〈…〉 pronounced and executed upon the 〈…〉 as Christ sheweth in the thirteenth chapter of 〈◊〉 〈…〉 eighth chapter of Lake And the 〈◊〉 both 〈…〉 the twelfth chapter of John and 〈…〉 in 〈…〉 of the Acts of the 〈◊〉 to conclude 〈…〉 this as a reason whyther 〈…〉 not 〈…〉 had blinded their eyes and hardned their hearts Lest they should see 〈◊〉 their eyes and understand with their hearts and convert and be healed The other effect of the word was said to be a pricking this is a beginning For as the Preacher ascribes a prick or point to the word when he saith The words of the wise are tanquam acuta stimuli Ecclesiastes the twelfth chapter So here we see there are certain sparks of fire in the word which will soon kindle a fire in the hearts of the hearers The pricking is referred to fear as Psalm the hundred and nineteenth Confringe cor 〈◊〉 timore tuo the warming is an effect of hope and love as Canticles the eighth chapter and the sixt verse where love is compared to fire that hath ardent coals that burn so as much water cannot quench them that is As there are some Scriptures that intreat of the wrath of God that lay mens sinnes before their eyes and tells them of the terrible and great day of the Lord when they shall be rewarded all according to their works and so breeds a fear in the hearts of the hearers as Acts the fift chapter and the eleventh verse and prick them verse the thirty seventh unlesse their hearts be stonie and their flesh a dead flesh So on the other side some Scriptures set forth the goodnesse of God and his gracious promises as when Christ 〈◊〉 the two 〈◊〉 Ought not Christ to suffer these things and to enter into glory verse the twenty sixth which shews the love of God the Father in giving his sonne to suffer for us and the love of the sonne in being given for us for no man hath greater love than this to dye for his friend John the fifteenth chapter and the great reward that God hath for his children which is the hope of glory assuring them that as Christ is entred into glory so we shall be with him And such Scripture will stirre up in the 〈◊〉 both affection of love and hope wherewith as with coals or sparks of fire their hearts are wounded And those several parts of Scripture are tempered according to the nature of the hearers or auditors for there are some that scoffe and deride and blaspheme the holy spirit of God Acts the second chapter and the thirteenth verse And ro such the threatnings and judgements of God must be laid before them as Peter doth But here we have Auditors of such nature that 〈◊〉 such as did not mock and sit in the Chair of Scorners but were 〈◊〉 in spirit and were of a faint heart which confesse we were in hope that this was he that should have delivered Israel but now our hope is faint and we quake and to such the opening of Gods love and of his great and 〈◊〉 promises is expedient In this verse we have to consider First The manner of uttering of these words for they say not Our hearts 〈◊〉 but ask the question Did not our hearts Secondly The 〈◊〉 of the verse which consists of three parts First the part wherein this effect was wrought Cor nostrum Secondly A passion or work a burning Thirdly The time when he talked with us First For the manner Did not our hearts burne Of which kinde of negative speaking there are two examples in Scripture First it is a more vehement affirmation than if a man should only affirm a truth as where Christ saith before Ought not Christ to suffer these things and to enter into glory as if he should say he ought without doubt for when the matter is questionable we use to speak affirmatively but in a plain case that is evident and out of doubt then we ask a question negatively as Doth not the Sunne shine as if one should say It is cleere We see it doth So here they knew well before Christ spake to them their hearts were cold and their hope was saint and dead but now remembring that while Christ spake to them they selt their hearts warm within them they ask Did not our hearts burn as if they should say doubtlesse we felt a heat and burning within us Another use of this negative question is asked out of Christs deed Luke the seventeenth chapter Were there not ten cleansed he marvelled what was become of the other nine This admiration serves to tax and to reprehend the unthankfulnesse of those nine which returned not to praise God And seeing the Disciples ask the Question Did not our hearts burn as if they should say seeing we felt our hearts burn within us why did we not know that it was Christ the Sonne of God that spake to us Surely it is not the work of a man to touch the heart but God only and seeing our hearts were touched thus doubtlesse it was Christ that spake to us Which shewes that at the present time that Christ spake to them they felt him not but when Christ was gone out of their sight then they remembred that their hearts felt this heat within them for by Jacob's experience we learn that God may be in a place and we not know of it for so he confesseth in the twenty eighth chapter of Genesis and the sixth verse God was here and I was not aware and in the ninth chapter of Job and the eleventh verse He will be by me and I shall not see him and in the thirteenth chapter of John Quid ego faciam tu nescis nunc scies autem posthac that is hereafter yee shall feel your hearts moved So the attention of these two Disciples was so great and they were in such an extasie that they observed no such thing for the present while he spake they perceived it not till Christ had made an end and was taken from them For as there are things that appear and are not as visards and maskes which make a shew of that which is not so there are things that appear not and yet are as the spirits and souls of men which are invisible There was one that boasted of that he had not that was the false Prophet that said to Michaiah in the first book of Kings the twenty second chapter It is impossible that the spirit of the Lord shauld goe from me to thee And in the first epistle to the Corinthians the seventh chapter there is one that with more modesty and coldnesse saith I think I have the spirit of God and he had it indeed The wisest that ever was of men saith There is not in me the understanding of a man Proverbs the thirtieth chapter and the second verse And Caiaphas that understood as little as any as if he only understood all said Vos planè nihil intelligitis
more than his providence for as he seeth the sacrifice of both so in justice he respects the good and rejects the evill Cain said as the wicked doe in their heart God doth not regard Psalm the tenth but if Cain desires that God should not regard Abel nor his good service he desires a thing unpossible for God is not unjust to forget the labour of our love Hebrews the sixt and the tenth verse Shall I justifie the wicked ballance and the bag of deceitfull weights the sixt chapter of Micha and the eleventh verse therefore whether we respect God or Abel this cause of Cains sorrow is unjust and his envy is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore whereas other sinnes are punished only in the world to come and have pleasure in this life as if that future punishment were not sufficient for envy The envious man is a torment to him self God takes order that it shall have punishment in this life for the envious man is a torment to himself as the Wise man saith the fourteenth of the Proverbs and the thirtieth invidia est putredo ossium The degrees of Cains heaviness were that he was iratus valdè It was not one of the first degrees of anger which the Philosophers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There are passions which are no sinne at all as in the fourth chapter of the Ephesians irascimini nolite peccare and the Lord saith dost thou well to be angrie Jonas the third chapter meaning there is some anger that is good so there is an anger that is no sin for the first motions of anger are not so hainous for the nature of men cannot keep away these passions no more than birds may be kept from lighting upon trees The Preacher saith Ecclesiastes the seventh chapter and the eleventh verse ira nidificat in sina 〈◊〉 whereupon one saith that although anger will light upon our nature whether we will or no yet we may keep it from making a nest in our hearts and so long it is no sinne therefore Cains sin is great in respect it was not only without a just cause but for that he suffered anger to rest in his heart Note The tongue the trumpet of the minde The falling down of his countenance is a fruit of the abundance of his heart as our Saviour Christ saith Matthew the twelfth chapter and the thirty fourth verse ex abundantia cordis os loquitur the tongue is the trumpet of the minde The countenance the glass of our affections and the countenance is the glass wherein we may behold the affections of the heart as the Preacher saith heaviness will appear in the countenance Examples so it did in Labans countenance Genesis the thirty first chapter no lesse than it doth here in Cain so in the Bretheren of Joseph Genesis the thirty seventh chapter Hatred cannot speak peaceable in so much as they could not speak peaceably to him so Saul ever after looked asquint on David after he conceived displeasure at him the first of Samuel and the eighteenth chapter Pride of heart appeares by proud looks so the Scripture sheweth that the pride of the heart appeares in the countenance by the proud look the one hundred and first Psalm and the high looks Proverbs the sixth chapter the adulterous minde is shewed by eyes full of adultery the second of Peter and the second chapter Countenance cast down a sign of ill when the minde imagineth evill then the light of the countenance is turned into darkness and the countenance which should be upright is changed in ruinam vultûs with casting down of the countenance because it is both an effect and sign of ill and the Apostle willeth that we abstain from any appearance of ill the first to the Thessalonians and the fifth chapter therefore we are to avoid it tristitia vultûs est hostilis tessara the outward badge and token of some inward evill conceived in the heart abscedendum est non 〈◊〉 a malo sed ab omni specie mali For the conclusion as we have already once seen the way what it is that we might not follow it Jude the eleventh verse so here again we are to consider his way which is of three sorts Note First not to rest and be content with that which God will have come to pass he was displeased because God respected Abel and not him Be content when God respected and contrary whereas he should have said with Eli the first of Samuel and the third chapter Deus est faciet quod bonum videtur in occulis ejus and with David the one hundred and ninteenth Psalm and the seventy fifth verse I know Lord thy judgments are right and that of very faithfulness thou hast afflicted me but to stomack God for any of his doings is a thing that every one must avoid that will not walk in Cains way Fret not thy self because of the ungodly saith the Prophet Psalm the thirty seventh and the first we may not think much that God doth respect the wicked and blesse them with temporall blessings much lesse are we to repine at the good of the godly Fret not at the prosperity of the wicked The Prophet affirmeth that he was offended at the prosperity of the wicked in so much as he said I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency Psalm the thirty seventh he could not tell what to think of it till he went to the 〈◊〉 and there he learned that albeit they flourish in the world yet he sets them in slippery places that they may fall down to their distruction therefore we may not fret our selves considering that those things prove to Gods providence This was Davids meditation on the Sabbath Psalm the ninty second and the sixt and seventh verses That albeit the unwise know it not and fools doe not understand so much yet he was assured that when the wicked did grow as the grosse and all the Workers of wickedness did flourish then they should perish so that we have no just cause to be displeased with God if he respect the wicked seeing it is for his hurt but if he respect Abel and his good service we are to be glad When righteous men are in authority then the people rejoyce Proverbs the twentieth chapter and the second verse 〈◊〉 it is he joy of the world that the godly are respected of God and enjoy his favourable countenance and he that will not follow Cains way must confidere virtuti suae alienae non invidere Some rise not by virtue but by others fall when men doe not labour to exalt themselves by their own virtue but rise up by the fall of others that is Cains way which we must carefully avoid as we will ascape the wrath of God Thirdly the example of Abels good service and the favour which God vouchsafeth to
John the eleventh chapter and the fourty ninth verse Touching the substance of the question and the first part First The part wherein that which Christ spake did work is the heart which is the commander of man for as the word comes our of the heart bonus homo ex bono thesauro cordis sui Luke the sixth chapter so if it have its right course it goeth to the heart for there be three wards and locks to be opened that the sound of Gods word may enter that is the eare Psalm the fourtieth Mine eare hast thou opened which is the gate of wisedome Secondly the understanding to conceive what is heard of which it is said here Their eyes were opened Luke the twenty fourth chapter and the thirty first verse that is oculi mentis Ephesians the first chapter and the eighteenth verse Thirdly the heart as Lydia's heart was opened by the Lord Acts the sixteenth chapter Many are present but hear not attentively what is said others hear but understand not and some have both these degrees and yet have not their hearts opened and so it is to no purpose that is spoken Though we hear and understand yet if the heart be not touched with it it is but verbum aerium it is mans word and not Gods for the property of Gods word is to pierce to the heart and marrow And to the dividing of the soul Hebrews the fourth chapter and the twelfth verse Therefore by the eare man may examine his own heart for unless he feel himself touched inwardly with the word his hearing is in vain And this is the service wich God rejects Isaiah the twenty ninth chapter and the thirteenth verse Matthew the fifteench chapter and the eighth verse populus labiis me honerat so if either we bring our eares alone or both eares and eyes both hearken and conceive yet so long as this is true of us that our heart is departed from God If the heart be not affected with the preaching of the word it is in vain For the profitable hearer is he that with an honest and good heart receiveth the word of God Which is the immortall seed that bringeth forth much fruit Luke the eighth chapter Secondly the work wrought in the heart is a burning or kindling as we shewed There is a double compunction First when a man being pricked in heart falls into a rage as they that heard Stephen Acts the seventh chapter Secondly when being prickt they seek for ease and comfort as in the second chapter of the Acts and the thirty seventh verse So there is a double fire For as there is a fire from the Altar which touched the prophets mouth Esay the sixt chapter so fire from Topheth Isaiah the thirtieth chapter there are firie tongues that fell upon the Apostes But they came from heaven Acts the second chapter but there are firie tongues that are set on fire of hell James the third chapter it is the fire from the Altar and the firie tongues from heaven that causeth the burning in the heart of such as hear aright and not the fire of Topheth For as the Devill with his hot Iron doth cauterise and sear the consciences of some so the fire of Gods spirit doth warm the hearts of others so as they heare the word of God with profit As there are wicked whose tongues and words are like pricks and swords Proverbs the twelfth chapter so there are others whose tongues are like hot Juniper coals Psalm the one hundred and twentieth which slanders others For the Devill that 〈◊〉 of man Matthew the thirteenth chapter 〈◊〉 up this fire in the hearts of men but this fire must be distinguished from that fire which Christ came to bring upon earth 〈◊〉 the twelfth chapter As this compunction was of saith and the other of fear so here the good fire proceeds from love and hope the effect of the other is desperate raging and hatred The true fire is from the spirit as it is in the sixt chapter of John Verba mea spiritus sunt vita for where there is spirit there is a heat and Christs words being spirituall doe warm the hearts of the hearers the Scriptures being inspired by the spirit of God cannot but work this heat in mens hearts besides God saith of his word Jeremiah the twenty third chapter and the twenty ninth verse meum verbum ignis est it is fire no man can deny it for whether we respect the Law it is ignta lex Deuteronomie the thirty third chapter and the second verse the word of prophesie is firie for the Prophet could not prophesie till the coal taken from the Altar had touched his lips Isaiah the sixt chapter and of the Gospel which Christ preached he saith 〈◊〉 mittere in terram quod volo misi ut ardeat Luke the twelfth chapter and the fourty ninth verse and after his ascention he gave order that the firie tongues should come upon the Apostles that their word might be a firie word that might kindle in the hearts of the hearers Now the word of God is therefore called fire because the quality of fire is most actuall for as some note that albeit many things be hid from the Sun Yet there is nothing hid from the heat thereof for it pierceth into all parts of the world Psalm the ninteenth so the word of God is such and mighty in operation and sharper than any two edged sword and entreth through Hebrews the fourth chapter For as the fire consumeth all things and turneth it into fire so doth the word of God turn the affections of man into word and not the word into affection As the word it self is fire so the motions which it stirreth up in the heart are firie and servent as the Apostle sheweth in the twelfth chapter to the Romans and the eleventh verse Ferventes spiritu Fervencie proceeds of two affections The one is hope in the twelfth verse that where before their hope was cold now it rejoyceth and revives verse the twenty first the other is of love which makes them compell him Luke the twenty fourth chapter to tarry with them verse the twenty ninth thus the word inflames their hearts with love and revives their spirits so as their hope is revived and by working these two affections in them he changeth them that there is not only fire but constancy in the word verba ignea faciunt igneos characteres so as where ink may be blotted out the stamp of the firie word of God continues for ever and is durable But the word hath a double operation against sinne First like water because with it the spot which comes from without is taken away Secondly as fire because 〈◊〉 rust must be burnt out so the inward corruption of our nature must be eaten out and consumed with the word therefore the Prophet compares his preaching to melting and founding Jeremiah the sixt chapter where he complains the bellowes are burnt the
