them arraigne them endite them and condemne them and feare them not but still pray for prayer is flagellum diaboli as Augustine calleth it the whippe of the Diuell which he more feareth then all the coniurations of Poperie then all holy water and crossings yea more then the dog doth the whip and as when the dogge heareth the bell at the whips end he runneth out of the house so when Sathan perceiueth a Christian addresse himselfe to prayer though it be neuer so weakely and with great striuing yet he then feareth the rebuke of God and giueth place Oh then let vs pray good brethren euen then then when we are about to giue almes or to heare a Sermon or to preach the word or to reproue sinne boldly or to handle doctrine soundly or to deale roundly with the consciences of men and in all other spirituall exercises and not only in them but also in our ciuill affaires in buying and selling if thou meanest to deale truly and vse plaine and simple dealing and to be at a word Oh then pray also in inuiting thy friends and neighbours to thy house when thou entertainest the preachers of Gods word at thy table when thou art troubled in making prouision and to haue all things cleane and handsome oh then pray when thou callest foorth thy children to shew their wit their aptnesse and towardnes to learne their profiting in learning and such like oh then pray too when thou cariest thy friend to shew him thy house and thy roomes and thy riches and the workes of thine owne hands and thy fine gardens and walkes and thy fruitfull Orchards and thy fatte cattell and thy great dealings and thy daily expenses c. Oh in all these go not without thy whippe of prayer to driue away Sathan and all his theeuish suggestions and vaineglorious cogitations for euen then when thou thinkest to do all for the best thou shalt be circumuented and deceiued of thy reward before thou be aware if thou then euen then I say do not take heede Then shalt thou heare the whispering feel the tickling of a number of spirituall and inuisible theeues in thy hart Oh saith one to him that studeith for a Sermon when he readeth a trim discourse or fine simile that pleaseth himselfe Oh this will do well to grace thy Sermon withall oh men will commend thy wit and thy inuention for this and thy boldnesse for that and thy iudgement in that c. Oh here is a tickling theefe in the heart driue him out by prayer take heed of him yeeld not vnto him but pray then and say Lord none of all these come of my selfe thou art the giuer of them they are thy mercies to me ô Lord I am not able nor worthie my selfe to carrie such treasures of thy Spirite to thy people Lord be mercifull vnto me and sanctifie my heart that I may seeke thy glorie and not my owne Oh hallowed be thy name Lord hallowed be thy name not vnto vs ô Lord not vnto vs but to thy name let the praise be giuen Lord humble my swelling heart with the feeling of my sinne and my speciall corruptions Oh Lord driue out these proud thoughâ—s these vaine imaginations these wicked and sacrilegious affections which go about thus to rob thee of thy honour both in me the speaker and in others the hearers let them not commend thy gifts in me or in any man but alwayes to thy praise and glorie And thus must we be exercised continually while we liue In like sort when thou art about to shew thy reading and discoursing veine at the table pray for then a theefe within thee will be ready to tell thee that all the company will and do admire thee for thy gift that way Yea or if thou sit still and be silent and neuer speakest but when thou art required and then very modestly too yet then watch and take heede for euen then commeth a spirituall theefe perswadeth thee to thinke with thy selfe surely men will commend me aswell for my silence and modestie as such a one for his learning wit but where is the Kings Atturney all this while to pleade for Gods right I meane the spirite of sanctification to perswade thy soule to giue the glorie to God who gaue thee those gifts and that grace with God and man where is he Oh therefore then when thou doest these things euen then I say take heede watch and pray Hallowed be thy name Lord rebuke Sathan quench these his fierie dartes humble my proud heart make it to affect thee and thy glorie aboue all things and in all things In like sort in doing the parts of a ciuill man entertaining of preachers or thy honest friends and neighbours in shewing them thy faire houses thy well contriued roomes thy wealth thy gaines thy great expences thy great reuenewes thy toward children c. doest thou not feele a theefe within thee tickling and dallying with thy false heart and telling thee that thou shalt be highly commended for these things and thy fame shall be spread farre and neare and thou shalt be spoken of for it and reuerenced and admired c. doest thou not feele such a theefe within thee speaking such things And what is all in effect but to perswade thee to rob him who hath enriched thee to disgrace him who hath graced thee and to wound him who hath healed thee whereas thou oughtest then to say I will shew these things and tell what goodnesse I haue receiued of my mercifull God and heauenly father that men may commend his goodnesse therein and spread the fame of his name farre and neare and may reuerence and admire his wisedome and power and mercifull workes towards mortall man and may both feare and loue his Maiestie for the same And to this end let vs watch pray that God in al things and for all things may haue his due praise and glorie In like manner when thou giuest thine almes or buildest anie hospitall or giuest any thing to the poore of such and such a parish c. if thou doest not take great heed and examine thy heart and stand with prayer at the doore then will Sathan be busie and a spirituall theefe will stand vp in thy hart and say Oh now this being knowne how will the poore commend me how will the world commend me I shall now get a name that I am a good man to the poore I hope to come into the Chronicles for my good deeds one day c. Oh then scourge these corrupt and diuelish affections chase them away by prayer let them not dwel in thy heart giue theÌ„ no entertainement desire to giue all the glorie to God and desire others to do the same for thee for that he hath made thee both able and willing to giue and hath made thee his steward and deputie to giue euery one his portion that his fatherly goodnesse hath appointed them The like is to be done of
repentance may be soueraigne and not deadly there must be faith ioyned therewith whereby we applying the promises of God to our hearts may be assured that our sinnes are both fully punished and freely pardoned in Christ Iesus For by faith our harts are purified sayth Saint Peter For our preseruatiue against the corruption and contagion of a leud heart in time to come there are also two things required The first is heedfull watchfulnesse The second is continuall prayer and calling vpon God That this is true it is very euident by the words of our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell Take heede watch and pray sayth he least ye fall into temptation To shew that if we be carelesse and negligent in prayer we shall soone fall into the hands of the tempter And in another place Take heede least at any time your hearts be surfeted and ouercome with the cares of this world To shew that our hearts must be kept and looked vnto like little children which else would euery houre eate and drinke that which should hurt them or fall into the fire or water or incurre one mischiefe or another And this is that which Saint Paul meaneth when he requireth vs to walke circumspectly and is all one with that of Salomon in the fourth of the Prouerbes Keepe thy heart with all diligence as if there were no hold in the world so much assaulted nor any mans daughter or goods so much layed for as the heart of man is and therefore that must be kept with all diligence and watched most narrowly This diligent keeping and heedfull watching of our hearts must be after the manner of souldiers with our armour and weapons about vs. And what those are the Apostle teacheth vs in Ephes. 6.12 c. and he calleth it the armour of God because all the world could not tell how to make an armour for the soule but God who created it and knoweth what enemies and assaults it is subiect vnto A helmet she must haue but that must be of hope which causeth her with patience to expect the performance of Gods promised saluation and this beareth off all the blowes of Sathan Then a brest-plate she must haue but that must be of righteousnesse to shew that the louers of vnrighteousnesse and wrong are easily thrust through and spoyled yea as Paule saith they pierce themselues through with many noysome lusts and temptations Then she must haue a girdle to keepe all her armour close about her and that must be of truth and sincerity or soundnesse of heart and a good conscience which is opposite to hypocrisie Then a sword she must haue in the one hand and a shield in the other to defend her selfe withall and to offend her enemies But this sword must be the word of God not the Popes Legenda aurea which hath wel-neare as many lyes as lines in it nor any of his dirtie Decrees And her shield must be a liuely iustifying faith which must still apply Christ and his merits and oppose him against all that euer Sathan cannot obiect against her Then she must be shod with shooes but they must be affections prepared and alwayes in a readinesse to heare and beleeue the Gospell whereby she shall speedily and easily trauell and come to all the rest And to all these she must ioyne continuall and feruent prayer both for her selfe that she may betime put on and skilfully vse this armour as also for others and namely first for her Captaines and Leaders the Ministers of the word and next for all the Saints and members of the Church that be her fellow souldiers And thus we see a Christian man in armes appointed to keepe diligent watch ouer his heart being thus appointed with armour of Gods making and of the Spirits putting on he is diligently to examine euery thought before it enter and euery word and gesture before it passe from him hauing the feare of God in stead of a gard alwayes to keepe the doore and passage Now further that we may watch and pray to good purpose we must know and remember First what we are to pray for Secondly what we must pray against The things that we must pray for are principally foure First that God would create in vs a cleane heart and renue a right spirite within vs Psal. 51.10 That is in stead of an ignorant heart to giue vs a heart endued with knowledge in stead of a dull heart an vnderstanding hart as Salomon prayed 1. King 3.9 in stead of an adulterous heart a chast heart in stead of a subtill and crafty heart a simple and discrete heart in stead of a proud and high minded heart an humble and lowly heart in stead of a foolish heart a wise heart in stead of a malicious hart a charitable hart in stead of a hard hart a soft tender hart in stead of a vaine and profane heart a holy and religious heart in stead of a stubburne and rebellious heart an obedient and tractable heart and in stead of a counterfeit and dissembling heart an vpright and a sound heart And a heart thus altered and renued by God Dauid calleth a heart new created to shew first that we can no more of our selues reforme our owne hearts whatsoeuer Papists prate then we can create a heart Secondly that vntill our hearts be renued by the grace of Gods Spirite they are as if they were not at all And thirdly that as all the workes of creation belong to God onely so doth also the reforming and altering of the inward man and euery affection and power belonging to the same The second thing that we must pray for is that it would please his diuine Maiesty to ioyne sanctification and illumination together in our minds that is not onely to enlighten our hearts with the vnderstanding of his will but also to worke in vs the loue of righteousnesse and obedience to his will yea that he would to that ende giue vs an vnderstanding heart or a heart enlightened that we may keepe his law with our whole hearts So Dauid prayeth in Psalme 119.34 Giue me vnderstanding and I will keepe thy law yea I will keepe it with my whole heart And that is the way indeed to come vnto a sound and a sauing knowledge of God as our Sauiour Christ sheweth in the seuenth of Iohn verse 17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God of no. Not the idle hearer or vaine disputer or the carping cauiller c but the doer yea he that is resolued to followe Gods counsels shall know Gods counsels and none else And vntill we haue an actiue vnderstanding in the law of God not the forme of doctrine onely or a formall knowledge of the same but the power of it as the Apostle teacheth vntill then I say we be like
of lowlinesse and of zealousnesse and of constancie and of sinceritie and of loue and of charitie and of true deuotion which thou hast seene or heard of in the Saints and holy men and women of God for euen they are lights and comfortable lights too when Christians meane to keepe Christs watch ouer their hearts and affections But all these are to no purpose to thee except thou haue one light within thee as well as without thee When God hath bestowed these outward lights vpon thee then pray thou for the gift of the holy Ghost that he being in thy heart may open thy eyes of vnderstanding and iudgement to see the wonderfull things of Gods lawe as he opened the heart of Lydia when Paule preached and also to frame thy will and affections to take pleasure and delight in the Saints and their examples who excelled in vertue vpon earth and so much for thee that sittest in darknesse Now to those that haue lights that is preaching inough and good bookes inough and good knowledge inough and can discourse of good examples inough but are oppressed with sleepe and a spirit of deadnesse and drowsinesse that is are carelesse of that they heare and forgetfull of that they both heare and reade and make no conscience of any thing longer then it is rung into their eares I cannot tell well what to say vnto them to discourage them I am loath and to incourage them as they are I am afraid but let vs see is there no way to make them vigilant that they may take heed of the enemy when he commeth verily yes First they must desire their fellowes and neighbours to call vpon them by exhortation and awaken them as men do that meane to ride a iourney together then if they fall asleepe againe they must cause the watchmen of the streetes that is their publicke teachers and pastours to smite them and pinch them euen with speciall application of the doctrine vnto their owne hearts and consciences then they must resolue to be patient and contented that they be often and loud so called vpon as Christ did often call vpon his Disciples when they were heauy and therefore often and loud because they were heauy To which ende the congregation should not be pestred with an ignorant nor a cold teacher nor a strawbury Sermon man that either cannot or will not or will but coldly and seldomly rouze vp mens drowsie consciences but such as shall be instant in season and out of season that is vppon all occasions to lift vp their voices like trumpets and to tell the Lords people of their sinnes both in generall and also in particular And lastly they must take heede of eating and drinking such things as are like sleepy and drowsie meates that is that they delight not in such carnall company and fleshly pleasures as will in time both breed a consumption of Gods graces in them and also harden and besot them so in their sins that in time they may grow past all feeling for consuetudo peccandi saith Augustine tollit sensum peccati the custome of sinne taketh away the feeling of sinne Now for those that are discouraged through fearfulnesse of their owne abilitie and affrighted with the fearfull sights of their enemies like Elisha his seruant at the sight of the Aramites there be of two sorts which haue need of good instruction and great incouragement The first sort are dismayed at that which is past the second is affraid of things to come The first are such as haue bene in the battell and haue beene foiled and ouermatched with rebellious thoughts and vnsanctified affections and these like a weake porter at a gate hauing opened the doore to some one whom he had a mind vnto were not onely so troubled by that one sinne of theirs whom they meant not to keepe alwayes that they could not tell how to be rid of him any more but also by that same one false and fained friend haue bene betrayed in letting in a presse of many other sinnes which they neuer thought of to the spoiling of all that was within which they thought to keepe out but finding themselues ouermatched with the preasse without and wanting strength within haue euen in a kind of desperate manner sit downe and let all alone to come in and do what they will wishing when it is too late as they imagine that in time they had taken heede of that one false and deceitfull affection which they entertained To these men a man cannot say obstate principijs withstand the beginnings for that the fray is already begunne and they almost nay altogether put to the worse But the best counsell for such a one is redime te captum quam queas minimo get out of their hands so soone as thou canst and as Christ said to the woman taken in adulterie go and sinne no more least a worse thing happen vnto thee that is take better heede another time But how shall I get out of their hands wilt thou say verily of thy selfe a thing impossible thou must craue helpe of a stronger then thy selfe or then the enemie that hath thee in possession and that is Iesus Christ the victorious Lion of the tribe of Iuda who hath alreadie dispossessed the strong man of his hold and purchased the possession to thy vse if thou sue to him by earnest prayer and embrace him by a holy faith thou shalt recouer thy hold againe And without these two weapons it is not possible for thee by all thy heede taking to auoide the sleights of Sathan And what though thou carrie a scarre and weare some shakles of the vnregenerate part yet be content and thanke God for thy victorie by Christ. Iacob could not get the blessing without wrestling and in wrestling he was smitten and being smitten he halted and continued lame euer after and thus was it with Israel that is he that preuailed with God And so shall it be with euery true Israelite and member of Christ while the world standeth But what of all that Gods power is made manifest in the weakenesse of his children and so thou may in the end preuaile with God for his blessing be content to receiue with the blessing of God many a blow knowing that it is better to go lame and blind into heauen then otherwise after all ease and carnall pleasure to go into hell Now for those that are afraid to stand vpon their spirituall watch for feare that they should be foiled and spoiled they are to be encouraged and admonished Great cause of encouragement they haue for that if God once open their eyes they shal see more with them then be against them as the seruant of Elisha did God himself hath an eye ouer the righteous and an eare alwaies open to their prayer Therefore let them watch and feare not Gods Angels are charged to pitch their tents about them therefore let them watch and feare not With their hands they shall hold thee
