destroyed But that the greatnesse of this benefite which we haue by Iesus Christ may the better appeare let vs see what a condemnation this is from which we are deliuered In the Scriptures there is ascribed to man a iudging by which he absolueth or condemneth there is also ascribed to God a iudging by which he absolueth or condemneth As to mans condemnation we are not exempted from it Daniel condemned for a Rebell Ioseph condemned for an Adulterer Iob condemned of his friends for an Hypocrit our Sauiour condemned for an Enimie to Caesar his Disciples condemned and iudged worthy of stripes stand as so many examples to confirme vs that vve faint not when vve are condemned of men yea vvith the Apostle vve must learne to passe little from mans iudgement and striue in a good conscience to be approued of God for sure the Lord vvill not peruert iudgement it is farre from the Iudge of all the world to doe vnrighteously hee vvill at the last plead the cause of his Seruants and bring their righteousnesse to light This condemnation then from which vvee are deliuered is the sentence of God the righteous Iudge by which finding man guiltie of sinne for sinne hee adâ—â—dgeth him vnto eternall damnation from this all they who are in Christ are deliuered Hee that beleeueth in him who sent mee hath euerlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life In this condemnation the Lord proceedes at three sundry dyats against the wicked First hee condemneth them in the Court of Conscience Next in the day of their particular iudgement Thirdly in the day of generall Iudgement First I say the Lord holdeth a Iustice Court against the vvicked in his owne Conscience For the Lord iudgeth the righteous and him that contemneth God euery day After sinne committed by him there ariseth in his Conscience accusing thoughtes and there is a sentence vvithin him giuen out against him The Apostle speakes it of Heretikes one sort of vvicked men and it is true in them all they sinne being damned of their owne selues 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by themselues Iudgement is giuen out against themselues which sentence albeit euery vvicked man doe not marke the voyce of their disordered affections sometime being so loud that they heare not the condemnatoâ—ie voyce of their Conscience so clearely as it is pronounced yet doe they heare as much as makes them inexcusable and breedes in them a certaine feare and terrour which is but a fore-runner of a more fearefull iudgement to come vvhich howsoeuer in time of their securitie they labour to smoother and quench by externall delights yet at the length affection shall bee silenced and Conscience shall pronounce sentence against them vvith so shâ—ill a voyce that their deafest eare shall heare it This I haue marked that vve may learne not to esteeme lightly the Iudgement of our Conscience but that so oft as vvee are condemned by it vvee may make our refuge to the throne of Grace to seeke mercy For if Conscience condemne vs God is greater then the Conscience and will much more condemne vs Ascendat itaque homo tribunal mentis suae si 〈◊〉 illud meminerit quod oportet eum ante tribunal Christi exhiberi Let therefore a man saith Augustine goe vp to the tribunall of his owne mind in time if he feare it let him remember that he must be presented before a greater tribunall The second dyat of iudgement which the Lord keepes against the wicked is in the houre of death wherein the Lord doth not onely repeat their former sentence of condemnation and that in a more fearefull and iudiciall manner but proceeds also to execution adiudging their bodies vntill the day of last iudgement to the prison of the graue to vnderly that curse pronounced on man for his Apostasie and condemning their spirits to be banished from the presence of God and cast into vtter darknesse Let not therefore the wicked man nourish himselfe in sinne with a vaine conceit of the delay of iudgement wherefore wilt thou put farre from thee the euill day what suppose the day of generall iudgement were not to come for many yeeres is not the day of thy perticular iudgement at hand vnto which thou shalt be drawne sodainely and perforce in the midst of thy deceiuing imaginations thou shalt bee taken away in an houre wherein thou thought not to dye more miserable than that rich glutton who hauing stored his head with false conclusions dreaming of many dayes to come when he had not one was that same day taken away to iudgement And this shall moue vs the more if we doe remember that such as we are in the day of death such shall we bee found in the day of iudgement In quo enim quemque invenerit suns nouissimus dies in hoc eum comprehendet mundi nouissimus dies quia qualis in die ifto quisque moritur talis in die illo iudicabitur and euery man in the last day shall be iudged to bee such as hee is when hee dyeth It would waken vs all more carefully to thinke vpon our end that so we might prepare our selues for this second dyat of iudgement But the third day of iudgement shall be most fearefull when all the wicked being gathered together in one shall bee condemned in that high and supreame court of iustice which the Lord shall hold vpon all that euer tooke life then shall the full measure of the wrath of God bee powred vppon all those who are not in Christ Iesus both in soule and body they shall bee punished with euerlasting perdition This iudgement shall bee most equitable for when that Ancient of dayes shal sit downe vpon his white throne before whose face heauen and earth shall flee away and when the Sea and the Earth hath rendred vp their dead then the bookes shall bee opened according to which hee shall proceed vnto iudgement And the bookes are two the booke of the law which sheweth to a man what the should doe and the booke of Conscience which sheweth him what hee hath done by those shall the wicked man bee iudged and hee shall not bee able to make exception against any of them against the booke of the law hee shall bee able to speake nothing for the Commandements of the Lord are pure and righteous altogether And as to the booke of conscience thou canst not denye it the Lord shall not iudge thee by an other mans conscience but by thine owne that booke thou hast had it alway in thine owne keeping who then could falsifie it neither is any thing written in it of things thou hast done but that which thine owne hand hath written how then canst thou make any exception against it Thus the bookes being opened the iudgement shall proceed in this manner The Law shall pleade for transgression of her precepts requiring that the
speaking in the name of the Lord not thy merits for if I should seeke thy merits thou shouldst neuer bee pertaker of my gifts When the Apostle Saint Paul had reckoned out how hee had laboured more aboundantly in the worke of the ministerie then all the rest of the Apostles hee subioynes as it were by correction yet not I but the grace of God in me learning vs when vve haue done all the good we can to be humble in our selues and giue the glory to God if he promise vs a crowne nihil aliud coronat nisi dona sua he crownes no other thing but his owne gifts if by promise hee bindes himselfe a debter vnto vs to giue vs a reward debitor factus est nobis non aliquid a nobis accipiendo sed quod ille placuit promittendo he is become a debter vnto vs not by receiuing any thing from vs but by promosing freely to vs that which pleased him and therefore when we are exhorted to mortifie the deeds of the body by the spirit let vs first turne this and the like of the precepts into prayers that the Lord would enable vs by grace to doe that which he commaunds vs and then when in some measure we haue done it that we returne the praise and glory to the Lord. Mortifie c. Seeing the first part of our sanctification is called mortification vve are to consider hovv in this word there lurkes a rule vvhereby euery man may try hovv farre forth he hath profited in sanctification vve see by experience that the neerer a man drawes to death the lesse motion is in him but after hee is once dead hee moues not at all present him pleasant obiects they delight him not praise him yet he is not puffed vp speake euill of him yet he is not offended euen so is it with the spirituall man the greater progresse he makes in sanctification the motions of sin are euer the weaker in him the pleasures of the world moues him not as they were wont if thou praise him the breath of thy mouth cannot lift him vp if thou offend him the more he is mortified the lesse he is grieued As a man saith Basile being dead is seperate from those with whom he was conuersant before so hee who is mortified is instantly sundred in his affections from those who before were his familiar companions in sinne yea those actions wherein he delighted before are a griefe vnto him now it is a vexation of his soule to heare and see the vnrighteous deedes of the wicked which were wont to be vnto him the matter of his sport and laughter Therefore doth he wish and so should we that we might alwayes die this kind of death foelix mors quae alienum facit hominem ab hoc saeculo certainly it is a happy death which alienates and turnes away the hart of man from the loue of this world Bona mors quippe vitam non aufert sed transfert in melius for it is a good kinde of death which doth not take life away but changes it into a better But alas how farre are we from this spirituall disposition doth not the angry countenance of one in wordly authoritie terrifie vs the disdainfull words of men doe they not put vs out of the state of patience if the world flatter vs are we not puft vp if she frowne vpon vs are wee not cast downe and this our great weakenesse proceeds onely from the strength of sinne in vs this lets vs see what cause we haue to bee humbled considering that hauing liued long in this time of grace yet haue we profited little in the mortification of our sinfull lusts and affections Againe out of this same word of Mortification wee learne that the worke of our Sanctification is a worke of difficultie not accomplished without labour paine and dolour for it receiues these three names as to bee called Mortification Regeneration and Circumcision As no birth no death no cutting off the flesh can bee without dolour and sorrow so the conuersion of a sinner is not wrought without inward paine and sorrow The Infant that hath laid but nine Moneths in the wombe of the mother is not deliuered without great paine suppose shee conceiued it with pleasure and shalt thou thinke to part with sinne which in thee was conceiued with thee and which since so often thou hast nourished with pleasure and not to proue the dolours of the New-birth No assuredly In the worke of mans conuersion there is the contrite spirit the humbled heart the mourning weede the melting eye the pale countenance the voyce of lamentation let not such as feele them if they find therwith a rending of their affections from their old sins be troubled for these are but the dolors of their new birth and for others who know not these inward humiliations and wrestlings of the Children of God they haue iust cause to suspect themselues that they haue not so much as the beginnings of Mortification Regeneration and spirituall Circumcision By the Spirit Nature will not destroy our sinfull lusts they are mortified by the Spirit of Christ and therefore vve are to nourish and entertaine this Spirit by the meanes before prescribed As those Beasts which sacrificed to God vnder the Law were first slaine by the knife of the Leuite and then offered to God vpon the Altar so the Lord Iesus must mortifie our affections by the power of his word and Spirit before they can be presented acceptable sacrifices to the Lord our God Yee shall liue As I spake of death which is threatned so speake I of life here promised this temporall life cannot bee the recompense of righteousnesse for it is common both to the Godly and the wicked If in this life onely we had hope of all men wee were the most miserable but the life here promised is eternall life the beginning whereof presently vve enjoy by the Spirit of our Lord who hath quickned vs so that wee may say now I liue yet not I but Christ Iesus liueth in mee the accomplishment thereof wee looke for hereafter Thus hath the Apostle set before vs both life and death he hath shewed vs the way how wee may eschew the one and attaine to the other the Lord graunt that according to his counsell wee may make choyse of the best Verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are the Sonnes of God IN this Verse the Apostle subioynes a Confirmation of his preceding argument in the last part thereof hee hath said If yee mortifie the deedes of the body by the Spirit ye shall liue now he proues it They who mortefie the deedes of the body by the Spirit or they who are led by the Spirit of God for these phrases are equiualent are the Sonnes of God therefore they must liue the necessitie of the consequence is euident of that which followeth the Sonnes of God
and Mary who had beene a sinner brought him the sacrifice of a contrite heart and the Lord esteemed more of her teares than of the Phariâ—ies delicates No banquet pleaseth the Lord Iesus so well as a banquet of teares poured from a truely penitent heart The Lord is said to gather the teares of his children and keepe them in a bottell thereby to tell vs that they are pretious in his sight for hee is not like fooles who gather into their treasures things which are vaine and needlesse But alas how shall hee gather that which wee haue not scattered where are our teares the witnesses of our vnfained humiliation before God The hardnesse of hart hath ouergrowne this age that albeit there be more then cause yet there is no mourning The sonnes of Cain learned without a teacher to worke in brasse and iron and the wit of man can make the hardest mettall soft to receiue an impression but cannot get their owne stonie heart made soft yea the children of God finde in experience how hard a thing it is to get a melting heart The rocke rendred water to Moses at the third stroke but alas many strokes will our hearts take before they send out the sweete teares of repentance this I marke that knowing our naturall hardnesse we may learne without intermission to fight against it For herein is our case so much the more pittifull that hauing more than matter enough of mourning yet wee doe not mourne without vs should not the troublesome estate of the Church of God be a matter of our griefe though our priuate estate were neuer so peaceable Godly Nehemiah being placed in the honourable seruice of King Artashashte the Monarch of the world was not so much comforted with his owne good estate as grieued at the desolation of Ierusalem Decay of Religion and increase of Idolatrie made Eliah wearie of his life the Arke of God captiued and the glory departed from Israell draue all comfort out of the heart of the wife of Phinees these and many moe may teach vs that the affliction of Ioseph should be matter of our sorrow The causes of mourning within vs are partly our sinnes partly our manifold tentations As our sinnes are contracted with pleasure so are they dissolued with godly sorrow It is the best medicine which is most contrary to the nature of the disease our sinne is a sicknesse wherein there is a carnall delight to doe that which is forbidden and it is best cured by repentance wherein there is a spirituall displeasure and sorrowing for the euill which wee haue done this mourning for sinne lasts in the godly so long as they liue in the body yea those same sinnes which God hath forgiuen and put out of their affection are still in their remembrance for their humiliation so that with Godly Ezechia they recount all their dayes and their former sinnes in the bitternes of their heart so long as sinne remained in their affection it vvas the matter of their ioy but now being by grace remoued out of the affection it becomes the matter of their sorrow The other cause of our mourning is our manifold tentations for this world is no other thing but a stormie Sea wherein so many contrary windes of tribulation blowes vpon vs that we can hardly tell which of them we haue most cause to feare On euery side Sathan besets vs with tentations on the right hand and on the left vt quatuor angulis pulsata domus alâ—qua ex parte ruinam faciat that the house being shaken at all the foure corners may fall downe in one part or other no rest nor quietnes for vs in this habitation terrours within fightings without Propter quod vno consilio migrandum est Christianis For the which it is best for vs with one aduise to conclude that wee will remoue and in the meane time send vp our complaint to our Father in heauen as the Gibionites did to Ioshua shewing him how we are beseiged and enuironed for his sake and praying him to come with hast and helpe vs. Wayting for the Adoption Now followeth the other effect of the Spirit for hee not onely causeth vs as we haue heard to sigh and mourne for our present miseries but also comforts vs with the hope and expectation of deliuerance though in this life wee haue trouble yet haue we no trouble without comfort Blessed be God who comforts vs in all our tribulations and beside that which we presently haue it is yet much more which wee looke for The men of this world haue no ioy without sorrow euen in laughter their heart is sorrowfull pretend what they will in their countenance there is a heauinesse in their conscience arising of the weight of sinne but it is far otherwise with the Godly for euen in mourning they doe reioyce and vnder greatest heauinesse they carry a liuely hope of ioyfull deliuerance Againe wee are to marke that the Godly are described in holy Scripture to be such as doe not liue content with their present estate but waites and longs for a better and specially there are two dayes for which the Children of God are said to wait the first the day of death wherin they goe to the Lord the second the day of appearing wherein the Lord shall come vnto them they soiourne in the body more weary of it then Dauid was of his dwelling in the tents of Kedar they waite with patient Iob till the day of their change come and doe desire with the Apostle to bee dissolued that they may be with Christ they pray for it so oft as they vse that petition Let thy kingdome come seeking death so farre as it is a meanes to abolish sinne vtlerly that Christ their King may alone raigne in them but as for the wicked the remembrance of death is terrible vnto them and in their thought they put it farre from them and when it comes it comes vpon them vnlooked for As Iehu furiously came vpon Iehoram and hee made with all his speede to his chariot thinking to flye away but in vaine for the arrow of Iehu ouertooke him so death comes vpon the wicked in a day and place wherein they looked not for it and they being terryfied with it runnes with all the speede they can to their chariots that is to their refuges of vanitie but the dart of death surely ouer-takes them Miserable are they whose comfort standeth rather in an vncertaine delay of death than in any certaintie which they haue of eternall life But let vs be prepared for it as the good Israelites of God with our loynes girded vp and our staues in our hands ready to take our iourney from Egypt to Canaan whensoeuer the Lord our God shall commaund vs. As foules desirous to flye stretch out their wings so should man desirous to be with the Lord
THREE HEAVENLY TREATISES VPON THE EIGHT Chapter to the Romanes Viz. 1 Heauen opened 2 The right way to eternall Glory 3 The Glorification of a Christian. VVherein the Counsaile of God concerning Mans saluation is so manifested that all men may see the Ancient of dayes the Iudge of the world in his generall Iustice Court absoluing the Christian from sinne and death Which is the first benefit wee haue by our Lord Iesus Christ. Come and see Written by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for William Firebrand and Iohn Budge and are to be sould at his shop at the great Southdoore of Paules 1609. TO THE MOST SAcred Christian truely Catholique and mightie Prince Iames King of great Britaine France and Ireland defender of the faith c. SIR The Apostle S. Paule that chosen vessell of God and his ambassadour sent forth into the world to bring in the house of Iapheth into the tents of Sem hauing in his peregrination vndertaken for preaching from Ierusalem vnto Illyricum seene the most pleasant parts of the world and in an extasie transported from earth into the third heauen seene also the pleasures of Paradise as one who knew both not by naked speculation but experience giues out his iudgement of both that the most excellent things of this world were but dung in respect of the Lord Iesus and that whatsoeuer pleasure on earth may delight the eye or eare they haue vnto others it shal be no small comfort vnto me and my greatest thankefulnesse shal be declared in my dayly prayers vnto the Lord God for your Maiestie that the name of Iacobs God may defend you from all euill and the Lord may send you helpe out of his Sanctuarie in all your need according as hee hath done O King beloued of God hated of none but for Gods sake keepe still your heart in the loue of God and his truth Reioyce in the strength of your God and feare not what flesh can doe vnto you Is it not the Lord who set your Highnesse on the throne to bee a feeder of his people Israel Is it not the Lord who hath deliuered your Maiestie from the contentions of the people and secret snares of your cursed enimies though the Archers grieued you hated you and shot at you were not the hands of your armes strengthened by the hands of the mightie God of Iacob Is it not the almightie who hath blessed your Maiesty with heauenly blessings from aboue with blessings of the depth that lyes beneath with blessings of the breast and wombe Sir let his liberall blessings wherewith the Lord your God hath preuented you be so many obligations binding your Highnesse to honour the Lord who hath honoured you Let his forepast manifold deliuerances be as so many confirmations that if your Maiestie rest in him and not in man he will still be a buckler vnto you Let Abaddon the King of the Locusts that Romish vsurper rage Vnto the Lord belongs the issues of death Can Balaam curse where God hath blessed yea can Sathan hurt the man who is hedged by the Lord Let the Ambassadours of new Babel more shamelesse than Sennacherib his Rabsache raile at good king Ezekiah ruling in Ierusalem the Lord hath yet a hooke for his nosethrils and a bridle for his lips Doe not the eyes of the Lord behold the whole earth to shew himself strong with them that are strong and of a perfect heart toward him Therefore feare not their feare but sanctifie the Lord God of hostes let him be your feare and hee shal be a Sanctuarie vnto your Maiestie Count it a part of your high glorie and no small matter of your Maiesties ioy that with Christ you beare this peece of his crosse that the rebukes of them who rebuke the Lord are fallen vpon you and trust still O King in the Lord and in the mercie of the most High and so your Maiestie shall neuer fall Long may your Highnesse liue and raigne ouer vs as a faithfull seruant to your God and a happie King of many blessings to your people Your Maiesties most humble Subiect and dayly Oratour William Cowper Minister at Perth works of God there is a difference and some of them more cleerely then others declares the glorie of God so it is also among his holy writs they breath all out one truth by a most sweet harmonie diuine enim lectiones ita sibi connectuntur tanqnam vna sit lectio quia omnes ex vno ore procedunt yet ye shall finde that in some of them the Lord commeth neere vnto vs as it were with the face of a man talking familiarly vnto vs in others againe hee mounts high aboue vs as it were with the wings of an Eagle And the Lord hath left it free to delight our selues most in those places of holy Scripture wherein for our estate we haue most edification and to seeke in this Apothecarie shop of that sweet Samaritan the Lord Iesus pharmaca morbo nostro conuenientia such medicines as are meet for our maladie Among all the bookes of the old Testament most frequent testimonies are brought by our blessed Sauiour and his holy Apostles out of the booke of the Psalmes Ierome called it a treasurie of all learning And among all the Epistles of the Apostles no meruaile this to the Romanes haue the first place not that it was first written but because aboue the rest it contayneth a most perfect compend of our Christian faith And this middle Chapter thereof hath in it an Abridgement of all these comforts and instructions one excepted which otherwise are dispersed throughout the whole Epistle and is so to call it a pleasant kâ—ot of the garden and Paradise of God and therefore shall it not be vnprofitable for vs by Gods grace to delight our selues for a while in it As to the connexion of this Chapter with the former wee are to know that it is a conclusion of the foregoing treatise of Iustification Wherein the Apostle summarilie collects the excellent state of a Christian iustified by faith in Christ Iesus declaring it to bee such that there is no condemnation to him that nothing were it neuer so euill is able to hurt him yea by the contrary that all things workes for the best vnto him And because there are onely two euils which grieue vs in this life to wit sinne that remaines in vs and affliction that followes vs in the following of Christ. Against both these the Apostle furnishes the iustified man with strong consolations Comforts against the remanents of sinne wee haue from the 1. verse to the 18. Comforts against our afflictions wee haue from the midst of the 18. verse to the 31. That this is the very purpose and order of the Apostle is euident out of his owne conclusion set downe from
hearts shall not preserue them from that sodaine destruction which as trauaile vpon a woman with childe shall come vpon them their securitie is like the securitie of Ionas who slept most soundly when he had most cause to watch and pray for the Lord was pursuing him as a fugitiue seruant the officers of God gathered about him to lay hands on him the windes commoned against him the raging waues of the Sea refusing all other satisfaction offered by the Mariners rolled with violence about the Barke wherein hee was determining not to rest till they apprehend him all his companions were afraid and compelled to cry euery man vnto his God onely Ionas was sleeping what think yee was this true peace no indeed but false securitie It fareth euen so with the wicked the Lord stands offended with them the heauens aboue closed vpon them hell beneath opened to receiue them Sathan the deuouring Lyon hungring for them waiting when they shall be giuen him for a pray but they are eating drinking making merry in the depth of a dead Conscience but certainely their securitie will end in a fearefull wakening they shall bee taken out of their bed of ease wherein they lye and shall be cast into that bottomles deepe of the wrath of God wherein their worme shall neuer dye and their fire shall neuer be quenched But to leaue them and returne to the Christian it may be demaunded how is he pertaker of peace whose crosses are so continuall as his who more exercised with inward terrours then hee Is not his battell without intermission where then is his peace To this I answere wee haue indeed peace with God with our selues and our Christian brethren but our peace is not perfect Pax nostra ex disiderio creatoris inchoatur ex manifesta autem visione perficitur a begun peace wee haue arising of that feruent desire wee haue towards our God but it is the manifest vision and cleare sight of God that must perfect it we attaine to the beginnings of this peace cum mentem Deo menti carnem subiugamus vvhen vve subdue the minde to God and the flesh to the minde but it cannot be perfect quamdiu mens ignoratione caecatur carnis suae impugnatione concutitur so long as the minde is darkned with ignorance and disquieted with the assaults of the flesh And to the same purpose saith Augustine Est nobis pax aliqua quia condelectamur Legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem sed non plena quia videmus aliam legem in membris nostris repugnantem legi mentis nostrae wee haue some peace vvithin our selues when vve finde that our inward man delights in the Law of God but it is no perfect peace because vve see an other Law in our members rebelling against the law of our mind neâ—ther can our peace with our brethren here be perfect cogitationes cordis nostri inuicem non videmus quaedam de nobis quae non sunt in nobis vel in melius inuicem vol in deterius opinamur thus haue vve a peace but not perfect not without interruption Yet our comfort stands that how euer our peace be interrupted by outward troubles and inward terrours of conscience yet it cannot bee taken from vs albeit no trouble for the present be sweet yet it vvorketh in vs good effects by it vvee are made more humble more feruent in prayer more abundant in teares the hard heart by this holy hammer of God being made soft so that sanctified trouble by the Lords wonderfull working becomes a meane to establish our peace Corda electorum aliquando concussa melius solidantur the harts of the elect are best setled after they haue beene shaken with crosses All the children of God findes this by experience that their inward troubles are preparatiues to inward consolations as hee who goes to build a house the higher he intends to raise it the deeper he layes the foundations thereof so the Lord humbles them lowest vvith his terrours to vvhom he purposes to communicate the highest measure of his consolations As his sufferings abounds in vs so shall our consolation abound through him vve vvill therefore that peace which vve haue in Christ and vvhich he hath left vs none shall be able to take from vs. Verse 7. Because the wisedome of the flesh is inimitie against God for it is not subiect to the Law of God neither indeede can it bee THe Apostle proceeds and giues the reason why hee called the wisedome of the flesh death because it is inimitie with God Hee proues it is inimitie with God because neither is it nor can it be subiect vnto the law of God Of this manner of reasoning vsed by the Apostle wee first learne that our life consists in our peace with God and that our death is procured by our inimitie with him Compare sinnefull Adam with innocent Adam and this shâ—ll be made manifest so long as hee stood at peace with God hee liued a ioyfull life familiar vvith his maker but from the time hee began the inimitie by transgression of the commandement not onely was the presence of God ioyfull to him before terrible now but hee became such a â—eâ—rour to himselfe that it vvas a death to him to liue in that state of life Oh that alway we could remember this that vvee cannot offend the Lord vnlesse wee slay our selues all our rebelling against the Lord is but a kicking of our heele against the pricke the losse is our owne vve depriue our selues of life but cannot spoyle the Lord of his glorie It is written of the Sidonians that when Herode intended warre against them they made friendship with Blastus Herods chamberlaine and besought him to make peace for them the reason is because their lands were nouâ—ished by the king therefore they were not able to beare his inimitie Alas that wee cannot bee as wise in a greater matter both our lands and our selues are nourished by the king of heauen vve are not able to endure his anger if hee please he can make the heauen aboue vs as brasse and the earth beneath vs as iron if he take his breath out of our nosthrils we fall like clay to the ground and are turned into dust hovv then is miserable man so bewitched that hee dares liue in that state of life which is inimitie with God Doe yee prouoke the Lord vnto anger are yee stronger than hee No no assuredly if thou walke on in thy sinnes the Lord shall crush thee with a scepter of iron and breake thee in peeces like a potters vessell so vnequall shalt thou finde the match if thou contend with thy maker Oh consider this yee that forget God least hee teare you in peeces and there bee none to deliuer Shall the Sidonians intreate for peace when Herodâ— proclaymes warre and shall man continue in inimitie when God from heauen proclaymes his peace farre be it
