ALl the words of God are alwayes sweete in them­selues, sayes Dauid; but sweeter in the mouth, and in the pen of some of the Prophets, and some of the Apostles, then of others, as they differed in their naturall gifts, or in their education: but sweetest of all, where the Holy Ghost hath beene plea­sed [Page 2] to set the word of God to Musique, and to conuay it into a Song; and this Text is of that kind: part of the Song which Deborah & Barak sung after their great victory vpon Si­sera; Sisera who was Iabin the King of Cana­ans Generall against Israel. God himselfe made Moses a Song, and expressed his rea­son Deut. 31.19. why; The children of Israel, sayes God, will forget my Law; but this song they will not forget; and whensoeuer they sing this song, this song shall testifie against them, what I haue done for them, how they haue forsaken me. And to such a purpose hath God left this Song of Deborah and Barak in the Scriptures, that all Murmurers, and all that stray into a diffidence of Gods power, or of his purpose to sustaine his owne cause, and destroy his owne Enemies, might run and read, might read and sing, the wonder­full deliuerances that God hath giuen to his people, by weake and vnexpected meanes. This world begun with a Song, if the Chalde Paraphrasts, vpon Salomons Song of Songs haue taken a true tradition; That assoone as Adams sinne was forgiuen him, he expres­sed (as he cals it in that Song) Sabbatum suum, [Page 3] his Sabboth, his peace of conscience, in a Song; of which, we haue the entrance in that Paraphrase. This world begun so; and so did the next world too, if wee count the beginning of that (as it is a good computa­tion to doe so) from the comming of Christ Iesus: for that was expressed on Earth, in diuers Songs; in the blessed Virgins Mag­nificat; My soule doth magnifie the Lord: In Zacharies Benedictus; Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; and in Simeons, Nunc dimittis, Lord, now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace. This world began so, and the other; and when both shall ioyne, and make vp one world without end, it shall continue so in heauen, in that Song of the Lamb, Great and marueilous Apoc. 3. are thy workes, Lord God Almighty, iust and true are thy wayes, thou King of Saints. And, to Tune vs, to Compose and giue vs a Harmo­nie and Concord of affections, in all per­turbations and passions, and discords in the passages of this life, if we had no more of the same Musique in the Scriptures (as we haue the Song of Moses at the Red Sea, and many Psalmes of Dauid to the same pur­pose) this Song of Deborah were enough, a­bundantly [Page 4] enough, to slumber any storme, to becalme any tempest, to rectifie any scruple of Gods slacknesse in the defence of his cause, when in the History and occasi­on of this Song, expressed in the Chapter be­fore this, we see, That Israel had done euill in the sight of the Lord againe, and yet againe, God came to them: That God himselfe had sold Israel into the hands of Iabin King of Cana­an, and yet he repented the bargaine, and came to them; That in twenty yeeres oppressi­on he came not, and yet he came. That when Sisera came against them, with nine hundred Cha­riots of Iron, and all preparations, proportio­nable to that, and God cald vp a woman, a Prophetesse, a Deborah against him, because Deborah had a zeale to the cause, and conse­quently an enmity to the enemie, God would effect his purpose by so weake an in­strument, by a woman, but by a woman, which had no such interest, nor zeale to the cause; by Jael: And in Iaels hand, by such an instrument, as with that, scarce any man could doe it, if it were to be done a­gaine, with a hammer she driues a nayle through his temples, and nayles him to the [Page 5] ground, as he lay sleeping in her tent: And then the end of all, was the end of all, not one man of his army left aliue. O my Soule, why art thou so sad, why art thou so disquieted within me? Sing vnto the Lord an old song, the song of Deborah and Barak, That God by weake meanes doth mighty workes, That all Gods creatures fight in his behalfe, They fought from heaven, the starres in their Order, fought against Sisera.

You shal haue but two parts out of these Diuision. words; And to make these two parts, I con­sider the Text, as the two Hemispheres of the world, laid open in a flat, in a plaine Map. All those parts of the world, which the An­cients haue vsed to consider, are in one of those Hemispheres; All Europe is in that, and in that is all Asia, and Afrike too: So that when we haue seene that Hemisphere, done with that, we might seeme to haue seene all, done with all the world; but yet the other Hemisphere, that of America is as big as it; though, but by occasion of new, and late discoueries, we had had nothing to say of America. So the first part of our Text, will bee as that first Hemisphere; all which the [Page 6] ancient Expositors found occasion to note out of these words, will be in that: but by the new discoueries of some humors of men, and rumors of men, we shall haue oc­casion to say somewhat of a second part to. The parts are, first, the Literall, the Histo­ricall sense of the words; And then an e­mergent, a collaterall, an occasionall sense of them. The explication of the wordes, and the Application, Quid tunc, Quid nunc, How the words were spoken then, How they may be applied now, will be our two parts. And, in passing through our first, wee shall make these steps. First, God can, and sometimes doth effect his purposes by himselfe; intirely, immediatly, extraordi­narily, miraculously by himselfe: But yet, in a second place, we shall see, by this story, That he lookes for assistance, for concurrence of second causes, and subor­dinate meanes: And that therefore, God in this Song of Deborah, hath prouided an honourable commemoration of them, who did assist his cause; for, the Princes haue their place, The Princes of Issachar were Verse 15. with her: And then, the Gouernours, The [Page 7] great Persons, the great Officers of the State, haue their place in this honour, That they offered themselues willingly to that Verse 9. seruice; And after them, the Merchants, Verse 10. for those who are said there, to ride vpon white Asses, to be well mounted, according to the manner of those Nations, are, by Pe­ter Martyr, amongst our Expositors, and by Serarius the Iesuite, amongst the others, fit­ly vnderstood, to be intended of Merchants; And in the same verse, the Iudges are honora­bly remembred, Those that sit in Iudgement; And a farre vnlikelier sort of people, then any of these, in the same verse too, Those that walked by the way; Idle, and discoursing men, that were not much affected, how businesse went, so they might talke of them: And lastly, the whole people in generall, Verse 2. how poore soeuer, they haue euidence from this record, That they offered them­selues (and what will they denie, that offer themselues) and willingly, to this imploi­ment. And then, God hauing here afforded this honourable mention of them, who did assist him, he layes also a heauy note vpon such, who for collaterall respects pre­uaricated, [Page 8] or withdraw themselues from his seruice: perticularly vpon Ruben, who Verse 16. was diuided by greatnesse of heart, And vpon Dan, who remained in his ships. And there­fore Verse 17. to the encouragement of those who did assist him, in any proportion, though their assistance were no wayes competent against so potent an enemy, God fought for himselfe too, They fought from Heauen, The starres in their order fought against Sisera. And these will be the branches, or circumstan­ces of our first part: for the particulars of the second, we shall open them more com­modiously for your memory and vse, then, when we come to handle them, then now. Now we proceed to those of the first part.

