THE METEORS. A SERMON PREACHED AT A VISITATION. By MICHAEL WIGMORE, Rector of Thorseway in Lincolnshire, and sometimes Fellow of Oriel College in Oxford: Let your Light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven, Mat. 5. 16. printer's device or cast ornament of a head framed by two branches (not in McKerrow) LONDON, Printed by THOMAS HARPER, for Nathaniel Butter, and are to be sold at his shop at the Pied Bull, near S. Augustine's Gate. 1633. TO THE RIGHT Honourable, THOMAS Lord Coventry, Baron of Aylesborough, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, etc. Right Honourable: Such is the Leprosy of Ingratitude, that scarce Luke 17. one in ten comes back to be thankful: and God seems to give a check to man's nature, in placing Memory behind in the head, as being an Emblem of our dulness, in rendering the Offices of Gratitude. I must, and ever will acknowledge to God's glory, and your Honour, that as I had my being from above, so have I my bene esse from your bounty, in so much that (as Saint Paul to Philemon) I own unto you even mine Philem. 19 own self. With that Samaritan in the Gospel, Luc. 17. 15. 16. I am at length come back again to worship, and to present you with these false fires, to make my Duty and Affection legible; ut Dei, ita est eorum qui Dei in terris Rex Platon. vices obeunt, pro sua immensitate beneficia largiri, sed hominum gratitudinem, ex eorum modulo aestimare. Long hath mine heart burnt within me, Psal. 39 3. with an earnest, Quid retribuam? In regard Psal. 116. 12. of those gracious encouragements, by your Honour conferred upon me. Nor have I slept in the Land of forgetfulness, but waited opportunity to vent myself; and now I have borrowed so much strength of boldness, as to lift up the eyes of Hope, presuming to prefer these flashes to your view; in the which as the bad-borrowers of these days, I do pay my great debts by small Pensions. If this mine Adventure shall find such admittance, as to give the least life to my riper studies, I shall not suffer my Temples to rest, till I be delivered of a Psal. 132. 4. stronger birth. Coelum quietem sortitur in motu, I shall ever account it my heaven upon earth, to labour to show forth my thankfulness, and to pray with a flaming heart, that Gen. 49. 22. 26. the blessing of joseph light upon you. Decem. 15. 1632. Your Honour's humble eleemosynary, MICHAEL WIGMORE. Ad Lectorem. CVm carpuntur vitia, & inde scandalum oritur, ipse sibi scandali causa est, qui fecit quod argui debet, non ille qui arguit. Bernard. Epist. 78. THE METEORS. MAT. 5. 14. You are the Light of the World. PRoems, they are like Cypress trees, long, but fruitless, and as he, 2 Macc. 2. 32. It is but a vain thing to make a long Prologue. and to be short in the story itself: Then briefly to the matter we are to treat of. As we find in Natural Philosophy, Lucem, Lumen and Illuminatum; the Sun the Treasurer of Light and Time, the Light of the Stars derived from the Sun, and the Light of the Air proceeding from them both: So she (being the Handmaid to Divinity) holds out the glass to 1 Cor. 13. 12. 13. show us the shadow of that we shall know, even as we are known. First, Christ, to be that Sun of Righteousness, foretold unto Division. Verse 2. V 3. les. 9 1. us in the fourth of Malachy. Secondly, his Disciples to be those Stars spoken of in the twelfth of Daniel. And thirdly, those people that walk in darkness, and that dwell in the Land of the shadow of death, to be that Medium illuminatum, looking for the light to shine upon them. For the First, as in the first of Genesis, the Light was created I Part The light of Christ seen from the beginning. before the Sun: so was Christ known in the days of Psal. 18. 9 Old, before the Sun of Righteousness was risen, before He appeared in our Horoscope, before He bowed the Heavens and came down to himself in the flesh of Man; His light was then like the Birth of the Morning. The Prophets, they beheld this Light, that a Virgin should conceive jes 71 14. and bear a Child which should be Emanuel, God with us: The Gentiles, they beheld this Light, witness Zoroaster, Mercurius Trismegistus, the Sibyls, the Oracles of their own gods, and to make their ignorance inexcusable, they had the Prophets of truth amongst them; job knew that his Redeemer lived, and job 19 25. Num. 24. 