waies to the waies of God I deny not but Scribes and Pharises in Moses chaire may teach well who live ungodly and being unconverted themselves may be instruments of the conversion of others But this is done by no vertue or grace in them but by the power of Gods ordinance in their calling for grace followeth the calling sometimes where it forsaketh the person Lastly we see the way to recover transgressors which is by teaching them the waies of God Transgressors are such as goe out of the way ambulant in via non bona they walke in the way which is not good and nature is no good guide for corrupt nature is like to the earth under the curse it bringeth forth nothing but brambles and thornes teaching is the culture of it The reproofe of sinne from the law breaketh up the ground doctrine soweth the good seed exhortation and continuall inculcation in season and out of season doth water it the sonne of righteousnesse shineth on it and giveth it vegetation Therefore so many as have any desire to know the waies of God let them hearken to teaching The word is given to profit withall and it is a singular blessing of God to that place where teaching of the waies of God is plenteous and where the way of obedience and salvation is declared else all we like sheepe shall goe astray and walke in crooked pathes God in wisedome knowing how usefull this would be in his Church to have some to instruct and teach others his waies began himselfe to furnish the first beginners of the world with abilities for this purpose for the state of innocency needed no other than its owne light to shew it the right way After the fall yet the remaines of intellectuall light holpen with speciall grace in the fathers served for bookes and lawes and rules of good life all the first age of the world Then the Preacher of Righteousnesse survived to see and begin a new world his sonne Sem of likelihood that Melchizedeck King of Salem so famous for a King and Priest to Abraham Abraham God knew would teach his children Moses first received the Law from God he was assisted by the holy Prophets till Christ hunc audite heare him Then he sent Goeye into all the world teach and he established the Evangelicall Priesthood in the Church yet if all converts did joyne with them the great harvest could not want labourers 2 Prophetat impiieonv ertentur adte He prophesies and the wicked shall be converted unto thee This is finis praedicationis the end of Preaching the word is given to profit Haec utilitas this is profit omnes sicut oves aberravimus reduces ad ovile we have gone astray like sheep thou shalt bring us backe to the sheepefold Opus 1 arduum 2 gratum a worke 1 hard 2 acceptable 1 arduum hard Much more then creation there his dixit said was fecit did to make man of earth was opus verbi the work of his word rather verbum opus the word his worke To recover man from Sathan it was fortitudo brachii the strength of his arme verbum factum factumcaro the word made made flesh for it is more easie to make a convert a Saint than to make a sinner a convert In the creation of man no repugnancie of the matter in the conversioÌ„ of a sinner a new creation nay reluctation In the creation God infused the body received the spirit of life and we became templum spiritus the temple of the holy Ghost Sed cum domus creationis facta esset spelunca latronum but when the house of creation became a denne of theeves When man had lost his holinesse and righteousnesse beside the privation of grace there came in also a corrupt habit of perverse opposition to God so that when God offereth grace man refuseth it and is loath to admit the holy Ghost a guest When we doe receive him we often grieve sometimes quench him naturalis homo non potest percipere non vulâ— recipere non potest retinere the naturall man cannot perceive will not receive cannot retaine We are ill husbands of this talent the Sonne came to call sinners Sathan hath got the hand of us for we would not be converted his temptation not onely corrupted our manners it also empoysoneth our affections Christ on earth declared his power by sea and land yet his brethren the Iewes nor by miracles nor by example nor by doctrine would be converted Facilius est rempublicaÌ„ novam constituere quà m depravatam corrigere It is easier to make a new Common-wealth than to amend that which is corrupted All the imaginations onely evill querela patris filii non vultis venire ad me the complaint of a father children you will not come unto me quoties ego vos ad me noluistis as often as I would have gathered you unto me you would not Venite omnes ad me come ye all unto me venientem non cjiciam foras him that comes unto me I will not cast forth 2 Gratum acceptable first in subjecto in the subject for licet maligna natur a patiatur jugum though depraved nature beare the yoke yet man once converted would not for all the world be as he was There is great difference betweene the pleasure of sinne and gaudium spiritus the joy of the spirit The one a luscious and surfetting sweetnesse which killeth appetite and is but for a season the other hath a pleasant mixture of delight and desire rejoyceth with joy unspeakeable and glorious it is ever in growth and vegetation crescit incremento Dei increaseth with the increase of God Ovis redux nollet esse iterum in deserto nec prâ—digus extra patris domum the sheepe brought backe would not be againe in the desert neither the Prodigall out of his fathers house Latro in cruce conversus regnum cogitat the thiefe on the Crosse converted thinkes upon the kingdome of God I have gone astray like