conclusion to set downe that when all the world have forsaken God therefore to love God the more this is the nature of the worldly man while there is a liking his liking goeth with other mens liking but when a man can continue his affection so that his love is when others mislike and the more a thing is hated the more he will love it this is a good signe 6 If we can say as the Church saâ—â—h Câ—nt 8 7. Mâ—ch water cannot quench love neither can the flouds drowne it if a man should give al the substance of his hâ—use for love they would greatly contemne it that it is strâ—nger then death i. when any affliction commeth it is stronger then it He that loveth for his owne commodity feareth â—est the quantity of that he loveth be diminâ—shed In concuâ—iscence quo quis vult lâ—men suuâ—n there the fewer the better but in bâ—no â—â—â—â—â—lâ—niiae in quo vult vâ—lle attâ—â—tus there we wish that all had him Deus omnibus eo inunis cuique tâ—tus 6. The last signe is out of Cant. 8.7.8 that the true love can abide triall and false love cannot abide it the Heathen man saith falsus amor inde fugit unde probatur false love will not stand the triall but when water cannot quench it nor fire consume it and we can bee contented to foregoe all and our jealousie can wrestle with death and the grave and overcommeth them then we may say as Christ saith Iohn 15.13 greater love then this cannot be The sixth precept As we must our selves love God so likewise we must be desirous to bring others to his love and here appeareth the difference betweene amor mercenarius gratuitus that love which is mercenary and that which is free for in the former because a man seeketh his own profit he is loth that another should love that that he loveth and have any part with him lest by the communicating of that thing to other it should be restrained to himselfe thereof commeth jealousie but in the other where our owne commodity is not sought where we wish not our owne good but good to him whom we love for himselfe there is a desire to communicate all the good things we have so as that all men may have them in commune so they that love God would bring all men to love that they love for it selfe and yet all in whole Ps 31.24 the Prophet shewing his good mind in this point i. he desired to draw all to the love of God Ps 31.26 O love the Lord all ye his Saints c. As on the contrary Psal 139.21 that is also a signe of love Lord doe not I haue them that hate thee Yea I hate them with a perfect haired as though they were mine enemies and had done me injury Psal 94.16 he to draw all men into the hatred of the Lords enemies there his challenge is Who will rise up with me against the wicked or who will take my part against the evill doers and as he would take part himselfe against them so he laboured that others would joyne with him The second principall signes as proper effects of love are obedienâ—â— patience Obedientia Obedience there is no saying of all the Fathers of greater use then that of Gregory Probatio dâ—lectionis exhibitio est operis and that indeede is a true signe of love when it worketh for the Will being inflamed with this affection and having the government of all the parts and powers of the body and minde necessary it is that wheresoever desire in the Will taketh hold it must elicere motum cause motion as if a man be given to the love of wine that love kindleth in him a desire to have it and that desire doth elicere motum that he may work and earne so much money and after still he worketh to get a vessell or bottle till he may have that too This active part doth depend thus of love Iohn 14.15 If you love me as Christ said to Peter Lovest thou me Feede my sheepe shew it by your obedience keepe my Commandements 1 Iohn 2.3 if a man obey not he is so farre from love that he doth not know God Obedience the proper effect of love among them that are unequall but not equall We must understand that where the parties are equall betweene whom love is that mutuall affection is called amicitia friendship but where one party is superiour there they are not called friends though the Prince on her part and good will call other so but they properly call it observantiam observance the very naturall actus wherof is obedience Iohn 15.15 Christ calleth us his friends and by the nearest names of consanguinity Matth. 12.49 yet Paul and the rest of the Apostles presumed not upon those titles but acknowledged this observantia and in the beginning of their Epistles and writings entitled themselves the servants of God and of Jesus Christ Rom. 6.16 Paul saith Looke whom ye obey his servants ye are so of this duty this is the perfect signe of obedience The order of the petitions sheweth the end of the Commandements and so consequently in regard of this glory that God hath by our obedience Now the applying of obedience to the end of the Commandement in our petitions that is first that Gods name may be hallowed and glorified How if he be a King and if he beare rule over us how shall this Kingdome and rule be established if we fulfill his will here in Earth as his Angels doe in Heaven and so is his name glorified And it is so necessary as that Gen. 2.17 God for his glory appointed in Paradise the obedience of Adam when he was in that state and therefore ordained a Commandement that he should not eate of the tree of knowledge that in the obedience of that prescript his glory might be shewed The manners of the gâ—ory of God two The glory of God commeth either directly from us to him or by others from us Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the time of trouble and I will heare thee and thou shalt glorifie me this is for every one that is for the first glorifying But being not content with this Matth. 5.16 God will have glory of us both mediately and immediatly Jam. 2. So let your light shine that other men seeing your good workes may glorifie your Father for your sakes there is that by other he may be glorified for us which is the second justification the first is to him by faith alone but the other before men by such workes as God may be glorified by them and so other by them reconciled to God this glory commeth to God Now for manners Augustin Si mores Christianorum sint amabiles neque quicquam facit bonos vel malos mores nisi boni vel mali amores for amor male inflammans timor male humilians If the manners of Christians be any way amiable we must
creature of them all but if it breath it hath cause enough to praise him Amor Dei the love of God OF the love of God Amor Dei that that 's said Gal. 3.17 we see it verisied as the Law is said to have beene added for a time till the Seed came so here may likewise be affirmed that the other affections and actions were onely till our nature received triall till the love of God come Of which love the Fathers say that the having of that occupare amorem the being possessed of love drowneth all other affections For therefore we feare for a time that being delivered we may love and being humbled we may hope and pray that we may say Psalme 116.1 Dilexi quia audivit Dominus vocem orationis meae the coherence of prayer and love I have loved because the Lord hath heard the voyce of my prayer From the beginning it was said 1. that having of God is in knowing him albeit we have him naturally yet if we know him not we have him not 2. in esteeming of him this estimation is properly in this affection of love and those that went before feare and hope are for no other end but for this that when God hath bestowed it on us it may the better be esteemed of us when we have beene in feare and for this end it commeth that as cito data vilesount we commonly sleight that which we can but aske and have so these things that we have felt the want of so long having beene humbled when they come we may have more regard of them 〈…〉 Concerning the object thereof it is bonum good wherein the very naturall reason of man hath found two properties 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a communicative and an atractive property whatsoever is good it is such a thing as is desire us to communicate it selse to as many as will taâ—e it and are meete to take it as we see in the Sunne and other celestiall creatures and in the naturall elements and consequently there being a quality of desiring to communicate good in God which is his goodnesse no doubt it is in greater and excellenter manner and that was the cause in deed of the creation of all things that he might have a Church and shew his glory and mercie on it So the minde of man seeing this nature in good consequently desireth it and that desire goeth thus farre till it come to a conjunction and that conjunction to an union ita conjuagi ut uniamur Ratio because by the union of two good things there shall come good to the desirer that he had not before and so he is made better It hath bin said that the inferiour things if they be coupled united with things of more excellent nature they are made more noble as for a potsherd to be covered with gold as on the other side things excellent being joyned with viler things are made more abject as the minde of man with inferiour creatures and there can be no greater excellencie of it then by the conjunction of it with that that is all good and containeth in it all good things and so as it containeth them for evermore And so of this commeth the 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 the attractive force In every good there is a force and that allureth and therefore it is that faith and knowledge must necessarily goe before so when a good thing because we cannot take from it his good if that the force be not then as the Schoolemen say Bonum quod non amatur the good we love not it is a signe quod non cognoscitur that we know not for if it were the naturall desire of all being that it is to better us 〈…〉 we should love it to be bettered by it therefore it is well said that to good things there is no greater enemy then ignorance therefore it is the part of knowledge and faith to show us this good and that will stirre up love in us and so having stirred up that in us there will follow here unio affectus unio aâ—us and for sides visio This love is of two sorts 1. mercenarius 2. gratuitus that love that beginneth and that that is free not respecting reward they are distinguished When a man saith he loveth his meate and drinke and his friend and brother it is certaine that these are not all one the one is a desire to have it to turne it to his owne benefit for the present time not caring what become of it after but he loveth his friend to do him good and to wish him well so in the one he secketh his own good in the other to doe good to other and to him cui bene volumus whom we wish well unto The Philosopher distinguisheth them by unde quo whence and whither In the first love the question is made by quo in the other unde what good it hath in it though it be no benefit to us So the one hath the eye inward in it selfe the other outward to other for as we see sundry times the one is the beginning of the other and after those that have beene beneficiall to us wee fall to love them for themselves and not for their benefits The first love ariseth out of hope because the soule of man by feare being brought low to the ground then conceiving hope and consequently sending forth prayer and then receiving the fruit of it saith as it is Psal 116.1 I am well pleased or I have loved that the Lord hath heard the voyce of my prayer so Psal 20.7 Now I know that God hath heard his anoynied when he had received the fruit of it and so was stirred up to this first love so the first love of God is because he receiveth from him that which the Apostle applieth to that which he had in hand That which is spirituall is not first but that which is naturall or carnall August Basil Ambrose Bernard refeâ—re to saith and love shewing plainely that Caesars vertues were in greater account then and Catoes Caesars being curtesie affability clemencie liberality c. Catoes conscience and faithfulnesse and justice c. which were not to others commodity yet because in the other there was sui suum they were of better account for that which is naturall will be first i. to love that by which we receive commodity concupiscentia before cupiditas this love is the inchoation of the other for nemo repente fit summus no man comes to the height at first God hath taken order for it Chrysostome he marvelleth how men can slip themselves out of this love of God for if they will have amorem mercenarium that love which is mercenary he offereth more for it then any man for he biddeth the Kingdome of heaven but this is the state of this love as before in feare So the Fathers they have compared this love and the other to
me tamen quid sum ego ad illum If he had but given me unto my selfe I could have given my selfe to him againe but when it commeth to this that I must recompence him for giving himselfe though I could give my selfe a thousand times yet what am I to make amends for that gift yet this is to our comfort that followeth there quod etiamsi non possum quantum debeo tamen non possum ulira quam possum sed si possem ulierius vellem and if I were able to render more I would be willing to doe it etsi minus reddo quia minor sum tamen quia tota anima ex se dilegit nihil deest ubi totum est although he can give but little that hath but little yet seeing it is the utmost power of the whole soule that is imployed in this love where the whole is there is nothing wanting and that is all that God desireth and we must labour to come unto it Now we come to that that is forbidden The Negative part 1. For the first Basil calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a disordered loveri whereas God should stand highest and nothing should be loved extra Deum beyond God when it is not so but we love other things more then God then our love is out of order and putteth all out of order It was said before that not onely the doing of evill but desertiâ— mediorum est peccatum the passing by of better duties is a sinne so here especially in the love of God it must be dilectio and that with a choyce and to make choyce of the abased creatures whether we doe as they that make their belly their God Phil. 3.19 or money Ephes 5.5 or 3. Epist Iohn 9. primatum gerere i. to bestow the first honour due to God upon himselfe here our love is out of order Pro Deo colitur quicquid prae caeteriâ— diligitur quia amoâ— meus Deus meus We make that our God on which we in a speciall manner place our affections Every man hath somewhat that he esteemeth above all and that is his Idol rather then his God and they are all of two sorts amor mundi or sui the love of the world or the love of himselfe August saith O si possemus excitare homines cum illis ipsi pariter excitari ut possemus esse amatores vitae permanentis quales quotidie videmus vitae fugientis O that we could stirre up the hearts of men and with theirs our owne to be as deeply in love with the things that concerne eternall life as we are with those which concerne that which is but transient and momentany There are Philosophers which say that the soule of man est in medio loco inter Deum creaturas hath a middle place betweene God and the creatures and a thing that standeth in the middest betweene two things cannot move to both but motibus contrariis by contrary motions certainely the soule standeth so in regard of the world and God and it cannot move to both but by contrary motions and because it is through the basenesse of originall sinne abased it liketh well of bodily things and because worldly things are neere at hand therefore we take them illis nos ingurgitamus and fill cur selves with them and so have no taste of heavenly things and as it is Prov. 27.7 Anima saturata calcabit favum the soule filled despiseth an hony-combe so when we crambe our soule with worldly pleasures we come to have no taste of God and consequently despise him therefore we must first jejunare and weane our selves from these And beside this amor mundi there is amor sui the love of ones selfe it is harder represt then the other and it is it that men are wilfully given to and till a great measure of the Spirit come into their hearts they will not ridde themselves and therefore as Prosper saith se amanies donantur sibi because they love themselves and lose Gods love and reward too Yet not so but that in this disobedience of our affection there be degrees the degrees they bee two 1. When a thing is loved more and above that it should 2. When it is preferred above God The first is a degree to the second for when men have tasted worldly things and are acquainted with baser things then nothing will have any taste with them but onely those and so many come to say with him in Plauius Malo me mulier ista plus amet quam dri so brutish are many in their heart and their doings proclaime it that they had rather have the favour of this man or this woman then of God 2. The second thing here forbidden is opposed to zeale commonly called stupor i. when we account of all alike as if there were no difference betweene good dealing and evill dealing God and Baal and we can beare both Aug. saith that this stupor To beare with sinners to beare with evill things is pejor omnibus vitiis of all vices the worst this God punisheth with other grievous sinnes for it is a speciall prejudice against the love of God 3. The third is more rare but yet in some which the Fathers call nauseam spiritus we may call it the hatred of God when thinking of God is a burden to them and dealers in good causes are odious to them and they are glad when they have not successe The case of these men is very perilous and it is the extremity of mischiefe that a man can come to in his life All these both of sirmative and negative are to be examined per contemptum non apsius by the contempt not of God himselfe for every man will say be is content to love God for his part but per contemptum legis ipsius by the contempt of the Law of God The state of God is as of an eâ—rthly Prince as in earthly Kingdomes qui diligit regem diligit lâ—gem so qui dilâ—git Deum diligit â—eâ—bum he that loves the King loves his lawes so â—e that loves God loves the word of God this was Davidâ— touchstone Psal 119.97 O how love I thy Law and ideo mandata tua dilexâ— qua â—xultatio cordis mei sunt therefoâ—e have I lov'd thy Commandements because they aâ—e the delight of my heart M◠〈…〉 Mâ—â—◠〈◊〉 love Now we will adde something of the Meanes What meanes soever there are that move men to love they are all reduced to these three 1. pâ—lchrum beauty 2. conjunctâ—m neerenesse 3. utile benefits 1. Beauty is of it selfe a meanes promâ—seuum argumentum it moveth love till we finde a deformed guest in a same house 2. Vbi ego meum illa trutina necesse est praepondeâ—et that must needs be the better end of the ballances that holds both me and mine 3. He is good because he doth us good and so consequently ipso facto he is good because we thinke that what
Now for the third when a man hath neither deep nor long thoughts yet if those that he hath may be crebrae often repeated if any man is thus affected to God Crebra it is a good signe that the love of God hath taken deepe roote in him though they are not extaticall nor continuall yet at times with some intermission 2. The second signe of love is this if we esteeme the pledges of that party to whom we beare love 2 Looke what estimation wee give to them we give to God if wee account of those earnests which he hath left us as David Psal 119 97. saith he loveth the Law of the Lord. Looke what estimation a man beareth to his word and Sacraments and outward meanes of prayer the same he beareth to God if he love him as on the contrary Gen. 25.30 and it is afterward urged Heb. 12.16 that whereas the primogenitura the birth-right was a pledge of Gods favour Esau is called a prophane man and one that loved not God and his reason is because hee did forgoe that pledge 3 If wee forgoe that that is most deare unto us it is a signe of love We have the picture of God in his creatures Vbi amor ibi oculus 3. So out of Gen. 25.30 that forasmuch as we cannot see him and as the Heathen saith ubi amor ibi oculus we love the party that if wee have his picture our eye will not be off it yet so if we have an eye to his creatures So this third also was in that profane Esau we see his love to his brothers pottage was so great as that hee cared not what he did forgoe for that which he liked the best thing that hee had scil the title of the eldership among his brethren the pledge of God it was not deere unto him so great a care had he of his belly This may be for an instruction to us when we can accept of any condition though it be never so hard that may set us into Gods favour that may be to us a good and perfect signe 4 Desiderium an earnest desire that thinks the time thing till it come to the fruition of that it loveth 4. Psal 12.5 all these fall indesiderium if as we have a desire so if we can have a griefe for the absence of God as for the deferring of that we love and for not being able to enjoy it such is the saying of David Psal 42.2 When shall I come to appeare before the presence of the Lord Gregory saith inaudituâ— est hic amor an unheard of love that a man should love one and not desire his presence so he that desireth to live here and never to be dissolved hath no love These are signes of that part of love that is called desiderium or desire Now follow the signes of the second part Joy A generall rule for those things that we love if we be greatly joyful when we have obtained when we feese in our selves that which the Prophet Psal 4.7 protesteth 1 When a mans affection is occupied in that thing that hee loves he thinks the time short so long as he is occupied about it The second part is joy an especiall effect and part of love and a signe of it as Gal. 5.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace- c as Psal 4.8 when a man hath no lesse joy for the increase of spirituall things then the worldly man hath that he hath a good seede time or a good harvest Of this love there are sundry signes 1. Gen. 29.20 To thinke the time that we spend in his affaires that we love a short time though it be many yeeres as Iacob served Laban seven yeeres for Rachel yet because he loved her they seemed to him but a few dayes this if we can doe in Gods affaires it is a signe we love him as on the contrary if a man thinke one houre three in doing good surely he hath no joy no delight and so his love is not stable 2. Againe in the the true affection of love when there is joy it is shewed thus the Philosopher saith Quicquid cupis habere times perdere cuicunnque cupis conjungi ab eo times separari 2 In regard of feare whatsoever a man loveth he is afraid to lose Whatsoever a man desireth to keepe he feareth to lose and to whomsoever we desire to be united from them we feare to be separated Now if any mans heart can beare him witnesse that he can tremble at sin and those operations are marvellous fearfull to him that he should be separated by from God it is a good signe All affections discover love as on the other side feare umor occupat omnes affectiones Iobn 19.3 Pilat had a good minde to Christ but his love came to be touched when notwithstanding all the innocencie he found in him he would deliver him up to the people to be crucified and all was by reason of the feare he had of forgoing that that he best esteemed namely Caesars favour and so that feare was a signe that he loved that best So Acts 19.25 the Silver Smith being afraid that his Craft whereunto his love was should downe he stirres up sedition preferring his owne gaine before the disquietnesse of all the people 3 That that we love most we will forgoe any thing for it so if we be overtaken that we have lost it to be in continuall griefe til we recover it 3. And as for feare so griefe when we have lost it for if we bee grieved when we feele not the ancient comfort and vigor of the spirit that we were wont to have it is a signe that we loved it as Luke 18.23 there was a good minde in that young man that came to Christ and our Saviour Christ was well affected towards him but when he came to be touched in his love he was grieved more to part from his possessions then from Christ so griefe will be a way to love 4 If wee take great care for the recovery of what we lost it is a signe that we tooke joy in it 4. Againe the care that we take for the recovery to be marvellous carefull to recover it Psal 132.4 When a man will not suffer his eyes to sleep nor his eye-lids to slumber nor the temples of his head to take any rest untill he had recovered it and in the songs of Solomon This care is in worldly men Numb 23. the care of Balaam loving the wages of unrighteousnesse though God said he should not goe and albeit he himselfe had said vers 19. God would not lie as a man nor change as the sonne of man yet he would trie againe whether God would change his minde so carefull was he to obtaine it 5 If we stiâ—k last to God when all â—lse forsake him 〈◊〉 a signe of love 5. Againe in Psal 119. vers 127. a certaine signe it is a
