must be by an excrement bread is the interest of thy continuall labour this is the yoke of the sins of Adam God in punishing the Israelites will remember the land which he gave them Leviticus 26. 42. and they must suffer the punishment of their iniquitie yea when you shall remember your own wickedness yee shall judge your selves worthy destruction for your iniquitie in the thirty sixth of Ezekiel and the thirty first Paul in the first of the Corinthians the ninth and the fifteenth saith it were better for him to die than not to doe his duty The use of the Scripture Now this sentence upon Adam hath this use for us spinae tribuli the thorns and thistles when we walk in the field speak to us as Gods book doth and make us a Sermon telling they should not have grown there but for us the earth should not have been cursed with barreness but for our wickedness if the thorn prick or the nettle sting thee it will say hoc propter te I was first brought and still I grow to make thee remember thy obedience so that the very nettle that is good for nothing shall put thee in mind of thy 〈◊〉 Be not angrie with the earth if it be barren for it will say it was so non propter se sed propter te To conclude this point well saith a Father we must have not only sensum poenae in corpore the feeling of punishment in our body but sensum irae divinae in mente the seeling of Gods wrath in our soul. But now not to leave you plunged in despair with consideration of grievous punishment in a word I will touch the alay of this punishment be comforted though God be just yet he is mercifull non est Crux sine Christo hast thou a Cross then hast thou Christ to comfort thee Mercies in this Sentence are five God hath left five signes of his mercie in this sentence which the ancient Fathers term vestigia miserantis gratiae impressions of Gods mercifull favour 1. The first is non dixit maledictus tu cursed be thou as he said to the Serpent but terra maledicta cursed be the earth the nature that sinned is not cursed nor is it like Cains curse in the fourth Chapter and eleventh verse for there is he cursed from the earth but here the earth of which Adam was made not Adam himself was cursed 2. Secondly he is punished but with a little labour to his great sinne with a watry drops of sweat and the sweat is but an easie sweat of the face not like Christs sweat in his prayer the twenty second of Luke the fourty fourth verse which was like drops of blood trickling down to the ground 3. Thirdly God might have suffered the earth to have been fruitless let man have laboured never so much but that man for all his sinne yet with his labour shall make the earth fruitfull in my opinion is a great mercy which I ground out of the one hundred twenty eighth Psalme when thou eatest the labour of thy hands saith David thou shalt be blessed It is a blessing when the Wife is fruitfull as the Vine upon the house side when thy Children are as the Olive plants about thy Table and it is a blessing that yet with labour the earth shall bring forth fruit It is a comfort that your labour shall not be in vain as St. Paul speaketh the first to the Corinthians the fifteenth and the fifty eighth God in mercy sendeth rain to water the earth what to doe Isaiah telleth you in his 55. chapter and 10. verse to give not only bread to the eater but even seed to the sower It is a comfort when we sowe that we shall reap he that soweth eareth reapeth thresheth doth it in hope the first to the Corinthians the ninth chapter and tenth verse God giveth bread to the hungry and the seed to further increase by labour dat acquisitum that thou hast gained through thy labor 4. Fourthly it is a great mercie to call it panis taus thy bread thou shalt eat of thy own bread this is mercy I say to terme that mans which is Gods Lastly this labour hath a date and an end it hath tempus refrigerii upon the amending your lives God will put away your sinnes and a time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Acts 3. 19. Let this be lastly your comfort that though you labour long yet you shall have a resting after your labour In sudore vultûs tui vescitor cibo donec revertaris in human cum ex eâ desumptus fueris nam pulvis es inpulverem revertêris Gen. 3. 19. October 〈◊〉 1598. NOw are we to handle the other part of Adams Sentence and punishment The ground and nature of the Sentence and in the Sentence we are to consider the ground of it and the nature or form of it Disobedience is the ground of this sentence and this Sentence is made even a Law for according to that of Paul Romans 6. 2. The Law of life which is in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the Law of sinne and of death so that sinne is the cause of death Hence sprung the Pelagian heresie condemned by the Councell of Carthage Concil Carth. 7. That said that though we sinned yet we were freed though we lived never so dissolutely yet we were saved After Christs comming death was not the reward of sinne but mark what St. James in his first chapter and thirteenth verse saith When lust hath conceived it 〈◊〉 forth sinne and sinne when it is finished bringeth forth death and St. Paul in the fifth to the Romans the nineteenth and the twenty first saith Death That as by one mans disohedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many were made righteous and further That as sinne reigned unto death so grace by righteousnese might reign to eternall life Truth it is that through sin came death and that death hath rule over all Adam at the first by sinne brought death the last Adam by obedience brought everlasting life and as Paul in the first to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the twenty sixth verse saith That the last enemie that Christ should destroy was death for as it is in the same chapter As in Adam all die so in Christ all shall be made alive and the very wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternall life saith Paul in the sixth to the Romans and the twenty third verse The nature and form of sinne Touching the nature and form of the sinne God is not cause of sinne God is not the agent in sinne but the cause of sinne is only from Adam himself And according to that of the Wise man in his first chapter and thirteenth verse Adam and sin cause of death God hath not made death neither hath he pleasure in the
is a work of infirmitie and consequently it cannot overcome Gods power for the weakness of God is stronger than the strength of man in the first to the Corinthians the first chapter but there is no reason to say or think that the weakness of man is stronger than the strength of God and therefore the Apostle saith Romans the third chapter Can the unbelief of man which is an infirmite of man make the faith of God of none effect It is not possible Though we be unfaithfull yet he abideth faithfull and cannot deny himself in the second to Timothy the second chapter and the thirteenth verse Thirdly Whereas sinnes are said to be great so the number of them how great or many soever they be yet we are not to doubt but there is pardon for them for there is mercy offered where there is multiplicitie of sinne Christs counsell is Be ye mercifull as your heavenly Father is mercifull Luke the sixt chapter and we see that mans mercie is so great that it forgiveth those that doe offend seventy times seven times Matthew the eighteenth chapter and the twenty second verse therefore Gods mercy must needs be greater Therefore God to shew the greatness of his mercy saith Howsoever man will not receive his wife when she goeth from him and becommeth another mans yet turn ye to me and I will receive you to favour Jeremiah the third chapter and the first verse So we see that Gods mercy exceeds mans mercy But the reason why we despair of pardon upon the sight of our sinnes is for that as the Prophet speaketh Mans thoughts are not as Gods thoughts Isaiah the fifty fift chapter man thinks that unpossible to be numbred which God doth number David to shew that his finnes were innumerable saith they are more than the hairs on his head Psalm fourtieth and the twelfth verse and yet Christ saith that our heavenly Father doth number all the hairs of our head Matthew the tenth chapter and the thirtieth verse Manasseb crieth out that his sinnes are more than the sande of the Sea which cannot be told and yet God doth comprehend and hold it in his hand Isaiah the fourtieth chapter and the twelfth verse And albeit in mans judgment the Starres may seem innumerable yet the Prophet saith That God counteth the number of the Starres and calleth them by their names Psalm the one hundred and fourty seventh so albeit our sinnes seem innumerable to us yet he can number them and albeit we think it impossible they should be forgiven yet God doth not think so Fourthly Against the grievousness of sinne there is hope of mercy For though they be as red as scarlet he will make them as white as snow Isaiah the first chapter and the eighteenth verse As our sinne is great so saith the Prophet Great is thy mercy towards men for thou hast delivered me from the nethermost hell Psalm the eighty sixt and the thirteenth verse and so great that he saith Psalm the seventy first and the fifteenth verse I know no end thereof Therefore albeit the greatness of sinne be grande barathrum yet major est abyssus misericordiae dei And as there is in us abundance of sinne so in Christ we finde superabundant grace for the remission of sinne Romans the fift chapter but as for peccatum meum that is such finnes as are of the same size that Cains was against which the Devill chiefly takes exception that we should not doubt of Gods mercy but that we may finde pardon though our sinne be the shedding of blood yet it is pardonable for David committed murther and yet obtained forgivness and was received to be a Saint in heaven Though a man be guilty of lying and denying the truth yet there is mercy in store with God for that sinne for Peter after he had denyed his Master and swore that he knew him not against his own conscience was for all that forgiven and that we should despair of no sinne to them that did shead the blood of the Sonne of God that holy and just one and killed the Lord of life even to those the Apostle saith Amend your lives and turn that your sins may be done away Acts the third chapter and the ninteenth verse and yet this sinne is farre greater than Cains sinne Jerome saith that Judas did offend God more in repelling his grace and 〈◊〉 of his mercy after his sinne than he did in betraying the Sonne of God Therefore when Cain saith My sinne is greater than can be pardoned the Fathers say mentiris Cain and Bernard saith absit major enim est dei pietas quam hominis iniquitas whereupon albeit Manasseh confesseth that he hath sinned above the number of the sand of the Sea and that his transgressions are multiplied yet knowing that Gods mercy is greater than the malice of men he ceaseth not to crave forgiveness and for that obtained pardon and was received into favour To conclude this point he that will hold Cains opinion doth not beleeve the promises of God that the womans seed shall be of sufficient power to break in peices the Serpents head but in saying his sin is greater than can be forgiven it is all one as if he said the malice and 〈◊〉 of the Serpent is greater than the virtue and power of Christ and contrary to that which the Apostle saith Hebrews the twelfth chapter that Christes blood speaketh better things than the blood of Abel he holds that Abels blood 〈◊〉 lowder for vengeance than Christs blood can doe which crieth for mercy and sorgiveness but it is absurd and blasphemous so to think for it cannot be but Christs blood which is Gods blood Acts the twentieth chapter must have more force to intreat for remission at Gods hand than the blood of a man can have to obtain vengeance major enim est propitiatio quam iniquitas For the Justice of God which is the second hindrance thus it stands That which God hath pronounced cannot be recalled but we are to see whether this hold true or no the Sentence pronounced by God upon Hezekiah was dispone domum tuum moriêris enim in the second of Kings the twentieth chapter and the first verse and the Sentence of God to be pronounced by Jonas was That within fourty daies Nineveh should be destroyed Jonah the third chapter but yet neither did Hezekiah die at that time neither was the City of Nineveh destroyed as the Prophet had said it should The reason is because albeit God spake suddenly against a Nation or Kingdome to pluck it up and destroy it yet he saith If this Nation against whom I have prenounced this Sentence doe turn from their 〈◊〉 I will repent of the plague that I thought to bring upon it 〈◊〉 the eighteenth chapter and the eighth verse so then Gods meaning was that the King should die except he did repent and that Nineveh should be destroyed if it did not repent but they repented therefore God revoked
