will not suffer mee to paint them out to the life yea I know how many large volumes have beene published already on this subject by worthy and learned men only by the by as it were and in so farre as the vvords here shall offer us occasion I will point at them and from their weake considerations speake some words of comfort and instruction to your soules It is certaine that the chiefe and arch enemy of mans salvation is Sathan the devill who hath beene a lyer to man and a murtherer of man from the beginning But because he is a spirit therefore invisible that man cannot know him whilst hee fights with him he suborneth two souldiers against man the world from without man the flesh the lusts thereof within man that man having fightings within terrors without may fall and never rise againe But that I may make you senfible of these his assaults and temptations know that whilst I speak of the world I do not understand this great and majesticke frame of the world composed of these foure elements fire aire earth and water for by these man is not tempted all and every one of these Sathan hath imployed to punish man for sin but by none of these hath hee at any time tempted man for sinne But by the world I understand the children of disobedience and wicked ones that are in the vvorld and that not simply or absolutely as they are flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones but conditionally and as they are either cloathed with prosperity and wealth or else as they are stripped naked in the day of their want and misery And that the wicked of the world are called of God the world it is cleare out of that prayer of our Saviour Christ whilst hee saith I pray not for the world but for those whom thou hast given mee out of the world Now these as they stand either invested or cloathed with prosperity or stripped naked with calamity and want do prove a stumbling blocke and snare or temptation to the children of God For in the day of their prosperity by their carnall joy wherewith they are overjoyed in their pleasures by their carnall security whereby they cry peace to themselves when God mindeth them no peace and by their proud trampling upon the weake and despising of them that want what do they but invite us to runne with them in the excesse of their riot and by their temporall felicities labour to draw away if it were possible the very elect of God from the search and purchase of that felicity which is immortall and undefiled Againe in the day of their adversity what do they but cry to us with Iobs wife Curse God and die With Iehoram I will wait no longer on the Lords leisure And with Israel in the wildernesse Would God wee had dyed by the flesh pots of Egypt But brethren vvith these things let us not be moved let neither the prosperity of the vvicked draw thee to a carnall rejoycing or love of the vvorld for the prosperity of the vvicked is but like cracking of thornes under a pot nor let the calamity of the godly vvho suffer justly for their sinnes dravv thee to apostacie and back-sliding from the faith for it is better to suffer affliction with the children of God then to enjoy the perishing pleasures of sinne for a season Heb. 11. And it is more honourable for us to imbrace the Crosse of Jesus Christ then all the treasures of a corrupt and perishing Egypt Againe Sathan in the second place hireth our flesh to fight against us and here by the word flesh I do not understand this body of ours alone which is composed of flesh blood but also that naturall corruption which we have drawne from the loynes of our first parents who have infected us both soule and body and dwelling in us fighteth desperately and maliciously against us This corruption the Scripture expresseth by many names and titles as The old man The old Adam The naturall man The law of our members and The lusts of the flesh which fight against the soule Thus wee see that the flesh is also our enemy and so much the more odious by how much it is traiterous For of it wee may say what David said in Psalm 41. My familiar friend whom I trusted and hee that lay in my bosome and did eate bread with mee hath lifted up his heele against mee To this Iudas who betrayeth us wee may justly say It were good for thee thou hadst never bin borne To this Dalilah wee may say If thou hadst not plowed with my heyfer thou couldst not have read my riddle To this wife of Iob wee may say Thou speakest like a foolish woman And lastly to this unadvised counseller wee may justly say Get thee behinde mee Sathan for thou knowest not the things that are of God but the things that are of man Now wouldst thou know O man why thou shouldst so encounter thy flesh I answer because it is thy deadly enemy and that in three respects In respect of malice of power and policy In respect of malice for it is written In mee that is in my flesh there dwelieth no good Rom. 