Hee which cannot say with Dauid My heart meditateth a good matter cannot follow with Dauid My tongue is the penne of a ready Writer This is the equitie of God they which are vnwilling to obey are not thought worthy to knowe for what should he doe with his talent which will not vse it He which forbiddes vs to cast pearles before swine doth stay his own hand from casting knowledge to the vngodly they may know so much as shall condemne them but they neuer knowe what will saue them When Christ heard Peter saie Thou art the Sonne of the liuing God Christ answered Flesh and blood hath not taught thee this shewing that carnall men haue not this knowledge This is the word of which Christ saith All men doe not receiue it It is true that the Spirite breatheth where it will but it will breath vpon none but her louers Wisedome is like the daughter of God which hee marrieth to none but to him which loues her and sues for her As Dauid could not vnderstand why the wicked prospered vntill he entered into the sanctuary of GOD and as Aaron might not enter the Sanctuary where GOD did answere vntill he had sanctified himselfe so if we will vnderstand mysteries and heare God himselfe speake wee must put off our sinnes as Moses put off his shooes or else we shall be like images which haue eares can not heare When Paul heard mysteries hee was rapt into the third heauen when GOD would talke with his Church hee saith I will take her aside into the wildernes and then I will speake friendly vnto her so when wee will learne Diuinitie we must goe aside from the world and sequester our sinnes lift vp our mindes aboue the earth or els it will not stay with vs. As the spirit went from Saul when he sinned so when knowledge hath saluted the wicked she bids them farewell like vnto a Martin which will not builde but in faire houses It is said in Iohn 14. 15. When Iesus went to eate the Passeouer hee came to a chamber which was trimmed so the chamber that receiued God the hart which should lodge knowledge must bee trimmed and all the sinfull corners swept or else as Samuell would not come to Saul so Wisedome will not come to that hoste There is an harbinger which goeth alway before the knowledge of God to prepare the house this is loue the bond of perfection They which haue loue saith Iohn knowe GOD but they which haue not loue know not God though they haue neuer so much knowledge beside Vnto good Nathaniell Christ saide Thou shalt see greater things than these but vnto the obstinat Iewes he saide Seeing you shall not see like Hagar which had the wel before her and did not see the water He which cannot saie with Paul We haue the spirit of Christ cannot say with Paul We haue knowledge Holie men were alwayes interpreters of Gods word because a godly minde easeliest pearceth into Gods meaning according to that The pure in heart shall see God and that in Iohn 7. 17. If any man will doe Gods will he shall vnderstand the Doctrine whether it bee of God or no and that in Psalm 111. 19. They which keepe thy precepts haue a good vnderstanding that in 1. Cor. 2. 15. The spirituall man vnderstandeth al things And therfore the feare of the Lord is not onely called the beginning of wisedome but in Pro. 2. 5. it is taken for wisdome it selfe As when Christ taught in the Temple they asked Howe knoweth this man the Scriptures seeing hee neuer learned them So it is a wonder what learning some men haue which haue no learning like Priscilla and Aquilla poore tent-makers which were able to schoole Apollos that great Clerke a man renowmed for his learning What can we say to this but as Christ saide Father so it pleased thee as when Iacob came so soone with the venison and his Father asked him how he came by it so sodainly Iacob answered because the Lord thy God brought it sodaynly to mine hand so the holy righteous men cannot giue any reason why they conceaue the words of God so easily and the wicked doe conceaue them so hardly but that GOD brings the meaning sodainly to their hearts as we read in Luk. 24. 45. When the Disciples were setled in the profession of Christ it is said that Christ opened their vnderstanding and made them vnderstand the Scriptures so sodainly came their knowledge So we read in Prouerbs 1. 23. Wisedome promiseth to the righteous If you will turne at my correction I will powre out my hart vnto you and make you vnderstand my words A Schoolemaster might say to his schollers I will powre out mine hart vnto you but he cannot say as God saith I will make you vnderstand mine heart Therefore if the Queene of Sheba thought the seruants of Salomon happie because they heard his wisdome how happie was Salomon himselfe that serued God which gaue him wisdome Come vnto me saith Christ all ye which are wearie and I will refresh you As Christ hath no comfort but for the wearie so hee hath no wisedome but for the righteous They are his brethren and sisters and father and mother There is a kinde of familiaritie betweene GOD and the righteous that hee makes them of his counsaile as Salomon saith Prouerbes 3. 32. His secrets is with the righteous and Psalme 25. 14. His secrets are reuealed vnto them that feare the Lord. They are like Iohn the beloued Disciple which leaned in his bosome like Moses to whom he shewed himselfe like Simeon that embraced him in his armes like the three disciples which went vp to the Mount to see his glorie So we reade of Abraham Gen. 18. 17. Shall I hide it from Abraham saith God As though this were an offence in God if he should tel the righteous no more then he tels the wicked therefore because Abraham was a good man he told him more than he shewed all the rest As Adams knowledge was perfect so long as his righteousnes was vntainted so the neerer we come to that righteousnes againe the more things come to our knowledge according to that Prouerbes 28. They that seeke the Lord vnderstand al things Such an heart God hath giuen to his seruants like a touchstone or a lampe to goe before them to examine all thinges as they goe in this darke wildernesse least they should take error for trueth euill for good or their owne wil for the wil of God that they which hate euill might be preserued from euill as Dauid was from the bloud of Nabal Nowe because none but the righteous haue this lamp before them you see what a difference there is betweene the knowledge of the godly and the knowledge of the wicked As the windowes of the Temple were
with it selfe because it cannot walke nor talke nor heare nor see nor taste nor sleepe as it was wont therfore wisheth often the night were gone that the paine were past Indeede hee that sees many daies sees many miseries and therefore what is not vayne in life sith life it selfe is vayne Shewe mee the light which will not darken shewe mee the flowre which will not fade shewe me the fruite which will not corrupt shewe mee the garment which will not weare shew mee the beauty which will not wither shewe mee the strength which will not weaken shewe mee the time which will not passe and I will reclaime that All is vanitie but if all things vanish then all things are vaine yet this will not goe for truth before men haue smarted for the triall Some are so vaine that they count nothing vanitie but that which is vainer than the rest delightes them most for there is as it were acommon weale of vaine persons and hee which can bee vainest is like a King of the rest Some are of this minde that they thinke all is vanitie but that which they loue and therefore they call them vaine and curious and phantasticall which speake against their vanities and say that it is necessarie to bee vaine for they cannot liue vnlesse they deceiue they cannot please vnles they flatter they cannot bee beleeued vnles they sweare they cannot be esteemed vnles they roist as Demetrius thought that hee should beg vnlesse he might sell Images There is another sort like the buier in Pro. 20. which sayth It is naught it is naught but when hee is gone apart hee boasteth So they will say of the worlde It is naught It is naught before men and sweare that all is vanitie but when they are gone apart they reconcile themselues vnto it and kisse it and promise to be vaine still but they cannot abide to be counted vaine the vainest man that is This shewes that the follie of the worlde is so open and shamefull that her loues must needes condemne her You shall heare them say often times It is a vaine world a wicked world a naughty world yet they will not forsake it to die like dastard souldiers who raile against the enemie but dare not fight against him Al is vanitie but this is vanitie of vanities that men wil follow that which they cōdemne But this is that euery sinner might cōdemne himselfe for the conscience must iudge first and then God as our Sauiour saieth Out of thine owne mouth and so out of thine owne heart I wil condemne thee naughty seruaunt Shewing that the wicked condemne themselues before they are condemned of God These are the worldes fooles which care not what is their end so that their way be pleasant Oh that here were a full ende or conclusion of Vanities but beholde a greater Vanitie is behind for our Religion is Vanitie like the Scribes and Pharisies as Mathew saieth in the 23. Chapter and 27. verse hauing a bare shew of holines as hee saieth he could call it but a shew of holines scarce that our vanitie is vanitie but our holines is but a shew of holines not worthie to be called holines but like holines yet the most part haue not so much as the shew of holines as the Pharisies had but are vaine in shew inside and outside too Thus wee finde nothing yet but vanitie I cannot leade you from one vnto another to shew you the seuerall vanities of euerie person or euery thing because Salomon saith All is vanitie How many sins then haue we to condemne vs whose vanities are sprinkeled in euerie thing Which haue not onelie so many vanities as there be things but many vanities in euery thing As in our fare how many vanities be there which makes vs rise somtime sicke sometime sleepy sometime drunke Yet are there more vanities in our sportes our laughing and swearing and iesting and scoffing and dallying and playing with the Scriptures which oftentimes leaues such a sting behinde that we had rather haue lost our sport than feele the worme that gnaws vs for it And yet there bee more vanities in our apparrel ruffe vpon ruffe lace vpon lace cut vpon cut 24. orders to the 3. and 4. degree as though our apparrell were apparelled vntil the woman be not worth so much as her artire that if we would see vanitie her selfe how she would goe if she did weare apparrel she would euen goe like our women for she could not goe nor speake nor looke vainer Who dooth not know that these are vanities and that they might leaue them if they would But that ye might see there is a heart within vainer than the apparel is without Therefore when these vanities re worn out they wil haue new and still new til all be spent vpon vanitie and then they begin like the prodigall childe to see how vaine they were when they haue bought Wisedome with sorrow What would Salomon say if he should see how vanitie is growen since his time what a hight she is mounted what a traine followes her that there is no prince in the world hath so many attendants as vanitie She was but an Impe then but now she is a mother and who can number her sonnes and daughters the child is vaine in playing the mother vaine in dandling the father vaine in giuing the Courtier vaine in spending the souldier vaine in boasting the suter vaine in striuing the trauailer vaine in talking the merchant vaine in swearing the gentleman vaine in building the husbandman vaine in carking the olde man vaine in coueting the Seruingman vaine in soothing the young man vaine in sporting the Papist vaine in superstition the protestant vaine in conuersation Euery vanitie is so pleasant to one or other that they cannot misse one So she gads by Sea by land and still mo disciples flock vnto her of gamsters swearers and players and tiplers and haksters and Courtiers as thicke as the flies of Aegipt which buzzed in their eares and their eies and their necks before and behind that a man cannot set his foot but vpon Vanitie As the waters couered the earth when but eight persons were saued so vanitie hath couered it again a worse deluge than the first because it hath not suffered eight persons to escape but euery man is tainted with some vanitie or other which God seeing in that place and Citie which should be best in the world that all men in the citie were vaine cals it the Citie of vanitie So wee may say the world of vanitie because she hath an interest in euery person of it shee sits vpon the earth like a Serpent and hatcheth all the sinnes which you see amongst men As ful as Heauen is of blisse so the world is fraught with vanitie Court Citie countrey whither doth not vanitie goe but to Heauen Seeing then that vanitie is so extolled amongest men Salomon
Doe this in remembrance of me that is these signes shall bee a remembrance of my death when you breake the bread you shall remember the wounding of my body and when you drinke the wine you shall remember the sheading of my blood If wee doe this is remembraunce of Christs bodie which was broken like the bread it is an argument that his bodie is not there because remembrance is not of thinges present but of things absent we remember not but wee see that which is before vs. This might put the Papists in remembrance that Christ is not sacrificed now when we do but remember his sacrifice this is not Christes sacrifice but a remembrance of his sacrifice he was sacrificed before and now it is applied lest his sacrifice should be in vaine This was done once reallie when he offered himselfe vpon the crosse therefore that offering was called a sacrifice because he was sacrificed indeed but this offering is called a Sacrament because it is but a signe of his sacrifice If Christ in this Sacrament were offered indeede then it should bee called a sacrifice as his once offering was but because it is but a remembrance of his sacrifice therefore it is called a Sacrament This is not a sacrifice of Christ but a sacrifice of our selues Lest we shoulde take it to bee a sacrifice of Christ Christ himselfe calleth it a remembrance of his sacrifice Do this in my remembrance Here is our worke as Christ hath done so must we doe so we minister and so you receiue wee can giue you nothing but that which we haue receiued from him as Paul saith Therefore if Christ did not giue his mortall bodie which stood before them and could not profite them nor his glorified bodie which was not glorified then and when it was glorified ascended vp vnto heauen and there abideth how can these iugling Priests make their God againe which made them They can no more turne wine into blood bread into flesh than they can commaund a gnat to become a camell for it is a greater worke to make God than to make the world Therefore as Christ saith When they tell you here is Christ and there is Christ beleeue them not So when they tell you that Christ is in heauen and that Christ is in earth in this place and that place beleeue them not for Elias ascension was a figure of Christes ascension when Elias was ascended yet some sought for his bodie vpon earth so though Christ be ascended yet manie seeke his bodie vpon earth but as they could not finde Elias bodie so these cannot finde Christes bodie although they haue sought three hundred yeares But if his bodie were vpon earth as they say should we handle it and touch it now it is glorified After his resurrection he sayd vnto Marie Touch me not because his bodie was glorified that is not to bee touched with fingers any more but with faith Therefore we reade of none which touched his bodie after it was risen but onely Thomas to settle his faith Thus you see wee neede to suborne no witnesses for euerie word in this Text which they alleadge for Transubstantiation doth make agaynst Transubstantiation whereby if Antichrist doth signifie those which are against Christ you see who may be called Antichrist There is no question in Poperie except Purgatorie the Popes publican and tasker about which the Papistes are at such ciuill warres among themselues as about this Transubstantiation They cannot tell when the chaunge beginneth nor what manner of change it is nor how long the change continueth some hang one way and some another like the Midianites which fought one against another And no maruell though their consciences stagger about it for to shew you the right father of it it was one of the dreames of Innocentius the third in the yeare of our Lorde 1215. so manie yeares passed before Transubstantiation was named and then a Pope set it first on foote so it came out of Rome the grandame of all heresies and for want of scriptures hath bene defended with fire and sword and swallowed mo Martyrs than all the gulfs of the Papall sea beside Now when the doctrines of men goe for scriptures you shal see how many errors rush into the Church for graunt but this to Pope Innocentius as the Papists do that the bread and wine are chaunged into Christes bodie First it wil follow that Christs body is not ascended vp to heauen because it remaineth vpon earth and so one of the articles of our faith shalbe falsified which saith He is ascended into heauen or if he be ascended and descended againe another article will be falsified which saith That hee sitteth at the right hand of his father that is as Peter saith he abideth in heauen Secondly it will follow that Christ hath not a true bodie but a fantasticall bodie because it may bee in manie places at one time for if his bodie be in the Sacrament he must needes haue so many bodies as there bee Sacraments nay hee must haue so many bodies as there be bittes in euerie Sacrament Thirdly it will follow that his bodie is diuided from his soule and consequentlie is a dead bodie because the bread is onely changed into his bodie and not into his soule Fourthly it will follow that the wicked and prophane reprobate may receiue Christ as well as the godlie because they haue a mouth to eate as well as the best Fiftly it will followe that Christes Sacrifice once for all was not sufficient because we must sacrifice him againe and breake his bodie and shed his blood as the Iewes crucified him vpon the Crosse Sixtly it will follow that the bread being turned into the bodie of our Redeemer hath a part of our redemption as well as Christ Seuenthly it wil follow that Christ did eate his owne bodie for all the fathers saie that hee did eate the same Bread which he gaue to his Disciples Lastly it will follow that a Massing Priest shalbe the creator of his Creator because hee makes him which made him All these absurdities are hatched of Transubstantiation Thus when men deuise Articles of their owne while they strike vppon the anuill the sparkes flie in their face and they are like the man which began to build and could not finish it When I see the Papist in so many absurdities for entertaing one errour me thinks hee seemeth like a Collier which is grymed with his owne coales Therefore as in maners we should thinke of of Peters saying Whether is it meete to obey God or men So in doctrines we should thinke whether it be meete to beleeue God or men Thus haue you heard the Author of this Sacrament The Lord Iesus the time when it was instituted in the night that he was betraied the manner how it was instituted after thankesgiuing the end why it was instituted for a remembrance of his death
these galleries stil they would desire no other heauen but Nabuchadnezzar hath shewed the way before them and they must all dance after him though they were as mightie though they were mightier theÌ„ he death will not take his kingdome for a raunsome Now what is Babel and what is Nabuchadnezzar the King thereof Now Babel is destroyed and the King that built it laid in the dust had it not been better to haue built an house in heauen which might haue receiued him when he dyed The name of these pallaces may well bee called Babel that is confusion because they prophesie confusion to them that build them because their foundation is Pride their wals extortion their roofe ambition and all within them vsurie briberie and crueltie If this bee the best that Nabuchadnezzar hath to vaunt of what is the worst which he may bee ashamed of When I see how earnest this King was about his dreame and how loose he sate after in his pallace mee thinkes I see the image of the world in one man how liuely doth Nabuchadnezzar resemble the dreamers of our time He could not rest till hee knew the interpretation of his dream such inquirie such diligence to knowe Gods will that a man would haue thought now if the King meet with a Prophet that can tell him the trueth and instruct him from God that his dreame warned him to amend his life hee will then reclayme himselfe and reforme his realme and become such a King as was neuer in the land before But behold no sooner resolued of his doubt but hee is readie to bee warned agayne and was not so attentiue to the Prophet as hee was to his dreame although hee cared for neither for when hee vnderstoode that his dreame went about to chaunge the course of his life he went away like Naaman in a chafe and cared no more for his dreame after Before the dreame came all would haue sayd that such a dreame would haue humbled his heart for euer Before the Prophet came all would haue saide that such a Prophet would haue conuerted him with a word but Nabuchadnezzar is Nabuchadnezzar and if another dreame come more fearefull than this yet Nabuchadnezzar would be Nabuchadnezzar and loue his Pallace better than Paradice So we thinke if God would send a famine vpon this land that would make vs feare him but God hath sent a famine and yet wee doe not feare him If God would send an earthquake vpon this lande that would make vs feare him but God hath sent an earthquake and yet we doe not feare him If God would send a pestilence vpon this lande that would make vs feare him but God hath sent a pestilence and yet we doe not feare him If God would send warre vpon this lande that would make vs feare him but God hath sent warre and yet we doe not feare him therefore what will make vs feare him There be many which dreame vpon religion as Nabuchadnezzar dreamed vpon his dreame and as hee desired onely to knowe what it meant so they desire onely to knowe Master saith the yong man to Christ what shall I do to come into heauen He would faine knowe the way to heauen but when Christ shewed him the way hee would not take it So they will goe from Preacher to Preacher as Nabuchadnezzar sent from one wise man to another to be resolued in poynts of Religion such a scrutinie such attention such heed as though they would runne out of the world and goe beyond all that a man would thinke they would do any thing as the Iewes came vnto Moses and this young man vnto Christ But when they haue heard what they came for they doe like Nabuchadnezzar as they did before now they saye it was but a dreame because the meaning doth not answere according to their will So Achab enquired of the Prophet to heare what hee would say but it appeares that he neuer ment to follow him except he would answer as he would haue him When it commeth to the act which is euerie mans triall then you shall see who are like Nabuchadnezzar that is which affect onely to knowe and who are like Zacheus that is which practise as they knowe for as the truth is reuealed so it must be witnessed or els the fall of Nabuchadnezzar sheweth what iudgement will follow vpon such neglecting Because hee would not doe as his dreame warned him and as the Prophet counsailed him therefore GOD forsooke him and his Kingdome departed from him and hee was thrust out of his Pallace and â—urned like an Oxe into the wildernesse there he liued like a beast vntill seauen yeares were ended A warning to all to take warning by the word for it is the gentle warner the next will bee harder the third and the fourth harder then it like to the nine plagues of Egypt which did exceede one another for what is he can weigh the wrath of GOD or the grieuousnes of sinne Some men woulde thinke that Nabuchadnezzar might haue spoken all this without any such great offence as was taken at it for he sayde no more but that it was a fayre house and that he builded it and that hee erected it for his honour seeing manie vnder Princes delight in worse vanities than fayre buildings and speake vayner often in a weeke Therefore when you see howe it displeaseth God to vaunt of these earthly thinges or to impute any thing to our selues thinke what shall bee the doome of great sinnes if Nabuchadnezzar became like a Beaste and lodged in the wildernesse for his pride they which beare pride and couetousnesse and lust and wrath and malice in one breast shal lodge in hell and become like Diuels because they are like beasts already Therefore let this bee in stead of Daniels warning if God did take such a straight account of Nabuchadnezzar for his dreame what hee had profited by it what account will hee take of vs what profit we haue made by Nabuchadnezzars fall and punishment Thus you haue heard what the voyce spake from earth now you shall heare what the voyce spake from Heauen for it followeth While the word was in the kings mouth a voyce came from heauen and sayd O King to thee be it spoken thy kingdome shall be taken from thee c. God will warne him no more by dreames nor by Prophets as he did but his Iudgements shall speake Heere is fulfilled that which Elihu sayth to Iob God speaketh once and twice by dreames and visions in the night and man seeth it not at the last God openeth his eyes by the corrections which he had sealed so God spake vnto Nabuchadnezzar first by dreames and after by his Prophet Nabuchadnezzar regarded it not at last God openeth his eyes by corrections which hee had sealed vp that they should not touch him if any other messenger could bring him As the holy Ghost doth note the time when Nabuchadnezzar spake in his pallace so he noteth the
him so soon as he slew his brother I know thy works saith God he may say I knowe thy works thy thoughts too for Iudas could not goe so closely about his trechery but that Christ did know when the thought entred into his hart and heard when he conferred also with the Scribes and saw likewise when he tooke the bribe though he kept a time to punish him as he saith Psalm 37. ver 2. When I see a conuenient time then wil I execute iudgement Now the time was come when this King should bee made an example vnto all other Kings after him to amend their liues and reforme their Realmes when as the Prophet commeth from God vnto them to tell them what they should doe When Dreame and Daniel had done what they could now God cals foorth his Iudgements and bids them see what they can do and commaunds them to chase Nabuchadnezzar vntill he haue lost his kingdome vntill he be driuen out of his pallace vntill he be fled into the wildernes vntill he be degenerate like a beast vntill his subiects seruants pages make their sport gaze and wonder at him like a foole which goeth vnto the stockes or a trespasser which is gazed at vpon the pillorie so the king was debased when God heard him but vaunt of his buildings Therefore let vs take heede and be carefull after what sort we speake and what wordes slip from vs lest GOD take vs in our lies or oaths or slanders or ribauldrie as hee tooke Nabuchadnezzar when his tongue walked without a bit for if he had supposed that God had been so neare and that he would haue answered him as he did he would haue held his peace and layd his hand vpon his mouth rather than pay so deare for a vain word which did him no good when it was spoken The second note is of the Iudge A voyce came downe from heauen the controuling voice came down from heauen God is most offended with our sinne for Nabuchadnezzar might haue spoken more than this before any other man and no man could controll him because he was king and kings delight in greater vanities than buildings yet no man saith Why doest thou so because Salomon saith He which repeateth a matter separateth the Prince that is he which tels Princes their faults maketh them his enemies therefore since Iohn Baptist dyed onely God is left to reprooue almost all that sinne by authoritie yet there is one in heauen hath an eare and a tongue and checketh the king as boldly as euer the king checketh his subiects When the voice from earth spake vainly the voice from heauen spake iudgement Here is the king of heauen against the king of earth the voice of GOD against the voice of man a diuine wrath warring with a humane pride the fire is kindled woe to the stubble The Lorde of hoasts is in armes against the Lord of Babel and beginnes to lay handes on him and to thrust him out of his throane First he rattles him like a thunder O King Nabuchadnezzar as if he should say for all thou art a king thou shalt see whether another bee aboue thee Now gard thy person now defend thy honour for he whom thou hast despised threatneth to take thy kingdome from thee goe nowe and walke in thy galleries fetch one turne more before thou bee turned out of doore and walke with the beastes in the forrest Now he comes to the arraignement and cals him to the barre O king Nabuchadnezzar to thee be it spoken He was neuer called king with lesse reuerence nor had such paie for sinne in all his raigne God giues him his title and he tels him his lot he cals him king but without a kingdom as if he said late king of Babel holde vp thy hande Here a king is arraigned in his owne kingdome and no euidence giuen against him but as though hee had witnessed against himselfe as all sinners doe God condemneth him out of his owne mouth and to open his eares he calleth him by his owne name O king Nabuchadnezzar as the prisoner is called when he holds vp his hand at the barre Then he pronounceth the iudgement To thee be it spoken to thee which aduancest thy selfe like God to thee which wouldst not take heed by thy dreame to thee which wouldst not bee warned by the Prophet to thee which diddest all for thine own honor Now hearken to thy iudgement Thy kingdome is departed from thee thou shalt bee driuen out of thy pallace they which should honor thee shall expulse thee thou shalt raigne with the beastes in the desarte there shall be thy dwelling seuen yeares goe now and stalke in the woods as thou diddest in thy pallaces and when thou art among the Lyons and Wolues and Beares looke vnto Babel which thou hast built How dooth this speech differ from Nabuchadnezzars speeche his wordes were but wordes but Gods wordes were He spake and it was done For in the same houre that which was spoken was done saith Daniel whatsoeuer the voyce threatneth vnto our sinnes or vnto the sinner shal be done at first or last To Nabuchadnezzar it was said Thy kingdome shall bee taken from thee To vs it is said Thy life shall bee taken from thee To him it was said Thou shalt be thrust forth into the desart To vs it is said Thou shalt bee throwne forth into darkenes To him it was said Thou shalt be like beasts To vs it is said Thou shalt be like the damned Shall not the voice spoken to vs be remembred with God as well as the threatning menaced to him This voice came from heauen and therefore it spake home not like them which glide by the faultes of Princes whisper behinde their backes as though they would reproue them if they durst but for feare lest the prince or counsellor or iudge or magistrate should take it as he meanes it think that he aimes at them which makes them speake in parables as though they would cast a vayle ouer their reproofe and eate their message before they haue spoken it The holy Ghost teacheth vs here to reproue so that whosoeuer sinneth may knowe that thou speakest to him Hee which speaketh from Heauen as the voyce did must speak like Iohn Baptist among the Publicans harlots and souldiers as though he went from one to another and saide this is spoken to thee this is spoken to thee this is spoken to thee For vnlesse wee come neere these mortall Gods and proud Nabuchadnezzars as neer as Elias came to Achab whē he said It is thou that troublest Israel they wil poast it ouer and thinke that thou speakest not to them vntill thou speakest plainly as the voice spake from heauen To thee be it spoken And they will reforme the matter or else God shew some iudgement vpon them as he did heere vpon this great king Nabuchadnezzar Now the decree goeth foorth that Nabuchadnezzar shall be King no