And into those I passe with this protesta­tion, Part 1. That in all which I shall say this day, beeing to speake often of God, in that No­tion, as he is Lord of Hostes, and fights his owne battailes, I am farre from giuing fire to them that desire warre. Peace in this world, is a pretious Earnest, and a faire and louely Type of the euerlasting peace of the world to come: And warre in this world, is a shrewd and fearefull Embleme of the euer­lasting [Page 9] discord and tumult, and torment of the world to come; And therefore, our Bles­sed God, blesse vs with this externall, and this internall, and make that lead vs to an eternall peace. But I speake of this subiect, especially to establish and settle them, that suspect Gods power, or Gods purpose, to succour those, who in forraine parts, grone vnder heauie pressures in matter of Re­ligion, or to restore those, who in forraine parts, are deuested of their lawfull posses­sions, and inheritance; and because God hath not done these great workes yet, nor yet raised vp meanes, in apparance, and in their apprehension, likely to effect it, That therefore God likes not the cause; and there­fore they begin to bee shaked in their owne Religion at home, since they thinke that God neglects it abroad. But, beloued, since God made all this world of nothing, cannot hee recouer any one peece thereof, or re­store any one peece, with a little? In the Creation, his production of specifique formes, and seuerall Creatures in the se­uerall dayes, was much, very much; but not very much, compared with that, which [Page 10] he had done immediatly before, when he made Heauen and Earth of nothing. For, for the particular Creatures, God had then Praeiacentem Materiam, he had stuffe before him; enough to cut out Creatures of the lar­gest sise, his Elephants of the Earth, his Whales and Leuiathans in the Sea. In that matter there was Semen Creaturarum, The Seed of all Creatures in that stuffe. But for the stuffe it selfe, the Heauen and Earth, God had not Semen Coeli, any such seed of Heauen as that he could say to it, doe thou hatch a Heauen; he had not any such Semen terrae, as that hee could bid that grow vp into an Earth: There was nothing at all, and all, that is, was produced from that; and then who shall doubt of his proceeding, if by a little he will doe much? He suffered his greater works to be paraleld, or to be counterfeit by Pha­raohs Magicians, but in his least, in the ma­king of Lice, hee brought them to confesse Digitum Dei, the finger of God; and that was enough; The arme of God, the hand of God needs not; where he will worke, his finger is enough, It was not that imagina­tion, that dreame of the Rabbins, that hinde­red [Page 11] the Magicians, who say, that the Deuill cannot make any Creature, lesse then a Bar­ley corne; As it is with men, they miscon­ceiue it to be with the Deuill too; harder to make a little clocke, a little picture, any thing in a little, then in a larger forme. That was no part of the reason in that case: but since man ordinarily esteemes it so, and or­dinarily admires great workes in little forme, why will he not be content to glo­rifie God that way, in a faithfull confidence, that hee can and will doe great workes by weake meanes. Should God haue stayd to leuie, and arme, and traine, and muster, and present men enow to discomfit Sennache­rib? Hee tooke a neerer way; he flew al­most two hundreth thousand of them, in one night by an Angell. Should God haue Esa. 37.36. troubled an Angell to satisfie Elisha his ser­uant? 2. Reg. 5.16. Onely by apparition in the cloudes, he brought him to acknowledge, that there were more with them, then with the Enemy, when there was none. He troubled not so much as a cloud, he imployed no Creature at all, against the Philistines, when they came vp with thirty thousand Chariots; but hee 1. Sam. 23 5 [Page 12] breathed a dampe, an astonishment into them, he imprinted a diuine terror in their hearts, and they fought against one another. Iud. 6. God fore saw a diminution of his honour, in the augmentation of Israels forces, and ther­fore he reduced Gideons thirty two thousand to three hundred persons. It was so in per­sons, God does much with few, and it was so in time, God does much, though late; though God seeme a long time to haue for­got his people, yet in due time, that is, in his time, he returnes to them againe. S. Augustine makes a vse ull Historicall note, That that land to which God brought the Children of Israel, was their owne land before; they were the right heires to it, lineally descended from him, who was the first possessor of it, after the floud: but they were so long out of pos­session of it, as that they were neuer able to set their title on foot; nay, they did scarce know their own title, and yet God repossessed them of it, reinuested them in it. It is so for persons, and times in his wayes in this world, Much with few, much though late, and it is so in his wayes to the next world too: for per­sons, Elias knew of no more but himselfe, [Page 13] that serued the right God aright: God makes him know that there were seuen thousand more, seuen thousand was much to one, but it was little to all the world: and yet these se­uen thousand haue peopled heauen, and sent vp all those Colonies thither; all those Armies of Martyrs, those flockes of Lambes, inno­cent children, those Fathers, the Fathers of the Church, and Mothers, holy Matrons, and daughters, blessed Virgines, and learned and laborious Doctors; these seuen thousand haue filled vp the places of the fallen Angels, and repeopled that Kingdome: And where­soeuer we thinke them most worne out, God at this time hath his remnant (as the Apostle Rom. 11.5. sayes) and God is able to make vp the whole garment of that remnant. So he does much with few, in the wayes to heauen; and that he does much though late, in that way too, thou mayest discerne in his working vpon thy selfe. How often hast thou suffered thy Soule, to grow cleane out of all reparations into ruine, by thine inconsiderate and habi­tuall course of sinne, and neuer repaired it by any good vse of hearing the word, or re­ceiuing the Sacrament in a long time, and [Page 14] when thou hast at any time, come to a sur­uey of thy conscience, how hast thou beene affected with an inordinate apprehension of Gods anger, and his inaccessiblenesse, his inexorablenesse towards thee, and sunke e­uen into the iawes of desperation; And yet, Quia manet semen dei, because the seed of God hath remained in thee, Incubat Spiritus, 1. 10. 3.4. the Holy Ghost hath sat vpon that seed, and hatched a new Creature in thee, a modest, but yet infallible assurance of the Mercy of thy God. Recollect all; in raysing of sieges, and discomfiting of Armies, in restoring possessions, and reinuesting right heires, in repairing the ruines of the Kingdome of heauen, depopulated in the fall of Angels, in reestablishing peace of conscience; in a presumptuous confidence, or ouer-timo­rous diffidence in God, God glorifies him­selfe that way, to doe much with little.

He does so; but yet hee will haue some­thing. God is a good Husband, a good Ste­ward of Mans contributions, but contribu­tions he will haue: hee will haue a concur­rence, a cooperation of persons. Euen in that great worke, which wee spake of at first, [Page 15] the first creation, which was so absolutely of Nothing, yet there was a Faciamus, let vs, vs, make Man; though but one God, yet more Persons in that worke. Christ had been Matt. 4.3. able to haue done as the Deuill would haue had him doe, to haue made bread of stones, when hee had so great a number to feed in the Wildernesse; but hee does not so: Hee askes his Disciples, Quot panes habetis; How many loafes haue you? and though they were but fiue, yet since they were some, he multiplies them, and feeds aboue fiue thousand with those fiue. Hee would haue a remnant of Gedeons Armie to fight his bat­tailes: A remnant of Israels beleeuers to make vp his Kingdome; A remnant of thy Soule, his seed wrapd vp somewhere, to saue thy Soule; And a remnant of thy selfe, of thy Mind, of thy Purse, of thy Person, for thy temporall deliuerance. God goes lowe, and accepts small Sacrifices; a Pigeon, a hand­full of Flower, a few eares of Corne; but a Sacrifice he will haue. The Christian Church implies a shrewd distresse, when shee pro­uides that reason, that clause in her prayer, Quia non est alius, Giue Peace in our time, O [Page 16] Lord, because there is no other that fighteth for vs: If the bowels of compassion bee eaten out, if the band of the Communion of Saints be dissolued, we fight for none, none fights for vs, at last neyther we nor they shall fight for Christ, nor Christ for them nor vs, but all become a prey to the generall enemie of the name of Christ; for God requires something, some assistance, some concurrence, some co­operation, though he can fight from heauen, and the Starres, in their order, can fight against Sisera.

And therefore, though God giue his glo­rie to none, his glorie, that is to doe all with Nothing, yet he giues them their glorie, that doe any thing for him, or for themselues. And as hee hath laid vp a record, for their glorie and Memoriall, who were remarke­able for Faith (for the eleuenth Chapter to the Hebrewes, is a Catalogue of them.) So in this Song of Deborah and Barake, hee hath laide vp a Record for their glorie, who ex­pressed their faith in Workes, and assisted his seruice. That which is said in generall, The Memorie of the iust is blessed, but the name of the Prou. 13.7. wicked shall rot, That is applied and promi­sed [Page 17] in particular, by him, who can performe it, by Christ, to that woman, who anointed him, That whersoeuer his Gospell should be Prea­ched in the whole world, ther should also this that Mat. 26.13 this woman had done, be told for a memoriall of her. Shee assisted at his Funerall (as Christ himselfe interprets her action, That shee did it to burie him) and hath her glorie: how shall he glorifie them, that aduance his glo­rie? Shee hath her reward in his death; what shall they haue, that keepe him, and his Gos­pell aliue? Not a verse in Deborah and Ba­raks song, and yet that is honourable eui­dence: Not a commemoration at the Prea­ching of the Gospell; and yet that is the ho­nourable testimonie in this place, and at these Exercises, of such as haue contribu­ted to the conueniencies of these Exerci­ses, but they shall haue a place in the Booke of life; indelibly in the Booke of life, if they proceede in that deuotion of assisting Gods cause, and doe not thinke, that they haue done all, or done enough, if they haue done something some one time. The Mo­rall man hath said well, and well applied it; Plutar. A Ship is a Ship for euer, if you repaire it. So, [Page 18] sayes hee, Honour is Honour, and so say wee, A good Conscience is a good Conscience for euer, if you repaire it: But, sayes he well, Aliquid famae addendum, ne putrescat. Honour will putrifie, and so will a good Conscience too, if it be not repaired. He that hath done No­thing must begin, and hee that hath done something for Gods cause, must doe more, if hee will continue his name in the Booke of Life; though God leaue no one particular action, done for his glorie, without glo­rie; as those who assisted his glorie heere, haue a glorious Commemoration in this Song.