17. Balaam could prophesy unto Balaak, that there should come a Star of jacob, and rise a Sceptre out of Israel: The Patriarches they beheld this Light; Abraham, he saw this day, and rejoiced and was glad and that Grandsire of all mankind, was no sooner john 8. 56. divested from his Robe of Innocence, But this Dayspring Luc. 1. 78. Gen. 3. 15. joh. 1 5. from on high did visit him; With, the seed of the Woman, shall break the Serpent's head. And thus the Light shined in the darkness. For, as the Israelites for their Convoy had a Cloud by Day, and a Pillar by Night: so till the time of the coming of Christ, there was no Day without a Cloud, no Night so dark, but had some light in it. God being known from the world's first being, by Visions, and Oracles, Revelations, and Dreams, Bulling Decad. 1 Ser. 1. Tradition of doctrine, from hand to hand, until the days of his servant Moses, who was in the seventh generation from Adam, and yet the Penman of the world's History, for near 2500. years. So that Adam and the Patriarches, the Gentiles and the Prophets, they had all a glimmering of this light; they all foretold the coming of Christ, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost; they 2 Pet. 1 21. Mat 11. 13. Ezech. 4. 1. Keck. Phys. p 1. ex Virg. job 36. 32. Galat. 4 4. The light manifested in Christ's incarnation. Psal. 19 5. 2 Cor. 3. 14. 15. Heb. 10. 10. Heb. 7. 12. Heb. 10. 1. all prophesied unto john who was the Precursor, that morning star that was sent to bear witness of the Light. And thus (as Jerusalem upon a Brickbat; or the Acts of the Romans on the Shield of Aeneas) I have briefly set out unto you how God hide the Light in his Fist, until he commanded it to break forth, until the fullness of time was come. Then came the Bridegroom out of his chamber, rejoicing as a Giant to run his course. The Law that was the veil of the Gospel, was taken away by the coming of Christ; The Sacrifice offered year by year, was abolished in His offering once for all; The glory of the Priesthood was translated; All the shadows of good things to come; they all vanish at his Lustre; I am come (saith our Saviour of himself) I am come a Light into joh. 12. 46 the World, that no Believer should abide in darkness. Such is the glory of the Deity, brighter than the Lights of heaven; The glory of this light. Ecclus. joel 1. 10. His eyes ten thousand times clearer than the Sun, and clothed with unspeakable Majesty; That the earth doth quake before him, the heavens tremble, the Moon be darkened, and the stars withdraw their light. Then how shall sinful man behold him, whose foundation is but dust? When Christ was transfigured upon the Mount, his Visage there Mat. 17. 2. as glorious as the Sun, and his clothing as white as the Light, his Disciples were afraid, and fell to the earth: When Acts 9 8. Revel 1. 9 he appeared in the way to Damascus, Saul was stricken blind with his Brightness. And when Saint john saw him in the I'll of Pathmos, in the likeness of the Son of man, with a garment down to his feet, his eyes being as a flaming fire, his feet as molten brass, and his face shining as the Sun in his strength, he fell down at his feet for dead; In his presence shall the people joel 2. 6. tremble, and the countenance of all wax black: so that we may say with those men of Bethshemish, whom God had 2 Sam 6 29. smitten for looking in the Ark) who is able to stand before the Lord? If those that have knowledge live two lives, whereas others live but one, then doubtless every man is half dead (like him Luc. 10. v. 30. that fell amongst the thiefs:) our understanding is unsinewed, and the powers of our souls are out of joint: so dimmed, whilst we look through the cloud of Nature, that we see no better than he in the Gospel, that could not discern a man from a Mar. 8. 24. tree. But God who is rich in mercy towards us, frameth his This glory opened in parables and similes. Greatness to our capacity, showing his Goodness in speaking to our senses, and that Man may know him in some measure, He will be known unto us as man, by his parts, as eyes, cares, and the like; his affections, as Anger, Love, and Sorrow; his Titles, as King, Lord, and Father, whereas He is infinite, incomprehensible, that filleth full the heaven jer. 23. 24. and the earth; Totum quod vides, totum quod non vides: And Christ to insinuate himself into us, to leave the deeper impression in our hearts, so often openeth himself in Parables, that, were they as strangers unto you, I could lead you into acquaintance with them, throughout the whole course of his Doctrine. Sometimes styling himself a Sour, sometimes Mat. 13. joh 10. 