sake and will remember thy sinnes no more And againe a litle after Esay 48.9 V. 11. For mine owne sake I will be gracious for mine owne glory I wil refraine mine anger and will not destroy thee Propter me propter me faciam It is for my selfe and mine owne sake that I will do this for thee There was no cause in the Iewes that God should chuse them as elect vessels to cary the treasure of his word and to passe by so many other nations more rich and more populous Neither is there any cause in vs that we should haue the Gospell in peace and quietnesse preached vnto vs which blessing is denied to many mighty nations about vs. The cause is onely in the free goodnesse of God wherewith he embraceth his elect and chosen and therefore we may well say of our nations as Esay sayd of the Iewes of his time Isai 1â— If the Lord had not left vnto vs a remnant we had bene as Sodome and Gomorrha Such is our vnthankfulnesse for Gods manifold blessings such is our carelesnesse and dulnesse in prayer such is our disobedience and contempt of God his holy word that vnlesse there were a remnant of God his elect people amongst vs it could not haue bene but long before this time we should haue had the iudgement of Sodome and the cities adioyning in full measure powred vpon vs. But God hath a remnant of his elect amongst vs and in respect of his free loue towards them he doth still continue his goodnesse towards vs. God be eternally praysed for that remnant of his elect God graunt vs to be of that number God increase them daily God so continue and multiply them that the truth of his holy Gospell may still remaine to vs and to our posterity for euer A good hope we haue in the second property of Gods goodnesse to wit in the continuance and perpetuity thereof Saint Iames doth teach vs Iam. 1.13 that with the Lord there is no change nor shadow of change If we cast off the kindnesse of men we can yet haue no full assurance of the continuance of their benefits because the harts of men are variable Math. 21.8 They which this day doe cut downe bowes to strew in the way may to morow cry away with him and crucifie him But with God with whom there is no change nor shadow of mutability euery experience of Gods goodnesse is a sufficient argument of the perpetuity thereof as the king Prophet saith Psal 61.3 Thou Lord hast bene my refuge and strong tower against the enemy therefore I will dwell in thy tabernacle for euer and seeke my succor vnder the shadow of thy wings Whom God doth loue Iohn 13.2 Rom. 11.27 he doth loue to the end and the gifts and calling of God are without repentance It is his owne voice by the Prophet Isay 54.8 In a moment of time haue I hid my face from thee but in mine euerlasting mercy will I gather thee againe saith the Lord thy redeemer When Dauid doth in thankfulnesse of mind extoll the goodnesse of God Psal 136. he doth principally praise and magnifie the perpetuitie thereof And therefore in his Psalme of thanksgiuing as neuer sufficiently satisfied with the consideration thereof he doth still in euery verse repeate the mercie of God endureth for euer Many causes we giue for the abbridging and with-holding thereof but the Lord being patient long suffering Esay 30.18 doth still waite for our repentance Why will ye die O ye house of Israel Thus sayth the Lord I will not the death of a sinner Ezech. 18.31 but if he repent he shall liue We haue many wayes offended but God his goodnesse doth yet still enlarge it selfe towardes vs We are all as drie stubble yet the Lord doth not burne vs vp we are barren trees yet the Lord doth not cut vs downe we are all vnfruitfull ground yet the Lord doth make his Sunne to shine and raine to fall vpon vs. We haue often deserued Gods louing countenance to be turned from vs but we may thankfully say with the Prophet Misericordia est Domini Ierâ—m Iam. 3.22 quòd non consumimur It is the mercie of the Lord that we are not consumed This perpetuitie of God his goodnesse is our chiefest comfort in all afflictions and distresses For thereby though we be killed all the day long yet with the Apostle we are assured that neither life nor death nor principalitie nor power Rom. 8.38 nor any other thing shall separate vs from the loue of God in Christ Iesus Though God punish vs yet we doe chearefully with Iob blesse the name of God assuring our selues that whom the Lord doth loue he doth correct Hebr. 12. â— and scourgeth euery sonne whom hee doth receiue If we bee thankfull onely in prosperitie we loue not God but we loue the prosperity but herein appeareth the triall of our loue when we say with Iob Iob. 1â— 15 Although God kill me I will put my trust in him And doe with the Apostles reioyce that we bee accounted worthie to suffer any rebuke for the name of Christ Iesus Act. 5.41 It is good for me sayd Dauid that I haue bene afflicted that I might learne thy statutes Before I was afflicted Psal 119.71 67. I went astray but now O Lod I learne thy commaundements Psal 112.4 Vnto the godly saith Dauid there doth arise vp light in darknesse In the middest of all troubles they haue a sweete feeling of Gods goodnesse If sicknesse or any grieuous calamitie doe happen vnto the wicked all their ioy and