will prouoke him he will resist them if they will clime higher then their compasse he will pull them lower then their will Peter speaks of the proud as if they did chalenge God like champions prouoke him like rebels that vnles he did resist them they would goe about to depriue him of his rule as Corah Dathan and Abiram vndermined Moses For so the proud man sayth I will be like the highest and if he could aboue the highest too This is the creature which was taken out of the dust and so soone as he was made he opposeth himselfe against that maiestie which the Angels adore the throanes worship the diuels feare and the heauens obey How many sins are in this sinfull world and yet as Salomon sayth of the good wife Prou. 31. 29. Many daughters haue done vertuously but thou surmountest them all So I may say of pryde many sinnes haue done wickedly but thou surmountest them all for the wrathfull man the prodigall man the laciuious man the surfeting man the slothfull man is rather an enemy to himselfe then to God The enuious man the couetous man the deceiptful man the vngrateful man is rather an enemy to men then to God but the proud man sets himself against God because he doth against his lawes he maketh himselfe equall with God because he doth all without God and craues no helpe of him he exalteth himselfe aboue God because he will haue his owne wil though it be contrary to Gods wil. As the humble man saith Not vnto vs Lord not vnto vs but thy name giue the glorie Psal 115. 1. so the proud man saith not vnto him not vnto him but vnto vs giue the glorie like vnto Herod which tooke the name of God and was honored of all but the wormes and they shewed that he was not a God but a man Actes 12. 21. Therefore the proud men may be called Gods enemies because as the couetous pull riches from men so the proud pull honor from God Beside the proud man hath no cause to be proud as other sinners haue the couetous for riches the ambitious for honor the voluptuous for plesure the enuious for wrong the slothful for ease but the proud man hath no cause to be proud but pride it selfe which saith like Pharaoh I will not obey Exod. 5. 2. Therefore God is specially said to resist the proud because the proud resist him Heere is heauen against earth the creator against the creature the father against the sonne the Lord against the seruant the Prince against the subiect who is like to winne the fielde If the Lord iustifie saith Paul who shall condemne so if the Lord resist who shall defend If his lawe come with thunder and lightning and tempest with what terrour will hee come himselfe It was but a brag when the king of Iuda proclaimed warre against the king of Aram said No man shall deliuer thē out of my hands but it is true when God saith no man shall deliuer them out of my hands therefore the author to the Hebrews saith It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of God for hee euer ouercommeth Therefore when the Egyptians perceiued that God fought against them they cryed Wee will fle wee will flie for God sighteth against vs Exod. 14. 25. So the proud may cry I will flie I will flie for God fighteth against vs. When the king of Iuda proclaimed warre against the king of Israel the king of Israel returned answere that the thistle rebelled against the cedar 2. King 14. 9. yet there was but king against king a man against a man how much rather may the king of heauen answer this proud earth the thistle rebelleth against the Cedar The giant durst chalenge but one of the host of Israel but the Lord chalengeth all the host of pride euen as hee giueth grace to all that are hūble so he resisteth all that are proud It had been too heauie for them if he had sayde the Lord doth not care for them for Gods care preserueth vs and our owne care doth but trouble vs but to say that the Lord doth resist them is as if Michael should denounce warre with the dragon till he hath cast him into the pit This is a marshall word and comes with armes and weapons vpon them if a man should see a Lion come vpon him would hee not start if he should see a Giant come agaynst him would he not feare But now the Lorde of hosts the Lion of Iuda which destroyed the Giants is vp in armes to resist the proud and the proud feare not so much as the humble God resisteth the proud and giueth grace to the humble but the world resisteth the humble and giueth grace to the proud as Dauid notes Men will praise thee not when thou reformest thy selfe to God but whē thou doest forme thy selfe to thy lusts that is they which will be strowters shal not want flatterers which will praise euery thing that they do and euery thing that they speake euery thing that they weare and say it becomes thē well to weare long haire that it becomes thē well to weare bellied dublets that it becomes them well to iet in their going that it becoms thē wel to sweare in their talking Now when they heare men sooth them in their follies then think they we haue nothing els to commend vs if men will praise vs for our vanities we will haue friends enough so the humour swelleth and thinkes with it selfe if they will looke vpon mee when I doe set but a stout face vpon it how would they behold mee if I were in apparell if they doe so admire me in silkes how would they cap me and cursie me and worship me if I were in veluets if I be so braue in plaine veluet what if my veluet were pinct or cut or printed So they studie for fashions as Lawyers do for delayes count that part naked which is not as gaudie as the rest till all their bodie be couered ouer with pride as their mind is with folly Therefore Dauid saith that pride is as a chaine vnto them that is it goeth round about them like a chaine and makes them thinke that all men loue them and praise them and admire them and worship them for their brauerie Therefore as Saul sayd to Samuel Honour me before this people so the proude man saith to his chaine and his ruffes and his pinckes and his cuts honour me before this people all that he speaketh or doth or weareth is like Nabuchadnezzars pallace which he built for his honor This is their work so soone as they rise to put a Pedlars shop vpon theyr backes and colour their faces and pricke their ruffes and frisle theyr hayre and then their daies worke is done as though their office were to paint a fayre Image euery morning and at night to blot it out agayn from
haue to liue wil make vs applie our harts to that which is good The first point is that as euery one had a day to come into this world so he shal haue a day to goe out of this world When Moses had spoken of some which liued 700. yeeres and other which liued 800. yeeres and other which liued 900. yeeres shewing that some had a longer time and some a shortet yet he speakes this of all mortuus est at last comes in mortuus est that is he died which is the Epitaph of euery man We are not lodged in a castell but in an Inne where wee are but guests and therefore Peter cals vs strangers We are not Citizens of the earth but Citizens of Heauen and therefore the Apostle saith we haue here no abiding City but we look for one to come As Christ saith my kingdom is not of this world so we may say My dwelling is not in this world but the soule soareth vpward whence she came the body stoopeth downward whence it came as the tabernacles of the Iews were made to remoue so our tabernacles are made to remoue Euery man is a tenant at wil ther is nothing sure in life but deth as he which wrote this is gone so I which preach it you which heare it one comming in one going out is to all Although this is daily seene yet it had need be prooued nay euery man had need to die to make him beleeue that he shall die When Adam Eue became subiect to death because of their sin to teach them to think on death so soon as they were thrust out of paradise God clothed them with the skins of dead beastes which shewed them that now they were cloathed with death and that as the beastes were dead whose skins they wore so they should die also therefore Dauid saith Man being in honour became like the beasts which perish when he saith that hee did become like the beasts which perish he implieth that man should not perish like the beasts but when he did like a beast hee died like a beast From that day euery man might say with Iob Corruption was my father and the worme was my mother For the rich glutton is lockt in his graue as fast as poore Lazarus Therfore God speaking of kings saith I said ye are Gods but ye shal die like men If kings must die like men then the expectation of men is death therefore when this king was readie to die he said to Salomon that he should go the way of all the earth calling death the way of all the earth to which Esay be ares witnesse crying all flesh is grasse that is it falleth and is cut downe like grasse In paradise we might liue or die in the world we liue must die in heauen she shall liue and not die Before sinne nothing could change vs now euery thing doth change vs. For when winter comes wee are cold when age comes wee are withered when sicknesse comes we are weak to shew that when death comes we shal die The clothes which were vpon our backs the sun which sets ouer our heads the graues which lie vnder our feete the meate which goes into our mouthes câ—ie vnto vs that we shall we are and sade and die like the fishes and foules and beasts which euen now were liuing in their elements and now are dead in our dishes Euery thing euerie day suffers some eclipse and nothing stands at a stay but one creature calles to another let vs leaue this world Our fathers summoned vs and we shall summon our children to the graue first wee wax olde then wee wax drie then wee wax weake then wee wax sicke so wee melt away by drops at last as we caried other so other cary vs vnto the graue this is the last bed which euery man shal sleep in we must returne to our mothers wombe Therefore Iacob called his life but a pilgrimage therfore Paul called his life but a race therfore Dauid calleth him selfe but a worme a pilgrimage hath an end a race hath a stop a worme is but troden vnder foote and dead straight so in a houre we are and are not heere we are now and anon we are separated to morrow one sickneth and the next day another sickneth and all that be here neuer meet againe we may well be called earthen vessels for we are soone broken a spider is able to choake vs a pin is able to kill vs all of vs are borne one way and die a hundred waies As Eliah stood in the doore of the caâ—e when God passed by so wee stand in the passages of this world readie to go out whensoeuer God shall cal We loose first our infancie then our childhood then our youth at last as we came in the roomes of other so other come into our roomes If all our daies were as long as the day of Iosua when the sun stood still in the midst of heauen yet it will be night at last our sun shal set like other It is not long that we grow but when we begin to fall we are like the ice which thaweth sooner then it froze so these little worlds are destroied first and at last the great world shal be destroied too for all which was made for vs shall perish with vs. What do you learne when you thinke of this but that which Moses saith to applie your hearts to wisdome death commeth after life and yet it guides the whole life like the sterne of a ship but for death there would be no rule but euery mans lust should be his law he is like a King which frighteth a far oft though he defer his sessions and stay the execution yet the verie feare that he will come makes the proudest peacock lay downe his feathers and is like a dampe which puts out all the lights of pleasure The second note is that the time of man is set his bounds appointed which he cannot passe therfore Moses praieth the Lord that he would teach him to number his daies as though there were a number of our daies Therefore God is called Palmoni which signifieth a secret number because he knoweth the number of our daies which is secret to vs. As it was said to Balthasar God hath numbred thy kingdome so it may be said to all God hath numbred thy life To this Job beareth witnes saying Are not his daies determined thou hast appoynted his bounds which he cannot passe Again Ieremie saith they could not stand because the day of their destruction was come As there is a day of destruction and a day of death so there is a day of birth a day of marriage a day of honour a day of deliuerance according to that the determinatioÌ„ is made that is God hath determined all things As God appointed a time when
tormented All their friends and subiects and seruants forsake them because they goe to prison to trie the mercie of hell and take what the spirites of darkenes will heape vpon them there lie many of the men which were called Gods and thus endes the pilgrimage of Kings Princes and Rulers This is our life while we enioy it we lose it like the Sunne which flies swifter than an Arrowe and yet no man perceiues that it moues Hee which lasted nine hundred yeares could not holde out one houre longer and what hath hee now more than a childe which liued but a yeare Where are they which founded this goodlie Cittie which possessed these faire houses and walked these pleasant fieldes which erected these stately Temples which kneeled in these seates which preached out of this place but thirtie yeares agoe Is not earth turned to earth and shall not our Sunne set like theirs when the night comes yet wee cannot beleeue that death will finde out vs as he hath found out them though all men die yet euery man dreames I shall scape or at the least I shall liue till I bee olde This is strange men cannot thinke that God will doe againe that which hee dooth dailie or that he will deale with them as he deales with other tell one of vs that all other shall die we beleeue it tell one of vs we shall die and we beleeue it sooner of all than of one though we bee sore though wee bee weake though we be sicke though wee bee elder than those whome wee follow to the ground So they thought which lie in this mould vnder your feete as you doe If wisedome or riches or fauour could haue intreated death those which haue liued before vs would haue kept our possessions from vs but death would take no bale wee are all Tenants at will and we must leaue this Cottage whensoeuer the Landlord will put an other in our roome at a yeares at a moneths at a weekes at a daies at an houres warning or lesse the cloathes which we weare vpon our backes the graues which are vnder our feete the Sunne which sets ouer our heades and the meates which go into our mouthes doe crie vnto vs that we shall weare and set and die like the beastes and fowles fishes which now are dead in our dishes and but euen now were liuing in the Elements Our Fathers haue summoned vs and wee must summon our children to the graue Euerie thing euerie daie suffers some Eclipse nothing standeth at a stay but one creature cals to another Let vs leaue this world While wee play our Pageants vpon this stage of short continuance euerie man hath a part some longer and some shorter and while the Actors are at it sodainelie death steps vpon the stage like a hauke which separates one of the Doues from the flight he shootes his dart where it lights there fals one of the Actors dead before thē and makes al the rest agāst they muse and mourne and burie him and then to the sport againe While they sing play and daunce death comes againe strikes another there he lies they mourne him and burie him as they did the former and play againe so one after another till the plaiers bee vanished like the accusers which came before Christ and Death is the last vpon the stage so the figure of this worlde passeth away Many which stand heere may lie here or elswhere within this twelue moneth But thou thinkest It is not I and hee thinketh It is not he but he which thinkes so commeth soonest to it If I could make you beleeue that ye haue but a yeare to liue and that all which heare mee this day shall come to the barre before this daie tweluemoneth returne againe ye would prepare your selues to die and leaue your sinnes behinde you and depart Christians out of the Church with a minde to do all that God wil haue you that when the tweluemoneth is ended ye might liue with Angels in heauen and escape that fierie lake where the Glutton begs but a drop of water to coole the tip of his tongue and it will not bee graunted him least it should ease him But nowe wee know not whether we shall liue a weeke to an end we will doe nothing that he bids vs but abide the venture and trie the marker what God wil giue for sinne so one is taken after another and because we are not ready we go against our will like Lots wife out of Sodom This is our fashion to see the best last till we can neither forsake our sin nor hope of mercie Thus I haue proclaimed to all Kings Princes Iudges Counsellors and Magistrates that which Esay foretold to one Set thy things in order for thou shalt die Yet 15. yeeres were behind when the Prophet warned him to set al things in order But I cānot promise you 15. yeeres for many Princes do not raigne so long for one that doth That which Esay spake to one God here pronounceth of all yee shall die therefore the message is sent to you and when ye think of your honour think of your end These 2. notes that ye are Gods and that yee shall die the holy Ghost thought enough to teach you how to liue and how to rule And that wee may bee all like Gods hereafter let vs prepare before the accompt for none are in heauen but they that left the world before it left them Therefore let vs praie that GOD would keepe vs in remembrance of his iudgements that the subtiltie of sinne neuer steale our hearts from him but that we may count this life a respite to repent before the Iudge sit to deuide betweene the sheepe and the goates when we shall giue account of all his instructions corrections and benefites euen of this seede which hath beene sowne since yee came in how yee haue receiued his worde this houre FINIS The Triall of Vanitie Eccles 1. 2. Vanitie of vanities saith the Preacher Vanitie of vanities All is vanitie THis booke begins with All is vanitie and endes with Feare God and keepe his commandements If that sentence were knit to this which Salomon keepeth to the end as the hauen of rest after the turmoyles of vanitie it is like that which Christe sayde to Martha Thou art troubled about many things but one thing is necessarie That which troubleth vs Salomon calles Vanitie That which is necessarie hee calles the Feare of GOD from that to this should be euerie mans pilgrimage in this worlde we begin at Vanitie and neuer know perfectly that we are vaine vntill wee repent with Salomon Therefore this is his first greeting and lesson to all after his conuersion to warne them that All is vanitie as if God had said to him as he saide to Ezechiel Cause Ierusalem to know her abhominations as though men did not knowe their sinnes how vaine they are as Eliphaz saieth He beleeueth not that
the name Three things I note wherefore the diuell may be sayd to compasse the earth First because he tempteth all men Secondly because he tempteth to all sinnes Thirdly because he tempteth by all meanes So whosoeuer sinneth wherein soeuer he offendeth whereby soeuer he is allured the sinne and the sinner and the baite are compassed and contriued by this Archpolitique which calles himself a Cōpasser Many haue their names for naught because they doe nothing for thē like Labans images which were called Gods though they were but blocks but the diuell deserues his names he is not called a tempter and a lyar and a slaunderer and an accuser and a deceiuer and a murtherer a compasser in vaine like S. George which is alwaies on horseback and neuer rides but he would doe more thē by his office he is bound to Other are called officers because they haue an office but he is called an enemy because he sheweth his enuy Other are called Iusticers because they should doe iustice but he is called a tempter because he practiseth temptations Other are called Pastors because they should feede but he is called a deuourer because he doth deuour we cal him a Compasser because that he doth compasse Euer since he fel frō heauen he hath liued like Caine which cannot rest in a place but is a rūnagate ouer the earth from doore to doore from man to man begging for sinnes as the starued soule begs for bread He should haue dwelt in heauen and not bin compassing the earth hee should haue sung with the Angels not been quarelling with men but he hath changed his calling and is become a compasser that is to lay fetters vpō men as GOD hath fettered him least they should ascend to the place from whence he is fallen Therefore in this the Lyer spake truth whē he said I come from compassing the earth as if hee should say to God I come from the slaughter of thy seruants not to aske forgiuenes for all the soules which he hath slaine alreadie but to get a commission that GOD would make him Knight Marshall ouer the world to slay and kill as many as hee hated like the bramble which set it selfe on fire first and then fiered all the wood Peter describing the diuels walke saith that he goeth about The diuel saith that he goeth a compassing Peter puts in seeking whom hee may deuoure the diuell leaues out deuour and sayth no more but that he compasseth This circular walke is peculiar to the diuell and therfore may be called the diuels circuite All other creatures go forward but the diuell goeth about which may well bee applied to the craftie diuell because to goe about is commonly takē to vndermine when he meaneth he will destroy you then we say he will compasse you so when the diuell compasseth then beware lest he deuour For the diuell goeth about men as the Fowler goeth about the lark to snare her as the theefe goeth about the house to robbe it as the yuie goeth about the oake to kil it The diuels walk is a siege which goeth about but to find an issue to goe in for he goeth about but vntil he can get in to be a possessor He is cōtent to be a compasser The first name the diuell hath in Scripture is a Serpent he is a Serpent so are his waies like a Serpent which windeth himself like a circle As GOD is sayd to make an hedge about men so here the diuel is said to make an hedg about men but this is an hedge of temptations and that is an hedge against temptatiōs As Dauid saith the Angels compasse vs so might hee say the diuels compasse vs Sathan compasseth and man is compassed Sathan is like the circumference and man is as it were the Centre that is temptations goe round about him and he dwelleth in the middest of them Thus much of Compassing now what he doth compasse I come from Compassing the earth This is the diuels pilgrimage from one ende of the earth to the other then to the other againe and then backe againe like a wandring Marchant which seeketh his trafficke where hee can speed cheapest I haue heard of some trauellers which haue gone about the earth but I neuer heard of any that had seene all parts of the earth but this olde Pilgrime Satan which hath been in heauen and in paradise and in the earth and in the sea and in hell and yet hath not done his walke but like the Sunne which courseth about the earth euery day so there is no day but Satan seeth euery man vpon earth as a compasse hath no end so hee makes no ende of compassing Because he is such a compasser of the world therefore Paul calleth him The God of this word not a peece of the world as Englād or Ireland or France or Germanie or Spayne but of the world that is of all the countries and cities and townes and villages and houses The Pope talkes of his kingdome how many Prouinces are vnder his dominiō but the diuels circuit is greater then the Popes one would thinke that he could neuer tend halfe his flocke because he is Vicar of so great a Monarchie and yet he is neuer non-resident You may see his steppes euery where so brim and fresh as though they were printed in ashes If God make you see your country naked your Temples desolate your Cities ruined your houses spoyled you will say the Spanyards haue been heere so when you see your mindes corrupted your hearts hardened your willes peruerted your charitie cooled your Iudges bribers your Rulers persecutors your Lawyers brablers your Marchants vsurers your Landlords extortioners your Patrones symonists your Pastors loyterers you may say the diuell hath been here Seeing then these weedes growe in euery ground you may beare the diuel witnesse that he doth compasse all the earth If a man loue his friend he will say I will goe an hundred miles to doe him good but if the diuel hate a man he wil goe a thousand miles to doe him hurt The diuel doth not goe his progresse like a King only for delight but all the way as he goeth Peter saith He seeketh whom he may deuoure The diuel goeth a visiting he will teach the sicke how they shall recouer their health hee will whisper the poore how they shall come by riches he will tell the captiues how they shall redeeme their libertie but to deuoure is the ende of his visitation Therefore Peter called him a Lyon and said that he went about and told vs that he sought as he went at last he saith to deuour there he ends shewing that deuouring is his ende Now you shall heare whom hee compasseth and to what he compasseth and how he compasseth When it is said that the diuell compasseth the earth it is meant that he compasseth the men of the earth out of which I gather first of all creatures he compasseth men secondly that he compasseth all