In the fifteenth verse, Princes haue their place; The Princes of Issachar, were with Debo­rah when the King goes to the field, Many, who are in other cases Priuiledged, are by their Tenures bound to goe. It is a high Tenure to hold by a Crowne; And when God, of whome, and whome onely they hold, that hold so, goes into the field, it becomes them to goe with him. But as God sits in Heauen, and yet goes into the field, so they of whome God hath said, Yee are Gods, the Kings of the Earth, may stay at home, and [Page 19] yet goe too. They goe in their assistance to the Warre; They goe in their Mediation for Peace; They goe in their Example, when from their sweetnesse, and moderation in their Gouernement at home, their flowes out an instruction, a perswasion to Princes abroad. Kings goe many times, and are not thanked, because their wayes are not seene: and Christ himselfe would not alwayes bee seene; In the eight of Iohn, he would not be seene. When they tooke vp stones to stone him, he withdrew himselfe inuisibly, hee would not be seene: When Princes find that open actions exasperate, they doe best, if they be not seene. In the sixth of Iohn, Christ would not bee seene. When they would haue put vpon him, that which was not fit for him to take, when they would haue made him King, he withdrew himselfe, and was not seene. When Princes are tempted to take Territories, or possessions in to their hands, to which other Princes haue iust pre­tences, they doe best, if they withdrawe themselues from engagements in vnneces­sarie Warres, for that, that onely was Io­fiahs 2. Reg. 23.29. ruine. Kings cannot alwayes goe in [Page 20] the sight of Men, and so they lose their thankes; but they cannot goe out of the sight of God, and there they neuer lose their reward: For the Lord that sees them in secret, shall reward them openly, with peace in their owne States, and Honour in their owne Chronicles, as here, for assisting his cause, hee gaue the Princes of Issachar a roome, a straine in Deborah and Barakes Song.

And in the ninth verse, the Gouernors, the great Officers, haue their place, in this praise, My heart is towards the Gouernors of Israel that offered themselues willingly. It is not them­selues in person; Great Officers cannot doe so; They are Intelligences that moue great Spheares, but they must not bee mou'd out of them. But their glorie here is their wil­lingnesse. That before they were inquired into, how they carried themselues in their Offices, before they were intimidated, or soupled with fines and ransomes, volunta­rily they assisted the cause of God. Some in the Romane Church write, that the Cardinalls of that Church, are so incorporated into the Pope, so much of his body, and so bloud of [Page 21] his bloud, that in a feuer they may not let bloud without his leaue. Truly, the great Persons and Gouernors in any state, are so noble and neere parts of the King, as that they may not bleed out in any subuentions and assistances of such causes vnder-hand, as are not auowd by the King; for, it is not euident that that cause is Gods cause; at least not euident that that way is an assistance of Gods cause. But a good, and tractable, and ductile disposition, in all courses which shall lawfully bee declared to bee for Gods glorie, then, not Contra, but Praeter, not a­gainst, but besides, not in opposing, but in preuenting the Kings will, before hee vrge, before he presse, to be willing and forward in such assistances, this giues great Persons, Gouernors, and Officers, a verse in Baraks and Deborahs Song, and Deborah and Baraks Song is the Word of God.

The Merchants haue their place in that verse too. For, (as wee said before) those who ride vpon white Asses, (which was as ho­norable a transportation, as Coaches are now) are by Peter Martyr amongst ours, and by Serarius the Jesuit amongst others, well vn­derstood [Page 22] to be the Merchants. The great­nesse and the dignitie of the Merchan of the East is sufficiently expressed in those of Babylon, Thy Merchants were the great Men of the Earth. And for the Merchants of the Apoc. 18.23 West, we know that in diuers forraine parts, their Nobilitie is in their Merchants, their Merchants are their Gentlemen. And certain­ly, no place of the world, for Commodities and Situation, better disposed then this Kingdome, to make Merchants great. You cannot shew your greatnesse more, then in seruing God, with part of it; you did serue before you were free; but here you do both at once, for his seruice is perfect freedome. I am not here to day, to beg a Beneuolence for any particular cause on foot now: there is none; but my Errand in this first part is, first to remoue iealousies and suspitions of Gods neglecting his businesse, because he does it not at our appointment, and then to pro­moue and aduance a disposition, to assist his cause and his glory, in all wayes, which shall bee declar'd to conduce thereunto, whether in his body, by relieuing the poore, or in his house by repairing these walls, or [Page 23] in his honour in employments more pub­lique: And to assure you that you cannot haue a better debter, a better pay-master then Christ Iesus: for all your Entayles, and all your perpetuities doe notso nayle, so hoope in, so riuet an estate in your posteritie, as to make the Sonne of God your Sonne too, and to giue Christ Iesus a Childes part, with the rest of your Children. It is noted (perchaunce but out of leuity) that your Children doc not keepe that which you get: It is but a calumny, or but a fascination of ill wishers. We haue many happy instances to the con­trarie, many noble families deriued from you; One, enough to enoble a World; Queene ELIZABETH was the great gran­child of a Lord Maior of London. Our bles­sed God blesse all your Estates, and blesse your posteritie in a blessed enioying therof; But truly it is a good way to that, amongst all your purchases, to purchase a place in Barak and Deborahs Song, a testimonie of the Holy Ghost, that you were forward in all due times in the assistance of Gods cause.

That testimonie, in this Seruice in our Text, haue the Iudges of the Land, in the [Page 24] verse too, ye that fit in Iudgement. Certain­ly, Men exercised in Judgement, are likeliest to thinke of the last Iudgement. Men accu­stomed to giue Iudgement, likeliest to thinke of the Iudgement they are to receiue. And at that last Iudgement the Malediction of the left hand falls vpon them that haue not har­bored Christ, not fed him, not clothed him, And when Christ comes to want those things in that degree, that his Kingdome, his Gos­pell, himselfe cannot subsist, where it did, without such a sustentation, an omission in such an assistance, is much more heauie. All Iudgements end in this, Suum cui (que), to giue euery one his owne. Giue God his owne, and hee hath enough; giue him his owne, in his owne place, and his cause will be preferred before any Ciuill or Naturall obligation. But God requires not that: pay euery other Man first, owe nothing to any Man; pay your Children, apportion them conuenient por­tions. Pay your estimation, your reputa­tion, liue in that good fashion which your ranke and calling calls for: when all this is done, of your superfluities beginne to pay God, and euen for that you shall haue your [Page 25] roome in Deborah, and Baraks Song, for Assistants, and Coadiutors to him.

For a farre vnlikelier sort of people, then any of these, haue that in the same verse al­so, Ambulantes super viam, They that walke vp and downe idle, discourcing Men, Men of no Calling, of no Profession, of no sense of other Mens miseries, and yet they assist this cause. Men that sucke the sweet of the Earth, and the sweat of other Men: Men that pay the State nothing in doing the offices of mutuall societie, and embracing particular vocations; Men that make them­selues but pipes to receiue and conuay, and vent rumors, but spunges to sucke in, and powre out foule water; Men that doe not spend time, but weare time, they trade not, they plough not, they preach not, they plead not, but walke, and walke vpon the way, till they haue walked out their sixe moneths for the renuing of bands, euen these had some remorse in Gods cause, euen these got into Deborah and Baraks Song for assisting there.

And lesse; that is, Poorer then these: for in the Second verse, the people are as forward [Page 26] as the Gouernors, in the Ninth, They offered themselues willingly. They might offer them­selues, their persons. It is likely they did; and likely that many of them had nothing to offer but themselues. And when Men of that pouertie offer, part easily with that which was hardly got, how acceptable to God, that Sacrifice is, we see in Christs testi­monie of that Widdow, who amongst many great giuers gaue her Mite, That shee gaue more then all they, because shee gaue all: which testified not onely her Liberalitie to God, but her Confidence in God, that though shee left nothing, shee should not lacke: for that right vse doth Saint Augustine make of that example, Diuites largiuntur securi de diuitijs, pauper securus de Domino: A rich man giues, and feeles it not, feares no want, because hee is sure of a full Chest at home; A poore man giues, and feeles it as little, because hee is sure of a boun­tifull God in Heauen.

