Select Sermons, Title page – Dedication
DIVERS SELECT SERMONS ON SEVERALL TEXTS.
Viz.
1. Of Quenching the Spirit. 1 Theſſalon. 5.19.
2. Of the Sinners ſuite for Pardon. 2 Sam. 24.10.
3. Of Eating and Digeſting the Word. Ier. 15.16.
4. Of buying and keeping the Truth. Prov. 23.23.
Preached by that Reverend and Faithfull Miniſter of the Word, IER. DYKE, late Preacher of Epping in Eſſex.
Finiſhed by his owne pen in his life time, And now publiſhed by his Sonne DAN. DYKE Maſter of Arts.
LONDON, Printed by Tho. Paine, for L. Fawne and S. Gellibrand, at the ſign of the brazen Serpent, in Pauls Church-yard. 1640.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE, AND VERTVOVSLY ENNOBLED Lady, the Lady MAGDALENE BRVCE (Wife firſt to the Right Honorable Edward Lord Bruce, Baron of Kinloſſe, Maſter of the Rolls, and one of the moſt Honorable Privie Councell to King Iames of happy memory. Next, to the Honorable Sir James Fullerton Knight, Groome of the Stoole to his Majeſtie) my very good Lady.
Right Honorable,
WEre I not in awe of your Honours Humility, which though it ſelfe doth publiſh, the reſt of your graces, yet commands me to conceale them, I might here have given the world a taſt of that which may more eaſily bee admired, then either expreſt or imitated. For although ſuch is your ſingular piety mixt with Prudence, that you, if any, may iuſtly challenge the Doves heart with the Serpents head, yet that which gives a redolency and fragrancy to all your beds of ſpices, is the grace of Humility, which is (to vſe the metaphor of S. Bernard) as the violet though the loweſt, yet the ſweeteſt of flowers. And although hereby it comes to paſſe, that you had rather deſerve the praiſe of vertue, then have it, yet pardon me my moſt Noble Lady, if I tell the World that, which the World & Fame, have long ſince told me: that you are one of thoſe who have made Honour Honorable, and Nobility Noble. Madam, it is well knowne, that though your Houſe be illuſtrious, and Family moſt Noble, yet that you doe not borrow of, but repay unto your Progenitors, and give to your Posterity true honour. And how? To receive Chriſt, to bee borne of God, and ſo become of the blood Royall of Heaven, this is honour of a double die; no favour on earth can give it, no malice of hell can ſtaine it. Alexander muſt draw his pedegree from the gods, or elſe he thinkes himſelfe ignoble, I am ſure to bee allied to the King of Heaven is true nobility and a greater honour, to have the ſpirit of God flaming in the ſoule, then to have the arteries fluſht, and the veines fraught with the heroicall ſpirits, and noble blood of our forefathers, and my ſhort experience of your Ladyſhips converſation, aſſures mee, that this is not ſo much your ambition, as your happineſſe.