vnnaturall they may say thou followest thy mother for she was vnnaturall first in locking vp her brests from thee and committing thee forth like a Cuckow to be hatched in a Sparrowes nest Hereof it comes that we say He suckt euill from the dug that is as the Nurse is affected in her bodie or in her minde commonly the childe draweth the like infirmitie from her as the egges of a Henne are altered vnder the Hauke yet they which haue no milke can giue no milke But whose breastes haue this perpetuall drought Forsooth it is lyke the goute no beggers may haue it but Citizens or Gentlewomen In the ninth chapter of Hosea thy brestes are named for a curse what lamentable happe haue Gentlewomen to light vpon this curse more then other sure if their breasts be drie as they say they should fast and pray together that this curse migro be remoued from them The next dutie is Catechize a childe in his youth and he will remember it when he is olde This is the right blessing which fathers and mothers giue to their children when they cause God to blesse them too The wrong mother cared not though the childe were deuided but the right mother would not haue it deuided so wicked Parents care not though their children be destroied but godly parents would not haue them destroyed but saued that when they haue dwelt together in earth they may dwell together in heauen As the Midwife frameth the bodie when it is young and tender so the parents must frame the minde while it is greene and flexible for youth is the seed time of vertue They which are called fathers are called by the name of God to warne them that they are in stead of God to their children which teacheth all his sons What example haue children but their parents and sure the prouidence of God doth ease their charge more than they are aware for a childe will learne better of his father than of anie other And therefore wee read of no Schoolemaisters in the scripture but the Parents for when Christ saith to the Iewes If yee be the sonnes of Abraham yee will doe the workes of your Father Abraham he sheweth that sonnes vse to walke in their Fathers steppes whether they bee good or bad It is a maruellous delight to the father and mother when people say that their children are like them but if they be like them in godlinesse it is as great delight to other as to the parents or else we say that they are so like that they are the worse for it Well doth Dauid call children arrowes for if they be wel bred they shoote at their parents enemies and if they be euill bred they shoote at their parents Therefore many fathers want a staffe to stay them in their age because they prepared none before like olde Eli which was corrected himselfe for not correcting his sonnes Are not children called the fruite of their parents Therefore as a good tree is knowne by bringing foorth good fruite so parents should shewe their godlinesse in the education of their children which are their fruite For this cause the Iewes were wont to name their children so whē they were borne that euer after if they did but thinke vppon their names they would put them in mind of that religion which they should professe for they did signifie some thing that they should learne An admonition to such as call their children at all aduentures somtime by the names of dogs euen as they proue after In 1. Kings 2. 2. we haue Dauid instructing his sonnes In Gen. 39. Iacob correcting his sonnes and in Iob. 1. Iob praying for his sonnes These three put together instructing correcting praying make good children and happie parents Once Christ tooke a childe and set him in the midst of his disciples and sayd He which will receiue the kingdome of heauen must receiue it as a little childe shewing that our children should be so innocent so humble and voide of euill that they may be taken for examples of the children of God Therefore in Psalme 127. 4. children are called the heritage of the Lord to shew that they should be trained as though they were not mens children but Gods that they may haue Gods heritage after Thus if you doo your seruants shall be Gods seruants and your children shall be Gods children and your house shall be Gods house like a little Church when others are like a denne of theeues Now I speake to one which is a mother so soone as she is married therefore peraduenture you looke that I should shewe the dutie of stepmothers Their name dooth shewe them their duetie too for a stepmother doth signifie a stedmother that is one mother dieth and another commeth in her stead therefore that your loue may settle to those little ones as it ought you must remember that ye are their stedmother that is in sted of their mother and therefore to loue them and tender them and cherish them as their mother did She must not looke vpon them like Rehoboam who tolde his people that hee would be worse vnto them then his predecessour for then they will turne from her as his subiects did from him but she must come to them as Dauid came to the people after Saules death and sayd Though your master Saul be dead yet I will raigne ouer you so she must say to them though your mother be dead yet will I be a mother so the children will loue her asmuch as their father Further these children are orphanes and therefore you must not onely regarde them as children but as orphane children Now God requireth a greater care ouer widowes and Orphanes than ouer anie other women or children Lastly you must remember that saying As you measure vnto other so it shall be measured vnto you againe that is as you intreate these children so another may come after and intreat your children for he which hath taken away the first mother and sent you can take away the seconde mother and sende a third which shall not be like a stepmother to yours vnlesse you be like a stepmother to these If these duties bee performed in marriage then I neede not speake of Diuorcement which is the rod of mariage and diuideth them which were one flesh as if the bodie and soule were parted asunder But because all performe not their wedlocke vowes therfore hee which appointed mariage hath appointed diuorcement as it were taking our priuilege from vs when we abuse it As God hath ordained remedies for euery disease so he hath ordained a remedie for the disease of mariage The disease of marriage is adulterie and the medicine hereof is diuorcement Moses licensed them to depart for hardnesse of heart but Christ licenseth them to depart for no cause but adulterie If they might be separated for discord some
them which breake the lawes of men but to suffer and suffer and euer to suffer all that the diuels would heape vpon vs. Then came the mercie of God for Christ which shedde his bloud like an vmpire betweene God and vs and saide as Esay saide to Hezechia Thou shalt not dye but liue loose him let him goe for hee is mine So we were staied like the widdowes sonne when he was carried to his graue This is the benefite of Christes death and this Sacrament is the remembrance of it and therefore whensoeuer we receiue it this addition commeth with it which is shed for the remission of sinnes our fault was so hainous and greeuous that no ransome could counteruaile it vnlesse God himselfe had suffered for vs. Being in this extremitie neither man nor angel offered his life for vs but the prince himselfe which should haue crucified vs came to be crucified of vs for vs y t we might say with stedfast faith I beleeue the remission of sinnes not the satisfaction of sinnes but the remission of sinnes Marke this distinction against Popish merites of workes or penance Christ hath satisfied and not we we are remitted and not Christ therefore we say in our confession I beleeue the remission of sinnes which I may call the mercifull Article because it is the quintessence and sweetnesse of all the twelue Therefore who but Antichrist durst depraue it If there be a satisfaction for our sinnes by our works or by our pilgrimages or by our masses or by our penance let Christ neuer be called a forgiuer but an exchanger like the Pope which selleth his pardons Wretched creatures which will not receiue the Lord when he comes to their doore Christ saith Take for nothing and they say no we will not take but buy Vile base miserable men disdaine to take grace of God without satisfaction but they will cope with the Lord and giue him so many pilgrimages fast so many daies heare so many masses and paie so manie workes for it vntill they haue done as much good as they haue done euill Our sinnes are infinite and God is infinit but our works are finite in number and measure how can they answere then to that which exceedeth number and measure Therefore be content with Iosephs brethren to take your money againe and say that you haue corne for nothing that is you are saued for nothing or else when you say I beleeue the remission of sinnes you lie vnto God because you doo not beleeue the remission of sinnes but satisfaction for sinnes like the Papists It followeth As often as yee shall eate this bread and drinke this cuppe yee shall shewe the Lords death till he come Here are three inuincible arguments against Popish transubstantiation like the three witnesses vnder which euerie word doth stand First we are sayd to eate bread then it is not flesh but bread Secondly we are saide to shew the Lordes death then it is but a shewe or representation of his death Thirdly it is said vntill hee come if hee be to come then he is not come if he be come how can we say vntill hee come The effect of this verse was shewed in these wordes Doe this in remembrance of me For to say Doe this in remembrance of me and to say So oft as you doe this you shew my death is much at one so that if you call this Sacrament a shewe of Christes death as it is called here then it is not Christ or if you call it a remembraunce of Christ as it is called there yet it is not Christ but a shewe or remembrance of Christ but this is such a shew and remembrance that the next verse saith Whosoeuer receiueth it vnworthily is guiltie of the bodie and bloud of Christ Will yee know who receiueth vnworthely In the nine and twentith verse Paul saith he discerneth not the Lords bodie that is which putteth no difference betweene this bread and other but eateth like a childe the meate which hee knoweth not and after the bread seemeth stones to him and the wine poyson because his conscience telleth him I haue receiued vnwoorthelie before I could say like Dauid My hart is prepared My sheepe saith Christ know my voyce as they discerne Christs wordes so they discerne Christes bodie and therefore so often as they come to the Lordes table they seeme to come into the Lords presence there they greete and kisse and embrace one another with affections which none can know but they that feele like Iohn which leaped in the wombe so soone as Christ came neare him Will yee know beside what it is to bee guiltie of the bodie and blood of Christ euen as Iudas was guiltie for betraying him and Pilate for deliuering him and the Iewes for crucifying him so they are guiltie which receiue this Sacrament vnworthily as Pilate and Caiphas and Iudas were If they be guiltie of Christs death they are guiltie of theyr owne death too as if they had committed two murthers and therefore Paul saith after that many of the Corinthians dyed onely for the vnwoorthie receiuing of this Sacrament As the Worde is the sauour of death to them which receiue it vnworthelie so the Sacrament is the sauour of death to them which receiue it vnworthelie it neuer goeth into their mouth but they are traitors ipso facto may say to Hell this day haue I taken possession of thee because I am guiltie of Christes blood Therefore it followeth immediatlie Let a man examine himselfe before hee eate of this bread or drinke of this wine as if he should say If he which receiueth this Sacrament vnworthely bee guiltie of Christes death like Iudas which hanged himselfe if these signes be receiued to saluation or damnation like the Word the next lesson is to examine your selues before you receiue lest you receiue like the sonne of perdition which swallowed the bread and the Diuell together Therefore Let a man examine himselfe and so let him eate that is let him examine first and receiue after for if wee should receiue the bread of the earth reuerentlie how should we receiue the bread of heauen When Iehonadab came to Iehu his chariot hee sayd Is thy heart vpright as my heart is toward thee So when wee come to the Lordes table hee would haue our hearts vpright to him as his heart is to vs for who feasteth his enemies and mockers The golden Ring sitteth highest at our table but the Wedding garment sitteth highest at this table It is safer eating with vnwashen handes than with an vnwashen heart The Iewes were taught to choose the Lambe of the Passe-ouer on the tenth daye of the first moneth in which moneth they came out of Egypt and on the fourteenth daye after they were taught to eate him so they had foure daies respite betweene the choosing and the killing to prepare
and the wicked are as neare kinne as Christ and the faithfull Now as Dauid saith Seemeth it a light thing vnto you to be the Sonne of a king seeing I am a poore man and of small reputation So may I saie seemeth it a light thing vnto you to be the sonnes of the king of kings seeing you are poore men and of smal reputation It is counted a great honor to Abraham Isaac Iacob that God was not ashamed to be called their God What an honor then is this that God is not ashamed to be called our Father nay our brother as though we were matched with him If the Israelites had such care to match with the seruants of God what a blessing is this to marrie with the sonne of God Therefore if any affect rich kinsmen or great marriages heere is a greater then Salomon marrie thou him This kinsman of ours is now gone vp into heauen that we may haue a friend in the Court. Ioseph desired the Butler to remember him when hee stood before Pharaoh and hee forgot him though hee had pleasured him But a Theefe desired Christ to remember him when he came into his kingdome and hee receiued him into paradise the same day though he had alwayes offended him to shewe that although wee haue beene as bad as theeues yet we may hope in Christ Therefore now I may conclude you haue heard the word if you goe away and doe it then you are the Mother and Brethren and Sisters of this heauenly King To whome with the Father and the holy spirit be all praise maiestie and dominion now and euermore Amen THE CHRISTIANS SACRIFICE To my late Auditors the congregation of Clement Danes all the good will which I can wish BEloued in Christ Iesus my first fruites I haue nothing but this myte to leaue with you which is the summe of all my Sermons ye haue heard it alreadie and as the Apostle calles the Corinthians his Epistle so ye should be my Sermon that is my Sermon should bee printed in your hearts as this is printed in paper If you haue not giuen your hearts to him which sent for them now thinke that God hath sent for them againe and heare mee writing whom yee cannot heare speaking Take not custome for Religion shunne occasion aswell as sinne seeke the vse of euery thing desire not to haue your Kingdome here And so I leaue you all with Christ whom I haue preached to bring forth the fruite of that seed which is sowne beseeching you for all the loue that you haue of heauē that ye would not count any thing in this world worthie to keepe your hearts from God but thinke of the day when ye shall giue account for euery lesson which ye haue heard and he which hath called you in this prison will glorifie you in his Pallace where ye shall see him to whom ye haue giuen your hearts and enioy that blessing of blessings which makes all the world to worship him The Father of our Lord Iesus Christ which hath begun to draw you to his kingdome neuer leaue you vntill you come vnto it Amen Your late vnworthie seruant for the Lord Henrie Smith THE CHRISTIANS SACRIFICE Prouerbs 23. 26. My Sonne giue me thy heart TO binde all the lessons together which yee haue learned since I came this sentence came to my mind My Sonne giue me thy hart which is the summe of all that yee haue heard and shewes in what chest you should lay vp these treasures in your heart and then giue that heart to God he wil keep all safe A supplication is come as it were frō God to man that man would send God his heart penned by Salomon vnder the name of Wisdome and directed to her sonnes Wisedome intreateth her sonnes that they would giue her their hearts this Wisedome is God we by adoption are his sonnes and our heart is that which Christ calls spirit and truth without hypocrisie Giue me that heart saith God He which giues anie thing to another considers before what he loues giues that which he thinkes will be accepted that he may bee loued for the gift therefore Dauid as though he were at a stand sorrowed that he could not do enough for God breakes forth to him selfe What shall I giue vnto the Lord for all that he hath giuen me The Lord hearing as it were these sighs of his seruants which care studie what they may do to please him comes in their suspence and like a friend which desires nothing but good will answers from heauen My sonne giue me thy heart Vnder which sute he taxeth them beside which are suters alwayes to him and looke still to receiue like the Publicans but neuer cast in their minds what they should giue therefore their tribute is set downe by equall measure vnder the kings seale euerie man must homage his heart Hee which alwayes gaue nowe craues and hee which craued alwayes nowe giues Christ stands at the doore like a poore man and askes not bread nor clothes nor lodging which we should giue to his members but our heart that is euen the continent of all and Gouernour of mannes house which sits on the Bench like a Iudge to giue the charge and teach the tongue to speake the hand to worke the foote to walke the eare to attend the eye to obserue the minde to choose and the flesh to obey That wee must present to God like a burnt Sacrifice wherein all is offered together a wise tongue a diligent hand a warie foot a watchfull eye an attentiue eare an humble minde an obedient flesh put all together and it is but the heart My sonne saith God giuee me thie heart Here thou art the giuer God the petitioner thy heart the gift which he claimeth by the name of a Son should God be a suppliant vnto thee me but that our vnthankfulnesse condemnes vs that for all the things which he hath giuen vs we neuer considered yet what we should giue vnto him before he asketh He is faine to put in his petition like a Suter and say Giue me thy heart Marke what God hath chosen for himself not that which any other shall loose by like the demaunds of them which care for none but themselues but that which being giuen to God mooues vs to giue vnto euerie man his due as Zacheus when hee gaue his heart to Christ parted his goods to the poore and restored to all that which he had gotten by wrong Once God required offerings and sacrifices which men were vnwilling to giue because it was a deare seruice of God but now he saith that the heart is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices Iacob loued Ioseph more than all his brethren so God loueth the heart more than all her fellowes this myte God will haue for all his benefites which we may best affoord him thy
not in heart but in countenance a false comfort like our false worship for he which giueth God his lips in stead of his hart teacheth God to giue him stones in stead of bread that is a shadow of comfort for comfort it selfe Now whē we haue giuen God faire words and long prayers and solemne fastes and mourning countenances hee puts in but a word more to fill vp the Sacrifice Giue me thy heart and it sufficeth It is like the last sute of Abraham when he said to God I will speake but this once so if thou wilt heare him in this he will aske no more therefore nowe conclude whether God shall haue thy heart or nothing if thou consider what right he hath to aske it and what cause thou hast to giue it thou canst not keepe it till I ende my Sermon Of all the suters which come vnto you it seemes there is none which hath anie title to claime the heart but God which challengeth it by the name of a sonne as if he should say thou shalt giue it to thy Father which gaue it to thee art thou my sonne My sonnes giue me their hearts and by this they know that I am their father if I dwell in their hearts for the heart is the temple of God therefore if thou bee his sonne thou wilt giue him thy heart because thy Father desires it thy Maker desires it thy Redeemer desires it thy Sauiour desires it thy Lord thy King thy master desires it which hath giuen his Sonne for a ransome his Spirite for a pledge his Word for a guide the World for a walke and reserues a kingdom for thine inheritance Canst thou denie him anie thing which hath giuen the heire for the seruant his beloued for his enemie the best for the worst Canst thou denie him anie thing whose goodnesse created vs whose fauour elected vs whose mercie redeemed vs whose wisedome conuerteth vs whose grace preserueth vs whose glorie shall glorifie vs O if thou knewest as Christ said to the womā of Samaria when she huckt to giue him water if thou knewest who it is which saith vnto thee Giue me thy heart thou wouldest say vnto him as Peter did when Christ would wash his feete Lord not my feet onely but my hands and my head not my heart onely but all my bodie and my thoughts my words and my works and my goods and my life take all that thou hast giuen For why should we not giue him our hearts aswell as our lippes vnlesse we meane to deceiue him with words for deeds If Abraham gaue Lot leaue to chuse what part he did like shall we not giue God leaue to chuse that which he loueth If he did not loue thee he would not require thy heart for they which loue require the heart The Maister requires labour the Landlord requires seruice the Captaine requires fight but he that requires the heart requires it for loue for the heart is loue We will giue him litle if we will not giue him that which he askes for loue toward our selues though he say Giue it yet indeed he hath bought it and that deerely with the deerest blood that euer was shed He gaue thee his heart before he desired thy heart but a heart for a heart a liuing heart for a heart which died thou doest not lose thy life as he did for thee but thou bestowest thy life to glorifie him thou dost not part from thy hart when thou giuest it but he doth keepe it for thee lest the Serpent should steale it from thee as he stole Paradise from Adam when it was in his owne custodie He can keepe it better than we and he will keepe it if wee commit it to him and lay it in a bed of peace and lap it with ioy and none shall take it out of his hands Therefore if ye aske me why you should giue your hearts to God I doe not answer like the disciples which went for the Asse and the Colt The Lord hath neede but we haue neede for vnlesse we giue our soules how can he haue them and vnlesse he haue them how can he saue them Therefore we haue neede If euer the saying were true It is more blessed to giue than take more blessed are they which doe giue their hearts to God than they which take possession of the world Abigail did not gaine so much by her gift to Dauid as we for our gift to God for she was married vnto Dauid but wee are married vnto Christ of whom the Church dooth sing in the fift of Canticles that no welbeloued is like her beloued what heart would not bee loued of him though it do not loue him VVho can assoyle this riddle VVe would haue Christ our bridegroome and yet we will not be his spouse I would haue him take my heart and yet I will not giue it How should he keepe it or saue it or glorifie it if I hide it away like the seruant that buried his talent in the earth So much as I keepe from God so much I keepe from heauen and wil not suffer him to glorifie it as if I did wish one part to be saued and another damned He which would haue his heart sanctified and comforted and enlightned and wil not giue it to God which should do it is like a woman which would haue her dough leauened and layeth her dough in one place and the leauen in another where one cannot touch the other then commeth the tempter and takes them asunder and seazeth vpon the heart because he findes her alone This is his seed time now he enters into it fils it with his poyson till the temple of God be the sinke of sin the heart which should be the seat of holinesse grace and wisedome a heart of pride a heart of enuy a heart of lust more like a belly than a heart how many things lodge in the heart when God is not there It is a world to thinke how the diuine soule which descended from heauen to bring forth fruit is become a fit soil for euery weed whereby wee may see what hearts wee haue before we giue them to God Therefore now aske your hearts whose they are and how they are moued with these wordes how many here will giue to this collection whose hart is gone vp vnto him since I began to speake Here one and there one runnes vp the ladder like the Angels that Iacob saw in his dreames and sing with Dauid My heart is prepared my heart is prepared and why not thou as well as he Doth not he send for all alike Wilt thou be the thorne or the stone or the high way where the seede dooth loose his fruite Why hadst thou rather bee compelled than inuited since thou art called to a banket How many hearts mo might we drawe to God if all that be here would go to him
which challenged Nabuchadnezzar for twelue moneths since he was warned may challenge vs of twelue yeeres since we were warned yet we looke not for so great punishment as fell vpon Nabuchadnezzar for twelue moneths Daniel names there twelue moneths as though hee would speake of a great matter and shewes how worthie Nabuchadnezzar was to be punished because he might haue reformed his life since he was warned for there were 12. moneths betweene his dreames and his punishment But that yeere wherein he had so many warnings teachings was as vaine as the rest and vainer then the yeres before for now he should haue been a mourner like the King of Niniuie when Ionas threatned destruction vnto them But like a victor of a countrie returned from battell to solemnize his triuÌ„ph first he decked his pallace as braue as himselfe and then he walkes his stations in it and when he hath set al things before him which might make him forget God and like a serpent that would burst vnles he discharged some of his poyson he breaketh out and sayde Is not this great Babel which I haue built by the might of my power for the honour of my maiestie wherein obserue first what a glorious opinion this vaine King had of his vaine buildings Secondly how that he names himselfe the founder of them as though hee had done all without an helpe Thirdly that in all his works he sought nothing but vain-glorie as hee witnesseth against himselfe saying which I haue built for the honour of my maiestie not for the honour of Gods maiestie but for the honour of my maiestie So first that which he should haue contemned as Christ did the beautie of the Temple he admired it nothing seemed so glorious to him as that which made him shamefull to God Secondly that citie which was built by Semiramis he arrogateth to himselfe and neuer ioyned the chiefe workmaster with him but saith which I haue built by the might of my power when he should haue said by the might of Gods power for vnles God build the house the builder saith Dauid buildeth but in vaine Lastly that which hee should haue built for the honour of GOD as the man built a chamber for the Prophet hee builded for his honour as our Nabuchadnezzars doe Therefore when all his pleasures were prepared like a feast and he came to sit downe at the bâ—ket it hapned to him as to the churle in the Gospell after he had filled his barnes when hee came to sing in his heart Be merrie my soule that night his soule was takeÌ„ from him and the diuels made merrie with it in hell so he had fethered his neast and began to crow vpon his roost Is not this great Babel c. As if he shuld say Now Nabuchadnezzar make thee merie that houre his honor was taken from him for a voyce came downe from heauen like the terrible hand which wrote vpon the wall when Baltasar sate at his banquet dasht his pride vpon such a rocke that within an houre all his pomp and pleasures and treasures suffered such a shipwracke that his fall was more admired of all than his glorie and buildings were admired of himselfe Thus all the ioy and pleasures and glory of pride are spoken with a breath and stopt with another You haue heard what the voice spake from earth now ye shal heare what the voice souÌ„ds from heauen These three verses following declare this Kings fall when and howe and from whom it was While the words were yet c. there is the time A voice c. there is the Iudge O king c. there is the arraignement Thy kingdom c. there is the iudgement He was driuen from men liued with beasts in che wildernes till his haires were grown like Eagles fethers There is the execution and maner of his punishment First of the time while c. As Daniel obserued the time when Nabuchadnezzar sinned so he obserueth the time when Nabuchadnezzar is punished as if God had lien in waite to catche him in his words and take him at the trippe euen as he watched Lots wife when shee looked backe and transformed her into a piller of os salte so soone as she looked behind her So now the Lord lay as it were in the scout to watch wheÌ„ Nabuchadnezzar spake treason and to apprehend him vpon it O Nabuchadnezzar thou hast vanted these twelue moneths since I warned thee and I made as though I heard not but suffered thee to doe and speake thy pleasure and vauntest thou still Surely thou shalt escape me no longer I will not heare a word more against mine honour So hee cut him off while the wordes were in his mouth and propoundeth the wordes of iudgement against him If you marke the time when the voice spake from heauen you may see three wisedomes of God First God takes him in his fault that he might see his fault as Ieroboam was striken when he stroke the Prophet that he might know why he was striken Then he takes him sodainly because hee contemneth his warning as the fire came vpon Sodome while they contemned Lots warning Thirdly God takes him where he is pleasantest and lustiest and safest in his pallace which was like a Castle as he took Herod when his gard stood by him that he might see that nothing can garde him from God but God must gard him from danger or else Princes bee no safer than subiects so though a man sin often and steale his sins as it were without punishment yet at the last he is tooke napping while the wickednesse is in his hand as the Iewes were while the quailes were in their mouthes and his day is set when hee shall pay for all whether it bee after 12. moneths or 12. yeeres whensoeuer it commeth it wil seem too soon Vengeance doth stay till sin be ripe watch the time when they are most occupied then iudgement steps forth like the Angel to stop Balaam in his way because the punishment is more grieuous terrible wheÌ„ they look not for it for the worst that is wish like Balaam to die the death of the righteous therefore God will crosse them in that though they prosper alwayes before yet their ends shall be a kinde of iudgement vpon all their life a prophesie of torment for all men to see what become of the wicked after death that they may feare to be like vnto them As when we see some fall down vnder the table while they sit swilling at the Wine some striken dumbe in the pulpit while they preach vntruths eueÌ„ as the Philistines were slain while they feasted and as Herod was shamed while he vanted and as Ieroboam was striken while he stroke What doth this teach vs but that our sinnes depart from vs so soon as they are done vnto the Iudge there they accuse vs as Cains murther cried out against