the cause of rest Wherefore saith Job 38. 33. That the Course and Order of Gods Creatures must make us orderly in all our doings In respect of God and us God hath made the Earth to bee our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our work house to doe his will in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he made heaven to be his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Country or pay house where he will reward our good workes Thus we have seen Gods ordinance in these words 1. That Heaven and Earth are Gods handywork 2. That the Heavens by order are first and first of us to be cared for 3. The use of it which we must make both in respect of God of themselves and our selves Now out of this doctrine we frame the first article of our belief thus God in the goodness of his fatherly love made Heaven and Earth and all in them And that he might have a Creature above all others to whom he might impart and bestow them he made Man after his own likeness so he made all things non suo commodo Job 35. 6 7. for we can doe him no good neither did he give them us nostro merito Esay 40. 5 6. For how could we deserve any thing when he gave all things to us before we were and when we were made we were but vanity therefore it was his mere and gratious goodness that brought forth Heaven and Earth for us at the beginning Psal. 115. 15. We are the blessed of the Lord which made Heaven and Earth So in that Psalm is distinguished the true God from all Idolls for they cannot move nor speak nor doe any thing but God did all with his word So St. Paul by the same reason exhorteth the Lycaonians to turn from Idolls to the true God Acts 14. 15. But most plainly Jeremiah 10. 11. teacheth this use to be made of the knowledge of Gods Creation In Captivitie saith he you shall be tempted to serve their Idols but he telleth them what answer they must make which is written in the Caldee tongue all the rest of the book being in Hebrew which answer is this Our God made Heaven and Earth and all in them is but your Gods can doe nothing but their names shall vanish away and not be heard upon the Earth By which we see that this maketh a plain difference between the true God of Heaven and Idols their names shall perish before the earth but as our God was before the Earth was made so the Earth and Heavens shall pass away before him which endureth for ever The Gentils made their gods the ofspring of Heaven Earth but we know that Heaven and Earth are the ofspring of our God which made all and this is the difference to discerne the true God from the false thus we have seen what we are to learn out of this for the grounding of our judgment and sound knowledge and perfecting our understanding in the Creation Usus Now it remaineth to shew out of this four points what is to be learned for the breeding and nourishing of good motions and affections in our hearts For the first If there was a beginning of all things then undoubtedly there will be an end If there be a head though the Image be never so great and tall yet we shall come to his feet at the last Dan. 2. 41 42 43. as the world had its seed time that is its beginning and its Winter time when it was overwhelmed with water and its hot Summer when God rained in it fire so shall it have its harvest time at the last faith Christ Math. 13.30 when the good shall be carried into Gods barn and the evill into Hell fire therefore some have well observed that the Hebrew words which signifie heaven and earth have the first letter of them Alcph and the last letter of them Tau to shew that they shall have an end as they had a beginning both in heaven and earth so faith St. Paul 1 Cor. 10.11 and Dan. 12.12 but as in the beginning the morning had his evening and the evening his morning so shall it not be at the end for then saith Saint Jude in his Epistle there shall be to the godly a morning of eternall life without any dark or dimme evening any more vers 21. and to the wicked an evening of utter darkness without any morning or lightness vers 6. that is as the Angell sware Rev. 10.6 that as God made the beginning of time so there should be no more time nor course nor order of dayes but eternity of all Wherefore saith St. Peter what manner of men ought we to be in all godlyness of life seeing God made the world in love for us and seeing there will be an end of the world and a judgement for us The Apostle Heb. 1. 11 12. citeth Davids saying that the Heavens shall wax old and be folded up as a garment when the full number of Gods Elect are accomplished for whom this garment and covering of heaven was made and who doe bear up the pillers of the earth for if it were not for the Godly and Elect in the world neither of them could continue Esay 51.6 The earth also shall be wrapped up at the time in a word this word Create signifieth to begin with wisdome and judgement and to end with justice and judgement so Elohim the Creator signifieth a Judge and we in our name Creatures carry about us this sentence that we are one day to be judged 2. Point The second point is That the Creation was of nothing then good motions and affections which that knowledge must breed nourish and bring forth in us is to make us learn to know and acknowledge our nihil that each of us in particular are nothing though we in pride so advance our selves here on earth as though it seemed to us that we were something yea that we were made of some more excellent things than others as if we were not as the Publican but saith St. Paul If any think themselves to be ought or if we be any thing now let him know that this is so by God not of himself 2 Cor. 11.5 tametsi nibil sumus in illo tamen sumus therefore if we be nothing that shall condemn us if we be any thing it is not that which can deserve to save us for we are that we are by his grace 1 Cor. 15.10 And if we can acknowledge this with humilitie then we shall know this also to our comfort that he which made us of nothing can and will bring us to be somethings in goodness if we serve him with humble mindes Esay 38.3 And this is the use and fruit of that 3. Point The third point is That God is our Creator whose name Elohim is fetched and derived from this Hebrew preposition el and from the Greek preposition 〈◊〉 by both which God is called which prepositions both doe signifie per propter to
darknesse and on the other side joyn darknesse to light which should be separated not come together Non est aliud Abyssus aliud facies Abyssi they are not two things severed and therefore if it be dark or light in the deep it will appear so in the face of the deep So we must appear and shew plainly and outwardly by our face and deeds what we are within the bottome and depth of our hearts and indeed as the shewing his darknesse over the face of all was a preparation to have light sent to all so when we professe and manifest outwardly how evill we are by repentance it is the very note of reformation and 〈◊〉 we begin to be good Thus we see God is our pattern for imitation to teach us to separate and distinguish good and evill Touching our selves first which thing Gods word also resembling God himself doth teach us Heb. 5. 10. For it discerneth and separateth the will in the hearts and thoughts of men aswell as in actions and setteth his mark on them saying to us this is evill avoid it this is good receive it Two things in light There are two things in light which are the marks and notes of his goodnesse by which it is known that is brightnesse and comfortablenesse So Gods Spirit is called the light and oyle of knowledge for knowledge instruction and direction and in the 45. Psal. 7. He is called the oyle of gladnesse and comfort and consolation so Gods word is a lanthorne and also a joy and comfort Psal. 119. 105. but e contra ignorance and darknesse is melancholy and uncomfortable So we may make our marke of distinction on things for if we see them uncomfortable to the soul and conscience set a mark on it that knowing them we may eschue such things and ensue such things as are good and comfortable And thus much for our selves Now touching others we learn also that in Common-wealths the Magistrate must have his stone of Tynne Zach. 4. 10. that is his marking stone for that is the word also here to set his mark of difference on the evill to discover them from the good The Minister hath belonging to him only vision to discern them Jer. 15. 19. but the Magistrate hath division to doe it so that he may by deed approve and commend the good and reprove and condemn the bad and if all did keep this difference the world would be a light world but because the good and the evill without any distinction or regard are shuffled together 1 Sam. 8. 1. this confusion in Common-wealths is the cause by Gods just judgement of the confusion and renting a sunder of Common-wealths and Churches Dan. 5.18 This just division then looked to in the Governor would avoid confusion in the popular sort as God doth here begin to distinguish light from darknesse so doth he the same continually by his word Heb. 4. 12. separating and marking the works of darknesse from the armour of light for it sheweth to us daily which are ignorant and negligent these things are evill and not to be done that is good and must be done these things the ignorant Gentills and Infidells did therefore thou must not doe the like which hast knowledge these things doe they which are desparate and without hope of comfort therefore thou which hast peace and joy with God must not doe so Thus we must be carefull in separating evill from good untill the great day of separation when God shall sever all evill from good for ever for here God is a Fisher and Common-wealths and Churches are as a Net which hath in them good and bad together children of light and darknesse but then at the last day of separation when a full finall and perfect distinction shall be made all shall not be taken into Gods Boat Math. 25. 32. but the good fish only shall be taken into Gods Boat and the evill shall be cast away Then God will be a Sheepherde Math. 25. 32. and divide the Sheep from the Goats for ever setting this eternall marke venite Benedicti ite Maleaicti Untill the last day of perfect separation there will be still confusion and disorder both in private men and publique Weales but they which cease not to confound themselves in themselves Justice with unrighteousnesse qui confundunt confundentur Thus we have seen the order of separation in God also the manner of it in us both privately and publickly And what confusion will be unto the last day And thus much of the natural separation and the spiritual use thereof Now as here we see divisio rerum so in the next place is set down divisio nominum denominationum which ever ensueth the other for it is the sinne of the world not to divide things in their denominations and names which are perfectly and plainly distinguished in their natures for they call repentance and remorse sullennesse and melancholy and Davids spiritual joy foolishnesse covetousnesse they call honest thrift profuseness providence and riot liberality patience they call cowardlinesse and quarrelling manhood light darknesse and darknesse light So they confound the names when they cannot the natures But such shall give account for it to the great distinguisher in the great last day of division We have in this distinction many things to consider as The names given The Athcists objection And sundry other matters of which the next time Lucemque Deus vocavit diem tenebras verò vocavit noctem Gen 1. 5. verse AFTER God had distinguished and divided light from darknesse as being things in nature opposite and in degree unequall which contrariety and inequality not being separated are the authors of all confusion Now he proceedeth to divide them in name for as the natural division serveth for all things so this distinction of denominations and names in respect of us men serveth for our knowledge to distinguish them which inducement moveth us to think that God had respect to mankinde even from the beginning in all things that he created as if he purposed to make them for men for though light and darknesse affecteth all Creatures even beasts yet the name and title given to them concerneth only man who understandeth and discerneth things by their names and therefore as soon as he made man he gave him a gift to know by what names to call and distinguish one thing from another Gen. 2. 19. for God hath in the Creation ordained things that they should be known and that they might be known he giveth names of distinction which are symbola rerum as it were notes to know them by and because we cannot in this life know all that God made we look for a clearer light after this life by which our knowledge shall be perfect 1 Cor. 13. 12. Touching this division of names we have four things to consider First the manner of denominations Secondly the cause Thirdly the ende Fourthly the dependance of the day on the light and not on
