neuer to be forgotten TAke heede to thy selfe This is a precept most necessary to be practised The Lord is said to number our steps to ponder our pathes to weigh our selues and Sathan is said to winnow vs and to consider vs what great neede haue wee then to consider our selues The fruitlesse care of worldlings VVOrldlings take paines in their life to prouide for others who will not so much as remember them when they are gone for his place shall know him no more Where is the fruit of thy labours O wretched worldling in the heauen Thou hast laide vp no store for thy selfe there for thou neuer had a care to make thy selfe friends there of the riches of iniquitie what hope then canst thou haue to be receiued into those euerlasting mansions for comfort of the earth where is it all the fruit of thy labors thou must leaue to another who will be blythe to burie thee in the earth Oh that men could remember this Or it belong the earth will refuse to beare thee thy body will refuse to lodge thee thy friends will no longer retaine thee and who then shall receiue thee If the Lord also refuse thee and bid thee depart from him where away wilt thou goe for comfort O man make peace with thy God in time Couerings of sinne AS Adam after his transgression couered his nakednes with figge-tree leaues so is it Naturall to his sonnes to seeke couerings to their sinnes but of all it offends the Lord most when men seeke to couer their sinnes vnder the garment of God this was obiected to the Iewes Mal. 2. 16. who couered their adulteries with a shadow of diuorcements allowed as they thought by Moses and is yet practised by the Atheists of our time who bring defences for their sinne out of the word of God for such mockers heauy iudgements are prepared Knowledge and Deuotion AS a Bird that hath but one wing cannot flye the right way so a Christian wanting any one of these two cannot serue God in a right manner yet seldome goe these two together for some haue Knowledge without Deuotion and others haue Deuotion but without Knowledge None of these are good but the first is the worst of the two for the seruant that knowes his Maisters will and doth it not is worthy of double stripes A discouerie of the vanity of worldly honour MAn in his best estate is altogether vanitie his highest honour is like the vanishing shadow on the tops of mountaines when the sunne goes downe Put him in his chariot of triumph let it be drawne with horses of price yea if hee can with stately Lyons let him be decked in most gorgeous manner as Herode was on his birth-day these two interrogators shall soone discouer his vanity First what hath he vpon him or about him which is his owne hath he not borrowed from euery creature to make vp himselfe a begged glory garments from beasts of the earth feathers from foules of the ayre pearles from fishes of the sea silkes from creeping wormes and beasts and wormes and fishes at length shall deuoure his flesh in a recompence of that which they haue lent him And Secondly that which hee hath how long shall hee haue it the Samaritane Prince who this day leaned on the kings shoulder and the next day was trampled vnder the peoples feete stands vp among innumerable examples to witnesse how mutable and vaine the glory is of flesh Surely as Nabuchadnezzars image had a head of Gold but feete of Clay so is it with all worldly honour glorious in the beginning but it ends in dust and ashes Euery day should shadow our death THe end of euery day is a shadow of the end of our life our lying downe in the bed vnder couerings of clothes to rest vs till the morning should remember vs of our lying downe in the graue vnder the couering of moulds The sting of sinfull pleasure not perceiued in the day doth sting more liuely the conscience of men in the night when they examine themselues on their beds and all are at quiet no sight presented to the eye nor sound to the eare to distract the minde then conscience speakes the more loudly to warne a man of his sinnes and this may forewarne vs that if we doe not vnfainedly repent vs in time our sinnes will much more trouble vs in the end of our life let vs not keepe such a serpent in our bosome Contentment to dye I Desire not to out-liue the time whether it be long or short appointed to mee of the Lord. I know hee is permanent Iehoua death cannot take me from him but restore me to him Prophets dye and people to whom they speake die also but the word of the Lord endureth for euer and no word spoken in his name shall fall to the ground I know it shall not be well with the wicked though I see not their end and thy Saints shall haue cause to praise thee and say there is fruit for the righteous Glory be to God Si quid feceris honestum cum labore labor cito abit si quid turpe cum voluptate turpitudo manet voluptas abit Aul Gel. FINIS THE BAPTISME OF CHRIST VVherein the typicall Goel is compared with the true and is shewed how CHRIST our kinsman is made our right REDEEMER MARKE 1. 