HOw strangely God compasses what he proiects for his, by the hands of an obscure Agent? Cap. 3. v. 9.10. Isra­el hath beene long enough vnder the groanes of Egypt, it shall bee now vnyoakt from that heauie seruitude; and this must bee done by no troden meanes, or ordinary instrument, Cap. 3.8. But one that Israel and Egypt too shall stand amaz'd at to see in such a power of substitution, A shepheard. Moses a fee­ding [Page 2]his fathers flocke, not farre from Horeb, the moun­raine of the Lord, Cap. 3.1. Cap. 3.4. when suddenly a voice doth at once astonish and inuite him, Moses, Moses. 'T should seeme the affaires were both of necessitie and dispatch, when the person to be imployed was thus prest by a double summons: Cap. 4.18. what shall he doe now? His flocke must bee left with Iethro in Midian, and he shall to Court, there to ransome an engag'd and captiu'd Nation, from the shac­kles of a Tyrant; Cap. 2.17. A simple designe for one season'd in the course conditions of an Hebrew and a Midianite: Men knowne more by the largenesse of their folds, than any eminence for matters of state, most of them being heards­men, or shepheards. But see how God will extract won­ders out of improbabilities, and miracles out of both: Moses shall first see one, Cap. 3.2. Cap. 3.3. & then, do many. Behold an An­gell of the Lord in a flaming fire in a bush, the bush burned (saith the Text) and the Bush was not consumed. A vision as strange as the proiect he is now set vpon, and doth not so much take, as stagger him. That it burned and consu­med not, ranishes his eies only, how it should burn & not consume, his intellectualls; So that he is now doubly en­tranced, in the sense, & in the thought. But there is more of mystery inuol'd here than the Prophet yet dreames of or discouers. God in his affaires requires both heat, and constancie: men of cold and languishing resolution are not fit subiects for his imploiments, but those which can withstand the shocke of many a fiery triall; they whose zeale can burne cheerfully in the seruices of their God and not consume. Moses, therfore shall now to Pharaoh, with as many terrours as messages. Cap. 5. vers. 6, 7, 8, 9. Ten times hee must bid the Tyrant let Israel goe: euery Iniunction shall find a repulse, euery repulse, a plague, and euery plague, a wonder. Somewhat a harsh embassie to a King, and can­not be welcom'd but with a storme, whose disposition is as impatient of rebuke, as not inur'd too't. Those eares which haue been sleekt hitherto with the supple dialect [Page 3]of the Court, (that oile of Sycophants and temporizers) will not be roug'ht now with the course phrase of a re­proofe, much lesse, of menacing. There's no dallying with the eye of a cock atrice; I am sure none, with the paw of a Lion; Ruine sits on the brow of offended Soueraigntie, each looke sparkles indignation, and that indignation, death. Moses is now startled at the imployment, Cap. 3.11. Cap. 4.10. and begins both to expostulate and repine. — Who am I that I should goe vnto Pharaoh? I am not eloquent, but of slow speech and of a slow tongue—? Good Lord! In a Prophet what a piece of modestie with distrust? will God employ any whom he will not accommodate? Hee hath now thrice perswaded Moses to this great vndertaking. The other as often manifests his vnwillingnesse by excuse, as if he would either dispute Gods prouidence, or question his supply. We find therefore this diffidence check't with a new insinuation of rectifying all defects. Cap. 4.10. — Who hath made mans mouth, or who makes the dumbe or the deafe, or the seeing, or the blinde, haue not I the Lord? Why should any further scruple or doubt assaile thee? I that am the God of the Hebrewes will protect thee; let no wauerings of Israel, or terrours of Egypt any way dismay thee: par­ticular infirmities in thine owne person I will mould anew to perfection, or if those vacillations and stutterings of the tongue yet dishearten thee, Cap. 14.14. Loe Aaron the Levite is thy brother, I know that he can speake well, take him with thee, and this rod too, wherewith thou shalt doe wonders as dreadfull as vnpattern'd. Deliuer Pharaoh roundly my commands, if he will not vndeafe his care vpon their first Alarum, I will bore it with my thunder. Why standest thou then any longer so diuided? Goe now, and I will be in thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say—.

Moses, is dispatch't now, hath his commission seal'd, each particle of his message punctually deliuered him, [Page 4]wherein (as in all saecular and subordinate Embassies) we finde A command, Diuision. A direction, and a Promise. The command, Goe; The Promise, I will be in thy mouth; The Direction, teach thee what thou shalt say. So he that is singled out to any seruice of his God for the aduantage of his Israel, must not giue backe or wauer, Goe—. If a wil­ling obedience second this command, God promises to assist, I will be in thy mouth; if there, be not dash't at the slownesse or vnprouidednesse of thy speech, I will teach thee what thou shalt say. Once more is there a retyred worth, which desires to sit downe to obscurity, and seemes vnwilling to the publike seruices of his God, hearest thou not this proficiscere from heauen? Goe. But hast thou once vndertooke them? be not discourag'd, here's an — aperiam, too—. I will be in thy mouth; but am I welcom'd there with reuerence, and awe? speake bold­ly then, for, Ego instruam, I will teach thee what thou shalt say—, Goe then. But let's first cleare the passage. 'Tis not my intent to shew you Moses here in the stormes and troubles of the Court and State, but of the Church. I may not bee too busie with the riddles and Labyrinth's of the two first; the times are both rough and touchie, I will onely shew you a farre off, how this Proteus and that Ca­melion vary both their shape and colour. Moses was in­deed forty yeares a Courtier, and the better part of his life a Statesman, yet he was a Priest too (and so I follow him) if you dare take the authoritie of Saint Augustine, who though on his second booke on Exod. 10. quast. giues Moses barely Principatum, Aug. lib. 2. in Exod. quaest. 10. and Aaron ministerium, yet in his Commentaries on the 98 Psalm, he thus interrogates, Si Moses Sacordos non erat, Aug. in Psal. 98. quid erat? numquid maior Sa­cerdote? and the sweet singer of Israel, put's Samuel a­mong them that call vpon Gods Name, and Moses and Aaron amongst the Priests, Psal. 99.6.— I haue now re­mou'd all rubs and obstacles, the way is smooth and pas­sable, what should then hinder Moses any longer, Goe,—.

