are crost in that which they most desire They desire nothing more then that they may prosper and thrive in the world and they think they shall prosper and thrive the better while they conceal their sins which if they were known would impair their credit and estimation But God crosses them in that which they most desire Iosh 7.21 for they shall not prosper No doubt but Achan thought to prosper the better when he stole the two hundred shekels of silver the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment and hid them in his tent but it thrived not with him Iosh 7.25 for God brought it to light and Achan was stoned to death for it No doubt but Gehazi thought to prosper the better by the bribes he took of Naaman 2 King 5.23 and would not confesse that he had taken them but it thrived not with him for though he â—id his sin 2 King 5.27 yet he could not hide his leprosie which he got with them No doubt but Jezabel thought to prosper the better when she caused Naboth to be stoned to death and got his vineyard and yet covered her sin under pretence that Naboth had deserved to be stoned for having blasphemed God and the King but it thrived not with her for God brought it to light and her to a miserable end for it So Herod no doubt thought to prosper the better when hearing that the King of the Jews was born he intended to murther him to prevent the danger of losing his kingdome and yet to cover his sin willed the Wisemen as soon as they had found the babe to bring him word Matth. 2.8 pretending that he also would go to worship him but it thrived not with him for God both brought to light his murderous intent and himself to shame and disgrace by it And not to instance in too many examples the Scribes and Pharisees no doubt thought to prosper the better while they devoured widows houses and to cover their sin made long prayers that so they might be thought to be devout and religious but it thrived not with them for Christ both discovered what they did Matth. 13.14 and denounced a wo against them for it Thus God finds them out and brings them to light that cover their sins not suffering them to prosper and so crossing them in that which they most desire Yet when or wherein they shall not prosper is not here set down but onely in generall that they shall not prosper to the intent that they may never be secure but may still expect while they cover their sins that God will punish them some way or other either in their own persons or in their children or in their goods or in their good name or in them all together Secondly here we may observe that to prosper is the gift of God who therefore denyes it to them that sin against him by covering their sins Therefore the Psalmist saith of the godly man that look whatsoever he doth it shall prosper Psal 1.3 but for the ungodly he saith It is not so with them So it is said of Joseph that he was a prosperous man Gen. 39.3 and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand So it is said of that good King Hezekiah That the Lord was with him 2 King 18.7 and he prospered whither soever he went forth I might instance in others But some man may say may not the like be said of the wicked do not they often prosper in the world and have successe in that which they take in hand Iob 21.7.9 was it not for this which Job complained that the wicked are mighty in pomer that they spend their dayes in mirth that their houses are safe from fear and that the rod of God is not upon them And was it not for this that David envied the wicked That they prosper in the world Psal 7 3.12 that they have riches in possession and that they come in no misfortune like other men We must therefore understand first that though to prosper be the gift of God yet in his wisdome he gives in sometimes to the godly and sometimes to the wicked For that which St. Augustine saith of wealth may be said of prosperity Ne putetur esse mala datur bonis ne putetur esse summum bonum datur malis Lest prosperitie should be thought to be evill it is sometimes given to those that are good and lest it should be thought to be the chief good it is sometimes given to those that are bad If onely the wicked and none of the godly should prosper in the world it would be a means to draw many to ungodlinesse that they might prosper by it And if onely the godly and none of the wicked should prosper here it would be thought they were godly for no other end but that they might prosper This was that which the devill ye know objected against Job for his serving God Doth Job saith the devill fear God for nought Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his bouse and about all that he hath on every side thou hast blest saith he the works of his hands and his substance is increased in the land But put forth thy hand and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face And thus if God should give prosperitie to none but the godly the wicked would be readie to object against them that they therefore served God because God would prosper them and that otherwise they would be as ungodly as others Whereas the godly indeed do as well serve God in the time of adversitie as they do in prosperitie as Job when all that he had was taken from him did blesse God as well as he did when he had them The Lord saith he hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. And therefore prosperitie is commonly given indifferently by God sometimes to the godly and sometimes to the wicked But yet there is great difference between their prosperitie for the prosperitie of the wicked continues not long but is soon gone They may cover their sins and prosper for a time but God at one time or other either here or hereafter brings their sins to light and themfelves to confusion Therefore Solomon ye see speaks not here of the present time but of the future he doth not say they do not but that they shall not prosper because though they may prosper for a while in this world yet at last they come to a miserable end and miserable ye know is that prosperitie which ends in miserie Such was the prosperitie of Haman and Herod they prospered for a while but their end was miserable But the godly on the contrarie prosper more and more though their beginning be good yet as Job was their end is better Marke saith David Psal 37 37. Psalme 37. the perfect man and behold
notice of the means or instrument whereby they are afflicted but look not up unto him that sent is as the dog flieth upon the stone that is thrown at him but mindeth not him that threw it but in every affliction we look up to God as the principall Agent Thus when Shimei reviled David 2 Sam. 16. telling him openly before all the people that he was a murderer and a wicked man and that he was an usurper of Sauls Kingdom and Davids Servants would have stain Shemei for railing on him David would not suffer them to do him any harm and he gives this reason Suffer him saith he to curse me for the Lord hath bidden him and so he looks not upon Shimei 2 Sam. 16. 11. but he hath an eye unto God as the Authour of this affliction Thus when the Devill had got a licence from God to afflict Job and the Sabeans on the one side took away his oxen as they were plowing and his asses as they were feeding in their places and the Calde ans on the other side took away his Camels and put his servants to the edge of the sword Job though he understood by his servants that it was done by them yet he passeth them by as being but the instruments and ascribes it to God as the principall Agent The Lord saith he hath given Job 1.21 and the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. And thus when Joseph was afflicted by his brethren and sold into Egypt though he knew that this was done by them and that of an evill intent and meer malice towards him yet he looks not upon them but he looks upon God as the Author of his affliction Gen. 45.7.8 Gen. 50.20 The Lord saith he hath sent me hither for your preservation and the Lord hath disposed it unto good So that whensoever we are any way afflicted we are to passe by all second causes as being but the means and instruments which God useth to afflict us but we are especially to have an eye unto God as to the principall Agent and to remember that it is God that chastens us Vse 2 Secondly Seeing God is the Authour of all afflictions Therefore whensoever we are afflicted we are to humble our selves under the hand of God and to bear with patience whatsoever it shall please God to lay upon us For seeing God is the Authour of our afflictions who as Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 10. is faithfull and will not suffer us to be tempted above our power but will give an issue with the temptation that we may be able to bear it and seeing that if we indure chastening as the Apostle here telleth us in the next verse God offers himselfe unto us as unto Sons Heb. 12.7 he offers himself as a father unto us therefore we are patiently to under go all afflictions that he shall lay upon us Diogenes the Philosopher being visited with sicknesse and being impatient by reason of his pain his friend to comfort him willed him to be of good chear and to bear it with patience because God was the Authour of his sicknesse Oh saith the Philosopher but this is that which grieves me the more this is that which maketh me the more impatient seeing that my sicknesse is sent of God But it is not so with the children of God they are always the more patient when they are afflicted and do bear the same without murmuring and repining because God is the Authour of their afflication So when old Eli 1 Sam. 3. understood by Samuel what God had threatned even to root out his house for ever he submitted himself unto Gods will It is faith he the Lord 1 Sam. 3.18 Psal 39.9 let him do what seemeth him good The like did David Psal 39. when the hand of the Lord was so heavy upon him that it even consumed him yet he bare it patiently I became faith he dumb and opened not my mouth for it was thy doing When Jobs wife would have had him to blaspheme and to curse God in the extreamity of his pain Job 2.10 Thou speakest saith Job like a foolish woman shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evill as thinking it unreasonable that we should be content to receive the one and not the other If our earthly parents do chasten and correct us we will endure it with patience and should we not endure