greater number than he had before as all the blessings of God returned to Nabuchadnezzar when he looked vp to heauen so they shall come backe like a riuer vpon you when your eyes can goe by these vanities and looke vpon him which lookes vpon you or els seuen and seuen yeres shall passe ouer you and you shall be neuer the better but worse and worse like Saul which was vexed more and more till he had killed himselfe Therefore as the Iewes looked vp to the brasen Serpent which was a figure of Christ when they would bee healed Numb 21. 8 so all that woulde recouer that which they haue lost or obtaine that which they want Nabuchadnezzar doth teach them here to lift vp their eyes to heauen from whence sayth Christ commeth euerie blessing of man At the end of these dayes I Nabuchadnezzar lifte vp mine eyes c. Like a man which is wakened out of a long traunce now he began to stirre and lift vp his eyes when the heart is once lift vp it wil lifte vp the eyes and the hand and voice and all to heauen he which neuer looked vp to heauen so long as his comfort was vpon the earth nowe his minde is changed his lookes and iestures speeches and all are chaunged with it As though God would shew a visible difference betweene the spirituall and the carnall euen in their lookes and iestures as there is betweene a childe and an olde man The spirituall mindes are heauenly and looke vp because their ioy is aboue The carnall mindes are earthly and looke downe like beasts because their treasure is belowe As the serpent grouels vpon the ground so doth the serpents seede and hath not so much as the countenance of grace Therefore by lifting vp his eyes to heauen is signified that the time was come which the Lord had set downe that he should bee like a beast vntill he had learned that lesson That the most high beareth rule ouer the sons of men Therfore Nabuchadnezzar sheweth that hee had learned his lesson for he looked not vp to heauen to beholde the Sunne the moone or the starres like an Astronomer but thinking howe hee had set himselfe against Heauen from whence came all his honour in a godly shame holy anger toward himselfe he turnes his face from earth to heauen to magnifie him which had humbled him that so contemneth him which aduanced him Nowe hee talkes no more of his Pallace nor his power nor his Maiestie though it be greater then it was but hee looked aboue his owne pallace to another Pallace from whence that terrible voyce came down vnto him Thy kingdome is departed from thee Which expresseth his contrite hearte and wounded spirit howe many passions batled within as if hee should chide himselfe and saye Vnthankefull man my power euer descended from aboue and I euer looked vpon the earth and mine honour came downe from heauen and I neuer lifte vp mine eyes before But now sayth he goe vp my voyce and my handes and my eyes how long will ye pore vpon the earth like a beast so he lifted vp his eyes vnto heauen After hee had lifted vp his eyes he beginneth to pray praise and giue thanks to God which sheweth that he did not onely lifte vp his eyes but his heart too for vnlesse we can say with Dauid I lift vp my hart Psal 25. 1. it is in vain to lift vp eies or hands or voice as the hypocrits doe because he which is a spirite will be worshipped in spirite Iohn 4. Therefore Marie sayth My heart doth magnifie the Lord. Luke 11. 46. As for the Infidels and Idolaters they haue no heartie seruice but their religion is like an occupation which is done with the body For when we reade of the sacrifice or prayers of the Idolaters and Infidels we doe not find that they lifte vp their hearts to their Idols but their hands or their eyes or their voyce as the Baalites roared to Baal 1. King 18. 28. and the Marriners cryed to their Sea-gods 1. Ionas 5. and the Ephesians showted to Diana Act. 19. 28. But the lifting vp of the heart is the holy seruice and alway appropriate vnto God which saith My sonne giue me thy heart Pro. 23. 26. Therefore now Nabuchadnezzar lifts vp his heart to God shewing that he had learned that lesson which GOD gaue him 7. years to study that The most high beareth rule ouer the sonnes of men c. Now God thinkes the time long enough as he reformed the ground after the flood with fruit and hearbes and flowers agayne so hee reformeth Nabuchadnezzar with vnderstanding and beauty and honour againe As when he repented himselfe and sayd I wil drown the earth no more Gen. 8. 21. so I wil chase Nabuchadnezzar no more nowe he knowes a king aboue him he shall bee king againe nowe he seekes my honour I wil giue him honour now he magnifieth him which debased him I will returne to exalt him So the voyce which thundred from heauen Thy kingdome is departed from thee sounds again Thy kingdome is restored to thee For it was not tolde that he should be like a beast vntill he dyed but vntill he knew that the most high beareth rule ouer the sonnes of men Therefore when he knew this nothing could stay him from his kingdome no more then they could stay him in it before Thus the displeasure of God is but an interim vntill we knowe some thing that we should know and then Nabuchadnezzar shalbe king againe then the sick man shalbe whole againe then the bondman shall be free againe then the poore man shall be rich againe His mercies are called euerlasting because they endure for euer Psal 136. 1 2. But his anger is compared to the clouds because it lasteth but a season whome he loueth hee loueth to the ende but whome hee scourgeth hee scourgeth to repent as Hezekias was sicke vntill hee wepte Nabuchadnezzar was banished but vntill hee repented Now the first cure of the Kings restitution was of his mind Mine vnderstanding saith Nabuchadnezzar was restored vnto me To shewe what an inestimable gift our vnderstanding and reason is whereby wee differ from beasts for which we cannot be thankful enough therefore he records it twise as though his heart did flowe with gladnes and his tongue could not choose but speak often of it as a man thinketh and speaketh of that which he loueth Mine vnderstanding was restored vnto me c. That which was first taken away was first restored againe which so soone as it was gone he was counted a man no more but a beast As Dauid sayth Like Horse and Mule which haue no vnderstanding Psalme 32. 9. counting them which are voide of vnderstanding to better then horse and mule Therefore they which haue lost their vnderstāding at the Tauerns as many here haue done somtimes they which vnderstād not yet what is the booke of God are but horse and mule
of this vice GOD suffereth men to fall into other vices which men abhorre and punish as theft and fornication and drunkennes to make them ashamed by these vices which were not ashamed of pride this is an argument that of all sinnes pride is the worst because God suffereth other sinnes to come and shame vs least we should bee proude Agayne Pride hath this propertie and sleight that it mixeth it selfe with our good workes and followeth vertue As from the ashes of a Phoenix ariseth another Phoenix so of the ashes of our good workes ariseth pride When the diuell cannot stay vs from a good worke then he laboureth by all meanes to make vs proud of it and so he staineth our worke and stealeth our reward For though a man doe neuer so much good yet if he be proude of it hee loseth his reward as the Pharisies did therefore the best and the wisest and the holiest men had need to watch this vice for if they take not great heed it will make them proud of their wisedome and of their zeale and of their goodnes Paul was almost puffed vp with reuelations Aron and Miriam began to rebell because they thought themselues as good as Moses and all the fathers of any heresie began their heresie at this a magnificate opinion of themselues and an ouerweening of their owne gifts So pride setteth vpon the best euen as the temper set vpon Christ Agayne a man had need to take heede of pride for she will not keepe counsaile but if he be proud she will tell that he is proud and therefore is called an impudent sinne because she descrieth her selfe in the eye in the speech in the iesture in the looke in the gaâ—e like the drunkard so that a man cannot bee proud and seeme humble Thus God hath tied a iust punishmeÌ„t to this vice that he which entertaineth the vice that he loueth should not auoid the name which he abhorreth but he shall be esteemed proud and called proud of all that know him and many that know him not shall point at him with their fingers in the streetes say there goes a proud fellow which they pronounce of no vice els but the drunkard because these two bewray themselues Thus you see howe the proud resist God now you shall see how GOD resisteth the proud They are so heady that almost none dare resist them but God I will resist them saith God Therefore when hee heard the proud man say in the 14 of Esaiah I will ascend vp into heauen hee answereth himselfe Thou shalt be brought downe to the graue This is hee which resisteth the proud When Hamans wife heard her husband say that Mordecai was against him because he was an Israelite she sayd that her husband should take the soile and Mordecai shoulde preuayle What if she had heard her husband say that the Lord of Mordecai was agaynst him If the seruant bee so terrible who dare encounter with his master God hated Esau and how did Esau prosper though hee was the elder brother yet he missed the birth-right and though his father loued him yet hee could not blesse him because God hated him God was wroth with the Angels and droue them out of heauen God was wroth with Adam and thrust him out of Paradice GOD was wroth with Nabucadnezzar and turned him out of his Pallace God was wroth with Cain and though hee were the first man that was borne of a woman yet God made him a vagabond vpon his owne land GOD was wroth with Saul and though he was the first king that euer was annoynted yet God made his owne hand his executioner GOD was wroth with the olde world and though the earth was naked when they were drowned yet hee regarded nothing but destroyed a world of men together This is he which resisteth the proude what shall wee doe if the world be against vs and the flesh against vs and the diuell against vs and God against vs too which should defend vs In heauen in earth and in the sea he findes vs out And as the displeasure of a king draweth many enemies with it so the displeasure of God setteth all his creatures against vs therefore he is called the Lord of hoasts as though hee came with an armie against vs. When hee fought with the Aramites the Sunne tooke his part when hee fought against the Sodomites the fire tooke his parte when hee fought against the Egyptians the water tooke his parte when he fought against the Murmurers the earth tooke his part when he fought against the Idolaters the Lyons tooke his part when hee fought against the mockers the Beares tooke his part this is hee which resisteth the proud What can hee hope which remembreth that God is set against him and that the Lord of heauen and of earth is his enemie This thought made the Philistines flie say God is come into the hoast No enemie is like this enemie he euer ouercommeth and when hee hath ouercomen he can cast into hell make the diuels torment them againe therefore well might Salomon prophecie Pro. 29. 23. The pride of man shall bring him lowe for God hath ouercome him who brought pride into the world as pride brought him low so Salomon saith it shall bring men low too What a turne is this that that which he tooke like a chayne as Dauid sayth to adorne him doth hang him that which he tooke to exalt him doth debase him that which hee tooke to winne loue getteth hatred that which he tooke to obtaine glory procureth shame as if God did take the sworde out of his hand as Dauid tooke the sworde of Goliah and slewe him with his owne weapon When the Pharisie said he was not like the Publicane Luk. 19. 11. he said true for then he was not like the Publican indeede because the Publican was better than he So when a proude man thinkes best of himselfe then God and men thinke worst of him all his glorie is but like a vapour which clymeth as though it would goe vp to heauen but when it comes to a little height it falles downe againe and neuer ascends more So Adam thought that the faire apple shuld make him like his maker Gen. 3. but God resisted his pride and that apple made him like the Serpent that tempted him with it Absolom thought that rebellion would make him a king 2. Sam. 15. 2. but God resisted his pride and his rebellion hanged him on a tree Nimrod thought that Babel should get him a name Gen. 11. but God resisted his pride the name of his building was called CoÌ„fusioÌ„ euer since Nabuchadnezzar built his pallace for his honor Dan. 4. but God resisted his pride and his pallace spued him out when his seruants remayned in it Shebna builded a sepulcher for his memoriall Esa 22. but GOD resisted his pride and buried
him in another Countrey where he had no sepulcher prouided Herod hoped when the people cryed at his words It is the voyce of God that hee should be worshipped euer after as God but God resisted his pride and before he descended from his throane the wormes so defaced his pompe that none which called him God would be like vnto him so whē women take more paines to dresse themselues then they doe all the day after and pay deerer to maintaine one vice than they neede to learne all vertues they thinke to please men by it but God resisteth their pride and al that see them though they cap and curtsie to them yet they iudge worse of them and thinke that they would not weare these signes of lightnes and pride vnlesse they were light and proud indeede Thus if their apparell condemne them before men how will it condemne them before GOD If sinne did not blinde them would they so deceiue themselues to take the contrary way and thinke that should honor them which disgraceth other But as Balaam was stopped knew not who stopped him so they are resisted and know not who resisteth them Though they doe al to please yet they can please none they please not God for God resisteth them they please not the humble for the humble are contrarie to thē they please not the proud for the proud doe enuie them which striue to bee as proude as they they please not themselues because they cannot bee so proud and braue as they would bee onely they please the diuell because their pride doth intitle him to them Thus much of Gods battailes against the proud Heere Peter leaueth the proud with this brand in their forehead This is the man whom God resisteth then hee turneth to the lowly and comforteth them But he giueth grace to the humble as if hee should say you are like Iohn the beloued Disciple which leaned on Christs bosome Iohn 13. 23. though God resist the proud yet hee will not frowne vpon you but when he resisteth them he wil giue grace vnto you as if hee should say the proud are without grace for God giueth not grace vnto the proud but to the humble according to that to Esay 66. 2. To him will I looke euen to him that is poore of a contrite heart and trembleth at my wordes therefore Learne of me saith Christ to be hūble meek as though the humble and meeke were his schollers Therefore God must needes loue the humble because they are like his sonne they shall haue his best giftes of which hee sayth 2. Cor. 12. 9. My grace is sufficient as if hee should say hee which hath giuen you his grace can he denie you any thing as Christ saith Hee which hath giuen vs his Sonne will he not giue vs all things with him Therefore grace may be called the gift of gifts because all gifts come with grace as the Court goeth with the Queene Therefore feare not to bee humble least you be contemned for all the promises of God are made to humilitie and yet men feare to be humble lest they shuld be contemned Humilitie did not make Iohn contemptible but when he refused the name of a Prophet Christ saith that hee was more then a Prophet Mat. 11. 2. Humilitie did not make Moses contemptible but as he was the mildest man vpon earth so he was the greatest vpon the earth Numb 12. Humilitie did not make Dauid contemptible but when he humbled himselfe hee said vnto Micol I will be more humble yet and lowly in my owne sight yet thou and thy maides shall honour me 2. Sam. 6. 22. As Christ ceased not to be a king because he was like a seruant nor to bee a Lion because he was like a Lamb nor to be God because he was made man nor to bee a Iudge because he was iudged so man dooth not loose his honour by humilitie but he shal be honored for his humilitie as the Son was honoured when he was humbled Luk. 15. 8. Thus humilitie hath found that which pride sought like little Dauid which was least accompted of and yet gotte the victorie yea when no man durst encounter with the Gyant 1. Sam. 17. 28. This is the ladder whereby we must ascend Gen. 28. 12. pride did cast vs downe and humilitie must raise vs vp As the way to heauen is narrowe Mat. 12. 13. so the gate is lowe and he had neede to stoope which entreth in at it therefore be not proud least God oppose himselfe against you but be humble and the grace of God belongeth to you So long as thou art proude and readest this sentence GOD giueth grace to the humble thou mayst say to thy soule Soule thou hast no part herein for grace is the portion of the humble and the dowrie of the meeke and the treasure of the lowlie but to thee it is saide The Lord resisteth the proude as if he should say Auoide Sathan Math. 4. or Departe from mee ye wicked Math 25. 45. Thus you see howe you may haue GOD your friende or your enemie Hee resisteth the proud and giueth grace to the humble if thou disdaine to learne humilitie of man learne it of GOD who humbled himselfe from heauen to earth to exalte thee from earth to heauen to which Kingdome when the proud shall be shut out the Lord Iesus bring vs for his mercies sake FINIS THE YOVNG MANS TASKE Ecclesiastes 12. 1. Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth IF it be so as they say that none but young men do heare our doctrine then this Text is well chosen for the auditory to teach young men that which if they learne they may say with Dauid I haue more vnderstanding then the auncient Psalm 119. 100. All Scripture is mans duetie and answeres like Iohn Baptist to What shall wee doe In the first of Iohn the second and the twelfth Iohn sayth I write vnto you babes I write vnto you children I write vnto you fathers I write vnto you youngmen I write vnto you old men So the word which is called aflying booke flyeth from one age to another from one sexe to another from one calling to another till like a Iudge it hath giuen euery man his charge Among the rest I may call this Scripture The young mans taske Wherein the Wise man sheweth when is the best time to sow the seede of vertue that it may bring foorth the fruite of life and make a man alway readie to die Let him remember his Creator in the daies of his youth and all his life shall runne in a line the middle like the beginning and the ende like the middle as the Sunne setteth against the place where it rose After Salomon had described man like Martha troubling and toyling himselfe about many things at last hee bringeth him to that one thing necessarie which Christ taught Marie and shewes him that if he had begun there at first he had found that which
he sought without trouble and been happier many yeares since than he is now Therefore to them which are young Salomon shewes what a vantage they haue aboue the aged like a ship which seeing another ship sinke before her lookes about her pulles downe her sayle turneth her course and escapes the sands which would swallow her as they had done the other So they which are young neede not trie the snares and allurements of the worlde or the issues and effectes of sinne which olde men haue tried before them but take the tryall and experience of others and goe a neerer way to obtaine their wished desires That is this sayth Salomon If thou wouldest haue any setled peace or heartie ioye in this vaine or transitorie worlde which thou hast beene seeking all the time since thou wert borne thou must Remember thy Creator which did make thee which hath elected thee which hath redeemed thee which daylie preserueth thee which will for euer glorifie thee and as the kinde remembrance of a friende doth recreate the minde so to thinke and meditate vpon GOD will supply thy thoughts dispell thy griefes and make thee cheerefull as the sight of the Arke comforted Dauid for ioye and comfort and pleasure is whereas God is as light and cheerefulnes and beautie is whereas the Sunne is Nowe if thou wouldest haue this ioy and comfort pleasure to bee long and wouldest escape those thousand miseries vexations and vanities which Salomon by many weary and tedious tryals sought to make naked before thee yet held all but vanitie when hee had founde the way thou must Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy youth at the first spring time and then thy happynesse shall bee as long as thy life and all thy thoughts while thou remainest on earth a foretaste of the glorie of Heauen This is the summe of Salomons counsaile Salomon findes man seeking happinesse out of the way as Esau hunted long for a blessing and yet went without it he pities to see him seeke and not finde to runne and not obtaine therefore he setteth him in the way like a guide sent from heauen which often had strayed himselfe before and being now recouered to his right way stands like a mark of knowledge in the turnings that leade vnto blinde by-waies to direct all those that passe by that they may followe the readie path that leadeth to eternall happinesse And because the Trauailour marcheth cheerefully which knoweth his way before he setteth foorth therefore from the first setting forth euen from the time of youth when a man beginneth to runne his pilgrimage Salomon tels him how he shall therein prepare himselfe to walke and sets him in a faire high way wherein is no turning either to the right hand or the left which he calleth the remembrance of GOD. As if he should say Walke with God as Enoch did and remember well that he which shall be thy Iudge doth see all that thou doest and heareth thee at euerie worde and this thought shall keepe thee in the way at all times like the clowde and piller of fire which went before the Children of Israel aswell by day as night when they trauailed in the wildernes In the next chapter before and the ninth verse Salomon sayd Reioyce O young man in thy youth now he hath chaunged his note to Remember O young man in thy youth No more Reioyce but Remember Salomon mocked before and shewed what they did remember here he shewes what they should remember least anie Libertine should misconster him and say Salomon taught vs to reioyce Salomon gaue vs leaue to sinne Salomon said doe as ye list for you are yong men and haue a priuiledge to bee lasciuious and vaine he recants with a breath and denyes forthwith his word euen where he spake it What sayd I Reioyce O young man in thy youth I would say Remember O young man in thy youth So God mockes vs while wee sinne like Michaiah which bad Achab fight agaynst Aram and then forbad him againe so hee bids them reioyce and forbids them agayne Reioyce not in thy youth but repent in thy youth One would thinke that Salomon should haue giuen this Memorandum rather to olde men then to young men let them repent which looke to dye Oh saith Ieremie it is good for a man to beare the yoake in his youth if it be good to suffer in youth it is better to learne in youth Therefore if Dauid wisht that his tongue might cleaue to the roofe of his mouth if hee forgot Ierusalem what are they worthie which forget GOD the King of Ierusalem Can a childe forget his father Is not GOD our Father therefore who is too young to remember him seeing the childe doth knowe his father As the deepest wounds had neede to be first tented so the vnstablest mindes haue neede to bee first confirmed In this extremitie is youth as Salomon shewes them before hee teacheth them For in the last verse of the former chapter he calleth youth vanitie as if he would speake all euill in a word and say that youth is euen the age of sinne Therfore when he had shewed young men their sollie vnder the name of vanitie like a good Tutor he taketh them to schoole and teacheth them their dutie Remember thy Creator as though all sinne were the forgetfulnesse of God and all our obedience came from this remembrance that God created vs after his owne image in righteousnesse and holinesse to serue him here for a while and after to inherit the ioyes which he hath himselfe Which if we did remember doubles it would make vs ashamed to thinke and speake and doe as wee are woont For what man dooth remember his Creator or why he was created while he sweareth and forsweareth and maketh his trade of sinne as though there were no God to iudge nor hell to punish This is because the remembrance of God which would wake sinners is so chased from men for feare it should curbe them of their pleasures that they dare not thinke of him but striue to forget him that they may sinne without feare Therefore he becommeth a Schoolemaster for God and calleth children vnto him before they be corrupted to teach them this one lesson for the guide of their life Remember thy Creator To which he draweth them as it were with two cordes the short slight of their youth and the infinite infirmities of age To shew how soone our youth is gone which we thinke will neuer haue ende Salomon doth not reckon it by yeares but by dayes in the dayes of thy youth so the Scripture numbers our life by dayes and houres and minutes to teach vs to make vse of al our time and euery day to thinke vpon the ende Yet least they should post ouer this remembrance vnto age which is the generall daye that all set to repent after this verse Salomon brings in the old man deafe and blinde and lame and stammering for the
young man to behold as if he should say looke my sonne is this man fit to learne which cannot heare nor see nor speake nor goe Therefore remember thou thy creatour in the dayes of thy youth before this dotage come This then is the leuell of our message to hasten them forward which trauell towards heauen because there is a great space betweene God and vs and much a doe to aspire the toppe of mount Sion but more a doe to aspire the top of the mount of heauen Therefore as Abraham rose early to sacrifice his sonne in the morning so in the morning of thy life sacrifice thy selfe to God and let him which is Alpha in euery thing be Alpha in thy conuersion that is the beginning as well as the ende Because wee are giuen to set the best last that wee may haue a longer time for our sinnes and pleasures like the Iewes in the 1. of Agge 2. which said alway the time was not yet come when they should build the temple Therefore the holy Ghost crieth so often This is the acceptable time this is the day of saluation to day heare his voyce like Rebeccah which taught her sonne the nearest waie to get the blessing When Christ went about to cast out diuels they said that he tormented them before the time so whensoeuer thou goest about to dismisse thy sinnes and pleasures though thou stay till thou bee an olde man yet they will say still that thou dismissest them before the time But then is the time when the diuell saith the time is not yet for the diuell is a lier knoweth that with what liquor our vessels be seasoned at first they will tast of the same euer after whether it be good or bad Therefore as God sueth to haue vs begin at goodnesse so the diuell wooes vs to begin at wickednesse alledging either that wee are not resolued yet to leaue our pleasures or els that God is exceeding mercifull to sinners or else that we shall haue space enough to serue him hereafter So he stands as it were at the ladder foote and keepes vs off with these weapons that wee cannot get vpon the first staffe but one thought or other pulleth vs backe when the foote is in the stirrop ready to ride away from all our sinnes at once Thus wee haue long purposed to serue God and euery man thinketh that hee should be serued but wee cannot accord of the time when to beginne One saith when I am rich an other saith when I am free another saith when I am setled an other saith when I am olde then my pleasure will leaue me and I shall be fitter to fast and pray and sequester my selfe but now I shal be mocked if I be not like others Thus like bad borrowers when our day is past alreadie we craue a longer and a longer and yet a longer til we be arrested with death so the prince of creatures dieth before he considered why hee liued for as no discipline is vsed where Christs discipline is neglected so no time is obserued where Gods time is omitted It is an olde saying Repentance is neuer too late but it is a true saying Repentance is neuer too soone Therefore we are commaunded to runne that wee may obtaine which is the swiftest pace of man The Cherubines were portraited with wings before the place where the Israelites praied to shew how quickly they went about the Lords businesse The Hound which runnes but for the Hare girdes foorth so soone as he sees the Hare start the Hawke which flyeth but for the Partridge taketh her flight so soone as she spyes the Patridge spring so we should followe the woord so soone as it speaketh and come to our Master so soone as hee calleth For God requiring the first borne for his offering and the first fruites for his seruice requireth the first labours of his seruants and as I may say the maidenhead of euery man Therefore so soone as man was created a law was giuen him to shew that hee should liue vnder obedience from the day that hee is borne So soone as he is borne hee is baptized in the name of God to shew that when we cannot runne to Christ we should creepe vnto him and serue him as we can in youth and age so soone as hee beginneth to praye hee saith Thy name be hallowed thy kingdome come thy will be doone before hee aske his dayly bread to shew that wee should seeke the will of God before the food which we liue by much more before the sinnes and pleasures which we perish by so soone as the Lord distributed the Talents he enioyned his seruants to vse them Who is so young which hath not receiued some talēt or other therefore youth cannot excuse him because the talent requires to be asked of euery one which hath it So soone as God had created the man and the woman hee commanded them to increase and multiplie shall we increase and multiplie in the flesh before we encrease and multiplie in the spirit the first thing which God did after hee had created heauen and earth he did separate light from darkenes to shew vs how we should separate good from euill before our good become euill The first lesson that Iohn taught was Repent for the kingdome of heauen is at hand Math. 3. 2. The first lesson that the Disciples taught was Repent too for the kingdome of heauen is at hand Matth. 10. And the first lesson that Christ taught was repent for the kingdome of heauen is at hand Matth. 4. 10. to teach vs what we should do first Repent was the first lesson to yong and old For what can we owe God to morrow which wee are not indebted to day Therefore Dauid prayed Teach mee O Lord to number my dayes not yeares nor my moneths nor my weekes but my dayes shewing that we shall answere for daies as well as yeares for to day as well as to morrow and for our youth as straightly as our age which made him cry Remember not the sinnes of my youth which hee would not haue spoken if God did not marke the sinnes of youth as well as age Therefore he calleth children vnto him as Salomon dooth and saith that hee will teach them the feare of the Lord. For should children honor their father and not honour God It was a sweete comfort when the children went before Christ to his temple and sang there Hosanna to make their fathers ashamed which did not know the Messias when he came when their little children knew him It is written that when Christ heard a young man answer that hee had kept the commaundementes from his youth Christ beganne to loue him which shewes how Christ loueth these timelie beginnings when wee make him our nurse and drawe our first milke from his brests There is not one confession for olde men and another for young men the old man saith not I did beleeue
