SInce the time that Adam grew disobedient to GOD his Father , all Mankinde haue taken after the Earth their Mother , and whether the temper of the Climate which we inhabite doe inforce it , or the quality of the Soyle wherein wee breathe , or the nourishment whereon wee liue , altering vs somewhat , as it is altered by vs ; plaine it is , that we borrow our dispositions from our Countryes , and our humours are by consent of Nature so annext , to our tenures , and intangled to our possessions , that Geographers haue now thought manners of people as essentiall parts of their Art , as Regions ; and a Mappe as precisely to bee drawne of the one as of the other . Wherefore the Apostle S. Paul in the blossoming of the Gospell having planted Titus in the Episcopall See of Crete , and deliuering a kinde of Decretalls , and Canon Law , touching the life and demeanure of the Clergy ; he thought it no lesse behoofefull for Titus amongst other things to bee acquainted with the manners of his Flocke , then for a Physitian to know the constitution of his Patients , and therefore out of a Prophet of their owne , extracts for him a character of the Nation : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : The Cretes are alwayes lyars , euill beasts , slow bellies . I will not stand to discusse what Prophet of theirs it was which thus acted the Criticke , whether Epimenides , or Calimachus , since I finde that Epimenides hath amongst the Learned prevayled for multitude of voyces , nor is it expedient to vent all reasons which are alleadg'd , why he was here term'd a Prophet , that name being common to all , whose inventions could pace measures , and more particularly appropriated to Epimenides , as who was esteemed by the report of Laertius euen of the Cretians themselues , to bee such an one . The verdict you see he giues vp , findes them guilty of a three-fold corruption : first , of a corruption of the reasonable faculty , which sitting as supreme Iudge in the Court of Truth and Falsehood , they laboured what they could to part it by wrong informations , They were alwayes lyars : Secondly , of a corruption on of the irascible faculty , which they cherish'd with malice , and brutish cruelty , They were euill beasts : Thirdly , of a corruption of the concupiscible faculty , being better fed then taught , pigri , idle companions , and ventres , belly-gods , ( to speake with the time ) bad observers of Fasting-dayes , ill Lent-keepers , They were slow bellies . Heere is a cristall mirrour of divine providence , wherein the sole mercy of GOD is resplendent . Let our Pelagians of the newest devis'd fashion tell me , let them which would exalt the decayed and dead will of man one linke higher in the chaine of Predestination then the eternall decree of GOD , answere mee , how was Nature manur'd and prun'd in these Cretians ? how were her talents here turn'd and winded in the banke for the best advantage , that thus beyond all plea of desert , the Gospell should arriue in Crete , and Titus as Ambassadour bee sent from GOD to winne them vnto Christ ? Certainely if Cretians tongues be shaped for the vtterance of any truth , they might resolue our new Cretians the controversie , from their own case , where the light of the truth so immediatly followed in their Iland vpon a midnight of ignorance , and blindnesse , and that without any twilight interceeding or arising from the extinguished tapers of mans natural understanding , that my Text makes their disease and their cure to bee close successours the one of the other ; where we discouer , first an accusation against them , begun indeede by Epimenides , but seconded by himselfe , This witnesse is true : Secondly , a reformation , in which ( as if the grace of GOD building vpon no other foundation either of good nature , or morall honesty ) Titus must not exclude with Aristotle either youth or vnbridled affections from being hearers of his Philosophy , but must seriously intend their recovery , Wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith .

Concerning the first , namely the accusation ; the Cretians found no Advocate that I know to maintaine their honesty , till the Iesuites entertain'd Eudemon as being a natiue Cretian , and therefore best squaring with their discipline , and admitted him into their society , whom when a writer of ours fitly reputed for a notorious lyar , with Cretenses mendaces , The Cretians are alwayes lyars , he blusheth not to excuse the matter , as if Epimenides call'd them lyars for this onely , because they affirm'd that they could shew the sepulchre of Iupiter , whom both he and the rest of the Gentiles did conceiue to be immortall . This shift smells of the same dye with a Sophisme vsed in Logicians . The Cretians are alwayes lyars ; but Epimenides was a Cretian which said this ; therefore Epimenides lyed , and so by a consequence it is false , that the Cretians are alwayes lyars ; for as in this Syllogisme , a fallacy is committed in arguing from meere particulars , the major , that the Cretians are alwayes lyars , being but equipollent to this ; that many , or a greater part are lyars , out of which route , Epimenides might well be exempted ; so in the other caption of Eudemon's , what lets , that Epimenides saying might bee true in part , though not in this ; that Iupiter was immortall ; yet in this ; that the Cretians are alwayes lyars , euill beasts , slow bellyes ; which is all that our Apostle doth quote , Cretes erunt testes , nec fingunt omnes Cretes . A pretty world it is with the Iesuites , that as heretofore they haue put vs to maintaine the authority of the Scriptures aboue the Church , so now we must defend the truth of them against a Cretian . But Eudemon reasoning against so manifest a testimony of the Holy Ghost , argues , that either his Countrymen haue not yet left off their old quality , or else that amidst the refin'd decisions of their order touching lyes & equivocations , an officious lye for ones Country is helde currant ware , though the credite of an Apostle suffer by it . But let 's leaue Eudemon & his Countrymen as condemn'd by the Sentence of S. Paul himself , besides an whole jury of Proverbs pack'd against them , Cretizare , Cretizare cum Cretensi , Cretensis cum Aegineta , Cretensis nescit mare , all which giue no better language then the lye to the Cretians .