Command and obedience are the bodie and soule of hu­mane societie, the head and foote of an establish't Empire, Pars 1. Command sits as Soueraigne and hath three Scepters, by which it rules, Authoritie, Courage, Sufficiencie.

Obedience, as 'ewere the subiect, and beares vp it's alle­giance with three pillars, necessitie, profit, willingnesse. Sometimes command growes impetuous and rough, and then 'tis no more Soneraigntie but Tyrannie—. Againe, Obedience, vpon distast, is apt to murmure, and growes mutinous, and so 'tis no more a subiect, but a Rebell; where they kisse mutually, there is both strength and safetie; but where they scold and iarre, all growes to ruine and com­bustion. And this holds not onely in matters Ciuill, but in those more sacred. Command frō heauen presupposes in vs an obedience no lesse of necessitie, than will, and in God, insallibilitie both of power, and incouragement. Faint­nesse of resolution, or excuse, in his high designements, are but the Teltales of a perfunctory zeale, howeuer they pretend to bashfulnesse, or humilitie. Ier. 1. I cannot speake Lord, or, I am vnworthy, were but course apologies of those that vsed them, when God had either matter for their emploiment, or time; And the Quis ego Domine? Rom. 1. Exod. 3. of Moses, here, finds so little of approbation, that it meetes a checke; the Text will tell you in what heate and tumult, with an— Accensus furor Iehonae the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and it should seeme, Cap. 4.4. in such violence, that Abulensis, after much trauerse, Tost. in cap. 4. Exod. and dispute makes that tergiuersation of his little lesse than a mortall sinne, & some of the Hebrewes haue strangely pu­nish't it, with the losse of Canaan, perswading vs, the maine reason why he came not thither, was his backwardnesse in obeying this— proficiscere, Goe. Perer. in Exod. But that's a Thalmu­dicall and wilde fancie, fitter for such giddy enrolements than the eares of a learned throng. And as Moses may not but obey when God layes his command on him, so hee must not goe without it. Matthew must be called [Page 6]from his receipt of custome; Mat. 9 9. Gal. 1.5. & he is not honor'd with a true Apostleship, who wants his — vocatus sicut Aaron. That of God to the Pseudo-prophets, was a fearefull Irony, — I sent them not, Ier. 14. but they ranne—, voluntaries (it should seeme) find here neither countenance, nor entertaine ment, but whom God hath prest and sealed to this great warfare; yet the other, notwithstanding, in the field, and seasoned once in battell, the retrait is more dangerous, than the aduenture.

We finde Esay more actiue and forward than any of the Prophets, Esay cap. 6. & yet that spontaneousnesse not chid; who (as if he would anticipate the care and choise of God in his owne affaires) makes a hasty tender of his seruice, Esay cap. 5 with an — Ecce ego, Esay cap. 8 mitte me; yet, he had his former con­vulsions, and pangs too of feare, and diffidence; Woe is me, Esay cap. 5 for I am a man of polluted lips. But see how God hammers and workes what he intends to file, either in person, Esay cap. 7 or by substitute? an Altar must be the Forge, and a Seraphin the workeman, who with his tongs ready, and his coale burning, shall both touch those iniquities, and purge them, and then, and not till then, heere am I, Lord, send me. As therefore to stand still, when God sends out his proficiscere, argues a rustie and sullen lazinesse, so to runne when he sends not, arrogancie, and presumption. That zeale is best qualified, which hath the patience to expect God's summons, and then the boldnesse to doe his errand.

The Schooleman in his 2 ^a. 2ae. 185. question, Aqui. 2 ^a. 2ae. qu. 185. art. 1. being to deale of religious persons, straines not the Myter from his discourse, but moderates the quaere by diuiding it, and thinkes to take away all scruple by making two, whether it be lawfull to desire Ecclesiasticall honour (Episcopall hee Epithites) or to refuse it being enioyned? Greg. de Val. in loc. Aqui. dist. 10. q. 3. par. 2. Gregorie de Va­lentia (his Amanuensis here) turnes the perspectiue from the obiect vpon the Agent, viewing as well the partie de­siring as the thing desired, where, though hee descrie [Page 7] height of sufficiency in personall endowments: Quaer. 1 one Cap-A-Pe, in all points canonicall. yet he allowes not a baite for his eager appetite to feed on; a disopinion'd vnder-valued man may not desire it for the dignity, nor he that's fortune­troden for the reuenue. Be the person otherwise ne're so compleatly accommodated, yet the irregularity in his appetite strangles his other eminencies, and so he is (at once) vnworthy, and vncapable. Reason and conscience, will be­troth Honours to desert, which yet they diuorce from the immodesty and heate of the desire; for, if super-intendencie be in the appetite more than the office, 'tis presumption. A­quinas doth censur't so, a common practise of the Gen­tiles, reproou'd in the Disciples; Aquinas vt sup. Ye know their Princes loue to dominere, Mat. 20. if the honour be superiour, 'tis ambition, and so meerely pharisaicall, — They loue the vp­permost roomes at feasts, and chiefe seats at Synagogues, Matth. 23. If the reuenue, it allies to couetousnesse, Matth. 23. and differs from the sinne of Simon Magus thus, he proffer'd money for the gifts, these couet the gifts for the mo­ney.