their workes vnto this one end the good of those who loue him where euer they be in regard of place what euer in regard of persons yea howsoeuer disagreeing among themselues yet are they so ruled by the prouident power of the supreame gouernour our heauenly Father that all of them workes together vnto the good of them that loue him For albeit the Lord rested the seauenth day from the workes of creation so that hee made no new kinde of creature after that day yet did hee not rest from the workes of prouidence or gubernation whereof our Sauiour saith my Father workes hitherto and I worke When man hath finished a vvorke hee resignes it to another to be gouerned as the Wright vvhen he hath builded a ship giues it ouer to the Marriner to rule it neither is man able to preserue the vvorke of his hands neither yet knowes hee what shall be the end thereof It is not so with the Lord as by the worke of creation hee brought them out so by his prouident administration hee preserues them and rules euen the smallest creatures directing them vnto such ends as he hath ordained them for in the counsell of his vvill How euer some Ethnicks haue beene so blinde as to thinke that God did neglect the smaller things vpon earth scilicet is superis labor est and Epicures also whose false conceptions of the diuine prouidence are rehearsed by Eliphaz How should God know how should hee iudge through the darke cloud the cloudes hide him that he cannot see and hee walkes in the circle of heauen yet it is certaine hee rules not a part onely but all hee is not as they thought of him a God onely aboue the Moone No though he dwell on high yet he abases himselfe to behold the things that are on earth hee is not onely a God in the mountaines as the Syrians deemed but a God in the vallies also There is nothing so great nothing so small but it falles vnder his prouidence yea hee numbers our hayres and keepes them not one of them can fall to the ground without his prouidence Si sic custodiuntur superflua tua in quanta securitate est anima tua if hee so keepe thy superfluities how much more will hee keepe thy soule Let it therefore content vs in the most confused estate of things we can see fall out in the world that the Lord hath said All things shall worke for the best vnto vs. Let vs not question with Marie how can this be nor doubt with Sarah how can I conceiue nor with Moses where shall flesh be gotten for all this multitude but let vs sayth Augustine consider the author and such doubts shall cease As he hath manifested his power and wisedome in the tempering of this world making Elements of so contrary qualities agree together in one most pleasant harmonie so doth it appeare much more in gouerning all the contrary courses of men to the good of his own children One notable example whereof wee will set downe for all Iacob sends Ioseph to Dothan to visit his brethren his brethren casts him into the pit Reuben releeues him the Midianites buyes him and sels him to Potiphar his Mistresse accuses him his Maister condemnes him the Butler after long forgetfulnesse recommends him Pharaoh exaltes him O vvhat instruments are here how many hands about this one poore man of God neuer a one of them looking to that end which God had proposed vnto him yet the Lord contrary to their intention makes them all vvorke together for Iosephs aduancement in Aegipt But now to the particulars There is nothing in the world which workes not for our weale all the vvorkes of God all the stratagems of Sathan all the imaginations of men are for the good of Gods children yea out of the most poysonable things such as sinne and death doth the Lord draw wholesome and medicinable preseruatiues vnto them vvho loue him All the wayes of the Lord saith Dauid are mery and truth marke vvhat hee sayth and make not thou an exception vvhere God hath made none All none excepted therefore be thou strengthened in the Faith and giue glory vnto God resoluing with patient Iob albeit the Lord would slay me yet will I trust in him Sometime the Lord seemes to walke in the way of anger against his children which hath moued many of them to poure out the like of these pittifull complaints the arrowes of the almightie are vpon me said Iob the venime whereof doth drincke vp my spirit and the terrours of God fight against me thou settest me vp as a marke against thee and makes me a burthen to my selfe Thy indignation lyes vpon me said Dauid yea from my youth I haue suffered thy terrours doubting of my life For felicitie I haue had bitter griefe said Ezekiah for the Lord like a Lyon brake all my bones so that I did chatter like a Swallow and mourne like a Doue I am troubled on euery side said the Apostle hauing fightings without and terrours within Yet in all this dealing the Lord hath a secret way of mercy in the which he walkes for the comfort of his children it is but to draw vs vnto him that he shewes himselfe to be angry with vs aduersatur tibi deus ad tempus vt te secum habeat in perpetuum the Lord is an aduersarie to thee for a while that hee may for euer reconcile thee to himselfe And this albeâ—t for the present we cannot perceiue and can see no other but that the Lord hath taken vs for his enimies yet in the end we shall be compelled to acknowledge and confesse with Dauid it was good for mee O Lord that euer thou correctedst me for the Lord is mernailous in his saints O the deepenesse of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of God how vnsearchable are his iudgements and his wayes past finding out His glory is great when he vvorks by meanes his glory appeares greater when hee vvorkes without meanes but then his glory shines most brightly when he workes by contraries It was a great worke that hee opened the eyes of the blinde man but greater that hee did it by application of spittle and clay meanes meeter to put out the eyes of a seeing man than to restore sight to a blinde man So hee wrought in the first creation causing light to shine out of darknesse so also in the worke of redemption for by cursed death he brought happy life by the crosse he conquered the crowne and through shame hee went to glory And this same order the Lord still keepeth in the worke of our second creation which is our regeneration hee casts downe that hee may raise vp hee kils and hee makes aliue hee accuseth his children for sinne that so hee may chase them to seeke remission of sinness hee troubleth their consciences that so hee may pacifie
vnto vs for an example for so are wee exhorted Let vs runne with patience the race that is set before vs looking vnto Iesus the author and finisher of our Faith these and such like are the workes wherein vve are commaunded to conforme our selues vnto him The other poynt wherein stands our conformitie with him is in patient suffering with him for righteousnes which wee shall not be able to doe except wee liue first after the similitude of his life what liker suffering to the suffering of Christ than the suffering of that reprobate theefe who dyed with Iesus at the same time the same kinde of death yet because his life was neuer like the life of Christ his sufferings shall neuer be accounted the sufferings of Christ. Similis in poena dissimilis in causa But as for the other whom the Lord Iesus conuerted vpon the Crosse to declare to all the world that euen in death hee retayned the power of a Sauiour able to giue life to them who are dead hee brought out in the last houre of his life the first fruites of amendement of life hee liued long a wicked malefactor but short while a conuerted Christian yet in that same space hee abounded in the fruits of Godlinesse confessing his sinnes giuing glory to the iustice of God rebuking the blasphemies of the other and pleading the cause of his innocent Sauiour thus being turned from his sinne hee began euen on the Crosse to liue with Iesus and therefore heard that ioyfull sentence This night thou shalt be with me in Paradise Now that wee may be moued to embrace this conformitie with Iesus let vs remember that the image of God by which wee were created conforme vnto him is the most auncient glory to which we can make claime and therefore if there be in vs any peece of manhood and spirituall wisedome wee ought to endeauour to recouer it which our enimie craftily and maliciously hath stollen from vs. O what a pittie is it to see that man cannot doe that in the matter of saluation which he can do in the smallest things pertaining to this life There is no man among vs vvho knoweth that any tenement of land or portion of earth possessed now vniustly of another did of old pertaine to his Fathers but if hee can hee vvill seeke to recouer it seeking by iustice to bring that home to himselfe which oppressors vniustly had taken from him Is it not then most lamentable that where the Lord Iesus the King of righteousnesse and Prince of peace offers to restore vs to our most auncient glory which is his owne image that vvee vvill not call the oppressours of our soule before him nor seeke to be restored to that glory which most deceitfully our aduersâ—ry hath stollen from vs but this commeth also vpon man by the subtiltie of Sathan that hauing once spoyled vs of the image of God hee doth what he can so to blinde vs that vve should neuer seeke it againe nor doe so much as receiue it when it is offered vnto vs. Iacob complained of Laban that hee had deceiued him and changed his wages ten times and Esau complained of Iacob as of a supplanter who first had stollen from him his birth-right and then the blessing also but more cause haue vvee to turne these complaints vpon Sathan who hath not onely stollen from vs the Image of God but daily stealeth away the blessing vvhereby it is restored vnto vs. Oh that vve had vvise and vnderstanding hearts that we might be stirred vp to an holy anger against the enimie of our saluation seeking in despite of him to be restored to that right vvhich by creation belonged to our fore father But alas what a beastly stupiditie is this that man will not doe so much for recouerie and maintenance of the image of God as hee will doe for preseruation of his owne portraiture drawne on a peece of timber if any man pollute it incontinent hee is offended and stomacks it as an iniuâ—ie done to himselfe but as for man who is the image of God he lyes downe like a beast content that Sathan should tread vpon him pollute defile him with all kind of abhomination all which proceeds from a pittifull ignorance of his own glory The second reason vvhich should moue vs to conforme our selues to Iesus is that hee hath first of all conformed himselfe vnto vs hee vvas not ashamed to take vpon him the shape of a seruant and to become man like vnto vs in all things sinne excepted and shall wee refuse to conforme our selues vnto him let it be farre from vs but rather putting from vs that foolish emulation by vvhich vvee striue to conforme our selues vnto this world let vs consider vvhereunto vvee are called euen to be pertakers of the diuine nature and may thinke it our greatest glory to be like vnto our head and husband the Lord Iesus Thirdly necessitie so craueth seeing vvee cannot be saued vvithout conformitie vvith him It is not Caesars money which hath not vpon it Caesars image and superscription he is not the Sonne of God vvho carryeth not the image of his Father for vvhom the Lord begets in the regeneration he communicateth to them his owne spirit which transformes them into the similitude of his owne Image No vncleane thing shall enter into heauenly Ierusalem neither shall any man see him in his glory who by grace is not made like vnto him That hee may be the first borne among many brethren The Apostle insists here in the explication of his former purpose adding that it is necessary wee should conforme our selues vnto him for ratifying that superioritie and priuiledge of the first borne vvhich God the Father hath estabished vnto his Sonne the Lord Iesus Christ and he maketh it very properly to serue his purpose for seeing it is so that Iesus our elder brother and Prince of our saluation hath beene consecrated by affliction and by suffering hath entred into his kingdome shall wee refuse to follow him in his tentations if so be vvee desire to sit vvith him in his glory The name of the first borne is ascribed vnto Iesus Christ three manner of wayes first as hee is God secondly as he is man thirdly as hee is both God and man our mediator and the head of his misticall body vvhich is his Church As hee is God hee is called by the Apostle Primogenitus omnis creaturae the first begotten of euery creature and that by such a generation as none saith Esay are able to expresse Now before the creature was what could there be surely nothing but the Creator Secondly as hee is man S. Luke calleth him the first borne that opened the wombe of the Virgin Thirdly as Mediator and head of his mysticall body as Prince of that kingdome vvhich is the communion of Saints hee is here called the first borne among many brethren and in an other place
transformation into the glorious image of God The second is in the houre of death and that is a neerer vnion of our soules with Iesus The third will be in the last day wherin both soule and body shall be glorified this is the highest step of Salomons throne vnto the which we must ascend by the former degrees As for the beginning of this glory which now wee haue it consists in these three Righteousnesse Peace and Ioy there is a ioy which is no presumption flowing from a peace which is not securitie bred of righteousnesse which is not hypocrisie in these three stands the beginning of eternall life here vpon earth and in the perfection of them shall consist the perfection of eternall life afterward in heauen perseuerance in righteousnesse peace ioy and glory being adioyned vnto them This Ioy which is the highest degree of eternall life wee can attaine to here vpon earth hath also these three degrees first there is a Ioy which ariseth of beleeuing wee haue not as yet seenâ— the Lord Iesus yet doe wee beleeue in him and reioyce in him with Ioy vnspeakeable and glorious Secondly there is a Ioy which ariseth of feeling and tasting taste and consider how gratious the Lord is and this feeling is much more than beleeuing Thirdly there is a ioy which ariseth of sight and of spirituall embracing such vvas the ioy of Simeon when hee saw that promised saluation and embraced the Lord Iesus in his armes Hereof ariseth to vs first a lesson of comfort if the beginnings of this glory be so great that as S. Peter saith they bring to vs ioy vnspeakable and glorious what shall the fulnesse thereof be let this waken in vs a loathing of these vaine perishing pleasures and a longing for that better and more enduring substance Certe non sunt tibi not a futura gaudia si non renuit consolari anima tua donec veniant thou knowest not those ioyes which are to come if thy soule do not refuse all comfort till they come vnto thee Certe si sempiterna essent haec terrena tamen prae coelestibus essent commutanda Certainely albeit these earthly things were eternall yet were they to be exchanged with those that are heauenly And therefore let the little tast of that ioy which wee haue now worke in vs a greater hunger and thirst after the fulnes thereof And againe we are here to be remembred that as pearles are found in the bottome of the water and gold is not gotten in the superfice but bosome of the earth so this ioy is not to be found but in the inward parts of a broken and contrite spirit many speake of this ioy who neuer felt it Righteousnesse is the mother of Peace and Peace the mother of Ioy they who haue not learned to do well and cannot morne for the euil which they haue done how shall they taste of the ioyes of God wee must pearce by the hammer of contrition into the very inward of our harts or euer we we can finde the refreshing springs of Gods sweet consolations arising vnto vs. It deceiues many that they thinke eternall life is not begunne but after death but assuredly except now thou get the beginnings thou shalt neuer hereafter attaine to the perfections thereof and therefore looke to it in time As for the second degree of this glory which is a neerer vnion of our soules with Iesus Christ after our dissolution by death it is not my purpose now to insist in it As for the third degree which consists in the glorification both of our soules and bodyes we haue spoken of it before specially in the 18. verse Now the Tabernacle of God is with men but then shall our securitie be without feare and our glory consummated when we shall dwell in the Tabernacle of God vnto the which the Lord bring vs all for Iesus Christs sake Amen THE GLORIFICATION of a Christian. VVhere you may see the counsaile of GOD concerning mans Saluation more cleerely manifested THEY THAT HAVE EYES MAY COME and see the Christian possessed and crowned in his heauenly Kingdome Which is the greatest and last benefit wee haue by Christ Iesus our Lord. Come and see Written by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word at Perth LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for William Firebrand and are to be sould at his shoppe in Popes-head Pallace 1609. TO THE MOST EXcellent Vertuous and Gratious Prince Henry by the Grace of God Prince of Wales and Heyre Apparent vnto the most famous Kingdomes of England Scotland Fraunce and Ireland All happinesse in this life and eternall Glory in the life to come THat which the Apostle hath seuerally deliuered in the two former Discourses dedicated to your most Royall Parents hee now in this last Treatise collects and conioynes in one which therfore of right can appertaine to none more then to you Sir who being by them both the happy fruite of heauenly prouidence and decrest pledge of their mutuall loue and ioy may iustly challenge interest in the smallest good ouer which their names are named Sir here is the way to that Crowne of Triumph which the more you know the more I hope shall you place your glory in it Crownes of earthly Kingdomes are indeede the gâ—fts of God but such as bring not so much Honour as they breed vnquietnesse O nobilem magis quam foelicem pannum said Antigonus If the cares which dwell in the Diadem wâ—re knowne no man would stoope to the ground to take it vp said Seleucus And albeit it be not giuen to all to know this in their entrie to Honour yet are they all compelled to acknowledge it in the end Seuerus Monâ—rch of the world found his Crownes but comfortlesse to him in death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue said hee beene all things and it profiteth mee nothing Not onely the teares of Xerxes but the laments of Salomon may witnesse to all the world that the end of the worme-eaten pleasures of this life is heauie displeasure yea the golden head of Babell had at length worms spread vnder him worms to couer him Esa. 14 For all flesh is grasse and the glory thereof as the flowre of the field Onely The word of the Lord endures for euer By which that same God who hath called you to be an apparant Heyre of the most famous Kingdomes on earth doth also call your Grace to a more certaine inheritance of a better Kingdome in heauen which cannot be shaken whereby aboue other Princes and Rulers of the earth yee are blessed if so be yee answere your Calling endeauouring to be no lesse than you are named Principem te agnosce neseruias affectibus It is vnseemely in any but most of all in a Prince to become asâ—ruant eyther to the corrupt humours of men without him who creeping in into the Courts of Kings like wormes into the bosome of excellent trees doe nothing but consume
to Ioseph when she pulled the garment from him There are three notable things for which we striue and which the world is neuer able to take from vs the loue of God which he hath borne to vs the grace of God which hee hath communicated to vs in our calling the glory of God and eternall life which hereafter doth abide vs no power of man nor Angell is able to depriue vs of these things An example whereof we haue in that notable warriour of God Patient Iob whom the Lord set vp as an obiect of all Sathans buffets and against whom hee was permitted to vse all the strategems of the spirituall warfare that possibly hee could hee crossed him not onely in his goods in his children and in his owne body but also in his minde by his wife hee tempted him to blasphemie by his friends to diffidence yet by none of these could hee ouercome him In his outward troubles his resolution was the Lord hath giuen the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord for euer in his inward terrours his resolution was Albeit the Lord would slay me yet would I trust in him so impossible is it for Sathan by any tentation whatsoeuer to seperate from the loue of God his Children chosen called and iustified To cleare this let vs yet know that God is many manner of wayes present with his children in trouble first hee is with them by preuenting the danger so that hee will not suffer the intended euill of the enimie to come neere them so he brought Senacherib to see Ierusalem without but suffered him not to shoot so much as a dart against it within Somtime again the Lord enters his children into the trouble as Daniel into the den Ioseph into the prison the three Children into the fire but deliuers them in such sort that both his glory and their comfort is greater than if they had not beene in trouble at all Sometime hee suffers his children to end their mortall liues in trouble and yet is with them strengthening them by his glorious might to all patience and long suffering filling them with such a sense of his loue that in death they rest vnder the assurance of life The practise of this see in the examples of Eliah and Paul when Iezabel vowed to haue the life of Eliah yee shall see that the Lord is with him sometime to hide him that albeit Achab and Iezabel seeke him they cannot finde him sometime God lets Achabs captaines see where hee is but consumes with fire them that came proudly to take him Sometime hee presents him to Achab and Iezabel but bridleth the tyrants that they haue no power to stirre him The Apostle Paul in like manner being sent prisoner to Rome the Lord assisted him in such sort that hee deliuered him out of the mouth of the Lyon Nero and yet the second time suffered him to fall by the sword of the same tyrant shall wee thinke that the Lord was not with the Apostle to assist him the second time as well as the first let it be farre from vs. The Lord was with him indeed to make his death a seale and confirmation of that Gospell which hee had preached in his life The comfort then remaines that howeuer God worke with his children in trouble no aduersarie is able to take from vs that for which wee striue to wit grace and glory they may be vnto vs as the sharpe rasers of God to cut away our superfluities but shall neuer be able to bereaue vs of the end of our Faith which is the euerlasting saluation of our soules Verse 32. Who spared not his owne Sonne but gaue him for vs all vnto death how shall he not with him giue vnto vs all things also NOw followeth the second part of the Apostles generall triumph wherein hee gloryeth that the Christian can want nothing needfull for him for seeing the Lord hath giuen vnto him the greatest and most excellent gift to wit his owne Sonne is it possible that he will denie him any secondary or inferior gifts needfull for him Sathan who is a lyer from the beginning accused the Lord of two things first of an vntruth albeit the Lord hath said it yet ye shall not dye secondly of Enuy. In the first Sathan is proued false and the Lord is found true for are they not dead to whom the Lord said yee shall dye In the second Sathan is found a calumniator for what good tree will the Lord refuse to his owne who hath giuen vnto them this excellent tree of life which brings with it vnto them all things needfull for them To amplifie this great loue of God the Apostle saith not simply that hee gaue his Sonne for vs but that hee spared not to giue him O wonderfull loue the Naturall and onely Sonne of God is not spared that the adoptiue sonnes may be spared for our sins being imputed to him by the ordinance of God his Father and voluntarily accepted by himselfe so the punishment of our sinnes and chasticement of our peace was laid vpon him that by his stripes wee might be healed The bitter cuppe due to vs was propined to him for the which albeit hee prayed to his Father that if it were his will this cuppe might passe by him yet the Father spared him not but held it to his head till hee dranke out the vttermost dregs thereof So straite is the Iustice of God that sinne being imputed to the Sonne of God who had no sinne of his owne is pursued to the vttermost The greatest example of Iustice that euer the Lord declared in the world the drowning of the originall world the burning of Sodome the plaguing of Egypt were terrible proofes of the straitnesse of diuine Iustice but nothing comparable to this Which I marke partly for a comfort to the Godly and partly for a warning to the wicked it is our great comfort that the saluation which Iesus hath purchased vnto vs hee hath obtained it with a full satisfaction of his Fathers Iustice so that now wee that are in him are not any more to feare it The great Iudge of all the world will not doe vnrighteously to require that againe from vs which our Christ whom hee himselfe hath giuen vnto vs hath payed for vs. And as for the wicked who are not in Christ how miserable will their state and condition be for they must beare the punishment of their owne sinnes in their owne persons If the burden of that wrath due to our sinnes caused Iesus to sweat bloud and to say that his soule was heauy vnto the very death O how shall the burden of this wrath presse downe the wicked it is euen a horrour to think of it their faces shall be confused without and their spirits oppressed within with tribulation and anguish hee that spared not in his owne Sonne sinne imputed vnto him will hee spare in
Aquinas Nihil est damnabile in illis qui sunt in Christo nullus actus quo mereamur damnari that in them who are is Christ there is nothing worthy to be damned no act that merits damnation for the Apostle condemnes these motions of sinne which he found in himselfe as euill and repugnant to the Law of God and if the holy Apostle was not ashamed to confesse this of himselfe what blinde presumption is this in them to exempt themselues or others from such motions as are worthy to be damned wee shall still confesse our guiltines there remaines in vs of our owne which the Lord might condemne if he would enter into iudgement with vs and shall so much the more praise his mercie who hath deliuered vs from condemnation and further comfort then this the Apostles words do not afford vnto vs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is no iudgement no sentence to be giuen against them who are in Chrst. Surely our righteousnesse in this life consists rather in the remission of sinnes then in the perfection of vertue Ne quis sibi quasi innocens placeat cum innocens nemo sit se extollendo plus pereat instruitur docetur peccare se quotidie dum quotidie pro peccatis iubetur orare that no man saith Cyprian should flatter himselfe as though he wer innocent when as indeed no man is innocent and so by extolling himselfe should perish so much the more he is instructed and taught that he sinnes while as euery day hee is commaunded to pray for remission of sins but this errour we shall God willing further improue hereafter In the meane time for our comfort let vs consider that albeit the Lord when hee iustified vs might haue vtterly destroyed the life of this sinning sinne in vs yet for waighty causes hath he suffered some life thereof to abide in vs for a time the first is for the exercise of our faith Peccata quorum reatum Soluit Deus ne post hanc vitam obsint manere tamen voluit ad certamen fidei these sinnes saith Augustine the guiltinesse whereof God hath loosed that they should not hurt vs in the life to come hee will haue to remaine for the exercise of our faith No man is crowned except he striue as he ought and therefore the Lord who hath prepared for vs a crowne and hath put vpon vs his compleat armour hath also suffered some enimies to remaine against whom we may fight for the tryall of our faith patience and perseuerance euen as the Cananites were left in the Land that the Lord by them might proue the Israelits whether if or not they would keepe the way of the Lord to walke into it Secondly some life of sinne is left in vs for our instruction that wee may know the better how farre we are oblieged to Gods mercy and how excellent is that deliuerance which we haue by Iesus Christ. Nulla quidem est condemnatio his qui sunt in Christo tamen ad humiliandos nos peccatum adhuc patituâ— viâ—tere in nobis grauiter nos affligere vt sentiamus quid gratia nobis praestet semper ad illius auxilium recurramus It is true indeed saith Bernard that there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ yet for our humiliation the Lord suffers sinne to liue in vs and oftentimes afflict vs that we may know the benefit wee haue by Grace and make our recourse for helpe vnto it continually and indeed except by experience wee felt how powerfull sin is of it selfe to ouer rule vs we could neuer haue knowne that vile bondage and seruitude of sinne vnder which wee lay by nature nor that excellent Grace of Christ by which we haue gotten deliuerance And therefore so oft as wee are troubled with our inhabitant corruption we are to consider that if the remanents of the old man breed vs such strong and restlesse tentations how would it tyrannize ouer vs if it were liuing in the full vigour strength thereof that so we may praise and magnifie that sauing Grace of the Lord Iesus which hath freed vs from so intollerable a tyrannie Thirdly the Lord hath done this for his own greater glory like vnto those Victors in battaile who albeit they may yet will not put all their enimies to the edge of the sword some of them they take Captiues and reserues for a while aliue against the day of triumph to be put then to death to their greater shame and the greater honour of their Conquerours When Ioshua had discomfited those fiue Kings who made warre against Gibeon hee would not slay them in the battaile but inclosed them in a caue that the battell being ended he might put them to death in sight of all his people and then for their further confirmation hee caused his Captaines and chiefe men of warre to tread vpon the necks of these Kings to assure them that after the same manner the Lord should subdue all the rest of their enimies vnder them And so our Captaine mightie conquerour the Lord Iesus hath by himselfe obtained vnto vs victorie ouer all our enimies these Kings which besieged Gibeon are turned to flight these inordinate affections which held vs Captiues before are now by his power captiued of vs they are closed vp vvithin vs as in a Caue vvhere they remaine vvith some life but restrained of their former libertie and power And vve rest assured that when the battaile shall be finished our Lord Iesus shall altogether spoyle them of their life The God of peace shall shortly tread Sathan vnder our feete then Goliah being ouercome his army of the Philistines shall flie and no inordinate desire shall bee left within vs. Thus wee see how the Lord permits his enimie to liue and will not fully torment him before the time it is not because he wants power to subdue him Set vt â—o magis confundatur but that so much the more he may confound him When as all the warriours of God aswell those who are to come in the last age of the world as those who were in the forefront of the battaile haue foughten against him and ouercome him then shall the Lord Iesus put all his enimies vnder his feete Yea euen now in the very time of the conflict is Sathan wonderfully confounded in this that notwithstanding the Serpent keepe his sting yet there is no deadly power in it This vncircumcised Goliah hath that same sword in his hand by which he hath slaine many one the Lord permits him also to strike the Christian man therewith but hee sees himselfe it is in vaine O how doth he returne ashamed and confounded when hauing gotten leaue to shoot out his sting and to strike with his accustomed sword of sinne those whom he hateth vnto death he perceiues that for all hee can doe there remaines in them a seed of life which cannot be
