mercy it receiueth blessing from God All is an Allegory The Earth is Man the Raine Gods Word the herbes are Graces and the Blessing is a sweet retribution and accumulation of mercie The Earth IS the best ground that lyes betwixt heauen and earth Man the noblest part of this world the worthiest creature that hath earth for the pauement and heauen for the seeling the Creators Image and as some read his Shadow which moues as the body doth whose it is When the body puts forth an arme the shadow shewes an arme c so man in his actions and courses depends vpon the disposition of God as his all-powerfull Maker and Mouer The blessed Deity which hath in it a Trinity of most equall and eternall Persons is the first and best of all beings the holy Angels next a Ioue tertius Aiax man next them Ardens conceateth vpon Marke 16. in the Apostles commission Goe ye into all the World and preach the Gospell to euery Creature that by this Euery Creature is meant Man For to liuelesse senselesse or reason-lesse things God neuer enioyned to preach the Gospell But man is called Euery creature because hee hath a participation of the best in all creatures Stones haue a being not life plants haue a being and life not sense beasts haue a being life and sense but not vnderstanding Angels haue both being life sense and vnderstanding Man participates with all these in their best He hath a being with stones life with plants sense with beasts vnderstanding with Angels a sweet abstract or compendium of all creatures perfections Let not all this make man proud Euen this word Earth though here vsed in a spiritual sense puts him in minde that this excellent man is a mortall creature Earth must bee earth hot earth to colde earth that earth which hath now a life in it to that earth which hath no life in it Therefore I will say from the Prophet O earth earth earth heare the word of the Lord. Bestow not too much paines in adorning this perishable earth thy flesh the earth thou must be careful of and which God here waters from heauen with his holy deawes is thy heart thy conscience I could willingly steppe out a little to chide those that neglecting Gods Earth the Soule fall to trimming with a curious superstition the Earths earth clay and lome a body of corruption painted til it shine like a Lilly like it in whitenesse not in humility the candor of beautie for the Lilly growes lowe Lilium conuallium a flower of the vallies and bottomes a little slime done ouer with a past-boord rottennesse hidde vnder golden leaues stench lapp'd vp in a bundle of silkes and by reason of poison suck'd from sinne and hell worthy of no better attribute then glorious damnation Is there no sicknesse is there no disgrace is there no old age is there no death that you make so much of this earth Or doe you desperately resolue to dote on it liuing as if you neuer hoped to finde it againe being dead Feare not you shall meet with it againe perhaps when you would not God hath struck as gallant as you can make or thinke your selues with sodaine sore and sure iudgements Beleeue it his hand is his owne His arme was neuer yet broken luxate or manacled Woe worth them that haue put Pride and Couetousnesse fellow-commoners among vs for they out-eate vs all and staâ—ue the whole house of our Land Couetise would be charitable but there is that other summe to make vp Pride would giue or at least forbeare to extort but there is a ruffe of the new fashion to bee bought Dignity a caroch or strange apparell is to be purchas'd and who but the poore tenants must pay for it vpon whom they once so accoutred afterward looke betwixt scorne and anger and goe as if they were shut vp in wainscote Sed vitate viros cultum formasque professos Quique suas ponunt in statione comas Such a one will not giue lest his white hand should touch the poore beggars who perhaps hath a hand cleaner then his I meane from aspersions of bloud rapine iniury briberie lust and filthinesse He cannot intend to pray for he is called to dinner iust when his last locke is hung to his minde O the monstrous curiositie of tricking vp this earth of earth yet from the Courtier to the Carter from the Lady to the Inkle-beggar there is this excesse and going beyond their calling But I haue strayed out of my way to cut off a lappe of Prides garment I conclude this Earth with this caution Respice aspice prospice Looke back what thou wast behold what thou art consider what thou must be Recole primordia attende media prâ—â—uideto nouissima Haec pudorem adducunt illa dolorem ingerunt ista timorem incutiunt Call to mind former things see the present foresee the last The first will breede in thee shame the other griefe these feare Remember thou wert taken out of the earth behold thy strength of life subiect to diseases manifold manifest sensible ones foresee that thou must dye this earth must to earth againe But the Earth here meant is a diuine spirituall immortall nature called Earth by a Metaphor incapable of suffering terrene fragilitie This is Gods Earth and that in a high and mysticall sense though proper enough Indeed Domini terra the earth is the Lords and the fulnesâ—e thereof sayth the Psalmist But he hath not such respect to the Earth he made as to this Earth for whom he made it This is Terra sigillata earth that he hath sealed and sanctified for himselfe by setting his stampe and impression vpon it Now the good mans heart is compared to Earth for diuerse reasons 1. For humilitie Humus quasi humilis The Earth is the lowest of all elements and the center of the world The godly heart is not so low in situation but so lowly in it owne estimation God is sayd to hang the earth vpon nothing Ioâ— 26. He stretcheth out the North ouer the empty place and hangeth the Earth vpon nothing that it might wholly depend on himselfe So a true Christian heart in regard of it selfe is founded vpon nothing hath an humble vilipending and disprising of it owne worth that it may ex toto ex tuto wholly and safely rely on God O man of earth why exaltest thou thy selfe this is the way to preuent and frustrate the exaltation of God Keepe thy selfe lowly as the Earth reiect all opinion of thy owne worth and thou shalt one day ouer-top the cloudes The Earth is thy mother that brought thee forth when thou wert not a stage that carries thee whiles thou art a tombe that receiues thee when thou art not It giues thee originall harbour sepulchre Like a kind mother shee beares her off-spring on her backe and her brood is her perpetuall burden till she receiue them again into the same womb from
