Eighty Sermons
This only is charity, to do all, all that we can. And something there is which every man may do; There are Armies, in the levying whereof, every man is an absolute Prince, and needs no Commission, there are Forces, in which every man is his own Muster-master, The force which we spoke of before, out of Tertullian, the force of prayer; In public actions, we obey God, when we obey them to whom God hath committed the public; In those things which are in our own power, the subfidies and contributions of prayer, God looks that we should second his Faciamus, with our Dicamus, That since he must do all, we would pray him that he would do it, And his Descendamus, with our Ascendamus, That if we would have him come down, and fight our battayls, or remove our calamities, we should first go up to him, in humble and fervent prayer, That he would continue the Gospel where it is, and restore it where it was, and transfer it where it was never as yet heard; Charity is to do all to all; and the poorest of us all can do this to any.
I may then, I must pray for this fullness, (and fullness is sufficiency) And for this satisfaction, (and satisfaction is contentment) And that God would extend this, and other his blessings, upon others too, And if God do leave us in an Egypt, in a Babylon, without relief, for sometime I may proceed to this holy importunity, which David intimates here, Satura nos mane, O Lord, make haste to help us, Satisfie us early with thy mercy, and God will do so. Weeping may endure for a night, says David. David does not say, It must endure for a night, that God will by no means shorten the time; perchance God will wipe all tears from thine eyes, at midnight, if thou pray; Try him that way then. If he do not, If weeping do endure for a night, all night, yet joy cometh in the morning, faith David; And then he doth not say, Joy may come in the morning, but it cometh certainly, infallibly it comes, and comes in the morning. God is an early riser; In the Marning-watch, God la • ked upon the h • st of the Egyptians. He looked upon their counsels to see what they would do, and upon their forces to see what they could do. He is not early up, and never the nearer; His going forth is prepared as the Morning, (there is his general Providence, in which he visits every creature) And he shall come to us, in the former, and later rain upon the earth; He makes haste to us in the former, and seconds his former mercies to us, in more mercies. And as he makes hast to refresh his servants, so goes he the same pace, to the ruin of his enemies, In matutina inters • oiam, I will early destroy all the wicked of the land: It is not a weakening of them, It is a destruction; It is not of a squadron or regiment, It is all; It is not only upon the Land, but the wicked of any band, he will destroy upon the Sea too. This is his promise, this is his practice, this is his pace. Thus he did in Sennacheri • s Army, When they arose early in the Morning, behold they were all dead carcasses; They rose early that saw it, but God had been up earlier, that had done it. And that story, God seems to have had care to have recorded almost in all the divisions of the Bible, for it is in the Historical part, and it is in the Prophetical part too; and because God foresaw, that men's curiosities would carry them upon Apocryphal Books also, it is repeated almost in every Book of that kind, in Ecclesiasticus, in Tobit, in the Maceabees in both Books, That everywhere our eye might light upon that, and every soul might make that Syllogism, and produce that conclusion to it self, If God be thus forward, thus early in the ways of Judgment, much more is he so in the ways of mercy; with that he will satisfy us Mane, early, and as Tremellius reads this very Text, unoquoque mane, betimes in the morning, and every morning.
Now if we look for this early mercy from God, we must rise betimes too, and meet God early. God hath promised to give Matutinam stellam; the Morning-star; but they must be up betimes in the morning, that will take the Morning-star. He himself who is it, hath told us who is this Morning star; I Jesus am the bright and Morning star. God will give us Jesus; Him, and all his, all his tears, all his blood, all his merits; But to whom, and upon what conditions? That is expressed there, Vincenti dabe, To hin • that overcometh I will give the Morning-star. Our life is a warfare, our whole life; It is not only with lusts in our youth, and ambitions in our middle years, and indevotions in our age, but with agonies in our body, and temptations in our spirit upon our death-bed, that we are to fight; and he cannot be said to overcome, that fights not out the whole battle. If he enter not the field in the morning, that is, apply not himself to God's service in his youth, If he continue not to the Evening, If he faint in the way, and grow remiss in God's service, for collateral respects, God will overcome his cause, and his glory shall stand fast, but that man can scarce be said to have overcome.
It is the counsel of the Wise man, Prevent the Sun to give thanks to God, and at the day-spring pray unto him. You see still, how these two duties are marshalled, and disposed; First Praise, and then Prayer, but both early: And it is placed in the Lamentations, as though it were a lamentable negligence to have omitted it, It is good for a man, that he bear his yoke in his youth. Rise as early as you can, you cannot be up before God; no, nor before God raise you: Howsoever you prevent this Sun, the Sun of the Firmament, yet the Son of Heaven hath prevented you, for without his preventing Grace you could not stir. Have any of you slept out their Morning, resisted his private motions to private Prayer at home, neglected his callings so? Though a man do sleep out his forenoon, the Sun goes on his course, and comes to his Meridionall splendor, though that man have not looked towards it. That Son which hath risen to you at home, in those private motions, hath gone on his course, and hath shined out here, in this house of God, upon Wednesday, and upon Friday, and upon every day of holy Convocation; All this, at home, and here, ye have slept out and neglected. Now, upon the Sabbath, and in these holy Exercises, this Son shines out as at noon, the Grace of God is in the Exaltation, exhibited in the powerfullest and effectuallest way of his Ordinance, and if you will but awake now, rise now, meet God now, now at noon, God will call even this early. Have any of you slept out the whole day, and are come in that drowsiness to your evening, to the closing of your eyes, to the end of your days? Yet rise now, and God shall call even this an early rising; If you can make shift to deceive your own souls and say, We never heard God call us; If you neglected your former callings so, as that you have forgot that you have been called; yet, is there one amongst you, that denies that God calls him now? If he neglect this calling now, tomorrow he may forget that he was called today, or remember it with such a terror, as shall blow a damp, and a consternation upon his soul, and a lethargy worse then his former sleep; but if he will wake now, and rise now, though this be late in his evening, in his age, yet God shall call this early. Be but able to say with Isaiah this night, My soul hath desired thee in the night, and thou mayest be bold to say with David tomorrow morning, Satura nos mane, Satisfie us early with thy mercy, and he shall do it.
But yet no prayer of ours, howsoever made in the best disposition, in the best testimony of a rectified conscience, must limit God his time, or appoint him, in what morning, or what hour in the morning, God shall come to our deliverance. The Son of man was not the less the Son of God, nor the less a beloved Son, though God hid from him the knowledge of the day of the general Judgment. Thou art not the less the servant of God, nor the less rewarded by him, though he keep from thee the knowledge of thy deliverance from any particular calamity. All God's deliverances are in the morning, because there is a perpetual night, and an invincible darkness upon us, till he deliver us. God is the God of that Climate, where the night is six Moneths long, as well as of this, where it is but half so many hours. The highest Hill hinders not the roundness of the earth, the earth is round for all that hill; The lowest vaults, and mines hinder not the solidness of the earth, the earth is solid for all that; Much less hath a year, or ten years, or all our threescore and ten, any proportion at all to eternity; And therefore God comes early in a sort to me, though I lose abundance of my reward by so long lingering, if he come not till he open me the gate of heaven, by the key of death. There are Indies at my right hand, in the East; but there are Indies at my left hand too, in the West. There are testimonies of God's love to us, in our East, in our beginnings; but if God continue tribulation upon us to our West, to our ends, and give us the light of his presence then, if he appear to us at our transmigration, certainly he was favorable to us all our peregrination, and though he show himself late, he was our friend early. The Prayer is, that he would come early, but it is, if it be rightly formed, upon both these conditions; first, that I rise early to meet him, and then that I magnify his hour as early, whensoever he shall be pleased to come.
All this I shall do the better, if I limit my prayer, and my practice, with the next circumstance in David's prayer, Tuâ, Satisfie us early with that which is thine, Thy mercy: For there are mercies, (in a fair extent and accommodation of the word, that is Refreshings, Eases, Deliverances) that are not his mercies, nor his satisfactions. How many men are satisfied with Riches (I correct myself, few are satisfied; but how many have enough to satisfy many?) and yet have never a penny of his money? Nothing is his, that comes not from him, that comes not by good means. How many are there, that are easy to admit scruples, and jealousies, and suspicions in matter of Religion: Easie to think, that that Religion, and that Church, in which they have lived ill, cannot be a good Religion, nor a true Church; In a troubled, and distempered conscience, they grow easy to admit scruples, and then as over-easy to admit false satisfactions, with a word whispered on one side in a Conventicle, or a word whispered on the other side in a Confession, and yet have never a dram of satisfaction from his word, whose word is preached upon the house top, and avowed, and not in corners? How many men are anguished with torturing Diseases, racked with the conscience of ill-spent estates, oppressed with inordinate melancholies, and irreligious dejections of spirit, and then repair, and satisfy themselves with wine, with women, with fools, with comedies, with mirth, and music, and with all Job's miserable comforters, and all this while have no beams of his satisfaction, it is not Misericordia ejus, his mercy, his satisfaction? In losses of worldly goods, in sicknesses of children, or servants, or cattle, to receive light or ease from Witches, this is not his mercy. It is not his mercy, except we go by good ways to good ends; except our safety be established by alliance with his friends, except our peace may be had with the perfect continuance of our Religion, there is no safety, there is no peace. But let me feel the effect of this Prayer, as it is a Prayer of manifestation, Let me discern that, that that is done upon me, is done by the hand of God, and I care not what it be: I had rather have God's Vinegar, then man's Oil, God's Wormwood, then man's Manna, God's Justice, then any man's Mercy; for, therefore did Gregory Nyssen call S. Basil in a holy sense, Ambidextrum, because he took everything that came, by the right handle, and with the right hand, because he saw it to come from God. Even afflictions are welcome, when we see them to be his: Though the way that he would choose, and the way that this Prayer intreats, be only mercy, Satisfie us early with thy mercy.
That rod and that staff with which we are at any time corrected, is his. So God calls the Assyrians, The rod of his anger, and he says, That the staff that is in their hand, is his Indignation. He comes to a sharper execution, from the rod, and the staff to the sword, and that also is his, It is my sword, that is put into the hands of the King of Babylon, and he shall stretch out my sword upon the whole land; God will beat down, and cut off, and blow up, and blow out at his pleasure; which is expressed in a phrase very remarkable by David, He bringeth the wind out of his Treasuries; And then follow in that place, all the Plagues of Egypt: storms and tempests, ruins and devastations, are not only in God's Armories, but they are in his Treasuries; as he is the Lord of Hosts, he fetches his judgments from his Armories, and casts confusion upon his enemies, but as he is the God of mercy, and of plentiful redemption, he fetches these judgments, these corrections out of his treasuries, and they are the Money, the Jewels, by which he redeems and buys us again; God does nothing, God can do nothing, no not in the way of ruin and destruction, but there is mercy in it; he cannot open a door in his Armory, but a window into his Treasury opens too, and he must look into that.
But then God's corrections are his Acts, as the Physician is his Creature, God created him for necessity. When God made man, his first intention was not that man should fall, and so need a Messias, nor that man should fall sick, and so need a Physician, nor that man should fall into rebellion by sin, and so need his rod, his staff, his scourge of afflictions, to whip him into the way again. But yet says the Wiseman, Honor the Physician for the use you may have of him; slight him not, because thou hast no need of him yet. So though God's corrections were not from a primary, but a secondary intention, yet, when you see those corrections fall upon another, give a good interpretation of them, and believe God's purpose to be not to destroy, but to recover that man: Do not thou make God's Rheubarbe thy Ratsbane, and poison thine own soul with an uncharitable misinterpretation of that correction, which God hath sent to cure his. And then, in thine own afflictions, fly evermore to this Prayer, Satisfie us with thy mercy; first, Satisfie us, make it appear to us that thine intention is mercy, though thou enwrap it in temporal afflictions, in this dark cloud let us discern thy Son, and though in an act of displeasure, see that thou art well pleased with us; Satisfie us, that there is mercy in thy judgments, and then satisfy us, that thy mercy is mercy; for such is the stupidity of sinful man, That as in temporal blessings, we discern them best by wanting them, so do we the mercies of God too; we call it not a mercy, to have the same blessings still: but, as every man conceives a greater degree of joy, in recovering from a sickness, then in his former established health; so without doubt, our Ancestors who endured many years Civil and foreign wars, were more affected with their first peace, then we are with our continual enjoying thereof, And our Fathers more thankful, for the beginning of Reformation of Religion, then we for so long enjoying the continuance thereof. Satisfie us with thy mercy, Let us still be able to see mercy in thy judgments, lest they deject us, and confound us; Satisfie us with thy mercy, let us be able to see, that our deliverance is a mercy, and not a natural thing that might have happened so, or a necessary thing that must have happened so, though there had been no God in Heaven, nor providence upon earth. But especially since the way that thou choosest, is to go all by mercy, and not to be put to this way of correction, so dispose, so compose our minds, and so transpose all our affections, that we may live upon thy food, and not put thee to thy physic, that we may embrace thee in the light, and not be put to seek thee in the dark, that we come to thee in thy Mercy, and not be whipped to thee by thy Corrections. And so we have done also with our second Part, The pieces and petitions that constitute this Prayer, as it is a Prayer for Fullness and Satisfaction, a Prayer of Extent and Dilatation, a Prayer of Dispatch and Expedition, and then a Prayer of Evidence and Declaration, and lastly, a Prayer of Limitation even upon God himself, Satisfie, and satisfy us, and us early, with that which we may discern to be thine, and let that way be mercy.
There remains yet a third Part, what this Prayer produces, and it is joy, and continual joy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days. The words are the Parts, and we invert not, we trouble not the Order; the Holy Ghost hath laid them fitliest for our use, in the Text it self, and so we take them. First then, the gain is joy. Joy is God's own Seal, and his keeper is the Holy Ghost; we have many sudden ejaculations in the form of Prayer, sometimes inconsiderately made, and they vanish so; but if I can reflect upon my prayer, ruminate, and return again with joy to the same prayer, I have God's Seal upon it. And therefore it is not so very an idle thing, as some have mis-imagined it, to repeat often the same prayer in the same words; Our Savior did so; he prayed a third time, and in the same words; This reflecting upon a former prayer, is that that sets to this Seal, this joy, and if I have joy in my prayer, it is granted so far as concerns my good, and God's glory. It hath been disputed by many, both of the Gentiles, with whom the Fathers disputed, and of the Schoolmen, who dispute with one another, An sit gaudium in Deo, de semet, Whether God rejoice in himself, in contemplation of himself, whether God be glad that he is God: But it is disputed by them, only to establish it, and to illustrate it, for I do not remember that any one of them denies it. It is true, that Plato dislikes, and justly, that salutation of Dionysius the Tyran to God, Gaude, & servato vitam Tyranni jucundam; that he should say to God, Live merrily, as merrily as a King, as merrily as I do, and then you are God enough; to imagine such a joy in God, as is only a transitory delight in deceivable things, is an impious conceit. But when, as another Platonique says, Deus est quod ipse semper voluit, God is that which he would be, If there be something that God would be, and he be that, If Plato should deny, that God joyed in himself, we must say of Plato as Lactantius does, Deum potius somniaver at, quàm cognoverat, Plato had rather dreamed that there was a God, then understood what that God was. Bonum simplex, says S. Augustine, To be sincere Goodness, Goodness it self, Ipsa est delectatio Dei, This is the joy that God hath in himself, of himself; And therefore says Philo Judaeus, Hoc necessarium Philosophiae sodalibus, This is the tenent of all Philosophers, (And by that title of Philosophers, Philo always means them that know and study God) Solum Deum vere festum agere, That only God can be truly said to keep holy day, and to rejoice.
This joy we shall see, when we see him, who is so in it, as that he is this joy it self. But here in this world, so far as I can enter into my Masters sight, I can enter into my Masters joy. I can see God in his Creatures, in his Church, in his Word and Sacraments, and Ordinances; Since I am not without this sight, I am not without this joy. Here a man may Transilire mortalitatem, says that Divine Moral man; I cannot put off mortality, but I can look upon immortality; I cannot depart from this earth, but I can look into Heaven. So I cannot possess that final and accomplished joy here, but as my body can lay down a burden or a heavy garment, and joy in that ease, so my soul can put off my body so far, as that the concupiscencies thereof, and the manifold and miserable en • cumbrances of this world, cannot extinguish this holy joy. And this inchoative joy, David derives into two branches, To rejoice, and to be glad.
The Holy Ghost is an eloquent Author, a vehement, and an abundant Author, but yet not luxuriant; he is far from a penurious, but as far from a superfluous style too. And therefore we do not take these two words in the Text, To rejoice, and to be glad, to signify merely one and the same thing, but to be two beams, two branches, two effects, two expressings of this joy. We take them therefore, as they offer themselves in their roots, and first natural propriety of the words. The first, which we translate To rejoice, is Ranan; and Ranan denotes the external declaration of internal joy; for the word signifies Cantare, To sing, and that with an extended and loud voice, for it is the word, which is oftnest used for the music of the Church, and the singing of Psalms; which was such a declaration of their zealous alacrity in the primitive Church, as that, when to avoid discovery in the times of persecution, they were forced to make their meetings in the night, they were also forced to put out their Candles, because by that light in the windows they were discovered; After that this meeting in the dark occasioned a scandal and ill report upon those Christians, that their meetings were not upon so holy purposes, as they pretended, they discontinued their vigils, and night-meetings, yet their singing of Psalms, when they did meet, they never discontinued, though that, many times, exposed them to dangers, and to death it self, as some of the Authors of the secular story of the Romans have observed and testified unto us. And some ancient Decrees and Constitutions we have, in which such are forbidden to be made Priests, as were not perfect in the Psalms. And though S. Jerome tell us this, with some admiration, and note of singularity, That Paula could say the whole book of Psalms without book, in Hebrew; yet he presents it as a thing well known to be their ordinary practice; In villula Christi Bethlehem, extrapsalmos silentium est, In the village where I dwell, says he, where Christ was borne, in Bethlehem, if you cannot sing Psalms, you must be silent, here you shall hear nothing but Psalms; for, (as he pursues it) Arator stivam tenens, The husbandman that follows the plough, he that sows, that reaps, that carries home, all begin and proceed in all their labors with singing of Psalms. Therefore he calls them there, Cantiones amatorias, Those that make or entertain love, that seek in the holy and honorable way of marriage, to make themselves acceptable and agreeable to one another, by no other good parts, nor conversation, but by singing of Psalms. So he calls them, Pastorum sibilum, and Arma culturae, Our shepherds, says S. Jerome, here, have no other Eclogues, no other Pastoralls; Our laborers, our children, our servants no other songs, nor Ballads, to recreate themselves withal, then the Psalms.