wicked may be put to death for their most vnreasonable disobedience her commandements for number being but ten and so not burdenable to the memorie for vnderstanding plaine written in the hart of euery man for equitie not contradictable for the Law craueth nothing of man but that which by the holinesse of his nature receiued by Creation hee was able to performe neither doth the law command any thing profitable to God vvho gaue it but vnto man who receiued it And for holinesse euery precept of the law when God proclaymed it on mount Sinai was assisted with a thousand of his Saints as witnesses of the holinesse therof all these circumstances doe aggrauate the waight of that iudgement which the law shall giue out against the transgressors thereof Then from the Law iudgement shall proceede to Conscience and Conscience shall witnesse against them of their transgressions against euery precept of the law wherein they shall be so cleerely conuinced that their perticular sinnes with the circumstances thereof time and place though now they haue cast them behind their backs shall then be set in order before them and so iustly euery manner of way shall iudgement goe out against them Eliphaz spoke it falslie to Iob thy owne mouth and not I condemnes thee but most iustly shall the ruler of the world lay it vpon the wicked out of thy owne mouth I iudge thee O thou euill and vnfaithfull seruant the voyce of thine own conscience and no other shall condemne thee And as this condemnation will bee most righteous so shall it bee also most fearefull not onely in regard of the manner of the Lords proceeding in that last iudgement but chieflie in regard of that irrevocable sentence of damnation which shall be executed without delay The Law was giuen with Thunders and Lightnings and a thicke cloud vpon the mount with an exceeding loude sound of the Trumpet so that all the people were afraide yea so terrible was the sight that Moses said I feare and quake The lawes of mighty Monarches are executed with greater terror then they are proclaymed what then shall we looke for when the God of glory shall appeare to iudge the world according to his law the Heauens shall passe away with a noyse the Elements shall melt with heate the Earth with the workes which are therein shall be burnt vp the Archangell shall blow a Trumpet at the voyce whereof the dead shall rise If Moses the seruant of the Lord quaked to heare the first Trumpet how shall the wicked condemned in their owne conscience tremble and quake to heare the second Then shall the Kings of the Earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe Captaines and the mightie men hide themselues in the Dennes and among the rockes of the Mountaines for what strength is there in man who is but stubble to stand before a consuming fire and or euer their doome bee giuen out they shall crye Mountaines and Rockes fall vpon vs and hide vs from the presence of him that sitteth on the Throne but when they shall heare that fearefull sentence depart from me yee cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the Diuell and his Angels O how shall the terrour thereof confound their spirits and presse them downe to the bottome of hell O fearefull sentence depart from me what shall the creature doe when the Creator in his wrath commaunds it to depart and by his power banishes it from his presence O man wilt thou consider in time vvho shall receiue thee when God casts thee out from his face or who shall pittie and bee able to comfort thee when God shal persecute thee with his wrath assure thy selfe euery creature shall refuse her comfort to thee if a drop of colde water might bee a reliefe vnto thee thou shalt not get it Happie therefore are they vvho in time resolues themselues vvith Peter Lord whether away shall wee goe from thee thou hast the wordes of eternall life For they who doe now goe a whoring from the LORD wandring after lying vanities shall in that day receiue this for a recompence of their errour goe to the Gods whom yee haue serued Your whole life was but a turning backe from mee now therefore depart from mee and whether into fire and what fire euerlasting fire and with whom with the Diuell and his Angels thou hast forsaken mee thou hast followed them goe thy way with them a companion of their torment O fearefull sentence quae cum it a sint bene nobiscum ageretur si iam nunc sic nos paeniteret super malis nostris quomodo tunc sine vllo remedio paenitebit It were good therefore sayes Augustine if novv all men could so repent of their sinnes as it is certaine in that day they shall repent without any remedie for then the wicked vvill shed teares aboundantly but they shall bee fruitlesse And if yet all this cannot waken thee to goe to the Lord Iesus vpon the feete of faith and repentance that in him thou mayest bee deliuered from this fearefull damnation yet remember that seeing this iudgement is supreame and the last from which will bee no recalling most foolish art thou if in time thou doe not foresee and prouide how thou mayest stand in it Now if thy conscience condemne thee thou may get if thou seeke absolution in Christ but in that day if the Lord condemne thee thou shalt neuer be absolued the day before the Trumpet sound mercy shall bee preached to the penitent and beleeuers by the Gospell but from the time that once the sentence is giuen out there shall neuer bee more offering of mercy the doore shall be closed though the wicked cry for mercy and vvith Esau seeke the blessing vvith many teares yet shall they neuer finde it Of all this novv it is euident vvhat an excellent benefit wee haue by Iesus Christ in that vve are deliuered from this threefold condemnation For first being iustified by faith vve haue peace vvith God in our consciences that holy spirit of adoption testifying vnto vs that our sinnes are forgiuen vs whereof arises in our heart an vnspeakable and glorious ioy which ioy notwithstanding cannot be full nor perfect vntill the former sentence of our absolution be also pronounced in the other two iudgements that in the houre of death wee heare that ioyfull sentence Come to mee thou with the Apostle the terrour of that day but surely when the Lord shall set vs on mount Sion among those thousands which follow the Lambe and we shall see the smoake of the damned ascending continually when we shall stand at the right hand of the Lord Iesus and shall heare that fearefull sentence pronounced on the wicked and see the speedie and terrible execution thereof the earth opening incontinent to swallow them then shall we perfectly know how greatly the Lord hath magnified his mercies towards vs in
men in the vvorld ye shall see some in stead of following Christ flying from him Qui enim male facit odit lucem for hee vvho doth euill hateth the light Others vvhere they should follow him runne before him not waiting vpon his light direction in matters of his vvorship followes their owne spirit doing that vvhich is good in their owne eyes they run vvith zeale but not in the right vvay And vve haue so much the more to take heede vnto the vvay because euery mans course declareth vvhat kinde of man he is vvhether carnall or spirituall and vvhat vvill be his end he that soweth to the flesh of the flesh will reape corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reape life euerlasting I am perswaded there is no man among vs vvho vvill not say hee vvould be at the best end vvhich is eternall life but here is the vvonderfull folly of men the proposed end of their pilgrimage vvhereat they vvould be is heauen but the vvay vvherein they vvalk is the vvay that leadeth close into hell Who vvill not esteeme him a foole vvho in word saith his iourney is toward the South and yet for no mans vvarning vvill refraine his feete from vvalking toward the North but more foolish is hee vvho professing himselfe a pilgrime trauailing towards heauenly Ierusalem keepes notwithstanding a contrarie course hauing his backe vpon heauen and his face towards hell vvalking not after the Spirit but after the Flesh. O pittifull blindnesse and folly how many witnesses of God haue forewarned thee in thy life all crying to thee vvith a loud voice this vvay wherein thou walkest O sinfull man is the way of death hee vvho liues after the Flesh shall dye assuredly yet wilt thou not returne nor change the course of thy life to walke after the liuing God that thy mayest be saued And hauing once found the right way which may lead vs vnto God let vs strengthen our selues to walke in it by those three most notable helpes of a godly life deliuered to vs by Dauid in three verses of 119 Psal. vers 57. O Lord I haue determined to keepe thy word 58. I haue made my supplication in thy presence with my whole hart 59. I haue considered my wayes and turned my feete vnto thy testimonies Determination is the first it is a good thing by setled resolution to conclude with thy selfe that thou wilt liue godly Supplication is the second except by continuall prayer our determination bee confiâ—med and strengthned by grâ—ce from God our conclusions vvhich vve take to day shall vanish to morrow Consideration is the third and it is profitable to reduce vs againe into the way of God so often as of weaknes we wander from it contrary to our first determination These are the three helpes to keepe our hart in the way of God so necessary that if without them we doe any worke it is not possible but wee shall bee snared And therefore as in a ship which is ready to sayle so soone as the sayles are hoysed vp presently some skilfull Marriner starteth to the rudder so euery morning wherein vve rise from our rest and make our selues ready to go forward in our pilgrimage let vs first of all take heed vnto the hart for it is the rudder of the whole bodie let vs knit it vnto God by this threefold cord whereof I haue spoken so shall our wayes be ordered aright and vve shall make a happie progresse euery day in that way which leades to eternall life By determination we begin to keepe a good course By supplication vve continue in it By consideration we see vvhether we be right or wrong if vve be out of the way consideration warnes vs to returne againe into it Happie is that man in whose life one of these three is alwayes an actour And fourthly by this metaphor of walking that in our Christian conuersation there should bee a continuall progresse in godlinesse For as in walking saith Basil the steps other thing but the life of Christ like that Reuel 11. 11. Againe the law of the spirit of life in Christ is no other thing but that forcible working liuely power vvhich is in Christ for it is customable to the holy Apostle to vse the vvord law to expresse any thing wherein there is a commanding or working power so hee hath ascribed a law to sinne a law to his members a law to death and now very properly hee oppones vnto them a law of the spirit of life in Christ vvhich is more liuely and powerfull to saue to free and to quicken then any law that hath contrary power can be able to destroy captiue or slay them who are in Christ. Thus the words being expounded the first lesson will arise out of the Apostles manner of speach who ascribing to sinne and death a law vvhich may condemne and destroy ascribes to Christ a more powerfull law to iustifie and preserue Most sure then is our estate vvho are in Iesus Christ for there is a power in our Lord vvhich shall bring euery contrary power of man and Angell in subiecton to him that tyrant sinne hath indeede oppressed and ouer-ruled many a one but our Lord Iesus the valiant conquerour hath a mightie power able to disanull the lavv of sinne and Sathan is that strong one vvho by nature possesses the hart of man as his owne house but Iesus is that stronger one vvho vvill dispossesse him and cast him out of the hearts of all such as are his The God of peace shall shortly tread Sathan vnder our feet and therefore suppose vve bee vveake in our selues yet vve vvill reioyce in the strength of the Lord Iesus Secondly vve learne here that without Christ vve liued in a vile seruitude and bondage of all seruants those are in vvorst case who are sould and of those vvho are sould they are vvorst vvho must doe seruice in prison and of them vvho are in prison most lamentable is their estate vvho are chayned and bound in prison yet such seruants were vve by nature before Christ made vs free vve were not onely the seruants of sinne and sould vnder sinne as witnesseth the Apostle but more also vve vvere as sayth Esay captiued and bound with chaines in prison the Iaylour vvhereof is infidelitie for wee were all shut vp vnder vnbeliefe a Iaylour so straite and tyrannous as permitted vs not so long as wee were in his keeping so much as â—o lift vp our head or looke vp to heauen for deliuerance from him from whom onely comes our helpe Our oppressers in this bondage are Sathan and Sinne and sinnes of so many sorts as doe miserably distract the soule Pride one while vsurping dominion ouer vs Auarice another while vendicating a seat to her selfe with power to commaund vs Concupiscence most commonly challenging vs to doe her seruice as our soueraigne Sic certant in me de me
ipso cuiâ—s potissimum esse videar thus doe they striue within mee saith Bernard about mee to which of their dominion I should appertaine That which hee confessed of himselfe all the Godly may feele in their owne experience innumerable are those tyrants that striue among themselues but all of them striue against vs to haue domination ouer vs but indeede these are vncouth Lords and such as can claime no title nor right vnto vs wee are the workemanship of God the redeemed of the Lord and are bound to doe seruice to none but to him alone O Lord therefore come downe and possesse thine owne kingdome erect a throne to thy selfe in our hearts that thou by thy Spirit may raigne in vs as our King and make vs free from these tyrants that would oppresse vs. But that wee may the better perceiue how abhominable this seruitude is let vs out of the Apostles words mark these three things first how this dominion is tyrannicall Secondly how the Commaundements of these tyrants are all wicked and thirdly are all deadly these three he toucheth shortly when he saith that Christ hath freed vs from the law of sinne and death First then he ascribeth vnto sinne a Law not as if sin proceeded by a Law properly so called or that there were any lawfulnesse in sinne but onely to poynt out the tyranny thereof for as Rulers ordayned by the image of God inuested in this dignitie to be Lord and ruler ouer the creatures Animal es O homo principatu decoratum vt quid seruis affectionibus quamobrem tuam ipsius dignitatem abijcis teque ipsum seruum peccati constituis quare tcipsumfacis captiuuÌ„ diaboli Princeps creaturarum constitutus es dignitatem naturae tuae proijcâ—s O man thou art a creature adorned with princely power by thy first creation why then seruest thou affections why dost thou cast away thine owne dignitie and makes thy selfe a captiue of Sathan thou wast placed Lord of the creatures thou wast appoynted to rule ouer the fish of the Sea and euery beast of the field what shame is it then that thou shouldest be ouerruled with those beasts which are within thee Secondly consider what thou hopest to bee after this life dost thou not hope to raigne as a King in the heauens and wilt thou now liue as a slaue to Sathan vpon earth Is any man crowned except he striue as he ought or doth he receiue the price who runnes not the race or caâ— hee obtaine the victorie who neuer wrestled why then fightest thou not why runnest thou not why beginnest thou not to raigne in earth as a king ouer thy lusts seeing thou hopest to raigne as a king in heauen in glory Doe not deceiue thy selfe that crowne is for conquerours not for captiues Non sperare potest regnum coelorum cui supra propria membra regnare non donatur hee cannot looke for that heauenly kingdome to whom it is not giuen to raign ouer his owne earthly members Wee know that when Iesus shall appeare we shall bee like him for wee shall see him as hee is and hee that hath this hope in himselfe purgeth himselfe euen as hee is pure Certainely if the Lord through Grace prepare thee not for his Heauenly Kingdome thou canst neuer say with a warrant that the Lord hath prepared that kingdome for thee And thirdly the consideration of the present occasion should waken vs to goe out of this house of bondage for now the Sonne of God offers to make vs free a Prince of greater power is content to enter in confederacie with vs hee promiseth to restore vs to all the priuiledges wee lost in Adam yea to giue vs much more than euer we had in him and shall we neglect so faire an occasion When Cyrus king of Persia proclaymed liberty to the Iewes to goe from Babell the place of their captiuitie homeward to Ierusalem it is said that all those went forward whose spirit God had raised vp and now when the Lords annoynted proclaymes liberty to the captiues and the opening of the dore to them that are in prison I know that none shall follow his calling but such whose spirit the Lord hath raysed vp the rest being miserably blind delight to lye still in captiuitie thinking their bondage liberty The Lord giue vs grace that we may discerne the time of our visitation that with Dauid we may aduance our eyes toward the Lord who hath begunne to plucke our feete out of the net and that still we may lift vp and stretch out our hands vnto him till hee haue deliuered vs fully from the power of the enimie This being spoken of the bondage vve are now to consider that our deliuerance from it is here ascribed to Iesus Christ. Thy perdition is of thy selfe O Israel But our saluation belongs to the Lord and to the Lambe that sits vpon the throne Let no man therefore bee so vnthankfull as to ascribe any part of this glory to another my glory will I not giue to an other saith the Lord the glory of a temporall deliuerance God will not giue it vnto man hee would not saue Israell vnder Gideon with thirtie two thousand and why least Israell should vaunt against the Lord and say my right hand hath done it Or euer he entred his people Israell into the land of Canaan he forewarned them that they should not say it was for their righteousnesse and will hee then thinke yee giue the praise of this most notable deliuerance to the Creature No the whole booke of God witnesseth that it is not for our righteousnesse but for the praise of the glory of his rich mercie that wee are entred into heauenly Canaan Did Peter Iames and Iohn help the Lord Iesus in that agonie which hee suffered in the garden no surely hee bad them watch with him and pray but when hee was sweating blood they were sleeping when hee was buffeâ—ed in Caiphas hall did not Peter deny him when hee went to the Crosse did not all his Disciples forsake him and those who loued him most dearely did they not stand a farre off from him Certainely he alone troad the wine-presse of the wrath of God he alone bare the punishment of our sinnes in his blessed body on the Crosse to him therfore alone pertayneth the glory of our saluation As for the persons to whom this deliuerance pertaines the Apostle names himselfe among them hath freed vs not to exclude but rather to confirme all others who are in Iesus Christ. For hee confesses of himselfe that hee was receiued to mercy for this end that God might shew vpon him an example of long suffering to them who shall in time to come beleâ—ue in him vnto eternall life therefore is it that hee speakes of this deliuerance in his owne person for the confirmation of others who hauing beene before as hee was notorious sinners are now become such as repents
and beleeues And indeede euery example of GODS mercy shewed vnto others should serue to strengthen vs. Audientes Christum non horruisse confitentem latronem c. when wee heare sayth Bernard that the Lord Iesus abhorred not the penitent Theefe on the Crosse that hee despised not the sinfull Cananitish woman when she made supplication nor the woman taken in Adultrie nor him that sat at the receipt of Custome nor the Publicane when hee sought mercie nor the Disciple that denyed him neither yet the persecuter of his Disciples in odore horum vnguentorum curramus post eum in the sweet smell of these oyntments let vs runne after him Alwaies we see that the Apostle doth so speak vnto others of a deliuerance obtayned by Christ as being also pertaker thereof himselfe As he was a Preacher of Christ so he was a follower of Christ he beate downe his body by discipline least that preaching vnto others hee should haue beene a reprobate himselfe and therfore he now speaks as one who is sure that hee also hath his portion in Christ. Otherwise what comfort can it be either to Preacher or professor to speake of that life and grace which commeth by Christ Iesus they themselues in the meane time being like to that miserable Atheist Simon Magus to whom Peter gaue out that fearefull sentence thou hast neither part nor fellowship in this businesse or like those Priests in Ierusalem in the dayes of Herode who directed others to Bethleem by the light of the word to worship Christ but went not themselues or those builders of Noahs Arke who helped to build a vessell for preseruation of others but perished in the deluge themselues or like Bilhah and Zilpah who brought forth and nourished freemen vnto Iacob but remayned themselues in the state of bond women from this vnhappie condition the Lord deliuer vs and make vs pertakers of that mercie and grace whereof he hath made vs Preachers and professors From the Law of sinne and death Here the Apostle shewes from what it is that we are deliuered Dauid sayth many deliuerances giueth the Lord to his annoynted he spake it of himselfe and it is true of all the Children of God By a great deliuerance he saued Noah in the deluge Lot in the burning of Sodome Israell out of Egipt Ioseph in the prison Daniell in the denne the three Children in the fierie furnace but all these are small if they be compared with this deliuerance from sin and death Where first we learne how the Apostle conioynes these two sinne and death if wee be deliuered from the first wee shall also be deliuered from the second but if wee abide in the first wee shall be sure not to escape the second if therefore Sathan say vnto vs as hee did to our first parents though you cate of this forbidden tree yee shall not dye let vs answere him he hath proued already a shamelesse lyar and we are not any more to credit him that same penaltie lyes vpon euery sinne which was layd vpon the first if ye do it ye shall die God hath conioyned them who shall seperate them though the Lord speake not instantly to euery sinner as he did to Abimelech behold thou art but dead because of this sinne yet is it true of euery sinne when it is finished it brings out death So soone as Ionas entred into the Sea saith Chrisostome the storme rose to teach vs that Vbi peccatum ibi procella where there is sinne specially committed with rebellion there will not faile to arise a storme of the wrath of God It is true indeed the sinner in committing of sinne doth not perceiue this being blinder than Balaam he walks on in an euill course and sees not the sword of Gods vengeance which is before him but imagines alway to reape some good either of profit or pleasure by committing of sin for these are Sathans two baites vnder which hee couers his deadly hookes It is therefore a poynt of singular wisedome to decerne betweene the deceit of sinne present and the fruit of sinne to come betweene that which Sathan promises and that which wee finde in experience performed He promised to our parents that they should be made like vnto God but in very deede hee made them miserable like himselfe And if thou wilt also obserue that which thou findest in thy owne experience what fruit hast thou of a sinne when thou hast committed it doth not darknesse arise in thy minde heauinesse in thy heart terrour feare and accusing cogitations in thy conscience Euery man may finde it who list to marke it by moe then a thousand experiences in himselfe that Sathan is a shameles deceiuer yea more deceitfull then Laban who promised to giue to Iacob beautifull Rahel but in the darke hee gaue him blearâ—-eyed â—eah be assured he will change thy wages promise thee one thing and pay thee with another As Hamor spake to his Sichemiâ—es so doth Sathan to his blindfolded citizens hee perswaded his people that if they would bee circumcised all Iacobs substance and cattell should bee theirs but indeed the contrary ensued for the goods of the Sichemits befell to the house of Iacob and they themselues perished by the sword Let vs therefore beware of the inuenomed tongue of the Diuell mentitur vt fallat vitam pollicetur vt perimat he lyes that hee may deceiue hee promiseth life that hee may inflict death say hee what hee will let vs beleeue the word of the Lord confirmed by doolefull daily experience the wages of sinne is death God hath knit them together and who shall seperate them So oft then as Sathan by the deceit of sinne would beguile thee remember that though sinne seeme to be sweet the fruit thereof is exceeding bitter if thou feare not sinne feare that end whereunto sinne leads thee dulce peccatum sed amara mors sinne is sweet but death is bitter remember that the wages which Sathan promiseth and man would haue hee shall not get but the wages which God threatneth and man would not haue shall assuredly bee payed him for this is the miserie of those who walke in their sins illud propter quod peccant hic dimittunt ipsa peccata se cum portant that for which they sinne they leaue it behinde them and carries their sinnes away out of the world with them So that in the end when they shall gather the profite of all their former sinnes into a summe they shall find no other but that foretold by the Apostle What profit haue ye now of all these things whereof ye are ashamed surely there is no fruit but shame and death to bee pluckt from the forbidden tree of sinne But here it may bee obiected by the weake conscience of the godly how can this comfort bee ours that wee are freed from sin who finde our selues so continually assaulted yea oftentimes oppressed of
sinne For answere let vs marke that the Apostle saith not wee are fully freed from sinne in this life but we are freed from the law of sin that is both from the commaunding and condemning power thereof Sinne doth not now raigne in our mortall bodyes as before neither hath it power any more to detaine vs vnder death But as for the temptations of sinne there is no sort of men more troubled with them then they whom God hath begunne to deliuer from the Law of sinne for Sathan being impatient of his losse seekes daily to recouer his formeâ— dominion From the time that once the Gibeonits made peace for themselues with Ioshua all the rest of the Kings of Canaan made warre against them and so soone as we enter into a couenant with the Lord Iesus Sathan shall not faile the more fiercely to assault vs seeking to recouer his old possession yet if as the Gibeonits did we send speedilie messengers to Ioshua to shew him how wee are troubled for his sake hee shall not with-draw his helping hand from vs. Our deliuerance from sinne is begunne now but not perfected but we know that our God is faithfull by whom we are called hee shall also confirme vs to the end Euen hee who hath begunne this good worke in vs will performe it vntill the day of Christ. As the Angell who deliuered Peter out of prison appeared to him with a shining light in the darke prison smote him vpon his side and wakened him out of his sleepe made his chaines to fall from him and caused him to arise and follow him went still before him to lead him in the way through all impediments and departed not from him till hee had entred him within the Cittie of Ierusalem so the spirit of our Lord Iesus who hath once come downe vpon vs in this prison and hath lightned our darknesse wakened vs out of our dead securitie and loosed the chaines of our sinnes wherewith wee were bond shall abide continually with vs gouerning vs with his light and truth till hee haue entred vs within the portes of heauenly Ierusalem Blessed be the Lord where before wee were the captiues of sinne now the course of the battell is changed sin is become our captiue through Christ it remaineth in vs not as a commaunder but as a captiâ—e of the Lord Iesus it is true the boltes of sinne are yet vpon our hands and feet to admonish vs of our former miserable thraldome we draw as yet the chaines of sinne after vs which makes vs indeed goe forward the more slowlie but are not able to detaine vs in that bondage wherein wee lay before And as concerning our deliuerance from death wee are to know that death is two-fold the first and second the first is a separation of the soule from the body the second is a separation of them both from the Lord Mors prima pellit animam nelentem de corpore mors secunda detinet animaÌ„ nâ—lentem in corpore The first death expels the soule against the will out of the body the second death compels the soule against the will to abide in the body for vnto the greater augmentation of their paine as they were companions of sin so shall they be compelled to abide companions of punishment This second death hath three degrees the first is when the soule by sinne is separated from the Lord the second is when the body by the power of that curse due to sinne is turned into dust and the soule is sent to hell the third is when both soule and body being ioyned together againe in the resurrection shall be banished from the presence of the Lord and cast into vtter darknesse And it is called the second death because it is executed vpon the wicked after their first death otherwise the first death that euer came in the world was the first degree of the second death Mors animâ— prâ—cessit anima deserente Deum mors corporis sequutâ— est anima deserente corpus deâ—eruit Deum voleâ—s animâ— coacta est deserere corpus nolens the death of the soule went before the soule departing from God and the death of the body followed the soule departing from the bodie the soule departed from God willing and therefore is compelled vnwillingly to depart out of the body Now from both these deâ—â—hs wee are deliuered by the Lord Iesus for our soules being freed from sinne are reconciled with God and so exempted from that wrath which is to come For albeit the deere children of God bee sometime exercised with inward terrours of conscience which in their owne nature are forerunners of these paynes prepared for the wicked and are as the smoake of that fiâ—e which afterward shall torment them yet vnto the godlie their nature is changed they are sent vnto them not to seperate them from the Lord but to draw their harâ—s neereâ— vnto him and to worke in them a greater conformitie with Christ. And as for the first death wee are so deliuered from it that albeit in the owne nature it bee the Centre of all miseries and a fearefull effect of Gods curse on man for sinne Yet to the godly the nature thereof is also changed so that now it is not the death of the man but the death of sinne in the man mors est sepultura vitiorum death saith Ambrose is the buâ—iall of all vices As the worme which is bred in the tree saith Chrisostome doth at last consume it so death which is brought out by sinne doth at the length consume and destroy sinne in the children of God Finally death is the progresse and accomplishment of the full moâ—tification of all our earthly members wherein that filthie â—luxe of sinne is dryed vp at an instant It is a voluntarie sacrificing of the whole man soule and body to the Lord the greatest and highest seruice wee can doe to him in the earth for where in the course of our life wee are continualâ—y fighting against our inordinate Iustes and affections to bring them in subiection to Christ by death as it were with one stroke they are all smitten and slaine and the soule is offered vp to God in a sacrifice of full and perfect obedience Verse 3. For that that was impossible to the Law in as much as it was weake because of the flesh God sending his owne Sonne in the similitude of sinfull flesh and that for sinne condâ—mned sinne in the flesh THE Apostle hauing set downe in the first Verse a Proposition of Comfort belonging to them who are in Christ and confirmed it in the second he proceedeth now to the explication of the Confirmation Declaring how it is that Christ hath freed vs from the law of sinne and first he shewes how Christ hath freed vs from the condemning power of sinne in this verse namely that hee taking vpon him our nature and therewithall the burden of our
