vnseasonable showers which haue brought vpon vs this lamentable and miserable dearth for our wet and waterie weeping times are most like vnto them They were in danger of the enimie who watched but the opportunitie to ouerrun them so may we also feare that our enimies which are many within vs and mightie without vs in other countries by these times of opportunity shal likewise aduenture to ouercome vs. They were in danger to haue their raines continued and their dearth increased and so also are we for as yet we haue noted and found the waters sometimes at the bankes sometimes ouer the shoares somtimes in the plaine fields and sometimes beating downe the goodly planted corne turning the wheat into dirt and making dung of that which should be bread Therefore lament I beseech you and tremble euery soule among vs in our houses talking in our streetes walking in our congregations praying and in our meates eating and drinking Let vs make our hearts sorrowfull our teares plentifull our liues pitifull that the Lord may be mercifull Let vs weepe that the heauens may reioice let vs plough our hearts that our fieldes may be fruitfull let vs cast away our sinnes that wee may carrie in our stores let vs weed our liues that we may reap our corne finally in vs it lieth to recouer our plenty therefore pray with Dauid Psal 144. 12 13. that our oxen may be strong our sheepe may encrease thousands our children may be godly our garners may be filled our streetes may be ioyfull and our whole nation may be thankefull The nienth Sermon Vers 8. Mourne like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth THis is the second exhortation wherein the prophet teacheth them by a familiar example how they ought to weepe euen as a virgin lately married or contracted mourneth for her husband who dieth before they haue filled their hearts with loue so the words are an exhortation groūded on a similitude of mourning in sackcloth for the dead for so it appeareth was the auncient custome of lamentation From this similitude we may obserue first in this allegorie this doctrine that our affections in heauenly things must be as passionate and at the least be as earnest as they are in earthly things For thus the prophet calleth vnto them mourne now as bitterly and humble your soules as vnfeinedly as a yoong woman doth for the death of her first loue This our Sauiour prooueth Luk. 16. to vers 13. in the parable of the false and vniust steward how he dischargeth his office and prouideth for hereafter willing vs to be so wise in the heauenly matters as we are in the earthly So that hast thou rode long iourneys for thy profit then thou must do the like for the Lord hast thou spent liberally on thy wife children haukes hounds and other vanities then thou must doe the like for the Lord hast thou watched many nights at cardes dice dauncing and dalliance thou must do as much in prayer hast thou fasted many houres for phisick thou must do as much for deuotion hast thou wept bitterly and wouldest not be comforted for many daies and nights togither for thy wife thy children thy parents thy brothers or any other thou must doe as much for thy sinnes or else as thou hast lost thy friends so shalt thou loose thy soule and to conclude thou must as zealously thirst after the bloode of Christ as euer thou lustedst after thy meate and drinke for thy body or as a chased hart for the water or else thou canst hardly be saued The reasons of this doctrine may easily be rendered although in truth it needeth no reason First if we be not as earnest in heauenly as we are in earthly things then may we be well said to bee those cursed wretches which were prophesied of long agoe 2. Tim. 3. 4. Louers of pleasures more then louers of God What canst thou or darest thousay O wicked man that thou louest God aboue all and thy neighbour as thy selfe for this say the ignorant sort is as much as all the preachers in the world can tell them when thou wilt do more for thy earthly master and go farther for thy whoore and deale more liberally amongst drunkards and labour more painefully for a worldly trade and humane arte or science then thou wilt for God for the gospell for the poore and for religiō so thou maist perswade thy selfe but neuer any wise man will beleeue thee Secōdly if we giue not as much zeale to our soules as we do greedines to our bodies then as Paule saith Rom. 7. 5. wee are still in the flesh and the motions of sinne shall bring foorth fruit vnto death Now if you accompt no disgrace to haue your flesh for your God your motions of sinne for your profession and the condemnation of your soules for your reward then go on still and fill vp your measure to the brim and dare the Lorde to his face not caring for his maiestie No my beloued I will not suffer you to go this way to heauen as God would not suffer the Israelites to go the easiest way into Canaan but you must go another way farther about and safer for your passage Although you would raze your names out of the booke of life as Moses would though not for zeale but for pleasure yet you must not be suffered but rather say with Peter 1. Pet. 4. 