smoaking flâ—x Let the comparisons be well marked and can the meeknesse of Christ towards poore sinners be more lively expressed How tender a plant is a reed yea at the strongest how doth it yeeld and bow with every puffe of wind but much more when it is bruised how easie a thing is it then to snap it asunder How weake is that sparke of fire which in flâ—x doth but cause smoake Now whereas it is said he will not break the one nor quench the other his meaning is he will noâ—ish and cherish them strengthen the one and kindle the other Againe He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he increaseth strength Christ was sent to binde up the broken hearted The Lord upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up all them that be bowed downe Christ hath called Come to mee all yee that travell and are heavie loaden and I will refresh you hath promised that he will cast away none that come unto him yea that hee will give them eternall life and none shall be able to plucke them out of his hand Indeed Christ gave great commendation to such as have had great faith as to the Centurion Verily I say unto you that I have not found so great faith no not in Israel and to the woman of Canaan hee said O woman great is thy faith But yet in all ages God hath witnessed his loving acceptance of small and weake faith and of the first beginnings of Conversion How weake a faith was that in the Ninivites Who can tell if God will returne and repent yet God did repent and spare them What a weake faith had the Leper Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me cleane he received him and did make him cleane How weake that fathers faith who could scarce tell whether he beleeved or no and ceased to pray for his sonne and prayed for himselfe Lord helpe mine unbeleefe and he both helped his unbeleefe and cured his sonne Our Saviour did but heare a young man make profession of the practise of outward and civill righteousnesse All these I have observed from my youth and the Text saith he looked upon him and loved him And when he heard a Scribe utter but one good speech That to love God with all the heart is above all sacrifices he said unto him that he was not farre from the kingdome of heaven Oh now should the Apostles faith have shone bright as a lampe but the tempest had almost blowne it out that it did but smoake yet Christ quencheth it not he reproveth but accepteth of it He arose and rebuked the winds and seas These and many such Scriptures both Positive and Exemplarie of prophesie and promise are written for the comfort of all such as have but little weake and feeble faith and we had need to have them in remembrance for Satan is very skilfull in the Scriptures and hath them readie to assault weake ones with all as Faith is the evidence of things which are not seene And we are Gods house if we hold fast the reioycing of the hope firme unto the end and Faith is the anchor of the soule both sure and stedfast Doth not S. Iames bid every one that prayeth to pray in faith without wavering or doubting How canst thou thinke thou hast faith or make account that ever God will heare thee when thine heart is so full of wavering doubting Oh quench this fiery dart and say Avoid Satan it is true thou hast presented unto me a strong faith which I doe strive after but the Apostles had but a little weake faith yet were not rejected and Satan thou shalt never bee able to quench that little sparke which God hath kindled in my soule nor destroy that little graine of mustard-seed which is sowen in the furrowes of mine heart Lastly note that Christ said His Disciples had but little faith and surely as yet they had but little knowledge little honour little wealth and little of any thing that was esteemed and accounted of in the world being but poore Fisher-men Tole-gatherers and men of meane condition as Amos a great Prophet was before but an Herdman God many times bringeth greatest things to passe by weakest meanes Passing by the noble mightie rich and wise of the world and chusing the foolish weake and base and despised things of the world that no flesh may glory in it selfe To which purpose S. Augustine hath an excellent saying If God had chosen Kings to bee his Disciples they would have said We are chosen for our power If Orators for our eloquence Iâ— Philosophers for our wisdome If Senators for our dignitie If rich men for our wealth Wherefore he called Fishermen and Publicans Follow me you poore ignorant and simple you that have little or nothing worthy esteeme or admiration in your selves that you may be all in me Even so still the Lord many times passeth by such as are of great knowledge learning and wisdome of high degree in Schooles of eminent Bloud and Families by birth and calleth farre meaner men in these respects by whom he is most powerfull in the ministery of the Word So for the Church of God Christ told Iohns Disciples The poore receive the Gospell And God hath chosen the poore of the world that they may bee rich in faith and heires of the Kingdome This is it was intended in the parable where the great men that had their Farmes Oxen and Merchandise to follow were rejected and the poore maimed halt and blinde who lay in the Streets