a lost sheepe seeke thy servant 2 Gratum in Ecclesia i militanti acceptable in the Church militant 1 This mends their companies I am a companion of all them c. Away from me ye wicked c. 2 It comforts their griefe it addeth voyces to the convert Sinne is the sorrow of the Church Mine eyes gush c. I saw the transgressors and was grieved 2 In triumphanti in the triumphant 1 Inter Angelos hi nos diligunt amongst the Angels they love us these are ministring spirits our guard 2 Inter sanctos coelestes animas quer an sciant amongst the Saints Qu. Doe the Saints know one another in heaven Romanists say in Deo tanquam in speculo vident omnia in God as in a glasse they see all things For the contents of the beatificall vision I dare not number or esteeme them Saint Augustine They may have intelligence from earth by the soules that goe hence this doe I beleeve and teach 1 That their
I beene holden vp from the wombe and resolveth to trust to that supportation I will goe in the strength of the Lord God Wee have many great examples in the best of Gods servants of falling into great sinnes Adam and Eve Noah Abraham Lot Isaack Iacob David Salomon Sampson Peter c. This feare shaketh David so that he craveth ayde of the good spirit for corroboration This is a singular marke of a just man so David describeth him he guideth his waies by discretion Surely he shall not be moved for ever his hart is fixed trusting in the Lord his heart is established We see here that the grace of repentance whereby weforsake sinne and turne to God and put our selves into the way of a new life will not serve unlesse the grace of confirmation doe establish us and keepe us from evill We are the Lords husbandry there is no end of that kinde of worke in the culture of ground there must bee breaking up of our fallow grounds stirring and plonghing till it be fit for seed There must be semination hrrowing to cover the seed There must be weeding of it and watering from heaven then an harvest then begin againe else Grandia saepe quibus mandavimus bordea sulcis Infelix lolium steriles dominantur avenae Often the furrowes where we sow good seeds Are overgrowne with cockle darnell weeds In the story of the widow that was so much in debt and her exactious creditours demanded her two sonnes for bondmen in satisfaction of the debt we reade that shee made her moane to Elisha he finding nothing in her house valuable but a small pot of oyle bade her borrow empty vessels and poure out and sell the oyle and pay the debt and said Live thou and thy children of the rest The Prophets care extended beyond the paiment of the debt to her maintenance In this miracle of Gods mercie here is a lively representation of his love to his elect For our sinnes doe make us debtors the justice of God is the creditour the graces of Gods spirit are the oyle he giveth of this plentifully to cleare the debt That is not all for this spirit which David here prayeth for he giveth for our after-maintenance that we grow not necessitous againe and renew our debt These two cares must not be parted the care of repentance and of a constant good life Christ joyned them together Ecce sanus factus es Behold thou art made whole and then noli amplius peccare sinne no more The corruption of nature is such even in the regenerate by the remaines of sinne that as tinder we are apt to take fire by the touch of the least sparke How then shall we bee fenced against the fiery darts of Sathan The grace of the spirit to beare off these and that which preserveth us from this fire is the shield of our faith for that establisheth our heart and moysteneth it so with the bloud of Iesus Christ that it cannot be apt to kindle suddenly And that faith doth David here request of God which is our best munition against these fiery assaults To shew what need every one of us hath to make this petition to our God for his confirming spirit 1 Let us see the miserable and unhappy condition of such as doe want this spirit 2 The singular benefit of such as have obtained it 1 Of the want we may all complaine of it for that want unheavened the Angels that kept not their first estate and turned the best of Gods creatures into divels and uncleane spirits the rebell and profest opposites of God and corrupters of man This want unparadised our first Parents and made them wofull spectacles of scorne Ecce homo factus est ut unus c. Behold the man is become like one of us What wanted in these two creatures to consummate the glory of their creation and to make their very making and happinesse but this free spirit of God to confirme and establish them It may be a wonder in reason and in religion why Almighty God did not accomplish his worke of creation by this addition of this spirit to the prevention of that misery that for want of it befell the creature and to the preservation of his owne worke from that malignity which followed sinne For hereby the creature became in it selfe corrupt and abhominable to the fellow creatures noxious and to God himselfe peccant and offensive all which had beene stayed by this one free spirit here desired I remember in the plea of God for his own full care of his people he urgeth that 1 He chose a fruitfull hill 2 He fenced it 3 He gathered out the stones 4 He planted it with the choisest Vine 5 He built a Tower in medio in the midst of it 6 He set up a Wine-presse in it and then he saith And now O inhabitants of Israell and men of Iudah judge I pray you betweene me and my Vineyard what could have beene done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it may we not heare his