spiritually so we in using them naturally must make this spirituall use of them admirari Artem adorare Artificem We will first speak of the Waters and then of the goodnesse of them Of the nether Waters We have before spoken of the upper waters now this is to be understood of these below which are gathered together in the Seas for these also God saith are good in speaking of which we must divide the waters as the old Hebrews for all waters are good both those which they call the waters of Bethlem that is good and sweet waters for which David longed 1 Reg. 23. 15. and also the waters of Jericho 2 Reg. 2. 19. which were salt and unfruitfull Waters of Bethlem and Jericho Touching the waters of Bethlem 1. First they were good for they have a double use profit and goodnesse which we finde the one is by reason of a filthinesse and foul soil and corruption which the Earth and Earthly things bring to us and which our own sweat and excrements will cause about us and it is a necessarie virtue to wash cleanse and purifie or scourc those things about us which are foul and unclean as by pouring water into our hands to wash them 2 Reg. 5. 10. 14. or to wash our cloaths and apparrel 2 Sam. 19. 24. if we should want and lack water but for these uses it would be ill with us so good and necessary they are for our life This good and necessary use of water is spiritually signified in the Lavor of the Temple in the old Law and in the Sacrament of Baptism in the new Testament 2. The second goodnesse and benefit in it is in regard of drought and heat for when we or the Earth is dry and thirsty the water is drink with his moisture to satisfie it and when we are hot the water naturally cold hath a cooling face to refresh us as the heart being in a chafe and set in a heat by chafing is faint and longeth and brayeth for the waters Psal. 42. 1. so doth mans heart thirst and cannot endure the drought and heat within except it be cooled with the drink of the waters and therefore it is said Psal. 104. 10. propinquavit Deus that is as the word importeth when God made the waters he began and did as it were drink to all the Creatures shewing them that there was the place where they should fetch drink and so to pledge him for ever thereat And in respect of this goodnesse which we finde in the nature of the waters we see that those things which are very good and so necessary that we cannot be without them they are compared and said to be as cold as water to a faint and thirsty soul Prov. 25. 25. Besides this it hath a good use to dresse our meats as well as to be drinke Salt Waters Now for the waters of Jericho Those are bitter and brackish waters of the Seas they were made also very good and to a most commodious use for they are made promptuarius a store house or treasury from whence cometh all waters in the world both above in the Clouds and below in the Earth Clouds Waters from the Sea For the Clouds it is said that God calleth and raiseth waters out of the Sea and causeth it to ascend into the Clouds and so by drops to descend down into the Earth Amos 5. 8. So the Cloud waters are from the Seas So fresh Waters So are all the fresh waters in the fountains and springs for as Job saith 38. 8. they are tanquam lachrymae trickling and distilling from the eyes and head of the Seas for they make the world as a body like a man as they compare man to the World for the head and higher parts is the waters the bones of the bodie is the Quarries and Rocks the Muscles and Flesh is the earthly part of hills c. the Conduit pipes and Fountains of Water streaming and running in the Earth are called the veins of the Earth that the Springs and Fountains issuing and springing out are as the blood letting and opening of a vein and as in a mans body when the veins are 〈◊〉 in divers places the whole body must needs he overwhelmed and all imbrued in his own blood and perish so it is said of the World Gen. 7. 11. in the great deluge in which the World perished by water rupti sunt fontes Abyssi which breaking up of the fountains was the cause that the waters played above the Earth so that all the blood and veins come and goe to one head and originall of the liver so the Rivers have their waters from the Sea and doe return them thither again Preach 1. 7. And this is the third miracle which we see in this work of the Waters First We saw them at Gods word ascending up into the Clouds and descending Secondly The lower waters standing up on a heap and continuing so Thirdly That the Rivers ever running into the Sea and yet are never empty and dry and again the Sea ever receiving all waters that come and thereby being ever full is not satisfied as never full and yet never overmatcheth the bancks which wonderfull miracle in this work of God we see every day and yet regard it not 2. The second goodnesse and benefit of these waters is in Psal. 104. 26. that men may say there goe the Ships that is God made it a fit and good place for Navigation non ad habitandum sed ad navigandum natandum by which passage of Merchandise and Sea-faring men we disburden our selves of those superfluous commodities which our Land affords and get thereby by exchange the commodities of other Countries which we want So that as God hath Wagons and Chariots in the Clouds and we Wagons and Chariots on the Earth and Land so God hath by this taught us to make Ships as our Wagons by Sea to transport and carry and have passage from one Nation to another But though we can have our horses and Wagons on the Land when we list yet cannot Mariners and Merchants have their Sea Wagoners to drive their Wagons there at their pleasures but must wait and tarry Gods leisure for prosperous gales and merry windes are sent them at the good pleasure and commandement of God and by reason of this goodnesse and benefit of waters God hath caused it that the Harvest of the Seas and the Treasure of the Sands shall be as great and greater then the Harvest of the Land and that the wealth of Merchants shall goe beyond the wealth and treasure of the Husbandmen Esay 23. 3. yea we see that Salomons wordly wealth and aboundance of all things both for necessary service as timber gold c. and for pleasure and variety as Apes and Peacocks c. 1 Reg. 10. 22. all that came by means of Merchandise and dealing by Ships and having traffique to Ophir which made him so rich that
allurement to sinne The costlinesse of the apparel sheweth the pride of the minde Job in 29. 14. saith I put on Justice and it covered me my judgment was as a robe and a Crown Justice and Judgment did cover and adorn Job Esay prophecieth in chap. 61. 10. that Christ shall cloath the faithfull with the garment of salvation he shall cover them with the robe of righteousnesse he shall deck them like a bridegroom or a bride with her jewels Adam was created after the image of God that is in righteousnesse and true holinesse as it is in Ephes. 4. 24. in a word the spouse of the Lamb Christ Jesus whose wife is the Church she shall at the latter day be arrayed with pure fine linnen and shining and the fine linnen is the righteousnesse of the Saints Revel 19. 8. The apparel that covered Adam was his innocencie and the robe of righteousnesse melior est vestis Innocentia quà m Purpura Innocencie is better apparel than purple or scarlet say the Fathers out of the first of Proverbs 31. 22. where Salomon speaking of the wise woman saith that her family are cloathed in scarlet and purple is her garment that is the outward vesture But in verse 25. he saith strength and honour is her cloathing that is say they the inward decking of the soul it is not the outward apparel that God regardeth but as Peter saith in his first Epistle chap. 3. 4. If the hid man of the heart be uncorrupt with a meek and quiet spirit before God it is a thing much set by Purple and scarlet are the chief colours and most esteemed of by men yet yet they are the colours of shame and confusion Man in his Innocencie was in honor innocencie and righteousnesse were then his cloathing but when Man obeyed Sathan and disobeyed God he put on the Divels livery which was sinne and shame according to that in Psalme 132. 18. God saith He will cloath his enemies with shame Homo spoliatus honore indutus pudore after mans fall he was spoyled of his honor and wrapped in a few clouts to cover his shame this was his change from honor to misery We must now labour by all means to recover this first innocencie and seeing that we are become wretched and miserable poor and naked we must follow the counsell of the Angel in Revel 3. 18. We must buy of Christ the white rayment that we may be cloathed and that our filthie nakednesse should not appear We must put off the old man with his works Coloss. 3. 9. And we must put on the new man which is Christ who is renued in knowledge after the Image of him that created him Jacob the younger sonne must put on the cloaths of his elder brother Esau chap. 27. 15. And we must put on say the Fathers upon that place the apparel of righteousnesse of our elder brother Christ eldest sonne to God the faithfull are called the Children of Abraham Galath 3. 7. But we by the faith we have in Christ Jesus hope to become the Children of God and heirs of everlasting life as in the Gospel it is said that his wounds doe heal us so may it as well be said that his nakednesse must cover our nakednesse by his passion he washeth away our sinnes he dyed us with his purple blood he dyed an Innocent that we by his death might be unblamable his apparel is red and his garments like him that treadeth the Wine-presse it was he alone that trod the Wine-presse and all his rayment shall be stained Esay 63. 3. It was the purple of his blood that dyed us again in original righteousnesse the souldiers when they had crucified him took off his garments so that he hung naked upon the crosse John 19. 23. You see by the 12. to the Hebrews 2. that he endured the crosse and despised the shame to deliver us from shame and eternall punishment So that we must repose our selves in him and not be ashamed of him for who so shall be ashamed of Christ Christ shall be ashamed of him when he shall come in his glorie Luke 9. 26. But all our glory and rejoycing must be in the dear and only begotten sonne of God in whom we have redemption through his blood that is the forgivenesse of sinnes who is the image of the invisible God the first born of every Creature by whom and for whom all things were created 1 Coloss. 14 15. We must put off the old man and put on the new and if we be apparelled with Christs righteousnesse we shall not be ashamed We must not cloath our selves with our own works and our own righteousnesse which is corruption and shame but we must cloath our nakednesse with the nakednesse of Christ the immaculate Lamb. In a word his wounds must heal us his nakednesse must be our cloathing his shame must be our glorie his death must be the means to attain our life Then we shall hunger no more nor thirst no more we shall be impassible of cold and of heat and the Lamb which is in the middest of the faithfull shall govern them and lead them unto the lively fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes Revel 7. 17. And if we be washed with his blood we shall be whiter than the snow then shall we be cloathed with innocencie by him our corrupt bodies shall put on incorruption and after the mortality of this our body we shall be cloathed with immortality of body and soul 2 Cor. 5. 4 c. This is it that I thought good to speak for the opening of this verse AMEN LECTURES PREACHED UPON the third Chapter OF GENESIS LECTURES Preached in Saint PAULS Church LONDON Serpens autem erat astutus astutior quâvis bestiâ agri quam fecerat Jehova Deus Gen. 3. 1. Novemb. 〈◊〉 1591. HITHER TO hath been shewed at large the happiness and perfection of Adams estate while he continued upright in Paradise Now lest any of us comparing our estate with Adams and finding so great an alteration and difference between him and us because he was holy we corrupt with sinne he was happy and blessed having all things wanting nothing which might increase his happiness we miserable subject to all calamities and distresses which may encrease our miserie he without shame or sorrow we confounded with them both Therefore lest we should enquire how this Change and Alteration came to our natures the Prophet in this Chapter will shew it us that we may be out of doubt As therefore we have had hitherto the building beautifying and perfecting the Frame of all the world and of all the works of God So now we shall see the ruine and lamentable overthrow of all which Saran by sinne brought unto all For whatsoever God hath done in the great world in generall as it is set down in the first Chapter or whatsoever we have seen excellent and glorious in the little world which
what I have said Thus the devill magnifyeth his word and her sense that so by the eating and seeing his dixit might receive their Sentence of allowance Thus much may serve for the withdrawing of Eve from her beleefe by a matter of sense Seeing Now for the manner of alurement Shee seeing the Tree was good for meate and pleasant to the eyes though the eare by hearing of excellency and knowledge doe move her yet hearing these things doth but warme her desire and concupiscence to transgress it is the eye and the beholding of the pleasant fruit which setteth the concupiscence on fire to eate thereof It is the eye that maketh the heart like a bakers Oven that maketh concupiscence to burne as a flame of fire Osee 7. 6. Seeing moveth much more than hearing when we tell you of the joyes of Heaven which are inestimable of the paynes of hell which are intollerable by our speeches you are nothing moved but if you might see with your eyes the joyes of Heaven you would be enamoured of them might you see the paynes and torments of hell which sinners have you would abhorre sin and tremble at the torments Eve was moved more by seeing than by hearing In chap. 45. 28. Jacob was moved with joy to heare the report of his sonnes that Joseph was alive but yet he beleeved them not but when he saw the chariots which Joseph had sent to carry him then he was revived and he said My sonne Joseph is yet alive it was the seeing of the 〈◊〉 not the saying of Israel that made Jacob say descendam videbo illum antequam morior that kindled his desire to say I will goe and see Joseph before I die The desire of the buyer and of the seller is moved by the sight the buyer is desirous of the ware not because the seller sayeth it is good but for that he seeth and discerneth the goodness of the cloth or other thing by his eye and the seller is moved the more when he seeth ready money laid forth before his eyes seeing in things lawfull is much more effectual than hearing and seeing is much more dangerous than hearing of things unlawfull the Serpent thinketh he cannot bring his temptation to full effect unlesse he bringeth her videre lignum and therefore the Serpents petition as it were to Eve is but this I will not bid you so much as touch the Tree nor eate only vide ne comedito Heare me what I shall say doe but behold how pleasant the fruit is and see if you can abstain it is expedient to see that which we may not eate and to know sin that we may avoid it But seeing the Tree is an occasion to eate of the fruit the occasion of sinne which is the seeing of the fruit is to be cut off hearing was an occasion to make Eves heart proud and beholding the Tree caused her haughtie lookes and as it is Prov. 21. 4. A haughtie looke and a proud heart is the plowing of sinne they had liberty to stand or to fall but we must not use our libertie as an occasion to sinne Galat. 5. 13. S. Chrysostome upon that place saith That not only sinne but the desire and the occasion of sinne by all means is to be cut off Though that the seeing the forbidden Tree were not semen peccati the sowing of sinne yet it is like plowing of sin it is a meanes to perswade us to eate by seeing to take an occasion to offend without regard of Gods commandement not being warie when we have forsworne sinne if we retaine the occasion of sin we may easily be caused to sinne Exod. 10. 7. Pharaoh was content the Israelites should depart yet he would have their beasts remain behinde which were an occasion of offence neither sin nor occasion of sin must be left but must be cut off the eye is an occasion to desire and a means to discover 〈◊〉 There are two waies to convey sinne into us by the eare and by the eye and there are two waies to discover sinne the mouth and the eye because the eye is a way both in the conveyance and in the discoverie of sinne therefore say the Fathers God hath placed lachrymas the teares of 〈◊〉 which are the blood of the soule and by the eyes the yellow-Jaundis is discovered by the eyes wherethey doe insinuate That the eye is the broker to all sinne In chap. 6. 2. for that the children of God did see the daughters of men to be farre they tooke unto them wives of all they liked And chap. 10. 13. Lot lifted up his eyes and for that he saw the playne of Jordane was well watred and very fruitfull he chose it for his dwelling It is the eye that provoketh to lust and to pleasure it is the eye that provoketh to 〈◊〉 Ahab desired Naboths Vineyard because he saw it did adjoyn to his pallace He that beholdeth the clouds and observeth the windes shall nor sow nor reap Preach 11. 4. The eye is a mean to make the man idle seeing provoketh to covetousnesse Joshua 7. 21. Achan by his seeing among the specil a goodly Babylonish garment and a wedge of gold he covered them and took them Sathan when he saw that Eves concupiscence was loose he knew she would easily yeeld to the temptation if she might but see the fruit the jaundise of concupiseence might be perceived in her eyes In 1 Sam. 18. 9. When Saul saw how David was esteemed it is there said that he had one eye on David as if he looked asquint in that he looked on David with a learing eye for that he envyed and hated David So a learing eye is the jaundise of a dogged nature He that winketh with the eye worketh sorrow Prov. 10. 10. for often a fair countenance covereth a mischievous heart So in such an eye is the jaundise of deceit Salomon Prov. 30. 13. there are those whose eyes are haughtie and whose eye lids are lifted up There is the jaundise of pride Esay 30. 16. the daughters of Sion are said to walk with wandring eyes wherein is the jaundise of lust Prov. 17. 24. The eyes of a fool are in the corners of the world saith Salomon By such a foolish eye you may know the jaundise of foolishnesse An unchaste eye is the signe of an unchaste heart The Devil saith a Father well by the eye conveyeth the nose of his bellows to set her even in a fire to eat of the fruit Visus solet excitare somnientem quod incautus aspicit invitus despicit he that unwarily beholdeth the fruit perforce shall look into it They served the Lord at first in fear and 〈◊〉 in trembling Psal. 2. 11. But the seeing the fruit did not only stirre up but also increased sinne Amos his continuall seeing of his sister did increase his love to Thamar and when sinne is banished away yet seeing recalleth sinne And therefore that all may be well not only