11. Mat. 9 12. joh. 15. 1. joh. 10. 7. joh. 14. 6. Rom. 1. 20. a Shepherd, sometimes a Physitiar, sometimes a Vine, sometimes a Door, sometimes the Way, the truth, and the Life: Notioribus ignota discuntur, Spiritualia per similitudines; as God's eternal power and Godhead are seen and understood by his works. David in the 68 Psalm, being there to make a description how God was praised in his Sanctuary; the fuller to set it forth to the Life (as the troop that leads before some Prince, This Glory resembled by Light. Ver. 25. 27. awakens an earnest expectation) doth marshal out the array thereof, with the Singers going before, with the Minstrels following after, with the Damosels in the midst, playing with Timbrels, with little Benjamin their Ruler, with the Princes of juda their Council, the Princes of Zabulon and the Princes of Nepthalie. And Saint john in his first Epistle, intending to 1 joh 1. 1. etc. comprise a brief abridgement of the whole scope and Doctrine of the Gospel, to extract and sublimate the Quintessence thereof, ranks out a fair company to walk before, and to rouse up dull attention (like the Chain that was tied to the tongue of Mercury, and fastened to the ears of the people) with, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen, and our hands have handled of the word of Life. And again, the Life was manifest, and we have seen it, and show it unto you: And again, that which we have seen and heard, that we writ and declare unto you; until at length he openeth this rich Cabinet, and shows us this illustrious Gem; That God is Light, and in him is no darkness: And thus (as Solomon in his Temple) He presents you with a fair and beautiful entry, as a preparative to your devotion, to stir up a zealous admiration, and to wonder at the inward glory, That God is Light, and in Him is no darkness. Plato and the heathen Philosophers (that were directed by the eye of nature) viderunt illi suisque literis copiosissime mandaverunt, hinc illos unde & nos fieri beatos, obiecto quodam lumine De Civit. Dei l. 10. c. 2. intelligibili, quod Deus est illis (as saith Saint Augustine:) Hence the Prophets were named Seers; and mens humana patibilis dicitur (as Zab. in his tract de ment agente) because our Light jam. 1. 17. is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights: Believe joh. 12 36. therefore in the Light, that ye may be children of the Light. As Light was the first borne of all things visible: so was it Christ the Light. not without a mystery, that for the distinction of the six first days, God closed them up with this phrase of speech, The Evening and the Morning were the first day; and the Evening and the Morning were the second day; and so on in the rest of the days: whereas Nature gives the birthright to the morning. But he foreseeing in his infinite prescience, that wretched man within few hours should cast himself headlong into darkness, doth intimate unto us thereby, that first should be the Night of man's misery, and then should follow the Day of our redemption by sending of his son Christ jesus, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God: And This light was that true light which lighteth every joh 1. 19 man that comes into the world. Of all the Metaphors the world affords, none so fit an Emblem of Christ, as Light, which is the joy of the eyes, and the Pro. 13. 30. true comforter of the heart, although continuance and assiduity makes us behold it with less admiration. Amongst those four good Mothers that do nurse and Van. of the eye cap. 4. The excellency of the Light cherish up four bad daughters; as Virtue, Envy; Peace, I al●nesse; and Truth Hatred; Familiarity brings forth Contempt. And hence it is (as one well observes) that those things which we most fear and reverence, are most removed from our sight: Perseverantia consuetudinis amisit admirationem. the daily use of this glorious creature doth make it the less to be admired. When King and Kesar, old and young, high and low, rich and poor, all desire it alike. Light, it displaieth itself to all creatures, and it is transfused in an instant. It pierceth every transparent body, and is not defiled with any uncleanness: It is the conduit of all heavenly virtues, and is the quickener of all that is: It actuateth all colours: It is the mother of all beauties: It giveth life to all the ornaments, to all the delights that the world affords us. The Light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the Eccles 11. 