holy laws that seeing their sinne against God they might confesse it so have pardon and forgiveness For it is not in Gods Court as it is in the Courts of men where the way to confess the fault and fact is the way to be condemned but with God the only way to be absolved and acquitted from sin is truly and unfainedly to confess our sins unto him this is the end why God in mercy doth send to them the opening of their eyes that they might see their sin it began to prevail that we may see the effect it had of them for though as yet the nobleness of their nature was such that they feared nor for there was yet no fear to them yet we see they were ashamed by it were driven to seek a covering to hide that shame with all but that effect of their seeing and shame was not good for whereas it should have made them return penitently to God from sin which was so shamefull they instead of turning to their own hearts and to God doe run to the figge tree leaves to make them coverings withall and so this Counsell of God in sending their signe was disanulled and perverted from turning to God to stepping to the figge tree And so whereas God appointed and sent the opening of their eyes for their good and conversion the Devill doth cause it by this means to turn to their greater destruction By which we see how the Devill and sin doth infatuate men and make them foolish and ignorant how to doe that which should be for their good and salvation but as the Prophet saith Jer. 4. 22. The Devill and sin whetteth their wits making them very sharpe wise to doe evill to hinder their salvation and to make them coverings and excuses to conceale cloak and colour their sin withall at this we are very good and have a present invention to coynelyes and excuses but we are dull and blockish to prevent the danger which sin doth bring This practise of the Serpent we see in this in that Adam goeth not to a tree of small or narrow leaves which were not fit for his purpose but to the figge tree which in that country as Pliny reporteth have leaves instar peltae Amazonum as broad as a Target and therefore most meete to make a covering withall Then besides their present sharpness in choosing the fittest matter to make this covering we 〈◊〉 in the next place their ingenious art and invention in that on such a suddain without study they are able to sowe and peice them together so that they did serve insteed of breeches to hide that nakednesse withall this we are able to doe of our own natural inclination sine Magistro which disposition of our corrupt nature we see by experience in all men even untill this day for doe we not see wicked men given over to all evill which in any good matters are very dull blockish and in Religion very senselesse and rude yet in this to be very ingenious and witty to invent divers excuses to hide and colour their sinnes withall herein their wit and art never faileth them but ever serveth them well wherefore of us may the Prophet also say Jer. 4. 22. they are wise to doe evill but to doe well they have no understanding The second default that Adam and Eve made in this was that the devill taketh up the whole roome of their hearts with the care and consideration of their bodily defects not regarding the spiritual nakedness and shame of their faults The third is in that they seeing their nakedness doe not seeke to take away the cause of the shame of their sinne but the effect which is their nakednesse and shame which is as if a man seeing and knowing himselfe to be sick should not seeke to remove the cause of his disease but the Symptomata and outward accidents thereof as if a man should only be carefull to take away the pimples of his face which are but outward accidents of his disease and never regard to remove the heat of the Liver which is the inward cause thereof and this is the third offence quia dolebat cur abat dedecus peccati non peccatum his care was only to be rid and acquitted of the shame of sinne and not of sinne it self Fourthly if this nakednesse which they see be so evill and so odious then this also is another fault of theirs quia nolunt tollere sed tegunt eam for indeed their desire should not be so much to cover as to care it but their care è contra is non curare sed velare and this is the nature of men now a daies in their distresses to seeke involucra non remedia that is maskes to cover and hide not meanes to care and remedy their soul offences The last and sift is that vanity of this covering of the fig tree leaf for as Saint Ambrose saith Wilt thou needes have a covering of thine owne seeking and making to hide thy sinfull nakednesse then thou art foolish and mad to goe to the fig-tree for leaves thou shouldest rather have gone to the Rocks and Mountains and cryed to them Cover us Ose 10. 8. for they are thicker and more able to cover or if thou wilt needes have it of leaves why wentst thou not to the Tree of Life whose leaves are said Revel 22. 2. to serve for medicine to cure and heale withall ☜ This then was another fault in that they rather went not to the Tree of mercy Christ Jesus but to their own Tree of hypocrisie or why went they not to the Olive Tree because that seemeth to be a tree of mercy Gen. 8. 11. for the Dove bringing a branch of that shewed that Gods anger was appeased and was a signe of mercy or else why did they not make a covering of that of which the mercy fear was made One of the Fathers saith I have heard indeede Esay 38. 21. that a cluster of figges had a virtue to cover heale but as for the leaves of that tree they quickly fade and fall away to nothing Esay 34. 4. or though the substance of the leaf could endure yet the thread wherewith they are sewed together would not hold but be broken when God doth teare them off the 13. of Ezekiel the 20. and the 21. and then where will be their covering which they have made But of all the rest the greatest fault of all was in that they rested quietly and securely in this vain covering which they had made saying pax pax tush all is well enough we are safe and neede not feare and in this secure carelesnesse they continued untill the evening This made St. Augustine say I suspect this garment and covering for it seemeth to be a fit reward for their eating the forbidden fruit that after they had eaten that fruit they should have for their labor a handfull of fig-leaves What fruit had you of your sin whereof
biting speech Behold they are as God they would have a quaternity instead of a trinity they know both good and evill in the first of the Kings the eighteenth and the twenty seventh Eliah mocketh the Priests of Baal saying Cry aloud for he is a God it may be he sleepeth and must be awaked surely this was a scoffing speech Hitherto apply the first to the Corinthians the twelfth chapter the thirty first verse Salomon in the first of his Proverbs the twenty second verse saith the Scorner taketh pleasure in scorning so doth not God yet in the twenty sixt verse of the same chapter Because you have despised my counsell and not regarded my correction I will laugh at your destruction and mock when your fear commeth and yet surely this speech is not altogether without an Ironie though it be not altogether Ironicall for according to that of the Proverbs before cited God scorneth them that scorne and despise him but it is unusual and not to be shewed in any one part of the Scriptures that God useth scorning to the penitent sinner though to the obstinate whom neither love of mercy nor fear of punishment can draw to repentance So then this speech is not a triumphing over them in miserie or a derision of their simplicitie but rather a publishing or laying open of their sinne by Ecce behold Jacob in the thirty second of Genesis the thirty second verse though he wrestled with the Angell and had a blessing yet the sinew of Jacobs thigh shrank A speech of affection This speech of God here is with an affection it is the speech of affection an unperfect speech without a period it breaketh off before it be full like that speech of our Saviour Christ the nineteenth of Luke the fourty second verse Oh if thou haddest known at the least in this thy day those things which belong unto thy peace but now are they hid from thee affection stayeth the course of the speech it is a speech of commiseration ecce homo pitie breaketh off the period In the nineteenth of John the fist verse when Christ was shewed to the People crowned with a crown of thornes Pilate said Ecce homo Behold the man And Austin upon that place saith they are words of commiseration and why are not the very same words here also So much for the character or form of the words The matter in them Now of the matter of the same It was concupiscence desire of honor beleef of error that they should be as God that made them sinne The Serpent promised them that they should not dye at all and that they should be as Gods eritis sicut Dei they heard the voice of the Devill and obeyed him Now remember that promise of the Devill is false hereafter beleeve me and be not deluded by the Devil So that God giveth them an audible word to ring in their eares in this and a lesson to continue in their heart for ever that so he may say with David Psalm 43. Deliver me O God from the 〈◊〉 and wicked man for he lyeth in wait for blood and lurketh for their lives the first of the Proverbs the eighteenth verse and so detest him that mislead them from life to death from the sight of God to the heavie indignation of the Lord. This must work compunction to see the losse of Paradise and the separation from Gods presence and that through the illusion of Satan they had fallen from so great blessednesse to so great miserie So much shall suffice for the matter of the publication of his fall The Divills promise The Serpent as you remember in the chapter before made them two promises the one eritis tanquam Dei the other 〈◊〉 mini God here in his Sentence sheweth that they have found the contrary of both Falsified for he saith Pulvis es in pulverē 〈◊〉 that is a bar to their immortalitie and in labore 〈◊〉 comedes 〈…〉 tuae So they shall neither be Gods nor immortall The tree of life was the ordinarie means to maintain him in time of innocencie