The world is to full of thoſe Glowormes, that ſhine not unleſſe it be in the darke ignorance of true honour, I meane that place their glory, in the oſtentation, and pompe of their wealth, and affluency: many ſuch (if now there are not) I am ſure there were in Saint Chryſoſtome his time, who thought it might bee ſerved in to their Tables, in coſtly plate, or worne on their backs, in gorgeous apparrell, whom he wittily upbraides, that they might thankeaforeign, &c. Cryſost. in Epiſt. ad colloſ. Cap. 3. hom. 7. the cooke, & the ſwineyard, the weaver, and kember, the goldſmith, and confectioner, for their honour. But he knowes you not, who knowes not that your Ladiſhips ſoule is, to ſublime and heavenly; thus to lay your honour in the duſt. To be a diligent peruſer of ſacred heraldry, and to finde a name in the booke of life, is ſuperlative glory, this refines the blood of the courſeſt peaſant, and creates him a regall pedigree, but ſaith the text,bAct. 17.14, 15. there were alſo honorable women that beleeved; here is honour laid upon honour, when terrene honour is the ground of celeſtiall: Pious poverty is a head of gold on feete of clay, but devout nobility, apples of Gold on pictures of ſilver: a religious Lazarus, is an orient pearle on a dunghill, but a godly Conſtantine, a religious Emperour, This is emphaticall, this is monopolizing of honour, this is as rare and infrequent, ſo rare and excellent. To ſay all this of your Ladyſhip, as it is no flattery, ſo not to ſay it, is a more blacke ſin then envy, witnes your friends, nay your enemies, your acquaintance, nay your conſcience, and laſtly, witneſſe the backes, and bellies of Gods pupills, (I meane the poore) which are the field and furrowes, receiving the liberall diſperſion of that temporall ſeede, which will riſe (no doubt) in a crop, of eternall glory. VponUpon all theſe your honours divine diſpoſitions, this one doth enſue of neceſsity, that you are a patroneſſe of the meſſengers, and a receiver of the meſſages of God, which hath emboldened your ſervant, to preſent unto your Honour, though the poſthumous, yet not the ſpurious child, of him whom God honoured to be a father of many children in his Church. Jt hath indeede beene a iuſt complaint, that the poſthumous workes of many learned Divines, have come forth like the heterogeneall monſters of Affrica, which being generated of diverſe ſpecies, partly reſemble the male, partly the female, or like the froggs on the Bankes of Nile, which aequivocall generation leaves imperfect; even ſo the corrupted matter of broken notes, penned from the mouth of a preacher, mingled perhaps with the weake conceits of ſome illiterate Stenographer, cheriſht with the Sunbeames of popular applauſe, many times preſents the world with monſtrous, and miſhapen births to the unſpeakeable iniury and diſhonour of the deceaſed parents. That this preſent worke is none of thoſe ſlovenly meteors, it is my taske to prove, and that in a word I may give plenary ſatisfaction, give mee leave to referre your Ladiſhip, to the reſt of this Authors workes, if you finde not in theſe the ſame comely features, and ſweet complexions, I meane the ſame ſtrength of Judgement, and cleareneſſe of phantacy, that is in the reſt, reiect it as not his.
For the Author, (my Deare and deceaſed Father) I neede not tell your Honour, of his fidelitie both in preaching and writing;cea libertate ſcripſit imperatorum vitas, qua ipſi vixerunt. how like e Suetonius, hee tooke the ſame liberty, to cry downe ſin, that men tooke to ſin: neither is it fit for mee to ſay, how hee preacht, and wrote, by the ſame rule, that Aeskines gives an Oratourdforeign., that his Oration and the Law muſt be uniſones, not to ſpeake any thing, aboue, or beſides the law. How carefull and how preciſe, he hath beene in this particular as in all his workes, ſo eſpecially in this, may appeare, as by the frequent ſo pertinent, quotations of ſcripture, wherein your Ladiſhip ſhall finde though abundance, yet no ſuperfluitie, though many, yet not too many.
As for other marginall Fringe, I meane the quotations of Auguſtine, or Cryſoſtome, &c. which may ſeeme here to be defective J ſhall deſire your honour to underſtand, that though the author, had otherwiſe finiſhed this worke, yet this accompliſhment as a thing leſſe neceſſary, he did procraſtinate, and ſo by immature death, was of his purpoſe herein fruſtrate; I know that to your Ladiſhip, or any other iudicious reader, it will be nevertheleſſe welcome, becauſe it wants this lace. Who that is wiſe, would refuſe to ſee his face in a glaſſe, becauſe the verges are not guilded, or the ſides painted?
