nor a Tap-house-Lecture oâ—â—ly as among Drunkards that fetch authoritie from the pot like Augustus Caesar to taxe all the world but a Citie-lecture such a one as Iesabell read to Iezreell a publike Preaching her Pulpit being excelsa ciuitatis top-gallant filling eminent places with emanant poisons 2. Solomons Pulpit is yet transcendent and aboue it for it is a â—hrone a Throne of Iuorie ouerlaid with gold such a Throne as no Kingdome could follow it The Preacher is a King the Pulpit a Throne nay an Oracle de Solio rex oracula fundit For God gaue him wisedome yea such a wisedome that no man but his Antitype God and man did euer excell him 5 Their Commissions 1. The Deuill gaue Sinne her â—rrand guilded her tongue and poâ—soned her heart put a cup of damnation into her hand and the Sugar of Temptation to sweeten it allowed her for his Citie-Recorder or his Towne-â—laâ—ke and sealed her a commission from Helâ— as Saul had from the High-Priest to binde with snares Filios Tâ—rrae the Sonnes of Men. 2. But God gaue Solomon a celestiall roule to eate as to Ezâ—kiel and touched his lips with a coâ—le from his owne Altar as to Esay putting into his mouth documenta vitae the ordinances of eternall life God hath set this day before you two diuers Pulpits aduerse Preachers dissonant Texts declares who speakes by his warrant who besides it against it Behold as Moses said I haue set life and death before you take your choyse The Dialogue of both the verses present vs with a Banket conuiuium or conuitium rather a Feast but a Fast were better a Banket worse then Iobs childrens or the Dagonals of the Philistins like the Bacchanals of the Moenades when for the shutting vp of their stomachs the house fell downe and broke their neckes You haue offered to your considerations verse 17. supplying but the immediatly precedent word Dixit 1. The Inviter 2. the Cheare Solomon comes after as with Salt and Vinegar and tels you 3. the Guests 4. and the Banketting-house verse 18. But the dead are there c. The Inviter It is a woman She saith to him but that name is too good for she hath recouered her credit a woman as she brought woe to man so she brought forth a weale for maâ— causa dâ—licti solatium relicti an instrumentall cause of transgression and no lesse of Saluation If you say she brought forth Sinne without man so she brought forth a Sauiour without man as the Diuell tempted her to the one so the Holy Ghost ouershadowed her to the other This not a woman then but a Harlot meretricia mulier a degenerate woman vnwomaned â—t pudore pudicitia of both modestie and chastitie The feast is like to be good when an Harlot is the Hostice And sure the Scriptures found some speciall parietie if not identâ—tie betweene these two not making their names conuertible which had beene much but expressing by one word both of them which is more as if it concluded their professions and conditions names and natures all one which is most of all Impleta in nostris haec est Scriptura diebus Experience hath iustified this circumstance A Harlot then bids and feasts and kils what other successe can be looked for If Dalilah inuite Sampson waâ—e his lockes shee will spoile the Nazarite of his hayres there are many Dalilahs in these dayes I haue read of many Inviters in the holy Writ some good many indifferent most euill this worst of all 1. Good Matth. 22. you haue the King of Heauen a Feast-maker Cant. 5. you haue the Kings sonne a Feast-maker Iesus Christ bids Eate oh friends drinke abundantly oh beloued Reuel 22. you haue the Spirit of glorie a Feast-maker and an Inviter too The Spirit and the Bride say Come To this Feast few come but those that doe come are welcome well come in regard of themselues for there is the best cheare Blessed are they that are called to the Mariage-Supper of the Lambe welcome in respect of God who doth not grudge his mercies 2. Many indifferent and inclining to good Abrahams feast at Isaac's weaning Sampsons at his marriage The Wedding-feast in Cana where the King of glory was a Ghest and honoured it with a Miracle with the first Miracle that euer hee wrought 3. Euill Nabals feast at his Sheepe-shearing a drunken feast Belshazzars feast to a thousand of his Lords surfetting with full carouses from the sacred Boles a sacrilegious Feast The Philistins feast to the honour of Dagon an Idolatrous feast Herods birth-day-feast when Iohn Baptists head was the last course of the seruice a bloody feast The rich Churles a quotidian feast a voluptuous surfet all bad 4. This yet worst of all the Harlots feast where the Ghests at once comedunt comeduntur their soules feast on euils and are a feast to Deuils for whiles men deuoure sins sins deuoure them as Actaeon was eaten vp of his owne dogs This is a bloody Banket where no ghest escapes without a wound if with life for if Sinne keepe the Reuels Lusts are the Iunkets Ebrietie drinkes the Wine Blasphemie sayes the Grace and Bloud is the conclusion But allegorically Sinne is heere shadowed by the Harlot Voluptuousnâ—sse meretricum meretrix the Harlot of Harlots whose Bawde is Beâ—lsebub and whose Bridewell is broad Hell Wickednesse foeminei generis dicitur is compared to a Woman and hath all her senses Lust is her eye to see Briberie her hands to feele Sensualitie her palate to taste Malice her eare to heare Petulancy her nose to smell and because shee is of the foeminine sexe we will allow her the sixtsense tittle-tattle is hâ—r tongue to talke This is the common Hostice of the world Satans house-keeper whose dores are neuer shut nocâ—es atque dies patet c. There is no man in the world keepes such hospitalitie for hee searcheth the ayre earth sea nay the Kitchen of Hell to fit euery palate Vitellius searched farre and wide for the rarities of nature Birdes Beasts Fishes of inestimable price which yet brought in the bodies are scorned and onely the eye of this Bird the tongue of that Fish is taken that the spoyles of many might bee sacrifices to one supper The Emperour of the low Countries Hell hath delicates of stranger varitie curiositie Doth Iudas stomach stand to treason there it is hee may feede liberally on that dish Doth Nero thirst for homicides the Deuill drinkes to him in â—oles of bloud is Ieroboam hungry of Idolatrie behold a couple of Calues are set before him hath Absolon the Court-appetite Ambition loe a whole Kingdome is presented him for a messe a shrewd baite Machiauâ—ls position faith-breach for Kingdomes is no sinne The Deuill thought this Dish would please CHRIST himselfe and therefore offered him many kingdomes for
were of the sons of Sceua Iesus wee know but who are yee God wee know calming floods quieting the windes but who art thou beat on him more furiously then loe saith Canutus what a goodly God I am and behold my commaund conuincing his flatterers Oh that some strong West-winde would ridde our Land of these Locusts The last sort of Vials serued in at this Course are Stollen waters which immediately robbe our selues The Deuill findes vs cheare at our owne cost and with cates stollen from our owne possessions hee makes vs a bounteous feast Truth is euery Cup of sinne wee drinke of is a water that at least indirectly robs our selues neither can wee feede on Atheisme Heresie Sacriledge Murder Adulterie but we rifle our soules of grace our Consciences of peace for the Deuils Banket neuer makes a man the fatter for his feeding the guests the more they eate the more leane and meager they looke their strength goes away with their repast as if they fed on nothing but Sauce and all their sweet delicates in taste were but fretting in digestion like Vinegar Oliues or Pulse neither doth batten cheerish because it wants a blessing vnto it Onely it gets them a stomach the more hartily they feed on sinne the greater appetite they haue to it Though custome of sinne hath brought them past feeling and they haue long since made a deed of gift of themselues into the hands of licentiousnesse yet behold in them still an eager prosecution of sinne euen with greedinesse Though mischiefe was the last thing they did when they went to bed nay the onely action of their bed yet they rise earely so soone as the morning is light to practise it They may be sicke of sins incurable surfet yet feele themselues hungry still that the Cup of their wickednesse may be filled to the brim and so receiue a portion and proportion of torment accordingly Thus as the gyrouagi equi molam trahentes multùm ambulant parùm promouent the Mil-turning-horse coniured into his Circle moues much but remoues little or as the Poet of Ixion Voluitur Ixion qui se sequiturque fugitque So the more these guests eat the more vnsatisfied they rise vp Ye shall eat and not be satisfied ye shall drinke not be â—illed as he that dreameth of good cheare but awakes with an hungry soule All the delights of sinne put not the least drop of good blood into the vaines nor blesse the heart with the smallest addition of content They browse like Beastes on these sweet boughes but they looke thinne after it as if they had deuoured their owne bowels 1. The first Viall of this nature is Pride a stollen water indeed but deriued from thine owne