said ye shall not eate 〈◊〉 speaking of both And again in his second dixit he saith They shall not dye the death and their eyes shall be opened and they should be as Gods By his saying they their he meaneth not Eve alone but Adam also This plural dialect of the Serpent argueth that he tempeth both Eve Adam At what time the Serpent beginneth his temptation he beginneth with one not with both with the woman not with the man with the weaker with her that was but a rib of mans strength with one that is more credulous of his word than man to whom the commandement is delivered in a word he maketh her to fall who is lesse able to stand So that there were then but two sinners in the world the Serpent and the Woman Adam was still upright But here when Adam eateth of the forbidden fruit he maketh up the third sinner So that Sathan Eve and Adam are all sinners Sathan in the Serpent inticed the woman by his curious question in all subtilty to commit sin and indeed prophane and vain bablings they doe increase to more ungodlinesse 2 Tim. 2. 16. The Serpent when he hath plaid his part and made her eat he is gone But as the Sepent was the Devils instrument to tempt the woman so here the Devil instead of the Serpent will work the destruction of the Man by the Woman causing her to give the forbidden fruit unto him Sathan by the Serpent which was the most craftie and the most sabtle made his first assault And here he made his second assault upon Man per charissimam by her that was most dear unto him for in that he saith of her in chap. 2. 23. she is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of man that she weth his affection of his earnest love to her He useth subtilissimum and charissimum that which is most craftie and that which is most deare as his two instruments He tempteth the weaker and simpler by subtiltie the wiser by affection As I told you before he assaulteth the weaker Woman that was but a ribbe having the commandement but by tradition from her husband who had it from God himself and so here in his temptation of man he assaulteth the affection which is the weaker part of mans soul For S. Gregorie saith very well Quod est vir uxor in vinculo nuptiali idem est ratio affectio in vinculo naturali that which the man and his wife is in the bond of Marriage that is the reason and the affection in the bond of Nature reason is the stronger as the husband affection the weaker as the wife Sathan he knew well that such was the affection of Man to his wife that he reposeth such trust in her that he will not examine what she demandeth nor refuse what she offereth for the heart of her husband trusteth in her Prov 31. 11. he 〈◊〉 semitam animae suae the way of his soul and that way will he assault Adam In 2 King 3. 14. Elisha the Prophet not because of Jehoram King of Israel who was wicked but only that he regarded Jehosaphat King of Judah he would not have looked toward Jehoram nor seen him So the Serpent doth here deal with Adam Adam he would not have looked toward the Serpent nor toward the tree had it not been that he regarded the presence of Eve This is his means by the perswasion of the Woman to get his affection and that so Sathan may seize upon it But this is the counsell of Nahum chap. 7. 5. Trust not in a friend nor in a Counsellor keep the door of thy mouth from her that lyeth in thy bosom There is neither trust in friend nor wife this is the mithridate for this poyson we are to beware of Domesticall servants and professed friends which do draw men to mischief more than sworn enemies wherefore follow the advise of our Saviour Matt. 18. 8 9. If thy foot or thy hand cause thee to offend cut them off if thine eye cause thee to off end pull it out better is it to goe into life halt and blinde than to goe with a sound body to Hell fire Cast from thee whatsoever is neer and deer unto thee even the wife of thy bosome rather than to be tormented in the everlasting flames of Hell fire The Devils resolution here is by the woman whom Sathan had enforced to assault man Perverting Gods Councel and purpose So he shall be sure first to pervert the councell of God Secondly the woman shall enter deeper into sinne by making man to sinne Thirdly that Sathan might be Master thereby of them both The disordering of Gods purpose is in this he hath made her for an help but Sathan maketh her an hindrance to obedience The wife should be beautifull as the Vine upon the sides of thy house Psal. 128. but she is become as the Ivie to destroy the tree whereby it groweth she giveth the fruit to Adam to choak him he giveth her to Adam as Saul gave his daughter Michal to David that she might be a snare unto him 1 Sam. 18. 21. He made her to him as Jezabell was to her husband Ahab who by her counsel sold himself to work wickednesse by her counsel he gave himself wholly to serve sinne 1 Kings 21. 25. But woe be to the man by whom offences comes Matth. 18. 7. 1. The womans deeper entrance to sinne It was one thing peccare to sinne and peccare facere to cause another to offend In that she took of the fruit and did eat her self she did sinne she gave to Adam she caused him to sinne and this is an aggravation of sin to make her sinne the more 2. The Devils gain and Adams losse Lastly is the Devils gain by the losse of Adams soul which standeth upon two parts the one is on Eves part and the other on Adams part Eve gave to her husband and Adam did eat For the former Eve after she had eat of the fruit she wiped her mouth and gave of the fruit to Adam like the adulterous woman in Prov. 30. 20. that eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith I have not committed iniquity after she hath satisfied her own desire she maketh as though she had not offended When she had sucked the gall of Aspes and when the Vipers tongue had slain her Job 20. 16. she then wipes her mouth as though there were nor death nor danger in the same and having eaten her self she giveth to her Husband to eat also Evill did Sathan doe and knew it to be so Eve she had after the fall flattering inticements in her mouth her words were as oyle but the end of her speeches was bitter as wormwood her feet goe down to death and her steps goe down to Hell Prov. 5. 4.5 But yet Eve here thought she had done well Sinnes bringeth forth sin You
Corinthians the eleventh chapter and the twenty seventh verse among other miseries rekoneth cold and nakedness and as it is in the fifth of the Lamentations and the tenth the Prophet speaketh heat maketh the skin black as an oven so these clothes defended the skin from the offence of all weather For in nature every one nourisheth and cherisheth his own flesh the fifth to the Ephesians and the twenty nineth he nourisheth his belly with meat and cherisheth his back with clothes We doe account our selves debters to the flesh the eighth to the Romans and the twelfth These two are meant by things needfull for the body the second of St. James Epistle and the sixteenth but as it is in the thirteenth of the Romans and the fourteenth Put you on the Lord Jesus and take no thought for the flesh facere non perficere were vain to make a Creature and not to preserv it God will not but here we must learn to take heed that we make it a defence for necessity and not an offence for superfluity the first of James and the twenty first 4. Of Skins The fourth point is that this apparell was made of skins Herein are two things to be learned first that they were skins of beasts and then that the beasts were destroyed the beast was made to be destroyed but man was to be regarded they must die that man may be preserved from death God hath greater regard of us than of all the beasts we are of more value than many Sparrowes the tenth of Matthew and the thirty first he is allowed here to kill beasts for his apparrell and after to make their Tents of skins God hath given us more understanding than the beasts and more wisedome than the fowles of Heaven the thirty fifth of Job and the eleventh The second thing is the quality of the apparrell which is the first that God gave to Man which they weare for his liverie they are coverings of great frugality they are unlike unto ours which are for shew and not for durance It had been as easie for God to have made them of Silk and of Wool But God regarded not the gorgeous shew This simplicity of apparrell confoundeth the multiplicity of apparrell in these daies which they may well call a world of apparrell The gorgeous attire of the daughters of Zion the third of Isaiah and the sixteenth shall be altered to beggerie so that they shall discover their secret parts Here apparrell was made for the body but we make apparrell for apparrell vail upon vail the frugality confoundeth the riotousness and madness of apparrell and this simplicity our sumptuosness we are ashamed of Adams attire but Adam would be ashamed of us and our prodigality This apparrell was without pride Christ commandeth us not to care for our body what to eat or to put on in the sixth of Matthew and the twenty fifth the body is better than rayment but now mens apparrell is much more worth than the body for as farre as earth is from heaven so farre doe we differ in apparrell from the ancient world and now men consume their daies in vanity as it is in the 78. Psalme and the 33 before plainness was sufficient but now cutting and imbroiderie and needle-work on both sides nothing will suffice Esau for his belly sold his birth-right in the twelfth of the Hebrews and the sixteenth Achan for a little costly apparrell lost his soul in the seventh of Joshua the twenty first and with his 〈◊〉 he went to Hell it was a goodly Babylonish garment the simplicity of apparel was from Paradise but the pride of apparel seemeth by that place to be from Babylon The sumptuousnesse of apparel leadeth men into sundrie tentations the first to Timothie the sixth and the eight verse this is it that makes men to be lovers of themselves as it is in the second to Timothie the third chapter It draweth men to extortion but say rich apparel be worn without extortion or oppression or ill means yet it busieth the minde with vain thoughts and hindereth charitable works for often that too is bestowed upon vanitie which might better be bestowed in charity 5. Adam was content The fifth point and last is Adam looked not scornfully upon his apparel but was content with it which few of his posterity are for still though it be never so well yet one way or other they still mislike that is the first Secondly We must think well of such as weare such simple skinnes and not account vilie of them for having such apparel For those that went up and down in Sheeps skins and Goats skins were such quibus non dignus erat mundus of whom the world was not worthy the eleventh to the Hebrews the thirty seventh But he in the sixteenth of St. Luke the tenth verse that fared daintily that was elothed in purple and fine linnnen every day for all this he was not worthy of the world Salomon in his Canticles saith That the Kings daughter is beautifull within God respecteth the inward heart more than the outward shew the glory of apparel of gold or such like But if the hid man of the heart be uncorrupt and a spirit of humility before God is a thing much more set by the first of Peter the third chapter and the fourth verse Now we desire to be like golden sepulchres if the out side be gorgeous we care not how foul and filthy the inside is well therefore say the Fathers that nimia cura corporis ducit incuriam animae too much care of the body causeth the carelesnesse of the soul. Secondly They came hereby into Gods favour by wearing his liverie they became his servants and so of his houshold They are of the Princes house to whom he giveth bread and cloathing the third of Esay and the sixt verse If they were Gods servants then God was their Master and so it is said the sixt to the Ephesians the ninth that the Master of us all is in Heaven Out of these five clauses for things corporal we learn that out devising without Gods making cannot stand but is vain that God regardeth us more than all the beasts he had made he preserveth our life though by their death hence we may learn frugalitie and to flie vanity we may learn contentment and hate of pride hence we may learn that apparel was first instituted to cover lust not to provoke it Spiritual use And further than these literal points we may gather not only a bodily use but also a spiritual instruction He might have taken the hair of the Cammel or the wooll of the Sheep but the covering him with skinnes doth teach him humility to exalt him to glorie hence then may we gather matter of repentance and of humilitie hereby he hath to deject him in four regards the first is That by sinne he lay open in that he was after thus covered it put him in minde of his sinne though
ninth verse Another confesseth himself unfit to be a Prophet seeing he was alwaies an husbandman therefore men must followthose trades of life for which they are fit The want of which discretion is the confusion of Church and Common-wealth Inconvenience of the contrary There are saith Salomon that have the price of wisedome in their hands and have not wisdome in their hearts in the sixteenth chapter of the Proverbs Such as have preferment in places where they deserve it no contrary-wise it is a great benefit to the Common-wealth when men set their children to such trades as they are fit for Examples So Jacob seeing that Isaac had great bones made him an husbandman and perceiving that Zabulon delighted in the waters he imployed him in navigation and perceiving that Juda was strong and politick fit to bear rule made a magistrate of him in the fourty ninth chapter of Genesis and the thirteenth verse Which thing when it is not observed when Saul a mighty and strong man fit for war is among the Prophers in the first of Samuell the tenth chapter then is there a great confusion Such as will imploy themselves in the ministery of the Gospell must not be young Schollars in the first of Timothie and the third chapter Nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second of Peter and the third chapter Nor without ground and soundnesse of judgment and knowledge for such undertake that which they are not fit for The conclusion is that which the Apostle St. Paul saith Such as have diverse gifts we should imploy them to the glory of Christ our head from whom we receive them in the twelfth chapter of the Romanes and the sixt verse And that every one as he hath received the gift so he doe dispose and minister the same one to another as God disposeth of his manifold graces in the first of Peter the fourth chapter and the tenth verse Ground of Abells calling keeping sheep The second calling wherein Abell was sent hath this ground the husbandman is occupied in tilling the ground which is a thing without life But sheep are living things and they that undertake to keep them must have an oversight to keep them in order And because they are of all cattell most subject to wander they must be kept in with bands in the eleventh chapter of Zachariah In regard of the great care that shepheards take of their flock the Governors of Common-wealths are termed by the name of shepheards So the Prophet Jeremiah speaking of temporall Magistrates I will give you Pastors which shall feed you with wisdome and understanding in the third chapter of Jeremiah and the fifteenth verse And the false Prophets are called false Shepheards in the eleventh chapter of Zachariah The necessity of temporall and spirituall shepheards and why And of the people that are without a Governor it is said Let not the Lords people be as sheep without a shepheard in the twenty seventh chapter of Numbers And for ecclesiasticall government Christ saw the people As sheep that have no shepheard and had compassion of them in the ninth chapter of Matthew and in the thirty fourth chapter of Ezekiel That which is performed to sheep by the shepheards as the leading of them forth the bringing them in pasture the gathering of them together being dispersed the defending of them from violence All this is ascribed to the Prophets that should teach Gods people and sheep of his pasture The sheep are subject to be torne in pieces by the Bears and Lions in the first of Samuell and the seventh chapter And The fat sheep will kick against the young and weak sheep in the thirty fourth chapter of Ezekiel Against which injuries the shepheard is to defend them which is a representation of that oversight that Magistrates have of the people Therefore God took Moses from keeping of sheep to be governor over his people in the third chapter of Exodus And David from following the ewes great with lamb was chosen to be King over Israel in the seventy eighth Psalme As if by keeping of sheep they had been trained up and made fit to govern men Therefore as in Abell is represented the care and oversighted that temporall magistrates have over their people and subjects So Joseph is called the shepheard of Israel in the fourty ninth chapter of Genesis And Cyrus is called Gods servant and shepheard in the fourty fift chapter of Esay And for ecclesiastiall government that is no lesse set out in the care of shepheards And therefore Christ who is the chief shepheard saith to Saint Peter Pasce agnos meos in the twenty first chapter of John Fuit autem post dies multos quum obtulit Kajin de fructu terrae munus Jehovae Et ipse quoque Hebel obtulit de primogenitis gregis sui de adipe eorum Gen 4. 