THE FOUR SUMMONS OF THE SHULAMITE.  
A Sermon preached at Paul's Cross upon Rogation Sunday, the 5. of May. 1605.  
By JOHN RAWLINSON, Bachelor of Divinity, and fellow of Saint john's College in Oxford.  
The morning cometh, and also the night. If ye will seek, seek: return, and come.  Isai. 21.12. 
Printed at Oxford by joseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paul's Churchyard at the sign of the Crown, by Simon Waterson, 1606.   

TO THE READER.  
IT was my purpose (Gentle Reader) that these my sorry labours should rather have slept in silence, and been buried in the Churchyard where first they were published, then by a second publication (more public) have stood to the mercy of many merciless Censors.  
Sure I am, it had been my safer and surer way, to have practised the policy of Antony in Tully, 
Cicer. orat. pro Cluen●.  who would never make his pen publike-Notarie to his tongue, that if aught had at any time fallen from him superfluous or impertinent, he might safely deny that to have been spoken, which written he could not so sound warrant:  
Especially, considering the condition of these times: wherein Writers, and Readers are both too-blame. For as there is more than God's plenty of writers, such as are at David's Dico ego opera mea Regi: 
Psal. 45.1.  before they can say with David, Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum: Moore careful to provide a worthy Patron for their work, than a learned work worthy the Patronage: and so cumbering the Press with frothy & worthless Pamphlets, that had it voice, it would hideously roar and cry, like a man now almost pressed to death: More weight; for the love of god, more weight: more weight in your matter, but less of your paper. So is there a marvelous paucity of Readers, (such as are well & charitably affected;) insomuch that few there are of the more ingenuous sort, Qui malint eloquendo culpam deprecari, 
Macrob. Sa●. l. 1.  quàm tacendo culpâ vacare: who had rather by divulging their endeavours crave a courteous pardon; than by suppressing them be out of gun-shot of cavil & exception; the very quintessence of many men's learning being nothing but a carping at other men's labours; and yet some of those many such, as I know had rather preach 20. Sermons, than print one, lest their filching and purloining should be tracked and detected.  
But the Reasons that have wrought me, thus to venture upon the sharp of this age's censure, are chief two;  
One, The incessant importunity of friends, to whom I may say as Paulinus doth to his upon like occasion: 
Paul. epist. 9 ad Sulpit. Sever.  Sibi imputet famem, qui pauperis amici forem pulsat, & promptuarium inane scrutatur. Let him thank himself, if he be sent away hungry, who knocks as the door of his poor friend, and rifles his empty cupboard for victuals.  
Another, The instant necessity of these days (these last, & evil days) the sores whereof run and cease not, because the sins thereof cry, & stint not; that by a deep and diligent consideration of the many saving lessons herein contained, the men of this generation may unfeignedly and effectually turn from their wicked ways, and so turn away from them, and from this whole Land the angry viols of Gods dreadful vengeance, the dregs whereof else they are likely to suck up.  
These (with other the like) reasons, have somuch the rather prevailed with me, because I am for surety given to understand, that there pass abroad for current, some maimed and dismembered copies, (such as were cursorily taken from my mouth) which I know not how far forth they may turn to my prejudice: And have caused me to republish this Sermon, 
joan. 11.44  like a Lazarus redivinus, newly risen out of the grave of forgetfulness, bound about not with napkins, but with paper-sheets; to preach not Viuâ v●ce, with any livelihood of voice as before (which yet is the chief grace & varnish of a Sermon) but with a dead & black letter: A kill letter to those that will not turn, but a quickening letter to the penitent Convert; That what then was sounded forth in the ears of a Great and Honourable assembly (the very confluence of the whole Land) may now subject itself likewise to the eyes, aswell of the then absent, as of those that were present: 
Aug. tract. de Epicur. 〈◊〉 Stoic. ca 2.   nescientes instruantur, scientes commoneantur: illi cognoscant, illi recognoscant: that the ignorant may be instructed, the learned admonished, that the one may learn what his duty is, the other recognise what he hath learned:  
That what then was confined with in the space of two hours, may now be Omnium horarum: A sermon for every hour:  
Lastly, That what then, (by the blessing of God) was thought fruitful to many, may now (by the same blessing) become profitable to all. It shall then be thy part (Christian Reader) (such as it is) to take it in good part, naked, and (I think) Verbatìm as it was uttered: as imparted unto thee to no worse end, than to make thee partaker of that blessed aspect, which is promised (& should also have been handled) in the second general part of my Text, had not the time intercepted my discourse.  
Now if any shall ask (as in such a world of Busybodies, many of likelihood will) what the reason might be, that albeit I serve a Right-worthily Great & eminent Father of the Church, the Lord Bishop of London, (sole prop and pillar of my hopes and fortunes) to whom as (in part) I own to the very prime beginnings of that small preferment which I have (which since he hath also seconded by many gracious encouragments:) so I wholly vow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the very utmost mite of my poor service: Yet I send forth this Sermon into the world, as our Saviour did his disciples, 
Mat. 10.10.  sine baculo et perâ: without either the staff of protection, or the scrip of dedication wherewith to beg patronage; My answer is ready, that as Minimum maximi maius est maximo minimi. The least of that which is greatest is more than the greatest of the least: so the least of his favours is more than the greatest of my deserts: and to present his Greatness with so small a present, were but assem Elephanto dare: as I may say, 
Macrob. Sat. l. 2. c. 4.  to give a dodkin to a Monarch.  
I have therefore chosen rather to expose it as a poor patronlesse Orphan, that so it may happily meet with many Patrons. 
Vide. Pag. 56.  I am sure one part of it hath already met with some.  
Or if it prove so infortunate, to have none to patronize it, yet my trust is that God (the father of Orphans) will accept it, 
Psal. 68.5.  To whose blessed protection I commit both it and thee: as myself & all my studies to thy godly and daily prayers: reciprocally praying unto God, for thee, and thy souls good.  
Thine in the Lord, JOHN RAWLINSON. From St. john's Coll. in Oxon. jan. 10.   

THE FOUR SUMMONS OF THE SHULAMITE.  
THE TEXT.  
Return, return o Shulamite: return, return that we may behold thee.  Cant. 6. ver. 13. 
THis golden book of Canticles (Right Honourable, Right worshipful, and right dearly beloved in the Mirror of love Christ jesus) indited by the wisest Solomon, & for the excellency of it above other Songs, by some entitled Canticum Canticorum, A song of songs: by others Cantica Canticorum, The songs of songs: 
Hugo Cardi. pref. in Can●  because (as Hugo Cardinalis yields the reason) & unum est, & multa; it is both one, & many; One, if we regard the unity of the dity● the purport and tenor whereof is Love which is the very bond of unity: & ye● many, if we regard the variety of th● Singers, which are four: (the Bridegroom, and his Bride: the Friends of th● Bridegroom, and the Companions of th● Bride) is not carnally, but spiritually; no● literally, but mystically; not properly but figuratively to be understood.  
For it is not as some fanatical spirits, (deriders & despighters of the spirit of grace) have no less calumniously than blasphemously termed it, A lascivious Ballad, or wanton Sonnet, wherewith Solomon would court, and curry favour with his Concubine: But it is (as Nicolaus de Lyrâ calls it) Epithalamicum Carmen, 
Nicolaus de Lyrâ in Cant.  A spiritual Mariage-song: wherein is most graphically painted out unto us, that sound, perfect, and unfeigned Love, wherewith our Saviour Christ (a Greater & wiser than Solomon) doth dialoguewise, and by intercourse of speech, woe his wandering spouse, the faithful soul: not only calling her before she come unto him, but eft 'zounds recalling her, when she is parted from him.  
Yet no where, either in this, or in any other book of Scripture, doth he more significantly & emphatically utter his strong and vehement affection towards her, than in the words of my Text:  Return, return, O Shulamite: return, return, that we may behold thee. 
She was gone a nutting into the garden of nuts, ver. 10. and to see the fruits of the valley, to see if the vine budded, and if the pomegranates flourished: that is, she was wholly set upon her pleasure, and minded nothing but transitory delights.  
Lest therefore by proceeding in the pursuit of such vanities, she might hap to lose herself in the garden of nuts, as Adam lost himself in the garden of apples: our Saviour, 
Gen 3.17.  even in an ecstasy of love, here follows and as it were hollas after her, once and again, & twice again:  Return, return, O Shulamite: return, return, that we may beholds thee: 
That so, in fine, if not his love, yet his importunity might reduce her from her garden to his paradise: from her sweets which were transient to his bliss which is permanent: from the jaws of hell to the joys of heaven: from the Onions of Egypt to the Manna of the wilderness: from the captivity of Babylon to the liberty of Zion: from the corruption of the flesh to the purity of the spirit: from the by way of error to the highway of truth: and from the blindness of ignorance to the brightness of knowledge.  
Here then by the Shulamite is tropically meant, the soul of every faithful man, who is lapsed and fallen into any kind of infirmity: or (which in effect is all one) The Church of Christ, the members whereof (by sin) have made a revolt from God.  
By the reduplication, or often repetition of this one word: Return; she is summoned to that unum necessarium, that only necessary duty of a Christian repentance: which if she perform as seriously, as it is seriously enjoined her, it will present her pure and blameless, without spot or wrinkle, blot or blemish in the sight of her husband.  
By Beholding, is signified both God's Approbation and notice of her, who as he beholdeth the proud a far of, Psal: 138: so hath he respect unto the lowly: As also her Reprobation of herself, who as by turning her back to Christ, she lost the view of him (that glass which reflected her to herself) so by returning back again unto him, she is brought to a due & diligent consideration aswell of what she was before she played the fugitive, as of her present condition being now become a Convert.  
