A SERMON PREACHED at S. Mary's Church in Oxford, the 12. of july. 1612. Being the Act Sunday.  
BY THOMAS ANYAN, Fellow of Corpus Christi College.  
LONDON: Printed for H. F. 1612.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE Lady Alice, Countess Dowager of DERBY, the virtuous Wife of the right Honourable, THOMAS, Lord Ellesmere, L. high Chancellor of England, and Chancellor of the University of Oxford, my singular and especial good Lord.  
Right Honourable:  
THose many encouragements which beyond the measure of my deserts it hath pleased your gracious favour, from the overture of your love, to show towards me, may justly claim at my hands some thankful acknowledgement thereof. Sapientis est 
Lib. de bene.  (said Seneca) benè debere beneficium, & benè solvere, interdum autem solutio est ipsa confessio, So falls it out with me (right Honourable) who having received more than I can deserve, and wanting power to requite, Nam tibi quod soluat non habet arca Jovis: my heartiest prayers must be your best payment, and no other requital, than a thankful acknowledgement, which if I should forget, I were worthy (as Alexander once served one) to be branded in 
Plutar.  the forehead with Ingratus hospes.  
Accept therefore, I beseech you, of the offer of these my slender and worthless endeavours, sheltered under the patronage of your worthy name; which if you will please to grace with the viewing and reading over, you shall add life to these dead lines, deprived of the breath of a lively voice, wherewith sometime they spoke, and put now blood & spirit into the veins of this dead carcase, and animate it a new with the breath of your Honourable favour, wherewith you have animated me in all my proceed, and given life to my languishing, and faint hopes, which otherwise would not have been, or been expired. The remembrance of which your honourable favours shall draw life from my last breath, and shall be a motive daily to stir me up to sacrifice to you, and for you, the calves of my lips, and hourly to send up the incense of my prayers to almighty God to send down upon your dear Lord (my R. and H. Master) yourself, and both your happily-joined Issues, what prosperity in this life can be desired, and what happiness in the other can be conceived.  
Your Honours ever at command in all duty, THO. ANYAN. Yorkehouse. Aug. 29.   

A SERMON Preached at St. Maries, in Oxford.  PSAL. 1. 3. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. 
THat which 
a Westmonasteriensis.  Stories report of a strange child, united in heart and breast, but divided in the upper parts; having one face always laughing, and the other always weeping, may serve as a fit emblem and lively image of this sacred hymn: which being united together in the whole, but divided in the parts, seems as it were to have two faces; whereof the one is always lightsome with the rays of gladness, the other always clouded with sorrow and everlasting horror. And as there are only two places and ends of our journey, whereunto we must all repair, after our long pilgrimage here upon this bale of earth, heaven and hell, so likewise are there only two sorts and kinds of people which must travail in the same, the reprobate and regenerate; the habits and condition of both which are here described: of the one, in the three first; of the other, in the two latter; and of both together, in the last verse of this Psalm.  
An Epitome of which two sorts of people was heretofore represented unto us, in Abel and Cain, Sarah and Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael, jacob and Esau; and are 
Lib. 2. de Civit. c. 18.  by great S. Austen compared unto two Cities, which two loves built, the extreme love of God, and the extreme love of ourselves: The love of ourselves, even to the contempt of God, built the earthly and reprobate city: the love of God, even to the contempt of ourselves, built the heavenly city: the one ascribeth all glory unto God, the other challengeth all God's glory unto herself. The one (saith the same Father) is truly gloriosa, the other is only gloriatrix: of the one it is said, O how glorious are the titles, which are said of thee thou city of God But of the other it may be said; O how glorious are the titles which thou sayest of thyself, O city of the world!  
But hearken, I beseech you, with reverence, what the holy Prophet saith of them both in this Psalm: the one (saith he) is as chaff which the wind drives away, but the other is blessed, and shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, which shall bring forth his fruit in due season. In which description of the prosperity of the godly, there are two parts: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a narration, and an exornation; the narration in the two former verses, the exornation in the third which I now have read unto you. Where, me thinks, not only the person here described, in my Text, but my Text itself, may fitly be resembled unto a Tree: the branches of my Text are like the branches of trees at this time of the year, full laden with fair and goodly fruit.  
The chief material of which the body and branches of this tree are compounded, is a Proposition, which containeth in it a Description, and a Comparison, or rather, a comparative description of the life of a regenerate man, unto the life of a flourishing and fruitful tree.  