the chastisement and correction of our heavenly Father We have had saith the Apostle here in the 9th verse the fathers of our bodies which have corrected us and we have given them reverence and should we not faith he much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits We will suffer the Physician in the time of our sicknesse because he hath seen our water or felt our pulse to let us bloud we will suffer him to prescribe us a lesse diet and to take away from us the use of some meats wherein in our health we were much delighted and we will patiently endure the want thereof and not murmure against him And should we not yield as much unto God as we do to the Physician yet if God take away from us any of those things wherein we were wont to take comfort and delight if he afflict us with the losse of our goods with the losse of our health or with the losse of our friends we presently fall into great impatiencie as if so be God dealt too hardly with us But doth not God know what is best for us if he afflict thee with the losse of thy goods he fore-saw it may be they would have done thee harm and that thou would'st have set thy heart upon them Nisi perdidisses tu illa te fortè perdidissent faith Seneca If God had not withdrawn thy riches from thee it may be thy riches would have withdrawn thee from God If God take away thy health and afflict thee with sicknes it may be it is to cure thee of a more dangerous disease as foreseeing that otherwise if thou hadst had thy health thou wouldest have taken a greater surfet of the pleasures of this life If God do afflict thee with any kind of disgrace by suffering thee to be wronged in thy good name and credit it may be he doth it to teach thee humility as fore-seeing that otherwise thou wouldest have waxed proud and vain-glorious For vicâ—sin the mind saith Plato are as diseases in the body and chastilements as medicines and surely God is the Physician that knows best how to apply them And therefore whensoever we are any way afflicted we are to possesse our soules with patience because it is God that chastens Lastly Seeing it is God that chastens this may therefore teach us in all our afflictions to seek vnto God for help deliverance Vse 3 that he that wounded us may cure recover us the same hand that cast us down may raise us up again I saith
faire words concerning his Sonne Job 10.1.2 but all to no purpose And surely had it not bin Abraham he would have offered like Job in the bitterness of his soule to have pleaded with God he would have stood up in the behalf of his Sonne and replyed again And is this that Isaac that should be my comfort is this he whom thou hast so often promised and whom I have so long expected as a pledge of thy love and favour towards me and must I now kill him Quid meus hic Isaac in te committere c. Alas what hath Isaac committed against thee how hath he offended thee who will ever believe that thou wouldest have spared Sodom had there been ten that were good in it if thou now takest delight in the blood of the innocent doest thou thus reward thy Children and Servants and is this the fruit of their love and obedience O let it not be known in Gath nor published in Ascalon lest the uncircumcised Philistins insult over thy people say among themselves such honour may have all his Saints But Abraham never opened his mouth for his Sonne but grace having got the upper hand of nature and faith of affection he was glad when God had given him a Sonne but more glad that he had a Sonne to give unto God for so saith Chrysostom Latus erat Abraham cum silium acciperet laetior cum sibi imolandum dominus postularet Abraham rejoyced when he received his Sonne but he rejoyced more when God commanded him to offer him unto him Doct. 1 The Doctrine that may be gathered from hence is this That God makes tryall of our love and obedience in those things which of all other are dearest unto us For so we see he deales here with Abraham when he sees how dearly he loves his Sonne for the better tryall of his love and obedience he commands him to offer him for a burnt-offring Thus dealt our Saviour with the Ruler in the Gospell Luke 18.22 for knowing that he was rich and withall that his heart was set upon his treasure he willed him to sell all that ever he had and to give it to the poor and so tryed him in that which was dearest unto him He Math. 10.37 saith our Saviour that loveth Father Mother Sonne or Daughter more then me he is not worthy of me It is no ordinary love which God requires of us but such a love as is able to subdue all naturall affection So that if our Children were dearer unto us then our own soules yet the love of God is to be preferred before them And this was prefigured by those milch kine 1 Sam. 6. which being to carry the Arke of the Lord it is said that their Calves were taken from them and yet they went on and onely sometimes did low after their Calves but never turned back to look after them To note unto us that Religion must alwayes oversway affection and though we do naturally love our Children yet if they be any hinderance unto us in Gods service we are not to regard them It is the commendation of Levi Deut. 33. that he said to his Father and Mother he had not seen them and that he knew not his Brethren nor his own Children For when the Levites were commanded Exod. 32. to consecrate their hands unto the Lord every man upon his own Sonne and his own Daughter they were so zealous in Gods Cause that they fought against nature and had no more compassion on their Parents or Children then if they had been meer changers whom they had never seene Hieron lib. 2. Epist Select It is an excellent saying of St. Jerom Licet pervulus ex collo pendeat nepos c. Though thy little Nephew should hang about thy neck though thy Mother should intreat thee by those her own duggs that gave thee suck though thy Father should lie upon the Threshold and cling about thy feete as thou art going out to stay thee from spending thy life in Gods service per calcatum perge patrem c. Tread thy Father under thy feete and trample upon him Solum in hac re crudelem esse pietatis est genus Onely in this case it is a kind of piety to use cruelty This howsoever it may seeme a very harsh Doctrine unto flesh and blood yet if our hearts were once throughly inflamed with the love of God if we were wholly devoted unto Gods service and if we did even hunger and thirst after righteousness then whatsoever it were that God required at our hands we would be ready with Abraham to perform obedience Mat. 4.21.22 And as the Disciples when our Saviour called them they left both their goods and their Parents to follow him So whatsoever it were that God required of us though it were to the losse of all that ever we have yet we would be willing to resigne it when God commands us And thus much concerning the first difficulty in this Commandement in regard of the sacrifice which is to be offered Abrahams onely beloved sonne Isaac I come now to the second diffi ∣ culty Second The second difficulty is in regard of the Person that must offer this sacrifice that is Abraham Abraham a Father must sacrifice his Son he must do it himself and no other for him Take thine onely beloved Sonne Isaac and do thou offer him If a Father having but one onely Son should but hear that he were causeless to be put to death this ye know would be a great grief unto him but if he were commanded to be present himself and to be an eye-witnesse and spectator of his death this must needes be a further vexation O but being come thither if he himself were inforced to be his Sonnes executioner and with his own hands to kill his Sonne this were a torment beyond all comparison But this is Abrahams case here If God had commanded him to deliver his Son to some of his Servants and that they should kill him yet Abraham might have conceived some comfort for it may be his Servants would have had compassion on him as it hath often been seene or if they had not but had put him to death yet Abraham should not have been a spectator thereof but that Abraham may be sure of the death of his Son God will have him not onely an eye-witness thereof but to be the actor himself he will have him with his own hands to kill him Valer. Max. lib. 5. tit 7. When Caesar commanded Cesetus a Roman to subscribe but his hand to the bannishment of his Son he made him this answer Celerius tu mihi Caesar omnes meos liberos eripies quam ex his ego unum mea notá pellam Thou shalt sooner saith he berave me of all my Children then I will ever set my hand to bnnish any one of them What would he have answered if he had been commanded with his own hands to have
that we dedicate it wholly to Gods service But I will passe this over and come to the fourth difficultie difficulty fourth The fourth difficultie in this Commandement is in regard of the place where he must sacrifice his Sonne namely in the land of Moriah upon one of the mountaines which God would shew him Morti destinatum citò occidere misericordia genus est It is a kinde of mercie if a man be condemned to die to dispatch him quickly and the reason is because the punishment is much augmented through the expectation of it the expectation of any evil being as ill or worse then the evil it selfe But God here the more as it may seeme to torment Abraham Commands him not onely to Sacrifice his Son but injoynes him a long and tedious journey before he must do it God might have appointed him First to go with his Son into the Land of Moriah and being come thither then he might have told him the cause of his coming But first he commands him to sacrifice his Son and then sends him to the place where he must perform the same and what is the Reason but onely this as Origen saith ut dum ambulat dum iter agit per totam viam cogitationibus discerpatur that all the while he is travelling with his Son he might ruminate upon that which he went about and be confounded in a manner with the remembrance of it Now concerning this place where Abraham was appointed to sacrifice his Sonne some of the Jewes report that Cain and Abel had offered their offrings upon the same Mountain St. Jerome writes that he had heard it for certain of some ancient Jewes that Isaac was offered in the very same place where afterwards our Saviour Christ was crucified St. Augustine addes that he had heard it reported that Christ was crucified in the very same place where Adam had been buried and therefore that it was called Calvaria locus the place of a dead mans skull quia caput humani generis ibi dicitur esse sepultum because the head of mankind lieth there buried The Saracens who will needes borrow their name from Sarah though they came of Hagar to make it more profitable that they sprang from Isaac they faine that the land of Moriah is a part of their Country and therefore when any stranger comes to their City of Mecha to see Mahomets Sepulcher hard by the City they do shew him the Mountain where on Abraham as they say did sacrifice his Sonne But the truth is that the Land of Moriah where Isaac was to be offered was the same which was afterward called Jerusalem as we may plainly gather out of the second of the Chronicles 2 Chron. 