THE MIRROR OF HUMILITY: OR Two eloquent and acute Discourses upon the Nativity and Passion of Christ, full of divine and excellent Meditations and Sentences. Published first in Latin by the worthy Author Daniel Heinsius, and since done into English, by I. H. Master of Arts in Mag. Coll. Oxon.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉:  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Aeschin. erat. in Ctesiphont. 
LONDON, Printed by Bernard Alsop, and are to be sold at his house by Saint Anne's Church near Aldersgate. 1618.   

TO THE WORSHIPFUL, his worthy friend, Thomas Nicholas Esquire, as also to the virtuous and religious Gentlewoman, Mrs jane Nicholas his wife, and my must loving Aunt, all happiness of this, and a better Life.  
Worshipful Sir,  
THe due respect I bear unto your worth, and the thanks I owe unto you for the many arguments of your love, and encouragements of my studies which I have received from you, were the main motives that induced me to tender unto your acceptance, and to commit unto your patronage this little Pamphlet and Alpha of my endeavours: Let me entreat your goodness to entertain it. It consisteth of two discourses, upon the Nativity and Passion of our Saviour. The Matter thereof is as he spoke of the iron, borrowed: the Language is our own. That wherein they both concentre and agree, is no less than CHRIST; than whom there is no greater, no better. For if the pursuit of any thing besides the happiness of Heaven be still without end, and never without danger: then may we be fully ascertained, that CHRIST alone is the chiefest object, whereon we may fix the eye of our perpetual contemplation, and embrace him with the arms of our devoutest Affection: who is a Lodestar to direct us unto Heaven. I will not so much prejudicate your zealous intentions, as to persuade you to read what I have written: but rather to pardon, if I have written amiss.  
Thus am I still jealous of mine own errors and inability, being no less desirous to submit myself unto your judicious censure: hoping that hereafter I shall address myself unto the perfecting of some larger project: yet ever acknowledging that you deserve more than I can perform, and that you have performed more than I can deserve. And therefore ever consecrating unto you both my pains and my prayers: the one for your service, and the other for your safety:  
I ever remain, Yours to be commanded, in whatsoever, IO: HARMAR.   

To the courteous Reader.  
NOthing more hard then to please all, nothing more ahsurde then to endeavour it. I am therefore (for my part) resolved to content my friends, and to contemn my foes. They I know, will mildly judge, these will perversely censure: being far worse than the Basilisques, they kill before they see. Well, it were impiety to flatter them, imbecility to fear them.  
Thine as thou pleasest, I. H.   
THE MIRROR OF HUMILITY.  

HOM. I. Upon the Nativity of Christ.  
THe Epicurean Philosophers, (Reverend and right worthy Auditors) who never had so much as the least relish of celestial joy and happiness, reposing their chiefest felicity in brutish and corporal pleasure, were accustomed to celebrate the twentieth day of every month in honour of their Archmaster Epicurus, surmising a twentieth day to have been the day of his Nativity. And not only so, but also they adorned their bedde-chambers with his picture, and engraved his portraiture in their plate and rings, that they might always behold him whom they meant ever to remember. Thus much homage and duty did those profane & effeminate Pagans perform unto him that was the patron of their opinion of pleasure. No marvel then if the Church of Christ hath consecrated one day unto her Saviour, for the solemnisation of his Nativity, and for the perpetuation of so ineffable a mystery. And yet howsoever the mystery of the Incaruation of the Son of God be so great, and the benefit of it no less; how lightly do we regard it, how perfunctorily do we celebrate it? I doubt not, but we all plainly see, that by the coming of Christ, God was united unto man, and man reunited unto God; the rigour and severity of the Law abated, graces given, iniquities forgiven, and yet how lightly do we regard it? how perfunctorily do we celebrate it? Some there be that rather desire to be curiously inquisitive into the mystery, then to acknowledge the depth of it with modesty: and do endeavour to apprehend that by natural reason, which far passeth the flight of human understanding.  
But we (Beloved) that think it to be a more secure way, and of less trouble and perplexity, rather to adore the supernatural excellency of it, then to assay with a Scotish and a sottish subtlety, to dive into it; first of all, let us think upon his cradle, and then afterwards upon his crown: Let us take our flight from his humility, that we may at the last so are unto the chiefest height and sublimity. Let us consider his conception, his nativity, his poverty, his infancy, his impotency; and let us meditate upon that blessed, blessed time, wherein he took upon him not only the weak nature of man, but also the weakest age of man.  
Let us fix our thoughts upon that thrice happy and auspicious day, a day farther excelling many centuries of years in goodness, than it doth come short of them in extent. A day, whereon Majesty invested itself with despicable humility, whereon the Word became flesh, GOD became man.  
And yet so, that the dignity & integrity of the Deity were nothing impeached, although seemingly degraded and impaired; neither was there any thing wanting to complete and absolute humanity which was assumed. Now if any man be so audicious, as to pry into the secrecy of this Mystery, and without wit or fear, to address himself to the discovery of the manner of it, he may perchance quickly strike sail, and retire with an O Altitudo! and still be as far from the fruit of his labour as from the end.  
If we look upon the Divinity, God the Father is, and hath always ●eene, and is always said to be. Both which properties, always to have ●eene, and to be, are as justly attributed ●nto the Son. For the Deity of the Son is not distinguished from the Deity of the Father. The Son is ●ee that was begotten of the Father, coequal with the Father, in respect ●f his Essence, though not in regard ●f his office. Now if thou inquirest, when Christ was begotten, than thou must of necessity deuolue thy imagination upon some parcel of time, unto which the Deity can no way be confined. And the Son, being if I may so speak) parallel to the Father, is as well beyond the bounds of time, as the Father. For how can the Son be limited by time, which is, and hath been with the Father before all time? begotten before all time, as God; but borne in time as man.  
As he is God, so he had no cause of his being; as he is the Son, so he may in some sort be say de to have had his origination from the Father; but such a one as is eternal. here may man's conceit yield itself to be but shallow; here against the marble of this difficulty, may the edge of all subtility be rebated: here may the illiterate presume to know as much as the learned. For whatsoever is, and hath been before all time, well may it be credited, it can never be comprehended. For that that hath been eternally before the existence or essence of man, is no less beyond the reach and capacity of man. For as the imagination and understanding of man, cannot be ever drawn beyond the beginning of time, or the extent: So neither without time was ever any man begotten, besides Christ which was man and God, and as upon this day was borne Man: whom if we surmise to have been made, that is blasphemy: If we think that he was not begotten, we shall then derogate much from the Deity: If we deny his Humanity, we then run the hazard of losing our eternal safety, being the fruit and end of his Nativity. Thus (to speak in general) must we acknowledge every thing in God to be far above the strain of reason, but nothing beyond the reach of faith. No less ought we to conceive of God the Son in particular. For he is also total God, as he is total man; and yet not totally God because he is also man; nor totally man, because he is also God. O ineffable union! Surely, this conjunction and combination of the divine & human nature, proceeded only from the immediate and sole act of the Deity. And therefore now, O man, see that thou adore and reverence this mystery, and upon this day think upon thy happy estate and condition, purchased by the obedience and humility of thy Saviour: who being borne as upon this day, was notwithstanding begotten from everlasting: & being God, for man's sake, became man: There being no way to save man but by dying for man, and no way to die for man, but by being man.  
Here may, we behold both his Deity and Humanity: The one must worthily be esteemed, because the other is worthy to be admired.  
Man could not be made God, and therefore God became man.. And to this end & purpose, that thou, O man, mightest acknowledge thy Creator's power, & embrace thy saviour's lowliness; that so, although his Majesty confound thee, yet his Humility may comfort thee.  
It will be worthy our contemplation, if we think, how, as upon this day God that is most purely immaterial, and free from all shadow of corporeity, was united unto a body: how he that was invisible became apparent and evident; how he that could not be discerned by the touch, was as upon this day encompassed with the clasping arms of his tender mother: How he that never had beginning, now began to be: and lastly, how the Son of God became the Son of man. So that as upon this day, God and men, heaven and earth, mortality and eternity, humanity and divinity were combined. In whom? in our Saviour: Whom the Father hath appointed Heir of all things, by whom also he made the World, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image or character of his person, who being no less admirable for his humility, then incomprehensible in respect of his power, descended far below the pitch of his eminency, that he might preserve by his mercy, what he had created by his omnipotency. He that once was clothed with the lustre of glory and majesty, no less terrible than admirable, whom neither Angels nor Archangels, nor Seraphims, nor Cherubims could endure to behold; he that once was Lord of hosts, the God of glory, he that once could with his only countenance turn the mountains topsy-turvy, and windshake the foundations of the whole earth: He I say, as upon this day, for us become as one of us.  
The unspeakable Majesty of the Father manageth the mystery, the ineffable love and affection of the Son assumeth our flesh, the incomprehensible power of the Spirit resideth within the narrow limits of the womb; albeit it cannot be contained in the vast capacity & circuit of the world. On this day was death vanquished, because life was produced: On this day was lying abolished, because truth was many feited: on this day was error abandoned, because the true way was discovered: on this day was the Manna of mercy, and the dole of heaven distributed, which he that eats shall not die; but live eternally. O blessed day, O beautiful and glorious day! A day without evening or ending; the very period of mortality, the beginning and alpha of eternity. A day of our second Nativity and Regeneration, whereon, that man might be borne of God, God would be borne like man. In the Creation man was form according to the image of God, but now God taketh upon him the Image of man.  
