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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A01379	Fiue sermons preached vpon sundry especiall occasions Viz. 1 The sinners mourning habit: in Whitehall, March 29. being the first Tuesday after the departure of King Iames into blessednesse. 2 A visitation sermon: in Christs Church, at the trienniall visitation of the right reuerend father in God the lord bishop of London. 3 The holy choice: in the chappell by Guildhall, at the solemne election of the right honorable the lord maior of London. 4 The barren tree: at Pauls-Crosse, Octob. 26. 5 The temple: at Pauls-Crosse. August 5. By Tho: Adams.	Adams, Thomas, fl. 1612-1653.; Adams, Thomas, fl. 1612-1653. Barren tree. aut; Adams, Thomas, fl. 11612-1653. Temple. aut	1626 (1626)	STC 115; ESTC S115603	103,732	219

euill to the euill of others and to offend God because he was offended Cannot the faults of men displease vs but wee must needs fall out with God Doe we not prouoke him iustly to abhorre our soules when we so vniustly contemne his seruice Know that he is able to sanctifie thy heart euen by the ministery of that man whose heart hee hath not yet sanctified The vertue consists not in the humane action but in the diuine Institution Wee say of the Sacraments themselues much more of the Ministers Isti non tribuunt quod per istos tribuitur these doe not giue vs what God doth giue vs by them But this age is ficke of such a wanton levitie that wee make choyce of the Temple according to our fancy of the Preacher and so tye vp the free Spirit of God from blowing where he pleaseth that he shall be beholding to the grace of the Speaker for giuing grace to the hearer So whereas Paul ties Faith to hearing they will tie hearing to Faith and as they beleeue the holinesse of the man so they expect fruit of the Sermon This is to make Paul something and Apollos something wheras Paul himselfe sayes they are both nothing God onely giues the encrease and who shall appoint him by whom he shall giue it Let the feed bee good and the ground good and the Lord will send fruit whosoeuer bee the Sower But while you make hearing a matter of sport Preaching is too often become an exercise of wit Words are but the Images of matter and you shall heare anon it is not lawfull to worship Images It dangerously mis becomes the Temple when any thing shall bee intended there but the glory of God and gaining of soules to Iesus Christ. Thus much concerning the Temple the next poynt I must fall vpon is Idols Idol in Greeke signifies a resemblance or representation and differs not from Image in Latine both at first taken in a good sense but the corruption of times hath bred a corruption of words and Idol is now only taken for the Image of a false god Euery Idol is an Image but euery Image is not an Idol but euery Image made and vsed for religious purposes is an Idol The Images of God are Idols wherwith Popery abounds An old man sitting in a chaire with a triple Crowne on his head and Pontificall robes on his backe a Doue hanging at his beard and a Crucifixe in his armes is their Image of the Trinitie This Picture sometime serues them for a god in their Churches and somtime for a signe at th ir tap-houses so that it is a common saying in many of their Cities Such a Gentleman lyes at the Trinity and his seruants at Gods head This they seeme to doe as if they would in some sort requite their Maker because God made man according to his Image therfore they by way of recompence will make God according to mans Image But this certainly they durst not doe without putting the second Commandement out of their Catechismes and the whole Decalogue out of their Consciences I intend no polemicall discourse of this poynt by examining their Arguments that businesse is fitter for the Schoole then the Pulpit And O God that either Schoole or Pulpit in Christendome should be troubled about it that any man should dare to make that a question which the Lord hath so plainely and punctually forbidden Beside the Iniquity how grieuous is the absurdity How is a body without a spirit like to a spirit without a body A visible picture like an inuisible nature How would the King take it in scorne to haue his picture made like a Wesell or a Hedgehog And yet the difference betwixt the greatest Monarch and the least Emmet is nothing to the distance betwixt a finite an infinite If they alledge with the Anthropomorphites that the Scripture attributes to God hands and feet and eyes why therefore may they not represent him in the same formes But we say the Scripture also speaks of his couering vs with the Shadow of his wings why therfore do they not paint him like a Bird with feathers If they say that he appeared to Daniel in this forme because hee is there called the Ancient of dayes wee answere that Gods Commandements and not his apparitions be rules to vs by the former we shall be iudged and not by the latter It is mad Religion to neglect what he bids vs doe and to imitate what he hath done as if we should despise his Lawes and goe about to counterfeit his thunder God is too infinite for the comprehension of our soules why should we then labour to bring him into the narrow compasse of bords stones Certenly that should not be Imaged which cannot be Imagined But Christ was a man why may not his Image