and right And so I passe from the worke supposed If thou doe wâ—l to the reward promised shalt thou not be accepted the interrogative put for the affirmative It is well observed by Pareus upon the place that the word here translated accâ—pted which is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a verbo {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} among other things signifies to lift up and so is also turned by some actively erit tibi elevare if thou doe well thou need'st not goe hanging downe thy head like a condemned man but thou maiest bee able to lift up thy countenance in sincerity of conscience as well as thy brother Of some againe passively erit tibi â—l vari if thou doe well thou shalt be promoted and advanced with the blessings of earth iâ— this life and with the crowne of blessednesse when this life is ended If you joyne them both together you shall finde that well-doing hath a double acceptance the gratulation of conscience within our selves and the gratuity of blessednesse from almighty God Concerning the first comfort of conscience is no small reward unto a righteous man many men reckon it enough and solely rest therein Virtus in seipsâ mercedem habet a good work carries her reward with her even the testimony and congratulation of a good conscience which is a precious jewell a hidden treasure our heaven upon earth our cheifest glory untill we come to the Kingdome of glory according to Saint Paul this is our glory even the testimony of our conscience Inaestimabile bonum est testimonium bonae insontis conscientiâ—… the testimony of a good conscience is an inestimable good thing without which no man can be truely merry and with which no man certainely sad for what can cast a man downe if conscience be upright or what can raise a man up if conscience once deject him what made Belshazar fall into his melancholy dumps in the midst of his cups and boone companions why nothing but an evill conscience is a continual fiend to haunt him and what made Saint Paul sing Psalmes at midnight in prison but a good conscience a continual feast to cheere him Finally I demand with a Father what thou accountest in this life pleasant and comfortable Mensanè deliciosa a table furnished with continual delicates Dives had this and yet was turned into hell Bona valetudo corporis Is it strength and soundnesse of body Goliah had this and yet knockt downe with a pebble stone Ingens gloria Great magnificence and glory Herod had this and yet was eaten up of lice Divitiarum â—â—pia aboundance of wealth and riches The glutton had this and foolishly lost his soule What then he concludes nihil aliud jucundum est quam conscientia proba et res futurorum certa nothing nothing truely comfortable in this world but a good conscience within our selves and a strong confidence in the God of heaven Had 〈◊〉 at the time of his oblation but knowne the benefit of a good conscience which was in Abel before he suffered his martyrdome and the woundâ— of an evil conscience which were fallen upon himselfe after he had committed his murder he would have laboured more earnestly to doe well in action that hee might more joyfully have sped well in acceptation And such would be the desire of all men were conscience valued at his true dignity and worth excellently Saint Bernard unicuique est liber propria câ—nscientia ad hunc librum discutiendum em â—dandum omnes alij inventi sunt every mans conscience is a booke and to cleare and refine this book all other books are invented and found out All our reading to our selves all our preaching to you all your and our hearing is joyntly for one end ne dissideat unu quisque a seipso that no man should be at oddes with his owne soule The benefit and comfort whereof were it sufficiently knowne to many men and earnestly loved of all men the shop-keeper would not by making short measure unto others make himselfe fall short of heaven the lawyer would not plead so long against the truth till his own conscience pleaded against himself the extortioner would not grinde the face of the poor til faenus pecuâ—iae proves funus animae his monies birth his soulâ—s death The Bankrupt would not so often compound with his creditors till the devill without compounding carries away his soule finally the whoring drunkard the roaring swaggerer and the raving blasphemer would not dance themselves in jollity into hell as they doe if they were but perswaded that a good conscience were but worth halfe so much as it is Againe besides gratulation of conscience well-doing getts acceptation from God and so it purchaseth reward without as well as partaketh of comfort within Indeed it hath ever been the devils pollicy to make men believe it is in vaine to serve God in Iâ—b 21. 