whence she deliuered them She shall bee yet more kinde to thee if her basenesse can teach thee humility and keepe thee from being more proud of other things then thou canst with any reason be of thy Parentage Few are proud of their soules and none but fooles can bee proud of their bodies seeing here is all the difference betwixt him that walkes and his floore he walkes on Liuing Earth treads vpon dead earth and shall at last bee as dead as his pauement Many are the fauours that the earth doth vs yet amongst them all there is none greater then the schooling vs to humility and working in vs a true acknowledgement of our owne vilenesse and so directing vs to heauen to find that aboue which she cannot giue vs below 2. For Patience The Earth is called Terra quia teritur and this is the naturall earth For they distinguish it into 3. sorts Terra quam terimus terra quam gerimus terra quam quaerimus which is the glorious land of Promise That earth is cut and wounded with culters and shares yet is patient to suffer it and returnes fruits to those that ploughed it The good heart is thus rent with vexations and broken with sorrowes yet offers the other cheeke to the smiter endureth all with a magnanimous patience assured of that victory which comes by suffering Vincit qui patitur Neither is this all it returns mercy for iniury prayers for persecutions and blesseth them that cursed it The Plowers plowed vpon my backe they made long their furrowes They rewarded mee euill for good to the spoyling of my soule Yet when they were sicke my cloathing was sackecloth I humbled my soule with fasting I was heauy as one that mourned for his friend or brother and my prayer returned into mine owne bosome When the heart of our Sauiour was thus ploughed vp with a speare it ran streames of mercie reall mercie which his vocall tongue interpreted Father forgiue them they know not what they doe His bloud Heb. 12. had a voice a mercifull voice and spake better things then the bloud of Abel That cryed from the cauerns of the earth for reuenge this from the Crosse in the sweet tune of compassion and forgiuenesse It is a strong argument of a heart rich in grace to wrappe and embrace his iniurer in the armes of loue as the earth quietly receiues those dead to buriall who liuing tore vp her bowels 3. For faithful Constancie The Earth is called Solum because it stands alone depending on nothing but the Makers hand One generation passeth away and another generation commeth but the earth abideth for euer Shee often changeth her burden without any sensible mutation of her selfe Thy faithfulnesse is to all generations thou hâ—st established the Earth and it standeth The Hebrew is To generation and generation inferring that times and men and the sonnes of men posterity after posterity passe away but the Earth whereon and whereout they passe abideth The parts thereof haue been altered and violent Earth-quakes begot in the owne bowels haue totterd it But God hath layd the foundations of the earth the Originall is founded it vpon her bases that it should not be remoued for euer the body of it is immoueable Such a constant soliditie is in the faithfull heart that should it thunder Buls from Rome and bolts from heauen Impauâ—dum ferient ruinae â— Indeede God hath sometimes bent an angry brow against his owne deare ones and then no maruell if they shudder if the bones of Dauid tremble and the teeth of Hezekiah chatter But God will not be long angry with his and the balances at first putting in of the euenest weights may be a little swayed not without some shew of inequality which yet after a little motion settle themselues in a iust poyse So the first terrour hath moued the godly not remoued them they return to themselues and rest in a resolued peace Lord doe what thou wilt if thou kill mee I will trust in thee Let vs heare it from him that had it from the Lord. Psal. 112. Surely he shall not be moued for euer the righteous shall bee in euerlasting remembrance He shall not be afraide of euill tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is established c. Oh sweet description of a constant soule They giue diuerse causes of Earth-quakes Aristotle among the rest admits the ecclipse of the Sun for one the interposition of the Moones body hindring some places from his heate I know not how certaine this is in Philosophie â—n Diuinity it is most true that onely the ecclipse of our Sunne IESVS CHRIST raiseth Earth-quakes in our hearts when that inconstant and euer-changing body of the Moone the world steppes betwixt our Sunne and vs and keepes vs from the kindly vitall heate of his fauour then O then the earth of our heart quakes and we feele a terrour in our bones and bowels as if the busie hand of death were searching them But no ecclipse lasts long especially not this our Sunne will shine on vs againe we shall stand sure euen as mount Sion which cannot be remoued but abideth for euer 4. For Charitie The Earth brings forth food for all creatures that liue on it Greene herbe for the cattell oyle and wine for man The vallyes stand thicke with corne the Mower filleth his sythe and the binder vp of sheaues his bosome A good man is so full of charitie he releeues all without improuidence to himselfe He giues plentifully that all may haue some not indiscreetly that some haue all On the Earth stand many glorious Cities and goodly buildings faire monuments of her beauty and adornation The sanctified soule in an happy respondencie hath manifold workes of charitie manifest deedes of piety that sweetly become the Faith which he professeth 5. For Riches The Earth is but poore without the surface of it especially when squalid winter hath bemired it seemes poore and barren but within it is full of rich mines ores of gold and quarries of precious minerals For medals and mettals it is abundantly wealthy The sanctified heart may seeme poore to the worlds eye which only beholds and iudgeth the rinde and huske and thinkes there is no treasure in the Cabinet because it is couered with leather But within hee is full of golden mines and rich ores the inuisible graces of faith feare loue hope patience holinesse sweeter then the spices of the East Indies and richer then the gold of the West Omnis decor filiae Sion ab intus The Kings Daughter is all glorious within It is not the superficiall skinne but the internall beautie that moues the King of heauen to bee enamoured of vs and to say Thou art all faire my Loue there is no spot in thee 6. Lastly for Fertilitie The Earth is fruitfull when the ayre hath giuen influence the Clouds showred downe seasonable deawes and the Sunne bestowed his kindly heate
