I haue belieued when the life shall witnesse the contrary thy lips affirme but thy works deny As our Sauiour said Opera testantur de me my workes beare witnesse of me that I am Christ so thou must say Opera testantur de me my works beare witnesse of me that I am a Christian. Thou shalt be saued for thy faith not for thy works but for such a faith as is without works thou shalt neuer be saued Works are disioyned A iustificando non a iustificato from the act of iustifying not from the person iustified If this Iudge for his owne merits giue vs saluation wee must shew him the faire copy of our conuersation Quicquid Christus operatur pro nobis operatur in nobis Whatsoeuer Christ vvorkes for vs he also workes in vs. If he hath freed vs from the damnation of sinne he hath also freed vs from the dominion of sinne Albeit in our iustification Fiet nobis secundum fidem nostram Be it vnto vs according to our Faith yet in saluation Reddetur vnicuique secundum operasua Euery man shall bee rewarded according to his workes Let not that which is a word of comfort to vs be a bill of inditement against vs. 4. The Sentence As there be two sorts of men to be sentenced so there is a double sentence one of Absolution the other of Damnation With Absolution our Sauiour begins in action with that let vs begin in meditation He begins with fauour O he is ready to shew mercy and comes slowly to wrath and iudgement In the Absolution are considerable foure circumstances A Calling a Commending a Reply and an Answere First the calling is set downe Math. 25. 34. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world In which gracious speech wee may perceiue sixe gradations 1. Amabilis vocatio Come This was the voyce of Christ generally to all in the day of Grace is particularly to the Elect in the day of Glory Now he calls more then vvill come then he will not call all that would come Now he giues many Venite's Come to me all that labour If any man thirst let him come to me and drinke The Spirit and Bride say Come and let him that heareth say Come and let him that is athirst come Send not others but come your selues Come to no others eyther Saints or Angels but come to me Let vs take heed of that Discedite quia nolâ—…stis venire Depart from me good reason for you would not come vnto mee You declined my call when I was humbled Is not this the Carpenters Sonne I vvill decline you now I am exalted None of those men that were called shall tast of my supper But such as haue obediently heard his Come in holines shall also graciously heare his second Come in happinesse 2. Suâ—…is Benedictio Ye Blessed Neuer man was is or shall be but desires secundum sensum suum after his own sense to be blessed saith Aristotle though the most haue sought it out of the right vbi vvhere it vvas not to bee found In Christ onely it is found vvho is indeed the Father of blessednesse Mat. 3. 3. Blessed are the poore in spirit The first vvord of the first lesson of Christs first Sermon is Blessed So he beginnes so there he continues so here he concludes Come ye blessed a vvord able to make a man blessed 3. Patris dilectio Of my Father to be blessed of God is to be surely blessed Parents doe vvell in blessing their children Princes in blessing their people here 's the difference Benedicunt but not Beatificant they may wish them blessed but not make them blessed But saith God to Abraham In blessing I will blesse thee I haue blessed him and he shall be blessed All blessednes springs from that fountaine the Lord hath blessed vs and requires vs to blesse him who is ouer all God blessed for euer Amen This the vniuersall song of all creatures giues him Blessing honour c. 4. Foelicitatis Possessio Inherite Inheritance is of Birth not industry the younger brother is often of more desert then the elder yet cannot this make him his Fathers Heyre This is of Inheritance therefore not of merit It differs from an earthly Inheritance in three things 1. In that the Testator must be dead and the successor liuing in this God the Testator is euer liuing and his heyres before they can fully possesse it must bee dead Ambr. A temporall inheritance diuided is diminished one is of so much land shortned as is to another shared The heires heere are without number of all nations kinred and languages yet though the inheritance be imparted it is not empaired Tanta singulis quanta omnibus Euery one hath as â—…ch as any one Ardens 3. The partition of an earthly inheritance breeds among the coheyres enuy grudging but in this the ioy of one is the ioy of all Dispar gloria singulorum tamen communis laetitia omnium Aug. One starre may excell another starre in glory but none shall enuy another in glory There shall be no repining at anothers more glorious clearenesse where remaines in all one gracious dearenesse Inherite 5. Haereditatis Perfectio a kingdom The top of mans desires is a kingdom nil nisi Regna placent Yet if they be earthly kingdoms they will not satisfie Alexander is not content with his vniuersall Monarchy But here is a kingdom will satisfie you will say there are many Kings but one kingdome therfore not roome enough yes for the bounds of the least are not narrower then heauen it selfe 6. Regni Paratio Prepared for you Not merited in your times but prepared before all times It had no beginning in respect of Gods intention it shall haue no end in respect of your possession Gods decree to giue it vs had no beginning but shall haue an end our fruition of it shal haue a beginning but no end Gods mercy in both hath neither beginning nor end but is from euerlasting to euerlasting Had the Lord such care to prouide a kingdom for his children before they were then sure hee will giue it them at the appointed time So certaine are they of blessednesse that it is prepared for them from the foundation of the world For you not for all there is no vniuersall election God decrees not all to bee saued Then Christ should haue said thus Inherit the kingdome Paratum omnibus Datum vobis prepared for all and giuen to you but he saith Prepared for you therefore not purposed to all Seeing there is so good cheare prepared for vs let vs prepared for vs let vs prepare our selues for that like some dainty guest who knowing there is such delicate fare behinde keepes his stomacke for it Let vs disdaine the course diet of this world that dangers vs to the dropsie of couetice or the surfets of ryot We vse to fast on
the Eeues that vve may feast on the Holy-dayes let vs here abstaine from the table of sinne that wee may heereafter banket in the Kingdome of Heauen This is matter of comfort to vs heere the world condemns the godly therefore they shall haue a time of absoluing When that Generall Session comes then looke vp and lift vp your heads for your redemption draweth nye There is no mercy to be had in this vvorld for the wicked themselues are accusers witnesses iudges but at that day a poore mans case will be heard Therefore the poore committeth himselfe vnto thee for thou art the helper of the fatherlesse Christ vvill take the cause into his own hand The soules vnder the Altar cry with a loud voyce How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not iudge and auenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth Yes it is fit euery one should haue a day of hearing This is theirs that shall be ours The righteous shall reioyce when hee seeth the vengeance Reioyce yes they haue no charity to vs on earth vve must haue no charity to them in hell 2. The Commendation followes the calling Mat. 25. 35. For I was hungry and ye gaue me meate I was thirsty and ye gaue mee drinke c. Christ witnesseth their faith from the effects they brought foorth fruits of mercy Thus it is euident that not according to the internall habite of faith and charity but according to the externall acts proceeding from them is the reward bestowed Christ before iustified them by their faith apprehending his merits now hee iustifies them by testimony of that faith arising from their vvorkes The point Christ insists in is their workes of mercy which are sixe visito poto cibo redimo tego colligo fratres Giuing them meat drinke harbour clothing visitation in sicknesse redemption from bondage Where obserue that the maine point Christ will scanne at the last is the point of mercy Not how wise nor how learned nor how iust but how mercifull Ambr. Now if a Scholler standing for preferment knew directly that one question vvherein hee should be opposed he would study a full and ready answer to it We all know that one and maine question wherein Christ vvill examine vs vvhat vvorkes of mercy haue we done if we haue gotten no demonstration of mercy vve are vvorthily condemned Now their mercy is commended partly in respect of the obiect and partly in respect of the act For the obiect it is done to Christ happy mercy that is done to the Lord Iesus it shall neuer passe vnrewarded Ioash forgot the kindnesse of Iehoiada but the King of heauen will remember all the good done vnto him Sayes that good malefactor Lord remember me when thou commest into thy kingdome I will not forget thee answeres Iesus To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise I was hungry and ye fedme I and me saith Christ. In regard of the act the thing they distribute and contribute is not bare vvords but actuall mercies food clothing c. This is the effect of a true faith not a verball but a reall working faith A faith not like that the Psalmist seemes to mention though in another sense I belieued ideo locutus sum and therefore I spake but such as the Apostle speakes of I belieued ideo operatus sum and therefore I wrought a faith working by loue It is easie to mistake Saint Paul Rom. 14. 