SIX LEARNED and godly Sermons: Preached Some of them before the Kings Maiestie, some before Queene Elizabeth.

By RICHARD EEDES, Doctor of Diuinitie, Deane of the Cathedrall Church of Worcester, and Chaplen in ordinarie to them both.

LONDON, Printed by Adam Islip, for Edward Bishop. 1604.

To the Reader.

I Haue presumed to offer vnto the eye of the world, Sermons preached in the eare of the Court, without his leaue J confesse, whose labours they were; but not without hope of thankes from thee and pardon from him. The copies, which were some of them commaunded, some of them en­treated from him, are a warrant vn­to me, that the Court which heard them, will be willing to read them: neither doe J see how I wrong him, [Page]when I publish no more, then was Publici Iuris, as soone as it was vt­tered: I am sure I haue satisfied the desires of many, and those of better iudgement then my selfe, who in my hearing haue wished the publishing of them, and thought them worthy of longer life, then to fade with the houre to the which they were dedica­ted. If thou profit by them, thanke God for him, and as for me, I shall thinke my paines rewarded, if accor­ding to thy acquaintance and credit with him, thou wilt assure him, that this which is done, is done

By a true louer of his gifts and thy good.

❧The dutie of a King, preached before the Kings Ma­iestie in two Sermons: the former at Hampton Court the 9. of August; the later, at Wilton, neere Salisburie, the 30. of Au­gust, in his ordinarie attendance for that moneth.

Michah. 6.8.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee; surely to doe iustly, and to loue mercie, and to humble thy selfe to walke with thy God.

THis office of an Em­bassadour from the prince of princes, to the which for some yeares I haue ben em­ployed in this Court, vnder the religious reigne of the peere­lesse [Page]Queene of the world, my many waies most gratious ladie and mistris: and to the which I am now againe cal­led in this change (as I may well say) without change; a change of the person, but not of the bloud royall; a change of the Gouernour, but not of the Reli­gion and gouernment of the land: as it hath no libertie to goe either beyond or against, or beside the commission of him whose embassage it is; so is it the more worthie of audience, because when o­ther princes by their embassadours doe chiefely, if not onely, seeke their owne good, treat of peace but for an aduan­tage to warre, and many times (as one noteth) Vix exiccata papiro incipiunt con­tra venire, Deuise occasions of quarrell, before the written articles of agreement be throughly drie: Hec legatio qua pro Christo fungimur: 2. Cor. 5.20. this, in the which it pleaseth God to vse our ministerie, doth wholly intend the good of those prin­ces to whom we are sent, and hath an [Page 2]end to make them not only good Christi­ans (which yet is and ought to be more vnto them than all the kingdomes of the world) but good kings also, as by the which they are rightly taught, to haue manus ad clauū, oculos ad astra, their hands at the sterne, and their eyes in heauen; yea so to guide the helme of their ciuile gouernement, as they are guided and directed by the rule of heauen. For how­soeuer the polititians of this world doe not spare to make a diuision, yea a di­uorce betweene these duties; as if they who are to take lawes for the saluation of their soules, were to be lawes vnto themselues for the gouerment of their people; and thereby flatter princes, that they owne no seruice vnto God, but with­in his sanctuarie, as being gods them­selues in the other parts of their terri­tories: yet doth the Prophet in this place teach them a farre other lesson, who pleading the Lords quarel with the moun­taines & mighty foundations of the earth, Mich. 6.2. [Page]that is, the rulers and princes of the peo­ple,Vers. 10.11. for the Treasures of wickednesse in their houses, and the Ballances of deceit in their hands: and hauing touched their hearts with such a remorse and consci­ence of their euill wayes, that they were carefull to pacifie the Lord with burnt of­ferings, 6 to please him with thousands of rammes, 7 or with ten thousand riuers of oyle; yea, to giue their first borne for their transgression, and the fruit of their body for the sinne of ther soule, as we see in the words next before: in this verse conclu­deth, that neither Sacrifices are accepta­ble where the dueties of Iustice and Mer­cie are neglected; neither yet the dueties of Iustice and Mercy truely performed but when Men humble themselues to walke with their God. There is no true wisdome but frō aboue, he hath shewed; to the very gods of the earth, yet as to men that shall die, He hath shewed vnto thee ô man; not that it is in thee to make things good or euill, as if nothing were [Page 3]good but in opinion, but what is good in it selfe, He hath shewed vnto thee, ô man, what is good: and because in thy corrupt nature, thou louest not that which is to be beloued for it selfe, good, vnlesse it be commanded and made thy dutie, He hath shewed vnto thee, ô man, what it good, and what the Lord requireth of thee; not that thou owest him no more than the seruice of some certaine daies in the weeke, or at the most, than these religious offices which are conclu­ded within the wals of his sanctuarie, as if in ciuile affaires thou wert left to be a law vnto thy selfe, or at the least to laws of thine owne making; but the good which he hath shewed, & the dutie which as the Lord he hath required, stretcheth so farre as to that life of ciuile societie to doe iustly; not in any such extremitie, as to turne Iudgement into Wormewood. Amos. 5.7. but withall to loue Mercie, and so to haue both thy Iustice and thy Mercie seasoned with true religion and [Page]vnfained holinesse, that being rooted in Humilitie, thou mayest spring and grow vp in that fruit of sanctification, to walke with thy God: for thy instruction he hath shewed in the frailetie of thy condition, to thee ô man; what is good for thy electi­on: and what the Lord requireth of thee, by way of commaunding thy affection: namely, To do Iustly, as being to liue in a societie, To loue Mercie, as being to liue in a societie of men, To humble thy selfe to walke with thy God, as being to liue in a societie of Christian men, which are cal­led to the seruice of the liuing God.

And first for instruction, whether may we go, but to the fountaine of wisdome; I say not for those high mysteries of his spirituall worship only, cōcerning which we may read euen in the booke of na­ture, that he who hath made all things of nothing, is to bee worshipped for his power; hath made all that he hath made good, & for our good, is to be worshipped with loue; hath made and disposed all [Page 4]things in such wisedome, as that no one thing can be better or so well deuised, is to be worshipped after his own maner: but euen for those other parts of our du­tie, our liuing soberly and iustly in this present world, for that word whereby he hath reuealed vnto the world his will: and which is & ought to be no lesse the law of lawes, and the rule of rules, than he himselfe the Lord of lords, and the King of kings: though it principally in­tend the high and supernaturall myste­ries of that sauing health, which the rea­son of the naturall man cannot conceiue or attaine vnto: yet is it giuen, as the Apostle speaketh, by inspiration of God, not onely to teach truth, and to improoue falshood, for matters, of faith; but also to correct wickednesse, and to instruct in righteousnesse for matters of life, that the man of God may be absolute, being made perfect vnto all good works. 2. Tim. 3.16. and 17. Indeed the rule, as of na­turall agents, so of reasonable creatures, [Page]is in this all one, that they are to take lawes for their actions and doing, from that power in whom they liue and moue, and haue their being, Act. 17.28. that since all things were created by him and for him, and con­sist in him. Coloss. 1.16: all things be refer­red to him who worketh all things accor­ding to his will, or rather as the Apostle speaketh [...], according to the law and counsell of his will. Eph. 1.11. And therefore as we see in naturall agents (whether they be to beare rule, as the Sun and Moone which are placed in the firmament, or to be ruled, as the elements and parts of this lower world) that they worke as if they knew what they worked, and in their seuerall courses performe his will, as if they were acquainted with his will; and further, that in a relation which they haue one to another, as sociable parts of the whole bodie of the world, they carrie themselues, as if they were bound to serue one anothers good, and all to [Page 5]preferre the good of the whole, before whatsoeuer their owne particular; inso­much, as things heauie by nature, will sometime of their owne accord mount vpward, and forsake the centre of the earth, which to them is most naturall; as if they heard the voice of God com­maunding them to let goe their priuat good, to reliue the distresse of nature in common: so doth it much more con­cerne those his creatures, whom he hath made in a manner partakers of the di­uine nature, and endued with reasona­ble soules, to vnderstand both his will and the reason of his will, that they hear­ken to his voice, Hebr. 3.15. that his word be a law, and his will a bridle to thier wils, not onely in their priuat duties, but much more in those publick offices which are for the common good of ciuile societie. For when they who haue most, either of wisdome or authoritie, haue no more than they haue receiued. 1. Cor. 4.7. and receiued as Talents vpon an account. [Page]Mat. 25.19. an account to him who accep­teth not the persons of princes. Iob. 34.19. but will rent their kingdome, who deuide his seruice. 1. King. 11, 12. As on the other side, he will honour them that honor him. 1. Sam. 2.30: What are the highest places, but obligations of the greatest duties? which the very gods of the earth owe to him, who iudgeth among the gods. Psal. 82.1? What prerogatiue hath the Cedar aboue the thistle, he that sitteth vpon the throne, aboue him that grindeth at the mill; Exod. 11.5. but greater neces­sitie doe depend vpon God, both for ad­uice in wisedome, & assistance in power to so high a calling? The very power of man is weakenesse in comparison of his power, who hath chosen the weake things of the world to cōfound the mighty. The wisedome of the world is foolish­nesse in comparison of his wisedome, who hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. 1. Cor. 1.27: And therefore when it cannot be denied [Page 6]which we read Prou. 8.15. that by mee kings raigne, which prooueth no power to be absolute; and by me the Iudges of the earth decree Iustice, which prooueth all lawes to be deriued from his: how can it but be a conclusion without ex­ception, which the Prophet hath, Hier. 9.23, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the mightie man in his power, but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he vnderstandeth and knoweth me? For the wisdome of man, to speak the best of it, is but Docta ignorantia, a learned kind of ignorance, which yet being brideled and guided by the spirit of God, may be wrought, as one noteth, to speake like the Asse of Balaam, to good purpose. Yea that power which the Poets giue to hu­maine wisedome in the fable of Amphi­on, that it drew rude and ignorant men to ciuile societie, as it were stones and trees to the building of Thebes; is onely true of that heauenly wisedome, which is indeed able euen of stones to rayse [Page]sonnes vnto Abraham, Mat 3.9. Dan. 2.14. and not onely to plant kingdomes, and establish common­weales; but also to blow downe as it were with Trumpets the walles of Hieri­cho; Iosh. 6.20. whatsoeuer pollicie shall any way be aduanced against the societies which are of God. And this in effect, doe they confesse euen against themselues; who are recorded by their wisedome to haue bene the first founders of States, and the first inuentours of lawes among the hea­then; in that they fained themselues to haue receiued their lawes from some one or other of their false Gods; as Zo­roaster, who gaue lawes to the Persians from Horomasis; Zamolxis who gaue lawes to the Scithians from Vesta; Tris­megistus who gaue lawes to the Egipti­ans from Mercurie; Charondas who gaue lawes to the Carthaginians from Saturne; Minos who gaue lawes to them of Creet, from Iupiter; Licurgus who gaue lawes to the Lacedemonians from Apollo; Draco and Solon who gaue [Page 7]lawes to the Athenians from Minerua; Numa Pompilius who gaue lawes to the Romanes, from Aegeria; as if euen with them law were no law, vnlesse it had a foundation in religion, and an authority from God. Although in this, as in most of their inuentions, what are they but the schollers of Moyses? of whom wee haue good eiudence that hee receiued that Law, which is the ground of all lawes, from God himselfe, and from whom there are auncient writers who charge all others to haue borowed what soeuer they haue either Good in their Lawes, or True in their Philosophie; in­somuch as they call Plato the Moses of Athens; and Basil taxeth the deuill as a theefe of the truth in that he had decked his crowes with her feathers: yea, Saint Augustine thinketh it most meete that we take from them as from vniust pos­sessors whatsoeuer Truth they any way withhold, as the Apostle speaketh, in vnrighteousnesse; Rom. 1.18. and not onely ascribe [Page]all truth to the true author thereof, God himselfe; but also because, Primus di­scendi ardor est nobilitas magistri; the best spurre to learning, is the worth of the master, thinke nothing so well taught, as that which he hath shewed. The rather, because he hath vouchsafed to shew it vnto thee ô man: for what is man? or the sonne of man? that when it were happinesse inough for him, to find truth euen with seeking; truth it selfe should seeke him and be found of them that seeke her not. Es. 65.1. that the Creator should woo the creature with the word of life, and by his ministe­rie trauaile as it were in Birth vntill the truth of Christ be formed in him: Gala 4.19. that the worke of recreation or regeneration should bee of greater power than the worke of creation, and it more vnto him to make a man righteous, than to make a man. Yet such is and hath bene the riches of his loue, that when man by nature doth digge for knowledge in pro­fundo [Page 8]sine fundo, in a bottomlesse bot­tome; accuse nature with Theophrastus for giuing Vitam breuem artem longam, a short life in a long way to learning; and in the end attaine to no other per­fection than that of Negatiues, rather to know what the truth is not, than what it is;Hebr. 1.1. he hath at sundry times and in diuers manners deliuered to the world that affirmatiue truth, which is onely able to saue the soule, onely able to con­tent and satisfie the mind of man. Wherin whether by man we vnderstād magistrate, as the circumstances of the place doe plainely implie, and the scrip­tures elsewhere speake, as Genes. 26.7. where by the men of Gerar which exa­mined Isaac concerning his wife, are meant such men, as had publicke au­thoritie to examine causes; and Genes. 43.11. where the sonnes of Iacob are willed to bring the man of Aegipt (in­deed Ioseph the ruler of Aegipt) a pre­sent; by occasion of which and the like [Page]places the learned gather Iob, who is cal­led a man of Hus, to haue been a man of great authoritie in the land of Hus: or, whether we vnderstand it naturally of the frailtie of man his condition; it yeeldeth both wayes doctrine of good vse. First, that they whose promotion commeth neither from the East nor from the West, nor from the South, but from God. Psal. 73.6. knowing their power to be of God. Rom. 13.1. and their iudge­ments to be God his iudgements. Deut. 1.17. and therefore, that they who resist them, not onely by a consequence resist the ordinance of God. Rom. 13.2. but God in them, as he told Samuel: Non te re­iecerunt sed me, They haue not reiected thee, but me. 1. Sam. 8.7. make the feare of the Lord the beginning of their wise­dome. Psal. 111.10. the statutes of God their studie, and his commandements their counsellors. Ps. 119.24. that Kings aboue others be wise, and the Iudges of the earth learned. Psal. 2.10. that with Dauid they [Page 9] preferre a day in God his Court before thousands elsewhere. Psal. 84.10; with Moses esteeme the rebuke of Christ grea­ter riches than the treasures of Aegipt, Heb. 11.25; and with that good emperor Theodosius account it more honour to be Membrum ecclesiae, than Caput impe­rij, a seruant of God, than lord of the world; yea, that if they liue in so corrupt times, as that in may seeme an euill thing to serue the Lord, they put on that reso­lution of Ioshua, Iosh. 24.15. Let others take their wa­ges, but I & my house will serue the Lord. Secondly, that when they know them­selues, though to be gods among men, yet to be gods, that shall die like men. Psal. 82.7; that in their purple they cloth but dust and ashes; in thier delicat fare, they feed but wormes; and in their greatest greatnesse are but virtus in in­firmitate, power in weakenesse, the weake instruments of God his power: they presume not of themselues, as of themselues, to vse authoritie: as if it were [Page]their owne, to boast with her, Es. 47.8; for the time present, I am and none else: and for the time to come, I shall be for euer: but rather be still wakened with that watchword of Philip, Remember thy selfe to be a man: and a man so much the more weake, by how much the more exalted, if the spirit of grace be not doub­led vpon thee: and that euen when thou giuest iudgement vpon others, iudge­ment doth wait at the dore for thee. Which though it be a matter of great difficultie for the Monarchs of the world when they haue, as Daniel describeth them,Dan. 2.32. heads of gold, armes and breasts of siluer, bellie and thighes of brasse, and legs of yron, still to be thinking on their feet of earth, yet are they indeed greater than themselues, when they forget their own greatnesse. Neither is there any praise of a prince beyond that which Plinie gi­ueth Traian, Plinius in Paneg. Vnum ill se ex nobis & hoc magis excellit atque eminet quod vnū ex nobis putat, nec minus hominem se [Page 10]quam hominibus praeesse meminit: hee esteemeth himselfe but as one of vs, and in this is he the more excellent and glo­rious, that he esteemeth himselfe as one of vs, and doth not lesse remember him­selfe to be a man, than to haue power and authoritie ouer men. Now as we cannot but relie and depend vpon him, when we see Truth to be the teacher, he hath shewed, and frailetie the scholler, vnto thee, ô man: so must it needs be a greater motiue, when wee farther see truth it selfe, to teach frailetie it selfe, what is good in it selfe, He hath shewed vnto thee, ô man, what is good: for when nothing but true can satisfie the vnder­standing, nothing but good the will of the soule; how can wee but bee carried with probabilities for truths, to good in shew, for good indeed, if we haue not an infallible rule of truth, to lead vs vnto that which is truly good? The wisdome of man hath spent both her time and her selfe in the search of this point, to [Page]know by discourse the nature of good in humane actions: and finding all, both men and nations, to be carried with a naturall desire of good, but yet in such varietie, as that it hath almost been true, so many men, so many opinions of good; so many nations, so many lawes of goodnesse: they haue in effect con­cluded as Aristotle obserueth,Eth. 1. ca. 30. Res hone­stas & iustas lege potius quam natura con­stare, that things are honest and iust, ra­ther as they are made by law, than as they are by nature. In which conclusion notwithstanding they more proue their owne ignorance, than the truth of that which they affirme; and as Tully noteth of the Philosopher Dicaearchus, Tusc. 1. Quia difficilis erat animae quid aut qualis esset explicatio, nihil esse dixit, that because it was hard to him to conceiue what the nature or properties of the soule were, therefore he affirmed the soule to be no­thing: so doth their Quaestio an sit grow out of their ignorance, Quid sit natura [Page 11]boni: they doubt whether there be any nature of good, because they know not what it is. Indeed, as the many questi­ons of religion made it (as one obserued of the disputing age wherein he liued) rem ingeniòsam esse Christianum, a mat­ter of great wit to be a Christian; so the many circumstances in the actions of good and euill, doe make it a matter of great wisdome to be a good Christian, yet doth not the varietie of circumstances in the actions implie an vncertaintie or vn­constancie in the nature of goodnes; but rather the nature of goodnesse requireth such a cōformitie of euery action in eue­ry circumstance to that which is good in it selfe: as that there is a terrible woe de­nounced against them who make good euill, and euill good. Es. 3.20. which, as it taketh all power from princes, to make their will, reason, and their pleasure, right; so doth it leaue no libertie either to prince or people, to excuse euill by the multitude, as if it were well done which [Page]is done commonly; or to defend euill by the example of euill doers, as if it were lawfully done, which is done by authoritie; or to iustifie euill by the cu­stome of euill doing, as if there were no exception against it, when there is pre­scription of time for it. For euen they, who had not the true knowledge of the liuing God, had yet this persuasion of the nature of good, Si Deos homines que celare possent, nihil iniuste, nihil auare, ni­hil libidiniose, esse faciendū, that though there were no feare either of God or of man, yet there was nothing vniustly, no­thing couetously, nothing wickedly to be committed. Which is the true mea­ning of the Apostle, Rom. 2.14, where he speaketh of the Gentiles that they are a law vnto themselues; not that things are good or euill as they make them, but that they haue the effect of his law written in their hearts and consciences; when they cannot but yeeld their assent, without question, to those principles of [Page 12]good, that good is to be loued, that the greater good is to be preferred before the lesser, that we are to doe as we would be done vnto, and such like. Which in as much as they haue not bene reuealed to them by such extraordinarie meanes as to the people of God, therefore haue they bene reputed the makers of those lawes, which are indeed God his lawes, and they but onely the finders out of them, or rather of the will of God in them. And surely if there were no more but these principles of good, deliuered in a generalitie vnto man in that other booke of God, the law of nature; it were inough to prooue, that there is a con­stant nature of good, not in opinion, but in truth, not as it is made by law, but as it is indeed. And therefore Saint Au­gustine in his third booke & fourteenth chapter, De doctrina Christiana, taxing some whom hee calleth Dormitantes, halfe waking men, as neither altogether asleepe in ignorance, nor throughly [Page]awaked to see so much of the truth as they might, for thinking nothing iust in it selfe but according to the custome of euery nation, vseth but that one rule, Doe as thou wouldest be done vnto, to re­fute them: which, saith he, Cum refer­tur ad dilectionem Dei omnia flagitia mo­riuntur; cum ad dilectionem proximi, om­nia facinora: referre it to the loue of God, and it extinguisheth all crimes, to the loue of thy neighbour, and it banisheth all wrongs out of the world. But that which the booke of nature teacheth confusedly, and but in a generalitie, and therefore is compared by an auntient loriter, to the dawning of the day, neither so darke as night, nor so cleere as day; neither hiding all, nor reuealing all the nature of good vnto vs, inough as the Apostle gathereth,Rom. 2.15. to accuse the consci­ence, but not inough to reforme the will: is made as cleere as the noone day, by that Sonne of righteousnesse, whose law is perfect concerning the soule: Malach. 4.2. whose [Page 13] Statutes are right and reioyce the heart; whose commaundement is sure, and gi­ueth light to the eyes; whose iudgements are true and righteous altogether. Psal. 19.6, 7, 8, 9; yea, for the certaine know­ledge of that which is truly good, as it is said Iudg. 8.2. that the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim is better than the vin­tage of Abiezer; so may there better rules for all kind of persons in all kinds of dutie be gleaned out of the booke of God, than all the huge volumes of man his wisedome can affoord; especially whē it hath a propertie, which no other booke can challenge, that Quicquid do­cetur veritas, quicquid praecipitur bonitas, quicquid promittitur, foelicitas est, as Hu­go speaketh: Whatsoeuer is taught, is truth? Whatsoeuer is commaunded, is goodnesse? Whatsoeuer is promised, is perfect happinesse.