God then can worke alone; there wee set out: yet he does require assistance; that way wee went: And to those that doe assist, hee giues glory here; so farre we are gone: but yet this remaynes, that hee layes notes of [Page 27] blame, and reproach vpon them, whom collaterall respects withdrew from this as­sistance. For there is a kind of reproach and increpation laide vpon Reuben in that question, Why abodest thou amongst the sheep­folds? The diuisions of REVBEN were great Verse 16. thoughts of heart. Ambition of precedencie in places of employment, greatnes of heart, and a lothnesse to be vnder the commaund of any other, and so an incoherence, not concurring in Counsailes and Executions, retard oftentimes euen the cause of God. So is there also a reproach and increpation Verse 17. vpon Dan, in that question, why did Dan remaine in his ships; A confidence in their owne strength, a sacrificing to their owne Nets, an attributing of their securitie to their owne wisedome or power, may also retard the cause of God; that stayed Dan be­hinde.

Thus then they haue their thankes that doe, thus their markes that doe not assist in Gods cause: though God to encourage them that doe, accomplish his worke himselfe, They fought from heauen, The Starres in their order fought against Sisera. They fought, sayes [Page 28] the Text, but does not tell vs who; least men should direct their thankes for that which is past, or their prayers for future benefits, to any other, euen in heauen, then to God him­selfe. The stars are nam'd; It could not be feared that Men would pray to them, sacri­fice to them, Angels & Saints are not named; Men might come to ascribe to them, that which appertained to God onely. Now these Stars, sayes the text, fought in their courses, Ma­nentes in Ordine, they fought not disorderly. It was no Enchantment, no Sorcery, no disord­ring of the frame, or the powers, or the in­fluence of these heauenly bodies, in fauor of the Israelites; God would not be behol­den to the Deuill, or to Witches, for his best friends. It was no disorderly Enchantment, nor it was no Miracle, that disordered these Starres; as in Iosuahs time, the Sunne and Moone were disordred in their Motions; But as Iosephus, who relates this battaile more particularly, sayes, with whom all agree, The naturall Influence of these heauenly bodies, at this time, had created and gathered such stormes and hayles, as blowing vehemently in the Enemies face, was the cause of this defeate: for so wee [Page 29] might haue said, in that deliuerance, which God gaue vs at Sea, They fought from hea­uen, The Starres in their order fought against the Enemie. Without coniuring, without Miracle, from heauen, but yet by naturall meanes, God preserued vs. For that is the force of that phrase, and of that maner of ex­pressing it, Manentes in Ordine, The Starres, containing themselues in their Order, fought. And that phrase induces our second part, the accommodation, the occasionall appli­cation of these words: God will not fight, nor be fought for disorderly; And therefore in illu­stration, and confirmation of those words of the Apostle, Let all things be done decently, and in order, Aquinas, in his Commentaries vp­on that place, cites, and applies this Text, as words to the same purpose, and of the same signification. You, sayes Saint Paul, you who are Stars in the Church, must pro­ceede in your warfare, decently, and in or­der, for the stars of heauen, when they fight for the Lord, they doe their seruice, Manen­tes in Ordine, containing themselues in their Or­der. And so in our order, we are come to our second part. In which, we owe you by pro­mise [Page 30] made at first, an Analysis, a distribution of the steps and branches of this part, now when wee are come to the handling there­of: And thus wee shall proceede; first, the Warre, which wee are to speake of here, is not as before, a Worldly warre, it is a Spiri­tuall War: And then the Munition, the proui­sion for this warre, is not as before, tempo­rall assistance of Princes, Officers, Iudges, Merchants, all sorts of People, but it is the Gospell of Christ Iesus, and the preaching thereof. Preaching is Gods ordinance, with that Ordi­nance hee fights from heauen, and batters downe all errors. And thirdly, to main­tain this War, he hath made Preachers Stars; and vae simon, woe be vnto them, if they doe not fight, if they doe not preach: But yet in the last place, they must fight, as the Stars in hea­uen doe, In their order, in that Order, and ac­cording to those directions, which, they, to whom it appertaines, shall giue them: for that is to fight in Order. And in these foure branches, wee shall determine this second part.

First then we are in Contemplation of a Spirituall warre; now, though there be a [Page 31] Beatie Pacifici, a blessing reserued to Peace­makers, to the Peace-maker, our Peaoe-maker, who hath sometimes effected it in some pla­ces, and alwayes seriously and chargeably, and honourably endeuoured it in all places, yet there is a spirituall Warre, in which, Maledicti Pacifici; Cursed bee they that goe about to make Peace, and to make all one, The warres betweene Christ and Beliall. Let no man seuer those whom God hath ioyned, but let no Man ioyne those whom God hath seuered neyther, and God hath seuered Christ and Belial: and that was Gods action, Ponam inimicitias; The Seed of the woman, and the Seed of the Serpent, wee and the Deuill, should neuer haue fallen out; wee agree but too well; but God hath put an enmity betweene vs. God hath put Truth and Falshood, Jdolatrie and Sinceritie so farre a­sunder, and infused such an incompatibili­tie, and imprinted such an implacabilitie betweene them, as that they cannot flow into one another: And therefore, there, Maledicti Pacifici, It is an opposition against God, by any colourable Modifications, to reconcile opinions diametrally contrary to [Page 32] one another, in fundamentall things. Day and Night may ioyne and meet. In Diluculis and in Crepusculis, The dawning of the day, in the Morning, and the shutting in of the day in the Euening, make day and night so much one, as sometimes you cannot tell which to call them: but Lux & tenebrae, light and darknes, Midnight and Noone neuer met, neuer ioynd. There are points, which passi­ons of men, and vehemence of disputation, haue carried farther a sunder then needed: and these indeed haue made the greatest noyse; because vpon these, for the most part, depends the matter of profit: and Beati paci­fici, blessed were that labour, and that labou­rer, that could reconcile those things; and of that there might bee hope, because it is of­ten but the Persons that fight, it is not the thing, the matters are not so different. But then there are matters so different, as that a Man may sit at home, and weepe, and wish, prayse God that hee is in the right, and pray to God for them that are in the wrong, but to thinke that they are indif­ferent, and all one, Maledicti Pacifici, hee that hath brought such a Peace, hath [Page 33] brought a curse vpon his owne Conscience, and laid, not a Satisfastion, but a Stupefaction vpon it. A Turke might perchance say, in scorne of vs both, They call you Heretiques, you call them Idolaters, why might not Ido­laters, and Heretiques agree well enough to­gether? But a true Christian will neuer make Contrarieties in fundamentall things in­different, neuer make foundations, and su­peredifications, the Word of God, and the Traditions of men, all one. Euery man is a little world, sayes the Philosopher; Euery man is a little Church too; and in euery man there are two sides, two armies: the flesh fights against the Spirit. This is but a Ciuill warre, nay it is but a Rebellion indeed; and yet it can neuer be absolutely quenched. So euery man is also a Souldier in that great and generall warre, betweene Christ, and Beliall, the Word of God, and the will of man. Euery man is bound to hearken to a peace, in such things as may admit peace, in differences, where men differ from men; but bound also to shut himselfe vp against all ouertures of peace, in such things, as are in their Nature irreconcileable, in differences [Page 34] where men differ from God. That warre God hath kindled, and that warre must bee maintain'd, and maintain'd by his way; and his way, and his Ordinance in this warre, is Preaching.

