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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A38823	The Gospel treasury opened, or, The holiest of all unvailing discovering yet more the riches of grace and glory to the vessels of mercy unto whom onely it is given to know the mysteries of that kingdom and the excellency of spirit, power, truth above letter, forms, shadows / in several sermons preached at Kensington & elswhere by John Everard ; whereunto is added the mystical divinity of Dionysius the Areopagite spoken of Acts 17:34 with collections out of other divine authors translated by Dr. Everard, never before printed in English.	Everard, John, 1575?-1650?; Brooks, Thomas, 1608-1680.; Barker, Matthew, 1619-1698.	1657 (1657)	Wing E3531; ESTC R29421	513,595	936

God and you shall behold God Now we come to make some use The first let it be this To teach us charity and love towards all the creatures be they never so base for we have all one Father maker God is in them though he manifests not himself as he doth in thee wherein he is most manifested for how came he to be manifested in thee was it by thy pains or industry or by his good will pleasure he might as well have refused to shine into thee as into another might have made thee in his case whom thou despisest Therefore behold and look upon all the creatures as thy brethren yea they are all more truly thy brethren then if you had been begotten by one father and brought forth by one mother in this regard because Almighty God is the common-Father of all and therefore when thou lookest on any creature though never so base account and esteem it as thy brother for it is a son to that Father of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is 〈◊〉 And therefore however some of our litteral and ignorant Divines do laugh at that of St. Francis that he called every creature his Brother he called the Ox his brother the Ass his brother and all cre●tures his brothers if it came from an humble lowly mind in him I think him the better Christian for man is apt enough to boast himself and to look upon his endowments but he will fill the hungry the humble with good things I tel you here is such a brotherhood as shall never end the other shall have an end and therefore more cause of love to these then to the other for we are all begotten by one Father the other brotherhood ceases for saith our Saviour You are deceived not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God for in heaven there is no marrying nor giving in marriage but they are as the Angels of God in heaven Vse 2. Le ts learn to know our selves and then we shall learn also to pay the creatures that which is due to them Let us give them all due respect shew no cruelty to them but use them as brothers those creatures God hath appointed for mans use and used so they serve their Creators will and appointment let us use them so though many of them lose their lives for us yet shew as much compassio● to them as we may let us not exercise cruelty or our dominion or authority over them beyond what we are allowed do not begin to strike thy fellow-servant shew no rigor or wrath to them no not to the dumb creatures no nor to men When thou seest a wicked man thy heart rises against him thou wouldest have God presently destroy him not knowing thy own heart how bad that is and thou art ready to cal for fire from heaven as the Disciples did but what answer makes Christ to their desire Ye know not what spirit ye are of no no leave them to God Thou wonderest that God doth not send fire from heaven presently and destroy them as he did Sodom or open the earth to swallow them up as it did Corah c. O fools when will ye learn wisdom certainly God knows what to do without thy directions yet vain man will be so wise as to teach God wisdom Isa. 40. 14. and censure his actions But who art thou that contendest with thy maker Isa. 45. 9. Though it be said in Psal. 8. 6. He hath given him dominion over the works of his hands yet know though they were made for thy use they were much more for his they were not made for thee to use as you list nor for thy will and pleasure but to be used soberly according to his pleasure and appointment Vse 3. And lastly learn from hence that there is nothing of Fortune but all comes and falls out by an infinite wise Providence That the name of Fortune is an Idle a Heathenish and a wicked word taking it as the word imports for nothing comes by Chance or Fortune but t is God that guides all And yet knowing the right use of that word it may be used for it is used in the Scriptures saith Solomon For Time and chance or fortune for 't is the same happeneth to all things Though it first arose from an evil ground from the Heathens who because there were such cross events in the world that when a business was brought to the heads and period yet one thing or other oftentimes came between the cup the lip as we say and quite turned all about now hereat they were so amazed and at their wits end they could not tell how this should come to pass except there was a God call'd Forune and therefore they sacrificed to him But I say the ground and mis-use being forgotten it may come in time to be lawful to use it at least by such who know how to use it But what it imports is wicked and is condemned by this Doctrine as abominable We poor creatures stand and wonder at many events in the world here now God calls all the creatures Fools for instance When two dear friends that have been long apart not having seen one another in twenty or fourty years he one falls to come in some great danger his dear friend chanceth to come at a very instant and saves his life here now we stand and wonder it is no wounder at all if we eye God ye are herein but fools and blinde Again for example if you see me strike these two hands together if you saw not my body that guides these we may wonder at it but what wonder is it if you see me strike these two togther so far as you are blind and see not God so far ye wonder for it is as easie with God to do any of these things as for me to make my hands meet I can also by the power and guidance of the soul that is in me lay my finger in the darkest night upon any place about me why because my soul within me guides it so it is as easie for God in any case he being as it were the soul of the creatures can cause the creatures to do whatever is his Will to have done both in Heaven and earth and in the Seas as David saith Thus I have spoken to you of this our Immense Unknown Unexpressible Great God But O my Beloved I have spoken but according to man all this while infinitey short of him himself and therefore never scanty or circumscribe God by these things I have said for he is this and he is infinitly more for if men Men and Angels and Cherubims Seraphims should all joyn together to set out his praise to the utmost that they could conceive or relate yet look further further still for when they have said what they can they have said nothing in comparison of what he is As if a