In the beginning God made man of the earth: but now even GOD himself is made that that he made, that that might not perish that he had made. Now therefore, let the wisdom and power of man be defaced, seeing the wisdom of God is so clearly manifested. Henceforth, the lame shall walk, the blind shall see, the deaf shall hear, the dumb shall speak, the dead shall revive, and that with one word, because it is the Word that speaketh, yea & without a word, because it is God that commandeth. O joyful day! O happy haltionian day! whereon the Son of God by his voluntary humiliation, and by the assumption of our humanity and humility hath now affianced us unto himself, by entering with us the league of brotherhood and fraternity. A day, whereon he was borne which was before all days, even the Ancient of days; he that made the first day: he said, Let there be light, and there was 
Gen. 1. 4.  light. A day, whereon Emanuel (whose name is sweeter than the sweetest aromatic odours of Arabia) being with man, amongst men; in man, for man became man. A day that Abraham, and Isaac, and jacob foresaw. On 
Gen. 27. 23.  this day man ascended, because God descended; and our flesh was advanced and ingraced, because the Word was made flesh. 
joh. 1.   
Hitherto have we been the sons of Adam, now are we the sons of God: a new people, a new nation, not borne of flesh and blood, nor of the will of man, but of God. All things 
john 1. 13.  hitherto have been too transcendent, imperuious without entry, full of horror and amazement: but now we may have free access unto God, the way is neither chargeable, nor tedious: And therefore now, O man, come unto thy God, and yet by the mediation of man. For on this day thy Saviour, of God, became Man; that he might rejoin man to God. O ineffable love! O incredible mercy! O unspeakable grace and favour! we all acknowledge the invisible Essence, and indivisible Unity of God the Father and the Son; insomuch that the Essence of that one hath not been like to the other only, but even identical: and yet he that is one with God, was as upon this day made one with man; that man might be made one with God.  
Come now therefore unto thy Creator, O man: touch thy Creator, & embrace him, touch thy Saviour, and adore him. Come thou, O blessed Church, draw near unto thy Bridegroom; O let him be folded within the arms of thy zeal and affection. For he hath taken a great journey, even as far as it is from heaven to earth, that he might translate thee from earth to heaven. God he is, that he might free and enfranchize thee: and man he is, that without terror and amazement he might come unto thee. So that he hath well tempered his Deity with humanity, and his Majesty with humility: for as the one confoundeth, so the other comforteth; as the one amazeth, so the other animateth. And therefore come boldly, and confidently meet thy Saviour, and as well with thy tears, as with thy words. O cry out and say, I have found him whom my soul loveth: I held him and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the Chamber of her that conceived me. O let him kiss me 
Cant. 3. 4.  with the kisses of his mouth: Draw me, we will run after thee because of the savour of thy sweet ointments. Come 
Cant. 1. 4.  O blessed Church, and sing; Unto us a Child is borne, unto us a Son is 
Esay 9 6.  given; the almighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace. Come, I say, and sing with the Psalmist; I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry: In my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. Tell me, whom my soul loveth, where feedest thou? where liest thou at noon? Let us beloved, go into our saviours little and homely chamber of repose, and let us delight and imparadise ourselves with so lovely an object as our Saviour is. Away with those proud and insolent pharisees, who presume they know the Law, and yet know not the author of it. Away with Arrius, who held that there was a time when Christ was not. O let him be perpetually branded with the note of this his infamous and execrable heresy. Let him tell me, when had he no being, which had being in a beginning without beginning? In the beginning was the Word. When had 
Ioh, 1. 1.  he no being which is God from everlasting? And the Word was God, ibid. At what time was he not, which is, and was the Author of time? All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made, ibid. Away with the No●tians and Sabellians, that confounded the Trinity of persons, that held but one person, as there is but one Essence. Away with that ignominious Stigmatic Samosatenus, that even when he reposed himself upon the prostituted carcase of a base and odious strumpet, was so impudent & audacious as to detract and derogate from the Deity of our Saviour: and besides this, did not blush to affirm the eternal word of God to be nothing else but a mere vanishing voice. Away with Ualentinus, and Apelles, and Marcio, that laboured to disannul Christ's humanity. Away with Nestorius, that held, that the divine and human nature were separated and diwlsed: and moreover endeavoured to maintain, that not the Son of God, but one that was mere man, was for our redemption nailed unto the Cross. Away with that wicked Ebio, that ascribed unto our Saviour an earthly father. Away with the whole rout and rabble of Heretics, or whatsoever of that leaven, preiudicers either of his Deity, or his Humanity. Away with those Ethnic Philosophers and Wizards of the world.  
But let us Beloved, confessing our ignorance, and professing our faith, enter into our saviours chamber, and sing, The stone which the builders refused, is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lords doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Let us enter into our saviours 
Psa: 118. 22  Chamber, and sing; The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation; 
Ver. 14:  The right hand of the Lord is exalted, the right hand of the Lord doth 
Ver. 16.  valiantly. Let us enter into our saviours Chamber, & sing; Sing O daughter 
Z●p. 3. 14.  of Zion, shout O Israel: Be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgements: he hath cast out thine enemy; The King of Israel, even the Lord is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. Behold he that is 
job. 11. 3.  higher than Heaven, and deeper than hell, for thy sake. O man, is become man, that he might recover thee from Hell, & bring thee unto Heaven.  
Behold therefore that sweet Benjamin, Christ jesus; Behold him which is our life on earth, & our way to heaven. Behold him that is sprung from the root of less, him that is of the generation of David, the seed of the woman, the arm of God, the virtue and power of the Almighty, and his well-beloved in whom he is well pleased. Behold him that was begotten but not then born: Behold him that is now borne, and not now begotten; being God by the Father's side, and man by the mother's side. Behold him that was, when he was not borne, being more ancient, not only then the time of his birth, but even the birth of time. Behold him whom Abraham the Father of the believing received as a guest, whose father he was in respect of the Flesh, whose son he was in respect of Faith. Behold him whose star Balaam 
Num. 24. 17  saw before the Wisemen, and foretold it also truly, although unwillingly. Behold him that now poureth forth his tears for thee, he will hereafter his blood; and therefore he will shed his blood for thee, because now his tears: who therefore weary that thou mightest rejoice, and therefore cometh unto thee, because he loveth thee. The time was when thou, O man, didst lie floating in the stream of luxurious delights, when thou sacrificedst unto strange gods that were not. Then didst thou, O miserable man, run the hazard both of God's indignation, and thine own damnation, the sorrows of death surrounded thee, the surges of iniquity overwhelmed thee. This 
Ps. 18. 14.  did the only begotten Son of God take notice of, as he lay in the bosom of his Father, & as he sat in the throne of his Majesty. And therefore he came down speedily, he laid aside his glory, and assumed poverty, and undertook the heavy weight of misery. He came unto the earth, He came unto thee, he came into thee, borne in the night, in the stormy winter, being naked & distressed. He had no man to succour him, no man to attend him, no man that regarded him. The best swaddling clothes his mother had to en wrap him, were but a few miserable rags. The best cradle he had was but a manger. Hence is it that he crieth unto thee, and protesteth, that he could not have done more for man. O what guerdon, what recompense shall man bestow upon him? It is not beloved, either the inventing or venting of frivolous & fruitless questions, concerning his wonderful Nativity, not those Myriad of quirks and niceties, which have been extracted from the drossy ore of earthy imaginations, that can be in acceptable sacrifice unto him. Alas these things rather disturb our tranquillity, than any way procure our safety: these abate our zeal towards God, and set us at bate with our neighbour: Let us therefore abandon these fooleties and fopperies. Let us put on sackcloth and ashes; let us sit in the dust; let us sit near unto our saviours c●atch, let us beat our breasts, & weep for our sins, that our Saviour may hear our sobs, & behold our tears, that so we may testify how much we are engaged unto him, who being the everlasting Word of the Father, for our sakes became silent: who being the wisdom of the Father, seemed to be impaired: who being the Father of eternity, became the son of mortality. He came unto his own, but his own received 
job. 1. 11.  him not. See how he placed himself in a degree below man, that he might, lift man unto God: & not only so, but as for man his sake, he became man; so for man's sake he became miserable; & yet was not he whent how wast not? Who 
Esa. 40. 12.  hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? O that my people were wise, 
Deut. 32.  that they understood, that they foresaw their last end.  
And how happy should we be, if, as Christ became like unto us in flesh; so we would endeavour to be like unto him in Spirit! He is ours by the one; let us be his by the other. There was a time when he came flying upon the wings of the wind, when he came in lightning and thunder, when darkness was his pavilion. Now may we find him wrapped in swaddling clouts, lying in a manger. Now may the Church cry out and say, As soon 
Luc. 20. 12.  as I heard him speak, my soul melted within me: I sought him, but I found him not: I called, but he answered me not. Now cry out and say, Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am 
Cant. 2. 5.  sick of love. Now will I rest under the shadow of his wings. Ye are not now come unto the mount (saith Moses) that might not be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of the Trumpet, and the voice of words, which voice they that heard, entreated that the word should not be spoken unto them anymore, for they could not endure that which was commanded: and if so much as a beast touched the mountain it shall be stoned or thrust thorough with a dart.  
