the State , and the Church , and the University , and the first School it self , had something to work upon ; But God , in the Creation , had nothing at all : He called us when we were not , as though we had been . Now , here is this world , we make our selves ; that is , we make one another : Kings make Iudges , and Iudges make Officers : Bishops make Parsons , and Parsons make Curats : But when wee consider our Creation , It is he that hath made us , and not we our selves ; we did not onely not doe any thing , but we could not doe so much as wish any thing to be done , towards our Creation , till wee were created . In the Application of that great worke , The Redemption of mankinde , that is , in the conversion of a sinner , and the first act of that conversion , though the grace of God work all , yet there is a faculty in man , a will in man , which is in no creature but man , for that grace of God to worke upon ; But in the Creation there was nothing at all . I honour my Physician , upon the reasons that the Wise man assignes ; because he assists my health , and my well-beeing ; But I honour not my Physician with the same honour as my Father , who gave me my very Beeing . I honour my God in all those notions , in which he hath vouchsafed to manifest himselfe to me ; Every particular blessing of his is a Remembrancer ; but my Creation is a holy wonder , and a mysterious amazement . And therefore , as David , the Father , wraps up all stubborn ignorance of God , in that , The fool hath said in his heart , there is no God ; so Solomon , the Son , wraps up all knowledge of God in that , Remember thy Creator ; still contemplate God in that notion , as he made thee of nothing , for , upon that , all his other additions depend . And when thou comest to any post-Creations , any after-makings in this world , to be made rich , made wise , made great , Praise thou the Lord , blesse him , and magnifie him for ever , for those Additions , and blesse him for having made thee capable of those Additions , by something conferred upon thee before , That he gave thee a patrimony from thy parents , and thine industry working upon that , made thee rich ; That he raised thee to Riches , and the Eye of the State looking upon that , made thee Honourable ; But still return to thy first making , thy Creation , as thou wast made of nothing , nothing ; so low , as that not sin it self , not sin against the holy Ghost himselfe can cast thee so low again ; nothing can make thee nothing ; nothing that thou canst doe here , nothing that thou canst suffer hereafter , can reduce thee to nothing . And in this notion , this supreme , and Majesticall notion , does this oppressor of the poor reproach God ; He reproaches the Maker . But then , whose Maker ? for that is also another branch , another Disquisition . Here we accept willingly , and entertain usefully their doubt , that will not resolve , whether our Gnoshehu in the Text , be Factorē Ejus , or Factorē Suum ; whether this oppressor of the poor be said here to reproach his Maker , that is made poor , or his own Maker . Let them enjoy their doubt ; Be it either ; Be it both . First , let it be the poor Mans Maker , And then , does this oppressor consider , that it is God that hath made that poor man , or that hath made that man poor , and will he oppresse him then ? If a man of those times , had heard a song of Nero's making , & had been told that it was his , ( as that Emperour delighted in compositions of that kind ) he would not , he durst not have said , that it was a harsh , an untunable song . If a man saw a Clock or a Picture of his Princes making , ( as some Princes have delighted themselves with such manufactures ) hee would not , he durst not say , it was a disorderly Clock , or a disproportioned picture . Wise Fathers have foolish children , and beautifull , deformed ; yet we doe not oppresse , nor despise those children , if we loved their parents ; nor will we any poor man , if we truly love that God , that made him poor ; And , if his poverty be not of Gods making , but of the Devils , induced by his riot and wastfulnesse , howsoever the poverty may be the Devils , still the Man is of Gods making . Probris afficit factorem ejus , He reproaches Him that made that man poore , and Probris afficit factorem suum , Hee reproaches that God who made him rich , his owne Maker . Now , doth he consider , that the Devill hath super-induced a half-lycantropy upon him , The Devill hath made him half a wolfe , so much a wolfe as that he would tear all that fall into his power , And half a spider , so much a spider , as that hee would entangle all that come near him , And half a Viper , so much a Viper , as that he would envenome all that any way provoke him . Does hee consider that the Devill hath made him half a wolfe , halfe a spider , half a viper , and doth hee not consider that that God that is his Maker , could have made him a whole Wolfe , a whole Spider , a whole Viper , and left him in that rank of ignoble , and contemptible , and mischievous creatures ? Does he not consider , that that God that made him richer then others , can make him a prey to others , & raise up enemies , that shall bring him to confusion , though he had no other crimes , Therefore , because he is so rich ? God can make his very riches the occasion of his ruine here , and the occasion of his everlasting ruine hereafter , by making those riches snares and occasions of sin . God who hath made him , could have left him unmade ; or made him what he would ; and he reproaches God , as though God could have done nothing lesse for him , then he hath done , nor could not undone him now . But , before we depart from this branch , consider we wherein this offender , this oppressor , sins so very hainously , as to deserve so high an increpation , as to be said to Reproach , and to Reproach God , and God in that supream Notion , A Maker , His Maker , and his own Maker . If his fault be but neglecting or oppressing a poor man , why should it deserve all this ? In all these respects . First , The poor are immediately in Gods protection . Rich and poore are in Gods administration , in his government , in his providence ; But the poor are immediately in his protection . Tibi derelictus est pauper , says David , The poor commits himself unto thee . They are Orphans , Wards , delivered over to his tuition , to his protection . Princes have a care of all their Allies , but a more especiall care of those that are in their protection . And the poor are such ; And therefore God more sensible in their behalfe . And so , hee that oppresses the poor , Reproaches God , God in his Orphans . Again , rich and poor are Images , Pictures of God ; but , ( as Clement of Alexandria says wittily and strongly ) The poor is Nuda Imago , a naked picture of God , a picture without any drapery , any clothes about it . And it is much a harder thing , & there is much more art showed in making a naked picture , then in all the rich attire that can be put upon it . And howsoever the rich man , that is invested in Power , and Greatnesse , may be a better picture of God , of God considered in himself , who is all Greatnes , all Power , yet , of God considered in Christ , ( which is the contemplation that concerns us most ) the poor man is the better picture , and most resembles Christ who liv'd in continual poverty . And so , he that oppresses the poor , reproaches God , God in his Orphans , God in his Picture . Saint Augustine carries this consideration farther , then that the poore is more immediately Gods Orphan , and more perfectly his picture , That he is more properly a member of himself , of his body . For , contemplating that head , which was not so much crowned as hedged with thorns , that head , of which , he whose it was , sayes , The Sonne of man hath not where to lay his head , Saint Augustine sayes , Ecce caput Panperum , Behold that head , to which , the poore make up the body , Ob eam tantùm causam venerabiles , sayes that Father , Therefore venerable , therefore honourable , because they are members sutable to that head . And so , all that place , where the Apostle sayes , That upon those members of the body , which we think to be lesse honourable , we bestow most honour , that Father applies to the poore , that therefore most respect and honour should be given to them , because the poore are more sutable members to their head Christ Jesus , then the rich are . And so also , he that oppresses the poore reproaches God , God in his Orphans , God in his Image , God in the Members of his owne body . Saint Chrysostome carries this consideration farther then this of Saint Augustine . That whereas every creature hath filiationem vestigii , that because God hath imparted a being , an essence , from himselfe , who is the roote , and the fountaine of all essence , and all being , therefore every creature hath a filiation from God , and is the Sonne of God so , as we read in Iob , God is the father of the raine ; and whereas every man hath filiationem imaginis , as well Pagan as Christian , hath the Image of God imprinted in his soule , and so hath a filiation from God , and is the Sonne of God , as he is made in his likenesse ; and whereas every Christian hath filiationem Pacti , by being taken into the Covenant made by God , with the Elect , and with their seed , he hath a filiation from God , and is the Sonne of God , as he is incorporated into his Sonne Christ Jesus , by the Seals of the Christian Church ; besides these filiations , of being in all creatures , of the Image in all men , of the Covenant in all Christians , The poore , sayes that Father , are not onely filii , but Haeredes , and Primogeniti , Sonnes and eldest Sonnes , Sonnes , and Sonnes and Heires . And to that purpose he makes use of those words in St. Iames , Hearken , my beloved brethren , hath not God chosen the poore of this world , rich in faith , and Heirs of that Kingdome ? Heirs , for , Ipsorum est , sayes Christ himself , Theirs is the Kingdome of heaven ; And upon those words of Christ , Saint Chrysostome comments thus , Divites ejus regnitantum habent , quantum à pauperibus , eleemosynis coemerunt , The rich have no more of that Kingdome of heaven , then they have purchased of the poore , by their almes , and other erogations to pious uses . And so he that oppresses the poore reproaches God , God in his Orphans , God in his Image , God in the Members of his own Body , God in his Sonnes , and Heires of his Kingdome . But then Christ himself carries his consideration , beyond all these resemblances , and conformities , not to a proximity onely , but to an identity , The poore are He. In as much as you did it unto these , you did it unto me ; and , In as much as you did it not unto these , you did it not unto me . And after his ascension , and establishing in glory , still he avowed them , not onely to be his , but to be He , Saul , Saul , why persecutest thou me ? The poore are He , He is the poore . And so , he that oppresseth the poore , reproaches God , God in his Orphans , God in his Image , God in the Members of his owne Body , God in the Heirs of his Kingdome , God in himself , in his own person . And so we have done with all those peeces , which constitute our first part , the hainousnesse of the fault , in the elegancy of the words chosen by the holy Ghost , in which you have seen , The fault it self , Oppression , and the qualification thereof , by the marks , Violence , Deceit , and Scorne . And then the specification of the persons , The poore , as he is the Eb●onite , the very vocall begger , and as the word is Dalal , a decayed , an aged , a sickly man ; And in that branch , you have also had that Probleme , Whether aemulation of higher , or oppression of lower , be the greater sinne : And then , the aggravation of this sinne , in those weights , That it is a reproach , a reproach of God , of God as The Maker , as His Maker whom he oppresses , and as his own Maker ; And lastly , in what respects especially this increpation is laid upon him . And farther we have no occasion to carry that first part , the fault . In passing from that first part , the fault , to the duty , and the celebration thereof , in those words of choice elegancy , He that hath mercy on the poore , honours God , though we be to looke upon the persons , the poore , and the act , shewing mercy to the poore , and the benefit , honouring of God , yet , of the persons , ( who are still the same poore , poore , made poore by God , rather then by themselves ) more needs not be said , then hath been said already . And of the act , showing of mercy to the poore , onely thus much more needs be said , that the word , in which , the holy Ghost expresses this act here , is the very same word , in which , he expresses the free mercy of God himself , Miserebor cujus miserebor , I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious , and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy . So that God hath made the charitable man partaker with himself , in his own greatest attribute , his power of showing mercy . And then , left any man should thinke , that he had no interest in this great dignity , that God had given him no meanes to partake of this attribute of God , this power of shewing mercy to the poor , because he had left him poor too , and given him nothing to give , the same word , which the holy Ghost uses in this text , and in Exodus , for mercy , which is Canan , he uses in other places , particularly in the dedication of the Temple , for prayer . So that he , who being destitute of other meanes to relieve the poore , prayes for the poore , is thereby made partaker of this great attribute of Gods , this power of showing mercy . He hath showed mercy to the poore , if , having nothing to give , he have given mild and confortable words , and have prayed to his abundant , and inexhaustible God , to relieve that poor man , whom he hath not made him able to relieve . So then , no more being needfull to be said , of the persons , the poor , nor of the Act , showing of mercy to the poor , there remaines no more in this last part , but according to our way , all the way , to consider the origination and latitude of this last word , Cahad , this honouring of God. The word does properly signifie Augere , ampliare , To enlarge God , to amplifie , to dilate God ; to make infinite God , shall I dare to say , more God ? certainely , God to more , then he was before . O who can expresse this abundant , this superabundant largenesse of Gods goodnesse to man , that there is a power put into mans hands , to enlarge God , to dilate , to propagate , to amplifie God himselfe ! I will multiply this people , says God , and they shall not be few , I will glorifie them , and they shall not be small ; there 's the word of our text . God enables me to glorifie him , to amplifie him , to encrease him , by my mercy , my almes . For this is not onely that encrease , that Saint Hierom intends , that he that hath pity on the poor , Foeneratur Domino , he lends upon use to the Lord , for , this , though it be an encrease , is but an encrease to himselfe ; but he that showes mercy to the poore , encreases God , says our text , dilates , enlarges God. How ? Corpus aptasti mihi ; when Christ comes into the world , ( says Saint Paul ) he says to his Father , Thou hast prepared and fitted a body for me . That was his naturall body , that body which he assumed in the bowels of the blessed Virgin. They that pretend to enlarge this body by multiplication , by making millions of these bodies in the Sacraments , by the way of Transubstantiation , they doe not honour this body , whose honour is to sit in the same dimensions , and circumscriptions , at the right hand of God. But then , as at his comming into this world , God had fitted him a body , so in the world , he had fitted himselfe another body , a Mysticall body , a Church purchased with his bloud . Now this body , this Mysticall body I feed , I enlarge , I dilate , and amplifie , by my mercy , and my charity . For , as God says to Ierusalem , Thou wast in thy bloud , thou wast not salted , nor swadled , no eye pityed thee , but thou wast cast out into the open field , and I loved thee , I washed thee , I apparelled and adorned thee , & prosperataes in regnum , I never gave thee over , till I saw thee an established kingdome : so may all those Saints of God say to God himselfe , to the Sonne of God invested in this body , this mysticall body , the Church , thou was cast out into the open field , all the world persecuted thee , and then we gave thee suck with our bloud , we clothed thee with our bodies , we built thee houses and adorned and endowed those houses to thine honour , & prosperatus es in regnum , we never gave over spending , and doing , and suffering for thy glory , till thou hadst an established kingdome , over all the earth . And so thou , thy body , thy mysticall body , the Church , is honoured , that is , amplified , dilated , enlarged , by our mercy . Magnificat Anima mea Dominum , was the exultation of the blessed Virgin ; My soule doth magnifie the Lord. When the meditations of my heart , digested into writing , or preaching , or any other declaration of Gods glory , carry , or advance the knowledge of God , in other men , then My soule doth magnifie the Lord , enlarge , dilate , amplifie God. But when I relieve any poor wretch , of the houshold of the faithfull , with mine almes , then my mercy magnifies the Lord , occasions him that receives , to magnifie the Lord by this thanksgiving , and them that see it to magnifie the Lord by their imitation , in the like works of mercy . And so far , doe these two elegant words chosen here by the holy Ghost , carry our meditation : in the first , Canan , God makes the charitable man partaker of his own highest power , mercy ; and in the other Cabad , God enables us , by this mercy , to honour him so far , as to dilate , to enlarge , to amplifie him , that is that body , which he in his Sonne , hath invested by purchase , his Church . We have done ; If you will but claspe up all this in your owne bosomes , if you will but lay it to your owne hearts , you may goe . A poorer thing is not in the world , nor a sicker , ( which you may remember to have been one signification of this word poore ) then thine own soule . And therefore the Chalde paraphrase renders this text thus , He that oppresses the poore reproaches his owne soule ; for , his owne soule is as poore , as any whom he can oppresse . To a begger , that needs , and askes but bodily things , thou wilt say , Alasse poore soule ; and wilt thou never say Alasse poore soule to thy self , that needest spirituall things ? If thy affections , thy pleasures , thy delights , beg of thee , and importune thee so farre , to bestow upon them , say unto them , I have those that are nearer me then you , Wife and Children , and I must not empoverith them , to give unto you , I must not sterve my family , to feed my pleasures . But if this Wife and Children begge , and importune so farre , say unto them too , I have one that is nearer me , then all you , a soule ; and I must not endanger that , to satisfie you ; I must not provide Ioyntures , and Portions with the damnifying , with the damning of mine owne soule . It is a miserable Alchimy and extracting of spirits , that stills away the spirit , the soule it selfe ; and a poore Philosophers Stone , that is made with the coales of Hell-fire ; a lamentable purchase , when the soule is payed for the land . And therefore show mercy to this soule . Doe not oppresse this soule ; not by Violence , which was the first signification of this word Oppression : Doe not violate , doe not smother , not strangle , not suffocate the good motions of Gods Spirit in thee● for , it is but a wofull victory , to triumphe over thine owne conscience , and but a servile greatnesse to be able to silence that . Oppresse not thy soule by Fraud , which was the second signification of this word Oppression . Defraud not thy soul of the benefit of Gods Ordinances ; frequent these exercises ; come hither ; And be not here like Gideons fleece , dry when all about it was wet ; parched in a remorselesnesse when all the Congregation about thee is melted into holy tears ; Be not as Gideons fleece dry , when all else is wet , nor as that fleece , wet when all about it was dry : Be not jealous of God , stand not here as a person unconcerned , disinteressed ; as though those gracious promises , which God is pleased to shed down upon the whole Congregation , from this place , appertained not to thee , but that all those Judgements denounced here , over which , they that stand by thee , are able , by a faithfull and cheerfull laying hold of Gods offers , though they stand guilty of the same sinnes that thou doest , to lift up their heads , must still necessarily overflow and surround thee . Oppresse not that soule , by violence , by Fraud , nor by Scorne , which was the other signification of this word Oppression . Hoc nos perdit , quod divina quoque eloquia in facetias , in dicteria vertamus . Damnation is a serious thing , and this aggravates it , that we slight and make jests at that which should save us , the Scriptures , and the Ordinances of God. For by this oppression of thy poore soule , by this Violence , this Fraud , this Scorne , thou wilt come to Reproach thy Maker , to impute that losse of thy soule , which thou hast incurred by often breach of Lawes evidently manifested to thee ; to his secret purpose , and un-revealed will ; then which , thou canst not put a greater Reproach , a greater Contumely , a greater Blasphemy upon God. For , God cannot bee God , if hee bee not innocent , nor innocent if hee draw bloud of mee , for his owne Act. But if thou show mercy to this soule , mercy in that signification of the word , as it denotes an actuall performance of those things that are necessary for the making sure of thy salvation , or , if thou canst not yet attaine to those degrees of Sanctification , mercy in that signification of the word , as the word denotes hearty and earnest Prayer , that thou couldest , Lord I beleeve , Lord help mine unbeliefe , Lord I stand yet , yet Lord raise mee when I fall , Honorabis Deum , thou shalt honour God , in the sense of the word in this Text , thou shalt enlarge God , amplifie , dilate God , that is , the Body of God , the Church , both here , and hereafter . For , thou shalt adde a figure to the number of his Saints , and there shall bee a Saint the more for thee ; Thou shalt adde a Theme of Joy , to the Exultation of the Angels ; They shall have one occasion of rejoycing the more from thee : Thou shalt adde a pause , a stop to that Vsquequo of the Martyrs , under the Altar , who solicite God for the Resurrection , for , Thou shalt adde a step to the Resurrection it selfe , by having brought it so much nearer , as to have done thy part for the filling up of the number of the Saints , upon which fulnesse the Resurrection shall follow . And thou shalt adde a Voyce , to that Old , and ever-new Song , that Catholique Hymne , in which , both Churches , Militant and Triumphant , shall joyne , Blessing , Honour , Glory , and Power , bee unto him , that sitteth upon the Throne , and to the Lambe , for ever , and ever . Amen . SERMON XLIII . A Sermon upon the fist of Novemb. 1622. being the Anniversary celebration of our Deliverance from the Powder Treason . Intended for Pauls Crosse , but by reason of the weather , Preached in the Church . LAMENT . 4. 20. The breath of our nostrils , the Anointed of the Lord , was taken in their pits . The Prayer before the Sermon . O LORD open thou my lips , and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise ; for thou , O Lord , didst make haste to help us , Thou , O Lord , didst make speed to save us . Thou that sittest in heaven , didst not onely looke down , to see what was done upon the Earth , but what was done in the Earth ; and when the bowels of the Earth , were , with a key of fire , ready to open and swallow us , the bowels of thy compassion , were , with a key of love , opened to succour us ; This is the day , and these are the houres , wherein that should have been acted : In this our Day , and in these houres , We praise thee , O God , we acknowledge thee , to bee the Lord ; All our Earth doth worship thee ; The holy Church throughout all this Land , doth knowledge thee , with commemorations of that great mercy , now in these houres . Now , in these houres , it is thus commemorated , in the Kings House , where the Head and Members praise thee ; Thus , in that place , where it should have been perpetrated , where the Reverend Judges of the Land doe now praise thee ; Thus , in the Universities , where the tender youth of this Land , is brought up to praise thee , in a detestation of their Doctrines , that plotted this ; Thus it is commemorated in many severall Societies , in many severall Parishes , and thus , here , in this Mother Church , in this great Congregation of thy Children , where , all , of all sorts , from the Lievtenant of thy Lievtenant , to the meanest sonne of thy sonne , in this Assembly , come with hearts , and lippes , full of thankesgiving : Thou Lord , openest their lippes , that their mouth may shew forth thy prayse , for , Thou , O Lord , diddest make haste to helpe them , Thou diddest make speede to save them . Accept , O Lord , this Sacrifice , to which thy Spirit giveth fire ; This of Praise , for thy great Mercies already afforded to us , and this of Prayer , for the continuance , and enlargement of them , upon the Catholick Church , by them , who pretend themselves the onely sonnes thereof ; dishonoured this Day ; upon these Churches of England , Scotland , and Ireland , shaked and threatned dangerously this Day ; upon thy servant , our Soveraigne , for his Defence of the true Faith , designed to ruine this day ; upon the Prince , and others derived from the same roote , some but Infants , some not yet Infants , enwrapped in dust , and annihilation , this day ; upon all the deliberations of the Counsell , That in all their Consultations , they may have before their eyes , the Record and Registers of this Day ; upon all the Clergie , That all their Preaching , and their Governement , may preclude , in their severall Iurisdictions , all re-entrances of that Religion , which , by the Confession of the Actours themselves , was the onely ground of the Treason of this day ; upon the whole Nobilitie , and Commons , all involved in one Common Destruction , this Day ; upon both our Universities , which though they lacke no Arguments out of thy Word , against the Enemies of thy Truth , shall never leave out this Argument out of thy Works , The Historie of this Day ; And upon all those , who are any wayes afflicted , That our afflictions bee not multiplyed upon us , by seeing them multiplyed amongst us , who would have diminished thee , and annihilated us , this Day ; And lastly , upon this Auditory assembled here , That till they turne to ashes in the Grave , they may remember , that thou tookest them , as fire-brands out of the fire , this Day . Heare us , O Lord , and hearken to us , Receive our Prayers , and returne them with Effect , for his sake , in whose Name and words , wee make them : Our Father which art , &c. The SERMON . OF the Authour of this Booke , I thinke there was never doubt made ; but yet , that is scarce safely done , which the Councell of Trent doth , in that Canon , which numbers the Books of Canonicall Scriptures , to leave out this Book of Lamentations . For , though I make no doubt , but that they had a purpose to comprehend , and involve it , in the name of Ieremy , yet that was not enough ; for so they might have comprehended and involved , Genesis , and Deuteronomie , and all between those two , in one name of Moses ; and so they might have comprehended , and involved , the Apocalypse , and some Epistles in the name of Iohn , and have left out the Book it selfe in the number . But one of their own Iesuits , though some , ( whom in that Canon they seeme to follow ) make this Booke of Lamentations , but an Appendix to the Prophecy of Ieremy , determines , for all that Canon , that it is a distinct Book . Indeed , if it were not , the first Chapter would have been called , the 53 of Ieremy , and not the first of the Lamentations . But that which gives most assurednesse , is , That in divers Hebrew Bibles , it is placed otherwise , then wee place it , and not presently , and immediately after the Prophecy of Ieremy , but discontinued from him , though hee were never doubted to be the Author thereof . The Booke is certainly the Prophet Ieremies , and certainly a distinct booke , But whether the Book be a history , or a Prophecy , whether Ieremy lament that which hee had seen , or that which he foresees , calamities past , or future calamities , things done , or things to be done , is a question which hath exercised , and busied divers Expositors . But , as we say of the Parable of Dives , and Lazarus , that it is a Historicall parable , and a Parabolicall history , some such persons there were , and some such things were really done , but some other things were figuratively , symbolically , parabolically added : So wee say of Ieremies Lamentation , It is a Propheticall history , and a Historicall prophecy ; Some of the sad occasions of these Lamentations were past , when he writ , and some were to come after : for , we may not despise the testimony of the Chalde Paraphrasts , who were the first that illustrated the Bible , in that Nation , nor of S. Hierome , who was much conversant with the Bible , and with that Nation , nor of Iosephus , who had justly so much estimation in that Nation , nor of those later Rabbins , who were the learnedest of that Nation ; who are all of opinion , that Ieremy writ these Lamentations , after hee saw some declinations in that State , in the death of Iosiah , and so the Book is Historicall , but when he onely foresaw their transportation into Babylon , before that calamity fell upon them , and so it is Propheticall . Or , if we take the exposition of the others , That the whole Booke was written after their transportation into Babylon , and to be , in all parts , Historicall , yet it is Propheticall still ; for the Prophet laments a greater Desolation then that , in the utter ruine , and devastation of the City , and Nation , which was to fall upon them , after the death of Christ Iesus . Neither is any peece of this Booke , the lesse fit to be our Text , this day , because it is both Historicall , and Propheticall , for , they , from whom , God , in his mercy , gave us a Deliverance , this day , are our Historicall Enemies , and our Propheticall Enemies ; historically wee know , they have attempted our ruine heretofore , and prophetically wee may bee sure , they will doe so againe , whensoever any new occasion provokes them , or sufficient power enables them . The Text then is as the Booke presented to Ezckiel ; In it are written Lamentations , and Mournings , and Woe ; and all they are written within , and without , says the Text there ; within , as they concern the Iews , without , as they are appliable to us : And they concern the Iews , Historically ( attempts upon that State Ieremy had certainly seen , ) and they concern them prophetically , for farther attempts Ieremy did certainly foresee . They are appliable to us both ways too : Historically , because wee have seen , what they would have done , And Prophetically , because wee foresee what they would doe . So that here is but a difference of the Computation ; here is stilo veteri , and stilo nove ; here is the Iews Calendar , and the Papists Calendar ; In the Jews Calendar , one Babylon , wrought upon the people of God , and in the Papists Calendar , another Babylon : Stilo veteri , in the Jews Calendar , 700 yeare before Christ came , there were pits made , and the breath of their nostrils , The anointed of the Lord , was taken in their pits : Stilo nove , in the Papists Calendar , 1600 yeare after Christ came in all fulnesse , in all clearnesse , There were pits made againe , and The breath of our nostrils , The anointed of the Lord , was almost taken in those pits . It is then Ieremies , and it is a distinct Book ; It concernes the Iews , and it concerns us too ; And it concernes us both , both wages , Historically , and Prophetically . But whether Ieremy lament here the death of a good King , of Iosiah , ( for so Saint Hierome , and many of the Ancients , and many of the Iewes themselves take it , and thinke that those words in the Chronicles , have relation to these Lamentations , And Ieremy lamented for Iosiah , and all the people speake of him , in their Lamentations , ) Or whether he lament the transportation and the misery of an ill King , of Zedekiah , ( as is more ordinarily , and more probably held by the Expositours ) we argue not , we dispute now ; we imbrace that which arises from both● That both good Kings , and bad Kings , Iosiah , and Zedekiah , are the anointed of the Lord , and the breath of the nostrills , that is , The life of the people ; and therefore both to be lamented , when they fall into dangers , and consequently both to be preserved by all means , by Prayer from them who are private persons , by counsell from them , who have that great honour and that great charge , to be near them in that kinde , and by support and supplly , from all , of all sorts , from falling into such dangers . These considerations will , I thinke , have the better impression in you , if we proceed in the handling of them thus : First , the main cause of the Lamentation was the Ruine , or the dangerous declination of the Kingdome of that great and glorious State , The Kingdome ; But then they did not seditiously sever the King , and the Kingdome , as though the Kingdome could doe well , and the King ill , That safe , and he in danger , for they see cause to lament , because misery was fallen upon the Person of the King ; perchance upon Iosiah , a good , a religious King ; perchance but upon Zedekiah , a worse King ; yet which soever it be , they acknowledge him to be Vnctus Domini , The anointed of the Lord , and to be Spiritus narium , The breath of their nostrills : When this person therefore , was fallen into the pits of the Enemy , the Subject laments ; but this lamenting because he was fallen , implies a deliverance , a restitution , he was fallen , but he did not ly there : so the Text , which is as yet but of Lamentation , will grow an houre hence to be of Congratulation ; and then we shall see , That whosoever , in rectified affections , hath lamented a danger , and then congratulated a deliverance , he will provide against a relapse , a falling again into that or any other danger , by all means of sustaining the Kingdome and the King , in safety and in honour . Our first step then in this Royall progresse , is , That the cause of this Lamentation , was , the declination , the diminution of the Kingdome . If the Center of the world should be moved but one inch out of the place , it cannot be reckoned , how many miles , this Island , or any building in it , would be thrown out of their places ; A declination in the Kingdome of the Jewes , in the body of the Kingdome , in the soul of the State , in the form of Government , was such an Earth-quake , as could leave nothing standing . Of all things that are , there was an Idea in God ; there was a modell , a platform , an examplar of every thing , which God produced and created in Time , in the mind and purpose of God before : Of all things God had and Idea , a preconception ; but of Monarchy , of Kingdome , God , who is but one , is the Idea ; God himselfe , in his Unity , ●s the Modell , He is the Type of Monarchy . He made but one World ; for , this , and the next , are not two Worlds ; This is but the Morning , and that the everlasting Noon , of one and the same Day , which shall have no Night : They are not two Houses ; This is the Gallery , and that the Bed-chamber of one , and the same Palace , which shall feel no ruine . He made this one World , but one Eye , The Sunne ; The Moone is not another Eye , but a Glasse ; upon which , the Sunne reflects . He made this one World , but one Eare , The Church ; He tells not us , that he heares by a left Eare , by Saints , but by that right Eare , the Church he doth . There is One God , One Faith , One Baptisme , and these lead us to the love of one Soveraign , of Monarchy , of Kingdome . In that Name , God hath convayed to us the state of Grace , and the state of Glory too ; and he hath promised both , in injoining that Petition , Adveniat Regnum , Thy Kingdome come , Thy Kingdome of Grace here , Thy Kingdome of Glory hereafter . All forms of Government have one and the same Soul , that is , Soveraignty ; That resides somewhere in every form ; and this Soveraignty is in them all , from one and the same Root , from the Lord of Lords , from God himself , for all Power is of God : But yet this form of a Monarchy , of a Kingdome , is a more lively , and a more masculin Organe , and Instrument of this Soul of Soveraigntie , then the other forms are : Wee are sure Women have Soules as well as Men , but yet it is not so expressed , that God breathed a Soule into Woman , as hee did into Man ; All formes of Government have this Soule , but yet God infuseth it more manifestly , and more effectually , in that forme , in a Kingdome : All places are alike neare to Heaven , yet Christ would take a Hill , for his Ascension ; All governments may justly represent God to mee , who is the God of Order , and fountaine of all government , but yet I am more eased , and more accustomed to the contemplation of Heaven , in that notion , as Heaven is a kingdome , by having been borne , and bred in a Monarchy : God is a Type of that , and that is a Type of Heaven . This form then , in nature the noblest , in use the profitablest of all others ; God always intended to his best-beloved people , God always meant that the Jews should have a King , though he prepared them in other forms before ; As hee meant them peace at last , though he exercised them in Warre , and meant them the land of promise , though he led them through the Wildernesse ; so he meant them a King , though he prepared them by Iudges . God intended it in himselfe , and he declared it to them , 400 yeares before he have them a King , he instructed them , what kinde of King they should set over them , when they came to that kinde of government : And long before that he made a promise , by Iacob to Iudah of a Kingdome , and that the Scepter should not depart from him , till Siloh came . And when God came neare the time , in which he intended to them that government , in the time of Samuel , who was the immediate predecessor to their first King , Saul , God made way for a Monarchy ; for Samuel had a much more absolute authority , in that State , then any of the Judges had ; Samuel judged them , and in their petition for a King , they ask but that , Make us a King to judge us ; Samuel was little lesse then a King ; and Sauls reign , and his , are reckoned both in one number , and made as the reign of one man ; when it is said in the Acts , that Saul reigned 40 yeares , Samuels time is included in that number , for all the yeares , from the death of Eli , ● to the beginning of David , are but 40 years . God meant them a Kingdome in himselfe , promised them a kingdome in Iudah , made Laws for their kingdome in Deuteronomy , made way for the kingdome in Samuel , and why then was God displeased with their petition for a Kingdome ? It was a greater fault in them , then it could have been in any other people , to ask a King ; not that it was not the most desirable form of government , but that God governed them , so immediately , so presentially himselfe , as that it was an ingratefull intemperance in them , to turn upon any other meanes ; God had ever performed that which he promised them , in that which comprehended all , Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me , above all people ; And therefore Iosephus hath expressed it well ; All other people are under the forme of Democrati● , or Aristocrati● , or such other formes , composed of men ; Sed noster Legislator , Theocratiam instituit , The Jews were onely under a Theocrati● , an immediate government of God , he judged them himselfe , and hee himselfe fought their battels : And therefore God says to Samuel , They have not rejected thee , Thou wast not King , But they have rejected mee , I was . To bee weary of God , is it enough to call it a levity ? But if they did onely compare forme with forme , and not God himselfe with any forme , if they did onely thinke Monarchy best , and beleeve that God intended a Monarchy to them , yet yet to limit God his time , and to make God performe his promise before his day , was a fault , and inexcusable . Daniel saw , that the Messiah should come within seventy weekes : Daniel did not say , Lord , let it bee within fifty weekes , or let it bee this weeke : The Martyrs under the Altar , cry Vsqueque Domine , How long Lord , but then , they leave it there , Even as long as pleaseth thee : Their petition should have been , Adveniat regnum ●words● , Let us have that Kingdome , which because thou knowest it is good for us , thou hast promised to us ; But yet Fiat voluntas tua , Let us have it then , when thy Wisdome sees it best for us : You said to mee ( says Samuel , by way of Reproofe and Increpation ) You said , Nay but a King shall reigne over us ; Now , that was not their fault ; but that which followes , The unseasonablesse and inconsideration of their clamorous Petition , You said a King shall reigne over us , when the Lord your God , was your King ; They would not trust Gods meanes , there was their first fault : And then , though they desired a thing good in it selfe , and a good intended to them , yet they fixed God his time , and they would not stay his leisure ; And either of these , To aske other things then God would give , or at other times , then God would give them , is displeasing to him : Use his meanes , and stay his leisure . But yet , though God were displeased with them , he executed his own purpose ; he was angry with their manner of asking a King , but yet he gave them a King : Howsoever God be displeased with them , who prevaricate in his cause , who should sustaine it , and doe not , Gods cause shall be sustained , though they doe it not . We may distinguish the period of the Jewish State well enough , thus , that they had Infantiam , or pueritiam , their infancy , their minority , in Adam , and the first Patriarchs till the flood : that they had Adolescentiam , A growing time , from Noah , through the other Patriarchs , till Moses : and that they had Iuventu●em , a youth and strength from Moses , through the Judges , to Saul : but then they had Virilitatom , virilem , atatem , their established vigor , under their Kings ; and after them , they fell in s●nectutem , into a wretched and miserable decay of old age , and decrepitnesse : their kingdome was their best State ; and so much , God in the Prophet , intimates pregnantly , when refreshing to their memories , in a particular Inventory , and Catalogue , all his former benefits to them , how he clothed Ierusalem , how he fed , her ; how he adorned her , he summed up all , in this one , & profecisti in regnum , I have advanced thee , to be a kingdome : there was the Tropique , there was the Solstice , farther then that , in this world , we know not how God could goe ; a kingdome was really the best State upon Earth , and Symbolically , the best figure , and Type of Heaven . And therefore , when the Prophet Ieremy , historically beheld the declination of this kingdome , in the death of I●osiah , and prophetically foresaw the ruines thereof , in the transportition of Zedekiah , or , if he had seen that historically too , yet prophetically he foresaw the utter devastation , and depopulation , and extermination , which scattered that nation , soon after Christ , to this day , ( and God and no man knows , for how long , ) when they , who were a kingdome , are now no where a village , and they who had such Kings , have now no where a Constable of their owne , historically , prophetically , Ieremy had just cause of lamentation for the danger of that kingdome . We had so also , for this our kingdome , this day ; God hath given us a kingdome , not as other kingdomes , made up of divers Cities , but of divers kingdomes , and all those kingdomes were destined to desolation , in one minute . It was not onely the destruction of the persons present , but of the kingdom● for to submit the kingdome to the government of a forein Prelate , was to destroy the Monarchy , to annihilate the Supremacy , to ruine the very forme of a kingdome ; a kingdome under another head , besides the King , is not a kingdome , as ours is . The oath that the Emperour takes to the Pope , is by their authours called Iuramentum Sidelitatis , an oath of Allegiance ; and if they had brought our Kings , to take an oath of Allegiance so , this were no kingdome . Pope Nicolas the second , went about to create two kingdomes , that of Tuscan , and that of Lombardy ; his successors have gone about to destroy more ; for to make it depend upon him , were to destroy our kingdome . That they have attempted historically ; and as long as these Axiomes , and Aphorismes remaine in their Authors , that one shall say , that De jurs ? by right all Christian kingdomes doe hold of the Pope , and De facto , are forfeited to the Hope , and another shall say , that Christendome would be better governed if the Pope would take the forfeiture , and so bring all these Royall farmes , into his owne demesne , we see also , their propheticall desire , their propheticall intention , against this kingdome , what they would doe : In their Actions we have their history , in their Axioms we have their prophecy . Ieremy lamented the desolation of the kingdome , but that , expressed in the death , and destruction of the King. Hee did not divide the King and the kingdome , as if the kingdome could do well , and the King in distresse : Umnipotentia Dei , Asylum haeresic●rum ; it is well said , by more then one of the ancients , that the Omnipotence of God , is the Sanctuary of Heretiques : when they would establish any heresie , they flye to Gods Almightinesse . God can doe All , therefore he can doe this . So , in the Roman Church , they establish their heresie of Transubstantiation ; And so , their deliverance of soules not from Purgatory onely , but from Hell it selfe . They think to stop all mouths with that , God can do it , no man dares deny that ; when as , if that were granted , ( which , in such things , as naturally imply contradiction in themselves , or contradiction to Gods word , cannot be granted , for God cannot do that , God cannot lye , ) yet though God can do it , concludes not that God will do it , or hath done it : Omnipotenti● Dei Asylum haereticorum , The omnipotency of God , is the Sanctuary of Heretiques , and so , Salus Regni , is Asylum proditorum , Greater Treasons , and Seditions , and Rebellions have never been set on foote , then upon colour , and pretence , of a care of the State , and of the good of the Kingdome . Every where , the King is Sponsus Regni , the husband of the Kingdome ; and to make love to the Kings wife , and undervalue him , must necessarily make any King jealous : The King is Anima Regni , The soule of the Kingdome ; and to provide for the health of the body , with the detriment of the soule , is perverse physick : The King is Caput Regni , The head of the Kingdome ; and to cure a Member , by cutting off the head , is ill surgery : Man and wife , soule and body , head and members , God hath joyned , and those whom God hath joyned , let no man sever . Salus Regni , Asylum Proditorum , To pretend to uphold the Kingdome , and overthrow the King , hath ever been the tentation before , and the excuse after , in the greatest Treasons . In that action of the Iews , which we insisted upon before , in their pressing for a King , The Elders of Israel were gathered together , and so far they were in their way , for this was no popular , no seditious Assembly of light and turbulent men , but The Elders ; And then , they came to Samuel , And so farre they were in their right way too , for they held no counsels apart , but came to the right place , for redresse of grievances , to their then highest Governour , to Samuel : When they were thus lawfully met , they forbeare not to lay open unto him , the injustice of his greatest Officers , though it concerned the very Sonnes of Samuel ; and thus farre they kept within their convenient limits ; But when they would presse Samuel to a new way of remedy , to an inconvenient way , to a present way , to their own way , and referre nothing to him , what care soever they pretended of the good of the State , it is evident , that they had no good opinion of Samuel himself , and even that displeased God , That they were ill affected to that person , whom he had set over them . To sever the King , and the Kingdome , and pretend the weale of the one , without the other , is to shake and discompose Gods building . Historically this was the Jewes case , when Ieremy lamented here , if he lamented the declination of the State , in the death of the King Iosiah , And if he lamented the transportation of Zedekiah , and that that crosse were not yet come upon them ; Or if he lamented the future devastation of that Nation , occasioned by the death of the King of Kings Christ Jesus , when he came into the world , this was their case prophetically : Either way , historically , or prophetically , Ieremy looks upon the Kingdome , but yet through that glasse , through the King. The duty of the Day , and the order of the Text , invites us to an application of this branch too . Our adversaries did not come to say to themselves , Nolumus Regnum hoc , we will not have this Kingdome stand , the materiall Kingdome , the plenty of the Land , they would have been content to have , but the formall Kingdome , that is , This forme of Government , by a Soveraigne King , that depends upon none but God , they would not have . So that they came implicitely 〈◊〉 Nolumus Regnum hoc , we will not have this Kingdome governed thus , and they came explicitely to a Nolumus Regem hunc ( as the Jewes were resolved of Christ ) We will not have this King to governe at all . Non hunc ? Will you not have him ? you were at your Nolumus hanc long before ; Her , whom God had set over you , before him , you would not have . Your , not Anniversary , but Hebdomadary Treasons , cast upon her a necessity of drawing blood often , and so your Nolumus h●nc , your desire that she were gone , might have some kinde of ground , or colour : But for your Nolumus hunc , for this King who had made no Inquisition for blood , who had forborne your very pecuniary penalties , who had ( as himself witnesses of himself ) made you partakers with his Subjects of his own Religion , in matters of grace , and in reall benefits , and in Titles of Honour , Quare fremuerant , Why did these men rage , and imagine a vaine thing ? What they did historically , we know ; They made that house , which is the hive of the Kingdome , from whence all her honey comes ; that house where Iustice her self is conceived , in their preparing of Laws , and inanimated , and quickned and borne by the Royall Assent , there given ; they made that whole house one Murdring peece , and charged that peece with Peers , with People , with Princes , with the King , and meant to discharge it upward at the face of heaven , to shoot God at the face of God , Him , of whom God hath said , Dii estis , You are Gods , at the face of God , that had said so , as though they would have reproached the God of heaven , and not have been beholden to him for such a King , but shoot him up to him , and bid him take his King again , with a nolumus hunc regnare , we will not have this King to reign over us . This was our case Historically , and what it is Prophetically , as long as that remains to bee their doctrine , which he , against whom that attempt was principally made , found by their examination ; to be their doctrine , That they , and no Sect in the world , but they , did make Treason an article of Religion , That their Religion bound them to those attempts , so long they are never at an end ; Till they dis-avow those Doctrines , that conduce to that , prophetically they wish , prophetically they hope for better successe in as ill attempts . It is then the kingdome that Ieremy laments ; but his nearest object is the King ; Hee laments him . First , let it be , ( as with S. Hierome , many of the Ancients , and with them , many of the later Rabbins will have it ) for Josiah , for a good King , in whose death , the honour , and the strength of the kingdome took that deadly wound , to become tributary to a forain Prince : for , to this lamentation they refer those words of the Prophet , which describe a great sorrow , In that day shall there be a great mourning in Ierusalem , as the mourning of Hadadrimmon , in the valley of Megiddon ; which was the place , where Iosiah was slain ; There shall be such a lamentation ( says the Prophet , in this interpretation ) as was for the death of Iosiah . This then was for him ; for a good King. Wherein have we his goodnesse expressed ? Abundantly . Hee did that which was right in Gods fight ; ( And whose Eye need he fear , that is right in the Eye of God ? ) But how long did he so ? To the end ; for , Nero , who had his Quinquennium , and was a good Emperour for his first five years , was one of the worst of all : Hee that is ill all the way , is but a Tyran , Hee that is good at first , and after ill , an Angels face , and a Serpents taile make him a Monster ; Iosiah began well , and persevered so , He