in God the young man saith not I will beleeue in God but both say I doe beleeue in God for hee which is called I am in the third of Exodus loueth I am and careth not for I was nor I will be When Christ asketh Peter Louest thou me he looketh that Peter should answere him Yea Lord I loue thee and not driue him off as Felix did Paule I will heare thee I will loue thee when I haue a conuenient time For he which will not come when God cals whatsoeuer he say it is impossible that hee should resolue to come heereafter for hee which is euill how should hee resolue to bee good therefore now or neuer now and euer the tree which buddeth not in spring is dead all the yeare when a man is first maried he may vse the matter so to winne his wife vnto him or to estrange her hart for euer when a Pastor commeth first to a place with a small matter he may make the simple people like him or dislike him so long as he staieth when the heire comes to his lands lightly all his tenants beginne to speake well of him or euill of him when a Prince commeth to the crowne by the lawes which hee maketh first the people gesse how he will rule euer after and eyther dispose theyr hearts to loue him or wish his death Therefore the sage and beaten counsaylers aduised Rehoboam when he beganne to raigne Shew thy selfe louing to the people this day and they will be thy seruants for euer As though all the dayes after could not doo so much as the first Such a victorie it is to beginne well as our Prouerbe saith hee which hath begunne well is halfe his waye especiallie it is good for a man to beginne his repentance before he learne to be euill For herein our minds do follow our bodyes If our children bee deformed in their youth we neuer looke to see them well sauored so if the minde be planted in sinne sildome any goodnesse buddeth out of that stocke For vertue must haue a time to growe the seede is sowne in youth which commeth vp in age And if we can say of others when we see a gracelesse boye thou wilt prooue a wag-string if thou liue to bee elder why should wee if we begin as ill as hee thinke that wee shall bee better and better which iudge that he will be worse and worse as the arrowe is directed at the first so it flyeth all the waye ouer or vnder or beside but it neuer findeth the marke vnlesse it bee leuelled right in the hand so they which make an euill beginning forespeake themselues as it were at the first and wander out all their race because when they should haue leuied their life they tooke their aime amisse Therefore happie are they which haue the arrowe in theyr hande and day before them for they neede not wishe to bee yong againe Now kill the serpent in the egge for when he is a serpent he wil kil thee if thou cannot ouercome sinne in the infancie before the roote fasten and the fence bee made about it how wilt thou struggle with the Lion when he seeth his pawes and sinne is become like an olde man so tough and froward that he will not heare As harde as it is to reclaime one of these olde sinners or graunde Papists which are incorporate into poperie and as poyson is setled in a serpent so harde it will bee to reclaime thee when thou wilt beginne to saye it hath beene my custome and I cannot leaue it Trie thy strength but with one of thy sins and see what shifts what excuses what delayes it will find and how it will importune thee to let it alone as the diuell tormented the Childe before hee went out if thou canst not discharge one vice that thou hast accustomed thy selfe vnto when all thy vices are become customes how wilt thou wrastle with them Therefore wee bende the Tree while it is a twigge and breake the Horse while hee is a Colte and teach the Dogge while hee is a whelpe and tame the Eagle while hee is young Youthe is like the daye to doo all our woorkes in For when the night of age commeth then euerie man sayeth I might haue beene learned I might haue beene a teacher I might haue beene like him or him but the haruest was past before I beganne to sowe And Winter is come now my fruite should rype Thus euerie man that is olde saith he cannot doe that which hee thought to doe and crieth with Salomon Catechise the Childe in his youth and he will remember it when he is olde so corrupt him in his youth and he will remember that too This Nabuchadnezzar perceiued and therefore hee chose the towardliest children of the Israelites to traine them vp in idolatrie like the popish Seminaries that they might be his instruments another day If he had let them alone till they had learned the truth first hee thought that they would not take his way therefore hee tooke them before they had any religion to frame them to his religion If idolatours and Papists be so cunning in their generation to poyson their Children betime least they should prooue Christians after what care appertaineth to Christians to season their children in the spring like the vertuous Ladie which Iohn commendeth least they prooue papists and traytours and reprobates when they looke for comfort of them There was nothing which made Rehoboam to choose such young counsailers when hee beganne to raigne but because they were his companions before therefore they became his counsailers after This is the preferment of our sinnes if they haue been our companions in youth in age they will looke to be our counsailers and masters too Therefore the best season to seeke GOD is to seeke him early before the floudes of wrath arise and the heape of sinnes stand vp like a rampired wall betweene GOD and vs. They which seeke mee earlie shall finde mee saith Wisdome in the 8. of Prouerbes but to them which deferre shee saith they shall seeke mee but they shall not finde me 1. Prouerbes because they did not choose the feare of the Lorde that is when good and euill were set before them they did preferre euill before good as a man chooseth that which hee liketh Therefore when they seeke mee saith GOD they shall not finde mee How doe yee say then that yee will seeke GOD when God himselfe saieth that yee shall not finde him Therefore in the 4. of Prouerbes and the 7. Wisedome is called the beginning to teach vs to seeke Wisedome in the beginning For saith Christ If yee seeke the kingdome of heauen first all the rest shall bee cast vpon you hee saith not if you seeke the world first heauen shall bee cast vpon you but if you seeke heauen first worldly things shall be cast vpon you Hee which dooth beleeue this would first seeke the kingdome of heauen for that which
they are but troubles not plagues nor cursses nor torments but like the trauels of a woman when the birth is ripe shee is deliuered and straight shee forgetteth all her paynes for ioye that a man child is borne into the world So the seruants of God trauell but till the fruits be ripe When the new man is borne their trauels are ended and they forget all their troubles because one is borne into the worlde like the sonne of God This is the difference between the afflictions of the righteous and the vngodly When GOD doth visite the wicked his punishments are called plagues and curses and destructions the plagues of Egypt the curse of Cain the destruction of Sodome But when he doth visite the righteous his punishments are called corrections chastisements and rods which proceed froÌ„ a father not to destroy vs but to trie vs and purge vs instruct vs therefore when we are afflicted one sayth that God letteth vs blood to saue our liues for our liues are rancke and must be lopped As Iacob was blessed and halted both at one time so a man may bee blessed and afflicted together Afflictions do not hinder our happinesse but our happinesse commeth by affliction as Iacobs blessing came with halting and as peace is procured by warre Therefore blessed are ye sayth Christ when men persecute you as though they were blessed euen while they were persecuted Therefore this must not dismay vs that the scripture sayth Many are the troubles of the righteous but rather reioyce vs hecause we beare the markes of the righteous Daniel complayneth not of his sicknesse but of his sinnes Who shall fight the Lords battailes but the Lordes seruaunts Therefore when Dauid spake of many troubles he pointed to the righteous as if he should say this is your share the rodde is made for the Childe Christ called the Crosse his cup. The seruant is beloued that drinkes of his Maisters cup Therefore Christ teacheth it to the righteous and bids none but his disciples take the Crosse euerie man which hath his heauen here dooth labour and sweate for his liuing and shal not they which haue their hell heere suffer more then they which haue their heauen heere All men are subiect to dangers and losses and sicknesse But all that beleeue in Christ sayth Paul shall suffâ—â— persecution That is more then dangers or losses or sicknesse which the wicked suffer for the worlde will not persecute her children but shee will persecute Gods Children therefore this church is called the militant church because it is alwayes in warfare Therefore the Gospell is called the worde of the Crosse as though it came to crosse vs Therefore Paul describing the way to heauen draweth by this line by many tribulations the Crosse way is the way to heauen and the righteous walke in it Therefore the Children of God are not only called labourers to shew what they should doe for God but they are called Souldiers to shew what they should suffer for GOD. The seruant is not aboue his master but if Christ should suffer and we should rest the seruant were aboue his Master The prophesie must be fulfilled I will put enmitie betweene the seede of the woman and the seede of the Serpent but if there be no war betweene the children of God and the children of the world the prophesie is not fulfilled Therefore Esau and Iacob had no sooner life but they began to struggle one with another before they came out of their mothers wombe Therfore Abraham was banished so soone as he receiued the promise Therefore Abell was enuied of his brother so soone as he was accepted of God The righteous man was alwayes like Lot among the Sodomites and like Sampson among the Philistines sette a worke by his enemies As Christ was no sooner borne but Herod sought his life so the new man is no sooner borne of the spirit but the serpent is ready to deuour him his brethren to banish him and hell to swallow him In all the worlde hee hath no friend but hee which made the world This is the state of the church militant she is like the Arke floating vpon the waters like a Lilly growing among thornes like the bush which burned with fire and was not consumed so the citie of God is alwayes besieged but neuer ruined Christians and persecutions close together like Christ and his Crosse As Christ was made to beare his owne crosse so they are made to holde their cheekes to the nippers their faces to be buffeted their backes to bee scourged their eyes to be pulled out their peace is persecution their rest labour their riches pouertie their glorie reproches their libertie imprisonment although they bee the sonnes of God the brethren of Christ the onely heires of heauen yet because they suffer their hell heere they must bee contented to be subiect to their enemies to bee abiects to their kinsmen to be hated of most to bee contemned of all to be persecuted ouer the earth a very hauen and receptacle of all troubles Yet as Christ was the sonne of God though his life was nothing but persecution so the righteous are the sonnes of God for all these troubles This is like a bayte in their iourney to thinke as the Samaritan told his hoast if thou spend any more I wil recompence thee wheÌ„ I come So Christ will mende their wages when he commeth Why shuld not God trie his friends as well as wee trie our friends the same afflictions saith Peter are accomplished in others naye greater afflictions are borne of other which woulde make vs dispayre like Caine Christ was consecrated by afflictions therefore we cannot be consecrated without afflictions who would not go to heauen with Eliah though it were in a whirlewind if our troubles be light and few it is because we are weake tender therefore God doth respect our feeblenes layeth no more vpon vs because wee are not able to beare more It is not a signe that we are righteous because our troubles are few but because our troubles are few it is rather a signe that wee are not righteous because Many are the troubles of the righteous For they must bee made examples of patience they must suffer their hell here they must be squared for the temple therefore they must haue manye strokes to make them fitte God is not like a Waspe which when shee hath stoong once cannot sting againe but there is a generation of crosses and a pluralitie of troubles When Dauid spake of trouble hee spake of troopes and heapes and stars and sands and therefore he saith Many as though hee were faine to lay them downe in the grosse sum because he could not reckon them By many tribulations saith Paul but how many he could not number For except our sinnes there is not such plenty of any thing in the world as
I will be as Ioshua which stoode alone and as Elkanah was in stead of children to Annah so Christ shall be in stead of comfort in stead of wealth and health and libertie to mee For manie were the troubles of Ioseph and the Lord deliuered him out of all many were the troubles of Abraham and the Lord deliuered him out of all many were the troubles of Dauid and the Lorde deliuered him out of all manie were the troubles of Iob and the Lorde deliuered him out of all therefore he can deliuer me out of all But if he doe not say Sidrach Misaac and Abednego yet wee will not doe euill to escape daunger because Christ hath suffered more for vs. Therefore if I perish I perish saith Hester She was content that her life should perish but if my purse suffer my money doth but perish if my bodie bee imprisoned my pleasures doe but perish and who can tell wheÌ„ he hath suffered that which is appoynted Therefore God sayth When I see conuenient time will I execute iudgement Not when thou doest thinke it a conuenient time but when he doth think it a conuenient time Therefore saith Dauid to the Lord In thee doe I trust al the day that is if he come not in the morning he will come at noone if he come not at noone he will come at night at one houre of the day he will deliuer me and then as the calme was greater after the tempest than it was before so my ioye shall bee sweeter after teares than it was before the remembrance of Babylon will make vs sing more ioyfull in Sion Thus Dauid describeth the iourney of the righteous as if they should goe through the sea and the wildernesse as the Israelites went to Canaan Looke not for ease nor pleasure in your way but for beasts and serpents and theeues vntill ye be past the wildernesse all is straight and darke and feareful but so soon as you are through the narrowe gate all is large and goodly and pleasant as if you were in Paradise Seeing then your kingdome is not here looke not for a golden life in an iron world but remember that Lazarus doth not mourne in heauen though he suffered paines vpon earth but the glutton mourneth in hell that staied not for the pleasures of heauen To which pleasures the Lord Iesus bring vs when this cloud of trouble is blowen ouer vs Amen FINIS THE CHRISTIANS Practise Rom. 12. 2. Be yee changed by the renuing of your mindes that yee may prooue what is the good will of God acceptable and perfect WHen Christ sent foorth his Disciples he said vnto them Goe preach and baptize ioyning these two together Preaching and Baptizing This being the occasion of our exercise because I am to speake of Baptisme which is the Sacrament of Regeneration I could not choose a fitter Scripture then this which I handled last which speakes of the renuâ—ng of our mindes for when our mindes are renued then the vow which we made in Baptisme is performed When Paul had forbidden the Romanes to fashion themselues vnto the world he sheweth them another fashion which hee calles The renuing of the minde As the Eagle renueth her youth so men must renue their mindes This fashion is called the Wedding garment which euery man must weare that comes to the banquet of the King As when men haue gone ouer one fashion after another at last they come to the olde fashion againe so here Paul calles them to the olde fashion again which was vsed in Adams time that is the Image and fashion wherein they were created Nowe the reason followeth That they might proue what the wil of God is as if hee should say This shall be the fruit of your regeneration when your mindes are renued you shall know many thinges which are hid from you you shall bee able to iudge doctrines who preach truth and who preach error and you shall vnderstand the will of God what he would haue you doe and what hee would haue you flie as if you were in his bosome As new wine will not abide but in new vessels so this new knowledge will not abide but in new mindes The minde renued knoweth God so that this Scripture may be called the path to knowledge or the waie to sound the minde of God which is a secret that euery man longs to know but the most turne a wrong leafe to finde it as Paul sayth of Peter He lookes a wrong way to the Gospel When the serpent taught knowledge he said If ye eate the forbidden fruite your eyes shalbe opened and you shall knowe good and euill but Paul sayth If ye will not eate the forbidden fruite your eyes shal be opened and you shall know good and euill This is one reason why Paul would haue them renue their mindes That they might know the will of God Why doth not the word of God teach vs the wil of God Yes but no man doth vnderstand this word but hee which hath a new minde because as the Sunne is not discerned by any light but by his owne light so no spirite can interpret the Scripture but the same spirite which wrote it which is called the holy spirite because it is holy and because it makes holy Sinne was the first vaile which obscured mans vnderstanding and till the cause of this eclipse be taken away the Apostle sayth that we shall see but in part that is as the Sunne may be seene in his eclipse but he seemes liker to darknesse then to light so vnderstanding may be seene in the wicked but it is liker ignorance then knowledge therefore Paul makes knowledge one of the fruites which bud out of righteousnes They which haue renued their mindes saith he shall proue what the will of God is that is they shall trie all that they doe heare and learne by all that they see vntill they tract out the will and meaning of GOD. As the water ingendreth Ice and the Ice againe ingendreth water so knowledge begets righteousnes and righteousnes againe begetteth knowledge according to that in Eccles 2. 26 To a man that is good in his sight God giueth wisedome and knowledge therefore though ye haue seene cunning Lawyers by much reading and expert Phisitians by long study yet you could neuer see a perfect and sound and iudiciall Diuine without holynesse I cannot tel how this knowledge is rather feeling than learning in the aboundance of the heart or an extreame study sent by God vnto good men like the Ramme which was brought vnto Abraham when he would sacrifice his Sonne As Salomon sayth The knowledge of good things is vnderstanding so none but they which are holy haue this vnderstanding He which can say with Dauid I loue thy lawe and I keepe thy precepts may follow with Dauid I haue more vnderstanding than my teachers and know more then the auncient
our sinnes are washed with Christes bloud when our bodies are washed they are taken out of the water againe to signifie how we shall be raised from death to life by the resurrection of Christ and how we should rise from sinne to righteousnesse thus we begin our life with a solemne promise to God before the Church to serue him with our bodies and soules till death vs depart Now let vs remember how we haue kept this promise with the Lord or rather how we haue broken promise with him then we gaue our selues to GOD but since we haue giuen our selues to sinne then wee promised to renounce the world but euer since we haue embraced the world therefore now let vs begin to pay that which we ought so long and pray the Lord which hath instituted this Sacrament as a seale of his mercie to receiue this child into his fauour as we receiue it into his Church to baptize it with his spirit as wee baptize it with water and powre vpon it his grace as we giue it the signe of grace FINIS THE PILGRIMS WISH PHILIP 1. 23. I desire to bee dissolued and to bee with Christ. HEere is Pauls desire to be dissolued and the cause that he might be with Christ wherein first you shal see the difference betweene the faithfull and the wicked how one loatheth this life and the other longeth after it Secondly because the Apostle seemes to desire death you shall see whether any man may wish to die Thirdly because after his dissolution hee hopes to bee with Christ you shall see the diuersitie of iudgements betweene Paul and the Papists which think when they are dead that they shall goe on to Purgatorie Lastlie because the soules which are with Christ cannot walke as they did when they liued vpon the earth you shall heare a little of walking spirits which haue beene so much talked of in the time of poperie and were taken for the soules of them which were dead after wee will speake a little of the Sacrament which yee come to receiue and so commit you to God I desire to be dissolued Before Christes comming when the Kings or Patriarches died it is said that they went to their fathers as we read of Dauid and Salomon c. but after Christs comming when the faithfull die they are said to go to Christ as we read of the penitent thief Luke 23. 43. Not because the Patriarches went not to Christ as well as they but because yet Christ was not ascended to heauen therefore they are not to go to Christ although if they went to heauen they must needes go to Christ because Christ touching his Godhead was alwaies in heauen I desire to be dissolued As the wordly long for Christ to come to them so the faithful long to go to Christ for vnlesse we ascend to him as he descended to vs his descending is in vaine because he came downe that we might go vp he descended to take our flesh we ascende to take his kingdom he descended to be crucified we ascende to be glorified he descended to hell we ascend to heauen that is to ioy to glory to blisse to our father to our Sauiour to our comforter to Angels to Saints to eternall life therefore good cause had Paul to desire to be with Christ that he might be at rest for no doubt it was the sweetest voice that euer the theefe heard in this life when Christ said vnto him This day shalt thou bee with me in Paradise Luke 23. chapt vers 45. Besides as Paul persecuâ—ed before so he was after persecuted himselfe as he tels the Corinthians 2. Cor. 11. 24. I was thrise beaten with rods I was once stoned I suffered thrise shipwrake c. Therefore good cause had Paul to desire to be with Christ that he might be out of trouble Yet he wil not dissolue himself but desireth to be dissolued that is that he which brought him into this world would take him out of the world neither doth he wish or pray or make any petitioÌ„ to God to take away his life but tels him his desire desiring to be dissolued to desire is not to pray but shewes what we approue neither doth he desire so to be dissolued as though he were weary of his labors would suffer no more for Christ but he is content to liue as he saith in the 24. vers Neuertheles for me to abide in the flesh were better for you as if he should say to do you good I am content to suffer euil and stay still from Christ whom I long to be with Seeing then that he wil not dissolue himself nor pray to be dissolued but is content to liue stil why doth he say I desire to be dissolued Onelie to shew what he preferreth in his desire if hee might choose life or death for his owne respect he could be content to leaue friends and riches and pleasures and life and all onely to bee with Christ This seemes to be a good lesson for sickemen when they can liue no longer then to be with Christ were better then to be with the glutton which neuer thought of heauen til he was in hell but Paul was not sicke nor sore when he desired to be dissolued therefore this is not onely for the sicke but for the whole If he had wished to liue stay still in the world no man need to be taught to say after him for yong old desire not to be dissolued but few are content to bee dissolued To a naturall man in this life nothing is so sweete as life it selfe and he which is in loue with this world seldome dyeth quietly vpon his bed but to a minde which misliketh this worlde nothing can come so welcome as death because it takes him out of the world This it is which Paul would haue vs learne that nothing in this world is so pretious or pleasant that for it we should desire to liue or stay from God one hower though all may not wish to die yet all must subscribe to this that death is better then life because it leads to Christ which when Paul had throughlie tasted he was satisfied for all things else and desired to liue no longer that he might bee with Christ heerein appeareth the end of mans life which when he hath obtayned he desireth to liue no longer how great riches and honours and friends soeuer he leaue behind him From the time he knoweth Christ crucified and begins like Enoch to walke with God he cryeth euer after with the Apostle I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ who shall deliuer mee from this bodie of sinne death weare to me aduantage Euen as Simeon reioiced that Christ came to him so the faithfull reioice that they shall go to Christ The necessitie of sinne is so irksome to him which knoweth the vilenesse of sinne that the faithfull man but to doe good would not liue
that day when Christ shall say vnto him as he said to the penitent theefe This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Thus you haue heard the difference betweene the faithfull and the wicked how the one lotheth this life and the other longeth after it Now wee come to our questions Simeon said Lord now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace so Paul saith I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ they doubted not as the Papists doe what should become of them after death for one saith that he goes to Christ the other saith that he goes to peace therefore it seemes that Purgatorie was not yet found when the iust men went to peace This is one of the fruits of a godly life it hath hope saith Salomon in the end in death it warranteth a man of life when the flesh saith feare and the serpent despaire it makes the flesh crouch and the serpent flye the soule reioyce while death is opening the prison doore that she may flie to her countrey from whence she came Therefore what shall I say to Purgatorie if Paul go to Christ Simeon goe to peace Some say that it is in the ayre some say that it is in the earth some vnder the earth some a little aboue hell Thus Nabuchadnezzar cannot assoile his owne dreame You must vnderstand that Purgatorie is like your paynted Sepulchers which are framed more for the liuing then for the dead for you know that the locusts of Rome liue by Trentals and Dirges and Masses for the dead as the Siluersmiths in Ephesus liued by Images and therefore as they were loth that Images should goe downe so they are loth that their Purgatorie should bee quenched for it is the gainfullest lye in all Poperie for out of this lake issue their Masses and Dirges and Trentals for the dead They are sayd for the dead but they make for the liuing For the dead haue no portion of al that is done vnder the sun doe what you will say what you can Masses Dirges or Trentals they haue no portion in it for they haue receiued their reward alreadie and the tree lieth where it fell yet these foolish virgins hope for oyle of the wise virgins and thinke they shall be paied for other mens labours and almes and trentals pilgrimages and Masses as though they neuer read that the iust shall liue by his owne faith that he which beleeueth shal not go to iudgement but passe from death to life that they that die in the Lord rest from their labours how doe they goe presently into Paradise if they stay at Purgatorie and fire torments Hath Christ satisfied for vs must wee now make satisfaction for our selues Whither the glutton and the beggar are gone thither must we all that is to Abrahams bosome or hell fire there are but two kindes of men and therefore but two waies and where then is Purgatorie which the best of the fathers confesseth that he could neuer finde in Scripture Therefore take heed of hell for Purgatorie is but a scarre babe Furthermore when Paul sayth that he shall goe to Christ this seemes to resolue the old question often debated among the simple people once deluded whether the soules of men departed walke after death and appeare vnto men exhorting them to this or that as Gregorie or some counterfeit reporteth in his Dialogues The Apostles before their full groweth might seeme to bee incumbred with this errour because when they saw Christ walking vpon the waters they sayd It is a spirite and when Peter knocked at the doore in the night they sayd to Rhode a Damsell It is his Angel Act. 12. 15. Which errour was drawen from the elusion of Sathan and vulgar opinion receiued from Pythagoras which taught that the soules of men departed did returne into the bodies of other men after death either for correction or for reward if they were good soules then they were preferred to better men if they had been badde soules then they were cast into worse bodies then they had before a fine Philosophicall dreame This deluded Herod when hee heard of Christ he supposed that Iohn Baptist was risen againe whom he had beheaded and the better sort of the people as we reade in Mat. 16. 14. dreamed that Christ was Elias or Iohn Baptist or Ieremie or some of the Prophets risen againe But touching the soule once departed from the body that it returnes not nor can returne into the world many examples and testimonies and reasons the order of our resurrection declareth The soules of the righteous are in the hands of the Lord no man or diuell can take them out of his hands the soules of the wicked are in the hands of the diuell and God will not take them out of his hands and therefore Abraham sayth He which is here cannot come from hence and they which be there cannot come frō thence for then the paines of hell were not euerlasting paynes not the ioyes of heauen euerlasting ioyes but temporal like the paynes and ioyes of this world Therefore it is no soule which walks about How then What is this which I see in the night like such a man and such a man The Diuell which chaungeth himselfe into an Angell of light to deceiue can change himself into the likenes of a man much more that is it which thou seest as Saul sawe Samuel 1. Sam. 28. 8. not Samuel himselfe For could the Witch raise Samuel out of the graue which could not keepe her selfe out of the graue or could the diuell disturbe the Prophet after death Then he should neuer be quiet if the diuell could disturbe him because hee disquieteth the godlie so much while they liue If this apparation bee called Samuel how doth he call it Samuell if it be not Samuel As the Bookes of Caluine are called Caluine as the picture of Beza is called Beza as he which playeth the King vpon a stage is called a King as the golden Myce and Hemerodes which the Philistines layd in the Arke were called Myce and Hemerodes although they were but meere shapes and figures of them so this likenesse of Samuel is called Samuell though it was not Samuel in deede but a counterfeit shape of Samuel For GOD would not answere Saul before by Oracle nor by Priest nor by Prophet and would hee aunswere him by the dead which dooth forbid to aske counsell of the dead No sayth Abraham they haue Moses and the Prophets Luke 16. As if hee should say let them learne of the bookes of the dead for the dead shall not returne vnto them Againe if it had been Samuel himselfe which had taught Saul to worship GOD woulde that holie Prophet haue receiued worship himselfe as this spirit did Againe If it had been Samuel Sauls Schoolemaster which taught him alwayes to repent while hee liued hee would rather haue exhorted him to repentance now