And this universal use of the Psalms, that they served all for all, gives occasion to one Author, in the title of the Book of Psalms, to depart from the ordinary reading, which is, Sepher Tehillim, The book of Praise, and to read it, Sepher Telim, which is Acervorum, The book of Heapes, where all assistances to our salvation are heaped and treasured up. And our Countryman Bede found another Title, in some Copies of this book, Liber Soliloquiorum de Christo, The Book of Meditations upon Christ; Because this book is (as Gregory Nyssen calls it) Clavis David, that key of David, which lets us in to all the mysteries of our Religion; which gave the ground to that which S. Basil says, that if all the other Books of Scripture could be lost, he would ask no more then the Book of Psalms, to catechize children, to edify Congregations, to convert Gentiles, and to convince Heretics.
But we are launched into too large a Sea, the consideration of this Book of Psalms. I mean but this, in this, That if we take that way with God, The way of prayer, prayer so elemented and constituted, as we have said, that consists rather of praise and thanksgiving, then supplication for future benefits, God shall infuse into us, a zeal of expressing our consolation in him, by outward actions, to the establishing of others; we shall not disavow, nor grow slack in our Religion, nor in any parts thereof; God shall neither take from us, The Candle and the Candlestick, The truth of the Gospel, which is the light, And the cheerful, and authorized, and countenanced, and rewarded Preaching of the Gospel, which is the Candlestick that exalts the light; nor take from us our zeal to this outward service of God, that we come to an indifferency, whether the service of God be private or public, sordid or glorious, allowed and suffered, by way of connivency, or commanded and enjoined by way of authority. God shall give us this Ranan, this rejoicing, this extern all joy, we shall have the public preaching of the Gospel continued to us, and we shall show that we rejoice in it, by frequenting it, and by instituting our lives according unto it.
But yet this Ranan, this Rejoicing, this outward expressing of our inward zeal, may admit interruptions, receive interceptions, intermissions, and discontinuances; for, without doubt, in many places there live many persons, well affected to the truth of Religion, that dare not avow it, express it, declare it, especially where that fearful Vulture, the Inquisition, hovers over them. And therefore the Holy Ghost hath added here another degree of joy, which no law, no severe execution of law, can take from us, in another word of less extent, Shamach, which is an inward joy, only in the heart, which we translate here, to be Glad. How far we are bound to proceed in outward declarations of Religion, requires a serious and various consideration of Circumstances. You know how far Daniel proceeded; The Lord's had extorted a Proclamation from the King, That no man should pray to any other God, then the King, for certain days; Daniel would not only not be bound by this Proclamation, and so continue his set and stationary hours of private prayer in his chamber, but he would declare it to all the world; He would set open his chamber windows, that he might be seen to pray; for, though some determine that act of Daniel, in setting open his windows at prayer, in this, That because the Jews were bound by their law, wheresoever they were, in war, in captivity, upon the way, or in their sick beds, to turn towards Jerusalem, and so towards the Temple, whensoever they prayed, according to that stipulation, which had passed between God and Solomon, at the Dedication of the Temple, When thy servants pray towards this house, hear them in it; Therefore as Hezekiah, in his sick bed, when he turned towards the wall to pray, is justly thought, to have done so, therefore that he might pray towards the Temple, which stood that way; so Daniel is thought to have opened his windows to that purpose too, that he might have the more free prospect towards Jerusalem from Babylon; though some, I say, determine Daniel's act in that, yet it is by more, and more usefully extended, to an expressing of such a zeal, as, in so apparent a dishonor to his God, could not be suffocated nor extinguished with a Proclamation.
In which act of his, which was a direct and evident opposing and affronting of the State, though I dare not join with them, who absolutely and peremptorily condemn this act of Daniel, because God's subsequent act in a miraculous deliverance of Daniel seems to imply some former particular revelation from God to Daniel, that he should proceed in that confident manner, yet dare I much less draw this act of Daniel's into consequence, and propose it for an Example and precedent to private men, least of all, to animate seditious men, who upon pretence of a necessity, that God must be served in this, and this, and no other manner, provoke and exasperate the Magistrate with their schismatical conventicles and separations. But howsoever that may stand, and howsoever there may be Circumstances which may prevail either upon human infirmity, or upon a rectified Conscience, or howsoever God in his Judgments, may cast a cloud upon his own Sun, and darken the glory of the Gospel, in some place, for some time, yet, though we lose our Ranan, our public Rejoicing, we shall never lose our Shamach, our inward gladness, that God is our God, and we his servants for all this. God will never leave his servants without this internal joy, which shall preserve them from suspicions of God's power, that he cannot maintain, or not restore his cause, and from jealousies, that he hath abandoned or deserted them in particular. God shall never give them over to an indifferency, nor to a stupidity, nor to an absence of tenderness, and holy affections, that it shall become all one to them, how God's cause prospers, or suffers. But if I continue that way, prayer, and prayer so qualified, if I lose my Ranan, my outward declarations of Rejoicing; If I be tied to a death-bed in a Consumption, and cannot rejoice in coming to these public Congregations, to participate of their prayers, and to impart to them my Meditations; If I be ruined in my fortune, and cannot rejoice in an open distribution to the relief of the poor, and a preaching to others, in that way, by example of doing good works; If at my last minute, I be not able to edify my friends, nor Catechize my children, with anything that I can do or say; if I be not able so much, as with hand or eye to make a sign, though I have lost my Ranan, all the Eloquence of outward declaration, yet God shall never take from me, my Shamach, my internal gladness and consolation, in his undeceivable and undeceiving Spirit, that he is mine, and I am his; And this joy, this gladness, in my way, and in my end, shall establish me; for that is that which is intended in the next, and last word, Omnibus diebus, we shall Rejoice and be Glad all our days.
Nothing but this testimony, That the Spirit bears witness with my spirit, that upon my prayer, so conditioned, of praise, and prayer, I shall still prevail with God, could imprint in me, this joy, all my days. The seals of his favor, in outward blessings, fail me in the days of shipwreck, in the days of fire, in the days of displacing my potent friends, or raising mine adversaries; In such days I cannot rejoice, and be glad. The seals of his favor, in inward blessings, and holy cheerfulness, fail me in a present remorse after a sin newly committed. But yet in the strength of a Christian hope, as I can pronounce out of the grounds of Nature, in an Eclipse of the Sun, that the Sun shall return to his splendor again, I can pronounce out of the grounds of God's Word, (and God's Word is much better assurance, then the grounds of Nature, for God can and does shake the grounds of Nature by Miracles, but no Jod of his Word shall ever perish) that I shall return again on my hearty penitence, if I delay it not, and rejoice and be glad all my days, that is, what kind of day soever overtake me. In the days of our youth, when the joys of this world take up all the room, there shall be room for this holy Joy, that my recreations were harmless, and my conversation innocent; and certainly to be able to say, that in my recreations, in my conversation, I neither ministered occasion of temptation to another, nor exposed myself to temptations from another, is a fair beam of this rejoicing in the days of my youth. In the days of our Age, when we become incapable, insensible of the joys of this world, yet this holy joy shall season us, not with a sinful delight in the memory of our former sins, but with a re-juveniscence, a new and a fresh youth, in being come so near to another, to an immortal life. In the days of our mirth, and of laughter, this holy joy shall enter; And as the Sun may say to the stars at Noone, How frivoulous and impertinent a thing is your light now? So this joy shall say unto laughter, Thou art mad, and unto mirth, what dost thou? And in the mid-night of sadness, and dejection of spirit, this joy shall shine out, and chide away that sadness, with David's holy charm, My soul, why art thou cast down, why art thou disquieted within me? In those days, which Job speaks of, Praevenerunt me dies afflictionis meae, Miseries are come upon me before their time; My intemperances have hastened age, my riotousnesse hath hastened poverty, my neglecting of due officiousness and respect towards great persons hath hastened contempt upon me, Afflictions which I suspected not, thought not of, have prevented my fears; and then in those days, which Job speaks of again, Possident me dies afflictionis, Studied and premeditated plots and practices swallow me, possess me entirely, In all these days, I shall not only have a Zoar to fly to, if I can get out of Sodom, joy, if I can overcome my sorrow; There shall not be a Goshen bordering upon my Egypt, joy, if I can pass beyond, or besides my sorrow, but I shall have a Goshen in my Egypt, nay my very Egypt shall be my Goshen, I shall not only have joy, though I have sorrow, but therefore; my very sorrow shall be the occasion of joy; I shall not only have a Sabbath after my six days labor, but Omnibus diebus, a Sabbath shall enlighten every day, and inanimate every minute of every day: And as my soul is as well in my foot, as in my hand, though all the weight and oppression lie upon the foot, and all action upon the hand, so these beams of joy shall appear as well in my pillar of cloud, as in theirs of fire; in my adversity, as well as in their prosperity; And when their Sun shall set at Noone, mine shall rise at midnight; they shall have damps in their glory, and I joyful exaltions in my dejections.
And to end with the end of all, In die mortis, In the day of my death, and that which is beyond the end of all, and without end in it self, The day of Judgment, If I have the testimony of a rectified conscience, that I have accustomed myself to that access to God, by prayer, and such prayer, as though it have had a body of supplication, and desire of future things, yet the soul and spirit of that prayer, that is, my principal intention in that prayer, hath been praise and thanksgiving, If I be involved in S. Chrysostom's Patent, Orantes, non natura, sed dispensatione Angeli fiunt, That those who pray so, that is, pray by way of praise, (which is the most proper office of Angels) as they shall be better then Angels in the next world, (for they shall be glorifying spirits, as the Angels are, but they shall also be glorified bodies, which the Angels shall never be) so in this world they they shall be as Angels, because they are employed in the office of Angels, to pray by way of praise, If, as S. Basil reads those words of that Psalm, not spiritus meus, but respiratio mea laudet Dominum, Not only my spirit, but my very breath, not my heart only, but my tongue, and my hands be accustomed to glorify God, In die mortis, in the day of my death, when a mist of sorrow, and of sighs shall fill my chamber, and a cloud exhaled and condensed from tears, shall be the curtains of my bed, when those that love me, shall be sorry to see me die, and the devil himself that hates me, sorry to see me die so, in the favor of God; And In die Iudicii, In the day of Judgment, when as all Time shall cease, so all measures shall cease; The joy, and the sorrow that shall be then, shall be eternal, no end, and infinite, no measure, no limitation, when every circumstance of sin shall aggravate the condemnation of the unrepentant sinner, and the very substance of my sin shall be washed away, in the blood of my Savior, when I shall see them, who sinned for my sake, perish eternally, because they proceeded in that sin, and I myself, who occasioned their sin received into glory, because God upon my prayer, and repentance had satisfied me early with his mercy, early, that is, before my transmigration, In omnibus diebus, In all these days, the days of youth, and the wantonnesses of that, the days of age, and the tastlesnesse of that, the days of mirth, and the sportfulnesse of that, and of inordinate melancholy, and the disconsolateness of that, the days of such miseries, as astonish us with their suddenness, and of such as aggravate their own weight with a heavy expectation; In the day of Death, which pieces up that circle, and in that day which enters another circle that hath no pieces, but is one equal everlastingness, the day of Judgment, Either I shall rejoice, be able to declare my faith, and zeal to the assistance of others, or at least be glad in mine own heart, in a firm hope of mine own salvation.
And therefore, beloved, as they, whom lighter affections carry to Shewes, and Masks, and Comedies; As you yourselves, whom better dispositions bring to these Exercises, conceive some contentment, and some kind of Joy, in that you are well and commodiously placed, they to see the Shew, you to hear the Sermon, when the time comes, though your greater Joy be reserved to the coming of that time; So though the fullness of Joy be reserved to the last times in heaven, yet rejoice and be glad that you are well and commodiously placed in the mean time, and that you sit but in expectation of the fullness of those future Joyes: Return to God, with a joyful thankfulness that he hath placed you in a Church, which withholds nothing from you, that is necessary to salvation, whereas in another Church they lack a great part of the Word, and half the Sacrament; And which obtrudes nothing to you, that is not necessary to salvation, whereas in another Church, the Additionall things exceed the Fundamental; the Occasionall, the Original; the Collateral, the Direct; And the Traditions of men, the Commandments of God. Maintaine and hold up this holy alacrity, this religious cheerfulness; For inordinate sadness is a great degree and evidence of unthankfulness, and the departing from Joy in this world, is a departing with one piece of our Evidence, for the Joyes of the world to come.
SERM. LXXX. Preached at the funerals of Sir William Cokayne Knight, Alderman of London, December 12. 1626.
JOH. 11.21.
Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
G Od made the first Marriage, and man made the first Divorce; God married the Body and Soul in the Creation, and man divorced the Body and Soul by death through sin, in his fall. God doth not admit, not justify, not authorize such Super-inductions upon such Divorces, as some have imagined; That the soul departing from one body, should become the soul of another body, in a perpetual revolution and transmigration of souls through bodies, which hath been the giddiness of some Philosophers to think; Or that the body of the dead should become the body of an evil spirit, that that spirit might at his will, and to his purposes inform, and inanimate that dead body; God allows no such Super-inductions, no such second Marriages upon such divorces by death, no such disposition of soul or body, after their dissolution by death. But because God hath made the band of Marriage indissoluble but by death, farther then man can die, this divorce cannot fall upon man; As far as man is immortal, man is a married man still, still in possession of a soul, and a body too; And man is forever immortal in both; Immortal in his soul by Preservation, and immortal in his body by Reparation in the Resurrection. For, though they be separated à Thoro & Mensa, from Bed and Board, they are not divorced; Though the soul be at the Table of the Lamb, in Glory, and the body but at the table of the Serpent, in dust; Though the soul be in lecto florido, in that bed which is always green, in an everlasting spring, in Abraham's Bosom; And the body but in that green-bed, whose covering is but a yard and a half of Turfe, and a Rugge of grass, and the sheet but a winding sheet, yet they are not divorced; they shall return to one another again, in an inseparable re-union in the Resurrection. To establish this assurance of a Resurrection in us, God does sometimes in this life, that which he hath promised for the next; that is, he gives a Resurrection to life, after a bodily death here. God hath made two Testaments, two Wills; And in both, he hath declared his Power, and his Will, to give this new life after death, in this world. To the Widows son of Zarephtha, he bequeaths new life; and to the Shunamites son, he gives the same legacy, in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, to the widow of Naims son, he bequeaths new life; And to Jairus daughter he gives the same legacy: And out of the surplusage of his inexhaustible estate, out of the overflowing of his Power, he enables his Executors to do as he did; for Peter gives Dorcas this Resurrection too. Divers examples hath he given us, of the Resurrection of every particular man, in particular Resurrections; such as we have named; And one of the general Resurrection, in the Resurrection of Christ himself; for, in him, we all rose; for, he was All in All; Con-vivificavit, says the Apostle; and Considere nos fecit, God hath quickened us, (all us; not only S. Paul, and his Ephesians, but all) and God hath raised us, and God hath made us to sit together in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. They that are not fallen yet by any actual sin, (children newly baptized) are risen already in him; And they that are not dead yet, nay, not alive yet, not yet borne, have a Resurrection in him, who was not only the Lamb slain from the beginning, but from before all beginnings was risen too; and all that shall ever have part in the second Resurrection, are risen with him from that time. Now, next to that great Prophetical action, that type of the general Resurrection, in the Resurrection of Christ, the most illustrious Evidence, of the Resurrection of particular men, is this Resuscitation of Lazarus; whose sister Martha, directed by faith, and yet transported by passion, seeks to entender and mollify, and supple him to impressions of mercy and compassion, who was himself the Mold, in which all mercy was cast, nay, the substance, of which all mercy does consist, Christ Jesus, with this imperfect piece of Devotion, which hath a tincture of Faith, but is deeper died in Passion, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
This Text which you Hear, Martha's single words, complicated with this Text which you See, The dead body of this our Brother, makes up between them this body of Instruction for the soul; first, That there is nothing in this world perfect; And then, That such as it is, there is nothing constant, nothing permanent. We consider the first, That there is nothing perfect, in the best things, in spiritual things; Even Martha's devotion and faith hath imperfections in it; And we consider the other, That nothing is permanent in temporal things; Riches prosperously multiplied, Children honorably bestowed, Additions of Honor and Titles, fairly acquired, Places of Command and Government, justly received, and duly executed; All testimonies, all evidences of worldly happiness, have a Dissolution, a Determination in the death of this, and of every such Man: There is nothing, no spiritual thing, perfect in this world; Nothing, no temporal thing, permanent and durable; And these two Considerations shall be our two parts; And then, these the branches from these two roots; First, in the first, we shall see in general, The weakness of Mans best actions; And secondly, more particularly, The weaknesses in Martha's Action; And yet, in a third place, the easiness, the propensnesse, the largeness of God's goodness towards us, in the acceptation of our imperfect Sacrifices; for, Christ does not refuse, nor discourage Martha, though her action have these imperfections; And in this largeness of his Mercy, which is the end of all, we shall end this part. And in our second, That as in spiritual things nothing is perfect, so in tempoporall things nothing is permanent, we shall, by the same three steps, as in the former, look first upon the general consideration, the fluidnesse, the transitorinesse of all such temporal things; And then, consider it more particularly, in God's Master-piece, amongst mortal things, the body of man, That even that flows into putrefaction; And then lastly, return to that, in which we determined the former part, The largeness of God's goodness to us, in affording even to man's body, so dissolved into putrefaction, an incorruptible and a glorious state. So have you the frame set up, and the rooms divided; The two parts, and the three branches of each; And to the furnishing of them, with meditations fit for this Occasion, we pass now.