7. eyes to look upon the Sun: And, si dulce est lumen hoc mundi, quanto erit dulcius lumen gloriae. Si delectabile est videre solem creatum, quanto erit delectabilius solem videre increatum, creatique solis Creatorem. I am the light of the world (saith our Saviour) joh 8 12. And therefore it was (as some observe) that Christ was borne when the days were at shortest, ut diminuto noctis curriculo, defectionem sentiant opera tenebrarum. From this comfortable nature of the light, upon any occasion of joy and deliverance (to show how beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of salvation) we deck it forth with her glory, naming the time pro qualitate rei. The Lepers (in the second of Kings, cap. 8. ver. 9) in the Night that they found the Assyrians were fled, we do not well (say they one to another) we do not well to hold our peace, this Day is a Day to bring glad tidings: And that welcome Luc. 2. 11. Angel in the Gospel when he came to the Shepherds in the Night of the Nativity, This Day (saith he) in the City of David is borne a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. Then did the Night shine as the Day, because the Sun of Righteousness Psal. 139. 12. was risen; as there was darkness at the hour of his Amos 8. 9 death, for then the Sun did set at the noontide. And yet Christ here (as Moses else where) hath a veil Light but a shadow to Christ. Psal. 104. 2. put over his face, to whom the Light is but as a garment, or as a curtain drawn over his glory, to be a shadow of his essence and being. If the Light be Darkness, how great is that Darkness? But when Light and Lustre, and Brightness, and Glory, and Majesty shall be but shadows; how great is the Brightness, and the Lustre, and the Light of the glory of that Majesty which dwelleth in the light that none can attain unto. 1 Tim 6. 16. It is reported concerning Noah, that whilst the window of the Ark was shut, he made use of some resplendent stone, by whose rays the objects of the sight presented themselves to the organ of the eye. However the conjecture be but curious, yet true it is that Christ is that Stone, which albeit the Mat. 21 42. builders refused, is now become the headstone of the corner; at whose approach the light of the Moon became unto jes 30. 26. us as the light of the Sun; salvation became the walls of jes 60. 18. etc. our Church, and her gates the praise of God; the Lord our everlasting light, and the Sun that shall never set, Lux Deus illustris illuminans omnia, aliae luces tanquam micae. And thus fare of that Lux innata, that true Light, that Light joh 1. 9 & 8. 11. & 9 5. & 1 joh. 1. 5. of life, that Light of the world, in whom is no darkness. I am now come to my second chapter, and to speak of that Lumen, that Lux infusa, whereby we are enlightened 2 Part. The Light derived from Christ to his Ministers. from above (as the Stars do borrow their light from the Part. 2. l. 6. c. 7. Sun.) Zanchius in his work De operibus Dei, upon those words, Gen. 1. Sint luminaria in expa●sione coelorum, observes that luminare differt à luce, sicut candela à luce quam habet; and puts the nature of the Stars and the Light, at as fare distance one from the other, as the instrument that holds the light differs from the light that it sustaineth. And as God is the light that dwelleth in you, so you my brethren of the Clergy, you are Luminaria, the Instruments of light to shine in the Phil. 2. 15. midst of a crooked generation. Thus he which is the light of the world, john 8. 12. hath appointed you to be the light of the world, Mat. 5. 14. and he which is the bright morning Star, Revel. 22. 16. hath given you the morning star, as he hath received from the Father, Revel. 2. 28. to be as that star that Mat 2. 9 appeared in the East, and that led to the place where the child lay. Christ beholding from the height of his Sanctuary, the condition of his Church here on earth, how that after the days of his flesh, they should be as sheep having no Shepherd; Mat. 9 36. Eph. 4. 11. 