So that the church of Christ, which Cant. 4.12. is called Hortus conclusus, 
Cant. 4.12.  An enclosed garden, may fitly be resembled to that ancient paradise, wherein our first parents first planted by God were after supplanted by the serpent. 
Gen. 2. ●●.   
For as it was watered with four rivers (Pishon Gihen, Hiddekel, & Perah) which refreshed all the trees thereof, and caused them to fructify, among which was the tree of the knowledge of good & evil: so the Church is here watered with the sweetest voice of her spouse Christ Jesus, whose voice is Tanquam vox aquarum multarum as the voice of many waters, 
Apoc. 1.15.  Apoc. 1. even as the voice of 4. Rivers (4. Rivers of repentant tears) here shadowed by a fourfold return: which besides other fruits will bring forth in her the fruit of the knowledge of good & evil: whereof no sooner shall she taste, but her eyes will by & by be opened, and she shall behold herself: Yea her friends, (the blessed company of Angels) will than behold her, & beholding her triumph in her conversion. Yea the whole trinity will then behold her as the work of their own hands, and therefore Christ her spouse must needs behold her, as the lovely wife of his own bosom.  Return, return o Shulamite, return, return that we may behold thee. 
The words shed themselves into two parts.  
The one, An admonition, or Invitation.  
The other, A Reason, or Instigation.  
The Admonition hath in it 3 things worthy our observation.  

1 The Matter, or tenor of the Admonition; Return.  
2 The Form, or manner of the Admonition; A double-double iteration of it. Return, return, return, return.  
3 The Party admonished; the Shulamite.   
The Reason, though at a blush it seem to be but one, yet indeed Inclusiuè, by way of implication it is 3-fold, according to the 3-fold sense which it beareth, importing a 3-fold benefit.  
1 That we may behold thee: that is,  
That my father, myself, & the holy Ghost (all three persons of the Godhead) may cast a favourable aspect on thee.  
2 That we may behold thee: that is,  
That myself, with the rest of thy friends and well-willers (even the glorious society of Angels) may respect thee.  
3 That we may behold thee: that is,  
That both I thy redeemer may look upon thee with a fatherly and compassionate eye of mercy: & that thou mayst also look into thyself with a sincere & single eye of simplicity.  
These are the lists and landmarks, wherewith at this time I must bond the procession of my discourse:  
First then to begin with the Admonition, and therein first with the Matter itself, Return:  
Hebritians well tell you, that the Original word which the Vulgar Latin here renders Revertere, Return; is also rendered Convertere, Be thou converted. And so reads both St. Ambrose lib. 3. de Virginibus: 
Ambr. lib. 3 de Virgeni● Hiero. Epi●● ad Algas.  & St. Hierom in his Epistle ad Algasiam.  
And this reading being Passive, doth (me thinks) better decipher unto us the ground of our repentance, than doth the former, which is Active. Nos enim non tam agimus, quam à Deo agimur, saith Zanchius: 
Zanchius.  For we are not so properly said to do good, as to be compelled to do it, by the good spirit of God. And the Apostle tells us, 
Rom. 9.16.  Rom. 9 That it is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth, but in God that showeth mercy: Non quia velle, & currere non de. bemus (saith St. Austin) sed quia ipse in nobis & velle operatur, 
Austin.  & currere: Not that we are exempted from willing, & running, but because it is God that worketh in us both to will, and to run. For we can no more run up the hill of God which is mount Zion (the mount of bliss) unless we be set on running by the finger of God's spirit, than a stone of itself can run down a hill, without some impulsive power to set it on running.  
True it is, that Christianity is not a licentious, or a Libertine-like security: but a warring and agonizing trade of life, a pressing toward the mark, a striving to enter in at the narrow gate, a day-labor for a penny, & a violent surprising of the kingdom of heaven: and that Christians spiritu Dei agunt, what good they do, they do by the spirit of God: But withal it's as true, that as many as are the sons of God, spiritu Dei aguntur, 
Rom 8.14.  Rom. 8. are led by the spirit of God: and it is the bountifulness of that spirit which leads us to repentance, Rom. 2. 
Rom. 2.4.   
That which David saith of man as touching his natural life, 
Psal. 78.40.  Psal. 78. that he is spiritus vadens, & non rediens, A spirit that passeth away, and cometh not again, is no less true as touching his spiritual life. He is spiritus vadens e● non rediens: A spirit that passeth await and cometh not again. He passeth away from God of himself, but of himself he cannot return again.  
When Moses cast the rod out of his hand Exod. 4. it was turned into a serpent: 
Exod 4.3  but no sooner did he put his hand to the tail of the serpent, but it by & by turned again into a rod: So when God as it were casts us of for our sins, we are turned into serpents, even a generation of vipers, 
Mat. 3.7.  Matt. 3. spawns of that old Serpent the Devil: but when once it pleaseth God to reach forth the hand of his grace unto us, then are we turned again into a rod, and may say with David psal: 74. 
Psal. 74.3.  Redemisti virgam haereditatis tuae. Thou hast redeemed the rod, or (as our English hath it) the tribe of thine inheritance.  
Let not us then (my dear and Christian brethren) who of ourselves are not able somuch as to think a good thought think so well of ourselves, that we are able (as of ourselves) to return to God, but in a true sense and feeling of our own insufficiency, let us pray with the prophet jeremy Lament. 5. 
●●m. 5.21.  Convert nos domine ad te, et convertemur. Turn thou us unto thee, o Lord, and we shall be turned.  
This briefly by occasion of the Passive reading of this word Return: Convertere, Be thou converted.  
Now the Circumstances to be considered in our Return are 5. which, because I have many things to say unto you, I will rather touch, or taste, than handle.  

1 The first, is Terminus a quo. whence.  
2 Terminus ad quem whither, or to whom.  
3 Tempus in guo: when.  
4 Modus quo. How.  
5 Medium per good, which way.   
whence, whether, when, How, and which way, these be the 5 circumstances to be considered in our return.  
For the first: If you ask me, whence you must return; I answer, from the crooked & wicked waves of the world from the miry, and dirty ways of the flesh: from the dangerous, & thievish ways of the Devil.  
In Genes: 12. the Lord gives this commandment unto Abraham; 
Gen. 12.1.  Get thee out of thine own country, & from thy kindred, & from thy father's house: So must all that will be the Sons of Abraham, get them out of their own country, that is the world, & their kindred, that is the flesh: and their father's house, that is the house of the Devil.  
When the Lord invites them to return unto him, they must not excuse themselves as they did Luc: 14. 
Luk. 14.18.  I have bought a farm, & I must needs go see it: the farm is the world. Or I have married a wife, and cannot come: the wife is the flesh: or I have bought five yoke of Oxen & I must go prove them: the five yoke of Oxen is the Devil, who when he was asked his name, called himself Legion, or a multitude. Luk. 8. 
Luk. 8.30.   
Secondly, If you ask me whither, or to whom you must return: I answer, Not with the Sow to her wallow, not with the dog to his vomit, 
●. Pet. 2.22.  2. Pet. 2. that is, not to those sins, from which ye have once been pur●ed by repentance, & which ye have vomited out by confession: but to God alone, who (as St. Austin speaks) Revocat errantes, 
Aug. medit. ●a. 2.  invitat repugnantes, expectat torpentes, amplexatur redeuntes; Recalleth them that wander, inviteth them that resist, expecteth them that linger, & embraceth them that return.  
O Jsrael, if thou return, return unto me saith the Lord, 
jerem 4.1.  jerem. 4. Unto me, saith the Lord: Quales ad qualem? saith Hugo: 
Hug. de S. ●ictor.  what manner of men to what manner of God? Clausi ad ostium, aegroti ad medicum, naus ragi ad portum. Return ye that are prisoners, to me that am the door, ye that are sick, to me that am the Physician, ye that suffer shipwreck, to me that am the haven. The door that giveth liberty, the Physician that giveth health, and the haven that giveth safety.  
Thirdly, If you ask me, when you must return: I answer, not to morrow, or hereafter, but to day. Heb. 3. 
Heb. 3.15.  For behold now the accepted time, behold now the day of salvation. 2. Cor. 6. 
2. Cor. 6.2.  Now is that Tempus putationis, that time of pruning, spoken of by the spouse Cant. 2. But hereafter is Tempus amputationis, 
Cant. 2.12.  a time not of pruning, but of cutting down. Now must we cut of the superfluities of our sins, with the pruning knife of repentance, else will Christ hereafter be sure to cut us down with the axe of judgement, Mat. 3. 
Mat. 3. 1●.  Now is Tempus tuum, thy time, the time which God hath lent thee for thine amendment: (& therefore David, Psal. 1. 
Psal. 1.3.  compares the righteous man to a tree which brings forth fruit In tempore suo, in his own time:) But hereafter it is not thy time, but God's time: Not Die hominis, man's day; but Dies Domini, the day of the Lord, 2 Pet. 3. 
2. Pet. 3.10.   
Therefore thus saith the Psalmist, Psal. 106. O give thanks unto the Lord, 
Psal. 106.1.  for he is gracious, Quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius, because his mercy endureth for ever: 
Hi●●●●. ibid.  Videte quid dicat; In saeculum ait (saith St. jerom) Mark what he saith, He saith for an age, or for ever: that is, for ever during the time of our present life. In inferno, autem quis confitebitur domino? But who will, nay who can give thee thanks in the pit? 
Psal. 6.5.  Psal. 6.  
Our adversaries may dream of a Purgatory-penance, yet indeed after death there is no repentance. O then now give thanks, or now confess unto the Lord, because he is never merciful but now; Hic misericors, illic index est; In this life he is a merciful father, but in the other life he will be a terrible judge. 
