Clavis mystica a key opening divers difficult and mysterious texts of Holy Scripture; handled in seventy sermons, preached at solemn and most celebrious assemblies, upon speciall occasions, in England and France. By Daniel Featley, D.D.

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Clavis mystica a key opening divers difficult and mysterious texts of Holy Scripture; handled in seventy sermons, preached at solemn and most celebrious assemblies, upon speciall occasions, in England and France. By Daniel Featley, D.D.
Author
Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.
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London :: Printed by R[obert] Y[oung] for Nicolas Bourne, at the south entrance of the royall Exchange,
an. Dom. 1636.
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Sermons, English -- 17th century.
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http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A00593.0001.001
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"Clavis mystica a key opening divers difficult and mysterious texts of Holy Scripture; handled in seventy sermons, preached at solemn and most celebrious assemblies, upon speciall occasions, in England and France. By Daniel Featley, D.D." In the digital collection Early English Books Online 2. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A00593.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 17, 2024.

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THE PERPLEXED SOULES QUAERE. A Sermon preached on the third Sunday in Lent. THE LXIX. SERMON.

ACTS 2.37.

What shall we doe?

THe words of the wise (saitha 1.1 Solomon the mirrour of wisedome) are like to goades, and to nailes fastned by the masters of the assemblies, which are given from one shepheard. Marke, I beseech you, what he saith, and the Lord give you a right understanding in all things: hee saith not, verba sapientum sunt calamistri, but stimuli: notb 1.2 lenocinia, sed remedia; not sweet powders, but medicines: not crisping pins to curle the lockes, or set the haires in equipage, but like goades piercing through the thicke skinne, and like nailes pricking the live flesh, yea the very heart roote, and drawing from thence teares, sanguinem animae, thec 1.3 blood of the wounded soule. Such were the words of Saint Peter in this Sermon, where∣with he tickleth not the eares of the Jewes with numerous elocution, but pricked their hearts with godly compunction. Which effects of his di∣vine and soule-ravishing eloquence, Saint Luke punctually noteth (as Mrd 1.4 Calvin judiciously hath observed) that we might not thinke that the holy Ghost, which came downe upon the Apostles in the likenesse of fierie tongues, and enabled them to speake divers languages which they had never learned, resided in the tongue, but descended lower into the heart, and wrought there a won∣derfull alteration, of stony making them fleshie; of obdurate, relenting; of

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obstinate, yeelding; of frozen, melting. Tully doth but flatter his mistresse eloquence in proclaiming her flexanimam, Queene regent of the affections of the mind. That style is due to the power of the word and the grace of the spirit, which boweth and bendeth, frameth and moldeth the heart at pleasure. It is the sworde 1.5 of the spirit which is mightie in operation, & carnem mortificat, & Deo in sacrificium offert; killeth the flesh in us, and sacrificeth it unto God. It is the point of this sword which openeth the Aposteme of cor∣rupt nature, and letteth out all the impure matter of lust and luxurie, by pricking the quickest veines in the heart. Wherefore that wanton and crank dame, who blushed not to professe that she was more moved at a play than at a Sermon, either by that profane speech of hers bewrayed that she play∣ed at Sermons, & never fastened her eares to the Preacher, that he might fa∣sten his goads and nailes in her heart; orf 1.6 intus apparens prohibuit extrane∣um, the evill spirit had before taken up her heart, as he did a like gallants in Rome, who, asg 1.7 Tertullian writeth, when he was adjured by a Saint of God, and demanded how hee durst seize upon any that professed the Christian faith, answered, In meo reperi, I caught her in my owne ground, I found her at the Theater, she came within my walke, and therefore I tooke her as a lawfull prize: or lastly, shee never came prepared to the hearing of the Word as she ought, she never laid her heart asoake in teares to make it ten∣der, she never prayed to God to direct the penknife in the hand of the spi∣rituall Chirurgian, to pricke the right veine by a seasonable reprehension like to this of Saint Peters in my text, which when the Jewes heard,

They were pricked in heart, &c. See (saith Sainth 1.8 Chrysostome) what meek∣nesse is, and how it pierceth the heart deeper than rigour and severitie of re∣proofe. It is not the storme of haile and raine that ratleth upon the tiles, and maketh such a noise, but the still kinde shower that sinketh deepe into the earth; the soft drops pierce the hard stones.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.