22. Hast thou faith haue it to thy selfe before God vnlesse vve expound him by S. Iames Iam. 2. 18. Hast thou faith shew thy faith by thy workes If vve vvill be the children of Abraham who is the Father of them that belieue wee must bee so by Sara vvho is the mother of them that obey They that vvill be trees of righteousnesse in Gods garden must not bee like the fig-tree in the Gospell that had onely leaues no fruit but like the tree that brings forth her fruit in due season Or like Aarons rod that of a dead sticke hauing life and sappe put into it presently bare Almonds fruit no leaues spoken of Some giue words enow contrary to Moses who was a man of few vvords The Papists vvill rather loose a penny then a Paternoster these vvill giue ten Paternosters before one penny They giue the words of Nepthali pleasant words but no meate As if the poore were like Ephraim fed with the wind Or as if their word were verbum Domini the word of God that men might liue by it Salomon sayes Wisedome is good with an inheritance so good counsell is good vvith an almes If a famished man begge bread of thee and thou onely fallest to instruct his soule but deniest food to his body hee may reply as Hushai said to Absolon of Achitophels counsell The counsell that Achitophel hath giuen is good but not at this time Martial demands of Caius a small piece of siluer Quod vel donanti non graue Caius blamed him for his idle profession of Poetry counselled him to study the Lavv that vvould enrich him To him Martial Quod peto da mihi tu non peto consilium Giue me that I aske thee I doe not aske thee counsell Many are like S. Peters fish it had money in the mouth but not a hand to giue it Or like Diues his dogs they can licke a poore man vvith their tongues else giue him no reliefe Diogenes a witty begger would vsually walke in a place where earthen Statues were erected in honour of some that died for their country To them he would pray to them reach out his hand bow and beg being asked the reason he answered Nihil aliud quà m repulsam meditor I thinke of nothing but a repulse and deniall Wee haue many such liuing Statues meere Idols that haue mouthes and speake not eyes and pity not hands and giue not the poore are sure of nothing but a repulse 3. The reply or question vpon this commendation made by the Saints Math. 25. 37. Then shall the righteous answere him Lord when saw we thee an hungred and fedde thee or thirstie and gaue thee drinke c. This is no deniall of that truth Christ hath auouched But 1. to magnifie Christs mercy who takes these workes as done to himselfe which are done for his sake Let no couetous Churle plead he wants subiects vpon whom to exercise his mercy Pauper vbique iacet which way can he walke and not behold one hungry another thirsty c 2. To testifie their humilitie that albeit these things are true yet they acknowledge no merite in them they haue not done so much of these as they ought Besides they might haue an after-consideration of their sinnes past which valued with their good works they find one to out-weigh a thousand The Papists ostent their merits on earth the Saints dare not doe so euen ready for heauen but cast downe their crownes before the Throne saying
yet the heart must hold The wretchednesse is it cannot burst Poena gehennales torquent non extorquent puniunt non finiunt corpora It is called by Augustine Mors sine morte sinis sine fine defectus sine defectu But some will say Your Text speakes of Proportion how can eternall vengeance bee proportionable to a momentany offence Yes first an infinite God is offended and a finite man is the offender Because he cannot be capable of an infinite wrath at once he must haue it in eternity the short dimensions of his Essence must haue a long extention of his punishment what wants in place must be supplied in time Christ indeed suffered enough in a short time because he was infinite man cannot doe so and therefore must be for euer in suffering Secondly he that delights in sinne desires it may alwayes continue and velle peccatum est peccatum so that an infinite desire must needs haue an infinite punishment Qui moritur sine poenitentia si semper viueret semper peccaret He that dies without repentance if he should euer liue would euer sinne So Gregor It is Gods iust iudgement Vt nunquam mortuâ—…s careâ—…t supplicio qui nunquam vâ—…uus voluit carere peccato That he dead should haue eternall punishment who liuing would haue beene eternally wicked Vt nullus detur inâ—…quo terminus vltionis qui quamdâ—… valuiâ—… habere noluit terminum criminis That no end should be allowed to his vengeance that would haue allowed himselfe no end of wickednes As the good man if he should euer liue would euer doe well If thou wilt therefore offend in aeterno tuo God must punish iâ—… aeterno suo Thy iniustice would put no date to thy sins Gods Iustice shall set no date to thy sufferings Thus ye haue plowed wickednesse and ye haue reaped iniquity You see the wickeds Seeding and Haruest God keepe vs from sowing such seed that we may neuer reape such a crop The godly haue also their Seeding and their Hâ—…uest All their sowing may be distinguished Into Pietie towards God Charity towards men For Pietie They sowe in Faith and God will blesse that Seede it shall grow vp to heauen for it is sowne in the side of Iesus Christ who is in heauen He that beleeueth on God there is the seed shall haue euerlasting life there is the Haruest Qui credit quod non videt videbit quod credit Hee that beleeues what he doth not see there 's the Seed shall one day see what he hath beleeued there is the Haruest They sow in obedience this is also a blessed Seed that will not faile to prosper wheresoeuer it is cast If ye keep my Commandements there 's the Seed ye shall abide in my Loue there 's the Haruest Rom. 6. Ye are the seruants to God and haue your fruite vnto holinesse there 's the sowing and the end euerlasting life there 's the Reaping Obedientia in terris regnabit in coelis He that serues God on earth and sowes the seed of Obedience shall in heauen reape the haruest of a kingdome They sowe in Repentance and this seed must needes grow vp to blessednesse Psalm 126. They that sowe in teares shall reape in ioy Hee that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed there 's the sowing shall doubtles come againe with reioycing bringing his sheaues with him there 's the Haruest Many Saints haue now reaped this croppe in heauen that sowed their seed in teares Dauid Marie Magdalen Peter as if they had made the Prouerbe No comming to heauen with dry eyes Thus nature and God differ in their proceedings To haue a good crop on earth we desire a faire Seed-time but heere a wet time of sowing shall bring the best Haruest in the Barne of heauen Blessed are they that mourne there 's the seeding for they shall be comforted there 's the Haruest Lastly they sowe in renouncing of the world and adherence to Christ and they reape a great Haruest Behold saith Peter to Christ we haue forsaken all and followed thee there 's the Seeding What shall wee haue therefore what You shall sit on twelue thrones iudging the â—…vvelue tribes of Israel all that you haue lost shall bee centupled to you and you shall inherit euerlasting life ther 's the Haruest Sow to your selues in righteousnesse and reape in mercy For Charitie He that sowes this seed shall be sure of a plentifull crop Whosoeuer shall giue to drinke to one of these little ones a cup of cold water onely a little refreshing in the name of a Disciple verily I say vnto you he shall in no wise lose his reward But if he that giueth a little shall be thus recompenced then He that soweth bountifully shall reape bountifully Therefore sparse abroad with a full hand like a Seeds-man in a broad field without feare Doth any thinke he shall lose by his charitie No worldling when he sowes his seed thinkes hee shall lose his seed he hopes for amendment at haruest Darest thou trust the ground and not God Sure God is a better pay-master then the earth Grace doth giue a larger recompence then nature Below thou may est receiue forty graines for one but in heauen by the promise of Christ a hundreth fold a measure heapen and shaken and thrust