Damas'. serm de defunct.  And (as Damasce● excellently speaks) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: It's too late to come to bargain, when the fare is once dissolved. The other life is (as we say) a day after the fare. Jts therefore then too late to sue for mercy.  
Yet strange it is to see, how as if the fare of this life, and the tabernacle of our flesh should never be dissolved, nay as if we hoped by dancing dalliance to get the kingdom of God, as Herod promised the daughter of Herodias, even the half of his kingdom for a dance Mark. 6. we procrastinate our return to God. 
Mark. 6.23. Gen. 8.7.  And like Noah's crow, Gen: 8. tiring upon the rotten carrion of some earthly delight, we care not for retiring back to God the Ark of our strength. And whereas we should have vocem columbinan, the voice of a dove, mourning for our sins like good Ezechias, Esa: 
Esa. 38.14.  38. our voice is vox corvina, the voice of a crow, crying nothing but Cras, cras. to morrow, and to morrow, & many good morows: 
Exod. 8.10.  like Pharaoh Exod 8. who when Moses bade him command when he should pray for him, answered Cras, to morrow: Not considering that as S. Austin saith. Manet foris cum voce corvinaâ, 
Austin.  qui non habet simplicitatem columbinam, He shall stand without doors with his crows voice, who hath not in him the doves simplicity.  
Fourthly, If you ask me how yo● must return, I answer, Non passable corporis, sed passionibus cordis: Not b● the paces of the body, but by the pa●sions & affections of the hat: even T●to cord, 
joel. 2.12.  with all your heart; as it is joel. ●.  
The fathers call the affections Ped●● animae, the feet of the soul. We mu●● therefore be sure to look well to our fee● Eccle: 4. and to see that our affection run all one way, 
Eccl. 4.17.  all of them toward God. For woe to the sinner that goeth t●● manner of ways: 
Eccl. 2.13.  Eccle: 2. whose affe●tions run some of them to Godward some towards Mammon, 
Mat. 6.24.  Matt: 6.  
It is noted of Pilate joan: 18. that h● asked our Saviour this question, 
joan. 18.38.  Qu● est veritas? what is the truth? But h● had no sooner asked the question, b●● he presently went forth again unto th● jews without his answer.  
What was this but to come hoppin● as it were to God upon one foot, & wi●● another to hopp back again to the Devil? He made the question, but he stayed not for his answer. The world is now adays full of such Questionists, whose devotion is like an Ass' gallup, soon at an end. They demand with Pilate, what is the truth? while they are turned unto God by desire of verity, but they are gone ere their answer come, while they are turned from God by desire of vanity.  
Fiftly & last: If you ask me which way you must return I answer Per vian paenitentiae, by the way (the straight & narrow way) of repentance: of which it is said Esa: 30. This is the way, 
Esa. 30.12.  walk in it. This though it be via anfractuosa (as S. Bernard speaks in his declamations) a hard, 
Bernard. in declam.  a rough and a craggy way, yet is it not via infructuosa, an incommodious, or a fruitless way, but the issues thereof are eternal life.  
Eor as sin is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an Aversion, or the way by which we turn from God: so repentance is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Conversion, or the way, by which we return to God: So that the way by which w● return from God, is one, & the way by which we return again to God, is another.  
There is the same way (saith Aristotel) from Thebes to Athens, 
Aristot.  & from Athens to Thebes: (as we would say from London to Oxford, and from Oxford to London) yet doubtless it is not the same way from heaven to hell, & from hell to heaven. But as the man of God, 
1. King. 13.9  1 King. 13. was charged not to return back by the way that he cam● to Bethel: and the wisemen that came to see Christ, 
Mat. 2.12.  Matt: 2. returned into their country another way than they came; So we that departed from God by the highway of pride, must return to him again by the lower way of humility: we that lost him by the way of sin, must recover him again by the way of repentance.  
Hugo de S. Victore hath expressed it thus; 
Hugo de S. Victore.  Man (saith he) at first was so created, that he might have proceeded Debono innocentiae per bonum obedientiae ad bonum gloriae: from the good of innocency, by the good of obedience, to the good of glory. But changing his station, and forsaking his innocency, he afterwards proceeded, De malo iniquitatis per malum mortalitatis ad malum damnationis: from the evil of iniquity, by the evil of mortality, to the evil of damnation. Then came our blessed Saviour and showed him another way, by which he must return to his own country, which is above. Per bonum paenitentiae, & bonum justitiae, ad bonum gloriae; by the good of repentance, & the good of righteousness, to the good of glory.  
Now lest we should hap to mistake the way, and think ourselves in, when we are out: as they do that afflict their soul for a day, & hang down the head like a bulrush, as the Prophet Esay speaketh, Esa. 58. 
Esa. 58.5.  and after return again to their old bias; like lazy housewives, that strew the house with bulrushes ere they have swept out the dust: we mus● know, 
Luther.  that as Luther saith, Nova vita● optima paenitentia: A new life, is th● best repentance; and the only true conversion is a new conversation. Whenc● I take it to be, that the Greeks have thi● one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to signify both conversion, & conversation.  
It is a true rule in Philosophy, tha● Corruptio unius est generatio alteriu● the corruption of one thing is the generation of another. And it is as true i● divinity, that Mortificatio unius est vivificatio alterius the mortifying of the flesh is the quickening of the spirit. The spirit cannot be quickened till the flesh be mortified, nor the new man inherit, till the old man be dead.  
One compares the heart of man to 〈◊〉 two-leafed book, wherein a man readeth all his own works. In one leaf read sinners: In the other read the truly penitent. The sinner reads thus: Haec ego egi, recordor, et delector: These things have I done, & the remembrance of them is pleasing unto me. The penitent reads thus: Ego egi haec, recordor, et doleo: these things have I done, & the remembrance of them is grievous unto me. We must not then stand poring upon the former lease, till we be even poareblinde with sin: but we must turn over a new leaf, that is, we must lead a new life: Sic plangentes commissa, 
Bern. flor. li. 5. cap. 1.  ut non committamus plangenda, saith Bernard: so lamenting for sins committed, that we afterwards commit not sins to be lamented.  
For as the ordinary Gloss observes upon Matt: 19 that a Camel could not enter into that gate at jerusalem, 
Gloss ordin. in Matt. 19  which for the straightness of it was called Foramen acus, The eye of a needle, Nisi deposito onere, et flexis genibus: till he had laid down his burden, and bowed his knees: No more can we enter into the gate of the new jerusalem (the kingdom of heaven) which for the straightness of it, is compared to a Needls eye Matt: 19 
Mat. 19.24.  till we have cast of the heavy burdens of our sins, and bowed even the knees of our hearts unto God, humbly craving pardon & remission of our sins.  
This of the first thing to be observed in the Admonition, namely the Matter, or Tenor of it, Return.  
The second is the Form, or Manner of the Admonition: which is a doubling & redoubling of it: Return, return, return return.  
Wherein (as in a map) is set before us, the Clemency of God, the Contumacy of man: the graciousness of God, the Gracelessness of man: the willingness of God, the wilfulness of man: God often calling man to return; man still neglecting the call of God.  
Here have we one depth calling unto another; The depth of God to the the depth of man: The depth of wisdom to the depth of ignorance: The depth of mercy to the depth of misery.  
He that is Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Holy, 
Esa. 6.3.  holy, holy, Esa. 6. crieth unto man who is but Terra, terra, terra, Earth, earth, earth: jerem: 22. 
jere. 22.29.  And what doth he cry? Return, return, return. And why return? because otherwise (as he threateneth, Ezec. 21. He will overturn, 
Ezec. 21.27  overturn, overturn, as our English translation hath it: but the vulgar Latin reads it, Iniquitatem iniquitatem, iniquitatem ponam eam. that is as much to say, Our Iniquity shallbe our overthrow.  
Nay, here are four Returns to three Ouerturnes: to show, that as john outran Peter, 
joan. 20.4.  joan. 20. so the mercy of Christ outstripps his justice.  
Christ comes unto us, not to ask a Grace for a degree of us (as we speak in our universities) but to offer us the very highest degree of his grace: & though we deny it a first, second, and third time, yet he corns unto us again with a Supplicat quartò: He puts up as it were a supplication, or a request to the whole Congregation of his people, that yet at the fourth time, they would not deny it.  
Here's precept upon precept, and line upon line; mercy upon mercy, and mercy upon mercy: because as the prophet David saith. His mercy endureth for ever, His mercy endureth for ever, His mercy endureth for ever. It is the sweet burden or the 136. 
●sal. 136.  Psalm; seven and twenty times repeated in that Psalm.  
It is a rule of common civility among men; Simo ter pulsanti nemo respondet, abito. If after thrice knocking no man open unto thee, its manners to go thy way, & knock no more. But here behold, God stands at the door of our hearts, & gives not three raps only, but a fourth too. So that his rule is this:  
Si ter pulsanti nemo respondet, abire  
Non licet, urgendum est.  
If after thrice knocking, a man open not unto him, yet he will not go away, but knock again; even so long, till his head be full of dew, and his locks with the drops of the night, as it is in the former chapter, 
Cant. 5.2.  saying, Open unto me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled.  
And that we may be able to comprehend with all Saints, what is the breadth, & length, & depth, & height of his love, as the Apostle speaks, Eph. 3. 
Eph. 3.18.  He calls us from all the four quarters of the earth; there is the breadth of his love: And he calls even those that are Elongati, a long way removed from him by their sins, as the Psalmist speaks, 
Psal. 73.26.  Psal: 73. there's the length of his love. And he calls us even from the gates of hell: there's the depth of his love. And he calls us to return to himself to heaven there's the height of his love.  
But here I find two rubs, or stumbling blocks in the way, which would first be removed, ere I proceed any further.  