he will worke the like effect as men doe for the breach of Wedlocke Out of these we have three commodities First we learne that we are of dull spirits not feared with Gods proper names of justice c. but he must take other of raging men so jealousie we feare but when we heare that God is just we heare it without any great motion Secondly that of Tertullian Lib. 2. contra Marcion Utitur Spiritus hoc vocabulo ad exaggeranda ejus scelera that sinne is so odious a thing and so vile that if it were possible would make God angry and to be that he cannot be Thirdly it is the Apostles use that he maketh of the justice of God as we see in 1 Cor. 11.29 he protesteth himselfe to be jealous that we our selves might be jealous that is that every man enter into his owne heart and consider what God is and say thus What saith God that he is jealous let us consider what God is and againe what we are how excellent hee is and how vile and wretched creatures we are Why then it should appeare that this should pertaine to us and not to him and rather of our selves and our owne salvation there is nothing worthy in us that he should be jealous of And this for the entry to the thing Now to the thing it selfe Visiting the finnes c. This commination hath two things 1. The censure of the sinne 2. The punishment The censure is by two names First by hatred for if it bee love that maketh us to keepe the Commandements then it must be hatred that maketh us to breake them But can any thing hate God The nature of God is essentially good Solut. nay goodnesse it selfe which can no way come to be the object of hatred Againe sundry of his effects come from his love and they are such as the very wicked love them and him for them because he bestoweth on them their being life sense moving But there is another kind of effects that proceed indeed from his love by which he would have us preserved and so consequently he giveth us Commandements Cohibentia voluntatem inordinatam that bridle our licentious will and these are they that make him to be hated of us For when a man is given to his owne will and is drowned with the zeale of himselfe then he must needs hate those Commandements because they are adversaries and contrary to his will and affection and indeed God commeth to be hated by too much love of our selves For it would have all our desires to be free to our selves and any that doth oppose it selfe it hateth it So then as God saith Mal. 1.5 Your eyes shall see it and you shall say The Lord will be magnified upon the borders of Israel Secondly I have loved you saith the Lord And ye say Wherein hast thou loved us Was not Esau Jacobs brother yet I loved Jacob and hated Esau and made his Mountaines wast c. Expounded Rom. 9.13 to be nothing else but that he did not choose Esau Then are we said to hate God when there standeth a case betweene his will and an inordinate affection of ours when his will is not chosen but our inordinate affection is preferred and our minde Hoc est odisse deum deum non eligere For God loving us it is the will of God that when the question commeth his loving being so exceeding good to us as that it challengeth us wholly and that love is Vinculum conjugale and therefore the love of the Lord should be Amor conjugalis which hath no third thing but aut amat aut odit non est medium Mat. 6.24 either he must love or hate Deut. 22.16 the Maids father shall say to the Elders I gave my Daughter to this man to Wife and he hateth her c. and chap. 24.3 And if the latter husband hate her and write her a bill of divorcement c. treating there of love betweene married persons he saith If a man marry a wife and hate her that is cease to love her and begin to be weary of her If shee be not onely and wholly loved she is hated because these duties are joyned to one alone there can be no third thing 2. The other name which God calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iniquity perversnesse peevish and perverse the having of it is to meete with the opinion and censures of men as Dan. 3.14 Nebuchadnezzar to the three Children What disorder is this in you that you will not serve my god nor worship the golden Image that I have set up For the observing and not transgressing of this Second Commandement they were called perverse fellowes and disordered Subjects because they obeyed not the Kings decree Therefore God sheweth the truth who are disordered even those that are breakers of this Commandement and so it shall be found at the judgement of judgements at the last day of judgement God saith Exod. 23.2 A man must not follow a multitude to doe evill his reason is because in doing so he shall become perverse But the voice and judgement of the world is cleane contrary But the resemblance of it that is commonly made of the Fathers is of a pond full of Crabs a perverse swimming fish for she swimming backwards and a fish that were cast into the pond should swimme right they would charge her of not swimming right because she swimmeth not backward as the rest But God Christ the Prophets and Evangelists the Apostles tell us it is not so but that they are disordered that breake this Commandement And this for the censure 2. Now for the punishment It were enough to be found among the hated of God but God moreover addeth here a visitation the meaning of it we haue 1. Sam. 7.16 the word betokeneth the Circuit of a Judge as Samuel went his Circuit year by yeare to Bethel Gilgal and Mispeh and judged Israel And out of our owne practise or as we our selves terme it the Visitation of a Bishop And because visitare is to goe to see it presupposeth absence and so an intermission and it doth very fitly resemble the judgements of God For the forbearing of them as it is Luke 19.44 Dominus requiret de manibus vestris he will require it at our hands to know the time of our visitation As there be some that say the Lord is long a comming so there be some that say he will not come at all That say Non requiret Dominus as Ps 10.12 therefore for the patient waiting of the just for the judgement and glory of God that they may know that it 's a sure thing that he will come as a Judge and though he be long a comming yet at the last he commeth and then he taketh order so certaine we should be of the requiring of our sinnes at our hands though he seeme as though he would not come at all The visitation of God we find to be fitly resembled to this his
therefore we must not give any scandala but if any be given bring help Levit. 19.17 18 c. In this dilection we must marke two things First to hurt no man Levit. 19.13 Secondly Rom. 12.14 Matth. 5.44 not to recompense evill Three particular actions of this Love 1. To succour the needy and hungry Prov. 22.12 Matth. 25.44 1 Joh. 3.17 If any man have this worlds goods and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him Which are defined to be those which we give out of the abundance of sufficiencie 2. To pray Rom. 12.14 Matth. 7.14 to pray for all This is radius charitatis the beames of Charity 3. To performe our vocation as the Lawyer to give good counsell Luk. 6.27 28 29. To part with our clothes c. is a thing to Gods glory and the health of our neighbour 2. Objectum Thy neighbour 2. Proximum They take this word strictly for their friends only Matth. 5.43 but Luk. 10.37 Christ maketh the Scribe confesse that it reacheth to the Samaritanes their greatest enemies which would not entertaine Christ because his face was toward Jerusalem Seeing that he is Proximus a Neighbour that hath mercie and proximus is proximi proximus therefore he is a neighbour that can receive mercy So that misericordia non loci differentia facit proximum a worke of mercy not difference of place maketh a neighbour And the Law confirmeth it Deut. 22.5 If thy brothers oxe c. which brother Exod. 23.4 5. is said to be our enemie This hath for it three words 1. That which is here fellow or friend Amicus 2. That which Christ calleth it and that is plainly a neighbour Proximus 3. Johns word in his Epistle brother frater Reasons why we should love all these are strong and of like force so that the words are all one 1. Frater naturae identitas as beasts of the same kind do love and children their faces in a glasse originis identitas all of one blood 2. Proximus 1. Usus one hath need of another 2. Unitas propositi all tend to one end to be partakers of the reward 3. Amicus or Socius 1. by precept of love Amor amoris magnes love is the loadstone of love 2. Societas ejusdem periculi per eundem liberati And we had all one perill hell delivered by one Christ 2 Tim. 1.6 So we may use any of these words In this proximo neighbour be two things to be had 1. We must beware that we take not the sinne of our neighbour for our neighbour for Omnis peccator quatenus peccator odio habendus omnis homo quatenus homo diligendus sic homines ut non errorcs quia facti sunt non quia fecerunt Every sinner as a sinner is to be hated every man as a man is to be loved we must so love the men that we love not their sinnes love them we must because they are made men not because they have done this or that The reason is for that I shall therefore love him because he shall be partaker with mee of the good but how then should I love that that hindereth him from this that is his sinne Proverb 29.24 He that loveth evill company hateth his owne soule for he loveth those things that are against his soule 2. For degrees whether alius be alio propinquior Whether one be nearer to mee then an other That there be degrees it is plaine because omission of duties to parents is worse then to strangers so that there must needs be a greater duty to one of these then to the other As in naturall things where the greatest action is there is the greatest inclination so here must be with the greater dutie the greater affection and so a greater love Where all be not alike there is some primum and that which is nearest is prius so there is ordo which ordo is such 1. God for he is that bonum that good by participation of which all other are bona said to be good and the universall nature to which all the other give place as in policie bonum publicum 2. Our selves for we are unitas with our selves which can be but united with our brethren 3. The soules of our brethren before our owne bodies For any soule can directly participate the universall good but no body except by the soule therefore every soule to be preferred before the body 4. Our owne bodies 5. Then the bodies of our neighbours And of our neighbours first we must looke whether they have need if not we are detained from doing this good for them If they have need before others we must do it familiae fidei to the houshold of faith Galat 6.10 And of those to our Country-men Psalm 122.8 of these to those which are nostri 1 Tim. 4.8 of these our houshold and kindred and first the wife Gen. 2.24 1 Sam. 1.8 Am not I worth tenne sonnes And of strangers to the poore before the rich And if there be two equall every way and the thing cannot be divided cast lots quem sorte Deus elegerit August whom God shall choose take him For the manner There be three respects in this love 1. Dilecti of the thing beloved Excellentia bona those things that are excellent and good must be most neere unto us in a case of justice done by law or precept 2. Diligentis of the partie loving propinquitas in gratuitis quae sunt judicio nostro he may have respect to propinquity of kindred c. 3. As thy selfe non quantum sed sicut not as extensively but as sincerely And that in foure things 1. The end sicut te i. propter quod amas teipsum as thy selfe i. e. for that that thou lovest thy selfe that must be quia Deum amas ideoque omnia quae sunt Dei ob hanc causam dilige fratrem because thou lovest God therefore thou must love all that are of God and for this cause thy brother 2. Meanes application to this end ad quod teipsum chiefly to his soule so we must tollere impedimenta remove those impediments which do hinder our soules from this goodnesse and so non consentire ejus voluntati in malo not to consent to him in evill So that as August saith aut ama me quia sum Dei aut ut sim Dei either love mee because I do pertaine to God or that I may pertaine to him and so we must love our brother 3. Manner not for the use of him or because we hope to have a good turne of him but gratuito freely 4. Order first God for the second Table must helpe the first and not cancell it And thus must our love be ex fonte pietatis justus verus ordinatus it must flow from piety in justice truth and order This is the summe of the second Table The V. Commandement Honour thy Father and Mother c. THe last
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without naturall affection 2. The second is the property of love to wish well to him whom we love and because Christianum vorum est oratio a Christians mans wish is his prayer therefore in this respect we bring it to prayer which is a mutuall unity or affection of love betweene the Father and Sonne 1 Tim. 2.2 a Commandement that prayer be made for Superiours The like Ier. 29.7 for Babylon the Countrey and backward and downward 1 Cor. 29.18 19. David prayed for the people and for his sonne Solomon and Iob. cap. 1.5 was wont to pray daily for his Sonnes So for the duty reciprocall Come to Honour which is the duty due from Inferiours to Superiours what it is in particular As there is a Father Matth. 23.9 So we have exactly but one Father viz. God so as truely is it said of honour 1 Tim. 1.17 honour exactly belongeth onely to God But that he himselfe hath vouchsafed to resigne part of it to some men 2 Tim. 2.20 he created some vessels to honour c. and consequently Heb. 5.4 out of the generation of mankinde he calleth some to be honourable and as Matth. 25.24 his calling is knowne by his gifts for he giveth them parcels and portions of his goods whereby they excell their fellowes It was said that the Scripture useth three words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Excellencie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Principality unto this Excellencie honour properly belongeth and it is twofold 1. outward 2. inward 1. Inward honour as Prov. 5.9 Meddle not with a strange woman c. so Prov. 20.3 for he shall lose his honour Inward honour that good opinion that men have of him And opinio honesla and honest and good opinion is defined to be testimonium excellentiae whereby wee witnesse that there is in this man a certaine excellencie above us or somewhat above us by nature Paul Col. 3.18 1 Pet. 2.13 expressed this by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subjection to be subject as Luke 2.51 Christ went c. and was subject to them i. in respect of his manhood he acknowledged himselfe a childe and so consequently somewhat more to be in them then in him The contrary will make it more plaine Numb 16.3 Corah and his company his thesis was The Lord was among them all holy to the Lord and equall therefore Moses should not be so excellent The contrary of this is when men doe not onely confesse that there is not any equality but that some excell and that not by chance nor as the Poet saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but by Gods appointment and this is the first and inward part of honour But 1 Sam. 16.7 God and man looke not one way God looketh on the heart which man cannot therefore he cannot see this inward excellencie And this maketh the exteriour honour as it is taken Honour externall 1 Sam. 15.30 where Saul saith Yet honour me before the elders c. Matth. 23.67 the desire of the chiefest place chiefe roomes greetings c. the honour that the Pharisees longed for What the exteriour honour is what kinde is to be exhibited and due it is better determined and knowne by the manner of the Countrey because all are not alike in fashion For our selves they may be reduced to these seven heads Every one hath a warrant from the practise of the godly 1. To rise up when the person of excellencie which either by nature analogie or property is our Father is in presence done to Iob cap. 29.8 and a greater by Solomon to Bathsheba his mother 1 King 2. he rose up and met her 2. Nudare caput to uncover the head which was ad honorem in token of honour in use with the Saints as 1 Cor. 14. 3. Genuflexio the bowing of the knee practised Gen. 41.43 the cry of Pharaoh made to be proclaimed before Ioseph Abrech i. bow the knee And thus farre proceed the first salutations 4. Afterward it pertaineth to exterior honour to Stande Exod. 18.13 Moses quia Iudex because Judge sate the people stood 2 King 5.21 Gehezi stood before Elisha and indeed it is the common expressing of service 5. Silence to give eare when he speaketh Iob. 29.9 10.11 so they did to Iob when he was in presence 6. When we are by necessary occasion to speake to use words of Submission as 1 Pet. 3.6 Sarah called Abraham my Lord or Sir Gen. 31.35 43.28 See it in Iosephs brethren Thy servant our Father c. And they bowed downe and made obeysance Gen. 31.25 So Rachel to Laban Let not my Lord be angry that I cannot rise up and give testimony of honour because it is with me after the manner of women 7. The last is dispersed throughout the Scriptures and is comprehended under the word ministrare Luke 17.8 when we waite upon and when we performe any duty which mens servants use by that action whatsoever it be we testifie a supâ—râ—ority and excellencie in that party It comprehendeth many duties And thus farre goeth honour For when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Poweâ— To Power belongeth feare power is added then another thing viz. feare doth belong to it as Ioh. 19.11 power it is not but from above from God and so consequently commeth there unto them that have power part of that feare that we owe to God To this belongeth an awe a standing in awe a reverent feare Levit. 19.3 Every one shall feare his Father and Mother Ephes 6.5 With feare and trembling to our Masters secundum carnem after the flesh Prov. 16.14 A great feare belongeth to the King because his anger is the messenger of death and Iob. 29.8 that the people stood in such awe of him that they when he came forth conveyed them out of the way as if they had done some unseemely thing c. And this properly belongeth to the Superiour in regard of his power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prinâ—ipality To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is due obedience 3. In respect of his government unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is due 1 Tim. 6.1 obedience expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to goe under a yoke that is when they bid us doe this or that we be contented to put our neckes under their commandement Prov. 23.22 Ephes 6.10 plainely Obey thy Father and Mother c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both set forth this obedience examples of which we have Gen. 22.9 of a Sonne to his Father Isaak even to the death obeyed c. of a Servant to his Master Gen. 31.6 Iacob served Laban with all his might and Iosh 1.6 Ioshua by Gods commandement is made servant to a Kingdome Now for the protestation of this obedience and for the expressing of it order was taken for a second government as Prov. 3.9 he willeth men to honour God with their substance and goods It is the wanting of 〈◊〉