In entering upon the first branch of our first part, That in spiritual things nothing is perfect, we may well afford a kind of spiritual nature to knowledge; And how imperfect is all our knowledge? What one thing do we know perfectly? Whether we consider Arts, or Sciences, the servant knows but according to the proportion of his Masters knowledge in that Art, and the Scholar knows but according to the proportion of his Masters knowledge in that Science; Young men mend not their sight by using old men's Spectacles; and yet we look upon Nature, but with Aristotle's Spectacles, and upon the body of man, but with Galens, and upon the frame of the world, but with Ptolomies Spectacles. Almost all knowledge is rather like a child that is embalmed to make Mummy, then that is nursed to make a Man; rather conserved in the stature of the first age, then grown to be greater; And if there be any addition to knowledge, it is rather a new knowledge, then a greater knowledge; rather a singularity in a desire of proposing something that was not known at all before, then an emproving, an advancing, a multiplying of former inceptions; and by that means, no knowledge comes to be perfect. One Philosopher thinks he is dived to the bottom, when he says, he knows nothing but this, That he knows nothing; and yet another thinks, that he hath expressed more knowledge then he, in saying, That he knows not so much as that, That he knows nothing. S. Paul found that to be all knowledge, To know Christ; And Mahomet thinks himself wise therefore, because he knows not, acknowledges not Christ, as S. Paul does. Though a man knew not, that every sin casts another shovell of Brimstone upon him in Hell, yet if he knew that every riotous feast cuts off a year, and every wanton night seven years of his seventy in this world, it were some degree towards perfection in knowledge. He that purchases a Manor, will think to have an exact Survey of the Land: But who thinks of taking so exact a survey of his Conscience, how that money was got, that purchased that Manor? We call that a man's means, which he hath; But that is truly his means, what way he came by it. And yet how few are there, (when a state comes to any great proportion) that know that; that know what they have, what they are worth? We have seen great Wills, dilated into glorious uses, and into pious uses, and then too narrow an estate to reach to it; And we have seen Wills, where the Testator thinks he hath bequeathed all, and he hath not known half his own worth. When thou knowest a wife, a son, a servant, a friend no better, but that that wife betrays thy bed, and that son thine estate, and that servant thy credit, and that friend thy secret, what canst thou say thou knowest? But we must not insist upon this Consideration of knowledge; for, though knowledge be of a spiritual nature, yet it is but as a terrestrial Spirit, conversant upon Earth; Spiritual things, of a more rarified nature then knowledge, even faith it self, and all that grows from that in us, falls within this Rule, which we have in hand, That even in spiritual things, nothing is perfect.
We consider this therefore in Credendis, In things that we are bound to Believe, there works our faith; And then, in Petendis, In things that we are bound to pray for, there works our hope; And lastly, in Agendis, In things that we are bound to do, and there works our charity; And there is nothing in any of these three perfect. When you remember who they were, that made that prayer, Domine adauge, That the Apostles themselves prayed, that their faith might receive an increase, Lord increase our faith, you must necessarily second that consideration with a confession, That no man's faith is perfect. When you hear Christ so often upbraid, sometimes whole Congregations, with that, Modicae fidei, O ye of little faith; And sometimes his Disciples alone, with the same reproach, Modicae fidei, O ye of little faith; when you may be perplexed with the variety of opinions amongst the ancient Interpreters, whether Christ spoke but to the incredulous Jews, or to his own Disciples, when he said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? (for many Interpreters go one way, and many the other) And when you may be cleared without any color of perplexity, that to whom soever Christ spoke in that place, he spoke plainly to his own Disciples, when he said, Because of your unbelief you cannot do this; In which Disciples of his, he denies also, that there is such a proportion of faith, as a grain of Mustardseed, can ye place a perfectness of faith in any? When the Apostle takes knowledge of the good estate and condition of the Thessalonians, and gave God thanks for their Works of faith, for their labors of love, for their patience of hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ: does he conclude them to be perfect? No; for after this he says, Night and day we pray exceedingly, that we may perfect that which is lacking in your faith. And after this, he sees the fruit of those prayers, We are bound to thank God always, because your faith groweth exceedingly; still, at the best, it is but a growing faith, and it may be better. There are men that are said to be Rich in faith; men that are come from the weak and beggarly elements of Nature, or of the Law, to the knowledge of the precious and glorious Gospel, and so are Rich in faith, enriched, emproved by faith. There are men that Abound in faith; that is, in comparison of the emptiness of other men, or of their own emptiness before they embraced the Gospel, they abound now; But still it is, As God hath given the measure of faith to every man; Not as of his Manna, a certain measure, and an equal measure, and a full measure to every man; no man hath such a measure of faith, as that he needs no more, or that he may not lose at least some of that. When Christ speaks so doubtfully, When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon earth? Any faith in any man? If the Holy Ghost be come into this presence, into this Congregation, does he find faith in any? A perfect faith he does not.
Deceive not yourselves then, with that new charm and flattery of the soul, That if once you can say to yourselves you have faith, you need no more, or that you shall always keep that alive; The Apostle says, All boasting, that is, all confidence, is excluded; By what Law? says he, by the Law of faith, Not by faith, but by the Law of faith; There is a Law of faith; a rule that ordinates, and regulates our faith; by which law and rule, the Apostle calls upon us, To examine ourselves whether we be in the faith, or no; not only by the internal motions, and private inspirations of his blessed Spirit, but by the Law and the Rule, which he hath delivered to us in the Gospel. The Kings pardon flows from his mere grace, and from his breast; but we must have the writing and the Seal, that we may plead it: So does faith from God; But we must see it ourselves, and show it to others, or else we do not observe the Law of faith. Abraham received the Seal of the righteousness of faith, says the Apostle; He had an outward testimony to proceed by; And then, Abraham became an outward testimony and Rule to the faithful, Walk in the steps of the faith of Abraham, says that Apostle in that place; Not a faith conceived only, but a faith which you saw, The faith of Abraham; for, so the Apostle proposing to us the example of other men says, Their faith follow you, Not faith in general, but their faith. So that it is not enough to say, I feel the inspiration of the Spirit of God, He infuses faith, and faith infused cannot be withdrawn; but, as there is a Law of faith, and a practice of faith, a Rule of faith, and an example of faith, apply thyself to both, Regulate thy faith by the Rule, that is, the Word, and by Example, that is, Believe those things which the Saints of God have constantly and unanimely believed to be necessary to salvation: The Word is the Law, and the Rule, The Church is the Practice, and the Precedent that regulates thy faith; And if thou make imaginary revelations, and inspirations thy Law, or the practice of Sectaries thy Precedent, thou doest but call Fancie and Imagination, by the name of Reason and Understanding, and Opinion by the name of Faith, and Singularity, and Schism, by the name of Communion of Saints. The Law of thy faith is, That that that thou believest, be Universal, Catholic, believed by all; And then, that the Application be particular, To believe, that as Christ died sufficiently for all, so he died effectually for thee. And of this effectual dying for thee, there arises an evidence from thyself, in thy conformity to him; Thy conformity consists in this, That thou art willing to live according to his Gospel, and ready to die for him, that died for thee. For, till a man have resisted unto blood, he cannot know experimentally what degrees towards perfection his faith hath: And though he may conceive in himself a holy purpose to die for Christ, yet till he have died for Christ, or died in Christ, that is, as long as we are in this valley of temptations, there is nothing, no not in spiritual things, not in faith it self, perfect.
It is not In credendis, in our embracing the object of faith; we do not that perfectly; It is not In petendis, in our directing our prayers faithfully neither; we do not that; our faith is not perfect, nor our hope is not perfect; for, so argues the Apostle, Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss; you cannot hope constantly, because you do not pray aright: And to make a Prayer a right Prayer, there go so many essential circumstances, as that the best man may justly suspect his best Prayer: for, since Prayer must be of faith, Prayer can be but so perfect, as the faith is perfect; and the imperfections of the best faith we have seen. Christ hath given us but a short Prayer; and yet we are weary of that. Some of the old Heretics of the Primitive Church abridged that Prayer, and some of our later Schismatics have annihilated, evacuated that Prayer: The Cathari then, left out that one Petition, Dimitte nobis, Forgive us our trespasses, for they thought themselves so pure, as that they needed no forgiveness, and our new men leave out the whole Prayer, because the same Spirit that spake in Christ, speaks in their extemporal prayers, and they can pray, as well as Christ could teach them. And (to leave those, whom we are bound to leave, those old Heretics, those new Schismatics) which of us ever, ever says over that short Prayer, with a deliberate understanding of every Petition as we pass, or without deviations, and extravagancies of our thoughts, in that half-minute of our Devotion? We have not leisure to speak of the abuse of prayer in the Roman Church; where they will antidate and postdate their prayers; Say to morrows prayers today, and to days prayers tomorrow, if they have other uses and employments of the due time between; where they will trade, and make merchandise of prayers by way of exchange, My man shall fast for me, and I will pray for my man; or my Attorney, and Proxy shall pray for us both, at my charge; nay, where they will play for prayers, and the loser must pray for both; To this there belongs but a holy scorn, and I would fain pass it over quickly. But when we consider with a religious seriousness the manifold weaknesses of the strongest devotions in time of Prayer, it is a sad consideration. I throw myself down in my Chamber, and I call in, and invite God, and his Angels thither, and when they are there, I neglect God and his Angels, for the noise of a Fly, for the rattling of a Coach, for the whining of a door; I talk on, in the same posture of praying; Eyes lifted up; knees bowed down; as though I prayed to God; and, if God, or his Angels should ask me, when I thought last of God in that prayer, I cannot tell: Sometimes I find that I had forgot what I was about, but when I began to forget it, I cannot tell. A memory of yesterdays pleasures, a fear of to morrows dangers, a straw under my knee, a noise in mine ear, a light in mine eye, an anything, a nothing, a fancy, a Chimera in my brain, troubles me in my prayer. So certainly is there nothing, nothing in spiritual things, perfect in this world.
Not In credendis, In things that belong to Faith; not In petendis, In things that belong to Hope; nor In agendis, In things that belong to Action, to Works, to Charity, there is nothing perfect there neither. I would be loath to say, That every good work is a sin; That were to say, That every deformed, or disordered man were a beast, or that every corrupt meat were poison; It is not utterly so; not so altogether; But it is so much towards it, as that there is no work of ours so good, as that we can look for thanks at God's hand for that work; no work, that hath not so much ill mingled with it, as that we need not cry God mercy for that work. There was so much corruption in the getting, or so much vain glory in the bestowing, as that no man builds an Hospital, but his soul lies, though not dead, yet lame in that Hospital; no man mends a high-way, but he is, though not drowned, yet mired in that way; no man relieves the poor, but he needs relief for that relief. In all those works of Charity, the world that hath benefit by them, is bound to confess and acknowledge a goodness, and to call them good works; but the man that does them, and knows the weaknesses of them, knows they are not good works. It is possible to Art, to purge a peccant humor out of a sick body; but not possible to raise a dead body to life. God, out of my Confession of the impurity of my best actions, shall vouchsafe to take off his eyes from that impurity, as though there were none; but no spiritual thing in us, not Faith, not Hope, not Charity, have any purity, any perfection in themselves; which is the general Doctrine we proposed at first; And our next Consideration is, how this weakness appears in the Action, and in the Words of Martha in our Text, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
Now lest we should attribute this weakness, only to weak persons, upon whom we had a prejudice, to Martha alone, we note to you first, that her sister Mary, to whom in the whole Story very much is ascribed, when she comes to Christ, comes also in the same voice of infirmity, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. No person so perfect, that hath not of these imperfections; Both these holy Sisters, howsoever there might be differences of degrees in their holiness, have imperfections in all three, in the consideration of their Faith, and their Hone, and their Charity; though in all three they had also, and had both, good degrees towards perfection. Look first upon their Faith; they both say, Lord, if thou hadst been here, our brother had not died. We cannot say so to any Consultation, to any College of Physicians; not to a Chiron, to an Esculapius, to a God of Physic, could any man say, If you had been here, my friend had not died? though surely there be much assistance to be received from them, whom God hath endowed with knowledge to that purpose. And yet there was a weakness in these Sisters, in that they said but so, and no more to Christ. They thought Christ to be the best amongst good men; but yet they were not come to the knowledge that he was God. Martha says, I know, that even now, whatsoever thou askest of God, God will give it thee; but she does not know him to be God himself. I do not here institute a confutation, but here, and everywhere I lament the growth, and insinuation of that pestilent Heresy of Socinianism; That Christ was a holy, a thrice-holy man, an unreproachable, an irreprehensible, an admirable, an incomparable man; A man, to whom, he that should equal any other man, were worse then a Devil; A man worthy to be called God, in a far higher sense then any Magistrate, any King, any Prophet; But yet he was no God, say they, no Son of God; A Redemer, by way of good example; but no Redeemer, by way of equivalent satisfaction, say those Heretics. S. Paul says, He is an Atheist, that is without Christ; And he is as much an Atheist still, that pretends to receive Christ, and not as God; For if the receiving of Christ must redeem him from being an Atheist, there can no other way be imagined, but by receiving him as God, for that only, and no other good opinion of Christ, overcomes, and removes his Atheism. After the last day, whatsoever is not Heaven, is Hell; He that then shall be where the Sun is now, (if he be not then in heaven) shall be as far from heaven, as if he were where the Center of the earth is now; He that confesses not all Christ, confesses no Christ. Horribile dictu, dicam tamen, says S. Augustine in another case; There belongs a holy trembing to the saying of it, yet I must say it, If Christ were not God, he was a devil that durst say he was God. This then was one weakness in these Sisters faith, that it carried them not up to the consideration of Christ as God; And then another rose out of that, That they insisted so much, relied so much, upon his corporal, and personal presence, and promised themselves more from that, then he had ever given them ground for; which was that which Christ diverted Mary from, when after his Resurrection manifesting himself to her, and she flying unto him with that impatient zeal, and that impetuous devotion, Rabboni, Master, My Master, Christ said to her, Touch me not, for I am not ascended to my Father; that is, Dwell not upon this passionate consideration of my bodily, and personal presence, but send thy thoughts, and thy reverence, and thy devotion, and thy holy amorousnesse up, whither I am going, to the right hand of my Father, and consider me, contemplate me there. S. Peter had another holy distemper of another kind, upon the personal presence of Christ; He was so astonished at his presence in the power of a Miracle, that he fell down at his feet, and said, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. These Sisters longed for him, and S. Peter longed as much to be delivered of him; both out of weakness and error. So is it an error, and a weakness to attribute too much, or too little to Christ's presence in his Sacraments, or other Ordinances. To imprison Christ in Opere operato, to conclude him so, as that where that action is done, Christ must necessarily be, and necessarily work, this is to say weakly with these Sisters, Lord, if thou hadst been here, our brother had not died. As long as we are present at thine Ordinance, thou art present with us. But to banish Christ from those holy actions, and to say, That he is no otherwise present, or works no otherwise in those actions, then in other times, and places, this is to say with Peter, in his astonishment, Exi à me Domine, O Lord depart from me; It is enough that thy Sacrament be a sign; I do not look that it should be a Seal, or a Conduit of Grace; This is the danger this is the distemper, to ascribe too much, or too little to God's visible Ordinances, and Institutions, either to say with those holy Sisters, Lord, if thou hadst been here, our brother had not died, If we have a Sacrament, if we have a Sermon all is well, we have enough; or else with Peter, Exi à me, Leave me to myself, to my private motions, to my bosom inspirations, and I need no Church-work, no Sermons, no Sacraments, no such assistances.
So there was weakness in their Faith, there was so too in their Hope, in their confidence in Christ, and in their manner of expressing it. For, they did not go to him, when their brother was sick, but sent. Nicodemus came in person for his sick soul; And the Centurion in person, for his sick servant; And Jairus in person, for his sick daughter; And the woman with the bloody Issue in person, for her sick-self. These sisters did but send, but piously, and reverendly; Their Messenger was to say to Christ, not Lazarus, not Our Brother, but He whom thou lovest, is sick; And they left this intimation to work upon Christ; But that was not enough, we must bring Christ and our necessities nearer together then so. There is good instruction in the several expressings of Christ's curings of Peters mother in the Evangelists. S. Mark says, They told him of her; And S. Luke says, They brought him up to her; And S. Matthew says, He saw her, and took her by the hand. I must not wrap up all my necessities in general terms in my prayers, but descend to particulars; For this places my devotion upon particular considerations of God, to consider him in every Attribute, what God hath done for me in Power, what in Wisdom, what in Mercy; which is a great assistance, and establishing, and propagation of devotion. As it is a degree of unthankfulness, to thank God too generally, and not to delight to insist upon the weight, and measure, and proportion, and the goodness of every particular mercy: so is it an irreverent, and inconsiderate thing, not to take my particular wants into my thoughts, and into my prayers, that so I may take a holy knowledge, that I have nothing, nothing but from God, and by prayer. And as God is an accessible God, as he is his own Master of Requests, and is ever open to receive thy Petions, in how small a matter soever: so is he an inexhaustible God, he can give infinitely, and an indefatigable God, he cannot be pressed too much. Therefore hath Christ given us a Parable of getting Bread at midnight by Importunity, and not otherwise; And another of a Judge that heard the widows cause by Importunity, and not otherwise; And, not a Parable, but a History, and a History of his own, of a woman of Canaan, that overcame him in the behalf of her daughter, by Importunity; when, but by importunity, she could not get so much as an answer, as a denial at his hands. Pray personally, rely not upon dead nor living Saints; Thy Mother the Church prays for thee, but pray for thyself too; She can open her bosom, and put the breast to thy mouth, but thou must draw, and suck for thyself. Pray personally, and pray frequently; David had may stationary times of the day, and night too, to pray in. Pray frequently, and pray fervently; God took it not ill, at David's hands, to be awaked, and to be called up, as though he were asleep at our prayers, and to be called upon, to pull his hand out of his bosom, as though he were slack in relieving our necessities. This was a weakness in those Sisters, that they solicited not Christ in person; still get as near God as you can; And that they declared not their case particularly; It is not enough to pray, nor to confess in general terms; And, that they pursued not their prayer earnestly, thoroughly; It is not enough to have prayed once; Christ does not only excuse, but enjoine Importunity.