together and yet running ouer Blessed is he that considereth the poore there 's the Seeding the Lord shall deliuer him in the time of trouble there 's the Haruest Is this all No Math. 25. Ye fedde me when I was hungry and gaue me drinke thirsty comforted me in misery there 's the sowing Veni beati Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you there 's the Haruest I shut vp this point with the Apostles Blessing Now hee that ministreth seede to the sower both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousnesse God send you a good Haruest I conclude Whatsoeuer a man soweth that shall he also reape O that this Text might be true vpon all vs at this time The Lord hath sowne the seede of his Gospell O that he might reape your soules to his glory But shall we hope for that which the Prophets found not I haue laboured in vaine I haue spent my strength for nought saith Esay Nor the Apostles I haue fished all night and caught nothing saith Peter No nor Christ himselfe who spake as neuer man spake Yet himselfe telleth vs Math. 13. that of foure sorts of ground wherein the seed was sowne three were barren and returned no fruit Alas how much seed is sowne among thornes rockes and high-way grounds you come to receiue this seed but it fructifies not You bring forth hedge-fruit like the Heathen scarce so good We heare often and as often forget Yet still Beloued this Text shall be true God hath sowne and he will reape sowne his
Country of Earth describe the glorious Court of Heauen Glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God Glorious Cities haue beene and are in the world Rome was eminently famous all her Citizens like so many kings yet was it obserued Illic homines more that men did die there But in this Citie there is no dying Mors non erit vltra There shall be no more death I will narrow vp my discourse to consider in this City only 3. things The Situation Society Glory The Situation It is placed aboue Gal. 4. Ierusalem which is aboue is free the mother of vs all Heauen is in excelsis His foundation is in the holy mountaines So was Ierusalem seated on earth to figure this Citie built on the Quarrey of heauen Dan. 2. On Saphyres Emeralds and Chrysolites Reu. 21. There is a heauen now ouer our heads but it shall vvaxe olde as a garment It is corruptible and so combustible This Citie is eternall Mount Sion neuer to bee moued a kingdome neuer to be shaken Wee are now vnder this lower heauen then this shall be vnder vs. That which is our Canopy shall be our Pauement The Society The King that rules there is one Almighty God in three distinct persons Hee made this City for himselfe In his presence is the fulnesse of ioy and pleasures at his right hand for euermore If hee gaue such a house as this world is to his enemies what may we thinke hath hee prouided for himselfe and his friends But will GOD dwell there alone He is neuer alone himselfe is to himselfe the best and most excellent company Neuerthelesse he vouchsafes a dwelling here to some Citizens and these are eyther Created so Assumed or Assigned 1. Created Citizens are the blessed Angels who from their first creation haue enioyed the freedom of this City They stand alwaies in the presence of God they can neuer lose their happinesse 2. Assumed those whose spirits are already in heauen Hebr. 12. There are the spirits of iust men made perfect They are already in soule taken vp and made free Denisons of this Citie 3. Assigned the Elect that liue in the militant Church waiting for the day of their bodies Redemption crying still Come Lord Iesus come quickly These are Conscripti written in the Lambes booke of life Now though we are not already in full possession because our apprentiship of this life is not out yet we are already Citizens Ye are no more strangers and forreiners but fellow Citizens vvith the Saints and of the houshold of God And we haue three happy priuiledges of Citizens 1. Libertas Freedome from the Law not from obedience to it but from the curse of it Praestemus quod possumus quod non possumus non damnabit Let vs keepe so much of it as we can what wee cannot keepe shall not eondemne vs. Liberty in the vse of these earthly things heauen earth ayre sea with all their creatures do vs seruice Whether things present or things to come all are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is Gods 2. Tutela Imperij The Kings protection Psalm 91. Angelis mandauit Hee hath giuen his Angels charge ouer vs to keepe vs in all our wayes Is this all No. vers 4. Hee couers vs with his fethers and vnder his wings doe wee trust his truâ—…h is our shield and our buckler Our dangers are many in some places and some in all places we haue Gods owne Guard royall to keepe vs. They are sent from God to minister for their sakes which shall be heyres of saluation I need not determine whether euery particular person hath his particular Angell Saint Augustine hath wel answered Quando hoc nesciatur sine crimine non opus est vt definiatur cum discrimine Since our ignorance is no fault let vs not trouble our selues with curious discussion Bernard directs vs a good vse of it Quantam debet hoc tibi inferre reuerentiam afferre deuotionem conferre fiduciam The consideration of the guard of Angels about vs should put into our mindes reuerence into our hearts deuotion into our soules confidence 3. Defensio Legis the defensiue protection of the Law Christis our Aduocate Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that iustifieth Wee are impleaded Paul appeales to Caesar wee to Christ. The Deuill accuseth vs we are far remote behold our Counsellor is in heauen that will not let our cause fall or be ouerthrowne If any man sinne we haue an Aduocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous Thus are we Citizens in present shall be more perfectly at last We haue now right to the Citie wee shall then haue right in the City Wee haue now a purchase of the possession shall then haue a possession of the purchase Father I will that they also whom thou hast giuen mee bee with me where I am that they may behold my glory This is our Sauiours Will Testament and shall not be broken The Company then addes to the glory of this City We are loth to leaue this world for loue of a few friends subiect to mutual dislikes but what then is the delight in the Society of Saints where thy glorified selfe shall meet with thy glorified friends and your loue shall be as euerlasting as your glory There be those Angels that protected thee those Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs that by doctrine and example taught thee yea there is that blessed Sauior that redeemed thee Often heere with grones and teares thou seekest him whom thy soule loueth loe there he shall neuer be out of thy sight The Glory The glory Non mihi si centum linguae If I had a hundred tongues I was not able to discourse throughly the least dramme of that inestimable weight of glory The eye hath seene much the eare hath heard more and the heart hath conceiued most of all But no eye hath seene nor eare heard nor heart apprehended the things which God hath prepared for them that loue him Augustine after a stand Deus habet quod exhibeat God hath something to bestowe on you If I say wee shall be satiate you will think of lothing if wee shall not be satiate you will thinke of hunger But Ibi nec fames nec fastidium there is neither hunger nor lothing Sed Deus habet quod exhibeat No sooner is the soule within those gates but she is glorious Similem sibi reddit ingredientem Heauen shall make them that enter it like it selfe glorious As the ayre by the Sunnes brightnesse is transformed bright Quanta falici tas vbi nullum erit malum nullum deerit bonum How great is that blessednesse where shall be no euill present no good absent This is a blessed Citie Men are ambitious heere and seeke to be free of great Cities and not seldome buy it dearer then the Captaine bought his Burgeship But no such