individuorum providentiam that there is a providence of individuals Yet that its such that if any one should looke upon a stage play 3. That there hath alwaies beene a providence but a generall providence not medling with rewarding or punishing when any thing is ill meant to laugh at it when well to praise but not to meddle with rewarding or punishing 4. As he hath a providence in generall and particular things and causes so doth he not onely behold but also reward and punish and this is true for we must joyne his essence and providence together Concerning the former i. his essence little glory returneth to him and lesse profit to us but we must know what he is to us therefore this is to be joyned that he will and ought to be sought and though ut quidam scitè we are Domini vernae the Lords bondmen and bound to seeke him yet is there a reward quaerentibus ipsum to them that seeke him The reasons of the first opinion that there is no providence For the first the especiall reasons why they altogether excluded the providencâ— of God 1. The adversity of the good men and the prosperitie of the wicked For say they if there were any providence Bonis bene esset malis malè it would be well for good men and ill for bad men but sense teacheth plainely the contrary 2. When he alledged that though divers abuse the gifts of God yet he dealeth unto all so that he is not to be blamed They say that he might as well have given the use of the gift as the gift Ergo verisimile nullam esse providentiam it would therefore seeme that there is no providence 3. The manifold defects in naturall and morall things exclude his providence For the first if any man be perfectly good Sol. no adversity can bend him if perfectly evill no prosperity but none in the world is either perfectly good or evill But it standeth with the justice of God that evill that is in the good to punish it in this life that good that is in the evill to reward it in this life ut eorum malum puniat in vita futura that he may punish their evill in the life to come And the punishment in this life is a great benefit Hence Aug. Domine hîc seca hîc ure modò ibi paâ—cas O Lord here in this life cut me burne me Sol. 2. so that in the life to come thou spare me 2. Con. We know what the divell said concerning Iob Doth Iob serve God for nought God to stop the mouthes of the wicked and Satan punisheth the godly Hence the divell if good men live in prosperity is ready to object They live in hypocrisie that they serve God because God serves them Therefore God to make manifest Vertue is not mercenary but free that the godly serve him not for temporall commodities and that vertue is not mercenary but gratuita free he often layeth afflictions upon his and this affliction his children willingly embrace 2. Con. The same with the former The divell Iob can doe no other but serve God Conclus 2. he is not left to his owne choice Sol. There is no commendation and therefore no reward if a man doe that which he must needs doe Sol. Now if God shall have left men in this cause he could not have rewarded them and what commendation is it for the fire to burne Cum ejus sic ferat natura since that is its nature For the three first its necessary that God hath no part in the evill doing or with the doer Sol. 3. A good thing will not permit evill God no cause of evill Omnis actio omnisque motio a Deo actionis imperfectio non a Deo sed a malè se habente instrumento Every action and every motion is from God but the obliquity or imperfection of the action is not from God but froÌ„ the perversenesse or weaknes of the instrument In the creeples the motion is from the soule the deformitie of the motion a distortione membri from the crookednesse of the member moving and halâ—ing unum per accidens alterum per se the one by accident the other by it selfe therefore the action whatsoever it is from God but if it halt the deformity is of the crookednesse of the instrument Secondly he permitteth evill The Lords will is to make a Theater of his goodnesse non nisi per privationem gratiae suae not but by privation of his grace For the permission the reasons first being granted that the defect of every thing from his goodnesse is his evill evill hath no part with God If there had beene no defect in the variety and multitude of things in the world Gods goodnesse could not so fully have beene expressed neither should there have beene any resemblance of God Where is no defect there is no meane There is a like affection in none therefore much lesse in the Lords creatures But God willing to shew his goodnesse in all degrees and to have a resemblance of himselfe in things hath made a defect in things 2. If no defect there had beene but one good thing Excellency is a property of God if there were no defect in things there could be no excellence the resemblance of God but in some creature there is some resemblance of the Creator 3. No order for unlesse there be a prior and posterior there can be no order Againe sundry vertues had beene superfluous justice temperance c. Thirdly because it is necessary that good should be loved in the highest degree and we cannot be brought to love good more then by the want of it The Lord drew the greatest benefit that ever we had our redemption out of the greatest evil and suffering the evill and defect being the way to the want of it therefore this permission would he never have granted unlesse more good might be had by the permission of it then by the not having of it The greatest evill that ever was was the betraying of Christ out of this the Lord drew the greatest benefit that ever was our redemption That there is a providence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly is that affection of love which the parents beare to their children and the children to their parents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the want of it Now that there is providence 1. generall 2. in singular things not onely by the ordinary course of second causes but also by the direction of God himselfe For the first It s naturall to every thing to be carefull to preserve that which he hath brought forth and and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naturall affection And as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naturall affection is a great vertue and the having of it is Gods gift so is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the want of naturall affection a great infamy and vice If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the want of
masters but that they should serve The former two and indeed the third they all pertaine to us For though it be true that Non obligamur legi propter Sinai sed propter Paradisum We are not tied to the law for Sinai but for Paradise and so to all the sonnes of Adam And though God gave Rom. 11.11 to one Nation his law to provoke all other Nations to emulate them as also the Jewes themselves to emulation yet this also is true that there is not one of these titles but in farre more deepe title pertaineth to us which have a better performance Tituli in prâ—â—â—io legis ad nos pertinent The titles in the Preface of the Law belong to us and therefore are grounded on a better promise First Iehovah As the excellency of his Name is in respect of the performance of a new covenant So Heb. 8.6 The Gospell i. the new covenant saith Paul is the better covenant because it hath better promises and it is better to say In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes in thy seed all Nations shall be blessed then to say semini tuo dabo omnem terram Canaan unto thy seed will I give all the Land of Canaan Ours is farre better then theirs namely the covenant of obedience sanctification and glory For the second Thy God We are included with them in the first and in the second also we have a part but the third perfecter the Covenant in mercy and redemption They had but two creation and obedience Thirdly for the deliverance How many more dangers we are delivered from then they from the sting of conscience from sinne from death how much more the divell and all his Angels passe Pharaoh and his Taâ—k-masters Hell and Gehenna the Lime-kils the torments without number passe the tale of Brickes with number so much our deliverance passeth theirs Colos 1.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who hath delivered us from the power of darknesse and hath translated us into the Kingdome of the sonne of his love 2 Tim. 1.10 In this world from errours that most part of the world fall into in the world to come 1. 1. Thou Iehovah we vile creatures From the justice of God 2. From the law 3. From the sting of conscience 4. From sinne 5. From death 6. From Hell 7 From the divell and his angels 2. I thy God we thy servants 8. From the spirituall Egypt 9. From the Egypt of the world i. Antichrist Now as God hath his titles so are we to have ours 3. Which have delivered thee we delivered c. 1. We most vile creatures 2. We thy miserable servants 3. We that have beene delivered from sinne c. from a thousand dangers Audi Israel Heare Israel Speake Lord thy servants heare thee Let us therefore heare him and be his servants least we be hiâ— servants that are spoken of 2 Chron. 12.8 Servants to our worldly desires Neverthelesse they shall be his servants so shall they know my service and the service of the Kingdomes of the earth The law being divided into the stile in Exod. 20.2 that hath been handled and into the charge Now of the charge which is nothing else but the ten words commonly called the ten Commandements The number is set downe Deut. 10.4 as well to take away mans presumption of adding any thing in which respect Exod. 32.15 God wrote both the sides of the Tables full that nothing might be added to them 2. As also to take away excuse from man for that they may be easily kept in memory because they are so few whereas those of the heathen are infinite These for better order and memory receive a division from the subject First Deut. 6.4 divided according to the two Tables which Christ Matth. 22.40 Marke 12.30 warranteth speaking to a Scribe he divideth them according to two objects 1. God 2. Man And this is not his owne but it is warranted in the Scriptures of the law The duty toward God Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart soule might Duty to man Love thy Neighbour as thy selfe Levit. 19.18 from whence Christ hath it So that this division according to the tables and contents of them is Christs division 1 Tim. 1.5 because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 love is so often repeated in the Law Paul maketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the summe and end of the Law to be love Ro. 13.9 The whole law is recapitulated into this summe Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy selfe For our love proceeding and ascending up to God when we descend and come to our neighbour it is but a reverberation of the love we have towards God and every reverberation praesupposeth a direct beame so that every man hath God first in his direct motion The division of the ten Commandements into two Tables NOw these ten precepts must be sorted into these two Tables of God and in the sorting of them there may arise some doubt The first is betweene the Jewes and the Christians the second betweene the Christians themselves 1. Doubt The Jewes make an even division five in one Table and five in the other Their warrant as they thinke is Psal 82.6 I have said ye are Gods therefore the fifth Commandement to be referred to the first Table Answer Solution But because in the Commandement are also included inferiours and they are no Gods we must seclude it out of the first Table because it pertaineth not to God directly but to man Secondly betweene the Christians themselves The Church of Rome they make the two first one and the last Commandement they stretch and make two of it Wherein they follow not the greatest number of Fathers as they say they doe in their interpretations but divide this Commandement into non concupisces vitam non concupisces famam Thou shalt not covet the life thou shalt not covet the name That it cannot be theirs 1. The desire Non concupisces vitam proximi tui thou shalt not covet the life of thy neighbour which is the desire of the 6. Commandement and non concupises famam proximi tui thou shalt not covet the name of thy neighbour which is the desire of the ninth might as well make two Commandements as these two and better too But common sense telleth us that to make lawes of particulars is the greatest folly that may be Much lesse Gods law which is exceedingly generall And we see that of concupiscence set downe here in generall there are two branches of it and when they interpret of it in their comments they say they finde some little difference betweene them and indeed they finde such inconvenience that commonly they include them both into one 2. No wise man would imagine that a Law-giver that would give ten Commandements could give two of them at one breath at one period yea in one verse and the other in distinct periods 3. A greater
divided and that also falleth into the division of having The parts of the soule as God maketh them Deut. 6.5 are reason or understanding called the soule 2. The affection or will called the Heart Therefore they are foolish schoolemen that expound by the heart the body of man So the duety of the mind being to know as is abovesaid in the treatise of the heart and appetite to regard love falleth right to this But under the division for the well expounding of the parts we must labour for the true sense of this Therefore as we know the parts of the mind so we must know that these parts have their order Vires animae sunt ordinatae the powers of the soule are set in order saith the Philosopher The order is this that we must know it before we can regard it and love it For ignoti nulla cupido there is no love of that we know not the Philosopher That invisa possumus cupere incognita nequaquam we may covet things unseene but never things unknown Augustin Therefore they say well where two things be in order if the first be taken away the second shall never be fulfilled So if ignorance be brought in God shal never be desired nor loved and so not had The first kowledge He must be knowne and that standeth first the duty of the mind and understanding part 2. Love he must be loved esteemed the duty of the second part the heart or will Now the end of knowledge is but the fulnesse of perswasion a setled beliefe which we call faith both the meanes and end of knowledge And therefore comprehended in the first part as the fulnesse of regard and love is nothing else but obedience But to make it more plaine let the mind begin that we may first know God knowledge must have its object and that is God He cannot be knowne à priore in himselfe therefore we must seeke to know him à posteriore and that is by his attributes and effects For his Attributes they are those ten set downe Exod. 34.6 7. His Majesty Truth Vnchangeablenesse Will Justice Mercy Knowledge Power Vbiquity Eternity Of these two especially are called principall and concerne us most his Justice and Mercy the other 8. are called communiter ad dno common to two because they fall into these two alike So knowledge in fulnesse 1. proceeding to faith apprehendeth 1. the Justice of God 2. his Mercy and beleeveth them both Adde the other 8. to his Iustice that he is of infinite majesty infallibly true c. and they make it more perfect and consequently more fearefull adde them also to his Mercy that he that loveth us is King of eternall life c. and it maketh his Mercy more and consequently farre more to be beloved Out of this faith or knowledge proceeding of his justice there proceedeth feare and out of it humility These out of Justice the first part and out of the knowledge and faith of mercy with the other 8. proceed two duties more one hope who would not hope 2. Fructus spei invocatio precatio est interpres spei The fruit of hope invocation prayer is the interpreter of hope By prayer or thankesgiving i. to acknowledge from whom we have received it Love hath his effect and fruit Love is full in obedience which is a conforming of our selves and our will to the Will of God Or a bearing willingly of whatsoever it pleaseth God to lay on us for not conforming our selves to him in this life and that is called patience obedientia crucis the obedience of the Crosse In these the having of God doth wholly consist and there can be no other duety added to them We must understand this that it pleaseth the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures by the figure Synecdoche for shortnesse of speech sundry times to name one of these and thereby to meane and comprehend the whole worship of God As Iohn 17.3 all is given to knowledge This is life eternall that they know thee c. In another place all to feare And in another place all to hope c. In the rest under the name of one synecdochicall to comprehend all the other Virtutes 2. 3. proposâ—tionis Vertues of the second and thâ—rd propositions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not be must be perpetuall And not without good reason for they have a very good dependance one of the other Now to these we must adde the duty of the second proposition 1. true religion and out of the third proposition pure religion against joyning it with other worship And beside these out of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be which is the future tense to consent to it in our life till this non erit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not be devoure our erit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be It includeth the verture of perseverance through all the Commandements And coram facie mea before my face includeth sincerity and singlenes of heart for our heart is as well before his eyes as our other parts contrariwise condemneth hypocrisie These make up the manner of his worship In the resolution of the first Commandement the first thing in it Knowledge is knowledge of which in regard of the excellency and dignity of it Iohn writeth thus ch 17. v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. This is eternall life that they know thee In the handling of these severall vertues as before in the explication of the Commandement we must follow those rules that we have set downe Vsus necessitas cognitionis Dei The use and necessity of the knowledge of God The first thing concerning knowledge is the use of it and thence the necessity of it The necessity out of this place that knowing we must attaine everlasting life And forasmuch as life everlasting is so much worth to us and without this knowledge we lost it but we are dull by our owne nature therefore we are to seeke a further provocation We must therefore adde that Ier. 9.24 where God plucketh from us all our Peacock feathers as gifts of nature as wisdome gentry riches strength c. and chargeth not to rejoyce in them but in that we know God But let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me And herein only must we glory But as we said it is not the excellency that can so strike into us our dull hearts but they cannot desire to be excellent But because we cannot be without it when we come to shew that we must needs have it that is ferrea ratio a hard reason If he finde us ignorant that we cannot doe agendum i. the law being our agend and no action can be without moving and no moving without the will and no will without desire and no desire without a thing knowne therefore take away knowledge and take away all and so nothing shall be done and consequently we shall become idle Not but that
faith then of a perfect 4. A good faith estabisheth it selfe by the works of the law if it bee not a working faith it is cadaver fidei but the carcasse of faith But the fourth is that which is Rom. 3.31 a signe also of the faith of the Law a signe of a naughty faith if it make voyd the Law true faith doth establish the Law first if it be a faith that doth not strengthen it selfe 2. Pet. 1.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by good works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherefore the rather brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure for if yee doe these things yee shall never fall For if it doe not then Jam. 2.26 it is putridum cadaver a rotten carcasse Faith is an action proper to the mind and not faith That which is Rom. 10.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that a man beleeveth with his heart wee know that it belongeth to the mind and so in Deut. 6.5 wee must love God with the mind but that is not proper to the mind If it bee once in the heart it will come out and shew it selfe it speech in actions c. but to the heart yet if it come not into the heart and kindle it also from whence Prov. 4.23 come the springs of life and all the actions and opinions of a man there shall be no action and consequently no true faith If the heart be once possessed then 2 Cor. 4.13 wee shall beleeve and therefore wee must needs speake Psal 116.10 I beleeved therefore will I speake and as it is Psal 35.10 not only the tongue shall speake but all the bones i.e. every member that wee have Psal 10. All my bones shall say Lord who is like thee The physitions have a saying that judicium à corde fit per brachium the hart will give a pulse to every part by the veines but it may be sensibly perceived by the arme and by that pulse they know the disease of the heart they use a remedy for the diseases of the heart so in the Gospell it hath a present remedie so if faith be once in the heart it will spread it selfe throughout the whole man but it doth especially declare it selfe by the arme id est in the operations and working of it and this is not by little and little or seven yeares after but as it is commonly said when any beleeved in Christ cadem horâ sanatus est he was made whole the same houre This faith must appeare in life and not in death only for so every man even the wicked will crust in God in death because he 〈◊〉 not otherwise choose Esa 66.8 Who hath heard such a thing who hath seene such things shall the earth be brought forth in one day or shall a nation be borne at once for as soone as Sion travailed shee brought forth her children the Prophet he wondreth at it yet that is the signe of true faith therefore nothing like to them that have not the fruits of their faith seene till they die for then they must trust in God whether they will or no not all their life they will not but at their death but then there is no remedy yet it is not said in the Scriptures that justus moritur ex side but vivit ex fide the just man dieth but the just man lives by faith his faith must live and not die I will not pray with Balaam let my soule die with the righteous I will rather pray the contrary and it is the duty of a Christian so to pray Let my soule live with the faithfull For the sixt precept of the affirmative 6. Rule our aâ—â—na coÌ„muÌ„â—â—atio fide to coÌ„municate our faith to others There is no mercy to be shewed to any of these wee are willed to entangle others with the meanes and use them to others profit as well as to our owne this sixt precept of the affirmative the Apostle Paul observeth Rom. 1.11.12 he desireth though strong in faith that he might be strengthened and comforted by their faith as on the other side the contrary is not only forbidden but a punishment also injoyned Deut. 13. If any intice thee to follow strange Gods if he be a Prophet if he be thy brother if he be a dreamer of dreames if thine owne sonne or thy daughter or thy wife or thy friend thou art commanded not to consent to him nor pitie him nor shew mercy but shalt put them all to the sword and he that is seduced his hand shall be first on the seducer And doing thus in extending thus our faith to the good of others wee shall receive the end of our faith the salvation of our soules Credâ—ndo quod non videmus videbimus quod non videmuâ—-Timor Dei the feare of God Faith never accepted with God before it come into the heart it comes thither if we stirre up the affections Cor sedes affectionum the heart is the fear of the affections When it cometh into the heart it stirreth Species affectionum in cor de nostro the severall affections of the heart 1. Pet. 1.9 and shall receive this answer with the Centurion Mat. 8.13 Vade secundum fidem tuam fiet tibi goe thy way and as thou hast beleeved so be it done unto thee this Gods answer will be to us merces fidei est visio Dei the reward of faith is the vision of God for in rebus supra naturam idem est videre habere in supernaturall things to see and enjoy is all one so wee shall have him credendo quod non videmus videbimus quod credimus by beleeving what wee see not wee shall at length see what now wee beleeve And thus of the duty of the minde Now to the worship of the heart Rom. 10.10 it is said that faith must come into the heart and the heart must beleeve els there can be no righteousnesse For there must be a mutuall affection of the mind and the heart for if the heart love not the minde will not long beleeve and if the minde beleeve not the heart will not love long Now the heart is the place of affections and being the place of affections wee shall know that it commeth into the heart if it stirre up the affections that are in that part to the worship of God The affections are partly such as are agreeable to our nature and such as wee wish for partly such as wee wish to be farre from us of the former kind are love hope joy c. of the other seare griefe hatred Finis usus affectionum in corde the end and use of the affections in the heart God hath ordained them both to a double use for griefe hatred feare and those that are of the two sorts are first either reines to keepe us from evill or secondly after evill committed they are our tormentors to punish us So of the other three are two