The parts of this proposition are in number four: first the Subject; secondly, the Copula; thirdly, the Attribute; and four, the Adjuncts of this attribute. The subject of this Proposition, and of all these attributes here in my text, is the pronoun of the third person, he, by which may be understood and implied three persons; viz. Christ, the Church, and the righteous man. The Copula is the Verb substantive, erit: for so read the seventy, Arius Montanus, Vatablus, and the Latin vulgar, only junius, est, the matter being of no consequence▪ the Hebritians using these two tenses promiscuously one for the other. The attribute is a similitude or resemblance, like a tree. The adjuncts of this attribute are these, planted, by the rivers of water, which shall bring forth his fruit in due season. All which, being jointly annexed unto the principal attribute, like a tree, do make it perfect, and absolute, and are together with their principal attribute, to be referred to the subject (he,) who as he is a man, is likened to a tree; as he is a man regenerate, is likened to a tree planted; as he is a man regenerate by the waters of Baptism, and the fountain of God's graces, is likened to a tree planted by the rivers of waters: his actions are compared to the effects of trees; his working, to bringing forth; his works to the fruit; the time of his working and labour in his vocation, to the due season of the year.  
He shall be like, etc.] Mark, I beseech you, the apparent Climax, or gradation in this text, of every attribute one above another, each adding a grace, or degree of perfection to the other. He, the righteous man may be like unto a tree, and yet not like unto a tree planted: planted he may be, and yet not by the rivers of waters: by the rivers of waters he may be planted, and yet not bring forth: bring forth he may with the Figtree in the Gospel, leaves, and yet not bring forth fruit: fruit he may bring forth, and yet not in season, much less in due season. But the righteous man shall be like unto a tree, and not only to a tree, but to a tree planted, and planted by rivers of water, which shall bring forth not only leaves and blossoms, but fruit, and that fructum suum, his fruit; and that not immaturely, but tempore suo, in due season. Here than you see (Right Honourable, reverend, and to me all-beloved) what amplitude, & variety of matter each branch of this tree affords: I cannot speak of any part (being bounded within the limit of an hour) as I would; therefore I will speak a little of all, taking the words in order as they lie.  
He, that is, the just man, whose whole life is nothing else but a continual meditation of the law of God: he, who always speaks as he thinks, does as he speaks, speaks, thinks, and does as God commands: whose person if I should exactly describe and delineate, I must raise out of this one hive, a whole swarm of persons, and take a general view and survey of all the persons in the world, and describe what it is to be excellent and admirable in all kind of virtues: for so this person he is in my text.  
He, that is, the just and righteous man, & qui justum dixerit, omnia dixerit: he that saith a man is just, hath said all that may be said to the glory and praise of a righteous man. The paucity of which persons is so great, and the rarity so singular, as that it will not make a plural; the number of the unjust, or wicked, is indefinite, or rather, like chaff, infinite; but he, the just man in my text, is singled out alone. The city of Sodom, though rich and populous, had but one Lot: all the region of Huz, but one job: Abram had many children by Cethura, but one by Sarah: the offspring of Ishmael was more fruitful than the progeny of Israel: there were many Athenians, but few Phocians: many Thebans, but few epaminonda's: many Romans, but few Reguli: Catilinam (saith the Poet) 
Juvenal.   

Quocunque in populo videas, quocunque sub are,  
At nec Brutus erit, Bruti nec awnculus unus.   
Foelix (saith Austen) enim tanquam Phoenix, vix sexcentessimo anno nascitur; the just man is as rare, and as hard to be found here on earth, as the Phoenix bird. But contrary the wicked are so many in number, that among the Latins, malum & multum, and among the 
Nonius.  Greeks', 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, were used as Synonimaes.  
Shall be.] Man through the overweening appetite of his greedy will, desirous to pick of the Apples of Eden, and to eat of the forbidden fruit, hath been so grievously wounded in the best part of his understanding soul, by God's iustly-revenging hand, that with the crow in the Poet, of whom it was said, she could not say, she was well; but slightly said, she shall be well;  Est benè non potuit dicere, dixit erit. 
Martial.  
So neither can man in this life say, he is well, or that he is as a tree planted by the rivers of water, but his hope is, and all that he can say, is;  Est benè non potuit dicere, dicit erit. 