9. And it came to passe in those dayes that Iesus came from Nazaret a citie of Galile and was baptised of of Iohn in Iordan LONDON Printed for Iohn Budge 1612. A TABLE OF THE PRINCIpall points contained in this Booke A A Ccusations of Sathan and the Christian mans answere to them pag. 306 Adam the first son of God among men and the first father of Christ according to the flesh pag. 8 The euill that Adam brought on himselfe and his posteritie 59 How the second Adam hath the same similitude of generation with the first 13 What course the second Adam takes in our Redemption 58. the effect and comfort thereof 59 Our spiritual Adoption how confirmed 14 Our Election and Adoption impugned by Sathan 170 How wee should confirme our selues in the assurance of our Election and Adoption 175 Atheists conuinced 182 Professors of Atheisme 170 B BAptisme of Christ among sinners shewes his loue and humilitie 57 Christ baptizing with the spirit seeks the Baptisme of water from his owne seruant 60. to what end hee did so 61. the reasons thereof 62 Christ baptized to sanctifie Baptisme 66. and to seale vp his fellowship with vs. 68. he receiued it with prayer 64 The seale of Baptisme with the promises thereof 65 Why Constantine deferred his baptisme 67 The order of Sathans threefold Battell 162 How a Christian should order the Battell against him 163 Desperation fights in the left wing of Sathans battell 167. and Presumption in the right wing 192 A warning to Battell 277 Glory of Brittaines Ile 265 A warning to Brittaines Ile 267 C THe fatherly care and prouidence of God to his
defection yea in most dangerous places euen there where Sathan hath his throne for this is no small argument of true religion deepely rooted in your heart that hauing trauelled through Italy Rome and other parts of the Popes Dominions heard and seene all those allurements which carrieth away instable minded men not rooted nor grounded in Christ after the loue of that richly busked Babilonish Whoore your Lordship hath returned home vnspotted neither burnt with their fire nor blacked with their smoake not vnlike those three children who came forth out of Nabuchadnezzars fire and had not so much as a smell thereof on their garments This Pietie euen in the iudgement of them who had no more but Natures light was esteemed the highest matter of a mans praise maiorem virtutem religione pietate in Deum nullam in humano genere inueniri quisque sibi persuadeat The reason hereof is giuen by Diuines illuminate with the light of the word to be this that by Pietie and holinesse of life we ascend ad primarium illud bonum vnde originem traximus and therefore the same father speaking in the praise of Cyprian affirmes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And indeede since we are the generation of God made to his image what greater glory can man haue then to conserue that image and be like vnto him to whose similitude hee was made Vna itaque nobilitas imitatio dei Goe on therfore right Noble Lord follow the course which yee haue happily begunne shew your selfe the kindely sonne of so worthy Fathers aboue all the Sonne of God by the new generation his worke-manship created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes Keepe in minde that warning of our Lord Much will be required of him to whom much is giuen as the double portion obliged the first borne to the greater seruice otherwaies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In all your waies looke vp to the Lord hee it is that exalts them of lowe degree and puts downe the mighty from their seates turning their glory into shame who vse not their glory to honour him Pittifull proofes whereof wee haue in this fearefull earthquake as I may call it going through this countrey by which many Castles Houses and Lands spewes out their inhabitants shaking off the yoke of their ancient Lords and rendring themselues to be possessed of their seruants because they haue also cast off the yoke of the Lord their God or at least not welcommed his grace offred in the Gospell as it became them The consideration whereof I doubt not doth affect your Lordship as it doth others who are become wise through the feare of God and learnes by the losse of others to gather their thoughts and make peace with him whose praise it is that he buildes houses to men and vpholds them for by him enterprises are established And herewithall remember Right Noble Lord that as trees on tops of hils are subiect to the blast of euery winde so men in the height of honour to great temptations against which they haue neede to be armed But least I seeme Monere memorem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more laborious then neede requires I end Humbly praying your Lordship to accept these small and scarse-ripe fruit of my labours as a testimony of my affection to your Honour till it may please God some better token come into my hand whereby to declare it Your