12. he hath given some Apostles, some Prophets, some Evangelists, and some to be Shepherds and Teachers, to the gathering together of the Saints, to the work of the Ministration, and to the building up of his body. And as the Israelites when they came to Elim, found there twelve Fountains, and seventy Num. 33. 9 Palm trees: so the Apostles as twelve Fountains, have flowed over all the face of the earth; and the seventy Disciples as seventy Palmetrees, have flourished, and spread over all the Luc. 10. 1. the world, raising up new seed in the Church, by Commission from Christ, Imposition of hands, and Succession Apostolical Acts 6. 6. 2 Tim. 1. 6. throughout all ages. You, my Brethren, are branched from these; you are the 1 Cor. 4. 1. 1 Cor. 3. 9 Luc 12. 42. 1 Pet. 2. 9 1 Tim 2 7. Gal 4. 17. Disposers of the secrets of God; you are his Labourers, and his Builders; you are his wise and faithful Stewards, whom the Lord hath made Rulers over his household; Yea, you are his honourable Priesthood; yea, his Ambassadors; yea, his Angels. You, even you are the Light of the world; Et sic dicebat Christ●● suis, vos estis lux mundi, cum ipse solus esset vera lux, as Beza in his notes upon the 2 Cor. 3 18. Aristotle tells us in his Ethics, that Bonum is Verum, and Arist Eth. l 1. Lights distinguished. Meteors divided. Apparens: and there are certain Apparitions, which for the semblance that they have with the Light, do seem to be of the same nature. These being proper to the Air, some there are in the higher region as be Cometa, and Caprae Saltantes; others in the middle, as Tonitru and Fulgur; and there are walking in the lower region, Ignis Fatuus, and Ignis Lambens; Opposita iuxta se posita magis eluce scunt, and therefore I'll begin with these, that those other in their order may appear the clearer. First of the Comet, that prodigious Light, showing commotions, Cometa. and the death of Kings: such is the nature of the Laterane jupiter styled the servant of the servants of God, when he means to exalt himself as an Eagle, and to tower amongst the stars nipping the Christian Princes in the crowns, giving Obad. verse 4. K. of defen. of the right of Kings. Exod. 32 22. 1 Sam. 15. 30. 31. 35. Baruc 1. 11. Cheque mate to the greatest Monarches, & spilling their blood like water on the ground. Whereas, Aaron submitted to Moses, Let not the wrath of my Lord wax fierce. Samuel honoured Saul a Reprobate, mourning for him at his funeral Exequys. And the Captive jews in Babylon, sent to the Brethren at Jerusalem, to pray for the life of Nabuchedonozor, and for the welfare of Baltasar his son; how then can that Church, that Body, choose but be full of mortal diseases, when the Head is so full of peccant humours. It was enacted by the Law of Moses, that a man that Deut. 21. 12. would marry a Captive woman, should shave her head, and pair his nails, and put away her old raiment from her. We will apply it to the Church of Rome; Let her put away her superfluities, let her lay aside her old corruptions; Let her leave off her superstitious Relics, and we two will be one flesh; she shall be unto us an Israelite: And that great Monarch of great Babylon, Luminare mains (as he styles himself) that Stella Crinita, that Blazing star, whose hairs are grown like Dan. 4. 33. the eagle's feathers, and his nails like the claws of Harpies; let him lift up his eyes to heaven, so that his understanding be restored, and we will join ourselves unto him, to bring him to his former Beauty. Capraesaltantes are another kind of Meteor, struggling in the Capraesaltantes. bowels of our own Church, like jacob and Esau in the womb of Rebecca, or the Hussits and the Thaborits amongst the Bohemians, only differing per magis & minus: Men that for science, and for Conscience, might worthily shine as the stars in the firmament. But that (as it is generally observed) Stellarum nulla per se movetur suum dividendo orbem. Oh, it might make us to mourn and bleed, to see how judg. 5. 15. for the divisions of Levi, there are arisen great thoughts of heart. To see ourselves to be parted into companies, like unto the Sheep and Goats of Laban, some brown, and some bespeekled: Gen 30. 32. to see how (like that Monster in Pliny, that Amphisbaena, that hath two heads) we strive one with another for Sovereignty, whilst our enemies stand by and behold it with, Psal. 35. 25. 2 Sam. 1. 