turned not aside to the right ●and , nor to the left . That is , ( if we apply it to the Iosiah of our times ) neither to the fugitive , that leaves our Church , and goes to the Roman , nor to the Separatist , that leaves our Church , and goes to none . In the eighteenth year of his reign , Iosiah undertook the reparation of Gods house ; If we apply this to the Iosiah of our times , I think , in that year of his reign , he visited this Church , and these wals , and meditated , and perswaded the reparation thereof . In one word , Like unto Iosiah , there was no King before , nor after . And therefore there was just cause of lamentation for this King , for Iosiah ; historically for the very loss of his person , prophetically for the misery of the State , after his death . Our errand is to day , to apply all these branches to the day ; Those men who intended us , this cause of lamentation this day , in the destruction of our Iosiah , spared him not , because he was so , because so , because he was a Iosiah , because he was good ; no , not because he was good to them , his benefits to them , had not mollified them , towards him : for that is not their way ; Both the French Henries were their own , and good to them ; but did that rescue either of them , from the knife ? And was not that Emperour , whom they poisoned in the Sacrament , their own , and good to them ? and yet was that , any Antidote against their poison ? To so reprobate a sense hath God given them over herein , as that , though in their Books , they ly heaviest upon Princes of our Religion , yet truly they have destroyed more of their own , then of ours . Thus it is Historically in their proceedings past : And Prophetically it can be but thus , since no King is good , in their sense , if he agree not to all points of Doctrine with them : And when that is done , not good yet , except he agree in all points of Iurisdiction too ; and that , no King can doe , that will not be their Farmer of his Kingdome . Their Authours have disputed Auferibilitatem Papae , whether the Church of God might not be without a pope , they have made a problematicall , a disputable matter , and some of their Authours have diverted towards an affirmation of it ; but Aufleribilitas potestatis , to imagine a King without Kingly Soveraignty , never came into probleme , into disputation . We all lamented , and bitterly , and justly , the losse of our Deborah , though then we saw a Iosiah succeeding : but if they had removed our Iosiah , and his Royall children , and so , this form of government , where , or who , or what had been an object of Consolation to us ? The cause of lamentation in the losse of a good King , is certainly great , and so it was , if Ieremy lamented Iosiah ; but if it were but for zedekiah , an ill King , ( as the greater part of Expositors take it ) yet the lamentation you see , is the same . How ill a King was Zedekiah ? As ill , as Iosiah was good , that 's his measure . He did evill in the sight of the Lord , according to all that Iehoiakim had done ; Here is his sinne , sinne by precedent ; and what had Iehoiakim done ? He had done evill in the sight of the Lord , according to all that his Fathers had done . It is a great , and a dangerous wickednesse , which is done upon pretext of Antiquity ; The Religion of our Fathers , the Church of our Fathers , the Worship of our Fathers , is a pretext that colours a great deale of Superstition . He did evill , as his Fathers ; there was his comparative evill : And his positive evill , ( I meane , his particular sinne ) was , That he humbled not himself to Gods Prophets , to Ieremy speaking from the mouth of the Lord ; there was irreligiousnesse ; And then , He broke the Oath which he had sworne by God , there was per●idiousnesse , faithlesnsse ; And lastly , He stiffned his neck , and hardned his heart , from turning to the Lord of Israel , there was impenitiblenesse : Thus evill was Zedekiah , irreligious to God , treacherous to man , impenitible to himself , and yet the State , and men truly religious in the State , the Prophet lamented him ; not his spirituall defections , by sinne ; for , they did not make themselves Judges of that ; but they lamented the calamities of the Kingdome , in the losse even of an evill King. That man must have a large comprehension , that shall adventure to say of any King , He is an ill King ; he must know his Office well , and his actions well , and the actions of other Princes too , who have correspondence with him , before he can say so . When Christ sayes , Let your communication be yea , yea , and nay , nay , for whatsoever is more then this , ( that is , when it comes to swearing ) that cometh of evill , Saint Augustine does not understand that , of the evill disposition of that man that sweares , but of them , who will not beleeve him , without wearing ; Many times a Prince departs from the exact rule of his duty , not out of his own indisposition to truth , and clearnesse , but to countermine underminers . That which David sayes in the eighteenth Psalme , David speaks , not of man , but of God himself ; Cum perverso perveriêris , With the froward , thou wilt show thy self froward ; God , who is of no froward nêature , may be made froward ; with crafty neighbours , a Prince will be crafty , and perchance false with the false . Alas , ( to looke into no other profession but our owne ) how often do we excuse Dispensations , and pluralities , and non-residencies , with an Omnes faciunt , I do , but as other men of my profession , do ? Allow a King but that , That he does but as other Kings do , Nay , but this , He does but as other Kings put him to a necessity to do , and you will not hastily call a King an ill King. When God gives his people for old shoes , and sells them for nothing , and , at the same time , gives his and their enemies abundance , when God commands Abraham , to sacrifice his own and onely Sonne , and his enemies have Children at their pleasure , as David speaks , To give your selves the liberty of humane affection , you would think God an ill God ; but yet , for all this , his children are to him , a Royall Priesthood , and a holy Nation ; and all their tears are in his bottles , and registred in his booke , for all this . When Princes pretermit in some things , the present benefit of their Subjects , and confer favours upon others give your selves the liberty to judge of Princes actions , with the affections of private men , and you may think a King an ill King : But yet , we are to him , as David sayes , His brethren , his bone , his flesh , and so reputed by him . God himselfe cannot stand upright in a naturall mans interpretation , nor any King in a private mans . But then , how soone our adversaries come to call Kings , ill Kings , we see historically , when they boast of having deposed Kings , Quia minus utiles , Because some other hath seemed to them , fitter for the Government ; and we see it prophetically , by their allowing those Indictments , and Attainders of Kings , which stand in their books De Syndicatu , That that King which neglects the duties of his place ( and they must prescribe the duty , and judge the negligence too ) That King that exercises his Prerogative , without just cause ( and they must prescribe the Prerogative , and judge the cause , ) That that King that vexes his Subjects , That that King that gives himselfe to intemperate hunting ( for in that very particular they instance ) that in such cases , ( and they multiply these cases infinitely ) Kings are in their mercy , and subject to their censures , and corrections . We proceed not so , in censuring the actions of Kings ; we say , with St. Cyrill , Impium est dicere Regi , Iniquè agis ; It is an impious thing , ( in him , who is onely a private man , and hath no other obligations upon him ) to say to the King , or of the King , He governs not as a King is bound to do : we remit the judgement of those their actions , which are secret to God ; and when they are evident , and bad , yet we must endevour to preserve their persons ; for there is a danger in the losse , and a lamentation due to the losse , even of Zedekiah , for even such are uniti Domini , The anoynted of the Lord , and the breath of our nostrils . First , ( as it lies in our Text ) The King is spiritus narium , the breath of our uostrills . First , Spiritus , is a name , most peculiarly belonging to that blessed Person of the glorious Trinity , whose Office it is to convay , to insinuate , to apply to us the Mercies of the Father , and the Merits of the Sonne : He is called by this Name , by the word of this Text , Ruach , even in the beginning of the Creation , God had created Heaven and Earth , and then The Spirit of God , sus●labat , saith Pagnins translation , ( and so saith the Chalde Paraphrase too ) it breathed upon the waters , and so induced , or deduced particular formes . So God hath made us , a little World of our own , This Iland ; He hath given us Heaven and Earth , The truth of his Gospel , which is our earnest of Heaven , and the abundance of the Earth , a fruitfull Land ; but then he , who is the Spirit of the Lord , he who is the breath of our nostrills , Incubat aquis , ( as it is said there in the Creation ) he moves upon the waters , by his royall and warlike Navy at Sea , ( in which he hath expressed a speciall and particular care ) And by the breath and influence of his providence throughout the Land , he preserves , he applies , he makes usefull those blessings unto us . If this breath , that is , this power , be at any time sourd in the passage , and contract an il savor by the pipes that convay it , so , as that his good intentions are ill executed by inferiour Ministers , this must not be imputed to him ; That breath that comes from the East , the bed and the garden of spices , when it is breathed out there , is a persume , but by passing over the beds of Serpents and pu●refied Lakes , it may be a breath of poyson in the West : Princes purpose some things for ease to the people , ( and as such , they are sometimes presented to them ) and if they prove grievances , they tooke their putrefaction in the way , that is , their corruption , from corrupt executors of good and wholesome intentions ; The thing was good in the roote , and the ill cannot be removed in an instant . But then , we carry not this word Ruach , Spirit , so high ; though since God hath said that Kings are Gods , the Attribute of the Holy Ghost and his Office , which is , to apply to man the goodnesse of God , belongs to Kings also ; for , God gives , but they apply all blessings to us . But here , we take the word literally , as it is in the Text ; Ruach , spirit , is the Breath that we breathe , the Life that we live ; The King is that Breath , that Life , and therefore that belongs to him . First our Breath , that is , serme , our speech belongs to him ; Be faithfull unto him , and speake good of his Name , is commanded by David of God. To Gods Anointed , we are not faithfull , if we doe not speake good of his Name . First , there is an internall , speech in the heart , and God lookes to that ; the foole hath said in his heart , there is no God ; though he say it but in his heart , yet he is a foole : for , as wise as a Politician would thinke him , for saying it in his heart , and comming no further , yet even that is an overt act with God , for God seeth the heart . It is the foole that saith in his heart , there is no God , and it is the foole that saith in his heart , I would there were no King. That enormous , that infamous Tragedy of the Levites Concubins , and her murder , of which it is said there , There was no such thing seen , nor done before , ( and many things are done , which are never seen ) with that emphaticall addition , Consider of it , advise , and say your minde , hath this addition too , In those dayes there was no King in Israel ; If there had beene any King , but a Zedekiah , it could not have been so : Curse not the King , not in thy thoughts : for , they are sinnes that tread upon the heels of one another , and that induce one another , to conceive ill of Gods Lievtenant , and of God himselfe ; for so the Prophet joyneth them , They shall fret themselves , and curse their King , and their God : He that beginneth with the one , will proceed to the other . Thus then he is our Breath ; our Breath is his ; our speech must be contained , not expressed in his dishonour ; not in misinterpretations of his Actions ; jealousies have often made women ill ; incredulitie , suspiciousnesse , jealousie in the Subject , hath wrought ill effects upon Princes , otherwise not ill . We must not speake ill ; but our duty is not accomplished in that abstinence , we must speake well : And in those things , which will not admit a good interpretation , we must be apt to remove the perversenesse and obliquity of the act from him , who is the first mover to those who are inferiour instruments . In these divers opinions which are ventilated in the Schoole , how God concurreth to the working of second and subordinate causes , that opinion is I think , the most antient , that denies that God workes in the second cause , but hath onely communicated to it , a power of working , and rest himselfe . This is not true ; God does work in every Organ , and in every particular action ; but yet though he doe work in all , yet hee is no cause of the obliquity , of the perversenesse of any action . Now , earthly Princes are not equall to God ; They doe not so much as work in particular actions of instruments ; many times , they communicate power to others , and rest wholly themselves ; and then , the power is from them , but the perversenesse of the action is not . God does work in ill actions , and yet is not guilty , but Princes doe not so much as worke therein , and so may bee excusable ; at least , for any cooperation in the evill of the action , though not for countenancing , and authorising an evill instrument ; but that is another case . They are our breath then ; Our breath is theirs , in good interpretations of their actions ; and it is theirs especially , in our prayers to Almighty God , for them . The Apostle exhorts us to pray ; for whom ? first , for all men in generall ; but in the first particular , that hee descends to , for Kings . And both Theodoret , and Theophylact , make that the onely reason , why the Apostle did not name Kings first , Vt non videatur adulari , lest hee should seeme to flatter Kings : Whether mankinde it selfe , or Kings , by whom mankinde is happy here , be to be preferred in prayer , you see both Theodoret , and Theophylact , make it a probleme . And those prayers , there enjoyned , were for Infidel Kings , and for persecuting Kings ; for even such Kings , were the breath of their nostrils ; their breath , their speech , their prayers were due to them . But then , beloved , a man may convey a Satir into a Prayer ; a man may make a prayer a Libell ; If the intention of the prayer be not so much , to incline God to give those graces to the King , as to tell the world , that the King wants those graces , it is a Libell . We say sometimes in scorn to a man , God help you , and God send you wit ; and therein , though it have the sound of a prayer , wee call him foole . So wee have seen of late , some in obscure Conventicles , institute certain prayers , That God would keep the King , and the Prince in the true Religion ; The prayer is always good , always usefull ; but when that prayer is accompanied with circumstances , as though the King and the Prince were declining from that Religion , then even the prayer it selfe is libellous , and seditious ; Saint Paul , in that former place , apparels a Subjects prayer well , when hee sayes , Let prayers bee given with thanks ; Let our prayers bee for continuance of the blessings , which wee have , and let our acknowledgement of present blessings , bee an inducement for future : pray , and praise together ; pray thankfully , pray not suspiciously : for , beloved in the bowels of Christ Jesus , before whose face I stand now , and before whose face , I shall not be able to stand amongst the righteous , at the last day , if I lie now , and make this Pulpit my Shop , to vent sophisticate Wares , In the presence of you , a holy part , I hope , of the Militant Church , of which I am , In the presence of the whole Triumphant Church , of which , by him , by whom I am that I am , I hope to bee , In the presence of the Head of the whole Church , who is All in all , I , ( and I thinke I have the Spirit of God , ) ( I am sure , I have not resisted it in this point ) I , ( and I may bee allowed to know something in Civill affaires ) ( I am sure I have not been stupefied in this point ) doe deliver that , which upon the truth of a Morall man , and a Christian man , and a Church man , beleeve to be true , That hee , who is the Breath of our nostrils , is in his heart , as farre from submitting us to that Idolatry , and superstition , which did heretofore oppresse us , as his immediate Predecessor , whose memory is justly precious to you , was : Their wayes may bee divers , and yet their end the same , that is , The glory of God ; And to a higher Comparison , then to her , I know not how to carry it . As then the Breath of our nostrils , our breath , is his , that is , our speech , first , in containing it , not to speak in his diminution ; then in uttering it amongst men ; to interpret fairly , and loially , his proceedings ; and then in uttering it to God , in such prayers for the continuing thereof , as imply a thankfull acknowledgement of the present blessings , spirituall and temporall , which we enjoy now by him ; So farre , Breath is speech ; but Breath is life too , and so our life is his . How willingly his Subjects would give their lives for him , I make no doubt , but hee doubts not . This is argument enough for their propensenesse and readinesse , to give their lives , for his honour , or for the possessions of his children ; That though not contra voluntatem , not against his will , yet Praeter voluntatem , without any Declaration of his will , or pleasure , by any Command , they have been as ready voluntarily , as if a Presse had commanded them . But these ways , which his wisdome hath chosen for the procuring of peace , have kept off much occasion of triall , of that , how willingly his Subjects would have given their lives for him . Yet , their lives are his , who is the breath of their nostrils : And therefore , though they doe not leave them for him , let them lead them for him ; though they bee not called to die for him , let them live so , as that may bee for him ; to live peaceably , to live honestly , to live industriously , is to live for him ; for , the sinnes of the people endanger the Prince , as much as his owne . When that shall bee required at your hand , then die for him ; In the meane time , live for him ; live so , as your living doe not kindle Gods anger against him , and that is a good Confession , and acknowledgement , That hee is the breath of your nostrils , That your life is his . As then the breath of our nostrils , is expressed by this word in this Text , Ruach , spiritus , speech , and life , so it is his . When the breath of life was first breathed into man , there is called by another word , Neshamah , and that is the soule , the immortall soule : And is the King the breath of that life ? Is hee the soule of his Subjects so , as that their soules are his ; so , as that they must sinne towards men , in doing unjust actions , or sinne towards God , in forsaking , and dishonouring him , if the King will have them ? If I had the honour to aske this question , in his royall presence , I know he would bee the first man , that would say No , No ; your souls are not mine , so . And , as hee is a most perfect Text-man , in the Booke of God , ( and by the way , I should not easily feare his being a Papist , that is a good Text-man ) I know hee would cite Daniel , saying , Though our God doe not deliver us , yet know , O King , that we will not worship thy Gods ; And I know hee would cite S. Peter , We ought to obey God , rather then men ; And he would cite Christ himself , Feare not them , ( for the soule ) that cannot hurt the soule . He claimes not your souls so : It is Ruach here , it is not Neshamah ; your life is his , your soule is not his , in that sense . But yet , beloved , these two words are promiscuously used in the Scriptures ; Ruach is often the soule ; Neshamah ; is often the temporall life ; And thus farre , the one , as well as the other , is the Kings , That hee must answer for your soules ; so they are his ; for hee is not a King of bodies , but a King of men , bodies and soules ; nor a King of men onely , but of Christian men ; so your Religion , so your soules are his ; his , that is , appertaining to his care , and his account . And therefore , though you owe no obedience to any power under heaven , so as to decline you from the true God , or the true worship of that God , and the fundamentall things thereof , yet in those things , which are , in their nature but circumstantiall , and may therefore , according to times , and places , and persons , admit alterations , in those things , though they bee things appertaining to Religion , submit your selves to his directions ; for here , the two words meet , Ruach , and Neshamah , your lives are his , and your souls are his too ; His end being to advance Gods truth , he is to be trusted much , in matters of indifferent nature , by the way . He is the word of our Text , Spiritus , as Spiritus is the Holy Ghost , so farre , by accommodation , as that he is Gods instrument to convey blessings upon us ; and as spiritus is our breath , of speech , and as it is our life , and as it is our soule too , so farre , as that in those temporall things which concern spirituall , ( as Times of meeting , and much of the manner of proceeding when we are met ) we are to receive directions from him : So he is the breath of our nostrils , our speech , our lives , our soules , in that limited sense , are his . But then , did those subjects of his ( And I charge none but his subjects , with this plot , for , I judge not them who are without ) from whom God deliverd us this day , did they think so of him , That he was the breath of our nostrils ? If the breath be soure , if it bee tainted and corrupt , ( as they would needs thinke , in this case ) is it good Physick for an ill breath , to cut off the head , or to suffocate it , to smother , to strangle , to murder that man ? Hee is the breath of their nostrils ; They owe him their speech , their thanks , their prayers , and how have these children of fooles made him their song , and their by-word ? How have these Drunkards , ( men drunke with the Babylonian Cup ) made Libels against him ? How have those Seminatores verborum , word-scatterers , defamed him , even with contrary defamations . Heretofore , that he persecuted their Religion , when he did not ; now , that he hath left his own Religion . He is their breath , they owe him their tongues , and how foully do they speak ; and they owe him their lives , and how prodigally do they give away their lives to others , that they might take away His ? He is their breath , ( as breath is the soule ) that is , Accomptant for their soules , and how have they raised themselves out of his Audit , and withdrawne themselves from his Allegiance ? This they have done historically , and to say prophetically , what they would do , first , their Extenuation of this fact , when they call it an enterprise of a few unfortunate Gentlemen . And then their Exaltation of this fact , when they make the principall person in it , a Martyr , this is prophecy enough , that since they are not ashamed of the Originall , they will not be afraid to copy it often , and pursue the same practises , to the same end . Let it be Iosiah then , let it be Zedekiah , he was the Breath , the life of his Subjects , ( and that was the first attribute ) and he was The Anoynted of the Lord , which is the other . Vnction it self alwayes separated that which was anoynted from prophane , and secular use ; unction was a religious distinction . It had that signification in practise , before any Law was given for it ; when Iacob had had that vision upon the stone , which made him see , that that place was the house of God , and the gate of heaven , then he tooke up that stone which he had stept upon , and set it up for a pillar , and anoynted it . This was the practise in nature ; and then the precept in the Law , was , as for the Altar it self , so for many other things . belonging to the service of God in the Temple , Thou shalt anoynt them , to sanctifie them . Thus it was for things ; and then , if we consider persons , we see the dignity that anoynting gave ; for it was given but to three sorts of persons , to Kings , to priests , and to Prophets : Kings , and Priests had it , to testifie their ordinary , and permanent , and indelible jurisdiction , their power is laid on in Oyle ; And Prophets had it , because they were extraordinarily raised to denounce , and to execute Gods Judgements , upon persons that were anoynted , upon Priests , and upon Kings too , in those cases , for which , they were then particularly imployed . Thus then it is , anoynted things could not be touched , but by anoynted persons , and then anoynted persons could not be touched , but by persons anoynted ; The Priest not directed , but by the King ; The King , as King , not corrected , but by the prophet : And this was the State , that they lamented so compassionately , That their King , thus anoynted , thus exempted , was taken prisoner , saw his Sonnes slaine in his presence , and then had his owne eyes pulled out , was bound in chains , and carried to Babell . And lesse then this , in himself , and in his Sonne , and in all , was not intended this day , against our , not Zedekiah , but Iosiah : for death ( speaking in nature ) hath all particular miseries in it . An anoynted King ( and many Kings anoynted there are not ) and he that is anoynted prae Consortibus suis , above his fellow Kings , ( for , I think , no other King of his Religion , is anoynted ) The anoynted of the Lord , who in this Text hath both those great names , Meshiach Iehovah● Christus Domini , as though he had been but the Bramble anoynted for King of the Trees , and so made the fitter fuell for their ●ire , as though ( as Davids lamentation is for Saul ) He had not been anoynted with Oyle , This eye of God , he by whom God looks upon us , This hand of God , he by whom God protects us , This foote of God , he by whom , in his due time , ( and Vsquequo Domine , How long , O Lord , before that time come ? ) God shall tread downe , his owne , and our enemies , was swallowed and devoured by them , in their confidence of their owne plot , and their infallible assurance of his perishing . So it was historically ; And how it stands prophetically , that is , What such as they were , would do for the future ; as long as they write , ( not in Libels clandestinely and subreptitiously stollen out , but avowed by publique Authority ) That our Priests are no Priests , but the Priests of ●aal , for so they write , That the conspiracy of this day , being against him , who oppressed Religion , was as just , as that against Caesar , who did but oppresse the State , And that they write , That those who were the actors herein , are therefore saved , because at their execution , they submitted all to the Romane Church , and were content , if the Church condemned it , then to repent the Fact , for so they write also , That the Religion of our present King , is no better , then the Religion of Ieroboam , or of Num● Pompilius , for so they write too , that the last Queene , though an Heretique , yet because she was Anointed , did cure that disease , The Kings evill , but because , in scorne thereof , the King refused to be anointed at his Coronation , therefore hee cannot cure that disease , and so non dicendus unctus Domini , he is not to be called the Anointed of the Lord , says that Author , ( for all these are the words of one man , and one , who had no other provocation to say all this but onely the Kings● Apology for the oath of Allegiance ) by retaining in their avowed books , and by relying upon such Authors , and Authorities as these , which remaine for their future instruction , we see their dispositions for the future , and judge of them prophetically , as well as historically . Now the misery which is here lamented , the declination of the kingdome , in the person of the King , is thus expressed , He was taken in their pits ; taken , and taken in pits , and taken in their pits , are so many staires , so many descents , so many gradations ( rather degradations ) in this calamity . Let it bee Iosiah , let it bee Zedekiah ; They were taken ; taken , and never returned ; Let it bee our Iosiah , and will it hold in that application ? Was hee taken ? Hee was plotted for , but was hee Taken ? When hee himselfe takes publique knowledge , that both at home and abroad , those of the Romane persuasion , assured themselves , of some especiall worke , for the advancement of their cause , at that time , when they had taken that assurance , hee was so taken , taken in that their assurance , infallibly taken in their opinion ; so , as this kingdome was taken in their opinion , who thought their Navy invincible ; so this King was taken in their assurance , who thought this plot infallible . Hee was taken , and in fovea , in a pit , says the Text ; If our first translation would serve , the sorrow were the lesse , for there it is , he was taken in their net ; now , a man that flattereth , spreadeth a net , and a Prince that discerns not a flatterer , from a Counsellor , is taken in a net ; but that 's not so desperate , as in a pit : In Iosiahs case , it was a pit , a Grave ; in Zedekiahs case , it was a pit , a prison : in our Iosiahs case , it was fully , as it is in the Text , not in fovea , but in foveis , plurally , in their pits , in their divers pits ; death in the mine where they beganne , death in the Cellar where they pursued their mischiefe . And then it was in foveis Illorum , in their pits , says the Text ; but the Text does not tell us , in whose ; in the verse before , it is said , our persecutors did this , and this , then it followes , Hee was taken in their pits ; In the persecutors pits certainely ; but yet , who are they ? If it were Iosiah that was taken , the persecutor was Necho , King of Egypt , for from his army , Iosiah received his deaths wound : If it were Zedekiah , the persecutor was Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon , for hee carried Zedekiah into captivity . Certainly the holy Ghost knew well enough , and could have spoken plaine , whose these pits were , but it pleased him to forbeare names . Certainly our Iosiah knowes well enough , whose , those pits , which were digged for him , were ; but , according to his naturall sweetnesse , to decline the drawing of more bloud , then necessarily hee must , or the laying of imputations and aspersions upon more , then necessarily hee must , hee hath forborne names . The holy Ghost knowes better then all the expositors , in all our Libraries , who digged those pits , our Iosiah knowes , better then all wee , who come but to celebrate , and solemnize the deliverance , whose hands , and whose counsails were in the digging of these pits too . Hee was taken , says our Text : fuit , hee Was. Fix that in Iosiah , who was taken , and never taken back : fix it in Zedekiah , who was taken , and never taken back ; they both perished ; in both them , there is just cause , of perpetuall , and permanent lamentation , and no roome left , for the exercise of any other affection . But transfer it to our Iosiah , and then , Hee was taken , is , Hee was but taken ; God did not suffer his holy one to see Correction , nor God did not suffer his Anointed , to perish in this taking ; And so the lamentation is become ( as wee said at first ) a Congratulation , so our Vae is an Euge , our exclamation turned to acclamation ; and so our De profundis , is a Gloria in excelsis , The pit , the vault is become a hill , from whence we may behold the power of our great God ; this Sepher kinoth , the book of Lamentations , is become Sepher tehillim , the book of Psalmes , and thanksgivings ; And Davids Bonus es omnibus , Lord thou art good to all , is come to Moses non taliter , Lord thou hast not done so well , with any nation , as with us ; for when we might have fear'd a dereliquisti , that God had forsaken us , we had S. August appropinquavi & nesciebam , we came nearer & nearer to God , and knew it not , we knew not our danger , and therefore knew not his speciall Protection . It was one particular degree of his mercy , to proceed so : As it is an ease to a man , not to heare of his friends sicknesse , till he heare it , by hearing of his recovery , so God did not shake us , with the knowledge of the danger , till he established us , with the deliverance : And by making his servant , and our Soveraigne , the blessed means of that discovery , and that deliverance , he hath directed us , in all apprehensions of dangers , to rely upon that Wisdome , in civill affaires , affaires of State , and upon that Zeale , in causes of Religion , which he hath imprinted in that soule . Historically , God hath done great things for us , by him ; Prophetically , God hath great things to doe for us , and all the Christian world , and will make him , his Instrument to doe them . Now , we reserved at first , for the last gaspe , and for the knot to tie up all , this Consideration : That he that was truely affected in the sad sense of such a danger , and the pious sense of such a deliverance , would also use all means in his power , to secure the future , that that Kingdome , in that King , might alwayes bee safe , from the like dangers . No doubt , our Iosiah doth that , in that which appertaineth unto him ; and all , that is , The care of all , appertaineth unto him . If God had made him his Rod , to scourge others with Warres and Armies , we might be affraid , that when God had done his worke by him , he would cast the rod in the fire , God doth not alwayes blesse those Instruments , who love blood , though they pretend his Glory . But since God hath made him his Dove , to flie over the world , with the Olive branch , with indevours of Peace , in all places , as the Dove did , so he shall ever bring his Olive branch to the Arke , that is , endevour onely such peace , as may advance the Church of God , and establish peace of Conscience in himself . That care , on his part , shall preserve him : And for his preservation , and ours in him , these things are to be done on our part : First , let us returne to God , so , as God may looke upon us , clothed in the righteousnesse of Christ ; who will not be put on , as a fair gowne , to cover course clothes ; but first put off your sinnes , and then put on him ; sinnes of the Time , sinnes of your Age , sinnes of your Sex , sinnes of your Complexion , sinnes of your Profession ; put off all ; for your Time , your Age , your Sex , your Complexion , your Profession , shall not be damned ; but you , you your selves shall Doe not thinke that your Sundayes zeale once a weeke , can burn our all your extortions , and oppressions , and usury , and butchery , and simony , and chambering and wantonnesse practised from Monday to Saterday . Doe not thinke it to bee so with the Spirituall man , as with the Naturall : In a Naturall body , a great proportion of Choler will rectifie a cold , or old , or ●leginatique man , he is the better , for having so much choler ; but a vehement zeale on Sunday , doth not rectifie the sixe dayes sinner : To cry out then , I am sterved for want of an afternoon Sermon , and to fast all the weeke long , so as never to taste how sweet the Lord is , in thy cleansing thy heart , and withdrawing thy hand from sinne , this is no good diet ; Not onely upon you Allegiance to God , but upon your Allegiance to the King , be good : No Prince can have a better guard , then Subjects truly religious . Quantus 〈◊〉 patri● est vir just●s , is S. Ambrose his holy exclamation , What a wall to a City , what a Sea , what a Navy to an Iland , is a holy man ? The sins of former times , the sins and provocations of M●nasseh , lay heavy upon Iosiah , as well as God loved him . The sins of our daies , our sins , may open any Prince to Gods anger . This is the first way of preserving our Iosiah , to turn away the wrath of God , by our abstinence from future sinnes , after our repentance of former . A second is , to uphold his honour and estimation with other men ; especially amongst strangers that live with us , who for the most part , value Princes so , as they finde their subjects to value them . Ambassadors have ever been sacred persons , and partakers of great priviledges . A Prince , that lives as ours , in the eye of many Ambassadors , is not as the children of Israel , in the midst of Canaanites , and Iebusi●es , and Ammonites , who all watched the destruction of Israel ; but he is in the midst of Tu●el●r Angels , Nationall Angels , who study ( by Gods grace , & as it becomes us to hope ) the peace and welfare of the Christian State. But then all strangers in the land , are not noble , and candid , and ingenuous Ambassadors ; & even Ambassadors themselves may be tri●led to an undervalue of the Prince , by rumours , and by disloyal , and by negligent speaches , from the Subject ; we have not yet felt Solomons whippes ; but our whinings and repinings , and discontents may bring us to Rehoboams Scorpions . This way hath a part , in the Kings safetie , and in our safety , to hold in our selves , and to convay to strangers , a good estimation of that happy government , which is truly good in it self . And then a third , and very important way towards his preservation , is , a cheerful disposition , to supply , and to support , and to assist him , with such things as are necessary for his outward dignity . When God himselfe was the immediate King of the Israelites , and governed them , by himself , he took it ill , that they would depart from him , who needed nothing of theirs , for there could be no other King , but must necessarily be supplyed by them : And yet , consider , Beloved , what God , who needed nothing , took : The sacrifices of the Jews , were such , as would have kept divers Royall houses : Take a bill of them , but in one Passeover , that Iosiah kept , and compare that and other the like , with the smalness of the land , that they possessed , and you will see , that that they gave , was a very great proportion . Now , it is the service of God , to contribute to the King as well as to the Priest : He that gives to a Prophet , shall have a Prophets reward ; he that gives to the King , shall have a Kings reward , a Crown : in those cases , where to give to your King , is to give to God , that is , where the peace of the State , and the glory of God in his Gospel depends much , upon the sustentation of the estimation , and outward honour and splendour of the King : preserve him so , and he shall the lesse be subject to these dangers , of such falling into their pits . But lastly , and especially , let us preserve him , by preserving God amongst us , in the true , and sincere profession of our Religion . Let not a mis-grounded , and disloyall imagination of coolness in him , cool you , in your own families . Omnis spiritus , qui solvit Iesum , says the Apostle , in the Vulgat , every spirit that dissolves Jesus , that embraces not Iesus intirely , All Iesus , and All his , All his Truth , and all that suffer for that Truth , is not of God. Doe not say , I will hold as much of Jesus , as shall be necessary , so much as shall distinguish me from a Turk , or a Iew , but if I may be the better , for parting with some of the rest , why should I not ? Doe not say , I will hold All , my self , but let my wife , or my son , or one of my sons , goe the other way , as though Protestant , and Papist were two severall callings ; and , as you would make one son a Lawyer , another a Merchant , you will make one son a Papist , another a Protestant . Excuse not your own levity , with so high a dishonor to the Prince ; when have you heard , that ever he thanked any man , for becoming a Papist ? Leave his dores to himselfe ; The dores into his kingdome , The Ports , and the dores in his kingdome , The prisons ; Let him open and shut his dores , as God shall put into his minde : look thou seriously to thine own dores , to thine own family , and keep all right there . A Thief that is let out of New-gate is not therefore let into thy house ; A Priest that is let out of prison , is not therefore let into thy house neither : still it may be felony , to harbour him , though there were mercy in letting him out . Cities are built of families , and so are Churches too ; Every man keeps his owne family , and then every Pastor shall keep his flock , and so the Church shall be free from schisme , and the State from sedition , and our Iosiah preserved , Prophetically for ever , as he was Historically this day , from them , in whose pits , the breath of our nostrils , the anointed of the Lord , was taken . Amen . SERMON XLIV . Preached at St. Pauls Crosse , Novemb. 22. 1629. MAT. 11. 6. And blessed is he , whosoever shall not be offended in me . THese are words spoken by our Blessed Saviour , to two Disciples , sent by Iohn Baptist , then a prisoner , to inform themselves of some particulars concerning Christ. Christ , who read Hearts , better then we doe faces , and heard Thoughts clearer then we doe words , saw in the thoughts , and hearts of these men , a certain perversenesse , an obliquity , an irregularity towards him , a jealousie and suspicion of him , and according to that indisposition of theirs he speaks to them , and tels them , This , and This onely is true Blessednesse , not to be scandalized in me , not to be offended in me ; I see you are ; but , as you love Blessednesse , ( and there is no other object of true love , but Blessednesse ) establish your selves in mee , maintain in your selves a submission , and an acquiescence to me , in my Gospel , suspect not me , be not jealous of me , nor presse farther upon me , then I open and declare my self unto you , for , Blessed is he , whosoever is not scandalized , not offended in me . The words have in them an Injunction , and a Remuneration ; A Precept , and a Promise ; The Way , and the End of a Christian. The Injunction , The Precept , The way is , As you love blessedness , be not offended in me , Be satisfied with mee , and mine Ordinances ; It is an Acquiescence in the Gospel of Christ Jesus : And the Remuneration , the Promise , the End , is Blessedness ; That , which , in it self , hath no end , That , in respect of which , all other things are to no end , Blessedness , everlasting Blessedness , Blessed is he , whosoever is not scandalized , not offended in me . In the first , Christ gives them first , if not an Increpation , yet an Intimation of our facility in falling into the Passive scandall , the mis-interpreting of the words or actions of other men , which is that which our Saviour intends , by being offended in another ; And Blessed are they , in generall , who are not apt to fall into this Passive scandall , not subject to this facility of mis-interpreting other men . In a second branch in this first part , Christ appropriates this to himself , Blessed is he , whosoever is not scandalized , not offended in me ; In which branch , we shall see , that the generall scandall , and offence that the world took at Christ , and his Gospel , was , that he induced a Religion that opposed the Honours , and the Pleasures , and the Profit of this world : And these three being the Triangle within our circle , the three corners , into which Satan , that compasses the world , leads us , ( all is Honour , or Pleasure , or Profit ) because the Christian Religion seemed to the world to withdraw mens affections from these , the world was scandalized , offended in Christ. But then , in a third consideration , wee shall see , that Christ discerned in these two persons , these Disciples of Iohn , a Passive scandall of another kinde ; Not that Christs Gospel , and the Religion that he induced , was too low , too base , too contemptible , as the world thought , but that it was not low enough , not humble enough , and therefore Iohns Disciples would doe more then Christs Disciples , and bind themselves to a greater strictness and austerity of life , then Christ in his Gospel required . In which third branch , wee shall take knowledge of some Disciples of Iohns Disciples , in the world yet ; and , ( as for the most part it fals out in Sectaries ) of divers kinds and ways ; for , wee shall finde some , who in an over-valuation of their owne purity , condemne , and contemne other men , as unpardonable Reprobates ; And these are scandalized , and offended in Christ , that is , not satisfied with his Gospel , in that they will not see , that it is as well a part of the Gospel of Christ , to rely upon his Mercy , if I have departed from that purity , which his Gospel enjoyned mee , as it is , to have endevoured to have preserved that purity ; And a part of his Gospel , as well to assist with my prayers , and my counsell , and with all mildeness , that poore soul that hath strayed from that purity , as it is to love the Communion of those Saints , that have in a better measure preserved it ; Not to beleeve the Mercy of God in Christ , after a sinne , to be a part of the Gospel , as well as the Grace of God for prevention before , not to give favourable constructions , and conceive charitable hopes of him , who is falne into some sinne , which I may have escaped , this is to bee scandalized , to bee offended in Christ , not to bee satisfied with his Gospel ; And this is one Sect of the off-spring of Iohns Disciples . And the other is this , that other men thinking the Gospel of Christ to be too large a Gospel , a Religion of too much liberty , will needs undertake to doe more , then Christ , or his Disciples practised , or his Gospel prescribed : for , this is to be offended in Christ , not to beleeve the meanes of salvation ordained by him , to bee sufficient for that end , which they were ordained to , that is , salvation . And then , after all this , in a fourth branch we shall see , the way , which our Saviour takes to reclaime them , and to devest them of this Passive scandall , which hindred their Blessednesse , which was , to call them to the contemplation of his good works , and of good works in the highest kind , his Miracles ; for in the verse immediately before the text , ( which verse induces the Text ) hee sayes to them , you see the blinde receive their sight , the lame goe , the leapers are cleansed , the deafe heare , the dead are raised to life . Christ does not propose , at least , hee does not put all , upon that externall purity , and a●sterity of life , in which , these Disciples of Iohn pretended to exceed all others , but upon doing good to others ; the blinde see , the deaf heare , the lame walk . Which miracles , and great works of his , our blessed Saviour summes up with that , which therefore seemes the greatest of all , Pauperes Evangelizantur , The poore have the Gospell preached unto them . Beloved , the greatest good that we , ( we to whom the dispensation of the word of reconciliation is committed ) can do , is , to preach the Gospell to the poore , to assist the poore , to apply our selves by all wayes , to them , whether they be poore in estate , and fortune , or poore in understanding and capacity , or poore in their accounts and dis-estimation of themselves , poore and dejected in spirit . And all these considerations , which , as you see , are many , and important , ( first our generall easinesse to fall into the passive scandall , to be offended in others , to mis-interpret others ; And then the generall passive scandall and offence that the world took at Christ , That he induced a Religion incapable of the honours , or the pleasures , or profits of this world ; And thirdly , the particular passive scandall that dis-affected these Disciples of Iohn towards Christ , which was , That his Gospell enjoyned not enough , and therefore they would do more , in which kinde , we finde two sects in the world yet , the off-spring , and Disciples of those Disciples ; And then lastly , the way that Christ tooke to reclaime and satisfie them , which was , by good works , and the best works that they that did them , could do , ( for in himself it was by doing miracles , for the good of others ) and preferring in his good and great works , the assisting of the poor ) All these considerations , I say , will fall into our first part , As you love blessednesse , be not scandalized , be not offended in me , which is the injunction , the precept , the way . And , when in our due order , we shall come to our second part , The remuneration , the promise , the end , Blessednesse , everlasting blessednesse , I may be glad , that the time will give me some colour , some excuse of saying little of that , as I can foresee already , by this distribution , that we shall be forced to thrust that part into a narrow conclusion . For , if I had Methusalems yeers , and his yeers multiplyed by the minutes of his yeers , ( which were a faire terme ) if I could speak till the Angels Trumpets blew , and you had the patience of Martyrs , and could be content to heare me , till you heard the Surgite M●rtui , till you were called to meet the Lord Iesus in the clouds , all that time would not make up one minute , all those words would not make up one syllable , towards this Eternity , the period of this blessednesse . Reserving our selves therefore for that , to those few minutes which may be left , or borrowed , when we come to the handling thereof , pursue we first , those con●iderations which fall more naturally into our comprehension , the severall branches of our first part ; As you love blessednesse , Be not scandalized , be not offended in me . First then our Saviours answer to these Disciples of Iohn , gives us occasion to consider our inclination , our propensenesse to the passive scandall , to be offended in others , to mis-interpret the words and actions of others , and to lament that our infirmity , or perversenesse , in the words of our Saviour , Vae Mundo à scandalis , Wo to the world by reason of scandals , of offences : For , that is both a Vae Dolentis , The voyce of our Saviour lamenting that perversenesse of ours , and Vae Minantis , his voyce threatning punishments for that perversenesse . For , Parum distat scandalizare , & scandalizari , sayes St. Hierome excellently ; It is almost all one to be scandalized by another , as to scandalize another ; almost as great a sin , to be shaked in our constancy , in our selves , or in our charity towards others , as to offer a scandall to others . For , this Vae , this intermination of wo from our Saviour , is bent upon us , from three batteries ; for , it is Vae quia Illusiones fortes , wo , because scandals are so strong in their nature , as that they shall seduce , if it be possible , the Elect ; And then , Vae quia infirmi vos , Woe because you are so weak in your nature , as that , though you receive the word , and receive it with joy , yet Temporales estis , you may be but Time servers for all that , for , as soon as persecution comes , ilico , continuò , scandalizamini , Instantly , presently , you are scandalized , offended ; But especially Vae quia Praevaricatores , Woe be unto you , not because the scandals are so strong , not because you are so weake , but because you prevaricate against your own souls , because you betray your selves , and make your selves weaker than you are , you open your selves too easily to a scandall , you assist a scandall , create a scandall , by your aptnesse to mis-interpret other mens proceedings . Great peace have they that love thy Law , sayes David : Wherein consists this great peace ? In this , Non est illis scandalum , nothing scandalises , nothing offends them , nothing puts them off from their Kings , their Constancy in themselves , their Charity towards others . And therefore upon that prayer of David , Liberet te Deus ab Homine malo , The Lord deliver thee from the evill man , Saint Augustin retires himselfe into himselfe , he sends every man home into himselfe , and says , Liberette Deus à te , ne sis tibi homo malus , the Lord deliver thee from thy selfe , that thou be not that evill man to thy selfe ; God blesse me from my selfe , that I lead not my selfe into tentation , by a wilfull misinterpreting of other men , especially my superiours ; that I cast not aspersions or imputations upon the Church , or the State , by my mistakings . And thus much being said of this generall facility of falling into the Passive scandall , and being offended in others , ( which is a great interruption of blessednesse , for Blessed is he , and he onely , that is not so scandalised , offended so ) passe we now to the second branch of this first part , our Saviours , appropriating of this more particularly to himselfe , Blessed is he , whosoever is not scandalised , not offended in me . Christ Crucified , that is , the Gospell of Christ , is said by the Apostle , to be scandalum Iudaeis , a scandal , a stumbling block to the Iews , but Graecis stultitia , to the Grecians , to the Gentiles , meer foolishness . So that one scandall & offence that was taken at Christ , & his Gospel , was by the wisemen , the learned , the Philosophers of the world ; they thoght that Christ induced a religion improbable to Reason , a silly and a foolish religion . But these learned men , these Philosophers , were sooner convinced & satisfied , then others . For , when we have considered Iustin Martyr , and Minutius Felix , and Arnobius , and Origen , and Lactantius , and some things of Theodoret , & perchance one or two more , we have done with those Fathers , that did any thing against the Gentiles , and their Philosophers , and may soon come to that question of the Apostle , Vbi sapiens , where is the wiseman , where is the Philosopher , where is the disputer of the world ? Indeed , al that the Fathers writ against thē , would not amount to so much , as may be found at one mart , of papists against Protestants , or of Protestants , Lutherans and Calvinists , against one another . The reason is , Reason will be satisfied , Passion will not . And therefore , when it came to that issue between the Christian and the Naturall man , which Religion was most comfortable to Reason , it soon resolved into these two , whether it were more conformable to Reason to beleeve One God , as the Christian does , or many , as the Gentiles ; and then , being brought to the beliefe of one God , whether it were more conformable to reason , to beleeve three Persons in that one God , as we , or but one , as they doe . Now , for the first of these , the Multiplicity of Gods , it involved so many , so evident , so ridiculous absurdities , as not onely those few Fathers soon disputed them , but some of themselves , such as Lucian , soon laughed them , out of it ; and so reason prevailed soon for the unity of the Godhead , that there is but one God , and that question was not long in suspence , nor agitation . And for the other , three persons in this one God , the Trinity , though we cannot so immediately prove that by Reason , nor so intirely , altogether , yet , by these steppes we can : first , that there is nothing in the doctrine of the Trinity against Reason ; the doctrine of the Trinity implies no contradiction ; It may be so ; and then , that it is so , if we have the word of God , for it , Reason it selfe will conclude , that we have Reason on our side ; And that we have the word of God for it , we proceed thus , that for this Book , which we call the Bible , which book delivers us the Doctrine of the Trinity , we have far better reasons , and stronger arguments to satisfie any naturall man , that this book is the word of God , then the Turke , or any professors of any other Religion have , that those books which they pretend to be so , are so . So that positively for the first , that there is but one God , & Comparatively for the other , that there are three persons , Reason it selfe , ( if we were bound to submit all Religion to Reason ) may receive a satisfaction , a calme , and peaceable acquiescence . And so , the scandall that the Philosophers took , was , with no great difficulty , overcome . But then the scandals that worldly and carnall men tooke , lasted longer . They were offended in Christ , that he induced an inglorious , a contemptible Religion , a Religion that opposed the Honours of this world ; and a sooty , and Melancholique Religion , a Religion that opposed the Pleasures , and delights of this world ; and a fordid , and beggerly Religion , a Religion that opposed the Gaine , and the Profit of this world . But were this enough to condemne the Christian Religion , if it did oppose worldly honour , or pleasure , or profit ? Or does our Religion doe that ? Be pleased to stop a little upon both these Problems ; whether that were enough to their ends , if it were so , and then , whether there be any such thing in our Religion ; and begin wee with their first offence at Christ , The point of Honour . The Apostle speaks of an Eternall weight of Glory ; Glory , A weight of Glory , An eternall weight of Glory ; But where ? In heaven , not in this world . The Honours of this world , are farre from being weights , or fraights , or ballast to carry us steady ; they are but light froths , but leaven , but fermentation , that puffes and swells us up . And they are as farre from being eternall ; for , in every family , we know , in which father , or grandfather the Honour began , and wee know not how soon , or how ignominiously it may end ; but such ends of worldly Honours , we see every day . When a Lord meets a man that honours him , makes him curtesie , and curses him withall , what hath his Lordship got by that Honour ? when popular acclamations cast him into insolent actions , and into the net of the Law , where is the ease , the benefit , the consolation of his Honour ? But especially , if worldly Honour must be had upon those conditions here , as shall hinder my eternall weight of Glory hereafter , I should honour any dishonour , glorifie any inglorious state , embrace any Dunghill , call any poverty Treasure , rather then bring the Honours of this world into the Balance , into competition , into comparison with that eternall weight of Glory in heaven . So that if the Christian Religion did oppose worldly Honour , it were not to be opposed for that : But it is farre from that ; for , as no Religion imprints more honour , more reverence , more subjection in the hearts of men , towards their Superiours of all sorts , Naturall , or Civill , or Ecclesiasticall , Parents , or Magistrates , or Prelates , then the Christian Religion does ( for , we binde even the conscience it self ) so never was there any form of Religion upon the face of the earth , in which persons were capable of greater Titles , and styles of dignity , then in the Christian Church . Never any Moscovite , any Turk , received such titles , as the world hath , and does give to the Bishop of Rome ; so great , as that some of the greatest later Emperours , have had an ambition of that dignity , and endevoured to have been elected Popes too , being Emperors . If Religion opposed Honour , that should not diminish it ; but it does not that , nor Pleasure neither , which was another thing , in which , the world was offended in Christ. As when we compared the Honour of this world , with the Glory of Heaven , we found it nothing , so should we doe the Pleasures of this world , if we compared them with the Joys of heaven . And therefore if my religion did enwrap me in a continuall cloud , damp me in a continuall vapour , smoke me in a continuall sourenesse , and joylesnesse in this life , yet I have an abundant recompense in that Reversion , which the Lord , the righteous Judge hath laid up for me , That I shall drink è torrente valuptatis , of the Rivers of his pleasures ; pleasures , His pleasures , Rivers , ever-flowing , overflowing Rivers of his pleasures . So that if my Religion denied me pleasure here , I would not deny my Religion , nor be displeased with my Religion for that ; But it does not that ; for what Christian is denied a care of his health , or of a good habitude of body , or the use of those things , which may give a chearfulnesse to his heart , or a chearfulnesse to his co●ntenance ? What Christian is denied such Garments , or such Ornaments , as his own rank , and condition , in particular requires , or as the Nationall and generall custome of his times hath induced and authorised ? What Christian is denied Conversation , or Recreation , or honest Relaxation of Body or Spirit ? Excesse of these pleasures , as well in the Heathen , as in the Christian , fals under Solomons Vanity , and Vexation of spirit . But with the right use of these pleasures , the Christian hath that , which none but hee , hath , That the Lord puts gladnesse into my heart , That the Lord enables me to lay mee downe in peace , and sleepe , That the Lord assures mee that he will keep mee in safety . If Religion excluded worldly pleasure , that were no cause of scandall or offence ; but it does not that ; no nor Profit neither , which is a third consideration . What is a man profited , says our Saviour , ( he saw all the world was carried upon profit , and he goes along with them , that way ) What is a man profited , if he gain the whole world , and lose his own soule ? If a man have an answer to that question , that question of Confusion , and Consternation , that Christ asks , Cujue erunt , foole this night they shall fetch away thy soule , and then , Cuju● erunt , whose shall all those things be , that thou hast provided ? if a man can answer , Haeredis erunt , They shall be mine heires , mine heire shall have them ; Besides that , though thy bell toll first , his may ring out first ; though thou beest old , and crasie , and sickly , Though they doe fetch away thy soule this night , they may fetch away his before thine , thine heir may die before thee , and there 's that assurance disappointed ; If thine heir doe enjoy all this , will all that distill one drop of cold water upon thy tongue in hell ? And so is he , ( sayes Christ , in the conclusion of that parable ) that layeth up riches for himself , and is not rich towards God. So that if Riches might not consist with Religion , it would not hurt our cause ; but they may , they doe . Godliness hath the promise of this life , and of the next ; of both , but of this first . The seed of the righteous , shall be mighty upon earth , and wealth and riches shall be in his house . Many places of Scripture tell us that the wicked may be rich , and that they are rich ; but in no place does God promise that they shall be rich . So says Davids sonne , Solomon , too , The Crown of the wise is their riches ; we all know what men Solomon means by wise men ; Godly men , Religious men ; And their Crown is Riches . Beloved , there is an inward Ioy , there is an outward dignity and reverence , that accompanies Riches , and the Godly , the righteous man is not incapable of these ; Nay , they belong rather to him , then to the ungodly : Non decent stultum divitiae , ( as the Vulgat reades that place ) Riches doe not become a fool . But because , for all that , though Riches doe not become a fool , yet fools doe become rich ; our Translations read that place thus : joy , pleasure , delight , is not seemly for a fool ; Though the fool , the ungodly man , may bee rich , yet a right joy , a holy delight in riches , belongs onely to the wise , to the righteous . The Patriarchs in the Old Testament , many examples in the New , are testimonies to us of the compatibility of riches , and righteousnesse ; that they may , that they have often met in one person . For , is fraud , and circumvention so sure a way , of attaining Gods blessings , as industry , and conscientiousnesse is ? Or is God so likely to concurre with the fraudulent , the deceitfull man , as with the laborious , and religious ? Was not Ananias , with his disguises , more suddenly destroyed , then Iob , and more irrecoverably ? And cannot a Star-chamber , or an Exchequer , leave an ungodly man as poor , as a storm at sea , in a ship-wracke , or a fire at land , in a lightning , can doe the godly ? Murmure not , be not scandalized , nor offended in him , if God , for reasons reserved to himselfe , keep thee in poverty ; but know , that God hath exposed the riches of this world , as well , rather to the godly , then the wicked . And so have you the second branch of this first part , The scandals which , for the most part , were taken at Christ , and his Gospel , by the Philosophers , that it was a Religion contrary to Reason , by worldly , and carnall men , that it was a Religion contrary to the honours , to the pleasures , to the profits of this world ; which , if it were so , were no impeachment to it , but it is not : And so wee are come to the third branch , The particular passive scandall , which our Saviour deprehended in these two Disciples of Iohn , diverse from the rest . That , which mis-affected them towards Christ , was not that he induced a Religion too low , too sordid , too humble , but not low enough , not humble enough ; and therefore they would out-bid Christ , and undertake more , then his Disciples practised , or himselfe prescribed . Their Master , Iohn Baptist , discerned this distemper in them , then when they said to him , Rabbi , He that was with thee beyond Iordan , baptizes as fast as thou , and all the world comes to him . Iohn Baptist deals plainly with them , and he tels them , that they must not be offended in that , for so it must be , He must increase , and I must decrease . This troubled them ; and because it did so , Iohn sends them personally to Christ , to receive farther satisfaction . When they come at first to him , they say , Sir , we fast , and , even the Pharisees fast , why doe not you , and your Disciples fast too ? And then our blessed Saviour enlarges himselfe to them , in that point of fasting , and they goe home satisfied . Now they returne againe , and they continue their wonder , that Christ should continue his greatnesse , and his estimation in the world , they exceeding him so far in this outward austority of life , which was so specious , and so winning a thing amongst the Jews . But duo Discipuli fortasse duo populi , These two Disciples of Iohn may have their Disciples in the world to this day ; And therefore forbearing their persons , we shall consider their off-spring ; Those men , who in an over-valuation of their own purity , despise others , as men whom nothing can save ; & those men , who in an over-valuation of their own merits , think to save themselves and others too , by their supererogations . Begin we with the first , The over-pure despisers of others ; Men that will abridge , and contract the large mercies of God in Christ , and elude , and frustrate , in a great part , the generall promises of God. Men that are loth , that God should speak so loud , as to say , He would have all men saved , And loth that Christ should spread his armes , or shed his bloud in such a compasse , as might fall upon all . Men that think no sinne can hurt them , because they are elect , and that every sin makes every other man a Reprobate . But with the Lord there is Copiosa redemptio● plentifull redemption , and an overflowing cup of mercy . Aquae quae non mentiuntur , As the holy Ghost sayes more then once , more then many times , in the Prophets , Waters that will not lye , that will not dry , not deceive , not disappoint any man. The wisdome that is from above , is first pure , & then peaceable . Purity , Sincerity , Integrity , Holinesse , is a skirt of Christs garment ; It is the very livery that he puts upon us ; wee cannot serve him without it , ( we must serve him in holiness and purenesse ) we cannot see him without it , without holinesse no man shall see God. But then to be pure , and not peaceable , to determine this purity in our selves , and condemne others , this is but an imaginary , but an illusory purity Not to have relieved that poor wretch , that lay wounded , and weltring in his bloud in the way to Iericho , was the uncharitablenesse of the Levite , and the Priest , in that parable . But that parable presents no man so uncharitable , as would have hindred the Samaritan , from pouring his ●●yle , and his Wine into the wounds of that distressed wretch . To hinder the bloud of Christ Jesus , not to suffer that bloud to flow as far , as it will , to deny the mercy of God in Christ , to any sinner , whatsoever , upon any pretence , whatsoever , this is to be offended in Christ , to be scandalized with his Gospel ; for , that 's his own precept , Have sa●● in your selves , ( bee it , purity , the best preservative of the soul ) And then , Have peace with one another , Deny no man the benefit of Christ ; Blesse thou the Lord , praise him , and magnifie him , for that which hoe hath done for thee , and beleeve , that he means as well to others , as to thee . And these are one Sect of the Disciples of Iohns Disciples , That think there are men , whom Christ cannot save , And the other is of men that think they can save other men . Ignatius , who is so ancient , as that wee have letters from him to S. Iohn , and from him to the Blessed Virgin , and if the copies be true ) from her to him , as ancient as hee is , says , Monet quisquam antiquorum , One of the Ancients hath given us this caution , Vt nemo bonus dicatur qui malum bono permiscuerit , That we call no man good , that is good to ill ends , nor beleeve any man to speak truth , that speaks truth at some times , to make his future lies the more credible . And much this way does the Romane Church proceed with us , in this behalf . They magnifie sanctification , and holinesse of life well ; well doe they propose many good means , for the advancement , and ex●ltation thereof ; fasting , and prayer , and almes , and other Medicinall Disciplines , and Mortifications . But all this to a wrong end ; Not to make them the more acceptable to God , but to make God the more beholden to them ; To merit , and over-merit ; To satisfie , and super-satisfie the justice of God for their own , and for others sins . Now , God will be served with all our power ; But , say they , wee may serve God , with more then all our power . How ? Because I may have more power , more grace , more help , to day , then I had yesterday ? But does not the same Commandement , of serving God , with all my power , lye upon mee , to day , as did yesterday ? If yesterday , when I had lesse power , lesse grace , lesse help , all was but Duty and service that could be done , is it the lesse a service and a duty now , because God hath enlarged my capacity with more grace , and more helps then before ? Doe I owe God the lesse , because hee hath given me more ? All that my Saviour hath taught me , in this , to pray for , is but this , Dimitte debita , Lord forgive mee the not-endevouring to keep thy Commandements : But for not doing more then thy Commandements , I ask no forgiveness , by any prayer , or precept recommended to mee by him . Ad Evangelii impletionem conscendat nostra religio , nec transcendats sayes the learnedest Nun , and the best Matriarch , and Mother of that Church , I think , that ever writ , Heloyssa ; I pray God , our Order may get so far , as the Gospel enjoyns , and not press beyond that ; Nec quid amplius , quàm ut Christianae simus , appetamus , That wee desire to bee no more , then good Christians . And farther wee extend not this third consideration , The particular passive scandall , which Christ found in these Disciples of Iohn , and which wee have noted in their progeny , and off-spring but goe on to the fourth , The way that Christ took to devest them thereof , by calling them to the contemplation of his works , Consider what you have seen done , The blinde see , The lame goe , The deafe hear , and then you will not endanger your blessednesse , by being offended in me . The evidence that Christ produces , and presses , is good works ; for , if a man offer me the roote of a tree to taste , I cannot say this is such a Pear , or Apple , or Plum ; but if I see the fruit , I can . If a man pretend Faith to me , I must say to him , with Saint Iames , Can his Faith save him ? such a Faith , as that the Apostle declares himself to mean , A dead Faith , as all Faith is that is inoperative , and workes not . But if I see his workes , I proceed the right way in Judicature , I judge secundum allegata & probata , according to my evidence : And if any man will say , those workes may be hypocriticall , I may say of any witnesse , He may be perjured ; but as long as I have no particular cause to think so , it is good evidence to me , as to hear that mans Oath , so to see this mans workes . Cum in Coelis sedentem in Crucem agere non possum , Though I cannot crucifie Christ , being now set at the right hand of his Father in Heaven , yet there is Odium impietatis , saith that Father , A crucifying by ungodlinesse ; An ungodly life in them that professe Christ , is a daily crucifying of Christ. Therefore here Christ refers to good works ; And there is more in this then so : It is not onely good works , but good works in the highest proportion , The best works , that he that doth them , can doe : Therefore , in his own case he appeals to Miracles . For if fasting were all , or wearing of Camells haire , all , or to have done some good to some men , by Baptizing them , were all , these Disciples and their Master might have had as much to plead as Christ. Therefore he calls them to the consideration of works of a higher nature , of Miracles ; for , God never subscribes nor testifies a forged Deed ; God never seals a falshood with a Miracle . Therefore , when the Jewes say of Christ , He hath a Devill , and is mad , why heare ye him ? some of the other Jewes said , These are not the words of one that hath a Devil : But though by that it appear , that some evidence , some argument may be raised in a mans behalfe , from his words , from that he saith , from his Preaching , yet Christs friends who spoke in his favour , doe not rest in that , That those are not the words of one that hath a Devill , but proceed to that , Can the Devill open the eyes of the blinde ? He doth more then the Devill can doe ; They appeal to his works , to his good workes , to his great works , to his Miracles . But doth he put us to doe miracles ? no ; Though , in truth those sumptuous and magnificent buildings , and endowments , which some have given for the sustentation of the poore , are almost Miracles , half Miracles , in respect of those penurious proportions , that Myut and Cumin , and those half-ounces of broken bread , which some as rich as they , have dropped , and crumbled out ; Truely , he that doth as much as he can , is almost a Miracle ; And when Christ appeals to his Miracles he calls us therein , to the best works we can doe . God will be loved with the whole heart , and God will have that love declared with our whole substance . I must not thinke I have done enough , if I have built an Almes-house ; As long as I am able to doe more , I have done nothing . This Christ intimates in producing his greatest works , Miracles ; which Miracles he closeth up with that , as with the greatest , Pauperes evangelizantur , The poore have the Gospell preached unto them . In this our Blessed Saviour doth not onely give an instruction to Iohns Disciples , but therein also derives and conveyes a precept upon us , upon us , who as we have received mercy , have received the Ministery , and indeed , upon all you , whom he hath made Regale Sacerdotium , A royall Priesthood , and Reges & Sacerdotes , Kings and Priests unto your God , and bound you therby , as well as us to preach the Gospell to the poore , you , by an exemplar life , and a Catechizing conversation , as well as us , by our words and meditations . Now beloved , there are Poore , that are literally poore , poore in estate and fortune ; and poore , that are naturally poore , poore in capacity , and understanding ; and poore , that are spiritually poore , dejected in spirit , and insensible of the comforts , which the Holy Ghost offers unto them ; and to all these poore , are we all bound to preach the Gospell . First then for them which are literally poore , poore in estate , how much doe they want of this means of salvation , Preaching , which the rich have ? They cannot maintain Chaplains in their houses ; They cannot forbear the necessary labours of their calling , to hear extraordinary Sermons ; They cannot have seats in Churches , whensoever they come ; They must stay , they must stand , they must thrust , they must overcome that difficulty , which Saint Augustine makes an impossibility , that is , for any man to receive benefit by that Sermon , that he hears with pain : They must take pains to hear . To these poore therefore , the Lord and his Spirit hath sent me to preach the Gospell ; That Gospell , The Lord knoweth thy povertie , but thou art rich ; That Gospell , Be content with such things as thou hast , for the Lord hath said , I will never leave thee , nor forsake thee ; And that Gospell , God hath chosen the poore of this world , rich in faith , heires of that Kingdome , which he hath promised to them that love him ; And this is the Gospell of those poore , literally poore , poore in estate . To those that are naturally poore , poore in understanding , the Lord and his Spirit hath sent me to preach the Gospell too ; That Gospell , If any man lacke wisedome , let him aske it of God ; Solomon himselfe had none , till he asked it there . And that Gospell where Iohn went bitterly , because there was a Booke preseated , but no man could open it , It were a sad consideration , if now , when the Booke of God , the Scripture is afforded to us , we could not open that Booke , not understand those Scriptures . But there is the Gospell of those poore ; That Lambe , which is spoken of there , That Lambe , which in the same place is called a Lion too , That Lambe-Lion hath opened the Booke for us . The humility of the Lambe gathereth the strength of the Lion ; come humbly to the reading and hearing of the Scriptures , and thou shalt have strength of understanding . The Scriptures were not written for a few , nor are to be reserved for a few ; All they that were present at this LambLions opening of the Book , that is , All they that come with modesty and humility , to the search of the Scriptures , All they , ( and they are no small number , for there they are said to be ten thousand times ten thousand , and thousands of thousands ) All they say there , We are all made Kings and Priests unto our God. Begin a Lambe , and thou will become a Lion ; Reade the Scriptures modestly , humbly , and thou shalt understand them strongly , powerfully ; for hence is it that Saint Chrys●stome , more then once , and Saint Gregory after him , meet in that expression , That the Scriptures are a Sea , in which a Lambe may wade , and an Elephant may swimme . And this is the Gospell of those poore , poore in understanding . To those that are spiritually poore , wrung in their souls , stung in their Consciences , fretted , galled , exulcerated viscerally , even in the bowells of their Spirit , insensible , inapprehensive of the mercies of God in Christ , the Lord and his Spirit hath sent me to preach the Gospell also , That Gospell , Blessed are the poore in Spirit , for theirs it the Kingdome of Heaven ; and to recollect , and redintegrate that broken and scattered heart , by enabling him to expostulate , and chide his owne soule , with those words of comfort , which the Holy Ghost offereth him , once , and again , and again , Why art thou cast downe , O my soule , and why art thou disquieted in me ? Hope thou in God ; and , yet praise him for the light of his countenance . Words of inexpresible comfort , yet praise him for the light of his countenance ; Though thou sit in darknesse , and in the shadow of death , yet praise him for the light of his Countenance . Whatsoever thy darknesse be , put not out that candle , The light of his Countenance . Maintain that light , discerne that light , and whatsoever thy darknesse seemed , it shall prove to be but an over shadowing of the Holy Ghost . And so beloved , if you have sufficiently considered , first , our generall easinesse of falling into the Passive scandall , of being offended in others , by misinterpreting their proceedings , and then the generall scandals which the world tooke at Christ , and his Gospell , The Philosophers , that it was an ignorant religion , ( where you saw , That the learneder the adversary is , the sooner he is satisfied ) And the worldly and carnall man , that it was a dishonourable , an unpleasurable , an unprofitable Religion , ( where you saw , that it were no Diminution to our Religion , if it were all that , but it is none of it ) If you have also considered the particular passive scandall that Christ deprehended in those two Disciples of Iohn , That they would doe more then Christ practised or prescribed , ( where you saw also the distemper of those , that are derived from them , both those that thinke there are some sinners whom Christ cannot save , and those who thinke there are no sinners whom they cannot save , by their Supererogations ) And considered lastly , the way that Christ tooke , to devest these men of this offence , and passive scandall , which was to call them to the consideration of good workes , and of the best workes , which he that doth them , can doe , ( where you have also seen , that Christ makes that our best work , To preach the Gospell to the poore , both because the poore are destitute of other comforts , and because their very poverty hath soupled them , and mellowed them , and macerated , and matured , and disposed them , by corrections to instructions ) If you have received all this , you have received all that we proposed for the first part the injunction , the precept , the way , Be not sandalized , be not offended in me . And now , that which I suspected at first , is faln upon me , that is to thrust our other part into a narrow conclusiō , though it be blessednesse it selfe , everlasting blessednesse ; so we must ; so we shall ; blessed is he , ( there 's the remuneration , the promise , the end ) whosoever is not offended in me . Blessed . The Heathen , who saw by the light of nature , that they could have no Beeing , if there were no God , ( for it is from one of themselves , that Saint Paul says , in him we live , and move , and have our Beeing , and Genus cjus su●us , we are the off-spring of God ) saw also by the same light of nature , that they could have no well-being , if there were no Blessednesse . And therefore , as the Heathen multiplied Gods to themselves , so did they also multiply blessednesse . They brought their Iupiters to three hundred , says Varro ; And from the same author , from Varro , does Saint Augustin collect almost three hundred severall opinions of Blessednesse . But , In multitudine nullitas , says Tertullian excellently ; as where there are many Gods , there is no God , so where there are many blessednesses imagined , there is no blessednesse possessed . Not but that , as the Sunne which moves onely in his owne Spheare in heaven , does yet cast downe beames and influences into this world , so that blessednesse which is truly , onely in heaven , does also cast downe beames and influences hither , and gild , and enamell , yea inanimate the blessings of God here , with the true name , the true nature of blessednesse . For , though the vulgat edition doe read that place , thus , Beatum dixerant populum , the world thought that people blessed that were so , that is , Temporally blessed , as though that were but an imaginary , and not a true blessednesse ; and howsoever it have seemed good to our Translators , to insert into that verse a discretive particle , a particle of difference , Yea , ( Blessed are the people that are so , ) that is , Temporally blessed , Yea , blessed are the people whose God is the Lord , yet in truth , in the Originall , there is no such discretive particle , no word of difference , no yea , in the text , but both the clauses of that verse are carried in one and the same tenor , Blessed are the people that are so , Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord ; that is , that people whom the Lord hath blessed so , with Temporall blessings , is bound to beleeve those temporall blessings , to be seales and evidences to them that the Lord is their God. So then there is a Viatory , a preparatory , an initiatory , an inchoative blessednesse in this life . What is that ? All agree in this definition , that blessednesse is that in quo quiescit animus , in which the minde , the heart , the desire of man hath settled , and rested , in which it found a Centricall reposednesse , an acquiescence , a contentment . Not that which might satisfie any particular man ; for , so the object would be infinitely various ; but that , beyond which no man could propose any thing ; And is there such ablessednesse in this life ? There is . Fecisti nos Domine ad te , & inquietum est Cor nostrum , donec quiescat in te ; Lord thou hast made us for thy selfe , and our heart cannot rest , till it get to thee . But can we come to God here ? We cannot . Where 's then our viatory , our preparatory , our initiatory , our in choative blessednesse . Beloved , though we cannot come to God here , here God comes to us ; Here , in the prayers of the Congregation God comes to us ; here , in his Ordinance of Preaching , God delivers himselfe to us ; here in the administration of his Sacraments , he seals , ratifies , confirmes all unto us ; And to rest in these his seals and means of reconciliation to him , this is not to be scandalised , not to be offended in him ; and , not to be offended in him , not to suspect him or these meanes which he hath ordained , this is our viatory , our preparatory , our initiatory and inchoative Blessednesse , beyond which , nothing can be proposed in this life . And therefore , as the Needle of a Sea-compasse , though it shake long , yet will rest at last , and though it do not look directly , exactly to the North Pole , but have some variation , yet , for all that variation , will rest , so , though thy heart have some variations , some deviations , some aberrations from that direct point , upon which it should be bent , which is an absolute conformity of thy will to the will of God , yet , though thou lack something of that , afford thy soule rest : settle thy soule in such an infallibility , as this present condition can admit , and beleeve , that God receives glory as well in thy Repentance , as in thine Innocence , and that the mercy of God in Christ , is as good a pillow to rest thy soule upon after a sinne , as the grace of God in Christ is a shield , and protection for thy soule , before . In a word , this is our viatory , our preparatory , our initiatory , and inchoative blessedness , beyond which there can bee no blessedness proposed here , first to receive a satisfaction , an acquiescence , that there are certaine and constant meanes ordained by Christ , for our reconciliation to God in him , in all cases , in which a Christian soule can bee distressed , that such a treasure there is deposited by him , in the Church , And then , the testimony of a rectified Conscience , that thou hast sincerely applied those generall helpes to thy particular soule . Come so farre , and then , as the Suburbs touch the City , and the Porch the Church , and deliver thee into it , so shall this Viatory , this preparatory , this initiatory and inchoative blessednesse deliver thee over to the everlasting blessednesse of the Kingdome of heaven . Of which everlasting blessednesse , I would ask leave , not so much of you ; ( yet of you too , for with you , I would not be over-bold ) but I would aske leave of the Angels of heaven , leave of the holy Ghost himself , to venture to say a little , of this everlasting blessednesse : The tongues of Angels cannot , the tongues of the holy Ghost , the Authors of the books of Scripture have not told us , what this blessednesse is ; And what then shall we say , but this ? Blessednesse it self , is God himselfe ; our blessednesse is our possession ; our union with God. In what consists this ? A great limbe of the Schoole with their Thomas , place this blessednesse , this union with God , In visione , in this , That in heaven I shall see God , see God essentially , God face to face , God as he is . We do not see one another so , in this world ; In this world we see but outsides ; In heaven I shall see God , and God essentially . But then another great branch of the Schoole , with their Scotus , place this blessednesse , this union with God , in Amore , in this , that in heaven , I shall love God. Now love presumes knowledge ; for , Amari nisi nota new possunt , we can love nothing , but that which we do , or think we do understand . There , in heaven , I shall know God , so , as that I shall be admitted , not onely to an Adoration of God , to an admiration of God , to a prosternation , and reverence before God , but to an affection , to an office , of more familiarity towards God , of more equality with God , I shall love God. But even love it selfe , as noble a passion as it is , is but a paine , except we enjoy that we love ; and therefore another branch of the Schoole , with their Aureolus , place this blessednesse , this union of our souls with God , in Gaudio , in our joy , that is , in our enjoying of God. In this world we enjoy nothing ; enjoying presumes perpetuity ; and here , all things are fluid , transitory : There I shall enjoy , and possesse for ever , God himself . But yet , every one of these , to see God , or to love God , or to enjoy God , have seemed to some too narrow to comprehend this blessednesse , beyond which , nothing can be proposed ; and therefore another limbe of the Schoole , with their Bonaventure , place this blessednesse in all these together . And truly , if any of those did exclude any of these , so , as that I might see God , and not love him , or love God , and not enjoy him , it could not well be called blessednesse ; but he that hath any one of these , hath every one , all : And therefore the greatest part concurre , and safely , In visione , That vision is beatification , to see God , as he is , is that blessednesse . There then , in heaven , I shall have continuitatem Intuendi ; It is not onely vision , but Intuition , not onely a seeing , but a beholding , a contemplating of God , and that in Continuitate , I shall have an un-interrupted , an un-intermitted , an un-discontinued sight of God , I shall looke , and never looke off ; not looke , and looke againe , as here , but looke , and looke still , for that is , Continuitas intuendi . There my soule shall have Inconcussam qu●etem ; we need owe Plato nothing ; but we may thank Plato for this expression , if he meant so much by this Inconcussa quies , That in heaven my soule shall sleep , not onely without trouble , and startling , but without rocking , without any other help , then that peace , which is in it selfe ; My soule shall be thoroughly awake , and thoroughly asleep too ; still busie , active , diligent , and yet still at rest . But the Apostle will exceed the Philosopher , St. Paul will exceed Plato , as he does when he sayes , I shall be unus spiritus cum Deo , I shall be still but the servant of my God , and yet I shall be the same spirit with that God. When ? Dies quem tanquam supremum reformidas , aterni natalis est , sayes the Morall mans Oracle , Seneca . Our last day is our first day , our Saturday is our Sunday , our Eve is our Holyday , our sun-setting is our morning , the day of our death , is the first day of our eternall life . The next day after that , which is the day of judgement , Veniet dies , quae me mihi revelabit ; comes that day that shall show me to my selfe ; here I never saw my selfe , but in disguises : There , Then , I shall see my selfe , and see God too . Totam lucem , & Totus lux aspiciam ; I shall see the whole light ; Here I see some parts of the ayre enlightned by the Sunne , but I do not see the whole light of the Sunne ; There I shal see God intirely , all God , totam lutem , and totus lax , I my self shal be al light to see that light by . Here , I have one faculty enlightned , and another left in darknesse : mine uuderstanding sometimes cleared , my will , at the same time perverted . There , I shall be all light , no shadow upon me ; my soule invested in the light of joy , and my body in the light of glory . How glorious is God , as he looks down upon us , through the Sunne ? How glorious in that glasse of his ? How glorious is God , as he looks out amongst us through the king ? How glorious in that Image of his ? How glorious is God , as he calls up our eyes to him , in the beauty , and splendor , and service of the Church ? How glorious in that spoufe of his ? But how glorious shall I conceive this light to be , cum sub loco viderim , when I shall see it , in his owne place . In that Spheare , which though a Spheare , is a Center too ; In that place , which , though a place , is all , and every where . I shall see it , in the face of that God , who is all face , all manifestration , all all Innotescence to me , ( for , facies Deiest , qua Deus nobis innotescit , that 's Gods face to us , by which God manifests himselfe to us ) I shall see this light in his face , who is all face , and yet all hand , all application , and communication , and delivery of all himselfe to all his Saints . This is Beatitudo in Auge , blessednesse in the Meridionall height , blessednesse in the South point , in a perpetuall Sommer solstice , beyond which nothing can be proposed , to see God so , Then , There . And yet the farmers of heaven and hell , the merchants of soules , the Romane Church , make this blessednesse , but an under degree , but a kinde of apprentiship ; after they have beatified , declared a man to be blessed in the fruition of God in heaven , if that man , in that inferiour state doe good service to that Church , that they see much profit will rise , by the devotion , and concurrence of men , to the worship ; of that person , then they will proceed to a Canonization ; and so , he that in his Novitiat , and years of probation was but blessed Ignatius , and blessed Xavier , is lately become Saint Xavier , aud Saint Ignatius . And so they pervert the right order , and method , which is first to come to Sanctification , and then to Beatification , first to holinesse , and then to blessednesse . And in this method , our blessed God bee pleased to proceed with us , by the operation of his holy Spirit , to bring us to Sanctification here , and by the merits and intercession of his glorious Sonne , to Beatification hereafter . That so not being offended in him , but resting in those meanes and seales , of reconciliation , which thou hast instituted in thy Church , wee may have life , and life more abundantly , life of grace here , and life of glory there , in that kingdome , which thy Sonne , our Saviour Christ Jesus hath purchased for us , with the inestimable price of his incorruptible bloud . Amen . SERMON XLV . Preached at Saint Dunstans Aprill 11. 1624. The first sermon in that Church , as Vicar thereof . DEUT. 25. 5. If brethren dwell together , and one of them die , and have no Childe , the Wife of the dead shall not mary without , unto a stranger : her husbands brother shall goe in unto her , and take her to him to wife , and performe the duty of an husbands brother unto her . FRom the beginning God intimated a detestation , a dislike of singularity ; of beeing Alone . The first time that God himselfe is named in the Bible , in the first verse of Genesis , hee is named plurally , Creavit Dit , Gods , Gods in the plurall , Created Heaven and Earth . God , which is but one , would not appeare , nor bee presented so alone , but that hee would also manifest more persons . As the Creator was not Singular , so neither were the creatures ; First , he created heaven and earth ; both together ; which were to be the generall parents , and out of which were to bee produced all other creatures ; and then , he made all those other creatures plurally too ; Male , and female created hee them ; And when he came to make him , for whose sake ( next to his own glory ) he made the whole world , Adam , he left not Adam alone , but joyned an Eve to him ; Now , when they were maried , we know , but wee know not when they were divorced ; we heare when Eve was made , but not when shee dyed ; The husbands death is recorded at last , the wives is not at all . So much detestation hath God himselfe , and so little memory would hee have kept of any singularity , of being alone . The union of Christ to the whole Church is not expressed by any metaphore , by any figure , so oft in the Scripture , as by this of Mariage● and there is in that union with Christ to the whole Church , neither husband , nor wife can ever die ; Christ is immortall as hee is himselfe , and immortall , as hee is the head of the Church , the Husband of that wife : for that wife , the Church is immortall too ; for as a Prince is the same Prince , when he fights a battaile , and when hee triumphs after the victory : so the militant , and the triumphant Church is the same Church . There can bee no widower , There can bee no Dowager , in that case ; Hee cannot , shee cannot die . But then this Metaphore , this spirituall Mariage , holds not onely betweene Christ and the whole Church , in which case thee can be no Widow , but in the union between Christs particular Ministers , and particular Churches ; and there , in that case , the husband of that wife may die ; The present Minister may die , and so that Church be a Widow ; And in that case , and for provision of such Widows , wee consider the accommodation of this Law. If brethren dwell together , and one of them die , and have no childe , the wife of the dead shall not mary without , unto a stranger , &c. This law was but a permissive law ; rather a dispensation , then a law : as the permitting of usury to bee taken of strangers , and the permitting of divorces in so many cases , were . At most it was but a Iudiciall law , and therefore layes no obligation , upon any other nation , then them , to whom it was given , the Iews . And therefore wee enquire not the reasons of that law , ( the reasons were determined in that people ) wee examine not the conveniences of the law ; ( the conveniences were determined in those times ) wee lay hold onely upon the Typique signification , and appliablenesse of the law , as that secular Mariage there spoken of , may be appliable to this spirituall Mariage , the Mariage of the Minister to the Church : If brethren dwell together , &c. From these words then , wee shall make our approaches , and application , to the present occasion , by these steps ; First , there is a mariage , in the case . The taking , and leaving of a Church , is not an indifferent , an arbitrary thing ; It is a Mariage , and Mariage implies , Honour : It is an honourable estate , and that implies charge , it is a burdensome state ; There is Honos , and Onus , Honour , and labour , in Mariage ; You must bee content to afford the honour , wee must bee content to endure the labour . And so in that point , as our Incumbencie upon a Church , is our Mariage to that Church , wee shall as farre , as the occasion admits , see what mariage includes , and what it excludes ; what it requires , what it forbids . It is a mariage , and a mariage after the death of another : If one dye , sayes the Text ; Howsoever the Romane Church in the exercise of their Tyranny , have forbidden Church-men to mary , then when they have orders , and forbidden orders to bee given to any , who have formerly beene maried , if they maried Widowes , God is pleased here , to afford us , some intimation , some adumbration , a Typicall and exemplar knowledge of the lawfulnesse of such mariages , hee maries after the death of a former husband ; and then farther , a brother maries the wife of his deceased brother ; Now into the reasons of the law , literally given , and literally accepted , wee looke not ; It is enough , that God hath a care of the preservation of names and families and inheritances in those distinctions , and in those Tribes ; where hee layd them then ; but for the accommodation of the law to our present application , it must bee a brother , a spirituall brother , a professor of the same faith , that succeeds in this mariage , in this possession , and this government of that widow Church . It must be a brother , and Frater c●habitans , says our Text , a brother that dwelt together , with the former husband ; he must be of the same houshold of the faithfull , as well as professe the same faith ; he must dwell in the house of God , not separate himselfe , or encourage others to doe so , for matter of Ceremonies , and discipline ; Idolaters must not , Separaists must not be admitted to these mariages , to these widow churches . And then it is a surrendring to a brother dead without children : In this spirituall procreation of children , we all dye without children of our own ; Though by our labours , when God blesses them , you become children , yet you are Gods children , not ours ; we nurse you by his word , but his Spirit begets you by the same word ; we must not challenge to us , that which God onely can doe . And then being thus maried to this widow , taking the charge of this Church , he must , says our text , performe the duty of a husbands brother . He must , it is a personall service , not to be done always by Proxy , and Delegates ; He must ; and he must performe ; not begin well , and not persist , commence and not consummate , but performe the worke , and performe the worke , as it is a duty ; It is a meer mercy in God , to send us to you , but it is a duty in us , to doe that which we are sent for , by his Word , and his Sacraments , to establish you in his holy obedience , and his rich , and honourable service . And then our duty consists in both these , that we behave our selves , as your husband , which implies a power , an authority ; but a power and authority rooted in love , and exercised with love ; and then that we doe all as brothers to the former husband , that as one intentation of this law was , that inheritances , and temporall proprieties might be preserved , so our care might be through predecessor , and successor , and all , that all rights might be preserved to all men , that nothing not due , or due onely in rigor , be extorted from the people , nothing that is in truth , or in equity due , be with-held from the Minister ; but that the true right of people , and Pastor , and Patron be preserved , to the preservation of love , and peace , and good opinion of one another . First then , that which we take upon us , is a Mariage . Amongst the Iews , it was almost an ignominious , an infamous thing , to die unmaried , at least to die without children , being maried . Amongst the gentiles it was so too all well governed States ever enlarged themselves , in giving places of command and profit , to maried men . Indeed such men are most properly said to keep this world in reparations , that provide a succession of children ; and for the next world , though all that are borne into this world , doe not enter into the number of Gods Saints , in heaven , yet the Saints of heaven can be made out of no other materialls , but men borne into this world . Every stone in the quarry is not sure to be imployed in the building of the church , but the Church must be built out of those stones ; and therefore they keep this world , they keep heaven it selfe in reparation , that mary in the feare of God , and in the same feare bring up the children of such a mariage . But I presse not this too literally , nor over perswasively , that every man is bound to Mary ; God is no accepter of persons , nor of conditions . But being to use these words in their figurative application , I say , every man is bound to marry himselfe to a profession , to a calling : God hath brought him from being nothing , by creating him , but he resolves himselfe into nothing againe , if he take no calling upon him . In our Baptisme we make our contract with God , that we will believe all those Articles there recited ; there 's our contract with hi● ; and then , pursuing this contract , in the other Sacrament , when we take his body and his blood , we are maried to him . So at the same time , at our Baptisme , we make a contract in the presence of God , and his congregation with the world ; that we wil forsake the covetous desires of the world , that is , the covetous proprieting of all things to our selves , the covetous living onely for our selves , there 's our contract with the world , that we will mutually assist , and serve our brethren in the world ; and then , when we take particular callings , by which we are enabled to perform that former contract , then we are maried to the world ; so every man is duly contracted to the world , in Baptisme , and lawfully maried to the world in accepting a profession . And so this service of ours to the Church is our mariage . Now in a Matrioniall state , there is onus and Honos , a burden to be born , an Honour to be received . The burden of the sinnes of the whole world , was a burden onely for Christs shoulders ; but the sinnes of this Parish , willly upon my shoulders , if I be silent , or if I be indulgent , and denounce not Gods Judgement upon those sinnes . It will be a burden to us , if we doe not , and God knowes it is a burden to us , when be do denounce those Judgements . Esay felt , and groned under this burden , when he cried Onus Babylonis Onus Moab , and Onus Damasci , O the burden of Babylon , and the burden of Damscus , and so the other Prophets grone often under this burden , in contemplation of other places : It burdened , it troubled , it grieved the holy Prophets of God , that they must denounce Gods judgements , though upon Gods enemies . We reade of a compassionate Generall , that looking upon his great Army , from a hill , fell into a bitter weeping , upon this consideration , that in fiftie or sixtie years hence , there will not be a man of these that fight now , alive upon the earth . What Sea could furnish mine eyes with teares enough , to poure out , if I should think , that of all this Congregation , which lookes me in the face now , I should not meet one , at the Resurrection , at the right hand of God! And for so much as concerns me , it is all one , if none of you be saved , as if none of you be saved by my help , my means , my assistance , my preaching . If I put you upon miraculous wayes , to be saved without hearing , or upon extraordinary wayes to be saved by hearing others , this shall aggravate my condemnation , though you be saved : How much more heavy must my burden be , if by my negligence both I and you perish too ? So then this calling , this marriage , is a burden every way . When at any midnight I heare a bell toll from this steeple , must not I say to my selfe , what have I done at any time for the instructing or rectifying of that mans Conscience , who lieth there now ready