sound of voyce Psal. 14. 1. So there is a double word speaking the one is verbum vocis the other cordu But to speak truly and properly there is but one word which is in our hearts as our word is first cloathed with aire and so becommeth audible to mens eares so faith one Christ the word of his Father being cloathed with 〈◊〉 was visible and manifest to all men So to conclude the word is that he conceived first in the Closer as I may say of his 〈◊〉 and then doth make it plain here by Creation and after by redemption And here we may learn the difference between us and God In us there is one thing by which we are and another thing by which we understand and conceive things but in God both his being and understanding are of one and the same substance And this substantial Word of God is that where with St. John beginneth his Gospell God created that which was not but the word was in the begining Therefore it is verbum increatum it made all things at the beginning Coll. 1. 15. 16. Therefore it was before the beginning John 17. 5. Thus we see as Christ saith how Moses scripsit de me John 5. 46. this word of God is proceeding from God John 8. 42. as the holy Ghost doth also John 15. 26. The proceeding of the Sonne is four folde But Christs manner of proceeding is determined after four sorts First as a sonne proceeding from a Father Secondly as an Image from a Picture Thirdly as the light from the Sunne Fourthly as a word from the speaker as a Sonne from the Father Psal. 2. 7. this day I begot thee this day that is from all eternity for to God all times is as one day also he begot him in respect of the connaturality and identity of nature and substance that he hath with God the Father As an Image from a pattern that is in likeness and resemblance to the Father Coll. 1. 15. for he is like God in property and similitude of quality and therefore is called the lively and express character and graven Image form and stamp of his Father Heb. 1. 3. Thirdly in respect of Coeternity For as the light proceeded from the Sunne so soon as ever the Sunne was so did Christ the word from eternity Heb. 1. 3. and therefore he is called the brightness of his Fathers glorie So at what time God was at that time the brightness of his Sonne appeared and shone from him Last of all in regard of the immateriality 1. John 1. For as a word conceived in us is no matter or substance so this was Coemateriall but an incorporeall generation Thus we see that his proceeding is foure fold Christ distinct in person one in substance Now this word is distinct from the Father in person and one with him in substance That he is distinct from him it appeareth Gen. 19. 24. Psal. 110. 1. the Lord said to my Lord 30. Prov. 4. what is his name and what is his sonnes names Esay 36. 9. the father brought forth a sonne ergo divers from himself Touching the Godhead of Christ Job saith surely my Redeemer liveth and I shall see God with these eyes Job 19. 25 26. Psal. 45. 7. God even thy God shall annoynt thee There is God annoynting God for he is called thy God also whom wee must worship Esay 9. 6. Jer. 63. 6. his name is the righteous God In the new Testament Rom. 9. 5. even as he was verbum incarnatum 〈◊〉 Tim. 3. 16. and John 17. 2. this is eternall life to know God and him whom he sent Jesus Christ. I have made it plain before that the Heathen had notice of his second person As the Persian called him the second Understanding The Caldeans called him the Fathers Understanding or Wisdome Macrobius a Counsell or Wisdome proceeding from him so may we say likewise of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is attributed to Christ for they seem not to be ignorant of that name Some called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is verbum Hermes calleth him the Naturall Word of God Orpheus the Word of the Father And Plato most plainly in his Epistle to Hormias But most strange is that which 〈◊〉 writeth inlib de preparatione Evangelii scited out of AEmilius and Heraclitus and let this suffice for the distinction of the duty and notice of Christ which is Verbum Dei Now this word hath a relation to him that speaketh it and also to the things Created therefore it is called verbum expressivum in respect of God and verbum factivum in regard of his works for his Precept did in respect of himself express his Will but in respect of us it had a power to Create and make things that were not Therefore 1. John 3. he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in the 15. verse he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that both in regard of his Father and us he is a word Little divinity and much danger is in those late Divines which say that this was but a temperarie word which God used in Creating all things for we see this is verhum increatum and the very root of which all that is said after are but as branches derived therefrom And thus much for the authority of this Word Fiat lux Now to the Creation of light Moses maketh plain mention That the first several thing which God perfectly made was Light Wherefore we will first speak of the Order then of the Nature God is Pater Luminum Jam. 1. 17. Therefore first he brought forth light as his sunne But some having little Philosophie in them doe reason against this work of God very impiously as if it were not to be said that light was made three dayes before the Sunne which is the cause thereof But if we respect God the Father of lights or the Sunne which is the light of the World or the necessity of light for Lux est vox verum because that which things cannot express by voyce and words they doe plainly shew by the comming of light which manifesteth all things Again God being about the work of distinguishing it was necessary first to make the great distiuguisher of all things which is light for in nocte est color omnibus idem tenebrae rerum discrimina tollunt but the light distinguisheth one thing from another Again of the three beginnings we shew that the first beginning was of time but we could not have a morning to make a first day without light of it was first made for the naturall common Clock of the world to distinguish times is the course of light and darkness which is the essence of day and night Furthermore we have seen that the Heavens were the first and most excellent therefore the light being the first quality and affection of the the Heavens the first body made must by right order be made first Last of all we
〈◊〉 and we shall see that 〈◊〉 man 〈…〉 himself to this present World can have more 〈…〉 〈◊〉 Secondly For Gods hand and 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 〈◊〉 Children this ground is to be laid that these 〈…〉 are from God for Jubals invention 〈…〉 from God 〈…〉 butter of Kine and 〈◊〉 of Sheep with 〈◊〉 of Lamb 〈…〉 in Basham He gives the grain of wheat and 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 the thirty second chapter and the four 〈◊〉 and for making of 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 It is God that 〈◊〉 songs in the night Job the thirty fist chapter and the 〈…〉 For Tubal-Cains invention of 〈◊〉 of warr It is the Lord that teachet hour hands to 〈◊〉 and our 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 and the fourth 〈◊〉 These inventions are all 〈◊〉 God whereby we see it is not with God as 〈◊〉 said to Isaas his Father Genesis the twenty seventh chapter Hast thou but one 〈◊〉 God hath for the Sonnes of men 〈◊〉 only heavenly blessings that 〈◊〉 the life to come but even such as pertain to the 〈…〉 In his lest hand he hath riches and worldly honour but in his 〈◊〉 hand 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 life Proverbs the third 〈…〉 the fix teenth 〈◊〉 he hath not only donum 〈◊〉 but 〈…〉 James the first 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 verse 〈◊〉 in temporall things as well as spirituall to 〈◊〉 upon 〈…〉 we fed God saith Exodus the thirty first chapter 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 and Aholiab so as they were able 〈◊〉 work in the 〈◊〉 so all mechanicall arts are to be ascribed to 〈…〉 that was for 〈◊〉 Tabernacle So Hir 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 with the 〈◊〉 to work in 〈◊〉 for the Temple in the second book of Chronicles the 〈◊〉 chapter and the fourteenth verse These 〈◊〉 came from the 〈◊〉 of counsell and understanding The second thing to be observed is Gods 〈…〉 herein that he 〈◊〉 to the wicked good 〈◊〉 pertaining to this life as Christ 〈◊〉 He suffers 〈…〉 to shine 〈◊〉 the godly and 〈◊〉 Matthew the fist chapter so he bestowes temporall 〈◊〉 upon the posterity of Cain as well as upon the Children of 〈◊〉 and this they obtain of God gratiae gratis datae but not 〈…〉 Secondly His mercy appeares herein that he 〈◊〉 gives 〈◊〉 a supply of those blessings which their sinnes 〈◊〉 them of Thirdly His 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 order that the world 〈◊〉 be furnished with things necessary for this present 〈◊〉 By 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 world Psalm the seventeenth And that they which have 〈◊〉 themselves to the things of this world should have 〈◊〉 excellency in things 〈…〉 the same above the Godly as the 〈◊〉 est of worldly men in this 〈◊〉 so their 〈◊〉 stands in earthly things and the godly 〈…〉 in respect of 〈◊〉 For the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 are 〈◊〉 in their 〈…〉 the Children of light Luke the tenth chapter but come to things that pertain to the other life there they that seem to be most childish in things of this life goe far beyond the Philosophers of whom the Apostle saith in the first to the Corinthians the second chapter The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the spirit of God But he hath hid them from the wise and prudent of this world and revealed them to babes Matthew the eleventh chapter and the twenty fift verse Fourthly We are to consider the equity of Gods dealing in recording these things in his own book which is the Library of the Holy Ghost These things are enrolled by an honourable name that is the name of a Father shewing plainly that they which bring forth actions that are profitable no less are to be counted Fathers than they that bring forth Children and that they ought accordingly to be honoured and reverenced as Fathers The ancient Fathers make a question Whether these men were the inventors of these things first It is certain that Cain being an husbandman had use of iron workes as the Coulter and Share and albeit he did invent iron tools fit for his purpose yet that which is ascribed to Tubal-Cain was excultio expolitio that is the perfecting of that work which Cain had begun Abel was a shepheard and could not but have use of tents but yet the perfecting of that cunning in that kinde is 〈◊〉 to Jubal Mahalallel was one that used to praise God as his name signifieth which he could not doe without some kinde of musick and therefore in as much as he was farre ancienter than Lamech it follows there was musick before Jubal invented Instruments and Organs This distinction therefore must be held in this point which the School men make that the one is quoad modum simplicis the other quoad modum singularis And therefore in as much as Jabal-Jubal and Tubal Cain are called Fathers of these arts which were in use long before them it is plaine that not only the first inventors of any art are to be honoured but even they also that add any excellencie or perfection to any thing which they professe To draw to an end Lamech being thus blessed of God in things naturall and pertaining to this life ought to be thankfull to God Jacob when God gave him a sonne called his name Judah saying I will praise the Lord Genesis the twenty ninth chapter but he is so farre from praising God that he speakes hard things against God If Cain be avenged seven times then Lamech seventy times seven fold And for men he was so cruel against them that he said no man should stirre against him He would kill a man in his rage Therefore he called his third sonne Tubal Cain that is another Cain as if he would have the name of Cain remembred which God would have buryed All these mercies moved not Lamech to any amendment but as it is in the twenty sixth chapter of Isaiah Let mercy be shewed to the wicked yet will he doe wickedly so did Lamech And albeit these things which they invented tended to the benefit of men yet they were to their own destruction Hypocrites can discern the face of the sky but cannot discern the signe or the times Matthew the sixteenth chapter The Heathen by the works of God attained to a knowledge of God but were not the better for it because they did not worship him as God Romans the first chapter so in as much as they imploy not that 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 which God gave them to his glory it will be to their destruction As we are to have a right estimation of those things where with God blessed them outwardly so we must beware that having the like blessings we be not as they They desired to be mighty men on earth and men of renoune Genesis the sixth chapter that was the end of their desire and they were so but as Christ saith accepêrunt mercedem suam Lamech as he desired proved a mighty man and so did his posterity but when all is done when the men of this world as Lamech have Children at their 〈◊〉 fire Psalm the seventeenth yet they lye in hell
of John the second chapter and second verse The law hath two parts Punishment and Reward We by our sinnes have made our selves guilty of the punishment and of the curse that is threatned against them that continue not in all things 〈◊〉 the third chapter But he stands as a Mediator between the punishment and us and 〈◊〉 shed his bload as a ransome for our sinnes the first epistle to Timothie the second chapter and so hath cancelled the hand-writing 〈◊〉 against us and taken away the malediction that was 〈◊〉 us Collossians the second chapter and for the reward which we should have deserved fac hoc vives howsoever we have debarred our selves of it yet he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephesians the first chapter and hath bought and purchased life for us He is a Mediator and Intercessor on our parts to God propter 〈◊〉 peccati defectum meriti by his innocencie and righteousnesse he hath purchased that for us which we could not deserve for our sinnes This is to be an Intercessor which intercession is performed in all Religions by Prayer and Oblation By prayer Christ is our Intercessor For he sits at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us Romans the eight chapter not for the godly only but for his enemics Father forgive them Luke the twenty third chapter as it was foretold of him He shall pray for the transgressors Isaiah the fifty third chapter And he prayed not only for forgivenesse of sinnes but for the turning away of punishments due to sinne which was the cause that he offered up supplications to God with strong cries Hebrews the fift chapter and the â—eventh verse He prayed that the holy Ghost might be given to his Disciples John the fourteenth chapter 〈…〉 of the Father that the holy Ghost being given Sathan might not 〈…〉 them from the faith Luke the twenty second chapter Lastly That we may be partakers of glory with him John the sevententh chapter and be where he is As he prayeth for us so he makes 〈…〉 supplyeth the impersections of of our prayers and makes them acceptable to God Canticles the eighth chapter 〈◊〉 me audire vocem tuam that is I will take upon me to obtain for you that which you cannot Secondly for Oblation As Samuel did 〈◊〉 only pray to God for the People but did himself take a 〈…〉 and after 〈…〉 for the People the first book of Samuel the seventh chapter So Christ as our Intercessor to God not only by prayer but by oblation he was an oblation offered in the morning 〈…〉 was presented to God his Father that he would for us yeeld obedience to the Law 〈…〉 his death was an evening oblation he was not only the 〈…〉 first fruit of the corne but became the vine in his death by 〈◊〉 his blood And as he not only prayeth but giveth 〈…〉 so he doth not only offer for us but give 〈…〉 the Prophet foretold That whom he should 〈…〉 offerings of the people should be acceptable 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 and the fourth verse Our prayers and oblations 〈…〉 â—…ctions And whereas God appointed that the 〈…〉 be purified should offer to God a young 〈…〉 Leviticus the twelfth chapter to 〈…〉 up himself to God tanquam agnum immaculatum yet 〈◊〉 columbam gementem if not innocencie of life yet repentance and sorrow for sinnes But because we cannot present either a Lamb or a Dove neither innocencie of life nor true sorrow for sinnes therefore Christs oblation doth supply the defect of our imperfections We cannot offer up such tears for sinne as we ought therefore the strong cries and tears which he offered Hebrews the fift chapter the seventh verse stand between God and us Because the agonie and grief of our heart is cold and dead therefore the agonie that he indured when he sweat water and blood is a suppliant Luke the twenty second chapter So he is both an oblation for us and supplyeth the imperfections of our oblations He having offred up himself to God as a Lamb 〈◊〉 and without spot the first epistle of Peter the first chapter and the nineteenth verse hath appeased the wrath of God his Father and procured his favour for us and keeps away the malice and rage of Satan from us Victori dabo edere ex arbore illa vitae quae est in medio Paradisi Dei Revel 2. 7. Febr. 4. 1598. A PLACE of Scipture purposely chosen that we might not depart from the consideration of those things wherein we have been occupied heretofore and yet such as may fitly be applyed for our instruction in the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ for though we be now in the Revelations yet are we not gone from the third chapter of Genesis wherein we learned that Adam was sent out of the Garden and kept from the tree of life Affinity of the Tree of life and of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper And for the businesse we intend there is a great affinity between the tree of life which God set in Paradise as a quickning means for the coutinuance of life in Adam if he had continued in his first state and the Sacrament of Christs body and blood for as I told you the causes of that Scripture gives man a hope of restitution to Paradise and 〈◊〉 tree of life which is acquifitis novi juris And that restitution is performed in this place There was an Angel set to forbid Adam accesse to the tree of life which was a sight dreadfull for that he was armed with a firie sword But here we have comfort that he that makes this promise of restitution is an Angel as well armed viz. with a two edged sword Apocalyps the first chapter and the sixteenth verse Whose eyes were as a flame of fire Apocalyps the second chapter and the eighteenth verse So there is a resemblance between the partie that here gives licence to come to the tree of life and the other that forbid to come to it The one threatned with a sword the other promiseth to the persons that keep the condition here expressed That they shall out of the tree of life The point is next how these shall prevail But if we consider how the Angels or Seraphins 〈◊〉 the sixt chapter and the second verse in that they hid their faces before the Lord of 〈◊〉 which was Christ whose glory was 〈◊〉 shewed John the twelfth chapter and Cherubins 〈◊〉 the tenth chapter doe 〈◊〉 this Angel and cast their crowns down before him as the blessed spirits doe 〈◊〉 the fift chapter it is like he shall prevail for the one is the sword but of a ministring spirit Hebrews the first chapter but this is the promise of the Lord of life and glory Acts the third chapter and the first 〈◊〉 to the 〈◊〉 the second chapter But the chief point to be inquired is How the holy Ghost agreeth with himself that man being debarred of the tree of life is
the fruit thereof then is God able as well to give such a power to the Creatures of Bread and Wine in the Sacrament that albeit they are dead of themselves to convey into us the life of grace even as the tree of life did prolong natural life for so saith Christ John the sixth chapter and the fifty third verse Except ye eat the flesh of the sonne of man and drink his blood ye have no lifein you Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life he that eateth me shall live by me And he that 〈◊〉 of his body shall live for ever There is no life but in God first 〈…〉 the thirtieth chapter ipse enim est vita mea and he committeth life to the sonne Therefore it is said There is a River of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb Apocalyps the 〈◊〉 second chapter and the first verse And as the Father hath life in himself so he hath given to the Sonne to have life in himself John the fift chapter and the twenty sixt verse And as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickneth them so the sonne quickneth whom he will John the fift chapter and the twenty first verse God being the fountain of life draws life to his sonne as into a Cistern from whence we draw life therefore it is said of the wisdome of God that is Christ that he is a tree of life Proverbs the third chapter and the eighteenth verse of whom it is now said in ipso er at vita John the fourteenth chapter and therefore he calls himself this life John the fourteenth chapter This is the Cistern of life to give life to them that are dead in original sinne by the sprinkling of his blood in 〈◊〉 And when they are dead in actual sinnes he gives new life to them that are 〈◊〉 of his body and blood in the Sacrament of the Supper In this Sacrament Christ hath provided a tree of life of graces against the death of sinne whereof they must be partakers that will eat of the tree of life which Christ here promiseth So that whereas the Wiseman saith Fructus justi est lignum vitae Proverbs the eleventh chapter and the thirtieth verse The seed of this tree is here sown and bringeth forth the root of a better tree for as grace is the root of glory so glory is the fruit of grace Here in this life the root of grace is planted in us and brings forth the fruits of righteousnesse that in the life to come it may make us partakers of the tree of glory and to assure us of this life we are sealed with the holy spirit of promise as the earnest of our inheritance Ephesians the first chapter and the thirteenth verse and the second epistle to the Corinthians the first chapter and the twenty second verse That albeit we are fallen and can be overcome of finne yet if we fight better and doe the first works we shall be partakers of the life of glory The kernel of grace is planted in us by the participation of the body and blood of Christ of which kernel commeth a tree which bringeth forth the fruits of holinesse and righteousnes in our whole life Which God will in due time reward with the Crown of life and glory in the world to come Cupimus autem ut unusquisque vestrûm idem studium ad finem usque ostendat ad certam spei persuasionem Hebr. 6. 11. August 24. 1599. AS in the old testament the Prophetisse Deborah in the service of the Children of Isha against Jabin doth specially praise God for the willingnesse of the people Judges the fift chapter so here the Apostle commendeth the Hebrews for the work and labour of their love in that they spared no cost in shewing themselves good Christians Now the crown of our rejoycing is the summe of our desire and therefore as there Deborah desireth to have the promptnesse and readinesse continued in the people so the Apostle wisheth that all the Hebrews as they have been carefull to practise the fruits of faith so should they still shew further diligence in that behalf The special drift of the Apostle is to shew that the Christians comfort standeth in the perfection of their hope The Apostle Hebrews the eleventh chapter and the first verse maketh their hope for to be the definition of faith For though matters Historical and Dogmatical pertain to faith yet chiefly faith hath hope for its object for as Augustine Credimus non ut credamus sed 〈◊〉 speremus therefore the Apostle saith the end of all Scripture is that we may have hope Romans the fifteenth chapter and the fourth verse and that which he affirmeth in the first epistle to the Corinthians the ninth chapter That he which planteth planteth in hope is as much true in all actions the ground whereof is the hope we conceive of some benefit for he that soweth soweth in hope he that saileth saileth in hope and he that marrieth doth it in hope that his estate will be bettered thereby For sure it is that it is but a comfortlesse thing to beleeve that there is everlasting joy and glory laid up in Heaven except a man be perswaded that he shall be partaker of it Exanguis res fides sine spe quia spes fidei exanguis est Amb. And as hope is the blood of faith as the Prophet saith Isaiah the thirtieth chapter and the fifteenth verse In quietnesse and in confidence shall be your strength so hope is that which whets diligence and therefore the Prophet saith in the second book of the Chronicles the fifteenth chapter and the seventeenth verse Be strong and let not your hands be weak for your work shall have an end And in the new Testament the Apostle saith Be stedfast and immovable knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord Quod labor vester non erit inanis in Domino the first epistle to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the fifty eighth verse So nothing is more to be desired than to have hope in the evil day and the means of this hope is to shew forth diligence But for the easier intreatie of the contents of this verse the points which the Apostle holdeth are first That we are not only to beleeve but also to hope Secondly Not with a feeble or faint hope but with the fulnesse of hope Thirdly This hope must not be for an hour as Christ speaketh of St. John John the fift chapter but continuing to the end Then for the means of this hope his request is First That Diligence be used Secondly This Diligence must be shewed forth For the first point the Apostles desire is That they should hope for that which they beleeve wherein standeth the real difference that is between the faith of the Devils and men reprobate and the faith of the Children of God for even to the Devils the Apostle ascribes