Yet such is the corruption of our na­ture, that hauing so true an instruction in so fraile a condition, too good with­out [Page]exception; we must be farther vrged and quickened therunto, with the power and authoritie of a law, as to a thing which the Lord requireth of vs. For though vertue haue no reward better, vice no punishment greater, than it selfe; and therefore we should not need to be forced, either to affect the one, or to flie the other: yet because it commonly fal­leth out, that for the one we praise good, but seeke the reward; and for the other, we mislike euill, but more for the punish­ment than for the Sinne, is he driuen, as to shew vs what is good, so to set before vs life and death, blessing and cursing, Deut. 30.29; that he may bind vs, as it were, with the chaines of hope and feare, of re­ward and punishment, to a more earnest zeale of that which is good; when we know, that as the Lord he requireth it at our hands. And hereof it is not onely that he gaue the law which gendereth vnto bondage, Gal. 4.24, in that full pow­er of, I am the Lord thy God. Exod. 20.2; [Page 14]but also that he maketh that of grace, whereby we are free from the curse of the law, Faith; the very law of faith, Rom. 3.27, and bindeth vs to that which is the fulfilling of the law, Loue; Rom. 13.8. than the which, nothing should be more volun­tarie, vnder the name of a new commaun­dement. Ioh. 13.34: as if our rebellious nature could not bee either restrained from euill but with the bridle, or encou­raged to good but with the spurre of a law. For howsoeuer it be true which the Apostle hath 1. Tim. 1.9, that Iusto non est posita lex, the law is not giuen to a righteous man, either ad condemnatio­nem, to condemne him who is free, as some interpret, or ad coactionem, to con­straine him who is willing to obay, as others vnderstand it: yet is there no man so free from sin, as that he is not there­by made euen the seruant of righteous­nesse, Rom. 6.18; neither is there any man so willing to obey, as that he hath not in himselfe a law rebelling against the [Page]law of his mind, and leading him captiue into the law of sinne. Rom. 7.23; yea, libe­rum Arbitrium, as Tho. Aquinas well noteth vpon the sixt to the Romanes, est semper seruum aut peccati aut gratiae, the free will of man is euer a seruant either of sinne or of grace: a seruant of sinne, and so vnder the curse of the law; a ser­uant of grace, and so vnder the obedience of the Gospell; I say vnder the obedience of the Gospell, because though it be life, and that, euerlasting, to know God, and whom he sent, Iesus Christ. Iohn. 17.3; yet we know no more than we beleeue, and we beleeue no more than we obey, yea, the couenant of grace, Circumcision is profitable, as the Apostle speaketh, if we doe the law. Rom. 2.25; and the Gospell, which in Christ taketh away the curse of the law, and so the strength of sinne (as the Law is called 1. Cor. 15.56) is so farre from taking away the dutie of the law, as that it addeth to our obedience, is as seuere against the affections, as the law [Page 15]against the actions of euill, maketh it theft to couet thy neighbours goods, and Murther to be angrie with thy brother, and Adulterie to looke vpon a woman to lust after her. Matth. 5, and treason to curse the king, though it be but in thy thought. Eccles. 10.20; restraineth not on­ly from euill, but from all apparance of euill. Thes. 5.22; condemneth not onely the cartropes of sinne, but the cords of va­nitie. Esay. 3.18; taketh a strict account Matth. 12.36, of euery, not onely wicked but idle, not onely deed but word, I may well adde thought also: which as it wa­sheth away, and purgeth vs of that slan­der which the church of Rome hath cast vpon our profession of the Gospell, as if by our doctrine of faith, which doth onely iustifie, we did let loose the reines of obedience, and bring in a libertie or rather loosenesse of life, vnworthie the Gospell; when in truth wee require as much, if not more, obedience than they, (though we require it, rather as a matter [Page]of dutie than of merit, and thereby de­nie them to haue faith with vs, who can speake as though they hated vice, and yet liue as though they hated vertue:) so doth it iustly condemne that idle and profunctorie hearing of sermons, which too many make the whole both dutie & fruit of their religion, as if they ought nothing but their eares vnto the Lord: whereas he who speaketh by the eare to the heart, speaketh to the eare but for the heart; and that we may both heare with reuerence, and beleeue vnto obe­dience, requireth a kind of circumcision both of the eare and of the heart, Deut. 10.16. yea he denounceth them to be of vncircumcised eares and vncircumcised hearts, who by not obeying the word, resist the holy-ghost, Act. 7.51: Which being so, that in matters of such moment, to neglect, is, to contemne, and not to obey the word, is, to resist the holy ghost, What shall we say of the mightie men of the earth, who thinke they doe God a fauor when they [Page 16]tread in his Courts, and a grace to his embassadours, when they lend their eares to an houres audience; but can no way yeeld, that the scepter of his king­dome, the Word, should haue a power to command their hearts? And hereof it is, that the Word especially in the courts of princes, hath in a manner lost the au­thoritie of the Word, is become rather an instructer than a correcter, a disputer than a commaunder; and thereby hath a power in some sort to make the good better, but hardly any power to make the euill good. For howsoeuer we may haue audience, if we come as suiters, and by way of entreatie, beseech, that you will be reconciled vnto God, 2. Cor. 3.20; yet if we come in the stile of a comman­der, 1. Thess. 4.11; or with a rod for the ad­uauncement of that kingdome, which is not in word but in power, 1. Cor. 4.21, what doe wee but beat the aire? where shall we find either eares patient of re­proofe, or hearts that will yeeld to haue [Page]their stonie hardnesse broken with the Hammer of the word, Hier. 23.29. Ephe. 6.17. and their inordinat lusts slaine with the sword of the spirit, which yet (if they will profit by it) is to enter to the deuiding asunder of the soule and of the spirit, and to the discerning of the thoughts and the entents of the heart. Heb. 4.12; and euen to captiue euery thought to the obedience of Christ. 1. Cor. 10.5. In which respect, that no heart should bee so prowd, as to breake the bands, and to cast away the cords of this obedience, he that requireth it as our dutie, & only requireth it for our good, doth also require it in the fulnesse of power, in as much as he requireth it as the Lord: for though he be most readie both to preuent and assist vs with his grace, to touch and enlarge our hearts with his spirit, that we may euen run the way of his commandements. Psal. 119.32; and say with S. Augustine, Da quod iubes, & iube quod vis: grant what thou com­maundest, and commaund what thou [Page 17]wilt; yet least in our frailetie we should run the riot of our corrupt nature, doth he stop our way, as the Prophet speaketh, with thornes, and hedge vs in from the beaten pathes of wickednesse, Hos. 2.6; that we may know him to be no lesse the Lord of power thā the God of grace, and assure our selues, that when he can­not persuade obedience with the golden scepter of his grace, he will proceed a­gainst disobedience with the yron Scep­ter of his wrath, and crush them in pieces euen like potters vessels, though they be neuer so mightie, that band themselues against him and his Christ. Psal. 2.2: for whom hath he lifted so farre aboue o­thers, as that he hath not left them be­low himselfe? How may the mightie thinke to breake through his lawes, as it were through the web of a spider, who bindeth kings with chaines, and nobles with linkes of yron? Psal. 149.8. How can there be any counsaile against the Lord? when no counsaile can steale a thought [Page]from his knowledge, what can all the monarchs of the world promise vnto themselues in those things wherein they are most mightie? when he holdeth the successe and euent of all things in his owne power, as his owne prerogatiue, that will they, nill they, they must de­pend vpon him; how may any wicked­nesse, though armed with authoritie, hope for a protection from his law, or imagine that the mountaines may co­uer it from his wrath, when there is no flying from his power, no peruerting of his law, no appeale from his iudgement? How much the more necessarie is it for all without exception, to enter into the heart of this meditation, and in the frail­tie of their condition, to acknowledge, not only that it is true wisdome to know the Good which he hath shewed, but also that it is perfect libertie to yeeld that obedience, which as the Lord he hath re­quired; that kings cast their crowns at his feet, & nobles seek their honor in his ser­uice, [Page 18]in as much as Deo servire est regnare, it is a very kingdome to serue the Lord: yea a kingdome that will deliuer them and set thē free from the tyrannie of their own affectiōs, which otherwise will rule and ouerrule both them and their king­doms, if they be not subdued by & to the kingdome of Christ; so shall nobles be more noble than they were borne, in as much as they shall be partakers of a new birth in Christ; and kings, greater kings than by their kingdomes, in as much as they shal be kings euen ouer themselues.

This which followeth, (with a brief repetitiō of that which goeth be­fore) was preached at Wilton.NOw that none, no not the moun­tains and mightie foundations of the earth, that is, the rulers and princes of the people, should flatter themselues, that they haue done all that is required, when they haue offered him a rich sacri­fice, thousands of rams, or tenne thousand riuers of oyle, as it were a ransome for their crueltie and oppression otherwise; which is truly called the sacrifice of fools, [Page]for they know not that they doe euill. Ec­cles. 4.17. hee specifieth the good which he hath shewed, and the dutie which as the Lord he hath required to reach vnto all the parts of a mans life, and chiefely to consist in that life of ciuile societie, To doe iustly, not in any such extremitie, as to turne iustice into wormewood, Amos. 5.7. but withall to loue Mercie, and so to haue both their Iustice and their Mercie seasoned with true religion and vnfained holinesse, as that they humble themselues to walk with their God. Which words implie a com­parison betweene sacrifices, which they knew to be their dutie toward God, and Iustice and Mercie, which they imagined to be but their duties towards men: not like that Matth. 23.23, of the lesser and greater things of the law, of which the re­solution is, these things ye ought to haue done, and not to haue left the other vn­done; but as of things which ought both to be done; and of the which there is in­deed neither done, if they be not both [Page 19]done, and that according as the Lord hath required: for as the iustice of Ari­stides is not vertue, but sinne, if without Faith, because whatsoeuer is not of faith, is sinne, Rom. 14.22: so the sacrifice of Cain, is not holinesse, but hypocrisie, if without the loue of his brother, because if any man say I loue God, and hate his bro­ther, he is a lyar, 1. Ioh. 4.20: and there­fore as a morall or ciuile honestie is not acceptable vnto saluation, vnlesse it be sanctified with the true worship of the liuing God, so can they no way be said to worship the liuing God in truth, whose holinesse is not expressed euen in their morall and their ciuile duties. For he who requireth the entire seruice of the whole heart, and so of the whole man in all things: as he cannot endure a heart and a heart, a heart deuided be­tweene him and the world, so neither doth he accept this part or that part for the whole seruice which is due vnto him, either preaching without praying, [Page]or praying without preaching, or both without a religious conuersation. For what need hath he of our religious ser­uice, that he should require it, but for our good? What can the sacrificing euen of thousands of Rams be vnto him, of whom it is said, Psal. 50.10, all the beasts of the forrest are mine, and the cattell vp­on a thousand mountaines, that either it should suffice and go for all that is other­wise to be done, or be a cloake for that which is done amisse? when in compa­rison of that which is otherwise to bee done, he not onely esteemeth the know­ledge of God, better than sacrifice, Hos. 6.6, the praising of his name better than a young bullocke, which hath hornes and hoofes, Psal. 69.31; obedience better than the fat of rams, 1. Sam. 15.22; the loue of God with all the heart, and thy neighbour as thy selfe, better than all burnt offerings, Marc. 12.33; but also professeth, that he will haue mercie, and not sacrifice. Mat. 9.13; he will haue a contrite heart, and not [Page 20]sacrifices, Psal. 51.16; and though hee otherwise haue required them, yet in comparison he speaketh, Es. 1.11, What haue I to do with the multitude of your sa­crifices, who hath required them at your hands? nay, he who in comparison of that which he more requireth, is said not to require them; is so farre from en­during them to be clokes of euill doing, as that he hateth and detesteth them in euill doers: Your oblations are in vaine, your incense an abhomination vnto mee; my soule hateth your solemne feasts; who hath required you to tread in my courts? when you lift vp your hands, I will hide mine eyes, though you make many prayers, I will not heare, for your hands are full of bloud. Es. 1.13. Which as it cannot but vnmaske Hypocrisie, when she shall see Holinesse it selfe to bee no pretence or cloke for sinne, but that the prayers of the sinfull are an abhomination, Es. 1.15; and that to prophane hearts the word of life, is the sauour of death vnto death. [Page]2. Cor. 2.16; and the vnworthie receiuing of the Sacrament, the eating and drinking of their owne damnation, 1. Cor. 11.29; yea that to a transgressour of the law, circum­cision is made vncircumcision, Rom. 2.25; so doth it direct all hearts to that which is the one end of all their holy duties, the fruit of holinesse in themselues, to the sacrifice of a broken heart and a con­trite spirit, Psal 51.17; to the offering vp of our bodies, a liuing sacrifice, Rom. 12.1; in the which as Gregorie speaketh, Non aliena caro sed propria voluntas mactatur, not beasts but our beastly affections are staine vnto him, to the rendering of the calfes of our lips, Hos. 14.3; which is in­terpreted to be the fruit of the lips, which confesse his name, Heb. 13.15; in a word to that which in this place he hath shew­ed to be good, and to be the thing which as the Lord he requireth, namely, to doe iustly and to loue Mercie, and to humble thy selfe to walke with thy God. And sure­ly, when a man is made, as one noteth, [Page 21] Deum cognoscendo diuinus, deum imitan­do Deus, diuine by the knowledge, by the imitation of God, partaker of the di­uine nature; I doe not say how can sa­crifice be more acceptable, but what sa­crifice can be so acceptable to God, as that of Iustice, in the which, they that come neere vnto him, become as the prophet speaketh, gods among men. Psal. 82.1. A vertue which the heathen did acknow­ledge to bee mentem Dei, the mind of God, Harmoniam Coeli, the harmonie of heauen, and Concordiam mundi, the con­cord of the world; yea a concord of dis­cords, in as much as by a Geometricall proportion it is the temper of contrary elements in the world, of contrarie hu­mours in the bodie, of contrarie affecti­ons in the soule, and of contrarie facti­ons in the common-wealth, and so gi­ueth euery one his owne, as is for the greatest good of euery one in particu­lar, and the whole in generall: that as in naturall things, the fire may not vse his [Page]power to consume the aire; nor the water breake his bounds to ouerflow the earth, but the one must serue the good of another, and all ioyne to the good of the whole: so in the societies of men, the higher in place may not thinke it power, to oppresse inferiours; or greatnesse, to draw all vnto them­selues; but know, that it is power to rule by the lawes of Iustice, and that for greatnesse, dimidium est plus toto (as a good schoolemaster of their owne poli­cies hath taught them) halfe is more than all: yea, that they are more safelie great, when their subiects haue a right in their lawes vnder them, than when by the vnlimitted power of a Praeroga­tiue, they deriue all to their owne will and pleasure. For howsoeuer it is the mi­serie of princes, to haue such flatterie dwelling in their eares, as will peruert goodnesse it selfe, and rather tell them, how great they are, than how good they should be; howsoeuer they abound [Page 22]about them, who will not spare to giue them that counsaile which the Nobles of Persia gaue Cambyses, when hee had a mind to marrie his owne sister, that though there were no direct law for the marying of his sister, there was law inough for him to doe what he listed: yet if that stranger in the eares of princes, Truth, might be heard, which in a loue to their good, is no enemie to their greatnesse, it would bee euident, that it is Quiddam maius imperio submittere legibus princi­patum, as Theodosius the good emperor was wont to say; to submit their power vnto lawes, is a greater greatnesse than to be a king: that as Agesilaus affirmeth in Plutarch, he is Rex maior qui Iustior, the greater, that is the iuster king; that facere recte ciues suos princeps optimus fa­ciendo docet, cum{que} sit imperio maximus exemplo maior est, Lib. 2. as Velleius Paterculus recordeth, a good prince doth teach his subiects to doe well by doing well, and though he be greatest by his place, is yet [Page]greater by his example. Indeed as a peo­ple is but a burthen to it selfe, and a prey to others, Simens illa imperij subtrahatur, as Seneca speaketh, if it haue not a king, as the life and soule of gouernement; so remota iustitia (to vse the words of Saint Augustine) quid sunt regna nisi magna latrocinia? What are kingdomes, but great oppressions without iustice; by the which the throne of the King is esta­blished, Pro. 16.12; and which there is a necessitie euen for wicked princes to loue and maintaine, Si non propter seip­sam, tamen propter seipsos, if not for it selfe, yet for themselues, that so they may vphold euen that greatnesse of theirs, which many of them more seeke than the good of their people. For whereas Iniustice doth purchase them but false friends, euen of such, as reape the bene­fit of their iniustice; Iustice hath a power to conquer hatred, ac hostes perinde at­trahit vt magnes ferrum, as Constantinus Manasses writeth, hath no lesse power [Page 23]to reconcile enemies, than the loadstone hath to draw Iron: yea (that which is the reason of both) there is not a greater sympathie betweene the loadstone and yron, than betweene Iustice and the heart of man, which cannot but loue Iustice in those whom it hateth, & hateth the im­putation of no crime so much as of in­iustice, as we may see by him in the Co­medie, Leno sum fateor periurus perni­cies communis adoloscentium tamen tibi a me nulla facta est iniuria; I am a wicked and periured person, and a common cor­rupter of yong men, but yet I neuer did you any wrong: as if it were no matter what we did, so we did no wrong; yea, as if it were the nature of the heart to doe as we would be done vnto, and no­thing so vnnaturall, as to be vniust. For this cause hath antiquitie tearmed them monstra hominum, rather monsters than men, that without all either loue of iu­stice, or care of their people, haue not spared to say with Caligula, Mihi ominia [Page]& in omnes licent, it is lawfull for me to doe all things to all men, or with Tibe­rius, Me mortuo igne terra misceatur, let the world bee consumed with fire, when I am dead; or as Nero corrected it, but to the worse, Imo me viuo, let it be so while I am aliue. Which kind of ru­lers neuer come abroad, but the people flie them, as Seneca speaketh, tanquam noxium animal è cubili procedens, as if some venomous serpent or rauenous wolfe came out of his den: whereas to a prince of iustice and mercie, such as Ti­tus was, whom they tearmed, Amorem & delicias humani generis, the loue and delight of mankind, tanquam ad clarum & benificum Sidus certatim aduolant, they striue to flocke as to the bright and comfortable starre of their happinesse. And surely, howsoeuer the place of go­uernment doth command both the bo­die and the goods, and carry that which the Apostle calleth [...], an eie seruice, Colos. 3.21: it is Iustice, and [Page 24]onely Iustice that draweth the heart, and maketh men, eadem secreto de principe loqui quae palam, as Seneca noteth, to speake as well in secret as openly of the prince, and to yeeld such an obedience, as is of conscience, and not of feare. But that Iustice which is called regnia virtu­tum, the queene of vertues; and vnicu­lum ciuitatum, the band of ciuile socie­tie; and hath indeed a kingdome in the hearts of men; is not to doe Iusta, the things that are iust, which vniust men may vniustly doe; but as the Propht spe­cifieth in this place, to doe iustly: which requireth the mind of iustice in the doer, the rules of iustice in the things done, and the end of iustice in the doing. The mind of iustice in the doer, because Rex est viua lex, the king is and ought to be a liuing law, as Aristotle tearmeth him: a law, and therefore iust; liuing, and therefore in­tending the execution of Iustice: yea, the king is not so properly to bee tear­med iust, as Iustice it self; because his will [Page]as Gregorie Nazianzene speaketh, is [...],Claudian. an vnwritten law, Nec sie infectere sensus humanos edicta valent ac vita regentis, neither are the hearts of people so easily turned and carried with the dead letter of a written law, as with that life of law, Iustice liuing in the life of the prince. For as Augustine filled them empire with learned men, Tiberius with dissemblers, Nero with musitions, Commodus with fencers, Constantine with Christians, Iulian with scorners of Chri­stianitie: so is it a rule without excepti­on, Rex velit honesta nemo non eadem velit, that if the heart of the king be set vpon honest things, the hartes of all o­thers will be set vpon the same things with him. And this mind of Iustice in the King, quasi in primo motere, as in that highest Sphere, in whose power the o­ther Spheres of authoritie haue their power to commaund, will make it a care aboue all his cares, not onely to place such in authoritie vnder him, as [Page 25]shall be men of courage, fearing God, dea­ling truly, and hating couetousnesse, Exod. 18.21; but also to deliuer and ease his kingdome of such magistrates as shall sell themselues to worke wickednesse, 1. King. 21.25 and bring vpon the state & common-wealth a burthen more intollerable than the ty­ranie of any king, as it were many kings, to oppresse and tyrannise ouer his peo­ple. Out of the mind of iustice in the doer, will follow a due care of the rules of iu­stice in the things done; that they haue open eares to the iust complaints of vn­iust dealing, least they heare that which a simple woman told Alexander, when he lightly regarded her petition, Si non vacat noli igitur imperare; why art thou a king, if thou haue no leasure, or if it be not thy pleasure to heare causes? That they haue an eare for the plaintife, and an eare for the defendant,Seneca in Medea. because Qui statuit aliquid parte inauditae alterae aequū licet statuerit, haud aequus fuit, He that decreeth for either part, before both [Page]parts be heard, howsoeuer his decree may happen to be iust, he himselfe can­not but be held vniust. 3. That in hearing of causes, they be not enclining either to the right hand of loue, or to the left hand of hatred, to beleeue arguments of persuasion for a friend, before argumēts concluding for an enemie; but without all respect of persons or reward, they be free and cleere from hauing the ballances of deceit in their hands, or the treasures of wickednesse in their houses, Mich. 6.10.4. That they suffer not their lawes either by the multitude of constitutions to bee snares to good minds, or by the cauils and quirkes of mercenarie wits, to bee peruerted to bad purposes; but make them rather commanders than disputers, rather to the execution of iustice, thā to the cases of contention. 5. That the euer­waking eye of iustice doe not so much as winke at sinne, but know that reus est incendij qui ignem non restring int, as Cle­ment Alexandrinus speaketh, he setteth [Page 26]the citie on fire, that goeth not about to quench it, and doth as it were, bid, that doth not forbid to sin. 6. That regia men­sura, Plutarch. in Agesilao. the kings measure, as Iustice is cal­led, be not denied the meanest of his sub­iects, but all personall respects laid aside the cause of the poore and needie, may come in equall ballance with the rich and mightie. Neither yet hath this mind of Iustice in the doer, or these rules of Iu­stice in the things done, their full perfecti­on, but in the end; namely, that in the doing of Iustice, nothing be sought but the true end, that neither the reward of vertue be made the gift of fauour, nor the punishment of vice a meane to re­uenge, but the mind of Iustice in the doer according to the true rules of Iustice in the things done, seeke the true end of Iu­stice in the doing, to yeeld euery one his owne.