3. Aprill 22. 1599. THESE two Bretheren as we have heard Abell a patern of the Saints Cain of the wicked are the great patern of the maine division of the world that is Abell is a patern of the Saints and Church of God and Cain of fleshly and wordly minded men Concerning whom from the beginning we have already considered two parts First the disposition of their natures Secondly their vocations Thirdly we are at length come to their Religion which howsoever it be last regarded of men yet ought it to be first in place First provides for religion Secondly for trades and why For howsoever Adam after the fall did provide for Religion in the last place yet as Christ saith Non sic fuit ab initio in the ninth chapter of 〈◊〉 Therefore we are first to enquire of Gods service and after to provide for trades and occupations as the Prophet exhorteth Stand in the way and behold and aske for the old wayes in the sixth chapter of Jeremiah and the fifteenth verse Division in four parts touching this Religion Touching their Religion we have to consider four points First the antiquities and generalities of it Secondly the kindes of it that is Cains oblation and Abell's sacrifice Thirdly the ground and reason why they performed this service to God Fourthly the warrant they had for it 1. The antiquity of it being first First for the Antiquitie of this kinde of worship in offering up to God we are to know that there is no act of Religion remembred in Scripture before this offering of Cain and Abell Examples And therefore the Apostle sheweth that the Sacrifice which Abell offered up to God was the first fruit of faith that ever was shewed in the eleventh chapter to the Hebrews and the fourth verse 1. In the law of nature As it was the first before the flood so in the new world when all things had been drowned with the flood the first service done to God was the offering of Noah upon an Altar which he made as it is in the eighth chapter of
building of the Tabernacle as it is in the 〈◊〉 fift chapter of Exodus and therefore the poor widow was commended no less for that little which she put in of her penury than the rich men in the one and twentieth chapter of Luke The Churches of Macedonia were so carefull hereof that in their extream penury their liberalitie abounded in the second Epistle to the Corinthians the eighth chapter and the second verse they were willing to their power and beyond their power to shaw their liberality The difference between almes and offerings There is a difference between almes and almes as Paul sheweth in the twenty fourth of the Acts and the seven centh verse I came and brought almes and offerings That distribution which they of Macedonia made to the poor 〈◊〉 at Jerusalem in the fifteenth chapter to the Romans and the twenty sixt verse is not that oblation which the Apostle speaketh of in the fourth to the Philippians and eighteenth verse where the Apostle saith I received from you an odor that smelleth sweet a sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasant to God That which is offered to Christ and given to holy uses is one thing and that which is given to the poor is another Note For the offerings themselves both Cain and Abel offered but not alike Abel had respect what he offered and made great choice of his oblation he offered not in firse dierum as Cain but primitias gregis and not the meanest but the fattest of his sheep and therefore God hath speciall regard of Abel But as for Cain as he had no regard what he offered so God had no repsect to his 〈◊〉 The quality and quantity of Abel's sacrifice As here Moses sheweth the quality of Abel's offering that it was the fattest he could finde so the Apostle sheweth the quantity of it obtulit plurimam hostiam in the eleventh to the Hebrews and the fourth verse for he had a regard to the Majesty of that great God from whom he received all that he had and therefore serveth him with the best How Gods eye was upon Cain and his sacrifice But to Cain and his oblation he had no regard Gods eye upon Cain was not as the eye of a Cockatrice that is hurtfull only he dealeth with Cain privatively and not positively withdrawing from Cain that favour and good liking which he shewed to Abell The question is therefore why Cain was not regarded If the same faith had been in him which was found in Abel he had been respected He had obtulit as well as Abel but not fides but because he wanted faith his oblation and his person was not respected quia sine fide impossibile est placere Deo Hebrewes the eleventh chapter and the sixth verse What an oblation is Oblation is an outward testimony of that inward reverence we have of God whom we acknowledge to be our superior How to be offered from whom we receive all help and succour Note and to whom therefore we submit our selves This perswasion of Gods goodnesse must first be setled in our hearts and then we outwardly testific our faith that when we offer to God a little we testifie that all cometh from him But this faith and inward perswasion Cain wanted and consequently in making an outward testimony of that which was not in him he played the hypocrite and was therefore rejected Men doe first require the heart and inward affection and then the outward testification much more will God require it at our hands and we cannot deceive him with outward shewes who trieth the 〈◊〉 and heart Second question Secondly but why did Cain offer If he had offered by faith it would have brought forth as good effects as Abel's faith did Respects why Cain offered But therefore he offered not by faith yet he must of necessiry offer for these respects 1. fearing more to offend his Father than God First as Esau forbore to kill his brother till the dayes of mourning for his Father came Genesis the twenty seventh and the fourty first verse because he durst not offend his Father so Cain offered because he durst not offend his Father Adam being a religious man would have been offended if he had not offered so the reason why his offering was not respected was because his fear toward God was taught by mens precepts Matthew the fifteenth chapter this was the way of Cain of which the Apostle saith woe be to them that follow the way of Cain Jude the eleventh verse Men pleasers hypocrites Secondly he thought he must of necessity offer to please other men for he was in the number of those that have a shew of godliness but deny the power thereof the first to Timothy and the second chapter and this makes the sacrifices of the wicked abominable before God because they come as though they had respect to serve God only but it is but to please men Third question Thirdly seeing faith is the gift of God why was he not endued with faith which might make his person and his oblation acceptable to God as well as Abels The answer is out of Job He was one of those that are abhorrers of the light rebelles lumini the twenty fourth chapter of Job and the thirteenth verse What the light of nature taught Cain in offering what ground had Cain to offer but only the light of nature which taught him that God only is able to help in time of need that it is he that gives all things But it tels us not only thus much but shews us what kinde of oblations must be offered to God that is prima primo and the best things to him that is best and of greatest majesty The Lord is a great King and his name is terrible the first chapter of Malachi and the fourteenth verse therefore we must beware what we offer to him Question answered Rebels to the light of nature deprived of the light of faith and why But Cain was rebellious to this light and because he used this talent evill he is deprived of this light of faith the twenty fifth chapter of Matthew and the twenty eighth verse for the light of nature is as the light of a candle shining in a dark place till the day star that is the light of faith arise in our hearts the second Epistle of Peter the first chapter and the nineteenth verse And he that is not faithfull in little how shall much be committed to him the sixteenth chapter of Luke and the tenth verse he had respect to nothing but to please men that are but flesh and blood and therefore the meanest things he had served his turn Note well the summe of desires to be prayed for Lastly If this be the summe of all our desires which David prayeth Psalm the one hundred and ninteenth and the one hundred and thirty second verse Look upon me and be mercifull unto me
done amiss doe as the Hebrewsspake put their trust in the strength of their fâce and in deceitfull lips saying with them Job the twenty fourth chapter Quis me vidit or with her in the thirtieth chapter of the Proverbs that having committed sinne wipeth her mouth and saith Non seci For albeit Cain would not confesse his sault but denyed it saying Nescio and not only but excused his sinne 〈◊〉 without charity toward his Brother so without all humilitie or modesty to God that he was not bound to take care of Abel yet for all that God proceedeth to convict him The verse stands of two parts First the question Quid fecisti Secondly a plain detection in the words following For the first point there are diverse exceptions For the nature of this question some make it a new question touching the same thing that God asked in the former verses Others referre it to Cains deniall as if God should say What hast thou done in saying thou knowest not If we understand it to be a second question then we are to remember what the Prophet saith in the sixty second Psalm that God speaketh not once but twice to shew that he is mercifull and that his oath is a true oath whereby he affirmeth that he desires not the death of a sinner in the thirty third chapter of Ezekiel and the eleventh verse for if a man do but say I have sinned and perverted righteousnesse and it did not profit me he will deliver his soul from going into the pit in the thirty third chapter of Job and the eighteenth verse so greatly is God pleased when men doe willingly 〈◊〉 their sinnes to him And that is the rea on that God having once already asked Cain Where is thy brother Abel doth now ask him again the second time What hast thou done which is all one in effect with the first question The other question seemed far off from the matter but this comes more near to the point Wherein God doth more presse Cain as if he should say thou hast done this murther I will have thee confesse it Which is all one with that speech of Joshuah to Achan My son give glory to God and confesse Joshuah the seventh chapter Wherein he willeth Cain to do as they did of whom Luke recordeth that they came and confessed and shewed their works Acts the nineteenth chapter for it is Gods will that we should call to minde our own deeds before he come to set before us the things which we have done Psalm the fiftieth But others referre this question to Cains deniall why didest thou not confesse thy fault that I might have had mercy on thee Wherein we see that verified that the Prophet affirmeth of God in the second chapter of Joel That he is sorry for our afflictions and withall it is an admonition teaching us our duties For God maketh two sermons to Cain one before he sinned verse the seventh the other after he had sinned in these words Ubi est Abel frater As by the first he 〈◊〉 us to say with Paul in the ninth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Quid faciam so when we have sinned we must smite our hearts with David in the second of Samuel and the twenty fourth chapter and say as the prophet speaks Jeremiah the eighth chapter and the sixt verse quid feci Gods question to Cain doth plainly 〈◊〉 to us thus much that when we have sinned we must repent us of the evill and say what have I done for if man repent not that he hath sinned against God God will repent that he hath made man Genesis the sixt chapter and the sixt verse but there is to be noted further in this question that the reason thereof is that Cain by murthering his brother did not only shew himself like the Devill that evill one as St. John calls him in the first of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse who was a murther from the beginning but that he sheweth himself like unto him in denying the truth as the Devill is said to be the Father of lies John the eighth chapter The detection of Cains Crime is in these words the voice of thy brothers blood 〈◊〉 to me from the earth God goeth forward and sheweth that although the Devill doe stop Cains mouth that he will confess his fact yet all is to no purpose albeit he himself will not say he hath killed Abel yet God setts before his eyes the things which he hath done Psalm the fiftieth and the twenty first verse Concerning these words there are two interpretations First that Gods meaning in these words is that howsoever man needs an Accuser yet he needs none for he knoweth who is guilty though there be none to accuse that man heares nothing but vocall speech but God heares blood speak as God doth loquisurdis so he doth audire muta He calleth those things that are not as if they were Romans the fourth chapter he makes things deaf to hear and 〈◊〉 things speak which are dumb as he heard Moses though he spake not a word Exodus the fourteenth chapter Man cannot see in the dark without the light But the darknes and the light are all one to him Psalm the one hundred and thirty ninth All things are naked and bare before his eyes Hebrews the fourth chapter so that he needs no Accuser Secondly the other sense is the fuller and the more generally embraced which is this though the person guilty being arraigned will not confess himself and albeit there be none to accuse him yet he escapes not as for the Accuser there could be none for there were now but three persons upon earth Cain himself and his Father and Mother as for Cain he denyed the deed as for Adam and Eve who were his Parents such was their naturall affection that they could not finde in their hearts to accuse their Son though it were for killing a Child that was more deer to them than he was Of which compassion we have a like example in the Widdow of Tekoah in the second of Samuel the fourteenth chapter and therefore as Ambrose saith quis potuit alter occidere Abelem though there be neither confession nor accusation yet God proceeds to convince him and grounds himself upon the grievousness of his sinne The voice of thy Brothers blood cryeth to me This kinde of proceeding in Judgment is usuall though Juda spake not a word himself and there was none to accuse him yet he was convinced by those tokens which he left with Thamar Genesis the thirty eigthth chapter and the twenty sixt verse And the Garments of Joseph which he left with his Mistris when she enticed him was thought evidence enough Genesis the thirty ninth chapter so we see that albeit there be neither confession nor accusation yet God proceeds against Cain by conviction and he doth convince him not by the voice of persons which is the more usuall witnesse but per vocem
