miserable aduersitie Another reason of this doctrine is that which Dauid giueth Psal 17. 14. They haue no portion but in this life they can haue no comfort of the graces of the Lords children so that when they are perplexed and weaned from these things they are more vexed then other men This is the iust iudgement of God that where men haue most of al set their hart there aboue others they should receiue their hurt Now my deere brethren take vp a taste of this foode which I haue prepared for your soules and lust not after the wilde Doe when the tame kid may serue your turne Vse I beseech you these plaine and easie doctrines to shew vs the miserie of our times wherein we liue and of their liues among whome we liue We are altogether set on eating and drinking as if our soules delighted in wine or should be saued by meate wee regarde not the want which the poore endure wee thinke not on the hand which is ready to strike vs and we feare not the calamitie which doth alreadie compasse vs. Make not your belly your God and take not your portion in this life onely knowe you that a good Christian cannot come to heauen but by often fasting and continuall watchfulnesse and see you not how little this was practised till the dearth came and put vs in minde hereof now then let vs redeeme the time that we haue euill spent and spare that meate for the poore which we may saue for our selues We haue long liued by bread but now let vs liue by the word of God let vs I beseech you cast off our carnall desires and take no rest in our owne houses with Vrijah till the Lords people be in quietnesse let this preuaile with vs that looke how much comfort we take in abusing these so much discomfort shall we finde by forsaking them The vses which offer themselues out of this doctrine are these first that the confidence which the wicked raise vp to themselues in the things of this life shall bee their vtter ouerthrowe Isai 20 5 6. that whereas Egypt and Ethiopia were the comfort of Israell contrarie to the expresse commandement of God the Lorde threateneth to captiuate these nations and to destroy the people in their owne expectation that both the comfort and comforters should be at once confounded Euen so doth he in like manner in these daies where men leane more on the weake staffe of meate and drinke then on the strong rocke of God his word he breaketh the staffe in peeces and maketh the flitters to pearse through our owne harts This is the rewarde of belly-gods that their ioyes are remooued their hope is decayed their consolation confoundeth them and the want of those things wherein they most delighted shal procure them most easelesse paine because they most corrupted them The rich glutton which exceeded in delicious fare and in all abundance of wines and pleasant drinks was tormented without all pitie for want of water The prodigall sonne who lauished out riotously his fathers legacy like our English spend-thriftes at tables at drinking at whooring at gaming in brauerie of apparell horses houndes and delicates was constrained for his office to be a swineheard for his meate to want that which his beastes were fed with for his brauerie to bee basely and beggarly araied and his whole felicitie was turned into most lamentable yet due deserued miserie Harken therefore vnto me my brethren and heare me when I tell you the issues of your pleasures If you be aged thinke what were your sorrowe that if those riches which in youth you laboured for with your hands to comfort you withall when you should be olde should be suddenly taken from you then may you say my yoonger yeeres I consumed in vanitie and elder daies must perish in pouertie If you be yoong men consider with your owne harts that if the libertie you tooke should be abridged the pastimes you plaied should cause you so many stripes and your youthfull daies shoulde bee turned into languishing infirmities would not this amaze you to feele it and discomfort you to consider it Yes yes my beloued when your riches are the coles your desires are the fire your pleasures are the bellowes and your owne liues are the irons to be burned in this miserable miserie I delighted shall one say in hunting and nowe the beasts deuoure me I delighted in dauncing but now my woonted mirth is turned into hellish yelling I delighted in drinking but my cuppes are emptie and the naturall heate of my stomacke deuoureth my body like a fire I delighted in stealing but now doth the world rob me of my life the diuel of my soule I delighted in whooring but alas my diseases are become loathsome to God and man I delighted in slandering and hurting other but my lyes are recompensed with my owne life I was a swearer but the Lords wounds which I blasphemed haue witnessed my death I was a coniurer the diuell hath me I desired large fields but now haue I lost mine owne And thus shall all sinners come to their endes as Esau which louing hunting by his loue lost his blessing Another vse arising from the same doctrine shall be this that seeing we which be most abusers of the Lords benefits shall by their want be most of all punished let vs before this time of aduersitie come humble our soules and amende our sinnes as the prophet calleth vpon Babylon many yeeres before shee was destroyed Isa 47. 1. 23. Come downe and sit in the dust O virgin daughter Babell sit on the ground for there is no throne O daughter of the Chaldeans for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate So my beloued come you downe now while you heare me calling vnto you and while this wrath is but comming vpon you you haue euery one aduanced a throne for your sinnes to sit on but pull it downe or else it shall defile your soules Yet there is time turne you from your euils you drunkards to sobernes you wantons to modestie you swearers to pitie you idle ones to diligence you rich men to humility you gentlemen to religion you women to righteousnes you yoong men to learning you old men to praying and you poore men to patience turne turne I say before this aduersitie that either your chaunge may change the Lords meaning or vse may ease the rigour of your punishment Come downe I beseech you take vp your crosse and follow Iesus Christ let temperance rule you let religion perswade you let your Sauiour win you let his ministers warne you let the earth speake vnto you and be yee all conuerted or else continue in your delights and cease not to offend God which hateth your liues or the church which wisheth your wealth or the poor which pray for your peace or the earth which threatneth want or the diuell that gapeth for your soules Howle allye drinkers of wine Now the prophet telleth
welth nor forsake your life but cast away vaine mirth idle talke wicked hope wretched behauiour leaue your sins to the diuel frō whence they came giue thy soule to the Lord frō whence it came Elisha did but require of Naaman to go into the riuer seuen times he shuld be clean which his seruants tolde him was but a small thing so we require you but to wash your souls with the water of your eies and you shal be as free from death as Naaman was from the leprosie But why should I need to instruct you are you not minded like Ieremie that of himselfe desired riuers of teares to weep for his people so be you not backward but of your own accord so that you may plese the lord desire that you were al teares to lamēt throughly the miseries of the world Oh lament with speed tarrie not or else it wil be too late whē you shal see before your eies the litle infants quartred the aged persons mangled the cruell heathens aduanced the poore christians dying the aire thundering the earth quaking vnder you and the cloudes rayning downe fire and vengeance Another vse is this that we be so minded at the hearing of the Lordes iudgements as if they were presently to be executed It was a great fault in the Israelites that whensoeuer the prophet spake any thing to them they presently thought and saide this shall not bee yet it will be a good while before it come to passe and we neede not care for wee may bee dead and gone out of the way ere this bee fulfilled Ezech. 12. 27. 28. but the Lorde rebuketh that follie and biddeth the prophet tell them that it shall bee shortly performed And so the like rage possesseth the heades and braines of many in our daies which although they knowe that it is true that is tolde them of a destruction yet euery one thinketh it shall not be this yeere nor in our Queenes daies nor so long as the Gospell remaineth and therefore they will possesse al their vanity rather then be humbled But this ought not to beso yea rather hasten out of this securitie as Lot out of Sodom and the Israelites out of Egypt that thou maiest escape it whensoeuer it commeth It is better with the wise virgines to be readie an houre or two or three too soone then with the foolish to tarrie a quarter of an howre too late Therefore admit the danger bee not as yet yet bicause wee are nowe warned let vs now be prepared shall we not make as great account of the Lords louing mercie as of our owne health yes yes my beloued and therefore let vs arise to lamentation bicause the Lord calleth for it although there were no danger following after But wee are like the disciples which coulde not watch but sleepe euen then when Christ was in most danger although our Sauiour did manie times awake them till at length the enimie came vpon them and they were all driuen to forsake Christ so I praie God our like securitie bee not with the like danger awakened for I feare if the mercifull voice of a Sauiour will not mooue vs the terrible crie and swordes of enimies will amaze vs. As a destruction In these wordes is the general cause of the lamentation described bicause the Lords wrath is kindled to make a destruction Wherein there is to bee noted that nothing doth so much feare and terrifie good men as the anger of God Deuter. 9. 17 18. When Moses perceiued that God was angrie hee fell downe flat on his face and besought God neither eating nor drinking for fortie daies and nights togither was not their feare great that made this good man to aduenture his life by so long fasting and his soule by desiring to bee razed out of the booke of life yes verily for the anger of the Lord mooued him more then if he had seene all the worlde on fire about his eares But carnall Gospellers and carelesse Atheists as they thinke it a farre more lesse matter to please God then to please man so they deeme it a lesse matter to haue God angry with them then the prince or some great rich men that may hinder their worldly estimation Alas alas if Saule were fearefull to a thousande Dauid was to tenne thousande and if worldly men may a little terrifie the flesh the God of the worlde may infinitelie plague the spirite Therefore put on this affection that we may knowe what to thinke of the wrath of God if the anger of a prince be the messenger of death much more is the wrath of God the herauld of condemnation When Assuerus was angrie presently Hamans face was couered and he carried to execution woulde not Haman giue all his possessions to haue retained the fauour of the king so likewise aduenture any thing rather then to stirre vp the coales of the Lordes wrath by which thou thy selfe and all thy neighbours shall be burned without mercy Oh therefore studie to knowe howe to auoide his displeasure and to retaine his louing countenance and let not the loue of any sinne so bewitch thee that thou procure his vengeance in working thy desire The reasons of this doctrine are these First bicause none can bee an intercessour or a friende to God being angrie 1. Sam. 2. 25. that is there is not anie mortall man that can doe any such a pleasure as to staie the Lords wrath from falling on him or that may bee able to stande in the gap of the Lordes wrath The which consideration might most effectually admonish all our presumptuous companions which thinke that the Lord is pinned to their sleeues imagining him to be such a childe as might bee lost with an apple and wonne with a trifle againe but they shall finde it a farre more heauie matter when no offers of gold no intreaties offriends no teares of greefe no nor yet the fruit or blood of their bodies shal pacifie or recompence him for their sins This ought to make vs account highly of the mediation intercessiō of Christ and not to tread vnder our feete his glorious blood shedding after we be once reconciled Another reason is because it is a most fearefull thing to fall into the handes of the liuing God Heb. 10. 31. such a fearefull thing as passeth all vnderstanding and therefore who but mad men will run too farre into this danger Although Dauid chose rather to fall into the hands of God then men because he was well assured the iudgement was but a fatherly correction and not a reuenging punishment yet we must know that he knew that it would bee but a corporall or bodily death but we are not assured of halfe so much yea happie were we if the wrath of God did but reach to our bodies and that he would be satisfied for our sinnes if we lost our children and wealth and friendes and health and life or that if we could endure all
reason hereofmay be this because no man can haue a perfect faith without the totall conuersion of the hart Rom. 10. 9. and men can neuer liue well that beleeue not well saith Augustine If thou haue one part of thy heart with the Lord bicause thou knowest the truth thou hast another part with the world in louing thy life so in part thou beleeuest God and beleeuest the diuell Canst thou brag of faith when thy heart is distracted louing and liking two contrarie maisters no verily thou deceiuest thy selfe thou canst not loue gold and beleeue in God thou canst not haunt thy pleasures and yet delight in the Gospell Therefore if thou wouldest haue a sound faith thou must first haue a sound hart conuert thy hart and then thy faith will follow if it bee thoroughly thou shalt haue a perfect faith but if thou doe it in part then is it but a painted bodie which can neither goe nor see Another reason because regeneration maketh the heart to bee one Ierem. 32. 39. Indeede they which wander in wickednes haue a hart and a hart but when we come to the Lord we must haue but one hart for the hart is the man wherein are treasured all kind of vnderstanding and knowledge therefore it must not be halfe of flesh and halfe of stone Ezech. 11. 19. but either all flesh or all stone for he that is in part prophane and in part a christian in very deede is no man And for this cause is hypocrisie of all sinnes most abhominable which maketh a man no man dissembling with God the world and himselfe with God in his hart with the world in his life and with himselfe in that he dissembleth Of all sinners fewest hypocrites are conuerted and of all persons are they most odious and therefore hell is called the lake burning with fire and brimstone prepared for hypocrites vnlesse then we will liue as they liue and die as they die we must turne our whole hearts to the Lord. The vses are these First that we draw neere vnto the Lord with a pure hart Heb. 10. 22. Puritie is ioyned with integritie therefore when our hearts be purest then are they fittest for the Lord. In olde time there straite steps to our feete least that which is halting be turned out of the way Heb. 12. 12. 13. we are in great danger by prolonging our amendment to haue all marred and turned out of the way therefore let vs awake ouer our soules that wee may saue those parts which are vnsound for there is not any man but hee hath some woundes and maymes in his soule which must bee speedilie cured or else the longer they runne the more miserable they growe It is a lamentable thing to see men to deferre their conuersion saying one yeere they will doe it next yeere and the next season they will plowe their harts and sowe it with the worde It is also a thing dangerous to lodge but one night in a knowne sinne and therefore as the Apostle saide of anger so we must of euerie other transgression Let not the Sunne goe downe thereon Make speede I beseech you to amende your liues to reclaime your hearts to forsake your vanities to renounce your errours and to put away your pleasures for if your hart delight in any thing beside God it denieth God if it keepe hir naturall corruption and cast it not foorth it blasphemeth God if it delay to returne it abuseth his mercie it despiseth his grace and condemneth it selfe Say not saith Salomon I will giue thee to morrowe when thou maiest to day The whole time of this life is a time of repentance and therefore looke howe much thereof wee spende not in repentance so much we shall want to doe it in which must euery day make vs neerer to the Lorde or neerer to hell The xx Sermon HAuing handled the exhortation vnto repentance nowe let vs proceede to the manner thereof With weepings fastings and mournings the which wordes require a seuerall treatise And first in that they are commanded to weepe we may obserue that with inwarde repentance there must be ioyned outwarde signes thereof and in occasion of greater and more forcible feeling of our sinnes wee shall wring out sorrowes more abundantly This thing is taught by the prophet Hos 14. 3 4. where hauing exhorted the Israelites to a newe life hee biddeth them to take the wordes of repentance and to make a publike profession thereof Peter repented and it was with teares for the Scripture saith hee wept bitterly The selfe same thing doe good men finde in themselues at this day for as where the bodie is wounded there issueth foorth some bloude so where repentance hath wounded the soule there will follow some bloud I meane the teares therof Carnall men thinke they haue repented if they say God forgiue me or I am sorrie for it although afterward they liue neuer so lewdly Looke vpon thy life and see what gutters the teares haue made in thy face which haue distilled from thy eies for thy sinnes looke also vpon the sacrifices of thy lips how lamentable thy praiers haue been before the Lord account with thy self where when thou diddest offer them for without praier thou couldest neuer be conuerted It may be thou hast not wept by reason of some natural infirmity but it must be that thou hast praied or else it cannot be that thou hast repented Therefore let not any man deceiue himselfe think that he hath repented till his life be turned from the world his minde from pleasure his face from ioye and his bodie from desire of sinning The first reason hereof may be this because the Lord hath redeemed vs Isa 44. 22. that is as the Lord hath shewed open tokens of his fauour toward vs so we must shewe open tokens of our repentance towarde him The which reason well considered will teach vs that there ought to bee as great loue in vs for our saluation as was in Christ for our redemption He cared not for his life that hee might saue vs why then should wee care for our owne liues and spare our sinnes he shed his blood and we sent our follies he gaue himselfe for our sinnes and yet we will not let him haue them There is none that is ignorant of this except he had repented hee must haue perished and therefore if thou repent not thou must be damned The Lord hath not beene carefull for thy soule that thou shouldest bee secure but his loue must be a patterne for thee to loue thy selfe All that he did was for thy soule he was reproched he was empouerished he was condemned and crucified for it that thou mightest endure all shame to repent them all pouertie to preuent them all iniuries to lament them and all deaths to mortifie them He walked many miles watched many nights fasted many daies and endured many afflictions that thou mightest labour much watch carefully abstaine continually and endure