Which is not, as some doe both mi­stake it and abuse it, to thinke that there is Summa Iustitia in summo iure, the best [Page]of Iustice in the extremitie of law, but so to doe iustly, as that withall they loue mercie. A vertue, which howsoeuer it may seeme to be opposit to Iustice, doth not so much peruert, as season and tem­per it to that golden meane, whereby it may be seuere against sinne, and yet mercifull to a sinner. For as Chrysostome noteth, vpon Matthew, Iustice without mercie, is not iustice, but crueltie: as on the other side, mercie without iustice, is not mercie, but foolish pitie: and therfore are they the one to serue and helpe the other, as Augustine prescribeth, Vt salsi­tudinem correctionis amor Christi tempe­ret & dilectionem proximi sal Iustitia condicit; that both the saltnesse of cor­rection may be tempered with the loue of Christ, and the loue of our neighbor seasoned with the salt of Iustice: yea, as Ambrose noteth, they are both necessa­rie, Altera vt disciplina seruetur altera ne innocentia opprimittur, the one, that discipline be kept, the other, that inno­cencie [Page 27]be not oppressed: for it hath the experience of too many ages, that both Innocencie hath beene often wounded, yea slaine, when the sword of Iustice hath beene whet against it with enuie and mallice; and the crying sinnes of prophane hearts haue gone vnpunished, when partialitie (which is euer inclining to the worser part) hath abated the edge of the sword of Iustice, and made it dull against them. Wherein though it better stand with the rules of Iustice, to spare the wicked, than to punish the in­nocent, yea, to pardon many wicked, than to condemne one that is innocent; yet, bonis nocet quisquis pepercerit malis, Publius. he promiseth the good, that doth not promise the wicked; neither doth the loue of Mercie in this place take away the seueritie, but the wormewood and acerbitie of Iustice: when the mightie haue bones like lyons without marrow, when they lay wait for bloud, and hunt their brother with a net, Mich. 7.2; when [Page]they dig pits (which wee call plots) for the soules of others, Hier. 18.20; and do not thinke the cup of Iustice bitter ynough, vnlesse it be mingled with their gall, which is Iustitiam non valde sed ni­mium velle, not to affect or will Iustice ynough, but too much; according to that difference which Vellius Paterculus giueth of the natures of Brutus and Cas­sius: Quicquid voluit valde voluit Bru­tus, nimium Cassius; in altero maior vis, in altero virtus; Brutum amicum habere malles magis inimicum timeres Cassium; whatsoeuer Brutus would; hee much would it; Cassius too much; that which was vertue in Brutus, was violence in Cassius, a man would rather wish Bru­tus to be his friend, but more feare Cas­sius to be his enemie. Cic. ep. ad q. frairem. And surely, as there is Nihil tam deforme; quam ad summum imperium acerbitatem natura adiungere, no such deformitie, as to haue a bitter nature ioyned with authoritie; because nisi miti princeps sit ingenio quic­quid Iac. Typetius [Page 28] infuderis acessit, vnlesse the prince bee of a mild disposition, whatsoeuer wine you poure into him, will turne to vineger; so for the fruit of such a go­uernment, it falleth out which Salust obserueth, that Acerbis iudicijs ciuitas magis vastatur quam corrigitur, with bit­ter iudgementes a citie is sonner wasted than reformed. How much the greater wisedome is there required in this tem­per, that the sinewes of gouernment be neither remitted with too much lenitie, nor intended with too much seueritie; that neither all things nor nothing bee made lawfull; that neither the prince decline too much on the right hand, to marre the citie with foolish pitie, nor too much on the left, to bee like vnto Tiberius, of whom Tacitus noteth, that he was Cupidine seueritatis in his etiam quae recte faceret, acerbus, in a desire to bee seuere, bitter euen in those things which he did well: in a word, that nei­ther he chastise offenders with that in­dulgence [Page]of old Ely to his vngratious sonnes, Doe no more so, neither yet with Roboam adde affliction to affliction,1. Sam. 22.24 1. King. 12.14. My father laid an heauie yoke vpon you, I will make it heauier; my little finger shall be bigger than his loynes; he chastised you with rods, I will correct you with scorpions: but doe iustly, and loue mercie, that is, be mercifully iust, and iustly mercifull: which the way to doe is, as Agapetus aduised Iustinian, Vti regno hoc inferiore vt scala fiat superioris, to vse the king­dome of the earth as a ladder vnto the kingdome of heauen, and so by the first step, which is humilitie, to rise in degrees as it were from vertue to vertue to walke with their God. In which point the spirit of God is euer like it selfe to direct vs vn­to him both as the Author and the Fi­nisher of our faith, Heb. 12.2. to make in the [...] of our instruction to learne of him, and the [...] of our perfection to walke with him: that seeing Godlines (as Philo speaketh) is the root of all vertues, euen as God the Au­thor [Page 29]of all things; seeing as S. Augustine teacheth, Omnia Christiananorum officia sunt sacrificia, all the offices of Christians are sacrifices, all their duties holy duties; we make not a diuorce betweene God­linesse, and our ciuile dutie, either in the persons, as if Sanctitas pietas fides, Seneca in Thyeste. were priuata bona, holinesse, godlinesse, and religion, were but for priuate per­sons: or in the matter, as if it were a tol­lerable rule, alijs in rebus pietatem Co­las; Caesar. Cic. in offic. in other matters I will be religious, but mine honour if not my gaine, my profit if not my pleasure, must haue an exception: or in the place, as if there were no question of that principle of the court, exeataula qui vult esse pius, Lucan de bel. ciu. lib. 8. godli­nesse is no good courtier, religion too simple to bee a counsellour: but rather as our callings are more publike, so we striue to be more holy, and holy in all manner of conuersation. 1. Pet. 1.15. Yea so holy, that not onely the voyce of piety be heard in the chappels and clossets; [Page]but also the face of pietie be seene in the presence, and the heart of pietie dwell in the most priuy chambers of the courts of princes. Wherein it cannot but be a matter of great difficultie that either Pride which (as we cōmonly say) is born a courtier, should forget her greatnesse, to become religious; or Humility, which is the foundation of true religion, should in a manner leaue to be her selfe, and be­come a courtier. Yet is there no power so great, but if it will walke with God, it must be humbled vnder the mighty hand of God, 1. Pet. 5.6; and though Humilitas honorata as Bernard calleth it, an humble mind in an honorable place, bee the ra­rest, yet is it the best of vertues, and an enemie not to the greatnesse, but the swelling, not to the honour but the pride of a courtier, when he forgetteth God to be God, and himselfe to be a man. When thou wast little in thine owne eyes, I made thee king ouer Israel, saith God by the Prophet vnto Saul; but because thou [Page 30]hast cast away the word of the Lord, the Lord hath cast away thee, & rent the king­dome of Israel from thee this day, & giuen it to a neighbor of thine which is better thē thou. 1. Sa. 13.28. so true it is that howso­euer this world be made (as the Spanish prouerbe hath) for the presumptuous; & value men at their owne rate, as they are best conceited of themselues: there is no way to the kingdome of heauen, but by the gate of Humilitie, when we haue no opinion of our owne wisdome; no confi­dence in our own power; no hope in our own works; but denie our selues that we may professe Christ: & euen forsake our selues, that we may walke with our God: which is that fruit of sanctificatiō, which being rooted in Humilitie, doth spread it self in euery part of our life, & make eue­ry action of ours, both priuat & publike, to yeeld a sauour of God, and a taste of godlinesse. For the Lord is with vs while we be with him: & if we seeke him he will be found of vs, but if we forsake him he will [Page]forsake vs. 2. Chro. 15.2. So as howso­euer we talke of God, as of one that hath his seat in heauen; of heauen, as of an­other world; of the kingdome of heauen; as of a kingdome to come; yet must God dwell in vs, and we in him, if wee will walke with him; and though wee be imploied and conuersant about the things of this world, yet as citisens of that Hierusalem which is aboue, we are to conuerse in heauen, Phil. 3.20; neither can we be partakers of that kingdome of glory, which is to come, vnlesse the kingdome of his grace be begun in vs: yea kings aboue others must hold their scepters by his, and wear their earthly crownes, in hope of that crowne which is of immortalitie: and though they haue their people so loyall and willing to obey them, as to say, as they doe vn­to Gedeon, Iudg. 8.22; Raigne thou ouer vs, both thou and thy sonne and thy sonnes sonne, yet must their resolution be like Gedeons in the same place, Not I, but [Page 31]the Lord shall raigne ouer you: and then doth the Lord raigne ouer them, when they raigne ouer their people in the Lord, and fashion both their priuat and their publike actions to that patterne of a good king, which Dauid proposeth vnto himselfe, Psal. 101: Where he pro­fesseth, that because the chiefe parts of a Kings dutie are Mercy and Iudgement, mercy to the good, and iudgement to the wicked; his delight shall be of mer­cie and iudgement, I will sing of mercie and iudgement: Psal. 101. v. 1. yea he will so delight in them, as that he will sing them vnto the Lord, vnto thee ô Lord will I sing: as knowing himselfe bound to make him, who was the Author of his good, the end of his wel doing. From which gene­rally, he descendeth to more particuler parts of his dutie, how he will walke in respect of himselfe; how in respect of others: in respect of himselfe, He will walke in the perfect way, which is his godlinesse; he will walke in the vpright­nesse [Page]of his heart, which is his innocen­cie; he will walk warily, which is his wis­dome; his godlinesse, as the root of al his princely vertues, he groundeth vpon the comming of his God to iudgement, I wil walke in the perfect way, vntill thou com­mest to me: as being wel assured, that ther is nothing so sure as his comming, no­thing so heauy as the iudgemēt to come, & therfore nothing so needfull, as to liue godly vntill his comming. To his godli­nesse he ioyneth his Innocencie and inte­gritie of life, I will walke in the vpright­nesse of mine heart, and not vnfitly, be­cause without a good conscience the ship­wracke of faith is easily made, 1. Tim. 1.19; but such an integritie as shall be found not abroad only, and in the eies of men, but within his wals, and be knowne to him, who is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, I will walke in the vprightnesse of mine heart, in the middest of mine house; and because pietie [Page 32]and integritie are in continuall danger, by occasions of euill without, by tentati­ons of euill within, his pietie and integri­tie shall be guarded with wisdome; a wis­dome that for occasions without shall make a couenant with his eies, that they behold no euill, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes; 3 a couenant with his heart, that it delight not int he workes of the wicked, I hate the worke of them that fall away, it shall not cleaue vnto me. For tentations within, his wisedome will be watchfull ouer his will, that he affect no euill, 4 a froward heart shall depart from me, watchfull ouer his vnderstanding, that hee bee not so much as acquainted with it, I will know none euill. Howbeit, because it is not ynough for any Christi­an, much lesse for publick persons to be godly, to be sincere, to be wise, vnto them­selues; therefore he farther addeth, how the king ought to carrie himselfe in re­spect of others, and that in three sorts, how to such as haue accesse vnto him; [Page]how to such as he vseth either in his go­uernment, or in his familie; how toward all that are subiect vnto him: for such as haue accesse vnto him, he will be care­fully circumspect against two pernitious plagues of a princes court, the malitiou­sly slanderous, and the ambitiously proud: the malitiously slanderous he will cut off, because he vseth the tongue which was giuen for one man to benefit another, to hurt, and that him whom he should loue as himselfe, his neighbour; and that priuily and behind the backe, for malice neuer durst look vertue in the face: Him that priuily slandereth his neighbour, 5 will I destroy, and worthily, because thereby it commeth to passe, that vertue hath many times no other reward than Cum bene feceris male audire, for doing well, to heare ill. The ambitiously prowd, whe­ther it be in the vanitie of loftie eyes, or in the swelling of an aspiring heart, the one as nothing profitable to himself, the other as dangerous to the state, he will [Page 33]not endure; Him that hath a proud looke and a swelling heart, I cannot suffer, and rightly, because for the one, Superbia cum innoxia est, molesta esse non desint, as Thucidides obserueth, Pride is offensiue euen when it is harmelesse; and for the other, the rule of ambition is, aut Caesar aut nihil, as good to be last, as not first. For such as he vseth in his gouernment, they are of two sorts, counsailors and in­feriour officers; for counsailors, he will not be so selfe-willed, as to take no coun­saile, but of his owne will; he will haue others to sit with him, and those other shall be Veraces terrae, the true and faith­full of the land: True and faithfull, that they may make a conscience of their counsailes; of the land, and as hauing bet­ter experience of their owne estate than strangers: and they shall not be taken for fauour, but hee will vse the eyes of his iugdement in the choice of them, Mine eyes shall be vpon the true & faith­full of the land that they may sit with me. 6 [Page]For inferiour officers who are to exe­cute his counsailes, he will be very care­full that they walke in the perfect way or way of godlinesse; that it may be a re­ligion to them, not to goe beyond their commission, and a matter of conscience not to oppresse his subiects, he that wal­keth in the perfect way, hee shall serue me. For such as he vseth in his family, he will haue no lesse care, that neither the de­ceitfull dwell with him, nor the teller of lies haue any grace in his sight; 7 There shall no deceitfull person dwell within my house, he that telleth lies stall not remaine in my sight: and necessarily, because such persons publica in publicum, regia in re­gem authoritate abutuntur, doe com­monly abuse publike authorite against the publike good, and the kings authority euen against the king, to whom nothing can be so honorable, as to leaue that te­stimonie of Nehemiah, Nehemi. 5.15. I haue not like the former gouernours beene chargeable vnto the people, I made not my seruants [Page 34]lords ouer them, and this I did because I feared the Lord; Lastly for all that are subiect vnto him, because he doth not beare the sword in vaine, Rom. 13.4, hee will destroy and that with our exception, all the wicked of the land; and that betimes in the morning, because in the corrupti­ons of states and times euery one day addeth to the wickednesse of another; and for no other cause but that which is the end of all, that he may root out all wicked doers from the citie of the Lord: betimes will I destroy all the wicked of the land, 8 that may cut off all the workers of iniquitie from the citie of the Lord. Now the king that shall make it his whole stu­dy, to proportion himselfe to this pat­terne, to sing of mercy & iudgement vnto the Lord, to be in respect of himselfe so godly, as to walke in the perfect way, vntil the comming of God to iudgement; so sin­cere, as to walke in the vprightnesse of his heart euen within his dores; so wise, as to preuent occasions of euill without, ten­tations [Page]of euill within; and in respect of others, so carefull, as to giue no accesse either to the tongue of malice, or the heart of pride; to chuse for his counsai­lors the true and faithfull, for the execu­tioners of his counsailes, the religious of the land; to banish the deceitfull person and the lier out of his familie, and in all his dominions, as euill persons dayly in­crease, dayly and early to cut them off from the citie of God: shall find it, not onely to be the art of arts, but also the benefit of benefits, to rule both himselfe and his people according to this rule; not only as a rule of Christianitie for the saluati­on of his soule, but also as a rule of go­uernment for the good of his people; which I shall the lesse need to applie, be­cause I speake this day in the hearing of such a king, as like another Dauid hath written to himselfe and his posteritie, a patterne of good gouernment, in that which hee calleth [...], a princely gift, as being indeed, as good a [Page 35]legacie to the Prince his sonne, as the very kingdomes that he shall leaue vnto him; and which will no doubt bring many blessings vpon himselfe & his roy­all line, and euery of his kingdomes, if it be as well practised, as it is well written. The rather because therein he expresseth himselfe and assureth the world, that the law of God shall be a law to his lawes, he will referre himselfe to that which he hath shewed; and that he may be the bet­ter scholler of such a master, he will re­member, that though he be a God vpon earth, yet he must learne, in the frailtie of his cōdition how God hath shewed vn­to him a man; not only what is good in it selfe, to kinde his loue & zeale to good­nesse; but also, what he requireth as the Lord, to waken his heart to a care of it, as of his dutie & obedience vnto the Lord: that seeing the good which hee hath shewed, and the duty which as the Lord he hath required, is, to doe iustly, as with­out the which there is no gouernment; [Page] to loue mercy, as without the which iu­stice is crueltie; to humble himselfe to walke with his God, as without the which there is neither true iustice nor true mer­cy; his Iustice may be tempered with the loue of mercy, & both seasoned with that honinesse, which in all his actions may humble him to walke with his God; that true religion and vnfeined holinesse be­ing the eye of wisdome in his counsaile, the eare of iustice in his magistrates, the hand of vallor in his nobles, the tongue of persuation in his preachers, the head of gouernment in himselfe, & the heart of obedience in his people, it may be the life of his lawes, and the strength of his Realmes; and so build his kingdomes vpon the kingdome of Christ, that both he & his people may be brought by the life of grace vnto the life of glory; which the God of glory graunt, in the grace of his sonne Christ, to whom with the Fa­ther & the holy Ghost be all honor and glory now and for euermore, Amen.

¶ A fruitfull meditation vpon the sickenesse, wherewith it pleased God to visit the first yeere of his Maiesties Raigne: preached before the King at Whitehall, the 23. of March, being the last day of his first yeere.

Michah. 6.13.

Therefore will I make thee sicke in smi­ting thee, and in making thee desolate because of thy sinnes.

IN the iudgements of God for sinne, and vp­pon sinners, which are as Saint Augustine no­teth, though sometimes open, sometimes secret, yet euer iust; the wisedome of the world [Page]is subiect to many errors, as well for the true cause, Therefore, as for the true Au­thor will I; making, rather euery thing than their owne sinnes, the ergo or there­fore, and rather euery second and natu­rall cause, thē the guide of nature, or the cause of causes, the Author of their pu­nishments; whereof it is, that they haue no conceit of extraordinary iudge­ments as of the rod of God, wherewith he professed, I will smite, and make sicke in smiting: & lesse apply that circumstance of the person, thee; Will I make thee sicke in smiting thee; but as it is obserued in common cares, that Quae ab omnibus cu­rantur ab ominibus negliguntur, euery mans care is no mans care; so in com­mon calamities, as those of Warre and Famine, or this of the Pestilence euery one thinketh to prouide for one; & the generalitie of the punishmēt doth make vs to haue the lesse sence of the punish­ment, and thereby the lesse care to turne euery one from our euill wayes, and to [Page 37]returne vnto the Lord our God. How­beit, if when we see the God of nature, to breake the order and ordinarie course, of nature,Ecc [...]es. 48.3.and either to shut vp the hea­uens as hee did in the daies of Eliah, that they shall not yeeld their ordinary bles­sing; or to curse the land as he did in the time of Iacob and Ioseph,Gen. 4.53.that it shall not yeeld and ordinarie increase; or as we now feele him, to draw that sword of his wrath, the Pestilence, which may corrupt the aire, and breath of our life, with an extraordinarie contagion vnto death; we did but remember, that he who cur­sed the earth for the sinne of man, Gen. 3.17, doth neuer breake that ordinary law which he hath giuen to his other crea­tures for the seruice of man, but onely when man doth extraordinarily breake the lavv of his God; neuer make the breath of one body to be poyson to an­other, but when by the like contagion, the sinne of one soule is the death of another: we should not need any deepe [Page]search for the true cause of our visitation at this time; as euery ones owne heart tel­leth him, that in his priuat sinnes he hath deserued his part of this punishment: so those crying sinnes which raigne a­mongst vs, proclaime to the world that it is high time,Rom. 1.18. the wrath of God should be reuealed from heauen, vpon the vngod­linesse and vnrighteousnesse of this vn­thankefull land: and that as the prophet proueth in the former part of this chap­ter, because the Lord hath a quarell a­gainst the mountaines, and mightie foun­dations of the earth, a quarell against his people, vers. 2; because the treasures of wickednesse are in the house of the wicked, and the balance of deceipt and the scant measure which is abhominable, vers. 10, and 11; because the rich men are full of crueltie, and the inhabitants haue spoken lies, and their tongue is de­ceitfull in their mouth, vers. 12: therefore (as it followeth in the 13) euen there­fore, not as irreligious persons, who look [Page 38]no farther then into second cause, doe fondly imagine this or that eclipse, this or that coniunction of this or that pla­net, but a power aboue all powers, which can make the heauen that is ouer vs to be as brasse, and the earth that is vn­der vs to be as iron, Deut. 28.23; and the aire that is about vs to be as poyson, or (to vse the words of the Psalmist) as the snare of the hunter, with terrors of death walking by night, and the arrowes of sicke­ness flying by day, Psal. 91. vers. 5. and 6; I, euen I; saith the Lord; howsoeuer I haue hitherto borne, and forborne with a patience beyond all partience; yet now that there is a necessitie, that the sinfull nation heare the rod and who hath appoin­ted it, vers. 9; will I smite, year, make sicke in smiting; not the poore onely, who as yet do chiefly, if not only; beare the heat of this iudgement: but thee euen thee, without exception; Therfore will I make thee sicke in smiting thee; and that I may proportion my iudgements to thy [Page]contempts, extraordinarie punishments to extraordinatie sinnes; desolation to abhomination, will I make thee desolate, yea desolate will I make thee, and all for thy sinnes, euen for thy sinnes. A medita­tion if euer and for any, now and for vs most necessary, that for the iust cause of the plague amongst vs, we seeke no o­ther then our owne sinnes, and for the true Author of this iudgement, we looke farther then into second causes; and for the iudgement it selfe, we looke vpon it as vpon the rod of God his wrath wher­with he smiteth; and for the better ap­plying of his iustice to our deserts, wee looke not so much one vpon the faults of another, as euery one into his owne heart; and so blame no body but our selues, that the sinnes of our long peace are smitten with noysome sickenesse; and withall be assured, that if we meet him not with repentance in the way, he will poure out the dregs of his wrath to make vs desolate, because wee are [Page 39]securely setled vpon the lees of our sinnes.

And first, for the true cause either of God his wrath, or man his punishment, whither may wee goe but to our owne sinnes? The sinne of the first man was the first breach that euer was made be­tweene God and man; and euer since as men in sinne haue more and more a­bounded, so haue they bene more and more deuided from their God, that howsoeuer in the riches of that mercy, whereby God hath loued euen sinfull man in his beloued, Ephe. 1.6, he be con­tent to remoue our sinnes as farre from vs as the East is from the West, Psal. 103.12; yet in that nature of his iustice, wher­by he is of pure eyes, Habac. 1.13, and cannot behold, much lesse endure the thing that is euill: our sinnes doe as much separate and deuide vs from him, Es. 59. 2, as he is ready vpon our repentance to remoue our sinnes from vs. For this is that admirable temper of his Iustice [Page]and Mercie, who is both infinitly merci­full and infinitly iust, that as in Christ he loueth a sinner, so he hateth sin euen in a Christian. And though there be no con­demnation to thē that are in Christ Iesus, Rome. 8.1, but their sins, yea their heinous sinnes, washed in the innocent blood of that immaculat lambe, are made of crim­son like snow, and of scarlet like wooll, Es. 1.18; yet is there correction, and that of sons, Heb. 12.7, which must begin at the house of God, 1. Pet. 4.17, & doth proceed with many stripes, where the wil of the master is known, Luk. 12.47: that though the death of Christ haue fully satisfied for all out sins, and borne the extremitie of whatso­euer either the law of God could lay a­gainst vs, or the wrath of God would lay vpon vs; yet hath it left no libertie to build our sins vpon his death, but rather laid a necessitie to burie our sinnes in his death, least by turning the grace of God, as Iude noteth, vers. 4, into wantonnesse (I speake an horrible thing) we crucifie him [Page 40]gaine with our sinnes, Hebr. 6.6, who for our sinnes hath already bene crucified; and so heape vnto our selues wrath against the day of wrath, Rome. 2.5. For as in the creation, the disobedience of the crea­ture made the Creator to hate the work of his owne hands, yea that work which he saw to be good, and very good, Gen. 1.31; and not so onely, but when the sinne of man did multiply with man, & grow a burthen to the earth, in as much as all the thoughts of his heart were euill, and that continually, to repent him that he had made man, Gene. 6.6: so in the reconci­liation of the world, by that blessed seed of the cursed woman, the peace that was made betweene God and man, did not stretch so farre as to conclude a peace betweene God and sinne; but he who in Christ was content to be recon­ciled to his enemies, is yet at enmitie with their sinnes; and though he for­giue great sinnes in Christ, yet doth hee punish little sinnes in Christians; yea [Page]the frailties and infirmities of the godly doe greeue and make sad the holy spirit of God, whereby they are sealed vnto the day of redemption, Ephe. 4.30; as the retch­lesse contempts, and presumptuous blas­phemies of the wicked, are sayd to de­spite the spirit of grace, Hebr. 10.29. And albeit the blood of Christ doe continu­ally cry vnto God for vs, and speake bet­ter things than the blood of Abel, Heb. 12.21; yet doth it not so possesse his eares that hee can heare no crie against vs; but our sinnes, yea our secret sinnes, will goe vp, and that with open mouth vnto him, and neuer cease crying in the eare of his iustice, vntill they awake him, as it were out of the sleepe of his long suffe­ring; that no Caine shall murther his brother Abel, but the voyce of his bro­thers blood shall cry vnto God from the earth against him, Gene. 4.10; that no Dauid, though a king, shal by any sleight or secret policie, take away the life of Vriah for the loue of his faire wise, but [Page 41]the doubling of his sinne shall importune the iustice of God, that what hee hath done in secret, may be done to him before all Israel, and before the sonne, 2. Sam. 12.12: that no treason shall be concei­ued and hatched in the heart, as it were in the wombe of discontentment, of so cunningly contriued and caried in vow­ed silence, as it were in the safe conduct of an hidded conspiracie, but the birds of the aire shall reueale it, & that which hath wings bring it to light, Eccles. 10.20: that no Gehasi shall steale a bribe be­hind his masters backe so closely, but it shall be seene and heard, yea and puni­shed with Naamans leprosie, 2. Kin. 5.27: that no hard heart shall cause teares to run downe the widowes cheekes, but her crie shall be against him that caused them, and from her cheekes they shall goe vp to heauen, Eccle. 35.15; that howsoeuer the mouthes of the poore be many times stopped that they may not crie out a­gainst the mightie, who grow great by [Page]iniquitie, and build as it were in blood; yet the stone shall crie out of the wall a­gainst them, and the beame out of the tim­bre shall answere it, Habac. 2.11. Now as he who hath an eare of mercie for the crie of sinners, hath yet an eare of iustice for crying sinnes; so that heart of his, which aboundeth with grace, is so farre from permitting that we should either continue or abound in sinne, that grace may abound, Rom. 6.1.; as that it turneth his heart the more from vs, and maketh him to detest those things, which other­wise he loueth, and requireth in vs; in so much as he hateth his owne word, in the mouth of him who hateth to be refor­med, Psal. 50.17: and his soule abhor­reth to haue the wicked tread in his courts, Es. 1.12; yea as it followeth in the same place, their oblations are in vaine, their incense an abhomination, their solemne feasts a burthen, the stretching out of their hands, and the very prayers they make an offence vnto him, and all because their [Page 42]hands are ful of blood. Which his mislike euen of good things in euill minds, and of things commaunded, in such as com­mit the things which his soule abhor­reth; hath bene the reason of that his seuere proceeding against the transgres­sions of his best beloued; that a bill of diuorce was giuen to the faithfull citie, when she was gon so farre as to trust in her owne beautie, and to play the harlot, Ezech. 16.17; that the peculiar people which hee brought out of Egypt, and through the wildernesse, with a won­derfull loue, yea a loue that wrought wonders; were in the height of their pride, or rather in the pride of their sinnes led captiue into Babylon, & made the scorne of all nations; that he who bare Ephraim in his armes, and led them with the cords of a man, euen with the bands of loue, Hos. 11.4; to meet with the transgressions of Ephraim, did meete Ephraim as a lion in the way of Assur, or as a breare which is robbed of her whelpes, [Page]Hos. 13.7.8; that of the same Hierusalem which was no lesse garded with his pro­uidence, then with the hilles that were round about her, Psal. 125.2 Luke 13.34. because she stoned the prophets, and knew not the time of her vi­sitation, there was not so much as one stone left vpon another, Matth. 24.2. In which iudgements of God, as we can­not but see, with how perfect hatred hee hateth sinne, when it maketh things o­therwise good, euill in his sight; and peo­ple dearely beloued, not so deare vnto him, but that the frailties of the godly doe grieue, as the presumptions of the wicked despite the spirit of grace: so may we thereby gather, that he who hateth nothing but sinne, doth punish nothing but sinne in vs. For howsoeuer, in that litle conscience which we make of sinne, we make the lesse acount of his iudge­ments; and because we doe not thinke our selues to sinne, when we sinne, we do not imagine out selues to be punished when we are punished: yet if we deale [Page 43]truly with our own hearts, we shall find, that no euill doth at any time befall vs, but it is the punishment of some sinne; and that, though our sinnes be sometime forborne, vntill they be ripe for the har­uest; yet doth the forbearing ad a weight to the punishment, and the iudgements of God grow then most heauy vpon vs, when we make light our of sinnes: nay those iudgements whereof we haue an hard conceit, when either the wicked are the instruments of God his wrath, or the reason of his iustice is hidden in them; if we turne backe the eyes of our remembrance, will bring vs to some such sinne, as may be inough to prooue them iust. And therefore, as S. Augustine aduised certaine chast virgins, who con­cluded God to bee vniust,Lib. I. decim. Dei, cap. 28. in permitting them to the lust of barbarous souldiers; that they should search their hearts, whether it were not the punishment of some other sinne, or for their pride of that vertue: so in the things which we suffer [Page]of the wicked most wrongfully, we are not so much to consider how wicked they are by whom we suffer, as how, iust he is, who vseth their wickednesse to the punishment of our sins. Which rule if it be well and truly obserued, will bring vs to the secret reason of the iustice of God, in many of his iudgements, which otherwise to flesh and blood may seeme vniust: that howsoeuer it may be thoght a hard measure to punish the child for the sinne of the father: yet that iudge­ment is neuer executed, but vpon such children as are said to fulfill the measure of their fathers, Matth. 23.32; namely vpon the wicked children of wicked fa­thers, as it were vpon the venemous brood of the serpent, and that least they should fill the face of the earth with God his enemies, as the Prophet speaketh, Es. 14.21, of those wicked children of the king of Babylon, which yet are said to be cut off for the iniquitie of the fa­ther. Howsoeuer it may seeme great [Page 44]iniustice, that Quicquid delirant reges plectantur Achiui, people should bee plagued for the sinnes of their rulers; yet doth God neuer send an euill king but in his anger, Hos. 13.11; or (that which is all one) permit a good king to the power of cunning heads to be wrought to irreligious and vniust ends, but when the sinnes of the people prouoke him thereunto; Howsoeuer many parts of this land, which as yet endure a famine of the bread of life, may hope to excuse themselues vpon the ignorance of their vnlearned, or the negligence of their carelesse pastors, at whose hands their blood shall be required, Ezec. 3.18; yet he, who will require their blood at their pastors hands, hath sayd they shall pe­rish in their owne sinnes, and especially in those, by which they haue deserued to be punished with such pastors, or at the least bene without all care to pro­cure better. True it is that the punish­ments and afflictions of this life, which [Page]are as Saint Augustine speaketh, ignis auro and ignis foeno, in the godly fire to trie gold, in the wicked fire to consume chaffe; haue different ends in the godly, and the wicked; as being sent to exer­cise the one to his greater good, and to plague the other to his greater miserie: yet is the cause one and the same in both, neither is the godly man at any time exercised, with any such affliction, but his own conscience may assure him, that non venit sine merito, quia Deus est iustus, nec erit sine commodo, quia Deus est bonus; it commeth not without desert, because God is iust; neither shall it be but to his good, because God is good. And this as it is a good course for priuat per­sons, when God doth lay but his finger vpon them, and touch either their estate with want, or their calling with dis­grace, or their bodie with sickenesse; to run backe to the sinne which hath de­serued it; whereunto the punishment will as readily bring them as any riuer [Page 45]vnto the sea: so is it most necessarie for vs all, when he stretcheth out his arme, to smite, with those common calamities of warre, famine, and the pestilence; that they draw vs to a due consideration of those common corruptions, which load the earth with the burthen of our sinnes, and the stinke whereof (as Ioel speaketh) doth go vp vnto heauen for vengeance. Ioel. 2.20. For the cup of God his wrath is neuer full mixt with red wine, Ps. 75.8, vntill the measure of our crimson and scarlet sinnes be filled in: neither are the dregs thereof poured out vpon the wicked, vntill they be frosen in their dregs, Zeph. 1.12. and setled like Moab vpon the lees of their sinnes. The earth must be filled with cru­eltie, Hier. 48.11. Gene. 5.20. before a flood come vpon the earth, Genes. 6.13; and the sinnes of Sodom and Gomorrha must be exceeding great, Genes. 6.24. and the crie of them must come vp to heauen, before the Lord raigne downe fire and brimstone from heauen to consume them: so slowly doth hee proceed euen a­gainst [Page]a Sodome of sinne, so long as it hath a righteous Lot, & against a whole world of wickednesse, vntill an arke be prepared to saue Noah, the preacher of righteousnesse. Howbeit, when all the v. 18. house of Israell is drosse, and the 27. rulers in the middest of her as Wolues, when the 28. Prophets daube with vntempered mor­ter, and the 29. people liue by spoiling and robbing, and a man 30. is not to bee found, which may make vp the hedge, or stand in the gap before the Lord, as the Prophet speaketh, Ezech. 22, of his time; and who can denie it to bee true of ours? when lust, hath not onely lost the con­science of sinne, but also the blush of shame; and as if men had made a coue­nant with death, and with hell were at an agreement, Es. 28.15; they declare their sinnes as Sodome, and hide them not, Es. 3.9; when the good man is perished out of the earth, and the best is as a brier, and the most righteous sharper than a thorne, Mich. 7.2. & 4: and he that refraineth [Page 46]from euill, maketh himselfe but a pray, Es. 59.15; when publicke places both in Church and Commonwealth, which were instituted and ordained to turne the course, and to suppresse the rage of sinne, are so vnfitly fitted with narrow minds, which can haue but priuat ends, as that all libertie is taken to doe euill by authoritie, whereas authoritie it selfe is not tollerable with any mediocritie of good; and thereby the strength of a kingdome Iustice peruerted, and the life of Iustice religion contemned: in a word when both ministers and magistrates, whose sinnes are not onely sinnes, but examples of sinnes, 1. Kin. 21.25. doe sell themselues to worke wickednesse, and the difference of good and euill is so confounded, as that nothing is thought to be good but in shew, nothing true but in opinion: is it possible that there should be a God, and not see? see, and not regard? re­gard, and not punish? punish, and not proportion his iudgements to our sins? [Page]no, no, howsoeuer in the late change of this gouernment, without any change either of the religion or peace of the go­uernment; he hath as it were sealed his loue vnto vs, and giuen vs hope beyond and against hope, that he will continue to ouerflow this land with the euer-li­uing spring of his euerlasting grace; yet are we to assure our selues, that he can­not but turne away his grace, when we turne his grace into wantonnesse: and though it be true which Gregorie Nazi­anzene writeth, that Non nisi coactus per­cutit, he neuer striketh but when hee is vrged; yet will he smite and smite with a witnesse, when our sinnes by a kind of violence force him thereunto. Which is the true therefore, mentioned in this place, by the which the power of powers and Iudge of Iudges, calleth them to ac­count, who thinke their places without account; and maketh the strong Okes of Basan, and the tall Cedars of Lybanon, that is, them, who in the strength and [Page 47]pride of their sinnes [...]ou [...]ke the most highest; to know, that hee will rather breake the course of nature, than not breake the course of their sinnes. There­fore will I.