Fountaine It may strike God offend thy Brother but it doth immediately robbe thy selfe The decoration of the body is the deuoration of the substance the backe weares the siluer that would doe better in the Purse Armenta vertuntur in ornamenta the grounds are vnstocked to make the backe glister Adam and Eue had Coates of Beasts skinnes but now many beastes flesh skinnes and all will scarce furnish a prodigall younger sonne of Adam with a sute And as many sell their tame beasts in the Countrie to enrich their wilde beasts in the Citie so you haue others that to reuell at a Christmas will rauell out their Patrimonies Pride and good husbandrie are neither Kith nor Kin but Iaball and Iuball are brethren Iaball that dwelt in Tents and tended the Heards had Iuball to his brother who was the father of Musicke to shew that Iaball and Iuball frugalitie and Musicke good Husbandry and Content are brothers and dwell together But Pride and Opulencie may kisse in the Morning as a married couple but will be diuorced before Sun-set They whose Fathers could sit and tell their Michael-masse-hundreths haue brought December on their estates by wearing May on their backes all the yeere This is the plague and clogge of the Fashion that it is neuer vnhamperd of Debets Pride begins with Habeo ends with Debeo and sometimes makes good euery sillable gradatim Debeo I owe more then I am worth Beo I blesse my creditors or rather blesse my selfe from my Creditors Eo I betake me to my heeles Thus England was honoured with them whiles they were Gallants Germany or Rome must take them and keepe them being beggars Oh that men would breake their fasts with frugalitie that they might neuer suppe vvith want What folly is it to begin with Plaudite Who doth not marke my brauerie and end with Plangite Good Passenger a Penny Oh that they could from the high promontorie of their rich estates foresee how neere Pride and Riot dwell to the Spittle-house not that but God alloweth both garments for necessitie and ornaments for comlinesse according to thy degree but such must not weare Silkes that are not able to buy Cloath Many women are propter venusâ—atem inuenustae saith Chrysostome so fine that they are the worse againe Fashions farre fetcht and deere bought fill the eye with content but emptie the purse Christs reproofe to the Iewes may fitly be turned on vs Why doe ye kill the Prophets and build vp their Tombes Why doe yee kill your soules with sinnes and garnish your bodies with braueries the Maid is finer then the Mistresse which Saint Ierome saith would make a man laugh a Christian weepe to see Hagar is tricked vp and Sara put into rags the soule goes euery day in her worky-day clothes vnhighted with graces whiles the body keepes perpetual holy day in gainesse The house of Saul is set vp the Flesh is graced the house of Dauid is persecuted and kept downe the Spirit is neglected I know that Pride is neuer without her owne paine though shee will not feele it be her garments what they will yet she will neuer be too hot nor too colde There is no time to pray read heare meditate all goes away in trimming There is so much rigging about the Ship that as Ouid wittily pars minima est ipsa puella sui A woman for the most part is the least part of her selfe Faemina culta nimis faemina casta minus too gawdie brauerie argues too slender chastitie The garment of saluation is slighted and the long white robe of glory scorned the Lord Iesus Christ a garment not the vvorse but the better for vvearing is throwne by and the ridiculous chaine of Pride is put on but ornamentum est quod ornat ornat quod honestiorem facit That alone doth beautifie vvhich doth beatifie or make the soule happie no ornament doth so grace vs as that vvee are gratious Thus the substance is emptied for a shew and many robbe themselues of all they haue to put a good suite on their backes 2. The next Cup of these stollen waters is Epicurisme a water which whiles we sup of vve sucke our selues A
and the intelligencer betweene the vestall and the Nunne betweene the proud Prodigall and his vnconscionable Creditor Indeede the greatest sinner shall haue the greatest punishment And hee that hath beene a principall guest to the Deuill on earth shall and that on earth were a strange priuiledge hold his place in Hell Reward her euen as she rewarded you and double vnto her double according to her workes in the cup which shee hath filled fill to her double How much shee hath glorified her selfe and liued deliciously so much torment and sorrow giue her Diues that fedde so hartily on this bread of Iniquitie and drunke so deepe draughts of the waters of sinne reserues his superioritie in torment that hee had in pleasure Behold hee craues with more floods of scalding teares then euer Esau shed for the blessing but one drop of water to coole his tongue and could not be allowed it But what if all the riuers in the South all the waters in the Ocean had beene granted him his tongue would still haue withered and smarted with heate himselfe still crying in the language of Hell a non sufficit It is not enough Or what if his tongue had beene eased yet his heart liuer lungs bowells armes legges should still haue fryed Thus hee that eate and dranke with superfluitie the purest flower of the Wheate the reddest blood of the Grape his body kept as well from diseasâ—â— as soft linnen and fine rayment could preserue it here findes a fearfull alteration From the table of surfet to the table of torment from feeding on Iunkets to gnaw his owne flesh from bowles of wine to the want of cold water from the soft foldes of fine silkes to the winding lashes of furies from chaines of gold for ornament to chaines of yron for torment from a bed of downe to a bed of flames from laughing among his companions to howling with Deuils from hauing the poore begging at his gates to begge himselfe and that as that Rich-man for one drop of water Who can expresse the horrour and miserie of this guest Non mihi si centum linguae sint oraque centum Ferrea vox omnes scelerum comprendere formas Omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possim No hart of man can thinke no tongue can tell The direfull paines ordain'd and felt in hell Now sorrowes meete at the Guests hart as at a feast all the furies of hell leape on the Table of his Conscience Thought calls to Feare Feare to Horrour Horrour to Dispaire Dispaire to Torment Torment to Extremitie all to Eternitie Come and helpe to afflict this wretch All the parts of his body and soule leaue their naturall and woonted vses and spend their times in wretchednesse and confusion Hee runnes through a thousand deaths and cannot dye Heauie irons are locked on him all his lights and delights are put out at once Hee hath no soule capable of comfort And though his eyes distill like fountaines yet God is now inexorable His Mittimus is without Bayle and the Prison can neuer be broken God will not heare now that might not he heard before That you may conceiue things more spirituall and remote by passions neerer to sense Suppose that a man being gloriously roabed deliciously feasted Prince-like serued attended honoured and set on the proudest height of pleasure that euer mortallitie boasted should in one vnsuspected moment be tumbled downe to a bottome more full of true miseries then his promontory was of false delights and there be ringed about with all the gory Mutherers blacke Atheists sacrilegious Church-robbers and incestuous Rauishers that haue euer disgorged their poyson on earth to re-assume it in Hell Nay adde further to this supposition that this depth he is throwne into was no better then a vast Charnell-house hung round with lamps burning blew and dimme set in hollow corners whose glimmering serues to discouer the hideous torments all the ground in stead of greene rushes strewed with funâ—rall rosemary and dead mens bones some corpses standing vpright in their knotted winding-sheetes others rotted in their Coffins which yawne wide to vent their stench there the bare ribs of a Father that begat him heere the hollow skull of a Mother that bare him How direfull and amazing are these things to sense Or if Imagination can giue being to a more fearefull place that or rather worse then that is Hell If a poore man sodainely starting out of a golden slumber should see his house flaming about him his louing Wife and loued Infants breaâ—hing their spirits to heauen through the mercilesse fire himselfe inringed with it calling for despaired succour the miserable Churle his next neighbour not vouchsafeing â—o answere when the putting forth of an arme might â—aue him such shall be their miseries in Hell and nor an Angell nor a Saint shall refresh them with any comfort These are all but shadowes nay not shadowes of the infernall depth here expressed You heare it feare it fly it scape it Feare it by Repentance flye it by your Faith and you shall scape it by Gods mercie This is their Poâ—na sensus positiue punishmenâ— There is also Poena damni to be considered their priuatiue punishment They haue lost a place on earth whose ioy wâ—s temporall they haue missed a place in Heauen whose ioy is eternall Now