to deliver up his own account , and my account to Almighty God ? If he be not able to make a good account , he and I are in danger , because I have not enabled him ; and though he be for himself able , that delivers not me , if I have been no instrument for the doing of it . Many , many burdens lie upon this calling , upon this marriage ; but our recompense is , that marriage is as well an honourable as a painefull calling . If be a Father , where is mine Honour , faith God : If you can answer God , why , you have it in your Prophets , They have it , that satisfieth him , that dischargeth you . For , he that receiveth them , receiveth him : But if Christ , who repeats that complaint , in every one of us , That a Prophet hath no honour in his own Countrie , that a Pastor is least respected of his own stock , you have not your Quctus est , for the honour due to God ; God never discharges the honour due to him , if it be not paid into their hands , whom he sendeth for it , to them upon whom he hath directed it . Would the King believe that man , to honour him , that violateth his Image , or that calumniateth his Ambassadour ? Every man is the Image of God ; every Creature is the Ambassadour of God ; The Heavens , ( and as well as the Heavens , the Earth ) declare the glory of God ; but the Civill Magistrate , and the Spirituall Paster , who have married the two Daughters of God , The state and the Church , are the Images and Ambassadours of God , in a higher and more peculiar sense , and for that marriage are to be honoured . And then Honour implieth that , by which Honour subsisteth , maintenance ; and they which withdraw that injuriously , or with-hold that contentiously , dishonour God , in the dishonour of his servants , and so make this marriage , this calling onely burdensome and not honourable . So then the interest of your particular Minister , and the particular Church , being such as between Man and Wife , a marriage , we consider the uses of marriage in Gods first intention , and apply them to this marriage . Gods first intentions in marriage were two . In adjutorium , for mutuall helpers , and in prolem , for procreation , and education of Children . For both these are we made Husbands of Churches ; in prolem , to assist in the regeneration of Children , for the inheritance of Heaven ; and in adjutorium , to be helpers to one another . And therefore if the husband , the Pastor , put the wife , his flock in a circumcision , to pare themselves to the quick , to take from their necessary means to sustain their families , to satisfie him ; the wife will say as Zipporah said to Moses , spon● sus sanguinum , a bloudy husband art thou , that exactest and extortest more then is due , In that case the Husband is no helper . But if we be alwayes ready to help your children over the threshold , ( as Saint Augustine calls Baptisme , Limen Ecclesiae ) alwayes ready to Baptize the Children ; if we be alwayes ready to help you in all your spirituall diseases , to that Cordiall , that Balsamum , the body and bloud of Christ Iesus ; If we be alwayes ready to help you in all your bodily distresses , ready even at your last gasp to open your eyes then , when your best friends are ready to close them ; ready to deliver your souls into the hands of God , when all the rest about you are ready to receive into their hands , that which you leave behinde you , and then ready to lay up the garments of your soules , your bodies , in the wardrobe the grave , till you call for them , and put them on again , in the resurrection , then are we truely helpers , true husbands ; and then if the Wife will say , as Iobs wife to the husband , Curse God and die , be sorry , that thou hast taken this Profession upon thee , and live in penury , and die in povertie . In a word , if he presse too much , if she withdraw too much , this frustrates Gods purpose in making that a marriage ; they are not mutuall helpers to one another . These were Gods two principall intentions in marriage , in adjutorium , in prolem . But then mans fall induced a third , in remedium , That for a remedy against burning , and to avoid fornication , every man should have his own wife , every woman her own husband . And so in remedium , for a remedy against spirituall fornication , of running after other men in other places , out of disaffection to their own Pastor , or over affecting another , God hath given every wife , her own husband , Every Church her own Pastor . And to all these purposes , our function is a marriage . It is a marriage , it deserves the honour , it undertakes the burden of that state ; and then it is a marriage of a widow , of a Church left in widow-hood by the death of her former husband . In the Law literally God forbad the High Priest to marry a widdow . The Romane Church continues that literally , and more ; they extend it ; that which was in figure , enjoined to the High Priest onely , they in fact extend to all Priests ; no man that ever married a widow , may be a priest , though she be dead , when he desires orders . There is no question but there is a more exemplary sanctity required in the Priest , then in other persons , and more in those , who are in high places in the Church , then in those of inferiour Jurisdictions , and the name and title of Virginity , hath ever been exhibited as an Embleme , as a Type of especiall Sanctity . And as such the Apostle uses it when he saith , That he would present the Church of Corinth , as a chaste Virgine to Christ ; That is , as chaste as a Virgin , though married , for so he saith in the words immediately before , That he had espoused them to a husband : As marriage is an honourable state , though in poverty , so is the bed undefiled with strange lust , a chaste bed even in marriage . And in the accommodation of the Figure to the present occasion , our marriage to severall Churches , If we might marry no widowes , ( no Churches , which had been wives to former husbands ) we should finde few Virgins , that is , Churches newly erected for us . But when the wife of a former husband is left a widow , Nubat in Domino , saith the Apostle , In Gods name let her marry . But the former husband must be dead : The husbands absence makes not the wife a widow ; nor doth the necessary , and lawfull absence of the Pastor , make the Church vacant . The sicknesse of the husband makes not a widow ; The bodily weaknesse nay the spirituall weaknes of the Pastor in case that his parts and abilities , and faculties , be grown but weak , do not make his Church vacant . If the Pastor be suspended , or otherwise censured , this is but as a separation , or as a divorce ; and as the wife is not a widow , upon a divorce , so neither is the Church vacant , upon such censures . And therefore for them that take advantages upon the weaknesses , or upon the disgrace , or upon the povertie of any such incumbent , and so insinuate themselves into his Church , this is intrusion , this is spirituall adultery , for the husband is not dead , though he be sick . Nay if they would remove him by way of preferment , yet that is a supplantation ; when Iacob had Esau by the heel , whether he kept him in , till he might be strong enough to goe out before him , or whether he pushed him out , before he would have gone , Iacob was a supplanter . Some few cases are put when a wife becomes as a widow , her husband living ; but regularly it is by death . In some few cases , Churches may otherwise be vacant , but regularly it is by death . And then Esto vidua in Dom● Patris , saith Iudah to Thamar , Remain a widow at thy fathers house : Then the Church remaineth in the house , in the hands of her Father , the Bishop of that Di●ces , till a new husband be lawfully tendred unto her : And till that time , as our Saviour Christ recommended his most blessed Mother , to Saint Iohn , but not as a wife , so that Bishop delivers that Church , to the care and administration of some other during her widowhood , till by due course she become the wife of another . Thus our calling is a mariage ; It should have honour ; It must have labour ; and it is a lawfull mariage upon a just and equitable vacancy of the place , without any supplantation ; upon death ; And then it is upon death of a brother , If brethren dwell together , and one of them die , and have no childe , the wife , &c. Aswell Saint Gregory , as Saint Augustine before , interpret this of our elder , our eldest brother Christ Iesus . That hee being dead , we mary his wife , the Church , and become husbands to her . But Christ , in that capacity , as he is head of the Church , cannot die . That to which , the application of this law , leads us , is , That predecessor , and successor , bee brethren of the same faith , and the same profession of faith . The Sadduces put a case to Christ of a woman maried successively to seven men ; let seven signifie infinite ; still those seven were brethren . How often soever any wife change her husband , any Church , her Pastor , God sends us still a succession of brethren , sincere , and unfeigned Preachers of the same truth , sonnes of the same father ; Who is that father ? God is our Father ; Have we not all one Father , says the Prophet ? Yes , we have , and so a worme , and we , are brethren , by the same father , and mother , the same God , the same Earth . Hath not the raine a father ? The raine hath ; and the same that wee have . More narrowly , and yet very largely , Christ is our father ; One of his names is , The everlasting Father ; And then after these , after God , after Christ , the King is our father ; See , my father , the skirt of thy robe , in my hand , says David to his King Saul ; Now if any husband should be offered to any widow , any Pastor to any vacant Church , who were not our brother by all these fathers , in a right beliefe in God , the Father of all men , in a right profession of Christ Iesus , the Father of all Christians , in a right affection , and allegiance to the King , the Father of all Subjects , Any that should incline to a forain father , an imaginary universall father , he of whom his Vice-fathers , his Junior fathers , the Iesuites ( for all the Jesuits are Fathers ) says , That the Fathers of the Church are but sons , and not fathers , to him ; They that say to a stock , to the Image of the beast ) Thou art my father , who , ( not in a sense of humiliation , as Iob speaks the words ) but of pride , say to corruption , Thou art my father , that is , that prostrate themselves to all the corruptions of a prostitute Church : If any so inclined of himself , or so inclinable if occasion should invite him , or rather tempt him , be offered for husband to any widow , for a Pastor to any vacant Church , he is not within the accommodation of this law , hee is not our brother , by the whole bloud , who hath not a brotherhood rooted in the same religion , and in the allegiance to the same Soveraign . He must be a brother , and Frater Cohabitans , a brother dwelling with the former brother . As he is a brother , we consider the unity of faith : As he dwels in the same house , we consider the unity of discipline ; That as he beleeves , and professes the same articles of faith , so by his own obedience , and by his instructing of others , hee establish the same government ; A Schismatique is no more a brother to this purpose , then an Heretique . If we look well , we shall see , that Christ provided better for his garments , then for his flesh ; he suffered his flesh to be torn , but not his seamlesse garment . There may bee , in many cases , more mischief , in disobeying the uniformity of the discipline of the Church then in mistaking in opinion , some doctrine of the Church . Wee see in Gods institution of his first Church , whom he called brethren : Those who were instructed , and cunning in the songs of the Church , they are called brethren ; To oppose the orders of the Church solemnly ordained , or customarily admitted , for the advancement of Gods glory , and the devotion of the Congregation , forfeits this brotherhood , or at least discontinues the purpose and use of it ; for , howsoever they may bee in a kinde , brothers , if they succeed in the profession of the same faith , yet wee see where the blessednesse is settled , Blessed are they that dwell in thy house ; And we see , where the goodnesse , and the pleasantnesse is settled , Behold , how good , and how pleasant a thing it is , for brethren to dwell together in unity : So that , if they be not brothers in the same faith , and brothers in the same houshold of the faithfull , and brothers in the same allegiance , If they advance not the truth of the Church , and the peace of the Church , and the head of the Church , fomentors of Error , and of Schisme , and Sedition , are not husbands for these widows , Pastors for these Churches . Hee must bee a brother ; A brother dwelling in the same house of Christ , and then brother to one dead without children , as Tertullian expresses it in his particular elegancy Illiberis ; that is , content to be his brother , in that sense , in that capacity , to claime no children , no spirituall children of his own begetting ; not to attribute to himself that holy generation of the Saints of God , as though his learning , or his wit , or his labour , had saved them ; but to content himselfe to have been the foster father , and to have nursed those children , whom the Spirit of God , by over-shadowing the Church , hath begot upon her , for , though it be with the word of truth , in our preaching , yet of his own will begot he us , though by the word , says the Apostle . Saint Paul might say to the Corinthians , Though you have tenne thousand instructors in Christ , yet have yee not many fathers , for in Christ Iesus I have begotten you through the Gospel ; And hee might say of his spirituall sonne Onesimus , That he begot him in his bonds ; Those , to whom he first of any presented the Gospel , That had not heard of a Christ , nor a holy Ghost , before , They , into whom , he infused a new religion , new to them , might well enough bee called his children , and hee their father ; But we have no new doctrine to present , no new opinion to infuse , or miracles to amaze , as in the Romane Church , they are full of all these : wee have no children to beget of our own : Paul was not crucified for you , nor were you baptized in the name of Paul , sayes Paul himself ; as he sayes again , who is Paul ? but a Minister by whom ye beleeved , and that also not by him , but as the Lord gave to every man ; Not as Paul preached to every man , for he preached alike to every man ; but as the Lord gave to every man ; I have planted , says he , it is true , but he that planteth is nothing , says he also ; Only they that proceed , as they proceed in the Romane Church Ex opere operato , to tye the grace of God , to the action of the man , will venter to call Gods children , their children in that sense . My prayer shal be against that commination , That God will not give us a miscarrying womb , nor dry breasts ; that you may always suck pure milk from us , and then not cast it up , but digest it , to your spirituall growth ; And I shall call upon God with a holy passion , as vehement as Rachels to Iacob , Da mihi liberos , give me children , or I die : That God would give me children , but his children ; that he by his Spirit , may give you an inward regeneration , as I , by his ordinance shall present to you , the outward means , that so being begot by himselfe , the father of life , and of light , you may be nursed , and brought up , in his service by me . That so , not attributing the work to any man , but to Gods Ordinances , you doe not tye the power of God , nor the breath of life , to any one mans lips , as though there were no regeneration , no begetting , but by him ; but acknowledging the other to be but an instrument , and the weakest to be that , you may remember also , That though a man can cut deeper with an Axe , then with a knife , with a heavy , then with a lighter instrument ; yet God can pierce as far into a conscience , by a plain , as by an exquisite speaker . Now this widow being thus maried , This Church thus undertaken , He must perform the duty of a husbands brother : First , it is a personall office , he must doe it himself . When Christ shall say , at the Judgement , I was naked , and ye cloathed me not , sick , and ye visited me not , it shall be no excuse to say , When saw we thee naked , when saw we thee sick ? for wee might have seen it , wee should have seen it . When we shall come to our accompt , and see them , whose salvation was committed to us , perish , because they were uninstructed , and ignorant , dare we say then , we never saw them , show their ignorance , wee never heard of it ? That is the greatest part of our fault , the heaviest weight upon our condemnation , that we saw so little , heard so little , conversed so little amongst them , because we were made watchmen , and bound to see , and bound to hear , and bound to be heard ; not by others , but by our selves ; My sheep may be saved by others ; but I save them not , that are save so , nor shall I my self be saved by their labour , where mine was necessarily required . The office is personall , I must doe it , and it is perpetuall , I must perform it , sayes the text , goe through with it . Lots wife looked backe , and God never gave her leave to look forward again . That man who hath put his hand to the plow , and looks back , Christ disables him for the kingdome of God. The Galatians who had begun in the spirit , and then relapsed , before whose eyes Christ Iesus had been evidently set forth , as the Apostle speaks , fall under that reproach of the Apostle , to bee called , and called againe , fooles , and men bewitched . If I beginne to preach , amongst you , and proceed not , I shall fall under that heavy increpation from my God , you beganne , that you might for your owne glory , shew that you were in some measure , able to serve the Church , and when you had done enough for your own glory , you gave over my glory , and the salvation of their souls , to whom I sent you . God hath set our eyes in our foreheads , to look forward , not backward , not to be proud of that which we have done , but diligent in that which we are to doe . In the Creation , if God had given over his worke , the third , or fift day , where had man been ? If I give over my prayers , due to the Church of God , as long as God enables me to doe it service , I lose my thanks , nay , I lose the testimony of mine own conscience for all . My office is personall , and it is perpetuall , and then it is a duty . He must perform the duty of a husbands brother unto her . It is not of curtesie , that we preach , but it is a duty , it is not a bounty given , but it is a debt paid : for , though I preach the Gospel , I have nothing to glory of , for a necessity is laid upon me , sayes Saint Paul himself . It is true , that as there is Vae si non , Wo be unto mee , if I doe not preach the Gospel , so there is an Euge bone serve , Well done , good and faithfull servant , to them that doe . But the Vae , is of Iustice , the Euge is of Mercy ; If doe it not , I deserve condemnation from God ; but if , I doe it , I deserve not thanks from him . Nay , it is a debt , not onely to God , but to Gods people , to you : and indeed there is more due to you , then you can claime , or can take knowledge of . For the people can claime but according to the laws of that State , and the Canons of that Church , in which God hath placed them ; such preaching , as those Laws , and those Canons enjoyn , is a debt which they can call for : but the Pastor himself hath another Court , another Barre in himselfe , by which hee tries himselfe , and must condemne himselfe , if hee pay not this debt , performe not this duty , as often , as himself , knowes himselfe , to bee fit , and able to doe it . It is a duty , and it is the duty of an husbands brother . Now the husband hath power , and authority over the wife . The head of the woman is the Man ; and when the office of this spirituall husband is particularly expressed , thus , Reprove , Rebuke , Exhort , you see , for one word of familiarity , that is , Exhort , there are two of authority , Reprove , and Rebuke . But yet , all the authority of the husband , secular , or ecclesiasticall , temporall , or spirituall husband , is grounded , rooted in love : for , the Apostle seemes to delight himself , in the repeating of that Commandement , to the Ephesians , and to the Colossians , Husbands love your wives . Moses extends himselfe no farther , in expressing all the happinesses , that Isaak and Rebecca enjoyed in one another , but this , shee become his wife , and he loved her . If shee had not beene his wife , Moses would never have proposed that love for an example ; for so it is also betweene Elkanah , and his wife Hannah . 1 Sam. 1. 5. Vnto Hannah he gave a double portion , for ( sayes the Text ) hee loved Hannah . If the Pastor love , there will bee a double labour ; if the People love , there will bee double respect . But being so , hee thought hee said all , when he said they loved one another ; For where the Congregation loves the Pastor , hee will forbeare bitter reproofes , and wounding increpations , and where the Pastor loves his Congregation , his Rebukes , because they proceed our of love , will bee acceptable , and well interpreted by them . It is a duty , and personall , and perpetuall ; a duty , of a husband , and lastly , of a husband that is brother to the former husband ; In which last circumstance , we have time to mark but this one note , that the reason of that law , which drew the brother to this mariage , was the preservation of the temporall inheritance , in that family . Even in our spirituall mariages to widow Churches , we must have a care to preserve the temporall rights of all persons ; That the Parish be not oppressed with heavy extortions , nor the Pastor defrauded with unjust substraction , nor the Patron damnified by usurpations , nor the Ordinary neglected by disobediences ; but that people , and Pastor , and Patron , and Ordinary , continuing in possession of their severall rights , love being the root of all , the fruit of all may be peace , love being the soul of all , the body of all may be unity ; which the Lord of unity , and concord , grant to us all , for his Sonne Christ Jesus sake , Amen . SERMON XLVI . The second Sermon Preached by the Author after he came to St. Dunstanes , 25 Apr. 1624. PSAL. 34. 11. Come ye children , Hearken unto me , I will teach you the fear of the Lord. THE Text does not call children simply , literally , but such men , and women , as are willing to come in the simplicity of children ; such children , as Christ spoke of , Except ye become as little children , ye shall not enter into the Kingdome of heaven ; Come ye children come such children . Nor does the Text call such as come , and would fain be gone again ; it is Come and Hearken ; not such as wish themselves away , nor such as wish another man here ; but such as value Gods ordinance of Preaching , though it be , as the Apostle says , but the foolishnesse of Preaching , and such , as consider the office , and not the person , how meane soever ; Come ye children ; And , when ye are come , Hearken , And , though it be but I , Hearken unto me ; And , I will teach you the feare of the Lord ; the most noble , the most couragious , the most magnanimous , not affection , but vertue , in the world ; Come ye children , Hearken unto me , and I will teach you the feare of the Lord. To every Minister and Dispenser of the word of God , and to every Congregation belong these words ; Divisio . And therefore we will divide the Text between us ; To you one , to us appertains the other part . You must come , and you must hearken ; we must teach , and teach to edification ; There is the Meum & Tuum , your part , and our part . From each Part , these branches flow out naturally ; In yours , first , the capacity , as children ; Then the action , you Come ; Then your Disposition here , you hearken ; And lastly , your submission to Gods Ordinance , you hearken even unto me , unto any Minister of his sending . In our Part , there is first a Teaching ; for , else , why should you come , or hearken unto me , or any ? It is a Teaching , it is not onely a Praying ; And then , there is a Catholique doctrine , a circular doctrine , that walks the round , and goes the compasse of our whole lives , from our first , to our last childhood , when age hath made us children again , and it is the Art of Arts , the root , and fruit of all true wisdome , The true feare of the Lord. Come ye children , hearken unto mee , and I will teach you the feare of the Lord. First then , the word , in which , in the first branch of the first part , your capacity is expressed , filii , pueri , children , is , from the Originall , which is Banim , often accepted in three notions , and so rendred ; Three ways , men are called children , out of that word Ban●m , in the Scriptures . Either it is servi , servants ; for , they are fili● familiares ; as the Master is Pater familias , Father of the family , ( and that he is , though there be no naturall children in the family ) the servants are children of the family , and are very often in Scriptures called so , Pueri , children ; Or it is Alumni , Nurse-children , foster-children , filii m●mmillares , children of the breasts ; whether wee minister to them , temporall or spirituall nourishment , they are children ; Or else it is filii viscerales , children of our bowels , our naturall children . And in all these three capacities , as servants , as sucking children , as sons , are you called upon in this appellation , in this compellation , children . First , as you are servants , you are children ; for , without distinction of age , servants are called so , frequently , ordinarily , in the Scriptures , Pueri . The Priest asks David , before he would give him the holy bread , An vasa puerorum sancta , Whether those children , ( speaking of Davids followers ) were clean from women ; Here were children that were able to get children . Nay , Davids Soldiers are often called so , pueri , children . In the first of the Kings , he takes a Muster , recenset pueros ; Here were children that were able to kill men . You are his children , ( of what age soever ) as you are his servants ; and in that capacity he cals you . You are unprofitable servants ; but it is not an unprofitable service , to serve God ; He can get nothing by you , but you can have nothing without him . The Centurions servants came , when he said , Come ; and was their wages like yours ? Had they their beeing , their ever-lasting well-beeing for their service ? You will scarce receive a servant , that is come from another man , without testimony ; If you put your selves out of Gods service , whither will ye goe ? In his service , and his onely , is perfect freedome . And therefore as you love freedome , and liberty , bee his servants ; and call the freedome of the Gospel , the best freedome , and come to the Preaching of that . He cals you children , as you are servants , ( filii familiares ) and he cals you children , as you are Alumni , nurse-children , filii mammillares , as he requires the humility , and simplicity of little children in you . For , Cum simplicibus sermocinatio ejus , ( as the vulgat reads that place ) Gods secret discourse is with the single heart . The first that ever came to Christ , ( so as he came to us , in blood ) they that came to him so , before he came so to us , that died for him , before he died for them , were such sucking children , those whom Herod slew . As Christ thought himself bound to thank his Father , for that way of proceeding , I thank thee , O Father , Lord of heaven and earth , that thou hast revealed these things unto babes ; so Christ himself pursues the same way , Suffer little children , and forbid them not , to come unto me , for of such is the Kingdome of heaven . Of such ; not onely of those who were truly , literally children , ( children in age ) but of such as those , ( Talium est regnum coelorum ) such as come in such a disposition , in the humility , in the simplicity , in the singlenesse of heart , as children do . An habituall sinner is always in minority , always an Infant ; an Infant to this purpose , All his acts , all the bands of an Infant , are void all the outward religious actions , even the band and contract of Baptism in an habituall sinner is void , and ineffectuall . He that is in the house , and favour of God , though he be a child , ( a child to this purpose , simple , supple , tractable , single-hearted ) is , as Adam was in the state of Innocency , a man the first minute , able to stand upright in the sight of God. And out of one place of Esay , our Expositors have drawn , conveniently enough , both these conclusions ; A child shall die 100 years old , says the Prophet ; that is , ( say some ) a sinner though he live 100 years , yet he dies a child , in ignorance ; And then , ( say others , and both truly ) He that comes willingly , when God cals , though he die a child in age , he hath the wisdome of 100 years upon him . There is not a graver thing , then to be such a child ; to conform his will to the will of God. Whether you consider temporall or spirituall things , you are Gods children . For , for temporall , if God should take off his hand , withdraw his hand of sustentation , all those things , which assist us temporally , would relapse to the first feeble , and childish estate , and come to their first nothing . Armies would be but Hospitals , without all strength ; Councell-tables but Bedlams , without all sense ; and Schools and Universities , but the wrangling of children , if God , and his Spirit did not inanimate our Schools , and Armies , and Councels . His adoption makes us men , therefore , because it makes us his children . But we are his children in this consideration especially , as we are his spirituall children , as he hath nursed us , fed us with his word . In which sense , the Apostle speaks of those who had embraced the true Religion , ( in the same words that the Prophet had spoken before ) Behold , I , and the children that God hath given me ; And in the same sense , the same Prophet , in the same place , says of them who had fallen away from the true Religion , They please themselves in the children of strangers , In those men , who have derived their Orders , and their Doctrine from a forein Jurisdiction . In that State where Adoptions were so frequent , ( in old Rome ) a Plebeian could not adopt a Patrician , a Yeoman could not adopt a Gentleman , nor a young man could not adopt an old . In the new Rome , that endevours to adopt all , in an imaginary filiation , you that have the perfect freedome of Gods service , be not adopted into the slavery , and bondage of mens traditions ; you that are in possession of the ancient Religion , of Christ , and his Apostles , be not adopted into a yonger Religion . Religio à religando ; That is Religion , that binds ; that binds , that is necessary to salvation . That which we affirm , our adversaries deny not ; that which we professe , they confesse was always necessary to salvation . They will not say , that all that they say now , was always necessary ; That a man could not be saved without beleeving the Articles of the Councell of Trent , a week before that Councell shut up . You are his children , as children are servants ; and , If he be your Lord , where is his fear ? you are his children , as he hath nursed you , with the milk of his word ; and if he be your Father so , ( your foster Father ) where is his love ? But he is your Father otherwise ; you are not onely Filii familiares , children because servants , nor onely Filii mammillares , children because noursed by him , but you are also Filii viscerales , children of his bowells . For , we are otherwise allied to Christ , then we can be to any of his instruments , though Angels of the Church , Prophets , or Apostles ; and yet , his Apostle says , of one whom he loved , of Onesimus , Receive him , that is mine owne bowells ; my Sonne , says he , whom I have begotten in my hands . How much more art thou bound to receive and refresh those bowells from which thou art derived , Christ Iesus himselfe ; Receive him , Refresh him . Carry that , which the wiseman hath said , Miserere animae tuae , bee mercifull to thine owne soule , higher then so ; and Miserere salvatoris tui , have mercy upon thine owne Saviour , put on the bowells of mercy , and put them on even towards Christ Iesus himselfe , who needs thy mercy , by beeing so tome , and mangled , and embowelled , by blasphemous oaths , and execrations . For , beloved , it is not so absurd a prayer , as it is conceived , if Luther did say upon his death bed , Oremus pro Domino nostro Iesu Christo , Let us pray for out Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. Had we not need pray for him ? If he complaine that Saul persecutes him , had we not need pray for him ? It is a seditious affection in civill things , to divide the King and the kingdome ; to pray , to fight for the one , and leave out the other , is seditiously done . If the kingdome of Christ need thy prayers , and thy assistance , Christ needs it ; If the Body need it , the Head needs it ; If thou must pray for his Gospell , thou must pray for him ; Nay , thou canst not pray for thy selfe , but thou must pray for him , for , thou art his bowells ; when thou in thy forefathers , the first Christians in the Primitive Church , wast persecuted , Christ cryed out , why persecutest thou me ? Christ made thy case his , because thou wast of his bowells . When Christ is disseised , and dispossest , his truth profligated , and thrown out of a nation , that professed it before , when Christ is wounded by the blasphemies of others , and crucified by thee , in thy relapses to repented sinnes , wilt thou not say to Them , to Thy selfe , in the behalfe of Christ , why persecute yee me ? Wilt thou not make Christs case thine , as hee made thine his ? Art not thou the bowells of Christ ? If not , ( and thou art not , if thou have not this sense of his suffering ) thou hast no interest in his death , by thy Baptisme , nor in his Resurrection , by thy feeble halfe repentances . But in the duty of a child , as thou art a servant , in the simplicity of a child , as thou hast sucked from him , in the interest and inheritance of a child , as thou art the Son of his bowells , in all these capacities , ( and with all these we have done ) God calls thee , come ye children ; and that is our next step , the Action , Come . Passing thus from the Persons to the action , Venite , Come , we must aske first , what this comming is ? The whole mystery of our redemption is expressed by the Apostle in this word , venit , that Christ Iesus is come into the world . All that thou hast to do , is to come to , and to meet him . Where is he ? At home ; in his own house , in the Church . Which is his house , which is his Church ? That to thee , in which he hath given thee thy Baptisme , if that do still afford thee , as much as is necessary for thy salvation . Come thither , to the participation of his ordinances , to the exercises of Religion there . The gates of heaven shall be opened to you , at last in that word , Venite benedicti , come ye blessed , the way to those gates is opened to you now , in the same word , Venite filii , come ye children , come . Christ can come , and does often , into thy bed-chamber , in the visitation of his private Spirit , but , here , he calls thee out into the congregation , into the communion of Saints . And then the Church celebrates Christs coming in the flesh , a moneth before he comes , in four Sundays of Advent , before Christmas . When thou comest to meet him in the Congregation , come not occasionally , come not casually , not indifferently , not collaterally ; come not as to an entertainment , a show , a spectacle , or company , come solemly , with preparation , with meditation . He shall have the lesse profit , by the prayer of the Congregation , that hath not been at his private prayer before he came . Much of the mystery of our Religion lay in the venturus , that Christ was to come , all that the law and Prophets undertooke for , was that venturus , that Christ was to come ; but the consummation of all , the end of the law and the Prophets , is in the venit , he is come . Do not clogge thy coming with future conditions , and contingencies , thou wilt come , if thou canst wake , if thou canst rise , if thou canst be ready , if thou like the company , the weather , the man. We finde one man who was brought in his bed to Christ ; but it was but one . Come , come actually , come earnestly , come early , come often ; and come to meet him , Christ Jesus and no body else . Christ is come into the world ; and therefore thou needest not goe out of the world to meet him ; He doth not call thee from thy Calling , but in thy Calling . The Dove went up and down , from the Arke , and to the Arke , and yet was not disappointed of her Oliveleafe , Thou maiest come to this place at due times , and maiest doe the businesses of the world , in other places too , and still keep thy Olive , thy peace of Conscience . If no Hereticall recusancy , ( thou dost like the Doctrine ) no schismaticall recusancy , ( thou dost like the Discipline ) no lasie recusancy , ( thou forbearest not because thou canst not sit at thine ease ) no proud recusancie , ( that the company is not good enough for thee ) if none of these detain thee , thou maist be here , even when thou art not here ; God may accept thy desire , as , in many cases , thou maist be away , when thou art here ; as , in particular thou art , if being here , thou do not hearken to that which is said here ; for that is added to the coming , and follows in a third consideration , after the capacity , Children , and the Action , Come , The disposition , Hearken : Come ye children & hearken . Upon those words of David , Conturbata sunt ossa mea . St. Basil faith well , Habet & anima ossa sua , The soul hath bones as well as the body . And in this Anatomy , and dissection of the soul , as the bones of the soul , are the constant and strong resolutions thereof , and as the seeing of the soul is understanding ( The eyes of your understanding being opened ) so the Hearing of the soul is hearkning in these religious exercises , we doe not htar , except we hearken ; for hearkning is the hearing of the soul. Some men draw some reasons , out of some stories of some credit , to imprint a belief of extasie , and raptures ; That the body remaining upon the floore , or in the bed , the soul may be gone out to the contemplation of heavenly things . But it were a strange and a perverse extasie , that the body being here , at a religious exercise , and in a religious posture , the soul should be gone out to the contemplation , and pursuit of the pleasures or profits of this world . You come hither but to your own funeralls , if you bring nothing hither but your bodies ; you come but to be enterred , to be laid in the earth , if the ends of your comming be earthly respects , prayse , and opinion , and observation of men , you come to be Canonized , to grow Saints , if your souls be here , and by grace here alwayes diffused , grow up to a sanctification . Bonus es Domine animae quaerenti te , Thou art good , O Lord , to that soul that seeks thee ; It is St. Augustines note , that it is put in the singular , Animae , to that soul : Though many come , few come to him . A man may thread Sermons by half dozens a day , and place his merit in the nūber , a man may have been all day in the perfume and incense of preaching , and yet have receivd none of the savor of life unto life . Some things an Ape can do as wel as a Man ; some things an Hypocrite as wel as a Saint . We cannot see now , whether thy soul be here now , or no ; but , to morrow , hereafter , in the course of thy life , they which are near thee , & know whether thy former faults be mended , or no , know whether thy soul use to be at Sermons , as well as thy body uses to go to Sermons . Faith comes by hearing , saith the Apostle ; but it is by that hearing of the soul , Hearkning , Considering . And then , as the soul is infused by God , but diffused over the whole body , & so there is a Man , so Faith is infused from God , but diffused into our works , and so there is a Saint . Practise is the Incarnation of Faith , Faith is incorporated and manifested in a body , by works ; and the way to both , is that Hearing , which amounts to this Hearkning , to a diligent , to a considerate , to a profitable Hearing . In which , one essentiall circumstance is , that we be not over affectionately transported with an opinion of any one person , but apply our selves to the Ordinance , Come , and hearken unto me , To any whom God sends with the Seale and Character of his Minister , which is our fourth and last branch in your part . David doth not determine this in his own person , that you should hearken to him , and none but him , but that you should hearken to him in that capacity and qualification , which is common to him with others , as we are sent by God upon that Ministery ; Me. that you say to all such , Blessed art thou that comest in the Name of the Lord. St. Augustine , and not he alone , interprets this whole Psalme of Christ , that it is a thankesgiving of Christ to his Father , upon some deliverance received in some of his Agonies , some of his persecutions ; and that Christ calleth us to hearken unto him . To him , so , as he is present with us , in the Ministery of his Church , He is a perverse servant , that will receive no commandment , except he have it immediately from his Masters mouth ; so is he too , that pretendeth to rest so wholly in the Word of God , the Scriptures , as that he seeks no interpretation , no exposition , no preaching , All is in the Scriptures , but all the Scriptures are not alwaies evident to all understandings . He also is a perverse servant , that wil receive no commandment by any Officer of his Masters , except he like the man , or , if his Master might , in his opinion , have chosen a fitter man , to serve in that place . And such a perversnesse is in those hearers who more respect the man , then the Ministery , and his manner of delivering it , then the message that he delivers . Let a man so account of us , as of the Ministers of Christ , and Stewards of the mysteries of God. That is our Classis , our rank , our station , what names soever we brought into the world by our extraction from this or that family , what name soever we took in our baptisme , and contract between God and us , that name , in which we come to you , is that , The Ministers of Christ , The Stewards of the Mysteries of God , And so let men account of us , says the Apostle . Invention , and Disposition , and Art , and Eloquence , and Expression , and Elocution , and reading , and writing , and printing , are secondary things , accessory things , auxiliary , subsidiary things ; men may account us , and make account of us , as Orators in the pulpit , and of Authors , in the shop ; but if they account of us as of Ministers and Stewards , they give us our due ; that 's our name to you . All the Evangelists mention Iohn Baptist and his preaching ; but two of the foure say never a word of his austerity of life , his Locusts , nor his Camels haire ; and those two that do , Matthew and Marke , they insist , first , upon his calling , and then upon his actuall preaching , how he pursued that Calling , And then upon the Doctrine that he preached , Repentance , and Sanctification , and after that , they come to these secondary and subsidiary things , which added to his estimation , and assisted the passage of his Doctrine , His good life . Learning , and other good parts , and an exemplar life fall into second places ; They have a first place , in their consideration who are to call them , but in you , to whom they are sent , but a second ; fixe you , in the first place , upon the Calling . This Calling circumcised Moses uncircumcised lips ; This made Ieremy able to speak , though he called himself a childe ; This is Esays coale from the Altar , which takes away even his sinne , and his iniquity . Be therefore content to passe over some infirmities , and rest your selves upon the Calling . And when you have thus taken the simplicity of Children , ( they are the persons , which was our first step ) and are come to the Congregation , ( that is your Action , and was our second ) and have conformed your selves to hearken , ( that also is the Disposition here , which was our third ) And all this with a reverence to the Calling before an affection to the man , ( that is your submission to Gods Ordinance , and was our fourth and last step ) you have then built up our first part in your selves , & laid together all those peeces which constitute your Duty , Come ye Children , and hearken unto me ; And from hence we passe , to our duty , I will teach you the fear of the Lord. In this second part , we made two steps ; first , The manner , Docebo , I will teach ; And then the Matter , Timorem Domini , I will teach you the feare of the Lord. Upon the first , we will stay no longer , but to confesse , That we are bound to teach , and that this teaching is to preach ; And Vae si non , W● be unto us , if we do not preach . Wo to them , who out of ease , or state , silence themselves ; And woe to them too , who by their distemper , and Schismaticall and seditious manner of preaching , occasion and force others to silence them ; and think , ( and think it out of a profitable , and manifold experience ) That as forbidden books sell best , so silence Ministers thrive best . It is a Duty , Docendum , we must teach , Preach ; but a duty that excludes not Catechizing ; for cateching seems especially to be intended here , where he calls upon them who are ot be taught , by that name , Children . It is a duty that excludes not Praying ; but Praying excludes not it neither . Prayer and Preaching may consist , nay they must meet in the Church of God. Now , he that will teach , must have learnt before , many yeers before ; And he that eill preach , must have thought of it before , many days before . Extemporall Ministers , that resolve in day what they will be , Extemporall Preachers , that resolve in a minute , what they will say , outgo Gods Spirit , and make too much hast . It was Christs way ; He tooke first Disciples to learne , and then● out of them , he tooke Apostles to teach ; an those Apostles made more Disciples . Though your first consideration be upon the Calling , yet our consideration must be for our fitnesse to that Calling . Our Prophet David hath put them both together , well , O God , thou hast taught me from my youth ; ( you see what was his Vniversity ; Moses was his Aristotle ; he had studied Divinity from his youth ) And hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works , says he there . Hitherto ? How long was that ? It follows in the next verse , Now am I old , and gray headed , and yet he gave not over . Then Gods work goes well forward , when they whom God hath taught , teach others , He that can say with David , Docnistime , O God thou hast taught me , may say with him too , Docebo vos , I will teach you But what ? that remains only , I will teach you the fear of the Lord. There is a fear , which needs no teaching , a fear that is naturally imprinted in us . We need not teach men to bee sad , when a mischiefe is upon them , nor to feare it is coming towards them ; for , fear respects the future , so as sadnesse does the present ; feal looks upon Danger , and sadnesse upon Detriment ; fear upon a sick friend , and sadnesse upon as dead . And as these need not bee taught us , because they are naturall , so , because they are naturall , they need nor bee untaught us , they need not be forbidden , nor disswaded . Our Saviour Christ had them both , fear , and sadnesse ; and that man lacks Christian wisedom , who is without a provident fear of future dangers , and without Christian charity , who is without a compassionate sadnesse in present calamities . Now this fear , thought but imprinted in nature , is Timor Domini , Tha fear of the Lord , because the Lord is the Lord of Nature , He is the Nature of Narture , Lord of all endowments and impressions in Nature . And therefore , though for this naturall feare , you goe no farther then nature , ( for it is born with you , and i● lives in you ) yet the right use even of this naturall fear , is from Grace , though in the root it be a feare● of nature , yet in the government thereof , in the degrees , and practise thereof , it is the feare of the Lord ; Not onely as hee is Lord of Nature , ( for so , you have the feare it selfe from the Lord ) but as this naturall fear produces good or had effects , as it is regulated and ordered , or as it is deserted , and abandoned , by the Spirit of the Lord ; And therefore you ae called hither , Come , that you may learne the fear of the Lord , that is , the right use of naturall fear , and naturall affections , from the Law of God ; For , as it is a wretched condition , to be without naturall a affections , so is it a dangerous dereliction , if our naturall affections be left to themselves , and not regulated , not inanimated by the Spirit of God ; for then my sadnesse will sinke into Desperation , and my fear will betray the succours which reason offereth . This I gain by letting in the fear of the Lord , into my naturall fear ; that whereas the naturall object of my naturall fear is malum , something that I apprehend sub ratione mali , as it is ill for me , ( for , if I did not conceive it to be ill , I would not fear it ) yet when I come to thaw this Ice , when I come to discusse this cloud , and attenuate this damp , by the light and heat of Grace , and the illustration of the Spirit of God , breathing in his word , I change my object , or at least , I look upon it in another line , in another angle , I look not upon that evill which my naturall fear presented me , of an affliction , or a calamity , but I look upon the glory that God receives by my Christian constancy in that afflicton , but I look upon that everlasting blessednes , which I should have lost , if God had not laid that affliction upon me . So that though fear look upon evill , ( for affliction is malum poenae , evill as it hath the nature of punishment ) yet when the feare of the Lord is entred into my naturall feare , my feare is more conversant , more exercised upon the contemplation of Good , then Evill , more upon the glory of God , and the joys of heaven , then upon the afflictions of this life , how malignant , how manifold soever . And therefore , that this feare , and all your naturall affections , ( which seem weaknesse in man , and are so indeed , if they bee left to themselves , now in our corrupt and depraved estate ) may advance your salvation , ( which is the end why God hath planted them in you ) Come and learn the fear of the Lord , Learn from the Word of God , explicated by his minister , in his Ordinance upon occasions leading him thereunto , the limits of this naturall fear , & where if may become sin , if it be not regulated , and inanimated by a better fear , then it self . There is a fear , which grows out of a second nature , Custome , and so is half-naturall , to those men that have it . The custome of the palce we live in , or of the times we live in , or of the company we live in . Topical customes of such a place , Chronical customes of such an Age , Personal customes of such a company . The time , or the place , or the persons in power have advanced , & drawn into fashion and reputation , some vices , & such men as depend upon them , are afraid , not to concur with them in their vices ; for , amongst persons , & in times , & places , that are vicious , and honest man is a rebel ; he goes against that State , & that Government , which is the kingdom of sin , Amongst drunkards , a sober man is a spy upon thē ; Amongst blasphemers , a prayer is a libell against them ; And amongst dissolute and luxurious persons , a chast man is a Bridewell , his person , his presence is a house of Correction . In vicious times and companies , a good man is unacceptable , and cannot prosper . And , because as amongst Merchants , men trade halfe upon stock , and halfe upon credit , so , in all other courses , because men rise according to the opinion & estimation which person in power have of them , as well as by reall goodnesse , therefore to build up , or to keep up this opinion and estimation in them upon whom they depend , they are afraid to crosse the vices of the Time , so far , as by being vertuous in their owne paticular . They are afraid it will be called a singularity , and a schismaticall and seditious disposition , and taken for a Reproach , and a Rebuke laid upon their betters , if they be not content to be as ill , as those their betters are , Now , the fear of the Lord brings the Quo Warranto against all these priviledged sins , and priviledged places , and persons , and overthrows all these Customes , and Prescriptions . The fear of the Lord is not a Topicall , not a Chronicall , ot a Personall , but a Catholique , a Canonicall , a Circular , an Vniversall fear ; It goes through all , and over all ; and when this halfe-naturall feare , this feare grown out of Custome , suggests to me , That if I be thus tender-conscienced , if I startle at an oath , if I be sick at a Health , if I cannot conform my selfe to the vices of my betters , I shall lose my Master , my Patron , my Benefactor , This feare of the Lord enters , and presents the infallible losse of a farre greater Master , and Patron , & Benefactor , if I comply with to other . And therefore as