euery one that praieth in publike assemblies and heareth the word diligently and turne ouer their Bibles and sing reuerently the holy Psalmes and praises of God confer of that which they heard and call their families to account for that which they haue heard at the Sermon c. all most holy actions but take heed now when thou doest all these or any of these that the messenger of Sathan come not like a cunning companion and poison all these Take heed I say euen then when thou art about these seruices for euen as cut-purses and pilfering rogues watch their times till they see men busie in buying and selling or come in a preasse so do these vagrant affections watch our harts when we are about holy businesse and in deuout conference with our God to rob God of his honour and to poison that which we offer him and if it be poisoned he will none of it A strange thing and a hidden mysterie this is that a man should then rob the Lord of his honour when he is honoring and seruing him that we should take from him that which we giue vnto him Verily so we do if we take not heed and nothing is more common then that euil Thou art deuout in thy prayer in hearing in sighing in singing in eleuating eyes and hands to heauen it is well done but then take heede of the theefe with the poison that thou seest not and that is that affection that maketh thee to cast thy eye aside perhaps to looke whether such a man seeth thee or no and that affection that tickleth thy heart and saith now I am a good man I shall be counted a zealous professor for this I shall be well esteemed for this I shall by this meanes get familiaritie and so commoditie with him her and a thousand such odde conceits that come wharting and crossing of thy heart in the best things that thou canst do All which if thou take not heede of them euen then at that instant and pray against them they will get within thee and plucke off the garment of puritie and holinesse which in Christ Iesus should commend thy action vnto God And thus thou seest how God is robbed when he is serued and therefore euen then without any further delay or dallying take heed and watch ouer thy heart and pray against these vile and vaine affections desiring God to reforme and correct them that so thou maiest giue him his due clad in such holy and pure affections as are desirous that all the glorie should be giuen vnto him from whom and for whom all things are and shall be And in so doing thou maiest safely shew what God hath done for thee Take for example in the old Testament Iacob and in the new Testament the Virgin Mary and Zacharie the father of Iohn Baptist. Iacob he sheweth his brother how God had blessed him since his comming ouer Iordan with onely a poore staffe in his hand and now had giuen him troupes or bands of children and seruants and blessed him with flockes of sheepe beeues and camels but in all these things his desire was that God might he glorified and therefore he said I am not worthy of the least of these mercies that is all that I haue set forth the great and vndeserued fauour of God vnto me So farre was he from seeking thereby to be counted a great man as the maner of the world is So when Elizabeth reioyced with her cosin for the great fauour and goodnesse of the most high in chusing her to be the mother of the Lord Iesus and sayd Blessed art thou amongst women she was not proud thereof but presently gaue the glorie vnto God and sayd My soule doth magnifie the Lord and my spirite reioyceth in God my Sauiour I shall be magnified indeede but he that is mightie hath magnified me and holy is his name and so made that whole song to set forth the glorious praises of God in that singular worke which he had done to her In like sort when Zachary knew that Iohn was borne to be the forerunner of Christ he presently gaue the glorie to God saying Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people c. And thou ô child shalt be called the Prophet of the most high for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare the way before him to giue knowledge of saluation vnto his people for the forgiuenesse of their sinnes But then commeth forth the holy affection wherein God is delighted and saith Through the tender mercy of our God c. And this shall we do if we take heed and still watch ouer our hearts in euerie action by secret prayer vnto God that his name may be hallowed This wise course being taken we shall be able by the grace of God in a short time to discerne a false harted affection from a true and a holy affection a double heart from a single and sincere heart for in euery man that is regenerate there is a double motion the one of the flesh the other of the Spirite the one of God the other of Sathan and in euerie action if he watch narrowly he shall find and feele a striuing betweene them Now here is wisedome to discerne how much is of God and how much of Sathan that we may cherish the one and crush the other in the head before he grow to any strength There will be two fires kindled and both burning together in one heart the one must be quenched and not maintained the other must not be quēched but be maintained for so saith the Scripture quench and quench not quench the firie darts of the diuell but quench not the Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed vp to the day of redemption Now then seeing the glory of God is set vp for one marke to aime at and the good of the Church of God for another let vs learne by our leuelling and aiming at them or besides them to iudge of our affections and cogitations If thy cogitations be studying and deuising how to auoide vaineglorie and how to get glorie to God by casting about to make others to praise God in thy graces and to loue and feare him for the same then is that cogitation kindled by Gods Spirite quench it not but cherish it If thy affections be longing and desiring to bring the same to passe which thy minde by Gods Spirite hath deuised then is that a holy affection of God quench it not but maintaine it reioyce in God for it But if one the contrarie thy mind be deuising what to do and what to say and how to bring things to passe to please men and not God and to win credit and estimation amongst men Gods glory being cast behind thy backe know that those thoughts and affections are fierie darts of Sathans kindling quench them and cherish them not take heede of them in time In taking this
except God did giue them repentance and work a strange alteration God deliuer me out of their handes and giue them better minds if it be his will It were a strange alteration to see some that now bring Bibles to the Church and turne to places after the Preacher one day to be instruments to burne so many Bibles as they can come by It were strange to see such as are now most attentiue in hearing the preacher and most kind in giuing him entertainment one day to throw a faggot at his head or to be a witnesse against his doctrine or to helpe to burne him Well such times haue bene and such times may come again for our sinnes and then shall the approued be knowne as the Apostle speaketh and hypocrites with their light and chaffie profession shall then be discouered blowne away with the wind Many now would answer as Hazael did to the Prophet if any should say to them as the Prophet said to him I weepe saith the Prophet to remember what thou shalt do to the children of Israel when thou art king of Aram how thou shalt burne their cities and put their young men to the sword and dash their infants in peeces and rent their women with child What said Hazael is thy seruant a dogge that I should do this great thing So would many answere now no doubt Are we dogges that we should so vse God seruants c No doubt of it in King Edwards daies he that should haue warned some persons of such things that were hearers of those reuerend Martyrs and Bishops Hooper Latimer Ridley Cranmer other faithfull Ministers D. Taylor Bradford and others they would haue bene at defiance with thē yet for al that they when time serued stood foorth to accuse these godly Fathers to persecute them to death that a man wold litle haue thought of be actors in such ttagedies Wel God blesse vs all my brethren keep vs in his holy feare and make vs vpright harted constant in the profession of religiō for I do feare greatly else that if euer time should serue which God for his mercies sake forbid if it be his will too too many would play Hazaels part though they make a faire shew now and stand at open defiance for such matters Well let no man bragge of his own strength that he will do this and he will not do that for manie good men euen sincere Christians may promise and vowe a standing for the truth with Peter and because they rely vppon their owne strength may fall with Peter but I trust God will giue them mercie and repentance to rise againe with Peter but as for hypocrites and time-seruers whose hearts are best knowne vnto God out of question they will then shew themselues in their colours Let them now pretend with Iudas neuer so much care for the poore or loue to Christ they will one day proue theeues to the poore and traytors to Christ as Iudas did and if they once fall with Iudas let them take heed that they hang not themselues with Iudas for betraying and persecuting innocent bloud For it is not the approbation of the Elders that will iustifie Iudas nor his officious kisse that will couer him nor the law of the land that will warrant him nor the siluer bribe that will enrich him nor the praise of men that wil comfort him nor his forced restitution that wil restore him nor his constrained confession that will conuert him nor his faithlesse repentance that will saue him when his money his friends his owne tongue and heart hand conscience as a thousand witnesses and God himselfe shall be against him God grant that all counterfeits and hypocrites and dissemblers in religion may in time take heede by his example There be many both honest and godly religious Christans whose desire is with all their harts to please God by doing those things which his word requireth of them And these for the loue that they beare vnto the truth and their hatred that they carry against wickednesse are by an odious name called Puritanes and if they fall at any time through occasion as oftētimes they do through some infirmity against their wils then are they condemned as hypocrites but most vniustly For though all our actions smell of hypocrisie as maister Bradford well perceiued when he desired the Lord to forgiue him all his hypocrisies and confessed a little before his death that all his prayers and all his best seruing of God were but hypocrisie meaning in comparison of that sinceritie that is required of euerie Christian yet notwithstanding are none to be tearmed hypocrites which fall by occasion through infirmitie and are onely stained with the dust of it and infected with the contagion thereof as men that draw in one and the same aire with hypocrites but onely such are to be counted for hypocrites which make a shew of that which they are not nor meane to be but with their tongues can hold men cunningly with a faire tale of religion and godlinesse while their hearts are resolued to practise all kind of mischiefe and iniquitie of such I speake and not of simple harted and well meaning Christians who haue no doubt their faults as well as other men though they make not an art of sinning as hypocrites do This secret hypocrisie of Gods children doth not a litle trouble many of them neither can many be perswaded but that all that they do is done in hypocrisie as maister Bradford writing to one of his friends in most of his letters condemneth himselfe for a painted hypocrite and being thus troubled in their tender consciences they are still afraide of that woe that our Sauiour Christ pronounceth against hypocrites But for the comforting of such tender consciences whose feare is euer that they shall not deale vprightly and sincerely inough in Gods sight we are to distinguish of hypocrisie for some hypocrisie respecteth men onely seeking only praise of men and not of God and some hypocrie there is that respecteth God also yea most of all and that stealeth in this fort vpon vs. A Christian that feareth God goeth in priuate by himselfe to call vpon God by prayer Now in his priuate prayer somtime his mind is drawne away into a nūber of by-thoughts and wandering imaginations insomuch as he oftentimes thinkes least of God when he calleth vpon him neither is throughly moued with an inward desire of obtaining those things that he prayeth for nor with a hartie loathing of those sins that he prayeth against then commeth Sathan and suggesteth thus Surely thou art an hypocrite for thou hast not prayed with all thy heart nor with all thy soule nor with all thy might Againe sometime the Christian soule prayeth earnestly with great feeling and groning of spirite and hath his mind wholy intent and bent vpon God that he is euen rauished as it were in prayer thinking of nothing but heauenly things when
be merry These and such like speeches are rife in the world but it is onely amongst the men of Belial and Ishim auen lawlesse and dissolute persons vaine and foolish people such as haue cast off Gods yoke from them and like them that sayd of Christ. We will not haue this man to raigne ouer vs come let vs breake their bands asunder and cast their cords from vs our tongues are our owne we may speake what we list who shall controule vs and so are our eyes too and our fingers too and our feete too we will looke and go and gesture it as we list and what hath any man to do with our gestures These are right men of Belial indeed whom the Lord that sitteth in the heauens doth laugh to scorne and shall haue in great derision when destruction shall come suddenly vppon them in his wrath yea he shall vexe them in his sore displeasure and breake them in peeces like a potters vessell if they be not wise vnto repentance in time euen before his wrath be kindled yea but a little This precisenesse that the profane Belials of the world haue in so much contempt is nothing else but that circumspect walking which is commended and commanded vnto vs by the Apostle from the Lord in Ephs. 6. Walke circumspectly saith he like wise men as if our life were a iourney to be walked vpon a narrow bridge ouer a deepe water ouer which there is no safe passage if a man go leaping and skipping and gazing about him as those that wander and roue at scope in the wide fields but we must looke to our feete and to euerie step that we set or else we are quickly gone and being downe very hardly recouered againe without Gods great mercy and grace So much for the first point Now the second thing that we haue to obserue is the tyranny of sinne hauing once gotten possession in the hart If lewd things lodge in the heart surely they will take vp all the outward parts of the body to serue at their pleasure and from one member to another will leudnesse fetch his continual walke Therefore saith the blessed Apostle Let not sinne raigne in your mortall bodies to obey the lustes thereof neither giue you your members as weapons of vnrighteousnesse and vncleannesse To shew what a tyrant sinne is who when he hath gotten hold in the heart of a wicked man will domineere ouer his whole bodie and euery member shall serue as a weapon to fight withall in the defence of sinne and to the offence of vertue When a tyrant raigneth no man that is vnder him is his owne man no man can say what is his owne so where sinne raigneth the most cruell subtill and vnsatiable tyrant that euer was is or can be euery member of the body and euery cogitation and affection of the soule is held in most miserable bondage and slauery nothing is free to serue the Lord but all are at Sathans becke and ready to obey his suggestions This tyrant wil not be closed vp in the heart but will looke out at the eyes as at a window will walke abroad nay rather be caried abroad like a Pope vpon mens shoulders the hand must feele and reach him that which he liketh and giue what he will bestow and where he will bestow it and strike whom he liketh not The eye must seeke out such pleasures as he delighteth in and the tongue must call for them Yea of such bewitching power is this tyrant sinne that he poysoneth like the Crocodile with his very sight and countenance he hath greater power ouer his seruants the members of the body nay his seruants the members haue greater power ouer others then the Centerion in the Gospell had ouer his souldiers I say to one come and he commeth to another go and he goeth saith the Centurion but this tyrant doth but looke vppon men and they feare him he doth not fawne vpon men and they affect him he doth but make a signe with his eyes and signifie with his going and instruct by holding vp of his finger and it is inough to make men go and come at his pleasure And all his fawning flattering terrifying of mē is for nothing else in the world but to get in to a man and to raigne ouer a man which he can easily do He can by little and little yea with a little intreating where Gods grace is not to make resistance enter in at the eye or at the eare or by touching the body and tickling the senses and so from thence into the heart and there he sitteth like a commander and a cruell tyrant euen ouer al those members and affections by which he was first let in and which first gaue him any entertainement Adonijah begged onely Abishag the Shunamite to wife when Dauid had done with her a small request in shew but he had a further reach his mind was to the kingdome which wise Salomon perceiued well inough So Sathan will request but a little dalliance with the fingers and will but borrow they feete to carry him to such a place such a place to heare or see a play or the like vanity and thy countenance to braue or beard such such or thy eye to looke out at as theeues that will craue a standing in a mans shop to see some straunge sight when they meane to rob and steale a small request in shew But sinne is deceitfull and Sathan is an old subtill serpent trust him not he hath a mind to a kingdome and that is to rule like a hellish tyrant in thee to get all the members of thy body and all the affections of thy soule from out of Gods seruice into his slauery and subiection and this can none espie but those that haue heauenly wisdome as Salomon had And therefore as Adonijah made his subtill request against his owne life when wise Salomon had espied his treachery so let all wise harted Christians who by the light of this doctrine haue receiued any inckling of the subtill pollicy of sinne and Sathan in entring and of their tyranny being entred into the heart desire of God by continuall and earnest prayer that through the gracious assistance of his blessed Spirit his feare keeping the passage all these fawning treacherous motions solicited in the vnsanctified gestures and behauiour of the body may be made against their owne life that is that they may be so crushed and checked at the first that neither eye nor eare nor hand nor foote nor tongue nor looke may euer haue any list or ioy to serue sinne or Sathan or the man of Belial any more And so much briefly for the tyranny of sinne which hath all the parts of the body at commandement Now come we to the third point and let vs see how the sinne of hypocrisie in particular doth breake foorth and appeare in the very
