So Christ doth regenerate and sanctifie us by the vertue of his Spirit quo homo Deus est as he is man and God not as he is man alone or as he is God alone and yet he doth not transferre his essence into us and therefore Osiander is much deceived The place of Paul quoted by him helpeth him nothing for we are the righteousnesse 2 Cor. 5. 21. of Christ ut ille fuit peccatum pro nobis as he was sinne for us but sinne was not really in Christ no more is Christs righteousnesse really in us but onely imputatively faith as the hand applyeth it unto us and flyeth into heaven and there maketh us partakers of his Sanctity Our faith wrastleth with God in heaven our charity wrastleth with men here below on earth both of them are exercised neither idle nor unfruitfull and therefore the Apostle joyneth Faith in Christ and love toward Col. 1. 4. all Saints together O Brethren how many bee there that can tell a smooth tale of Christ and yet cannot speak one wise word of Iustification and Sanctification and yet Peter requireth it of all Hence am I to derive an exhortation to all men to holinesse and sanctification seeing that Rahabs house was knowne by a Ios ◠Iudg. 11. Mat. 26. 2 Reg. 9. red thread and the Ephramites by lisping and Peter by speaking and Iehu by driving his Chariot So Christians are knowne by sanctification Every child of God is sanctified Secundum plus aut minus either more or lesse But first let me speake of the diverse acceptions of the word ne inpingamus ubi non est lapis lest we stumble where there is no stone 1. It is taken for that which is pure and perfect and cleane Levit. 19. 2. So God alone is said to be holy 2. It is taken for that which is lawfull as 1 Cor. 7. 14. The unbeleeving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbeleeving wife is sanctified by the Husband else were your children uncleane but now they are holy 3. For that which is separated and set apart from common uses and reserved to sacred and holy uses Thus in the Law those things were called holy and sanctified which were taken from the common use of the people and set apart for the use and service of God as the Oyle Shew bread first fruits vessels of the Tabernacle In this sense the Priests were called holy because they were separate from the common life of men to serve in the Tabernacle Thus the people of Israel separated from the rest of the Nations were called by Moses a sanctified people to the Lord and by Ieremy a thing hallowed to the Lord. 4. For that which is consecrated to a godly and holy use Wee must bee holy because God is holy In which respect it is opposite to prophanenesse So the Temple was holy Ieremy was sanctified that is consecrated to be a Prophet So Christ sanctified himselfe that is dedicated himselfe to be a sacrifice for the sinnes of the world 5. It is taken for purity of body and minde as 2 Cor. 7. 5. So it is taken here And that wee should bee holy that is pure both in body and in minde it is the will and commandement of God Would you know his will and doe it that thou maist enter into heaven For not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into heaven but hee that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven then be holy For Mat. 7. 21. this is the will of God even your holinesse 1 Thes 4. 3. There be many reasons to move us to Sanctification to Holinesse whereof one is often used drawne from the person of God our Father that children must resemble their Father else are they Bastards rather than sonnes So reasoneth God Ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy repeated by Peter As hee Levit. 19. 2. which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy All that is in God our Father is holy all that pertaineth to Gods name is holy Holy is his name His person is holy Hereupon the Seraphins cryed Luke 1. 49. one unto another and said Holy holy holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole world is full of his glory his workes are holy So saith David Esay 6. 3. The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his Workes His Iudgements are holy O my God saith the Prophet in his distresse Psal 45. 17. I cryed by day but thou hearest not and by night but have no audience but thou art holy c. His Temple or House is holy so Psal 22. 1 2. saith Paul The Temple of God is holy which ye are His Mountaine is holy and therfore called A holy Mountaine His Kingdome is 1 Cor. 3. 17. holy for no uncleane thing shall enter his Kingdome neither whatsoever Psal 15. worketh abomination or lyes Therefore we must be holy if wee Apoc. 21. 27. looke to live with God Extra sunt Canes without bee dogges prophane and polluted persons Apoc. 22. 15. The same reason holdeth for holinesse that doth for mercy clemency love meeknesse and all other attributes of the Lord. Let mee reason as the Scripture reasoneth God is mercifull therefore wee must bee mercifull God forgiveth his enemies therefore we must forgive So reasoneth Christ himselfe Love your enemies blesse them that curse you doe good to them that hate you and pray for them that hurt you and persecute you that you may bee the Children of your Father which is in Heaven God is love therefore we must love So reasoneth Saint Iohn Beloved let us love one another 1 Iohn 4. 7 8. for love commeth of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love God is meek therfore we must be meek Learn of me saith Christ for I am meek c. So God is holy therefore we must be holy Mat. 11. 29. Another reason is taken from the end of our Redemption urged Holinesse the end of our Redemption without it wee shall not see God by the Apostle saying The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared and teacheth us that we should deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and that wee should live soberly righteously and holily in this present world Hath Christ sweat water and blood hath his heart beene molten like waxe his strength dryed up Tit. 2. 11 12. Psal 22. 14 15. like a potsheard hath his tongue cloven to his iawes and brought to the dust of the earth that wee should be wantons O caecas hominum mentes O pectora caeca nati sumus è silice nutriti lacte ferino O blinde mindes of men O blind hearts wee are borne of a flint-stone and nourished
quenched once angry never pleased The Heathens We must love as God doth without desert were wont to say of themen of the primitive Church Ecce ut invicem se diligunt behold how they love one another they knew Christians by that badge but we may say quoth one Ecce Zaneh ut invicem se oderunt behold how they hate one another oppresse one another not Christians but Wolves Lions Leopards Divels nay worse for one Lion eateth not another and the Divels strive not amongst themselves but maintaine their kingdome Let Tygers and Beares and Leopards teare one another Let Scythians and Cannibals eat one another who Mat. 12. know not God nor good humanitie Let them bee without naturall affections but let us love one another and let the Apostle his precept be our practise Be of one minde one suffer with another 2 Tim. 3. 3. love as brethren bee pittifull bee courteous not rendring evill for evill nor rebuke for rebuke but contrariwise blesse knowing that yee are thereunto 1 Pet. 3. 8 9. called that yee should bee heires of blessing But yee will say such and such men deserve no kindnesse nor love at our hands I but see what Christ deserveth his eyes blinded his face smitten his hands nailed his feete pierced his heart thrust through with a speare how ought wee then to love one another Beloved saith the Apostle if God so loved us wee ought to love one another In no quality doe wee resemble God 1 Iohn 4. 11. more than in this Love God the Father is Love God the Son is Love God the holy Ghost is Love God the Father in Love gave his Sonne God the Sonne in Love gave himselfe God the Iohn 3. 16. cap. 10. 16. holy Ghost in Love applyeth all this unto us Charitas Dei diffusa in corda nostra per spiritum But note here what love Iude praying for a true Christian love framed by knowledge for among theeves murderers Drunkards ther is a kind of Love First therefore the love of Atheists is condemned which come from profit or from pleasure which love men as the dog doth the bone but this love proceedeth not Excorde puro from a pure heart therefore to be condemned Secondly the love of Gamesters Drunkards and Pot-companions is here condemned For to glosse play eate drinke game bee no good workes therefore this is not to love wee call it good fellowship but such good fellowes will go to the good fellow the Divell if they repent not Thirdly all carnall love is here condemned For love in man may bee a vice aswell as a grace it is a vice when it is set upon a wrong object or is disordered and that three wayes First when wee love things unlawfull as sinne Secondly when wee love things lawfull but too much as the world Thirdly when love is turned into lust and so it is the mother of fornication adultery incest and such like But if wee will have our love a grace it must be a Christian Our love must be truly Christian Graces must be dayly increased love we must love one another in the Lord for the Lord this love is the badge of Christs disciples By this shall all men know that you are my disciples indeed if yee love one another as I have loved you To this S. Peter exhorteth Above all things have fervent love among your selves for love shall cover a multitude of sinnes Non expiando non veniam Iohn 13. 1 Pet. 4. promerendo sed fraternè condonando non vindicando non diffamando not by purging or satisfying for sinnes not by deserving pardon and binding God to forgive sinnes but by brotherly forgiving trespasses not revenging our selves not defaming others Here also is condemned the love of Papists In cathedra unitatis Deus posuit doctrinam veritatis In the chaire of unity God hath put the doctrine of verity they agree as the false Prophets did not in the Lord but against the Lord they make adoe of their councell of Trident and how they agree in all meetings Alas a few buckrome Bishops of Italy conspired together but thirtie eight Bishops in all not like the councell of Nice where were three hundred and eighteene or of Arimine where were sixe hundred Bishops Nor like the Councell of Constance where were foure Patriarks twenty nine Cardinals two hundred threescore and ten Bishops forty seven Archbishops five hundred threescore and foure Abbots and Doctors at the deposing of Benedict the third But let our love bee as it should bee Christian love Let us love as brethren and then the God of Love and Peace shall bee with us and so much for this love that Saint Iude prayeth for But before I shut up this heavenly doctrine note that the Apostle wisheth an increase of Mercy Peace and Love he would have these things to be multiplyed Mercy Peace and Love be multiplied unto you in that he wisheth a multiplication of these Graces he sheweth that there is no perfection of vertues in this life for there is a double grace of God A Restraining and A Receiving Grace The one to keepe us from sinne the other to increase all vertues in us for in all vertues wee creepe like Snayles wee glide like Wormes wee goe like the Messenger of evill newes but in all vices wee runne like Hazael or the Roe of the field we flie like Doves wee grow like the Lily in a night Paul therefore exclaimed The Law is Spiritual but I Carnall sold under sinne for Rom. 7. 14 15. I allow not that which I doe for what I would that doe I not but what I hate that doe I. Whereupon Saint Augustine saith Impii volunt valent peccare pii volunt sed non valent benè agere quia nequiunt quod desiderant the wicked are willing and able to sinne the August godly are willing but not able to doe well because they cannot doe that which they desire to doe This made this holy Father Never perfect till wee come to Glory to pray Domine dominetur carni anima animae ratio rationi gratia c. Lord let the Soule rule the Flesh Reason the Soule Grace Reason subdue me to thy will inwardly outwardly sharpen my tongue more and more to sound forth thy praises illuminate my mind more and more to see thee inlarge my heart more and more to beleeve in thee c. For we comprehend not the Mercy Peace and Love of God in any measure Beatitude nostra tribus gradibus perficitur in hac vita per spem fidem quotidie crescentem post hanc vitam cum anima Dei praesentia fruetur post extremum judicium cum anima corpore glorificabimur Our happinesse is perfected in three degrees in this life by Faith and Hope increasing and growing daily after this life when the Soule shall enjoy the presence of God after the last Iudgement when as in Body and
another Nay one man is a Woolfe unto another Nay one man is a Divell unto another we are not now Christians but Woolves Leopards Lions Divels Nay worse for one Lion eateth not another and the divels strive not among themselves but maintaine one anothers kingdome Let Tygers and Beares and Leopards teare one another Let Scythians and Canibals eate one another who know not God nor good humanity but are without all naturall affection But let us love as brethren bee pittifull be courteous not rendring evill for evill nor rebuke for rebuke but contrariwise blesse knowing that wee are thereunto called that wee should bee heires of blessing and if enemies will not be pacified recommend the cause to God till wee meete in Heaven where all injury shall be forgotten and in the meane while I beseech you as Saint Paul did the Saints of Corinth I beseech you I say by the name of our Lord 1 Cor. 1. 10. Iesus Christ that yee all speake one thing and that there bee no discension among you but that yee bee knit together in one minde and in one judgement and whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever Phil. 4. 8. things pertaine to love c. thinke on these things and the God of Love and Peace shall bee with you and the Lord increase your love and make 1 Thess 3. 12. it abound more and more one towards another Christs commandement is all love his Spouse is all loving and Iohn will preach nothing but love and wee must follow after love and above all have fervent love among our selves for that shall cover a multitude of sinnes But marke that the love whereunto Saint Iude exhorteth is called the love of God and keep your selves in the love of God so that not all love is commended but such love onely As is Holy Iust True Constant For first our love must bee Holy love it is for God and not against God under God and not above God for hee loves not God that loves not his neighbour with God whom hee loves not for God and hee that loves his neighbour more than God is unworthy of God and makes his neighbour to be his God Secondly Our love must bee just wee must not love one another in evill but in good and for good Pacem cum hominibus bellum cum vitijs wee must have peace with men warre with their vices We must love their persons but hate their manners if they Foure properties of the Love of God be evill Thirdly our love must bee true Love Wee 〈…〉 and in tongue but in worke and in truth Nemo potest 〈…〉 â—â—â—hn 3. 18. hominis nist primitus fuerit amicus ipsius veritatis 〈…〉 August be a true lover of man unlesse first he be a lover of th◠〈…〉 must love one another not for their riches honours greatnesse but for themselves their good must bee sought not their goods Weâ— must not love one another as dogges doe bones for the flesh that is on them or as men doe trees for their fruit but wee must love them for themselves for this that they are men but especially for that they are vertuous and good men Lastly our love one towards another must bee constant with some friends are like flowers no longer regarded then whiles they are fresh Many mens love is like the harlots love who love while there is lucre and when gifts goe hence their love goes hence they are like the puttocks in the fable that followed the old wife bearing tripes to the market but forsooke her home-ward when her tripes were sold En ego non paucis quondam munitus amicis c. A man shall be loved in prosperity but in adversity as rats forsake an house when it is ready to fall and as lice forsake a mans head when he is dying so his lovers and his friends will forsake him Thus our love should be holy just true constant this is true Christian love wherein men should keep themselves For among murtherers theeves and drunkards there is a kind of love but not the Love that Iude would here to bee among us First therefore the love of Atheists is condemned which comes from profit or from pleasure It is not Charitas ex corde puro Love out of a pure heart Love and good works must goe together 1 Tim. 1. 5. to gloze eate play drinke game bee no good workes therefore this is not love wee call it good fellowship but such good fellowes will goe to the good-fellow the Divell if they repent not For if wee sinne willingly after that wee have received the Hebr. 10. 26 27. knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinnes but a fearefull looking for judgement There is a carnall love but ours must bee a spirituall love such as was among the Colossians of whose Col. 1. 8. love Paul speaketh Who hath also certified us of your love which yee have by the Spirit There is a worldly love and there is an heavenly Love and knowledge giveth life to this love without it Love is as a dead picture Lovers glorious the name is honorable the praise of it is from the rising of the Sunne unto the going downe of the Sunne One saith that love is like hony in bitter broth and sugar in sowre wine it is like unto the Sun unto the world a candle unto the house a light for our journey a line for our life and a rule for our reprehensions Si diligis fac quicquid vis If Calvin in Iohn Aug. thou beest in love doe what thou wilt speake or bee silent exhort or rebuke call or cry so it bee in love all is well Yet it must be a godly love an holy charity but it is impossible to have it with all some are so wicked If thou canst have Most love for lucre sake the favour and love of men with the favour and Love of God take it it is precious but if thou canst not have the favour and Psal 133. 1. love of men but with the disfavour and dislike of God let it go For certenly The amity of the World is enmity with God Wee must Iam. 4. 4. love men in the Lord God for himselfe man for God Diligendus est Deus propter se homo propter Deum I may compare the love of Atheists to the agreement that is among a kennell of hounds who sleep together play together hunt merrily together but if a man hurle a bone they grinne snatch and bite one another So Atheists agree together till some matter come of private gaine but then there is grinning biting fighting one with another for the best of them is as a brier and Mich. 7. 4. the most righteous of them is sharper then a thorne hedge for from the least of them to the greatest of them every one is given to covetousnesse and Ier.