On the other side, to reiect the Ephod wherewith au­thority would inuest thee, checkes doubly the refuser, Quaer. 2 in waies of charity, humility. Charity seekes no more her own, Aquin. & Greg. vt sup. than her neighbours good; now the charity we owe vnto our selues, prompts vs to search out — Otium sanctum (as Augustine phrases it) a holy vacancie from these pub­like cures, but that to the Church bindes vs to vnder­goe. — Negotium iustum, the imposition of any iust em­ployment, Aug. 19. de Ciuil. Dei cap. 19. — quam sarcinam si nullus imponit, intuendae vacandum est veritati, si autem imponitur, sustinenda est propter charitatis necessitatem, the Father in his 19. de Ciuil. Dei. cap. 19. Againe, humility tie's vs in obedi­ence to Superiours, so that as often as we disobey them we doe oppugneit, and this (in respect of God) is not meeknesse, but pertinacy,—Tunc ante Dei oculos vera est humilitas, cum ad respuendum hoc quod vtiliter subire prae­cipitur, Magn Gregor. 1. pa [...]s Past. cap. 6. [Page 8] pertinax non est—, Gregory 1. part of his Pastorals 6. Chapter.

To auoide then all occasions of publike seruice for the Church, vnder a pretence of humility or reclusenesse, speakes (too broadly) the delinquent, refractarie. Your Anchoret that digges his graue in speculation meerely, and your Moale that is earth'd wholy in an affected soli­tarinesse, are not liable so properly to obscurity, as death; such elaboratnes tends not to perfection, but disease; & we finde an Apoplexy, and sleepe, no lesse on their endeauours than in their name; all knowledge is dusted with them, and 'tis no more a nurserie of vertues, but a Tombe. And (indeed) such Silkewormes spin themselues into Flies, dis­animate, heartlesse Flies, life neither for Church, nor Com­mon-wealth. The Laurell and honour of all secular de­signes is the execution, and the happinesse of those sacred ones is not intail'd barely to the knowledge of them, but to the fac & vines. And that, not at home onely, in thy particular intendments, but abroad also in thy serui­ces for the Church; so that he that retraits at any Ala­rum or summons of his God, for the common affaires of the Church, to hugge and enioy himselfe in his solitary ends, runnes himselfe on the shelues of a rough censure, that of the Father to his Dracontius, Athan. in Epist. ad Drac. Episc. fugient. pars 2. editio vltima. — Ʋereor ne dum propter te fugis, propter alios sis in periculo apud Dominum. To stand by, and giue aime onely, whil'st others shoote, and thou thy selfe no markman, proclaimes thy lazinesse, if not thy impotency. What a nothing is thy arme? thy bowe? thy shaft? if not practised, not bent, not drawne vp? or if so glorious a marke, the Church? why not leueld at? either she must be vnworthy of thy trauell, or thine of her. If therefore this thy Mother implore thy aide (so Augustine counsels his Eudoxius) on the one side, August. Epist. 81. hand not with ambition; on the other, leane not to a lazie re­fusall, weigh not thine owne idlenesse with the necessities and greatnesse of her burthens, to which (whiles she is in trauell) [Page 9]if no good men will administer their helpe, Certè quomodo nasecremini non inueniretis; God must then inuent new waies for our new birth: the Father in his 81. Epistle ad Edoxium.

You see then our Moses may not hastily thrust himselfe vpon those weighty designes without authority and commission from his God, and yet once summon'd, not recoile; but thus hauing his Congedeleere and warrant from aboue, wee must now account him in the place of God, God indeed, with a— sicut—the Text tels vs so, thrice tels vs so, God to Aaron, God to Israel, God to Pharaoh. Exod. 3.4, 5. 'Twere then too high a sacriledge to rob him of any title or prerogatiue, which should waite on the greatnesse of such a person. Let's giue him (what all ages haue) Emi­nency of place, Office, their attendants, Honour, Reuenue. I shall dwell my houre with the two first, with the latter on­ly, in Transitu, and vpon the by, they being inuolued in the two former. And that I may punctually go on, I will touch first (where I should) with the Eminency—Goe.—

Which as it was sacred in the first instaulement, Eminen. 1. par. so in the propagation most honourable to the times of Hea­thens. For Tertullian (speaking of the magnificence and pompe which attended their superstitions) tels vs, Tert. de Coron. militis cap. 10. that their doores, and Hoasts, and Altars, and dead, and (what glorifies all) their Priests were crown'd: in his Corona mi­litis cap. 10. And the first crowne which the Romanes v­sed, was their spicea Corona, giuen as a religious ensigne in honour of their Priests,—Honosque is, non nisi vita fini­tur, Plin. lib. 3. cap. 2. & exules etiam, captosque comitatur —sayes my Histo­storian, nought but death could terminate this honour, which was their companion both in exile, and captinity. They wore the name of Aruales Sacerdotes, Alex. ab. Alex. lib. 1. cap. 26. first institu­ted by Romulus, and Acca Laurentia, his Nurse, who, of her twelue Sonnes hauing lost one, he himselfe made vp the number with that title. But here's not all, — Termi­norum sacrorum, & finium, iurgijs terminandis praeerant, [Page 10]& interueniebant, they were the peace-makers of the time, and sate as Arbitrators in matters of contestation be­tweene man and man, Plin. vt sup. as the great Naturalist in the 18. booke of his History, 2. chapter. And who fitter for such a morall office than the Priest? an honour which these worst of times allow him, though with some turbu­lency, and indignation: Numb. 16.3. Moses and Aaron, you take too much vpon you, was the crie of a Iew once, so 'tis now, who would manacle and confine them onely to an Ec­clesiasticke power, and deuest them quite of any ciuill au­thority, though Moses here had both. But 'twas not without some shew of mysterie, that in the robes of Aaron (I instance now in him, lest perchance they should cauill with his brother Moses) there was a crowne set vpon the Myter, Exod. 29.6. moralizing a possible coniunction at least of Mi­nister and Magistrate in one person. And Chytraeus hath a patheticall obseruation from the Apostles [...]— deuide aright, 2 Tim. 2. Chyt. de ordin. minist. pag. 506. that the Metaphor was first taken from the manner of cutting or deuiding the members of the host, Leuit. 7. where the fat and kidneies were burnt as a sacri­fice to God, but the breast and the shoulder were giuen to the Priests: the Allegorie carries with it both weight and maiesty, here's a breast for counsell, and a shoulder for sup­portation in matters of gouernment. And no doubt in times of old (euen these of the Fathers) the Sacerdotall power, was at a great height, in equall scale with that of their honour, Si Regum fulgori & principum Di­ademati inserius est quam si plumbi metallum ad auri fulgorem compares, Ambr. ibid. which was so eminent, that Saint Ambrose rankes not the Myter with the Diadem, but in a zealous Hyperbole (pardon the Epithite) preferres it, and makes this comparatiuely to the other as a sparkle to a flame, or dull Lead to burnisht Gold, in his de dignitate Sacerdotali cap. 2.