fruitfull abounding with many a pleasant herbe let not thy hart be barren and stuffed with filthie stinking sins Come to the spirituall gifts of God see how many preachers thou hast to moue thee to repentance it is the end of preaching the fruit of hearing the motion of praier the sacraments signifie it the Spirit worketh it and the whole church of God liueth in it the bishop watcheth for it the doctor teacheth for it the worker of myracles doth witnesse it the poore mans boxe doth prooue it I cannot run ouer al it is sufficient that euery one do prooue it I would to God that any might preuaile The reason because God woulde be neere vnto all that call vpon him Psa 145. 18. he wil cōpasse vs about with a world of witnesses that they may draw vs to him or else to accuse our disobedience whom the heauēs could not win or the earth admonish or the church perswade or the spirite instruct that all these which could not work our health may further our death And seeing in euery place these are manifest in so much as we despise all warnings of God and his creatures it is most equall that we be pnnished with all torments of hell fire Seeing all things are notes vnto vs of the Lords fauour then assuredly if men will shew any care to serue him hee will neuer hide his face or punish vs extremely 2. Chron. 30. 9. Oh what a comfort is this to a troubled soule to haue all the creatures of the world to witnesse the Lords fauour the birds flying the beastes eating the corne standing the grasse growing and the houses ouer our heads are pledges vnto vs of the grace of God Then turne thee and consider not two or three but euery one in their kinde and thou shalt finde inestimable ioy Why doe men complaine for want of grace when all the world is ful of grace it pearseth the stones it cleaueth the rocks it shaketh the trees it quickeneth the beastes and it descendeth to the bottome of the earth onely the soules of men are not capable thereof Beginne now with thy selfe set these creatures as iudge arraigne thy soule as guiltie bring foorth thy guiltie conscience and waite for the sentence of condemnation Oh no saue thy selfe from these frowarde inuentions Turne I say a little shew a willing minde bring a ready hart pray for an ounce of godly sorrow and let the world and the gospell the creatures and the spirite the earth and the church the angels and the beastes encrease the same gather thou the wood they will blowe the fire thy care shall be augmented as the widowes oile by Elishah that thy debts shall be discharged thy trouble shall be eased thy life shall be amended and thy soule shall be blessed Seeing all the creatures of God doe remember vs of his grace then let euery creature be deere and precious vnto vs Gen. 1. 31. as a pledge of his fauour for the Lorde cōmendeth them all to be good And if he which wrought them doe so then much more ought wee for whose sake they were created Let vs then often meditate on the frame of the world the bodies of men the proportion of beastes and the little greene leaues shall minister vnto vs much instruction to reforme our liues we shall finde not one of them made for themselues but all of them for one another and especially for vs. Wherefore it cannot bee that we were borne for luxurie riot pleasure profite sorrowe loue ioy or hatred no not for the possession of our selues but for the possession of the Lord. Consider these things and thou shalt finde all time too little not spent herein and all ioy but vanitie that is not applied to this When thou canst not heare the worde reade it when thou canst not reade then meditate on it when thou art wearie of meditation then turne to the creatures and solace thy selfe in them as in a most pleasant garden of many sweet flowers marke their diuersitie in colour strange in number infinite in making contrarie and yet in vse all one euen for thy sake that thou mightest be for the Lords glorie Marke their growth that thou maist growe so and their death for thou shalt die so and their spring for thou shalt arise in the sommer of all pleasures with them in the kingdome of heauen Mercifull The second reason is taken from the Lords mercie and that therefore if they will repent he will pardon Wherein I might tell you many thinges woorth the learning of the Lordes mercie and shew you by many arguments howe the scripture in many places doth expresse it sometime naturally as to men and beasts Psal 36. 6. sometime to good and bad Mat. 5. to his church through Christ Luc. 1. 78. and all these he meaneth in this place when hee saith that God is mercifull not simply through Christ whereby he saueth his church but also through himselfe whereby he loueth al his creatures From hence obserue that the mercie of God must leade men to repentance 1. Sam. 12. 24. The which is cleane contrary to the course of the worlde which take it for a libertie of sin and make it not a necessitie to repentance but a good childe is more afraid of a gentle and a kind father then of a sterne and seuere and we if we be the children of God must be as much terrified from sinne with the sweete songs of Sion as with the loud thunder claps of Sinai be as subiect to the Lords censure in his sweete mercies as other in the fearfull curses of the Law Therefore let not our time of peace our healthie bodies our large possessions our heaps of treasure our sweete children and all other mercies of God make our harts fat but let vs vse all these to awake vs from sinning and to restraine vs from offending him that defendeth vs with them yea let vs weepe moe teares for hauing them then for wanting them that we may enioy the promises of this life and of the life to come The first reason because they are mercifull which loue mercie and therefore blessed Matt. 5. 7. If we would see a token of our pitifull harts then let vs thinke how the sweete promises of the Gospell haue pearced them It is no wonder to see such bloodie minds in Papists because they make small account of the Lords mercie teaching vs that men may satisfie for their sinne and for this cause they thirst after blood for the breach of their canons But yet let vs beware how we perswade men to relie on the mercie of God for they say wee teach men to trust to mercie and to liue vily but let vs exhort one another in the Lord that we walke woorthie of his mercie and vse his abundant clemencie for a promptor vnto repentance Another reason because God is more delighted with his mercie then with our sacrifice Hos
and yet wee which haue more reason are not mollified by the gifts of God or warned by our workes to him or pierced by his commandements but of this inough else where Because he hath exalted This is the reason why the Lord wil bring so sharpe a punishment vpon them because they haue beene so bold as to afflict his people But some may say vnto me did not the Lord sende these creatures to destroy and if he sent them why doth he punish them and if he sent them not how could they come in such swarmes to whom I answere that the Lord sent them and yet they exalted themselues to do it Whereby we may gather that men shall not alway escape vnpunished although they performe that which God commanded for God willed that Christ should be crucified but yet Iudas was neuerthelesse eternally plagued Act. 1. 18. if one man murther another God will haue it so or else it could not be yet shal the murtherer suffer death iustly God will haue good men in his church to be persecuted imprisoned and martyred by the enimies yet woe be to those men and hands that so handle and mangle their godly members The first reason because in these actions men serue not God but their owne will Act. 13. 27. God decreeth it for one cause but they doe it for another as God would haue Christ deliuered for the sinnes of the world but Iudas betrayed him for thirtie peeces of siluer God would haue Christ dye for redemption but the Iewes would put him to death for malice and thus one and the same thing done for diuers causes doth not excuse their malice as we may note in the storie of Ioseph and his brethren Againe as they do it for their owne pleasure so they attribute it to their owne power Isa 10. 13. so wee shall finde many boasting of their wickednes how they haue played the tall fellowes in wounding and killing and whooring and stealing and endicting and condemning and accusing other men when themselues are as guiltie of hell as the other were of death Oh fearefull spectacle of humane infirmitie that we may do that which God willeth to be done and yet we cannot will as God would haue it done No maruell if our life be so separated from God when our will cannot agree with our hand Seeing we may be transgressors in doing that which God commandeth especially when we haue to doe with the godly let vs follow the counsell of Pilates wife which was this that we haue nothing to doe against iust men for God will surely plague vs in the ende Matth. 27. 19. Speake not against them for it shall be rewarded fight not against them for thou shalt be conquered spoile them not for thou shalt be spoyled and accuse them not for thou shalt be condemned They are the eie of God pricke them not they are the Lordes annointed touch them not they are Christs members hurt them not for surely as Saul by striuing against Dauid did spoyle himselfe and as Pharaoh by tyrannizing ouer the Israelites did vndoe himselfe and all his countrey so shalt thou bring both nations and people thy selfe and all thy posteritie into euerlasting woe if thou oppresse the professors of religion Remember if thou chastise them thou art but the rod of God which when corrections be finished is throwne into the fire and euen as now Pilate wisheth though it be too late that he had obeyed his wifes counsell so shalt thou wish if not too late that thou haddest neuer medled against religion Againe let vs learne to frame our wils to God his will and then shall our handes without trespasse worke that which God commaundeth and therefore doe nothing of malice for that is of the diuel do nothing of enuie for that is of sedition do nothing rashly for that is folly but do all things with loue for there is God If thou canst do anything and not breake the bond of loue to God or to thy neighbour thou sinnest not yea although it seeme neuer so sinfull in the sight of man for loue is the fulfilling of the law so then so long as thou workest in loue so long thou doest not offend God and so long as thou doest not offend God so long thou doest not transgresse the law Feare not ô land but be glad and reioice for the Lord will do mightie things In this and in the verses following the Prophet giueth them verie manie exhortations grounded on the neuer failing promise of God First generally in this verse and then more specially in the verses following In this verse hee biddeth them not to feare some will thinke that this exhortation is needles for if they did not feare they could not beleeue his former threatnings To whome I answere that he meaneth they should not distrust the promises of God notwithstanding all the before named iudgements and therefore presently in this verse he telleth them that the Lord will doe for them mighty things By this then we gather that in all good men the promises of God must bee more powerfull then the feare of euill more plainly thus Art thou feared with sicknesse with pouertie with losse of children and such like dangers then remember the promise of God which saith that all shall worke to thy best and that I will not faile thee nor thy seede and such like and so let these promises more comfort thee then thy terrors doe dismay thee So our Sauiour comforted his disciples and in them all of vs Luc. 12. 32. Feare not little flocke it is your fathers will to giue you a kingdome and Dauid saide well to this purpose Though I walke in the valley of death I will not feare for thy rod and thy staffe they comfort me so let vs say with him though we liue in feare of warre and famine and pestilence and diuell and death and hell yet wee will not feare because God hath said they shall not hurt vs. Iosuah was neuer afraid to fight because God had said that he woulde fight for him so let not vs be afraide to fight with sinne to liue in danger to languish in prison and to pine away in famine seeing wee haue the Lords owne promise that none of these shall destroy vs but amend vs. The first reason because his euerlasting loue is the cause of his promise and therefore it will performe his mercie Ier. 31. 3 and if it be euerlasting then is the force thereof now as well as when it was first made and seeing it neuer was nor euer shal be repealed therfore it shall as well strengthen thy soule as the soule of Noah or Abraham or Moses or Dauid or Ieremie or any other Againe euil things are alway cōditionally threatned meaning if men repent not as we may see in Dauid Ahab Niniueh and many other and therefore repentant men neede not feare any danger for they are alway blessed hauing the angels to