15. the wicked will needs make it a question what profit they should have if they should serve God A base demand seeing as one observes every good man knows etiam submotâ mercedem virtuteÌ„ ipsâ— coronaÌ„ ac ornamentum esse that vertue carrieth her reward in her bosome and cannot want the comfort that is due unto her she is both the work and the reward herselfe yea and that in this present life Gods children want not comfortaâ—le blessings which are as it were the first fruits of their full inheritance God being gracious unto them dum per res parvas et in aspectum cadentes majoribus invisibilibusque fidem astruit whilest by outward things he strengthens their faith for greater and more glorious matters And they content themselves with his good pleasure and depend upon him without distrust saying one to another with Saint Paul Rom. 8. 32 He that loved not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shal he not with him also freely give us all things and to their owne soules with Origen quid de opâ—bus dubitas qui herum habes what doest thou doubt of the inheritance when thou hast the heire himselfe bestowed upon thee Yet herein they are discreet too for they have learned with Pelusiota that combatings appertaine to this world comfortings to the other world here crosses there crownes Such is Gods wisedome that generally he hath proportioned the worke for earth the wages for heaven and yet such is his goodnesse too that here also many goe not unrewarded For saith Augustine if God should reward no good man in this life it would be thought these temporal lessings did either belong to God for to give or to good men to receive and againe if he should reward every good servant with these outward things they would be thought the onely good and men would serve him for earthly commodities and so non pios nos fâ—e rei talis
incorrupted Judge qui nec flecti potest precibus nec corrumpi 〈◊〉 as Gerhard who will neither bee wonne by intreaties nor corrupted with gifts This is that Insepulta sepuâ—tura a Grave ever open hee that stumbleth at it doth irrecoverably fall into it Quid prodest non habere Conscium lâ—abâ—â—nti Conscientiam No booke to bee secret from the view of men so long as conscience is privie to it lesse like a Sergeant or Catchpole it sits at our doores and never parts with the sinner till he parts with his sin But most of all Pecc tum prae foribus wee shall finde sinne at the doore when wee are going out at the doore at the time of death or going out of the world For God herein alludes to the nature of some Mastiffe or wilde beast lying at the doore of a mans house who as soone as ever a mans foote is over the threshold to goe forth it fires in his face to plucke out his throat So Conscience in wicked men like a bandogge barkes at them all the while they are in the house of this life but when at death they goe out of the Clay houses of their bodies then it furiously sets upon them teares out the throat of their soules and makes a full end of them Thirdly and lastly Peccatum prae foribus Sinne lyeth at the 〈◊〉 that is liâ—nes punishment is at the doore hard at hand ready to overtake him that sinneth Sinne and his punishment except they be severed by found Repentance goe still together Gognatum 〈◊〉 inuatum est omni sceleri sceleris supplicium Sinnes punishment is home-bred nay imbred with it As in the cleere Sunne-shine the darke shadow followeth the body so in the sweete pleasure of evill lad punishment accompanieth sinne if thou commit the one God will not omit the other If thou doe the one thou shalt suffer the other Therfore the Chaldee paraphrast turnes it thus Si non bene egeris peccat 〈◊〉 tuum in diew judicij servatum erit If thou doest not well thy sinne is reserved till the day of judgement thou mayest shut it out at the doore of thy minde but it will fit at the doore of Gods memory to procure just vengeance on thee As the Poet said of perjury I may say of all other sins It may tarry long Sera tamen tacitis paena venit pedibus Slow footing it makes but sure footing it takes and then as Val Maximus saith Tardetatem supplicij gravitate compensat it will make amends for the long time of delay with the heavinesse of the punishment when it commeth for though God hath leaden feete hee hath Iron hands though hee commeth very slowly yet he payeth surely And thus it was with Cain Hee lived long after this he built Cities married Wives begate Children invented Arts as if nothing did trouble him but all this while he had with in him a feared Conscience a trembling heart a guilty looke sinne lay at the doore and at last threw him out of house and home and so the end of sins pleasure was the beginning of hell-torments Consider this all yee that forget God least he teare you in peeces while there be none to helpe Sinne is a bad Tenant it casts out the Land-lord If you please your selves in sin God will displease you in punishment His judgments are ever just and vengeance will come when it is due Serious consideration herein may doe much good whilest wee consider that divine