The Worthy Churchman

The Prayer.

BLessed Savior, who in thine incarnation was a stone cut out of the quarry without hands, in thy Passion a stone cut full of eyes, in thy Resurrection and Ascension a chief corner stone. Thou art the Son of God command these stones to be made bread, even such heavenly Manna & spiritual food as may feed our souls to life eternal, to this end give me thy book and thy roll to eat, that I may speak truly, and judge wisely, and so worship thee the first truth & chiefest wisdom. Take away the stoniness of our harts, that the seed of the word fall not into stony ground, and prove fruitless. Lord, there is nothing will hinder but our sins, which are ever interposing betwixt thy goodness and our needs: make us therefore as truly sorry that ever they were committed by us, as desirous that they may be remitted by thee, and as endeavoring that we may not sin, as we are hopeful thou wilt not impute sin. O Jesus Christ, whom wilt thou hear if not us who have no portion but in thee, having forsaken all to be thine Altar servants? or who will hear us, if not thou, who art a Priest as well as a Prophet or King? or where wilt thou hear us, if not in this place which is the house of Prayer? or when wilt thou hear us if not in the hour of Prayer, when so many of us are gathered together in thy name? and in what words wilt thou hear us, if thou wilt not acknowledge the phrase and style which thyself hath taught us, saying, Our Father, &c.

The Virtue.

THis Stone is well known to be a Gemme of all others most profitable for engravement, and most fit for Seals: both because it is of a mean hardness to cut, and because it parts clean with the wax, Persons of quality use to have their crests cut in these stones, and set in Rings, which they wear as Signets. He that makes Bartas speak so good English, calls it the Seal-fit Onix. I suppose he meaneth the Sardius, both because it communicates the name with the Onix, and Josephus also in his Jewish Antiquities, where he reckons up these twelve Gemmes, calls this the Sard-onix.

And I take it for a fair abodement, that this is the apparent property of the first Stone. Whosoever be of such stubborn metal, as he will not receive impression, yet a Priest (like Judah ) must be known be his Signet: in that great setting open of the Seal-office, Apoc. 7. the Tribe of Dan is noted to be put out, that the Tribe of Levi might have room. It shall ever be a piece of my Collect, both at my private Matins and Even-song, for my brethren according to office, Set them, O Lord, as a Seal on thine heart, and as a Signet on thine arm; yea, let them be as the Signet of thy right hand, which thou wilt not pluck off. This Seal is double; the one of the person, the other of the office: that, confirms us to be the children of God; this, the servants of men, in the things of God. And so we keep still on foot the currant distinction of the worthiness of the person, and the worthiness of demeanour. The seal of our persons is the same with all other Saints, to wit, the giving of the holy Spirit, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption: for as two parties covenanting do mutually seal each to other: so we seal to God by faith , he to us by his Spirit : and truly absi • that spiritual men should quite want the Spirit, from which they have their denomination. It hath been long said, Greatest Clerks are not always wisest men; so as it seems Scholars must be glad to take simplicity to themselves by tradition: but it is more true, that the best-lettered are not ever the profoundest Divines, ( the secret of the Lord is with the righteous, ) it being just with God that those who fall à bono, and care not to serve him, shall also fall à vero, and cannot know him. I say not as some, that a carnal and unsanctified man cannot convert a soul: but I suppose God doth not usually work such noble effects by such unworthy instruments: he will honor his own to negotiate in so high a service, while he makes it the just reproach of others to be written Childlesse. The seal of the Office is to beget children unto God. S. Paul told his Corinthian Disciples they were the seal of his Apostleship. Calvin to those that objected against him his barren wedlock, answered, he had many children which he had begotten unto God. We know, it was as bitter as death to the Hebrew Dames to be issuelesse: it may be the rather, because everyone thought with her self, why might not her womb be teemed of the Messias as well as any other daughter of Abraham. Shall any be more solicitous of generation and the first birth, then we of regeneration and the new birth? because the Priest Melchizedek's style was, without father or mother, shall ours be, without son or daughter? I expect not, as when Peter preached, 3000 at one Sermon: we use not to sow our labors on the hopes of such harvests: such births are as strange as the 365 children of the Countess of Henneberge at once. But what, hast thou fished all thy life and catched nothing? is there none whom thou hast made smite upon their thigh, not one at 3000 Sermons? surely thou hast just cause to suspect thy faithfulness in some point, and to be humbled. This of the virtue of the Sardius.

The Colour.

THe color of it is red: the root shows the branch: for in the Hebrew the very name signifies red, and the first stone consists of the same three letters, that the name of the first man doth, in regard of the red earth on which both are made: so that hereby we are happily resolved to our principles, and put in mind of the pit out of which we are hewn. Though we be spiritual men, yet we have a lay part, which is theca animae, which must once yield to that great statute law primo Adami, statutum est omnibus mori: Both Kings who Nebucadnetzar -like have golden heads, and Priests who Chrysostom -like have golden tongues, yet stand but luteis pedibus. Therefore in the Regal Diademe of England this very stone is the first and highest in the Crown, to denote that even Kings are but made up and elemented of the same red earth that Adam was: and though they be God's, yet they shall die like men. The Pope at his Inauguration hath the Master of Ceremonies to burn flax before him, crying, Ecce sancte Pater, sic transit gloria mundi. Both S. Basil and S. Augustine used the like remedy against pride; the one on the day when he was propounded Pastor and Doctor to the people; the other when he was applauded for his exquisite sermons. Surgite mortui, we know was S. Jerome's ear▪ wig; We should do well when we feed, as at the Court of Prester John, to have the first dish a Deaths head; when we walk abroad, as the Lunaticke in the Gospel, to walk amongst the graves; in our gardens as Joseph, to have a Sepulcher; in our Churches to visit the Golgotha or Charnell-house; on our rings (if we be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ) to have a deaths head engraven: that thus when our eyes traverse from object to object, they may out of everything extract the meditation of our mortality, and the remembrance of our end. This will make us walk humbly with our God, and so better men, homo humi limus, cur non humillimus; and also more diligent in our office, and so better Ministers, knowing the day may suddenly come when we must give an account of our Stewardship.

The Virtue.

THe Virtue of this stone is, that it is sovereign against fear & sadness, the two essential parts of Melancholy. Cardan the most industrious searcher into the secrets of nature, saith, he hath seen a dosis of 15. grains given to a melancholist a present remedy to him. We must strive with our harts to have them cheerful and comfortable, therefore not unfitly doth this stone immediately follow the former: because as obsignation is one office of the holy Ghost; so consolation is another: as it is a seal, so it is a Comforter. Some indeed grace Melancholy so much, as to turn it over to adorn wisdom, old age, virtue, and conscience; and indeed I think a sanguine complexion which is so tempered with a convenient measure of natural melancholy, that the sudden motions and enforcements of the blood be allayed, is both most wise to see what is best, and most regular to perform it; but if it be once grown to a disease of the mind, it is the most unprofitable and unteachable passion of all others; therefore the Fathers did it no wrong to call it the bath and bait of the Devil. Satan, saith holy Greenham, under the color of repentance bringeth many to an extreme sadness. No sorrow, unless it be for sin, is good for ought, & not that neither, if it be immoderate; a pound of sorrow will not pay an ounce of debt, except it be our debts to God. A Minister therefore ought first to work his own mind to a harmless jovisance; for the more his heart is above, the better able he is to search out the whole counsel of God, and find more divine truths. Knowledge and mirth are of near alliance: for Solomon's great knowledge of things was only latitudo cordis, the largeness of his heart; and mirth we know doth dilate and spread out the heart, as grief doth gripe and contract it. Besides, this is a compendious way to make profelytes, & to draw customers to the profession of Religion, when they see they must not needs be ever increasing the air with sighs, and rivers with tears; but that the ways of wisdom are ways of pleasure, and that they may be as far from temporal dejection, as from eternal rejection. Secondly, he should beware of making the hearts of God's people sad, Paul had a care even of the incestuous Corinthian, that his spirit were not too much contristated; they cast too much salt on their sacrifices, who are no sooner clasped in their Pulpits, but as if they were on mount Sinai giving the Law, speak thunder and lightning at every word, and can 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as bitterly as Archilochus, but have not the tongue of the learned to minister a word in due season to him thats weary; and throw forth a plancke, or break open the Spicknard box of precious promises to him that is ready to suffer shipwreck; do such rigid Orators consider how ten Barnabases, sons of consolation, cannot often put to silence the voice of despair, which one Bonerges (son of thunder) hath conjured up? Must a poor soul that stands need of ghostly aid, and repairs to the Priests lips, saying , Stay me with Apples, comfort me with flagons, return Sermon-sick, complaining, I sought my beloved, but the watchmen that went about the City found me, they smote me, they wounded me, the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me, Miserable Comforters.