And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and 
Heb. 12. 18.  quake. But we beloved may contemplate a more mild object, even our beloved Saviour which was contented to act the part of lowliness & humility, who when he published his Law, he appeared then as it were, in fire: but now manifesting his grace, and mercy, disdained not to repose himself on a palate of Hay. He whose sublimity is incomprehensible, dejected himself as low as might be. He as he lay in the Manger, had notwithstanding the Angels of Heaven about him, as his ancient attendants, and dependences, and the whole quire of heaven singing about him at his Nativity, which sang about him in his glory. And although he were confined to an obscure cottage, yet the rays of such a candle do I say? nay of such a Sun could not be hidden under a bushel; but were displayed even unto the remotest parts of the Eastern climate. His Deity could not be defaced by his poverty, nor extenuated. By the power of which Deity a star in the firmament was commanded to give notice of Christ's humanity. Whatsoever in this mystery is achieved beyond the capacity of man, plainly evinceth, that he is God, who notwithstanding was thus humbled.  
Let custom vanish, let nature acknowledge herself to be but shallow in the conceit of the miracles which are wrought by the immediate finger of God. Reason can hardly be brought to acknowledge that a Virgin was a mother. It may at length come within ken of this mystery: if so be it be furthered by the stern of God's word, and wafted along by the breath and gale of the Spirit. Bare reason is faith's contradiction.  
Now beloved, let us posse on unto that that hath not yet been touched. And seeing that we have consecrated this day unto divine and holy meditation, let us with a zealous and modest curiosity take an interview of whatsoever pertaineth unto the birth of our Saviour. Let us imagine whatsoever might have then been seen, is now also set before our eyes. Let us go visit the child and his blessed mother, the Virgin; and let us think upon all those to whom so gracious a mystery was first revealed. Let us lay aside so many Centuries of years, which have passed since his birth, and let our winged thoughts traverse the large extent of ground which is betwixt us and Bethleem, and let us take an exact survey of that least, but not least blessed City: so that not the slightest circumstance may pass unexamined. For if the infancy of all children do much delight & please us, how much should the infancy of this blessed babe rejoice us, which for our sakes, that he might be an absolute and complete man, dayned to take upon him the impotency of our childhood? Not far off from the manger sat the blessed Virgin, herself bearing a great reverence to the miracle: who being not tainted with the contagion of any inordinate lust, doth ingenuously confess that, whereof the reason she cannot conceive; to wit, ●hat she is a mother; who having been betrothed unto josph, had received his news from the mouth of an An●ell, that she should not be the Spouse ●f man but the mother of God.  
Now she evidently perceiveth, ●●at she is married unto heaven, and ●et her thoughts are still transported, ●● well by amazement, as by joy. She 
Luk. 1. 13.  ●eth, that even she poor despised ●aide is become the Mother of her ●●ther, a Governess to him that is the Governor of Heaven and earth: She seeth, that she hath brought forth a mightier than David, a signior to Adam. She seeth, that she herself is both mother, midwife, and nurse: that none might touch him, less pure than herself that bore him. She had oftentimes before entertained many holy meditations upon the child, which was in so many places of the holy Scripture spoken of by the Prophets and Oracles of God, and that that child should spring from the root of David. She had often thought upon the Virgin, admiring whom such great and transcendent happiness should befall. She well knew, that Text of Esay, Chap. 7. 14. Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son She had often revolved many predictions of the Prophets, and in them had read the story of herself, and knew it not. She seeth many Prophecies fulfilled, many promises performed, many types and prefigurations accomplished. She seeth a light, and yet not borrowed from the rays either of the Sun or Moon. She seeth a night whose serenity surpasseth the brightness of the clearest day. Sometimes she being, as it were, ouerioyed in her happiness, her eyes distill a sweet shower of crystal tears into her ivory bosom. Sometimes when she thinks that she is become a mother, than a modest shame (a probable argument of virginity, and the tincture of virtue) setteth in her snowy cheeks a pure vermilion. Sometimes with a chaste and composed aspect, she beholdeth her Son and Gods; and (yet being solicitous for ●er Virginity) she putteth on the most tender affection of a mother, which notwithstanding is frequently interrupted with the conceit that she ●● still a Virgin. Now she beginneth ●o nourish her Son, and to bring him ●p, whom she had now brought forth: ●●staining him by miraculous milk, ●used in her not by the help of man; ●ut produced by the efficaeie of the spirit of God. The great Founder ●●d Architect of Heaven and Earth, now resteth himself upon the neck of his mother and Spouse, and he himself that feedeth all things, deriveth nutriment from her sugared paps. Sometimes our Saviour with a pleasing countenance beholdeth his virgin mother, and seemeth to know her: She again reflecteth a reciprocal Smile upon him, and confesseth that she is his mother indeed; and she parteth her love (which she imparteth to no man else) between her Son, & her virginity; constantly acknowledging the one, and still retaining the other. Depart ye from this holy and blessed Spectacle, ye unchaste ones whatsoner ye are, either actually, or patronesses of lewdness: You I say, that parget and sophisticate your faces; you that are so nice and curious in your gates, you that with your itching and bewitching fascinating glances discover the wantonness of your minds, and lightness of your lives; you that so adorn your heads with borrowed hair, and your necks with laces, and do lay open your milk-white paps as most powerful allectives, to attract the beholder's eye, and to entrap the Spectators affection, giving him by this light taste of one or two parts, hope to enjoy the whole body. You that by your sugared kisses, and amorous embraces set your bodies in combustion; you that by your wanton and venereous thoughts deflower yourselves before you are linked to your husbands: you, I say, depart from the blessed society of our Saviour. For what else do ye, but that ye may be espoused unto the Devil? who as he first cheated your grandmother Eve of her blessed estate; so he continually attempteth by the like serpentine imposture to despoil you of your purity and integrity. For his sake, and by his inducement do ye dispose the tresses of your hair, burnish your faces, consult your looking glasses.  
And thus you give way unto the Serpent to creep through the crannies of your eyes into the secret angles and corners of your hearts. If ye look upon the holy Virgin, you shall find that she never fixed her thoughts upon any thing but on God▪ and so first giving him a place in her heart, afterwards she, most happily entertained him in her womb. Her soul was as it were diwlsed and separated from her body, by an intentive and serious contemplation of her Creator; and the surrendering herself unto him alone, was no less wrapped in the bond and ties of affection towards him, than she was rapt in admiration of his love towards her▪ This is that that quencheth and extinguisheth all the flames of lust, and exorbitant love. This was that that so ravished and extased the blessed Marie: This was that sacred fire that so sacrificed her heart unto her God. This was that that made her (like a true and passionate Love) never to turn her eyes from her Saviour whom she totally and entirely affected. For indeed that soul which is illuminated by the reviving rays of the Spirit, is univocally made all eye, all light, all lustre, all spirit; no otherwise then combustible matter being set unto ●he fire is turned into the nature of ●ire. So Elias in times past, after he had often fasted, and had given the fire of zeal residence on the golden altar of his heart, was not long after rapt up into heaven in a fiery Chariot. Thus is the operation of the Spirit as well attractive of what resembles it, as productive of that it would have resemble it. The Spirit is unitive and combining, it makes ●s agree together, and in it. For as they that are married, are said to be one flesh; so they that are linked unto Christ, are as truly said to be one in spirit.  
And indeed the union of spirits is more near and strict than the coherence and copulation of bodies. Great reference had Christ unto Mary, in respect of his body: but she had more alliance unto him, in respect of the Soul and Spirit.  
Come now ye chaste Matrons, and pure virgins, which hitherto have scarce defiled yourselves so much as in thought; come I say (according unto the custom of women) and visit this blessed Virgin-mother delivered of so happy an issue. here is nothing about her unclean or menstruous, nothing unworthy your presence, nothing that may not become a Virgin. For this blessed Infant, was not begotten in lust, but in entire chastity; Not by the will of the flesh, but of the Spirit. Come therefore, I say, ye chaste maidens and matrons, embrace this babe your Saviour with the arms of zeal, apprehend him with the hand of Faith. Devote your whole lives unto his service, and endeavour not so much how you may be fruitful in body, as faithful in soul. Come, draw near, cast your eyes upon this blessed maid and mother of Christ, in whom we see childbirth not to have impaired her virginity, nor her virginity to have hindered her childbirth. O blessed virgin, O happy Marie! Emblem of virginity, pattern of Modesty! For, howsoever thou above all other women art crowned with honour and dignity, in that thou art a mother unto thy Lord, as thou art his handmaid; yet such is thy piety and humility that thou waxest not proud or insolent hereby. Many were those gracious thoughts that she continually entertained, many were those pathetical ejaculations which she sent up unto heaven. Happy was joseph that had so gracious a woman espoused unto him, as Marry: and yet more happy was he, in that the protection and tuition of his blessed Saviour was deputed unto him. I doubt not but that he was sorry that he had no fit room to receive him, that the place wherein they sojourned was so mean, so ungarnisht, so unfurnished, so unprovided both of meat and vtensiles. How carefully did he ponder every circumstance? How cheerfully did he acknowledge that only faith must believe, what only God doth effect? Now (beloved) seeing we are proceeded thus far, let us also think upon those that came unto this miracle. Surely they were no other than simple Idiots: There were in the same country Shepherds abiding in 
Luc. 2.  the field, keeping watch over their stocks by night. Kings and Potentates were ignorant of all this, and had no notice of Christ his Nativity. They sleep whiles Christ cometh. So secret and unexpected shall he come, when he shall come the second time as a thief in the night. Now a chief thing to be observed in this history, is, that the Angels made choice of Shepherds an innocent and illiterate sort of men, & made them first partakers of the blessed news of Christ his birth. The reason was (I conjecture) because they might with more facility be induced to believe the tidings. For as Wool that hath received the die and tincture of no colour, is capable of any: so these blessed shepherds which were never before endued with any kind of secular wisdom and knowledge, were more apt subjects to entertain celestial and transcendent inspirations. The surest means to sore up into heaven, are the wings of faith: that that soonest depriveth us of those wings, and depraveth our affections, is nothing else but an insolent presumption, and an elevated conceit of our own understandings. O how hard a matter would it have been to have persuaded Aristotle, or any of that Leaven (I mean the Ethnic opinionating Philosophers) to have believed that the Sovereign of the whole world should be borne man on earth? O blessed be that wisdom, which in the mystery of our salvation, hath excluded human wisdom! For they that were never guilty of any learning & extraordinary knowledge, they that could not dispute, and could not but believe, were the prime and first that were acquainted with a matter of so great consequence.  
