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
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-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
Et ecce mactant boves oves They fall to killing of sheepe and Esa 22. 12 13. slaying of oxen eating flesh and drinking wine eating and drinking for to morrow we shall dye They turne praying into playing fasting into feasting mourning into mumming almesdeeds into misdeeds As Xerxes being weary of all pleasures promised rewards to the inventers of new pleasures which being invented Ipse tamen non fuit contentus he himselfe was not satisfied was not content The word here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is derived from a towne in Pisidia called Selge built by the Lacedaemonians where all were temperate and not one drunkard the contrary whereof is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lasciousnesse such men sinne with an high hand All sin but these men sinne presumptuously they never pray with David Keepe thy servant from presumptuous sinnes Sinne in them raigneth Psal 19. not dwelleth contrary to the rule of the Apostle Let not sinne Rom. 6. 12. 2 Cor. 10. Ephes 4. 19. Esa 5. raigne in your mortall bodie that yee should obey it in the lusts thereof they walke not after the spirit but after the flesh they commit sinne with greedinesse they draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sinne as it were with cartropes But man with man will not reason so the sonne with his Fathers the servant with his master the subject with his Prince will the servant be vile and unfaithfull because his master is courteous unto him Absit God forbid Here I must answer one slander or challenge of the Papists they call us Libertines as Howlet and others but they take upon them to iudge betwixt us and the Libertines as the Asse tooke upon him to judge between the Cuckow the Nightingale of all others the Asse might worst doe it and of all others they may worst do it seeing most of their doctrines tend to libertie proving all men to sinne by their pardons and indulgences saying that holy water doth take away sinne that the signe of the Crosse driveth away the Divell calling with Alexander whordome adulterie incest Peccadilla little sinnes excusing the Popes theft as the theft of Israel his drunkennesse as that of Exod. 11. Gen. 9. Iudg. 15. Noah his murders as those of Samsons All their doctrines tend to libertie as their doctrine of ignorance to be the mother of devotion the doctrine of auricular confession which some learned call the Popes fishing net the doctrine of Purgatorie which Popish Doctrine tend to liberty others call the Popes milch Cow or the soule or panche of the Masse their doctrine of satisfactions that a man may be delivered out of hell by the satisfaction of others as was Traian the Pagane Emperor by the prayer and almes of Gregory What naturall man under heaven would not sinne if hee knew that the Pope could give him pardon that hee could free him from hell and purgatory So that truly if I were not a Protestant I would be a Papist if I respected the pleasure of the flesh THE NINTH SERMON VERS IV. And deny God the onely Lord and our Lord Iesus God is denyed many wayes SAint Iude having described the wicked by their hypocrisie that They creepe into the Church and by their Atheisme For hee saith they were Vngodly men and by their Licenciousnesse saying They turne the grace of God into wantonnesse hee commeth now fourthly to describe them by their Blasphemy That they deny God the onely Lord and our Lord Iesus Christ Now there bee many wayes to deny God as to deny his Attributes his Power Providence Iustice Mercy Truth Strength Eternity for these be the names of God and of the essence of God and these are denyed in the lives of most men Some deny his Power as the Proud do some his Providence as the Infidels some his Iustice as the Impenitent some his Mercy as the Desperate some his Truth as Lyars and perjured men some his Strength as the Fearefull doe Of the first sort was Pharaoh of the second sort were the Israelites of the third sort were the Libertines of the fourth was Caine the fifth were Zedeohia and the house of Saul of the last were the Iewes Pharaoh asked Who is God that Exod. 5. 2. Psal 78. 19 20 21. I should let Israel goe The Israelites distrusted God for bread Can God quoth they prepare a Table in the Wildernesse behold hee smote the Rock that the water gushed out the streames overflowed Can hee give bread also and prepare flesh for his people Of the third sort Outward professiō nothing without inward integritie were the Libertines Which turne the grace of God into wantonnesse Of the fourth sort was Cain my sin is greater than can bee forgiven Vpon whom Augustine replyeth finely Mentiris Cain mentiris in gutture major est Dei misericordia Cain thou lyest thou lyest in thy Iude 4. Gen. 4. Aug. throat greater is Gods Mercy than any mans Iniquity of the fifth was Zedechias who forswore himselfe and had therfore first his children slaine before his Face then his own eyes put out and lastly he was carryed away prisoner into Babylon of the last sort were the Iews who relyed upon the Egyptians Now who offendeth 2 Reg. 25. Esa 31. not in one of these or most of these But especially wee deny God in our lives in our deeds thus the Cretians deny him They professed they knew God but by workes they did deny him and were abominable disobedient and unto every Tit. 1. 16. Tit. 2. 3. 5. good worke reprobate and so are we wee have a shew of Godlinesse but wee have denyed the Power thereof I say of Professors as Paul said of the Iewes He is not a Iew that is one outward neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the Flesh but hee is a Iew that is Rom. 2. 28. 29. one within and the Circumcision of the heart is the true Circumcision So hee is not a Christian that is one outward but hee is a Christian that is one within that serveth God in Spirit and in Truth And if wee will serve God truly these Divels must be cast out of us that are in us and wee must say unto them as Christ said to Peter Come behinde me Sathan videl the Divels of Avarice Pride Envie Malice c. Which have filled our hearts Mat. 16. 23 as they filled the heart of Andnias The profession of God is knowne by the fruits of it as fire is discerned by the smoke that commeth out of the Chimney as life is discerned by the motion of Man On the contrary if a man would perswade us Act. 5. 3. that there is fire where as there is no heat or that there were life in a carcasse that never moved wee would not beleeve him so beleeve not him that speaketh of God and liveth not in God This is an Axiom in Divinitie that all Adulterers Swearers Theeves Vsurers deny God
chiefe commander one chiefe Iudge of a Province one governour of all in the Ship one master in an house in an army be it never so great the Ensigne of one is specially regarded and attended on In the body of Man though the Lims and parts thereof be many yet they all obey one head Secondly most fit for cutting off seditions and rebellions and therefore the Romanes in all their greatest dangers had recourse unto this Tanquam ad anchoram sacram as to their shot-anchor as to their best and last refuge as Livie witnesseth for when Hannibal pressed the Romanes Ad Dictatorem dicendum Remedium jam diu desideratum Civitas confugit The City went to the pronouncing of a Dictator which was the remedy they long expected because as in another place he writeth Dictatoris edictum pro numine semper observatum est the proclamation of the Dictator was esteemed to be the voyce of God Thirdly The government of one doth seeme to resemble most lively the image of Gods Power and Majestie For as in the Firmament the Sunne Moone and Starres doe as it were represent some image of the glory of the eternall Majestie So the rule of Monarchs in their severall Kingdomes upon the earth doe call to our considerations the government and rule of the Almighty But whether the government of one or many be best I dare not define but this I say that it is a most singular token of the mighty Power and Providence of God that so many severall Nations over the face of the World are upholden and maintained by so many severall sorts of government that Quemadmodum non nisi in aequali temperatura elementa inter se cohaerent Ita hae Regiones sua quadam in aequalitate optimè continentur As in bodily essences the foure Elements doe cleaue together by unequall temperatures as it were by a certaine inequality all the several Countries are holden together Nay which of all these governments is the best Otiosum est disputare it is a very idle thing to dispute but most yeeld to this that a Monarchy is the most perfect and the blessing of God seene in that chiefly Perme Reges regnant By me Kings raigne Noble men beare rule saith Wisedome He therefore that resisteth Resisteth not man but God also True it is that man was made to rule not to serve he was Rebellion brings destructiō to Rebels themselves made to rule over fowles fishes cattell but not men At the first men were pecorum pastores potius quà m Reges hominum feeders of cattell than rulers over men that we might discerne the order of creation from the merit of sinne So we reade not of any servant Gen. 1. 20. Gen. 9. Gen. 3. before Cham saith Augustine For as sinne brought in the first death the first sorow the first nakednesse the first flood So it brought in the first service If man had not sinned Moses had not needed in the kingdome nor Aaron in the Church the one to rule the bodies the other the soules of men Rebellion of all sins is unnaturall for what can be more unnaturall then the child to rebell against the father the wife against the husband the servant against the Master and no lesse unnaturall is it for the subject to rebell against his Soveraigne Rebellion God never prospered hereupon saith Salomon My sonne feare God and the King and keepe no companie with the seditious for their destruction shall Pro. 24. 21 22. arise suddenly c. The seditious Israelites were destroyed somtime with fire from Heaven sometime with fiery serpents somtime by Numb 21. the earth For the earth hath opened and swallowed them quicke to Hell Seditious Miriam was strooken with leprosy seditious Absalon Numb 12. was hanged by the haire of the head on an oke as one spewed out of heaven and vomited out of the earth seditious Achitophel for want of an hangman a convenient servitour for such a Rebell went and hanged himselfe seditious Sheba was arrested by a woman Sam. 20. 22. who cut off his head and sent it to Ioab seditious Zimri burnt himselfe in the kings house which he had set on fire Hereupon 1. Reg. 16. 9. said Iezabel Had Zimri peace that slew his Master seditious Shallum 2 Reg. 15. 