and Lanes of the Citie and High-wayes and Hedges were compelled to come in And this is it which the chiefe Priests and Pharises objected to the officers Doe any of the Rulers or Pharisies beleeve in him But this people that knoweth not the Law is cursed Indeed it is not said no wise no noble no mightie are chosen for Abraham Isaac Iacob Moses David Solomon Nicodemus Lazarus of Bethaniah Ioseph of Arimathea the two Centurions the Proconsull and many others were some of them noble some wise some mightie c. But as Andrew said of the loaves What are these amongst so many to the end that wee should not looke upon Gods people and servants with a carnall eye wherein they may seeme base and contemptible but behold them with a spirituall eye as they are in Christ and so most glorious And thus much for the first part in the performing of the calme viz. The reprehension of his disciples for their excessive feare and defective faith It followeth Then he arose Christ having stilled the greater and more dangerous tempest in the affections of his disciples and settled their soules in peace and tranquillity patience and comfort hee now proceedeth to still the roaring winds and raging seas which hee doth by powerfull and angry reprehension Wherein two things
in this life where there is no doubting at all no feare at all no striving against unbeleefe there is no true comfort no true faith but a proud presumption For the illustration of this point know first That corruption is not seene or discerned by corruption but by grace as foule things are discerned by the light not by darknesse and sicknesse discerned by health none being more desperately sicke than he that feeleth it not none in so dangerous case as they that see not the corruptions and feele not the wants of the soule but are in that spirituall Lethargie the Church of Laodicea was thinking shee was rich and increased in goods and had need of nothing when hee was poore and miserable wretched blinde and naked The more therefore we feele our infidelitie distrust rebellion the better our estate Secondly man must be considered in a double estate viz. as he is by nature and as he is by grace By nature he is altogether flesh That which is borne of the flesh is flesh he is wholly led by the flesh he delighteth in nothing but the works of the flesh and all the works of the flesh are his and if herein he continue he and they shall perish together But in the estate of grace though he live in the flesh he walketh not after the flesh he warreth not after the flesh he is led by the spirit Indeed the flesh doth continually lust against the spirit and many times prevaileth not only begetting evill motions purposes and desires but as a strong enemy leading the childe of God captive to doe that which hee should not he would not But these motions these actions they are not his they shall never be laid to his charge If Satan object them hee may renounce them and say Indeed these are the motions actions of the flesh and we were sometime all one but now we are separate and divided it only dwelleth as an inmate but I doe not partake with her never man and wife were more firmely divorced than I and my flesh therefore if the flesh have plaied the harlot and begot these brats cast them at her doore I will not owne them I will dash them in peeces against the stones Wherein you have the Apostle himselfe for a most excellent president Now if I doe that which I would not it is no more I that doe it but sinne that dwelleth in me If I should not have doubts and feares and discerne much evill in me I might then indeed justly doubt and feare I were all flesh but I doe dislike and detest them and lay them to the fleshes charge and even hereby I know that I have received the Spirit because it sheweth me the weaknesse of my faith and stirreth up holy grones sighes and desires to Heaven for the increase of it I say againe let none of Gods children be too much dejected or cast downe or grow out of heart with themselves much lesse call their estate with God into question because the remnant of corruption like a bold saucie inmate dwelleth in them and doth continually vex and disquiet them disturbe and trouble them crosse and hinder them in every good purpose and thing and still haling and pulling on to sinne with incessant importunitie and sometimes prevailing The experience of this made the Apostle so exclaime Oh wretched man With whom give thanks feelingly to God for victory through Iesus Christ for that hee hath delivered thee from the dominion bondage and slaverie of sin that it doth not reigne in thee also keep a very watchfull eye and ever give thy flesh a sowre look keep it under and in subjection make it not thy counsell be sure to make a covenant with eyes eares and all the senses they shall be strangers to it forbid thy strangers to be acquainted with it and then though sinne and corrupt flesh be such a shamelesse inmate to say as Ruth did to Naomie Whither thou goest I will goe where thou dwellest I will dwell where thou diest I will die and there will I be buried nothing but death can quite part and sunder us it shall not be able to hurt us Oh see what a sweet comfort the Gospell proposeth to Gods children