The great Clerks and Scholars of the world, who examined all by the Touchstone of reason, who ever preferred understanding before belief, were utterly discarded, and herdmen admitted, whose plainness of simplicity was a great cause of their mature and speedy proficiency: Unto you is borne this day in the City of David, a Saviour, 
Luk. 2, 10.  which is Christ the Lord. First of of all, they learn that Christ is borne, and then unto them. What followeth? It is said (verse 16) That they came with haste, and found Mary and joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. These shepherds found that good shepherd, which was resolved to lay down his life for his sheep. They find that universal shepherd, that shepherd, whose sheepfold is of no less extent than the whole earth. They find that shepherd, which hereafter 
Mat. 25. 21.  shall sever the sheep from the goats. Nay, they come unto that sheep, or rather unto that immaculate Lamb of 
joh. 1. 29.  God which taketh away the sins of the world. They come unto the Lamb, but unto such a Lamb, as was also the Lion of the Tribe of juda, Who although he then lay in the manger, yet not long after he was advanced unto his throne.  
Hence (Beloved) may we collect how much God favoureth holy and modest simplicity, and disalloweth all nice and scrupulous subtlety. The first that heard the voice of the Angel, were the shepherds; the first that heard the report of the good news, were no more than shepherds. And yet notwithstanding, even these shepherds were far more happy than Caesar, who having the third time barred up the doors of janus, and appeased all tumultuous garboils of war and sedition, which were then raging and predominant, both on sea and land; yet knew not that Blessed, blessed peace and reconciliation which was wrought between God and man. Go too therefore ye blessed shepherds, unto whom the good tidings were fully signified; you that were never ambitious of sovereignty, or a blast of fame; you that never studied the ensnaring sophistry of Monks and Friars, nor how to coin the copper Syllogisms of the fallacious Jesuits; you can neither deceive, nor this day be deceived, because ye believe only what hath been delivered unto you from the mouth of God: Go, I say, and relate unto your friends and acquaintance what Christ hath done for man. Go and sing an Hosanna unto your Saviour; make up your Cumaean Eglogue, and let your tongues as sweetly warble it, as your hearts do sound conceive it. For now you see the beloved Emanuel hath presented himself unto the world: now are the former ages renewed again. Now are all things possessed with joy and gladness. O what sugared psalms & celestial odes were written by David concerning Christ represented unto him only in the dim glass of types & figures? why should not we that live in these aftertimes honour him with our prime endeavours? Hitherto have we treated of the shepherds which came to visit our Saviour: now are we descended to speak a word or two of the Wise men that gave the shepherds precedence in respect of order, but not in regard of understanding. But what was that that drew the Wise men hither? Surely a star in heaven, which was appointed to Blazon the royal descent and pedigree of that infant that lay in the Manger. Hence was it that those pillars and Atlases of learning and knowledge, who conjectured not future events by book, but rather fixing their eyes and thoughts upon heaven, which they always beheld enchased with so many glittering stars as Diamonds, were well ascertained of the nativity of the King of the jews: For they had seen his star in the East. And therefore now they repair with all speed and officious zeal, unto that 
Mat. 2.  place whither they were directed by the star, which accompanied them even unto the borders and confines of Bethleem. There they find him, there they worship him: For so the Text saith, When they were come into the house, they found the Babe with his 
Mat. 2. 21.  mother Mary, and they falling down worshipped him.  
In vain might they have sought in heaven for the Lord of heaven: seeing that it pleased him to be found on earth, and that in an Inn, in a stable. Come hither now all you that challenge unto yourselves the titles of Wisemen., you that would refuse to visit your Saviour in so mean a place; you that look big in velvet, and ruffle in silk and tissue; see that you confront not the mysteries of God with an overweening conceit of your own ability: Pry not into the Ark of his secrecies, inquire not for the reason, why God the Son so humbled, so emptied, so dejected himself. Do you rather with these Wisemen adore, what you cannot conceive, & admire what you cannot comprehend.  
This is an Epidemicke and catholic disease amongst us; We are too punctual and pragmatical in evoluing what God would have should lie hid; and we too perfunctorily neglect what he would we should canvas and discuss. For as the whole project of our safety and redemption hath been brought to pass on earth, we make a tedious quest the wrong way, & ambitiously climb up into heaven to understand the reason of it. Unwise, ungrateful persons as we are, why do we so disdainfully pass by our saviours cratch, wherein he was reposed, his threadbare swaddling clouts, and homely ornaments wherewith he was invested? What are all these things but arguments of his voluntary humility which he assumed, that he might readorne us with the robes of glory, & a crown of blissful eternity?  
O Beloved, you that are Artists, and archprofessors of Learning; you that are graced with pues and chairs, come and learn one lecture of humility of these Wisemen. Come and fall down before your humble Saviour and adore him; offer unto him a more acceptable Present then Gold, Myrrh, or Frankincense, even an ingenuous confession of your ignorance.  
And you learned Sages of the East, you that by the direction, and as it were, manuduction of a star, have undteraken so long & tedious a journey; return ye now home again more learned and more happy than ever ye were before. Go and relate unto your Countrymen the Chaldeans (or peradventure ye are Persians) the news of this great mystery o● godliness, without controversy the greatest: to wit, that God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, to be believed in the world, and las● of all, to be received up into glory. God and tell them, that there is nothing in heaven greater than that that ye found in the manger.  
I have now sufficiently spoken o● the coming of the wise men, which were the last that came to visit our Saviour. Many indeed they were that came unto him beside, non were excluded. For he himself came humble, and as it were degraded and set below himself, that all of what inferior rank soever might be emboldened to approach unto him, and might have no excuse to tarry from him.  
Now if you desire I should specific unto you those that presented themselves unto our Saviour, I shall easily accomplish your desire. There was first a Choir of Angels, and they sang his birth-song. There were wedded people Zacharie and Elizabeth. There was the unwedded, Simeon. There was a widow, Anna. There was a Priest, Zacharie. There were the learned, the Wisemen. There were the rude and unlearned, the shepherds. All which if we compare them together, we shall find betwixt them a great disparity: who notwithstanding were all equal, and not one inferior unto an other: ●f we consider them as they all worshipped and adored the new borne Infant, as they all submitted themselves unto him, as they all celebrated the day of his Nativity. Would ye how understand what virgin was at the birth of Christ? I may answer you that a virgin was a chief agent, or rather a patient in the mystery. Such a Virgin as brought forth her Creator, being notwithstanding no less a virgin then a mother, and more a mother than he was a son: for in respect of his Divinity, he was her Father; as only in regard of his humanity he was her Son. So that Christ was not only David's son, but also David's Lord: and not only the Son of man, but also the Father of man; not only of the seed of Abraham, but also the Father of Abraham; being himself no less the promiser of the Messias, than the Messias promised. O blessed and happy day! on which he that from everlasting hath had, and hath his throne in heaven, descended even to the society of men This day is the day of our Marriage, of our affinity, of our restoration, of our reunition unto GOD, of our redemption from Hell. On this day, he that is the eternal God, and still remaining what he was, for our sakes became what he was not. On this day, he that without a Body was every where, by the assumption of a body seemed to limit and confine himself unto place; that we might obtain that happiness by grace, which he had by the right of his nature.  
O happy day much wished, long expected! the abrogation of the Law, the period of all prophecies, the beginning of the Gospel, yea the Gospel itself: The Gospel which was first proclaimed from heaven, and after published on earth, to the end that there might not be wanting authority to confirm it, nor faith in men to acknowledge it.  
O how sweet is the remembrance of that day! how comfortable both to men and Angels!  