punishment argues humane transgression Wee may safely conclude from a punishment to an offence Posito uno poâ—itur et alterum Who can enumerate your grosse enormities and crimes now raigning among us How doth rebellion which is as the sin of witchcraft get a head whilest Authoritie and Dominion is troden under-foot How doth Schisme and Faction prevaile and increase whilest order and decency is set at nought â— How is Religion made with many the Maske of Villany How is the Ministerie contemned and our Message disgracefully accepted How have the Holy Scriptures lost their due Authoritie and cannot be beleeved by many of Us But above all How by our unhallowed lives doe we treade under feete the precious bloud of JESUS CHRIST When the Citie of Othâ— was burned one yeelds this as a presaging cause of it that a little before a Priest at Masse spilt a Chalice of Consecrated Wine which that credulous age thought to have beene the very bloud of Christ Our Kingdome hath not beene burned nor I trust ever shall till that great day of fire when the earth and the Elements and the Heavens and all shall burne and yet how is the Bloud of Christ spilt upon the ground and troden under foot by our prophane courses But what though our Houses escape the fire if our bodies doe not No marvaile if some have Ignem in ossibus the fire of loathsomnesse in their bones when they have kindled I gnem in Carne the fire of Lust in their flesh No wonder that our bloud boyles with the heate of feavers and burning Agues when the fervour of drunkennesse and distemperature hath blowne the Coales No mervaile if all the plagues concomitating a civill Warre doe fall upon us when out filthie lusts within us which warre against the Soule are so predominant Quid mirum in generis humani crescere jamiram Deicum creseat quotidiâ— quod puniatur What marvaile saith Saint Cyprian to see the judgements of God every day increase when our sins which call for them do increase more than they Our pride increaseth our hypocrisie increaseth our prophannes increaseth our rebellion increaseth our Atheisme increaseth Is it a wonder then that the Pox should increase that the Plague should increase that our divisions should increase that wars and rumours of wars should increase also Be wise therefore my Beloved and sin no more lost worse things befall Vs take away the cause if you would have the effect to cease and remove sin from your doores if you would have God with-hold punishment from your soules And so much for the second point The third remaines which is Argumentum ab aquo bono a reason taken from right and equity unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him And here it did become mee to crave your patience a little longer the time being already past did I not know the subject I have in hand commanded it For behold my heart hath iâ—dighted a good matter and I will speake of the things that I have made touching the KING And I would to God that none would touch him worse Vnto thee shall bee his desire and thou shalt rule over him WHich words are meant of Abels subjection to Cain and of Cains supremacie over Abel God that he might restraine Cain from a further evill doth comfort him with this present good that neither his owne wickednesse could deprive him of his dominion nor his
brothers righteousnesse free him from subjection but Abâ—ls desire must be subject unto Cain as the Elder and Cain by Authority rule over Abel as the younger So that here two things are delivered One That the First-borne hath the condicion of a superior The other That the younger hath the state of an Inferiour and both must keepe their owne Concerning the first Primo geniture even by the Law of Nature and by the Law of God hath a twofold priviledge Regni Sacerdotij of outward rule and command as a King of inward direction and guidance as a Priest Thus Iacob intimates in Reuben Gen. 49. Reuben my first borne c. Thou hadst the excellencie of Dignitie and the excellency of Power The excellency of Dignity that is the order of Priest-hood in the Church The excellency of Power that is the state of Soveraignty in the Common-wealth Now because every house is a little Citie as every Citie is a great house therefore the first borne was a petty King over his brethren and as a Bishop or Priest to the whole family And for this cause God appointed the first-borne Duplicem haereditatem a double portion of inheritance answerable as it were to his double dignity and preferment Cain then being Elder then Abel was his Superiour by birth and in this superiority was promised to continue albeit by sin he might seeme to have lost it From this point much might bee observed and I could bee large in it but I neither desire to offend you nor doe I delight to wearie my selfe May it please you briefly to observe with mee these three points First that Superioritie of on man over another is the very ordinance and