like complaint of Angels and man I created them in mine owne image I gave the one the fruition of heaven the other of Paradise the Angels saw my face Man was but a little lower than these Angels crowned with glory and honour invested in the dominion of his sublunarie creatures in the service of the very Angels and celestiall bodies What could have beene done more to these Angels and to man that I have not done in them may we not all answer Yes Lord thou mightest have given with these great favours thy free spirit to confirme and establish us in that happinesse and so we had beene alwaies as thou haddest made us In answer to this quere I could say who knoweth the minde of the Lord or who hath beene of his Councell we may step too farre having our shooes on our feet if we adventure to set our feet on holy ground the secrets of Gods will must be adored not searched God is not accountable to his creatures for his purposes or his actions With men the rule holds qui justè faciunt bis justi sunt they that doe justly are twise just but with God it is so that fecit omnia â—enè he hath done all things well and if he doe or say or decree or will any thing it is therefore just and good in high perfection because he doth it But you may take this for a put off and yet goe away unsatisfied Therefore seeing God calleth to the men of Iudah and inhabitants of Ierusalem to judge betweene him and his Vineyard I thinke we may boldly sit upon this cause and heare it indifferently God pleaded what could have beene done more clearing himselfe from all defectivenesse or failing on his part toward his creature Man replyeth one thing wanted even this spirit that David here desired I answer for God against all the world that that spirit was also given
water to wash these wounds and they are tender and this must be done often Beloved let me tell you that Sathan befooleth us with many false pleasures of vanitie which make these wounds in our souls We pay deare for them when we come to this washing And he that considers it well will know the terrour of the Lord and be afraid to give way to temptations that may put him to the pain of repentance It is true that nothing in this world is so painfull as true repentance It is called mortification killing the old man not every kinde of death crucifie the flesh Mors lâ—ntâ— violenta dedecorosa a death slow violent disgracefull It is called the breaking of the heart the renting and tâ—aring of it in peeces It is sackcloth for clothing baldnesse for beauty it is Amaritudo animae the bitter nessâ— of soul Yet for all this Multiplica lavare multiply to wash Iâ— drosse be mingled with our gold it will ask an hot fire to purge it out and that is repentance Behold Niniveh doing penance for her sinnes The King arose from his throne he layed his roabe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes proclaimed Let neither man nor beast taste any thing let them not feed nor drink water But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth Here is a Citie washt throughly in a bath of repentant and true tears Ecce Rex tâ—ns venit tibi mansuetus Behold thy King comes to thee meek the true and living picture of mortification He that sate on a throne of majestie and honour a glorious King arose from his throne as if his throne trembled under him in a we of the supreme throne which is set for justice upon all the world He layeth down his glory and casteth his Crown at the footstool of the most high All the ensignes of honour and principalitie above men he putteth off and puts himself into the number and rank of common men He puts off his royall garments the habite of glory He puts on sackcloth the dresse and trimme of repentance and humility He casteth himself on the ground there he sitteth in an heap of ashes He depriveth himself of his food and then Regis ad exemplum according to the Kings example all do so What can be added to this unworthying of himself He thought himself neither worthy of honour nor rayment nor ease nor food Not made onely a common man but as one of the beasts of the earth they were also clad in sackcloth Job in cinere in ashes dust to dust Thus the sinne of pride doth penance in coming down and abusing themselves The sinne of vanitie in apparrell doth penance in sackcloth The sinne of delicacie and nicenesse in a seat of ashes The sinne of drunkennesse and gluttony in fasting not bread not water The sinne of contempt and scorne of one another doth penance in an equality of like condition behold and see which is the King which is the Subject nay which is the man which is the beast all in one Liverie of sorrow and shame all in sackcloth Yet let me use the words of our Saviour of this sight Solomon in all his glorious royalty was not apparreled like one of these Never did Niniveh shew fairer in the eyes of heaven then this day never was Nineveh so throughly washt never so cleane Me thinks I heare the voyce of God saying as of Ahab so much rather so of Niniveh Seest thou how Niniveh humbleth it self before me It was a day of Ninivehs purification and God was appeased the doome of her destruction gratiously reversed David himself in this storie feeling the hand of God upon him in the visitation of his childe refused his bed laid him down on the earth would not wash or anoint or change garments refused to eat his bread We visit the Courts of Princes in our bravest trimme We finde the face and favour of God soonest in our worst clothes and meanest accoutrements All this is thought nothing the Penitent saith I will yet be more vile When Benhadad the proud