they finde that a dinner of greene hearbes with Gods loue is better then a stalled Oxe and his hatred withall A feast of sallets or Daniels pulse is more cherisâ—ing with mercie then Belshazzars Banket without it Now they finde Solomonâ— Seâ—mon true that though the bread of deceit â—e sweâ—t to a man yet the time is come that the mouth is filled with grauell No no â—he blessing of God onely maketh fat and hee addeth no sorrow vnto it Waters the wicked desired and Bread they lusted after behold after their secure sleepe and dreamed ioyes on earth with what hungry soules doe they awake in Hell But what are the Bread and the Waters they might haue enioyed with the Sainâ—s in Heauen Such as shall neuer be dryed vp Ieâ— thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore Happy is the vndefiled soule who is innocent from the great offence all whose sinnes are washed as white as Snow in that blood which alone is able to purge the conscience from dead workes He that walketh righteously c. he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of rockes Bread shall be giuen him his Waters shall be sure His ioyes are certaine and stable no alteration no alternation shall empaire them The wicked for the slight breakfast of this world loose the Lambs supper of glory Where these foure things concurre that make a perfect feast Dies lectus locus electus coetus bene collectus apparatus non neglectus A good time eternitie A good place Heauen A good companie the Saints Good cheere
shamefull spewing shall be for your glory We haue all drunke liberally of these waters too prodigally at Sinnes fountaine Quando voluimus et quantum valuimus when we would as much as we were able not onely to drunkennesse but euen to surfet and madnesse if we keepe them in our stomachs they will poyson vs Oh fetch them vp againe with buckets of sighes and pumpe them out in riuers of teares for your sinnes Make your heads waters and your eyes fountaines weepe your consciences emptie and dry againe of these waters Repentance onely can lade them out They that haue dry eyes haue waterish hearts and the Prouerbe is too true for many No man comes to heauen wiâ—h drie eyes let your eyes gush out teares not onely in compassion for others but in passion for your selues thaâ— haue not kept Gods Law Weepe out your sullen waters of discontent at Gods doings your garish waters of pride freezing obduracie burning malice foggie intemperancâ— base couetise Oh thinke thinke how you haue despised the waters of life turned Iesus Christ out of your Inne into a beastly Stable whiles Pride sits vppermost at your Tables Malice vsurpes the best Chamber in your mindes Lust possesseth your eyes Oathes imploy your tongues Ebrietie bespeake your tastes Theft and iniurie inthrone themselues in your hands Mammon obsesseth your affections Sicke sicke all ouer you may cry with the Shunamites Sonne Caput dolet my head my head and with Ierusalem my bowels my bowels Oh let faith and repentance make way that the bloud of our Sauiour may heale you We are not onely guilty of auersion from God but of aduersion against God Oh where is our reuersion to God the waters of lusts are aquae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the waters of folly and madnesse but our teares are aquae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the waters of change of minde and repentance Poenitentia est quasi poenae tenentia Repentance is a taking punishment of our selues oh take this holy punishment on your soulâ—s Weepe weepe weepe for your vanities Achan cannot drinke vp his execrable gold nor Gehazi deuoure his bribes nor Ahab make but a draught of a vineyard mingled with bloud nor Iudas swallow downe his cousenage and treason without being called to a reckoning Nos quare non credimus quod omnes astabimus ante tribunal Why account wee not of our future standing before a Iudgement Scate Omnium aures pulso All we whom these walls compasse haue beene drunken with these waters some that hate Swearing with dissembling some that abhorre Idolatrie with profanenesse some that auoid notoriousnesse with hypocrisie many that pretend ill-will to all the rest with those Lares et Lemures household-Gods or rather household-Goblins and Deuils which almost no house is free from Fraud and Couetousnesse Wee know or at least should know our owne diseases and the speciall dish whereon wee haue surfetted oh why breake wee not forth into vlulations mournings and loud mournings for our sinnes cease not till you haue pumped out the sinnes of your soules at your eyes and emptied your consciences of these waters And then behold other behold better behold blessed waters you taste of them in this life and they fill your bones with Marrow and your hearts with ioy they alone satisfie your thirst without which though you could with Xerxes Armie drinke whole Riuers drie your burning heat could not be quenched Here drinke Bibite et inebriamini Drinke and be drunken in this Wine-celler onely hauing drunke hearty draughts of these waters of life retâ—ine them constantly be not queasie-stomached Demas-like to cast them vp againe the token of a cold stomach not yet heated by the spirit for as the loathing of repast is a token that Nature drawes toward her end so when these holy waters proue fastidious it is an argument of a soule neere her death Take then and digeâ—â— this water Recipitur aure retinetur corde perficitur opâ—re The eare receiues the heart retaines the life digests it but alas we retaine these waters no longer then the finger of the Holy Ghost keepes them in vs like the â—arden-pot that holds water but whiles the thumbe is vpon it Leaue then Beloued the Deuils Wine-Celler as Venerable Bede calls it Vbi nos dulcedo delectationis invitauit ad bibendum Where the sweet waters of delight tempt vs to drinke But Dauid though he longed for it would not drinke the water of the Well of Bethlehem which his three Worthies fetched because it was the water of bloud brought with the danger of life and shall wee drinke the waters oâ— the Deuils Banket the venture of bloud with the hazard of our dearest soules No come wee to this aqua Coelestis be wee poore or rich haue wee money or none all that come are welcome And know that hauing drunke liberally at the fountaine of grace you shall haue yet a larger and pleasanter draught at the fountaine of glory that riuer of life cleare as Christall proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lambe to which the Spirit and the Bride are Inviters and say come It is a delightfull banket we enioy heere The Kingdome of heauen is rightâ—ousnesse and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost None know the sweetnesse of these ioyes but they that feele them but the Supper of ioy the Banket of glory the Waters of blessednesse are such as no â—ye hath seene c. Illic beata vita in fonte There is the Spring-head of happinesse they cannot want water that dwell by the Fountaine Nam licet allata graâ—us sit sapor in vndâ— Dulcius ex ipso fonte bibantur aquae That which is deriued to vs in Pipes is pleasant oh what is the delight at the Well-head The Deuill like an ordinary Host sets forth his best wine first and when the guests haue well drunke worse but thou oh Lord hast kept the best wine tâ—ll the last They are sweet wee taste heere but medio de sonte leporum surgit amari aliquid There are some persecutions crosses to imbitter them the sweet meate of the Passeouer is not eaten without sowre hearbs but in thy presence oh Lord iâ— the fulnesse os ioy at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore There is no bitternesse in those waters they are the same that God himselfe and his holy Angels drinke of so that as for Christ his sake wee haue drunke the bitter Cup of persecution so we shall receiue at Christ his hands the Cup of saluation and shall blesse the name of the Lord. To whom three persons one onely true and eternall God be all praise glory and obedience now and for euer Amen FINIS THE Second Seruice OF THE DEVILS BANKET BY THOMAS ADAMS Preacher of Gods Word at Willington in Bedford-shire ZACHARIAH 5.4 I will bring forth the curse saith the Lord of Hostes and it shall enter into