must be Lapathum Patience This Rue is affliction which hath a profitable effect in those that qnietly digest it Of all the herbes in the garden onely Rue is the herbe of grace How much vertue is wrought in the soule by this bitter plant It is held by some a sicknes it is rather Physick a sharpe and short medicine that bringeth with it much and long health This if they wil needs haue it a sicknesse may be compared to the Ague The Ague shakes a man worse then another disease that is mortall At last it giues 〈◊〉 a kinde farewell and sayes I haue purged thy choler and made thee healthfull by consuming and spending out that humor which would haue endangered thy life Affliction in the taste is often more bitter then a iudgement that kills outright but at last it tells the soule I haue purged away thy foulenesse wrought out thy Iustes and left there a sound man So the good Physician procureth to his Patient a gentle Ague that hee may cure him of a more dangerous disease Vt curet spasmum procurat febrim Christ our best Physician deales a little roughly with vs that hee may set vs straight And howsoeuer the Feuer of affliction disquiet vs a while we shall sing in the conclusion with the Psalmist It is good for me that I haue been afflicted that I might learne thy statutes Saepe facit Deus opus quod non est summ vt faciat opus quod est suum GOD by a worke that is none of his effecteth a work in vs that is his He molests vs with some vexations as hee did Iob which is Satans worke immediately not his that thereby hee might bring vs to patience and obedience which is his work immediatly and wholly not Satans So wee are chastned of the Lord that wee might not bee condemned with the world Bees are drown'd in honey but liue in vineger and good men grow the better affected the more they are afflicted The poore man for his ague goes to his garden and plucks vp thyme The remedy for this spirituall seuer is true but sensible pâtience Men should feele Gods strokes and so beare them It is dispraiseable either to be senselesse or fenselesse Not to know wee are stricken or not to take the blowes on the target of Patience Many can lament the effectes but not the cause and sorrow that God grieues them not that they grieue God They are angry with heauen for being angry with them They with heauen for iustice that is angry with them for iniustice But Maereamus quod mereamur paenam Let not the punishment but the cause of it make thy soule sorrowfull Know thou art whipp'd for thy faults and apply to the prints the herbe Patience Hearts-case and spirituall ioy DOth sorrow and anguish cast downe a mans hart and may he complain that his soule is disquieted within him Let him fetch an herbe out of this Garden called Hearts-ease an inward ioy which the holy Ghost worketh in him Though all the dayes of the afflicted be euill yet a merry heart is a continuall feast This is Heauen vpon earth Rom. 14. Peace of conscience and ioy of the holy Ghost His conscience is assured of peace with God of reconciliation in the bloud of IESVS and that his soule is wrapp'd vp in the bundle of life This may be well called Hearts-ease it is a holy a happy herbe to comfort the spirits When worldly ioyes either like Rahels children are not or like Eli's are rebellious there is Hearts-ease in this Garden that shall cheare him against all sorrowes certainty of Gods fauoâ—r Let the world frowne and all things in it runne crosse to the graine of our mindes yet with thee O Lord is mereie and plentifull redemption And if no body els yet God will be stil good to Israel euen to those that are of a pure heart Those which we call penal euils are either past present or to come and they cause in the soule sorrow paine feare Euils past sorrow present paine future feare Here is Hearts-ease for all these Miseries past are solaced because God hath turned them to our good and we are made the better by once being worse Miseries present finde mitigation and the infinite comfort that is with vs within vs sweetens the finite bitternesse that is without vs. Miseries future are to vs contingent they are vncertaine but our strength is certaine God Noui in quem credidi I know whom I haue trusted Heere is aabundant ease to the heart Balsamum or Faith HAth the heart got a greene wound by comitting some offense against God for actuall iniquity makes a gash in the soule The good man runnes for Balsamum and stancheth the bloud Faith in the promises of Iesus Christ. He knowes there is Balme at Gilead and there are Physicians there and therefore the health of his soule may easily be recouered He is sure that if the bloud of Christ bee applyed it will soone stanch the bloud of his conscience and keepe him from bleeding to death and that the wounds of his Sauiour will cure the wounds of his soule And though this virtuall healing herbe be in Gods owne Garden yet he hath a key to open it prayer and a hand to take it out and to lay it on his sores faith This is a soueraigne herbe and indeed so soueraigne that there is no herbe good to vs without it It may bee called Panaces which Physicians say is an herbe for all manner of diseases and is indeede the principall herbe of grace for it adornes the soule with all the merits and righteousnes of IESVS CHRIST Saint Iohns-wort or Charitie DOth the world through sweetnesse of gaine that comes a little too fast vpon a man begin to carry away his heart to couetousnesse Let him look in this Garden for the herbe called Saint-Iohns-wort Charity and brotherly loue It is called S. Iohns herbe not vnproperly for hee spent a whole Epistle in commending to vs this grace and often inculcated Little children loue one another And he further teacheth that this loue must be actuall For he that hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth vp his cowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the loue of God in him He hath no such herbe as Saint-Iohns-wort in his garden The good Christian considers that he hath the goods of this world to doe good in this world And that his riches are called Bona Goods Non quod faciant bonum sed vnde faciat bonum not that they make him a good man but giue him meanes to doe good to others He learns a Maxime of Christ from the world which the world teacheth but followeth not that is to make sure as much wealth as he can as if it were madnes to leaue those goodes behind him which he may cary with him This policie we all confesse good but faile in the consecution The world