life and grace and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit For these causes ought wee to keep our selves in the Love of God These among many are reasons most sorcible to keep our selves in the Love of God How our God is to bee loved our Saviour sheweth Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart with all thy soule and with all thy mind But first wee must love Mat. 22 37. him with all our heart that is with all our affections joying and delighting in none but in him For he loves not God that delights in any thing more than God as Augustine saith truly Minus te amat qui aliquid tecum amat quod non propter te amat He loves thee not who loves any thing with thee which he loves Aug. not for thee 2. Wee must love him with all our soule induring rather a separation of the soule from the body than that our soule should bee separated from God who is the Soule of the soule and the comsort both of soule and body How we are to love God 3. Wee must love him with all our mind so that our cogitations must bee fixed upon him and ruled by him his Word should direct our reason our reason rule our wills that so wee may say with the Apostle wee live not but God doth live within us Our chiefest care should bee how to performe this duty to God how to love him as the Church said I am full of love I am sicke of love All owe this duty to God but few pay it or if they Cant. 5. 8. doe it is with crackt money not currant in Gods Exchequer for our love to God is cold yea plaine dead and that appeareth in the breach of the first Table wee are bankrupts both in piety towards God and charity towards men we love the world and our pleasures more than God wee worshippe not God in Spirit and in truth wee sweare and blaspheme the name of God wee prophane and pollute the Sabbaths of God wee come seldome to the house of God how can wee say that we love God The Love of God standeth in the keeping of his Commandements So saith our Saviour Hee that hath my Commandements Iohn 14. 21 23 24. and keepeth them is he that loves mee And againe If any man love me hee will keep my Word and my Father will love him and wee will come unto him and dwell with him And againe Hee that loveth mee not keepeth not my words c. Hee speaketh positively and privatively The blessed and undivided Trinity will dwell with that man who loveth God truely but till wee serve God in holinesse and righteousnesse till wee pray diligently heare his Word attentively receive the Sacraments penitently keepe the Sabbaths religiously use his name reverently let us be ashamed to say that wee love God Nam Regnum Dei non est in verbis 1 Cor. 4. 20. sed in virtute The Kingdome of God is not in word but in power Many Christians are mutilated and lame either they want an eare and cannot heare God or they want a tongue and cannot praise God or they want an heart and cannot love God These Atheists are a disgrace to Religion a Moth in the garment of the Church Monsters in nature Divels in shape of men as Christ said of Iudas hollow trees not holy trees these men are reprived till the last Sessions a gibbet is built in hell for them and all the gold in the world cannot purchase their pardon this is durus sermo sed verus sermo an hard saying but a true saying Wee talke of the love of men and say Charity is waxed cold but as touching the Love of God there is altum silentium not a word wee are like unslaked lime hot in the water cold in the Sunne as the stone of Thracia which burneth in the river but is quenched with hot oyle wee are pennie-wise and pound-foolish like the Pharises which did tithe Mint and Rew and all manner Luk. 11. 42. of hearbes and passed over judgement and the Love of God And yet if we loved God an ell where wee love him an inch it were but due debt O it is a most honorable thing to bee a lover of God! it was one of Abrahams greatest titles of honour to bee called the friend The hope of eternall life makes Gods precepts seeme easy of God it is a most blessed thing to bee a lover of God They that love the Lord shall be as the Sunne that riseth in his strength And it is a most miserable thing not to love God for Maranatha Anathema to them that love not the Lord Iesus Therefore as Paul prayed for the Thessalonians that God would guide their hearts in his Love and this Iudg. 5. 31. 1 Cor. 16. ought to bee thy prayer and my prayer and all our prayers that God would guide our hearts in his Love And God guide our hearts in his Love evermore THE FOVRE AND THIRTIETH SERMON VERS XXI Looking for the mercy of our Lord Iesus Christ unto eternall Life The hope of eternall life makes Gods precepts seem easie YEE have heard before that Iude gave the Saints many precepts now to mitigate the rigour of those precepts hee biddeth them looke for eternall life as if hee should say If it bee grievous to remember the words of the Lord to heare it to get faith to pray to keep themselves in the Love of God if nature if flesh and bloud wil hardly take out these lessons yet comfort your selves with the hope of eternall life there will bee an end of all troubles Salomon hath told you this long agoe saying Surely there is an end and thy hope shall not bee cut off Prov. 23. 18. all teares shall bee wiped from your eyes and yee shall bee filled with perfect joy after this iron world there is a golden world Esa 25. 8. there is a better life prepared for them in Gods house there are many dwellings as Christ said In my Fathers house there bee many mansions the time of refreshing will come as Peter said Act. Iohn 14. 1. 3. 19. And this is all joy and there is no joy but this I will give you Luk. 10. 19 20. power saith our Saviour to his disciples to treade on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you Neverthelesse in this rejoice not but rather rejoice because your names are written in Heaven Let not the rich man rejoice in his riches nor the Hope of reward makes all labours light wiseman in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength as Ieremy speaketh but let us rejoice that our names are written in heaven Shal the souldier in the wars the mariner in the boistrous Ier. 9. waves the husbandman in the cloddy lands the prentice in a hard service undergoe great paines in hope and shal not we For what
and the same operation Tres sunt in trinitate non statu sed ordine non essentia sed forma non potestate sed specie unus status essentiae potestatis quia sunt unus Deus There bee three persons in the Trinity not in state and condition but in order not in essence but in forme not in power but in kinde for there is one and the same state of essence and power because these three persons bee but one God But to leave this The persons of the Trinity are here distinguished they are sanctified of God the Father and reserved unto Iesus Christ The persons of the Father and the Sonne are discerned as in all other places Pater quasi fons exuberans filius ut rivus defluens ille ut Sol hic ut radius ille ut os hic ut vox procedens nonautem separantur sicut nec rivus a fonte nec radius a Sole nec vox abore quia aqua fontis est in Rivo solis lumen in radio oris virtus in voce The Father as the fountaine abounding the Sonne as the river flowing he as the Sunne this as the beame hee as the mouth this as the voice proceeding they are not separated as neither the river is separated from the fountaine nor the beame from the Sunne nor the voyce from the mouth for the water in the fountaine is in the river as the light of the Sunne is in the beame and the vertue of the mouth in the voyce The distinction of the persons obscurely delivered in the Old Testament in the New is made clearer than the noone-day For at the Baptisme of Christ the Sonne was seene The holy Ghost descended like a Dove Againe Christ bade them Baptise In the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost Againe Mat. 3. 16. this was Pauls farewell to the Churches The grace of our Lord Iesus the love of God and the fellowship of the holy Ghost be with you c. Mat. 28. 19. Againe Saint Iohn saith That there are three that beare witnessein Sanctification not available without preservation heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one Also the place Luk. 1. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing that shall be borne of thee shall be called the Sonne of God doth 1 Iohn 5. 7 8. sufficiently prove the Trinity which places the Confession of Belgia quoted against Iewes Mahomitans Marcion Mans Sabellius Samositanus c. The third title of honour here given unto the Elect is reservation that they are reserved unto Christ Iesus that is as St. Peter saith They are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation All former blessings without this is to small purpose 1 Pet. 1. 15. in that God not onely calleth us but sanctifieth us and not only so neither but also reserveth us in Christ Iesus This maketh Luke 6. 38. up the measure of our joy till the Bushell runne over So Paul told the Corinthians that God had called them and would confirme 1 Cor. 1. 8. them unto the end that they may bee blamelesse in the day of Lord Iesus This is the Anchor of our hope as the Sun at noone day as the Moone in the Full that God preserveth us for ever He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleepe the Lord is thy keeper the Psal 121. 4 5. Lord is thy defence upon thy right hand the Sunne shall not burne thee by day nor the Moone by night He that keepeth a sicke man sleepeth but he that keepeth us never sleepeth his eyes are alwaies open day and night like the gates of the new Ierusalem Apoc. 20. Christ giveth this reason why his sheepe doe not perish My sheepe saith hee heare my voyce and they follow me and I give unto them eternall life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck Iohn 10. 27 28. them out of my hand Our life is like a Ship in the Sea beaten with winde tossed with waves turmoyled with all kind of troubles and were it not that Christ is in this Ship we were like to sinke nor with Peter into the Sea but with Iudas into hell And this point is most notably handled by Master Calvin who affirmeth that Gods providence is over all the parts of our life we cannot Calvin libro 1. cap. 17. Instit. saith he take heat nor cold without danger by heat wee may surfeit and by colde catch an ague if wee mount up an horse In lapsu unius pedis periclitatur tota vita in the sliding of one foot is the danger of our life if wee enter into a Ship we are but an inch from death if we walke in the streets so many tiles so many deaths hang over our heads walk into the Forrests or Fields so many beasts so many enemies that conspire our destruction shut thy selfe in a Garden there a Serpent may kill thee Latet anguis in herbis And to recapitulate all this Bibulus a noble Romane riding thorough the streets in great pompe a tile fell from the house and strooke him so deepe into the head that it killed him Pope Adrian drinking at a Fountaine was choked with a flye Anacreon the Poet was choked with the graine of a Grape Gregory the 13. was suddenly strangled with a rheume and it is said of Plato that he dyed in a Gods providence watcheth over all especially his dreame and of Publius Crassus that hee dyed laughing Into these dangers might wee have fallen if God had not preserved us Marvellous is the providence of God in our lives Iob in his misery saw the want of it and therefore wished saying Oh that I were as in times past when God preserved me when his light shined upon Iob. 29. 2 3 4 5 6. my head and when by his light I walked through the darkenesse as I was in the dayes of my youth when Gods providence was upon my Tabernacle when the Almighty was with me and my children round about me when I washed my pathes with butter and when the rocke powred me out Rivers of Oyle c. In all the parts of our life God miraculously preserveth us miraculously doth he preserve us in our conception and therefore saith the just man Thou hast powred me out like milke turned me to Curds like Cheese thou hast cloathed mee with skinne and flesh and joyned mee together with bones and sinewes thou hast given me life and grace and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit Miraculously did hee nourish us in our Mothers wombe Psal 8. 2. miraculously nine moneths preserved hee us miraculously did he deliver us out of the wombe of our Mother for at our birth Psal 34. not onely women but Angels did assist us miraculously God keepeth us in our youth For CHRIST speaking
or Life or death Whether they be things present or things to come even all are yours and yee are Christs and Christ 1 Cor. 3. 21 22 23. Psal 112. 6 7. 9. Gods an elegant Climax or gradation For he riseth by steppes Such a like figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 2 Cor. 6. 9. 10. Obiter now that peace and plentie are so farre given unto the Church as is profitable for it and expedient for the setting out of Gods glory The Church sometime eateth ashes as bread and mingleth her drinke with weeping she is as a Pelicane in the wildernesse and like an Owle that is in the desart She is as a Sparrow that sitteth alone upon the house top and her enemies revile her all the day long Sometime she is eaten up like a Sheep and scattered among the Heathen she is sold for nought and made a rebuke Psal 44. 9. 11 12. rebuked of her neighbours laughed to scorne and derided of all Nay sometime she is smitten into the place of Dragons and covered with the shadow of death The Church is oftentimes more hurt by plentie than penurie according to the voice in Constantines dayes Hodie venenum effusum est in Ecclesiam this day is poison powred into the Hierom. Church The Church when it came to Christian Princes to be defended Major erat divitiis virtutibus minor Againe God putteth off her sackcloath and girdeth her with gladnesse He giveth her beauty for ashes and rich apparell instead of sackcloath Psal 30. 12. Esa 61. 3. as he seeth it expedient Non audit ad voluntatem ut audiat ad salutem THE FIFTH SERMON VERS II. And Love bee multiplied Gods love the cause of all good THe third and last blessing which the Apostle here prayeth for is Love which of some learned men is thought to bee the cause of Mercie and Peace For Mercy and Peace are the fruits of Love Love is the fountaine Mercie and Peace the water that floweth from the fountaine Love is as the mother Mercy and Peace as her daughters Love as the cause Mercy and Peace as the effects yea Love is the cause of al blessings as I may say the cause of it selfe yea Causa causarum the cause of causes or Causa causae the cause of the cause or Causa causati the cause of the thing caused God is mercifull because he loveth us and hee loveth us because hee loveth us Eligit quia diligit ideo diligit quia diligit thee hath chosen us because hee loveth us Aug. and therefore hee loveth us because hee loveth us No reason can bee rendred of the love of God but the love of God Let us not buzze too neere the candle with the flye Farsalla lest we burne Let us not soare too high with the Eagle lest wee melt let us not wade too deep with the Elephant lest we drown Let us not bee curious in these things It is enough that Moses setteth downe Love to bee the cause of all blessings So God turned Balaams curse into a blessing unto Israel The cause Moses affirmeth to bee Gods love saying Because the Lord thy God Deut. 23. 5. loved thee So Moses telleth Israel that God did set his Love upon them and did chuse them not because they were more in number than any people For they were the fewest of all people but Because hee loved them Iude here prayeth for it as a most excellent blessing without which all is nothing For as Deut. 7. 7 8. wee say In triviis Hee is poore whom God hateth so hee is rich and happy whom God loveth his favour is as the dew of the Gods love abundant unmeasurable immutable morning as the shadow in the heate and as an haven to them that are tossed as the Cities of refuge to them that are pursued In thy presence saith David is fulnesse of ioy That is where God loveth and favoureth there is perfect felicitie Iohn calleth all men to behold the love of God Behold what love the Father hath shewed us that we should be called the Sonnes of God behold his love that hee calleth us his servants and behold a 1 Iohn 3. 1. 2 Cor. 6. Ephes 2. greater love in that hee calleth us his Sonnes and yet behold a greater love that he calleth us his heyres and coheyres with Christ and yet behold a greater love in an higher degree that he calleth us his Mother Brethren and Sisters but behold the greatest love of all that he calleth us his Spouse or Wife to note that he loveth us with all loves with the masters love as Abraham loved Eleazar with the friends love as David loved Ionathan with the Childes love as Ruth loved Naomi with the Gen. 15. 1 Sam. 16. Ruth 1. Gen 29. husbands love as Iacob loved Rachel What heart of stone is not moved with this love Nati sumus è silice nutriti lacte ferino This love of God is gratuitall free partly because it floweth from his grace and goodnesse and partly because he loveth not for his owne but for our good And it is unmeasurable therefore saith the Apostle Herein is love not that wee loved God but that hee 1 Iohn 4. 10. loved us and sent his Sonne to be a reconciliation for our sinnes greater love could not the Father shew than to send his Sonne out of his owne bosome and greater love could not the Sonne shew than to die for his enemies Yea this love of his it is immutable and constant For whom he loveth he loveth to the end hereupon the Apostle calleth God love God is love saith he and not only love for there are many properties and attributes in God as Truth Mercie Iustice Power Eternitie Novit omnia ut veritas tuetur ut salus Iohn 13. 1 Iohn 4. 16. sedat ut aequitas dominatur ut majestas operatur ut potentia manet ut aeternitas he knoweth all things as veritie defendeth all things as health and salvation appeaseth all things as equitie ruleth all things as Majestie worketh all things as omnipotencie and abideth and remaineth as eternitie God is not made of love only as wood of trees as a fountaine of water as a plaister of Balme but all these attributes are in the Lord equally But because God delighteth in love and he reposeth a great part of his glory in love therfore is he described by that attribute of Love by this attribute the Evangelist describeth him God so loved the Iohn 3. 16. Cap. 10. 16. 1 Iohn 4. 18. World that he gave his only begotten Sonne c. And by this attribute the beloved disciple describeth him saying God is love and hee that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him By this attribute David describeth him As a Father hath compassion on his children so hath the Lord compassion on them that love him And againe The loving Psal 103. 13. 17. kindnesse of the
Soule wee shall be glorified and when as wee shall sing the songs of triumph such as none can understand save the hundred and forty foure thousand which are Apoc. 14. 3. brought from the Earth Let us therefore pray for grace to increase in us and say with Augustine Si quando steti per Dominum steti si quando cecidi per me cecidi c. If at any time I stood I stood by the Lord if at any time I fell I fell of my selfe his Grace did prevent me saving me from evils past preserving me from evils present and defending me from evils to come But I will follow this point no further but as Iude prayed that Mercy Grace and Love might be multiplied So shall I pray Mercy Peace and Love bee unto you Mercie from God the Father the Father of Mercies Peace from God the Sonne the Prince of Peace Love from God the holy Ghost the Love of the Father and the Sonne Mercy unto you releasing your sinnes Peace unto you quieting your consciences Love unto you joyning you to God and one unto another Now the very God of Mercy Peace and Love give you Mercy Peace and Love Amen THE SIXTH SERMON VERS III. Beloved when I gave c. Faith and Gods worship must be maintained HAving spoken of the Title or Inscription of this Epistle I am now come unto the second part thereof namely the Proposition which is a stirring of them up to maintaine the Faith worship and religion of God which was now at an ebbe like the Sea and eclipsed like the Sunne with false Apostles had shaken her leaves like a tree in winter Where note two things 1 That they must labour for Faith 2 The reasons why they must so labour The Reasons be three The first taken from the person of the Apostle The second from the person of God The third from the person of the Adversaries From the person of the Apostle three wayes From 1 His love 2 His paines 3 His mildnesse The second reason is taken from the person of God in that he gave this Faith where note three things The necessitie and excellencie of Faith That it is 1 His gift 2 Once given 3 Given to the Saints The last reason is taken from the Adversarie where note two things 1 The qualities 2 The end of the Adversarie But first for Faith all men must labour for it that they may say on their death-beds with Paul I have fought a good fight I 2 Tim. 7 8. have finished my course I have kept the faith from hence-forth there is laid up for me a Crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge will give me at that day and not to me onely but unto them also that love his appearing None can speake of a Crowne of glorie but he that can say that he hath kept the Faith For without Faith it is impossible to please God Wilt thou please God as Enoch did and Hebr. 11. 6. not grieve God like Israel then get faith Quod enim non est a fide peccatum est whatsoever is not of faith is sinne Paul describing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christiani the armour of a Christian compareth faith unto a shield all armour is necessarie but specially a shield Therefore saith the Apostle Above all things take the shield of faith Ephes 6. 17. wherewith we shall bee able to 〈◊〉 all â—he 〈…〉 of the wicked Where note that the Apostle contenteth not himselfe with a bare exhortation to stirre us up to labour for faith but with weighty reasons presseth his exhortation before and behind before comparatively preferring it before all other graces Above all behind simply declaring the vertue and efficacie of it Wherby yee shall bee able to quench c. By the first hee maketh way to his exhortation by the last he knocketh it downe fast even to the head as wee use for to say And the Apostle writing to Timothie willeth him to get faith 1 Tim. 1. 19. and a good conscience naming two fearefull examples One of Hymenaeus another of Alexander who had made shipwracke of faith and a good conscience And therefore Paul delivereth them up to Satan That they might learne not to blaspheme that is he did excommunicate them Faith is the vertue of all vertues As all rivers runne into the Sea so all vertues come of faith It giveth light to all vertues as the Sunne doth to all planets therefore the Apostle is so prolix in it Faith maketh us the sonnes of God else are we bastards illegitimate So many as received him to them gave he power to be the Hebr. 11. 4 5. Iohn 1. 12. Epist ad Adimanth Gen. 26. 2 Tim. 1 Cor. 4. 15. Gal. 4. Sonnes of God even to them that beleeve in his name Augustine distinguisheth of Sonnes that they are threefold sonnes by Nature so Esau was the sonne of Isaak sonnes by doctrine or imitation so Timothie was Pauls sonne so he begat the Corinths so hee travelled of Galatia Lastly sonnes by inspiration or faith so are we the sonnes of God Christ is the naturall wee the adopted sonnes of the Almightie The third is best for well is hee that hath God to his Father for the Sonne abideth in the house for Faith must be striven and laboured for ever Faith is the life of the soule as the soule is the life of the body Quod carni esca hoc animae fides what food is to the flesh the same is Faith to the soule quod cibus corpori hoc verbum spiritui what meat is to the body the same is the word to the Spirit Iohn 8. 35. To stirre us up to strive for this Faith the Holy Ghost adorneth it with many Epithetes he calleth it Rich faith 1 Pet. 1. Holy faith Iude vers 20. strong faith 1 pet 5. 8. a saving faith Ephes 2. 8. a pure faith Act. 15. 9. a precious faith 1 Pet. 1. 7. If their we regard riches strength holinesse salvation puritie let us maintaine Faith which hath all graces in it as Paradise had all fruites in it as Lapis Indicus hath all cures in it And note that they must contend strive for faith for all they are accursed that doe the worke of the Lord negligently and all Ier. 48. they shall be spued out of Gods mouth who are key-cold luke-warme and not fervent in the faith Most men therefore shall Apoc. 3. 15. goe unto the Divell and be vomited out of Gods mouth for they are Tepidi in Fide they care not what become of faith and religion so they may prosper in the world they say unto God Ioh 21. 14 15. Depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Who is the Almightie that we should serve him and what profit shall we have if we should pray unto him they say with Alexander Borgia Da mihi divitias caetera tolle tibi fidem spem charitatem
his mercy is despised like a Prince that sendeth not his army against rebells before he hath sent his pardon and proclaimed it by an Herauld of armes like Tamberlaine who the first day set up his white tents and received all that came the next day blacke betokening the death of the rulers the third day red betokening the bloodshed of all So the Lord hath his white tents of mercy his blacke and red of iustice and iudgement if the one bee despised the other shal be felt hereupon saith Paul But thou after thy hardnesse Rom. 2. 5. and heart which cannot repent treasurest up unto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath and declaration of the iust iudgement of God who will reward every man according to his works More particularly God delivered this people mercifully yea miraculously their shoulders from burdens and their fingers from making of bricke hee drew them out of a fiery oven like the three children he put off their sacke-cloth and girded them with gladnesse and compassed them about with songs of deliverance hee carried them on the Wings of Eagles He brought a vine out of Aegypt hee cast out the Heathen and planted them in Thou madest roome for it and diddest Dan. 2. Exod. 19. Psal 80. 9 10 11. cause it to take roote and it filled the land She stretched out her branches unto the sea and her boughs unto the river God separated them from all the Sonnes of Adam For the most high God who divided to the nations their inheritance kept them as the apple of his eye And as an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her birds stretcheth out her wings taketh them and beareth them on her wings So the Deut. 32. 8. 11 12. Lord alone led Israel But for orders sake I will divide the mercies of God into three severall sections or times Their deliverance in Aegypt the first Their comming out of Aegypt the second Their deliverāce after they were come out the third the last For First for their deliverance in Aegypt first it was much that Gods judgements upon the Aegyptians God should love them being come of the Amorites and Hitites wallowing in their blood that he should love them and choose them for his people as Moses said The Lord your God did not set his love upon you nor chose you because yee were moe in number than Ezech. 16. 3. 6. Deut. 7 8 9. any people for yee were the fewest of all people but because the Lord loved you There was nothing in them why God should choose them for they were no more righteous than others and therefore saith Moses againe unto them Speake not thou in thy heart saying For my Cap. 9. 4 5. Cap. 32. 9 10 11 12. Exod. 1. righteousnesse hath the Lord brought me in to possesse this Land c. For thou shalt inherit this land not for thy righteousnesse or for thy upright heart but for the wickednesse of those nations c. Israel was Gods portion Iacob the lot of his inheritance hee found him in the land of the wildernesse in a wast and roring wildernesse he led him about he taught him and kept him as the apple of his eye As an Eagle stirreth up her nest fluttereth over her birds stretcheth out her wings taketh them and beareth them on her wings So the Lord alone led him and there was no strange God with him God multiplied them not by meanes but by miracle For from seventy soules they grew in few yeares to 600000. and which is more the more that they were kept down the more they prospered like to Camomill the more it is troden the more it groweth or to a Palme-tree the more it is pressed the further it spreadeth or to fire the more it is raked the more it burneth God gave them Moses and Aaron and Miriam Mich. 6. Psal 78. 44 45 46 47 48 49 50. and God plagued the Aegyptians for their sake and did marvelous things in the land of Aegypt even in the field of Zoan He turned their rivers into blood and their flouds that they could not drinke hee sent a swarme of flies among them which devoured them and frogges which destroyed them hee gave also their fruits unto the Caterpiller and their labour unto the grashopper he destroyed their vines with haile and their wild figge-trees with the hailestone he gave their cattell also to the haile and their flockes unto the thunderbolts hee cast upon them the furiousnesse of his anger indignation and wrath and vexation by the sending of evill Angels he made a way to his anger hee spared not their soule from death hee Act. 12. Exod. 8. 17. gave their life to the pestilence If it were much to eate up one man with lice what is it to eate up a whole land If it was much to Iohn 2. Exod. 7. 19. Gen. 19. 2 Reg. 6. turne water-pots into wine what was it to turne all the waters of Aegypt into blood If it was a great thing to smite a few Sodomites Aramites with blindnesse what was it to smite a whole land with darkenesse that no man could rise for three dayes So much for the benefits bestowed upon them in Aegypt Now let us see what he did for them in their deliverance out Exod. 10. Exod. 12. Gen. 50. 3. Ier. 31. 17. of Aegypt In their deliverance he smote al the first borne in Aegypt the chiefe of their strength passed by Israel And wheras there was a great cry in Aegypt like that for Iacob for whom was made a great and an exceeding sore lamentation and like that of Rachel who weeping for her children would not be comforted because they were not there was joy in the land of Goshen hee inclined the hearts of the Gods mercy to Israel after their deliverance out of Aegypt Aegyptians to doe them good and they received of them Iewels of silver and Iewels of gold hee strengthened them so that there was not one feeble person among them Aegypt was glad at their departing for the feare of them had fallen upon them All the Idolls of Aegypt fell downe at their departure even as all the oracles Psal 105. 38. of the world ceased at the comming of Christ even that at Delphos Dodo Delos God brought them as a vine out of Aegypt God did cast out the Heathen and planted them hee made Psal 80. 8 9. a roome for them and caused them to take roote and they filled the land 3. After their deliverance when the red sea was before them the Aegyptians behind them the mountaines on each side of them God made a ready passage for them And caused the sea to runne Exod. 14 21 22. backe by a strong East winde all the night and made the Sea dry land for the waters were divided and the children of Israel went thorough the middest of the Sea upon the dry ground but the Aegyptians pursuing them Psal 105.