3. the third Chapter for there it is said in the first verse that Salomon built the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem in Mount Moriah So that the place where Isaac was to be offered was either the same or very near to the place where our Saviour was afterwards to be crucified And indeed it was not unfit that Isaac should be offred where our Saviour was to suffer because Isaac was a type and figure of our Saviour So saith St. Augustine Abraham quando filium suum obtulit typum habuit Dei Patris Isaac typum gessit Domini Salvatoris Abraham when he offered his Sonne represented God the Father Isaac when he was offered represented our Saviour the Son of God For many things which wore shadowed forth in Isaac were afterwards verefied in our Saviour Christ As the promises of God unto Abraham concerning his Son were often renewed and his birth foretold so were the promises and the birth of the Messias As Isaacs was named before he was borne so was also Christ As Isaacs Birth was strange and miraculous in regard that he was borne of Sarah that was barren so was also Christs being borne of a virgin As Isaac was Abrahams onely Son whom he so dearly loved so Christ was the onely begotten Son of God in whom alone he was wel pleased As Isaac was causeless to be put to death so was Christ being innocent As Isaac bore the wood wherewith he was to be sacrificed so Christ bore the Tree whereon he was to be crucified In a word as Isaac by yielding himself to be offred did testifie his obedience unto his Fathe and his Father his wonderful love unto God so Christ by submitting himself to the death declared his wonderfull obedience unto God and God his unspeakable love towards us And indeed beloved this is the most excellent use that can possibly be made of this whole History when we hear how Abraham did offer his Son we stand amazed at it we wonder how it was possible for a Father to do it And may we not much more admire the infinite love of God unto us in giving his onely begotten Son to be crucified for us When we hear how Isaac yielded himself to be bound and offered we cannot but wonder at his strange obedience and may we not much more wonder at the infinite obedience of our blessed Saviour who being equall with God yet humbled himself and became obedient â—ven to the death of the Crosse Abraham when he offered his Sonne unto God he did but restore unto God that which God had given him he might wel the rather be moved thereunto because God had been alwaies so gracious to him But when God gave his Son to be offered for us we were so far from having deserved any thing at his hands that we were his open and profest enemies Isaac when he yielded himself to be offered yet he yielded himself into his Fathers hands who was to present him for a sweet savour unto the Lord and so to put him to a kind of death which of all other might seene the most glorious But Christ when he yielded himself to be offered he yielded himself into the hands of his persecutors who he knew would not onely put him to the most ignominious death but for his further vexation even deride him in his torments When Abraham was to sacrifice his onely Sonne God was so moved with compassion and pitty that instead of his Sonne he provided a Ramme Indeed it was fitter that a Ram should dye if the death of a Ramme might ransome a Sonne But when Christ was to be offered the case was altered the Ramme was spared and the Sonne was sacrificed Nay the Sonne was therefore sacrificed that the Ram might be spared Read over all the Histories of Heathen Authours examine their writings search out all their antiquities and see if there were ever the like example of love For a man to die for his friend it is no small matter and but few have done it but if one should offer to dye for a stranger we would wonder at it O but for a man to dye for his enemy nay the Sonne of God to come down from Heaven even from his Fathers bosome to dye a most accursed death
receiving of seed or the hearing of the word and the receiving in of the seed or the understanding of the Word Signes of a good ground I come now to the signes of a good ground and first that it beaâ—es and brings forth fruit As the meanes whereof we have already heard will teach us how we may become this good ground if as yet we be not so the signes will teach us whether we be this good ground or no. For like as the ground when it hath been sowen with seed it will shew it self by the fruit thereof whether it be a fertill or a barren soile so when a man hath been taught and instructed in the word he will shew by the fruits which he brings forth whether he be a profitable or a fruitless hearer The ground therefore when it hath been sowen it first ceaseth to bring forth thornes and bryers and is not so plentifull in thistles and weedes as it was before And thus when a man hath been instructed in the word if he be a profitable hearer thereof the word will have this operation in him that first he will relinquish his former vices and will not be so ready to commit any evill as he was before Psal 119. ii I have hid saith David thy word in my heart that I might not sin against thee So that this is one fruit and effect of the word that it will make a man leave and forsake sinne If heretofore thou hast been given to swearing yet when this seed of the word hath been sowen in thy heart Jer. 23.10 Exod. 20.7 That because of Oaths the Land shall mourne and that God will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vaine this will cause thee to make a Conscience of Oaths and will roote out this weed of unnecessary swearing If heretofore thou hast slander'd and defamed thy Neighbour and wronged him in his good name and reputation yet when this seed of the word hath been sowen in thy heart That a false witness shall not be unpunished and he that speakes lies shall not escape Prov. 19.5 this will root out this weed of slander and detraction In a word what sinne soever thou hast committed heretofore yet when the seed of Gods word hath been sowen in thy heart it will root it out and cause thee to leave it Secondly The ground when it hath been sowen with seed it not onely leaves bringing forth evill fruit but likewise it brings forth good fruit it not onely ceaseth from bringing forth weedes but it brings forth Corne for the use of man And thus he that is a profitable hearer of the word he will not onely mortifie the deedes of the flesh but he will likewise bring forth the fruits of the spirit he will not onely leave evil but he will do good Titus 2. ii The grace of God saith the Apostle which brings salvation hath appeared unto all men teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts there is the former fruit of the word the leaving of evil and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world there is the other the doing of good Gods word herein being like a sweet perfume which not onely takes away the evil sent but leaves a sweet sent in the roome of it If heretofore thou hast had an overweening conceit of thy self and hast been possest with pride and arrogancie yet when the seed of Gods word hath taken root in thy heart it wil not onely dispossess and roote out pride but in the roome thereof it will place humility So that thou wilt be little in thine own eyes and think thy self with St. Paul the least of all others If heretofore thou hast lived in hatred and enmity yet when the seed of Gods word hath taken root in thy heart it wil not onely remove and root out hatred but in the roome thereof it wil place charity So that thou wilt blesse them that curse thee thou wilt do good to those that hate thee and thou wilt pray with St. Steven for them that persecute thee Acts 7.60 And thus in a word wheresoever this seed hath taken root it will not onely weed out the former vices but it wil place in their roome the contrary virtues Thirdly The ground when it hath been sowen with seed as it leaves bringing forth evil fruit and brings forth that which is good so it deferrs not the bringing forth fruit but brings forth the same at the expected time And thus he that is a profitable hearer of the word as he will abstain from that which is evil and do that which is good So he wil not defer the doing thereof but in a seasonable time he wil bring forth the fruits which are required of him When occasion is offered him of doing any good whether such as concernes him after a more general manner as he is a Christian or more particularly in regard of his calling he will take the opportunity and bring forth his fruit in a seasonable time If God have increased thy wealth and substance and given thee sufficient not onely for thy self but for the relief of others when thou seest the hungry that would be glad of the Crums that fall from thy Table when thou seest the naked and the stranger that want Clothing and Harbour or any that are in any want and necessity then thou hast opportunity to do good and if thon be this good ground which is here mencioned then thou wilt bring forth the fruits of mercy If God have given thee the tongue of the learned and inabled thee to exhort with wholsome Doctrine and to convince the gain-sayers of it when thou seest thy Brother ready to fall into error and to make ship-wrack of faith and a good Conscience then thou hast opportunity to do good and if thou be this ground which is here mentioned then thou wilt bring forth the fruits of knowledge If God have advanced thee to the place of Authority and committed into thy hand the sword of justice when thou seest the poor to be deprived of hiâ— right and the innocent opprest when thou seest iniquity to abound in the Land and robbery and violence in all quarters then thou hast opportunity to do good and if thou be this good ground which is here mentioned then thou wilt bring forth the fruits of justice The ground indeed when it hath been sowen yet before it do bear and bring forth fruit it shall have many impediments to hinder the groweth and increase thereof it must undergoe many stormes and tempests many frosts in winter much scorching in Summer but yet if it be a good and a fertil soile it will overcome them all and bring forth fruit at the time expected And thus when the seed of Gods word hath taken root in thy heart yet before thou canst bring forth the fruit thereof thou shalt meet indeed with many lets and hinderances partly from thine own unruly affections and