20. There, there, so would we have it; Oh, let it not be told in Gath, let it not be published in Askalon, lest the Philistines do rejoice, and the uncircumcised have cause to triumph. Ecclesia est illud corpus Christi quod charius habuit, quam quod tradidit morti; let us not lacerate, and tear it to pieces, with our unprofitable litigations; let us not be of a viperous generation, to eat our way through our mother's bowels; let us not rend Christ's seamelesse Garment, which must be Vmea, or not Tunica; let us put up our angry pens, and as Curtius reports Q Curt. of those people that were ever in arms one with the other, yet when Alexander came upon them, quos alias bellare inter se solitos, tunc periculi societas iunxerat: so let us bend our swords and our spears against the breast of the common enemy. He, even he whose name is wonderful, the giver of counsel, Ies. 9 5. the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace, would not have us awaken his Beloved, whilst he doth rest his bedewed Can. 2 8. & 5. 2 locks upon the lap of the sleeping Church: Remember what Abraham said to Lot, and remember that we are Brethren, Gen. 13. 8. Eph 4. 3. and therefore bound in the bond of peace, for the keeping of the Spirit of Unity. It was the Ditty of our Saviour's Birth-Song, peace on earth, Luc. 2. 14. good will towards men; It was his Legarie to his Disciples, My peace I give you, my peace I leave you: And it is the daily prayer joh. 14. 27. of his Spouse, da pacem, give peace in our time O Lord: Contention (be the Garden never so fair, be the Intention never so sincere) 'twill make the world to be misdoubtfull, and to fear a Snake under every Leaf: Then let there be no dissension amongst us, and let us proceed by one Rule, that we may be Phil. 3. 16. of one accord; lest when that Great Shepherd of our souls shall 1 Pet 2 25. & 5. ● Mat. 25. 41. come to separate the Goats from the Sheep, he brand us with an Ite maledicti, Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire. I am next to speak of the Belly of that Image, whose Head is ambition, whose arms, dissension; I am now in the middle region, Tonitru & Fulgur. Mat. 3. 17. where I meet with Tonitru, and Fulgur, Boanerges, sons of Thunder; who though they be of a lower Region, yet are they of a hotter constitution; well may they be the salt of the earth, but of such a Peetrish and fierce nature, that touch them Mat. 5. 13. with the least spark of admonition, and they'll be ready to flash in your faces: These men inflamed per Antiperistasin, by seeing judah frozen on his dregges, may say as David in another kind, That to keep silence, it was pain and grief, That Psal. 39 3. their very heart waxed hot within them, That while they were thus musing, the fire kindled, until (like so many Canons overcharged, or as Lightning choked up in a cloud of Thunder, they give a terrible crack about our ears) until at length, they speak with their tongues, recoiling against order and Discipline. — feriuntque summos Fulmina montes. ●or. They would have a spotless congregation, looking for a Moon, sine macula, seeking a Church without a Blemish, and thus forgetting themselves to be sinners, they do with Calisto in the Metamorphosis, Saepe feris latuit visis oblita quid esset; Vrsaque conspectos in montibus horruit urses. Ovid Met. l. 2. Whereas the Flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit Gal. 5. 17. against the Flesh, so that we cannot do what we would; we can but endeavour to that which is before, we can no more Phil. 3 13. 14. here but press towards the mark; perfectionem in hac vita sequimur, assequimur in futura. Being thus puffed up with an undiscreet zeal, their Pulpit Tacit. like the Tribunal of Cassius, it doth become scopulus reorum, a Rock, a Shipwreck to a tender conscience; affording nothing but the cursings of Mount Ebal, nothing but the thunderings Deut. 17. 13. Exod. 19 18. and lightnings of Sinai. It is observed in the motion of the Spheres, if they should not be stayed and slackened by the contrary course of the primum mobile. that they would set the whole on fire. And it is true in the nature of zeal, not being moderated with discretion, it soon sets all in a combustion, Fervour discretionem erigat, Bern. & discretio Fervorem dirigat. God that made all things with the breath of his mouth, and accomplished his six days work in the temperate season of the Equinoctial, appeared to Adam in the cool of the Zanch de oper. create. part 2. l. 1. c. 2. Psal. 104. 4. Zanch ubi supra. jonah 4. 