The Surgeon who intends to pricke a veine deepe, first stroakes the flesh, and gently rubbeth it to make the veine swell. He that maketh an incision in the body of a patient that hath tough and hard flesh, putteth him to little or no paine at all: but if hee mollifie the flesh first, and then apply his sharpe instrument unto it, the party shrinketh at it: even so saith the skilfull Surgeon of the mind sores, If we would doe good upon our patients, wee must first make the heart tender, and then pricke it: now that which mollifieth the heart, and maketh it tender, is not rage, nor heate of passion, nor vehement ac∣cusation, much lesse bitter taunts and reproaches, but thei 1.9 spirit of meeknesse; in which Saint Peter sought to restore his countrimen the Jews. For though they had murdered his and our Lord and Master, and much injured his fel∣low servants the Apostles, yet he speaketh unto them as a father or a carefull master; he telleth them indeed of their fault, yet aggravateth it not, that he might not drive them to desperate courses; but excusing it by their igno∣rance, he offereth them grace and pardon upon very easie termes, that grie∣ving for their sinnes of a deeper die, they would looke upon him by faith whom they had pierced, and with wicked hands nailed to a tree. By which sweet insinuation, though he brought them not so farre as to justifying faith

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and repentance unto life, yet they came on a good way; for they were pric∣ked with remorse for that they had done, and they expresse a desire to make amends, if it might be, and referre themselves to the Apostles farther dire∣ction and instruction, saying, Men and brethren

What shall we doe?

I may say of this question, as Tully of Brutus hisk 1.10 laconicall epistle, quàm multa quàm paucis? how much in how little? but two words in thel 1.11 origi∣nall, yet issuing from three affections, feare, sorrow, and hope.

  • 1 Feare saith, What shall we doe to flie from the wrath to come?
  • 2 Sorrow saith, What shall we doe to undoe that we have done?
  • 3 Hope saith, What shall we doe to purchase a pardon for our bloudy mindes, if not hands, and to obtaine the promise that you tell us is made to us, and to our children?

First of these words as they are a question of feare. The tree of forbidden sinne beareth three fruits, and all bitter,

  • 1 Guilt.
  • 2 Losse.
  • 3 Turpitude.

And these fruits breed in the sto∣macke of the soule three maladies,

  • 1 Shame.
  • 2 Sorrow.
  • 3 Feare.
  • 1 The turpitude in it or deformity breedeth shame.
  • 2 The losse by it breedeth hearts-griefe and sorrow.
  • 3 The guilt of it breedeth terrours and feares.

Peradventure some man may be found so armed with proofe of impuden∣cie, that he cannot be wounded with shame: and wee see many so intoxica∣ted with the present delight of sinne, and so insensible of the losse by it, that they take no griefe or thought for it. But I never yet read or heard of any that sinned with a high hand, but his owne heart smote him with feare. For where sinne is of a deepe die, not washed out with penitent teares, there is guilt; where guilt is, there must needs be an expectation of condigne pu∣nishment; and where this expectation is, continuall feare. The sinners con∣science tells him that his fact is unjust, and God is just, and therefore in ju∣stice will give injustice his just reward, either in this life, or in that which is to come. As Antipho through a disease in his eye, thought that he had his owne Image alwayes before him: so he that hath charged his conscience with any abominable, or very foule and bloudy crime, seeth alwayes before him the ougly image of his sinne, and hideous shape of his deserved pu∣nishment. Hae sunt impiis assiduae domesticaeque furiae:m 1.12 these are the ghosts that haunt wicked men, these are the furies that follow them with torches, and scorch them with flashes of hell fire: these suffer them not, non modo sine cura quiescere, sed ne spirare quidem sine metu: these make them flie when no man pursueth them, cry when no man smiteth-them, quake when no man threatneth them, languish in a cold sweat when no fit is upon them.

n 1.13—frigidamens est Criminibus, tacitâ sudant praecordia culpâ.

Wheno 1.14 they are alone and quiet, out of all other noise, they heare their

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sinne cry for vengeance. At which huy and cry they are so startled, that though many be sometimes free from the cause of their feare, yet they are never free from feare of danger. Every shadow they take for a man, every man for a spie, every spie for an accuser. As in a fever, the greater the fit is, the more vehement the shaking: so the more horrid the sinne is, the more horrible the dread. The sinne of the Jewes in giving consent to the saving of a murderer and the murther of the Saviour, is beyond comparison, and therefore their feare beyond measure. As a child that hath committed some great fault, and expecteth to bee fleaed for it, cryeth to his master, What shall I doe? Or a passenger suddenly benighted, when he perceiveth that he is riding downe a steepe rocke, cryeth to all within hearing, Oh what shall I doe? Or a patient that is in a desperate case feeleth unsufferable paine, and apprehendeth no meanes of ease, cryeth to his physician, What shall I doe? Or a seafaring man in a storme in the night, when he heareth the water roare, and feareth every moment to be swallowed up in the sea, cry∣eth to the Pilot, What shall we doe? In this perplexitie, in this fright, in this agonie are the Jewes in my text; and from hence is this speech of distracted men, What shall we doe?