appointment of Almightie God so that by him the greatest is set to rule the lesser appointed to obey even by him I say that made them both for as neither the soule alone nor bodie alone can make a man so neither the Soveraigne alone nor the subiects alone can make a Common-wealth whereall will rule there is no rule and where none doth rule there is all misrule Therfore hath God ordained an order and chiefly in all things The blessed Angels know their thrones and the Saints their seats The Heavens have their Orbes and on stâ—r differeth from another star in glorie The Planets have their placâ—s and the Elements theirs look among the creaturs and you shall finde the Lion to have the preeminence among the beasts the Eagle among the Fowles the Whale among the Fishes among the Serpents the Basyliske Ther 's a Bell-weather in the flocke ther 's a Captaine among the Cranes a Governour among the Pismires a master Bee in the Hive and the Grasse-hoppers goe out in bands and shall we admit of no Order among reasonable men Cujus jussu â—â—mines nascuntur hujus jussu Reges constituuntur It was Divinity in Irenaeus his time He that made men made Kings and to them he gave a superiotity over oâ— her men The powers that are saith Saint Paul are ordain'd of God Again observe from hence that sometimes a wicked man is appointed to rule and a good man sit under to obey here in Cain the King is wicked in Abel the Subject good So it was in the Primitive Church the Christians were good subjects but Nero Domiâ—ian Juliaâ— bad Princes But observe in the third place that it is not the wickednesse of the Prince that can deprive him of his temporall jurisdiction nor the goodnesse of the subject that can exempt him from his allegiance Both are cleare in Cain and Abel to whom is promised continuance of their states each his owne place after most unlike merits and deserts This David knew of Saul a bloudy Buâ—cherly barbarous Prince that so eagerly hunted after his life to take it yet he not a private man but one appointed and annointed by God to raigne in his stead was so farre from hurting him when God had delivered him into his hands in the Cave that his heart smote him when hee had but cut off the skirt of his garment and the reason he gives for it is because hee was the Lords Annointed What should I speake of Nebucâ— aduezzar King of Assyria who wasted all Palestina plundered Jerusalem put out the eyes of the King slew his Sons burnt the Temple tooke away the holy vessels and defiled all places with rape â—uine and bloud and yet for all this his unmatched cruelty and impietie the Prophets Ieremy and 〈◊〉 wrote to those Captive Jewes whom he after his glut of butchery had led into Chaldâ—a to pray for the prosperity life of him and his sonne Belstaâ—r that their dayes might bee upon the Earth as the dayes of Heaven and the Prophet 〈◊〉 doth both blame and threaten Zedeâ—iah for his disloyalty in revolting from him though a heathenish tyrant whose homager and tributary he was What of Saint Paul and Saint Pâ—â—er who lived wrote their Epistles and died Martyrs under the Raigne of bloudy Heathenish and Athiesticall persecutors Yet saith one of them Let every soule bee subject to the Higher pâ—â—ers not every body but every Soule our subjection must not be forced but be free and voluntary comming from the soule And the other Submity 〈◊〉 selvâ—s to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sâ—ke to the King as supreame I could abound both with examples and testimonies taken out of the Word of God if those holy writings were of any credit in these â—â—yes I am sure the Christians in the Primitive Church learned from them that the Tyraâ—â—ie Atheism and prophannesse of their Princes was not a sufficient cause for them to thrust them out of their Empire yea remembring Saint Pauls precept even to resist being offended and therfore they spent their time according to Tertullian in praying for them that God would give them Imperium 〈…〉 prolixam donium securam exercitus fortes A safe Empire a long life a quiet house a valiant army and this they did not out of feâ—re because they wanted strength away with that devillish glosse but meerely out of Conscience because they knew their subjection to be Gods Ordinance For the government is not mans but Gods it is not Earthly but Heavenly and Kings are in a manner deified while they are upon the earth and that by Gods owne Vote too Dixi Diiestis I have said yee are God saith he and aâ— of you are children of the mâ—st High Gods in â—itle though not equall in power God hath given them His Name though not His Nature and upon the Earth they serve in Gods stead as may appeare by that of the Queene of Sheba to King Salomon Blessed be the Lâ—rd thy God which delighted in ther to set thee upon His Throne that thou mayest be King for the Lord thy God Their kingdomes are given them by God the most High ruleth in the