The Colour.

THe Colour of the Topaze is yellow, of the color of gold or saffron, which signifieth preeminence and superiority, because gold is the chief of all metals: whence it is that Miters, Scepters, Crowns, Thrones, judgment-seats, the Vestures of Emperors, Kings, Popes, are either of gold, or much adorned with it: even the Church is said to be a Queen adorned in a vestment of gold. How fitly therefore doth the golden Topaze follow the earthy Ruby; that going before, lest we be puffed up, this coming after, lest we be too much cast down: this is the reason why Priests were anointed with oil, which doth supernatare, swim above all other liquors; and the very names of Prelates, Primates, Priors, Overseers, Fathers, Superintendents, Lord's, Ambassadors, did surely in the worlds better days entitle them to some priority both of order and jurisdiction. This precedency should be twofold : the one of worth, the other of esteem, or of virtue and honor; that is inherent in our selves; this imputed by others. The former is that whereby we should strive to excel other in knowledge and holiness, and to work out our own honor by Virtue: if we were such Clerks as Beringarius, who was said to know all knowable; and such good men as Bonavent • re, of whom it is said, he was of so sweet a disposition, that Adams fall could scarce be seen in him; then surely contempt could not like a burre, thus stick to our coat as it doth; but some of us are so foolish, as no wise man, and some so wicked as no honest man can honor us: there is no reason (as Bernard to Eugenius ) that sedes prima and vita ima should go together. The Prophet that teacheth lies deserves to be the Tayle: or if he teach the truth, if so be his practice give his pulpit the lie, the latter, to wit, priority of esteem will as naturally follow the former, as the shadow the body. Wise and good Christians will give us our double honor, and have us in singular love for our works sake: and a good name, though it borrow but its valuation from opinion, yet if the ground of it be merit, and the esteem of worthy men, it is then a precious ointment indeed. Knowledge hath no enemy but an ignorant man, nor godliness but a wicked man; and as for such both their invectives are true Panegyrics, and God will sanctify unto us the enmity of unreasonable opposites. And thus far we may safely be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ▪ After the Topaze follows

The Virtue.

THe manifest Virtue of this Stone is to shed abroad a glorious light, as of a star or candle, even when the most pitchy darkness doth enfold the day: from whence it hath the name in the three principal and learned languages. The Hebrew name comes of a root which signifies Coruscation, and Lightning. The Greek and Latin in the Theame signify a Coale, a Candle, a Fire. Ludovicus Vartomannus, relates of an Indian King, who had them of such splendor and bigness, that if he were met in the dark, he was thought to shine as the Sun beams.

We must 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and Let our light shine before men. It is no simple Encomium given us by Christ, that we are the light of the world, which he ingenuously acknowledged, who said, if God himself would become corporeal, he would take truth for his Soul, and light for his body. We should be each of us an Oecolampadius in the house of God. When God made the great world, the very first day, the first creature he extracted out of Chaos was light, though the Sun the fountain of light was not made till the fourth day. So what is Man, the model and epitome thereof, if he walk not as a child of the light. But if a Churchman, who should be both lumen and lux, enlightened and enlightening, be darkness it self, how great is that darkness? This light must be twofold, of doctrine, and of life; that must be seated in our understanding, this in our conversation. There is Vrim and Thummim, a breastplate, & an Ephod, a tinkling bell, and a fruitful Pomegranate: there was blood to be put both upon the lap of the Priests ear, w ^ch is the door of knowledge, and on his thumbs and toes, which are instruments of action: there were for his part both the breast, the seat of affection, and the shoulder whereon we carry burdens. The Law of God was both to be bound as frontlets betwixt the eyes to read, and bracelets about the arm to practice. These are the known distinctions of Moses; instructions must be bound on our fingers, as well as written on the table of our hearts, there is the phrase of instructing with the fingers, as well as with the tongue: there is to serve the Lord with the shoulder, no less then with heart or voice; there is to sit in Moses Chair, and to do as they say; there is to feed the flock, & to be an ensample to the flock: there is preaching to others, and being ones self a cast away; there is to take heed to a mansself, as well as to his doctrine; there is both docere and facere. Christ healed the withered hand, and St. Peter the Cripples lame feet, as well as made the blind to see, and deaf to hear. We read of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a form of knowledge; and also 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a form of godliness. So Scripture. There is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , there is a preaching 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : there is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : there is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : There is the faith of the ear, and of the hand; there is a feeding the flock , as well by a holy life, as by Orthodox sermons: there is when the voice is sonant, and the hand consonant. There is to keep the Lord's Vineyard, and to keep a man's own Vineyard: They made me a keeper of the vineyards, but I have not kept mine own vineyard; which place occasioned Bernard to wish he had never taken on him the charge of souls. There is to love to inform others, but to hate to reform ourselves: Why doest thou preach my Laws, and takest my Covenant in thy mouth, where as thou hatest to be reformed? which words when Origen had read for his text, he wept so bitterly, as he moved the congregation to weep with him. So the Fathers. There is Graecian -like to know what is honest, and Lacedaemonian -like to do what is honest: there is a speaking to the ear by voice, and to the eye by action. There are Doctors no less to be admired when they are seen live, then when they are heard teach. There are Bonifaces as well as Benedicts. So humanists. In sum, there is both Pulpit-craft and life-craft; science and conscience; chewing the cud, and dividing the hoof; an enlightened understanding, and a spotless conversation; a glow-worm requisite in the brain, and a lamp in the hand of a Minister of the Gospel. Loe a cloud of witnesses. It was witty Apophthegme of Bois Sisi the French Ambassador, who asking what Books Archbishop Whitgift had written, that he saw him so much honored; and being told he had not only published books in defense of our Ecclesiastical polity, but had founded a famous School and Hospital at Croyden: Truly (quoth he) an Hospital to relieve the poor, and a school to train up youth are the best books an Archbishop can write.

The Colour.

