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A04167 Diverse sermons with a short treatise befitting these present times, now first published by Thomas Iackson, Dr in Divinity, chaplaine in ordinary to his Majestie, and president of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford. ... Jackson, Thomas, 1579-1640. 1637 (1637) STC 14307; ESTC S107448 114,882 232

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grievous punishment than wee or others are but before this day it is not Christian-like it is not safe to say or thinke that this man is a more grievous sinner than wee our selves are for than this man deserves to be more grievously plagued than wee our selves or others whom wee thinke well of so long as either they or wee have one houres space left for repentance To judge of the measure of any mans sinnes by the manner of his punishments here on earth or to determine of his future estate by his present death or disaster is to usurpe or trench upon Christ Iesus his royall prerogative which to prejudice by word or sentence interlocutory which to preoccupate by any peremptory or censorious thought is more than a praemunire a branch of high treason or rebellion against him Besides this exception which cleerely infringes the former allegations for judging of the cause by the effect or measuring mens sinnes by the manner of their visible punishments many positive reasons there be which might perswade us that our most good and gracious God without impeachment unto his unchangeable mercy and justice may and often doth in this life shew extraordinary mercy to extraordinary sinners and recompence ordinary sinners men not so sinfull as the best of us account our selves to be with extraordinary punishments in this life Both parts of this allegation may bee proved by instance and by rule by examples of Scripture and by reason grounded on Scripture First because such as have beene extraordinary sinners have obtained extraordinary mercy There was not an honest matron or unmarried woman in in the land of Iudea or Galilee but would have taken it for a defamation to have beene compared to Mary Magdalen Shee was a notorious sinner in that notorious sinne of wantonnesse and uncleanenesse and yet obtained greater mercy than any woman of her time besides the blessed Virgin Mary for shee was endowed with an extraordinary measure of that excellent gift of love and charity Our Saviour gives her this testimony that shee loved much And the reason why shee loved much was because many sinnes and those of the worst kind of sinnes were forgiven her Here was mercy two wayes extraordinary First in that shee had many such sinnes foregiven her Secondly in that shee loved much For this extraordinary measure of love through the same goodnesse of God by which it was given her was to have an extraordinary reward Againe what disciple or Apostle of our Saviour was there which might not have upbraided Peter with extraordinary ingratitude which is the height of sinne for denying his Lord and master three severall times expressely and in a manner judicially And yet for all this Gods mercy and gratious favour towards him was extraordinary even in respect of other disciples and Apostles the disciple whom Iesus loved only excepted Paul for a long time was a blaspheamer of the evangelicall truth a more furious persecutor of such as followed the waies of life then the Prince of his tribe King Saul had beene of righteous David And yet this man from a notorious sinner from a persecuting Saul was changed into a zealous Paul became a valiant champion for the faith more zealous in maintaining it than hee had beene furious in persecuting such as professed it And this suddaine and extraordinary change was wrought by the extraordinary mercy of God But doe not these and the like instances or examples of Gods extraordinary mercy favour and bounty towards extraordinary and notorious sinners no way prejudice or impeach the unchangeable mercy of God or his impartiall dealing with men No for the extraordinary mercy which hee shewed did not extend to them only but to all extraordinary sinners in the like kind unto the worlds end His extraordinary mercy and favour unto Mary Magdalen was as a pledge of his mercy and favour to all like sinners of her sexe so they would by true repentance accept and embrace his mercy and favour manifested unto her If any which heare or read of his mercy exhibited to her doe finally perish their perdition is from themselues If any truely repent their salvation and repentance by which they become immediatly capable of salvation is from the Lord. Gods extraordinary mercy unro Peter who had in a manner made shipwrack of his faith was as secunda tabula post naufragium as a planck or mast cast out after shipwrack not only for his succour but for the succour of all the Iewish nation which had denied the Lord that bought them As many of this nation as after Peters conversion were converted and saved their conversion and salvation was meerely from the Lord as many of them as perished did therefore perish because they did not repent as Peter did and they did therefore not repent because they did not lay Gods