soule that it may stande in all stormes swimme in all seas abide in all dangers liue in all deathes and raigne in all glorie So you shall know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion my holy mountaine then shall Ierusalem be holy and no strangers shall goe through her any more Now the Prophet drawing to a conclusion of his Sermons shutteth them vp with many sweete promises of the Lords fauour as first of all his presence then his bountie his presence in this verse which shall sanctifie them and keepe them from enimies Concerning the former part of this verse where the Prophet saith they shall know him to be their God dwelling in Zion sufficient hath beene alreadie spoken and I will not stand any longer thereon but referre you to the former chapter This therefore his promise vnto Ierusalem that it should be holy teacheth vs the perfection or greatest honour of the church namely Holines Ephes 1. 4. when the Lord promiseth that his church should bee holy hee thereby teacheth vs that all gifts and goodnes and mercy and glorie and dignitie of the church proceedeth from this that she is holy neither can the Lord in this world bestow any greater benefit vpon his church then hir sanctication This Holines consisteth not in learning nor in studying nor in knowledge nor in prophesie nor in miracles nor in church-offices but in a good life and in all them so that a holy man is a perfect christian Now verily when the Lord promiseth Ierusalem to be Holy he giueth hir all things for he giueth hir grace to be righteous his fauour to be honorable and his benefits to be glorious Without holynes men are heathens but with it they are christians without it they cannot enioy the earth but with it they may enioy the heauens without it they are sathans slaues but with it they are the Lords sonnes and to conclude Holines is the will of God the ende of our redemption the fruit of the Spirit the cloathing of our soules the ioy of the godly and the perfection of the church By Holynes landes are established euil is banished kings thrones are maintained and it maketh a nation dwell without danger no enimie can touch them no famine can dismay them no misery can ouerthrow them because they be holy and so may euery mans soule by Holynes driue away the diuell continue in the church and obtaine the kingdome of heauen The first reason because in nothing do we resemble God more then in holines Exod. 22. 23. who is only holy Reuel 15. 4. Holines and righteousnes was the image wherein God created vs and therefore he caused to bee wrote vpon the breast of the high Priests roabes Holines to the Lord. Contrarie vnto this holines is prophanesse when men abuse whatsoeuer is appointed to be holy whereby I see that they are verie iustly termed prophane men who haue no maner of shew of holines God his fearefull name which is holy they blaspheme the sabbaoths which are holy they prophane religion which is holy they contemne the congregation which is holy they persecute praiers which are holy they seldome vse and to be briefe al the lawes of God which are holy they violate these are carnall men these are miserable men these are subiect to all abhominations So that as there is no blessing but it belongeth to the holy so there is no curse but it belongeth to the prophane Another reason is because holynes is freed from sin hell Isa 11. 8 9. now to be freed from sin is the greatest blessing in this world to be freed frō hel is the greatest blessing in the world to come indeed one followeth another for whosoeuer is freed from sin is also freed from hell But there are many that thinke it a great paine vnto them to be free from sin because they cannot endure to be free from the meanes of sinning yet let vs know that this is or ought to be our prayer that wee may once be freed from committing of sinne that whereas we haue a minde to idolatrie or Poperie it may be turned from it or if we be inclined to swearing we may fall to leaue it and hate it and if we be addicted to be enuious we may be charitable or to lusts we may be chaste or to falshood we may bee true or to couetousnes we may be liberall or ignorance of the scriptures we may be learned in them and finally if to any vaine or vnlawfull thing we may no more desire it then children do the rod oh happy were we if we were thus cleansed from sinne that we might be thus sanctified Let vs learne that exhortation of the Apostle 1. Pet. 1. 15 16. That seeing God which hath called vs is holie so let vs bee holie that wee may purge our selues from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirite And surely this reason of the Apostle is very effectuall to mooue vs vnto holinesse when hee telleth vs that God which called vs is holie Therefore looke to thy selfe that hearest the Gospell preached and leadest a lewde and prophane life for I tell thee that this very call of God whereby thou art seuered from Iewes and Turks shall at the latter day tell thee of thy euill which wouldest not walke in holinesse although God which called thee were holie The first image of God created in thee is decaied and it can neuer be repaired but by holinesse wouldest thou be glorified thou must first be sanctified thy bodie must be holy abstaining from pleasure thy soule must be holy not yeelding to temptation thy affections must be holy not corrupted with vanitie and thy life must be holy not drowned in sinne Oh be holy as God is holy it is a part of his essence so let it be of thine it is neuer parted from him so let it be euer with thee it is alway found in him so let it be alway found in thee God is holy in the earth so be thou he is holy in the church so be thou he is holy in the day so be thou he is holy in the night be thou so also and he is holy in heauen oh that we may be so his iudgements are holy so let thine be his words are holy so ought thine to be and his works are holy so let thine be Oh that we could be holy as he is holy that we might be perfect as he is perfect holy without sinne holy without want holy without loue without sinne that they were pardoned without want that all graces might be supplied and without loue that life and health and world and pleasure and lands may giue place to holinesse for holy people are redeemed of the Lorde but the wicked and prophane are damned to hell Another vse is that now we are exhorted to holinesse let vs learne how to bee holy which Iohn teacheth vs 1. Ioh. 3. 2 5. which is first by expectation of Christs
well Mendacium ex veritate superstitio religionem imitatur Lies come of truth and superstition taketh Religion for a patterne yet for all this lies are not truth superstition is not religion nor the torments which desperate men for euill causes endure shall euer make good mens sufferings to be lesse regarded The sheepe must not leaue off her skin because somtimes the wolfe commeth in her likenesse nor we must lesse esteeme the martyrs paines bicause the diuels souldiers likewise die for his sake by these two reasons it is euident that the prophets sermons are the Lords sermons Nowe let vs make some godly vses of this doctrine The first generall exhortation which we make heereof is that sentence of the Apostle 1. Thess 5. 20. Despise not prophesying That is now it hath been cleerely prooued that the prophets speeches are the oracles of God be not so beastly as swine to tread those precious pearles of deuine wisedome in the filthie dregs and stinking myre of your vaine displeasures It being apparant that God his ministers speake no more without his spirit then the conduit runneth without his fountaines springs those disgracing words which many vse of the spirituall exercises some at their table others in their clossets many at the tauerns and most in their houses are nothing else but meere reuilings and spitefull raylings against the spirit of God Sometimes the preachers want eloquence to smooth the itching eares of gallant persons sometimes they want learning to feede the curious mindes of vaine religion bablers sometimes they want wealth to maintaine their countenance with outward brauerie and sometime they want manners to make them companions to the gentle sort And euerie one of these thinke his sermons and labours in God his church to be nothing worth where he spieth but one want which his vaine conceite desired I like not this sermon saith one bicause he wanted words it was a silly peece of worke saith another bicause it was not bombasted with the sayings of Fathers and he seldome or neuer confuted the papists another saith that the preacher was but a poore beggerly fellowe and therefore it is no matter what hee say none of the great men would haue saide so much and others saide he hath more learning then wit more zeale then behauiour and his confident wordes are impudent speeches vnto all these I say Despise not prophesying See you not howe the diuell driueth you to condemne all for want of one and to a generall neglect for a particular desire shall the spirite of God be blamed because euery mans humour is not satisfied God forbid that such iniquitie should lodge among the professours of religion that those sermons which displease some should be despised of so many there is no pearle which all men will praise there is no garden so pleasant but some will dislike it nor anie house so commodious but some will dispraise it shall wee cast away pearles plowe vp gardens and race downe houses bicause all men are not pleased No verily no more shall prophesying preaching praying and exhorting be reiected although euery mans idle disposition be not answered Oh miserable and lamentable daies wherein men come to the congregation like buyers to a faire and they all crie it is naught it is naught though the Lordes wares be freely solde yet who will buie them at his hands The more plentifully they are offered the more scornefully they are reiected for looke vpon those places where the ministerie hath beene of longest standing and greatest practise where pastors according to the Lords owne hart are planted where the voice of the worde soundeth at least euerie Sabbaoth day I say looke there euen as narrowly as Ezechiel looked ouer Ierusalem and you shal finde them more ignorant in knowledge more lewde in liuing more obstinate in wordes and more disobedient in deedes then other people are Euen thus the diuell laboureth painfully where the Lord speaketh abundantly that he may maliciously condemne where the Lord woulde mercifully saue insomuch that the Lord may say to the congregations of England as he once saide to the assembly of Israel Ierem. 6. vers 10 Vnto whom shall I speake and admonish that they may heare behold their eares are vncircumcised they cannot harken behold the worde of the Lorde is vnto them as a reproch And where the worde of the Lorde can haue no being the wrath of the Lord will take vp the lodging therefore we may say as the prophet speaketh Abak 1. 5. Behold yee despisers and woonder and vanish away for I worke a worke in your daies a worke which you will not beleeue though a man declare it Consider this yee scornefull hearers among vs that God shall punish your contempt with infidelitie and although myracles should be wrought to conuert you yet they shall not profite you euen the myracles of Egypt till yee be vtterly consumed you which with lesse deuotion serue the Lord then your pleasures with lesse diligence followe the Church then the tauerne with more delight exercise vanitie then religion with more labour occupie your trades of life then the words of life euen you I meane are the despisers of heauenly pearles for earthly trash which neuer are pleased with the seruants of Christ It is your condemnation that sleepeth not whose conscience can pretend no excuse at the day of all daies that either yee wanted preachers or leasure or abilitie or time or meanes to beleeue those heauenly oracles Behold this yee despisers and repent shewe your sorrowe by your amendement and redeeme the time by diligence heereafter If the Lorde vtter his voice the earth is mooued and the mountaines tremble Psal 29. Mooue therefore your harts you rebellious sort from the world to god from ignorance to knowledge and from disobedience to faith stirre vp your resty bodies and idle limmes and go from strength to strength till you come to the Lords mountaine let not feare of sicknesse dread of pouertie loue of pleasures desire of profit drawe you from heauen but draw neere vnto God and hee will draw neere vnto you The gates of heauen are open enter you therein Secondly another vse we may adde heereunto is that exhortation of the Apostle 1. Cor. 14. 1. Aboue all other gifts desire prophesie what was more admirable then healing of sicke persons or more commendable then to speake strange toongs or more glorious then to worke myracles or more necessarie then to discerne spirits yet aboue all these saith Paul rather desire Prophesie Neither is it maruell that so great an honour is bestowed on so noble a gift because the Prophets speeches are the Lords sermons Then my beloued as for the merchandise of gold men endure the longest traficke the sharpest pains and greatest charges euen so for the obtaining of prophesie whether it be to preach or heare preachers sustaine my bowels in the Lord Iesus the roughest waies the longest studies the weariest iournies the coldest daies the hottest threats
before the Lord when wee euer meete againe about the like occasion and this I would haue practised both in priuate and publike humiliation The reasons that may mooue vs vnto this dutie to be throughly humbled are these first because the Lorde will not looke on our aduersitie without this perfect and absolute contrition Isa 58. 3. for he then especially looketh to the inwarde disposition of euery soule to see who they be which tremble at his word and iudgements and they which then will not nor cannot there is little hope of grace and goodnesse in them The heathen king of Niniueh and all his subiects had that conscience when the Lord sounded their destruction by the prophet Ionah Ahab mourned when he heard the words of Elijah the prophet and when God speaketh to the Assyrians and Moabites he biddeth them come downe into the dust and ashes to lament their miseries Alas why doe I rehearse either precepts or examples to mooue men vnto this which they would not doe for if their owne liues and bloud and soules will not prouoke them hereunto other mens waies will not perswade them yet let them thus consider that it will greeue them more to loose this their counterfeite humilitie as the Iewes doe in the forenamed place when they shall say we fasted we praied we trauelled and we desired to iustifie our soules and yet their fast shall be as vanitie their praier abhomination and their comming into the Lords presence like his which had no wedding garment and therefore was hee and so shall they bee cast into vtter darknesse Another reason is this because that those iudgements which call for this humiliation must teach vs righteousnesse Esa 26. 9. and so we encrease in righteousnesse as we exceede in humilitie and for this cause we must know that the more religion a man hath the more humble he is and the more hee saith hee encreaseth in goodnesse the more he must studie to shew it outwardly As for those which thinke they serue God well enough when they neither pray with their toongs nor bende with their knees nor vncouer their heads nor mooue out of their houses I leaue them to their fancies let euery beast bird of the aire confute their fancies for the Lord which hath assigned euery member his office will haue euery one to execute it himselfe The vses which offer themselues by the consideration of this point are these seeing we must bee throughly humbled therefore let vs auoide all manner of idlenesse in this worship of God Iam. 2. 19. when we are once perswaded of this point we shall not onely lende an eare to this businesse but thinke all time too little that we spend not herein The poore saintes of God in that forenamed place crie in the night watches as these priestes which lay all night in lamentation and so when the feare of the Lords wrath and the conscience of our owne dangers doe once meete together then there is not any thing that will bee so acceptable to vs as praier This feare will driue from vs our sleepe as the windes driue away the cloudes the sicke man will sit vp the olde man will holde vp his hands the weake man will stand for his life the woman will weepe without ceasing and euery one so touched will auoide all worldly actions then will or rather then must the rich man forsake his counting house the farmer leaue his plough the seruant auoide his rest the labourer neglect his meate and the drowsie person hold vp his eies All the Apostles slept till the high priestes seruants came to take our Sauiour but then they awaked fled for their liues but why did they not wake before in praier that thē they might haue slept without danger oh let vs therefore come both great small to appeere in the Lords presence with al diligence let not any long iourney any lack of prouision any loue of ease any losse of health make vs idle Rise early to praier watch late to lament sleepe little that thou maist spende the more time to gaine thy soules health In the day we labour for our bodies in the night let vs labour for our soules My soule saith Dauid thinketh on thee in the night watches and so let our soules thinke on the Lord when other thinke on their rest and their pleasure Another vse which commeth by this consideration is this that seeing we must be throughly humbled or not at all let vs take for our example the paterne of them that mourne for the dead as the prophet exhorteth Ierem. 6. 26. How many are the teares of them which loose their louing husbands their tender children and their loyal friendes Iacob for feare of this said before hand it woulde make his hoare head goe downe into the graue But so slight is the mourning of many among vs that they neither wette their cheekes for their sinnes nor yet would willingly depart with this life for the enioying of the life to come Surely this is woorthy to be noted in them which earnestly lament the dead that they desire to be with them so let vs desire to be free of this feare of death and sinne with the death of our sinnes and liues let vs so bitterly bewaile our time as we may be most willing to change our life for no other cause then to cease from sinne The Israelites bewailed Moses thirtie daies together and let vs with great and long continuance mourne not for Moses who is in heauen but for our selues who would be in heauen When Naomy bid her daughters Ruth and Orpah goe backe into Moab they wept at her words if they were so vnwilling to liue in Moab and to depart with Naomi why are not wee as vnwilling to liue in this world and to depart with Christ seeing he is our head and we his members we must goe to him and he may not come to vs let vs therefore by his example endure many sorrowes and great dangers that we may be more willing to leaue this life The theefe inclosed in the prison ceaseth from stealing and when wee are closed in iaile of many griefes and clogged with the irons of many crosses then let vs know that we cease from many externall and internall abhominations Yee ministers of my God In this that hee calleth the priestes which serued at the altar the ministers of God he thereby giueth vs to vnderstand whose possession are the ministers namely and onely the Lords Num. 3. 12. The Lord challengeth the tribe of Leui to himselfe to be his peculiar and royall priesthood and the Apostle willeth the Corinthians that they should so thinke of him as of the minister of God and disposer of the secrets of his kingdome and therefore writing to the Galathians hee telleth them hee is not by man nor by the will of man but of God Once in steede of the appointed ministerie were the first borne of euery familie