partly from others but yet if thou be this good ground which is here mentioned thou wilt overcome them all and with the Tree that is described in the first Psalme Thou wilt bring forth fruit in due season To draw then to a conclusion of this first signe if fruitfulness be a signe of a good ground then that we may not deceive our selves Jam. 1.22.2 Cor. 6.1 let us not onely be hearers of the word but doers of it let us not receive the grace of God in vain but when the seed of Gods word hath been sowen in our hearts Let us be carefull to practice the same and to bring forth the fruits thereof in our lives We would count him ye know a very bad Husband who when his ground hath been sowen with seed should turne in his swine to root it up or when it is come forth and begins to ripen should let in his Beasts to spoile and devoure it what then beloved may we think of our selves if when we have been partakers of the word of God we give way to our affections and suffer the delights of the world or the lusts of the flesh to hinder this seed from fructifying in us And thus much for the first signe of a good ground that it brings forth fruit I come now unto the second the quantity of fruit which it brings forth some an hundred some sixty some thirty The ground if it be good 2. Sigaâ— it is not onely fruit full when it hath bin sowen but it yields as ye see a very great increase every sâ—ed at the least bearing thirty for one And thus he that is a profitable hearer of the word he is not onely fruitfull in the works of righteousness but he brings forth the same in great abundance I saith our Saviour Christ am the vine and ye are the branches he that abides in me and I in him the same brings forth much fruit John 15.5 So that it is not enough to be fruitful unless we be fruitful in some good measure And now that we know what are the signes of a good ground it remaines that we try and examine our selves whether we be this good ground or no. You will say I have gotten this good by hearing the word that now when I heare it I heare it willingly I take delight in hearing it is not this a good signe surely this is but a good beginning for thou mayst heare the word and that with delight and yet be but an hypocrite for so did Herod he heard John the Baptist and he heard him gladly and yet all the world knowes what Herod was Marke 6. You will say again but I am gone further then so for I do not onely hear the word and that with delight but I have left many sinnes since I have heard the word and is not this a good signe surely this likewise is but a good beginning for first it is not enough to leave many sinnes unlesse thou endeavour to leave all otherwise God that for one sin of pride cast the Angels out of Heaven for one disobedience thrust Adam out of Paradise and for one onely lye shewed his judgement on Ananias will likewise reject thee for any one sin if thou takest delight to continue in the same Secondly as it is not enough to leave many sins unless thou endeavour to leave all So this is not sufficient unless as thou leave evil so thou do good For as that is not to be counted a good ground which onely leaves bringing forth evil fruit except it likewise bring forth good fruit So God will not repute him for a good man who onely leaves evil but doth no good The fruitless Fig-tree was cursed by our Saviour not because it bore evill fruit but because it forbore to bring forth good fruit The unprofitable Servant is condemned in the Gospel not because he did evill with his Talent for he onely hid it but because he did not do good therewith he did not imploy it In a word to those whom our Saviour placeth at his left hand at the day of judgement he gives not this Reason for when I was hungry ye took away my meate when I was a stranger ye took away my lodging But saith he when I was hungry ye did not give me to eat and when I was a stranger ye did not provide me Harbour So that it is not enough for thee to leave evill except thou likewise do good You wil say again but I am gone further then the leaving of evill since I have heard the word for I have done good Come therefore unto the second signe of a good ground and see whether thou hast brought forth fruit according to that measure which is here mentioned Is thy knowledge answerable to that which hath been taught thee hast thou brought forth the fruits of Faith and obedience according to that measure of seed which thou hast received and proportionable to the paines which have been taken with thee You will say this is a hard saying for who is able to do the same Know therefore for thy comfort that if thou bring but forth fruit in some good measure and if thou do but thy best endeavour to be more and more fruitfull God will accept of thy good endeavour and though thou be not so fruitfull as some others are yet this may be thy comfort that God doth as well accept him for fruitfull that brings forth thirty as he doth him that brings forth an hundred And like as the Husbandman when he reapes his Corne he will not refuse and passe by those eares which are not so full as the rest are but will carry them all into the barne together So God will not reject our imperfect obedience but when he shall gather his Saints together he will bring us all to those heavenly mansions whither Christ is gone before to provide them for us FINIS The Third SERMON LUKE 19.8 Behold Lord the halfe of my goods I give to the poore c. IT was the prophesie of Isaiah That the eyes of the blind should be opened at the coming of the Messias Isa 35.5 which words of the Prophet are to be understood both of those that were corporally and spiritually blind Namely that they who were outwardly blind should be restored to their sense of seeing and that they who were inwardly or spiritually blind should be lightned in their mind and understanding And this prophecy of Isaiah was here fulfilled by our Saviour by two notable miracles which he wrought immediatly one after the other the one in the end of the former Chapter where he miraculously cured a blind-man the other in the beginning of this Chapter where he wrought a more miraculous cure in the suddain conversion of a sinfull Publican thereby to teach us that he indeed is that skillfull Physitian that cures both our corporall and spirituall diseases He whom he cured before was a poor beggar he whom he
postulat Our youth requires other kind of manners and it is needlesse for us to do thus till vve be grovvn in yeares For young men do commonly make account that they shall live long that God vvill allovv them more liberty vvhile they are young and vvill not require so much of them as of old men But they should rather consider that which experience may teach them that they vvho are young are as vvell subject to death as they who are ancient like glasse which is as brittle when it is newly made as when it is old and so though they be young yet they may die soone and therefore need alwayes to be in a readines against God shall call them They should consider that which reason may teach them that the longer it is before they seek God the longer it will be before they can find him as the further a man strayes out of his way the longer it will be before he can find the same And they should consider that which the Scripture teacheth them that young men as well as old shal be called to an account at the day of Judgement of all they have done And they should remember the precept which the Apostle gives here not in the future but in the present time Resist the Devill not resist him hereafter If God as they imagine regard not what they do in their youthfull daies what needed David to pray Psa 25.7 Eccles 12.1 Leuit. 5.7 Mar. 10.14 Remember not the sinnes of my youth or Solomon to say Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy youth Why did God in the old Law command that young Pigeons should be offered unto him Or Christ in the Gospel forbid that young children should be kept from him but to shew that our youth is to be consecrated to God and to be seasoned with Religion If they think it too soon to forsake their sinnes and to begin to serve God in their younger yeares God will think it too late when they come to be old to entertaine them to be his Servants and as they have spent the greatest part of their time in the Devills service so God will leave them to him whose work they have done to pay them their wages We our selves will be loth to take such a servant as is lame or old and so unfit or unable to do us service especially if he be one who while he was young and strong refused to serve us And do we think that God when we have refused to serve him in our younger years will be content to receive us when we are old and impotent to be his servants When we have served his enemie with the best of our daies will God be content to have the leavings Sardus de morib Gen. lib. 3 For if we serve him thus what do we else then as some of the Heathen were wont to do whose custome it was that when they had eaten the meat themselves they did sacrifice the bones unto their Gods Deut. 25. We are forbiden by God to have diverse measures a greater and a lesse because they that do thus are an abomination to the Lord. If God count it abominable for a man to have divers measures a greater for himself a lesse for his neighbour or a greater for his friend a lesse for a stranger How abhominable then must it needs be to God when we have divers measures for God and his enemies serving sinne and Sathan with the best and greatest part of our lives and alotting the least and the worst part