you were called hither , ( that is to the explication of the Word of God ) to learn how to regulate the naturall fear , that that fear doe not deject you into a diffidence of Gods mercy , so come hither ot learne the fear of God , against this half-naturall fear , that is , bee guided by the Word of God , how far you are to serve the turnes of those persons , upon whom ye depend , and when to leave their commandements unperformed . Well ; what will this feare of the Lord teach us ? Valour , fortitude ; feare teach valour ? yes ; And nothing but feare ; True feare . As Moses his Serpents devoured the false serpents , so doth true fear all false fear . There is nothing so contrary to God , as false fear ; neither in his own nature , nor in his love to us . Therefore Gods first Name in the Bible , and the Name which he sticks to , in all the worke of the Creation , is his Name of Power , Elohim ; El , is fortis Deus , The God of Power ; and it is that Name in the plurall , multiplied power , All Power ; And what can he feare ? God descends to many other humane affections ; you shall read that God was Angry , and sory . and weary ; But non timuit Deus , God was never afraid . Neither would God that man should be . So his first blessing upon man , was to fill the earth , and to subdue the creatures , and to rule over them , and to eat what he would upon the earth ; All Acts of Power , and of Confidence . As soon as hee had offended God , the first impotency that he found in himself , was fear : I heard thy voice , and I was afraid , says he . He had heard the voice of Lions , and was not afraid . There is not a greater commination of a curse , then that , They shall be in a great fear , where no fear is ; Which is more vehemently expressed in another place , I will set my face against you , and yu shall flye , when none pursues you ; I will send a faintnesse into their hearts , and the sound of a shaken leafe , shall chase them , as a sword . Flase feare is a fearfull curfe . To feare that all favours , and all preferments , will goe the wrong way , and that therefore I must clap on a byasse , and goe that way too , this inordinate fear is the curse of God. Davids last counsail to Solomon ( but reflecting upon us all ) was , Be thou strong therefore , and show thy selfe a man. E Culmine corruens , ad gyrum laboris venit , The Davill fell from his place in heaven , and now is put to compasse the earth . The fearfull man that fals from his morall and his Christian constancy , from the fundamentall rules of his religion , fals into labyrinths , of incertitudes , and impertinencies , and ambiguities , and anxieties , & irresolutions . Militia , vita ; our whole life is a warfare ; God would not chuse Cowards ; hee lad rather we were valiant in the fighting of his battels ; for battels , and exercise of valour , we are sure to have . God sent a Cain into the world before an Abel ; An Enemy , before a Champion . Abel non suspicor qui non habet Cain ; Gregor . we never heare of an Abel , but there is a Cain too . And therefore think it not strange , concerning the fiery triall , as though some strange thing happened unto you ; Make account that this world is your Scene , your Theater , and that god himself sits to see the combat , the wrestling . Vetuit Deus mortem Iob ; Iob was Gods Champion , and God forbad Satan the taking away of Iobs life ; for , if he die , ( sayes God in the mouth of that Father ) Theatrum nobis non amplius plaeudetar , My Theater will ring with no more Plaudites , I shall bee no more glorified in the valour and constancy of my Saints , my Champions . God delights in the constant and valiant man , and therefore a various , a timorous man frustrates , disappoints God. My errand then is to teach you valour ; and must my way be to intimidate you , to teach you feare ? yes , still there is no other fortitude , but the fear of the Lord. We told you before , sadnesse and fear differ but in the present , and future . And as for the present , Nihil aliud triste quàm Deum offendere , There is no just cause of sadnesse , but to have sinned against God , ( for , sudden sadnesse arising in a good Conscience , is a sparke of fire in the Sea , it must goe out ; ) so there is no just cause of fear , but in Gods displeasure . Mens in timore Domini constituta , non invenit extra quod metuat . God is all ; and if I be established in him , what thing can I fear , when there is nothing without him ? nothing simply , at least nothing that can hurt me ; Quae sunt in mundo non nocentiis qui extra mundum sunt , This world cannot hurt him that made it , nor them that are laid up in him . Ionas did but change his vessell , his ship , when he entred the Whale , he was not shipwracked , God was his Pilot there , as well as in the ship , and therefore he as confident there . It is meant of Christ , which is spoken in the person in Wisdome , Who so hearkneth unto me , shall dwell safely , and be quiet from the feare of evill . And therefore ; when you heare of warres and commotions , be not terrified ; these things must come to passe , but the end is not by and by ; Imaginations , and tentations , and alienations , and tribulations must come : But this is not the end ; the end that God lookes for , is , that by the benefit of his fear we should stand out all these . So thē to teach you the fear of the Lord , is to teach you what it doth , that you may love it , and what it is , that you may know it . That w ch it doth , is that it makes you a constant , a confident , a valiant man , That which God , who is alwayes the same , loves . How doth it that ? Thus. As he that is falne into tha Kings hand for debt to him , is safe from other creditors , so is he , that fears the Lord , form other fears . He that loves the Lord , loves him witl all his love ; he that fears the Lord , fears him withall his fear too ; God takes no half affections . Upon those words , Be not high-minded , but fear , Clement of Alexandria , hath another reading ; super-time , over-feare ; that is , carry thy fear to the highest place ; place thy fear there , where it may be above all other fears . In the multitude of dreams , there are divers vanities , but feare thou the Lord. All fearfull things passe away as dreams , as vanities , to him that fears the Lord ; They offer at him , but in vain , if he be established with that fear . In Christ there was no bone broken ; In him that feares the Lord , no constant purpose is ever shaken . Of Iob it is said , that he was perfect and upright ; That is a rare wonder , but the wonder is qualified in the addition , He feared God. So are they put together in Simeon , Iustus & timoratus , he was a just man ; how should he be otherwise ? He feared God. Consider your enemies , and be not deceived with an imagination of their power , but see whether they be worthy of your feare , if you feare God. The World is your enemy ; sed vicit mundum , be of good cheare , for I have overcome the world , saith Christ. If it were not so , yet we are none of it ; ye are not of the world , for I have chosen you out of the that world . Howsoever , the world would doe us no harm , the world would be good enough of it self , but that the Prince of the world , the Devill , is anima mundi , the soul of this lower world , he inanimates , he actuates , he exalts , the malignity of the world against us ; and he is our second enemy . It was not the Apple , but the Serpent that tempted ; Eve. no doubt , had looked upon the fruit before , and yet did not long . But even this enemy is not so dangerous , as he is conceived . In the life of St. Basil , we have a story , that the Devil appeared to a penitent sinner at his praiers , and told him , If you will let me alone , I will let you alone , meddle not with me , and I will not meddle with you , He found that by this good souls prayers to God , God had weakned his power , not onely upon that man the prayed , but upon others too ; and therefore he was content , to come to a cessation of armes with him , that he might turn his forces another way . Truely he might say to many of us , in a worse sense , Let me alone , and I will let you alone ; tempt not me , & I will not tempt you : Our idlenes , our high diet , our wanton discours , our exposing our selves to occasion of sin , provoke and call in the Devill , when he seeks not us . The Devill possesses the world , and we possesse the Devill . But then , if the fear of the Lord possesse us , our owne Concupiscencies , ( though they be indeed our greatest enemies ) because the warre that they maintain is a civill warre ) shall doe us no harm , for as the Septuagins in their Translation , diminish the power of the Devill , in that name ●words● , ( a disproportioned Creature , made up of a Lion and an Ant , because as St. Gregory saith upon that place ) formicis ●eoest , volatilibus formica , The Devill is a Lion. to Ants , dasheth whole hills of them with his paw , that creep under him , but he is but an Ant to birds ; they prey upon him , that flie above him . If wee feare the Lord , our concupiscencies , our carnall affections , our selves , may prove our best friends , because , as the fire in the furnace did not burn the men , but it burnt off those bands , that fettered and manacled them , ( for they were loose , and walked in the furnace ) so our concupiscencies , if we resist them , shall burn off themselves , and file off their own rust , and our salvation shall be surer by occasion of temptations . We may prevent mortem mortificatione , everlasting death , by a disciplinary life . Mori , ne moriamur , is his rule too , To die to the fires of lust here , lest wee die in unquenchable fires hereafter ; to die daily , ( as S. Paul speaks of himself ) lest we die at the last day . To end this , this is the working of the fear of the Lord , it devours all other fears ; God will have no half-affections , God will have no partners ; He that fears God fears nothing else . This then is the operation of the feare of the Lord , this is his working ; remaines onely to consider what this feare of the Lord is : And , beloved in him , be not afraid of it ; for , this fear of God , is the love of God. And , howsoever there may be some amongst us , whom the heighth of birth , or of place , or of spirit hath kept from fear , They never feared any thing , yet , I think , there is none , that never loved any thing . Obligations of Matrimony , or of friendship , or of blood , or of alliance , or of conversation , hath given every one of us , no doubt , some sense in our selves , what it is to love , and to enjoy that which we doe love ; And the fear of God , is the love of God. The love of the Lord passeth all things , saith the Wise man : The love , what is that to fear ? It follows , The fear of the Lord , is the beginning of his love . As they that build Arches , place centers under the Arch , to beare up the work , till it bee dried , and setled , but , after , all is Arch , and there is no more center , no more support ; so to lie at the Lords feet a while delivers us into his arms , to accustome our selves to his fear , establishes us in his love . Be content to stop a little , even at the lowest fear , the fear of hell . When Saul was upon an expedition , and did not finde himself well followed , he took a yoke of Oxen , and hewed them in pieces , and proclaimed , that whosoever came not to the supply , all his Oxen should be so served ; and upon this , ( says the Text there ) The fear of the Lord fell upon all the people , and they came out , as one man , three hundred and thirty thousand . If Sauls threatning of their worldly goods , wrought so ; let Gods threatning of thy selfe , thine inwardest self , thy soul , with hell , make thee to stop even upon thy fear of the Lord , the fear of Torment . Stop upon the second fear too , the fear of privation , and losse of the sight of God in heaven ; That when all wee have disputed , with a modest boldnesse , and wondred with a holy wonder , what kinde of sight of God we shall have in heaven , then when thou shouldst come to an end , and to an answer of all these doubts , in an experimentall triall , how he shall be seen , ( seen thus ) thou shalt see then that thou shalt never see him . After thou hast used to hear , all thy life , blessednesse summed up into that one act , We shall see God , thou shalt never come nearer to that knowledge , thou shalt never see him ; fear the Lord therefore in this second fear , fear of privation . And fear him in a third fear , the fear of the losse of his grace here in this world , though thou have it now . S. Chrysostome serves himself and us , with an ordinary comparison , A Tyler is upon the top of the house , but he looks to his footing , he is afraid of falling . A righteous man is in a high place in Gods favour , but hee may lose that place . Who is higher then Adam , higher then the Angels ? and whither fell they . Make not thou then thy assurance of standing , our of their arguments , that say it is impossible for the righteous to fall , The sins of the righteous are no sins in the sight of God ; but built thy assurance upon the testimony of a good conscience , that thou usest all diligence , and holy industry , that thou maist continue in Gods favour , and fearest to lose it ; for , hee that hath no fear of losing , hath no care of keeping . Accustome thy self to these fears , and these fears will flow into a love . As love , and jealousie may bee the same thing , so the feare and love of God will be all one ; for , jealousie is but a fear of losing . Brevissima differentia Testamentorum , Timor & Amor ; This distinguishes the two Testaments , The Old is a Testament of fear , the New of love ; yet in this they grow all one , That we determine the Old Testament , in the New , and that we prove the New Testament by the Old ; for , but by the Old , we should not know , that there was to bee a New , nor , but for the New , that there was an Old ; so the two testaments grow one Bible ; so in these two Affections , if there were not a jealousie , a fear of losing God , we could not love him ; nor can we fear to lose him , except we doe love him . Place the affection , ( by what name soever ) upon the right object , God , and I have , in some measure , done that which this Text directed , ( Taught you the fear of the Lord ) if I send you away in either disposition , Timorous ; or amorous , possessed with either , the fear , or the love of God ; for , this fear is inchoative love , and this love is consummative fear ; The love of God begins in fear , and the fear of God ends in love ; and that love can never end , for God is love . SERMON XLVII . An Anniversary Sermon preached at St. Dunstans , upon the commemoration of a Parishioner , a Benefactor to that Parish . GEN. 3. 24. And dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life . THis is Gods malediction upon the Serpent in Paradise , There in the Region , in the Store-house of all plenty , he must starve ; This is the Serpents perpetuall fast , his everlasting Lent , ( Dust shalt thou eat all the dayes of thy life . ) There is a generation derived from this Serpent , Progenies viperarum , a generation of Vipers , that will needs in a great , and unnecessary measure , keep this Serpents Lent , and binde themselves to performe his fact ; for , the Carthusian will eat no flesh , ( and yet , I never saw better bodied men , men of better habitudes and constitution , howsoever they recompense their abstinence from flesh ) and the Fueillans will eat neither flesh nor fish , but roots , and fallets , ( and yet amongst them , amongst men so enfeebled by roots , was bred up that man , who was both malicious courage , and bodily strength , to kill the last King , who was killed amongst them ) They will be above others in their fasts , Fish , and Roots will they eat , all the dayes of their life , but their Master will be above them in his fast , ( Dust must he eat all the dayes of his life . ) It is Luthers observation upon this place , That in all Moses his Books , God never spoke so long , so much together , as here , upon this occasion . Indeed the occasion was great ; It was the arraignment of all the world , and more ; of mankinde , and of Angels too ; of Adam , and Eve , ( and there were no more of them ) and then of the Serpent , and of Satan in that , and of all the fallen Angels in him . For the sentence which God , as Judge gave upon them , upon all these Malefactors , of that part which fell upon the woman , all our mothers are experimentall witnesses ; they brought forth us in sorrow and in travaile . Of that part of the sentence which fell upon man , every one of us is an experimentall witnesse , for in every calling , in the sweat of our face , we eat our bread . And of that part of the Judgement , which was inflicted upon the Serpent , and Satan in him , this dead brother of ours who lyes in this consecrated earth , is an experimentall witnesse , who being by death reduced to the state of dust , for so much of him , as is dust , that is , for his dead body , and then , for so long time , as he is to remaine in that state of dust , is in the portion , and jurisdiction , and possession of the Serpent , that is , in the state which the Serpent hath induced upon man , and dust must he eat all the dayes of his life . In passing thorough these words , we shall make but these two steps ; first , What the Serpent lost , by this judgement inflicted upon him ; and secondly , What man gained by it ; for these two considerations imbrace much , involve much ; first , That Gods anger is so intensive , and so extensive , so spreading , and so vehement , as that in his Justice , he would not spare the Serpent , who had no voluntary , no innate , no naturall ill disposition towards man , but was onely made the instrument of Satan , in the overthrow of man. And then , that Gods mercy is so large , so overflowing , so super-abundant , as that even in his Judgement upon the Serpent , he would provide mercy for man. For , as it is a great waight of judgement upon the Serpent , that the Serpent must eat dust , so is it a great degree of mercy to man , that the Serpent must eate but dust , because mans best part is not subject to be served in at his table , the soule cannot become dust , ( and dust must he eate all the dayes of his life . O , in what little sinne , though but a sinne of omission , though but a sinne of ignorance , in what circumstance of sinne , may I hope to scape Judgement , if God punished the Serpent who was violently , and involuntarily transported in this action ? And in what depth , in what height , in what hainousnesse , in what multiplicity of sin can I doubt of the mercy of my God , who makes judgement it self the instrument , the engin , the Chariot of his mercy ? What room is there left for presumption , if the Serpent , the passive Serpent were punished ? What room for desperation , if in the punishment , there be a manifestation of mercy ? The Serpent must eate dust , that is his condemnation , but he shall eate no better meat , he shall eate but dust , there is mans consolation . First then , as it is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the living God , so is it an impossible thing to scape it . God is not ashamed of being jealous ; he does not onely pronounce that he is a jealous God , but he desires to be known by none other name , ( The Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God ) so jealous , as that he will not have his name uttered in vaine ; not onely not blasphemed , not sworne by , but not used indifferently , transitorily , not Proverbially , occasionally , not in vaine . And if it be , what then ? Even for this , he will visite to the third , and fourth generation ; and three and foure are seven , and seven is infinite . So jealous , as that in the case of the Angels , not for looking upon any other Creatures , or trusting in them , ( for , when they fell , ( as it is ordinarily received ) there were no other creatures made ) but for not looking immedidiately , directly upon God , but reflecting upon themselves , and trusting in their own naturall parts , God threw those Angels into so irrecoverable , and bottomelesse a depth , as that the merits of Christ Jesus , though of infinite , super-infinite value , doe not boye them up ; so jealous a God , is God , so jealous , as that in Adams case , for over-loving his own wife , for his over tender compassion of her , foreating the forbidden fruit , ne contristaretur delicias suas , ( as Saint Hierome layes his fault ) left he should deject her into an inordinate and desperate malancholy , and so make her incapable of Gods mercy , God threw the first man , and in him , all , out of Paradise , out of both Paradises , out of that of rest , and plenty here , and that of Joy , and Glory hereafter . Consider Balaams sin about cursing Gods people , or Moses sinne about striking the rock , and wouldst not thou be glad to change sinnes , with either of them ? Are not thy sinnes greater , heavier sinnes ; And yet , wouldest thou not be sorry , to undergoe their punishments ? are not thy punishments lesse ? Hast thou found hony , says the holy Ghost in Solomon ; and , he says it promiscuously , and universally , to every body ; eate , as much as is sufficient . Every man may . And then , Ionathan found that hony , and knew not that it was forbidden by Sauls proclamation , and did but taste it , and that in a case of extreme necessity , and Ionathan must die . Any man might eate enough , He did but taste , and he must die . If the Angels , if Adam , if Balaam , if Moses , if Ionathan did , if the Serpent in the text , could consider this , how much cheaper God hath made sinne to thee , then to them , might they not have colour in the eye of a naturall man , to expostulate with God ? Might not Ananias , and Saphira , who onely withheld a little of that , which , but a little before , was all their own , and now must die for that , have been excusable if they had said at the last gaspe , How many direct Sacrileges hath God forborne , in such and such , and we must die ? Mighty not E● , and Onan , after their uncleane act upon themselves onely , for which they died , have been excusable , if they had said at the last gaspe , How many direct adulteries , how many unnaturall incests hath God forborne in such and such , and we must die ? How many loads of miserable wretches maist thou have seen suffer at ordinary executions , when thou mightest have said with David , Lord I have done wickedly , but these sheep what have they done ? What had this Serpent done ? The Serpent was more subtile then any other beast . It is a dangerous thing to have a capacity to doe evill ; to be fit to be wrought upon , is a dangerous thing . How many men have been drawn into danger , because they were too rich ? How many women into solicatation , and tentation , because they were too beautifull ? Content thy selfe with such a mediocrity in these things , as may make thee fit to serve God , and to assist thy neighbour , in a calling , and be not ambitious of extraordinary excellency in any kinde ; It is a dangerous thing , to have a capacity to do evill . God would do a great work ; and he used the simplicity of the Asse ; he made Balaams Asse speak ; But the Devill makes use of the subtilty , of the craft of the Serpent ; The Serpent is his Instrument ; no more but so , but so much he is , his instrument . And then , says S. Chrysostome , Pater noster execuratur gladium , as a naturall father would , so our heavenly father does hate , that which was the instrument of the ruine of his children . Wherein hath he expressed that hate ? not to binde our selves to Iosephus his opinion , ( though some of the ancients in the Christian Church have seconded that opinion , too ) that at that time the Serpent could goe upright , and speak , and understand , and knew what he did , and so concurred actually and willingly to the temptation and destruction of man , though he were but anothers instrument , he became odious to God. Our bodies , of themselves , if they had no souls , have no disposition to any evill ; yet , these bodies which are but instruments , must burn in hell . The earth was accursed for mans sin , though the earth had not been so much as an instrument of his sin ; Onely because it was , after , to conduce to the punishment of his children , it was accursed , God withdrew his love from it . And in the law , those beasts with which men committed bestiality , were to be stoned , as well as the men . How poor a plea will it be , to say , at the last day , I got nothing by such an extortion , to mine own purse , it was for my master ; I made no use of that woman whom I had corrupted , it was for a friend . Miserable instrument of sin , that hadst not the profit , nor the pleasure , and must have the damnation ! As the Prophet cals them , that help us towards heaven , Saviours , ( Saviours shall come up on Mount Sion ) so are all that concurre instrumentally to the damnation of others , Devils . And , at the last day , we shall see many sinners saved , and their instruments perish . Adam , and Eve both God interrogated , and , gave them time , to meditate and to deprecate ; To Adam , he says , Where art thou , and , who told thee that thou wast naked ? And to Eve , What is this that thou hast done ? But to the Serpent no such breathing ; The first words is , Quia fecisti ; no calling for evidence whether he had done it or no , but , Because thou hast done it , thou art accursed . Sin is Treason against God ; and in Treason there is no Accessory ; The instrument is the Principall . We passe from that first Part , the consideration of heavy Judgements upon faults , in appearance but small , derived from the punishment of the Serpent , though but an Instrument . Let no man set a low value upon any sin ; let no man think it a little matter to sin some one sin , and no more ; or that one sin but once , and no oftner ; or that once but a little way in that sin , and no father ; or all this , to do another a pleasure , though he take none in it himself ( as though there were charity in the society of sin , and that it were an Alms to help a man to the means of sinning . ) The least sin cost the blood of the Son of God , and the least sinner may lose the benefit of it , if he presume of it . No man may cast himself from a Pinnacle , because an Angel may support him ; no man may kill himself , because there is a Resurrection of the body ; nor wound his soul to death by sin , because there may be a resurrection of that , by grace . Here is no roome for presumption upon God ; but , as little for desperation in God ; for , in the punishment of the Serpent , we shall see , that his Mercy , and Justice are inseparable ; that , as all the Attributes of God , make up but one God ( Goodnesse , and Wisdome , and Power are but one God ) so Mercy and Justice make up but one act ; they doe not onely duly suceed , and second one another , they doe not onely accompany one another , they are not onely together , but they are all one . As Manna , though it tasted to one man like one thing , to another like another , ( for it tasted to every man like that , that that man liked best ) yet still was the same Manna ; so , for Gods corrections , they have a different taste in different persons ; and howsoever the Serpent found nothing but Judgement , yet we find mercy even in that Judgement . The evening and the morning make up the day , says Moses ; as soon as he had named evening comes in morning , no interposing of the mention of a dark , and sad night between . As soon as I hear of a Judgement , I apprehend Mercy , no interposing of any dark or sad suspition , or diffidence , or distrust in God , and his mercy ; and to that purpose we consider the Serpents punishment , and espcially as it is heightned , and aggravated in this Text , Dust shalt thou eate all the days of thy life . There are three degrees in the Serpents punishment ; First , Super pectus , He must creep upon his belly ; And secondly , Inimicitias ponam , I will put enmity , God will raise him an enemy . And thirdly , Pulverem comedes , Dust shalt thou eate all the days of thy life . And , in all these three , though they aggravate the judgement upon the Serpent , there is mercy to us ; For , for the first , that the Serpent now does but creep upon his belly , S. Augustine , and S. Gregory understands this belly to be the seat of our affections , and our concupiscencies ; That the Serpent hath no power upon our heart , nor upon our brain , for , if we bring a tentation to consideration , to deliberation , that we stop at it , think of it , study it , and forsee the consequences , this frustrates the tentation . Our nobler faculties are always assisted with the grace of God to resist him , though the belly , the bowels of sin , in sudden surprisals , and ebullitions , and foamings of our concupiscencies , be subject to him : for , though it may seem , that if that be the meaning , ( which , from S. Augustine and S. Gregory we have given you ) That the Serpent hath this power over our affections , and that is intended by that , The belly , it should rather have been said , super pectus vestrum , Hee shall creep upon your belly , then upon his owne , yet , indeed , all that is his own , which we have submitted and surrendred to him , and hee is upon his own , because we make our selves his ; ( for , to whom ye yeeld your servants to obey , his servants you are . ) So that if he be super pectus nostrum , if he be upon our belly , he is upon his own . But he does but creep ; He does not fly ; He is not presently upon you , in a present possession of you ; you may discern the beginning of sin , and the ways of sin , in the approaches of the Serpent , if you will. The Serpent leaves a slime that discovers him , where he creeps ; At least behinde him , after a sin , you may easily see occasion of remorse , and detestation of that sinne , and thereby prevent relapses , if you have not watched him well enough in his creeping upon you . When hee is a Lion , he does not devoure all whom he findes ; He seeks whom he may devoure ; He may not devoure all , nor any but those , who cast themselves into his jaws , by exposing themselves to tentations to sin . He does but creep ; why , did he any more before ? was his forme changed in this punishment ? Many of the Ancients think literally that it was ; and that before the Serpent did goe upon feet ; we are not sure of that ; nor is it much probable . That may well be true , which Luther says , fuit suavissima bestiola , till then it was a creature more lovely , more sociable , more conversable with man , and , ( as Calvin expresses the same ) Minus odiosus , man did lesse abhor the Serpent before , then after . Beloved , it is a degree of mercy , if God bring that , which was formerly a tentation to mee , to a lesse power over me , then formerly it had ; If deformity , if sicknesse , if age , if opinion , if satiety , if inconstancy , if any thing have worn out a tentation in that face , that transported me heretofore , it is a degree of mercy . Though the Serpent be the same Serpent , yet if he be not so acceptable , so welcome to me , as heretofore , it is a happy , a blessed change . And so , in that respect , there was mercy . It was a punishment to the Serpent , that , though he were the same still as before , yet he was not able to insinuate himself as before , because hee was not so welcome to us . So , the having of the same form , which he had , might be a punishment , as nakednesse was to man after his fall ; He was naked before , but he saw it not , he felt it not , he needed no cloathes before ; Now , nakednesse brings shame , and infirmities with it . So , God was so sparing towards the Serpent , as that he made him not worse in nature , then before , and so mercifull to us , as that hee made us more jealous of him , and thereby more safe against him , then before . Which is also intimated pregnantly , in the next step of his punishment , Inimicitias ponam , That God hath kindled a war between him and us . Peace is a blessed state , but it must be the peace of God ; for , simeon and Levi are brethren , they agree well enough together ; but they are instruments of evill ; and , in that case , the better agreement , the worse . So , war is a fearfull state ; but not so , if it be the war of God , undertaken for his cause , or by his Word . Many times , a State suffers by the security of a Peace , and gains by the watchfulness of a War. Wo be to that man is so at peace , as that the spirit fights not against the flesh in him ; and wo to them too , who would make them friends , or reconcile them , betweene whom , God hath perpetuated an everlasting war , The seed of the woman , and the seed of the Serpent , Christ and Beliall , Truth and Superstition . Till God proclaimed a warre between them , the Serpent did easily overthrow them , but therefore God brought it to a war , that man might stand upon his guard . And so it was a Mercy . But the greatest mercy is in the last , and that which belongs most directly , ( though all conduce pertinently and usefully ) to our present occasion ; ) Dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life . He must eat dust , that is , our bodies , and carnall affections ; Hee was at a richer diet , he was in better pasture before ; before , he fed upon souls too ; But for that his head was bruised , in the promise of a Messias , who delivers our souls from his tyranny ; But the dust , the body , that body , which for all the precious ransome , and the rich , and large mercy of the Messias , must die , that dust is left to the Serpent , to Satan , that is , to that dissolution , and that putrefaction , which he hath induced upon man , in death . He eats but our dust , in our death , when he hath brought us to that ; that is a mercy ; nay he eats up our dust before our death , which is a greater mercy ; our carnal affections , our concupiscencies are eaten up , and devoured by him ; and so , even his eating is a sweeping , a deansing , a purging of us . Many times we are the better for his tentations . My discerning a storm , makes me put on a cloak . My discerning a tentation , makes me see my weaknesse , and fly to my strength . Nay , I am somtimes the safer , and the readier for a victory , by having been overcome by him . The sense , and the remorse of a sin , after I have fallen into it , puts me into a better state , and establishes better conditions between God and me then were before , when I felt no tentations to sin . He shall eat up my dust , so , as that it shall fly into mine eys ; that is , so work upon my carnall affections , as that they shall not make me blinde , nor unable to discern that it is he that works . It is said of one kinde of Serpent , that because they know , by an instinct they have , that their skin is good for the use of man , ( for the falling sickness ) out of Envy , they hide their skin , when they cast it . The Serpent is loth we should have any benefit by him ; but we have ; even his tentations arm us , and the very falling exalts us , when after a sin of infirmity , we come to a true , and scrutiny of our conscience . So he hath nothing to eat but our dust , and he eats up our dust so , as that he contributes to our glory , by his malice . The Whale was Ionas Pilot ; The Crows were Elias caters ; The Lions were Daniels sentinels ; The Viper was Pauls advocate ; it pleaded for him , & brought the beholders in an instant , from extreme to extreme , from crying out that Paul was a murderer , to cry that he was a god . Though at any time , the Serpent having brought me to a sin , cry out , Thou art a murderer , that is , bring me to a desperate sense of having murdred mine own soul , yet in that darkness I shal see light , & by a present repentance , & effectual application of the merits of my Savior , I shall make the Serpent see , I am a God , thus far a God , that by my adhering to Christ , I am made partaker of the Divine Nature . For , that which S. Chrysost. says of Baptism ; is true too in the second Baptism , Repentance , Deposui terram , & coelum indui ; then I may say to the Serpent , Your meat is dust ; and I was dust ; but Deposui terram , I have shak'd off my dust , by true repentance , for I have shak'd off my self , and am a new creature , and am not now meat for your Table . Iam terra non sum , sed sal , says the same Father , I am not now unsavoury dust , but I am salt ; And , Sal ex aqua & vento says he ; Salt is made of water and winde ; I am made up of the water of Baptism , of the water of Repentance , of the water that accompanies the blood of Christ Jesus , and of that winde that blows where it list , and hath been pleased to blow upon me , the Spirit of God , the Holy Ghost , and I am no longer meat for the Serpent , for Dust must he eat all the days of his life . I am a branch of that Vine , ( Christ is the Vine , and we are the branches ) I am a leafe of that Rose of Sharon , and of that Lilly of the valleys ; I am a plant in the Orchard of Pomegranats , and that Orchard of Pomegranats is the Church ; I am a drop of that dew , that dew that lay upon the head of Christ. And this Vine , and this Rose , and Lilly , and Pomegranats , of Paradise , and this Dew of heaven , are not Dust , And dust must thou eate all the dayes of thy life . So then , the Prophecy of Esay fulfils it self , That when Christ shall reign powerfully over us , The wolf and the lamb shall feed together , ( Saul and Ananias shall meet in a house , ( as S. Hierome expounds that ) and Ananias not be afraid of a Persecutor . ) The Lion shall eate straw like the Bullock , says that Prophet in that place , Tradent se rusticitati Scripturarum , says the same Father , The strongest understandings shall content themselves with the homelinesse of the Scriptures , and feed upon plain places , and not study new dishes , by subtilties , and perplexities , and then , Dust shall be the Serpents meat , says the Prophet there , The power of Satan shall reach but to the body , and touch a soul wrapt up in Christ. But then , it is Totâ vitâ , all his life . His diet is impaired , but it is not taken away ; He eats but dust , but he shall not lack that , as long as hee lives . And how long lives the Serpent , this Serpent ? The life of this Serpent is to seduce man , to practise upon man , to prevaile upon man , as farre , and as long as man is dust . And therefore wee are not onely his dust , whilst wee live ( all which time we serve in our carnall affections , for him to feed upon ) but when we are dead , we are his dust still . Man was made in that state , as that he should not resolve to dust , but should have passed from this world to the next , without corruption , or resolution of the body . That which God said to Adam , Dust thou art , belonged to all , from the beginning , he , and all we were to be of dust , in his best integrity ; but that which God adds there , & in terram revertêris , ( dust thou art , and to it thou shalt returne ) that the Serpent brought in , that was induced upon man by him , and his tentation . So that when we are living dust here he eats us , and when we are dead dust too , in the grave , he feeds upon us , because it proceeds from him both that we die , and that we are detained in the state of exinanition , and ingloriousnesse , in the dust of the earth , and not translated immediately to the joyes of heaven , as but for him , we should have been . But as , though he do feed upon our living dust , that is , induce sicknesses , and hunger , and labour , and cold , and paine upon our bodies here , God raises even that dust out of his hands , and redeemes it from his jaws , in affording us a deliverance , or a ●●●●itution from those bodily calamities here , as he did abundantly to his servant , and our example Iob , so , though he feed upon our dead dust and detain our bodies in the disconsolate state of the grave , yet , as the Godhead , the divine nature did not depart from the body of Christ when it lay dead in the grave , so neither doth the love and power of God , depart from the body of a Christian , though resolved to dust in the grave , but , in his due time , shall recollect that dust , and recompact that body , and reunite that soul , in everlasting joy and glory . And till then , the Serpent lives ; till the Judgement , Satan hath power upon that part of man ; and that 's the Serpents life , first to practise our death , and then to hold us in the state of the dead . Till then we attend with hope , and with prayers Gods holy pleasure upon us , and then begins the unchangeable state in our life , in body and soul together , then we beginne to live , and then ends the Serpents life , that is , his earnest practise upon us in our life , and his faint triumph in continuing over our dust . That time , ( the time of the generall Resurrection ) being not yet come , the devills thought themselves wronged , and complained that Christ came before the time to torment them ; and therefore Christ yeelded so much to their importunity , as to give them leave to enter into the swine . And therefore , let not us murmur nor over-mourne for that , which as we have induced it upon our selves , so God shall deliver us from , at last , that is , both death , and corruption after death , and captivity in that comfortlesse state , but for the resurection . For , so long we are to be dust , and so long lasts the Serpents life , Satans power over man ; dust must he eate all the days of his life . In the meane time , ( for our comfort in the way ) when this Serpent becomes a Lyon , yet there is a Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah , that is too strong for him . so , if he who is Serpens serpens humi , the Serpent condemned to creep upon the ground , doe transforme himselfe into a flying Serpent , and attempt our nobler faculties , there is Serpens exaltatus , a Serpent lifted up in the wildernesse , to recover all them that are stung , and feel that they are stung with this Serpent , this flying Serpent , that is , these high and continued sinnes . The creeping Serpent , the groveling Serpent , is Craft ; the exalted Serpent , the crucified Serpent , is Wisdome . All you worldly cares , all your crafty bargaines all your subtill matches , all your diggings into other means estates , all your hedgings , in of debts , all your planting of children in great allyances ; all these diggings , and hedgings and plantings savour of the earth , and of the craft of that Serpent , that creeps upon the earth : But crucifie this craft of yours , bring all your worldly subtilty under the Crosse of Christ Jesus , husband your farmes so , as you may give a good account to him , presse your debts so , as you would be pressed by him , market and bargaine so , as that you would give all , to buy that field , in which his treasure , and his pearle is hid , and then you have changed the Serpent , from the Serpent of perdition creeping upon the earth , to the Serpent of salvation exalted in the wildernesse . Creeping wisedome , that still looks downward , is but craft ; Crucified wisedome , that looks upward , is truly wisedome . Between you and that ground Serpent God hath kindled a war ; and the nearer you come to a peace with him , the farther ye go from God , and the more ye exaspetate the Lord of Hosts , and you whet his sword against your own souls . A truce with that Serpent , is too near a peace ; to condition with your conscience for a time , that you may continue in such a sin , till you have paid for such a purchase , married such a daughter , bought such an annuity . undermined and eaten out such an unthrift , this truce , ( though you mean to end it before you die ) is too near a peace with that Serpent , between whom and you , God hath kindled an everlasting war. A cessation of Arms , that is , not to watch all his attempts and tentations , not to examine all your particular actions , A Treaty of Peace , that is , to dispute and debate in the behalf and favour of a sin , to palliate , to disguise , to extenuate that sin , this is too near a peace with this Serpent , this creeping Serpent . But in the other Serpent , the crucified Serpent , God hath reconciled to himself , all things in heaven , and earth , and hell . You have peace in the assistance of the Angels of heaven , Peace in the contribution of the powerfull prayers , and of the holy examples of the Saints upon earth , peace in the victory and triumph over the power of hell , peace from sins towards men , peace of affections in your selves , peace of conscience towards God. From your childhood you have been called upon to hold your peace ; To be content is to hold your peace ; murmure not at God , in any corrections of his , and you doe hold this peace . That creeping Serpent , Satan , is war , and should be so ; The crucified Serpent Christ Jesus is peace , and shall be so for ever . The creeping Serpent eats our dust , the strength of our bodies , in sicknesses , and our glory in the dust of the grave : The crucified Serpent hath taken our flesh , and our blood , and given us his flesh , and his blood for it ; And therefore , as David , when he was thought base , for his holy freedome in dancing before the Ark , said he would be more base ; so , since we are all made of red earth , let him that is red , be more red ; Let him that is red with the blood of his own soul , be red again in blushing for that rednesse , and more red in the Communion of the blood of Christ Jesus ; whom we shall eat all the days of our life , and be mystically , and mysteriously , and spiritually , and Sacramentally united to him in this life , and gloriously in the next . In this state of dust , and so in the territory of the Serpent , the Tyrant of the dead , lies this dead brother of ours , and hath lien some years , who occasions our meeting now , and yearly upon this day , and whose soul , we doubt not , is in the hands of God , who is the God of the living . And having gathered a good Gomer of Manna , a good measure of temporall blessings in this life , and derived a fair measure thereof , upon them , whom nature and law directed it upon , ( and in whom we beseech God to blesse it ) hath also distributed something to the poor of this Parish , yearly , this day , and something to a meeting for the conserving of neighbourly love , and something for this exercise . In which , no doubt , his intention was not so much to be yearly remembred himself , as that his posterity , and his neighbours might be yearly remembred to doe as he had done . For , this is truly to glorifie God in his Saints , to sanctifie our selves in their examples ; To celebrate them , is to imitate them . For , as it is probably conceived , and agreeably to Gods Justice , that they that write wanton books , or make wanton pictures , have additions of torment , as often as other men are corrupted with their books , or their pictures : so may they , who have left permanent examples of good works , well be beleeved , to receive additions of glory and joy , when others are led by that to do the like : And so , they who are extracted , and derived from him , and they who dwelt about him , may assist their own happiness , and enlarge his , by following his good example in good proportions . Amen . SERMON XLVIII . Preached at St. Dunstans . LAMENT . 3. 