for there is one that goeth about so much as in him lieth by flattering bribing or pricking and wounding us to extort it from us 3. And under this Use that other may be that thus keeping Christ we have a possession of heaven in this life and therefore as Basil saith that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one heaven for another and as one may be praesens absens so a thing absent is present onely by hope Thus as of the affection of feare it hath beene said that it hath such an use for our humbling that by it all impediments are removed that grace might fully possesse us so likewise of this affection of hope wee see how great and excellent an use God hath made of it and here that which the Philosophers never knew these affections feare hope and love they are become Virtutes theologicae to his children and those that they made but affections are the perfectest and excellenâ—â—â—â— veriues that we have in Divinity and the reason is because they make good those that have them and the reason of that is because our nature being not its owne rule but having it from a better and higher nature Whatsoever good thing was with man it forsooke him whatsoever it is that applyeth it to us it must needes bring some part of goodnesse to us but that hope doth in some part in respect of the promises therefore it is a vertue to us and as the Heathen man expresseth it in the box of Pandora that at the opening of the box all good forsooke it and only hope remained under the lid and therefore Philo Iudaeus calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an inborne comforter that forsaketh us not when all the rest have left us so that in the regenerate the very same use hath hope as Psal 27.13 that he should utterly have fainted but that he hoped to see the Lord in the land of the living and so consequently in the next verse he professeth that this is the hope that must make all strong and so this spes vitae immortalis est vita vitae mortalis the hope of life immortall is the life of that life which is mortall and if we were without it we should lose breath according to the rule of the Schoolemen and it is true in the spirituall life Qui desperavit expiravit For conclusion of this first rule to this i. hope is given Psal 84.13 that which is to faith and feare O Lord God of hosts blessed is the man that putteth his trust in thee the blessing in this life being indeed nothing else but the certainty that when the Bridegroome commeth we shall enter in with him into the fruition that is reserved to the world to come Thus of the nature necessity and end of hope Now for the 2. rule i. the thing 1. commanded and 2. forbidden 2. Rule our rule for faith and hope is contrary to that we said in humility as Dan. 4.27 Is not this great Babel that I have built for the house of the Kingdome by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty i. that hope thus accounteth of God as of the principall and sole efficient and as of the last and principall end which it looketh for and whereunto it referreth the glory of the redemption For the 1. that our hope is to goe out of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 that there is not sufficiency in us as of our selves to thinke a good thought and thinking being the first if that fall the rest must fall for not thinking we cannot will Phil. 2.13 it is God that worketh velle in us and so consequently perficere and yet lest we should imagine some helpe might come of us betweene Iohn 15.5 Christ addeth sine me nihil potestis agere without me ye can doe nothing and as Austin hath well noted upon the place it is not nihil magni but nihil no great thing but nothing at all and it is not perficere but nihil facere not bring to perfection but not so much as to doe any thing so our hope must wholly rely it selfe upon him as sole efficient of all good to us 2. And for the other the last end for the referring of whatsoever glory shall proceed from us for any grace of God bestowed on us it is plaine 1 Cor. 1.29 he hath done it in this respect that no flesh should rejoyce before him but vers 31. that all should rejoyce in him In the nature of hope there are two things necessarily to be considered 1. a griefe 2. a joy or rather è converso These two if the hope be true it never suffereth us to be secure but we shall be in a continuall warfare as 1 Thes 5.8 where hope is there is a fight because it is compared to an helmet And in Psal 27. the Prophet is beaten down first on the one side then lifi up then downe againe and so in sundry of the Psalmes he is three or foure times beaten downe and raised up againe in one Psalme sometime hope should get the upper hand and joy and anon feare for in as much as dilatio boni the deferring of good must needs have rationem mali some appearance of evill and as in Prov. 13.12 hope deferred affligit animam it is a mighty affliction to the soule it must needs be that when a Christian man shall see no accomplishment of Gods promises and not onely that but he shall see the cleane contrary to that which is promised fall to him as when peace is promised there shall happen tumult terror anguish and hee shall be driven not onely by the wicked men exprobating to us as they did to David Where is now your hope but by the enemy also or our owne reason which shall make a probleme with our spirit of the applying of it Vâ—â—â— speâ—â—estra surely this must needs worke for Rom. 8.23 it worketh even in the dumbe creatures though they shall not be partakers with us of the Resurrection yet because they see the deliverance of man is not yet performed they grone and desire to be delivered The onely remedy for this is the consideration exprest by Auslin in his Sermon upon Ps 36. Sustine illum sustinuit te dum mutares vitam malam sustine tu illum dum coronat vitam bonam Wait upon God he waited long upon thee to amend thee wait thou patiently upon him till he crowne thee this hath great reasons of it which after shall be shewed in patience Spes quibus â—â—â—us comparatur Now on the other side comes in that which it is compared to It is compared by the Fathers to a corke in Fishermens nets if that were not downe would the net goe but that suffereth it not to sinke the certainty of both Rom. 12.12 spe gaudenies rejoycing in hope there is the joy Heb. 10.23 Let us hold fast the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is hope holding fast the profession
Filâ—â— Sp. Sancti Tantum How great Rom. 8.32 it was so great that he spared not his owne Sonne and that for God the Fathers tantum and on Christs behalfe his tantum was that for our sakes being such wretches he was content to leave the society of the Angels and Saints and to come downe here to endure such things he suffered all Aristotles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 five fearfull things 1. ignominy 2. neede 3. sicknesse 4. enmity 5. death 1. for the first i. ignominy and reproach he had it while he lived and as it is Matth. 27.63 he was not free from it after he was dead for they call him causâ—ner and deceiver We remember that this cousener and deceiver said while c. 2. And for his neede his owne mouth may witnesse Luke 9.58 that he was in poorer case then the fowles and beasts 3. For his infirmities Esa 53.4.5 he suffered wounds and blew wounds liâ—ores for our sakes 4. For his enmity Iohn 15.18 he saith that the world hated him while he was in it 5. But that which is the infallible signe of his love and the greatnesse thereof towards us Iohn 15.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there can be no greater love then to die for a mans friend but Christ suffered a most shamefull death for us that hated him and were his enemies and as Cantic 8.6 the love that is as strong as death is perfect love that he tooke upon him too For the holy Ghosts tantum is this that in stead of Christ he descended and Rom. 5 5. shed this gift of the grace of God and all other good gifts among us and is content to make his residence with us to the worlds end And now we may judge betweene God and our selves as Esa 5.4 Whether a man may not justly demand whether there bee any thing that he hath not done and suffered for us Now for the last 6. Gratis i. gratis the freenesse of it as Psal 16.2 he is like to have no reward of us for we cannot helpe him nor reward him nothing but onely this amorem pro amore Our love for His and nihil est decenâ—â—â— nothing is more feemely their that all these which God hath bestowed upon us per amorem by his love should bee requited amore with love againe 11. Wiseman 27. the Wiseman calleth to God and that most justly and truely all these wayes having testified this his affection to us and he enjoyning us nothing but this to love him againe Aug. Quid est homo quod aâ—arâ— vis ab eo si non anat â—e minaris ingeniem poenam annon poena satis mag na est non amareâ—e What is man that thou commandest him to love thee O God and if he love thee nor thou threatnest to punish him can there be a greater punishment then not to love thee For our naturall love of meate and drinke there neede no threatning nor reward but this love that is supernatural and should make us supernatural must have threatnings and rewards so untoward we are This for that that God performeth on his behalfe Love commanded Now we come to that which is commanded and that is love whether it be naturall and consequently by nature due to God that we should amare cum a quo habemus potentiam anandi bestow that affection of love upon him that gave it us equity it is or whether it be amor delectus a love of choyce For when we have made a summe of all our thoughts we cannot finde that is more to be loved then God or whether it be amore infuso Rom. 5.5 he hath shed this love into our hearts and it is reason that he that hath scattered should gather that which he hath scattered for so the wicked and unjust servant can tell us This love and the measure therof is considered in it selfe first either as it is hindered or not hindered As it proceedeth freely Denre it hath two parts 1. desiderium 2. gaud um Desire and Joy Desire so long as we seele not the certifying of Gods spirit in our hearts as the Prophet David he had Psal 42.1 and joy when God giveth it cum sustulit gaudium posuit gaudium the Devils have a desire unto that good which they know they want and shall never enjoy which makes them breake out into malice and blasphemy but the desire which is wrought in our hearts by the worke of the holy Ghost produceth the effects which the Apostle speakes of Gal. 5.22 But the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace longsuffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith When it is hindered and resisted that it cannot get a desire Zelus ex ira delore then commeth zelus zeale ira est vindex laesi desiderii it is called sacra ebullitio a boyling of griefe and anger incensed against all impediments and it is one of the signes of love for qui non zelas non amat there is no love when there is no zeale he that can see impediments to the glory of God if he have not an earnest desire for the removing of them hee hath no love Modus amoris the measure of love For the measure it must proceede thus high as that we be ready to hate Father and Mother Wife Children Brother and our owne soule for it i. as it is somewhat more gently set downe Matth. 10.37 that they must not be loved more then God nor come in comparision with him but when their Commandement commeth against Gods Commandement that must yeeld to this and God alone must come to have our love The royall law saith that we must love him with all our soule withall the minde with all the heart and with all the strength As the heart is said improperly to beleeve so the minde is said no lesse improperly to love but it must be so forced in us as that all the powers of the body and minde must yeeld to it and shew forth their actions else we come short Quia fecisti me because thou hast created me therefore I owe my selfe to thee si tantum pro facto quantum pro refecto if so much for making thee then how much more for making thee a new saith Bernard For it is harder to make againe then for to make All things at the first were made with a word but when it came to the remaking there was not dixis facta sunt He spake and they were made but there were many things spoken Christ was faine mulia dicere mulia facere gravia perpeti etiam indigne perpeti to speake much and to doe much yea and to suffer much even cruell and unworthy things before we could be restored and with the second making there came the gift of God himselfe nisi dedisset se non reddidisset te He had not restored thee unlesse he had given himselfe for thee Benard upon Datus est nobis filius Nam etsi millies pâ—ssem rependere
know that our manners are said to be good or bad according as our love is either good or bad for that love which inflames but not aright and that feare which humbles but not aright are the causes of all evill in the world Our love is never true but inter similes where there is a likenesse therefore there must follow in God and us idem velle idem nolle this is obedience our Will being moved by his Will and suffering him to be the principall mover for where two must Will either the one must be proportioned to the other The Will of God righteousnesse it self or they both to a third and there is no reason that Gods Will should be proportioned to our no more reason then a streight rule to a crooked peece of timber or stone Mâ—â—â—â—â—i alieâ—â—â—â—lunâ—â—â—â— est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not his streight Will must bee made proportionable to our crooked but our crooked to his streight so the speciall end and scope that God hath enjoyn'd us obedience is that he may have glory and our love be truly expressed The necessity of Obedience Necessitas obediâ—ntiae Now for the necessity of obedience the necessity or excellencie of it we may consider thus by the good weighing of that v. 1 Sam. 15.22 where God having ordained sacrifice an especiall thing in Religion yet before this speciall part he preferreth obedience and it must needs be so 1. For if a man will offer to any that which shall be accepted it is better if he offer somewhat of his owne then of others for that which we offer of our owne is dearer unto us and therefore hee to whom it is offered taketh it better In obedience offertur propria voluntas I offer up mine own Will and as it is Heb. 4.12 the two edged sword divideth my Will and pierceth it and consquently I offer it up to God In a sacrifice offertur aliena caro I offer up other not mine owne flesh 2. Againe the better that a thing is that is offered the better it will be accepted but what is offered in obedience is better then that offered in sacrifice because in obedience there is a live thing offered a beast I cannot offer but when it is killed Againe in a sacrifice there is but a brute beast and unreasonable in obedience there is a reasonable soule which is more acceptable to God 3. The third is this the more ye give the better it is accepted in obedience there cannot be more given then is given In sacrifice I give of the fruit of my cattell a part of my fruit but in obedience I give the fruit tree and all I offer my selfe and all that I have as one saith very well Obedientia non potest plus dare quam dedit dedit enâ—mâ—se 4. Last that that is offered the longer continuance it is of the better it is In a sacrifice it is but two houres worke while the fire is kindled and the beast burned to ashes but in obedience when I offer up my selfe to God it is a continuall sacrifice it is a perpetuall mortifying of my Will my Reason and all my members Obedientia est juge sacrificium therefore it is plaine that obedience is better then sacrifice not that sacrifice should be neglected or condemned it is not condemned when a better thing is preferred Ier. 7.22.23 When the people was marvellous carefull that the Lord should not be defrauded of his offerings and sacrifices God saith I spake not to your Fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt that they should sacrifice but this was the thing that I spake to them for that they should obey my voyce that is in respect of obedience That thing is not denied simply which in comparison to another is set far behinde it Againe the excellencie and necessity of obedience appeareth in this that though it be a good thing or though neither good nor bad yet for obedience it must be restrained obedience hath power to make of evill good and of good evill in observation or contempt for had not God forbidden to caâ—e of the fruit the eating had beene neither a good nor an evill thing but we see the disobedience and the breach thereof made it evill A more plaine example we have 1 King 20.36 A Prophet comes to one of his neighbours in the hoste and willeth him to smite and wound him the man knew it was unlawfull and refused to doe it but he delivered a message from God Because thou hast not obeyed the voyce of the Lord behold as soone as ever thou art departed from me a Lion shall finde thee and slay thee and for this his disobedience a Lion slew him Thus appeareth the excellencie of obedience that it is able to change the nature of a good thing and to make it evill and evill good The last example is of Christ who sheweth the great necessity of this vertue in his Dilemma Father if it be possible let me not obey but let this Cup passe from me if it be not possible thy Will be done and when one of these must needs have beene chosen either mori or non obedire to die or to disobey elegit potius mori quam non obedire he chose rather to die then to disobey and so consequently shewed that obedience is more necessary then life it selfe and the breath we draw and this his obedience recovered the world 2 Cor. 10.6 as the obedience of the Saints for it is the small number of the obedient persons that are the pillars of the world otherwise without them it could not stand but fall The second rule is the precept of Obedience Now to the second rule to that that is commanded here is commanded obedience not as it is the generall as it is in the execution of every particular Commandement but as it hath a respect to the intent of him that commandeth an earnest endeavour that a man hath towards God to doe good and hath a Will to answer whatsoever is prescribed It is as the other are of two sorts either Unperfect or inchoate Or Perfect 1. For the first is an obedience of feare as 1 Sam. 15.24 but that is unperfect obedience and every effect is there to be discerned where it is perfectly wrought The perfect Gen. 22.12 God himselfe by the obedience of Abraham concludeth his feare not such as fals for the thing it is nothing else but the labouring of a mans soule Then that is here commanded is obedire it is a compound and our rule is that in compositis copulativis oportet utrumque quaerere non sufficâ—t alterum in compounds and copulatives we must not take up with a part but both must be performed 1. Then we will take the simple first audire hearing audire sequâ— to heare and follow are Gods words for obedience The Fathers in the Greeke Church call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in
the Latin Church obaâ—dire both which imply hearing and obeying For audire hearing it is good reason that we performe it to God if it be but for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia audivit nos because he hath heard us when we were indeprofundis in the deepe therefore we should heare him and not that alone but we know not where to have a better guide to follow and a better Counsellor to heare If a man follow Lot out of Sodom and Noah into the Arke he shall doe well when a good guide and Counsellor is set before our eyes and wee neither follow nor heare we shall have that punishment to follow naughty guides and to heare evill counsell And that is very hard dealing with God not to performe that to him which we will performe to the absurdest hereâ—â—ke The not hearing of God maketh that there can come no man that shall hold never so absurd a thing but he shall have some hearers the absurdest Hereticke shall have some followers and the reason is because they will not follow the Shepheard and one wisheth that all the sheep ut incidant in lupos oves quae nolunt sequi pastorem they that will not follow the Shepheard to the pastures shall follow the Butcher to the Shambles What is there in this our hearing that makes the most part of the world so loath to it even this audire sequi this hearing and following discourage many for they will not bee hearers of others but devisers and inventors themselves and leaders and will be heard and followed it is that that the great wise men of the world seeke after Malus assecla ratio pejor voluntas our owne reason is an ill guide and our will a worse for reason he must bee waited on if there be a good wit and Will is a tyrant before grace cast him downe In this respect because auduus it is sensus dâ—sciplinae hearing the sense of discipline and men will not learne therefore it commeth that this speciall and first part is neglected and denied therefore this is first commanded that we be conâ—â—â—t to be led and to receive rules of God 2. Another thing in audire in hearing is this that whereas wee said before Quod cor non facit non fit â—hat which the â—â—art doth not is as if it were not done at all this audâ—tuâ— must not be as Augustin saith onely canorum per cartilag nâ—um a bare sound in the eare but unlesse the heart heare also the eaâ—es are bâ—t auâ—es aequivocae 〈◊〉 Idols eares that have eares and heare not such are the eares of him that when his heart is about strange objects can be content to lend God an eare and that 's all such are men of uâ—circumcised eares Ier. 6.10 We see that as there is a circumcision of the foreskin of the flesh Circumcisio auriwn so it is not there onely but in every part and there is a praeputium auris a foreskin of the eare which the Devill useth for he is Master of all that is superfluous and so consequentâ—y openeth it to those speeches as make best for his purposes and shutteth it to the contrary unlesse men doe strive against it and untill men may take away this praeputium this foreskin they are of uncircumcised â—aâ—es As we use commonly to say he will not heare good counseâ— i. he will not follow albeit it be sure he is one that will nor stop his eare at the advice of his friend yet if his heart be not bent to follow it his hearing profiteth him not And the Heathen man saith mens videt non oculus mens audit non auris it is not the eâ—es but them â—â—de that seeth nor the eare but the minde that heareth as this is true to lest men should thinke that obedience consisted onely in hearing God doth use to put an a copulative after it as custodiant aâ—â—â—lent faciant c. they shall heare and keepe and walke and doe c. The best signe is the similitude of the fish-hooke cum capit capitur tum capâ—tur cum artrahitur when it taketh it is taken and that is a signe that hearing sticketh in us We come to the other part to the preposition ob as there is loqui a saying obloqui a gainsaying so there is an hearing and an hearing against or again-hearing audire obedire i. that you shall never heare the word of God but ever when he speaketh there will be an oblocutor neither shall you heate the world confirmed of all but when he speaketh there will be an oblocutor also As you must have a hearing so you must have a contrary hearing We shall alwayes heate two speakers Amor Dei sui or mundi there are two speakers 1. amor Dei the love of God 2. sui mundi of our selves and the world then you must not onely heare him what he saith but also the other what he saith as in amor mundi sui in the love of our selves and the world that make disordered love there are two speakers we must heare the contrary of that that the world saith unto us and of that we our selves say to our selves For the world Iohn 15.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If the world hate you c. Christ saith that the world could not abide him so it is like to speake of him but not to his good Now as it is Gen. 5.22 Enoch he is said to have walked with God so must we doe God and the world will not walke together Amos 3.3 it is impossible that two should walke together except they bee agreed the world cannot walke with Christ because it hateth him Enoch gave over the worlds company and chose to walke with God alone and so was translated the world i. whatsoever evill counsell we may receive not onely of profane men but of gainesayers wee receive it of the world 1 King 22.12 the King as he shall have a Micaiah to tell him true so it is certaine there will be a Zidkiah to speake against it There shall be a number of Divines and Preachers that will say to men id quod volunt sanctum est that 's the best way which they like best that will loose let other binde as fast as they can therefore they are to be taken heede of Then this is required that we frame not our selves to the world whether to the old world as Ier. 44.17 their reason why they would burne Incense to the Queene of Heaven was because they and their fathers never did otherwise c. or the present world as 1 Sam. 8.20 the people they would needs have a King and their reason was We will be like other Nations and other men The other speaker are we our selves and we before God put new notions in us we are at as great oddes with God as the world Rom. 8.7 the wisdome of the naturall and carnall man