giuen vs such deliuerances shall we returne any more to breake thy Commaundements but much more should it binde vs to doe seruice to our Lord Iesus seeing hee hath made vs free by his bloud shall wee againe make our selues the seruants of sinne The Lord neuer shewed a greater mercie on man then this that hee gaue his sonne Iesus Christ vnto the death for vs and there can be no higher contempt done to God by man then if after so great a loue shewed vs wee shall still refuse to bee his seruants much will be required of him to whom much is giuen those Gentiles to whom the Lord reuealed himselfe in goodnes onely as their Creator because they did not glorifie him the Apostle saith that the wrath of God was reuealed from heauen vpon them and what wrath then maist thou looke for to whom the Lord hath manifested himselfe in mercy also as thy Redeemer in Christ and yet thou wilt not glorifie him thou receiuest not him whom thy Father hath sent vnto thee neyther wilt thou liue vnto him that gaue himselfe to dye for thee but by thy wicked life thou crucifiest againe the Sonne of God and treadest vnder thy feet the bloud of the new couenant certainely Sodome and Gomorrha shall be in an easier estate in the day of iudgement then the wicked of this generation For in this last age the Lord hath spoken to vs by his Son he hath none greater to send after him those labourers of the vineyard that slew the Seruants of the great King were not for that instantly punished but when the Sonne came and they had murthered him also then was their iudgement no longer delayed It was not written for the Iewes onely in whom it was first accomplished but for vs also to whom the Father in this last age hath sent his owne Sonne and by whom hee hath spoken vnto vs from himselfe if we despise him there remaines no more but a violent looking for of iudgement The third dutie is that for Christs sake wee loue vnfainedly those vvhom hee hath recommended vnto vs our goodnesse cannot extend vnto the Lord neither haue vve him vvalking vvith vs vpon earth that vve may minister vnto him may wash his feete and annoynt his blessed bodie vvith precious oyntments therefore should our delight bee vpon these his excellent ones that are vpon earth When Ionathan was dead Dauid for Ionathans sake shewed kindnesse to Mephibosheth our Ionathan is not dead hee liues and raignes in heauen yet can we not declare our kindnesse to himselfe let vs seeke some Mephibosheth some of Christs little weake and impotent children of vvhom he hath said what yee doe to one of these little ones for my sake is done to mee and let vs shew kindnesse vnto them for the great loue which the Lord Iesus hath shewed vnto vs. And that for sinne These wordes containe the end of Christs manifestation in the flesh which is that in our nature hee might beare the punishment of our sinnes satisfie the iustice of God and so abolish sinne Saint Iohn makes this cleare when he saith that hee appeared to destroy the workes of the diuell that is sinne for sinne being remoued there is nothing in man but the workmanship of God By this it is euident how highly they offend God who abuseth the death of Christ to nourish themselues in their sinne being the bolder to commit sinne because Christ dyed for them surely this is to turne the grace of God into wantonnesse The Lord came to abolish sinne not to nourish it Christ once suffered the iust for the vniust not that we should still abide vniust but that hee might bring vs to God Thou therefore who continuest vniust maist say as thou hast heard that there is a Sauiour come into the world but can not say in truth that there is a Sauiour come to thee For where Christ comes hee worketh that worke for which hee came namely hee destroyes the worke of the diuell that is hee enfeebles and abolishes at the last the power of sinne Condemned sinne Sinne by a metaphor is said to be condemned for as they vvho are condemned are depriued of all the liberty power and priuiledges they had before and hath no more any place to appeare in iudgement so hath the Lord Iesus disanulled sinne that it hath now no power to command and condemne vs hee hath spoyled principalities and powers and triumphed ouer them in the Crosse and hath nayled vnto it the obligation of ordinances which was against vs and so sustulit illam quasi authoritatem peccati qua homines detinebat in inferno hath taken away that povver and authoritie of sinne whereby it detayned men vnder damnation This hath hee done most lawfully and in iudgement as vve shall heare bearing our sinnes in his blessed body on the Crosse hee hath suffered that punishment vvhich the law required to bee inflicted on man for sinne and that in the flesh that is in the same nature of man vvhich had offended For this word of Condemnation imports a iust and lawful proceeding of a Iudge in iudgement which that vve may the better vnderstand let vs consider that there are two generall and head iustice Courts vvhich the Lord hath set vnto men the one is holden already the other is to bee holden in the first the sinnes of all the elect are lawfully condemned that themselues may be absolued in the second the persons of all the reprobate shall bee iusty condemned In the first by the ordinance of God the Father our sinnes were laid vpon the back of Iesus Christ and a law imposed to him which was neuer giuen to any other neyther Angell or man to wit the law of a Mediator that hee should make vp peace betweene God and man loue God in such sort that hee should by suffering preserue the glory of his Fathers iustice and yet make manifest the glory of his mercy that hee should loue his brethren in such sort that hee should take the burden of their transgressions vpon him which as by the Father it vvas inioyned vnto him so did hee vvillingly vndertake it And therefore hauing our sinnes imputed vnto him hee presented himselfe for vs vpon the Crosse as vpon a pannell before the Iudge to vnderly the law which craued that our sinnes should be punished to the death The decree according to the law is executed death yea an accursed death as the punishment of sinne is laide vpon Christ wherevpon there followes of equitie an absolution of all those for whom the Lord Iesus suffered as Cautioner their sinne is condemned and made of no force to condemne them hereafter The other generall iustice court will bee holden in the last day wherein all flesh must appeare before the Lord as their superiour and in that supreame and last Court of iustice shall bee condemned the persons of all those whose sinnes were not condemned before in Christ
spirit are not sure of mercy ye blaspheme as of before speakes yet manifestly against the Apostle who sayes that the witnessing of this spirit vnto our spirit makes vs to cry Abba father But wee will speake more of this hereafter But now to conclude this verse seeing hee who hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his whose then shall hee be certainely he is the vassall of Sathan the Lord shall deny him the Lord shall disclaime him as not belonging to him depart from mee yee workers of iniquitie I know not whence you are O the bitter fruit of sinne which causes the Lord to deny that creature to be his which once he made to his owne image Let vs therefore hate our sinne vnto death let vs in time make hast to depart from iniquitie which shall at the last draw on that sentence vpon the wicked depart from me The Lord deliuer vs from it through Iesus Christ. Verse 10. And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sinne but the Spirit is life for righteousnesse sake HItherto hath the Apostle comforted the Christian against the remanents of sinne now hee comforts him against the fruites and effects of sinne which he findeth in himselfe The godly might haue obiected ye haue said before the fâ—uite of carnall wisedome is death are wee not subiect vnto death and so of the fruites and effects of sinne what can wee iudge but that wee are carnall To this hee answeres first by a confession it is true that the body is dead because of sinne but if Christ be in you the spirit through his righteousnesse is endued with life yee are not therefore to conclude that yee are carnall because death through sinne is entred into your bodies as to confirme your selues in this that life through the righteousnesse of Christ is communicated to your soule and so the summe of his comfort will bee this the death whereunto you are subiect is neyther totall nor perpetuall that it is not totall he declares in this verse for it strikes not vpon the whole man but vpon the weakest part of man which is his body as for his most excellent part which is his soule it is pertaker of a life that is not subiect vnto death That it is not perpetuall he declares in the next verse our bodyes shall not bide for euer vnder the bands of death the spirit of Christ that now dwels in them shall at the last raise them vp from death and cloth them with immortalitie and incorruptibiliâ—ie If Christ be in you Before the Apostle bring in his comfort hee premits a conâ—â—tion to teach vs that the comforts of God belong not indifferently vnto all men hee who is a stranger from Christ hath nothing to doe with these comforts When our Sauiour commaunded his Disciples to proclaime peace vnto euery house they came to hee foretold them it should abide onely with the sonnes of peace he foâ—bad them in like manner to giue those things which were holy vnto dogs or to cast pearles before Swine This stands a perpetuall Law to all Preachers that they presume not to proclaime peace to the impenitent and vnbeleeuing but as Iehâ— spake to Iehorams horseman What hast thou to doe with peace so are wee to tell the wicked who walke still on in their sinnes that they haue nothing to doe with that peace preached by the Gospell Secondly if wee compare the former verse with this we shall see that the manner of Christs dwelling in his children is by his Spirit To make vp our vnion with Christ it is not needfull that his humane nature should bee drawne down from heauen or that his body should be euery where as the Vbiquitaries affiâ—me or that in the Sacrament the bread shold be transubstantiate into his body as the Papists imagine his dwelling in vs is by his spirit and our vnion with him is spirituall neyther yet by so saying doe wee diuide his two natures for they are inseperably vnited in one personall vnion which vnion doth not for all that import that his humane nature is extended ouer all as his diuine nature is The heauens must containe him till hee come againe Noli dubitare ibi esse hominem Christum vnde venturus est Put it out of doubt that the man Christ Iesus is in that place from which hee shall come Keepe faithfully that Christian confession He is risen from the death ascended vnto Heauen and sits at the right hand of his Father and that hee shall come from no other place but from Heauen to iudge the quicke and the dead and hee addeth that which the Angell said to his Disciples this Iesus who is taken vp from you into heauen shall so come as ye haue seene him goe into heauen that is saith Augustine in eadem carnis forma atque substantia cui profecto immortalitatem dedit naturam non abstulit that is in that same forme and substance of flesh to the which hee hath giuen immortalitie but hath not taken away the nature thereof Secundum hanc non est pâ—tandem quod vbique est diffusus vbique per id quod Deus in coâ—lo autem per â—d quod homâ— according to this nature wee are not to thinke that he is in euery place it is true that as God he is euery where but as man he is in the heauens and this for the condition Now to the comfort wee haue by Iesus Christ a threefold comfort against death whereof two onely here are touched The first that the death whereunto we are subiect is not totall The second that the nature and qualitie of our bodilie death is changed The third that it is not perpetuall the body shall not for euer lie vnder death The Ethnicks had also their owne silly comforts but nothing comparable to ours Nazianzen records that Cleopatra Queene of Aegypt demaunding of certaine learned men what kinde of death was without the bitter sense of paine receiued this answere there is no death without dolour but that death was most gentle which was brought on by the Serpent Aspis and namely that kinde thereof which is called Aypnale because they whose flesh is enuenomed with the poyson therof doe incontinently sleepe vnto death for which cause also shee made choyse of it And Seneâ—a being by Nero to bee executed to death got it left to his owne pleasure as great fauour shewed vnto him to make choyse of any death hee pleased he chose to bleede to death in hote water others among them that offered themselues to most fearefull deaths such as Curtius Regulus and others had no comfort to sustaine them but a silly hope of immortall fame of their affection to their country It was saith Augustine the silly comfort of the Gentiles against the want of buriall Coelo tegitur qui non habet vrnam and as comfortlesse is the comfort of many
bastard Christians which stands onely in a fayre Sepulcher prouided before hand for themselues in an honourable buriall commanded expected of them before death and in abundance of worldly things which they leaue to theirs behinde them all which as saith the same Father viuorum sunt solatia non mortuorum are comforts to them that liue behinde but no help to them who are dead I note this that considering the magnanimitie of these Ethnicks in suffering of death notwithstanding the weake and small comforts which they had to sustaine them we may be ashamed of our pâ—sillanimitie who hauing from Christ most excellent comforts against death are afraide at the smallest remembrance thereof An euident argument that albeit many professe him yet few are pertakers of his power life and grace and that many hath him dwelling in their mouths in whose harts he dwelleth not by his spirit The body is dead Hee sayes not the body is subiect to death but by a more significant manner of speach he sayth the body is dead There is a difference betweene a mortall body and a dead body Adams body before the fall was mortall that is subiect to a possibilitie of dying but now after the fall our bodies are so mortall that they are subiect to a necessitie of dying yea if wee will here with the Apostle esteeme of death by the beginning thereof our bodies are dead already The officers and sergeants of death which are dolours infirmities and heauieâ— diseases hath seased already vpon our bodies and marked them as lodgings which shortly must be the habitation of death so that there is no man who is not presently dead in some part or other of his body Not onely is the sentence giuen out against vs thou art dust and to dust thou shalt returne but is begun to bee executed our carkasses are bound with cords by the officers of death and our life is but like that short time which is graunted to a condemned man betweene his doome and his execution all which the Apostle liuely expresses when he sayes the body is dead Whereof there arises vnto vs many profitable instructions and first what great neede wee haue as wee are commaunded to passe the time of our dwelling here in feare working out our owne saluation in feare and trembling seeing our sinnes haue cast vs into the hands of the first death shall we not cry without ceasing that we may be deliuered from the power of the second Alas it is pittifull that man should so farre forget himselfe as to reioyce in the time of his misery to passe ouer the dayes of his mortall life in vanitie and wantonnesse not considering how the first death is already entred into his carkasse nor foreseeing how hee may bee deliuered from the second but liues carelesse like to the Apostates of the old world who in the middest of their sinfull pleasures were sodainly washed away with the waters of the wrath of God and their spirits for disobedience sent vnto the prison where now they are and like those Philistims who banquetting in the platforme of the house of Dagon their God hauing minde of nothing but eating drinking and sporting not knowing that their enimie was within were sodainely otherthrowne and their banquetting house made their buriall place so shall it be with all the wicked who liuing in a dead body cares for nothing but how to please themselues in their sinne the piller of their house shall be pulled downe destruction shall come vpon him like a whirlewinde and in a moment shall sodaine desolation ouertake them And let this same meditation represse in vs that poyson of pride the first sinne that euer sprung forth of our nature next to infidelitie and last in rooting out Wilt thou consider O man that thou art but dead and that thy body be it neuer so strong or beautifull is but a lodging of death and what cause shalt thou haue to waxe proud for any thing that is in the flesh quid â—u superbis terra cinis si superbientibus Angelis non pepercit deus quanto minus tibi putredo vermis what hast thou to doe to be proud O dust and ashes if God spared not the Angels when they waxed proud vvill he spare thee who art but a rotten creature yea Vermis crastino moriturus a worme that must dye to morrow If so was done to an Angell saith Bernard what shall become of me ille intumuit in coelo ego in sterquilinio he vvas puft vp in heauen and therefore was cast downe from the place of his habitation if I waxe proude lying in a douâ—g-hill shall I not bee punished and cast downe into hell So oft therefore as corrupâ— nature stirreth vp the heart of man to pride because of the flowers of beautie strength that grow out of it let this humble thee thy flowres O man cannot but wither for the roote from which they spring is dead already And lastly is the body dead then learne temperance and sobrietie what auaileth it to pamper that carkasse of thine with excessiue feeding which is possessed by death already if men tooke the tenth part of that care to present their spirits holy and without blame vnto the Lord which they take to make their bodyes fat and beautifull in the eyes of men they might in short time make greater progresse in godlinesse then they haue done but herein is their folly Carnem pretiosis rebus impinguant c. they make fat their flesh with delicate things which within few daies the woâ—ms shall deuoure Animam vero non adornant bonis operibiu but beautifies not the Soule with good works which shortly is to bee presented vnto God Let vs refraine from the immoderate pampering of this flesh Meates are ordained for the belly and the belly for meates but God will destroy them both We haue here moreouer discouered vnto vs the shamelesse impudencie of Sathan who daily tempting man to sin promiseth vnto him some good by committing of it as boldly as if hee had neuer falsified his promise before He promised to our Parents in Paradise that if they did eate of the fruite of the forbidden tree they should become like vnto God but what performed he in stead of making man like vnto God hee made him like vnto himselfe yet as I sayde so shamelesse is that lying Spirit that hee dâ—re as boldly promise vantage by committing of sinne this day as he did the first day to Adam in Paradise notwithstanding that wee see through miserable experience that death because of sinne is enâ—â—ed into our bodyes Is hee not a deceiuer indeed that did first steale from vs our birth-right and now would also take from vs the blessing all those benefites wee got by our first creation he hath stollen them from vs with his lying words and now hee goes about by lyes also to steale from vs that
blessing of restitution by Christ offered and exhibited vnto vs. Iacob iustly complayned of Laban that hee had deceiued him and had changed his wages seauen times but more iustly may we complaine of Sathan who innumerable times hath beguiled vs hee hath changed our wages how oft hath hee promised vs good things and behold what euill is come vpon vs Happy were wee if in all our tentations we did remember this and reply to Sathan in this manner The Lord rebuke thee thou shamelesse Lyar from the beginning with what face canst thou speake that vnto mee wherein thou hast beene so oft conuinced by so manifold witnesses to be a manifest Lyar. Of the fruites of sinne which wee haue seene wee are to iudge of the fruits of sinne which are not seene if sinne hath made vs so miserable in this life how miserable shall it make vs in the life to come if wee continue in it This is that wisedome which the Apostle recommends to vs in that worthy sentence happy were wee if it were sounded continually in the eares of our minde as oft as we are tempted vnto sinne What fruit haue yee then of those sins whereof now yee are ashamed He that will search within himselfe the fruit of his foâ—mer transgressions shall easily perceiue there is no cause why hee should commit sinne vpon hope of any better fruit in time to come It was Samsons destruction that notwithstanding he found himselfe thriâ—e deceiued by Dalilah yet the fourth time he hearkned vnto her deceitfull allurements and it shall in like manner be the destruction of many who notwithstanding they haue found themselues abused by Sathan in time past yet wil not learne to resist him but giues place vnto his lying entisements and are carryed headlong by him into the wayes of death hee was a lying Spirit in the mouth of Achabs Prophets to draw him forward in a battell promising him victory in the vvhich he knew assuredly that he should dye so is hee a lying spirit in the harts of all the vvicked promising vnto them gaine glory or pleasure by doing those works of sin whereof he knowes well inough they shall reape nothing but shame and euerlasting confusion Againe that vve may yet see hovv foolish they are who liue still in their sinnes vve may marke here that they are murtherers of themselues the mallice of the wicked shall slay themselues his owne sin which he hath conceiued brought forth and nourished shall bee his destruction Euery man iudges Saul miserable that dyed vpon his owne sword but what better are other wicked men are not their sins the weapons by vvhich they slay themselues Thus are they twise miserable first because they are subiect to death secondly because they are guiltie of their owne death Oh the pittifull blindnesse of men albeit in their life they feare nothing more then death yet doe they entertaine nothing better than sinne which causes death In bodily diseases men are content to abstaine euen from ordinary foode vvhere they are informed by the Phisition that it will nourish their sicknesse and this they doe to eschew death onely herein they are so ignorant that notwithstanding they abhorre death yet they take pleasure in vnrighteousnesse which brings on death And lastly seeing vve are taught here that sinne brings death vpon the body vvhat meâ—uaile the Lord strikes the bodies of men by sundry sorts of diseases and sundry kindes of death seeing man by sundry sorts of sinnes pâ—ouokes the Lord vnto anger he frameth his iudgement proportionable vnto his sinnes If yee walke stubbornly against me and will not obey mee I will then bring seauen times more plagues vpon you according to your sinnes Hee hath famine to punish intemperance and the abuse of his creatures hee hath the deuouring sword to bring low the pride of man hee hath burning feuers and vncleane consuming goutes to punish the fierie and vncleane lusts and concupiscence of man If now the Lord after that hee hath striken vs vvith famine and pestilence come among vs to visit vs also with vnaccustomed diseases what shall vve say but the despising of his former fatherly corrections and our stubborne walking against the Lord our God hath procured this vnto our selues Quid mirum in poenas generis humani crescere iram dei cum crescat quotidie quod puniatur what meruaile the wrath of God increase euery day to punish men seeing that increases among men vvhich deserues that God should punish it But there are two impediments which suffers not these vvarnings of God to enter into the harts of men The one is albeit they finde within themselues sinnes condemned by the word of God yet the plagues threatned against those sinnes hath not light vpon them This is that roote of bitternesse whereof Moses vvarned Israell to beware that they should not blesse themselues in their harts when God doth curse them thinking they shall escape iudgement notwithstanding they doe those things vvhich God hath forbidden them Salomon marked this to be a great cause of iniquitie because iudgement is not executed speedely vpon the wicked therefore the hart of the children of men is set within them to doe wickedly But O man doest thou not know that the iudgement of God is according to truth against all that commit such things Why despisest thou the riches of his bountifulnesse and patience because the Lord holds his tongue and spares thee for a while thinkest thou that he will spare thee for euer Euery iudgement of God executed vpon another malefactor may tell thee that thou shalt not escape dies poenae nondum aduenit the day of punishment of iudgement of retribution is not yet come though in this life the Lord should not come neere thee yet thy iudgement is not farre off and thy damnation sleepes not Interim plectuntur quidam quo caeteri corrigantur tormenta paucorum exempla sunt omnium In the meane time some are punished that the rest may be corrected the torments of a few are the examples of all As the Lord Iesus set those eighteene men on whom the tower of Siloam fell for examples to all the rest of the people so euery one punished before vs stands vp to vs as a preacher of repentance and an example to warne vs that vnlesse wee repent wee shall perish in like manner Si nunc omne peccatum manifesta plecteretur poena nihil vltimo iudicio reseruari putaretur si nusâ—um nunc peccatum puniret Deus nulla putaretur esse prouidentia If in this life euery sinne were punished with a seene iudgement nothing should be reserued to the last iudgement and if no sinne were punished in this life it might bee thought there were not a prouidence to regard it The Lord therefore punisheth some sinnes in this life to tell there is a God who iudgeth righteously in the
as for the fourth it shall be the estate of the Saints of God in heauen Let not therefore the children of God be discouraged by looking either vpon the remanents of sin in their soule or the beginning of death in their body for why this estate wherein now we are is neither our last nor our best estate out of this we shall be transchanged into the blessed estate of glorious immortalitie our soules without all spot or wrinckle shall dwell in the body freed from mortalitie and corruption made like vnto Christs owne glorious body which the Lord our God who hath translated vs out of our second miserable estate into this third shall not faile to accomplish in his time Againe it comes to bee considered here seeing by Iesus Christ life is restored to the soule presently why is it not Last of all there is here a notable comfort for all the children of God that there is begun in vs a life which no death shall euer bee able to extinguish albeit death inuade the naturall vitall powers of our bodies and suppresse them one after one yea though at the length he breake in vpon this lodging of clay and demolish it to the ground yet the man of God who dwels in the body shall escape with his lifâ— the Tabernacle is cast downe that is the most our enimie can doe but he who dwelt in it remoues vnto a better as the Bâ—â—d escapes out of the snare of the Fowler so the soule in death flighteâ—s out and flies away with ioy to her maker yea the dissoluing of the bodie to the man of God it is but the vnfolding of the net and breaking open the prison wherein hee hath beene detayned that hee himselfe may be deliuered The Apostle knew this well and therfore desired to be dissolued that he might be with Christ As in the battell betweene our Sauiour and Sathan Sathans head was bruised and hee did no more but tread on the heele of our Sauiour so shall it be in the conflict of all his members with Sathan by the power of our Lord Iesus we shall be more then conquerours The God of peace shall shortly tread downe Sathan vnder our feete the most that Sathan can doe vnto vs Manducet terram meam dentem carni infigat conterat corpus let him lick the dust let him eate that part of mee which is earth let him bruise my body this is but to tread vpon the heele my comfort is that there is a seede of immortall life in my soule which no power of the enimie is able to ouercome It is true that so long as wee inioy this naturall life with health of body the losse that comes by the want of the spirituall life is not perceiued no more then the defects of a ruinous house is knowne in time of fayre weather but when thy naturall life is wearing from thee if thou want the other how comfortlesse shall thy condition bee when thou shalt finde in thine owne experience thou haddest neuer more but a silly naturall life which now is to depart from thee In this estate the wicked eyther dye being vncertaine of comfort or then most certaine of condemaation Those who are strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them hauing no more but the light of nature the best estate wherein they can dye is comfortlesse if for want of light they know not that wrath which is prepared for the wicked and so are not greatly terrified yet farre lesse know they those comforts which after death sustaines the Christian that they should bee comforted The Emperour Hadrian when hee dyed made this faithlesse lamentation Animula vagula blandula quae nunc abibis in loca O silly wandring Soule where away now wilt thou goe and that other Seuerus proclaiming the vanitie of all his former glorie cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I haue beene all thingâ— and it profits me nothing the one saith he found no comfort of things that were before him the other saith hee found no comfort of things that were behinde thus the wicked dye comfortlesse good things to come they neither know nor hope for good things past profit them not Or if they haue beene such wicked men as by the light of the word haue knowne the will of their master and yet rebelled against their light they go out of the body not onely comfortles but certain of condemnation hauing receiued sentence within themselues that they shall neuer see the face of God and such was the death of Iudas let vs not therefore rest contented with the shadow of this vanishing life let vs prouide for that immortall seede of a better life within vs which receiues increase but cannot decay it waxeth stronger the weaker that the bodily life is but cannot be weakned far lesse extinguished by bodily death He that finds it with in himselfe shall reioyce in death hee shall dye in faith in obedience and in spirituall ioy Committing his Soule vnto God as vnto a faithfull Creator hee rests in him whom hee hath beleeued being assured that the Lord will keepe that which he hath committed vnto him The Lord worke it in vs for Christs sake is that which the Lord promised to Iacob when hee bad him goe downe to Egypt Feare not to go for I will go downe with thee and I will bring thee vp againe He forewarned him that hee should dye in Egypt and that Ioseph should close his eyes but he promiseth to bring vp againe his dead body vnto Canaan O what a kindnes is it that the Lord will honour the dead bodyes of his Children The prayse of the canuoy of Iacobs corps the Lord will neither giue it to Ioseph nor to Pharaohs Seruants with their Chariots who in great number accompanied him the Lord takes it vnto himselfe I will bring thee vp againe saith the Lord the like kindnesse and truth doth the Lord keepe for all the remanent of his seruants Is thy body consecrated is it a vessell of honour a house and temple wherein God is dayly serued he shall honour it againe hee shall not leaue it in the graue neither cast off the care thereof but shall watch ouer the dust thereof though it tast of corruption it shall not perish in corruption The holy Spirit who dwelt in the body shall be vnto it as a balme to preserue thee to immortalitie this same flesh and no other for it though it shall bee dissolued into innumerable pickles of dust shall be raised againe and quicned by the omnipotent power of this Spirit It is a pittie to see by what silly meanes naturall men seeke the immortall conseruation of their bodyes and cannot obtaine it there is no helpe nature may yeeld to prolong the death of the body but they vse it and because they see that death cannot bee eschewed their next care is how to keep