〈…〉 pronounced and executed upon the 〈…〉 as Christ sheweth in the thirteenth chapter of 〈◊〉 〈…〉 eighth chapter of Lake And the 〈◊〉 both 〈…〉 the twelfth chapter of John and 〈…〉 in 〈…〉 of the Acts of the 〈◊〉 to conclude 〈…〉 this as a reason whyther 〈…〉 not 〈…〉 had blinded their eyes and hardned their hearts Lest they should see 〈◊〉 their eyes and understand with their hearts and convert and be healed The other effect of the word was said to be a pricking this is a beginning For as the Preacher ascribes a prick or point to the word when he saith The words of the wise are tanquam acuta stimuli Ecclesiastes the twelfth chapter So here we see there are certain sparks of fire in the word which will soon kindle a fire in the hearts of the hearers The pricking is referred to fear as Psalm the hundred and nineteenth Confringe cor 〈◊〉 timore tuo the warming is an effect of hope and love as Canticles the eighth chapter and the sixt verse where love is compared to fire that hath ardent coals that burn so as much water cannot quench them that is As there are some Scriptures that intreat of the wrath of God that lay mens sinnes before their eyes and tells them of the terrible and great day of the Lord when they shall be rewarded all according to their works and so breeds a fear in the hearts of the hearers as Acts the fift chapter and the eleventh verse and prick them verse the thirty seventh unlesse their hearts be stonie and their flesh a dead flesh So on the other side some Scriptures set forth the goodnesse of God and his gracious promises as when Christ 〈◊〉 the two 〈◊〉 Ought not Christ to suffer these things and to enter into glory verse the twenty sixth which shews the love of God the Father in giving his sonne to suffer for us and the love of the sonne in being given for us for no man hath greater love than this to dye for his friend John the fifteenth chapter and the great reward that God hath for his children which is the hope of glory assuring them that as Christ is entred into glory so we shall be with him And such Scripture will stirre up in the 〈◊〉 both affection of love and hope wherewith as with coals or sparks of fire their hearts are wounded And those several parts of Scripture are tempered according to the nature of the hearers or auditors for there are some that scoffe and deride and blaspheme the holy spirit of God Acts the second chapter and the thirteenth verse And ro such the threatnings and judgements of God must be laid before them as Peter doth But here we have Auditors of such nature that 〈◊〉 such as did not mock and sit in the Chair of Scorners but were 〈◊〉 in spirit and were of a faint heart which confesse we were in hope that this was he that should have delivered Israel but now our hope is faint and we quake and to such the opening of Gods love and of his great and 〈◊〉 promises is expedient In this verse we have to consider First The manner of uttering of these words for they say not Our hearts 〈◊〉 but ask the question Did not our hearts Secondly The 〈◊〉 of the verse which consists of three parts First the part wherein this effect was wrought Cor nostrum Secondly A passion or work a burning Thirdly The time when he talked with us First For the manner Did not our hearts burne Of which kinde of negative speaking there are two examples in Scripture First it is a more vehement affirmation than if a man should only affirm a truth as where Christ saith before Ought not Christ to suffer these things and to enter into glory as if he should say he ought without doubt for when the matter is questionable we use to speak affirmatively but in a plain case that is evident and out of doubt then we ask a question negatively as Doth not the Sunne shine as if one should say It is cleere We see it doth So here they knew well before Christ spake to them their hearts were cold and their hope was saint and dead but now remembring that while Christ spake to them they selt their hearts warm within them they ask Did not our hearts burn as if they should say doubtlesse we felt a heat and burning within us Another use of this negative question is asked out of Christs deed Luke the seventeenth chapter Were there not ten cleansed he marvelled what was become of the other nine This admiration serves to tax and to reprehend the unthankfulnesse of those nine which returned not to praise God And seeing the Disciples ask the Question Did not our hearts burn as if they should say seeing we felt our hearts burn within us why did we not know that it was Christ the Sonne of God that spake to us Surely it is not the work of a man to touch the heart but God only and seeing our hearts were touched thus doubtlesse it was Christ that spake to us Which shewes that at the present time that Christ spake to them they felt him not but when Christ was gone out of their sight then they remembred that their hearts felt this heat within them for by Jacob's experience we learn that God may be in a place and we not know of it for so he confesseth in the twenty eighth chapter of Genesis and the sixth verse God was here and I was not aware and in the ninth chapter of Job and the eleventh verse He will be by me and I shall not see him and in the thirteenth chapter of John Quid ego faciam tu nescis nunc scies autem posthac that is hereafter yee shall feel your hearts moved So the attention of these two Disciples was so great and they were in such an extasie that they observed no such thing for the present while he spake they perceived it not till Christ had made an end and was taken from them For as there are things that appear and are not as visards and maskes which make a shew of that which is not so there are things that appear not and yet are as the spirits and souls of men which are invisible There was one that boasted of that he had not that was the false Prophet that said to Michaiah in the first book of Kings the twenty second chapter It is impossible that the spirit of the Lord shauld goe from me to thee And in the first epistle to the Corinthians the seventh chapter there is one that with more modesty and coldnesse saith I think I have the spirit of God and he had it indeed The wisest that ever was of men saith There is not in me the understanding of a man Proverbs the thirtieth chapter and the second verse And Caiaphas that understood as little as any as if he only understood all said Vos planè nihil intelligitis
ΑΠΟΣΠΑΣΜΑΤΙΑ SACRA OR A Collection of posthumous and orphan LECTURES Delivered at St. PAULS and St. GILES his Church BY The Right Honourable AND Reverend Father in God LANCELOT ANDREWS Lord Bishop of VVinchester Never before extant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.4 Printed by R. Hodgkinsonne for H. Moseley A. Crooke D. Pakeman L. Fawne R. Royston and N. Ekins 1657. The Preface AS there is nothing that a Christian can more desire than a personal union with his mystical Head so there is nothing that a Christian ought more to value than the pretious meanes of its atchievement For as the highest degree of perfect Happinesse is to be actually present with Christ in Heaven so the highest degree of imperfect happinesse such of which wee are capable in this valley of Teares is our assurance of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6. 11. hope that we shall be happy in perfection Now amongst the severall Requisites and meanes of Blisse our invoking of God Almighty is not the least for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be b Rom. 10. 13 saved But as we cannot call upon him in whom we have not beleeved nor beleeve on him of whom we have not yet heard so neither can wee heare without c verse 14. a Preacher Upon which it followes That because Faith d verse 17. commeth by Hearing and Invocation by Faith therefore in order of Nature though not of Dignity Invocation is the third step Faith the second and lawfull e verse 15. Preaching the very first But here it ought to bee considered That Preaching is not only That which in these innovating times hath swallowed up the word Preaching Nor are Sermons only those which spend themselves and expire with the fugitive breath of him that speaks them and being publiquely uttered no more then once doe either vanish as meere words into the soft Aire or else are as water commonly split upon the Ground Wee know that Preaching is a generall word which properly signifies to divulge or f Luk. 8. 39. publish And though we usually restraine it to the manifestation of God's owne word yet That may also be Preached more wayes than one The Catechizing of Neophytes in the purest Ages of the Church may bee worthily called one kinde of Preaching although they were not admitted to any higher degree of Teaching than to the very first Rudiments and Grounds of Faith It was said by Justin Martyr in his Paraenesis to the Graecians that even in some of their owne writings the very Judgement to come was Preached to them and particularly in Plato's the g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just. Mart. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 10. 21. 22 c. Plato in Rep. l. 10. Resurrection of the Body The same Father tells us that Orpheus h 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin. Mart. ibid. p. 13. preached to his sonne Musaeus concerning the unity of the only true God The publique Homilies of the Church are an exact kinde of Preaching and that in the judgement of Master Hooker as well as of King James and the Councell of k Hooker Eccl. Polit. l. 5. § 9. Vaux The holy-Ghost's Amanuenses did even Preach to the Eyes and Understandings of all the World by transmitting what they had written from hand to hand as well as when they conveyed it by word of mouth The Word of God doth Preach it selfe to every man living who will but reade it The publique Reading of the Scriptures is the best kinde of Preaching to all that heare it And so the Councell of Toledo was pleased to call it The Reading of the Law was laid by Moses as the foundation whereon to build in mens spirits the l Deut 31. 11.12.13 feare of God Vpon the bare Reading of which Law King Josiah was so moved and wrought upon that he m 2 Chron. 34 18.19.27.31 humbled himselfe and wept and rent his cloathes and made a Covenant before the Lord to keepe his Commandements and his Statutes and perform the words of the Covenant which were written in that booke Nor is it unworthy to be ruminated upon That though Moses was Theopneust the Friend and Favorite of God as well as Abraham and sure as able to speake without booke the mind and Tenour of the Law as any man that ever lived before or after yet he thought it as effectual to the saving of Soules to take the booke of the Covenant which he had first transcribed from God's owne Preaching upon the Mountaine and publiquely to n Exod. 24. 1.2.4.7 reade it in the audience of the People Now the Reason of this is very evident and deserves to be considered by that sort of Hearers who are wont to preferre the words of men when gracefully spoken out of the Pulpit before the plaine word of God when meerely read out of the Pew not at all considering That the o Mal. 4. 2. Sun of Righteousnesse in the Scripture like the Sun of Nature in the Firmament shines much the brighter for being Naked It is not the Language Fancy Wit and Learning which are eminently seene in one sort of Preachers much lesse the Memory the Lungs and the Gesticulations which are daily observable in another sort of Preachers I say it is not any of these things nor all together that is effectually powerfull to the conversion of Soules Nay it is not the Spirits going along with the Preacher that doth alone doe the work for the Spirit of God did goe along with the Apostles when they were cast out of the Cities and along with our Saviour in the fulnesse of his God-head when yet he could * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Mar. 6. 5. Ad divina enim opera requiritur accipientis Fides Ergo hine sequitur homines in credulos ingratos quaesi Deo manus vincîre ne ipsis opem ferat Theod. Beza in locum not doe many Miracles in his own Countrey meerly because of their unbeliefe but 't is his working a docility in the heads and hearts of such as hear that they receive with meeknesse the ingrafted p Jam. 1. 21. word which is alone able to save their Souls This doth open to us a reason why the very same Sermon hath such variety of effects in them that hear it and why a Jonah may preach to the melting of some whilest a Jeremy may doe it to the hardning of others If woegoe to Christs Schole as * Mar. 10. 15. little-Children that is with humble attentive and teachable Dispositions wee shall be great proficients and wise enough unto salvation by hearing those Sermons distinctly read which our * 1 Cor. 7. 23 only Master his Messengers are incessantly preaching throughout the Scriptures whereas without that temper and preparednesse of minde we shall in utramque aurem dormire only sleepe with our Eyes open and where Gods owne word through our wretchlesnesse is not sufficient
teach us that he is our per quem and must be our propter quem in all our actions therefore as it is he per quem sumus so we must make here his glorie and praise the end of all our thoughts words actions or devises whatsoever Psal. 96. 5. Elohim is said to make all and therefore we must with praise tell it out among the Heathen So there we are taught to remember him in our youth as our Creator to knit our selves and our wills to him as our Governor and in trembling to fear him as our Judge for he commeth to judge the world in truth Psal. 96. 13. for if we shall amend our lives we shall rejoyce and wish for his comming as we rejoyce and praise him for our making and this is the perfection of a Christian man contremiscere when we think how wonderfully God hath made us and with joy and gladness say with David Psal. 119. 52. I remembred thy judgements of old and received comfort and as we know that in him and by him we live move and have our being Acts 17. 28. so we must live move and breath only for him that is so farre forth as may make for his glorie that at last we may with joy commend our souls to him as to a faithfull Creator 1 Pet. 4. vers 19. 4 Point The fourth point was the things made namely Heaven and Earth which comprehended all in them that one being the upper bound above and the other below between both which are all The use is that if we look upward we see Heaven if we cast our eyes down the earth will be seen for our eyes and light are given to see both which two if we ask them they will tell us Job 12. 7. If we will not ask them yet they will preach and declare Gods glorie Psal. 19. 1. that not once a week but night and day not for an hour in the night or day but continually though their preaching doe not trouble our ears being dumb yet they cry aloud and though they speak not English yet their voyce is intelligible to all Nations and Languages in the world wherefore seeing they still cry aloud and tell us of the Creator that he made all these for us it is required of us that we be ready with our tribute and homage which is to yeild due and continuall praise and thanksgiving to God for them for heaven and Earth have a fellow feeling of the good and evill which either we doe or God doth for us Esay 39. 1. and they rejoyce with us when we doe or have any good done to us And so when we offend God in paying our duty Jer. 2. 12. then it is enough to make heaven and earth stand still and be amazed and astonished at it because we forget God and our duty Thus doth our sinne and ungratefullness overthrow and prevent and stain the whole course and order of Nature Jer. 12. 4. so there is a concurrent of them with us in honoring serving and praising the Creator both of them and us Therefore it is our duty and part to give heedfull care to those preachers which preach God without the Church alwayes in silence and so give our duty and tribute to serve and praise God with them amongst his Saints here that we may be glorified with them in Heaven that we may praise and magnifie him with his Creatures in earth that we may be glorified with his Saints in Heaven quod faciat Deus per Christam Terra autem erat res informis inanis tenebraeque erant in superficie abyssi Gen. 1. 2. verse THE former verse was delivered to us an abstract of the whole work of Gods Creation now lest we should think that when he mentioned Heaven and Earth before he should mean that all things in Heaven and Earth were made in the very moment of the beginning even as we see them now therefore Moses 〈◊〉 haste to tell us that though at the beginning and first moment God made quecunque nunc sunt yet he made them not qualia nunc sunt but did that in six distinctions of severall times It had been as easie to him to have created all things even in the perfection and order they are in a moment and instant and in that beautifull form in which they present themselves now to our eyes But it pleased God though in power he could doc it yet in wisdome to proceed after these three degrees mentioned before First to create the beginning both of all times and of all things as the matter and beginning of all superior bodies and the beginning of all inferior bodies of nothing After the work of creation followeth the work of distinction from this 2. verse to the 11. And lastly ensueth the work of persection with beauty to adorn all his works and to finish them which is from the 11 verse to the 16. It pleased God thus to proceed in this work as well that he might shew himself to be the God of order as also to discover to us the mysterie of the Trinity in the three properties of the three persons which appear in the Creation For all was made by his Power which is the property of God the Father By his Wisedome which is the property of God the Sonne by which all things were orderly disposed and distinguished And by the riches of his Goodness which is the property of the holy Ghost by which all things were adorned and made perfect these three properties are remembred in the Revel 5. 12. and Acts 17. 28. We live by his power we and all things move in this order by his wisdome and we have this our being by his grace and goodness by his power we are taught to acknowledge him to be our beginning and originall ex quo sumus by his wisdome we acknowledge him to be the upholder per quem sumus by his goodness we confess him to be the Chief propter quod sumus For considering his goodness we and all Creatures must endeavor to doe all that we can for him and his praise and honour All which three are plainly and orderly set in the 11. Rom. 36. God also took this orderly proceeding partly that we entring into the meditation of Gods works might by this means have as it were a thread to direct us orderly therein for by this means we come to know this difference between Creatum ordinatum ornatum esse as the Hebrews say by this means we shall know not only the beginning and being of all things but also how orderly and excellently all things were made in this Creation And thus much of the reasons of this course of Gods proceeding in this work Moses having therefore in the first verse set down the materials of the World and all in them now to the 11. verse he sheweth the work of distinction And after the work of adorning and perfecting all But first of all he handleth