circumcised in us when we for his sake submit to all humane Ordinances both temporal and spiritual they not being against the Word and command of God For Christ himself though he was not bound to them yet he would do it because saith he on another occasion it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness And our Saviour puts this very question to Peter saith he Peter of whom do the Kings of the earth take tribute of the children or of Strangers Pe●er answers of Strangers Then saith our Saviour the children are free Though our Lord knew his liberty yet he did submit himself and did not as many do now adayes upon pretence of liberty deny submission to good orders in Church and State But he commanded Peter notwithstanding he was the Son of God and knew infinitely his own liberty and the liberty of his Saints and Disciples more then we or they T is true Peter saith he the children are free yet notwithstanding go to the Sea and cast word Angle and open the mouth of the first fish that comes up and there he should find a piece of silver go and give that for me and thee so then are we circumcised with Christ when we do the same action for his sake although we be free that we may give them no offence as Christ there saith The next action that we read Christ did He came up with his Parents at the feast to Ierusalem and went into the Temple and disputed among the Doctors The same thing doth Christ in the soul for there is within every one of us A many Learned Doctors brought up in Satans University who are very subtle very acute Disputants even the rankest fool amongst us hath a whole University of Doctors within him how subtle how learned then are they in wise men Truly the more wisdome the more dangerous to dispute a man to hell and in this regard the more wise the more remote from the Kingdome of heaven more unfit to be made a fool for Christ how hard is it for such a man to be brought to vnknow unlearn and deny his own wisdom parts goodness c Thy wisdome hath made thee rebel saith Ieremiah and Isaiah We are so full of wisdom to defend our selves in our evil wayes and by custome and practice we have wonderfully profited in this University we have made a large progress in these Schools and have out-stript many of our standing Insomuch that we have not onely approved and cleaved fast and close to our iniquities but we are grown learned Doctors at it to defend th●● to hold out arguments against the very World of God and the everlasting blessed truths of Jesus Christ which did we but receive and suffer our selves to be overcome by them they would make us for ever happy and Able to make the man of God wise ●nto salvation Beloved examine your selves find you not these things so What mighty learned unwearied Disputes are there held in our souls what strange and strong reasonings insomuch that the Old man carries all before Him and these Lusts these great Doctors bear away the day of it down with the Word down with Law Gospel Christ Salvation Truth all kept under and imprisoned and made to serve with our iniquities as the Prophet speaks And this you know is and hath been of old and still will be My brethren until Jesus Christ be pleased with his Almighty power to come into the soul and command a silence and that he will now manifest himself and comes in with Regal Conquering power Else our lusts make such a hurly burly such a noise such loud clamouring in the soul that Christ cannot be heard therefore he in the first place is fain to put them all to silence answering and convicting every lust and then are we mighty through God to the casting down of strong holds and every imagination that exalts it self against the knowledge kingdome and power of Iesus Christ● otherwise if Christ come not in thus there is no silencing these Doctors He must put the Minstrels out of doors before he will raise the dead soul. Do you what you can pray fast strive against them yet they know you not they are furious and raging Iesus we know and Paul we know but who are ye Self will not be cross'd will through all knows no banks no bounds no bottom will seek it self set up and exalt it self in every thing there is no overcoming no silencing these Doctors For there is Doctor Pleasure and he pleads take thy pleasure in the life time fill and satisfie thy self with recreations and take thy fill of the good blessings of God Were they not made for mans use and art not thou Lord over the Creatures to use and enjoy them as thou pleasest And then there is Doctor Profit saith he Friend the best way for thee is to get riches for thy self it is no matter how though others pinch for it so thou canst but bring in profit this will do thee good when all thy friends will forsake thee thou mayest then take thine ease come times what wil thou hast goods laid up for many years thou shalt be rich and be a man in esteem in the parish hereby thou shalt be a great man thou shalt be heard before another and thou shalt be looked upon and advanced whereas the Poor they are despised and trampled on scarce suffered to speak for themselves And then comes Doctor Honour and sayes he what need all this stir about Religion canst not thou be content to go the old way thy fore-fathers went canst not thou be content to go that way the State goes that way that Kings and Princes and Great men go then shalt thou walk safely and enjoy thine own and be honoured for a wise man a prudent man do not the most go this way and though thou art not so forward in Religion thou shalt do as well as they There is none but a a company of poor beggerly fellows Tinkers and Coblers and schismatical and conceited fellows that are so hot and they are every where despised as it was said in derision the last day that there was none came running out of the City to hear me but a company of Coblers and slight fellows Although I would not encourage any to slight their own Pastors who teach them truth and labour to build them up in their holy faith and I know there be many able men in the City near them and therefore I marvail what they came out into the Wilderness to see a poor sinful man subject to like passions and infirmities with others a Reed shaken with the wind who hath nothing to give if God enlighten not and if he open not my mouth I cannot set forth his praise whose praise is far above the earth and heavens for if Praise or Profit or Self open my mouth I cannot set forth His praise but if this people come