This their feare ought to strike a terrour in us all, who have our part in their guilt; for we by our sinnes have and doe provoke the Father, grieve the Spirit, and even crucifie againe the Sonne: how can wee then but feare when we heare Gods threats against sinne? when we see daily his judge∣ments upon sinne? when wee remember our Saviours sufferings to satisfie Gods justice for sinne? How dare we draw iniquity with cords, and sinne with cart-ropes? How dare we kicke against the pricks? How dare we make a covenant with death, and league with hell? How dare wee hatch the cockatrice egge? How dare wee lie at the mouth of the Lions den? Let no man say in his heart when he plotteth wickednesse, or committeth filthi∣nesse in the darke, no eye seeth mee, and therefore what need I feare? for hee that hath eyes like a flame of fire, pierceth the thickest darknesse, and disco∣vereth every hidden roome in thy house, and corner in thy heart: hee seeth thee in secret, and will reward thee openly, if thou by smiting thine owne heart prevent not his blowes, as the Jewes did in my text, saying, What shall we doe? This interrogation riseth from three springs or heads:

  • 1 Feare of punishment.
  • 2 Sorrow for sinne.
  • 3 Hope of pardon.

A man in feare driven to an exigent, being now at his wits end saith with himselfe, What shall I doe? likewise, a man overwhelmed with cares, and ready to be drowned in sorrow, as hee is sinking cries, Oh! what shall I doe, or what will become of mee? The fruit of sin is sweete in the mouth, but bitter in the stomacke: like poison given in a sugred cup it goeth downe sweetly, but it kindleth a fire in the bowels: it tickleth the heart in the be∣ginning, but it prickes it in the end: it is pleasure in doing, it is sorrow when it is done. Saint Bernard speaketh feelingly, Sinne after it is perpetrated leaves in the soule a sad farewell: amara & foeda vestigia, where the divell hath set his foote there remaines after he is gone a foule print, and a stinking sent. Though the sinner use all meanes to dead the flesh of his heart, though

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he make it as hard as flint, or the nether milstone, yet conscience writeth in it, as with the point of a Diamond, this sentence of the eternall Judge of quick and dead,p 1.15 Tribulation and anguish upon every soule that sinneth. They that stabbed Caesar, afterwards turned the point of the same dagger upon themselves: so it is certaine that no man by sin grieveth Gods Spirit, but he woundeth himselfe with sorrow. If the sprayning a veine, or dis-locating a bone, or putting a member out of joynt, or distempering the bloud, be a pain to the body: how much more is the distorting the will, the disordering the affections, the quenching the light of reason by sinne, a torment to the soule? There is no man that hath not lost his senses, but hath sense of great losses: & what losse comparable to the losse of Gods favour and love, the comforts of the spirit, and the treasures of his grace? Though a sinner should gaine the whole world by his sinne, yet would hee be a loser: for at the present he hazzardeth, and without mature repentance he loseth his owne soule. To speake nothing of losse of time by idlenesse, of wit by drunken∣nesse, of strength by incontinencie, of health by intemperancie, of estate by prodigality, of credit and reputation by lewdnesse and dishonestie: besides the guilt of sinne, and losse by it, there is great folly in it, which vexeth the mind, and discontenteth the spirit of a man: his thoughts perpetually ac∣cusing him in this manner:

This thou mightest have done, and here thou befooledst thy selfe, and thou hast brought trouble and shame upon thee: thou mayst thanke thy selfe for all the mischiefes that have befalne thee.

Yea, but ye may object, Are sinne and sorrow such individuall compani∣ons? is there no sorrow but for sinne, and the effects of it? no sinne with∣out sorrow? What say you then to them that have their conscienceq 1.16 seared as with an hot iron? they surely feele no paine. What sense have they of the guilt of sinne, of Gods wrath, who are cast into a reprobate sense? I would the case were as rare as the answer unto it is easie and expedite. Admit a seared conscience feeleth no paine, was not the searing of it thinke you a paine? The heart that is like the anvile, and now hardened for the purpose, felt many a blow, and endured many fearfull stroaks before it came to be so. Although Mithridates in the end felt little hurt or pain by drinking poyson: yet before he brought his body to that temper, he never tooke any draught of poyson, but it was both painfull and perillous to him. A man must needs have many conflicts within him, many terrours and unsufferable troubles of minde, before he be utterly deprived of all sense by the frequencie and ve∣hemencie of his torments: and though those that are cast into a reprobate sense never after come to repentance, yet God oftentimes restoreth them to their sense of sorrow, and sight of the uglinesse of their sinne, and hor∣rour of their punishment, that even in this life they might tast of eternall death. As he did to Nero, when in a fit of desperation he cryed out, Have I no friend nor enemy to rid me out of my paine? And Julian the Apostata, who tare his bowels, and flung them into the aire, saying, Vicisti Galilee. Brutusr 1.17 his malus genius, the ghost that haunted him at Rome, though for the present it left him, yet it met with him againe at Philippi a little before his death. So those terrours and consternations of minde which possessed the wicked before their consciences were seared, though for many yeares they leave them, yet a little before, or at the time of their death they returne