giue examples and the sonne of GOD humbleth himselfe from heauen to earth and yet we contemne the example of Kings of the earth and the example of the King of heauen The time was when Adam digged and delued when Dauid kept sheepe and all the house of Iacob were called men occupied about cattell but as they for this were abhominable to the Egyptians as Moses saith in the same verse so they which doe like them are abhorred of their brethren they which liue by them scorne them for their worke which would be chastened themselues because they worke not There was no Arte nor Science which was so much set by in former times and is now profitable to the common-wealth bringing lesse profit vnto it self that may so iustly complaine of her fall without cause and her despight from them which liue by her as this painfull Science of husbandrie that it is marueil that any man will take paine for the rest to be contemned for his labour and be a scorne for the rest which might hunger and starue if he did not labour for them more then they do themselues No maruel then though many in the poore countries murmure complaine that other cannot liue by them and they cannot liue themselues but it is maruell if their complaint doe not growe in time of rebell on and pull other as lowe as themselues for why should the greatest payne yeeld the least profit yet this is their ease for if you marke you shal see that the husband-man doth bate the price of his fruits so soon as the dearth is past though he rayseth it a little while the dearth lasteth but they which raise the price of their wares with him seldome fall againe but make men pay as deere when the dearth is past as if it were a dearth stil Thus a plentiful yeere doth damage him and a hard yeere dooth vantage them So this painefull man is faiâ—e to liue poorely fare meanely goe barely house homely rise early labour dayly sell cheape and buy deere that I may truely say that no man deserueth his liuing better no man fulfilleth the law neerer that is thou shalt gette thy liuing in the sweate of thy browes then this poore sonne of Adam which pickes his crums out of the earth therfore he should not be mocked for his labor which hath vexation enough though all men spake well of him in my opinion if any deserue to be loued for his innocencie or for his trueth or his paine or the good which he brings to the common wealth this Realme is not so much beholding to any sorte of men but those that feede the soule as those which feede the body that is those that labour the earth yet you see how they liue like drudges as though they were your seruants to prouide foode for you and after to bring it to your doores as the beasts serue them so they serue you as though you were another kinde of men I cannot thinke vpon their miserie but my thoughts tels me that it is a great part of our vnthankfulnesse that we neuer consider what an easie life and liuing God hath giuen vnto vs in respect of them If the Apostles rule were kept they which doe not worke should not eate but now they which do not work eate most and the husband-men which worke eate not but are like Bees which prepare foode for other and pyne themselues Let vs consider this for they had not one lawe and wee another but the same curse which was denounced vpon Adam was denounced vpon all his children that euery man should get his liuing in the sweat of his browes Although I knowe there bee diuers workes and diuers gifts and diuers callings to worke in yet alwayes prouided they which doe not worke should not eat for in the sweat of thy browes that is in labor and trauel thou king and thou Iudge and thou Prelate and thou Land-lord and thou Gentleman shalt gette thy liuing as Adam thy Father did or else thou doest auoyde the curse and a greater curse shall follow that is they which wil not sweat in earth shall sweate in hell Adam had foode as wel as thou and so had Noah and more then thou vnlesse thou hadst all for they had all and yet they might not be idle because their handes were not giuen them for nothing Some worke with their penne some with their tongues some with their fingers as nature hath made nothing idle so God would haue no man idle but that he which is a Magistrate should do the work of a Magistrate hee which is a Iudge should doe the worke of a Iudge he which is a Captaine should doe the worke of a Captaine he which is a Minister should doe the worke of a Minister as when Noah was called an husband-man he did the worke of an husband-man This contempt of the Countrey doth threaten danger to the land as much as any thing els in our daies vnles their burthen bee eased and their estimation qualified in some part to their paines Thinking that you haue not heard of this theame before seeing the wordes of my Texte did lie for it thus much haue I spoken to put you in mind how easily you liue in respect of them to certifie your mindes towards our poore brethren which in deede seeme too base in our eyes and are scorned for their labours as much as we should be for our idlenes Then saith Moses Noah began to bee an husbandman In that it is here sayd that Noah began it doth not disproue that he gaue not himselfe to husbandrie before but it importeth that Noah began to set vp husbandrie againe after the floud before any other so this good man recomforted with the experience of Gods fauour which had exempted him his seede out of all the world and reioycing to see the face of the earth againe after the waters were gone though then an olde man and weake he was yet he returneth to his labour afresh and scorned not to till and plant for all his possessions as though hee were an husbandman such a lowlines is alwaies ioyned with the feare of GOD that they that are humbled with Religion doe not thinke themselues too good to doe any good thing Heere note by the way that none of Noahs sonnes are sayde to begin this worke but Noah himselfe the olde man the hoary head and carefull Father begins to teach the rest and shewes his sonnes the waye how they should prouide for their sonnes and how all the world after should liue by labour and trauell till they returne to dust so the olde man whom age dispenseth withall to take his ease is more willing to prouide for the wants of his children then they are which are bound to labour for themselues and their parents to as the Storke doth feede the damme when she is olde because the damme fed her when she was young what a shame is this to Shem and Iapheth
with the wicked therefore their gifts are not like the tree planted by the waters side but like the Chaffe which the winde bloweth away Nay saith Dauid themselues are like Chaffe which the winde bloweth away If they bee Chaffe then their fruite is Chaffe The Gluttons table was for the vngodly but the Lords table was for the holy Therfore he which had not the Wedding garment had not the wedding feast For if the Lord would cast pearles vnto Swine why doth he forbid vs to doe so Therfore it is not said Be it vnto thee as thou desirest lest all should looke to receiue but Be it vnto thee as thou beleeuest that all might care to Beleeue It is not said to them which seeke not yee shall find but Seeke and you shall find How should they Enter which haue not a hand to knocke at the doore How should they Receiue which haue not a tongue to aske the giuer How should they haue wisedome which haue not the feare of the Lorde which is the beginning of wisedome Thus as Iames saith Shew me thy faith and I will shew thee my faith So God faith shewe mee thy loue and I will shew thee my loue as Christ was knowne at Emaus by breaking of bread so you may knowe him heere by dealing his giftes It is said when Ioseph feasted his brethren Beniamins messe had fiue times more than any of his brethren because Ioseph loued him more than the rest so the mercy and graces of God will shew to whome his affection standeth If you see Christ leaning on a mans breast as Iohn did on Christs breast then may you say this is a beloued Disciple For as Lidia perswaded Paule and Silas to come to her house saying If you iudge me to bee faithfull come to my house so you may iudge them to be faithfull to whose house the Lord commeth If you aske Salomon to whome the Lord giueth wisedome and knowledge hee answereth To a man which is good in his sight Eccles the second Chapter and twentie sixe verse shewing that those men are gracious in Gods sight as Ioseph was in Pharaohs Contrariwise if you see God flying from a man as Dauid fled from Saul that is withdrawing his spirite as the Master did his Talent then you may saie this is not a faithfull seruant to his Master for if he had vsed his Talent well the Lord would increase it as hee promised but because he doth abuse it therefore the Lorde dooth withdrawe it againe as he threatned To some God giueth and neuer recalleth againe to some he giueth and after taketh it from them As some Angels went vp the ladder and some went downe so some mens gifts increase and some decrease To the Ephesians the fourth Chapter you haue GOD giuing In Matthew 21. you haue him taking In Genes 1. you haue God blessing In Genes 4. you haue God cursing In Acts 26. you haue God opening eyes In Esay 6. you haue God shutting eyes In Dan. 2. you haue God making wise In Esa 44. you haue God making fooles In Iohn 15. you haue God dressing trees In Matthew 3. you haue God hewing downe trees When one sea floweth another â—bbeth When one starre riseth another setteth When light is in Goshen darknesse is in Aegypt When Mordecai groweth into fauour Haman groweth out of fauour When Beniamin beginneth Rachel endeth Thus wee are rising or setting getting or spending winning or loosing growing or fading vntill wee arriue at Heauen or Hell As Elisha his spirite was doubled so Saules spirit departed As the Gentiles become beleeuers so the Iewes become infidels As Saule becommeth an Apostle so Iudas becommeth an Apostata As Iohn groweth in the spirite so Ioash decaieth in the spirite As Zacheus turneth from the world so Demas turneth to the world As Lidias heart is opened so Pharaohs heart is hardened Euen as the thornes burne while the Vines fructifie When Ishbosheth was a sleepe vpon his bed Baanab and Rechab came and tooke away his life So while men sleepe and do no good God commeth and taketh away their gifts It was neuer said Sampson hath lost his strength vntill he harkened vnto Dahiah It was neuer said Saul hath lost his spirit vntill hee harkened not to Samuell It was neuer said Take his Talent from him vntill he hid it in the ground One sinne openeth the doore for many vertues to goe out While Iaacob staied with Laban Labans cattell increased because God blessed him for Iaacobs sake but when Iaacob went from him many of Labans sheepe went with him and he grewe poore againe so while the loue of righteousnesâ—e is with thee to husband thy knowledge and wisdome like Iaacob thou shalt thriue in graces and one daye shall teach another but when that steward departeth from thee then looke that thy wisedome and knowledge and iudgement should decrease as fast as the widowes oyle increased the world will winne the flesh and the flesh will winne the spirit and one sinne will crie to another as the Moabites did at the riuer Now Moab to the spoyle now sinnes to your spoyle then thy knowledge shall flie as though it were afraide to bee taken captiue of ignorance thy loue shall not abide thy hatred thy humilitie shall not abide thy pride thy temperaunce shall not abide thy concupisence As thou seest the leaues fall from the trees in a boystrous winde so thy graces shall drop away one after another as though thou were in a consumption As the Arke would not staye with the Philistines so the grace of GOD will not staie with sinners but flieth from them like persecutors Dauid was not so readie to flie from Saule but the spirite was as readie to flie from him too This must come vppon all which sinne like Sampson their strength must departe from them vntill they learne like Nabuchadnezzar from whence it came This sentence is such a meditation that hee which would preach it to the quicke had neede to haue an eie in all mens hearts to see how one vertue dieth after another vntill the soule die too As there is a fall of leaues and an Eclipse of the sunne and a consumption of the bodie so there is a fall of giftes and an Eclipse of knowledge a consumption of the spirit It is straunge to see how wisdome and knowledge and iudgement doe shun the wicked as though they were afraid to be defiled As Barach would not goe vnles Deborah would go with him so knowledge will not stay vnles vertue will stay with her To this Ieremy poynted when he mocked the Iewes for saying Knowledge shall not depart from the priest nor counsel from the wise nor the word from the prophet to this Esay pointed when he saith The wisdome of the wise men shal perish and the vnderstanding of the prudent shall be hid as if he should say one day Christ will tell you that Whosoeuer hath not from him c. And
God and keepe his Commaundements When he had gone through a thousand vanities then that comes in at the ende euen like our repentance which staies till death So his drift is to shew that mans happinesse is not in these things which we count of but in those which we deferre his reason is they are all vanitie his proofe is because there is no stabilitie in them nor contentatiō of minde his conclusion is therfore contemne the world and looke vp to Heauen from whence ye came and whither yee shall goe This is the scope which Salomon aymes at as though wee did all seeke happinesse but we goe a wrong waie vnto it Therefore he sounds a retyre shewing that if wee holde on our course and goe forwards as we haue begun wee shall not finde happinesse but great miserie because we goe by vanitie Therefore to fright vs out of this way hee breakes forth into an exclamation Vanitie of vanities All is vanitie Now Salomon full of wisedome and schooled with experience is licensed to giue his sentence of the whole world For the spirituall man iudgeth all things his iudgement is so certaine that it runnes before the Euidence and condemnes al for Vanitie before he conuince them to be vaine whereas wee prooue first and condemne after because our words are no authorities hee concludes first and prooues after neuer any iudge did condemne so manie together Salomon resolued all the questions of the Queene Shebah yet Salomon neuer aunswered so many questions at once as now for what can you enquire but heere you haue an answere Aske him as the Souldiers and harlots and Publicans asked Iohn What is sinne Vanitie saith Salomon What is Pleasure Vanitie too What is Beautie Vanitie too What is Riches Vanitie too What is Honour Vanitie too What is Long life Vanitie too This is the state of all things after the fall all turne to Vanitie This is no reproch to the things but shame to him which so abused them that all things should be called Vanitie for him What a testimonie is this of him which should bee the onely seruant of God on earth whome hee created in holines and righteousnes whom he framed to his owne Image whom he placed in Paradise and woulde haue raised to heauen to heare that he hath so polluted his life with euerie sinne that now there is nothing but Vanitie That is a lamentable song which will make him weepe that tunes it if hee thinke what he saith how his state is chaunged since Adam his father died Once God saith that all was good and now he saith that all is nought and vaine as though he forbad man that which he created for man That is not Salomons meaning to debarre men from the vse of creatures although all things changed with man became worse than they were yet hee dooth heere rather shewe that man reapes nothing but Vanitie out of these things by reason of his corruption than that the things themselues are vaine if they were well vsed For euen since the creation Paule saith 1. Tim. 4. That euerie creature of God is good and nothing is to be reiected if it be receiued or vsed with thankesgiuing for it is sanctified by the worde of God and praier That is it which maketh them profitable to vs which because it is wanting for the most part therfore Salomon saith that all are vaine to vs not vaine of themselues but because they are not sanctified as they should be therefore in the 2. 24. the 3. 12. and 22. the 5. 17. the 8. and 15. he shewes a way how we may make profit of all and reioyce in our labours and finde a lawfull pleasure in earthly things so often he cals to the vse lest wee should erre as the Monkes and Eremits haue done before mistaking these wordes when he saith that All is vanity they haue forsaken all companie gouernement and office and trade and got themselues into the wildernes amongst beasts to liue in quiet and silence saying that men could not liue in the world and please God because All is vanitie so while they counted all things vaine they became vain themselues and left those blessings which Salomon inioyed after his knowledge more than he did before Therefore it is vaine man which Salomon reproueth which is not onelie called Vanitie but lighter thā Vanitie If he did not things vainely nothing should bee vaine in the worlde whereas now by abuse we may se sometime as great vanitie in the best things as in the worst For are not many vaine in their knowledge vaine in their pollicies vaine in their learning as other are vaine in their ignorance Was not the wisedom of Achitopel a vaine thing The swiftnes of Hazael a vaine thing The strength of Goliah a vaine thing The treasures of Nabuchadnezzar a vaine thing The honour of Ammon a vaine thing The beautie of Absolon a vaine thing The knowledge of the Scribes a vaine thing The deuotion of the Pharisies a vaine thing And so is the learning of all those a vaine thing that do no good with it but either it lies vnder a bushell and mouldes or else it prattles like Tertullus alwaies against Paul striuing to make warre betweene them which loue dearer than any brethren By this you may see that vanitie is bolde when she breaks into houses and Churches and Pallaces and sometime vanitie may come to infect where Trueth may not come to reprooue Is it not high time then to sounde this Alarum againe Vanitie of vanities c. If we could heare how vehementlie and how pittifullie Salomon pronounced this outcrie happilie it would moue vs a little to heare how hee did exclame of his owne life and condemned himselfe as it were by the sounde of a Trumpet that all might heare For we are all by nature such deafe Adders that whether the Prophets come piping or mourning or crying they goe away from vs againe mourning like Ieremie we would haue cured Babel but she would not be cured Nay the Citie of Ierusalem would not saith our Sauiour Christ when hee wept for his Israelites Therefore Salomon speakes thrice like a Cryer Vanitie of vanities as the mother which would faine make her sonne to heare she doubles and trebles her wordes What my sonne and what the sonne of my wombe and what the sonne of my desires So when GOD would stirre vs vp to heare he crieth thrice to the earth and saith Earth earth earth heare the word of the Lord so when Salomon would disswade from the companie of the wicked reade Prouerbs 4. 1 4 how often he repeates the charge Enter not into the waie of the wicked walke not in it auoid it goe not by it turne from it and passe by as though hee would neuer haue done or as though wee woulde neuer heare So Christ when hee taught Peter what was his duetie rehearsed it thrice Feede Feede Feede Ioseph
recorde against it selfe repenting for breaking this commaundement and that commaundement and neuer repenteth for breaking this commaundement reioice euermore It is not an indifferent thing to reioyce or not to reioice but wee are commaunded to reioyce to shew that wee breake a commandement if we reioyce not Oh what a comfort is this when the comforter himselfe shall coÌ„maund vs to reioyce God was wont to say repent and not reioice because men reioyce too much but heere God commaundeth to reioyce as though some men did not reioyce enough Therefore you must vnderstand to whom he speaketh In 149. Psal 5. It is said Let the Saints be glad not let the wicked be glad and in Esaiah 40. 1. Hee saith Comfort my people not comfort mine enemies shewing to whoÌ„ this commandement of Paul is sent reioyce euermore it is not in this as Christ saieth that which I say vnto you I say vnto all but that which I say vnto you I say not vnto all Giue wine saith Salomon vnto him that is sorrowfull that he may forget his griefe So giue comfort vnto him which is penitent that he may forget his feare Salomon saith fiue times that this is the portion of man vnder the sunne to receiue the gifts of God with thankefulnes and to reioyce in them hee which would haue vs holy as he is holy would haue vs ioyfull as he is ioyfull he which would haue vs do his will vpon earth As the Angels doo it in heauen would haue vs reioyce vpon earth as the Angels reioyce in heauen he which hath ordained vs to the kingdome of Saints woulde haue vs reioice that we haue such a kingdom to receiue Therefore he saith to his Disciples Reioice that your names are written in the booke of life as Bâ—az said vnto Ruthâ— goe not out of this fielde to gleane in any other field for here thou shalt haue inough so he woulde not haue vs goe from this comfort vnto any other comfort for here we shall haue enough the spirite of God is called the Comforter because we should haue comfort in it I will send you the Comforter saith Christ to shew that they which haue the spirit haue comfort too and they which resist comfort resiste the spirit therefore the sonne of GOD is called the Consolation of Israell to shew that hee bringeth Consolation with him and that ioye is where Christ is as light is where the SuÌ„ne is Therefore the chiefest ioy is called the ioye of the holie Ghost to shewe that they haue the chiefest ioye which haue the holie Ghost therefore the greatest peace is called the peace of conscience to shew that they haue the greatest peace which haue a good conscience therefore the faithfull are said to be annointed with the oyle of ioy as though ioie were in their countenance therefore they are said to be cloathed with the garmeÌ„t of gladnes as though gladnes did compasse them like a garment therefore Paul in al his Epistels doth ioine grace peace together shew that the peace of God doth follow them which haue the grace of God It is not in vaine that the holy Ghost when he named Barnabas interpreted his name too because it signifieth the sonne of consolation as though he delighted in such men as were the sonne of consolation Comfort one another saith Paule How shal we comfort one another without comfort Therefore Paule saith GOD comforteth vs that we may be able to comfort other by the comfort wherby we our selues are comforted of God shewing that wee cannot comfort other vnlesse wee be comfortable our selues and therefore that we may performe this dutie we are bound to nourish comfort in our selues Paul saith I am full of comfort who then can say I am full of sorrow but he must contrarie Paule As the bodie may not offend the soule so the soule may not iniure the body because it is the bodis keeper but a pensiue man doth iniure the body and the soule too for Salomon saith A sound spirit will beare his infirmities but a wounded spirite who can beare As if he should say The heart must be kept couragious and strong liuely like an instrument which is tuned to tune all the rest or els euery griefe wil make thee impatient In Deut. 30. 9. it is said that God reioiceth to doe vs good therefore in the 28 of Deut. the Iewes are reprooued because they reioyced not in the seruice of God As he loueth a cheerfull giuer so hee loueth a cheerfull seruer and a cheerefull Preacher and a cheereful hearer and a cheereful worshipper and therefore Dauid saith Let vs sing hartelie vnto the Lord shewing as it were the tune which delighteth Gods eares If you would know with what tune ye should sing vnto God Dauid saith Heartelie that is you must giue heartelie you must loue heartelie you must obey heartelie you must pray heartelie and when you do all thinges heartely then you shall doe all things cheerfully Therfore now I may say vnto them which resist comfort and nourish griefe as the Prophet saith Who hath required these things of you GOD doth require no sorrowe but the sorrow for sin no feare but the fear to sin no care but the care to please him nay hee hath forbidden al other care and therefore Peter saith Cast your care vppon him As though God did not allow vs to care he sent his Apostle with this charge Cast your care vppon him As wee doo cast our sinnes vpon Christ so we must cast our cares vpon him for God hath commaunded vs to labour but not to care because care hindereth our labour like the Samaritanes which seemed to helpe the Iewes to build the Temple hindered them to build the Temple so care and sorrow thought seeme to helpe vs in our labours our studies our prayers and our strife but indeede they hinder vs for they take al the time from that which we should do disable vs to do it and therefore when care commeth to vs we shal answere it as Christ said vnto Sathan Auoide Sathan auoide care for euery care which is not of God is of Sathan and we may not beare that which God commaundeth vs to cast vppon him shall I hang my ioy and my faith and my hope because I haue sinned as Iudas hanged himself The Scripture saieth not let him which hath stolne despaire of mercie but Let him which hath stolne steale no more and it is enough As we are taught to discerne of spirites of doctrines so we must discerne of cares and sorrowes for when Paul saith There is a repentance not to be repented of Hee sheweth that there is a repentance to be repented of that is a repentance which is a sin like the teares of Esau which wept not for his sins but for