The just person hath no permanent or abiding city in this life, but expects one that shall be, and shall come. In this life he shall find troubles, but in the other peace; in this life sorrow, but in the other joy; in this life shame and rebuke, in the other endless glory with renown. What a garland doth Saint Paul plat of his own crosses and tribulations, 2 Cor. 11? In stripes above measure, in prison more plenteously, in peril of death, in perils by land, in peril by waters: these were the rivers of waters, by which he was planted. There is no one page of Scripture almost, not breathing out sighs of the Church, groaning under the heavy burden of her afflictions: no one leaf almost not blurred with the tears of the Saints, mourning in the anguish of their soul, and pouring forth their groans in these and the like doleful Elegies. We are as men appointed to death, we are a gazing stock, and spectacle of misery to the world. 2 Cor. 4. 9 For thy sake we are killed all the day long, and are accounted as sheep to the slaughter. Rom. 8. 36. The child of God therefore, and his church, is not always visibly in the eye of the world, like a green Olive tree, a flourishing vine, or a tree planted by the rivers of water, but rather like a Lily among thorns, like a Dove, whose habitation is in the rock, as a woman in travail with a Dragon pursuing her. Reu. 12. Or as the bush wherein God appeared unto Moses, which always burns with the flames of persecution, but is never consumed. Wherefore erroneous is that doctrine of the Divines of Rome, who crown the righteous and Church militant here on earth, with a garland of temporal felicity, making worldly pomp to be the true note and badge how to discern the godly from the wicked; true Christians from erroneous heretics, the Church of Christ from the Synagogue of Satan. And as the Painter of Thebes painted Venus, a Goddess, after the likeness of Phryne, a Roman Courtesan, so doth Bellarmine effigiate and 
Lib. 4. c. 18. de Eccl. milit.  paint out the Church of Christ, after the image and likeness of the Whore of Babylon, describing her to 
Apoc. 17. 4.  be always arrayed in Purple and Scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones of temporal bliss.  
But who so shall look back upon the records of former times, shall find the Church of Christ, from her first infancy, to have been clothed in sackcloth, and the garments of adversity, when the professed enemies thereof were clad in purple, and did freely enjoy the choicest pleasure of this world's delight. In Noah's time we may see her floating in the watery world; after that, groaning under the Egyptians tyranny; then, a pilgrim in the Desert; and in Canaan never free from his malicious and infest enemies; the Philistim, the Amonite, the Madianite; and last of all, captived by the Persian and Babylonian. Since Christ's time, we may see her lie sweltering in her own blood, and for long three hundred years cruelly oppressed by bloody Tyrants.  
But to omit former times, and to come to this present age; how many thousands of Christians have sacrificed their dearest blood in their saviours cause, 'gainst that proud Mahometan Rabshecai, who being possessed of the Eastern parts, spits defiance to the Christian world, pouring forth blasphemous threats against all the professors of the Name of Christ? If worldly felicity be a note of the Church, than there it is, and they all false professors who have been subdued by his conquering sword. But the Spouse of Christ is in this life, like a pilgrim, divorced from her beloved, her weapons are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not carnal, but spiritual; she is like a ship continually tossed at sea, though never overwhelmed; she is like an house built upon a rock by the sea shore, which is obnoxious to many a tempestuous flaw. In this life she is militant, in the other triumphant; here she hath praelium, there praemium; here her labour, there her reward; here her seed-time, there her harvest; and therefore this just person in my text, is not said that he is, but he shall be like a tree.  
Like a tree.] Man is compared to a tree, each part of him having some correspondency and resemblance with the parts of a tree. The beauty of his youth is likened to the blossoms of trees, which either in a short time of themselves, or with the suns heat, dry up and whither away. His hair which covereth his head, and adorns his body, is resembled to the leaves, which cover the tops and upper parts of the trees. His breath to the sweet odor which trees of themselves send forth in the spring. His radical moisture, oil and balsamum (whereon the natural heat feeds and is maintained) may be likened to the oil and sap of trees, which they of themselves sweat forth. His disciplination and nurture, to the plantation and grafture of trees. His blood which disperseth itself by the veins, as branches, through all the body, may be compared to those rivers of waters, which being carried by brooks over all the earth, and through the pores of the earth, do secretly incorporate themselves into the roots of those trees, and by their moisture feed and maintain the flourishing estate of every tree. Plato in general saith that every man is a tree turned topse-turuy, making his head as it were, the root, his members the branches; to which I will add, that his words are the leaves, his works the fruit, God's graces the rivers of water, by which every tree is, or aught to be, planted. From this resemblance of man unto a Tree, many notions do offer themselves to our consideration, each of them attended with his several instruction.  
1 As a Tree which bringeth forth no good fruit, so a man which bringeth forth no good works in the branches of his faith, is good for nothing, but to be hewn down, and cast into the fire.  
2 As a tree, if it be not well planted, the fruit thereof groweth sour, wild, and distasteful; so a man, if he be not well nurtured and disciplined.  
3 As a tree in the Spring, so a man in the spring of his youth abounds with many luxuriant stems, which by careful education, may easily be pruned and lopped off.  
4 As a tree, though his first offspring be from the earth, and his root in the earth, erecteth his body and branches upward toward heaven; so man, though his root and offspring be from the earth, dust, and ashes, yet ought he to erect the branches of his soul and affection toward heaven and heavenly things, in a divine contemplation of his creator.  