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againe in more violent manner, and so they passe from death to death, from sorrow to sorrow: nay, I may say truly, from hell to hell.

But why do I stand so long upon this sorrow, which may be without repentance? because repentance cannot be without it? Compunction doth not alwaies end in godly sorrow, but godly ever begins in it. This com∣punction of pricking the heart deepe, is like the digging the earth to set the seeds of faith and repentance, and all the slippes of the flowers of Paradise: or the needles making a hole in the cloth or stuffe; the needle fils not up the bracke or rent, but the threed or silke, but onely it maketh entrance for them. So the pricking the heart with the needle ofs 1.18 compunction maketh way for the graces of faith and true repentance, which make up the rent and mend our lives. Beloved, if ye are pricked in heart for your sinnes, I cannot say it is well with you; but if ye have never beene pricked for them, I must say it is very ill with you. The Philosophers distinguish of a double heate,

  • 1 Inward and naturall, which preserveth life.
  • 2 Outward or ambient, which disposeth mist bodies to putre∣faction by drawing the other heatt 1.19 out of them.

In like manner there is a double sorrow for sinne.

  • 1 A sorrow arising from an inward cause, the consideration of the goodnesse of God, and the malignancie of sinne: the equity of the law, the iniquity of our transgressions: and this is a seed of, or degree unto repentance unto life.
  • 2 A sorrow for sinne arising from an outward cause, the expectation of dreadfull punishments for sinne, both in this life, and the life to come, both temporall and eternall: and this, if it be not asswaged with some hope disposeth a sinner to desperation, as wee see in Cain, Esau, and Judas, whose sorrowes were not any way medici∣nall, but penall.

No meanes to prevent, but rather to assure hellish torments, being a kind of earnest of them. Cain was pricked in heart for the murther of his brother Abel, in such sort that hee filled the aire wheresoever he fled with this lamentable cry, Myu 1.20 punishment is greater than I can beare. Esau would have redeemed his birthright with a large cup of* 1.21 teares, which he sold for a small messe of pottage: but his teares were spilt upon the ground, not put into the Lords bottle. Judas had sorrow enough, if that would have helped him; for to stifle his hearts griefe hee strangled himselfe: and no doubt he long swelled with paine before he burst asunderx 1.22 in the midst, and his bowels gushed out. Wherefore as the Apostle Saint Paul in another case exhorteth the Thessalonians, so let mee exhort you, to weepe for your sins, but noty 1.23 as those that have no hope. Sorrow for your sinfull joyes, humble your selves for your pride, fast for your luxurie, watch for your drowsinesse, howle and crie for your crying sinnes; yet not as those that are without hope. For if the Jewes here, who spilt the blood of the Sonne of God, were quickned by it, how much more shall they that wash Christs wounds and their owne with their teares, find in his bloud the balme of Gi∣lead to cure their pricked hearts, and wounded consciences?

But then, as the Jewes here, they must bee solicitous after the meanes.

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They must enquire of the Apostles or their successours, Quid faciemus? What shall wee doe? if not to undoe what wee have done, yet to make some part of amends, so much as wee can, and which through Gods goodnesse shall so be taken of us, that our sinnes shall not be imputed to us. And they said,