worth and wheresoever love is it draweth all things unto it And surely if I might have my wish and desire as Salomon had it should be this that Saint Iude here exhorteth unto 1 Reg. 3. namely so to love that wee may keepe our selves in the Love of God evermore that if any of us Christians be at any time asked what wee worship wee may answere with Gregory Nazianzen Charitatem veneramur wee worship charity Wee had need cry out and write no longer against false Catholikes sola fides faith only but against false Protestants Sola charitas Love only for malice and mischiefe aboundeth and Love abateth Let faith only justifie and Love only rectifie David compareth Love to the Oyntment on Aarons head and unto the dew of Hermon I can coÌ„pare it to the Oyle in the cruze Psal 133. 2. 1 Reg. 17. to the meale in the barrell that wasted not and unto the apple-tree of Persia which buddeth blossometh and beareth fruit every moneth Now abideth faith hope and love but the chiefe of these is love It lasteth longer like a pillar of Salt it reacheth 1 Cor. 13. further it profiteth more among men faith flyeth up to Heaven Charity is occupied here below on Earth Faith wrastleth above with the promises of God Love is busied in good works as Faith is with God Paul prayeth that Love may abound more and more and this hee doth in respect of the scantinesse and excellencie Charitas laudatur alget Iniquitie aboundeth Charitie Mat. 24. 12. waxeth cold This is the Iron age that Paul prophesied of Know saith Paul that in the last dayes shall come perilous times for men shall bee lovers of their owne selves covetous proud boasters 2 Tim. 3. 1 2 3. 4. cursed speakers disobedient to parents unthankifull unholy without naturall affection truce-breakers false accusers intemperate fierce despisers of them which are good traytours heady-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God Inveniètue Christus fidem Shall Christ Luk. 18. 8. Gal. 5. 6. when he commeth finde Faith upon the Earth But Love followeth Faith therfore shall he find any Love at his comming Surely but a little England is as the land of Canaan we have corne and cattell we have fish and flesh cloth and wooll our vallies stand thicke with corne that maketh us to laugh and sing God Psal 65. 11. crowneth the yeere with his goodnesse and the clouds drop fatnesse they drop upon the pastures of the wildernesse and the hils are compassed with gladnesse Our sonnes grow up as the young plants our daughters are as the polished corners of the Temple Psal 144. 12 13 14. our Garners are full abounding with store our Sheep bring forth thousands and tenne thousands in our streets our Oxen are strong to labour there is no invasion nor going out nor crying in our streetes The Mountaines drop Wine and wee wash our paths in butter We have plenty Ioel 3. 28. Iob 29. Iudg. 5. 1 Sam. 13. 1 Reg. 8. of all things but of Love As in the dayes of Debora there was neither speare nor shield as in the dayes of Saul there was no Smith in Israel as in the dayes of Salomon there was no Manna to bee found and as in Gilboa there is no Raine in Gilead Few united in Love no Balme in Bashan no flowers in Sichem no Corne being sowne with salt in Tyrus no Ships in Cimmeria no Light Ier. 8. Iudg. 9. 45. Ezech. 28. so in England no Love or but a little If there be an hundred men in one towne scarce two love together and agree together as they should wherein they bee worse then Divels for seven of them could agree in Marie Magdaiene a legion in another man that is twelve thousand five hundred Divels or as other Mat. 26. affirme sixe thousand seven hundred twenty two Divels for so Varro and Vegetius affirme that a legion containeth so many but scarce seven men of seven score love as brethren and so keepe themselves in the love of God We are now divided into three companies like Labans sheep some white some blacke some speckled some Protestants some Papists some Newters Nay even among Protestants there is little love and lesse agreement but God I hope will make us friends in Heaven where all injuries shall bee forgotten Where are these noble paire of lovers become David and Ionathan who had but one soule Eusebius and Pamphilus martyr 1 Sam. 18. who had but one name Pilades and Orestes who had but one life the one being dead the other died also Ruth and Naomi who could not bee parted but where the one would goe the other Ruth 1. would goe where the one would dwell the other would dwell where the one would dye the other would dye and where one would be buried the other would be buried also Basil and Nazianzene of whom it is said that anima una erat inclusa in duobus corporibus that there was one soule shut in two bodies Marriage maketh two bodies one so saith our Saviour For this Mat. 19. 5. cause a man shall leave Father and Mother and cleave unto his wife and they twaine shall bee one but love maketh two soules one yea many bodies many soules but one If an hundred men love together there is but one heart as in the Acts The multitude of them 1 Sam 18. 1. Act. 4. 32. that beleeved were of one heart and of one soule of one minde will and consent If a man hath an hundred friends that man is become as an hundred men Nam amicus est alter idem a friend is another the same Charitas est res augmentativa Charitie is an Chrysost increasing thing There was a day when Herod and Pilat were made friends but that day I feare with many of us will never be if any are implacable like the stone Arbestos which being once kindled is never quenched once angred never pleased A signe of a reprobate mind for Paul describing the reprobates saith that they are full of unrighteousnesse fornication wickednesse Rom. 1. 29 30. covetousnesse maliciousnesse full of envie of murther of debate of deceit taking all things in the evill part whisperers backe-biters haters of God doers of wrong c. The Romanes were wont to say of the men of the Primitive Church Ecce ut invicem se diligunt See how they love one another They knew Christians by that badge as Christ said By this shall all men know that yee are my disciples indeed The love of God above all love if yee love one another as I have loved you But wee may say quoth a moderne Father Ecce ut invicem se oderunt Behold how they hate one another oppresse one another It was wont to be said Iohn 13. Zaâ—che Homo homini Deus One man is a God to another but now homo homini Leo one man is a Lion to
6. 13. their love is nothing else but a mony love Come with us say they we will lay wait for bloud and lye privily for the innocent without a Prov. 1. 11 12 13 14. cause Wee will swallow them up alive like the grave even whole as those that goe downe into the pit wee shall find all precious riches and fill our houses with spoile cast in thy lot amongst us wee will have all one purse Atheists love their brethren as Flies love the pot as Dionysius loved his bottles so long as there is any meate in the pot the Flie loves and Dionysius loved his bottles when they were full but hurled them away when they were empty so wee play with our friends Iob said when I washed my pathes with butter when the rocke Iob 29. 6 8. powred mee out rivers of oyle the yong men saw mee and hid themselves and the aged arose and stood up but now they that are yonger than I mocke Iob 30. 1. mee yea and they whose Fathers I have refused to set with the dogges of my flockes But let us no longer love from the teeth outward but from the heart inward we speake faire as Cain did to Abel wee give good words as Iacobs Sonnes did to the Sichemites we salute Gen. 4. Gen. 35. men as Ioab did Abner we shead Crocodiles teares as Ismael did to Godoliah wee kisse one another with Iudas but with no true 2 Sam. 3. Ier. 41. Mat. 26. love all is but Court-holy water This made David to complaine saying Surely mine enemy did not defame me for I could have borne it neither did my adversary exalt himselfe against me for I would have hid Psal 55. 12 13 14. me from him but it was thou ô man my companion and my familiar wee delighted in consulting together and went into the house of God as companions and againe If he come to see me hee speaketh lies for pretending love and good will unto mee he desireth my destruction Psal 41. 6. in his heart We love men for profit Voluntatis duo sunt calcaria There bee two spurres of the will honesty and utility but utility profit is the stronger spurre we should carry holy Love religious love towards our parents delectable love towards our neighbours The love of Papists is also condemned In cathedra unitatis Deus posuit doctrinam veritatis God hath placed the doctrine of verity Vnity without verity is nothing but conspiracy in the chaire of unity unity without verity is but conspiracy for so it is called their brotherhood is in evill as Iacob said of Simeon and Levi they consent against the Gospell as the high Priests did against Christ they have neither unity nor verity they agree Esay 8. 12. Gen. 49. 5. Act. 4. 27. as the false prophets did not in the Lord but against the Lord they make adoe of their Councell of Trident and how they agree in all meetings Alas a few buckeram Bishops of Italy conspired together but thirty eight Bishops in all not like the Councell of Nice wherein were 318. Bishops or that of Arimine where were 600. Bishops nor like the Councell of Constance where were 4. Patriarches 29. Cardinals 47. Archbishops 270. Bishops 564. Abbots and Doctors at the deposing of Benedict the third But to leave all this Keep your selves in the Love of God And first of Gods Love towards us next of our love towards God but in speaking of the Love of God to us I shall enter into a labyrinth without end into a sea without bottome For his Love is so much as there is no affection in nature no proportion in the whole world hath been found fit to expresse it the height of heaven above the earth the distance of the East from the West the affection of Fathers towards their childrē of mothers towards the fruit of their wombe of nurses towards their sucklings of Eagles towards their yong ones of hennes towards their chickens all these are but the shadowes of Gods Love Love in God is in the abstract it is not in him as in us by accident and participation but by essence only And God hath an immanent Love in him whereby he loveth himselfe by the necessity of his owne nature and hath a transient love flowing from him whereby hee loveth his creatures some more and some lesse according to the liberty of his owne will He hath a generall Love to all For all are his creatures and the workemanship of his hands but hee hath a speciall Love to some as unto his Elect and chosen and his Love towards them is both Temporary and Sempiternall Temporarie Sustentando Regendo Conservando By Sustaining Ruling Preserving Sempiternall gloriam dando in giving them eternall glory and the more holy men are the more hee loveth them wherupon Saint Augustine doth excellently observe that God loved the humanity of Christ more than any man because hee was full of August Tract in Iohn Iob. 1. 14. grace and truth Yea Gods Love hath all the dimensions Thy mercy ô God reacheth unto the Heavens there is the height of his Love Great is thy goodnesse and thou hast delivered my soule from the Psal 36. 5. Psal 86. 13. Psal 104. 24. nethermost Hell There is the depth of his love The earth is full of thy goodnesse saith David there is the breadth of his Love All the No love to be compared to Gods love ends of the world have seene the salvation of God There is the length of his Love Yea Gods Love is transcendent it can no more bee measured then yee can measure the water with your fist For Psal 104. 24. Psal 98. 4. Esa 40. what love shall I compare unto his Love The love of a woman It is great indeed but yet the love of Ionathan to David was greater than it Thy love to mee was wonderfull yea passing the love of 2 Sam. 1. 26. women The love of a mother Here is a greater degree than in the former but yet this love is not so certaine and infallible as Gods Love Can a woman forget her child and not have compassion of Esa 49. 15. the sonne of her wombe If they should forget as some may bee and some have been so unnaturall yet will not I forget thee saith God to his disconsolate and afflicted Sion For as none can be compared to God so no love can be compared to his Love as Ieremy spake literally of his owne griefe but typically of Christ Was there ever griefe as my griefe So may I say of Gods Love Was there Lament 1. 12. ever love like his Love No no his Love passeth all understanding Let us then labour to obtaine and retaine this Love of God and keep our selves in his Love which we shall doe if wee conforme our wills to his will and labour to bee like him to be holy as hee is holy mercifull as hee is mercifull righteous
as hee is righteous yea perfect as hee is perfect For wee must bee followers of God as deare children and walke in Love as he loved Ephes 6. us So much for Gods Love towards us And now to speake of our love to God and that the love whereby wee love God is a worke of Gods Love whereby hee loves man Causa diligendi Deum Deus est modus sine modo The Bern cause that wee love God is God himselfe the measure without measure And Saint Iohn saith We loved him because hee loved us first For our love springs out of his as the rivers from the Sea 1 Iohn 4. 19. his Love drawing our hearts to him as the Loadstone doth iron to it or as the Sardius doth wood our love answering to his Love as an Eccho to a mans voice and as one candle doth light another so the consideration of his Love to us doth cause a reflexion of our love to him And there bee many reasons to move us to keep our selves in the Love of God The first is his Commandement Thou shalt Deut. 6. 5. Deut. 10. 12. love the Lord thy God And againe What doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to feare and love him This our Saviour calleth The great Commandement The Commander is great the Object is great the use of the duty is great and their reward is great that take care to doe it and though there were no other reason to move us to love God but his bare Commandement yet were that reason strong enough to bind us the power of a King the authority of a Father the place of a master requireth obedience of a subject child and servant but God is our King our Father and Master and therefore his bare command is sufficient to bind us to love We must love God because he commands it and equity requires it him A second reason to move us to keep our selves in the Love of God is in regard of equity For seeing Almighty God doth love us it is a matter of equity that wee should requite love with love againe For though wee cannot love him as wee ought and as hee loveth us yet must wee love for ours is an ascending his a descending love and love descending is more naturall more fervent and vehement than love ascending as wee see in parents who love their children better then their children love them besides God loved us when wee were his enemies Ephes 2. Aug. Durus est animus qui si dilectionem nolebat impendere nolet rependere His heart is oke not flesh but flint that though hee will not beginne to love yet finding love will shew no love God doth love us out of his Love hee sent his Sonne his onely Sonne the Sonne of his Love into the world to save us hee giveth for us the earely and latter raine and reserveth Ier. 5. for us the appointed weekes of harvest yeerely Hee anointeth our head with oyle and our cuppe runneth over wee should bee Psal 23. 5. very unjust and injurious unto our selves if wee will not love him For all things worke for the best to them that love God Rom. 8. 28. Thirdly Commodity should move us to keepe our selves in the Love of God For first by this Love our faith produceth those good duties which wee owe unto God For faith is as one hand receiving love as the other giving For Faith worketh by Gal. 5. 6. Love And as Augustine saith Our life and all our conversation is named of our love Nec faciunt bonos vel malos mores nisi boni vel mali amores which being good or bad make our manners to bee thereafter such as our love is such is our life an holy Love an holy life an earthly love an earthly life if a mans love bee set on God his life must needs bee good and though this bee certaine That a man is justified by Faith yet this is as certaine that the life of a man is justified by love Rom. 3. Againe by the Love of God wee may know in what estate wee are in Saint Augustine saith Duas Civitates duo faciunt amores Aug. in Psal 64. Hierusalem facit amor Dei Babyloniam amor saeculi Interroget ergo se quisque quid amat inveniet unde sit Civis Two loves make two Citties the Love of God maketh Ierusalem the love of the world Babylon therefore let every man but examine himselfe what hee loves and hee shall see in what estate hee is and to what City hee belongs As a man by looking upon a diall may know the motion of the Sunne in heaven so by looking upon the thing hee loveth hee may know in what estate hee standeth whether hee belong to Babylon or Ierusalem to Hell or Heaven to God or the Divell Againe the Love of God ingenders in us the love of the We must love God because duty requires it godly for God for as hee that loves the Father cannot but love his children and as hee that loves his friend will not misvse his picture so hee that truly loves God will love Gods children which are the lively pictures of God this love is comfortable because it assureth us that wee are Christs disciples and by this wee know that wee are translated from death to Ioh. 13. 1 Iohn 3. 14. life Againe from the Love of God ariseth much grace and goodnesse as much water from one spring Non habet viriditatem ramus boni operis nisi manserit in radice charitatis Good works wither except they bee nourished by this Love As the love of mony is the root and nourisher of all evill so the Love of God is the mother and nurse of all good of all pious offices to God and Christian duties to man To conclude this point the Love of God is as strong as death for as death doth kill the body so our love to God doth mortify our love to the world and dispels rancour wrath malice and as the rising of the Sunne doth chase away the darkenesse of the night so the Love of God doth drive away the inordinate love of worldly vanities and thus yee see the utility of the Love of God 4. Wee ought to keep our selves in the Love of God because hee is our gtacious Father and of his owne good will begate he us through the Word of truth Now if a child must love his father Iam. 1. 18. of whom hee hath received a part of his body how much more ought wee to love God qui animam suam infundendo creavit creando infudit of whom hee hath received his soule and unto whose goodnesse hee stands obliged both for soule and body Hereupon saith Iob Thine hands have made mee and fashioned mee Iob 10. 8 11 11. wholly round about thou hast cloathed mee with skinne and flesh and joined mee with bones and sinewes Thou hast given mee