But although man in many things be like unto a tree, yet in this one thing must he be most unlike. Trees ordinarily bring forth fruit but once in the year, but the whole life of man must be nothing else but a continual harvest, bearing fruit at all times, as well in the Winter of his adversity, as in the Summer of his prosperity; as well in the Spring of his youth, as in the Autumn of his age; he must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he must still have leaves, and these leaves must not whither nor fade, but with them he must heal the nations of the earth; the outward bark and rind of his conversation must serve as a rule to direct others: and as they report of the figtree, so the fruit of this tree, must ripen as fast as it is gathered:  
uno awlso non deficit alter 
Virg. Aeneid. 6.   
Aureus & simili frondescit virga metallo.  
That golden tree in Virgil enamoled round about, and beset with all the richest pearls of the Poet's refined wit and invention, Aureus & folijs & lento vimine ramus. 
Ibidem.  was but Brass and Lead in comparison of this tree, planted like the tree of life, in the midst of the Garden of my Text. I have not been learned in the language of the eloquent, nor hath my tongue been dipped in the overflowing waters of abundant passion, yet were it so with me, Eloquence herself might here be silent: for, what ornament of wit? what dowry of tongue with all the riches of his language, can sufficiently adorn and set forth the glorious and flourishing beauty of this tree? whose outward bark and rind surpasseth the Diamond in beauty; his buds, the Emerods'; his blossoms, Pearls; his gum, the Ruby and Crystal; his fruit, the golden Apples of Hesperides; his leaf, true leafe-gold, which neither withereth nor fadeth. This is that Tree whereon groweth those rich Onyx-stones, which carry in them the names of the children of Israel, engraven and embossed in gold. This is that Tree, which S. john saw, Revel. 22. planted by the water of life, clear as Crystal, proceeding out of the Throne of GOD, and from the Lamb, which brought forth her fruit in due season, and bare twelve manner of fruits, and gave fruit every month; yea, as good fruit as the golden Apples of the tree of life. But least this just man should deem that this fruit of his good works is by nature, not by grace; by merit, not by mercy; from his proper generation, and not from his spiritual regeneration in Christ; by virtue of the sap and moisture which naturally is in the root, and not by the rivers of waters, which supernaturally water the garden of his soul, it is added in my Text, that the just shall be as a Tree planted.  
Planted.] Planted by that heavenly husbandman; by whom whatsoever is not planted shall be rooted out and cast into the fire. This word planted, which the seventy render, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, is by Aquila rendered transplanted; which doth agree either to the person of Christ, transplanted from heaven to earth, or to every just and righteous person, who is translated, and as a tree transplanted from the works of the old man, to the works of the new; from the servitude of the Law, to the liberty of grace; from a land whose rivers stream with blood, to a land that flows with milk and honey. That tree which was unhappily sprung in Adam, shall be as happily grafted and transplanted in Christ: that tree which was fruitless in his own nature, shall become fruitful by grace: that tree which would have rotten for want of natural moisture, shall flourish again, and receive juice into his veins from the waters of life, by which he is planted. We know that the whole tree of our nature, root and branches, fruit and leaves, were all blasted by the breath of God's first malediction, and the ground whereon we grew; nay the ground of man's heart was cursed to bring forth of itself, nothing but briars and thorns; his wisdom was foolishness, his strength weakness, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, his best thoughts were defiled, 
1 Cor. 2.  his understanding was darkened; nay, it was darkness in abstracto, Ephes. 5. So that with Glaucoma in the Poet, Ne id quidem intelligit quod intelligit, vel quod 
Plautus in milite glorioso.  non intelligit, he neither understands what he understands, nor understands not, that he understands not. O miseras animas quae pereunt et nesciunt se perire, 
Austen de civitate Dei.  & ideo pereunt quia nesciunt se nescire: like the blind woman in Seneca, who because she never saw any thing, could not be persuaded that she was blind, but that the house was dark. This was the estate of man in his corrupted growth; but since his new plantation by grace, since his root in Adam hath been taken up and transplanted in Christ, God hath promised that the ground shall be changed by the rain of righteousness, and dew of grace watering his root, and that at the coming of the Messiah, 
Es. 55. 3.  pro Virgultis assurget Abies, for Thorns shall grow fir-tree, and for nettles, that is, (as I construe it) our stinging affections, shall grow Mirrhe-trees, sweeting forth the soft and sweet oil of grace and love.  
Unfruitful plants, and unsavoury trees are suffered and let alone to grow in those places where first they sprang; but sweet roses, fruitful vines, and good trees are taken up and transplanted.  