THis stone is of a Flame-color, such as burning coals are of, and therefore may very fitly signify zeal. For zeal is a word framed of the very sound that fire makes when it meets with such an opposite as water. So Homer useth the word of the noise a Cauldron makes, when there is a good fire under it. And the new-married wives of the Romans adorned their heads with a veil called Flamen, in token of their fervent affections to their husbands. Neither God nor man cares to employ such slow-bellied Cretans, as are Vinegar to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes of them that send them. That thou doest do quickly, and like a man of metal, said Christ even to his death-boding Disciple. It is a goodly matter for a man to be as forward as he dare, and then, like a Snaile, pull in his horns at the touch of the first obstacle. It is comely for any to be zealous in a good thing: but of all other let us beware of doing the work of the Lord negligently. Whom should the zeal of God's house consume, rather then us who are Stewards of the house? on whose heads should we heap coals of fire, sooner then on our own? whose tongues should be touched with a coal from the Altar, rather then those who serve at the Altar, and live of the Altar? how should we keep fire continually in God's Tabernacle, if we let it go out in our own hearts? Pitie it were that so precious a stone as the Carbuncle should be of a duskish color: and pity it were that light should want heat; that such fair virtues as illumination and holiness should want zeal, to set them a working. It was friendly counsel given to Melancthon, that he should take heed of affecting so much the name of a moderate man, as to lose his zeal: the word to Jeremiah was as fire in his bones, and to Elihu as new wine in bottles. Did not he deserve the name of Ignatius, who said, Let torments, fire, wild beasts, racks, all the tortures of hell come, so I may win Christ? is not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a suiting name for an Apostle? Is it not a sore matter that one of our own should parallel the Church of Laodicea and England; and tells us he did it not ficcis occulis? Do not your spirits burn within you in an holy emulation? I say no more, but be zealous.

The Virtue.

IF it had as many virtues as are assigned it, it should be the Pearl of price, for which the wise Merchant sold all he had to purchase it. Yet must I either Antipodes -like tread contrary to the opinion of all men, or allow it to be a chaste-stone, and to have the same virtue among stones that Agnus castus hath among plants. The Persians used them both in espousing their wives, and burying their dead: and it is reported that in the grave of Tulliola, Ciceroes daughter, was one found, which Isabel Gonsaga of Este, Marchionesse of Mantua had of late years. One of the Kings of Hungary ever wore one in hora coitus, because of the power he supposed it to have to retain the seed: and they aver, egregious Smaragds to have broken in the deflowering of Virgins: the reason is, for that it is a cold and tender Gemme, obnoxious to every injury: now in immoderate venery the body is much heated, and the bones burnt to cinders, and also there is a prodigal expense of blood and radical moisture, which are the foment and stock of life. We must 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and press hard after chastity & continency, whether thoral and conjugal, or that of celibatude, according to the estate we are in, bound or free. Spiritual men must not be carnally given: they that worship continually in the Temple, should preserve their bodies as the chaste Temples of the Holy Ghost. S. Paul adviseth even the married Laity to be abstenuous, that they might give themselves to fasting and prayer. Moses his Law suffered not a Priest to take to wife a widow, because she had known a man: and if a Priests daughter played the whore, it was to her capital, because she polluted her fathers house. Yea even under the New Testament, our wives, if we have any, must be sober, our bed an undefiled bed, our children holy children, our greetings holy kisses, our persons, calling, office, day of service, places and vestments of service, tithes, and offerings, all are holy: what is sufficient to be written in the hearts of others, must be engraven on the Priests Frontlet, the most prominent part of his face, as it were both for his own improvement, and others example, Holiness to the Lord. Now there is no sin so directly and e diametro opposite to holiness, as unclean lust and fleshly-mindedness: therefore Luke 7. 37. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , behold a woman which was a sinner, the learned Anti-Baronius annotes to that place, that howsoever all unrighteousness be sin, yet uncleanness especially, and observes out of Procopius, such as were given thereto to be peculiarly and ob eminentiam called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Sinners. Erasmus after his manner whets his style against these Salamanders that must needs fry in unlawful flames, and asks them ( ubi barba? ) where their beard is, supposing there may well be a bush, but if they shake their bottles, there will appear but small store of wine either of wisdom or godliness. It was often turned to the reproach of Beza, both of his person, calling, and religion, that he had written some licentious Epigramms, though it was both when he was a very young-man, and uncalled, and might have said that though his lines were wanton, yet his life was honest. And indeed I liked not his excusing of himself in one place, till I found his hearty confession in another.

The color.

THe Colour of this stone is so green, as grass and herbs in comparison of it are not green: whence it comes to be so profitable for the eyes, by affecting the air round about the object with rays of the same color, & ita viridi lenitaete lassitudinem oculorum mulcet, saith Pliny. Nero for the benefit of his fight beheld the sword-players at Rome in a Smaragd. What the eye is to the body, such is the understanding to the soul; and I find the greenness of this stone applied to the knowledge of divine truths. It is both for ornament and use, if we be versed in the whole 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , can dispute de omniente, and go down to the Philistines to sharpen our axes and hammers: so as we pearke not the Hand-maid above the Mistress. But in our profession, in sacred Theology, it is no curiosity for us to seek out the indivisible point of every question, and to throw arguments, as the men of Gibeah stones, at an hairs breadth. Let no man say to us, Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not these things? We should not be more skillful in the Statutes or tything-tables, then in Scriptures, Counsels, Fathers, Ecclesiastical Histories, Canons, &c. we need not bid the Statist read Tacitus, or the Physician Hippocrates Aphorisms, or the Mathematitian Euclid, or the Lawyer Justinian. and discere & audire, & meliori credere non vis. I would many of us fell not short of the industry of so great a Prince as Alphonsus King of Spain and Naples, who read the Bible 14. times over, with Lyra's gloss upon it. Excellent therefore doth the color of this stone follow the color of the last, to wit, knowledge follow zeal, (like fire and water in the solemnities of the Roman Nuptialls) lest zeal should be not according to knowledge: knowledge to abate the edge and rigor of zeal, and zeal to quicken the dullness and slowness of knowledge. So cloven and fiery tongues was the form the holy Ghost assumed when it descended on the Apostles. An expedite and cloven tongue, as was said of Nero's government, toucheth the instrument well, but winds the pins too low: and a fiery zeal is as an heart without a pericardium in the little world, or as the First-mover without a Crystalline sphere in the great world, setting all on fire: both together make a masculine Orator indeed, and have often undeafed a stubborn ear, and left a sting (an higher hand co-working) in a steeled heart: the former is like Moses, the meekest man; the other like Elias, the most zealous Prophet; and if Christ work by his Spirit (as O that he may) then are Moses, Elias, and Christ again met together.

The Virtue.