16. perished in Samaria being slaine by Menahem the sonne of Gadi Never Rebell went unpunished For though God oftentimes doth prosper just and lawfull enemies which be no subjects against forraine enemies yet did he never prosper Rebels who have taken armes against their Prince were they never so great in authority or many in number In Genesis we reade that five kings with their armies could not prevaile against Chodorlaomer unto whom they Gen. 14. promised loyalty and obedience but they were all overthrown and taken prisoners by him but Abraham with his family kinsfolkes an handfull of men in respect owing no subjection to Chedorlaomer overthrew him and his hoast in battell Thus God prospereth in battell some few against many thousands but he never prospered Rebels against their owne Prince were they never so great or noble so stout so politick but alwayes they were overthrowne and came to most shamefull ends And to instance but upon a few One Brennus captaine of the Gaules besieging Ephesus had the City betraied into his hands by a treacherous woman for the greedy desire of a Iewell that a Captaine wore but when she had plaied this tteasonable part he overwhelmed her with gold A certaine traytour offred Fabritius the Romane to poison his enemy Pyrrhus but worthy Fabritius sent God hath confounded Rebels in all ages the traytour bound to Pyrrhus who was enemy to the Romane Empire In Anno 1381. in Rich the 2. his tyme sixty thousand rebelled whose Captaines were Wat Tiler Iack Strawe but they were overthrowne and brought to nought In Anno 1275. Lewellin prince of Wales rebelled against Edward the first but he prospered not but was overthrowne and his head strooken off and set on London bridge In the raigne of Henry the 4. divers noble men and kings rebelled and came every one of them to a miserable end The persidious and treacherous part of Bannister servant to the Duke of Buckingham is most odious the Duke had brought him up of nought but fleeing from the face of usurping Richard to Bannister for succour this wicked man for hope of one thousand pounds betrayed his Master the Duke but never had one penny For said usurping Richard he that will betray so good a Master will betray any other and in his old age the wretch was accused of Murther In the raigne of Queene Elizabeth were many treasons conspired but God ever delivered his worthy Servant but executed his just judgements upon those trayterous conspirators All men know the miserable ends of the Earles of Northumberland and Westmerland the one beheaded at Yorke the other fled the land and left his house to destruction Many of
fault betweene him and thee if he heare thee thou hast wonne thy brother If parents were as carefull to winne the soules of their children as they are to save their bodies and masters to do the same to their servants by instructing their family God should have more glory and they more comfort but to complaine of this Vbi incipiam aut ubi desinaem Where should I beginne and where should I make an end All the foundations of the earth are out of course most men have no conscience of them that be under them and an heauy judgement remaineth for them their judgement is just and their damnation sleepeth not Paul would not 2 Pet. 2. have the husband to leave the wife nor the wife the husband for that the one may save the soule of the other for marke his words For what knowest thou ô wife whether thou shalt save thy husband 1 Cor. 7. 16. or what knowest thou ô man whether thou shalt save thy wife Even so what knowest thou ô Father whether thou shalt save thy child And what knowest thou ô master whether thou shalt save thy servant doe thou thy duty leave the successe to God For neither is hee that planteth any thing nor he that watereth but God 1 Cor. 3. 7. that giveth the increase So the Minister is said to save men Take heed saith Paul to Timothy to thy selfe and to thy doctrine and continue 1 Tim. 4. 16. therein for in so doing thou shalt save thy selfe and them that heare thee And yet to speake strictly and properly there is no Saviour but God for there is salvation in no other neither is there any Act. 4. 12. other name given unto men whereby they shall bee saved that is no other cause or meane Yet it is said that grace saveth The grace Tit. 2. 11. of God bringeth salvation to all men And that the Word saveth For it pleaseth God by the foolishnesse of preaching to save them Many coÌ„curre in the worke of Salvation that beleeve And that faith saveth By grace are yee saved through faith And that the Sacraments save us so saith Saint Pâ—ter The figure that now saveth us even Baptisme c. 1 Cor. 1. 21. Ephes 2. 8. 1 Pet. 3. 21. And that Ministers save us so said Paul afore Agrippa that God had appeared unto him for this purpose To open the eyes of the Gentiles that they may returne from darkenesse to light from the power Act. 26. 18. of Satan unto God meaning that they might bee saved and that God saveth us Ego sum ego sum praeter me non est Salvator I am Esa 42. I am and besides mee there is no Saviour that Christ saveth us for the Apostle saith That hee is the Saviour of all men but especially 1 Tim. 4. 10. of them that beleeve That the Holy Ghost saveth us and all this is true in a godly sense grace saveth as the origen the roote of all 1 Iohn 5. the Word as a meanes under God faith as the instrument Sacraments as helpes and leaders to Heaven Ministers as Legates from God God as the efficient cause Christ as the materiall Iohn 3. 16. 1 Iohn 3. 2. 1 Cor. 6. 11. the Holy Ghost as the applying cause And by the way note that if the Minister under God saveth men how then dare some say that they doe no good Doe they no good that save mens soules Yes their lips feed many The Prov. 10 11 20 21. mouth of a righteous man is a well of life the tongue of a just man is as fined silver the lippes of the righteous doe feed many But many thinke that the Preacher doth no good they thinke that they can goe to heaven without a guide they thinke themselves wise and to see into all duties as farre as the Minister Well it may be that they are wise in some respect yet as the little eye of the Eagle can see from the height of Heaven and the great eye of an Owle cannot see the Sunne so great men and old men may oversee that which base men and poore men may see being learned in the Word Hereupon said Elihu Surely there is a spirit in man but Iob 32. 8 9. the inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding Great men are not alway wise neither do the Ancient alway understand judgement David said I have had more understanding than all my teachers Psal 119. 99 100. for thy testimonies are my meditation I understand more than the ancient because I keepe thy precepts As Polypheme had but one eye so these Cyclopeans see but with one eye they see but the world they see not Heaven Oh how long shall wee charme these Psal 55. Mat. 7. deafe Adders How long shall wee give holy things to dogges and cast pearles to swine How long shall wee play on Orpheus harpe to these Asses How long shall wee sow seed in this barraine ground We pray to bee delivered from these unreasonable 2 Thess 3. 2. and evill men Shall Titius Sabinus his dogge bring meate to the mouth of his dead Master and hold up his head in Tyber from sinking because sometime hee gave him a crust of bread And shall not the people love the Pastour that giveth theÌ„ the Bread of Heaven and saves their soules Shall dogges be kinder than men Or is there no good to bee done to a Parish but bodily The saving use should bee made of the Word good Christ fedde foure or five thousand with five barly loaves and two fishes but we reade not that hee did it above twice and that in necessity But hee bestowed three whole yeeres in preaching to them the greatest good that hee did in his life was in Iohn 6. Mat. 14. Mat. 5. Mat. 13. Luke 24. Luke 10. Mat. 12. Act. 10. 38. teaching them In the Mount In the Ship In the Temple In their Houses In the Fields Yea in all places for he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the Divell These men therefore that say that wee doe no good have lost their senses and their soules also For the living soule as touching the naturall life hath foure powers and foure touching the spirituall life that is Appetitive Retentive Digestive Expulsive It must desire the Word Hereupon saith S. Peter As new borne babes desire the sincere milke of the Word so did David I will saith 1 Pet. 2. 2. he go to the Altar of God even unto the God of my joy and gladnes c. 2. It must keepe for Blessed are they that heare the Word and Luk. 11. 28. keepe it So did the Corinths for which cause Paul did much praise them saying Now I commend you brethren that yee remember all my 1 Cor. 11. 2. things and keepe the ordinances as I delivered them to you 3. It must digest it into good manners and to this purpose
to bee seeing it hath the holy Ghost for the Author 2 The penman or writer was Iude or Iudas and of this name our Saviour had two disciples The one called Iudas Iscariot Who for thirty peeces of silver betraied basely sold his Lord and Master Servus Dominum discipulus magistrum homo Deum creatura Mat. 26. creatorem vendidit The servant betraid sold most basely sold his Lord. The disciple his Master man God the creature the Creator Infoelix mercator Iudas O unhappy Merchant Iudas The other called Iudas the son of Alphaeas called also Thaddeus Labbeus who was brother to Iames cosin to the Lord Iesus in the flesh The occasion of which name with the reason therof is set down in the 29. of Gen. the 35 V. For when Leah had borne Iudg. 15. Act. 18. 28. cap. 6. 10. three sons to Iacob she conceived and bare a fourth Sonne saying Now will I praise and confesse the Lord and shee called his name Iudah This Iude was as rare and notable an Apostle to beat downe the Heretickes of that time as Sampson did the Philistines as Apollo did the Iewes as Stephen did the Libertines Cirenians as Paphuntius did the Councell of Nice in Ministers marriage Concerning the Argument of this Epistle it is a stirring The Argument and occasion or this Epistle them up to a Christian life to shew foorth the fruits of faith to ioyne with Words Workes with communication conversation with hearing keeping with profession practice For after planting must come growing after light walking Col. 1. Ephes 5. 9. 2 Pet. 1. Esa 2. 3. Iam. 1. 22. after faith workes after teaching obedience after a good profession some good practice Beside here in this Epistle hee inveigheth sharpely against carnall profession and grosse abusing of Christian Religion And also he admonisheth them to beware of imposters seducers false teachers cunning deceivers which were craftily crept in amongst them drawing men from purity in Religion to impurity of the flesh Whom the Apostle lively painteth out in their severall colours and against whom hee denounceth many Iudgements of God The occasion of writing this Epistle was this It is affirmed by the most learned of all times and agreed upon by the best writers that this Apostle Iude outlived many yea most of the Apostles continuing and preaching in Mesopotomia Pontus Persis and other parts of the world till the Reigne of Domitian the Emperour in whose reigne Iniquity reigned Impiety abounded corruption of manners and dissolution in life raged in every place for many there were that were Wantons in manners and heretikes in opinion against whom hee did lift up his voyce like a trumpet So that this Epistle is notable and written for our learning howsoever some deny this Epistle to bee Cannonicall as Cardinall Cajetane who Esa 58. 1. Rom. 15. 