The points which I shall desire you to consider in this accusation of S. Pauls , are chiefly two . First , his Christian ingenuity in receiuing and approuing the truth , though breath'd from the lippes of a prophane Cretian , where he rejects not the pearle because it was enclos'd in a wooden casket , nor disdaines the fruit because it was seru'd vp in an earthen dish ; but rather the more admires it , and commends it to Titus and these Cretians , to be tasted by them also . This was farre from the daintinesse of many in our age , which thinke no instructions availeable or of force , but such as proceede from men , of whose inward calling they are perswaded , as if the efficacy of the Word depended on the sanctity of the deliuerer . Hence growes that loathing amongst some of their Pastors & their doctrine , that they follow those teachers , not whom God by an ordinary calling appointed them , but whom they choose themselues . They pretend as strict an observation of the Sabaoth almost as the Iewes , onely to heare whom they fancy ; they can convert the Sabaoth dayes journey , to spite the Pope , from two Italian miles , to two high Germane . True it is , that as the bels which hung in the Vestments of Aaron were intermingled with Pomgranates , so God loueth not a sound without fruit , & exemplary piety is a second Sermon ; nay , to say the truth , there is not a figure in Rhetoricke more potent then the good opinion conceiu'd of the speaker , in which respect both Arist. & Cicero , requir'd it euen in a ciuill Oratour : But this argues not the truth , vttered by a prophane person , of imperfection , but the stomacks of most hearers to be of weak disgestion . The gift of the Holy Ghost mentioned in the Gospel , where the Apostles were confirm'd in the Ministery of the word , is not graetia justificationis , a grace of justification ; but gratia aedificationis , a grace of edification , not gratia gratum faciens , as the Schoolmen , say , that is , a peculiar grace giuen them for the salvation of themselues , but gratia gratis data , a grace giuen them for the salvation of others . The Carpenters ( you know ) builded the Arke , & yet were not sav'd themselues : & the Tyrians & Sydonians furnished Salomon with materials for the Temple , and were neuerthelesse themselues without the covenant : So this witnesse of Epimenides , S. Paul converts to an instrument of winning the Cretians to true speaking , which yet could not saue Epimenides from venting a notorious lye , and that in the very place it selfe touching Iupiter's eternity . But what imports it whether the Physitian doe heale himselfe , so long as he prescribes vs wholesome Physicke ; or whether the prison key be in the hands of a prisoner , so long as it open's the wicket , and sets vs free from thraldome and bondage ?

The second thing to bee considered in this accusation , is the Christian liberty , which S. Paul assumeth in inserting the witnesse of a prophane Writer , and that with no small commendations , into the bowels of Canonicall Scripture . In the verse preceeding , he cited indeed one of their Poets , but the manner of his citing of him is there somewhat more doubtfull ; here in my Text , saying , this witnesse is true , the case is more clear'd ; and he declares himselfe that he vseth it as a confirmation or proofe , not to bee refuted by him , but to refute the gainsaying of the Cretians by it . But what will some say , Is S. Paul come to quote Poets ? why ? he hath taught vs , that the Scriptures are sufficient , to teach , to instruct , to confirme , to reproue , that the man of God may be perfect in euery good worke : how is it then that hee takes vp the defence of an vnhallowed Poeme , and turnes Patron to the assertion of an Ethnicke Writer ? Nay , hee which profess'd his comming not to bee in the wisedome of men , doth he borrow this furniture from Philosophers , and giue roome to strangers to lodge vnder the roofe of God's Sanctuary ? But the Fathers doe vpon this place note the prudence of the Apostle , who to the Cretians vs'd the authority of a Cretian , giuing them their food in due season , and applying Physicke to the temper of his Patients , becomming all things to all men , vnto the Iew a Iew , vnto the Gentile a Gentile , that he might winne them vnto Christ . For what more clearenesse can there bee , then to make men parties in the proofe , judges in their owne cause , and witnesses against themselues ? how can one better confute the Iew , then by Paraphrast's , disperst as well in their Caball , as in their Talmud ? How should one reason better against the Epicure and Atheist , then by bringing the world and creatures therein for witnesse , or these are the records which they louebest , and most beleeue , and from which they are loathest to depart ? How can one soundlyer confound the Naturalist , then by the things that euery man readeth in his owne nature , which hee findes inscrib'd in his heart , and hath beene vttered by naturall men ? Thus God himselfe doth oftentimes suite his manner of calling men , to their condition of life ; The Wise men which were Astronomers he call'd by a starre , Peter a fisherman by a draught of fishes , Dionysius Areopagita , of the Sect of the Stoickes or Epicures , as Ambrose supposes , by a sentence vrg'd by S. Paul at Athens out of Aratus , and here is the same enterpris'd against the prophane Cretians , from a prophane Prophet of their owne , Epimenides . Certainely , seeing it hath pleas'd our Apostle to quote a saying of Natures Secretary , and to insert it into his writings as an engine which he would employ for the conversion of the Cretians vnto godlinesse , and since wee see the Spirit of God to haue sweetned the waters of cursed Iericho , and to haue made wholesome drinke of them for the children of the Prophets , as also to haue quickned and made fertile these wilde stockes , and to transplant them , to bud and bring forth fruits of righteousnesse and faith in these Cretians ; I cannot here by the way but condemne them which thinke either the study , or citing of humane writers in divine exercises , to be altogether vnlawfull . The maine prejudice against these citations happens from a wilfull blindnes of a perverse generation , which hath not after so many yeares tutouring , learned to distinguish between the lawfull vse and the abuse of a thing : I confesse as it was more in practise in the Primitiue Church , then now it is , to cite some Authors ; so was there then another reason for the same than now there is , the Fathers being then to deale with Ethnicks , & sometimes with learned & judicious Philosophers , as was the case of S. Paul at Athens , and here happily in Crete , in which Cydon might then as well yeeld an Eudemon as now , howsoeuer the whole Island was famous in this , saith Solinus , that it first gaue lawes to letters before all others , & therefore the example of these men can yeeld no sufficient pretence to any now-a-dayes , to make preaching the Word to be but a rapsody or medly of Greeke & Latine Poets ; Bernard saith truly , that humane erudition ( too much of it ) is but vinum inebrians , wine that makes a man drunke : inflans , non nutriens ; implens , non adificans ; rather glutting , then nourishing ; and puffing vp , then edifying , & to such as make their auditours to surfet of such raw and immature fruits , I may say with S. Hierome to Eustochius , Quid cum Psalterio Horatius , cum Evangelistis Maro , cum Apostolis Cicero ; what makes Horace with the Psalter , what Virgil with the Evangelists , what Cicero with the Apostles ? Nay , we all know how vnseemely a thing it is for a subject to sit on the same Throne with his Prince , or an handmaid to beare equall rule in the house with her Mistresse ; or the dog ( as our Sauiour termes these forraigners ) to possesse the roome and place of the Children : Yet let mee say thus much ; that the subject may vsher his Prince , the servant attend his Master , & the handmaide her Mistresse . There is yet an Atheist in the world , which saith in his heart , there is no God , to him we may send Cicero , a man as ignorant of the Scripture , as hee incredulous of it , which shall certifie him of the consent of all Nations in the acknowledging a divine power . There are of the Sect of the Epicures , which bid vs eate , & drink , & sport , for after death there is neither Heauen nor Hell , to these wee may oppose Homer if blind , yet seeing farther then they perhaps into the state of men deceas'd . There are of the Stoickes brood remaining which minde not the providence of God , but referre all things to destiny , to these the Orator or Plato , that Atticke Moses will reply , that God's providence extendeth it selfe vnto all things , and that there is not a mote ( as Democritus ) so small which yet hee doth not minde and order . Is this now to make the pulpit a Philosopher's Schoole , or rather the Philosopher's Schoole a foote-stoole vnto the pulpit , and an handmaid vnto divinity , to proceede better in the necessary worke ? I cannot tell what others may conceiue , but me-thinkes as often as wee heare an Epimenides resolue vs morrally into the chaos of vice of which wee consist , this meditation should bud in the heart of every good Christian ; Good GOD are those perilous times to ensue in our dayes which thou foretold'st by thy Apostles , or do the mindes of men decay with the whole fabricke of the world , that thus in the first principle of our catechismes , Heathens should informe vs of our misery , and the Disciples of nature prooue greater Masters then the Schollers of the Gospell ? Beleeue it , beleeue it ( belooued ) these are those Ninivites which will rise vp in judgement against you , these those Queenes of the South which will conndemne you , for they had not those lights which wee haue , and yet they saw farre more , then many of vs doe . Truely doth Hierome obserue vpon the first of Daniel , that if you turne over the bookes of the Philosophers touching manners , you shall finde part of the vessels of the house of God there ; in Plato that was the maker of the world , in Zeno the Prince of the Stoickes you may discover hell , and the immortality of the soule , although they mixing the truth with much falsehoode may be sayd to haue taken not all the