The arguments that induced mee to make that publike, which I might have ingroſſed for mine owne private good, whether they are more or more perſwaſive I know not: The intention of the authour, and the neceſsity of the duties herein handled, gave me not only a toleration, but a command, to print it, it treates of the purchaſe, of the moſt precious commodity, the truth. Of the Digeſtion of the moſt ſalubrious foode, the word. Of the ſuite for the moſt ſoveraigne balme, pardon of ſin. And laſtly, of not quenching the ſpirit; and if it be the duty of every man, to cheriſh this holy flame in his owne ſoule, for mee, not to kindle it in others, as farre as in me lay, I held it piacular: Jt is true indeede, Philoſophy tells us, that elementary fire, needs no fewell, but that culinary doth, experience informeth us: The ſpirit of God, conſider it in it ſelfe, is ſo far from needing any helpes to cheriſh the heate thereof, that it is the originall of all, both health and life in the ſoule, but conſider, it as it worketh in the frigid ſoule of corrupted man: So though the ſpirit of God neede no auxiliary excitations, yet our deadneſse, and coldneſſe doth: which conſiderations with a kinde of command enforced mee to bring this worke to the preſſe, beeing nothing elſe but the fiery language, of thoſe Cloven Tongues, which did reſt on the head of that apoſtolicall divine, the authour hereof, which I hope being peruſed, will cauſe your Ladiſhip to ſay, it had beene pitty at the leaſt, if not impiety, to have deprived the altars of ſo many Chriſtian hearts, of this ſacred fewell.
Many other inducements J had to publiſh theſe Treatiſes, and among many this not the leaſt, to teſtifie my readineſſe, to acknowledge your Honours noble love; and favours to my ſelfe, that J might not be of the ungratefull number of thoſe, that Seneca eQuidam furtiué gratias agunt, & in angulo & in aurem, non eſt iſta verecundia, ſed inficiandi genus. Sen. de benef. lib. 2. cap. 23.ſpeakes of, that love to conceale received benefits, by private acknowledgements; to acquit my ſelfe, of which ſinne, I have thought fit to tell the world, that I was never ſo ſenſible of my owne poverty; as ſince your Honour brought me ſo farre in debt, that when I thinke of repayment, I finde a bottomleſſe ſea to fathom: Madam, with your leave, J ſhall ſay to your Honour asfHanc unam habeo injuriam tuam, effeciſti ut viverem & morerer ingratus. Sen. de benef. lib. 2. Cap. 21. Furnius to Auguſtus, this is the onelyonly wrong you have done me, that I muſt live and die unthankefull: and yet that my good will might bee ſeene, I was glad to ſnatch this occaſion, to teſtifie both my thankes and duty to your Honour, and ſince J finde not any thing to preſent unto you, by way of retribution, as Aeskines ſaid to Socrates, that one thing which I have, I give you, even my ſelfe, to be your ſervant, and ſollicitour, in the Court of Heaven, not ſo much, that I think my ſelfe worthy, as bound, to pray for your Honour, and all your moſt noble Family, that as God hath made you an exemplary peece of piety heere, ſo hee would long and long continue you, an encourager of Chriſtianity, a comfort of Chriſtians, a refreſher of the members of Chriſt, till the time of your refreſhing ſhall come, when triumph ſhall bee your recompence, glory your reward, Angels your company, God your glory.
Which ſhall be the dayly prayer of your Honours humble and devoted ſervant
DANIEL DIKE.
OF QVENCHING, AND NOT QVENCHING OF THE SPIRIT.
By IER. DYKE Miniſter of Epping in Eſſex.
REVEL. 2.4, 5. I have ſomewhat againſt thee, becauſe thou haſt left thy firſt love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent, and doe thy firſt workes.
Dicit Apoſtolus, Spiritum nolite extinguere: non quia ille extingui poteſt, ſed quantum in ipſis eſt, extinctores merito dicuntur, qui ſic agunt ut extinctum velint. Auguſt. Epiſtol. Lib. Epiſtol. 23.
Interea partes noſtrae ſunt petere a domino ut lampadi accenſae oleum ſuppeditet, ſervet purum Ellychnium, atque etiam promoveat. Calv. in Epiſtol. Pauli ad Theſſ. 1.
LONDON, Printed by Tho: Paine, for John Rothwell and are to be ſold at the ſigne of the Sun in Pauls Church-yard. 1640.