their soules health in English Well let vs take heede that we continue not stil so vntoward to serue God to learne his most glorious will least God giue vs ouer againe in his iust iudgemēt to walke in ignorance to beleeue lies Popery groweth apace in many places Papists are very bold doubtlesse they see it is to be feared too much inclinatiō aptnes both in som teachers much of the people to receiue their Popish trash again that is the matter Popish pictures shew thēselues in euery shop street almost many think there is great deuotiō stirred vp by the sight of thē yea they hope of a mery world towards And doubtlesse the Papists cannot brew so fast but as they hope others will be as ready to drinke Well the Lord in mercy looke vpon vs our Christian gouernors that we may be more more forward apt to the embracing setting forth of his holy truth Gospell to our liues end Amen Now let vs pray THE V. SERMON PROV 6.14 Leud things are in his heart WE haue heard before how vaine and lawlesse the man of Belial is how froward and peeuish how counterfeit cunning in his outward behauiour now we are come to the cause of all and to the digging vp of that which is the fountaine of all his distemperature and disorder and that doth the holy Ghost here shew vs when he saith Leud things are in his heart as if he should say it is no maruell though his behauiour be so bad and barbarous so vile and full of leud actions when his heart which is the fountaine of all his actions is full of leude things Then first here let vs consider what is meant by the hart And next what profitable doctrines may be gathered from this sentence and the coherence thereof with the rest of the wicked mans description By hart in this place he meaneth not the fleshly and materiall heart which is the good creature of God but the corrupted and depraued qualities of the heart For the heart is put sometime for the whole inward man as in 1. Pet. 3.4 Let the hid man of the heart be meeke and quiet sometime for the thoughts and affections for the will and vnderstanding as in 1. King 3.9 Giue me an vnderstanding heart the prayer of Salomon That is giue vnderstanding vnto my hart mind or soule for hee had a hart before So that in the heart is vnderstanding but in the wicked it is leud vnderstanding because he vnderstandeth leude and vile things best And in Gen. 6.5 it is said The imaginations of the thoughts of mans heart were euill continually to shew that thoughts and imaginations lodge in the heart but in the man of Belial they are leude and wicked In the 23. of the Prou. 26. the Lord saith My sonne giue me thy heart that is the affections of thy heart as thy desire thy loue thy ioy thy feare thy trust thy zeale thy delight thy sorrow as if he shold say if thou desirest any thing desire me if thou louest any thing loue me if thou ioyest in any thing ioy in me if thou fearest any thing feare me if thou trustest any trust me if thou be zealous for any thing be zealous for me if thou sorrowest for any thing be sorrowfull that thou canst not do thy dutie to me as thou oughtest and these things I leaue not to thy choise but see thou do them indeed Now all these affections are in the wicked man of Belial but they are leud and not for the Lord. In the fourth of the Hebrewes 12. the word of God is called a deuider of the thoughts and intents of the heart so that in the heart lye thoughts and intents that is purposes conclusions and determinations but in the wicked they are all leud and naught So that the meaning of these words Leud things are in his heart is that the man of Belial vnderstandeth leud things he thinketh and studieth leud things he purposeth and intendeth leud things he desireth and affecteth leud things yea he deuiseth and contriueth nothing else but leud things This anatomizing and discouering of Belials hart in this sort with the rest of his behauiour in other parts of his bodie teacheth vs many excellent pointes of doctrine for our instruction 1. That the man of Belial is no better within then without 2. That whatsoeuer a man is without yet God doth iudge of him by that which is in his heart 3. That the cause of all outward disorder is in the heart 4. That a man cannot be a good man vntill the hart be reformed 5. That the word of God is of that nature that it discouereth the hidden things in the heart 6. That the same word of God which sheweth vs the corruptions of our hearts doth also shew vs to reforme the heart Of the first That a wicked and prophane man such as Salomon here speaketh of is no better within then he is without but rather worse is euident both by this and diuers other places of holy Scripture Here he saith that as he is froward in his speeches and dissolute in his outward behauiour so his heart is leud and wicked So that if the hart be naught all is naught If there be any goodnes in his heart it must be either in his vnderstanding or his will or his affections but the subiect of all these is leudnes therfore within there is no better then without but rather worse In the 6. of Gen. verse 5. it is said That mans wickednesse is great and his heart is also euill continually The Psalmist saith The foole meaning a wicked man hath said in his heart there is no God his waies are corrupt and become abhominable there is not one that doth good no not one The Apostle Paul searcheth euery part of the naturall man within and without and findeth all alike Roman 3. from verse 11. to 19. Let him be asked the question and heare his answer And first of his vnderstanding What vnderstanding hath the vnregenerate or naturall man None There is none that vnderstandeth saith he meaning the things of God How are their affections bent What do they not desire to know God No saith the Apostle There is none that seeketh God What is there none better then another No saith the Apostle They haue all gon out of the way they are made altogether vnprofitable there is none that doth good no not one But let vs make a better search it may be there is some goodnesse in some secret corner or in some of their members What say you of their throat Their throat saith the Apostle is an open sepulcher from whence proceedeth nothing but stinke and rottennesse to infect the aire How are their toungs vsed To deceipt saith the Apostle What is vnder their lippes The poison of Aspes And what in their mouths Abundance of cursing and bitternesse They are swift
in going whereabout is it It may be they plie it so fast to saue some bodie that is in daunger or to visite the poore and needie No saith the Apostle Their feete are swift to shed bloud But yet it may be their trade and manner of liuing is good and profitable to the Commonwealth No saith the Apostle Destruction and calamitie are in their waies But yet it may be their life is harmlesse and peaceable amongst their honest neighbors No saith he the way of peace they haue not knowne But yet for all this they may feare God in their hearts may they not No saith he The feare of God is not before their eyes Why then we perceiue that a meere naturall man wholly vnregenerate such as Salomon calleth The man of Belial is all one mā both within and without in his life lawlesse and in his heart leude and wicked The vse of this first point is to be made against those wicked mē that being altogether sold vnto sinne and hating reformation will reason in this sort Whatsoeuer my sayings and my doings be or howsoeuer my gestures and outward behauiour be or whatsoeuer my religion be yea though I come not at Church to heare the Sermons nor take any pleasure in the Scriptures c. yet I would you should know it I loue God and I regard Gods word yea I haue as good a hart to God as the best of you But he is deceiued for if a leud heart be a good heart then so it is but a good heart sendeth foorth good things being first renewed by the spirite and grace of God but if thou be a wicked lawlesse Belial and a vaine man that walkest in froward customes c. then know for a certaine that thy heart is full of leude things from whence proceed all thy outward disorders And how can that hart be a good hart to God-ward that is stored with leud things And so much for the first point The second conclusion that ariseth from this place is this that God iudgeth of a man according to that which is in his heart whatsoeuer he be in shewe yea though a false heart may be and is commonly shrowded vnder a ciuill behauiour yet it is seene of God and iudged by him too God seeth not as man seeth saith Samuel man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh vnto the truth of the heart The hart of man is deceiptfull aboue all things saith Ieremie yet I the Lord search the heart and trie the reines to giue to euery one according to his wayes to shew that the wayes of man are in his heart and none can knowe them throughly but the Lord whose proper office is to search the heart and that he will surely do A needfull point this is for two sorts of people especially to think well vpon The first are Papistes of all sorts Church Papistes and all They are skilfull in their Popish eleuations idolatrous crossings down low duckings demure countenances holy habites and obseruations of times but they keepe their consciences to themselues and the Lord looketh vpon the leudnes and villanies that are lurking in their harts till a fit time serue for the bringing of them foorth as murthering of Princes vndermining of kingdomes and states subuerting the Gospel enriching the kingdome of Antichrist vnder colour of wilfull pouertie besides their whoredomes and other abhominations which make them now so to storme and rage because they are discouered vnto the world But let them looke vnto it God will iudge them for the leude things that are in their hearts Many ceremonies they make like Balaam with his seuen altars c. but both his and their hearts go one way and God seeth it well inough Many prayers and great deuotion they pretend but after the Pharisees fashion who when they seemed to pray most deuoutly then they deuoured most greedily and cruelly poore widowes houses Their Inquisitions are full of such prancks euen amongst their holy fathers but I will not nowe stand raking in those puddles Leude things are in their hearts and God seeth them well inough and will iudge them not so much by that which soundeth in their mouths although he will also iudge them for that but especially by that which is in their hearts This is also to be thought vpon of our politicke Protestants who say they defie Poperie but yet are not many of them very sound at the heart They are too well read and practised in Machiauell to be good Christians they will not sticke to promise to protest to say and vnsay to do any thing for profite and gaine These ciuill honest men can outwardly behaue themselues in print with kind kissings and curteous embracings with courting and saluting but in their heart God seeth much crueltie and couetousnesse deceipt prophanenesse and trecherie like a legion of Diuels in a common Inne for all that come from hell so they bring no godlinesse but gold with them They creep and crouch saith the Psalmist to make the poore fall by heapes into their nets their courtesie and kindnesse is framed rather by art then by heart yet all this artificiall dissembling is seene to God and in time to the world Wo be vnto them if they repent not for Leude things are in their hearts as in the heart of Belial Many are sicke of Amnons disease who seemed to long for cakes of his sister Thamars making but he could not be well till he had his pleasure of his sister And as Absolom inuited his brother Amnon to a great feast of purpose to murther him which he most leudly effected so can many as pollitikely inuite those to their feasts whom they meane to snare and catch at their tables of al which it may be said as it is said here of Belial Whatsoeuer is in their lippes yet Leud things are in their hearts and accordingly will God iudge of them and iudge them too for leud and wicked persons Many of our gilded Polititians and varnished Protestants at large are no whit behind their tutour Machiauel nor his brother the Pope in shrowding a leud heart vnder ciuill pollicie and politicke ciuility to no small endamaging of the Church of Christ but perhappes they thinke that God doth not note it and will not iudge them for it A man may descant vpon Machiauels name as Abigail did vpon Nabals Nabal is his name saith she and folly is with him So Macheuil is his name he matcheth all in euill and an euil match also hath he made for he hath matched a Princesse and a pesant together Christian religion and carnall pollicie together or diuellish pollicie rather who agree like the bondwoman and the freewoman that were in Abrahams house the one hating scoffing and persecuting the other so that there could be no peace in the house vntill they were parted asunder yea vntill the bondwoman and her sonne were cast out of the
in his heart whatsoeuer shew he maketh outwardly Thirdly that the cause of all outward disorder and scandalous behauiour is in the wicked mans owne heart Now it remaineth that we consider of the three other points which being propounded in the former Sermon for want of time I could not intreat of Whereof the first is this that so long as the heart is vnreformed and continueth stored with leud things it is not possible to be a good man For vntill then as we may perceiue by this anatomie of Belial the affections will be rebellious and lawlesse the speech will be froward and peeuish our religion will be hypocriticall and counterfeit our prayers will be lippe-labour and cold babling our zeale will be either none at all or very bitter rash our faith will be meere historicall our loue will proue onely self-loue our anger reuengefull and iniurious our life dissolute and scandalous our repentance desperate and faithlesse and our death dreadfull and comfortlesse Therefore if any would reforme his life he must first reforme his heart from whence as from a spring floweth continually a streame of corruption and vnrighteousnesse vnto death if it be not reformed and altered or of holinesse and righteousnesse vnto life if it be well reformed and kept Therefore Salomon pointing to the right way that leadeth to the reformation of maners saith Keepe thy heart with all diligence and addeth this as a reason for thereout cometh life and thereout cometh death And out of the heart saith our Sauiour Christ proceede euill thoughts adulteries murthers fornications debate strife c. speaking of an euill and vnregenerate heart to shew that a wicked mans heart is like a filthie dunghill which both breedeth and harboureth all kind of venimous vermine and as a snake on a sunnie day commeth foorth of her hole so the wicked when fit time and occasion serue do set foorth and shew the ware and stuffe which was hidden in their heart saying in the meane time as Esau did When the daies of mourning for my father Isaac do come then I will kill my brother Iacob which agreeth with that that Dauid speaketh of his enemie in Psal. 41.6 His heart heapeth vp iniquitie within him and when he commeth foorth he vttereth it Many counterfeit holinesse deuotion sobrietie loue and kindnesse and indeede they do but counterfeit for holy and deuout and sober and louing and kind c they cannot be so long as the heart or inward man is vnreformed In vaine do we sweepe the channels of the streete except we stop the fountaines from whence they flow In vaine do we crop the weedes except we dig vp their rootes from whence they receiue their nourishment In vaine do we plaister the sore except it be searched and cleansed to the bottom So in vaine do we labour to bring forth good actions without except first we labour to beget good affections within How canst thou say that thou louest me when thy heart is not with me said Dalilah to Sampson which she vttered as a common knowne principle in nature to be denyed of none that all loue is but counterfeit and false which cometh not from the heart And therefore whosoeuer will loue indeed must beginne first at his heart and frame that to loue And the like is to be said of other affections and all the actions or effects that proceed froÌ„ them The hart among the members of the bodie is like a great commaunder among his souldiers looke which way he goeth that way go they Well may we preach and long may we heare of the reforming of our liues of mortifying our pride our strange fashions our wantonnesse our couetousnesse our malice c. the tongue will make but a iest at the matter so long as the heart is vnreformed as appeareth by the testimonie that the Lord giueth against Ezechiels Auditours They heare thee saith the Lord as my people vse to heare but with their mouths they make iests at thee and thy Sermons their hearts run after their couetousnesse to shew that there is no outward obedience to be looked for where the heart yeeldeth not to obey for all actions outward wil follow the affections of the heart On the other side winne the heart and all is wonne without which there is no rowing but against the streame A readie heart maketh a readie hand to giue a readie tongue to speake a readie eare to heare and a readie foote to goe And a holy religious heart maketh a holy and religious hearing speaking and liuing Who were they that brought so bountifull gifts to the building of the Lords holy tabernacle among the Iewes as we reade in Exod. 35.21.22 verses It is said in the 29. verse Euery one whose hearts moued them willingly to bring brought some gold some siluer some silke some badgers skinnes some stones c. yea vntill they were forced to stay by proclamation to shew that when the heart is wonne to be willing and to like of the worke the worke shall go well forward and nothing will seeme hard to a willing mind When Dauids heart was enditing or framing of a good matter then was his tongue readie like the pen of a swift writer to declare the same And whosoeuer can say with Dauid O God my heart is prepared shall follow with Dauid and say so is my tongue also I will sing and giue praise to shew that when the heart is not readie to serue God nothing is readie for all tarrie for the heart Therefore it is that the Scripture doth so much call vpon vs to reforme our harts In the three and twentieth of the Proverbs the twelfth verse Salomon saith Apply thy heart to instruction and thine eares to the wordes of knowledge But first the heart and then the eares will follow and in the seuenteenth verse Let not thy heart be enuious against sinners but let it be in the feare of the Lord continually In the nineteenth verse O my sonne heare and be wise and guide thy heart in the way And in the 26. verse My sonne giue me thy heart and let thine eyes delight in my wayes And no maruell for what shall the Mariners do if the Pilote be false at the helme of the ship What shall the souldiers do at the hold if the captaine of the hold be a traitour A false heart is like such a Pilote and such a captaine yea a false heart is like Iudas among the disciples who carried the purse and made the prouision for all the rest laying vp one groate for his maâ—ster and tenne for himselfe A bad Cater being a cunning theefe and a secret traitour So the heart is the storer if that be secretly false and trecherous it will store the bodie with leudnesse and if it chaunce to speake one word for Gods glorie he will addresse and set foorth in most braue sort a thousand for