1. etc. day: He that made his Angel's spirits, and his Ministers a flaming fire; when he made the Light and the Stars, tempered the Light with moisture, and made the Stars of a watery substance. And though he be a God of vengeance, yet when the rebellious Prophet jonah had so much the overflowing of the Gall, as to be angry with his dreadful power, he reprehends him with as much indulgence, as if the tenderest father in the world were to deal with his dearest son; and shall we bruise the broken reed, shall we quench the smoking flax? Oh let the Mat. 12 20. Psal. 141. 5. righteous correct me friendly, but let not their precious balms break mine head; let us handle the wounds of our Brethren with gentleness, and the Bowels of compassion: let us bring pity in our eyes and hearts, when we chance to see their falls and infirmities: and let us remember the rule of Saint Paul, Gal. 6. 1 Brethren, if any man be prevented in sin, ye then which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Now for the Snuffs of the former Lights, sending forth Ignis Fatuus. an unsavoury smell out of the lowermost Socket of the Air; First to speak of Ignis Fatuus, or the Lay-Elder; here like unto some simple Swain at a portentous and prodigious Meteor, seldom seen in the world of his Hemisphere, so I cannot but stand at a gaze, to see the Stars to drop from the firmament, to see the light to be turned into darkness, to see the Priests to be clothed with shame, so many and so well nurtured, that have sucked milk with us from the same breasts, to be misled into that discipline, by the which an Artificer may be made an Elder, and of a Tradesman become a Churchman: We may lament them with the wife of Phinees, when 1 Sam 4. 21. the Ark was taken by the Philistines, and she named her child Ichabod, The glory of Israel is taken from them. This Ignis Fatuus, this Lay Brother, by their Imposition of hands, shall have the misleading of a Band of souls (as the Devil the lunatic in the Gospel) sometimes through fire, Mar. 17. 15. sometimes through water; and yet (as Aventine once of some such) Si praelati isti plebei essent, nemo facile ipsis haram Avent. de reb. Tur. par. 3. committeret, in illo vero statu, & arae, et animae hominum ipsorum fidei creduntur. It was commanded by the Law levitical, that no blind Levit. 22. 22. creature should be offered to God; how then shall the blind lead the blind, unless it be in praecipitium? Like unto that Cretensian Berg. Hist & Fasc. Temp. jew in the year of our Lord 450, who saying he was Moses sent from heaven to conduct his brethren through the Sea into jury (as before he had done out of Egypt) caused them to commit themselves unto the waves, where they were all drowned like Pharaoh and his host. Yet these will torment a Text of Scripture, manage a long and monstrous discourse (conceived and borne in the same instant) wrist and pervert the word of God, and instead of the natural milk thereof, suck out the blood of misinterpretation, as fare distant from the true meaning, as was that ridiculous Actor in Smyrna, pronouncing O Coelum with his mouth, and with his finger pointing to the ground. The Coppersmith will be bold to control Paul; 2 Tim. 4. 14. Act. 19 24. Demetrius the Silversmith will oppose the whole Church, and the Cobbler find fault with the thigh of the picture. Frange leves calamos, & scind Thalia libels, Mart. Si dare sutori caloeus ista potest. There is a Rout of their followers, a generation described The condition of the Faction. Pro. 30. 12. by Solomon, that are pure in their own eyes, and yet they are not washed from their sins: Let me show you the portrait of them, as they are drawn out to the life by another, and so printed to the view of the world. They are (saith mine Author) the scum of the Commons, Doctor Wakeman, Ser. True professor. the tags and rags of the people, base mechanics, men of little knowledge, less honesty, and no discretion at all: In their attempts pragmatical, in their humour fantastical, in their profession Pharisaical, in their books hypocritical, in their opinions anabaptistical, in their Doctrine schismatical, in their words Angelical, in their deeds Diabolical. But what should I tell you de asini umbra, or hold you in discourse of this Brainsick Fry; I'll only hail Ignis lambent, and so we'll strike sail, and come a shore. Such is the nature of many men, that having some secret Ignis Lambens. and beloved sin, which is as near, as dear unto them, as was the son of the Bondwoman to Abraham, when he prayed for his life and prosperity, Oh that Ishmael might live in Gen. 17 18. thy sight. They can with Herod hear john Baptist so that he would not touch upon Herodias: These men are likened to Apes and Monkeys, which break the glasses that they look into, because they show them their own deformities: so that it often falls out with them as the Prophet speaks, Zach, 11. 