it in the graue longest from rottennesse and corruption and how when themselues are gone to preserue their names in immortall remembrance with the posteritie thus by the very instinct of nature are men carried away with a desire of eternitie but herein are they foolish that they seek it the wrong way they lay out their siluer but not for bread they spend their labour and are not satisfied immortalitie and life is to bee sought there where the word of the Lord directs vs let the Spirit of Christ dwell in thee and thou shalt liue otherwise though thou wert the greatest Monarch in the world though all thy meate were soueraigne medicines though thy body were laid in graue with as great externall pompe as worldly glory can afford to any creature and thy flesh were embalmed with the costliest oyntments these are but miserable comforts perishing preseruatiues thou shalt lye downe in dishonour and shalt be raised in greater dishonor to euerlasting shame and endlesse confusion Now as wee haue these three degrees of eternall life by the Spirit dwelling in vs so are wee to marke the order by vvhich hee proceedes in communicating them vnto vs first hee restores life to the soule and secondly he shall restore life vnto the body saith the Apostle where the one is done bee assured the other shall bee done the one is the proper end of his first comming therefore his Heraulds cryed before him Behold the Lambe of God who taketh away the sins of the world In his second comming shall bee the redemption of our bodyes when hee shall appeare hee shall change our vile bodies and make them like to his owne glorious bodie Let this reforme the preposterous care of men art thou desirous that thy body should liue be first carefull that life be communicated to the soule for surely the redemption of thy body shall not follow vnlesse the restitution of thy soule goe before Oportet cor nostrum conformari humilitati cordis Christi priusquam corpus conformetur glorioso corpori eius our heart must first bee conformed to the humilitie of Christs heart before that our body be configurated to his glorious body this is the first resurrection blessed are they that are pertakers of it for vpon such the second death shall haue no power But it is out of doubt qui non resurgit in anima resurget in corpore ad poenam hee that riseth not now in his soule from his sinnes shall rise hereafter in his body to iudgement But now leauing the condition to come to the comfort he that raysed vp Christ from the dead saith the Apostle shall also quicken your mortall bodies What necessitie is there here that he who raysed Christ shall raise vs yes indeed the necessitie is great the head and the members of the misticall body cannot be sundred seeing the head is raysed from the dead no member can be left vnder death the Lord workes in euery member according to that same mightie power by which hee wrought in the head his resurrection necessarily imports ours seeing hee arose not as a priuate man but as the head of all his members full of power to draw the body after him and to communicate that same life to euery member which he hath declared in himselfe Christ in risen from the dead and is made the first fruits of them that sleepe the first fruit is â—isen the after fruit shall in like manner follow Vexit in coelum carnem nostram tanquam arhabonem pignus totius summae illuc quandoque redigendae the Lord Iesus hath carryed our flesh into heauen as an earnest and pledge of the whole summe which afterward is to be brought thether hee hath not thought it inough to giue his spirit vnto vs here on earth as the earnest of our inheritance but to put vs out of all doubt hee hath carryed vp our flesh into heauen and possest it in the kingdome in the name of all his members Who raysed vp Iesus from the dead Then we see that our Lord was once among the dead but now is risen from them let vs not then be afraid when God shall call vs to lye down among the dead also shal the seruant be ashamed of his Masters condition or will the patient refuse to drink that potion which the phisition hath tasted before him No we must follow our Lord through the miseries of this life through the dolours of death through the horrours of the graue if wee looke to follow him in his resurrection in his ascension to be amongst those hundred fortie and foure thousand in mount Sion who hauing his fathers name written in their foreheads follow the Lambe wheresoeuer hee goeth singing that new song which none can sing but they whom hee hath bought from the earth When those women came to seeke the Lord Iesus in the Sepulchre all the feare they had conceiued concerning Christs death the Angels remoues it by sending them to meditate on the resurrection Why seeke yee him that liueth among the dead hee is not here but hee is risen Wee are not yet laid downe among the dead but or euer we goe to the graue we haue this comfort that the Lord by his power shall raise vs out of it where the head growes through the members will follow Per angustum passionis foramen transiuit Christus vt latum praeberet ingressum sequentibus membris Our Lord is gone through the narrow passage of death that he might make it the wider and easier to all his members who are to follow him We see by experience the body of a man drownes not though it be vnder the water as long as the head is borne aboue many of the members of Christ are here in this valley of death tost too and fro in this sea of tribulation with continuall tentations yet our comfort is we cannot perish for our head is aboue and a great part of the body liuing and raigning with him in glory there is life in him to draw forth out of these miseries all his members and hee shall doe it by that same power by which he raised himselfe from the dead For we are taught here that our resurrection is a worke not to be done by man nor the power of nature but by the power of God we are not therefore to hearken to the deceitfull motions of our infidelitie which calles in doubt this article of our Faith wee must not consider the imbecillitie and weaknesse of nature neither measure heauenly and supernaturall things with the narrow span of naturall reason but as it is Abrahams praise the father of the faithfull that when God promised him a sonne in his old age he was not weake in the faith hee considered not his owne body which was dead neither the deadnesse of Sarahs wombe but was strengthned in the faith and gaue glory to God being fully assured that he who
had promised was also able to doe it so should we sanctifie the Lord God in our harts Of these figures shadowing the resurrection many more are to bee found in holy scripture As for examples in euery age of the world the Lord hath raised some from the dead to be witnesses of the resurrection of the rest Before the flood hee carryed vp Henoch aliue into heaâ—en and hee saw no death vnder the law Elias was transported in a fierie chariot and in the last age of the world not onely hath our Lord blessed for euer risen from thâ— lead and ascended into heauen as the first fruits of them which rise from the dead but also by his power hee raised Lazarus out of the graue euen after that stinking rottennesse had entred into his flesh and vpon the Crosse when hee seemed to bee most weake hee shewed himselfe most strong hee caused by his power many that were dead to come out of their graues and to enter into the citie Yea his seruant Peter by the power of the Lord Iesus raised the damsell Dorcas from death and in the name of the Lord Iesus made him that was lame of his feete to arise and walke when we see such power in the seruant of Christ working in his name shall we not reserue the praise of a greater power to himselfe And lastly as for the practises of God in nature we are not to neglect them for the Apostle himselfe brings arguments from them to confirme the resurrection Hee first propones the question of the Atheist how are the dead raised vp and with what body come they forth and then subioynes the answere O foole that which thou sowest is not quickned except it dye it is sowen in the earth bare corne and God raises it with another body at his pleasure seeing thou beholdest this daily working of God in nature why wilt not thou beleeue that the Lord is able to doe the like vnto thy selfe Qui illa reparat quae tibi sunt necessaria quanto magis te reparabit propter quem illa reparare dignatus est Seeing the Lord for thy sake repaires those things which are necessary to maintaine thy life will he not much more restore thy selfe and raise thee vp from death vnto eternall life And to insist in these same confirmations which we may haue from the working of God in nature both in our selues and in other creatures if eyther with Iustin Martyr wee consider of how small a beginning or then with Cyrill how of nothing God hath made vp man we shall see how iustly the Apostle calleth them fooles who deny the resurrection of our bodyes The Lord saith Iustin Martyr of a little drop of mans seede which as Iob saith is powred out like water buildeth vp daily this excellent workmanship of mans body who would beleeue that of so small a beginning and without forme so well a proportionate body in all the members thereof could be brought forth nisi aspectus fidem faceret were it not that daily sight and experience confirmeth it why then shall it be thought a thing impossible to the Lord to reedifie the same body after that by death it hath beene dissolued into dust and ashes And againe if with Cyrill wee will search out our beginning and consider what vvee vvere this day hundred yeare wee shall finde that vvee vvere not seeing the Lord of nothing hath brought out so pleasant and beautifull a creature as thou art this day shalt thou thinke it impossible to him an hundred yeares after this or longer or shorter as it pleaseth him to restore thee againe and raise thee from the dead qui potuit id quod non erat producere vt aliquid esset id quod â—am est cum ceciderit restituere non poterit he that could bring out that which was not and make it to be something shall wee thinke that he cannot raise vp againe that which now is after that it hath fallen Which of these two I pray thee is the greatest and most difficult worke in thy iudgement for vnto the Lord euery thing that he will is a like easie whether to make one who neuer was or to restore againe one who hath beene Doubtlesse to make a man in our iudgement is a greater thing then to raise him In the worke of creation the Lord made that to bee which was not in the worke of resurrection the Lord shall make that to bee which was before the one thou honourable manner in this life seeing they are to bee raysed vp as vessels of honour and glory in the life to come Againe when the Apostle saith that the Lord shall raise vp our mortall bodyes wee are to know that so hee calleth them in respect of that which they are now not in respect of that which they shall bee then For in the resurrection the Apostle teacheth vs in another place that our bodies shall bee raised immortall honourable glorious spirituall and impassionable First I say the body shal be raised immortal not subiect any more to death nor diseases nor standing in neede of these ordinary helps of meat drinke and sleepe by which our naturall life is preserued Secondly our body shall bee raised honourable now it is layd downe in dishonour for there is no flesh were it neuer so beautifull or beloued of man but after death it becommeth loathsome to the beholder so that euen Abraham shall desire that the dead body of his beloued Sarah may be buryed out of his sight but in the resurrection they shall be raised more honourable then euer they were they shall bee redeemed from all their infirmities euery blemish in the body that now makes it vnpleasant shall bee made beautifull in the resurrection and euery defectiue member thereof shall be restored to integritie Membri detruncatio vel obtusio nonne mors membri est si vniuersalis mors resurrectione rescinditur quanto magis portionalis for the perishing of the member is no other thing but the death of the member if the benefit of resurrection cut off the vniuersall death of the body shall it not also take away the portionall death of a member in the body if the whole man shall bee changed to glory shall hee not much more bee restored to health Out of all doubt the bodyes of Gods Children shall be raised perfect comely and euery way honourable hoc est enim credere resurrectionem integram credere Thirdly the body shall be raised a glorious body When hee shall appeare hee shall change our vile bodyes and make them like to his glorious body They who conuert many to righteousnesse shall shine like the stars in the firmament yea the iust saith our Sauiour shall shine like the Sun in the firmament A shadow of this glory we haue in Christs transfiguration on mount Tabor his face shined as the
Christians shall wee iudge by the place vvhich ye delight most to frequent are there not many among you oftner in the Tauerne then in the Temple filling your belly intemperately at that same time vvherein the Sonnes and Daughters of the liuing God are gathered together into their fathers house to be refreshed with his heuenly Manna shall we iudge you by your garments doe they not in many of you declare the vanitie of your minds if we estimate you according to your companions what shall wee thinke but that ye are such as those are with whom ye delight to resort ye sit in the seat of scorners if thou seest a theefe thou must with him and art pertaker with the adulterers If wee try you by your language yee shall be found vncircumcised Philistims and not holy Israelites for yee haue learned to speake the language of Ashdod ye speake as Micah complayned of the wicked in his time out of the corruption of your soule making your throat an open sepulchre yee send out the stinking breath of your inward abhominations by your euill and vncleane speaches ye corrupt the minds of the hearers And thus seeing euery part of your life giues sentence against you as a cloud of many vvitnesses testifieng that yee are vncleane what haue yee to speake for you to proue that yee are Christians shall your naked word be sufficient to doe it no certainely for against it the Lord Iesus hath made exception before hand Not euery one that sayth Lord Lord shall enter into my kingdome your workes must be your witnesses and your deedes must declare who it is to whom ye acknowledge your selues seruants and debters Not to the flesh Sometime the flesh signifies the body and in that sense wee are debters vnto it for the couenant sayth Bernard which the Lord hath bound vp betweene the soule and the body is not to be broke at our will but at the Lords will and in the meane time wee are bound to nourish it but the flesh here is put for the sinfull lusts of the flesh and so we are not debters vnto it Take no thought for the flesh to fulfill the sinfull lusts thereof But alas the corruption of our nature is so great that without great circumspection we cannot nourish the body vnlesse we also nourish sinne in the body many vnder pretence of doing dutie to the one failes in the other so they pamper the body that they quench the spirit ouercome with gluttony they are not able to pray Wee are with the godly to keepe a meane of a shaking sword to keepe Adam from the way of the tree of life so the Apostle stands here betweene vs and death with a sentence like a two edged sword in his mouth to keepe the sonnes of Adam as farre as hee can from the way of death the one stood as a minister of Gods iustice the other stands as a messenger of mercy The Lord hath sworne by himselfe as I liue I desire not the death of a sinner but that he should returns liue he iustifies his word by his deed in that in all ages of the world hee hath sent out messengers to warne them to goe by the way of death so that novv if any man perish it is because hee stoppes his eares at the warning of the watchman of God for thou canst not say but Moses and the Prophets Iesus Christ and his Apostles and Preachers haue met thee in the way of thy sin and warned thee many a time by the vvord of the Lord that if thou vvalke on that vvay thou shalt assuredly dye vvhere thou passing by them all rushest headlong after the lusts of thy flesh and so thou perishest and thy blood shall be vpon thine owne head As the Apostle to the preceding exhortation annexed an argument a debito from that which we are bound to doe so now hee subioynes another argument partly a damno from the losse wee incurre if we doe it not in these words if yee liue after the flesh yee shall dye and partly a commodo from the vantage we shall reape if we do it in these words if yee mortifie the deedes of the bodie by the spirit yee shall liue If wee vvere such men as wee should be the former exhortation taken from honestie and dutie were sufficient to moue vs but in that the spiâ—it of God doth also threaten vs with death is an euident argument of the froward rebellion of our nature The word of God is compared not onely to milke but also to salt we haue neede of the one because of our infancy that being nourished therewith wee may grow and because of our corruption wee haue neede to be seasoned with the other to both these ends should Preachers vse the word of GOD to some as milke for their nourishment to others as salt for their amendment But these are the times foretold by the Apostle wherein the itching eares of men cannot abide wholesome doctrine they hate him that rebukes in the gate as Achab hated Micaiah to the death because hee prophecyed no good vnto him that is hee spake not according to his phantasie but warned him faithfully of the iudgement which afterward came vpon him so the hearers of our time can abide no teachers but such as are after their owne lusts but alas they are foolish for are not my words good to him that walkes vprightly sayth the Lord. Aduersarius est nobis quamdiu sumus ipsi nobis quamdiu tu tibi inimicus es inimicum habebis sermonem Dei the word of God is an aduersarie to none but such as are aduersaries to themselues neither doth it condemne any but such as assuredly shall be condemned of the Lord vnlesse they repent Stop thine eare as thou wilt from hearing of the threatnings of the word yet shalt thou not stop that iudgement which the word hath threatned against thee There is a cry that will come at midnight and will waken the dead but blessed are they who in time are wakened out of the sleepe of their sins by the cryes of the watch-men of God for vndoubtedly a fearefull and painefull consumption shall torment them for euer who now cannot suffer that the salt of the Word should bite their sores to cure them The opposition made here by the Apostle vvarnes vs that a necessitie lyeth vpon vs to mortifie our sinfull lusts it stands vpon our liues vnlesse wee slay sinne sinne shall not faile to slay vs. It is like a Serpent in our bosome which cannot liue but by sucking out that bloud vvherby we liue here is a vvholesome preseruatiue against sinne if at euery occasion vvee vvould carry it in our minde vve would make no doubt to put sinne to the death that our selues might liue For alas what pittifull folly is this vvee hate them that pursues our bodily life vvee eschew them by all bodily
meanes vvee hate the oppressours that spoile vs of worldly goods onely vvee cannot hate Sathan to the death who seekes by sinne to spoyle vs of eternall life That same Commaundement which vvas giuen to Adam and Euah if yee eate of the forbidden tree yee shall dye is in effect here giuen to vs all if ye liue after the flesh ye shall die let vs not make an exception where God hath made none euery sinne to vs is as that forbidden tree to Adam if vvee meddle with it vvee shall finde no better fruite then that which Adam found on it before vs there is a fruit which man seekes vpon the tree of sinne and hee shall not finde it to wit profit or pleasure and there is another fruit which God hath threatned and Sathan saith it growes not on the tree of sinne but man assuredly shall finde it Bitter death growes vpon the pleasant tree of sinne for the vvages of sinne is death albeit there came no vvord from the Lord to teach this former experience may confirme it for what fruit haue vve this day of all our former sinnes but a guiltie conscience which breeds vs much terror accusing thoughts and anguish of Spirit It is therefore a point of great wisedome to discerne betweene the deceit of sinne and fruit of sin before the action Sinne is Inimicus blandiens a flattering and laughing enimie in the action it is dulce venenum sweet poyson but after the action it is Scorpio pungens a pricking and biting Serpent Hee that vvould rightly discerne the face of sinne when it stands before him to tempt him let him looke backe to the taile of a sinne which hee hath committed alreadie and of the sting which that sinne hath left behind it let him learne to beware of the smiling countenance of the other which wil no lesse vvound him the second time vnto death if so be he embrace it Most properly may the pleasures of sin bee compared to the streames of the riuer Iordan vvhich carryeth away the fish swimming and playing in it delighted vvith such pleasures as are agreeable to their kind euen til it deuolue them into the salt sea where incontinent they die euen so in the wicked inordinate concupiscence is as a forcible streame which carryeth away with it impenitent men playing and delighting themselues in their lusts till at length they fall into that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone out of the which there is no redemption for them The perishing pleasures of sinne are payd home with euerlasting perdition it is done in a moment but when it is finished it bringeth out death and breedes the worme that will neuer dye paruum ad horam peccatum longaeua autem est ex eo aeterna verecundia it is the deuoring Locust of the bottomlesse pit which hath haire like a woman teeth like a Lyon and a tayle like a Scorpion miserable are they who are blinded with it they may sleepe in their sinne but their damnation sleepes not though their heads bee laid downe like the Kine of Bashan to drinke in iniquitie like water yet their iudgement is not farre off and they are but like vnto Oxen fed for the slaughter Wee perceiue here further that euery mans state and condition in this life is a prediction of that state and condition which abides him when this life is gone He that soweth to the flesh of the flesh shall reape corruption but hee that soweth to the Spirit shall reape immortalitie and life As no man commeth eyther to a Pallace or a Prison but by the entry thereof so no man goeth eyther to heauen or hell but by the way thereof A wicked life is as a thorow-way to that prison and place of darkesse hee who goes on in it without returning shall out of all doubt when hee hath passed the path-way enter into the prison and a godly life is the very way to heauen hee that walkes in it perseuering to the ende shall enter at last into that Pallace of Glory which is the paradise of God Salomon saith that where the tree fals there it lyes and experience teacheth vs that it fals to that side on which the branches thereof grow thickest if the greatest growth of our affections and actions spring out after the Spirit out of doubt vvee shall fall to the right hand and shall be blessed but if otherwise thy affections grow downeward and thou vvalke after the flesh then assuredly thou shalt fall to the left hand and die in sin vnder the cuâ—se of God But seeing they vvho vvalke after the flesh are dead already how sayth the Apostle they shall dye To this I answere both are true presently they are dead and yet a more fearefull death abides them That they vvho liue in their sinnes are dead already vvee shewde before for sinne is that vnto the soule of man vvhich fire and water are to the body that is to say an vnkindely Element in the which it cannot liue but certainely a more fearefull death abides them which the spirit of God calleth the second death wherin they shal not onely liue depriuâ—d of life wanting all sense yea all hope of the mercy of God but shal also feele the full measure of his wrath due to their sinnes powred out vpon them Now albeit they bee dead in sinne and depriued of the fauour of the Creator yet the vaine comforts of the creatures doth so bewitch and blinde them that they know not how vvretched and miserable they are but vvhen the last sentence of damnation shall bee pronounced vpon them they shall not onely bee banished from the presence of God into euerlasting perdition where the fiâ—e of the Lords indignation shall perpetually torment them but also the comfort of all Gods creatures vvhich now they haue shall forsake them The least degree of their punishment shall bee a fearefull famine of vvorldly comforts The Pomegranat Tree the Palme Tree the Apple Tree shall wither The Apples after which now their soule lusteth shall depart from them they shall finde none of them yea if a cup full of colde vvater might comfort them it shall not be giuen vnto them thus you see how they are dead and yet a more fearefull death abideth them Therefore the spirit of God to expresse the fearefulnes of that second death he calleth it a vvrath and giues it these two â—ules first hee calleth it a vvrath prepared by God Salomon saith the vvrath of a king is the messenger of death vvhat then shall we say of the wrath of God Secondly hee calles it a wrath to come to teach vs that it farre exceedes all that wrath that we haue heard of seene The drowning of the originall world the burning of Sodome a great wrath but nothing comparable to the wrath which is to come Beside this both the place the vniuersalitie the eternitie of their
punishment serues to let vs see if we looke to them how horrible this death is which here is threatned against them vvho liue after the flesh As for the place it is called the winepresse of the wrath of God the lake that burnes with fire and brimstone Tophet prepared of old deepe and large the breath of the Lord like a riuer of brimstone doth kindle it It is that great deepe which the damned spirits themselues abhorre they know it to be the place appointed for their torment all that they craue was onely that the Lord vvould not send them thether to be tormented before the time It it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a place wherein is no light to see therefore Iude called it blacknesse of darknesse and our Sauiour called it vtter darknesse there is in it a burning fire but without light a gnawing worme without rest Saint Peter calles it a prison and our Sauiour calles it Gehenna for the horrible scrieches of them who are brunt in it and the vile and stinking filthinesse vvherewith it is replenished And as for the vniuersalitie of their paine It is certaine that as euery thing in them sinned so euery thing in them shall be punished No power of their soule no member of their body shall bee free from that wrath Surely it should astonish man to consider this for if now any one of Gods ordinary plagues inflicted vpon any one member of the body be so insufferable hovv intollerable vvill that paine be he vvho novv is payned vvith the tooth ach takes some comfort when he sees another tormented vvith the collicke and hee also if hee see another burnt vp with Anthonies fire beares his owne crosse the more patiently because he sees a greater laid vpon another No man in this life suffereth all things one cryeth with the Shunamites sonne for excessiue dolour alas my head my head another with Antiochus my belly the third with Asa my feete my feete but what are all these comparable to that paine vvherein head and belly and feete yea the whole man shall be racked vpon the torments of Gods wrath and that not vvith one plague onely but with manifold for as all the waters of the earth runne into the great Ocean so all the plagues of God shall concurre and meete together in hell for punishment of the damned But yet the eternitie of that paine doth still increase the horrour thereof their shall be no end of their punishment their fire shall neuer bee quenched their worme shall neuer dye they shall seeke death as a benefite and shall not finde it The fire of Sodome vvas ended in a day the deluge of water that drowned the originall world lasted but a yeere the famine that plagued Aegipt lasted but seauen yeeres the captiuitie of Israell was ended in seauenty yeeres but this wrath of God vpon the damned shall endure for euer and euer Thus wee see what a horrible death the Apostle threatneth here vvhile hee sayth if yee liue after the flesh yee shall dye The Lord giue vs wise and vnderstanding hearts that we may ponder it according to the waight therof and it may be to vs a liuely voyce of God to prouoke vs to flee from that fearefull wrath vvhich is to come But if yee mortifie c. Here followes the other member of the argument taken from the great vantage wee receiue by mortifying the lusts of the body if wee doe so wee shall liue Here also we haue first to consider that albeit the Apostle affirmed before verse 9. that these godly Romanes were not in the flesh yet now he exhorts them to a further mortification of the lusts of the flesh which were superfluous if there vvere nothing in them that needed to be mortified then we see clearely vvhich we may also feele in our selues that so long as we liue in the bodie there is euer some remanent life of sinne vvhich vvee haue neede to mortifie and put out In this battell we must fight without intermission till we haue gotten the victory for vvho can say that he hath in such sort cut away his superfluities that there remaynes nothing in him which hath need of reforming beleeue me when they are cut off they spring when they are chased away they returne when they are once quenched they kindle againe except thou dissemble thou shalt alway finde within thy selfe something that hath need to be subdued There is nothing harder sayth Cyrill than the Rocke yet in the seames and clifts thereof the noysome weede fasteneth her roote and springes out and albeit there be no man in the vvorld stronger than a Christian yet is hee oftentimes buffeted by Sathan and sinne which hath fastened their roote in him sends out her inordinate motions and affections against vvhich hee hath neede to fight continually But here it is inquired how doth the Apostle require this of them that they should mortifie their lusts lyeth it in the power of man to doe it To this I answere first that as man gaue life to sinne so is hee bound to put out the life thereof vpon no lesse paine than condemnation and therefore iustly is it required of him Secondly these same good workes vvhich the Lord vvorkes in vs hee is content to asscribe them to vs and calles them ours Of our selues vve must say with the Apostle we are not sufficient of our selues to thinke so much as a good thought our sufficiencie is of God and it is hee who worketh in vs both the vvill and the deed so hee workes in vs that he makes vs through his grace vvilling vvorkers vvith him through him that strengthens vs vve are able to doe all things and therefore the praise of all the good wee can doe should be ascribed vnto God When Dauid had offered to God aboundance of siluer and gold and other mettels vvhich hee had prepared for the house of God hee concludes in the humilitie of his heart What am I O Lord and what is my people that wee should be able to offer willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine owne hand haue wee giuen thee But much more vvhen vve doe any worke of sanctification for the building of our selues vp into a spirituall Temple to the Lord our God we may say O Lord all the good wee can doe is of thee and of thine owne hand wee haue giuen backe vnto thee for except thou Lord hadst giuen vnto vs grace vve should neuer haue giuen to thee obedience Let therefore the presumptuous conceit of Merit yet againe be farre from vs seeing the good which vve doe is debt and is done also by the spirit of the Lord in vs let vs reserue the glory thereof vnto him Quare dona mea non merita tua quia si ego quarerem merita tua non venires ad dona mea seeke my gifts saith Augustine
are the Heyres of God heires annexed with Iesus Christ and the heritage whereunto they are borne is eternall life therefore of necessitie they must liue Here first wee haue to consider what action and operation of the spirit this is which distinguisheth the Sonnes of God from other men The operations of the Spirit are diuers hee hath an vniuersall operation by which he works in all his creatures conseruing leading and directing them to his owne determined ends for in him euery thing that is hath the being liuing and mouing as euery creature is made by God so is it ruled and led by the Spirit according to his appointment Hee hath againe a more speciall operation in man and them backe againe seauen mightie nations of the Canaanits are gathered before them to resist them and hold them out of Canaan but the shepheard and leader of Israell steps ouer all these impediments as if they had not beene in the way and places his people in the mountaine of his inheritance and afterward when he concluded to bring his people from Babell homeward to Canaan he prepared a way for them in the Wildernesse he commaunded the mountaines to bee made low and the vallies to be exalted he commanded the crooked to be straight and the rough places to become plaine and it was done This is for our comfort the Lord who hath taken vs by the hand to lead vs into his holy habitation shall remoue all impediments that are before vs though Sathan like a Lyon spoyled of his pray snatch after vs though he double his tentations vpon vs and with manifold afflictions compasse vs though terrible death and the horrible graue stand before vs threatning to swallow vs by the way yet shall we see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the liuing and ouer all our enimies shall be more than conquerors through him that loued vs and hath taken vs into his owne hand to lead vs to that inheritance which he hath prepared for vs. For it is manifest that both the beginning progresse and perfection of our saluation is ascribed to the spirit of God in holy scriptures when we were dead in sinne he quickned vs when he hath quickned vs he gouernes and leads vs and worketh continually in vs till he perfect vs. Thus is he the author and the finisher of our faith and all the glory of our saluation is his as wee cannot begin to doe well without him so we cannot continue in well doing without him if he lead vs not we wander from him and wearie our selues in the vvay of iniquitie It should serue to humble vs that wee are pointed out here to be but babes and children such as cannot goe by our selues vnlesse we be led by another As that Eunuch answered Phillip when he asked vnderstandest thou what thou readest how can I saith he vnderstand without a guide so may we answere the Lord when he commaunds vs to vvalk in his way how can wee O Lord that are but children and new borne babes walke in thy way without a guide It is a point of good religion to turne the Lords precepts into prayers Send out Lord thy light and thy truth let them lead mee let them bring mee into thine holy mountaine and to thy tabernacles Let thy good spirit lead mee vnto the land of righteousnesse When the Lord threatned that hee would no more goe before the Children of Israel to lead them as hee had done Moses tooke it so deepely to heart that he protested he would not goe one foote further except the Lord went with him and certainely if wee knew the manifold inconueniences whereunto wee shall fall if the Lord forsake vs wee would neuer enter our feete into that way wherein wee saw not the Lord going before vs in mercy to lead vs. Our life on earth should be ordered as was the life of Israell in the wildernesse the Lord went before them by day in a cloud by night in a pillar of fire when the cloud remoued they remoued what way so euer it went they followed where the cloud stood they camped thus the Lord led them by two and fortie stations fortie yeeres in the Wildernesse though Canaan was not farre from them yet they entred not into it till the Lord directed them The Lord hath in like manner praysed be his name for it brought vs out of the land of our bondage he might if he had pleased long ere now haue entred vs into our Canaan but it pleaseth him for a time to exercise vs and to haue vs walking vp and downe this Wildernesse Let vs possesse our harts with patience and reuerence the Lords dispensation in the meane time take heed that the Lord goe before vs that his word shine vnto vs as a lanthorne to our feete and that his holy spirit be our guide to lead vs in his righteousnesse then shall we be sure of a happy end of our iourney when wee liue not as wee list but vnder the gouerment of the holy spirit when our rising and lying downe our Verse 15. For yee haue not receiued the Spirit of bondage to feare againe but the Spirit of Adoption whereby wee cry Abba Father THe Apostle to strengthen his former argument sets downe a short discription in this and the subsequent verse of a threefold operation which the spirit maketh in them whom he leadeth for first he is vnto them a spirit of bondage working feare Secondly he is a Spirit of Adoption working loue through the sense of Gods mercy for hee not onely makes them whom hee leades the Sonnes of God but intimates vnto their spirits Gods loue towards them which otherwise was vnknowne vnto them and thirdly hee is a Spirit of intercession making vs to goe with boldnesse to the throne of grace and call vpon God as vpon our Father Of the which the first part of his argument is made cleare that they who are led by the spirit of God are the Sonnes of God yea by the testimonie of the Spirit they themselues know that it is so and therefore in most homely and humble manner acknowledge him for their Father This the Apostle propones in such a manner that hee applyes it particularly to the Godly Romaines vnto whom hee writeth Yee haue not saith he receiued againe the Spirit of bondage vnto feare as yee did in the time of your first conuersion yee haue proceeded further and haue experience of his other operations then yee felt him casting you downe with the sight of your sinnes but now ye feele him comforting you and raising you vp with the sense of Gods loue and mercy toward you in Iesus Christ. The spirit of God is called a Spirit of bondage vnto feare not as if hee made them in whom hee worketh slaues or bond-men but because in his first operation hee rebukes them of sinne in whom hee worketh and lets them see that bondage