THe true virtue of this stone is that it is available against the disease called the Carbuncle. Albertus that famous Germane Priest, whom all Schools honored with the name of Great, and P. Iovius makes the first of his Viri illustres, saith he saw two Carbuncles cured only with the touch of this gemme. Weckerus affirms it to be profitable both for this and all other diseases of the skin; adding, ut ego sum expertus. Cardan requires it be a good one and often applied, for then it hath vim alexipharmacam, and is very averse to all pestilent and hot poisons: There is no scall or ulcer so noisome to the body, as the bile or leprosy of Sin is to the soul: and therefore the spiritual Physician is by all industry to take care left it gangrene and become incurable. Leprosy is a disease of reproach as well as smart: and whereas men in misery are usually comforted, pitied, and relieved of their visitants, Lepers are as fast fled from by men, as they are pursued by God. It is a note of infamy to the house of Austria that it is seldom or never without a Leper. Azaria though he were a good King, yet was glad to dwell apart, because he was a Leper. Naaman was a great man and honorable, but (as a fly to a whole box of ointment) he was a Leper. We should be every whit as shye, left the fair table of our own or others souls be smutted with the conversation of the wicked, as of a pesthouse. We cannot plead want either of a precept to command it, while we are so strictly bidden to hate the very garments spotted with iniquity; or of an ensample to commend it, while we know S. John so divinely precise as to fly out of the Bath wherein he saw Cerinthus the heretic: and what else may be the principal end of that spiritual outlawry, the high and supreme censure of the Church, whē notorious sinners are cast out of the congregation, but ne mala vicini pecoris contagia laedant, lest if the rotten were not ejected, the whole would be infected: and surely the rites and ceremonies of cleansing the Leper, laid down, Levite. 14. from the first verse to the 10. are excellent directions how to proceed in the cure also of the both of sin. The scarlet may signify that even scarlet and crimson sins may be whited over; that sins of the deepest tincture( bis murice tincta ) are not only pardonable, but in the way to be pardoned. The hyssop is of a purgative nature, purge me with hyssop, saith David, to note that the sinfulness of our nature is not healed, but where sin is purged out: The Cedar wood which corrupteth not but yields a fragrant and sweet smell, shows that then are our corruptions purged indeed, when our holiness and incorrupt manners ascend like incense before God and men. The water and the oil represent the running and searching water of the Law to show both the guilt and condign punishment of sin; and then the soft and supple oil of the Gospel, which poured into our wounds makes all whole again The dead Sparrow is Christ slain for our sins, the quick sparrow is Christ risen again for our justification, and consequently the sinners mortification and vivification. The shaving of the hair teacheth, that eyes and hands are not only to be seen to, that they offend not, but even all superfluities to be payred away, and to accompt no sin small that defiles a man. The putting of the oil upon the lap of the right ear, and the thumb and toe of the right hand and foot, shows that hearing and doing must go together; but who must do all this? This is the law of the leper, he must be brought unto the Priest, that is, not only unto the High Priest of our profession Christ Jesus, who cured ten lepers at once, and can heal all our sins; but also unto us who are his servants and stewards, for what he doth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 virtually, we do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ministerially, what he binds or looseth we must pronounce and declare. I am the more brief in this Symbolical divinity lest I incur peccatum Origenale: neither would I have gone so far, if I had not had a guide-star.

The Colour.

THE Colour is blew, inclining to the color of the heavens, whereby it comes to signify loftiness of mind, and a contempt of these sublunary and earthly things. Isis the ancient Egyptian goddess had her Priests clothed in this color, that the people beholding them might be put in mind of heaven. S. Gregory ordained that the Friers called crucigeri should wear habits of blew. Cicero used sometimes to wear this color, to show his aspiring mind: yea many of the Apostles, and the Virgin Mary till the passion of her son used this color; and Christ himself is usually painted with a garment of it: And of the four colors used about the Tabernacle, Blew, White, Scarlet and Purple, both the lace to fasten the breast-plate to the Ephod was blew, and the robe of the Ephod was to be all blew: To teach us to make a sky-coloured veil to our eyes, and to cause our thoughts sit a brood on heavenly matters. Heavenly mindedness is a fit temper for a Churchmans spirit. The ox, or farm, or wife, may not so fill up our eye, as to neglect the Kings supper. We must not like spire steeples, point upward, & poise downward. Whosoever can make such poor things as a blast of fame, an husk of pleasure, or thorns of riches, matter of felicity; yet let us make choice of the Lord to be our God; and when we have done, maintain our choice. Thou shalt have none inheritance in their land, I am thy part and thine inheritance. (There is both aliquid amplius, and aliquid melius ) said God to Aaron. We know the price St. Paul set upon other things was but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 dung, a word then the which nothing can sound more to contempt, for it is as much as 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 scraps and offalls that we cast forth to dogs. Let us give it the true weight upon our souls, and if any would offer us the whole world in competition to God, let us say in an holy disdain, as Hazael to Elisha, Am I a dog that I should do this thing? Let the very site and position of our hearts which are close-pointed towards earth, and open at the top towards heaven incite us to be heavenly minded: let our faces which are turned upward move us, in that God by nature, Os homini sublimi dedit, coelum{que} tueri: let the very appellatives of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 coming from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , and of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 prevail with us, or let Saint Paul's word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which belongs to our office to do it: Let the imprest of our frontlet Holiness, which is the separation of a thing from a terrene & common use, as the term à quo (so much sounds the Greek word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ,) and the appropriating it to a divine use, as the term ad quem, do it. Lastly, let the good word of God which hath in it not only light to direct us, but power to assist us, do it; while it is still admonishing us to use the world as if we used it not, to seek those things that are above, to have our conversation in heaven, &c. Let (I say) these things move us not only with our eyes to gaze up into heaven like those Galileans, or like the Pope who had found the keys, but sursum Corda like David, Psal. 25. 1.

The Virtue.

AN inenarrable hardness is the first and chief quality of the Diamond, in so much as those that cut them can find out naught but their own dust to polish them withal. Therefore the Hebrew name comes from a root signifying to break or bruise, either 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , because it cannot be broken with anything more hard, or because it breaks all other stones: and the Greek word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . sounds as much as indomable: which word also the Latins retain to call it by. Yet for all this it yields to and is softened with the blood of a Goat. Hear Pliny aver it with an emphasis: Invicta illa vis, duarum violentissimarum rerum ferri ignis{que} contemptrix, hircino rumpitur sanguine. So he. Scaliger (the fourth man that Lypsius did admire since the world was) disputing the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 hereof, why thinner blood is resisted, and it admitted, refers it to occulta proprietas, & principium commune, and professeth ingenuously it is hidden from him. The use is excellent, thus: we are all the sons of Japheth, begot of stones, Durus genuit nos cautibus horrens—Caucasus. I would it were Nabal only that were tanquam lapis: but it may be said to everyone quid stas lapis? even Peter himself, if he had not been Petra a rock of stone, would not have stayed so many crows before he wept, seeing the crowing of cockes foretelleth a shower. And which is worse, this callosity or hardness is not of any mean part, like those durae cervicis, but of the heart it self; Circa praecordia ferrum, it is the heart, as is said of Leviathan, which is harder then the nether millstone: yea and this is not the hardness of any soft Pumex, but of the Diamond which is harder then hardness it self, adamantina corda is the Prophets own phrase, They have made their hearts as hard as the Adamant: and which is still worse, besides that natural 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 which is hereditary to every son of Adam & traduced with the seed, there is an adventitious hardness which is more dangerous, as coming both from an habit and custom of sinning, and from the just judgment of God, which doth punish one sin w ^th another, as 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a just recompense of our former error; but which is worst of all, as in foam this hardness of heart is perceived, and felt, and complained on, & means sought to help it: so in others it is not perceived, and felt; or if perceived not felt: So holy Greenham distinguisheth to his distressed friend. Such may say as Solomon's Drunkard, Some have smitten me but I am not sick, some have beaten me but I feel it not: by all this it appears that Churchmen are as the seed-man in the Gospel, they must sow the seed of the word often amongst stones.

Notwithstanding, God be thanked that even an Adamant, as hard as it is, may be mollified by the blood of a goat: Christ Jesus is this goat, he is hircus emissarius the scape goat, carrying our sins into the wilderness. It is true, he is agnus immaculatus, an innocent sweet-breathed lamb in regard of the purity of his own nature; but as our sins are imputed to him, he is hircus foetidus, a stinking goat; so that it is true that we are not purified by the blood of goats, that is, of the type: but we are purified by the blood of a goat, that is, the antitype, Christ: and it pleaseth me not a little to see Christ so pointed at in our pectoral. Christ crucified must be the subject of all our preaching; whensoever therefore we meet with any that have a stone in their heart, apply wisely and faithfully unto it the warm blood of the slain goat. We must both go ourselves and bring others by Golgotha and Calvery to the mount of Olives; by Christ crucified to Christ glorified; by him descended into hell, unto him ascended into heaven. Divinely he: If thou wouldest come to God for grace, for comfort, for salvation, for any blessing, come first to Christ, hanging, bleeding, dying on the cross, without whom there is no hearing God, no helping God, no saving God, no God to thee at all.