but here God deprives him of that means he was placed in Paradise where was the tree of life he is deprived both of the tree and of Paradise it self privatur loco indumento He must labor and clothe himselfe or 〈◊〉 and die The tree of life as the ancient Fathers say well was symbolum or tessera vitae a seale or token whereby life was warranted them for God gave them life and not the tree of life and they were excommunicated from this seal and banished from this place of Paradise Deus est vita God was their life and being severed from God so they were severed from life Adams banishment This was the very first patern of civill banishment He would needs tast of the tree which was to him the tree of death and would not keep the Commandement nor the Law of Paradise wherein he was and wheresoever one liveth under a Law and breaketh the Law where he liveth deserveth punishment the reason why he should be banished lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life And this we see to be the general desire of all men that they are willing to prolong their life even in miserie rather then he would die he would take of this tree and live in miserie eternally for saith a Father well Cupidiores homines vitae producendae quà m terminandae men doat more upon the prolonging than upon ending their life God saw that this desire was inconvenient to live for ever Christ himself died but now being risen from the dead jam non moritur mors illi ultrà non dominabitur the sixt to the Romans the 〈◊〉 verse Christ hath triumphed over death but Adam after his fall had lived if he had had his own desire in misery perpetuall an evil eternal Our labour and pain is but temporall till thou return to dust but the Devils shall be perpetual God turned the desire of Adam of evill eternall to an evill temporal with a donec This also is another reason why it is not expedient that he should have his desire God before hath promised life in the very promise of the seed of the Woman If God have promised a better life by another means than Adam desired or the tree of life yeelded that is in his Sonne our Saviour to live a Heavenly life in eternitie both in soul and bodie for he changeth the terrestrial life of the bodie subject to pain and misery which he desired to a heavenly life full of joy and endlesse glorie So that in that God debarred him to put forth his hand to the tree of life was mercie even in judgement St. Gregorie upon this place saith well Materia est misericordiae in providentia divina God by his providence sheweth great mercy even in Judgment it was just that he should die but if you consider it well in
that it was a confession without any petition or prayer for pardon and he made no prayer because he had no hope and no hope for that he wanted faith We must therefore beware that we deferre not our confession and repentance but speedily return to God for that is the cause that he bears with us he might presently consume us after we have sinned but he spareth us for repentance as the Prophet speaketh in the thirtieth chapter of Isaiah Expectat Deus ut miseriatur and his mercy is extended to all sinners upon condition of repentance Albeit Nebuchadnezzar were a grievous sinner yet the Prophet telleth him in the fourth chapter of Daniel if he break off his sinnes by righteous dealing and his iniquities by mercy to the poor Erit sanatio erroris And the Prophet to them that had given themselves to Idolatrie saith If you turn your iniquitie shall not be to your destruction Ezekiel the eighteenth chapter and the thirtieth verse Therefore the Godly man saith Wee have trespassed against God wee have taken strange wayes yet now there is hope in Israel for this Exodus the tenth chapter and second verse Which is a point very materiall for if hope of mercy and forgivenesse be cut off sinners will fall into their case that said desperatly in the eighteenth chapter of Jeremiah and the twelfth verse We will walk in the stubbornesse of our hearts or else as the Apostle speaketh They will be swallowed up of too much heavinesse in the first epistle to the Corinthians the second chapter that is without hope of mercy men fall into desperate hardness of heart or into desperate fear sorrow so as they cannot be comforted And this is it which the Devill desires to the end he may bring this to pass As in the beginning he took exception against one tree charged God with niggardliness envy albeit he could not charge God for all the trees of the Garden in the third chapter of Genesis and the fift verse so albeit it be impossible for the Devill to perswade Cain that God will not forgive sinnes because in as much as if God be extream to mark what is done 〈◊〉 and enter into judgement no man can be justified in his sight Psalm the one hundered and thirtieth and Psalm the one hundred fourty third therefore he must needs forgive sinnes unlesse he will shew that he hath made all men for nought Psalm the eighty ninth yet he tels him that howsoever sinnes may be forgiven yet Cain's sinne cannot be pardoned He tels Cain that a 〈◊〉 there of his Brother and such a one as denyeth the deed with such presumptuous and proud answers cannot have pardon But the error of Cain stands herein not that he is perswaded that his sin is great for murther no doubt is a great sinne but that he thinketh it so great as it could not be pardoned as if Gods mercy were not great enough for his sinne were it never so great Cain's error then as we see is Major iniquitas quà m propitiatio Which error God doth most of all detest First for that it doth prejudice his Power as if he that is Almighty were not able to pardon the sinnes of wicked men Secondly It doth prejudice his truth for God affirmeth of himself That he forgiveth iniquity transgression and sinne Exodus the thirty fourth chapter and the seventh verse which is the sinne that Cain speaketh of here The Prophet saith of God in the one hundred and thirtieth Psalme He shall deliver Israel from all his sinnes He hath shut up all under sinne that he may have mercy over all Romans the eleventh chapter And as he came into the world to save sinners so primos peecatorum in the first epistle to Timothie the first chapter and the sixteenth verse This Cain could not be ignorant of having heard of the promise which God made That the seed of the woman should break the Serpents head that is as we have shewed the head and chief sinne that the Devill can infect the soul of man withall Thirdly This error doth derogate from his goodnesse which makes it more odious to God for Gods mercy hath a preeminece above his justice Psalme the one hundred fourty fifth his mercy is above all his workes And as the Apostle saith in the second chapter of James Mercy triumpheth over Justice Therefore the sin against Gods Mercy is more grievous Again It is the more odious in Gods eyes because it takes from him the Glory of his Mercy which is essentiall and naturall in God for his Justice groweth out of man and he is said to be just not so much in regard of himself as in respect of his dealing towards men in that he rewardeth the good and punisheth the bad But as for Mercy it is naturally in him and a part of his Essence But his Justice commeth from without for when men provoke him by their sinnes then he saith Isaiah the twenty eighth chapter and the seventeenth verse Judgment will I lay to the rule and righteousness to the ballance Therefore if we conceive of God as a hard Lord whereas we see he is ready to forgive ten thousand talents to his Servants Matthew the eighteenth chapter or think him to be a hard Father whereas he is most kinde to naughty and unthrifty Sons Luke the fifteenth chapter We doe derogate against his mercie and goodness who in respect of his naturall inclination to mercy is called mercy Psalm the fifty ninth and the seventeenth verse wherefore as the Apostle said to the Jewes Acts the thirteenth chapter and the fourty sixt verse Seeing you have put the word of God from you and judged your selves unworthy of eternall life so if any man by taking an 〈◊〉 opinion of Gods mercy doe put it from him and judge himself unworthy of mercy there is no hope that he shall ever obtain forgiveness but he must either fall into that desparare hardness of heart that is mentioned Jeremiah the eighteenth chapter or else be continually tormented with a wounded spirit Proverbs the eighteenth chapter and be swallowed up of heaviness in the second to the Corinthians the second chapter Touching Cains conceit it is certain if his sinne cannot be pardoned it is either in regard of the sinne it self or of Gods justice but neither of these are any such hindrance that they ought to draw us to that which Cain saith Touching sinne it is not a thing impossible to obtain pardon for it First Because sinne is the work of a Creature which is finite and therefore can doe nothing but that which is finite But God is infinite and of his greatness there is no end psalm the one hundred and fourty sift And therefore look how much God is greater than man so great is his power to thew mercy and consequently it is not possible that his mercy should be overcome of our sinne and miserie Secondly peccatum hominis est infirmitas hominis that is sinne
〈◊〉 and we shall see that 〈◊〉 man 〈…〉 himself to this present World can have more 〈…〉 〈◊〉 Secondly For Gods hand and 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 〈◊〉 Children this ground is to be laid that these 〈…〉 are from God for Jubals invention 〈…〉 from God 〈…〉 butter of Kine and 〈◊〉 of Sheep with 〈◊〉 of Lamb 〈…〉 in Basham He gives the grain of wheat and 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 the thirty second chapter and the four 〈◊〉 and for making of 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 It is God that 〈◊〉 songs in the night Job the thirty fist chapter and the 〈…〉 For Tubal-Cains invention of 〈◊〉 of warr It is the Lord that teachet hour hands to 〈◊〉 and our 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 the 〈◊〉 and the fourth 〈◊〉 These inventions are all 〈◊〉 God whereby we see it is not with God as 〈◊〉 said to Isaas his Father Genesis the twenty seventh chapter Hast thou but one 〈◊〉 God hath for the Sonnes of men 〈◊〉 only heavenly blessings that 〈◊〉 the life to come but even such as pertain to the 〈…〉 In his lest hand he hath riches and worldly honour but in his 〈◊〉 hand 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 life Proverbs the third 〈…〉 the fix teenth 〈◊〉 he hath not only donum 〈◊〉 but 〈…〉 James the first 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 verse 〈◊〉 in temporall things as well as spirituall to 〈◊〉 upon 〈…〉 we fed God saith Exodus the thirty first chapter 〈◊〉 his 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 and Aholiab so as they were able 〈◊〉 work in the 〈◊〉 so all mechanicall arts are to be ascribed to 〈…〉 that was for 〈◊〉 Tabernacle So Hir 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 with the 〈◊〉 to work in 〈◊〉 for the Temple in the second book of Chronicles the 〈◊〉 chapter and the fourteenth verse These 〈◊〉 came from the 〈◊〉 of counsell and understanding The second thing to be observed is Gods 〈…〉 herein that he 〈◊〉 to the wicked good 〈◊〉 pertaining to this life as Christ 〈◊〉 He suffers 〈…〉 to shine 〈◊〉 the godly and 〈◊〉 Matthew the fist chapter so he bestowes temporall 〈◊〉 upon the posterity of Cain as well as upon the Children of 〈◊〉 and this they obtain of God gratiae gratis datae but not 〈…〉 Secondly His mercy appeares herein that he 〈◊〉 gives 〈◊〉 a supply of those blessings which