Lordships to command M. WILLIAM COVVPER Minister of Perth The Preface IT may iustly be spoken of many in this age which the Apostle Saint Paul spake of the Hebrewes When as concerning the time yee ought to be teachers of others yee haue neede againe that wee teach you the first principles of the word of God and are become such as haue neede of Milke and not of strong meate they professe faith in Christ but in truth doe not beleeue in him neither yet can they because they know him not they are baptised in his name but are not bureid with him through Baptisme neither raised vp together through the faith of the operation of God that raised him from the dead they carrie his cognisance and badge but are not militant vnder him in his warrefare As the Athenians sacrificed Ignoto Deo to a strange God and the Samaritans worshipped that which they knew not so our Atheists profitentur ignotum Christum professe a strange Christ they know not what he is in himselfe nor how hee is become ours nor what hee hath done for vs and therefore neither in life nor death doe they expresse his vertue They liue licentiously reprobate vnto euery good worke dishonouring Christ as if hee were a Sauiour who had no power to sanctifie those which are in him and they dye without comfort as if Christ by death had not obtained life and by death did not transport to life all that are in him thus while they professe fellowship with him they declare themselues to be strangers from him It is witnessed by the Lord in Ezechiel the same soule that sinneth shall die the sonne shall not beare the inquitie of the father neither shall the father beare the iniquitie of the sonne but the righteousnesse of the righteous shal be vpon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shal be vpon himselfe If according to this testimonie of the word it be demanded of them seeing Christ is holy and righteous and wee are the sinners how is it that hee is punished and wee are spared This is but one of the least of Sathans assaults by which he impugnes the faith of men and yet if they be required to answere it they shall soone bewray themselues to be voide of knowledge and solide faith confident onely in a naked profession which will not faile in the end to beguile them For as an house faultie in the foundation cannot abide the stormy windes and raine no more can a Christian not informed with knowledge not rooted grounded and builded in Christ Iesus by faith endure in the houre of tentation That therefore the doctrine of Christianitie may be learned by such as knowes it not from the very foundation we haue here proposed three most necessary points to be entreated The first is Christs Genealogie the second his Baptisme the third his Tentation In the first wee are taught what manner of man our Lord is in himselfe In the second what manner of way he is become ours In the third what manner of way he did begin to worke the worke of our Redemption all most necessary to be knowne for the right grounding of our Faith on him In his Genealogie wee see how Iesus the sonne of Mary is that same blessed seede of the woman whom the Lord promised in Paradise to whom the Prophets of all times pointed and for whom the godly fathers of all ages waited and expected lineally desended from Adam by seauentie and foure fathers In his Baptisme wee see how he was consecrated
wee affirme that this is a perishing life and yet wee care for life eternall as if it would last but for one yeere but wee care for this life as if it would neuer come to an end Will wee looke to Dauid and others of the Children of GOD what moued him may we thinke to pray seauen times in the day to water his Couch with teares when hee lay downe and to preuent the morning watch to prayer but that hee knew it was a difficult thing to get through the snares of this life and attaine vnto eternall life But the professors of this age liue as if it were nothing to come to heauen and they were sure at length to get it for a wish and therefore they doe liue busie about many things with Martha pertaining to the body but carelesse of that one thing needfull commended in Mary From this blindnesse of minde the Lord deliuer vs. VERSE 4. And Iesus answered and said HEre the Lord Iesus repelleth this first temptation of Sathan by a testimonie of holy Scripture which conueniently he alledges out of the eight of Deutronomie there Moses sheweth the Israelites how that when ordinarie food failed them in the Wildernesse God fed them with Manna from heauen to declare vnto them and all others that it is not by bread man liueth onely but by the word of God and therefore will our Sauiour say to Sathan thou dost wrong to restraine the prouidence of God to this particular meanes of Bread seeing both the written Word testifieth and GOD by his Word hath declared that any meanes is good enough to preserue the life of man if God by his Word grant his blessing vnto it yea his word without all meanes