as he bid them so doe thou performe what thy generall or captaine commandeth if it be lawful and possible Thirdly he noteth another duetie of martiall men which is this that they performe their busines with all celeritie and speede Ios 8. 19. The reason is because it is the greatest commendation of a souldier that can bee to bee swift and of a ready dispatch Psalm 19. 5. 2. Sam. 2. 18. for as a sluggish seruant a heauie oxe and a tyring horse are verie discommendable so a slowe and heauy souldiour is not tolerable Gedeons armie was but three hundred and their dexteritie was such that they ouerthrew an innumerable rabble of Midianites and so shall souldiours prooue it verie aduantagious to surprise their enimie on a sudden But yet for all this trust not too much in thy legges or in the strength of an horse Psal 147. 10. for they are but vaine things to saue a man Asahell coulde runne well yet Abner slewe him and therefore beware least thou make thy owne agilitie to ouerthrowe thee Neither shall one thrust another but euery one shall walke in his path and when they fall on the sword they shall not be wounded In this verse he expresseth other duties of souldiers which they must obserue in their aray which are first of all that they keepe their places and be not one hurtfull to an other Iudg. 7. 16. 22. Achans gadding out of place was the losse of his owne life and of many moe And therefore let them learne that exhortation of Moses Deut. 23. 19. to abstaine from euill especially when they goe to warre Secondly let them as it is here expressed keepe themselues from wounding although they fall on their enimies sword that is let them looke to the matter that they be not onely carefull to annoy the enimie but also to defende themselues for it is an euill victorie which is purchased with the losse of many mens liues and wee knowe that all Canaan was woon with the losse of a very few men It is a great butcherie of men to presse still on the enimie where there is no hope but of death Therefore it is good for a souldier sometime to looke to his safetie as well by an vnwilling retire as by a desperate and a voluntarie march They shall run to and fro in the citie they shall run vpon the wall they shall climbe vp vpon the houses and enter in at the windowes like a theefe Now we are come to the last part of this similitude wherein the victorie is reported and the manner how the poore conquered are oppressed shewing vnto vs that as it is when a city or towne is sacked so shal it be when this iudgment shal be executed for some shal flee to goe foorth and some shall fight to come in euery mans house shall be sacked great booties shall be obtained and no spare shall bee made of any thing that can bee founde Where we might note that in the conquest or winning of any citie or towne there is a mightie confusion euerie one running to and fro for themselues they tread vpon the aged vpon the women vpon the children and no eie doth so much as pitie them But when he saith they shall climbe ouer the wals and creepe in at the windowes like a theefe we are taught that in warre they account not any thing vnlawfull that is done to an enemie the robbing of houses the rauishing of women the killing of olde men the braining of children the burning of cities the spoiling of corne and the rasing downe of dwelling houses are accounted vertues whereupon a Father saide well Bellum malis videtur voluptas bonis necessitas euill men make a pastime of warre but good men accoūt it a hard necessitie Wherin we may see one sinne punished by another neglect of law in peace is punished by contempt of lawe in warre for there is no lawe to bridle the conquerours Oh how happie is Englande which neuer for these many yeeres hath hearde so much as a trumpet sounded vnto warres wee haue not seene the shaking of a speare wee haue had no leading into captiuitie no complaining nor lamentation in our streetes But yet vnhappie which in these peaceable times hath laide the foundation of hir owne woe and scattered the seede of hir owne destruction Let vs therefore learne to continue our peace if by any conditions of equitie and reason it may be obtained Numb 6. 26. were we not better in these times to buy our peace with gold siluer or other possessions then to aduenture all that wee haue by giuing nothing If the enimie come home to vs it is not ten subsidies that wil satisfie him why are men so wretched as to pinch at one or two were you not better keepe them in doing abroad with your armour and money then suffer them to come home and take away your wiues and children what do I saie take away they will rauish them and you shall beholde it they will slaie your children before your face your houses and landes they will either giue to strangers or set them on fire ouer your heades and if any remaine aliue they shall be made drudges slaues or prisoners and captiues Therefore praie for the peace of Englande vse the meanes to keepe it refuse the waie to loose it let them prosper that loue it For the keeping of our peace let God bee our gouernour let the Gospell bee our lawe let the saints dwell among vs let the churches bee our courtes let the preachers bee our counsellours let religion be our exercise let praiers be our weapons let holines be our armour and then shall the angels be our wals Let vs builde our cities with loue let vs plant our fieldes with truth and then shall peace flourish in our lande For the auoiding of the things that wil break off our peace let vs banish Atheisme and all manner of carnall profession let vs roote out all the weedes of sinne from our harts let vs wash off al the spots of euill from our liues let vs cast downe all the castles of the diuell in our land let vs driue away whosoeuer worketh vnrighteousnesse let vs abrogate all the counsels of wickednesse let vs auoide sedition rebellion and confusion and come from the sea of infidelitie and then shall all be peace because the God of peace dwelleth among vs. Then shall the earth tremble before him the heauens shall shake the sunne and moone shall be darke and the starres shall withdrawe their shining After the former description of the terrible calamitie which these beastes should bring to that nation now he addeth these heauie tidings for their greater daunting and farther astonishment for least they should thinke that all the former came to passe by naturall meanes the Lord not directing it or not regarding it the prophet ioyneth these tokens of the Lords peculiar power to all the former iudgments
keepeth life in vs who is able to shewe the cause heereof but the Lorde who knoweth all and if this one blessing shoulde faile vs although our possessions were as great as Salomons yet they woulde not serue vs. Againe let euery man in his place gather this meate and comfort for his life Esay 62. 3. that so we may perfourme the olde commandement of God to Adam that wee eate our meate in the sweate of our faces The Bees will not suffer one drone among them and so let not vs suffer them that are carelesse to prouide some thing whereby their dutie may be discharged to God and their liues preserued in the worlde Secondly he telleth them with what affection they should receiue their meat With praise and thankesgiuing to God Whereby wee may see one principall token of a temperate receiuer in that hee can giue thankes to God for his meate 1. Cor. 10. 25. but gluttons and belli-gods take their meate as Swine doe although with more manners yet with as little reuerence sitting downe to fill their bellies and rising vp to fulfill their pleasures and through immeasurable fulnes their teeth put their mouth to silence and sleepe falleth on them that their harts doe not onely forget their feeder but their maintainer also The first reason bicause it is a token they loue God Deut. 12. 11. and they that loue neuer offend for loue is the fulfilling of the lawe Againe meate is onely blessed vnto them that ioine thankesgiuing with it 1. Sam. 9. 13. So that whatsoeuer is not thankfully receiued must needes be accursed And surely if Paul saide he had rather neuer eate meate as long as hee liued then eate to the offence of his brother wee may more lawfully pine in famine starue in want and perish in distresse of meate rather then God shoulde bee offended Theeues which steale for meate coseners that deceiue for meate beggers that counterfaite for meate idle persons that worke not for meate and rich men that praie not for meate can neuer bee thankefull for that which they eate but all is accursed vnto them Let vs therefore for feare of the curse and especiallie for conscience of death liue soberly in praier in our eating and drinking working and resting sleeping and waking bicause wee knowe not whether wee eate our last morsell as the Israelites which died with meate in their mouthes or worke our last day-worke as the poore man that was stoned for gathering stickes on the Sabbaoth or sleepe our last sleepe neuer wake againe Surely as Iacob ended his life when he had blessed his children so shall we be happy if wee ende our liues when we haue praised God Againe let vs not tempt God for meate whatsoeuer distresse wee liue in but seeke it humblie in praier Psal 104. 27. that wee may eate more cheerefully and bee assured that God will continue his blessings for what shall it profite to feede our bodies to the full and let our soules goe starue and pine away to death That the Lord hath This clause is added vnto their praises at meate because then they ought to remember the Lordes benefits the which thing ought to driue away all vaine and foolish table-talke wherein men silence the mercie of God and praise the taste of their meate or the liberalitie of the feast-maker alway thanking him and neuer thinking on God whereas they are bound to do both We may note in these words that God doth not onely vse his ordinarie power in the deliuerie of his church but also his extraordinarie whereby he worketh maruels and woonders 1. Pet. 1. 5. for by the woonderfull power of God are we continued in our profession contained in the church and preserued to life eternall God told Dauid 2. Sam. 12. that if he had not done ynough for him yet he would haue done much more for him so that he hath not limited his power nor his mercie toward the faithfull The reasons first because we should knowe that we are saued through grace and the great power of God 1. Cor. 1. 18. as it is not a light matter to enioy a kingdome so is it not a small matter to climbe vp into heauen but the vnspeakable power of God must be vsed therein Againe the more power he vseth in his church the more must be his glorie Mark 7. 17. and this is the cause why all good men thinke they can neuer praise God ynough although euery day they renewe their thankesgiuing in heauen is the power of God most of all seene and therefore there the angels and saintes doe nothing but praise the power of God And therefore we may hereby learne that all miracles which God doth in the world doe call vs to bee partakers of his kingdome Matt. 12. 28. and if we refuse them and doe not come the same power shall be vsed in our condemnation that is promised in our saluation Neither let vs euer forget the works which God doth for vs Psal 106. 21 22. but remember them in our meate in our beds in our labour in our ease in our watching and in our reioicing that our God may still continue to doe them as we doe still perseuere to remember them Lastly in this verse hee promiseth that they should neuer be more ashamed of any reproches Whereby we may note that religion doth not commit any thing that either we may be ashamed of or repent 1. Cor. 15. 58. for our labour in religion is not in vaine If any thorough the feare or commaundement of God should slay their children as Abraham would or deceiue their maisters as Iacob did or beguile their husbands as Rebecca did or disobey their princes as Moses did or murther their enimies as Sampson did or loose their liues as Christ did yet shall they neuer neede to repent any of them Oh what a maruellous benefite hath a man by religion which he cannot haue by any other thing in the world There is nothing in all the life of man but wee may repent except it bee the feare of God We repent our words our works our expences our gettings our wanderings our negligence our diligence our sleepe meate and money and all We are ashamed of our thoughts our to yes trifles plaies childishnesse wantonnesse loue hatred lust pouertie nakednesse and the very parts of our body but of no part of religion Thou shalt neuer repent that thou forsookest the worlde beleeuedst in the Lord mournedst for thy sinnes studiedst in the scriptures heardest the preachers was obedient to the gospell praiedst many howers watched many nights fasted many daies endured many troubles and shalt die any death for the Lords sake seeing heauen is thy rest Nay rather we see many men in their death-beds wish with teares that they had hawked and hunted and plaied and laboured and loued and hated much lesse for now in their sicknesse their sinnes come on them as the Philistines came on Sampson when
enioiedst them Therefore beholde iudgement and terrour and thunder and fire and the ouerthrowe of all thinges which one daie shall bee that thou maiest feare thy proude and sinfull nature and so behold mercie the resurrection the life to come the face of God and the fellowship of Angels that thou maiest quietlie repose thy soule in the sweete profession of the Lordes Gospell The reasons of this doctrine are these first because they are base minded if not beastly affected which onely looke to the temporall things that they see and not to the heauenly and eternal things which they see not as the Apostle in the before-named place saith and therefore it is farre more honourable that thou shouldest beleeue the things that are to come when we heare them in the word then the things that are past and present which our eies beholde Againe our Sauiour saith Marc. 9. 23. that all things are possible to him that beleeueth which is verified in nothing more then in this when we giue vp our whole harts to the things that are preached and daily waite when they shall be performed And if all things be possible then is saluation and the ioyes of heauen possible for thee if thou canst beleeue them and so liue as thou maiest obtaine them The vses which wee are to make of this doctrine are these first seeing wee must be instructed by the word of God to behold the things that are to come as if they were present then let vs euermore bee faithfull the which thing the Apostle teacheth vs when hee saith that wee stande by faith Rom. 9. 23. so that as our bodies stand vpon our legs so our soules stand vpon our faith And if this be so how many lame soules are there in the world nay they are not lame that neuer had legs but those that had them yet are they monsters and such monsters are faithlesse and infidel men If thy legs be sicke thou wilt goe to thy surgeon and if thy faith be sicke goe to thy Sauiour what comfort hast thou of the worlde if thou canst not walke in the world and what ioy hath thy soule if it haue no faith to walke in the scriptures Stand by faith and fall not beleeue soundly and strongly bring not a woodden leg I meane a woodden faith such as men can make but a true and substantiall faith which the Lorde onely giueth Let not any thing mooue thee for all things are possible to the beleeuer though the earth remooue bee not thou afraide though the heauens passe yet the world shall not passe beleeue all things say not this will be long or that will be late or the other is doubtfull or God is mercifull his minde may alter or the preachers are but men they may be deceiued or the iudgements be conditionall they may be reuersed or the promises be vncertaine they may be recalled Oh beware of an infidell hart Heb. 3. 12. and depart not from the liuing God Moses because hee did but once distrust God he could not enter into the land of Canaan the gouernour that would not beleeue the prophet was trod to peeces the princes which would not beleeue Ieremie were slaine by the Babylonians and the soules which will not beleeue the preachers shall be ouercome by diuels Oh consider how fearefull a thing it will be for you to say as the Iewes Ezech. 