True it is, that we cannot conceive this Mystery; and yet we rejoice in it. True it is, that we cannot dive into the depth and profundity of it; and what though we cannot? Have not holy men that have totally devoted themselves unto the exercises of religion and piety, been as ignorant as we are? If ye believe me not, let me entreat you to cast your eyes upon old Simeon, who, howsoever the Scribes and pharisees were buzzardblinde, and could not behold the Sun of righteousness; yet he foresaw him 
Mal. 4.  long before he came. And when he saw that he was come, O how was he transported with joy! How was he carried away with the stream and torrent of overflowing gladness? O with what zeal of heart, with what swiftness of foot did he fly unto his Saviour, so long expected, and now at length exhibited? how earnestly did he embrace him, not only with the arms of his body, but also of his affection? How willing was he to pay his tribute unto nature? How desirous to shake hands with the world, and its empty vanities, and to resign himself into the hands of God? With how relenting a soul, with what sweet showers of tears in the instant before his death, did he warble out his Swanlike funeral song? Now besides holy Simeon, may we behold many of the sacred retinue, as first of all joseph, a continual spectator and observer of the mystery. Besides, joseph, there was john the forerunner of Christ, and a Preacher in the wilderness: And besides those, many holy women more religious than learned.  
Moreover, besides the Women, there were the Apostles of Christ, who were instructed with divine wisdom by the inspiration of the holy Spirit, not by anticipation of secular knowledge, which we commonly term the Handmaid unto Divinity. near unto these Apostles stood blessed Peter, and not far off were the glorious Angels, who though they were completely endued with variety of knowledge, yet now they could neither sing nor say any thing, but Glory be to God on high, and on earth, peace. Alas, it was not their ambition to purchase unto themselves a blast of fame, and applause of the World. Their chiefest intent was to praise him who was then borne.  
Let no man therefore soothe himself in his learning, and multiplicity of knowledge. For this day is a day whereon we ought with modesty to confess our ignorance. This day belongeth chiefly unto the unlearned, and unto those that are but punies in the School of Christ. On this day the Wisdom of God vouchsafed to descend below its most elevated & transcendent pitch of knowledge. On this day the Word of God vouchsafed to speak as inarticulately as man in his childhood and infancy.  
Let no man therefore take on, or think himself disgraced, in that he is not furnished with the abilities of nature, or not garnished with the rules and precepts of art; seeing that God, that he might disappoint those that were well seen in the points of learning, made choice to disclose himself unto those that were but mean and simple. It shall therefore be best for us, not to soar too high into the mysteries of God, lest at last, we flag and fly low with a broken pinion. Let us, beloved, rather settle and rest ourselves in a sober and safe ignorance, which will not only not prejudice us, but also be much available to procure our salvation. Farther than this, never aspired any of the learnedst Divines that ever were.  
The end of the first Homily.   

UPON THE PASSION OF CHRIST. HOM. II.  
Reverend, & right worthy Auditors: We solemnize a day, whereunto never any former lge beheld the aike, never any future time shall second it. A day whereon the eternal Son of God, having formerly assumed our nature, that he might thereby restore it unto its prime and first state, and as it were, reimpatriate us, and invest us with the glory of a better Kingdom, was, not without the horror and amazement both of heaven and earth, most barbarously slain and put to death by those, for whose sake he came into the world; by those, to whom he had often sent his Legates and Ambassadors; by those, whose salvation he had resolved to purchase by the effusion of his most precious blood.  
Such is the weight and gravity of this theme and argument, which by my future discourse I determine to pursue, that it may easily inaudience the Hearer, and procure in him ready and favourable attention (a thing that Orators usually entreat in the poem of their Orations.) And therefore for my part I will not be so prodigal of my breath or unnecessary pains, as to importune you to hear me: for I am well assured that you expect not the enchanting flourishes, or sugared blandishments of Rhetoric, being solely contented to entertain a bare Discourse upon the Passion of our Saviour; the remembrance of whom will rather resolve us into a stream of tears, then any way give us occasion to wish for the fluent and harmonious strains of wit and eloquence.  
For if we duly consider all those tragical Scenes, and doleful passages of his life, even from his cratch unto his cross; we shall find them to have been nothing else but a Map of misery, or a sea of calamity. For he was no sooner borne, but he endured the sharpness of a bloody circumcision: he was no sooner circumcised, but by and by he was designed to the slaughter; he had no sooner published his heavenly doctrine, but forth with he was accused of sedition, impiety, blasphemy, fury; and not only so, but he was termed even a Devil, and that of those, whom above all the Nations of the world he had vouchsafed to style his peculiar people.  
Thus whither soever I cast mine eyes, I can behold nothing but misery and reproaches, and poverty, and hunger, and thirst, and weakness, & weariness; so that it seemeth, that our blessed Saviour upon his Cross made up the full measure of that grief and anguish, with which he laboured & was perplexed all his life long, & then to have sucked out even the very dregs of that bitter cup, which he had but formerly tasted. Insomuch that when we meditate upon those many troubles and torments, with which he was voluntarily afflicted, to the end that he might pacify his Father's wrath, and satisfy his Father's justice: we may well imagine, and be ascertained, that he alone is the absolute emblem & pattern of patience and perseverance.  
The strict Stoics that so pleased themselves in their obdurate indolency, came very short of him. Whom that ye may the more admire and wonder at, I will endeavour with the pencil of a large and ample discourse (the matter and substance whereof shall be borrowed from the Penmen and Actuaries of the holy Spirit) to Limb out, and Delineate him unto you.  
After that our Saviour had sent up many frequent and fervent ejaculations unto God the Father, in the behalf of his dear & distressed Church; (for whose sake no less willingly, then valiantly he endured the weight of so many grievous afflictions;) by and by after, having retired himself into a shady private garden, he was most impetuously affronted by judas, and a barbarous troop of Soldiers. And that nothing might seem to be done rashly or accidentally, even this very assault was prophesied by Zacharie, Chapter 13. ver. 7. Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. And thus he being surprised by so violent a gust of fury, was notwithstanding left alone by his Disciples, and forsaken by all his familiars and acquaintance, forsaken even by those, unto whom, not long before he had imparted the true Manna of his body, 
john 6.  and refresheth their languishing spirits with a cordial of his most precious blood. He that had been always reputed his constant friend & follower, most basely prized him at thirty pence: and as if he had been a vile and infamous malefactor, by a false and Syren-kisse, delivered him into the hands of his cruel and malignant enemies. O gross impudence! O heinous impiety! Now may ye behold him led away captive, his arms and hands being fast bound & manacled: Now may ye see his beloved, gracious john, who had often leaned upon his heavenly bosom; who had often learned from his sacred lips many transcendent mysteries and oracles of wisdom, and had formerly best understood, that the Word was in the beginning, and that the Word was made flesh; him, I say, may ye see lamentably dejected, and overflown with the waves of sorrow and pensiveness. Now may ye see the blessed Saint Peter, whose soul was as it were the mint of Heroical and holy resolutions, follow and pace aloof off; being much appalled and affrighted at the view of so doleful a spectacle.  
As for the rest of our Saviour his dependences, those, I mean, whom he had either peculiarly instructed, or any way relieved, either by restoring of their sight, or by staying the flux of a bloody and menstruous issue; or by reuniting, and as it were, cementing the crazed members of those that had been possessed with a shivering palsy. All those, I say (whereof the multitude was almost infinite) basely hide their heads, and withdraw themselves clean away.  
Thus was our blessed Saviour forsaken by those that should have rescued and supported him. Thus was he exposed to so many perils and hazards. By and by after, he that (by the eternal decree of his Father) was to become the universal judge of quick and dead, was convented before the petty puny judges of the earth; being posted from Annas to Caiphas, from Caiphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, from Herod to Pilate again. O turbulent & tumultuous people! how do they baffle his dove-like innocency? how do they delude his ingenuous simplicity? how do they oppose his truth and sincerity by false & suborned testimony? How do the reprobate rascals, the very froth and scum of baseness, audaciously domineer and insult over him? How despicably do they veil and hudwinke him? How contemptuously do they strike him? inquiring of him, whether he can tell who it was that did strike him? and not only so, but also by the injurious command of the Highpriest, he himself being the Highpriest of all mankind, is disgracefully whipped. The ignorant and arrogant pharisees, and Doctors of the Law, despitefully accuse the author and publisher of the Law. Herod with his officious glozing Courtiers and accomplices deride his silence, and that they may the more expose him to laughter, they change his garment. The Soldiers that had imbrued their blades in the blood of Innocents', most impiously batter and buffet him. And not only so, but they also discharge their filthy foam upon his most glorious face. And that they may heap sin upon sin, and yet add more maturity unto their full blown impiety, they set a crown of thorns upon that head of his; wherein (as in a casket) all the jewels of divine wisdom and knowledge were enshrined. There was not scarce any part of his whole body, that was not either exposed to reproach, or tormented by grief. His head pierced with thorns, beaten with fists, bruised with staves; his face beslimed with spittle, his cheeks swollen out with blows, his tongue and palate offended with distasteful vinegar and gall, his ears surcharged with loads of disgraceful contumelies. How think you did Christ behave himself in this case? The story informeth us, that his silence was no less than his patience. His adversaries on the contrary side press upon him, and with vehement exclamations and outcries press him to speak something for himself, and yet (maugre all their fury and exagitations) he replies not so much as a word unto them. Why dost thou O Infidel, inquire the reason and cause of this patient silence of our Saviour? Why dost thou after his death recrucify him again? Let me but ask thus much of thee? To whom should Christ have returned an answer? To Pilate? Alas he knew but little in the state of the question. To the jews? No, they were his accusers. What should he have answered? He had already made known unto them that he was the Son of God. This was the only motive and impulsive cause why he was convented. This was that that his Adversaries so earnestly pursued; should he have denied himself to have been the Son of God? No. That he would not, he could not do. Truth cannot lie.  