Almighty God, who in the Gospel is compared to a husbandman, hath transplanted us from the kingdom of Satan, to the kingdom of the Son of God; from wild Olives to be fruitful Vines in Christ jesus. And as the Prophet Eliah restored the child of 
1 King. 17.  the widow from death to life; so our blessed Saviour recovered and revived mankind like a tree dead in the root, and rotten in all the branches thereof. The Prophet entering into the chamber where the child lay dead, got upon the bed, stretched his body all over the child's body, put his mouth to its mouth, his hands to its hands, his feet to its feet; so Christ, Elias-like, stretched himself upon the Cross, as a green tree upon the dead tree of our nature, and laid as it were his root to our root, his branches to our branches, his leaves to our leaves, his fruit to our fruit, and by this new plantation of us into himself, he hath infused his spirit into us, revived us, and made us of dead trees, trees of life, partakers of his divine nature, members of his glorious body, and heirs of his immortal glory.  
For us men, and for our plantation, the Son of God descended from the highest heavens, and suffered his Godhead to be clad with the corruptible robes of human frailty, and in our nature endured the wrath of God, did merit by it eternal redemption, infused into it his spiritual graces, and advanced it above the highest ranks of the Angels in heaven.  
At the first, man was set as a Rose in the Garden of God's Paradise, that he might prove a sweet odor of life unto life: but when he turned from a Rose to be a Thistle, and began to prick his Maker, than was he transplanted from a small Garden, to a large manor, and with an happy exchange of estate, was brought from his first freedom of nature of posse non peccare, to a better liberty of Grace non posse peccare, not to sin at all; for, whosoever is borne of God, and grafted into Christ, sinneth not, nor can he sin, 1 john 3. 9 For although the best of men, through the infirmity of their corrupted nature, do oftentimes commit those things which in the sight of the world are foul, and worthily enormous, yet because the inward man doth sooner or latter check and comptrole them, they are not properly said to commit them, because they do not wholly and fully assent unto them. That celestial sap which every branch doth receive from his root, Christ, doth so quicken and revive the regenerate man, that although in outward appearance, and in his own conceit to, he seem to whither and be decayed, yet the spirit of Adoption, which engendereth Faith, doth so inhabit and possess his soul, that either totally or finally he cannot perish, but remains toward GOD, like the Philosopher's demonstrator, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, firm and immovable. 
Parraeus in 7. ca ad Rom.   
And although he hath ofttimes many straggling motions, inordinate desires, despairing cogitations, maintain divers errors in Religion, commit foul sins, such as Noah, David, Solomon, and Peter did; nay, such sins as leave no place for salvation, without an actual and especial repentance, yet from infidelity, extreme despair, obduration in sin, and the like, God will preserve the righteous as the apple of his eye. He may suffer him to fall, but not to fall away, he may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he may cadere not deficere, 
Zanchius.  he may peccare not peccatum facere, he may sin, but not work iniquity: labi potest, prolabi non potest: justus enim si ceciderit non collidetur, the righteous 
Psal. 37. 23.  man, though he fall, he shall not be cast off; the reason is given in the words following, quia manum suppoint Dominus, because the Lord supports him with his hand. The wicked like the Raven, they go out of the Ark and return no more; but the righteous, though they fall, and seem to go out of the Church, yet they return again with an Olive branch of true repentance in their mouths: the reprobate fall like old Ely, who fell down and broke his neck; but the regenerate, though they fall with the young man Eutychus 
Acts 20.  from the third fit, yet being taken up, are by God's holy spirit revived again.  
This Spirit Rom. 8. is termed our life; and he that 
1 Io. 5. 12.  hath the Son (saith S. john) hath life, and he that hath not the Son, hath not life. Whence (me thinks) may be inferred, that if he which once is planted in Christ hath the Son, may afterwards cease to have the Son, though it be but for a moment, he ceaseth for that moment to have life. But the life of them who have the Son of God, is everlasting, and in the world to come, 1 john 5. 13. And as Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more power over him, so the justified man, being planted by Faith in Christ, doth as necessarily from 
R. Hooker.  that time forward always live, as Christ by whom he hath life lives always. For if Christ which is the foundation of our spiritual life, may leave that mansion which once he possessed, and flit away, what shall become of his promise, I am with you to the world's end? And if the seed of God which contains Christ, may be first conceived, and then abortive-like cast out, how doth S. Peter term it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the immortal 
1 Pet. 1. 23.  seed? how doth S. john affirm that it abides? 
1 Io. 3. 9  If the spirit which is given to cherish and preserve the seed of life in tender plants, may be given and taken away, how is it by S. Paul termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Eph. 1. 14.  the earnest penny of our redemption? how doth it continue with us for ever? If therefore the man who is once just by Faith shall live by Faith, and live for ever; it followeth that he which is once planted and inserted a living branch of that true Vine Christ, shall never again from his body be disserted.  