23. Hence forward as much time as we shall liue in the flesh let vs liue after the will of God and not after the lustes of men for it is sufficient for vs that we haue spēt the time past of our liues walking in the lusts of the Gentiles in wantonnes drunkennes lustes gluttony drinkings and abhominable idolatries From hence we first learne that which Paul hath taught vs Rom. 6. 19. that as we haue giuen our members to be the seruants of sin vnto vnrighteousnes so now we must giue them to be the seruants of holines vnto righteousnes Now let vs stir vp all the parts of our soules and bodies vnto Christian conuersion our feet must run in it our hands must worke in it our eies must see in it our eares must hear it our taste must delight in it our affections must meditate in it our hearts must conceiue it our memories must remember it our whole man must be spent in it we must walke soberly we must worke righteously we must behold chastely we must heare diligently we must sauour it pleasantly we must thinke on it holily we must receiue it reuerently and we must remember it perpetually Giue vp your members I beseech you vnto righteousnes Was thy mouth made for eating and drinking and not to speake the Lords praise was thy heart made for the world and thy witte to make good and thriftie bargaines or rather for the embracing of heauenly Christ were thy handes made to play at tables to write well to fight for the defence of
these be not true but they are all certaine and euermore to bee remembred Therefore our wantonnesse our wickednesse our idlenesse our infidelitie our beastlinesse and our securitie if they be not amended by the examples of the scriptures they shall be condemned by the ensamples of the scriptures You ancient fathers which haue liued long seene much and heard the woonders in old time meditate them in your mindes and deliuer them to your posteritie euen as you woulde haue vs to continue your names because you are our fathers so doe you remember the works of God for he is the father to vs all Secondly another reason of this doctrine is this because the rehearsall of these workes of God done before our time either vnwritten or especially recorded in the word doe terrifie our proud harts when we heare them declared vnto vs. The church of Corinth being happy by the Apostles preaching grew insolent in diuisions loose in opinions and intolerable in manners the Apostle to remedie this 1. Cor. 10. 5 6 7 8. vers bringeth in the tragedie of the Israelites destruction shewing them how for the like offences thousands and ten thousands perished in displeasure to terrifie and humble them by these woonderfull works of God that they might knowe howsoeuer they were not yet executed yet they were as guiltie of condemnation as those that were destroyed Dauid saith of himselfe Psal 119. 120. that the hearing of the Lordes iudgement wrought feare in his soule and trembling in his body And therefore wee may many times reade and heare the storie of wars wherein as in a glasse we may behold the miseries of our liues to see princes massacred noble men murdered the common people butchered like bullocks in a slaughter house Let vs often rehearse the storie of famines and robberies wherein we may see the vncertaintie of our wealth to see our houses burned our barnes emptied our estates impouerished our liues famished our children left breathlesse and our wiues left comfortles Let vs often meditate on the diseases of our bodies to mitigate our pleasures to see how some haue died sodainely other haue liued so long in sickenes that their friends forsooke them their phisitions gaue them ouer and the stinking sauours of their owne bodies haue taken away their liues Let Traitors thinke on Achitophell rebels on Absolon proud persons on Haman corrupt iudges on Samuell sonnes idle ministers on Eli wicked magistrates on Shebna fornicators on Zimry couetous persons on Achan disobedient persons on Ionah prophaners of the sabaoth on the sticke gatherer swearers on the Aegyptian Israelite and despisers of the Gospell ministery sacraments and all true religion on Simon Magus and the Lord graunt that their punishment may be our amendment The vses which arise from this doctrine are these first seeing that we must often call to remembrance the old wonders in times before passed declared to the world then let vs as often meditate on our owne particular liues which we haue spent lead in our former daies as the scripture exhorteth Heb. 10. 