And so indeed is it time for him: for what can wash away the cruelty and op­pressions wherewith the giants of our world doe grind the faces of the poore, and fill the earth, but another flood? What may consume the lust of this land, as it were the lust of another So­dome, but fire and brimstone from hea­uen? How can the disobedience of this age to euery kind of authoritie, equall, if not beyond that of Core, Dathan, and Abiram, thinke a common death a suffici­ent punishment; and not rather looke that the earth should open her mouth and swallow vp the offenders aliue, and they goe downe quicke vnto the pit, Num. 16.30.? This age is too wise to be mooued with ordinarie iudgements: if we haue the honour to be gods among men, or [Page]the power to wo [...]e mightie things in the world; we sacrifice to our nets, and burne incense to our yarne, Hab. 1.16: and say,Psal. 14.1. if not with our mouth, yet in our heart there is no God; If our euill coun­sailes haue good successe, and when we rebelliously transgresse, wee prosper in our wicked waies; we spare not to say, Tush the Lord seeth not: Eze. 9.9. If when wee multiplie sinne vpon sinne, and by the cords of vanitie draw on the cartropes of iniquitie, and adde as it were thirst vnto drunkennesse, we be not plagued like other men, we presume to say, Tush the Lord careth not,Zeph. 1.12. he will doe neither good nor euill: If God forbeare vs, wee thinke his hand shortened: and if we do not feele his rod, we make a question of his power: yea, the irreligion of this prophane age, is growne to that impu­dencie, as to dispute of principles; to call not onely God and his holy word the Scripture, but heauen, hell, angels, di­uels, the resurrection of the bodie, and [Page 48]the immortalitie of the soule in questi­on; so that if he will find any faith vpon earth, hee had need to come with new miracles; doe I say miracles? I should haue said with more then miracles, least our searching wits find the reason of them, or otherwise conclude them to be but our ignorance of the cause. For whatsoeuer exception, either vaine phi­losophie, or prophane gentilitie tooke against the wonderfull workes of God in elder times; as that the burning and not consuming bush was but a Meteor,Exod. 3.2. that the passage of Israel thorough the middest of the sea vpon drie ground, Exod. 14.22. was but vpon the aduantage of a neape tide, that the Manna which God rained in the wildernesse, Exod. 16.15. was but the mildewe of that countrey, that the fall of the wals of Hie­richo at the sound of the trumpets, Ios. 6.20. was but an earthquake; that Christ himselfe did no miracle but by the helpe of Belze­bub: Mat. 12.24. that and worse then that doe the licentious wits of our time obiect a­gainst [Page]the power of God, and so tie him vnto second causes, as if the world did run vpon the constant wheeles of euerlasting motions, which it is not in his power so much as in the power of a clocke-keeper either to breake or to al­ter; that it is now high time for him to cast both heauen and earth in a new mould, if he will prooue himselfe to be a God. Wherein if the reason of man, were not altogether vnreasonable, it were incredible to conceiue, how con­trarie a course it euer taketh to that it should; how it ascribeth nothing to the power of God in our punishments, and yet casteth all vpon the will of God in our sinnes; how it boundeth that which hath no bounds, the power of God, within the narrow lists of second causes: and whereas it should bee bounded it selfe within the compasse of the reuea­led will of God, it flieth loosely into the boundlesse bounds of his absolute will, and so casteth all the euill we doe, and [Page 49]which is our own, vpon the will of God; but for the euill we suffer, and where­with God doth iustly punish our sinnes, of that it can find no other reason or au­thor, but this or that eclipse, this or that coniunction of this or that planet; as if Philosophie it selfe had neuer taught, that Prima causa, & primus motor, the first cause, and the first moouer, which moueth all things, and is himselfe mo­ued of nothing, is liberrimum agens, the freest of Agents, and hath a prerogatiue aboue the prerogatiue of any prince, to work for the good or euil of the whole, aboue, and beside, yea & against nature: or as if we needed any other experience than our owne, of this yeere; how hee can blesse a nation beyond all the reason of man his policie; and punish a nation beyond all the rules of second causes. For who can denie? but that it was the worke of his owne hand, to conquer the malice of all factions, and by vniting euen deuided hearts, to make as it were, [Page]a concord of discords; that hee might establish the crowne in peace vpon the right and vndoubted heire: howsoeuer they, who heretofore haue bene plea­ders for broken titles, can now challenge a great part in this worke: and that they may insinuate their false hearts into his princely fauour, and qualifie the distast of their traiterous bookes, doe not blush to publish vnto the world,N.D. In the addition to the preface of the three conuersi­ons of Eng­land. that they haue their desires, though not in the order of their wishes, because they first wished him to be a Catholique, and then their king; but since he is first their king which wee haue reason to think they neuer wished, the next of their hope is to haue him a Catholique in due time, which we hope they shall haue neuer reason to hope, especially if they vnderstand Catholique in that sence, whereby they haue vnpro­perly impropriated it vnto themselues. Againe, who can denie but that it is the worke of his owne hand; in this first yeere of our renewed both religion and [Page 50]peace to better both strength and hope of their continuance; to sauce our ioy with mourning, and the multitude of his mercies one way, with the death of many thousands another, that hee may worke vs to thankefulnesse for the one, and to repentance by the other? and yet who is he that doth not more studie Almanacks then the booke of God, to deriue this visitatiō rather from Eclipses then from him, who worketh in them and beyond them at his pleasure? But what is it to reason with man his reason, especially in things aboue reason, and wherein it is so contrary vnto it selfe, as to make vnto it selfe false gods by the same reason for the which it denieth the true? For what was the reason of so many gods among the heathen? but because they made euery thing a god that had any rare gift or quality, or did any strange thing, whereof they could find no rea­son? And what is the reason why so ma­ny in these dayes denie the true? but [Page]because they cannot find a reason of those misteries, how a virgin should beare a sonne; how the word should be­come flesh; how there should be a resur­rection of the body; how a life after death: So because they cannot find a rea­son of naturall things, they make vnto thēselues false gods, & because they can­not find a reason of supernaturall things; they denie the true; and therefore if they would but stand their owne reason; strangenesse of this yeers plague, which hath raged with so great fury, deuoured so many in so short a space, and verefied that of the Prophet, a thousand shall fall beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand, Psal. 91.7; might humble them vn­der the mighty hand of God, to acknow­ledge his power aboue second causes, that it is he & he alone, who, as he threat­neth in the next place, will smite, & make sicke in smiting.

Which we may not vnderstand of that his ordinarie prouidence,Mat. 10.30. who hath [Page 51]the haires of our head numbred, Mat. 10.29. & without whom there doth not so much as a sparrow light vpon the ground: wherby he is truly said to haue a stroke in euery action, & a hand in euery motion; and whereby the greatest Monarchs of the world, in their greatest designs, are but the instruments of his power,Prou. 21.1. who hath the hearts of kings in his hand, & howsoeuer he hath giuen them power to worke mightie things, hath yet reserued such a prerogatiue vn­to himselfe, that for the successe & euent of all both counsailes and actions, they are to expect it at his hands; but rather of the stretching out of his hand to some extraordinarie iudgement, and the thru­sting of the sickle or sword of his wrath into the haruest of sinnes, ripe to execu­tion. For as it cannot be denied but that the finger of God is in the least infirmi­tie wherewith hee toucheth any priuat person; so when the excesse of sinne doth prouoke him to rebuke in anger and to punish a people in his heauie dis­pleasure, Psal. 6.1. [Page]he doth not only stretch out his arme, Esa. 9.21, but gather his armies (as Iob speaketh) cap. 19.12, to campe about them, & fighteth against the wicked with good and euill, naturall & supernaturall instrumēts of his wrath. And though his hand be in warre, when he sendeth a for­raigne power as it were a vulture to prey vpon the carion of a natiō ripe or rather rotten in sinne; and as the Prophet spea­keth, numbreth them vnto the sword, Esa. 65.12; though he haue a hand in famine, when he breaketh the staffe of bread, Ezech 14.13. and sendeth cleannes of teeth as it is called, A­mos 4.6: yet is it most properly the work of his owne hand, when he smiteth a na­tion with the Pestilence, & proceedeth as he did against Egypt with ten plagues, as it were with ten strokes of his mightie hand: And therefore, when God by the Prophet Gad did offer vnto Dauid the choice either of seuen yeeres famine vpon the land, or three moneths flying before his enemies, or three dayes pestilence among [Page 52]his people; he chose the pestilence, as by the which he did more properly fall into the hand of the Lord, 2. Sa. 24.15: for how­soeuer the reason of the naturall man doth seeke the reason of the pestilence in naturall causes, and the cure there­of in naturall remedies; and thereby the rather flie the places where it is, then the sins which it followeth, as if there were some other phisicke then repentance for it: yet doth the scripture call it the hand of God, Exod. 9.3; and the sword of the Lord, 1. Chr. 21.30; & the arrowes of his wrath, Ps. 91.5. Yea if natural men will but con­sult the Authors of their own wisdome, they shall find that the heathen poet Ho­mer describing a memorable plague of the Grecians, Iliad. 1. faineth Apollo to haue sent it by shooting his arrowes amongst them: that Hippocrates in his Prognosticis calleth it [...], an heauenly punishment or scourge: Dionisius Halicarnassaeus, [...], a calamity sent from God: Mercurialis, fulmen caeleste, the thunder­bolt [Page]of heauen; That Galen himselfe, who in other things ascribeth little to diuine power, in his Epidemicis refer­reth the cure thereof vnto the gods; That the Romanes,Dec. 1. lib. 5. as T. Liuius wit­nesseth, when they could find neither cause nor end of it, did by the decree of the senate, consult the bookes of the Sibils: that as Procopius writeth in the second booke of the Persian warre, there could no remedie bee found for it, but from God that sent it: that Esculapius as Saint Augustine noteth,De ciu. Dei lib. 3. cap. 17. finding no naturall cause of a plague in his time, did cast it vpon that sacriledge, whereby priuat persons had the houses of their gods in possession; and therefore that they haue no reason, but to acknowledge it to bee as the Canonists define it, bellum Dei contra homines, the warre of God against men. And surely if there be any necessi­tie for God to warre against men, there is none greater, then that he warre a­gainst such men, as not only open the [Page 53]mouth of blasphemie against heauen, Psal. 73.9: but fight with the power of reason, against the power of God, & be­leeue no more of his rod then they feele, no more of his power then they see in second causes; nay as Balaam did beat the Asse which saw the Angel which hee saw not; Num. 22.27. so doth the wisedome of the world condemne the foolishnes of prea­ching, which seeth more in the iudge­mēts of God then the reason of the natu­rall man can attaine vnto. But as we read of Tyberius the emperour, that howso­euer at some time his greatnesse among men, made him to forget a greater aboue him; yet if he did but heare it thunder, he was driuen to forget his owne great­nesse, and glad to flie into sellers and caues of the earth for his safetie: so howsoeuer the wantonnesse of pro­phane wits can dispute and reason of the power of God, as long as it keepeth the ordinarie course of second causes; yet if he thunder out his iudgements in any [Page]extraordinary manner, I do not say how shall their vaine reason be able dispute, but how shall their proud hearts be able to indure the cōsuming fire of his wrath? And therfore let the irreligious amongst vs rage both with pen & sword, as Iulian did against the simplicitie of Christ, and Christianitie; there will be a time when they shall be enforced to crie, Vicisti Ga­lilaee; that he whom they contemned for a Galilean, hath a power aboue them: let naturall wits make all things naturall, they shal one day feele that supernaturall power, which wil raign plagues beyond nature, wil smite, & make sicke in smiting.

How much the more fit were it for all without exception, to bend both their wits & their hearts to the better applica­tion of that circumstance of the person, (thee) will I make thee sick in smiting thee; that seeing sinne to be the cause, God the author, his smiting sick the punishment, we make the better vse of this iudgemēt. For in generall calamities, the poore are [Page 54]not the onely, or the chiefe offenders; as our Sauior Christ speaketh, Luke 13.4; that they vpon whom the tower of Siloam fell, were not sinners aboue all that dwelt in Hierusalem; so it is to be feared, that thogh the sword of God his wrath haue deuoured many thousands, yet hath it left many, and many thousands vntou­ched, whose sinnes haue as much, if not more, prouoked the wrath of God a­gainst the land. For thogh it haue swept the streets of vnlawfull gain, and made an entrie into the shops where the ballance of deceit raigneth, and the scant measure which is abominable; though it hath met in some sort with the wantonnesse of youth, and the idlenesse of such poore as had rather beg then labour for their liuing; yet hath it not come neere to the seat of iniustice, or the house of op­pression; it hath passed by the doore of briberie, and the church of Simonie; the schooles of Atheisme, and the possessions of Sacriledge haue not bene visited; it [Page]hath but summoned the court of pride, and the Palace of pleasure, that I may say nothing of many other crying sinnes, which in many persons and many parts of this land haue beene secure and free from it. Which secret iustice of God, to punish lesser sinnes in some, and not to punish greater in others, to mow downe the vnprofitable and vnfruitfull thistles, and not to hew down the rebellious oakes which contemne, and the presumtuous Cedars which challenge the Lord to iudgement; shold be so farre from giuing heart to sinne, or encouragement to sinners, as that it should worke the repentance of greater, out of the punishment of lesser offen­ders; strike the fat kine of Basan which dwell (as they thinke safely) in the moun­taines of Samaria, with a compassion of those silly soules which lie in the high way of the pestilence, and haue not whi­ther to flie from it; yea, it should kindle in publicke persons, whose sinnes for the [Page 55]most are the chiefest occasion of publick calamities, a zeale like that of Dauid. We O Lord, we are they that haue sinned against heauen, and against thee, but these seelie ones that perish, what haue they done in comparison of vs? For as Clemens Alexandrius well ob­serueth; Bona est ars terrere ne peccemus, It is the good art of God to terrifie, that we may not sinne; and that good art of God toward vs, to bee mercifull in iu­stice, to be angry in loue; doth require as good harts of vs toward him, that see­ing as Cyprian noteth, Pestis explorat iustitiam singulorum, the plague is a sear­cher and trier of euerie good and honest mind; and that, or nothing, can take downe the crest of pride, quench the fu­rie of desire, abate the edge of reuenge, weaken the arme of oppression, stop the mouth of blasphemie, yea sift hypocri­sie it selfe vnto the bran, and turne the hard heart of couetousnesse into the bowels of compassion: wee not onely [Page]striue euery one to amend one, but all ioyntly to make this plague of ours like that Numb. 11.34, sepulchrum concupis­centiae, the graue and sepulchre of our lusts. But in this point I know not how it commeth to passe, that not only euery priuat person, but euery seuerall calling amongst vs, doe thinke to cleare them­selues by accusing others; and as Ahab told Eliah, 1. King 18.18. that it was he, when indeed it was himselfe, and his fathers house, that troubled Israel: so the magistrates doe cast this iudgement of God vpon the faults of the ministers, and the ministers vpon the faults of the magistrates; the lawyer vpon the marchant, and the mar­chant vpon the lawyer; the Court vpon the countrey, and the countrey vpon the Court; the rich vpon the sinnes of the poore, and the poore vpon the sinnes of the rich; euery one vpon euery other, no man vpon himselfe. And this com­parison is that deceitfull ballance which maketh vs to commit many errors, as [Page 56]well in the conscience of our sinnes, as in the sence of God his iudgements, That if our pastors be worse than we, we are no sinners; and if we be plagued for the sinnes of our rulers, it is no sinne of ours that hath deserued to bee plagued with such rulers. If wee at any time bee op­pressed with the crueltie, or disgraced by the enuie, or wronged by the iniustice and tyrannie of the wicked; wee com­plaine (and in some respect not without cause) of the wicked, by whom wee re­ceiue our iniurie: wee neuer enter into our own hearts, to find that sinne which our good God, who can iustly vse vn­iust meanes, doth punish in vs. Where­as if we did in singlenesse of heart exa­mine euery one our owne waies, and sincerely acknowledge the grosse corrup­tions of our magistracie, in seeking (for the most) their owne, before the com­mon good; the shamefull abuses of our ministerie, in being (many of vs) no where ministers but in the pulpit, if in [Page]the pulpit; the vnsatiable couetousnesse of the rich, by inclosing liuings, and en­grossing commodities, to oppresse and grind the faces of the poore; the sinfull idlenesse of the poore, which is the dayly mother of incestuous lusts among them­selues, of vniust stealing from other men, of seditious conspiracies against the state, and desperat murmurings against God: we would not so much dispute, whether it be thee, or thee, that God smiteth, as plead all guiltie of this iudgement; and thereby studie euery one to amend one, but yet not without a care to amend o­thers. For we are al members of one bo­die, and as the publicke sinnes of priuat persons prouoke the wrath of God a­gainst whole kingdomes: so when the iudgements of God light heauie vpon any part of the whole, euery part of the whole is to be mooued with it, as it were with the fire of a whole citie, though begun but in one house. For though that fornication in the Church of Corinth [Page 57](the like whereof was not named among the Gentiles were but the sinne of one Corinthian; yet was it layd to all their charge, in that they were puffed vp, and had not rather sorowed, that he who had done the deed might be put from among them) 1. Cor. 5.2; so daungerous a thing it is, I doe not say to commit, but not to be offended with that which others commit, when they prouoke the wrath of God against the whole. For hee that will spare all Sodome for one Lot, Genes. 19.22; whose soule is vexed with the vn­cleane conuersation of the wicked, 2. Pet. 2.7: will punish all Israel for the sinne of one Achan, Ios. 7.1: if in not being offen­ded they seeme content with it, or by their silence witnesse a consent vnto it; & therefore howsoeuer the luke warme spirits of our time can flatter themselues with an opinion of a good conscience, as long as they doe not commit the things which the wicked doe; yet haue they fellowship with the vnfruitfull works [Page]of darkenesse, if they doe not reprooue them. Ephe. 5.11; and may be said to com­mit, or at the least to be accessarie vnto euill, if they doe but wincke at it; yea the plague will neuer cease, vnlesse we haue the zeale of Phinehas, Numb. 25.8; I doe not say, to slay sinners, but as farre as in vs lieth, to slay sinne euen in migh­tie offenders. And surely if euer there were a time, in the which we had need to be set on fire with that zeale of Phi­nehas, against the crying sinnes that raigne amongst vs; now euen now it is, and that for many reasons: First, in re­spect of his rich mercy; that when our fiue and fortie yeeres peace had brought foorth nothing but the euils of long peace; contrary to the reason of man his policie, contrary to the longing and hope of them who haue euer had euill will to our Syon, contrarie to the expectation and feare of our owne hearts, and contrary to the opinion of the whole world; our losse should bee [Page 58]without losse, and our peace changed into peace again. Secondly, in respect of his iust mercy, that when it stood not with his Iustice to let so many and so great transgressions to passe vnpunished; when our peace had deserued either to be oppressed with the tyrannie of a for­raigne sword, or torne in peeces with the furie of a ciuile dissention, and our plentie, or fulnesse of bread, to be puni­shed with a scarcitie, or cleannesse of teeth; he should giue vs as it were the choice of Dauid, and visit vs with no other rod then that of the pestilence, whereby we fall but into his owne hand, whose mercies are great, 2. Sam. 24.14. Thirdly, in respect of his (if I may so call it) vnmercifull iustice; that when the plague was due to our sinnes, that wor­thy instrument of his glory and our good, our Soueraigne, should haue his part in this iudgement▪ and not onely be visited at the gates of his court, but also driuen from his owne houses, and [Page]hunted from countrey to countrey, from one citie to another, and all for the pu­nishment of our sinnes; that if we can­not be prouoked either by his rich mer­cie to thankefulnesse, or by his iust mer­cie to repentance, yet that his (in a ma­ner) vnmercifull iustice, to lay our euils vpon him, who hath brought so many good things vnto vs, and vnto ours af­ter vs; should strike the hardest of our hearts with a compassionate remorse, and euen force vs to a complaint con­trary to that of king Dauid; that as hee when his people were plagued for his sinne, cried vnto the Lord Me, me adsum qui feci in me conuertite ferrum. I haue sinned, yea I haue done wickedly, but these sheepe what haue they done? So our case being cleane contrary, our cry should be accordingly; we O Lord, we are they that haue offended, but thine annoin­ted our Soueraigne, what hee hath done, that he should bee welcommed to his birthright with a plague for our sinnes? [Page 59]The rather because he who as yet doth but smite, and make sicke in smiting will proportiō his iudgements to our sinnes, and as it followeth in the last place, make vs desolate for our sinnes, if we meet him not with repentāce in the way. For he who ordereth all things, in measure, number and weight, Wisd. 11.17; as hee hath a rule for persons that potentes po­tenter, the mightie shall be mightily tor­mented, Wisd. 6.6: so hath he the mea­sure of tantum and quantum in his iudge­ments: so much as the sinfull citie hath li­ued in pleasures, so much shall be giuen to her torments, Reue. 18.7; the proud nati­on, that with the sonne of the morning will ascend into heauen, shall bee brought down to hell, Es. 14.13; the obstinat people that will not heare when the Lord crieth, shall cry vnto the Lord, and not be heard, Zach. 7 13; such a proportion hath he in his iudgements, that if the good men of a land be but as a basket of summer fruit, whose goodnes cannot continue, [Page] the sunne shall goe downe at noone vnto them, Amos. 8.9: If so few, that like a poore mans sheepe they may be num­bered, there shall be a remnant left as of Oliues after the shaking of the tree, or grapes after the vintage, Esa. 24.13: But if there be a generall deluge and in­undation of sinne which carieth the streame and course of a kingdome with it, he will then sweepe with the beesome of destruction, cut off the name with the remnant, and make the land a possession for the hedgehog, Esa. 14.22, and 23▪ where­in if any nation might plead a preroga­tiue; who better then his peculiar peo­ple, whom though he multiplied as the sand of the sea, Hos. 1.10. hedged about with his prouidence,Es. 5.2. fortified with a tower of his strength: yet for the excesse of sinne, did he lay them wast, and leaue them as a cottage in a vineyard, or a lodge in a gar­den of cowcumbers Esa. 1.8. But this iudgement to this land, doth he as yet rather threaten, then hasten; as willing [Page 60]to trie vs by all meanes, before he come vnto extreamities: yea it is more then manifest, that he is more ready to turne from his wrath, then wee from our sinnes, in that he plucketh vs as a fire­brand out of the flame of his heauie dis­pleasure, Amos 4.11: And at this pre­sent seemeth to say vnto the Angell of his wrath, as he did in the time of king Dauid, It is sufficient, hold now thy hand 2. Sam. 24.16. What then remaineth, but that as deere children of so louing a father, we kisse the rod of so mercifull a iudge? and seeing our sinnes are the principall cause which haue prouoked God as the true Author, to smite, and make sicke in smiting, as to a iust iudge­ment; seeing he cannot forget his mer­cie in iudgement, but stoppeth his furie in the course, and holdeth his hand in the execution of his warth, from pro­portioning desolation to abhominati­on, a full measure of wrath to the full measure of our sinnes: both we and our [Page] King, we who are iustly plagued for our owne offences; and our King who bea­reth a part in our punishment, make a right vse of this his visitation; we, that wee repent vs of our crying sinnes, the onely fruits of our long peace, and sinne no more, least a worse thing happen vnto vs; our King, that out of this iudge­ment he take a warning, and lesson, to know, that he is brought by his and our God to his owne, but not for himselfe; in peace; but not to bee at peace with our sinnes: that he is sent, as to enioy the good things, so to reforme the euils of this land; and therefore that he is to walke betweene God and this people, as another Moses, of whom it is ex­cellently obserued, that Causam Dei a­pud populum gladijs, causam populi apud deum lachrimis egit; hee pleaded the cause of God to the people with the swords of Iustice: he pleaded the cause of the people to God with the teares of Mercie; So, hee that hath blessed vs [Page 61]with him, will blesse vs in him, and by him continue vnto this land that rich blessing, of true religion, and godly peace, as long as the Sunne and Moone shall endure. Which the God of glo­rie graunt in the grace of his Sonne Christ, to whome with the Father and the holy ghost be all ho­nour and glorie, now and for euer.