unto Gods service And therefore it behoves us ever while we are young to resist and withstand the Devills temptations to renounce our pleasures and to betake our selves unto Gods service And thus much concerning the former part of these words Resist the Devill I come now to the reason which I will dispatch briefly Resist the Devill and he will see from you The Devill though he be fierce when he gives the first assault yet where he finds resistance he will break up the siege and fly like a coward Ye know when he tempted our Saviour Christ in the fourth chapter of St. Matthew though he gave the first blow yet he took the last and though he gave the on-set and set first upon him yet he was the first that sounded the retreate and was glad to leave him But it may be demanded Whether the Devill will flee if he be resisted Will he flee into Hell and be seen no more No that he will not but if he flee from tho godly he will be sure to take his pleasure of the wicked and he will make them pay for it If he cannot prevaile against our Saviour he will enter into Judas if he cannot have his will of men yet rather then faile he will enter into the Swine Math. 8.32 as a Hauke when she cannot speed of her prey she will sease upon carrion But though the Devill flee when we resist him yet we must not be secure for though he can not speed at the first assault yet he will come againe as when he took the foile in tempting our Saviour he departed from him as St. Luke saith Luke 4.13 Luke 20.40 but for a season He is not like the Sadduces Luke 20. who were so confounded with our Saviours answers that they never durst ask him any more questions but being overcome yet he will come againe like Pharaoh who though he were faine to let the Israelites go yet they were no sooner gone but he presently pursued them or like the Philistins Judges 16. who though they had often set upon Sampson and could not prevaile yet they would not give him over but still assaulted him For though the Devill do take the foile yet he will not quite give over but when he sees that he cannot prevaile one way he will try if he can prevaile another We see when God had given him leave to afflict Job to try whether he could draw him to impatientie and the Devill had taken away all his goods killed his servants and destroyed his children and could not in all this prevaile against him yet he would not leave him thus but got leave of God to assault him afresh and to afflict his whole body with sores and ulcers for he knows that our weaknes and infirmity is such that though he cannot prevaile one way yet another he may prevaile against us If he cannot prevaile against David to lay hands on Saul the Lords annointed yet he will try if he can tempt him to murder Vriah If he cannot draw the Pharisee to extortion adultery and the like Vices he will go another way to work and try if he can make him proud of his virtues And so though he be vanquisht in one temptation yet he will tempt us again therefore we are not to be secure but after that one temptation is past we must expect and prepare our selves for another yet this is our
shall the wicked escape Gods judgements Secondly Seeing God doth chasten those whom he loves 2. Vse this may therefore teach us to beware of censuring hardly of them that are in any distresse or affliction as if this were an argument that they are out of Gods favour and that God hath forsaken them We are prone to judge amisse of those that are in distresse If Job be afflicted Job 4.7.8 Acts 28.4 his friends will think that he is an Hypocrite If the Barbarians see a Viper hang on Pauls hand they will suspect him therefore to have been a murderer and if the Disciples see the man that was born blind John 9.2 they will judge that either he or his Parents had sinned as if they must needes be wicked persons that are afflicted The Samaritans as Josephus writes of them when they saw that matters went prosperously with the Jewes they were wont to say then that they were come of Abraham but when the Jewes were under the Crosse and suffered affliction they would then derive their Pedegree from Babel and other Nations and would not acknowledge them for Abrahams Children as if only the wicked and not the godly were subject to affliction But we see here that God chastens whom he loves and therefore that we are not to judge hardly of such as we see afflicted And thus much likewise for the second point the Patient or party that is chastned by God namely Gods beloved He chastens whom he loves I now proceed to the third and last the quality of the action in this word chastneth which implyeth as I said that God doth not torment and torture us like a tyranne but he doth onely chasten us as a Father doth chasten and correct his Children these chastisements do not proceed from God as an angry judge for our plague and punishment but as from a merciful and loving Father for our correction and amendment for herein he offers himself unto us as unto Sonnes as the Apostle saith So that these chastisements to the godly are signes of their adoption and pledges of Gods love and favour towards them which that we may understand the better I purpose to shew you two things First vvhat these chastisements are or how God doth chasten us And secondly To what end they are or why he doth chasten us Concerning the first these chastisements of God are sometimes called in the Scripture the judgements of God So they are called by the Apostle 1 Pet. 4. The time saith he is come that judgement must begin at the house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 That is to say the judgement of chastisement for the judgements of God are of two sorts judicia castigationis judicia vindicte condemnationis the judgements of chastisement or correction and the judgments of revenge and condemnation And this distinction is taken out of St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. When we saith he 1 Cor. 11.32 are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World So that there is a judgment of chastisement which lights upon the godly and a judgment of condemnation which lights upon the wicked And these judgements are sometimes publick and generall and sometimes private and particular Publick and generall as when a whole Land or Country is afflicted as either by Warre by Plague and Pestilence by Death and Famin and any other common and generall affliction Thus we see 1 Chron. 21. That when David had sinned against God by causing his people to be numbred God to chasten and correct him for it offers him his choise of three publick afflictions either a generall dearth and famin all over his Land 1 Chron. 21.12 for the space of three years or the Enemies to come and invade his Land and prevail against him for the space of three months or a Plague and Pestilence among his people for three dayes David being in this extremity did choose rather to fall into the hands of God then into the hands of men because there is mercy with the Lord in his chastisements and so there died of the Pestilence threescore and ten thousand in three dayes This was a generall or publick affliction Sometime again they are privat or particular as when any particular house or family or any privat man is chastned and afflicted and that either outwardly or inwardly outwardly as by the losse of goods by the losse of health by the losse of friends by the losse of liberty and the like And thus Gods Children are often afflicted Some are afflicted with want and poâ—erty as Lâ—zarus was Luke 16.21 some with the losse of their health as the Palâ—iâ—-mâ—â— was Mat. 9. 1 Sam. 2.23 Gen. 39.20 Job 16.2 Psal 59.1 some are crost in their Children as Eli was some are wronged in their good name and credit as Susanna was some restrained of their liberty as Iosâ—ph was some wronged by their friends as Iob was and some persecuted by their enemies as David was These are outward chastisements Sometimes again God doth inwardly chasten us as when either he leaves us for a time to our selves so that we fall into some actual sinnes and are afterwards grieved that we have offended God Thus Peter was afflicted when he had denied our Saviour and wept so bitterly for his denial Or when God withdrawes from us the feeling of his love and the comfort of his spirit Mat. 26.75 So that we doubt for a time that God hath forsaken us because we can find no inward comfort And thus David was afflicted when he complained so grievously Psal 77. Psal 77.7 Will the Lord absent himself for ever and will he shew no more favour hath he forgotten to be gratious and will he shut up his kindness in displeasure These are inward chastisements Now God in all his chastisements deales otherwise with the godly then he deales with the wicked The one he chastens in love and mercy the other he punisheth in his wrath and fury the one he sustaines by his gracious assistance and inables them to bear what he layes upon them the other he gives over to endless despaire to the one he brings a pruning knife to lop and purge them to the other the Axe of desolation to cut them down and destroy them And thus we see what these chastisements are Secondly We are to consider to what end they are or why he doth chasten us The end why God doth chasten his Children is partly for his own glory and partly for their good For his own glory two wayes especially First To shew how greatly he is displeased and offended with sinne insomuch that he doth not spare it in his own Children For this is most certain that if man had never committed sinne he should never have been subject unto any affliction but as soon as Adam had sinned against God then God by afflicting him made manifest how he is displeased and offended by sinne because saith God unto
