tartnes no sharpnes no bitternes in these afflictions no not in death it selfe for as God sweetly disposes and pleasantly compounds the rest so Christ Iesus is theyr taster in this He hath tasted death for all Hebr. 2.9 This is their maine cheare To this Sage and Succory Marioram gentle Patience and Honesty Harts-ease and Hearb-grace are sprinckled in for salades And all this before the banquet For that comes after wherein as wee see at feasts the same things serue for the Banquet too but otherwise cooked and disguised so it may happily fall out in this for remissiō of sinnes and hope of euerlasting glory are saies Latimer the sweet-meats to the feast of a good conscience And as for fruits as we are called in scripture the first fruits of his creatures so if we be of S. Pauls companie we haue the first fruits of his spirit Rom 8.23 where of S. Paul serues in often a brace Grace peace in God the Father c. And oftentimes a lease Grace mercie and truth c. And wee finde almost a douzen in a dish Galath 5.22.23 The fruits of the spirit is loue ioy peace long-suffering gentlenes goodnes Faith meekenes temperance c. After these come in all choyce and rare dainties mentioned in Isay 11.2 Wisedome and vnderstanding councell and strength Knowledge and the feare of the Lord which are called in Esay 55. by the names of Water milke and wine saturitie Fatnes c. In other places they are iointly named the Annoynting the oyle of gladnes where with as Christ Iesus was annoynted aboue his fellowes so being as S. Peter stiles him the Byshop of our soules he doth therewith annoint and consecrate vs Priests vnto God euen an holy and a Royall Priesthood 1.2.9 which is an oynement most sauory and redolent The sauour of thine oyntment is better then all spices Cant. 4.10 which heauenly Oyle is shead in our hearts by the holy Ghost that is giuen vs. Rom 5.5 Ther 's an other banquetting dish of loue and knowledge mine together For knowledge of it selfe is too windy it swell a man like puff past and shewe him vp but loue modefies and allayes it and makes it wholesome Then comes in the louing kindnesse of the Lorde making the Good-mans estate equall with that of Kings as Saint Paul tolde Agrippa in which regarde God is sayde to crowne vs with louing kindnes tender mercy Psa 103.4 So that righteous mē are so many crowned Kings Nay faieth the Apostle more then conquerours Rom. 8. What 's more then conquerours Why Triumphers for hee makes vs to triumph in Christ 2. Cor. 2.14 Next the good faithfull soule receiues in this banquet a Christall bellie made of the blood of Christ not Sanguis Draconis but Leonis of the Lion of the Tribe of Iuda or rather of the Lambe of God a strange and strong restoratiue more then all their pectorall rowles or Mythridate or aurum potabile that will fetch life againe sooner then all their cordiall waters for this indeede is the true Aqua Coelestis and Rosa Solis of the Sunne of righteousnesse one droppe whereof is sufficient for a thousand worlds After this comes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that full assurance of faith in Christ which is the true Manus Christi that passeth all their Marmelade Succate And last of all is that food of Angels hidden Manna so called Apos 2.17 which is a kind of secret consolation which the Lord infuseth into the hearts of his faiththfull seruantes such as keepe a good conscience which farres exceeds all the stellifyed meates of Alchymists and Coniurers transports and rauisheth the soule of man as S. Peter hauing a taste of it talkes of building Tabernacles and Saint Paul it seemes had some relish of it where hee sayeth I ouerflow exceedingly I abound with all ioy amidst our tribulation This it makes a man forget all sensuall pleasure and is not only food but a riuer of spirituall drinke to the soule which prouokes Austin to cry Pota me Domine torrente volupt atis vt nil iam mundanorum libeat degustare veneualae dulcedimis Giue mee of this drinke Lord that I desire not the poysonous delights of the world This occasioned the same Father to entitle a good conscience a paradise abounding with graces and delights And Hugo to stile it a garden of delight and the golden diuing Chamber of the holy Ghost And so much for the meat and drinke The second thing that commends a feast is the Company It is a speech of a Romane in Plutarch that hee had only eaten not supped when he wanted company Now company are eyther guests or attendants both these magnifie the feasts of a good conscience for the guests are the blessed glorious Trinity For a good conscience wee haue heard hath the spirit his bosom-friend such a foule the Tēple the closet of the holy-Ghost for his father our Sauiour tells vs Iohn 14. to the man that loues him his Father will come and dwell with him And of himselfe Rerel 3.20 Beholde I stand at the dore and knocke if any man heare