I may not follow the Father in his priestly Panegiricke, 'tis too high, and borders too much on the discipline of the triple crowne, such a crowne as ne're yet girt the tem­ples of King or Priest, but of him that tramples on the [Page 11] necke of both; let such insolence inuade the right of Poten­tates, and spurne their Crownes and Scepters in the dust, whil'st we seate our Aaron at the becke of Moses, but the people too at that of Aaron: Let the Priesthood doe obeysance, and kisse the feet of Soueraignty; but let not the Laity turne the heele, and kicke against the sa­crednesse of Priesthood. S. Augustine vpon these words of God to Moses, —Tu eris illi in ijs quae ad Deum. —Hee shall be to thee in stead of a mouth, Exod. 4.16. and thou shalt be to him in stead of God, seemes entranc'd awhile, and bringing them to the ballance, and weighing precisely euery scru­ple, cries out, Aug. lib. 2. Exod. 10. quaest. Magnum Sacramentum cuius figuram ge­rat, as if Moses were a medium betweene God and Aaron, and Aaron betweene Moses and the people. The morall is plaine, Soueraignty stands betweene God and the Priest­hood, and the Priesthood betweene Soueraignty and the peo­ple. Howeuer the Ceremonies due to either heretofore, in matters of Instaulement, stood not at such enmity as we can say they differ'd, they were both anoynted, and both crown'd; and though the authority were vnequall in re­spect of place, yet not of employment, Yee are full of power by the spirit of the Lord, Micah. 3.8. And Elisha could once tell the King, He should know there was a Prophet in Israel, 2 King. 5.8. And in matters of preseruation God was as zealous for the safety of these as them, — Touch not mine anointed, and doe my Prophets no harme, Psal. 105.

But let not my zeale to the Priest dispriuiledge my al­leagiance to my King. I speake not this to set vp Moses in competition with Pharaoh, or riuall the dignity of the Priesthood with that of Soueraignty; but to mind you in what lustre it sometimes shin'd, & how the times now conspire to cloud that glory.

The dayes haue beene, when the Laicke was ambiti­ous, not onely of the title of a Priest, but the office: for Eusebius examples in many of them, who thrusting vpon Bishops of primitiue times, Statim concionandi munus [Page 12]obierunt, in his lib. 6. cap. 15. And Tertullian (speaking of the insolencies and taunts which the Laity then put vpon the Priesthood) tells vs that they iustified their ma­lice & iniuries to the Priest, by vsurping the name, or pro­phaning rather, Te [...]t. lib. de Mo­nog. cap. 12. — Quum extollimur & inflamur aduersus clerum, tunc omnes Sacerdotes, quia Sacerdotes nos Deo, & Patri fecit, quum ad peraequationem disciplinae Sacerdotalis prouocamur, deponimus infulas, & pares sumus; in his booke de Monogamia, cap. 12.

It should seeme then the office and name past honoura­bly through all ages, euen those of Infidels, though the person were sometimes exposed to the persecutions of the time, and suffered vnder the blasphemies of vnchristian tongues; but now the very title growes barbarous, and he thinkes he hath wittily discountenanced the greatnes of the calling, that can baffle the professour with the name of Priest. But these, whil'st they intend to wound, they honour vs, and wee account them no scarres, but glories. Let such children mocke on the Prophet, the euent (I beleeue) will proue as horrid as that of old, will you trem­ble to heare it spoken? you may reade it then, and look pale too, in 2 King. 2.24.

May it please you now, Office 2. turne your eyes from the dig­nity, and reflect vpon the office. The office, a taske indeed, such a one as should rather prouoke our endeauours, than appetites. If any man desire the office of a Bishop (let's a­while leaue the word Priest, and fasten vpon this, the au­thority may beare it out the better) desires a good worke, 1 Tim. 3.1. 1 Tim. 3.1. Lib. 19. Ciuit. Dei cap. 19. Quia nomen operis est, non honoris (as Augu­stine glosses it) 'tis a name of worke, not honour; a worke no lesse fearefull, than laborious, no where better figur'd than by Moses, here, to Pharaoh, repriuing Israel from Egypt, from which 'tis scarce any way differenc'd, but in the difficulty, and therein it exceeds the type; difficulty worthy the trauells of the best, were not those labours [Page 13]shoulder'd and thrust on by vaine-glory. Greg. de Val. in 2 ^a. 2ae. disp. 10. q. 3. part. 2. Istaec cathedra cupientem se, & audacter expetentē, non requirit, sed orna­tum, sed eruditum—. So Valentia vpon Aquine. —This chaire of Moses is no seat of ambition, but desert, it hates either an intruder, or pursuer; He that gaines it by coue­tousnesse, or bold desire, doth not possesse, but inuade it, and 'tis not so much his by right of inheritance, as vsur­pation.