33. v. vlt. surely there was a prophet among vs. Therefore as the husbandman looketh to the haruest in the winter when the corne appeereth not as the seruant thinketh on his wages long before it commeth as the birde thinketh on her yoong ones long before she breedeth and the builder thinketh on his dwelling long before it be finished so doe you thinke on the ioyes and woes which shall bee long before they come And account your selues the happiest men aliue whome God warneth with his owne word that you may auoid the day of destruction for if you liued not vnder the check of the gospell and the controulment of preachers you might goe as other barbarous nations doe blindfolded that is vnwitting and vnknowing to the slaughter of your bodies the butcherie of your soules Surely the Lord doth nothing but he reuealeth the same to his seruants the prophets and therfore blessed are they that liue among them but more blessed are they which heare them beleeue thē loue them receiue them regarde them because God hath sent thē Secondly in this vers we may obserue when he saith In those daies and in that time that God wil haue the redemption and deliuerie of his saints and church to bee most certaine and knowen for vpon this occasion doth the prophet double the note of the time as it were noting both the day and the moneth So as once hee tolde Abraham that his seede shoulde be a stranger in another land fowre hundred and thirtie yeeres and no longer to shewe vnto him that they shoulde bee assuredly deliuered So doth hee heere by this prophet though not so precisely note the assurance of their redemption The reasons of this doctrine are these First because wee are not redeemed with any temporall worldly or earthly price but by and with the most precious blood of Christ Iesus 1. Pet. 1. 18. Againe another reason is because as the Apostle saith 1. Timoth. 2. 6. that this was done in due time The vses which come of this doctrine are these First seeing the Lorde will haue the redemption of his people to bee sealed and certainly knowen then let vs looke for that time and that day when Christ shal finally deliuer vs from the wrath to come 1. Thess 1. 10. What shoulde make good men to feare the latter day their redemption is certaine the Lorde is their Sauiour the Sauiour is their head their head is their brother and vntill Christ come they are subiect to wrath but when he is come they are deliuered from death Againe let vs receiue any pledge or token of the Lordes loue and fauour towarde vs which is shedde in our hearts by the holy Ghost Rom. 5. 5. and seeing this is it that we are certainly redeemed and our soules health is not builded vpon peraduentures but it is surely established then let vs certainly perswade our selues that God loueth vs with an euerlasting loue What will hee keepe from vs that giueth vs his owne sonne and will kill him to acquite vs If this perswade vs not to bee penitent and to loue God againe then is not the loue of God nor the bloude of Christ sprinkled in our hearts Naaman woulde haue giuen to Elisha manie thousande poundes bicause the water of Iorden had clensed his leprosie what woulde he haue giuen if Elisha had cured him by medicine But Christ hath cured our soules and bodies by the riuer of his owne bloud and by the losse of his owne life then are we worthie to giue heart for heart bloud for bloud bodie for
harts when they be ioyfull for as Herod was strooke with death while hee sate vpon his throne of maiestie so are we neuer neerer to our woe than when we are mounted to honour or seated in quietnesse The phisitions say that want of motion and loue of rest breedeth more diseases than all euill surfeits and so must we say that are the phisitions of mens soules that moe perish by ease than by labour by ioie than by sorrow by pleasure than by paine and by idle religion than by earnest and zealous profession The reasons the same that Isay taught chap. 65. 12. because God is refused in his word and good reason why it should be so for as already we haue shewed that the word must be a light for our pathes and a remembrancer to our soules which being forgotten no maruell if in our greatest securitie the Lords wrath ouertake vs. Therefore let the idle followers of the gospell perswade their soules with more zeale and diligence to bee informed by the Lord least the wrath take them sleeping or selling or drinking or playing or dicing or dauncing to their condemnation Secondly another reason because they loue pleasure more than God 2. Tim. 3. 4. therefore as Saneherib Isay 37. was slaine at that instant when hee was worshipping his idoll so shall their bane bee wrought when they are in their belly-worship following their pleasing delights Let vs therefore neuer put danger out of our mindes but then when wee are in most quiet comfort of soule and body let vs trouble our peace with one thought or other Mich. 3. 11. If thou haue children feare their death if thou haue parents feare their wrath if thou haue friends feare their hatred and if thou haue health feare thy sicknesse if thou be ioyfull at a feast thinke on the miserie of famine if at a pleasure thinke vpon the paine of the wounded if at libertie thinke vpon the irons of the imprisoned if in life thinke on the pangs of death Neuer exempt thy selfe from danger but in peace remember warre in youth remember age in play remember labour and in the heauen of the worldes delight thinke vpon the hell of another life Let sorrow be in thy sense mourning in thy soule danger in thy life feare in thy musicke trouble in thy sleepe paine in thy health want in thy plentie dislike in thy loue and distrust in thy desire so shalt thou neuer be called to sicknes but with lesse griefe or to danger but with lesse feare or to death but with lesse trouble or to iudgement but thou shalt be prouided for it Another vse seeing the wicked shall be drawen to iudgement in their greatest securitie then we may learne whether they feare wrath and euil or feare it not yet all is one it shall come vpon them Dauid said that the feare of the wicked shall fall on him and herewee see Ioel saith that though they sleepe yet shall they be awaked with and for their danger so that if wicked men feare their sorrowe is the more and if they feare not their danger is not the lesse Oh miserable captiuitie of wicked men which are hardened to feele more paine and softened to feare more wrath would not this bring vs out of loue with our sinne and make vs earnestly to lament our follies which giue vs no peace till we desire them and no rest after wee possesse them But of this often haue wee spoken before For there will I sit When he saith that he will sit in iudgement we may note that the Lord will with no labour condemne the wicked as it is Mal. 1. 4. euen as one that sitteth in al ease Againe in this that he sitteth in iudgement he alludeth to the iudgements of men which were most lawfull shewing that his proceedings against the wicked were not vniust or extraordinarie but according to equity But this is especially to be regarded when he nameth the persons whom he will iudge saying all the heathen rounde about meaning all those which dwelt neere vnto Israell Whereby we are taught that those which are our neighbours and see our worship and liue neere or among vs and yet be not of vs but are our enimies God will iudge them more seuerly Ierem. 12. 14. For if they which liue among vs and see euerie day the workes of God for vs and in vs will not be ruled by vs or turned to vs they may waite for the heauier iudgement And therefore was Philisthia more iudged then Arabia and Syria more vexed then Ethiopia because they were on the confines of Israell Then surely this may teach the loose Protestants and vaine professors among vs what great daunger they liue in all this while they haue heard the Gospell and not beleeued it the neerer they were to the truth the more is the Lordes wrath against them and the longer they haue liued in our peace and seene the glorious workes of God the more shall bee their heauie iudgement It were better for them that they liued in Rome or in Barbarie or in Tartarie where the gospell is not talked of for then should they be farther from danger but now they liue with vs eating at our tables treading on our Land standing in our churches cloathed with our garments and blessed by our God Oh how deere shall they pay for all these benefits for the Lord will iudge them that dwell neere vs much more them that dwel with vs he will condemne them that dwel about vs much more them that dwell among vs. The reasons of this doctrine are these First bicause they should be subiect to the church Isa 60. 5. The members of the church are the true lawfull kings of the world all other ought to be their subiects therefore when the subiect rebelleth against his naturall prince he is more punished then a stranger so when the neerest neighbours of the church are most of all negligent they are more endangered then other are for when the Lord giueth most meanes of instruction such as is to liue among the godly then he rewardeth such neglect or contempt with more seuere punishment Another reason because they should succour thē in their necessitie Isa 21. 14. but if they will taste of their benefits and not beleeue their sayings or cōfort them in their sorrowes they are the more woorthie to be destroyed The vse let vs neuer meddle against good men Matth. 27. 19. for their iniuries will be rewarded double vpon our heads If thou liue with them honour them if thou heare of them goe visite them if they teach thee beleeue them if they want thee relieue them and neuer be an enimie vnto them The Lord saith that our treading on the earth is sufficient to make vs without excuse if we beleeue him not and then surely it is sufficient to condemne those that liue vnder the Gospell and receiue not the Gospell that they tread on our lande see our
put thee in minde of the maker Because thou art forgetfull let thine inheritance remember thee of heauen let thy purchase remember thee of regeneration let thy fruites remember thee of thy life let thy haruest remember thee of thy death let thy store remember thy soule and let all remember thy poore brother The reasons of this doctrine are these first because the most prophane and wicked idolaters Iere. 4. 17 18 19. thinke that the onely cause of multiplying the fruites of the earth is for the worship of God and therefore who but Atheists can denie the same vnto him for he onely it is that maketh them to growe and blesseth all our stores and therefore most vnthankfull wretches are wee if for all we should render him none againe And this is much to be feared that the little regard which is had hereof in our land is the onely cause why our former yeeres haue brought forth no greater plentie for if we generally regarde the multitude we shall finde that those which haue the greatest fieldes the largest barnes the widest patrimonies and most store of riches haue and do make most bolde with the Lord and come least into his presence Another reason of this doctrine may be this because these benefites are the promised blessings to them that loue him Deut. 28. 1 2 3. which ought euermore to put vs in minde of our loue to God that we might loue him more and more and so receiue of him more and more abundantly let vs I beseech you consider our estate and not fall away from our first loue for seeing we haue had in former times greater plentie then now we haue let vs knowe for certaintie that our store is lesse because our loue is lesse When the Gospell came first among vs how ioyfully did we followe it and how diligently heare it in so much as the preachers being but few we would haue giuen them our owne eies if it had beene possible to doe them good but now we are as wearie of them as the Israelites were of Moses when they would haue stoned him and therefore then were we filled with loue and with plentie but now we are emptied of godly care and plagued with mortall want The vses which arise from the consideration of this point are these first that we desire of the Lorde to haue pitie and care for our lande which is wasted and to cast his eies to our poore and penurious time offamine and dearth Deut. 11. 12. For alas our miserie groweth so great and incurable euery day more more that we haue great cause to feare least his long suffering turne into wrath and our pinching famine into death Who hath beene cast downe throughly not for a day but for a yeere in this occasion surely few or none and therefore is the Lorde as a stranger among vs and as one that tarrieth but for a night O my deere brethren let vs at the length yet learne the true and right way to remedie our euill and to encrease againe the fruites of the earth how haue our pastures beene drowned our medowes ouerflowed our corne blasted and our tilled lande made barren insomuch as we may see or might not long since haue seene how the hils and mountaines wept foorth whole streames of water for their barrennesse Let vs followe their example and be ruled by their line to doe the like for it as it hath done for vs. It is not we see in the planter or in the waterer but in the Lorde that giueth encrease of him let vs entreate this blessing that his hande may bee staied in time before all bee left destitute and the face of our countrey like the lande of Sodom let vs labour in praier as we haue done in tillage let vs bestowe as much cost in supplication to pacifie our glorious God as we haue done in husbandrie to amende our barren lande if he say but the worde all shall bee remedied Oh let vs powre foorth wordes and liues and harts and soules that this may bee remooued Another vse heereof seeing these creatures as great crops of corne large fieldes and other things must onely serue vs that wee may serue God then how fearefull a thing is it to abuse any of these whereby both the worship and workmanship of God are defaced therfore the holy Ghost admonisheth Rom. 14. 20. that we destroy not the work of God for meates sake Some surfet in their abundance to their death other disfigure the good shape of their bodies through pride and vanitie such as are yoong gallants and gentlewomen and the more they haue receiued the more they haue abused some in their ease and idlenes are growne like tunnes in compasse being vnfit for labour vnprofitable to any goodnes and vnwoorthy of any blessinges The labouring mans estate is much to be commended though it be poore yet it is happie he is an image of Adam created to worke he is an image of God created in righteousnes and the image of Christ created for calamitie his health is maintained by labour his bodie is refreshed with rest his minde is renewed with religion and his life is studious of the Lordes worship his hungry morsels make him more thankefull to God then the great delicates of the rich his bare bread and water or small drinke giue him more healthie nourishment then the fowles and dainties of the other his life is wearied with labour his minde is prepared for God and his soule is readie for rest Let vs all liue in this trauaile that we may die in this manner let vs keepe vnder our bodies and lustes as we refraine a yoong colte and let moe bridles of abstinencie and sinceritie curbe shorter all our pleasure and vanitie Another doctrine which we may gather out of this verse may be this that seeing the creatures of God do call vpon vs to worship him and therefore they be helpers vnto vs therein wee gather that our worship of God in this life cannot possiblie bee absolute and perfect that wee shoulde bee alway like affected and obserue time place order and zeale in our religion for heere wee see that the worship of God was violated bicause the fruites of the earth ceased our knowledge is obscured by naturall ignorance our time is omitted through sorrow sickenes care and worldly busines our harts are hindered through feare loue ioy pleasure vanitie and temptation and a thousand other waies shall wee finde that all we can doe in the Lordes seruice is but in part as Paul prooueth 1. Cor. 13. 9 10. How wicked are the bragges of them that boast of their vprightnes whereby they serue the Lorde thinking that there is nothing but of themselues they bee able to performe it But wee must know that the greatest doctor the learnedest preacher and the painfullest hearer cannot comprehende or teach or learne whatsoeuer is requisite to our saluation no not the whole church of God togither so