his patrimony When wee sorrowe for any thing but sinne as Esau did then our sorrow is murmuring and when wee sorrow more for sinne then wee should as some doe then our sorrow is distrust which hurteth vs more than the thing which wee sorrow for For The sorrowe of the heart saith Salomon is the consuming of the bones not onely the consuming of the soft flesh but the consuming of the hard bones that is it will pull down the strongest man that is and hee which intertaineth it shall quickly say with Naomi Call me no more beautifull but bitter Call mee no more strong but weak for it wil change him like a sicknes therefore as Christ refused the vineger would not drinke it when he had tasted it So let no man drinke of sorrow before he taste it But if anie thing eat thee vp let the zeale of Gods house eate thee vp for thy charge is not to get thy liuing with the care of thy minde but with the sweate of thy browes Now as Iames saith Resist the deuil hee will flie from you So resist sorrowe and it will flie from you This is all the care and all the feare and all the repentance which euer I could find in the Scripture Therefore let vs pray God euery day to tourne all our ioye into the ioy of the Holy Ghost and all our peace into the peace of conscience and all our sorrow into the sorrow for sinne and all our feare into the feare to sinne that so wee may sorrow reioyce together feare hope together that is haue one eie to the Law to keepe vs from presumption and another eie to the Gospel to keepe vs from despaire and then this comfort is sent to vs Reioyce euer more or els we haue nothing to do with it It followeth Pray continually As Elisha would not prophecie vntill the Musitian came and while the Musitian played Elisha prophecied so when the heart reioyceth in God then it is fittest to call vppon God and therefore Paul putteth reioyce before pray like the Musitian which played before Elisha prophecied After Reioyce continually hee biddeth vs Pray continually shewing that it must be such a reioycing continually that we may pray continually too or els he doeth not allowe vs to reioyce How can these two ioyne together Pray and Reioyce Some if they should praye cannot reioyce for theyr heartes Nay their harts are sicke vntill their prayers bee done although they praye not themselues but heare another praye for them this is the difference betweene the reioycing of the wicked and the reioycing of the godly The comfort of the wicked is like a compound medicine made of many mixtures for there must be piping and daunsing and leaping and feasting and dallying at their game or else they cannot be merry but the comfort of the faithfull is like a light in the aire which shines when no matter is seene So the godlie reioyce when no cause is seene if they doo but thinke vppon God they reioice straight If there bee but a praier and a thankefulnes and a meditation there are instrumentes inough for them and they can bee as merry as birdes in May. The reason of it is this as Christ said I haue another meate which you knowe not of so the godlie haue another ioy which the worlde knoweth not oft of this ioy a man may reioice continually And therefore Salomon saieth A good conscience is a continuall feast that is a continuall ioy But of the wickeds ioy hee saith In laughter their hearte is sorrowfull that is their laughter is sorrowe as if hee should say the wicked neuer reioice indeed but counterfait ioy as they counterfait vertue Thus Paul ioineth Reioyce continuallie with Praie continually as if hee shoulde say by this thou shalt knowe whether thou reioice well if thou canst pray too that is if thy reioicing mooue thee to praier as the ioy of the Angels makes them praise GOD and sing Holy Holy Holy vnto him This is according to that in the 5. of Iames. If anie man bee merry let him sing Psalmes marke how Iames ioyneth mirth Psalmes as Paul ioineth Reioicing and praying all this doth conclude that as we should do Gods Wall in earth as it is done in heauen so we shoulde reioice in earth as they reioyce in heauen and then this ioy is a signe of another ioy but if we cannot reioice in praying how shall wee reioice in suffering I am now in a large field where I might shewe you to whome wee should pray and the cause why wee shoulde pray and the things which we shoulde pray for and the Mediator which we shoulde pray by and the affections which wee shoulde bring to 〈◊〉 but I will keepe my selfe within my Text which saieth no more but pray continually First wee are commaunded to pray and then we are commanded to pray continually of all our dueties this is our onely duetie which is giuen to none but GOD according to that him onelie shalt thou serue Such an excellent thing is praier that it is offred to none but to him which Salomon calleth Excellent Secondlie it is such a pleasant thing that Paule ioineth Pray continually with Reioice continually to shewe that no man hath such ioy as he which is often talking with GOD by Praier as if hee shoulde say if thou haue the skill to pray continually it will make thee reioice continually for in the companie of GOD is nothing but ioy and gladnes of heart Thirdlie it is such a necessarie thing that Christ calleth his temple the house of praeier to shewe that as we sell in our shops and as we buy in the market and as wee eate in our Parlours and as we sleepe in our Chambers and as we walke in our Galleries so we should pray in the Temple which is such a necessarie Trade for men that GOD built a house for it and called it the house of Prayer as though Praier brought GOD and vs to dwell continuallie in one house together Further hee hath made a day for it in euery weeke as though hee woulde binde vs to Pray and because wee can not Praye before we be sanctified therefore he set downe an order for vs to obserue and keepe which is this that before euery Sabboth he appointed another day beside in which we shoulde prouide ourselues to sanctifie and prepare vs that we might Praie in so effectuall manner as we ought Fourthlie if we indeuour our selues to liue vprightlie and in the feare of GOD. according to the precise rule of his commandements we shall find it such a heauenly life that it will make vs like the Angels which are in Heauen for when we reade God speaketh to vs because we reade his worde But when we pray wee speake to God because we commence one 〈◊〉 to him and so praier makes vs like the Angels which are alwaies singing to
Mount hee sawe all the land of Gilead vnto Dan and all Nepthalie the land of Ephraim Manasses and all the lande of Iuda vnto the vttermost Sea c. The like to this did neuer any see beeing of the age of Moses who was 120. yeares olde Manie things might Moses haue obiected which might haue hindered him from going vp the Mount For surely it must needes be a griefe to him when he considered that great paine which he had taken in bringing them through the wildernesse and conducting them 40. yeares together and nowe when he had no further to goe but euen ouer Iordaine to be taken a waie then and another which neuer tooke any paines possesse all his labours This I say must bee a great and intollerable thing to fleshe and bloode for when one hath laid a foundation and anothere come and build vpon it surely hee will think himselfe hardly dealt withal Or if one haue drawne a picture head and face and all sauing the legges if one come and drawe the legges and so take his labours hee woulde hardlie take it well You knowe how they which were hired and wrought all the daie long because the had not more than those which began the last houre murmured against the maister of the house Such is our nature and yet notwithstanding all this Moses is content Hee knoweth that God doth him no wrong but is iust and mercifull also He blesseth all alike as Iacobs children were blessed Moses so long as he was vpon the plaine ground could not see the types of heauen but when he was vpon the Mount he saw it before he came to heauen it selfe So let vs euen now seale the Mount as Moses did that we may see and consider these ioyes Which thing shall be to reclaime our heartes from earthly matters As Peter went vp the mount to see Christs glory and Moses went vp the mount to see the lande of promise so let vs ascend from these earthly things to the contemplation of heauenly This should be our iourney till wee come vp to heauen it selfe to clime the hill for we are lowe men of stature like Zacheus who cannot see Christ before we be lifted from the earth so that if we will euer possesse heauen we must pluck our heartes from the earth and then shall we see God nearer than we can possibly if wee keepe our mindes vppon earthlie matters God sheweth himselfe to some nearer to some farther off and to some in parables As the Prophetes sawe God nearer than the Patriarches and the Apostles nearer than the Prophetes As to Abraham hee saide In thy seede Esaiah came nearer and said vnto vs a childe is borne c. Iohn yet came more neare and said Behold the Lamb of God Get thee vp into the top of Pisgah and lift thine eies Westward and Northward Southward and Eastward and beholde it with thine eies for thou shalt not goe ouer this Iordaine Now Moses is in his prospect as Dauid was in his Tower Here he must prepare him selfe to die while hee is looking vpon the land which so long he hath beene in comming to Who woulde not but haue grieued at this That after so long as fourtie yeares trauaile in hope to possesse it should now in the ende bee content with a sight of it and so vanish awaie Yet Moses for all this murmureth not but like Iob taketh it patiently And as hee was vpon the Mount where GOD vanished So heere hee is vpon the Mount and vanisheth away himselfe as it appeareth in Deuteronomie the thirtie foure Chapter and the sixth verse no man knoweth his tombe nor which way hee is gone lest the Iewes shoulde haue worshipped his Reliques as the Papistes doe theirs So good Rulers are taken awaie in a time when death is least suspected As Lot was taken away before the people of Sodom knew as is shewed in the nineteenth Chapter of Genesis and the tenth verse So wee see that when our time is come and our glasse run out that neither our riches nor our wits nor our friends nor any thing that wee haue in this world can cary vs no further No no more than Moses coulde goe ouer this Iordaine But Charge Iosua and incourage him and embolden him for he shall goe before this people and hee shall deuide for inheritance vnto them the land which thou shalt see c. Now Moses fainteth here commeth Iosua a figure of Christ who leadeth the people into Canaan as Christ doth lead them into heauen Moses is no sooner dead but God chooseth another to goe in out before his people And now God chooseth a gouernour See what a man he chooseth O would that God might haue the choosing still for then all gouernours should be such as Iosua for such is our corruption that if we choose our selues that we still choose such as God would not haue chosen and therefore wee had neede to pray to the Lord God as Moses did that hee would appoint a man which may go in out before vs that we be not as sheepe without a shepheard More was spoken touching this point which I haue not noted because I coulde not set it downe in such perfection as it was deliuered But Charge Iosua incourage him and imbolden him c. God would not haue Moses to incourage Iosua words onely but in deeds too and therefore Moses giueth him all the glory he can as Iohn gaue it vnto Christ Charge Iosua incourage him bolden him Heere God woulde haue Iosua incouraged with all the incouragement that may bee as though he coulde neuer bee incouraged enough God had incouraged him himselfe before as in the 21. vers before And I charged Iosua the same time c. And in 27. Deut. Moses setteth him before Eliazar the Priest and he put his hand vpon him and gaue him a charge c. And in 31. Deut. 23. GOD bids him Be strong of a good courage And in 1. Iosua 50. God tels him That there shall not be a man able to withst and him all the dayes of his life For he will be with him and neuer leaue him nor forsake him And againe in the 9. verse hee saith Haue not I commaunded thee not to feare for I will bee with thee whither so euer thou goest And in the 31. of Deut. verse 7. When Moses prepared himselfe to die hee called Iosua bid him Be strong and of a good courage And in 8. Iosua ver 10. the Lorde biddeth him Not to feare when his enemies come vpon him Thus is Iosua incouraged of all and thus should Iosua bee encouraged still But who encourageth Iosua so Nay where is that hee that doth not discourage Iosua Now Iosua is contemned scorned of the vilest And is this to encourage him No Iosua had neede of better incouragemēt than this else Iosua and all the Iosuas in this land will faint
hee brought forth almost a Christian Shall we nowe behold our face in Agrippaes Glasse whether wee bee altogether like Paule or almost like Agrippa or like Festus not at all Christians or no Christians or what kind of Christians are wee There bee many degrees vppon earth but this is the highest degree There be many names of honour but this is the honourablest name there bee many professours of men but this is the best profession to be a Christian that is the Sonne of GOD the fellowe of Angels the heire of heauen yet whether we should be Christians or Christians almost or Christians altogether is a question which troubleth euery man and when altogether is approoued for best yet wee choose almost before it There is some thing alwaies behinde like the eye which looked to Sodome as an Owle peeps at the Sunne out of a barne but dares not come to it so we peepe at Religion and will not come neere it but stande a loofe off pinking and winking as though we were more afraid of GOD than the diuell For selfe-loue and regarde of persons and feare of lawes and sway of time more are afraide to be too holie than too prophane because holinesse is worse intreated than prophanesse Goe away and sinne no more because thou art healed Nay goe away and sinne againe because thou art healed As Naaman intreated for one sinne that he might stand before the Idoll when his Lorde leaned vppon his shoulder So this sinne and that sinne will not let vs passe the compasse of almost lest we should haue a perfect reward God would haue nothing so perfect as a Christian for whome he hath giuen his welbeloued Sonne his spirit his Lawe and his prophets That the man of God may be perfect as Paule saith Yet euery thing growes vntill it be perfect the builder buildes till it bee an house The Tailour soweth till it be a garment The painter paints till it be a picture Onely the Christian leaues off before he attaine to bee a Christian and makes a full period at almost That which GOD would haue to be perfectest of all hee had rather haue vnperfect than perfect halfe than all a little wealth a little rest a little honor and a little pleasure seems nothing but a little faith is enough although it be neuer so small a mite We haue a waight of al kinde of mettals a touchstone for gold a measure for grame and we will not take one iot lesse than measure of any man onely wee cut GOD of his waight and measure and waigh our seruice in halfe ballances This I will doe and this I will not doe God shall haue one part and the the world shall haue another part and the flesh shall haue another part and the diuell shall haue another part Thus wee haue brought GOD to his stint aske while hee will hee shall haue no more but almost Almost zealous almost faithfull almost righteous as though almost were better than altogether that is the counterfeite than the truth the shadow than the bodie Paul saith that the Athenians were too religious in worshipping an Idoll Act. 17. 22. But where doth Paul find that excesse in worshipping God we are not too diligent but too negligent where we should be diligent Iames speakeing of our sinnes cals them the superfluity of our maliciousnes whereby he sheweth that though our wickednes be a superfluous and vaine thing yet it ouerfloweth and exceedeth the bankes But Christ speaking of his Disciples progresse in righteousnesse calles them all by this name O ye of little faith c. So he may say of little loue of little zeale c. for all our vertues are little ones and the waters of life are at such an ebbe that the least temptation may wade ouer them and not be drowned God hath a controuersie with vs as he saith with Israell and this is it wee were borne when wisedome cried in the streetes and yet she may call vs fooles and say How long wilt thou hate knowledge Pro. 1. For what could God doe more vnto this vineyard that he hath not done Thirtie yeares we haue been dressing and pruning and watering and yet what is in Ierusalem more than in Samaria In th Vineyarde than in the Mountaines which were neuer tilled nor dressed Howe long shall hee dresse a barraine figge tree which is dead at the roote Our Church is in a consumption her heads are sicke her members weake her Phisitians fearefull From little to little our zeale is come to the last gaspe readie to take her leaue of all because shee see not that wee loue religion but chase it from vs. Her enimies are placed about her shee growes amongest thornes shee is fed with checkes shee mourneth in a corner shee speakes on a reed Her garments are clipt Her friendes dare not defend her for her enimies What shall I saye Wee had rather bee whole sinners than halfe Christians White is counted no coulour so zeale is counted no vertue But meere hypocrisie is counted true Christianitie and true Christianitie is counted by hypocrisie Our wealth is in an Epha our zeale is in a Gomer Our sinne like an Oake our faith like a Mustard seede They which haue no religion are counted honest men for they count it as easie a mater to be a Christian as to saie the Lordes prayer the Apostles Creede the tenne Commaundementes and goe to the church this is countrie Diuinitie this is Citie Diuinitie and I may say Saint Clements Diuinitie He which can sweare that the Pope is Antichrist and that flesh is good on Fridaies is a protestant at least a Christian euerie inche hee hath zeale knowledge and religion in Folio This is the rampier in our daies like a Lion in the passages Almost standeth in the waie before wee can come to altogether and they which wil goe beyond Almost are counted curious factious precise phantasticall as though Almost were more than altogether and altogether were not so much as almost If his righteousnes exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisies which is but Hypocrisie he shal be punished for his righteousnes as if it were a fault as Caine persecuted Abell because his sacrifice was better than his Our sauiour saith Learne of me to be hūble zealous and righteous But now we must learne of other and set a crooked paterne before vs lest we goe too straight We may preach like Iohn as in Matthew 3. Bring forth fruites But wee may not preach like Christ Bring foorth much fruites Iohn 15. For that is counted an vnreasonable seruice of God If we giue him the seauenth daie the seauenth part the tenthes or tithes of our life and of our thoughtes and of our speeches and of our workes it is enough so wee define Altogether out of measure Thus wee dodge with GOD and drawe backe from our promise which we made in baptisme as though hee were not worthie of such a goodly creature to haue
neuer brought Agrippa to altogether Therefore they which fishe for soul 〈◊〉 must take Paules net and remember what God saith to Ieremie 15. 19. Let them bee conuerted vnto thee But be not thou conuerted vnto them for then thou shalt neuer conuert them Signifiing that our constancie in goodnes shall induce others to turne from their wickednes and make him which is but almost come to altogether This is the substance of Paules replie that it is not enough to be a Christian almost that is to haue a kinde of religion a little knowledge a little faith a cold zeale a flattering holines like the touch of the hem but we must march to perfection and doe his will vpon earth as it is in heauen and contend to be holie as hee is holie This is religion saith Iames to keepe thy selfe vnspotted like a glasse which is still wiped To this end saith Paul 2. Tim. 3. The Scripture doth teache and reproue and instruct and comfort That the man of God might bee absolute And in the 1. to the Ephe. 41. To this ende wee were elected that wee might be holie and without blame And Rom. 1. He describes our iourney from faith to faith not from faith to distrust As Dauid describes the waie of the righteous Psal 840. 7. From vertue to vertue as a trauailer goes from towne to towne till he come to his Inne What a foolish thing were it for the Scribe to stay there whē our Lord telles him Thou art not farre from the kingdome of heauen for therefore Christ telleth him that he is not farre from heauen to incourage him lest he should giue ouer before he come to it So if yee staie at almost and repente in some sort as Esau did when hee wept you may hunt for the blessing as Esau did and goe without it for God is not mocked but God is mocked if colours and shewes will serue When GOD said Seeke my face mine heart aunswered said Dauid I will seeke thy face Psalme 27. 8. So wee must aunswere the Lorde to that which he asketh and not when hee biddes vs seeke his face seeke his backe when he requireth al giue him halfe God asketh Art thou a Christian and thou aunsweres O Lord I am almost a Christian What niggardlie aunswere is this to him which deserueth a thousande times more than the best can giue If thy maister aske thee art thou my seruant wilt thou aunswere him I am almost thy seruant If the Prince aske thee Art thou my subiect wilt thou aunswere I am almost thy subiect If thy father aske thee art thou my sonne wilt thou answere I am almost thy sonne If thou art but almost his son then he is but almost thy father And so it is with God a son or no sonne halfe a sonne is a bastard How doest thou know God to be thy God but as thou art his seruant How doest thou knowe God to be thy father but as thou art his son By thy loue thou shalt know Gods loue for according to thy minde towards him is his minde of thee whereby thou maist truelie iudge whether he fauour thee or hate thee and no way else God loueth nothing almost therefore he doth not loue almost Therefore loue as thou maist be loued or else thy loue is lost Thou must seeke as thou maist finde or else thy labour is lost They shall seeke and finde me saith God because they shall seeke with all their hearts as in Ieremie 29. Chapter and the 13. verse as though they should not finde him though they sought him vnlesse the sought him with all their hearts Naaman is not onelie commaunded to wash himselfe in Iordan but to washe himselfe seuen times and then he shall bee healed So man is not onely commaunded to obey God but to obey him while hee liues and then he shall be saued Be faithfull saith the Angell vnto death and then I will giue thee the Crowne of life Reuel 2 10. When Saul was commanded to kill the Idolatrous beasts he was commaunded to kil all and because he spared some God reiected him Yet God hath more mercie on beasts than on sins Would he haue the beasts of sinners die their vices liue No saith Christ Make cleane within that is leaue no filth behind Whensoeuer Christ cast out one deuill we read that he cast out al euē the legion together so when thou castest out one vice cast out all for one is not worthier than another The Prophet doth teach vs to power out our sins like water which leaueth no taste or colour or sent behinde There is a whole old man and there must be a whole newe man The old man must change with the new man wisedome for wisedome loue for loue feare for feare his worldlie wisedome for heauenlie wisedome his carnall loue for spirituall loue his seruile feare for Christian feare his idle thoughts for holy thoughtes his vaine wordes for wholesome wordes his fleshlye workes for righteous workes This is a Christian altogether as if he were cast in a newe mould As a Painter woulde drawe a beautifull picture which should bee fairer than all women in the worlde hee would marke the speciall grace of euerie one and make one beautie of all so we must make vp a Christian and take modestie from him faith from him loue from him patience from him zeale from him and humility from him vntill it be like the Image of Christ This is the building of a Christian First his foundation is laide and then his walles and then his roofe and then a Christian like Adam in Paradise God made all things good therefore if we bee but almost good all thinges are better than wee The wicked man speaketh out of the corruption of his fleshlie heart and shall not the righteous speake of the aboundance of his spirituall heart Hee which is merrie would be merrier if he knew how He which is enuious would looke sterner if he could He which is proud would goe brauer if hee had it and all if wee could bee worse wee would but let them amend which looke to die For what kinde of man should hee bee which must beare the Image of God be the Temple of the holie Ghost and inherite the kingdome of heauen Who is fit for these things saith Paul Nay who is fit for these things Do ye know no enough in riches nor pleasure nor sinne and thinke that you haue enough of religion before yee haue any The good are knowne because none but they which are good striue to be better Wee are inuited to a banquet shall we go but halfe the way vnto it Were it not better that the fig-tree had borne fruites than leaues that the Virgins had carried oyle than lamps So is it not better for vs to be vessels of gold that come to the Lords table than like the image in Daniel part of gold part of siluer part of brasse part of iron part of clay
man much more should mā humble himselfe for men therefore though Paul speake of a matter wherein he might commaunde as he saith to Philemon I might commaund thee yet as he did rather beseech him so he doth rather beseech them Marke the subtiltie of wisedome as I may call it As the serpent did vse pollicie to tempt so the Preacher may vse pollicie to conuert and so Paule won Agrippa to beleeue by perswading him that he did beleeue It was Pauls Office to teach the Romans but it was Pauls pollicie to beseech the Romans vntill compulsion need gentlenes is better than bitternesse Lenitie deserues to goe first and correction hath no place if perswasion wil serue I beseech you brethren we doe not vse to intreat and beseech but for our profite but Paul did beseech them for their profite Wee would haue other humble themselues to vs but Paul humbled himselfe to his inferiours to make them humble themselues to God Here the Preachers may take example of the Preacher of the Gentiles the louing phrase is the Apostles phrase and hee which beseecheth shall perswade easier than hee which thundereth Many haue beene drawn with the cordes of loue which coulde neuer bee haled with the chaines of iron God is loue and his Ministers must speake like loue or else they doe not speake like Paul he which fisheth for soules and doth not take his Net shall fish all daie as Peter fished all night and catch nothing Although a temperate Preacher be a wise Preacher and this be our pollicie to intreat and beseech you like Paul yet you should not looke to be intreated like the guestes which woulde not come but to bee compelled like the guests which came to the banquet For you must be intreated to your profit It is no reason that Christ should pay and pray the seruant praieth but the maister commaundeth Yet Paul hath not done his preparatiue hee is loth that his suite shoulde take the repulse and therefore he vseth a Mediatour vnto them and beseecheth them by the mercies of God I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God mercie is a louing soliciter and worthy to be heard because it heareth againe God doth intreate vs by the same Mediatour that we intreat God we intreate God for his mercie and God intreateth vs for his mercie So that mercie is like a signe betweene vs which calleth God to heare vs and vs to heare him What will not a good subiect doo for a mercifull Prince Many sweet things are in the worde of God but the name of mercy is the sweetest word in all the scriptures which made Dauid harpe vpon it 26. times in one Psalme sixe and twentie times he repeats this in the hundred thirtie and sixt Psalme For his mercie endureth for euer It was such a cheerefull note in his eares when he stroke vpon mercie that like a bird which is taught to record when he had sung it hee sang it againe and when hee had sung it againe he recorded it againe and made it the burden of his song For his mercie endureth for euer Like a Nightingale which when she is in a pleasant vaine quauers and capers and trebles vpon it so did Dauid vpon his mercie For his mercie endureth for euer But heere Paule speakes in the plural number not by the mercie but by the mercies of God There is a plurality of Gods mercies his lesser mercies in his corporall blessinges and his greater mercies in his spirituall blessinges his temperall mercies in earth and his euerlasting mercies in heauen his preuenting mercies in deliuering vs from sinne and his following mercies in pardoning of our sinne Howe many sinnes came with Adam and howe many curses came with sinne so manie mercies came with Christ to answere thē both Therefore when Paule coulde not number them for multitude hee was faine to laie them downe together in the grosse summe and in a word called them mercies as if hee should saie I cannot number the mercies of God but the lesse I can number them the more they are Thus much why Paul calleth them brethren and why he beseecheth them and why hee remembreth them of Gods mercies Now he hath prepared the way he commenceth his suite that they woulde giue their bodies to God hee speakes not heere of the soule though he would haue them giue their soules too As you may see in the next verse but he speakes heere of the bodie to shewe that the bodie is a seruant to God as well as the soule both are too little and therefore one is not enough And therefore Paul saith Glorifie GOD in your bodies and in your soules too but here he speakes the rather of the bodie to shewe that their battaile will be with the fleshe and that the fleshe will be vnwilling to this Sacrifice as Christ saith the spirit is willing but the flesh is fraile That is the fleshe will not afforde anie thing to GOD though he do neuer so much for her yet she is like churlish Naball which will doe nothing againe Therefore the Apostle vrgeth so to giue the body as if he should say drawe forwarde that which he draweth backeward and let the conuersion beginne where sinne hath his roote if you can winne the fleshe which is like Nabal the soule will come like Abigail and bring her traine with her Now to shew how we should giue our bodies to God the Apostle saith giue your bodies a Sacrifice to God That is you must giue your bodies to God as if you did Sacrifice them The Lawe appointed a Sacrifice in which all the members were offered together So yee must giue your members to God for the bodie is all all is but partes of the bodie therfore if you must giue your bodies you must geue eie eare tongue hand and feete vnto him For the heart sayth Paule doth but beleeue because it is not enough to beleeue therefore hee addeth the mouth doth confesse as it is as necessary to confesse vnto Saluation as to beleeue vnto Iustification So it is as necessary to sacrifice the tongue as the heart What then is the tongue enough Nay sayth Christ hee which hath an eare to heare let him heare Is the eare enough Nay saith Dauid Lift vp your handes to his Sanctuarie Is the hand enough Nay saith Salomon Let thine eyes beholde the right Is the eye enough Nay saith Salomon Remoue thy foote from euill So the worde passeth like a Collectour from one member to another to gather tribute for GOD vntill the body haue paied as well as the soule Therefore in Deut. 6. 5. GOD commaundeth not onely Thou shalt loue the Lord with all thy soule with all thy mind but with all thy strength that is if thou canst doe any thing for him with the strength of thyne hand or the strength of thyne eie or the strength of thine eare or any part else