Amen.

❧ The principall care of Princes to bee Nurces of the Church. Preached before Queene Elizabeth at Whitehall in Lent. 1594.

Isaiah. 49.23.

Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and Queenes thy nursing mothers.

THe loue of God, or ra­ther God who is loue it selfe,1. Iohn. 48. and in the a­bundance of his loue made the world for man, & man for him­selfe; as hee had no other cause of his [Page 62]loue, but his loue; no other end, but in our good, his glory: so hath he neg­lected no meanes to make knowne, how much he loued man aboue all the creatures of the earth; how much a­mong mē, those that in the vnity of faith were gathered to the fellowship of his Church, beyond all the nations of the world. For as in the creation, he did but speake the word, & the heauens were made; Psal. 33.6. he did but commaund and earthly things were brought foorth: when to the fra­ming of his last and best worke, hee cal­led his wisdome as it were to counsaile, how he might make man after his owne image and likenesse: Genes. 1.26. and seeing in the same wisedome that it was not good for man to be alone, Genes. 2.18. he shewed himselfe no lesse carefull, how to make him a helpe, yea such a helpe as might be meet for him: so after the creation, did his loue abound much more; when to recouer in some, what all had lost in their father Adam, he trauailed many yeeres as it [Page]were in childbed with a more then mo­therly loue and care, how hee might bring forth vnto himselfe a Church. And though in her natiuitie she had no eye to pitie her, Ezech. 16.5. but was cast out into the open field to the contempt of her person in the day that she was borne; though for many of her yeeres she liued but a stran­ger vpon earth, & was so far from being entertained in the courts of princes, as that shee was banished from the borders of their kingdomes; yet when in her weakenesse hee had sufficiently taught her to know her selfe, and to acknow­ledge his power, it pleased him to make her so perfect through his beauty, as that she grew vp into a kingdome, Eze. 16.13. and in the end had this of the Prophet fulfilled, that Kings should be her nursing fathers, and Queens her nursing mothers. Which words, howsoeuer at first sight they may seeme to intend nothing but the dutie of princes to nourish the Church; nothing but the benefit of the Church, to haue [Page 63] Kings and Queenes to be her nurces; yet if wee trie and examine them by their weight, we shall find, that in the dutie of princes is the benefit fo princes; and in the benefit of the Church, the dutie of the Church implied. For therefore is the Church in all dutie more than bound to Princes, because shee hath her peace in their fauour; and so much the better do things goe with princes, by how much they haue the greater care of religion; insomuch, as, religion and gouernment are rightly said, Mutuis stare non officijs solum sed beneficijs, to haue their strēgth not onely in the duties but in the benefits of the one vnto the other. Wherein it is hard to say, Whether the goodnesse of God were greater toward the church or toward princes, when he called the mightie ones of the world, who were puffed vp with the opinion of their owne power, and seeing nothing aboue them, contemned all that was below them, to submit themselues to the do­ctrine [Page]of his will; and to take new rules of policie from that Church which was but base and contemptible in the eyes of the world; howsoeuer otherwise glori­ous things were spoken of it. Psal. 87.3. For albeit at the first they were so farre deuided, as that the Kings of the earth stood vp, and the princes tooke counsell against the Lord and against his Christ; Psal. 2. v. 2. though for an age of the primitiue Church, nothing was thought so preiudiciall to crownes as the religion of Christ, nothing was found so cruell to the Church, as the per­secution of princes; yet when the heat of their rage was somewhat cooled with the teares of innocents, and their thirstie minds satisfied with the bloud of martyrs, they grew to such peace, as that the lambe might dwell with the wolfe, and the kid feed with the lyon, as it was be­fore promised, Esai. 11.6: yea farther, they became such helpes the one to the other, as that religion had no such safetie as in the protection of princes; and the [Page 64]crownes of princes had no such securi­tie, as in the obedience of religious sub­iects.

In which point we may obserue a no­table secret of God his wisedome, who though he had in his hand the hearts of Kings, Pro. 21.1. and might as well at his pleasure haue disposed of the kingdomes of the earth as of the earth it selfe, which was but his footstoole; Esai. 66.1 though he knew that the eyes of people were in the heads of princes, & that the calling of one prince would be the conuerting of many peo­ple; yet did he lay the foundation of his Church in the humilitie of weak means, that all the glorie might be his owne; and then began to cast his fauor toward princes, when it might bee more than manifest, that they were called rather for their owne good, than for any need he had of their power: he saw so farre into the darkest of all naturall secrets, the heart of man, as that he found how rea­die it is to challenge that which it hath [Page]not, vnto it selfe; and that which it hath, as of it selfe; and therefore how dange­rous it were to make them the instru­ments of his power, who had but an opi­nion of their own. And though he had in his hand a rod of iron with the which he might haue broken them in pieces like potters vessels; Psal. 2.9. and haue delt with his Church in the new testament, as he did with his people in the old, when he sea­led their deliuerance out of Egypt with ten plagues, as it were with ten strokes of his power, vpon their enemies; yet did he rather arme her with patience, and so make the blood of Martirs the seed of the Church: as that in those ten persecutions of her youth, the hearts of Tirants were conquered, as finding that they might sooner want torments then the Christians patience; and that dayly the more they were cut off, the more they were increased. And there­fore as to the planting of doctrine, hee used not the wisedome of the world, but [Page 65] chose the foolish things of the world to con­found the wise, 1. Cor. 1.27. that the more might bee ascribed to the grace of his spirit; so in prouiding for the estate of his Church, he did not begin with the princes of the world, but chose the weake things of the world to confound the mightie, that wee might the better acknowledge it to bee the worke of his own right hand. How­beit, as when the doctrine was through­ly planted, the extraordinarie gifts of the spirit ceased, & learning was so brought to the obedience of the truth, as that euer after the best learned were the fit­test instruments to set it foorth: so when the power of God had bene in weake­nesse suffiiciently declared to bee such, as all the world was not able to resist; the princes of the earth were taught to kisse the sonne of righteousnesse;Psal. 2.12. & as to esta­blish their crownes vpon the feare of the Lord, so to seeke their honor in the loue of his Church.

Which while some intemperate spi­rits [Page]haue not beene so well aduised as to obserue; their blind zeale hath carried them so farre, as to thinke, that neither learning could stand with the Spirit of God, nor ciuile authoritie with the reli­gion of Christ: and therefore as in dis­grace of learning, they pretend I know not what hidden power of the Spirit; so to the ouerthrow of all good order both in Church and common wealth, they striue for equalitie, which is truly said and as truly found to be the mother of confusion. Wherein beside that they build vpon a false ground, in that they fashion the ripe yeeres of the Church to her infancie, & admit no more then was in practise in the time of the Apostles (who though they made perfect the rules of doctrine, did yet but draw as it were the first lines of Church gouerne­ment, to the which it should be propor­tioned according to the circumstance of her increase:) what reason can the most popular minds giue, why that rule [Page 66]of the Apostle, 1. Cor. 7.20, Let euery man abide in the same vocation wherein he was called, should not as well hold in the Princes that did become Christians, as in the persons of meaner calling? And though it stood not with the good pleasure of God, to giue that successe to their labours,Mat. 4.19. whom he made fishers, of men, as that at the first they should bee fishers of kings; yet that of the Apostle not many mightie, not many noble are cal­led, implieth that some of them who were called, were noble,1. Cor. 1.26. and mightie: in which some, it was no more required that they should goe from their calling, then that euery Christian because hee was to be renewed in the spirit of his mind Ephe. 4.22, should goe out of the body; as it is plaine in the Souldiers the third of Luke, whom Iohn did not will they should leaue to be Souldiers, but that they should doe no violence, and be con­tent with their wages; as also, in that chiefe gouernour vnder the Queene of [Page]the Aethiopians whom Philip baptised in the eight of the Acts.vers. 27. For it doth not follow that because the kingdome of Christ is not of this world; Iohn. 18.36. therfore Chri­stians may not be Kings, nor the king­domes of the earth Christian; for as the Church militant liueth in earth, and yet hath her conuersation in heauen; Phil. 3.20. so the Christian princes of the world the better they rule vpon earth, the better they serue God in heauen; of whom it is re­quired, non vt diademata abijciant sed vt subijciant Deo, Tertulian in Apol. not that they cast away their crownes, but that they weare them to the honor of God. And therefore is their office and function tearmed as it were by a speciall prerogatiue, the ordi­nance of God, Rom. 13.2: therefore are they themselues renowned with the name of Gods, Psalm. 82.1; therefore is the spirit of God doubled, and his graces multiplied vpon them, beyond the common sort of men; as in & by whom he is to bring more then ordinary things [Page 67]to passe among the sonnes of men: ther­fore was it so farre from any purpose of God, that the kingdomes of the earth should not stand with the kingdome of his Christ, as that it is prophesied, that the kings of the Isles should offer vnto him, Psal. 72.10. and all the nations of the earth should wor­ship him: yea as it is in this place, they should haue that honour to bee the tu­tors, and nurces of his Church.

And least the iniquitie of any Salique law should depriue women of this ho­nour, to whom the law of God hath gi­uen a right to inherit, Num. 27.8. and so to weare the crownes that goe by inheritance; therefore is there speciall mention made of them, and it is as well promised that Queens should be the nursing mothers, as that Kings should be the nursing fathers of the Church. For howsoeuer the scrip­ture excepteth against their teaching, yet beside the law,1. Cor. 14.3. Iudg. 4.4. it hath example of De­bora and others for their ruling ouer the people of God; and the same Gospell [Page]that hath equally called male & foemale, Gal. 3.28; to be the children of God in Christ; 1. Pet. 3.7. yea as Peter speaketh, to be co­heires of the grace of life; doth equally bind them not onely to be religious, but to nourish religion in others, ac­cording to that state in the which they are called. Neither was it without a spe­ciall purpose of God, to giue incourage­ment to that sex, that the faith and well doing of so many women, is so particu­larly recorded in the scripture, that the entertainment which Rahab gaue the spies, Ios. 2.1. is not suffered to die; that the small quantitie of meale which the widow of Sa­reptha spent vpon Elias; 1. Kin. 17.14. 2. Kin. 4.10. that the chamber and bed, & table, & stoole & candlesticke, which the Sunanite prouided for Elisseus doe not loose their reward; that the dili­gence of Martha, Luk. 10.42. Mat. 15.25. Iohn. 4.28. and the better choice of Marie, and the woman of Canaans strong faith, & the Samaritane leauing of her wa­terpot, to be the messenger of better newes, with diuers of the like, are remembred; [Page 68]yea that the poore widowes mite is not forgotten.Luke 21.3. For as for that Mary which bestowed but a box of ointment vpon our Sauiour Christ, the testimonie of her is so honourable, as that wheresoeuer the Gospel of Christ shall bee preached through all the world,Mat. 26.13. there shall that which she hath done, be spoken of for a memoriall of her: which as it is enough to put the life of religion into the hearts of womē, to see euery litle duty of theirs so well accepted; so if they enter into a meditation of his speciall fauors to their sex, they must needs confesse that they can neuer honor him enough, who hath honored thē so far, as to make them the first witnesses of his resurrection: Mar. 16.20. & that as Hugo Lincolniensis noteth,Surius in vi­ta Hugonis. He hath prin­cipally deserued the loue of womē, in that he vouchsafed to be born of a woman, for when it was granted to no man to be the father, it was performed to a woman̄, to be the mother of Christ: & therfore it is no more honor for women to be Queenes, then it is for [Page] Queenes to bee the nurces of his Church. Wherof as former times haue left our land some testimonie, in as much as in both the nurceries of our Church the bounty of Queenes as well as the boun­tie of Kings, is yet liuing; so there is no doubt but succeeding ages shall confesse, that that the cause of religion doth owe more to one Queene, then to many Kings that went before her.

And to say the truth, what is there or can there bee more honourable for either Kings or Queenes, then to bring their kingdomes to the obedience of his from whom they hold theirs? and to serue him with their mortall crownes, who is able to crowne them with im­mortalitie, and hath bound himselfe with a promise as sure as if it were per­formed, that he will honour them that ho­nour him, 1. Sam. 2.30. For as we see in them that are greatest about princes, that it is more honour for them to serue in court, then to commaund in their [Page 69]countries; so if the greatest Monarches of the world, would but remember, that which they cannot but know,

Regum timendorum in proprios greges,
Horas. lib. 3. od. 1.
Reges in ipsos imperium est Dei,

that though their authority be next and immediat vnder God, yet they are no more aboue others thē God aboue thē; they would be as glad to seeke the glory of their crownes, in the seruice of God, as their nobles are to seeke the honour of their estates in the seruice of them; and withall be no lesse ambitious of his fauour, then others are of theirs. Now what fauour of his can there be greater, or equall to this? that he should com­mend vnto their trust that which is as deere to him as the apple of his eye, Deut. 32.10. & re­quire them to performe the care of nur­ces to that Church, to the which hee himselfe hath performed the loue of a Mother; or rather more then the loue of a Mother, though a Mother should be so vnnaturall as to forget her child, Esa. 49.15. yet [Page]would not hee forget his Church, as hee speaketh of himselfe in this Chapter: for if the honour of the seruant be the great­nesse of the master, & the fauour of the master the trust of the seruant; it must needs bee both an honor and a fauour to Princes, that they are the nurces of the Church; an honor in that they serue the prince of princes, & a fauor in that they are trusted with the care of that which is deerest vnto him. Which both honour and fauor are followed with such a bles­sing, as that the encrease of the Church is as great a benefit to the kingdomes in which it is planted, as the flowing of Ni­lus to the fruitfulnes of Egypt; & godlines, which the Apostle calleth great, & is in deed true gaine, hath the promise, not on­ly of the life which is to come, 1. Tim. 4.8. but of this life also: so wheresoeuer he walketh with his church (that euer walketh in the midst of his Church) his very steps drop fatnesse.

Howbeit this blessing of kingdomes, doth most follow this honor and fauour [Page 70]of God to princes; as princes, and they that are great about princes, are most full of this dutie to nourish the Church: of which duty, the first and chiefe part is, to see religion planted among the people. For gouernment, which is rightly tearmed a­lienum bonū, anothers good, because the end therof is the good of others, doth thē truly intend the cōmon good, when it doth chiefly intend the greatest good; & greater good there can be none thē God, who is both the fountain & the end of all good­nesse: and therefore as it is God by whom Princes raigne, Pro. 8.16. so it is he to whom they raign; & as frō him they fetch the autho­ritie, so to him they must refer the end of their gouernmēt: for as in the body natu­rall the soule is the life of the body, but God the life of the soule; so in the body politick, the life of gouernmēt is law, but the life of law, is religiō: which they that saw nothing but by the light of nature, did in some measure attaine vnto, whē out of their reason they gathered, that the soule [Page]of man was an heauenly substance, and therby implied that the perfection ther­of was the knowledge of some more di­uine nature: which some of them con­ceiued to be the creator, others imagined to be but the gouernour of heauen and earth. And therefore when by the same light they farther saw, that man was by nature a sociable creature, and that in ci­uile societie, some were borne to rule, & some to obey, and that of many kinds of gouernment, there was none so naturall as that of one; though they yeelded au­thoritie vnto them that did excell, and made good and wholesome lawes for them that were to obey: yet the strength of all their states was in their religion, by the which they were persuaded, that their Princes were the children of their gods, Hom. & He­siod. and their lawes drawne from the Oracles of some diuine power. They found by experience, how hard it was for men to be brought to obey man, vnlesse they had the authoritie of more than [Page 71]men; and how little reuerence would be giuen to lawes, if they were not deriued from such a power, as was rather to bee heard with the eare of obedience, than looked into with the eye of curiositie. And therefore euen in that contentious and busie state of Rome, which did but one day make laws, to break them ano­ther; they gaue the greatest honor to the times of Numa, in the which, as Liuie speaketh, Fides, & Iusiur andum regebant ciuitatem, religion and oath did rule the citie.

Now if they whose religion was but policie, had yet the policie to make religi­on the strength of their policie; how much more ought we to be religiously poli­ticke, whose religion is truth, and in whose truth are the best rules of the best poli­cies? For howsoeuer some prophane minds, I doe not say that make Tacitus their gospell, as a late French Writer speaketh of some of his countrey cour­tiers;Vindiciae se­cundum li­bert. eccles. Gall. sub. Hen. 4. but who I feare may truly be said [Page]to haue studied Lucian more than the old testament, and Machiauell, then the new; doe make no more account of the religion of Christ, then of the religions of the heathen, and condemn the simplicitie of the Gospell, as nothing fit for the poli­cies of these times. Yet hee that shall looke into it with a single eye, shall find, that it is a bottomelesse treasure of infinit wisedome, and that the simplicitie which it requireth, is not the simplicitie of Asses but of Doues: which yet is euer ioyned with wisedome, Mat. 10.16. yea the wisedome of the most subtile, the serpent; not that Chri­stians by the simplicitie of Doues should be lesse wise but more honest in their poli­cies. For it is but error, though the heads be neuer so wise, that hold it, that there is any policie without honestie, and wise­dome without religion, or that a shad­dow of either, as it may blind some eies, so it may serue all turnes.2. Sam. 16.23. The counsaile of Achitophell may for a time be as the Oracle of God,2. Sam. 15.31. but in the end it will [Page 72]prooue meere foolishnesse: so, true it is, that whatsoeuer hath but a shaddow of appearance, hath but a thought of conti­nuance. Wherein it is hard to conceiue, how it may be good to seeme, and not better to be religious; or how policie may be established by a false, and not haue more strength from a true religion; especially that religion, whose truth is both from the beginning, and from aboue, and whose booke hath no lesse in her lawes the ground of policie, than in her words the light of truth; and therefore it may as truly bee thought, that from hence was stolne whatsoeuer is good in policie, as some auntient writers are per­suaded, that from hence was borrowed whatsoeuer is true in Philosophie: in which respect, doth one call Plato the Moses of Athens, and Basill chargeth the diuel as a theefe of the Truth, in that he had decked his crowes with her fea­thers. And surely, if the humours of po­lititians were not so daintie, that they [Page]cannot so well rellish the same policies out of this booke, as out of prophane authors; they should find that the religi­on thereof, though it chiefely intend a­nother life, yet it hath the best rules for this; and making men no lesse wise, hath only this difference, that it maketh them more vertuous, and that not onely in those duties which become priuat per­sons, but in those also which concerne the state of a kingdome. For what doth more concerne the state of a kingdom, then peace? And what doth more breed peace, then obedience? And what doth more teach either obedience or peace, then the religion of Christ? Who be­side that he had his temple, the figure of his Church, built in the daies of Salo­mon, the daies of peace; 1. King. 6.1. and came into the world, to lighten the world in the raigne of Augustus, the time of peace; (that I may say nothing of the renuing and cleering of this light from the dark­nesse of superstition in these happy daies [Page 73]of our peace) as hee was brought from heauen, with that song of Angels;Luke 2.14Glory bee to God on high and in earth peace: and returned vp againe with that farwell, Peace I leaue with you, Iohn 14.27. I giue vnto you my peace: so he left vnto the world no other doctrin then that which is tru­ly called the Gospel of peace, Ephes. 2.17: whose authour is the God of peace, 1. Cor. 14.33; and whose ministers are the Mes­sengers of peace, Rom. 10.15; and whose followers are the children of peace, Luke 10.6; and whose vnitie is in the bond of peace, Ephe. 4.3; and whose dutie is the studie of peace, Rom. 12.18; and whose end is that peace which passeth all vnderstan­ding, Phil. 4.7. Neither doth the Gospel lesse teach obedience, which is rightly cal­led neruus imperij, the sinew & strength of a kingdom; as well because it is groun­ded vpon the obedience of Christ, who as Bernard noteth, ne perderet obedientiam perdidit vitam; did rather chuse to loose his life then to leaue his obedience; as [Page]also because it requireth in Christians, obedience, without respect of persons to all, without difference of degrees higher powers, Rom. 13.1; without exception a­gainst their qualities not onely to them that are good and curteous, but to them also who are froward, 1. Pet. 2.18; and that in all things, that we giue tribute to whom tribute, custome to whom custome, feare to whom feare, honour to whom honour belongeth, Rom. 17.7; and that not with eye seruice as men pleasers, Col. 3.22; but in singlenesse of heart as vnto Christ, Eph. 6.5; and that not because of wrath but for conscience sake, Rom. 13.5; that, if all the lawes and policies of states & king­domes were gathered into one, they could not be so strong to worke peace and to persuade obedience, as these few but very forcible rules of the religion of Christ.

For whereas lawes doe but looke in­to the facts, & prune the outrage of euill actions; the rules of religion examine [Page 74]the heart, and cleete the conscience of euill affections, and make euery man that is truly religious, to bee vnto him­selfe a law beyond law: I say a law be­yond law, for as Seneca well noteth quam angusta est innocentia ad legem bo­num esse? it is but halfe a mans honestie to bee no better, then the law maketh him, which reformeth but that, if all that, which the world sees: and out of the danger whereof a wicked man may liue, if he haue but a great man to his friend, or not a great man to his enemie. Whereas religion (I euer ad if it be tru­ly in them) will reforme the great ones themselues, and make their eyes single without respect of persons, and their eares indifferent to the equitie of suites, and their hands cleane from the corrup­tion of rewards, and their hearts vpright to doe nothing without the testimonie of a good conscience. How much the more it is not with the water of wee­ping eyes, but with the teares of blee­ding [Page]hearts to be lamented, that in so great light there should bee so little fruit, and in so great shew so little truth of re­ligion; that in all degrees irreligious hearts should maske vnder religious fa­ces, and a true Christian no more bee knowne by what hee professeth, then a true friend by what hee seemeth; that whereas the truth of religion is the pre­seruer of gouernment, & the mother of obedience; the name of religion is made the firebrand of kingdomes, and the ar­mour of disobedience; and that not one­ly to maintaine the tyranny of that vsur­ping power, who taketh vpon him to depose kings; but also to bring in that anarchie of factious subiects, who pre­sume to giue lawes to their lawfull prin­ces. Wherin beside that it is true which Leo wrate vnto Theodosius, that priua­tae causae pietatis aguntur obtentu, Leo ep. 23. & cupi­ditatum quisque suarum religionem velu­ti pedissequam habet, priuat causes are handled with pretence of pietie, and [Page 75]euerie man maketh religion which should be the mistresse, the handmaid of his affections; it is intollerable to see how farre some busie heads striue to fetch the beginning of kingdomes,Vindiciae contra Ty­rannos. and so as they thinke the right of kings, from the pleasure of the people: whereas in the most kingdomes it is manifest, that they were ordained by God otherwise; how vnfitly they proportion absolute Mo­narches to pettie kingdomes, or rather principalities; and the right of inheri­tance to the libertie of election: where­as to subiects of that kind, it is no more in their power to make kings, then to make heires, which are both reserued to God alone: how contemptuously they tearme the titles of honour and reue­rence the Soloecismes of the court; Buchan de iure regni. wheras the Apostle, Act. 26, 25; doth call Festus by the name of noble: how seditiously they giue wings to ambitious humours, to plead the right of a Laconicall Ephorie against kings, but for themselues; and [Page]to arme that beast of many heads, the multitude, which euer goeth, as Seneca speaketh, non quâ eundum est, sed qua itur, not whether it should, but whether the streame beareth it, against that (which to want of iudgement is euer most heauie) the present gouerment: whereas the right rules of religion, giue no remedie to subiects against the high­est authoritie, but in the necessitie of ei­ther suffering, or obeying. And there­fore they that open that gap, whether it be to the tiranny of ambitious popes, or to the anarchy of seditious subiects; how­soeuer they pretend the name of religiō, they shall sooner prooue themselues to haue no religion, then that there is any defence for them in the religion of Christ; which teacheth, as to bee thankefull to God for good princes, so to be patient of those whom in anger, as the prophet Hosee speaketh,Hos. 13.11. hee setteth ouer vs, for the punishment of our sins; and against whom the first professors of our faith [Page 76]had no weapons but prayers and teares. Tertul. in A­pol.