their sinnes 〈◊〉 them of Thirdly His 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 order that the world 〈◊〉 be furnished with things necessary for this present 〈◊〉 By 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 world Psalm the seventeenth And that they which have 〈◊〉 themselves to the things of this world should have 〈◊〉 excellency in things 〈…〉 the same above the Godly as the 〈◊〉 est of worldly men in this 〈◊〉 so their 〈◊〉 stands in earthly things and the godly 〈…〉 in respect of 〈◊〉 For the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 are 〈◊〉 in their 〈…〉 the Children of light Luke the tenth chapter but come to things that pertain to the other life there they that seem to be most childish in things of this life goe far beyond the Philosophers of whom the Apostle saith in the first to the Corinthians the second chapter The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the spirit of God But he hath hid them from the wise and prudent of this world and revealed them to babes Matthew the eleventh chapter and the twenty fift verse Fourthly We are to consider the equity of Gods dealing in recording these things in his own book which is the Library of the Holy Ghost These things are enrolled by an honourable name that is the name of a Father shewing plainly that they which bring forth actions that are profitable no less are to be counted Fathers than they that bring forth Children and that they ought accordingly to be honoured and reverenced as Fathers The ancient Fathers make a question Whether these men were the inventors of these things first It is certain that Cain being an husbandman had use of iron workes as the Coulter and Share and albeit he did invent iron tools fit for his purpose yet that which is ascribed to Tubal-Cain was excultio expolitio that is the perfecting of that work which Cain had begun Abel was a shepheard and could not but have use of tents but yet the perfecting of that cunning in that kinde is 〈◊〉 to Jubal Mahalallel was one that used to praise God as his name signifieth which he could not doe without some kinde of musick and therefore in as much as he was farre ancienter than Lamech it follows there was musick before Jubal invented Instruments and Organs This distinction therefore must be held in this point which the School men make that the one is quoad modum simplicis the other quoad modum singularis And therefore in as much as Jabal-Jubal and Tubal Cain are called Fathers of these arts which were in use long before them it is plaine that not only the first inventors of any art are to be honoured but even they also that add any excellencie or perfection to any thing which they professe To draw to an end Lamech being thus blessed of God in things naturall and pertaining to this life ought to be thankfull to God Jacob when God gave him a sonne called his name Judah saying I will praise the Lord Genesis the twenty ninth chapter but he is so farre from praising God that he speakes hard things against God If Cain be avenged seven times then Lamech seventy times seven fold And for men he was so cruel against them that he said no man should stirre against him He would kill a man in his rage Therefore he called his third sonne Tubal Cain that is another Cain as if he would have the name of Cain remembred which God would have buryed All these mercies moved not Lamech to any amendment but as it is in the twenty sixth chapter of Isaiah Let mercy be shewed to the wicked yet will he doe wickedly so did Lamech And albeit these things which they invented tended to the benefit of men yet they were to their own destruction Hypocrites can discern the face of the sky but cannot discern the signe or the times Matthew the sixteenth chapter The Heathen by the works of God attained to a knowledge of God but were not the better for it because they did not worship him as God Romans the first chapter so in as much as they imploy not that 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 which God gave them to his glory it will be to their destruction As we are to have a right estimation of those things where with God blessed them outwardly so we must beware that having the like blessings we be not as they They desired to be mighty men on earth and men of renoune Genesis the sixth chapter that was the end of their desire and they were so but as Christ saith accepêrunt mercedem suam Lamech as he desired proved a mighty man and so did his posterity but when all is done when the men of this world as Lamech have Children at their 〈◊〉 fire Psalm the seventeenth yet they lye in hell
which assurance we are likewise to gather to our selves in this 〈◊〉 that as surely as we corporally doe taste of the bread and wine so sure it is that we spiritually feed on the body and blood of Christ which is communicated unto us by these elements as the Apostle 〈◊〉 in the first to the 〈◊〉 the tenth chapter and the fifteenth verse that the bread broken is the communion of the body of Christ that the cup blessed is the communion of his blood that by partaking of this spirituall food we may be fed to eternall life Thirdly this act was performed with speed the Ceraphin came flying with wings and being 〈◊〉 he hath a present effectuall power to take away his sinne for a little before he that cried out that he was in woefull case verse the 〈◊〉 Vae mibi by and by being touched and revived with comfort of forgivenesse saith Ecce ego mitte me in the eighth verse whereby we learn that the touching with the coal thus taken from the Altar and the participating of the body and blood of Christ hath a power not only to purge and heale the sore of our nature but that it giveth a 〈◊〉 to serve God more cheerfully and carefully than we did before 〈◊〉 us serventes spiritu servent in spirit Rom. the twelfth and the 〈◊〉 verse so that we care for nothing nor count our live 〈…〉 that 〈◊〉 may finish our course with joy Acts the twentieth and the twenty fourth verse The summe of all is that seeing it is a fearfull thing to appear in the presence of Gods Majesty and knowing that one day we must all appear before his tribunall seat and throne of glory we do 〈◊〉 with the Prophet that albeit we have lived never so upright a life yet if we have beene silent when we should have spoken to his glory if we have omitted never so little a duty which we ought to have performed for all that our case is miserable untill it please God by the burning coale of his Altar and by the sacrifice of Christs body offered up for us upon the crosse to take away our sinnes And that if we 〈◊〉 humble our selves before God and acknowledge our sinnes then our sinnes shall be purged by the death of Christ and by partaking of the sacrament of his bodie and blood the rather because in the sacrament we doe touch the sacrifice it self whereas the Prophets sinne was taken away with that which did but touch the sacrifice Then after the receiving of this sacrament we must take a view of our selves whether we can say Nonne cor 〈…〉 in nobis Did not our heart burn within us Luke the twenty fourth chapter and the thirty second verse because in this sacrament we finde a fire of Christs love towards us And whether we finde in our selves that willingnesse to serve God aright which was in the Prophet in the eighth verse Behold send me Ecce mitte me As in regard of our misery we made the confession of sinfull men so having experience of Gods mercie in taking away our sinnes we must make the confession of Angels crying Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts Lastly We must not only shew forth the heat of our love to our needy and poor Brethren by doing the works of mercy but even to our enemies as both Salomon and the Apostle teach If thine enemie hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for so thou shalt heap 〈◊〉 of fire upon his head Proverbs the twenty fift chapter and the twenty first verse and Romans the twelfth chapter and the ninteenth verse For so as thouarta burning coale in thy self so thou shalt kindle in him the coals of devotion to God and of love to thy self Attendite ne justitiam vestram exerceatis coram hominibus ut spectemini ab eis alioquin mercedem non habebitis apud Patrem vestrum qui est in Coelis Matth. 6. 1. Octob. 15. 1598. THE drift of our Saviour in these words is to separate that which is vile from the pretious Jeremiah the fifteenth chapter to sever the tare of vain glory from the good corne of righteousnesse and mercie But as Christ gives charge That while his Disciples laboured to gather away the tares they should beware that they pluck not up the good corne Matthew the thirteenth chapter So while we labour to pluck up the tares of vain glorious intentions we must take heed that we doe not withall pluck up the good corne of good works for heretofore the good seed of the Doctrine of good works was not so soon taught but presently the Devil sowed in mens hearts the wicked opinion of merit of works as tares among good corne And while men laboured to take away the opinion of merits then he takes away out of mens hearts the care of works In the counsel of Christ two things are to be noted First the corn must be sowed take heed ye doe good works Secondly the 〈◊〉 must be plucked up but doe them not to be seen We must doe righteousness both privatly in our own consciences and publiquely before men as the Apostle sheweth Provide for things honest before all men Romans the twelfth chapter But the tares are to be avoided that is to be seen ut videamini where we have a command First Christ will not have us doe good works to this end to be seen Secondly That we may not we must take heed as if he should say My will is ye shall not give almes to this end to be seen Thirdly That ye may avoid this fault ye must take heed Whereby he signifieth that to doe almes to this end to purchase praise to our selves is a hurtfull thing And to avoid this fault is a matter of great difficul y. For the first point Christ saith When ye give almes doe not blow a trumpet when ye fast or pray let not all the world know of it neither let the end be ut videamini Touching which we are to know that our good works are not worse in themselves for being seen but are the better even as the goodnesse of a colour stands in the lightnesse of it so our good works are more commended if they be known And they of themselves desire the light as Christ sheweth in John the third chapter and the twenty first verse But such is our corruption that if we think our works are known we with our pride doe corrupt them For as pride is the way to dry up the fountain of Gods grace as James saith God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble James the fourth chapter So the sight of good works is a means to overthrow our humility The Pharisees knew this full well which purposing to tempt Christ covered their hooks with praise Seeing we know that thou art a teacher come from God and regardest no man tell us is it lawfull Matthew the twenty second chapter But Christ to teach us what a dangerous thing it