comfort is vtterly driuen away The candle of the wicked as Salomon doth call it is soone put out Prou. 24.20 But the godly and faithfull though they be often ouer-whelmed with darknesse and misery yet their light doth still arise Ioh. 16.22 the sweete feeling of the mercie of God in Christ doth neuer depart from them They are assured that all things will worke for the best to them that loue God Rom. 8.28 they acknowledge that all their sorowes and sicknesses are nothing so great as their manifold follies and trespasses haue deserued and as the palme-tree the more waight is hanged vppon it the better it is sayd to prosper so the greater calamities they endure the more their faith doth flourish and the more zealous they are in prayer as the Psalmist here affirmeth Psal 107. Ve. 19. They crie vnto the Lord in their trouble and he deliuereth them out of their distresse O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodnes and declare his wonderfull workes before the children of men The second thing for which the Prophet doth here exhort vs to praise God is the effect of his goodnesse to wit his wonderfull deliuerances in the midst of all distresses Ve. 20. He sayth in the verse going before that God sendeth forth his word and healeth
in mā for whose benefit and comfort the workes and affaires of this world are in such wonderfull maner managed and ordered The Psalmist deliuereth fiue especiall examples of Gods prouidence V. 4. First of exiles and pilgrims when as they do wander in desertes and are in most extremities hungrie and thirstie and their souls fainting in them the Lord doth often heare them when they cry vnto him bring thē to a city where they may dwel The second example is of captiues who whē for their sinnes V. 10. they lye fast bound in miseries and irons if they earnestly cal for Gods merciful aide the Lord doth bring them out of darknes the shadow of death and breake their bands asunder V. 17. The third proofe of Gods prouident mercy is when foolish men are by some sicknes plagued for their iniquities whē their soule doth refuse all food and sustenance and that they are now at deathes dore if in their miserie they crie vnto the Lord the Lord doth send forth his word heale thē and deliuer them from the pit of corruption The fourth spectacle of Gods goodnesse is in ship-men V. 23. who goe downe into the Seas and occupy their busines in great waters when they are in most perill mounting vp to heauē and falling downe againe to hel when they stagger and be at their wits end if then they cry vnto the Lord in their troubles then sendeth hee a gracious calme and bringeth them to the hauē where they would bee The fift as it were a theater of Gods prouidence is in the altering and changing not onely of dumbe creatures bringing some times riuers into drie deserts V. 33. sometime drie groundes into springes or ponds of water sometimes making a fruitfull land barren for the wickednes of them that dwell therein and sometimes so blessing the land V. 40. that men may sowe and plant to yeeld thē fruites of encrease but also in altering the estates of men somtimes powring out contempt vpon princes and somtimes lifting vp the poor out of his miserie and making him housholds like a flocke of sheepe The Verse which now I haue chosen to intreate of is called versus amaebaeus a verse that doth answere by turnes because in the end of the foure first histories it is added still as a conclusion of the historie to shewe vnto vs what vse we must make of Gods gracious deliuerances not to passe by them as it were with closed eyes but to stirre vp both our selues and others to magnifie the name of God for these his vnspeakable mercies The Psalmist may seeme to direct this his Psalme only to a thankfulnes for corporall benefits but no doubt in the same he doth include also the spirituall blessings of God When he speaketh of the miseries of man hee sheweth the causes to be their sinnes as speaking of captiues lying in miserie and iron V. 11. hee saith it was because they rebelled against the worde of the Lord lightly regarded the counsell of the most high And after of sicknes foolish men are plagued saith he for their wickednes iniquities V. 17. And after of barrennes of soile A fruitfull lād saith he he maketh barrē V. 34. for the wickednes of them that dwell theerin As then hee noteth the cause of all calamities to be sinne So when he celebrateth God his gratious deliuerāce he doth vndoubtedly include the remouing of the cause as well as the effect doth exhort vs to praise God for the remission of our transgressions If the Israelites were bound to prayse God for their deliuerance frō the thraldom of Aegypt and generally all others which are the redeemed of the Lord as it is here said in the secōd verse whome he hath redeemed from the hands of the oppressors how much more ought they to bee thankfull which are deliuered from the tyranny of the diuell Rom. 16 2◠when the God of glorie and peace doth treade downe Satan vnder our feete If they did owe thanks which from wandering in the wildernes were broght to this happines to haue at the last cities to dwel in what thanks is required of vs who frō wandering in the by-pathes