to the time of the vintage This is now the time of the vintage the sweete wines of the Scripture and Sacraments of Christ and the holy Ghost are pressed out that after we may drinke anew of the fruit of the vine in the kingdome of God When yee haue gathered the fruit of the Land yee shall keepe an holy feast vnto the Lord. This life is the season of gathering sweet grapes of grace next is the feast the time of glorie But I must remember where I am and bind short all other circumstantiall tidings together Esau proud Esau contemnes his brother vt Diobolarem as the irefull Woolfe the little Kidde Hee sold the title but hee purposeth perforce to hold the inheritance In which example were may take a view of the common Centaures and Cyclopes of the world which hold al per fas et nefas all by strong hand hee wil haue all lawfull which is vnlawfull and will be as the Lion was his owne caruer Neither was that fraus vulpeculae wanting in Esaus designes for to strengthen himselfe that hee might be able to beare downe his brother hee maketh matches with two wiues without liking consent or knowledge of his parents He was as the Scrpent which was more subtill then any beast of the field clandestinas aucupatur consultationes contra iustitiam et pacem Brunus hee putteth the snare of the hunter to ouerthrow all righteous peace with noysome pestilence This is the man which will bee more wise then God his meaning is otherwise then God meant Hee will match especialy Genes 12.7 26.3 with the Princes daughters of the Philistines whom the Lord did purpose to root out In these coherences hee pretendeth peace with all men A peaceable man is Esau hee will haue peace with all the world It was then with him as it was long after with the Arrians and other succeeding Hererikes in their subtill contriuements iust as it is now with the Romanists when their shew is best their intent is worst But all this great hast to be great Ose 1.7 was without good speed and all his confidence in the flesh of mans arme is vaine for he cannot hold that inheritance by bow or sword or battell or horses horse-men or kins-men whose tenure was not of the willer not runner Rom 9.16 but of the mercy of God Much like to this was Salomons seducement miscarried with worldly wisdome to confidence in carnall power He concludeth matches with his Aegyptian neighbors Moab Ammon Edom Zidon and Heth and yet his great sonne and heire for all his fathers cunning 3 Reg. 11 lost tenne Tribes at once of his owne kingdome What saith Roboam after the extinction of his father 3 Reg. 12 what My little finger shall bee greater then my fathers loines O Roboam by mee Kings reigne but the armes of the wicked shall be broken Psalm 37.17 Afterward when Salomon slept with his fathers Roboam had a smarting feeling of Gods power in the proofe of Ahijah his Prophesie 3 Reg. 11 For as the Prophet caught hold on the new garment on Ieroboams backe or his owne and rent it off in twelue peeces so Roboams new kingdome was rent from his Scepter and none followed the house of Dauid but the Tribe of Iudah only Had not he cause to cry out as he fled to Ierusalem for feare crucior bolum tantum mihi esse ereptum tam subito è faucibus I am troubled out of measure Psal 119.137 to see my meat in spite of my teeth to fall out of my mouth and my selfe vnable to with-hold it but iust art thou O God and iust are thy iudgements And thus it doth often prooue with them which make their reckoning without God as Mauritius did the cast of their anchor is preuented their treasures are but coales and their nuts but shelles Psalm 146 both their pleasures and profits are cut short of their accounts Therefore trust not in Princes nor in any sonne of man for there is no helpe in him Thinke then if it be thus that those malepert confederacies of surly Esau with Infidels both against faith and good manners were as pricking thornes to Isaac and Rebekah Ge. 26.34.35 But Isaac after many tedious daies of his wearisome pilgrimage his eies beeing dimme expecteth his end and to set his house in order before hee die he disposeth himselfe to his last will and testament He knowing also that Esau was numerous in children Zeno. and cunning in his plots and that Iacob was both childlesse and wifelesse and plain he doth fully purpose to bequeath the great predominancy to the elder brother Make me sauoury meat such as I loue and bring it to mee that I may eate Gen. 27.4 and that my soule may blesse thee before I die By these thoughts of Isaac we may perceiue that God seeth not as man seeth ante pedes only for man purposeth and God disposeth All is Gods to dispose or transpose at his pleasure as he tranlsated the Egyptian riches to the Israelites hands I. Osorius that they might handle them better You know that when Iaacob was to blesse his sonne Iosephs two sonnes so that his right hand was vpon the yonger sonne and his left hand on the elder