the house of the Thiefe and into the house of him that sweareth falsly by my Name and it shall remaine in the midst of the house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof ROYARD Homil. 1. in I PET. 3. Reddere bonum pro bono Humanum reddere malum pro malo Belluinum reddere malum pro bono Diabolicum reddere verò bonum pro malo Diuinum To returne good for good is the part of a Man To returne euill for euill is the part of a Beast To returne euill for good is the part of a Deuill To returne good for euill is the part of a Saint LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for Ralph Mab and are to be sold at his Shop in Paules Church-yard at the Signe of the Gray-hound 1614. TO THE HONOVRABLE AND Vertuous Lady the Lady Iane Gostwyke Baronettesse sauing Health MADAME I Am bold to adde one Booke more to your Library though it be but as a Mite into your Treasurie I that haue found you so euer fauourable to any worke of mine cannot but confidently hope your acceptance of this Not for the worth of it but because it beares your Name and my dutie to it in the forehead and offers it selfe to the world through your Patronage Somewhat you shall finde in it to harten your loue to Vertue much to encrease your detestation to Vice For I haue to my power endeuoured to vnmaske the latter and to spoile it of the borrowed forme that sober eyes may see the true proportion of it and their loathing be no longer with-held I cannot doubt therefore that your approbation of the Booke will be frustrate by the Title I am content to furnish out Satans Feast with many speciall Dishes and to discouer the VVaters of Iniquitie which hee hath broached to the World Not to perswade their Pleasure but lest Ignorance should surfet on them without mistrust Lest the peruerted Conscience should securely deuoure them without reprehension Here you shall see in a small Abridgement many actuall breaches of Gods sacred Law not without liablenes to condigne punishment You heard it with attention spoken in your priuate Church You gaue it approuall I trust you will as well owne it written It is not lesse yours though it be made more publike I need not aduise you to make your eye an helpe to your soule as well as your eare They that know you know your apprehension quicke your Iudgement sound and that which graceth all the rest your affections religiously deuoted Yet since it is no small part of our goodnesse to know that wee may be better I presume to present this Booke and with it my owne dutie to your Ladiship the poore testimonie of my present thankefulnesse and pledge of my future seruice The God of Power and Mercie continue his Fauours to you who haue still continued your fauours to Your Honours humbly deuoted THOMAS ADAMS THE Second Seruice of the Deuils Banket The second Sermon PROVERB 9.17 Stollen waters are sweet and Bread eaten in secret is pleasant WEE haue already serued in the first course at the Deuils Banket and feasted your eares with those Waters from which God keepe your soules fasting Some things are proposed to our practise some things are exposed to our contempt and dislike The more accurately the Scriptures describe sinnes the more absolutely they forbid them where wickednesse is the subiect all speech is declamation As no spectator at those horrid Tragedies where Oedipus is beheld the Incestuous Husband of his owne Mother or Thyestes drunke with the blood of his owne Children or at any of the bleeding Bankets of the Medea's can receiue those horrours aâ— the Windores of his senses without terrour to his bowels and trembling to his bones so when you heare the relation of the Deuils cheare all the flattering petulant insidious nature-tickling dishes of delight the rarities of Impietie the surfets of the World Horse-leaches to the blood Witches to the affections Deuils to the Consciences of men thinke that they are related that they may be reiected to bestow vpon the Deuils Cates his owne names the glory of Pride the satietie of Epicurisme the gallantnesse of Ebrietie the credite of Murder the greatnesse of Scorne the gracefulnesse of Swearing the brauerie of the stigmaticke Fashion the securitie of Vsurie the singularitie of Opinion the content of Superstition nunciantur vt renuncientur thinke not they are prescribed for you when they are described to you Monstrantur vt monstra they are set foorth as monsters that they might be loathed they are aduanced as Traytours heads in terrorem futuri proditoris to the terrour of him that should be tempted to future Treason Gods intent in declaring this Banket of Sinne is to make you loathe it and that which is written is for our instruction to deâ—erre not to commend as some of the Heathen had a custome in their solemne Feasts to make a bondslaue drunke and then set him forth as a rediculouâ— obiect to their children This Banket then perâ—ibetur vna prohibetur is at once declared and declaimed spoken of and forbidden lest through ignorance you should like and eate it you are more fully made acquainted with the vilenesse of it Hence our royall Preacher drawes the Curtaine of the World and shewes you all the delicates of her Table not to whet your appetites to feed on them but to coole your courage disharten your opinions alienate your affections giuing you a true censure of their worthinesse all is vanitie and vexation of soule They are detected that â—hey might be detested Therefore if any of Gracchus brood shall like a Catilmary disposition the better because Tully hath indicted interdicted condemned it if any sonne of Beliall shall more affectedly deuoure some morsell of damnation at this Feast because the Preacher hath execrated it and deriue at once notice and incouragement from our terrifying censures testimonium sibi ferat condemnationis let him beare in himselfe the euidence of his owne condemnation They are wretched men qui minimè declinant quod boni maxime declamant that most impetuously pursue what all good men disswade running with Ahimaaz the more eagerly because their friend Ioab forbids them So blasphemously spake the sacrilegious spoilers of Proserpines Temple in Locris whose ring-leader was Dionisius Videtis ne amici quà m bona nauigatio ab ipsis Dijs sacrilegis tribuatur sailing home and now arriuing at the Hauen safe see you not my friends saith Dionisius how faire and fortunate a Nauigation the Gods vouchsafe to Sacriledge as if they therefore robbed the CHVRCâ— because they were by the Oracle expressely inhibited so gens humana ruit in vetitum nefas mans nature praecipitates it selfe into forbidden wickednesse This is an horrid sinne peccatum primae impressionis sine nomine adaequato a wickednesse of that nature that there is no name significant enough to expresse it The manners of the
the Prophet cals gracelesse an Harlots forehead that cannot blush Swearing swaggers out admonition drunkennes drinkes downe sorrow and penitence Vsurie floutes at Hell It was Epitaph'd on Pope Alexanders Tombe Iacet hîc scelus vitium Here lies wickednesse it selfe it could not bee so buried vp Hee was vile enough Thais Alexandri filia sponsa nurus Lucrece was his Daughter his Whore his Sonnes Wife Horrid that Viper went not to Hell issue-lesse What is this but Infidelitie and Atheisme though not in Antecedente yet in Consequente if not verball yet reall vnder the forme of Godlinesse an implicite renegation of the power Multi adorant Crucem exterius qui crucem spiritualem per contemptam conculcant Many superstitiously adore the Crucifixe that are enemies to the Crosse of Christ and tread his holy Blood vnder their scornefull feet Nay they are not wanting that bragge with Pherecides that they haue as much prosperitie though they neuer sacrifice as they that offer whole Hecatombes They will bee wicked if it bee for nothing else to scape the rod of affliction They make sport with the Booke of GOD as Daphias with the Delphicke Oracle who enquired of it whither hee should finde the Horse he had lost when indeed hee had none the Oracle answered inuenturum quidem sed vt eo turbatus periret that he should finde a horse but his death withall Home he is comming ioyfull that hee had deluded the Oracle but by the way he fell into the hands of the wronged King Attalus and was by his command throwne headlong from a Rock called the Horse and so perished as fabulous as you may thinke iâ— the Morall of it will fall heauy on the deriders of God These are the sinnes that immediately robbe God fitly called by our whorish Sorceresse Stollen waters which shall neuer be carried away without account The second sort of Stollen waters are those sinnes which mediately rob God immediately our Brethren depriuing them of some comfort or right which the inuiolable Law of God hath interrested them to for what the Law of God of Nature of Nations hath made ours cannot bee extorted from vs without Stealth and may bee euen in most strict tearmes called Stollen waters 1. Here fitly Irreuerence is serued in first a water of Stealth that robbes man of that right of honour wherewith God hath inuested him Euen Abimelech a King a Gentle King reuerenced Abraham euen stately Herod poore Iohn Baptist. Yes let reuerence be giuen to Superioritie if it be built on the bases of worthinesse and to Age if it be found in the waies of righteousnesse Indeed it should bee so that Seniores annis should be Saniores animis and praefectus perfectus that eminencie of place and of vertue should concurre that Greatnesse and Goodnesse should dwel together but the conscience of reuerence is fetchâ— from Gods precept not mans dignitie and therefore the omission is a robberie the neglect of honour to whom it belongs is a Stollen water The eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother doth he thinke them worthy or not the Rauens of the Valley shall picke it out and the yong Eagles eat it But alas these are those vnreuerent dayes where infoelix lolium steriles dominantur auenae â—nuectiues railings calumnies libels grow vp among sober and wholesome admonitions the same ground produceth both Hearbes and Weedes and so nourisheth both Sheepe and Serpents Terra salutiferas herbas eademque