Thus much he had both intimated and professed. As for his allegiance unto Caesar, which they would have induced him to have denied, it was to no purpose, to make any mention of that. For alas, it was not his ambition to sit upon the throne, and to be placed in the honour-point of an earthly Kingdom; it was not that he intended. No, he came into the world for no such purpose. He rather came that he might gather together his Church, dispersed and driven to and fro upon the surface of the earth, that he might, as it were, re-edify the decayed race of mankind; that he might save his people by his blood, and by his word; by his miracles, and by his oracles. The obdurate and perverse jews were ignorant of this, & much more the Romans. They knew not what he meant by the destroying of the Temple, or by the repairing of it in three days. And therefore they are with no less fury than blindness hurried against him; who after they had lashed him almost unto death, & most cruelly divided those azure channels of his blood, they bring him in public being overflown with gore, and most disdainfully expose him to the view of the scornful multitude, with an Ecce homo, Behold the man! Oh my Soul, stand here erected, fix the eye of thy contemplation upon the countenance of thy blessed Saviour. Shake off the multitude of thy fruitless vanities, with which thou art so encumbered, and bestow all thy time and meditation upon him alone, a person so much to be honoured, so highly to be regarded. Ecce homo, Behold the man, behold the man of sorrow. Behold him that was the fairest among men, being both white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his lacks bushy & black as a Raven: His eyes are the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set: His cheeks as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers; his lips like Lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. He that was thus set out, and embellished with so many graceful ornaments, lieth now disfigured with wounds, weltering and panting in a crimson river of his own blood. O blessed Saviour! what havoc do those tyrants make of thy life? How lavish & prodigal are those Cannibals of thy blood? How many wide sluices & passages have they opened for the venting of it? What full streams & torrents gushed out at his nostrils? And that that was most lamentable & grievous unto him, he was so captivated, as that he had not means to wipe away either his blood or his Tears, that trickled down all about his precious body.  
Ecce homo: Behold the man; This is that most glorious Face, at whose Majesty, men and Angels stand aghast!  
This is he, who although he now stand mute and silent, yet is his voice heard in the clouds, and the rattling of his thunder is able to strike terror into the stoutest heats.  
Ecce homo: Behold the man; Behold him that is Lord Paramount of whatsoever is inclasped within the circuit of this spacious World: and yet now he standeth poor and unfurnished of all things. He that freeth us all, and is the only author of our liberty, leading Captivity captive, is himself apprehended as a Malefactor, and led away as a Captive. He that cureth us all by the precious Balm and Panacea of his blood, is now himself miserably wounded. And see now, here he standeth before the judge, before us all, yea, and for us all; He standeth naked & disrobed, that the wounds & gashes which were inflicted by the enemy, and endured for us, might lie hid to no man. All which, me think, might easily soften and intenerate a flinty heart, and yet the jews were nothing moved at it. Who being transported with fury and madness, they now go about to deprive him of life and all. And that they may make his grief parallel to his disgrace, they charge his weary shoulders with the weight of his burdensome cross. And not only so, but they appoint their malapert officious Sergeants to attend him, and give in charge, that if he place it slowly, or falter under his carriage, they should with bloody scourges force him on amain.  
Our Saviour being brought to this grievous straight and exigent, his strength fainting, his heart panting, his voice failing and even drops do I say? nay, floods of water and blood springing from all the pores and passages of his body, doth notwithstanding vouchsafe to direct his dejected countenance and languishing eyes unto us miserable and most unthankful caitiffs, that neither sympathise with him in his calamity, nor so much as remember, that he himself stood in the vanguard of the battle, and with his helmet of Patience sheltered us from the gunneshot of his Father's indignation. And as his eyes are directed unto us, so is his voice also.  
Let us suppose him speaking unto us with these words: O my people what have I done unto thee, and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against 
Mich. 6. 7.  me. When I created thee of the dust of the earth, I made thee like unto myself. But thou by the allurement & instigation of the Devil, didst most disobediently desire to be like unto me, in what was not fit thou shouldest, and so becamest like unto the Devil, that arch-lyer of the world, the patronizer and abettour of thy ambitious enterprise. Thou, sinful as thou art, hast almost razed out the sacred impress of my Divinity, set with mine own finger in the crystal table of thy soul; and yet notwithstanding, I so much disparaged myself, as to take upon me the form & shape of thine abject and contemptible nature: For thy flesh I assumed, and yet not its impurity; but, as it were, in its prime integrity, refined and purged from that dross and menstruous corruption which resided in it. And yet for all this I affected no state or pomp in my coming unto thee; howsoever the Fathers and patriarchs in the Nonage and infancy of the World longed for it; and the Prophets after them often mentioned it. Moses did foresee it, David did fore sing it, Solomon did foresay it. The evangelical Prophet Esay did most plainly and punctually express it, having then no other means to relieve the discon solate minds of the jews, but only by assuring them of my coming. But when I came, I found my entertainment not squaring to my expectation. Where I looked for amity, I found enmity; I received hatred for my good will; and for casting out of Devils, I was accounted one for my labour. O senseless ingratitude! Thus was my humility no less misconceyved, than my majesty unconceived! and yet notwithstanding, it was my daily endeavour to do good unto all men. Either I cured the bleeding wounds of an afflicted conscience with the balm of consolation; or I reclaimed the straggling sinner, and brought him again unto my fold; or I gave eyes unto the blind, or fear to the lame, or speech to the dumb, or health to the diseased, or bread to the hungry: and, if at any time bread were wanting, there never wanted a miracle to supply it. If a mother lamented the death of her only son, either I restored life to the dead, or consolation to the surviving. If any woman wanted water, I gave her better than she thought, Even the water of life. I abhorred not 
john 4.  so much as Publicans and Sinners, I was familiarly conversant with all men.  
Now therefore, O Inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of judah, judge I pray 
Esa. 5. 34.  you betwixt me and my Vineyard. What could have been done more unto my Vineyard that I have not done unto it? Wherefore when I looked it should have brought forth grapes, beought it forth thorns, with which now the Temples of my head are wounded? Wherefore, when I looked for Wine, brought it forth vinegar to offend my taste? Why had she nothing but myrrh and gall to quench the thirst of her drooping Lord? These and the like doleful complaints, the jews had both heard and read; they had noted and observed all the holy actions of our Saviour whiles he breathed upon this Theatre of earth. They had often heard him teaching in the Temple, teaching in the Synagogue, teaching upon the Mount, teaching in the highways and thorowfares. His goodness would not suffer him to conceal or mask us any thing in darkness and silence: that might make any way to the safety of the hearer. For now the time was come, wherein God had determined to dispel the thick fogs of error from the minds of his people, and clearly to instruct them in the mysteries of his truth. And not only so, but he had also decreed by one sole hilastical and propitiatory Sacrifice, to purge and expiate the sins of the whole world. This was that pure and unblemished oblation, free from all stains of corruption and impiety.  
Thus much even the very adversaries of our Saviour could not but aver, who continually yielded unto him honour & regard suitable unto his person. For indeed nothing was done in vain, nothing by chance or accidentally, nothing without the directing hand of him that was afflicted. Who as he stood bound, and in the hands and power of others, yet notwithstanding, he himself disposeth whatsoever he suffereth. O the hidden secrecy and providence of God whatsoever appellation or title the Church doth seriously give unto Christ, the same do the jews attribute unto him by way of mockery and illusion. The profane Soldier derideth our Lord and Saviour, and yet in the mean time he adoreth him, bowing his knees unto him, Unto whom every knee shall bow. He denieth Christ to be a King, and yet by and by, he crowneth him. After he had crowned him, he gave him a reed for a sceptre; and that nothing might be wanting, they put a purple garment upon him, the chief ornament of Kings and Princes. Lastly, whiles the people play upon him, and contemn him, yet notwithstanding they confess him to be a Prophet; for by that name they saluted him.  
Thus the enemies of Christ acknowledge him to be both God, a King, and a Prophet. But by what means, I wonder came the Romans to know thus much of our Saviour? Certainly, to say no more, it was the will and wisdom of God so to dispose. It was also by his just permission, that the false accusation of Christ, who was truth itself: and the injurious condemnation of Christ, who was innonocency itself, should be revenged by the desperate and voluntary death of that debauched Stigmatic judas, who had formerly engaged himself to betray his Lord and Master with a kiss. O how was that candid Devil, that varnished hypocrisy, that outside of a friend, that coppergilt Apostle tortured in soul by the rack of his raging conscience? How earnestly did he desire to set a period to a covetous base life, by an infamous and miserable death? Pontius Pilate, unto whom the judgement and arbitrating of the cause was assigned, had oftentimes witnessed & averred, that our Saviour had not deserved any punishment at all: And that he might the better confirm his assertion, he endeavours to clear himself from the aspersion and imputation of injustice, by washing his hands in the view of the multitude. By and by after he constantly affirmeth, that Christ was no seducer of the people.  