of sin and error are by our heauenly Iosua Christ Iesus broght home to be citizens with the Saints Ephe. 2.19 of the houshold of God in this life and heires by hope of the celestial Ierusalē in the world to come Apoc. 21.2 If prisoners giue al humble praise whē they are deliuered from their darkenes misery and irons how much more then ought we to be thankfull when by the glorious triūph of our Sauiour Christ Osea 13.14 1. Cor. 15.55 we are deliuered from the dungeon of the graue hell death damnatiō If they haue great cause of thākfulnes which haue escaped the dāgers of sicknes and infirmities then much more are they to be gratefull who by the heauenly Physitian our Lord Iesus are cleansed and cured of their sinnes which are indeed the originall causes of their diseases and maladies For this deliuerance doth the kingly Prophet Dauid Psal 103.3 first principally praise Gods holy name because hee forgaue all his sins and healed all his infirmities By temporal benefits the weaknes of our nature is taught to rise vp to the consideration of spirituall blessings and if we be not wilfully blind wee may easily and plainely conceiue that if corporall giftes are to be acknowledged to be the free blessings of God as we are taught to pray giue vs our daily bread then much more must wee confesse all spirituall benefits to bee the free gifts of God bestowed vpon vs by the mercy of God in through his sonne Christ Iesus If wee cannot merit things needefull for the body much lesse can we merit the ransoming of the soule If wee are bound to praise God for deliuerances appertaining to the bodie then by good reason as much as the soule is more precious then the bodie so much more ought we to be thankful for the soule then the bodie The Psalmist in this Amaebaean verse so often repeated in this Psalme doth vpon euery particular deliuerance frō either banishment or prison or sicknes or tempest still exhort the partie deliuered that hee will thereby rise vp to a generall consideration of the goodnesse of God of all his wonderfull works which he hath wrought for mankind In these two verses which I haue red vnto you there are two especiall things offered to our consideratiō The diuision of the text First for what we are to celebrate magnifie the name of God to wit for his goodnes for his wonderfull workes Secondly how we must shew our thankfulnes to wit first both before the Lord and before the childrē of men secondly by offering the sacrifice of thāksgiuing and telling forth his works with gladnes The goodnes of God as is taught by our Sauior is the first
hee is euen as the stall-fed Oxe who still feeding to the full and neuer conceiuing any foresight of his death is yet neuer the better for it A sodaine death will bring the greater feare Nay he is infinite thousand times worse for the beast is fed but to perish temporally and he is fed to perish eternally The second kinde of ill conscience called turbata mala a troubled ill conscience though it haue no apprehension of Gods mercy yet doth it conceiue it selfe to be a spirituall essence endangered to the iudgement of eternall punishment This sting of corrupt conscience is called often in the Scriptures Esay 66.24 Mark 9.44 1. Tim. 4.2 Esay 57.20 Heb. 10.27 a worme that neuer dyeth It is named a searing with a hote iron a sea that alwaies rageth a terrible looking for of iudgement and violeÌ„t fire to deuour the aduersarie Esay 48.22 When the wicked feele no peace in themselues but that in the middest of all their ioyes and pleasures Eccl. 41.5 they haue often a bitter remembrance of death and condemnation so that as the wise man saith euen in the laughing Prou. 14.13 the heart is sorrowful and the mirth doth end in heauinesse What doth this argue but that the soule is a spirituall substance such as can flye vp to the tribunall seate of God and there both accuse her selfe and also pleade guilty for her selfe In iudiciall handling of matters before men there are sundry persons to performe seueral functions some doe accuse others witnes others condemne others torment but an euill conscience is of it selfe all in one It is to bad men as the scriptures shew both their accuser witnesse and iudge and tormentor Their accuser as saith the Apostle their own conscience accusing or excusing Rom. 2.15 Where Saint Iohn declareth that at the time of Gods iudgements Apoc. 20.12 the bookes shall be opened Chrysostome sheweth what those billes are conscientia est codex in quo quotidiana peccata scribuntur The conscience of man is the booke wherein his dayly sinnes are written Secondly it is the witnesse according to that of Paul Rom 2 15. their owne thoughtes bearing witnesse Wis 17 10 And of the wisemaÌ„ it is a fearefull thing when malice is condemned by her owne testimonie and a conscience that is touched doth euer forecast cruell things For feare saith he is nothing else but a beatraying of the succours which reason offereth this saw the heathen wisemaÌ„ Thales Miles Turpe quid ausurus te sine teste time If thou attempt any filthy thing feare thy selfe without any further witnes And the Oratour Quint decl 9 conscientia mille testes the conscience is as good as a thousand witnesses So Pythagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of all men in the world stand most in awe of thy selfe â— Ioh 3 20 Thirdly it is the iudge as Saint Iohn saith if our heart condemne vs God is aboue the hart And Saint Paul speaking of the heretike that sinneth against his own coÌ„science saith that he sinneth damned of himselfe Se ipsum vnusquisque Ambro. epist ad Constant et animum suum seuerum iudicem sui vltorem criminis habet Euery man hath in himselfe and his owne heart a seuere iudge and reuenger of his wickednesse Fourthly it is also the tormenter 1. Tim. 4.2 Esay 66.24 Heb. 10.27 1 Tim 6 10 in which respect it is called a burning with a hote iron a worme gnawing still vpon the heart a violent fire consuming Gods enemies and such as pierceth man thorowe with many sorrowes The heathen Oratour could say conscientia graue pondus a mans conscience Tul â— de natura deorum if it be ill is a heauy burden It will make him to grieue at the losse of that which he neuer loued for vertue hath this triumph ouer vice that they which hate her most shall bee grieued at her absence Vertulem vi videant intabescántque relicta That though they loue not vertue yet they shall see it and pine away with the losse of it Luke 16 23 When it is said that the damned rich man did see Lazarus in Abrahams bosome no doubt it is signified to vs that this doth and euer shall greatly augment the punishmeÌ„ts of the wicked to perceiue and see froÌ„ how blessed an estate they are fallen These effects in the consciences of the vngodly doe euidently declare the soule to be a spirituall essence and apprehending much more then those things which concerne this life WheÌ„ Kaine said Gen 4 â— my sinne is more then can be forgiuen I shall be a vagabond and a runnagate Gen. 27 38. Gen. 9 27. when Esau wept for the losse of his birthright When Pharao seeing Gods fearefull iudgement cryed out God is iust and I and my people are wicked When Ecebolius the Philosopher of Constantinople because in the time of Iulian the Apostata hee had as a time seruer denied his faith in Christ threw himselfe downe before the Church Socr lib 3. cap 11 and said calcate me salem insipidum treade vpon me vnsauerie salt VVhen Francis Spaera for the like fault said to the Bishop Vergerius that he could wish to lye ten thousand yeares in hell so that once hee could hope of remission and deliuerie from eternall punishment what was this but that their owne consciences did both accuse them and also condemne and torment them This testimony of conscience made Iosephes brethren to shake with feare Gen 50 15. when they remembred their crueltie against their yong brother it made Adam to creepe into the thickets Gen. 3 10 when he heard the voyce of him whome hee had vnthankfully despised This made Faelix to tremble when hee heard Paul preach of righteousnesse and temperance Act. 24 2â— and of the iudgement to come This made Caligula that wicked Emperour in times of thunder and lightning to creepe vnder the beds and into corners This made that famous or rather infamous Medea sitting at sessioÌ„s within her selfe her owne heart being the foreman to accuse her selfe and condemne her selfe Video meliora probóque Deteriora sequor I see and like well what is right But followe wrong with al my might Yet such is the force of a corrupted and confounded conscience that it maketh the dead to see me aliue again Herod when he heard of the fame and miracles of our Sauiour Christ Mark 6 14 said surely this is that Iohn Baptist whome I haue beheaded he is risen from death to life againe Iohn was dead and buried he was dead to other men but he was aliue to Herod As it is recorded by a certaine Pythagorean Philosopher that when he came to a house to pay a little debt â—raâ—m lib. 6 apoph and at the very same time his creditor was new dead and he perceiued by hearing the wil read that there was no mention made of that debt he reioyced and went
by them out of the Apostle to the Hebrewes all these dyed not receiuing the promises but saluted thē a far off The Apostle speaketh there of the posterity of Abrahā Heb 11.13 who liued a long time as Pilgrims in strange countries and did receiue and possesse that land flowing with milke and hony promised vnto Abraham that they might bee thereby taught to seeke a better country in heauen although they had the types and figures of Christ v. 40 yet they had not Christ in their time exhibited in the flesh because as hee saith after God had prouided a better thing for vs that they without vs shold not be made perfect if they had had the flourishing land of Canaan Christ also in their time come in the flesh then should they haue seemed to bee made perfect without vs. But God did prouide better for vs as hee gaue vnto them that glorious figure of our rest in Christ so in our time in this last age of the world hee did exhibite the truth euen the cōming of Christ himselfe to performe the worke of our redemption They say further that if the soules of the departed bee in heauen Act. 9.36.40 then S. Peter should seeme to doe wrong to that good and charitable Tabitha to raise her vp againe from death and so to bring her from a blessed life with God into a sea of all