smoke and as chaffe that vanisheth as a dreame and vision in the night that tarrieth not as if an hungry man dreameth and Esay 29. 8 9. thinketh that hee eateth and when hee awaketh his soule is empty and like a thirsty man which thinketh de drinketh and behold when hee is awaked his soule is faint so in the world to come men shall say O what hath pride profited us Or what profit hath the pompe of riches brought us Or what good hath the glory of the world done us Where is the glory of Salomon the power of Alexander the edifices and buildings of Nabuchadnezar The nine hundred chariots of Sisera The authority of Augustus which commanded the whole world to bee taxed What did vaine glory the multitude of servants the power of the world the hugenesse of their armies their abundance of wealth and troupes of flatterers profit these All was as a shadow all was as smoke All are passed away as a shadow and as a poast that passeth by as a shippe that Wisd 5. 9 10. passeth over the waves of the waters which when it is gone the trace This world fraudulent turbulent momentany thereof cannot bee found neither the path of it in the floods In mundi foelicitate videbis plus fellis quà m mellis in the felicity of this world yee shall see more gall than hony more wormewood than sugar the world is full of thornes not of roses it promiseth a man that which hee shall never have and leaveth a man in the chiefe of his pleasures this world is a coffer of sorrows a schoole of vanity a market of frauds a labyrinth of errors a flood of teares a sweet poyson the joy of this world hath sorrow his security is without foundation his labours without fruit his teares without purpose and his purposes without successe his hope is vaine sorrow certaine and joy fained An heathen man could say that he would not be wrapped againe in his swadling clothes to gaine much The Apostle calleth it a sea of glasse a sea for the troubles of it or glasse for the bitternesse of it or because Apoc. 15. God seeth into it as wee see into a glasse Now rich now poore now full now empty now honourable now despised now alive and now dead and never certen the pompe therefore of it Saint Iohn compareth to the Moone crescit decrescit it increaseth Apoc. 12. 1. Iob 14. 10 11 12. and decreaseth Man is sicke and dieth and man perisheth and where is hee As waters passe from the Sea and as the flood decayeth and drieth up so man sleepeth and riseth not for hee shall not wake againe nor bee raised from his sleepe till the Heaven bee no more And as it is written in another place Our dayes are more swift than a poast they Iob 9. 25. have fled and seene no good thing Xerxes that great Emperour was weary of all pleasure and offred rewards to the inventers of new pleasures and yet when these new pleasures were found hee was not contented As Elkanah said to Hannah Why weepest thou am not I better to 1 Sam. 1. 8. thee then tenne sonnes So saith God to us Why weepe yee and sorrow yee why doe yee thus vexe and torment your selves am not I better unto you than ten worlds Is not heavenly glory better than all earthly Why doe yee leave the fountaine of Paradise Ier. 2. 10. and drinke of the broken and troublesome cysternes of this world Why in this golden race do yee step aside after flies and feathers O taste see how sweet the glory of God is looke ô looke into the powers of the world to come As the inhabitants 1 Pet. 2. 3. of Nylus are deafe by the noise of the water so many are deafe when they should heare of Heaven the world maketh such a noise in their eares they savour not the things which are of God Mat. 16. These Ravens feed of nothing but garbage like Noahs Raven Gen. 8. these Lapwings make their nests in the ordure these Betles never sing but in a bed of dung these Eagles never seaze but upon a Mat. 24. 28. carkasse Vbi cadaver ibi Aquilae Where the dead carkasse is thither the Eagles resort Where there is buying selling bargaining profit gaine thither fly these Eagles their hearts are exercised with Covetousnes they are brawned in it they thinke of 2 Pet. 2. 14 16. nothing but the world and the glory of it but these men shall see one day the glory of Christ to their shame and confusion but Christ comfort both in this life and that to come the elect shall see Christs humanity more glorious than ever the Apostle saw it on Mount Thabor apparebit Christus in similitudine carnis Christ shall appeare in the similitude of flesh that both Mat. 17. August in Man 1. cap. 26. the eyes of man might bee blessed in him that the eye of the heart might bee refreshed in his divinity and the eye of the body in his humanity that going in or out our humane nature might find in him food and delight Christ hath made to his Mat. 10. Church a double promise the one of his spirituall presence by grace the other of his Heavenly presence in glory the first is performed the second not yet The Saints therefore pray Come Lord Iesus come quickly And if wee pertaine to God we will Apoc. 22. looke for his comming and desire it wee will looke for the appearance of the glory of our great God and of our Saviour Christ Iesus but if we love the world the Love of God is not in us Tit. 2. 3. 1 Iohn 2. 15. THE FORTIETH SERMON VERS XXV That is to God onely Wise and our Saviour be Glory and Maiestie c. The six Atributes of God WEE are now come to the last thing contained in this Epistle which is a thankesgiving to God with a description of his Attributes For he ascribeth to God Wisedome Salvation Glory Majestie Dominion and Power For I divided this Epistle into the Saluation Precation The generall Proposition The Confirmation by divers examples The Confutation and Lastly the Conclusion And the conclusion into two Prayer and Thankesgiving this is a Thankesgiving to God hee beganne with Prayer and endeth with thankesgiving for the worship of God doth consist and stand upon two parts Precatio Wee cannot thinke on Christ without thankfulnesse Gratiarum actio Prayer and Thanksgiving And these both the Apostle 〈◊〉 included â—â— one verse saying Let both your requests â—ee shewed unto God in prayer and supplication with giving of thankes â—ut to leave this Saint Iude cannot speake of God without thankefulnesse thus Paul concluded the Epistle to Rome saying To him now that Rom. 16. 25 27. is of power to establish you according to my Gospell c. to God I say onely wise bee praise through Jesus Christ for
rara virtus as S. Bernard tearmes it made him thinke neither these nor any of his Sermons or writings worthy of publike view so as though hee were much importuned by offers and earnest entreaties yet would not be drawne to publish any of them But for as much as it is not meete those learned labours should dye with him whereby hee being dead may with Abel yet speake and the living bee furthered in the way of life I resolved to publish these Sermons upon S. Iude Preached in a weekly Lecture to a publike audience on the market day at Northwalsham in Norfolke Intending God assisting if I may understand these to become acceptable profitable to the people of God to publish more In the meane time I shall send these forth with Iacobs blessing and prayer for his Sonnes Gen. 43. 14. God Almighty send thee mercy in the sight of the man c. In the sight of the proud man that he be no more high-minded as Herod In the sight of the poore man that hee may bee content with the things hee hath already as Paul In the sight of the stubborne man that he may yeeld with Saul and say Lord what wilt thou have mee to doe In the sight of the penitent man that his wounds may be bound up and Wine and Oyle powred into them In the sight of the barren man that he may live and bring forth much fruit In the sight of every man that they may draw neere to God with a pure heart in assurance of faith sprinkled in their hearts from an evill conscience and washed in their body with pure water But especially in the sight of our Ioseph our Iesus who blesse thee and these to thee and all other meanes of furthering thy salvation to whose grace I commend thee this tenth of April 1633. Thine in Christ Jesus Samuel Otes THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST SERMON Vpon Saint IVDE A Briefe description of the Author Penman Argument Occasion of the Epistle The division of it into five parts 1 Superscription 2 Exordium 3 Proposition 4 Exhortations Dehortations 5 Conclusion Superscription in three 1 Person writing 2 Person written to 3 Salutation Person writing by three His Name Office Alliance The Contents of the second Sermon THe persons to whom he writ described by their Vocation and Sanctification In Vocation he describes the fruits kinds and parts necessity diversity in respect of time and place In Sanctification that it followes Vocation and is threefold how distinguished from Iustification what place it hath in salvation The Contents of the third Sermon THat wee may have the benefit of Redemption wee must have both Reconciliation Sanctification and Continuall preservation in the estate of grace In Reconciliation there is necessary Remission of sinnes Imputation of Christs Righteousnesse Sanctification consists in Mortification and Vivification Arguments to vrge Sanctification preservation both of body and soule especially the soule in sanctification till brought to glorification The Contents of the fourth Sermon THe Salutation wherein he wisheth three Mercy Peace and Love Of Mercy and Peace in this Sermon Mercy fourefold That that concernes the soule and salvation thereof is sevenfold Peace three-fold Externall Internall Eternall Outward prosperity and happinesse The Contents of the fifth Sermon HAving spoken afore of Mercy and Peace here he speakes of Love Love is twofold Of God to Man Of Man to Man both set out by their Excellency and their Effects The want of the latter noted the kinds of Love condemned finally not onely Mercy Peace and Love as positive graces are wished but the continnall increase and multiplication of them The Contents of the sixth Sermon THe proposition in the second part of the Epistle vnfolded that faith must be maintained wherein two things 1 They must labour to maintaine faith 2 The reasons and they are three 1 From the person of the Apostle 2 From the person of God 3 From the person of the Adversary In this Sermon of the first viz. that Faith must bee maintained with all earnestnesse and of the first reason drawne from the person of the Apostle namely his love his paines and his mildnesse The Contents of the seventh Sermon THe second reason drawne from the person of God that gives faith wherein three 1 That Faith is a gift 2 That given once 3 That given to the Saints In the first the divers acceptions of faith 1. How the true faith is given In the second that the same Faith is in all ages In the third that only the Saints have this true faith wherein the divers acceptions of faith are set downe and that here is meant the Saints upon earth The Contents of the eighth Sermon THe third reason is drawne from the persons of the Adversaries who are described 1 By their life 2 By their end By their life that they 1 Creepe into the Church 2 Be A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men without God 3 Be Libertines 4 Are blasphemers denying God and Christ c. The three first here handled The Contents of the ninth Sermon THe third reason from the persons of the adversaries is further prosecuted in regard of the fourth branch of their impiety in their life 〈…〉 the onely Lord and our Lord Iesus Christ wherein is shewed how many wayes God and Christ are denyed And prooved that God is the only God And that Iesus Christ is our Lord Iure Creationis Iure Redemptionis The Contents of the tenth Sermon THe third reason from the Adversaries is further prosecuted in regard of the end which is by the Apostle here said to bee condemnation and in that they are said to be before ordained to this condemnation as by Gods decree The two parts of Gods decree Election and Reprobation largely handled The Contents of the eleventh Sermon NNotwithstanding they to whom he wrote knew before yet he puts them in remembrance of the mercies of God in delivering the Israelites and his justice in destroying them growing rebellious Wherein note 1 The necessity of inculcating and often reiterating doctrines before knowne 2 Gods mercy to the Israelites especially in their deliverance out of Egypt which is largely described 3 The greater his mercies the more grievous his punishments upon the contemners thereof The Contents of the twelfth Sermon THe Israelites sinne that brought their destruction was infidelity though other sins yet this the root of all as proved in them and all The nature the kinds the necessity excellency and utility of faith is set out Secondly the sinne of the Angels what it was wherein their nature and office their number kinds their sinne being in generall Apostacy the nature of that sinne and wherein it consists and how odious it is is described The Contents the thirteenth Sermon THe punishment of the Angels that fell which is to bee reserved in everlasting chaines hence 1 Comfort to man that though his malice be infinite yet his power is limited 2 Confusion to him that though he be already
described by the Apostle by a three-fold comparison viz. of clouds without raine trees without fruit starres without light Hee setteth it out by many elegant and apt resemblances insisting especially in the resemblance of it to unfruitfull trees Dehorts from it first because it is odious to God which desireth and delighteth in sincerity of the heart 2. because Christ denounceth so many woes against it Hel being prepared for it Heaven being shut against it The Contents of the foure and twentieth Sermon HAving spoken of the sinnes of the wicked mentioned by Saint Iude viz. Epicurisme Pride Hypocrisie Hee proceedes to their judgement which is eternall damnation it is described by divers names yet by none sufficiently expressed All sufferings here but shadowes the beginning of sorrowes in respect of them Hee setteth out the torments of Hell by the contraries the joyes of Heaven and in themselves being of all sorts yea more than can bee either expressed or conceived upon the consideration hereof hee exhorts to live godly that wee may escape them and this exhortation he urgeth further because they are eternall irremissible and by fire which is intolerable shewed by comparison with our fire in divers respects and these torments to bee multiplyed according as they have multiplyed their sinnes The Contents of the five and twentieth Sermon HAving shewed that all the former sinners shall bee judged hee prooves it out of the Prophesie of Enoch and because this Prophesie being not extant the Papists gather that this and many truths beside being preserved in the Church by traditions therefore traditions are to bee embraced together with Scripture as grounds of faith Hee proveth the all-sufficiency of the Scriptures for faith and manners without tradition and refutes their blasphemous slandering and sleighting the Scriptures and so proceedes to speake of the judgement that Iude intends being the last generall judgement prooving that it must 〈…〉 Secondly that it must bee executed by the Sonne the second person in the Trinity Thirdly the manner how hee shall appeare which shall bee in humane shape yet with power and great glory and this hee sets out by comparing the second comming with his first and his proceeding with them in foro justiciae with this here in foro misericordiae Fourthly the end of his comming to judge all concerning all their workes words thoughts that the Swearers and blasphemers shall have the greatest doome Fiftly that this judgement is most certaine God having appointed it and mens consciences witnessing and telling them it internally Hee concludes with a threefold use 1 For terror of the wicked 2 Comfort of the godly penitent 3 Instruction of all The Contents of the sixe and twentieth Sermon HEE entreth upon Saint Iudes description of the wicked by foure-sinnes 1 Impatience 2 Lusts 3 Pride 4 Flattery Hee handles the two former Impatience and Lusts Shewing impatience to bee double 1 Against God 2 Against Men. The first the roote of many sinnes occasioned many wayes often mentioned in the Scripture ever reprooved and seuerely punished hee exhorts to patience shewes three meanes to effect it and shewes the danger of impatience Impatience against men manifold in all sorts and degrees which he doth sharpely reprooue and perswades patience in regard of our mutuall wants he entereth upon the second sinne viz. Lust hee sheweth that they be most base most pernicious which though God hath taught us to tame by many meanes yet we are too much led by them yeelding both to evill motion and naturall affection all which we must represse by the word and though wee have them remaining in us yet we must not suffer them to raigne in us And further that we may avoid them he setteth out what they be what sinnes they bring forth that they are insatiable infectious to soule and body and make us uncapable of grace and salvation and subject to damnation The Contents of the seven and twentieth Sermon HAving spoken of the two first sinnes of the wicked viz. Impatience and Lusts he proceedeth to the other two Pride and Flattery In speaking of Pride he sheweth that though it bee in the heart yet it vents it selfe most at the mouth as all corruption doth That Pride by 〈◊〉 is in all yet the godly repell it as David Paul glory in the Lord that is the true glory it is vaine to glory in any thing else That proud men shew their pride in speaking 〈◊〉 â—hingâ— yet usually they vaunt most that have lest worth in them as their hearts and speeches are vaine so they get nothing but vanity though they speake proudly for gaine Among all vaunters the Pope is chiefe and his flatterers in the next ranck secondly he speaketh of the last sinne viz. Flattery sheweth the property of Flatterers their aime and their punishments as also of them that listen to them and therefore we should stop our eares against them as Vlysses against the Syrens song That this sinne hath its name from servility and therefore Flatterers are base and servile creatures It is odious in all but especially in Ministers The desire to be flattered the cause of flattery yet he that flatters hath and he that reproveth love Wee should therefore embrace truth and detest flattery though it please The Contents of the eight and twentieth Sermon HAving observed the opposition betweene the Saints to whom he writ and these wicked of whom before he had written hee sheweth that the godly and the wicked are every where opposed and though the wicked the more in number yet not to be followed seeing Christs flocke is little and there be few that shall be saved and better to be blessed with those few then to be condemned with the multitude After commending you for remembring the Word of God he setteth out the excellency and utility thereof taxing our negligence herein and teaching how we may heare and remember and because it is called the Word of the Apostles hee first sheweth that the Doctrine of the Apostles and not humane writings or traditions are to bee relyed upon And secondly he confutes those that gather from hence that the Author of the Epistle was no Apostle and the Epistle not Canonicall and shewes this to be Iudes modesty to alleage others yet no infirming but a confirming of his owne authority Lastly from his kinde compellation beloved he notes his mildnesse and commends that grace and shewes that it must be used in all our courses yet so as with it some tartnesse and severe reprehensions must be used with respect of due circumstances to persons place time kinde of offence and hee reprehends three sorts that reprehends for sinister ends and shewes what should be our chiefe aime in our reproofes The Contents of the nine and twentieth Sermon IVde prophesing of mockers that should bee in the last times hee treats of their sinne observing that Iude put it in the forefront That there have beene mockers in ages some of God and Religion some of men
World for that is to become a vassall unto our servants it is an uncertaine service to serve the Flesh this master is so cholerick so weake so sickly that wee may looke every day to be turned out of doores and that which is worst of al he is least contented when he is most satisfied It is an unthrifty service to serve the Divell all his wayes are death the more service wee doe him the worse is our estate It is an irreligious service to serve Antichrist for such as have the marke of the Beast shall perish with the beast But he that serves God hath the greatest Lord who is most able and the best Lord who is most willing to preferre his followers and reward his servants Let us then serve him for we are his servants Iure creationis jure sustentationis jure redemptionis By right of creation sustentation redemption If every haire of our head were a life and every life as long as Methuselahs it were too little to serve God True it is that Cham was pronounced the first servant as I observed Gen 3. Gen. 8. before for man was made to rule and not to serve But as sinne brought in the first nakednesse and the first travell of women in paine and the first death and the first sorrow and the first flood so it brought in the first service Onely by Christ wee are Manumised Hominis dignitas in tribus splendet The dignity of Rom. 8. 15. man shineth forth in three things In imagine Dei in the image of God In ejus creationis ex nihilo in his creation of nothing In eius dominio super omnes creaturas in his dominion over all his creatures ut ergo tria haec per peccatum amisit sic per gratiam recuperavit as hee lost these three things by sinne so by grace hee hath recovered them dum Domino servit a quo defecit while hee serves God from whom hee fell Now therefore by grace wee are called servants and if that John 15. Iohn 3. Mar. 3. Gal. 3. be too little wee are called the Friends of God Friends of the bridegroome and if that be too little wee are called Brethren Sisters of Christ if that be too little wee are called The Sonnes of God if that be too little wee are called the Spouse of God the wife of the Apoc. 19. 7. Lambe And if all this bee too little wee are called the members of The Pope no Apostle of God yet cals himselfe servum servorum God and of Christ Iesus O the breadth and length and depth and heighth of the love of God towards us that we should be called not forreiners but servants not servants but friends not friends but brethren not brethren but sonnes not sonnes but wives not wives but members 1 Cor. 12. By the way observe here that the Pope not calling himselfe servum Dei the servant of God but servum servorum a servant of Gen. 9. servants calleth himselfe by a cursed title as Cham was and indeed he is a servant of servants that serveth not Christ But say some hee calleth himselfe a servant of servants to shew his humility Indeed hee is lowly in name as any Apostle but as proud in spirit as the Whore of Babylon that makes herselfe Lady over Kings and Emperours For did not Pope Zachary make Childerike the French King to trot by his bridle three miles together Did not Hildebrand cause Henry the fourth to stand three dayes at his gates with his wife and his child barefooted Did not Clement the fifth make Dandalus Duke of Venice to lye under his Table like a dogge to gather crummes Did not Alexander the third tread on the necke of that noble Fredericke in Venice Did not Innocent depose King Iohn of England Did not Clemens the seventh labour to depose Henry the eighth Did not Pius quintus send a Bull against our Queene Did not Clemens the eighth cause the French King to goe bare-footed to Saint Dennis as a Penitentiary The troubles of these five hundred yeeres past may bee ascribed to Popes all Grecia yet rueth it all Africa the mother of Martyrs feeleth it the German Emperours tossed like tennise balles may not forget it the Kings of France have felt it the States of Italy have beene shaken with it the Kings of England have beene deposed whipped murdered Let King Iohn speake Richard the second Henry the eighth and Queene Elizabeth Is this a servant of servants that will thus insult over Kings and Emperours Oh no no. But to leave him Are we with Iude the servants of Iesus Christ Then must we not onely apply our selves to serve him as I have already said but we must imitate the vertues of Iesus Christ and we must attend his pleasure But first wee must imitate his vertues In our Lord and Master Christ Iesus shined many excellent vertues Yea all vertues Love Patience Humility Meekenesse Mildenesse Mercie Puritie Pietie Constancie Obedience c. these must shine in us else falsely wee are called the servants of Christ Christiani nomen frustrà ille sortitur qui Christum minimè imitatur August de vita Christian◠Quid tibi prodest vocari quod non es In vaine hath hee got the name of a Christian which doth not imitate Christ What doth it profit thee to bee called that which thou art not To bee called a Christian and not to bee indeed a Christian a Saint and not to bee Saint the servant of Iesus Christ and not to bee We must attend to Gods service We owe more to God than servants to their Masters the servant of Iesus Christ Qualis haberi velis talis sias If thou wilt be the servant of Iesus Christ thou must bee holy as hee is holy gracious as hee is gracious mercifull as hee is mercifull yea perfect as hee is perfect though not by adequation for that is beyond our power yet by imitation for that is all our duties Againe are wee Christs servants then must wee attend his Pleasure and depend upon his Will and performe all such holy offices as becommeth servants But as Peter Martyr saith wee In Rom. cap. 1. are contrary to servants we are rather Quarter-masters and checkemate with God for servants bestow all their time in their Masters businesse we no time or little time in Gods matters For our goodnesse is as the Morning cloud and as the Morning dew it Hos 6. 4. goeth away Servants beaten fall to prayers wee being chastised of God fall to murmuring and cursing like Iob that cursed the day of his birth Like Ieremy that cursed him that told his father of a man-child Servants are not familiar with their Masters Iob 3. Ier. 20. enemies wee countenance Gods enemies in all places Many Protestants are like Aesops Crow of divers feathers their Religions like Ioseph his party-coloured coat or like the rainebow of all colours we read how Iehoshaphat joyned with