is able to doe it It is written OF this first we learne how in our spirituall warfare wee should vse the written word as being the sword of that spirit by which Sathan is confounded Of this first Papists are conuinced who debarre the poore people from the comfort of the word alledging it pertaines to churchmen and not to simple people to reade the Scriptures whereas by the contrary as Chrysostome witnesseth it is much more necessarie for them then for the other Qui enim versantur in medio vulnera quotidie accipiunt magis indigent medicamine for they who comes out in publike and are euery day wounded hath most neede of medicine yea how can they fight as the good soulders of Christ seeing the armour of GOD is taken from them by such as pretends to be their gouernors so that in effect as if they were in couenant with Sathan they deliuer the poore people of God armourlesse vnto him handling them as the Philistimes did the Israelites who left not a Smith among them to make them a weapon that so they being armourlesse might more easily be kept in subiection And next carelesse professors are also reproued who being commanded to search the scripture that in them they may finde eternall life and hauing now in the reformed church libertie granted them to doe so yet will not vse it but willingly interdite themselues from the comfort of the word of the Lord threatens the famine of the word as a great plague Quid igitur infoelicius quam vt quod deus in panam minatur hoc tu iam sponte in caput tuum attrahas what more miserable thing can be then this to draw that willingly vpon thine owne head which GOD hath threatned as a curse Man liues not by bread onely THis answere hath two parts Whereof the first is Negatiue denying that necessity which Sathan alleadged the other is affirmatiue The first is here wherein our Lord doth not deny that man liues by bread if the Lord vse it as a meane to nourish him but that man liues not by bread onely Of this first we learne that the second meanes appointed by God are not to be despised for we see our Sauiour in this disputation with Sathan excludes them not for in the right vse of them the power wisedome prouidence and goodnes of God are praised who hath prouided so many good things for the good of man and hath giuen power vnto things without life to helpe the life of man And this I marke first for weake Christians who are so farre abused by Sathan sometime that they thinke it not lawfull for them to eate and drinke and to nourish that body wherein sinne is harboured against the Lord it is true indeede euery christian ought to haue a care that the nourishment of the body become not a nourishment of sinne in the body but so that thou runne not to the other extremitie to account that euill which God hath ordained for thy good Certainely as Sathan enuies that thou should enioy the fauour of thy GOD so enuies hee that thou shouldst enioy the comfortable vse of any creature that euer God made yea euen of meate and drinke Where he cannot tempt thee to the abuse of it by intemperancie hee doth what he can to defraude thee of it working vpon thy weake conscience makes thee to conceiue a scrupple where there is none and bindes thee there where God hath made thee free And next the vse of the meanes is marked for idle men who are desirous to liue wanting nothing necessary for their life but they wil not work these as afterward followes are tempters of God despising the meanes they will eyther be fed miraculously by the hand of God as Israel was in the wildernes or else impiously will seeke their foode by vnlawfull shifts out of the hands of Sathan Next wee learne that howeuer the second meanes are to be vsed yet are wee not to trust in them as if it were they and not Gods blessing that did helpe our life Physicke is good but because Asa trusted in it it could not profit him And flesh is good for nourishment but because Israel thought that their life was in it GOD slew them by the same meane by which they thought to liue and therefore the Lord to teach men that the vertue is not in the meanes but in his blessing Sometime hee workes without meanes as when hee made light without the Sun fertilitie of the earth without raine when hee kept the life of Moses without meate and made cornes grow vnto Ezechia without sowing and sometimes to small meanes hee giues great vertue as when hee made one paire of shooes and one sute of raiment last Israel forty yeares There were many in the daies of Elisha who had more oyle and meale then the widdow of Sarepta had but wanted the blessing shee had and therefore was theirs spent when her portion being lesse remained to the ende Beside this the very nature of the meanes which wee vse may teach vs it is not they that preserues our life for they being things without life themselues and such as by time putrifies and rots what life can