mercies towards him and to their country-men converted by him to their hearts That extraordinary mercy againe which God exhibited unto Paul yeelds the assurance of faith a sure anchor of hope to all persecutors of the Church whether Heathens Turkes or Infidels that there is plenteous redemption with God in Christ mercy plenteous to worke repentance in them and by repentance compleat redemption of body and soule As many of Turkes or other infidels as doe not repent and by their not repentance perish their perdition or not repentance is from themselues Not the saluation only but the repentance of such as doe repent is meerely from God and this God our Lord who is rich in mercy towards all did worke repentance in Mary Magdalene in Saint Peter and Saint Paul by meanes and motiues extraordinary that all such sinners as they were might belieue and knowe that no sinners are excluded from possibility of repentance in this life but that the mercy which he shewed to them by meanes extraordinary is daily exhibited by meanes ordinary that is by the administration of the word and sacraments vnto all that doe not wilfully exclude themselues The second point proposed was that God doth award extraordinary visible punishments vnto ordinary sinners without impeachment to his vnchangeable justice or to that ingraffed notion which all Christians haue of his unpartiall dealing with the sonnes of men It was an extraordinary visitation wherewith he visited the inhabitants of Bethshemesh and their territories 1. Sam. 6. 19. for he smote of the people fiftie thousand threescore and tenne men because they had looked into the Arke of the Lord. It was likewise an extraordinary punishment upon Vzzah who being but a Leuite did touch the Arke of the Lord. 2. Sam. 6. 6. For he was smitten with suddaine death from which kinde of punishment all of us doe pray or ought to pray that the Lord would deliuer us But may wee therefore conclude that these men of Bethshemesh were sinners above all the men of Iudah or that Vzzah was a more grievous sinner than any Levite of his age on whom the Lord did not shew like punishments God
consilio alius magistro alius patrocinio nullus Deo miramur si nobis coelestis manus non praestet cui quicquid praestiterit derogamus If God at any time give prosperous successe to our proceedings beyond our hope and merit on ascribes this to fortune another to good hope or chance none to God We may conclude this point with the Psalmists testimony Except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine that build it Except the Lord keepe the City the watchman waketh but in vaine Psal. 127. 1. We shall no way pervert his words if we thus invert or extend their sence Except the Lord be purposed to ruinate the house they labour in vaine that seeke to ruinate it except the Lord delivers up the city into their hands they that beseige it beseige it in vaine and if all endeavours without his ratification of them be vaine then it is he that doth all in all it is he not the aire elements or hoste of heaven that bringeth scarcity famine or pestilence upon the land it is he not the enemy which wounds or weakens any state or kingdome But if all calamity be inflicted by his hand who can take off what he hath laid on who can heale where the great Physitian himselfe hath wounded But the question is not what man can doe when any calamity befals him but rather what he which can doe all things will have man to doe for himselfe Now it is not his will that we should in this case sit downe and doe nothing The ascribing of all the successe of our labours unto him doth teach us only to abandon all reliance upon our owne endeavours or consultations not the consultations or endeavours themselves It should be the first and last of all our endeavours carefully to consecrate all our consultations and enterprises unto him who alone is able to give a blessing unto them It is most true all our strength is but weaknesse in respect of him yet true with this exception unlesse we rely upon his strength It is true mans wisdome is but folly and yet true againe that our wisdome becomes more then mans wisdome by relying upon his wisdome with the strength of our hearts and affections Now for the strengthening of our reliance upon his wisdome strength and providence and for consecrating our endeavours aright two things are required 1. the right information of our understanding in point of Doctrine 2. sincerity of practise answerable to the right information of our understanding The first and generall part of Doctrine is the second point proposed that noe calamity or wound in state though inflicted by the immediate hand of God is altogether incurable if the remedy be sought in time This point of Doctrine is grounded upon another speciall principle of faith to wit that our gracious God in his severest punishments is a most just judge he doth not immediately delight in the exercises of punitive justice as he doth in the exercises of justice mercies and loving kindnesses He bestowes his blessings of prosperity freely and for his owne names sake not for our sakes or deservings He never plagueth any nation meerly for his owne names sake or