These honors sawne onely vpon humble worths, men clad & harnessed with double eminencie, of life, of lear­ning, those whose vertues haue aduanc'd them aboue the ordinary leuell and pitch of popularity. Yet to these nei­ther without this proficiscere— to Moses, Goe. Clemens in his first Epistle, will perswade you: 'tis the con­clusion of Saint Peter. Augustine goes farther, Lib. 19. de Ciuit. Dei, cap. 19. — Locus superior sine quo populus regi non potest, etsi administretur vt decet, tamen indecenter appetitur—. Suppose the man wor­thy of this place of Eminencie, & comes home in matters of administration, yet he is to blame in those of appetite, Greg. de Val. vt supra. for the desire laies open his vnworthinesse, and the School­man will not flatter him, but concludes it plainely for a mortall sinne. And if we may guesse at the child by the pa­tent, it best countenanceth leuity, or arogance, neuer read to be the proper seedes of any vertue. Notwithstanding this desire (sometimes) comes not within the compasse of presumption, if the worke be the obiect of our appe­tite, and not the honour, or, if the honour, not the reuenew, Part. 1. Pastor. cap. 8. — Appetere calsitudinem Episcopalem, non est semper prae­sumptio, sed appetere Episcopatum, ratione celsitudinis. ap­petit enim celsitudinem, supra dignitatem— Gregorie will haue it so. Howeuer, if it please you to glance on my for­mer quotation from the Apostle, 1 Tim 3.1. 'twill not so much whet your appetite, as grauell it; for first Beza limits the desire, If any man desire? Beza in licum. and 'tis not meant — de ambi­tu— of the appetite, or ambition to get the See, but de animo, of the earnest desire to benefit the Church, or ad­mit [Page 14]the words will carry that interpretation, yet the commendation which is annexed truces with the worke, not the desire, —Bonum opus desider at—, not — benè desi­derat—, though it be good what he desires, yet hee doth not well to desire it. Men vnworthy of what they sue for, onely because they sue for it. And this in Primitiue times hath occasioned in many no lesse a modestie than vn­willingnesse in those sacred vndertakings, when the Fa­thers, with a kind of reluctancie and feare, were towed on to these high imployments. Nay some, whether through maiestie of the place, or roughnesse of the times, or guilt of their owne weakenesse, haue panted and breath'd short in their desires to this great enterprise, and at length ex­chang'd the honour for an exile. Greg. Naz in praesat. Apol. Athan. in epist. ad Dracont. Epist. fug. vt Gloss. in prim. Euan. Marc. Nazianzen flies into Pontus; Dracontius, into the skirts of Alexandria: and it is tradition'd me by Aquinas. (and he quotes Saint Ierome for it) that Saint Marke cut off his thumbe, Ʋt Sacer­dotio reprobus haberetur— They are the Schoolemans owne words in his 2 ^a. 2ae. quaest. 185. Artic. 1. But 'twill not be amisse here to take Saint Ambrose —quamnis no­tandum— with vs; that these things were done in the Churches great extremities, when he that was — pri­mus in presbyterio, Part. 2. past. c. 3. was — primus in Martyrio. 'Twould require the temper of a braue resolution, and a better zeale, to desire this Bonum opus, when 'twas made the touchstone and furnace of mens faith and constancie, not only in leading others to the stake, but their own suffering where they were to be a voluntary Holocaust, and sacri­fice to the Church, there to remaine a monument of their Religion, and others tyranny. 'Tis true, Histories haue fur­nisht vs with examples of some which haue renounc'd an Empire, and (which is strange) a Popedome; Dioclesian did one, and Celestinus, t'other. The times (we may sup­pose) were blustring, and the reuenewes thin at Rome, when the honor of the chaire, was at once not desir'd and scorn'd. No proiect now vnsifted, no stratagem vndig'd [Page 15]for; no reach of policie vnfathom'd for the compassing of that great See, though by synister, though by diuellish attempt, nay, that's the chiefe engine by which it works. Tiberius could once tell a Prince of the Celts, that Rome had a sword for her conquest, not an Apothecaries shop; now they are both too little; Sword, and poyson, and massacre, and Pistoll, and knife, and powder, for the purchase (or at least the strengthening) of the triple crowne.

And I would Machiauell had rendeuouz'd only in Ie­suited Territories, and not knockt at the gates of Prote­stant Dominions; 'tis to be fear'd he hath Factors neerer home, those which not onely know the backdoores to the Staffe, and Myter, but are acquainted with the locke, which if they cannot force or picke by the finger of po­licie or greatnesse, they turne with that golden key which at once opens a way to a purchas'd honour, and a ruine.

Ambition whither wilt thou? nay, where wilt thou not? to the pinacle of the Temple for the glory of the world, though thou tumble for it to thy eternall ruine.

The Greeke Philosopher will beg of the gods, that he may behold the Sunne so neere, as to comprehend the forme, Eudoxus. beautie, greatnesse of it, and afterwards he cares not if hee burne, as if there were no such Martyrdome, as what Ambition fires. Occidar modò imperet—, Tacit. Annals. was the resolution of Agrippina for her Nero; but loe, how the euent crownes the vnsatiatenesse of her desires? He gaines the kingdome, and first dig'd out those bowels which had fostered him, and then that heart which was the throne of such an aspiring thought; cruelty shall I call it, or iustice, when the vaineglory of the mother was penanc'd with the vnnaturalnesse of the son. Thus loftie mindes (furnisht with a strong hope of the successe of their designes) haue embark't themselues into great acti­ons, and proposing humane ends, as scales to their high thoughts, haue bin wafted into strange promotions, but after they haue (a while) spangl'd in that their firmament [Page 16]of honour, they become falling starres, and so the suc­cesse prooues as inglorious as the enterprise was bold, and desperate. We haue seldome met with any eminency that was sodaine and permanent: Those which in their dawne of Fortune breake so gloriously, meet with a storme at noone, or else a cloud at night. The Sunne that rises in a grey and sullen morne, sets clearest; and indeed ambition is too hastie, and is hurried violently to the end it aimes at without cautelousnesse and circumspection to the meane; but humilitie hath a calme and temperate pace, and stoopes it along in a gentle posture, yet at length at­taines her marke, but slowly, as if it went vnwilling to honour, and slighted those proffers which others sue for. I enuie Scipio Africanus, and Marcus Portius (you know whose 'tis, Traianus to Plutarch) more for contempt of offices. than the victories they haue wonne, because a con­querour for the most part is in Fortunes power, but the con­tempt of offices liu'd in prudence. Will you heare the para­phrase? Tacitus giue's it, Sapientibus cupido gloriae nouissi­ma. exuitur—. Wisemen are so little in the drift of honor that they loath the sent, 'tis the vanitie, they last put off, and there was a time when a modest refusall of them, was no by-way to them; for this shadow once followed, flies, but fled, Chrys. Hom. 35. in Matth. followes— primatus fugientem desiderat, deside­ratum borret, saies the Father. 'Tis a tricke of primacie to fawne where 'tis not croocht too, but looke coy where it's ouer courted, like some weather-cocks which in a constant and churlish wind beake fairely towards vs, but in a wanton blast, turne taile.