Neither yet doth that follow which some polititiās obiect, That because the religion of Christ teacheth peace, Machiauel. there­fore it is vnfit for warre, and because it persuadeth patience, therefore it maketh men cowards: for howsoeuer the first building of the temple was without the noise of any yron toole, 1. King. 6.7; to signifie, that it should bee the house of peace; yet in the second, as it is in the 4 of Nehemiah. 17, they built with one hand, and held their swords in the other; to shew, that in a good cause it should not be vnlawfull to make warre: where­unto the religion of Christ is so farre from making cowards, as that it giueth courage, and the faith thereof, as it is in the 11. to the Heb. vers. 34. hath subdued kingdomes, and made men strong and va­liant in battaile; neither is there any shaddow of reason, that they who fight but their owne battailes, and but in the confidence of their owne strength, and [Page]spend their blood more for the glorie of this life, than for the hope of any other, should come in comparison with them that fight the Lords battailes, and in the goodnesse of their cause, with the af­fiance of his helpe, from whom they haue assurance, that though they die, yet they shall bee translated to a better life. Wherefore, seeing the religion of Christ is no way an enemie, either to the state, or to the good of princes, but giueth wisedome to their policies, and life to their lawes; obedience to their peace, and courage to their warres; there is no such policie for princes, and them that are great about princes, as to maintain the truth of his religion among the people, and especially to prouide, a­gainst that wantonnesse of wits, by the which euerie priuat spirit is bold to examine the authority of princes, and to call the principles of religion in que­stion.

In which respect it is the next point [Page 77]of their nursing care, to bee carefull of those that are put apart to that great worke of planting religion int he hearts of the people;Rom. 1.1. that since it is so necessa­rie a dutie, it be not neglected; and since it is so high a calling, it be not contem­ned. For religion, and the professours of religion, haue euer bene subiect to one and the same condition; the honor of the one, hath gone with the honor of the other; and the contempt of the one with the contempt of the other; neither was there euer, either age or state, which hath not bene alike either friend or ene­mie to them both. Which I doe not speake, as though, in respect of our selues, the inward testimony (that we are called of God) were not encouragement inough to make vs willing to the dudie, and readie to deuoure, whatsoeuer con­tempt may be cast vpon vs; as in respect of the common good, whereof out­ward meanes are a great occasion if not cause; as well in bringing the best wits [Page]to this studie, which now for the most, find better preferment euery other way; as also for doing good among the peo­ple, who are easily brought to con­temne either Minister, or Magistrate, that stand in need of them. And there­fore if they who so earnestly vrge the Apostolicall times, that we might pos­sesse nothing, would conforme them­selues to the Zeale of those times, in the which the faithfull sold their lands and houses, Act. 4.34. and layed the price at the Apostles feet, that there might be proportion betweene their state and ours; and with­all remember that equitie of the Apo­stles doctrine, that they who minister spi­rituall things should reap temporall, Rom. 15.27; and in such measure, that they be able to keepe hospitality, 1. Tim. 3.2; and that according to that rule; by the which it is a more blessed thing to giue then to re­ceiue: Act. 20.35. that litle which is left, in some few of the best preferments, would not be so much enuied. But blinder times neuer [Page 78]saw the springs of bountie run so fresh and so fast into the Church, as the time of light hath seene them turned backe like Iordan; & superstitiō neuer gaue her so much ciuile authoritie, as the world is ready to plucke from that right which she hath in ecclesiasticall iurisdiction. In­deed it cannot bee denied, but that when good princes who were her nur­ces and tutors, saw, that the daugh­ter, as hee speaketh,Bernard. had eaten vp the mother, that is, honour and wealth had swallowed vp religion and pietie; they had good cause to let her blood in the swelling veine of her proud excesse; but that was done rather for her good then for any mind they had she should bleed to death, or be made sicke as she is of a continuall issue. But desire of gain, which is well called the poyson of a good meaning, Vindic. eccle. Gallic. hath made the tast of her spoile so sweet, as that her cure is become as dangerous as her disease: and religion hath taken as deepe a wound in the con­tempt, [Page]as euer she had in the excesse and pride of her ministerie. For who is he that doth not see, that with the authori­tie of ministers, the reuerend regard of religion is gone? that for the hipocrisie of but seeming holy, there is brought in the impudencie of neither being nor seeming; that the faith which was wont to be in the words, is now scarce found in the oaths of men; and generally, there is so little conscience of either good or euill, as that nothing is thought to bee good but in shew, nothing true but in o­pinion: that as to cure the superstition, we neglect the deuotion of prayer; and to auoid the opinion of merit, we cast off the care of doing well; so to take away the superfluitie we leaue not ynough for the necessitie of the Church, and thereby haue made her cleargie like Hieroboams priests,1. King. 13.33. of the lowest of the people: and thinke we deale well with her, if with Roboam, for her shields of gold wee giue her shields of brasse. 1. Kin. 4.27. Which hath broght [Page 79]not onely the persons, but the calling, in contempt, and made the world so farre from submitting their hearts to their do­ctrine, or their liues to their censures; as that nothing is so little followed, as the doctrine; nothing so lightly regarded as the censure of the church. How much the more necessarie is it for them that haue the tuition and protection of her, to meet with this contempt; and so far forth to nourish her weake and leane estate with giuing her the breast againe, as that she may recouer her authoritie a­mong the people; that countenance be giuen to those courts, which are to con­forme the liues of men to the rules of faith; that they be not like Spiders webs, which catch but flies, but as well take order for the faults of the mightie, as of the poore and needie; that the liberall allowance, which is committed but to the trust of Patrones, be not by Symonie either mangled or sold; and the best pre­ferments bee not made the rewards of [Page]fauour, but of worth; that euery office in the Church be most seuerely bound to the dutie; and no place abused, ei­ther to the basenesse of couetous, or to the vanitie of proud minds, but we may recouer the authoritie of our calling, as well by that we are, as by that we would haue: that those honourable foundati­ons of both the nurceries bee by all meanes cherished, that they may proue like that Persian tree, whereof Theophra­stus maketh mention, which at the same time doth bud, and blossome, and beare fruit; so they may euer be found to haue some ripe for the church and common­wealth, some drawing to their ripenesse, some in the floure, and some in the bud of hope; and may euer want the fauo­rable aspect of truly honourable minds to shine vpon them. For as there is no­thing so princely in it selfe, nothing wher­in Princes come so neere vnto God, as in doing of good; so is there no so princely doing of good, as to the Church; as well [Page 80]because whatsoeuer is done to it, is done to the best and most common good, as also because it is accepted and rewarded, as if it were done to God himselfe. The care of king Dauid, not to dwell in a house of Cedar trees, while the Arke of God re­mained in curtaines, 2. of Sam. 7.2, and his bountie, 2. Sam. 24.24, not to offer any thing vnto the Lord, that cost him no­thing; are good rules for godly princes, as to haue a principall care of his house, so to spare for no cost in his seruice: but the blessing of all Aegipt for the enter­tainement of Ioseph; 2. Sam. 6.11. of Obed-Edom and all his familie, for hauing the Arke of God in his house; may well assure them, that it is not onely no losse, but great gaine, whatsoeuer is done to him or his: vpon whom there is a promise, Matth. 10.41, that a cup of cold water shall not loose his reward: nay, as we read in the 1. King. 17, that the widdowes barrell of meale did not wast by spending, in as much as she spent it vpon the Prophet; so there is no doubt, [Page]but they get by giuing, who giue to pub­licke good, and godly vses: as on the o­ther side, they loose by getting, who wold haue all turned or rather ouerturned to their priuat. In which respect, as wee haue great cause to bee thankefull vn­to her, who hath caried her selfe like the sunne in the firmament of our estate, gratious and fauourable to the com­mon good; and besides the indaunge­ring of her crowne for the cause of reli­gion, hath beene such a mother to our colledges by her statute of rents in proui­sion, as that in the dearth of yeeres wee are not punished with scarcenesse of bread; such a nurce to Cathedrall Chur­ches, as that by her late confirmation wee may acknowledge her a new founder: so would to God the great aboue her did remember, that the true lights of the fir­mament are euer in motion for the good of others; and that but comets and blasing starres are fed with corruption from be­low; and therefore that there is no such [Page 81]way to true honour, as to vse their ho­nour to the good of the Church.

Now as it is an honour for princes to be the nurces of religion among the peo­ple, 3 an honour to be the nurces of them that are to nourish it in the people; so it is no lesse honor for them to be the nurces of religion in themselues. For as S. Au­gustine noteth of the virgin Marie, that though she were happie by conceiuing and bearing our Sauiour Christ in her wombe, yet she was more happie by conceiuing and bleeuing him in her heart: so though it be a great happinesse for princes to haue Christ in their kingdoms, and a greater to haue their kingdomes Christian; yet it is the greatest of all for themselues to bee Christs: and therby to haue that which is greater then a kingdome added to their kingdomes: that whereas otherwise they are but kings of their subiects, by being members of Christ they are made kings of themselues, and not so only, but heires also of a greater and better kingdome. A [Page]conquest hard, if any, for them that com­maund the world, to commaund them­selues; & when they haue none but God aboue them, to suffer none to goe before them in the seruice of God: and so much the harder, by reason of those many oc­casions, by the which they are tempted aboue others, in the greatnesse of their power, to forget God; in the abundance of their pleasures, to forget themselues: but yet so much the more necessarie, as well for their owne good in this life, as for the life which is to come. And there­fore hath it pleased God, in great wise­dome, to load their crownes with cares, that they might cast their care vpon him. And in that image in the second of Da­niel, 32, 33, hath he giuen great estates to vnderstand, that though they haue heads of gold, armes and brest of siluer, belly and thighes of brasse, and legs of iron,yet they haue but feet of earth: that they may be taught to build their hope vpon another kingdome: and that not onely [Page 82]for thēselues but for the people also that depend vpon them, and to whom their liues are lawes, and their examples rules. For as Plinie writeth of the Romane fields, that they were then most fruitfull,Nat. hist. lib. 18. cap. 3. when they were tilled with the hands of Emperours; as if the earth had reioyced à triumphali aratore coli, as it were in the honor of their labour, who with no lesse diligence did till the ground, then rule the people; so the encrease of religion must needs bee great, whē princes them­selues are religious, & by the diligent stu­dy of Christian philosophy bring that hap­pines vpon kingdoms which Plato wished. But God be thanked wee haue no such need to haue this point persuaded, as our own thankefulnes for this benefit: what­soeur good hath bene done in the cause of religion; whatsoeuer care hath bene had of Colledges and Churches; what­soeuer good hath fallen vpon the land for the truth of religion, she may well challenge it to bee her owne: who not­withstanding [Page]the manifest hinderances that lay in her way when she came to the crown; notwithstanding the opē emnity of Popes & forreine Princes to her, & her crowne; notwithstanding the traiterous practises of vndutifull subiects, at home and abroad, against her person, and the peace of her crown; hath shewed her self no lesse carefull of her religion, then of her crowne: & therfore as God hath ho­nored her in this latter age of the world so far beyond other princes, as to make a virgin Queen the best nurce of the reli­giō of him, who had a virgin to his Mo­ther; so hath he answered her care of him with his care of her, and not onely mira­culously discouered all attempts against her,Claudian. but also made the wind and the sea to fight for her. What then remaineth? but that we striue euery one in our pla­ces and calling, to goe one before an­other, in thankefulnesse to God for his gratious loue to vs in her; in dutiful­nesse to her, for her religious care of him [Page 83]in vs: that since by her gouernment he hath opened vnto vs the riches of his grace in great plentie,Ephe. 1.7. wee returne to him in some measure the fruits I say the fruits of the spirit; that since she hath not spared to aduenture her crowne for our religion, we hold nothing too deere for the safetie of her crowne; that as euery one hath a place more neere to her per­son, so he bee knowne to haue a heart more sincere to her religion; that they whom she hath honoured to bee her eyes and her eares in the head of her go­uernment, bee single eyes, and faithfull eares, as well for the truth of those things which she must know, as for the care of those things which shee must doe by them: that we of the ministery seeke not our selues but Christ in our calling, nor so much our owne either honour or wealth, as the aduancement [...]f religion in our preferments; & so learne to speake our hearts with our tongues, as that they who heare vs, may be the more willing [Page]to lay their hearts to their eares: that the questions of religion may at length bee brought to resolutions in religion; the talk of God, to godlinesse; the knowledge, to practise; that no man thinke himselfe to know any more then hee doth beleeue, nor to beleeue any more then hee hath a mind in his life and conuersation by all means to expresse: that so, whē the strict account shall be taken both of prince and people: of prince, for those many blessings which God hath powred vpon her per­son and her state, for the very cause of re­ligion; of people, for that his more than ordinarie loue in commending vs to the care of so princely a nurce, we may bee found the truly religious people of a truly religious Prince, & in the meane season so lead the life of grace, as that in the end we may be brought to the life of glorie: which the God of glorie grant vs in the grace of his sonne Christ; to whom with the father & the holy ghost be all honor and glory now and for euer. Amen.

❧ A SERMON of the difference of Good and Euill. Preached before Queene Elizabeth, at Whitehall in Lent. 1596.

Esa. 5.20.

Woe bee vnto them that call good euill, and euill good.

TO bring the voyce of Woe into the house of Peace, and in the daies of Securitie to sound out the Seueritie of God his iudgements; I would it were as pleasing as it is neces­sarie, that so it might be as welcome as it is wholesome. But the nature of man, [Page]as it doth not well sauour or rellish the things that are of God, 1. Cor. 2.14. so can it no way endure the sharpenesse of the best reme­dies; especially in the cure of that incu­rable disease of the soule, the mother of all both error and sinne, Opinion, which though shee search after good but in shewes, and truth but in probabilities; doth yet in the wantonnesse of her con­ceit presume to make euery thing of euery thing, and so euill of good and good of euill. Yet in as much as the many woes which the Prophet in this place de­nounceth, against the many and crying sinnes of Iuda and Hierusalem, as name­ly, Woe be to them that ioine house to house and lay field to field, vers. 8; and woe be to them that rise early to follow drunken­nesse, vers. 11; and woe be vnto them that draw iniquitie with cords of vanitie, and sinne as with cartropes, vers. 18; and woe be to them that are wise in their owne eyes, vers. 21; and woe be to them which iustifie the wicked for reward, vers. 23; and (as [Page 85]we haue in these words) Woe bee vnto them that call good euill, and euill good; are but warnings, and so in effects, armings against that woe of destruction, which in the end of the chapter is threatened, by a nation that shall come from farre, with sharpe arrowes and bowes bent, and horse-hoofes like flint, and wheeles like a whirle­wind, and roaring like a lyon, so to exe­cute the iudgements of God vpō them, as that none shall deliuer them: I hope it will not be vnpleasing to heart of that woe, which may deliuer from woe; nor vnfit that I strike at the root of that sinne, which is the mother of so many corruptions.

And first for the voice of woe, which flesh and blood hath no pleasure to heare, and such as are at ease in Sion, A­mos. 6.1: and (as the Prophet speaketh) haue made a league with death, and a co­uenant with hell, Es. 28.13: had rather once for all feele, then euer be disquieted with the feare of it; though it be seldom [Page]denounced, but when the wrath of God is hotely kindled to proceed with rigor of justice against the outrage and excesse of sinne; yet is it an argument of the rich mercie of that God, who hath no plea­sure in the death of a sinner; Ezech. 33 11, that he sendeth the sound of woe before woe; and in a longing desire, to haue the coales of his wrath quenched with the teares of our repentance, proceedeth, as vnwilling to proceed against vs; vntill with contempt of his patience and long suffering we prouoke him, and as it were force him to iudgement. For though the axe be laid to the root of the tree, Luk. 3.9, yet shall it not be hewed downe as long as there is any hope of the fruits of repen­tance: though there bee yet but fortie daies, and Niniuie shall be destroied; yet if Niniuie obey the word of the Lord, and proclaime a fast, and the King rise vp from his throne, and from the greatest to the least of them they put on the sackcloth, and sit downe as it were in the ashes of re­pentance; [Page 86]the Lord will repent of the euill he said he would doe vnto them, and turne away from his fierce wrath, Ionas. 3: yea, a Sodome of sinne shall bee spared, if there be but ten righteous to be found in it, Genes. 18.32: and though there be a decree gone out, that all the woes and curses which are written in the book, which was red before the king of Iudah, shall be brought vpon Hierusalem and the inhabi­tants thereof; yet if she haue a Iosiah to her king, whose heart doth melt at the words of that booke, and who will humble himselfe before God, for the miseries that are denounced against his people; he shal be gathered to his fathers in peace, and his eyes shall not see the euils which shall be brought vpon his kingdome, 2. Chro. 34: so farre is the voice of woe, from either bringing or hastening of woe, as that if it worke, as it did in Niniuie a generall repentance, it deliuereth as it did Niniuie from woe; if it find but a few righteous, or but the heart of a good prince, which [Page]will melt at the sound thereof: it will at the least deferre & put off the hasty com­ming of woe, & so procure a longer time of repentance. And therfore howsoeuer they that dreame of peace where there is no peace, Ezech. 13. vers. 10. doe wish to haue the pillowes of ease & flatterie sowed vnder their elbows, Ezech. 13.18; howsoeuer the rebellious people and lying children will say vnto the Seers, see not, and to the Prophets, prophe­cie not vnto vs right things, but speake pleasing and flattering things vnto vs, Es. 30.10: howsoeuer Ahab will account Eliah to be his enemie, 1. King. 21, 20, and in the 1. King. 22.8, except against Mi­chaiah, as one whom he hateth, in as much as he doth neuer prophesie good but euill vnto him; howsoeuer the wicked sonne of good king Iosiah, when he hath heard but three or foure sides of the roule or book, which Baruch wrate from the mouth of Hieremie, concerning the calamities which hung ouer Hierusalem, will cut it in pieces with a penknife, and see it consumed [Page 87]in the fire, Hier. 36.23, as one that could not endure so much as the sound of woe in his eares: yet as the heathen Oratour spake of ciuile remedies,Cic. ep. ad Octau. that nulla reme­dia tam faciunt dolorem, quam quae sunt salutaria, there are no remedies so sharp as they that are most wholsome; so may it be said of the physick of the soule, that there is none so wholsome as that which is most sharpe. For in as much as the dis­eases of the time, which like euils of long peace, do for the most grow by ex­cesse; haue not so much vse of restoritiues as need of launcing and corosiues; if we will be fit for the kingdome, and ready for the comming of Christ, we must be let blood in the swelling veines of our pride, and haue the impostumes of our greedy desires launced; the fat bellies of our gluttonie must be brought downe with fasting, and the body of our lust slaine with true mortification; our hearts that are soaked in the vnsauerie pleasures of this life, must be better sea­soned [Page]with the salt teares of repentance, and such as eate the bread of wickednesse, and drinke the wine of violence, Prou. 4.17; must bee content to haue their diet changed into that of the prophet Dauid, The bread of care and the water of affli­ction. Yea our delicate eares which lull our hearts in the dead sleepe of secu­ritie with the pleasing sounds of wan­ton musicke, must bee wakened with that voyce of the Angel, Reue. 8.13; which is sayd to flie through the middest of heauen, and to crie to the inhabitants of the earth woe, woe, woe, as the most ne­cessarie musicke for the last and worst dayes. And surely as the best of philoso­phers sayd of our pleasures,Aristo. that if wee would looke vpon them not as they seeme when they come toward vs, but as they are when they goe from vs; it were impossible we should take pleasure in them: so if the woe that waiteth vpon sinne were euer written in the face of sinne, it were im­possible that it should bee so much and [Page 88]so greedily committed. For if Ira ven­tura, the wrath to come, were euer in our eyes; and vae vae the voice of woe euer in our eares (as in so good euidence as wee haue of both, it is more then strange, that so certainly to come, is not euer as it were present with vs) howso­euer the boldnesse of sinne hath lost the blush of shame, yet would it tremble at the feare of iudgement; yea, it were impossible, that the most secure of sin­ners should sleepe in his sinnes, when he knew that iudgement did not sleepe but wait for him;2. Pet. 2. and that it was vigilans virga, Hier. 1.11, a waking rod, that hung ouer him. And therefore as Schola crucis is schola lucis, the crosse of Christ the best schoolemaster vnto Christ, and the correction of God the truest note to know the sonnes of God from bastards, Heb. 12.8, in as much as iudgement must begin at the house of God, 1. Pet. 4.17: how may he be better persuaded, that in mercie he would haue vs deliuered from the woe of [Page]destruction, then when hee denounceth against our sinnes the woe of correction? for with them whom indeed he hateth, his course is farre otherwise, they goe downe as it were quicke to the graue: yea as Iob speaketh 21. vers. 23, in their full strength, in all ease and prosperitie, euen while their breasts are full of milke, and their bones run full of marrow; well may they cast with the rich man, Luke 12.18, of pulling downe their barnes, and ma­king them larger; and say vnto their souls, liue at ease and take your pastime, there is much good laid vp for many yeares; when they shall scarce heare of hac nocte, This night will they take thy soule from thee, before they feele it: well may they feast and banquet, marry and giue in mariage, as they did in the daies of Noah, when suddainely a flood shall ouertake them: well may they feed vpon quailes with the children of Israell, Numb. 11.33, but the wrath of the Lord shall bee kindled against them, euen while the meat is in [Page 89]their mouths; for destruction shall come vpon the wicked, and he shall not know so much as the morning thereof, Es. 47,11. Now in this difference of God his proceeding with enemies and with sons, with the children of wrath and the heirs of promise, to being woe vpon the one before they heare of woe, and with the voice of woe as it were to woo the other to repentance, before the extremitie of woe be brought vpon them; how can we but acknowledge in his iust hatred to our sinnes, his rich mercie to vs sin­ners? that though the lust of this age, not much behind that of Sodome, Gen. 18.20. doe crie vnto God for fire from heauen to con­sume it; though the oppression of this age, not much inferiour to that of the giants in the old world,Gen. 6.11.who filled the earth with crueltie, haue need of another flood ;of Gods wrath, to wash it away from the face of the earth; though the disobedi­ence of these later times to euery kind of authoritie, equall, if not beyond that ; [Page]of Core, Num 16.33 Dathan, and Abyram, deserue that the earth should open and swallow it vp aliue, though the ripenesse and excesse of euery kind of sinne doe euen long for the haruest; & it be high time he should come to iudgement, if for nothing els, to stop that blaspheming mouth of this mocking age, which presumeth to say with them 2. Pet. 3, 4, where is the promise of his comming, since all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation? yet had he rather seeme slacke, as some ac­count slacknesse, then not haue a patience beyond all patience to make a conquest of our vnthankfulnesse. Neither yet in this his long patience doth his wrath al­together sleepe; as his beloued citie is neuer without watchmen, which are to sound the trumpet of his wrath before it commeth, Ezech. 33.4: so when the rod of his mouth, as the word is called, Es. 11.4, cannot preuaile; he preacheth vnto vs with the rod of his power, and either poysoneth the aire by which we liue, to [Page 90]bring a mortalitie and pestilence vpon our bodies; or maketh the heauen that is ouer vs, to be as brasse, and the earth that is vnder vs, to be as yron, Deut. 28, that he may breake the staffe of bread, and bring a famine vpon the land: or, if no­thing els will serue, he calleth some for­raine power to execute his iust iudge­ments against our sinnes; least by being at rest from our youth, we should be setled like Moab vpon the lees of our sinnes, in as much as we haue not beene poured like other nations from vessell to vessell, Hier. 48.11. For what are the strange appari­tions and comets which wee haue seene in the aire? What the wonderfull trem­bling, and as it were shaking of the foun­dation which we haue felt in the earth? What the extraordinarie inundations of riuers? What these vnseasonable yeares, in the which the bottels of heauen, Iob. 38.37. as Iob calleth the clouds, haue seemed to doe nothing but weepe for our sinnes? but so many though signes of his wrath, [Page]yet sermons of repentance, to deliuer vs, if by any meanes we will bee deliuered from the wrath to come? that hee may iustly plead with vs as hee doth with his vineyard in this chapter, What could I haue done more to my vineyard, that I haue not done vnto it? or rather as hee doth with Hierusalem, ouer whose vn­thankefull disobedience he wept in the Gospell;Luke 13.34. O Hierusalem, Hierusalem, how often, but ye would not? Wherein our condemnation cannot but be iust, yea, if we were made our owne iudges, when we will bee warned with no warning, mooued with no threatening, wonder at no iudgement, be humbled with no punishment; but so build our negligence vpon the patience, and our cōtempt vp­on the long suffering of God, as that we heape vnto our selues wrath against the day of wrath. Rom. 2.5. For why should vnthank­fulnesse presume of mercie? or contempt of patience? or despite of grace? What priuiledge haue any to thinke, that they [Page 91]may safely commit, and not be sure to receiue the reward of sinne? What rea­son to imagine, that because it is not cer­taine when, therefore it may be doubted whether he will come to iudgement? nay if we would indeed make our benefit of the woe, which is denounced but for our benefit, we would be so farre from shut­ting the dore of our hearts to him that so patiently waiteth, and so continually knoc­keth, Rev. 3.20, as that with Hierome, we would euer haue a sound of that trumpet in our eares, Surgite mortui, venite ad Iu­dicium, Arise ye dead vnto iudgement: and because of his certain comming, the houre is vncertain, euer be prepared and readie for him; and in the meane season assure our selues, that the worst of woes are laid vp for vs, if we continue not only to sinne, but to delight in sinne, and not only to delight in sinne, but to boast of sinne, and not only to boast of sinne, but to iustifie sinne, and so to iustifie it, as to make euill good, and good euill.

