An Exposition of the Last Psalme | Page 2

together to the seruice of God, and doe call to minde and meditate vpon
his benefits bestowed vpon holie men, and through them vpon his
Church_, &c. And for as much as it is kindly to consider, opus diei in
die suo, the worke of the day[m] in the same day it was wrought; it is
well ordered by the Church of England, that the most illustrious and
remarkable qualities of the saints are celebrated vpon their proper
festiuals, that on S. Stephens day, we may learne by S. Stephens
example to loue our enemies: on S. Matthewes day, to forsake the
world and to follow Christ: on S. Iohn the Baptist his day, to speake the
truth constantly, and to suffer for the same patiently. Thus in
stedfastnes of faith and godlinesse of life (_non legere modò sed degere
sanctorum vitas_, as [n]one wittily) to bee followers of them as they
were followers of Christ; is (as [o]blessed Latymer was wont to say) the
right worshipping of Saints, and of God in his Saints.
[Sidenote g: _Iames 1. 17._]
[Sidenote h: _1. Pet. 5. 10._]
[Sidenote i: _1. Cor. 15. 10._]
[Sidenote k: _Euseb. Emisen. hom. de S. Maximo._]
[Sidenote l: _See Harmon. confess. sect. 16. pag. 486._]
[Sidenote m: _Maior præsat. in Psal. 22._]
[Sidenote n: _Owin epigram. lib. 3._]

[Sidenote o: _Ser. on Christmas day preached at Bexterly, & ser. on S.
Stephens day at Grimstorpe._]
Againe, for as much as there is a communion of Saints, as we cõfesse in
the Creed, a knot of fellowship betweene the dead Saints and the liuing;
it is our dutie to praise God for their good in particular, as they[p] pray
to God for our good in generall. It is required on our part I say, to giue
God most humble thanks for translating th{~e} out of this [q]valley of
teares into Hierusalem aboue, where they be [r]clothed with long white
robes, hauing palmes in their hands, and [s]crownes of gold on their
heads, euer liuing in that happie kingdome without either dying or
crying, Apocal. 21. 4. and this also (in the iudgment of Augustine,
Hierome, Hugo, _Raynerius,_ and other) is to praise God in his Saints.
[Sidenote p: _Apocal._ 6. 10.]
[Sidenote q: _Psal._ 84. 6.]
[Sidenote r: _Apocal._ 7. 9.]
[Sidenote s: _Apocal._ 4. 4.]
These reasons are the grounds of certaine holy daies established in
England by law, namely to blesse God for his Saints eminent grace
while they were liuing, and exceeding glorie now they be dead.
Wherein our Church ascribes not any diuine worship to the Saints, but
all due praise to the sanctifier: in celebrating their memorie (saith
_Augustine_) we neither adore their honour, nor implore their helpe:
but (according to the tenour of our text) wee praise him alone, [t]who
made them both men and martyrs. In the words of [u]Hierome to
_Riparius_: _Honoramus reliquias martyrum, vt eum cuius sunt
martyres adoremus: honoramus seruos, vt honor seruorum redundet ad
dominum:_ If thou desire to doe right vnto the Saints, esteeme them as
paternes, and not as patrones of thy life; honour them only so farre,
[x]that thou maist alway praise God in them, and praise them in God.
[Sidenote t: _De ciuit. lib._ 8. _cap._ 27.]

[Sidenote u: _Tom._ 2 _fol._ 118]
[Sidenote x: _Philip Mornæus de missa, lib. 3 cap. 11. See Melanct.
resp. ad art. Bauar. art. 25._]
The gunpowder men erre very much in this one kinde of honouring
God, for either they worship his Saints as himselfe, or else their owne
saintlings, and not his Saints. In praying to the dead, in mingling the
blood of their martyrs with the precious blood of their Maker, in
applying their merits, and relying vpon their mercies; it is plaine that
they make the Saints (as Melancthon tels them in his [y]Apologie for
the Confession of _Auspurge_) quartermasters with God, and halfe
mediatours with Christ, I say ioynt mediatours not of incercession only
but of [z]redemption also. Nay they make the blessed Virgin vpon the
poynt their only mediatrix and aduocate, so they sing, and so they say.
They sing in their publique seruice, [aa]_Maria mater gratiæ, mater
misericordiæ_, &c. the which is Gods owne stile, 1. Pet. 1. 10. & 2. Cor.
1. 3. so they likewise say, _Maria consolatio infirmorum, redemptio
captiuorum, liberatio damnatorum, salus vniuersorum._
[ab]_Giselbertus in lib. altercationis Synagogæ et ecclesiæ, cap. 20.
Maria quasi maria_, saith Augustinus de Leonissa, sermon 5 vpon Aue
maria, for as all riuers come from the seas, and returne to the seas
againe, Ecclesiastes 1. 7: [ac]so forsooth (if you will vndertake to
beleeue him) all grace is deriued from Mary, and ought to be returned
again to Mary. We finde so much _in [ad]Rosario Mariæ, reparatrix &
saluatrix desperantis animæ_, &c.