we must pray not only for the blessing of the earth but also of the heaven as Jacob Gen. 49. 25. Deut. 33. 13. Not only for the blessing of the wombe of the earth which being a fruitfull soll quickly conceiveth and bringeth forth fruit but also the blessing of the breasts of the Clouds without which the fruit will very soon perish and wither Job 38. 8. For it is Gods blessing both to make a land a fruitfull and fertill soil apt to conceive and also to send seasonable rains to it that it may grow and be ripe and good for mans use These all doe likewise serve for the execution as well of Gods justice to correct us as of his mercy to doe us good For when we displease him with our sinnes he maketh these things his rods by causing the Heavens and Clouds to be as Brass and the Earth as Iron thereby and on the contrary side when he in justice will set wide open the windows and fludgates of heaven to drown the earth with floods and inundations as he did the old World Usus And this is that use and instruction which we are to learn out of this division to pray if it please God for his blessings and not to sinne for fear we be scorched with droughts and over whelmed and drowned with floods Fecit ergo Deus hoc expansum quod distinguit inter has aquas c. Gen. 1 7. vers THe treaty concerning the second dayes work is divided according to the work it self and the name given to it the work is set down in the sixth and seventh to the manner of it in the eighth verse In the work we observed three points according to the three severall verbs Dixit fecit sit The first containeth the precept or warrant for the making of the work The second the workmanship and going about to doe or make it The third the return and certificate to signifie that it was fully executed which three are in Dixit fecit factum est With man it often times falleth out that dixit is without fecit that is it is too usuall that men promise and say much but doe it not and many times we see his fecit to be without perfecit that one may say factum est it is fully and perfectly done the first we see Mat. 21. 30. he said but he did it not the other custome of men is exemplified Luc. 14. 30. for as he did it not so on the other side This man began to build a house but did not finish it So none can say that his fecit was factum est 3 the first also we see 1 Sam. 18. 17. Saul said he would give Michol to David but did it not but it was not so with God for he is not yea in saying and nay in doing and performing but as certain as he saith a thing so surely it is done for his word is truth and that his deed declareth and on the other side it is farr otherwise with God than it is with man for if God begin a good work he will surely finish it throughly Phil. 1. 6. perfecit quod facit if he be the beginner and author of any thing he will also perfect it and finish it Heb. 12 2. so that we shall confesse as here that quod fecit factum est So that that is the first consideration in God that these three severall things saying doing and perfecting are inseparable in him joyned and linked together as a chain that one ensuing the other and all following the first The first of these hath been shewed before the two last the Work and the Certificate are now to be handled in order The Work in this seventh verse touching which we see that it doth stand on two points and parts First He made it Secondly He separated it Concerning the making the word gnasha signifieth to make which hath an opposite and divers sense from two words which may seem to be the same too meaning Esay 45. 7. there is these three words formavi creavi feci of these three severall words the first is common to the other two for all that is made of somewhat or nothing hath a form and therefore is formed Distinctio but facere creare are distinguished thus To make presupposeth a matter subject but to create is to make of nothing in the first day God created of nothing but now in this work he is a maker for Coelum aëreum was made of something the Heavens were planted Esay 51. 16. and therefore there was something which was as it were the seed kernell or science or 〈◊〉 of which it was planted It is true that in respect of us it is more admirable to see a thing made of nothing because we cannot conceive it then to see or heare of a great thing made of a small matter because it is familiar experience with which we are acquainted to see a little child prove a great man and a seed 〈◊〉 kernell proves mighty tree but in respect of God both works are like strange and also in the respects of the works themselves to make a tree of a kernell and to make 〈◊〉 tree of nothing is alike though the one we approve because of common experience as a matter usuall and nothing strange for Gods power is miraculous in both though in the one now it be made naturall and usuall it was strange to sea it to turne water into wine and to feed five thousand with five 〈◊〉 and two fishes yet the strange miracle is wrought by 〈…〉 yeare as we see but we consider it not for God sendeth the watery moisture of the Earth to be conveyed into the Vine tree which sap God turneth into Wine though it seem naturall and with as few Corns of grain as will make five loaves being sowed in the Earth will multiply and increase to as much as will seed five thousand with bread and two fishes will bring so many fishes as may suffice so many fer meat so that we have these wonderfull miracles amongst us every day Now touching the Heavens the science kernel or plant of which they were planted and made was the waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3.5 The other words to which this word in nature is opposite and 〈…〉 sence is oper are which signifieth with ones hand to work with tools and instruments with laborious pains But God doth not so make the Heavens but he doth it with as much ease as it is for a man to breath Psal. 104. 30. emitte spiritum creabunter 〈◊〉 besides the facility with such speed and celerity that in the space of time that one can say fiat with the festination he doth his works which is divers from the custome of men in making or doing any thing for they commonly take great pains and spend much time in work to no purpose and can doe nothing as Peter Luke 5. 5. he laboured all night and caught nothing but it
the Aire Job 38. 38. and being all dry clods it would be unprofitable for tillage therefore God giveth the waters to mollifie and soften it Psal. So the Earth is good to the Sea waters for it is a clenser and strainer through which the saltnesse and unfruitfulnesse of the Waters are amended and made profitable Exod. 15. 25. Also as it maketh them serviceable so doth the Earth make them medicinable by his veynes giving a vertue to make hot bathes Gen. 36 24. so by it the waters are made profitable serviceable and medicinable 3. Thirdly In regard of our selves which enjoy both for both are our matter and substance of which we are made For the Earth is the Meale and the Waters the Liquor of both which the whole lump of Mankinde was made and by both we are preserved alive as the means appointed by God 4. Lastly in regard of God For the Earth is Gods good Footstool the Seas and Waters his Gallory or path to walk in Job 9. 8. and the Heavens to be his Seat on which if he but stamp with his feet as angry both the Eart and Waters are troubled and doe quake but if he tread gently as pleased they are quiet and doe as it were leap play and dance for joy but at his frowning and check the hills tremble and the Seas are troubled and make a noyse Psal. 48. In the 114. 5. we may see a Dialogue between the Sea and the Land touching this For the Earth asketh the Waters What ayleth thee that thou art troubled c. The Waters reply and say We fly at the presence and voyce of God at which he saith Tremble thou O Earth for if his feet make the Seas goe out of course then it is able to overturn the Earth being his Foo stool Usus The use of this is matter of meditation both of Gods Mercie and Justice If we anger God with sinne the Earth is made to stagger and reele the Seas to roare and swell and the Fire to rage and burn on every side and threaten our destruction If we please him they are made good means for our preservation Where of this is the effect and application of this his goodnesse and approbation to pray to God which is the hope of all which dwell on the Earth and which remain on the broad Sea Psal. 65. 5. that he will use the Sea to drown all our sinnes in it Micha 7. 9. and one day to make us to see all his goodnesse in the land of the living Psal. 27. 13. for then we shall indeed see that all that God made for us is most absolute and good Iterum dixit Deus Herbascat terra herbulas herbas sementantes semen c. Genesis 1. vers 11.12 IT was a benefit for the Earth to be disburdened from the great weight of huge waters wherewith it was surcharged even that breathing and ease from that burthen was a great blessing but it contenteth not God so gracious is he only to make it spectabilem but also he will make it speciosum he will have it both conspirable that it may be seen and also conspicuall that it may be worthy the sight that is comely sightly and good and pleasant to behold For as Esay saith 40. 15. it was made and appeared at the first it was but a dust heap and as he calleth it a measure of dust ashes but now it is made habitable and a seat for men then it was in its nature but as a Desart place destitute of all necessaries to sustain them which are and remain dwelling in it but now being delivered from the naturall inconveniences Tohu Tohohu it is become a store-house replenished with all things for man and beast mundus erat antea domus as I have shewed you for it had Heaven the sealing the Waters as walls the Earth as pavement sed non erat in domo hac panis it was as a Shepherds Cottage and wildernesse in which we might stay but we must needs starve if it had continued so Wherefore as good no place as such a place untill God had added this blessing to furnish it as here we shall see Therefore that it might be penu as the waters made it promptuarium God here maketh it a storehouse and place of receipt taking order by his word that it might be locus conveniens ad vitam ad victum ad vestitum and to that end doth he here open his mouth again saith Moses Touching which 1. The second opening of Gods mouth we will first consider of his second opening of his mouth 2. Of the Argument Secondly of the Argument and Contents of his Edict 3 Of his words and works which doe expresse it Thirdly of his Words and Works which doe expresse it The iterating and doubling of his word is a signe of his double care and love he bare to the Earth which we must answer again by doubling our love and care to please him with all our heart and soul Matth. 22. 10. If we look on all their works and compare this with the two before and after we shall see heuseth but one speech to his place of Heaven but he speaketh once or twice to this and the reason is because the Earth was cumbred with a double and indeed with a tripple inconvenience for it was within emptie without a bare and a deformed dust heap and all overwrapped with waters to cover it Therefore God having removed the waters with one word now here he removeth the other inconveniences giving her facultatem foecunditat is instead of emptinesse amictum venustat is for the other without So this is the beautifull apparell of the Earth which the Poets say Vesta gave her rather doe we account this as a work of adorning than a removing from it these native inconveniences which before it had for these we call ornaments that may be removed or taken away as we are whole though jewels and bracelets and chains be taken away such are the living Creatures as beasts and birds c. which may be removed But those things here named grow fast unto the Earth and cannot be put away but are as supplies to the indigence of nature God cannot abide esse inners that is an idle being and therefore as he gave the light a power to send out beams and the Heavens to send down influence and dewes and to Rivers a motive power to runne into the veins of the Earth and so spring up So here to keep the Earth from idlenesse he in this work of distinction giveth it a power to shoot out Plants which are as the beams and influences of the Earth that it corrupt not in idlenesse And thus much of the order and dependance of these words The Argument Now for the form and argument of it We shall see that the pupose of God herein is partly to deck and trim up his work and partly that it might be inriched with