And then a weakness there was in their Charity too, even towards their dead brother. To lament a dead friend is natural, and civil; and he is the deader of the two, the verier carcass, that does not so. But inordinate lamentation implies a suspicion of a worse state in him that is gone; And if I do believe him to be in heaven, deliberately, advisedly to wish him here, that is in heaven, is an uncharitable desire. For, for me to say, He is preferred by being where he is, but I were better, if he were again where I am, were such an indispofition, as if the Princes servant should be loath to see his Master King, because he should not hold the same place with him, being King, as he did when he was Prince. Not to hope well of him that is gone, is uncharitableness; and at the same time, when I believe him to be better, to wish him worse, is uncharitableness too. And such weaknesses were in those holy and devout Sisters of Lazarus; which establishes our Conclusion, There is nothing in this world, no not in spiritual things, not in knowledge, not in faith, not in hope, not in charity perfect. But yet, for all these imperfections, Christ doth not refuse, nor chide, but cherish their piety, which is also another circumstance in that Part.
There is no form of Building stronger then an Arch, and yet an Arch hath declinations, which even a flat-roof hath not; The flat-roof lies equal in all parts; the Arch declines downwards in all parts, and yet the Arch is a firm supporter. Our Devotions do not the less bear us upright, in the sight of God, because they have some declinations towards natural affections: God doth easilier pardon some neglectings of his grace, when it proceeds out of a tenderness, or may be excused out of good nature, then any presuming upon his grace. If a man do depart in some actions, from an exact obedience of God's will, upon infirmity, or human affections, and not a contempt, God passes it over often times. For, when our Savior Christ says, Be pure as your Father in heaven is pure, that is a rule for our purity, but not a measure of our purity; It is that we should be pure so, not that we should be so pure as our Father in heaven. When we consider that weakness, that went through the Apostles, even to Christ's Ascension, that they looked for a temporal Kingdom, and for preferment in that; when we consider that weakness in the chief of them, S. Peter, at the Transfiguration, when, as the Text says, He knew not what to say; when we consider the weakness of his action, that for fear of death, he renounced the Lord of Life, and denied his Master; when in this very story, when Christ said that Lazarus was asleep, and that he would go to awake him, they could understand it so impertinently, as that Christ should go such a journey, to come to the waking of a man, asleep at that time when he spoke; All these infirmities of theirs, multiply this consolation upon us, That though God look upon the Inscription, he looks upon the metal too, Though he look that his Image should be preserved in us, he looks in what earthen vessels this Image is put, and put by his own hand; and though he hate us in our rebellions, yet he pities us in our grievances; though he would have us better, he forsakes us not for every degree of illness. There are three great dangers in this consideration of perfectness, and purity; First to distrust of God's mercy, if thou find not this purity in thyself, and this perfectness; And then to presume upon God, nay upon thine own right, in an overvaluing of thine own purity, and perfectness; And again, to condemn others, whom thou wilt needs think less pure, or perfect then thyself. Against this diffidence in God, to think ourselves so desperately impure, as that God will not look upon us; And this presumption in God, to think ourselves so pure, as that God is bound to look upon us; And this uncharitableness towards others, to think none pure at all, that are not pure our way; Christ arms us by his Example, He receives these sisters of Lazarus, and accomplishes as much as they desired, though there were weaknesses in their Faith, in their Hope, in their Charity, expressed in that imperfect speech, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died: for, there is nothing, not in spiritual things perfect. This we have seen out of the Text we have Heard; And now out of the Text, which we See, we shall see the rest, That as in spiritual things, there is nothing Perfect, so in temporal, there is nothing Permanent.
I need not call in new Philosophy, that denies a settlednesse, an acquiescence in the very body of the Earth, but makes the Earth to move in that place, where we thought the Sun had moved; I need not that help, that the Earth it self is in Motion, to prove this, That nothing upon Earth is permanent; The Assertion will stand of it self, till some man assign me some instance, something that a man may rely upon, and find permanent. Consider the greatest Bodies upon Earth, The Monarchies; Objects, which one would think, Destiny might stand and stare at, but not shake; Consider the smallest bodies upon Earth, The hairs of our head, Objects, which one would think, Destiny would not observe, or could not discern; And yet, Destiny, (to speak to a natural man) And God, (to speak to a Christian) is no more troubled to make a Monarchy ruinous, then to make a hair gray. Nay, nothing needs be done to either, by God, or Destiny; A Monarchy will ruin, as a hair will grow gray, of it self. In the Elements themselves, of which all sub-elementary things are composed, there is no acquiescence, but a vicissitudinary transmutation into one another; Air condensed becomes water, a more solid body, And Air rarified becomes fire, a body more disputable, and in-apparent. It is so in the Conditions of men too; A Merchant condensed, kneaded and packed up in a great estate, becomes a Lord; And a Merchant rarified, blown up by a perfidious Factor, or by a riotous Son, evaporates into air, into nothing, and is not seen. And if there were anything permanent and durable in this world, yet we got nothing by it, because howsoever that might last in it self, yet we could not last to enjoy it; If our goods were not amongst Moveables, yet we ourselves are; if they could stay with us, yet we cannot stay with them; which is another Consideration in this part.
The world is a great Volume, and man the Index of that Book; Even in the body of man, you may turn to the whole world; This body is an Illustration of all Nature; God's recapitulation of all that he had said before, in his Fiat lux, and Fiat firmamentum, and in all the rest, said or done, in all the six days. Propose this body to thy consideration in the highest exaltation thereof; as it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost: Nay, not in a Metaphor, or comparison of a Temple, or any other similitudinary thing, but as it was really and truly the very body of God, in the person of Christ, and yet this body must wither, must decay, must languish, must perish. When Goliath had armed and fortified this body, And Jezebel had painted and perfumed this body, And Dives had pampered and larded this body, As God said to Ezekiel, when he brought him to the dry bones, Fili hominis, Son of Man, doest thou think these bones can live? They said in their hearts to all the world, Can these bodies die? And they are dead. Jezebels dust is not Ambar, nor Goliath's dust Terra sigillata, Medicinal; nor does the Serpent, whose meat they are both, find any better relish in Dives dust, then in Lazarus. But as in our former part, where our foundation was, That in nothing, no spiritual thing, there was any perfectness, which we illustrated in the weaknesses of Knowledge, and Faith, and Hope, and Charity, yet we concluded, that for all those defects, God accepted those their religious services; So in this part, where our foundation is, That nothing in temporal things is permanent, as we have illustrated that, by the decay of that which is God's noblest piece in Nature, The body of man; so we shall also conclude that, with this goodness of God, that for all this dissolution, and putrefaction, he affords this Body a Resurrection.
The Gentiles, and their Poets, describe the sad state of Death so, Nox una obeunda, That it is one everlasting Night; To them, a Night; But to a Christian, it is Dies Mortis, and Dies Resurrectionis, The day of Death, and The day of Resurrection; We die in the light, in the sight of God's presence, and we rise in the light, in the sight of his very Essence. Nay, God's corrections, and judgments upon us in this life, are still expressed so, Dies visitationis, still it is a Day, though a Day of visitation; and still we may discern God to be in the action. The Lord of Life was the first that named Death; Morte morieris, says God, Thou shalt die the Death. I do the less fear, or abhor Death, because I find it in his mouth; Even a malediction hath a sweetness in his mouth; for there is a blessing wrapped up in it; a mercy in every correction, a Resurrection upon every Death. When Jezebels beauty, exalted to that height which it had by art, or higher then that, to that height which it had in her own opinion, shall be infinitely multiplied upon every Body; And as God shall know no man from his own Son, so as not to see the very righteousness of his own Son upon that man; So the Angels shall know no man from Christ, so as not to desire to look upon that man's face, because the most deformed wretch that is there, shall have the very beauty of Christ himself; So shall Goliath's armor, and Dives fullness, be doubled, and redoubled upon us, And everything that we can call good, shall first be infinitely exalted in the goodness, and then infinitely multiplied in the proportion, and again infinitely extended in the duration. And since we are in an action of preparing this dead Brother of ours to that state, (for the Funeral is the Easter-eve, The Burial is the depositing of that man for the Resurrection) As we have held you, with Doctrine of Mortification, by extending the Text, from Martha to this occasion; so shall we dismiss you with Consolation, by a like occasional inverting the Text, from passion in Martha's mouth, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my Brother had not died, to joy in ours, Lord, because thou wast here, our Brother is not dead.
The Lord was with him in all these steps; with him in his life; with him in his death; He is with him in his funerals, and he shall be with him in his Resurrection; and therefore, because the Lord was with him, our Brother is not dead. He was with him in the beginning of his life, in this manifestation, That though he were of Parents of a good, of a great Estate, yet his possibility and his expectation from them, did not slacken his own industry; which is a Canker that eats into, nay that hath eat up many a family in this City, that relying wholly upon what the Father hath done, the Son does nothing for himself. And truly, it falls out too often, that he that labors not for more, does not keep his own. God imprinted in him an industrious disposition, though such hopes from such parents might have excused some slackness, and God prospered his industry so, as that when his Fathers estate came to a distribution by death, he needed it not. God was with him, as with David in a Dilatation, and then in a Repletion; God enlarged him, and then he filled him; He gave him a large and a comprehensive understanding, and with it, A public heart; And such as perchance in his way of education, and in our narrow and contracted-times, in which every man determines himself in himself, and scarce looks farther, it would be hard to find many Examples of such largeness. You have, I think, a phrase of Driving a Trade; And you have, I know, a practice of Driving away Trade, by other use of money; And you have lost a man, that drove a great Trade, the right way in making the best use of our home-commodity. To fetch in Wine, and Spice, and Silke, is but a drawing of Trade; The right driving of trade, is, to vent our own outward; And yet, for the drawing in of that, which might justly seem most behooveful, that is, of Arts, and Manufactures, to be employed upon our own Commodity within the Kingdom, he did his part, diligently, at least, if not vehemently, if not passionately. This City is a great Theater, and he Acted great and various parts in it; And all well; And when he went higher, (as he was often heard in Parliaments, at Council tables, and in more private accesses to the late King of ever blessed memory) as, for that comprehension of those businesses, which he pretended to understand, no man doubts, for no man lacks arguments and evidences of his ability therein, So for his manner of expressing his intentions, and digesting and uttering his purposes, I have sometimes heard the greatest Master of Language and Judgment, which these times, or any other did, or do, or shall give, (that good and great King of ours) say of him, That he never heard any man of his breeding, handle businesses more rationally, more pertinently, more elegantly, more persuasively; And when his purpose was, to do a grace to a Preacher, of very good abilities, and good note in his own Chapel, I have heard him say, that his language, and accent, and manner of delivering himself, was like this man. This man hath God accompanied all his life; and by performance thereof seems to have made that Covenant with him, which he made to Abraham, Multiplicabote vehementer, I will multiply thee exceedingly. He multiplied his estate so, as was fit to endow many and great Children; and he multiplied his Children so, both in their number, and in their quality, as they were fit to receive a great Estate. God was with him all the way, In a Pillar of Fire, in the brightness of prosperity, and in the Pillar of Clouds too, in many dark, and sad, and heavy crosses: So great a Ship, required a great Ballast, So many blessings, many crosses; And he had them, and sailed on his course the steadier for them; The Cloud as well as the Fire, was a Pillar to him; His crosses, as well as his blessings established his assurance in God; And so, in all the course of his life, The Lord was here, and therefore our Brother is not dead; not dead in the evidences and testimonies of life; for he, whom the world hath just cause to celebrate, for things done, when he was alive, is alive still in their celebration.
The Lord was here, that is, with him at his death too. He was served with the Processe here in the City, but his cause was heard in the Country; Here he sickned, There he languished, and died there. In his sickness there, those that assisted him, are witnesses, of his many expressings, of a religious & a constant heart towards God, and of his pious joining with them, even in the holy declaration of kneeling, then, when they, in favor of his weakness, would dissuade him from kneeling. I must not defraud him of this testimony frō • y self, that into this place where we are now met, I have observed him to enter with much reverence, & compose himself in this place with much declaration of devotion. And truly it is that reverence, which those persons who are of the same rank that he was in the City, that reverence that they use in this place, when they come hither, is that that makes us, who have now the administration of this Choir, glad, that our Predecessors, but a very few years before our time, (and not before all our times neither) admitted these Honorable and worshipful Persons of this City, to sit in this Choir, so, as they do upon Sundays: The Church receives an honor in it; But the honor is more in their reverence, then in their presence; though in that too: And they receive an honor, and an ease in it; and therefore they do piously towards God, and prudently for themselves, and gratefully towards us, in giving us, by their reverent comportment here, so just occasion of continuing that honor, and that ease to them here, which to less reverend, and unrespective persons, we should be less willing to do. To return to him in his sickness; He had but one days labor, and all the rest were Sabbaths, one day in his sickness he converted to business; Thus; He called his family, and friends together; Thankfully he acknowledged God's manifold blessings, and his own sins as penitently: And then, to those who were to have the disposing of his estate, jointly with his Children, he recommended his servants, and the poor, and the Hospitals, and the Prisons, which, according to his purpose, have been all taken into consideration; And after this (which was his Valediction to the world) he seemed always loath to return to any worldly business, His last Commandment to Wife and Children was Christ's last commandment to his Spouse the Church, in the Apostles, To love one another. He blest them, and the Estate devolved upon them, unto them: And by God's grace shall prove as true a Prophet to them in that blessing, as he was to himself, when in entering his last bed, two days before his Death, he said, Help me off with my earthly habit, & let me go to my last bed. Where, in the second night after, he said, Little know ye what pain I feel this night, yet I know, I shall have joy in the morning; And in that morning he died. The form in which he implored his Savior, was evermore, towards his end, this, Christ Jesus, which died on the Cross, forgive me my sins; He have mercy upon me: And his last and dying words were the repetition of the name of Jesus; And when he had not strength to utter that name distinctly and perfectly, they might hear it from within him, as from a man a far off; even then, when his hollow and remote naming of Jesus, was rather a certifying of them, that he was with his Jesus, then a prayer that he might come to him. And so The Lord was here, here with him in his Death; and because the Lord was here, our Brother is not dead; not dead in the eyes and ears of God; for as the blood of Abel speaks yet, so doth the zeal of God's Saints; and their last prayers (though we hear them not) God continues still; and they pray in Heaven, as the Martyrs under the Altar, even till the Resurrection.
He is with him now too; Here in his Funerals. Burial, and Christian Burial, and Solemn Burial are all evidences, and testimonies of God's presence. God forbid we should conclude, or argue an absence of God, from the want of Solemn Burial, or Christian Burial, or any Burial; But neither must we deny it, to be an evidence of his favor and presence, where he is pleased to afford these. So God makes that the seal of all his blessings to Abraham, That he should be buried in a good age; God established Jacob with that promise, That his Son Joseph should have care of his Funerals: And Joseph does cause his servants, The Physicians, to embalm him, when he was dead. Of Christ it was Prophecied; That he should have a glorious Burial; And therefore Christ interprets well that profuse, and prodigal piety of the Woman that poured out the Ointment upon him, That she did it to Bury him; And so shall Joseph of Arimathea be ever celebrated, for his care in celebrating Christ's Funerals. If we were to send a Son, or a friend, to take possession of any place in Court, or foreign parts, we would send him out in the best equipage: Let us not grudge to set down our friends, in the Anti-chamber of Heaven, the Grave, in as good manner, as without vain-gloriousness, and wastfulnesse we may; And, in inclining them, to whom that care belongs, to express that care as they do this day, The Lord is with him, even in this Funeral; And because The Lord is here, our brother is not dead; Not dead in the memories and estimation of men.
And lastly, that we may have God present in all his Manifestations, He that was, and is, and is to come, was with him, in his life and death, and is with him in this holy Solemnity, and shall be with him again in the Resurrection. God says to Jacob, I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee up again. God goes down with a good man into the Grave, and will surely bring him up again. When? The Angel promised to return to Abraham and Sarah, for the assurance of the birth of Isaac, according to the time of life; that is, in such time, as by nature a woman may have a child. God will return to us in the Grave, according to the time of life; that is, in such time, as he, by his gracious Decree, hath fixed for the Resurrection. And in the mean time, no more then the God-head departed from the dead body of our Savior, in the grave, doth his power, and his presence depart from our dead bodies in that darkness; But that which Moses said to the whole Congregation, I say to you all, both to you that hear me, and to him that does not, All ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God, are alive, everyone of you, this day; Even he, whom we call dead, is alive this day. In the presence of God, we lay him down; In the power of God, he shall rise; In the person of Christ, he is risen already. And so into the same hands that have received his soul, we commend his body; beseeching his blessed Spirit, that as our charity inclines us to hope confidently of his good estate, our faith may assure us of the same happiness, in our own behalf; And that for all our sakes, but especially for his own glory, he will be pleased to hasten the consummation of all, in that kingdom which that Son of God hath purchased for us, with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood. Amen.
The Table of such places of SCRIPTURE, as are illustrated and expounded in this BOOKE.
- GENESIS.
-
- 1.16. T Woe great lights, &c. 81. A.
- 2.7. Man was a living soul 71. A.
- 18.10. According to the time of life 826. D.
- 26.18. Isaac digged the wells of water, which 118. B.
- 29.12. Jacob kissed Rachel 407. C.
- 41.45. Pharaoh called Joseph's name 529. A.
- 51.20. You thought evil against me, 171. B.
- EXODUS.
-
- 4.22. Israel is his son 56. E.
- 14.14. The Lord shall fight for you 577. D.
- 23.3. Thou shalt not countenance 782. C.
- 33.13. Shew me now thy way 66. E.
- DEUTERONOMY.
-
- 21.23. He that is hanged is accursed of God 8. A.
- 30.15. See, I have set before thee life and death 70. A.
- 30.19. I have set before you life and death 148. D.
- JOSHUAH.
- 10.12. Sun, stand thou still 700. A.
- JUDGES.
- 2.5. They wept, 539. B.
- RUTH.
- 1.19. Call me not Naomi 479. B.
- 2 SAMUEL.
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- 14.14. We must needs die, and are 311. A.