overcome by lust and Absalom to fall by Ambition and Abiram by murmuring Iudas by covetousness the Richman by gluttony and that Simon Magus was overcome by covetousness and the like But here is the misery of all miseries and the height of all aggravations For a man to go to hell by his Religion and profession of truth for a man to go to hell by hearing of Sermons By receiving the Communion by praying by preaching by abstinence By overcoming of Vice by Resisting of sin by giving of alms c. to bless themselves and say I thank God I am not thus and thus as the Pharisee said I am not as other men nor as this Publican I do not as other men do I do not swear as such a man I do not blaspheme and lye and be drunk as such and such I go to Church twice a Sabbath I attend diligently I read and repeat the word in my family I pray twice a day nay not onely so but I keep a strict watch over my heart and tongue I have overcome swearing and filthy speaking and lying and covetousness all these have I killed my life is unspotted No man can say Black is my eye But may it not be said of thee as it was once concerning Alexander that when he came to besiege and take a City and the enemy stood upon a high steep mountain or bulwark upon which stood Elephants so that they were in such a strait they knew not what to do for if they killed they should kill more of their own Army then of their Enemies For if they killed the Elephants that stood in the front their heavy bodies would tumble down upon them and kill them So say I I fear that in killing of sin sin hath killed thee Are not all thy good deeds fallen upon thine own head and hath not all thy labour and pains that thou hast taken Killed thine own soul And for all this Potent strength that this Lucifer you see hath yet he hath gotten Armour on besides And his armour is Innocency And the more of this he hath the more strong and the better Armed is He I say the more innocency and unsportedness This Lucifer hath so much the more strong is he against God but as David saith Psal. 119. 71. It was good for me that I was afflicted for before I was afflicted I went astray but now I have respect to all thy Commandments So may I boldly say It were good for thee to Fall Nay it were better that God would let thee fall then stand that thou mayest come to see thine own pride and glory laid in the dust and that thou be made to see Not what a strong excellent creature thou art but what a vile and sinful and what a weak creature thou art that so thou mayest say it was good for me and I find it by experience Oh it is good for me that I sinned and that I fell for before I sinned I went astray I had like to have gone to hell by all my good actions by my pride in them I was even at the very pits brink had this never been disclosed to me Oh Beloved Humility is the Top of all graces all is nothing if we have not That with them Beloved examine your selves Try and see whether these things be in you or not and if they be if you find them so I tell you you will never look so much to find any of them without your selves as within One Name more and then we conclude for this time The ●●th name that is given him is The Red Dragon Rev. 12. 3. so called because of his colour And there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red Dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads Friends I would fain bring you acquainted with This enemy also that you may once come to know him that you may beware of him for I open all these several names that so I might fully describe and set him out to you that you may know him that if you find him not in you by one name yet you may by another and if not by one or two yet by all his names compared together That as Moses put his hand into his bosom and pulled it out leprous so I would fain have you finde that these things are in your own bosoms you are all Lepers but know it not And though I take some time in opening these names yet I hope it will be profitable to you for as yet I am not half gone through them This Red Dragon makes his Fiery assaults upon the Soul daily and hourly and there doth he make Wreck and spoil he there cruelly Rends and Tears your poor souls and you for all that see it not nor are sensible thereof There He Seises upon his Prey Which but with a very strong hand will he forsake And by those his fiery darts which the Apostle speaks of he wounds the soul to death and destruction and there is no delivering the soul from the jaws of this fiery Dragon but by the Almighty power and hand of God for he goes about like a Roaring Lion seeking his prey and whom he may swallow up and devour 1 Pet. 5. 8. And his Armour is blo●d it is no less then your bloud your life that feeds him And he Thirsts for bloud which is your life and that is his life his meat and drink And there is no overcoming this Dragon but by destroying That which is the very life of your lives viz. Of your carnal and fleshly lives the life of pride and the life of covetousness the life of arrogancy and self-boasting c. All Humane and worldly wisdom must be brought down The natural man as born of the old Adam must be crucified and slain and be utterly stript of all his wisdom and power ye must take up arms and go to war within your selves and fight with your selves fight with your own wills with your own affections You mus resist and cast away that which is sweet and dear to flesh and bloud you must cut off your right hands and pull out your right eyes else this Devouring Dragon will never be overcome Every man loves his blood dearly the natural mans sin is as dear to him as his blood it is so interwoven and runneth into the very nature of man even as the blood through every part and memb●r so that take away the bloud and you take away the life And nothing will satisfie this bloudy red Dragon but bloud this he lives upon and therefore whenever ye look and behold in your selves or any other A dearness in sin A love to sin you shall finde how loth they are to part with it Can a Blackamoor change his skin or a Leopard his spots Neither can ye which are accustomed to do evil learn to do well saith Isaiah Therefore He is A Sore Enemy SERMON III. ROM 8. 17.