7.18 Now that wherein there is no good must of necessity bee exceedingly malicious and fully replenished with evill Tucaro saith a Father cunctis virtutibus denudata es ideo diceris caro a carendo quia cares omni bono And would you have a true anatomy of the flesh looke to St Paul Rom. 3. Her eyes are full of adultery her throat an open sepulcher her mouth the mouth of deceit the poyson of aspes is under her lips her feet are swift to shed blood destruction and calamity are in her wayes and the way of the Lord shee hath not knowne Secondly the flesh is a powerfull enemy both in respect of the unregenerate and also in respect of the regenerate In the unregenerate it is a mighty King in the regenerate it is a cruell tyrant In the unregenerate I say it is a mighty king for as a King in his kingdome swayes the scepter enacteth lawes forceth obedience and subdueth rebells So is it in the unregenerate man sinne beareth dominion giveth a law to the members and leadeth all the affections captive to disobedience And from this it is that the Apostle exhorteth us not to suffer sinne to raigne in our mortall bodies And as the flesh is a King in the unregenerate so in the regenerate it is a cruell tyrant for howsoever by the grace of God in Jesus Christ wee are set free from the law of Sinne and of death yet so long as wee dwell in the body it dwelleth in us and both tormenteth us with the torture of a wounded conscience for sinne past with continuall molestation to sinne in time to come So that the best of Gods Saints have deeply sighed and groaned under the yoke and bondage thereof David could say I dwell too long in
of his person could onely and absolutely say unto him My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee and say to us for our comfort I goe to my Father and to your Father and to my God and to your God shewing us that by nature wee are without hope and without God in the world but that in him wee have a fellowship with God and are made partakers of the divine nature And now as in the preface hee would not suffer us to go to God unlesse wee were first incorporate and made members of his mysticall body so here hee will not suffer us to begge any thing at his hands whether temporall or spirituall but that wherein we must represent the necessities of our brethren as well as our owne and supplicate their reliefe as well as our owne In a word as in the preface hee taught us how wee should draw neere to God begge a blessing with Iacob under the garment of Esau So the use wee should make thereof should be a due remembrance of that Christian communion and fellowship wee have one with another in him rejoycing with them that rejoyce and mourning with them that mourne and remembring them that are in bonds as if wee our selves were afflicted in the body Secondly I say that we are taught so to say to make us submit our selves to the providence of God For there are many in the world upon whom God hath bestowed both riches and wealth in abundance and they have no sooner received thē but straight they forget both God as the giver and their brethren as fellow owners of their portion And of this sort of men it is that the Prophet Hosea speaketh whilst hee reproveth Israel and Judah for sacrificing to their owne nets To the end therefore that man may know that hee hath nothing but what God giveth him and that God giveth it to him to this end that hee should communicate to the necessities of them that want hee will not suffer him to say Give mee but Give us Would you see the truth of this cleared in a naturall and domesticke example Looke upon the Mariner when hee goeth to sea his ship is fraughted by some owners he is ladened and her wares are full The tide offereth occasion and shee is towed out to the road to wait upon the winde shee lyeth there a good space and findes no winde Would you know what maketh her want winde so long I can tell you because she prayeth for nothing but for her faire winde If her sailes were filled shee careth not whose be empty nor whose voyage be crossed But tell mee O man hath God in his ever-ruling providence nothing to doe but to serve thee and thy appetite alone No no hee hath more to serve then thee and therefore in his infinite wisdome he sometimes sendeth thee a faire and prosperous gale of winde sometimes againe hee maketh the winde to blow contrary that thou mayest learne in the sense of thy owne weaknesse to rest content on his providence and with a contempt and disdaine of thy owne selfe-love to rejoyce as much at the good of thy brother as if it were thy owne and to greeve as much at his losse as if the losse redounded to thee equally with him Last of all in this direction wee have a square rule limiting to us the use of the creature which is this as in the begging of it wee should bee faithfull so in the managing thereof wee should bee charitable It