The Colour.

THe Colour of the Diamond some liken ferr • candenti, some to the light of a lantern, others to Crystal, but more opake and dark, and yet more transparent, and pellucide too; which color is very near, if not the same with that of the female Ligure, next following, where I will speak of it.

The Virtue.

THE natural property of this stone is to have an attractive power, that being rubbed, it draws unto it leaves, staws, brass, iron, gold, and the like, in regard of which quality it is like to the load-stone, jett and amber; whereby thus much is strongly insinuated, that Ministers should endeavor for a winning and drawing faculty. Wheresoever true grace is in the heart of any good Christian, there is a desire and itch also to draw others to that sweetness w ^ch they themselves have found in the ways of God; it is of a leavening and communicating nature: here hidden bread is not pleasant, nor stolen waters sweet. I and the lad, said Abraham; I and my house, said Joshua; I and my maids, said Esther. Come and see, said Philip to Nathaniel; Come see a man, said the Samaritan woman to her neighbors. Come and see was the word of the four beasts, at opening the four first seals, Apoc. 6. But a Church-man most of all should go as the male goat before the flock, leading the willing, and drawing the backward. He being converted must strengthen his brethren: he having received a Talent of his Master must occupy till he come: he must draw to, and build on the foundation Christ Jesus, proselytes and converts of all sorts and conditions; gold, silver, timber, hay, and stubble: he, as Amphion by his harmony brought men from savageness to civility, must bring men from reason to Religion: he as another Orpheus, must draw after him wild beasts, and woods and stones to the building of the new Jerusalem: he like another Hercules the Lady Proserpina, must draw out of hell such poor souls as the Prince of infernal powers hath ravished, especially such as cry to Christ principally, to him ministerially, Draw me and I will run after thee. And the Eare is that by which such must be drawn to God. Cynthius aurem vellit: There is no message or embassage from God or man hath access but thorough these gates. Therefore hath God placed them on the top of his building, as on two turrets, the better to attend, because sound ascendeth: therefore also that the voice do not suddenly strike the brain, but may lengthen it self in the access, have they such sloping and hollow entries, turning Labyrinths, and bowed Meanders, as we know noises from a Trumpet or Sagbut find a longer life then from a Flute or Fife, and raise that echo from between the teeth of hanging Rocks, which they do not from smooth-browed Plaines: therefore also have we two ears, and those standing ever open to all suitors, and one mouth, and that fenced with a double port-cullis of the teeth and lips, that (as S. James counsels) we should be swift to hear as slow to speak: therefore also Mercury in Mythology though he were a gentill-god, yet was a thief, because Eloquence steals away the heart of men. For men, like some beasts, are soonest taken and surest held by the ears. It is a notable Apophthegme of Plutarch, They say in the Proverb, It is hard to hold a Wolf by the ears, but who so will lead a city or a people, shall soonest do it by the ears: which they shall never do, who come into their Pulpits no oftener then the High-priest into the Sanctum Sanctorum once a year: who, if at any time they fly from danger, I would wish them to go hide them in their Pulpits, where none that knows them will seek for them.

The Colour.

THE color of this stone if it be condensate of the urine of the male Lynx, is yellow and more fiery, if of the female, white and more languishing. Of that color I spoke before in the Topaze, which easeth both you and myself of some labor: of this I am now to treat. The female is a white stone, and a white stone signifies absolution: for in judgments of old they used to give a black stone to a condemned person, and a white stone to him whom they quit and cleared.

In which respect it was that Alcibiades would not trust his mother in a judgment of life and death, lest at unawares she should cast the black stone for the white: and Apoc. 2. 17. there is promised to him that overcometh, a white stone, and a new name written in it, that is, absolution and regeneration. Therefore also primative Christians clad their servants in white at Whitsuntide, in token of their manumission: which may well admonish Ministers to whom God hath committed the word of reconciliation, having chosen, separated, and set them apart to be the Committees of the loosing keys, so as none can forgive sins but God, none can declare and pronounce them to be forgiven but Ministers; others may comfort with good words, none can absolve but they, that, I say, they do not so much neglect the exercising their power of absolution, out of I know not what spicednesse of a non-informed conscience, that it hath too much affinity with auriculaer confession: but that when God strikes a man with malady on his bed, so that his soul draweth near to the grave, and his life to the buriers, there may be a messenger with him to declare unto him his righteousness, that God may have mercy on him. Especially seeing it is so consonant to Scriptures, to the Liturgy of our Church, to those whom we esteem most orthodox, and the practice of worthy men. But besides this, white signifies innocence and purity: therefore Solomon's throne was of white Ivory. Our Savior was both transfigured and buried in white. The ancient Romans used to wear a white garment in their solemnities, which if it bore only the native color of the wool, was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or alba toga, if it did shine by art, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or candida. At all times let thy garments be white, saith Ecclesiastes. Pope Sylvester refused Constantine's rich Miter for a mean white one. White hath ever been usual for Church-men to wear both under the Law and Gospel; yea even for the heathen Priests in their sacrifices to their Panim gods: no doubt, to put them in mind they should be as spotless as Lawne in an harmless and Dovelike innocence. We must be wise as Serpents, innocent as Doves: wise, I say, not wily; innocent, not innocents. It becomes us to be bunglers in sin, and ignorant of the depths and methods of Satan, in regard of treading those mazes ourselves, though not of unsecreting them to others. To soldiers a white shield was accounted inglorious, because they used to write their exploits on them. Not so to us; but if we be rightly Candidati here, we shall ere long be clothed in white: as was said of Hooper and Ridley, they disagreed about white at the first, (for good men may differ in judgment about matters of ceremony) but they after agreed in black in prison, in ash-color at the stake, and in white in heaven.

The Virtue.

IT doth admirably delight the beholders with the variety of forms, and diversity of things, which is obvious to each eye that gazeth on it. It showeth you living creatures, fields, meadows, rivers, groves, trees, rocks, Natura ludente, (saith Cardan ) nature even sporting and as it were wantoning with change. That famous one in the ring of King Pyrrhus, wherein were the nine Muses, and Apollo playing in the midst, is acknowne to everyone either by reading or relation. So that of this gemme may be fitly applied what the Poet said of Chaos, that it contains— discordia semina rerum. Under which may well be veiled that diversity of gifts wherewith it is requisite a Minister of the Gospel should be endowed; one while weaving the warp of faith, another while the woof of good works; now laying the foundation, anon building thereon: first imitating the Be, the Muses bird, gathering the honey of knowledge from the flowers of others; then the Spider, spinning a thread of truth out of his own brain or experience. Alexander Hales is called the irrefragable Doctor, Scotus the subtle, Bradwardine the profound, Occam the invincible, Burley the perspicuous, Baconthorpe the resolute. Aquinas the angelical, Bonaventure the seraphicall. These are swelling titles conferred upon them, according to the Planet which was predominant in each of their brains. Indeed S. Paul rightly censures them to be diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. So when one and the same man undergoes the office both of a Doctor to teach, a Pastor to persuade, and a Deacon to govern; beginning with chatechisticall Divinity to his A. b. c. darians; proceeding to positive with grounded Christians; holding on to polemical with curious and exquisitive heads, and ending a casuist with perplexed consciences; discreetly applying each point for and according to the auditory : first to teach truth by way of doctrine, then to improve error by way of elench, nextly to correct vice by way of reproof, besides to discipline in godliness by way of instruction, lastly to comfort and strengthen the heart in distress by way of consolation, (which seems to be the most Scripture-like method of all others, 2 Tim. 3. 16. 17. Rom. 15. 4.) this I say, is differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And further, this variousnes of the Achate appears in us, while we do not rest and subside upon one object, but are strengthening this man's faith, anchoring another's hope, kindling another's charity, blowing the coals of his zeal, urging his repentance, directing his obedience, visiting his sick couch: thus when alma mater Academia hath once delivered us over to Sancta Mater Ecclesia, Dura Mater to Pia Mater, we should make the Church the center, and the Parish the circumference of our circular motion, everywhere espying where a great and effectual door is open unto us; that so Bradfords speech be not true 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that the Devil is only diligent Bishop in his Diocese.