32. Call to your remembrance the daies that are passed Let vs looke throughout all the yeeres of our life and make as diligent a search as the woman in the Gospell did for her money and begin at our birth and first being in the world in infancie behold our weakenes and God his kindnes in youth looke on our wantonnes the Lords bountifulnes in ripe age viewe our wickednes and the Lords long suffering and in olde age marke our vnthankfulnes and the Lords pardon Call to remembrance the daies that are passed in infancie we could not serue God in youth we cared not for God in ripe yeeres we did not feare him in our old age we did not know him in our infancie we were more helplesse then all creatures in youth we were more gracelesse then beastes in our middle age more foolish then godly and in olde age more desperate then reformed in infancie wee euer cryed in youth wee euer feared in our middle age we liued in care and our olde age spent in sorrow in our infancie our wants which we could not expresse made vs miserable in our youth the rod scourged vs in our ripe age the world disquieted vs and in our old age the graue which we coulde not auoide tormented vs woulde not these considerations offer long discourses to tame our wildenesse to reforme our prophanenes and to ouercome our vnrulinesse might I not hereby take occasion like a deuine philosopher to paint out the miserie of mankinde to cause all mens eies to bewaile infants in their cradles boies in their schooles yoong men in their pleasures and old men to their graues might not I heere stirre vp your affections to shewe you the vnhappie condition of a bare naturall life babes to be brained children to be cursed yoong men to fall by the sworde women to be rauished and olde men to be without all honour and pittie murdered surely in these we are of al men most miserable But now seeing I haue searched the register and records of nature let me also shewe you how you shall looke on the court-rolles of grace and begin with that saying of the Apostle Ephes 2. 11. Wherefore remember that you were in times past Gentiles in the flesh and called vncircumcision that you were without Christ aliants from Israell strangers from the promise without hope and without God in this worlde Heere you may search for your seuerall estates and admit you haue all naturall benefites attendant when you are yoong pleasure when you are youthfull riches when you are strong quietnes and wisedome when you are olde what are these to a condemned soule Take a theefe appointed to the gallowes and before he go to execution let the king cal him sonne let him be apparelled with silke let him haue a chaine on his necke bracelets on his armes bring him into your treasurie of abundance of golde and siluer bid him take his fill carrie him to most delicate fare and bid him eate cheerefully and strike vp most pleasant musicke bid him be merrie but tell him anone he must be hanged how ioyfull would his hart be at all this pleasure when he knoweth presently after his chaine shall be changed into a halter his garments to a winding sheete his carcase to wormes meate his throne into a gallowes his seruants into executioners and his money taken all from him before he can spend a penie euen so are the best of vs all by nature condemned and we finde no comfort in our parentage or pleasure in our wealth or profite in our clothing or benefit in our meat or ioy in our bodies so long as we know that after a little while al these shal be forgotten and we in destruction Now remember what you are without grace that is by nature wrath is our father heathens are our brethren or rather diuels vncircumcision is our garment that is a peece of rawe cloth
God continued Then euery father of a familie was a magistrate to punish a prophet to instruct a prince to gouerne his owne houshould Then was there no writing but much religion few bookes but many faithfull harts all studied in vnitie to preserue vnfained veritie But in Moses time the church grewe to a nation and therefore although as Ierome saith it were Maior numero yet it was Minor virtute the number of professors grew to be greater yet the zeale and power of godlinesse grewe to be lesser And therefore nowe was it to be put in writing or else all had beene cleane forgotten for the harts of men began to be deceitfull and the words of God coulde not safely lodge in the brests of all and therefore coulde not easilie and effectually bee conueied from one to another The Lorde first of all wrote his lawe then grewe the church to another gouernment more generall then before wherein the priestes did publikely care for the seruice of God and soules of the people and euery father and master priuately for himselfe and his familie and euermore this is to bee remembred that the children praied to the God of their Fathers meaning the same God whome their Fathers taught them to serue And this beloued putteth vs in minde what manner of men fathers and masters ought to bee euen such as are able to commend the true worshippe of God vnto others for sithence the worship of God became publique and generall the priuate neglect of this dutie in the gouernours of families hath wrought the poyson of all mankind and the