Herod, who had formerly derided our saviours silence, dareth not to condemn his innocency.  
joseph of Arimathea, being one of the chief Senators, retires himself into his private chamber, and will not be seen at the Bench, lest peradventure he should be forced to determine something contrary unto his conscience.  
The malicious jews, although they suborn false witnesses against our Saviour, yet notwithstanding they testify publicly before the judge, that he is not guilty of any crime. The same jews that exclaimed against him as against a seditious person, do now style him their King by that writing upon his cross, whereon he was adjudged to die.  
Caiphas the high Priest, by enthusiasm prophesieth of Christ, whom he persecuteth; & with a loud voice both accuseth and absolveth him, pronouncing the mystery of our salvation; to wit, that it was necessary that one should die for the people.  
The last and worst of our saviours adversaries, was the Devil, who although he earnestly and constantly endeavoured by all assays to vex and trouble our Saviour, yet (as the Ancients conjecture) he could not but incite pilate's wife to tell him, that surely the man that was thus maligned, accused and condemned, was a just and righteous man, who although at length he suffered death upon his cross, yet he suffered it not as an impious and infamous malefactor, but as a glorious conqueror. God the Father together with his whole family & Court of Heaven, stood and beheld the pangs and passion of his beloved Son, on whose shoulders he had laid the weight of the punishment which every one of us in our own persons should most deservedly have endured. God, who is termed of the Prophets, a devouring fire, an overflowing torrent of wrath, as violent as a rough storm of hail, as impetuous as a tempestuous gust of wind maketh our Saviour the only butt to receive the shafts of his fury and indignation. Who lying thus wounded and pierced with the sharpness of his extreme agony, (in respect of which all those tortures invented by tyrants, all those massacres and torments of the holy Martyrs, were but dreams and love-tricks) is forced not to a duel or single combat, but to encounter a multitude and throng of adversaries.  
Amongst the which he was to conquer the Devil, that old Hydra, and arch-enemy of mankind. Who as he had been the cause of the first Adam's expulsion, so doth he now attempt no less to enthrall and captivate the second Adam, and to cast him into utter darkness.  
In the second place he was to vanquish death, that had a long time tyrannised over all mankind. Our Saviour being to enter the lists with these furious Antagonists, was publicly brought along to an infamous place, where all wicked persons were put to death, which place the people that lived thereabout, called it Golgotha, a place of dead men's skulls.  
Now the reason why he was to conflict in this place, was (as we may imagine) that he might give death the foil, even in its strongest hold, wherein it had so long triumphed, and erected so many trophies of its victory; that, where the first Adam had been interred, even there by the force of the second Adam, the sharpness & sting of death might be rebated.  
And yet, howsoever death was there conquered, yet not without the death of the conqueror: for even there Christ himself was nailed to his cross, in the view both of men and Angels. Who although he was brought into that lamentable strait and exigent, although he lay groveling and gasping under the heavy burden, both of the pangs of death, and the pains of Hell, and the wrath of his Father; yet notwithstanding the love he bore unto man, was even then no less entire than ever it was. For even then I say, he saved the thief at the cross, and prayed for his enemies. By and by after, he surrendered his blessed Soul into the hands of God.  
What shall I now say unto you sinful jews, by whose barbarous fury, and fatal blindness the Son of God was crucified? What pen can express, what pencil can decipher your heinous and execrable fact? ye have slain, ye have slain the very Author of life, the first begotten of God, the Creator of the world, the King of Israel: ye have slain that innocent and immaculate Lamb, in whom there was no deceit: ye have slain the Prince of Peace, the Herald of grace and of our reconciliation unto God. Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep 
jerem. 9 1.  day and night! I will bewail with the weeping of jazer, the vine of Sibmah; I 
Esay 16. 9  will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh. For the righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart. The Lord of Heaven and earth was slain, and 
Esa. 57, 1.  no man considereth it.  
O hateful and hated Nation! O cruel and abominable people! destitute of wisdom and understanding, how forgetful wert thou of him that begat thee? You have slain him that brought you out of the land of Egypt, that 
jer. 2. 6.  led you thorough the wilderness, thorough a land of deserts and pits, thorough a land of drought and of the shadow of death, thorough a land that no man passed thorough, and where no man dwelled. You have slain him 
Psal. 78, 24.  that fed you in the wilderness, even with the bread of Angels. Him, that found you in the desert land, in the waste howling wilderness, that led you about, that instructed you, that kept you as the apple of his eye. As an Eagle stirreth up her 
Deut: 32. 10  nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the Lord alone did lead thee, and there was no strange God with thee. Be astonished O ye 
jer. 2. 12.  heavens at this, be ye horribly afraid, be ye very desolate. Tell it not Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askalon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, and the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.  
That face that upon Mount Horeb the people could not behold without astonishment, nor the Angels themselves with horror and amazement, the wicked jews defiled it with spittle, and bruised it with staves. And not only so, but they even killed the Lord of Hosts, whose name is jehovah. O fanaticke and furious miscreants, how could ye dare to murder his Son, whose Name ye could not utter without trembling? O extreme and sottish impiety, no farther to be remembered, then detested! O perverse and wicked generation, how are your rebellious hearts wrapped in the film of ignorance? See ye not all the creatures of the world standing aghast at the sight of your cruelty? See ye not the earth shaken, the rocks rend a sunder, the graves opened? See ye not the glorious beauty of the Sun masked with prodigious fogs, as defying your dismal fact, and not enduring to behold the sad estate and distress of its Creator? Alas, why stand ye gazing up towards heaven? why stand ye wondering to see the brightness and lustre of the day turned to an abortive night?  
Here is no defect of nature, no ordinary or usual Eclipse of the Sun. This unexpected darkness cannot be excused, either by the head or tail of the Dragon, unless ye mean that old Dragon the Devil, by whose incitement ye have cut off your own hopes, and the life of the blessed seed of the woman. And therefore because ye destroyed him in whom there was both light and life, ye are now overwhelmed with Egyptian and palpable darkness; darkness not caused by the course of time, but by your own iniquity. Darkness accompanied with fear and horror.  
This is that ye have read in Esay, The windows and cataracts of Heaven are opened, the foundation of the earth are shaken. The earth shall reel to and fro as a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage. And all this shall come to pass, because ye have slain him, who commandeth the Sun, and it ariseth, who sealeth up the stars as under a signet.  
The earth acknowledged him its Creator; the rocks that clave asunder confessed him to be God; the Temple to be a Priest; who after the abrogation of the ceremonial Law, and the disannulling of all superstitions whatsoever, placed his true worship in the spirit of man, and his chiefest Temple in the soul of man. Now besides this, not only the rending of the body of the Temple, but also of the temple of his body, plainly manifesteth that all sacrifices ended in that one self-sacrifice, being both the abolishment & accomplishment of all oblations whatsoever. This Sacrifice was the most hilastical and propitiatory of all others.  
This sacrifice was a most perfect and absolute Holocaust, for it was totally consumed by the flames of Christ's fervent love unto man. And as it was burnt, so it sent up a most sweet savour unto the nostrils of God. This sacrifice consisted of the purest meal, neither was it ever soured with the leaven of any iniquity. Part whereof was offered unto God upon the Cross, and part was reserved for the Priests, that is, for all us, that thereby we might be nourished to eternal life.  
By this was the wrath of God appeased, and our peace procured. Never was there such a sacrifice as this before offered, that could so fully mitigate the displeasure of God conceived against man, whose sin was so heinous and notorious, insomuch that either the Son of God was to die once for man, or man eternally. But if peradventure any man be so incredulous as to demand, how Christ being the Son of God could suffer, seeing that the Deity is not subject unto passion; he may be fully resolved by the Church, whose assertion is, that Christ suffered not in respect of his divine nature, but his human. For though the Deity was in the Sufferer, yet was it not in the suffering; though it was in the body of Christ's passion, yet was it not in the passion of Christ's body: so that the Humanity only suffered, and the Deity only sustained it, and made it able to endure the affronts of its impetuous adversaries. The impotency of the one required the omnipotency of the other.  
When I think upon my saviours Humanity, than me think, I see him faltering under the burden of his Cross; When I think upon his Deity, than me think, I see him walking upon the Galleries of Heaven. When I think upon his Humanity, than me think I see him lying in the dust, and weltering in his own gore: When I think upon his Deity, than me think I see him flying upon the wings of the glorious Seraphims. Oh how different are these two natures of Christ! And yet howsoever the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 betwixt them be so great, and the disparity so evident, yet notwithstanding in him are they both combined. For although he be not one nature, yet is a one in Person, one Christ, one Mediator, one Redeemer, one Saviour. For even as the body and soul of man being two divers things, do notwithstanding constitute one man: So the Deity and humanity of Christ, albeit they be two divers natures, yet they make up one person. Christ in regard of his humanity, died: in respect of his Deity, he still remained entire, untouched, impassable, invulnerable. This was that, that roused up the interred carcases from their graves, (for many of the Saints that slept, arose, and came into the holy City, and appeared unto many.) This was that that rend the veil of the Temple. This was that, that as it were, sealed up the Sunbeams under a Signet of Cimmerian clouds. This was that that caused that general conquassation of the earth. This was that that made the Centurion averie, (maugre all the people's vehement reclamation) that Christ was the true and essential Son of God. It was the flesh that trembled, that stood so affrighted and appalled at the grim visage of death.  