my voyce and open the dore I will come in to him and will suppe with him and he with me Our best friends vse to be best welcome and can a man haue a dearer Guest a better friend then Christ Iesus for he vouchsafes to call good men his friends Ioh 15.13 his kinsmen in other places his brethren his children his mother his Spowse to shew that he loues vs with all these loues the friendes the kinsmans the brothers the fathers the wifes Nay his is as high aboue these as is Heauen aboue earth and therefore hauing him our guest wee haue him in the knot and ring and packe of all our frinds together As for the Attendants at this feast they are no common wayters ordinary Seruing men but the blessed Angells of heauen Are they not all ministring Spirits sent out to minister for their sakes that shall be heyres of saluation Hebr. 1. vlt who as they ministred to Christ assoone as the diuell forsooke him so when we are once ridde of the diuell of hell of an euill conscience they presently be our seruants and as they ministred to him in his hunger for the Angells to all his in thyrst and hunger are as Luther is bolde to say Cookes and Butlers 3. The third circumstance of a feast is light t' is therefore a plague saith Ecclesiastes to a couetous wretch that alwayes he eates in darknes And indeed what is a feast without light so t is in the soule therefore the wicked hart or conscience is described in scripture to be voyde of light full of darknes hauing theyr cogitations darkned Ephes 4.18 Their foolish heart is full of darknes Rom 1.21 And all they can doe all their works are deedes of darknes Rom 13.12 But the children of God like the land of Goshen haue light enough they walke in the light and are children of
it and thou shalt passe on drie ground through the midst thereof And as thus afflictions in generall do not endammage the true and righteous seruants of God but that they are bulwarkes and defenced against them so wee shall finde it true by running ouer some particulars Let there bee warre and deuastation sacking burning of townes rauishing of Matrones and Virgines and all the retinue of rage and horror enter vpon a land with noyse of weapons and tumbling of garments in blood as the Prophet describes it yet all this will not breake his truce with heauen he shal in the midst of warre enioy that peace which Christ left his Disciples That peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding Let it bee rumorde that all the braue and daring men in the world are comming on nay let him bee assured as vndoubtedly hee is from the word of God that all the Peeres and Princes of Hell are vp in Armes Principalities and powers and worldly gouernours Princes of the darknesse of this world spirituall wickednesse in hie places are banded and leagued against him yet he will bee able not onely to resist in the euill day but hauing finished all things to stand fast Ephes 6.12.13 And where the Apostle there mentions a girdle of verity and shooes of preparation a brest-plate of righteousnesse and a shield of faith an helmet of saluation and a sword of the spirite wee must know that hee which hath a good conscience hath all this furniture this complete harnesse of a Christian altogether For that alone is the armour of righteousnesse on the right hand and on the left which makes a good man as Solomon speaks bold as a Lion valiant as Gedeon or Sampson afrayde neyther of the arrow sayth Dauid that flies by night nor the plague which destroyes at noon day Nothing nothing can dismay the resolute Christian Stelliger mundus sonet flammas hic ille iaculetur polus Let the earth bee moued sayth Dauid and the foundation of it shake the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea I will not feare Si fractus illabatur orbis impauidum ferient ruinae though the world cracke and flie off the hindges yet this shal nor apall him but his heart wil be still like the hart of the Leuiathan firme as a stone and as hard as a peece of the neyther milstone Iob. 41.15 Let such a man bee defamed causelesly traduced in his good Name yet Tullie was able to say Conscientia virtuti satis amplum Theatrum A good Consciēce is a Theater large enough for vertue and the man that is not guiltie or conscious to himselfe of deseruing infamy hath saith Horace Murum aheneum a wall of brasse to retort and shoot into theyr owne bosomes all these fiery dartes of the wicked It seemes indeed that this scourge of Tongues is no meane vexation for Dauid calles such detraction by the names of Swordes and speares and sharpe arrowes and poysoned dartes and complaines miserably in his Psalmes an 100. times at least how cruelly hee was galled and infested with such weapons yet both hee and all the children of God from time to time haue vsed no other rampire but this of a good conscience which they haue euer sound so firme and solide that it hath been