willing to beare the punishment still so onely let me be assured that I shall have forgivenesse of my sinnes the guilt taken away and I am content to let the Crosse lye upon mee still He that is contented he hath laid up a good signe 2. Tolerane amare i. When our bearing and enduring of paines it worketh not in us a murmuring or a discontented mind but so affecteth us as we can notwithstanding love God with his chastisement and for his chastisement Job in the end of his 2. Chap. saith Blessed be the name of the Lord even for his afflictions When it is Benedictus Dominus in donis suis Blessed be the Lord for his gifts then Jobs wife will say that Grace as well as he but when it commeth to ablationibus suis The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away that is it that maketh the true note of difference betweene the true patience and the counterfeit and as it hath beene said of the affections that that turneth it to the contrary is a most sure and true note So from mercy feare Psal 130.4 Mercy that thou mayest be feared Mercy properly stirreth up love and justice feare When an affection is stirred up that properly stirreth up the contrary that is a most true note the love that is in us provoked by the justice of God and the feare by his mercy these are true and uncounterfeit otherwise they are in the wicked sometimes That when 〈◊〉 affection 〈◊〉 wrought pâ—â—â—râ—n â—lâ—â—câ—um sâ—â—â—n that is a â—â—â—ere affection but if it come from a contrarie object that is it as the heathen man saith cum amare possis post injuriam a man loveth him well that can love him that hath injured him So when that that the world counteth injurie is past when a man can amare Deum not post injuriam though we count it so he that can love after that his love is true 3. 4. We have a speciall use of them because the fathers in the Primitive Church had much adoe to make the people understand how the patience of a true Christian and a Donatist should be distinguished and therefore they used these two notes 1. that in the Donatists suffering and you shall find it in them that suffer in our dayes you shall find in them a spirit of vanity and pride The spirit of patience is the spirit of humilitie whereas true patience is humble as the Prophet saith Tacui Domine quia tu fecisli I kept silence O Lord because thou hast done it That humblenesse and silence that appeareth in the martyrs sufferings is a true marke When a man falleth not into disputation concerning the causes for which it is laid upon him nor bursteth into speeches how great torments he hath suffered c. but either tolerat gemit or else respondet pro Deo he either beares it and mourneth in silence or if he reply it is on Gods behalfe as Job 1.22 and 20.10 In all this did not Job sinne with his lips he did not give out that that might bewray his impatience The other is called alacrity for this they coÌ„monly note that in their Circumcellions sufferings that they had not an alacrity but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they were not moved but that not being not moved was not with alacrity they grounded themselves upon Rom. 8.37 in all these In some diseases a mans flesh shall be able to suffer any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to overcome is to match them but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to rejoyce for the suffering of them 6. Reg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we do more then overcome he that not onely suffereth but rejoyceth that which is noted in the Apostles Act. 5.41 that they departed from the councell after they had beene whipped not grieved but rejoycing that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ the other suffering importeth no feare or griefe but it hath no alacrity Last is the precept for procuring it in others for it is not enough for every man to say in his owne soule Why art thou so impatient O my soule c. but also Psal 27.16 that we may be able to say to others Sustine Dominum wait on the Lord that we do what we can by our comfort and gifts to make them patient as on the other side Not to give any words or occasion to move impatience in others if there be any provocation in others to impatiencie as his wife Job 2.10 as if affliction be come upon him and they counsell him to give over if we should continue in uprightnesse till we suffered for it we must answer them as his answer was to his wife that we set our selves against them that hold that we are to beare good things but not afflictions And this is the knowledge that every one is to have so especially it concerneth them Prov. 19.11 Doctrina viri per patientiam noscitur Patience espeally required in the learned and as Gregorie saith Tanto minus quisque cognoscitur esse doctior quanto minus convincitur esse patiens The lesser our patience the lesser our knowledge ever Thus much for the first proposition 1. Thou shalt have a God The 2. Proposition Thou shalt have mee for thy God and that containeth but one vertue Habebis me Dewn called True religion or religion the other are the extremes The 3. Proposition Thou shalt have none other Gods but me 1. Thou shalt have one alone 1 True Religion and thou shalt have me alone and that also containeth one vertue i. sincerity not mingling true religion with any other 2 Sincerity Besides these out of the word gnal panai there is grounded integrity 3 Integrity that we be not hypocrites and lastly in regard of the verbe erunt which runneth through our whole life Perseverance The 2. Proposition 4 Perseverance that it is not enough to have a God unlesse he be the true God 1 That there is no man but that he doth bestow all his affections actions and actions upon some one thing Aug. unusquisque comeditur ab ali quo zelo which is Religion for sure it is that the affections of the mind and actions of the body in every one are all bent to some one thing and that to him that is our God for either they are bestowed upon an idoll a falfe God 1 Cor. 8. which is nothing or else upon the God of this world 2 Cor. 4.4 that is the Devill or else as it is Phil. 3.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. whose end is destruction whose God is their belly upon the belly the flesh or else Ephes 5.5 on the idoll of the covetous man i. upon money and wealth the service whereof is as he saith there idolatry therefore touching all these Mention of 4. false gods 1 Idols 2 God of this world 3 Their pleasure lust 4 Their owne goods it is that
strength and therefore are not feared as 2 Sam. 16.13 great malice and hatred in Shimei yet it was nothing but an handfull of dust and because he wanted might it was faine to end in words onely Whereas if hee had beene mighty his anger would more have prevayled So the want of might is many times the hinderance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mighty so in Esay 31.3 and in other places of the Scriptures it pleaseth God when he opposeth himselfe to men Aegypt is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is such strength in God that mans weaknesse is not able to match it In Hebrew there be two words given to God that comprehend the whole nature of strength first * * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gnoz the second * * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cayl The first is that we call Robur internall strength the other externall strength either of Weapons or Armes c. 1. For the first as when it pleaseth the H. G. to debase the strength of man 1 Cor. 1.25 that the weaknesse of God is stronger then the strength of men so Exod. 8.19 when he speaketh of Gods strength and the mighty wonders which he wrought in Aegypt he compareth it to the finger of God Which finger Psal 144.5 if it doe but touch the Mountaines it will make them smoake and not onely his finger but more the puffe the winde of a mans mouth is the least thing and weakest and yet he saith At the proceeding of it out of his nostrills the foundations of the Hills were discovered and the ground removed Psalm 18.15 This is positive and not onely this but also privative Psalm 104.29 If he doe but hold in his breath all things perish or he cast his eye aside the World comes to an end in a moment Secondly for fortitudo strength or munitions without him albeit this is sufficient to move us yet that Jer. 23.29 Is not my Word even like a fire saith the Lord and like an Hammer that breaketh the stone And Psal 7.13 Except a man returne he will whet his sword he hath bent his bow and made it ready For the other his powers and Legions of Angels Psalm 68.17 twenty thousand but in Dan. 7.10 they are said to be more Thousand thousands and tenne thousand thousands of heavenly souldiers Luke 2.13 Legions of heavenly souldiers Besides in the 8 9 10. of Exodus Armies of the basest creatures Lice Frogs Caterpillers Grashoppers c. By which he brought mighty things to passe against the great princes as Psal 105. 2. Zelotes Jealousie that seemeth to import thus much It might be thought all one for God whether we did afford him this outward worship or not and that he careth not nor regardeth this outward manner and therefore conceiveth no anger against the breach of it therefore he to take away all such doubt setteth this downe that he is a regarder and a jealous regarder of this Psalm 10.13 he ascribeth to the wicked this speech Tush God he regardeth it not The other possibly will make us regard yet there are but few that make regard whether he can therefore he hath taken upon him that that implyeth the speciallest regard that can be and betokeneth such an affection as is in them that have a regard Jealousie is the excesse of love whereby every man regardeth a thing so as Numbers 5. that he cannot abide it to be common to any with him as he that is Impatiens consortis and cannot abide to have any one part common but he must have it whole himselfe 1. For the first Impatiens consortis when he will have no fellow 2 Cor. 11.2 the Apostle saith he was jealous over them with the zeale of the Lord that he might present them a pure Virgin to Christ onely 2. For the second that he must have the whole Psalm 69.9 The zeale of thine house hath even devoured me and Christ hath applyed it to himselfe It is an affection that it must devoure the whole man and eate him up cleane and separate him so that he have no fellowship with any other such regard then hath God to his outward worship This affection in it selfe is good else God Numb 5.14 would not have given that Commandement allowing the spirit of jealousie Yet by reason of hitting or missing in us it is joyned and mingled sometimes with other affections and when we misse of our purpose wholly then it is Zelus amarus ex laesa concupiscentia as James calleth it Quia extra non sentit quod jutus concupiscit and this griefe stirreth up another Vindicem laesae concupiscentiae Nahum 1.23 such anger as will have revenge and further then that Prov. 6.34 35. a raging and universall revenge Now then if this fall into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it proveth not to be like a sparke in a stack of Straw or falling into an heape of Chaffe which maketh a flame and vanisheth away but like a sparke of fire falling into a barrell of Gunne-powder bearing up all before it According to mans strength is his anger The Kings anger is death and the eternall Kings eternall death of body and soule Luke 12.5 For avoyding error touching this that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is affirmed of God what is to be thought of it and what profit we may have of this affirmation Whether there fall any affection of man into God It is certaine it doth not if a man speake properly if he speake not by a metaphor And to them which say Indignum est haec de Deo dici we must answer with Augustine Indignum certe est si quid quod de eo diceretur inveniretur dignum but we cannot for our great and glorious titles of Majesty magnificence glory are nothing to his glory Magis congrua accommoda sunt humanae imbecillitati quam divinae majestati so this is spoken for mans infirmity The applying of it to the Scriptures 1. Whereas it is said in many places God is not as man that he should repent him and in other places that it repented him that he made man c. For reconciling of such places his rule is Cum negantur istae affectiones de Deo significari immutabilitatem cum dicuntur de Deo efficaciam that he will worke effectually So that these affections here shew that God will doe as men doe which have the like affections not that he hath these affections but that he produceth these actions that they doe which have those affections Secondly also as Augustine saith that those things are affirmed of God and man eodem verbo sed non eodem modo For jealousie in man may be light and for no cause but in God with knowledge and wisedome mans jealousie knoweth no order it is disordered and raging in God it is tranquilla justitia Thirdly to these two we may add the end that it is convenient to the same nature these two being observed that
day and had reserved the other sixe to himselfe wee had no just cause of complaining But if hee had dealt thus liberally with us to grant us day for day wee should not have murmured but have opened our mouthes to prayse Him then the order hee hath taken now if we be not cleane voyde of good nature must needs content us in granting to us six and reserving to himselfe but one Wee see likewise GODS bountifulnesse with Adam Gen. 2. When hee granted him all the Trees in the Garden except one then presently the Devill was at him and upbraided him with GODS niggardnesse that he had not granted him all the Trees of the Garden may yee not eat of all the trees c. And so no doubt the Devill useth this pollicie now a dayes in this May yee not doe what yee will all the dayes of the weeke The consideration of this the great bountie of GOD. That wee cannot say but that wee are well dealt withall having granted to us two times and a time six dayes to his one time and consequently that wee bee carefull to give him his And that by this great liberalitie wee may learne to make him a better answer then Adam did and say as Joseph to his Mistris Gen. 39.9 All that is in the house my Master hath granted mee onely thee hath hee reserved for himselfe how then can I doe this thing So that our answer bee all the dayes of the weeke hee hath granted us onely one day hee hath reserved to himselfe how then can I bee so unkinde as not to let him have that Hee having granted so richly and largely And if not that then to paterne our selves by David 2. Sam. 12.5 hee being so richly provided for of GOD if that one sheepe the poore man hath he will not suffer but pull it out of his bosome so we if we cannot suffer that one sheepe but plucke it out of GODS bosome and make it common to our selves having many of our owne making it onus servile that because wee deale so wee are worthie a thousand times to bee the children of death And this is one first reason that might move us 2. The second is the greatnesse of the permission of GOD of these dayes one is permitted to thee to doe as that in Gen. 2. of all shalt thou eate there is not a necessitie Though one thing bee handled in divers Commandements as prayer was handled in the first Commandement as a part of inward worship in the second as a part of outward worship in the third as a sacrifice of the lippes and heere as it is an exercise of the Sabbath Where in there is an vneven proportion Hee hath but one to our six And therefore the seventh day to that one So that the vice of idlenesse of forbearing of worke is forbidden in the eight Commandement and so doeth Paul put it Eph. 4.28 to stealing is opposed painfull working So then this liberall permission of GOD wherein there is such an vnequall and vneven proportion if it bee broken wee are to bee charged of great wickednesse That that followeth And doe all thy worke The meaning of it is this that indeede GOD might have dealt with us as before hee might have made all our life to bee bestowed on musing of his will but hee is content to forbeare us and to spare us the rest of the weeke that in those dayes all our businesse might bee dispatched and none to bee done on His day As Nathan said to David So much have I given thee and more would I have done if this had not beene sufficient so certaine it is hee saw in his wisdome that this was sufficient Therefore hee willeth us to remember when it is a comming that wee may ende all according as the thing sanctified requireth Then in the tenth Verse there followeth another opposition which comprehendeth a second reason But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD c. idest If as GOD hath permitted you sixe dayes so likewise Hee had made the seventh day yours to then in it yee might have done as in the other but now hath hee reserved this seventh day from you and hath kept it to himselfe and therefore you cannot without open stealth breake upon this day to doe your worke wherein you have no manner of right as much as if a man should say You may weare that which you have bought but this that I have bought with mine owne money you cannot without violent injurie plucke it from mee So because his dealing is liberall you cannot without manifest injurie to GOD take it away from him And because this is his hee will keepe it and wholly to himselfe Therefore is it that followeth In it thou shalt doe no manner of worke This for the first part of the tenth Verse Now to the other to the Persons They stand in five rankes 1. Thou 2. thy children 3. thy servants 4. thy cattell 5. strangers within thy gates 1. Thou Matth. 24.45 it is said that it is a preferment to one to bee set over the familie of the LORD and therefore Cui plus datur plus ab eo petetur Luke 12.48 unto whom much is given of him shall much bee required Therefore the first charge is in this Even upon him that is Chiefe As there is in this upon Jos 24.15 so long as a man is alone in the state of a sonne or servant hee may answer Ego serviam I will serve but if hee come once to have a charge a familie then hee must say Ego domus mea I my house will serve the LORD Because CHRIST as Luke 19.9 When hee had once converted Zacheus sayd This day is salvation come to this whole house Why Because this man that is chiefe is become the childe of Abraham Eexmplum dedi vobis So Gal. 2.13 Whereas the principall fall away there all the other even Barnabas himselfe will bee drawne away so though hee discharge the dutie himselfe yet if hee see not that other discharge it hee is a debter id est hee ought to bee so farre from giving occasion to others and not onely that but from sitting them on his businesse that hee ought to see that both hee and they discharge it 2. Concerning Children The argument of Augustine is good on Deut. 20.15 After a man had builded a new house the manner was to consecrate If a care lye upon him to consecrate the workes of his hands much more to consecrate those which are the fruit of his loynes as his Wife Sonnes Daughters and the affection of Abraham Gen. 18.19 Where the greatest love is there is the greatest desire as well of conjunction in Spirit as in Body It is true naturall love Curare liberos to have a care of our children as of our selves 3. Concerning Servants because Col. 3.11 God knoweth no servants that is he hath no respect of persons in this regard all bound to worship him therefore it