be made Some answer that no man can make an Image of Christ without leauing out the chiefe part of him which is his Diuinitie It was the Godhead vnited to the manhood that makes him Christ sure this cannot be painted But why should wee make Christs Image without Christs warrant The Lord hath forbidden the making of any Image whether of things in heauen where Christ is or of things on earth where Christ was to worship them Now till God reuoke that precept what can authorise this practice Their Images of the Saints employed to such religious purposes make them no lesse then Idolaters It is a silly shift to say the honor done to the Images reflects vpon the represented Saints When they cloath an Image is the Saint ere the gayer or warmer when they offer to an Image is the Saint ere the richer When they kneele to an Image the Saint esteemes himselfe no more worshipped then the King holds himselfe ho●oured when a man speaks to his picture be fore his face Therefore some of them ar● driuen to confesse plainly that the Image is worshipped for it selfe But could the Saints in heauen be heard speak vpon earth they would disclaime that honour which is ●reiudiciall to their Maker As Caluin is not afraid to say of the blessed Virgin that shee would hold it lesse despite done to her if they should pull her by the haire of the head or trample her in the dirt then to set ●er in riuality with her Sonne and God and Sauiour But they tell vs that they worship not the Images of false Gods as did the Pagans but onely the Images of Gods ●wne seruants and choise friends But will ●he iealous God endure this that his hono●●e taken from him vpon condition it be no● bestowed vpon his enemies but on his friends Idolatry is called Adultery in the Scriptures and shall a woman quit her selfe from offence because though she doe commit adultery yet it is with none but her husbands friends Is this done in a good meaning or in loue to Christ It is but a bad excuse of a wife to say that shee exceedingly loues her husband therefore must haue

prostration will lift vs vp to glory and blessednesse Here then is a Iacobs Ladder but of foure rounds Diuinitie is the Highest I haue se●ne th●e Therefore Mortalitie is the lowest Dust and ashes Betweene both these sit two others Shame and Sorrow no man can abhorre himselfe without Shame nor Repent without Sorrow Let your honourable patience admit Iob descending these foure staires euen so low as he went and may all your soules rise as high as he is Wherefore This referrs vs to the motiue that humbled him and that appeares by the context to be a double meditation one of Gods maiestie another of his mercie 1. Of his maiestie which being so infinite and beyond the comprehension of man hee considered by way of comparison or relation to the creatures the great Beh●moth of the Land the greater Leuiathan of the Sea vpon which hee hath spent the precedent Chapters Mathematicians wonder at the Sun that it being so much bigger then the Earth it doth not set it on fire and burne it to ashes but here is the wonder that God being so infinitely great and wee so infinitely euill we are not consumed VVhatsoe●●r the Lord would doe that did he in heauen in earth in the Sea and in all deepe places If mans power could doe according to his will or Gods will would doe according to his power who could stand I will destroy man from the face of the earth saith the Lord. The originall word is I will steepe him as a man steepes a piece of earth in water till it tu●ne to dirt for man is but clay and forgets his maker and his matter None but God can reduce man to his first principles and the originall graines whereof he was made and there is no dust so high but this great God is able to giue him steeping 2. Or this was a meditation of his mercy then which nothing more humbles a heart of flesh VVith thee O Lord is forgiuenesse that thou mightest bee feared One would thinke that punishment should procure feare and forgiuenesse loue but nemo magis diligit quàm qui maximè veretur offendere no man more truely loues God then hee that is most fearefull to offend him Thy mercie reacheth to the heauens and thy faithfulnesse to the cloudes that is aboue all sublimities God is glorious in all his workes but most glorious in his workes of mercie and this may bee one reason why Saint Paul calls the Gospell of Christ a Glorious Gospell Salomon tels vs It is the glory of a man to passe by an offence herein is God most Glorious in that he pasleth by all the offences of his children Lord who can know thee and not loue thee know thee and not feare thee feare thee for thy Iustice and loue thee for thy mercie yea feare thee for thy mercie and loue thee for thy Iustice for thou art infinitely good in both Put both these together and here is matter of humiliation euen to dust and ashes So Abraham interceding for Sodome Behold I haue taken vpon mee to speake vnto the Lord which am but dust and ashes Quanto magis Sancti Diuinitatis interna conspîciunt tanto magis se nihil esse cognoscu●t It is a certaine conclusion no proud man knowes God Non sum dignus I am not worthy is the voice of the Saints they know God and God knowes them Moses was the meekest man vpon earth and therefore God is said to know him by name I am lesse then the least of thy mercies saith ●acob loe hee was honoured