but as it is a help to sanctific us and a furtherance to true holinesse for if it be a hindrance to piety or a cause to make us lesse holy rest is evill and farre worse than work and honest labour Wherefore they which spend the Sabath day not in the publique Congregation but privatly at home in their houses and chambers doe ill and were condemned by that ancient Conncell of Gangren which was holden in France And we read in 44. of Ezecbiel 19. that there were Officers to look that the Sabath day should be well kept it must much lesse then be made a Sabath of belly cheer spent in no other then such as whereof commeth nothing but dung being the only fruit of their festivall and holy-dayes and God so hated it that he cast it in their faces that so kept it neither must it be spent in wanton recreation and lascivious pastime Nor yet as the men of Ashedod did Nehem. 13. 15. by making it a Market day and Faire to sell their Merchandises for this is to make our purse and our belly Mammon and Bacchus our Gods and to consecrate a holy-day to them Nor as Shiloh did to dancing Nor as our L. in frequenting Theaters and Playes Bear and Bull baiting for this is to turne away our foot from the Sabath and from doing Gods will on the holy-day We must not doe so but we must call the Sabath a delight to consecrate it to the Lord and honor it not doing our own wayes nor seeking our own will nor speaking a vain word I say 28. 13. but we must I say delight in the Lord upon that day and then his blessings of all sorts shall light upon us verse 14. But let us come now to speak of these two things apart which respecteth our sanctification and observation of the Sabath to see what we should not doe and then what we should doe as is required of us Touching the rest from things inhibited it is somewhat dangerous to speak of it because our nature is given to such extremes for there are two ancient Councels which doe bewray our corrupt disposition The one is Concilium Aurelianense in France which sheweth that in those dayes the People were so straight laced that they were perswaded that it was utterly unlawfull to doe any thing either Adjutorem or ad necessitatem to trim up their houses and themselves or to dresse meats We read again within fourty years after that their mindes were so 〈◊〉 gone wide from that that they fell into the other extreme clean contrary that they thought it was lawfull for them by Christian liberty to doe in it what they list To 〈◊〉 which foul error there was made the second Counsell of Mascon which made a Cannon That the people should sequester themselves from all mechanicall works of their vocations Hinderances to the observation of the Sabbath The things which are now interdicted to Christians as hindrances of this holy 〈◊〉 six in number 1. The first is bearing of burdens Jer. 17. 24. 2. The second is travailing journeyes Exod. 16. 29. 3. The third is earing ploughing carting or taking in of harvest Exod. 34. 21. 4. The fourth for bearing merchandizes buying and 〈◊〉 Nehem. 13 15 16 17. c. 5. The fifth not to build Temples or Churches Exod. 31. 13. c. 6. The sixth idle playes and pastimes to which men are too much given at such times Which because they are divers and men are diversly given thereunto in sundry places I will name some which the Fathers in their times have sharply reproved and inveighed against as the abuses and prophanings of Sabaths in their ages and severall places in which they lived for we read that the Councels of the Church doe not only concur joyntly with Gods word in interdicting the former things but also other particular abuses of their age and place As proper then St. Jerome upon the 20. of Ezekiell sharply reproveth stage playes on that day Augustine 119. Epistle inveigheth against Dauncing Gregorie against Hunting and Hawking which great personages then used Leo spake against Dice and Cards by which the Sabbath was prophaned in his time I will come to the Heathen and we will see the things which they by the light of reason condemned on their holy-dayes as prophane abuses of them which did 〈◊〉 them as they thought Of the which this is one of their rules die sacra requiescat aratrum for they thought it a pollution to their holy-dayes for though they were lawfull and necessary on their dayes yet they thought them not ad decorem hujus diei They which doe these things inhibited and forbidden by God as a hinderance of sanctification God so misliketh that he appropriateth to this sinne a speciall punishment Jer. 17. 27. and that is to send fire to their Cities As this is against the one extreme so we are to give a caveat for the other least while men avoid prophanesse Precisenesse â—…ching the Sabbbath they fall into that precisenesse of the Jews as to think it death and deadly sinne to doe any thing at all on the Sabbath day This was the jewish error of Kiffon a 〈◊〉 who held it necessary that on the evening before the 〈◊〉 if any man were found siting in the same place and state he must remain sitting untill the end of the Sabbath But Origen speaking of him as too strickt expoundeth that place of Exod. 16. 29. Maneat quisque in loco suo thus in his place saith he that is within the space of two thousand Cubits So that he thought it no breach of the day to keep within that compasse but this is to strain at a Gnat c. For God hath not made restraint of works in such labors in matters of piety and necessity For Christ saith That Priests in the Law did break their bodily rest And yet were blamelesse as in blowing of Trumpets in stead of ringing of Bells in fetching water carrying of wood and killing of oxen These things being sacrorum causa were accounted holy labors as to goe about to see the Sabbath day kept Ezech. 44. 14. He made custodes Sabati to the which use are our Church-wardens to attend So say we also for necessity for the Maccabes 1. Book condemneth those which on the Sabbath day would not fight to resist the rage of the enemy then presently setting upon them Elias walking fourty dayes must needs travail some Sabbath and break the bodily rest In this case of absolute necessity the labor of Midwives and such as are attending on so needfull and present a businesse may not be deferred Periculum animae pellit Sabatum for it is a work of mercy to save a mans life God will have mercy rather than sacrifice yea Christ will excuse them which doe toyle and labor on the Sabbath day to pull a beast out of the mire Matt. 12. 11. But let not this liberty give occasion to
is in the state of man described in the second Chapter All that shall we see in this Chapter to be overthrown by the work and malice of the Devill At the sight and consideration of which Tragedy as St. Augustine saith all the Creatures especially mankinde ought with sighs and groanes to dissolve themselves into teares to think of our and their utter and irrecoverable confusion were it not for this which is annexed unto it namely the hope of the seed of the woman promised to come at the fulness of time to restore all things which were lost in Paradise and to bring us a more excellent Paradise than that ever was The cause of all these evills which we see in us and in the world Moses here relleth us in the beginning of this Chapter to be the verifying of that Prophesie which God 〈◊〉 Adam Gen. 2. 17. that is what time soever he should sinne and break the Commandement of God he should die that is have all the Messengers and Ministers of death ferzing upon him untill death it self the reward of sinne should take hold on him which first part of the Chapter we shall divide as St. Paul doth teach us Rom. 6. 1. into two parts the first he calleth peccatum the other peccati obsonium that is into the cause and nature of sinne and into the effect and punishment which followeth it Concerning the transgression he setteth down first the temptation of sin in the first 5. verses then the preparation which is the sinne it self in the 6. verse then followeth the stipend and hier of sinne from that verse unto the 15. verse In which verse then the prophet sheweth that God in justice remembred mercie and as St. James saith caused his mercy to triumph over justice in the promised seed without which remedy Adams sinne had been incurable and his case and our condition had been most desperate whereas by this means as St. Augustine saith the Devills envy is foelix invidia and Adams sinne is foelix culpa that is falleth out to the greater glorie of all the elect sonnes of God Now more particularly we are led to consider two things in the temptation first of all the persons both agent and patient and then the allurements and inticements thereof The chief in this temptation was the Devill and the Woman and then in regard of consent Adam himself grew accessory and guilty thereof so that there were three causes of sinne The chiefest Author of it was the Devill the next is Eve the yeelder to him the third was Adam the consenter to them both Serpents we know speak not for they were not made to reason and dispute therefore we must needs understand another high person besides he Serpent which spake in him and used him as his Instrument and means to effect this evil devise And in this respect the Devill is called Rev. 12. 9. the old Serpent as his name appellative by which he was once called and Satanas Revel 〈◊〉 2. as his proper name by which his 〈◊〉 and malicious nature is made known As therefore the Devill craftily and closely did put into Judas head and heart by his suggestion how to seek Christs fall and death John 13. 2. so doth he as sly lie put into the Serpents mouth this temptation by which he might betray the first Adam and bring him to death and therefore as Christ truly though not properly called Judas Satan because he saw the Devill used him as his Instrument So by the same right and reason may we call the Serpent the Devill because it was he in this Serpent who did bring this thing to pass If any doe aske why Moses did not make mention of the Devil in all this Chapter we may say that it was Moses purpose to perform the office and duty of a Historiographer which is only to make a plain and true report of the outward accident and thing which was sensibly done leaving the hidden and secret meaning and true understanding of those things which are mysticall unto his Interpreters and Expositors For to this end Moses had some alwaies in Gods Church which did not only read the letter and words of his writings but also expound the true meaning thereof and what Expositor is there but by the consequence of this story and by conference of the Scriptures can otherwise understand this then of the Devill Our Saviour Christ telleth us that the Devill was a lyer and murtherer from the beginning John 8. 44. that is he is the primitive and principall Author of all untruth and evill therefore is he called that evill Matth. 13. 19. and the deceiver of mankinde Revel 12. 9. and therefore Moses doth first deal with this evill one and setteth him down as the chief author of this evill under the form and name of a Serpent Touching him therefore we must know as I told you Chap. 2. 