quietly to learne to know Dan. 4.9 the civill estate and government thereof is compared to a huge tree under the shadow whereof c. and Esa 32.1 to a great Rock in the Wildernesse giving shadow and water And consequently Ier. 29.7 quoniam in pace ejus est pax nostra In the generall peace is every mans particular peace included therefore every man is bound to hang his weight upon it to establish this authority Hâ—n uâ— noted in three words Now this same is noted to us by three words in the Greeke for it is called 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 2.2 an excellencie of a gift when a man hath somewhat above others 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 13.1 a power 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 3.1 principality There is an affinity betweene these three For first God giveth a man a gift and excellencie in the gift then a power a sword and then a place of government to exercise his gift in In this order we must marke sometime there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without the other two because there might be a choyce of them that have maximam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greatest excellencie of gifts that they should be called up as Assistents and to doe good in private when it pleaseth God to cease a government 1. In this order the government is either of pater naturalis of the naturall father within a family And there be three governments Of the Wife Sonne Servant Of the Sonne it is plaine so of the Wife for he is pater familiae the father of his family whereof she is a part and of the Servant by that reason and 2 King 5.13 an example Naamans Servants call him Father 2. Father We come out of the family and then in patriam abroad into the countrey which is the people among which wee are borne And that is intituled with one of these names 2 Sam. 20.19 The woman of Abel saith that that City wherein they dwelled then had beene a mother in Israel because God committed the government first to the people themselves so Gen. 23. Abrahams curtesie and honour to all the people and Psal 58. to the whole people This company as it is to be honoured so it compromitteth and setteth over his honour to some party and thereby commeth it 1 Pet. 2.13 that he calleth the Magistrate humanam creaturam the ordinance of man and he did give them light to doe it But indeede magistracie is called mans creature to distinguish it from Gods creature against the Atheisticall contempt of the Ministery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that will disanull or abrogate that which my selfe have enacted he doth make a Law against me and doth abrogate and disanull me First to consider that Divina creatura Gods Ordinance in the minister as it is solemne as he is to receive the Fatherhood 1 Cor. 4.15 Though ye had a thousand Schoolemasters yet ye had but one Father c. More the very Heathen Iudg. 17.10 Come and bee my Priest and my Father And because under this Ordinance of God is another the erecting of Schooles 1 Sam. 10.12 1 King 2.12 Elisha calleth Elias his Father when he was taken up into Heaven Phil. 2.12 Paul commendeth there their obedience unto him in this kinde And when the sonnes of the Prophets came from the hill one asked Who is your Father meaning Elisha And Acts 5.34 honour is attributed to Gamaliel he is counted honourable In regard of this Paul calleth his Scholler Timothy his sonne Come to the Magistrate which was first by man Exod. 18.21 Deut. 17.15 16 17. c. There are rules for making them Gen. 45.8 the man Ioseph was a Father unto Pharaoh in Egypt Iudg. 5.7 the woman Deborah a Mother in Israel and this honour was not to be given to the Supreme power onely but to every subordinate governour 1 Pet. 2.13 the division there is into the King and Governours sent by him so he that is Dux militiae a Captaine may be called Father of the Camp and whoso hath authority in any other sort may be so stiled that is set over others for the good of the publique so that rule in the Canons Quaeque res in conjunctione in every society that thing is to be taken and esteemed and preferred pro bono conjunctionis that makes for the publike good of that society as among schollers for learning he that hath that bonum most he that is most able to teach is fittest to rule for the honour of excellencie was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither principlity nor power Come to the other part when it is alone honour is to them due also and this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is of foure sorts 1. ratione annorum in regard of their age 1 Tim. 5.1 old men and old women as our Father and Mother 2. Inregard of some gift of wisdome and counsell so that hee bee able to direct others and to invent more then they that are above them so attributed to Iubal and to the inventors of instruments Gen. 4.20 3. In regard of a degree either in Church or Common-wealth Because that money is nervou politiae the nerves of policie therefore rich and wealthy men the land doe most esteeme And so to men of wealth she giveth a degree if they be called to Assemblies more then to others because in her neede she shall be more helped by them So Nabal for his wealth 1 Sam. 25.8 is called by David implicitè Father and to thy sonne David c. And it must be done no otherwise then in respect else if one should doe it Iam. 2.9 it were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have respect to persons 4. In regard of a benefit when he is able to doe another a pleasure as Iob. 20.16 hee had the honour that he did pleasure the poore Honour thy The duties first in generall after in particular The duty standeth in the 1. Action 2. Manner of the action So both to be handled And because certaine duties are reciprocall mutuall betweene supreiour and inferiour to avoyde needlesse repetition it shall be good to have spoken thus generally of them 1. The first then is love but in a higher degree then that that is due to every man therefore the name of it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a naturall affection either ascending from the Sonne to the Father or descending from the Father to the Sonne either naturally proper or by analogie The Apostle shewing what degrees this love standeth in expresseth it by this terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is a common love and a peculiar love which we have with our friends and it is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it is in a more speciall degree and the want thereof Rom. 1.30 2 Tim. 3.3 is imputed as a great crime and it is a prophesie for the end of the world that then men shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
so that they can discerne his voice 1. To have judgement to discerne Here a certaine judgement is required in them The people now a dayes have no judgement at all Let a man come to them and deliver excellent things and let another come that is volubili lingua of a ready speech that bringeth nothing but as the Fathers well call it veram spumam verborum very froth there shall be a like commendation of both and commonly the later shall be preferred 1 Thes 5.12 he willeth them to know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them that labour among you and what they say and that you can say indeed That is well said in this there was some stuffe the others was but spuma verborum the froth of words 2. Obedience The second point for this is Obedience John 10.4 whether it be by following as here it is said They will follow him or He. 13.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they be perswaded and give over themselves to be ruled by them and not only that but they will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 give place though they be not perswaded till they be better perswaded for without this the other is but a fained obedience He that said he would not goe and went afterward did his Father more honour then he that bestirred him and went not though he had borne never so much in outward shew This following it is another thing it is plainely by 1 Pet. 3.2 All interpret the principall effect of baptisme a question of the conscience for the conscience is to aske the question of God and if a mans conscience never aske of God the baptisme of that man hath no effect in him but if he can it is certaine that it is effectuall there would be a great inquiry of this Numb 27.21 peruse it It is said there when Joshuah was substitute in Moses roome he should come to Eleazar and looke how Eleazar did bid him doe so he should doe They should goe in and out according to his saying This was the first substituting this was not abrogated since of any order but not regarded it comes now utterly to be neglecâ— 3. Double honour 3. The last point 1 Tim. 5.17 double honour First of reverence Philip. 2.29 in judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are to honour such and in affection 1. Reverence in judgement and in affection that love onely to the Minister is is applyed in most singular manner 1 Thes 5.13 That you have them in singular love â—or their works sake Secondly the other the honour of maintenance that is a worthy maintenance 1 Tim. 6. Gal. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Maintenance that they should communicate in all their goods Zach. 11.4 God hath broken one staffe and if the Prophets wages be not mended he will break the other staffe too and then all will goe to wrack and then a certaine Barbarisme must needs follow It is very well set downe Hosea 7.14 when a man is sicke he sends for the Minister then he thinks on Heaven when he must needs leave the earth and when there come great droughts or raine they can remember God for a while else never When they got in their corne and wine they rebelled against him But the Lord abhorreth this and saith Eccles 12.1 Remember me in the dayes of thy youth and in thy wealth or thou shalt have no answer of me when the evill dayes come We will conclude with the Apostle â— Cor. 10.15 the want of performing this honour proceedeth of the want of faith That is all the hope we have that when it shall please God as your faith groweth and increaseth that we shall be magnified and have excellent love performed if that do not increase faith shall not Now of those whom nature and men lumine naturae by the light of nature have called patres patriae fathers of their countrey the Magistrates of whom it is shewed that the men are Fathers as Gen. 45.8 and the women Mothers as Deborah a Mother in Israel Judges 5.7 Now because there is no person that beareth rule but by vertue of the people that is under them they have power over themselves and power to appoint and choose one over them Therefore it is that God first commends the countrey it selfe and willeth us to have regard to it first of all Gen. 12.1 God giveth it the preheminence and sets it before the kindred and the Fathers house And we see Psal 137.1 the teares of Gods Saints were shed when they were constrained to go into a strange Land and being desired to sing one of the Lords songs they would not and when they were restored to their countrey Psal 126.1 their joy made them so extaticall that they thought it was not a true thing or action but that their returning had been but a dreame This is not onely in the people but the same affection is also in men of excellencie for gifts as in Nehemiah cap. 1. vers 4. To this we are first led to procure the good and health of it and especially of the Church because it was for it that we were borne and appointed The reason is plaine of that which we call bonum partis totius the good of a part and the good of the whole that bonum partis is not without bonum totius and is for the good of the whole And we see the body that is in danger that some member is seared some veine opened and sacrificed onely that the whole body may receive health so there have beene detriments of singular men for the benefit of their Countrey some have displaced themselves of the place wherein they were borne some of their owne life Magistracy properly and principally belongs to God For Magistracy we see that plainely in three judgements In adjudging the Angels that kept not their estate and for not standing they received a punishment the two other in adjudging the Woman and the Serpent and the third God himselfe punished Cain for the murther of Abel So it pertaineth to God properly principally and especially After it came to man by permission first and then by Gods approbation When Caine being cast out and being generative had many children it is said Gen. 4.7 that he was the first that built a City and ver 23. in his posterity Lamech by reason of his sons Juball and Tuball the inventors of those crafts that the Common-wealth shall have need off grew to so great insolencie that he would beare no injury at any mans hand so we see it is the disposition of wicked men to be like him Now then it was Cain's City that made the godly first to band themselves and consequently to take order for their defence as we see cap. 4. vers ult in fine After the birth of Enos Seths sonne when Seth also began to be generative he made an open profession of the name of God Why the ecclesia sticall government not
most quiet then that that is superiour is most hindered When a man hath a vehement appetite he sets his whole minde to it Chrysostome Dedit Deus corpus animae ut illud in coelum eveheret dedit animam corpori ut illam in terram deprimeret God gave the body to the soule that this might carry that to Heaven and he gave the soule to the body that this might keepe that on earth therefore the intent of God was thus As we should have this for the maintaining of life and for propagation so we should use it and no further then this necessity will permit us This is puritas that is called purum that hath nihil alienum immixtum nothing else mixed with it wee must needs have some mixture in this life Esa 1.22 there is water mingled with wine but we must see that this mixture be not so that there be but a drop of wine in a vessell of water Psal 49. last Man was in honour and glory but certainely he is growne out of understanding he is like the beast that perisheth Here is to be considered 1. The inclination of the minde 2. The meanes Divisiopartium hujus mandati 1. By Gal. 5.19 we see and by Christ Marke 7.21 his interpretation that all adulteries and all evill thoughts and workes prooceed from the heart And they are there considered either as they are in veneno naturae nostrae in the poyson of our nature 1 Iohn 2.16 concupiscentiam carnis the lust of the flesh he calleth it or suppuratio an inward festering of this desire or inward boyling of the pot as Ezek. compareth it cap. 24.6 with the scumme in it Then after these the first thing in regard of the meanes is subactum solum to make our selves meete to receive this vine desire The Physitians call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is when a man is disposed to an evill humour to diseases Those that are given to be plethorike have their bodies still fed with that humour And that is done by two meanes 1. By the sinne which is gula and that is of two parts 1. Crapula a surcharging of us with meates 2. Vinolentia the same in drinke Secondly with gula is excesse of idlenesse partly of Excesse of sleepe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 flying of exercise Now then secondly after this subactum solum there is another thing in the meanes that is called irrigatio concupiscentiae the warring of the seed in subacto solo And because we stand upon diseases it is as when a man is sicke and notwithstanding will give himselfe to those things that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incliners to wickednesse as he that is sick of an ague will give himselfe to drinke wine or he that is troubled with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ptissick to sharp things or he that is troubled with collicke to eate hony Such a thing is in the concupiscence Solomon Prov. 7.21 calleth it illicebra concupiscentiae an inticement to lust and it bringeth forth the sin lascivia wantonnesse or immodestia immodesty It is either in the body it selfe making our selves birds bending our selves to those by whom allurements onely come 2. For without if it be of our body there is first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the plaiting of the haire and fucus the colour of the countenance Or else it is in apparell and gesture The first is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 garments vestments Gesture is either commonly a common gate or a second kind of gate or gesture which they terme peculiarly for this purpose as dansing Chorea 2. From without and it is either corrupt company of men or we fall into the fault of them by reading lascivious bookes lasciviously And besides that which is an affection by beholding pictures i. imagines obscoenas as Cherea in Terence And secondly such playes and spectacles as containe matters of foolish love and are able to breed this in us And correspondent to them is the hearing of them wicked reports or bookes read or songs sung that nourish our disease This for the meanes Now for the signes we will use no other then before The jaundis of it is in the eyes too and so it hath his some in sermone obscoen◠baudy speeches And not onely that but in doing and frequenting such places actions and times as indeed sometimes are not onely cause of suspition but may justly be suspected Now to the outward part and there we have first a disposition to it They are called in Physicke grudgings against an ague as it were such as were in the other Commandement bloudshed and battery before the act of murther such as are there here like to the signes Levit. 13.4 of the leprosie before it came In this kinde are incesta oscula whorish kisses and embracing of the bosome of a stranger and lastly the going about to procure it whether it bee by waiting at the dore for opportunity or by sorcery or bloudshed c. The act it selfe may be taken both wayes Aug. whether it be instinctu proprio or consensu alieno of their owne motion or another perswasion that is all one that is generally Then afterward it is practised in effect either with a mans selfe corpus suum secum which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mollicies impuritas effeminatenesse uncleannesse or with other And if with other either it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an abomination not to be named with a beast and is called Buggery or with mankinde And so it is done willingly or unwillingly respectu patientis in respect of the sufferer if unwillingly it is Raptus a Rape if by consent either of male or female for there is Rape done to both male and so it is the sinne of Sodome female and so it is with one or moe With more if there be a pretext of marriage it is Polygamie if without any such pretense it is called scortatio whoredome Where it is done with one and because we speak not only of adultery but whatsoever either it is in wedlock and that is fervor for we shall after shew that there is a fault even in matrimony committed or it is out of matrimony and then either as the party is allied to us then it is incest or as a stranger and removed and then we consider her either as she is nupta married or soluta free If she be married or desponsata betrothed all is one and so it is adultery whether she be espoused or married and that is of three kinds 1. Where both parties are married and that is worst 2. The woman onely espoused and the man single The man married onely and the woman single And the second is lesse evill then the third because in this is corruptio prolis an adulterating of the issue begotten Now in the free and not married either we retaine one peculiar to our selves and it is called concubinatus peccatum to keepe a
from God in our devotions and wed us to the world besides that of the Apostle vers 33. experience verifies Vegetius minus malum metuit qui minus delicias gustavit the lesse evill he tasteth the lesse evill he feareth so in regard of this he will be willinger to die or to follow Christ he commeth to the first and if not that then to the second conjugall chastity Meanes of preserving us â— The manner of behaving our selves to preserve us that wee may be found unblameable against this sinne of concupiscence 1. knowing that it is not tentari but uri to be set into a heate to be enflamed that the Apostle speakes against for his meaning is not that the gift of continencie bringeth with it naturalem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 privationem sensus naturall insensibility or privation of sense The inward boyling a man may examine thus whether it be in him a punishment for sinne It is certaine that adultery and uncleane lusts are a punishment for pride Enoch It is plaine Ose 5.5 the spirit of fornication is among them ratio because the pride of Israel testifieth to his face he that can accuse himselfe of pride may feare that the spirit of fornication is upon him as contra if he be assailed with the spirit of fornication he must looke backe and see if it be not the punishment of pride Rom. 1.22 he noteth that they thought themselves wise c. therefore God gave them over unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vile affections which appeared first Gen. 3.7 quasi Deus to be as God was the first punishment that came upon him for his pride he had first neede of Fig-leaves to cover the shame of his nakednesse as if he punished contumeliam spiritus with contumelia carnis the contumely of the spirit with the shame of the flesh 2. Another 2 Sam. 11.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is sadnesse or heavinesse that a man hath in spirituall things altogether unlusty to good exercises he must sleepe and then walke c. so he shall be sure to come to Davids tale therefore because man must have pleasure if he have it not in the spirit he will have it in the body and so when he feeleth it in him then beginneth his minde evagari circa illicita to rove and further there comes in importunitas mentis importunity of the minde whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anger then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 injuries then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 finall destruction If we finde us guilty in these it is not the way to strive with this sin but as with the former and repent If it be a tentation onely to sin its proceeding either from a cause Without Within From a cause without in two respects 1. Company Matth. 5.29 a man shall have evill eyes that offend him and hands he must cut them off and refraine their company Prov. 23.20 1 Cor. 5.6 modicum fermentum c. 1. Pet. 4.4 a man must forsake such company and be content to beare their outrages 2. And secondly in regard of some object Prov. 5.8 and that is the offending eye If the occasion grow by a party keepe farre from thence goe not nigh the dore of the house it must be by eschewing therefore Iob 31.1 he made a covenant with his eyes c. The counsell of Paradise you shall imperare Evae command Eve cavere Serpentem and avoide the Serpent and then you shall be safe if you come not to see the tree Gal. 3.3 Many mens love and affection beginnes in the spirit and after growing to a carnall delight ends in the flesh therefore he saith 1 Tim. 5.2 Comfort the elder women as mothers the younger as sisters in omni castuate in all chastity and 1. Pet. 1.21 cum omni puritate love with all purenesse as farre as you will but a man must vereri omnia opera sua be jealous of all his actions for most certaine it is that naturally we are subactum solum 2. From within us either from the body or soule 1. From the body if it be too much cherished Impinguatus dilectus our beloved waxed fat therefore Paul saith we must castigare corpus chastise the body to make it chaste 1 Cor. 9.27 that we keep it down and physicke for it 2 Cor. 11.28 in wearinesse and painfulnesse in hunger and thirst in watching and fasting in cold and nakednesse i. by avoyding excesse in dyet and apparell and as ease so also of sleepe so must the body be kept downe 2. If it be in the soule for anger and mistrusting but for this 1 Cor. 6.18 flie from fornication 1 Tim. 2.22 flie the lusts of youth Ambrose vide ne ingrediaris conflictum stand not resisting it with combate but flie and committing himselfe from solitude to good company and together with this because it hath pleased God to warrant his word as a tree of life and the leaves of his word are as medicines that the reading hereof shall be profitable unto us in this behalfe the seeking of such places as doe ex diametro pugnare fight against it cannot but be very profitable for us as Gen. 18.20 that he accounts it a very exceeding grievous sinne and that it is therefore so grievous because 1 Cor. 7.2 he hath appointed a remedy for it and Prov. 22.14 that in his anger he will suffer a man to fall into it that it is an infamous sinne that when it is knowne it maketh him as one of the fooles of Israel 2 Sam. 13.13 It bereaveth a man of his gifts Ephes 4. Hose 4. that it is a brutish sinne and makes a man brutish and such as Ierom saith delectat in momenium cruciat in aeternum the delight whereof is momentany but the paine eternall And the generall remedy here withall is prayer because Prov. 21.6 6.14 7. the latter end 19.18 it fhall be a marvellous priviledge of wisedome to keepe a mans selfe from a strange woman Eccl. 1. there is a speciall remedy for this tentation so Iames 1.5 that wisedome is Gods gift Wisd 8.21 when he saw that wisdome would not come except God gave it therefore he conformed himselfe to prayer for it Iames 3.17 the first thing it maketh a man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chaste therefore aske it of God Where these prevaile not Gen. 20.17 as Abraham prayed for Aâ—imelec so if our owne prayers will not helpe we must seeke for other mens prayers and we must make them knowne to them therefore we are to take Simon Magus his way Acts 8.24 Pray ye for me c. Exo. 9.28 Pharaoh to Moses c. Pray you for me Ecclus. 4.9 Vae soli nunquam autem magis quam in hoc vitio Woe to him that is alone and most of all in the conflict of this vice And if this will not helpe but there is ustulatio burning 1 Cor. 7.9 there is a remedy appointed for it he is to take on him the estate