- 26.12. The sleep of the Lord was upon him 257. D.
- 2 KINGS.
-
- 9.3. None shall say, This is Jezebel 148. B.
- 11.12. They put the crown 336. D.
- 20.7. Take a lump of figs 514. E.
- JOB.
-
- 4.18. His Angels he charged with folly 9. C.
- 5.7. Man is borne unto travatle, as 538. B.
- 7.1. Mans life is a warfare 142. A. & 603 E.
- 8.16. Woe unto me poor rush, for &c. 141. B.
- 10.20. Lord spare me a while 162. C.
- 19.25. I know my Redeemer liveth, &c. 150. A.
- 19.26. In my flesh &c. 122. A.
- 20.11. My bones are full of the sins 519. B.
- PSALMES.
-
- 2.2. They imagine a vain thing 433. D.
- 2.8. Ask of me and I will give thee &c. 26. E. & 462. E.
- 2. ult. Kiss the Son lest he be angry 541. D.
- 3.7. Thou hast broken the teeth 516. D.
- 6.5. In death there is no remembrance of thee 533. E.
- 15.2. Lord, who shall ascend to thy Tabernacle 117. E.
- 19.9. The judgments of the Lord justify themselves 366. D.
- 22.6. I am a worm 18. A. 45. C. 65. A.
- 25.15. Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord 618. A.
- 37.5. Cōmit thy ways unto the Lord 686. B.
- 37.26. The righteous is merciful 83. E.
- 45.7. God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness 396. C.
- 50.12. If I were hungry 101. B
- 55.19. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. 57. D.
- 65.1. Praise waiteth for thee 64. A.
- 66.3. Through the greatness of thy power, shall thine enemies submit. 585. A.
- 72.18. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which 394. D.
- 78.63. Their maidens were not given in marriage. 679. C.
- 82.1. God standeth in the 72. D.
- 90.10. The days of our years &c. 83. B.
- 101.1. I will sing of thy mercy and 12. A.
- 101.5. Him that hath a high look 729. B.
- 102.5. My bones cleave to my flesh 519. B.
- 104.29. They die, and they return 255. D.
- 105.15. Touch not mine anointed 55. B.
- 106.20. They changed their glory 85. A.
- 111.10. A good understanding have 612. C.
- 113.5. He dwells in heaven 134. C.
- 119.57. The Lord is my portion 14. B.
- 119.136. Rivers of waters ran 161. E.
- 135.7. He causeth the vapors 264. B.
- 136.4. Facit mirabilia magna 215. C.
- 139.21. Do not I hate them 99. C.
- 145.15. The eyes of all wait 684. D.
- 146.3. Put not your trust in Princes 483. A.
- PROVERBS.
-
- 11.13. The fruit of the righteous 84. A.
- 12.23. A wise man concealeth 565. C.
- 13.22. The wealth of the sinner &c. 83. C.
- 14.23. He shall have hope 83. D.
- 17.6. The glory of children 84. A.
- 25.16. Fill not thyself with honey 63. E.
- ECCLES.
-
- 10.10. If the iron be blunt, we must 356. C.
- 10.20. Those that have wings 92. D.
- 38.9. Myson, in thy sickness &c. 110. C.
- CANTICLES.
-
- 1.8. O thou fairest among women 119. E.
- 2.15. Take us the little Foxes, for they devour the Vine 117. A. 782. B.
- 4.12. My Sister, my Spouse is a garden en closed 515. C.
- 8.6. Set me as a seal on thy heart, 456. D.
- ESAY.
-
- 7.13. Is it a small thing to weary men, 15. A.
- 9.6. A child is given to us, a Son is borne to us 86. C.
- 9.6. Counselor, The mighty God. 6. B.
- 14.12. How art thou fallen from heaven 187. B.
- 18.1. Woe to the land shadowing with wings 671. B.
- 27.7. Hath he smitten him as he smote those that smote him? 505. D.
- 36.21. They held their peace, and 410. B.
- 38.2. Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed 251. D.
- 40.15. As a drop upon the Bucket 64. D.
- 40.31. They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength. 637. C.
- 53.10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him, but 181. A.
- 55.8. My thoughts are not your 25. B.
- 58.11. Thou shalt be a spring of water 660. D.
- 60.1. Arise, shine, for thy light is come 188. E.
- JEREMIAH.
-
- 1.10. Behold, I have this day 734. B.
- 5.1. Run to and fro through the streets of 422. A.
- 18.2. Arise and go down 147. B.
- LAMENTATIONS.
-
- 1.2. She weepeth continually in the night. 540. A.
- 2.19. Pour out thy heart like water 591. D.
- 2.10. Women eat their children of a span long 146. D. & 215. D.
- 4.8. My skin cleaves to my bones 519. B.
- EZECHIEL.
-
- 9.4. Set a mark upon the foreheads 537. E.
- 16.29. Thou hast multiplied thy fornications, &c. 24. C.
- 44.2. This gate shall be shut &c. 22. E.
- HOSEA.
- 14.2. Take unto you words, and turn 578. C.
- MICAH.
- 2.13. The breaker is gone up before, 181. B.
- HABAKKUK.
-
- 2.4. The just shall live &c. 79. C.
- 2.18. What good can an Idol, or &c 117. D.
- HAGGAI.
- 2.9. The glory of the later house &c. 30. D.
- ECCLUS.
-
- 7.36. Remember the end, and 371. B.
- 38.1. Honor a Physician with 187. B.
- 38.15. He that sinneth before his 187. B.
- MATTHEW.
-
- 1.25. Till she brought forth her Son 22. E.
- 5.48. Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is 823. A.
- 5.23. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar, and 33. C.
- 7.19. He taught them as one 690. E.
- 9.2. My son be of good cheare, 343. C.
- 10.39. He that finds his life 150. C.
- 16.24. He that will follow me, let 732. C.
- 16.28. There be some standing here, 259. A.
- 19.28. In the regeneration 181. A.
- 20.23. It is not mine to give 761. E.
- 21.44. He that falls upon this stone 665. B.
- 24.20. Pray that your flight be not in the Winter, 580. B.
- 28.19. Go and teach all Nations 47. B.
- MARKE.
- 9.24. Lord, I believe 669. C.
- LUKE.
-
- 1.28. Blessed art thou amongst women 18. C.
- 4.23. Physician, heal thyself 420. B.
- 4.32. They were astonished at his 691. A.
- 7.29. The Pharisees and Lawyers rejected. 366. D.
- 12.32. Fear not little flock, for &c. 45. C. & 228. B.
- JOHN.
-
- 1.3, 4. All things were made by him 667. E.
- 1.16. Grace for grace 310. E.
- 1.9. He was that light &c. 78. B. & 345. C.
- 1.16. Of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace 4. C.
- 2.4. Woman, what have I to do with thee 23. D.
- 5.25. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour 150. E.
- 5.17. My Father worketh 240. A.
- 5.39. Search the Scriptures 339. B.
- 8.11. Sin no more 110. A.
- 9.10. I am the door 752. D.
- 10.3. His sheep hear his voice 66. D.
- 10.11. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep 63. A.
- 19.29. They put it upon Hyssop. 646. A.
- 20.16. Touch me not, for 821. D.
- ACTS.
-
- 1.22. There was a necessity of one 180. C.
- 17.11. The Bereans searched the &c. 472. E.
- 20.22. I go bound in the Spirit 473. C.
- ROMANS.
-
- 6.21. What fruit had ye then 65. D.
- 8.15. Whereby we cry Abba, Father 27. D.
- 8.21. The creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage &c. 9. D.
- 8.23. Our selves have the first fruits 293. B.
- 1 CORINTHIANS.
-
- 1.20. God hath made the wisdom of this world, foolishness 180. B.
- 6.3. We shall judge the Angels 235. A.
- 6.20. Ye are bought with a price 26. D.
- 10.13. No temptation shall befall us, but 789. B.
- 15.8. As of one borne out of due 460. D.
- 15.3. Christ died for our sins 397. B.
- 15.28. God shall be all in all 231. B.
- 15.29. For the dead 56. D.
- 2 CORINTHIANS.
-
- 7.1. Let us cleanse ourselves 118. A.
- 12.7. A thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan 526. E. 527. A.
- 12.9. My grace is sufficient for thee 527. D.
- EPHESIANS.
-
- 1.10. That God might gather in one 9. D.
- 2.12. Without Christ, without God 71. C.
- 3.19. That they are filled with all the 4. C.
- 5.14. Awake thou that sleepest 188. E.
- 11.6. Without faith it is impossible 105. A.
- PHILIPPIANS.
- 4.8. If there be any virtue. 681. A.
- COLOSSIANS.
- 3.5. Mortify your members 151. B.
- 1 THESSALONIANS.
-
- 4.7. God hath not called us to &c. 117. E.
- 5.25. I pray God your spirit 335. E.
- 1 TIM.
- 2.1. I exhort you that supplications and prayers &c. 510. D.
- TITUS.
- 2.14. Christ gave himself for us 77. C.
- HEBREWS.
-
- 4.12. The Word of God pierces &c. 335. D. & 517. B.
- 4.12. A two edged sword 139. B.
- 11.35. Others were tortured &c. 150. C.
- 13.22. I beseech you brethren, suffer 610. D.
- JAMES.
-
- 1.17. The Father of lights 385. B.
- 5.3. Your gold and your silver &c. 81. B.
- 5.11. You have seen the end &c. 399. A.
- 1 PETER.
- 2.5. Built of lively stones 35. A.
- 2 PETER.
- 1.19. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, 59. E.
- 1 JOHN.
-
- 3.2. Now we are the sons of God 120. C.
- 5.16. There is a sin unto death 348. E.
- REVELATION.
-
- 3.14. Thus saith Amen 53. A.
- 12.4. The Dragons tail drew the 240. E.
- 12.7. Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon 146. E.
- 17.2. The great Whore sitteth upon 310. B.
- 22.11. He that is holy 594. D.
The Table of such Authors, as are either cited, illustrated, or refelled in this BOOKE.
- A
-
- A Bulensis. 7. A. B. 50. A. 314. D. 763. C.
- Arius. 781. B.
- Alcazar. 184. B.
- Alvarez. 693. C.
- Alexander Alensis. 379. D. 603. C.
- Alcoranum. 379. C. 744. C.
- Ambrosius. 18. A. 24. A. 38. A. 88. A. 105. D. 106. A. 110. E. 262. D. 306. B. 322. A. 390. B. 392. B. 407. A. 410. B. 546. B. 586. D. 603. E. 617. B. 784. C. 785. A.
- Andradius. 314. D. 763. C.
- Anselmus. 171. A.
- Apologia Confession: Augustan: 786. B.
- Aquinas. 17. A. 51. E. 111. B. 156. A. 205. D. 216. B. C. 306. C. 344. A. 369. A. 527. A. 541. E. 795. D.
- Aristoteles. 388. A. 562. D. 744. B. 818. A.
- Arriba. 741. D.
- Athanasius. 180. D. 221. B. 235. E. 244. D. 251. E.
- Athenagoras. 204. D.
- Augustinus. 4. E. 9. B. E. 15. C. 16. C. 17. D. 23. B. 27. D. 31. A. 33. E. 37. B. 48. D. E. 51. E. 59. E. 61. C. 65. B. 66. E. 67. B. 68. A. E. 69. A. 70. A. E. 79. B. 81. A. E. 89. C. 97. B. 98. B. 100. A. 102. A. 105. E. 120. E. 121. C. 122. B. C. 133. B. 148. C. D. 153. B. 154. E. 161. C. 167. A. E. 169. D. 171. B. 180. C. 183. A. 188. A. D. 194. E. 197. B. 200. D. 229. E. 232. E. 295. E. 299. E. 304. C. D. 309. B. 313. E. 323. A. D. 330. D. 369. A. B. E. 386. D. 527. A. 546. B. De libro Enoch. 560. B. 563. D. 756. B. 785. B. 786. E. 802. C.
- Augustine. Eugubinus. 50. A.
- Augustinus de Roma. 171. C.
- Aulus Gellius. 6. A. 17. A. 407. A.
- Ayguanus. 506. B.
- Azorius. 490. D.
- B
-
- Baldus. 168. E.
- Baronius. 142. D. 236. E. 489. E. refellitur. 492. A.
- Basilius. 16. D. E. 17. E. 42. B. 160. D. 168. C. 269. C. 284. C. 306. B. 309. D. 318. E. 352. E. 455. A. 511. B. 514. B. 515. B. 553. A. 712. E. 815 E.
- Bellarminus. 790. D. 545. E. notatus. 542. E. 578. E. 699. B. 740. D. 791. B. 803. B.
- Berengarius. 37. C.
- Bernardus. 5. E. 6. B. 7. A. 11. B. 23. A. 51. C. 75. A. 90. A. 91. C. 93. A. B. C. 94. A. B. C. &c. 118. E. 152. C. 153. B. 155. A. 162. B. 200. C. 204. C. 319. E. 340. A. 383. A. C. 389. C. 405. E. 426. A. 456. B. 510. D. 513. B. 550. B. 570. E. 680. B. 787. B. 806. E.
- Beda. 813. C.
- Beza. 220. D. 737. E. 799. A.
- Benius. 740. A.
- Biblia Complutens. 712. D.
- Biblia Vatican. 712. D.
- Biel. 380. C.
- Bodinus. 243. E.
- Bolduccus. 131. E. 133. A. 234. A.
- Boethius. 171. A.
- Bonaventura. 687. D.
- Brigittae Revelationes. 43. A.
- Bradwardinus. 171. A.
- Brondus. 603. C.
- C
-
- Calvinus. 9. C. 14. E. 18. B. 32. D. 45. D. 49. E. 80. D. 217. E. 218. A. 220. D. 246. D. 271. C. 298. B. 347. B. 477. D. 800. D.
- Cajetan. 131. C. 221. A. 271. B. 490. C. 527. B. 586. D. 793. C.
- Carbo. 741. B.
- Catharinus. 4. E. 237. D. 271. B. 339. B.
- Canones Poenitentiales. 282. B. 402. A. 545. C. 691. D.
- Caesarius. 758. D.
- Clemens Alexandrinus. 170. D. 187. D. 314. C. 710. D. 763. C. 772. B. 784. B.
- Chrysologus. 161. D. 228. B. 246. D. 249. C. 490. D.
- Chrysostomus. 24. A. 48. D. E. 58. B 93. A. 106. D. 152. C. 162. A. 210. E. 217. D. 263. C. 299. D. 314. C. 321. B. 322. C. 326. A. 362. C. 389. C. 401. E. 409. E. notatus. 426. B. 546. D. 712. E. 763. C. 785. C. 789. C. 795. C. 815. D.
- Cantepratensis. 81. D.
- Chemnitz. 32. D. 786. B.
- Chiffletius. 246. C.
- Choppinus. 771. C.
- Chrysippus. 484. B.
- Clavius. 765. A.
- Clemens Romanus. 758. C.
- Collius. 262. E.
- Concilium Nicenum. 216. D. 300. D. 415. A.
- Concilium Trident. 234. C. D. 404. D. 471. E. 773. A.
- Concilium Lateranense sub Innocent. tertio. 252. B. 773. A.
- Concilium Constantiense. 773. A.
- Concilium Senonense. 231. E.
- Concilium Lateranense sub Leone decimo. 237. B.
- Concilium Neocaesariense. 216. D.
- Concilium Carthaginense tertium. 775. A.
- Concilium Eleberitanum. 80. C.
- Concilium Antiochenum primum, 426. C.
- Constitutiones Apostolicae. 663. C.
- Cornelius à Lapide. 50. A. 688. A.
- Cornelius Mus. 489. D.
- Corpus Juris Civilis. 711. C.
- Cramerus. 18. B.
- Cyprianus. 17. C. 36. B. 99. D. 269. E. Explicatus. 329. C. 330. D. 355. E. 414. E. 480. B. 800. C.
- Cyrillus Alexandrinus. 20. E. 66. B. 67. A. 170. E. 188. C. 190. D. 194. A. 236. C. 302. B.
- Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus. 262. C.
- D
-
- Damascenus. 16. C. 27. C. 48. C. 49. A. 167. E. 168. B. 189. D. 236. C. 262. B. 309. D. 396. D. 425. E. 689. A. 802. B.
- Demosthenes. 387. E.
- Didymus Alexandrinus. 333. C. 533. D.
- Dionysius Areopagita. 121. A. 168. A. 261. E. 382. E. 480. B. 620. A. 785. E.
- Durand. 802. A.
- E
-
- Epictetus. 315. A. 387. E. 667. E.
- Epiphanius. 23. C. 159. B. 164. E. 176. C. 394. D. 781. B.
- Ephrem Syrus. 538. D.
- Epistola Lentuli. 153. D.
- Erasmus. 32. E.
- Estius. 792. D. 800. D.
- Euangelium Spiritus Sancti. 291. C.
- Euangelium Syriacum. 525. A.
- Eusebius. 42. D. 45. E. 493. C. 540. B. 562. D. 784. A.
- F
-
- Faustus Manichaeus. 318. C.
- Ferus. 50. C.
- Festus. 713. D.
- Feuardentius. 793. E.
- G
-
- Galenus. 818. B.
- Galelinus. 31. D. 502. D.
- Genebrardus. 17. A.
- Gerhardus. 743. B.
- Gerson. 202. E. 251. C.
- Gregorius Neocaesariensis. 758. D.
- Gregorius Magnus. 9. E. 35. A. 99. D. 100. A. 107. D. 128. C. 141. B. 161. C. 181. A. 186. E. 247. E. 248. B. 266. C. 274. A. 316. B. 339. E. 342. C. 343. A. 406. A. 408. B. 461. A. 547. B. 552. E. 569. E. 580. E. 724. B. C. 785. D. 789. C.
- Gretserus. 698. D.
- Greg: Nazianzen. 71. C. 121. A. 171. C. 235. E. 385. B. 394. A. 396. C. 417. A. 480. D. 522. B. 539. B. 547. A. 552. C. 699. E. 761. A. 764. D.
- Greg: Nyssen. 16. C. 160. E. 249. A. 251. E. 517. C. 542. A. 555. D. 811. A. 813. C.