call whoredome and adultery Peccadilia little sinnes who cry Si non castè tamen cautè if not chastly yet charily who maintaine open Stewes with Pius Quintus who dispence with all sinnes Allen the arch Papist said Commit our men what sinne they list omit what goodnesse they list yet we teach them that bare faith iustifieth them No no we say with Zachary God hath delivered us out of the Luke 1. 74 75. hands of our enemies that we should serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life We say with Paul that The Tit. 2. 11 12. grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared and teacheth us to forsake all impiety and wicked worldly desires and to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world We say with Saint Peter If ye call him Father which without respect of persons iudgeth according 1 Pet. 1. 17. to every mans worke passe the time of your dwelling here in feare We say with Saint Iohn and all other holy men Let us love one another for love commeth of God and every one that loveth is borne of God and knoweth God he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love We say with Christ Blessed are they that heare the Word of God and Iustification and Sanctification though joyned yet distinguished keepe it Wee urge men more to holinesse than they doe wee use more sharpe and effectuall reasons not like the leaden blunt Doctors in Popery but arrowes drawne out of a better Quiver Paul thought this a principall reason above others to move them by the wounds and blood and merits of the Lord Iesu For having spent eleven Chapters in the Treatise of Iustification at last he breaketh out as the Sunne out of a cloud and moveth them to holinesse by the name the death and merits of Christ Iesu saying I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of GOD that yee give up your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God Rom. 12. 1 2. which is your reasonable serving of God and fashion not your selves like unto this world A more effectuall reason than to argue from our workes our merits our deserts which is death For the wages of sinne is death Rom. 6. 23. Iustification and Sanctification goe together yet wee enter not into heaven chiefely as wee are sanctified and regenerated For that is but in part but as wee are iustified by the death and righteousnesse of Christ which is perfect compleat and absolute Yea say the Romanists faith and workes cannot be sundred Ergo we are iustified by workes aswell as by faith But I deny the Argument they reason like blind men the light of righteousnesse hath not shined on them they feed on ashes For many things are conioyned which yet have diverse operations as the light and heat of the Sunne where the one is there is the other yet are we not warmed by the light but by the heat nor yet directed by the heat but by the light of it Fides est sola at non solitaria sola in actu justificationis at non solitaria in usu operatione quotidiana nam operatur per dilectionem Faith is alone but not solitary alone in the act of iustification but not alone in the use and daily operation for it worketh by love or as Chemnitius reasoneth against Andradius and the Councell of Trent We have eyes and eares at once and they are ioynt members of the body yet we heare not with our eyes and see not with our eares Manus non est sola sed coniuncta cum reliquiis membris at manus sola scribit the hand is not alone but ioyned with the other members but the hand alone writeth the tongue is not alone nor severed from the rest of the members yet the tongue alone speaketh the Prince goeth not without the Court yet the Prince ruleth alone and not the Court Fidem opera coniungi magis quam confundi vellem I had rather conioine faith and works than confound them Finely therefore saith a Schoole-man Deus justificat effectivè fides iustificat apprehensivè opera iustificant declarativè God iustifieth effectually Faith iustifieth apprehensively Tho. Aquin. Workes iustifie declaratively that is they shew and declare unto the world that we are iustified Iustificatio est verbum forense nec qualitatem aliquam denotat sed absolutionem a reatu non Rom. 4. 26. consistit in qualitatum infursione sed peccatorum remissione Iustification Iustification how wrought is a Law word neither doth it note any quality but absolution from guilt neither consisteth it in the infusion of qualities but in the remission of sinnes Our invisible faith iustifieth us before our invisible God for he seeth into the heart and our visible workes doe iustifie us before men that be visible and which behold our lives and conversations And Paul placeth our Iustification Non in qualitatum infusione sed peccatorum remissione not in the infusion of qualities but in the remission of sinnes Deus dat beatitudinem Christus redimit Spiritus obsignat Fides apprehendit Opera testificantur God giveth happinesse Christ purchaseth it the Spirit sealeth it Faith apprehendeth it and Workes testifie it THE THIRD SERMON VERS I. Reconciliation part of Redemption AS I have begun to speake of this Heavenly Doctrine of Sanctification so will I proceed therein And to speake in order wee must know that of Christs Priesthood there bee two parts Redemption and Intercession Redemption is the first part whereby hee hath wrought for us the matter of our Deliverance from all evils as Hell Death Damnation Heb. 7. 24. Now of this Redemption there be two members The Luke 1. 74. merit or matter of Reconciliation and Sanctification According to that of the Apostle But yee are sanctified but yee are justified in the name of the Lord Iesus and by the spirit of God 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1. Reconciliation is the first part of our Redemption whereby we are restored from the Curse into the love and favour of God For when wee were enemies wee were reconciled to God by the death of his Sonne c. for hee is our peace And it pleased the Father that in him Rom. 5. 10. Ephes 2. 14. Col. 1. 20. 22. all fulnesse should dwell and by him to reconcile all things unto himselfe and to set at peace through the bloud of his Crosse both the things in Earth and the things in Heaven Now againe of Reconciliation there bee two parts Remission of sins and Imputation of righteousnesse For saith the Apostle He was delivered to Death for our sins and is risen againe for our justification And againe God was in Christ and reconciled the Rom. 6. 25. World to himselfe not imputing their sinnes unto them and hath committed to us the Word of Reconciliation Now then are wee Embassadors 2 Cor. 5. 19 20 21. for
of the World to them all Venite benedicti come yee blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome Mat. 25. 34. prepared for you and therefore as the Hart desireth the water-brookes so long their Soules after God their Soules after God yea after the living God and they cry day and night Come Lord Jesus come quickely Thou which art our Lord by right of creation by right of redemption by right of gubernation Apoc. 22. by right of preservation Come come away quickely and crown us with glory receive us into thy kingdome where is Gaudium sine fine sine metu finis Ioy without end without feare of end Thus much of the Persons saluted their vocation sanctification and reservation to Iesus Christ THE FOVRTH SERMON VERS II. Mercie unto you and Peace and Love c. Mercy Peace and Love from Father Sonne holy Ghost I Am now come to the Salutation wherein the Apostle wisheth and prayeth for three things 1 Mercy 2 Peace 3 Love Three things more excellent than Mat. 2. the three gifts which the Wisemen bestowed on Christ Gold Frankincense 2 Sam. 23. and Myrrh three things more puissant to overthrow the Divell than the three mighty men that were in the hoast of Israel to overthrow the Philistines and to fetch water out of the well of Bethelem that David longed for three things more comely than the three things that Salomon commended that is a Lion Prov. 30. among beasts a Gray-hound and a Goat Mercy which is the first thing here wished for is ascribed to God the Creator Peace which is the second to Christ the 2 Cor. 1. 3. Ephes 2. 14. Rom. 5. 5. Reconciler Love which is the third to the holy Ghost the Comforter For God hee is called The Father of Mercies Christ is called Our Peace and the holy Ghost Love The Apostle therefore in saying Mercy Peace and Love be multiplied is as if he should have said The God of Mercy forgive you your sinnes the God of Peace give you Peace that passeth all understanding and the God of Love grant that your Love may abound more and more that yee may bee rooted and grounded in Love And yet all this proceedeth from one and the same person Generall and speciall Mercies of God for albeit Mercy be ascribed to the Father Peace to the Sonne and Love to the holy Ghost Creation to the Father Redemption to the Sonne and Sanctification to the holy Ghost yet all these create redeeme and sanctifie For wee worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Vnity wee confound neither the persons nor yet their worke Mercie be unto you Mercy in God is not passive but active Non quoad affectum sed quoad effectum No suffering with us in our wants but succouring us in them Mercy is here taken for grace and the meere favour of God The Apostle therefore in wishing Mercy Peace and Love to the Saints teacheth us Quales esse debent Christianorum salutationes nos literis nostris epistolis honorem opulentiam salutem longam vitam amicis optamus Iudas verò misericordiam pacem charitatem dona coelestia his tribus Ecclesia opus est aliter actum esset And first hee beginneth with Mercie For instead of Grace used by the Apostle Paul in sundry of his Epistles Iude heere nameth Mercy which is all one Mercy and Grace is that whereby all good is conveyed to us therefore an excellent blessing to bee prayed for and this Grace and Mercy of God is fourefold 1 Generall 2 Speciall 3 Temporall 4 Eternall The generall Grace and Mercy of God are those graces and mercies that hee bestoweth upon all men Hence is it that hee causeth the Sun to shine upon good and bad and his Raine to fall upon the just and unjust For there bee some good things which God giveth indifferently both to the good bad as Riches Honour Strength Beautie Health c. And there be some good things which God giveth onely to the good and not to the wicked as saving Faith saving Grace a new Heart a right Spirit peace of Conscience joy in the holy Ghost eternall Life And there are some evill things whereof the good taste as well as the bad as Sickenesse Sorrow Weakenesse of body Imprisonment Famine Sword losse of Friends c. And there are some evill things which God layeth upon the wicked and not upon the good as intolerable horror of conscience desperation Psal 104. 17 18. damnation c. This generall Grace and Mercy of God is over all his cratures the Fowles of the Aire the Fishes in the Psal 145. 9. Sea the beasts of the Fields His Mercie is over all his Workes His speciall Mercy is that whereby hee succoureth his elect This was the Mercy of God that preserved Lot from the burning of Sodome Daniel from the devouring jawes of the hungrie Gen. 19. Lions David from the cruelty of Saul and the Israelites Dan. 6. from the firy Furnace This is that Grace and Mercy which the child of God above all things desireth Lord lift thou up Psal 4. the light of thy countenance upon us His temporall Mercie is that whereby hee spareth sinners and standeth at their doores expecting and waiting their conversion Temporall and eternall Mercies Hereupon one descanteth very finely saying When vaine pleasure biddeth us to sell God and be gone his Mercy and Grace will not so part with us when we are lost in our selves his Mercy and Grace findeth us out when wee lye long in our sinnes his Mercy and Grace raiseth us up when wee come unto him his Mercy and Grace receiveth us when wee come not his Mercy and Grace draweth us when we repent his Mercy and Grace pardoneth us when wee repent not his Mercy and Grace waiteth our repentance The eternall Mercy and Grace of God is that which concerneth our everlasting Salvation this is that Mercy and Grace principally wished for By Grace wee are saved through Faith not of Ephes 2. our selves for it is the gift of God This word Mercy or Grace teacheth us to looke up unto God not unto our selves if wee looke to bee saved wee choose not the Lord but he us Vt salus esset penes figulum non penes lutum Aug. Paul ascriberh all to Grace and Mercy By the Grace of God saith hee I am that I am and his Grace which is in me was not in vaine and thus he taught the Romanes At this present there is a remnant through the election of Grace and if it bee of Grace it is no more of Workes or Rom. 11. 5 6. else Grace were no more Grace but if it bee of Workes it is no more Grace or else were worke no more worke an invincible Argument Peter letteth the Iewes see Terminum a quo terminum ad quem pervenerunt their state under the Law and under Grace Hee hath called you saith
Lord indureth for ever and ever upon them that feare him c. This made Paul to say Who shall separate me from the Love exceeds all other vertues love of God shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate Rom. 8. 35. 37 38. us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Malitia nostra finem habet Our malice hath an end but Gods love hath not our malice is finite but his love infinite As a drop of water to the whole Sea so are our sinnes in regard of the love of God his love is so great as it cannot be measured so much as it cannot be numbred so precious that it cannot be valued so large and long that it cannot be ended the bredth and length the height and depth of his love all the tongues of men and of Angels cannot utter As Iude wisheth unto them the love of God so hee wisheth them also mutuall love whereby we love one another he meaneth both these loves in this place Mutuall Love is a chiefe and principall vertue Faith and Love the one with God and the other with men be as the roote and the branch as the mother and the daughter as the foundation and pillars of all Christian building the end of all is Love the end of the first table is the Love of God the end of the second table is the love of man so saith the Apostle The end of the Commandements is Love out of a pure heart out of a good conscience and 1 Tim. 1. 5. Gal. 5. 22. Exod. 16. Iudg. 6. out of a faith unfained Paul reckoning up the fruits of the Spirit nameth Loue first as the Gentleman-usher to goe before all For as Manna excelled all bread as Aarons rod did eate up all the rods of the sorcerers as Gedeons sword passed all the swords of the Madianites so love passeth all other vertues all our debts should stand in love Owe nothing to any man but this that yee love Rom. 13. 8. Num. 14. Iohn 2. one another our debtes were sooner paid and our executors but smally troubled if this were of this debt wee cannot bee discharged so long as we live The journey of the Israelites was ended in forty yeares Herods Temple was finished in six and forty 1 Iohn 4. 7 8. 16. yeares Noahs Arke was perfected in an hundred and twentie yeares but this debt is never ended Let us therefore love one another For love commeth of God and every one that loveth is borne of God and knoweth God he that loveth not knoweth not God but he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him S. Peter naming 2 Pet. 1. 5. 7. many vertues maketh up the measure and ends in Love Ioine saith he vertue with your faith and with vertue knowledge and with knowledge temperance and with temperance patience and with patience godlinesse and with godlinesse brotherly kindnesse Love This vertue above all is as the hoope or faggot bond that keepeth all close Therefore let me exhort you with the Apostle Above all Col. 3. 14. things put on love which is the bond of perfectnesse As the Sunne giveth light to all planets as salt seasoneth all meates as the Moone ruleth over the Sea and all moist bodies as the rod of the tribe of Levi passed in honour all other tribes So love passeth Little love to be found on earth all qualities in men therefore let us follow after Love and let us not give over till we have overtaken her Love is as the apple-tree of Persia which buddeth and blossometh and beareth fruit every moneth Now abideth faith hope and Numb 17. 1 Cor. 14. 1. 1 Cor. 13. love but the chiefe of these is love It lasteth longer like a pillar of salt it reacheth further it profiteth more among men Faith flieth up to heaven Love is occupied below on earth Faith wrastleth above with the promises of God Love is busied in good workes as Faith is with God Paul prayeth for it in respect of the scantnesse and excellency of it For Charitas laudatur alget Aug. de eivitate Dei lib. 14. c. 7. yet diligi non potest Deus sine proximo nec proximus sine Deo qui proximum amare negligit Deum diligere nescit England is as the Land of Canaan wee have corne cattell flesh Psal 65. 11. Iudg. 1. 1 Sam. 13 1 Reg. 8. fish wooll cloath our vallies stand thicke with corne we have plenty of all things but of Love that is scant As in the dayes of Debora there was neither speare nor shield As in Saul his daies there was no Smith as in the dayes of Salomon there was no Manna to be found so in our dayes little or no Love When I behold the state of many townes me thinke I see Bulls Beares Lions Tigâ—es Wolves shut up as it were in an iron cage biting tearing renting and devouring one another view all Courts Assises Sessions Leets Law-dayes and you shall see there is no difference betwixt us and the Corinthians but they went to law under Infidels and wee under Christians 1 Cor. 6. Gal. 5. 15. We forget Pauls Caveat If yee bite and devoure one another take heed yee be not devoured one of another If there be an hundred men in a towne scarce two love together as they should We are divided into three companies like Labans sheep some white some blacke some speckled some Protestants some Papists some Neuters Nay even among Protestants there is hard agreement But God I hope will make us friends in heaven where al injuries shall be forgotten where are those noble pair of lovers David and Ionathan Who had but one soule Eusebius and Pamphilus Martyrs 1 Sam. 18. who had but one name Pilades and Orestes who had but one life Ruth 1. the one being dead the other died also Ruth and Naomi who had but one grave Basill and Nazianzen of whom it is said Anima una erat inclusa in duobus corporibus one soule was included in two bodies Mariage maketh two bodies one but love maketh two soules one yea many soules many bodies but one If an hundred love together it is but one heart as it is said of them of the primative Church That they had but one heart and one soule If a man hath an hundred friends that man is become as an hundred Act. 4. 32. men Nam amicus alter idem a friend is a second selfe Charitas Chrysost est res augmentativa There was a day when Herod and Pilate were made friends but that day I feare with many will never bee they are like the stone Asbestos found in Arcadia being once kindled is never