Hence it is that in matters of authoritie, and prehemi­nence, pride hath for the most part the foile, humilitie the conquest, that stoopes basely to the title, or the profit, and looses either, This in a modest distance keepes a loofe, till worth inuite it, and at length gaines both; so that it is in wayes of promotion, as in some water-works, where one Engine raises it to make it fall more violently, [Page 17]another beats it downe that it might mount higher. 1 Pet. 5.6. The aduise then of S. Peter comes seasonably here, — Hum­ble your selues vnder the mighty hand of God, that hee may exalt you in due time. The words are not without their strength of emphasis, here is an— humiliamini—erown'd with an — vt exaltet, humble your selues, that he may ex­alt, as if humilitie were so necessary a disposition to pre­ferment, that without it God might not exalt. But soft, Impostor; Thou which iugleft both with God and with the times, I call not that bumility which is typ'd in the downefall of the looke, or the affected crindge and po­sture of the bodie; but the knee of the inward man, w ^ch the Wiseman of old called the character of an holy soule, leading noble harts slowly to the feasts of friends, but speedi­ly to their succour in calamities; So that true meekenesse is retinu'd with a double worth, charity, resolution; Plato in Timaeo. And the Philosopher will tell you, 'tis Avertue belongs to the couragious part of the soule, seated betweene two base ex­treames, Pusillanimity, Arrogance, No Buffone, and yet no Bafler, supporting sometimes iniuries, not our of cow­ardice, but Patience, allaying all tumults and instigations of the soule to reuenge or choller, not expos'd to any vio­lence of passion, but as temperate in disposition, as setled; no waue in her designe, nor tempest in her thought; she is all calme, not a wind so rough as to moue a storme either in her minde or action. But there is a squint-eiea humilitie, which casts one way, and points another; the looke is deiected, still groueling towards the earth, and with such a dresse of mortification, as if it desired no more of it, than would serue it for a graue; when the thought measures out a Diocesse, or labours on some greater proiect, which gain'd the countenance is chear'd, the bodie droopes not, and he can now safely icst it with that old Abbot,

And this subtle Nauigator neuer steeres as be sets his compasse; the looke (haply) poines you to a formall meekenesse, but the thought still coasts vpon Ambition; yet this gluttonous desire seldome anchors any where, but goes on still with a full saile, till 't'ath compassed the cape tis bound for, Sen [...]ca. — Habet boc vitium omnis ambitio, non respicit, The thirst of Eminencie is headstrong, and runs with a loose bridle. 'Tis to see much below satietie, that it still desires, nay 'tis hungry euen in surfet, and is sharpen'd with the fruition of that it couered; so that the birth of this title is but the conception of another, one honour roomes not the greatnesse of his thought, our Aaron is not contented with an Ephod, the rod of Moses, would doe well too; Authoritie is sleighted, discipline falne, and corruption crept strangely into the times, but

— O fortunatam me consule, Iuuers. Sat. 1. Romam. What should a mercifull worth doe with a Consulship? 'tis a place for thunder, not clemencie, one that can strike dead exorbi­tancie with the furrowes of the brow, and quell all vice with the tempest of a looke, one that can both vnsheath the sword of authoritie, and brandish it, if not to reforma­tion, yet to ruine; Thus he would make gouernment the stale both of his pride and Tyranny, his proiects are lof­tily-cruell, so are his actions too, yet still in a hot sent of promotion, w ^ch (if they want a trumpet for others com­mendation) shall borrow one from his owne, and so at once applaud his designes, and iustifie them. And indeed this titillation and itch of honour, if it once finde in the bosome of the receiuer a faire admittance, doth smooth­ly insinuate and cheat vpon the powers of Reason. But when 'tis throughly seated and enthron'd there, 'tis no more a guest but a Tyrant, and leaues the possessor, not a master, but a captiue, and in this case, I know not whe­ther Saint Augustine will pittie his Aurelius, or excuse him, Aug. Eoist. 64. ad Aurel. — Ersi cuiquam facile sit gloriam non cupere dum negatur, difficile est ea non delectari cum offertur—in his [Page 19]64 Epistle. Howener the Father seemes there to pleade onely for the delight in glories offer'd, not in the vniust prosecution of those denied. But our humble-arrogant walkes not to his temple of honour by that of vertue, but inuasion; and of some of his colleagues, the Fathers com­plain'd of old, Qui nequaquam diuinitus vocati, Greg. part. 1. past. cap. 2. sed sua cupiditate accensi, culmen regiminr. rapiunt potiùs, quàm assequuntur 'Tis Saint Gregories line, and a strong one too, such a one as the Prophet once lash't Iudah with, Hos. 8.4. Ho. 8.4. They haue set vp a King but not by me, they would make a Ruler, I knew it not. Mat. 23. Would you haue a more punctuall character, that of the Pharisees is most appo­site: They loue greetings in the markets, and to be cal­led of men, Rabbi, Rabbi, Matth. 23.7. Deuout crnelty, Religious arrogance (the Father will make it out) Ob pie­tatem miseri, ob splendorem infalices, Greg. Naz. in praefat. Apol. edit. lat. in his Apologie first Oration 44. pag.