Wherein it is much that the pleasure of sinne should breede a pride in sinning, and the pride of sinning presume to iu­stifie sinne, yea so farre to iustifie it as to make euill good; but that there should be any so impudent as with them of whom Iude speaketh, to blaspheme the things they know not, and whatsoeuer things they naturally know in those things to corrupt themselues, & so to make good it selfe euill, is most vnworthy I doe not say such as beare the name of Christians, but euen such as beare the shape of men. Yet is there no way for any to make euill, good, except they first make good, euill. For when rectum as the phi­losopher teacheth est regula sui & obli­qui, right is the rule both of right and crooked; it is impossible for wicked­nesse to bring the libertie of euill, vnlesse it first peruert the rules of good. In which point it were beyond all credit, if it did not offer it selfe to all eyes, how many sleights thei witlesse wittie, and learned­ly [Page 92]vnlearned age hath deuised to make the rules of good and euill like that lea­den rule of Lesbia, pliable to purposes, and to serue turnes: how many plees iniustice hath found out to iustifie it selfe out of iust lawes; how many shadowes vngodlinesse to shroud it self vnder the law of God: not that true and good are not euery way so like themselues, as that nothing can bee directly concluded but true out of true, and good out of good; but because the selfe liking of opi­nion doth blind euen the eye of reason, and make lying spirits to inuent as many glosses to corrupt the text of truth, as quirking heads haue found cases to per­uert the good meaning of iust lawes. Which are those Funes mendacij (as the Prophet calleth them a little before) the cordes of vanitie or lying, Es. 5.18. wherewith the wicked draw on their iniquity: not that there is in them so much as the strength of cordes, if by the law of God we make a true triall how farre they are able to [Page]hold; but because their strength is in the weakenesse of such as assent vnto them, and they prooue not onely the cordes of vanity, but the cartropes of sinne, to such as erre in them or rather striue to erre in them. For I doe not take it, that they simply erre, who (as Chrysostome noteth) vt liberius peccent libenter igno­rant, that they may freely sinne, are wil­lingly ignorant, and thinke themselues safe in their league with death and their couenant with hell, as long as they haue made falshood their refuge, and are hid vnder vanitie, Esa. 28.15; yet what are all the quirkes of wit, and the fallacies of skill, wherewith the wicked arme them­selues against the truth, and wherin they seeke a protection against the lawes of good,Genes. 3.7. but the figge leaues of Adam, which wither in the gathering, and ra­ther shadow the light in our eyes, then any way alter it in it selfe? when men will presume to make absolutely forbid­den, but in a respect vnlawfull, Psal. 15.5. as onely [Page 93]biting vsurie in the case of vsurie; 1. Cor. 7.26. and re­spectiuely inconuenient, absolutely vn­lawfull, as marriage in some persons: when couetousnesse will be an infidell to heap vp it knoweth not for whom, because the world adiudgeth him worse then an infidell that doth not prouide for his owne: 1. Tim. 5.8. when libertines will stretch the libertie of the Gospell, to shake off the yoke of all authoritie, and by the de­ceitfulnesse of comparison wrest that rule of truth,Act. 4.19. that wee must rather obey God then man, to make an opposition betweene such duties as may stand to­gether, if the one be subordinat vnto the other: when the simplicitie of belee­uing is drawne to a subtiltie of arguing, and out of our dispositions wee frame our positions, and so in the things that we affect, we imagine euery probabili­tie to be a demonstration, whereas in the things which we affect not, we flat­ter our selues, that no demonstration hath the strength of a probabilitie. But [Page]admit that we were not so happie in the written word of God, which is the light of all truth, and the rule of all good, and the life of all lawes, as that in such euidence, no man may plead the igno­rance of good and euill; yet were there inough in the naturall law of man his reason to condemne vs for either per­uerting or confounding the nature of good and euill. The Gentiles, saith the Apostle, Rom. 2.14, doe by nature the things conteined in the law, and hauing not the law are a law vnto themselues, in as much, as the effect of the law is written in their hearts. And though that high and sauing misterie of God in Christ, bee aboue the reach of mans either reason or conceit; yet doth reason bring vs by de­grees, to a power aboue all other pow­ers, and therefore aboue all other things to be worshipped. Which power in as much as it findeth for the end to bee in­finitely good, for the order of his wor­king to be infinitely wise, it farther ga­thereth [Page 94]that for his goodnesse he is to be worshipped with loue, and for his wise­dome he is to be worshipped after his owne manner. Which prooueth them not onely irreligious but vnreasonable creatures, who doe not acknowledge first, that there is a God, secondly, that he is to be worshipped, thirdly, that he is to be worshipped after his owne manner. But the light of reason is farre greater in our morall and ciuile duties, as hauing such principles as carrie our consents as soon as we heare them, and to which the spirit of God hath added authoritie in giuing them authoritie in the Scripture. To note but one for all, out of that princi­ple of reason that the greater good is to bee chosen before the lesse, the Apostle 2. Cor. 4.17, concludeth, that things eter­nall are to be preferred before things tem­porall; and our Sauiour, Matth. 16.26, that it is no gaine for a man to win the whole world, with the losse of his owne soule. Out of which and many other of [Page]that kind, may reason it selfe, if it will be but it selfe, gather that there is a con­stant nature of good and euill, and not onely a bare opinion or consent, as this or that nation hath at any time made this or that good or euill. In deed it can­not be denied but that the generall rules of good and euill are in reason so plaine, as that they carrie our consents without any farther proofe of them: but all the difficultie is in our seuerall cases and par­ticular actions; whereby it is come to passe, that as one said of the controuer­sies of religion, That though the grounds were true, yet the questions had made it rem ingeniosam esse Christianum, a matter of great wit to be a Christian: so though the rules of good and euill bee plainely true, yet good and euill actions doe stand vpon so many circumstances, as that it is a matter of great wisedome to be a good Christian. Howbeit euen in this behalfe haue we a good help, and that within vs, to leuell euery action of [Page 95]ours to the rule, to wit, that incorrupt both witnesse and iudge of all our acti­ons the conscience of good and euill; which to studie to flie, is the way to find; and against which, it is a betraying of our selues to vse sophistrie; whose waking eye doth neuer sleepe, but euen then when it cannot persuade with the reason of good, will yet torment with the ter­ror of euill, and make them that liue the most tragicall liues, to acknowledge the truth of that tragicall voice, Video melio­raprobo{que} deteriora sequor, Medea Ouid. Metam. I neuer doe so euill, but I see how I might doe bet­ter. Wherein if yet any will be so curi­ous as to aske why in so good euidence of reason, so incorrupt a Iudge as Con­science, for the nature of good and euill, so many men in their actions doe, so many nations in their lawes haue madè good euill and euill good? it must needs be said, that they erre, and that in iudge­ment; which it is easie to do, when either the serpent that beguiled Eue with his [Page]subtiltie, 2. Cor. 11.3, doth corrupt our minds with a greater loue of a lesse good, or with a priuate respect of our owne profit; or when the hastinesse of our wils preuenteth our more conside­rat aduice of sound reason, as it did in the Apostles, Luke 9.54, who no sooner saw what they liked not, but foorthwith were desirous of fire from heauen: or when the custome of euill doth harden our hearts; as it did the hearts of the Iewes, that in seeing they saw, Mat. 13.14. and did not per­ceiue; and in hearing they heard, and did not vnderstand. For howsoeuer sinne beginneth in the buds of infirmitie, and by little and little stealeth to the twigs of negligence, if once the tyrannie of cu­stome ouertake it; it groweth to be the stout tree of contempt, which will rather breake then bend to any kind of instru­ction. Neither onely doth that tyrant Custome, harden the hart like an adamant, Zach. 7.12, and stiffen the neck with sinews of yron, and make the forehead of brasse [Page 96]to be ashamed of nothing, Es. 48.4, but robbeth the mind also (I know not whe­ther in a more secret or iust iudgement of God) of the gift of vnderstanding; and they thinke not amisse that thinke this custome of euill to be that hot yron which seareth the conscience, 1. Tim. 4.2, that it can haue no sence of good and euill. And in this case when custome hath blinded the eye of reason, and seared the conscience of good and euill; what can be truly good? what can bee truly euill vnto vs? nay, how can it be, but that there grow a manifest confusion both of good and euill; when the generalitie of sinne may excuse it, and the custome of sinne defend it, and the authoritie of sinners giue authoritie vnto it? And yet who is he that doth not thinke euerie thing safely done that is done commonly, and lawfully done that is done by prescrip­tion, and iustly done, that is done by exam­ple. For wherein doe the wicked ima­gine themselues to haue so safe a prote­ction, [Page]as when they doe as the most do? when the generalitie of swearing hath made it nothing to take the name of the Lord in vaine; and the common fashion of courting, nothing to lay siege to any womans chastitie; when company will excuse all the faults of good fellowship; and the multitude of fantasticall, make good the pride of all fashions: and though we may not follow a multitude to doe euill, Exod, 23.2, yet we flatter our selues, that the sinne is the lesse, the more cōmit it. But that which generalitie will but excuse, that will custome defend, and thinke that time hath gotten a right to do it. The world is hardly weaned from old euils, and many in most things ac­count it a safe plea, They were not the first that did so. This custome, hath made nothing sacriledge in the spoile of one Church, nothing symonie in the sale of Church liuings; this custome, maketh euery thing lawfull that hath but one president; and the most to pre­sume, [Page 97]that whatsoeuer hath been done, may be done, though it be worse done than euer it hath beene. But then doth sinne most lift vp her head, when shee hath authority to giue her countenance; when she is armed with power to break lawes, and so guarded with Scandalum magnatum, that fame if selfe shall not dare to whisper a truth against it; when mightie men will presume to doe those things by their places which for their places they should lesse doe then others; and in defence of their actions haue as good counsaile about them as that of the Nobles of Persia to Cambises; that though there were no direct law whereby he might marrie his owne sister, Herodotus. yet there was law inough whereby hee might doe what he listed. Which is the truest signe of a declining state, when such as excell in place doe not excell in vertue, but by the nobilitie of their birth, and the au­thoritie of their places make good their vices, whē their liues are drawne into ex­amples, [Page]and their examples into rules, and whole states corrupted by them; when vertuè hath no grace to spring vn­der them, and he that refraineth from euill maketh himselfe but a pray, Es. 59.15: When flatterie will iustifie them in the worst of their wayes, and verifie that of them which Seneca somtime partially spake of his friend Cato, obiecit aeliquis ebrietatem Catoni? citius efficiet crimen honestum quam turpem Catonem: obiect whosoeuer will whatsoeuer hee will against authoritie, he shall sooner get authority to the thing obiected then disgrace authoritie. How much the greater burthen, is layd vpon the shoul­ders of all in authoritie; that since their places doe in a maner make good what­soeuer they are, they bee no other then becomes their places; that since their liues are drawne into examples, & their examples into rules, they be examples of nothing but good: and aboue all, that they neither flatter nor suffer them­selues [Page 98]to be flattered in their euill waies, least they bee caried away with that ty­rannie of opinion to thinke their will reason, and their pleasure right. For if once ouerweening opinion possesse ei­ther publique or priuat persons, it lea­ueth no eare for any persuasion, it for­ceth not onely rules to her purpose, but reason to her seruice, and euer endeth in that conclusion, non persuadebis etiamsi persuaseris, she will not bee persuaded though shee bee persuaded. Which is that fatall miserie of these latter times, in the which the plentie not of sound but superficiall knowledge, hath made no­thing good but in shew, nothing true but in opinion; when for iustice be­tweene kingdome and kingdome, the better sword hath eaten vp the law of na­tions; and for iustice betweene people of the same gouernment, lawes are lost in the cases of the law: and for the pre­seruer of all both truth and iustice, reli­gion it selfe is in a manner lost in the que­stions [Page]of religion. For who can denie that to bee true of our times which Hillarie wrate of his, to nunc fides existere quot voluntates, & tot doctrinas quot mores; dum aut ita scribuntur vt volumus, aut ita vt volumus intelliguntur, that there are so many religions as opinions, so many doctrines as manners of men, when either we write them as we list, or as we list we vnderstand them: not that we haue not one and the same, a certaine rule, the word written, which rightly vnderstood will euer hold vs in the vnity of faith; but because in the wantonnesse of this disputing age, we rather looke in­to it with the eye of curiositie, then har­ken vnto it with the eare of obedience, and rather bring sharpe wits, then good minds to the vnderstanding of the scrip­ture; and to haue religion rather flying amongst vs in the aire of opinions, then setled in our hearts, with any truth of persuasion. And hereof it is that the Church of Christ which should bee the [Page 99]pillar of truth, 1. Tim. 3.15. and the schoole of good­nesse, is made a sea of contention, while men that should fetch their opinions from the word, doe come with preiudi­cate opinions vnto the word, and flatter themselues it euer soundeth as they thinke; Rom. 12.3. who if they would once bee wise vnto sobrietie, and acknowledging the true grounds, agree in the right issues; the conclusions of peace would necessarily follow. But flesh and blood which is blind in the best things, can yet foresee thus much, that the libertie of loosenesse must bee taken away if the questions of religion were once ended: and that there could bee no pretence to make their euill, good, if there were no exception against the rule of good­nes: and therefore as ages haue encreased in euill, so haue they multiplied their euill opinions of the truth: and if there were nothing else, it were inough to prooue this to be the worst of ages, be­cause it hath brought forth the worst of [Page]opinions, if it may be called an opinion, and not rather a desperat madnesse that presumeth to call the grounds of all truth in question. For howsoeuer many heresies haue bene the patrones of ma­ny sinnes, as the Anabaptists of disobedi­ence to lawfull magistrates; Ochinus and his followers of the pluralitie, the Nicholaitans of the communitie of wiues; yet was there neuer any that made all euill, good, but that of Athe­isme: in the which, as in the bottomlesse pit of all euill, all both errors & heresies doe loose themselues. And to that depth of impiety, what can be euill when no­thing is good? what can be a sinne when nothing is a law? what can hee beleeue to whom the storie of the creation is a fable, and the misterie of the incarnation a matter incredible, and all religion a meere pollicie? what can he either hope or feare, who acknowledgeth no resur­rection, no iudgement, no heauen, no hell, no God at all? An illusion stronger [Page 100]then any reason would imagine possi­ble in any reasonable creature, if the liues of many did not speake their hearts, and the heart of impietie open in some the mouth of impudencie. Yet will I ne­uer beleeue but that at sometime or other their owne hearts doe tell them otherwise, how that soule of theirs which cannot like the life of brute beasts be satisfied with any earthly thing, must needs haue an end beyond whatsoeuer this life can yeeld vnto it; and that when­soeuer in their desperate humours they open their mouthes against God or against heauen, whensoeuer they bor­row shadow of reason from vaine philo­sophie or prophane gentilitie against the creation of the world, against the in­carnation of Christ, they rather vtter what they wish, then what they are indeed persuaded; as wishing that there were no God, no heauen, no hell, no resurrecti­on, no iudgement: that so they might the more freely sinne, and neuer bee in [Page]danger to account for it. Wherefore it is not the too much learning, as some doe fondly imagine, but the too much licentiousnesse of this age, that breedeth either heresie or Atheisme; when wee maintaine our opinions but to iustifie our affections, and could be content (many of vs) not only that there were no God, but also no true rules of good, so that we might make our sinnes good. Which is the simplest sophistrie that euer was deuised, to erre that wee may erre; and to be glad to be deceiued with an euill opinion of good, that we may de­ceiue our selues with a good opinion of euill. But whatsoeuer we striue by cun­ning to make them, good will bee good, and euill will be euill: and though mala sunt vicina bonis, some euils haue affini­tie with some goods, yet haue they a contrarietie in their neerest affinitie: and that righteous iudge of good and euill, who cannot endure to haue euill done that good way come thereby, Rom. 3.8. will lesse en­dure [Page 101]the confounding of good and euill, in as much as he hath denounced a woe against it. And this woe as it requireth truth in our iudgement of things, so doth it require truth also in our censure of persons; that neither by malice wee make good men euill, neither yet by flatterie euill men good: especially if we haue the honour to be the eares of prin­ces, and the credit of other men depend vpon the truth of our report. For beside the sinne, it is an iniurie both to the prince and to the state, that either any worth should bee disgraced by malice, or any vnworthinesse smoothed vp with flat­terie: to the prince, because Maiestie is thereby imprisoned within the blind eyes and the partiall eares of other mens affections, and so made subiect that miserie which Seneca obserued, vt om­nia possidentibus desit qui verum dicat, that they which abound in other things are farthest off from knowing the truth: to the state, that the rewards of vertue are [Page]not open to desart, but shut vp within the narrow bounds of their fauour, who either cannot iudge, or will respect but (as they call them) their owne creatures. Which is the chiefe root of discontent­ment, when euery man will thinke him­selfe to haue a part in the disgrace of the most worthie, and suiters themselues will take it for no disgrace to see more worthie preferred before them. Howbe­it in this case as in the other, the libertie of our times, hath brought all but to opinion, and made it nothing to be, vn­lesse we be thought: in so much as sim­ple vertue, that is, vertue without mony or friends, doth endure a kind of Ostra­cisme, and either must liue to opinion, or bee content to liue in disgrace. Yet when all is done, truth must be the cre­dit both of persons and things, and in the end will haue grace both with God and man: and though the Sophistrie of opinion carie all for a time; yet doth it cary but to that woe; the miserie where­of [Page 102]of will at length bring all backe to that it was; restore good to the opinion of good, and true vertue to the honour of true vertue. But God is more mercifull then to punish our confusion of good and euill, with the vtter confusion of our estate, and therefore before he send the woe of our destruction, hee denounceth woe to our correction; and though hee may hitherto say of vs as he doth of his owne people, Amos 4, I haue giuen you cleannesse of teeth and scarcenes of bread; yet haue not you returned vnto me: I haue smitten you with blasting and mildew, your gardens and your fruits did the pal­mer worme deuoure, yet haue you not re­turned vnto me: pestilence haue I sent a­mongst you after the manner of Aegypt, yet haue you not returned vnto mee; I haue brought the enemie to your gates, yet haue you not returned vnto me; nay I haue pluckt you as a firebrand out of the burning, yet haue you not returned vnto me: yet doth he not giue ouer to waite [Page]with a patience beyond all patience, that at the least wee should at the last returne vnto him and make our benefit of the sound of that woe which he denounceth against the extremitie of whatsoeuer woe doth hang ouer vs; that being gui­ded by his spirit, according to the rules of his word, we may make a true diffe­rence of good and euill, to the intire fol­lowing of the one, and the perfect ha­tred of the other. Which the good God of all power graunt vs in the wise­dome of his sonne, by the quickning of his spirit: to whom be all honour and glorie now and for euer.

❧ A SERMON of an heauenly con­uersation.

Phil. 3. v. 20, 21.

Our conuersation is in heauen, from whence we looke for the Sauiour, euen the Lord Iesus Christ.

Who shall change our vile bodie, that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious bo­die according to the working, whereby he is able to subdue all things vnto himselfe.

THere is no one thing that hath a beginning, but it is referred vnto an end: and the end, as the wise man noteth, is the same with the be­ginning. [Page]The Sunne riseth in the East, and draweth to the place where he rose: Eccles. 1.5.7. riuers come from the sea, and haue their recourse into the sea againe, and generally, all the creatures of the earth haue their mothers wombe for their tombe; they are buried where they were bred; bred in the wombe of the earth, and in the bowels of the earth buried. As for man, though he dwell about the globe of the earth, and run a race of the like corruption, within the circle of the nethermost hea­uen;Coloss. 3.10. yet seeing hee was created to the image of him that hath his seat aboue the highest heauens; as he hath another beginning, so hath he another end also then the common sort of creatures; but yet an end, which is the same with his beginning, to wit, that hee direct the whole course of his life to him, in whom he mooueth, Act. 17.28. and from whom he hath his being. Which as it is the perfection of a Christian man, to turne from himselfe and to returne to him, from whom hee [Page 104]hath, whatsoeuer he is; so doth it require that while we dwell on earth, we haue our conuersation in heauen, and the life of this conuersation is hope, by the which we looke for a Sauiour, euen the Lord Ie­sus Christ; and the ground of this hope is faith, by the which wee are assured, that he shall change our vile bodies, and make them like to his glorious bodie; and the reason of this faith is his power, by the which he is able to subdue all things vnto himselfe: so that, if wee acknow­ledge (that which we must of necessitie confesse) the power of him, who is able to subdue all things vnto himselfe, we can­not but beleeue the resurrection of the bodie; if we beleeue the resurrection of the bodie, wee cannot but looke for the comming of our Sauiour Christ; if we looke for the comming of our Sauiour Christ, we cannot but haue our conuersation in heauen.