The Colour.

THe color also is so various, as one would think their sight erred about the proper object, which is color. It is white, red, yellow, black, green, blew, what not? in so much as it seems scarce to be one and the same stone. So must we garment our faces with any color, and put on any passion, if by an holy temporizing we see we are likely to prevail. We must be Proteo mutabiliores as well in our affections and conversing with men, as in our doctrine. If with Amos we be called to preach to Shepherds, we must creep on the ground in vulgar terms; if with Isaiah to the Court, we must be glad to speak sterling, and embellish our sentences with words as well as things, if we will be heard; if we have to do with merry greeks, we must come to them as Christ, eating and drinking; if with severe Catoes, we must approach them as John, neither eating nor drinking; to sanguinists we must pipe; to melancholists mourn; to Caligula we must thunder; to such Lions as Nero (we must as Peter was roused) crow them to repentance. Hear S. Paul; To the Jews I became as a Jew that I might win the Jews: to them that were under the Law, that I might win them under the Law: to them that are without the Law, &c. Briefly then thus much: Virgil throughout all the travels and troubles of Aeneas, brings in still his faithful friend Achates accompanying him: wherein is to be observed the prudence of the Poet, not to suppose a man to wade through such miseries as Aeneas did, without an alter idem, a bosom friend to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , to be sory for his harms, and so making his woes sit the lighter: Even so a Churchman in all his ministerial pains & travels should be fido comitavus Achate, in thus ringing of changes, and being made all things to all men, that he may by all means save some.

The Virtue.

T His is here the ninth, and with St. John the last of all the twelve: look what Virtue is given by herbarists to Coleworts, and the Almond tree, the same do lapidaries give to the Amethyst, to wit, that it resists Drunkenness, by consuming the vapor of the wine, and hindering it to ascend to the brain. This is attributed to it not by one or two, but by all authors that I have seen; except one that questions it: and the very name strongly imports it, q. d. from or contrary to wine. Dioscorides makes this word the concrete to bitter Almonds, saying that five or six of them being taken 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 are as good as Amethysts. We should hereby learn 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for this stone was not put into the pectoral for him that is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a Timothy, haec non scribuntur aquae potoribus, but to to the Priest and Prophet who err by reason of wine, and fail in vision with strong drink. Note then that there is here an Amethyst as well as a Rubie, that these precious stones are not to be set on our noses or fuaces (which many a man may thank his cold liver for) but on our breast-plates. Divinity is an art recte vivendi, not bibendi, unless we will turn bibere into vivere, in our lewd lives, as the Italians and Gascoignes do in their pronunciation. The office of a Divine not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to persuade those things which belong to the Kingdom of God, unless we think foecundi calices quos non fecere facundos? We must keep the Feast Tabernaculorum, not tabernarum, of Tabernacles, not Taverns; It is not for Kings to drink wine, nor Princes strong drink: much less is it for Priests. For it was the blessing of Judah the Lawgiver, not of Levi the Priest, that his eyes should be red with wine. It is true, the Church is called a vineyard, but we are termed laborers in that vineyard; we are set to work, not to eat clusters of grapes; let us a little reason the matter. Can it be fit, that Christ for us should drink gall and vinegar, and we wine & sugar? that he should thirst, & we be drunk? that those hands which give the blood of Christ in the chalice to penitent sinners, should lift the blood of grapes in bowles to themselves? that those eyes which should be sod in tears for the sins of the people, should be red with wine? that it should now be a virtue which was a curse, with stammering lips to speak to the people? that a Prophet should usurp a Patriarchs blessing, to wash his garments in wine, and lace them with streams of strong drink, so as like the dew of Hermon upon Aaren, it run down his beard to the skirts of his clothing? that those whom their parents and friends have dedicated ad aras, should suit better ad haras, fitter to be a swineheard, then a shepherd? fitter (I speak boldly, but faithfully) for a haltar, then an altar? The Law was so strict that a Priest might not drink wine or strong drink when he came into the Tabernacle of the congregation: and St. Paul requires that we be not given to wine? Wine may be given to us ( da vinum lugentibus ) but we not given to wine. He is an ass that is bound to a vine, that is, hath said so oft, I will seek it once again; as now the drunken devil cannot be cast out of him: the matter were less if no body would tell our disorder in Gath, nor publish it in the streets of Askalon: or if like Noah, we had still some friend or son by us, to lie us on a bed, and cover our nakedness: or if all were of noble Constantine's mind, that if he were an eye witness of a Church-man offending, he would cover him with the lap of his purple gown; or if our people thought so well of us, as when they saw us courting a mistress, to think we did it to bless her, or when they saw us drunk, to imagine us to be ravished in spirit, or to have seen a vision. But the case is quite other ways, they look on our faults thorough multiplying glasses; if our sins be foul and black, they show far on our white Ephods, if they be splendida peccata, they show far on our black coats. Our Charge are ready to say as Michal of David, our ghostly father hath uncovered himself this day in the eyes of his people, as a fool uncouereth himself. Yet God forbid I should seek to abridge any of that lawful liberty which cost Christ as dear for us as any other; though others gnats and moats be our beams and camels, yet are not others virtues our vices. Quod licet Christiano, licet manacho; not only Tully dates his Epistle to his Atticus, à tribus tabernis, but also St. Paul was met at the three taverns, the same place, so doth he allow Timothy ., a modicum, a little wine: and Solomon in his chiliads prescribes the same dosis four several times, a little with the fear of the Lord; a little with peace; a little with equity; a little with love; not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as in the feast in Homer; nor as in that of Ahasuerus at Sushan, where everyone drank as much as he pleased and would, unless we first will no more then we should, and then we may what we will. Our Savior at Cana turned water into wine, let us, if we have offended in intemperancy, turn that wine into the tears of godly sorrow, the water of our second baptism; in a word, if we stand, let us beware we fall not; if we have fallen, let us care how to rise again. If any think I have shred to many gourds into his pot of drink, it is my zeal against that vice, which I may rightly call dehonestamentum Cleri.

The Colour.