were kindled with the fire of the Temple but this Sacrifice is like the sacrifice of Eliah which God kindled himself with fire from heauen and therefore this must needes bee acceptable which man doth not only offer but God himselfe doth offer When the Apostle endes our Sacrifice with this clause acceptable hee meaneth that this should be the leuell of all our thoughtes that whatsoeuer we thinke or speake or do bee acceptable and liking vnto God As Dauid thought to builde the Temple but would not builde it when Nathan tolde him that God woulde not haue him builde it As Ananias would not baptize Saul but did baptize him whē he vnderstood that God wold haue him baptized As Ioseph would not take Mary to wife so long as he thought God did disalow his marriage but did marry her when the Angell told him that he should marry her so a good man will doe nothing before he doe consult with Gods worde all that hee doth hee approueth vnto God before hee doe it if it bee not his Worde and Will then hee turneth backe as if the winde and weather were against him alwayes refourming his owne will to Gods will that his thoughtes and wordes and workes may bee acceptable If reason teach vs this that when wee offer vnto God wee must giue him an acceptable sacrifice an acceptable honour an acceptable seruice then why doe we not giue him that which he asketh for he knoweth what is acceptable to him If he aske the first fruits we must not offer him the last fruites for the first is acceptable So if he appoint his discipline we may not set vp our discipline for that is not acceptable to him but to vs. Now Paul shewes what this Sacrifice is it is your reasonable seruice of GOD lest they should grudge to sacrifice their bodies hee sheweth that he meaneth but the sins of their bodies For this sacrifice saith Paul is your seruice your reasonable seruice He calleth it a reasonable seruice because it is not in ceremonies like the Iewes seruice but in spirit as Peter saith thē because it is that seruice which euery mans reason and conscience doth tell him that he oweth vnto God wherefore it may well be called a reasonable seruice because it is so reasonable Therefore if we will not serue God thus that is as our reason teacheth vs Then we serue him not like mē but like beasts voide of reason whome God may be sayd to rule but they cannot be sayd to obey because they are ruled perforce All thinges doe yeeld a seruice to God but all things doe not yeeld a reasonable seruice which he requireth of man here was no reason why Christ shoulde serue vs but there is greate cause why we should serue Christ because he serued vs without cause so that I may saie Christ requireth but a reasonable sacrifice for an vnreasonable sacrifice a liuing sacrifice for a dead sacrifice a cheape sacrifice for a precious sacrifice counting vs as it were like the poore widdowe of whome he is content to take a mite because wee are needie thus much of our reasonable seruice The law of this seruice is laid down in these wordes Fashion not your selues to the world the world followeth the world but I saith Christ to his Disciples haue chosen you out of the world therfore do not you follow the world The world is taken sometime for heauen earth and sea which are partes of the world sometime for the men of the world sometime for the elect in the worlde but most commonly it is taken for the wicked in the worlde because the wicked are most common like a man which by often faulting is growne to an euill name so the world which doth not signifie euill of it selfe yet is taken for euill because it is accustomed to do euill and therefore the Deuill is called the God of this world because the worldes fashions are the Deuils fashions Therefore fashion not your selues vnto the world lest you bee in the Diuels fashion Then you must not pranke vppe your selues like Plaiers for this is the fashiō of the world then you must not respect persons more than iustice for this is the fashion of the worlde Then you must not flatter to Please for this is the fashion of the world Then you must not deceiue to grow rich for this is the fashion of the world then you must not seeke reuenge for euery word for this is the fashion of the world then you must not take scorne to bee tolde of your faultes for this is the fashion of the world then you must not giue almes to be seene for this is the fashion of the world then you must not obey for feare of the law for this is the fashion of the world then you must not receiue the sacrament for order for this is the fashion of the worlde then you must not come to church for custom for this is the fashion of the worlde then you must not make religion but a table talke for this is the fashion of the world then you must not turne with the time for this is the fashion of the world then you must not deferre to doe good till you die for this is the fashion of the worlde The worlde is a badde patterne to followe because as the flesh followeth the deuill so the worlde followeth the fleshe Therefore saie no more wee must doe as the worlde doth but rather we must not doe as the world doth You say you go so because it is the fashion God saith goe not so because it is the fashion If you come but in the fashion you shall bee in the abuse There is no man that weareth the cutters fashion but he is a cutter none which cutteth his haire like them which are proud but he is proud none that coloureth her face like them which are wanton but shee is wanton none which sweareth like them which lie but hee will lie as well as sweare Therefore make not your life of the worldes fashion the wedding garment was of an other fashion than all the rest therefore if thou fashionest they selfe like the rest thou hast not on thee the wedding garment for this was nothing like vnto the reste Christes garment was of another manner of fashion differing from the worlde so thy life must bee of another fashion than the worldes or else as the fashion of the worlde passeth away so thou shalt passe and perish with it God doth not like the fashion of the worlde and surelie he liketh as ill the fashion of Idolatrie or the fashion of Antichrist as the fashion of the worlde He which biddeth vs to refraine from euerie shewe of euill would haue vs refraine from the shewe of Idolatrie and the shewe of Heresie for these are the greatest euils But if we bee not Idolatours yet we haue the shewe of Idolatry If wee bee not of
Antichristes religion yet we bee of Antichristes fashion so long as wee shew foorth the same badge and cognisance you know what I meane This is to iumpe with the world and leape to hell This is not to be in fashion but out of fashion therefore nowe yee shall heare the best fashion It followeth Be you changed by the renewing of your mindes This is the second part of your reasonable seruice The changing and renewing of the minde to the likenesse wherein it was created As before he required you to giue your bodies so here hee requireth you to giue your mindes Outwarde seruice is like a tinckling Cimball though it hath neuer so pleasant a sounde yet it doth not please God because it hath no minde to please him so is the seruice of the eie or the eare or the hand or the foote if the minde be away it may please other like the Cimball but it pleaseth not God The body is a seruant as well as the soule but there is no promise made to the bodilie seruice but to the Spirituall seruice For vnlesse the minde worke the bodie will serue but a while Therefore make cleane within saith Christ Sanctification begins within vntill the minde be renewed the body is neuer sacrificed Therefore now Paul shewes as it were the knife that must kill this sacrifice that is the minde the minde must sacrifice the bodie Be ye chaunged as if he should say Suffer your selues to be chaunged as Noah suffered himselfe to bee couered that is Grien◠not the spirit doe not resist God bee not against your conuersion and GOD wil conuert you God will comfort you God will renew you By this renewing of our minds Paule calleth to our remembrance that once we had a pure minde and that we come the neerer vnto God the neerer we draw to that similitude againe And therefore the Scripture calleth so often for a newe man a newe creature a new heart As ye may reade Psal 51. 10. Dauid praieth the Lorde to create him a new heart not to correct his olde heart but to create him a new heart Shewing that his heart was like an old garment so rotten and tattered that he coulde make no good of it by patching and peecing but must euen cast it off and take a newe Therefore Paul saith Cast off the olde man Not pick him and wash him till hee bee cleane but cast him off and begin a new as Dauid did Wil yee knowe what this renewing is It is the repairing of the Image of God vntill we bee like Adam when hee dwelt in Paradise As there is a whole olde man so there must bee a whole new man the olde man must chaunge with the new man wisedome for wisedome loue for loue feare for feare his worldy wisedome for heauenly wisedome his carnall loue for spirituall loue his seruile feare for Christian feare his idle thoughts for holie thoughts his vaine wordes for holesome wordes his fleshly works for sanctified works If the minde must be so renewed I would know of the Papists where are their pure naturals if our naturals were pure our mindes neede not to bee renewed for it is good to bee pure and euill to change it but because there is no purenes in vs therefore the Apostle would haue vs changed Againe let them tell me why our mindes should bee renewed if we haue free will to doe good if wee list But because our mindes are so corrupted that wee haue no free will to good nor will to doe good neither therefore the Apostle would haue our mindes renewed Thus one word of God hath battered two Castles of Antichrist FINIS A looking Glasse for Christians Rom. 12. 3. I say through the grace that is giuen vnto me to euerie one that is among you that no man presume to vnderstand aboue that which is meete to vnderstand but that he vnderstande according to Sobrietie as God hath dealth to euerie man the measure of faith FIrst of the Preface and then of the counsell In the first verse of this Chapter Paule perswaded the Romanes by the mercie of GOD towardes them heere hee perswadeth them By the grace of GOD towardes him Paul speakes like a man in his deathbed which is set to giue good counsel and goeth from one lesson to another as though hee would speake al with a breath First he counselled them to make their bodies serue God because the bodie is a seruant as well as the soule then he forbad them to fashion themselues to the worlde because no man can serue two contrarie maisters Then he aduised thē to renew their mindes because except the minde be reformed the body will serue but a while And he setteth them to seeke Gods will because the will of man doth seduce him And now to make vp this Testament as it were hee admonisheth them to rest in the knowledge of Gods will and not to search further nor to be proud of their knowledge but to vse their knowledge to humble their pride This lesson may seeme vaine to the Romanes for they were not yet come to be wise and he councelleth thē not to be too wise Paule saith That the Gentiles sought after wisedome but he saith there That the preaching of the Gospell seemed foolishnes vnto them which was wisdom therefore God calleth them a foolish nation because they counted the true wisedome foolishnes and their owne follie wisedome For this cause there was such emulation between the Iew and the Gentile one despised another because they did not accorde what wisedome was although both sought for it Therefore that ye may not only seeke wisdome as the Gentiles did but finde wisedome as Salomon did Paul laieth a foundation for wisedome to stay vpon which he cals Sobrietie Be wise according to Sobrietie which is this By the grace of GOD which is giuen to me Because he speakes to all and his charge is of great moment and they which thinke themselues wise will hardly bee perswaded but that they are wise therefore he comes with authoritie like an ambassadour from GOD and saith By the grace of GOD which is giuen to mee that is by the vertue of mine Apostleship which I haue not receiued from men but from GOD nor from earth but from heauen I charge you that no man among you whether he be learned or vnlearned whether he bee an hearer or a teacher presume to knowe aboue that which is meete to knowe that is make himselfe wiser than he is or boast of the graces which GOD hath giuen him or despise the giftes of God in other or rome beyond his calling or trouble his head with curiosities but that hee bee wise according to sobrietie that is walke within his vocation be humble in his knowledge and vse his gifts to the profite of other as GOD hath giuen to euery man the measure of faith that is remembring that it is a gift of God which hath dealt gifts
them which doe walke in the streetes while the voice of God soundeth in the Churches as they passe by therfore before euery Sermon yee had neede to remember Christs lesson Take heede how you heare Nowe to the matter Satan from whence commest thou I come frō compassing the earth Here the Diuel is called in like a Iaylor which keepes some in perpetuall prison and some are bayled and some returne to prison again and some are executed They which sinne fearfully stay as it were about the prison but are not bound they which sinne wittingly are vnder locke they which sinne greedily are vnder lock and bolts they which dye in their sinne are like them which are condemned this is the bondage which we haue brought our selues vnto for a fayre apple When the tempter ouercame vs we were remoued out of Paradise where we were seated when we haue ouercome the tempter we shal be translated into heauen where he was seated heauen doore was wide and the way was broad before the rebellion but when we knockt at the cannell doore then the good doore was shut heauen is large but the way to heauen must be narrow therefore God hath set our enemies in the gate to fight with vs before we enter that this faying might be verified The kingdome of heauen is caught by violence so soone as we rise in the morning we goe forth to fight with two mightie giants the World and the Diuell and whom doe we take with vs but a traytor this brittle flesh which is readie to yeeld vs vp to the enemie at euery assault onely he which suffereth Satan to compasse vs dooth stay him from destroying vs. When God asked Cain where is thy brother Cain lyed and sayd I cannot tell When God asked Sarah why she laughed Sarah lyed and sayd I laughed not but when God asked the diuell from whence he came he answered truely I come from compassing the earth yet he which speaketh truth himself taught them to lye as he is called the father of liers because he teacheth all others to lye How then Was Caine worse then the diuell because he lyed and the other told trueth By this you may see that carnall men doe not knowe so much of God as the very diuell knoweth for he knewe that GOD could tell where he had been but Caine doubted whether God could tell what hee had done and therefore he made a lye Thus thus the Diuell teacheth his schollers to doe worse sometimes then hee will doe himselfe euen as he would bring them if it were possible into a worse plight thē he is himself The diuels faith cannot saue vs no more then it can saue him the diuels knowledge cannot conuert vs no more then it dooth conuert him and yet hee would not haue men beleeue that which hee bleeueth himselfe nor haue vs vnderstand so much as he vnderstandeth himselfe for if Caine had vndderstood so much as he that God knewe whether he lyed or no he would haue answered God truely as Satan did but the diuell knew that there was no dissembling with God who knowes what he asks before he asks therefore he told troth to God though he lye to man for to lye vnto him which knoweth is as if one should lye to himselfe but Cain was not so wel learned he thought peraduenture yet God might vnderstand his murther as a theefe suspecteth in his heart that the Iudge may know his theft but he doubted whether God did knowe it and therefore he denied it like one which is guiltie but thinkes that if he confesse he shall be hanged and therefore though euidence and witnesse accuse them yet you see many will not accuse themselues From compassing the earth He which was called Satan before which signifieth an aduersarie is heere sayd to compasse the earth which is to say being put together an aduersarie compasseth the earth and therefore let the earth beware like a Citie which is besieged with the aduersarie The diuell hath mo names then any Prince hath titles some God hath giuen to him and some he hath giuen to himselfe but this is to be noted in the diuels names that he neuer called himself a lier nor a tēpter nor an accuser nor a slāderer nor a deceiuer nor a deuourer nor a murderer nor a master nor an aduersarie nor a viper nor a lion nor a dragon nor a woolfe nor a cockatrice nor a serpent But when Christ asked him his name hee calleth himselfe Legion which imports a multitude as if he should brag of his number here he calles himselfe in effect the compasser of the earth as if he shuld brag of his power And in the 4. Chapter of Luke 6. verse he calleth himself the possesser of the earth as if he shuld brag of his possessions and in the same he calleth himselfe the quier of the earth as if he should brag of his liberalitie Thus he which is euill it selfe doth shun the name because he would not be hated and therefore no maruel if men call euil good would be coūted honest though they be neuer so lewd for so will the diuell but as God neuer called the diuell but by those names which the diuell hated so he neuer calleth sinners by those names which they call themselues For if you obserue the Scripture there is no name of the diuel but in some place of Scripture or other the wicked are called by the same name he is called a lier they are called liers he is called a tempter they are called tēpters he is called a murderer they are called murderers he is called a slanderer they are called slanderers he is called a viper and they are called vipers he is called a lion they are called lions he is called a woolfe and they are called wolues he is called a serpent and they are called serpents Thus God would they that shall be damned should haue the name of him which is dāned to put them in mind Now none of the diuels names are in the book of life therfore liers tempters slanderers murderers defamers are not therefore these are the diuels names This I note to shewe you how deadly God doth hate sin that neither the diuell nor his followers could euer get a good name of him for al his compassing he could neuer cōpasse this to shuffle any praise of himselfe into this booke of life for he doth not cōpasse heauen but earth though he wold cōpasse both the diuel himselfe doth tel vs here that he cōpasseth he telleth vs not why he cōpasseth but his name Satan that wēt before which he spake not of doth tell vs why he compasseth Because it signifies an aduersarie it giueth vs to vnderstand that hee compasseth the earth like an aduersarie God doth cōpasse the earth like a wall to defend it the diuell compasseth the earth like an enemy to besiege it For enemie is his name he is enuie euen to
what passion expelled what sin repented what good performed since we began to receiue thy benefites this day wee must confesse against our selues that all our works words thoughts haue been the seruice of the world the flesh and the diuell we haue offended thee and contemned thee all the day and at night wee pray vnto thee Father forgiue vs all our sins which haue dishonored thee while thou diddest serue vs run from thee while thou didst call vs and forgotten thee whilest thou didst feede vs so thou sparest vs so we sleepe and to morrow we sinne againe this is the course of al our pilgrimage to leaue that which thou commandest and doe that which thou forbiddest Therefore thou mightest iustly forsake vs as we forsake thee and condemne vs whose conscience condemnes our selues but who can measure thy goodnesse which giuest all and forgiuest all Though we are sinfull yet thou louest vs though wee knocke not yet thou openest though we aske not yet thou giuest what should wee haue if wee did serue thee which hast done all these things for thine enemies Therefore thou which hast giuen vs al things for thy seruice O Lord giue vs a heart to serue thee let this be the houre of our conuersion let not euill ouercome good let not thine enemie haue his will but giue vs strength to resist patience to endure and constancie to perseuere vnto the end Instruct vs by thy word guide vs by thy spirite mollifie vs by thy grace humble vs by thy corrections winne vs by thy benefites reconcile our nature to thy will and teach vs to make profite of euery thing that wee may see thee in all things and all things in thee because O most mercifull father we walk between thy mercie and iustice through many temptations gouerne our steps with such discretion that the hope of mercie may preuent dispaire the feare of iustice may keepe vs from presumption that in mirth wee bee not vaine in knowledge we be not proude in zeale we bee not bitter but as the tree bringeth foorth first leaues then blossomes and then fruit so first wee may bring foorth good thoughts then good speeches and after a good life to the honor of thy name the good of thy children the saluation of our soules remembring the time when we shall sleepe in the graue and the day when wee shall awake to iudgement Now the time is come O Lord which thou hast appointed for rest and without thee wee can neither wake nor sleepe which hast made the day and night and rulest both therefore into thy hands we commend our soules and bodies that thou hast bought that they may serue thee restore them O Lorde to their first Image and keepe them to thy seruice and resigne vs not to our selues againe but finish thy work that we may euery day come neerer and neerer to thy kingdome till we hate the way to hell as much as hell it selfe and euery cogitation and speech and action be so many steps to heauen For thy names sake for thy promise sake for thy sonnes sake O Lord wee lift vp our hearts hands voyce vnto thee in his name which suffered for sinne and sinned not Our Father c. A Prayer for a sicke man ALmightie God and all mercifull Father which art the Phisition of our bodies and soules in thy hands are life and death thou bringest to the graue and pullest backe againe we came into this world vpon condition to forsake it whensoeuer thou wouldest call vs and now the Somners are come thy â—etters hold me and none can loose me but he which bound me I am sicke in bodie and soule but he hath stroken me which in iudgment sheweth mercie I deserued to dye so soone as I came to life but thou hast preserued me till now and shall this mercie bee in vaine as though wee were preserued for nothing Who can praise thee in the graue I haue done thee no seruice since I was borne but my goodnesse is to come and shall I dye before I begin to liue but Lord thou knowest what is best of all and if thou conuert me I shall be conuerted in an houre and as thou acceptedst the will of Dauid as well as the act of Salomon so thou wilt accept my desire to serue thee as well as if I did liue to glorifie thee The spirit is willing but the flesh is fraile and as I did liue sinfullie whensoeuer thy spirite was from mee so I shall dye vnwillingly vnlesse thy spirite prepare mee therefore deare father giue mee that minde which a sicke man should haue and increase my patience with my payne and call vnto my remembrance all which I haue heard or read or felt or meditated to strengthen mee in this houre of my triall that I which neuer taught any good while I liued maye nowe teach other how to dye and to beare theyr sicknes patiently apply vnto me all the mercies and merites of thy beloued sonne as if he had dyed for me alone Be not from me when the enemie comes but when the tempter is busiest let thy spirite bee busiest too and if it please thee to loose me out of this prison wheÌ„ I shal leaue my earth to earth let thine Angel carrie vp my soule to heauen as they did Lazarus and place me in one of those mansions which thy sonne is gone to prepare for me This is my mediator which hath reconciled me and thee when thou didst abhorre mee for my sinnes and thou didst send him from heauen to vs to shew that thou art bound to heare him for vs. Therfore in him I come vnto thee in him I call vpon thee O my redeemer my preseruer and my sauiour to thee be all prayse with thy father and the holy spirite for euer Amen What shall stay me from my Father my brother and my Comforter A comfortable speech taken from a godly Preacher lying vpon his death-bed written for the sicke I Owe to God a death as his Sonne died for me Euer since I was borne I haue been sailing to this hauen and gathering patience to comfort this houre therefore shal I be one of those guestes nowe that would not come to the banquet wheÌ„ they were inuited what hurt is in going to Paradise I shal loose nothing but the sence of euil and anon I shall haue greater ioyes then I feele paines For my head is in heauen already to assure mee that my soule and body shall follow after O death where is thy sting why should I feare that which I would not escape because my chiefest happinesse is behinde and I cannot haue it vnles I go vnto it I would go through hell to heauen and therefore If I martch but through death I suffer lesse then I would suffer for God My paines doe not dismay mee because I trauaile to bring forth eternall life my sinnes doe not fright me because I haue Christ my redeemer the iudge doth not
astonish me because the Iudges sonne is my aduocate the diuel doth not amaze me because the Angels pitch about me The graue doth not grieue me because it was my Lords bed Oh that Gods mercy to me might mooue other to loue him for the lesse I can expresse it the more it is The Prophets and Apostles are my fore-runners euery man is gone before me or else he will follow after mee if it please God to receiue me into heauen before them which haue serued him better I owe more thankefulnes vnto him And because I haue deferred my repentance till this houre whereby my saluation is cut off if I should die sodainly Lo how my God in his merciful prouidence to preuent my destruction calleth me by a lingering sicknes which staieth till I be ready and prepareth mee to my end like a preacher and makes me by wholesome paines weary of this beloued worlde least I should depart vnwilling like them whose death is their damnation So he loueth me while he beateth me that his stripes are plasters to salue me therefore who shall loue him if I despise him This is my whole office now to strengthen my body with my heart and be contented as God hath appointed vntill I can glorifie him or vntil he glorifie me If I liue I liue to sacrifice and if I die I die a â—acrifice for his mercy is aboue mine iniquitie Therefore if I should feare death it were a signe that I had not faith nor hope as I professed but that I doubted of Gods truth in his promise whether he will forgiue his penitent sinner or no. It is my father let him doe what seemeth good in his sight Come Lord Iesus for thy seruant commeth I am willing helpe my vnwillingnes Thus the faythful departe in another sort with such peace and ioy round about them that all which see wish that their soules may followe theirs A Letter written to ones friend in his sicknes BEloued I maruel not that you haue paine for you are sicke but I maruel that you couer it not for offence because the wisdome of a man is to bite in his griefe alwaies to shew more comfort in God than pain in suffering Now God calleth to repetitions to see whether you haue learned more constancie than others if sicknes be sharpe make it not sharper with frowardnes but know this is a great fauour to vs when we die by sicknes which maketh vs ready for him that calleth vs â—ow you haue nothing to think vpon but God you cannot think vpon him without ioy your griefe passeth but your ioy will neuer passe Tell me patient how many stripes is heauen worth Is my friend onely sicke it the world or his fayth weaker than others You haue alwayes prayed Thy will be done now are you offended that Gods wil is done How hath the faithful man forgotten that all things euen death turne to the best to them that loue God Teach the happy O Lord to see his happines through troubles Euery pain is a preuention of the paines of hell and euery ease in paine is a fore-taste of the ease and peace and ioyes in heauen Therfore remember your own comforts to others before and be not impatient when there is most neede of patience but as you haue euer taught vs to liue so nowe giue vs an example to die and deceiue Satan as Iob did FINIS ReuereÌ„dum Couerdalum excipio Eccle. 9 9. Gen. 2. 18. Exo. 22. 16. Deu. 22. 28. Why contracts goe before mariage Mat. 1. 18. * That is betweene y e contract the mariage Luke 1. 27. 42. 49. c. What mariage is The parts of the treatise Heb. 13. 4. The excellencie of mariage Act. 7. 53. Heb. 2. 2. Gen. 2. 22. Mariage the first ordinance of God Gen. 3. 15. Luke 1. 25. Deu 32. 2. Christes first miracle at a Mariage Ioh. 2. 8. Mat. 22. 2. Verse 11. Cant. 5. 9. Three mariages of Christ Reue. 19. 7. Reu. 21. 9. Reu. 17. 1. By mariage the womans curse turned into two blessings Gen. 3. 16. Gen. 1. 28. Ioh. 16. 11. 1. Tim. 2. 15 * For those paines wil trie her faith Note Gen. 2. 22. A note of Adams sleepe Gen. 2. 21. 1. Cor. 15. 22. 45. Eph. 5. 14. Ioh. 14. 6. A note of Adams sleepe Gen. 27. 3. A note of Adams rib Gen. 2. 22. Eph. 5. 23. The Fathers obseruation Pro. 14. 14. Thus Adam doth Gen. 2. Gen. 29. 20. Three causes of mariage Gen. 2. 7. Gen. 1. 28. Why mariage is called Matrimony This is signified in Deu. 23. 1. Prou. 5. 18. Mal. 2. 15. The second cause 1. Cor. 7. 8. Papists stewes 2. Sa. 16. 22 Mal. 2. 15. Deu. 17. 17. 1. Tim. 3. 2. Gen. 4. 23. Mat. 9. 5. Prou. 2. 16. Gen. 36. 25. Fornicators like the diuell Mat. 13. 22. Psa 128. 4. Gen. 1. 28. Bastards Iudg. 11. 1. They might be saued but they had the marke of the curse Leu. 20. 10. Deu. 22. 22. Maried fornicators Mariage of Ministers 1. Cor. 7. 9. Heb. 13. 4. 1. Cor. 7. 1. Tim. 3. 2. 1. Cor. 7. 6. 1. Cor. 7. 17. Gen. 2. 18. Mat. 19. 11. 1. Tim. 4. 3. Rom. 3. 8. * Be not thou vain and these words will not be offensiue Heb. 13. 4. 1. Cor. 7. 8. Leuit. 12. 4. 5. c. 1. Cor. 7. 5. The third cause Gen. 2. Eccl. 4. 10. Pro. 19. 6. Pro. 27. 10. 1. Sam. 14. 7 A wife is the poore mans riches Prou. 21. 9. 1. Sa. 16. 14 The choise Deut. 1. 23. 4. Two spies for a wife Zach. 5. 7. 1. Reg. 3. 9. Gen. 24. 12. Godly fitte Ephe. 5. 29. Cant. 6. 8. Psal 45. 9. 1. Sa. 16. 7. 1. Cor. 13. 13. A fit wife The ceremonie is not approued but the inuention declared 1. Sa. 2. 35. The saying of a godly man Gen. 2. 18. 2. Cor. 6. 14. Gen. 2. 22. Phil. 4. 3. Ezec. 16. 44 Fiue rules in the choise of a good wife Psal. 11. 26 Pro. 10. 7. Mar. 14. 9. Luke 6. 26. Iohn 15. 19 Iohn 8. 46. Luke 16. Eccle 8. 7. Esay 3. 9. Acts 3. 2. Gen. 24. 65. To Adam first and to Moses after Maids must speake 〈…〉 Mat. 12. 34 Mat. 12. 36 Pro. 18. 7. Pro. 17. 23. Eccl. 12. 10. Pro 19. 15. Nu. 19. 15. Luk. 16. 19. Mar. 1. 6. 2. King 1. 8. 1 The. 5. 22 Rom. 12. 2. 1. Reg. 12. 8. Pro. 1. 11. Psal 6. 8. Gen. 24. 50. Parents consent in Mariage Exod. 20. Gen. 2. 22. Exod. 22. Num. 30. 6. Deut. 7. 3. 1. Cor. 7. 38. Iob. 1. 3. 10. Gen. 29. 18. 1 Sam. 18. 17. â— Gen 28. 6. Gen. 34. 9. Gen. 24. 51. 52. 53. Iudg. 14 2. Mariage with Papists c. Gen. 24. 3. Exo. 34. 16. Gen. 28. 1. Mal. 2. 11. Ezra 9. 12. Gen. 34. 14. The similitude holds in their saying not in their meaning for they spake truely but they ment