And first, that we are to looke higher than the earth, and to set our hearts with [Page]our eyes, Colos. 3.1. vpon the things that are aboue; the very frame of our bodies, made to that purpose may sufficiently teach vs; which by a speciall priuiledge is so orde­red, that when other creatures haue their lookes turned downeward, as it were groueling in the earth, we should haue our countenances erected vpward into heauen; not so much to gase vpon the beautie of the heauens and goodly order of the starres, as in them to glorifie the Creator both of heauen and earth. Which they that saw nothing, but by the light of nature, did in some sort point at; when finding (that which could not be hidden) this excellent frame of mans body, to the furnished with a mind which was rather in than of the bodie; they ga­thered, though in the clouds of their owne conceits, that it was an heauenly substance; and thereby inferred, that the perfection thereof was the contempla­tion of that diuine nature, which some of them did conceiue to be the Creator, [Page 105]others imagined to bee but the gouer­nour of the celestiall bodies. But wee, who by a better light, haue more truly learned, how wee were created of no­thing to the image of God, Gen. 1.26. and by the fall of our father Adam being made worse then nothing; how we were in Christ redeemed; 1. Pet. 1.18. haue cause, both with the wings of nature, and grace, to mount vp­ward; as owing vnto God our selues by nature, and more then our selues by grace. For in that he created vs, he gaue vs our selues; but in that he redeemed vs, he gaue himselfe for vs: so that how much he is better then wee, so much more then our selues doe wee owe vnto him. Howbeit, so rotten is our nature in the root, and thereby so dull, to conceiue the things that are of God, 1. Cor. 2.14. that when we should be lifted vp to heauen, with the wings of grace, we are as it were nailed to the earth, with that leaden lumpe of the old man; which by the Apostle is ob­serued to bee so rebellious against the [Page]spirit of God; as that he is said to vse the same power in raising vs from sinne with the which hee wrought in Christ when hee raised him from the dead. Ephe. 1.20. In which re­spect, hee thought it not inough to lay the burthen of our sinnes vpon his sonne Christ, Rom 6.4. Iames 1.18. that in his death they might bee buried; but withall he begat vs with the word of truth, that wee might be borne againe vnto newnesse of life; and sent his spirit into our hearts, Gal 4.6. to quicken our soules; which though they be the life of the bodie, are yet as dead without the spirit of God, as the bodie it selfe is with­out a soule. And therefore in vaine doe we seeke to be lightned with the word of truth, vnlesse wee bee also quickned with it, which is both light and life, and hath the power not to instruct vs onely, but to conuert vs also, and to kindle in our hearts new motions of a better life, by the which wee may liue vnto him, to whom we are borne, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, [Page 106]but of God, Io. 1.13: the comming of whose Gospel into the world is called, Mat. 19.28. the regeneration, because the world is as it were new made by it: and the effects of this regeneration are to turne the flesh as it were into spirit, Io. 3.6, to mortifie the deeds of the body, that we may sauour the things of the spirit, Rom 8.5; to crucifie the world vnto vs, and vs vnto the world, Gal. 6.14; yea to make vs partakers of the diuine nature, by flying the corruption, which is in the world through lust, 2. Pet. 1.4; for therefore did he who had his seat aboue the heauens of heauens vouchsafe to come dwell vp­on his footstoole the earth, Psal. 148.4. Es. 66.1. that he might draw vs after him into heauen: there­fore did he that was equall to the father, Phil. 2.7. humble himselfe to be a seruant; that hee might purchase vnto vs the right of sonnes: therefore, as Cyprian noteth, did he that was God, Gal. 4.5. not refuse to become that which we are, that we might be that which he is. The generalitie of which point, [Page]though it be ynough to ad wings to the mind that is most dull; yet if we farther vnfold the particularities, they cānot but put life into the deadest heart, to thinke, that he, to whom al things were subiect, shold be born poore, 2. Cor. 8.9. that he might enrich vs; Iohn. 6.35. that he who was the bread of life, should suffer hunger, Luke 4.2. that he might feed vs;Iohn. 4.7. that he who was the fountaine of li­uing waters, should suffer thirst, that he might satisfie ours; that he who was the light of the world, Iohn. 8.12. should liue obscurely, that he might lightē vs; that he who was the power of God, 1. Cor. 1.24. Matt. 4.1. Iohn. 1.4. shold be tempted, that he might strēghten vs; that he who was the life of the world, should die, that he might quicken vs, and in his innocencie sustaine the curse of the law, Gal. 3.13. that he might crown vs. Wherein as we cannot but acknow­ledge the riches of his vnspeakable loue, who loued vs before we were, Ephe. 1.4. Rom. 5.10. & followed vs with his loue whē we were his enemies: so doth he in the abundance of his loue require nothing at our hands but loue a­gain; [Page 107]not that he hath any need of our loue, for what (if I may so speake) can the nothing of our loue ad to the all things of his? but because he taketh such pleasure in our good, as that he accounteth it a be­nefit to him, when we benefit our selues by louing him. Which shold the rather induce vs to this dutie, though required of God, yet for our good; in as much as we do but loue our selues, when we loue him; who knowing best what is best for vs, requireth not onely that we loue him for our good, but that we loue him with our whole heart, as our onely good.Luke 10.27. For thogh the loue of God doe in some sort teach vs to deny our selues, that is, what­soeuer we are as of our selues: yet are we indeed neuer more our own, then when we are gods; in winning of whō, we gain our selues, and whatsoeuer we lost in our father Adam. Howbeit, we cānot be his, vnlesse we be wholly, and only his; wholly, that wee seeke him not with a heart and a heart, but with all our heart; and onely, [Page]that wee seeke not other things before him, or with him; but all things in him. Which mooued the Apostle in this chapter to account all things not onely losse, Phil. 3.8. but euen dung, that hee might win Christ; who not onely hath the words of life, but is himselfe the well of life, and fountaine of all goodnesse; that if wee will haue the spirit, to him it was giuen without measure; if grace, he is full there­of, Iohn 3.34. Iohn 1.14. Iohn 8.12. Col. 2.3. 1. Iohn 2.1. Es. 9.6. if light, he is the light of the world; if wisedome, in him are all the treasures of wisedome and vnderstanding; if helpe, he is our aduocat; if peace, he is the prince of peace; if ioy, he is the fulnesse of true ioy: in a word, he is, and so we ought to take him,2. Cor. 15.28. all in all vnto vs: so that, as Ierome noteth, whosoeuer will leaue all things for him, shall bee sure in him to find all things. Which as it is ynough to make our soules to loue themselues in him, and thereby to liue, not where they are, but where they loue; so doth it set a price vpon the world and the most pretious [Page 108]things thereof, and either altogether wean vs from them, or at the least make vs no otherwise to esteeme them then as they may serue vs to the seruice of God. For besides that they are not to be named, though they were better then they are, in comparison of those inesti­mable riches which we haue in Christ; what reason is there, though we had no hope of heauen, why we should set our hearts vpon them? when nobilitie, the farther it is fet, the neerer it comes to the shame of Adam; when beautie is but the daughter of rottennesse, and the sister of wormes; when honour is but the smoke of vanitie, and the wind of inconstancie; when the fairest buildings of the world are but heapes of stone, and gold it selfe but the dregs of the earth: when silkes are the excrements of wormes, and the richest in apparrell not so cloathed as the Lillie of the field; Mat. 6.29. when crownes doe but load the head with cares, and kingdoms are but seruices vnto their seruants; [Page]when humane knowledge is but opinion, and the wisdom of the world meere foo­lishnesse; when the present life is but a dreame, then the which there is nothing more vaine, or as the Prophet speaketh, but a shadow, Psal. 102.11. then the which there is no­thing more like to nothing, or as the Po­et Pindarus compounded it, the dreame of a shaddow, when the mind is not sa­tisfied with any or all of these, but conti­nually discontented without them, and yet not contented with them. For alas, what contentment can there be in those things? whose goodnesse is but in shew, and their pleasure deceitfull, whose glorie is as the flower of the field, Es. 40.6. and their con­tinuance but for a moment, which are gotten and kept but with vexation of spirit, and found by him, who beside an extraordinarie gift of wisedome, had ex­perince of them more then any, to be but vanitie of vanities, and nothing els but vanitie. Eccle. 1.2. How much the more is the weakenesse of our nature to be lamented [Page 109]and the corruption of our iudgements to be condemned, by the which we preferre the shadow of that which seemes, before the truth of that which is; and for a mo­mentarie tast of earthly vanities, depart from the hope of euerlasting ioies, as be­ing the naturall sonnes of Adam, who lost Paradice for the forbidden fruit; and the brethren of Esau, Gene. 3. Heb. 12.16. who sold his birthright for a portion of meat: whereas we cannot but know that which we daily heare and seeme to beleeue, that there is no nobility to a new birth in Christ, no beauty to the seeme to beleeue, that there is no nobility to a new birth in Christ, no beauty to the beautie of the daughter of Sion, whose beautie is all within; no honour to the ser­uice of God,Psal. 49.13. no glorie to the crosse of Christ, no riches to godlinesse, 1. Tim. 6.6. no trea­sure to that which is laid vp in heauen, no cloathing to the righteousnesse of Christ, no building to that which is not made with hands, 2. Cor. 5.1. no crowne to that of immortalitie, no kingdome to the con­quest of our selues, no learning to the knowledge of Christ, no wisdome to that [Page]of the spirit, no ioy to a good consci­ence, and no life to a conuersation in heauen. Whereof though we can haue but a tast in this life, because while we are at home in the bodie, we are as it were ab­sent from the Lord, 2. Cor. 5.6; yet by the earnest of the spirit, which is giuen vn­to vs; doth that tast so sweeten our souls, as that earth and earthly things grow loathsome vnto vs. For hereby are wee assured, that our mortalitie hereafter shall quite be swallowed vp of life, be­cause by the grace that is giuen vs, while we are cloathed with this earthly taber­nacle, we begin to mortifie the deeds of the bodie; and by that measure of the spirit which is bestowed vpon vs, are not only lightened with the knowledge but inflamed also with the loue of God, and so inflamed, as that in the daily sa­crifice which wee offer vnto him as it were vpon the altar of our hearts, our earthly and fleshly affections doe con­sume away. For we may not thinke, as [Page 110]too many do, that we haue our conuersa­tion in heauen, if we doe but thinke of heauen, and talke of God; and as Le­pidus is reported, when hee lay in the shade vpon the greene grasse, to say, Vti­nam hoc esset laborare, Would this were to labour; so when we stretch our selues vpon our beds of yvorie, and soake our hearts in the pleasures of this life, to say, Would this were they way to hea­uen: but the kingdome of God must be begun in vs in this life, if wee will bee partakers of it in the life to come. For though we walke in the flesh, yet must wee not walke after the flesh, 2. Cor. 10.3; but if we will liue in the spirit, we must walke in the spirit also.Gal. 5.16. For what profit is it to vs, that there bee promised an immortall life, when wee doe the workes that bring death? that an eternall paradice should be shewed, if we neglect to enter? that there should be appointed vnto vs dwellings of health, if we liue wickedly? that the faces of the godly should shine like starres, if our fa­ces [Page]be blacker then darkenesse? as it is well sayd though in the 2. Esdr. 7.55. We are debters saith the Apostle, Rom. 8.12; we haue receiued the earnest of the spirit, which euen in making vs debters, setteth vs at libertie; not to liue as wee list, but to owe nothing vnto the flesh, that we should liue after the flesh: allu­ding to which words, Saint Augustine hath a notable saying,Serm. 13. de verb. Apost. Euery thing is to liue vnto that, by the which it liueth; what is the life of the bodie, but the soule? and what is the life of the soule, but God? the bodie therfore is to liue vnto the soule, and the soule vnto God. Which life and conuersation, that it might be the more familiar amongst vs, therefore hath it pleased God to erect as it were an heauen vpon earth, and to preserue in the world, though not of the world, a houshould of faith, and citie of saints, in the which, as in a schoole wee might be trained vp to be citisens of that Hierusalem which is aboue, Gal. 4.26. and free, and the mother of vs [Page 111]all. Which doth not consist, as some haue imagined, in cloistring our bodies from the companie of men, and with­drawing our selues from the profitable and necessarie seruices of the church and common wealth; as though our affe­ctions did not follow vs euen into cor­ners: for admit that if the vow were ta­ken away, there might be some vse for some persons of that life; yet is it the mind, and not the place, that maketh the heauenly conuersation: as we may see by Lucifer, that fell from heauen, and Adam in paradice; when Lot plea­sed God in Sodome, and Ioseph in Aegypt. And though it might bee said, and said truly, that an euill mind is neuer lesse a­lone then when alone: yet to take them at the best, this must needs be granted, that in flying but some occasions of euil, they flie in a manner all occasions of doing good; which is so required in them that are called to be saints, as that no man is to liue vnto himself, but euery one to seeke [Page]anothers good, 1. Cor. 10.24. True it is, that for the loue of Christ, we are willed in the scripture to sell all that we haue, yea to hate our parents whom yet wee are commanded to honour,Luke 18.22. Luke 14.26. Mat. 5.29. to plucke out our right eyes, and to cut off our right hands, and whatsoeuer is neerer or deerer vnto vs; but this is done in a respect, rather to teach vs, how to vse the things of this world, then how to refuse them; that wee should not more loue riches then Christ, or more regard our earthly pa­rents then our father which is in heauen; or more esteeme the life of the bodie then the life to come; both which loue may stand together, if one be referred to the seruice of the other. To which sence the Apostle 1. Cor. 7.31, doth not will vs not to vse the world, & the things of the world, but to vse them as though we vsed them not, that is, to haue an other respect in the vse of them, then for themselues; as knowing that we haue not here an abi­ding citie, Heb. 13.14. but wee looke for a better [Page 112]place; and that wee are not lords, but stewards of the things which wee pos­sesse, and therefore to answere, not only for abusing but euen for not vsing them, to the better seruice of God. For he that is glorious in his creatures, will be glo­rified also in the vse of them; and though he will be worshipped in spirit, hath yet vouchsafed our bodies to be the temples of the holy ghost, Iohn. 4.24. and therefore dedicated to his seruice:1. Cor. 6.19. so that to haue our conuersa­tion in heauen, is not to possesse nothing, or to go out of the bodie, but euen with our goods, and in our bodies to serue him, vpon whom our affections are set in heauen. For as the bodie of the Sun, though it keepe his course in heauen, doth yet reach vnto the earth with his beames; so though with our bodies we walke vpon earth, our affections must be caried into heauen, and so caried, not that they leaue or carie the bodie with them (as the friers doe foolishly faine of their S. Francis, that his zeale in prayer [Page]did lift his very bodie from the ground) but that they frame it, as farre as the frailtie thereof will beare, to lead a life answerable to that aboue. Now the propotion that is required in this life, is resembled vnto vs in the frame of our hearts; that as our hearts are broad a­boue and pointed beneath, so we should enlarge and spread our affections to­wards heauen, and draw them to as nar­row a point as possibly we may, concer­ning earth and earthly things. For as it is impossible with the same eye, to looke vp to heauen, and yet to behold the earth; so doth it fare with the heart, that it hath no meane, but either it must bee whollie caried into heauen, or whollie caried away with the things of the earth: not that the spiritually minded man may not enioy the things of the earth, but be­cause it is impossible hee should ioy in them: and therefore in the words next before, are they, who are earthly minded, that is, not which enioy, but ioy in earth­ly [Page 113]things, said to be enemies to the crosse of Christ, and to make their very bellie their god: whereas on the other side, they that seeke the things that are aboue, Col. 3.1. Ephe. 2.19. are called citisens with the saints, and fel­low heires with Christ; Rom. 8.17. not that there are any perfect in this life, but because the Apostle in this chapter graunteth them a degree of perfection, who follow that they may comprehend, in as much as they are comprehended of Christ. Phil, 3.12. And therefore is the mysticall body of Christ, which hath an head in heauen, and members on earth, not vnfitly obserued, to make as it were that image, Dan. 2.32, which had a head of fine gold, breast and arms of siluer, bellie and thighs of brasse, legs of yron, and feet of earth; for though the head be of finer then the finest gold, yet are the members purer or baser mettall, as they are neerer or farther off from their head. How much the more doth it appertaine to euery true member of this bodie, to [Page]stirre vp the grace that is giuen vnto vs, that by the assistance of his holy spirit, which in refining the mettals of our cor­rupt nature, is of farre more vertue then the philosophers stone, we may be chan­ged as it were from earth to iron, from iron to brasse, from brasse to siluer, and so to gold; that growing from faith to faith, from vertue to vertue, we may at length bee made liuely branches of the true vine, & golden members of a goldē head. To summe vp all that hath bin hi­therto said, our faces are set vpward into heauē; we must mount like eagles aboue, not grouell in the earth like blind wants; our mind is of an heauenly substance, it hath another vse then the life of hogges, which as Varro thinketh was giuen vnto them but for salt to keepe their flesh from putrifying: the corruption that we drew from our father Adam, is taken away in Christ, who was borne a child vnto vs, that we might be new borne vnto him; [Page 114]our new birth in Christ, though it haue a remnant of rebellion in the flesh, is yet assisted with the holy Ghost, that in the dulnesse of our nature, we may be lifted vp with the wings of grace: the loue that drew God down from heauen, requireth but a loue that may cary vs to heauen, & we do but loue our selues in louing him: the world & the glory therof are no such things, as that we need to be drawn with them, from that spiritual life, which hath more, & more true nobility, beautie, ho­nor, riches, souerainty, wisdom, ioy, plea­sure, and whatsoeuer the heart can wish for, then is to be found otherwise; it is a debt by the which we owe our selues, and more then our selues to him, who gaue himselfe for vs, not that we should liue after the flesh, but after the spirit; the tast that we haue in this life, by being of the houshold of faith, is inough to make vs to loath the things of the world, and not to content our selues, with thinking [Page]or talking or wishing of heauen but euen to striue to be perfect.

All which though they may serue as fethers to the wings of our minds to make vs flie the world, and flie vnto God; forsake our selues, and haue our conuersation in heauen; yet that which doth chiefly put life into vs, is that which I obserued to bee the life of this conuer­sation, our hope, by the which we looke for our Sauiour, euen the Lord Iesus Christ. For how can we but bee more then for­ward in the course of godlinesse, when we know we doe not runne as for an vn­certaintie, nor fight as beating the aire, 1. Cor. 9.26. but we follow hard toward the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus, as we haue Philip. 3.14, when we know we are begotten to a liuely hope, 1. Pet. 1.3; to an inheritance immortall and vndefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserued in heauen for vs. For albeit to liue godly in this life, bee no [Page 115]more then we are bound to doe, & there is incouragement inough in the consci­ence of doing well; yet I know not how it commeth to passe, that we praise the thing, but seeke the reward; and stand more vpon the fruit, then the conscience of a godly conuersation: and therefore that all hinderances might with more ease be shaken off, it pleaseth God to crowne our duties, and to prouoke vs with the hope of that, to the obtaining wherof we may be more then ashamed to wax faint.1. Cor. 9.25. For if they that prooue ma­steries abstaine from all things, & that for a corruptible crown; if the hope of world­ly preferments and gaine can make vs rather flie then run, by sea and by land, and to spare for no cost, and to giue nei­ther ease to our bodies, nor rest to our minds; can we be lesse affected to better things? that wee should lesse abstaine from matters of lesse moment, when we haue not a probable but a certaine hope, [Page]not of a momentarie but euerlasting re­ward, and of that valew, that it cannot be valued: shall the vaine hopes of this life, which are but the waking dreames of our idle conceits, carie vs farther with the shew of that which is not, then the liuely hope, which hath an assurance of a glorious inheritance? Eph. 1.18. But this is the foolishnesse of our iudgements, to be led with the deceitfull ballance of the outward appearance, to preferre the flesh pots of Aegypt before the promise of Ca­naan; and the land in which we lead a dying life, before the land of the liuing; whereas, if wee wait vpon the Lord, the strength of our hope shall bee renewed, we shall lift vp our wings as eagles, wee shall run and not be wearie, we shall walke and not faint. Esay 40.31. For this hope, as it giueth vs an edge, that wee should earnestly affect spirituall things; so doth it giue vs a back also to indure all things, rather then depart from the hope wee [Page 116]haue in Christ; that we need not to bee afraied of any temptation, as long as we haue hope the helmet of saluation, 1. Thes. 5.8; neither be mooued with the trou­bles of this world, as long as we haue so sure and stedfast an anker of the soule as hope, Heb. 6.19. For what can any losse be vnto vs, as long as we looke for a Sa­uiour? not in a generalitie, as vncer­taine for whom, but for the Lord Iesus Christ, who hauing bought with his blood, the right of our inheritance, will not faile to come & put vs in full posses­sion. For how should we doubt, as Saint Augustine noteth, that he will giue vs his goods, who hath alreadie vndertaken our euils? how may we but bee assured that he who hath redeemed vs with the price of heauen, is gone to prepare hea­uen for vs? And though his comming in the clouds shalbe with great power and Maiestie,2. Pet. 3.10. in so much as the heauens shall passe away, and the elements melt [Page]with fire, and the earth be consumed at his presence; yet he that commeth as a ter­rible iudge vpon the world, will come as a sweet Sauiour to them that are cruci­fied vnto the world, vpon the hope of his comming. For if in this life onely we haue hope of Christ, we are of all men most miserable, 1. Cor. 15.19: whose whole life is a kind of suffering, and therefore are wee said to be neerer vnto saluation, Rom. 13.11. as we are neerer vnto the end. As for those, that haue their portion in this life, and say of hauen, as Esay said of his birthright,Gen. 25.32. what is this birthright vnto me? to them is this day so terrible, as that they quake at the mention of it: and though they bee without God in this world, Ephe. 2.12. without hope in the world to come; yet can they not be without feare in this world, neither shall they bee without plagues in the world to come, their glory is shame, their end damnation, Phil. 3.19.

Now that wee who liue by hope, [Page 117]might not be caried away with the sway of worldlings, to haue no other conceit of heauen, then is written to haue bene of Alcinous orchard, the pleasantnesse whereof, was so farre beyond other or­chards, that none would beleeue it be­fore they saw it; therefore is this hope of ours grounded vpon faith, by the which wee are assured, that hee will change our vile bodies and make them like vnto his glorious bodie. A point of such necessitie to be beleeued, that if there be no resur­rection of the dead, then Christ is not ri­sen; if Christ bee not risen, then is prea­ching vaine, & faith also in vaine, 1. Cor. 15.13: for this is the will of God, not onely that euery one which seeth the sonne and beleeueth in him, should haue life euerla­sting; but also, that he will raise him vp in the last day, Iohn 6.40. And herein appeared the infinitenesse of his loue, who louing vs non solum in finem vitae, sed in finem etiam amoris, not onely to [Page]the end of that life, he led for vs; but to the end of loue it selfe, that is, as farre as wee were capable of his loue; thought it not inough to giue vnto our soules the riches of his spirit, vnlesse he indued our bodies also with the glory of his bo­die. For though the vnion betweene him and vs bee spirituall, yet doth hee call our bodies the members of Christ, 1. Cor. 6.15: not so onely, but also the temples of the holy Ghost, and euen in that respect they should not be subiect to per­petuall corruption. For if other creatures which be subiect vnto vanitie doe wait (as it is in the eight to the Romanes) when the sonne of God shalbe reuealed, as ho­ping to be deliuered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God; how much more are we to bee persuaded of our bodies? that since they are members of Christ they shall be restored vnto their head; that since in their corruption, they are vouch­safed [Page 118]to be the temples of the holy Ghost, they shall put on incorruption, that as they are graced in this life,1. Cor. 15.53. so they may bee glorified in the life to come? And this in some sort doth stand with the iustice of God, that since we beare about in our bodies the dying of our Lord Iesus: the life of Iesus should also bee made manifest in our bodies, 2. Cor. 4.10: not that the af­flictions of this life are worthie of the glo­rie which shall be reuealed, Rom. 8.18. but because he is a plenteous rewarder: and there­fore as the soule of man had first a natu­rall life, but to liue in the bodie; so though for a time, it be separated from the bodie, that the corruption of the bo­die may be done away, yet it is not par­taker in the spirituall life, of the full mea­sure of ioy, vntill it be restored againe vnto the bodie:1. Cor. 15.53. whose corruptible (as the Apostle speaketh) must put on incor­ruption, and mortall must put on immor­talitie, because it cannot be made parta­ker [Page]of the reward, which is eternall, vn­lesse it selfe also become eternall. And therefore is it sowne in corruption, that it may be raised in incorruption; sowne in dishonour, that it may be raised in glorie; sowne in weakenesse, 1. Cor. 15.41. &c. that it may be raised in power; sowne a naturall bodie, that it may be raised a spirituall bodie: not that the bodie (as some haue thought) shall become a spirit, but that it shall be spi­rituall both in knowledge and affection. The greatnesse of which glorie, though it be hard for flesh and blood to con­ceiue; yet to confirme our weakenesse, hath it pleased God in some measure to reueale it; and as, Numbers 13, hee gaue vnto some of his children a view of the land of promise, and a tast of the fruits, that the rest might bee encoura­ged to possesse it; so (in the 17. of Mat­thew) did he transfigure himselfe to some of his disciples, and in the beautie of his face,Mat. 17.2. which did shine as the Sunne, giue [Page 119]them a view of that glorie which his should haue with him. And if wee did but enter into the consideration of those things which are common amongst vs, we would thinke it not so vnlikely for our vile bodies to bee made glorious, as that fine paper should bee made of foule rags, or pure glasse of the ashes of ferne; especially when we find, Ezech. 37, that of a heape of naked and drie, and disjoynted, and dead bones, there were made faire and strong bodies, and life giuen vnto them with a blast of wind; when we heare Iob wish,Iob. 19.23. &c. That his words were written in a booke, or grauen with an yron penne in lead or in stone for euer; how sure he is that his re­deemer liueth; and, that when wormes haue consumed his bodie, he shall see God in his flesh, yea, he himselfe shall see him, and his eyes behold him.

But what should we doubt of this point? when as Saint Austine noteth, [Page] in rebus mirabiliter factis, ratio facti est potentia facientis: the reason of this faith is his power, by the which hee hath sub­dued all things vnto himselfe. For to examine that which he hath promised, by that which he hath done, could he create all things of nothing, and can he not worke his owne will in his owne creatures? could he fetch light out of darkenesse, as it were out of a graue? can he in the wombe of a woman, of a little blood, frame a bodie distingui­shed with so many and sundrie instru­ments, as that it may goe for a little world, and within the space of some few dayes adde life vnto it? And can he not restore the bodie that hath been so, to that it was? Can he, as Saint Au­stine argueth, doe so much for vs? and can he not doe as much with vs? Can he quicken vs in the wombe of our mo­ther, and can hee not reuiue vs in the wombe of our mother, the earth? Can [Page 120]he with the dew of the morning and euening giue life to the seed that is vn­der the earth? And shall hee not with the sound of a trumpet and with all his power, giue life vnto vs? Can we of a little sparkle kindle great flames, and cannot he of our ashes, though they bee neuer so small, raise our bodies? Can we fetch fire out of the flint, and cannot hee fetch vs out of the earth, where wee were buried and kept as it were in his hand? Could Eliah and Elisha raise the widdow of Zareptha, 1. King. 17.23 2. King. 4.32 Act. 9.40. Act. 20.10. and the Shunanites children? Could Peter raise Tabitha, and Paule Eutychus? and cannot God, their Lord and ours, raise both them and vs? Hath not the Apo­stle set downe the forme of the resur­rection, how it shall bee done in a mo­ment, and in the twinckling of an eye, 1. Cor. 15.52 1. Thes. 4.16. how the Lord himself shall descend from heauen with a shout, and with the voice of the Archangell, and with the trum­pet [Page]of God? how the saints shall meet the Lord in the aire, and so shall euer be with the Lord? the power of Christ is so ma­nifest in this point, that if there were no­thing else, as Saint Augustine noteth, it were inough to proue him to bee a God. And if there bee no exception to be taken against his power, in that which hee hath so faithfully promised; how can we but beleeue the resurrection? and beleeuing the resurrection, hope for a Sauiour? and hoping for a Sauiour, haue our conuersation in heauen.

And these are the principall points of this scripture; which hang as it were the links of a chaine, the one vpon the other, in so much as we cannot perfect­ly learne any one of them, except we learne them all; and we faile in all if we faile but in one of them. for how can we haue our conuersation in heauen, if we doe not looke for the comming of our Sauiour Christ? or how can wee [Page 121] looke for the comming of our Sauiour Christ, except wee beleeue the resur­rection? or how can wee beleeue the re­surrection, vnlesse wee acknowledge that power by the which hee is able to sub­due all things vnto himselfe? againe how doe we acknowledge God to bee God, without the faith of the resurrecti­on? or how can wee haue the faith of the resurrection without the hope of a Sauiour? or how can we haue the hope of a Sauiour without an heauen­ly conuersation? In all and euery of which, if we examine our selues, and the times in which wee liue; at which end so euer we begin, it will bee mani­fest, that neither in our conuersation, wee shew foorth the power of God; neither yet are so persuaded of the pow­er of God, as that it doth reforme our conuersation. For if wee looke, I doe not say into the hidden corners of our consciences, but into those shame­lesse [Page]abuses, which are openly com­mitted, and in the eye of the world; who can denie but that the loosenesse of our conuersation, prooueth vs to bee without hope, and our want of hope to bee without faith, and our want of faith to bee without God in this world? Againe, doe not many of our best wits, so tie the power of God vnto second causes, as that they grow doubt­full, not onely of the resurrection of the bodie, but of the immortalitie of the soule? and thereby are not onely with­out the hope of heauen, but euen with­out the feare of hell; and thereby haue their conuersation not onely as though their minds were made of earth, but as though their soules were made of flesh? what then ramaineth, but that wee cast the reason of our faith vpon that power of Christ whereby hee hath subdued all things vnto himselfe, and in a full as­surance, that hee will change our vile [Page 122]bodies that they may be fashioned like vn­to his glorious bodie; bee quickened with a liuely hope of the Sauiour, euen the Lord Iesus Christ, and so wait and looke for the comming of our Sauiour to iudgement, as that in the meane time wee haue our conuersation in heauen: which the God of glory graunt vs in the grace of his onely sonne and our onely Sauiour, to whom be all honour and glory now and for euermore, A­men.

FINIS

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