1. I am the man , that hath seen affliction , by the rod of his wrath . YOU remember in the history of the Passion of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus , there was an Ecce homo , a shewing , an exhibiting of that man , in whom we are all blessed . Pilat presented him to the Jews so , with that Ecce homo , Behold the man. That man upon whom the wormwood and the gall of all the ancient Prophecies , and the venome and malignity of all the cruell instruments thereof , was now poured out ; That man who was left as a tender plant , and as a roote out of a dry ground , without forme , or beauty , or comelinesse , that wee should desire to see him , as the Prophet Esay exhibits him ; That man who upon the brightnesse of his eternall generation in the bosome of his Father , had now cast a cloud of a temporary and earthly generation in the wombe of his mother , that man , who , as he entred into the wombe of his first mother , the blessed Virgin , by a supernaturall way , by the overshadowing of the holy Ghost , so he vouchsafed to enter into the wombe of her , whom he had accepted for his second mother , the earth , by an unnaturall way , not by a naturall , but by a violent , and bitter death , that man so torne and mangled , wounded with thornes , oppressed with scornes and contumelies , Pilite presents and exhibits so , Ecce homo , Behold the man , But in all this depression of his , in all his exinanition , and evacuation yet he had a Crown on , yet he had a purple garment on , the emblems , the Characters of majesty were always upon him . And these two considerations , the miseries that exhaust , and evacuate , and annihilate man in this life , and yet , those sparkes , and seeds of morality , that lie in the bosome , that still he is a man , the affilictions that depresse and smother , that suffocate and strangle their spirits in thier bosomes , and yet that unsmotherable , that unquenchable Spirit of Adoption , by which we cry Abba Father , that still he is a Christian , these Thornes , and yet these Crownes , these contumelies , and yet this Purple , are the two parts of this text , I am the man , that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath . For , here is an Ecce , behold ; Ieremy presents a map , a manifestation of as great affliction , as the rod of Gods wrath could infflict ; But yet it is Ecce homo , Behold the man , I am the man , he is not demolished , he is not incinerated so , not so annihilated , but that he is still a man ; God preserves his children from departing from the dignity of men , and from the soveraigne dignity of Christian men , in the deluge , and inundation of all afflictions . And these two things , so considerable in that Ecce homo , in the exhibiting of Christ , that then when he was under those scornes , and Crosses , he had his Crownes , his purples , ensignes of majesty upon him , may well be parts of this text ; for , when we come to consider who is the person of whom Ieremy says , I am the man , we finde many of the ancient Expositors take these words prophetically of Christ himself ; and that Christ himselfe who says , Behold and see if there be any sorrow , like unto my sorrow , says here also , I am the man , that hath seen affliction , by the rod of his wrath . But because there are some other passages in the Chapter , that are not conveniently appliable to Christ , ( it is not likely that Christ would say of himself ; That his Father shut out his prayer , even then when he cryed and shouted ; not likely that Christ would say of himselfe , That his Father was to him , as a Beare in the way , and as a Lion in secret places ; not likely that Christ would say of himselfe , That his Father had removed his soul far from peace ) therfore this chapter , and this person cannot be so well understood of Christ. Others therefore have understood if of Ierusalem it selfe ; but then it would not be expressed in that Sex , it would not be said of Ierusalem , I am the man. Others understand if of any particular man , that had his part , in that calamity , in that captivity ; that the affliction was so universall upon all of that nation of what condition soever , that every man might justly say , Ego vir , I am the man that have seen affliction . But then all this chapter must be figurative , and still , where we can , it becomes , it behooves us to , maintain a literall sense and interpretation of all Scriptures . And that we shall best do in this place , if we understand these words literally of Iermy himselfe , that the Minister of God , the Preacher of God , the Prophet of God , Ieremy himself , was the man ; the Preacher is the text , Ego vir , I am the man : As the Ministers of God are most exposed to private contumelies , so should they be most affected with publique calamities , & soonest come to say with the Apostle , Quis infirmatur who is weake , and I am not weake too , who is offended , and I am not affected with it ? when the people of God are distressed with sicknesse , with dearth , with any publique calamity , the Minister is the first man , that should be compassionate , that should be compassionate , and sensible of it . In these words then , ( I am the man &c. ) these are our two parts ; first the Burden , and then the Ease , first the waight , and then the Alleviation , first the Discomfort , and then the Refreshing , the sea of afflictions that overflow , and surround us all and then our emergency and lifting up our head above that sea . In the first we shall consider , first , the Generality of afflictions ; and that first in their own nature , And then secondly in that name of man. upon whom they fall here , Gheber , Ego vir , I am the man , which is that name of man , by which the strongest , the powerfullest of men are denoted in the Scriptures ; They , the strongest , the mightiest , they that thought themselves safest , and sorrow-proofe , are afflicted . And lastly , in the person , upon whom these afflictions are fastned here , Ieremy the Prophet , of whom literally we understand this place : The dearliest beloved of God , and those of whose service God may have use in his Church , they are subject to be retarded in their service , by these afflictions . Nothing makes a man so great amongst men , nothing makes a man so necessary to God , as that he can escape afflictions . And when we shall have thus considered the generality thereof , these three wayes , In the nature of affliction it selfe , In the signification of that name of exaltation Gheber , And in the person of Ieremy , we shall passe to the consideration of the vehemency and intensnesse thereof , in those circumstances that are laid down in our Text , First , that these afflictions are Ejus , His , The Lords , And then they are in virga , in his rod , And again , In virga irae , in the rod of his wrath . And in these two branches , the extent and the weight of afflictions , and in these few circumstances , that illustrate both , we shall determine our first part , the burden , the discomfort . When we shall come at last , to our last part , of comfort , we shall finde that also to grow out into 2 branches ; for , first , Vidit , he saw his affliction , ( I am the Man that hath seen affliction ) Affliction did not blinde him , not stupefie him , affliction did not make him unsensible of affliction , ( which is a frequent , but a desperate condition ) vidit , he saw it ; that is first ; And then , Ego vir , I am the man that saw it , he maintained the dignity of his station , still he played the man , still he survived to glorifie God , and to be an example to other men , of patience under Gods corrections , and of thankfulnesse in Gods deliverance . In which last part , we shall also see , that all those particular that did aggravate the affliction , in the former part , ( That they were from the Lord , from his Rod , from the Rod of his wrath ) doe all exalt our comfort in this , That it is a particular comfort that our afflictions are from the Lord , Another that they are from his Rod , and another also , that they are from the Rod of his wrath . First then in our first art , and the first branch thereof , The Generality of affliction , considered in the nature thereof : We met all generally , in the first Treason against our selves ; without exception all ; In Adams rebellion , who was not in his loins ? And in a second Treason , we met all too ; in the Treason against Christ Iesus , we met all ; All our sins were upon his shoulders . In those two Treasons we have had no exception , no exemption . The penalty for our first Treason , in Adam , in a great part , we doe all undergoe ; we doe all die , though not without a lothnesse and colluctation at the time , yet without a deliberate desire to live in this world for ever . How loth soever any man be to die , when death comes , yet I thinke , there is no man that ever formed a deliberate Prayer , or wish , that he might never die . That penalty for our first Treason in Adam , we do bear . And would any be excepted from bearing any thing deduced from his second Treason , his conspiracy against Christ , from imitation of his Passion , and fulfilling his sufferings in his body , in bearing cheerfully the afflictions and tribulations of this life ? Omnis caro corruper at ; and thou art within that generall Indictment , all flesh had corrupted his way upon Earth . Statutum est omnibus mori ; and thou art within that generall Statute , It is appointed unto all men once to die . Anima quae peccaverit , ipsa morietur : and thou art within that generall Sentence , and Judgement , Every soul that sinneth shall die , The death of the soul. Out of these generall Propositions thou canst not get ; And when in the same universality there commeth a generall pardon , Deus vult omnes slavos , God will have all men to be saved , Because that Pardon hath in it that Ita quod , that condition , Omnem filium , Hee sc●urgeth every sonne whom he receiveth , wouldst thou lose the benefit of that Adoption , that Filiation , that Patrimony and Inheritance , rather then admit patiently his Fatherly chastisements in the afflictions and tribulations in this life ? Beloved , the death of Christ is given to us , as a Hand-writing : for , when Christ naild that Chirographum , that first hand-writing , that had passed between the Devill and us , to his Crosse , he did not leave us out of debt , nor absolutely discharged , but he laid another Chirographum upon us , another Obligation arising out of his death . His death is delivered to us , as a writing , but not a writing onely in the nature of a peece of Evidence , to plead our inheritance by , but a writing in the nature of a Copy , to learne by ; It is not onely given us to reade , but to write over , and practise ; Not onely to tell us what he did , but how we should do so too . All the evills and mischiefes that light upon us in this world , come ( for the most part ) from this , Quia fruimur utendis , because we thinke to injoy those things which God hath given us onely to use . God hath given us a use of things , and we set our hearts upon them . And this hath a proportion , an assimilation , an accommodation in the death of Christ. God hath proposed that for our use , in this world , and we think to enjoy it ; God would have us doe it over again , and we think it enough to know that Christ hath done it already ; God would have us write it , and we doe onely read it ; God would have us practise the death of Christ , and we do but understand it . The fruition , the enjoying of the death of Christ , is reserved for the next life ; To this life belongs the use of it ; that use of it , to fulfill his sufferings in our bodies , by bearing the afflictions and tribulations of this life . For , Priùs Trophaeum Crucis erexit , deinde Martyribus tradidit erigendum ; first Christ set up the victorious Trophee of his Crosse himself , and then he delivered it over to his Martyrs to do as he had done . Nor are they onely his Martyrs that have actually died for him , but into the signification of that name , which signifies a Witnesse , fall all those , who have glorified him , in a patient and constant bearing the afflictions and tribulations of this life . All being guilty of Christs death , there lies an obligation upon us all , to fulfill his sufferings . And this is the generality of afflictions , as we consider them in their own nature . Now , this generality is next expressed , in this word of exaltation , Gheber , Ego vir , I am the man ; It was that man , that is denoted and signified in that name , that hath lien under affliction , and therefore no kinde of man was likely to scape . There are in the Originall Scriptures , four words , by which man is called ; four names of man ; and any of the others , ( if we consider the origination of the words ) might better admit afflictions to insult upon him , then this , Gheber , vir , I am the man. At first , man is called Ishe ; a word , which their Grammarians derive à sonitu , from a sound , from a voice . Whether mans excellency be in that , that he can speak , which no other creature can doe ; or whether mans impotency be in that , that he comes into the world Crying , in this denomination , in this word , man is but a sound , but a voyce , and that is no great matter . Another name of man is Adam , and Adam is no more but earth , and red earth , aud the word is often used for blushing . When the name of man imports no more but so , no more but the frailty of the earth , and the bashfull acknowledgement and confession of that frailty , in infinite infirmities , there is no great hope of scaping afflictions in this name , Adam . Lesse in his third name , Enosh : for Enosh signifies aegrum , calamitosum , a person naturally subject to , and actually possest with all kindes of infirmities . So that this name of man , Enosh , is so farre from exempting him , as that it involves him , it overflows him in afflictions : He hath a miserable name , as well as a miserable nature , Put them in fear , O Lord , ( says David ) that they may know they are but men ; but such men , as are denoted in that name of man , Enosh , ( for there that name is expressed ) weak and miserable men . Now , ( to collect these ) as man is nothing but a frivolous , an empty , a transitory sound , or but a sad and lamentable voice , ( he is no more in his first name Ishe ) As man is nothing but red earth , a moldring clod of infirmities , and then , blushing , that is , guilty , sensible , and ashamed of his own miserable condition , ( and man is no more , as hee is but Adam ) As man is nothing but a receptacle of diseases in his body , of crosses in his estate , of immoderate griefes for those crosses in his minde , ( and man is no more as hee is but Enosh ) so there is no wonder , why man in generall should be under affliction , for these names import , these names inforce it : As Adam gave names to the creatures according to their natures , so God hath given names to man , according to his nature , miserable names , to miserable wretches . But when man is presented in this Text , in this fourth and great name , Gheber , which denotes excellency , Excellency in virtue , ( his minde rectified ) Excellency in wealth , ( his estate enlarged ) Excellency in power , ( his authority extended ) Excellency in favour , ( all seas calm on the top , and foordable at the bottome to him ) when man is expressed in that word , which Isaac used to Iacob , in his abundant blessing , Be Lord over thy brethren , and let thy mothers sonnes bow down to thee : And then , in this heighth , this heighth of vertue and merit , of wealth and treasure , of command and power , of favour and acclamation , is thrown down into the pit of misery , and submitted to all afflictions , what man can hope to be exempted ? Man carries the spawn and seed and egges of affliction in his own flesh , and his own thoughts make haste to hatch them , and to bring them up . We make all our worms snakes , all our snakes vipers , all our vipers dragons , by our murmuring . And so have you this generality of affliction , considered in this name of Exaltation Gheber . Now , in our third consideration of this extent of affliction , in that this person , this Prophet Ieremy , ( for , of him literally we understand these words , Ego vir , I am the man ) is thus submitted to these extraordinary afflictions , we see first , that no man is so necessary to God , as that God cannot come to his ends without that man ; God can lack , and leave out any man in his service . If Christ had revealed to his Apostles , before he called them to be Apostles , or qualified them for that service , that he had a purpose to subdue and convert the whole world , by the labour and the meanes of twelve men , would it ever have faln or entred into their imaginations , that any of them , should have been any of those twelve ? Men of low rank , and estimation , men disfurnished , not onely of all helps of learning , but of all experience in Civill or in Ecclesiasticall affairs ? And as Christ infused new abilities into these men that had none , so can he effect his purposes without them , who think they have all . And therefore , when he had chosen his twelve Apostles , and had endowed and qualified them for that service , when in their sight some of his Disciples forsook him , because he preached Duros sermones , Doctrines hard to flesh and bloud , Christ was not afraid to say to the twelve , Numquid & vos vultis abire , Will ye also goe away ? Hee says it to the twelve ; and hee does not say , Will any of you , but will you , you twelve , all , goe away ? I can doe my work without you . And therefore let no man goe about to promove or advance his own fancies , his own singularities , his own Schismaticall opinions , because he hath done God service before , because he hath possessed himself of the love of that Congregation , because no mans preaching is so acceptable there , as his , and that the Church cannot be without him ; for , no man hath made God beholden to him , so far , as that he should be afraid to offend him . So also let no man be disheartned nor discouraged , if hee have brought a good conscience , and faithfull labour to the service of God. Let him not thinke his wages the worse paid , if God doe mingle bodily sicknesse , temporall losses , personall disgraces , with his labours ; Let him not think that God should not doe thus to them that wear out themselves in his service ; for the best part of our wages is adversity , because that gives us a true fast , and a right value of our prosperity . Ieremy had it ; the best of his rank must . In his example , we have thus much more , that no man is excused of subsequent afflictions , by precedent , nor of falling into more , by having born some already . Elias reckoned too hastily , when he told God , Satis est , now it is enough , Lord take away my life ; God had more to lay upon him . A last years fever prevents not this , nor a sicknesse in the fall , another in the Spring . Men are not as such Copises , as being felled now , stand safe from the Axe for a dozen year after ; But our Afflictions are as beggers , they tell others , and send more after them ; Sicknesse does but usher in poverty , and poverty contempt , and contempt dejection of spirit , And a broken spirit who can bear ? No man may refuse a privy seal , because he hath lent before . And , though Afflictions be not of Gods revenue , for , Afflictions are not reall services to God ) yet they are of his Subsidies , and he hath additionall glory out of our Afflictions ; and , the more , the more . Ieremy had been scornfully and despitefully put in the stocks by Pashur , before ; He had been imprisoned in the Kings house , before ; He had been put in the dungeon , & almost starved in the mire , before ; And yet he was reserved to this farther calamity . Affliction is truly a part of our patrimony , of our portion . If , as the prodigall did , we wast our portion , ( that is , make no use of our former affliction ) it is not the least part of Gods bounty and liberality towards us , if he give us a new stock , a new feeling of new calamities , that we may be better emproved by them , then by the former ; Ieremies former afflictions were but preparatives for more ; no more are ours . And , in his example wee have this one note more , That when the hand of God had been upon him , he declared , he published Gods hand-writing : not onely to his owne conscience , by acknowledging that all these afflictions were for his sins , but by acknowledging to the world , that God had laid such and such afflictions upon him . There is not a neerer step to obduration , nor a worse defrauding of God of his glory , then to be loth to let the world know , what God hath laid upon us . Say to your selves , These afflictions are for my sins , and say to one another , Ego vir , I am the man whom God hath thus , and thus afflicted . For , as Executions in Criminall justice , are done as much for example of others , as for punishment of delinquents , so would God faine proceed that cheap way , to make those afflictions which he lays upon thee , serve another too ; as they will , if thou be content to glorifie God , in letting others know , how he hath afflicted thee . Shut we up this first branch of this first part ( The extent and universality of afflictions ) which we have considered first in the nature of the case , ( we have all contributed to the afflictions of Christ , and therefore must all fulfill his sufferings in our flesh ) And then secondly , in this name of Exaltation , Gheber , ( man , in the highest consideration of man , is the subject of affliction ) And lastly , in the person of Ieremy , in whom we have made our use of those three observations ; First , That no man is so necessary to God , as that God cannot be without him , Then , That no man is excused of future calamities , by former , And lastly , That he whom God hath exercised with afflictions , is bound to glorifie God in the declaration thereof ; shut wee up this branch , with that story of S. Ambrose , who , in a journey from Milan to Rome , passing sometime in the evening with his Host , and hearing him brag that he had never had any crosse in his life , S. Ambrose presently removed from thence to another house , with that protestation , That either that man was very unthankfull to God , that would not take knowledge of his corrections , or that Gods measure was by this time full , and hee would surely , and soundly , and suddenly poure down all together . And so we passe to our other branch of this first part , from the extent and generality of afflictions , to the weight and vehemence of them , expressed in three heavy circumstances , That they are His , the Lords , That they are from his Rod , That they are from the Rod of his wrath : I am the man , that have seen afflictions , by the rod of his mouth . First , they are aggravated in that they are Ejus , His , The Lords . It is ordinary in the Scriptures , that when the Holy Ghost would expresse a superlative , or the highest degree of any thing , to expresse it , by adding to it , the name of God. So , in many places , fortitudo Domini , and timor Domini , The power of the Lord , and the fear of the Lord , doe not import that power which is in the Lord , nor that fear which is to be conceived by us of the Lord , but the power of the Lord , and the fear of the Lord denote the greatest power , and the greatest fear that can be conceived . As in particular , when Saul and his company were in such a dead sleep , as that David could enter in upon them , and take his speare , and his pot of water from under his head , this is there called sopor Domini , the sleep of the Lord was upon him , the heaviest , the deadliest sleep that could be imagined . so may these Afflictions in our Text be conceived to bee exalted to a superlative heighth , by this addition , that They , and the Rod , and the wrath , are said to be His , The Lords . But this cannot well be the sense , nor the direct proceeding , and purpose of the Holy Ghost , in this place , because where the addition of the name of God constitutes a superlative , that name is evidently and literally expressed in that place , as fortitudo Det , sopor Dei , and the rest ; But here , the name of God is onely by implication , by illation , by consequence ; All necessary , but yet but illation , but implication , but consequence . For , there is no name of God in this verse ; but , because in the last verse of the former chapter , the Lord is expresly named , and the Lords Anger , and then , this which is the first verse of this chapter , and connected to that , refers these afflictions , and rods , and wrath to Him , ( The rod of his wrath ) it must necessarily bee to him who was last spoken of , The Lord , They are Ejus , His , and therefore heavy . Then is an Affliction properly Gods Affliction , when thou in thy Conscience canst impute it to none but God. When thou disorderest thy body with a surfeit , nature will submit to sicknesse ; When thou wearest out thy selfe with licentiousnesse , the sin it self will induce infirmities ; when thou transgressest any law of the State , the Iustice of the State will lay hold upon thee . And for the Afflictions that fall upon thee in these cases , thou art able to say to thy selfe , that they would have falne upon thee , though there had been no God , or though God had had no rod about him , no anger in him ; Thou knowest in particular , why , and by whose , or by what means , these Afflictions light upon thee . But when thou shalt have thy Conscience clear towards such and such men , and yet those men shall goe about to oppresse thee , when thou labourest uprightly in thy calling , and yet doest not prosper , when thou studiest the Scriptures , hearkenest to Sermons , observest Sabbaths , desirest conferences , and yet receivest not satisfaction , but still remainest under the torture of scruples and anxieties , when thou art in S. Pauls case , Nihili conscius , That thou knowest nothing by thy selfe , and yet canst not give thy selfe peace , Though all Afflictions upon Gods Children , be from him , yet , take knowledge that this is from him , more intirely , and more immediately , and that God remembers something in thee , that thou hast forgot ; And , as that fit of an Ague , or that pang of the Gout , which may take thee to day , is not necessarily occasioned by that which thou hast eaten to day , but may be the effect of some former disorder , so the affliction which lights upon thee in thine age , may be inflicted for the sinnes of thy youth . Thy affliction is his , The Lords ; And the Lord is infinite , and comprehends all at once , and ever finds something in thee to correct , something that thou hast done , or something that thou wouldest have done , if the blessing of that correction had not restrained thee . And therefore , when thou canst not pitch thy affliction upon any particular sinne , yet make not thy selfe so just , as that thou make God unjust , whose Judgements may be unsearchable , but they cannot be unjust . This then is the first weight that is laid upon our afflictions , that they are His , The Lords ; and this weight consists in this , That because they are his , they are inevitable , they cannot be avoyded , And because they are His , they are certainly just , and cannot be pleaded against , nor can we ease our selves with any imagination of an innocency , as though they were undeserved . And the next weight that is laid upon them , is that they are , In virga ejus , in his rod. For , though this Metaphore , the Rod , may seeme to present but an easie correction , such as that , If thou beat thy childe with a rod , be shall not dye , ( It will not kill him ) yet there is more weight then so in this Rod ; for the word here is Shebet , and Shebet is such a Rod as may kill ; If a man smite his servant with a Rod , so that he dye under his hand , he shall be surely punished . Beloved , whether Gods Rod , and his correction , shall have the savour of life unto life , or of death unto death , consists much in the hand , that is to receive it , and in the stomach that is to digest it . As in Gods Temporall blessings that he raines downe upon us , it is much in our gathering , and inning , and spending them , whether it shall be frumenti , or laqueorum , whether this shall prove such a shoure , as shall nourish our soule spiritually , in thankfulnesse to God , and in charitable workes towards his needy Servants , or whether it shall prove a shoure of snares , to minister occasions of tentations ; so when he raines afflictions upon us , it is much in our gathering , whether it shall be Roris , or Grandinis , whether it shall be a shoure of fatning dew upon us , or a shoure of Fgyptian haile-stones , to batter us in peeces , as a Potters Vessell , that cannot be renewed . Our murmuring makes a rod a staffe , and a staffe a sword , and that which God presented for physick , poyson . The double effect and operation of Gods Rod , and Corrections , is usefully and appliably expressed in the Prophet Zachary : where God complaines , That he had fed the sheep of slaughter , that he had been carefull for them , who would needs dye , say he what he could . Therefore he was forced to come to the Rod , to correction . So he does ; And I tooke unto me , sayes he there , two Staves , the one I called Beauty , the oth●r Bands ; Two wayes of correction , a milder , and a more vehement . When his milder way prevailed not , Then said I , I will not feed you ; I will take no more care of you ; That which dyeth let it dye , ( sayes he ) and that which is to be cut off , let it be cut off ; And I tooke my staffe of Beauty , and cut it asunder , that I might breake my Covenant , which I had made with them . Beloved , God hath made no such Covenant with any State , any Church , any soule , but that , being provoked , he is at liberty to break it . But then , upon this , when the stubborne , and the refractory , the stiff-necked and the rebellious were cut off , The poore of the sheep ( sayes God ) that waited upon me , knew that it was the word of the Lord. It is not every mans case , to mend by Gods corrections ; onely the poore of the sheep , the broken hearted , the contrite spirit , the discerner of his owne poverty and infirmity , could make that good use of affliction , as to finde Gods hand , and then Gods purpose in it . For , this Rod of God , this Shebet , can kill ; Affliction can harden , as well as mollifie , and entender the heart . And there is so much the more danger , that it should worke that effect , that obduration , because it is Virga Irae , The rod of his wrath , which is the other weight that aggravates our afflictions . In all afflictions that fall upon us from other instruments , there is Digitus Dei , The finger of God leads their hand that afflicts us ; Though it be sicknesse , by our intemperance , though it be poverty , by our wastfulnesse , though it be oppression , by the malice , or by our exasperation of potent persons , yet still the finger of God is in all these . But in the afflictions which we speake of here , such as fall upon us , when we thinke our selves at peace with God , and in state of grace , it is not Digitus , but Manus Dei , the whole worke is his , and man hath no part in it . Whensoever he takes the Rod in hand , there is a correction towards ; but yet , it may be but his Rod of Beauty , of his Correction , not Destruction . But , if he take his Rod in anger , the case is more dangerous ; for , though there be properly no anger in God , yet then is God said to do a thing in anger , when he does it so , as an angry man would do it . Upon those words of David , O Lord , rebuke me not in thine anger , Saint Augustine observes , that David knew Gods rebukes and corrections were but for his amendment ; but yet , In Ira corrigi noluit , in Ira emendari noluit , David was loth , that God should go about to mend him in anger ; afraid to have any thing to do with God , till his anger were over-passed . Beloved , to a true anger , and wrath , and indignation towards his children , God never comes ; but he comes so neare it , as that they cannot discerne , whether it be anger , or no. A Father takes a Rod , and looks as angerly , as though he would kill his childe , but means nothing but good to him . So God brings a soule to a sad sense of an angry countenance in God , to a sad apprehension of an angry absence , to a sad jealousie and suspition that God will never returne to it againe ; And this is a heavy affliction , whilst it lasts . Our Saviour Christ , in that case , came to expostulate it , to dispute it with his Father , Vt quid dereliquisti , My God , my God , why hast thou forsaken me ? Do but tell me why . Fo● , if God be pleased to tell us , why he is angry , his anger is well allayd , and we have a faire overture towards our restitution . But , in our infirmity , wee get not easily so farre ; we apprehend God to be angry ; we cannot finde the cause , and we sinke under the burden ; we leave the disease to concoct it self , and we take no Physick . And this is truly the highest extent , and exaltation of affliction , That in our afflictions we take God to be angryer then he is . For , then is God said to take his Rod in anger , when he suffers us to thinke that he does so , and when he suffers us to decline , and sinke so low towards diffidence , and desperation , that we dare not looke towards him , because we beleeve him to be so angry . And so have you all those peeces which constitute both the branches of this first part , The generality and extent of afflictions , considered in the nature of the thing , in the nature of the word , this name of man , Gheber , and in the person of Ieremy , the Prophet of God , And then the intensene●●e , and weight and vehemency of afflictions , considered in these three particulars , That they are His , The Lords , That they are from His Rod , And from the Rod of his anger . But to weigh down all these , we have comforts ministred unto us , in our Text , which constitute our other part . Of these the first is Vidi , I have seen these afflictions , for this is an act of particular grace and mercy , when God enables us to see them : for , naturally this is the infirmity of our spirituall senses , that when the eyes of our understanding should be enlightened , our understanding is so darkened , as that we can neither see prosperity , nor adversity , for , in prosperity our light is too great , and we are dazeled , in adversity too little , none at all , and we are benighted , we do not see our afflictions . There is no doubt , but that the literall sense of this phrase , To see afflictions , is to feele , to suffer afflictions . As , when David sayes , What man is he that liveth , and shall not see death , and when Christ sayes , Thou shalt not suffer thine holy one to see corruption , to see death , and to see corruption , is to suffer them . But then , the literall sense being thus duly preserved , That the children of God shall certainly see , that is , certainly suffer afflictions , receive we also that sweet odour and fragrancy which the word breaths out , That they shall see it , that is , understand it , consider it : For , as when the wicked come to say , The Lord does not see it , it is presently added , Neither doth the God of Iacob regard it , ( It is a seeing that induces a regarding ) so when the godly come to see their afflictions , they come to regard them , to regard Gods purpose in them . Vidisti Domine , ne sileas , sayes David , All this thou hast seen , O Lord , Lord do not hold thy peace . David presumed , that if God saw his afflictions , he would stirre in them ; when we come to see them , we stir , we wake , we rise , we looke about us , from whence , and why these afflictions come ; and therein lyes this comfort , Vidi , I have seen afflictions , I have been content to look upon them , to consider them . The Prophets in the Old Testament , doe often call those sights , and those prenotions which they had of the misery and destruction of others , Onus visionis , Onus verbi Domini , O the burden of this sight , O the burden of this message of God. It was a burden to them , to see Gods judgements directed upon others ; how much more is it a burden to a man , to see his own affliction , and that in the cause thereof ? But this must be done , we must see our affliction in the Cause thereof . No man is so blinde , so stupid , as that he doth not see his affliction , that is , feele it ; but we must see it so , as to see through it , see it to be such as it is , so qualified , so conditioned , so circumstanced , as he that sends it , intends it . We must leave out the malice of others in our oppressions , and forgive that ; leave out the severity of the Law in our punishments , and submit to that ; and looke intirely upon the certainty of Gods judgement , who hath the whole body of our sins written together before him , and picks out what sin it pleaseth him , and punisheth now an old , now a yesterdayes sin , as he findeth it most to conduce to his glory , and our amendment , and the edification of others , We must see the hand of God upon the wall as Belshazzar did , ( for even that was the hand of God ) though wee cannot read that writing , no more then Belshazzar could . Wee must see the affliction , so as we must see it to be the hand of God , though wee cannot presently see , for what sinne it is , nor what will be the issue of it . And then when we have seen that , then we must turn to the study of those other particulars , for , till we see the affliction to come from God , we see nothing ; There is no other light in that darknesse , but he . If thou see thy affliction , thy sicknesse , in that glasse , in the consideration of thine own former licentiousnesse , thou shalt have no other answer , but that soure remorse , and increpation , you might have lived honestly . If thou see thy affliction , thy poverty , in that glasse , in the malice & oppression of potent adversaries , thou wilt get no farther , then to that froward and churlish answer , The Law is open , mend your selfe as you can . But Iactate super Dominum , saith David , Lay all thy burden upon the Lord , and hee will apply to thee that Collyrium , that soveraigne eye-salve , whereby thou shalt see thy afffiction , ( it shall not blinde thee ) And see from whence it commeth , ( from him , who , as hee liveth , would not the death of a sinner ) And see why it commeth , ( that thou mightest see and taste the goodnesse of God thy selfe , and declare his loving kindnesse to the Children of Men. ) And this is the comfort deduced from this word Vidi , I have seen affliction . And this leadeth us to our other Comfort , That though these Afflictions have wrought deepe upon thee , yet thou canst say to thy soule , Ego vir , I am that man ; Thy Morality , thy Christianity is not shaked in thee . It is the Mercy of God , that wee are not conumed , saith Ieremy here ; And it is a great degree of his mercy , to let us feele that wee are not consumed , to give us this sense , that our case is not desperate , but that Ego vir , I am the man , that there remaineth still strength enough to gather more ; That still thou remainest a man , a reasonable man , and so art able to apply to thy selfe ; all those medicines and reliefs , which Philosophy and naturall reason can afford . For , even these helps , deduced from Philosophy and naturall reason , are strong enough against afflictions of this world , as long as we can use them , as long as these helps of reason and learning are alive , and awake , and actuated in us , they are able to sustain us from sinking under the afflictions of this world , for , they have sustained many a Plato , and Socrates , and Seneca in such cases . But when part of the affliction shall be , that God worketh upon the Spirit it selfe , and damps that , enfeebles that , that he casts a sooty Cloud upon the understanding , and darkens that , that he doth Exuere hominem , devest , strip the man of the man , Eximere hominem , take the man out of the man , and withdraw and frustrate his naturall understanding so , as that , to this purpose , he is no man , yet even in this case , God may mend thee , in marring thee , hee may build thee up in dejecring thee , hee may infuse another , Ego vir , another Manhood into thee , and though thou canst not say Ego vir , I am that Morall man , safe in my Naturall Reason and Philosophy , that is spent , yet Ego vir , I am that Christian man , who have seen this affliction in the Cause thereof , so farre off , as in my sinne in Adam , and the remedy of this affliction , so farre off , as in the death of Christ Iesus I am the Man , that cannot repine , nor murmure , since I am the Cause ; I am the man that cannot despair , since Christ is the remedy . I am that man , which is intended in this Text , Gheber . Not onely an Adam , a man amongst men , able to convince me , though they speak eloquently against me , and able to prove that God hath forsaken me , because he hath afflicted me , but able to prevail with God himself , as Iacob did , and to wrastle out a blessing out of him , & , though I doe halt , become infirm with manifold afflictions , yet they shall be so many seals of my infallibility in him . Now this comfort hath three gradations in our text , three circumstances , which , as they aggravated the discomfort in the former , so they exalt the comfort in this part , That they are His , The Lords , That they are from his rod , That they are from the rod of his wrath . We may compare our afflictions that come immediately from God , with those that come instrumentally from others , by considering the choice and election which David made , and the choice which Susanna made in her case . The Prophet G●d offers David his choice of three afflictions , War , Famine , or pestilence . It does not appeare , it is not expressed , that David determined himself , or declared his choice of any of the three . Hee might conceive a hope , that God would forbear all three . As , when another Prophet Nathan had told him , The childe shall surely die , yet David said , for all that determined assurance , Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me , that the child may live , and he fasted a fast , and mourned and prayed for the childes life ; Beloved , no commination of God , is unconditioned , or irrevocable . But in this case David intimates some kinde of election , Let me fall into the hands of the Lord , for his mercies are exceeding great , and not into the hands of men . Susanna , when shee was surprised , ( and in a straight too , though of another kind ) she resolves that it is better for her to fall into the hands of men , ( let men defame her , let men accuse her , condemn her , execute her ) rather then sin in the sight of God , and so fall into his hands . So that , if wee compare offences , wee were better offend all the Princes of the earth , then offend God , because he is able to cast body and soul into hell fire . But when the offence is done , for the punishment which follows , God forgives a treason , sooner then thy neighbour will a trespasse ; God seales thee a Quietus est , in the bloud of his Son , sooner then a Creditor will renue a bond , or withdraw an Action ; and a Scandalum magnatum , will lie longer upon thee here , then a blasphem● against God , in that Court. And therefore , as it is one degree of good husbandry , in ill husbands , to bring all their debts into one hand , so doest thou husband thy afflictions well , if thou put them all upon thy debts to God , and leave out the consideration of Instruments ; And he shall deale with thee , as hee did with David there , that plague , which was threatned for three days , he will end in one ; In that trouble , which , if men had had their will upon thee , would have consumed thee , thou shalt stand unconsumed . For , if a man wound thee , it is not in his power , though hee be never so sorry for it , whether that wound shall kill thee , or no ; but if the Lord wound thee to death , he is the life , he can redeem thee from death , and if hee doe not , he is thy resurrection , and recompenses thee with another , and a better life . And so lies our first comfort , that it is Ejus , His , The Lords , And a second is , that it is In virga ejus , In his rod. Iob would fain have come to a cessation of arms , before hee came to a treaty with God ; Let the Lord take away his rod from me , sayes he , and let not his fear terrifie me ; Them would I speak . As long as his rod was upon him , and his fears terrified him , it was otherwise ; he durst not . But truly his feares should not terrifie us , though his rod be upon us ; for herein lies our comfort , That all Gods rods are bound up with that mercy , which accompanied that rod that God threatned David , to exercise upon his son Solemon , If he commit iniquity , I will chasten him with the rod of men ; ( I will let him fall into the hands of men ) This was heavy ; Therefore it is eased with that Cordiall , But my mercy shall not depart away from him , as I took it from Saul . But for this mercy , the oppressions of men were mercilesse ; But all Gods rods are bound up with this mercy ; and therein lies our comfort . And for the rods of other men , O my people be not afraid of the Assyrian , says God. Why , blessed Lord , shal● the Assyrian doe thy people no harm ? yes , says God there , He shall smite them with a rod , and he shall lift up his staffe against them ; Some harm he shall doe ; ( He shall smite them with a rod ) And he shall threaten more , offer at more ( he shall lift up his staffe ) where then is the peoples reliefe , and comfort ? In this ; The Lord of Hosts shall stir up a scourge for him . God shall appear in that notion of power , The Lord of Hosts , and he shall encounter his enemies , and the enemies of his friends , with a scourge upon them , against their rod upon us . Gods own rods are bound up in mercy , ( they end in mercy ) And , for the rods of other men , God cuts them in pieces , and their owners , with his sword . Gods owne rods , even towards his owne Children , are sometimes , as that rod which he put into Moses hand was , chang'd into Serpents . Gods owne rods have sometimes a sting , and a bitternesse in them ; but then , they are chang'd from their owne nature ; Naturally Gods roddes towards us , are gentle , and harmlesse : When Gods rod in Moses hand , was changed to a Serpent , it did no harme , that did but devoure the other Serpents : when Gods rods are heaviest upon us , if they devoure other rods , that is , enable us to put off the consideration of the malice and oppression of other Men , and all displeasure towards them , and lay all upon God , for our sinnes , these serpentine rods have wrought a good effect : When Moses his Rod was a Serpent , yet it return'd quickly to a Rod againe ; how bitter so ever Gods corrections be , they returne soone to their naturall sweetnesse , and though the correction continue , the bitternesse does not : with this Rod Moses tam'd the Sea , and divided that ; but he drowned none in that Sea , but the Aegyptians . Gods rod will cut , and divide between thy soule , and spirit , but he will destroy nothing in thee , not thy Morality , not thy Christianity , but onely thine owne Aegyptians , thy Persecutors , thy concupiscencies . But all this while , we have but deduced a comfort out of thy Word , Quia Virga , though that be a rod ; but this is a comfort Quia Virga , therefore , because that is a Rod : for , this word which is here a Rod , is also , in other places of Scriptures , an Instrument , not of correction , but direction : Feed thy sheep with thy Rod , saies God ; and there it is a Pastorall Rod , the direction of the Church ; Virga rectitudinis virgaregni tui , saies David ; The Scepter of thy kingdome is a right Scepter ; and there its a royall rod , the protection of the state : so that all comforts that are deriv'd upon us , by the direction of the Church , and by the protection of the State , are recommended to us , and conferr'd upon us in this His Rod. Nor is it onely a Rod of comfort , by implication , and consequence ; but expresly and literally it is so : Though I should walke thorough the valley of the shadow of death , I will feare no evill ; Thy rod , and thy staffe , they comfort me . He had not onely a comfort , though he had the rod , but he had not had so much comfort , except he had had it ; we have not so good evidence of the joyes of the next life , except we have the sorrowes of this . The discomfort then lies not in this , That the affliction is ejus , his , the Lords , ( for we have an ease in that ) nor , that it is In Virga ejus , in his rod , ( for we have a benefit by that ) but it is In virga irae , in that it is the rod of his wrath , of his anger . But truely , beloved , there is a blessed comfort ministred unto us , even in that word ; for that word Gnabar , which we translate Anger , wrath , hath another ordinary signification in Scripture , which , though that may seem to be an easier , would prove a heavier sense for us to beare , than this of wrath and anger ; this is , preteritio , conniventia , Gods forbearing to take knowledge of our transgressions ; when God shall say of us , as he does of Israel , Why should ye be smitten any more ? when God leaves us to our selves , and studies our recovery no farther , by any more corrections ; for , in this case , there is the lesse comfort , because there is the lesse anger show'd . And therefore S. Bernard , who was heartily afraid of this sense of our word , heartily afraid of this preterition , that God should forget him , leave him out , affectionately , passionately embraces this sense of the word in our Text , Anger ; and he sayes , Irascaris mihi Domine , Domine mihi irascaris , Be angry with me ô Lord , O Lord be angry with me , lest I perish ! for , till we have a sense of such an anger in God , towards us , as Children have from their Parents , that not onely they correct them , but deny them some things that they aske , and keep them some time from their sight and presence , till we be made Partakers of this blessed anger of God , ( for we doe not pray , that God would not be angry , but that he would not be angry with us for ever ) till then we come not to see an affliction , that is , to discerne , what , and whence , and why that comes : Nor we see that not like Men , like such Men , like Christian Men , not with a faithfull and constant assurance , that all will have an end in him who suffered infinitely more for us , than he hath layd upon us . SERMON XLIX . A Sermon Preached at Saint Dunstan's upon New-years-day , 1624. GEN. 17. 24. Abraham himselfe was ninety nine yeares old , when the foreskin of his flesh was Circumcised . THis is the place where Circumcision began , and this is the Day , when Circumcision ended ; in this Scripture it was Instituted , in the person of Abraham ; and upon this Day it was perfected and consummated in the person of Christ Iesus : for , though Circumcision were admitted in a few cases , in the Apostles time , after Christ , yet that was , as dead berbs are re-admitted into medicines in the winter , when fresh and green herbs cannot be had of that kind : So Circumcision was sometimes admitted for peace , and to avoid scandall , and the better to propagate the Church , after the vertue thereof was extinguished in Christ. In the Institution thereof in this Text , we will consider Abrahams ready , and exact obedience : In the Consummation thereof , in the person of Christ , we will consider that , to which , this Circumcision had relation , that is , the spirituall Circumcision of our hearts . It is a Text well handled , and it is a Day well spent , if the Text teach us to obey God readily , and immediately , what inconveniences soever present themselves in the way , and if the celebration of the Day , teach us to come this Day , to that which is the true Circumcision , the Circumcision of the Heart . In the first , in Abraham's example , we shall passe by these steps : First , that though there be allowed to us an Omnia Probate , a Triall of all things , and a spirit to discerne spirits ; yet when once it appeares to us , to be a comman dement of God , there 's a fine leavied , all Titles concluded , no more claime to be made by our under standing , our reason , but a present , and an exact obedience must be given to it . Secondly , that in particular Men , and in particular cases , there may arise tentations , objections , reasons , why a Man might forbeare altogether , or at least differ the execution of such a commandement , as there may have done in Abraham's case , as we shall see anon . Thirdly , that though such tentations doe arise in us out of our infirmities , yet God gives his Children strength to overcome those difficulties , and to oppose stronger reasons against those reasons , and so to come to a willing obedience to his will. And then lastly , the triumph that belongs to this victory ; which we shall find , in considering what benefit Abraham received by this obedience in his Circumcision : And these will be the branches of out first part , rising out of the Institution of Circumcision , in the person of Abraham at that great age , First , that Gods manifest will must not be disputed , nor reasoned upon : Secondly , that Mans corrupt nature will offer reasons against it : Thirdly , that God will give the issue with the tentation , reason above that reason : And lastly , he will accompany that victory , with other blessings too . First then , for our exact obedience to that which God exacts of us , it is well said by Luther , Depuerascendum est , cum agitur de obedientia Dei : when the question is , whether this , or this be commanded by God or no , when traditions and additions of men , are imposed upon us , as commandements of God , here 's no Depuerascendum in this case , this is no Childs-play ; then viriliter agendum , ( as the Apostle speaks ) we must quit our selves like men , we must dispute like Men , ( like learned men ) preach like Men , ( like Zealous Men ) pray like Men ( like devout Men ) resist like Men , ( like valiant Men ) or at least , ( in cases where we may not resist ) suffer like Men , ( like constant Christian Men. ) But when the question is , De obedientia Dei , that this is agreed to be the will of God , and all the question is , whether God might not be content to accept an obedience to some part of it , or to all of that hereafter , but not now , whether God would not forgive the debt , or at least give day for the payment of it ; either when we are old , or by legacies to pious uses , when we die , when this is the question , Depuerascendum est , we must grow Children again ; we must not onely , not argue , not dispute against it ( which are acts of men , of strong & able understandings ) but we must return to the first weaknesse of Children , to be speechlesse , to be thoughtlesse ; we must not utter a word , not conceive a thought against it , Periculosa & pestilens quaestio , Quare ; saies Luther also , It is a Dangerous and Infectious Monasillable , How or Why : If I will aske a reason , why God commands such a thing ; first , Periculosum est , It is Dangerous ; for , I have nothing to answer me , but mine owne reason , and that affords not Lead enough , nor Line enough , to sound the depth of Gods proceedings , nor length enough , nor strength enough to reach so farre , and therefore I may mistake the reason , and goe upon false grounds . So , Periculosum est , It is a Dangerous question , and a lost question , because I can have no certaine answer ; and it is an infectious question too , for here is one coale of the Devils fire , of his pride , kindled in me ; as the Devil said , Similis ere Altissimo , I will be like the Highest , and see whether I may not stand by my selfe , without any Influence from God , without any Dependance upon God : so , in our case , I will be so farre equall to God , as that I will measure his actions by my reason , and nor doe his Commandements till I know why he commanded them : And then , when the infection is got into a House , who can say , it shall end here in this Person , and kill no more ; or it shall end this weeke , and last no longer ? So if that infectious inquisition , that Quare , ( Why should God command this or this perticular ? be entred into me , all my Humilitie is presently infected , and I shall looke for a reason , why God made a world , or why he made a world no sooner then 6000. yeares agoe , and why he sayes some , and why but some , and I shall examine God upon all the Interrogatories that I can frame , upon the Creed ( why I should believe a Sonne of a Virgin without a Man , or believe the Sonne of God to descend into Hell ) Or frame upon the Pater Noster , ( why I should worship such a God , that must be prayed to , not to leade me into tentation ) Or frame upon the Ten Commandements , why after all is done and heapt , for any sinfull action , yet I should be guilty of all , for covering in my heart another mans horse or house . And therfore Luther pursues it farther , with words of more vehemence , Odiosa & exitialis vocule , Quare , It is an Execrable and Damnable Monasillable , Why ; it exasperates God , it ruines us : For , when we come to aske a reason of his actions , either we doubt of the goodnesse of God , that he is not so carefull of us , as we would be ; or of his power , that he cannot provide for us , so well as we could doe ; or of his wisdome , that he hath not grounded his Commandements so well as we could have advised him : whereas Saint Augustine saies justly , Qui rationem quaerit voluntatis Dei , aliquid majus Deo quaerit , He that seekes a reason of the will of God , seekes for something greater then God. It was the Devill that opened our eies in Paradise , it is our parts to shut them so farre , as not to gaze upon Gods secret purposes . God guided his Children as well by a Pillar of Cloud , as by a Pillar of Fire , and both , Cloud and Fire , were equally Pillars : There is as much strength in , and as safe relying upon some ignorances , as some knowledges ; for God provided for his people , as well in this , that he did Moses body from them , as that he revealed other Mysteries to them , by him . All is well summ'd and collected by Saint Augustine , Dominus cur jusserit , viderit ; faciendum est à serviente , quod jusserit : Why God commands any thing , God himselfe knowes ; our part is , not to enquire why , by to doe what he commands . This is the Rule : 'T is true , there should not be : but yet is there not sometimes , in the minds and mouths of good and godly men , a Quare , a reasoning , a disputing against that which God hath commanded or done ? The murmuring of the Children in the Desert , had still this Quare , Quare eduxisti , Wherefore have you brought us hither to die here , in this miserable place , where there is no Seed , no Figges , no Vines , no Pomegrantes , no Water ? Saul had this Quare , this rebellious inquisition , upon that Commandement of God against the Amalekites , Slay both Man and Woman , Infant and Suckling , Oxe and Sheepe , Camell and Asse : And from this Quare , from this disputation of his , arose that conclusion , That it were better to spare some for Sacrifice , then to destroy all : But though his pretence had a religious colour , that would not justifie a slacknesse in obeying the manifested will of God ; for , for this , God repented that he made him King , and told him that he had more pleasure in Obedience , then in Sacrifice . But , to come to better men then the Israelites in the Wildernesse , or Saul in his Government , Iob , though he , and his Friends held out long , ( They sate upon the ground even daies and seven nights , and none spoke a word ) yet at last fell into these Quares , Why did I not die in the birth ? or , why sucked I the breast ? Peter himselfe had this reluctation ; and though that were out of piety , yet he was chidden for it , Quare lavas , saies he , Lord , doest thou wash my feet ? thou shalt never wash my feet : till Christ was faine to say , If I wash thee not , thou shalt have no part with me . Upon this common infirmitie ; inherent in the best men that may ( and not unlikely ) be , that when God commanded Abraham , at that great age to