provoker of King Ahab was down the winde his Servants had this hope onely left to propound to him Behold now we have heard that the Kings of Israel are mercifull Kings let us therefore I pray thee put sackcloth upon our loyns and rops upon our heads and go out to the King of Israel c. They did so Thus must they do that will have a guilt of sinne washed away thorowly and so our God being a mercifull God our life may be spared 3 David desireth God to wash him for the truth is he may say to us all as once to Peter Nisi ego te lavero non habebis partem mecum Except I wash thee thou shalt have no part in me David saith I will wash my hands in innocencie and Isaiah biddeth Wash you make you clean The work of our purification is not performed throughly but in the concurrence of both these we wash our selves in our true repentance God washeth us in his gratious pardon Yet even in our repentance God doth wash us too for he giveth both the grace and power of repentance he worketh all his works in us our spirits and faculties work together with him we are not meerly passives in our own washing but we give our affections and desires of heart to it we offer the service of our sighs and groans and tears and bring our bodies in subjection The Spirit of God doth not all it self but it helpeth our infirmities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word is of strong signification for here is a burthen too heavy for us to beare the Spirit of God comes to our help and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alone were a carriage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is over against us as when a burthen is born betweene two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decompoundeth the word and joyneth him in the burthen with us So he leaves not all the burthen upon us whose weaknesse cannot undergo it He takes not all the burthen upon him and from us but he beareth with us and as it ever falleth out between two that beare the same burthen the weaker doth ease himself upon the stronger so it is here the most of our burthen in this act of repentance lyeth upon God therefore Lava tu Domine wash thou Lord. Many would faine cast all the care upon God of their washing David doth his best and craveth here but Gods assistance For we must not sit out in our burthens and duties we cannot exonerate our selves so The manner how God worketh this lotion in us is 1 By his word so Christ Uos mundi est is propter sermonem quem ego locutus sum vobis You are clean by the word which I have spoken unto you Saint Augustine sheweth how the word doth cleanse us for it is Verbum fidei docens gignens alens fidem the word of faith teaching begetting nourishing faith And
we possesse When provender pricketh us the way to checke our wantonnesse is to set us a while at a leane manger and to take from us the good which we cannot tell well how to value at the true price It was the sinne first of the Angels then of man they kept not their first estate neither were content with the joy of their creation The Angels affected to be like God in omnipotencie and became divels Man affected to be like God in his omniscience and turned sinner they lost heaven by it he Paradise When they bethought themselves it is no question but they would have beene both glad to have beene where they were and would then have beene content with it I remember Iob in his extreame affliction remembring times past and complaining in the bitternesse of his engrieved soule O that I were as in moneths past in the daies when God preserved me When his candle shined upon my head and when by his light I walked through darkenesse When I washed my steppes with butter and the rocke poured me out rivers of water It were great wisedome in us to know when we are well and keepe us so 4 This petition putteth us in comfort that though by our folly wee have provoked God to take away our joy from us in his just judgement yet it is not so lost but there is hope left of restoring it againe to us for else Davids suit were cold And truely God is so full of compassion so free from passion so open handed to give so loth to take away so ready to forgive and so easily perswaded to restore what we have forfeited into his hands by our sinne that wee may comfort our soules with hope even when our joy is gone that he will not continue long in his anger but will returne to us and visite us with his favour That is it which maketh the divels so spightfull and malitious to man so rebellious to God they have no hope nor meanes left to restore them to the joy that they have lost because they being in fulnesse of grace and intellectuall light did corrupt themselves and were their owne tempters But man being overtaken with the surprize of a sudden temptation when being good he suspected no evill fell from the obedience but not from the pitty of God he fell from the possession but not from the restitution of his joy The time of our life is called spatium poenitendi a season for us to worke our repaire A lamentable change it is that sinne hath wrought in us that man created in the image of God in holinesse and righteousnesse should now spend all the dayes of his appointed time here in recovering some measure of that joy of his creation and when he hath attained to it insome degree may lose it by sinne and be to beginue againe The way to recover it is here opened in this example repentance faith and prayer Repentance to remove sinne faith to apprehend mercy and grace prayer to obtaine these of God and to sanctifie them to us In this way David sought the