1. that when God is said to make the hoast of heavenly Creatures that then also he made the Angells as David saith Psalme 148. 2. which Angells God made 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 to be his ministring spirits Psalme 104. 4. but some of them kept not their first estate Jude 6. but fell away from their holy and blessed estate in which they mere made and so there they became evill Angels reserved in chains to everlasting fur Of this fall of Angells Job seemeth to have knowledge Job 4. 18. God saith he found folly even in his Angels Christ maketh mention of their fall Luke 10. 18. and the cause of their fall is said to be sinne 2. Pet. 2. 4. and the particular sinne may seem to be pride Isaiah 14. 13. 14. ero similis altissimo for which cause that sinne is called morbus Satanicus and as the wiseman saith initium peccati est superbia But we will not curiously inquire what speciall sinne it was which caused his fall because indeed it is sufficient for us to know in generall that sinne was the cause thereof that we may the more beware of it He then being fallen became not only an adversary to God which cast him off for ever but also an envious enemie to mankinde for not being able to wreack his mal ceagainst God he maliciously invented and attempted all the mischief and evill he could against man which was the Image of God and the only Creature on whom God had set his heart and delight to doe him good For as they which love the Father cannot but love and shew kindness to his Children which are deerest to him as we see in Davids example So è contra hatred and malice make evill mindes to doe their enemies hurt 〈◊〉 despite even in the things which are most deer and precious unto them so is the Devill said to doe Rev. 12. 13. when he was not able to hurt the Woman he pursued with hatred and rage her Child which she brought forth and because he could not reach to him being ascended therefore he still persecuteth his
But here on the contrarie part Adam exalted himself he became even disobedient unto the death the everlasting death of body and soul could not withhold him The motive to sinne was small and 〈◊〉 the retentive was great and terrible 4 The manner The fourth circumstance is the manner of sinne It was citò factum soon committed Peters denyall was ad vocem ancillulae at the 〈◊〉 of a sillie made Adams transgression was without delay at the voice of his wife 5. The Place The fifth circumstance is of the place It was in Paradise that he was polluted But though Lucifer were the most glorious in the Heavens yet for his pride God sent him headlong from the Heavens Man was Monarch of the earth all in Paradise were at his command yet for his disobedience God sent him out of Paradise 6. The Time The sixt circumstance is of the time He was servent in obedience in the beginning but he continued not therein many dayes time as a file filed away his righteousnesse he sell in the beginning 7. The Punishment The seventh circumstance is of some notable hurt aliquod damnum that should come to man by his disobedience whereby both God and man are damnified It before while he was righteous he were in the image of God for in the likenesse of God was Adam made chap. 5. 1 then surely by mans disobedience Gods Image in man was defaced Adam who was now unrighteous was no more like God who was only righteous and 〈◊〉 of Wisdome but Adam as David speaks Psal. 73. 22. was foolish and ignorant he was even as a beast before God and his sinne was not only his own confusion but the ruine of us all of all mankinde It is Christ Jesus that will make our sinnes and iniquities to be no more remembred Heb. 10. 17. It was the transgression of Adam that brought grave jugum super 〈◊〉 a grievous burthen to all the world from this sinne came all sinnes hence came the heap of all evill The Fathers say that Omnia 〈◊〉 sunt appendices 〈◊〉 all misehief doth depend upon this disobedience of Adam and they say that because this is the greatest sinne it deserveth the greatest punishment The ancient Divines consider a difference in Eves sinne and in Adams sinne Eve she sinned in three respects First In hearing Gods name reproachfully blasphemed Secondly In that she heard this blasphemie not from the mouth of an Angell of light but from a paultry and abject Worm And lastly In that she became scandalum a means to slander God and seduce Man Adams sinne is seen in three other respects First The man was stronger and yet he was seduced by the weaker Secondly Man was made as the womans head and therefore when he heard her say she had eaten when he did see her offer him of the forbidden fruit it was his part to have reproved her Thirdly the root of nature was in him not in her yet the corruption of all came by Eve unto Adam and from both to us all which hearing the words of the Serpent and the Woman which seeing the pleasant fruit which eating of the forbidden tree did bring the punishment and death of body and soul to all men living The Remedy But the remedy for this so vile and 〈◊〉 a sinne and the redresse of this punishment is by the promised seed our Saviour Christ born of a Woman It was our Saviour that for the flattering 〈◊〉 of Adam heard all reproaches Adam beheld the fruit which was pleasant in his eyes Christ he was buffetted about the eyes Adam took the tree in his hand Christ was fastned to the tree for the stretching out of Adams hands to take of the fruit his hands were stretehed out and nailed upon the crosse Adams eating of this pleasant fruit was 〈◊〉 by his eating of bitter gall and sharp Vinegar according to that Psal. 69. 21. They gave him gall in his meat and in his thirst they gave him vinegar to drink Man had his side pearced but Christ had his heart opened All these things did God doe to deliver us out of that miserie whereinto by Adams sinne Mankinde had fallen who shall deliver me from the body of this death but God through Jesus Christ. In Ezechiel 3. 3. they that shall eat the roll that God shall give them it shall be in the mouth as honie In beleeving Christs name we shall have life John 20. 31. If then we eat of the forbidden tree eat not of the promise which we have in Christ we shall dye the death both body and soul shall be tormented We must not say Quid mihi tecum Christe Christ what have I to doe with thee but we must receive him that is our Redeemer In the 〈◊〉 we must therein eat of the bread which is his body Mat. 26. 26. who brake the bread in his Supper and offred his body on the Cross Christ through suffering death tasted death for all men that through affliction the Prince of our salvation might be consecrated Heb. 2. 10. And by our faith in him death shall be to us but as the tasting of the poyson which death shall not swallow up our soul though our body dye our soul shal live for ever But the sinners that eat of the tree that commit wickedness if they repent not shal be cast into endless afflictions As by Adam we all eat of the forbidden tree in the mid'st of the Garden in the beginning of the bible so by Christ the blessed shall eat of the tree of life in the mi'dst of the heavenly Paradise wherein there are twelve manner of fruits and the leavs thereof doe serve to heal all the Nations of the Earth Rev. 22. 2. The leaves of this tree in the end of the Bible will serve for medicine here in this life but after this life ended this tree of life shall fill us all with 〈◊〉 joy and glorie everlasting Which God of his infinite mercy grant c. Amen Tunc aperuerunt sese oculi amborum noveruntque se nudos esse consutis foliis ficulneis fecerunt sibi subligacula Gen 3. 7. January 25. 1591. THE opening the eys of our first Parents by which they saw that they were made naked which was the former part was sent from God that they seeing that sin which was against God was a losse of their glory which is called bonum utile and that instead thereof brought unto them nakednesse shame and confusion which was against bonum honestum and also that it did cast them into that distresse and anguish of minde that they could not tell what to doe or finde to cover their shame but figg leaves which was against bonum jucundum which opening of the eyes comming from God was to this end that by seeing this they might return to their own hearts Esay 46. 8. and enquire as Esay willeth them 5. 19. wherefore they had done this and transgressed Gods
you are now ashamed Rom. 6. for God giveth shame and confusion and the devill sendeth only a handfull of vanity for all that 〈◊〉 have done Rom. 11. 8 9. God sendeth spiritum compunctionis and the Devill sendeth a snare and stumbling block for the recompence of their sin Learne a Parable of the fig-tree saith our Saviour Christ Math. 24. 32. which Parable as the best and ancient writers think is taken from this here for by way of Parable they say that this fig-Tree which the devill planteth fast by the Tree forbidden hath two mighty great and mayne armes which grow out of it each whereof hath divers branches and maine leaves growing thereon The one is the arme of excuses whose leaves are to hide sinne and shame by excusing it Psal. 141. 4. The other hath growing on it divers pretences to defend their sinne by making policies to cover it withall The first chiefe and principall is when men will set a good face and justifie their ill-doing as Jonas did Jo. 4. 9. Doest thou well to be angry Yea saith he I doe well to be angry at the heart this is a fig lease of justifying and defending his fault The second is tergiversatio Mark 14. 68. when one is challenged and accused of a fault to seeme ignorant and simple and therefore innocent of any such matter I know not what you meane I heare you not The third is Recriminatio 1 Reg. 3. 16. that is To lay the fault on another as the Harlot being accused to smother another womans childe she thinketh to shift it off this way Shee hath smothered my childe The last is translatio when wee confesse the deede but yet can post and put it off to another from our selves as Jacobs sonnes did Gen. 37. 32. Joseph is slain here are his clothes and it is like that some wilde 〈◊〉 hath done it this is a fig-leafe to lay the fault on the innocent for the other there are fig-leaves of circumstances to excuse sinne when we cannot defend it as the circumstance of place time and person For the time Hushaye saith 2 Sam. 17. 1. at this time and occasion it is not good so some will say at this time and upon this occasion it is not ill for the place and person they say though it were evill if any other had done it in another place yet this man doing it here it is not evill but good and lawfull there is no vocation or trade of life but hath these fig-leaves of excuse the Lawyer hath his excuse and pretence saying This is the Law wee cannot help it so did the Jewes Wee have a Lawe and by our Lawe hee must dye there is no remedy wee cannot doe it Divinity and Religion have their fig-leaves and excuses to cloak sinne Jacobs sonnes pretended circumcision Gen. 34. 15. Absolon pretended Sacrifice 2 Sam. 15. 8. And Jesabel a Religious fast The last pretence and excuse is that which is Rom. 9. 19. to excuse their sinne by saying it was Gods will that I did it and who could resist or withstand it as Christ saith to Nathaniel John 1. 48. I saw thee under the fig-Tree so may it bee said of us for it is all our case naturally to bee under this vaile of hypocrisie thinking our case well being covered therewith and this Christ seeth and findeth us when he cometh to convert us but Christ before he went to his passion is said to curse the fig-Tree Mark 11. 