Man (I confess) is apt and ready to revolt from God, but God is not so ready to forsake man: our minds are changeable, but God's decree is immutable: whom God hath justified Christ assures them it is his Father's pleasure to give them a Kingdom. Notwithstanding 
Col. 1. 2. 3.  it shall be no otherwise given them, then if they continue grounded and established in the Faith, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel. Christ therefore when he spoke of his sheep effectually called, and truly gathered into his fold, said; I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never 
Io. 10. 28.  perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hands. In promising to save them, he promised, no doubt, to preserve them in that without which there can be no salvation, as also from that whereby it is irrecoverably lost. For without his especial grace, which must restrain us from the one, and retain us in the other, we are no more able of ourselves to stand, than the carcase of that noble captain, which when a Lacedaemonian had often set up in vain, the carcase 
Plut.  still falling down, he afterward confessed, that it was not the body and legs of a man which made a man to stand, but there was somewhat unseen in the body, which made all these excellent motions and varieties, and therefore said, Aliquid intus esse oportet: His grace it is within which like the fiery Chariot of Elias must draw both us and our thoughts to heaven: For, we are by nature like warm water, which unless it be still heated, will cool of itself; or like vapours, which rise no longer than the heat of the Sun draweth them, which Sun of righteousness if he subtract his beams, yea, but a little, we are soon frozen in the dregs of our impiety. God therefore unwilling to see his trees whither for want of moisture, his dearest children to pine away for want of the food of their souls, he hath planted every tree which is in the Paradise of the Church, by him who is the fountain of Gardens, the spring of Lebanon, by rivers of 
Cant. 4.  water.  
By rivers of waters.] Observe I beseech you once more, the attributes of this tree: he is a tree, not a bramble or thorn; planted by regeneration, not suffered in his natural generation; and planted by rivers, not suffered to remain in the quagmire and filth of his own inventions; and planted not in any mountainous region, or eminent place, but in the humble valley, not by the dangerous shores of the swelling Ocean, but secus decursus aquarum, by the bankside of rivers of water.  
The bodies of men are the Temples of the holy Ghost, their soul the sanctum sanctorum; the Graces of God the rivers which run through this Sanctuary; they are as it were, the Laver before the Temple, to wash them, whose fountain is God himself, who shall cleanse them from all their sins: and then how can they be without water, who are planted by those rivers which spring from the fountain of life? how can they be without light, whose light is the Sun of righteousness? how can they be without plenty of all things, in whom dwelleth he that is the fullness of all things? though the tempest shake, the wind blow, the heat scorch, yet shall they not whither, because they are planted by the rivers of Gods spiritual graces. By these rivers of waters was Noah planted, when he was preserved from the deluge of waters: by these rivers was Lot planted, when he was preserved from the flames of fire▪ by these rivers was Moses planted, when he was preserved in the river from that great massacre of infants.  
Aristotle and Pliny both report, that tender vines, and other fruitful trees prosper not being planted 
Plin. l. 21. & Arist. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  nigh the sea or any salt water: this world is a sea swelling with the surges of pride, blue and wan with the colour of envy, salt and fretting with the sharp humour of malice; if then we desire to be tender Vines in God's Vineyard, trees of life in his Paradise, we must be planted far off and remote from the salt sea of this world, and be planted as trees by the water, which spread out their roots by the rivers, and shall not feel when the heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not care for the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. jer. 17. 8.  
That which Stories have averred of the root of 
Plin. l. 32. & ovid. in Meta.  the Coral, which so long as it is under the water is soft, and flexible, but so soon as it is taken out of the water is as hard as any stone; may truly be verified of the root of every tree in the Eden of God's Church; which so long as it is planted by the rivers of water which flow from the Sanctuary of God, is mild and gentle, the fruit mellow and pleasant to the taste, but when it is taken up, and separate from these rivers of water, it is hardened as hard as Adamant, and the fruit thereof is sour and distasteful. jacob was like unto this tree here in my text, who was planted by the rivers of water, and therefore Balaam 
Num. 24. 5.  crieth out; Numb. 24. How goodly are thy tents, O jacob, and thy habitations, O Israel! as the valleys are they stretched forth, as Gardens by the river side, as Aloe trees, which the Lord hath planted, and the Cedars besides the rivers of waters.  