receiues blessing of God receiues it presently receiues it at once But here of the euill ground it is nigh vnto cursing it is not presently cursed but nigh vnto it There is some pawse and delay some lucida interualla misericordiae The whole viall of wrath is not poured on at once But first there is a despising or reiection to let the wicked see how hatefull their vices are in Gods sight If this serue not they are not sodainely cursed but there is a breathing time and a mercifull space betweene that and cursing and betweene cursing and burning So slowly doth GOD proceed to iudgement so little haste he makes to the execution of his vengeance Hee is speedy to deliuer to saue to giue his blessing but hee hath leaden feet when he comes to strike The vse of this to our selues is that the patient forbearance of God may leade vs to repentance Romans the second and the fourth The Prophet Ioel bids vs Rent our hearts and fall to weeping and mourning Because the Lord is mercifull and slow to anger Gods long-suffering is as a hand reached out that points vs to repentance Such is his goodnesse that when all his terrors and menace are set in their places yet hee makes roome for Repentance whensoeuer it comes And though they bee as ready to strike as Abrahams hand was to Isaacs sacrifice yet Repentance tanquam vox Angeli shall stay them O blessed Repentance how sweet and amiable art thou yet how few loue thee The great man that thinkes he may securely be wicked because he is honourably great and dares affront the Pulpit though the greatest Bishop in the land were preaching in it cares not for repentance The wealthy Gentleman that can bung vp Hospitality into a Diogenes tubbe nestle himselfe warme in a City-chamber whiles Owles and Dawes parlour themselues in his countrey-manors that as it is storied of that Iew for the vse of his money takes his rent in bloud the heart-bloud of his racked Tenants cares not for Repentance The countrey Nabal that hoords his graine and with it lockes vp his soule in a Garner that the Sunne of Gods blessing may not come at it that starues the poore his family himselfe cares not for Repentance The auarous Citizens whom the glad Diuell can neuer find without a false measure in one hand and a cozening waight in the other that haue trickes in their sconces to ouer-reach the diuell himselfe but that like a cunning Fenser he that taught them all their trickes kept one to himselfe to cheate them of their soules care not for repentance The muffled Lawyer that hath no sense left aliue but his feeling and waighs all causes by the poyse of gold that talkes against others right and his owne conscience that leades Iurie into peâ—iury with his fraudulent circumuentions cares not for repentance The sharking Officer that like Menelaus an Armenian Archer in the wars betwixt Constantius and Magnentius can shoot three arrowes at once at one loose wherewith hee wounds not one but three at the least the Prince whom hee serues the person whom hee drawes bloud of and the body of the Common-wealth cares not for repentance I neede not speake of the Church-robber the Vsurer the Drunkard the Proud the vncleane adulterer no man can think that they care for repentance O but they all purpose to repent Spare them a while they are but new set into the Ouen not yet fully baked in their hot vanities let them foke a little in their pleasures and at last they will returne They are as an Ouen heated by the Baker Repentance is an ascent of foure steps many get vp three of them but climbe not to the fourth and best 1. Some there are that purpose to amend their liues But purpose without performance is like a Cloud without raine not vnlike Hercules Clubbe in the Tragedy of a great bulke but the stuffing is mosse and rubbish If the tree bee fairely blossom'd and naked of fruite it may speed as the Figge-tree in the Gospell be curseo or at least it is as the euill ground here nigh vnto cursing Many that purposed to repent are now in hell as the fiue foolish Virgins that intended to goe in with the Bridegroome but before the time their lights dropp'd out One sayd that hell is like to bee full of good purposes but heauen of good workes If a bare Intention would serue Gods Church on earth would bee fuller of Saints and his Court in heauen fuller of soules Ignorance and Sloth adulterating bring forth this lanke brood this abortiue embrion Purpose Such a man is like an ill debtor who will not pay God his due of deuotion till hee is old and then hee cannot pay for want of time mony space and grace to repent We make in these daies our purposes like our Eeues and our performances like the holy-daies seruants work hard vpoÌ„ the Eeues that they may haue the more liberty to play vpon the Holy-dayes so we are earnest and labour hard on our purposes but are idle and play vpon our performances But Resolution without action is a golden couch to a leaden Iewell 2. The second round of this Ladder is Preparation Some there are that will prepare almost set themselues in a readinesse for their iourney to heauen yet neuer set one steppe forward Preparation is indeed as necessary as the dore is to the house but as idle if there be no house to the dore It may as Iohn the Baptist did for Christ prepare the way of the Lord into our hearts and it may be as vaite as the Apothecaries Beast which hee promised his Patient would helpe him of all diseases but before morning it had eaten vp it selfe Preparation is a necessary antecedent to all great workes Amos 4. Prepare to meet thy God O Israel But a man may prepare meate and not feede prepare meate and not eate Prepaeration does well if reparation followes A man may climbe both these rounds and yet fall short of the true height of Repentance 3. The third stairre is a Beginning to abstaine from some horrid iniquities and as it were an entring into a new path but not going one step in it without a voluntary reuolting But Beginning is nothing to perfection Some begin in the spirit and end in the flesh that sâ—lute Christ in the market place take acquaintance of him in the street but neuer bid him home to their houses It is vox praetereuntium derisoria the speech of them that passe by This man began to build A house but begun is not fit to dwell in and shall wee thinke that Gods Spirit will dwell in an inchoate habitacle and not likely to be finished The Apostle sayth It had been better for them not to haue knowne the way of righteousness then after they haue knowne it to turne from the holy commandement deliuered vnto them 4 The fourth Round onely pleaseth God and