But I haue followed Moses too long as a Magistrate, I must now a while as a Priest, and (what I exchang'd him for) a Bishop. I shall not trauell farre, c're I descry them both in a full careere, not farr from the roade I left the Ma­gistrate, Ambition, but in a more couert, and vntroden way; a way, howeuer doubly obnoxious to the passen­ger, because vnwarrantable, because forbidden; no autho­ritie for his progresse, no Letters patents from heauen, no proficiscere from his God, Goe, yet he ruunes, runnes without command, nay against it, trebly against it, against that, non dominantes in clerum—, feed, 1 Pet. 5.3. Iam. 3.1. But not as Lords ouer Gods heritage, but ensamples, and against that nolite magistrs, be not masters, knowing you shall receiue the greater condemnation; nay against the direct prohibition of Christ to his Disciples, Matth 20.27. — Will there be any great among you—, [...], let him be your seruant. 'Tis high time then this bladder were a little prickt, and this impostume launc'd. The body of the Church desire's it, cries for't, shee is sicke, sicke euen vnto death, yet no [Page 20]Physitian in Israel will administer, will? durst not; Wee are growne so emasculate, and palsie-strooken, in waies of reprehension, the times so censorious, and in a lust of no­ueltie, that this mount of God which was wont to send out lightnings and thunder to the Israelites below, is now growne a terrour to the Moses that shall climbe it. And whereas the Pulpit hath beene formerly our Tribu­nall to iudge and sentence the lapses and deprauations of the people, they haue made at length a bar for our own ar­raignement, & their doome or mercy passes on vs, as we shall please, or not please, but the verdict runnes much to the fancy of the censurer, which is commonly as barba­rous and wilde, as he that giues it. Discourses (and I am sorry I cannot call them Sermons) are so sleeke, and wooing for applause, the eares of the times so coy, and pickt for accuratenesse, that to be plaine or home, entitles the speaker to rudenesse or stoicisme, each offer'd annota­tion is a barbarisme, and euery reproofe a libell. The hew­ing downe of a glorious vice, or the whipping of a sinne in scarler, Praemunires him that doth it, and hee growes a tributary and slaue to the frownes and dishonours of the time, Iuuen. Sat. 1. — Vnde illa priorum—scribendi quodcunque ani­mo flagrante liberet—Simplieitas? 'T should seeme An­tiquitie had a priuiledge of venting any thing that pro­ceeded from the simplicitie and truth of an honest breast; But the thoughts of aftertimes were choak't with a — non andeo dicere—, sincerity was turn'd bankrupt, and truth an exile, plaine-dealing, pertinacie, and zeale, madnesse. But what, shall Moses here be tongue-tyed, shall he stut­ter in the Messages of his God? — Quid refert dictis ig­noscat Mutius annon? Iu. ibid. Pusillanimity and deiectednesse of spirit in the imployment of thy Maker, is the basest de­gree of cowardise; for my part, I haue set vp my resolu­tion with that of S. Bernard: Ad Fulc. Epist. 2. Quid me loqui pudeat, quod illis non puduit facere? si pudeat audire quod impudenter egerunt, non pudeat emendare quod libenter non audiant. [Page 21]Let me tell howeuer this child of vaine-glory, that no touch of malecontentednesse, or spirit of inuection puts me on the iustice of these complaints; But that which the deuout Abbot cals, patient anger, humble indignati­on —euen that charity wherewith he carechiz'd his am­bitious pupill, — Quae tibi condolet, quamuis non dolenti quae tibs miseretur, licet non miserabils, & inde magis dolet, Bern. ad Fule: epist. 2. quod cum sis dolendus, non doles, & inde magis miseretur, quod cùm miser sis, miserabilis non es, vult tetuum scire do­lorem, vt iam non habeas vnde dolere, vnlt te tuam scire miseriam, vt incipias miser non esse, in his 2 Epistle, Ad Fulconem—.

I neuer yet enuied the prosperity of any, I haue some­times wond'red at their waies of aduancement, and now haue trac't them, and finde a double staire by which they ascend, zeale, policie,—(please you to translate the termes, you may, they will beare the christning) Faction, Simo­ny —, one of the chiefe meanes to gaine preferment, is, to crie downe the way to it. And he that will haue three li­uings, must first preach violently against two. Non-resi­dency must be a capitall and indispensable crimes. Plura­lities, damn'd, till they be either offer'd, or possest, when the fish is caught, what makes the net here then? away with it; the question is stated on to'ther side. A double Benesice is but one liuing, and that swallowed with as little reluctation, as 'twas but now thundred against, with all the bitternesse that the power of virulence could suggest; all's well now, the conscience is at peace, and (what is strange) the tongue too. Ere long, Non-residency hangs not in the teeth, but that is easily put off, for the honour of Nicodemus,—To be a great Master in Israel,—Si vio­landum sit ius, regnandi causâ violandum, Sueton. —what matter's it for iustice so we gaine an Empire? or for equity so we may insult? The application needs no skrew, 'twill come home of it's owne accord to the murmurings of the guil­ty [Page 22]bosome; In the meane time it much staggers mee, to see the reconcilement of two vertuous friends with a base aduersary? a Saint in the countenance, an Angell in the tongue, with an Hypocrite at the heart.

Thus (beloued) vpon easie enquiry wee may as well descrie an equiuocation in the looke, as in the word, and he that can art it handsomely in wayes of dissimulation, hath not so much two tongues, as two faces; one lookes towards the world, where demurenesse laies on her paint and colour, and this oftentimes deludes, shamefully de­ludes; the other towards heauen, and that's but coursely dawb'd in respect of it, for the eye of the Almighty can­not be dazell'd, that will descrie her furrowes and defor­mities, and at length giue her a reward answerable to the desert, her portion with the Hypocrite, and there I leaue it.

This fruitlesse and pernicious branch prun'd, and lopt off, t'other buds, no lesse dangerous than that, and yet more flourishing, it sprouts now to such a bredth and height, that it hath almost ouershadowed the body of the Church, insomuch, that the Foules of the aire lodge in the branches thereof. No Vulture or Rauen (emblemes of rapine and greedinesse) though they deuoure and ha­uock it (so they haue a tricke of merchandizing) but nests and perches there; nay scarce an Owle or Buzzard (now the metaphors of dulnesse and simplicity) but hoots and reuels there. Times more than calamitous, when the in­heritance and patrimony of the Church shall be thus leas'd out to auarice and folly, when those her honors w ^ch she entailes vpon desert, shall be heaped vpon a golden ignorant, who rudely treades on those sacred preroga­tiues, without any warranted prosiciscere frō God or man. We find Moses trembling here, though encourag'd both by the perswasion & command of the Almighty,— Et in­firmus [Page 23]quis (que) vt honoris onus suscipiat, anhelat, Greg. par. 1. past. cap. 7. & qui ad ca­sum valde vrgetur ex proprijs, humerū libenter opprimenaū ponderibus submittit alienis—. 'Tis Gregories complaint in the 1. part of his Pastorall, chapter 7.