- Guavantus. 485. E.
- H
-
- Harmon. Synod. Belg. 115. E.
- Herodotus. 198. D.
- Hermes, sive Pastor. 784. B.
- Heshusius. 759. A.
- Hieronymus. 15. C. 24. A. 26. D. 55. A. 72. E. 79. D. 99. B. 111. A. 121. B. 147. E. 164. E. 178. A. 182. D. 190. E. 200. C. 207. B. 217. A. 231. D. 236. C. 244. D. 248. A. 252. D. 272. C. 306. B. 309. D. 363. D. 368. E. 378. E. 405. C. hallucinatus. 430. E. 462. A. de prologo ejus Galeato. 670. C. 699. B. 789. C. 794. C. 806. E.
- Hilarius. 16. C. 248. D. 378. E. 416. A. 539. A. 699. B. 784. D.
- Holkot. 311. A. 412. A.
- Horatius. 577. E.
- Hugo de Sancto Victore. 157. A. 542. A.
- I
-
- Ignatius. 758. C.
- Johannes Huss. 480. E.
- Josephus. 32. D. 397. E. 491. E. 687. E.
- Irenaeus. 16. C. 57. C. 151. D. 152. B. 415. E. 739. E.
- Isiodorus Hispalensis. 410. E. 411. A. 656. D.
- Isiodorus Pelusiota. 596. E. 758. C.
- Julianus Apost. 719. B.
- Julianus Pelagianus. 490. B.
- Justinianus. 793. A.
- Justinus Martyr. 72. E. 156. A. 236. C. 269. B. 314. C. 401. E. 408. A. 425. E. 763. C.
- L
-
- Lactantius. 80. A. 306. C. 354. C. 396. A. 408. C. 739. E. 751. E. 784. A.
- Lapide. 50. A.
- Leo Magnus. 42. B. 48. C. D. 63. B. 221. E. 321. B. 431. B. 535. D. 604. A.
- Leo Castrius. 695. D.
- Lex XII. Tabularum. 445. D.
- Lombardus. 237. B. notatus. 334. E.
- Lorinus. 426. C. 574. C. 687. E. 695. D.
- Lutherus. 18. D. 130. B. 205. A. 231. C. 232. D. 271. D. 301. D. 404. C. Apophthegma ejus. 405. C. 417. B. 426. A. 479. E. 501. A. 687. B. 786. B. 798. E.
- Lyra. 50. B. 555. D.
- M
-
- Magdeburgenses. 489. C. 799. C.
- Maldonatus. 197. D. 356. E. 489. D. 739. D. 771. B. 798. A.
- Mariana. 687. E.
- Martialis. 550. B.
- S. Martialis. 758. C.
- P. Martyr. 271. B. 347. C.
- Masoritae. 153. C.
- Maximus. 63. A. 535. E.
- Matchiavel. 744. B.
- Melancthon. 92. C. 744. C. 798. E.
- Melchior Cano. 42. A. 740. B.
- Menander. 220. A.
- Mendoza. 162. B. D.
- Munsterus. 747. C.
- Musculus. 775. A.
- N
- Nicephorus. 31. D. dictum ejus de Chrysostomo. 490. C. 699. B.
- O
-
- Oecumenius. 66. A. 232. C. 527. A.
- Oleaster. 391. D.
- Origen's. 99. D. 102. A. 118. C. 128. E. 170. E. 201. C. 262. D. 263. C. 299. B. 333. B. 362. C. 363. D. 386. B. 411. C. 546. C. 700. C. 710. E. primus concionator. 758. D. 770. D. 784. C.
- Osiander. 221. C. 298. B.
- P
-
- Palladius. 473. C.
- Pamelius. 329. C.
- Panigorolla. 166. A.
- Papias. 739. E.
- Paracelsus. 64. E.
- Paraphrastes Chaldaeus. 134. A. 269. D. 404. B.
- Pellicanus. 221. C. 404. C.
- Peltanus. 97. E.
- Pererius. 50. A. 740. A.
- Philo Judaeus. 170. B. 417. D. 420. C. 550. B. 561. C. 680. D. 812. C.
- Picus. 531. D.
- Pindarus. 442. D.
- Piscator. 46. C. 49. E. 131. E. 737. E. 799. A.
- Plato. 46. D. 68. E. 168. D. 318. D. 442. D. 752. E. 783. E. 812. C.
- Plinius. 17. A. 222. A. 385. C. 537. D. 617. B. 665. B. 713. A. 788. B.
- Plotinus. 812. C.
- Plutarchus. 665. C.
- Polycarpus. 758. C.
- Polybius. 482. D. 551. A.
- Porphyrius. 207. B. 289. B.
- Prosper. 240. D.
- Prudentius. 262. E.
- Psalmi Arabice. 582. A.
- Ptolomaeus. 818. B.
- Q
- Quintilianus. 289. B.
- R
-
- Rabbi Ibn Ezra. 131. C.
- Rabbi Moses. 63. E. 66. B. 608. B.
- Rabbi Solomon. 50. B. 404. B.
- Reuchlinus. 541. C.
- Rhemigius. 4. B. 340. A.
- Ribera. 184. C.
- Roffensis. 789. A.
- Ruffinus. 270. E.
- Rupertus. 51. B.
- S
-
- Salmeron. 489. D.
- Sanctius. 151. E. 405. E.
- Sandaeus. 495. A. 690. D.
- Scotus. 111. B.
- Scribanius. 142. C.
- Schonfeldius. 743. B.
- Seneca. 147. E. 168. E. 362. B. 387. E. 388. A. 713. E. 789. B. 812. D.
- Serarius. 406. B.
- Septuaginta Interpretes. 404. B. 416. A. 528. B. 585. A.
- Severianus. 249. C.
- Sextus Senensis. 786. E.
- Sidonius Apollinaris. 33. B.
- Sophronius. 490. C.
- Stenartius. 605. E.
- Strabo. 198. D.
- Stunnica. 133. A.
- Synodus Dordrecthana. 742. C.
- T
-
- Tacitus. 481. E.
- Talmud. 379. C. 492. A.
- Tannerus. 605. D.
- Tertullianus. 17. C. 18. A. 33. E. 80. A. memoria lapsus. 101. B. 152. A. 168. C. 181. E. 207. E. 289. B. 290. D. 309. D. 312. B. 334. B. 337. B. C. 369. E. 370. E. 379. B. 388. A. 395. B. E. 397. E. 400. A. B. 408. A. 414. E. 504. B. 739. E. 783. E. 794. C. 800. E.
- Testamentum Syriacum. 636. C. 737. E.
- Theocritus. 478. A.
- Theodoretus. 91. B. 232. A. 305. D. 462. A. 578. D. 795. A.
- Theophylactus. 91. B. 181. B. 246. B. 527. A. 609. C. 795. C.
- Tremellius. 131. E. 133. E. 510. A. 560. C. 585. A. 690. B. 737. E. 809. C.
- Trismegistus. 287. B. 295. B. 347. C. 379. C. 501. C.
- Turrecremata. 603. C.
- V
-
- G. Valentia. 356. D. 605. D.
- Vincentius Lyrinensis. 47. A. 699. B. 722. D.
- Virgilius. 744. C. 784. A.
- Vita P. Nerei. 116. E.
- Vega. 339. D.
- Ulpianus. 194. E.
- Vossius. 740. A.
- Us;pergensis. 208. A.
- Vulgata Editio. 146. D. 157. D. 162. C. 260. A. 288. D. 311. A. 505. C. 610. E. 711. D. 717. C. 743. C. 761. B.
- W
- Waldo. 291. D.
AN ALPHABETICALL TABLE OF THE PRINCIPALL CONTENTS IN THIS BOOK.
The number of the Figures referreth to the Page; the Letter to the like Letter in the Margin.
- A
-
-
A
Bsolute Decree;
how dangerously man may be abused by it 691. E
- There is no such in God, of punishing man, but as a sinner 675. C. D. E
-
Absolution of sins;
the power of it 143. A. B
- The cheerfulness of their spirits that have newly received it 264. A 596. B
- The necessity of it 370. A. B
-
Active life,
and Contemplative, both good 30. D
- One, not to despise the other ibid.
- Admiration and Wonder, how it stands between Knowledge and Faith 194. A
-
Adoption,
in civil use; the Laws and Customs of it 27. B
- Applyed to our spiritual Adoption ibid.
-
Adversity,
not the best time to seek the Lord in 139. C. D. 245. D. E
- Whether Adversity or Prosperity be the cause of most sins 658. D
- Adultory; God expresseth all carnal and spiritual sin by the name of Adultery 632. E
-
Advice,
to be mixed with Love and Charity 93. C
- How many do miscarry in it ibid. D
-
Afflictions,
wherefore inflicted upon Men 109. C
- Wherefore on godly men, 129. B. 480. A. B. C 664. E
- They are not evil 170. D
- Common as well to the good, as bad, 420. E
- Age; the center of Reverence 31. D
- Allelujah Psalms, which they are, and how many 654. A
-
Alms
to be done 94. B. 106. C
- Cheerfully, and without delay 107. D
- Against those that neglect them 414. B
- We, not to consider the person too severely that is to receive them 764. A
- Against being Alone 51. E. 761. E. 762. A
- Alphonso, King of Casteel, his blasphemy 640. E
- Amen, ever doubled by Saint John, and why 658. B
- Anabaptists; their wicked opinions 23. C. 91. C 344. D
- Anathema; the several acceptations of it 401. E
- Saint Andrew, the first Saint in the Calendar, and why 718. C. D
-
Angels,
how reconciled by the death of Christ 9. B
- Whether they understand thoughts 111. B
- Or, see the Essence of God 120. E. 121. D. E
- They pray for us 130. A
- Whether they shall give account of their Stewardship over us, at the day of Judgment 234. E. 235. A
- Thought in the Greek Church to be created before the World 235. E
- Nothing in Scripture about their creation 235. D
- Not in themselves Immortal 237 B. C.
- Some men called by the ministry of Angels, even from the beginning of the world 261. E
- They that fell, might have repented, according to the Schools 262. B
- They that fell, shall never before given 346. B
- Of tutelary Angels 422. B
- Angels created with the Light 729. C
- Anger in God; two errors about it, noted by Lactantius 408. D
-
Anointing
in Scripture, not always taken for real Unction 44. E. 45. A &c
- Anointing, proper to Kings, as well as Priests 396. A
- Ant and the Be; the difference between their labor; and yet we are commanded to learn of both 712. E
- Apatheia, against indolencie, and emptiness of all Affections 156. A
-
Apocrypha
Books; the good use that is made of them 220. D
- Of their esteem with the Ancient Fathers 221. A. B. C
- Applause after Sermon, given to the Primitive Fathers 48. D
- Applause of the people, or popularity, a dangerous and uncertain thing, not to be affected by any men; especially, not by the Clergy, whom it usually deceiveth most. ib.
- Approaches to Sin, how soon and easily they become Sin 557. E
-
Apostles;
why chosen out of simple fisher-men 719. C
- What things were called Apostles, before Christ's Apostles were so called 758 C
-
Apostolical
Authority vainly claimed by the Pope 733. E
- Apostolical Tradition, what it is 781. E
- Articles of Faith, how they are proved by Reason 178. A 611. D
-
Atheist,
nothing so unnatural as the
Atheist,
486. B
- Of the universal, particular, and practical Atheist ibid. & 487. A. B. & vide 756. B.
-
Authority
of the Fathers, not baulked by the Reformed Churches 557. A
- Though at the beginning of the Reformation our men were a little startled at it B. C
-
A
Bsolute Decree;
how dangerously man may be abused by it 691. E
- B
-
- Balsam; of the natural Balsam in the body and in the soul. 514. A
-
Baptism
of children, how necessary 309. E. 425. B
- The Remembrance of our Baptism, a stop against sin 310. A
- Christ, why Baptized 425. A
- The Anabaptists argument against Baptism of Children, answered ibid. D
- The Baptism of John, whether the same with that of Christ 425. E
- The custom of late Baptising, why tolerated in the Church 800. A
-
Bees;
the manner of their working
sub tecto
712. E
- Commended for their sedulity, community, secrecy, and purity 713. A. B
- Beggers; against ordinary Street-Beggers, and relieving them.
- Benedictines, of their increase and riches 602. E
-
Benefactours
and Founders, their honorable commemoration and mention pleases God 85. D
- The Straights, to which, some of the Reformed Churches have been put about it ibid.
- The Benefits of this world seldom free 550. B
-
Bishops
not necessarily resident at their Sea 470. D
- Six thousand Bishops at one time in the Christian Church 471. A
- The passage between Athanasius and Dracontius who refused to be made a Bishop 471. D
-
Bishop
of Rome, against his tyranny, cruelty &c. 284. B
- Against his Infallibility 698. C. 722. D
- His Imprisoning of the Holy Ghost 292. A
- His Universality 371. D
- Against his usurping Apostolical Authority, and not contenting himself with Episcopal 733. E
- Blasphemy, not restrained to God alone; other persons and things may be blasphemed 343. E
- No Blessing in this world without permanency and continuance 754. E
-
Blessings
of this world, only
Blessings
in use 84. C
- How God blesseth man, and man blesseth God 376. D
-
Blessedness,
what it is; and what the Philosophers have thought of it 119. C. D. 752. A
- Whom Plato commanded the Poets and writers in his State, to call Blessed 562. D. E
- That temporal Blessings do not conduce at All to true Blessedness 750. B
- The danger of Temporal Blessings, without Spiritual 752. B
- What Plato thought Blessedness 752. E
- Spiritual Blessedness, how it is superinduced upon Temporal, as the reasonable soul upon that of sense 755. C. D
-
Blood;
no Remission without it, and why 6. D
- Christ shed it seven times 7. B
- The will, the Blood of the Soul 7. A
- Blood taken for sin, oftentimes in Holy Writ 132. A
-
Bodies;
the Kingdom of heaven imperfect without them 145. A
- The little power we have over our own Bodies ibid. D
- Bodies glorified and their Dotes or Endowments 189. A. B
- God's love to our Bodies 194. B. C
- Of sinning against our own Bodies by lust and licentiousness 195. D. E
- Bones; what is meant by Bones in Scripture 516. C
- Bribery; against it, or receiving of Rewards 389. E
- Brothers; the first enmity began in them 108. A
- Brownists; their opinion, that no particular Church may consist of more persons than may always hear that man, to whose charge that Church is given, censured 471. C. D
-
Building;
the Holy Ghost delights to use the name of
Building
and House 684. C
- Against Busy-bodies with other folks matters 721. E. 722. A
- Burthen; how everything, even the least, the Fly; even the best, as riches, beauty, comliness, is a Burthen to us 664. C. D
- C
-
- CArd. Cajetans reasons for not following the Judgment of the fathers in expounding Scripture 796. E. 79 • . A.
-
Calamities,
not to be jested at 478. E
- Not always evidences of God's displeasure ib.
-
Calling;
the ordinary duties of our
Calling
not to be disputed, but executed 41. A
- Such as are extraordinary, may 42. A
- Against such as will take upon them no Calling 45. D. 411. B. 606. B
- How acceptable to God that labor is, which is taken in an honest Calling 721. C
- Against Intruders, and meddlers with other men's Callings ibid. E
- Calvin, an approver of Ceremonies 80. D
- Candles; the use of them in divine Service, ancient 80. B
- Canonical Houres; no inconvenience in observing them, so we place no merit in them 596. D
- Catechizing; the excellent use and benefit of it 250. A. 561. B. C. D. &c.
- Cathedral Churches; why so called 115. C
- Censuring of Preachers, and comparing one with another, condemned 692. E
-
Ceremonies;
of their antiquity and use 80. C
- They should differ from Mysteries ibid.
- Not hastily to be condemned ibid. E
- They are vehicula Religions 300. B
- Against the Opposers of them ibid.
- How we are to love them 512. A
- Not to be disputed of by private men 575. C
-
Changes
of this world, how many 481. D
- Of inconstancy, and changing of mind 483. C
- Changes of sin, how dangerous 543. A
- Children; of their love and duty to Parents 387 E
-
CHRIST; he came of women noted in Scripture for their incontinency 24. A
- He came to save All 26. C. 70. C. 66. B
- Learning at the height, when he was borne 72. C
- Whether he was Man, whilst in the Grave 157. A
- CHRIST; his Death and Passion, how necessary, and how voluntary 7. D. 792. C
- Three remarkable Conjunctions at his Birth 11 B
- The world how full with expectation of it 21. D
- CHRIST shed blood seven times here on earth 7. B
- How effectually he is present in the Sacrament 19. C
- His Incarnation; no way so proper to deliver us, as it 16. C
- His Human Nature adunited to the Divine, whether Impeccable 169. B
- The infiniteness of his merits rather placed in Pacto, than in Persona, by the School 179. B
- The difference between his Dying, and other men's 272. E
- The several Heresies concerning CHRIST 316. D
- CHRIST died for all men 741. E. 742. A. B
-
Church;
the power of it, in applying Christ to every particular soul 60. A
- The true Church, which 61 A
- How soon multiplied and enriched 72. A. B
- The ten Persecutions of it 184 B. C
- The Church, the ordinary place for knowledge and illumination of a Christian 228. A
- The Primitive Church; how the whole world was bent against it 602. C
- The Church, a Pillar; and how 615. C
- What a loss it is to be kept from God's Church 664. A
- The care which God hath ever had of his Church 779. E
- Circle; the proper Hieroglyphic of God; and why 13. E
- Citation of Scripture; the words, much more the Chapter and verse, not always observed in it 250. C. 325. D
- Complements; of their abuse and use 176. A. B. C. 412. D
-
Comforts;
how easily we mistake false
Comforts
for true 279. E. 382. D. 383. A. B 501. A
- Of the true Comfort of the Holy Ghost, 353. D
- Of that Comfort and consolation, which the Minister of the Gospel is to preach to all people 746. A. B C
-
Confession
to the Priest, in some cases, useful and necessary 558. A 568. A. 589. B. C
- How necessary to Confess 569. D. 586. E
- Confidence; true Confidence proceeds only from true goodness 171. E
-
Confirmation;
whether a Sacrament 329. C
- The use and benefit of it ibid. D. E
- Continency; that trial not made as should be, whether young people can Conteine from marriage 217. B C
- Contrition, Confession, and Satisfaction, three parts of true Repentance 568. A
-
Conventicles:
against their private opinions 228. C
- Against them 455. A
- They are no Bodies 756. D
- Consideration of ourselves and our insufficiencies, how necessary 44. D. 45. A. &c.