good we must not call light darkness nor good evill Esay 5. 16. Secondly In regard of the light of grace we see as Job saith that there are some which are Lucifugae which fly and hate the light such Creatures are unclean Levit. 11. 19. 30. as Batts and Owles among birds Moules and Rats among Beasts they are odious to all men so among places Dungeons and darksome Roomes are odious also And as this is so in things natural so in things spiritual lucifugae actiones are of the like evill nature and odious to God and good men because both such men and their doings have an opposition to light and the author of light They come from darkness of the minde that is ignorance and unbelief and they are begotten by the Prince of darkness the Divell Ephes. 6. 12. and in the end they goe to utter darkness and therefore they are called the works of darkness Rom. 13. 12. And so no marveil though they love darkness and hate light if any cannot abide the light of Gods word to be reproved by it as Herctiques and Hypocrites such dig deep pits to hide their Counsells Esay 29 15. because they see the light is to them evill and as the shadow of death Job 24. 17. The emptiness of good things and the bottomlesnesse of ill things and the deformity of both proceedeth and commeth from darknesse and was inclosed in it as we have seen in it And so spiritually is all found in the ignorance of the truth Ephes. 4. 18 19. either the blindness of mens mindes which is natural or else that which is wilfull when men doe wittingly winke and will not see the light Wherefore we see God made light first before any other good And so our selves must receive spiritual light of knowledge before he will give us any better grace The third sort of men are catchers and fault finders with Gods Creatures such which think to know how Gods works which now are good might have been farre better as if God might have done well to have craved their counsell and help but Gods works both in particular and general are so good and perfect that they could not be mended Wherefore if the light seem ill for us we must confesse and acknowledge that the fault is not in Gods work but in the illnesse and infirmity of our eyes and understanding If the Word seem evil to us know that it seemeth so to us because we and our works are evil and therefore cannot abide the light John 3. 20. Wherefore to conclude that which God hath called and sealed up to be good let no man presume to call and count to be evill Act. 10. 15. For a work belongeth to such which call that is good evill and evill things good and darknesse light Esay 5. 20. But if we love the light of nature and praise God for it Psalm 148. 5 6. And if we love the spirituall light of grace in his word and glorifie and praise God for it 1 Pet. 2. 9. that hath called us out of darknesse into his marveilous light then God will at last reward us with his light of glory and bring us to that inaccessible light wherein he dwelleth which is the father of lights unto which no man can attain unlesse Christ the light of the World bring him and therefore let us pray that the father for his sonnes sake will make a way for us by his spirit of light to which three persons in unity be all praise and glory for ever Amen Et distinctionem fecit Deus inter hanc lucem tenebras Gen 1. 4. verse THere was in the first verse nothing before God made something of nothing after which at the first we saw it to be a 〈◊〉 dark heap without any good form or ability to receive any better But after followed the impregnation and indowment which God gave by which the things first created had a faculty and power given to receive this form which now they have Fourthly ensued the essence and being of all creatures they were prepared by the Spirit and perfected by the word of God where we considered first the essence and being of light and then the nature of it And lastly of all the goodnesse of the light both in regard of the presence of God who in his counsell thought it to be good and also after the creation by his approbation allowed the use and continuance of it unto us Now followeth the distinction and dividing which giveth yet a degree of perfection to the former light more than it had before for at the first he gave light such a being which should prodire in actum and not every being but a speciall good being which is a degree further of order and distinction against disorder and confusion to be in all respects laudible and that not every good being but that which is more an ordered and distinguished and comely good being which work of all other is the perfection of Creation as we shall see in the rest for things though they be never so good in them selves as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 14. 7. of another thing in the like case yet they cannot be discerned of men to be so neither are they meet for any good use of men unlesse they have a certain distinction and order Order Therefore order is as some say very goodnesse of goodnesse it self for there are many good things which doe cease from being good to us yea become hurtfull being without the rank order and degree either of their set and distinct place or time As fire though it be good in the Chimney yet it is not good nay it is very evill in the top of the house Fire is very good in the Winter to warm us but in the Summer it is not so good but shunned of men So the light not being tempered and proportioned orderly but being any degree too-bright it hurteth and blindeth our eyes that we cannot see Act. 22.6 11. Excellens objectum corrumpit sensum So the fire being in any degree too fierce and too hot in the Chimney and Winter that is not moderated and ordered in a good degree it doth us no good Wherefore we see that a set and a distinct order must be observed in good things both touching the place time and degree And that the contrarie inordination deordination or want of order in these things which is called Babell hereafter that is a confusion maketh things to cease from being good to us which in their own nature are very good It was necessary therefore that God should proceed to this work of distinction as he in wisdome doth This then is as if Moses had said the light was good for else extingueret non distingueret Deus si non esset bonum he would not else have distinguished it but dashed it in peeces and destroyed it again Therefore because it was good he separated it and set it apart from darknesse by it self
in power of the Father Miscen saith Fecit Deus hominem nudum to shew that he needed the help of other Creatures for cloathing and for meat Mans soveraingtie is to have at his command and to serve him the whole earth and the furniture thereof If God bid him to rule over the fowls fishes and the beasts over the better sort then surely over the worser Yea God hath made the Sunne the Moon and Starres with all the hoste of Heaven to serve man and hath distributed them to all People Deut. 4. 19. He hath given him dominion over the beasts that is the priviledge of hunting into what parts he please and dominion over the Earth which is the priviledge of Husbandry Oh let us live after the similitude of him whose Image we are and let us not be like nay worse than beasts pejus est comparari bestiae quà m nasci bestiam For man though he be in honor he understandeth not but is like to beasts that perish Psal. 49. 20. We are here to note the obedience of the Creatures while man was obedient and that the mutinie and discention between them and their disobedience to man did arise by mans rebellion to God his Maker Adams disobedience caused their disobedience When Adam stood then the cattel the fowl and the beasts of the field came and did homage unto man and were content to be named by him chap. 2. 20. But after his fall fugiunt fugant they some of them flie from him and other some make him to flie Now we serve the cattel before they can serve us This commeth to passe by disobedience by blotting as much as in us lyeth the Image of God Let then our own wickednesse correct us and our turnings back reprove us for know and behold that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast for saken the Lord thy God Jer. 2. 19. It is Gods bounty to be created in the Image of God according to his likenesse Let therefore our care be that these his great benefits be not bestowed in vain by our own sensuality lest by that means we be cast from his likenesse for at the first God created man without corruption and made him after the Image of his own likenesse Wisd. 2. 24. Itaque creavit Deus Hominem ad Imaginem suam ad Imaginem inquam Dei creavit eum Marem Foeminam creavit eos Gen. 1. 27. Februar 6. 1590. GODS deliberation was in the former verse Here he entreth into consultation in this image his person is represented this verse is the accomplishment of the former Fuit sic was the return of the other dayes Three creavit's in this verse but he useth another course here the three creavit's iterated thrice is a specifying of great joy of God in this his work it is saith a Father triumphus Creatoris It expresseth the tender affection and dear love God hath to man in a speech of affection Salomon saith Prov. 31. 2. What my sonne and what the sonne of my womb and what oh sonne of my desires Paul likewise ravished and carried away with this fervent affection useth this treble iteration in the 2 Cor. 12. 2. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen yeers agoe whether he were in the body I cannot tell or out of the body I cannot tell I knew such a man whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell which was taken up into thethird Heaven Others doe conceive that God by this treble iteration blew a trumpet to the Waters Earth and Heaven that is to all the World that they should all know that man was their Governor Thus much for creavit in general and the treble iteration thereof Now we will consider the especials Faciamus was a word suspicious so that some thought God had the help of Angels but here by creavit the doubt is answered that is was one by the Deity ☜ Imago nostra was suspicious here ad imaginem Dei ad imaginem suam taketh away the doubt Creavit thrice iterated in this chapter the first is creating essence the other life the other understanding Creavit is here thrice mentioned for that all these three essence life and understanding are in this one Creature Adam He hath being sense and reason est autem ratio anima animae pupilla animae all which three are expressed in chap. 2. 7. God made man of the dust of the ground that is his essence and breathed in his face the breath of life and the man was a living soul there is the person of God the Father in the creation All things were made by the word and without it was made nothing John 1. 3. So by this conceit Gods purpose is understood Here the Fathers in treble iteration finde trinity of Person in creavit unity of Godhead The Image is for knowledge the similitude for love and power is given him for execution The minde or heart receiveth Deut. 6. 6. the will affecteth the power or dominion executeth There is contemplation affection and action brought forth by this triplicitie Now of the considerations apart Three parts of this verse This verse hath three parts Two of the soul one of the body the two first concern the soul the last the body as is apparent By the two branches of the soul is signified a double care of the soul and a single care of the body Our soul is coelum our body coenum the one heavenly the other earthly The opinion of the better sort of Interpreters is That God useth this often repetition for the better credence saying ad imaginem suam ad imagine ejus cujus respondet ad imaginem Dei Man carrieth the image of God not of Caesar not of the World Date ergo Deo quae sunt Dei The best sort say it is for the emphasis for our learning and for our memorie alledging the 22. of Proverbs 20. Have I not written unto thee three times in councells and knowledge It is ad perpetuam rei memoriam Jeremy saith thrice Oh Earth Earth Earth in regard of our humiliation Similitude Imago Here Moses sheweth that though in regard of our bodies we are Earth yet in regard of our souls we are Heavenly To the peace of God we are called in one body Colloss 3. 15. Christ took upon him our vile Image to redeem us The woman is of the man the man is by the woman but all things are of God 1 Cor. 11. 12. By sinne we have lost this Image but fear to sinne reneweth this Image which who hath not he is no man But what is become of Gods likenesse the Image is twice mentioned but sometime the Image is taken for the likenesse as in the 3. James 9. Men are made after the similitude of God The Fathers take the similitude for a perfection not a generalitie St. Ambrose saith Est Imago quam babemus est similitudo quam
too But God doth all things not only with faculty but with the greatest facility that may be for nothing is hard to him or beyond the compasse of his power therefore we cut off all wearinesse from God and say That his resting was only a ceasing or leaving off to make any more new things for his rest is only negatio operis non affirmatio laboris Object The other question is Doth God then cease and rest from all manner of work hath he ever since done nothing more Resp. That is impossible for seeing he is Actum primum therefore he cannot be idle and rest from all things as we may imagine as he bath quietem activam so hath he motum stabilem a quiet motion without any labor and this we may learn out of Moses words for he saith not simply that then God rested but he rested from his works and not absolutely from every work but only from the works which he had created that is A novis condendis sed non a veteribus conservandis from creating any more things from the works of creation he rested a novis condendis sed non a veteribus conservandis for this was the Sabbath dayes work which then he began So saith Christ pater meus adhuc operatur ego operor John 5. 17. That is both in the propagation and bringing forth the things which he made also in preserving of them We say in the Schools that there is a double cause of things the one is causa sieri the other is causa esse The first is the cause of making As a Carpenter having made a house perfect forsaketh it and careth no more for it till it fall down or as the fire is of heat or as the clock keeper is of the going of the clock who when he hath set it to his minde leaveth it untill the plumets fall down causa esse is as the candle is of light which being taken away the light is gone So is God the cause of our life being as a candle whose being is of light And in that respect David saith Lift up the light of thy countenance as if God were our candle who being taken away our life and light is clean put out and become darknesse Psal. 104. 29. If he take away his breath from us we dye We say then that he rested not from preserving and governing though he did rest from making Hermes by the light of reason could say That it were very absurd to think that God should leave and neglect the things he had made and God imputeth it as a fault to the Ostrich Job 39. 18 19 to leave her eggs without care and regard in the sands therefore God himself will be free of that blame and blemish which he condemneth in others As we say of the Father so we say of the Sonne which is the word of God Psal. 33. 9. He commanded and they were made there is creation He said the word and they stood fast which is the second work of preservation and guiding Also Psal. 148. 5 6. He first made them with his word which is the first work of creation long sithence ended and he gave them a Law which they should not break which is the other work of establishing and governing things made So Coll. 1. 17. Paul speaking of Christ saith By him all things have their being or existence and Heb. 1. 3. By him all things have their supportance and are held up He resteth not also from the ruling and governing of the World A Sparrow is one of the basest and meanest Birds Matth. 10. 29 30. Yet their motion is directed by his providence and will yea the hairs of our head are numbred and none of them fall without his providence how much more then is he provident in disposing and governing mans motions He hath a stroke in all that we doe Prov. 16. 1. The answer of our tongue is guided by God and in the 9. verse the direction of our wayes and the end and issue of their purposes and thoughts yea he ordereth and governeth our hands and feet Psal. 33. 10. Psal. 56. 13. He I say fashioneth all our thoughts and knoweth them long before so that we have no power in our heart to think in the tongue to speak or hand to doe ought but as we are directed by God yea for things most casuall as Lots and Chances which are attributed to fortune Prov. 16. 33. Even that is ruled by the Lord God Act. 1. 26. The Lot of Matthias and Joseph called Barsabas is cast into the Lap but the Lord doth dispose it and causeth it to fall unto Matthias That also which we call Chance-medley as when many men walking in the street one of them is killed with a stone falling on him of such a chance God saith Ego Dominus extuli illum hominem Exod. 21. 13. So that God hath his stroke even in ordering such things If this be so then let us not say as they did Job 22. 13. Tush God walketh above and regardeth not the things on earth or with them God seeth us not For he both seeth governeth and preserveth all on earth For though the Lord be in heaven yet he humbleth himself to look down and behold the sonnes of men and considereth that there is none of them good Psal. 14. 2. And God hath not only Librum rerum creatarum Psal. 139. 16. But he hath a register verborum factorum of words and deeds also Mal. 3 16. And that we may know not our being only but our preserving and guiding is of the Lord and his work he will at the last bring all these things to Judgment Preach 12. 14. As for Gods rest after That he had made all things for himself Prov. 16. 4. Then did he introire in regnum suum Heb. 4. 10. So that he went out of his rest for our sakes and having made all for us he is said not to rest in his work nor after his work but from his work for he had no need of these things for he had most perfect rest in his own glory which he had before the World was made John 17. 5. into that rest then he now returned Secondly we see that in Gods rest his works goe before it for the word is not quievit but requievit which sheweth that if we be first imployed about the works of God and then rest it may well be called Gods rest but that rest which is without work is Issachars rest Gen. 49. 15. that is idlenesse and such as give themselves to that are called Cretians idle and slow bellies as St. Paul calleth them and those shall never enter into Gods rest for it is pigra vocatio and not a return to rest If God had his work six dayes before he rested in creation and if Adam had his work in the state of innocency then it is much more meet now That man should goe forth to
learned in all the wisdome of the Egyptians Acts 7. 22. Yet by the Fathers in this knowledge of the natures of things above both these Moses and Salomon Of Noah Noah is preferred who knew the clean beasts from the unclean which by paires he took into the Ark chap. 7. 2. The wisdome of all the Heathen Philosophers compared to the knowledge of these three Noah Moses and Salomon was but ignorance Adam a greater Philosopher than they Yet Adam was a greater Philosopher than those three The reasons thereof For first Adam was created in wisdome without corruption their wisdome was bred in corruption and the Heathen are destroyed in their own wisdoms Psal. 9. 15. They three and all the wise men of the World had the light of their understanding per scientiam acquisitam by study and former observation Adam had his without observation non per discursivam scientiam sed intuitivam for when he had beheld them he gave them names Others got their wisdome by studie and travell for in the multitude of wisdome is much grief and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow saith the Wiseman in Preach 1. 18. but Adam in Paradise had no grief No one of them knew all things but Adam knew all things not only perfectly but exactly whereupon Austin saith well that Ignorantia est paena lapsi non natura originis Adam Magister viventium Lastly Adam is not only Pater but Magister viventium God gave him wisdome he learned it not Doceo requireth a double Accusative in Esay 28. 9. the Prophet faith Quem docebit scientiam Whom shall God teach knowledge and whom shall he make to understand them that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts But Adam was not weaned from the breasts which had no Mother 〈◊〉 a man of good learning gathereth out of the Greek Fathers Adam sons scientiae that Adam was as a fountain of knowledge From him cometh others wisdome which came from him by tradition and observation unto Noah and so to Abraham and so to his sonnes dwelling in the East Countrie chap. 25. 6. in Chaldea and Persia from thence it came to Egypt Salomon in 1 Kings 4. 30. is said to have excelled in wisdome all the wise men of the East and of Egypt from Egypt it came to Greece from thence to Italie and so to us in this West corner of the World He gave names apt And that the wisdome of Adam excelled all other they ground it upon this for that he gave them names which God approved Non dedit nomina ex suo arbitrio he gave them names not by chance but with discretion the name agreeing fitly with the nature and infinite fit names in one day did he give unto a multitude of Creatures which argueth great wisdome to be in him which he could not have done unlesse he had looked into their natures and the naming is allowed for that God praiseth it as it is in 2 Cor. 10. 18. Rehoboams name unmeet Our names sometime by unskilfulnesse prove just contrarie as Salomon named his sonne Rehoboam a delighter but he was a destroyer of the People Elimas Elymas had his name aright for he was a Sorcerer Acts 13. 9. Naomi Marah Naomi after she was in miserie would no more be called Naomi which is beautifull but Marah which is bitter Ruth 1. 20. This is the ground of Lologie Secondly From hence they gather the institution of Lologie that is of speech both in videre and nominare is great wisdome in silence and speech is a wiseman known the Greeks in logos doe expresse both the Latines in two words differing but a letter the one ratio the other oratio Aaron was wise in speech Exod. 4. 14. Paul in 2 Cor. 11. 6. saith though I be rude in speaking yet I am not so in knowledge Apollos is said to be a man of knowledge an eloquent man Acts 18. 24. The originall tongue hath natural The original tongue by the names expresseth the natures which tongue was the most ancient when all the world were of one tongue And though that in the dayes of Peleg the sonne of Heber the sonne of Shem the sonne of Noah the earth was divided by diversitie of languages chap. 10. 25. yet Peleg kept it Peleg kept the originall The Greeks tongue from it Eusebius saith the Greeks doe boast that their tongue never came from other but from it self But quoth he from whence have they α and ω their first and last letters have they them not from Aleph and Beth of the Hebrews Magus and Sophos wisemen in Greek comes not the one from agath the other from zopho in Hebrew Cadmus from Heber brought Aleph and Beth into Phoenicia It borroweth nothing This tongue borroweth nothing from any other tongue all tongues borrow from it it is the most sufficient tongue Fire and water in Greek have their original from the Hebrew It is without composition All other tongues saith he are full of composition this in simplicitie and majestie excelleth all other for no tongue is so capable of trope and figure as is this as they know well that have skill in the tongue The antiquity qualitie and dignitie of the originall And after that Eusebius hath shewed the antiquitie the qualitie and majestie of this tongue he concludeth thus lingua haec digna est Adamo institutore Deo approbatore The name agrees with the nature Now for the naming the names agree with the nature of the thing named The ignorant man nameth a thing following not esse 〈◊〉 but scire suum not the nature of the thing but his own knowledge But Adam as a man of exact wisdome giveth names according to their nature that have stood since the beginning and shall stand so to the end of the world The name expresseth the propertie The nature of a thing is called the essence or the propertie he gave a name according to the nature not of the essence but of the propertie Gassanus a learned man saith a Creature of it self is nothing but from God all things receive their essence In Hebrew God is called the name The name of God who can tell saith Esay Gods two names God hath two names one qua est which is of his essence incomprehensible the other is qua câ—…sa est this is the name of his goodnesse and so we may conceive him All names man giveth is of the property we say commonly this is the nature scilicet the propertie of a thing Propertie sensible or intelligible The knowledge of which properties is either sensible of outward things or intelligible of inward qualities The names of things after Adam were of properties sensible as Esau was so called for that he was red and rough with haire Jacob was so called for that at his birth he held Esau by the heel his