4. calleth it Aprocriphall Which I note the rather to meete with Campian and Reighnolds who say that wee Protestants reject the Scriptures that wee leave no ground for a Christian to rest his Faith on because Luther doubted of Iames his Epistle and wee of the Apocripha But did not Dionisius Alexandrinus say that most of his predecessors reiected the Apocalips Did not the Councell of Laodicia leave it out of the Canon Did not Eumilâ—us Africanus deny the bookes of Esra Iob Paralipomenon Did not Ierome call the history of Davids Marriage a Poeticall fiction an unseemely iest Did not Cardinall Caietane a Piller of the Church a Peere of the Court of Rome accuse the Epistle to the Hebrewes to containe too weake grounds to prove Christs divinitie and yet left they ground for our faith to rest on So that there was no cause for Campian and Reighnolds to pearch on their rowses to clap their wings to crow so lowd to whet their dogges eloquence against us Some Scriptures have beene doubted of of some Churches as the second Epistle of Saint Peter the second and third of Saint John and some have beene reiected of all Churches As the Epistle of Barnabas The Acts of Peter The booke of the Pastor The Gospel of Nicodemus and Thaddaeus c. God hath kept the Scriptures Of the parts the Epistle The person writing it God hath kept the Scriptures in all ages so much as is necessary for our salvation At the giving of the Law it was reserved in tables of stone After the giving of the Law the writings of the Prophets were nailed to the doore of the Temple and reserved in the Lords treasury Before the captivity the Septuagint turned them into Greeke and Ptolomaeus Exod. 34. Heb. 2. the King kept them After the captivitie Ezra gathered all into one volume in the dayes of Artaxerxes and the Church have kept them as Aarons Rod and the pot of Manna and as the two Tables were kept in the Arke c. In the primative Church the Gospell of Mathew was kept in Iewry the Gospell of Marke at Alexandria that of Luke at Antioch that of Iohn and the Apocalips at Ephesus Nam triplex est munus Ecclesiae the Churches office is threefold Sacros libros servare instar testis eos promulgare instar proeconis eos ab aliis discernere to keepe these sacred bookes as a witnesse to promulgate them as a Preacher and to discerne them from other bookes whatsoever And thus the Church hath kept this Epistle of Iude unto this day Fremat licet Câ—jetanus All Tyrants have raged against the Scripture Antiochus for his hatred of the Scriptures is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he beheaded them that had the Bible Dioclesian commanded the bookes of the Scripture to be burnt yet by the wonderfull providence of God they are preserved And thus much being spoken concerning the Author the Penman the Occasion and Argument of this Epistle I will now come unto the Epistle it selfe the which may be divided into five parts First The title or superscription Secondly The Exordium Thirdly A proposition Fourthly Exhortations and dehortations Fiftly The conclusion or the shutting up of the Epistle with a prayer to God But first to begin with the title or superscription and therein observe with me three things First The person writing Secondly The persons written unto Thirdly The Salutation Now the person writing is described three wayes First by his name Iude. Secondly By his calling a servant of Christ Thirdly By his kindred The brother of Iames. But first the person writing is described by his name and that was Iude or Iudas not Iudas Iscariot the traytor but Iudas the brother of Iames and Cousin to the Lord Iesus Christ in the flesh yet both were the Apostles of Christ but this man good and godly that wicked and ungodly For it is nor the name or The Writer by his name and calling described office that makes a good man but the Grace and Mercie of God If outward titles could make good men Iudas Iscariot had beene as good as
this Apostle Nay better for Iudas Iscariot was Christs steward his pursebearer disburser of all things for Christ and his company and yet a theefe a traytor a devill Non omnes filii Sanctorum qui loca sancta tenent They are not all the sonnes of Saints nor Saints themselves which hold the places of Saints God oftentimes bestoweth upon wicked men lofty titles and high places partly to their greater condemnation the mighty shall be mightily tormented and partly for the punishment of ungratefull people as Saul over the Israelites Againe in that Iude was not ashamed of his name but in the very first inscription of this Epistle setteth downe his name wee which are the Ministers of God are taught not to be ashamed of our calling though scornefully by scorners of Religion wee are termed Priests The Iewes though they mocked Christ when bowing their knees they cryed Haile King of the Iewes against their wils they honoured him for indeed he was King of the Iewes and of the Gentiles So these gracelesse contemners of our glorious calling when they thinke to vilifie us by calling us Priests against their wils they magnifie us their reproachfull scoffes should not daunt us nor discourage us in our calling for he that hath called us and sent us will bee with us as hee was with Moses and as he was with Ieremie Be not affraid Exod. 3. 12. Ier. 1. 8. of their faces I will be with thee Secondly the person writing is described by his calling for he calleth himselfe Servum Dei The servant of God Of servants there bee three sorts Some are servants by slavish and voluntary subjection these the Apostle calls The servants of sinne Qui facit peccatum servus est peccati He which Iohn 8. 34. Rom. 6. 16. committeth sinne is the servant of sinne and they which serve sinne Duram serviunt servitutem serve an hard service for the wages of sinne is Death Secondly There be servants by condition which are either born such by nature or taken captives in Warre or bought with money To these servants Saint Paul speaketh thus Servants obey those which are your Masters according to the flesh with feare and Ephes 6. 5 6. August de Civu Dei lib. 19. Cap. 15. trembling and with simplicitie of heart not with eye-service as men-pleasers but as the servants of Christ Nomen istud culpâ mervit non natura This name of servant not nature but sinne deserved For the name of servant was never heard of till Noah cursed Canaan the sonne of Cham Who discovered his fathers nakednesse Cursed be Canaan a servant of servants shall he bee Gen. 9. 25. Thirdly Servants by Office Calling and Profession and these are of two sorts for men are either the servants of God generally or particularly Generally they are Gods servants which acknowledge Servants of God divors kinds of them To be Gods servant the greatest honour him for their Lord and doe that service which is due to him Hi veri servi Dei These are the true servants of the true God and such servants must wee bee if wee will be saved Particularly they are the servants of God who in some severall calling doe service to God as Magistrates and Ministers these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a speciall service be the servants of God Now Iude professeth himselfe a servant of Iesus Christ First by condition because by Christ hee was redeemed and delivered from the slavery of Sinne and tyranny of Satan Secondly by Office and calling also hee was the servant of Iesus Christ not onely in his generall calling as hee was a Christian but also in his particular as he was an Apostle And note that Saint Iude doth not call himselfe a governor a or teacher or an Apostle but the servant of Iesus Christ as Paul doth and as Iames and Peter did For this is the best title above the title of Lords Dukes Phil. 1. 1. Iam. 1. 1. 1 Pet. 1. 2. Esa 40. 23. Kings Emperours who perish For God bringeth the Princes to nothing and maketh the Iudges of the Earth as Vanitie It is more to bee the servant of Iesus Christ than to be the greatest Prince Potentate or Personage in the World for if the servants of Iesus Christ though never so poore base and beggerly yet happy and blessed if not the servants of Iesus Christ though never so rich noble and great yet miserable and wretched This knew Paul and therefore trode all his titles under his feet as Phil. 3. 5 6. dung so that he might know Christ and serve him This service lasteth for ever as a colour set on with oyle And the Lord Iesus as Man is called a servant as God he was Lord of men and Angels for he was the man Iesus and the Lord Iesus Gods service is perfect 1 Cor. 8. freedome Gods servants on Earth are freemen in Heaven Citizen with the Saints Free Denizens of the celestiall Ierusalem their Ephes 2. 19. Rom. 6. 22. fruit is in holinesse and their end everlasting life What honour should wee desire but this to bee the servants of God Godlinesse 1 Tim. 1 6. is great gaine and to serve God hath promise both of this life and the life to come If the service of Salomon was so good a service That they were counted happy that stood before him 1. Chro. 12. What is the service of God and how happy are his servants Many thinke themselves much graced and honoured if they can get into some Noblemans service and weare his Livery as did Doeg and the servants of Saul how much more honour is it to 1 Sam. 22. bee Gods servant Who will make us of servants Sonnes heires Ephes 5 6. and coheires with Christ The Israelites found Gods service to be the best service 2 Chron. 12. 8. Cyrus at the conquest of Babylon offered largely to them that would serve him but God offereth more largely Theodosius held it more noble to be membrum Ecclesiae quam caput imperii a member of the Church than the head of the Empire So we may resolve that it is better to be a servant of God than Lord of all the World For while wee serve him all other creatures in earth and in heaven serve God needs not our service wee need his Lordship us But if we will be Gods servants we must addict our selves wholy to his service and to serve God in earth as the Angels doe in heaven for so wee pray Thy Will be done in earth as it is in heaven And for this end were wee created therefore saith the Mat. 6. 10. Apostle Wee are the workemanship of God created in Christ Iesus unto good workes And what better worke than to serve the Lord Iesus Nay the service of God is the end of our Redemption For he Luke 1. 74. hath delivered us from the hands of our enemies that wee should serve him without feare in holinesse