What shall wee doe? Saint Chrysostome well observeth, that they aske not, How shall we bee saved? but, What shall wee doe? It is presumptuous folly to enquire of, or hope for the end if wee neglect the meanes. If a man might goe to heaven with a sigh, many a Balaam would be found there, for hee fetched a deepe sigh, saying, Let mee die the death of the righteous. If crying, The Temple of the Lord, or saying, Lord, Lord, al∣most at every word, would without any more adoe make a man free of the heavenly Jerusalem, all the Pharisees among the Jewes, and hypo∣crites among Christians should bee denisons there. But Christ himselfe assureth us to the contrary, not every one that saith Lord, Lord,z 1.24 shall en∣ter into the Kingdome of Heaven, but hee that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven. Doing and life, working and salvation, running and obtaining, winning and wearing, overcomming and reigning, in holy Scripture follow one the other. Wherefore the young man puts the que∣stion to our Saviour, Whata 1.25 thing shall I doe that I may attaine evelasting life? and the people likewise, and the Publicans, and the Souldiers tob 1.26 S. John, and the keepers of the prison toc 1.27 Saint Paul, and the Jewes in my text to Saint Peter, and the rest of the Apostles, What shall wee doe? not, What shall wee say? or, What shall wee beleeve? but, What shall wee doe? This is the tenour of the Law, Doe this and thou shalt live. Whosoever doth these things shall never fall. And the Gospel also carryeth the same tune full:d 1.28 If ye know these things happie are yee of yee doe them. Hee that heareth and doeth buildeth upon a rocke. Not the hearers, but the doers of thee 1.29 Law shall bee justified. Why are the Cherubims described with the hands of a man under their wings, but to teach us that none shall see God, who under the wings of faith and hope (whereby they fle to heaven) have not the hand of charity to doe good workes? As Darius used the Macedonian souldiers, whom hee tooke prisoners; so the divell doth those over whom hee hath any power: hee cutts off their hands that they may be able to do no service. The heathen Philo∣sopher observed, that of three of the best things in the world, through the wickednesse of men, three of the worst things proceeded and grew:

  • 1 Of vertue, envie.
  • 2 Of truth, hatred.
  • 3 Of familiarity, contempt.
Wee Christians may adde a fourth, viz. of the doctrine of free justifi∣cation carnall liberty. The catholike doctrine of justification by faith a∣lone is the true Nectar of the soule, so called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, because it keepeth from death: yet this sweetest Wine in the Spouses Flagons proves no better than Vinegar, or rather poyson in their stomackes, who turne grace into wantonnesse, and liberty into licence.
—fit Nectar acetum, Et vaticam perfida vappa cadi.

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But let no man adulterate the truth nor impose upon Christs mer∣cy what it will not beare; nor endeavour to sever faith from good workes, lest hee sever his soule from life. For though faith justifie our workes before God; yet our workes justifie our faith before men: though the just shallg 1.30 live by his faith, yet this his faith must live byh 1.31 charity: as never man any dyed with a living faith, so never any man lived by a dead faith. I grant, when we have all done wee may, nay wee must say,i 1.32 Wee are unprofitable servants: yet while we have timek 1.33 we must doe good unto all, especially to those of the houshold of faith. None may trust in their owne righteousnesse; but on the contrary, all ought to pray that they may be found in Christ,l 1.34 not having their owne righteousnesse: yet their righteousnesse must exceed them 1.35 righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees, or else they shall never enter into the kingdome of heaven. It is evi∣dent unto all, except they be blinde, that the eye alone seeth in the body, yet the eye which seeth, is not alone in the body without the other senses: the forefinger alone pointeth, yet that finger is not alone on the hand: the hammer alone striketh the bell, yet the hammer which striketh is not alone in the clocke: the heate alone in the fire burneth, and not the light, yet that heate is not alone without light: the helme alone guideth the ship, and not the tackling, yet the helme is not alone, nor without the tackling: in a compound electuarie Rubarb alone purgeth choler, yet the Rubarb is not alone there without other ingredients. Thus wee are to conceive, that though faith alone doth justifie, yet that faith which justifieth is not alone, but joyned with charity and good workes. Many please themselves with a resem∣blance of Castor and Pollux, two lights appearing on shippes, sometimes severally, sometimes joyntly. If either appeareth by it selfe, it presageth a storme; if both together, a suddaine calme: yet (with their good leave be it spoken) this their simile is dissimile. For those lights may be severed & actu∣ally are often, but justifying faith cannot be severed from charity, nor cha∣rity from it. Thus farre onely it holdeth, that unlesse we have a sense and feeling of both in our soules, we may well feare a storme. S. Bernards di∣stinction of via regni, and causa regnandi, cleareth the truth in this point: Though good workes are not the cause why God crowneth us, yet we must take them in our way to heaven, or else we shall never come there. It is as impious to deny the necessity, as to maintaine the merit of good workes.

—sed Cynthius aurem Vellit.

The time calleth mee off: and therefore that it may not exclude mee, I will conclude with it. In this holy time of Lent three duties are required, Prayer, Fasting, and Almes: prayer is the bird of Paradise; fasting and almes are her two wings, the lighter is fasting, but the stronger is almes; use both to carry your prayers to heaven, that you may bring from thence a blessing upon you, through the merits and intercession of Jesus Christ. Cui, &c.

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