circumcise himselfe , there might arise such Quares , such scruples and doubts , as there , in Abrahams minde , ( for , as Saint Paul saies of himselfe , If any man thinke he hath whereof to trust in the flesh , much more I , Circumcised , an Hebrew , an Israelite , a Pharisee , a Zealous Servant in the persecution , and in righteousnesse unblameable : So if any man might have taken this libertie to have disputed with God , upon his precepts , Abraham might have done it ; for , when God called him out to number the Starres , ( which was , even to Art , impossible ) and promised him , that his seed should equall them , ( which was , in Nature , incredible ) for all this Incredibilitie and Impossibilitie , Abraham believed , and this was accounted to him for Righteousnesse : And Abraham had declared his easie , and forward , and implicit faith in God , when God called him , and he went out , not knowing whither he went : And therefore when God offered him a new seale , Circumcision , Abraham might have said , Quare sigillum ? What needs a seale betweene thee and me ? I have used to take thy word before , and thou hast tried me before : But Abraham knew that Obedience was better then wit or disputation ; for , though Obedience and good works , do not beget faith , yet they nurse it ; Per ea augescit fidei , & pinguescit , saies Luther , Our faith grows into a better state , and into a better liking , by our good works . Againe , when Abraham considered , that it was , Mandatum in re turpi , That this Circumcision , in it selfe , was too frivolous a thing ; and , in that part of the Bodie , too obscene a thing , to be brought into the fancy of so many Women , so many young Men , so many Strangers to other Nations , as might bring the Promise and Covenant it selfe into scorne , and into suspicion , that should require such a seale to it as that was , he might have come to this , Quare tam turpe , quare tam sordidum ? why does God command me so base and uncleane a thing , so scornfull and mis-interpretable a thing , as Circumcision , and Circumcision in that part ? Againe , when he considered , that to Circumcise all his family in one day , ( as by the Commandement he must ) which could not be ( in likelyhood ) of lesse then 400. ( for he went out before , to the rescue of Lot , with 318. borne and brought up in his House ) he must make his House a Spittle of so many impotent Persons , unable to helpe one another for many daies , ( for such was the effect of Circumcision , as we see in their Story , when Simeon and Levi came upon the Sichemites three daies after they had beene , by their perswasion , circumcised , the Sichemites were unable to resist or defend themselves , and so were slaine : Yea the sorenesse and incommodity upon Circumcision was so great , as that the very Commandement it selfe of Circumcision , was forborne in the Wildernesse , because they were then put to suddaine removes , which presently after a Circumcision , they could not have perform'd ) Might not Abraham have come to his Quare tam molestum ? Why will God command me so troublesome and incommodious a thing as this ? And ( to contract this ) when he considered , That one principall reason of the Commandement of Circumcision , was , that that marke might be alwaies a remembrance to them against intemperance and incontinency . Might not Abraham have come to his Quare mihi ? What use is there of this , in my Body , which is now dried up and withered by 99. yeares ? What Quares , what reluctations Abraham had , or whether he had any or no , is not expressed ; but very religious and good men , sometimes , out of humane infirmities , have them : But then , God brings them quickly about to Christ's Veruntamen , Yet not my will , but thine be done ; and he delivers them from the tentation , and brings them to an intire obedience to his will , which is that which we proposed for the next Branch in this part . Tu qui vas figuli , sayes the Apostle ; whensoever any disputation against a commandement of God , arises in Gods children , the Spirit of God smothers that spirit of Rebellion with that , Tu qui vas figuli , wilt thou who art but the vessell , dispute with the potter , that fashioned thee ? If Abraham had any such doubts , of a frivolousnesse in so base a seale , of an obscenity in so foule a seale , of an incommodiousnesse in so troublesome a seale , of a needlesnesse in so impertinent a seale ; if he had these doubts , no doubt but his forwardnesse in obeying God , did quickly oppose these reasons to those , and overcome them : That that part of the body is the most rebellious part ; and that therefore , onely that part Adam covered , out of shame , for all the other parts he could rule : Ad hominis inobedientiam redarguendam , suâ inobedientiâ quodammodo caro testimonium perhibet , to reproach Mans rebellion to God , God hath left one part of Mans body , to rebell against him ; for though the seeds of this rebellion be dispersed through all the body , yet , In illa parte magis regnat additamentum Leviathan , sayes Saint Bernard , the spawns of Leviathan , the seed of sinne , the leven of the Devil , abound and reignes most in that part of the body ; it is sentiva peccati , saies the same Father , the Sewar of all sinne ; not onely because all sinne is deriv'd upon us , by generation , and so implyed , and involv'd in originall sinne ; but because , almost all other sinnes have relation to this : for , Gluttony is a preparation to this sinne in our selves ; Pride and excesse is a preparation to it , in others , whom we would enveigle and assure , by our bravery ; Anger and malice inclines us to pursue this sinfull and inordinate love , quarrelsomly , so , as , that then , we doe not quarrell for wayes , and walls in the street , but we quarrell for our way to the Devil ; and when we cannot go fast enough to the Devil , by wantonnesse in the chamber , we will quarrell with him , who hinders us of our Damnation , and find a way , to go faster in the field , by Duells , and unchristian Murder , in so foule a cause , as unlawfull lust . In this rebellious part , is the root of all sinne , and therefore did that part need this stigmaticall marke of Circumcision , to be imprinted upon it . Besides , ( for the Jewes in particular ) they were a Nation prone to Idolatry , and most , upon this occasion , if they mingled themselves with Women of other Nations : And therefore , Dedit eft signum , ut admoverentnr de generatione pura , saies Saint Chrysostome , God would be at the cost even of a Sacrament , ( which is the greatest thing that passes between God and Man next to his Word ) to defend them thereby against dangerous alliances , which might turne their hearts from God ; God imprinted a marke in that part , to keep them still in mind of that law , which forbade them foraigne Marriages , or any company of strange Women : Custodia pietati servandae , ne macularent paternam Nobilitatem , left they should degenerate from the Nobility of their race , God would have them carry this memoriall about them , in their flesh . And God foresaw that extreme Idolatry , that grosse Idolatry , which that Nation would come to , and did come to , when Maachah the Mother of Asa worshipped that Idol , which Saint Hierome calls Belphegor , and is not fit to be nam'd by us ; and therefore , in foresight of that Idolatry , God gave this marke , and this mutilation upon this part . If Abraham were surprized with any suggestions , any half reasons against this commandement , he might quickly recollect himself , and see , that Circumcision was first , Signum memorativum , & monimentum isti faederis , it was a signe of the Covenant between God and Abraham ; the Covenant was the Messias , who being to come , by a carnall continuance of Abrahams race , the signe and seale was conveniently placed in that part . And that was , secondly , Signum representativum , it represented Baptisme , In Christ you are circumcised , saies the Apostle , in that you are buried with him , through Baptisme : And then , that was Signum Distinctivum ; for , besides that it kept them from Idolatry , as the Greeks called all Nations , whom they despised , Barbares , Barbarians , so did the Jewes , Incircumcisos , Uncircumcised : And that was a great threatning in the Prophet , Thou shalt die the death of the Uncircumcised ; that is , without any part in the everlasting promise , and Covenant . But yet , the principall dignity of this Circumcision , was , that it was Signum figurativum , it prefigured , it directed to that Circumcision of the heart ; Circumcise the foreskin of your heart , for the Lord your ; God is God of Gods , and Lord of Lords . And for all the other reasons that could be assigned , of Remembrance , of Representation , of Distinction , Caret ubique ratione Iudaica carnis Circumcisio , ( sayes Lactantius ) Nisi quod est Circumcisionis figura , quae est Cor Mundum : The Jewish Circumcision were an absurd and unreasonable thing , if it did not intimate and figure the Circumcision of the heart : And that is our Second part of this Exercise : But before we come to that , we are to say a word of the fourth branch of this part , That as there is no Quaere to be made nor admitted against God , ( which was our first part ) If Man , out of his infirmity , doe fall into that , ( which was our Second ) God provides and furnishes them with Reasons against those Reasons , ( which was our third . ) And then , God rewards their fighting of that battaile , ( which is his owne worke ) with victories , and crownes , and blessings here ; ( which must be our fourth branch . ) Of Examples of this , the Booke of God is full : but we contract our selves onely to that , which God did to Abraham at this time , in contemplation of this obedience . We consider Abraham at the end of one Age , he was almost one hundred , ninety nine when he was Circumcised ; and now was entring into another age , ( for he liv'd seventy five yeares after this : ) this therefore was as the Eve of his New-years-day , and God presents him thus many New-years-gifts : First , he gives him a new Name ; in which change of his Name , from Abram , to Abraham , ( besides that he was chang'd from Pater Magnus , to Pater Multudinis , from the Father of a great possession and family , to the Father of a great successession and posterity , for that diminishes any Greatnesse , to have no posterity to leave that to ) this also arises to be noted , that Gods Name Iehovah , having in that two Letters of one kind , two H H , God divides with his Servant , God affords one of those letters to the dignifying of Abrahams name , he adds an H of his owne Name to his : Iehovah is his essentiall name ; and in communicating any beame of that Essence , any letter of that Name , we become semen Dei , the seed of God ; and filii Dei , the Sonnes of God ; and participes divinae naturae , Partakers of the Divine nature ; and idem spiritus cum Domino , the same spirit with the Lord ; and Hearers of that voice ; Ego dixi Dii estis , I have said you are Gods : If we were carefull to answer our old name , the name of Christians , in our conformity to Christ , and performance of Christianly duties , that were well , and other Names needed not , as remembrancers unto us : But God does give us new Names and additions of Offices , and Titles in Schoole , or Court , or Common-wealth , as new testimonies of his love , and rebukes of our former negligences , and Remembrancers of our present Duties in those places , and Encouragers to a more carefull proceeding in them . Secondly , God gave Abraham a new Wife : in which , the blessing was , that he tooke not from him that virtuous and obedient Wife which he had before , Sara , but now he made her a Wife unto him , and he supplied that onely defect which was in her , Barrennesse , and so made her fully a Wife , a Mother . Thirdly , he gave him a new Sonne ; for , God who purposed to blesse all Nations in Abraham's seed , would not onely repaire and furnish his old house , ( that is , blesse Ismael with temporall blessings ) but he would build him a new house , raise him up a new Sonne , Isaac : He would not onely fulfill that petition of Abrahams , Oh that Ismael might live in thy sight ! not onely preserve Ismael , which signifies , Exauditionem Domini , that the Lord had heard that prayer , in the behalf of Ismael ; but he would give him an Isaac , which signifies , Risum , laetitiam , that is , he would give him a new , and true occasion of joy . Fourthly , he gave him a new promise ; that as in Adam he had promised a Messias , in semine mulieris , in the seed of the Woman ; now he contracts that promise to Abraham , in semine tuo , in thy seed shall all Nations be blessed ; and so makes Abraham , not onely a Partner with his other Children , in the Salvation of that Messias , but he makes Abraham a meanes to derive that Salvation upon others also , In semine tuo , thou shalt not onely be blessed in the Seed of the Woman , but all Nations shall be blessed in thy seed . And lastly , he gives him a new seale ; not onely that seale , under which he was wont to deale with him , not onely an inward seale in his heart , but he gives him a new seale , a visible seale , the seale of Circumcision . This being then the Dignity of Gods precepts , that they require a present , and an exact obedience , without any counter-disputing ; this being the infirmity of mans nature , that he is ever ready to object and oppose reasons , according to flesh and blood , against Gods precepts ; this being the overflowing measure of Gods mercy to his Children , to give them the issue with the tentation ; Reason above that Reason , victory at last , and alacrity in the performance of that precept ; and this being his infinite bounty , to give us such rewards and retributions for those victories , of which , onely his goodnesse , and his strength , was the Author in us , when we doe performe those duties , ( all which we have seen in Abrahams obedience to a fleshly Circumcision ) that Circumcision being come to an end in the Circumcision of Christ , performed this day : Let us come to this Circumcision , of which , that was but a Figure , a Spirituall Circumcision , the Circumcision of the heart , and God shall give us new Names ( new Demonstrations , that our names are written in the Booke of life ) and new Marriages ( refresh his promise in the Prophet , that he will marry himselfe to us for ever ) and new Sonnes , new Isaacks ( assurance of new Ioyes , Essentiall and Accidentall , in the Kingdome of Heaven , and inchoative here in the way ) and new promises , and new seales ( new obligations of his Blessed Spirit ) that that Infallibility of salvation which we have conceived , is well grounded . We have done with our first part , with that which was occasioned by the Institution of Circumcision in Abraham ; we passe to that , which is occasioned by the celebrating of this Day , in which this legall Circumcision taking an end , in the Person of Christ , we come aptly to consider Spirituall Circumcision , by which onely we can be made conformable to our patterne and example , Christ Iesus : In which , we will charge your memory but with these two considerations ; First , Quid sit , what this spirituall Circumcision is , ( for in that is implyed the Quomodo , how this Circumcision is to be wrought and effected ) And Secondly , the Ubi , what part of a Man is to be circumcised in this Circumcision , for that implyes Integritatem , that it is the whole Man in every part . Briefly then , Spirituall Circumcision is to walke in the spirit ; for then , saies the Apostle , ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh ; no Circumcision can bring us to this , that we shall not have them , for they are borne in us , and they will live in us , whilst we live ; but this is this Circumcision , not to fulfill them . Neither was Abraham's race , which was to be circumcised , more numerous , more plentifull , more manifold , then is this issue of the flesh , Sinne : How suddaine , and how large a pedigree ! A Child , at the first minute , when the soule enters , is as good a Sinner , that is , as absolute a Sinner , and hath as good title to Damnation , by being conceived in sinne , as the eldest man ; nay , he is as old a Sinner as the eldest man that is ; nay , as the eldest man that ever was ; for , he sinn'd in Adam , and , though conceived but this night , sinn'd 6000 yeares agoe . In young Men , vanity begets excesse ; excesse ; licentiousnesse ; licentiousnesse , envy , hatred , quarrels , murders ; so that here is generation upon generation , here are risen Grandfather and Great-grandfather-sinnes quickly , a forward generation : And then they grow suddainly to be habits , and they come to prescribe in us : Prescription is , when there is no memory to the contrary ; and we cannot remember when that sinfull custome begun in us : yea , our sinnes come to be reverenced in us , and by us ; our sinnes contract a majestie , and a state , and they grow sacred to us ; we dare not trouble a sinne , we dare not displace it , nor displease it ; we dare not dispute the prerogative of our sinne , but we come to thinke it a kinde of sedition , a kinde of innovation , and a troubling of the state , if we begin to question our Conscience , or change that security of sinne which we sleepe in , and we thinke it an easier Reformation to repent a sinne once a yeare , at Easter , when we must needs Receive , then to watch a sinne every Day . There is scarce any sinne , but that in that place of the Apostle to the Galatians , it comes within the name of workes of the flesh ; for , though he names divers sinnes , which are litterally and properly workes of the flesh , ( as Adultery , fornication , uncleannesse , wantonnesse ) yet those sinnes that are against a mans owne selfe , ( as Gluttony and Drunkennesse ) those that are against other men , ( as Contentions and Murders ) those that are directed upon new Gods ( as Idolatry ) those that are Contracts with the Devil ( as Witchcraft ) those that are offences to the Church ( as Heresy ) are all called by Saint Paul in that place , workes of the flesh : So that the object of this Spirituall Circumcision is all that concernes the flesh , the world , the Devil , or God , or man , or the Church ; in every one of these we may finde somewhat to circumcise . But because abundance and superfluity begets these workes of the flesh , ( for though vve carry the Serpent about us , yet he does not sting , nor hisse , till he be warme : As long as poverty and vvretchednesse freezes our Concupiscences , they are not so violent ) therefore spirituall Circumcision is vvell expressed by Saint Bernard ; Moralis Circumcisio est , victum & vestitum habentem , esse contentum ; A cutting off of these superfluities , is this morall , that is , this spirituall Circumcision . Novv for some understanding of these superfluities , vve must consider , that sometimes a poore man , that hath no superfluity in his estate , is yet vvastfull in his minde , and puts himselfe to superfluous expences , in his diet , in his apparell , and in all things of outvvard shevv and ostentation : And on the other side , a covetous man , that hath a superfluous estate , yet starves him selfe , and denies himselfe all conveniences for this life : Here 's a superfluous confidence in the one , that he cannot vvant , though he throvv avvay money ; and here 's a superfluous feare in the other , that he shall vvant , if he give himselfe bread ; and here 's vvorke for this spirituall Circumcision on both sides : But then the Circumcision is not necessarily to be applied to the riches of the rich man , so as that every rich man must necessarily cast away his riches ( a Godly man may be rich ) nor necessarily applied so to all outward expences of the free and liberall minded man , as that he should shut up dores , and weare ragges ; for , a Godly man may fare in his diet , and appeare in his garments , according to that Degree which he holds in that state : But the superfluity is , and ( consequently the Circumcision is to be ) in the Affection , in our Confidence , that whatsoever we wast , by one meanes or other , we shall have more ; or in our diffidence , that if we lay not up all , we shall never have enough . These be the inordinate affections that must be Circumcised : But how ? for that 's intended in this part . We need enquire no farther , for the meanes of this spirituall Circumcision , then to the very word which the Holy Ghost hath chosen for Circumcision here , which is Mul and Namal ; for that word hath in other places of Scripture , three significations , that expresse much of the manner , how this Circumcision is to be wrought : It signifies , Purgare , to purge , to discharge the Conscience : ( and that is , by Confession of our sinnes ) It signifies , Mundare , to cleanse and purify the Conscience : ( and that is , by Contrition and Detestation of that sinne ) And it signifies , Succidere , to cut downe , to weed and root out whatsoever remaines in our possession , that is unjustly got ( and that is ) by Destitution . Now for the first of these , the purging ; the proper use and working of purging Physick , is , not that that Medicine pierces into those parts of the Body , where the peccant humour lies , and from which parts , Nature , of her selfe , is not able to expell it : the substance of the Medicine does not goe thither , but the Physick lies still , and draws those peccant humours together ; and being then so come to an unsupportable Masse , and burden , Nature her selfe , and their owne waight expels them out . Now , that which Nature does in a naturall body , Grace does in a regenerate soule , for Grace is the nature and the life of a regenerate man. As therefore the bodily Physick goes not to that part of the body that is affected ; we must not stay till out Spirituall Physick ( the Iudgements of God ) worke upon that particular sinne , that transports us : That God should weaken me with a violent sicknesse , before I will purge my selfe of my licentiousnesse ; Or strike me with poverty , and losse of my stocke , before I will purge my selfe of my usury ; or lay me flat with disgraces and dis-favours of great Persons , before I will purge my selfe of my Ambition ; or evict my land from me , by some false title , that God , in his just Judgement , may give way to , to punish my sinnes , before I will purge my selfe of my oppression , and racking of Tenants : But before these violent Medicines come , if thou canst take Gods ordinary Physick , administred in the Word and Sacraments ; if thou canst but endure that qualme of calling thy selfe to an account , and an examination ; if thou canst draw all thy sinnes together , and present them to thine owne Conscience , then their owne waight will finde a vent , and thou wilt utter them in a full and free Confession to thy God , and that is Circumcision ; as Circumcision consists in the purging of the Conscience , to be mov'd upon hearing the Word preached , and the denouncing of his Iudgements in his Ordinance , before those Judgements surprize thee , to recollect thy sinnes in thine owne memory , and poure them out in a true Confession . The next step in this Circumcision , ( as they are intimated in that word , which the Holy Ghost uses here ) is Mundare , to cleanse ; and this is a Contrition for those sinnes , and a Detestation of those sinnes , which I have thus gathered in my Memory , and poured out in my Confession . A house is not clean , though all the Dust be swept together , if it lie still in a corner , within Dores ; A Conscience is not clean , by having recollected all her sinnes in the Memory , for they may fester there , and Gangreen even to Desperation , till she have emptied them in the bottomlesse Sea of the bloud of Christ Jesus : and the mercy of his Father , by this way of Confession . But a house is not clean neither , though the Dust be thrown out , if there hang Cobwebs about the Walls , in how dark corners soever . A Conscience is not clean , though the sins , brought to our memory by this Examination , be cast upon Gods mercy , and the merits of his Sonne , by Confession , if there remaine in me , but a Cobweb , a little , but a sinfull de light in the Memory of those sins , which I had formerly committed . How many men sinne over the sinnes of their youth again , in their age , by a sinfull Delight in remembring those sinnes , and a sinfull Desire , that their Bodies were not past them ? How many men sin over some sins , but imaginarily , ( and yet Damnably ) a hundred times , which they never sinned actually at all , by filling their Imaginations , with such thoughts as these , How would I be revenged of such an Enemy , if I were in such a place of Authority ? How easily could I overthrow such a wastfull young Man , and compasse his Land , if I had but Money , to seed his humours ? Those sinnes which we have never been able to doe actually , to the harme of others , we doe as hurtfully to our owne Souls , by a sinfull Desire of them , and a sinfull Delight in them . Therefore is there a cleansing required in this Circumcision ; such a cleansing as God promises , I will cleanse their bloud , that is , the fountaine , the work of all corrupt Desires , and sinfull Delights . Now there is no clensing of our bloud , but by his bloud ; and the infusion , and application of his bloud , is in the seale of the Sacrament ; so that that soule onely is so clensed , as is required in this spirituall circumcision , that preserves it selfe alwayes , or returnes speedily , to a disposition of a worthy receiving of that holy and blessed Sacrament : He that is now in that disposition , as that , in a rectified Conscience , he durst meet his Saviour at that Table , and receive him there , ( which cannot be done without Contrition , and Detestation of former sins ) hath admitted this spirituall Circumcision , so far , as is intended in the second signification of this word , which is , To clense . But then there is a third action , which is , succidere , to cut up , to root out all , from whence this sinne may grow up againe , as the word is used in Iob 18. His root shall be dryed beneath , and all his branches shall be cut downe . In this Circumcision , we must cut the root , the mother-sinne , that nourishes all our sinnes , and the branches too , that if one sinne have begot another , there be a fall of all our woods , of our timber wood , ( our growne and habituall sinnes ) and of our under-woods , ( those lesser sinnes which grow out of them . ) It is a cutting downe , and a stubbing up , which is not done , till we have shak'd off all , that we have gotten by those Sinnes : It is not the Circumcision of an Excessive use of that sinne , that will serve our turne , but such a Circumcision , as amounts to an Excession , a cutting off the root , and branch , the sinne , and the fruits , the profits of that sinne . I must not think to bribe God , by giving him some of the profit of my sinne , to let me enjoy the rest : for , was God a venturer with me in my sinne ? Or did God set me to Sea , that is , put me into this world , to see what I could get by Usury , by Oppression , by Extortion , and then give him a part to charitable uses ? As this word signifies Excedere , to cut of all that is grown out of sinne , so from this word Namal , comes Nemâla , which is Formicae , an Ant , which the Hebrewes derive from this word , out of this reason , That as an Ant doth gnaw all the Corne it layes up , upon one side , so that it may never grow againe , so this spirituall Circumcision must provide , that that sinne take no new roote : but as long as thou makest profit , or takest pleasure in any thing sinfully gotten , thy sinne growes ; so that this Circumcision is not perfected but by restitution and satisfaction of all formerly damnified . These then be all the waies that are presented in these significations and use of this word , which the holy Ghost hath chosen here , purging by Consideration and Confessing , clensing by Contrition and Detesting , preventing of future growth by Satisfaction in Restoring . A little remains to be said ( though it be also implyed in that which hath been said ) of the Ubi , the place where this Circumcision is to be applyed . The Scripture speaks of uncircumcised hearts , and uncircumcised lips , and uncircumcised eares ; And our eyes in looking , and coveting , and our hands in reaching to that which is not ours , are as farre uncircumcised as eares , or lips , or hearts : Therefore we are to carry this Circumcision all over ; we must Circumcise , sayes Saint Bernard , In carne , peccatum , the flesh , the body , the substance of the sinne , in cute , operimentum , in the skin , all covers , and palliations , and disguises , and extenuations of the sinne ; and , in sanguine incentivum , in the blood all somentations and provocations to that sinne : the sinne it self , the circumstances of the sinne , the relapses to or towards that sin must be circumcised : Iudaeus ut parvulus , congruum accepit mandatum , exiguae Circumcisionis , saies the same Father , The Jew was but in an infancy , in a minority , and God did not looke for so strong a proceeding from the Iew , as from us , but led him by the armes , by the helpe of Ceremonies and Figures , and accordingly required but a Circumcision in one part of the body : but God lookes for more , at the hands of Christians , to whom he hath fully manifested and applied himselfe . As Christ said to the Jewes , Except your righteousnesse exeeed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees , it is nothing : So except our righteousnesse exceed them that exceeded the Scribes , it is nothing ; and therefore , Toto corpore baptizamur ( saies Bernard ) quia totius hominis integra Circumcisio ; to shew , that it is the whole man that is to be circumcised ; we are baptized , we are washed all over , ( for so long , even to Bernards time , it seemes , that manner of Baptizing , by Immersion of the whole body , and not by Aspersion upon the face onely , continued in the generall practice of the Church . ) So that if it be not an entire Circumcision of the whole man , that will fall upon us , which God threatens in the Prophet , I will visit all them which are circumcised , with them which are not circumcised ; If we circumcise in part , leave some sinnes , and cleave to others , we shall be , in the sight of God , altogether uncircumcised ; Adam was not the lesse naked in Gods sight , for his Figge-leafe ; halfe-repentances are no repentances ; either we are in a privation , or in a habit ; covered over with righteousnesse , or naked . When therefore the Lord and his Spirit cals thee to this spirituall Circumcision , remember that Abraham did not say when he was call'd , Lord , I have followed thy voyce , in leaving my Country ; Lord , I have built thee an Altar , what needs more demonstration of my obedience ? Say not thou , Lord , I have built an Hospitall ; Lord , I have fed the poore at Christmas ; Lord , I have made peace amongst thy people at home ; I have endowed an Almes-house ; but persevere in doing good still , for , God takes not the Tree , where it growes , but where it fals ; for the most part , the death of a man is such , as his life was ; but certainly the life of a man , that is , his everlasting life , is such as his death is . Againe , Abraham did not say of this , that it was a Commandement in a flight , and frivolous , and uncivill matter ; doe not thou say , that it is an impertinent thing in this spirituall Circumcision , to watch thy eating and drinking , and all such indifferent actions , and to see that all they be done to the glory of God ; for , as the Apostle saies , That the foolishnesse of God is wiser then the wisdome of man ; so we may piously say , that the levity of God is graver then the gravity of all the Philosophers and Doctors of the world ; as we may see in all his Ceremontall Lawes , where the matter seemes very light in many places , but yet the signification very important ; and therefore apply this Circumcision , even in thy least , and most familiar action . So also Abraham was not diverted from obeying God , by the inconvenience of having all his family diseas'd at once ; he did not say , I am content to circumcise my Sonne , but would spare my Servants yet , for necessary uses ; doe not thou say , thou art content to circumcise thine eldest Sonne , to abate somewhat of that sinne which thou beganst with in thy youth , but wouldst faine spare some serviceable and profitable sinnes for a time , and circumcise them hereafter . To pursue this example , Abraham did not say , Cras Domine , Lord , I will doe all this to morrow ; but , as the Commandement was given in that phrase of expedition , Circumcidendo circumcides , In Circumcising thou shalt circumcise ; which denoted a diligent and a present dispatch ; so Abraham did dispatch it diligently and presently that day . Doe not thou say , Cras Domine , to morrow , some other day , in the day of mine age , or of my Death , or of affliction and tribulation ; I will circumcise all , for age , and sicknesse , and t●ibulations , are Circumcisions of themselves ; a Feaver circumcises thee then , or an Apoplexy , and not thy Devotion ; and incapacity of sinning is not sanctification : If any man put off his Repentance till death , Fateor non negamus quod petit , saies Saint Augustine , I dare not deny that man , whatsoever God may be pleased to grant him ; Sed non presumimus , quod bene erit ; I dare not presume to say , that that man died well , Non presumo , non vas fallo , non presumo , saies that Father , with some vehemency , I dare not warrant him , let me not deceive you with saying that I dare , for I dare not : And , Beloved , that is but a suspicious state in any man , in which another Christian hath just reason to doubt of his salvation , as Saint Augustine doth shrewdly doubt of these late Repenters , Sicut ejus damnatio inoerta , it a remissio dubia ; As I am not sure he is damned , so I am not sure he is saved , no more sure of one then of the other . It is true , we have the example of the Crucified Thiefe , but it is but a hard case , when a Thiefe must guide us and be our Example ; we suspect wills that are made of temporall goods in that state , at the last gaspe , and shall we think a Man to be compos mentis , of a perfect understanding for the bequeathing of his Soule at his last gaspe ? non presumo , non nos fallo , non presumo , I should deceive you , if I should say it , I dare not say it , sayes that Father . Come therefore to this Circumcision betimes , come to it , this Day , come this Minute : This Day thy Savior was Circumcised in the flesh , for thee ; this Day Circumcise thy heart to him , and all thy senses , and all thy affections . It is not an utter destroying of thy senses , and of thy affections , that is enjoyned thee ; but , as when a Man had taken a beautifull Woman captive in the warres , he was not bound to kill her , but he must shave her head , and pare her nailes , and change her garments , before he might marry her ; so captivate , subdue , change thy affections , and that 's the Destruction which makes up this Circumcision : change thy choler into Zeale , change thy amorousnesse into devotion , change thy wastfulnesse into Almes to the poore , and then thou hast circumcised thy affections , and mayest retaine them , and mayest confidently say with the Apostle , we are the Circumcision , which worship God in the spirit , and rejoyce in Christ Iesus , and have no confidence in the flesh . Doe this to day ; as God this day gives thee a New yeare , and hath not surpriz'd thee , nor taken thee away in the sinnes of last yeare ; as he gives thee a new yeare , doe thou give him a New-years-gift , Cor novum , a new and a Circumcised heart , and Canticum novum , a new Song , a delight to magnifie his name , and speak of his glory , and declare his wondrous works to the Sonnes of men , and be assured that whether I , or any other of the same Ministry , shall speake to you from this place , this day twelve month , and shall aske your consciences then , whether those things which you heard now , have brought you to this Circumcision , and made you better this yeare than you were the last , and find you under the same uncircumcision still , be assured that God will not , God cannot be mocked , but as he wil receive us , with an Euge bone serve , Well done my good and faithfull Servant ; so he will say to you , Perditio tua ex te , Your destruction is from your selves : Enough hath been done for you by me , enough hath been said to you by my Servants , Quare moriemini , Why will you die ô house of Israel ? And after a long despising of his graces , he will come to a finall separation ; you shall come to say , Nolumus hunc regnare , we will not have Christ Jesus to reigne over us ; and Christ Jesus shall come to say , Nescio vos , I know you not , nor whence you are . Hodie si vocem ejus , If you wil heare his voice this day , Hodie eritis , This day you shall be with him in Paradise , and dwell in it all the yeare , and all the yeares of an Everlasting life , and of infinite generations . Amen . SERMON L. A Sermon Preached in Saint Dunstans . 1 THES . 5. 16. Rejoyce evermore . WE reade in the naturall Story , of some floating Islands , that swim and move from place to place ; and in them a Man may sowe in one place , and reape in another : This case is so farre ours , as that in another place we have sowed in teares , and by his promise , in whose teares we sowed then , when we handled those two words , Iesus wept , we shall reape in Joy : That harvest is not yet ; it is reserved to the last Resurrection : But the Corne is above ground , in the Resurrection of our head , the first fruits of the Dead , Christ Jesus , and that being the first visible steppe of his exaltation , begins our exultation , who in him are to rejoyce evermore . The heart knoweth his owne bitternesse ; he and none but he ; others feele it not , retaine it not , pity it not ; and therefore saies the Text , A Stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy : He shall have a Joy which no stranger , not he himselfe whilest he was a stranger to God , and to himselfe , could conceive . If we aske , as Christs Disciples asked of him , Quod signum ? what shall be the signe of thy comming , of this Joy in the midst of thy bitternesse ? Ipsae lachrymae laetitiae testes , & nuncii : The tears themselves shall be the sign , the tears shall be Ambassadours of Joy ; a present gladnesse shall consecrate your sorrow , and teares shall baptize , and give a new name to your passion , for your Wormwood shall be Manna ; even then when it is Wormwood , it shall be Manna , for , Ga●debitis semper , you shall Rejoyce evermore . But our Text does more then imply a promise to us , for it laies a precept upon us : It is not , Gaudebitis , you shall Rejoyce , by way of Comfort , but it is , Gaudete , Rejoyce , see that you doe Rejoyce , by way of Commandement , and that shall be our first part . Cadit sub praecepto ; It hath the nature of a commandement . Angels passe not from extreame to extreame , but by the way betweene ; Man passes not from the miseries of this life , to the joyes of Heaven , but by joy in this life too ; for he that feeles no joy here , shall finde none hereafter . And when we passe from the substance of the precept , to the extent thereof ( which will be our second part ) from the first word , Rejoyce , to the other , Rejoyce alwaies ; we shall cleave that into two periods , Gaudete in bonis , Rejoyce in your prosperitie , and Gaudete in malis , Rejoyce in your adversitie too . But because it is in sempiternum , that must be in sempiterno , because it is alway , it must be in him who is alwaies , yesterday and to day , and the same for ever , Joy in God , Joy in the Holy Ghost , which will be another branch in that second part ; of which Joy , though there be a preparatory , and inchoative participation and possession in this life , yet the consummation being reserved to our entrance into our Masters Joy , not onely the Joy which he gives , that 's here , but the Joy which he is , that 's onely there , we shall end in that , beyond which none can goe , no not in his thoughts , in some dimme contemplation , and in some faint representation of the Joyes of Heaven , and in that Contemplation we shall dismisse you . First then it is presented in the nature of a Commandement , and laies an Obligation upon all , at all times to procure to our selves , and to cherish in our selves , this Joy , this Rejoycing . What is Joy ? Comparatur ad desiderium sic ut quies admotum ; As Rest in the end of motion , every thing moves therefore that it may rest , so Joy is the end of our desires , whatsoever we place our desires , our affections upon , it is therefore , that we may enjoy it ; and therefore , Quod est in brutis in parte sensitiva Delectatio , in hominibus in parte intellectiva est gaudium : Beasts and carnall men , who determine all their desires in the sensuall parts , come no farther then to a delight : but men , who are truly men , and carry them to the intellectuall part , they , and onely they , come to Joy. And therefore saies Solomon , It is the joy of the just to doe judgment ; to have lyen still , and done no wrong occasions , is not this Joy ; Joy is not such a Rest , as the Rest of the Earth , that never mov'd ; but as the Sunne rejoyceth to runne his race , and his circuit is unto the end of heaven ; so this Joy is the rest and testimony of a good conscience , that we have done those things which belong to our calling , that we have mov'd in our Sphere . For , if men of our profession , whose Function it is , to attend the service of God , delight our selves in having gathered much in this world ; if a Souldier shall have delighted himselfe , in giving rules of Agriculture , or a Architecture ; if a Counsellour of State , who should assist with his counsell upon present emergencies , delight himself in writing Books of good counsell for posterity , all this occasions not this joy ; because though there have been motion , and though there be Rest , yet that is not Rest after the Motion proper to them . A Man that hath been out of his way all the day , may be glad to find a good Inne at night ; but yet 't is not properly Joy , because he is never the neerer home . Joy is peace for having done that which we ought to have done : And therefore it is well expressed , Optima conjectura an homo sit in gratia est gaudere ; The best evidence that a Man is at peace , and in favour with God , is , that he can rejoyce . To trie whether I be able by Argument and disputation to prove all , that I believe , or to convince the Adversary , this is Academia animae , the soules University , where some are Graduats , and all are not : To trie whether I be able to endure Martyrdome for my beliefe , this is Gehenna animae , the rack , the torture of the Soule , and some are able to hold it out , and all are not : But to trie whether I can rejoyce in the peace , which I have with God , this is but Catechismus animae , the Catechisme of the Soule , and every Man may examine him selfe , and every Man must ; for it is a Commandement , Gaudete semper , Rejoyce evermore . It is , we cannot say the Office , but the Essence of God to doe good ; and when he does that , he is said to rejoyce : The Lord thy God will make thee plenteous ; ( there is his goodnesse ) and he will Rejoyce again over thee for good , as he rejoyced over thy Fathers . The Lord will love thee , there is his goodnesse ; and rejoyce in thee , and he will rest in his love . Such a joy as is a rest , a complacency in that good which he hath done , we see is placed in God himselfe . It is in Angels too : Their office is to minister to Men , ( for by nature they are Spirits , but by office they are Angels ) and when they see so good effect of their service , as that a Sinner is converted , There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God. Christ himselfe had a spirituall office and employment , To give light to the blind , and to inflict blindnesse upon those who thought they saw all . And when that was done , Exultavit in spiritu , in that houre Christ rejoyced in the Spirit , and said , I thank thee ô Father , Lord of Heaven and Earth , &c. To have something to doe , to doe it , and then to Rejoyce in having done it , to embrace a calling , to performe the Duties of that calling , to joy and rest in the peacefull testimony of having done so ; this is Christianly done , Christ did it ; Angelically done , Angels doe it ; Godly done , God does it . As the Bridegroome rejoyceth in his Bride , so doth thy God rejoyce in thee . Example , as well as the Rule , repeats it to you , Gaudete semper . But how farre may we carry this joy ? To what outward declarations ? To laughing ? Saint Basil makes a round answer to a short question . An in Universum ridere non licet ? May a Man laugh in no case ? Admodum perspicuum est , It is very evident , that a Man may not , because Christ saies , Vae vobis , Wo be unto you that laugh ; And yet Saint Basil himselfe in another place sayes ( which we are rather to take in explanation , than in contradiction , of himselfe ) that that woe of Christ is cast in obstreperum Sonum , non in sinceram hilaritatem : upon a dissolute and undecent , and immoderate laughting , not upon true inward joy , howsoever outwardly expressed . At the promise of a Son , Abraham fell on his face and laughed ; a religious Man , and a grave Man , 100 yeares old , expressed this joy of his heart , by this outward declaration . Hierome's Translation reads it , Risit in Corde , he laughed within himselfe , because Saint Hierome thought that was a weaknesse , a declination towards unbeliefe , to laugh at Gods promise , as he thinks Abraham did . But Saint Paul is a better Witnesse in his behalf ; Against hope he believed in hope ; he was not weake in faith ; he staggered not at the promise of God , through unbelief . Quòd risit , non incredulitatis , sed exultation is indicium fuit , his laughing was no ebbe of faith , but a flood of joy . It is not as S. Hierome takes it , Risit in Corde putans celare deum , apertè ridere non ausus ; he kept-in his laughing , and durst not laugh out ; But as St. Ambrose says well , Risus non irrisio diffidentis , sed exultatio gratulantis ; he laughed not in a doubtfull scorne of Gods promise , but in an overflowing of his own joy : It is well expressed , and , well concluded , O virum aeterno risu vere dignum , & sempiternae jueunditati bene praeparatum , This was good evidence , that he was a man well disposed for the joyes of heaven ; that he could conceive joy in the temporall blessings of God , and that he thought nothing mis-becomming him , that was an outward declaration of this joy . It is a dangerous weaknesse , to forbeare outward declarations of our sense of Gods goodnesse , for feare of mis-interpretations ; to smother our present thankfulnesse , for fear that some should say it was a levity to thank God so soon , till God had done the whole work . For God does sometimes leave half his work undone , because he was not thanked for it . When David danced and leaped , and shouted before the Arke ; if he laughed too , it mis-became him not . Not to feele joy is an argument against religious tendernesse , not to show that joy , is an argument against thankfulnesse of the heart : that is a stupidity , this is a contempt . A merry heart maketh a cheerfull countenance . If it be within , it will be without too . Except I heare thee say in thine actions , Gaudeo , I do rejoyce , I cannot know that thou hast heard the Apostle say , Gaudete . Joy for Gods blessings to us , joy for Gods glory to himself , may come ad Risum , and farther : Not onely ad Ridendum , but ad Irridendum , not onely to laugh in our own prosperity , but to laugh them to scorne that would have impeached it . They are put both together in God himself , Ridebo , and Irridebo , I will laugh at your calamities , and I will mock when your feare cometh . And this being in that place intended of God , is spoken in the person of Wisdome ; It mis-becomes not wisdome and gravity to laugh in Gods deliverances , not to laugh to scorne those that would have blown up Gods Servants , when it is carried so high as to the Kings of the Earth , and the Rulers that take counsell against the Lord , and against his Anoynted , we may come Ad Gaudium , to joy in Gods goodnesse , but because their place , and persons are sacred , we leave the Ridere and the Irridere to God : who says , ver . 