If God had not said to Noah, Fac tibi Ar­cam; and when he had said so, if he had not giuen him a Deseigne, a Modell, a Platforme of that Arke, we may doubt credibly, whether euer man would haue thought of a Ship, or of any such way of trade & Commerce. Shipping was Gods owne Inuention, and therein Laetentur Insulae, as Dauid sayes, Let the Ilands reioyce. So also, if Christ had not said to his Apostles, Ite praedicate, Goe and preach: And when he had said so, said thus much more, Qui non crediderit damnabitur, Hee that beleeues not your Preaching, shall be damned: certainly man would neuer haue thought of such a way of establishing a kingdome, as by Preaching. No other Na­tion had any such Institution, as Preaching. In the Romane State, there was a publique Officer, Conditor Precum, who vpon great emergent occasions, deprecations of immi­nent dangers, or Gratulations for euident [Page 35] benefites, did make particular Collects an­swerable to those occasions: And some such occasionall Panegyriques, and gratu­latory Orations for temporall benefites, they had in that State. But a fixt and con­stant course of conteining Subiects in their Religious and Ciuill duties, by preaching, onely God ordain'd, onely his Children en­ioy'd. Christ when he sent his Apostles, did not giue them a particular command, Ite o­rate, goe and pray in the publique Congre­gation; All Nations were accustomed to that; Christ made no doubt of any mans opposing, or questioning Publique Prayer; and therefore for that, he onely said, Sic ora­bitis, Not goe, and pray, but, when you pray, pray thus, hee instructed them in the forme; the dutie was well knowne to all before. But, for Preaching, He himselfe was anoin­ted for that, The Spirit of the Lord is vpon me, Esa. 61.1 because the Lord hath anoynted mee to preach: His vnction was his function. He was an­oynted with that power, and hee hath an­oynted vs with part of his owne vnction: All power is giuen vnto mee, sayes hee, in Hea­uen and in Earth; and therefore (as he addes [Page 36] there) Goe yee, and preach: Because I haue all Math. 28 19. power, for preaching, take yee part of my power, and preach too. For, Preaching is the power of God vnto Saluation, and the sauour of life vnto life. When therefore the Apostle sayes, Quench not the Spirit, Nec in te, nec in alio, 1 Thes. 5. 19. sayes Aquinas; Quench it not in your selfe, by forbearing to heare the Word preached; quench it not in others, by discouraging them that doe preach. For so Saint Chryso­stome, (and not hee alone) vnderstood that place, That they quench the spirit, who discounte­nance preaching, and dishearten Preachers. Saint Chrysostome took his example from the lampe that burnt by him, when he was preaching; (It seemes therefore hee did preach in the afternoone) and he sayes, You may quench this Lampe, by putting in water, and you may quench it by taking out the oyle. So a man may quench the spirit in himselfe, if he smoother it, suf­focate it with worldly pleasures, or profits, and he may quench it in others, if he with­draw that fauour, or that help, which keeps that Man, who hath the spirit of Prophe­sie, the Vnction of Preaching, in a cheere­full discharge of his dutie. Preaching then [Page 37] being Gods Ordinance to beget Faith, to take away preaching, were to disarme God, and to quench the spirit; for by that Ordinance he fights from heauen.

And to maintaine that fight, he hath made his Ministers Starres; as they are called in the first of the Reuelation. And they fight against Sisera, that is, they preach against Error. They preach out of Necessitie; Neces­sitie is laid vpon me to preach, sayes the Apostle, 1 Cor. 9. 16. and vpon a heauy penaltie, if they doe not; Vae mihi si non, Woe bee vnto me if I doe not preach the Gospell. Neither is that spoke there with the case of a future, as the Roman Tran­slation hath it, Sinon Eliuangelizauero, If I doe not hereafter preach; If I preach not at one time or other; If I preach not when I fee how things wil go, what kind of preaching will be most acceptable: But it is, Sinon E­uangelizem, If I preach not now; now, though I had preached yesterday; for so Saint Ambrose preached his Sermon de sancto Latrone, of the good Thiefe, Hesterno die, Yesterday I told you &c. So Saint Augustin preached his Sermon vpon All Saints day: And so did Saint Bernard his twelfth Sermon [Page 38] vpon the Psalm: Qui habitat. Now, though I preached but lately before; and now, though I had but late warning to preach now; So St. Basil preached his 2. Sermon vp­on the Hexameron, the sixe dayes worke, when hee had but that Morning for Medi­tation: and more then so, in his 2. Sermon de Baptissimo; for, it seemes he preached that without any premeditation, Prout suggerit Spiritus sanctus. Now, though I had not time to labour a Sermon; and now, though I preach in anothers mans place; for so Saint Augustine preached his Sermon vpon the 95. Psalme: where he saies, Frater noster Seuerus, Our brother Seuerus should by promise haue prea­ched heere, but since he comes not, I will. Now, that is, whensoeuer Gods good people may be edified by my preaching: Vae si non, woe be vnto me, if I doe not preach. The Dra­gon drew a third part of the Stars from heauen. Apoc. 12. 3. Antichrist by his Persecutions, and Excom­munications silenced many; all that would not magnifie him. And many amongst vs, haue silenced themselues: Abundance silen­ces some, & Lazinesse, and Ignorance some, and some their owne Indiscretion, and then [Page 39] they lay that vpon the Magistrate. But God hath plac'd vs in a Church, and vnder a Head of the Church, where none are silenced, nor discountenanc'd, if being Stars, called to the Ministery of the Gospel, & appointed to fight, to preach there, they fight within the disci­pline and limits of this Text, Manentes in or­dine, conteining themselues in Order.

In this phrase, as we told you before, out of Aquinas, the same thing is intended, as in that place of Saint Paul, Let all things bee done decently, and in Order. That the Vul­gat Edition reades, Fiant honeste; and then sayes Saint Ambrose, Honeste fit, quod cum pace fit, That is done honestly, and decently, which is done quietly, and peaceably. Not with a peace, and indifferencie to contrary Opinions in fundamentall Doctrines, not to shuffle Re­ligions together, and make it all one which you chuse, but a peace with persons, an ab­stinence from contumelies, and reuilings. It is true that wee must hate Gods enemies with a perfect hatred, and it is true that Saint Chrysostome sayes, Odium perfectum est, odium consummatissimum, that is not a perfect ha­tred, that leaues out any of their Errors vn­hated. [Page 40] But yet a perfect hatred is that too, which may consist with perfection, and Charitie is perfection: a perfect hatred is that which a perfect, that is, a charitable man may beare, which is still to hate Errors, not Persons. When their insolencies pro­uoke vs to speake of them, we shall doe no good therein, if therein we proceed not de­cently, and in order. Christ sayes of his Church: Terribilis vt Castrorum acies, It is po­werfull Cant. 6.3 as an Armie; but it is vt acies ordinata, as an armie disciplin'd, and in order: for with­out order, an Army is but a great Ryot; and without this decencie, this peaceablenesse, this discretion, this Order, zeale is but fury, and such preaching is but to the obduration of ill, not to the edification of good Chri­stians. Saint Paul in his absence from the Colossians, reioyces as much in beholding Col. 2.5. their Order, as in their stedfastnesse in the faith of Christ Iesus: Nay, if wee consider the words well, as Saint Chrysostome hath done, we shall see that it is only their Order that he reioyces in: for Non dixit fidem, sed firmamentum fidei, sayes that Father, It was not their faith, but that which established their faith, [Page 41] that was their order, that occasioned his ioy. For when there is not an vniforme, a comely, an orderly presenting of matters of faith, faith it selfe growes loose, and loses her esti­mation; and preaching in the Church comes to bee as pleading at the Barre, and not so well: there the Counsell speakes not him­selfe, but him that sent him, here wee shall preach not him who sent vs, Christ Iesus, but our selues. Study to be quiet, and to doe your owne busines, is the Apostles commandement 1 Thes 4.11. to euery particular man amongst the Thes­salonians. It seemes some amongst them dis­obeyed that: and therefore hee writes no more to particular persons, but to the whol Church, in his other Epistle, and with more vehemence, then a smal matter would haue required: Wee command you in the name of our 2 Thes. 3.6. Lord Iesus Christ, that yee withdraw your selfe from all that walke Inordinate, as the vulgat reads that in one place, and Inquietè, as they translate the same word, in another, disor­derly, vnquietly: from all such as preach suspiciously, and iealously; and be the garden neuer so faire, wil make the world beleeue, there is a Snake vnder euery leafe, be the in­tention [Page 42] neuer so sincere, will presage, and prognosticate, and prediuine sinister and mischieuous effects from it. A troubled spi­rit is a sacrifice to God, but a trouble some spirit Psa 51.7 is farre from it. I am glad that our Ministe­rie is called Orders; that when wee take this calling, wee are said to take Orders. Yours are called Trades, and Occupations, and My­steries: Law and Phisicke are called Sciences, and Professions: many others haue many other names, ours is Orders. When by his Maiesties leaue we meet in our Conuocations, and being met, haue his further leaue, to treat of remedies for any disorders in the Church, our Constitutions are Canons, Canons are Rules, Rules are Orders: Parliaments de­termine in Lawes, Iudges in Decrees, wee in Orders. And by our Seruice in this Mother Church, we are Canonici, Canons, Regular, Or­derly men; not Canonistae, men that know Or­ders, but Canonici, men that keepe them: where wee are also called Prebendaries, ra­ther à Praebendo, then à Praebenda, rather for giuing example of obedience to Orders, then for any other respect. In the Romane Church the most disorderly men, are their [Page 43] men in Orders. I speake not of the vicious­nesse of their life, I am no Iudge of that, I know not that: but they are so out of all Order, that they are within rule of no tem­porall Law, within iurisdiction of no Ci­uill Magistrate, no secular Iudge. They may kill Kings, and yet can be no Traytors, they assigne their reason, Because they are no Subiects. He that kils one of them, shall be really hang'd; and if one of them kill, hee shall be Metaphorically hang'd, hee shall bee suspended. Wee enjoy gratefully, and wee vse modestly the Priuiledges which godly Princes, out of their pietie haue affoorded vs, and which their godly Successours haue giuen vs againe by their gracious continu­ing of them to vs; but our Profession of it selfe, naturally (though the very nature of it dispose Princes to a gracious disposition to vs) exempts vs not from the tye of their Lawes. All men are in deed, we are in Deed and in name too, Men of Orders; and there­fore ought to be most ready of all others to obey.