incongrua videbatur illa manuum impositio Iosepho ignaro prouidentiae Dei that imposition of hands which was orderred by Gods prouidence looked like an iniurious fact to Ioseph not beeing at that time acquainted with Gods purpose Ioseph did thinke his aged father was in feeblenesse and error Gen. 48.17 Iunilius and would haue changed his hands Surely a good man was Ioseph and a Prophet but not alwaies enlightened alike with the spirit of prophesie nor for all things therefore his father beeing better guided with a superior degree of light at that time continueth his blessing and createth Ephraim the son of his right hand Gen. 48.19 So that as then the primacy was giuen to the younger brother Prouidentia Dei est ordinatio aptorum mediorum ad finem contrary to the fathers desire the Lord ruling the lots thus must it now be by the disposition of the same power And now it is plaine that Esau hath met with his match hee is wily for himselfe but God is of counsell with Iaacob Looke vpon the contriuement Esau is sent on hunting whiles Iaacob taketh the prey coruum delusit hiantem and is instauled into the blessing Heere let Esau complaine that hee hath waried himself in the waies of wickednesse drawing out the cords of vanitie Quid nisi victis dolor Esay 59.5 Luke 5.5 and weauing the Spiders web and at length is become as the fishers which labored all night and caught nothing In a word these words of my text lap in the reason of inducement to Isaac to doe that which he meant not to haue done The Lord is such a considerate and powerfull agent in the businesse
the throne of God and of the Lambe Rebecca's breasts are one holy Scripture and all holy Scripture as one heauenly Canaan which floweth with milke and hony of one sauour and power of life But whence then is the difference of these two brethren shal I climbe vp into Gods throne and sit with him among the secrets of his incircumscriptible predestination no I will reuerence the Arke of his secret treasures but I will not search it without warrant Here is abyssius imperuestigabilis which S. Paul calleth deepenesse Rom. 11.33 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all immense beyond waight and measure Here Pride may busie her selfe to doe much hurt as some Epicures Nigidius figulus Eudoxus Auerrois Esa 28. 1. Sam. 6. Eccl. 40. Electos reprobos certo consilio discreuit Deus illos ad vitam gratis destinando hos ad poenaem iustè ordinando Eph. 1.4 Rom. 96.13 and other Philosophers and other Schoole-men haue done But woe to the crowne of Pride her latter end is worse then the beginning as the Bethshemites were stricken in their hinder parts None can comprehend those secrets more then a man can hold the seas in his fist or measure heauen or count the sands or waigh the mountaines If any bold bayard shall say there is no preordination because he cannot fathome it it were as if the blind should say there is no Sunne because he cannot see it Let this suffice that God hath chosen his in Christ before the foundations of the world were laid If any aske how let the Apostle answer of his meere good will forestanding all causes in our own worthinesse God calleth all to the Church and in eternal and indissoluble prescience espying vessels of honour and wrath the one sort is chosen the other left as light ware at the ballance Thou art waighed in the ballance and found too light Vnto this point is annexed the recogitable oddes betwixt the elections of God man Those things which man chooseth are therefore chosen because they are waight but the gold of gods choyce is therefore waight because it is chosen Thus did God loue and choose Israel not because they were better people then other but they were better because God did choose them The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a pretious people to himselfe All Popish Atheisme and other blasphemous insuitations against God for election and reiection of Iacob and Esau were easily dashed if I should preferre Gods prerogatiue aboue the Popes We are certified long since Distinct 40. Si Papa that if the Pope doe carrie many thousand with him into hell no man may be so bold as to coÌ„trol him quia cuntos iudicaturus à nemine est iudicandus c. Because the Pope may iudge all men and may not be iudged of any But I haue no pleasure to idle out my pretious time with such trifles One thing I haue to speake out of lowly and reueiled knowledge in the discussions of the learned concerning the Bee and the Spider to manifest the worke of grace receiued Whatsoeuer of the word of God Iacob suckes the suppe is honie Esa 55. 