vessels of Gods house , but some onely , and those not whole neither , but crack'd and broken . Something you may finde in Plato that is borrowed from Moses , whom hee alwayes meaneth as some thinke by this phrase , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as the old ancient speech hath it : Something in Homer that he might be beholding vnto the same for ; especially that in his 4th Iliad . Parents are to be honoured that wee may be long liu'd ; where he rellisheth of the fift Commandement : nay D. Chytreus affirmes all the writings of Philosophers touching manners to be nothing else but so many commentaries vpon the fiue former commandements of the latter table . Now tell me I beseech , you why ( after the greate captivity which Iaphet's posterity hath suffered vnder Satan ; God having sent his Apostles and vs their successours in Preaching the word , to build an house vnto him amongst the Gentiles ) why I say , wee may not lawfully vse those instruments which once were dedicated to the Tabernacle , or not restore those things to the Temple , which once were stolne from the Temple , or burne those lampes in our Sanctuary which once were lighted at the altar , and haue all this while lyen vnprofitably in the treasure house of the God of the King of Babylon . I am not ignorant that this course hath found inveighers in all ages ; it is reported that St Hierome was whipt in a sleepe by an Angell , for too much addicting himselfe vnto Cicero's workes , I am sure that waking , Magnus scourged him , quasi candorem Ecclesiae Ethnicorum sordibus pollueret , as if hee polluted the candor of the Church with the filth of Ethuickes . To be briefe , I finde that they deny not the vse of humane learning to be lawfully admitted in divine exercise , so that these foure conditions , observed also by S Paul himselfe in this very text , be not wanting . The first concernes the end , that as our Apostle heere make the marke ( at which hee shotte this arrow drawne from the quiver of Epimenides ) to be the soundnesse of the Cretians faith , so not vaine glory , but the confirmation of faith , and the remouing of rubbes thereof , laid by its oppugners , either to hinder its growth or fruites , must bee that which giues vs commission to make sale of that ware in Christ's market . For Philosophers if they haue spoken any thing consonant to our beliefe , wee are not onely not to be affraid to meddle with it , sed etiam ah ijs tanquam ab injustis possessoribus vindicandum , but also wee are to challenge it ( sayth Austine ) as being detain'd by vnjust possessors , wee are not to shunne learning because they say that Mercury was the first inventer of letters , neither are wee to reject vertue and justice , because the Gentiles dedicated Temples to the worshippe of them ; nay rather whosoever is a good Christian will acknowledge the truth to be his Masters wheresoever hee findes it ; and thinke it no villany , so long as it benefits his Lords worke , either to goe downe to the Philistins to sharpen his axe , or to borrow of the Egyptians gold and silver for the building of the Tabernacle .

The second condition is that the prophanesse or Ethnicisme in them be castrated , not so much in the presse as in the mouth , for by this meanes wee gather the rose , sayth Theodoret , and leaue the bryar , wee take the gold and let the drosse goe . Wee are to deale in these cases , sayth Hierome , as God commanded the Israelites Deut. 21. If you see among the captiues a beautifull woman , and haue a desire vnto her , and would make her your wife , you must shaue her head , and pare her nayles , and put the raiment of her captivity from off her , and then you may marry her : So if wee be enamour'd on secular wisdome , and for the beauty and decency thereof do desire of a captiue maide to make it an Israelite , quicquid in ea mortuum , idololatriae , voluptatis , errorum , libidinum , vel praecide vel rade , whatsoever is dead in it , whether idolatry or wantonnesse , or errour , or lasciviousnesse , either pare or shaue , and then you may lawfully beget of her , household servants vnto the Lord God of Sabaoth : This rule is most excellently kept by St Paul in this my text , where he quoting a sentence of Epimenides , the greater halfe hee is contented to lay by ; it being , as Hierome , Austine , Chrysostome , and Theophilact do witnesse , tainted with the immortality of Iupiter , and avouching of his eternity . The same course hee tooke with that of Aratus mentioned , Act. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , for wee also are his offspring ; in which Calvin thinkes that the Poet conceiued some particle of the divine essence to reside in the soule of man , yet this nothing letted ( sayth hee ) why the Apostle might not thence extract a sense good enough to confute the Athenians withall ; so senselesse is their position which thinke no reformation to be lawfull , but that which abrogates the whole vse of a thing for some partiall abuse slyding hereby from an affirmatiue superstition , which idolatrously toucheth what is vnlawfull , to a negatiue superstition , which abstaineth from what is lawfull .