the woman hath threee names in the Scripture as well as man The first is the generall name in respect of the Sex Gen. 1. 27. by which they are called male and female which is given as he is the Stock and she is the Storehouse of all mankinde The second is Adams matter and Eves mold which in him is the name of his and in her is the name of her fruitfulness that she is the mother of all living Creatures The third is the honorable name given in marriage which is Ish and Ishah man and woman which signifieth the dignity to which God exalted them both And this may suffice of their names Idcirco relicturus est vir patrem suum matrem suam ad haerebit uxori suae erúntque in carnem unam Gen. 2. 24. 30. Octob 1491. IN these words God the Author of matrimony setteth out a Law and Statute to all the posterity of Adam to observe concerning the matter of marriage and Adam is here instead of the Clerk to proclaim it unto all which Ordinance of almighty God our Saviour Christ in Matth. 19. 4. sheweth and avoucheth to be the only pattern and plat-forme for all married men for ever to look unto for saith he this is the originall Canon and the Rule to be observed utrum ab initio fuit sic And if we mark the contents of this Rule we shall perceive that it is Gods will that the conjunction of man and wife shall be so neer and dear and the knot of 〈◊〉 so surely knit that rather they should dissolve and break asunder all knots of frendship and bonds of propinquity than either wilfully to untie or violently to break it asunder by separation or divorce after the knot and covenant be once lawfully and solemnly made before God and his Church So that this is made a perpetuall Law not for Adam only and specially but for all Adam's posterity in generall For we see that it respecteth not so much Adam as us which follow him because God doth not direct his speech in the second person as saying thou shalt c. But indifferently to all mankinde as is more apparent thus because Adam and Eve cannot be said to have left father and mother therefore it properly concerneth them which afterwards should have father mother as all his sonnes and posterity had we see then there are two parts of this Law here set down the one is that married folks shall leave all other the other is that they shall cleave fast and inseparably each to other the bond and chain of naturall affection which bindeth fast the parents and children is wonderfull strong and neer and therefore the heathen doe call it vinculum Adamantinum an Adamant chain more strong than Iron we see this love and naturall affection is very great and forcible even in dumb creatures which are led thereto only by the instinct of nature wherefore if it should not be in men indued with reason Moses would have such stoned to death Deut. And Salomon prophecieth of such 〈◊〉 children Prov. 30. 17. That the Crowes of the Valley shall pull out their eyes yet notwithstanding this bond of naturall affection being so great and strong God saith that he would have married folks rather violate and break that then break this bond wherewith man and wife is united and tied together not that God would simply tollerate and alow any breach of duty between parents and children but only in respect of cleaving to his wife and the wife to her husband wherefore we must know and beware that we doe not think it lawfull for us being once married so to forsake our parents which brought us forth and bred us up as to set light by them and not to regard them as many unnaturall children doe under this pretence for to take away that savage and brutish disobedience Quod hoc non extinguit affectionem sed ordinat This freeth us not from our duty which Gods Law and the Law of nature bindeth us unto but it teacheth us how to dispose it aright that is how to cleave to our parents in duty as we 〈◊〉 and how to be united to our wives in love as we ought also By this then appeareth that it is Gods will that the link of love between married folks should exceed in strength and measure if it be possible even the naturall bond of love and affection that is between parents and their children and there may be rendred sufficient reason why it ought so to be first because his wife was made of the very true and reall flesh and bone indeed but children doe come only of the seed of the fathers and blood of their mothers so that it may truely be said that the wife is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone but their children are only flesh and bone of his seed and blood Again children are only the fruit of their loyns which is farther from the heart than the wife which is of the ribs which is most neer and therefore most deer to the heart Lastly because men doe love their children tanquam aliquid sui but they love their wives tanquam semetipsum Ephes. 5. 28. Seeing therefore self love is the greatest and most perfect love we conclude also that that marriage love must be neerest and most like it by the ordinance of God for our use this doth seem to give us a caveat touching the evill and shamefull divorce and separation of man and wife which are too rife now a daies for if so be that Gods knot of marriage should be so surely knit that it must not be broken for our deer parents sake but of the two choose rather to forsake them then no doubt it is not his will that for every sleight and trifling cause and occasion they should sue divorces and forsake one another for this is the divinity which our Saviour Christ doth gather out of this place Mark 10. 4. And thus much of the first part Now touching the other part of the position we are to consider two points first the union and conjunction of their hearts in love which is called their cleaving together The other is the union and combination of their bodies expressed in these words they shall be both one flesh the first is called of some conjunctio mentis the other is copulatio carnis both which are ordeined of God as holy and good for the first we see that this unity of minde by unfeined love and affection is called vinculum perfectionis Colos. 3. 14. So that this spirituall love is the best glue to make them cleave together without separation For so indeed this word signifieth glue or a kinde of glueing and sodering together wherefore as two things are by glue or soder united and made but one so by love ought man and wife which sheweth amor conjugalis must be reciprocus respecting and taking hold of both sides alike as glue doth There must be
and mother saying I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughter of the Philistines therefore give me her to wife Judges 14. 2. The very Heathen doe regard the consent of Parents in chap. 34. 8. Hamor who was an uncircumcised man came to Jacob to ask his consent for Sechem that he would give his daughter Dinah unto his sonne for wife And in 2 Sam. 13. 13. Tamar answereth Amnon Defloure me not speak to the King my Father for me and he will not deny me unto thee As there must be no giving nor taking in Marriage without Gods consent I mean the Israelites might not take wives among the Idolatrous Heathen for God himself in Deut. 7. 3. saith Neither shalt thou make Marriages with them neither give thy daughter unto his sonne nor take his daughter unto thy sonne so must there be no marriage without the Parents and friends consent the Law is in the 22. of Exodus 16 and 17. verses That if a Man entice a Maid that is not betrothed and 〈◊〉 with her he shall endow her and take her to his wife Yet if her father refuse to give her to him there was no marriage but he should pay her money according to the Dowry of Virgins The consent of the parties Secondly In respect of their own consent The consent of the Woman is required After the Parents of Rebekah had agreed to give their daughter to Isaac yet they would have her to be called that she might also give her consent chap. 24. 39. and 57. God drew not Eve to Adam perforce but lead her willingly she was brought to him with joy and gladnesse as it is in Psal. 45. the 15. verse Hereby all enforced matches are condemned and all extort agreements are abrogated As those under age those that are made by mad and drunken persons are disalowed and may be undone The consent of such maketh not a match for tales non adduxit Deus such God bringeth not together Yet if a Christian man have a wife that beleeveth not if she be content to dwell with him let him not forsake her for the unbeleeving wife is sanctified by the husband their Children are holy which else were unclean 1 Cor. 7. 14. This is for their consent The contract and betrothing After the Parents and parties themselves have given their consent then commeth the contract the affiance and the espousals between them before the face of God for as soon as God had brought Eve unto Adam he said now in this present time She is bone of my bones she is my lawfull wife which you may see in the law of Nature for in chap. 19. 14. Lot called them his sonnes in Law that should have married his daughters after they were betrothed unto them if she be not betrothed she is called a Maid Exodus 22. 16. and after she is betrothed to an husband she is his wife Mary the mother of Jesus conceived by the Holy Ghost after she was betrothed unto Joseph before he knew her carnally before he was publiquely married to her as may appear by the 1. of Matthew 18. for Marie and Joseph were even then Man and Wife before God and therefore the Fathers say well that contractus facit consensum animorum The solemnity Next to the Contract is the Solemnity As in the Marriage of Adam and Eve it was solemnized before the glorious companie of heavenly Angells God himself as the Priest joyned them together he as a Father gave her unto Adam chap. 3. 12. and it was God that coupled them together Matthew 19. 6. She first entred into Gods house then into Adams house she first took God by the hand and then Adam by the hand And this Marriage must be our example for this is the Marriage Sermon to the whole world Man shall leave his Father and Mother and cleave to his Wife and after this they be Man and Wife before God and before Man Then followeth Gods blessing of them in chap. 1. 28. God blessed them and God said unto them increase and multiply and fill the Earth And the last point is of the unity By this union they are become one flesh and carnall conjunction is permitted them Abimelech for that out of a window he saw Isaac sporting with Rebekah said therefore of a surety she is his wife chap. 26. 8. But he that joyneth himself with his neighbours wife is not innocent Prov. 6. 29. The Wife hath not power over her own body but her Husband nor the Husband bath not power over his own body but his wife 1 Corinth 7. 4. The Gentils are inheritors of the same body with the Jews and the partakers of the same promise in Christ by the Gospell the third to the Ephesians 6. 2. The duties in Marriage Now concerning the Duties in Marriage whereof we will speak in general and then in several Faithfulnesse and Love The general duties which doe concern Man as well as Woman and Woman as well as Man which doe concern them both are two Faithfulnesse and Love Which two we must alienate from all other Women and appropriate them only to our Wives The heart of the husband trusteth in a faithfull wife Proverbs 31. 11. see 1 Cor. 7. 4 and 5. The one hath power over the others body Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled but Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge Hebr. 13. 4. Faithfullnesse is promised in the celebration of Marriage but the faithlesse Woman forsaketh the guide of her youth and forgetteth the Covenant of her God Prov. 2. 16. the paths of a strange Woman are movable Proverbs 5. 6. there is no faith to be reposed in such a Woman The other dutie is Love For that Woman was taken out of mans side she was his 〈◊〉 closse to his heart which is the seat of love Man must love her as his part and she must also love him for that he was wounded mortally for her sake and had been in great danger of his life had he not had so excellent a Physition and Surgeon to close up his side again Man is the Image and glory of God Woman is the glorie of Man 1 Cor. 11. 7. And again A vertuous Woman is the crown of her Husband Proverbs 12. 4. There is a communion of their name and of their nature which will move mutuall love which procureth inward comforting and outward cherishing for no man ever yet hated his own flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it Ephesians 5. 29. The Woman must be subject to the Man and the Husband must give honour to the Wife as to the weaker Vessel 1 Peter 3. 7. The man is as the stock the woman as the branch the wife must be loving for a contentious and angry Wife is condemned Proverbs 21. 17. And Husbands must love their Wives and not be bitter unto them Colos. 3. 19. This mutuall love must be above the love to the Parents or to the Children there was a
allurement to sinne The costlinesse of the apparel sheweth the pride of the minde Job in 29. 14. saith I put on Justice and it covered me my judgment was as a robe and a Crown Justice and Judgment did cover and adorn Job Esay prophecieth in chap. 61. 10. that Christ shall cloath the faithfull with the garment of salvation he shall cover them with the robe of righteousnesse he shall deck them like a bridegroom or a bride with her jewels Adam was created after the image of God that is in righteousnesse and true holinesse as it is in Ephes. 4. 24. in a word the spouse of the Lamb Christ Jesus whose wife is the Church she shall at the latter day be arrayed with pure fine linnen and shining and the fine linnen is the righteousnesse of the Saints Revel 19. 8. The apparel that covered Adam was his innocencie and the robe of righteousnesse melior est vestis Innocentia quà m Purpura Innocencie is better apparel than purple or scarlet say the Fathers out of the first of Proverbs 31. 22. where Salomon speaking of the wise woman saith that her family are cloathed in scarlet and purple is her garment that is the outward vesture But in verse 25. he saith strength and honour is her cloathing that is say they the inward decking of the soul it is not the outward apparel that God regardeth but as Peter saith in his first Epistle chap. 3. 4. If the hid man of the heart be uncorrupt with a meek and quiet spirit before God it is a thing much set by Purple and scarlet are the chief colours and most esteemed of by men yet yet they are the colours of shame and confusion Man in his Innocencie was in honor innocencie and righteousnesse were then his cloathing but when Man obeyed Sathan and disobeyed God he put on the Divels livery which was sinne and shame according to that in Psalme 132. 18. God saith He will cloath his enemies with shame Homo spoliatus honore indutus pudore after mans fall he was spoyled of his honor and wrapped in a few clouts to cover his shame this was his change from honor to misery We must now labour by all means to recover this first innocencie and seeing that we are become wretched and miserable poor and naked we must follow the counsell of the Angel in Revel 3. 18. We must buy of Christ the white rayment that we may be cloathed and that our filthie nakednesse should not appear We must put off the old man with his works Coloss. 3. 9. And we must put on the new man which is Christ who is renued in knowledge after the Image of him that created him Jacob the younger sonne must put on the cloaths of his elder brother Esau chap. 27. 15. And we must put on say the Fathers upon that place the apparel of righteousnesse of our elder brother Christ eldest sonne to God the faithfull are called the Children of Abraham Galath 3. 7. But we by the faith we have in Christ Jesus hope to become the Children of God and heirs of everlasting life as in the Gospel it is said that his wounds doe heal us so may it as well be said that his nakednesse must cover our nakednesse by his passion he washeth away our sinnes he dyed us with his purple blood he dyed an Innocent that we by his death might be unblamable his apparel is red and his garments like him that treadeth the Wine-presse it was he alone that trod the Wine-presse and all his rayment shall be stained Esay 63. 3. It was the purple of his blood that dyed us again in original righteousnesse the souldiers when they had crucified him took off his garments so that he hung naked upon the crosse John 19. 23. You see by the 12. to the Hebrews 2. that he endured the crosse and despised the shame to deliver us from shame and eternall punishment So that we must repose our selves in him and not be ashamed of him for who so shall be ashamed of Christ Christ shall be ashamed of him when he shall come in his glorie Luke 9. 26. But all our glory and rejoycing must be in the dear and only begotten sonne of God in whom we have redemption through his blood that is the forgivenesse of sinnes who is the image of the invisible God the first born of every Creature by whom and for whom all things were created 1 Coloss. 14 15. We must put off the old man and put on the new and if we be apparelled with Christs righteousnesse we shall not be ashamed We must not cloath our selves with our own works and our own righteousnesse which is corruption and shame but we must cloath our nakednesse with the nakednesse of Christ the immaculate Lamb. In a word his wounds must heal us his nakednesse must be our cloathing his shame must be our glorie his death must be the means to attain our life Then we shall hunger no more nor thirst no more we shall be impassible of cold and of heat and the Lamb which is in the middest of the faithfull shall govern them and lead them unto the lively fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes Revel 7. 17. And if we be washed with his blood we shall be whiter than the snow then shall we be cloathed with innocencie by him our corrupt bodies shall put on incorruption and after the mortality of this our body we shall be cloathed with immortality of body and soul 2 Cor. 5. 4 c. This is it that I thought good to speak for the opening of this verse AMEN LECTURES PREACHED UPON the third Chapter OF GENESIS LECTURES Preached in Saint PAULS Church LONDON Serpens autem erat astutus astutior quâvis bestiâ agri quam fecerat Jehova Deus Gen. 3. 1. Novemb. 〈◊〉 1591. HITHER TO hath been shewed at large the happiness and perfection of Adams estate while he continued upright in Paradise Now lest any of us comparing our estate with Adams and finding so great an alteration and difference between him and us because he was holy we corrupt with sinne he was happy and blessed having all things wanting nothing which might increase his happiness we miserable subject to all calamities and distresses which may encrease our miserie he without shame or sorrow we confounded with them both Therefore lest we should enquire how this Change and Alteration came to our natures the Prophet in this Chapter will shew it us that we may be out of doubt As therefore we have had hitherto the building beautifying and perfecting the Frame of all the world and of all the works of God So now we shall see the ruine and lamentable overthrow of all which Saran by sinne brought unto all For whatsoever God hath done in the great world in generall as it is set down in the first Chapter or whatsoever we have seen excellent and glorious in the little world which
root of all bitternesse is infidelity for Adam seeing Eves case that though she had eaten of that pleasant and forbidden tree yet she was living and that there was as yet no apparent signe of any ill thought the rather surely God spake not this in earnest neither for the eating of a small apple shall man dye But should have accounted Gods word to be infallible and that mortem moriêris was a sentence of condemnation Faith should be rooted in Gods word but from incredulitie which is the root of bitternesse it commeth that he beleeveth Eve by an inordinate love not of lust but of necessitie to his wife which we call a bashfulnesse and the Fathers call it noxia verecundia In 1 Kings 2. 4. So long as Davids sonnes shall walk in the way of truth with all their hearts and all their souls their posteritie shall inherit the Kingdome Adam by eating this fruit shewed a desire in him to grant her request he loved her entirely for that she was taken out of him and given unto him by God and then there were no more women in the world He did eat that he might be accounted indulgens maritus a most loving husband that as Austin saith In unitate peccati etiam socius sit that even in the unitie of iniquitie he might be her companion The Heathen call necessarium 〈◊〉 mulierem a woman to be a necessarie evill So intire is his love to his wife that as S. Gregorie saith well Plus credit uxori quà m 〈◊〉 he beleeveth more his wife who is his helper than God who is his maker St. Ambrose saith Man will be content to hear blasphemous and obscene speeches ut offendatur Deus ne offendatur amicus that God may be offended rather than his friend displeased Now by the 22. verse you may see the ambitious desire of Adam to become as God himself to know good and evill therefore it is by the Fathers presumed That by Eves information he presumed to be so He was now wearie of credere and obedire to beleeve and obey God and his word He desired now to command and controll to be non sub Deo sed sicut Deus to be no longer under God but as God his faith and obedience became a burthen he was not content with his knowledge of good alone but he would needs by eating attain the knowledge both of good and evill he began frige fieri in affectu to waxe cold in his affection toward God And lastly he made full account that he should be preferred he should not be punished none should be so excellent he should be equall with God But if that God were angrie with him yet Adam had his excuse that he for the love and entire affection to her which was taken out of himself for a good minde which he had to her gave her his consent to eat of the forbidden fruit which they gather out of the twelfth verse of this chapter where Adam saith The woman which thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the tree and I did eat He did behold what Eve did see and thought that thereby he should attain knowledge But here the Holy Ghost to avoid rediousnesse briefly without any farther repetition saith And he did eat Adams understanding it was corrupted his will it was infected he was perswaded that he should be as a God and that there was great virtue in the tree whereupon he transgressed that is he went beyond the Commandement God said he should not eat but he did eat Whereas Paul saith 1 Tim. 2. 14. Adam was not deceived but the woman was deceived and was in the transgression The Serpent deceived Eve and Eve was Sathans instrument to deceive Adam Upon which place the Fathers doe make inquirie of Adams sinne saying That Adam yeilded to Eve though he were not properly deceived by her this his sinne say they is the sinne of necessity not of his will Salomon for the love he did bear to his wives was tempted to Idolatry Ahab for fear committed murther It was neither love nor fear of God could keep man in Gods commandement and yet they impute malice to God and they are even set on mischief Exod 32. 22. Adams sinne came out of himself out of Eve which was his rib Wickedness first came from the Devill himself and his Cockatrioe egge that hatcheth iniquitie is malice he that imagineth to doe evill men call the author of wickednesse Prov. 24 8. According to the old and ancient proverb in 1 Sam. 24. 14. wickednesse proceedeth from the wicked Sathans wickednesse is of malice Eves wickednesse is of error Adams is of infirmitie then cometh noxia verecundia a guilty shame fac'dness Adam he fell of infirmitie in that he loved his wife more than he loved God The ancient Divines considering Adams sin doe consider the same by the circumstances which are seven 1. The person The first circumstance is of the person Adam he was Gods vassal from whom he received infinite benefits whom he made governour of Paradise as if a Countie Palatine to whom he gave a short Law and an easinesse not to sinne to whom he gave strength to withstand all violence to whom he permitted all the trees in the Garden reserving but one to himself for whom also being alone he made woman to be to him a meet help The bond of love unto God was before ever there was any Eve It was love that linked Adam unto Eve it was fear love that linked Adam unto God he therfore should have regarded more the word of God than of woman 2. The Object The second Circumstance is in respect of the object against whom he offended he sinned against God that created him that gave unto him the government of Paradise as a Father saith well Quem nunc despicitis 〈◊〉 fecit he whom now you despise is your maker Besides it was he that made her to be an help but now she setteth her self against God He gave to Adam a commandement brevissimum levissimum that was most short to be remembred and most easie to be observed seeing that he will offend him that is so gracious seeing he will break that Law which so easily may be kept this circumstance maketh the sin of Adam to be the greater 3 The motive and retentive to and from sinne Thirdly They doe consider the motive to sin and the retentive from sin What was it that moved Adam to sinne and to lose Gods favour It was but an Apple a small fruit that seemed pleasant to the eyes wherein there was but a short and transitorie pleasure while the fruit was a eating and in the mouth But the retentive was in the highest degree mortem 〈◊〉 thou shalt dye the death thou shalt dye eternally the fear was 〈◊〉 greater than the pleasure Paul Philip. 2. 8. faith of Christ That he humbled himbled himself and became obedient unto the death even the death of the crosse