shall perish but hee doth remaine they shall waxe old as doth a garment but hee is the same and his yeeres shall not faile Hee is the father of eternitie in whom there cannot fall so much as a shadow of change farre lesse is hee subiect to death but as for vs by suffering death we must enter into our kingdome wee cannot see him so long as wee liue nor be satisfied with his image till wee awake therefore should the day of death be a ioyfull day vnto vs because it is the day of our entrance to our inheritance Vnnaturall worldlings reioyce at the death of their Parents because by it they come to the heritage they carry merriest harts within them when they put on their blackest garments but as for vs wee should reioyce at the day of our owne death it is not the day of our sorrow as naturall men accounts it but the day of our delight in the which we enter into the fruition of our heauenly inheritance Hee cals vs not onely the Heyres of God but annexed Heyres with Iesus Christ that so he may shew Nos grandes futuros haeredes that wee are to be great heyres The Lord Iesus hath a twofold right to his fathers inheritance one by his eternall generation and so hee is the heyre of God in a manner proper and peculiar to himselfe onely the other hee hath by conquest for by the merit of his death he hath conquered eternall life for all his brethren and this right he communicates vnto vs whereby we also become heyres annexed with him in the first hee admits no companion in the second hee cals vs to be pertakers with him And this serues vnto vs not onely for a speciall comfort in the houre of tentation and day of death as wee marked before but should also prouoke vs to answere the heauenly vocation by a holy disposition seeing wee are the sonnes of God shall wee not resemble his image seeing wee are called to be heyres of an heauenly inheritance shall we any more minde earthly things Farre be it from vs that wee should be prophane like Esau who sould his birth-right for a mease of pottage or like Demas wee should forsake the fellowship of our brethren and imbrace this present world but let vs rather with the holy Apostle account all things to be but doung in respect of the excellent knowledge and fellowship of our Lord Iesus Seeing Christ must be our comfort in death when all other comforts will foâ—sake vs let vs make him our ioy and pleasure in life that so both in life and death he may be an aduantage vnto vs for these things for which miserable worldlings forsake their God shall in the end forsake them Let a couetous man see in the houre of his death those treasures of Gold and siluer which hee fought in his life more than God and they shall be no more pleasure to him than was those thirty peeces of siluer to Iudas which hee tooke in exchange of Iesus Christ. Present a spoonefull of Wine to the drunkard whose bellie was his God in his life time and hee shall not be able to receiue it Let the harlot stand at that time in the sight of the whoremonger shee may encrease his sorrow and terrifie his conscience but shall not render him comfort Yet these are the strange Gods after which most part of the world goes a whooring but let vs not cast in our portion among them we are pertakers of the heauenly vocation called to bee the sonnes and daughters of the liuing God blessed shall we be if we walke worthie of our calling For we see here whervnto we are called by adoption we are made the sons of God and brethren of Christ of rebels we are made the seruants of God yea more than that the friends of God hence forth call I not you seruants but friends yea more than friends he hath made vs brethren hee that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all one wherefore he is not ashamed to call them brethren O wonderfull comfort the Father cryes from heauen this is my beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him the Sonne againe speaking to vs on earth saith I goe vp to your Father and my Father hee that is my Father is also your Father therefore goe yee vnto him and call vpon him as your Father O qualis ille dominus qui omnes seruos suos facit amicos suos quod multo maius est fratres suos O what a sweet Lord is hee who makes all his seruants his friends and which is much more his brethren Surely the yoake of Christ is easie and his burthen is light we are called to be annexed pertakers with him of all the good that is in him The Lord therefore more and more confirme vs that despysing all the subtill offers of Sathan whereby he would steale vs away from the loue of Christ and delighting in that high dignitie whereunto we are called our harts may cleaue to the Lord for euer without seperation THE RIGHT WAY TO Eternall Glory VVherein the counsaile of God concerning Mans saluation is so manifested that the Christian effectually called may heare himselfe after the Crosse ordayned to the Crowne and read his owne Name written in the booke of Life Being the second benefit wee haue by our Lord Iesus Christ. Come and see Written by Mr. William Cowper Minister of Gods word at Perth LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for William Firebrand and are to be sould at his shoppe in Popes-head Pallace 1609. â—â—… the welfare of your Highnesse royall children the terrour of your enimies and common benefite of all your Maiesties well affected subiects A good so much the more carefully to bee keept because Sathan out of all doubt spitefully doth enuie it as being the very fountaine out of which doth flow that great and common good both of your royall posteritie and loyall people the aspect of your Highnesse fauourable countenances looking in loue one of you to another and both of your maiesties in coniunct compassion to your people sweeter than the influence of the vndiuided Pleiades bringing to Church and common wealth vnder your happy raigne a flourishing spring of innumerable blessings We doe therefore blesse the Lord who hath confirmed your royall hearts and set it in the foremost of your godly cares how to keep and increase this holy and happy band of loue which keepeth you both For the continuance whereof as after my weake measure I stand vp a dayly supplicant vnto the Lord among others your Highnesse loyall subiects so doe I humbly craue that your Highnesse impute it not to me for presumption that I haue conioyned your maiesties in the participation of this small propine of the first fruits of my labors whom I doe wish for euer to be conioyned in the communion of al good present and to come but that rather
which our sinnes hath subdued them should not we much more sigh and grone for our owne sinnes assuredly if wee doe not we are conuinced to be more sensles then the senslesse creatures themselues Concerning this metaphor of trauailing it is two manner of wayes ascribed to the wicked in holy Scripture and one manner of way to the godly For first their concupiscence is compared to a mother that conceiues and trauailes continually without rest till it bring out sinne and sinne being finished is compared in like manner to a mother that bringeth out death And secondly the imagination of their hart is compared to a mother which conceiues cruell counsels and mischieuous deuices against the godly all their dayes they trauaile with this birth and would fain haue it brought out to perfection but at length they bring forth a lye for the malice of the wicked shall slay himselfe his mischiefe shall turne vpon his owne head and his crueltie shall fall vpon his owne paâ—e But as for the children of God they trauaile in paine of the monstrous birth of sin that is within them not that they are desirous to perfect and finish it but to destroy and abolish it as being a monster within them which they abhorre and adulterous birth begotten by a most vnlawfull copulation betweene Sathan and their corrupted will the father that begot this monster being Sathan and the mother that conceiued it their corrupt Nature for this they sigh and cry vnto God with the Apostle O miserable man who shall deliuer me from this bâ—dy of death This was his voyce vnto God and should much more be our continuall lamentation seeing in sinnes we are more abundant and in grace farre inferiour to that holy Apostle The Lord therefore worke it in vs for his Sonne Christs sake Verse 23. And not onely the creature but wee also who haue receiued the first fruits of the Spirit euen we doe sigh in our selues waiting for the adoption euen the redemption of our bodyes NOw followeth the Apostles other argument wherby he proues the greatnesse and certaintie of that glory to be reueiled it is taken from that feruent expectation vvhich the sonnes of God haue of it It can neither be a vaine nor a small thing but by the contrary both great and certaine vvhereupon God hath set the desire of his best creatures by instinct of the Spirit of Grace So that vve haue here first a description of Gods children they are such as haue receiued the first fruits of the spirit secondly a twofold effect vvhich this holy Spirit workes in Gods children first a wearinesse of their present bondage and seruitude of sinne secondly a vvaiting by a constant expectation for a better And this doth very much confirme the Apostles purpose there being none on earth vvho can better iudge the excellencie of that glory to come than they vvho haue receiued the first fruits thereof Out of all doubt the testimonie of any one vvho hath tasted of that ioy to come is more worth to commend it than is the contrary iudgement of a thousand others to disproue it And not onely the creature The Apostle proceedes from the testimonie of the creature to the testimonie of the sonnes of God when he spake of the creature he said they sigh and grone with vs they trauaile together in paine with vs and when hee speakes of the godly hee saith we sigh in our selues As man was not made for himselfe but for the Lord and therefore should wait vpon him so the creatures were not made for themselues but for vs and therefore where they are at couenant with vs they in their kind wait vpon vs they goe with vs they grone with vs are grieued with vs and shall neuer rest till vve be deliuered let licentious men liuing in their sinnes marke this they sigh not in themselues with the godly yea they scorne their sighings and therefore shall not be restored with the godly they grone not with the creature and shall not be deliuered with the creature O miserable man how vnhappie is that end whereunto thy vvanton and hard heart which cannot repent doth lead thee thou shalt not stand in iudgement with the godly where they goe there shalt not thou goe thou didst not mourne with the children of the marriage chamber and therefore shalt not enter with them into it to be comforted thou shalt goe to another place and mourne without them the burthen of thy sins which now thou feelest not shall presse thee downe to hell and confound thee for euer the creature that groned with the godly shall be restored with them and thou shalt not be restored O how shalt thou be cast downe when the earth whereupon thou treadest shall be deliuered into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God and shall as a seruant stand in the day of restitution but thou as a rebell shalt be cast into vtter darknesse and shall not be so much as pertaker of the deliuerance of the creature But we also who haue receiued the first fruits of the Spirit In this description of the godly let vs consider these three things First that whatsoeuer grace we haue we receiued it Secondly that grace we haue receiued is not full but in part for we haue onely receiued the first fruits of the Spirit And thirdly that the first fruits which we haue are sufficient pledges to vs of the plenitude and fulnesse which afterward we shall receiue The first of these learnes vs humilitie what hast thou O man which thou hast not receiued The Lord dispenses grace to euery one according to his pleasure and we are but vessels filled and emptied as hee will Secondly it learnes vs thankfulnesse whatsoeuer Grace wee haue receiued wee should returne both the praise and the vse of it to him who gaue it as the waters by secret conduits come from the Sea returne againe openly into it through the troughes so that all men may see the returning albeit they saw not the comming so that Grace which the Lord by his Spirit secretly conuayes to the godly doth againe publikely returne vnto him by prayse and well doing And thirdly it doth teach vs diligence in prayer if we desire encrease of Grace vve should seeke it from him of vvhom vve haue the beginning and vse all the meanes such as hearing reading praying keeping of a good conscience by which Grace may grovv and be intertayned in vs. The next thing we obserue is that in this life we receiue not the plenitude and fulnesse of Grace but onely the first fruits thereof The vse of this is first to comfort the children of God who are oftentimes discouraged with the sense and feeling of their owne wants It is one of Sathans stratagems to try those by the rule of perfection who are yet but in the state of proficients and we had neede to beware of it Shall I giue that vantage
stretch out his affections toward the heauens Abraham sat in the doore of his Tabeâ—nacle when the Angell appeared vnto him Elias came out to the mouth of his Caue when the Lord appeared to him and we must also reioyce to come out of the caue and tabernacle of this wretched body if we would meet with the Lord yea euen while as we dwell in the body if in our affection we come not out and stand as it were in the doore of our tabernacle but like Ionas sleeping in the sides of the ship we lye downe in the hollow of our heart sleeping in carelesse securitie it is not possible that the Lord can be familiar with vs. The other day for which the godly are said to wait is the day of Christs second comming The Apostle giues this as a token of the rich grace of God bestowed on the Corinthians that they waited for the appearance of Christ and to the Philippians hee saith our conuersation is in heauen from whence we looke for our sauiour the Lord Iesus yea hee giues it out as a marke of all those who are to be glorified when he sayth there is laid vp for me a crowne of righteousnesse and not for me onely but for all them who loue Christs second appearing And againe Christ was once offered to take away the sinnes of many and vnto them that looke for him shall he appeare the second time without sinne vnto saluation These and many moe places proues that there is great scarcitie of Faith and spirituall grace in this generation there being so few that vnfainedly longs for the day of his appearance suppose euery man in word mumble vp that petition let thy kingdome come yet are they few who when Iesus testifieth surely I come quicklie can in truth answer with the godly Amen euen so come Lord Iesus and all because we are neither weary of our present miserie nor certaine of that glorious deliuerance to come otherwise vve would long for it and reioyce at the smallest appearance thereof The woman with childe reckons her time as neere as shee can and albeit others haue no minde of it yet is it alway in her remembraunce because that then she hopes for deliuerance Among the Iewes as the day of their Iubilied awes neere so the ioy of them that were in prison encreased being assured that then they were to be releeued and should not wee much more reioyce the neere that the day of our eternall Iubilie draweth vnto vs wherein all teares shall be wiped away from our eyes and sorrow and mourning shall flye away for euer Where for the comfort of the weake Christian wee are to consider whether the Godly be alway in this estate that they dare lift vp their heads with ioy and pray for Christs second appearance or not To this I answere that their disposition herein is according to the estate of their conscience as the eye being hurt is content to be couered with a vaile and desireth not to behold the light wherein otherwise it reioyceth so the conscience of the Godly being any way wounded is afraid to stand before the light of the countenance of God till the time that it be cured againe And this made Dauid to craue that the Lord would spare him a little and giue him space to recouer his strength but after mourning and earnest calling for mercie the conscience being pacified then doe the Godly say with Simeon Now Lord let thy Seruant depart for mine eyes haue seene thy saluation For the Adoption He said before that we haue receiued the spirit of Adoption and now he saith that wee waite for Adoption but wee must vnderstand that there is a begun Adoption whereby wee are made the sonnes of God and that wee haue receiued alreadie there is in like manner a consummate Adoption whereby wee are manifested to be the sonnes of God and entred into the full possession of our fathers inheritance and that we waite for The redemption of our bodies As there is a two-fold adoption so also a two-fold redemption the first is defined by the Apostle to be the remission of our sinnes and that we haue receiued already the second is called in that same Chapter the redemption of the possession and here the redemption of our bodyes and this we looke for to come As the soule was first wounded by sinne and then the body with mortalitie and corruption so the Lord Iesus the restorer who came to repair the wound which sathan inflicted on man doth first of all restore life to the soule by the remission of sins which he hath obtayned by his suffering in the flesh and therefore the Herald of his first comming cryed before him behold the Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world This is the first Resurrection blessed are they who are pertakers of it for vpon such the second death shall haue no power but in his second comming we shall also bee pertakers of the second redemption hee shall redeeme our bodyes from the power of the graue wherein now they lye captiued and deliuer them from the shame of mortalitie and corruption Let this comfort vs against the present base and contemptible state of our bodyes now they are but filthy sinckes of corruption and vessels so full of vncleannesse that the Lord hath appointed in the body fiue conduits to purge the naturall filth thereof and after this they are to be laid downe in the bed of corruption the wormes spread vnder them and aboue them as it is said of the King of Ashur shall deuoure and consume their flesh the earth shall eate vp their bones and turne them into dust the braine which was the seat of many proud and vaine imaginations becomes after death oftentimes the seat of the vgly â—oads the reynes that were the seat of concupiscence engendreth serpents and the bowels which could neuer be gotten satisfied with meate and drinke shall be replenished with armies of crawling wormes but against all these we haue this comfort that as presently we haue obtained remission of our sinnes so are we assured of a glorious redemption of our bodies qui enim resurgit in anima resurget in corpore ad vitam for hee that riseth now in his soule shall hereafter rise in his body to eternall life And of this euery man is admonished that if he loue his body he should in time take heed to the estate of his soule see that it be pertaker of the first redemption which is the remission of sinnes and be sure thy body shall be pertaker of the second redemption It is a pittifull thing to see what preposterous care is taken by men for conseruation of their bodily life there is nothing they leaue vndone vt differant mortem quam auferre non possunt that they may at the least prolong and delay death
Worldlings yee are cursed with the curse of the Serpent yee creepe as it were vpon your bellyes and yee lick the dust of the earth all the dayes of your life yee haue not an eye to looke vp vnto heauen nor an heart to seeke those things which are aboue Most fearefull is our estate vve warne you of it but it is the Lord who must deliuer you from it This resolute knowledge is the mother of spirituall courage constancy and patience for why shall hee feare in the euill day yea though the earth should be remoued and the mountaines fall into the middest of the sea who sees the Lord sitting on his throne and the glassie sea of the world before him gouerning all the waltrings changes and euents of things therein to the good of them who loue him Oh that wee had profâ—â—ed so much in the schoole of Christ all our dayes that without doubting or making any exception we could beleeue this which here the Apostle layes for a most sure ground of comfort that so we might change all our thoughts and cares into one namely how to grow in the loue of God that in a good conscience we might say to the Lord with Peter Lord thou knowest I loue thee casting the burthen of all the rest of our feares griefes and tentations vpon the Lord who cares for vs and hath giuen vs this promise for praemunire all comes for the best The Souldier with courage enters into the battell vnder hope to obtaine the victory the Marriner with boldnâ—sse commits himselfe to the stormie seas vnder hope of vantage and euery man hazards in his calling yet are they all vncertaine venturers and knowes not the end but the Christian runnes not as vncertaine but as one sure to obtaine the Crowne for hee knowes that the God of peace shall shortly tâ—ead Sathan vnder his feet What then shall not hee with courage enter into the battell wherein hee is made sure of the victory before he fight knowing that all the warriours of Christ shall be more than conquerours through him if we will onely stand still wee shall see the saluation of the Lord. Gideon with his three hundred fought against the great host of Midian without feare because hee was sure of victorie Dauid made hast and ranne to encounter with Goliah because hee was perswaded that God would deliuer him into his hands The Israelits were not afraide to enter into the Riuer of Iordane because they saw the Arke of God before them deuiding the waters And shall onely the Christian stand astonished in his tentations notwithstanding that the word of God goes before him to resolue him that whatsoeuer falles out shall come for the best to him The Lord increase vs and make vs to abound more and more in the loue of our GOD for perfect loue casts out feare the Lord strengthen our faith that through these mistie cloudes of affliction which now compasse vs we may see that comfortable end which God in his word hath discouered vnto vs. And to this effect we must beware of the subtile slights of Sathan who to the end that he may spoile vs of this comfort in trouble endeauours by all meanes either to quench the light of God vtterly in our mindes or at least to darken and obscure it by precipitation of our vnbeleeuing hearts carrying vs headlong to iudge of the workes of God by their beginnings and to measure our selues in trouble by our present estate and condition not suffering vs to tarrie while we see the end whereof it comes to passe that our hearts being tossed too and fro with restlesse perâ—urbations like trees of the forrest shaken with the winde we hasten in our necessities to be our owne prouisors in our dangers we will be our owne deliuerers and euery way vve become the caruers of our owne condition Wee haue so much the more neede to beware of this precipitation because the deerest seruants of God haue fallen through it into fearefull sinnes against the Lord As wee may see in Dauid who being in extreame danger in the Wildernesse of Maon said in his feare that all men were lyers Is not this a great blasphemie to say that the promises which the Lord made to him by Samuel were but lyes and in his other extremities hee is not ashamed to confesse that he thought that God had forgot to be mercifull and had shut vp his tender mercy in displeasure but when he saw the end then he was compelled to accuse himselfe and giue glory vnto God I should haue beene dumbe not opened my mouth because thou didst it and againe I said in my feare all men are lyers for notwithstanding all Samuels promises I looked for nothing but death but now considering the deliuerance I must say pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of all his Saints Seeing this precipitation made Dauid to stumble and fall may vvee not feare least it carry vs to the like inconuenience vnlesse we learne to beware of it in time let vs not therfore iudge of the vvorks of God before they be ended If wee should looke to Lazarus on the doung-hill full of byles and sores hauing no comfort but from the dogs and compare him with the rich Glutton clothed in purple and fairing daintely euery day what can wee iudge but that Lazarus is the most miserable of the two yet if wee tarrie till the Lord haue ended his worke and Lazarus be conuayed to Abrahams bosome and the rich Glutton be gone to his place then shall the truth appeare manifestly All things worke together for the best to them that loue God Let vs therefore learne to measure the euent of things not by their present condition but by the prediction of Gods word let vs cleaue to his promise and waite on the vision which hath his owne time appointed it shall speake at the last and shall not lye though it tarry let vs wait for it it shall surely come and not stay let vs goe into the Sanctuary of God and consider the end there shall we learne that There is no peace to the wicked howsoeuer they flourish for a time that it cannot be but well with them who loue the Lord Marke the vpright man and behold the iust the end of that man is peace but the transgressours shall be destroyed together and the end of the wicked shall be cut off Thus both in the troubles of the Godly and prosperitie of the wicked wee should suspend our iudgement till wee see the end All things worke together Mark the singular priuiledge of the Christian not onely afflictions but all other things whatsoeuer worke for the best vnto him and not onely so but they worke together Many working instruments are there in the world whose couse is not one they communicate not counsels yea their intentions oftentimes are contrary yet the Lord bringeth all
Ierusalem except the hand of God first beat from vs our proud lumps by the hammer of affliction As standing waters putrifie and rot so the wicked feares not God because they haue no changes and Moab keepes his sent because he was not powred from vessell to vessell but hath beene at rest euer since his youth And therefore O Lord rather than that we should keepe the sent of our old naturall corruption and liue in a careles securitie without the feare of thine holy name and so become sit fasts in our sinnes no rather O Lord change thou vs from estate to estate waken vs with the touch of thine hand purge vs with thy fire and chastise vs with thy roddes alway Lord with this protestation that thou keepe towards vs that promise made to the sonnes of Dauid I will visit them with my roddes if they sinne against me but my mercy will I neuer take from them So be it O Lord euen So be it The same comfort haue we also against death that now in Iesus Christ it is not a punishment of our sinnes but a full accomplishment of the mortification of our sinne both in soule and body for by it both the fountaine and the fluxe of sinne are dryed vp all the conduits of sinne are stopped and the weapons of vnrighteousnesse broken And though our bodyes seeme to be consumed and turned into nothing yet are they but sowen like graynes of Wheat in the field and husbandry of the Lord which must dye before they be quickned but in the day of Christ shall spring vp againe most glorious And as for our soules they are by death releeued out of this honse of seruitude that they may returne vnto him who gaue them therefore haue I compared death to the red sea wherein Pharaoh and his Aegiptians were drowned and sancke like a stone to the bottome but the Israelits of God went through to their promised Canaan so shall death be vnto you O miserable infidels whose eyes the God of this world hath blinded that no more then blinded Aegiptians can yee see the light of God shining in Goshen which is his Church though yee be in it to you I say your death shall be the very centre of all your miseries a sea of the vengeance of God wherein yee shall be drowned and shall sincke with your sinnes heauier than a milstone about the necke of our soules to presse you downe to the lowest hell But as for you who are the Israelits of God ye shall walk through the valley of death and not neede to be afraid because the Lord is with you his staffe and his rod shall comfort you albeit the guiltinesse of forepassed sinnes yet remayning in the memory the terrour of hell and horrour of the graue stand vp on euery side like mountaines threatning to ouerwhelme you yet shall yee goe safely through to the land of your inheritance where with Moses and Miriam and all the children of God euen the congregation of the first borne yee shall sing prayses ioyfully to the God of your saluation Now in the last roome concerning the imaginations of men against vs wee shall haue cause to say of them in the end as Ioseph said to his brethren yee did it vnto me for euill but the Lord turned it to good The whole history of Gods booke is a cloude of manifold witnesses concurring together to confirme his truth therefore among many wee will be content with one When Dauid was going forward in battell against Israell with Acish King of Gath vnder whom he soiourned a while in the time of his banishment the remanent Princes of the Philistims commanded him to goe backe and this they did for the worst to disgrace him because they distrusted him but the Lord turned it vnto him for the best for if hee had come forward he had been guiltie of the blood of Israell specially of Saul the Lords annointed who was slaine in that battell from this the prouident mercy of God doth in such sort deliuer him that no offence is done by Dauid to Saul or his people because Dauid came not against them neither yet could the Philistims blame him because he went backe by their own commaund So a notable benefit Dauid did receiue by that same deed wherein his enimies thought they had done him a notable shame And where otherwise it pleaseth the Lord to suffer wicked men to lay hand on the bodyes of his children yet all they are able to doe is but like the renting of Iosephs garment from him As he doth sustaine small losse whose garment is cut if his body be preserued so the Christian when his body is wounded vnto the death yet hath he lost nothing which hee striues to keepe for hee knowes it is but a corruptible garment which would decay in it selfe albeit there were no man to rent it Non sunt itaque timenda spiritui quae fiunt in carne quae extra nos est quasi vestamentum let not therefore our soule be afraid for those things which are done to our bodyes for it is without vs as a garment that doth but couer vs. Thus haue wee seene how that their is nothing so euill in â— selfe vvhich by the prouident vvorking of God is not turned to the good of his children Whereof arises yet vnto vs this further comfort that seeing it is the priuiledge of euery one who loues the Lord it must much more be the priuiledge of the whole Church that promise made to the Father of the faithfull I will blesse them that blesse thee and curse them that curse thee we may easily thinke belongs also to all his seed euen to that congregation of the first borne The Lord will bee a wall of fire round about Ierusalem and the glory in the middest of her he will keepe her as the apple of his eye and make Ierusalem a cuppe of poyson to all her enimies and a heauie stone which whosoeuer striueth to lift shall be torne therewith though all the people of the earth were gathered together against it the weapons made against her shall not prosper and euery tongue that shall rise against her in iudgement shall be condemned This is the heritage of the Lords seruants and the portion of them that loue him for the Church is that Arke which mounts vp higher as the water increases but cannot be ouerwhelmed the bush which may burne but cannot be consumed the house built on a rocke which may be beaten with winde and raine but cannot be ouerthrowne The Lord who changeth times and seasons who takes away Kings and sets vp Kings hath reproued Kings for his Churches sake yea hee gouernes all he kingdomes of the earth in such sort that their fallings risings their changes and mutations are all directed to the good of his Church In one of these two sentences all the Iudges of the world may see themselues