and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Nay the service of God is the end of our glorification Therefore the Apostle would have us to walke worthy our God who hath 1 Thess 2. 12. called us unto his Kingdome of glory And therefore unlesse wee esteeme vilely of our Creation Redemption and Glorification wee must become Gods servants and serve him in feare and rejoyce Psal 2. 11. before him with trembling Austine Observeth God was never called Lord until he had placed Adam in Paradise before he was called God simply but now the Lord God because hee was not so much a Lord to Angels and other creatures as unto man to teach him that hee must live under Gods lordship and serve him For though Adam was lord of the creatures and the creatures must serve him yet Adam had a Lord whom he must serve And yet God needeth not our service and therefore saith David O my soule thou hast said unto Psal 16. 2. Psal 50. 10 11. the Lord my well doing extendeth not to thee all the beasts of the Forrests are his and the beasts on a thousand Mountaines hee knowes all the fowles on the Mountaines and wilde beasts of the Fields are his Who saith the Apostle hath knowne the minde of the Lord or Who was his Counsellor or Who hath given unto him first and hee shall bee recompenced Rom. 11. 35 36. But howsoever hee standeth not in need of our service wee stand in need of his Lordship and protection that wee may bee safe under his Wings that wee feare not the feare of the Psal 91. night nor the arrow that flyeth by day nor the pestilence that walketh in the darke nor the plague that destroyeth at noone-day And doe wee stand in need of his Lordship Let us understand our wants and performe our service and duty to the Lord For thus hee reasoneth by the Prophet The Sonne honoureth his Father the Servant Mal. 1. 5. his Master If I bee your Father where is my honour If your Master where is my feare Let not God say of us as of the Israelites I have nourished and brought up children but they have rebelled against mee Ravenna saith thus A move radium a Sole non lucet rivulum Esa 1. 2 3. a fonte arescit a radice ramum exiccatur a corpore membrum putrescit obedientiam a Christiano perit Take away the beame from the Sunne and it shineth not the river from the Fountaine and it dryeth up the bough from the Roote and it withereth the member from the Body and it rotteth and obedience from a Christian and hee perisheth Consider what Adam lost by his evill service he fell from purity Adams losse for his evill service If we wil serve God the creatures shall serve us to corruption from eternitie to mortalitie from Angels to men from heaven to hell had not the promised seed come in Hee was expelled out of Paradise as a Rebell an Outlaw and a shaking Sword hanging to keepe him out Hee came out of Eden a pleasant garden to toyle among Nettles Bryers brambles like the men of Penuel Hee became a slave to the creatures Gen. 3. 15. Iudg. 9. the creatures rebels against him to this day Homo nascitur cum dolore man is borne with griefe Vivit cum labore he lives by labour Moritur cum moerore hee dyes with sorrow Quis mihi dabit fontem lachrymarum ut defleam hominis miserabilem ingressum culpabilem Innocentius progressum desolatum egressum Who shall give mee a fountaine of teares that I may bewaile mans miserable ingresse his culpable progresse and desolate egresse I know that God hath turned this curse into a blessing for Plus in Christo lacrati sumus quam perdidimus in Adamo wee have gained more in Christ than ever wee lost in Adam For if by the offence of one saith Saint Paul Death raigned through one much more shall they which Rom. 5. 17. 18. receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousnesse reigne in life through one that is Iesus Christ Likewise then as by the offence of one the fault came on all men to condemnation So by the justifying of one the benefit abounded toward all men to the justification of life Thus wee have gained more in Christ than wee lost by Adam Yet this is of mercy not of merit of favour not of duty Witnesse the Apostle saying But when the bountifulnesse and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared not by the workes of Tit. 3. 4 5. righteousnesse which wee had done but according to his mercie hee saved us by the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the holy Ghost Which he shined on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour But Augustine answereth this more fully and saith That Adams disobeying God lost his honour hee serving God all creatures served him hee disobeying God all disobeyed him The earth bringeth forth Weedes Thornes Venimous things The sea swallowes us up with flowes and stormes the ayre fighteth against us with Thunders Lightenings Tempests the heavens conspire against us with mortality of Pestilence the wilde beasts devoure us But to them that serve God God maketh his creatures serve them the earth to bring forth corne grasse fruits the ayre to be sweet the sea to bee calme the beasts to be helpefull Even so the Lions hurted not Daniel the Viper stung not Paul the Whale crushed not Ionas the Crowes Dan. 6. Act. 28. Iob. 2. 1. Reg. 19. Luke 16. Num. 21. fedde Elias the dogges licked Lazarus the Serpents of Sinai poisoned not Israel The Ecclesiasticall and tripartite historie tels us how the Crowes nourished Anthony an Hermit and Paulus Thaebeus how a Lionesse fedde Marcarius how an Hart brought Egidius meat into the Wildernesse how Helenus commanded a wilde Asse to carry his burthen I passe over that of Linus Romulus and Rhemus nourished of a shee-Woolfe and God must bee served sinne brought in the first service that of Plutarch of the Elephant that loved a Maid of Etholia and that of Plinie of a Panther that ledde a man out of the desart into a plaine way and that of Lucian of a Dolphin that carried Arion If wee serve God The stones in the streete shall bee in league with us and the beasts of the field shall bee at peace with us Ieb 5. 23. that is all creatures shall serve us Let us then addict our selves wholy unto his service not serving any other Master but him not the World not the Flesh not the Divell not Antichrist Not the World Ne illecti lest wee are allured with vaine pleasures and the lying vanities thereof not of the Flesh Ne infecti lest stayned polluted defiled therewith not the Divell Ne interfecti lest devoured and destroyed by him not Antichrist Ne decepti lest seduced and misled by him It is a base service to serve the
Ahab to Ramoth-Gilead how the Corinthians drew the yoke with infidels how the 2 Chro. 19. 3. 2 Cor. 6. 14. Esa 31. 13. Iewes strengthened themselves with the Aegyptians I wish the like were not to have been found among Protestants Wee have sate with Psal 26. 4. vaine persons and kept company with dissemblers Servants if they be threatned tremble Wee if Gods Prophets reprove us are the prouder Wee say of Gods Prophets as the Iewes did of Ieremy Come let us imagine some device against Ieremy For the Law shall not perish from the Priests nor Counsell from the Wise nor the Word from the Ier. 18. 18. Prophets Come let us smite him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words And yet wee owe a thousand times more to God than servants to their Masters God doth not onely feede us and cloath us as Masters doe their servants but hee giveth us all things besides Hee ladeth us dayly with benefits Servants by Psal 68. 19. their travell profit their Masters wee profit God nothing If thou bee righteous what givest thou unto him or what receiveth he at thy hands Servants receive small wages God to us hath given Iob 35. 7. Rom. 8. 32. his Sonne and with him all things his face was buffeted his checks nipped his eyes blinded his hands nailed his side lanched with a speare Hee was as water powred out all his bones were out of joint his heart like Wax molten within the middest of his bowels his strength was Psal 22. 14 15. dryed up like a pot-sheard his tongue did cleave to his jawes and hee was brought unto the dust of death Non ergo caput faciem oculos manus cor illi trademus ut illi serviamus Must we not therefore give him head face eyes hands and heart to serve him Wee must not give our members weapons of unrighteousnesse unto sinne What then All servants in Gods Church Wee must give our selves to God and our members of righteousnesse to serve God But alas wee serve not God he hath the least part of our service if hee hath any at all The Covetous serve Mammon the Malicious their Envie and Rancour the proud their Arrogancie the Gluttonous their Belly the Voluptuous their Pleasure Tot Dominos habemus quot peccata Wee have so many masters as wee have sinnes according to the Axiome of the Apostle Of whom soever a man is overcome even unto the same is hee in bondage Thou art a slave to thy malice thy ambition 2 Pet. 2. 19. thy belly Sed nemo potest duobus Dominis servire Non man can serve two masters Againe observe That this title Servus Dei the servant of God meeteth with the Manichoeans and Libertines who raile on all the Apostles for they call Paul Vas confractum a broken Vessell Peter abnegatorum Dei a denier of his Master Andrew Medicantem piscatorem a begging Fisherman Iohn Stolidum adolescentem a foolish young man Luke Ineptem medicum an unskilfull Phisitian Mathew Faeneratorem an Vsurer To conclude this point in that Saint Iude calleth himselfe a servant wee learne that wee are all but servants in Gods Church and therfore to make no Lawes to alter no decrees to change no ordinance to injoyne no orders but such as the Word of God alloweth and liketh of Moses the greatest Prophet that ever Hebr. 3. 5. rose or should rise in Israel yet but a servant David a rare Prophet the sweet singer of Israel a man after Gods owne heart yet he calleth himselfe a servant Thy servant Lord thy servant loe Psal 116. 16. I doe my selfe confesse c. Paul taken up to the third heaven taken into Paradise where hee heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secrets not to bee uttered honoured above all the Apostles yet but a servant What is the Rom. 1. 1. Pope then or what is his parentage that he may dispence with the Doctrine of the old and new Testament a vile man that was never further than Rome as far from Paradise as Heaven from Hel Abolebit eum Dominus for the Lord shall abolish him I confesse 2 Thess 2. 8. that Gregory matcheth the foure Oecumenicall Councels with the foure Gospels the Nicene Constantinople Ephesian and Chalcedon hee calleth them Lapidem quadrantem ex quo sanctae fidei Structura assurgit The foure corner stones upon which the building of the holy Faith doth rise But hee spake like a man for those Councels could make no orders but from the Lords The third thing to bee considered in this Apostle is his alliance and kindred he nameth himselfe the Brother of Iames. First Honoris gracia for honors sake to distinguish himself from Iudas Iscariot the sonne of Simon whom our Saviour calleth a Divell Have not I chosen you twelve and one of you is a Divell For John 6. 70. Iames was a piller in Gods Church he was Bonarges the sonne of Thunder hee was a chiefe man in the Councell of Ierusalem hee was Bishop of Ierusalem and Paul answereth before The alliance and kindred of the Apostle Iude. him hee was with Christ at his transfiguration hee was one of the three at his passion hee was the brother of the Lord that is a kinsman unto Christ for he was the son of Marie Cleophas Sister to the Virgin Mary and so Christ cousin germane called his Brother Mat. 17. Mat. 26. Gal. 1. after the manner of the Hebrewes Mar. 3. 32. Behold thy Mother and thy Brethren seeke for thee without and Mat. 13. 55. Is not this the Carpenters Sonne is not his Mother called Mary and his Brethren Iames and Ioses and Simon and Iudas This Iudas is elsewhere called Thaddeus and Labbeus but hee graceth himselfe by this that hee was the Brother of Iames a Mat. 10. Iohn 6. 70. Iohn 12. 6. Act. 1. 18. rare Apostle not Iudas the traytor whom Christ as yee heard before called a Divell whom Saint Iohn calleth a thiefe whom Peter calleth an hangman who burst asunder but the Brother of Iames the sonne of Alpheus who wrote the Canonicall Epistle for there were two Iameses one the sonne of Zebedie Brother to Iohn the other the sonne of Alpheus Brother to Iude. Secondly Hee calleth himselfe the Brother of Iames to win more credit not to his person but to his Doctrine that all men might know that this Epistle was penned not by Iudas the traytor but by Iude the Brother of Iames the just and therefore might more reverently receive it and more religiously regard it Nam dictum clari hominis facile admittitur For the saying of an excellent man is easily admitted these are the causes why he calleth himselfe the Brother of Iames. And observe with me here that first hee glorieth of his Profession that hee was the servant of Iesus Christ before hee maketh any mention of his alliance For no kindred Fatherhood or Motherhood can grace us