able in middest of the hottest assaults not to preserue from danger only but to powre into them a noble contempt of their assailers and a spirituall complacency in this kinde of calamity as wee heard from Saint Paules testimony of himselfe I take pleasure in infirmities and next addes in reproches in persecutions c. Let it be pouerty to him it is an estate full of pleasure Christ Iesus himselfe hath made it glorious and the Heathen hath tolde him Facile consolatur honestas egestatem Pouerty is soone cheared vp with honesty if hunger or thirst assayle him hee hath a good conscience to feed him which is a continuall Feast assuring him the Kingdome of Heauen stands not in meate and drinke Nay the righteous man is so far from affrightment at such trifles that Elihu tels vs When famine comes then comes his ioy his delight a destruction and famine hee shall laugh and though death be to wicked men vltimum terribilium a dampe a dampe that puts out all their light and marres their musicke yet to an honest heart and a good conscience it brings rather an affluence of comfort and reioycing a thing the children of God wish and long for Cupio dissolui I desire to bee dissolued and to bee with Christ Iesus So that in all afflictions how great how grieuous soeuer the conscience of a godly man is not distracted it may perchance slacken it selfe and bee scattered or dissolued at the first encounter but when it returnes into it selfe and arrests on the holy spirite of God and strength of his grace it doth not onely settle from all such wauerings and weakenesses but it growes so firme and bolde as to take ioy and solace therein when that which before was sowre and distastfull becomes sweet and gracious And this must needes be so it needs no proofe for how can it bee otherwise but that Gods children should bee men of ioy glad men as Dauid speakes Psal 68.3 Leaping for ioy when wee are taught by God himselfe that his Kingdome is the place of ioy nay nothing else but peace ioy in the holy Ghost Rom. 14.17 and his Gospell the matter of ioy as the Angell proclaimes from heauen Behold I bring you tidings of great ioy that shall be to all people To this purpose we haue plentifull testimonies in scripture that God will euer keepe and defend his chosen seruants tenderly as the apple of his eye beares them safe from danger as he did the Israelites vpon his wings as vpon a featherbed soft and secure he giues his Angels charge ouer them that they dash not their foot against a stone or if any one chance to fall Siceciderit sayth Dauid yet hee shall not perish for the Lord puts vnder his hand The Lions doe lacke and suffer hunger but they that seeke the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good Psal 34.10 Many sorrowes to the wicked but he that trusts in the Lord mercy imbraceth him on euery side Be glad ô yce righteous showt for ioy all yee that are true of heart Psal 32.10.11 The voyce of ioy and reioycing and saluation shall bee in the tabernacles of the righteous Psal 118.15 sayeth Solomon answeres a good man in the ioy of his heart Eccles 5. vlt. They that obey and serue him shall spend end their dayes in prosperity and their dayes in prosperity and their yeares in pleasure Iob. 36.11 God giues such sayeth Esaie beauty for ashes the oyle of ioy for mourning the garment of gladnesse for the spirite of heauines And as wee haue it in promise from God so in example of godly men that haue euer found it so as Dauid who
the day translated from the kingdome of darknes into his meruellous light So as the righteous soule needes no taper or torch-light at his feast specially if we remeÌ„ber what company is therefore First there is the comforter the bright and glorious spirit which makes him that is spirituall to discerne all things 1. Cor. 2.15 There is also God the Father in companie who is Pater luminum the Father of Light Iames 1.17 and Christ Iesus who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Light of the world the day-spring from on high a Light to bee reuealed to the Gentiles and the glorie of his people Israell 4 As for the last circumstance of Musicke the good conscience hath inough euery string of his heart sounds out a pleasant melody pleasing in the cares of Almighty God himselfe First God playes on the heart strings of his children Vt sila cordaram sic corda filioram tangit and moues them easily then they sound forth his prayse in Psalmes and hymnes and spirituall songs making melody in their hearts vnto God at which Musicke the enuious diuell ftaÌ„ds without the dore like the elder brother in the Parable fretting and discontent at the noyse hee heares within Secondly the very afflictions here endured as they are musicke to a good conscience according to that of Prudencius Tormenta carcer vngulae stridenque flammis c. All kind of tortures are pleasant to a Christian Thy rodde sayeth