A01956:1563
The happiness of the church, or, A description of those spiritual prerogatives wherewith Christ…The happines of the church, or, A description of those spirituall prerogatiues vvherewith Christ…
The happiness of the church, or, A description of those spiritual prerogatives wherewith Christ hath endowed her considered in some contemplations upon part of the 12. chapter of the Hebrews : together with certain other meditations and discourses upon other portions of Holy Scriptures, the titles whereof immediately precede the book : being the sum of diverse sermons preached in S. Gregory's London / by Thomas Adams ...The happines of the church, or, A description of those spirituall prerogatiues vvherewith Christ hath endowed her considered in some contemplations vpon part of the 12. chapter of the Hebrewes : together with certain other meditations and discourses vpon other portions of Holy Scriptures, the titles wherof immediately precede the booke : being the summe of diuerse sermons preached in S. Gregories London / by Thomas Adams ...
London: printed by G.P. for John Grismand, 1619London: printed by G.P. for Iohn Grismand, 1619
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1. The Serpent, though creeping on the dust, hath a lofty spirit; reaching not only at men, but even at the birds of the air. And here he is the Ambitious mans emblem. He was bred out of the dust, yet he catcheth a• Lordships and honours: ransacks the City, forages ⟨p. 201⟩th• Country, scours it through the Church; but his errand is to the Court. He is the maggot of pride, 1begot out of corruption: and looks in an office, as the Ape did when he had got on the robes of a Senator.
1. The Serpent, though creeping on the dust, hath a loftie spirit; reaching not onely at men, but euen at the birds of the aire. And here hee is the Ambitious mans embleme. He was bred out of the dust, yet he catcheth a• Lordships and honours: ransackes the Citie, forredges ⟨p. 201⟩th• Countrey, scowres it through the Church; but his arrand is to the Court. He is the maggot of pride, 1begot out of corruption: and lookes in an office, as the Ape did when hee had got on the robes of a Senator.
- 1Stultus in solio, Simia in tecto.
2. Their flattery or treachery: they embrace, whiles they sting. They lie in […] green grass, and under sweet flowers, that they may wound the suspectless passenger. Here I will couple the Serpent with the Flatterer; a humane beast, and of the two the more dangerous. And that fitly; for they write of a Serpent, whose sting hath such force, that it makes a man die laughing. So the flatterer tickles a man to death. Therefore his tears are called Crocodile lacrimae; the Crocodiles tears. When h weeps, he wounds. Every frown he makes, gives his Patron a vomit: and every candle of commendation a purge. His Church is the Kitchen, his tongue is his Cater; his young Lord his God; whom at once he worships, and worries. When he hath gotten a lease, he doth no longer fear his master: nay more, he fears not God.