Satanam ut ipsi etiam suas agunt partes non per illos agit ut per truncos lapides sed ut per creaturas rationales qui sponte ruunt First God so worketh by the wicked and by Satan as that they also play their owne parts hee worketh not by them as by blockes or stones but as by reasonable creatures which runne headlong of their owne accord Secundò magnam esse differentiam inter opus Dei impiorum there is great difference betweene God Satan Men concurre in the same action but have different ends the worke of God and the worke of the wicked in respect of the end of their worke The Sunne draweth stench out of a dead carkase Non immittit he doth not send it in So God worketh by the wicked and yet so that his justice doth not justifie them nor their wickednesse contaminate him as it appeareth in Iobs example God Satan and the Chaldees concurre move Iob 1. worke yet is God cleare and they guilty Inspecto fine agendi considering the end of their worke God did it to trie Iob Satan to destroy Iob and the Chaldees to inrich themselves So saith S. Augustine of Christ Pater tradidit filium filius corpus Iudas magistrum In hac traditione cur Deus justus homo injustus nisi quod in re una quam fecerunt non est causa una ob quam fecerunt The Father delivered the Sonne the Son his body Iudas his master in this tradition or delivering why is God just and man unjust because that in that one thing which they did there was not one cause for the which they did it Deus in dilectione Christus in obedientia Iudas ab avaritia Iudaei ob invidiam God delivered him in love Christ delivered himselfe in obedience Iudas of covetousnesse the Iewes of envy Thus they all did one action but not to one end And yet true is the saying of Fulgentius Malos ad poenam non culpam praedestinari the wicked to be predestinate to punishment not to sinne non ad hoc quod malè operantur sed ad hoc quod justè patiuntur not to this that they worke evilly but to this end that they suffer justly For God ordaines no man to be evil though he hath ordained the evill unto punishmēt for should God ordaine men unto sin then should God be the Author of sin he ordaines indeed the incitements and occasions of sin to try men withall he also orders sins committed and does limit them and in these regards is said as before to worke in them and to will them in which regards also they are in Scripture attributed unto him sometimes as 2 Sam. 12. 11 12. and 15. 16. But yet wee must not say as some do that God is the Author of sinne or predestinates men unto it Sed quia Dei mysteria non capimus corripimus because wee cannot conceive Gods mysteries wee will cavell and carpe at them Nunquid negandum quod verum est quia comprehendi non potest quod occultum est Is that to be damned which is true because it cannot be comprehended for that it is secret Eate hony but not too much hony so search Gods mysteries but not too far I say of the proud men of this age as Chrysostome said of the Hereticks called Anomei Hanc arborem Anomaeorum Paulus nec plantavit Apollo non rigavit this tree of the Anomaei neither hath Paul planted nor Apollo watered nor God increased but curiosity planted it pride watered it and ambition increased it Lipsius Lipsius de constantia pag. 36. useth all these similitudes A man rideth upon a lame horse and stirs him the rider is the cause of the motion but the horse himselfe of the halting motion so God is the Author of every action but not of the evill of the action The like is in the striking All sinne from Saten or evill men none from God of a jarring and untuned Harpe the fingering is thine the jarring or discord is in the Harpe or instrument The earth giveth fatnesse and juyce to all kind of plants some of these plants yeeld pestilent and noysome fruits where is the fault in the nourishment of the ground or in the nature of the hearbe which by the native corruption decocteth the goodnes of the ground into venime and poyson the goodnes moisture is from the earth the venime from the hearbe the sounding from the hand the jarring from the instrument So the action is from God the evill in the action from the impure fountaine of thy owne heart I will conclude this point with the saying of the Learned Impossibile est Deum Confessie qui est lux justitia veritas sapientia bonitas vita causam esse tenebrarum peccati mendacii ignorantiae maliciae mortis sed horum omnium causa Satanas homines sunt It is impossible that God who is Light Iustice Truth Wisedome Goodnesse Life to bee the cause of Darkenesse Sinne Dissembling Ignorance Malice and Death but the Divell and Men are the cause of all these THE ELEVENTH SERMON VERS V. I will therefore put you in remembrance forasmuch as yee once knew this c. The often inculcating the same doctrine needfull WEE are now come unto the third part of this Epistle which containeth a confirmation of Iudes purpose by divers examples The first of the Israelites The second of the Angels The third of the Sodomites In the first he noteth their Infidelitie In the second their Apostasie In the third their Adultery and Buggery The first were destroyed of God in the wildernesse The second fell from Heaven The third were burned and thus much for their sinnes and their punishments Now for the first he saith that they Knew it howbeit he will put them in remembrance saying they had forgotten it We may not thinke much to heare that which we have heard and known were our knowledge never so great like Salomons who had A large heart hee was filled with understanding as a floud his minde compassed the Earth hee filled it full of darke and grave sentences yet wee 1 Reg. 4. Ecclus 47. 14 15 may be remembred of it againe Paul was not ashamed to write The memorie must be often admonished one thing often For so hee saith to the Philippians It grieveth me not to write the same thing unto you viz. that which yee have often heard of me for unto you it is a sure thing and we are not ashamed to preach one thing often it leaveth a surer print and a deeper Phil. 3. 1. stampe in our minds doctrine delivered is as a nayle driven but doctrine repeated is as a nayle rivetted then it sticketh sure Such a Simile Salomon useth saying The words of the wise are like goods and like nayles fastened by the masters of the assemblies that is Eccles 12. 11. Ezech. 36. Ier. 23. Iohn 6. 27. Iohn 6. the Ministers
our pride is infinite But it is not so much in the rich as in the poore the poorest the basest are many times the proudest prettie is the parable of Iotham the best trees refused to be the King but the bramble affected it did sperare aspirare hope aspire as did the bastard Abimelech Iudg. 9. 15. Such a fine parable is also in the book of the Kings of the Thistle the parable runneth thus The thistle that is in Lebanon sent to the Cedar that is in Lebanō saying Give thy daughter to my sonne to wife The thistle 2 Reg. 14. 9. the begger is proud none worse The Cumane Asse jetteth up and downe with his long eares in a Lions skin Aesops Crow craketh in the feathers of other birds Among fowles the Peacocke for pride challength the soveraignty Hagar the kitchen maide will be proud Gen. 23. Mat. 20. insult over her mistrisse Sara The poore Sonnes of Zebede would sit at Christs right hand and at his left and they that Iob would not set over the dogges of his sheep yet were so proud as they contemned him None prouder then the basest and the meanest If they haue but a little mucke or a few cloddes to commend them a little land they looke aloft and a King must not be their Cousin It is said of them that liue under the North Pole that no plant groweth in Summer for the great heate there nor none in Winter for the extreme cold So no vertue can grow in our Climate not in rich for they are proud nor in the poore for they are prouder We all cōplaine of the envy the quarrelling the strife the suites the troubles of this age but where is the roote of all these but pride Only by pride doth man make contention For where every man contendeth to have preeminence none wil give place to other there can Pro. 13. 10. be no peace We haue the heart of Caesar the stomake of Pompey the one could not indure an equal nor the other a superiour Quisque gerit regnum in pectore every man carryes a King within him When we follow a dead corps to be buried or walke among the graves we can condemne our vanity and insolency every man can be a preacher against pride and cry out Why should men be proud who are but earth and ashes a bubble a vapour a shadow whose breath is in his nostrilles to day a man to morow none to day a Prince to morow a dead carion Quid superbis cinis pulvis Why art thou Psal 39. 5 6. Eccles 10. 9. Mat. 23. 5. proud dust and ashes but wee forget all and like the Pharises love the chiefe places but it is certaine where pride is in the saddle God hateth pride and resisteth it shame is in the crooper for he that exalteth himselfe shal be brought low for glory is like a shadow if a man follow it it goeth from him if he goeth from it it followeth him Before destruction the heart of man is hautie proud these proud men please none not God for Prov. 18. 12. he resisteth them nor their betters for they envy them nor themselves 1 Pet. 5. 5. for they are not so proud as they would be Whom do they please then Certenly the Divell who of a beautifull Angell is made an uncleane ougly spirit humilitas autem hominem Angelo similem Aug. facit superbia Angelum daemonem reddit humility maketh a man like an Angell and pride maketh an Angell a Divell and therefore Paul would not have a Bishop to bee a young man lest he 1 Tim. 3. 6. being puft up fall into the condemnation of the Divell The which words may be taken either actively or passively actively lest the Divell condemne us or passively lest we by our pride be condemned of the Divell or with the Divell Many swell in pride but let them take heed they swell not as Aesops toade did who seeing the Oxe feeding by her envied him and swelled her selfe so big that she swelled her selfe out of her skinne she burst withall yea indeed the proud man is as he that transgresseth by wine he is as a drunkard without reason and sense Hab. 2. 5. whom God will punish and make a laughing stock to all the world for God opposeth himselfe against the proud and who then can stand for them Pride is one of the sinnes that God hateth he hateth 1 Pet. 5. 5. all sinnes but this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so saith Salomon These six things doth the Lord hate yea his soule abhorreth seven the hauty eyes a lying Pro. 6. 16. tongue c. See how he placeth pride in the fore-front in the vauntgarde like Vrias The sinne of this age is pride and the pride of this age is monstrous Christ set a little Child among his Apostles Mat. 18. but it had need be a sucking child 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an infant not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a child a boy for even children are proud like the saucie boyes of Bethel 2 Reg. 2. 23. Esa 3. 5. Children presume against the ancient and the vile against the honorable servants ride and masters go on foot Paul prophecied of this age Eccles 10 6. Know saith he that in the last dayes shall come perillous times men shal be lovers of themselves covetous boasters proud c. 2 Tim. 3. 1 2 There is a pride in the Church and Commonwealth hic ubique here every where In the Church all would be Apostles and Prophets and teachers and every man as good as his fellow as Paul 1 Cor. 12. said of the Corinthians docent antequam discunt they teach before they have learned quoth a father of that age so is it now and all Hier. the troubles of the Church come from pride the people thinke they have as much knowledge as the Pastor Arrius the hereticke who sprang up An. Dom. 358. to maintaine his heresy that no sinne were it never so great should be reputed to him that had faith said that God revealed that to him which he concealed from the Apostles Montanus called himselfe Paracletum the Holy Ghost and his two trulles Prisca and Maximilla he named Prophetesses Arrius fell into his heresy for that he could not be Pride the cause of heresy in the Church and disorder in the commonwealth a Bishop The Anomaei said that they knew God as he knew himselfe most heresies have come from pride Si ergo vana gloria te titillaverit dic ei ut Christus Magdalenae Noli me tangere nondum ascendi ad Patrem if therefore pride or vaine glory shall tickle thee say unto it as Christ did unto Magdalen Touch me not I have not yet ascended to my Father Chrysost Bern. In the Commonwealth there is pride for the foot striveth to equall the head the servant would be as the Master the