The third condition is that wee alwayes so vse humane learning that wee ever giue the Scriptures the vpper hand . So St Paul having condemned these Cretians from the mouth of Epimenides , hee thought this might serve as a good motiue or preparation to stirre them vp towards their amendment , but because Titus was to goe on a surer ground , hee establisheth that sentence from another of his owne , which proceeding from one inspir'd with the infallible spirit of truth , could not incurre suspicion of errours ; ( This witnesse is true , ) for as much difference as was between that riches which Salomon had to build the Temple , and that which the Israelites borrowed of the Egyptians to build the tabernacle ; so much and more is betweene that testimony which nature brings , to divine writings , & that which the pen-men of the Holy Ghost bring vnto it : the which being well conceived , the contention ( as the Fathers obserue ) 'twixt Hagar and Sarah , may be compos'd , if Hagar flout not Sarah , as if shee were barren , nor Sarah exclude Hagar , as being her hand-maid .

The last condition is that which Rhetoricians do giue in like case , that these citations of humane writers be vsed in divine exercise : non vt esculentis , sed vt condimentis : not as meate , but as sawce . The Apostle therefore , though there were many straines of poetry and proverbs touching these Cretians imperfections , as common to be had as any ware in the market , yet he contents himselfe with one , and saith not , haec testimonia sunt vera , these witnesses are true , but , hoc testimonium est verum , this witnesse is true , not as if more then one humane authority were vnlawfull , for hee himselfe in a short oration to the Athenians , did quote both an inscription vpon an altar , and a sentence of a Poet , but to teach vs herein to vse a moderation : for it were a madnesse , because lace sets forth a suite , therefore to make a suite of lace onely , or because tapestry and hangings doe grace a house , therefore to content our selues with them insteede of stone and timber the most principall stuffe in building , which were as much as to say , I would build me an house , but in effect make but an arbour . Poets and Oratours are not the solide meates which doe nourish , but the greene oliue which provokes the appetite : 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith Pindarus , sub finem coenae dulcis est placenta : wherevpon , as Gratian obserues , Gregorie blames not those Bishops which studied & applied these things , Sed qui contra episcopale officium pro lege Evangelicâ grammaticam populo exponebant , but them which contrary to their office of expounding the Gospell , read a grammar lecture vnto the people , such as for wholsome foode propos'd pepons and onions , and I know not what old ends to disgest , as if hee were no body which compil'd not a whole Homers Centons , or a Virgils Centons , and vented them all at once to their auditory . Otherwise who can deny , but that an ingenuous hearer may get some profit by hearing as well as another by reading ? as for them of the opposite opinion , I would wish them more charity , then to grudge that other men see with two eyes , whereas they see but with one , and will leaue them with that saying of Hierome to Magnus , ne vescentium dentibus edentuli invideant , & oculos caprarum talpae contemnant : that if they want teeth , they would not envy them which eate with them , nor contemne the eyes of goates , if themselues bee Wantes and starke blinde . And so I come from the accusation taken vp by our Apostle against these Cretians , This witnesse is true , vnto the reformation , whose steppes and degrees succeede in the next place to be handled , Wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may bee sound in the faith .

Was this witnesse true , and must Titus therefore be so hardy as to rebuke them for it ? Surely this was a service of no small danger ; for first venter non habet aures , the belly was never tender ear'd , especially in cases , wherein her copie is questioned , and can it now brooke with patience to be stinted , & those ancient feasts famous in Creete for their antiquity and founder , renowned Minos , to be censur'd ? Againe , that evill beasts should bee curryed without kicking , or giving some token of their ferall inclination , almost o'refloweth the banks of all probability in nature : But to take the lye without a challenge , to be twitted by St Paul , & then tax'd by Titus for being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , alwayes lyars , the Valiant of our times , I am sure , will never be induced to beleeue , that either the Cretians were men of resolution , or else that they would pocket vp a rebuke in this kind without a frey . I cannot tell , whether since the time that duells haue beene thought the best meanes to disproue a lye , although in them is made good , that which was neuer questioned , to wit , skill in fencing , and not that which is impeach't , to wit , trueth and honesty , but these rather impair'd , for hardly I shall beleeue him to regard his word , which regards not his soule , whether ( I say ) reproofes of this nature bee now warrantable ? Certainely had Paul construed this language to bee a subject worthy of a combate , hee would not haue branded a whole nation with such a vice , or at least thought to haue wrought soundnesse in mens faith by so vnseasonable an instrument ? Wee which challenge farre higher places in Christs schoole , then these raw converts , must acknowledge our non-proficiency , if wee be more offended with others telling vs of our faults , then with our selues , for being faulty , seing