when he is in the hands of his very enemies Againe this is for the comfort of Gods children for sometime power is giuen to Sathan ouer their bodies to afflict them as we see for a time in Iob or for a time to possesse them as hee did the body of Magdalen for albeit then shee was not called yet euen then was shee an elect woman least therefore the children of God should at any time be discouraged with the like of this to take it for an argument of reprobation or finall deliuery of them vnto Sathan that the Lord for a time permits him to haue power our their bodies the Lord Iesus who would in all things be tempted as we are except sinne did taste of this temptation also for our comfort This being spoken concerning the manner of his carrying now we come to the place which is the holy City Ierusalem more particularly the very Temple which stood in the sight of all Ierusalem Sathan sets him on the platforme of it wherein were turrets with pinacles on their tops this place he takes as most conuenient for his purpose thou hast lurked too long as a priuate man among this people if thou be the Sonne of GOD that promised Messiah the king of Israel here is the time and place to shew thy selfe in the sight of Ierusalem all the people shall admire thee and acknowledge thee for to be the Sonne of God if thou cast thy selfe downe among them which easily thou maist doe without all perill or harme seeing the Lord hath giuen his Angels charge ouer thee to keepe thee Concerning the place beside that which we marked in the first temptation how that there is no place so holy on earth wherin we can be free from the temptations of this vnholy spirit In Paradise he tempted Adam at Christs table he tempted Iudas and in the very Temple dedicated to the seruice of God how often finde wee by experience that hee dare tempt vs making vs eyther to turne the house of God into an house of marchandise while hee drawes away our mindes to thinke vpon worldly affaires or else into a den of theeues whilst he carryeth our Eyes to wander after vanitie that so hee may infect the heart or else at least he casts vpon vs the spirit of slumbring that wee cannot with reuerence heare the word of the Lord. Sathan is an enemie to euery good action standing alwayes at Iosuahs right hand to hinder him but specially doth hee resist vs in the Exercâ—ses of the Word and Prayer and seeketh to polluâ—e vs most in those places wherein wee should be most sanctified and therefore as the Iewes in the building of Ierusalem had their weapon in the one hand and their worke-toole in the other so wee when wee come to edifie our selues in the most holy Faith haue neede to haue an eye continually vpon our aduersarie and our weapon ready to resist him And set him on a pinnacle of the Temple FOr what end Sathan set our Lord there is euident out of that which followes that he might from thence cast him downe Sathan in his working is contrary vnto the Lord for the Lord casts downe to the end hee may raise vp so did hee with S. Paul first he cast him to the ground and then raised him vp to the honour of an Apostle but Sathan if he raise vp any man it is for this end that he may cast him downe It is true preferment comes neither from the East nor from the West but from the Lord yet such as come to high places by euill meanes are said to be raised vp by Sathan It were good for men to abhorre such preferments with those famous Martyrs who when offers of honourable Offices were made to them answered Nolumus honorem vnde nobis nascetur ignominia wee will none of that honour which breedes vs ignominie for that honour wherevnto men come with an euill conscience shall assuredly end in shame If thou be THis tentation as wee said is to Presumption and Vaine-glory Before men thou shalt haue great honour if by this Miracle thou manifest thy selfe the Sonne of God and at Gods hand thou needest feare none euill for since thou art his Son thou maist doe what thou wilt hee will not let thee perish This temptation to presumption in this age preuailes mightily ouer many who abuse Gods mercy and turne the grace of God into wantonnesse conceiting with themselues that because God is mercifull and Christ hath dyed for sinners and they haue receiued the seales of the Couenant and are now by adoption the Sonnes of God therefore they may doe what they list And though they cast not their bodies from on high to the ground being loath to endanger their naturall liues yet they spare not to make daily shipwracke of their Soules and Consciences by casting themselues downe head-long into euery snare of the Diuell A lamentable thing that the death of Christ should be abused to entertaine the life of sinne he died to abolish sinne and destroy the workes of the Diuell and miserable man will take boldnesse to sin the more freely because Christ dyed for him Where desperation enters all men see and abhorre it but though this presumption possesse the greatest multitude in this generation yet are they few who perceiue it The other branch of this temptation as