These rivers of waters are as a well of comfort for forlorn Hagar, and all other pilgrims to refresh their wearied and fainting souls: for although the just and godly do many times in the bitterness of their soul, cry out with David, abissus abissum invocat, fluctus tui 
Psal. 42. 7.  supra me transierunt; one deep (of sorrow) calleth another deep, by the noise of the water spouts, thy waves and floods are gone over me; though the waters of affliction in this life rage, and be impetuous, so that the very mountains of their faith shake at the surges of the same, yet shall they at length be planted as flourishing trees by those rivers of water, whose crystal streams make glad the city of God. From these waters I will fetch some, and every Christian may more, water of comfort, to refresh his afflicted soul, with this or the like meditation. That although in this life he be like a vine spoiled, bleeding with compunction of grief, and as a tree planted by rivers of salt waters, even rivers of tears; yet these rivers of brinish tears shall be as the morning dew distilling from heaven, which shall nourish the fruit of our works, moisten the root of our Faith, and make our souls bring forth fruit in due season.  
Which bringeth forth fruit.] When man was first endowed with a sovereign command over all the creatures here on earth, it was enjoind him by his maker, not only to fill the earth with men, but (as Origen writeth) replete carnem vestram quae terra est bonis operibus, bring forth fruit in the earth of your flesh.  
Which fruit is twofold, internal and external: the first is infused, the other acquisite: the first are the virtuous habits of the mind, the other good works, flowing and proceeding from these habits. The first S. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the fruit of the spirit, 
Gal. 5. 22.  Gal. 5. as love, joy, faith, long-suffering, and the like: the second he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the fruit of righteousness, Phil. 1. 11. so that he who is righteous, 
Phil. 1. 11.  must bring forth the fruit of his righteousness; who is just, the fruit of his justice; liberal, the fruit of his liberality, lest he be hewn down and cast into the fire.  
Neither must we only bring forth fruit, but every man must bring forth his fruit: he that is planted as a Cedar in the Paradise of this world, must bring forth the fruit of Cedars; an Olive, the fruit of Olives, every tree his own fruit: and not only so, but we must not curiously intermeddle with the fruit and affairs of other men: spartam suam quam nactus est, unusquisque ornet, every man must strive and endeavour in the ground of his own vocation wherein God hath planted him to bring forth his fruit, that is, such fruit as is proper and peculiar to his vocation, and not to the vocation of others; lest seeking to be what others are, thou lose thyself; in seeking to be every body, thou prove to be no body; in seeking to excel in all things, thou prove a fool in every thing. Vzza must not touch the Ark, nor meddle with the Priest's office: ne suitor ultracrepidam, let not the Shoemaker go beyond his Last, the peddler beyond his pack, the Painter beyond his pencil, but let every man keep himself within the sphere of his own profession.  
It is reported, as a pleasant Fable, by Leo Africanus, of a little bird, which is of so strange a condition, that she can live very well both in the water, and in the air, and sometimes lives in the one, sometimes in the other: of this bird when the king of birds demandeth tribute, she flieth presently into the water, saying she is a fish, and no bird: afterward when the king of fishes demandeth tribute of her, she flieth into the air, saying she is a bird and no fish: even so these dissecta animalia, these particoloured trees; semivirique boves, semibovesque viri, these branches which bring forth now Almonds, now Acorns; now Figs, now Thistles; now the fruit of this man, now the fruit of that man's vocation, indeed bring forth none, much less mature fruit, and in due season.  
A good word (saith Solomon) spoken in his due place, and I add also a good work, or any good fruit brought forth in due season, is like apples of gold with pictures of silver, Prou. 25. 11. There is one fruit of our youth, 
Prou. 25. 11.  another of our middle age, and a third of our old age: as there is one flower and beauty of the Spring, another of the Summer, and a third of the Autumn, and these all are to be brought forth at their divers seasons.  
The fruit which we should bring forth before we come to old age, is the fruit of a good life; the fruit which we must bring forth in the season of our old age, is the fruit of a good death: according to that of Seneca, ante senectutem studebam ut benè viverem, in senectute ut benè moriar. There is no season of our age unfit to bring forth some fruit of righteousness; but the season of the time wherein we ought most to stretch the sinews of our industry to bring forth these fruits, are especially in the season when we are tempted to do evil, or in the season when occasion is offered to do good.  
The fruits of a Christian, they are ripe at all times, his harvest to gather them is at all times of the year. When he is tempted to Lust, then is his harvest of Chastity: to Gluttony, then of Abstinence: to Anger and revenge, then is his harvest of Mildness and moderation. When thou seest thy brother imprisoned, then is thy season to visit him: naked, then to cloth him: hungry, then to feed him: wrongfully oppressed, then to relieve him: in want and extremity, then to succout him. Thou must not concredit the disposing of thy alms to the too-often-carelesse performance of succeeding heirs, but thou must be thy own Almoner, and so shalt thou be sure to have thy Will kept, and to bring forth thy fruit in due season.  