Peter when hee heard that Iesus behoued to suffer because hee loued him said to him Maister pittie thy selfe but receiued this answere Goe behinde me Sathan for thou vnderstandest not the things that are of God culpans in vtroque non affectum sed consilium blaming in them both not their affection but their vnderstanding yet afterward when Peter was better informed that Iesus behoued to dye and rise the third day hee disswaded him no more but rather promised that hee would dye with him hee had now learned to loue Iesus not onely with his heart but also with his minde not earnestly onely but also wisely yet when it came to the poynt hee denyed his Maister at the voyce of a Damsell because hee had not learned to loue him with strength as hee did afterward when he had receiued the holy Spirit in greater measure hee loued Iesus euen to the very death with so strong an affection that before the Counsell hee choosed rather to dye for Christ than to denye him Licet vitam tunc minime posuit deposuit tamen in so much that albeit hee lost not his life yet hee freely laid it downe for Iesus These are thee three whereunto wee are to aspyre in all our life to loue the Lord heartely to loue him wisely for inconsiderate zeale and temerarious precipitation doth not please him and to loue him with so strong an affection that wee chose rather to suffer death than to forsake him But alas how farre are wee from this holy disposition who can say hee hath attained to that measure of holy Loue which the Law of God requireth in him and therefore should vve endeuour to grow daily in loue earnestly praying the Lord that hee vvould breath by his Spirit vpon that little sparke of heauenly life vvhich hee hath created in our hearts that it be not extinguished with the ashes of our corruption but may increase and become a great flame to burne vp our affections with such a loue of God as may carry vp all the powers of our soule toward him To this effect let vs meditate frequently vpon these foure causes for vvhich wee should loue the Lord first for that which hee is in himselfe to wit the fountaine of all goodnesse the greatest and supreame good if it be good that man would haue let him loue the Lord to vvhom there is none like in goodnes inuenito si potes aliquid pretiosius Deo dabitur tibi finde out if thou canst any thing more pretious than God and it shall bee giuen thee The Platonists by the light of nature saw that all the pulchritude and beautie which shineth in the creature vvas but spendor quidam summi illius boni which should transport vs in our affection toward him from whom it came Pulchrum coelum pulchra terra sed pulchrior qui fecit illa the heauen and earth are beautifull but more beautifull is hee who made them and therefore as oft as any good in the creature beginneth to steale our heart after it let vs in our affection goe vp to the Creator considering that the Lord hath not made these beautifull or profitable creatures that we should go a whooring after them but that by them as steps we should climbe vp to him that made them and rest in him The second cause that may breed the loue of God in vs if we meditate vpon it is that the Lord hath first loued vs Inuenimus eum sed non praeuenimus we haue found him but we did not preuent him we knovv him novv but were first knowne of him hee found vs first and that euen vvhen vve vvere enimies vnto him dilexit non existentes imo resistentes he loued vs vvhen vve vvere not yea vvhen vve vvere rebels against him and shall vve not novv being reconciled by the death of his sonne endeauour to loue him againe Thirdly the Lord by his continuall gifts hath testified his loue to vs he hath not beene vnto vs as a wildernesse or as a land of darknes if we vvill remember and tell what the Lord hath done to our soule vvee shall finde vvee are ouercome with the multitude of his mercies and there is none that hath deserued the loue of our hearts comparable to the Lord. If our loue be free let vs set it vpon him who is most worthy to be loued and if it be venall let vs also giue it vnto him who hath giuen vs most for it And fourthly it shall waken in vs the loue of God if vve consider in our hearts what great things the Lord hath promised to giue vnto vs euen such as the eye hath not seene and the eare hath neuer heard life without death youth without age light without darkenesse ioy without sadnes a kingdome without a change and in a word he shall then giue vs a blessed life non de his quae condidit sed de seipso not of those things which hee hath made but of himselfe But to returne to our former purpose that we may know vvhether this holy loue be created in our hearts by the spirit of grace or no we must try it by the fruits and effects of loue whereof novv it shall content vs to touch a few First it is the nature of Loue that it earnestly desires and seekes to obtaine that which is beloued Hereby shalt thou knovv whether thy affection of loue be ordered by Christ or remaine as yet disordered by Sathan The affection which Christ hath sanctified will follow vpward seeking to be there where he is Euery thing naturally returnes to the owne originall as the waters go downe to the deep from whence they came so carnall loue powred out like water returnes to Sathan who begat it and carries miserable man captiued with it downward to the bottomles pit but holy loue being as a sparke of heauenly fire kindled in our hearts by the holy Ghost ascends continually and rauishes vs vpward toward the Lord from whom it came not suffâ—ing vs to rest till we inioy him Let this then be the first tryall of our loue if wee vse carefully those holy meanes by which vve keepe and entertaine familiaritie with our God it is an argument that vve loue him and what other meanes is there by which man vpon earth is familiar with God but the exercises of the word and prayer Godly Dauid who protests in some places that he loued the Lord prooues it in other by the like of these reasons O how loue I thy law it is my meditation continually and againe I haue loued the habitation of thine house and the place where thine honour dwels One thing haue I desired of the Lord that I may dwell in the house of my God all the dayes of my life to behold the beautie of the Lord and to visit his holy temple As this doth serue for the comfort of those who delight in the exercise of
the meanes of men and not according to the determinate purpose of God it is no meruaile if still they returne to their old sinnes and remaine disobedient to the heauenly vocation And further out of the ground laid already that the calling of God is according to his purpose we are taught that the least intermission of Gods calling should be vnto vs a great matter of our humiliation seeing the Lord calleth men to be Preachers and hath them in his hand as starres holding them out sometime to one part of the world and sometime to another that hee may communicate light to them who are sitting in darknesse the remouing of them from a people is a fearefull token of the Lords departure and translating of his kingdome The Husbandman calles not his Labourers out of the field in the middest of the day vnlesse the haruest be done and if the Lord remoue his Seruants from a people it is because his purpose is finished for the ground is sure that his calling is according to his purpose but the Lord forbid that the tearme of the ending of this calling should euer come in our dayes And to the ende that wee haste it not vpon our selues wee are to know that as the Gospell comes not to a Land by mans procurement so no power of man is able to remoue it The Lord who set the Sunne in the Firmament and gouernes it in such sort that it giues light to one part of the world when another is in darknesse and no malice of the euill doer is able to obscure it howeuer hee hates it hath also set his Gospell in the firmament of his Church to giue light to Goshen while as Egypt is in darknesse and all the courses of politikes though they were filled vvith Achitophels wisedome are not able to stay it onely our owne vnthankfulnesse and abuse of the time of Grace is to be feared if therefore wee loue the light let vs cast away the vvorkes of darkenesse and walke in the light while as yet wee haue it let vs welcome those messengers of peace that come to vs in the name of the Lord endeuouring by all holy meanes to transferre this Kingdome of God to our Children after vs that they also may see the beautie of the Lord which vvee haue seene to their euerlasting saluation Verse 29. For those whom hee knew before hee also predestinated to be made like vnto the image of his Sonne that he might be the first borne among many brethren THe whole Booke of God is full of heauenly consolation euery parcell thereof hath in it the words of eternall life but this place of Scripture wherein now wee are trauailing may be called aboue the rest a treasure of comfort for here the Apostle leadeth vp the Christian to the register of God and lets him see his owne name written in the booke of life his saluation established in Gods immutable decree exhibited now by Gods effectuall calling to be performed and perfected to him by his endlesse glorification So that in all the booke of God there is not so cleare and certaine a sight of saluation giuen to the Christian as in this place It comforted Stephen when he was in the vally of death that he saw the heauens opened and the Lord Iesus standing at the right hand of his Father and it should no lesse comfort vs in all our tribulations that the Apostle here lets vs see the third heauens opened vnto vs to make knowne vnto vs the will of God concerning our saluation This comfort the Apostle brake vp shortly as we heard in the end of the last verse and now more largely explanes it in these two verses in the which hee sets downe in order the causes of our saluation and lets vs see how our present effectuall calling is so inseperably knit with our election glorification by the hand of God that no power in earth nor in hell is able to sunder them whereof the certaintie of his former comfort appeares cleerely that of necessitie all things must worke together for the best vnto them that loue God euen to them that are called according to his purpose Which shall yet be more manifested if wee consider how that this golden Chaine of our saluation reaches so to speake it from eternitie to eternitie the beginning of it albeit without beginning is our Election the end of it albeit without end is our Glorification And these two ends of the chaine the Lord keepes them sure and secret in his owne hand but the two middle linckes thereof to wit our Calling and Iustification the Lord lets them downe from heauen to the earth that wee for our comfort might gripe and apprehend them and being sure of the two middle linekes we might also be sure of the two ends because the Lord hath knit them inseperably together Thou then who wouldst be comforted with the assurance of thy saluation make it first knowne to thy owne conscience by breaking off the former course of thy sinnes and by well doing for the time to come that God hath called thee and iustified thee Gripe sure as it were with the one hand the lincke of Calling and with the other the linck of Iustification fasten both thy hands vpon the middle linckes of this Chaine that by them thou mayst be pulled out of this dungeon and raised vp to heauen to see that thou art one of them who was elected before time after time shall be glorified To make this yet more plaine we are to know that this mortall life of ours is a short interiected point of time betweene two eternities so to call it in the which some in feare and trembling working out their saluation passes from Gods eternall election to endlesse glorification others againe in wantonnes and carelesse securitie drincke in iniquitie with greedinesse and so steps from the decree of reprobation that most iustly they procure their owne condemnation So that euery man hath to consider of his euerlasting weale or woe by his present disposition in this life Oh that we had sanctified memories alwayes to remember this so long as we are here if of weakenesse wee fall wee may rise againe and if in one day we haue not learned well to repent we haue leaue of the Lords patience to learne it better another day but he who in the day of his transmigration steps the wrong step will neuer get leaue to amend it where the tree fals it shall lye there the wicked who die in their sinnes step downeward to the deepe pit and gulfe out of the which there is no redemption Let vs therefore be well aduised before we leape let vs fasten the one foote vpon the border of that Canaan before we go out of the body let vs make sure that wee shall be receiued into those euerlasting habitations This shall be done if we make our whole life a proceeding from election to
glorification and that through calling and iustification which two haue inseperably following them the sanctification and renouation of the whole man The Lord make vs wise in time that we may consider the course of our life and thinke of the end whereunto it leads vs for as Moses protested to Israell so doe I vnto you I haue laid this day life and death before you the Lord giue you grace to make choise of the best In these causes of our saluation linked together in this Chaine we haue first to looke vnto Gods decree consisting in his foreknowledge and predestination secondly to the execution thereof which is made by his Calling Iustification and Glorification The decree hath in it these two acts or preordinances so to call them Prescience and Predestination which this manner of way are to be distinguished by foreknowledge the Lord sets before him the whole number of mankinde whom of the good pleasure of his owne will he purposed to saue so that the first preordinance is this these are they whom I will saue by predestination againe he concluded to saue them by such and such meanes so that the second preordinance of the decree is this those whom I haue decreed to saue I will saue this manner of way so that prescience lookes to the person to be saued predestination to the meanes whereby they are to be saued Where wee must consider that this decree of God is thus distinguished by the Apostle in these two words for our capacitie who being but mortall creatures endued with reason conceiues vnderstands and discernes one thing after another and cannot doe otherwise but it is not so with the Lord our God who being himselfe a most perfect vnderstanding by one act without prioritie or posterioritie knowes conceiues and discernes all things We come first now to speake of Gods foreknowledge the properties of God are either absolute as namely that he is a Spirit simple and infinite or else such as haue a relation to the creature And of this sort is foreknowledge which improperly is ascribed vnto God for properly there is no fore not after in God nothing past nothing to come but foreknowledge is ascribed to God in respect of the creature because he knew vs before that wee were This foreknowledge is two wayes considered first generally as it is extended to all his creatures and so it is compared to a common booke of register wherein the Lord hath written all things which were afterward to be and of this speakes the Psalmist My bones sayth he are not hid from thee though I was made in a secret place and fashioned beneath in the earth thine eyes did see mee when I was without forme for in thy booke were all things written which in continuance of time were fashioned though they were not before Of it also speakes the Apostle All things are manifest in his sight with whom wee haue to doe This manner of way foreknowledge is Gods vniuersall eye by which vvith one looke hee knoweth all his creatures vvithin and vvithout their nature their shape their actions their beginnings their ends but foreknowledge this manner of vvay considered is not a lincke of this Chaine it being certaine that there is not one of these lincks more patent not largely extended than another as yee shall afterward heare Foreknowledge then in this Chaine of Saluation is specially considered as it is conioyned cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the loue and liking of God as it is all one with Election extended to none but vnto the children of his good will this way it is affirmed of the Godly the Lord knoweth who are his but denyed of the wicked depart from me yee workers of iniquitie I know you not that is albeit I know your persons yea your most secret actions yet your selues I know not so that I loue you and this way foreknowledge specially considered is called the booke of life vvherein the Lord hath written the names of those vvhom hee hath ordayned to life Predestination is also two manner of wayes considered first as it is generally extended to all his creatures for as he knew them all before they were so he appointed them by middes vnto their owne end other artificers when they haue made a worke know not what will be the end of it hee that buildeth an house knowes not how long it vvill stand whether fire shall consume it or the winde ouer-turne it or the earth-quake vndermine it but the Lord as hee hath made his creatures so hath he appoynted them to an end which hee knoweth himselfe but here Predestination is specially considered and is no larger than Election respecting the Elect onely whom he hath ordayned vnto life by his owne middes for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here not onely signifieth to ordayne to an end but also to appoynt all the limits borders and middes within and by which thou art to come to that end Where before wee come to the doctrine of instruction wee vvill shortly encounter vvith our aduersaries who read these words in this manner that the Lord predestinated those whom hee fore-knew to be conformed to the image of his Sonne that so they may establish here out their errour of fore-seene merits It were sufficient to bring against them the best learned of their owne side some wherofread these words no otherwise then wee doe as the Iesuiâ—s of Rhemes others plainely impugne that reading and the errour of foreseene merits founded vpon it for so Caietane writeth vpon this place Ad confutandum dogma illorum qui primum salutis nostrae locum tribuunt diuinae praescientiae futurorum qui praescientiam meritorum ponunt rationem definitionis diuinae ad confutandum inquit haec primum nostrae salutis locum tribuit diuino proposito dicendo ijs qui secundum propositum vocati sunt To confute saith hee the doctrine of those who giue the first place of saluation to Gods foreknowledge of mans merits which hee was to doe and so puts his prescience as a reason and cause of his predestination to confute these I say hee giues the first place of saluation to the purpose of God while hee saith to them that are called according to his purpose Aquinas in like manner writing vpon this same place sayth Ponere quod aliquod meritum ex parte nostra praesupponatur cuius praescientia sit ratio praedestinationis nihil est aliud quam ponere gratiam dari ex meritis nostris quod principium bonorum operum est ex nobis consummatio ex Deo To affirme that any merit vpon our part must be presupposed the prescience whereof was the cause of predestination is no other thing but to affirme that grace were giuen of our merits and that the beginning of good workes were of our selues and the consummation thereof were of God therefore saith hee the words are to be read this way more
among you assures vs that the Lord hath a haruest here that is a number that belongs to the election of Grace but who they are that are his the Lord knoweth but as for vs we may lament as Augustine did of the hearers of his time In aperto est vnde doleam c the matter of our griefe is manifest for wee see many of you who hitherto haue receiued the word of grace in vaine but the matter of our comfort is not so apparant yet doe wee not doubt but that among this chaffe the Lord hath some good Wheat whom he will perfect by our Ministrie and gather into his garner to his glory and our comfort when wee shall see that fruit of our labour which now weâ— cannot see Alwayes of this which we haue spoken we exhort you who as yet stands strangers from grace to consider how miserable your estate is It should peirce thy very hart for griefe to consider that the grace of God hath conuerted so many in the cittie yea perhaps in the familie wherein thou dwellest and hath not lighted vpon thee but left thee in thy old sinnes If the Lord should so doe to you as hee did to Israell in the dayes of Achab cause it to raine for three yeeres and a halfe vpon all the land about you and not vpon your land would you not take it as a token of Gods anger aganist you O hipocrite that can discerne the face of the skie and can marke the tokens of his anger in the creature canst thou not discerne the state of thy own soule nor consider this sensible curse of God that these thirty or forty yeeres the showres of his sauing grace hath discended vpon otheâ—â— round about thee but neuer vpon thy selfe thou possessest still a hard a barraine and fruitlesse heart What shall I say vnto thee to cut thee off from hope of mercy and to send thee to dispaire I haue not that in commission there is euer some hope of a better as long as God calles vpon thee but of this one thing I can certifie thee that for the present thy estate is lamentable and if this grace goe by thee in time to come as it hath done for the time forepassed it had beene better for thee that thou hadst neuer beene borne The time of our calling is but short and limited let it not goe by vs without grace but let vs striue to redeeme it It is called sometimes an acceptable yeere and sometimes a day of saluation some dayes are longer and some are shorter but they haue all an end The lewes had a faire long sommer day of Saluation sixteene hundred yeeres did the Lord offer grace to the house of Sem but now the bright shining Sunne of righteousnesse hath gone downe vpon them and darknesse is vnto them instead of diuination and other sixteene hundred yeeres hath the Lord been offering grace to the house of Iapheth perswading them by the Gospell to come and dwell in the tents of Sem and that by their seuerall families hee beganne at the Churches of the East they had their owne day although but a short winters day compared with that of the Iewes From them in the East the light is now come praised be God to vs in the West now is our day how long it is to continue with vs who can tell While therefore the light is with you walke in the light least darkenesse come vpon you Let vs consider the season for if once the day of grace goe by vs wee shall neuer finde it againe For suppose this day of saluation were to shine vpon this land still on to the worlds end yet what is it to thee seeing the day of grace endeth to thee in the day of thy death after that the Lord shall neuer any more offer mercy vnto thee in that the Apostle wils vs to doe good while we haue time he tels vs that after this there is no time let vs not thinke quod apud inferos ad faciendos fideles atque liberandos euangelium praedicatum sit vel adhue etiam praedicetur quasi ibi sit Ecclesia constituta that the Gospell euer hath ben or yet is preached in hell to worke Faith in men there for their deliuerance as if there also were a constitute church in it Here by preaching grace is offered to thee that if thou wilt beleeue thou mayst be saued but if now thou dispise it there remaines nothing but a fearefull looking for of iudgement And no lesse deceitfull is that opinion that by suffering hereafter thou mayst redeeme that life which here thou hast not obtayned Vita hic aut amittitur aut tenetur cum istinc excessum fuerit nullus paenitentiae locus nullus satisfactionis effectus Now life is eyther kept or lost for when wee goe out of the body there is no place of repentance no effect of satisfaction It is a principall pollicie of Sathan to steale away from man the time of Grace he will not simply say to any man yee neede not to repent at all hee knoweth the most prophane man will abhorre that hee seekes onely a delay thou needest not saith hee to repent as yet and so stealeth away one day after another till the day of Grace be gone When Pharaoh was stricken with Frogges and Moses offered to him that when hee would bid him hee would pray to God that hee might be deliuered from them it was but an vnwise answere hee gaue him Pray for mee to morrow it had beene better for him to haue said Pray for me presently but more miserably blinded are they to whom the Lord presently offers saluation they delay not till to morrow onely but till the next yeere yea for many yeeres they are called vpon in their youth but they refuse to repent till they be old seeking first leaue to kisse their father that is to follow their owne pleasures before they will resolue to follow the Lord Iesus and so lets their dayes one after another be stollen away from them till at length they be taken away in their sinnes and the day of Grace be closed vpon them And whom hee Called them also hee Iustified Hauing spoken of our Calling wee come now to speake of our Iustification This is a new benefit different from the former benefit of our Calling posterior to it in order of working but not in time for in the same moment wherein the Lord by effectuall Calling giues vs faith to beleeue he doth also iustifie vs. That wee may vnderstand what a benefit this is we are to know that the word of Iustifying hath three principall significations First to iustifie is all one with this to sanctifie or to infound by grace new qualities into the soule of man and so Iustification is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu motus ad Iustitiam as Dan. 12. They who iustifie many shall shine as Starreâ— for euer and in
a persecuter is in great worldly honour commissioner of the high Priest and Elders of Ierulalâ—m but when he becomes a Preacher his former friends becomes his enimies The same is also true in inward tentations when our Sauiour beganne to discharge the publicke office of the Messiah sathan began to tempt him of his two most excellent Apostles the one was winnowed by Sathan the other buffeted by the Angell of Sathan and all to tell vs that notwithstanding the Lord be present with vs yet we may be tempted as our Sauiour was winnowed as Peter was buffeted as Paul was and therefore let vs dispise the iudgement of worldlings and lying conclusions of Sathan who would make vs to esteeme our inward and outward tentations to be tokens and arguments of Gods departure from vs. Againe perceiue here hovv in the vvorld are two contrary factions the one alway militant against the other This inimitie was proclaimed by God in Paradise and hath continued since like as it shall for euer without reconciliation onely let vs take heede vpon what side we standâ— if we stand vpon that wherein God is Captaine and all the Saints of Christ are souldiers we are happy for here the victory is certaine otherwise they who are among the children of disobedience militant vnder the Prince of the aire are most miserable their end is darkenesse shame and confusion It is a comfortable Oration which Abijah King of Iudâ— hauing in his armie foure hundreth thousand made to Ieroboam King of Israell his army of eight hundred thousand with you said he is the multitude but with them yee haue the golden calues but with vs God is a captaine and his Priests to sound with the trumpet an Alarum against you therfore O Israel fight not against the Lord God of your fathers for yee shall not prosper but this comfort much more appertaines to the true Israell of God howsoeuer there be many which are against vs the golden calues are with theÌ„ that is strange gods which shall be their destruction As Moses when he was to plead the cause of God stood in the gate of the Campe cryed whosoeuer pertains to the Lord let him come to me so daily by the word of God doe we exhort you which are on Gods â—ide to gather you together into one not that it is possible ye can be seperate from them in this life in regard of personall conuersation for so saith the Apostle ye behoued to goe out of the world but that by difference of your words and deedes from them yee declare that ye are not of their communion They who are one the side of Iesus are knowne chiefely these two manner of wayes First Sathan fights against them Secondly they are also warriours against him the first without the second is nothing for man euen as hee is a naturall man is an obiect of Sathans malice but where the grace of God hath made the man a new creature there Sathan doubles his hatred for hee enuies most the glory of Gods mercy whereof hee knowes he shall neuer be pertaker As Nabuchadnezers countenance changed and his rage encreased when the three Children refused in his face to worship his image and thereupon commaunded to make his Ouen seauen times hotter than it was before so is Sathans malice most intended against those who plainly refuse to fall downe and worship him But that the godly be not discouraged with his malice let vs remember that first hee was an enimie vnto God or euer he was an enimie vnto vs and that wee haue cause to reioyce in that we finde that Apostate spirit an enimie vnto vs whom God from the beginning hath proclaymed to be an enimie vnto himselfe Secondly we are to collect of his inuasion and our resistance that there is in vs some measure of the grace of Iesus Christ for against those doth he multiply his malitious assaults on whom hee sees that the Lord hath multiplyed his graces like to a crafitie Pirate who passing by the emptie vessell sets vpon that which is loadned Thirdly howeuer he being compared with vs hath many vantages as that he is more subtile in nature being of greater experience and more auncient being now almost sixe thousand yeeres old and hath also vantage of place for he is the Prince of the Aire assisted with armies of spirituall wickednesse who for their number are legions for their strength principalities powers for their subtiltie serpents for their fiercenesse dragons yet stronger is he who is on our side than they who are against vs the serpents head is bruised some life remaines in him but hee hath no power to inflict death on them which are in Christ. But what euer inimitie Sathan exercise against vs it is not sufficient to comfort vs vnlesse wee also liue as enimies vnto him It was a notable speach of Azariah to Prophet to Asa the Lord is with you while yee be with him if thou stand with the compleat armour of God pleading the cause of God fighting against the enimie of God than mayst thou say in a good conscience God is with thee and thou art with him But alas we see in this generation many wearing Christs liuerie and bearing Sathans armour professing friendship to Christ yet fighting against him these two factions are entred already into the battaile pelmell so that in the smallest fellowships some ye shall finde aduancing the kingdome of the one though very few to fight for the glory of the other What a shame is this for vs who say we are on the Lords side that a wicked man seruing Sathan shall in our audience open his mouth to blaspheme God and we will not open our mouthes to rebuke him we see carnall men so shamelesse that they stand vpon no circumstances to dishonour God and we who professe we loue him for feare wee faile against curtesie and I cannot tell what circumstances dare not open our mouthes to praise him Our coldnesse in this point hath neede to be admonished that we may be stirred vp not by profession onely but by conuersation also to make it knowen to the world that wee belong wholy to the Lord Iesus Who can be against vs It may seeme strange that the Apostle should vse any such interrogaâ—orie what Christian wants enimies inough against him yea saith not the Apostle of himselfe that hee had beasts at Ephesus with whom he behoued to fight was there not an Angell of Sathan sent to buffet him did not Nero at length behead him how is it then that he askes who can be against him But wee are to know that the Apostles meaning is not that godly men haue no enimies but that no enimie can take from vs that for which wee striue it is not for the maintenance of our bodily life that wee fight when our enimies haue taken that from vs they haue done no more than Poâ—iphars wife did