2. Cor. 2.16 or wine or milke more worth then money or money worth all sanctified the sauour of life vnto life But whatsoeuer Esau suckes it turneth to humour corrupt accursed the sauour of death vnto death Ioh. 10. Ioh. 6. Prou. 9. It is not giuen to all to know the voyce of the shepheard to taste the bread of life or to sauour the wine of wisdome as many in the same garden passe many wholseome hearbes and flowers in ignorance or insensibilitie which others gather in knowledge for smell and taste Meierus Iudicia Dei credentibus mella sapiunt sed incredulis etiam mellitissimae promissiones sunt fellis plenae The iudgements of God are an honie combe to the beleeuers but to the vnbeleeuer the sweetest promises of God are bitternesse If any call to me to know why I call this bane humour in proÌ„ptu causa est for the word is of the same fashion with those euill thoughts affections wordes and deedes which our countrimen commonly call humours Sunt impij vt venenatae quaedam bestiae sues bonos odores non ferentes The wicked are like some venemous and fulsome beasts which are sicke with the breath of wholesome smels Deut. 32. Their vine is of Sodome the poyson of dragons and the cruell gall of Aspes But since the wicked ones do thus wilfully foreshew their owne ruine let thee elect be still gathering more ioy to their consciences and reioyce that their names are written in heauen Now then to passe on Luk. 10.20 lest I should loose mine Ecce in the plaine field Behold the two twins were at strife for the blessing which was a dignity annexed to the birthright as an excellencie vnited to the crown whosoeuer holdeth one for euer must haue both They stroue for the birth-right before their birth and in the very inslant the strife continued for Iacob had Esau by the heele Signum retardantis eum qui prior erat Gen. 25.26 Lâ—oâ—orus fatigantis eum qui fortior praeualentis in certamine pietatis It was a signe that the better should ouertake his elder that the weaker should ouercome the stronger true pietie win the masterie of false sanctitie What was their contention ended with their birth Gen 25.31 Hemingius Inaequacior quaÌ„ Glauci Diomedis permutatio no the strife continued stil for the birth-right Sel me euen now thy birth-right and Esau sware vnto him and sold his birth right vnto Iacob Esau as the foole selleth heauen for earth Iacob as the wise merchant buyeth the pearle Now Iacob is become sonne and heire to the crowne of Gods blessings The blessing is not yet declared vpon him but hee is as sure of the blessing as of the birth-right Thus was the preeminence of blessing vpon Ephraim before Iaacob laied his right hand on him Psal 139.16 for in the volume of thy booke were all things written before there was any of them but it was not manifest till then A Doctrine of comfort is this to all which haue receiued that sauing grace which is sufficient They are as sure of glory as they are of grace 2 Cor. 12 because glory belongs to grace as the inheritance to the heire and the blessing to the birth-right yet so as birth-right blessing grace and glory and all are of Gods gift Rom. 6.14 Mercedem opibus delitam negamus gratuitum fatemur nemo dicat deum debere 4. talentae quia duo dedit vel bominibus deberi gloriam quia impartitus est gratiam Mar. 14.25 Leuit. 23.39 Gwerricus Abbas not of mans merit or worthinesse by the Law for ye are not vnder the Law but vnder grace The time of glorie is next to the time of grace in the surety of succession as the time of the feast was next
top of Aarons head to the beard Psal â—33 2 the skirts of his clothing This blessing of absolute power is Gods onely to giue who at his pleasure can bestow temporall or eternall gifts Sometimes temporall vpon the creatures for man or vpon man in the vse of the creatures Ephes 1.3 Sometimes eternall vpon the Saints as he blessed the elect with all spirituall blessings in Christ chosen before the foundations of the world Aquinas This blessing hath no match and therefore it is said benedicere Dei est causare bonitateÌ„ there is none but God which can create goodnesse in man The other Superiour blessing is by commission to Gods Deputies which blessing is either more-common or more rare The common blessing is praier sent as an Angell to fetch the blessing of God from the top of the ladder in heauen to the foot of the ladder on earth Thus the superiours in the Church for which cause we thinke superiority expedient do pray for the blessing of God inward and outward and ex officio doe shew that God will bestow them wich are necessary This blessing is dayly or ought to bee of Kings to their subiects Pastors to their flocke and Parents to their children The blessing of the King to his subiects Iosh 22 1 Paralip 16 3 Reg. 8 as Ioshuah blessed the Rubenites as Dauid blessed the people in the name of the Lord or as Salomon blessed all the congregation of Israel Thus shall the King prolong his daies in the kingdome and his sonnes in the middest of Jsrael The blessing of the Pastor to the flock Deut. 17.20 Nomb 6.23 Leu. 9.23 Hebr. 7.1 ought to be as Aaron blessed the people at Gods appointment as Moses and Aaron blessed the people when the glory of the Lord appeared and as Melchisedec blessed