was the errour of Naball to possesse a well covered table to himselfe but to forget David and his distresse It was also the errour of the rich man in the Gospell to crye peace to himselfe and to the rich glutton to forget the necessities of Lazarus But were these things tolerable and approved of God No nothing lesse for wee are all members of one body and wee should communicate one to anothers necessities and that in love I say first we are all members of one body for where have you seene at any time the members of one body forgetfull or senselesse of the indigence of another if a thorn do but pricke us in the toe all the body hath a sympathy and fellow feeling with it the tongue can complaine the eye can search for it and the hand can pluck it out againe It is right so with us in our spirituall incorporation Wee are all parts of the mysticall body whereof Christ is the glorions head Is it seeming then that any one part shall suffer and the other shall have no sympathy or fellow-feeling No surely for it is an evident testimony that wee are not of the body unlesse we have that fellow sense that is here required Looke to the example of the politicall body and to the example of the waters running through the whole veines and chanels of the earth And learne with Augustine to say that God Per eum qui habet juvat egentem per eum qui non habet probat habentem But what is more thou must not onely give him for the reliefe of his necessities but also thou must give him a love and sincerity of affection for if thou should give all that thou hast to the poore unlesse thou have love it is all abomination in the presence of God for our wealth of it selfe it is not a blessing unlesse charity animate quicken and give it motion Vse Now out of al this which hath beene said there ariseth to our instruction two things remarkable the first rebukes the miser the second rebukes the proud I say first we have here a lesson of rebuke to the miser the worldly worme the earthly wretch and that for 3 causes first for that hee is a murtherer secondly for that he is a perverter of the ordinance of God and thirdly for that hee is a foole I say first he is condemned here as a murtherer for while God hath ordained meat for the belly and the belly for meat hee starves in his misery and for a miserable preservation of an handfull of dust hee kills his body which should have an habitation to the holy Ghost I say secondly that the miser and the wretch is a perverter of Gods ordinance for God hath said In the sweat of thy browes thou shalt eate thy bread now the miser can toile and turmoile himself in sweat and in blood sometimes to get a peece of bread but when hee hath gotten it hee cannot for the heart of him make use of it nor take of it to serve his owne necessities I say thirdly he is rebukeable as a foole and why because out of a diffident care of his body hee killeth his soule for whilst hee distrusteth the providence of God towards him manifested in the widdow of Sarepthas barrels hee hoardeth up treasures against the last day which in the fulnesse of time shall eate up his flesh as it were a fire Secondly it rebukes the proud for if God but once distinguish us one from another
some men into temptation and out again and others he leadeth not onely in Temptation but also leaveth them in it To this I answer Tu homo à me petis causam ego quoque homo sum sed audiamus ambo Apostolum dicentem O home tu quis es melior est fidelis ignorantia quam temeraria scientia Quaere merito non invenies nisi poenam O altitudo Petrus negat latro credit O altitudo tu disputa ego credam tu ratiocinare ego mirabor sed cave ne dum doctores quaeras presumptores invenias August de verb. Apost Serm. 20. So then the answer is full Even so O Father because it hath so pleased thee For hee hath mercy on whom hee will have mercy and whom hee will he hardeneth LECTIO 21. But deliver us from evill VVEe have already spoken of the first part of this Petition which was deprecatory wee come now to speake of the second part which is supplicatory and contained in these words But deliver c. For explication whereof there are foure things considerable 1. Our captivity 2. Who and how are they captives 3. The deliverance or release 4. The deliverer or redeemer Our captivity is evill The captives are imported in the word us the release in the word deliver the deliverer must bee understood God the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost Before wee enter into the delineation of the first to wit our captivity it is requisite that wee looke a little on the tye by which these words are knit to the former And for clearing hereof wee must know that as it is in the matter of physick or military art so it is in the spirituall diseafes or conflicts of the soule True physicke hath two parts the one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first