heeles of vanity Mans life is compared to a Day This day to some may be distinguished into twelue houres The first giues vs natiuity euen in this houre there is sin an originall prauity indisposition to good pronenesse to euill Secondly Infancy God now protects the cradle Thirdly Childhood and now we learn to speake and to sweare together the sap of iniquity begins to put out Fourthly Tender age wherein toyes and gawdes fill vp our scene Fiftly Youth this is a madding a gadding time Remember not the sins of this time prayes Dauid their remembrance is bitter sayes Iob. Sixtly Our high noone God that could not be heard before for the loud noyse of vanity now looks for audience for obedience Seuenthly This is full of cares crosses the dugs of the world taste bitter it is full time that this houre should weane vs. Eightly Brings vs to a sense of mortality we feele our bloud decaying Ninthly Our bodies goe crooked and stooping to put vs in minde that they are going to their originall earth Tenthly We are euen as dying we do dye by degrees our senses first faile vs our eyes are dimme like old Isaacs our eares deafe our taste dull our grinders are done our stilts vnable to support vs. Eleuenthly We are a burden to our selues to our friends we long for death if any hope of a better life hath possessed our hearts The twelfth houre it comes Which of these houres pass ouer vs without Gods mercies without our voluntary vnthankfulnesse vnlesse those first houres wherein our ignorance is vncapable of such obseruance All thy day long haue I stretched out my hands vnto thee saith God If none of these houres reclaime vs our day is spent and the night comes that night wherein no man can worke actiuely to comfort though passiuely he worke for euer in torment I knovv that God cuts many one short of most of these houres and often shuts vp his day-light before hee comes to his noone But howsoeuer man passe from Infancy to childhood from childhood to youth from youth to age yet senectutem nemo excedit none can be more then olde Though tam senex nemo quin putet se annum posse viuere no man is so old but still he thinks hee may liue another yeare And therefore lightly the older the more couetous and Quò minus viae restat eò plus viatici quâ—…ritur the lesse iourney men haue the more prouision they make God allowes this liberall time to some but what enemies are we to our selues that of all these twelue houres allow our selues not one Many post off their conuersion from day to day sending Religion afore them to thirty and then putting it off to forty and not pleased yet to ouertake it promise it entertainment at threescore at last death comes and allowes not one houre In youth men resolue to allow themselues the time of age to serue God in age they shuffle it off to sicknesse when sicknes comes care to dispose their goods lothnesse to dye hope to escape martyrs that good thought and their resolution still keepes before them the length of Gracious street at least If wee haue but the lease of a Farme for twenty yeares we make vse of the time and gather profit But in this precious Farme of Time we are so ill husbands that our Lease comes out before we are one penniworth of grace the richer by it Take heed it is dangerous trifling out thy good day lest thou heare this message in the euening This night shall thy soule be required of thee Then whose shall those things be which thou hast prouided This is the Question It were somewhat if thou mightest perpetually enioy them thy selfe if thou couldst fetch downe eternity to them As those in the 49. Psalme whose inward thought is that their houses shall continue for euer and their dwelling places to all generations they call their lands after their owne names But there is a Quamdiù and a Quousque Hovv long Hab. 2. How long Thou that lodest thy selfe vvith thicke clay How farre Esa. 14. How farre Thou that madest the earth to tremble and didst shake the Kingdomes Here is a Non vltra to both thy power is confined thy time is limited both thy latitude and extention are brief'd vp heere 's thy period a full stop in the midst of the sentence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whose shall those things bee which thou hast prouided He that should read thy history being ignorant of thy destiny and finde so plentifull a happinesse in the first page of the booke grounds so fertill cattell so prospering house so furnished possibilities stroâ—… king thy hopes hopes milking thy desires desires dancing to the tune of thy pleasures promises of larger barnes more opulent fruites and all this with ease yea with hearts-ease Soule be merry and comming now to the end of the page but not of the sentence turning ouer a new leafe thinking there to reade the maturity and perfection of all should finde a blanke an abrupt period an vnlook'd for stoppe would surely imagine that eyther destiny was mistaken or else some leaues were torne out of the booke Such a Cuius erunt haec omnia would be a terrible dash in a story of happinesse so fairely written and promising so good an Epilogue But here is his end you must read him no further He whom you haue seene this day you shall see him againe no more for euer Whose shall these things be O worldling Were thy grounds as Eden and thy house like the Court of Iehoiakim yet dost thou thinke to raigne because thou closest thy selfe in Cedar no aduenit finis tâ—…us Thy end is come Whose shall these things be It were something yet if thy children might enioy these riches But there is a man that hath no child yet is there no end of his labour neyther is his eye satisfied vvith wealth And he sayth not For whom doe I trauell and bereaue my soule of this good The prodigall would bee his owne heyre and Executor but this couetous man bequeaths neyther legacy to himselfe nor to any knowne Inheritour The other desires to see en end of all his substance this man to see onely the beginning Hee hunts the world full cry yet hath no purpose to ouertake it he liues behind his wealth as the other liues beyond it But suppose hee hath children and then though hee famish himselfe to feed them fatte though he be damned yet if his sonne may be made a Gentleman there is some satisfaction But this Cuius erunt is a scattering word and of great vncertainty Whose shall they be perhaps not thy childrens They say Happy is that sonne whose father goes to the Deuill but thou maist goe to the Deuill and yet not make thy sonne happy For men make heritages but God makes heyres He will wash away the vnholy seed and cut off the generation of the wicked Salomon had
the other walke after that direction and they vvill bring the soule to heauen For Transition or Passing as the feete corporally so these spiritually mooue and conduct the man from place to place Indeed none can come to the Sonne vnlesse the Father draw him but when he hath giuen vs feet he looks we should goe Hee that hath eares to heare let him heare he that hath hands let him worke hee that hath feet let him goe Hence is that exhortation Draw neer to God he will draw neer to you In this foot-manship there is Terminus à quo recedimus Terminus ad quem accedimus motus per quem procedimus From the waies of darknes from the wages of darknes to the fruition of light to the counersation in light From darknes exterior interiour inferiour Outward this land is full of darknes fraught operibus tenebrarum with the works of darknesse Inward Hauing the vnderstanding darkned being alienated froÌ„ the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindnes of their heart Outer darkenesse that which Christ cals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or lower darkenesse Hee hath reserued the Lost angels in euer lasting chaines vnder darkenesse Vnto light externall internall eternall Outward Light Thy word is a lampe vnto my feet and a light vnto my path Inward light In the hidden parts thou shalt make mee to know wisedom Euerlasting Light They shall shine as the brightnesse of the firmament and as the starres for euer and euer Blessed feet that carry vs to That light which lightneth euery man that commeth into the world and to the beames of that Sunne which giues light to them that sit in darkenesse and in the shadow of death happy feet they shall bee guided into the way of peace Looke to thy foote wheresoeuer thou treadest beware the gardens of temporall pleasures Est aliquid quod in ipsis floriâ—… angat It is worse going on fertile ground then on baâ—… the smooth wayes of prosperity are slippery in rough â—…fflictions we may take sure footing Let your feet bee â—…od saith Paul your affections restrained barre lust of her vaine obiects turne her from earth to heauen Set her a trauelling not after riches but graces Keepe the foot of desire still going but put it in the right way direct it to euerlasting blessednes And this is 3. The End whither we must goe to perfection Thou hast done well yet goe on still Nihil praesumitur actum dum superest aliquid ad agenduÌ„ nothing is said to be done whiles any part remaines to doe No man can goe too far in goodnesse Nimis iustus et nimis sapiens potes esse non nimis bonus Thou maiest be too iust thou maist be too wise but thou canst neuer be too good Summae religionis est imitari quem colis It is a true height of religion to be a follower of that God of whom thou art a worshipper Come so nigh to God as possibly thou canst in imitation not of his power wisedome maiestie but of his mercie Be holy as the Lord is holy Be merciful as your heauenly Father is mercifull The going on forward to this perfection shall not displease him but crowne thee Giue not ouer this going vntill with Saint Paul thou haue quite finished thy course Aime at perfection shoot at this marke though thou cannot reach it When the wrastling Angel said to Iacob Let me goe for the day breaketh he answered I will not let thee goe except thou blesse me happy perseuerance When I caught him whom my soule loued I held him and would not let him goe O sweet Iesus who would let thee goe Qui tenes tenentem apprehendentem fortificus fortificatum confirmas confirmatum perficis perfectum coronas Thou that holdest him that holdeth thee that strengthenest him that trusteth thee confirmest whom thou hast strengthened perfectest whom thou hast confirmed and crownest whom thou hast perfected In the behalfe of this continuance the Holy Ghost giues those exhortations Hold fast Stand fast Hold that thou hast that no man take thy crowne The same to the Church of Thyatira Tene quod habes Reu. 2. 