like 〈◊〉 Psalm the fourty ninth so we see their earthly felicity turne 〈…〉 miserie Therefore we must not dedicate our selves wholy to the world as Lamech we may not desire to be of that absolute power and force that no man shall be able to resist We may not only seek to delight our selves with musick to drink wine in bolls Amos the sixt chapter and the sixt verse That was it that Cains Enoch desired we must have respect to the second Enoch and so desire to be well in this world that we may also be well in the next world that as he is in heaven in glory so we may be in glory with him The beginning of worldly mens desire is Cain that is the getting in of wealth the end is Naomi that is pleasure and enjoying of it that was the course of the covetous rich man Luke the twelfth chapter I will pull down Barns and set up bigger and gather my corn thither and then say to my soul thou hast enough take thy pleasure but as Naomi was turned into Mara so this pleasure is turned into bitternesse Ruth the first chapter The pleasure which worldly men enjoy here is turned into the dreadfull torments of the world to come On the other side the generation of the godly begins with Enosh Genesis the fift chapter and the sixt verse and ends in Noah Genesis the fift chapter and the twenty ninth verse that is their beginning is sorrow but end in rest as the 〈◊〉 saith Psalm the one hundred twenty sixt They that sow in teares shall reap in joy the end of wicked mens pleasure is bitterness but the godly after sorrow are made partakers of rest in the evill day Therefore as the Scripture hath a use for correction and instruction so here not only they are corrected that follow the generation of the wicked posterity of Cain but we are instructed to follow the generation of the godly Tum dixit Lemec suis uxoribus O Hada Tzilla audite vocem meam uxores Lemeci auribus percipite Sermonem meum nam virum interfecero ad vulnus meum etiam adolescentem ad tumicem meum Cum septuplo sit vindicandus Kajin utique Lemec septuagies septies tanto Gen. 4. 23.24 Januar. 20. 1599. IN Lamech who was the seventh from Adam by the line of Cain the Holy Ghost propounds the example of a perfect wicked man as in Enoch the seventh from Adam by the line of Seth he sets out the pattern of a man perfectly righteous Concerning Lamech we heard his name is an oppressor First of chastity by violating Gods institution making three in one flesh where God saith two shall be one flesh and then of charity by proclaiming to the world that no man should hurt him but he should die for it So that where there are two wayes that overthrow that excellent virtue of love and charity that joyns man to God we see that Lamech by turning love into fleshly lust and charity into hatred and revenge gives the world an example of both In both he justifieth Cain as the Prophet saith of Juda That she justifieth Samaria and Sodom because she exceedeth them in their abominations Ezekiel the sixteenth chapter and the fifty first verse for Cain was content with one Wife but Lamech gave the reins to lust so as he took two and though Cain murthered Abel his brother yet he adds not murther to murther as Lamech did who saith That first he slew a man in his wound and then a young man in his hurt but to these two he adds that which the Wise-man calls profundum malitiae that is contempt Proverbs the eighteenth chapter and the third verse For then is a man come to the depth of wickedness when he contemnes God and his word and this is it which the Sonne of God calls the depth of Satan Revelations the second chapter the twenty fourth verse for he scoffs at Gods words which he spake concerning Cain verse the fifteenth saying If Cain shall be avenged seven fold truly Lamech seventy times seven fold verse the twenty fourth Secondly We doe not consider this by it self which Lamech did but we consider him as by this sinne he became the corrupter of mankinde so as it may be said of him that he made the whole world to sinne as Jeroboam made Israel to sinne for he was the first that brought in the sinne of uncleanness and cruelty which are as the Prophet speaks Psalm the eighteenth and the fift verse Torrentes Belial that is the floods of wickedness which brought destruction upon the old world Genesis the sixt chapter For as one saith there was priùs eluvio vitiorum before there was any deluge of waters for so the Holy Ghost witnesseth that the wickednesse of man was great upon earth and the earth was filled with cruelty and all flesh had corrupted his way and all this proceeded from his example for he gave the world a pattern to give the reins to lusts and make no conscience of bloodshed which brought destruction upon them Thirdly When as he had contrary to Gods Ordinance taken two Wives Adah and Zillah the one that set her felicity on painting of her face like Jezabel in the second of the Kings the tenth chapter the other to be to him as Herodias was to Herod Matthew the fourteenth chapter When God for all this spared Lamech and did not punish him as he deserved but rather blessed him with Children and earthly prosperity yet he is not any thing the better for Gods mercy but growes from one sinne to another till his sin became as the Apostle speaketh Romans the seventh chapter Out of measure sinfull and till the chief sinne appear in him which is even the head of the Serpent In whom we finde that verified which the Preacher saith Ecclesiastes the eighth chapter and the eleventh verse that if God presently punish any sinne he is counted cruel But when sentence against an evill work is not executed speedily then the hearts of the children of men are fully set to doe evil as the Apostle also sheweth That whereas Gods patience and long-suffering should lead us to repentance the wicked abuse his goodness and take occasion thereby to add sinne to sinne and so to heap up wrath for themselves against the day of wrath Romans the second chapter and the fourth and fist verses The discovering of these sinnes is plainly opened in this oration which Lamech makes to his Wives for sinne discloseth it self two wayes either by Cains way that is by the eye or countenance as Cain when his heart grew malicious shewed it presently in his countenance verse the fifteenth or else Lamechs way that is by the some or froth of the mouth for we see here according to Christs rule Matthew the twelfth chapter That Lamechs mouth speaketh from the abundance of his heart for the tongue is the Trumpet of the minde and as a Galilean may be known by
nature so with his name He is wonderfull Counsellor the mighty God the Prince of Peace Isaiah the ninth chapter Thirdly With his miracles For he raiseth the dead and quickneth whom he will no lesse than the Father John the fift chapter and the twenty first verse Fourthly Because exception was taken against his miracles For they said that he did them by Belzebub Matthew the twelfth chapter therefore he is further sealed with a voyce from Heaven saying This is he in whom I am well pleased heare ye him Matthew the seventeenth chapter not only whom he commands but where he promiseth to refresh them that come to him Matthew the eleventh chapter Fiftly He hath sealed him with the spirit The spirit of the Lord is upon me Luke the fourth chapter And that not only rests John the third chapter the three and thirtieth and four and thirtieth verses content with receiving the spirit for himself but with a power to give it to his So that by his intercession with God the Father He sent down the spirit upon the Apostles Acts the second chapter Being thus sealed by God he is able to nourish us by his flesh crucified for us unto eternall life if he give us grace to lay hold of it by faith Dixit igitur eis Videte cavete ab avaritia nec enim cujusquam vita ex iis quae ipsi suppetunt in eo sita est ut redundet Luke 12. 15. Novemb. 26. 1598. HERE Christ gives two commandements to covetous men First To discern and see the sinne of covetousnesse Secondly To beware of it Against the latter of them as against every other Commandement the corrupt nature of man makes two questions First of Rebellion Why should we beware Secondly of Ignorance How shall we beware The former question is resolved three wayes First We must beware of it because the sinne of 〈◊〉 is hardly avoided the desire of having aboundance is so rooted in the hearts of all men Secondly Because as it is hardly avoided so it is a sinne very hainous in Gods fight being committed howsoever we perswade our 〈◊〉 that those sinnes are the least that are naturally planted in us Thirdly Because whereas men may repent for other sinned they can hardly repent of this For other immoderate desires doe cease by two means either 〈◊〉 they are satisfied or else when death doth approach 〈◊〉 doth yield to neither of these means for the more that riches increase the more doth his covetous desire increase and the 〈◊〉 that death is the more doth a covetous man imbrace his riches and still covet more Touching the second question Though we be perswaded that we ought to avoid this sinne yet we know not how How to avoid 〈◊〉 and therefore we ask How shall we avoid it The word of God appoints 〈◊〉 three means First Trust in God Secondly Prayer against the sinne Thirdly Meditations concerning the same The first means Trust in God First it is a good way for the avoiding of 〈◊〉 to trust in God for that is a thing that the heart of a covetous man will not set himself against He will in no wise follow the counsell of the Philosopher which teacheth That to avoid covetousnesse a man must give himself to the actions of prodigality he would rather hear how he might get money than how to spend that he hath But if he be advised to put his trust in God he will not be against that as a thing which is not so contrary to his sinne as prodigality But this means doth the Scripture inculcate Trust not in uncertain riches the first epistle to Timothy and the sixt chapter If riches increase set not your hearts upon them Psalm the sixty second Riches avail not in the day of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nam per det in die ira Proverbs the eleventh chapter and the fourth verse Let not the rich man glory in his riches 〈◊〉 the ninth chapter and the twenty third verse As the Scripture exhorts us not to trust in riches so it sets forth examples of them that in vain put their trust therein For this is the man that took not God for his strength but trusted in the multitude of his riches Psalme the fifty second But of confidence in God it speaketh thus It is better to 〈◊〉 in the Lord than to put confidence in man Psalm one hundred eighteen O Lord of hosts blessed is the man that putteth his trust in 〈…〉 the eighty fourth Our father 's trusted in thee and thou didest deliver them Psalme the twenty second and the fourth verse The 〈◊〉 shall hunger but such 〈◊〉 trust in the Lord shall want 〈◊〉 good things 〈◊〉 the thirty fourth and the tenth verse A horse is 〈◊〉 thing to 〈…〉 man but the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him and trust in 〈◊〉 Psalme the thirty third and the seventeenth verse To deliver their souls from death and to feed them in the time of 〈◊〉 After that a man hath admitted this opinion which is so confirmed by Scripture then there is cause to perswade him for the 〈◊〉 gives two commands in the first to Timothy the sixt chapter and the seventeenth verse Charge the rich of this world not to trust in 〈…〉 but in the living God and to distributs To 〈◊〉 them That the cause why men doe not distribute is for want of trust in God They could be content to sow good works but they look up and fear a cloud of poverty will come upon them and they shall want themselves which would not be if they did trust in God but men give more trust to the uncertainty of riches than to the certainty of Gods promise To help this error our Saviour saith Care 〈◊〉 for your heavenly Father knoweth that you need all these things Matthew the sixt chapter and the thirty second verse And the Apostle saith Let your conversation be without 〈◊〉 for God 〈◊〉 said I will not leave thee nor for sake thee Hebrews the thirteenth chapter and the fift verse If we were perswaded that he that seeks to obtain Gods favour by doing good works layeth up a better 〈◊〉 for the time to come than he that heaps up riches the first epistle to Timothy the sixt chapter and the nineteenth verse it would make us use this means for the avoiding of 〈◊〉 For be a man never so rich in this world and never so honourable yet his glorie shall not goe with him Psalm the fourty ninth and the seventeenth verse But their works follow them opera 〈…〉 Apoc the fourteenth chapter and the thirteenth verse Therefore it were good for us rather to respect and provide for the time to come And as it is good for the life to come so for this life present For a little that the righteous hath is better than great riches of the ungodly Psalme the thirty seventh and the sixteenth verse And Godlinesse hath promise of this life and that which is
between faith and natural affection which he felt when he was commanded to offer up his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those agonies which David selt in his own heart Psalm the fourty second Why art thou so heavy O my soul Psalm the seventy seventh and the eighty ninth verse These Combats and spiritual Battails were more grievous to David than those which he fought with the Philistims with Saul or any other outward enemies whatsoever The Battails fought between these two parties are in Scripture four The first is that which in the beginning was fought between them that when the one said Isaiah the fourteenth chapter and the thirteenth verse ascendam the other went down when the one said I will sit they said he should stand Daniel the seventh chapter when the Dragon said I will be like the most high the other said Michael who is like God The second is that which Jude speaketh of that there was a conflict between Michael the Archangel and the Devil about the doad body of Moses verse 9. The third is mentioned in Daniel the tenth chapter the thirteenth verse where when the Church was in thraldom and captivity under the Persians and Chaldeans the Dragon would have kept them still in bondage but Michael fought for their 〈◊〉 The fourth Batrail is that which is here fought by Michael for a full deliverance of the Church for we see the Dragon stood before the woman that was ready to be delivered that he might devour the child verse the seventh And because he was taken up unto God the Dragon persecuted the woman And for that he could not prevail against her he made warre with her seed Apocalyps the twelfth chapter and the thirteenth verse that is with them that keep the commandements of God For if the Devil fought with Michael for Moses body being dead de 〈◊〉 Jude the ninth verse much more will he fight for Christ being borne If he warre against the Synagogue of the Jews much more against the Church of Christ consisting both of Jews and Gentils And as the Angels offer fight for the one so will they for the other For it is plain that the Angels are first in arms when any injury is offered either to the Child or the Woman or to her seed What this Battail was between the Dragon and the Child the opinion of the Church is That albeit the Devils by their creation were glorious Angels yet they might be content not to presume so farre as to be like the most high but after the manifold wisdome of God was made known by the Church unto principalities and powers Ephesians the third chapter and the tenth verse that is when they saw it was Gods will that the Child born of our flesh and taken out of the earth was taken up into Heaven to the throne of God This was it that stirred them up to battail For howsoever they be constrained to submit themselves to God yet they cannot abide to honour a peece of clay And albeit they could not be equal with God yet they would retain a superiority above men which thing being not granted them they are incensed against Christ They think it a great indignity howsoever they have done service to men tanquam Domini as things pertaining to the Lord that now they should doe service to men tanquam Domino But this they are inforced to perform to Christ who is exalted in his Humanity and in as much as Christ hath taken our nature they must adore our nature This is that which the Dragon and his Angels would not yeeld unto But they prevail not in this fight Again the consideration of this which the Apostle 〈◊〉 That God spared not the Angels that sinned the second epistle of Peter the second chapter Angelis peccantibus non pepercit may greatly provoke the Angels to battail That albeit he spared not the Angels that sinned yet he will spare men when they sinne this is a great assault But that is more Nusquam Angelos assumpsit sed semen 〈…〉 Hebrews the second chapter and the sixteenth verse That he will not grace the names of Angels as to assume their nature but prefers the nature of man and that they must adore that person that is be come man this might be a 〈◊〉 remptation As also that which the Apostle affirms the first epistle to the Corinthians the sixt chapter and the third vorse That the nature of man shall judge Angels this might greatly offend them And the Dragon and his Angels will no doubt suggest these thoughts into Michael and his Angels but yet they 〈…〉 The more high and honourable any spirit is the lesse can it 〈◊〉 any indignity And seeing the Angels are such honourable spirits they must needs take it very ill that not only mans nature is exalted above theirs but that they mult doe service unto men not as things pertaining to the Lord but as to the Lord himself This must needs offend them That when they sinne they finde no favour but if man sinne he is spared That when the Sonne of God doth manifest himself to the world he doth not vouchsafe the Angels so much honour as to assume their nature but takes the seed of Abraham and that he will in the last time make men judges of Angels In this manner did the Dragon and his Angels oppose themselves against Michael and his Angels but we see how he doth resist all these temptations and assaults and therefore this battail is worthy to be kept in remembrance The Conquest followeth Wherein we see that in steed of perswading Michael and his Angels that they should not look at the mysterie of Christs Incarnation we see the Angels are content 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first epistle of Peter the first chapter the eleventh and twelfth verses to stoop down to look into those things that concern Christ. Whereas they were perswaded to turn their backs on Christ we see they all fall down and worship him Hebrews the first chapter and sixt verse They all acknowledge Worthy is the Lamb to receive power riches honour and glory and majesty praise and honor and glorie to him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb for evermore Apocalyps the fift chapter the twelfth and thirteenth verses And instead of exalting themselves they are ready to offer battail to them that perswade them hereunto as Davids heart was more inclined to Joab than his wicked sonne Absolom which made him make Joab a means for his restoring into his fathers favour So God is more inclined to be mercifull to men that sinne than to Angels and that is it that makes the Angels submit themselves to the nature of men So that they see Christ vouchsafeth to call us Bretheren Matthew the twenty fift chapter and the fourtieth verse so they are glad to claim brotherhood of us Apocalyps the twenty second chapter as the Angel said to John I am one of thy brethren In as much as God exalts the male