TEN SERMONS VPON THE FIRST SECOND THIRD and fourth verses of the sixt of Mathew Containing diuerse necessary and profitable Treatises viz. A Preseruatiue against the poyson of vaine-glory in the 1. 2. The reward of sincerity in the 3. The vncasing of the hypocrite in the 4.5 and 6. The reward of hypocrisie in the 7. and 8. An admonition to left-handed Christians in the 9. and 10. Whereunto is annexed another Treatise called the ANATOMIE OF BELIAL Set foorth in ten Sermons vpon the 12.13.14 and 15. verses of the 6. Chapter of the Prouerbes of Salomon Imprinted at London by Richard Field for Thomas Man 1602. TO THE RIGHT VVORSHIPFVLL RODVLPH WARCVP ESQVIRE AND ONE OF THE IVSTICES FOR THE PEACE IN OXfordshire W. B. wisheth all prosperity in this life and true felicity in the life to come RIGHT worshipfull musing with my selfe where to find a fit patron for these poore Sermons you comming to my mind I resolued to go no further for that matter as not knowing indeed where to better my selfe For things spirituall I know you to be of holy Isaaks diet who longed not so much for curious and dainty meate as for sauory meate In regard of humane variety and carnall curiosity you shall not find them very dainty or rare yet in regard of the spirituall simplicity and plainnesse which I haue endeuoured to shew therein I hope they will not be altogether vnsauory and distastfull The doctrines therein handled I presume you will grant to be most necessary for these times For first though through the abundant light of the Gospell many are both allured and enforced to speake do more good things then they could do in the times of darknesse ignorance yet considering the subtilty of Sathan the corruption of our nature we haue need to stand vpon our gard for when he cannot make vs desist from holy actions yet he will then vse all his art and skill to poyson our affections with the staine of vaineglory And such is the pronenesse of our corrupt nature to be tainted therewith that neither touch-wood or gun-powder are more capable of fire then our nature is of that poyson of vaineglory hypocrisie Againe sincerity and plaine dealing be had in so little regard that of most they be despised no lesse then the high way to beggery and misery and on the otherside that Machiuilean principle we know is too well maintained Qui nescit dissiumulare nescit viuere no dissembling no trading And further most men yea euen the better sort are as vntoward to good workes as they that do all with the left hand consulting still with flesh and bloud and calling their worst affections to counsell Now seeing these things are so what could I propound more necessary then this preseruatiue against the foresayd poyson and what more needfull to be set foorth then the commendations of sincerity taken from her beauty from her riches and inestimable reward And knowing you to be so sincere a friend to sincerity it selfe and so vnfained an enemy to fained hypocrisie and glosing vaineglory as you are what could I present vnto your Worship more suting with your so Christian and sanctified affections then these poore Treatises of sincerity and hypocrisie As for the second part of this booke it containeth as the title sheweth An anatomy of the man of Belial and vaine man who liuing only as the saying goeth by the finenesse of their wits are more vnprofitable then the smoke and for any religion or goodnesse to Godward scarce worth the ground they tread vpon Yet the onely men with most men now adayes who being very witty and expert to exalt vanity are very highly exalted themselues but it is onely of such as are as vaine as themselues Here you shall see Belial set forth by his names by his gestures by his speeches by his imaginations and by his contentions By his names you shall at first see his nature By his gestures you shall perceiue his dexterity in teaching and his facility in learning of euill By his euill imaginations and lewd affections you shall see that his hart is not so secret but it may be and wil be discouered well inough But by his delight in contentions and his maner of contending you shall easily discerne his turbulent spirite and soone iudge of what house he commeth And by his fearefull doome that is awarded him it will be no hard matter to perceiue how well he may be spared and how ill the Church of Christ will thriue where the lawlesse libertine is suffered to harbour But by all together who but the wilfull blind will not see and confesse what a monstrous monster the carnall gospeller or libertine Protestant is what dayes we are now fallen into wherein so much liberty to euill is so freely on all sides both giuen and taken to the great endangering of the whole body both of Church and common-wealth To you these Treatises I do offer in a double respect First to testifie my thankfull mind for so many Christian kindnesses and religious fauours which to my great comfort and encouragement in my poore Ministery I haue receiued from your hands And next for that by reason of that place which in your countrey you hold you haue right good experience of these things For you that are to iudge as long you haue daily you do betweene party and party betweene plea and plea cannot chuse but be acquainted with all sorts of men who in their turnes haue all of them played and do daily play their parts before you yet as Salamon by the wisedome of God which was with him that he might gouerne well could discerne the true mother from the false so can you by the same wisedome easily discerne a counterfeit from one of a sincere and simple hart though with Ieroboams wife he disguise himselfe neuer so much And as all men did then feare and râ—uerence that renowned king because they saw the Lord with him to do iustice and iudgement so I know nothing that hath so much aduanced your name and credite in your countrey and caused the sweete sauour thereof to spread it selfe like a precious ointment both farre and neare and round about you but that all men do euidently see besides your loue of learning and trauell for the same that God is with you to do iustice and iudgement to releeue the poore and distressed to encourage the vertuous and well disposed but especially to heale the breaches of the common-wealth and to bind those fast together with the bond of godly vnity which by vnkind iarres and contentions haue bene likely for euer to haue bene disioyned distracted and dismembred in mind and affection the one from the other Blessed are the peace makers saith our blessed Sauior Prince of peace And who doth not see how abundantly God hath blessed you whose heart he hath enclined and whose trauels he hath imployed and still doth employ for the greatest part of
the mother the second is the daughter The first is the poyson the other is the signe thereof or the breaking out The first is the fountaine the second is the streame The first is the coale the second is the flame The first is the cause the second is the effect of the same The first is the theefe the second is his accessary The first robbeth God of his honour the second doth publish it Therefore both the first and the second be damnable neither the first nor the second are sinnes veniall as the Papists say but both the first and the second the mother and the daughter without faith and repentance are sinnes eternally mortall And therefore our Sauiour Christ saith here Take heede of them as if they were some dangerous enemies to the soule The first thing therefore to be taken heed of is all inward desire of vaineglory or worldly praise and that is forbidden in the first verse where our Sauiour saith Giue not to be seene of men that is with an intent purpose or desire that men should see thee and commend thee for it Publicke giuing is not forbidden for Christ saith Let your lights shine before men that they may see c. But vaineglorious giuing in publicke is forbidden and therefore he doth not simply say Do not your almes before men but addeth to be seene of them condemning that end which is first in heart though last in act So in Math. 5.16 he saith not Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie you but that they seeing your good workes may glorifie God your heauenly father who worketh both the will and the deed So then we see that it is not simply euill to do good workes in the view of men nay rather it is good so to do to glorifie God and encourage others God is much glorified when his children walke like their father being mercifull as their heauenly father is mercifull though not in that degree of mercie yet in mercy of the like nature heauenly bountifull free and harmelesse By the death of Christ he was knowne to be the naturall sonne of God and by the good life of Christians aswell as by their death it may be knowne that they are the adopted sonnes of God For when Christ died there was a strange alteration of nature the earth did shake the powers of heauen lost their power the graues opened the dead arose there was darknesse vpon the face of the earth as if day had bene turne into night which when men saw they confessed yea the very enemies of Christ himselfe confessed to the glorie of the diuine power saying doubtlesse this was the sonne of God So when Christians dye to the world and liue vnto God when they by the power of Gods spirit do crucifie sinne and quicken righteousnesse there is also a great alteration in nature their nature is refined by grace their night is turned into day and their day into night their present shame is their glorie and their former glory is their shame their dead affections are raised vp the deuowring graues of their hard harts being opened and now they speake and do and studie otherwise then they did and not like other men In a word as Christs death was not like other mens death so Christians liues are not like other mens liues Christs funerals were solemnized by the Sunne and the Moone by the powers of heauen by the graues and the dead by the earth and the stones and all the insensible creatures whereof in their kind some blushed some trembled some fainted and all mourned for the death of their Lord and feared seeing such things happen to their Soueraigne an vtter dissolution of themselues and all nature These things were not looked for in the world nor regarded at worldly mens funerals yea such as beseeme not the Princes of the nations so Christians liues and deaths too are solemnized and graced with the ornaments of the spirit and the ioy of heauenly Angels with the fruites of righteousnesse the applause of the godly things not regarded of the wicked nor beseeming the helhounds of this world But doubtlesse when men see these lights they must needes glorifie God and say God hath done great things for them and when the wicked themselues see such an alteration in them as they may stand a farre off and wonder at but neuer attaine vnto they must be enforced spite of their hearts to giue God the glorie as Achan did saying this is the truth and so it was and as the Iewes did doubtlesse these were good men the sonnes and daughters of God A man may by their behauiour know of whose bringing vp they were by their habite and spirituall attire a man may discerne them to be the Citizens of the heauenly Ierusalem Blessed be God in so much as they must go a little farther with the wicked in the book of Wisedome and say we are fooles and they are wise howsoeuer we counted their life madnesse before we are they that played the madmen and haue wearied our selues in the wayes of vnrighteousnesse And with Balam Oh that we might dye the death of the righteous and that our last end might be like vnto theirs And thus we see how for the glorifying of God in this life it is necessary for Christians to exercise workes of mercy as giuing of almes and other good workes appointed of God in his word euen before men As it is necessary for the glory of God so also is it as necessary for the encouragement of the godly And first of the painefull Pastor and Minister of the word and then of other Christians To the godly Minister it is no small comfort and encouragement when he shall see the Lords people vnder his charge fruitfull in good workes aswell as in good words For then shall he see the fruite of his labours when after his labour he seeth them fruitfull in all maner of good workes and on the other side when they receiue the word in vaine he may feare that he hath laboured in vaine in vaine I say as touching their conuersion though not simply in vaine otherwise for the word of God is neuer preached in vaine whether men beleeue it or no heare it or no being euer either a sauour of life to life or of death vnto death and comming as the raine which neuer returneth in vaine but either watereth the earth or drowneth it and maketh the ground to bring forth either corne or cockle sweet flowers or stinking weedes whereof the one shall be preserued and the other rooted vp and cast out vpon the dunghill The husbandman is encouraged to follow his husbandry when his vines are fruitfull and his haruests plentiful growing timely ripening kindly yeelding abundantly and no lesse is Gods husbandman the minister of the word encouraged by the timely growing kindly ripening and plentifull yeelding of his charge the Lords husbandrie after he hath taken
paines amongst them The shepheard loueth not only to heare his flocke bleate like sheepe and go to the greene pastures but also when time commeth he expecteth their fleece for his gaine and their yong for the increase of his flocke So the shepheards of our soules loue more to see the flocke of Christ yeeld their loue to the encouragement of their shepheards and the increase of good workes for the enlarging of the flocke of Christ then only to heare them speake and â—alke like Christians It was an incouragement to Paule to trauell in birth among the Galathians when he was in hope to bring them foorth vnto Christ or to beger Christ in their hearts What had that blessed Apostle to boast of when he came at Macedonia but of the zeale of the Corinthians and when he came at Achaia what ioy was it vnto him to report of the forwardnesse and liberality of the Macedonian Christians Euen so no lesse comfort is it to godly Ministers still in places abroad to commend the zeale and loue and knowledge and patience and godlinesse and charity of their people at home and the contrarie to all these is as great a crosse and discouragement as the former is ioyfull comfortable and encouraging As the minister of Christ is encouraged by the lights that is the good workes of Christians shining before men so are other Christians also no lesse confirmed and drawne forward to do the like So the readinesse of the Corinthians was a spur to the Macedonians and Achaians yea their zeale saith the Apostle prouoked many to be zealous Iron sharpneth yron sayth Salomon so the face of a friend sharpneth a friend that is one man quickneth another One peece of wood being set on fire and layed to another doth also kindle the other so one zealous Christian maketh other zealous which were cold before Examples are very forcible either to good or euill for in the affections of men there is a certaine vnity and vnited league so that when one is moued another by the same is moued like a chaine of many linkes one within another draw one and draw all or like a clocke which hath many wheeles which all stand still vntill one be set a worke but if one be set a going that will moue his fellow and his fellow will moue his next fellow and so one will moue another the greater the lesser and the lesser in some place the greater the lower the higher vntill at the last the clocke sound and tell all the world thereof And this spirituall mouing of affection by the like affection and drawing on of one action by another like which the same affection embraceth is effected by vertue of the communion of Saints which we rather beleeue then expresse Thus Nathaniel is drawne by Philip to see Christ and Philip is drawne by Simon Peter and Simon by his brother Andrew Thus the woman of Samaria being moued by Christ moueth the best of her neighbours to come out and see Christ. And herein appeareth the vnity of the Spirit which the Apostle speaketh of Ephes. 