to bee Father of the 12. Tribes and Heire of the Blessing Quis ego sum Domine sayes Dauid who am I O Lord Hee was aduanced from that lowly conceite to bee King of Israel I am not worthy to loose the latchet of Christs shooe saith Iohn Baptist. Loe hee was esteemed worthy to lay his hand on Christs head I am not worthy that thou shouldest come vnder my roofe sayes the Centurion therefore Christ commended him I haue not found so great faith no not in Israel I am the least of the Apostles saith Paul not worthy to be called an Apostle therefore hee is honoured with the title of The Apostle Behold the handmaid of the Lord saith the holy Virgin therefore shee was honoured to be the Mother of the Lord and to haue all generations call her Blessed This Non sum dignus the humble annihilation of themselues hath gotten them the honor of Saints In spirituall graces let vs study to be great and not to know it as the fixed Starres are euery one bigger then the earth yet appeare to vs lesse then torches In alto non altum sapere not to bee high-minded in high deserts is the way to blessed preferment Humilitie is not onely a vertue it selfe but a vessell to containe other vertues like embers which keepe the fire aliue that is hidden vnder it It emptieth it selfe by a modest estimation of the owne worth that Christ may fill it It wrastleth with God like Iacob and winnes by yeelding and the lower it stoopes to the ground the more aduantage it gets to obtaine the blessing All our pride O Lord is from the want of knowing Thee O thou infinite Maker Reueale thy selfe yet more vnto vs so shall wee abhorre our selues and repent in dust and ashes I abhorre my selfe It is a deepe degree of mortification for a man to abhorre himselfe To abhorre others is easie to deny others more easie to despise others most easie But it is hard to despise a mans selfe to deny himselfe harder hardest of all to abhor himselfe Euery one is apt to thinke well speake well doe well to himselfe Not only Charity a spirituall vertue but also Lust a carnall vice begins at home There is no direct Commandement in the Bible for a man to loue himselfe because we are all so naturally prone to it Indeed we are bound to loue our selues so much is implied in the Precept Love thy neighbour as thy selfe therefore loue Thy selfe But Modus praecipiendus vt tibiprosis so loue thy selfe as to doe thy selfe good But for a man vpon good termes to abhorre himselfe this is the wonder He is more then a meere Sonne of Eue that does not ouer-value himselfe Qui se non admiratur mirabilis est hee that doth not admire himselfe is a man to be admired Nor is this disease of proud flesh peculiar onely to those persons whose imperious commands surly salutations insolent controulements witnesse to the world how little they abhorre themselues But it haunts euen the baser condition and fomes out at the common iawes A proud beggar was the Wisemans monster but pride is the daughter of Riches It is against reason indeed that metalls should make difference of men against religion that it should make such a difference of Christian men Yet commonly Reputation is measured by the acre and the altitude of Countenance is taken by the

hired bribed to maintaine Sacriledge God and his poore Ministers may euen hold their peace Something would be spoken for Sions sake but I take this place and time for neither the right Vbi nor Quando We know Abigail would not tell Nabal of his drunkenesse till hee was awoke from his wine Whensoeuer it shall please God to awake you from this intoxication we may then find a season to speake to you But God keepe you from Nabals destiny that when this sinne shall bee obiected to your Consciences on your death-beds your hearts doe not then die in you like a stone One thing let me beg of you in the Name of him whom you thus wrong Howsoeuer you persist to robbe the Temple of the due Salary yet doe not stand to iustifie it By imploring mercy perhaps you may bee saued but by iustifying the Iniury you cannot but be lost As the French King Francis the first said to a woman kneeling and crying to him for Iustice Stand vp woman for Iustice I owe thee if thou beg'st any thing beg mercy So if you request any thing of God let it bee mercy for he owes you Iustice and in this poynt God be mercifull to you all It was Dauids earnest prayer One thing haue I desired of the Lord and that will I seeke after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beautie of the Lord and to enquire in his Temple There are many that pray Dauids words but not with Dauids heart Vnum petij one thing I haue desired De praeterito for the time past hoc requiram this I will still seeke after de futuro for the time to come I haue required it long and this suite I will vrge till I haue obtained it What to dwell in some of the houses of God all the dayes of my life and to leaue them to my children after me not to serue him there with deuotion but to make the place mine owne possession These loue the House of God too well they loue it to Haue and to Hold but because the Conueyance is made by the Lawyer and not by the Minister their Title will bee found naught in the end and if there bee not a Nifi prius to preuent them yet at the great day of vniuersall Audite the Iudge of all the world shal condemne them By this way the neerer to