The one, how it is that our Saviour here calls us four times to return, when yet we read it five times repeated Amos: 1. Thus saith the lord 
Amos, 1.3.6.9.11.13.  Super tribus sceleribus, et super quatuor, non convertam eum. For three transgressions of Azza, and for four, I will not turn to it. The like is there said of Tyrus, & of Edom, and of the children of Ammon.  
Which place while some have misunderstood, they have not stuck erroneously to infer, that if a man offend twice or thrice in the same kind, his repentance may procure him for givenes: but if he offend a fourth time also, his offence (say they) is utterly unpardonable.  
But this doubt will soon be cleared, this error soon dispelled, if the words of the prophet be rightly construed. For there a certain number is put for an uncertain, like as here in my text.  
Here's 4 Returns for many returns: & so there 4 transgressions, or (as some will have it) 7 transgressions (because 3 & 4. make 7.) for many transgressions. So that the meaning is, as it the prophet had said: If Damascus, if Azza, & the rest of those cities, had transgressed against me by persecuting my people, only twice, or thrice, I could happily have borne it: but because they have eased, but have persecuted them even a fourth or a seventh time, (that is, many times,) I will not turn them unto me for their amendment, but I will overturn them to their confusion.  
But if with those heretics we should understand this scripture, as if the Lord had said: Three transgressions I will forgive, but the fourth I will not then should we make one scripture to cross & contradict another, sith we read of Ma●asses, that he committed both idolatry and murder, more than four times, & yet he finally obtained remission.  
How be it I deny not, but that as our Saviour saith Mat. 12. there is a sin which shall neither be forgiven in this world, 
Mat. 12.32  nor in the world to come, that is, which shall never be forgiven, & that is blasphemy against the holy Ghost, a sin not of infirmity, but of maliciousness. And this is that which St john 1. Epist. ca 5. calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
1. joan. 5. 1●  a sin unto death: because though death be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the wages not of one, but of every sin, 
Rom. 6.23.  Rom. 6. yet the sin of blasphemy against the holy Ghost, is by aspeciall prerogative called a sin unto death, because it better deserves his wages, than any other sin.  
The second rub, or stumbling block to be removed, is this: How it is true, that the holy man job saith, 
job. 33.14.  cap. 33. Semel loquitur Deus, & secundò idipsum non repetit: God speaks once, & repeats it not a second time, when yet here we see our Saviour speaks not once only, but repeats it a second, third, and fourth time!  
For the clearing of which doubt, we are to note, 
Hugo de S. Victor.  that (as Hugo de S. Victore teacheth) that place of job must thus be understood: God speaks once for the time of this life, Praecipiendo, prohibendo, promittendo, comminando: by commanding, by forbidding, by promising, by menacing. But in the future life (saith he) Non erit tempus docendi, sed judicandi: It willbe no time of teaching, but of judging. It is therefore Verbun quadripartitum, a speech of 4 parts, which he speaks but once. Praecipit bonum, prohibet malum, promittit gloriam, comminatur paenam. He commandeth good, he forbiddeth bad, he promiseth glory, and he threateneth punishment. And yet this foure-parted speech is said to be but one, because it aims but at one end which is our conversion. His precept teacheth how to partake his promise; & his prohibition, how to avoid his threats. But whatsoever he shall speak in another world, appertaineth not any way to conversion, but only to retribution. It is either Come ye blessed, or, Goy ye cursed.  
Let us therefore while we have time answer this fourfold speech of his with a fourfold duty of ours. His precept, by our obedience in doing good: his prohibition, by our temperance in abstaining from evil: his promise, by our love: and his threatenings, by our fear: lest that place of job be verified of us in another sense: according to the original Quum semelloquitur Deus fortis, etiam bis, non cernit illud mortalis. The mighty God speaks once, yea twice, yet man seethe it not that is (as Tremellius & junius expound it) such is the dullness & sluggishness of our nature, 
Tremell.  that though God do frequently and fervently solicit us, yet we will not give him the ear of obedience. He hath healed Babylon, yet Babylon will not be healed, 
jerem. 51.9.  jerem. 51. Neither will we return, though here he bid us four times return.  
But why 4 times? I will not be so superstitious, to say, because the number of four is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a perfect number, 
Arist. Met. 1.  as the Pythagoreans called it Metap. 1 Yet because I think it any thing rather than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a vain babbling or idle repetition of the same words to no purpose, (such as our adversaries use, placing a kind of religion in their set number of Pater nosters, and other prayers) I would gladly borrow your honourable & Christian patience, while I guess at some reasons of this fourfold repetition, & partly also follow the conjectures of others.  
It may probably be thought, that he calls us 4 times because of that fourfold duty that we owe him: As a king, as a Priest, as a Prophet, as a God. I ●●bute, as a king honour, as a Priest love, as a Prophet fear, as a God. If we return, we pay him tribute; If we return, we do him honour: If we return, we manifest our love: If we return, we testify our fear.  
Or, he calls us 4 times, because it is not one, but all ages that he calls childhood, youth, middleage, & old-age: signified under the 4 watches, Mark. 13. 
Mark. 13 31  All have offended, none is exempted.  
Or 4 times; because he calls not to one, but to all the 4 Climates, & quarters of the world: that so they may come unto him, from the East, and from the West, from the North, & from the South, & sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and jacob in the kingdom of God. 
Luk. 13.29.  Luk. 13. All which 4 quarters, as they are included in the name (the Greek name) of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Aug. tract. in Joan.  (as is noted by St Austin in joan. tract. 9) the first letter (A) standing for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the East: the second letter (δ) standing for, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the west, the third letter (α) standing for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the North: & the fourth letter (μ) standing for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the South: So are they likewise all of them concluded under the nature (the sinful nature) of Adam, and have therefore all of them need to return.  
Or 4. times because he calls not with one but 4 voices: even Quadrisonâ voce, per quatuor evangelia (saith Aponius: 
Aponius in Cantic. ) with a voice of 4 sounds, the voice of the 4 Evangelists; all sounding a retreat, & calling us to repentance.  
Which yet is not so to be understood, as if he called us only with these 4 voices. 
Aust. lib. 4. confess. c. 12.  For (as St Austin notes lib. 4. Confess. c. 12. Clamat dictis, factis, morte, vitâ, descensu; a scensu clamat, ut redeamus. He calls unto us by his words, by his deeds, by his death, by his life, by his descension, by his ascension: By these, & many other voices doth he call us to return.  
Yea and because he knew that one mouth would not be sufficient, he suffered the scornful & deriding Jew's, as to make mouths at him, so likewise to make more mouths in him, Quot vulnera, tot ora. So many wounds, so many mouths, calling us to return.  
What shall I say more? Our Saviour in his commission to his disciples, Mark. 16. saith Go ye into all the world, 
Mark 16.15  and preach the Gospel to every creature: To every creature, that is, to man, who is, as it were. A short Epitome of all the creatures of God: having in him the being of lifelesses things: the vegetation of plants: the sense of beasts: and the reason of Angels. But now he gives commission to every creature; Go every creature, & preach the Gospel unto man. Al the creatures of God are as so many preachers, so many john Baptists, so many voices of him that crieth in the wilderness of this world: Return. 
Exod. 9.28.  Prepareye the way of the Lord by repentance: as Exod: 9 thunder and hail are by an hebraism called the voice of God, calling Pharaoh to return.  
Or 4 times, because he calls us, not from one, but from the 4 Cardinal vices: Pride, avarice, gluttony, & luxury. Pride & Avarice care not how unlawfullly they get and scrape together: Gluttony, & Luxury, care not how shamefully they misuse and waste what is gotten. It was pride that locked heaven-gates against Lucifer. It was avarice that opened helgates to the rich ●ā. It was gluttony that turned our first parents out of paradise. And it is luxury or intemperance, that at this day like a deluge overflows the whole earth.  
Or 4. times (saith St Bernard) because he calls us from a 4-fold pride: 
Bernard.  superbia cordis, superbia oris, superbia operis, superbia habitus. Pride or heart, pride of mouth, pride of work, & pride of habit. Pride of heart, when a man is great in his own eyes: pride of mouth, when a man not only thinks, but speaks magnifically & highly of himself: pride of work, when a man not only thinks and speaks proudly, but his pride breaks forth into action: & pride of habit, when a man's pride sits upon his skirts, & shows itself in the gaudines of his attire.  
Or 4 times (saith Hugo Cardinalis) because he calls us from 4 peremptory & dominiering affections, 
Hugo Cardinal in Cant.  wherewith wear miserably wrecked & tortured here in this life: joy, sorrow, fear, & hope: joy for some present good, sorrow for some present evil, hope of some future good, fear of some imminent evil.  
Or 4 times (saith Catetan) as if he had said: 
Ca●●●an.  Revertere relinquendo caecitatem intellect us: revertere relinquendo pravitatem affect us: revertere adhaerendo veritati: revertere intendendo bonitati. Return by forsaking thy blindness of understanding: Return by foregoing thy crookedness of affection: Return by adhering to the truth: Return by addicting thyself to goodness.  
Or lastly 4 times (saith Hugo de S. Vict.) as if he had said; 
Hugo de S. Victore.  Revertere a meis, quia mirabilia sunt: a tuis, quia prau● sunt: a te, quia omnis caro faenum ad me, quia ego summum bonum. Return from my ways, because they are deep & unsearchable, from thy ways, because they are wicked and intolerable: from thyself, because all flesh is grass: to me, be cause I am thy God, thy chiefest God.  