4.3 and willeth Christians to hold and maintaine with the bond of peace for the Spirit of God is alwayes one and the same in all men in all ages and at all times and looke what it commendeth to one it commeth to another and what it perswadeth one vnto vnto the same it perswadeth another So that one man being moued by Gods Spirit to shew workes of mercy he doth it his affection liking the same commendeth them vnto another that mans affections also being ruled by the same Spirite cannot chuse but affect and entertaine the same things and so they go from one to another and all being moued by one and the same spirit And yet euery one is moued by meanes and in his seuerall degree and measure whether it be of faith or charity or patience c. Dauid was a meane to make many zealous with him in fetching home the Arke and in other religious actions no doubt but how he first heareth the word then he beleeueth then he speaketh then others heare him speaking then they beleeue that which they heare from him and then they affect that which they beleeue and then they practise that which they affect as all men do whose harts are where their treasure is and their tongues are occupied about that which their harts are set vpon To conclude therefore this point seeing as the doing of good workes before men maketh much for the glorifying of God and the encouraging and drawing on of others both the godly Minister in his place seeing some fruite of his labours and also of other Christians by the example of their brethren and by vertue of the spirite which vniteth their affections let no man condemne the giuing of almes or exercise of other workes of charitie before men but do them rather but alwaies take heede as our Sauiour willeth that ye giue not your almes before men to be seene of men that is with a desire of praise and vaine-glorie It is the affection that maketh or marreth all our actions and is the thing that is more respected with the Lord then the outward action it selfe be it neuer so good Salomon is witnesse for he saith The Lord pondereth the spirits that is he considereth with what affections things be done And the Lord loueth not a giuer but a cheerefull giuer Now the gift is in the hand but cheerefulnesse lodgeth in the heart and appeareth in the countenance which the Lord doth more respect then the gift No one thing doth so soone and so much poison all our actions as vaineglory doth a sinne indeed that waiteth on the best as it did vpon S. Paule who therefore had a messenger of Sathan sent to buffet him that is he had a part vnregenerate to humble him lest he should be exalted aboue measure by reason of those reuelations which he had giuen him to shew that the best men are giuen to thinke well of themselues How many do giue and forgiue to be seene of men How many haue Sermons and Dole at their burials only to be praised of men How many heare the word and daily frequent the exercises of religion onely to be seene of men How many do lend and giue their word vainegloriously to be praised of men How many do build aloft like Nimrods euen till Babel that is to say confusion fall vpon their heads and onely to get a name amongst men How many haue euen confessed their faultes and wept for their sinnes too euen to be seene of men How many comming through Cathedrall churches kneele downe by a pillar as though they prayed onely to be seene of men And might not Osorius the Papist himselfe be as vaineglorious as another when he wrote a booke de contemnenda gloria in contempt of vaineglorie As many rufflers in the Church make most glorious Sermons in praise of mortification and sanctification
timely heed thou shalt by the grace of God be able easilie to espie the beginnings of thy speciall sinnes and all the degrees of them and the growth of them and all the shifts and sleights of Sathan and shalt euer get the victorie ouer them in Christ Iesus And albeit thou be haunted and molested and buffeted with such messengers of Sathan and pained and humbled by such prickes and goades in thy flesh while thou liuest yet here remaineth thy comfort when death commeth thou shalt be able to say with the Psalmist By this I know ô Lord that thou louest me because these my spirituall enemies haue not triumphed ouer me blessed be the name of the Lord God for euermore But one other side if thou be carelesse and put off the matter still from time to time thinking to repent and leaue thy sinne when thou art olde or a dying as many do thou doest miserably deceiue thy selfe for doubtlesse any one sinne that is growne into a custome will be too hard for thee before age come or sicknesse come And for proofe of that I say do but try thy strength with one of thy sinnes which thou hast accustomed thy selfe vnto and when thou wouldest leaue it see how many shifts and delayes and deuises and excuses it hath still pulling thee backe againe when thy foote is in the stirrop and thou ready as thou thinkest to ride away from it Now if it be so with one sinne that thou hast bene familiar withall what wilt thou do when all thy sinnes are proued customes Is it not an vsuall answer of most men that haue vsed swearing or lying or prophane mirth or sluggish seruing of God c. It is my custome I cannot leaue it Those young men which were Ieroboams companions before his raigne would be his Counsellors when he did raigne so those sinnes which are thy companions now will be thy Counsellors and maisters too hereafter Therefore say not thou wilt take heed of them hereafter for hereafter thou art likely in all common sense and reason to be euery way more vnfit and vntoward then thou art now but when time and occasion serue watch sinne and thou take him and destroy him which else in time will ouerthrow thee THE III. SERMON WE haue heard what it is that Christians must take heede of in doing of good deedes and the manner how to take heed thereof Now we are further to consider of the reasons which our Sauiour giueth hereby to make men the more fearefull of that which he warneth them of and more carefull to follow his counsell And his reasons containe two propositions the one is negatiue the other is affirmatiue The first is these words For else you shall haue no reward of your heauenly father The other is in these words Verily I say vnto you they that is hypocrites haue their reward The first reason is very soueraigne and auaileable against the inward euill namely all inward desire and affection of popular praise and vaineglorie and the other is as forcible to disswade from the outward euill that is ostentation and shew of vaine-glorie The former telleth vs what we loose if we take not heed and keepe not good watch ouer our hearts against vaineglorious affections and that is Gods reward Our fathers blessing a heauenly reward and in the second reason we are told what we shall get in stead thereof namely the reward of hypocrites and no more and that is the praise of men the wind of mens mouthes the good opinion of mutable minds then the which there is nothing more vaine nor transitorie nor friuolous nor ridiculous a miserable reward indeede a punishment and a torment to a godly mind Now we see that by this bargaine a man if he take not heede may be a great looser and by taking heed he may be a great gainer Againe we see that the vaineglorious Christian that is to say a plaine hypocrite is a gainer by his hipocrisie but his gaine is nothing to that which he expecteth and nothing comparable to his losse These reasons are vsed by our Sauiour Christ in most high wisedome as proceeding from one that best knoweth euery mans disease and euery ones humour and euery ones delight and accordingly he fitteth both his medicines and his motiues Now seeing as all men are much moued with hope of rewards especially when for a small matter they are in hope to obtaine a great and a good reward what could our Sauiour Christ propound of greater force to moue men to embrace sinceritie in all their actions then Gods reward which is the greatest and the best And because hypocrisie is of that bewitching nature and besotting humour that it maketh her suters attendants beleeue that they shal be both honored here amōgst men and glorified hereafter amongst Angels in heauen and so by feeding them with a vaine hope of a double reward for their double dealing our Sauiour Christ here doth notably coole their courage by abating no lesse of their wages then heauen commeth to assuring them that whatsoeuer they dreame of it wil proue but a dreame And least any man should thinke that it is otherwise and God will be better to them then so as all hypocrites do our Sauiour Christ bindeth vp the matter with an earnest asseueration or constant affirming the matter and saith not I feare me they haue their reward I doubt they will loose their reward in heauen I cannot tell but I stand in great doubt of the matter for then yet there were some little hope left like a bone for the hypocritie to picke vpon but the goeth more directly to the point then so saying verily and out of all question build vpon it know for a certaine what to trust vnto if you take not heede of hypocrisie you haue your reward here there is nothing to be looked for hereafter at Gods hand but the hypocrites portion and that is hell fire with the diuell and his Angels for euer for when men haue rewarded them God will punish them And thus you see the force of Christs reasons and the drift of his words wherein we haue two excellent points offered vs to consider of First the reward of sinceritie secondly the reward of hypocrisie The reward of sinceritie and vprightnesse of heart verily is great for the Psalmist saith that in keeping of the commandements of God there is great reward Sinceritie is commaunded in the first commaundement of the first Table and more largely in other places of Scripture which bid vs to serue God with all our hearts and with all our soules and to praise him with all that is within vs. And therefore out of all doubt there is a great reward laid vp for those that are sincere harted Christians and vpright professors of the Gospell of Christ. Thou hast shewed great mercy to Dauid saith King Salomon when he walked before thee in truth and vprightnesse of heart to shew that great mercies belong
to vpright harted men But what it is or how great it is or how good it is few yet do know fewer beleeue it and fewest of all do so feele it as to be moued therewith We know what we haue here say some we know not what we shall haue hereafter Now ignoti nulla cupido of a thing vnknowne there is no desire Therefore that men may desire it it is fit they should know it Others there be that hauing heard of it are desirous to see it as Philip sayd to Christ Shew vs thy father and it suffiseth so say they Shew vs the reward of sinceritie and it suffiseth Dreaming as the Disciples of Christ did awhile of some earthly and temporall preferment But as Christ sayd to Philip He that hath seene me hath seene my father because the Sonne was in the Father and the Father in the Sonne so we say to them he that hath seene sinceritie hath seene the reward of sincerity because sincerity of it selfe is the gift of God and Gods reward goeth with his owne gift according to the saying of a learned father Sua munera coronat Deus in nobis God doth crowne his owne gifts in vs. Other some there be which haue seene the reward of sincerity a good part of it that is haue knowne it and beleeued such a thing but haue bin no more moued therewith to preserue themselues against the poison of vaineglorie then they of the old world were moued with the report and sight of Noahs Arke to prepare for them selues against the floud Others there be that haue both seene it by faith and tasted of it too but afterward haue lothed the same and lusted after vaineglorie as the vnthankfull Israelites lothed Manna which did nourish them when all other foode failed and sell to lusting for the flesh pots of Egypt It fareth with those that haue left their sinceritie as it did with those that left Christ after they had heard him awhile When they heard Christ speake of eating his flesh they said this is a hard saying who can beare it and so came no more So the other hearing that sincerities men shall haue Gods reward they like that well inough but when we tell them nay when Gods word telleth them that they shall loose the worlds reward and in stead of commendations shall be condemned and hated and scorned they say this is a hard saying and so giue ouer their sincere courses But what saith our Sauiour Christ to the woman of Samaria If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith vnto thee giue me drinke thou wouldst haue asked of him and he wold haue giuen thee water yea water of life So it may be said to those that make a iest of sinceritie or preferre the glorie of the world before the reward of sinceritie If they knew the gift of God the excellent reward of sinceritie and who it is that saith Take heede of vaineglorie and who it is that will reward the embracers of sinceritie they would seeke to him for credite and aske glorie of him and he would giue them an euerlasting reward euen a crowne of glorie which neuer should end As when Dauid asked life the Lord gaue him a long life and as when Salomon asked wisedome before riches the Lord gaue him both wisedome and riches too But now all the enquiring will be what this same gift of God should be and what reward they shall haue that giue entertainment to sincerity Verily as the Church saith of Christ her beloued My beloued is white and ruddie the chiefest of ten thousands so may the louers of sinceritie say our beloued is white and ruddie that is she is like the kings daughter all glorious within she is the chiefest often thousand she hath many faire sisters but she passeth them all her sisters be patience and humility and meeknesse and zeale and courage and long suffering and contempt of the world and loue of God with faith hope and charitie and all these are glorious and beautifull vertues yea sweet children of the holy Ghost when thâ—y come from God but sinceritie and singlenesse of heart doth excell them all The Sunne doth giue light to all the starres and the Queene doth grace her Ladies of Honour with her presence So sinceritie or truth of heart doth beautifie and grace all other vertues for without that they are but naked and counterfeit She goeth before them and speaketh for them all like a foreman of a Iurie when all the rest though they be her faire sisters must hold their peace Faith is seeble and weake and loue her handmaid is lazie and careth for none but her selfe patience hath a scarre on her face giuen her by intemperancie deuotions is so frozen with cold that she can scarce go humilitie is so tired with wrestling against pride that she looketh very leane and bare and as for repentance that is so trampled vpon with custome of sinne that it is scarce to be discerned from hardnesse of heart Now all these go from vs that haue abused them into the Lords presence as Thamar did from her brother Amnon when he had enforced her with their garments of diuerse colours rent and torne with ashes vpon her head in token of sorrow and with great weeping griefe and shame For that they must come before their Lord and King their father so defaced so ragged so basely and so beastly as they are as if they had lien all their life time since they went from heauen in some stinking ditches with vermine or in vile stables amongst beastes or in the woods and fieldes of wandring cogitations amongst the euish conceipts of vaineglorie and vnwholesome affections of anger and wrath and couetuousnesse and vncleannesse for so they haue indeed But when they meet with ther sister sinceritie and vprightnesse of heart oh how glad and ioyfull are they for her sake they know they shall all fare the better Oh sinceritie sinceritie where hast thou bene all this while say they vntill thou camest we could haue no grace nor fauour no entrance into the Court gate of our heauenly Ierusalem no our owne father would not know vs but tooke vs for counterfeits vntill we fetched thee as Ioseph tooke his brethren for spies vntill they fetched Beniamin whome he loued better then they And now that we haue met with thee we are glad our hearts are comforted thou shalt be heard for vs all being altogether in Christ Iesus our Mediator But otherwise though we said we are Christians and haue professed Christianitie and offered to put in for our suretie no worse baile then the Kings owne naturall sonne Iesus Christ all would not serue we could not be heard vntill we brought sinceritie with vs. For she as respecteth God more then all the world and setteth more by his loue and anger then by the loue and anger of all the world so in Christ Iesus she is more respected and