the Church the further from God The Lords Temple is ordained to gaine vs to him not for vs to gaine it from him If we loue the Lord we will loue the habitation of his House and the place where his Honour dwelleth that so by being humble frequenters of his Temple below we may be made noble Saints of his House aboue the glorious kingdome of Iesus Christ. These bee the enemies to the Temple whereof the first would separate Dominum à Templo the other templum à Domino they would take God from the Temple these would take the Temple from God Let mee conclude this poynt with two watch-words 1. The first concernes vs of the Ministery the wayters of the Temple It hath been an old saying De Templo omne bonum de Templo omne malum all good or euill comes from the Temple Where the Pastor is good and the people good hee may say to them as Paul to his Corinthians Nonne opus meum vos estis in Domino Are not ye my work in the Lord Where the Pastor is bad and the people no better they may say to him Nonne destructis nostra tu es in seculo art not thou our destruction in the world It is no wonder if an abused Temple make a disordered people A wicked Priest is the worst creature vpon Gods earth no sinne is so blacke as that shall appeare from vnder a white Surplesse Euery mans iniquitie is so much the hainouser as his place is holyer The sinne of the Clergy is like a Rheume which rising from the stomach into the head drops downe vpon the lungs fretting the most noble and vitall parts till all the members languish into corruption The lewd sonnes of Eli were so much the lesse tolerable by sinning in the Tabernacle Their sacrifices might doe away the sinnes of others no sacrifice could doe away their owne Many a soule was the cleaner for the blood of those beasts they shed their owne soules were the fouler by it By one and the same seruice they did expiate the peoples offences and multiply their owne Our Clergie is no Charter for heauen Such men are like the conueyances of Land Euidences and Instruments to settle others in the kingdome of heauen while themselues haue no part of that they conuey It is no vnpossible thing for men at once to shew the way to Heauen with their tongue and lead the way to Hell with their foot It was not a Iewish Ephod it is not a Romish Cowle that can priuiledge an euill doer from punishment Therefore it was Gods charge to the executioners of his Iudgements Begin at my owne Sanctuary and the Apostle tells vs that Iudgement shall begin at the house of God and Christ entring into his Propheticall Office began reformation at his Fathers house Let our deuout and holy behauiour preuent this and by our reuerent carriage in the Temple of God let vs honour the God of the Temple It should be our endeuour to raise vp seed vnto our elder Brother to winne soules vnto Christ. Nunquam cessate lucrari Christo qui lucrati estis à Christo. If Christ while hee was vpon the Crosse saith Bernard had giuen mee some drops of his owne blood in a Violl how carefully would I haue kept them how dearely esteemed them how laid them next my heart But now he did not thinke it fit to trust me with those drops But hee hath intrusted to me a flocke of his lambes those soules for whom hee shed his blood like whom his owne blood was not so deare vnto him vpon these let mee spend my care my loue my labour that I may present them holy Saints to my deare Lord Iesus 2. The other concernes all Christians that they beware lest for the abuses of men they despise the Temple of God For as the Altar cannot sanctifie the Priest so nor can the vnholinesse of the Priest dishallow the Altar His sin is his owne and cannot make you guiltie the vertue and comfort is from God and this is still able to make you holy When wee read that the sinne of the Priests was great before the Lord for men abhorred the offering of the Lord this we all confesse was ill done of the Priests and I hope no man thinks it was well done of the people Say their sinnes yea their very persons were worthy to be abhorred shall men therefore scorne the Sanctuary cast that contempt on the Seruice of God which belongs to the vices of man This were to adde our owne

some other man to kisse and embrace in his absence and all this in loue to her husband Wee are all by nature prone to Idolatrie when we were little children we loued babies and being growne men we are apt to loue Images And as Babies be childrens Idols so Idols Images be mens Babies It seemes that Idols are fittest for Babes therefore so the Apostle ●its his caution Babes keepe your selues from Idols As all our knowledge comes by sense so we naturally desire a sensible obiect of deuotion finding it easier to see Pictures then to comprehend Doctrines and to forme prayers to the Images of men then to forme man to the Image of God Nor can they excuse themselues from Idolatry by saying they put their confidence in God not in the Images of God For when the Israelites had made their golden Calfe and danced about one calfe about another they were not such beasts as to thinke that beast their God But so can Superstition besot the mind that it makes vs not men before it can wake vs Idolaters What doe they say Make vs gods that shall go before us Euery word is wicked absurd sensles 1. They had seene the power of God in many miraculous deliuerances before their