thee sinne committed by thy selfe no no when he beginneth to smite thee hee shall neuer lift vp his hand from thee but double his stripes vpon thee and there shall be no end of thy sorrow As the ioyes prepared for the godly so the paines prepared for the wicked are such as the eye neuer saw the tongue cannot vtter nor the heart conceiue That place of the damned is the great deepe the Ocean of all the iudgements of God all his temporall plagues are but like little riâ—ers and strands running into it If therefore the beautie of Sion doth not allure vs let the terrour of Sinai afray vs. The Lord proclaimed his Law in a fearefull manner vpon mount Sinai but in a more terrible manner will hee execute it if Moses who was so familiar with the Lord trembled when hee heard it proclaimed what horrible feare shall ouer-take the wicked when they shall see it executed vpon themselues Let therefore the children of wisedome hearken in time to the ioyfull tidings of peace which are daily proclaimed on mount Sion let vs drinke of the still and peaceable waters of Siloh which flow from it let vs embrace that mercy which Iesus by the merit of his death hath conquered vnto vs that so wee may be saued from the wrath which is to come His owne Sonne Iesus Christ is called Gods owne Son both in respect of his diuine and humane natures for as hee is God he was begotten of the Father by so vnspeakable a generation that as Esay saith none are able to declare it and as hee is man hee is the Sonne of God conceiued by the holy Ghost made man indeed but not after the manner of other men but of this see Verse 3. But gaue him for vs all This is very often alleadged in holy Scriptures as an argument of the great loue of God toward vs that he gaue his sonne to death for vs and so it is indeed for it is not by any corruptible thing as Gold and siluer that he hath redeemed vs but by the precious blood of his owne Sonne the Lambe vndefiled and without spot There is no man will giue much for that whereof he esteemes but little we measure the price of a thing according to the worth of it in our iudgement euen so of the greatnesse of that gift which our God hath giuen for vs wee may estimate the greatnesse of his affection toward vs. Pretious indeed in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints who to redeeme vs from death spared not to giue his dearest sonne vnto the death It was the Lords reasoning to Abraham now I perceiue thou louest mee because for my sake thou hast not spared thine onely sonne and haue we not much more cause to turne ouer the same reasoning to the Lord now Lord we perceiue thou louest vs because for our sake thou hast not spared thine onely one sonne The Lord shed abroad in our hearts more aboundantly the sense of that inestimable loue that we may be carefull to requite the kindnesse of the Lord putting his holy will before all things in our affection and endeauouring in holy loue to serue him who hath saued vs. Shall hee not with him giue vs all things also Wee are to vnderstand all things that are needfull for vs And here it is necessary that we put a difference betweene our right and our possession The children of God haue the right and propertie of all Gods good creatures for Christ their Lord is the heire of all and hath made them with himselfe fellow heires All things are yours saith the Apostle and yee are Christs and Christ is Gods But as for the possession of them the Lord giues it or with-holds it according as hee sees may be for the good of his children We know our father Abraham had the right of Canaan when he had not the possession of it and are not therefore to thinke it strange that the Lord giues not alwayes possession of that to his Children whereof they haue the right But as for the wicked they haue possession without a right and therefore shall be punished as theeues and robbers and violent vsurpers of Gods creatures whereunto Iesus Christ who is the heyre of all hath neuer giuen them a right Secondly wee marke here that the giuing and dispensation of earthly things is from God if wee could remember this it would moderate our care and make vs in our callings first to seeke the Lords blessing loath any manner of way to take the things of this world vnlesse we see they be giuen vs out of the hand of God For we are to know that Sathan who is a counterfaiter of God doth also arrogate to himself though falsely to be the giuer of things hee that durst say to the sonne of God all the kingdomes of the earth are mine I will giue them to thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me will hee stand in awe to speake it vnto sinnefull man No indeed it is his daily tentation by which he circumuents many intangling their hearts with the loue of worldly gaine that to obtaine it they care not to lye to steale to sweare to oppresse to deceiue one another which in effect is to fall downe before Sathan and worship him Thus Sathan rules in the kingdome of Babell like a spirituall Nabuchadnezar presenting to his subiects his great image of gold accompanied with all sorts of musicall instruments that is worldly pleasures vvealth and prosperitie which bewitch the simple and makes them fall downe and worship yeelding themselues seruants to Mammon But happy are those children who refuse so to do and can stand vp vvith their father Abraham lifting vp his hand to heauen can say I will not haue so much as the latchet of a shoe from the king of Sodome I will haue nothing by any crooked or indirect meanes out of the hand of Sathan or any of his instruments the buddes of Balak shall not hire me to doe euill neither the wages of iniquitie nor the reward of Sodome for doing good shall euer cleaue to my hands I will looke for my portion from the Lord. Againe seeing God is the giuer of all things let vs learne with the Apostle in whatsoeuer state we are to be content remembring that euery mans portion of vvorldly things is measured vnto him from the Lord. We see that a steward in a familie ministers not alike vnto all that are in it the aged and the young the seruant and the Lord receiues not a like portion yet no man gainsayes it and shall vve not reuerence the Lords dispensation who is the great steward of his familie in heauen and earth shall vve murmure against him if he giue Beniamin a double portion and bestow vpon some of his children these worldly things in greater aboundance than he doth vpon others farre be it from vs for he dispenses these
corruption which before vvas secret for the afflictions of the godly and of the vvicked differs in nature and in effects the vvicked in suffering communicateth vvith the curse of Adam cursed is the earth for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eate of it all the dayes of thy life but the Godly in their suffering communicates with the Crosse of Christ. They differ also in effects for the godly man being pressed by trouble brings out the fruite of praise and thanksgiuing vvith patience Sicut aromata odorem non nisi cum accenduntur expandunt As sweet spices spreads not abroad their smell till they be burnt or beaten or as a graine of mustard seede not stamped seemes to be soft vvhere otherwise being brayed it renders out a strong sauour so the children of God who otherwise seeme to be weake and void of spirituall strength when they are beaten by affliction sends out a sweete smelling sauour of rich and manifold graces And therefore I call affliction the wine-presse of God the great Husband-man by which hee so presses the berryes of the fruitfull trees of his owne vine-yard that out of their iuyce hee may glorifie himselfe and comfort others but the wicked are like vnto a vile stinking puddle which the more it is stirred the worse it smelleth for when they are troubled they send out blasphemie rayling murmuring and in their impatiencie foome out their owne shame The second is Anguish The word he vseth is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifieth straitnesse of place wherein a man is so pinched that hee is not able to turne him Now from the body it is translated to the minde to expresse the straitnesse of the afflictions of the children of God out of which ofttimes they thēselues can see no passage that which Dauid said to Ionathan A◠the Lord liueth there is but one steppe betweene me and death so fareth it many a time with the Children of God but the Lord commeth in with vnlooked for deliuerance in their most desperate distresse which not onely relieueth them for the present but doth confirme them for the time to come Wee receiued saith the Apostle the sentence of death in our selues because wee should not trust in our selues but in God who raiseth the dead who deliuered vs from so great a death and doth deliuer vs in whom we trust that he will yet deliuer vs. The third is Persecution The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth that sort of affliction by which the Children of God are persecuted and chased from one place to another the world hath neuer thought them worthy of a roome among them and therefore haue they beene forced to liue in caues and dennes and wildernesses but our comfort is that the Lord hath alwayes shewed himselfe most familiar with his Children when the world hath been most hard vnto them Iacob is banished from his fathers house by the crueltie of Esau and his heauenly Father receiued him into his house comforting him by such a familiar reuelation of his presence as hee neuer had felt before so long as hee dwelt at home and Iohn being banished by Domitian into Pathmos found also the Lord reueiling himselfe vnto him more familiarly than he had done before What part of the world is there wherein Tyrants can banish the Children of God from the acts of their Comforter they know that in their owne house they are strangers as Abraham was in Canaan the Land of his inheritance and therefore can be the better content as strangers to liue in any other part of the world Basil being threatned by Modestus the Deputie of the Emperour with banishment Nihil inquit horum quae dixisti timeo I feare none of these things whereof thou hast spoken nihil possidens ab exilij metu liber sum vnam hominū cognoscens esse patriam Paradisum Omnem autem terram commune aspicimus naturae exilium possessing nothing I am free from the feare of banishment knowing that Paradise is the onely country of men and the whole earth is a common place of banishment to vs all The fourth is Famine which of it own nature is one of the plagues of God but lesse than his other ordinary plagues of the sword pestilence therfore the Lord who best knows the waight of his owne rods accounts three dayes of pestilence three moneths of the sword and three yeeres of famine equiualent Many wayes hath the Lord by which hee bringeth famine vpon a people for sometime he maketh the Heauen aboue as brasse and the earth beneath as yron so that albeit men labour and sow yet they receiue no encrease sometime againe he giues in dew season the first and latter raine so that the earth renders abundance but the Lord by blasting-winds or by the Caterpiller Canker-worme and Grasse-hopper doth consume them who commeth out as exacters and officers sent from God to poind men in their goods because with them they would not honour the Lord which I marke by the way that those vnnaturall men who doe what they can to encrease famine in the Land may know they are but Caterpillers scourges and roddes of the wrath of God or as Basil calleth them Mercatores humanarum calumnitatum making their priuate gain a common calamitie and vsing that as a benefite to themselues which God hath threatned as a plague to the people assuredly vnlesse they repent the Lord shall cast them at length into the fire as the roddes of his wrath But we are to know that famine which in the owne nature is a curse and plague of God to the godly is changed the Lord who made the bitter waters of Marah sweet and turned a biting serpent into a florishing rod hath changed the nature of all those euils which sinne hath brought vpon vs now they worke for our good and are become like Waspes wanting stings profitable to waken vs and exercise our faith but not able to seperate vs from the loue of God Among those famine is a great tentation Nature being impatient of the want of necessaries and therefore Sathan who picks out the time and place of tentations as may be most for his vantage tempted our blessed Sauiour when hee began to waxe hungry It is a rare grace in want to praise the Lord and trust in his fatherly prouidence Salomon neuer felt it yet hee knew it was a rare tentation therefore hee praied that the Lord would neither giue him pouertie nor riches least the one make him full and cause him deny God and the other should cause him to steale and take the name of God in vaine yet no extremitie of this tentation can seperate them from the loue of God for either in their greatest necessities the Lord meruailously prouides for them or then strengthens them with patience and inward comfort to sustaine it For sometime the earth hath beene as iron but
but that the workes of God may be made manifest which our Sauiour plainely teacheth vs when being demaunded concerning him that was borne blind whether it was for his owne sinnes or the sinnes of his Parents aunswered it was for neyther of them but that the workes of God might be made manifest in him And these workes of God manifested by affliction are of two sorts for not onely his meruailous power and constant truth in preseruing and deliuering his owne Church in all troubles against the power falshoode and malice of the world are manifested that all men may see it is not by the arme of man but by the power of God that his Church is continued vpon earth but likewise these manifold graces of God wrought secretly by his holy Spirit in the hearts of his children are made manifest to the world such as their constant faith their inuincible loue toward God their patience in the hardest sort of crosses And vnto these kindes of afflictions doe wee referre that which here is spoken These afflictions which are for Gods sake require these two things comprised by the Apostle in these words Faith and a good Conscience that is a good Religion and a good conuersation though thy life be so good that it be vnreproueable in the eyes of man yet if thou be not found in the faith thy suffering is not suffering for Gods cause and albeit the Religion thou professest be good if thy conuersation be euill though thou wouldest giue thy body to be burnt for Religion yet shall not thy suffering be suffering for Chists cause Let none of you suffer as euill doers but if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed Non suppliciuÌ„ facit martyrem sed causa it is not the crosse makes the Martyr but the cause There hath beene no Heresie so grosse but some men haue beene bold to dye for it which is not Christian fortitude but miserable hardnesse of heart As the Lord Iesus hath his Apostles and Martyres so Sathan hath his false Apostles and Martyrs Martires Satanicae virtutis and therefore wee will conclude with Augustine Non est ex passione certa Iustitia it is not suffering that makes sure a cause to be righteous Sed ex Iustitia gloriosa passio but it is righteousnesse which makes suffering glorious For thy sake It is common to all the Godly to suffer with Christ as yee heard before but to suffer for Christ is not a honour communicated to them all the rarer that it is the more heartely should wee welcome it when God sends it The Apostle reioyced in the bonds wherewith hee was bound for Christs cause the golden chaines of earthly ambassadours are nothing so honourable as chaines of yron which are worne for Christs cause The Emperour Constantine honoured all the Fathers of the Counsell of Nice but made most of those who had suffered for the cause of Christ as in perticular hee kissed the hole of Paphnutius eye which had beene put out in time of trouble for Christs sake yet did hee reuerence it as the most honourable and precious part of his body no face so beautifull as that which is deformed no man so rich as hee who hath sustained spoliation of his goods if it be for Christs sake neyther is any death so glorious as that which is sustained for his cause Si enim beati qui moriuntur in Domino multo magis qui pro Domino for if they be blessed which dye in the Lord much more blessed are they wâ—o dye for the Lord. But now because no Christian is persecuted without some cause alleadged against him by his persecuters and that also in euery trouble his owne conscience saith that hee hath most iustly deserued it how can hee haue this comfort that he suffers for Christs sake The first is easily answered if we put a difference betweene the pretended and the true cause for which the wicked doe persecute vs. If Haman beare malice to Mordecay for his sake hee will forge a crime against all the people of the Iewes if Amazia can couer his hatred against Amos by pretending that Amos hath conspired against the King If the Princes of Darius enuy Daniels preferment they can delate him as a rebell to the kings proclamation If Ieremie exhort the Iewes to goe out to the King of Babell hee shall be accused as a confederate with the Chaldean It is a common stratagem of Sathans to staine the glory of Gods Children in their sufferings with false pretended crimes Vt qui conscientiae suae luce clarescunt fâ—lsis rumoribus sordidentur that they who are cleared by the light of their owne conscience may be defiled with false reports Sed bene sibi conscius non debet falsis moueri nec putare plus esse ponderis in alieno conuitio quam in suo testimonio but heeâ— who hath a good conscience ought not to be moued with false things nor to thinke there is more waight in any other mans traducing than is in his owne testimonie Our comfort doth stand sure if wee can say with Dauid They hate me without a cause And againe They are gathered together against mee not for mine offence not for my sinne O Lord. As for the other the accusation of our conscience in trouble charging vs with sinnes which no man can lay to our charge if wee will distinguish betweene the quarrell which conscience hath against vs and that wherewith the wicked doe charge vs it shall be manifest that the cause of our persecution is our disagreement with them in an euill course and not any sinne committed by vs against God and so shall our comfort still remaine that vvee are sufferers for Christs sake We are killed How farre forth this killing extends our Sauiour doth teach vs when hee sayes they are able to kill the body and doe no more Qui pro Christo moriuntur aliquid mortis accipiunt ne tot a contingat they may cast downe this earthly tabernacle but cannot hurt the man of God But here it is enquired seeing these godly ones were aliue when they sent vp this complaint vnto God how is it said they were slaine To this I answere that two manner of wayes are the godly pertakers of Christs afflictions euen when they are not troubled in their owne persons first by lympathie with others that are troubled for as the head of the misticall body accounts himselfe persecuted when his members are persecuted so among the liuely members therof the griefe and trouble of one is the griefe and trouble of the rest If we mourne with them that mournes and remember them who are in bonds as if wee were in bonds with them we are pertakers of their sufferings but now the want of this compassion in many who resting in their yâ—orie beds sorrowes not for Iosephs affliction proues them to be but dead
vnproperly compared to a Rock in the sea which being beaten on euery side vvith vvaues raysed by the wind yet stands vnmoueable vnbroken it selfe breakes them that assaults it Againe yee see that the Apostle who speaking of the estate of christians vpon earth sayd before wee are slaine all the day long saith now we are more then conquerours strange it is that hee who is slaine should be a conquerour but so it is the christian battell euery way is meruailous paâ—tly because it is foughten within and against himselfe and partly because then is hee a conquerour when â—ee seemes to be vanquished being the member of that head who obtayned greatest victory vvhen hee suffered most shamefull death Through him that loued vs. The Apostle doth so giue comfort to the christian that he reserues the glory vnto the Lord the strength whereby we preuaile is from him that loued vs not from our selues It is very comfortable to consider that a christian is not a man standing or liuing by himselfe he hath his being in Christ as long as there is life in him we cannot die it is true that sometime being deserted and left to our selues we fall away for a time as we may see in Peter vvho at the voyce of a Damsell denyed the Lord Iesus and this is to teach vs that the praise of our standing perseuering and ouer-comming pertaines to the Lord. Verse 38 For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come 29. Nor height nor any other creature c. THe Apostle continuing in his triumph mounts to an higher sort of enimies and hee also proclaimes defiance to them affirming that neither death nor life nor Angels nor things present nor things to come nor any other creature whatsoeuer if any other be are able to seperate vs from the loue of God Of the which wee haue first to learne that a Christian man in this life may be perswaded of his saluation neyther is it to be accounted presumption for as much as in so doing hee leanes not vpon himselfe but vpon the word and promise of God which the Lord hath confirmed by an oath that hee may make sure to the heyres of promise the stabilitie of his counsell Where if the aduersary obiect that the word of the Lord out of all doubt is true and that they who beleeues and repents shall be saued but euery one who saith hee beleeues doth not beleeue and so cannot be perswaded of his saluation To this I answere that hee who repents vnfainedly and beleeues knowes as certainely that hee hath repentance and faith as hee who hath in his hand a iewell knowes that he hath iâ— and therefore may conclude with himselfe that the promises of saluation made to the penitent beleeuers belongs vnto him for albeit it be true there be many in the Church like vnto those fiue foolish Virgins who suppose they haue that which they shall not be found to haue in the end yet is there no reason to conclude that because some are deceiued all are deceiued because some thinke they haue faith and haue it not therefore none can be sure that they haue faith Out of all doubt where the Lord Iesus dwelleth by his Spirit hee makes himselfe knowne to them in whom hee dwelleth according to that Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be reprobates and these names giuen to the holy Spirit of Adoption doth also confirme the same truth for hee is called the Seale the Witnesse earnest penny of God which names hee receiues from his effects and operations which hee workes in them to whom hee is giuen eyther therfore must the aduersary say that there are none to whom the Spirit is giuen or they must graunt that they to whom he is giuen are sure the first they will not affirme the second they cannot with reason deny for what is this to say that a man hath the Seale the Witnesse and the Earnest of God giuen to confirme the promise of God and yet all these doe not make him who hath them sure of saluation But here least that which I haue said discourage them who are of weake consciences let them know that this assurance of saluation doth not alway continue with the Christian in a like measure for here wee doe so beleeue that we want not our owne vnbeleife and albeit our faith when it is in the full strength ouer-comes all doubting yet is it oftentimes so weake that it is againe disquieted with doubting for which if we pray instantly with the Father of that child Lord I beleeue but helpe my vnbeliefe wee may be sure at length Faith shall ouercome and thus farre teach we concerning the assurance which the Christian man hath of his saluation But as for that Religion which teacheth doubtings and pronounceth them accursed who hold that a man may be assured of saluation wee accurse it as a doctrine enimie to Faith and Saluation such as is the doctrine of the counsell of Trent Si quis dixerit hominem renatum teneri ex side ad credendum se certo esse ex numero praedestinatorum anathema sit It is strange to see that where they teach a man is able to fulfill the whole Law of God and by his workes to merit eternall life yet they accurse him if hee say hee is sure to be saued so directly doth one point of their false doctrine impugne another But indeed it is no meruaile if their Religion can yeeld no comfort nor certaintie of saluation to the weary conscience because they draw men from off the foundation Iesus Christ in whom onely it is promised that wee shall finde rest to our soules and would make vs to leane vpon rotten foundations such as the merit of Masses the vertue of our workes and humane satisfaction and because all these cannot yet satisfie the doubting consciences of men they suspend them with a vaine hope of greater comfort which they shall finde in their forged and comfortlesse Purgatorie thus doe they hold the poore people comfortlesse both in life and in death But as for vs wee will abide on the rocke renouncing all purgation but the purgation of his bloud wee will content our selues with Iesus Christ in whom the Father is well pleased that in him we may finde rest to our soules which neyther in our selues nor in any other creature shall wee euer be able to finde Let them call it Presumption Non arrogantia est sed fides praedicare quod acceperis non superbia est sed deuotio it is not presumption but Faith or otherwise if wee say vnto him who hath begotten vs by the lawer of regeneration Pater bona praesumptio est Father this said Augustine is a good presumption And to the same effect said Bernard Propter hoc data sunt signa quaedam
manifesta salutis vt indubitabile sit â—um esse de numero Electorum in quo ea signa permanserint This is the truth of God agreeable to Scripture and auncieâ—t Fathers which wee doe affirme howeuer they doe accurse it That neyther life By life vve are to vnderstand the pleasures of this life strong tentations indeed for in the hearts of many they preuaile against the loue of God that we may learne to despise them and to count with the Apostle all things to be doung in regard of Iesus let vs looke vnto those two things which discouers vnto vs the vaniâ—e of worldly pleasures first they are most loathsome to them who haue them in greatest abundance and aâ—e most admired of those who haue them not A proofe of this we haue in Salomon who wanted nothing delectable vnder the Sunne yet by the very vse of them he found the vanitie of them and was moued to abhorre them It is far otherwise with heauenly pleasures the more we tast of them the more wee esteeme of them hungring still for more we cannot be satisfied with that which wee haue gotten already Secondly worldly pleasures are of this nature that if they be continued without intermission they turn into pains therefore is it that those same things which now we choose for recreation incontinently they become wearisome vnto vs and wee cast them away so that it is not so much by themselues as by the change of them that we are delighted Sola vicessitudine recreamur being weary of walking we refresh our selues with sitting againe being vveary of fitting we rise to refresh our selues with walking and so fareth it with all the recreations of this life being continuall they become wearisome So oft therefore as Sathan by worldly pleasures would steale away our hearts from the loue of God let vs consider how vaine and small a pleasure it is vvhich he would giue vs in respect of that vnspeakeable ioy which he would take from vs. Nor death By death vvee vnderstand not onely death it selfe but all those paines that goe before it and terrouâ—s which accompanie it There vvas neuer life so long but it hath beene concluded by death no life so pleasant but the paines of death shall swallow vp all the pleasures therof As the seauen leane Kine deuoured the seauen fat the seauen yeares of famine consumed the fruit of seauen yeares of plenty so shall the dolours and terrours of death eate vp all the pleasures and delectations of this vvretched life If vve suffer the pleasures of this life to bewitch vs be sure the terrours of death shall confound vs. It were therefore good that as Ioseph of Aramathia had his sepulcher in his Garden so vvee season all the pleasures of our life with remembrance of our death this is summa Philosophia Yet our comfort is that if wee liue in Christ no terror of death can seperate vs from him yea death conioynes vs neerer to the Lord Iesus then wee were before wee see oft-times by experience that the children of God haue so triumphed in the very dolours of death and reioyced in the sense of Gods loue that they haue forgot all their bodily paines As the top of mount Pisgah was to Moses the place of his death and the first place wherein euer hee got a sight of Canaan so shall death be to the children of God where we lay downe the sight of this world there shall wee take vp the sight of eternall life which shall neuer be taken from vs. Nor Angels By Angels here I vnderstand not elect Angels for they are not enimies to vs but ministring spirits for our saluation but reprobate Angels for these names of Angels principalities and powers are common both to good and euill Angels And they are so called partly from the power which God hath lent them and partly from the message vvherein hee imployes them for sometime they are sent out as messengers of his wrath to punish the wicked and so an euill spirit was sent from the Lord to punish Saul and sometime to exercise the godly and so an Angell of Sathan was sent to buffet the Apostle Paul for his humiliation we are not exempted from their tempting but praysed be God we are exempted from their tyrannie dominion Their working in regard of the wicked is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the efficacie of errour for the Lord hath giuen them vp into the hands of Sathan but their working in regard of the godly is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tentation Alwayes seeing so long as we liue wee must wrestle against so strong enimies let vs watch and be sober let vs stand with the compleat armour of God vpon vs. Againe we mark here how that our estate in Christ is better than the estate of Adam by his first creation for then an apostate Angell drew Adam to an apostasie also from God but now no Angell is able to seperate vs from the loue of God the reason is the couenant which God made with Adam was without a mediatour hee had the keeping of his owne saluation in his owne hand but the couenant of grace with vs is bound vp in the mediator Christ Iesus to whom the Father hath committed vs that hee might redeeme and saue vs hee hath taken vs into his hand and none are able to take vs from him our saluation depends not on our selues it is not in our keeping but in his and therefore is it most certaine Principalities nor powers These names are not to terrifie or astray vs seeing as I said these reprobate Angels haue no power but that which is lent and limited of God Therefore Saint Iude saith that they are reserued in chaines vnder darknesse and here for our comfort we are to consider how that there are two chaines wherewith they are bound and other two wherewith they are tormented the first chaine that bindes them is their owne nature the second is Gods prouidence the first restraines them that they cannot doe the euill which they would the second restraineth them that they doe not the euill which they can Sathan being a naturall creature is bounded within the compasse of nature his insatiable malice would doe much more euill than by nature he is able to performe for aboue or contrary to nature can hee worke nothing and againe many euils is hee able to doe by naturall meanes which the prâ—uidence of God permits him not to doe The tormenting chaines which are vpon him are an euill conscience and the wrath of God for as he growes in euill doing so groweth his conscience worse and worse and the wrath of God accordingly encreaseth vpon him with which two he is continually tormented Nor things present nor things to come This is a great amplification of our suretie that neyther present euils inflicted vpon vs nor any euill to come can seperate vs