THE Colour of the Amethyst is a fulgent purple, much of the color of wine; neither differs it much from the color of the red Sardius, which was the first stone; Purple and scarlet did not differ so much of old as they do now, although they were of divers ingredients, the purple of the juice of a shell-fish, and the scarlet of the grains of a berry, ancient purple was of a reddish color, though now these sorts of dies be lost: and that garment w ^ch the soldiers put on Christ, Matthew calls it chlamidem coc • ineā, a scarlet robe, but both Mark and John call it vestem purpuream, a purple garment. Anchises when he sacrificed, covered his head with red, and Aeneas his son was commanded the same. Our eminent Prelates and Doctors, and also the Cardinals in the Church of Rome do wear Hoods and Gownes of Purple and Scarlet, which occasioned Beza's salt Epigram of Cardinalis purpuratus. So also soldiers and men of Arms; for the Trojans and Romans used to wear Mandilions of red. Tamberlaine the second day of his siege set up a red Tent. The hearses of those that had fought valiantly, were covered with red, as painters use to attire all in red, or to give them a red mantle in token of their martyrdom, who have valiantly shed their blood for the faith of Christ; the reason is because red or purple signify courage and magnanimity: Therefore the Lyon and such stout beasts cannot endure the sight thereof. We read in Macabees how to provoke Elephants to fight, they shown them the blood of grapes and mulberries; and surely those that have continually bellum cum vitijs, stand as much need of courage, as those that combat with men: and I see not why those who have gifts from God, and calling from men, should not be as stout as Ambrose. The badge of Judah the Lawgiver, was a Lyon: Zinglius died in the field. Luther said, if every tile in Wormes were a Devil, he would go thither for the truths sake. Calvin, when the Senate of Geneva had granted a relaxation of the excommunication of Bertelier said, before this decree take place, either my blood or banishment shall seal it. Archbishop Whitgift feared not to say, in these cases, The Lord's of the Counsel are to be advised by us, and not we by them, besides that one of his Apophthegms to his familiar friends was, two things did much stead him to be confident in good causes, orbitas & senectus. Campian wrote to the Lord's of the Counsel, while they had one drop of blood to lose at Tyburne, they would not forsake their cause. O that such metal was misplaced! but certainly, They that dare do, dare suffer. And this was the cause why in old time Ecclesiastickes desired Martyrdom, as much as they do Bishoprics now. In a word, while we be not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , but place right mere-stones to circumscribe and bounder in our boldness, within the proper sphere of its own activity; it will well enough become everyone of us to challenge Baconthorps style of Doctor resolutus.

The Virtue.

PLiny and others are silent in the virtues of this stone. But I have a laborious Lapidary by me, who is anonymus, and so antique that (as Erasmus said of the writings of Jerome ) I can scarce divine the reading; who affirms the Berill being steeped in water, and that water drunk, to be available against all griefs and diseases of the eyes: which assertion he confirms also under the mouths of three witnesses, Arnoldus, Dioscorides, and one Nuba an author to me unknown. Under the Law whosoever had any blemish in his eye was not capable of Priesthood. Blessed is the man (saith Solomon) who hath a good eye. Even the whole soul seems to dwell and reside in that little round sphericall ball of the eye, so as by that looking-glass, it is easy to know what passion is predominant in the mind: if love, the eye looks; if sorrow, it weeps; if admiration, it gazeth; if madness, it stareth; if anger, it sparkleth; if fear, it twinckleth; if pride, it is lift up; if humility, it is cast down: You will wonder, so little a substance to be obnoxious to so many infirmities as the oculist will tell you. So are there many spiritual maladies therein, for which we must provide eye-salve: there is the scoffing and scorning eye first of all: secondly, the merciless eye: thirdly, the blind ignorant eye: fourthly, proud and lofty eye: fifthly, the lustful venereous eye which is full of adultery: sixthly, the red or drunken eye: seventhly, the envious maligning eye: eightly, the winking or dissembling eye: lastly, the covetous insatiable eye; so that the Muraena hath not more eyes on a side then are evil eyes mentioned in holy Scriptures. But the man of God should ever be provided of a Collyrium for his ghostly patients affected with any of these kinds of sore eyes: first making them wash them in their own syrrope, the salt and brackish tears of contrition for what is past, and then anointing them with honey of God's word, which giveth light to the eyes to direct the whole man for the time to spend, so as he shall be constrained to speak out Jonathan's words, how are mine eyes enlightened since I tasted of this honey.

The Colour.

THe color is a Sea-water-green. And Pliny who seems to have had an exact knowledge of the Berill, after he hath reckoned up seven distinct kinds, saith, Those are the best which imitate the greenness of pure Sea-water. Brightmans conceit pleaseth me well in this point: The watery-color (saith he) betokeneth lenity and humility, such as water it self is, which will easily give place to every thing: and so it fitly follows the majestical Chrysolite (as S. John reckons them,) that so it may keep the stateliness thereof within measure and compass. So he. By which element also Virgil paraphraseth the same virtue, when he compares a meek man to a standing pool, which yet is far more calm and gentle then the Sea, whose face is so much vwrinckled with billows:

Hear S▪ Paul's ordination-sermon, The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle towards all men, apt to teach, suffering the evil, instructing with meekness, &c. Hear his Consecration-sermon, A Bishop must be unreprovable as God's Steward, not froward nor angry, &c. Indeed Aristotle calls anger the Spurre of Virtue: but I have heard there is an old canon that Churchmen may not wear spurs, or have armed heels. The meek (saith our Savior) shall inherit the land: and yet those who inherit no land (such were the Tribe of Levi under the Law altogether, such is it now for the most part) must be meek. Ordinarily men will be persuaded to virtue, hardly compelled; they may be led to heaven, not drawn: more are won with the blandishments of sweet words, then with calling down for fire from heaven. The word of God prevails more when it falls like rain into a fleece of wool, then when it rattles as a shower on the tyles. Oratory is more grateful when it is put in the form of entreaties, then when of commands. Counsels sound better to us then precepts. It is usually not so prevalent to come with a rod, as to come with the spirit of meekness. Few are like nettles which bite being gently touched, most are like thorns which will not be grasped. When God appeared to Elijah, he was neither in the whistling wind, nor in the quivering Earthquake, nor in the scorching fire, but in a still and soft voice. Yet may this doctrine vary according to the differing dispositions either of Pastor or People: To a meek and gentle Titus, These things speak, and rebuke with all authority, especially having to do with stiff natures. To a more forward Timothy, Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering: which difference of natures S. Gregory observes to have been the reason of the Apostles differing admonitions. There is need of the spirit of an Ambrose and a Luther, to contest with an Emperor and a Pope.

The Virtue.

THis stone being hung about the neck, confirmeth and strengtheneth the whole body: which it doth because it is of a cold astringent quality, whereby it unites and constringeth the spirits: for which reason the Indians use to carry it about them as an amulent against venery. And surely God had need to deck his Priests with health, that his Saints may rejoice and sing. A painful laborer in God's Vineyard had need of a compact athleticall body, ne pe • cet ad extremum. Let his breasts run with milk, and his bones with marrow, study and pains will exhaust his spirits, and consume him as the f •• me doth the oil in his lamp. Notwithstanding, how many will make themselves our task-masters, speaking to us as to brick-makers, Ye are too idle? these, it may be, would even tell Tostatus as much, for all his 14 Volumes in folio, which a Scholar knows could never have been done but by an Edmund Iron-side, nor scarce written but with a pen of iron. Reading is the least part of study, and yet much reading is a weariness to the flesh: it is well that so wise a man as Solomon hath said it, and in that book too where he styles himself The Peacher, else he would soon have been impleaded. Preaching is but one part of ministerial pains, which is something if it were no more then declamare ad clepsydram, to cry aloud, and lift up a man's voice like a Trumpet for an hour together, which Perkins found, who after his preaching used to spit up his lungs. But it is the soul that preacheth, the understanding is busied to conceive, the memory to recount, the affections to express, &c. therefore the Hebrew word, and Greek too is of the feminine gender, q. d. a she Preacher, meaning the Soul. But if a man's bones were of brass, and his strength the strength of stones, and yet he be so much wasted, as like S. John at Ephesus, he must be carried to his Pulpit in a chair, his infirmities may be his comfort, if he be divinis consumptus laboribus, as was said of B. Jewel.