recovery of the joy of his salvation 2 His suit is for confirmation Uphold mee with thy free spirit some reade spiritu principall with thy chiefe spirit as desiring a full measure of the holy Ghost so the Apostle biddeth us to desire the best gifts of all for wee shall have need of them all against our owne corruptions and the manifold temptations of Sathan But the Prophets phrase of a free spirit doth well expresse the holy Ghost which hee desireth for Christ calleth him the spirit of truth and promiseth that he shall leade us into all truth And he saith The truth shall make you free David had lived in the chaines and bonds of iniquity a long time and his repentance had recovered him againe to liberty and now he desireth to be confirmed and established in that liberty Christ directeth our prayers so for after dimitte nobis forgive us we pray ne inducas leade us not which is for confirmation that we doe no more so Such is the corruption of our nature that we have cause to feare our selves for all sinnes For what sinne hath any man committed but wee may fall into the like seeing our originall corruption yet remaining in us is the seed of all sinne and our naturall impotencie to all good disableth us to resist and the perpetuall watch that our enemie doth keepe upon us to take advantage of us doth facilitate his temptations to our hurt And we see great examples of men falling into sinnes which their hearts have abhorred to thinke of being by surprize overtaken as adulterie murther theft and such like opportunity the pandor of sinne inviting thereto And what sinne have we ever committed and be wailed and repented but we may relapse into the same and double the transgression and the anger of God thereby This petition of David doth declare that wee have no strength of our selves either to abstaine from new sinnes or to keepe us from relapse into our former sinnes without the holy Ghost whose office is 1 To shew us the right way and to put us into it 2 To underprop and support us in the same that we fall not For from our naturall propension to evill proceedeth an easie sequence of our owne corrupt inclinations and a ready harkening to Sathans subtile temptations against which we need corroboration from the spirit of God Amongst all the sinnes that defile our conscience and corrupt our manners and displease God and hazard our soules those are most dangerous which bring with them the most sensuall delight for these have a sweetnesse and lushiousnesse which maketh them for the time very tastfull and delectable and when the bitternesse of repentance is over Sathan will renew to us the remembrance of the pleasure that we had in them and there by â—â—-engage us often in the fresh persuit of them We are as little children that cannot goe alone wee need a stronger arme to carry us a loving bosome to hugge us a 〈◊〉 â—and to supportus In all these things our God relieveth us 1 For the arme of God that shoreth us up so hee promised David with whom my hand shall be established mine arme also shall strengthen him 2 God said to Moses of his Israell Carry them in thy besome as a nursing father carrieth a sucking childe unto the land that God sware to give their fathers Moses was but a figure and type of a greater and more tender shepheard of whom I say prophecied saying He shall feed his flocke like a shepheard be shall gather the Lambes with his arme he shall carry them in his bosome and shall gently leade those that are with yong 3 I taught Ephraim also to goe leading them by the armes Thus the grace of corroboration is described by which we are not left to our selves but supported in our waies therefore David saith By thee have
Codrus bowels burst VERSE 16. For thou desirest no sacrifice else would I give it thou del ghtest not in burnt Offering HEre is reason given why David craveth help of God to enable him to his prayse and he declareth 1 In the negative what kinde of Sacrifices if they be not otherwise accompanied do not please God Verse 16. 2 In the affirmative with what kinde of Sacrifices God is pleased In the first he sheweth 1 His own for wardnesse in that kinde of service I would give it thee 2 Gods distaste 1 Non desideras thou requirest not 2 Non delectaris thou art not delighted with 1 Of Davids forwardnesse for outward worship and service by the ceremoniâ—â—â— and legall oblations Else I would give it thee for the Law imposed a necessity of such Sacrifices 1 David was a King and therefore able to performe these he was not so penurious to spare his purse to deny God his due His poorer subjects did not thinke much of it to performe the impositions of the Law 2 David was a Prophet and hee stirred up others to this duty and was willing to performe this 3 God to whom these oblations by the law were tendred had required this kinde of service I would give it thee there is nothing that wee have too good for him he openeth his hand and he filleth ours And we give him but of his own whatsoever wee give to him hee layeth claime to all our offerings as his own For every beast in the for rest is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hils I know all the fowles of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine So here moveth no thrift of parsimony in David he hath a full hand hee hath a willing heart to do God this service and hee holdeth God worthy of his offerings This meeteth with the hypocrisie of some Professors who are free in the calues of their lips which one calleth well labia vitulorum the lips of calves but they love a cheap religion that saveth their purses They