Such as shall defer all their good works till the end of their days, and leave their goods by others to be distributed, are like a man that carries a candle behind him in the dark, which may benefit those that follow after him, but not himself. Such as all their life time by extortion and greedy oppression wrong the poor, and upon their deathbeds bequeath some petty Legacy to clad a few in Freeze, and stop the mouths of Orphans with loafes of bread, who otherwise would cry for vengeance for their oppression, from the GOD of Heaven, do not bring forth their fruit in due season, nor are not like trees, but rather like that Lion which Samson killed, which although it was ravenous in his life time and mankind, yet being dead, had some little honey in his mouth.  
Such as are called to be lights in the Church, and shine not in their profession; such as are called to the sacred function of the ministery in the Spring of their youth, and strength of years, and bring forth no buds nor blossoms thereof, no not so much as in the Autumn of their age, do these, or can they ever be hoped to bring forth their fruit in due season?  
I fear of this number there are too many here present, who as if they had received all their learning sub sigillo confessionis, in secret confession, dare not impart any of it, nor bring forth any fruits thereof themselves, but get some of their neighbour trees to bring forth fruit for them, even at that time, when this place should expect theirs. And as the Beast Tarando, in Pliny, turns himself into the 
Lib. 8. c. 34.  fashion of other beasts, because his own shape is so like the shape of an Ass, so these perform all duties and exercises of their vocation in their place, and elsewhere, in the persons of others, because (I think) their own are so rude and deformed.  
Your parts it is (Reverend and Learned Fathers) whom just desert hath worthily advanced to eminency of place in this our Athens, to prune and lop off these unfruitful branches, which bring forth no fruit in their own boughs, but draw juice and sap from other fruitful branches, and not to confer your choicest favours upon such as are by profession non-proficients, whose end and scope is the carrying of a bag and a bunch of keys, lest in short time, those places which by the beneficency of worthy founders, were erected to be Nurseries of hopeful wits, turn to be golgotha's, places of dead men's bones, and living empty skulls, or at the best, but old shrines, and smoky Images, for nothing venerable, but seniority. Howbeit I stand not here to patronize those Lapwings which fly away from hence with part of the shell upon their heads, and thrust themselves before their due time into the Lord's harvest, expecting (I think) some Apostolic Enthusiasm to be inspired in illâ horâ: their haste is greater than their speed, Nimis properè, & minus prosperè, as saith Bernard. 
Ser. de S. Bene.  Such are Conduits, that convey water to others, before they can contain any for themselves: qui loqui nesciant (saith Hierome) tacere non possunt: such turn ravening Wolves as soon as they get the Lambesskinne 
Dr. Boys.  over their shoulders. These men like the Gibeonites, take their bread hot the day they departed to come, and therefore it is so soon dried up and mouldy, and their bottles because they are new are rend. Josh. 9 13. 
Josh. 9 13.   
Such men should have made a longer residence in this garden of pleasure, this seat of happiness, from whence flows that of Pindarus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Rivers of Helicon, and waters of Parnassus. I know how fitly I might resemble this whole University to a tree: Theology to the root of the tree, Law to the juice and radical moisture, which maintains the life and union of the body together: Physic to those leaves which heal the nations of the earth: the Liberal Sciences to the branches of this tree: the Garlands of degrees to the blossoms and fruits of the tree. For as Theophrastus' reports of a tree in Persia, which at the same time doth bud, blossom, and bear fruit, so may we truly aver of this tree, that now at this one season it bringeth forth some Doctors, some Masters, some fruit that is fully ripe, some drawing to ripeness, some in the flower, and some in the bud. I now marvel not that the Poets feigned the Muses to dwell in woods, and amongst trees: here groweth the juniper tree, which might teach every man to have a sweet conversation with all men: here groweth the Palm tree, which teacheth us a conquest of ourselves: here the Laurel, which crowneth us with the peace of a good Conscience. Amidst these Arbours, and in the barks of these trees, let us (as the ancient Shepherds were wont to do) engrave our names with the Sonnets of love, and imprint the characters of our dearest affections; and with earnest devotion desire the heavenly Apollo to water this tree with the dew of his grace, distilled into the roots thereof, that it may spread itself forth into branches, and the branches may bud, and the buds may blossom, and the blossoms may bring forth fruit; such fruit as shall never be corrupted, such flowers as shall never be withered, such buds as shall never be blasted, such branches as shall never be dismembered, but flourish and spread abroad their arms to defend the Church from all Heresy, Schism, and perverse doctrines, to the advancement of true Religion, and the glory of thy great Name, through Christ our Lord: To whom with the Father, and the holy Ghost, be ascribed all glory, honour and praise, both now and for evermore, Amen.  
FINIS.