honoured and rewarded of God then all the world beside Oh happie man and woman that professing Christianitie or faith in Christ or repentance for sinne or patience in affliction or contempt of the world or zeale to Gods glorie or deuotion in Gods worship or liberalitie to the Saints or mercie to the miserable can in all these haue the company of sinceritie and vprightnesse of heart then may they say thus nay our suretie the Lord Iesus wil pleade for vs in this manner Father despise not these little ones they are my friends and though their faith and repentance be weake and imperfect and other graces of thy Spirit be but small and feeble and for want of nourshing and good looking vnto be not so well growne nor so well ordered as they should haue bene yet forasmuch as they come before thee and haue called vpon my name in sinceritie and truth which thou louest without counterfeiting dissembling and hypocrisie which thou abhorrest thou wilt not despise them Their fruit though they be but little in quantitie like a graine of musterd seed yet it is right fruite of the Spirit true faith though little faith true loue though litle and small loue not like the fruites of hypocrites which are like the apples of Sodome faire in shew and ashes in substance What hath soundly comforted all the Saines of God here on earth but the testimonie of an vpright heart And is not sound comfort a good reward What hath encouraged and emboldned them to come before God in prayer but the testimoniall of a sincere heart and holy affection And is not boldnesse in Gods presence a good reward What hath made the prayers of the faithfull auaileable with God for other but the sinceritie and vpright affection of them that haue craued their prayers and are not these sweet odours that is the prayers of the Saints a good reward What made Iacob to be honoured with the new name of Israel that is preuailing with God for a blessing but that his wrestling was not in shew but in good earnest in sinceritie and truth of heart with a constant purpose of perseuering till he had gotten that which he stroue for And is not preuailing with God a good reward All the daies of the afflicted are euill saith Salomon that is troublesome grieuous and bitter to flesh and bloud but a good conscience is a continuall feast that is he that hath an vpright heart and sincere affection before God feeleth no want Now such a feast as it is continuall so is it prouided by God himselfe serued in with the Spirit of God where the Angels do waite and reioyce and the worst dishes are the assurance of Gods loue forgiuenesse of sinnes peace of conscience and ioy of the holy Ghost There all the communication is secret and heauenly between Christ and the soule the Musitians are the faithfull and their musicke is praising of God and their harmonie is the communion of Saints and all are of one heart and mind and is not such a feast a good reward Nay more then this if this be not inough whosoeuer will earnestly hegge this gift of God by prayer and louingly embrace and keepe her as his deare spouse shall haue with her a large dowrie a great reward in heauen in heauen saith Christ. For such gifts come not without crauing and of our selues we cannot haue it for if a good wife be the gift of God much more is a good heart which God in creating doth giue in giuing doth create therfore Dauid saith Create in me ô Lord a cleane heart to shew that we can no more make the hart sincere then we can create a hart But whē such a hart is created by God he giueth thee a singular gift a great portion belongeth vnto it Part of it shall be payd thee in this life but the greatest part in the life to come In this life thou shalt be loued of Christs friends and moned of good men when thou art wronged the more thou dost seek to honor God the more he will honor thee as he told Samuel The more thou fliest the vainglorie of the world for sinceritie sake the more wil true glorie follow thee according to the Prouerb Honos fugientem sequitur sequentem fugit It followeth those that flye from her like friends which enforce gifts and other curtesies vpon modest persons which refuse them but flyeth them that follow her as men do impudent beggers But besides al this when death comes thy deare friend sincerity shall more comfort thee then all the Phisitions in the world And after death thy name shall liue and walke vp downe in the world to warne some to comfort some to admonish some and to shame some and to condemne many But yet here is not all for then shalt thou first receiue commendation of God whom thou hast serued and secondly enter into full and euerlasting possession of thy maisters ioy which is no lesse then a weightie crowne of glorie immortall then a kingdome and inheritance of eternall blessednesse with the Saints and Angels and God himselfe where all teares shall be wiped from thy eyes and thou shalt reioyce for euermore Where thou shalt enioy for euer and euer such things as no eye hath seene no eare hath heard nor heart to man can conceiue and nothing shall euer obscure or eclipse the same nor crosse nor diminish the same And what is all this or whatsoeuer else can be sayd of it but scarce a shadow of sincerities reward Alas a drop taken out of the sea and a moate out of the mountaines like the hem of Christs garment which did comfort the woman that touched it but she found more comfort in him then in the hem So the description of sincerity is delightsome the picture is pleasing but whosoeuer hath sincerity it selfe shall find at his left hand the fulnesse of ioy and at his right hand pleasure for euermore Whosoeuer after this Sermon shall find so much fauour with God as to meete with sinceritie and vprightnesse of heart in all his actions and such an affection that preferreth Gods glorie before his owne and seeketh praise of God and not of man shall say as the Queene of the South sayd when she came to King Salomon That which I heard of thee I did hardly beleeue it but now I perceiue that the report which went of thee is nothing answerable to that which thou art indeed And though no man deserueth such a reward at Gods hand no nor any reward at all but shame and confusion which is our due desert yet both for his promise sake as also for his honour sake he will so reward his children If mortall men will keepe their promise one towards another as all that haue but common ciuility and honestie will them much more will Almightie God who is all truth and righteousnesse it selfe and can no more breake his promise then he can denie himselfe
brought me with my great credit her great shame to high preferment and now am I free from all troubles and liue like a king in heauen as sometime I was a ruler in Aegypt Aske Dauid and he will tell thee that when he could say vnto God With my whole heart I haue sought thee then could he most boldly call vpon God and say Let me not wander from thy commandements Aske Saint Paule and he will tell thee that he would not presume to craue for the prayers of the Church but when he could also certifie them that he had a good conscience in all things and desired to liue honestly Againe Paule speaking of himselfe and his fellow labourers saith thus We are not as many which make marchandize of the word of God but as of sinceritie but as of God in the sight of God we speake in Christ. We walke not in craftinesse neither handle we the word of God deceitfully but in declaration of the truth we approoue our selues to euerie mans conscience in the sight of God And what hast thou gotten Paule for thy labour In how many dangers hast thou bene both by sea and by land By thy owne confession thou hast bene whipped and beaten with roddes cast into prison stoned and laied for dead hunted from one place to another and at the last lost thy head hadst not thou beene better to haue pleased thy honest neighbours by preaching Christ after their fashion No no sayth Paule neuer tell me of these matters I was crucified to the world and the world to me that is I cared no more for the world then the world did for me the power of God did appeare in my weaknesses when I was in prison I was at liberty when I went from the whip to the dungeon I sung Psalmes yea all this was an honour vnto me that I was not worthie of From all my daungers the Lord deliuered me And where I lost my life there I found it againe euen euerlasting life In a word I haue fought a good fight and haue finished my course I haue kept the faith For henceforth is layed vp for me the crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue me at that day and not to me onely but to all them that loue his appearing Aske King Hezechiah what was most comfortable to him in his sicknesse when he looked for nothing but death Oh sayth he I payed and sayd I beseech thee ô Lord remember how that I haue walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart that is a sound and vpright heart without dissembling and haue done that which is good in thy sight to shew that when all faile yet sincerity and truth of heart shall comfort vs like a good keeper and kind nurse at the houre of death Now then what remaineth for this point but that we gather vp the summe of all that hath bene sayd of it and make the conclusion and that is this Seeing that sinceritie shall be rewarded by our heauenly father both in this life with sound comfort in time of trouble with courage and boldnesse in time of prayer with the prayers of the Saints in time of neede with a continuall feast in the time of affliction with heauenly consolation in the time of death and in the world to come with the kingdome of heauen let euery man confesse that the reward of sincerity is a great reward And seeing as it is so great for quantitie and so good for qualitie that all the world cannot affoord so much as a shadow thereof nor tell how to commend it let euery one of vs be more moued therey to embrace sinceritie and to seeke praise at Gods hand rather then all the vaine praises of the world And seeing as sinceritie is of all vertues the chiefest and that which graceth all our vertues before God and man let vs aboue all looke in all our affaires that nothing be done without it Lastly seeing as both Enoch and Ioseph and Dauid and Hezechiah and Paule besides many else haue giuen such testimonie thereof let no man doubt to beleeue nor feare to follow it for out of all doubt those that are approued in Gods sight shall be well rewarded of their heauenly father And so much for the reward of sinceritie THE IIII. SERMON MATH 6.2 As hypocrites do in the Synagogues and streetes to be seene of men WE haue heard heretofore the excellent nature and heauenly reward of sinceritie now brethren that we may be as much out of loue with hypocrisie as we are in loue I hope with sinceritie let vs see the nature and reward of hypocrisie because contraries being layed together do the better appeare And first of the nature of of hypocrisie vpon these wordes as the hypocrites do c. Of the second branch when we come to the next words Verily I say vnto you they haue their reward At this time onely of these wordes as hypocrites do wherein our Sauior Christ doth giue vs to vnderstand two things First that whosoeuer professeth a shew of that which he is not is an hypocrite secondly that the doings of hypocrites are to be made knowne that euery one seeing the hypocrite laid out in his colours with his reward that belongeth to him may take heede that he play not the hypocrite or if he hath played that part to be ashamed thereof and repent and follow the Lord euer after in sinceritie and truth of heart Now seeing as our Sauiour Christ would haue hypocrites knowne by their doings I will endeuour my selfe at this time by Gods helpe to vncase the hypocrite who hath plaid his part so long so impudently and so vncontrolledly carying away all the credit of the world euen to the vndermining of the house of God endangering the whole estate of Christian Religion And call this Sermon if you list the vncasing of the hypocrite for I will if God will do my best endeuour to vncase him Wherein perhaps I shall not behaue my selfe so handsomly and finely to please all parties as some could do but yet I hope both soundly and plainly I shall go to worke You know brethren that plaine dealing is my profession though it be counted a iewell for beggers flattery and curiositie and hypocrisie I leaue to them that will dye rich men and therefore I speed accordingly and I must needes confesse that I am wellinough serued to be so well belaboured as I am with the strife of tongues Well if I could handle this matter more learnedly then I can yet I would of purpose deceiue all such itching eares as come rather to haue their humours fed then their liues reformed A peece of worke both thanklesse and dangerous yea a most vnpleasant argument haue I taken in hand especially as the case standeth now when most men come to catch and to cauill and quot homines tot sententiae euery mans head swarming with as many odde
The rich men of their aboundance cast much into the treasurie and the poore widow cast in two mites which makes a farthing Now by the iudgement of Christ she cast in more then the rich men did because they of their superfluitie gaue some but she gaue all that she had And so it is we see by daily experience that many a meane man considering his abilitie or rather his inabilitie doth giue more when he giueth a peny then some rich man doth when he giueth a pound And perhaps as he giueth all that he hath in coÌ„parison of some other so he parteth from it with a better mind then some that giue more and can better spare it then he Diuerse do examine in giuing of almes whether he be a good man or no to whom they giue as though it were of necessitie required to the truth of almes that he must be a good man to whom almes is giuen and not rather a good man that giueth it Facile dignus est pauper hoc ipso quod miser est egenus vt eleemosynam accipiat saith Musculus A poore man is capable inough of an almes in that he is in miserie and want Some say they would giue almes if they were able but let them giue of that small abilitie that they haue a little and it shall be acceptable before God being giueÌ„ of a pitiful mind There is the alms of the hand the almes of the tongue and the almes of the eyes the almes of the heart The almes of the hand is some visible thing giuen as gold siluer bread cloth c. The tongues almes is two fold first good counsell and comfortable speeches which oftentimes do more good then gold and siluer such an almes did Peter bestow vpon the creeple when he said Siluer and gold I haue none but such as I haue I giue thee in the name of Iesus arise and walke Act. 2. Secondly earnest prayer vnto God such an almes did the Church bestow vpon Peter when he was in prison and it releeued him more then mony for it caused the prison doores to open alone and Peter escaped Act. 12. The eyes almes are teares for the calamities of other proceeding from a sorrowfull heart such an almes did the women of Ierusalem bestow vpon our Sauiour Christ when he went to suffer death And Christ noted theÌ„ in gracious termes for it saying Weepe not for me daughters of Ierusalem but weepe for your selues c. The almes of the heart is a certaine griefe and sorrow arising from the feeling of anothers miserie and is the mother of all the rest if abilitie serue and of all thâ—se he that cannot giue one may affoord another Some giue but it is grudgingly and angerly and some in pollicie onely to please vnruly persons and stay a further mischiefe for feare that else they should lose all like those that cast bread to a dogge for feare of biting these giue no good almes No more do those that giue somewhat of that which they haue ill gotten to the end they might keepe the rest in the better securitie Nor they that giue of a vainglorious affection to seeme to be mercifull when they be nothing lesse We are not to iudge any mans hart but euery man by this doctrine is to examine and iudge his owne heart Now we are to see why the Lord will haue almes to be giuen that is why it is his pleasure to haue poore men in the world that shal stand in neede of the rich mans almes for it cannot be denied but that this is the Lords doing as Salomon saith The rich and the poore meete together but the Lord is the maker of all He could haue made many women for one man saith the prophet for he had abundance of spirit meaning he had power inough to giue many wiues to one husband but he made but one wife for one husband and why but one because he sought a godly seede So he could haue made all rich or those rich which he made poore those poore which he made rich for he had abundance and inough for euery one if euery one had bene a world and yet he would not do so but would haue some to be rich some to be poore And why so Surely to giue thereby occasions of patience as he doth vnto the poore by their pouertie and of liberalitie and doing of good as he doth vnto the rich by placing of poore and needy amongst them God could haue brought to passe that sinne should neuer haue bene in the world if it had so pleased him but then how should his iustice haue appeared in punishing the vessels of his wrath and the riches of his mercie bene manifested in pardoning his elect Euen so if he had made all rich and none poore what should then the rich haue had to exercise their liberalitie vpon and wherwithall should the patience of the needy haue bene tried Both rich and poore therfore hath he made for the manifesting of the singular worke of his Spirit to his own praise and glory in both Let not therefore the rich contemne the poore because they haue not their aboundance for themselues but as stewards appointed of God to releeue therewith those which want Neither let the poore enuie the rich or impatiently beare their burden because God hath prouided that their want should be supplied by the rich but let both poore and rich glorifie God in their estate and calling and know that if they vse the same to that end that God hath ordained them for they shall reape vnto themselues the most sweete fruits of the sanctifying spirit vnto the sealing vp of their euerlasting election and adoption in Christ. In the next place we are to consider how men may be moued or induced to giue almes willingly and chearefully First because almes giuing is nothing else but a worke of mercie as almes it selfe is mercies gift it can haue no better inforcer to worke then mercie it selfe that is a compassion or fellow feeling of another mans miserie which naturally should be in al meÌ„ But because that is by natural corruption deaded in some turned into a sottish kind of inhumanitie in others weakned in all Therefore secondly it is needfull that we be regenerated made new men by the Spirite of God who by his heauenly grace and effectuall working in vs may restore that which is lost and cause mercie to appeare in her liuely hew and beautifull colour againe Thirdly when we are borne againe it is a motiue of no small force to consider that Christ in his members is miserable poore and needie and that whosoeuer doth succour them is iudged to haue succored Christ himselfe as appeareth by the testimonie of Christs owne mouth in Mat. 25. verse 24. and so forward Now if it be so that Christ is releeued wheÌ„ his poore meÌ„bers are releeued what reason hath any hard harted Nabal to be so close