25. Stand fast in the libertie wherewith Christ hath made vs free It is an ill hearing Ye not doe but did runne well The Prophet in his threnes weepes that they which were brought vp in scarlet embrace dunghils It is iust matter of lamentation when soules which haue beene clad with zeale as with scarlet constantly forward for the glory of God fall to such Apostacie as with Demas to embrace the duÌ„ghil of this world and with an auarous hausture to lick vp the mudde of corruption Ioseph had a coat reaching downe to his feete our religion must be such a garment neither too scant to couer nor too short to continue ad vltimum to the last day of our temporary breath Be thou faithfull vnto the death and I will giue thee the crowne of life this crowne is promised to a good beginning but performed to a good ending Striue to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height If we can comprehend with the Saints not onely the height of hope the depth of faith the breadth of charity but also the length of continuance we are blessed for euer Euen the tired horse when he comes neere home mends his pace be good alwaies vvithout wearinesse but best at last that the neerer thou commest to the end of thy dayes the neerer thou mayest be to the end of thy hopes the saluation of thy soule Omnis coelestis Curia nos expectat desideremus eam quanto possumus desiderio The whole Court of heauen waites for vs let vs long for that blessed society with a hearty affection The Saints looke for our comming desiring to haue the number of the elect fulfilled the Angels blush when they see vs stumble grieue when vve fall clappe their vvings vvith ioy when vve goe cheerefully forward our Sauiour Christ stands on the battlements of heauen and with the hand of helpe and comfort wafteth vs to him When a noble Souldier in a forraine Land hath atchieued braue designes wonne honourable victories subdued dangerous aduersaries and with worthy Chiualry hath renowned his King and Country home he comes the King sends for him to Court and there in open audience of his Noble Courtiers giues him words of grace commendeth and vvhich is rarely more rewardeth his Valour heapes dignities preferments and places of honour on him So shall Christ at the last day to all those Souldiers that haue valiantly combated and conquered his enemies in the sight of heauen and earth audience of men and Angels giue victorious wreathes crownes and garlands long white robes to witnesse their innocency and Palmes in their hands to expresse their victory and finally he shall giue them a glorious kingdome
shall manumit and set free our soules from the prison of the body there shal be a second meeting Many haue come from east from west farre remote in place and haue met with Abraham and Isaac and the holy Patriarches which liued long before them in this world in the kingdome of heauen So already in Mount Sion are the Spirits of iust men made perfect The purer part is then glorified and meets with the triumphant Church in blisse This meeting exceeds the former in comfort 1. In respect that our miseries are past our conflict is ended teares are wiped from our eyes The very release from calamitie is not a litle felicitie So Austin meditates of this place negatiuely Non est ibi mors non luctus c. There is no death nor dearth no pining nor repining no sorrow nor sadnes neither teares nor feares defect nor lothing No glory is had on earth without grudging emulation in this place there is no enuie Non erit aliqua inuidia disparis claritatis quum regnabit in omnibus vnitas charitatis None sâ—…all malice anothers glorious clearnesse when in all shall be one gratious dearenesse God shall then giue rest to our desires In our first meeting we haue Desiderium quietis in this second Quietem desiderij Here we haue a desire of rest there we shall haue rest of desire 2. In regard that we shall see God behold him whose glory filleth all in all This is great happinesse for in his presence is the fullnesse of ioy at his right hand are pleasures for euer We shall not only meete with the spirits of iust men made perfect but also with him that made them iust and perfect Iesus the mediatour of the new couenant euen God himselfe 3 Our last meeting which is called the Generall assembly and Church of the first borne written in heauen is the great meeting at the end of the world When our re-vnited bodies soules shall possesse perfect glory and raigne with our Sauiour for euer When as no mountayne or rocke shall shelter the wicked from doome terrour so no corruption detayne one bone or dust of vs from glory We shal be caught vp together in the cloudes to meet the Lord in the ayre and so shall we be euer with the Lord. Who We. There is a time when the elect shall meete in one vniuersalitie Though now weare scattered all ouer the broad face of the earth dispersed and distressed yet we shall meet There is now a Communion of Saints 1. As of all the members with the Head all haue interest in Christ. For he is not a garden flower priuate to few but the Rose of Sharon and the Lillie of the valleys common to the reach of all faythfull hands So Iude calls this our common saluation 2. So of one member with another euen of the Church triumphant with this militant They sing Hosanna's for vs we Halleluia's for them they pray to God for vs we prayse God for them For the excellent graces they had on earth and for their present glory in heauen We meete now in our affections to solace one another and serue our God there is a mutuall sympathie betweene the parts If one member suffer all suffer with it But this meeting shal be voyd of passion and therfore needlesse of compassion though loue shall remaine for euer This Instruction is full of comfort We part here with our parents children kinred friends death breakes off our societie yet there shall be a day of meeting Comfort one another with these wordes Hast thou lost a wife brother child you shall one day meete though not with a carnall distinction of sexe or corrupt relation which earth afforded No man carries earth to heauen with him the same body but transfigured purified glorified There shall be loue hereafter not the offals of it A wife shall be knowne not as a wife there is no marriage but the Lambes Thou shalt reioyce in thy glorified brother not as thy brother according to the flesh but as glorified It is enough that this meeting shall affoord more ioy then we haue knowledge to expresse This giues thee consolation dying with griefe thou leauest those thou dearely louest Yet first thou art going to one whose loue is greater then Ionathans that gaue his life to redeeme thee And well pondering the matter thou art content to forsake all to desire a dissolution that thou mayest be with Christ. Yet this is not all thou shalt againe meet those whom thou now departest from and that with greater ioy then thou hast left in present sorow This comforts vs all if it be a pleasure for friends to meet on earth where Satan is still scattering his troubles of dissention what is it to meete in heauen where our peace is free from distraction from destruction where if there be any memorie of past things meminisse iunabit it shall rather delight vs to thinke of the miseries gone and without feare of returning It is some delight to the merchant to sitte by a quiet fire and discourse the escaped perills of wrackes and stormes Remoue then your eyes from this earth whether you be rich for whom it is more hard or poore for whom it is easier and know it is better liuing in heauen together then on earth together So then run your race that in the end you may meet with this blessed societie the Congregation of Saints in glory We yea All we In this world we must neuer looke to see an vniuersall Church but at that generall day we shall All meete In heauen there are none but good in hell none but bad on earth both good and bad mingled together I confesse that the Church militant is the Suburbes of heauen yea called the Kingdome of heauen because the King of heauen gouernes it by his celestiall lawes but still it is but heauen vpon earth In Gods floore there is chaffe mixed with the wheat in his field cockle with corne in his net rubbish with fish in his house vessells of wrath with those of honour The Church is like the moone somtimes increasing somtimes decreasing but when it is at the full not without some spottes Now this mixture of the vngodly is suffred for two causes either that themselues may be conuerted or that others by them may be excercised Omnis malus aut ideo viuit vt corrigatur aut ideo vt per illum bonus excerceatur 1. For their owne emendation that they may be conuerted to embrace that good which they haue hated So Saul a persecutor becomes Paul a professor Mary Magdalen turpissima meretrix fit sanctissima mulier a putrified sinner a purified Saint Zacheus that had made many rich men poore will now make many poore men rich when he had payed euery man his owne and that now he iudged their owne which he had fraudulently got from them Behold halfe my goods