eyes the voice of God had scarce yet done thundering in their eares he had said I am Iehouah thou shalt haue no other gods and this they trembling heard him speake out of the midst of the flames and yet they dare speake of another god 2. The singular number would not serue them make vs gods How many gods would they haue Is there any more then one 3. Make vs gods and were not they strange gods that could bee made In stead of acknowledging God their Maker they command the making of gods 4. This charge they put vpon Aaron as if he were able to make a god Aaron might helpe to spoyle a man either himselfe or them but hee could not make a man not one haire of a man much lesse a god and yet they say to him Make vs gods 5. And what should these gods doe Goe before vs Alas how should they goe that were not able to stand how goe before others that could not moue themselues Oh the blockishnes of men that make blocks to worship Otherwise how could they that are the Images of God fall downe before the Images of creatures For health they call vpon that which is weake for life they pray to that which is dead and a prosperous iourney they beg of that which cannot set a foot forward Yet as their sinne was bad enough let not our vncharitablenesse make it worse Let vs not thinke them so vnreasonable as to thinke that Calfe a God or that the Idoll which they made to day did bring them out of Egipt three moneths before It was the true God they meant to worship in the Calfe and yet at the best euen that Idolatry was damnable So charitie bids vs hope of the Papists that they doe not take that bord or stone for their God yet withall wee find that God doth take them for Idolaters They tell vs with a new distinction that they forbid the people to giue Diuine worship to Images but we say they had better forbid the people to haue Images A blocke lies in the high way and a watchman is set by it to warne the Passengers Take heed heere is a blocke But how if the watchman fall a sleepe Whether is the safer course quite to remoue the blocke out of the way or to trust the passengers safetie vpon the watchmans vigilancie As for their watchmen commonly they are as very Images as the Images themselues and how should one blocke remoue another When Ieroboam had set vp his two Idols in Israel hee I rakes vp his Priests out of the common kennell the basest of the people were good enough for such a bastard deuotion woodden priests were fit enough to wayt vpon golden Deities So when Micah had made him a costly Idol he hires him a beggerly Leuite No ortherwise did the Painter excuse himselfe for drawing the Images of Peter and Paul too ruddy and high coloured in the face that howsoeuer they were while they liued pale with fasting and preaching yet now they must needs become red with blushing at the errors and ignorance of their successors for such with a lowd noyse they giue themselues out to be To conclude if it were as easie to conuince Idolaters as it is to confound tread downe their Idols this labour of Confutation had bin well spared or were soone ended But if nothing can reclaime them from this superstitious practice let them reade th●ir fearefull sentence Their place shall be without among the dogs those desperate sinners vncapable of forgiuenes The strong the Idol which they made their strength shall bee as towe and the maker or worshipper thereof as a sparke and they shall both burne together in euerlasting fire and none shal quench them Now the Lord open their eyes to see and sanctifie their hearts to yeeld that there is no agreement betwixt the Temple of God and Idols which is the next point whereof I shall speake with what breuitie I can and with what fidelitie I ought No agreement There bee some points which the wrangling passions of men haue left further asunder then they found them about which there needed not haue bin such a noyse But things that are in their owne natures contrary and opposed by the ordinance of God can neuer be reconciled An enemy may be made a friend but enmity can neuer bee made friendship The ayre that is now light may become darke but light can neuer become darknesse Contraries in the abstract are out of all composition The sicke body be recouered to health but health can neuer be sicknes The sinner may be made righteous but sinne can neuer become righteousnes Fire and water peace and warre loue and hatred truth and falshood faith and infidelity Religion and Idolatry can neuer be made friends there can bee no agreement betwixt the Temple of God and Idols God is Ens entium All in all an Idol is nothing in the world saith the Apostle now All and Nothing are most contrary Idolatry quite takes away Faith a fundamentall part of Christian religion for an Idol is a thing visible but Faith is of things inuisible The Idol is a false euidence of things seene Faith is a true euidence of things not seen Besides God can defend himselfe saue his friends plague his enemies but Idols nec hostes absc●ndere possunt quasi dij nec se abscondere quasi homines they can neither reuenge themselus on prouokers like gods nor hide themselues from iniurers like men The foolish Philistims thought that the same house could hold both the Arke Dagon as if an insensible Statue were a fit companion for the liuing God In the morning they come to thanke Dagon for the victory