of his owne accord but as provoked by their ill deservings Deus non priui est ultor quam homo peccator God never proceeds to revenge before man hath done him manifest wrong Poena semper sequitur culpam Punishment never hath precedency of offences but alwayes followes them and for the most part in great distance This truth or principle of faith is expressly supposed by the wise King in this Chap. v. 24. and if thy people Israel be put to the worse before their enemy because they have sinned against thee This inferres that they should not be punished with so much as losse of victory or defeate unlesse they had first sinned against their God and againe v. 26. when the heaven is shut up and there is no raine because they have sinned against thee This teacheth us the truth of that which an ancient father hath nos mutamus naturam rerum we exchange the nature of the creature and divert the sweet influence of heaven from our selves by changing from better to worse and by our turning from God Quid ergo de poenarum acerbitate quaerimur unusquisque nostrum ipse se punit They are the expostulation of Salvian with the Christians of his time which had beene often overcome and long prest by barbarous and hereticall nations But why doe we complaine that our punishment is bitter and grievous seeing every one of us doth punish himselfe But here happly some will make that objection against the former point which Salvian makes against himselfe by way of prevention if all punishment or calamity be from God how are we said to punish our selues His answere is very satisfactory Vtrumque verum est a deo quippe punimur sed ipsi facimus ut puniamur Lib. 8. Num. 264. Both are true we are punished by God but t is our owne doing that we are punished The manner and order by which mankind fall into extreamity of punishment whether temporall or everlasting that he collects out of that saying of the Prophet Esay Chap. 50. v. 11. This good father albeit he lived in the miserable times wherein the visible feature of Christs Church and of Christendome was much defaced by the wounds and scars which had beene given by barbarous hands yet was herein happy that he might freely avouch the unspeakable mercies of God and extend his unfeigned love to all even to those which perished in their sinnes without censure of heresie or persecution by men of his owne profession It was no scruple to his tender conscience to averre nor was the often averring it any imputation unto him for many generations that God did punish us invitus against his will but he was willing to heale the wounds which he had made that men did constraine him to continue or increase his plagues when he was otherwise ready to take off his punishing hand But some in latter yeares question and would to God they did but question whether punitive iustice be as direct an effect of Gods primary will or as primarily intended by him in respect of some men as the exercise of bounty and mercy toward others But if this Doctrine were positively determined the calamities which befall most states and kingdomes would be more incurable and all endeavours of reformation lesse available then is behoofefull for them to beleeve they are Howbeit some passages of sacred writ therebe which either naturally run or have beene drawne this way as if punitive iustice were the marke or ayme of meanes offered by God for so that place and the Apostle Rom. 1. 20. The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are cleerly seene to the intent that they should be without excuse But this expression of the originall is worthily corrected by the latter English God did
rest For though they repented of their folly and besought God with teares that hee would revoke his sentence offering their service which before they had neglected for conquering the land of promise yet the Lord would not heare them and which is more remarkeable he would not heare Moses in this particular for himselfe because he was involved as an accessary in that sentence for he spake unadvisedly on their behalfe So Moses himselfe doth testifie Deut. 3. v. 23. c. And I besought the Lord at that time saying O Lord God thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatnesse I pray thee let me goe over and see this good land which is beyond Iordan and that goodly mountaine Lebanon But the Lord was wroth with mee for your sakes and would not heare me and the Lord said unto me let it suffice thee speak no more unto me of this matter get thee unto the top of Pisgah and behold it with thine eyes for over this Iordan thou shalt not goe So then God repented him that hee had made Saul King over Israel because he had the Kingdome only by meere promise not by promise confirmed by oath But God would not repent of his deposition nor reverse his sentence because Saul by his preposterous indulgence unto Amalek Gods sworne enemy did by this fact incurre the sentence of deposition by oath and more deepely participate with the Amalekites than Moses had done with the Israelites whom God had cut off by oath from entring into the land of Canaan I hope I shall not bee thought to flatter men whilst I blesse the name of our glorious Lord for setting