decay in Gods Spirit that begets yet because the faithfull are first in Gods intention of fauour and hee giues them that strength of grace to resist sinne and to serue him which the world hath not therefore they are called his Firstborne the excellency of his power Though we be weake in our selues yet his strength is glorified in our weakenes his Grace is sufficient for vs. 2. The name of the family was giuen to the first borne Is not my family the least of all the families of the Tribe of Beniamin saith Saul Gilead made his whole family to be called Gileadites For further exemplying of this priuiledge read Numbers chap. 26. ver 23. to ver 52. Is this dignity lost vnder the Gospell to the first borne in Christ no for euen the wicked dwelling among the righteous are for their sakes vouchsafed the name of Christians The name of the first borne hath christned all the familie 3. Priesthood and the right to sacrifice Moses sent twelue young men according to the twelue tribes of Israel to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings vnto the Lord. Those young men are thought to bee no other but twelue of the first borne of the chiefe of the Tribes to whom the right of sacrificing Priesthood did belong till the Leuites were separated for that end Take the Leuites in stead of all the first borne among the children of Israel Neither is this priuiledge lost by the Gospel Christ hath made vs Kings and Priests vnto God his Father to offer vp spirituall sacrifice of thanksgiuing to him Priests but Priests to God lest the Schismaticke should take aduantage thereby to trouble the ciuill state The Propitiatory sacrifice is offered for vs by our high Priest Iesus the sacrifices of our Priesthood are onely gratulatory 4. Double portion If a man haue two wiues one beloued and another hated and children by them both if the first borne sonne be hers that is hated yet when he maketh his sonnes to inherit though perhaps hee would fauour the sonne of the loued yet hee shall acknowledge the sonne of the hated by giuing him a double portion of all that he hath for hee is the beginning of his strength the right of the first borne is his So the elect haue a double portion not onely a share in the things of this life but much more in heauen Godlinesse hath the promise both of the life that now is and of that which is to come It is a false imagination that God makes none of his children happy in this life Abraham was rich Dauid a King But if he denies them opulencie hee neuer denies them content This is the cheefe riches for we see others Esurientes in popina as the by-word is staruing in a Cookes shop wretched in their highest fortunes The godly haue so much share of this world as may stand with their eternall blessednesse in the world to come And such may bee content with a small portion here that are sure of the inheritance heereafter Iehoshaphat gaue great gifts of siluer and gold and precious things to all his children but the kingdome hee gaue to Iehoram because he was the first borne Our Law giues the first borne sonne the inheritance God will not depriue his of it Thus hath Christ promised a double portion to the faithfull He shall receiue an hundred fold now in this time and in the world to come eternall life And indeed the Birth-right with the Iewes was a type of euerlasting life The consideration of this excellent priuiledge doth teach vs three lessons 1. That we are dedicated to God Exod. 13. 2. Numb 3. 13. Sanctifie to me all the first borne So Haâ—…nah dedicated her first borne Samuel to the Lord. Mary brought Christ to Ierusalem to present him to the Lord as it is written in the Law Euery male that openeth the wombe shall be called holy to the Lord. To robbe God of his tythes is sacriledge but to take away from him our soules this is the highest sacriledge In this we haue a sequestration from common vse we are no longer as we were They are mine saith the Lord not onely by a common right so al things are his The earth is the Lords and the fulnesse of it nor onely for a gratefull acknowledgement that the increase of all things comes from him But as the Israelites were Gods by a speciall claime because he preserued them in Egypt when the first borne were slaine For whose redemption he accepted the first borne of their beasts when he might haue commanded all lest this should seem grieuous to them he required but the first part Hee onely reserued what he preserued So we were all by nature in as much danger of Gods wrath as were the Israelites of the destroying Angell when the first borne of the Aegyptians were smitten dead But the Lord sprinkled the dores of our hearts with the bloud of his holy Lambe Iesus Hath the Lord spared vs then hee chalengeth vs. To take from man his owne is iniurious from God sacrilegious Glorifie God in your body and in your spirit why for they are Gods ye are not your owne saith the Apostle Thus hee confessed himselfe not his owne man There stood by me this night the Angell of God whose I am and whom I serue Wee are Gods possession the first borne which he hath redeemed by his owne First-borne Christ. This wee acknowledge when wee present our children to God in Baptisme Yet O strange and forgetfull inconstancy when wee haue giuen them to God in baptisme by a foolish indulgence wee take them away againe in education A Prince abhorres to haue his eldest sonne marry with a harlot this were to vilifie and ignoble that royall bloud And shall God brooke his First borne to be contracted with that vgly strumpet Sinne This were to forfeit and make void the right of primogeniture 2. Seeing we are Gods first borne let vs offer our first and best things to him The Lord hath deserued the priority of our seruice First seeke the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof Our first studies our first labours must bee consecrated to God The Law required three properties in the sacrifices offered to God 1. They must be first borne vt illi reddamus prima qui nobis debil omnia that vvee should vvillingly giue him the first that had bountifully giuen vs all So vve must giue the first houre of the day the first vvorke of our hands the first wordes of our lips to the Lord. 2. They must bee cleane beasts for God abhorred the vncleane maimed or deformed Ye offer polluted bread vpon mine Altar If ye offer the blinde for sacrifice is it not euill if ye offer the lame sicke is it not euill offer it now to the gouernor will hee be pleased with it So vvee must hold vp to God cleane hands and send vp pure hearts
c. Sometimes Reducentem Psalm 126. 4. Turne againe our captiuitie O Lord as the streames in the South Often Educentem Psalm 105. 43. Hee brought forth his people vvith ioy and his chosen with gladnesse Neuer Seducentem beguiling deceiuing causing to erre for that is opus Diaboli who is the Accuser and Seducer of men For the latter Into a wealthy place The greatnesse of our felicity doth farre transcend the grieuousnesse of our past misery The dimension of our height exceedes that of our depth neyther did affliction euer bring it so low as our eleuation hath aduanced vs high Hereon S. Paul Rom. 8. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall bee reuealed in vs. whether we compare or their Strength Length For their vigour or strength the affliction of man in the greatest extremitie that he can lay it on man is but finite as the afflicter The blow comes but from an arme of flesh and therefore can wound but flesh Yeeld the extention of it to reach so farre as any possible malice can driue it yet it can but racke the body distend the ioynts sluce out the bloud and giue liberty to the imprison'd soule Which soule they cannot strike Therefore saith Christ Feare not him that hath power ouer the body onely not ouer the soule And euen in the middest of this dire persecution God can eyther quite deliuer vs that the storme shall blow ouer our heads and hurt vs not or if he suffers vs to suffer that yet he will so qualifie the heat of it that the coole refreshing of his blessed spirit inwardly to the Conscience shall in a manner extinguish the torment But now this vvealthy place the spring of ioy that succeedes this winter of anguish is illimited insuppressible inexpressible infinite So strongly guarded with an almighty power that no robber violently nor theefe subtilly can steale it from vs. Some pleasure is mixed with that paine but no paine is incident to this pleasure There was some laughter among those teares but there shall be no teares in this laughter For Teares shall bee quite wiped from our eyes By hovv much then the power of God transcends mans yea Gods mercie mans malice by so much shall our reioysing exceede our passion By how much the glorious City of heauen walled with Iasper and pure gold shining as brasse is stronger then the vndefensed and naked cottage of this transient world our future comforts arise in measure pleasure and security aboue our passed distresse Thus for Strength If we compare their Length we shall finde an infinite inequalitie Paul calls affliction momentany glory eternall Time shall determine the one and that a short time a very winters day but the other is aboue the wheeles of motion and therefore beyond the reach of time For a moment in mine anger saith the Lord I did hide my face from thee but with euerlasting mercy I haue had compassion on thee Nothing but eternity can make eyther ioy or sorrow absolute Hee can brooke his imprisonment that knowes the short date of it and he finds poore content in his pleasure that is certaine of a sodaine losse We know that our pilgrimage is not long through this valley of teares and miserable Desart but our Canaan home Inheritance is a wealthy place glorious for countenance blessed for continuance vvealthy vvithout want stable vvithout alteration a constant Mansion an immoueable Kingdome Vnto vvhich our Lord Iesus in his appointed time bring vs. To whom with the Father and Spirit of consolation be all praise and glory for euer Amen GODS HOVSE OR THE PLACE OF PRAYSES PSALME 66. 12. I will goe into thy House with burnt offerings I will pay thee my vowes THE formerverse connexed with this demonstrate with words of life Dauids Affliction Affection His Affliction to be ouer-ridden with Persecutors his Affection to blesse God for his deliuerance Great misery taken away by great mercy requires great thankefulnesse I will goe into thy c. Before wee put this Song into parts or deriue it into particulars two generall things must be considered The Matter The Maner the Substance the Forme The matter and substance of the verse is Thankèfulnesse the manner and forme Resolution The whole fabricke declares the former the fashion of the building the latter The Tenor of all is Praysing God the key or tune it is set in Purpose I will goe into thy house I will pay thee my vowes So that first I must intreat you to looke vpon a Solution and a Resolution a debt to be payd and a purpose of heart to pay it The Debt Is Thankefulnesse This is the matter and substance of the wordes God hauing first by affliction taught vs to know our selues doth afterwards by deliuerance teach vs to know him And when his gracious hand hath helped vs out of the low pitte hee lookes that like Israel Exod. 15. wee should stand vpon the shore and blesse his name Dauid that prayed to God de profundis out of the depths haue I called vnto thee doth after praise him in excelsis with the highest Organs and instruments of laud. Generall mercies require our continuall thankes but new fauours new prayses O Sing vnto the Lord a New Song for he hath done maruellous things There is a fourefold life belonging to man and God is the keeper of all His naturall ciuill spirituall and eternall life Eloudie man would take away our naturall life Psal. 37. The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him GOD keepes it The slanderous world would blast our ciuill life God blesseth our memory The corrupted flesh would poyson our spirituall life God hides it in Christ. The raging Deuill would kill our eternall life God preserues it in heauen Vnworthy are wee of rest that night wherein we sleepe or of the light of the Sunne that day wherein we rise without praysing God for these mercies If wee thinke not on him that made vs vvee thinke not to vvhat purpose hee made vs. When I consider the workes of GOD saith Augustine I am wonderfully mooued to praise the Creator Qui prorsus ita magnus est in operibus magnis vt minor non sit in minimis vvho is so great in his great workes that hee is not lesse in his least But when we consider his worke of Redemption about which he was not as about the Creation six dayes but aboue thirtie yeeres Where non sua dedit sed se he gaue not his riches but himselfe and that non tam in Dominum quà m in seruum et sacrificium not to be a Lord but a seruant a sacrifice We haue Adamantine hearts if the bloud of this saluation cannot melt them into praises But speciall fauours require speciall thanks vvhether they consist in Eximendo Exhibendo either in redeeming vs from dangers or heaping vpon vs benefites Our Prophet in fiue instances Psal. 107. exemplifieth
or ill motion is his whether wee lift vp our hands to prayer or murder but the prauity and corruption of these is none of his Is any part of body or power of soule depraued This commeth not from him that calleth vs. What is then the cause of sinne I answere properly nothing it hath indeed a deficient cause but no efficient cause It is a defect priuation or orbity of that God made the thing it self he neuer made Will you aske what is the cause of sickenesse I answere the destitution of health If what 's the cause of darknes the absence of the Sunne if of blindnesse the deficiency of seeing What is the cause of silence no cause there are causes of speech organs ayre c. take away these what followes but silence you see the light who euer saw darkenesse you heare speech who euer heard silence Man forsooke grace sinne came in at the backe-dore It is a bastard brought into Gods house by stealth Woe to them that shall roote their filthinesse in the deity If they bee seduced to cry Lord thou hast deceiued vs. No destruction is of thy selfe O Israel in mee is thy 〈◊〉 We haue all gotten this sinne from Adam Mulier quam tu c. The woman which Thou gauest me as if GOD had giuen him a woman to tempt him Haec est ruina maxima Deum putare causam ruinae This is the greatest destruction that can be to charge God with the cause of our destruction No O Father of heauen be thou iustified and the faces of all men ashamed Let vs looke home to our owne flesh from thence it commeth that destroyeth Me me adsum qui feci The Lord put not onely this confession in our mouthes but this feeling in our hearts that all our euill commeth from our selues all our good from Iesus Christ. Of him that called you He hath called you to liberty will you intangle your selues in new bondage who pitties him that being redeemed from prison wilfully recasts himselfe into it Or that saued from the fire will runne into it againe Art thou Titio ereptus and yet hast a mind to be burned He hath called you not to the ceremonies but to their Antitype not to those legall Lambes but to that Euangelicall Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world Will you be directed by Lampes when the Sunne is risen no hee hath called you to the truth and comforts of the Gospell obey that call And then he that hath perswaded you to vertue by calling you to grace shall crowne you with eternall glory Now one argument whereby the Apostle deterres them from blending Iudaisme with Christianity is deriued from the danger of corrupting the doctrine of the Gospell A little Leauen leaueneth the whole lumpe One ceremony of the legall rites obserued with an opinion of necessity sowreth all that sweetnesse of redemption that commeth by Christ. This Diuine Aphorisme may thus logically be resolued into a Predicate Subiect and Copula The Predicate leauen the Subiect lumpe the Copula leaueneth Or thus there is a thing Actiue Leauen Factiue sowreth Passiue the lumpe But because the whole speech is allegoricall let vs first open the metaphor with the key of proper analogie and then take out the treasure such obseruations as may be naturally deduced from it Most properly our Apostle by leauen vnderstands false doctrine and by lumpe the truth of the Gospell so the sense is this one heresie infects a masse of truth Or if we restraine it to persons by leauen he meaneth false Teachers and by lumpe the Church of Galatia and so a teacher of the bondage to the Law sowres the liberty of the Gospell Behold I Paul say vnto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Or if yet we will looke vpon it with more generall view we may by leauen vnderstand sinne by lumpe man by leauening Infection Here are three respondences and all worthily considerable First taking leauen for false Doctrine so we find in the new Testament foure sorts of leauens Math. 16. Beware of the leauen of the Pharises and of the Sadduces there bee two of them the Pharisaicall and the Sadducean leauens Mark 8. Beware of the leauen of Herod there 's the third The fourth is my Text the leauen of mingling Mosaicall ordinances with