the 14. of the 11. Thy pompe and pleasure is brought down to the grave the worms shall cover thee then with Job 17. 14. 〈◊〉 maist say to corruption thou art my Father and to the worm thou art my Mother and Sister and as it is in the 26. of Isaiah and the 19. the dust must be our dwelling joy not then in the joyes of this world which are but dust and corruptible they are as Austin saith gaudia privanda but sorrow for gaudia aeterna privanda sorrow lest 〈◊〉 be deprived of eternall joyes 3. Our life unconstant or death uncertain The third use for instruction is out of 〈◊〉 〈…〉 The state of our life is alwaies in motion and in revolving like a Ship a sailing Job in his 14. chapter and 14. verse called the resurrection after death a changing it is like a shadow it is still turning and returning Paul saith in the thirteenth to the Hebrews the fourteenth verse Wee have here no continuing City but wee looke hereafter for one our life is unconstant our death uncertain alwaies changing this the inconstancie of mans life is the motive to good as the other is the retentive from evill Paul saith hee dieth daily from sin here on the earth wee must not seeke for the hill of certain repose but look in heaven for a perpetuall City The Tents and Tabernacle are taken away therefore with Abraham Wee must looke for a City having a foundation whose builder and maker is God the eleventh of the Hebrews and the tenth verse 4. A time to return The fourth use is out of donec revertêris untill thou returne a time of returning where wee must learne to returne by repentance unto God before wee returne to dust that so wee may returne againe from dust 〈◊〉 God let men bee alwaies ready spend not thy daies with the wicked that goe suddenly down to the grave the twenty first of Job and the thirteenth the fourty fifth of I saiah and the eighth And as they live so they die like beasts the third of the Preacher and the ninteenth 5. We must return to God The fifth and last is that we must return to God For shall the dust give thanks unto thee the thirtieth I salme and the ninth verse The godly shall be delivered out of temptation though the unjust be reserved to judgement the second of Peter the second and the ninth We must return to God per poenitentiam Let it not be thought incredible that God should raise again the dead the twenty sixth of the Acts and the eighth the first of Jea and the eighth So a man shall return to God very well by due consideration of these things from the first pulvis es thou art dust to return to God by humility by the second not to joy in this world but in God by the third to rest our turning and returning in God and by the fourth to comfort our selves that out of the grave we shall rise to live with God Abraham addeth ashes to dust But what made Abraham to add ashes to dust the eighteenth of this Book and the twenty seventh he saith I am O Lord but dust and ashes The Fathers upon this place say that dust is our beginning and if we doe not obey God by fire we shall be turned into ashes ashes will be our ending We are all naturally dust and we are all by desert also but ashes and although by no means you cannot avoid to be dust yet by an upright life you may avoid to be ashes though we cannot but incurre the first death let not the second death take hold of us Though the grave inclose us let not hell swallow us All we eat all that we care for in this world is but for dust and for that will turn to dust If we be nothing but dust if we hope for nothing but dust if we care for nothing but dust we shall be swallowed up in dust Let us remember we are clay but God is the Potter Isaiah 64. 8. Above all regard thy soul. Above all regard thy soul then shall thy body of dust return to dust and from dust shall return again to God that made it and thee thou and thy body shall return to glory Vocavit autem Adam nomen uxoris suae Chavvam eò quòd ipsa mater sit omnium hominum viventium Gen 3. 20. December 10. 1598. ADam here calleth his Wife by a new name not by the former name in the 23. of the former which was Woman The mysterie of this name compared with the former Sentence is great she is called here Hevah she hath no name of dejection and despair but of life and of comfort Hereby is to be gathered that notwistanding the sinne committed and sentence pronounced yet there was in Adam some matter of hope for he beleeved the promise made in the 15. verse before that the seed of the Woman should break the Serpents head This was as it is in the 〈◊〉 to the Corinthians 2. 16. The savour of life unto life Abraham beleeved in Gods promise the 15. of this book the 6. by this Scripture Adam left a Monument of his beliefe as in the other Abraham left a Monument of his faith The seed of Abram in his age was promised to be in the 5. verse of that chapter as the starres of heaven Abraham desired to see the day of Christ and he saw it by faith Herein we will consider these two things first the imposition of a name and then of this name For the first the imposing of names is an argument of superiority and power in the 19. of the former chapter it is shewed in the naming of all the Creatures by man which names were properly given by him In the thirty fifth chapter and the eighteenth verse Jacobs Wife before her death called her sonnes name Ben-oni but his Father changed that name and called him Benjamin from the sonne of sorrow to the sonne of 〈◊〉 Jacob was after called Israel the tenth of the same chapter the name of Sarai was turned to Sarah the seventeenth of Genesis and the fifteenth verse as of Jacob by the Angell into Israel the two and thirtith chapter and the twenty eighth verse and out of these new names is taken matter of great mystery And Adam before called her Ishah woman as another from man but here hee changeth that to Hevah which is a name of life to others Now then touching the imposition of this name wherein wee will consider the signification of this name and then the qualitie thereof In the seventh of the former chapter God 〈◊〉 into man the breath of life and man was a living soule and here her name is a name of life now life is two fold either for a time or for ever shee is a mother of life in regard of this life for that her birth is not of an abortive it is a blessednesse production and education are in
it was seemly to cover his shame for to cover a starre or the Sunne is a blemish to either a Rose or a Lilie are best uncovered in their proper natures and so Adams nakedness in his innocencie was best without apparel The just man shall shine like the Sunne in the Kingdome of his father the thirteenth of Matthew the fourty third verse The second regard out of this covering or clothing is That the birds are covered with their own feathers the beasts with their haire and wooll but man must die for nakednesse unlesse he hath his cloathing from others Thirdly Goe to the brute beasts and wear their skinnes and by looking on them learn that if thou hadst been obedient thou hadst not need of such clothing and repeat that of the fourty ninth Psalm the twentieth verse Man was in honour and understood it not and now he is become like beasts that perish Lastly From the beasts being slain To put him in minde that though he may preserve his bodie for a while yet in the end in pulverem revertêris though these must die to feed and cloath thee yet in the end thou must die thy self These penitentiall meditations may be taken from this modell of apparell The nakedness of the soul. Now touching the nakednesse of the soul and the covering thereof spiritually hereto may be applied that of the sixteenth of Ezekiel the seventh verse Jerusalem was naked and barren but thou hast got thee excellent garments we are wretched poor and naked the third of the Revelations the seventeenth verse then this nakednesse which is of the soul it must be covered it is that whereto that of the sixteenth of the Revelations the fifteenth verse hath relation Blessed is he that keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and men see his filthinesse And God through his mercie covereth our sinne and it must be covered with a covering of skinne the brutish affection must be covered with morall virtues the brutish affection of anger of the Lion must be covered with patience the brutish affection of 〈◊〉 of the Goat must be clothed with chastity the pride the skinne of the Lamb of God which was the 〈◊〉 of the Serpent with the humilitie of the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world the thirteenth of the Revelations the eighth verse must be thy cloathing and we put on Christ by Baptism the third to the Galathians the twenty seventh Jacob was clothed with skinnes which did represent this If then we goe to the soul it is to be clothed analogically with the bodie the nakednesie thereof is to be clothed by faith with Christ Jesus the Lamb of God Et dixit Jehova Deus Ecce homo estne sicut unus ex nobis cognoscendo bonum malum nunc igitur videndum ne extendens manum suam accipiat etiam de fructu arboris vitae ut comedat victurus in seculum Gen. 3. 22. Januar. 14. 1598. IN the former verses of the Sentence I told you their several uses and that in the last of them was matter for penitentiall meditation The execution of the Sentence I told you was laid in these three last verses This verse containeth a deliberation or a resolution of what God should doe and it is as it were the writ for execution In the two next verses is conteined the execution it self God hereby seemeth so respective of them that he is so unwilling to execute upon them yet is he carefull of his truth for he said at the first restraint in the seventeenth verse of the former chapter Thou shalt die the death if thou eat the forbidden fruit and that God hath said must be performed for his words are not bruta fulmina and therefore that all may concur in his Sentence was imposed on him a painfull life and that it may be more painfull he is here deprived of Paradise and likewise the corruption of life was appointed him which in him and his posterite we see daily verefied that dust returneth to dust and here it is made more manifest by the taking away of the tree of life This verse divideth it self into two general parts the one in these words Behold the Man is become as one of us to know good and evill the other in that which remaineth For the first part I agree fully with the opinion of the ancient fathers which are the most wise and the most learned that these words the man is become as one of us c. is no Ironie but as one of them saith very well est vox magni fragoris it is a voice of great thunder wherein is written the misery that Adam is in as Christ at his death had a superscription whereby was expressed wherefore he suff red Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judeorum or as Malefactors have written in Papers on their heads wherefore they are punished So these words are a publishing wherefore they are thus used because they would become as God knowing good and evill that they and others may know the cause of their fall that as it is in the twenty ninth of Deuteronomie the twenty fourth verse If any shall aske wherefore hath the Lord done thus They shall answer because they have broken the 〈◊〉 of the Lord their God because they went and served other Gods and worshipped them even Gods which they knew not And here because Adam obeyed the Serpent whom he knew not and disobeyed God whom he knew because he would be as God and know good and evil he tasted the deserved punishment of Gods wrath The form of the words Now for the matter conteined herein the ancient Fathers doe gather hence Matter of faith first matter of faith quasi unus ex nobis Adam is like one of us hereby is taken a certain apprehension of the Trinity to refute the Jews that God speaketh not as Princes doe and like Emperors We charge you It is our pleasure c. that though he be one that speaketh yet he useth the plurall number but this doth resute them for what Prince or Monarch saith Like one of us to shew the unity of Godhead and trinity of persons he said not like unto Angells but like one of us In which words he sheweth both a remembrance or token of the unity and the Trinity in the fourth of John the twenty third verse the person of the Father in the twenty seventh verse there following the person of the Sonne saith I am he So that in one is the Godhead in us is the persons So much of the character Ironie Secondly It may seem God speaketh this as an Ironie in a scorning sort for surely it cannot be spoken directly for he is not become like God that knoweth all things but rather like the brute beast without understanding he is become by his disobedience liker the Serpent that seduced him than God that made him Sarcasmus Some take them as Ironicall or which is more as a Sarcasmus or
third of Luke the fourty third verse of the two Malefactors that sufferd with our Saviour he saith to one of them Hodie eris mecum in Paradiso to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise there is the return of one to Paradise And again in the 2 Corinthians 12. 4. you have another taken up into Paradise this is then a sending of the Dove with a branch in his mouth in hope of return it is no 〈◊〉 of the Raven not to return But this returning is to the Paradise of God for unto him that over commeth will God give to eate of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God the second of the Revelations the seventh verse So that that place sheweth a manifest return to eat of the tree of life and to take again the benefit of Paradise And in the twentieth of Johns Gospel the fifteenth verse Christ appeared to Mary Magdalen as a gardiner whence the Fathers infer that he shall bring us again into a better Garden then was Eden into the heavenly Paradise there to eate of the Tree of life by mercie through his owne sonne shall he send them in againe as with Justice mingled with Mercy he sent them out So much for this time Quumque expulisset hominem instituit à parte anteriore horti Hedenis Cherubos flammamque gladii sese vibrantis ad custodiendum viam quae ferebat ad arborem vitae Januar. 18. 1598. THIS is the putting forth of Adam and Eve from Paradise for they being sent forth before from the garden of Eden it may seeme that God dealt with them with such mercy that he spake to them but in jest But to shew that this execution was in earnest and that not only the Sentence should be executed but the execution prosecured with effect it followeth in this place to shew how the man was cast out of Paradise and how it was fenced and how the passage to the Tree of life was stopped with a 〈◊〉 sword shaken The occasion whereof was the slipperiness of mans nature who though he were in misery yet would desire to eate of the tree of Life and so live in eternall misery seeking by all means to shake off this penitential life therefore God useth all meanes to draw him to repentance and to think of his former happiness and of his present misery In this verse then a caveat must be had that there be no daliance in the execution but that the execution in all points be fulfilled whereupon they are cast forth there are Cherubins set who are armed with fire and sword to prosecute the sentence and execution and defend the passage into Paradise that so all his statutes may be found true For all that God doth and saith are done in equity and truth the hundred and eleventh Psalm and the eighth verse The Tree of Life fenced 〈◊〉 Another point is this that of God and Justice he fenceth the Tree of life with an armed Angell with fire and sword And therefore look where the precept and law of God is contemned a Cherubin and a Sword followeth according to that of the twenty sixth of Leviticus and the twenty fifth verse Mittam gladium super vos I will send a Sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrell of my Covenant In the twenty second verse before in the sentence the Tree of life was not fenced at all therefore here God provideth for it a fence and a better guard which is Cherubins and a Sword The Seraphin in the sixth of Esay and the sixth verse Had a hot 〈◊〉 in his hand which he took from the Altar Another Cherubin in the tenth of Ezekiel and the seventh verse Stretcheth forth his hand 〈◊〉 the fire and giveth of it to him that was clothed with linnen thus then was the pastage of Eden guarded with an Angell a Cherubin armed with a fiery Sword in regard of the justice of God The end of the fencing The end of this fencing thus of Paradise and of the Tree of life is as the Fathers say because that it is the will of God Inseparatio Paradisi ligni that the Paradise of God and the Tree of life should be inseparablie together that none should enjoy the Paradise of God but should easte of the Tree of life and none should have the Tree of life but should likewise enjoy the Paradise of God that so whosoever should enjoy the one should have the other for as it is in the thirty fourth Psalm and the twelfth verse And likewise in the first of Peter the third chapter and tenth verse Every man naturally hath a longing desire after long life and to see good daies and to live long and happily to have eternity and the Paradise of 〈◊〉 for small is the comfort to live long and have no happinesse or to have happinesse and not enjoy it long and therefore man when he was cast forth he was debarred hereby both of the state of felicity and of eternity that God might be true in his words and just in his works A Cherubim and a firie Sword Now touching this guard it self this fence it consisteth of two parts the one is a Cherubin taken and sent from Heaven above the other a fiery Sword from the Earth below that Adam and Eve might consider that Heaven and Earth were armed against them to be a terror to their Soul and Body this was a spirituall and civill punishment for there was in Adams sinne an inordinate desire of the Soul to seek curiously into Gods secrets and to know good and evill and likewise an inordinate appetite of the body to behold and taste of the forbidden fruit thinking that was a fruit more pleasant than all the trees in the garden and God doubteth in the twenty second verse that he will put also forth his hand and take of the tree of life and live for ever and therefore to fence this Tree he setteth an Angell not naked but armed to defend it I say an Angell with a shaking Sword in his hand Cherubims And that these Cherubins are Angels it is doubtlesse by the whole course of the Scriptures both new and old and there of the ancient and new writers make no doubt they say that as the committing of sinne was by an evill Angell so emissio the punishment for sinne was by an Angell their putting out of Paradise was by means of the evill Angell and the passage was kept against them by an Angell armed with a burning Sword he came like a Serpent to provoke them to sinne and he was punished by a Cherubin an Angell of that order mention is made of the Cherubins in the time of the Law in the twenty fifth of Exodus and the eighteenth verse And in the building of the first Temple of Salomon were placed the Cherubims in the inward house the figures of Cherubims compassed the house and the dores of the Oracle were