Paul when he came to preach the resurrection of Christ And too much learning maketh thee madde saith Festus And were not the Apostles words esteemed as words of drunken men when they were filled with the holy Ghost And Christ hath told vs that men shall speake all maner of euill saying falsly against vs for his names sake euen as they did of the Prophets before So that in outward shew all zealous Christians in generall and euery true and faithfull Minister of Christ in particular whose mouthes are still open to find fault and reproue sinne shall seeme to the blind world of all men most froward but we know and so many as are taught of God do know that none but the man of Belial and Ish-auen that is lawlesse and vaine persons are those which walke with a froward mouth As for the regenerate though they be as hath bene sayd through weakenesse sometime ouertaken with a froward speech yet blessed are they saith Dauid because they walke not in the counsell of the wicked nor stand in the way of sinners The grace of God is abounding sayth Paule through our sinne but not if we continue still in our sinne and therefore to conclude as Paule going to persecute the Church was obedient to the heauenly vision and returned a true conuert so let so many as haue walked in froward waies now take warning by this heauenly vision and so shall he returne home truly conuerted Now let vs praise God THE IIII. SERMON PROV 6.13.14 He maketh a signe with his eyes he signifieth with his feete he instructeth with his fingers Lewd things are in his hart WE haue heard before of Belials froward mouth and how he is to be discerned thereby for a lawlesse and a vaine man Now it remaineth that we consider of his outward gestures and then of the internall shop of his heart and the stuffe that he keepeth there together with the matter that he frameth of the same And first for his outward gestures they are such as if we marke them well do shew that all his behauiour is counterfeit The meaning is that the man of Belial and the vaine man is very cunning and skilfull both in playing the hypocrite before God and also in practising of other lewdnesse before the world In actions religious wherein consisteth the outward seruice of God he counterfeiteth very cunningly making great signes shewes of deuotion piety by eleuating or lifting vp his eyes vnto heauen as the Pharisee did and by running a pace or making great expedition to the Temple as Ezechiels auditours did and by turning ouer with his fingers the Bible to places alledged by the Preacher c. All which be signes and instructions vnto the world that he or she that doth so is very deuoute and godly and haue their harts wholly possessed with the loue and feare of God and their minds employed about the study and practise of righteousnesse sincerity and honesty All which gestures may well beseeme the godly whose harts indeed are vpright with the Lord but as for Belial and Ish-auen they are odious in them because when they make such signes and giue soorth such shewes and instructions the Lord seeth and telleth vs here in our text that leud things are in their harts They are only signes without the things signified like an Iuy-bush ouer a doore where no wine is in the house The wicked that make them are like the wicked Scribes and Pharises who vnder colour of long prayer studied how to deuoure yea deuoured indeed as Christ saith widowes houses They are also not vnlike to players on a stage who come forth with long beards and side gownes like graue Senators and wise Counsellors when notwithstanding there is neither grauity nor wisedome in them And as Belial playeth the counterfeit in religious exercises to couer with signes of holinesse the leud things of his hart so also in his ciuill conuersation and dealing amongst men doth he by making shewes and signes in his outward gestures of that which he hath not couer much leudnesse and practise much mischiefe What was the kisse of Iudas but a signe of loue yet treason was in his hart and couered therewith What were Ioabs courteous embracings and kind salutations but signes vnto Abner of a kind friend yet murther was in his hart and couered therwith What is the harlots talking of paying her vowes and offering her peace offerings but a signe of a godly woman yet euen then is leudnesse in her heart and it is couered therewith How many in the world do make signes with their eyes and countenance of great loue and kindnesse with bending the body to embrace and hastening their feete to meete euen those whom they hate in their heart How many againe haue put finger to the eye and seemed to weepe and taken vp great lamentation with wringing of hands and refraining their meate with other signes of griefe and sorrow for the hurt and death of some whose death perhaps they haue procured for whose losse they laugh and reioyce in their harts What signes of humility also shall we see or not see euen in the proudest persons that are what signes of grauity in the lighest and vainest what signes of charity in the cruellest what signes of liberality from the most niggardly and what signes of manhood valour euen in the most cowardly persons that are Long lockes sterne countenances bigge lookes great bragges monstrous oathes cruell threatnings and like Saule breathing nothing but slaughter as if they were more then Lions and when it commeth to the triall they are lesse then men like empty vessels which make the greatest sound when they are empty Of all which with many moe the like it may be sayd as it is in our text They make signes with their eyes they signifie with their feete instruct with their fingers but leud things are in their harts And againe as the man of Belial and vaine man doth oftentimes play the counterfeit both in religion and ciuility making signes of that which is not in him yea only to couer the leudnesse that is in him so sometimes also doth he both openly declare by signes and gestures the vanity and lightnesse of his heart and as cunningly likewise by signes and gestures both practise and also teach mischiefe and leudnesse when he is amongst his companions And certainly when the outward gestures of the body and the parts thereof are not according to simplicity it must needs proceed from some euill that is in the hart Now this noting and marking of a lawlesse person by his gestures externall behauiour doth teach vs many very profitable lessons worthy our best consideration 1 The seuere precisenesse and precise seuerity of the word of God which looketh into the very gestures of the body as the motion of the eyes of the feete and the fingers c. 2 The tyranny of sin which exerciseth all the parts of
God but to his owne destruction Now thē when we haue by the grace of God found out the cause of our euill to be an euill heart in our selues we may truly say of our harts as Dauid did of Doeg and prophetically of Iudas Psalm 55.12 Surely mine enemy did not defame me but it was thou my familiar friend which was bred and borne with me euen thou my heart with whom I haue bene so familiar that hast wrought me the greatest part of my woe Of the same iudgement is the Apostle Iames Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God cannot be tempted with euill neither tempteth he any man But euery man is tempted when he is drawne away by his owne concupiscence and is enticed Then when lust hath conceiued it bringeth forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death Erre not my deare brethren Where the Apostle plainely sheweth vs two things first that such is our impudencie shamelesse ignorance and presumptuous blind boldnesse by nature that rather then we will acknowledge our selues to be in fault and to be the cause of our owne euill we will not sticke to lay the fault vpon God and make him the cause of euill As our first parents did the woman blamed the serpent and the man blamed not simply the woman nor himselfe at all but the woman forsooth which God had giuen him Secondly that whosoeuer thinketh that God is the cause of his euill and not that his owne corrupt hart is wholly the cause thereof the force whereof is so great both to entice and draw vnto euill to conceiue and to bring foorth euill doth erre and is deceiued Hereof it commeth also that the word of God cannot enter into many it cannot fasten vpon their hearts because their hearts are full of leud things Like the Inne where Christ was borne there was no roome for him in the Inne and therefore he was faine to lye in the stable And in many though it enter yet it tarieth not but departeth away presently saying as Christ said when the Iewes sought after his life Arise let vs go hence as being vnwilling to lodge in so filthie a place and amongst his enemies And hence it is likewise that the Preachers words come out from many when they repeat a Sermon as Thamar did from Amnon when he had defiled her with her garments all rent and torne If pure wine be put into a filthy and vncleane vessell in powring it foorth againe it will appeare what stuffe was in the vessell for they come out together so if wholesome doctrine be deliuered to a leud heart in the rehearsing thereof it will appeare with what manner of vnderstanding and affection he heard it Such caskes do many bring with them to put our Sermons in that either runne out like Siues or else are defiled with ignorance or malice or preiudicate conceipts that it wold loth a man to heare it come from them For though it came to them in a princely robe yet it commeth from them like a beggers cloke yea though it came to them with a louely countenance yet it commeth from them like a filthie carrion dragged and haled in the miry streetes amongst dogges that a man would thinke the Preacher had bene out of his wits to deliuer such matter or in such manner as they vtter it or else which is the right that they wanted both wit and vnderstanding or grace or conscience or honestie or all that heard the Sermon to report it in such a leud manner But the best is the shame turneth to themselues and no bodie is so much defiled with such hearts as the owners thereof So saith our Sauiour Christ Those things which proceede out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile the man for out of the heart come euill thoughts murders adulteries fornications false testimonies slanders these are the things which defile the man meaning him that is troubled with them as if he did but vomite vpon his owne clothes that speaketh from a filthie heart And verily they are but fooles that do so for what wise man will carrie one with him still that shameth him wheresoeuer he goeth A leud vnreformed hart is such an vnmanerly companion that doth nothing else but discredite our persons deface our religion grieue our friends harden our foes aduance the Diuell prouoke the Lord marre all the good things that come neare it and alwaies annoy shame and vexe the owner Lot had much ado with the Sodomites but none did more dishonour him then his owne daughters Noah was vexed with the old world but none did him so much shame as his owne sonne Dauid had many enemies but none put him in such feare and danger as his owne Absalom Sampson had much ado with the Philistines but his owne heifter his wife ploughed vp his riddle to the aduantage of his enemies Our Sauiour Christ had many enemies yet none like Iudas who was alwaies in his companie So euery man yea euery true Christian shall haue many enemies crosses troubles and dangers but his owne heart is his greatest enemie which doth flatter him most and deceiue him soonest which for want of godlinesse cannot be content with that it hath which for want of contentation cannot be in quiet for want of quietnesse cannot haue any ioy of any thing that it enioyeth which for want of heauenly wisedome cannot deuide his times aright nor tell how to deale with all sorts of people which for want of patience cannot beare an iniurie or put vp a wrong for want of mercifull affections cannot tell how to forgiue offences for want of charitie cannot tel how to construe things well for want of the feare of God cannot haue a good vnderstanding for want of a good vnderstanding peruerteth the straight waies of the Lord which for want of humilitie cannot see the meaning of Gods wayes which for want of a lowly affection cannot tell how to seeke peace for want of Gods grace cannot acknowledge his fault and for want of remorse of conscience cannot repent him of his leudnesse Such a heart is the heart of the wicked Belial which being fraught with leud things disordereth distempereth and shameth all the life of that man that hath it and is ruled by it And so much for the third point in handling whereof we haue seene that all the cause of outward disorder and trouble is within a mans owne hart of the other three points in the next Sermon Now let vs pray THE VI. SERMON PRO. 6.14 Leud things are in his heart OVt of these words ioyned with the rest of Belials description we haue hitherto learned three excellent and worthy points of doctrine First that Belial is no better within then without Secondly that the heart and whatsoeuer is in the heart of man is knowne to God who will also iudge a man according to that which is
thou hast sought his loue and canst not find it therefore thou wilt seeke no longer oh do not so but heare what the bodie sayth to thee a member of the same In my bed by night I sought him whom my soule loueth but I found him not What then did she giue ouer seeking No verily I will rise sayth the Church and go about in the Citie by the streetes and by the open places I will seeke him whom my soule loueth I sought him but I found him not The watchmen that went about the Citie found me meaning that she went to the Ministers of the word for comfort to whom I said haue you seen him whom my soule loueth When I had passed a little from them I found him whom my soule loueth I tooke hold on him and left him not c. Meaning that she hauing long vsed all meanes both priuate and publike then found him when she was out of all hope to find him and so do thou that art troubled in thy soule because thou canst not yet find that alteration of thy heart and that inward obedience and that truth of heart and that comfort and ioy by hearing the word and prayer c. which thou desirest and lookedst for vse all means continue stil seeking asking and knocking seeke priuatly at home in thy bed by priuate examination and meditation then conferre with thy Christian neighbors about the state of thy soule then go to the Ministers of the word and frequent the publike holy assemblies with an earnest desire of finding and doubtlesse at last when thou art out of al hope thou shalt find comfort And as in taking of bodily phisicke many through the weakenesse of their stomackes do cast vp that which they take and yet take the same thing stil though their stomake loath it so in taking of spirituall phisicke though yet thou doest in a manner loath it and distaste it yet take it still and at the length strength and delight will grow The second enemie that will hinder the reformation of the heart if it be not auoided is vnbeleefe which like armour of proofe Sathan commonly putteth vpon the hearts of the wicked that no perswasion counsell nor threatning will enter where the soule is armed with that therfore it is said in the Gospel that Christ could do no great work in his own country because of their vnbeleef to shew that vnbeleef doth as much as lieth in vs bind the hands of the Lord and hinder his gracious worke vpon vs. Therefore commonly Christ asked this question of those which came to be healed of him Canst thou beleeue And to those that did beleeue he would say in commendation of faith Thy faith hath saued thee go in peace O woman sayth he to one that would haue no nay great is thy faith be it vnto thee as thou beleeuest and her daughter was healed the same houre this was the Cananite a Gentile Another suing to Christ for his sonne that was possessed with a dumbe spirite and being asked of Christ if he did beleeue that Christ was able and willing to dispossesse that spirite cried out with teares and sayd I beleeue Lord helpe my vnbeleefe to shew that we are to pray against vnbeleefe of heart euen with teares The best Christians are subiect vnto it as appeareth in that Christ reproued his Disciples for their vnbeleefe and hardnes of heart because they would not beleeue them that had seene him after he was risen again Mar. 16.14 Where we are also to note that vnbeleefe and hardnesse of heart do go together And the Apostle Paul confesseth freely against himselfe that he was sometime a blasphemer and a persecutor but he did it ignorantly he sayth through vnbeleefe to shew that vnbeleefe doth not onely hold men in ignorance and blindnesse longer then otherwise they should be but also doth nourish in them many grosse sinnes Therefore whosoeuer would haue a better heart then Belial hath let him pray against vnbeleefe The third enemie which hindreth our sanctification is custome of any one sinne whatsoeuer S. Augustine sayth Consuetudo peccandi tollit sensum peccati the custome of sinne taketh away all sense and feeling of sinne It is a despising of the long suffering and patience of God which should leade vs to repentance and it breedeth two dangerous diseases hardnesse of hart and impenitencie for as that way must needs be hard which is drie and much trampled vpon so that hart must needs be hardned in sinne which is voide of the softning grace of Gods Spirite and is accustomed to sinne therefore such a hearer is compared to the high way Luke 8.5 that in three respects first because it is crooked and winding this way and that way like the high way Secondly because it is common for all that come men and beasts God and the diuel for good company for bad like the high way And thirdly because it is hardned by oftē sinning as the high way is by oftē treading therfore he that goeth about to reforme his hart and yet accustometh to lodge any sin therein with loue and delight doth but deceiue himselfe Now further to withstand these enemies and to put them to flight the Apostles counsel is to be folowed in Heb. 3.12 Take heed saith he lest there be in any of you an euill heart and vnfaithfull to depart away from the liuing God but exhort one another dayly while it is said to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulnes of sin The summe of his counsel is this First that euery man by himself must looke vnto himselfe that he hath not resident in him a filthy standing puddle a wicked vngodly heart or a heart that makes a practise of sinne that is wauering and inconstant in the seruice of God Secondly that euery Christian be carefull one for another and by mutuall and dayly exhortations stirre vp one another vnto godlinesse for which he giueth a double reason the first is from the nature of sinne which is deceitfull and at a blush like vertue secondly from the effects of sinne which are hardnesse of heart and impenitencie Though the profane person with Esau seeke the blessing with teares yet shall he find no place for repentance so doth this cursed guest reward this wretched hoast who giueth him welcome and entertainement And because brotherly loue can see the deceit of sin better then self-loue as another mans eye shall see how a mans garment sitteth better then he that weareth it therefore the Apostle willeth euery man in brotherly loue to note and to notifie vnto others such things as they see amisse in thē And this holy course who soeuer doeth wisely speedily carefully continually obserue shall do good both to his owne heart and to other mens and shall find in the end that the gaine will answer the paine the fruite will defray the charges and that will be this