even from sense and feeling of their wants and weaknesse of faith Concerning which I will not say as our Saviour did in another case He that is able to receive it let him receive it but I will even thrust it into the bosomes of weake and seeble Christians if any such be here present by removing two such Objections as are made against it and whereby as with both hands they even thrust it from them The first is this Oh I could comfort my selfe many waies if I had any faith though never so weake or small but I cannot discerne any at all but mine heart is full of infidelitie and rebellion I answer Great is the sense and assurance which commonly beleevers have of their faith otherwise the Apostle would never have said Prove your selves whether you are in the faith or not yet two times must be excepted viz. the time when God first giveth it and the houre or time of some great temptation Recount then the times which are passed and the yeeres of old yea remember the yeeres of the right hand of the most high Psal 77. 10. Hast thou at any time had the assurance and comfort of faith Be of good comfort it will revive againe Heavinesse may endure but for a night ioy will come in the morning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy faith may be cast downe but cannot be destroyed Deliquium pati non penitus mori may sownd but cannot die Or hast thou never had the sense of faith but now desirest it and art heartily sorry thou feelest it not it may be this graine of mustard-seed is but now sowen in the furrowes of thine heart water it with Word Sacraments and Prayer and doubt not but thou shalt in good time have the sense and comfort of it Oh but I have no sense of Gods love therefore I have no faith I answer Christ had no sense of Gods love and yet beleeved when he praied My God my God why hast thou for saken me How void was Iob of the sense of Gods love when hee complained God accounted him as his enemy and made him as his butt to shoot at How far was David from despaire when he complained Is his mercie cleane gone for ever No no that is but infirmitie as he confessed God changeth not nor hath any shadow of change whom he loveth he loveth to the end his covenant is more sure than that of the day and night It is but thy triall In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting compassion have I embraced thee The Sunne setteth and hath a time to
to make Unitie one of the markes or their seventh note of the true Church and assume that to themselves and impute Division to us First for their Divisions it is strange but that men of that side will say and write any thing that Bellarmine should say they all joyne in obedience to their Head and that their Councels Popes Decrees and Writers doe wonderfully agree though writing in divers tongues places occasions whereas the world hath taken notice yea all must needs know that know any thing how Rome it selfe by her owne children hath beene sacked siedge laid to the Castle of Saint Angel and the Pope taken prisoner Is this their Canonicall obedience How divers Popes have challenged the Popedom and three stood at once Many battels have beene fought and thousands slaine Who was the head of their Vnity then and when a woman was Pope How Popes have cut off Cardinals heads one Pope abrogate and condemne the Decrees of others yea in extreme hatred digged up their bodies and cutting off two of the fingers to burie it againe and sometimes cut off head and cast the bodie into Tibur one Councell condemning what another had decreed What Writers euer more eagerly opposite than Dominicans and Franciscans Priests and Iesuits yea Schoole-men themselves about the bookes of Canonicall Scripture themselves the Virgins being without sinne Transubstantiation Purgatorie yea Iustification merit of workes worshipping of Images yea what point of difference is there betwixt them and us wherein some of their own side doe not side with us against them yea as the Church of Rome is wholly departed from that ancient faith it professed in the daies of the Apostles so the moderne Church is exceedingly declined from that faith it formerly professed even since it came to be the seat of Antichrist which being so abundantly cleared by divers of our learned Divines in their polemicall Tracts and Discourses and hoping that either you know or doe not doubt of the truth hereof I will not insist upon probation of particulars which were infinite and therefore if Unitie be a note of the true Church Rome cannot be it so divided as it must needs one day come to ruine and destruction For our owne divisions which we doe not denie have beene some and too many yet such as disprove not the true Unitie of the Church but are justified not only by the divisions of the Romish Church which are moe and greater and it is like will never be composed but the divisions which by Satans malice and subtill abusing of the weaknesse of some have ever infested the true Church of God even in Rome in her best estate Saint Paul saith There were therein that caused divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine And telleth the Corinthians there were among them envying strife and contention some holding of Paul some of Apollo some of Cephas