is good for our Soules Repentance without which the euill ground is neere to cursing as it were at next dore by and it shall come on him with a speedy visitation nisi interueniente poenitentia This is the Bulwarke to defend vs from the shot of Gods thunder from heauen this hedgeth vs in from his iudgements on earth Woe to sinfull man without this for he is neere to cursing and his end is to be burned Blessed Soule that hath it Wheresoeuer it dwels mercie dwels by it If England hath it it shall ease her of her thornes Ezek. 28. There shall be no more a pricking bryar vnto the house of Israel nor any grieuing Thorne of all that are round about them 3 The last and forest degree of the Punishment is Burning I will not discourse whether the fire of that euerlastingly-hote furnace be materiall or spirituall Surely it is strangely terrible and wee are blessed if wee neither vnderstand it nor vndergoe it The miserie of the damned is vsually distinguished into the Paine of losse and the paine of sense Both implied in this verse and expressed Thessalonians the second Chap. 1. Verse 8 9. Christ shall take vengeance on such as know not God and obey not the Gospell of Iesus Christ there is paine of Sense They shall be punished with euerlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power there is paine of losse 1. This Poena damni or priuation of blessednesse may seeme to be implyed in the first degree here mentioned Reiection The reprobate are cast away of God Much like that forme of the last sentence Math. 25. 41. Depart from me yee cursed a fearefull sentence a terrible separation From Me sayth Christ that made my selfe man for your sakes that offered my bloud for your redemption receiued these these wounds for your remedie From Me that would haue healed would haue helped would haue saued you From Me that inuited you to mercy and you would not accept it From Me that purchased a kindgome of glory for such as beleeued on me and will wrappe their heads with crownes of eternall ioy Depart from Me. This is a fearefull Reiection My friendship my fellowship my Paradise my presence my heauen where is fulnesse of ioy and pleasure for euermore are none of yours They might haue been they are lost Neither shall they onely loose Christ but all the companie with Christ the Quire of glorious Angels the society of his blessed Mother the Prophets Apostles Martyrs all the happy and holy Saints with the whole host of heauen They shall fret and vexe and bee ready to eate their owne galls to see those triumphing in glory whom they on earth persecuted martyred tortured They could here exercise their sauage tyranny ouer them not onely denying their owne bread but taking away theirs they could despise beate maligne vndoe burne them at stakes now the estate of both is changed as Abraham told Diues They are comforted and thou art tormented 2. This is not all The priuation of blessed ioyes is not enough there must follow the position of cursed torments For their Punishment is proportioned to their sinne Ier. 2. They haue committed two euils They haue forsaken the Lord the fountaine of liuing waters and hewed them out cisternes broken cisternes that can hold no water As they turned from their Maker so their Maker turnes from them there is Poenadamni As they fastned their delights on the creatures so the creatures shall be their tortures there is Poena sensus They reiected God and hee reiects them they adhered to wickednesse and it shall adhere to their bones for euer and bring them to burning Their torments which are here expressed by Fire haue two fearefull conditions vniuersality and eternitie 1. They are vniuersall vexing euery part of the body and power of the soule It is terrible in this life to be pained in euery part of the body at one time To haue ache in the teeth gowt in the feete collick in the reines c. and to lye as it were vpon a racke for innumerable diseases like so many executioners to torture him is intollerable But the largest shadowe of these torments to their substance is not so much as a little bone-fire to the combustion of the whole world 2. They are eternall If it had but as many ages to burne as there be trees standing on the earth there would bee some though a tedious hope of their end But it is such a Fire as shall neuer be quenched This word Neuer is fearefull Though they raine floudes of teares vpon it they shall bee but like oyle to encrease the flame for the worme neuer dyes the fire neuer goes out You see the end of Thornes Wickednes burneth as the fire it shall deuoure the bryers and thornes and shall kindle in the thickest of the Forrest and they shall mount vp like the lifting vp of smâ—kâ— I resolued against prolixity The generall and summary doctrine is this That since the wicked ground which beareth thornes and bryers is neere vnto cursing and the end thereof is eternall fire it followes necessarily that all they which lay the foundation of vngodlinesse must needs build vpon condemnation Let no man deceiue you He that committeth sinne is of the Diuell If the course of a mans life be wicked couetous vncleane malicious idolatrous adulterous drunken hee layes the ground-worke of his owne destruction and precipitates himselfe to the malediction of God Hee that layes the foundation in fire-work must looke to be blowne vp Perhaps this meditation though it bee of vnquenchable Fire may yet worke coldly in our hearts and leaue no impression behinde it yet you cannot deny this to be true He that would denie it must deny my Text must turne Atheist and reiect the holy word of God Nay he must thinke there is no God no reuenge of wickednesse no diuell no hell And he vndertakes a very hard taske that goes about to settle this perswasion in his mind No no. Let no man deceiue you with vaine words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God vpon the children of disobedience And in this passage I must value all men alike of what stuffe or of what fashion soeuer his coate be if his life be full of bryers and thornes his end is to be burned What shall we then doe vnto thee O thou preseruer of men that wee may escape it what but Repent and beleeue the Gospell Let the commination of hell instruct vs to preuent it as the message of Niniuehs ouerthrow effected their safetie 1. Let vs flie by a true faith into the armes of our Redeemer that God reiect vs not 2. Let vs poure forth flouds of repentant teares that wee bee not nigh vnto cursing 3. And let vs bring forth no more bryars and thornes that our end may not be to bee burned Faith Repentance Obedience this same golden