both agreeable to the action we have in hand and also a good dependance upon that wherein we have been heretofore conversant But that these words are to be applyed to the holy 〈◊〉 and Sacrament of the Lords Supper appears for that before he calls himself the bread of life verse the thirty fift The bread from Heaven verse the fourty first The living bread verse the fifty first and all along this chapter there is nothing spoken of Christ but as he is the matter of this Sacrament and therefore these words are to be understood of the holy Eucharist And so these words as they yeeld comfort to the commers perswading them that they are of those whom God the Father hath given to Christ so no lesse comfort is reached to them here for that they understand from Christs own mouth That if they come to him they shall not be cast out but received of him so as none shall be able to take them out of his hands John the tenth chapter and the twenty eighth verse On the other side They that come not may know from hence that as they are not in the number of the Fathers Donatives that is such as are given to Christ but are the portion of Satan For they shall be cast out into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Apocalyps the twenty first chapter and the eighth verse And into utter darknesse where is weeping and gnashing of teeth Matthew the eighth chapter and the twelfth verse Touching the dependance his words have with that part of Scripture which we usually have held when we spake of Cains departure from Gods presence we heard that he did set himself as neer Eden as he could be that he was content for a little trifling pleasure that shortly fadeth to forgoe Gods presence where is pleasure for evermore that for a little worldly gain with Balaam he gives over all godlinesse which is the true gain and that not he but the whole world through ambition as Lords doe seek the worlds honor with the losse of the honor and favour of God Being thus departed from God we heard he came to a Land called Nod that is a Land of unquietnesse and troubles both in respect of the inward disquietness of his soul by continual fear the outward vanities of the whole world where he found that having forsaken God with whom is fulnesse of joy he could not have his desire satisfied by any pleasure that the world could afford But we left not Cain there but heard that the end of that journey was woe as it shall be the end of all those that walk in Cains way Jude the eleventh verse And for that there is none but may fall into the same way it concerns every man to think how being departed from the presence of God he may come back to Christ and especially that he watch his opportunity to come at such a time as Christ will not cast him out And that is taught us here in these words where Christ saith That whosoever commeth to him as he is the bread of life he shall not be cast forth But we must watch this opportunity for there are two wenite's Come to me all ye Matthew the eleventh chapter that have departed from me to receive worldly pleasures and gain The other Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome Matthew the twenty fift chapter and the thirty fourth verse But he that will have his part in this latter venite must have his part also in the first He must come again to Christ by repentance else he cannot come to be partaker of the heavenly Kingdome In these words of Christ we have three persons First Pater dans Secondly Homo veniens Thirdly Christus non ejiciens Whereof the two former parts be the Condition the third person belongeth to the Promise The Condition stands in The Fathers giving and our comming The Promise is Christs not casting out Touching which parts joyntly we are to observe these That every one by experience sindes that the state of sinners live they never so pleasantly is but as Cain called his sonne Chanoch that is a good beginning For the mid'st of that state is unquietnesse and the end everlasting death Which being considered it will make every man willing to come again to God if there be any hope they shall be received In regard of our selves as St Paul speaketh of her that departed from her husband the first cpistle to the Corinthians the seventh chapter and the eleventh verse so it were just that in as much as we have willingly forsaken God and departed from him preserring transitory and earthly delights before his favour he should say Qui discedit discedat that being once gone from him he should not receive usagain But here we are to admire the goodnesse and mercy of God and Christ that instead of a revenger and punisher he is a mercifull receiver that where in Justice Christ might be a rock of offence to such as depart from him he will be a rock of refuge to them that he is so farre from casting out if they come that he is content to seek such as are lost Luke the nineteenth chapter and the tenth verse That he sends and sends again that they should come back Matthew the twenty second chapter That he stands at the dore knocking Apocalyps the third chapter And saith Come to us all ye Matthew the eleventh chapter So there is no doubt but Christ will receive them that come to him For as the ancient Fathers note If when he comes to us we cast not him out neither will he cast us out when we come to him And that no unworthinesse by means of any filth either of body or soul doth keep him from us we see for bodily uncleannesse he was content to be received by Simon the leper Mark the fourteenth chapter and the third verse And in regard of spiritual pollution howsoever a man know himself to be a sinner that is to have an unclean soul yet not to despair because Christ by the confession of his enemies is such a one as doth not only receive sinners but eats with them Luke the fifteenth chapter and the third verse yea he not only 〈◊〉 them that deserve to be cast out as unworthy to inher it s he Kingdom the first epistle to the Corinthians the sixt chapter and the ninth verse but doth also wash sanctifie and justifie them in his 〈◊〉 name and by the spirit of God The Condition on our part was That we come the meaning where of if we look into the ancient Fathers upon the thirty fift verse He that commeth to me is some externall part of Gods worship for so they expound it by the Apostles words Romanes the tenth chapter If thou beleeve in thy heart and confesse with thy mouth for 〈◊〉 eving is the affection of the heart but confession is outward in the conversation of life as some are said to deny God
willingly will come as often as they may and not like those that swell with pride and say another time will serve as well as now as Davids servants said to Naball in the first book of Samuel the twenty fift chapter We come now in a good time for thou makest a feast and art in case to relieve us another time peradventure thou wilt not be so prepared So men ought to take the opportunity and to say in their selves Now is the time of the celebration of Gods mercy and loving kindnesse Now we receive Christ and therefore there is great hope that if we come he will receive us Now we celebrate the memory of his death when he was content to receive the thief that came unto him and therefore it is most likely that he will receive us if we come to him But if we come not now happily we shall not be received when we would It is Christs will That they which are given him of the Father be with him where he is and may behold his glory John the seventeenth chapter and the twenty fourth verse Therefore it stands us upon to come to Christ that he may receive us to be one with him in the life of grace and partakers with him in his Kingdom of glory Qui verò haec audierunt compuncti sunt corde dixerunt ad Petrum ac reliquos Apostolos Quid faciemus viri fratres Petrus autem ait ad eos Resipiscite c. Act. 2. 37. April 12. 1600. OUR Saviour Christ promised Peter Acts the fift chapter to make him a fisher of men and 〈◊〉 the thirteenth chapter That the 〈…〉 of Heaven is like a 〈…〉 which catcheth fish of all 〈…〉 The first casting forth of this act and 〈…〉 draught that Peter had is by 〈…〉 these verses And the draught which he made was 〈…〉 souls verse the fourty first If we 〈◊〉 of what 〈◊〉 They were 〈◊〉 souls of them that killed the Sonne of God and 〈…〉 the spirit of God whom they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈…〉 holy Ghost to 〈◊〉 verse the 〈…〉 These men are full of new 〈◊〉 Which when we advisedly consider it cannot but be matter First Of great comfort Teaching us that albeit we be great sinners as the Jews that put the sonne of God to death yet there is a quid faciemus what to doe that is a hope of remission of sinnes Secondly Of instruction touching the means That if we repent and be pricked in heart with the consideration of our sinnes as they were we shall attain this mercie which they received First St. Luke sets down the Sermon of Peter Secondly The sruit and effect of it As the Sermon it self propounds the death and Resurrection of Christ so in the effect that followed of it we see the means how we are made partakers of his death and Resurrection and that is set down in these two verses which contain a question and an answer In the question is to be observed First the cause of it that is the compunction of their hearts Secondly the cause of that compunction and that was the hearing of Peters Sermon Touching this effect which Peters Sermon wrought in the hearts of his hearers it is compuncti sunt corde Wherein note two things First the work it self Secondly the part wherein of the work it self it is said they were pricked Wherein first we are to observe That the first work of the spirit and operation of the word is compunction of heart howbeit the word being the word of glad tidings and comfort it is strange it should have any such operation but that Christ hath foretold the same John the sixteenth chapter When the comforter comes he shall reprove the world of sinne Now reproof is a thing that enters into the heart as Proverbs the twelfth chapter and the eighteenth verse There is that speaketh words like the prickings of a sword and as Christ gave warning before hand so now when the holy Ghost was given we see that Peters hearers are reproved and pricked in their consciences that they dealt so cruelly with Christ. As this 〈◊〉 the Elect of God so there is another spirit called by the same name of pricking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the eleventh chapter and the eighth verse that is the spirit of slumber which shews it self upon those that shall not be saved Touching the manner of this operation we see it is not a tickling or itching but a pricking and that no light one but such as pearced deeply into their hearts and caused them to cry Whereby we see it is not the speaking of fair words saying with the false Prophets Jeremiah the twenty third chapter The Lord hath said ye shall have peace it is not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the sixteenth chapter and the eighteenth verse that makes this effect but this speaking The part wherein this work was wrought was the heart as Luke the twenty fourth chapter they burned in their hearts and 〈◊〉 the second chapter and the fourteenth verse I will speak to their hearts So it was 〈◊〉 of the eares in the second 〈◊〉 to Timot hie the 〈◊〉 chapter or of the brain that they felt but a 〈◊〉 of the very 〈◊〉 and so should we be affected at the hearing of the word As 〈…〉 is pricked in the flesh is disquieted till he have remedy so should the consideration of our sinnes disquiet us and make us seek for cure This is our duty from their example and it is a good signe of distinction to shew us whether we be of the number of those that shall be saved whether of the good fish that shall be gathered together or the bad fish that shall be cast out Matthew the thirteenth chapter and the fourty eighth verse So if we pertain to God we shall feel this pricking at our hearts after we have heard the word The cause of this compunction is his auditis that is they had heard a speech of St. Peter which did disquiet them till they asked counsel of Peter and the rest The word of God of its own nature hath no such operation for the Patriarch Job saith Job the twenty third chapter It was agreeable to him as his appointedfood And David Psalm the nineteenth saith The Commanaements of the Lordrejoyceth the heart and is sweeter than the honey and the honey-combe But yet it hath this effect in regard that it meeteth with that which is an enemy to our Salvation that is sinne the deputy of 〈◊〉 as the word is Gods 〈◊〉 Without the Law sinne is dead but when the Commandement came sinne revived Romans the seventh chapter and the eighth verse for sinne is a sting the first epistle to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter which lyeth dead so long as it is not reproved But when it is reproved by the commandement of God then it reviveth and stings the heart it makes men have a conscience of sinne Hebrews the tenth chapter and when sinne is
first epistle to the Corinthians the eleventh chapter The prayers of all the just are available but specially of the elders therefore send for them James the fift chapter A Serjeant Constable or Scrivener by virtue of his office may doe that which a greater man cannot doe so the prayer of a person called to that holy function may prevail more The Priests are appointed to offer up prayers and the calves of the lips Hosea the fourteenth chapter So Genesis the twentieth chapter Abraham is a Prophet and shall pray for thee Leviticus the sixt chapter and the seventh verse he shall pray for thee Orabit pro eo Sacerdos Therefore Hezekiah saith Lift up thou thy prayers Isaiah the thirty eighth chapter And Saint James saith in his fift chapter The prayer of faith made by the Elders shall save the sick The prayer of the just avails much but especially of the elders and Priests for to such a grace is given as in the first epistle to the Corinthians and the fifteenth chapter Gratia data est 〈◊〉 and this grace is not in vain Secondly But it must be oratio cum statione Phinehas stood up and prayed For as in the first epistle to the Corinthians and the eleventh chapter of a woman uncovered judge whether it be a comely thing to sit still in prayer All things in the Church must be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first epistle to the Corinthians the fourteenth chapter We must please and serve God etiam habitu corporis The Angels of God stood before God Job the first chapter The Cherubims stood and hid their faces Isaiah the sixt chapter And millions of Angels stood before the seat Daniel the seventh chapter Therefore we must conclude our sitting is not pleasing to God Sedentes orare extra Discipulum est The other sense is the execution or judgement And it hath a good relation to sinnes They prayed and wept Numbers the twenty fift chapter but that prevailed not till Phinehas executed vengeance upon the sinne but the vengeance being performed by Phinehas the plague ceased verse the eighth So then the wrath of God will cease if people cease to sinne or if Phinehas the Magistrate begin to punish sinne in the people For punishment is of two sorts First Every man in himself is to punish sinne as David smit his heart in the second book of Samuel the twenty fift chapter and the twenty fourth verse and the first epistle to the Corinthians the eleventh chapter judge your selves But if not Moses the Magistrate must take vengeance of sinne for if he will not God himself will set his face against that Magistrate Leviticus the twentieth chapter When the people look not at him that strikes them but to natural causes then shall the hand of God be stretched out still Isaiah the ninth chapter and the thirteenth verse The wrath of God for our sinnes being the cause of this plague we must appease him with prayer and repentance If we fail to doe this the devotion of the Priest and the zeal of the Magistrate must look to it else the plague cannot but still increase Amen Amen Addenda Vae vobis Legis interpretibus quoniam sustulistis Clavem cognitionis ipsi non introstis eos qui introibant prohibuistis Luke 11. 