Now, beloued, Ordo semper dicitur ratione Aquin. principij: Order alwayes presumes a head, it al­wayes [Page 44] implyes some by whom wee are to be ordered, and it implyes our conformitie to him. Who is that? God certainly, with­out all question, God. But betweene God, & Man, we consider a two-fold Order. One, as all creatures depend vpon God, as vpon their beginning, for their very Being; and so eue­ry creature is wrought vpon immediately by God, and whether hee discerne it or no, does obey Gods order, that is, that which God hath ordained, his purpose, his proui­dence is executed vpon him, & accomplishd in him. But then the other Order is, not as man depends vpon God, as vpon his begin­ning, but as he is to be reduced and brought back to God, as to his end: & that is done by meanes in this world. What is that meanes? for those things which wee haue now in consideration, the Church. But the body speaks not, the head does. It is the Head of the Church that declares to vs those things whereby we are to be ordered.

This the Royall and religious Head of these Churches within his Dominions hath lately had occasion to do. And in doing this, doth he innouate any thing, offer to doe any new [Page 45] thing? Do we repent that Canon, & Constitu­tion, in which at his Maiesties first comming we declar'd with so much alacrity, as that it was the second Canō we made, That the King had the same authoritie in causes Ecclesiasticall, that the godly Kings of Iudah, and the Christian Emperors in the primatiue Church had? Or are we ignorant what those Kings of Iudah, and those Emperors did? We are not, wee know them well. Take it where the power of the Empire may seem somwhat declind in Charls the great; we see by those Capitularies of his, that remain yet, what orders he gaue in such causes; there he saies in his entrance to them, Nemo presumptuosum dicat; Let no man call this that I doe an vsurpation, to prescribe Orders in these cases, Nam legimus quid Iosias fecerit, We haue red what Iosiah did, and we know that wee haue the same Authoritie that Iosiah had. But, that Emperor consulted with his Clergie, be­fore he published those Orders. It is true, he sayes he did. But he, from whom we haue receiued these Orders, did more then so; His Maiesty forbore, til a representation of some inconueniēces by disorderly preaching, was made to him, by those in the highest place [Page 46] in our Clergie, and other graue and reuerend Prelates of this Church; they presented it to him, and thereupon hee entred into the re­medie. But that Emperour did but declare things constituted by other Councells be­fore: but yet the giuing the life of executi­on to those Constitutions in his Domini­ons, was introductorie, and many of the things themselues were so. Amongst them, his 70. Capitularie is appliable to our pre­sent case; there hee sayes, Episcopi videant, That the Bishops take care, that all Preachers preach to the people the Exposition of the Lordes Prayer: and he enioynes them too, Ne quid nouum, ne quid non Canonicum, That no man preach any new opinion of his owne; nay, though it bee the opinion of other learned men in other places, yet if it be Non Canonicum, not declared in the Vniuersall Church, not decla­red in that Church, in which he hath his stati­on, he may not preach it to the people: And so he proceeds there to Catechistical Doctrine.

That is not new then, which the Kings of Iudah did, and which the Christian Empe­rours did. But it is new to vs, if the Kings of this kingdome haue not done it. Haue [Page 47] they not done it? How little the Kings of this kingdome did in Ecclesiasticall causes then, when by their conniuence that power was deuold into a forraine Prelates hand, it is pitie to consider, pitie to remember, pitie to bring into Con emplation; And yet tru­ly euen then our Kings did exercise more of that power, then our aduersaries who op­pose it, will confesse. But, since the true iu­risdiction was vindicated, and reapplyed to the Crowne, in what iust height Henrie the eight, and those who gouerned his Sonnes minoritie, Edward the sixt, exercised that iu­risdiction in Ecclesiasticall causes, none, that knowes their Story, knowes not. And, be­cause ordinarily, wee settle our selues best in the Actions, and Precedents of the late Queene of blessed and euerlasting memory, I may haue leaue to remember them that know; and to tell them that know not, one act of her power and her wisedome, to this purpose. When some Articles concerning the falling away from iustifying grace, and other poynts that beat vpon that haunt, had been ventilated, in Conuenticle, and in Pulpits too, and Preaching on both sides [Page 48] past, and that some persons of great place and estimation in our Church, together with him who was the greatest of all, amongst our Clergy, had vpon mature deliberation established a resolution what should bee thought, and taught, held and preached in those poynts, and had thereupon sent down that resolution to be published in the Vni­uersitie, not vulgarly neither, to the people, but in a Sermon, Ad Clerum onely, yet her Maiestie being informed thereof, declared her displeasure so, as that, scarce any houres before the Sermon was to haue been, there was a Countermaund, an Inhibition to the Preacher for medling with any of those poynts. Not that her Maiestie made her selfe Iudge of the Doctrines, but that nothing, not formerly declared to be so, ought to bee de­clared to be the Tenet, and Doctrine of this Church, her Maiestie not being acquainted, nor suplicated to giue her gracious allow­ance for the publication thereof.

His sacred Maiestie then, is herein vpon the steps of the Kings of Iudah, of the Chri­stian Emperors, of the Kings of England, of all the Kings of England, that embraced the [Page 49] Reformation, of Queene Elizabeth her selfe; and he is vpon his owne steps too. For, it is a seditious calumny to apply this which is done now, to any occasion that rises but now: as though the King had done this, now, for satisfaction of any persons at this time. For some yeares since, when he was pleased to call the Heads of Houses from the Vniuersity, and intimate to them the incon­ueniences that arose from the Preaching of such men, as were not at all conuersant in the Fathers, in the Schoole, nor in the Ecclesi­asticall Storie, but had shut vp themselues in a few later Writers; and gaue order to those Gouernours for remedy herein, Then he be­gan, then he laid the foundation for that, in which hee hath proceeded thus much fur­ther now, to reduce Preaching neerer to the manner of those Primitiue times, when God gaue so euident, and so remarkable blessings to mens Preaching.

Consider more particularly that which he hath done now; His Maiestie hath ac­companied his most gracious Letter to the most Reuerend Father in God, my Lords Grace of Canterbury, with certaine Directions how [Page 50] Preachers ought to behaue themselues in the exercise of that part of their Ministerie. These being deriued from his Grace, in due course to his reuerend Brethren, the other Bi­shops, our worthy Diocesan, euer vigilant for the Peace and vnitie of the Church, gaue a speedy, very speedy intimation thereof, to the Clergie of his Iurisdiction; so did others, to whom it appertain'd so to doe in theirs. Since that, his Maiestie who alwayes taking good workes in hand, loues to perfect his owne works, hath vouchsafed to giue some Reasons of this his proceeding; which being signified by him to whom the State and Church owes much, The right Reuerend Fa­ther in God, the Bishop of Lincolne, Lord Kee­per of the great Seale, and after by him also, who began at first, his Maiesties pleasure ap­pearing thereby, (as he is too Great, and too Good a King to seeke corners, or disguises, for his actions) that these proceedings should be made publique, I was not willing only, but glad to haue my part therein, that as, in the seare of God, I haue alwaies preached to you the Gospell of Christ Iesus, who is the God of your Saluation; So in the testimony [Page 51] of a good Conscience, I might now preach to you, the Gospel of the Holy ghost, who is the God of peace, of vnitie, and concord.