that if you looke vpon all that is to be done of a faithfull man you shall finde many vnwilling and ineuitable slippes and falles in the purest obedience of all men The church of God hath felt and complained of this miserie in all ages that she coulde neither doe as she woulde nor performe what she ought to the Lordes obedience For if we be rich and neuer so godly then wealth hindreth vs if wee be poore want oppresseth vs if wee be magistrates gouernmēt doth let vs if we be seruants worldly obedience doth staie vs. So that as it cannot be but that in the purest corne there will growe some weedes so in our holiest worship of God there will appeere some wantes Dauid coulde not worship when he was at Gath and the saints of God although they haue willing mindes want powre and meanes to accomplish their desire And therefore let vs not bragge but confesse as our Sauiour saith in the Gospel when we haue preached our whole life long praied with neuer so entire affection and laboured with neuer so great diligence in the kingdome that wee are vnprofitable seruants hauing left moe things behinde which we ought to haue done The reasons of this doctrine are these first bicause that we shoulde neuer leaue of labour more and to encrease farther and farther so long as wee liue in this worlde as the Apostle saide of himselfe Phil. 3. 13. The which lesson I woulde to God were oftener learned and better followed in our daies wherein men thinke if they haue done a little seruice on the Sabbaoth day they holde themselues contented for the whole weeke following and hauing gotten a little knowledge of the common profession they are satisfied and trauaile for no more Oh howe strange is it that men are neuer satisfied and haue their fill of any thing saue onely of religion the which presently cloyeth them bicause they thinke it is no part of their dutie to bestowe their daily labour in some part of godlinesse I knowe this doctrine will please them well that no man can worship God perfectly and therefore they will worship him sparingly and coldly But they must knowe that there is not any man which hath his perfect health and yet he liueth and mooueth and groweth in stature so there is not any mans religion absolute yet it must striue labour for perfection as a sicke man doth for health Another reason of this doctrine is this that considering our imperfection through the sinne of our natures we should more earnestly desire to bee with Christ Philip. 1. 23. for he that is wearie and cannot goe as hee woulde yet he hath this in his wish to desire the perfection of the worship of God Whereby we may note that there is not any thing that may mooue vs to loue the being in the world the world it selfe wil hate thee if thou be a Christian why shouldest thou desire to liue therein thou canst not knowe the maiestie of God thou shalt not feele the loue of Christ and thou canst not enioy the end of the faith If thou wouldest haue the wish of Dauid to liue and to declare the works of God yet it shall be better to die that thou maiest liue in the glorie of God In this life thou art sometimes sicke carefull heauie hated oppressed enuied and hast but a little comfort of God because thou canst not professe him but a little therefore desire the other where friendes and ioies and health and loue and peace and comfort shall be euerlasting and they worship most absolute without sinne or ceasing The vses which arise of this doctrine are these first that although we can neuer be absolute in this life in God his worship but we shal haue as many lets as we haue howres yet let vs not cease to lament them and to desire their absence when Dauid had beene long absent from the place of the Lords seruice he cried out saying How long shall I dwell with Mesech and be constrained to abide in the tents of Kedar why might not Dauid thinke that it was not his fault but his enimies rage that did constraine him to that neglect because he was banished from his people Indeede it is apparant he knew it well enough yet least he should be contented with his miserie he calleth to God for a remedie so although we dwell in sinne and liue in a thousand wants of bodies and soules because they cannot be remooued in this life yet let vs not rest contented herewith but lament this mischiefe that we must so doe and desire a speedie release Art thou lodged in thy chamber through sicknesse or banished from the companie of the faithfull through persecution or kept away by imprisonment or hindered by hard parents or maisters or molested through pinching pouertie all which thou canst not auoide yet that the Lord may knowe and that thy soule may liue desire to bee eased of this burden Thinke not that thou shalt bee excused if thou canst not come and worship as thou oughtest but will the thing thou canst not performe and thinke it long till thy bondage be at libertie thy want be supplied and thy soule remooued from thy bodie that thou maist see God and loue him and liue with him and praise him for euer and euer Art thou a Christian and hast thou not greater cause to wish for heauen then Dauid had for Ierusalem and if you haue then pray with as great zeale that thy will may be turned into action thy lets into helpes thy wants into supplies thy soule into pietie and all thy worship into sinceritie Another vse may be this that men doe not any thing the lesse esteeme of the worship of God because they haue hearde that it is but temporall O this were accursed that a sicke man should be lesse regarded because he is sicke and not rather be the more attended shall a sonne despise his owne father because he is poore this were iniquitie and so is it a greater abhomination that men should lesse serue the Lord because the greatest measure is imperfect Although Dauid might not builde the temple yet he prouided wherewithall to do it and so although thou canst not loue God as thou wouldest and as thou oughtest yet loue him as thou canst and as farre as thou art able be not discouraged because thou art not able to goe through with religion for if thou haue any religion knowe thou that the least things of God are greater then the greatest of the world and the weakest things of God are stronger then the strongest of men Honour them that haue the giftes of God in them although they be imperfect for who despiseth a crased peece of gold or who throweth out of doores a broken siluer pot and therefore who but a mad man would lightly regarde the small graces of God in men But alas it is the miserie of our time wherein religion is measured by wealth and deuotion
needefull and blessed businesse oh wretched men thus possessed by those that rather ought to be possessed by them Another reason is because this delight in this worke is the very ende and fruite of the gospell 1. Iohn 1. 4. My brethren saith Iohn I write vnto you that your ioy may be full that is that you may reioice in all things as in meate for there is the Lords hand in apparell for there is his prouidence in health for there is his goodnesse in sicknesse for there is his mercie in your houses for they are his tabernacles and in his church for there is his seruice A pagan a heathen an infidell a Iew a papist or any other enimie of Christ can come to our assemblies and with a minde readie to vomite vp whatsoeuer they heare attende to their greefe what is there done as many among vs doe and yet be neuer the better therefore bee you better then these and let your righteousnesses exceede theirs or else you shall neuer reioice in his euerlasting kingdome The vses which come of this doctrine are these first that whatsoeuer we doe in the Lords house let vs do it cheerefully of an vpright and peaceable minde that we say of our selues as Dauid and Christ of them Psal 69. 9. The zeale of thy house hath eaten mee vp so of zeale let vs doe euery thing that wee doe for as reason must measure all matters in humane and worldly affaires so must zeale season all things in spirituall and diuine matters Zeale is like the loue of Iacob to Rahel it thinketh no frost too cold nor any raine too dangerous nor any snowe too great nor any heate so vehement nor any sunne so parching but he endureth it for the loue of a woman What shall Iacob loue a faire face better then a Christian loues a glorious Sauiour oh no no but let our loue be deerer then the loue of a woman and let vs all say and that all with Marie the mother of Christ My soule reioiceth in God my Sauiour But oh where and of whome shall I complaine that haue not beene eaten vp with zeale no nor bitten therewith or that which is lesse it hath not licked their soules nor kissed their liues that is they haue neither beene iealous nor zealous for the Lorde of hostes sake for themselues they care not what God is for other they care not what their soules bee and for all they care not what hell shall be they are not earnestly righteous nor obstinately wicked but openly indifferent and that is no body in religion they mourne not when other sorrow they reioice not when other laugh they stirre not when other are mooued and they feele not when other are afflicted How zealous I beseech you are they when they haue beene colde in the heate of the day and neuer sweate one drop in the worke of Christ or wept one teare in the cause of Christ Another vse is this that seeing we must be carefull to worship God with ioy let vs then pray for the peace of the church whereby there may be no mourning within our pallaces Psal 122. 6. I graunt our sacrifices to God are as acceptable when our reioicing is banished in any common aduersitie when wee humble our selues by praier and fasting as when in times of greater prosperitie and securitie we are lifted vp with thankesgiuing yet this is better for the church and equall to the Lord. Therefore let vs most carefully commend Ierusalems peace and euerie member thereof to the Lords tuition pray for it with an earnest desire I say to obtaine and an vnwearied labour till thou hast atchieued To abate but Dauids thirst three of his men aduentured their liues being but onely to satisfie the kings minde who was Dauid but a member of the church and therefore if they would doe so much for one let vs doe more for all the church together that her thirst may be satified and her ease be procured Oh therefore how happie is our age wherein we liue for the church hath peace abundantly and our basest things are become very honourable the blood which other haue shed for the same doe we enioy and they by filthie prisons haue purchased for vs most pleasant houses O England be not wearie of thy well doing least the Lord be wearie of thee be not vnthankfull for thy peace least the bond there of be strooke in sunder be not proud of thy benefites least thou be stripped of thy ornaments be not secure in thy glorie least thou be stirred vp to greater labour but pray the father with the sonne the mother with the daughter the lorde with the seruant the mistresse with the maide the maister with the familie the rich with the poore and men with women and little children peace be within our wals and prosperitie within our dwellings The seede is rotten vnder the clods the garners are destroied the barnes are broken downe for the corne is withered It seemeth that these men being somewhat touched with want one â—eere yet they comforted vp themselues with their husbandrie and tillage thinking the next yeere woulde make amends for all like as we haue seene in our lande these times of dearth for men haue yeere by yeere sowed and plowed loosing both seede and crop notwithstanding all their labour as these husbandmen here doe thinking that whether God will or not they will make things cheaper and plentie againe but all is in vaine For if they sowe it rotteth in the ground if they keepe the houses fall vpon it if they eate they spende their store and if they spende then will shortly their liues be ended By these wordes we may obserue that it is in vaine by any naturall meanes to seeke to doe away the Lords hande Hag. 1. 6. The people of Israel being in some perplexitie they sowed and eared and planted and laboured to bee releeued but alas the prophet telleth them that he wasted their seede he bloweth on their store and the labourer putteth his wages into a broken bagge What had hee no pittie on the poore labouring man that worketh for a groate or sixe pence a day but hee must consume that also yea verily for the Lorde must bee serued as well by the poore countrie man as the rich citizen and therefore curseth as well the gettings of the one as the gaines of the other But what shall I say vnto you shall I bid you not till the earth or not sowe your corne no verily but plow vp your harts and cast in the seede of regeneration and then plow vp your land and cast in your seede of sustentation How shal the corne grow in your fields when vertue will not growe in your soules Therefore labour not in vaine it is not in all our plowing or planting or sowing or reaping or working to helpe our selues but in the Lords blessings who will then blesse the earth when we haue washed away the curse of our
6. 6. and therefore so ought we to be sacrifice winneth him therefore let mercie ouercome vs euen those mercies which we read in his word and note in our liues that wee may pull downe more and more vpon vs. Oh I feare seeing of long time we haue had so little regard of mercie and all of iudgement now the thing wee were afraide of is come vpon vs namely wrath for we feele it in our liues in our times making many mens harts to tremble and the bodies of some to die Yet for all this the time of mercie is not all spent therefore let mercie draw vs vnto God and the former and late receiued kindnes from him bee as bands of steele to keepe vs in obedience Seeing the mercies of God must mooue vs to repentance then I beseech you let not our eares be deafe at his sweete promises least the Lord complaine of vs as he did of his owne time Matth. 11. 19. that we are like to children neither dauncing with them that sing nor weeping with them that mourne Austeritie is too hard for vs and mercie is too soft if wee preach the law then men say we speake of malice of else giue iudgement vpon them if we shew them libertie that maketh them woorse and woorse so that our times are like a thiefe being in prison he complaineth of crueltie and being at libertie runneth to robbing againe The mercie of God is much called for and being obtayned is much abused they make it a charter to sinne and thinke if they haue one pardon all their villanie afterward is forgiuen The deepe wounds of Christ doth not asswage their heat of sin but encreaseth their desire O my deere brethren if gentlenes will not winne rigour most perswade You are the Lords schollers learne you must the rod is your tormentor or else you shal be expelled his schoole Make much of mercy while you may haue mercie for if the gate of mercy be shut and the date expired your teares shall be drops of blood and your wounds as windowes for your bones to looke thorough your flesh shall feede the fowles of the ayre and your soules shall feele the torments of hell Secondly seeing mercie must winne vs let vs be mercifull as our heauenly father is mercifull Luk. 6. 36. which is needfull to bee vrged in these hard times wherein are many poore and many complaints for if wee looke to haue mercie of God when we pray vnto him let the poore find mercie in vs when they cry vpon vs. Be mercifull as our heanenly father is mercifull His hand is euer giuing his spirit is euer comforting his mercie is euer pardoning and his liberalitie is euer feeding therefore giue thou to the poore comfort the sorrowfull forgiue thy offenders and let many hungrie soules feede on thy meate Mercie is better then sacrifice hotter then coales of fire softer then liquide oyle and sweeter then pleasant hony Offer this sacrifice kindle this fire touch this oyle and eate this honie thou shalt finde mercie in iudgement in thy death-bed in thy graue and in thy resurrection it shall couer thee as a garment comfort thee as a guide carrie thee as a mother and crowne thee as a king God delighteth in it Angels reioice at it men looke for it and bruite beastes loue it Therefore with mercie delight thy creator reioyce the Angels and satisfie man and beast And bee mercifull to men to beastes and to thy selfe to man for God requireth it to beastes for nature craueth it and to thy selfe for thy soule challengeth it the first is of charitie the second of equitie and the last of pietie therefore practise mercie that christian loue godly kindnes and glorious religion may euermore maintaine thee Of great kindnesse and long suffering This is another argument to perswade them to repentance By the which we may note that God doth not alway take vengeance of sinne so soone as it is committed but winketh at it and deferreth till we repent or growe incurable This thing the Apostle noteth Rom. 2. 4. that God by his bountifulnesse and long suffering leadeth vs to repentance Although for example sake he slew Er and Onan Vzzah and Ananias and Saphira and many other in the verie act of sinning yet he doth not alway take this course For fower hundred yeeres togither did hee beare with the abhominations of Canaan Gen. 15. 18. Let not men thinke bicause they are not killed so soone as they haue blasphemed or denied God or committed adulterie or prophaned the Sabbaoth or the like that therefore their deedes shall go vnpunished no verily for the longer before they reckon the greater shall be their account and the farther a man runneth backwarde the farther hee leapeth forwarde and so the longer that God forbeareth our sinnes the heauier shall bee his stroke for wee shall beare double blame the one for breaking his lawe the other for abusing his patience It were needfull for vs to consider in our soules this singular fauour of God that wee might vse it as the prophet heere doth to further our repentance for let vs be well assured if peace and long suffering doe not prepare vs for God it will annoint vs for destruction The first reason bicause God will bee exalted in sparing vs Esay 36. 18. The Lorde which is most excellent in all his workes is most excellent in forbearing the malice of men for who coulde endure to be denied plainely reuiled openly and blasphemed boldly saue onely the Lorde or who coulde abide to see his workes reproched his worde rebuked and his liberalitie scorned saue onely the Lorde who filleth all in all and beareth much with all or else all woulde bee confounded But this is sufficient that the prophet saith he is exalted in sparing vs that is it magnifieth his honour while hee regardeth not his vengeance nor his maiestie nor his wrath nor his power but his mercy that his chiefe glory might be through clemencie Another reason bicause his chiefe desire is that not one shoulde perish 1. Pet. 3. 9. So that if men woulde or coulde laie holde on repentance they shall finde sufficient time to amende after they haue sinned So deare is the loue of God towardes vs his creatures that for his part he omitteth not any dutie to recall vs We haue the word for the meanes his workes for our helpes his mercies for our comfort and his long suffering for the time of our conuersion so that all thinges are discharged on the Lordes part and nothing on ours In this saying of Peter we must not vnderstande that any were damned contrarie to the Lordes will but rather that hee is vnwilling thereunto for a man may doe that vnwillingly which is not contrarie to his will Let vs not abuse the long suffering of God and although he bee willing to spare yet let not vs be willing to sinne Luk. 12. 46. If the euill seruant shall say in