preserveth our health by good dyet and so preventeth our diseases before they come the other by medicine expelleth and purgeth away diseases after they be come It is so in the diseases of the soule The preventing grace of God leadeth us not into temptation The fellow-working or second grace delivereth us from evill Againe as it is in the discipline of warre here on earth so it must bee with the soule In a battell and conflict on earth our Generall and Leader must first be carefull that wee fall not before our enemy And secondly if we fall and be taken captive it is his part to bee carefull to pay our ransome and deliver us from the captivity and tyranny of our enemie It is so with us also in the spirituall fight and conflicts of the soule Our leader should not onely be carefull that wee get not the foile but also if wee bee put to the rowte and taken captives of our enemies it becommeth him to be carefull to redeeme and ransome us out of the hands of all those to whom wee were prisoners and captives I hope now by these two similitudes you understand the conjunction and tye that is betwixt this part of the Petition and the former For if we shall looke upon our selves as being sick and diseased in soule two things are requisite for our health and cure First our physician should prescribe us a dyet whereby our disease may bee prevented This is done and prescribed in the words Lead us not into temptation The other thing which the Doctor of our soules oweth us is medicine potions plaisters and purgations to cure us of the sicknesse we are falne in and this he promiseth to do unto us whilst he delivereth us from all evill Againe wilt thou looke on thy selfe as a souldier in the field of Jesus fighting against the spirituill enemies of thy soule thy leader Christ Jesus promiseth thee two things First that though thou stumble before the enemy yet thou shalt not fall This hee promiseth in these words Leadus not c. Secondly he promiseth that if at any time thou fall and get the foile and be taken captive and prisoner yet he will not let thee dye in prison no hee will redeeme thee and ere any of thine enemies sinne death or condemnation tryumph over thee he will lay his owne life downe for thee and his heart blood as a ransome for thy deliverance and this hee promiseth in these words But deliver us from evill Vse Now from this in a word it is evident that man by nature is a wofull and dolorous creature sicke and diseased dead in sinnes and trespasses and so much the more heavily sicke and desperately diseased that hee militateth against his physician yet the reason is hee feeleth not the soare and like one transported in the fury of his passion hee cannot tell where his paine holds him But here is the riches of the mercy of our God and physician hee preventeth us with his cure and not onely that but also prescribeth helpes against our recidivations and relapses This the woman of Samaria felt when shee knew not the grace of God nor who it was spake to her by seeking a drinke of pure water he prevented her and gave her a drinke of the well of the water of life Thus he prevented the man at the poole of Bethesda Thus hee prevented us all in the loines of our first parent Adam where art thou And againe when our father was an Amorite and out mother an Hetyte when our haire was not cut nor our nailes pared when wee were wallowing in our blood and were neither washed with water nor softened with oyle hee came by and preventing us with his love said to us live and made us live and only because of his word commanding us to live and therefore wee lived Seeing then whilst wee are sicke and diseased in soule hee preventeth us with his unexpected cure seeing also whilst wee are taken prisoners hee preventeth us with our undeserved ransome what are wee that wee should either proudly reject or faithlesly distrust the Ocean of his goodnesse There bee some I know that hearing of this preventing grace will proudly lay this conclusion that they will continue still in sin that grace may abound But knowest not thou O vaine man that the long suffering patience of God should lead thee to repentance and that if thou tread the blood of the covenant under thy feet that blood which speaketh better things then the blood of Abel to the righteous shall speak judgemēt to thee even a judgement intolerable incurable Know again thou that art weake in faith that that sicknesse and disease cannot befall thy soule that should make thee distrust the Physician whose love hath prevented thee with an unexpected cure Whilst hee was in our flesh hee quickned three sorts of dead the Centurians daughter the widows sonne and Lazarus three dayes dead and all to make thee strong in faith Why wrongest thou him first in his justice by sinning against him and next in his mercy by distrusting his goodnesse No no beleeve him under hope and aganst