ignorant of Gods will his vvill is sufficiently revealed in his vvord but we cannot discerne it to be his word till God by his spirit do inlighten our understanding And therefore St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 2. vve have received the spirit of God 1 Cor. 2.13 that we might know the things that are given us of God and presently after in the same Chapter but the natural man saith he perceives not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Now least we should imagine that because we are assured of the truth of Gods vvord onely by the testimony of Gods spirit that therefore till his spirit do work faith in our hearts the testimony of the Church and the hearing of the word is but vaâ—n and needless we are to understand that Gods spirit doth ordinarily beget faith in the godly by these outward meanes For first the Testimony of the Church concerning the vvord invites us to come with the rest to hear it and while we are diligent and attentive in hearing it Gods spirit doth ordinarily beget faith in our hearts whereby we believe it and when faith hath once taken root in our hearts then we are so fully resolved of the truth of the Scriptures that all those arguments whereof before we made but light account are now like infallible demonstrations unto us For then we see plainly how necessary it was that God should reveal his vvill unto us and that if he have not revealed it in the Scripture he hath revealed it no where But that it is his will which he hath revealed in his vvord these Reasons will confirm us First In that the majesty of Gods spirit doth appear in every part of the Scripture wherein there is nothing that savours of humane wisdom but every thing therein is heavenly and divine for if we consider the matter thereof it far exceeds all humane invention For who could tell us of the Creation of the vvorld and the fall of Angels of the corruption of the whole nature of man through the transgression and disobedience of our first Parents of the redemption of the vvorld by the coming of the Messias of the rewards of the faithfull in the life to come and the punishment of sinners These things and many other which the Scripture reveals do so far go beyond the capacity of man that had not God revealed them in his word they could never have been known Secondly If we consider who penned the Scripture we shall find them for the most part to be simple men and therefore of themselves not capable of those heavenly mysteries which they have revealed in their vvritings Hos 11.1 Zach. 11.12.13 Psal 22.16.18 They were not learned and yet they foresaw things to come as if they were present and foretold many things which many hundred years after did come to passe They were not eloquent and yet more powerfull in moving the affections then Tullie Demosthenes and all the Rhetoricians in the vvorld besides They lived not together but in divers ages and several places and yet they agree so perfectly without the least contradiction as if they had had but one mind among them In a word Deut. 32.51 Jonah 1.3.6 Jonah 4.9 they were not as other men given over to sin but lived more uprightly then the most in their times and yet they have registred their own sins and infirmities to remain as it were upon the file unto all Posterities which had they been led by humane wisdom they would never have done All which shewes that howsoever the Scriptures were written here by men yet they were indicted by God in Heaven Thirdly If we consider the perfection of the Law which is called the Decalogue we shall see that none but God could be the Authour of it For there is not any good either outward or inward which we are bound to perform to God or man but it is there commanded nor any evil from which we are to abstain but it is there prohibited all which to be comprized in so few words farre exceeds the invention of men or Angels Mens Lawes howsoever they fill many large Volums yet they are still imperfect and daily want something to be added unto them which when they were made was not thought upon Sometimes again they must have something detracted that being thought convenient for the time when the Law was made which afterwards is found to be inconvenient in regard that mens conditions do so often change So that as it is in the fable when the Moon upon a time begged a new Coat of her mother her Mother replied that it was impossible to make her a Coat which would be fit for her by reason that her shape did so often alter as being now in the full now in the wane one while in one form and strait in another So it is impossible for men or Angels to make Lawes which without adding or detracting should serve for all persons and all ages because their manners and conditions do so often change But this Law which we find recorded in the Scripture is so absolute and perfect that it serves for all persons in all places and all ages and yet needes nothing to be added or detracted All other Lawes extend no further then to mens sayings or doings their words and their actions and take hold of them onely if they be not answerable to the Law but for the thoughts of mens hearts they do not inflict any penalty upon them but do leave them free The Civilians say Cogitationis paenam in foro nostro nemo luat let no man be punisht in our Court for a thought But this Law doth search into the secrets of the heart not only restraining our actual sins but our sinfull thoughts even our very first motions and inclinations to sin though we do not yield our consent thereunto to put the same in execution Rom. 7.7 St. Paul saith Rom. 7. that he had not known concupiscence to be a sinne if the Law had not said Thou shalt not covet For like as the Sunshine doth make us to see the least atomes or moaths which if it were not for the bright light of the Sunne we could not discerne So this bright light of the Law discovers the least and most secret sins which without this Law we could not have known All other Lawes because they cannot judge of the heart do require no more then outward obedience and judge well of him that lives according to the Law for his outward Carriage But this Law which as the Apostle saith Heb. 4. is a discerner of the thoughts and intents Heb. 4 1â— requires both outward and inward obedience and judgeth not him to be a good man who frames himself outwardly to the observing of the Law but not inwardly For as a man is not to be counted well and in good health though his hands and feete and
part and Member of it that we cannot spare any one of them all because all are necessary every part being both serviceable one to another and serving for the good of the whole body If any part of the body do want any thing all the rest will afford it the best help they can the tongue will aske what will do it good the eare will listen where it may be had the eye will look after it the foot will go for it and the hand will bring it and if any part be wanting every part is the worse for the want of it The eye saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 12.21 cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee nor the head to the feet I have no need of you For as the eye doth serve to see for the body so doth the hand to work for it and as the head is made to rule and govern the body so the feet to uphold it every part having his several use and office and no part being needlesse Therefore Livie reports that when there was dissention between the Senators and the Commonalty of Rome and the Commonalty refused to yield them aide and the whole body of the Common-wealth was much troubled about it Menenius Agrippa that was an excellent Orator being sent to make reconciliation between them did tell them this fable That upon a time there fell out some variance between the belly and the rest of the Members The Members objected against the belly that they were set a work to provide for it and the belly in the mean while remained idle and consumed all And therefore they all conspired together that they would not provide any longer for it as they had done before The foot refused to go any more for it the hand refused to reach any meat to the mouth the mouth denied to take it the teeth to chew it but what became of this The belly being almost starved with hunger the whole body was the worse the eyes waxt dim and the eares dull the hands grew weak and the feete feeble and all the Members began to faint and languish and therefore in the end when they saw the danger they were glad to be reconciled having learned by experience that there is not any part of the body needless but where any one Member performes not the Office which belongs unto it the whole body hath a want and is the worse for it Though the tongue can speak yet if the eare cannot heare though the mouth can eat yet if the hand cannot work though the eye can see yet if the foot cannot goe it is a great defect to the whole body Therefore as our Saviour restored the blind and made them to see which before they could not So he cured the lame and inabled them to walk who before were not able to go or stand Now some ye know fall lame by mischance as Mephibosheth did by falling when he was young out of his Nurses Armes 2 Sam. 4.4 Some are borne lame from their Mothers wombe as the Creple that we read of in the 3. of the Acts. How these became lame which were here cured by Christ it is not set down Acts 3.2 but to be freed from their lameness howsoever it came was a wonderfull blessing For that which the foundation is to the building the same are the feet unto the body as being made by God to bear and support it Therefore God hath placed them under all the rest to uphold all because the body is no more able to stand without them then a building to stand without a foundation Neither serve the feete onely to uphold the body but likewise to carry it from place to place wheresoever we have occasion to go without which we cannot stir from one place to another without paine or trouble So grievous a thing it is to be lame and so great a benefit to have the use of our feet which as it may put us in mind of this duty to be thankfull unto God for giving us the perfect use of our lims which we might have wanted as well as others So it may likewise teach us to use them well to use our Members Rom. 6.19 as the Apostle speaks as Servants unto righteousnesse We find in the Gospel that many were every where brought unto Christ that were lame and impotent and we cannot go any where but we see the like all which are as it were so many Preachers unto us to admonish us what God hath done for us in giving us our lims and therefore that we ought to use them well to his glory our good and the benefit of others Job 29.15 by being an â—ye to the blind and a foote to the lame as Job was that though we cannot heale them as Christ did yet that we do help them the best we can by having compassion on their infirmities and helping them with relief that stand in need thereof and cannot help themselves And thus much briefly for the lame that were cured The next cure which is here mentioned is that the Lepers were cleansed The Leprosie was a grievous and fowle Disease and the condition of a Leper was of all other that were diseased the most wretched and miserable For first Levit. 