52. Octob. 13. 1590. Place this in the beginning of the book next before the Sermon upon Gen. 1. 1. For this was the Bishops first Lecture in Saint Pauls preached as an Introduction to his following discourse upon the four first chapters of Genesis KNOWLEDGE of 〈◊〉 things is compared by our Saviour Christ to a Key 〈◊〉 the eleventh chapter of Luke and the 〈◊〉 second 〈◊〉 as being a thing necessary both to 〈…〉 in this life the way we should walk in 〈◊〉 the second chapter the tenth and 〈…〉 as also for the entrance into the 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 the life to come For which cause holy men in 〈◊〉 have 〈…〉 to this kinde of knowledge Jeremiah the 〈…〉 chapter 〈◊〉 the thirty fourth verse and these have made it 〈◊〉 delight 〈◊〉 the fifty eighth chapter and the thirteenth verse and prefer it before their daily food Job the twenty third chapter and esteem it above all treasures Proverbs the second chapter and the fourth verse But such as are ignorant and know not these thing 〈◊〉 biddeth to goe out and dwell among beasts Cant the first chapter and the seventh verse as if they were not worthy the company of men and therefore Christ weepeth for them Luke the 〈…〉 chapter as if their case were most 〈◊〉 which knew not that they ought Wherefore God hath given 〈◊〉 means and wayes by which we may come to knowledge The one is the 〈◊〉 of the World by the view of his Creatures 〈…〉 hearing of his word by the Ministry of Men. These two are the two great leaves of this gate and way to Heaven which that 〈◊〉 of knowledge must unlock and set wide open that so we may 〈◊〉 enter therein Which two means are spoken of and 〈◊〉 unto us in Psalm the nineteenth the first and the 〈…〉 And St. Paul beginneth his epistle to the Romans with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first chapter the sixteenth and twentieth verses and it was his order in preaching and teaching men the knowledge of God 〈◊〉 at 〈◊〉 Acts the seventeenth chapter and the twenty third verse These are as it were the two great books of God which he would have known and read of all men For as his written word is called a scroll Ezekiel the third chapter and the second verse so is the frame of the world 〈◊〉 a book or scroll Isaiah the thirty fourth chapter and the fourth verse God spake once and twice saith David Psalm the sixty second and the eleventh verse Once he 〈◊〉 Job by the view of his Creatures Job the thirty eighth chapter and again he spake to Moses on Mount Sinai shewing his will Exodus 20. 1. These then being the two effectual means to attain to knowledge there is no place in the Scripture nor any book therein that doth more lively expresse them both than this book of Genesis which we have in hand For it setteth out to us the word of God by which all things were made fiet and the Word by which all things are increased 〈◊〉 multiplicamini and the word by which all men were corrupted non moriemini and the word whereby all are restored conteret caput Serpentis which is the word of Promise and of Faith We are willed to enquire for the old and good 〈…〉 〈◊〉 sixt chapter and sixteenth verse Christ warranteth that 〈◊〉 sheweth us both Matthew the sixteenth chapter the seventh and eighth verses It is the ancientest in time for it beginneth with the very beginning It is first in order and in place in the 〈◊〉 of Gods book and therefore I have thought it good to enquire of this way Some doe give this reason why John of all other is called the Divine
to the woman and her seed Here the wisdom of God doth observe a wonderfull proportion between the Devils fault and the punishment Before his evil speaking was rewarded with curse his Pride with creeping his Lust with loathsome feeding on the dust and here that visor and shew of friendship whereby he tempted our first Parents to transgresse Gods Commandement is taken away by open hostility He made a great shew of love and good will to Adam and Eve and as one saith howsoever he were indeed a cruel adversary yet he pretended himself in outward shew to be a faithfull Counsellor But this preposterous agreement of theirs with Hell and death Isaiah the twenty ninth chapter is broken off by God himself who instead of the Devils love fained saith I will put open enmity between thee and the woman By the successe which our Parents had of the Devils fained good will it is easie to be seen that no temptation is so dangerous as that which is offered by way of compassion and friendship and therefore when Peter said to Christ in Matthew the sixteenth chapter and the twenty second verse Master pitie thy self Christs answer was Get thee behinde me Sathan and therefore God useth to plague such preposterous loves and wicked agreements with deadly hatred So God punished the 〈◊〉 of Abimlech and the men of Sichem with bitter hatred for he sent an evil spirit between them which made them break their promise made to Abimelech Judges the ninth chapter and the twenty third verse The end of the preposterous love which Ammon bare to Thamar was such as his hatred wherewith he hated her after was greater than ever his love was the second book of Samuel the thirteenth chapter and the fifteenth verse So Judas having made a wicked compact with the high-Priests and Scribes to betray Christ into their hands was rejected of them after What is that to us Look thou to that Matthew the twenty seventh chapter Touching the enmity between the Serpent and the woman three things are here set down by God First that it shall be personall between thee and the woman Secondly it shall be mortal enmity such as shall never be forgotten but the Posterity shall continue it between thy seed and hers Thirdly it shall be a mortal and deadly hatred the woman and her seed shall break the Serpents head Further when God saith not only that thus it shall be but that he himself will be the Author of this enmity as he saith I will put we are to consider two things First That God himself is the ruler and stirrer up of our inward affections that he is not only the searcher of our hearts Acts the first chapter but the turner of mens hearts Proverbs the twenty first chapter for so he turned the Kings heart toward Esther and gave her favour with him Esther the fift chapter When a mans wayes please the Lord he will turn the hearts of his enemies so that they shall be his friends Proverbs the sixteenth chapter and the seventh verse Thus he turneth mens mindes both in good and evil things When the Serpent and our Parents conspired together in that which was evil God turned their hearts and made them hate one another So when all People and Nations that were escaped our of the flood conspired to build a Tower God himself counfounded and scattered them Genesis the eleventh chapter So as he is the God of peace in good things so in evil things he will be the God of discord and therefore he saith I came to send a sword on earth Matthew 10. Secondly As by these words he sheweth that all our affections are in his hand so he teacheth us that where he proclaimeth enmity we ought not to compound or make any peace Because God saith I will put enmity between the Serpent and the seed of the woman therefore we must not make any league with the Devil sinne the world or our own lusts but wrestle or be at warre with them continually The persons between whom this enmity is proclaimed is the Serpent and the Woman which must first be literally understood of the visible Serpent for that Creature of all other doth strike a terror into man when he seeth him so that presently man is inflamed with hatred against the Serpent Here this question ariseth Whether this antipathy that is naturally between Man and the Serpent were before the Curse or only after The answer is That there was a hatred between them from the beginning as of the Wolf with the Lamb and the Lyon Isaiah the eleventh chapter and Isaiah the sixty seventh chapter but this hatred did not shew it self between them but was stayed with the same grace by which man should have been preserved from death if he had not sinned There is an antipathy between the body of man and fire so as the one is apt to destroy the other as by grace this was stayed in the three Children that were call into the furnace Daniel the ninth chapter Water would naturally drown the body of man being heavy but by grace nature is stayed as when Peter walked upon the water Matthew the fourteenth chapter And the Lyon is a beast given to devour being naturally hatefull but when Daniel was cast into the Lyons den God by his grace preserved the Prophet so as the Lyons had no power of him Daniel the sixt chapter So the hatred that is in man toward the Serpent naturally did not shew it self in the Creation as it doth now that man is fallen from his Innocencie The same is also verified in the invisible Serpent if we compare spirituall things with spirituall in the first epistle to the Corinthians the second chapter For though Adams wife were in regard of sin rather the mother of the dead than of the living as she is called in the third chapter of Genesis and the twentieth verse yet for the hope of life which God doth offer unto us in this feed Adam calleth her not amisse The mother of the living for that she was a resemblance of the Church within All that will be pertakers of Salvation must be born anew to lead a spirituall life For in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalyps the Church is compared to a woman with Child and the Devil to a Dragon persecuting the woman to shew the spirituall enmity that is between the Devill and the faithfull between whom God doth here forerell there shall be perpetuall hostility The seed of the woman principally and by way of eminency is Christ as St. Paul expounds it in the third chapter to the Galatians and the Church which is called Christ in the first epistle to the Corinthians the twelfth chapter and the twelfth verse doth by the preaching of the word conceive a spirituall seed and travail till she have brought forth Galatians the fourth chapter and the old Serpent of whom Christ faith in the eighth chapter of St. John You are of your father the Devil
to doe to him is to bruise his head in pieces which we shall be able to doe in him that strengthneth us Phil. 4. That which he will doe to us 〈◊〉 that he will bruise our heel therefore we are to take heed of him By the Serpents head is meant the first suggestion whereby he stirreth us up to sinne which albeit in the beginning it were strong when he tempted Eve yet since the promise Christ hath weakned it nothwithstanding as Christ resisted the first suggestion Matth. 4. so must we after his example begin at the weakest part even at the first suggestions and provocations which seem to us to be nothing which the Prophet signified by the children of Babel which he would have dashed to the stones Psal. 137. In that respect it is that the Church would have the little Foxes destroyed that hurt the Vines Cant. 2. 12. And the Prophets counsel is That we 〈◊〉 upon the Cockatrice egge lest it 〈◊〉 a Serpent Isaiah 59. The Fathers out of Adams temptation 〈◊〉 four degrees of our spiritual 〈◊〉 The Man the Woman the Serpent the Tree By Man they understood reason by the Woman the sensuality and carnall affections of our mindes by the Serpent the Devil by the Tree the occasion Concerning which as it is good counsel to hear this spoken Command Eve so it is better counsel Take heed of the Serpent and thou shall be safe but if thou doe not look upon the tree thou shalt be safer For if we avoid the occasion of sinne then shall not our concupiscence be stirred up but he that maketh no conscience to 〈◊〉 the occasion he loveth danger and as the Wise man saith he shall perish therein The 〈◊〉 if it be lightly touched will sting and prick but if it be crushed hard in a mans hand it looseth the power So if we dally with sinne it will sting us but if we bruise the very head of it that is the first motions then it shall not hurt us Thus did Christ Matth. 4. and thus he would have us doe likewise Jacob being stirred up by his mother to seek the blessing of his father and to counterfeit the person of his brother answered That he durst not last instead of a blessing he should procure acurse Gen. 27. 12. Joseph being solicited to uncleannesse by his Mistris answered How can I 〈…〉 Gen. 39. Thus with the consideration of Gods curse and of his benefits towards us must we tread the head of the Serpent But if we be ready to make league with hell and death Isaiah 28. that is to 〈◊〉 to the suggestions of Satan If instead of treading him under feet we tread under foot the blood of Christ by which we are sanctified Hebrews 10. if where we should labour to wound the Devil we doe heal his wounds with sweet words Jer. 6. then are we faire from that spiritual enmity that God requireth and doe deprive our selves of the promise of victory This not bruising of the Serpents head will cause another contrition For that man that for lack of grace doth not tread down concupiscence and make it subject to the spirit of God shall be fain to grinde his own heart and to break it as he should have broken the Serpents head for one of them must of necessity be performed either the Serpents head must be bruised and broken or else our own heart must be broken with sorrow and grief for sinne which is that acceptable sacrifice which God doth not despise Psal. 51. Secondly Touching that which the Devil doth to us we are taught here That though he be grievously wounded yet he will not give over but make warre with the Womans seed forever If he could he would be at the head but because he cannot he begins at the heel and by little and little layeth men down all along upon the ground that so he may poyson the head Thus he circumventeth men to make them fall 2 Cor. 1. We must therefore chiefly look to that part which he aimeth at most and that is the heel and in that regard it behoveth us to have our feet shod with the 〈◊〉 of the Gospel Ephes. 6. 15. The heel hath three considerations First Calcem 〈◊〉 Secondly actionis Thirdly vitae The heel of our soul is the lowest part thereof which toucheth the earth that is as the Apostle terms them our fleshly lusts 1 Pet. 2. 11. and our worldly lusts Titus 2. 12. These affections are as it were the feet whereupon our souls doe walk for the affections are the feet of the soul and minde which if they be corrupt they cause the soul to sinne therefore the Prophet complaineth That the wickednesse of his heels compasseth him Psal. 49. 5. meaning the corrupt lusts and affections of his heart For as the cold wherewith we are troubled in our head is first taken in our feet so the corruption of our opinion and understanding proceeds from our corrupt affections Secondly The heel of our actions is the end for which we doe them wherein we must be carefull that all we doe be done for Gods glory and not for our own praise this is it which our Saviour reproveth in the Scribes and 〈◊〉 They did good works they fasted prayed and gave almes but the end of all that they did was not good for they did it to be praised of men Matth. 6. For it is the Devils policie if he cannot hinder good actions yet to corrupt mens minds so as they shall not refer that which they doe to Gods glory which is the right end and only thing we should aim at but to their own praise and commendation among men Therefore we must beware for what end we doe any thing be it never so good namely that it be reserred to Gods glory according to the Apostles rule 1 Cor. 10. otherwise it not only loseth commendation but becommeth sinfull how goodly a shew soever it carry outwardly for whatsoever is not of faith is sinne Rom. 14. Thirdly By the heel in the tird and last sense we understand the end of our life For at that time when all action is past the Devil knowing that he hath but a little time to practise his malice against us doth then most of all rage against us Apoc. 12. Therefore even then especially we must oppose our selves against him that he doe not venom and poyson our heel that is when we are ready to depart this life to give us the overthrow to drive us to desperation and make us to despair of Gods favour Thus we see his desire is and will be either to corrupt our affections that we shall desire that which is evil Or if we doe good he will poyson the end of our actions so as we shall not seek Gods glory but our own praise Lastly When we come to the end of our life then he will be busie to weaken our faith and to overcome us by taking from us all other spiritual graces And not only in these but he will hurt us in our goods and good name And we must be content to suffer these things at his hands that he may not hurt our souls Exod. 4. 3. We must not think it strange if we suffer detriment in temporal things so that he doe us no hurt spiritually to the overthrow of our souls FINIS