doe not alway mooue him and shall we then tempt him to our and others euerlasting destruction in his wrath hee is an vnquenchable fire an vnresistable flood an vnpacifiable iudge and a destroyer of all that come in his way But alas with teares we may lament to see him prouoked euery day who is so sicke that sinneth not against him who is so weake that striueth not with him who is so vnwise that pleadeth not with him Looke with teares ouer all sorts of men the poore despise him the lame run from him the blinde come not at him the dumbe speake against him the rich will not feare him and the dead will not confesse him By all meanes we prouoke his wrath by tempting by murmuring by denying by abusing and abasing his glorie We tempt him in thinking he will pardon whatsoeuer we commit we murmur when wee haue not all our desires we denie him when we esteeme not his gospell we abuse him vsing our wealth to luxurie and our meate to gluttonie and wee abase him when wee more feare a mortall mans displeasure then the wrath of the highest When we see the Lord being angrie and so hardly pacified let vs vse all meanes to please him againe although it bee with the hazard of our owne liues as Moses did Deut. 9. 18 19. perceiuing the Lord to be mooued to wrath he fell downe on his face to entreate him for his people tarrying with him fortie daies and fortie nights neither eating nor drinking yea he desired God to be pacified with his people although he rased his name out of the booke of life What coulde bee done with greater zeale or more earnest affection the Lorde was angrie who coulde appease him but Moses and how could he be satisfied but with offering his body to death through fasting and his soule vnto condemnation Marke it I beseech you that we al learne with more zeale to entreate the Lord to be turned towarde vs. Offer we must our bodies to pining our members to tortures our health to sicknesse our wealth to pouertic our pleasure to paine and our life to death rather then the wrath of God shoulde proceede vpon vs. Oh let vs come vnto the Lord and offer him his whole man to satisfie his mercies neither be afraide to doe so but put it in speedie practise Come to him though thou be lame run to him though thou be blinde pray to him though thou be sicke and trust in him though thou be poore Abide not one miserie but all miseries that thou maist dwell with him neither care for the rage of man the want of maintenance the loue of friends or the feare of death for if thou loue these more then him thou art not woorthy of him Hauing willed the sucking babes to come to mourning he also inuiteth the new married folkes bridegroomes and brides to leaue of their vsuall dalliance and come among their neighbours to this sorrowfull banket From whence we obserue that wee must not in any thing be it neuer so lawfull hinder true repentance or the profession of godlinesse For there is nothing more honaurable then marriage more lawfull then a wedding feast more vsuall then pleasant mirth and more commendable then a ioyfull marriage day but all these being hinderances vnto repentance must bee laide aside as a mourner doth his daily attire Wee may reade Luc. 14. 21. how they were cursed that came not to the Lords feast among whome there was one that had married a wife it shall be no excuse before the Lord that they did but the course of the world in vsing these things it were better for vs to forsake our wiues then to loose our soules to renounce our mirth then to relinquish our liues to deferre our pleasure then to depart from the Lord. Let this I beseech you be your care in the Lord that you offend him not in the vse of his creatures neither let those comforts which you receiue in wedlocke in feasting in riches in beautie and the like worke your euerlasting discomfort in another worlde Liue not in mirth for then thou canst not repent reioice not in youth for it is but vanitie distrust thy ioyes for they are deceitfull be not alway mourning for thou canst not be thankfull bee euer repentant that thou maiest bee faithfull One reason heere of is giuen by the Lorde himselfe Ierem. 7. 34 bicause a desolation shall come and of all reasons there is none more forcible then the rod of vengeance and desolation so that in this sort might Ieremy and Ioel and other the Lordes ministers reason with the worlde Laie away your mirth let not the voice of musicke the day of marriage the means of ioyfulnesse or the comfort of pleasure bee had or heard among you for a desolation shall come Drawe the childe from the breast the elders from their ease the married from their loue and the people from their vanitie for a desolation commeth Houses shall be desolate without inhabitants parents shall be desolate without children cities shall be desolate without citizens and whole kingdomes shall bee desolate without professors Therefore put away this ioy like an vnlawfull wife come againe to the Lord with much weeping and reioice not in thy youth or thy age or thy wealth or thy friends or thy marriage Another reason bicause by this kinde of mirth we growe to hardnes of hart and neglect the wrath of God Amos 6. 1 5. It is much that men esteeme not the faire promises and sweete blessings of God but yet it is more fearefull when they make light account of his heauy iudgements Now if you marke who they be that care not for iudgement you shall see that they are those who eate in abundance liue in pleasure enioying wealth and children at their will and want is not knowne vnto them Againe poore people liuing in continuall scarsitie and are content with simple allowance hauing learned the feare of God a shower of raine and a cloudie day humbleth their knees to the earth and lifteth their praiers to heauen Let vs learne not to reioice in any vnlawfull manner all the time that the church of God is in aduersitie Psal 137. 2 3 4. Good men in captiuitie commanded by their enimies to sing one of the songs of Sion refused it bicause they were in a strange lande and so if we hope for mirth and ioy in another worlde let vs refuse it as much as may be in this life present for we be but strangers and pilgrims on the earth And verily if wee consider the matter well we haue as many causes to lament olde and yoong married and vnmarried as these people had to whom Ioell preached Famine was threatned to them but felt of vs they were vnder the Babylonian gouernment and we are subiect to the tyrannie of sathan they had abused manie benefites and prophets of God and so haue we they had reioiced in many worldly pleasures and
our selues neuer so sinful Psal 9. 9 10. although we bee neuer so poore in spirit yet let vs know that ours is the kingdome of heauen So that if thou reason with the diuell himselfe who will if it be possible deceiue thy soule telling thee that thou art more vile then others and therefore it is but follie for thee to call on God for mercie yet say to thy soule that the Lord neuer despiseth the sighings of the poore although I haue sinned yet I haue sorrowed although I haue neglected grace yet with the Lord there is more grace be it that I haue no goodnesse in me the more neede haue I to goe to God the author of goodnesse Men seeke not to the phisition in health but in sicknesse and the more desperate is their disease the more speedily they sollicite him and a good phisition commeth quickly so I want the health of my soule and I see death standing at the doore and knocking for me therfore my praier shall goe to the Lord my physition and I knowe that he will speedily come vnto me He abhorreth not my weakenesse he hateth not my person he willeth not my destruction and therefore wil I pray for saluation I am exceeding base but he will bende to me I am very poore but he will giue mee the riches of the spirite I am a sinner and he is a Sauiour why shoulde I not goe vnto him and fall downe lowe vpon his footestoole for hee neuer despiseth the sighing of the contrite Giue not thine heritage That is the people whom thou diddest take vnto thy self aboue al the nations of the world from hence we may obserue as in a singular metaphor how deere the church is vnto God Deut. 4. 20. euen as deere as any mans inheritance is to himselfe for indeed an inheritance doth very fitly resemble and shadow out vnto vs the nature and condition of the church First because it is not woorth any thing except a man do plant sow the same and so is it in the church wherin if the Lord plow not and sow not there can no good thing grow therein Againe an inheritance is sometimes sold away for the barrennes thereof so when the church groweth secure and bringeth not foorth good fruits the Lord giueth it ouer for a season to be spoyled by strangers Againe if an inheritance will no way be amended then is it accursed and burned Heb. 6. 8. so if no means will reclaime the world from their wicked life then he accurseth them and giueth them ouer to the fire of hell Also as a man taketh singular comfort in his inheritance so the Lord doth in his church and as a man hedgeth and encloseth his inheritance to keepe it from being wasted euen so the Lord hath set a brazen wall about his church the which all the diuels in hell shall neuer be able to ouerthrow but men and angels shall fight for their safegarde and maugre sinne and hell they shall endure as the earth doth euen for euer and euer The first reason because hee might powre his blessing on it Esa 19. 25. for hee hauing many most excellent benefits in store hath made choise of his church to powre foorth all that he hath thereupon for whether we consider the blessings of this life or the benefits of the life to come they are all ordained for the good of them that be godly He is wise to instruct vs he is mightie to defend vs he is liberall to maintaine vs he is mercifull to receiue vs for our sakes were the heauens created the earth established the waters remooued and the fruits appointed for our sakes were the angels condemned the sonne of God crucified and the age and yeeres of the world is plunged Another reason because we should be holy vnto him Deut. 19. 2. Of all the creatures of this worlde there is none that can bee holy vnto the Lord saue onely mankinde for they are the image of God and if the lande whereupon Moses stood was holy much more is the land of our harts holy whereupon the Lord himselfe standeth for he raigneth in vs. And this is the cause why the Lorde hath made vs his inheritance that we should serue him in holines and righteousnes all the daies of our life for the heauens are holy whither wee are going the angels are holy with whom we shall dwell the church is holy wherein we liue and therefore we must bee holy or else we are accursed Seeing we are the inheritance of God purchased by his sonne then let not any of vs liue to our selues but to him that redeemed vs 2. Cor. 5. 15. how many waies might I vrge this doctrine that as the earth beareth not fruit for it selfe but for vs so should not we eate the fruits of our owne labours but offer them to the Lord. Our harts are the grounds our bodies are the hedges God his law is the plough the worde is the seede and himselfe is the husbandman Oh let vs not be ploughed and planted in vaine let vs not frustrate the Lords expectation and our soules saluation If we were but seruants yet we ought to worke for our hire but being his inheritance we must liue and die day and night to beare him fruit wee cannot put him away but he may put vs away our fruits do not profit him and yet the want of them will curse vs. Let vs not be for the weedes of sinne nor for pleasures to feede on as bullockes do on pasture-land but let vs bee his garden of sweete flowers his vineyard of fruitfull grapes his field of fine planted wheat and his possession for an euerlasting inheritance Let our words be as gratious fruit let our religion be as pretious pearle let our loue be as rockes of golde and let our bodies bee as fruitfull garners let vs bring him all for first fruits tenthes and offerings and sacrifices that we may be his blessed land vnto the worlds end Another vse seeing we are the Lords inheritance we may see that the Lorde will be very hardly driuen to forsake vs for he gaue a lawe Numb 27. that none shoulde sell awaie their inheritance but at the ende of fiftie yeeres euery one should reclaime thereunto So that if the Lord shall giue ouer his inheritance as hee did Israell Hos 5. 15. the case is very desperate but not perpetuall A man that hath manie barren fieldes doth not presently sell them away no more the Lorde which hath many barren soules in the compasse of his church doth presently forsake them but rather dresseth them by the ministerie of the worde that they may be made fruitefull Oh heare this you that are in the Lordes folde although he beare for a season with your barren hearts and suffer you manie yeeres to lie in rest thinking at the last you will bring him some profit bring it foorth with speede or else knowe that the Lorde which redeemed you from