It was the flesh that would have hindered the Word, and have the purchase of our eternal salvation. It was the flesh that suffered upon the Cross; and it was the Deity that triumphed over the bitterness of death. It was the flesh that was the sacrifice; It was the Deity that was the Priest that sacrificed it. It was the flesh that in the anguish of its passion groaned and breathed out this sad and doleful complaint, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And yet howsoever the flesh was thus perplexed and afflicted, yet its union with the Deity remained still entire. Neither could it possibly be cast off or forsaken by that, unto which the links and ligaments of love had so strictly obliged it. O that our dull and misty understanding were so illuminated, our zeal and affections so servant, as truly to conceive the Majesty, and earnestly to embrace the humility of our Saviour!  
Oh that we could sufficiently meditate upon the grievous wounds, that he suffered; upon the gracious words that he uttered! If we revolve all the Annals and records of time; we shall never find his parallel, never any man that spoke as he spoke, that suffered as he suffered: Never any man that so loved his friends, that so pitied his foes; never any so kind to the religious, so merciful even to Publicans and Sinners. Who a little before he drank the bitter cup of his passion, ministered a sweet cordial of consolation unto the thief that was to suffer with him: To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise. Thus was that miserable sinner acquitted from the death of the soul, although he suffered the death of the body. Thus was he by the power and mercy of CHRIST, of a malefactor, made a martyr. Surely so strange and sudden a conversion could not but be immediately wrought by the efficacy of Christ's Deity: which even in this act showed its intensive & superlative love towards that Flesh of ours, which it assumed.  
Oh blessed and happy day, whereon our frail & forlorn Flesh was united unto that nature which was neither obnoxious to Corruption, nor subject unto Passion!  
But, Oh, more blessed and happy day was that, whereon our Flesh being joined to the Deity, so died in Christ, as that we not suffering death, were notwithstanding restored unto life.  
For as CHRIST took upon him our nature in the womb, so he undertook our death upon the Cross. For whatsoever he suffered as man, he suffered for man: from whom he can be no more separated or divulsed, then from his Deity, with which he joined our humanity, that he might save and secure it from the hazard of eternal death and damnation, etc.  
Oh infinite love! Oh incomprehensible mercy! Oh blessed & happy day, wherein the head of the Serpent was broken, the Leviathan wounded, the vast Behemoth overturned, the powers of Hell subdued, the Grave conquered, the sting of Death rebated.  
Oh blessed and happy day, wherein the force and guilt of Sin was taken out of the world, and the sinner taken up into heaven. O blessed and happy day, wherein by our saviours passion, the gates of heaven were opened; wherein it so came to pass, that we that were once exiled and banished from the celestial Paradise, may now again be freely therein instated, and reimpatriated.  
Now there is no Cherubin to hinder us, no flaming sword to affright us. Now may we all be easily admitted, and be made free denizens of that heavenly jerusalem.  
O let not our impenitent insolency, and insolent impenitency be the cause of our exclusion.  
Let us consider that the incredulous and proud pharisees that challenged unto themselves so much purity and piety, were the first that were rejected, their Synagogue neglected, and even thieves & malefactors preferred before them.  
And this was that that so discouraged the Devil, when he saw those that had been his slaves and vassals to be rescued and absolved from death, by one that was condemned to death; when he saw that Christ was more powerful in his death then ever any Emperor was in his rule and sovereignty; when he saw not from stones, but from the gallows, even from hell itself, children raised up unto Abraham.  
When he saw the Son of God after his buffets and his bonds, last of all, even in his death, to erect the glorious building and edifice of his Church; when he saw that blessed inheritance of Christ being but a little part and moiety of Mankind, still to flourish as the palm-tree under the burden and weight of its afflictions: when he saw the Church of Christ, which was created by his power, now redeemed by his blood, united by his Apostles, instructed by his Prophets, comforted by his Evangelists, and freed from that heavy yoke of ceremonies, with which it had been long oppressed: When he saw it, howsoever divided in body, yet combined in spirit; Having nothing, and yet possessing all things in Christ, which is all in all. In whose passion it gloried, whose patience it imitated.  
Which Church of his, although it seem to wither by the heat of persecution, yet doth it still grow & wax green by the dew of grace, and sap of consolation.  
True it is, that the Saints on earth are frequently perplexed with variety of exquisite torments; and yet these are not of force & validity to divert their zealous and constant resolutions, to separate them from their grand-captain Christ jesus, whom they follow, not as being confirmed in their purposes by the irrefragable perverseness of the Stoics; nor as being induced thereunto by the Sophistry of Logic, or by the enchantments of Rhetoric; but as it were, being bound by oath, and deeply engaged unto their Saviour: by whose blood they are refreshed, by whose flesh they are nourished, by whose Spirit they are revived, by whose promises they are invited, by whose precepts they are directed. The chiefest scope they aim at, is, that they may be one with Christ, as Christ is one with God.  
For thou sweet Saviour art our head, and we thy members: Thou our shepherd, and we thy sheep, thou the Vine, and we thy branches. By thy death we live, by thy life are we raised from death.  
And although we are here sorted and mixed with the world, yet our cogitations and our conversations are in heaven, whither our Saviour is gone before.  
Oh that we could follow him, that we could waft ourselves unto that Haven of joy; unto that secure road of felicity.  
But seeing that as yet we cannot follow thee (sweet jesus) with our bodies, yet we pursue thee with our desires, with our sighs, with our affections, with our tears.  
In this interim, whiles we here surviving, seriously ponder those transcendent afflictions of thine, which for our sakes, and yet not for our deserts, thou suffered'st upon thy Cross; whiles we meditate upon those griefs and torments which were as propassions unto thy passion, how are we rapt into admiration of thy love? Then do we abandon all our fruitless and frivolous cogitations, then do we discard all our ambitious Babel building thoughts; then do we disclaim the insolent selfe-conceites of our own abilities, then do we deeply lament our supine and stupid negligence; then do we grieve that we have been so prodigal of our precious hours, and that we have not embarked ourselves in those actions which most of all procure our safety and indemnity.  
Then are our eyes become fountains of tears; then cry we out and say; O Lord, thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive. Then cry we out, O Lord, what is man, that thou art so mindful of him, or the Son of man that thou so regardest him? Oh good JESUS, what is man, that thou so regardest him? Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews, saith job, Chapter 10 11. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay, and wilt bring me into the dust. Hast thou not powered me out as milk, and curdled me as cheese? Chapter 10. ver. 9 and 10. Am I not to be consumed as a rotten thing, and as a garment that is motheaten? How then can it be that I, being of so abject and corruptible a constitution, should be saved from death, by the death of the Lord of life? O strange and admirable love! as far beyond comprehension, as end and measure. I have sinned, & thou (sweet jesus) hast suffered; nay, and I have also suffered in thee, which suffered'st for me.  
Thus by thee am I liable neither to death nor punishment. My nature which I had corrupted, thou hast refined; that that happiness might re-accrew unto me which I had lost by the fall of my first parents. What now therefore shall I say? How shall I sufficiently either admire thy power, or praise thy goodness? Thou that art infinite, thou that art neither confined to time or place, thou that art subject neither to death or passion, didst out of thy most entire and intensive love unto us, clothe thyself with our frail flesh incident to both. Which flesh of ours (maugre the devils malice and malignity) thou hast highly exalted it, and placed it above the Angels, the Archangels, above all the glorious Hierarchies of Heaven, even at the right hand of thy Father, where is the fullness of joy and pleasures for ever more. But before thou couldst ascend unto that vertical point and Meridian of thy glory, with what massy loads of calamities wert thou oppressed?  
What Hunger, what Thirst, what Nakedness, what Injuries, what revilings, what Spittings, what Stripes, what Wounds, what contumelyes, what disgraces, what Death, and Crucifying didst thou most mildly and patiently endure for us!  
And therefore, Oh sweet JESUS, give us grace, that as thou diedst for us, so we may live here to thee, and hereafter with thee. Grant we beseech thee, that thy Passion may be our perpetual Meditation.  
Oh let us always reflect our Eyes upon thee, and let thy sufferings take a deep impression both in our Memories and in our affections.  
And grant Oh sweet Saviour, that we may put, not the bodily finger with Thomas, but even the finger of Faith into thy side, and into thy wounds, and with the hand of Faith apprehend thy merits.  
Grant that we may crucify all the inordinate Lusts of the Flesh, all our wanton and Lascivious cogitations, and that we may be like thee in sufferings, that we may be like thee in glory.  
That we whom thou hast reconciled unto thy FATHER, we whom thou feedest with thy Flesh, we whom thou refreshest with thy Blood, we whom thou perpetually revivest by the celestial influence of thy grace, may hereafter be one with thee, as thou art one with the Father.  
To whom with thee and the Holy Spirit be ascribed and rendered all power, might, majesty, dominion and praise, both now, and for evermore, AMEN.  
Gratias tibi Domine JESV.  
FINIS.   

LONDON, Imprinted by Bernard Alsop, and are to be sold at his house by Saint Anne's Church near Aldersgate. 1618.