Christs Institutions It will not bee amisse to take a transient view of these Leauens for though former times had the originals wee haâ—…e the Counterpaines we haue paralell leauens 1. To begin with the Pharises to these I may well liken our Seminaries one egge is not liker another Euen a Iesuite wrote in good earnest Non malè comparari Pharisaeos Catholicis Papists are fitly compared to the Pharises Whether he spake it ignorantly or vnwittingly or purposely I am sure Caiphas neuer spoke truer when he meant it not Shall we take a little paines to confer them The Pharises had corrupted yea in a manner annulled the Law of God by their Traditions and for this Christ complaines against them Now for the Papists this was one of their Tridentine decrees With the same reuerence and deuotion doc we receiue and respect Traditions that wee doe the bookes of the olde and new Testaments Shut thine eyes and heare both speake and then for a wager vvhich is the Pharise which the Seminary Indeed to some traditions we giue locum but locum suum a place but their owne place They must neuer dare to take the wall of the Scripture Again the Pharises corrupted the good Text with their lewd Glosses The law was that no Leper might come into the Temple their traditionall Glosse was that if hee were let downe through the roofe this was no offence As that drunkard that hauing for sworne going to a certaine Tauerne yet being carried thither euery day on mens shoulders thought hee had not broken his oath Their Sabbath dayes iourney was a thousand Cubits their Glosse vnderstood this without the walls and walking all day through the city no sinne The Papists are not behinde them in their foule interpretations not shaming to call that sacred Writ a nose of waxe formable to any construction Paul subscribes his two Epistles to the Thessalonians thus Missa fuit ex Athenis a Papist cryes out strait Here 's a plaine text for the Masse Psal. 8. Omnia subiecisti pedibus eius Thou hast put all things vnder his feete This is spoken of the beasts subiection to man their Glosse construes it of mens subiection to the Pope So Esa. 49. They shall bow downe to thee with their face toward the earth and licke vp the dust of thy feete Here saith their Glosse is a plaine proofe for kissing the Popes feet Our Sauiour sayes Except ye become as little children ye shall not enter the kingdome of heauen Heereupon Saint Francis commands one Massaeus to tumble round on the earth like a little childe that he might
you are now ashamed or at last in vengeance let them be ashamed that transgresse without a cause Let this teach vs how to iudge rightly of sinne that driues vs from the face of God But doth not the glory of the Lord fill all the earth Whither then shall they goe from his face whither fly from his presence we shall find the Prophet concluding in that Psalme that there is neither heauen nor hell nor vttermost part of the sea nor day nor night light nor darknes that can hide vs from his face Our sitting lying downe rising vp the words of our tongues wayes of our feete thoughts of our hart our reines bones and mothers wombes wherein we lay in our first informitie are well knowne to him Let vs not flatter our selues as if we would plucke out the eye of knowledge God hideth his face he will neuer see vs. For there is neither couch in chamber nor vault in the ground neither bottomes of mountaines nor holes of rockes neither secret friend nor more secret conscience neither heauen nor hell that can conceale vs. Of him that sitteth Christ now sittes in glory Whiles he was on earth how little rested he He dearly earned that voice before he heard it Sitte thou at my right hand now behold he sittes Good rest is the reward of good labour the weeke of our dayes spent we shall haue an eternall Sabboth enter into Gods rest Apoc. 14. rest from our labours Hast thou laboured thou shalt haue ease hast thou trauelled in the wayes of grace thou shalt sitte on the seate of glory On the throne Christ at this day shall appeare in his true Maiestie on earth he would not be crowned the reason of his refusall was my Kingdome is not of this world now he sittes in his Throne He hath a Kingdome here but it is secret in the conscience then it shall be conspicuous sitting in his Throne His maiestie hath beene despised but now Bring those mine enemies that would not haue me raigne ouer them and slay them before me Thus differs Christs first comming and his second Then in humilitie now in glory then with poore shepheards now with mightie Angells then the contempt of nations now the terror of the world then crowned with thornes now with maiestie then iudged by one man now iudging all men then in a cratch now in a Throne You see his All-knowledge now for his Almightines From the wrath The wrath of Christ is his Iustice Attribuitur ira Deo per effectum As man offended seekes reuenge so when God executes iudgment it is called his wrath But passion in vs perfection in him He hath long beene prouoked giue him now leaue to stricke You that made so light to trample his bloud vnder your sensuall feet shall now find what his wrath is Let vs now thinke of this wrath that we may escape it The commination of hell doth not lesse commend Gods prouidence then the promise of heauen Nisi inâ—…ntata esset gehenna oâ—…es in gehennam Câ—…beremur Now or neuer is this wrath to be escaped therefore Kisse the Son least he be angry and so ye perish from the way if his wrath be kindled yea but a little Blessed are all they that put their trustin him Of the Lambe Christ was called a Lambe in his passion so here in his comming to iudgment not that he should suffer any more but to shew that the same Lambe that was slaine shall giue sentence on his murderers The Father iudgeth no man but hath committed all iudgment vnto the Sonne And hath giuen him authoritie to execute iudgment because he is the sonne of man It shall aggrauat their vexation that the Lambe who offred his bloud for their redemption shall now censure them for despising He that would haue beene their mediatour to pray for them their aduocate to plead for them must nowe bee their Iudge to sentence them The Lambe that saueth the sheepe on the right hande shall cast off the goats on the left The Lambe they haue contemned by this Lambe they shall be condemned Woefull men whome the wrath of the Lambe lights on for he shall giue them an Ite maledicti What shall then become of them but to knocke at the gates of heauen whiles those gates are standing and crie for euer to God but to no purpose I haue no will to end with a terrour yet no time to sweeten your thoughts with those comforts which fayth might sucke from this last word the Lambe I say no more the godly shall find him a Lambe indeede as willing now to saue them as before to suffer for them He hath purchased promised and prepared a kingdome they shall Raigne mith him that sittes on the Throne and with the Lambe for euermore To whom be eternall glory Amen MAIESTIE IN MISERIE OR The power of Christ euen dying MATH 27. 51. And behold the vaile of the Temple was rent in twaine from the top to the bottome and the earth did quake and the rockes rent and the graues were opened and many bodies of Saints which slept arose IN the lowest depth of Christs humiliation GOD neuer left him without some euident and eminent testimony of his diuine power He hangs here on the crosse dying yea dead his enemies insulting ouer him whereis now his God If he be able to saue vs let him saue himselfe He beares not onely the wrath of God but euen the reproch of men Yet euen now shall his Diuinitie appeare and breake like a glorious Sunne through these clouds of miserie he rents the vaile shakes the earth breakes the stones raiseth the dead These two verses stand gloriously adorned with foure myracles 1. The vaile of the Temple was rent in twaine You will say perhaps the substance of it was not so strong but an easie force might rend it But ver 50. Christ was dead before or dyed at that very instant It was aboue nature that a dying yea a dead man crucified in so remote a place from it should rend the vaile within the Temple 2. The earth did quake Say the vaile was of lesse substance yet the huge bodie of the earth will trie a mans strength In vaine should silly man contend with that which shall deuoure him He cannot moue the earth the earth shall remoue him from walking aliue on it to lie dead in it Behold the power of Christ Terram mouet hee makes the vast bodie of the earth to tremble 3. The rockes rent Will any yet say naturall causes can shake the earth then let their malicious cauill bee choaked with this third myracle beyond exception he breakes the stones not little stones but huge massie rockes 4. Lastly to stop the mouth of all aduersaries to his diuine power he rayseth vp the dead Suscitare mortuos esepulchro is onely proper to God No man can giue a ransome to God for his brother that hee should liue for euer and