These Directions then, and the Reasons of them, by his Maiesties particular care, euery man in the Ministery may see & write out, in the seuerall Registers Offices, with his owne hand for nothing, and for very little, if hee vse the hand of another. Perchance you haue, at your conuenience, you may see them. When you do, you shall see, That his Maiesties generall intention therein is, to put a difference, between graue, and solid, from light and humerous preaching. Origen does so, when vpon the Epistle to the Romanes, he sayes, There is a great difference, Inter praedi­care, & docere: A man may teach an Audi­tory, that is, make them know something that they knew not before, and yet not Preach; for Preaching is to make them knowthings appertaining to their saluation. But when men doe neither, neither Teach, nor Preach, but (as his Maiestie obserues the manner to bee) To soare in poynts too deepe, To muster vp their owne Reading, To display their owne Wit, or Ignorance in medling with Ci­uill [Page 52] matters, or (as his Maiestie addes) in rude and vndecent reuiling of persons: this is that which hath drawen downe his Maiesties piercing Eye to see it, and his Royall care to correct it. Hee corrects it by Christs owne way, Quid ab initio, by considering how it was at first: for, (as himselfe to right pur­pose cites Tertullian) Id verum quod primum; That is best, which was first. Hee would therefore haue vs conuersant in Antiquitie: For, Nazianzen askes that question with some scorne, Quis est qui veritatis propugna­torem, vnius diei spatio, velut e luto statuam fingit. Can any man hope to make a good Preacher, as soone as a good Picture? In three or foure dayes, or with three or foure Books? His Maiesty therfore cals vs to look, Quid primum, what was first in the whole Church? And againe, Quid primum, when we receiued the Reformation in this Kingdom, by what meanes, (as his Maiestie expresseth it) Papistry was driuen out, and Puritanisme kept out, and wee deliuered from the Superstiti­on of the Papist, and the madnesse of the Ana­baptists, as before hee expresseth it: and his religious and iudicious eye sees clearly, That [Page 53] all that Doctrine, which wrought this great cure vpon vs, in the Reformation, is contai­ned in the two Catechisines, in the 39. Arti­cles, and in the 2. Bookes of Homilies. And to these, as to Heads, and Abundaries, from whence all knowledge necessarie to saluati­on, may abundantly be deriu'd, hee directs the meditations of Preachers.

Are these new wayes? No way new: for they were our first way in receiuing Christia­nity, and our first way in receiuing the Re­formation. Take a short view of them all: as it is in the Catechismes, as it is in the Arti­cles, as it is in the Homilies. First you are called backe to the practise of Catechising: Remember what Catechising is; it is Insti­tutio viua voce. And in the Primitiue Church, when those persons, who comming from the Gentiles to the Christian Religion, might haue beene scandalized with the outward Ceremoniall, and Rituall worship of God in the Church, (for Ceremonies are stum­bling blockes to them who looke vpon them without their Signification, and without the reason of their Institution) to auoyd that daunger, though they were not [Page 54] admitted to see the Sacraments administred, nor the other Seruice of God performed in the Church, yet in the Church, they receiued Instruction, Institution, by word of mouth, in the fundamentall Articles of the Christian Religion, and that was Catechising. The Chri­stians had it from the beginning, and the Iewes had it too: for their word Chanach, is of that signification, Initiare, to enter. Traine vp a child in the way he should goe, and when he Pro. 22.6 is olde, hee will not depart from it. Traine vp, sayes our Translation in the Text; Catechise, say our Translators in the Margin, accor­ding to the naturall force of the Hebrew word. And Sepher Chinnuch, which is Liber Institutionum, that is, of Catechisme, is a Booke well knowne amongst the Iewes, euery where, where they are now: Their Insti­tution is their Catechisme. And if wee should tell some men, That Caluins Institu­tions were a Catechisme, would they not loue Catechising the better for that name? And would they not loue it the better, if they gaue me leaue to tell them that of which I had the experience. An Artificer of this Ci­tie brought his Childe to mee, to admire (as [Page 55] truly there was much reason) the capacitie, the memory, especially of the child. It was but a Girle, and not aboue nine yeares of age, her Parents said lesse, some yeares lesse; wee could scarse propose any Verse of any Booke, or Chapter of the Bible, but that that childe would goe forward without Booke. I began to Catechise this child; and truly, shee vnderstood nothing of the Tri­nitie, nothing of any of those fundamentall poynts which must saue vs: and the won­der was doubled, how she knew so much, how so little.

The Primitiue Church discerned this ne­cessitie of Catechising: And therefore they instituted a particular Office, a Calling in the Church of Catechisers. Which Office, as wee see in Saint Cyprians 42. Epistle, that great man Optatus exercised at Carthage, and Ori­gen at Alexandria. When S. Augustine tooke the Epistle, and the Gospell, and the Psalme of the day, for his Text to one Sermon, did he, thinke you, much more then paraphrase, then Catechise? When Athanasius makes one Sermon, and, God knowes, a very short one too, Contra omnes Haereses, To ouerthrow [Page 58] all Heresies in one Sermon; did he, think you, any more then propose fundamentall Do­ctrines, which is truly the way to ouer­throw all Heresies? When Saint Chrysostom enters into his Sermon vpon the 3. Chapter to the Galatians, with that preparation, At­tendite diligenter, non enim rem vulgarem polli­cemur, Now hearken diligently, sayes he, for it is no ordinary matter that I propose, There he proposes Catechisticall Doctrine of faith and works. Come to lower times, when Chry­sologus makes sixe or seuen Sermons vpon the Creed, and not a seuerall Sermon vpon euery seuerall Article, but takes the whole Creed for his Text, in euery Sermon, and scarse any of those Sermons a quarter of an houre long, will you not allowe this manner of Preaching to bee Catechising? Goe as lowe as can bee gone, to the Iesuites; and that great Catechizer amongst them, Ca­nisius, sayes, Nos hoc munus suscipimus: Wee, wee Iesuites make Catechising our Profes­sion. I doubt not but they doe recreate themselues sometimes in other matters too, but that they glory in, that they are Catechi­zers. And in that Profession, sayes hee, wee [Page 57] haue Saint Basil, Saint Augustine, Saint Am­brose, Saint Cyrill, in our Societie; and truly as Catechizers, they haue; as State-Friers, as Iesuits, they haue not. And in the first Capa­citie they haue him, who is more then all; for as hee sayes rightly, Ipse Christus Catechi­sta, Christs owne Preaching was a Catechising. I pray God that Iesuites conclusion of that Epistle of his, be true still; There he sayes, Si nihil aliud, If nothing else, yet this alone should prouoke vs to a greater diligence in Catechising; Improbus labor, & indefessa cura, That our Aduersaries, the Protestants doe spend so much time, as he sayes, day and night in catechizing. Now, if it were so then, when he writ, and bee not so still amongst vs, wee haue inter­mitted one of our best aduantages: and therefore God hath graciously raised a bles­sed and a Royall Instrument, to call vs back to that, which aduantaged vs, and so much offended the Enemy. That man may sleepe with a good Conscience, of hauing dischar­ged his dutie in his Ministery, that hath preached in the forenoone, and Catechised after. Quaere, sayes Tertullian, (and he sayes that with indignation) an Idolatriam com­mittat, [Page 58] qui de Idolis catechizat: Will any man doubt, sayes he, whether that man be an Idolatrer, that catechises Children, and Seruants in Idolatry? Will any man doubt, whether hee bee painfull in his Ministerie, that catechises children, and seruant in the sincere Religion of Christ Iesus. The Roman Church hath still made her vse of vs; of our fortunes, when she gouernd here, and of our example, since she did not: They did, as they saw vs doe; And thereupon they came to that order, in the Councell of Trent, That vpon Sundayes and Holydayes, they should Preach in the forenoone, and Catechise in the afternoone; till we did both, they did nei­ther. Except yee become as little Children, yee Mat. 18.3 shall not enter into the Kingdome of Heauen, sayes Christ. Except yee, yee the people bee content at first to feed on the milke of the Gospell, and not presently to fall to gnaw­ing of bones, of Controuersies, and vnre­uealed Misteries, And except yee, the Mi­nisters and Preachers of the Gospell, descend and apply your selues to the Capacitie of little Children, and become as they, and build not your estimation onely vpon the [Page 59] satisfaction of the expectation of great and curious Auditories, you stopp theirs, you loose your owne way to the kingdome of Heauen. Not that wee are to shut vp, and determine our selues, in the knowledge of Catechisticall rudiments, but to bee sure to know them first. The Apostle puts vs vpon that progresse, Let vs learne the Principles Heb. 6.1. of the Doctrine of Christ, and goe on to perfection. Not leaue at them; but yet not leaue them out: endeauour to encrease in knowledge, but first make sure of the foundation. And that increase of know­ledge, is royally, and fatherly presented to vs, in that, which is another limne of his Maiesties directions, the 39. Articles.