euill imaginations and vncharitable surmises is here put downe for an infallible marke of the man of Belial and of a vaine man who is to be destroyed if he repent not both speedily suddenly and without recouerie let vs all that tender the glorie of God the quiet of our brethren and the peace of our own soules look to our hearts and minds to our thoughts and imaginations and learne by the word of God striuing by continuall prayer to amend correct controll and examine all our surmises our opinions and our conceiued imaginations or sinister conceipts which commonly we frame of our selues and of others of our maker and of our neighbor happy is he not that is free from euill imaginations for then none could be happie but he that hauing found out his euill imaginations doth forsake them And wo be to him not that hath had a false imagining head or may perhaps be ouertaken with an vncharitable surmise by occasion for thē wo be to all but wo be to him that heareth what I say and knoweth himselfe to be guiltie and yet wil continue in his euil imaginations for such a one hath Gods markes vpon him as we say of him that hath the plague euen the markes of a man of Belial which is the plague of the soule to vtter destruction for he imagineth euill continually Now let vs pray THE VIII SERMON PROV 6.14 He raiseth vp contentions THe meaning of these words is this that where there was no contention the man of Belial soweth contention and where contention was either dead or dying out he by rubbing and chafing of it as it were fetcheth and reuiueth it againe Contention is like a brawling dogge or roring lion which being raised vp will shew his furious disposition and put men both in feare and danger Now Belial is one that raiseth vp this dogge and awaketh this lion to his owne danger and trouble of others The summe is this that Belial is a common makebate a sower of discord an enemie to Christian peace and one that cannot fish as the Prouerbe is but in troubled waters Whereby we may learne that an imagining head is good for nothing else but to breake vp the ground that the Diuell meaneth to sow with the seede of debate and strife And now the wicked mans tree beareth fruite such as it is euen bitter contention which is nourished by leud thoughts in the hart and watered by the cursed suggestions of Sathan it buddeth in the euill imaginations of his head it blossometh in the counterfeit and prophane gestures of his body it knitteth in the frowardnesse of his mouth it ripeneth in the practise of his life when he raiseth vp contentions it falleth and rotteth when destruction commeth speedily and suddenly vpon him without recouerie Lo then the fruites of a wicked heart and surmizing head And one thing followeth another in order or rather out of order for leud stuffe in the heart maketh euill imaginations in the braine and euill imaginations serue to raise vp contentions amongst men And the reason is this euill imaginations or mentall images are false resemblances or surmizes that Belial hath framed of himselfe or of others and when they come to light no bodie liketh of them all men hate them all men reproue them Belial maintaines them and then Contention the brawling curre is raised vp of himselfe he imagineth that he is wise when he is but a foole especially in respect of true heauenly wisedome that he is bountifull when he is most niggardly that he is able to do much when he can do nothing and then boasteth of himselfe what he is and what he can do as if he should say Lo this is my picture It is nothing like you saith another It is saith he and so dogged Contention is raised vp Of God and his truth he imagineth carnally superstitiously grossely and blasphemously and commendeth it saying so is the Almightie such is his nature as if he should say Lo this is Gods image this is his picture That see others that be Gods friends and religious friends indeed and they deny it and detest it and then contention is raised vp Of State-matters and common-wealth matters he imagineth crosly and after his owne pleasure Also of the Preachers methode and doctrine he imagineth this and that and frameth out a patterne of teaching himselfe thus he should haue said c. and this he defendeth to the raising vp of contention Of euery mans actions he imagineth euill descanting at his pleasure of this mans dealing and that manslife of this mans words and of that mans lookes and setteth out euery mans image as he listeth himselfe which when men behold and see how ilfauouredly and deformedly they are set forth they reproue the forger or counterfeiter For who can abide to haue a wrong picture made of himselfe If it be vnlike vs in eyes or nose or countenance or any part else we scorne it and deface it Much more are men moued when they are pictured like beastes or see a man set foorth with a beasts head that is a monster who can abide it Such a mate is Belial who imagineth euill and forgeth pictures as it were of euery mans doings and sayings as he listeth himself some after a beastly maner some after a monstrous manner and all after a counterfeit and vnchristian manner Againe on the other side as the wicked man delighteth to set foorth euery man after his owne deuice so can he by no meanes endure to see himselfe set foorth in his owne colours and as he is indeed but loueth to be flattered and soothed vp in all his vgly deformities For when the Minister of God hauing the spirit of God for his instructer and the word of God for his warrant shall paint out the man of Belial in his right colours though the picture and the person do agree yet the wicked are too curious or too incredulous or too peeuish to beleeue it but will find fault and say I am not so bad as he would make me Swearing and whoring and sabbath breaking and vsurie and briberie and vanitie and exaction and ingrossing and gaming c. are not so ill as we make them hence arise contention for the truth will not be outfaced Thus we see the reason of the order that is vsed here in placing these words and how one thing followeth another Now for the better vnderstanding of the truth of this matter wherewith the man of Belial is charged and for the clearing of such doubts as may arise about it there are foure things diligently to be considered of 1. The causes which moue him to raise contention 2. The meanes whereby he doth raise contention 3. How great and odious a sinne it is to raise contention 4. What difference there is betweene the contentions of the wicked and the contentions of the godly The causes of Belials contentious disposition are principally two First the anger and wrath of God
Secondly his owne euil affections Gods anger is one cause for God and he being at oddes Belial cannot be at peace with Gods children For he that imagineth euill continually must imagine euill of all men he that imagineth euill of all men must also imagine as he may well inough that he is hated of all he beleeueth no man and is beleeued of none he trusteth no body is trusted of none and being thus hatefull hated it grieueth him to see others at vnitie therefore to bring others into his own case he raiseth vp contentions between partie and partie like the Diuel who being at enimitie with God himself did not cease vntil he had set enimity between God mā And this mutuall or ciuill dissention doth commonly follow amongst men vpon the contempt and neglect of the word of God and that is an effect of Gods most iust reuenging wrath for when men refuse to submit thēselues vnto the Gospell of peace and so to be reconciled vnto God it is iust with God to giue them ouer and to set them at contention amongst themselues that they may be deuoured one of another According to that which the Prophet Esay saith The wicked are like the raging sea that cannot rest whose waters cast vp mire and dirt There is no peace vnto the wicked saith my God he doth not say that the wicked do not rest or will not rest but they cannot rest And why Because God denyeth them peace And the Apostle saith Euill men shall waxe worse and worse deceiuing and being deceiued He saith not that they may but they shall waxe worse and worse and they shall deceiue and be deceiued as a thing ordained for them this euill shall come vpon them And the wise man saith As the cole maketh burning coles and wood a fire so the contentious man is apt to kindle strife Therfore whosoeuer he be that doth studie contention and reioyce to heare of strife let him feare his estate If he cannot chuse but contend and desire it euen for it selfe sake let him know that he is branded for a wicked man of Belial and one whome Gods anger doth euen burne vpon vntill it hath consumed him The second cause which moueth him to moue contention are his own euill and leud affections or desires and chiefly the pride of his heart as Salomon saith Onely through pride a man causeth contention And this proud contentious humour of his doth chiefly respect his own vainglorie and the furtherance of impietie and mischiefe Let nothing be done saith S. Paul through contention or vaineglorie to shew that the vaine-glorious are contentious and the one feedeth and maintaineth the other And this is that which Salomon speaketh plainely in the 28. of the Prouerbs verse 25. He that is of a proud heart stirreth vp contention to shew that pride is of a stirring nature and a proud heart by stirring of contention may easily be knowne The second thing that Belials proud contentious heart respecteth is in diuellish pollicie the more freely to practise his mischieuous deuises imagining that he may the more quietly proceede in his wicked enterprises without any question or molestation of himselfe Yea out of the contentions of other men some haue sucked no small aduantage Saul pursued Dauid till he heard that the Philistines were come foorth to inuade and destroy his land and then be returned by which means Dauid escaped his hands for that time 1. Sa. 23.27 While there was dissention among the people no man layed handes on our Sauiour Christ but euery man went to his owne house Iohn 7.43 44.53 and Christ went his way to mount Oliuet Iohn 8. the first verse While the Pharisees and Sadduces were at oddes and deuided about Paules words Paule escaped for that time Act. 23.6.7 By this pollicie also did the seditious that were in the citie of Ierusalem raise a third armie when they saw the Citie alreadie deuided to the vtter spoile and ouerthrow of the whole Citie so the contentions of the Citizens was a vantage to the seditious And no doubt but there are many such amongst vs that would be glad to see ciuill dissention in the land which God for his mercies sake if it be his will turne from vs that they might then the more freely follow the spoile and fall vpon the pray And by what other pollicie I pray you doth the vicar of hell still hold his place but by the contentions of Princes and Nations To this end did Pope Hildebrand neuer leaue hitching and encroching vpon the Emperours right vntill he had put him quite beside the cushion as they say And because the Princes of the world should haue no leysure to see the villanies and outragious practises that lurke vnder his triple Crowne much lesse to call him into question and least of all to suppresse and deiect him his practise hath bene and is to set variance and contention betweene Prince and Prince betweene nation and nation that while they are busie in defending of themselues one against another he may both quietly hold that which he hath gotten and also more easily enlarge the borders of his Popedome and all forsooth vnder the name of Saint Peters patrimonie yea that he with his cup-shorne Cleargie may play Rex and in time ouerrunne all So Hildebrand like a hell firebrand first by excommunicating of Henry the Emperour of Germany set his subiects and him at variance that they rebelling against him and the Pope at the same time excommunicating him might driue him to submit himselfe vnto the Pope which indeed the Emperour most slauishly did with his Queene and his child who waited bare footed and bare legged in a cold winter three daies and three nights at the gates of that proud Luciferian Prelate and at the last was let in and admitted to the Pope where he was constrained to yeeld vnto such base conditions as pleased that proude Prelate to bind him vnto surrendring his Crowne and kingdome vnto the Pope and receiuing the same againe at his hands Afterward fearing lest the Emperor would be reuenged of him for his good entertainment that he gaue him he excommunicated the Emperor againe and set vp Rodulphus Duke of Sueuia in his place during which contention the Emperor was at no leisure to deale against the Pope as afterward he was whē he had subdued Rodulph and was setled againe in his Empire in peace In the same steppes do all Hildebrands successors walke to this day setting all Christendome together by the eares that in the meane time they may easily get and quietly keepe whatsoeuer he can get The like practise is taken vp by our home-bred Papists both couchant and dormant who endeuour by all meanes to set contention betweene the Church-gouernours and the Pastours of the Church about matters of circumstance that in the meane time they with the rest of common aduersaries may do what they
siluer fethers with meeknesse and lowlinesse harmlesnes godly iealousie and continuall mourning for their owne wants the faults of others which they cannot reforme And thus much in generall for the manner of contending amongst the godly wherein they differ from the wicked who care not for Christ because he is none of their head like the harlot that cared not if the child were cut in peeces because it was none of hers whose meeknesse is haughtines stern fiercenesse bitter crueltie and cruell bitternesse whose innocentie is spoile and oppression whose ielousie is only ouer their own glorie whose mourning for sin is reioycing in their owne sin and in the fall of others Now seeing as we be come thus farre it were not amisse to set down some rules in more particular manner to guide poore simple Christians in their zealous and earnest contendings and striuings in following wherof they may haue comfort to their owne consciences and others may glorifie God for their wise and godly cariage of themselues to the aduantage of the truth and the disaduantage of their aduersaries To which end we are to know that euery one that contendeth iustly standeth either for Gods matters or for mens causes In striuing about Gods matters it were good to obserue these rules following not that I would bind any man to these but let euery man as God giueth him experience impart his godly aduice and counsell for the good of others In Gods matters if the controuersie be in publike meetings before many looke to thy calling if it be in priuate betweene thee and a few looke also vpon what occasion it groweth and whether it be offred by thy selfe or by others if by thy selfe especially before thy betters looke how thou fall into it and vse great modestie crauing both leaue to speake and attention to be heard with submission of thy iudgement vnto men of iudgement patiently hearing them also with whom thou contendest as well as thou art desirous to be heard thy selfe and especially vse some words of preparation to draw the minds of the hearers to a reuerent regard of that thou sayest left it be otherwise a profane contention and do not as many do who amidst their cuppes when men are earnestly employed in other pleasant and wittie discourses chop in of a sudden with some great question of Diuinitie vsing no meane at all to diuert and turne the hearers minds from that veine of mirth whereunto they are setled vnto a matter of more grauitie and maiestie which requireth sober and aduised attention If the controuersie be occasioned by others then marke by whom it is raised and to what end if by prophane persons onely to cauill and snare thee then reproofe or silence is the best answer according to the counsell of Salomon Answer not a foole in his folly left thou be like him and yet answer to his folly that is as his folly deserueth lest he be wise in his owne conceipt If the question ariseth by those that ate sober godly then follow S. Iames his rule Be swift to heare and slowe to speake that is put not foorth thy selfe as the maner of many is but let others first speake and be thou required to speake before thou speakest By this meanes also thou shalt the better be able to speake to purpose and with mor ease to go through with the matters like him that followeth another when the ice is broken before him It is good also to looke vnto thy abilitie and not to meddle with a matter that is too high for thee as many do because they would haue men know that they can say somewhat when indeed they do but bewray their grosse ignorance and pride This is Dauids counsell in his owne practise Lord saith he I am not high minded I do not exercise my selfe in matters that are too high for me Then obserue order and auoid confusion that is speake in thy turne and let not many speake together Take for example the Apostles who being assembled in a Councell at Ierusalem about the matter of circumcision other points of Christian religion spake one after another First Peter spake and then all the multitude kept silence and then after him Barnabas spake and after Barnabas Iames and all others kept silence In the next place looke to the right end of thy contending and that is fourefold First Gods glory Secondly truths victorie to the suppressing of errour Thirdly thine owne comfort and instruction Fourthly the edification of others To this end auoid all brawling and bitternesse with vaineglorie and ostentation and let all things be done in loue Lastly if you cannot agree submit your selues to the iudgement of some learned men thy Pastour if he be in place and of abilitie to iudge or to some other Preacher with him or without him if he be not in place Let the Prophets speak two or three saith Paul and let others iudge and the spirits of the Prophets shall be subiect to the Prophets If the spirites of the Prophets that is the Ministers of the word must be subiect to the Prophets then much more in matters of controuersie must the spirits of those which are no Prophets be subiect to the learned In defending our owne causes or in pleading the causes of other men First let vs be sure that the cause be good then may we with lesse offence contend about the same if we haue good calling and iust occasion with fit oportunitie as hath bene shewed before For many complaine contend which haue done the wrong these are like dogges which first bite and then crie or like theeues which pursue true men and may be compared to the harlot who hauing killed her owne child contended with her bedfellow about the death thereof as though that she had bene the death of it Secondly if thy cause be good and iust first offer peace and agreement according to the law of warre if it be refused seeke still and with a mind still of embracing peace yea suffer much and put vp much wrong Thirdly auoid all occasions of contention as much as lyeth in thee by all possible meanes with great ones and chiefly take heed if thou be a meane person of hauing too much familiaritie with three sorts of men First thy superiours especially whose hearts are not sure and vpright towards thee Eate not the bread of him that hath an euill eye saith Salomon for as though he meant it so will he say vnto thee eate eate when his heart is not with thee Surely thou shalt vomite vp thy morsels and loose all thy sweet words And the poore saith he speake with prayers but the rich answer roughly And the rich beare rule much more whē the poore are beholding vnto thē if they borrow they must be seruants vnto them Remember an Embleme or Parable of the two pottes swimming both in one streame the one of brasse the