of marriage which is holy This must be the last So working continencie in a mans heart and outwardly giving our selves to the keeping downe of the body by avoiding excesse in diet and as ease so also sleepe to avoid which give we our selves to sobriety fasting prayer and so briefely to watchfulnesse and modesty in all outward meanes abstaining from excesse of meat drink and apparell Peâ— castitatem coelibem or else conjugalem by single or conjugall chastity we may performe this Commandement The last rule Numb 25.18 of the enemies he vexeth the Madianites because they had laid this stumbling blocke A setting of our selves against them that provoke us to it So likewise a perswasion to vertue Gen. 39.9 by Iosephs example and 2 Sam. 13.13 Thamar Doe not so for no such thing ought to be done in Israel The VIII Commandement Thou shalt not steale QVo praecepto è carne in mundum transitur with which commandement passe we from the flesh to the world because all worldlinesse and worldly dealings both whatsoever is prescribed and prohibited is pertaining to this Command as the lusts of the flesh to the former The concupiscence that is the beginner of this is called 1 Iohn 2.16 concupiscentia oculorum the lust of the eyes as the other of the flesh The larger exposition of this Commandement is Levit. 19.11 13. à 35 ad sinem and Deut. 15. toto by Christ Matth. 5.42 and more large Luke 12.14 ad 46. Paul Ephes 4.28 setteth downe both the Affirmative and Negative Let him that stole steale no more but rather let him labour c. So agreeable to this is 1 Thes 4.6 after the exposition of the seventh Commandement vers 4 5 6. hee saith Let no man desraud his brother c. So from these places and the like the generall equity of all that shall be spoken of this Commandement is drawne retaining in the beginning that it is not the hand nor the civill theft nor contractio rei alienae the fingering of other mens goods but it is the minde that God dealeth withall Deus cor interrogat non manum God questions the heart not the hand and there is not onely manus aduliera an adulterous hand but cor adulierum an adulterous heaâ—t also and not only manus fur but also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Heathen man saith The heart is a thiefe as well as the hand To proceed in this in the same course as in the former For the dependance of this Commandement with the other it is exact For the actions of the part of the soule that are conversant in the nourishment and generation having beene ordered in the seventh Commandement i. the desire that every man hath to meat drinke and apparell and to increase in the world by propagation they doe necessarily set aworke the concupiscence of this Commandement For when there is desire by hunger desiderium elicit motum that desire sets him awork so it brings us to that question Matth. 6.31 What shall I eate what shall I drinke and what shall I put on So then because that first for consideration of our lives 1 Tim. 6.8 that we neede foode and raiment as secondly for preserving the lives of our children 1 Tim. 5.8 that every man had neede to provide for his family and so consequently to labour and care in the world and that is either as Eccl. 6.7 Every mans labour propter os for his mouth or else 2 Cor. 12.14 To lay up for his children here commeth the worldly concupiscence that maketh the object of this Commandement 1. The moderation of it The naturall desire of riches was lawfull and good so likewise is this and like as in the former reduplication so here there is a naturall desire and then we come reduplicare amorem double our love and that brings forth insaniam madnesse For there is a desire of that that is sufficient and after that is doubled then a desire for vanity and that is doubled and then for unlawfull desires and lusts and so men come from foolishnesse to worldlinesse We see then in what consequence and order the eighth Commandement hangeth on the seventh and how men come from foolishnesse to worldlinesse Wisdome 15.12 he divideth mans life into two parts 1. It is ludus for pleasure is the zeale of young men 2. It followeth the world and life is counted like a market altogether for gaine 1 Tim. 6.5 They account godlinesse to be nothing else but gaine And that is their zeale that when yeares come upon them then their zeale is gone Now then as first a mans appetite hath relation to these so secondly because Eccl. 10.19 bread is for laughter and wine comforteth the living sed argenium respondet omnibus money answereth all things as the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fidejusor pro omnibus it is surely for every thing then this second affection commeth in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the love of money only in regard of the first For this being once received in the worldly dealings there is a promise of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe sufficiencie that if they have money they cannot want Menander sheweth that the cornu Amali heae that the Poets talked much of is nothing else but money for if you have that once you shall have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 friends auxiliaries witnesses company to dwell with thee and all The promise of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe-sufficiencie a great part of felicity maketh men so doate on it And then secondly there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power or grandor joyned to it Gen. 26.16 Ismael growne mighty by it Prov. 18.11 It is like a high wall and a strong Towre This also is that that setteth men forward So that when men are come to the first and finde not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe-sufficiencie then he must needs have more then commeth in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 covetousnesse And when they have got they must still have more and so it proveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that is the suggestion of the Devill if you had more it were better and for that you are not in estate now the reason is you have still too little and so still goeth forward Eccl. 5.9 he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver and he that loveth riches shall be without the fruit thereof he shall never make an end Now then he either goeth thus in infinitum Eccl. 4.8 he hath nore to care for and he yet leaveth not to take thought and that is as he faith a monster or else they returne to the flesh againe and when he hath gotten that which is the right and naturall conclusion of riches as the rich man saith Luke 12.19 Anima mea ede bibe eate and drinke O my soule thou hast enough and so redit tanquam in circulo and so he comes round like one in a circle So we see the proceeding of it either that it
a small good to be praised without measure 2 Cor. 12.6 this bringeth an error to make men thinke otherwise of it then it is and therefore it is not good Also that preach peace and salvation when there is none such or when contrary affection Prov. 27.14 28.27 both these are a curse for as love rejoyceth with truth 1 Cor. 13.6 so truth rejoyceth with love Ephes 4.15 Therefore Psal 12.3 he wisheth them liplesse that speake thus so that they should not utter this venome that is in oratione in his speech Paul would please all 1 Cor. 9.22 sinne set aside but without this condition none that pleaseth men pleaseth God Gal. 1.10 Those then that Esa 28.15 make falshood their refuge love to speake thus So Menander saith he that flattereth best fareth best so they Ier. 9.3 will bend their lips and teach their tongue to insinuate Psal 141.5 David would not be dulled and mad himselfe with this so that we must not doe thus but reprove with that warrant Prov. 9.8 that the wise will heare us and Prov. 28.23 to a foole at the last he that rebuketh shall be the more the friend Now for the actum reflexum in se act which reflecteth upon it selfe Proptio laus sordet in 〈◊〉 as not onely Rom. 1.18 to suppresse the truth in his conscience but also 2 Cor. 12.1 to glory and boast of himselfe Paul spake therfore of himselfe as of another man and that he should not fall into this he had one to buffet him and therefore this is no light sinne And because Iohn 18.37 onely the truth can beare witnesse of it selfe there Prov. 27.2 os alienum te laudet let another man praise thee and not thine owne mouth And as this must be shunned of all so especially of the Prophet Esa 9.15 for Iob 13.7 God needeth not our lies and this is onely yea and not nay 2 Cor. 1.19 therefore Rom. 15.18 the Apostle durst speake nothing but that which he knew certainely For it is in vaine to shew that they have read or doe know more then indeed they have Also to take upon him a fault as where 1 Sam. 31.4 Saul killeth himselfe 2 Sam. 1.10 one comes and saies he killed him in hope of a reward Also not to deny any things of themselves as Hierom Mendax humilitas in cauta est humilitas ne ita caveatur arrogantia ut caveatur veritas a lying humility is an uncircumspect humility we must not so labour to shunne arrogancie as to make shipwrack of the truth Also though Esa 3.9 we may not voluntarily tell our faults yet being asked we must not deny as did Sarah Gen. 18.15 No untruth must be affirmed or truth denied of our selves Mendacium iâ—necuum Now after this actus reflexus reflected act that all these which went before which were perniciosa mendacia mendacia serpentis pernicious lies the lies of the Serpent his first word nequaquam besides these there is mendacium a lie which they call innocuum harmelesse that of which commeth no losse But Aug. saith Those that say so are not innocui innocent for it for though they account losse as of name of goods of life and such like yet Ier. 23.22 it is an errour and therefore the losse of the truth which is worth all these These are in three 1. Mendacium temerartum 1. Contra quam se res habet otherwayes then the thing is though he be perswaded of it in his minde which as Aug. saith non mendacii sed temeritatis accusandus est he is not so much guilty of a lie as of rashnesse and temerity They which have not their tongue learned to say nescio but speake things they know not Iud. vers 10. 2 Officiosum 2. Contra quam se animus habet otherwayes then he thinkes that of the Midwives as they call it officiosum mendacium an officious lie Exod. 1.19 3. Iocosum a merry lie as of scorners Hose 7.3 Aug. de mendacio If a man should be sicke 3. Iocosum and know that his son is dead which if I should tell him it would kill him also What shall I then answer if he aske me In such a case he knew 2 Cor. 13.8 Nihil contra veritatem possumus We can doe nothing against the truth and Psal 5.6 Perdes omnes qui loquuntur mendacia Thou shalt destroy all those that speake lies And as Christ the son of God is called the the truth so the lier the is first borne of the Devill And if he should account peccatum justum sinne to be just then and not else he might account mendacium justum a lie to be just So might he answer to them that said it was lawfull to lie to bring one to the truth so it is as lawfull to commit adultery For onely the truth did command that it should not be done So that neither for saving of body or life we may depart from the truth And this was his conclusion which all the Fathers and Schoolemen and late writers hold true And yet this may be better called Rahabs lie Rahabs lie Ios 2.5 occultatio veritatis a hiding of the truth then the lie of the Midwives for they said true that some of the Hebrewes were stronger then the Egyptians and no doubt had done as they said So they tell no lie but part of the truth And this might be allowed in Rahab having only a good disposition which none of the Saints would have done And as for Iocosum the merry joy Hose 7.3 Gal. 1.10 he will not please any man out of the truth And though this be lesse evill then the rest yet it is not good Now seeing we are not to goe against the truth there be foure places where the truth may seeme to be gone against and yet is not so 1. As Iudg. 9.8 and Christ continually by a figurative speech that is vox picta a Parable 2. As Abraham to Abâ—melech Gen. 20.12 by keeping back part of the truth so 1 Sam. 16.2.5 Samuel told them he went to doe sacrifice when he went also to annoint them a King which if he had told Saul having an evill spirit might have taken it for treason 3. If the question have two meanings if he answer to one so that be true Iohn 18.36 Christ answereth truly of another Kingdome then Pilate asked him So Iacob Gen. 27.19 was in one sense Isaacks eldest sonne in that he had bought his brothers right So Matth. 11.14 Elias that is one in the power of Elias 4. When the thing is changed in circumstance so Gen. 19.2 the Angels would not come in had not Lot changed their minds by his importunity Iohn 13.8 Peteâ— would not let Christ wash his feete till he was otherwise perswaded 2 Cor. 1.16 17. Paul promised to come to Corinth had not Satan hindred him So that all these are lawfull and not against the truth â—â—â—itas est â—â—â—uaâ—â—â— is pâ—â—â—
sinne indeed but those that are cast into us are no sinne if they infect us not 1. Now we are infected of those sixe wayes 1. for the fruit when sinne beganne Gen. 3.6 was holden out to be 1. profitable and 2. pleasant and 3. to be desired in regard of the knowledge or preferment it should bring And so the first thing was and is to turne our selves to Satan 1 Tim. 5.15 Gal. 4.9 to entertaine him this is prostitution of the soule to his temptation when they would have it 2. Which affection if it be sudden Ierome on Mathew calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first passion or motion that is desires upon sight but if it be more impressed he calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passion that is a setled lust This is Iob 20.13 poyson to the mouth which if it be spit out hurteth not but if it be retained under the tongue it breedeth woe 3. And this retentio seminis consensus in delectationem retentation of the fuell is a consent to the pleasure of sinne for consensus in opus est suppuratio for the consent to the lust is the very impostume of sin to delight in it And this is conceptio peccati the conceiving of sin 4. Morosa delectatio a lingring delight to stay in it and to consider every circumstance and this is articulatio foetus the forming of this deformed issue 5. Aberratio cordis in peccato the wandring of the minde in sinne reasoning of it and after it once left to call it backe againe and to make a contrary covenant to Iob that is to looke still upon it or else to make figmentum cogitationis a wicked imagination in the heart Gen. 4. of that which was never seene And this vita peccati is the life of sinne for here it moveth 6. Nixus the endeavour and as the fathers call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 laying hold on the occasion si tanta voluptas in animo quid si potiar if there be so much pleasure in the imagination what in the fruition And these sixe are in every sinne though many have not the spirit of God to watch them all for that saepe iniquitas mentitur sibi wickednesse often cousens it selfe The Devilâ— fetches Now Iames 1.14 we are brought into this two wayes 1. by the esca the baite the allurements 2. by uncus the hooke force 1. For this concupiscence will make pleasure libido a sensuall delight libido and this delight will make consuetudo custome consuetudo and custome will make necessity for the concupiscence is like an hot Oven Hose 7. which will ever have matter So the Devill hath those two also by these two speciall termes unto the which the rest may be brought as to allure Revel 20.6 which doth not as they cogge a Die but hath Ephes 4.14 methodum decipiendi a cunning craftinesse or the art and method of deceiving by subtilty And this distinguisheth his allurements from ours And this his craft extraordinarily the Apostle could know 2 Cor. 2.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his fetches 2. To draw by force 1 Pet. 5.8 a roaring Lion and Matth. 8.31 cast them headlong as he did the Swine 2 Cor. 7.5 his thrusting sore that if he might he would cast us downe and this also could Paul perceive 1 Thes 2.18 that Satan hindred him Mundâ— illâ—â—â—â—ae So the world also hath these three to allure us 1. profit 2. pleasure 3. preferment And contra if they will not prevaile it will be violent with 1. losse 2. griefe 3. reproach As Aug. saith aut amor erit mali inflammans aut timor mali humilians either love shall be the inflamer and kindler of evill or feare the humbler and bringer downe to evill so that these two meanes are in our selves the Devill the world to bring us to the danger of this fin â—â—itas quid After simulationem dicti simulation in words we come to consider simulationem facti simulation in words and deeds for first the truth is nothing but an agreement or equality betwixt the heart and minde and that which we conceive in our minde 2. a consent of the minde with the tongue 3. a consent of our minde with our deedes and actions If there be agreement betwixt these then are we witnesses of the truth for as veritas oris truth is in the mouth if the speech and heart goe together so is veritas vitae truth in our life if it be agreeable to the word which is signum ejus rei quae menie signata est the signe and fruit of that thing which is sealed up in the minde which is plaine by Christs assertion By their fruits yee shall know them Mat. 7. and Matth. 12.36 the Scribes require a signe from Heaven to testifie to them the greatnesse of Christs power And workes and not onely words but deeds may be called signa ejus rei quae in mente est signes of such things as are in the minde This also is manifest by common experience For we see not onely by precept and speech but also by example and action good and hurt done therefore we must expresse the truth as well in action as in word avoid simulation in both which opposite in this place for this cause God taketh order that neither in deede nor in word men should counterfeit to be that which they are not Notwithstanding as before a man may lawfully occultare partem veritatis in dictis conceale a part of the truth in his discourse so also so he may doe it in factis in his actions except it be manifest to the eyes of all men as that of the Sodomites Gen. 19. or of the Benjamites Iudg. 19. and that of Zimri and Cozbi Numb 25. who were not ashamed to make their sinne manifest even to the sight and view of all men and not to this end to make them loath and detest their sinne but rather to glory in it Also there may be significatio ejus quod deest an intimation and signification of what is wanting As he is not bound to tell that forth in word which he knoweth so neither is he bound by conscience to utter that by countenance which he knoweth Otherwise in time of warre to oppose our selves to such as resist the truth a man may with Iosua 8.15 simulare fugam make as if they fled As also for triall as our Saviour Christ did Luke 24.28 he made as though he would have gone further if intreaty had not stayed him and it is plaine by Gal. 4.20 A principall part of this vice is hypocrisie which is an outward resemblance or cloke of religion without any ground of it in the heart of this we have spoken heretofore we will therefore passe it over and come to that which the Prophet hath Psal 26.4 hee saith he hath not kept company with vaine persons For as in Commandement 8. not onely injury was forbidden but also superfluity