mischiefes but it is euidēt that the mercy of God is shewed not onely in time of glorification Phil. 2.25 but also in time of sanctification S. Paul accounteth that Epaphroditus did obtaine mercy when being sicke he was recouered againe And of himselfe he saith that life was to him a losse Phil. 1 22. ◠21 and death an aduantage yet is he cōtent to remain longer in this life so that Christ may be magnified in his body In that raysing vp of Tabitha God was glorified in the miracle the poore were benefited by the preseruing of so charitable a woman full of almes and good workes Tabitha her selfe had a larger time in this life to set forth the paise of God which was a thing that the saintes of God haue sought for with earnest praier Psal 6.4 psal 30.9 Esay 38.18 psal 88.11 psal 115.17 when the saints of God do pray in the scriptures for the lēgthning of their daies in this world do giue this the reason of their petition because the dead cānot praise God nor magnifie his name we must not imagine that they thought that their soules in death should perish or haue no power to praise God but their meaning was that the deade could not in this world by their good exāple draw others to magnifie God that publike glorifying of God to the edifying of their brethren was the thing which in desiring long life they principally respected but Dauid say they doth plainly affirme psal 146.4 that when mās breath goeth out he returneth to the earth then all his thoughts perish by those thougetes hee meaneth such imaginations deuises as they practised in this life and in an other place he saith The desires of the vngodly shall perish Esay Esay 33. the Lorde doth scatter the counsels of the Gentiles The Prophet Dauid whē he hath shewed the iudgements of God vpon the wicked Psal 49.14 that they lie in the graue death gnaweth vpon them he addeth in the next verse v. 15. but God shall deliuer my soule from the power of the graue for he shall receiue me And let this suffice against the opinion of the Catabaptists CHAP. XI Of the future aestate of the soule against the Romanistes THe Church of Rome is an other way iniurious to the soules of the departed they acknowledge that they liue after death but yet that there is no passage for them into ioy rest vntil such paines haue been suffered as their Purgatory doth require This assertion is so plentifully confuted by so many euident and plaine testimonies of the scripture set down in the beginning of the tenth chapter that I hope I shall not need to stand long vpon it There is none vnlesse hee bee wilfully obstinate but he must needs acknowledge that it is a doctrine wholy iniurious and repugnant to the mercy and iustice of God and doth blasphemously derogate frō the merite of Christ his passion It standeth best with the infinite mercy of God to grant a sound and perfect benefit as to forgiue the guilt of our sinnes so also to remit the punishment It can in no wise agree with the iustice of God to forgiue our debts in Christ yet to exact the penalties thereof And what is there that can more obscure and annihilate the most noble price of our redemption then to make it a ransome from the fault or blame and no ransome from punishment That which Christ bare vppon the Crosse is taken away from vs. Now he bare the punishment of our sins as S. Peter saith 1. Pet. 2.24 He bare our sins in his body vpon the tree and by his stripes we are healed It is therfore the stripe plague due for sin that is remoued frō vs the paines griefes which depend vpon sin for a wounde is not healed vntil the griefe thereof be mittigated or abolished Aug. de verbis domini super Lucam serm 37. very well saith S. August Christus suscipiendo poenā non suscipiendo culpā culpā deleuit poenam Christ by taking vppon him our punishmēt not taking vpō him our fault hath taken away both fault and punishment when sins are forgiuen there may yet some afflictions remain to the children of God as there did to Adam and Dauid 2. Sam. 12.14 and do daily to Gods elect but those afflictions are fatherly instructions corrections and trials of their faith they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as proceede from the loue of God Eph. 1.7 they are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 punishmentes of vengeance nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 punishments of ransom Al those tribulations which we suffer after remission of sinne are like Cicatrices signa vulneris curati non curandi they are as scarres rather signes of a wounde cured then of a wound to bee cured they differ as far frō punishments of vengeance as loue doth differ frō hatred for they proceed of loue Heb. 12.6 whō the Lord loueth hee doth correct and they differ as farre from punishments of ransome as East is from the West There is no ransome able to satisfie the iustice of God against sinne but onely the death and passion of Iesus Christ If any thing in man could haue satisfied for sinne the Sonne of God had not dyed The punishment of corrections and instructions haue their place then only when there is time of repentance and that is onely in this life as Saint Hierom noteth vppon these wordes of Esay seeke the Lord while he may