Dauid comforts mee So likewise do they serue as so many musicall iustruments to prayse God withall as it was sayd of Romanus the Martyr Tot ecce laudant ora quet sunt vuinera That all his gaping woundes were so many mouthes to celebrate Gods glory And as their suffering so their prayers teares are sweeter musicke in the eares of God then Spheares or the harmony of Angels Especially the repentant teares of a sad soule are an excellent Musicke in voyces that is heard as hie as heauen So God tels Manasses Thou hast wept before me and I haue heard it it seemes the Angels heare it too for it is sayde of them that they reioyce at a weeping sinners conuersion And yet here is not all For it is not onely a feast but a continuall feast The royall feast of Assuerus in Est 1. lasted but a 100. 80. dayes but this is euerlasting A good conscience then holds out in all weathers which made Pindar call it the sweet nurse of a mans old age The comfort of prophane worldlings like a torrent soone runnes it selfe drie and away but the godly mans peace is like a perpetuall spring hee growes and goes on in grace Therefore in Ezechiel onely the stayres of the Temple were left vnnumbered vnmeasured intimating that the ascension to God grace and so to his glory is endlesse Therefore Gods mercy his grace are stiled a rich grace a great mercy a superabundant grace a lasting mercy better then all conserues and preserues of which the Poet sayeth Inamarescunt epulae sine fine petitae They will grow bitter if common but this is as sweet and tender and delicate to a man in his age as in his youth nay sweeter and sweeter like that wine in Iohn 2. best at last So that the good mans feast beginnes at All-Saints at our sanctity and holines here and lasts till the great generall Purification till our bodies be deputed of all earthly drosse our foules of sinne that is till wee arriue at Heauen It is true the godly mans condition in respect of death is all one with the wicked hee must die but when death like a Voyder comes to take away hee doth not then rise from his banquet discontent as the wicked soule Vitaque cum gemita fugie indignata sub vmbras with noyse and murmuring but he departs Cedit vticonuiua satur like a full guest satissied to sleepe to rest till supper For so death to a man that hath this feast of a good conscience is but a Feast of slumber till supper time till hee come to that Marriage Supper of the Lambe spoken of in Reu. 19.9 Where for plenty and variety of meate and drinke he shal be better then before for it is saide in Gods presence is fulnes of ioy and at his right hand are pleasures for euermore psalm 16.11 where for his Banquet of grace he shall haue one of glorie for the fruits of the spirit heere he shall there feed on the fruits of the Tree of life which beares 12. manner of fruits Reuel 22.2 And for Light he shall need none there neither Sunne nor Moone to lighten that holy Citie For the glory of God doth lighten it the Lambe is the light of it And for company beside manâ—… that shal come from the East from the west and shall sit down at table with Abrah Isack Iacob in the kingdome of heauen Mat. 8.11 a huge nuÌ„ber in Reu 7 9. which no man can nuÌ„ber of all nations kindreds which shal stand before the Lamb clothed with long white robes palmes in their hands and besides the fellowship of Saints and Angels the soule shall there enioy her olde company of the Glorious blessed Trinitie and then shall see GOD not any longer in aenigmatè but see him face to face know euen as shee is knowne As also she shall still retaine her ancient attendants of the blessed Angells our blessed Sauiour telleth vs he wil wayt vpon vs. In the Saturnals saith Macrobius masters serue their seruaÌ„ts at this high baÌ„quet our Lord M. Cor. Ies wil gyrd himself be our seruitour And lastly for Musicke All the Angels shall loudly sound their Clarions The Prophets shal bring their harpes of gold and Iuory And the glorious army of Martyrs shall bring their trumpets of siluer all the whole Quire Chorus of heauen shall sing Huleluiah that song of 3. parts Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Saboath Amen blessing glory wisdome and thanksgiuing and honor power be vnto our God for euer and ouer Amen In a word to resolue this speculation into vse practise Let vs learne not to loue the world or the vaine profit foolish pleasures of this life we see there is no true mirth no sound ioy to be found in theÌ„ let therfore vain worldlings pamper fill theÌ„selues with such painted food and so obtaine perhaps a painted tombe or a partial flourishing Epitaph after death But let vs labour for the meate that perisheth not the food that lasteth euer as graces abundance of content namely a good conscience which is both a feast in this life and a preparatiue to a banquet in the life to come Amen Gloria Deo in Excelsis FINIS