Paul and Barnabas were at variance Paul Peter had iarres great strife betwixt East and West Churches about the keeping of Easter so as they excōmunicated each other no lesse broils in the Churches about Rebaptization What Tragicall troubles did Theophilus Patriarch of Alexandria raise against Chrysostome Bishop of Constantinople a chiefe adversarie to whom was Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus The event was Chrysostome lost both Bishoprick and life in banishment many were flame in taking parts the Cathedrall Church and Senate-house in Constantinople burnt downe to the ground in pursuit of reuenge How did the Orthodox Bishops in the Councell of Nice fall at variance and complaine of one another to the Emperour so as Constantine had much adoe to compose the difference In the second Councell of Ephesus such eager contention that Flavianus the Bishop of Constantinople was not only deposed but also pitifully murthered Too too many such grievous contentions Ecclesiasticall stories witnesse to happen in the Churches of God in Councels and amongst the learned Fathers and Bishops so lamented by Cyprian and Basil as the cause of persecution and the turning away of many from embracing of the Christian religion and a great advantage to Arrius and such like Haeretikes to spread the poyson of their haeresies farre and neere Thus you see there have beene yea and as long as Sathan hath leave to compasse the earth to and fro and that Gods Saints be imperfect in knowledge and weake in affections there will be divisions they have beene and are greater than amongst our selves yet not disproving a true Church Secondly our divisions are not of the Church but of some in the Church our Church doth wonderfully accord in the unitie of faith and uniformitie of government and therefore are falsly imputed to the Church Thirdly not in matters of faith wherein as our Church doth accord with other Reformed Churches abroad in all fundamentall verities there being no fundamentall dissention betwixt any the Reformed Churches as the Harmonie of Confessions beareth witnesse so neither is the difference or dissention amongst such in our Church except Popishly affected about matters of substance but of circumstance not about the boords or bodie of the ship anchor cable card or who shall be Pilot but about the saile and ceremonies of blacke or white Fourthly though these differences have beene too hotly and eagerly followed of some yet God be thanked not pursued by fire or death nor to the pronouncing of each other Heretikes as both anciently as partly you have heard and might heare much more if I delighted in this Argument and would for this purpose search the Authentike histories of the Church and lately also in the Romish Church betwixt the Popes themselves and the Franciscans with all cruell extremitie persecuting the poore Dominicans Lastly blessed be God even in this happy calme our divisions and contentions are well slaked and composed notwithstanding they were kindled and nourished especially by the cunning of subtle and secret Papists lurking amongst us as the remnant of the Canaanites to be as pricks in our eies and thornes in our sides but a little storme would make us perfect friends as some of our learned forefathers who in time of prosperitie were much divided and abounded in their severall senses and opinions concerning such matters yet in the daies of Queene Marie went ioyfully to the stake and died together for that truth which they ioyntly beleeved it being most true of an ancient Father The communion of good things oftentimes breedeth envie and hatred but communion in miserie breedeth love and compassion Thus I have shipped the passengers I have given them their charge Looking upon the sea I see many ships when I come to handle the vessel wherein they passe It is a needfull question for these daies which is that ship wherein Christ and his disciples passe and how may it be infallibly knowne from all other When I come to that I hope to make it cleare to all whose eies the god of this
as of his owne which sheweth that they praied in love Which as the Apostle saith seeketh not her owne things and without which in preaching and praying Wee are but as a sounding brasse and tinkling Cymball That which our Saviour intended in that forme of praier which he hath prescribed teaching us to pray in the Plurall Give us this day our daily bread forgive us our trespasses lead not us into temptation but deliver us from evill I doubt not but in particular cases we may make particular suit unto God for our selves As Iacob in his iourney vowed If God will be with mee and will keepe me in this way and will give mee bread to eat and raiment to put on And David Save me ô God for the waters are even entred into my soule And Peter when he was sinking into the sea cried Lord save mee Yea Christ himselfe praied Lord let this cup passe from mee But these were particular cases but in common cases we must have common hearts yea though our case be particular yet there may be others in our condition which we know not and therefore we are so to pray for our selves as yet explicitely or implicitely we crave the like blessings to all such as are in the