nocentes nutrit vrticae proxima saepe Rosa est The Nettle growes vp with the Rose and the Lambe must graze in the Wolfes company These are like furious Beasts that ranging for their pray and being hampered in the snares when they cannot breake loose to forrage they lie downe and roare From this foule neast haue fluttered abroad all those clamorous Bils slanderous Libels malicious Inuectiues seditious Pamphlets whence not onely good names haue beene traduced but good things abused Selfe-conceit blowes them vp with ventositie and if others thinke not as well of them as they of themselues strait like Porcupines they shoot their quils or like Cuttels vomite out Inke to trouble the waters That impudent and insolent claime is made ordinarie in these dayes With our tongue we will preuaile for our lips are our owne When the Eagle in the Ayre Panther in the Desart Dragon in the deepe Leuiathan in the Ocean are tamed yet the Tongue can no man tame it is an vnruly euill full of deadly poison It is fiered and with no weaker Fire then Hels Their hearts are Ouens heated with malice and their tongues burning peeles they are neuer drawne but there is a batch for the Deuill These are not only the Geese in the Capitall to gaggle at Statesmen in the Common-wealth but Foxes also about the Temple that if they bee seene stealing the Grapes fall a biting their descryers by the shinnes Because the Church hath not heretofore giuen some the Keyes of her Treasure nor called for them when Bishoprickes and promotions were a dealing they will indite her of incontinencie with Rome miserable sonnes to slaunder their Mother with adulterie What they would and can not doe themselues they blame in others with Corah Yee take too much vpon ye sonnes of Leui. Libels are stollen waters 2. Murder vsurpes the second roome a red Water that robbes man of his life whither they be Popish commissions to cut throates for the Whore of Babilon can drinke nothing but blood or the monstrous illuminations of the Anabaptists deriuing reuelation from the spirit of horrid murder that the brother should cut off the brothers head by a command from Heauen the Father Mother standing by Luther cals this a grosse Deuill or the sudden quarrels of our age where euidences of pusillanimitie or at best inconsiderate furie are produced as arguments of Valour A crosse word is ground enough for a challenge and what issue hath streamed from these Duells who can thinke and not quake The Land is desiled with blood not shed by an alien hand God hath beene content talem nobis auertere pestem to free vs from that plague but ciuill vnciuill broiles We fall out for feathers some lie dead in the Chanell whiles they stood too much for the wall others sacrifice their hearts blood for the loue of an Harlot Not to pledge a health is cause enough to loose health and life too Oh who shall wash our Land from these aspersions of blood Murder is but Mans-slaughter and Mans-slaughter no more then dog-slaughter Parce ciuium sanguini should be our condition of life as it is a sanction of nature to spare the blood of Citizens connaturall collateral connationall with our selues but now it is not spared sanguini vel ciuium vel sanctorum to spill the blood of either Citizens or Saints yet precious in the sight of the Lord is the
of this Banket properation to it participation of it all is carried with ioy and Iouisance there is a correctiue But a veruntamen spoyles all in the vp-shot A little Colliquintida that embitters the Broath A perillous a pernicious rocke that splits the Ship in the Hauen When all the prophecies of ill successe haue beene held as Cassandra's riddles when all the contrarie windes of afflictions all the threatned stormes of Gods wrath could not disharten the Sinners voyage to these Netherlands here is a But that shipwrackes all the very mouth of a bottomlesse pit not shallower then Hell it selfe It is obseruable that Salomons prouerbiall sayes are so many select Aphorismes contayning for the most part a paire of crosse and thwart sentences handled rather by collation then relation whose coniunction is disiunctiue The Prouerbs are not ioyned with an Et but an At with a But rather then with an And. Stollen waters are sweete c. But hee knoweth not c. It stands in the midst like a Rudder or Oare to turne the Boat another way Reioyce oh yong man c. But know that for all these things God wil bring thee to Iudgement c. All runnes smooth and enclines to the byace of our owne affections till it lights vpon this rub The Babell of Iniquitie is built vp apace till confusion steps in with a But. It is like the suddaine clap of a Serieant on a Gallants shoulder He is following his lusts full sent and full crie the arrest strikes him with a But and all 's at a losse As in a faire Summers morning when the Larke hath called vp the Sunne and the Sâ—â—ne the Husbandman when the earth had opened her Shop of perfumes and a pleasant winde fannes coolenesse through the heated ayre when euery creature is reioyced at the heart On a sodaine the furious windes burst from their prisons the thunder rends the clouds and makes way for the lightning and the spowtes of heauen streame downe showres a hideous tempest sooner dampes all the former delight then a mans tongue can well expresse it With no lesse content doe these guests of sinne passe their life they eate to eate and drinke to drinke often to sleepe alwaies to surfet they caroll daunce spend their present ioyes and promise themselues infallible supply On a sodaine this But comes like an vnlooked for storme and turnes all into mourning and such mourning as Rahell had for her Children that will not be comforted because their ioyes are not A wicked man runnes headlong in the night of his vnwaked securitie after his wonted sports and because hee keepes his old path which neuer interrupted him with any obstacle hee nothing doubts but to speed as hee had wont but his enemie hath digged a pit in his way and in he topples euen to the depth of Hell Thus wicked ioyes haue wretched sorrowes and as man hath his Sic so God hath his Sed. If we will haue our will in sinne it is fit he should haue his will in punishing To this sense Solomon frequently in his Prouerbs They will pursue wickednesse But they shall bee plagued I haue forbidden vsurie adulterie swearing malice as vncleane meates you will feede on them But you shall bee punished There is a reckoning behinde a But they neuer shot at but they shot besides the But the whiles God hath prepared them as the miserable markes that shall receiue the arrowes of his vengeance till they are drunke with blood They shall suffer that in passion which Iob spake in apprehension The arrowes of the Almightie shall be within them the poyson whereof shall drinke vp their spirits and the terrours of God shall set themselues in aray against them So Moses sung in the person of God against the wicked I will make mine arrowes drunke with blood and my sword shall eate flesh c. They forget that when God shall rebuke them in his wrath and chasten them in his hot displeasure his arrowes shall sticke fast in them and his hand shall presse them sore This is their sad Epilogue or rather the breaking off their Scaene in the midst The Banket of stollen waters and secret bread is pleasant But the dead are there and the guests be in the depth of Hell The Deuill doth but cozen the wicked with his cates as before in the promise of Delicacie so here of perpetuitie Hee sets the countenance of continuance on them which indeede are more fallible in their certaintie then flourishable in their brauerie Their banketting-house is very slipperie and the feast it selfe a meere dreame Let the Guest preserue but reason and he shall easily make the collection that if for the present Gaâ—dia plus aloes quam sua mellis habent To the compound of his ioyes there goe more bitter then sweet simples what will then the end be euen such a one as at once consumit delicias consummat miserias makes an end of their short pleasures and begins their lasting paines This my Text salutes them as the Mason was wont to salute the Emperour at his Coronation with a lappe-full of stones Elige ab his saxis ex quo Augustissime Caesar Ipse tibi tumulum me fabricare velis Chuse great Emperour out of this whole heape what stone thou best likest for thine owne Sepulcher You that crowne your dayes with Rose-buds and flatter your hearts with a kingdome ouer pleasures thinke of a low graue for your bodies and a lower roome for your soules It is the subtiltie of our common enemie to conceale this woe from vs so long that wee might see it and feele it at once For if we could but foresee it we would feare it if we truely feared it we would make meanes not to feele it Our most fortified delights are like the childs castle done downe with a fillop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shadow the very dreame of a shadow a rotten post slightly painted a paper-tower which the least puffe ouerturnes Cuncta trahit secum vertitque volubile tempus Time whirles about the world and makes all inferiour things to trauell and spend themselues together with him Sinfull and earthly delight is well called amiabile fragile flebile a thing soone loued sooner ended but long very long lamented a rotten nut faire but hollow Though Philosophy saith there is no vacuitie in rerum natura yet Diuinitie saith there is nothing but vacuitie in naturae rebuâ— Nature as it is not onely corrupt of it selfe but made more fowle in the euill mans vse hath nothing in it but vanitie and vanitie is nothing a meere emptinesse a vacuitie Hence if Aristotle commends the nature of things the better Philosopher Solomon discommends the things of nature especially in their base and bad vsage Onely the Deuils Feast-house hath a faire bush at the dore yet if the wine were good what needs the Iuie and therefore his people turne in thither