it is more disgraceful to be , then to be called so ; inasmuch as wordes are but aery images of things , and to make the most of it , a biting enemy is but a cholericke physitian that tells one his disease in his anger . But counterfeit valour hath confin'd reproofes to such narrow limits , & tyed them to such nice termes , that for feare of an encounter they seldome or never goe abroad , and haue scarce the pulpit allowed them for a sanctuary . Hence springs that vnhappy friendship , quae illum quem diligit , ( as Carthusian saith ) tacendo tradit diabolo , which favouring his brothers eares , breakes his necke : hence that indulgency , and connivencie of parents , especially in cases of vertue and religion , where if the question were to be decided , whether the foule be ex traduce , that is , may be allowed by heralds , a place in pedegrees ; I might answere , no : seeing the neglect which they haue of it doth convince sufficiently , that they begot their childrens bodies , but not their soules . The Law in Deuteronomy is vniversal , thou shalt not see thy brothers oxe , or his asse fall downe by the way , and hide thy selfe from them : what shall we say , ( beloued ) doth God take care for oxen or asses ? but the pitty is ( saith Bernard ) cadit asina , succurritur ei , cadit anima , non est qui relevet eaem : the asse falls , shee is succoured , a soule falls , & there is none which by reproving , will relieue it . I finde by the testimony of a Iesuite , Valentia 3. Tom. 3. disp. & 10. q. that this duty of rebuking in my text , is so little valued in the Church of Rome , that seldome either confessors are inquisitiue in asking , or penitents carefull to accuse themselues of any defect herein : but yet to make vs as deformed as themselues , they deliver that all rebukings whatsoever are taken away by our doctrine , for what ( saith Bellarmine ) wilt thou checke him for not walking in the fields , whom thou supposest by abridging the power of the will , to be shut vp in prison ? or if thou blame a man for falling into a pit , because through his owne fault he fell , yet willt thou reproue him for not comming out , when thou makest him so weake and feeble , and the pit so high that he cannot ? Yes , hee may rightly be blam'd for not being in the fields , which ought to be there , shuts himselfe vp , and is willing to abide there still , and he is worthy to be chid which comes not out of a pit though he cannot , if he by his owne negligence brake the ladder , which should helpe him out . Now man cast's himselfe into this pit , and shuts himselfe in this prison , herein he is to be rebuked ; he willingly would abide there still , herein hee is to be rebuked ; he lost by his owne default the meanes to escape thence , I meane to avoide an occurrent sinne , and herein he is to be rebuked . But they reply , you shew indeede in this , a justice in reproving , but by denying a power to the will of vsing or rejecting these reproofes , you deny the profit or necessity of them . Why ? admit that reproofes take not their effect from the freedome of the will , yet must Titus his talke bee thought superfluous , and Cicero's rhetoricke bee canonicall scripture , frustra leges dantur , frustra objurgationes , laudes , vituperationes adhibentur , in civill matters wee deny not the will to haue a kinde of regiment , though somewhat impair'd , but ever in spirituall : doe not rebukes serue as so many rules and precepts to informe vs what wee should doe ? doe they not as sumners admonish vs of our misery , doe they not imprint a kinde of shame even in the wicked , touching the outward act ; is not the justice of God in punishing sinners preach't in them ? lastly , are they not ordain'd by God as sharpe instruments to search the benumm'd wounds of his maim'd children , which by joyning to them the saving oyle of his grace , hee makes effectuall ? What matters , though they receiue not their efficacy from nature , if they haue it from grace ? Thus much my text assures me , that rebukes are to bee vsed , and if we belieue our Apostle , they must not bee regulated by Popery , which to make the will a Lord , attires the vnderstanding as nakedly as a beggar , and to pamper the one , starues the other , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , saith the originall , which is not a bare reproofe , but implyes also a disproofe , as if hee should haue saide , tyranize not ouer their consciences in matters of religion , lap not vp your reproofes in the generall beliefe of the Church , but batter downe the rampires of sinne with reason , and subdue selfe will with the weight of invincible demonstration . This teacheth vs what ought to bee the furniture of rebukes , if wee would haue them effectuall , to wit , that they be fraught with convincing arguments , that Rhetoricke enter not the listes without some weapons borrowed from the arsenall of Logicke , that wee remember the Maxime in Philosophie , that the will wils no more then the vnderstanding vnderstands . Checks haue a kinde of signiory over the outward members , they may fetter the legges , indeed ( addes the same Father ) the eares of all men , but I convent the consciences of some few , wherefore I say not , thou adulterer correct thy selfe , but whosoever art infected with that vice in this people , correct thy selfe : Such doubtlesse was the oratory of Titus , Paul bade him rebuke the Cretians for their lying , this hee might say , the loue which you professe , is dissimulation , your vowing of service , and all you haue ( if any such complement were then in vse ) is nothing else for the most part , but a courteous & courtlike kind of Cretisme , but