done amiss doe as the Hebrewsspake put their trust in the strength of their fâce and in deceitfull lips saying with them Job the twenty fourth chapter Quis me vidit or with her in the thirtieth chapter of the Proverbs that having committed sinne wipeth her mouth and saith Non seci For albeit Cain would not confesse his sault but denyed it saying Nescio and not only but excused his sinne 〈◊〉 without charity toward his Brother so without all humilitie or modesty to God that he was not bound to take care of Abel yet for all that God proceedeth to convict him The verse stands of two parts First the question Quid fecisti Secondly a plain detection in the words following For the first point there are diverse exceptions For the nature of this question some make it a new question touching the same thing that God asked in the former verses Others referre it to Cains deniall as if God should say What hast thou done in saying thou knowest not If we understand it to be a second question then we are to remember what the Prophet saith in the sixty second Psalm that God speaketh not once but twice to shew that he is mercifull and that his oath is a true oath whereby he affirmeth that he desires not the death of a sinner in the thirty third chapter of Ezekiel and the eleventh verse for if a man do but say I have sinned and perverted righteousnesse and it did not profit me he will deliver his soul from going into the pit in the thirty third chapter of Job and the eighteenth verse so greatly is God pleased when men doe willingly 〈◊〉 their sinnes to him And that is the rea on that God having once already asked Cain Where is thy brother Abel doth now ask him again the second time What hast thou done which is all one in effect with the first question The other question seemed far off from the matter but this comes more near to the point Wherein God doth more presse Cain as if he should say thou hast done this murther I will have thee confesse it Which is all one with that speech of Joshuah to Achan My son give glory to God and confesse Joshuah the seventh chapter Wherein he willeth Cain to do as they did of whom Luke recordeth that they came and confessed and shewed their works Acts the nineteenth chapter for it is Gods will that we should call to minde our own deeds before he come to set before us the things which we have done Psalm the fiftieth But others referre this question to Cains deniall why didest thou not confesse thy fault that I might have had mercy on thee Wherein we see that verified that the Prophet affirmeth of God in the second chapter of Joel That he is sorry for our afflictions and withall it is an admonition teaching us our duties For God maketh two sermons to Cain one before he sinned verse the seventh the other after he had sinned in these words Ubi est Abel frater As by the first he 〈◊〉 us to say with Paul in the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Quid faciam so when we have sinned we must smite our hearts with David in the second of Samuel and the twenty fourth chapter and say as the prophet speaks Jeremiah the eighth chapter and the sixt verse quid feci Gods question to Cain doth plainly 〈◊〉 to us thus much that when we have sinned we must repent us of the evill and say what have I done for if man repent not that he hath sinned against God God will repent that he hath made man Genesis the sixt chapter and the sixt verse but there is to be noted further in this question that the reason thereof is that Cain by murthering his brother did not only shew himself like the Devill that evill one as St. John calls him in the first of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse who was a murther from the beginning but that he sheweth himself like unto him in denying the truth as the Devill is said to be the Father of lies John the eighth chapter The detection of Cains Crime is in these words the voice of thy brothers blood 〈◊〉 to me from the earth God goeth forward and sheweth that although the Devill doe stop Cains mouth that he will confess his fact yet all is to no purpose albeit he himself will not say he hath killed Abel yet God setts before his eyes the things which he hath done Psalm the fiftieth and the twenty first verse Concerning these words there are two interpretations First that Gods meaning in these words is that howsoever man needs an Accuser yet he needs none for he knoweth who is guilty though there be none to accuse that man heares nothing but vocall speech but God heares blood speak as God doth loquisurdis so he doth audire muta He calleth those things that are not as if they were Romans the fourth chapter he makes things deaf to hear and 〈◊〉 things speak which are dumb as he heard Moses though he spake not a word Exodus the fourteenth chapter Man cannot see in the dark without the light But the darknes and the light are all one to him Psalm the one hundred and thirty ninth All things are naked and bare before his eyes Hebrews the fourth chapter so that he needs no Accuser Secondly the other sense is the fuller and the more generally embraced which is this though the person guilty being arraigned will not confess himself and albeit there be none to accuse him yet he escapes not as for the Accuser there could be none for there were now but three persons upon earth Cain himself and his Father and Mother as for Cain he denyed the deed as for Adam and Eve who were his Parents such was their naturall affection that they could not finde in their hearts to accuse their Son though it were for killing a Child that was more deer to them than he was Of which compassion we have a like example in the Widdow of Tekoah in the second of Samuel the fourteenth chapter and therefore as Ambrose saith quis potuit alter occidere Abelem though there be neither confession nor accusation yet God proceeds to convince him and grounds himself upon the grievousness of his sinne The voice of thy Brothers blood cryeth to me This kinde of proceeding in Judgment is usuall though Juda spake not a word himself and there was none to accuse him yet he was convinced by those tokens which he left with Thamar Genesis the thirty eigthth chapter and the twenty sixt verse And the Garments of Joseph which he left with his Mistris when she enticed him was thought evidence enough Genesis the thirty ninth chapter so we see that albeit there be neither confession nor accusation yet God proceeds against Cain by conviction and he doth convince him not by the voice of persons which is the more usuall witnesse but per vocem
that it was a confession without any petition or prayer for pardon and he made no prayer because he had no hope and no hope for that he wanted faith We must therefore beware that we deferre not our confession and repentance but speedily return to God for that is the cause that he bears with us he might presently consume us after we have sinned but he spareth us for repentance as the Prophet speaketh in the thirtieth chapter of Isaiah Expectat Deus ut miseriatur and his mercy is extended to all sinners upon condition of repentance Albeit Nebuchadnezzar were a grievous sinner yet the Prophet telleth him in the fourth chapter of Daniel if he break off his sinnes by righteous dealing and his iniquities by mercy to the poor Erit sanatio erroris And the Prophet to them that had given themselves to Idolatrie saith If you turn your iniquitie shall not be to your destruction Ezekiel the eighteenth chapter and the thirtieth verse Therefore the Godly man saith Wee have trespassed against God wee have taken strange wayes yet now there is hope in Israel for this Exodus the tenth chapter and second verse Which is a point very materiall for if hope of mercy and forgivenesse be cut off sinners will fall into their case that said desperatly in the eighteenth chapter of Jeremiah and the twelfth verse We will walk in the stubbornesse of our hearts or else as the Apostle speaketh They will be swallowed up of too much heavinesse in the first epistle to the Corinthians the second chapter that is without hope of mercy men fall into desperate hardness of heart or into desperate fear sorrow so as they cannot be comforted And this is it which the Devill desires to the end he may bring this to pass As in the beginning he took exception against one tree charged God with niggardliness envy albeit he could not charge God for all the trees of the Garden in the third chapter of Genesis and the fift verse so albeit it be impossible for the Devill to perswade Cain that God will not forgive sinnes because in as much as if God be extream to mark what is done 〈◊〉 and enter into judgement no man can be justified in his sight Psalm the one hundered and thirtieth and Psalm the one hundred fourty third therefore he must needs forgive sinnes unlesse he will shew that he hath made all men for nought Psalm the eighty ninth yet he tels him that howsoever sinnes may be forgiven yet Cain's sinne cannot be pardoned He tels Cain that a 〈◊〉 there of his Brother and such a one as denyeth the deed with such presumptuous and proud answers cannot have pardon But the error of Cain stands herein not that he is perswaded that his sin is great for murther no doubt is a great sinne but that he thinketh it so great as it could not be pardoned as if Gods mercy were not great enough for his sinne were it never so great Cain's error then as we see is Major iniquitas quà m propitiatio Which error God doth most of all detest First for that it doth prejudice his Power as if he that is Almighty were not able to pardon the sinnes of wicked men Secondly It doth prejudice his truth for God affirmeth of himself That he forgiveth iniquity transgression and sinne Exodus the thirty fourth chapter and the seventh verse which is the sinne that Cain speaketh of here The Prophet saith of God in the one hundred and thirtieth Psalme He shall deliver Israel from all his sinnes He hath shut up all under sinne that he may have mercy over all Romans the eleventh chapter And as he came into the world to save sinners so primos peecatorum in the first epistle to Timothie the first chapter and the sixteenth verse This Cain could not be ignorant of having heard of the promise which God made That the seed of the woman should break the Serpents head that is as we have shewed the head and chief sinne that the Devill can infect the soul of man withall Thirdly This error doth derogate from his goodnesse which makes it more odious to God for Gods mercy hath a preeminece above his justice Psalme the one hundred fourty fifth his mercy is above all his workes And as the Apostle saith in the second chapter of James Mercy triumpheth over Justice Therefore the sin against Gods Mercy is more grievous Again It is the more odious in Gods eyes because it takes from him the Glory of his Mercy which is essentiall and naturall in God for his Justice groweth out of man and he is said to be just not so much in regard of himself as in respect of his dealing towards men in that he rewardeth the good and punisheth the bad But as for Mercy it is naturally in him and a part of his Essence But his Justice commeth from without for when men provoke him by their sinnes then he saith Isaiah the twenty eighth chapter and the seventeenth verse Judgment will I lay to the rule and righteousness to the ballance Therefore if we conceive of God as a hard Lord whereas we see he is ready to forgive ten thousand talents to his Servants Matthew the eighteenth chapter or think him to be a hard Father whereas he is most kinde to naughty and unthrifty Sons Luke the fifteenth chapter We doe derogate against his mercie and goodness who in respect of his naturall inclination to mercy is called mercy Psalm the fifty ninth and the seventeenth verse wherefore as the Apostle said to the Jewes Acts the thirteenth chapter and the fourty sixt verse Seeing you have put the word of God from you and judged your selves unworthy of eternall life so if any man by taking an 〈◊〉 opinion of Gods mercy doe put it from him and judge himself unworthy of mercy there is no hope that he shall ever obtain forgiveness but he must either fall into that desparare hardness of heart that is mentioned Jeremiah the eighteenth chapter or else be continually tormented with a wounded spirit Proverbs the eighteenth chapter and be swallowed up of heaviness in the second to the Corinthians the second chapter Touching Cains conceit it is certain if his sinne cannot be pardoned it is either in regard of the sinne it self or of Gods justice but neither of these are any such hindrance that they ought to draw us to that which Cain saith Touching sinne it is not a thing impossible to obtain pardon for it First Because sinne is the work of a Creature which is finite and therefore can doe nothing but that which is finite But God is infinite and of his greatness there is no end psalm the one hundred and fourty sift And therefore look how much God is greater than man so great is his power to thew mercy and consequently it is not possible that his mercy should be overcome of our sinne and miserie Secondly peccatum hominis est infirmitas hominis that is sinne
chastity are a full comprehension of the duty of sanctification which God willeth us to perform And as Cains sinne stands first in the story so it is first in nature for a Child before he be able to speak one word will by his sower face shew that he hath a revenging spirit But in this story of Lamech we must observe a farther thing for it standeth upon two parts First in the ninteenth verse is shewed not only that he was infected with a spirit of uncleanness but also verse the twenty third a contemptuous and insolent spirit which is a degree beyond Cain for there he braggeth of his sinne and contemneth God and his Judgments as if he should not be revenged of him for it For when a sinner is not only possessed and infected with malice and envy in his heart and with lust in his reins but braggs of his sin in contempt of God and his Judgments then he is at the height of sinne Peccator cum in profundum venerit contemnit Thus where there are but three faculties of the soul all are corrupted by the infection of the Serpent as for reason it was corrupted in Adam when the Serpent perswaded him that he should be like God and the angry part was corrupted in Cain when he was stirred up to kill his Brother without all cause Thirdly the will and the coveting part was corrupted in Lamech so as neither the bond of nature nor the will of God which is a spirituall bond could keep in order but he will shew his uncleanness When not only Adam looseth faith and Cain charity but Lamech chastity then is sinne at the height In the first verse there is a genealogie of four discents wherein there is no matter of great edification Howbeit as when mens Fields and Closes are laid out all must not be taken up for pasture but a little way must be left whereby every man may pass to his own ground so in the Scripture there must be a passage from one storie to another And as in the body for that there are a great many lymbs and parts they must of necessity be compacted one with another by the help of the sinews so both in prophane Writers and in the Scripture many things are set down to shew the dependance that one story hath with another which otherwise would not seem so necessary Even so the shewing how Cain is joyned with Lamech which is done in this verse is very necessary Secondly There is a farther matter in this heaping of names besides the continuance of the story for it would have seemed strange that the Scripture doth make mention of Lamech and his wicked course unless it were withall shewed from whence he came But in setting down that Lamech is of the posterity of wicked Cain no man will marvell that he doe expresse the manners of Cains Besides that we may not think that this heaping of words is vain for as the Fathers note there is no name in Scripture without profitable consideration for howsoever men that deal in woods and base mettals care not to let chips and parings fall from them yet as they that work in gold and Silver will not lose the least parings The like is to be done in reading the word For it is pure as silver that hath been purified seven times Psalm the twelfth More to be desired than gold Psalm the ninteenth therefore we must have this conceit of it that whatsoever seemeth to be superfluous in the word of God hath great value both for faith and life For Isidor saith est in nominibus sacris sua theologia and as Jerome saith in nominibus sacrae Scripturae insculpuntur mysteria Therefore the Apostle saith That the Sonne of God is more excellent than the Angels in as much as he hath a more excellent name than they Hebrews the first chapter and the fourth verse so when the blinde man is sent to wash himself in Shilo John the ninth chapter and the seventh verse The word signifying sent importeth that he could not be purified by that water unless he was sent so in the names of holy Scripture we see as Jerome saith there are ingraven mysteries Now we give names to our Children ad placitum but in the old Testament the Fathers gave names of set purpose with great advise so we see Eve giveth a reason why she called her Sonne Cain Genesis the fourth chapter and the first verse so is there a reason of Seths name Genesis the fourth chapter and the twenty fift verse of Noah the Sonne of Lamech Genesis the fift chapter and the twenty ninth verse of Isaack and Jacob and all the Patriarches The reason why they had this regard in giving of names are reduced to two First in those that are the Children of the godly their names are a kinde of Prophesie concerning the disposition of the Childe which choice of names their Fathers made for that being endued with the spirit of God they foresaw the disposition of their Children On the other side the wicked and the reprobate cannot prophesie yet their names are specula paternae affectionis as the names of godly Children are prophesies puerilis indolis That it is thus in these names we shall observe an encounter made between the seed of Cain and the seed of Seth which as they were of a contrary disposition so gave their Children contrary names Cain called his Sonne Enoch that is dedicated to the pleasure of the world but Seths Sonne is called Enosh that is sorrowfull Genesis the fift chapter On the one side there was Cain on the other Kenan Irad on the one side Jerad on the other Methushael and Methushelah by which names the seed and posterity of godly Sheth shew a contrary affection and such as differeth from the wicked and the seed of Cain as appeareth by the signification of their names Touching the opposition that appeares to be between the generation of Seth and the posteritie of Cain Enochs name who was Cains Sonne signifieth dedication and there is one of the Children of God called by the same name Genesis the fifth chapter and the ninteenth verse but Seths Enoch as Jude saith was the seventh from Adam verse the fourteenth that is one dedicated to the seventh or Sabbath day one that gave himself wholly to the service and worship of God but Cains Enoch was the first and next to Cain that is one dedicated to the first day which is a working day to shew that he was one that gave himself to the affaires of this life that sought to be mighty on earth And this difference of affection holds to this day for all men are followers either of the first or second Enoch The next of Cain is called Irad that is Lord of a City the same that Herod signifieth wherein we see his ambitious spirit that he was such a one as sought to be great in the world And as Jeroboam when he was not able to maintain
with Enoshes invocation with respect partly to Seth his Father and partly to Enoch Cains Sonne As Cain and Seth matches so doe Enoch and Enosh On the behalf of Seth we say that Moses having laid a foundation which was posuit deus in this verse he adds roof for invocation is not made till the Temple be finished and so in these two verses he comprehends the state of the Church In the first is the promise of God in the second the name of God In which two is contained the duty of the whole worship of God On the other side that there might be a counterpoise and opposition between the contrary parties as Seth is opposed to Cain so Enosh stands against Enoch For as we see there was a City built on the one side so on the other side there must be something built for the defence of the seed of the Godly There must be some fence for Seth and his seed as Cain and Enoch had theirs Therefore here is that which is called turris fortissima Proverbs the eighteenth chapter that is nomen domini and it stands in opposition not only against him but against all the rest to counterpoise Jabal Jubal and Tubal Cain First against the wealth that Jabal brought in here is the fear of the Lord as Abraham Genesis the twentieth chapter whereof the Prophet saith Isaiah the thirty third chapter and the sixt verse Timor Domini the saurus Secondly Against the pleasures and delights of Jubals invention of musick we have another pleasure in the Psalmes Psalm the sixty third My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyfull lips Thirdly Against the strength and power of Tubal Cain that deviseth weapons for warr we have another kinde of armor Psalm the twentieth Illi in curribus in equis nos autem in nomine domini dei nostri invocabimus So we see that which is ascribed to Enosh doth answer not only Enoch but all the rest As on the one side in respect of Seth when we read that God gave him a seed we shewed that it was a holy seed that he was the first that called on the name of the Lord so on the other side in respect of Enosh and Enoch as we see a City so a Church as in Enoch a state civill so in Enosh a state ecclesiasticall as there we had a company of men that placed their vocation in things of this life so here we have another company whose vocation is an invocation that is to adore and call upon the name of the Lord. As if Moses should say by way of apologie that they were not a seed alone but there is another seed and as Cains posterity boasted themselves in earthly matters so Seths seed was imployed in the service of God which Moses opposeth against Enoch and the rest For when as the Prophet speaks there is more spent in the making of Mattocks and Swords that is a state civill but when more time and pains is bestowed in the safegard and protection of the Church than upon Lawyers and that shewes a state ecclesiasticall This shall suffice for the dependance of this verse I come to the verse it self consisting of two parts First the birth and name of Enosh Secondly the invocation of the name of the Lord. First the name Enosh signifies a man according to the four words in the holy tongue and it gives us to understand thus much that the conceipt of the Holy Ghost is that that party that hath sense of God and his worship and of spirituall things as the invocation of the name of God is to be called a man otherwise he is like a beast Psalm the fourty ninth and no man for that the God of heaven should receive no more honour and service from men than from bruit beasts it is too unreasonable seeing God hath endued man with reason and therefore that which offereth it self here is that Enosh from his invocation of the name of the Lord took his manhood that thereby it appeared that he was a man and not a bruit beast But as he signifies a man so not every man but as Adam is a person taken out of the molde of the earth so Enosh is a name pertaining to humility and signifies a person that is lowly The one was manipulus terrae the other cumulus miseriae so that there is a name from the molde whereof man is made and into which he is cast the consideration whereof is able to take down our pride or if not that of Adam The other name Enosh whereby we see that this man that is made of the molde of the earth is subject to so many miseries sicknesses sorrowes and calamities For the occasion of this name giving there was a kinde of emulation between the one side and the other as on the one side the one called his Sonne Enoch so the other Enosh the one Irad the other Jerad the one Mehujael the other Methushael which was done in this respect to shew that another manner of contemplation occupies the heads of the Children of God then the terrestriall dedication of the seed of the wicked But especially this was done in respect of the Prophesie to shew how Seth did see that the Serpent slept not but was hewing out a crosse and calamities for the Godly and that Enoch had built a City and walls against the Church and Tubal-Cain had invented weapons of warr and prepared armor against Seth. Therefore as Genesis the tenth chapter and the twenty fift verse Eber calls his Sonnes name Peleg because the division of the earth was in his dayes so here Seths Son is called Enosh in respect of the crosses and tribulations that the Sonnes of men are subject unto and that is one mysterie that the Fathers make of this place that none should imagine Seth to be without his Enosh that upon the godly the surges of the Sea shall arise but not overwhelm them and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against them Matthew the sixteenth chapter but that he that grounds himself upon the worship of God by true invocation shall be immoveable and yet not without persecutions And that is the first point that to Seth is born Enosh The reason why God sends crosses and afflictions to men is to try them whether they be rooted and grounded in faith Colossians the second chapter and the twenty seventh verse and as in the first to the Corinthians the eleventh chapter and the ninteenth verse He suffers heresies that they which are approved may be known as also because if men were not sometime perplexed and prest down with afflictions so as neither reason can releive them nor the hand of flesh able to deliver them when they cannot help themselves but as past hope of remedy they may ascribe their deliverance to God and not to their own counsels or force Secondly That it hangs well together that this