Thus our Saviour Christ, who for our sakes, was content to be not only Fabri filius, 
Matt: 13.55 Mare. 6.3.  a Carpenter's son, Matt. 13. but Faber, a Carpenter, Mar. 6. is here (as ye see) become a maker of Chariotts. For these are indeed the Chariotts of Israel, or (if you will) Quadrigae salutis, the Chariotts of salvation; like that fiery Chariott, wherein Elias was taken up into heaven, 
2. Reg. 2.11.  2. Reg. 2.  
O how happy a thing were it for this city, if she were as full of these Chariotts, as she is not only of material coaches and Chariotts, but even of other spiritual Chariotts: (such as S Bernard largely and excellently describes, 
Bernard serm. 39 in Cantic.  serm: 39 in Cantic.) Chariotts of malice, & Chariotts of luxury, and Chariotts of covetousness: but I will only name you their wheels, & their horses  
The Chariot of malice runs upon 4 wheels: Cruelty & Impatience; boldness, & impudence: and it runs very swift to shed blood. The horses that draw it are two, & those very lightfooted: Earthly power, which doth what it lusteth, & saecular pomp, which in its doings is applauded.  
The Chariott of luxury hath likewise 4. wheels. Pampering of the belly: proneness to venery garishnes of attire: and laziness of body. The horses that draw it are 2. & they very slow. Prosperity, & Plenty.  
The Chariott of Covetousness hath likewise 4. wheels: Pusillanimity, inhumanity, contempt of God, & forgetfulness of death: The horses that draw it are 2. and they very jades. Ropacitas, et Tenacitas: Fast-having & Fastholding.  
These & the like chariots go marching along every street of your city. Wherefore as jeremy wisheth, 
jerem. 9.1.  c. 9 that his eyes were turned into a fountain of tears: so my hearts desire unto God for this city is, that her eyes were turned into a red sea of tears: that as Pharaoh & all his chariots, were drowned in the red sea. 
Exod. 14.27  Exod. 14. so the spiritual Pharaoh, the Devil, with all these his chariots, were drowned in the red sea of your tears. For as St Bernard saith in the place before cited) Illi in sluctibus, 
Bernard. ibid.  isti in fletib': marini illi, amari isti. The Egyptian Pharaoh, & his chariots, were drowned in the salt waves of the red sea: And so the spiritual Pharaoh, & his chariots, must be drowned in the salt tears of our eyes, that are red with weeping.  
This of the second thing to be observed in the Admonition, which was the Form, or Manner of it.  
The third is the party admonished: which is the Shulamite: or (as others read it) Sunamite: or (as others) Odollamite: All affording very good matter of instruction.  
Arboreus and Philo read it Odollamitis; 
Arboreus in Cantic. & Philo Carp. Episcop.  which is expounded, Testimonium in aquâ: A testimony in the water. A name of fit respondence & consonance, with the Christian soul, which being washed and cleansed with the water of baptism, gives testimony in the water to the faith of Christ, there confessing the trinity in unity, and unity in trinity of divine substance.  
Or secondly, she may be called A testimony in the water: because in the waters of Marah, (even in the bitter waters of repentance) she gives testimony of her hearty sorrow for her sins: there confessing with David, 
2. Sam. 24.17.  2. Sam. 24 Behold, I have sinned, yea I have done wickedly.  
This eie-water of repentance is the only water able to quench the fire of concupiscence in the house of the conscience. 
Aug. in Psa 94.   
It is that holy-water-sprinkle that the Devil cannot away with. It is the crystalline humour of the eye of faith. It is that Aquavitae, that must revive the languishing Christian. It is that Aqua caelestis, which God keeps in his flagon, lest a drop of it should be lost. It is that brine, wherewith both flesh, and spirit must be kept from tainture, and putrefaction.  
It is (as Lavater calls it, 
Lavat. hom. 6. in Ruth.  homil. 6. in Ruth) sanguis animae, the blood (the white blood) wherein the life of the soul consisteth.  
It is (as Gregory Nazanzen calls it) orat. 39 in Sanct. Lumina) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 
Greg. Naz. orat. 39 in Sanct. Lum.  A second laver of regeneration, the only rebaptisation allowed in Divinity.  
Wherefore Leo (in his sermon de caen. domin.) speaking of the tears of St Peter, 
Leo serm. de can. domin.  who had grievously sinned by denying his Master with an oath: Happy (saith he) were thy tears (O thou blessed Apostle) Quae ad diluendam culpam negationis, virtutem sacramenti habuerunt baptismi; which had the efficacy of the Sacrament of Baptism, to wash away the sin of thy denial.  
As is the water of baptism to the faithless soul, so is the water of tears to the faithful. Peter was washed as clean from the stain of abnegation with the water of his tears, as was Paul from the stain of persecution with the water of baptism. The soul then of Peter was a good Odollamite: For it was, Testimonium in aquâ, A testimony in the water. His outward tears testified his inward sorrow. His eyes were as cryars to proclaim his harts-griefe. He went forth and wept bitterly, 
Mat. 26.75.  Mat. 26. till by crying he had outcried the cry of his sin.  
So the soul of Mary Magdalem was a good Odollamite: For it was Testimonium in aquâ: A testimony in the water. She was once possessed with 7 Devils, 
Luk 8.2.  Luk. 8. Yet because she washed not her own face only, but the feet of our Saviour too with her tears, 
Luk. 7.38.  Luk. 7. as the question is asked concerning the woman that had 7 husbands, 
Mat. 22.87.  Mat. 22. In the resurrection, whose shall she be of the 7? So if it be demanded as touching her, that had 7 Devils; In the resurrection whose shall she be of the 7? I answer, as there our Saviour doth concerning that other woman. Surely, 
ver. 30.  none of all theirs: but she shallbe, and already is, as the Angels of God in heaven.  
And so must we also be Odollamites, we must give testimony to God in the waters. We must not think to go to heaven by land (as some of our great landed-men do) but we must pass over: waters ere we can come thither: The one, the Water of baptism: the other, the Water of repentant tears.  
This of the first reading Odollamitis.  
The second is Sunamitis. 
Hieronym. Bernard. Rupers. Anselm.  So reads St jerom, St Bernard, Rupertu●, Anselmus, & diverse others, paterning themselves by the Greek translation of the septuagint, and by the vulgar Latin edition.  
Rupertus and Anselmus expound it Captiva, which signifieth a slave, or a captive: as if our Saviour had said: Return (O soul) poor soul, poorer th● very poverty itself, because the devils captive under the yoke of sin.  
For (as Hugo de S. Victore notes) Three states there are of the faithful soul. 
Hugo de S. Victore.  Under the first, she is Captiva, a bondwoman: under the second, she is Libera, a free-woman: under the third, she is Beata, a blessed Saint.  
In the first, she is subject to the slavery of wickedness. In the second, she fighteth under the banner of righteousness. In the third, she, hath full fruition of happiness.  
As she is a bondwoman, it is here said unto her, Return, return o Sunamite, that of a bond woman thou mayst be made free. As she is a free woman, it is said unto her Psal: 27. viriliter age. 
Psal. 27.16.  Play the virago: be strong, & let thine heart cheer thee, & put thy trust in the Lord, that of a free woman thou mayst become blessed. As she is in the state of blessedness, it is said unto her, 
Psal. 47.1.  Psal. 47. Cantate domino in Zion. O sing unto the Lord in Sion: O sing unto God with the voice of melody.  
In her first state, she is a servant, and feareth. In her second state, she is a daughter, & loveth. In her third state, she is a spouse, & embraceth.  
Secondly, 
Hieronym. ad Nepotian  S jerom in his epistle ad Nepotianum, expounds this word Sunamitis, Coccinea: which signifieth Crimsen-colourd: as if our saviour had said. Return, o thou crimson, or scarlet-colourd sinner. Thou whose sins have transformed thee into that colour, which the whore had contracted by slaying the Saints of God, 
Apoc. 17.4.  Apoc: 17. If thou wilt but revert, & turn from thy wicked ways, be thy sins as crimson, they shallbe made white, as snow: be they red as scarlet, they shallbe as wool. 
Esa. 1.18.  Esa. 1.  
I who once in derision, was myself put into a purple rob, I, even I will cast thee into a new fat, & die thee into another hue, a hue surpassing the skill of the skilfulst dyer's. They indeed can change a thing into any colour save white: But I, from so deep a tincture of sin, as is crimson or scarlet, will transport thee into so pure a colour of innocency, as is white. Thou shalt neither be so far from a ripe & perfect man in Christ, as to be but green: nor so fraught, and overflowing with the gall of bitterness, as to be yellow: nor so bloody with cruelty, as to be red: nor so deformed with any kind of impiety, as to be black: but so snow, so lily-white, as to surmount not the curtains only of Solomon in comeliness, but his person too in royalty.  
Thirdly, Lauretus in his Sylva, 
Lauret. in Sylod.  expounds this word Sunamitis, Dormiens, or Iteratio dormitionis, which signifieth A sleep, or an Iteration of sleep: as if our Saviour had said, Return (o thou sleeping & slumbering soul) thou that every foot fallest into an heavy sleep of sin, and mayst therefore well be called an Iteration of sleep, because thy whole life is nothing else, but a continual iteration of sleep after sleep; O that yet at length after so many iterations of thy sleep, thou wouldst hearken to so many iterations of my call.  
For as philosophy teacheth, that excess of bodily sleep, engendereth three dangerous diseases in the body. The first is Epilepsia, the falling sickness. The second is Ephialtes, the nightmare. The third is Lethargia, the disease of forgetfulness: So the sleep of the soul (I mean an excessive sleep in sin) breeds three no less dangerous diseases in the soul, answerable to those other three in the body.  
THe first is Epilepsia, the falling sickness of, Pride: a disease that causeth a swimming and a giddiness in the head, and so entoxicat's the brain, that oft times it makes a man fall down for dead: according to that of Solomon, 
Pro. 16.18.  Prov. 16. Pride goeth before destruction, and an high mind before a fall.  