The Foundation of necessary knowledge, is in our Catechismes; the Superedification, the extention in these Articles. For they car­ry the vnderstanding, and the zeale of the ablest Man; high inough, & deepe inough. In the third Article there is an Orthodoxe as­sertion of Christs descent into Hell; who can go deeper? In the 17. Article there is a Modest declaration of the Doctrine of Predestination; who can go higher? nei­ther [Page 60] doe these Articles onely build vp Posi­tiue Doctrine; If the Church had no aduer­saries, that were ynough; but they im­brace Controuersies too, in poynts that are necessarie. As in the two and twentieth Article of Purgatorie, of Pardons, of Ima­ges, of Inuocations: and these not in gene­rall onely, but against the Romish Doctrine of Pardons, of Images, of Inuocation. And in the eight and twentieth Article against Transubstantiation, and in such tearmes, as admit no meeting, no reconciliation; but that it is repugnant to the plaine wordes of Scripture, and hath giuen occasion to many Superstitions. And in one word, we may see the purpose and scope of these Articles, as they were intended against the Romane Church, in that Title which they had in one Edition (in which though there were some other things, that iustly gaue offence, yet none was giuen nor taken in this) That these Articles were conceiued and publi­shed, to condemne the Heresies of the Ma­nichees, of the Arrians, of the Nestorians, of the Papistes, and others. And therefore in these reasons, which his Maiestie hath de­scended [Page 61] to giue of his Directions, himselfe is pleased to assigne this, That the people might bee seasoned in all the Heads of the Protestant Religion. Not onely of the Christian against Iewes, Turkes, and Infidels, but of the Protestant against the Romane Church.

The Foundation is in the Catechisme; the growth and extention in the Articles, and then the Application of all to particular Audito­ries in the Homilies: which, if his Maie­stie had not named, yet had beene imply­ed in his recommendation of the Articles. For the fiue and thirtieth Article appoynts the reading of them: both those, which were published in the time of Edward the sixth, and those which after. In the first Booke, the very first Homilies are, of the Sufficiencie of Scriptures, and of the abso­lute necessitie of Reading them; sufficiently opposed against that which hath been sayd in that Church, both of the impertinencie, of Scriptures, as not absolutely necessarie, and of the insufficiencie of these Scriptures, if Scriptures were necessarie. And in the second Booke, the second Homily is against [Page] Idolatrie; and so farre against all approa­ches towards it, by hauing any Images in Churches, as that perchance Moderat Men, would rather thinke that Homilie to seuere in that kind, then suspect the Homilies of declination towards Papistrie. Is it the name of Homelies that Scandalizes them? would they haue none? Saint Cyrills 30. Paschall Sermons, which he preached in so many seuerall Easter daies, at his Arch-bishop­rike of Alexandria, and his Christmas dayes Sermons too, were ordinarily exscrib'd, and rehearsed ouer againe, by the most part of the Clergie of those parts: and in their Mouthes they were but Homilies. And Caluins Homilies vpon Iob (as Beza in his Preface before them, calls them) were or­dinarily repeated ouer againe in many pla­ces of Fraunce: and in their mouthes they were but Homilies. It is but the name, that scandalizes; and yet the name of Homilia and Concio, a Homily and a Sermon, is all one. And if some of these were spoken, and not reade, and so exhibited in the name of a Sermon, they would like them well inough. Certainely his Maiestie mistooke it [Page 63] not, that in our Catechises, In our Articles, in our Homilies, there is inough for Positiue, inough for Controuerted Diuinitie; For that Iesuit, that intended to bring in the whole body of Controuerted Diuinitie into his booke, (whom we named before) desired no other Subiect, no other occasion to doe that, but the Catechisme of that Church; neither need any sober Man, that intends to handle Controuersies aske more, or go fur­ther.

His Maiestie therefore, who as he vnder­stands his duty to God, so doth he his Sub­iects duties to him, might iustly thinke, That these so well grounded Directions, might, (as himselfe sayes) bee receiu'd vpon implicite obe­dience. Yet hee vouchsafes to communicate to all, who desire satisfaction, the Reasons that mou'd him. Some of which I haue related, and all which, all may, when they will see, and haue. Of all which the Summ is, His Royall and his Pastorall care, that by that Primitiue way of Preaching, his Subiects might be arm'd against all kind of Aduersaries, in fundamentall truthes. And when he takes knowledge, That some few Church-men, but [Page 64] many of the people, haue made sinister constructi­ons of his sincere intentions, As hee is grieued at the heart, (to giue you his owne wordes) to see euery day so many defections from our religion to Popery and Anabaptisme; So without doubt he is grieued with much bitternes, that any should so peruert his meaning, as to thinke, that these Directions either restraind the Exer­cise of Preaching, or abated the number of Ser­mons, or made a breach to Ignorance and Super­stition, of which three scandals he hath been pleased to take knowledge. What could any Calumniator, any Libeller on the other side, haue imagin'd more opposit, more contrary to him, then approaches towards Ignorance, or Superstition? Let vs say for him, Can so learned, so abundantly learned a prince be su­spected to plot for Ignorance? And let vs blesse God, that we heare him say now, That he doth constantly professe himselfe an open aduer sary to the Superstition of the Papist (without any milder Modification) and to the madnesse of the Anabaptist: And that the preaching against either of their Doctrines is not only approued, but much commended by his roy all Maiestie, if it bee done without rude and vndecent reuiling. If hee [Page 65] had affected Ignorance in himselfe, he would neuer haue read so much; and if he had af­fected Ignorance in vs, hee would neuer haue writ so much, and made vs so much the more learned by his Books. And if hee had had any declination towards Superstition, he would not haue gone so much farther, then his rank and qualitie pressed him to doe, in declaring his opinion concerning Antichrist, as out of Zeale, and zeale with knowledge hee hath done. We haue him now, (and long, long, O eternall God, continue him to vs,) we haue him now for a father of the Church, a Foster-father; such a father as Constantine, as Theodosius was; our posterity shall haue him for a Father, a Classique father; such a father as Ambrose, as Austin was. And when his works shall stand in the Libraries of our Posteritie, amongst the Fathers, euen these Papers, these Directions, & these Reasons shalbe pregnant euidences for his cōstant zeale to Gods truth, and in the meane time, as arrowes shot in their eyes, that imagine so vaine a thing, as a defection in him, to their superstition. Thus far he is from admitting Ignorance, and from Superstition thus far, which seemes to be one [Page 66] of their feares. And for the other two, (which concurre in one) That these Directi­ons should restraine the Exercise of Preaching, or abate the number of Sermons, his Maiestie hath declar'd himselfe to those Reuerend Fathers, To be so far from giuing the least discouragement to solid Preaching, or to discreet and religious Preachers, or from abating the number of Ser­mons, that hee expects at their hands, that this should increase their number, by renuing vpon e­uery Sunday in the afternoon, in all Parish Chur­ches throughout the kingdome, that primitiue, and most profitable exposition of the Catechisme. So that heere is no abating of Sermons, but a direction of the Preacher to preach vsefully, and to edification.

And therfore, to end all, you, you whom God hath made Starres in this Firmament, Preachers in this Church, deliuer your selues from that imputation, The Starres were not Iob 25.5 pure in his sight; The Preachers were not obe­dient to him in the voice of his Lieutenant. And you, you who are Gods holy people, and zealous of his glory, as you know from St. Paul, that Stars differ from Stars in glory, 1 Cor. 15 14. but all conduce to the benefit of man: So, [Page 67] when you see these Stars, Preachers to differ in gifts; yet, since all their ends are to ad­uance your saluation, encourage the Catechi­zer, as well as the curious Preahcer. Looke so farre towards your way to Heauen, as to the Firmament, and consider there, that that starre by which wee saile, and make great voyages, is none of the starres of the greatest magnitude; but yet it is none of the least nei­ther; but a middle starre. Those Preachers which must saue your soules, are not igno­rant, vnlearned, extemporall men; but they are not ouer curious men neither. Your chil­dren are you, and your seruants are you; and you doe not prouide for your saluation, if you prouide not for them, who are so much yours, as that they are you. No man is sau'd as a good man, if he be not sau'd as a good Father, and as a good Master too, if God haue giuen him a family. That so, Priest and people, the whole Congregation, may by their religious obedience, and fighting in this spi­rituall warfare in their Order, minister occa­sion of ioy to that heart, which hath beene grieued; in that fulnesse of ioy, Which Da­uid expresseth. The King shall reioyce in thy Psal. 21. [Page 68] strength, O Lord, and in thy saluation how great­ly shall hee reioyce? Thou hast giuen him his hearts desire, and thou hast not withholden the request of his lipps: for the King trusteth in the Lord, and by the mercy of the most High, he shall not bee mooued. And with that Psalme, a Psalme of Confidence in a good King, and a Psalme of Thank sgiuing for that blessing, I desire that this Congregation may be dis­solued; for this is all that I intended for the Explication, which was our first, and for the Application, which was the other part proposed in these wordes.