vndoing of all religion For now the common sort thinke that they must not pray but in a church that they are not bound to teach others but the whole charge dependeth on the minister that the preachers and not the people must learne the word and finally it maketh no matter for their faith and manners if their pastours and teachers haue the knowledge of the Gospell Oh lamentable men Oh lamentable maners which onely is to be imputed vnto this neglect of parents duety By this onely gentilisme and heathenisme grow for if Noahs sonnes had taught that to their children which they learned of their father the world had not beene wearied with many diuelish Idolatries if Dauids children had serued that God which Dauid taught them their throne had continued as long as heauen and earth endured neither had so many women beene husbandlesse so many children beene motherles so many old men beene helples and so many of all sorts and degrees beene vtterly destitute of all worldly ease and heauenly blisse the decay of their faith wrought the destruction of their blood If Christians had taught that religion to their children which they receiued without all corruption from Christ and his Apostles so many countries had not been conquered so many cities had not beene laide euen with the earth so many famous churches had not beene buried in obliuion popery had not so much preuailed Mahomet had not so long prospered wicked ceremonies had not raigned in the place of holy truth and where now is the synagogue of Sathan there had beene the Temple of our Sauiour And I feare me beloued least this parents faulte bring foorth once againe the childrens folly and then oh then will the diuels banner aduance it selfe against Christs standard and so that when the Lord shall come he shall finde no faith on the earth Looke to this you fathers of our bodies and let not the blood of our soules cry vengeance against the parents of our liues teach vs what you haue learned charge vs on your blessing and God his blessing as we will answere before the Iudge of men and angels to saue the soules of our children by the precepts of your doctrine The reasons of this doctrine may be these first bicause as Dauid witnesseth that the workes of God are great and ought to be sought out of all that loue them So that this is an argument of vnfeined affection and true loue to the workes of God when with diligence we obserue them and with conscience we declare them and also it is an assurance of sincere pietie and reuerence towards God when as the same prophet speaketh all the day long we meditate on his iudgements and speake his praises This loue of men to the workes of God is then prooued and approoued when they teach them to those whose liues are in their hands and also it is the playnest token of true loue to your children when you keepe no part of the counsell of God from them which you know your selues For the Lords doings are of that maiestie and authoritie that by them tender hearts are nourished wauering harts confirmed and stubburne mindes are perswaded Your kindest friends will be more kinde vnto you when you shew them the kindnes of the Lord and your deadly foes will be more afraide of you when they shall see and heare the workes of God in your mouth and the word of God in your hands Therefore my beloued in the Lord Iesus seeing we haue no more plainer way to know the Lord then by his workes then haue we also no surer token that we loue the Lord then when we loue his doings Let vs seeke them in the cradles of our childhoode and the beds of our old age making as much of the Lords iudgements as we doe of our children whom we desire to leaue behind vs to the ende of the world euen so let vs leaue the Lords works in remembrance for euermore Secondly another reason of this doctrine is declared by Salomon Eccles 3. 14. That what God doth it standeth for euer that men might feare before him The workes of God are affected not as the ground is ploughed which serueth one for one season but as the earth was established which standeth for euer The Lord in euery age accomplisheth many wonderful things and different the one from the other that men might feare him for his iudgements and honor him for his power And therefore being not willing at all times to make triall and shewe of his omnipotencie hee willeth vs to remember the things that are done vnlesse we would haue him once againe open the fountaines of waters that the whole world might be destroyed or once againe raine fire and brimstone from heauen to confound vs as he did the Sodomites or once againe bring a vniuersall darknes ouer our land as he did ouer the land of Iudea or else once againe suffer our fathers to be burned our goods to be rauened our wiues to be shamed and our selues to be murthered for his sake as some haue bin before vs. Therefore by how much more easie it is for our hearts to consider those things then for our eies to behold them so much more carefull let vs be to instruct others by word of mouth least we our selues our posterity feele in ful measure that heauy hand of his wrath then Oh then