13.46 as we see the Leper by Gods appointment was to live alone and to be separated from the fellowship of Gods People as unworthy to come into a clean Company In which respect the four Lepers that are mentioned when Samaria was besieged 2 Kings 7.3 Numb 12.14 dwelt out of the City Myriam though she was the Sister of Moses and Aaron was removed out of the Camp and Azariah though he were the King of Juda yet being smote by God with a Leprosie 2 King 15.5 he lived a part in a several house So uncomfottable it was to have this Disease because they were excluded as they are now that have the Plague from all Company which made many no doubt to pine away with grief and sorrow as being forlorne and left utterly dest tute of all help and comfort in their greatest extremity Secondly The Leper did weare four markes to be known by his garments torne his head bare his mouth covered Levit. 13.45 and he was to cry unclean unclean that others might know that he had the Leprosie and might shun and avoid him For the Leprosie was a Disease among the Jewes that was strangely infectious which infected not onely the persons themselves but their Garments and Houses and that in such a manner that as we see in the 14. of Leviticus the infection might be seen and discerned upon them it would fret into their Garments and eat into the very morter and stones of their walles and though the walles were plastered all over again yet it would break through them that they were faine sometimes to pull down their houses Insomuch that some think and it is very probable that the Jewes in a proper
the Master and shall not the Servant Shall the Judge and shall not he that is to be judged unworthy is he to taste of the well of the water of life that will not stoop to take it And as Steven here kneeled down so he cryed with a loud voice Lord lay not this sinne to their charge His kneeling and crying arguing both the greatnesse of their sinne and his earnest desire and ardent affection Quod jussit gâ—ssit that they might be forgiven It is Christs precept Luke 6. Love your enemies do good to them that hate you blesse them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you And he did himself what he wills us to do praying for his Crucifiers even when they Crucified him Father forgive them they know not what they do Luke 23.34 Steven here follows his example praying for his persecutors even while they stoned him Lord saith he buy not this sinne to their charge And thus according to Christs precept and example he loves his enemies prayes for his persecutors and requites good for evill And this is the very perfection of love and an infallible argument that they who can do it are the children of God A wicked man may performe many Christian duties and commendable actions upon by-respects He may give Almes to the poor that men may think the better of him he may Fast because abstinence is good for his health he may abstaine from adultery theft and the like for the avoiding of shame and discredit and he may put up wrongs and not seek to be revenged for fear of inconveniences that may follow after it But for a man to love his enemies and pray for his persecutors this canot be done in any by-respect but must needs be the worke of grace in him This is that wherein the godly do most resemble God in loving their enemies and rendring good to those that deserve evill at their hands God is so good that he renders good for evill as he tooke occasion from Adams sinne to send his Sonne into the world for mans redemption for which Gregory calls it Felix peccatum a happy sinne because it had so soveraigne a Medecine The wicked are so evill that they render evill for good sometimes to God as the Israelites did taking their Eare-rings of Gold which God had given them in Egypt and making thereof a Calfe which they worshipt to the dishonour of God sometimes to man as Saul did to David using all means to procure his death who had saved his life 2 Kings 6.23 But the godly do imitate their heavenly Father rendring good for evill as Elisha made the Syrians to eate and to drink that were sent to take him and as Steven here prayed for the Jewes that stoned him FINIS The Fifteenth SERMON JEREMIAH 4.2 Thou shalt sweare the Lord liveth in trueth in Judgement and in righteousnesse Division SOcrates writes of Pambo the Herimit that when one was reading to him the 39. Psalme and had read but the beginning Psa 39.1 I said I will take heed to my wayes that so I offend not in my tongue The Heremit willed him to stay there and to read no further for this saith he is a lesson which will hardly be learned in a long time Had the beginning of my text been read unto him Thou shalt sweare he would rather have willed him to have read on because this is a lesson which is learned soone For who cannot swear without a teacher We may see young children who before they have perfectly learn'd to read have learned this lesson So that if swearing were all which God required almost every one might answer as the Ruler did our Saviour Luke 18.21 All this have I done from my youth upward But here is not onely an Oath to be taken Thou shalt swear but the object of an Oath or by whom we are to swear Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth and the conditions of an Oath or how we are to swear Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse The first against the Anabaptists who hold it unlawfull to swear at all Thou shalt swear The second against the Papists who hold it lawfull to swear by the Creatures Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth The third against all profane swearers that take either false or fraudulent Oaths Thou shalt swear in truth or inconsiderate or unnecessary Oaths Thou shalt swear in judgement or lastly pernicious and wicked Oaths which are taken for the performance of some unlawfull action Thou shalt swear in righteousnesse And these are the severall parts of these words And first concerning the lawfulnesse of an Oath I neede not stand long upon the proof thereof because as the Lawyers say Quod consuetum est praesumitur esse justum That is commonly held to be just and lawfull which is ordinary and common And yet because the Anabaptists are of another opinion and would utterly take away the use of an Oath something must be spoken of the lawfulnesse thereof That it is lawfull therefore to take an Oath we may see especially by these three things First By the expresse commandement of God If to take an Oath were simply unlawfull Exod. 20. then God would not have forbidden us to take his name in vain but to take it at all as because it is simply unlawfull to swear by false Gods he doth not forbid us to take their names in yaine but absolutely forbids us to swear by them And as he forbids us to swear by them Exo. 23.13 so he commands us to swear by him Deut. 6.13 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and thou shalt swear by his name Which words are repeated Deut. 10. â—0 with a little addition Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve thou shalt cleave unto him and swear by his name So that the taking of an Oath is not left unto us as a thing indifferent but commanded by God and that as a part of Gods service and worship And therefore God promiseth a blessing to those that swear by his Name Jer. 12.16 Jer. 12.16 It shall come saith he to passe that if they will diligently learne the wayes of my people to sweare by my name The Lord liveth as they taught my people to swear by Baal then shall they be built in the middest of my people And Psalm 15.4 He that sweareth saith David though it be to his own hinderance and changeth not Psal 15.4 he shall dwell in Gods Tabernacle But if it were unlawfull to swear at all he would not have placed him in Gods Tabernacle that swears and keeps his Oath though it be to his own hinderance but rather him that sweareth not though it be to his own advantage Secondly by the example of those holy men in the Scripture who have taken oathes and that sometime publickly Thus Abraham swore to the King of Sodom
pardon and forgivenesse of them FINIS The Eighteenth SERMON 1 THES 5.2 For you your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night THe first coming of Christ may well put us in mind of his second coming his coming as a Lambe of his coming as a Lion his coming in humility of his coming in glory The day of his first coming ye know is past and yet so past as that we are still to call it to mind and must never forget it the day of his second coming is yet to come yet so to come as that it will come we know not how soone and we must alwayes expect it And therefore as it hath been a Custome in some Countries that when they kept a feast after other dishes a deaths head was brought in and set upon the Table before the guests to teach them while they were feasting to remember their ends So I thought it not unfit at the time of this feast which we celebrate in remembrance of Christs first coming to bring in as it were a deaths head among you by choosing such a Text as may put you in mind of his second coming at the day of judgement because that is a day which is alwayes to be expected whereof the Apostle in the words which I have read gives a double Reason First because it is certain that this day is coming For you your selves saith he know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes Secondly because it is uncertain when it will come For it so saith he comes as a thief in the night whose coming is uncertain and upon the sudden So that the points to be handled in these words are these the day it self and the coming of it and in the coming of it that it is certain that this day will come though when it wil come it is uncertain And first concerning the day it self The day of judgement is here called the day of the Lord sometimes in the Scripture the great notable day of the Lord. It is called the day of the Lord to put a difference between that day and all the dayes while we live in the world While we live in the World the dayes in the Scripture are called ours For though all dayes indeed be the Lords because he made them as the Prophet David saith Psal 74.16 The day