desire to have remission of sinne no otherwise then as we forgive our brethren whereby the love of our brother is continually increased And this prayer is breviarium fidei it teacheth us to beleeve those things which we pray for Lastly our perfection in obeying the Law and in beleeving those things which we ought to intreat with such a hope by prayer Legem implendi legem credendi lex statuit supplicandi THE SIXTH SERMON LUKE 11.2 And he said unto them When yee pray say Our Father which art in Heaven hallowed be thy name thy Kingdome come Let thy will bee done even in earth as it is in Heaven c. IT is the answer of our Saviour Christ to that Disciple of his which in the name of the rest desired to be taught a forme of prayer Concerning prayer among other things already noted we te to know that it is the doctrine of the Fathers that God not prayed unto on our parts and his holy Spirit not yet possessing our soules hath notwithstanding promised that he wâ—ll poure his Spirit upon all flesh Ioel 2. as it was poured upon the Apostles after Christs Ascension Acts 2. Namely that Spirit which he cals the Spirit of Grace and Prayer Zach. 12.10 When he thus vouchsafeth to send the Spirit of Grace into our soules then from thence there doe runne two streames into the two severall faculties of our soule that is the Spirit of Grace hath a working on our Vnderstanding by the light of Faith and secondly in our Will by inspiring us with holy desires of which holy desires the interpreter betwixt us and God is Prayer For that as the Apostle speaks Our requests are made knowne to God by prayer and supplication Phil. 4.6 Now as prayer is properly the effect of Grace so whatsoever wee obtaine of God by prayer it is the gift of Grace which prayer is therefore our reasonable service of God because we doe therein acknowledge not onely our owne wants and unworthinesse but also that as God hath in his hands all manner of blessings to bestow upon us so if we sue to him for them he will with hold no good thing from us Psal 84.12 Before we can pray for good things it is required that we doe conceive a love of them which if it be in us then we shall not onely bee inflamed with a desire of them which is an effect of love but shall be stirred up to pray for them But it is the peculiar worke of the holy Ghost to shed in our hearts the love not onely of God Rom. 5. but of all other good things which work he performeth not in all in differently for he is compared to the Wind that bloweth where it will Ioh. 3. But those whom it pleaseth the holy Ghost to inspire with a love and affection towards good things they doe not onely desire them but withall doe pray earnestly for them unto God for as it is the worke of Jesus Christ the eternall Word to enlighten every one that commeth into the world so it is the office of the eternall Spirit to inspire our hearts with holy desires In this answer of our Saviour we are to consider three points first a time limited for prayer secondly the contents of the word Oratio thirdly what is to be noted out of the word Discue Touching the time limited for prayer we have heard already that there are three uses of prayer one was the use of dignity and persection when men doe converse and enter into familiarity with God by abstracting their mindes from humane affaires and sublevating them into Heaven by a continuall meditation of God and things pertaining to the life to come which because it is peculiar to them that have already attained to some perfection we must say of it as Christ did of another matter Qui poâ—est capere capiat Matth. 19. Our weaknesse is such as cannot by any meanes come to this use yea the infirmity of the Disciples themselves was so great that albeit Christ had so many other things to tell them of yet they were not able as yet to beare them Iohn 14. Therefore we are to consider the two other uses which doe more neerely concerne us whereof the one is the Vse of necessity which standeth either upon feare or upon want and when necessity lyeth upon us in either of these respects they are so forcible that they make all flesh to come unto him that heareth prayer Psal 65. Of feare the Prophet saith Lord in trouble they visited thee they powred out a prayer when thychastening was upon them Isa 26.16 And the want of outward things is so vehement a motive as when nothing else can move men to prayer yet they will assemble themselves before the Lord for corne and oyle Hos 7.14 These two the one being as Solomon termeth it Plaga cordis 1 Reg. 5. the other Defiderium cordis Psal 5. doe point to us two times of prayer namely when either we are oppressed with misery as the effect of sinne or disquieted with our selves with the conscience and guilt of sinne it selfe which is the cause of all our miseries Touching sinne the Prophet saith While I held my tongue my bones consumed away but after he had confessed his sinnes unto the Lord and craved pardon he forgave his wickednesse And because it is not his case onely for as much as we have all sinned his counsell is in this behalfe pro hoc orabit omnis pius Psal 32. Which being done as the Prophet speaketh the weakest of them that is every sinner shall be as David Neither are we of necessity to pray that God will forgive the guilt of our sinnes past but that he will prevent us with his grace against temptations of sinnes to come for in this regard our Saviour Christ would have his Disciples occupie themselves in this holy duty Orate Pray ye that ye enter not into temptation Luke 22. For the effect of sinne which is adversity Then is prayer necessary in the time of affliction when outwardly through the malice of our enemies we are in misery In which case the Prophet saith when the ungodly for the love he bare to them requited him with hatred Then he gave himselfe to prayer Psal 109.3 Or else inwardly by reason of crosses which it pleaseth God to bring upon us against which the onely remedy is to use prayer as the Apostle exhorts Iames 5. Is any afflicted let him pray A timore iuo concepimus spiritum salutis Esa 26.8 That is for feare And when we consider our owne wants the troubles that are upon us though for a time we hold our tongues and speake nothing yet a fire will kindle in us we cannot long be silent but the desire of our heart must have a vent by prayer as the Prophet had experience in himselfe Psal 39. So that as well the feare of danger to come as present want and affliction will leade us to prayer But
Iohn 1.18 that is borne againe of the Water and of the Spirit without which Regeneration no entrance is into the Kingdome of God And our dignity in being the sonnes of God in these three sorts is to be considered First in that we are the price of Christs bloâ—d 1 Cor. 6. Secondly we have Characterem that is the stampe of the sonnes of God when we are called Christians Acts 11. Thirdly we are the Temples of the holy Ghost 1 Cor. 3. By meanes whereof he giveth us holy desires and maketh us sorry that we have offended his Majesty the assurance of this is that which the Apostle caâ—s the Spirit of Adoption which hee sends into the hearts of Christians to certifie them both that they are the sonnes of God and may call him Father Rom. 8. in a double sense both in respect of nature and grace not onely by generation but by Regeneration In the naturall affection that God beareth us we have two things 1. the immutability of it 2. the excellencie God doth teach us that his love to us is unchangeable in this that he expresseth it by the name of Father nam pater eâ—tansi offersâ—s est pater filius etiamsi nequam tamen filius A father though offended is a father and a sonne though naught yet is a sonne The Master may cease to be a Master so may a servant The husband may cease to be a husband so may the wife by meanes of divorce but God can never cease to be our Father though he be never so much offended and we cannot cease to bee his sonnes how wicked soever wee bee and therefore God doth by an immutable terme signifie unto us the immutability of his affection Heb. 6. And indeed whether hee doe bestow good things on us or chasten us his love is still unchangeable for both are to bee performed of a father toward his children and therefore whether hee afflict us or bestow his blessings on us we are in both to acknowledge his fatherly care howsoever To flesh and bloud no affliction seemeth good for the present Heb. 12. This immutability of his love as it ministreth comfort in time of affliction so doth it comfort and raise us up in sinne and transgression so that notwithstanding the greatnesse of our sinnes wee may bee bold to seeke to God for favour and say Etsi amisi ingenuitatem filii tamen tu non amisisti pietatem patris Although Lord I have lost the duty of a sonne yet thou hast not lost the affection of a father The excellencie of Gods love appeareth herein that he is not described to be God under the name of a King or great Lord as Mat. 18. There we have an example of great goodnesse in pardoning tenne thousand Talents but yet a doubt will arise in our mindes except we know him to be good otherwise then as he is a King for so looke what mercie he sheweth to us the like he will have us shew to others but we come short of this But this is it that contents us that he describes his goodnesse under the terme of Father in which regard how wickedly soever we deale yet still wee may say with the evill child I will goe to my Father Luke 15. He had cast off his father he had spent all his patrimony yet for all that he resolveth to goe backe and his father is glad to receive him he went and met and entertained him joyfully such affection doth God beare to his children The benefits that we have by the fatherly love of God is of two sorts First Fructus indulgentiae paternae Secondly Fructus liberalitatis paternae that is the fruit of fatherly compassion and the fruit of fatherly bounty Fathers stand thus affected towards their children that they are hardly brought to chasten them and if there be no remedy yet they are ready to forgive or soone cease punishing Pro peccato magno panlulum supplicii satis est Patri for a great offence a small punishment is enough to a father And for their bountifulnesse the Apostle saith that there is naturally planted in fathers a care to lay up for their children 2 Cor. 12. they are both in God for facility ad veniam to pardon and readinesse to forgive makes him Patrem misericordiarum 2 Cor. 3. not of one for he hath a multitude of mercies great mercie and little mercie Psal 51. The affection of David toward Absolon a wicked sonne was such that he forgave him though he sought to deprive his father of his Kingdome 2 Sam. 12. and though wee offend the Majesty of God yet hee assureth us that hee will be no lesse gracious to our offences then David was For David was a man after Gods owne heart 1 Sam. 13. Touching the care which God hath to provide for us the Prophet saith and also the Apostle Cast your care upon the Lord for hee careth for you 1 Pet. 5. He careth for us not as he hath care of Oxen 1 Cor. 9. but such a tender care as he hath for the Apple of his eye Zach. 2. He provideth for us not lands and goods as earthly fathers but an inheritance immortall incorruptible and that fadeth not reserved in Heaven for us 1 Pet. 1. and hath prepared for us an heavenly Kingdome whereof we are made co-heires with his Sonne Christ Rom. 8.17 and this is the fruit of his fatherly bountifulnesse towards us Out of these two the immutability and excellencie of Gods love shewed both in forgiving sinnes and providing good things ariseth a duty to be performed on our parts for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all comfort nomen patris ut explicat sic excitat charitatem the name of a father as it sheweth so it stirreth up love as it sheweth quid sperandum sic quid sit prastandum what is to be performed of us the name of a father doth promise unto us forgivenesse of sinnes and the blessings not of this life onely but especially of that that is to come and this duty lieth upon us that we so live as becommeth children wee may not continue in sinne but at the least must have virtutem redeundi the vertue of returning Isa 63. Why hast thou caused us to goe out of the way A child though he have wandred never so farre yet at length will come to that resolution I will returne to my father Luke 15. But if we consider the dignity whereunto we are exalted wee shall see on earth Si filii Dei quodammodo Dii simus if we be sonnes we are after a sort Gods Divinae participes naturae 2 Pet. 1. partakers of the divine nature as the sonnes of men are men But the Apostle sets down this plainely Behold what great love he hath shewed us That we should be called the sonnes of God 1 Iohn 3. This dignity requireth this duty at our hands that we reverence our Father Mal. 1.6 If I be your Father where is my love If
wee meete with some great house we conjecture that some person of account dwells there and therefore Job saith that the basenesse of man in respect of the Angels is great for that he dwels in the houses of clay whose foundation is of the dust Job 4.19 But here our Saviour tells us that God our Father hath his dwelling in the stately Tabernacle of Heaven whereby we may gather what is the greatnesse of his power But before we come to these things which are particularly to be considered in these words First we are to take heed that wee run not into their errour which so confine and compasse God in Heaven as if he had nothing to do in earth such as they who say How should God know can be judge through the darke cloud the clouds cover him that hee cannot see Job 22.14 For when he is said to have his beeing in heaven the Holy Ghost thereby doth not expresse his presence but his power therefore we are to know that God is not so in heaven that he is not in earth also for so doth the old Testament witnesse of him Coelum terram ego impleo Jer. 23. Behold the heaven and heavens and the heaven of all heavens are not able to comprehend thee 1 Reg. 8.27 and the Prophet David saith If I goe up to heaven thou art there if I go downe to hell thou art there also Psal 139. Whereby it appeareth that we may not limit Gods power and presence to any one place who is every where present for when God is said to be in heaven we learne thereby what his excellencie is which doth especially shew it selfe there for as the glory Majesty of earthly Princes doth chiefly appeare in their thrones so the glory and Majesty of God doth especially shew it self in heaven which is his Throne Esay 66. Matth. 5.34 He hath not his denomination from earth a place of wormes and corruption but from heaven a place of eternall glory and happinesse Secondly the use of this is to temper our confidence in God for albeit we love him as he is our Father yet withall we must feare him for as much as he dwelleth in heaven as we may in regard of his goodnes pray unto him with confidence so withall considering his power we must pray with due devotion and reverence unto his Majewy for he is not as an earthly father that dwelleth in houses clay but his dwelling is in heaven and therefore as he is a Father and consequently will be honoured so because he is our Lord he requires feare at our hands Mal. 1.6 With thee is mercy that thou mayest be feared Psal 130.4 Whereby the Prophet would have us so to esteeme of Gods mercy that withall we be bound to feare him and that we be not like those that contemne the riches of Gods mercy the more that he laboureth with his bountifulnesse and goodnesse to bring us to repentance Rom. 2. for as sweet things have an obstructive power to stop the passages which are in our bodies and on the other side sowre and bitter things do fret and consume and so open the veines So it fareth with the soule for it is stopped when we consider nothing but the mercy of God and contrariwise when we cast our eyes too much upon the Majesty and power of God the force thereof casts us into an astonishment and brings to desperation and therefore that we neither have Nimiam trepidationem nor Nimiam ostentationem too much terrour nor too much security we must know that God is so in heaven as that yet he is a Father and as he is a Father so not an earthly but an heavenly Father and we cannot but feare and reverence God if we in humility consider our basenesse in respect of him for though he be our Father yet so long as we be on earth we are strangers and exiles from him and howsoever it please him to account us sonnes yet as it fared with Absalon we cannot see our Fathers face 2 Sam. 14. untill he take us hence that we may be at home with him in his kingdome of Glory Thirdly these words lead us also to a confidence in God and serve to raise up our faith There is Paternitas both in heaven and earth Ephes 3.16 There are Fathers of the flesh and Fathers of the spirit Heb. 12. But when the Holy Ghost saith that God our Father hath his being in heaven we are thereby to distinguish him from other fathers If he be an heavenly Father he is of a more excellent nature then other fathers that are earthly and carnall for they are mortall as they live on earth so by death they shall be brought sub terris and do forsake us but our heavenly Father is immortall his yeares change not Psal 102. and though our Fathers and mothers forsake us yet the Lord will take us up and succour us Psal 27. Secondly though earthly fathers were immortall yet they are not able and their affections are turned away either by meanes of some lewd parts in the children or for that they beare not that naturall affection towards their children which they ought But God is immutable in his love so that although Jacob will not acknowledge us and Abraham will not know us yet God will be our Father Esay 63.16 The Apostle saith There are wicked parents that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without all naturall affection Rom. 1. And it falleth out that sometime a woman will deale cruelly with her owne child but though she forget it yet God our heavenly Father will not forget his children nor turne his fatherly affection from them Esay 49. and therefore Tertullian saith Nullus pater tam pater no father so fatherly Thirdly though they wish us never so well yet many times they cannot do us that good they would for want of ability yea though they be never so able yet they cannot deliver from sicknesse and death for the sonnes of Princes die daily they can give us bread and fish Luk. 11. they have a care to provide and lay up for their children 2 Cor. 12.14 but it is such treasure as the moth and rust will corrupt Matth. 6.19 But God our heavenly Father can deliver us from all evill he can give us not onely bread and fish and other things necessary for this life but his holy Spirit if wee aske it Luk. 11. The treasure that God layeth up for us is not earthly but an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled 1 Pet. 1. such things as neither eie hath seene nor eare hath heard Esay 64. 1 Cor. 1. For God is not onely carefull in this life for our well doing the knowledge of that is spes mortua but his care extendeth to the life to come and therefore the Holy Ghost saith not Pater in coelo sed in coelis in the heavens whereby he hath begotten us unto a lively hope 1 Pet. 1.4 Quaecunque optant vel timent homines
it were meeter that we should come toward it But hereby Christ giveth us to understand what our corruption is It is with us as with the Israelites that were so addicted to the flesh-pois of Egypt that they cared not to goe into the promised land likewise we are so in love with this present world as that we have no minde of Heaven Besides there are so many stumbling-blocks in our way as that the Kingdome of God must come unto us or else we shall never possibly come unto it Therefore as we pray that God would lighten our blind eyes and inflame our hard hearts with a love of his heavenly Kingdome so also that he would send his Angels to gather out of his Kingdome all things that offend Matth. 13.41 The things that we pray against are the Kingdome of Sathan darkenesse and sinne that they may depart from us and that the inward Kingdome of Grace may take place in our hearts but the principall Kingdome that we desire is the Kingdome of Glory whereof our Saviour said Behold I come quickly Revel 22.7 This is the Kingdome which the Saints desire saying Come quickly Lord Iesus Revel 22.20 and all creatures doe waite for this Kingdome looking when they shall be made free from the bondage of their corruption Rom. 8.20 For whereas now all things are subject unto vanity then there shall be a Kingdome that shall not perish It is not for the wicked to desire the comming of his Kingdome Woe be to you that desire the comming of the Lord it is darknesse and not light Amos 5.18 The wicked shall say to the Mountaines Fall upon us for the wrath of the Lord no man is able to abide it Revel 6.16 But to the godly it is a day of comfort Lift up your heads for the day of redemption drawes neare Luke 21.33 Howsoever hee will render vengeance to the ungodly that have not knowne nor obeyed the Gospel of God 2 Thes 1.8 Yet he comes to make a garland to crowne the godly and to set them in his throne they shall be received into his Kingdome of glory where they shall injoy the things which neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard nor hath ever entred into the heart of man which he hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 1. Therefore Saint Paul saith I desire to be dissolved and to bee with Christ Phil. 3. Simeons desire is Lord now let thou thy servant depart in peace Luke 2.29 Thus the remembrance of the day of our redemption is a joyfull remembrance to them and the chiefe thing that they desire so that they are willing to depart in regard of their future hope rather then to tarry here and howbeit that Christ deferres his Kingdome and comming yet we are to be watchfull for it will come as a snare Luke 21. and 1 Thes 5. and when he commeth he will rather be for us then against us THE ELEVENTH SERMON Thy will be done THe summe of all our desires is set downe by those words of the Prophet Psal 84. where he saith The Lord shall give glory and peace and no good thing shall he with-hold from them that live uprightly And our Saviour doth excellently expresse the same Matth. 6. Seeke the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and all other things shall be ministred The Petitions of glory and Gods Kingdome have already beene handled Now in this third which is the second of those which concerne our selves we are suiters for the grace of God in this life whereby we may be enabled to doe his will here that so we may obtaine the Kingdome of glory in the world to come for the Kingdome of God and of glory is the Heaven that we desire all to arrive at and grace and righteousnesse is the gale of wind that drives us forward thereunto and our suite to God in this petition is that by doing of his will here on earth Grace may raigne in our hearts by righteousnesse Rom. 5.21 that so hereafter we may raigne with him in glory He doth not onely will us to seeke Gods Kingdome Matth. 6. And tels us that there is one prepared for us before the foundation of the world Matth. 25.34 but also how we may finde it and attaine to it Matth. 7. Not every one that saith Lord Lord shalt enter into the Kingdome of God but he that shall doe the will of my Father which is in Heaven Therefore touching the order of this prayer as of those things which concerne our good the first is that Gods Kingdome may come to us so the doore whereby we must enter into the same is the doing of Gods will and therefore in the second place we are taught that the Kingdome of God shall come not by wishing or desiring but by doing of Gods will as Christ saith The Kingdome of God is come neare you So Christ tels us If we draw neare to God he will draw neare to us Iames 4. Touching the Will of God it may be demanded Why we should demand and aske this petition For as the Psalmist saith Our God is in Heaven he doth whatsoever he will Psal 115. Whatsoever the Lord willed that did he in Heaven in the earth and in all deepe places Psal 135.6 and who hath resisted his will Rom. 9.19 No counsell or wisedome can prevaile against the Lord Prov. 21.30 And if any doe oppose themselves against his will yet they doe but kicke against the prickes Acts 9. The answer to this objection is that we pray not so much that Gods will may be done but rather that what God willeth may bee our will for there is one will of God which we may resist another which we may not resist For the distinction of Gods will it is either hidden and secret or revealed and open the one is that which the Prophet cals the counsell or thought of his heart Psal 33.11 The other is that will of his word wherein the declareth and openeth to men what his will is His secret will is voluntas beneplaciti the good pleasure of his will his revealed will is voluntas signi which is disclosed to us Gods secret will is voluntas quam Deus vult that will which God willeth his revealed will is voluntas quam ipse nos velle vult that will which he willeth us to will the secret will of his heart is voluntas adoranda non scrutanda He that curiously searcheth the glory of Heavenly things shall not enter into glory Prov. 25.27 How unsearchable are his judgements Rom. 11. and who hath knowen the will of the Lord or who was his counsellour But the open and revealed will of God is voluntas scrutanda sacienda both to be searched out and to be done of us Be not unwise but understand what is the will of God Ephes 5.17 The knowledge of his will is not enough but as Christ saith If yee know these things blessed are ye if ye doe them Iohn 13.17 Of