An Exposition of the Last Psalme Part 1

An Exposition of the Last Psalme.

by John Boys.

GVNPOWDER TREASON DAY.

Psalme 150.

_O praise G.o.d in his holinesse, &c._

All the Psalmes of _Dauid_ are comprised in two words, [a]_Halleluiah_, and _Hosanna_, that is, blessed be G.o.d, and G.o.d blesse; as being for the greater part either praiers vnto G.o.d for receiuing mercies, or else praises vnto G.o.d for escaping miseries. This our present Hymne placed as a [b]Conclusion of the whole booke; yea, the beginning, middle, end, to which all the rest (as [c]_Musculus_ obserueth are to be referred) inuiteth vs in prescript and postscript, in t.i.tle, in text, in euery verse, and in euery Clause of euery verse to _praise the Lord_. Teaching these two points especially:

1. For what } G.o.d is to be magnified.

2. With what }

For what, vers. 1, 2. _O praise G.o.d in his holinesse, praise him in the firmament of his power, praise him in his n.o.ble acts, praise him according to his excellent greatnesse._

With what, euen with all that is

Without vs, vers. 3. 4. 5. _Praise him in the sound of the trumpet, &c._

Within vs, vers. 6. _Omnis spiritus_, &c. _Let euery spirit praise the Lord, praise yee the Lord._

[Sidenote a: _Gueuara._]

[Sidenote b: _Lyra in loc._]

[Sidenote c: _In loc._]

This in briefe is the whole texts _Epitomie_, I come now to the words _Anotomie_, cutting vp euery part and particle seuerally, beginning first at the first, _O praise G.o.d in his holinesse_. Of which one sentence the Doctors haue many (though not aduerse yet diuerse) readings, especially three: _Praise G.o.d in his Saints, praise G.o.d in his sanct.i.tie, praise G.o.d in his sanctuarie_. _S. Hierome_, _Augustine_, _Prosper_, and [d]other as well ancient interpreters as moderne translate here praise G.o.d in his _Saints_. For if he must be praised in all his creatures, how much more in his new creatures? if in the witlesse wormes, and senselesse vapours, Psal. 148, much more doubtlesse (as _Theodorit_ here collects) in men, in holie men, in _Saints_, vpon whom hee hath out of his [e]vnsearchable riches of mercie, bestowed the blessings of the [f]life present; and of that which is to come.

[Sidenote d: _Chrysost. Basil. Euthym. Arabs apud Muscul. Lyra. Hugo Card. Turrecremat. Anonymus._]

[Sidenote e: _Ephes. 3. 8.16._]

[Sidenote f: _1. Tim. 4. 8._]

First, almightie G.o.d is to be blessed for giuing his Saints such eminent gifts of grace for the good of his Church, and for the setting foorth of his glorie. So _Chrysostome_, _Basil_, _Euthymius_, _Prosper_, _Placidus_, _Parmensis_ expound it. [g]Euery good and perfit gift is from aboue, descending from the father of lights, a good thought in a saint is _gratia infusa_, a good word in a saint is _gratia effusa_, a good deed in a saint is _gratia diffusa_, through his grace which is the G.o.d of [h]all grace, saints are [i]whatsoeuer they are. Wherefore praise the Lord in his Saints, often remember their vertues as their true _reliques_, and as it were bequeathed [k]_legacies_ vnto G.o.ds people. So the wise man, Ecclesiasticus 44. _Let vs now commend the famous men in old time, by whom the Lord hath gotten great glorie, let the people speake of their wisdome, and the congregation of their praise._ So the Confession of _Bohemia_, chap. 17. [l]_Wee teach that the Saints are wors.h.i.+pped truly, when the people on certaine daies at a time appointed, doe come together to the seruice of G.o.d, 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 G.o.dlinesse of life (_non legere mod 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 wors.h.i.+pping of Saints, and of G.o.d 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 praesat. 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 cfesse in the Creed, a knot of fellows.h.i.+p betweene the dead Saints and the liuing; it is our dutie to praise G.o.d for their good in particular, as they[p] pray to G.o.d for our good in generall. It is required on our part I say, to giue G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d for his Saints eminent grace while they were liuing, and exceeding glorie now they be dead. Wherein our Church ascribes not any diuine wors.h.i.+p 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 G.o.d in them, and praise them in G.o.d.