loe the thankfull earth returnes fruites and that in abundance The Christian soule hauing receiued such holy operations inspirations and sanctifying motions from aboue is neuer found without a gratefull fertility Yea as the Earth to man so man to God returnes a blessed vsurie tenne for one nay sometimes 30. sometimes 60. sometimes an hundred fold But the succeeding doctrine will challenge this demonstration I haue been somewhat copious in the first word the breuity of the rest shall recompence it The operatiue cause that worketh the good earth to this fruitfulnesse is a heauenly Raine that falls oft vpon it and the earth doth drinke it vp Wherein is obseruable that the raine doth come that it is welcome God sends it plenteously and man entertaines it louingly It comes oft and he drinkes it vp Gods loue to man is declared in the comming in the welcomming mans loue to God In the former we will consider 1. The matter 2. The manner The matter that commeth is Raine The manner consists in 3 respects 1. There is mercy It commeth It is not constrained deserued pulled downe from heauen It commeth 2. Frequencie it commeth often there is no scanting of this mercy it flowes abundantly as if the windowes of heauen were opened Often 3. Direction of it right vpon this earth It falls not neere it nor besides it but vpon it To begin with the Raine GOds Word is often compared to Raine or Deaw Moses beginnes his Song with My doctrine shall drop as the raine my speech shal distill as the deaw as the small raine vpon the tender herbe and as the showers vpon the grasse Therfore in the first verse he calls to the earth to heare his voice Man is the Earth and his Doctrine the Raine Mica 2. Prophecie yee not the originall word is Drop ye not c. Amos 7. 16. Thou sayest Prophecy not against Israel drop not thy word against the house of Isaac Ezek. 21. Sonne of man set thy face toward Ierusalem and drop thy word toward the holy places The Metaphore is vsuall wherein stands the comparison In 6. concurrences 1. It is the property of Raine to coole heate Experience tels vs that a sweltring feruour of the ayre which almost fryes vs is allayed by a moderate shower sent from the clouds The burning heate of sinne in vs and of Gods anger for sinne against vs is quenched by the Gospell It cooles our intemperate heate of malice anger ambition auarice lust which are burning sins 2. Another effect of Raine is Thirst quenched The drie earth parched with heate opens it selfe in refts and cranies as if it would deuoure the cloudes for moisture The Christian soule thirsts after righteousnesse is drie at heart till he can haue the Gospell a showre of this mercy from heauen quencheth his thirst he is satisfied Whosoeuer drinketh of the water that I shal giue him shal neuer thirst but it shall bee in him a well of water springing vp into euerlasting life 3. Raine doth allay the windes When the ayre is in an vprore and the stoutest Cedars crouch to the ground before a violent blast euen Towers and Cities tremble a showre of raine sent from the cloudes mitigates this fury When the Potentates of the world Tyrants little better then Diuels Gog and Magog Moab and Ammon Turkey Rome Hell storme against vs God quiets all our feares secures vs from al their terrours by a gracious raine droppes of mercie in the neuer-fayling promises of the Gospell 4. Raine hath a powerfull efficacy to cleanse the ayre When infectious fogges and contagious vapours haue filled it full of corruption the distilling showres wash away the noysome putrifaction We know that too often filthy fumes of errors and heresies surge vp in a land that the soule of faith is almost stifled and the vncleannesse of corrupt doctrine gets a predominant place the Lord then droppes his word from heauen the pure Raine of his holy Gospell cleanseth away this putrifaction and giues new life to the almost smothered truth Wo to them then that would depriue mens soules of the Gospell and with-hold the Truth in vnrighteousnesse When they locke vp the gates of grace as Christ reproued the Lawyers and labour to make the heauens brasse they must needes also make the Earth iron How should the earth of mans heart bring forth fruits when the raine is with-held from it No maruell if their ayre be poyson'd 5. Raine hath yet another working to mollifie a hard matter The parched and heat-hardned earth is made soft by the deawes of heauen O how hard and obdurate is the heart of man till this raineâ—falls on it Is the heart couetous no teares from distressed eyes can melt a peny out of it Is it malicious no supplications can begge forbearance of the least wrong Is it giuen to drunkennesse you may melt his body into a dropsie before his heart into sobrietie Is it ambitious you may as well treat with Lucifer about humiliation Is it factious a Quire of Angels cannot sing him into peace No means on earth can soften the heart whether you annoint it with the supple balmes of entreaties or thunder against it the bolts of menaces or beate it with the hammer of mortall blowes Behold GOD showres this raine of the Gospell from heauen and it is sodainely softned One Sermon may pricke him at the heart one droppe of a Sauiours bloud distilled on it by the Spirit in the preaching of the Word melts him like waxe The Drunkard is made sober the Adulterer chaste Zaccheus mercifull and raging Paul as tame as a Lambe They that haue erst serued the Diuell with an eager appetite and were hurried by him with a voluntary precipitation haue all their chaines eaten off by this Aqua fortis one droppe of this raine hath broken their fetters and now all the powers of hell cannot preuaile against them There is a Legend I had as good say a tale of an Hermite that heard as he imagin'd all the Diuels of hell on the other side of the wall lifting and blowing and groning as if they were a remouing the world The Hermite desires to see them admitted behold they were all lifting at a feather and could not stirre it The application may serue yeeld the fable idle Satan and his Armies Spirits Lusts Vanities Sinnes that erst could tosse and blow a man vp and downe like a feather and did not sooner present a wickednesse to his sight but he was more ready for action then they for instigation now they cannot stirre him they may sooner remoue the world from the pillars then him from the grace and mercy of God The deaw of heauen hath watred him and made him grow and the power of hell shall not supplant him The raine of mercie hath softned his heart and the heat of sinne shall neuer harden it 6 Lastly Raine is one principall subordinate cause that all things fructifie This holy deaw is the operatiue meanes