The Colour.

THe color is just the same with the nail of a man's hand, whence by reason of the similitude, it hath the name of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : therefore they that parallel these 12 stones with the 12 Patriarchs, write Joseph's name upon this, understanding by the flesh-coloured whiteness, Candorem virtutis, that candidnesse and whiteness of virtue which was in Joseph. For Onyx color (like Roses spread on Lawne) is ad unguem 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , virtues tincture and die. Palenesse in the face is rather the color of vice; for we are wont pallescere culpâ; besides that it is the color of death, sins proper stipend, Behold, a pale horse, and death sitting on him: Pallida mors, &c. Red is the color of guiltiness, anger, and choller: but that inimitable mixture of both, which is in the nail, wherewith every finger of the hand is so artificially tipped, as it were with pearl-shell, is the proper livery of a pious and virtuous disposition. It is a shred of an Italian Litany, From a black German, and a pale Spaniard, and a red Italian, libera nos Domine. The application is this, that we take to us that sweetness of manners, and amiableness of carriage, which may win men to our Ministry, and endear us to them with whom we converse, that we join to those Theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, without which we cannot s • ve ourselves; those Moral virtues of candor, gentleness, affability, courtesy, and meekness, without which we shall hardly ever save others. Learning and grace ( like Galba's wit) may dwell ill, to wit, in a morose and crabbed nature: but we should do our endeavor, that Those who will not give ear unto the Word, may without the Word be won by our blameless and candide conversation.

The Virtue.

THe virtue of it is to confirm and comfort the stomach, for which the use of it is approved in Physic. Galen affirms this to be true, if they be hung against the mouth of the stomach, and professeth himself to have made the trial. We need no greater witness. We must 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : it is not the least part of Ministerial wisdom to proportion spiritual food to the strength of the receivers stomach: there are both lambes and sheep to be fed: there are both babes and adulti that must have meat: there are fathers, young-men, and little children to be written unto: in the primative Church there were Catechumenoi, as well as there were knowing and instructed Christians. So also is there both milk and strong meat: shallow waths which may be foorded by a Lamb, and abisse whirlepooles where Leviathan may swim and take his pastime: there are Hosanna's fitted for the mouths of babes and sucklings, and Hallelujahs sung by celestial quires: there are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the very elements and first principles of the word of God which the simplest may learn, as there are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 abstruse and profound mysteries which do 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 seal and shut up the mouths of the subtlest. Sermons are as riddles and clerums to uncatechized souls. He is not like to be a sound Divine who reads Lombard or Aquinas before he be grounded by some orthodox institutions; neither are those like to prove stable Christians, who have not for the basis of their faith some 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , to be the touch-stone of those doctrines which are propounded to them to receive. Look into the writings of the Fathers both of the Greek and Latin Church, and you shall find that Clemens Alexandrinus had his Pedagogue, Cyril of Jerusalem his Catechism, Origen that famous Catechist his books 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Theodoret his Epitome 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Lactantius his Institutions, Augustine his Enchiridion, &c. we should first lay the foundation in the milk of catechisticall points, and then build thereon the gold of positive or polemical Divinity. So Hooker truly observes that two things procured Calvin all his deserved honor through the Christian world, the one was his exceeding pains in composing the Institutions of Religion, the other his no less industrious travels for exposition of holy Scripture according to the same Institutions: wherein he gained the advantage of prejudice against them which gain-said him, and of glory above them which assented to him. It was Jacob's care of his flock to drive softly, according to the pace of the cattle. We must both in our dogmatical decisions, and rhetorical enforcements rather stoop to the capacity of the weak, then raise our matter, words, and method to the ability of one or two intellectualists.

The Colour.

THe color is a translucent greenness. Green signifieth Hope; a necessary virtue for the ebbing estate of man in this life, that seeing the dignity of his mind is not such as to bear evils out of fortitude and judgment, the wise providence of God hath provided him to ride at anchor upon hope, by a kind of absenting and alienation of the mind from the present to the future, and by giving scope to the mind to dwell upon the very muse and fore-thought of good to come: which the Poets wittily expressed in their Mythology of Pandora, whose box being emptied of all gifts, yet there remained hope still fitting on the brim thereof. Neither can a Church-man be without it: for God's promises do often bear a long date; and the seed of the word even when it is sown in good ground, doth bring forth fruit 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in tariance. Though some of our Disciples be of ductile dispositions, and easily follow the work-man's hammer, in their forming to grace; yet most are of dull ears, stiff necks, and hard hearts, jeoparding the loss both of our oil and labor. Now we had need have hope to expect with patience whilst we offer grace, till the Spirit cloth our words with a hidden and strong power to make them operative; we had need have hope, while they have breath, to see if when they are gone up to their death-beds, they may be gained on, that they fall not into the grave and hell both at once.

Out of what hath been already spoken you may easily gather who is a worthy, and who is an unworthy Church-man; and surely Church-men are either the most deperdite, or else most happy men of all, even then when as holy writ phraseth it they are not at all. If others glister as flarres, they shall shine forth as the Sun in the kingdom of God; If some burn as coals, they must fry as brands in unquenchable fire. So while they are here fulfilling their Ministry, they are either the worthiest or unworthiest of men. A mean is scarce given; for look what degree of goodness a thing holds while it is right, it ebbeth into the same degree of evil when it is retrograde. The best wines make the sharpest vinegar, and the Reprobate spirits found not a solstice betwixt the highest heaven, and the nether most hell. It is true, we are all unworthy ( 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ) if we be brought to the Standart of the Sanctuary: it is well all is required of the best of us, either by Saint Paul's rule, or Zacharias' example is to be unreprovable, sine querela, non sine peccato, blameless, not faultless: Yet it is better we are not to be judged by unequal ballancers of things, or supercilious censurers, who cannot judge of another's moat for their own beam, whereby a man may come to be irreprehensibilis, as the vulgar translates the word, and not irreprehensus, as Beza: but first by the esteem of a merciful and indulgent God, and then of wise and good men who expect not absolute Saint-ship from those who are men of the same infirmities with themselves:

That all were good which serve at the Altar ( non opis est nostrae ) is part neither of our power, nor care: None can help us here, but only the highest power of the sword and keys. Moses and Aaron, the diademe and the rochet, the one by his regal and imperial scepter, the other by their pastoral and paternal care. If God would put into the heart first of our noble King to give Miters and Altars, as David dedicates his Psalms 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 or as Alexander legacyed out his kingdom 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and then inspire those Bishops, in their ordinations to lay hands suddenly on no man unworthy; and in their visitations to correct those who had unworthyed themselves; O then might the unnatural sons of our holy mother the Church, after their so long dishonesting her, be forced to speak in the language of Nero, touching Agrippina, Nesciebam sane me tam pulchram matrem habere.

But indeed it is everyone of us our concerment in three regards; First that every man be his own Diocessan, empyring over his own affections, and stewarding his gifts and graces so as he may be most serviceable to God & his Church. Nextly, in paying down a thousand daily vows on our knees, beseeching the Lord, even our eyes glazed with tears (why should we spend such heavenly due one earthly trifles?) that he would pedetentins form these thing in us; still remembering that qui pro se solo orat, solus orat. Lastly, in stirring up our brethren, as one beacon gives warning to another, and one coal sets another on fire: It is parable which Solomon puts in my mouth as iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the face of a man his friend: wherein is a helpless amity, better then an harmless enmity.