The Worthy Churchman, Section 1
SECTION. I. The Sardius.
THat which is the sixt in the foundation of the New Ierusalem, is placed the first in the Pectorall: it tooke the nameaPrimum Sardibus reperta. Plin. l. 37. …. 7. where it was first found, from Sardinia, an Isle in the Lybick Sea; as Sardonius risus, so famous in the prouerb from the same place.
The Vertue.
THis Stone is well knowne to be a Gemme of all othersbSculpturae utilissima. Plin. ibidem. most profitable for engravement, and cSigillis aptissima. Carda… l. 7. Subtil.most fit for Seales: both because it is of a meane hardnesse to cut, and because it parts cleane with the wax, Persons of quality use to have their crests cut in these stones, and set in Rings, which they weare as Signets. He that makes Bartas speake so good English, cals it thed1 Weeke and 3 day. Seale-fit Onix. I suppose hee meaneth the Sardius, both because it eNomen cum Sardoniche communicavit. Plin. ibid.communicates the name with the Onix, and Iosephus alsofLib. 3. cap. 8. in his Iewish Antiquities, where hee reckons vp these twelue Gemmes, calls this the Sard-onix.
And I take it for a faire abodement, that this is the apparent property of the first Stone. Whosoever be of such stubborne mettall, as he will not receive impression, yet a Priest (like Iudah gGen. 38. 25.) must be knowne be his Signet: in that great setting open of the Seale-office, Apoc. 7. the Tribe of Dan is noted to be put out, that the Tribe of Levi might have roome. It shall ever be a piece of my Collect, both at my private Mattens and Even-song, for my brethren according to office,hCant. 8. 6. Set them, O Lord, as a Seale on thine heart, and as a Signet on thine arme; yea, iIer. 22. 24.let them bee as the Signet of thy right hand, which thou wilt not plucke off. This Seale is double; the one of the person, the other of the office: that, confirmes us to be the children of God; this, the seruants of men, in the things of God. And so wee keepe still on foot the currant distinction ofkDignita… personae & tractationis. the worthinesse of the person, and the worthinesse of demeanour. The seale of our persons is the same with all other Saints, to wit, the giving of the holy Spirit,lEphes. 4. 24: whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption: for as two parties covenanting doe mutually seale each to other: so we seale to God by faithmIohn 3. 33., he to us by his SpiritnEphes. 1. 13.: and truly absi… that spirituall men should quite want the Spirit, from which they have their denomination. It hath beene long said, Greatest Clerks are not alwaies wisest men; so as it seemes Schollers must be glad to take simplicity to themselves by tradition: but it is more true, that the best-lettered are not ever the profoundest Divines, (oPro. 3. 32. Psal. 25. 14. the secret of the Lord is with the righteous,) it being just with God that those who fall à bono, and care not to serve him, shall also fall à vero, and cannot know him. I say not as some, that a carnall and unsanctified man cannot convert a soule: but I suppose God doth not usually worke such noble effects by such unworthy instruments: he will honour his owne to negotiate in so high a service, while he makes it the just reproach of others to bepIer, 22. ult. written Childlesse. The seale of the Office is to beget children unto God. S. Paul told his Corinthian Disciples they wereq1 Cor 9. 2. the seale of his Apostleship. Calvin to those that objected against him his barren wedlocke, answered, he had many children which he had begotten unto God. We know, it was as bitter as death to the Hebrew Dames to be issuelesse: it may bee the rather, because every one thought with her selfe, why might not her wombe be teemed of the Messias as well as any other daughter of Abraham. Shall any be more sollicitous of generation and the first birth, then we of regeneration and the new birth? because the Priest Melchisedechs style was, without father or mother, shall ours be, without son or daughter? I expect not, as when Peter preached, 3000 at one Sermon: we use not to sow our labors on the hopes of such harvests: such births are as strange as the 365 children of therAnno 1276. on Palmsunday baptized by Guidon Suffragan to the Bishop of Vtrech. See the History of the Netherlands. Countesse of Henneberge at once. But what, hast thou fished all thy life and catcht nothing? is there none whom thou hast made smite upon their thigh, not one at 3000 Sermons? surely thou hast just cause to suspect thy faithfulnesse in some point, and to be humbled. This of the vertue of the Sardius.
The Colour.
THe colour of it is red: thesA rubeo colore sic dictus. Paguin. root shewes the branch: for in the Hebrew the very name signifies red, and thetAdam homo & idem lapis pretiosus ab eadem sunt radice, i. Adam rubescere. first stone consists of the same three letters, that the name of the first man doth, in regard of the redde earth on which both are made: so that hereby we are happily resolved to our principles, and put in minde of the pit out of which we are hewne. Though wee bee spirituall men, yet we have a lay part, which is theca animae, which must once yeeld to that great statute law primo Adami, statutum est omnibus mori: Both Kings who Nebucadnetzar-like have golden heads, and Priests who Chrysostome-like have golden tongues, yet stand but luteis pedibus. Therefore in the Regall Diademe of England this very stone is the first and highest in the Crowne,uFearne in his Blazon of Gentrie. to denote that even Kings are but made up and elemented of the same red earth that Adam was: and though *Psal. 82. 7.they be Gods, yet they shall dye like men. The Pope at his Inauguration hath the Master of Ceremonies to burne flaxe before him, crying, Ecce sancte Pater, sic transit gloria mundi. Both S. Basil and S. Augustine used the like remedy against pride; the one on the day when hee was propounded Pastor and Doctor to the people; the other when hee was applauded for his exquisite sermons. Surgite mortui, we know was S. Hieroms eare▪ wig; We should doe well when wee feed, as at the Court of Prester Iohn, to hauehave the first dish a Deaths head; when we walke abroad, as the Lunaticke in the Gospel, to walke amongst the graves; in our gardens as Ioseph, to have a Sepulchre; in our Churches to visit the Golgotha or Charnell-house; on our rings (if we bexIam. 2. 2. foreign) to have a deaths head engraven: that thus when our eyes traverse from object to object, they may out of every thing extract the meditation of our mortality, and the remembrance of our end. This will make usyMic. 6. 8. walke humbly with our God, and so better men, homo humi limus, cur non humillimus; and also more diligent in our office, and so better Ministers, knowing the day may suddenly come when we must give an account of our Stewardship.