Abraham the Priest of the most high God met Abraham c. blessed him This blessing when it is directed according to the prescript and allowance of the word of God is then of great power by the power of God annexed by promise The blessing of parents to their children is also of good vse and commendable among vs in England for the good speede commonly obserued in these blessings Apud Britannos inprimis sacra antiquitatis vestigia etiamnum hodie clara in hac parte sunt Hyperius Raedius Britannicarum claritatum speciosus The Britanes are most honourable aboue all Nations for the continuance of this holy ordinance This is without all doubt an holy order which the Lord ordeined from the beginning that children might bee preserued within the compasse of dutifull obedience to their parents and might esteeme greatly of their great office ouer them Moreouer this obseruation beeing a comely correspondence to the fifth commandement doth thereby approue it self that in our religion it should not be neglected or reputed a stranger And this is more manifest by the reasons of the Wise man in which hee lappeth his counsels for the precious estimation of the parents blessing Eccles 3.11 For the blessing of the father establisheth the house of the children and the mothers curse rooteth out the foundations I might here lift vp some monuments on which it hath been proued and written how the blessings curses of parents haue kindled fire of heauen or hell as if Gods will and the parents were all one In this purpose an heathen speaketh as if he had been a Diuine in the skill of secrets Si affirmabit pater aduersus nos pati nos oportet quod ille faciat cuius potestas plus potest God doth iustly effect that which man doth iustly craue But of all blessings by commission that is the highest and of most power which is called the Patriarchall or Propheticall blessing With this blessing Isaac blessed Iaacob and Iaacob after blessed his sonnes This is called a blessing of excellency for that those holy men indued with the spirit of Prophesie did blesse with the blessing of God which could not be supplanted I haue blessed him and he shall be blessed These blessings were as delectable nuts in the Church because in them beeing words of men there was deliuered the blessing of God Cant. 6.10 as the kirnell in the nut So that Iaacob gone towards his blessing might say I went downe into the garden of nuts The Lord had so enacted the couenant of grace with those gracious fathers that it did rest in custodie vt sanctum depositum as an holy pledge deliuered in trust They by their solemne blessing might conuey this treasure to their posterities in whose families the Church and life of saith was to continue till Christ his comming Thus Noah blessed his sonne Sem before and Moses blessed the twelue Tribes after Concerning Noah his blessing the question is asked wherefore that largesse of Patriarchall blessing was bestowed on Sem when as Iaphets fauourable demeanour towards his father was of equall reuerence and care for his fathers honour as Sems was The answer to this question is plaine that the holy ghost did foresee how from Sem should spring Abraham and all his holy followers of whom the most blessed fruite that euer did grow was to come into the world Therefore to Sem was that great Patriarchall blessing conueyed yet had Noah an other blessing for Iaphet as Abraham had for Ismael and Isaac had for Esau This secondary blessing was far short of the first as the light of a starre is short of the light of the sunne Yet this blessing might be inlarged to Iaphet if hee would light his starre at the sunne and dwell within the light of the Church within the tents of Sem according to the condition of the blessing God perswade Iaphet that he may dwell in the tents of Sem. And thus is it happilie with vs Gentiles conuerted and perswaded to fetch our light at Christ in the tents of Sem our blessing is inlarged by him and the Church with his blessing is inlarged by vs. Now then let me shew you how Iaacob the Hebrew and our English Iaacob are a blessed field The superiour blessing is vpon them both and their blessing is made manifest vnto vs in three most worthy allowances The first is for scituation the second for plants and the third for fruitfull vantages of watering In the first Iaacob is a blessed field scited in the sunne the fairest funne the Sonne of God which alway shines A blessed scite is Iaacobs conscience thus neighboured with the sun his conscience is asweet lodging sweetned with the ioies of Christ as his father Abrahams bosome O blessed Iacob thy fathers blessing hath Iodged thee in the bosome of Christ as the spouse in the bosome of her husband Cant. 2.4 Hee brought me into his wine-seller and loue was his banner ouer me God dwelling with Iaacob and Iaacob is two waies One in tabernaculo personali in the flesh of man the other in tabernaculo mistico in the