a King over us as farre from Saul's or Ahab's disposition as they were from the disposition of king Hezekiah for giving him a people nothing so untoward either towards God or him as the murmuring Israelites were towards God his servant Moses But whatsoever hath been said or is written concerning the Kings of Israel or Iudah were written for our instruction whether Prince or people The most immediate use of the point last discust concernes great Princes and their followers their followers thus farre that they never sollicite or importune their soveraigne Lords or in case they doe it deeply concernes Princes not to suffer themselves to be wrought by any sollicitation or importunity to favour any cause which stands accursed by Gods eternall law not to take the persons of any men into their protection whom the supreame Iudge hath exempted from his not to patronage any whom the law of God and man have designed unto utter destruction For by doing such bodily good to prodigious malefactors they shall procure as my Prophet speakes great evill unto their owne soules Evils at least temporall unto themselves and to their people of which the Lord will not repent For where such favour is shewne unto men or rather where favour and pity is shewed unto such men as God is thus highly displeased with there can be no true feare of the Lord. In whomsoever that feare is it is praedominant and will command all other affections whether of hope or feare whether of hatred love or favour to men Vnlesse such feare of the Lord bee first planted in their hearts no Prince nor Potentates no state or Kingdome can iustly pretend to this blessing which Hezekia's prayers obtained For he first feared and then besought the Lord before the Lord repented of the evill which hee had pronounced against him and his people Now it is our hope assurance that God will repent of the evill denounced which makes our feare of him or of his iudgements to be a filiall not a slavish feare For no man can feare God with a true filiall feare but hee that apprehends him as a loving father and one as is sorry for our aflictions one that delighteth not in the punishment of his sons or servants but in their repentance that they may become capable of his fatherly mercy or loving kindnesse With thee there is mercy saith the Psalmist therefore shalt thou be feared Why doth any man feare Gods mercies more than his iustice No. This was no part of the Psalmists meaning We feare his iudgements in and for themselves and as they bring evil upon us We feare God himselfe for his mercy we are afraid to offend him if we bee his children because hee is mercifull and because the greatest evill which any man can procure unto his own soule is to deprive himselfe of his mercy who is goodnesse it selfe the sole fountaine of all the good which can be derived unto us Or it may be a further part of the Psalmists meaning that it was our apprehension or beliefe of his mercy which keepseth our feare whether of him or of his judgements within his proper sphere or limits as if he had said with thee o Lord there is mercy therefore shalt thou bee feared hated thou canst not bee by such as apprehend or believe thy mercies whereas feare of iudgements or perpetuall punishments unlesse it be tempered with hope of mercy runs out of his wits and running beyond its bounds alwayes ends in hatred It is not possible either for that man not to love God which truly beleeves that hee hath mercy in store for all or for that man not to hate him or at least not to occasion others to hate him which is perswaded that he hath reserved iudgement without mercy to some men as they are men or that hee hath destinated them to inevitable destruction before he gave them life or preservation To bee thus perswaded argues an uncharitable disposition as well towards God as towards men and from both roote and branch of this error from all such heresies hatred malice and uncharitablenesse good Lord deliver us that are thine heritage thy whole Church especially this land and people A TREATISE CONCERNING THE SIGNES OF THE TIME OR GODS FOREWARNINGS CONTAINING The summe of some few Sermons delivered partly before the Kings Majesty partly in the Towne of New-Castle upon Tine OXFORD Printed by LEONARD LICHFIELD An. Dom. 1637. LVK. 13. 5. I tell you nay but except yee repent ye shall all likewise perish THe words containe an emphaticall negative 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the emphasis of the negative doth inferre a vehement affirmative though conditionall or exceptive but except yee repent yee shall all likewise perish Besides the grammaticall emphasis or vehemence the same words are twise repeated by him who used no tautologies by him whose nay was nay and whose yea was yea and Amen The ingemination of the same sentence was from two severall occasions The one given to our Saviour the other taken by him The occasion given ye have v. the 1. There were present some that told him of the Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices Who these Galilaeans were and what was their crime is no where to my observation registred in particular probable it is that they were the reliques of