us unto an holy calling Not according to our workes but according to his owne purpose and grace which was given us through Christ Iesus before the World was It is true of all men that Christ said of his disciples non vos me elegistis yee have not chosen mee but I have chosen you yea God so preventeth us with his grace that hee findeth nothing past or to come whereby God chose us and bee reconciled unto us For who hath given unto him first that is provoked him by his good workes A lively example wee have in these two brethren Esau and Iacob both twinnes both inclosed in one wombe yet hee rejected the one and chose the other Non ex operibus not by workes but by him that calleth Deus coronat opera Rom. 9. 11. sua non merita nostra God crowneth his gifts not our merits Cui daret justus judex coronâ—â—â— nisi cui dedisset pater misericors indebitam gratiam To whom should the just Iudge give the crowne but unto whom the Father of Mercy giveth undeserved Grace And he addeth Ne dicas ideo electus sum quia credebam Aug. tract 86. in Iob. si enim credebas jam cum elegeras non ipse te sic judicium esset penos lutum non penes figulum Doe not say I am elected because I did beleeve for if thou diddest beleeve thou haddest now chosen him and not hee thee and so the Iudgement had beene in the power of the clay and not of the potter But heare what Christ saith Yee have not chosen mee but I have chosen you I say therefore with Saint Ambrose Iustitia nostra magis constat remissione peccatorum quam perfectione virtutum our righteousnesse consisteth more in the remission of our sinnes than in the perfection of our vertues Even as David declareth the blessednesse of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without workes saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose Psal 32. 1 2. sin is covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth no sinne One Father saith thus when wee were not God made us when wee were sinners hee Iustified us when we were in prison hee freed us when wee were mortall hee glorified us Another Rom. 5. 1. Luke 4. 18. Rom. 8. 30. Father saith God by his Wisedome hath foreknowne us by his Gospell hee calleth us by his Faith hee justifieth us by his Iustice hee damneth us by his Grace he saveth us So that all is of his meere goodnesse and no cause to expostulate with God His Iudgements are just but yet secret Secret things saith Deut. 29. 29. Moses belong to the Lord our God but the things revealed belong unto Five signes of Election two internall us But if the Heavens declare the glory of God let us speake to his glory Secreta Dei sunt adoranda non scrutanda Secret things are to bee adored not searched It is not good to eate too Prov. 25. 27. much Hony so to search their owne glory is not glory It is reported of Augustine that being about to write his bookes of the Trinity hee was taught by a childe who laded the Sea into a little spoone to whom Augustine said that hee laboured in vaine for his little spoone could not containe the Sea To whom the child replied that his little Wisedome his shallow braine could not containe the depth of the Trinity But you will say how shall wee know our election that wee may bee comforted against all the assaults of Satan that wee may say with the sweet singer of Israel Though I should walke through the valley of the shadow of death I will feare no evill for thou art Psal 23. with mee thy rod and thy staffe shall comfort mee And with Paul I 2 Tim. 4. 6 7. 8 have fought a good fight I have kept the Faith I have finished my course from hence forward there is laid up for mee a crowne of glory which the Lord will give mee at that day and not to mee onely but unto all them also that love his appearing I answere that no man can bee deceived in the state of his election but hee that deceiveth himselfe for wee may know whether wee stand in the state of Grace or no. Danaeus maketh Danaeus in Isagog five signes of election As the comming of the Swallow is a signe of the Spring as the putting forth of the figge-tree is a signe of Summer as the whitenesse of the region is a signe of Harvest So there bee many undoubted signes of our election 1 The first is the inward testimony of Gods Spirit the seale and earnest-penny of our Salvation For it is God that hath Sealed us and hath given us the Earnest of his Spirit in our 2 Cor. 1. 22. hearts The Apostle compareth the Word to a writing the Spirit to a seale that ratifieth all Clamat in nobis Abba the same Rom. 8. 16. Gal. 4. 6. Luke 11. 11. Spirit beareth witnesse to our Spirit that wee are the children of God And because wee are Sonnes God hath sent the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts which cryeth Abba Father And if God be our Father how can wee doubt of our inheritance If wee aske Fish he will not give us a Serpent If Heaven he will not give us Hell 2 The second signe is our faith which is knowne by the effects as the Eagle by her feathers as the tree of Life by the fruits of it Thus Paul bade the Corinths try their faith Prove your selves whether yee are in the Faith examine your selves c. Qui 2 Cor. 13. 5. credit salvabitur he that beleeveth shall bee saved and this faith may be knowne to us if wee will search our selves Christ asked Mar. 16. 16. Iohn 8. the woman taken in Adultery where her accusers were So aske thy heart where thy sinnes are and if thou doest beleeve it will say with the woman that they are all gone Qui enim credit transit Three externall signes of Election a morte ad vitam Hee that beleeveth in him is passed from death to life for all that are borne of God overcommeth the World And this is the victory that overcommeth the World even our Faith Iohn 3. 1 Iohn 5. 4. Hereupon Paul triumpheth over Death Hell Hunger Cold Nakednesse Perill Sword and concludeth That neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Power nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature Rom. 8. 38 39. shall bee able to separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. 3 The third signe is the conformity of our will to Gods will to love that which God loveth and to hate that which God hateth therefore wee pray that Gods will may bee done on Earth as it is in Heaven He that doth the will of God shall abide Mat. 6. for ever
fell from Angels to Divels For their sinne of Apostacy was great it cryed to God for vengeance The Lord Iesus noteth this Apostacy in them to shew that their sinne was not by creation but by wilfull corruption Hereupon saith our Saviour to the Iewes You are of your father the divell and the lusts of your father doe yee he abode not in the truth It followeth then that Iohn 8 44. he was once in the truth and that he was not created evill This Apostacy in some case joyned with wilfulnesse and malice is not to be prayed for So saith Saint Iohn the Disciple whom Iesus loved If any man see his brother sin a sinne that is not unto death let him aske and he shall give life for them that sinne not to death There 1 Iohn 5. 16. is a sinne unto death I say not that thou shouldst pray for it Some Apostacies cannot be renewed For it is impossible that they which have been once lightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were Heb. 6. 4 5 6. made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted of the good Word of God and of the powers of the world to come If they fall away should be renewed by repentance seeing they crucifie againe to themselves the Sonne of God and make a mocke of him For certainely they that are Apostataes and sinne against the Holy Ghost hate Christ crucifie and mocke him but to their owne destruction and therefore fall into desperation and cannot repent Indeed there is no sin but by repentance may be forgiven but they that sinne against the Holy Ghost which some affirme to be Apostasia aut negatio Christi Apostacy or the denying of Christ it shall not be forgiven â—â—â—lla in Luc. 12. 10. Quia directè obviant principio per quod fit remissio peccatorum because they are directly and plainely opposite and contrary to that whereby remission of sinnes is obtained that is unto repentance And this is the cause saith Augustine why God hath redeemed men and not Angels for that they sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from within and of themselves maliciously and rebelliously man sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from without and by provocation And this is Christs death saves only men not Angels the cause saith Augustine why Moses wrote nothing of the fall of Angels he named not their wound because he would not name their medicine Sed hominis vulnus medicinam narravit but he hath shewed man his wound and medicine also for that Aug. lib. de mirab Script cap. 2. God would restore him againe Humanam ergo naturam non Angelicam sumpsit Christus quoth Athanasius therefore he tooke the nature of man not the nature of Angels according to that of Athanasius the Apostle He in no sort tooke the Angels but hee tooke the seed of Abraham Quia Angeli per se defecerunt à Deo because the Angels of themselves fell from God Therefore the promise of the Messiah was made onely to man not to Angels The grace of GOD that Tit. 2. 11. bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared Grace saveth men not Angels For these Angels that fell have no benefit by Christs death he came not to save them for their sinnes are not pardonable But the cause of mercy I leave to God onely the father of mercies These are but conjectures of Augustine and Athanasius In the meane time Dorbels reasons are too weake to prove that men shall bee punished in hell more deeply than these Angels that fell His first reason is Quia Deus nunquam pro illis passus est ut pro nobis that God never suffered so much for them as for us His second reason is Quia Angeli pro uno tantum peccato puniuntur nos saepe deliquimus the Angels fell by one sinne only man by many sinnes hee offendeth oft His third reason is Quia daemones sunt spiritus tantum nos autem corpore anima peccamus that the bad Angels the Divels be spirits onely but men have both bodies and spirits But these reasons are vanishing as the untimely dew unsavoury as the white of an egge brittle as the webbe of a spider Hee spake as Phormio spake before Hannibal Rem magis delirantem nunquam legi I never read a more doating thing But to proceed my meaning is not that all Apostacy is sinne against the Holy Ghost for every Apostacy is not uncurable every fall of man is not damnable as the fall of Angels yet it is dangerous for he that settetb his hand to the plough and looketh back Luke 9. 62. is not fit for the Kingdome of God And Christ said to the sicke man Behold thou art made whole sinne no more lest a worse thing happen unto Iohn 5. 14. thee Thus all Apostacy is dangerous though not damnable for if damnable what shall become of the godly themselves for they often fall from the Lord slide backe and decrease in the graces of God They keepe not their first estate which was the sinne of the Angels Ephesus lost her first love but I would our Church were like it for Ephesus hated the evil wee hate the good Apoc. 2. 4. they examined the false Apostles wee examine none they suffered Luke 12. 45. persecution we persecute others we smite our fellow servants Iulian the Christian is become Iulian the Apostata and Simon Peter is become Simon Magus Ioseph is become Pharoah grapes are turned into thornes figs into thistles Lambes into Lions and Doves There must be a perpetuall growth in grace and goodnesse into Serpents We are fallen from our first love every day lesse and lesse zealous lesse and lesse loving lesse and lesse religious than heretofore we have been Memento Anglia memento Norfolcia unde excideris Remember England remember Norfolke whence thou art fallen Revertere revertere Returne returne saith the Lord Ier. 3. 14. for I am your Lord and will bring you to Sion Let us follow the counsell of the Wise man In the morning sow thy seed and in the evening Eccles 11. 6. let not thine hand rest that is increase in goodnesse doe good in Gal. 6. 6. thy youth doe good in thine age yea doe good at all times be not weary of sowing be not weary of working the seed-time is nothing the harvest is all in all To doe good in youth is nothing to doe well in middle age is nothing but to continue in old age to the last gaspe is piety indeed When a righteous man saith the Prophet turneth away from his righteousnesse and committeth Ezech. 18. 26. iniquity he shall even dye for the same hee shall even die for his iniquity that he hath committed aswell may we drowne in the Havens mouth as in the middest of the boisterous Sea aswell may wee fall through the peevishnesse of age as through the lusts and concupiscence of youth Of many it may be
Word 2. A preparation to heare 3. A purpose to obey And such as in hearing bring 1. Attention 2. Circumspection 3. Application And such as when they have heard the Word use 1. Meditation 2. Action 3. Continuation To these the Word is a savour of life unto life but unto those that regard not these things it is a savour of death unto death I have read of many florishing memories Seneca writeth of himselfe that he was able to recite by heart 2000. names in the same order wherein they were spoken Portius Latro had such a memory that yee could not name that martiall man but hee would runne thorow his acts presently and Cyneas the next day hee came to Rome could salute all the Senators of Rome in order and all the people that stood round about him whom he never saw nor knew before and Tully for memory commendeth Hortentius and Lucullus Lucullus for matter the other for words Now the excellentest matter of all others either for the memory to account or for any part of the soule to conceive is the Word of God therefore saith Iude Remember the words which were spoken c. Memory is as the verticle of the soule and the habitacle of the Word as the meate in the stomacke so the Word in the memory The belly is the bodies storehouse and the memory the soules treasury Thesaurus custos omnium In this storehouse Esdras is reported to store up the Bible and Mary the sayings of our Saviour in this Carindes did lay up volumes Aug. prologo in lib. 1. de doctrina Christi and Cyrus of Persia 300000. Souldiers and Antony the unlearned Eremite of Aegypt by hearing remembred and by remembring came to understand the Scriptures The beasts that chew not the cud were holde for uncleane the mind that remembers not the Word is unpure uncleane there is Memoria reminiscentia the habituall actuall memory the present and recalling remembrance which some resemble to a booke and the reading in the booke unseparable twinnes in matters of Divinity lest our memory unpractised bee turned like Pharoes butler to forgetfulnesse is well compared to a game at tennise which so long indures quà m diu pila inter èos proijciatur as the ball is tossing and the Scriptures so long profit as they are remembred Sicut nullum momentum est quo homo non utetur vel fruatur Dei bonitate Ita nullum debet esse momentum quo Verbum in Hugo de anima memoria non habeat The Word of God ought to be so frequent in out memories as Gods blessings are to our ordinary senses the one is ever present the other ought never to bee forgotten but ourmemory as touching this Word of God it is as an unthrifts purse that holdeth no mony like a riven dish that holdeth We are dull to heare careless to remember Gods Word no water ut Danaidum dolium which runneth out so soone as it is filled our eares are like a riddle or five which letteth go cleane water and keepeth gravell and stones still but they must be like a glasse window that shutteth out a tempest admitteth the light they must be stopped at vaine things and opened to good things yee must not be like them of whom Paul prophesied Which will not suffer wholesome doctrine but having their eares itching 2 Tim. 4. 3. shall after their owne lusts get to themselves an heape of teachers Men are so dull deafe carelesse that God sometime is enforced to speake to the Heavens saying Heare ob Heavens and harken oh Earth for the Lord hath spoken Sometimes to the Earth O Earth Earth Earth heare the Word of the Lord sometime to the Esa 1. Ier. 22. 29. Mountaines Heare O yee Mountaines the Lords quarrell and yee mighty foundations of the Earth for the Lord hath a controversie with his people sometime to the trees so he may speake to the pillars roofe and glasse windowes for wee will not heare him or if we heare him wee remember it not Aristotle saith that the Thracians doe not count above five they cannot remember to five but wee can remember five hundred things of the World but not five things of Gods doctrine Can a maid forget her ornament or a bride her attire yet my people have forgotten mee dayes without number Ier. ◠32. we neither remember the text nor any doctrine nor any exhortation delivered from it like the Philosopher that remembred not his owne name like the Ostrich that remembreth not her egges left in the dust but wee must heare to learne and learne to remember to follow it and follow it to continue in that good that wee have heard then are wee blessed so saith our Saviour Blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it that is that keepe it in his life and keepe it in his memory that wee Luk. 11. 28. may say of our Sundayes as Titus Vespasian said of his dayes wherein he gave not an Almes Hoc Sabbatum perdidi I have lost the Sabbath Yea a thousand yea tenne thousand Sabbaths have we lost we are no whit the better for comming unto Church as Peter said to Christ Master wee have laboured all night and have catched nothing so may we say We have come to the Church and have heard the Word of Life and Salvation but we have learned nothing we can remember nothing we are now hit the better for comming to the Church Frustrà Dei gratiam accipimus wee have received the Word of God in vaine Memorie is as a chest If a ◠Cor. 16. 1. man have all the gold of Ophir and the silver of Tharsis and the treasures of Ganges it is nothing except he hath a place to keepe them in if a man heare tenne thousand sermons it is nothing except hee remember them they are gotten in the Church and forgotten and scattred in the Churchyard like Hannibal that could get the victory but could not keepe it Tell mee O tell me what day in the weeke doe we give so evill The doctrine of Christ and his Apostles the foundation of the Church example of sitting and lulling in our beds as on the Sabbath either we come not to Church or if we come wee heare not or if we heare we remember it not O filthy favour that ariseth out of this loathsome channell I spare to speake I shame to see I rue to know what I fully know against our soules in this respect how can we escape if we neglect so great salvation Hebr. 2. 2. Sinnes past be gone and the Lord forgive us some be to come and the Lord strengthen us lye wee may not the Lord beeing judge cleere our selves wee cannot our consciences bearing witnesse of so many negligences and our great forgetfulnesse How great might our knowledge have beene How strong our faith How ardent our love How fierie our zeale How reformed our lives if we had heard
that their truth in their dealings their religion in swearing their zeale in serving their false gods far exceeds ours But let us shake off every thing that presseth downe and the sin that hangeth on so fast and strive to exceed them I must confesse that the best men have their faults they have their lusts the best oke hath sap the best gold hath his drosse the best oyle his some and the best tree his barke but yet there is a difference betweene an Oake that hath some sap and some heart withall and that which is all sap betwixt smoking flaxe that never flameth and Iuniper coales which smoke and yet burne also betwixt men that are sicke and men that are dead betwixt them that have some faults and them that yeeld to all faults The wicked man mocketh at judgement the mouth of the wicked swalloweth up iniquity There is difference betweene eating and swallowing Prov. 19. 28. such a distinction the Apostle maketh Neverthelesse though we walke in the flesh yet we warre not after the flesh though we 2 Cor. 10. 3. fall we doe not lye by it like the Elephant habitat peccatum sed non regnat sinne dwelleth in us but it raigneth not bellat sed non Rom. 6. 12. debellat it warres but it winnes not all are sicke in sinne but all are not dead in sinne all live in the flesh but sowe not to the Ephes 2. 1. Gal. 6. 8. flesh we all hold out our profession in many infirmities Who can say My heart is cleane There is a difference between blasted trees Prov. 20. and barren trees And yet S. Iude condemneth not nature utterly as though there were no goodnesse in it for many excellent things are done by the light and instinct of nature though not availeable to salvation For as the heate of the Sunne is not ever there where the light is as under the North pole so the sanctification Naturall men were generally illuminated though not sanctified of the Spirit is not ever where the illumination is Naturall men are illuminated but not sanctified by the Spirit Hence it commeth that they have found out many arts and sciences and have spoken rarely yea above Christians Emere vendere instituit Bacchus Bacchus taught men to buy and sell Ceres to sow Corne when as before men were fed with acornes the Assyrians found out letters for before that time men could neither write nor read Eurialus and Hiperbius taught men to build houses whereas before they lodged in the dennes caves of the earth Socrates called philosophy from heaven and placed it in Cities for before that time men wandred up and downe in the wildernesse after the manner of beasts Cecrops taught men to build townes for before men lived disjoined and severed one from another the Aegyptians found out weaving for before men went naked Ericthonius of Athens found out silver for before there was nothing but chopping and changing Aesculapius invented physicke for before men died suddenly of many diseases yea the very beasts by nature excell many men the Elephant seemeth to understand the mother tongue and to have a kind of religion to adore the Sunne-rising a kind of humanity as to reduce the wanderer a kind of obedience as to know the Prince the very Lion is gentle to that beast that humbleth himselfe he is gentler to women then men and praieth not on an infant except in great extremity of hunger he killeth the Lionesse having had copulation with the Leopard Sabinus his dog held up the dead corps of his Master in Tyber and Bucephalus ate no meate after the death of Alexander These things are not found in al men Oh brethren we walke as naturall men as carnall worldly fleshly men voide of Gods Spirit therefore the Scripture compareth good men spirituall men to pearles and precious stones to signify tantam esse horum raritatem quanta est gemmarum that there is as great a rarity and scarcenesse of them as of precious stones and that as common stones exceed in number precious stones so naturall men exceed spirituall men Salomon saith Stultorum numerum Eccles 1. 4. esse infinitum The number of fooles to bee numberlesse and Paul faith All seeke their owne and not that which appertaines to the Lord Iesus none understandeth from the least of them to the Phil. 3. 11. greatest of them every one is given to covetousnesse and from the Prophet even unto the Priest all deale falsely and as the Prophet speaketh Mens hands are defiled with bloud and their fingers Ier. 6. 12. Esay 59. 3 4 5. with iniquity their lippes speake lies and their tongues murmure forth iniquity no man calleth for Iustice no man contendeth for truth they trust in vanity and speake vaine things they conceive mischiefe and bring forth iniquity they hatch Cockatrice egges and weave the spiders webbe hee that eateth of their egges dieth and that which is troden upon breaketh out into a Serpent The Law of God is called Deut. 5. 33. the way of our life men are willed to walke in all the wayes that Love makes al things easy God hath commanded them that they may live habet haec via duo in sese difficultatem suavitatē saith one in this way there be two things hardnesse and sweetnesse hardnesse by reason of our nature and sweetnesse by reason of grace that which is hard by nature is sweetned by grace hereupon Christ saith that his yoke Mat. 11. is sweet eò quòd jugum est grave est in that it is a yoke it is grievous but sweet by reason of grace for as the bush burned with fire and was not consumed with fire because God was in the bush so our heavy yoke is made light because the Lord is in it who helpeth Exod. 30. us with his grace to beare it For grace stirreth up the love of God in our hearts which maketh the yoke of his commandements easy For nothing is grievous unto love love swalloweth all difficulties Why doe hunters fowlers fishers take such intolerable paines It is because they love the sport pernoctant venatores in nive hunters doe watch all the night in the snow such is their love to their game What maketh the mother to watch many nights to give the child sucke with great paine to take such toile in the washing keeping attending and in the education of it but love Can a mother forget her child She cannot The Esay 49. 15. interrogation implieth a negation What meane the beasts and fowles to spare meate from their owne mouthes and to put it into the mouth of their young What maketh the Pelicane to feed her yong birds with her blood but love So the love of God maketh the precepts of God seeme easy to us Non est arduum orare legere meditare jejunare It is no hard matter for us to pray to read to meditate to fast because the