nature of mans the effects and helps of dubitation according to the saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doubting is the Mother of questioning He that doubteth not will not aske no Gods demaunds are not to satisfie himselfe but vs Illations vpon our actions That from the proposition of our sinnes and the assumption of his questions we may conclude against our selues as Dauid I haue sinned Neither can we giue sollution to his interrogatories Who dares who can answere God hee is not as a man saith Iob that I should answere him The intent is then to iustifie himselfe to put into our conscience a sense a Science of our owne iniquities God so apposed Ionas Doest thou well to be angry And againe Doest thou well to be angry for a Gourd Art thou discontent for so contemptible a thing a poore vegetatiue creature and doest thou grudge my mercie to so many rationall creatures brethren of thine owne flesh Gods question was a manifest conuiction as strong as a thousand proofes Ionas sees his face in this little Spring as if he had stood by a full Riuer Christ that had the best methode of teaching and could make hearts of flint penetrable moued his Disciples mindes remoued his aduersaries doubts frequently by questions He starts Peter that was numinis Dei et nominis sui immemor forgetfull of his God of himselfe with a quid dormis what sleepest thou Hee rectified the mistaking iudgements of his Apostles that turned his spirituall dehortation from the Pharises leauen to the litterall sense of forgotten bread with a double demaund Obliti ne estis c. Doe ye not yet vnderstand nor remember the fiue loaues of the fiue thousand c. Could so miraculous a Banket as quickly slip from your mindes as it did from your mouthes So hee informed their vnderstandings concerning himselfe which so much concerned them to know Whom doe men say that I am All which impliâ—d not his owne ignorance but impelled their knowledge Hee knew all the former questions so well as the latter whereof hee could no lesse be ignorant then of himselfe Onely hee spake in a catechising forme as the Ministers question succours the Nouices initiall vnderstanding His reproofes to his enemies were often cloathed in these interrogatorie roabes How say they that Christ is Dauids Sonne When Dauid himselfe calleth him Lord confuting that false opinion that the Iewes had of their Messias whose temporall Monarchie they onely gaped for If hee was onely to be the Sonne of Dauid in the flesh how doth he call him Lord and equall him with the Father A question that did enforce a conclusion himselfe desired and a confusion of his enemies conceits The like ver 4. He cramped their criticall and hypocriticall exceptions with a question The baptisme of Iohn was it from heauen or of men which confuted their arrogance though they would haue salued it with ignorance ver 7. We cannot tell This manner of discussing is not more vsuall with God then effectuall It conuerteth the Elect it conuinceth the Reprobate Wheresoeuer it is directed it pierceth like a goad is a sharp stroke to the conscience and howsoeuer the smart is neglected it leaueth a print behind it If wee take the words spoken in the Person of God they manifest his complaint against Israell When God complaines sinne is grieuous Wee neuer read God breaking forth into this compassionate forme of speech but Iniquitie is growne proud of her height She nestles among the Cedars and Towers like Babell when hee that can thunder it downe with fire doth as it were raine showers of complaint for it It argues no lesse goodnesse in the Father then wickednesse in the Children when hee doth plaine that can plague and breath out the ayre of pitie before he send the storme of Iudgement So you may see a long prouoked Father that after many chidings lost to his deafe Sonne after some gentle chastisements inflicted and intended to his calling home he findes his errours growing wilder his affections madder his heart more senselesse his courses more sensuall hee stands euen deploring his wretchednesse that could not amend his wickednesse and whiles Iustice and Mercie striue for the masterie as loath that his lenitie should wrong his Integritie or yet that he should be as an executioner to him whom he had begotten to be an executour to himselfe hee breakes out into complaint With no lesse pitie nay with farre greater mercie doth God proceede to execute his Iudgements vnwilling to strike home for his mercie yet willing not to double his blow but to lay it on sure at once for our sinnes and his owne Iustice Or as some compassionate Iudge that must censure by the law of his Countrey an Hereticke striues first with arguments of reason to conuert him that arguments of yron and steele may not be vsed against him and finding his refractarie disposition culpable of his owne doome by wilfully not being capable of good counsell proceedes not without plaints and teares to his sentence So doth the most iust God of Heauen with the most vniust Sonnes of men pleading by reasons of gentle and gracious forbearance and offering the sweet conditions of happy peace and as it were wailing our refusall before hee shoote his arrowes and consume vs or make his sword drunke with our bloods God hath Armies of Starres in the skie Meteors in the ayre beasts on the earth yea of Angels in Heauen greater Hoasts and lesse and whither he sends a great Armie of his little ones or a little of his great ones he can easily and quickly dispatch vs Loe he stayes till he hath spoken with vs and that rather by postulation then expostulation He is not contumelious against vs that haue been contumacious against him If his words can worke vs to his will hee will spare his blowes Hee hath as little delight in smiting as we in suffering nay he suffers with vs condoling our estate as if it were which cannot be his owne For wee haue not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities Hee feeles the griefes of his Church the head akâ—s when the members suffer Persecutors strike Christ through Christians sides Saul strikes at Damascus Christ Iesus suffers in Heauen Mediately he is smitten whiles the blowes immediately light on vs. He could not in the dayes of his â—lesh forbeare bitter teares at Ierusalems presâ—nt sinne and future iudgement How grieuous is our iniquitie how gracious his longanimity He that weeps for our auersion passionately desires our conuersion vnfainedly How pathetically he perswadeth his Churches reformation Returne returne oh Shulamite returne returne How lamentingly deplores he Ierusalems deuastation If thou hadst knowne at least in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace Let vs not thinke him like either of those Mimicks the Player or the Hypocrite who truly act the part one of another but hardly either of an honest man
further it groweth Many interdictions rung peales of menaces in the Apostles eares that they should speake no more in the name and word of Christ they did all rather like Bells toll them into the Church to preach it more feruently The Princes of the Nations would haue hedged it in with their prohibitions but the Word of Heauen and edict of Gods spirituall Court of glory scorned the Prohibitions giuen by their temporall or temporarie Lawes They might easier haue hedged in the vvinde or pounded the Eagle The Iewes would haue cut downe this Tree at the roote the Gentiles would haue lopped off the branches They stroke at Christ these at his Ministers both strucke short If they killed the Messenger they could not reach the message The blood of the Martyrs spilt at the roote of this tree did as it were make it spread more patently There neuer died Preacher for Christ his cause but almost euery ash of his burned flesh bred a Christian. The old Foxes of Rome that had caliditatis paululum calliditatis plurimum little warmth in their bloods great subtilty in their pates studied plotted acted by cares stratagemâ— engines to giue a fatall finall subuersion to the Gospell yet they liued to see it flourish and because it flourished died fretting themselues to dust So let thine enemies perish oh Lord and burst their malicious bowels that haue euill will at Syon and despight this Balme It grew maugre all the aduerse blasts and floods which the billowes of earth or bellowes of Hell could blow or powre out against it Let them loose a Barrabas from prison whiles they shut a Barnabas in prison let them giue