8. Three Shepherds I put out of office in one month, for I might not away with their doctrine: And yet for all Michah will jud. 17. have his Levite. Scit Comitem horridulum ●rita donare lacerna, Et verum inquit amo, verum mihi dicito de me; Qui pote?— Pers. Sat. 5. How can that be? when they say unto the Seers, see not, and to them that be clear of judgement, Ies. 30. 10. look not out right things for us, but speak (placentia) leasings unto us. As the Devil dealt with Christ when he took advantage Mat. 4. 2. of his hunger; so there want not unto these some that are left of the old house of Eli, that will come and crouch for a piece 1 Sam. 2. 36. of silver, and to be put in office amongst the Priests; these men may be compared to Surgeons, that though they have not the hearts of Lions to put their Probes home to the quick, yet they have the hands of Ladies enured to Complexions and Paintings, and to daub with untempered mortar: to the Polypus that is so Ezech. 13. 10. Aelian de var. hist. lib. 1. Eze. 13. 18. 19 variable, taking the colour from the rock he cleaves to: to those Daughters of Jerusalem, (or to those roguing Gypsons of our times) that pollute the people, and kill their souls for handfuls of Barley, and pieces of bread: to those five and twenty men in the Prophet, that did turn their backs towards the Temple, Ezech. 8. 16. and worshipped with their faces towards the East, casting the word of God behind them, and aiming at nothing but their Psal. 50. 17. own rising. These are the Devil in samuel's mantle, Ignis Lambens, dissembling Parasites, glavering Temporizers, Trencher Chaplains, that will lingere sputum, become all things unto all men, so that they may please some men. It is an observation of joab, that though he were a valiant Captain, yet was he not reckoned amongst David's Worthies, 1 Chron. 11. because he betrayed Amasa with a kiss: much less 2 Sam. 2. 9 shall the Lord of David writ those names in the Book of Life, that kiss, and bite, and yet cry peace, like those Prophets Phil. 4. 3. in the third of Micheas, ver. 5. He whose Lip is full of indignation, his Tongue a consuming jes 30. ver. 17. 30. 33. fire, and his Breath like a river of Brimstone, shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall declare his stretched out arm against those that have sweet tongues, and make the people err by their flatteries. jer. 23 31. 32. And this be spoken of those Meteors that do hang betwixt Heaven and Earth: I should now come to the Angels of the Conclusion. Revel. 1. 20. Churches, those Stars that are in the right hand of him that stood in the midst of the Golden Candlestick; but then I should overflow my sands. Like a Labourer I have digged the foundation, and I have 1 Cor. 39 10. 11. laid it upon Christ jesus; I have removed all the Rubbish in the description of these Apparitions; I have (I hope) made a fair way for some other (Aholiab or Bezaleel) for the finishing of the rest of the Building. Exod. 31. 2. Now being cut off by the tyranny of Time, I'll end as I began out of 2 Macc. If I have done well, I have done what I Cap. 15. ver. 38 should; if otherwise, it is the best I could, (and according to the time allotted unto me:) In the mean while consider what is said, and the 2 Tim. 2. 7. Lord give you understanding in all things. Amen. * ⁎ * FINIS. December 16. 1632. PErlegi hanc concionem cui titulus (A Sermon preached at a Visitation in Lincolnshire, by Michael Wigmore, Rector of Thorseway in Lincolnshire, and sometime Fellow of Oriell College in Oxford) una cum Epistolâ nuncupatoria ad honoratissim. Dom. Magni Sigill. Custod. qui quidem liber continet paginas 15. in quibus nihil reperio bonis moribus aut sanae doctrinae contrarium, aut quicquam aliud quo minus cum utilitate publicâ Imprimatur, modo intra tres menses proxime sequentes typis mandetur. Gulielmus Haywood, Episco. Londin. Capell. domest.