of the law as judgement and mercie that they make cleane the out-side of the cup and platter but inwardly are full of briberie and excesse One saith that hypocrisie is the Greg. l. 8. moral cloaking of a secret vice under the shew of vertue and that the life of an hypocrite is nothing else but Quaedam visiâ— phantasmatis the shew of an imaginary matter which appeares some thing and is nothing and compares the hypocrite to Simon of Cyrene that bare Christs Crosse but dyed not with Christ so every hypocrite professeth to live to Christ but will not dye to sinne and the world and Saint Chrysostome likens the hypocrite to Herod Super Mat. 12. that promised devotion and performed persecution he saith that a sincere man is like to a faire woman that needs no external ornaments but hath naturall beauty but the hypocrite is like Hom. 57. a filthy deformed harlot which useth many meretricious colourings that cannot cover her filthinesse but the neerer any drawes vnto her the more hee mislikes her And againe hee saith that an hypocrite is like a Woolfe clothed in a sheeps skin Super Mat. 7. but that he is found out by his voyce and by his doing for the sheepe bleats and lookes toward the earth and eateth grasse which is a signe of humility but the Woolfe howles and looks towards heaven which is a signe of pride and cruelty the hypocrite hath Iacobs voyce but the hands of Esau that is hee talketh religiously and zealously but hee walkes impiously and prophanely the hypocrite is like the statues of Mercury that were wont to be set in high wayes to direct travellers to some Citie or Towne but did not travell nor move themselves the Hypocrisie hath many woes denounced against it hypocrite is like the Stage-player that when he cried O heaven he pointed with his finger to the earth when he cryed O earth hee pointed with his finger to Heaven and therefore the wise Polemon gave him no reward being Iudge of the Actors saying Hic manu Solaecismum fecit he hath spoken false Language and committed an errour with his hand And to conclude the hypocrite is like a deafe and hollow Nut which hath no kernell within but is wasted with the worme and fit for nothing but the fire Heereupon it came to passe that Christ dealt not so hardly with any sinners no not with Atheists that denied the Resurrection and Gods power nor with Temporizers that are alwayes of the same Religion that the company is that can blow hot and cold with one breath as with hypocrites for having to deale with Sadduces he shaketh them off as damned creatures as vessels of destruction children of wrath whose judgement was just and their damnation slept not hee telleth them that they erred Ye erre saith hee not knowing the Scriptures neither Mat. 22. 29. the power of God but when hee hath to doe with Pharisees with Hypocrites he doubleth and redoubleth and tripleth and multiplieth woes and curses hee thundereth like Iames and Iohn his zeale stayeth not with a little O woe to you Scribes and Pharisees yee Hypocrites and so the second the third the fourth the fift the sixt time Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees yee Hypocrites as though all the woes and curses in this life and in the life to come were not ynough for them And it is not to bee forgotten that God calleth it blasphemie to speake one thing and to doe another with man it is hypocrisie but to doe so with God it is blasphemy the sinne increaseth as the dignity of the person increaseth as for example speake a word against a common person and hee hath but his action of the Case against thee speake against a noble man it is Scandalum Magnatum against the Prince it is death against God it is damnation of body and soule double and dissemble with men it is hypocrisie halt with God counterfeit with him it is blasphemy Therefore saith Christ to the Church of Smyrna I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Apoc. 2. 19. Iewes and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan And it is further to be observed that Christ speaketh of hypocrites as if Hell were onely prepared for them for intreating of the evill servant that said in his heart My master will defer his Mat. 24. 51. comming he saith that he will cut that servant in pieces and give him his portion with hypocrites there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth And Christ our Saviour asketh them how they shall escape Hell O yee Serpents and generation of Vipers how shall yee escape Mat. 23. 33. the damnation to come And to shew the certainty of their damnation besides this interrogation how shall yee escape the damnation to come As if he should say It cannot bee but yee must Hypocrites make a shew of Religion being irreligious be damned For the interrogation implieth an affirmation He saith of the wicked that They shall have their portion with Hypocrites to shew that the condemnation of hypocrites is most surely sealed And this aggravated the sinne of Corazin and Bethsaida and Mat. 24. 51. Capernaum that they pretended Religion but in painted boxes they did hide deadly poysons in beautifull sepulchers rotten bones and under Iezabels painted face a whores behaviour Woe therfore to thee Corazin woe to thee Bethsaida for if so be the miracles Mat. 11. 21 23. that had beene done in thee had beene done in Tyre and Sidon they bad repented long agoe in sackloth and ashes And thou Capernaum which art lifted up on high shalt be brought dowue to hell And verily of all sinners the hypocrite is the worst he is ovis habitis vulpis actu crudelitatelupus Eern. a sheep in shew a fox in deed and a wolfe in cruelty for an hypocrite hath vulpem in cerebro a Fox in his braine milvum in manu a kyte in his hand lupum in corde and a woolfe in his heart a fox in his braine subtill and crafty to insnare hee hath a kyte in his fist to hold fast and when hee hath caught hold he hath a wolfe in his heart to devoure and therefore saith our Saviour Christ Beware of false prophets which come to Mat. 7. 16. you in sheeps cloathing but inwardly they are ravening woolves beware of them they are like Swannes that have white feathers black flesh and one thinkes the Swanne was forbidden to be eaten of the Iewes to shew that God abhorres all hypocrisie But in that he compareth hypocrites to clouds that have no raine in them to trees that have no fruite to starres that have no light and some others doe compare them to the raine-bow that hath many colours and yet never a colour to broken glasses that have many faces and yet never a face to Copper that resembleth gold and is nothing lesse We have to note that none make greater shewes of
the beginning and abode not in the truth but now they abound like Bees in Hibla like Serpents in Iohn 8. 44. Sinai like lice in Aegypt Cornelius Agrippa derided Moses calling him a coozener and said that the sea dried not up but that hee marked the tides and course of the Moone that hee drew no water out of the rocke but marked the haunts of the wild beasts The Philosophers called Christ a Magician that hee did all by Necromancie The Libertines contemne all the Apostles they call Mathew an usurer Peter an Apostata Luke a pelting physician Paul vas confractum a broken vessell Iohn adolescentem stolidum a foolish yong man The Novatians called Cyprianus Caprianus the Arrians called Athanasius Sathanasius but all this is nothing to the contempt of these dogs We may say now as the Prophet said The children shall presume against the ancient and the vile against Esay 3. 3. 2 Reg. 2. the honorable The boyes of Bethel scorned Elisha and the sawcy boyes of England scorne at all doctrine Veni Domine Iesu Come Lord Iesus come quickly O beloved our time is now to bee wise To kisse the Sonne if we do not Mercy passeth and Iudgement Psal 2. commeth and warned men must die in their sinnes and their bloud be upon them Lastly he noteth in these mockers that they live at randon They walke after their lusts like beasts they fulfill their sensuall appetites they doe what seemeth good in their owne eyes They make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts of it All their care is for Rom. 13. 14. the flesh none for the spirit all for the body little or none for 2 Cor. 10. 3. the soule all for earth little for heaven they walke after the flesh and they warre after the flesh For so doth Paul distinguish Rom. 16. 18. them these men are the slaves of the flesh they serve not the Lord but their belly they thinke themselves the only men of the world and count their life the happiest promise to themselves liberty yet are they worse then gally-slaves the vilest prisoners in the world other prisoners have mē to be their Iaylers these have 2 Tim. 2. 26. Mat. 22. 13. divels For they are in the snare of the Divell and are taken of him at his will Others have chaines of iron these have chaines of darkenes others are for a time these for ever Thou shalt not come out thence Mat. 5. 26. till thou hast paid the utmost farthing but that will never be now that 2 Pet. 2. 19. they are prisoners Note Peters reason Of whomsoever a man is overcome even unto the same is he in bondage but their malice their envy their pride overcommeth them therfore be they in bondage to them Pius etsi serviat liber est a godly man though he serveth yet is he a free man I will walke at libertie saith David for I seeke thy precepts Malus etiamsi regnat seruus est a bad man although he ruleth yet is he a servant et tot dominorum quot vitiorum and that of so many masters as he hath vices Hereupō saith our Saviour Iohn 8. 34 35. Whosoever committeth sinne is the servant of sinne and the servant abideth not in the house for ever His leachery envy malice covetousnesse The Vnderstanding and Will the subiects of Wisedome mastereth him Be not therefore overcome of evill but overcome evill with goodnesse Vincimur non vincimus wee are not overcome wee not overcome Let not sinne therefore raigne in your mortall bodies that yee should obey it in the lusts thereof And againe Rom. 6. 