The second is Ephialtes, the nightmare of concupiscence: A disease which makes a man think, that he seethe an Old-woman lying hard upon him, and pressing him down, ready to choke, and strangle him. This old-woman, is the flesh, which if it be not subdued & mortified by abstinence, lieth hard upon the soul, and presseth it down, even to the pit of hell: according to that of Solomon, Sap. 9 Corpus quod corrumpitur, 
Sap. 9.15.  aggravat animam: A corruptible body is heavy unto the soul, and the earthly mansion keepeth down the mind that is full of cares.  
The third is Lethargia, the lethargy of covetousness, which we may rightly term the disease of forgetfulness: A disease that many times makes a man sleep out his life, and die sleeping. For such, and so unthankful is the nature of covetonsnes, that the more, & greater blessings she receiveth of the Lord, the less she remembers them: such, and so deadly her sleep, that whoso is once possessed with it, seldom or never awakes, but dies sleeping: according to that of Solomon, Eccl. 4. 
Eccl. 4.8.  There is one (saith he) alone, & there is not a second, which hath neither son, nor brother, yet is there none end of all his travail, neither can his eye be satisfied with riches, neither doth he think, For whom do I travail, and defraud my soul of pleasure.  
Sith then the sleep of sin is so dangerous a sleep, Awake thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead, & Christ shall give thee light, as the Apostle tells thee, Eph. 5. So shalt thou never once be troubled, 
Eph. 5.14.  either with the Epilepsy of pride, which was the devils sickness, or with the nightmare of concupiscence which is the flesh's sickness, or with the lethargy of covetousness, which is the world's sickness.  Return, return o Sunamite. 
But here you will happily demand of me, sithence this name Sunamite is Nomen patronymicum, a patronimick noun derived of the City Sunam (a City in the land of promise) What Sunamite, or what woman of the city Sunan it was to whom my text may seem to have reference.  
Two Sunamit's there were, of whom there is honourable mention made in the book of Kings.  
The one, was Abishag, fair and beautiful Damosel, which was brought to King David, when he was stricken in years, to cherish his old & cold blood, & to minister unto him: 1. King. 1. Carthusian, 
1. King. 1.4. Carthusian. Mercer.  Mercer, and some others, think that allusion is here made to her.  
The other, was that noble, devout, & well disposed Gentlewoman, 
2. King. 4.8.  2 Reg. 4. who gave so kind welcome to the Prophet Elisha, and that he might be the more willing to come often to her, provided him a chamber, a bed, a table, a stool, & a candlestick. The more part of interpreters think that allusion is here made to her.  
And had God then indeed so great rcgard of so small a favour conferred upon his Prophet? Doth he keep a Calendar, & a Register of her name that bestowed it? Hath he erected an everlasting trophae, and monument thereof to all eternity? Hath he written her name as in heaven (no doubt) so in earth too, and that in his own book, the sacred Bible? and hath he also translated it upon his Church, calling his Church Sunamite?  
O come hither, and consider this, ye that are the great and wealthy ones of this world: ye that have Promptuaria plena, eructantia ex hoc in illud, as the Prophet speaks, 
Psal. 144.13  Psal. 144. ye that have the world at will, and your garners, and your warehouses, and your counting-houses full-fraught with all manner of store: upon whom the Lord of heaven hath heaped earthly treasures, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in a measureles measure, not that ye should be Condi, Treasurers & hoard-masters to lay them up, but Promi, bursar's, and Dispenser's to lay them out; ye that so love & long after the continuance of your names, that lest they should die together with you, ye call & christian your lands by your own names; How is it, that loving to have your names durable, ye love not to use the means that should make them durable? So far (many of you) from the mind of this noble Sunamite, that ye count all but lost, that ye bestow upon the relief and maintenance of Elisha: I mean, of the Prophets and Ministers of God, of religious and learned men.  
Where I cannot but condole the never-sufficientlie deplored estate of the Clergy: who when they have wasted, and exhausted their days, & their years, their strength, and their vigour, their bodies, & their spirits, their health and their wealth, and whatsoever they either have, or themselves are, in godly, wholesome, & religious studies, profitable both for Church and Common wealth: yet are feign many times (as a learned writer complains) Cum egestate & fame conflictari, 
Herman. H●melman.  to make many a fray with poverty and hunger. And were it not, that God in singular favour to his Church, hath given us a gracious Prince, who is himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, very learned, and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a lover of learning in others; who himself is truly religious, and therefore a cherisher of true religion in others, it might justly be feared, that within a while, the state of the Church would be as much to pitied, as is now the state of Churchmen: when men of the best and rarest gifts, for want of due encouragement, shallbe deterred from turning their endeavours, to the propagating, & adorning of the Church of God: And when they have served, I say not one, or two, but 3 prenticeships, or perhaps, more than three, for a beautiful Rahel, they are at length put over to some blear-eyed Leah a living of some 20, or 30 pounds a year, or perhaps, nor that neither: when Patrons of Church-livings, who are bound in a stronger tie of duty, than other men, to be Sunamit's to Gods Elisha's, instead of finding Elisha, a Chamber, a Bed, a Table, a Stool, & a Candlestick, through their indirect, unconscionable, and intolerable dealing (maugre all law and statute to the contrary) do even stifle up the Chamber of Elisha's heart: 
Psal. 4.4. Psal. 7.6.  and suffer Simony to lie tumbling upon the Bed of his conscience: 
Psal. 69.23.  and make the Lords table even a snare unto him: and allow him no stool, 
Psal. 94.20.  but the stool of wickedness: and do not give but sell him the Candlestick of the Church, 
Apoc. 2.5.  wherein they leave him only some little snuff of the living▪ such as stinks in the nostrils, both of God and men.  
The veriest Corydon, and Lacklatin that ever served Cure for 20. nobles a year, let him but have Entia, store of pelf, wherewith to demerit, and win the Patron, and it skills not how he be qualified, either with Scientia or Conscientia, with learning, or with honesty. Gold & silver, are more precious metals than Latin.  
Mean time, they either consider not, or regard not, that as  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the stealer and the receiver are thief's both so the selling Patron, and buying Incumbent, are thieves both. The Patron, because he robs the Church of her inheritance: and the Incumbent, because he not only peeps in at the window like a fool, Eccl. 21. but even creeps in at the window like a thief, 
Eccl. 21.26. joan. 10.1.  joan. 10. And therefore he had but his right, if with the dog in the fable, who came in by the window, he were thrown out by the door.  
And as for those cruel and tyrannous Patrons, who will still have us ministers to go with shaven crowns, (not the Crowns of our heads after the Rhomish discipline, but the Crowns of our purses after the English cut) Let me tell them, that the money which no less irreligiously, than sacrilegiously they get and scrape together by the spoil and pillage of the Church, howsoever they may convert it even In pios usus, to good and charitable uses, as to the building or enriching of Colleges, Schools, Hospitals, or the like (though it is not often seen, that money so ill-gotten is so well bestowed) yet their purchase is no better▪ than that which judas made with the silver he had gotten by betraying his Master, 
Act. 1.19.  Act. 1. wherewith though he bought a field, then commonly called the Potter's field, and that to no worse use, than to bury strangers in, thinking thereby to have washed away the guilt of his treason: yet that bloody & lowd-voiced sin of his, rung such a peal of vengeance in the eats of the Almighty, yea and was so distasteful to the very jews themselves, that (God so appointing) whereas he thought to have purchased a glorious name of immortality, his purchase indeed was nothing else, but an ignominious name of perpetual obloquy; that very field being to this day called Aceldama, which, by interpretation, is the field of blood.  
But alas, alas (beloved) it is not for me to hope, that I shall ever be able as it were with one blast of a short, and weak breath, to blow down this Magical and monstrous sin of Simony, which hath enchanted and empoisoned the whole Realm: And notwithstanding that she hath often been even crucified and nailed to this very Cross with the hammer of God's word, as jeremy speaks, 
jere. 23.29.  c. 23. yet for all that goeth jetting it up and down, as fresh and frequent, as lusty and lively in every part of this land, as if she had never been touched or talked of: her ha●t being of ●ron, her brow of brass, and her hands of silver and gold.  
Wherefore leaving her as desperate as I found her, I will now come a little nearer home to this city. A city, as for wisdom another Grece, 
Lips. de Const. b. 2. c. 21.  which Lipsius calls Sal & Solgentium: the salt and the sun of other nations; So for plenty another Sicily, 
Aret. Chorog Sicil.  which Aretius calls Cell● penuaria, the storehouse; or (it ye will) Mamma, the teat or breast, whereout many other places suck no small advantage.  
A city, which I know (& the College Whereof I am, must thankfully acknowledge) is the mother of many a good Sunamite, many that are sincerely and heartily devoted to learning and religion.  
And yet (not so flatter her) the Lord hath a controversy with many her rich pinch-peny & close-fisted inhabitants: whose charity is so benumbed and frozen, that as David saith of himself in another case: 
Psal 119.  Factus sum sicut uter in pruinâ: I am become like a bottle in the frost, Psal. 119. so it may be truly also said of them, that they are become like a frozen bottle. They hold all in, & let nothing run out.  
They have withered hands, like the hand of jeroboam, 
1. King. 13.7  1. King. 13. and till it please the Lord in mercy to restore them, they cannot once stretch them out to give a reward to God's Prophet.  
And as an oven, though the belly of it be full of loafes, yet the mouth of it is still gaping till it be stopped with clay: So they albeit they have loafes their bellies full (by loafes, I mean all temporal blessings) yet they are still gaping after more and more gain, and never lin gaping, till their mouths be stopped with clay.  
There are others, that are frank enough in their spending, but yet Elisha's share is least in their expenses.  
Laertius in the life of Crates the Theban Philosopher, 
Laert. in vit. Cratet Theb.  tells of a memorable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or daybook, wherein that Philosopher had set down the accounts of a great rich man: which accounts he there recites to have been these.  