[Sidenote t: _De ciuit. lib._ 8. _cap._ 27.]

[Sidenote u: _Tom._ 2 _fol._ 118]

[Sidenote x: _Philip Mornaeus 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 G.o.d, for either they wors.h.i.+p _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 G.o.d, 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 gratiae, mater misericordiae_, &c. the which is G.o.ds owne stile, 1. Pet. 1. 10. & 2.

Cor. 1. 3. so they likewise say, _Maria consolatio infirmorum, redemptio captiuorum, liberatio d.a.m.natorum, salus vniuersorum._ [ab]_Giselbertus in lib. altercationis Synagogae et ecclesiae, 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 Mariae, reparatrix & saluatrix desperantis animae_, &c. That which is worse, their owne Pope (who cannot, as they teach, erre in a poynt of doctrine as Pope) calleth her expresly _Deam_.

_Pet. Bembus_ in his epistles written in Pope _Leo 10._ name, _lib. 8.

epist. 17._ printed at _Strasburg an. 1609._ that which is worst of all, in their most approued Bible: they translate Gen. 3. 15. _ipsa conteret caput tuum_: she shall breake thine head, although (as their owne Iesuit [ae]_Ribera_ confesseth honestly) the _Hebrew_ text, the _Chaldee_ paraphrase, the translation of the _Septuagint_, and all good _Latin_ copies reade _ipse conteret_, he shall bruise the serpents head, applying it to Christ, according to that of _Paul_, _The G.o.d of peace shall tread downe Satan vnder your feete_, Rom. 16. 20. by this euidence you may see that the gunpowder crue praise not G.o.d in the saints, nor the saints in G.o.d: but on the contrarie the saints as G.o.d.

[Sidenote y: _t.i.t. de sanct. inuocat._]

[Sidenote z: _See D. Fulke in 1. Tim 2. 5._]

[Sidenote aa: _Bellar. de sanct. beat. cap. 17._]

[Sidenote ab: _Apud Magdeburg. Cent. 10. Coll. 275._]

[Sidenote ac: _See Gospell Annunciat._]

[Sidenote ad: _Chemnit. exam. Con. Trident. part. 3. pag. 151._]

[Sidenote ae: _In Habacuc. cap. 1. num. 32._]

Againe these S. _Peter_ men (and as I haue warrant to terme them on this day _Salt Peter men_) erre from the true meaning of our text, because they doe not praise G.o.d _in sanctis eius_, in his saints: but dishonour G.o.d _in sanctis eorum_, in saints of their owne making, vsually praying vnto some who were no men, and to many who were not holy men. It is doubted by the two great lights in their glorious firmament, _Bellarmine_ and _Baronius_, whether there were euer any such man as S. _George_, or such a woman as S. _Catharine_. Cardinall _Bellarmine_ _lib. de beat.i.tudine sanct. cap. vlt. --. respondeo sanctorum_ doth acknowledge that they wors.h.i.+p certaine saints whose stories are vncertaine, reputing the legend of S. _George_ apocryphall according to the censure of Pope [af]_Gelasius:_ and Cardinall _Baronius ecclesiast.

annal. Tom. 2. ad an. 290._ according to the impression at Rome, fol.

650. as also _de Martyrologio Romano, cap. 2._ confesseth as much of _Quiriacus_ and _Iulitta_, declaring plainely that their acts are written either by fooles or heretikes, and in his annotations vpon the _Romane Martyrologie_ 23. Aprill, he taketh vp _Iacobus de Voragine_ for his leaden Legend of our English S. _George_, concluding in fine, that the picture of Saint _George_ fighting with a Dragon is _symbolicall_, and not _historicall_. If the Scripture be true [ag]_whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne_: then a.s.suredly these men (as [ah]_Paul_ speaks) _are d.a.m.ned of their owne selues_ in their owne conscience, who (notwithstanding all their doubts) pray still in their publike seruice, [ai]_Deus, qui nos beati Georgij martyris tui meritis & intercessione laetificas, Concede propitius, &c._ An Idoll as _Paul_ affirmes, 1. Cor.