exercise of invocation and prayer should arise from Enosh for James the fift chapter and the thirteenth verse If any be afflicted let him pray and therefore such prayer is called oratio afflicti Psalm the hundred and second and the seventeenth verse As Abel's oblation belongs to the dayes of peace and prosperity so Enosh's invocation belongs to the dayes of affliction and misery when a man is strong to resist and full of vitall heat and spirit then he cannot skill of invocation but let God make him Enosh and then he will begin to call upon the name of the Lord. Thirdly In respect that it shewes what manner of Preacher it should be that is he must be one of the sons of Seth that is one of the Church for the prayer of a faithfull man availeth much Also it must be Enosh's prayer that is of one that is humble as the Publicans prayer Luke the eighteenth chapter so that the name of Enosh in respect of Seth shewes that Christ shall not be without his Crosse nor Christs Church without theirs And in respect of himself it shewes what shall be the afflictions of those that shall be thus called Touching his Invocation It is the title that it pleaseth the Holy Ghost to set out Enosh by and it is an excellent title 〈◊〉 Chrysostome that Enosh should be the first that called upon the Name of the Lord It was more honorable to him than to wear any gorgeous apparrell or Jewels whatsoever In this part are two things The nature of Invocation and the beginning of it set down in these words 〈◊〉 est First for the nature of Invocation Invocare 〈◊〉 vocare Deum in se or ex se and it is a speciall point Many would have God about them or near them but not in them for then they must look to govern their actions well When men lay seige to a Town they doe not think it sufficient to have them without but they desire to get them within Such an affection is required of them say the ancient Writers that will truly call upon God For the manner we must say with the Apostle in the first epistle of John the fourth chapter and the fourth verse Major est qui intus quà m qui extrà Now for the Name of God It is no unreasonable thing that we should call upon the name of those which we never saw for as we know those that dwell in the west northward parts they believe obey the word and 〈◊〉 that comes in the Princesses name and by that 〈◊〉 they arme and disarme themselves and are ready to 〈◊〉 death howbeit they never saw her nor look to see her but only because it comes in her name It is therefore currant they 〈◊〉 such a Princesse there is therefore they receive the word as comming out of the mouth of the Princesse her self and obey 〈◊〉 So we see what Invocation is and that the name of God is 〈◊〉 be invocated Now to put a difference between these three First to call upon God Secondly upon the name of God Thirdly in the name of God We say to call upon God is an expressing or 〈◊〉 of the desire that we have of his presence as all the creatures 〈◊〉 For the young Ravens call upon him in the one hundred fourty 〈◊〉 Psalm and the ninth verse and in the eighth chapter of the 〈◊〉 and the twentieth verse Omnis creatura 〈◊〉 and that 〈◊〉 be done when a man saith nothing but only in his soul 〈◊〉 as Hannah in the first of Samuel the first chapter and the thirteenth verse and Moses in the fourteenth chapter of Exodus and the fifteenth verse Why prayest thou to me when no words were uttered that is an internall spirituall praying between God and us which all the creatures have but the invocation upon the name of God is a thing externall as the Psalmist speaks Psalm 77. and the 1. verse I will crie to God with my voyce and in the one hundred and sixteenth Psalm and the fourth verse I will call upon the name of the Lord saying Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul So that Moses meaning is to shew that not only an internall calling upon the name of God by desires but that then there began an externall and vocall serving of God with a profession of religion Now to invocate in the name is one thing and to invocate upon the name of God is another the one is the party that is called upon the other 〈◊〉 out the party in whose name he is called upon which shewes the persons distinct in the deitie as our Saviour expounds it in the sixteenth chapter of John and the twenty third verse Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you There is both God the Father that is called upon and Christ the Sonne in whose name we pray That is the difference between the two names that is they put not their trust in their own names or in the arme of flesh or in any other humane name but in God and not only invocate God but they invocate him in nomine that is in the name of another And there is no other name given by which we shall be saved but the name of Jesus Acts the fourth chapter and the twelfth verse and as in the first to the Corinthians the third chapter and the eleventh verse Other foundation then that can no man lay Now whereas we have in this verse in nomine Dei and semen aliud in the former he shewes plainly what he means by posuit deus semen aliud viz. that there is a person that shall be our seed in whose name we are to trust and invocate God so that in these verses the mysterie of Christs incarnation is plainly expressed to those that shall well look into it Now it is plain when he speaks of invocation he means not prayer only but by a part he expresseth the whole which is by a Synechdoche as in the second chapter of Joel and the twenty third verse Every one that calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved which is repeated by the Apostle Romans the tenth chapter and the fourteenth verse but you must mark what he saith after How shall they call upon him in whom they have not beleeved there is faith required Then he goes a step farther How shall they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard as if he should say it is impossible therefore hearing is necessary And how shall they hear without a Preacher there is the office of preaching And how shall they preach unless they be sent there is the authority of ecclesiasticall power We see what duties the Apostle raiseth from invocation and consequently we must know that when they began to call upon Gods name then also they began to beleeve in him For albeit prayer is the more generall part of invocation as a crying unto God as the Fathers observe from the
bodies that are corruptible to become glorious Philippians the third chapter and the twenty first verse If in this life we keep our selves from the filthinesse and pollution of worldly and carnal lusts our bodies shall be glorious after death therefore we are to be more careful for the soul than for the body Of this life Job saith It is but short Job the fourteenth chapter It is like a vapour that suddenly ariseth and vanisheth away James the fourth chapter It is as grasse the first epistle of Peter and the first chapter And it standeth not in the aboundance of riches that man hath Luke the twelfth chapter Man walks in a shadow and disquiets himself in vain Psalm the thirty ninth He is every moment subject to death and howsoever death it looks a young man in the face as it doth old men yet it is as neer to him while it stands close to the other Therefore the Wise man saith All the cares of this life are but vanity and vexation of spirit And howsoever while we are in our joyes drunk with the pleasure of the world as Naball the first epistle of Samuel and the twenty fift chapter So that though we be wounded we feel it not like the drunkard Proverbs the twenty third chapter Though we have not grace to say Quid prodest totum mundum lucrari Matthew the sixteenth chapter yet when it is too late we shall say What hath it 〈◊〉 us to have enjoyed the pleasures of this life Sapi. 5. The life to come is void of all misery and torment There is the fulnesse of joy and pleasure for evermore Psalme the sixteenth But all the pleasure and profits of this life if it were possible to possesse them all are not answerable to the joyes of the life to come With which present pleasures are joyned many griefs and torments If a man be never so rich or humble diseased or afflicted it will marre all his joyes But all the afflictions of this life are not comparable to the future glory Romans the eighth that shall be revealed which swallows up all our troubles that we suffer here because it is hard to root out of mens hearts the cares of this life and Christ doth not forbid them altogether to be carelesse But first seek the kingdom of God and all things else shall be cast upon you Matthew the sixt chapter If ye neglect earthly things for heavenly you shall not only obtain heavenly things but earthly things withall If we only seek bodily things and not heavenly we shall want both But if we seek for the soul we shall have things necessary for the body for the Lord 〈◊〉 said I will not for sake thee Hebrews the thirteenth chapter And David affureth himself that because the Lord is his 〈◊〉 he shall want nothing Psalm the twenty third If Salomon ask not riches nor honour but wisdome he shall have not only wisdome but riches honour and all other things the first book of Kings the third chapter the seeking of things pertaining to this life 〈◊〉 the care of the life to come but the seeking of Gods kingdom includes the care of all other things The 〈◊〉 that it is Christ the sonne of man that gives us this bread of life Muerial bread is the effect of Creatures but the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 is the effect of the redemption But seeing all things were made by Christ John the first chapter therefore it is Christ that gives us both eartnly and heavealy bread Christ made 〈◊〉 materiall bread of nothing but this bread he maketh of himself the one he made 〈◊〉 but the other cost him the shedding of his 〈◊〉 His flesh simply is not bread but his flesh 〈◊〉 for us caro 〈◊〉 prodest John sixth chapter the bread that perisheth and all the works of the Creation he performed in six dayes but the bread of life was not made but during the whole space of his life upon earth The six point is where the bread is to be found touching which he saith say not with thy heart who shall goe up to heaven to fetch this bread nor 〈◊〉 down to hell komans the tenth chapter and the sixth verse It is the Sonne of man that gives it for God the Father hath sealed him for this end In which words we have First a 〈◊〉 Secondly an Affirmation The direction hath a Correction for we think we deserve it by seeking and labouring for it For Christ tells us it is not to be had except the Sonne of man give 〈◊〉 Christ gives us the bread of life three wayes First When he gives his flesh to be crucified for us in his 〈◊〉 for in death only it 〈◊〉 power to quicken us into eternal life as the Apostle witnesseth By death he did destroy him that had the power of death Hebrews the second chapter In thy favour is life Psalme the thirtieth But we are brought into Gods favour no otherwise but by the death of his Sonne Romans the fift chapter So that by his death we obtain life By the sacrifice of himself he hath done away our 〈◊〉 Hebrems the ninth chapter Secondly he gives us the bread of life in the sacrament his flesh is made bread for us in his passion when he dyed but is given and applyed to us in the Supper The expiation for sinnes was once performed upon the Crosse By one sacrifice hath he perfected for ever Hebrews the tenth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse But 〈…〉 is often applyed to us in the 〈◊〉 Thirdly where as there are two 〈◊〉 of giving offert and confert he gives us this bread when he doth not only 〈◊〉 it unto us but makes us 〈◊〉 it If we 〈◊〉 hold of the bread by faith which is the work of God and 〈◊〉 that he is the food of our souls then 〈◊〉 will give us it and make us partakers of 〈◊〉 as Christ saith This is the 〈◊〉 That light came into the world and ye loved darknesse rather than light John the third chapter So it shall be our condemna ion if God doe only offer us the bread of life and doe not withall give us it and make us to receive it All bodily meats being a power nutritive but profit 〈◊〉 except they be a power digestive So though the body of Christ crucified have a power to give life and nourishment yet except we digest it with faith it shall doe us no good For our assurance hereof Christ saith of the Sonne of man that God the Father hath sealed him that is he hath power and authority to be the bread of life and to conserve life to them that feed on him He hath sealed him First with his nature being the very Sonne of God He is the similitude and ingraven form of his person Hebrews the first chapter and the third verse We need not to doubt of the remission of our sinnes for Christ as he is God giveth power to forgive sinnes Secondly as he is sealed with Gods
St. Paul found in the work of his Ministerie was to plant faith and to perswade men that we are justified before God by Faith in Christ without the works of the Law But St. Peter and St. James met with them that received the doctrine of Faith fast 〈◊〉 but altogether neglected good Works But because both 〈◊〉 necessary therefore St. Paul 〈◊〉 all his epistles joynes the 〈◊〉 of Faith with the doctrine of Works This is a faithfull saying and to be avouched That they which beleeve in God be carefull to shew forth good works Titus the third chapter and the eighth verse Therefore with the doctrine of the Grace of God he joynes the doctrine of the carefull bringing forth of good works Titus the second chapter and the 12. verse The saving grace of God hath appeared and teacheth us to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this world The doctrine of Grace is not rightly apprehended untill we admit of the Doctrine of good works Wilt thou know O man that Faith is dead without works Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offred his sonne Isaac James the second chapter and the twentieth verse Therefore St. Peter saith That is no true faith which is not accompanied with virtue and godlinesse of life It is true that good works have no power to work justification because they doe not contain a perfect righteousnesse And in as much as they are imperfect there belongs the curse of God unto them Cursed is he that continueth not in all things Galatians the third chapter Good works a token of justification So farre are they from justifying but yet they are tokens of justification Genesis the fourth chapter Respexit Deus ad Abelem ad oblationem suam God first looked upon his person and then upon his sacrifice For before the person be justified his works are not accepted in Gods sight The best works if they proceed not of Faith are sinne Romans the fourteenth chapter Our Saviour saith No branch can bring forth fruit of it self except it abide in the Vine John the fifteenth chapter Therefore if we doe any good works they proceed from our incision and ingraffing into Christ by whom they are made acceptable to God Paul saith Abraham was justified by faith before works not when he was circumcised but when he was uncircumcised Romans the fourth chapter and the tenth verse But James saith Abraham our Father was justified by Works James the second chapter and the twenty first verse To reconcile the Apostles we must know that the power of Justification which in Paul is effective But that which James speaketh of is declarative It was Abrahams Faith that made him righteous and his works did only declare him to be justified Therefore Paul saith That albeit good works have no power to justifie yet they are good and profitable for men Titus the third chapter For they declare our justification which is by faith and by them we make our selves sure of our calling and election the second epistle of Peter the first chapter and the tenth verse In these two verses Peter delivers two things First A Rule by which we may examine our selves Secondly An application of the same Seeing we have such a good Rule to try whether we be elected and called let us study by the practise of these virtues to assure our selves of our calling and election Two things commend this Rule which the holy Ghost sets down First That it is Regula negativa For having said before affirmatively If these things be in you and abound they will make you that you shall not be idle nor unfruitfull in the knowledge of Christ. Now he speaks negatively But if you have them not you are blinde which is more than if he had contented himself with his affirmative speech For as the tree in the Garden was called Arbor scientiae boni Genesis the second chapter though directly it brings us to the knowledge of nothing but evill because Adam knew not what a good thing it was to be obedient till he felt the smart of his disobedience So we doe perceive the goodnesse of things by the want of them better than by the enjoying of them The benefit of possessing the graces of Gods spirit doth not so much move us as the want of them Therefore the Apostle saith If ye care not for being fruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ yet let this perswade you to practise all these virtues for that if you be without them you are blinde And as no man knoweth what a benefit it is to have sight so well as a blinde man that wants it so it is with them that practise not these virtues Secondly That it is a universal Rule Whosoever hath not these things For our nature is inclined to take exception against good rules As John Baptist when he willed all men to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance Nor as the Jews not to say We have Abraham to our Father Matthew the third chapter It is our corruption as the Apostle faith to think that we shall escape the plagues of God for these sinnes which we condemn in others Romans the second chapter Therefore our Saviour prevented that exception when speaking to his Disciples he said Quod vobis dico omnibus dico Mark the thirteenth chapter Even so Peter saith Whosoever wants these virtues whatsoever occasion he pretends for the want of them he is blinde and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sinnes But to speak more particularly of this Rule two things make us secure in the matter of our Salvation which notwithstanding We should work out with fear and trembling Philippians the second chapter and the twelfth verse The one is our Knowledge We are ready to say with Job I know that my Redeemer liveth Job the nineteenth chapter But unlesse we perform somthing else it shall be in vain to make this allegation Have not we prophecied in thy name Matthew the seventh chapter The other cause of confidence and carelesnesse is the opinion we have that it makes no matter how we live The blood of Christ doth purge me from all sinne the epistle of John the first chapter and the seventh verse To these two the holy Ghost opposeth two things First Doe we think we know God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Yea but he that knoweth not these virtues is blinde and knoweth nothing Secondly Doe we think we need not to be carefull of holinesse of life because we are purged by Christs blood But except we be carefull to walk in newnesse of life we have forgotten that we were purged from our old sinnes For the first point That he that hath not these virtues is blinde we are to know That albeit there be no opposition between knowledge and wickednesse of life because all that know Gods will doe not practise it yet there is a necessary dependance