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, &c:  
Inprimis for my Cook. ten pounds.  
Item for my Physician. four pence.  
Item for my Flatterer. v. talents.  
Iten for my Counsellor. a pound of smoke.  
Item for my Whore. a talon.  
Iten for my Philosopher. 3. halfpences.   
Pardon me (dear Christians) if I be jealous over you with a godly jealousy. I fear, there are some such rich men even in this city, whose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or daybook, if a man could come to peruse, he should find, if not the same, yet the like accounts. It grieves them not to be at cost, with their Cooks, their flatterers, and their whores, ten or twenty pounds thick: but Physicians, Philosophers, and learned Divines, O its money welspared, that is not spent upon them.  
I know not, whither there be any place for persuasions in the hearts of those, that are already so fully preoccupied with indevotion. Notwithstanding, either (if it may be) to reclaim them, or (if not) at leastswise to leave them unexcusable, I hold it my duty to remember them of another, and that a stricter account, to which when God shall summon them upon that great and general audit-day of judgement, they will both shame and tremble to give up such an account as this.  
And secondly, of that amiable promise of our Saviour, 
Mat. 10.41.  Mat. 10. that not so small a kindness as a cup of cold water bestowed upon a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall pass unrewarded.  
And thirdly, of foreign examples of our Antichristian adversaries, who provide so liberally for the Ministers of Antichrist, that they have not only wherewith richly to find themselves, but over and above, wherewith to fee their drabs, to feed their hounds, and to flesh their horses: when yet many of the poor and true Ministers of Christ, have not wherewith to buy them meat for their belly, clothes for their back, or books for their study.  
Fourthly, & lastly, of ancient examples registered in holy writ, and left upon record for a pattern of imitation to all succeeding ages. As namely, of that poor widow, 
Mark. 12.42  Mark. 12. whose 2. small mites which freely and cheerfully she cast into the treasury, were accepted of God, as a great largesse, and with him were more current, than all that all the rich men of their abundance cast in: Because (as St Ambrose notes, 
Ambr lib. 1 de vid.  li. 1. de vid.) uberior est nummus ex parvo quàm thesaurus ex maxim. A penny or halfpenny of that little which a poor man hath, is more in God's reckoning, than a whole mass of money out of a rich man's treasure.  
Of that other widow of Zarepta, 1. King. 17. who because she entertained the prophet Eliah in the time of drought and dearth, 
1 King. 17. 1●  her handful of meal in the barrel, and her little oil in the crewse, by spending was not spent, neither any whit diminished, till the tyranny of that dearth were overpast.  
Of Gaius, whom for his love & bounty to the Church & him, St Paul calls Hospes meus, et universae Ecclesiae: his host, & the host of the whole Church Rom: 16.  
Of Mary Magdalen, 
Rom. 16.23 Mat. 26.13.  who because she loved much, and powered out the box of precious ointment, upon the head of Christ, her name is as an ointment powered out persuming the whole house, & (as our Saviour protesteth, Mat 26. wheresoever this Gospel shallbe preached throughout all the world, there shall also this that she hath done bespoken of, for a memorial of her.  
Lastly, of this glorious & worthy Summite, who for her good devotion, & respectful usage of Elisha the prophet of the Lord, is here remembered in her own name, but yet in another person, the person of the Church.  
And albeit the Church (even the sinful members of the Church) be here called by the name of Sunamite, yet is it not that the Sunamite should thereby be dishonoured, by giving her name to so sinful a person, but that so sinful a person should the rather be alured, by this kind and honourable name of Sunamite.  
This of the second reading, according to the Greek septuagint, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Sunamite.  
The third is Shulamitis: so reads St Ambrose, 
Ambros. Ludou. Soto. Tremell.  Ludovicus Soto, Tremellius, & lunius, and our English Geneva with some others deriving their translation from the Hebrew fountain.  
St Ambrose in his oration de obitu Valentiniani, expounds it Pacifica, 
Ambr. orat. d● obit. Valent.  Quiet, or Peaceable: & it is a patronymick noun (as was Sunamite) deduced of Shalem, the ancient name of jerusalem, which also signifieth Peace. And therefore it is said psal. 
Psal. 76.2.  76. At Shalem is his tabernacle: where the vulgar Latin reads: In pace factus est locus eius: where peace is, there delights God to dwell.  
When therefore our Saviour calls his Church Shulamite, it is as if he had said: O thou Daughter of peace, or O thou Queen of Shalem, Queen of jerusalem, Queen of Peace, because my daughter, and my spouse, who am king of Shalem, king of jerusalem, Prince of Peace.  
This, this should teach us (my dear & Christian brethren) that we must be Shalemites, or Shalamti's men of peace and tranquillity, not of discord and division.  
It is the factious nature of that old makebate Satan, with all his Imps, and impious adherents, to stir up strife all the day long, and therefore his kingdom is Malè divisum: a divided Kingdom Matt: 12. 
Mat. 12.26.  But our peacemaker Christ, left a great legacy of peace to his Church, 
●oan 14.27.  peace, & his peace, joan: 14. & therefore his kingdom is Benè coniunctum: an united kingdom, keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. 
Eph. 4.3.  Eph: 4.  
If then we will have Christ to our father, who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Pacificus: a chief justice of peace, or a peace maker: & the Church to our mother, who is also pacifica, a peacemaker, we must nor proceed A benè coniuncto ad malé divisum: from the Zion of peace to the Babylon of confusion: but we must be Pacifici, peacemakers, and at peace: A threefold peace. At peace with God, at peace with our selves, 
bernard. in ●est. omn. Sa●ct. ser●. 5  & at peace one w another.  
But we must first be at peace with God by a true conversion, because our peace with him, is the root of that other twofold peace.  
We must not (if we willbe the spouse of Christ) be so headlong and headstrong in our iniquities, as if by our crying & scowling sins, we meant to chide and rail him out of his own house, or (as once before) we did to hale him out of heaven, & nail him to the Cross, & crucify again the Lord of life: for then (assure we ourselves) he will never marry us. No; the God of peace loves his peace too well, to marry an unquiet & a scowling wife. Nay, he will be so far from marrying us, that he will arm all his creatures with vengeance to persecute us. He will sharpen his fierce wrath for a sword, & the world shall fight with him against the unwise, as the wisman speaks Sap. 5. 
Sap: 5.20.  Neither shall that man ever have Pacem a septem spiritibus, peace from the 7 spirits which are before the throne of God, spoken of Apoc: 1, 
Apoc. 1.4.  who hath Pacem cum septem spiritibus, peace with the seven unclean spirits, spoken of, Matt: 12. 
Mat. 12.45.   
But if laying aside our former iniquities, we return to God, and so become Shulamits at peace with him, them will he betroth and mary us unto himself▪ as he promiseth Ose: 2. I will marry thee unto me for ever: 
Ose. 2.19.  yea I will marry thee unto me in righteousness & in judgement, & in mercy, and in compassion. I will even marry thee unto me in faithfulness, & thou shalt know the Lord.  
Secondly, we must be Shulamits, at peace with ourselves, by an inward peace of conscience. For  
Conveniet nulli, 
H●rat.  qui secum dissidet ipse. He that cannot agree with himself, with whom will he agree? As we must not have a weight & a weight in our shops: so neither must we have a word, and a word, in our lips. We must not have 2 faces under one hood, like janus: nor 2 tongues in one head, like judas; nor 2 hearts in one breast, like Peter: but we must be unus, non Plures: singular, not plural: one, and not many. For (as the Apostle tells us, 
1. Cor. 9.24  1. Cor. 9 unus accipit bravium: One receiveth the price. One? who is that one? Not such a one as Alcibiades, of whom Aemilius Prob ' writes: 
Aemil. Prob. in vit. Alcib.  Nihilillo fuisse excellentius, velin vitijs, vel in virtutibus: that he was excellent in both kinds, good & bad: excellently virtuous, and excellently vicious: ut omnes admirarentur in uno homine tantam inesse dissimilitudinem, tamque diversam naturam: so that all men wondered that there should be in one man such disparity, such diversity of nature.  
Not such a one as St Origen speaks of writing upon Leviticus: 
Origen. in Levitic.  Agnosce in hominibus Chamaeleontem: There are some (saith he) just like the chameleon. For as the chameleon is very easily changed into whatsoever colour almost is set before it: so there are many that desiring to please all, do conform and fashion themselves to the wills of all: & because they fear all colours, will easily be transformed into any colour: Cum irascentibus irascuntur, detrahunt cum detrahentibus. etc. Are others angry? So are they. Do others backbite? So do they. Do others discommend? so do they. Do others commend? so do they. And (with reverence be it spoken to the words of the Apostle) they become all things to all men, that by all means they may cousin some.  
In a word, not such a one, such a monster Holkot speaks of, 
Holkot. lect. 211. in Sap.  lect: 211. in Sap: that is Homo per naturam, Daemon per superbiam, taurus per luxuriam. A man by nature, a Devil by pride, and a Bull by lasciviousness: but such a one, whose soul is another jerusalem, as a city that is at unity in itself.  