were all damned for so must they bee if they savour not of Gods Spirit For the Wisdome of the flesh is death the Wisdome of the Spirit is life and Rom. 8. 6 8 13. peace and againe They that are in the flesh cannot please God and againe If yee live after the flesh yee shall dye but if yee mortify the deeds of the body by the Spirit yee shall live and againe Whatsoever a man soweth that shall hee reape hee that soweth Gal. 6. 7 8. to his flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption and hee that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reape life everlasting Now temporall and eternall are opposite The things that are seene are temporall but the things which are not seene are eternall But not 2 Cor. 4. 18. Temporall and Spirituall But this was the policy of the Papists to name themselves spirituall that they might withdraw themselves from the Magistrate as though they pertained to God only not to Caesar Secondly they called their The regenerate onely have the Spirit of God in them lands and livings spirituall to exempt them also from the Magistrate and yet Paul calleth all these earthly commodities carnall as in his Epistle to the Corinthians If wee have sowne unto you spirituall things is it a great thing if wee reape 1 Cor. 9. 11. your carnall things And againe If the Gentiles bee made partakers Rom. 15. 27. of their spirituall things their duty is also to minister unto them in carnall things And to the end to defeate Caesar they set the Image of the Church upon their Coyne not Caesars Image Thirdly to make the more gaine they tooke to the punishment of Adultery Incest Drunkennesse Vsury Perjury Simony Sorcery under the colour of spirituall things and so they caught Testaments Legacies Marriages Dowries Ierome calleth the people Secular men but Temporall no man calleth them as though their hope reached but unto this life only whereas they are to bee saved aswell as Church-men To whom wrote Paul but unto the people For whom else prayed hee His words are plaine Brethren my hearts desire for Israel is that they might bee saved Well They have not the Spirit not the Spirit of Regeneration and sanctification but they have the Spirit of illumination but Gods children they have Gods Spirit of regeneration they are led by Gods Spirit and the Spirit of God certifieth Rom. 8. 16. their Spirits that they are the sonnes of God and he that hath not the Spirit of God is none of Gods it is the Spirit of God that worketh in us all in all The bath of regeneration and the renovation of the Spirit saveth us Wee are justified sanctified and Tit. 3. 1 Cor. 6. Gal. 5. 22. washed by the Spirit All good works are the fruits of the Spirit untill Gods Spirit hath renewed us wee are stables for the Divell Si durus sit hic sermo as the Disciples said Iohn 6. Luk 11. 21. blame him that spake it O there is No medium betwixt these two either Gods Spirit dwelleth in us or Satan Know yee 1 Cor. 6. 16. not that yee are the Temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you The Spirit is the same in the Church as the soule in the body it is it that quickneth us hee leadeth us into all Iohn 16. 3. truth hee sealeth up all graces in our hearts hee applieth all the mercies of God all the merits of Christ Iesus unto us hee worketh all graces and giveth all spirituall gifts unto us The Apostle making the comparison betweene the 1 Cor. 6. 11. 1 Cor. 13. 3. 8. Gal. 5. 2. flesh and the Spirit resembleth it to a tree that yeeldeth all manner of good fruits like the apple-tree of Persia or like the Tree of life Let us then intertaine Gods Spirit make much of him nourish every good motion that is wrought in us by him and every sparke will bee a fire flaming out of us every drop will bee a river issuing out of us to eternall life if wee nourish it but let us not quench the Spirit All grace and goodnesse flowes from Gods Spirit nor grieve the Spirit lest Saint Iude his Prophesy bee verified of us that wee are naturall men fleshly not having the Spirit but let us stirre up the gift of God in us blow at the coale and put spurres to this horse 1 Thess 5. 19. THE ONE AND THIRTIETH SERMON VERS XX. But yee beloved edifie your selves in your most holy faith praying in the holy Ghost The godly and the wicked every way opposite STill hee proceedeth in the comparison betwixt the godly and ungodly the elect and the reprobate the lambes on the right hand and the goates on the left hand of the Lord Iesus noting that the godly remember the words of the Lord they are peaceable without sects spirituall they increase in faith they pray in the Holy Ghost they keepe themselves in the love of God they looke for eternall life but on the contrary the wicked remember nothing they scoffe at Religion they be scorners they bee unquiet they be meere naturall men they decrease in goodnesse they pray not they love not God they cannot looke for life but death and destruction Tribulation and anguish shall bee upon the soules of them Vpon Rom. 9. Psal 11. 6 7. them God will raine snares fire and brimstone storme and tempest this shall be their portion to drinke A Lion out of the forrest shall slay them and a Woolfe in the wildernesse shall destroy them a Ier. 1. 5 6. Leopard shall watch over their Cities every one that goeth out shall bee torne in pieces because their trespasses are many and The Church and Saints as houses must be edified or builded dayly their rebellions are increased Sed but yee beloved but this Conjunction discretive here is emphaticall Sed vos autem dilecti but you beloved as if hee should have said You must not be like the wicked they be mockers they walke after their ungodly lusts they are makers of sects fleshly having not the Spirit but you must not doe so but you must turne over another leafe learne a new lesson This teacheth all Christians to live like Christians not as miscreants the true Christian turnes away his eyes from vanity as Iob the miscreant applies his senses to folly as Holofernes The Iob. Iudith 10. true Christian setteth a watch before his mouth and keepeth the doore of his lips the miscreant gives liberty to his tongue to speake evill and raile like Rabshakeh the true Christian is alwayes doing good as Abraham the miscreant alwayes doing 2 Reg. 18. evill as Achab the one loveth goodnesse the other badnesse the one setteth Gods judgements before his face the other puts them from his sight the one kils sinne in the thought the other suffers it to raigne in the heart the one knowes the end of his sinne
did undoe in the night so wee learne and unlearne whatsoever wee learne on the Sunday wee forget in the weeke day we may say of our comming to Church as Peter said of his fishing Master wee have Luke 5. 5. travelled all night and have taken nothing So wee have come to the Church twenty thirty forty fifty sixty yeeres some more and have gotten nothing have learned nothing got no Faith no Zeale no Knowledge But to proceed As they must edifie themselves increase and goe forward so the thing that they must increase and goe forward in is Faith for that is the foundation of all Christian Vertues it is Alpha and O mega absque ea nemo potest placere Deo Heb. 11. 6. Rom. 14. 23. Without it no man can please God for whatsoever is not of faith is sinne Omnia ergo splendida opera Paganorum Infidelium sant splendida peccata all the glistering workes of Pagans and Infidels bee glistering sinnes their prayers almes fastings the patience of Socrates the justice of Aristides the piety of Epaminondas Faith the originall of all good workes the constancie of Phocion they were but bastard-workes not right workes they are begotten of Hagar not of Sara the free-woman they spring from the waters of Marah not of Siloh from the bitter poole Exanthe not the sweet flood of Hispanis they proceed from feare or vaineglory not from faith For as unto the Tit. 1. 15. pure all things are pure so unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure but their mindes and consciences are defiled It is true in all workes that Paul said of prayer How shall they call on him in whom Rom. 10. 14. they have not beleeved Even so how can they glorifie God or love God or serve God in whom they never beleeved Paul making a Catalogue of good men beginneth with Faith and saith By faith Abel offered to God a greater sacrifice than Cain Heb. 11. 4 5 7. 8 20 21 33-34 By faith Enoch was taken away that hee should not see death c. By Faith Noah being warned of God of the things which were not yet seene moved with reverence prepared the Arke c. By Faith Abraham when hee was called obeyed God offered Isaac c. By Faith Isaac blessed Iacob and Esau By Faith Iacob when hee was a dying blessed the sonnes of Ioseph and thus hee goeth on and at the last concludeth that by faith they subdued Kingdomes wrought righteousnesse obtained the promises stopped the mouthes of Lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword of weake were made strong waxed valiant in battell turned to flight the armies of the Aliants c. In every good worke three things are to be considered Origo Finis Vsus The beginning The end and Vse The originall or beginning of every good worke is faith faith is as the Mother and the holy Ghost the Father of all good workes Faith begetteth Love and Love blossometh forth in Vertue and Vertue buddeth foorth in good Workes whereupon Saint Peter inferreth this exhortation Ioyne moreover Vertue with your Faith and with Vertue Knowledge and with Knowledge 2 Pet. 1. 5 7 8. Temperance and with Temperance Patience and with Patience Godlinesse and with Godlinesse Brotherly-kindnesse and with Brotherly-kindnesse Love Secondly the end is the glory of God Hereupon saith the Apostle Whether yee eate or drinke or whatsoever yee doe doe all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 1 3â— Thirdly the use is manifold First they are unto us signes of our election and therefore Saint Peter would have us to make our election calling sure by them Indeed our election is sure in it selfe 2 Pet. 1. 10. for God cannot change yet we must confirme it in our selves by the fruits of the Spirit Secondly they edifie others Hereupon saith our Saviour Let your light so shine before men that they may see No life of grace without Faith your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Thirdly that they may stop the mouth of the Adversary For which cause we are willed to have honest conversation among the Gentiles that wheras they doe backbite us as evill doers they may see our good works and glorify Mat. 5. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 12. our Father which is in Heaven Here is the triall of a Christian that proveth us either sonnes or bastards this proveth us dead or alive by Faith wee live this is the spirit and soule of the inner man wee have a name to live yet are wee dead if wee want Iohn 1. 12. Faith There is a double life of grace and of nature Infidels Vnbeleevers are strangers from the life of grace As a tree liveth not without Ephes 4. 18. moysture nor a bird without aire nor the fish without water nor a body without a soule so neither the soule without faith For in that wee live now in the flesh wee live by the Faith of the Sonne of God who hath loved us and gave himselfe for us Yee see Infidels eating Gal. 2. 20. drinking sporting playing yet are they dead they are alive to the world but dead unto God but the faithfull they are dead with Christ unto the world but their life is hid with Christ with God and when Christ which is their life shall appeare then shall they Col. 2 3 4. also appeare with him in glory Pandora carried deadly poyson in a painted boxe and Lusimachus the cutter a leaden sword in a golden sheath and many men a dead soule in a living body the body is alive but the soule is dead as Paul said of the voluptuous widow But shee that liveth in pleasure is dead while shee liveth To conclude faith joyneth us to Christ For Christ dwelleth in 1 Tim. 5. 6. our hearts by Faith Christ uniteth us to God 1 Iohn 5. God assureth Ephes 3. 17. us of life For in him wee live and move and have our being So that no faith no Christ no Christ no God no God no life God Act. 17. 28. so loved the world that hee gave his only be gotten Sonne that whosoever Iohn 3. 16 18. beleeveth in him should not perish but have life everlasting hee that beleeveth in him shall not bee condemned but hee that beleeveth not is condemned already because hee beleeveth not in the name of the only begotten Sonne of God Knowledge is the fountaine of all vertue and Faith is the sea in which they all runne and where they jointly end their course But it is to bee observed that hee calleth it not simply Faith but holy Faith yea most holy Faith he riseth to the superlative degree as David extolled Bashan above all mountaines saying The mountaine of God is like the mountaine of Bashan it is a high mountaine Psal 68. 15. as the mount Bashan As Salomon extolled his huswife above all women saying Many daughters
gods may not understand that you like roguish robbing rascals are here sayling Alas wee tumble out our prayers as a Beares whelpe they are like arrowes without heads that cannot pierce like swords without edge that cannot cut they be too blunt to obtaine any thing of God they have no wings to mount up to heaven We aske and receive not because wee aske amisse We do either postulare non postulanda we aske things that Iam. 4. 3. Bern. are not to bee asked or else when wee aske them wee pray not in the holy Ghost Oh that all men knew this that all England had learned that not all prayers but spirituall prayers are accepted of God! but wee are ignorant and will be ignorant still filthy and will bee Apoc. 22. 11. filthy still But let us amend this fault learne at last to pray for prayer is good so that it be a true reflexion of the soule from the feeling of Gods mercies and our owne wants God hath promised us all good things under his hand and seale but yet with a condition so that wee pray truly and aske them as we should The Lord is neere to all them that call upon him yea unto all such as call upon Psal 145. 18. him faithfully For many carry prayer in their mouthes as meÌ„ carry fire in a flint and perfume in a pomander the one without heate the other without smell so they carry prayer without all devotion verball vocall prayers can obtaine nothing of God When yee stretch out your hands I will hide mine eyes from you saith God and though yee make many prayers I will not heare THE THREE AND THIRTIETH SERMON VERS XXI And keep your selves in the Love of God c. Faith prayer and love have mutuall relation FRom faith he came unto prayer froÌ„ prayer he commeth now to love bie est enim aurea catena for this is a goldeÌ„ chaine every linke is one within another these three goe together like the three Angels that came to Lot like the three graces that are Gen. 19. inseparable or like the three Worthies who brake thorow the host of the Philistins Faith begetteth 2 Sam. 23. prayer and prayer strengtheneth the faith and neither of these can stand without love prayer and love be as the two mighty rivers named in Genesis Pishon and Gihon and faith as the garden of Eden out of which they flow or the sea into which they runne and where all of them jointly doe end their course Love is a chiefe a principall vertue Faith and Love the one with God the other with men bee as the roote and the branch as the mother and the daughter as the foundation and pillars of all Christian buildings the end of all is Love the end of the first table the Love of God the end of the second the love of man so saith the Holy Ghost The end of the Commandement is Love out of a pure heart out 1 Tim. 1. 15. of a good conscience and out of a faith not fained Whatsoever precept or commandement is in the Scripture it hath relation to Love For be that loveth another fulfilleth the Law Christianity is where the Rom. 13. Spirit is and where the Spirit is there is Love For God is Love Love the most excellent of all vertues and he that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God and God in him Austen saith that a man may have baptisme and yet bee wicked prophecy and yet be wicked take the Sacrament of the body and Aug. Hom. 15. bloud of the Lord and yet be wicked be named a Christian and yet bee wicked Habere Sacramenta ista omnia malus esse potest habere autem charitatem malus esse non potest He may have all these Sacraments and yet be wicked but if he have Love hee cannot be wicked Paul reckoning up the fruits of the Spirit he nameth Love first as the Gentleman-Vsher to goe before them all The fruites of the Spirit saith hee is Love joy peace c. For as Manna Gal. 5. 22. Exod. 16. Exod. 3. Iudg. excelled all bread as Aarons rod did eate up the rods of the sorcerers as Gedeons sword passed all the swords of the Madianites so Love passeth all other vertues All our bebts should stand in Love so saith the Apostle Owe nothing to any man but this Rom. 13. 8. that yee love one another Our debts were soone paid and our Executors should bee soone discharged if this were of this debt we can never be discharged so long as we live The journey of Israel was ended in forty yeeres Herods temple was built finished in six forty yeeres Noahs Arke was perfited in an 120. yeeres but this debt is never ended Beloved saith S. Iohn let us love one another for Love commeth of God every one that loveth is borne of God knowith God but hee that loveth not knoweth not God for God is Love S. Peter naming many vertues maketh up the measure and ends in love Ioyne saith he vertue with your faith with vertâ—e knowledge 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7. with knowledge temperance and with temperance patience and with patience godlinesse and with godlinesse brotherly kindnesse and with brotherly kindnesse Love This vertue above all others is as the hoope or fagot-band that keepeth all close therefore saith the Apostle Above all things put on Love which is the bond of perfection Col. 3. 14. As the Sunne giveth light to all Planets as salt seasoneth all meates as the Moone ruleth over the Sea and all moist bodies as the rod of the Tribe of Levi passed in honour all other tribes so Love passeth all qualities among men Though I spake 1 Cor. 13. 1 2 3. with the tongues of men and Angels and have no love I am as sounding brasse or a tinckling Cymball and though I bad the gift of Prophecy and knew all secrets and all knowledge yea if I had all faith so that I could remove mountaines and had no love it profiteth me nothing and though I feed the poore with all my goods and though I give my body that I be burned and have not Love it profiteth me nothing For this cause hee willeth the Ephesians to follow the truth in Love Moses did wish that Ephes 4. 13. Numb 11. 29. all the Lords people could prophesie and That the Lord would put his Spirit upon them Saint Paul did wish that all men were like himselfe in purity and that all did speake strange languages but rather that 1 Cor. 7. 7. 1 Cor. 14. 5. Aug. they prophesied Saint Augustine wished that all would remember Love and brings this reason Sola est enim quae vincit omnia sine qua nil valent omnia and ubique fuerit trahit ad se omnia For onely Love overcommeth all things and without Love all things Love is every where very cold are nothing