this place Touching the first We see by experience that in this life many unprofitable servants that bury their talents doe for all that enjoy light and withall have great joy and gladnesse and therefore the holy-Ghost tells them that howsoever they escape here yet in the world to come they shall be sure to be cast into darknesse and to weep continually they shall hear that Memento which the rich man received from Abraham Luke the sixteenth chapter Thou in thy life time receivedst pleasure but now pain So shall it be with the unprofitable servants that are not diligent to imploy their talents to their Masters glory Secondly He alludes to the measure of weeping which is found in this place for many unprofitable servants lose their talents in this life and are deprived of the comforts that should cheer them up they weep and indure much sorrow But because our weeping in this life is mixed with many comforts which doe mitigate our grief the Holy Ghost tells us That howsoever they may finde means to delay grief and weeping here yet the greatest weeping is behinde in the world to come where shall be no mitigation of grief Rachel wept and lamented much for her children because they were not but the weeping and lamentation of these men shall be far greater not only because they are destitute of comfort in the midest of these miseries but for that they shall never finde any means to mitigate their anguish and grief Therefore as one giveth counsel Sic legat homo histerias ne fiat historia so sic audite parabolam hanc ne fiat is parabola Pro puero isto supplicabam praestititque mihi Jehovah petitionem meam quam petebam ab eo Quemobrem ego quoque precario datum sisto eum Jehovae omnibus diebus quibus fuerit ipse rogatus precario est Jehovae c. 1 Sam. 1. 27.28 Febr. 2. 1598. THey be the words of Hannah the mother of the Prophet Samuel uttered by her when she offered him unto God being weaned in the Tabernacle but are applyed by Prosper to the Virgin Mary offering up Christ to God his Father in the Temple Luke the second chapter It is certain That not only that Prophecie which Malachi uttered touching the comming of the Lord of Hosts into his Temple in his own person Malachi the third chapter and the first verse must be fulfilled but that also of Daniel That being come he should also be offered up to God signified by that vision which the Prophet had of one like the Sonne of man who was brought to the ancient of dayes that was to God his Father Daniel the seventh chapter and the thirteenth verse Which thing was truly performed on the day of the Virgins Purification For as the day of Christs nativity is a memorial of Christ given to us by God so the Feast of Purification is a memorial of Christ given to God by us Oblations were of two sorts Numbers the twenty eighth chapter and the fourth verse agnus matutinus and agnus vespertinus the representation of Christ in the Temple by his Parents was the morning Lamb and the offering up of himself as a sacrifice in his passion was the evening Lamb. In his oblation he was the author and beginning of our saith in his passion the finisher and accomplishment of our faith Hebrews the twelfth chapter For the application of this Scripture that it may not seem strange but lawfull and warrantable both by Scripture and practise of Christs Church we are to know that it is lawfull and usual to compare things spiritual not only with things natural as with seed Matthew the thirteenth chapter with things artificial as husbandry and building the first epistle to the 〈◊〉 and the third chapter with moral and occonomical as when God is compared to a housholder Matthew the twentieth chapter but things spiritual with spiritual Scripture with Scripture and one story with another to apply that which is spoken of one member of Christs Church Zechariah the fourth chapter and the twelfth 〈◊〉 to another member of the same body 〈◊〉 the eleventh chapter and the fourth verse and not only so but it is usual to apply that to Christ the head which is affirmed of the body as where it is said of the Congregation of the Jews Hosea the eleventh chapter I called my sonne out of Egypt the same is applyed to Christ the head of that body Matthew the second chapter Out of Egypt have I called my sonne because as Christ the head was truly the sonne of God so he makes all the members of his mystical body to be sonnes So that which God spake to a part of the body the second book of Samuel the seventh chapter I will be his Father is by the Apostle applyed to Christ the head of that body Hebrews the first chapter and the fift verse And so is this speech of Hanna in offering her sonne to God applyed by the ancient Church to the oblation of Christ in the Temple as those were of the Prophet Lamentations the first chapter and the twelfth verse to the sacrifice of his passion So this application is warrantable For if Hannah did offer to God Samuel her sonne much more ought the Virgin to offer up Christ in token of thankfulnesse who is a greater than Samuel as he was greater than Salomon Matthew the twelfth chapter This composition is fit and hath congruity both in respect of the mothers their songs being compared together 1 Sam. 2. Luke 1. which in effect are all one and for the persons of the children for they were both Nazarites verse eleven Luke the second chapter He shall be called a Nazarite Secondly Though there have been some that were both Prophet and Priest or King and Prophet yet all three Priest Prophet and Prince did not concurre in any but in Samuel who therefore was a representation of Christ annointed by God Prophet Priest and King Thirdly Samuels love to his enemies for whom he ceased not to pray the first book of Samuel and the twelfth chapter expresseth Christs love who prayed for his persecutors Luke the twenty third chapter father forgive them which love Christ also shewed in that when we were enemies he reconciled us to God Romans the fift chapter In respect of which resemblance Bernard saith Fortior est compositio quam positio In those words we have to consider two donations First Gods giving to Hannah vers the twenty seventh Secondly Hannahs giving back again to God verse the twenty eighth As the first donation begins with prayer and ends with gift so the latter begins gift and ends with prayer And it is agreeable to reason that the child which came by intercession should end with intercession Concerning which donations we are to note joyntly First That we can give nothing to God but we must first receive it from him As Hannah could not offer her child to the Lord unlesse she first had received him
both agreeable to the action we have in hand and also a good dependance upon that wherein we have been heretofore conversant But that these words are to be applyed to the holy 〈◊〉 and Sacrament of the Lords Supper appears for that before he calls himself the bread of life verse the thirty fift The bread from Heaven verse the fourty first The living bread verse the fifty first and all along this chapter there is nothing spoken of Christ but as he is the matter of this Sacrament and therefore these words are to be understood of the holy Eucharist And so these words as they yeeld comfort to the commers perswading them that they are of those whom God the Father hath given to Christ so no lesse comfort is reached to them here for that they understand from Christs own mouth That if they come to him they shall not be cast out but received of him so as none shall be able to take them out of his hands John the tenth chapter and the twenty eighth verse On the other side They that come not may know from hence that as they are not in the number of the Fathers Donatives that is such as are given to Christ but are the portion of Satan For they shall be cast out into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Apocalyps the twenty first chapter and the eighth verse And into utter darknesse where is weeping and gnashing of teeth Matthew the eighth chapter and the twelfth verse Touching the dependance his words have with that part of Scripture which we usually have held when we spake of Cains departure from Gods presence we heard that he did set himself as neer Eden as he could be that he was content for a little trifling pleasure that shortly fadeth to forgoe Gods presence where is pleasure for evermore that for a little worldly gain with Balaam he gives over all godlinesse which is the true gain and that not he but the whole world through ambition as Lords doe seek the worlds honor with the losse of the honor and favour of God Being thus departed from God we heard he came to a Land called Nod that is a Land of unquietnesse and troubles both in respect of the inward disquietness of his soul by continual fear the outward vanities of the whole world where he found that having forsaken God with whom is fulnesse of joy he could not have his desire satisfied by any pleasure that the world could afford But we left not Cain there but heard that the end of that journey was woe as it shall be the end of all those that walk in Cains way Jude the eleventh verse And for that there is none but may fall into the same way it concerns every man to think how being departed from the presence of God he may come back to Christ and especially that he watch his opportunity to come at such a time as Christ will not cast him out And that is taught us here in these words where Christ saith That whosoever commeth to him as he is the bread of life he shall not be cast forth But we must watch this opportunity for there are two wenite's Come to me all ye Matthew the eleventh chapter that have departed from me to receive worldly pleasures and gain The other Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome Matthew the twenty fift chapter and the thirty fourth verse But he that will have his part in this latter venite must have his part also in the first He must come again to Christ by repentance else he cannot come to be partaker of the heavenly Kingdome In these words of Christ we have three persons First Pater dans Secondly Homo veniens Thirdly Christus non ejiciens Whereof the two former parts be the Condition the third person belongeth to the Promise The Condition stands in The Fathers giving and our comming The Promise is Christs not casting out Touching which parts joyntly we are to observe these That every one by experience sindes that the state of sinners live they never so pleasantly is but as Cain called his sonne Chanoch that is a good beginning For the mid'st of that state is unquietnesse and the end everlasting death Which being considered it will make every man willing to come again to God if there be any hope they shall be received In regard of our selves as St Paul speaketh of her that departed from her husband the first cpistle to the Corinthians the seventh chapter and the eleventh verse so it were just that in as much as we have willingly forsaken God and departed from him preserring transitory and earthly delights before his favour he should say Qui discedit discedat that being once gone from him he should not receive usagain But here we are to admire the goodnesse and mercy of God and Christ that instead of a revenger and punisher he is a mercifull receiver that where in Justice Christ might be a rock of offence to such as depart from him he will be a rock of refuge to them that he is so farre from casting out if they come that he is content to seek such as are lost Luke the nineteenth chapter and the tenth verse That he sends and sends again that they should come back Matthew the twenty second chapter That he stands at the dore knocking Apocalyps the third chapter And saith Come to us all ye Matthew the eleventh chapter So there is no doubt but Christ will receive them that come to him For as the ancient Fathers note If when he comes to us we cast not him out neither will he cast us out when we come to him And that no unworthinesse by means of any filth either of body or soul doth keep him from us we see for bodily uncleannesse he was content to be received by Simon the leper Mark the fourteenth chapter and the third verse And in regard of spiritual pollution howsoever a man know himself to be a sinner that is to have an unclean soul yet not to despair because Christ by the confession of his enemies is such a one as doth not only receive sinners but eats with them Luke the fifteenth chapter and the third verse yea he not only 〈◊〉 them that deserve to be cast out as unworthy to inher it s he Kingdom the first epistle to the Corinthians the sixt chapter and the ninth verse but doth also wash sanctifie and justifie them in his 〈◊〉 name and by the spirit of God The Condition on our part was That we come the meaning where of if we look into the ancient Fathers upon the thirty fift verse He that commeth to me is some externall part of Gods worship for so they expound it by the Apostles words Romanes the tenth chapter If thou beleeve in thy heart and confesse with thy mouth for 〈◊〉 eving is the affection of the heart but confession is outward in the conversation of life as some are said to deny God
to create the world 〈◊〉 in Jesus Christ. By the seed of the woman is meant our Saviour Christ who 〈◊〉 of time was made of a woman Galatians the fourth chapter So that when God saith I will put enmity between thy seed and the 〈◊〉 feed we have in these words a manifest promise of Christ and it is as much in effect as if the Lord after he had by his word created all things should at length say as he did of all things else 〈◊〉 the first chapter Fiat Christus Let there be a Christ that is seeing Man is fallen and hath degenerated from his first estate wherein he was created Let there be a creation of a Messiah and Saviour by whom he may be restored By this seed we are shadowed from she firie two edged sword that was set to keep the way of the tree of life Genesis the third chapter and the twenty fourth verse and if by faith which is our victory the first epistle of Joha the fift chapter and the fourth verse we can overcome the Serpent we shall eate of the tree of life which is in the mid'st of the Paradise of God Apoculyps the second chapter and the seventh verse And unto this promise of God 〈◊〉 the Apostle speaks Hebrews the second chapter and the first verse 〈◊〉 are bound to give the more earnest heed because this Gospel was not preached by man in this world which is a vail of misery but by God himself in Paradise Wherein before we consider the words themselves these things are generally to be observed That howsoever the old Serpent that is the Devil did with grief 〈◊〉 the first part of the Sentence pronunced upon him yet 〈◊〉 was content in that he in the malice of his heart thought that he had now swallowed up man in destruction with himself and that he had so taken all the generation of Mankinde captive as that it was impossible for them to get out of his shares the second epistle to Timothy the second chapter and the twenty sixth verse Secondly That our Parents knowing the they had transgressed Gods commandement did now wait every hoot when he would give them over into the hands of the 〈…〉 to be destroyed with eternal death both of body and soul as God had threatned thou shalt dye the death 〈◊〉 the second chapter Thirdly That albeit the Devil 〈…〉 his 〈◊〉 imagination that he had fully wrought out 〈…〉 God 〈◊〉 this malice by means of this 〈…〉 And 〈◊〉 our Parents in conscience of their own 〈◊〉 and disobedience were out of all hope of recovery yet God 〈◊〉 them not to despair but comforts them with this promise That the 〈◊〉 of the woman shall bruise the Serpents head that is shall both destroy him that had the power of death and set at liberty those that were subject to the bondage of sinne Hebrews the second chapter and the fourteenth verse For thus doth God speak in effect to the Serpent Thou supposest that thou hast deceived them already and taken them captive so as they shall never escape thee but know that I will take them out of thy Jaws and set them at liberty thou did'st boast in thy malice Psalm the fifty second but I will not only take away this thy boasting by delivering them from that destruction whereunto thou hast brought them but they shall have a hand over thee for where thou shalt but bruise his heel he shall break thy head On the other side of our Parents he saith on this manner That howsoever they by sinning against his expresse Commandement had destroyed themselves yet God instead of delivering them to their enemy the Devil will make them to wage warre with him and to get the victory of him And so this was a blessed disappointing both of the Serpents malice and also of mans desparation This course God took in two respects First That the Devil should not wax proud against God if his devise touching mans destruction had prospered God had said at the first Let us make man after our own Image and he created him according to the same Genesis the first chapter which although it was decayed by the malice of the Devil yet God to shew that neither mans unfaithfulnesse nor the Devils malice can make Gods faith of none effect Romans the third chapter and the fourth verse hath taken order That his Image in man should be renewed Ephesians the fourth chapter Another respect that God had herein was to shew Adam and all his Posterity That whereas the Devil would make them beleeve that God did maligne and envie their good estate this was but a false suspition for as he doth not delight in the destruction of any Ezekiel the eighteenth chapter and the thirty second verse so when men by sinne had wrought their own destruction yet he is so mercifull that he forgives their misdeeds and destroyeth them not Psalm the seventy eighth and the thirty eighth verse So when it was in his hands to have destroyed our Parents for their disobedience yet he did not destroy them but provided a means of salvation for them And as the father seeing his sonne afarre off ran and met him and imbraced him Luke the fifteenth chapter so God that our Parents should not despair of mercy prevents them by telling the Serpent that he hath a way to deliver them out of his bondage before he pronounceth any Sentence upon them for the Sentence given upon the Man and his Wife was after this promise And those two that is the Malice and Pride of the enemy at our destruction and Gods mercy are the two motives whereby the Church perswadeth God to be gratious unto her Lamentations the first chapter and the ninth verse Touching this objection Why God doth utter this promise by way of commination to the Serpent whom it concerneth not and doth not rather direct his speech to Adam and Eve it may be thus answered That beside Gods custom which is in wrath to vememher mercy Habakkuk the third chapter and the second verse in the valley of Achor to open a dore of hope Hosea the second chapter and the fifteenth verse and to cause light to shine cut of darknesse and so to make the light of his favourable countenance to shine in the face of Jesus Christ the second epistle to the Corinthians the fourth chapter and the sixth verse when men can look for nothing but warth and disoleasure we may see it to be reasonable that because they had deserved nothing therefore he doth not make his speech to them but to the Serpent by way of a Curse that we may know that it is not for mans deserts that God is fayourable but as the Prophet speaks It is for his own sake that he doth put away our iniquities Isaiah 43. 52. The parts of this verse are two First a proclaiming of hostility between the Serpent and the Woman and between his seed and hers Secondly a promise of victory
tend to honour and excellency this work of ours sheweth our own basenesse that we are but fimus and limus the creeping worm called in Hebrew Adama hath alliance with Adam which man who is but a worm as saith Job he confesseth himself to be vile Job 39. 37. In the 22. Jeremy 29. the prophet exclameth saying O Terra Terra Terra Adam or Man is not every kinde of Earth he is not sandy but of a serviceable and profitable gleeb for he is for Gods especial use and made to his own likenesse In Gods temple there was no tymber but of fruitfull trees aliquid Deus creavit exnihilo hîc ex infimo maximum at homo malus otiosus ex aliquo facit nihil Though David were an holy man yet did he see corruption Acts 13. 36. For man is of the Earth earthly and born mortal subject to corruption Galen the Heathen saith that the Anatomy of a man is Hymnus Dei He saith to the Epicure take an hundred year to work but one part of a man and thou canst not mend it for in man God hath been so absolutely a work-man that nothing in him may be mended Miranda fecit pro homine sedmagis miranda in homine I will praise thee O Lord saith David Psal. 139. 14. for I am wondrously made 3. The form of Man Thirdly The form of man in our Image juxta similitudinem nostram though man be de terra in terra yet he is not propter terram God created his former Creatures secundum speciem suam according to their kinde God createth man secundum similitudinem suam Man is Microcosmos so say the Heathen but divinity saith he is Imago Dei in omnibus Creaturis vestigia sunt Dei sed in homine non solùm sua vestigia sed imago sua Est enim non solum opus sed imago Dei Miscen upon this place saith upon Imago Dei that in una hac voce innumer as habemus voces Who fo sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed the reason is this for in the image of God hath he made man Gen. 9. 6. So there is no exchange of mens souls in imagine sua we are created without blemish Now when Adam was an hundred and thirty yeers old he begat a childe in his own likenesse after his image chap. 5. 3. that was blemished by his sinne Our perfection in the image of God is esse constmiles filio Dei for we are predestinate to he made like the image of his Sonne that he might be the first born of many Brethren Rom. 8. 29. We are changed into the same Image from glory to glory 2 Cor. 3. 18. Perfect felicity is the Image of God virtue is the way to this felicity sinne deformeth this Image in us Here is Imago similitudo Similitudo Similitudo is the genus and comprehends both similitudo is as a union in quality here it is added as a perfection to the Image the lineaments hereof by the Fathers are said to be first The essence of the soul is in the body in omni unaquaque parte as God is in the world ☜ Secondly the soul is immortal God is so Thirdly there is a triple power of the soul Understanding Memory and Free-will Understanding is every where in Heaven in Earth in the deep on this side and beyond the Seas there is an ubiquitie of the soul as of Gods presence every where Memory the infinitenesse thereof is as that of God who is without limitation quae est haec immensa hominum capacitas saith a Father the will and conscience cannot be bound but it is free to think so God what him pleaseth that can he doe God by his power createth man and make h a natural World And Man likewise maketh artificialem mundum as ships for carriage temples for service lights and candles as artificial starres creavit etiam homo alteram quasi naturam Imago Dei nata creata There is a primitive Image which is Imago nata that is of Christ the Sonne of God Imago autem creata Dei is of man Christ is the Image of the invisible God the first born of every Creature Coloss. 1. 15. Zeleb in the original tongue is nata Imago quae est Christi Tohar creata Imago quae est Adami In the Redemption Christ made himself as our Image Man planted may fall so did Adam but being replanted by Christ he cannot fall The first man Adam was made a living soul the last man Adam was made a quickning spirit 2 Cor. 15. 45. ad similitudinem nostram Imago Dei est omnium hominum similitudo autem est paucorum the one is the bare face the other is the robe royal the one we have by essence the other by virtue the one by nature the other by grace We ought to put off the old man with his works and put on the new man which his renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created him Colloss 3. 10. and love is the bond of perfectnesse so that knowledge is recommended in the Image and love in the likenesse which two are as the Urim and Thummim of the Law Our soul is as a glasse to behold his virtues and humble precepts Luke 6. 27. In his similitude to be as he is as farre as we may Hence have we a thankfull remembrance that he will crown us with glory everlasting if we finne not against nature and draw on instead of his similitude larvam Demonis the visor of the Devil but put on the new man which after God is created unto righteousnesse and 〈…〉 and give not place unto the Devil Ephes. 4. 24. We have in us Earth in regard of the body and Heaven in regard of the soul in the one is time in the other eternity Christ calleth the Gospel The Gospel of every Creature Mark 16. 15. Ambrose saith posuit Deus in homine Terram Coelum non ut Terra mergat Coelum sed ut Coelum elevet Terram totum hoc est 〈◊〉 se assimulare Deo Let thy inward thoughts and outward conversation be good and agreeable for this is the end of all Fear God and keep his commandements this is the whole duty of a man for God will bring every work with every secret thing unto Judgment whether it be good or evil Ecclesiastes 12. 13. 4. The end of mans creation to rule other creatures After God hath crowned man with knowledge and love in the latter part of this verse he giveth him a Scepter and maketh him Vicegerent over the Sea the Aire the Earth over all the fishes fowls beasts and creeping things therein bidding him to rule over them He brought before man the beasts and fowls he had created to whom Adam gave their names Gen. 2. 19. The Image is of perfection the Similitude is in wisdome in knowledge in the Sonne in love in the Holy Ghost