the bodie and not to work good works against the world to come were thy feete created to dance a fine galliard or leape a long iumpe or runne a long race and not rather to walke to sermons to carrie thee to prisons to beare thee to the chambers of sicke persons thou art much deceiued if thou thinke not thus Therfore now study with thy self how many parts the Lord hath giuen thee aboue many other not only creatures but men also for som are blind lame deaf dumbe weake sicke lunatike foolish and many other waies crossed but thou shalt finde with thy selfe that thou hast all which they want therefore aboue them yea aboue thy selfe vse all thy parts in one seruice of God or other whereby his name may get glory and thy soule saluation Another thing we may learne from hence that now our affections bee set on heauenly things Col. 1 2. and the rather bicause Christ our Sauiour is there whom we dailie looke for to appeere for our deliuerance Indeede such is our bodily estate that wee can neuer watch ouer all our parts neither is it necessarie or requisite that we shoulde bestowe altogither so much time in praying and hearing and trauailing to godly assemblies as we do in the worldly busines and the naturall works of this life such as is eating sleeping and such like yea it is impossible for vs so to doe But our affections must be raised vp continually to heauen in all our actions of the worlde that whether we eate or drinke laugh or weepe watch or sleepe worke or rest we may still be the Lords therefore haue we neede to choose out some part of our time euery day to be emploied in this heauenly busines and not to be omitted for friend or foe sicknes or health idlenesse or businesse sleepe or worke wherein we may daily shewe and continue our soules in the Lordes presence Religion is the foode of the soule therefore we neede not be alway eating the scriptures are the testament of our father therefore we neede not alway be looking in them but vse them for our assurance By praier we talke with God as with a friend but if wee alway conferre with a friend and neuer cease we shall be tedious to our selues and odious to our friendes and yet wee must often eate and often reade and often pray that wee may encrease our knowledge remember our duties and continue in friendship and fauour with the Lorde of heauen Another thing which wee may obserue in these wordes is this that it is lawfull and not contrarie to the rule of truth to make a moderate lamentation of the dead as the apostle saith 1. Cor. 15. Phil. 2. 29. For I thinke it an vnnatural and Stoicall affection not to be at all inooued or not to shewe any outwarde sorrow for those whom we loued being aliue The reasons thereof may be these first bicause many times they be taken away for our hurt that be aliue Esay 57. 12. therefore in lamenting their losse we bewaile our owne liues Secondly the Lorde sheweth it to bee a great curse not to be lamented being dead Ierem. 22. 18 19. And therefore if it bee a blessing added to a good and religious life I thinke it necessarie that we be not vnnaturall to kindred vnkind to friends and vnfriendly to neighbours to haue our eies drie or at the least our harts merrie at their departure I might adde that death is a punishment of sinne euen in the most righteous and therefore it deserueth some lamentation vnlesse wee will reioice in our owne execution But this matter needeth not the blotting of much matter to vpholde it I would God there were not many thousandes more vnnaturall and vnlawfull abuses among vs then this is although this bee too much We must learne therefore although it be lawfull for vs to lament yet to remember the exhortation of the Apostle 1. Thess 4. 14. That we mourne not as men without hope that is that we abuse not a lawfull thing by making it vnlawfull as if wee our selues had our hope buried with the dead and therefore despaire altogither of any other such benefits from God Againe let vs also remember that which Christ saith to the women Luk. 23. 28. That wee weepe not so much for them that be going or gone out of the world as we do for our own sinfull liues And if we look well to this matter we shall finde wee haue a great manie friendes dead whom let vs lament that our pittifull teares may raise them vp to a righteous life The meate offering and the drinke offering is cut off from the house of the Lorde the priestes the Lords ministers mourne Nowe the Prophet goeth to shewe more reasons to induce these people to a generall mourning first bicause the worship of God is violated by reason of the famine and their brethren the Lordes ministers are in mourning yea the earth it selfe mourneth for both corne and oyle and wine haue failed And therefore first of all in the cohaerence of this reason with the former exhortation that they shoulde mourne bicause the meate offering and drinke offering are cut off from the house of God that is the ordinarie worship of God is abated and abolished the prophet doth thereby teach vs that hee cannot bee a true and vnfeigned godlie man nay he is not woorthie to liue in the Lordes flocke that sorroweth not the neglect of the Lordes seruice whether it bee by famines warres or sicknes or idlenes although the last deserueth rather to bee punished then to be lamented We may read this practise of or in the Israelites 1. Sam. 7. 