like want with us Here then commeth a common fault worthy to be reproved for it marreth all such praiers as The wilde goord marred all the messe of pottage viz. We are strait laced full of love but it is self-self-love we wholly love our selves seeke our owne good what meaneth else that common wicked Proverb Every man for himselfe and God for us all Or if they bee ashamed to professe thus much with mouth yet they are not ashamed to wish it in their hearts yea they wish evill to others so any good may thence redound to theÌ„selves How many wish a famine if they have any corne to sell Yea how few but doe greatly reioyce to heare of pestilence sword shipwracke sedition or any manner of evill to befall their neighbours or brethren so they reape advantage from it Which sheweth that in their hearts they doe onely desire their owne particular good and as we say care not who hunger so their bellies be filled who goe naked so they be clothed who be poore and vndone so they grow rich who lie without doore so they lodge warme who dy so they live who sink or swim so they come safe to shore So few pray as lovingly and heartily for others as themselves as our Example teacheth us to doe Lord save us So much for the petition We perish Extreme passion commonly causeth either silence or that which is next unto it imperfect and defective speech whereunto God alluding saith I have sworne in my wrath if they shall enter into my rest The Disciples being in great feare speake imperfectly we perish the causall coÌ„junction is wanting it is in effect q. d. otherwise or else wee perish The originall word is of hard and harsh signification in best signification it is to die as it is expedient for us that one die for the people yea to die by some miserable meanes as with hunger I perish with hunger it is commonly translated to destroy as he will truly destroy those husbandmen Let us not tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of serpents yea it signifieth the destruction of hell They shall be punished with everlasting destruction In which respect Iudas is called The sonne of destruction and the Angell of the bottomlesse pit is called in Hebrew Abaddon and in Greeke Apollyon i. a Destroyer Here it is meant of the losing perishing or destroying of the bodie by waters which we call drowning or choking in the waters So much for the sense Hence first we learne That it is an effectuall motive of mercy in praier to declare unto God our misery How often doth David to this purpose in his praiers lay open his miseries before God as Save me ô God for the waters are come in even unto my soule I sinke in the deepe mire where is no standing I am come into deepe waters where the flouds over flow me I am wearie of crying my throat is dry mine eyes faile while I wait upon my God And againe Thou hast cast off and abhorred thou hast beene wroth with thine anointed thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant and hast cast his crowne to the ground thou hast broken downe all his hedges and brought his strong holds to ruine all that passe by spoile him and he is a reproach to his neighbours thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries and made his enemies to reioyce thou hast turned the edge of his sword and giuest him not victory in battell To this purpose also doth he declare the misery of Gods Church O God the Heathen are come into thine inheritance thine holy Temple have they defiled and made Ierusalem an heape of stones the dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat to the fowles of the heaven and the flesh of thy Saints to the beasts of the earth their bloud have they shed like water round about Ierusalem and there was no man to bury them Yea thus lamentably doe all Gods people complaine Thou goest not forth with our armies thou makest us to turne our backes upon the enemy they that hate us spoile our goods thou hast given us like sheepe appointed for the slaughter thou sellest thy people for nought takest no mony for them thou makest us a reproach derision by-word and shaking of the head c. The Reason of this doctrine is because God is a most mercifull God and it is the nature of mercy to be exceedingly moved with misery Misericordia Yea his mercy is called a tender mercy or bowels of mercy Great is the compassion of a brother as we see in Ioseph a godly man when he saw his brother Beniamin he made haste and â—ought where to weepe For saith the Text his bowels did yearne upon his brother Greater the compassion of a father towards his sonne as we have lately had an example when the father saw his hungry naked leane though a prodigall sonne yet he could not containe himselfe But ran and met him and fell on his necks and kissed him and commanded his servants with all speed to feed and cloath and decke him But greatest of all is the compassion of a mother towards her childe How the woman of Canaan plied Christ with praier for her daughter and would receive no answer but her cure Yea and Salomon in his wisdome discerned which was the true mother of the childe hereby for when she heard the sentence pronounced that it should be divided her bowels yearned on her sonne But the compassion of a brother father or mother is