But Quomodo unus est, qui nunc laeti, nunc tristis, nunc irati vultum, nunc lenis, nunc avarri, nunc luxuriosicor habet? How is he one (saith Hugo) or how is he at peace with himself, 
Hugo de S. Victor.  that is one while pleasant, another while pensive? one while angry, another while calm? one while covetous, another while luxurious? In quo tot personae, quot mores: whose person is as manifold as his manners: & so he makes himself a Lunatik fool: for a fool is variable as the moon: Eccl: 27. which though she be but one in substance, 
Eccl. 27.11.  yet by means of her often change, is never like herself. Yea, so he makes himself the devils vassal, who as he calls himself Legion, because he is many Luk. 8. so they that are his slaves & vassals, 
Luk. 8.30.  howsoever they may seem to be but one, yet indeed they are not one but many: yea their own Conscience is both the Accuser, & the Accused: the Witness, & the Convinced: the judge, & the Condemned the Hangman, & the Tormented: the Hell, and the Damned. But on the otherside, they that are the servants of Christ, are not only each in themselves one, having within them a sweet melody & peace of conscience: but they are also all of them together ●●e: One by unanimity, not by unity of person. For all that are in Christ are but as one, 
Gal. 3.28. Act. 4.32.  Gal: 3, as it is said of the multitude, Act: 4. that they had all but one heart, & one soul.  
We must therefore, in the third place, be Shulamits, at peace with others, by an outward peace of Conversation, having peace with all men, as the Apostle wills us: 
Rom. 12.18 Carthusian.  Rom: 12. that is (saith Charthusian) a true, and a spiritual peace, not a carnal, and a secular peace. For our Saviour tells us Matt: 10. that he came not to put this peace upon the earth, 
Mat. 10.34.  but a sword. A sword, to arm the son against the father, & the daughter against her mother, & the daughter in law against her mother in law. Not that he would simply & without exception have these to be at variance each with other (as Theophylact well obseru's) but to testify unto us, 
Theophylact  that such is his jealously of his own honour, that though he have commanded us to honour our father & mother, Exod: 20. yet if father or mother, 
exod. 20.13.  kith or kin shall intend his dishonour, it is no dishonour for a man, nay rather it is the honour of a man, (& the harder it is, the more honour it is) so unpartially to put by all by-respects of nature, as for the honour of God our supernal & supernatural father, to dishonour our dearest natural friends.  
And sith we are rather to forsake ourselves than Christ, 
Mat. 16.24.  Mat. 16. & the love of ourselves must be the rule & measure of our love to others: (for we are to love our neighbour as ourselves, 
Mat. 19.19.  Mat. 19 As ourselves, and not as God, for we are to love God more than ourselves) what more can our best friends expect at our hands, than that if the case stand betwixt God and them, so that of the two one must needs be relinquished, we should rather relinquish any, or all of them than God, who willbe unto us unus instar omnium. One for all, nay, One better than all, because All-sufficient. And as himself pronounceth of them that do the will of his father, 
Mark. 3.35.  Marc. 3. that they are his brother, & sister, and mother: so if any do the will of his father, he is their brother, & sister, & mother, and what not, that else can once be desired?  
God's altar is like Hercules his pillar. The Inscription thereof is Non ultrà. Our peace may reach thitherto, but no further.  
Wherefore as Aristotel said of his Mr Plato; so must we of our best and nearest friends: Though Plato be my good friend, yet truth is my better friend, & therefore if Plato give his farewell to truth, then farewell Plato.  
We are not then (my dear & Christian brethren) we are not to tax and censure our godly, zealous, and religious magistrates, as tyrannical, cruel, and uncharitable, if as jacob took Esau by the heel, 
Gen. 25.26  Gen: 25. so they take the Edomites, and Sons of Esau, (the Papists) sworn enemies to the truth of Christ; crying, as did those Edomits in the day of jerusalem, Down with it, down with it, 
Psal. 137.7.  even to the ground, Psal: 137. & lay them fast by the heels, who so long as they are suffered to walk at large, are continvally kicking against God's true religion, so happily established in the days of Queen Elizabeth, our late sovereign of blessed memory, and now (blessed be God, whose blessing it is) so faithfully continued in this our Realm under the reign of King james, her rightful and most renowned successor: who as he hath already peaceably conjoined the 2 neighbour-kingdomes of England and Scotland, concluding both under the name of Great Britain: so there is nothing (say misdeeming Malcontents what they will) there is nothing that he so vehemently desireth, as the uniting of those other 2 kingdoms, the kingdom of Christ, and the kingdom of Antichrist, by reducing and bringing back to the sheepfold of Christ, the Great shepherd and Bishop of our souls, those silly wandering sheep that so long have strayed upon the 7 mountains of Rome.  
Which religious work of his would (doubtless) prosper the better in his hands, and take a much more speedy effect, were it not that jannes' also, and jambres resist Moses: were it not that the home-born contentions of our mutinous, turbulent, and dogmatical Novelists, are too-too-high-handed: & that the soul of the Church is troubled Propter quadrigas Aminadab, by reason of the chariots of her voluntary, & willing people, 
verse 11. Caietan.  as it is in the verse next before my text. I say not (as Caietan expounds that place) by reason of the Scribes & pharisees, who persuaded the jewish Synagogue to crucify our Saviour Christ: but by reason of the true heirs & successors of the Scribes & pharisees; who may rightly be called chariots, because they draw the people which way they lust: & the Chariots of Aminadab, which signifieth, Populus meus spontaneus, my ready or willing people, because the people are (many of them) as willing to be led, as they to lead them.  
These Chariots as they are drawn a main with the wild-horses of their own headstrong fancies: so do they also draw whole multitudes after them, and lead captive simple women laden with sin, and grossly abuse the ignorance of many honest and wellmeaning Christians, to their own advantage.  
These be they, that will not suffer the Church to sleep, nor the Heads of her Temples (her Reverend and learned Prelates) to take any rest, unless they first put of their seemly and decent ornaments, their surplice, cope, cap and all, to them.  
I will not say (as perhaps I truly might) that their fond and newfound opinions, are Satan's balls of wildfire wherewith they have set on fire the Church of God, 
Valer. Ma●.  (as Herostratus fired the temple of Diana, only to get him a name, though it were but a bad one) & that the smoke of this their fire hath caused many weeping eyes in the Church of God;  
Nor will I liken them to a man (such a one as St Bernard speaks of in his declamations) set upon the pinnacle of a temple, 
Bernard. declamat.  and with open mouth greedily sucking in the air, and lest it should not come fast enough of itself, provoking and gathering it to him Flabello, with a fan, Ac si totum speraret aërem deglutire: as if he meant to drink up the whole element of air: and yet it is thought that their chiefest aim, is either Aura popularis, the breath of the people, or Aurum populare, the wealth of the people;  
Nor would I wish them, for breaking the peace of the Church, to be thrust into a jakes, there to end their days, as Irenaeus, 
Andr: Hondorff: in Theatr. hist.  and Abundius were by Valerian quod Sanctae Concordiae corpus è templo extraxissent: because they had haled the Image of Concord out of the temple: But yet thus much I will be bold to tell them, that they are too-too-like Antonius Alexandrinus in Suidas: 
Suidas hist.  who (as he saith) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: he was very il spoken of, not because he was greatly injurious to other men, but because he was very much given to contention: & that they live so unpeaceably in the Church of Christ, as if Christ had died intestate, & left no legacy of peace to his Church:  
Yea (more than this) in Christ's stead, for Christ's sake, and for their own sake, and for the Church's sake, in the bowels of our blessed Saviour, I heartily beseech them, that they would see even in this their day, the things that belong unto their peace: that if by studiousnes of peace, they will not turn their helmets into beehives (as it is in the Emblem:) yet by furiousness of rage against the discipline of the Church, they would not turn the Church (the helmet of salvation,) into a nest of wasps: that as Numa Pompilius is said, 
Plutarch.  Martium loco deturbâsse, to have displaced blustering March, which before was the first month, et primas Iano detulisse, ut pote Pacifico, and to have placed peaceable janus in his room: so they would prefer peace before discord, and contentation before contention. Lastly, that as the Cretensians, 
Plutarch.  who before were at civil war among themselves, yet when an enemy invaded them, they would cease to have edge one against another, & jointly band themselves against the Common enemy, (which practise of theirs was thereupon proverbially called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the joining of the Cretensians:) so unless they will be worse than evil beasts (for so the Cretensians are called out of one of their own Poets, 
Tit. 1.12.  Tit. 1.) They would lay aside their civil, or rather their uncivil war, and join both hearts & hands with us, against those two mighty enemies of the Church Papists, and Atheists: who like the Mirmaide, & the Dolphin, take their pastime in the troubled waters, while the ship of the Church is beaten, and tossed, and torn asunder with a tempest.  
Thus far have our Novelists (the chariots of the people) drawn me. Happy now, & thrice-happy should I think myself, if as the Prophet Ezechtel in his vision, saw Rotan in rotâ: One wheel in another wheel; 
Ezech. 1.16.  Ezech. 1. So I might see Currum in curru: one chariot in another chariot; to wit, these chariots of the people in this chariot of repentance wherein our Saviour Christ would draw all men unto him, iterating and reiterating his Admonition:  Return, return o Shulamite: return, return. 
I should now proceed to the Reason of the Admonition, including (as I told you) a threefold promise:  
1 That we may behold thee: that is, That my Father, myself, and the holy Ghost may cast a favourable aspect on thee.  
Secondly, that we may behold thee: that is, That myself with the rest of thy friends & well-willers, even the glotious society of Angels may respect thee.  
Thirdly, That we may behold thee; that is, That both I thy redeemer may look upon thee with a fatherly and compassionate eye of mercy: & that thou mayst also look into thyself with a sincere, and single eye of simplicity.  
But neither will my outworn strength give leave, nor the time (which is already past its limits) permit, nor (I think) the repining of your bellies suffer me, to enter upon so copious a discourse, as this triple Reason would require. Here therefore I make my full period.  
Now the very God of peace sanctify you throughout, & I pray God that your whole spirit, and soul, and body, may be kept blameless unto the coming of our Lord jesus Christ: To whom, with the father, & the holy Ghost, one immortal, invisible, only wise, & all good God, in person three, in essence one, be ascribed all power, dominion, and Majesty both now and for evermore. Amen.  
FINIS.