2. When they wanted the arke of God without which they coulde not sacrifice they lamented it greeuously for it was absent from them twentie yeeres And this is the thing which will trie whether there be any sparke of grace within vs to behold those times when Religiō goeth backward declining as the sun doth toward the euening What hart of flint will not then shed abundance of teares when there is no foode for the soule nor instruction for the minde to see the churches emptied the pulpits defaced the faithfull scattered and all exercises and meetings for religion vtterly abolished Looke on it my deere brethren I beseech you we may sorrow as Nehemiah did bicause men do willingly suffer the Lordes building to decay euen in our time may we see the congregations thin with hearers and true deuotion colde with professours in many places preaching is put out and pratling entreth in the roome thereof O howe wearie are the people of preaching in all places they are hardly gathered to the churches being present they are as hardly kept in their places but when they are gone they vomite vp againe whatsoeuer they haue heard Wee may say of them with Augustine Comlines is couered shame is opened euill getteth many beholders but goodnes hath very hardly any
glad newes of life euerlasting By iudgements we are blinded but by the Gospell we are enlightened by iudgements wee are endangered by the Gospell we are defended and to conclude they threaten our liues but the worde threatneth our soules Make much of the word in thy health for beleeue me sicknes cannot so prepare thee for the Lorde as the worde can bee conuerted by it for thou seest all other meanes faile for miracles doe make vs woonder and this maketh vs repent therefore either make this thy ioy or God shall make them thy sorrowe What then will some say this is a strange doctrine do not sorrowes and earthquakes and other fearefull thinges turne vs to the Lorde then we will not make any account of these thinges To whom I answere that if they doe so they doe that which will vndoo them shall the scholler neuercare for the rod bicause it cannot teach him but correct him and shall wee set light by the Lordes iudgementes bicause they cannot conuert vs no no they must keepe vs in obedience although they cannot beget vs to obedience they must reforme vs although they cannot turne vs. Dauid said Psal 119. when I see thy iudgements I am astonied and afraide and so must all the elect children of God vse the iudgements of God to continue them in the feare of God and to keepe their natures from being ouerproude Yea let vs tremble and quake as the earth doth let vs weepe and mourne as the aire doth when wee see the wrath of God the sunne cannot then shewe her face she is so dazeled with his brightnesse how shall men farre inferiour to her in glorie bee carelesse of his anger And although I haue said that we are but yet leading vnto execution let vs yet feare most greeuously least the wrath of God be encreased on vs for wee knowe not how soone we shall be consumed with what calamities we shall bee troubled and with what maner of death we shall be crucified Therfore let vs feare the works of God that we neede not feele them let vs be warned by them that we be not confounded by them and aboue all things let vs cast away that prophanenes that calleth for heauen and earth to take vengeance on vs. Secondly we may obserue in this verse when hee saith thus saith the Lord that if the Lorde worke not repentance in vs we shall neuer haue it while the world standeth we may weepe out our eies rip vp our breastes rend asunder our harts and satisfie for our iniuries but if the Lord worke not repentance in vs then all is lost For this cause 2. Tim. 2. 25. Paul instructeth him with meekenes to instruct those which were cōtrarie minded waiting if at any time God would giue them repentance vnto life Indeede I graunt that men may haue a kinde of repentance as Iudas had Matt. 27. 6. when hee sawe Christ condemned hee repented and went and hung vp himselfe but to haue repentance vnto life Act. 11. 