- Constitutions: No sins to be laid and fathered upon them 90. A
- Corporations: how they have no souls 99. A
-
Covering
of sins, what good, and what bad 569. E
- It is good to cover them from giving other men examples 570. A
-
Counsel
not to be given, unless we love those to whom we give it 93. C
- How many miscarry in that point ibid. D
- Craft: and that cunning and Craft which men affect in their several Callings 411. D
- Creatures: how far we may love the Creatures, and how far not 398. E
- Curiosity: against the excess of it in matter of Knowledge 63. E. 64. A. 411. E. 563. B. 701. A
- Conscience, obdurate, and over-tender; the effects of either 587. B. C. D
- Curses and Imprecations; whether we may use them 401. C. D. 555. E
- D
-
-
DAmned:
the consummation of their torment, wherein it consisteth in the opinion of the School 344. B
- More shall be saved than damned 765. C
- Of the torments of the damned 776. B. C
- The absence of God, the greatest torment of the damned ibid. D
-
Day
of Judgment: the manner of proceeding in it 140. B
- Fearefull, even to the best 200. B. C
- The certainty and uncertainty of it 271. D
- To be had ever in remembrance, and why 371. B. 389. C. 392. A
-
Death:
how it may be desired of us, and how not 38. A. B. C. D. 148. B. C. 531. D.E
- Against the ambition of it in the pseudomartyrs 142. C
- The word Fortasse hath place in all things but Death 147. C. D
- It is a law, a tribute, and a duty, and how 147. E. 148. A
- We not to grudge if we dy soon, or others live longer ibid. B
- Death; how an enemy to mankind, and how not ibid E
- God made it not, but maketh use of it 188. B
- Of undergoing Death for Christ 400. A, B
- Not a banishment to good men, but a visitation of their friends 463. C
- Death; why so terrible to the good men of former times 532. D
- The often contemplation of Death takes much from the fear of it 473. E
-
Debts:
of our
Debts
to God 87. C
- To our neighbors 93. E
- To our superiors 91. C
- To ourselves 94. D
-
Deceit
and
Deceiving:
the mischief of it 742. B
- The law will not suppose it either in a father or a master ibid. 42.
-
Decrees
of God, to be considered only by the Execution 330. C
- None absolute, considering man, before a Sinner 675. C. D. E
-
Departing
from sin; to be general 552. A
- We are not to retain any one 568. D
- Deprecating of afflictions, whether or no lawful 504. B. C. D. E
-
Desperation:
the sin of it greater and worse than that of presumption 398. C
- Several sects there have been; but never any of Despayring men 346. A
- Against it 360. D E
- God brings his servants to humiliation, often, but never to Desperation 464.
- Destroying; whether man may lawfully destroy any one hurtful species in the world 527. B 620. C
- De viâ, the name of such as were Christians in the former times; that is, men of that way, according to S. Chrysostom 426. B
-
Devils;
capable of mercy, according to many of the Fathers 66. A
- The Devils quoting of Scripture 338. C
-
Devotion;
a serious, sedulous, and impatient thing 244. E
- It is good to accompany ourselves to a general Devotion 512 D
- It must be constant 586. B
- And not taken up by chance ibid. C
-
Disciplining,
and mortifying Acts, after God hath forgiven us our sins, commended 546. E
- They infer neither Purgatory, nor Indulgences, nor Satisfaction 547. A
- They are sharp arrows from a sweet hand ib.
- The necessity of them, to make our Repentance entire 568. B
-
Discretion,
the mother and nurse of all virtues 577. B
- What Discretion is to be used in telling people of their sins ibid.
-
Division,
the fore-runner of destruction 138. D.E
- Not always unlawful to sow Division amongst men, when they agree too well to ill purposes 493. D
- Doubting; the way to know the truth 322. D
- Duels; the inhumanity and sin of them 5. E
-
Duties
of our calling not to be disputed, but executed 41. A
- Of our general weakness and impotency in spiritual Duties 513. C
-
DAmned:
the consummation of their torment, wherein it consisteth in the opinion of the School 344. B
- E
-
-
EArly
seeking of God, what it is 245. C. D
- God is an Early God 809. A. B
- And we to seek him Early ibid. D. E
- Eloquence required in the delivery of God's Word 47. D
-
Enemies;
profit to be made of them 98. A
- We come too soon to the name, and then carry it too far 98. C
- God and Religion, both, have Enemies 375 D 703. C
- How we may, and how we may not hate our Enemies ibid. D. E
- Our Enemies are God's Enemies 704. A
-
Errors
in the way, almost as dangerous as
Errors
in the end 639. A. D
- Of the Errors of the Fathers of the Church 490. A
- About administering the Sacrament to children; about the state of the soul after death, &c. 739. E
- Not good for the Church to play with small Errors, and tolerate them, when she may as easily redress them 782. B
- Isaiah, rather an Evangelist, than a Prophet 54. B
-
Evil;
none from God 168. C. D
- Nothing is naturally Evil 171. A
- Example; in all our actions and purposes, we to propose unto ourselves some pattern or Example 667. D.
-
Examples;
what power they have in matter of instruction 572. D. 593. A
- What care is to be taken in making the inordinate acts of some Holy men in Scripture our Examples 155. C. D. 488. D. E. 489. A. 526. E
- How far Example works above precept or command 165. B
- Of giving good Examples to others 420. C
- God follows his own Examples 522. E
- Of giving bad Examples unto other men 570. A. 573. E
-
Excommunication;
the use of it amongst the Druids and the Jews 402. A
- Much tenderness to be used in excommunicating any from the Church 667. A
- How many men excommunicare themselves without any Church-censure ib. B. C. 418. B. C
-
Expostulation
with God, how without sin 44. B.
- We may not excuse the inordinateness of all Expostulations of good men in the Scripture 132. C
- Nor come near that excess which we find in some of them 155. C
- Of that in the widow of Zareptha 218. A
- Against Extortion 94. A
-
Against
Extremities
in matters of opinion 42. A. B. &c.
- In Religion 326. D
-
EArly
seeking of God, what it is 245. C. D
- F
-
-
FAith;
against implicit
Faith,
178. C. 411. C
- Faith and Reason, how contiguous they are 178. B
- Faith, how it is assisted by Reason 429. A. 612. A
- Of the imperfection that is in our Faith 818. D
- Faith and Works 78. E. 368. A. 567. D. E
- Our Works more ours than our Faith 79. C. D. E. &c.
- The Faith of others, how profitable to us 105. D
- And how not 106. E
- Men, not to deceive themselves with thinking, that if they have Faith once, they shall have it ever: or have enough 819. B. C
-
Fall;
sin is a
fall;
and how 186. D. 187. B. C. 462. D
- Against impossibility, of falling from grace received 240. B. C
- Of Fame and getting a good name; the necessity of it 680. A
-
Fathers;
of the power of life and death which they had over their own children 388. A
- How Jesuits slight the authority of the Fathers of the Church 489. C
- How they are to be followed 490. C
-
Fear;
of the
Fear
of God 386. B
- The difference between fearefullnesse and Fear 387. B
- Servile and Filial Fear, both good 386. D
- The Fear of God a blessed disease 466. B
- It constitutes the best assurance 694. C
- Not only a Fear, but even a terror of God may fall upon the best men 70. A
-
Festivalls:
the reason of their Institution in the Church 298. B
- Of applying particular Scriptures, to particular Festivalls 423. D
- Filiation; the marks of our spiritual Filiation, less subject to error, than of our Temporal 338. E
-
Fasting;
but thrice mentioned by
David;
and he thrice derided for it 535. C
- The commendation, and use of it ibid. D. E
-
Finding
of God; the several times of it 597. A
- Of Finding that which was lost 711. E
- The passage of the Usher in S. Augustine, that found a bag of money, and would not take so much as the tithe of it 712. A
- Fishers of men; the Apostles why so called 734. E
- Flatterers; how men may flatter the best men, the very Angels, yea, and God himself 332. B
- Foliantes, an Order in the Roman Church, who only feed on roots and leaves 731. C
- Following Christ; how we are to Follow, in believing, and in doing 731. E
- Against Forespeaking the Counsels or Actions of the State 535. E
- Foretelling of death; the passage of the Monks of S. sidorus Monastery, about it 473. C
-
Form
of public Prayer, used amongst the very Gentiles 89. A
- And they had a particular Officer, who made Prayers and Collects for them, upon emergent occasions ibid.
- Which were received every five years ibid.
- Fortune and God; how they consist together 711. C
-
Freewill;
the obliquities of it from whence 283. D
- The power of it in our conversion 309. A. B
-
Funerals;
of the duties belonging to them 196. A. 198. B
- Of the several manner of them, among several nations 198. D
- Christian Funerals, an evidence of God's presence 826. B
-
Fullness;
how in Christ, and how in others of the Saints 3. C
- Three Fulnesses in Christ, above others 4. A
- How Full all of us are of original sin 2. E
- How Full God is of mercy 12. C
- Of Fullness without satisfaction; and of satisfaction without Fullness 807. A
- Abraham why Full of years, and yet not so old as Methuselah ibid. D
- Several Fulnesses ibid. E
-
FAith;
against implicit
Faith,
178. C. 411. C
- G
-
-
GEntiles,
and their salvation; how prone the Fathers were in believing of it 261. D. 763. C
- Of the power of natural reason in them; and what many of the Fathers thought of it 314. C
- Of their multiplicity of God's 378. B. 484. D. 502. E
- They durst not call their Tutelar God's by their names 608. A
- Gentlenesse, meekness and mildness; the power of it, both upon man and God 409. E. 410. A. B
- Glad; God, whether he be Glad, that he is God 812. B
- Glorified bodies; their Endowments applied to the soul after her first resurrection 189. A. B. C
- Gloria Patri, after every Psalm, how ancient 88. C
-
Glory;
against our fear of giving God too much
Glory
58. E
- No Glory to God in destroying man only for his pleasure 85. B
- Glory, what it is 88. A
- The light of Glory in heaven, what 231. A
- All things we do, must be to the Glory of God 636. E
- Of the disparity and degrees of Glory in the Kingdom of heaven 742. D. 743. A. B. C
- Gluttony: the effects and miseries of it 579. D
-
God;
not to be loved in consideration of the Temporal Blessings he bestoweth upon us, but for himself 750. C. D
- Four ways of knowing him 229. B
- God, how present even in hell 226. D. E
- Seeing of God before us, in our actions, how necessary 169. E
- How we see him in a glass 226. B
- How we are enemies to God 65. B
- All his ways are goodness 66. E
- Several positions, motions, and transitions ascribed to him 67. C
- How omnipresent, with the Ubiquetary and the Stancarist 67. E
- Why he makes some poor, & others rich 84. E
- Glories not in destroying man, till he find cause 85. B
- Proposeth his glory to himself, as the end of all his works 87. C. D. E
- All our wealth and honor to be ascribed to him 95. B
- Whether his Essence shall be seen in heaven 120. D. 230. D
- No evil from him 168. C
- Not the Author of sin 368. E
- To be reverenced as a Father 388. C
- Of the reason of many God's amongst the Gentiles 484. D
- God hates not any man, but as a finner 628. C. D
- His mercy to all men 679. A. B
- The numberless number of God's Benefits unto man 765. A
-
Our
Goods;
what care to be taken they be well gotten 83. A. 95. E
- They are abusively called Goods 168. D
- Goodness special in God 167. E. 168. A. B
- Golden Crowns of the Saints, how forged in the Roman Church 743. D
-
Gospel;
whether yet preached over all the world 363. D
- Why it is called in Scripture the Kingdom of God 472. A
- How compared to a net 736. C
-
Grace;
against irresistible
Grace
456. B
- Grace and Nature how they cooperate 649. D
- No consummative Grace in this life 735. B
- Graduall Psalms; which, and why they are so called 653. E
-
Great men
not always good; and why 166. A
- But when good, the more acceptable; and their ill the more pardonable ibid. B. C
- The true end of Greatness 321. B. C. D
- Great men; how dangerously obnoxious to their own servants 551 A
- Gretzer the Jesuit, how injurious to the power of Kings, in matters of Religion 698. D
-
GEntiles,
and their salvation; how prone the Fathers were in believing of it 261. D. 763. C
- H
-
- AGainst making too much Haste, either in Temporal or Spiritual Riches 520. D
- Hatred; how it may consist with Charity 100 A
-
Health:
Spiritual
Health
to be preferred before that of the Body 110. C. 755. A
- What a Blessing the Bodily Health is 754. A. B.
-
Hearing
the Word; against the neglect of it 331. A. B
- Against Hearing only 455. C
- Heart: no inward part of man ascribed unto God, beside the Heart 64. B
-
Heaven:
the joys of it 73. C. D. 223. A. B. C 266. A
- The Glory 682. A
- The Dotes or Endowments of the Saints of Heaven 266. B. 189. A. B. &c. 824. C
-
Heresy:
of the several
Heresies
against the person of Christ 316. D
- Of that of the Photinians, and Nativitarians 344. C
- Heretics: of several ways of dealing with them 355. C. D. 356. B. C. D
- Of History, and returning the memory of man to things that are past and gone 290. B
-
The
Holy Ghost;
not so easily apprehended by the light of Reason, as the other persons of the Trinity 318. C. D
- In the Procession especially; ibid. E. 327. A. B. C 335. B
- The manner how he works upon man 322. C. D
- Three branches of sins against the Holy Ghost in the School 349. E
- Refusing of lawful Authority, is sin against the Holy Ghost, in St. Bernard's judgment 350. B
- The power of the Holy Ghost, in blowing where he lists 364. B. C
- His operations in mere moral men 365. A
- St. Paul believed of many to be the H. Ghost 461. E
- Holy Ghost only Dogmatical; the best men but Problematicall 658. A
- Hope: how imperfect a Christian man's Hope is 820. A
- How; a hateful and a damnable Monosyllable 301. D
- Honor and Reputation, which so many stand upon, what it is 410. A
- Honey; what is meant by it in Scripture 712. C
- Hospitalite; the commendation and benefit of it 414. D. E. 415. A. B
- Houses of Progress, and standing Houses for God; Heaven and the Church 747. B
- Human learning; how necessary to the making of a good Divine 562. A
-
Hypocrisy;
the good use and benefit that may be made by it 297. E. 636. B
- Against the wicked practice of it 585. D
- I
-
- OF those Idaeas which are in God 667. E
- Against Idleness and laziness, and taking of no Calling 45. D. 411. B
-
Jehovah;
the right pronouncing of that Name; the means whereby Christ did Miracles, according to the calumniating Jews 502. C
- Not pronounced till of late ibid. D
-
Jesuits;
their uncharitableness, even to their own Authors, in defaming and disgracing of them, though their betters 50. A
- The pride of their Denomination from Jesus 687. D
- How boldly they depart from the Fathers and their Authority 740. B. C. 796. C D
- Their pride in taking upon them the name of Fathers 798. A
-
Jesus;
of the name of
Jesus
503. C
- How S. Paul delights himself in that Name 503. D. 688. A
-
Jews;
not one of them in all the world a Soldier 5. D
- Their opinion of Christ's coming. 21. C
- Their impious custom of anointing such as die, with the blood of a Christian Infant ibid.
-
Ignorance;
the several Divisions and subdivisions of it in the School 287. B.
- How full the most knowing men are of it ibid. C. D
- A learned Ignorance, what 295. E
- Of the several Imperfections in our Faith, in our Hope, and in our Charity 819.820. A. B. C. D
-
Imprecations,
in Scripture, are often only Prophecies 401. C
- Not allowed us D. but in some cases 555. E
- Against Impossibility of Falling 240. B
- Incarnation; the mystery of it 16. C. D. 395. E. 396. A. D E
-
Inconsideration:
the miseries of it. 246. D. E. 247. A. 296. E. 297. B. C. D
- In case of Zeal, the more pardonable. ib. B
- Indignation for sin, how great it ought to be. 542. C
- Of that Individuality wherein man is to be considered. 710. D
- Of that Infallibility with which the Holy Ghost proposeth his Dictates in the scripture, and how far it is from that possibility, probability, and verisimilitude of the Church of Rome 657. C
- Jnfidels: of their right unto the things of this world. 214. D
-
Indulgencies:
the vanity the Church of Rome was grown to, in preaching and extolling of them 773. B. C
- The multiplicity of them 788. A
- The Reformation arose from them ibid. D
- Indulgencies; what they were in the Primitive Church 788. E.
-
Against
Ingratitude
for mercies and Diliverances past 88. B. 577. E
- Why so seldom condemned in the scripture. 550. A
- Injuries: of patience in suffering them 410. A. B
- Innovations: the difference between Innovations, and Renovations 735. A
- Inquisition: of torturing men in the Romish Inquisition: and the uncertainty of such kind of Trials 194.195. C. D
- Intentions: the best men's best intentions, usually misconstrued 344. E
- Instinct: the difference between the Reason of Man, and the instinct of Beast: what it is; and wherein it consisteth 227. B. C
- Inward speculations, inward zeal, inward prayer, are not full performances of a Christian man's duty 700. B
- Jordan: the River Jordan, why so called 718. E
-
Ioyes
of Heaven: of their eternity 73. C. D 223. A. B. C. 266. A. 340. D. 747. E
- Heaven represented in Joy and Glory 672. A
-
Joy
of the wicked, which they have in this world, counterfeit 635. C
- Of the Joy of the godly, which they have in this world 671. E. 672. &c. 673. A. B
- Cheerefulnesse and Joy commended 816. B
-
Judging
of other men condemned 128. D. 479. A
- In doubtful cases we are ever to incline towards Charity 164. E
- There may be sin in a charitable Iudging of some holy men's Actions 488. D
-
Judgment;
of the day of
Judgment,
and the uncertainty thereof 271. D
- God's Judgments have not exactly the name of Punishments. 544. C
- How unwilling God is to speak of, or to come to Judgment 676. C
-
Justificare,
to
Justify;
taken three several ways 366. C
- Neither Works nor Faith the cause of our Justification 367. E
- K
-
-
KIngs;
the best form of Government by
Kings
51. B
- Our duty and debt unto them 91. C
- The Releiving of them, more necessary than giving of Alms 92. A
- What Humility and Reverence in Subjects is due unto them ibid. D
- And afforded in the very Scripture ibid.