grudge to honour God with their riches and thinke much to be at any charge in his service They tender God themselues and their hearts but not their treasure where their hearts are Such were they whom Malachie reproveth whom God there calleth to account Yee have snuffed at it saith the Lord of hosts and yee have brought that which was torn and the lame and the sick That ye brought an offering should I accept this of your hand saith the Lord But cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flocke a male and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing for I am a great King saith the Lord of Hosts and my name is dreadfull among the heathen They that think either nothing at all or the worst of all good enough for God are branded with the curse of God This Prophet reproveth the peoples wretched sparing in two things wherby the honour of God was blemished and God was robbed 1 In sacrifices which were offered immediatly to himself which the Law required 2 In tithes which were ordained for the maintenance of Gods holy worship in the sustentation of the Priests who attended his altar and service In both these God was robbed and his service hindred by the covetous sparing and wretched miserablenesse of the people which brought the curse of God upon their persons and their goods hee biddeth them tender such presents to their Governour as they do offer unto him and see whether he will be pleased with them or accept their persons God would not have his Priests serve and sterve at his altar You have robbed mee saith hee in tithes and offerings Ye are cursed with a curse for yee have robbed me He sheweth them a way of his blessing and their thrift Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse and prove me now herewith saith the Lord of Hosts If I will not open you now the windowes of Heaven and powre out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes and hee shall not destroy the fruits of your ground neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in your field You see there is nothing lost by that which is bestowed toward the supportation of Gods worship yea a blessing of plenty and increase is promised and the curse of the Lord is declined and put off by such service Therfore David proâ—esseâ—h that hee would willingly give sacrifice to God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of that which the law requireth of him toward his worship Else would I give it thee And good reason it is that we who â—â—e daily at the beautifull gate of his Temple begging almes of him and receiving from his open hand who openeth his hand and filleth with his plenty every living thing should not think much to return to him again such offerings of our goods as his law requireth For as exchange of gifts doth much maintaine friendship here betweene man and man which importeth a communion of goods between friends So no question but it confirmeth the mutuall love betweene God and his children and faithfull people when God openeth the Heavens and powreth down blessings upon them and when they againe in first-fruits tithes and sacrifices and oblations in charitable almes benevolences gifts and holy legacies living and dying remember to honour God with their substance Let me commend this holy example of forward zeale in David to our imitation that wee would be willing to give God any thing that we have and think nothing too much too good for his service For we were the children of death and he bought us with a price the hardest bargain and dearest peniworth that was ever bought the hottest perquisite For we were not redeemed with things corruptible as gold and silver but with the bloud of his Sonne as of a Lambe without spot the Sonne of his bosome in whom he was well pleased he spared not that Sonne but gave him gave him to death the death of the crosse gave him for us who were his enemies who sought no salvation and asked none of him but rather fled away in our first parents from his presence and hid our selves from him he sought us out in the cool of the day and offered us his Sonne the seed of the woman to bruise the head of the Serpent that we may say His glory is great in our salvation This Sonne hath made so easie and open a way to the throne of grace and hath opened the hand of the Father so wide to us that if wee open our moutnes wide he will fill them And whatsoever we aske the Father in his name he will give it I never reade that gifts given to God did make the giver poore and the rich young man in the Gospel might have taken Christs word for it that giving all hee had to the poor and following him had made him no loser upon
idlenesse 2 By their dishonesty and falshood 3 By their waste 4 By their unthankfulnesse To settle the heart against this distraction of cares 1 Thinke how these cares came first in â— for God placed man in a Paradise in full possession of all things necessarie for him sinne shut him out thence and lodged him where Luctus ultrices posuere cubilia curae Sorrow and care residents are Let us labour by repentance to remove sinne and cares will give way presently 2 Let us see how farre by the sentence of the Iudge upon man our â—â—re is extended We shall finde that the tartnesse and acrimonie of the sentence is sweetned with a blessing for in judgement God remembreth mercie The sentence is In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eate bread till thou returne to the ground Here is 1 In sudore in sweat this sweat that cometh of labour and exercise is wholsome and preserveth health labour is now enjoyned Qui non laborat ne manducet