12. 21. Rom. 12. 14. Let not sinne have dominion over you In these men all the members of their body are defiled they bee arma injustiviae weapons of unrighteousnesse and all the powers of their soule are corrupted peccati enim sedes est anima the soule is the seate of sinne the two powers of the soule are Vnderstanding and Will either wee know not that which is good or wee cannot performe it for the weakenesse of our understanding The naturall wise man 1 Cor. 2. 14. whose knowledge is not cleered by Gods Spirit perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned And further the Apostle saith that the wisedome of the Flesh is death and the reason hee rendreth after in the next verse saying Because Rom. ◠6 7. the wisedome of the flesh is enmity against God for it is not subject unto the Law of God neither can be Naturally our cogitations are darkened and wee strangers from the life of God through the ignorance that is in Ephes 4. 18. us Thus wee either know not that which is good or wee doe it not by reason of the weakenesse of our understanding Or otherwise wee know Gods Commandements and doe them not ob voluntatis defectum because our wils are defective our wils are readily carried unto lusts to fulfill them not to the commandements of God to obey them Video meliora proboque I see better Ovid. things ct I allow them quoth Medea We fulfill the lusts of the flesh and of the minde serving lusts and divers pleasures Vnderstanding Ephes 2. Tit. 33. and Will are the two subjects of true Wisedome in the one Knowledge in the other Affection cleaveth and sticketh and both are to be holpen by Grace the Vnderstanding without the Will is weake and profiteth not and the Will without it is blinde To know God and not to love him is very little and who can love him except hee know him Knowledge and Vnderstanding is the gate by which things at pleasure enter but wee must not stand in the gate wee must goe further for God respecteth not how much a man understandeth but how much hee loveth affectus subiugat and how much he subdueth his affections The Vnderstanding is to be enlightned the Will to be moved the Vnderstanding to be instructed the Will to be defended the Vnderstanding to be lightned by Faith the Will to be inflamed with love to trample tread all lust under the feete Hee that can overcome his lusts as Samson the Philistines with the jaw-bone of an Asse as David did Goliah Iudg. 13. 1 Sam. 18. with a sling he that can overcome this tower of Babylon pull downe these walles of Iericho hee shall see the goodnesse of the Lord Psal 27. in the land of the Living We talke of Christianity but it is true in the Land of the living wee talke of Christianity but it is true Mortification a signe of Iustification Christianity true manhood to master thy lusts For they that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts This is Christianity indeed this is to professe to know God both in Gad. 5. 24. Tit. 1. 15. 2
hast thou them that maintaine the doctrine of the Nicolaitans which thing I hate So we have some among us that maintaine the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans and therefore do well to reprove them and punish them The posterity of Saul being rooted out the famine ceased Baal Prophets 1 Sam. 15. 2 Sam. 21. 1. 1 Reg. 18. 1 Reg. 20. 42. being put to death raine and blessing came from God Remember Gods speech to Ahab Because thou hast let goe a man out of thy hands whom I appointed to dye thy life shall goe for his life and thy people for his people This was the sinne of the false prophets They did strengthen the hands of the wicked I would it were not the sinne of Ier. 23. 14. some in this time I would this sentence were written in the fore-heads Wee must not suffer our selves to bee defiled in body or soule of our Rulers or on the hemmes of their garments as had the Pharises trust not a Iesuite a Romish priest beare not with him flatter him not hee waiteth but his oportunity If Cain may get Abel in the field he will murder him if Ismael may get Godeliah fitly hee dieth for it Designant oculis ad caedem unumquemque nostrûm Gen. 4. Ier. 42. de vrbis orbis exitu cogitant They have appointed to the slaughter every one of us and they thinke of nothing but of the ruine destruction of City Countrey and of the whole world The adversaries of Iuda and Benjamin notwithstanding their faire speeches to Zorobabel and the rest of the Fathers Wee will build with you Wee will sacrifice with you yet their Ezra 4. drift was to hinder the building The Herodians faire speech to our Saviour Master wee know that thou art true and teachest the way Mat. 22. of God truly c. was but to intrappe Christ our Saviour So all their shewes of love and kindnes towards us is but to deceive they waite but for a day and then our bodies shall be made faggots for their fires What though the fals-horned Lambs whom they serve call themselves Pius Clemens Innocent Bonifacius yet I may resemble them to the two theeves of Naples the one called himselfe Pater noster the other Ave Maria and yet under that colour they robbed an 116. men so these robbe many poore soules not of their substance only but of their lives But to leave this we must hate the garment spotted in the flesh We must be like unto them of the Church of Sardis which defiled not their garments Apoc. 3. 4. wee must by no meanes defile our selves through sinne which by the Metaphor of a garment spotted in the flesh is understood The Babylonians whom God sent to destroy the men Lament 4. 14. of Sion would not touch their garments lest they should bee defiled If a man beare holy things in the skirt of his garment and with Hag. 2. 13. the skirt doth touch the bread oyle wine or meate shall it be holy the Prophet said No. If a polluted man or person touch any thing of these shall it be uncleane And the Priest answered it should bee uncleane For the thing which of it selfe is good cannot make another thing so but contrarily the uncleane and not pure in heart doe defile and spot those things and make them odious unto God which else are good and godly Well as Iacob exhorted his houshold to Gen. 35. 2. clense themselves and change their garments so must wee clense our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and of the spirit 2 Cor. 7. 1. and put on our wedding garment of holinesse and righteousnes So shâ—ll wee hate the garment spotted in the flesh Wee must not be like the wicked which love the garment spotted in the flesh and therefore drinke in iniquity like water but wee must fly from sinne as a serpent the wicked are like Storks who feed on venimous things and make their neast in dung and are full of sinne as the Leopard is of spots but wee must hate sinne as Amnon hated Thamar with a double hatred Why doth God hate the Divell but for sinne by creation hee is an Angell of light by Sinne onely hated of God and should bee of the godly substance a spirit intellectuall in understanding more profound then any man yet God hateth him for no other cause but sinne of which if hee were ridde hee were a more glorious and lovely creature then any man yet sinne maketh us like the Divell and Psal 8. no difference but that hee hath much sinne and hee is all Iohn 8. 44. sinne wee are sinnefull and hee is sinne it selfe malice envy it selfe so vile is sinne that nothing could purge it but Christs blood yea so vile it is that hell and everlasting torments 1 Pet. 1. 18. are prepared for it transit voluptas ejus non mansura manet poena non terminatura the pleasure of sinne passeth abideth not the punishment remaineth and endeth not It was a divine voice of a heathen that if there were no God to punish him no Divell to torment him no hell to burne him no man to see him yet Seneca would hee not sinne for the uglinesse of sinne and the griefe of his owne conscience Hate sinne therefore and hate the Divell hate death hate damnation Si scirem Deos mihi condonaturos homines ignoraturos non peccarem tamen ob solam peccati turpitudinem If I knew certainly that the Gods would pardon mee and that men were ignorant and knew nothing of my transgression yet would I not sinne because of the onely turpitude of sinne We marvell that things are so out of frame that sinne doth so abound but what is the cause Even our bearing with sinne for how can the ship bee qniet so long as Ionas is in it Moses Exod. 10. 26. would not leave an hoofe in Aegypt and we must not suffer sinne to goe unreproved All the vessels of Baal must bee burnt without the City the very gold that was upon the Idols was abomination 2 Reg. 23. 4. and so sinne is an abomination to God And heere by the way learne to kill sinne in thy selfe that God may spare thee Mactemus porcum gulae jugulemus hircum luxuriae occidâ—mus Leonem iracundiae extinguamus serpentâ—m hypocresio's conteramus câ—lubrum invidiae suffocemus Canem concupiscentiae Let us slay the hogge of gluttony kill the goate of Leachery murder the Lion of wrath extinguish the serpent of hypocrisie teare in pieces the Adder of envy strangle the dogge of concupiscence yea Mortifie all our earthly members as fornication uncleannesse unnaturall lusts evill concupiscence and Covetousnesse which is idolatry Yea and Let us crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts Col. 3. 5. Gal. 5. 1 Cor. 9. Yee and Let us chasten our bodies and bring them in subjection Yea and Let us deny
and concludeth his Epistle with it Grace bee with you Amen for wee must not doubt of Gods promises but beleeve stedfastly That all the promises of God are in Amen diversly used in Scripture Christ yea and are in him AMEN Againe this word Amen teacheth us to desire earnestly 2 Tim. 4. 22. and fervently the thing wee pray for For the prayer of the righteous availeth much if it bee fervent David was fervent in his Iam. 9. 16. Psal 106. 