- Not only their substantial, but their circumstantial and ceremonial wants, to be prevented by the Subjects Giving 100. E
- Their Crown of Thorns 137. B
- Kings; a particular ordinance of God, and nothing resulting out of the tacit consent of the people 391. C
- The King to institute and order matters in the public service of God 698. A
- He is Keeper of both the Tables D
- Against those disloyal jealousies and suspicions, which the people have of the King, and of his affection to Religion 699. D
- In matters of favor, the King is one of the people, saith the Law 754. C. D
-
Kisses;
of their treacherous, carnal, and sacred uses 405.406. A. B. C
- Used of Kinsfolkes 407. C
- As a Recognition of Power D
- In coming and going E
- In religious reverence E
- In sign of concord 408. A
-
Kneeling;
the necessity of it, in the time of prayer 72. E. 73. A
- Of the Kneeling at the Sacrament 115. D. 116. A. B.
-
Knowledge
of Fundamentals, every man is bound to have; but not of the superstructure and superedification 807. B
- How Imperfect all our Knowledge is, in Arts and Sciences 818. A
-
Knowledge;
against over-much curiosity, in attaining to it 63. E. 308. C. 319. A. B
- Whether we shall Know one another in the next world 157. C
- Of sobriety in Knowledge 270. C. 701. A
- Knowing of ourselves, how hard a thing it is 563. C
- Knowing of God; four ordinary ways of it in the Schools 229. B
-
KIngs;
the best form of Government by
Kings
51. B
- L
-
- LAbour; three-fold Labor in the Scripture 538. B
-
Law
and the
Gospel;
of the several state of either 284. E. 285. A
- Of the Law of Nature, under which every man is 362. C
- How the Law is said to show what is sin 687. B
- Laws of Temporal Princes; whether or no they bind the conscience of the Subject; wherefore never stated by the Pope, or by any Council 741. B
-
Liberality
and Bounty, Civil and Spiritual, what 759. E
- Liberality, a virtue that begets a virtue ibid.
- The true body and true soul of Liberalitie, what it is 760. C
-
Life,
the excellency of it 69. D. E. 70. A
- All that is good, included in it. 70. A
- Light, the first creature 759. D
- Literae Formatae, in the Primitive Church, their Institution and use 415. A
-
Lord;
whether God could be called the
Lord
before there were any creatures, a disputable thing 757. A
- The Judgment of Tertullian and S. Augustine, either way ibid. B
-
Love,
the first Act of the Will 225. D
- How we may love the creatures 398. E 598. B
- Against the Love of the things of this world 187. C. 399. C
- Against loving of God, for the Temporal blessings he bestows upon us 750. C
- Loving our enemies; six degrees observed in it 97. B
- Lust and Licentiousness; the burdens that it makes men under go 623. D
- Lying; whether it be lawful before one that is no competent Judge 491. B
- M
-
- Maccabees; their torture and patience 221. E. 222. A. B. C. &c.
-
Man;
what
Man
is 64. D. E. 65. A. &c.
- The dignity and honor of Man 655. C. D
- He cannot deliberately wish himself an Angel; for, he should lose thereby ibid. E
- Of those helps and assistances which Man affords to Man 656. D. E. &c.
- Man is called every creature in Scripture, and why 770. C. D
-
Mary;
the Crowns of England, Scotland, Denmark, and Hungary, much about one time, fell upon women, whose name was
Mary
243. E
- It is a noble and a comprehensive name, and why 244. A
- Marriage; of second Marriages 216. D. E. &c,
-
Masters;
of that esteem and regard is to be had to such as have taught us, or have been our
Masters
288. E. 289. A
- why called Patres-familias 388. B
-
Mediocrity
of Estate; the commendation of it 661. A. B. &c. 685. D
- Orders in the Church of Rome from both extremes; but not one from the Mean 661. B.
- What is a Mediocrity to one, is not, nor ought to be to another 714. C
-
Memory;
the Holy Ghosts pulpit oftener than the
Understanding
290. B. C
- Of the sinful Memory of past sins, how dangerous it is 542. D
-
Mercy
of God, how much above his judgments 12. B. 67. A. 71. A
- How full God is of it. C
- Occasionall Mercies, what, and how many D
- The Devils capable of Mercy, in the judgment of many Fathers. 66. A. 262. D
- The proper difference between Mercy and Truth 530. D
- Against those that abridge the great volume of God's Mercies 568. E
- Of several Mercies and refreshments, which are none of God's 810. E. 811. A
- God can do nothing but in Mercy 811. C
- Merits foreseen; no cause of Graces in us 5. A
- Millenarii; their error, what, and how general: almost all the Fathers tainted with it 261. C
- Miracles; against multiplying of them in the Roman Church 36. D
-
Mirabilis,
or, the man that works
Miracles;
the first of those great names given to Christ, by the Prophet Isaiah 58. C
- Nothing dearer to God, than a Miracle 215. A
- They are his own Prerogative ibid. B
- It is more to change Nature by Miracles, than to make Nature 394. E
- No man to ground his Faith upon a Miracle, as it seems to him. 429. A
- How to judge of Miracles, whether they be true or false 429. B
- Dangerous putting of God to a Miracle in saving us 456. B
- What is properly a Miracle 683. D
- The Creation it self, none ibid.
- Monuments; not in Churches, in the Primitive times 730 D
-
Mortification;
outward
Mortification
and austerity, a specious thing 492. E
- Mortification, to be general, of all the parts, and not of one only 541. B
- Mosselim; a kind of Doctors amongst the Jews, that taught the people by parables and obscure sayings 690. E
- The Multitude; of their levity, judgment, and changing of opinions 482. B. D
- Against Murmuring at God's blessings, if they be not as great as we desire 576. C
- Mute; against standing Mute, at examinations 491. C
-
Mysteries;
of two kinds in the Schools 203. D
- Every Religion under heaven, hath had her Mysteries, and some things in-intelligible of all sorts of men 690. D
- N
-
-
NAmes
and Titles; nothing puffeth men up more 734. D
- The Heathen never called their Tutelar God's by their Names, and why 608. A
- Of getting a good Name amongst men, and against those that neglect it 680. A. E
- Of men's retaining those Names that are most acceptable 285. B
- Of the Name of Christian, and when it was given, and how 426. B
- Adam named all creatures but himself, and why 563. B
- Natalitia Martyrum; their days of suffering so called, and why 268. C. 461. C
- Nativities; three Nativities to every Christian, and which they are 424. E
-
Nature;
of that sight, which we have of God, even by the light of
Nature
227. B. 686. E
- Of that power which some of the Fathers attribute to Nature, without Grace 314. C
- Men do not half so much against sin, as even by the power of Nature they are able to do 315. B. C
- Of the testimony which a Natural soul gives unto it self of it self 337. B
- Nature not equivalent to Grace 649 A
- Nature not our own. ibid.
- Nature and Grace how they co-operate ibid. D
- Neighbor-hood, and evil Neighbor-hood, and communicating with evil men 420. C
- Noctambulones; men that walk in their sleep, wake if they be called by their Names 467. A
-
Nothing;
there is nothing more contrary to God, than to be, to do, or to think
Nothing
265. B
- The Devil himself, cannot wish himself deliberately to be nothing C
- An Order of Friars in the Roman Church; that, in humility, called themselves Nullanos or Nothings 731. C
- Of the Numberlesse number of God's benefits to Man. 765. A
-
NAmes
and Titles; nothing puffeth men up more 734. D
- O
-
- OCcasionall instruments of God's glory; what cold affections they meet with in the world amongst men disaffected to God's cause 154. E
- Occasionall, mercies offered; what, and how many 12. D
-
Occasionall
Convertites; who 461. C
- God, no Occasionall God, and why 586. B
- Devotion no Occasionall thing, and why 244. E
- A great disease both in Church and State, that Occasionall things have diverted the principal, and hindered them from being done 797. C
- Often contemplation of death takes much from the fear of it 473. E
- Old; against growing old in sin 543. C
-
Opinion;
in a middle station between ignorance and knowledge 354. C
- Foolish and fantastical Opinions should not so much as be disputed against ibid. D
- Of gaining a good Opinion amongst men 481. E
- Oppression; against Oppression and Extortion 94. A
-
Original sin;
how full we are of it 2. E
- It is a Natural poison in us; and how it works 313. D
- The Gentiles, how purged of Original sin; in the judgment of some Romanists 314. D
- How Original sin is voluntary in us 363. A
- Ostracisme amongst the Athenians what 479. C
- P
-
-
PAinting
and adorning of themselves; how used, how abused of men and women 196. B. C. 541. C. 714. A
- The limits of it, not so narrow as some conceive them 643. C
- Parents; the honor due unto them 217. D
- Patience; in suffering of injuries; the power and benefit of it 410. B
-
Peace;
the consideration and the benefit of it 145. E. 146. A. B
- The loveliness and amiableness of it considered 753. B. C
- Of Peace and plenty ibid.
-
Penance;
different
Penances
upon different sins; yet practiced in our Church 402. B
- Public Penances in the Primitive Church, and why 545. D
- No satisfaction to God's justice in them 544 B. C. D
- How to understand the Fathers, inclining that way 545. E
- Perplexities; of the several kinds of them 606. C
- Persecution of the Primitive Church described 185. B. C
- Perfect; there is nothing in the world perfect; no, not in spiritual things 817. D. 818. A
- Of Persevering; and not trusting to our former goodness 165. C. D. 303. A. B. 331. A. 547. D. E
- Petalisme amongst the Syracusians, what it was 479. C
-
S.
Peters
being at Rome; how believed, and how not 404. E. 733. E. 744. D
- S. Peter and S. Paul, how magnified by S. Chrysostom. 462. B. C
- Philosophers; what knowledge many of them had of Christ 68. E
-
Pilgrimages;
how they begun, and grew on in the Church of Rome 252. B
- The abuses of them, taxed by the Romanists themselves ibid. C
- And by sundry Fathers ibid. D
-
Places Consecrated;
of their honor & use 251. D
- Against being over-homely, and over-fellowly with God and them 691. C
-
Place
and
Precedency;
the fond contentions about it 730. E
- Especially amongst the several Orders of Friars, who all pretend to the most humble Names that can be 731. D
- Against the sin of night-Pollutions; 129. C. D
-
Popularity;
the sin and danger of it 482. C
- The vanity of it 660. A
-
Poverty
and
Riches;
which occasioneth most sins 658. D. 659. D
- What kind of Poverty is a blessing 728. D. E
- Power; of that Power that is in us to discern our own Actions and assist ourselves in our own Salvation 118. B. C. D
-
Prayer
for the dead; no precept, no example of it in the Law, or Gospel 780. A
- First used of the Gentiles: and of them taken up by the Jews ibid. B. C
- Then of the Christians; and how ibid. D. E
- Why the Fathers did not oppose the practice of it. 780. D. E. 781. B
- Turtullian the first that took knowledge of it. 781. A
- Arius did oppose it: but not harkened to, and why 781. C
- How far allowed by Epiphanius. ibid. D.
- What the Fathers meant by Praying for the dead, out of Dennis the Areopagite 735. E
- which is allowed by the Apology for the Confession of Auspourg 786. B
-
Prayer:
A set form of
Prayer
used of the Gentiles 689. A
- The Office of Conditor precum, what it was ib.
- Their Prayers received every five years ibid. A. 771. E
-
Prayer;
how we may
Pray
earnestly, and yet wait the Lord's leisure 34. D
- Of Prayer at home, and at Church 35. C.&c. 90. B. 264. E. 370. B. 688. E
- Unseasonable Prayers not accepted of God 50. E. 521. B
- Prayers to be said kneeling 72. E
- Prayer and Preaching 89. E
- Against ex tempore Prayers 90. C. 130. C. 668. B. C.
- And Praying to several Saints, for several things 90. D
- What Prayer is properly called Ours, 130. A
- The condition of pure Prayer 131. A
- Not always heard of God, and why 133. B. C. 553. C.
- Against fashionall and customary Prayer 512. E
- Of the importunity, impudency, and violence of Prayer 522. B
- Against incogitancy in Prayer 555. B
- Against irreverence in God's House, in the time of Prayer 692. A
- Of the several errors that are easily committed, and do all frustrate our Prayers 692. D
- The duties and dignities of Prayer 804. B
- Repeating the same Prayer often, no idle thing 812 B
- Of those distractions which the best of us have in Prayer 820. B. C.
- Of the abuses of Prayer in the Church of Rome ibid.
- We are to descend to particulars in our Prayers 822. A
- Of that fervency and importunity which is required in our Prayers ibid. B. C
-
Praise
and thanksgiving; all our Religion is nothing else 88. C
- The necessity and benefit of it ibid. D
- Of such Praise as is due to the good actions of men 167 A. B. C. &c.
- Praise, what it is 679. D
- That it may be fought of good men ibid.
- Praise to be directed upon three Objects 680. C
- We may Praise, and yet not flatter D. E
- Of Praying and Praising 804. C. 805. B
- Preaching and Praying; the benefit and use of either 689. B. C. D
-
Preaching,
more frequent in the Primitive Times than now; and good reason why 324. C
- Preaching often ex tempore; and Preaching of other men's Sermons, ordinary ibid. D
- Against the sudden extemporal Preaching of this time 325. A
- Some points of Divinity not fit to be Preached 561. D. E
- In what sense it is good for a man to Preach himself 574. B. C. D
- Against popular Preaching 660. B
- Of Abuses offered to Preaching 693. A
- The several Names of Preaching 758. D
- No resemblance of Preaching amongst the Gentiles 771. E
-
Priesthood;
the honor and dignity of it 32. D 391 D.E
- That, the particular way of ennobling men amongst the Jews ibid. 32. E
- The Priest to be sent for before the Physician 110. C
- In extraordinary cases, above the King; but not otherwise 396. B
- The Egyptian Kings killed themselves, when the Priest bid them 485. C
- Of the Pretences and coverings, and excuses which we find out for our sins 570. B
-
Against
Pride
65. A
- Pride the first sin of the Angels 622. C
- All Pride is not forbidden Man ibid. D
- What is not Pride 623. B. 727. D
- How early a sin Pride is 726. D
- Nothing so contrary to God as Pride is 727. E 728. A
- Against Prodigality 94. C
- Of that Progress which a man is to make, be he never so learned or religious 427. B. C. D. 616. D
- Promises; the difference between the Promises of the Messias, and the Performance of them, by Christ's coming in the Flesh 68. B. 406. E
-
Prophet;
no visible calling to the Office of a
Prophet
54. D.
- The promises of God in the Prophets, how different from those in the Gospel 40. E. A
- This a seditious inference; the Prophets did thus and thus in the Law: therefore the Ministers of the Gospel should do so likewise; and why 734. A
-
Psalms;
The Book of
Psalms;
the dignity and virtue of it 653. D.E
- They are the Manna of the Church 663. B
- Such forbid to be made Priests, that were not perfect in the Psalms 813. B
- Singing of the Psalms; how general and commendable in S. Jerome's times ibid. B. C
-
Purgatory;
none in the Old Testament, and why, 783. E
- How derived from Poets and Philosophers, to Fathers 784. A. B. C
- How suspiciously and doubtfully the Fathers speak of it bid.
- specially, S Augustine 786. E
- Bellarmine refuted about it 792.793
-
PAinting
and adorning of themselves; how used, how abused of men and women 196. B. C. 541. C. 714. A
- Q
-
-
QVestions
arising, taken away by Silencing of both parties 42. D
- Against curiosity in seeking after them 57. D
- There is always Divinity enough to save a soul that was never called into Question 745. A
- How peevish some Romish Authors do deto • t the Scripture, when they fall upon any Question, or Controversy; though otherwise they content themselves with the true meaning and sense of the same words 790. E. 791. A
- Quomodo; to Question how God doth this or that, dangerous 301. E. 367. C
-
QVestions
arising, taken away by Silencing of both parties 42. D
- R
-
- REason, not to be inquired after, in all points of Faith 23. B
-
Reasons
not convincing, never to be proffered for to prove Articles of Faith 205. D
- God useth to accompany those Duties which he commands, with Reasons to induce us to the performance of them 593. A
-
Reconciliation,
how little amongst the Papists 10. D
- All Nations under heaven, have acknowledged some means of Reconciliation to their offended gods, in the remission of their sins 564. C
-
Religion:
against such as damnify
Religion
by their outward profession, more, than if they did forsake it 757. D
- Every Religion had her mysteries, her Reservations and in-intelligiblenesse, which were not easily understood of all men 690. D
- And therefore Religion not to be made too homely and course a thing ibid. C
- Christian Religion, an easy yoke; a short and contracted burden 71. D
- All points of Religion not to be divulged to the people 87. D
- Defects in Religion, safer than superfluities 291. A
- Of peaceable conversation with men of divers Religions 310. C
- We, charged to have but a negative Religion 636. A
- Religion; how far we may proceed in the outward declaration of our Religion 814. A
-
Resurrection;
of three sorts 149. E
- Of that from persecution 185. B. C. D
- Of that from Sin 186. D. E.&c
- Of that from Death 189. D
- How, a Resurrection of the soul; being the soul cannot die 189. D
- Christ; how the First Resurrection 191. B
- Our Resurrection, a mystery 204. C
- Resurrection; All Religions amongst the Heathens, had some Impressions of it 800. E
- Retrospection or looking upon time past, the best rule to judge of the future 668. D
-
Reverence;
how much due to men of old Age 31. D
- What Required in God's House 43. D
-
Revelations;
we are not to hearken after them 238 E
- Nor yet, to bind God from them 239. A
- Rewards; against bribery, or receiving of