myrrhe drop tears The way to make our herbes smell sweetly is first to purge our garden of weedes For if sinne be fostered in our hearts all our workes will bee abominated God heareth not the prayers of the wicked If yee will walke contrary to mee saith the Lord I will bring your sanctuaries vnto desolation and I will not smell the sauour of your sweete odours But being adopted by grace in Christ and sanctified to holinesse our good works smell sweetly Phil. 4. I haue receiued of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you an odour of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God It seemes GOD highly esteemes the herbe Charitie in our gardens Hee that serueth the Lord shall smell as Lebanon hee shall growe as the Vine and his sent shall bee as the wine of Lebanon Man is naturally delighted with pleasant sauours and abhorres noysome and stinking smels But our God hath purer nosthrils and cannot abide the polluted heapes of iniquities The Idle man is a standing pitte and hath an ill-sauour'd smell an ill-fauour'd sight The drunkard is like a bogge a fogge a fenne of euill vapours God cannot abide him Your couetous wretch is like a dunghill there is nothing but rottennesse and infection in him Omnis malitia eructat fumum All wickednesse belcheth forth an euill sauour Wonder you if God refuse to dwell with the Vsurer Swearer Idolater Adulterer There is a poyson of lust a leprosie of putrefaction in them no carryon is so odious to man as mans impieties are to God Yea the very oblations of defiled hands stinke in his presence Hee that sacrificeth a Lambe is as if hee cut off a dogges necke c. As if Ass a foetida was the only supply of their gardens But good herbes giue a double sauour one outward to man another inward to God The sweete smoke of a holy sacrifice like a subtil ayre riseth vp to heauen and is with God before man sees or smels it It also cheares the hearts of Christians to behold Christian workes Reuerence to the Word hallowing the Sabaoths releeuing the poore deeds of mercie pittie piety giue a delightful sent solacing the soules of the Saints and pleasing him that made them both men and Saints Therefore Hearken vnto me ye holy children and budde forth as a Rose growing by the brook of the fielde Giue ye a sweet sauour as frankincense and flourish as a Lilly send forth a smell sing a song of prayse and blesse the Lord in all his workes 2. That they taste well Many a flower hath a sweet smell but not so wholsome a taste Your Pharisaicall prayers and almes smelt sweetly in the vulgar nosthrils taste them and they were but rue or rather worme-wood When the Pharise sawe the Publican in the lower part of the Temple standing as it were in the Belfrey he could cry Foh this Publican but when they were both tasted by his palate that could iudge the Publican hath an herbe in his bosome and the Pharise but a gay gorgeous stinking weede The herbes that the Passeouer were eaten with were sowre yet they were enioined with sweet bread Sowre they might be but they were wholsome Herbes haue not onely their sauour but their nutriment He causeth the grasse to growe for the cattell and herbe for the seruice of man that he may bring food out of the earth Herbs thē are food and haue an alimentall vertue So we may both with the herbes of charitie feed mens bodies and with the herbes of piety feede their soules A good life is a good sallet and in the second place to precepts are vsefully necessary good exāples The bloud of Martyrs is sayd to haue nourished the Church The patience of the Saints in the hottest extremity of their afflictions euen when the flames of death hath clipped them in their armes hath been no lesse then a kindly nourishment to many mens faith It is expounded by an vniuersall consent of Diuines that one of those 3. feedings which Christ imposed on Peter is Pasce exemplo let thy life feed them Blessed Gardens that yeeld herbes like Iothams vine that cheare the heart of both God and man The Poets fain'd that Nectar Ambrosia were the food of their Gods Iupiter Ambrosia satur est est Nectare plenus But the true Gods dyet is the vertues of his Saints wherwith he promiseth to suppe when he comes into their hearts Faith loue patience meeknes honestie these dishes are his dainties If thou wouldest make Christ good cheare in the parlour of thy conscience bring him the herbes of obedience Doe not say I would haue beene as kinde and liberall to my Sauiour as the best had I liued in those dayes when he blessed the world with his bodily presence But now I may say with Mary Magdalen They haue taken away the Lord and I know not where to finde him Damne not thy selfe with excuses Wheresoeuer his Church is there is he exercise thy piety Wheresoeuer his members are there is he exercise thy charity Thou art very niggardly if thou wilt not afford him a sallet a dinner of herbes Yet sayth Salomon A dinner of greene herbes with loue is better then a fatte Oxe with hatred 3. That they be fitte to adorne Herbes and flowers haue not only their vse in pleasing the nostrills and the palate but the eye also They giue delight to all those three senses Good workes are the beauty of a house and a better sight then fresh herbes strew'd in the windores The Chamber where Christ would eate his Passouer was trimmed and the Palace of our Princely Salomon is paued With Loue of the daughters of Ierusalem There is no ornature in the World like good deeds no hanging of Tapestry or Arrase comes neere it A stately building where an Idolater dwells is but a gawdy coate to a Sodome-apple When you see an Oppressour raising a great house from the ruines of many lesse depopulating a Countrey to make vp one Family building his Parlours with extortion and cimenting his walls with the morter of bloud you say there is a foule Minotaure in a faire Labyrinth Be a man dead it is a foolish hope to reare immortalitie with a few senselesse stones Perhaps the Passenger wil be hereby occasioned to comment vpon his bad life and to discourse to his company the long enumeration of such a mans vices So a perpetuall succession of infamie answeres his gay sepulchre and it had bin better for him to haue been vtterly inglorious then inexcusably infamous The best report that can be drawne from him is but this Here lyes a faire Tombe and a foule carcase in it These things doe neither honest a man liuing nor honour him dead Good works are the best ornaments the most lasting monuments They become the house wherein thy soule dwelleth whiles it dwels there and blesse thy memorie when those two are parted A good life is mans