is thine and the night is thine thou hast prepared the light and the Sunne yet in the Scripture they are said to be ours because they were made for our use Therefore God speaking of the time of mans life Gen. 6. His dayes saith he Gen. 6.3 shall be an hundred and twenty years Thus Job speaking of the prosperity of the wicked They spend saith he their dayes in welthinesse Job 21.13 Psal 90.12 Thus David speaking of the uncertainty of this life Psal 90. Teach us saith he to number our dayes Thus the dayes while we live in this world are called ours But the day of judgement is alwayes called Esay 13.7 Joel 2.1 2 Pet. 3.10 the day of the Lord. So Esay 13. Behold the day of the Lord comes So Joel The day of the Lord comes and is nigh at hand So St. Peter 2 Pet. 3. The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night Thus still it is called the day of the Lord because though all other dayes be ours yet this day he hath wholly reserved to himself to call us to an account of all our dayes To some of us he hath given ten thousand dayes to some twenty thousand to some thirty thousand and all the dayes from the beginning of the World to the end thereof he hath divided amongst us giving more unto some and sewer to others to himself he hath reserved but one day onely and the last of all yet such a day as wherein he will call us all to an account of all things that we have done in all our dayes At this day the Drunkard shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in drunkennesse At this day the idle person shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in idlenesse At this day the voluptuos liver shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in pleasure For this is the day which the Lord hath appointed for the examination of all our dayes The dayes which he hath given us are dayes of mercy wherein he offers grace unto all and invites them to repent this day is onely a day of judgement wherein he will execute his justice on those that are impenitent Therefore it is that the time of this life is called in the Scripture Esay 49.8 Dies salutis the day of salvation as Esay 49. I have heard thee saith God in the time accepted in the day of salvation have I succoured thee Which the Apostle expounds 2 Cor. 6. 2 Cor. 6.2 of the time of this life while grace is offered Behold saith he now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation But the day of judgement is called in the Scripture dies irae the day of wrath Zeph. 1.15 Zeph. 1.15 That day saith the Prophet is a day of wrath And Revel 6. The great day of the wrath of the Lord is come And therefore God who for the time of this lise is called by the Apostle the father of mercies yet after this life when he shall judge the World Psal 49.1.2 he is called by the Prophet David a God of revenge For be that is so mercifull to all in this life that he makes the Sun to shine and the rain to fall both on the good and the bad yet after this life at the day of judgement he will rain snares on the wicked fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be their portion for ever to drink Psal 11.6 We see then the reason why it is called the day of the Lord because in that day he will call us all to an account of all our dayes that such as in their days have done their own will might therefore in his day suffor his will because they would not imbrace his mercy while he offered them grace in stead of mercy they might feel his justice His power had a day when he created the World all things therein and by speaking the word made them all of nothing His mercy had a day when he redeemed the world by giving his only Son to suffer death for man that had so highly offended him And his justice shall likewise have a day when he shall judge the World at which day he will appear so terrible to the wicked Revel 6.16 that when they see him they shall cry to the mountains to fall upon them and to the rocks to hide them from the presence of him that sits upon the Throne from the wrath of the Lamb. But all in vaine because as they in
the Lord Deut. 32. kill and make alive I wound I heal Therefore he wils us to call upon him in the time of trouble and he will deliver us Deut. 32.32 For howsoever by our sins we provoke him to afflict us yet if we call upon him for mercy and grace he hath an ear to hear us an eye to behold us a heart to pity us and an hand to help us And thus much concerning the first point the Agēt or party afflicting That it is God that chastens I come now to the second namely The Patient or party afflicted the beloved of God he chastens whom he loves Doct. God though he love whatsoever he hath made yet among all his creatures he loves man best and among men especially those who are of the houshold of faith which is his Church These he loves with an everlasting love he hath given his only Son for their redemption and hath adopted them in Christ Jesus to be his children And yet howsoever he loves them so dearly yet many times he doth afflict and chasten them for so we see here whom he loves he chastens The Doctrine that we may gather from hence is this That they who are in the love and favour of God are neverthelesse afflicted In the 11th of Saint John Behold Lord John 11.3 he whom thou lovest is sick Christ loved Lazarus and yet did not free and exempt him from sicknesse Dan. 9.23 Daniel was greatly beloved of God as the Angell Gabriel told him yet Daniel was cast into the Lions den The Virgine Mary was freely beloved of God as the same Gabriel told her Luke 1. yet a sword was to pierce through her heart Luke 1.28 Luke 2.35 1 Sam. 13.14 Job 1.1 as old Simeon prophesied David was a man according to Gods own heart yet David was often and many wayes afflicted Job was a just and an upright man yet Job was extraordinarily afflicted Saint Paul was a chosen vessel of God yet after he was converted his whole life was nothing but a continued affliction In a word Acts 9.15 all the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles and all the beloved children of God even from the beginning of the world to this present time have suffered affliction Therefore Christ saith Revel 3. As many as I love Revel 3.19 I rebuke and chasten Read over the Scriptures and ye see examples hereof almost in every leafe Gen. 39.20 In one place ye shall see Joseph cast into the dungeon Dan. 3.20 in another the three children into a fiery furnace 1 King 22.27 here ye shall see Michea fed with the bread of affliction there David washing his couch with tears in one place ye shall see Steven stoned to death Psal 6.6 in another ye shall finde John the Baptist beheaded Acts 7.59 To be short as it was said of Rome heretofore Mark 6.27 that a man could not step into any part thereof but he should tread upon a Martyre so a man can hardly read any part of the Scripture but he shall light upon the affliction of the children of God either one or other affliction being common to every one of them and more common then any thing The floud that overspred the whole face of the earth in the days of Noah was common generall yet eight persons ye know were freed frō the flood Gen. 6.18 preserved in the Ark Death is more cómon general then the flood Gen. 5.24 seizing upon the whole of-spring of Adam and yet two persons Enoch and Elias have been freed from death a King 2.,11 and were taken up into heaven while they were living upon the earth Sin is more common and generall then death and yet one person even Christ and he alone was free from sin but affliction is more generall then any of them all which hath lighted upon all men without any exception for even Christ himself though he were free from sin Esay 53.3 yet he was vir dolorum as the Prophet Esay calls him a man of sorrows as being subject through the whole course of his life to much sorrow affliction For this is the condition of all Gods children that first they must wear a crown of thorns before they receive a crown of glory first they must suffer with Christ in this life before they reign with him in the life to come Therefore Christ wills us if we will be his disciples to take up his crosse every day Acts 14. and follow him And the Apostle tels us That through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of heaven Vse 1 The use to be made hereof is two-fold First Seeing Goddeth visit his own children with the rod of affliction then much lesse shall the wicked escape Gods judgements if God chasten the godly whom he loves and is loved of them much lesse will he spare his enemies those that hate him Prov. 11.31 Therefore Solomon Proverbs 1◠Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner And therefore Peter 1 Epist 4. Chapter If judgement saith he 1 Peter 4.17.18 first begin at us what shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel and if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear For if God chasten the one much lesse out of doubt will he spare the other You will say but it is ordinarily seen in the World that the wicked are not subject to the like afflictions that the godly are Their houses as Job in his 21. Chapt. Job 21.9 saith of the wicked are peaceable without fear and the rod of God is not upon them and as the Prophet David saith of the ungodly they prosper in all their wayes and flourish like a green bay-tree It is true indeed and cannot be denied that the godly many times do suffer in this World more crosses and afflictions then the wicked but therefore we must remember that the punishment of the wicked is kept and reserved till the World to come Lazarus was farre more afflicted in this life that lay full of sores at the rich mans gates and would have been glad of a morsell of bread then the rich man was that fared so sumptuously and lived in pleasure but therefore what saith Abraham to the rich man Sonne saith he Luke 15.25 remember that then in thy life-time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evill but now is he comforted and thou art tormented Whensoever therefore we see the godly to live in affliction and misery and the wicked in prosperity and hearts-ease yet it need not trouble us because there will come a time when the wicked shall be punisht and the godly comforted When the godly shall have all their teares wiped from their eyes Revel 7.17 and the wicked shall suffer Gods wrath and vengeance for if God afflict and chasten such as he loves much lesse