He that labours not let him not eate This is no such great affliction for we can be well content to sweat at our pleasures 2 In sudore Faciei in the sweat of thy face he saith not In angore cordis in sorrow of thy heart Omni custodia custodi cortuum With all keeping keepe thy heart Mi fili praebe mihâ— cor My son give me thy heart Christ ne turbetur cor vestrum let not your heart be troubled 3 Vescêris thou shalt be fed if we go not further A small matter may serve for food Nature is no great demander here is no gluttonous waste allowed 4 Pane with bread this is all we may aske of God Panem nostrum Our bread And no further should our care streine then the necessaries of life and no other way then in the way of our calling 5 Donec untill for we shall not be alwayes drudges to the flesh we have our donec untill and then all the cares of life determine They that will studie and labour for bread for posteritie may overdoe Fathers are allowed to lav up for their children but let them take heed they cast them more upon Gods providence then their owne provisions for them lest God blow upon them You may observe it that commonly such as rise to wealth from low beginnings are commonly most carefull to heape up for their children None trust God lesse then they and no estates are sooner blasted then theirs God never intended when he placed us in the world to make us for the world he set our face a better way Many have found the cares of this world such hinderances to repentance of sinnes such encreasers rather of sinne such remora's to godly life that they have freely abandoned the world and embraced a necessitous poverty rather then they would teare themselves with these thornes 3 The acceptation of this sacrifice with God O God thou wilt not despise There are none more despised in the world amongst the braves and gallants of the earth then those who go mourning all the day long for their sinnes But O God thou wilt not despise such How many great adulteries murthers and soule sinnes have beene committed by Kings and great persons But what say the books of time or what can our observation of our time testifie of broken and contrite hearts for them Our comfort is if grace do so farre prevaile against corrupt nature to sanctifie it to true repentance God will accept it we shall do well to see some examples of broken hearts and how they have beene accepted with God 1 Of Solomon who after his surfeit of all temporall pleasures made a whole booke of recantation and repentance wherein he calleth all those pleasures of life which had carried him away from God Vanitie and Vexation of spirit vanitie of vanities and concluded that the end of all things is to feare God and keep his Commandments How God accepted him we need no other proofe then that book of the Preacher received into the Canon of holy Scripture 2 Of Manasseh king of Judah for his sinnes were high growne and like an harvest of corne yellow for the sickle of divine vengeance He did evill in the sight of the Lord like to the abhominations of the heathen What his Father Hezechiah had done to remove idolatry he undid built up againe the abhominations which he had ruined He made his children passe through the fire he used witchcraft erected an Idoll in Gods house wrought much evill in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger A greater sinner I read not of theÌ„ Manasseh was And when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his Fathers and prayed unto him and he was entreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him againe to Jerusalem where he brought forth fruits worthy of Repentance For he fortified the City of God he removed the Idols which he had set up and he repaired the Altar of the Lord and offered peace-offerings thereon 3 Of Mary Magdaleno the sinner whose broken and contrite heart had comfort in the pardon of her sinnes and Christs first appearance to her 4 Of the poore Publicane who came his owne accuâ—er into the Temple and went away justified more then the proud Pharisee 5 Of Simon Peter upon whom Christ looked and that looke sent him forth to weepe bitterly And his Master forgave him and imployed him in his Church Such is the unlimited loving-kindnesse of God to broken hearts For Christ was sent of purpose to binde up the broken-hearted The Apostle saith that there is breadth and length depth and height in the love of God 1 For breadth The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord. 2 For length His mercie is for them that feare him from generation to generation 3 For depth Where sinne aboundeth grace superaboundeth 4 For height Thy mercies are exalted above the heavens 1 In breadth like the garment of Sem and Japhet which covered their Fathers nakednesse 2 In length like the ladder of Jacob whose foot on earth whose top reached heaven 3 In depth like the Red-sea which swallowed Pharaoh and his hosts 4 In height like the ascension of Christ into heaven seene till a cloud involved him For our God is gentle milde and gracious and passeth by offences Let Jacob repent and he seeth no iniquitie in him Gods pardon healeth broken hearts for it removeth sinne In those dayes saith the Lord the iniquitie of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sinnes of Judah and they shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve Sinners converted joy him how welcome was the Prodigall to his Father he had not so much as a chiding for all his loosenesse and waste There is joy in heaven over every convert David hath done for himselfe here he endeth his suit for himselfe By this