to giue the lye to any one in particular , herein , though the party hate not the thing , yet he would hate the name , and the potion would turne to gall , what should remoue it ? The reasons and grounds hereof , are principally two , the one lest wee arme shame with a brazen vizard , to take vp the patronage of a fault , and so quem vis correctiorem , facis pejorem , saith Austin , whom thou intendest to mend , thou makest worse : the other is , because a good name is like the fasces and ensignes of honour , which vsher the good actions of men , and make them passable in the world : Hee which defames this , depriues his brother of an instrument , without which neither his generall calling of a Christian , nor his particular almost whatsoeuer , can be so powerfull . Alexander ab Ales therefore disputing the question , whether contumelies are to bee remitted , not onely quoad rancorem , as touching malice and rancor , but also quoad satisfactionem , as touching satisfaction ; he distinguisheth of contumelies , that some are injuriosae in personas , injurious to the persons ; some , injuriosae in officia , iniurious to the offices which they beare : the former hee saith , ought not to bee greatly set by , but easily pardoned , but not the latter without some amends , if it may bee had . For in things which touch ones particular person , wee giue an account to God , but for our selues ; but in things which concerne ones office or calling wee may giue an account to God for others , and therefore wee cannot dispense with ought that belongs to them without being injurious to our neighbours ; now amongst these not the least is a good name , it being our owne indeede , as our riches are , in respect of the possession , but it is others in respect of the vse and benefit . Heere therfore ( beloued ) I could wish that in publique speaking men would obserue this distinction of him and them , more seriously , whether they speake of those which beare sway in the common-wealth , or them which are over-seers in the Church . Chiefe Magistrates are set by God , to be like Sunnes in the firmament , rash censures of these are like Cloudes in the middle region of the aire , they hurt not the Sunne it selfe , neither do they abstract any thing from his permanent brightnesse , but they depriue vs which liue below of that light and warmth which hee deriveth to vs . So likewise Pastours in the Church , are trumpets of the Gospell which summon you to battaile against your spirituall enemies , hee which defames them , doth hee stoppe the breath of the trumpet ; doth hee hinder it from sounding ? no , but hee enchants your organs and puts wooll into your eares , that you cannot distinguish the sounding of it : I speake not this as if I would procure their obliquities exemption from reproofe , that they should be depriv'd of the meanes prescrib'd by God for mens recoveryes , as the glosse would haue the Pope , to whom no man may say , Domine cur itafacis ? for if vices once ascend the Pulpit , where shall they not enter ? if Sathan plant ill manners in the most eminent place of the Church , what will hee not do in private houses ? But what was prescrib'd to Titus to bee the square of his fraternall corrections , I commend to all , redargue illos , not illum , rebuke privately him , publiquely not him , but them . But perhaps in the third place you will aske , how you must rebuke ? my Apostle heere tell 's you , when hee sayth , Rebuke them sharpely . The vices aboue mentioned were so common and frequent amongst the Cretians , that the whole Iland seem'd to be lulled a sleepe & to need sharpe reprehensions to rouse it vp . For as it is with ill humours , that a weake dose doth but stirre and anger them , not purge them out ; so it fareth with inveterate sinnes , an easie reproofe doth but encourage wickednesse , and make it thinke it selfe so slight as that censure importeth . Vpon which ground , Commentator vpon the 1. Ethicks , disputing , whether yong men sway'd by their affection may bee admitted into the Schoole of Morall Philosophy , determines affirmatiuely that they may , but with this limitation , that the professers and readers of that discipline , do oftentimes place opprobrious and contumelious speeches insteede of speculariue arguments , the reason whereof I finde given by Gregory , vt cum culpa ab actore non cognoscitur , quanti sit ponderis ab increpantis ore sentiatur , that when the fault is not conceiued by the doer , the weight of it may bee felt , from the mouth of the reprouer . For a sharpe reproofe and a contumely do agree , as Thomas well notes , in the matter , but differ formally , meaning that the same words or phrases may be common to them both ; for to call foole , Matth. 5. is judg'd a contumely and deserving hell fire , yet foolish , Luke 24. is a reproofe , and vs'd by our Saviour to the two Disciples , and to the Galatians by St Paul , chap. 3. but because the signification of words do depend vpon the inward affection , therefore the forme which denominates the action is taken from the end and scope of the speaker , to wit , whether he intendeth the dishonouring of the persons , or their reformation , as Titus when he made the butt of his rebukings the soundnesse of the Cretians faith . But least wee should imagine the sinewes and vigor of reproofe to consist in Sarcasmes , or to prevaile onely in the tongue of barking Doeg , St Paul here tell 's vs what sharpenesse is most convenient , when hee sayth , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , signifying a cutting off , and as some interpreters do note , vs'd by S. Paul as alluding to chirurgians who cut away the dead flesh which