Demetrius libertie whiles they shackle Paul and at once burne the professours and reward the persecutours of the Word behold for all this this Balme flourisheth and sends forth his sauing odours The Philistines shut vp Sampson in the Citie Gaza they barre the gates watch and guard the passages and are ready to study for the manner of his death The Iewes shut vp Christ in the graue they barre it they seale it they guard it sure enough thinkes the Iew hopes the Deuill to keepe him fast The Gentiles shut the Apostles in prison chaine them beate them threat them with worse that had felt already their bad vsage now they clap their hands at the presumed fall of the Gospell Behold Sampson carries away the gates of Gaza Christ the bands of death the Word the barres of the prison What shall I say still this Balme flourisheth Viuit viget liber est supra hominem est As Ioseph incipit a vinculis ferreis finit ad torquem aureum begins at yron ends at golden chaines so this Balsame the more it is strucke at with the cudgels of reproach and persecution the faster the fuller the further it groweth It is like the Vine for this vertue onely the Vine but onely nourisheth the Balme both nourisheth the good and expelleth the euill that is in man These two are Gods trees When euery God saith the Poet chose his seuerall tree Iupiter the long-liued Oake Neptune the tall Cedar Apollo the greene Laurell Venus the white Poplar Pallas whom the Poets faine to be borne of Iupiters braine and Mythologists interpret Wisedome chose the Vine Our true and onely God that oweth all hath more especially chosen the Vine and the Balme one for preseruation the other for restauration of our health Onely the Balme hath both elementall Phisicke and alimentall vertue in it As it giues boughes spaciously so fruit pregnantly plentifully The graces of God hang vpon this tree in clusters My beloued is vnto me as a cluster of Camphire in the Vineyards of Engedi No hungry soule shall goe away from this tree vnsatisfied It is an effectuall word neuer failing of intended successe What Gods word affirmes his truth performes whither it be iudgement or mercie Nec verbum ab intentione quia veritas nec factum à verbo quia virtus His word differs not from his intent because he is truth nor his deede from his word because he is vertue What he intends hee declares or rather what he declares he intends he is iust and what he declares and intends he performes hee is powerfull This is that Delphian sword that vniuersall instrument whereby he made whereby he supports the world It is not a fruitlesse and ineffectuall word as mans Propter nostrum dicere et velle nihil in re mutatur saith the Philosopher Our speaking or willing puts no change into any subiect A man is starued with colde famished with hunger wee aduise him to the fire to repast is hee euer the fuller or fatter for our word Not vnlesse like a Camelion he can liue by ayre But Gods word is fruitfull it feedes Man liues not by bread onely but by Gods word Our word and will is like an Idols power Gods volo is sufficient Voluntas eius potestas eius His will is his power One fiat of his was able to make that was not but had else line in euerlasting informitie to constitute nature when it is not to confirme or change nature vvhen it is When GOD was in the flesh and went about doing good a faithfull Centurion for his seruant so desperately sicke desired not the trauell of his feet nor a dramme of his Phisicke nor so much as the imposition of his hands but dic verbum tantum Lord say the word onely and my seruant shall be healed This word is so effectuall that it shall neuer faile of the purpose it first was sped for The Sunne and Moone shall faile in their motions day and night in their courses the earth totter on her props Nature it selfe shall apostate to confusion before Gods word fall away vnaccomplished whither hee dâ—spenseth it to affect mans heart or disposeth it to effect his will Of so powerfull efficacie is that word which the world despiseth As this Balme spreads patently for shadow potently for fruit so all this arâ—seth from a little seed Gods smallest springs proue at length maine Oceans His least beginnings grow into great works great wonders How stately thâ— world begins how lame it is at last The Tower of Babeâ—l is begunne as if it scorned Heauen and scared Earth how easie a stratagem from God ouerthrowes it though he neuer laid finger to it Nebuchadnezzar begins with who is God and anone scarse reserues to himselfe the visible difference from a beast Another Nebuchadnezzar exterminates all Gods from the earth that himselfe might raigne solus Deus in solio who was rather Daemon in folio onely God behold a silly woman ouerthrowes him in his great Holophernes With such proud entrances doth the vvorld begin his Scaenes with such ridiculous shame doe they lagge off Our God from small beginnings raiseth mountaines of meruailes to vs of praises to himselfe Euen Ioseph that is in prison shall ride in the second Chariot of Egipt Drowning Moses shall come
the other side of Iordan The fetching ouer their Merchandise was no long nor dangerous voyage Yet was this spirituall Balme neerer to them it lay like Manna at their dores Venit ad limina virtus The Kingdome of Heauen is among you saith Christ. There needed no great iourney for naturall Phisicke but lesse for spirituall comfort Behold God himselfe giues his vocall answeres betweene the Cherubins Yet alas as it was once iustly prouerb'd on the Monkes and such spirituall or rather carnall Couents in that night of Popery that the neerer they were to the Church the further from God So it was euen verefied of the Iewes that by how much they were of all next to the Sanctuary by so much of all remotest from sanctitie And therefore he that once said Gilead is mine and of the Temple in Iuda this is my house called by my name afterward left both the hill of Gilead and the Mount Syon and the holy Sanctuary a pray to the Romanes who left not a stone vpon a stone to testifie thâ— ruines of it or for succeeding ages to say This was the Temple of God Thus saith the Prophet Hosea Gilead is a Citie of them that worke iniquitie and is polluted with blood Therefore God turned that fruitfull Land into barrennesse for the wickednesse of them â—hat dwelt therein For not content with the fertillitie of their soile they manured it with blood saith the Prophet Hence no maruell if it became at last like the cuâ—sed Mountaines of Gilboah that drunke the blood of Saul and Ionathan You haue heard the Balme the next subiect that offers it selfe to our speech is the Phisitians Is there no Balme at Gilead is there no Phisitians there The Prophets are allegorically called Phisitians as the word is Balme So are the Ministers of the Gospell in due measure in their place To speake properly and fully Christ is our onely Phisitian and wee are but his Ministers bound to apply his sauing Phisicke to the sickly soules of his people It is he onely that cures the carkasse the conscience 1. No Phisitian can heale the body without him The Woman with the bloudy issue was not bettered by her Phisitians though she had emptied all her substance into their purses till Christ vndertooke her cure The Leper in the 8. of Mathew was as hopelesse as haplesse till hee met with this Phisitian and then the least touch of his â—inger healed him Phisitians deale often not by extracting but protracting the disease making rather diseases for their cure then cures for diseases prolonging our sicknesses by Art which Nature or rather natures defect hath not made so tedious Therefore as one saith wittily the best Phisicke is to take no Phisicke or as another boldly our new Phisicke is worse then our old sicknesse But when our diseases be committed to this heauenly Doctour and hee is pleased to take them in hand our venture is without all peraduenture wee shall be healed The least touch of his finger the least breath of his mouth can cast out the euill in vs that can cast out the diuell in vs he can hee will cure vs. 2. No Minister can heale the Conscience where Christ hath not giuen a blessing to it Otherwise he may lament with the Prophet I haue laboured in vaine I haue spent my strength for nought Or as the Apostle I haue fished all night and caught nothing yet at thy command c. Who then is Paul or who is Apollo but Ministers by whom â—ee belieued â—uen as the Lord gaue to euery man I haue planted Apollo watered but GOD gaue the increase If any be blinde Hee is the Oculist if any be lame He sets the Bonâ—s if any be wounded Hee is the Chirurgion if any be sicke Hee is the Phisitian They write of the Indian Phisitians that they cure the wound by sucking the poison Christ heales after a manner I know not whither more louing and strange by taking the disease vpon himselfe Who his owne selâ—e bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree He was wounded for our transgressions hee was bruised for our iniquities and with his stripes we are healed And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquitie of vs all As the scape-goaâ—e was said to beare vpon him the sinnes of Israell so saith the Prophet of his