4. That he will laugh at them , and hold them in derision . But at lower instruments , lower persons may laugh , when they fill the world with the Doctrine of killing of Kings , and meane that that should animate men against such Kings as they call Heretiques , and then finde in experience that this hath wrought onely to the killing of Kings of their own Religion , we lament justly the event , but yet we forbeare our Ridere and our Irridere , at the crossing and the frustrating of their plots and practises . Pharaohs Army was drowned , Et Cecinit Moses , Moses sung , Sisera was slaine Et Cecinit Deborah , Deborah sung . Thus in the disappointing of Gods enemies , Gods servants come to outward manifest signes of joy . Not by a libellous and scurrill prophanation of persons that are sacred , but in fitting Psalmes and Sermons , and Prayers , and publique Writings to the occasion , to proceed to a Ridere and Irridere , and as Saint Augustine reades that place of the Proverbs , Superridere , to laugh Gods Enemies into a confusion to see their Plots so often , so often , so often frustrated . For so farre extends Gaudete , Rejoyce evermore . Joy then , and cheerefulnesse , is Sub praecepto , it hath the nature of a commandment , and so he departs from a commandment that departs , and abandons himself into an inordinate sadnesse . And therefore David chides his soule , Why art thou cast down , O my soul , why art thou disquiesed within me ? And though he come after to dispute against this sadnesse of the soul , which he had let in , Hope yet in God , and yet the Lord will command his loving kindnesse , and my prayer shall be unto the God of my life , yet he could not put it off , but he imagines that he heares his enemies say , Where is thy God ? and when he hath wrestled himself weary , he falls back again in the last verse , to his first faintnesse , Why art thou cast down , O my soule , why art thou disquieted within me ? For , As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather , so is he that singeth Songs to a heavy heart : That heavinesse makes him uncapable of Naturall , of Morall , of Civill , of Spirituall comforts , charme the Charmer never so wisely . Heli heard that the Battell was lost , and that his Sonnes were slaine , and admitted so much sorrow for those , that when the last was added , The Arke was taken by the Enemy , he was too weake for that , and fell down and brake his neck . It was his daughter in Lawes case too ; shee overcharged her soul with sadnesse for her husbands death , and her fathers death , and when the report of the Arke came , she fell into labour and died ; and though the women told her , Feare not , thou hast born a Sonne , yet shee answered not . Though the Arke of God , the worship of his Name , bee at any time transferred from where it was , despaire not thou of Gods reducing it ; for this despairing of others , may bring thee to despaire in some accident to thy self : Accustome thy selfe to keepe up the consideration of Gods mercy at the highest , lodge not a sad suspition in any publique , in any private businesse , that Gods powerfull mercy can goe but thus farre : hee that determineth Gods Power and his Mercy , and faith here it must end , is as much an Atheist , as hee that denieth it altogether . The Key of David openeth and no man shutteth ; The Spirit of Comfort shineth upon us , and would not be blown out . Monasterie , and Ermimitage , and Anchorate , and such words of singularitie are not Synonym● with those plurall words Concio , Coetus , Ecclesia , Synagoga & Congregatio , in which words God delivereth himselfe to us . A Church is a Company , Religion is Religation , a binding of men together in one manner of Worship ; and Worship is an exteriour service ; and that exteriour service is the Venite exultemus , to come and rejoyce in the presence of God. If in any of these wayes God cast a Cloud upon our former joyes , yet to receive good at Gods hand , and not to receive evill ; to rejoice in the calme , and not in the storme ; this is to breake at least halfe of the Commandement , which is , Gaudete semper . And so from the first part , which is the substance which we have passed by these steps , That this rejoycing hath the nature of a Commandement , it must bee maintained , And that inward joy must be outwardly expressed , even to the disgrace and confusion of Gods enemies , and to the upholding of a joyfull constancy in our selves : We passe now to the extent of the Commandement , Gaude●e semper , Evermore . Did God mean that we should rejoyce alwayes ; when he made sixe dayes for labour , and but one for rest ? Certainly he did . Sixe dayes we are to labour , and to doe all that we have to doe : And part of that which we have to doe , is to rejoyce in our labour . Adam in the state of Innocency had abundant occasion of continuall rejoycing ; but yet even in that joyfull state he was to labour , to dresse and to keep the Garden . After the fall , when God made the labour of man more heavie in sudore vultus , that he should not eat , but in the sweat of his browe , yet God gave him not that penalty , that occasion of sadnesse , till he had first imprinted the roote of true Joy , the promise of a Messias ; that promise he made before he came to denounce the penalty , first came the Ipse conteret , and then in sudore vultus : upon those words , Thou shalt eat the labour of thy hand ; Debuit dicere fructum , non laborem , saith Augustine , David should have said , he shall eate the fruit , not the labour of his hands . Sed ipsi labores non sunt sine gaudio , but the very labours , the very afflictions of good men , have joy in them . Si labor potest manducari & jucundari , manducatus fructus laboris qualis erit ? And if labour it self , affliction it self , minister Joy , what a manner , what a measure of joy is in the full possession thereof in Heaven ? And as the consideration of the words immediately after the Text , hath made more then one of the Fathers say , Etiam Somnia justorum preces sunt , Even the sleep of the righteous is a service to God , and their very Dreams are Prayers and Meditations , so much more properly , may wee call the sleep , and the bodily rest , nay , the bodily torments of the righteous , joye , rejoycing . So that neither weeke day , nor Sabbath day nor night , labour nor rest interrupteth this continuall Joy : Wee may , wee must rejoyce evermore . Gaudete in bonis , Rejoyce when God giveth you the good things of this world ; First , in Temporalibus when God giveth you the good Temporall things of this world . Gaudete in Terra , Rejoyce that God hath placed you in so fertill , in so fruitfull a Land. Gaudete in pace , Rejoyce that God hath afforded you peace to till the Land , Gaudete de Temporibus , Rejoyce that God giveth good seasons , that the Earth may give her increase , and that Man may ioy in the increase of the Earth : And Gaudete de amicitiis , Rejoyce that God giveth you friendship with such Nations , as may take of your superfluities , and return things necessary to you . There is a joy required for Temporall things ; for hee that is not joyfull in a benefit , is not thankefull . Next to that detestable assertion ( as Saint Augustine calleth it ) That God made any man to to damn him , it is the perversest assertion , That God gives man temporall things to ensnare him . Was that Gods primary intention in prospering Noahs Vineyard , That Noah should be drunken ? God forbid . Doth God give any man honour or place , Vt glorietur in malo , qui potens est , that his power might be an occasion of mischief and oppression ? God forbid . God made light at first ; but wee know not what that light was : but God gathered all light into the Sun , and all the world sees it . God infuses grace and spirituall blessings into a mans heart , and no man sees that , but the Spirit that is in that man ; but the Evidence , the great Seale , that he pleads in the Eye of the world , is Gods temporall blessings . When Assuerus put the Royall Vesture and Ring , and Crown upon Mordecas , it was to shew that hee was in his favour ; in the same intention proceeds God too , when he gives riches , or honour , or favour , or command ; hee would have that soul rejoyce in these , as in testimonies of his favour . God loves hilarem datorem , a cheerfull giver , but he that is not a cheerfull receiver , is a worse natur'd man , and more dishonours , nay , reproaches his benefactor . They then disobey this Commandment , of rejoycing in temporall things , that employ not their industry , that use not all good means to attaine them . Every man is therefore planted in the world , that hee may grow in the world , and as venomous hearbs delight in the shade , so a sullen retiring argues a murmuring and venomous disposition ; To contemn Gods temporall blessings , or to neglect or undervalue those instruments , those persons , by whom God sheds such blessings upon us , is to break that branch of this Commandement Gaudete semper , Rejoyce evermore ; for he does not rejoyce in bonis temporalibus . So is it also , as not to seek them before , so not to use them when we have them . When in a feare of growing poore , makes us think God to be poor too , that if we spend this , God can give us no more , when for feare of lacking at our end , we lack all the way , when we abound and yet will pay no debts , not to our own bellies , our own backs , our own respect , and the decency that belongs to our rank , these men so sordid , so penurious , & suspitious of Gods Providence , breake this branch of this Commandement too , because they doe not rejoyce in bonis temporalibus . And as the not-seeker , and the not-user , so the abuser of these temporall blessings is in the same transgression . Hee that thinkes all the world as one Jewell , and himselfe the Cabinet , that all was made for him , and hee for none , forgets his owne office , his Stewardship , by which he is enabled and bound to the necessities of others : to collect , hee that seeks not , hee that denies all to himself , hee that denies all but himself , break this branch , for they doe not rejoyce in bonis temporalibus . This we must doe ; but in bonis spiritualibus , in the spirituall good things of this world , much more we call those the spirituall good things of this world , which advance our devotion here , and consequently our salvation hereafter . The rituall and ceremoniall , the outward worship of God , the places , the times , the manner of meetings , which are in the disposition of Christian Princes , and by their favours of those Churches , which are in their government : and not to rejoyce in the peacefull exercise of those spirituall helps , not to be glad of them , is a transgression . Now the Prophet expresses this rejoycing thus , Venite exultemus , let us come and rejoyce . We must doe both . And therefore they who out of a thraldome to another Church abstaine from these places of these exercises , that doe not come , or if they doe come , doe not rejoyce , but though they be here brought by necessity of law , or of observation , yet had rather they were in another Chappell , or that another kinde of service then in this : and they also who abstain out of imaginary defects in this church , & think they cannot perform Davids De profundis , they cannot call upon God out of the depth , except it be in a Conventicle in a cellar , nor acknowledge Solomons Excelsis Excelsior , that God is higher then the highest , except it be in a Conventicle in a garret , & when they are here wink at the ornaments , & stop their ears at the musique of the Church , in which manner she hath always expressed her rejoycing in those helps of devotion ; or if there bee a third sort who abstain , because they may not be here at so much case , and so much liberty , as at their own houses , all these are under this transgression . Are they in the Kings house at so much liberty as in their own ? and is not this the King of Kings house ? Or have they seene the King in his owne house , use that liberty to cover himselfe in his ordinary manner of covering , at any part of Divine Service ? Every Preacher will look , and justly , to have the Congregation uncovered at the reading of his Text : and is not the reading of the Lesson , at time of Prayer , the same Word of the same God , to be received with the same reverence ? The service of God is one entire thing ; and though we celebrate some parts with more , or with lesse reverence , some kneeling , some standing , yet if we afford it no reverence , we make that no patr of Gods service . And therefore I must humbly intreat them , who make this Quire the place of their Devotion , to testifie their devotion by more outward reverence there ; wee know our parts in this place , and we doe them ; why any stranger should think himself more priviledged in this part of Gods House , then we , I know not . I presume no man will mis-interpret this that I say here now ; nor , if this may not prevaile , mis-interpret the service of our Officers , if their continuing in that unreverent manner give our Officers occasion to warn them of that personally in the place , whensoever they see them stray into that uncomely negligence . They should not blame me now , they must not blame them then , when they call upon them for this reverence in this Quire ; neither truly can there be any greater injustice , then when they who will not do their duties , blame others for doing theirs . But that we are bound to a thankfull rejoycing in all that falls well to us , In bonis , admits lesse doubt , and therefore requires lesse proof : But the semper of our Text extends farther , Gandete in malis , we doe not rejoyce always , except we rejoyce in evill days , in all our crosses and calamities . Now , if we be not affected with Gods judgements , if we conceive not a sorrow for them , or the cause of them , our sins , God is angry ; will he be angry too , if we be not glad of them , if we doe not rejoyce in them ? Can this sorrow and this joy consist together ? very well . The School in the mouth of Aquinas gives instances ; If an Innocent man be condemned , Simul placet ejus justitia , & displices afflictio , I congratulate his innocency , and I condole his death both at once . So Displicet mihi quod peccavi , & placet quod displicet ; I am very sorry that I have sinned , but yet I am glad that I am sorry . So that , Ipsatristitia materia gaudii ; Some sorrow is so far from excluding joy , as that naturally it produces it . S. Augustine hath sealed it with this advice , Semper doleat poenitens , Let him who hath sinned always lament ; But then where is the Gaudete semper ? he tels us too , Semper gaudeat de dolore , Let him always rejoyce , that God hath opened him a way to mercy , by sorrow . Lacrymae Seminium quoddam sunt & foenus , quibus increscit gaudium ; Sorrow is our Seminary , from whence we are transplanted into a larger Orchard , into the dilatation of the heart , Joy ; sorrow , says he , Seminium est , & foenus est ; It is our interest , our use ; And if we have sorrow upon sorrow , it is use upon use , it doubles the principall , which is joy , the sooner . Cordae cum distenduntur , it is S. Augustines musicall comparison , when the strings of an instrument are set up , the musicall sound is the clearer ; if a mans sinew be stretcht upon the rack , his joy is not the lesse perfect . Not that a man must seek out occasion of sorrow ; provoke the Magistrate by seditious intemperance , and call it zeal ; or macerate the body with fastings , or mangle it with whippings , and call that merit ; Non ut quaerant materiam quam non habent , sed at inveniant cam quam nescientes habent ; This is the way of joy , not to seek occasions of sorrow , which they have not , but to finde out those which they have , and know not ; that is , their secret sins , the causes of Gods judgements in themselves . To discern that that correction that is upon me , is from God , and not a naturall accident , this is a beam of joy , for I see that he would cure me , though by corosives . To discern that God is not unjust , nor cruell , and therefore it is something in me , and not in him , that brings it to this sharpnesse , this is a beam of joy too ; for I see how to discharge God , and to glorifie him , and how to accuse my self ; and that is a good degree of repentance . But to perfect my repentance , Non sufficit dolere de peccatis , sed requiritur gaudi●m de dolore , It is not enough to come to a sorrow in my sin , that may flow out into despair , but I must come to a joy in my sorrow , for that fixes me upon the application of Christ , and such a joy a man must suscitate and awaken in himselfe by these steps , In malis temporalibus , in all worldly crosses ; Else he does not Gaudere semper . No nor except he finde this joy , In malis Spiritualibus , in Spirituall afflictions too . When I fall into new sorrow , after my former joy , relapse into those sins which I have repented ( and beloved , the dangerous falling in any man , is to fall backward , he that fals forward , hath his eys to help him , and his hands to help him , but he that fals backward lacks much ) yet even out of these relapses we must finde joy too . For when Saint Iames says , Count it all joy when you fall into divers tentations , as he speaks of all joy , so he intends , or may justly be extended to all tentations , not onely tentations , that is , trialls , when God proves a man by affliction , where morall constancy is exercised , but even in triall of religious constancy ; in tentations to sin , still there is fresh occasion of joy in discerning Gods deliverance from the falling into the sinne , or from lying in the sinne . Ipsa tentatio sal animae , as salt preserves flesh , so tentations preserve the Soule : not the sinning , but the discerning that it is , nay that that was a tentation to sinne , preserves the soule . And therefore , he calls tentationes custodes ; he makes even the evill Angells , our Guardians , our Tutelar Angells , because by their tentations they bring us up in the feare of God , and in the ways of joy . And therefore though it be a joyfull thing to have overcome a tentation , yet determine not your Joy in that ; that if that tentation had overcome you , you might have no more Joy , but ( as Christ says ) In this rejoyce not , that is , not onely in this , that the Spirits are subject to you , but rather rejoyce that your names are written in heaven . Rejoyce not in this , that is , determine not , conclude not your ioy in this , that you have overcome that tentation , but rather in this ; that God does not forsake you after a sinne , nor after a relapse into sinne ; but manifests your election by continuall returning to you : But that this may bee the joy of the text , true Joy , not a joy that induces presumption , for that will faile , that it may bee Semper , it must bee in Sempiterno , a Joy rightly conceived , and rightly placed . Gaudium in Domino : and that is our next step . Rejoyce in the Lord always , says the Apostle ; and left it should admit any interruption , he repeates it , Iterum dico gaudete , Againe I say rejoyce , But still in the Lord. For , Quasi locus quidam , iustorum capax est Dominum : though God be in no place , God is the place , in whom all good men are . God is the Court of every just King : God is the Church of every holy Priest : God is the field of every valiant man ; and the bed of every sickly man : whatsoever is done in Domino , in the Lord , is done at home in the right place . He that is settled in God , centred in God , Laetitiae fontem , voluptatis radicem lucratus est . They are all considerable words ; Lucratus est , he hath purchased something which he did not inherit , he hath acquired something which was not his before , and what ? Fontem laetitiae ; 't is joy , else it were nothing : for what is wealth if sicknesse take away the joy of that ? Or what is health , if imprisonment take away the joy of that ? Or what is liberty , if poverty take away the joy of that ? but he hath joy , and not a Cistern but a fountain , the fountaine of joy , that rejoyces in God : He carries it higher in the other Metaphore ; he hath radicem voluptatis ; a man may have Flores , flowers of joy , and have no fruit , a man may have some fruit , and not enough , but if he have joy in God , he hath radicem voluptatis ; if we may dare to translate it so , ( and in a spirituall sense we may ) it is a voluptuous thing to reioyce in God. In rejoycing in another thing Saint Bernards harmonious charme will strike upon us , Rara hora , brevis mora , they are joyes that come seldome , and stay but a little while when they come . Call it joy , to have had that thou lovest , in thine eye , or in thine armes , remember what oathes , what false oathes , it did cost thee before it came to that ? And where is that joy now , is there a Semper in that ? Call it joy to have had him whom thou hatest , in thine hands or under thy feet , what ignoble disguises to that man , what servile observations of some greater , then either you , or he , did that cost you before you brought him into your power ? and where is that joy , if a Funerall or a bloudy conscience benight it ? Currus Domini , says David , the Chariots of the Lord are twenty thousand , thousands of Angels , says our translation ; Millia laetantium , says the vulgat ; thousands of them that reioyce . How comes it to bee all thing Angells and Reioycers ? Ne miremur illos laetari continuò subiecit , Dominus in illis , Saint Augustine saith , to take away all wonder , it is added , the Lord is in the midst of them , and then , be what they will , they must reioyce ; For if he be with them they are with him , and hee is Joy. The name of Isaac signifies ioy ; and the triall of Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac : Immola Isaac tuum , sacrifice all thy Joy in this world , to God , Et non mactatus sed sanctificatus Isaac tuus , thy Joy shall not bee destroyed , but sanctified , so farre from being made none , that it shall bee made better , better here , but not , better then that hereafter ; which is our last steppe , beyond which there is nothing , that even true Joy , rightly placed , is but an inchoative , a preparatory Joy in this world . The consummation is for the next ; Gaudebimus semper . Sicut laetantium omnium habitatio est inte , as Saint Hierome reads those words , speaking of the Christian Church here , It is the house of all them , who do as it were rejoyce ; who come nearest to true joy . And so , when the Lord turned againe the Captivity of Sion , Facti sumus sicut consolati , We were as it were comforted . Quare sicut , sayes that Father , Why is it so modified with that diminution , as it were ? Quia hic etiam in Sanctis non perfecta consolatio ; Because ; sayes he , in this world , even the Saints themselves have no perfect joy . Where the Apostle compares the sorrow and the joy of this world , then the Quasi lyes upon the sorrows side ; it is but a halfe sorrow ; Quasi tristes , We are as it were sorrowfull , but indeed rejoycing ; but compare the best ioy of this world , with the next , and the Quasi will fall upon the ioy of the world . For though we be sealed with the holy Spirit of promise , which is the earnest of our inheritance , ( and this is the Tropique of Joy , the farthest that Spirituall Joy goes in this Zodique , in this world ) yet this carries us no farther , but Vt ex arrabone aestimetur haereditas ; That by the proportion of the earnest , we might value the whole bargaine : For what a bargaine would we presume that man to have , that would give 20000 l. for earnest ? what is the Joy of heaven hereafter , if the earnest of it here , be the Seale of the holy Ghost ? God proceeds with us , as we do with other men . Operariis in Saeculo , cibus in opere , merces in fine datur : In this world , we give labourers meat and drink by the way , but wages at the end of their work . God affords us refreshing here , but joy hereafter . The best Seale is the holy Ghost , and the best matter that the holy Ghost seales in , is in blood ; in the dignity of Martyrdome ; and even for that , for Martyrdome , we have a rule in the Apostle , Rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings ; That as he suffered for you , so you suffer for him : but in what contemplation ? That when his glory shall be revealed , ye may be made glad with exceeding Joy ; not with exceeding Joy , till then ; For till then , the Joyes of Heaven may be exceeded in the addition of the body . There is the rule , and the example is Christ himself , Who for the joy that was set before him , endured the Crosse ; in contemplation of the Propterea exaltatus , that therefore he should be exalted above all in heaven . Rejoyce and be glad ; why ? for great is your reward : but where ? in heaven . And therefore Ask and you shall receive ; Pray and you shall have answer : but what answer : but what answer ? That your joy shall be full . It shall be ; in heaven . For Quis sic delectat quam ille , qui fecit omnia quae delectant : In whom can we fully rejoyce , but him , who made all things in which we rejoyce by the way , In thy Name shall we rejoyce all the day , says David ; Si in nomine suo , non tota die . St. Augustine says not that to any particular person , nor any particular calling but to any man , to every man ; Any Prince , any Counsellor , any Prelate , any Generall , any Discoverer , any that goes in any way of joy , and glory , Si nomine suo , non tota die , If they rejoyce in their own names , their own wisdome , their own strength , they shall not rejoyce all the day , but they shall be benighted with darke sadnesse , before their dayes end ; And their sunne shall set at noon too , as the Prophet Amos speaks . And therefore that shall be Christs expressing of that joy , at the last day , Enter into thy Master Ioy , and leave the joy of Servants ( though of good Servants ) behind thee ; for thou shalt have a better Joy then that , Thy Masters Ioy. It is time to end ; but as long as the glasse hath a gaspe , as long as I have one , I would breathe in this ayre , in this perfume , in this breath of heaven , the contemplation of this Joy. Blessed is that man , qui scit jubilationem , says David , that knowes the joyfull sound : For , Nullo modo beatus , nisi scias unde gaudeas ; For though we be bound to rejoyce alwayes , it is not a blessed joy , if we do not know upon what it be grounded : or if it be not upon everlasting blessednesse . Comedite amici , says Christ , bibite & inebriamini . Eat and drink , and be filled . Joy in this life , Vbi in sudore vescimur , where grief is mingled with joy , is called meat , says Saint Bernard , and Christ cals his friends to eat in the first word . Potus in future , says he , Joy in the next life , where it passes down without any difficulty , without any opposition , is called drink ; and Christ calls his friends to drink : but the overflowing , the Ebriet as animae , that is reserved to the last time , when our bodies as well as our souls , shall enter into the participation of it : Where , when wee shall love every one , as well as our selves , and so have that Joy of our owne salvation multiplied by that number , wee shall have that Joy so many times over , as there shall bee soules saved , because wee love them as our selves , how infinitely shall this Joy be enlarged in loving God , so far above our selves , and all them . Wee have but this to add . Heaven is called by many pretious names ; Life● Simply and absolutely there is no life but that . And Kingdome ; Simply , absolutely there is no Kingdom , that is not subordinate to that . And Sabba●ūex Sabbate , A Sabbath flowing into a Sabbath , a perpetuall Sabbath : but the Name that should enamour us most , is that , that it is Satietas gaud●orum ; fulnesse of Joy. Fulnesse that needeth no addition ; Fulnesse , that admitteth no leake . And then though in the Schoole we place Blessednesse , in visione , in the sight of God , yet the first thing that this sight of God shall produce in us ( for that shall produce the Reformation of the Image of God , in us , and it shall produce our glorifying of God ) but the first thing that the seeing of God shall produce in us , is Joy. The measure of our seeing of God is the measure of Joy. See him here in his Blessings , and you shall ioy in those blessings here ; and when you come to see him Sicuti est , in his Essence , then you shall have this Joy in Essence , and in fulnesse ; of which , God of his goodnesse give us such an earnest here , as may binde to us that inheritance hereafter , which his Sonne our Saviour Christ Jesus hath purchased for us , with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood . Amen . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A36296-e2910 51. 1. Psal. 128. 3. ● 〈◊〉 Egerton 〈◊〉 Chancellor grandfathe● to the Brid● . Divisio . 1 Part. Resurrectio . Zech. 10. 8. Psal. 150. 6. Non nubent . Luke 20. 35. Gen. 2. 23. Mat. 17. 3. Luke 7. 15. Acts 9. 41. Gen. 15. 1● . Deut. 32. 50. Luke 1. 41. Luke 16. 23. Gen. 2. 18. Lorinus . Act. 15. 20. Patres . Ephes. 5. 32. Revel . 17. 5. 2 Part. Divisio . Angeli . Colos. 1. Simile's . Gen. 6. 2. Drusius in Sulpit. Sever. Interim . Gen. 1. 22. 28. Gen. 2. 22. Luk. 17. 22. Apoc. 21. 2. Psal. 87. 3. Heb. 3. 6. 〈…〉 Non homini . Xenoph. Psal. 99. 8. Mat. 19. 12. Heb. 13. 4. 1 Cor. 7. 28. Gen. 2. 22. Iohn . 2. Mat. 19. 6. Rom. 12. 1 Cor. 12. 2. Psal. 68. 18. Ep● . 4. 8. 2 d Part. Cyprian . Tertul. Gen. 4. 18. Faciam . 1 Tim. 2. 14. 1 Tim. 2. 11. Adjutorium . 2 Sam. 3. 14. 1 t Part. Persons . Acts 15. 28. 1 Tim. 4. 3. Sponsabo . Bellar. de Matrimo . l. 1. c. 6. In ustionem . Ambrose . In prolem . 1. Sam. 3. 11. 4. 18. 1 Tim. 2. 15. Ps. 128. 3. In adjutorium . In aeternum . Exod. 20. Ezech. 16. 42. 2 Cor. 11. 2. 2 d Part. Persons . Action . Deut 21. 12. In ustionem . In prolem . Ier. 22. 30. Mat. 21. 19. Mat. 24. 19. In aeternum . 3 d Part. Persons . Apoc. 19. 7 , 9. Esay 53. 4. Action . In aeternum . Apoc. 6. 12. Phil. 3. 30. Iob 33. 30. Greg. Moral . 31 , 34. 1 Iohn 1. 3. Rev. 7. 2. Zecha . 6. 12. Rev. 7. 3. vers . 4. verse 9. & 10. verse 11. verse 12. verse 13. verse 14. Divisio . vers . 3. verse 14. Materia . verse 14. Aug. Gregor . Ephes. 2. 4. Phil. 3. 20. Aug. Psal. 130. 7. 1 Tim. 4. 8. 25. 8. Ambr. Augustin . 2. Part. 2 Cor. 1. 20. Revel . 3. 14. 136. 2 Reg. 6. 17. Act. 2. 15. Mat. 9. 16. v. 17. Augustin . Esay 30. 14. Esay 1. 8. Iob. 31. 13. Basil. Persona . Reget . Act. 14. 16. Mat. 21. 33. Eccles. 10. 8. Esay 5. 5. Deducet . Esay 19. 14. Aquin. ●asil . Exod. 15. Eos . Act. 2. 39. Act. 10. 47. Ad aquas . Ezek. 16. 19. Ier. 8. 14. Ier. 2. 13. Ioh. 4. 14. Basil. 1 Pet. 3. 21. Psal. 29. 10. Mic. 7. 19. 1 Reg. 7. 24. Luke 24. Absterget . Heb. 12. Gen. 1. 28. 2. 23. 4. 1. v. 12. Hier. Amor. Gen. 38. Gen. 1. 9. Hier. Plinius Trajano . v. 23. Gen. 2. 20. 1 Cor. 7. 1. v. 29. Vxor. 2. Part. Quid factū . Iile Ioh. 19. 10. Ambr. Serm. 20 in P● . 119. v. 4. Philaster . Iob. 13. 27. Aug. Dedit . Seipsum . Pro Ecclesia . Act. 20. 28. Luke 14. 21. Esay 55. 1. Quis finis . Augstin . Retrac . l. 1. c. 7. Cant. 4.6 . Apoc. 19 7. Mat. 26. 26. Luke 11. 19. Mat. 28. 18. Augustin . Esther 2. Iohn 15. 3. Divisio . Psal. 50. 7. 2. Reg. 17. 13. 2. Part. Integritas Christi . 1 Iohn 4. 3. 4. 2. 5. 5 Bernard . Heb. 9. 18. Iohn 1. 31. Heb. 9. 22. Heb. 19. 12. Augustine . Iohn 19. 34. 2 Part. Mat. 18. 16. Heb. 11. Heb. 12. Mat. 3. 3 Mar. 1.2 . 3 In Caelis . Pater . Mat● 1. 21. 23. Mat. 3. ult . Mat. 17.5 . 2 Pet. 1. 16. Iohn 19. 28. Ephes. 1.6 Verbum , Esa. 9. 8. Iohn 8. 14. Iohn 9. 7. Iohn 3. 16. Apoc. 1. 5. Tim. 6. 13. Spiritus sanctus . Mat. 1. 18. v. 20. Iohn 1. 31. 3. Vnum . Higinus . Bernard . Spiritus . Rom. 8. 16. 2 Cor. 3. 6. Ibid. Aqua . Tertullian . Exod. 3. Sanguinis . Mat. 25. 23. Luke 13. 25. Ibid. v. 25. 26. Mat. 13. 2 Pet. 1. 1 Cor. 6. Divisio : Augustine . Ambrose . Gen. 3. 21. Ezech. 7. 27. & 16. 16. Luke 24. 49. Mat. 22. 5. 3. Psal. 65. Rom. 13. I●d : 6. 34. Hag. 1. Zach. 13. 1 Chron. 19. 4. Mat. 9. Mal 1. Gan. 35. 1 Sam. 19. Mat. 17. Revel . 3. Personam . Baptismus . 1 Chron. 3. 1 Cor. 15. 29. Calvin . 1 Pet. 3. 21. 1 Cor. 1. 13. Augustine . Idem . 1 Iohn 3. 2. 1 Cor. 13. 12. Exod. 33. 23. 1 Iohn 3. 9. Divisio . Gregory . First Part. Basil. Psal. 51. 5. Iob 14. 4. Eph. 2. 3. Prov. 30. 12. Bernard . Basil. Iohn 3. 7. Tertullian . 1 Reg. 7.24 . 2. Pedes . Bern. Esay 59. 10. Iohn 13. Bernard . Iudg. 3. 2● . Prov. 3. 21. Psal. 91. 11. Psal. 37. 24. Gen. 43. 31. Exod. 29. 17. Exod. 19. 10. 1 Reg. 2 2. 38. Luk. 1. 2. Bernard . Ego . 2 Cor. 7. 1. Lavi . Augustin . Augustine & Bernard . Origen & Chrysostome . Meos . Rom. 10. Isay 52. 7. Nab. 1. 15. 1 Pe● . 2. 9. 1 Cor. 9. 27. Rom. 2. 21. 2. Part. 2 Cor. 7. 11. Bernard . Iohn 4. 11. Rom. 8. Psal. 4. 8. 1. Part. Divisio . Increpatio . Ceciderunt . Iob 16. 14. Ezek. 16. 3. Non gaudebunt . Rom. 1. 28. Gen. 11. Aug. Bern. Depart . Exod. 6. 6. Deut. 4. 20. Deut. 4. 6. Quia . Prov. v. 1. Quies . Gen. 8. 21. Ezck. 20. 28. Tertul. Hic . Psal. 95. 11. Aug. Ser. 105. de tempore . Aug. Psal. 95. 11. Numb . 14. 23. Heb. 3. 18 , 19. Deut. 30. 17. Ezek. 17. 19. v. 15. Exod. 24. 14. Prov. 4. 1. Psal. 37. 3. Divisio . Increpatio . Bernard . Psal. 119. 158. Mat. 18. 15. Dejectio . Chrysost. Idem . Hieron : Basil. Idem . Idem . Gal. 6. 7. Exod. 4. 10. Ier. 1. 6. Surgite . Aug. 2 Tim. 1. 3. Ephes. 2. 3. Ioh. 1. 12. Tertullian . Aug. Ite . Apoc. 22. 11 , 12 Ambros. Augusti . Quia . Luther . Luke 1. 18. Requies . Psal. 132. 8. Augusti . Psal. 147. 14. Psal. 36. Non hic . Chrys. Heb. 13. 14. 2 cor . 7. 5. Augusti . 1 Tim. 6. 9. Theophyl . Ier. 17. 11. Luke 12. 10. Vestra . 3. Part. Depart . Chrysost. Ambr. Idem . Idem . Psal. 55. 23. Iob 22. 16. Aug. Psal. 102. 24. 1 Reg. 14. 4. Iob 7. 15. Psal. 42. 2. Phil. 1. Aug. Idem . Surgite . 19. 13. Hiero. Ep. 13. ad Paulinum . Ambros. Esa. 26. 20. Requies . Hier. Chrys. Heb. 4. 7. 10. 11. 1 Thes. 1. 6 Non hîc . Esa. 19. 2. Mat. 10. 34. Luke 14. 34. Hier. Mat. 27. Aug. 1 Reg. 19. 5. Hebr. 4. 1 Alicubi . Aug. Iohn 14. 19. Aug. 1 Cor. 35. 22. Chrysost Ambr. 1. Part. Charitas . August . Revel . 3. 8. 2. Part. Ubique . Iohn 10. Heb. 3. 1. In templo . Augustin . Synagogue . Luke 7. 4. Ambros. 1 Cor. Abdias Anaclet . Durant . d●it l. 1. c. l. L●o. Augustin . Damase . Ecclesia . Tertul. Dominicum . Domus . Basilica . Martyrium . Oratorium . 2 Cor. 6. 16. Exod. 1. 4. 6. 3. Part. Divisio . Tunc . Quid operatum . Cant. 5. Gregory . Ambros. Mar. 4. 37. Quid ille dixit . Chrys. Quid. Nesciebam . Vere . B●rn . Idem . Idem . Timnit . Iudg. 13. Iob 4. 14. Gregory . Psalm . 35. 10. Et dixit . Bern. Idem . Luke 2. 52. Act. 10. 58. Acts 10. 38. Psal. 19. Bern. Domus . 1 Reg. 8. 27. Mat. 7. 6. Verse 17. Verse 19. Verse 21. Verse 27. 1. Part. Iuticiū Dei● a Rom. 12. 19. Psal. 82. 1. Psal 75. 7. Iudicinm detestationis . Iudicium discretionis . Esay 40. 12. Psalm 2. 2. 1 Sam. 2. 15. Sine Appellatione . Prov. 24. 12. Prov. 16. 2. 1 Cor. 4. 4. 2. Part. Ier. 29. 23. 1 Sam. 2. 6. Iob 16. 19. Commisit . Col. 1. 15. Filio . August , Cy●ill . De Christo. l. 2. c. 19. Omne judicium . 5. 27. 28. 18. 11. 27. Iudicium Electionis . Iudiciū Glorificationis . Apot. 1. 7. Apoc. 1. 7. Iob 19. 24. Divisio . 1. Part. Non secularla . Luke 12. 14. 2. Part. Detractio . Serm. 24. in Can. Psal. 50. 20. Psal. 53. 4. Mat. 7. 1. Lev. 19. 14. Lev. 19. 16. Prov. 25. 23. 2 Sam. 12. Chrysost. 1 Cor. 13. 5. Non ad internecionem . Iohn 3. 17. Iob. 12. 47. Isidor . Mat. 16. 18. Thom. 1. 2d. 9. 40. or 4. 2. Sam. 22. 30. Gen. 3. 14. 1. Part. Iudhi credunt . Numb . 16. 31. 26. 19. 14. 13. 8. 47. 29. 20. 6. Crediderunt . Iohn 11. 23. Luke 14. 12. Mat. 6. 14. Iohn 20. 9. Mat. 16. 12. An exratione . Grog . Narianz . Mat. 8. 36. Psal. 8. 5. Idem . Esay 43. 13. Anvelit . Tertull. Just. Mart. Athenago . Tertull. Greg. 1 Cor. 15. 36. Ambr. Tertull. Idem . Anex Scripturis . Greg. Nyss. 2. Macab . 12. 43. Act. 15. 5. Luke 20. 37. Exod. 3. 6. 12. 2. Rom. 5. 19. 12. Mat. 5. 28. An ex hâc Scripturá . 1. 3. 19. 5. 13. 5. 11. Praefat. in Iob. Partes . Greg. Greg. Nyss. 42. 10. 12. Cyprian . Lutheran . Calvinist . Calvin . 2. Part. Sancti non eximuntur . 1 Thes. 4. 17. Psal. 89. 48. In pelle . 2 Reg. 5. 30. 2 Sam. 18. 9. Hieron : Tertul. In corpore . 1 Cor. 12. 17. Destroyed . Vermes . 21. 26. 24. 20. Acts 12 : 23. Post. 1 Cor. 15. 19. Quando ? Mar. 13. 32. Act● . 17. Basil. Gén. 6. 3. Ego . Lam. 3. 1. 1 Pet. 5. 4. Videbo . Apoc. 10. 7. Dan. 7. 9. ● quin. sup . q. 82. ● . 4. 1 Cor. 13. 12. Deum . 1 Iohn 3. 2. In carne . Mea. 2. Pet. 1. 4. 1. Cor. 6. 17. Athanas. Cyril . Rom. 8. 11. Moral . 14. 29. 2. Tim. 2. 18. Tertull. Divisio . 1. Part. Melancthon . Musculus . Hierom. Exod. 23. 29. Mat. 17. Aquin. Lombar . Transfiguratio . Hierom. Sol. Mat. 17. 2. 13. 43. Nix . 9. 3. Apoc. 12. 10. Lux : Societas . Quaesocietas . Communicatio . Quae communicatio . Luke 9. 31. Apoc. 5. 9. 12. Mar. ● . 6. Mat. 17. 9. Tertull. Luther . 2. Part. Regnum Dei. Hierom. Augustin . Mar. 12. 34. Luke 17. 21. Augustin . Idem . Chrys. Psal. 97. 1. Haereditas . 1 Ioh. 3. 9. Iames 1. 18. Luke 8. 11. Exod. 34. 9. Hier. 11. 23. Mal. 2 : 15. Ribera . Deut. 30. 18. Caro & sanguis . Apoc. 3. 11. Rom. 8. 7. Gal. 5. 19. Gal. 1. 16. 19. 26. 1 Cor. 15. 39. Greg. de Valent. Bellar. Cornel a Lapide . Divisio . 1. Part. Ego . Rom. 11. 12. 1 Cor. 9. 1. Col. 1. 7. 4. 17. Rom. 16. 7. August . Chrysost. Chrysoft . Nunc. Illi . Irenae . Chrysost. Illis . Optatus . Tertull. Gaudium . Matth. 25. 21. Luke 15. 7. & 10. 2. 10. Bernard . Rom. 14. 7. Phil. 4.4 . Tristitiae . Chrisost. Concor . ● . in Psal. 48. In passionibus . 1. Cor. 17. 4. Acts 5. 41. Matth. 5. 12. 1 Pet. 4. 14. Acts 9. 16. In passionibus meis . August . 1 Pet. 4. 15. Pro vobis . 1 Cor. 12. 15. 1 Cor. 1. 13. 1 Cor. 1. 16. Numb . 12. 3. Exod. 2. 11. Esay 42. 3. Mat. 23. 1. 11. 29. ver . 1. vers . 8. vers . 21. vers . 28. Divisio . 1. Part. Esa. 1. 24. Ezech. 6. 11. Ioh. 11. 33. Luke . 19. 41. Mat. 23. 34. 4. 5. Mat. 27. 33. Acts 9. 4. Eph. 4. 30. Mal. 2. 10. Act. 20. 28. Mat. 20. 22. Luke 24. 26. verse 36. Vae minantis . Iohn 14. 12. Mat. 5. 26. Mat. 5. 26. Ardoinus . 1 Cor. 4. 4. 2 Sam. 12. 22. 2. Part. Mund● . Gen. 25. Ioh. 17. 9. 6. 51. 1 Ioh. 2. 18. 2. 2. 5. Mat. 19. 9. ● 2. 22. 1 Reg. 19. 4. Ion. 4. Activum . Mat. 16. 23. 1 Sam. 18. 21. ver . 10. 2 Cor. 6. 3. 1 Cor. 10. 31. 8. 13. Rom. 14. 15. 1 Cor. 10. 32. Passivum . Hierom. Calvin . Mat. 24. 23. Gregor . 1 Pet. 1. 1. 2 Thes. 2. 13. 2 Ioh. 1. 1. verse 6. verse . 8. Quia infirmi Mat. 13. 21. Psalm 18. Mat. 11. 6. 1 Cor. 1. 23. Psal. 119. 165. Prov. 12. 21. Rom. 8. 28. 1. 3. 13. Iacob . 4. 7. Iude 5. 20. Psal. 2. 4. Mat. 13. 41. Eccles. 1● . 20. Mar. ●4 . 39. Phil. 4. 7. 1 Tim. ● . 5. Ephef . 3. 17. 1 P●t . 1. 2. 1 Thes. 3. 11. Divisio . 1 Part. 6. ● . Numb . 11. 11. 1 Reg. 19. 4. 4. 1. 3. 4. 9. 15. 11. Chrysost. Act. 5. 42. 1. 2. Gal. 6. 14. 64. 9. 2. Part. Ps. 18. 14. Ps. 7. 13. Deut. 32. 23. v. 42. Eph. 6. 16. Alienae . 2 Reg. 13. 17. 1 Reg. 22. 34. Ps. ●2 . 1. 2 Reg. 9. 23. Ps. 11. 2. Veloces . Invisibiles . Ambros. Idem . 1 Sam. 20. Plures . Ios. 7. 25. Iob. 8. 59. 10. 31. Psal. 91. 5. Ps. 22. 13. 17. Wisd. 7. 22. Fixae . Lam. 3. 13. 1 Cor. 9. ult . Basil. Alrè Infixae . 2 Reg. 13. 17. 1 Cor. 12. 7. Esa. 1. 6. Lam. 3. 12. Mihi . 2 Sam. 10. 4. Manus . Heb. 10. 31. Tua ut afflictio . Iud. 20. 16. Exod. 8. 19. Dan. 5. 5. 2 Reg. 13. 17. Tua ut Peccatum . Tua ut Medicamenta . 2 Sam. 12. 14. 2 Sam. 24. Esa. 38. Iob 41. 19. Confess . l. 9. c. 2. Christus . Alienae . Veloces . Invisibiles . Plures . Fixae . Mar. 15. 23. Apoc. 7. 11 , 12. 30. 9. 3. 7. 3. 3. 5. 3. Mat. 22. 3. 23. 37. Exod 20. Ps. 8. 6. 111. 4. Luc 22. 19. Ps. 22. 27. Divisio . 1. Part. Paracels . Ephes. 4. 26. Psal. 132. 1. 2 Sam. 19. 6. 2 Sam. 16. 5. 2 Sam. 10. 1 Chron. 19. 2 Sam. 24. 17. 1 Reg. ● . 2. Part. Miseria . Gem. 5. 2. Gen. 2. 24. Psal. 9. 20. Morbus . Aquin. Non sanitas . Augustin . Augustin . 2. Chron. 16. 12. 2 Chron. 35. 24. 2 Reg. 23. 30. Ec●l●s . 12. 3. Non in carne . Numb . 27. 16. Gregor . Esay 4. 17. Gregory . Non Pax. Psal. 41. 5. ver . 6. In ossibus . Grego . Gal. 5. 20. Ira Dei. Ier. 25. ult . 13. 8. Ier. 19. 11. Ioh 40. 19. Excd. 15. 23. A facie irae . Aug. Psalm 99. 8. 3. Part. Peccatum . Iob 17. 14. Gregor . Gen. 4. 1 Cor. 11. 30. Ambrose . Meum . Singulare . 1 Cor. 12. 20. Mar. 5. Facies peccati . Luke 17. 2. Lam. 4. 16. Psal. 12. ● 4. Psal. 19. 12. 2 Cor. 4. ● . Luke 18. 2. Mesues . Christus . Psal. 89. 51. 53. 2. Esay 1. 6. Lam. 1. 12. ver . 13. ver . 12. 53. 4. Mat. 26. 31. Zech. 13. 7. Iud. 6. Esay 5. 3. Ez●k . 18. Heb. 10. Hippocrates . Chrysost. Esa. 30. 18. 2 Sam. 9. 1. Paracels . Ps. 42. 7. Exod. 15. 5. Divisio . David . 1 Reg. 15. 5. Psal. 50. 18. 1 Ch●on . 21. 1. ver . 3. Sua. Ps. 12. Non patris . 1 Reg. 8. 48. y. 53. y. 57. 37. 25. Deut. 31. 13. 1 Reg. 2. 10. Gen. 47. 30. 6. 16. Nchem. 1 . 4. 51. Non temp●ris . Non aetatis . 2 Tim. 2. 22. Ps. 25. 7. Eccles. 12. 1. Non artis . Esa. 44. 13. Acts 19. 24. Non Magistratus . August . Chrysost. Plural . 2 Reg. 5. Supergressae sunt . 1 Reg. 18. 41. Exod. 14. Ps. 8. 7. Cant. 5. 3. Apoc. 12. Super caput . Iob. Tectum . Esa. 59. 2. Eph. 2. 14. Cant. 2. 9. Lam. 3. 44. Clamor . Ezra 9. 6. Aqua . Iob 15. 16. Ps. 18. 4. Ezck. 26. 19. Lam. 3. 54. Gen. 8. 8. Iob. 2. 7. Dominus . 1 Cor. 6. 20. Iob. 8. 32. 2 Pet. 9. 29. 1 Reg. 21. 20. Cassian . Esa. 50. 1. Rom. 7. 14. Retract . 1. c. 23. August . August . Seneca . Revel . 13. 10. Ephes. 4. 8. Gravatae . Nimis . Iob 6. 12. 2 Cor. 12. 7. Mihi . Mat. 11. Onus . Esay 24. 20. Psal. 1. 〈◊〉 5. 6. Iob 6. 3. Ier. 23. 23. ver . 36. ver . 38. Habak . 2. 9. Greg●r . Iob 7. 3. Ier. 9. 5. Eccles. 10. 15. Gen. 2. 8. Inclinat . August . De. ver . releg c. 20. August . Prov. 5. 22. Fatigat . Lem. 5. 5. Retardat . Ps. 24. 3. Praecipitat . Conclusiv . Christus . Peccatum . 2 Cor. 5. 21. 1 Pct. 2. 23. Esa. 53. 4. v. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 21. Sua. Plura . Supergressae . Caput . Luc. 24. Tectum . Clamor . Aquae . Dominium , Graves . Nimis . Mihi . Onus . Bernard . Ps. 116. 12. Luke 5. 8. Idem . Psal. 18. 29. ver . 23. 29. 11. 1. 23. 5. Pastores concurrebant . Mal. 1. 7. Iob 4. 8. Ier. 12. 20. Gramen . Super terram . B. Virgo femoralia . B. Tho. Cantuar , veparavit . Cantiprat . l. 2. c. 29. Ros super gramen . Maldon . Coccius . Gramen conculcatum . Hosius . Conculcatum per traditiones . Gen. 3. Scicut Porcus . Mat. 15. 1 Tim. 1. Sicut Talpa . Aqua . Psal. 23. 2. Psal. 116. 12. Mar. 16. 15. Mat. 26. 27. Pedes . 1 Sam. 2. 9. Psal. 121. 3. Prov. 19. 2. Ier. 14. 10. 38. 22. Psal. 36. 11. 1 King. 12. 10. Pes-potestatis . Pessuperbiae . Esay . 49. 23. Taxa camerae . Reservatio casuuim . Tapperus . Manebant . Plinie . Prov. 19. 2. Chrysost. Iob 1. 10. Ier. 1. 18. Zech. 2. 5. Gen. 3. 24. Psal. 58. 5. P●le●er . Edebant . Aug. Iuli●●●ae viduae . cp . 242. Rom. 3. 8. Pra●eolus Art. 23. August . Mat. 16. 6. Ma● . 8. 15. Mat. 23. 1. The best . Mar. 5. 36. Gen. 17. 14. Iohn 3. 3. Ios. 6. 4. Mat. 16. 18. Mat. 18. 17. 1 Cor. 10. 27. Luke 10. 19. Mar. 16. 18. Oves . 1. 15. Psalm 63. 5. Ioel 2. 6. Lam. 4. 8. Eccles. 7. 5. Esai . 1. 18. Rom. 5. 20. Lam. 4. 7. Oves Dei. Grex. 1 King. 19. 14. Secessio . Vox Dei. Esay 48. 20. Lud. Vives . 1 Pet. 5. 13. Zech. 10. 8. Curia . Miracula . Chrysost. Ios. Acosta . Dissensiones . Beni●●s . De doctri . Christia . 1 Cor. 11. 16. Separatistae . Ambros. August . Ep. 209. Feliciae virgini . Amos. 1. Cor. 1. 10. Conclusio . Mich. 4. 10. Gen. 12. 1. Cant. 3. 11. Ioh. 11. 43. Psal. 23. Ioh. 2. 4. Io● 2. 10. Ioh. 4. 25. 16. 3. 2 Cor. 7● 14. Divisio . Part. 1. Psal. 89. 27. Ecclus. 36. 12. 4. 22. 18. 13. Liber vitae . Psal. ●9 . ●8 . Liber Scripturae Gen. 1. 26. Gen. 2. 17. Deut. 27. Psalm . 89. 23. verse 30. verse 33. Vita longa . Gen. 4. 9. 1 Sam. 2. 32. Psal. 91. 16. Deut. 24. 7. Ios. 14. 10. Morietur . Psal. 90. 12. Psal. 21. 14. Part. 2. August . Deut. 27. 13. Ier. 17. 13. 100. Annorum . Ecclus. 4. 30. Amos 1. 3. Psal. 18. 26. Levit. 26. 21. Psalm . 113. 7. Psal. 86. 12. Psalm . 33. 10. Esay 19. 3. Maledictus . 2 Reg. 2. Esay . Amos. Esay . Exod. 7. 4. Prov. 18. 21. Iam. 3. 9. Psal. 10● . 7. Aeternum . Matth. 2● . ●9 . verse 3. 1 Reg. 17. Divisio . 1 Part. Acts 1. 8. 1. Reg. 19. 12. Zech. 10. 8. Mat. 10. 27. Esai . 30. 20. Oblig . 2. 1 Ioh. 4. 3. Mat. 6. 27. 22. 18. 4. 2. 12. 32. 30. 6. Matth. 5. Part. 2. An omnem . Matth. 4. 4. Deut. 8. 3. Ioh. 14. 26. An solam . 3 Part. Iohn 8. 47. Exod. 21. 6. Psalm 53. 4. 8. 17. 3. 1. Num. 5. 12. 1 Sam. 10. ult . Mat. 18. 8. Ecclus. 28. 28. Regnum . Exod. 21. 17. Exod. 22. 28. 2 Sam. 19. 21. Lev. 24. 15. 8. 21. Eccles. 10. 20. Ecclesia . Psal. 50. ●6 . Conclusio . Eccles. 7. 5. Prov. 26. 25. Psal. 55. 22. Deus . Psal. 112. 7. 51. 46. Es● . 1. 19. Heb. 12. 25. Divisio . Zech. 6. 12. Psal. 104. 19. Luac . 22. 54. Cant. 4. 16. 37. 22. 8. 8. 1 Part. Oriens . Heb. 11. 6. Trinitarii . Act. 11. 26. Epiph. Heres . 29 Iohn 17. 3. An in textu . Iohn 17. 6. Primo hic . Cui dixit . Rupertus . Rex . ver . 18. 1. 22 : Gen. 11. 7. Esa● . 6. 8. Psal. 19. 7. In concilio . Iohn 3. 3 : 2 Part. Occidens . Adam . Psal. 8. 4. Lam. 1. 3. Adam : Nonster . Luke 4. 4. Terra rub●a . Apoc. 14. 14. Act. 1. 10. Eccles. 9. 8. Cant. 5. 10. Exod 4. 25. Esai . 63. 1. Coles . 1. 20. Apoc. 7. 13. Apoc. 14. 14. Apoc. 20. 11. Psal. 105. 13. Apoc. 2. 17. Macula Alba. Levit. 1● . Ioel. 17. Greg. Aquilo . Iob. 37. 12. Prov. 25. 23. Cant. 4. 16. Imago similitudo . ● . ● . 2. 6. C●ct . 2. 15. Mat 12. 36. Mat. 10. 23. Iudg. 15. 1 Reg. 13. 23. 2. Reg. 2. 25. Exod. 32. 25. Gen , 22. 16. 2 Pet. 2. 22. Heb. 6. 4. Arnob. 4 Part. Meridies . Vbi Imago . Non in Corpore . Deus non est Corpus . Chrysost. Ioh. 20. 17. Non Corpus assumptum . Non ut venturus Christus . In anima . Tota Trinitas in omni facultate . In natura Deus , 40. 14. Pater in Intellectu . Filius in Voluntate . Spiritus in Memoria . Iob. 14. 20. Eccles. 7. 36. In Gratia. Orat. de Assumpt . Mariae . Esai . 14. 14. Phil. 2. 5. Ephe. 4. 5. Pater . 1 Cor. 6. 5. Ephe. 6. 13. Ibid. Mat. 19. 12. 20. 21. Phil. 4. 13. 1 Iohn 39. Filius . 2 Tim. 1. 12 , Rom. 6. 9. 8. 27. 1. Cor. S. 1. 2. 2. 1. 21. Spiritus Sanctus . Rom. 8. 28. Gen. 50. 20. Amos 3. 6. Psal. 27. 13. In gloria Deus . Pater . Filius . Spiritus Sanctus . Gen. 11. Exod. 3. 14. Divisio . 1 Part. Quis. Ezck. 16. 19. 26. 33. 1. Prov. 24. 15. Psal. 91. Lam. 1. 19. Ier. 4. 10. Ier. 5. 31. Hose . 9. 7. Lam. 2. 2. Iob 12. 16. Iob. 8. 3. Quid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expectavit . Deut. 14. 49. 23. Speravit . Rom. 8. 24. Spes veniae . Psal. 42. 7. Gen. 6. 5. 8 , 21. Spes Gratiae . Rom. 5. 10. Spes Gloriae . 1 Tim. 1. 11. Rom. 8. 25. Moratus est . Psal. 119. 131. Psal : 145. 16. Augustin . 2 Part. Gen. 11. Luke 14. 28. Heb. 9. 27. Iob 7. 7. Iam. 4. 14. Iob 14. 7. Psal. 120. 5. 1. Cor. 15. 19. 10. 6. 11. Deut. 32. 39. Divisio . Psal. 18. 11. 104. 2. 1 Part. Illud . Optus . Epipha . Opus ejus . Senec● . Cicero . Trismeg . Virgil. Rom. 1. 20. 40. 20. Vid●re possunt . D●●and . Boveriax so . 14. Viderunt . Omnis home . Rom. 1. 20. 5. 12. 38. 31. Psal. 107. 23. Luk. 9. 62. Deut. 25. 2. 1 Sam. 20. 31. Deut. 13. 13. 2 Part. Enosh . Prov. 30. 8. Hierome . Bernard . Phil. 4. 12. Chrysost. Intuebitur . Apo 3. 18. Mat. 25. 44. E longinqu● . 〈◊〉 . 18. 1. Exod. 33. 23. Lam. 3. 1. Objection . Divisio : 1 Part. Deus unus . 3 Personae . Creatio . Angeli . Homines . Christus . Ecclesia . Gen. 7. 2. Act. 2. 3. Quàm citò . 1. 6. 13. Quae Instrumenta . Quae Doctrina . Irenaeus . Durat adbue . Reformatio . Tu ipse . Sigillati . ● Christo. In Baptisme . C●● . 8. 6. Eph. 4. 30. Ante. 22. 17. 3. 17. 27. 12. Rom. 11. 1. 5. 8. Tostat. Oleast . Christiani . Mat. 8. 11. 23. 12● Via angusta . Mat. 7. 13. Psal. 119. 96. Mat. 18. 9. Esac . 6● . 11. Apoc. 3. August . 2 Part. Stabunt . Ante Thronum . Ante Agnum . Stolis . Albis . Esa. 93. 2. Palma . Exod. 15. 23. Divisio . 1 Part. Ecclesia . Mat. 17. 5. 2 Part. 3 Part. Egredimini . Cant. 1. 8. Videte . 1. 8. Exod. 38. 8. Solomon . Corona . Esa. 28. 1. Gen. 3. 18. 〈◊〉 Desponsatio . 21. 19. Letitia . Heb. 2. 9. 12 , 2. 1 Pet. 4. 16. Matth. 26. 38. Luc. 22. 44. Iam. 1. 2. Rex . Lue. 2. 37. Ecclus. 38. 22. 1 Thess. 4. 13. Of Prayer . Of this Prayer . Father . Forgive them . For. They know not . Ignorance . Verse 33. 1. C●r . 3. 9. Lapis . Ioh. 13. Cyrill . Iob 27. Matth. 14. 14. Fundamentalis . 1 Cor. 3. Angularis . Esay 28. 118. Lapis Iacob . Gen. 28. Psal. 47. 20. Esay 16. 9. Psal. 13. 2. Lapis David . August . 1 Sam 14. 15. Gregory . August . Lapis , Petra . Num. 20. Deut. 32. 13. 1. Cor. 10 Esay 42. 11. 2 Part. Wisd. 16. 24. Hierome . Esa. 50. 10. Frangi . Rom. 8. 28. Bernard . Quicunque . Esay 14. 12. 3 Part. Psal. 15. 42. Esay 30. 14. Ierem. 19. 11. Cadere . Dan. 11. 18. Dan. 2. Psal. 1● . 6. Rev. 2. 11. Iohn 4. 19. 1 Part. Quis lux . 1 Ioh. 5. 12. Illa lux . Augustin . Mat. 5. Ioh. 5. Ephe. 5. Luke ● . 27. Tertull. Mat. 26. 39. Numb . 12 . Habak 1. Lux Essentiae . 1Tim . 6. 16. 5. 8. Phil. 2. 20. Ezek 16. 10. Apo 12. 1. 2 Pet. 1. 4. 1 Cor. 6. 17. Lux Gloriae . Lux fidei . Gen. 3. 15. 12 3. Esay ● . 14. Mich. 5. 2. Dan. 9. 24. Lux Naturae . Rom. 1. 20. 1 Thes. 5. 19. Lux aeternorum corporū . verse 3. Tertull. 1 Cor. 3. 11. Lux incensionum . Hierom. August . Lux Depuratarum Mixtionum . Lux Repercussionum . Tertull. Conclusio . Numb . 2● . 22. Recapitulatio . 1 Thes. 5. 7. Essentiae . Gloriae . Fidei . Naturae . Aeternorum Corporum . Incensionum . Depuratarum Mixitionum . Repercussionum . 1 Part. Idoneus . Philo Iud. Luk. 7. 28. August . Scientia . Matth. 11.9 . Hierom. Esay 40. 3. Mal. 3. 1. Matth. 11. 10. Hierom. Integritas . Iohn 10. 41. Aquin. August . Austeritas . August . 1 Cor. 9. 27. Ambrose . Luc. 1. 4● . 1 Reg. 2. 23. Ios. 1. ●1 . Ioseph . Philo. Iud. Pliai . Missus . Rom. 10. 15 Luc. 3. 7. Matt. 3. 7. Luc. 3. 12. 14. Ier. 23. 21. Baroni Alvarez . Azor. Maynardus . vide Pseudo-Mart . f. 154. 1 Citation . Luke 1. 6. 2 Citation . Luke 1. 41. Verse 15. August . Origen . Cyrill . 3 Citation . Luke 3. 2. 4 Citation . 5 Citation . 1 Thess. 4. 16. 2 Chro. 9. 27. Psal. 51.15 . Gen. 43. 21. Num. 16. 30. Mat. 27. 52. Act. 7. 56. Apoc. 10. 6. Dan. 7. 9. Divisio . 1 Part. Cur testis . Ambrose . August . Propter non intelligentes . Mat. 9. 24. Propter incredulos . Iob 24. 15. Propter infirmos . Act. 28. 26. Propter Relapsos . Act. 2. 3. A seipso . Iohn . 5. 31. 8. 13. A Patre . Iohn . 5. 37. 14. 8. Ab Angelo . Luke 2. 8. A stella . A Magis . A Simeone . Luke 2. 25. Ab Anna. Ambrose . Scripturas esse . Hos eos libros esse . Melchilanus . Idem ex Aquin. Cajetan . Sensus locorum . Iohn 5.39 . Hierom. Idem . Chrysost. Corn. Agrip. Escalante . August . Gregor . Hierom. 1 Cor. 1. 11. Tertull. Conscientia . Hierom. 1 Cor. 16. 22. 2 Part. Commissio . Esa. 40. 3. Mark 1. 2. Praeparate viam . Rectas facite semitas Dei. Tertull. Omnis Vallis exaltetur . Exo. 24. 29. D●ut . 32. 43. Matth. 17. 2 14. 23. Acts 1. 10. Iohn 12. 32● 20. 8. Greg. Omnis mons humiliabitur In Deserto . Instructions . Luc. 3. 2. Se non esse . Iob. 1. 20. August . Esse Natum . Iohn 1. 26. Hunc esse . Conclusio . I Cor. 2. 8. Act. 17. 30. Luke 19. 42. 2 Cor. 5. 20. Luke 4. 16. Esay 61. 1. August . Luke 14. August . Mar. 2. 17. August . Chrysoft . Act. 4. 12. verse 40. Verse 3. Divisio . 1 Part. Vult omnes . Luke 18. 8. Iob 1. 6. Ier. 27. 28. Prov. 8. 31. Lex . Mat. 20. 22. Psal. 144. 3. August . Mat. 25. 44. Rom. 1.12 . Videte . Psal. 62. 11. Verse 3. Mat. 5. Psal. 19. 2. Luke 16. 27. Prooemium in Ionam . 1 Reg. 17. 2. Part. Concision . Ier. 19. 11. Concisio Corporis . 1 Iohn 4. 3. Psal. 137. 6. Concisio Vestis . 2 Sam. 10. Gal. 5. 15. Concisio Spiritus . 1 Cor. 6.17 . 2 Pet. 2. 4. Numb . 16. 30. Mat. 2. 18. Gen. 33. Divisio . 1. Part. Ier. 1. 10. Obad. 1. 21. Ambros. Aug. Job 19. 21. 1 Sam. 31. 3. Mic. 6. 3. Zech. 7. 12. Acts 2. 15. 1 Sam. 1. 15. Mar. 3. 21. 2 Cor. 5. 13. Theophil . 1 Cor. 4. 10. Mat. 5. 2. Part. Amos 3. Hag. 2. Rei nostrae . 1 Cor. 9. 16. Bern● Sine Mandato . Iohn 12. 49. Gal. 1. 12. Bern. Receptio . G●l . 4. 14 Luc. 6. 1. Hom. 30. in Act. Hom. 31. Ezech. 33. 32. Act. 8. 3 Part. Inimicus . 13. 24. 33. 10. Amici . August . Polanus syntag . To. 1. fol. 784. Reconciliamini . Chrysost. M. c. 6. 3. Mic. 6. 11. Ezck. 33. 11. Binius . To. 1. so . 320. Mat. 22● Rom. 5. 10. Divisio : 1 Part. Filii . Hose . 2. 9. Tertull. Iob 38. 28. Iames 1. 17. Eph. 1. 17. 2 Cor. 4. 17. Gen. 1. 28. Psal. 8. 7. Israel . Deut. 32. 6. Chrysoft . Esay 49. 15. Psal. 103. 1. Exed . 4. 22. Exhaeredatio . Ingratitudo . Senec. Bern. Isa. 55. 10. Bern. Ezek. 16. Idololatria . Exod. 32. 1. Deut. 32. 17. Ver. 5. Iud. 10. 11. Dies . Luc. 6. 35. Mat. 4. 5. Luc. 12. 20. 3. 11. 8. 9. 9. 12. Non securi . Matt. 8. 12. Matt. 16. 18. Gen. 2. 15. 2 Part. Non exhaeredantur , Corriguntur tamen . Exod. 23. 22. Psalm . 139. 22. 2 Chro. 19. 2. 2 Thes. 3. 14. Eccles. 8. 3. Ephes. 2. 16 : Comminatio . Sine Rege . Hi●rome . Gen. 4. 12. Ezek. 16. 13. Sine Principe . Isa. 9. 9. Exod. 2. 13. Damna spiritualia . Sine Sacrificio . Sine Ephod . Exod. 26. 6. 1 Sam. 2. 18. 2 Sam. 6. 14. Iob. 20. 1● . Image , Teraphim . Gen. 31. 19. Ezek. 21. 21. 1 Sam. 19. 13. Institut . 1. 11. 7. 1● Eliz. 1559. Deut. 3. 24. Lam. 1. 12. Apoc. 4. 1. 10. 3. Psal. 12. 6. Psal. 119. 140. 103. Prov. 16. 24. Gen. 49. 21. Deut. 32. 1. Ephes. 3. 10. Heb. 13. 2. Divisio . 1 Pet. 3. 10. 1 Part. Prov. 17. 5. Psal. 2. 2. Pauper . Apoc. 22. 1● . Deut. 15. ● . 22. 16. Esay 38. 11. Problema . Reproach . Act. 6. 11. 1 Chron. 20. 27. 6. Deus . Gen. 18. 25. Esay 9. 3. Factorem . Ecclus. 38. 7. Eccles. 12. 1. Ejus . Suum . In Orphanis . Ps. 10. 14. In Imagine . In Corpore . Matth. 8. 19. 1 Cor. 12. 23. In Haeredibus . 2. 5. Mat. 5. 3. In Seipso . Mat. 25. 40. 2 Part. Exod. 33. 19. 1 Reg. 8. Honorat Detem . Ier. 30. 19. Prov. 19. 17. Heb. 10. 5. Ezek. 16. 1. Conclusic . Chrysoft . Apoc. 5. 13. Castro . Divisio . Ezck. 2. 20. 2. 35. 25. 1. Regnum . Iudaeis promissa . Deut. 17. 14. Gen. 49. 10. 1 Sam. 8. 5. Acts 13. 21. Exod. 19. 5. 1 Sam. 12. 12. Dabat . Ezek. 16. 3. Regnum in Rege . 1. Sam. 8. Luke 14. 14. Psal. 2. 1. Zech. 12. 11. 2 Reg. 22. 2. 2● . 25. Rex malus . 2 Reg. 24. 19. 2 Reg. 25. ult . 2. C●● . 36. 12. Ver. 13. Mat. ● . 37. Vers. 26. 2 Sam. 19. 12. Spiritus Narium . Spiritus sermo . Iud. 19. 30. Eccles. 10. 20. Esay 8. 21. 1 Tim. 2. 1. 1. Cor. 7. 44. Animd . Gen. 2. 7. Act. 5. 29. Iob 30. 1. Act. 17. 18. Vnctus Domini . Gen. 28. 18. Exod 29. 36. Iudg. 9. 8. 2 Sam. 1. 21. Coquaeus . fo . 18. fol. 39. fol. 43. fol. 78. fol. 65. Captus . Fovea . Foveis . Illorum . 2 Chron. 35. 23. Auxilia . Ne peccemus . 2 Reg. 23. 26. Honor. 1 Reg. 12. 11. Subsidia . 2 Chron. 35. Religio . 1 Iohn 4. 3. Divisio . 1. Part. Scandalum Passivum . Mat 18. 7. Mat. 24. 32. Mat. 13. 21. Psal. 119. 165. In me . 1 cor . 1. 23. 1 Cor. 1. 20. Honor. 2 Cor. 1. 17. Voluptas . Ps. 36. 28. Psal. 4. 8. Lucrum . Mat. 16. 26. Luc. 12. 10. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Ps. 112. 3. Prov. 14. 24. Prov. 19. 10. Discipuli Ioannis . Io● . 3. 26. 30. Mat. 9. 14. Ambr. C●●●ari . Ps. 130. 7. Iames 3. 17. Luc. 10. 30. Mar. 9. 50. Papiste . Opera . 2. 14. 17. Hilar. Io● . 10. 20. Paupores . 1 Pet. 2. 5. Apoc. 5. 10. Rev. 2. 9. Hob. 13. 5. I. vnes 2. 5. Iames 1. 5. Apoc. 5. 1. verse 11. Homil. 2. in Gen. & 3. in 2 Thess. Matt. 5. Psal 42. 5. 11. Psal. 43. 5. 2. Part , Blessed . Act. 17. 28. Psal. 144.15 . August . In Caelis . August . 1 cor . 6. 17. August . Divisio . Matrimonium . Onus . Honos . Malac. 1. 6. Defuncti . Levit. 21. 13. 2 Cor. 11. 2. 1 Cor. 7. ult . Gen. 25. 26. Gen. 38. 11. Fratris . Gregor . Aug. Mal. 2. 10. Iob 38. 28. Esa. 9. 6. 1 Sam. 24. 11. Bellarmin . Ier. 2. 27. Iob 17. 14. Cohabitans . 1 Chron. 5. 27. Psal. 84. 〈◊〉 133. 1. Sine liberis . Ier. 1. 18. 1. 4. 15. Phil. 10. 1 Cor. 1. 13. 3. 6. Hose . 9. 14. Gen. 30. 1. Ille . Mat. 25. 43. Perpetuall . Luke 9. 62. 3. 3. Duty . 1 Cor. 9. 16. Mat. 25. 21. Mariti . 1 Cor. 11. 3. 2 Tim. 4. 3. 1 Sam. 1. 5. Fratris Mat. 18. 3. 1 Cor. 1. 21. Divisio . 1 Part. Serv● . 1 Sam. 21. 5. 1 King. 20. 15. Alumni . Prov. 3. 32. Mat. 11. 25. 19. 14. Esay 65. 20. Heb. 2. 13. Esay 2. 6. Malach. Phil. v 12. Colos. 3. 12. Venite . 1 Tim. 1. 15. Matt. 9. 2. Gen. 8. 11. Audite . Psalm . 6. 3. Ephes. 1. 18. Me. 1 Co● . 4. 1. Exod. 6. 12. Ier. 1. 6. Esa. 6. 6. 2 Part. Docebo . Psal. 71. 17. Timor Naturalis . Sap. 17. 12. Timor seminaturalis . Frtitudo . Gen. 3. 10. Ps. 53. 6. Lev. 26. 17. 36. 1 Reg. 2. 2. Gregor . Iob 7. 1. Gregor . 1 Pet. 4. 12. Chrysost. Chrysost. Gregor . Chrysost. P●ov . 1. 38. Luc. 21. 9. Quid operatur . Rom. 11. 02. Eccles. 5. 7. Iob. 1. 1. Luke 2. 25. Iohn 16. 33. 15. 19. Dan. 3. 2. 25. August . Quid iste Timor . Ecclus. 25. 11. 1 Sam. 11. 7. August . Divisio . 1 Part. Heb. 10. 31. Exod. 34. 14. Numb . 22. 5. 20. 11. Prov. 25. 16. 1. Sam. 14. 17. Act. 5. 8. Gen. 38. 2. Quia instrumentum . Gen. 3. 1. Num. 28. 22. Lev. 20. 15. Obad. v. 21. 2 Part. Gen. 1. 5. Super pectus . Rom. 6. 18. 1 Pet. 5. 8. An forma mutata . Inimicitias ponam . Gen. 49. 5. Pulverem comedes . Stellio Ion. 1. 17. 1 Reg. 7. 6. Dan. 6. 22. Act. 28. 2 Pet. 1. 4. 2 Cor. 5. 17. Ioh. 3. 8. Ioh. 15. 5. Cant. 2. 1. 4. 14. 5. 2. Totâ vitâ . Esay 65. 25. Gen. 3. 18. Mat. 8. 28. Conclusio . Apoc. 5. 5. Numb . 12. 18. 2 Sam. 5. 14. Ioh. 19. 5. Esay 53. 2. 1. 12. verse 8. 10. 17. 2 Cor. 11. 29. Divisio . 1 Part. Generalitas . Gen. 6. 12. Heb. 9. 27. Ezek. 18. 4. 1 Tim. 2. 4. Heb. 12. 6. Col. 2. 14. August . Ambros. Gheber . Vir. Ps● 9. 20. Gen. 27. 29. Ieremy . Nemo necessarius Deo. Iob. 6. ●7 . Non excusamur à futuris per praeterita . 1 Reg. 19. 4. Cap. 20. 1. 32. 2. 38. 9. Publicavit . Ejus . 1 Sam. 26. 22. 1 Cor. 4. 4. August . In Virga . Prov. 23. 13. Exod. 21. 20. Psal. 11. 6. Ierem. 19. 11. 11. 7. Virga Irae . Psal. 6. 1. 2 Part. Vidi . Eph. 1. 18. 4. 18. Psal. 89. 48. 16. 10. Psal. 4. 7. 35. 22. Dan. 5. 51. Psal. 55. 23. Apos . 3. 18. Ego vir . vers . 22. Iob 16. ●● . Gen. 32. 24. Ejus . 2 Sam. 24. 2 Sam. 12. 13. 2 Sam. 24. 18. In Virga . 9. 34. 2 Sam. 7. 14. Esa. 10. 24. V. 26. Exod. 7. 12. Quia Virga . Mich. 7. 14. Psal. 45. 7. Psal. 23. 4. Virga Irae . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esa. 1. 5. Divisio . 1 Pa●t . Obediendum . Tamen temamur . Num. 20. 1 Sum. 4. Joh. 13. Phil. 3. Gen. 15. Heb. 11. Gen. 14. Gen. 34. Liberat Deus . August . Theodor. 1 Reg. 15. 13. Gen. 17. Colos. 2. Ezek. 28. Deut. 10. Retributio . 2 Part. Divisio . Quid. Gal. 5. Medus . Putgare . Mundare . Joel 3. Succidere . Ubi Jer. 9. 25. Deut. 21. 11. Phil. 3. 3. Prov. 14. 10. Mat. 24. 3. Aug : Divisio . Part. Aquin : 12● . 28. 3. Ba●nez . Banner ibid. Deut. 30. 9. Zeph. 3. 17. Luk. 15. 10. Luc. 10. 2● . Esay 62. 1. Basil. q. brevis 31. Homil. de gratiar . actione . Gen. 17. 17. Rom. 4. Amo. Hier. Rupertus . 2 Sam. 6. 14. Prov. 15. 13. Prov. 1. 26. Psal 2. 2. Verse 4. Psal. 42. 5. Prov. 25. 20. 1 Sam. 4. 17. 2 Part. Semper . Gen. 2. 15. 3. 19. Psal 128. 2. August . In bonis Temporalibus . Gen. 9. 20. In spiritualibus . Excles . 5. 8. In malis . Aquin. 3. 84. 9. 2. Aug. Basil. Aug. A sensis . In spiritualibus . Iames 1 , 2. Ambros. Luke 10. 20. In sempiterno . Basil. Chrysoft . Bern. Psal. 68. 17. August . Bern. Psal. 87. 7. Psal. 126. 2 Cor. 6. 10. Eph. 1. 14. Hierom. Bernard . 1 Pet. 4. 13. Mat. 5. 12. Iohn 16. 24. August . Psal. 89. 16. August . Psal. 89. 15. August . Cant. 5. 1. Bernard . Matt. 9. 15. Luc. 12. 32. Esay 66. 23. Psal. 16. 11.