I noted tends to a seeking of vaine-glory before men while hee would prouoke our Sauiour to manifest by vnlawfull meanes that hee was the Sonne of God And this is Sathans ordinarie temptation whereby hee assaults such as are endued with graces aboue others If the Apostle S. Paul had neede of counterpoyse against pride alas what haue wee Many doth Sathan so bewitch with a loue of their owne glory that rather then it shall not be manifested they will blaze it abroad themselues in most vaine-glorious manner and so vnawares they cast downe themselues before Sathan for to seeke thine owne glory is not glory But this is strange that Sathan hauing power to set our Lord on the toppe of the Temple puts not to his owne hand to cast him downe but tempts him to cast himselfe downe thus we see how in the greatest libertie Sathan hath hee is alwayes bound and brideled that he cannot doe what he would if hee get a commission or power it is euer with limitation as wee see in Iob loe he is in thine hand but saue his life And except wee our selues giue him armour he cannot hurt for it is by man himselfe that hee gets at any time vantage ouer man Let vs praise the power of God that restraines him let vs marke the impotence of Sathan let vs confirme our harts by grace to resist him so shall hee neuer be able to hurt vs. Last of all as here his voyce is Cast thy selfe downe so is it in the next assault Fall downe and worship mee This is the
haue done to offend him through his grace is the matter of my griefe but what I haue done against thee to the hinderance of thy kingdome I allow it and reioyce in it wishing from my heart I were able to doe more for the destruction of thy kingdome both in my selfe and others Sathan enemy to prayer VVHen the Apostles were going to pray then the Pythonisse perturbed them and no maruell that Sathan who interrupts not men in other actions interrupt them in Prayer for as hearing of the word preached is the mother so Prayer is the nourisher of all Christian vertues in vs. A preachers comfort LYdia conuerted entertained the Apostles into her house and the Iaylor who before straited them with iron bands being conuerted ministred to their necessities such as get grace by the Gospell will not faile to giue comfort to the instruments by whom they receiued it It may content a Preacher that hee shall want comfort of none but those of whom GOD wants his glorie where the Lord gets not his part what maruell thou get not thine After great comfort looke for temptation TWo sundry times was Christ proclaimed the Son of God by an audible voice from heauen first when hee was baptised at Iorden and then immediately was he tempted in the wildernes Secondly when hee was transfigured on the Mountaine and then shortly after was hee troubled in the garden As Elias after he had gotten a double portion got forty dayes fasting so Gods children when they receiue double comfort are to prepare themselues for double temptation How the wicked runne post vnto hell AS they who run post change their horses when one is weary they mount vpon an other so the wicked when they are weary of one sinne fall to an other weary of one beastly affection they make hast in their madnes to mount vpon another as if riding vpon one were not sufficient to bring them soone enough thether Their miserable end BVt if they were wise they would draw the bridle consider their course and thinke vpon their end they thinke not in their life that sinne is terrible they feare and abhorre nothing but death but how farre they are deceiued the end shall declare then shall their sinnes in such sort terrifie them that to be quit of the sight of sinne they shall seeke death but shall not finde it there will be their last and desperate voice Oh that the hils mountaines would fall vpon vs and smother vs Against sinfull lusts ABraham was content for the loue of the Lord to slay and sacrifice his sonne with his owne hands and the Lord accepted his will for a deede and a cleare declaratour of his loue Now said he I know thou louest me But alas O my soule wherein wilt thou shew thy loue to the Lord thy God if thou be not content to forgoe a vnlawfull pleasure for the Lords sake and to slay the life not of thy lawfull sonne but of thy vnlawfull affection If thou doe it not how shall the Lord say of thee as hee said of Abraham Now I know thou louest me The patience of God should not be abused LEt men remember that suppose the mercy of GOD be euerlasting yet his Patience is limited it is called a long patience and long suffering but neuer a euerlasting patience happy therefore is he who before the time of Gods long patience be finished gets within the compasse of his enduring mercy Pride AS Pride was the first sin powred into our nature so it is last in departing for pride is such a sinne as rises of the ashes of other sinnes The loue of Christ. IT is not a great thing to loue that which is seene whether truely good or apparant