sustaineth the souldier but hope of victory and the mariner but hope of arrival and the husband-man but hope of harvest and the prentise but hope of freedome And shall not the hope of eternall life sustaine us Dum spiro spero whilest I breathe I hope this is the poesy of a Christian the hope of salvation we must put it on as a helmet though we sowe in teares we shall reape in joy Paul 1 Thess 5. 8. Psal 126. 5. setting downe the parts of a Christian life to sweeten the actions of it they being hard to flesh bloud propoundeth the blessed hope saying The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath Tit. 2. 11 12 13. appeared and teacheth us to deny ungodlinesse and worldly lusts and that we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present World looking for the blessed hope appearing of the glory of the mighty God and our Saviour Iesus Christ It is a blessed hope a blessed place that we looke for it is mount Garisim not mount Hebal Hee is a blessed God Deut. 27. 1 Tim. 6. 16. Rom. 9. 5. Iohn 16. Mat. 25. Apoc. 21. Deut. 27. Exod. 19. Numb 21. Exod. 10. Gen. 3. cap. 13. Zach. 14. Christ is a blessed Saviour the holy Ghost a blessed Comforter wee are blessed Children Heaven is a blessed Kingdome There is mount Garisim without any curse mount Horeb without any thunder the wildernes of Sinai without any serpent the land of Goshen without any darkenesse a Paradise without any serpent Eden without any weeds Ierusalem without any Canaanite there is day without night Summer without Winter riches without measure fulnesse without hunger pleasure without loathing life without death The faith and love of the Colossians sprang from the hope of Heaven therefore Paul tels them that hee thanked God for them and prayed for them ever since hee heard of their faith in Christ and of Col. 1. 4 5. their love towards the Saints for the hopes sake which is layd up for them in Heaven This stayd Iob in all his extremities when his cattell were stollen his houses blowne downe his children slaine his friends grieved his body wounded his wife alienated from him I am sure saith hee my Redeemer liveth and Iob 19. 25. I hope to finde him my deliverer and Saviour yea the Lord Iesus for the joy that was set before him indured the Crosse God will put a Hebr. 12. 2. difference one day betweene his children and bastards betweene them that say that it is but vaine to serve God and what profit is it that wee have kept his Commandements and that wee walked humbly Mal. 3. 14 15. before Lord of Hoasts and those that feare God the Corne shall bee gathered into the Garner the Chaffe shall bee burnt the Mat. 3. Goats shall bee separated from the Lambes the vessels of Clay shall bee broken Here is a mixture of sonnes and of bastards Ma◠25. of Corne and Chaffe of Goates and Lambes vessels Apoc. 2. of Clay and of Gold but in Heaven shall bee a difference and Body and soule shall be glorified in all parts and powers if that were not wee were the most miserable even Tully would not bee rocked againe in his Cradle Amas vivere quoth Aug. in vita aeterna Doest thou love to live everlastingly Hope with David to see the goodnesse of the 1 Cor. 15. 19. Aug. Lord in the land of the living In this life quoth Bern. erit mira serenitas plena securitas aeterna foelicitas wonderfull serenity full security eternall felicity then the whole man shall bee renewed our soules shall bee fully reformed to the Image of God as touching the two powers thereof From our understanding shall be dispelled all darkenesse and it shall be filled with new light and that of her selfe she shall know God and the will of God without preaching without praying without Sacraments without bookes and writings to instruct her for preaching shall have an end prayer an end Sacraments an end wee shall bee as the Angels of God understanding all things Now we know but in part 1 Cor. 13. 12. but then shall wee know even as wee are knowne Our will also shall want all wicked lusts and shall bee filled with all true Love both towards God and man and this love shall never bee interrupted To conclude all the faculties of the soule shall bee filled with God and with his power so as the soule shall nourish the body without meate drinke sleep because hee shall bee replenished with God and God shall be all in all Erimus cives Coeli socij Angelorum Ephes 2. 3. cohaeredes Christi we shall bee Citizens of Heaven fellowes of Angels coheires with Christ Citizens with Saints and of the houshold of God As touching the body the other part of man it shall also bee glorified nulla illius erit senectus nulla mors nullus morbus nullum peccatum No old age shall molest it nor death nor disease nor sinne our bodies shall be like the glorious body of the Lord Iesus Nemo ibi irascitur nemo invidet nemo laeditur there is no man angry no man envieth no man is any way hurt or harmed No lust doth annoy no divell doth terrify there is a Sunne without setting life without dying labour without wearinesse pleasures without tediousnesse there we shall see God as he is in the sight 1 Iohn 2. 3. Aug. of whom wee shall doe foure things wee shall know wee shall love wee shall rejoyce and wee shall praise wee shall know the secrets of God which is a depth without bottome wee shall love God above all and our neighbour as wee should wee shall rejoyce for in Heaven there is fulnesse of joy and at the right Psal 16. 11. hand of God there is pleasure for evermore and we shall praise God without ceasing For saith David Blessed are they that dwell in thy Psal 84. 1. house they shall alwayes bee praysing of thee there our joy shall be full all joy here is at an ebbe but there is the flood of joy perfection Iob 15. 11. fulnesse of joy Againe here all joy is mixt with paine Health with Sicknes Life with Death Summer with Winter the Spring with the Autumne Libertie with bondage there is all solace no sorrow The joyes of of heaven unspeakable incōprehensible the first sorrow cast out into shame But as touching this eternall Life whereof Saint Iude here speaketh a man may well thinke of it and talke of it but hee Apoc. 21. 4. can never thinke nor talke of it as it is Paul saith The eye hath not seene the eare hath not heard the heart of man cannot conceive the 1 Cor. 2. 9. joyes of this life The eye of man What can it not see How little a sound will the eare heare What great matters can the tongue utter What wonderfull things can
the highest degree as God complaineth I have nourished and brought up Children but they have rebelled against mee The Oxe doth know his owner the Asse his masters crib but Israel Esa 1. 2 3 4. hath not knowne my people hath not understood We are a sinfull nation a people loden with iniquity a seed of the wicked corrupt children We have forsaken the Lord and provoked the Holy one of Israel to anger We professe to serve God but in works wee deny God we have a shew of godlines but inwardly wee deny the power of it our profession Tit. 1. 16. 2 Tim. 3. is like the apples and grapes of Sodom faire to the sight but if you touch them they vanish to smoke so all our profession standeth in words not in works as Iames said Ostende mihi fidem per opera Shew mee thy faith by thy works so Ostende Iam. 2. mihi regnum Dei per subjectionem tuam Shew mee the Kingdome of God by thy subjection by thy obedience which is due to his Word apply thy heart to keepe his statutes alwayes unto the end Bee not deceived God will not thus bee mocked in fine wee shall receive the reward of Rebels Quid dicta audiam cùm facta videam What should I heare words when I should see deeds as Moses said to Israeel laying out their severall rebellions So might I lay out the rebellions of England 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 egge and bird all naught our Fathers naught and wee also our Fathers have forsaken God and kept not his Law and we have Notorious sinners Satans subjects done worse than our Fathers and walke every one after the stubbornesse of his heart As well may wee spit on Christ Iesus buffet and beate him with a reed and cry with the mockers Haile King of the Iewes as kneele in the Church and say Thy Kingdome come Lord and yet in our deeds promote the kingdome of Satan disobey and not receive the Word which is the power of God Rom. 1. 16. to salvation to every one that beleeveth Therefore hee so highly extolleth it saying The weapons of our warfare are not carnall but mighty through God to cast downe holdes casting downe the imaginations 2 Cor. 10. 5. and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ Wee pray to be like the Angels we must strive then to come neere Mat. 6. them in obedience Three properties are noted in the Angels Obediunt Libentissimè Citissimè Fidelissimè most Willingly Speedily Faithfully They are willing to obey and so wee read that one Angell with speed killed an hundred fourescore and five thousand of the Assyrians in one night We must be like Angels if we looke Esa 37. to live with Angels they praise God day and night so must we Esa 6. But it may bee said of most of us that which Vivaldus said of Corasius Erat foris Cato intus Noro he was a Cato without a Nero within foris Angelus intus Diabolus an Angell without a Divell within foris Agnus intus Lupus a Lambe without a Wolfe within Deum ore laudabat corde factis negabat hee praised God with his mouth but denied him in heart in deeds tales sunt mancipia Diaboli such are the slaves of Satan God doth not raigne as a King in them his grace hath no dominion over them they are in the snare of the Divell and are taken of him at his will In this sence Christ called the Iewes the sonnes of the Divell Yee are of your father the Divell and the lusts of your father will yee doe so 2 Tim. 2. 26. Iohn 8. 44. 1 Iohn 2. 14. Iohn saith in the contrary I write unto you babes because yee have knowne the father Impij servi sunt tot daemoniorum quot vitiorum the wicked are the servants of so many divels as they have sinnes and transgressions it is the divell that hath dominion over them not God by his grace As there is in the body a palsy that striketh the one halfe and an Apoplexy that striketh the whole body so there is in our soules a spirituall palsy if not an Apoplexy our understanding is not lightned with the doctrine of God and our will is not enflamed with the Love of God to doe his will as it becommeth us Hereupon Saint Augustine crieth out Augusta foeda est domus Aug. animae meae Straight and filthy is the house of my soule but when thou commest vnto it ô Lord it shall bee enlarged and mundified of thee it is ruinous Lord repaire and amend it it is filthy Lord clense it and wash it there be many things in this Christ will dwell and raigne in a pure soule house of my soule which may offend thy sacred eyes but who shall purge it and purify it or unto whom shall I cry but unto thee Ab ocultis meis purga me Clense mee from my secret sinnes Let this bee our prayer and pray with that spirit wherewith Augustine prayed it and no doubt God will heare thee and have a Kingdom in thy soule This testimony is true the Heavens have sealed unto it and the living God hath spoken it of the children of men and blessed are wee if wee beleeve it there is more happinesse in one day of Gods service and under his Dominion then in ten thousand dayes of vanity in which Satan hath dominion and wee fall from the Lord of life The sixth and last attribute is Power wherein the excellent praise of God consisteth which is the ability in God to do what hee listeth like unto the former attributes but not all one with them haec enim magis conjungi quà m confundi velim I had rather conjoine these things than confound them as Calvin said in another case Of this power speaketh David O Lord my God thou art Psal 104. 1. exceeding great thou art clothed with glory and Majesty And of this power speaketh Esay Who hath measured the waters in his fist and counted Heaven with a spanne and comprehended the dust of the earth in Esa 40. 12. a measure and weighted the mountaines in a weight and the hilles in a balance And of this power of God speaketh Salomon Who hath Prov. 30. 4. ascended up to Heaven or descended Who hath gathered the Wind in his fist Who hath bound the Waters in a garment Who hath established all the ends of the world What is his Name or his Sonnes Name if thou canst tell And in respect of this power Christ said Ecce vobiscum sum Behold I am with you to the end of the world whereupon Mat. 28. 20. Aug. Augustine finely Iturus erat Christus ad dextram Patris per mortem praesentia Corporali In regard of his Corporall presence he was by death to goe to the right hand of his Father and in regard of his
excellent of all vertues 413 All vertues vaine without love ibid. Many excellent properties of Love 414 Little love in this age ibid. Love makes men of one heart 415 Many men implacable cruell like Wolues or Divels ibid. An exhortation to love 416 Foure properties of love that it be holy just true constant ibid. The love amongst Atheists and impious condemned 417 The excellency of Love ibid. Atheists agree like a kennell of dogs 418 Most love for lucre ibid. Gods love to us infinite 419 Gods love to us diversly distinguished ibid. Gods loue set out by all the dimensions yet transcendent and unmeasurable ibid. No love comparable to Gods Love 420 Gods love to us the cause of our love to him and the godly ibid. Foure reasons or motives to incite us to love God 1. à mandato 2. ab aequo justo 3. à commodo 4. ab officio 421 The manner how God is to bee loved 422 Love a debt that all owe to God and man but few poy it ibid VVe must shew our love to God by keeping his commandements and serving him 423 An honorable and happy thing to love God ibid. Sermon 34. THe hope of eternal life allays the hardnesse of Gods Commandements 425 Hope of reward makes men endure labours and dangers 426 The blessed estate of the Saints in Heaven 427 Christ and the Saints in their sufferings had an eye to the reward ibid. The joyes of Heaven unspeakable incomprehensible 428 The glorified bodyes shall have spirituall and heavenly qualities namely clarity agility subtility unpassibility and immortality 429 The principall points wherein the glory and joy of the glorified soule and whole Saint consist 430 Earthly mindes regard not Heavenly joyes 431 Divers errours concerning eternall life 432 The joyes of Heaven eternall and infinite ibid. Heaven compared with the wombe of the world 433 An exhortation to seeke after eternall joyes ibid. Eternall life onely the free gift of God 434 Merit end mercy gift and desert opposite ibid. Papists works many of them merit death 435 Merit three-fold Congrui Digni Condigni ibid. None can merit ex condigno but Christ 436 Our works cannot merit because finite and unperfect ibid. Christs righteousnes ours 437 Our works merit not jointly with Christs ibid. Grace threefold Praeveniens Subsequens Consummans ibid. Many Papists renounce their merits and fly to Gods mercy 438 Our election vocation justification sanctification all from grace 439 We must not trust in our works but confesse our sinnes ibid. Sermon 35. DIscretion necessary for distinguishing sinnes and sinners 441 Ministers must use discretion not deale alike with all sinnes and sinners ibid. How to restore with mâ—ekenes them that are fallen 442 VVee should pitty and pray for sinners and not despise them ibid. Many men more compassionate toward their beasts nhan brethren 444 Wee must tak away sinnes with mildenesse and mercy if possible ibid. Reproofe though not pleasing yet profitable 446 Compassion must be shewed especially to the soule 447 The Saints bewaile the estate of the wicked ibid. Threats of judgement belong to the wicked 448 The obstinate must be terrified not soothed ibid. Iudgements denounced against soothing false prophets 449 Reproofes more profitable than soothing flattery 450 Excommunication a grievous censure ibid. Excommunication three-fold 451 Two uses of Excommunication ibid. Sermon 36. THe sinner alwayes in danger 452 The fickle estate of the wicked set out by divers resemblances 453 No estate permanent 454 Sudden destruction waite on the wicked ibid. Death comes not sudden to the Godly 455 The Godly prepare by repentance and godly life for death while they have time 456 Repentance must not be deferred ibid. The saving of soules a most blessed worke 457 Though God save yet both Grace and Faith and Ministery concurre 458 Tho Ministrie being Gods ordinance to save soules is not to be slighted though the World despise them ibid. Foure faculties in the soule whereby it converts the food of the Word and Sacraments to nourishment of the spirituall life 459 The necessitie and excellent fruits of the Ministery set out by divers resemblances 460 The happy estate of them that have means of knowledge 461 Salvation and the misery of them that want it ibid. Sermon 37. NOt onely evill but all appearance of evill is to bee avoided 462 Sinne must bee hated not sported at if if wee love our owne soules ibid. No communion to be holden or society with the wicked 463 Wicked men must be avoided in respect of God and ourselves ibid. Sinne as contagious as the plague and more dangerous 464 Wee must hate sinne because the whole Trinity detest it 465 Wee must hate sinne because Satan is the author being enemie to God and our soules ibid. Sinne must bee hated because it dishonours God not our selves 466 Wee may not hold amity with the wicked boing Gods enemies 467 The amity of the wicked treachery ibid. Sinne onely is hated of God and man and not the person except reprobate 468 Two judgments the one of Faith the other of Charity 469 Wee must leave sinne of conscience not for other respects 470 The punishment of sinne ought to deterre from sinne ibid. Earthquakes an evident signe of Gods anger and a forerunner of judgement 471 Many earth-quakes in many places and much hurt 472 Christians not to be prophaned 473 Sermon 38 VVE are not sufficient to doe any good of our selves without grace 476 Exhortations do not shew what we can but what we should doe 477 Grace both preserves from falling and raiseth us being fallen 478 Our enemies many and powerfull 479 Prayer the best meanes to repell Satan and his temptations 480 All sorts of men have fallen even the Saints ibid. All have the Seminarie of all sinnes in them 481 Grace worketh all in all ibid. Wee walke in the middest of snares 482 God suffered Adam and doth still suffer the Saints to fall for divers reasons 483 Difference betweene the sinnes of Saints and Reprobates ibid. Whether and how the Church may erre 484 The best have erred ibid. The Pope may erre and many of them have erred 485 The distinctions about the erring of the Pope nice and frivolous 486 Sermon 39. HOw wee are said to bee blamelesse notwithstanding we are full of sin 487 Two kindes of righteousnesse 488 Our righteousnesse consists rather in the remission of sinne than perfection of vertue ibid. How we are said to be perfect and yet imperfect 489 The Iesuits and latter Popish writers the worst 490 The Church and members of it impure in it selfe but perfect and pure in Christ 491 Our service may be sincere not perfect 492 Iustification by workes confuted how justified by faith explained 493 Papists flye to the mercy of God and merit of Christ 494 No true joyes and pleasures in this world but all in Heaven ibid. The Saints in Heaven shall have fulnesse of joy undique 495 Heaven the land of the living and Earth land of dead men 496 God shall be all in all to the Saints in Heaven ibid. Worldly minded men desire not Heaven 497 Our life nothing to eternall life ibid. All honours and pleasures on earth nothing to them in Heaven 498 The World fraudulent turbulent momentary 499 Christ the onely comfort to the elect both in this life and that to come ibid. Many hindred from Heaven by pleasure Sermon 40. PRayer and praise the two chiefest parts of Gods worship must follow one another 501 The glory of God hath beene celebrated by all Saints 502 Wee slauld not thinke of the mercies of God in Christ without praising him 503 God described by many attributes yet none can sufficiently set him out ibid. God onely wise all men ignorant and foolish 504 Wee have no true wisedome till infused by God ibid. All wisedome and Knowledge hid in Christ 505 Destinction betweene Science and Sapience ibid. Worldly wisedome folly ibid. Gods Wisedome seene in creation and disposing of all creatures and governing the Church 506 Christ a mercifull and powerfull Saviour in life and death ibid. No Saviours comparable to Christ 507 The Papists derogate from the power and merit of Christ ibid. The imputative righteousnes of the Saints more set out Gods glory than the inherent 508 Mans worke cannot merit ibid. What it is to glorifie God 509 Thankefulnesse the onely sacrifice that God requires ibid. We pray in our wants and doe not praise God when we are releeved 510 Thankesgiving and the praise of God the end of our creation ibid. They thrt doe not glorifie God here shall not be glorified of him hereafter ibid. Two theeves that rob God of his glory and justice 511 A powerfull exhortation to praise God and give up our selves in thankefulnesse ibid. If no praise of God in the mouth no thankfulnesse or grace in the heart 512. Sermon 29. VVHat it is to ascribe majestie to God 514 Miracles are admired for the rarenesse 515 All Gods ordinary workes wonderfull 516 Our dulnesse in ascribing to God majestie in regard of his workes ibid. God reâ—eales himselfe sixe wayes ibid. Gods judgement do not worke Repentance ibid. Wherein Gods dominion standeth 517 Gods three-fold kingdome of power grace glorie ibid. Wee ackowledge our selves subjects of Christs kingdome of grace and yet are rebellious 518 Three properties in the Angels Obedience Libentissime Citissime Fidelissime Obediunt 519 Notorious sinners Satans bond-slaves ibid. Wee must be pure in soule and body that Christ may dwell and rule in us 520 Gods power omnipotent ibid. Christ every where present by his power though not corporally ibid. Christs omnipotenty gives comfort to the Christian 521 Gods incomprehensiblenesse set out by comparison ibid. Christ all in all to us 522 God cannot doe those things that imply contradiction or defect ibid. How attributes are ascribed some time to the whole Trinitie sometime to particular persons 523 All Gods attributes are eternall ibid. God must bee praied and praised for all things temporall and eternall 524 Amen the diverse significations thereof and the efficacie thereof in the conclusion of our praiers ibid. Note that the folio's are mistaken at fol. 425. where you shall finde this marke 〈◊〉 FINIS