Strange monument of weaknesse. hee that reeles vn­der his owne burthen, stoopes to be opprest with the weight of others, and lot how he tumbles to a mortall sinne (The Schoolemen doth stile it so) directly oppo­site to a paire of vertues, iustice, charity; vniust, that the reuenues due to worth should be pack't vpon bulcklesse and vnable persons, Greg. de Val. in 2 ^a. 2ae. Aqul. dist. 10. q. 3 punc. 2. and vncharitable for him to vnder­take the guidance and pasturing of a flocke who was ne­uer train'd vp in the conditions of a shepherd. Neither is he an enemy onely of a double vertue, but a compani­on of two such sinnes which seeme to braue, and dare the Almighty to reuenge on the prophaner, Intrusion, periurie; first, in rushing on the profession not legitimate­ly call'd, then in purchasing her honours. Yet there are which can say with the Disciple— Master we haue left all and followed thee—our birth-right for the Church; left did I say? sold it, exchanged the possessions of our Fa­thers (their vineyard) to purchase thine; and in stead of that peny which thou giuest in liew of a Crowne and recompence to thy labourer, we haue giuen thousands to be possest one, and so, thou not hiring vs, wee haue, it. But heare S. Bernard schooling his Eugenius, and doe not so much blush as tremble,— Quis mihi det, Bern epist. 238. ad Euge. antequam moriar videre ecclesiam Dei sicut in diebus antiquis quandò Apostoli laxabant retia in capturam, non auri, sed anima­rum! quàm cupio te illius haer: ditare vocem cuius adeptus es sedem? Pecunia tua tecum in perditionem—. O vox to­nitrui! The Abbot goes on deuoutly in the 238. Epi­stle ad Eugenium.

If that Father be too calme and modest in his reproofe, [Page 24]and cannot rouze bloud in the cheekes of the delin­quent: S. Ambrose shall startle it, or else scare you with the vision of Simon Magus, or Gehazi,—Qui non timen­tes illud Petri, Amb. de dign. sacerd. cap. 5. aut Elizei, Sacerdotalem defamant ho­norem, sanctique Episcopatus gratiam pecunijs coemerunt, in his de dignitate Sacerdotali cap. 5.

And indeed, in waies of sufficiency and worth, 'tis the — si nil attuleris—damp's the preferment; The age can instance, in some languishing and weake in their intelle­ctuals, men without sap or kernell, who (hauing their store-house well fraught with that white and red earth) haue stumbled on the glories of the time, as if for­tune would make them happy in despight of vertue; when others of Christs followers (were truely his Disci­ples) are sent abroad with their— ite & praedicate—bare­footed, without bag or scrip, but their Commission large — Omni creaturae—the wide world is their place of resi­dence, no particular roofe to shelter them, or place of re­tirednesse to lay their head in. Nay some that haue seru'd a triple Apprentiship to Arts and Sciences, and spent in these our Athens the strength of their time and patrimo­nie, men throughly ballac'd for those high designes, well kern'd both in yeeres and iudgement, lie mouldring for non-employment, and dasht for slownesse or promotion; when others of cheape and thin abilities, men without growth or bud of knowledge, haue met with the honours of aduancement, and trample on those deiected booke­wormes which dissolue themselues into industry for the seruice of their Church, yet meet neither with her pompe, nor her reuenue; nay, some that haue wasted their Lampe, are burnt their Taper to an inch of yeeres, haue spent those fortunes in the trauailes of Diuinity, w ^ch would largely haue accommodated them for more se­cular courses, and enforced to retire themselues to the solitarinesse of some ten-pound Cure, and so spin out [Page 25]he hath suffer'd strangely in the consures of the world) somewhat windy, & tempestuous, but such as had autho­rity onely from the tongue, not the heart, and as soone ore-blowne, as occasion'd, nought else but a greene leafe in a flame, crack't, sparkled, and so out. His rule of friendship the best, not popular, but choice, & there too, where it found truth, no glosse; there vnshooke, nobly­constant, his, both in his heart, & in his purse; not in his purse, (as Seneca writes of Sicilius, where nought could be extracted but an hundred vpon a hundred) or as your Hackney Mynt-men for the most part doe, ten vpon the same number, but that trebled, many times, for no­thing, as the clemency of some vnpersecuting scroles can testifie. His contribution, and beneuolence in way of almes, rather powr'd out, than giuen, as if pouerty had beene the obiect of his profusenesse, not of his re­leefe; yet that without froth of ostentation, without reference to merit, on the grounds of a true charity. His Religion (wherein the world thought hee had wau'd and totter'd) vpon his accounts to God, and his inlargements and declarations to his friends, on his death-bed, fast to the Church of England; which, (though in the last act) was beleager'd by some emas­culate suggestions, yet, blessed be the circumspection of a carefull Sonne, it stood vnbatter'd, and in that loialty, and strength, he penitently gaue vp his soule in­to the hands of his Redeemer.

And now hee is gone, let his imperfections fol­low, and the memory of them rot, and moulder with his body; hee had many, some preualent; and (good Lord) which of vs haue not in a large pro­portion! But they are our earthy and dusty, and as [...]y part, so they were his; let them then be buried with him; shouell them into his graue; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; let them spring no more, [Page 26]to the soyling and dishonour of his name, or our owne vncharitablenesse, but let his ashes rest in peace; for hee is now— Gone to his long home, and the mourners haue walkt for him about the streets.

Gloria in excelsis Deo. Amen.