48. prayer Blessed bee the Lord God of Israel for ever and ever and let all the people say Amen And verily this word Amen noteth our desire our earnest fervent desire to bee heard and to obtaine it is in effect thus much O Lord thus bee it unto mee what my tongue or soule have begged give it me grant it me Amen Amen So Lord even so Lord. FINIS THE TABLE OF THE Sermons upon Saint IVDE Points handled Serm. 1. THe holy Ghost the Author of all Scripture Fol. 1. Two Iudases 1 Iscariot 2 Brother of Iames 1 Some Scriptures doubted of 2 A threefold office of the Church concerning Scripture 3 Honourable titles given the wicked why 4 Stormes should not discourage the godly ibid. Three sorts of servants ibid. Gods service most happy 5 Gods service perfect freedome ibid. Brings all good to us 6 All other service vile or dangerous 7 Mans dignity in three things 8 Priviledges of Gods servants ibid. Pope abuseth the title of servant 9 Servants must imitate their Master obey him 10 Gods servants rewarded ibid. Servants may not Lord it over the rest of the Family 11 Godly profession brings more glory than honourable alliance 12 13. Sermon 2. VOcation the first step to Salvation 15 Before calling wee are children of wrath not capable of Christ 16 The happinesse of having the Gospell 17 Vocation Externall Internall Invitation Admission 17 18 Externall calling unprofitable without internall 18 The efficacie of Gods Word in the ministery thereof 19 Vocation diverse in respect of time and place 20 None called for desert ibid. Sanctification followes vocation 21 God as he beginne will finish till he glorifie ibid. Sanctification three-fold Imputed unto us Wrought in us Wrought by us 22 Difference of righteousnesse of Iustification and Sanctification 23 Papisticall doctrine tends to licentiousnes ours to holinesse ibid. Faith and Workes joyned in the person justified in the act of justification 24 Sermon 3. CHrists Priesthood two parts Redemption Intercession 26 Redemption hath two parts Reconciliation and Sanctification ibid. Reconciliation consists in two points Remission of sinnes and imputation of Christs righteousnesse 27 Iustification what it is ibid. Adoption what it is ibid. Benefits of Adoption and Iustification 27 Sanctification consists in mortification and vivification 28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath his beginning godly sorrow his companion the Spirituall combat ibid. Sanctification but in part as our knowledge ibid. Divers acceptions of holinesse 29 Wee must bee holy because God is holy 30 Wee must bee holy because it is the end of our Redemption 31 Without holinesse no salvation ibid. Wee must bee holy because called Saints ibid. All our holinesse is from God 32 The persons of the Trinity distinguished 33 Preservation in the state of Grace the chiefest blessing 34 Gods providence preserves in all accidents of life 35 God frees from all afflictions 36 God preserves his Scriptures and Saints 37 Gods preservation of soule and spirituall estate most gracious 38 39 Sermon 4. MErcie Peace and Love three most excellent gifts 40 How these three flow from the Trinity ibid. How mercy in God 41 A rule for Christian salutations ibid. Mercy fourefold ibid. Generall mercies bestowed on all ibid. Speciall mercies on the elect ibid. The long suffering of God 42 The greatest mercy concernes salvation ibid. Our election is of Mercy ibid. Gods abundant mercy in Christ 43 Mercy seven-fold ibid. All that wee have is of mercy ibid. Misericordia communis peccantium portus ibid. Peace three-fold 44 Peace the ornament of the Church and signe of Christs Kingdome ibid. God the Author of Peace 45 A commendation of peace ibid. Contention cause of destruction 46 Vnion makes powerfull ibid. True peace to bee sought and imbraced 47 Righteousnesse cause of peace ibid. Peace of Conscience passeth all understanding 48 Prosperity profiteth not without peace of Conscience ibid. The wicked have no peace 49 Christ dyed rose ascended to perfect our peace ibid. Peace is used for outward prosperitie 50 All priviledges spirituall and temporall belong to the godly ibid. Yet sometime God withholds outward blessings 51 Sermon 5. God loves the fountaine of mercy peace and all good things 52 Gods love is most abundant immeasurable immutable unspeakeable 53 How God is said to be love ibid. Love of man to man the most excellent vertue 54 No Love to man without the love of God 55 True love rare among men 56 That love which is truely Christian must be embraced all other abandoned 57 Not sufficient to have grace but there must be a desire of increase till we come to glory 58 Sermon 6. FAith the most necessarie and excellent vertue 61 Sonnes three-fold by Nature by Doctrine by Adoption or Inspiration 62 Faith set out by it's attributes that wee might labour for it 63 Many carelesse to get Faith or maintaine it ibid. Faith must bee maintained to the death 64 A foure-fold fight and flight of Ministers ibid. The zeale of Idolaters and Heretickes for false religion should make us to be zealous for Gods truth 65 Divers degrees of zeale ibid. God lookes to the truth of our zeale not the heate 66 God accepts according to that a man hath if in truth ibid. Love ought to bee shewed in all our instructions and reprehensions 67 What love required in Ministers to their people ibid. Wee must be zealous in the matter of Religion and industrious for our soules 68 Salvation ought to be our onely ayme to have it assured to our selves and propagated to others 69 Many more regard humane writings yea vaine pamphlets than Scriptures 70 All men ought to labour to get assurance of salvation 71 Salvation common in three respects ibid. As salvation is common so the Church Catholicke 72 Writing the most safe meanes to performe God truth ibid. Traditions bring errors to the Church 73 Exhortation powerfull urged in meekenesse 74 The Minister must exhort and the people suffer the Word of exhortation 75 Sermon 7. GOds truth must bee maintained 76 Faith the gift of God a fruit of the Spirit ibid. Divers acceptions of Faith 77 Divers excellent attributes of saving Faith ibid. Faith a worke of the Trinity 78 The meanes to beget Faith outwardly the Ministery of the Word inwardly the operation of the Spirit 79 True Faith in few in all ages ibid. True Religion most ancient and Scriptures before all other writings 80 As God is immutable so his truth and Religion ibid. Though types and shadowes vanish truth and
peasant as the Prince the cobler as the Counsellour Corrus sequitur Curiam the cart will follow the Court and as the Preacher saith Folly is set in great excellency and the rich set in the low place I have seene servants on horses and Princes walking as servants on the ground As Eccles 10. 6 7. the Academicks said they knew nothing and the Anomies all things so some are too base but most are too proud like the Fly that sitting in the Charriot said Heu quantum pulverem excitavi What a dust have I raised The poore Fly was proud and so most men swell in pride like the Aegyptian Asse that carried the Goddesse Isis thinking the honour done to the Goddesse to be done to her pricking up her cares till he that drave her lashed her for her folly saying Non tibi sed deae stulte Asine datur hie honos O foolish Asse this honour is not done to thee but to the Goddesse like Caius Caligula who was so proud that hee would have his horse called Velocissimus and to bee fed with barely Dion histo sua in vessels of gold and to drinke wine in Caldrons of gold and resolved to make his horse Consul of Rome like Sapor King of Persia who was so proud that he wrote himselfe King of Kings brother to the Sunne and Moone partner with the starres like Haman who was so proud that none must ride upon the Kings horse but he To most mē pride is as a chaine they wil lose their goods yea their lives before they will lose their will Let there bee a proud Psal 73. 6. man in a town he must dominiere over all to die for it he must rule and have his will but be jealous over thy soule suspect thy selfe of pride while thou livest it creepeth on us in most of our actions chiefely when wee doe best therefore Pascentius niger was a rare man who being praised of an Orator for an excellent act answered thus Write the praises of Marius Iugurth and Hannibal but praise not mee till I bee dead for that quoth hee is but flattery A most grave saying to shame us Christians And surely as Demosthenes said that the first the second and third vertue in an Orator was Action so Augustine said well that the first second and third vertue of a Christian is humility for that is the Congregation of all vertues without which the gathering together of all vertues is nothing else but a scattering of them Give honour saith the Apostle and goe one before another Give honour take it not strive not for the highest pew in the Church the highest roome at a Feast bee Pride brings confusion lowest not highest If Paul had said In taking honour goe one before another hee had had five thousand disciples Let not these words be heard among you I am as good as hee I am as well borne as hee hee shall not have my necke under his gyrdle for these speeches savour of pride and pride of all other sinnes doth most discredit and disgrace a Christian as it did Tarquinius Superbus who being a traitour an whoremonger yet was not called Tarquinius the Traitor or Tarquinius the Adulterer but Tarquinius the proud to teach us that pride doth more disgrace a man than any other sinne Let us not therefore swell like waves be lifted up with pride the end will be shame and therefore hee saith these waves doe but fome out their owne shame For God will confound them throw them from their Pinnaces shake them with his whirle-windes strike them with his lightenings beate them with his thunder-claps for pride must have a fall and great pride a great fall Herod fell from a throne of gold to a bed of dust to bee Act. 12. 23. Dan. 4. 29. eaten of wormes and yet behold a greater fall Nabuchodonozer fell from the glory of a King to the state of a beast to eate grasse like an Oxe to bee wet with the dew of Heaven his nailes to grow like the talons of an Eagle and yet behold a greater fall Adam fell from innocency to mortality to bee exiled Gen. 3. 24. out of Paradise and kept out with a shaking sword and yet to make up the mease the up-shot behold a greater fall The Angels fell from Heaven to Hell from felicity to all misery are now reserved in everlasting chaines In the Primitive Church Simon Magus did abuse the Ascension of Christ our Saviour Iude vers 6. and made him selfe wings and pretended and offered to flye up to Heaven but Peter prayed and he fell downe like lead and crushed his members grievously Ante pervenit justa petitio quam iniqua praesumptio A just prayer came up before an unjust presumption Euseb such were the Giants in the old World that would lay Pelion upon Ossa and both upon Olympus and pull Iupiter out of Heaven but their language was confounded What should I speake of Haman who by pride brake his necke of Holofernes Iudith 13. who by pride lost his head of Sennacherib who for his pride had killed in one night an hundred fourescore and five thousand of his men and not long after his own Sons Adramelech Sharezer Esa 37. 38. slew him as he was in the Temple worshipping Nisroch his god Of Antiochus who for his pride had his head and hand cut off and hanged up upon the gates of Ierusalem Of Pharao who for his 2 Mach. 1. 15. Exod. 12. pride against God and his people was drowned in the red sea of Apris a King of Aegypt who for his pride and glorying that neither God nor man could put him from his Kingdome was strangled Of Caphaneus who for his pride was overthrowne with lightning For he said he would overthrow Thebes invito Deo whether God would or no Of Domitian who for his pride for Examples of the fall of divers proud men he would be called a God and worshipped was slaine of his servants with daggers in his privy Chamber his body was buried without honor his memory cursed and his trophies defaced Of Queene Venda daughter to the famous King of Poland who out of the pride of her heart refused to be married shee thought none good enough for her but at last she was drowned in the river Vestula And many wayes doth the Lord meet with proud men sometimes giving them up to hardnes and impenitence of heart sometime bringing them to disgrace and open shame sometime suffering them to fall into other sinnes whereby the Lawes of men take hold of them either to deprive them of their lives or of their honors One way or other he doth usually punish them in this life to say nothing of those punishments prepared for them in the life to come Yet all these iudgements cannot keep us from swelling from pride but still men will be like the raging waves of the Sea foming out their owne shame and though there be