he had lost his strength and carrie their poore soules into miserable captiuitie Oh wouldest thou neuer weepe nor sorrowe nor wring thy hands for any worldly thing then bee religious and as peace was in Israel all Salomons raigne so shall it be in thy soule all the while that religion raigneth The first reason because religion is the wisedome of God Matt. 11. 19. 1. Cor. 1. 30. now this is the greatest point of wisedome to foresee that they doe nothing which may hurt them for this is true repentance not to commit sinne which must be repented and it is religion that onely awaketh vs when wee are sleepie ruleth vs when we are awaked We neuer read that the children of Israel had any cause to repent their obedience all the while that they were in the wildernesse no more shall we haue any cause to repent our obedience to the gospell which is our heauenly wisedome Another reason it is the power of God vnto saluation Rom. 1. 16. Let vs therefore say with Dauid 2. Sam. 6. 22. that for the Lord of hostes sake and for religion wee will yet be more vaine that is howsoeuer the world account of vs and of our zeale in religion yet we will aduenture their displeasure farther for all their mockes and reproches and by names slanders shall not dismay vs but we will go forwarde in our pretended course And as Mical was cursed with barrennesse all hir life long bicause she mocked hir husband Dauid when he daunced before the Arke so I praie God they be not as barren and voide of goodnesse that mocke at the professours of religion Againe let vs euermore hearken to the Lorde speaking in his worde Ierem. 38. 20. for then wee shall not bee burned with heate nor frozen with colde nor be ashamed of our youth or bee troubled with our age or repent our birth or curse the daie that wee came into the worlde for it shall shielde vs from all these mischiefes Oh let vs open our eares to his wordes that hee may open his eares to our praiers for as the Israelites were neuer blamed so long as they followed the cloud the pillar of smoke the Arke so shalt thou neuer be blamed if thou looke vpward to the Lord and ioyne thy selfe to the maine pillar of truth the church of God and followe the Arke which is the Gospell borne by the ministers or else thou shalt weepe and crie howle and repent at the last when thou canst not repent throughly Yee shall also knowe that I am in the middes of Israell and that I am the Lorde your God and none other and my people shall neuer be ashamed Nowe hee beginneth to follow the spirituall benefits from this vers to the ende of the chapter promising them first his presence vers 27 28 29. then his power in the verses to the ende His presence is promised first in regarde of the particular knowledge of his fauour resting among them vers 27. And in the two next verses by the powring out of his spirit And heereby we may first of all note that the church of God which is Israell hath the Lorde in hir continually Matth. 28. 19. Although by diuine power God bee present euery where yet is hee most present in the church in heauen and earth there doth hee shewe more power more mercy more iudgement more fauour then in other places I meane in that place where his Gospell is professed The first reason bicause in his church is his chiefe treasure Esay 33. 6. And as Christ saide to vs where our treasures are there are our harts so the Lordes heart and soule is lodged in his church where are his treasures namely his feare zeale faith knowledge redemption and the graces of the spirit and I woulde God men did not cast his treasure before the swine of their filthie sinnes Another reason bicause the power of darknes shall not preuaile against it Mat. 16. 18. For as the sunne doth breake awaie the cloudes and the north winde driue away the raine so doth the presence of God in his church breake in peeces the strength of diuels and driue away the rage of sinne And truely as when Lot went out of Sodom the valley was destroied so when God shall forsake his church it shal come to ruine Let vs learne to glorifie the Lorde in the church 1. Cor. 6. 20. for hee is not far off but in the middest of vs. Againe let vs also by the consideration of his dwelling among vs hold fast our hope of trust Heb. 3 6. that we be not confounded at the last The presence of Debora made Barac get the victorie against Sisera and his nine hundred charets of iron let vs not by the presence of a woman or man but God Almightie put to flight all our sinnes and lead our pleasures captiues that they may neuer more offend the church of God Secondly by this verse wee must note that it behooueth euerie member of the church to haue a particular knowledge of the Lordes fauour towarde him not onely that God is or that Christ died for the worlde but that God is their God and Christ is their redeemer 2. Cor. 5. 11. So that as Elisha woulde not forsake Elijah because hee was his master nor Ruth forsake Naomi because shee was hir stepmother nor Peter forsake Christ because hee was his Sauiour no more must wee forsake the Lorde for hee is our master our father our Sauiour and our God In this one point is included all religion for this is the ende of all profession that God may bee ours and wee may bee his The first reason because without this assurance of faith wee cannot please God Heb. 11. 6. So that whatsoeuer we do for companie or custome or perswasion or of vncertainty doth not please almightie God Againe if wee knowe not that GOD is in vs then are wee reprobates and then were it better for vs that wee had neuer so much as liued vnder the time of the Gospell Therefore let vs seeke the Lorde more ardently for as the brethren of Ioseph might not see his face anie more except they brought little Beniamin with them so may not wee appeere before GOD except wee bring this perswasion with vs. Gedeon slewe fortie two thousande because they coulde not rightly pronounce one worde but the Lorde will slay many millions that cannot say that hee is theirs Oh learne to say vnto God my father as Isaac did that he may answere vnto thee my sonne as Abraham did Againe let vs open the way that other men may come to the Lord as well as wee Isai 26. 2. for God keepeth not his kingdome to himselfe as Noah did not builde his arke for himselfe or Salomon his houses for himselfe nor the Apostles possessed the spirite for themselues onely and so let vs not conceale the Lordes fauour to our selues onely but
tell them to our parents our wiues our children our seruants our friendes and our neighbours that they may bee signed by the same seale and saued by the same grace Thirdly God will haue none other to bee knowen in Israel but himselfe alone Whereby wee are taught not to stand in doubt whom where whē we ought to beleeue feare loue or worship but onely and perfectly to relie on the Lord. 1. King 18. 21. It is not good to halt betwixt two opinions but either we must bee constant professors or obstinate blasphemers I would they woulde consider this that say they know not whether to be papists or protestants for both liue alike and therefore both shall be saued alike But they must knowe that Cham escaped the flood as well as Sem but yet he escaped not damnation so easily and so wicked professors in this life doe many times as well as good but death and iudgement shall trie the cause The reasons first because the halting part is often turned out of the way Heb. 12 13. and indeede it is fearefull that alway euill doth surpasse goodnesse as weedes ouergrowe corne and sicknesse ouer commeth health Therefore let vs beware least when we doubt what is best we take the worst as Ieroboam did Moreouer while we doubt in religion wee are carried away by the craftie deceit of men Ephes 4. 14. For heretikes and euill men doe alway labour first to drawe vs into wauering and then to bring vs into condemnation Let vs then abide in that which we haue heard 1. Ioh. 2. 24. for that which is first is truth and that which is last is falshood Let vs not haue tickling and itching eares such as many in our daies haue which like not our doctrine our preachers our praiers our gouernment our sacraments our people and our prince and what will they doe shortly but fall in dislike with our God and all manner of religion Let vs also learne to bee constant 2. Tim. 3. 14. that we be not mooued from it but as Ioab would not come out of the temple but would die holding the altar by the hornes so let vs die holding fast by our altar Iesus Christ And that seeing we must die let vs die in his armes for his sake to his glorie and our owne saluation The xxx Sermon Vers. 28. And afterward I will powre out my spirite vpon all flesh and your sonnes and your daughters shall prophesie your olde men shall dreame dreames and your yoong men shall see visions 29 And also vpon your seruants and your maidens in those daies will I powre our my spirite THese two verses containe the second part of the spirituall benefits to be powred on them namely the spirite and the graces thereof for when hee saith that he will powre foorth his spirite he meaneth not to diuide the holy Ghost into parcels but by a vsuall figure of the scripture hee putteth the spirite for the graces because wheresoeuer any one grace is there is the holy Ghost 1. Cor. 12. 6 11. By this we may see that the olde fathers and the prophets had some knowledge of the Trinitie of persons in the Godhead for not onely here but in many other places is mention made of the Spirit and we knowe the name of sonne is and was very familiar in the scriptures Hee saith he will powre out his Spirite by a vsuall metaphor taken from water because the holy Ghost is resembled to water Heb. 10. 22. meaning also that hee woulde giue it abundantly in more plentifull manner then heeretofore so that all this pertaineth properly to the kingdome of Christ as Peter sheweth Act. 2. 17. and not to their returne from Babylon By the cohaerence of this verse with the former where is promised knowledge as is heere the holy Ghost wee may note that after God hath giuen vs knowledge hee also will giue vs the holy Ghost Act. 15. 8. so that there is not any one that can assure himselfe that he knoweth God by the word preached but he may also be assured that he is made the temple and dwelling house of the holy Ghost Ioh. 1. 12. this is the onely rewarde in this world of the obedience to the Gospell that we haue the spirit dwelling in vs and opening vnto vs the things of God If the affaires of Potiphar were blessed because he had Ioseph in his house much more blessed are the workes of a christian because he hath the holy Ghost in his hart Oh learne I beseech you to know the Lord by the scriptures for then shall you haue the Lord dwelling in you for then shall not sinne hurt you nor the diuell annoy you you shall not feare any danger nor any death for the spirit shal still comfort you and carrie your spirits into heauen The reasons First because we should euermore haue him in our soules Ioh. 14. 16. the Lord knoweth that wee haue a great deale of sorrow to suffer in the world and therefore he hath prouided for vs a comforter that may helpe vs to beare it and they which care not for their profession care not for the spirit and they which care not for the spirit care not for the Lord. By which we may see how fearefull a thing it is to forsake the profession of the Gospel for then the Lord forsaketh vs seeing vs giue ouer his spirit also the Spirit of the Lord is fire and if it purge vs not it will burne vs. Another reason bicause it may perswade vs that we are in the truth Ioh. 15. 26. for if our profession were but barely gathered out of the scriptures by men then might it be altered as the ministers thereof haue beene altered but the spirit abideth for euer and doth assure our hearts that this Gospell this faith this hope this obedience and this kingdome is the same that Christ taught the saints beleeued good men receiued the disciples liued and all the faithfull haue obtained So that if thou stand in faith and dost peaceably enioy the profession of religion and knowest by the infallible word of God thou art in the way of saluation then reioyce boldly because the holy Ghost is in thy heart as Simeon did when he had Christ in his armes But yet many haue peace in their harts thorough the diuel which are in errour in Poperie in Mahometisme and Idolatrie being perswaded they are in the truth but this perswasion is but counterfaite like as the miracles of the Magitians in Egypt were but counterfaite to the miracles of Moses and therefore not euerie one that is perswaded he is in the truth is to bee thought to haue the holy Ghost but onely they that are perswaded by the scriptures and relye vpon nothing in the world besides Let vs then trie whether as yet we haue had the holy Ghost giuen vnto vs or not for the Lord teacheth Iohn 16. 8. when the holy Ghost is come he will reprooue the
world of sinne of righteousnes and of iudgement of sinne because they abound in it of righteousnes because they want it and of iudgement because they feare it Now search thy soule whether thou haue beene reprooued for these things or not for it wil speake to thee when thou art alone and it wil follow thee whither soeuer thou goest and it will not suffer thee to rest in any sinnes but at the first it will admonish thee gently afterward it will call vpon thee with diligence earely and late if thou amend not It will make thy meate vnsauorie and turne thy sleepe into many feares and then if thou repent not either it will vtterly forsake thee or else lay loade on thee of most fearfull iudgements and terrible wrath of God which will either turne thee into lamentation and great distresse of minde or else into desperation and vtter losse of soule Oh feare my deere brethren for the conscience of these things for it will worke most terribly in you if you haue it you liue in subiection if you offend it you liue in danger and if you lose it you die in trouble Therefore thou art happie when thou art reprooued for sinne thou art more happie when thou art inwardly scourged for thy faults but thou art most happie when thou art repentant in teares and ashes sackcloth and an infinite number of sorrowes so that hereby we see why God exempteth vs from the feare of hell because he keepeth vs vnder continuall correction of sinne Another vse let vs aske for the holy Ghost when wee feele the want thereof Luke 11. 13. for God will send him to those that want him Barren women aske for children sicke men for health olde men for life weake men for strength blinde men for sight and therefore let Christians aske for the holy Ghost For God will be as easily entreated for him as for the other and he will giue vs more ioy then children more comfort then health more good then life more benefite then strength more profit then sight and therefore let vs pray for him more earnestly then for any other of these If you aske how you shall pray for the holy Ghost I answere by the holy Ghost But you will say if you haue him already you neede not pray for him to which I answere you must pray as sicke men doe for life when they haue life so when you haue a little feeling of the holy Ghost pray that it may bee more and that euery little sparkle may be a flame and all our weaknesse turned into strength The persons vpon whom this spirite is to bee powred are sonnes and daughters olde and yoong men and women free and bond for of all these doth the church consist Whereby wee may obserue that there is not any sexe or any man but he is capable of the holy Ghost and so of saluation Isa 44. 3. The reasons are first because they haue receiued the hope of eternall life Tit. 3. 7. secondly the promises are general and there is not any excluded Therefore let vs learne not to greeue the holy Ghost Ephe. 4. 30. nor to quench any motions of the spirit within vs for the beginning of religion is like the blading of the corne if it then bee bitten it neuer groweth more Againe let vs fight against the lustes of the flesh Gal. 5. 17. for the spirite lusteth against the flesh There must bee a pitched field in euery mans soule the soule is one fighter and sinnes are the other the soule is aided by the spirite and our sinnes are aided by the flesh the weapons of the soule are spirituall the word the promises faith hope loue patience and constancie the weapons of sinne are ignorance lustes pleasures ease profite gaine pride selfeloue and prosperitie The meanes wherby they strike are temptations if the soule conquere the sinnes bleede abundance of teares if sinne conquere the soule is quiet and bound in a soft bed of delight that she may liue in perpetuall imprisonment fed with all lothing of goodnesse and starued with vaine shewes of foode stuffed with sweete poisons of many wofull sinnes and so in the end breaketh in peeces and falleth to eternall miserie This is a Christians combate one must needes die the enemies cannot liue in league the battell must needes be fought out and therefore come prepared the lesse thou eatest the better thou shalt endure the more thou watchest in praier the more shall be thy aduantage This battell is like the battell betwixt Dauid and Absolon for our owne sinnes which wee haue begotten doe conspire against vs and as Dauid wept for Absolon when he had gotten the field so wee shall weepe for our sinnes when we haue conquered them and wish that either they had not beene or else that wee had not beene therefore let vs haue the spirite on our sides that we may haue peace in our soules Now follow the effects of the spirite and the first is that they shall prophesie the next that they shoulde dreame dreames and see visions for these were accounted the most honourable works of the spirite before the comming of Christ because herein did the Lorde answere the demaunds of men as we may see in Ioseph Matt. 1. 21. and in Zacharie Luc. 1. And vnder these olde types doth the prophet signifie the abundant graces in the church when euery one shoulde prophesie that is shoulde bee able to speake the worde for the comfort and edification of his brother and euery one should see the counsels of God day and night by dreames and visions and not bee afraide First we may obserue here that none can prophesie but by the spirite of God 1. Cor. 14. 29. It is not possible that any shoulde open the worde of God and speake to the comfort of them that heare him but by inspiration of the holy Ghost therefore those which speake in the congregation and are not able to edifie them that heare them doe nothing lesse then speake by the holy Ghost opening their barren wits to the woonder of the worlde The reasons first because prophesie is an opening of the counsell of God which none can doe but those which haue the spirit of God 1. Cor. 2. 11. Againe it is the spirit of God that openeth our harts and maketh vs able to answere the aduersarie of our profession much more doth it helpe vs when we are to comfort the people of God in the congregation Luke 21. 15. Let vs therefore in our preaching or prophesying learne to prophesie according to the proportion of faith Rom. 12. 6. for as it is a damnable thing before God vnder an oath to couer falshood so is it alike damnable thing vnder pretence of the spirit to teach heresie and impietie Againe let vs learne to trie the spirits 1. Iohn 5. 1. whether they be of God or not for many false spirits are come into the world bringing in againe popery heresie