18. as the church speaketh it is a speciall and woorthy worke of God And in these daies may this point be very profitably vrged wherein men are so carelesse in liuing and so wretched in sinning as if repentance were pinned on their sleeues or lay in their pockets to pull out and in at their pleasure but let them beware be warned that if they wil be saued they must seeke it at the hands of God Is repentance so easie that you can haue it at your wish indeede you may haue it but you cannot doe it Imagine in thy presence a man or woman possessed with a diuel trie thy cunning cast him forth I know your answer you wil say you cannot because you can worke no miracles so agame say I that you cannot haue repentance of your selues for it is a casting of the diuel out of your souls the which none can do but by the finger of God Repentance is not to wring out a teare or to breath out a sigh or to lift vp an ey vnto heauē or to say I am sorrie for my sins but it must fil all a mans life with weeping sighing praying cōfessing amending the which commeth frō God only The first reason of this doctrine is because with repentance goeth remissiō of sins Act. 5. 31. therefore we may as wel say that they can pardō their own sins as they say they can repent whē they list And this must needs mightily discourage vs frō sinning seeing we may cōmit that in one minute which we can neuer claw off so long as we liue Again how sweet is this consideration that remission of sins is ioined with repentance We knowe what great vile sinnes we haue committed but we knowe not will some say how or when they were pardoned Vnto whom I answere that they haue beene so long pardoned as they haue repented and they haue as many witnesses and seales of their remission as they haue weeping teares sighing sobs and wounded affections for them in the presence of God Another reason is as it is the worke of God to harden mens harts Iohn 12. 40. so it must needes be the worke of God to soften the hart But some will say how can the Lord punish men for not repenting when he denieth them repentance and how can he damne them for harde hearts when hee hath hardened them I answere an harde heart and an ill life doe not simply condemne a man but delight in them and negligence to bee deliuered from them good men are tormented with hardnesse of hart but they lament it euill men are perplexed with it they reioice in it God is saide to make hard harts but not euill harts and so to make hard harts that men may know and acknowledge that soft harts come from his workehouse so then God hardeneth but men delight in it and they are condemned not for sin but for delight in sinne Wouldest thou then knowe whether thy hart hath beene new wrought in the Lordes moulde then looke and see how thou louest sinne but thou findest thy hart harde then looke againe howe thou art pleased with this hardnes if thou like it thy hart is damnable but if thou loath it thy state is tollerable The first vse wee are to make of this doctrine is this seeing the Lorde hath the working of repentance in vs then let vs praie euerie day to his maiestie for the same Lament 5. 21. So doe the faithfull when they say Turne vs vnto thee O Lorde and wee shall be turned returne vs as of old This is the dutie of all those that haue any care of their soules health Art thou heauie in thy heart and feelest a dulnes in thy soule vnto goodnes but a nimblenes vnto euill when thou knowest thou dost those things which displease the Lord and trouble thy conscience then enter into thy soule and humble thy selfe by praier lift vp thy voice to heauen
vs and ioyneth vs to God The Lord in this worke is the builder the ministers are the carpenters the worde is the axe the griefe of heart is the stroke and regeneration maketh vs the frame otherwise we are stones refused of the builder Another reason because in our vnrepentant estate wee cannot please God Rom. 8. 8. seeing we cannot please him we run from him we forsake and denie him This would make ones hart to melt to consider that all actions not grounded on a new life doe swarue from God Some obiect if God did not like them they could not doe them So may a thiefe an adulterer or rauisher of women defend his iniquitie but it will not goe for payment for God suffereth you to follow your pleasures against his pleasure that your pleasures may taste of euerlasting paynes Therefore labour for repentance that you may be brought into the Lords sheepefold and be incorporated into his congregation and saued by his deerely beloued sonne then shall your waies be altered and your pleasures ouerturned and you shal pray with Christ Not our will but thy will O heauenly father bee done Being in an vnrepentant estate wee runne away from God yet let vs looke backe on God as Isay exhorteth Isa 45. 