onely but to loue him whom yet wee haue not seene 1 Pet. 1. is the worke of a great Faith yet great reason there is why wee should doe so what visible thing should be loued comparable to him that made it and the more should we loue him that for loue of vs he became like vs but so that hee is the fairest among the children of men When he was transfigured his face shined like the Sunne but now the brightnes of his face far surmounts the glory of the sunne among all the creatures none in beauty comparable to him Alas that we long not more then wee doe to see him A soule stretching out her wings to the Lord. O My soule what hast thou to doe here in this earth thou camest from aboue Shall these visible things snare thee and detaine thee from the inuisible God from whom thou came Except it be to fight for a time the Lords battels that thou mayst be crowned and so leade so many as thou mayst captiues vp vnto him that so thou mayst follow the Lord who ascended on high for thy sake led captiuitie captiue Circumspection needfull EVah looking where God forbad her Dinah wandring Dauid intermitting spirituall exercises became a ready pray to the enemie the corrupt nature of man not kept with a narrow circumspection is easily carried into captiuitie but not so easily recouered The euill may be contracted in one day which in many dayes can not be amended O my soule therefore learne to walke the more circumspectly An awe-band for the heart AS the Lord is omnipotent so is hee omnipresent hee is secret in his wayes and when hee goes by vs wee see him not Iob 9. 12 but goe where we will he is alway with vs to see vs when wee see not him no more then Gehazi when he tooke the bribes of Naaman saw the spirit of Eliah that went with him Oh that we could remember this that what euer we doe we are vnder the eye of God that so with Henoch wee may walke with God in all that we doe seeking to please him and be approued of him The desire of a godly soule VVHen the Lord came to the graue of Lazarus hee wept and cryed with a loud voice Lazarus come forth and as he commanded so was it done Oh Lord that thou wouldst come with the like affection to me and visit this graue and monument of my corruptible body wherein my soule is imprisoned yea buryed after a sort that it can not mount vp to walke after thee Cry vpon mee Lord with thy powerfull voyce that I may come out let me notlye any longer in this graue command them to loose my bonds that euen while I am in the body I may goe out of the body and follow thee Three rankes of sinnes OVr sinnes may be reduced to three rankes 1 Defections 2 Transgressions 3 Rebellions by the first wee faile in doing the good wee should doe by the second we passe our bounds and doe the euill wee should not by the third men comming to the deepe of sinne fall into the contempt of God and at length to rebellion of the first and second wee are guilty The Lord deliuer vs that we fall not into the third A precept
the vvant of worldly necessaries The dignitie of Gods sons stands not in aboundance of worldly things Comfort against the want of worldly things How wee shold confirme our selues in the assurance of our Election and Adoption We should do nothing for sathans command though it seeme neuer so reasonable Sathan in his temptations aymeth at this to make vs earthly minded Mat. 4. 3. Many care for this life as if it wer eternall for eternall life as if in a moment it might be obtained Christs reply to Sathans first tentation The word is the sword of the spirit by which we should fight against Sathan Christin Math. hom 2. Papists conuinced who take the vse of the word from the people 〈…〉 vpon themselues a famine of the word Amos 8. 11. Chris. ibid. Two parts of Christs answere Of the first we learne that second meanes ordained by God should not be despised This serues first for weake Christians who through errour of conscience defraud their bodies of necessary foode Next for idle men who neglect the ordinarie meanes by which they should liue And yet we should not trust in the second meanes but in God Who sometime workes without meanes sometime by small meanes and sometime makes the meanes of life instruments of death The nature of the second meanes proues that our life is not by them Experience also confirmes the same This is made more cleare out of the second part of Christs answere Psal. 90. 3. The great stupiditie of men who rebell against God of whom they hold their life Comfort when ordinarie meanes failes In the right wing of Sathans battell stands Presumption Sathan changes tentations for his owne aduantage Sathans second captaine ouerthrowne also by our Lord. After victory in any temptation let vs stand ready for a new battel Christs transportation whether mentall or corporall Offences that may arise of Christs corporall transportation remoued In it the inuincible power of our Lord is made manifest Comfort for Gods children whose bodies are afflicted by Sathan for a time The place of this temptation is Ierusalem the holy City No place on earth free from the temptations of Sathan Yea in most holy places he is a most busie tempter The Lord casts down that hee may raise vp Sathan by the contrary raises vp that he may cast downe The pith of this second tentation The temptation of presumption preuaileth greatly in this age Christs death abused to nourish the life of sinne Sathans tentations to vaine-glory customable among men Pro. 25. 