And let vs know it is for our sinnes that God suffers Vsurers among vs. It may be he permits them as he did the Cananites for a while in Israel lest the wilde beasts should break in vpon them Lest pride and haughtinesse and vncleannesse should spill mens soules by a full estate of wealth God suffers Vsurers like Horse-leeches to suck and soke them thereby possibly to humble them Yet in meane time I may say of them as Iosuah did of those Cananites that they are pricks in our sides and thornes in our eyes 2 What doe you thinke of Adulterie Is it not a Thorne yes a sharpe thorne wounding the purse enuenoming the body condemning the Soule The ground that beares it is lust the sappe that feeds it is fulnesse of bread and Idlenesse the heate that makes it glow grow and shoote is lewd and wanton speech and effeminate gestures infamie is the budde pollution the fruite and the end Hell-fire And as Caietan and Theophilact obserues on 1. Thes. 4. that the Apostle hauing bid men possesse their vessell in holinesse he addes And let no man goe beyond or defraud his brother in any matter that this circumuention may be applied to Adulterie when a man is deceiued of his bosome-spouse who is hired to the subornation of bastards So that lightly concupiscence and cousenage goe together As that wickednesse of all others neuer goes but by couples For Adulterers non possunt ire soli ad diabolum An Adulterer cannot goe alone to the Deuill 3 Corrupt and consciensce-les Lawyers you will confesse to bee sharpe and wounding brambles and exceedingly hurtfull A poore Client among them is as a blind sheepe in a thicket of thornes there is no hope of his fleece it is well if he carry away his flesh whole on his backe A motion this terme an order next instantly al cross'd scarce the twentith order sometimes stands execution is suspended a writ of errour puts all out of course Oh the vncertaine euents of suits I hope sayes the poore bloud-drawne wretch I shall haue an end of my suite next terme nay nor the next terme nor the next yeare Foole thou art gotten into a suite of durance almost an immortall suit And when the vpshot comes perhaps the mispleading of a word shall forfet all It is a lamentable vncertaintie and one politicke addition of ficklenesse to the goods of this world that no man might set his heart vpon them that an estate bought truly payd for and inherited shall bee gone vpon a word sometimes vpon a sillable vpon a very bare letter omitted or mis-written by the Scriuener These are scratching bryers If what is wanting in the goodnes of the cause be supplyed by the greatnes of the fees their tongs shall excuse their tongs for their contra-conscient pleadings The Italians haue a shrewd prouerbe against them The Deuill makes his Christmassepyes of Lawyers tongs and Clerks fingers This prouerbe I leaue with them and come to their kinsmen 4 Corrupted Officers who are also sharpe and sharking brambles Their office is a bush of thorns at their backes and they all to rent the countrey with briberie and extortion These men seeke after authority and commanding-places not with any intent of good to the common-wealth but to fill their owne purses to satisfie their owne lusts As some loue to bee poring in the fire not that they care to mend it but onely to warme their owne fingers 5 We haue Papists amongst vs looke to them they are rankling thornes and renting bryers False Gibeonites they are and howsoeuer they pretend their old shooes the antiquitie of their Church we haue euer found them thornes ready to put out our eyes and if they could the eye of the Gospell They exclaime against vs for persecution and cry themselues lowder then oyster-women in the streets for patient Catholicks Saints Martyrs But match the peace they enioy vnder vs with the tyrannie they exercised ouer vs the burning our Fathers at stakes the butchering our Princes their conspiracie against our whole Realme their continuall bending their weapons against Soueraignes and subiects throtes and you will say they are thornes I haue read of a bird that when men are deuout at their sacrifice takes fire from the Altar and burnes their houses All their blacke treasons and bloudy intendments they deriue from the Altar and pleade the warrant of Religion to set our whole Land in combustion O that these brambles were stock'd vp that Ishmael were cast out of dores that Sara and her sonne Isaac might liue in quiet 6 There are furious male contents among vs a contemptible generation of thorns that because their hands are pinion'd pricke onely with their tongs They are euer whining and vpon the least cause filling the world with importunate complaints These are sauage popular humors that cannot suffer eminency to passe vnreproched But they must vellicate goodnes and gird greatnesse that neither the liuing can walke nor the dead sleepe in quiet Affecters of innouation that are euer finding fault with the present times any thing pleaseth them but what is Euen the best blessings of God scape not their cēsures neither do they esteem by iudgement or pronounce by reason they find fault with things they know not wherefore but because they do not like them Beware these thornes they are like the wheeles of some cunningly wrought fire-workes that flie out on all sides and offering to singe others burne themselues Laudant veteres c. as if no times were so miserable as ours As if the ciuill wars of France or the bloudy Inquisitiō of Spain or the Turkish crueltie in Natolia where hee breeds his souldiers or at home the time of the Barons war or yet later the persecution of a Boner were none of them so cruell as these dayes when euery man sits and sings vnder his owne figge-tree Sure if they had once tasted the bitternesse of war they would better esteem of their peace These are pestilent thornes nothing but feare keeps them from conspiracie Nay so they might set the whole land on fire they would not grudge their owne ashes 7. There are bryers too growing neere the Church too neare it They haue raised Church-liuings to foure and fiue yeares purchase and it is to be feared they will shortly racke vp presentatiue liuings to as high a rate as they did their impropriations when they would sell them For they say few will giue aboue sixteene yeares purchase for an impropriate Parsonage and I haue heard some rate the donation of a benefice they must giue at ten yeares what with the present money they must haue and with referuation of tythes and such vnconscionable trickes as if there was no God in heauen to see or punish it Perhaps some wil not take so much but most will take some enough to impouerish the Church to enrich their owne purses to damne their soules One would thinke it was sacriledge enough to robbe God of his maine