22. and then we shall be saued If thou be running from God through a lewd life giuing ouer thy selfe vnto libertie yet looke backe vpon him often the children of Israel if they were stoong by serpēts by looking on the brazen serpent recouered presently And although the sting of thy sinne is greater then the sting of adders yet the Lord is mightier and wholesomer then the brazen serpent therefore looke vnto him if thou wilt be healed Old Simeon so soone as he had seene Christ presently desired to die for ioy and Zacheus hauing but a minde to see him was made that day a notable christian Looke often on the Lord for by beholding him thou maist grow in loue with him wish continually to be with him as the Iewes which being captiues in Babell yet made their praiers toward Ierusalem Esau at the sight of Iacob fell to weeping loued him the better euer after so if thou wilt cast thy eies to heauen behold his glorie then looke vpon the world and see his gouernment then behold the earth and consider his benefits learne his Gospell and note his truth and life thy eyes to Christ to marke his mercie thou wilt surely turne the saile of thy wicked life and come with the Sabaean Queene to worship in his church Consider his workes for they defend thee thinke vpon his iudgements for they threaten thee marke well his kindnes for it maintaineth thee and beleeue his worde for it shall conuert thee cast but one of thy eies vpon the Lord and thou shalt winne him looke often vpon him least minde and eies be both blinded and neuer see him more Another vse wee must lament the plague of our sinnes raigning among vs Isa 59. 9. 10. when the Prophet had shewed them their danger he bringeth them in mourning on this wise Therefore is iudgement farre from vs neither doth iustice come neere vs we waite for light but loe it is darkenes we grope for the wall like the blinde grope as one without eies we stumble at the noone day as in the twilight we are in solitary places as dead men we roare allike beares mourn like doues c. Thus must men that are not yet regenerate re count their miseries after they heare them condemned by the word saying vnto themselues Howe blinde are our eies that we cannot see the glorious light of the Gospell wee are quite forsaken of the Lorde who keepeth vs from beleeuing of his truth wee haue no power to performe the least part of that Gospell to walke in any tollerable obedience sanctification goeth against the haire and though we like it yet wee cannot doe it wee see that hee that refraineth from euill maketh himselfe a praie therefore let the Lord come and reforme our liues and adorne our mindes with righteousnes that wee may bee deliuered from this slauerie of sinne let him turne the heartes of children to their fathers and turne our course vnto himselfe Moreouer think what deadnes is in your soule what sinfulnesse is in your life and what wrath of God hangeth ouer your heads for assuredly except you confesse in this sort you shall be confounded before you be conuerted Let your harts be awaked betimes that wrath ouertake you not and let whatsoeuer may further you to God although it be shame or iudgement or nakednes or pouertie or death bee most speedily receiued The xxij Sermon YOur God After all this preaching of repentance nowe hee beginneth to comfort their distressed mindes which coulde not but be grieued grieuouslie and therefore he putteth them in minde that the Lord is their Lorde and God Howe may this bee if he be theirs then they are his and will he suffer them to bee made a pray vnto brute beasts and to make the heauens to thunder their destruction what comfort haue they by his seruice or what pleasure hath he in their cries verie much for sometimes a tender nurse and louing mother wil make hir childe weepe bitterly that it may loue hir the better so the Lorde to trie his owne casteth them into a bed of sorrowes From hence wee must gather that in our greatest calamitie and aduersitie God is our mercifull God Artthou tormented with sorrowe that it is bitter to thee to liue and better for thee to die or art thou vexed with sore sicknes and intollerable imprisonment hast thou no meat for thy selfe and thy tender babes and seest thou a whole nation in an vprore yet for all this acknowledge with Dauid Psalm 22. 1. that God is thy God although thou seeme forsaken Oh sweete mercy of a father and glorious condition of a sonne whom no pouertie no miserie no iniquitie can part in sunder though he chasten vs yet he loueth vs though wee be helpelesse yet hee remembreth vs though we be in death yet he saueth vs. God is euermore the father of his church and of euery member therein he scorneth not their parentage he refuseth not their pouerty he regardeth their sufferings and desweth their saluation Let vs then say with Iob that although hee slaie vs yet we will trust in him death shall not driue vs in sunder but conioyne vs togither The reasons are First bicause in prosperitie he will bee knowne to maintaine vs and in aduersitie to comfort vs Esay 51. 12. If men would or coulde vndergoe all the former euils without comfort then might they haue some colour torefuse and distrust God but they are not able neuer is any man at one time distressed in bodie and distracted in minde or oppressed outwardly and not comforted inwardly If thy minde be heauie thinke on the comforts of this life if thy bodie bee vexed then confider