27 Sathan can not hurt vs except wee helpe him Sathans proper voice is Cast downe thy selfe Still seeking mans disgrace destruction The reason vsed by Sathan to strengthen his most vnreasonable desire He seekes to remoue godly fear that hee may bring men to a remediles most fearefull estate Greg. moral lib. 6. This testimony of Scripture is falsely vsed by Sathan in three respects 1 Ioh. 2. 1. That hee makes any place of Scripture to confirme a sin How Atheists Sathans disciples doe learne at him Greg. moral lib. 2. That reciting such a place of Scripture as reproueth his sinne he is touched with no remorse This proceedeth from his obstinacie which lets him not repent By presumption he fell by obstinacie he cannot rise Gods great mercy to vs worthy to be marked His Grace hath put a difference betweene vs and others wher there was no difference by Nature Such as heare their sins condemned by the word and are not moued are here conuinced How the children of God tremble at the rebukes of his word Acts 2. 37. Act. 16. 30. Chrisost. in Mat. hom 6 Thirdly he abuseth Scripture in mutilating of it The promises of God can be no comforts to vs if we neglect the condition wherupon they are made In the right vse of this testimonie we consider two things First the great glory and maiestie of God Dan. 7. 10. Psal. 68. 17 How farre inferiour the most glorious Courts of Kings is to the Lords Court Secondly the fatherly care and prouidence of God toward his Children Sathan should alwayes be refused resisted 2 Tim. 2. 26 The best weapon whereby wee can fight against him is the sword of the Spirit Scripture should be expounded by Scripture The summe of our Sauiours answere to this temptation How men tempt God In his prouidence In his mercie In his Iustice By neglecting the ordinarie meanes Both the wing◠of Sathans army being discomfited he now comes forward with his maine battell Sathan againe seeketh vantage by the place Num. 23. Christ tempted here at the eye with a faire shew at the eare with faire offers How it is that Sathan presented to the eye of our Lord al the kingdomes of the world One of Sathans customable policies is to infect the heart by the eye And therfore if we would keepe the heart we should first haue a care to keepe the eye Augu. Gregor lib. 21. Moral Nazian in deploratio calam animae sua Sathan speakes of earthly kingdomes but not of the heauenly which he hath lost Worldlings by their talke declares that they are of the same spirit Gregor Moral lib. 7. Sathans great subtiltie in shewing the glory of worldly kingdomes but not their misery Earthly kingdomes may be represented not so the heauenly 1 Cor. 29. Aug. de ciuit Dei lib. 10. cap. 18. Ephes. 5. 14 Vanitie of earthly pleasures proued by their breuitie Heb. 11. 25. Gregor Moral lib. 15. Sathan hauing assaulted the eye of our Lord now goes about and assaults his eare Psal. 24. 1. In this he makes two notable lyes first in affirming that the kingdomes of the world were his How Sathan is called The God of the world Next he lies in pretending that hee would giue them to Christ which he neuer would albeit he might Sathans promises are alwaies to be distinguished from his performances Yet blinde worldlings follow Sathan as if the world were at his donation Sathan frames his temptations according to the estimation he hath of men He bids but a small price for such as hee knowes may be easily conquered ☜ This is their shame who doe Sathan seruice for small rewards Hee seekes more from men then he is able to giue vnto them If he offer earth it is vpon this condition that wee forsake heauen The blind folly of men bewitched with Sathans offers Many abhorre to be called Sathans worshippers who abhor not to be so indeede As namely they who worship the Lord otherwise then according to his owne will And they in like manner who serue their own beastly affections Rom. 6. 16. Why Christs last answere is sharper then any of the former In worship the Lord can suffer no companion 1 Sam. 7. 3. Papists worshipping others with God guiltie of Idolatry How the distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not excuse them Religious bowing of the knee to creatures a note of Idolaters Leuit. 2. 1. 2 King 18. 4. 2 King 23. 5. An obiection of the Aduersaries answered Worship and the glory of saluation should be reserued to the Lord onely Psal. 19. Ios. 10. 2. Cor. 6. Rom. 10. Psal. 119. 57. Psal. 119. 77. Mal. 2. 15. 1. Pet. 3. Aug. Nazian De ira cap. 5.