fostereth corruption in wounds , whereby we may learne , that reproofes are then most feeling & do peirce home , when they not onely make that sinne bleede whose cure is intended , but also lay the axe to the roote of it , as well as occasions , and the like , which do preserue and foster it . It were folly to preach obedience to the Prince , vnlesse we infringe and extirpate the sandy foundation of Papall authority : In vaine it were to rebuke lying , & not to cancell the grounds of equivocations , to blame dispaire , and not take away the vncertainty of Salvation , to beate downe presumption , and proclaime open markets for indulgences . The last thing which may be desired to be knowne in this precept of rebuking is the end , wherefore it is to be done ; & that is set down in the last place , That they may be sound in the faith . Faithfull are the wounds of a friend , sayth the Wiseman , his accusations are instructions , his chastisements peace , his pretious blames shal never break our heads . But here likewise may be questioned , what faith is vnderstood by the Apostle , whether fides quae creditur , the faith which is beleeved , or fides quâ creditur , the faith whereby we beleeue : I cannot altogether exclude this latter from an interest in my text , seeing these two are relatiues , and therefore what toucheth one , doth obliquely concerne the other ; but yet I take the former to be principally intended , the phrase importing no lesse , which sayth not that they may haue a sound faith , as implying a defect meerely in the subject , but that they may bee sound in the faith , as implying an imperfection in the object , & the circumstances enforcing the same , which mention , corruption of doctrine in the teachers , and a mixture of Iewish fables in the things taught . When therefore S. Paul lay's an injunction vpon Titus to rebuke the Cretians for those three notorious vices , that they might be sound in the faith , hee seemes to paint in one small table the whole progresse of heresies how they begin , how they are promoted , and how they are established and confirm'd : The lyar which is the first brocher of them tell 's the tale , The evil beasts , which are his contentious followers do defend it , and The slow bellyes are most hearers that for want of paines taking in the enquirie do approue it . But to remoue these obstructions , Titus must turne Physitian , and to procure soundnesse of faith must take vpon him the taske of a spirituall Hypocrates . And to apply this to our selues ; the voice of more then a Titus is necessary in this decrepit age of ours , wherein faith in many places lie's bed-ridden , and as if Crete had dispers'd new colonies throughout the world , it scarce is any where secure from the assaults of a lying and contentious Cretian . What plott of ground feed's not Minotaures which gore the sides of faith and Christian religion : what pasture so levell wherein some aspiring Ida lift's not vp it's head , and involues it's vaine conceites in the cloudes ? Even the Labyrinthes of Dedalus haue left their subterranean habitations , and planted themselues in the fallacies and impostures of home-bred Donatists and neighbouring Pelagians . I wish that words were as coyne , that so the many which this subject requires , might be exchang'd into fewer , & yet of equivalent value , & I might contain my selfe within that circle of time on which hope rather then assurance bidd's mee trespasse : but this Presence commands mee silence , where the example of our royall Theseus himselfe in quelling these monsters , hath supplyed that which you may suppose was the taske of Titus , and engrafted ( I doubt not ) what my text aime's at , with a silent Sermon , and reall perswasion of it's owne . For conclusion therefore , I haue hitherto entertain'd your eares with the anatomy of a Cretian , and transported your thoughts a while from this Island of ours , the gemme of the Westerne Ocean , & set them on shore on the most eminent and renowned Island of the Mediterranean ; what you haue there beheld , I trust your riper judgments will make vse of , not as most trauailers doe , by bringing them home with you into your Country , but by learning how to avoyde them . In that catalogue or inventory rather of Cretish trash , the first sophisticate ware which offer'd it selfe for currant , was the lye ; if these quarters of Europe doe as much detest the thing , as distaste the name , thinke Titus rebukes bound for some other coast , & not ours . But for the other moueables , fitter to store parkes and forrests , then townes or cittyes ; namely , euill-beasts , I should be also confident of our freedome herein as of wolues , were not slow bellies , whereof our Soyle is too copious , and sharpe teeth euer individuall companions . My hope is , that parting from Crete , you will shake hands and bidadew to those surquedries & superfluities which stil'd these Cretians , slow bellies , S. Paul especially in my Text making this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , that is , ( as I shew'd before ) the pruning or paring off , of those things which breed and foster corruption in vs , to be the most necessary meane to arriue at soundnesse of faith . Why should our pamperings , afford matter to any home-bred viper to censure vs , as Epimenides did his Countrymen , or thinke the beasts which wee prophane by sacrifice to our owne appetites , doe as they did to these Cretians , incorporate their brutish affections with their carkasses : This time bid's them liue , that you may kill these . Thus must this sharpnesse of rebuking be practised , thus this soundnesse of faith heere mentioned , be perfected .