antytipe Christ morbos portauit nostros hee hath borne our griefes too vnsupportable a burthen for our shoulders able to sincke vs downe to hell as they did Caine and Iudas if they had beene imposed Tulit Iesus Christ carried our sorrowes Neuer was such a Phisitian that changed healths with his sicke Patient But Hâ—e was humbled for vs. Mans maker is made man the worlds succourer takes sucke the Bread is hungry the Fountaine thirsty the Light sleepy the Way weary the Truth accused the Iudge condemned Health it selfe is become sicke nay dead for our saluation For mans sake such was our weaknesse Christ descended such was his kindnesse tooke one him to cure vs such was his goodnesse and performed it such was his greatnesse It was not Abanah nor Pharphar nor all the riuers of Damascus not the water of Iordan though bathing in it 70. times not Iobs â—now-water nor Dauids water of Isope not the poole of Bethesda though stirred with a thousand Angels that was able to wash vs cleane Onely fusus sanguis Medici factum medicamentum phrenetici the bloud of the Physitian is spilt that it may become a medicine of saluation to all beleeuers This is the Pelican that preserues her young with her own blood This is the Goat that with his warme gore breakes the adamants of our harts This is that lambe of God that with his owne blood takes away the sinnes of the world When the Oracle had told the king of Athens that himselfe must dye in the battaile or his whole army perish Codrus then King neuer stucke at it but obtruded his owne life into the â—awes of ineuitable death that hee might saue his peoples The King of heauen waâ— more freely willing to lay downe his for the â—edemption of his Saints when the eternall decree of God had propounded him the choise Is there no means to recouer the sicke world but I must dye that it may liue then take my life quoth Life it selfe Thus pro me doluit qui non habuit quod pro se doleret He was made sicke for me that I might be made sound in him This then is our Phisitian in whom alone is sauing health As Sybilla sung of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Virginij partus magnoque aequaeua Parenti Progenies superas coeli quae missa per auras Antiquam generis labem mortalibus aegris Abluit obstructique viam patefecit Olympi Hee wrought all things with his word and healed euery disease with his power To Him let vs resort confessing our sores our sorrowes They that be
hearts and producing it effectually in your liues that God who gaue me power to begin this worke will also assist me to finish it without whom neither my tongue can vtter nor your eare receiue any sauing benefite of instruction A word or two for exhortation and then I will leaue in your bosomes and your selues in the bosome of God First for vs the Physitians then for you the Patients onely so farre as may concerne you in the former point For vs. 1. We must administer the meanes of your redresse which our God hath taught vs doing it in dilectione in delectatione with loue with alacritie Though it be true that the thing which perisheth shall perish and they which are ordayned to perdition cannot by vs bee rescued out of the Wolues iawes Yet spirituall Physitions must not deny their helpe lest dum alios perdant ipsi percant whiles their silence damnifieth others it also damneth themselues When I say vnto the wicked saith the Lord Thou shalt surely dye and thou giuest him not warning to saue his life the same wicked man shall dye in his iniquitie but his bloud will I require at thine hand The Physitian knowes that if the time of his patients life be now determined by God no art can preserue his taper from going out yet because hee knowes not Gods hidden purpose he with-holds not his endeuour To censure who shall be saued who damned is not iudicium luti sed figuli the iudgement of the clay but of the Potter Who onely hath power of the same lumpe to make one vessell to honour another to dishonour We know not this therefore wee cease not to beseech your reconciliation Nay we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God doth beseech you by vs and wee pray you in Christs stead be yee reconciled to God Thus hauing applyed our Physicke we leaue the successe to God who alone can make his word the sauour of death or of life preseruing or condemning destructiue to your sinnes or your selues as his good pleasure willes it 2. The Physitian that liues among many Patients if he would haue them tenderly and carefully preserue their healths must himselfe keepe a good dye among them It is a strong argument to perswade the goodnesse of that he administers The Clergy mans strict dyet of abstinence from enormities of fasting and prayer against the surfets of sinne of repentance for erâ—ours is a powerfull inclination to his people to doe the like Habet quantacumque granditate dictioniâ— maiâ—â— pondus vita dicentis The preaching of life is made more forcible by the good life of the preacher An euill conuersation is an euill engine to ouerthrow the walls of edification Citharisante Abbate tripudiâ—nt Monachi When the Abbot giues the musicke of a good example the Monkes daunce after him as was their prouerbe Plenè dixit qui benè vixit He hath spoken fully that hath liued fairely There are foure sorts of these Physitians 1. That neither prescribe well to others nor liue well themselues these are not Phisitians indeede but Italian Quacksaluers that hauing drunk poyson themselues minister it to the people and so destroy the soules that God hath bought with his bloud Wretched Priests that are indeed the worst diseases allowing in precept and approuing in practise the ryot of drunkennesse or the heate of lustfulnesse or the basenesse of couetice or the phrensie of contention These instead of building vp Christs Church pull it downe with both hands not lux but tenebrae mundi not the light as Ministers should bee but the darknesse of the world as the sonnes of Belial are A foolish Shepheard is Gods punishment to the flocke Loe I will raise vp a Shepheard which shall not visite those that bee cut off nor seeke the young one nor heale that which is broken but hee shall eate the flesh of the fatte and teare their clawes in pieces 2. That prescribe well in the Pulpit but liue disorderly out of it so making their patients beleeue that there is no necessitie of so strict a dyet as they are enioyned for then sure the Physitian himselfe would keepe it since it cannot be but he loues his owne life and holds his soule as deare to himselfe as ours are to vs. Thus like a young scribbler what hee writes fayre with his hand his sleeue comes after and blottes it This Priest builds vp Gods Tabernacle with one hand and puls it downe with the other Though this Physitian can make very good billes preach good directions yet as sick as he is he takes none of them himselfe 3. That prescribes very ill preacheth seditiously and lewdly yet liues without any notorious crime or scandalous imputation This is an hypocriticall tricke of hereticall Physitians Beware of falsâ— Prophets that comes to you in sheepes clothing but inwardly are rauening wolues Thus the Popish Fryers like the false visionists in Zacharies Prophecie will will weare a rough garment to deceiue withall Their austeritie shall be stricter then Iohn Baptists but not with intent to bring one soule to Christ. This cautelous demurenesse in them so bewitcheth their Patients that they receiue whatsoeuer these administer though it poysons them Thus couered ouer with the mantle of sobrietie and zeale as a crafty Apothecary vents his drugges so they their dregges without suspition To keepe the metaphore as an naturall Physitian out of honest pollicie couers the bitter pill with gold or delayes the distastfull potion with sugar which the abhorring stomach would not else take So this mystical one for he is a seruant to the mysterie of iniquitie so amazeth the people with a faire shew of outward sanctimony that whiles they gaze at his good parts with admiration they swallow the venime of his doctrine without suspition 4. That teacheth well and liueth well prescribeth a good dyet of obedience and keepes it when he is well or a good medicine of repentance and takes it when hee is sicke thus both by preaching and practise recouering the health of Israel Wee require in a good garment that the cloth bee good and the shape fitting If we preach well and liue ill our cloth is good but not our fashion If we liue well and preach ill our fashion is good but our cloth is not If we both preach well and liue well our garment is good let euery spirituall Physitian weaue it and weare it This for our selues For you I will contract all into these three vses which necessarily arise from the present or precedent consideration 1. Despise not your Physitians You forbeare indeed as the Pagans at first and the Papists since to kill burne torture vs whether it bee your good will or the law you liue vnder that preuailes with you God knowes yet you proceed to persecute vs with your tongues as Ismael smote Isaac to martyr vs with your scornes in our ciuell life our good names In discountenancing our Sermons discouraging our zeales