12. 13. 14. Maledixit ficui because it only had but leaves on it without fruit to shew us that untill the leaves of hypocrisie fall off and till our fig-Tree beare fruit Christs passion will doe us no good Deinde audiverunt vocem Jehovae Dei itantem per hortum ipsum ad ventum illius diei quare abscondit se Adam uxor ejus à facie Jehovae Dei inter arbores illius horti Gen. 3. 8. January 29. 1591. UNTIL the cool of the day that is untill the Evening Adam and Eve remained in their covering of fig-leaves and so long God patiently waited expecting their Repentance But wee see that so long they never betooke themselves to God but all this while yet thought themselves in very good case being secure in their own Covert which they had made therefore God must shew one mercy more to them seeing shame will not excite them or else they would have perished in their sin God expected patiently all the day long their comming unto him but they hid themselves all this while and therefore he vouch safeth to come unto them Elizabeth said Luke 1. 43. ut veniat ad me mater domini Usus but how much more then may Adam say how is it how commeth it to pass that my Lord himself commeth to me wherefore all along in this history we may mark and see that God in justice remembreth mercy to miserable men A Second consideration of this is that as shame is the outward Sergeant which seizeth on the body and flesh appearing in the face so fear is the Seargeant of the heart seizing on the Soul within and as shame for his object is seized with ignominie and infamie so fear hath for his contrarie object danger and doubts of evill either present or imminent and shame belongeth and is seen in them only or especially which have some grace and ingenuity and humane disposition or reasonableness for beasts are not said to blush or be ashamed for it pertaineth not to unreasonable Creatures So long as we have any grace reason or hope of humanity and ingenuity God 〈◊〉 to win us by shame but when men are become bruitish and as beasts without understanding then he sendeth them the other Sergeant of fear which we know is effectuall to move bruit beasts for the dullest Asse is moved with fear Differentia inter pudorem timorem thus we see the different nature of feare and shame the one moveth those which are ingenious and have grace and wit in them but the other is sent to move those which are bruitish and blockish and of a servile nature Now we will come to the words of this use in which we are to consider two points the one is in Adams part the other in Gods behalf that which concerneth God is set down in four speciall points Walking that was the manner of his comming First that God came Secondly that he came walking Thirdly that he came with a voice and was sensibly heard And lastly for the time of his comming that was in the cool of the day which is the evening of which four points First for the first we must know That when God is said to come to walk or to speak that Gods spirit in the Scripture useth those poor phrases and manners of delivery for our weakness and infirmitie because we cannot otherwise well conceive these things in God for to speak properly to come to a place which indeed in his own nature is every
where and filleth all places with his presence Jer. 23. 24. The Prophet Isaiah 66. 1. saith the earth is but his foot-stool and we know that one cannot walk on his stool he properly can but stand on it therefore some think to satisfie this place that God is said to have appeared here and was heard walking and speaking not in his own personall presence but per dispensationem sending an Angell as it were in his 〈…〉 But there are some which doe think that it is not necessary and that we need not grant here any such extraordinary and visible apparition and presence of God in any shape or resemblance and that that which Moses saith Deut. 4. 15. of Gods appearing in Horeb may truly be affirmed and avouched of this place namely that they only heard a voice but saw no shape or visible likeness or representation which appeared to their eyes and therefore that they perceived and knew Gods presence comming to them not by the eye seeing any thing but by the care only hearing a sound or voyce for so we read that he came and appeared Moses and Elias in such a strange manner of voice and sound that they might by it know that no creature but only God the Creator which could come in such a majesticall and glorious sound and in this sense we may take these words because it is said they heard Gods voice walking and not that God came visibly walking he was heard speaking not seen walking The second point on Gods part is quod venit Deus ambulando by which walking is commonly meant such conveying as Judges use when they come to judgment and to try matters to be judged Prov. 8. 20 2. It is said of Samuell which judged Israel that every yeer he walked and ment about all places in Israel as Judges doe goe their circuits and perambulations to Judge the people 1 Sam. 7. 16. So that this in effect and substance is that which is said before and signified by his comming namely his purpose to give sentence and to execute just judgment against their sinne The third point concerning God is that his walking was not in silentio as Job saith but with an audible voyce Job 4. 16. and that such a voice as Ely heard 1 Sam. 3. 11. which should make their eares tingle and glow that it was a terrible and fearfull voice terryfying them for sinne The fourth and last thing is the time that is in sero in the evening And therefore doth God wait untill the evening Esay 30. 18 because he would willingly have mercy on them which rather by right and reason should wait for him But when we regard not Gods sending God doth oftentimes wait and tarry so long before he commeth to Judgment that his delaying late tarrying and waiting somtimes becommeth offensive to the godly and scandalous to the wicked for so the godly cry Lo how long wilt thou tarry to be revenged of the blood of thy Saints and the enemies of God doe slander the foot steps of his annointed Psal. 89. 51. saying where is the promise of his comming he is long comming As this therefore is the first regard and acceptation of the time that God surely and certainly commeth at last though late in the evening So the second is the reason why he commeth then because temptation and the time of lust and committing of sinne is aestus diei as it were the heat of the day and then God seeth that it is no time to come to man for then all his senses and wits are taken up with the heat of lust and concupiscence and therefore it is Gods wisdome to choose out this cool time of the day in which the rage and heat of sinfull lust is overpassed and abated That course which Abigail took 1 Sam. 25. 36. is the course which God useth that is in the spirit of discretion to deal with men when the fit or rage of sinne is past and when their blood is cooled for it is no medling with a man in his drunken fit or in his fury of heat and rage because their advisement and senses are then taken away the Prophet Jer. 2. 24. would have us to see the wisdome and discretion of men of experience in this case who will not seek to take the wilde Asse when she is lusty and light for then at that time she will snuffe up the aire proudly and scornfully and none can turn or tame her therefore saith he take her in her moneth when she is great with young and then she may easily be caught and tamed this must be our wisdome and discretion when we see them rapt and bereft of their senses to bear and suffer them untill the tempest be overblown and the heat of their sinne cooled and somewhat allayed Now to the second severall point which is Adams part which sheweth the effect which this voice of God wrought in them and how they demeaned and behaved themselves when Gods voice came to them which is set down in two things First They heard it Secondly They hid themselves from God which is amplified after two sorts First That they hid and shrouded themselves in the shrubs and thickest of the trees Secondly That they hid themselves from the presence of God and this is the effect which his comming and voice wrought and heard in them for which because between hearing and hiding there must goe something the writers doe finde out these severall things First for the hearing we say and may see that it is a mercy and favor of God in that he did not only open their eyes being blinde making them see their foul sinne but also open their eares being deaf that they might hear of the danger of their sinne but this is a new counsell a stratagem of the Devill the evill counsellor to make them flye away at that voice which should have been the means to have brought them to God again Peccatum est fuga as divines doe say therefore the Devill will have them bis fugitivi having fled from God by sinne now to flye again further from him by despair and there to hide themselves as who should say without doubt your God commeth in just and angry mood to make an end of you for sinne therefore by mine advise haste and flye away from him this is the Devils custome and comfort when he hath brought men into sinne as plainly he sheweth himself 1 Sam. 28. 16. When he had brought Saul into sinne he saith why comest thou to me seeing God hath forsaken thee God will surely punish thee as he said c. Where he sheweth himself in his right kinde This is all the comfort we shall finde at his hands when we have committed sinne for when we have followed his ill counsell he will say thus to us you hear how angry God is how terrible and fearfull his voice his steps towards you and presence is wherefore fly for how will ye be able to abide
his hand and vengeance which are thus afraid at the sound of his steps and voice But if Adam and Eve doe and needs will 〈…〉 will they 〈◊〉 surely from the presence of God and is not God their only life joy comfort hope and help in this miserie see then by the craft of Sathan and sinne they are willed to 〈◊〉 from their life health liberty and hope of all the good they have that so the Devill might be sure that they should perish in their sin To conclude we see into what miserie man is fallen for a little vain pleasure of sinne which lasted but the space while the apple was chewed in their mouthes but that vain short delight being vanished and gone now remain their extreme miseries for ever except the mercy of God provide a remedy For first we see it brought on them nakedness and shame Secondly blindness and senselesness that they could not see their shame and sin Thirdly the worme of conscience when they saw it for as a garment breedeth a moth which will destroy it so doth sinne breed his gnawing worm which will torment and destroy sinners Fourthly when it was seen it brought on them confusion of face without Fiftly a horrible feare and trembling of the heart within Sixtly to avoid and cover it it taught them the folly and fondness of vain hypocrisie with figge leaves to cover it Seventhly and lastly it brake out into a desparate madness and frenzie in that sinne and Sathan perswaded them that they must flie from God and hide themselves from him as without hope of his mercy And therefore we see now that they had lodged themselves in the brakes and thickets of the shrubs and bushes but all in vain as we shall see hereafter for that which they had made their Castle and Covert to lodge hide and keep themselves safe God maketh to be as it were their Goal and Prison out of which he will bring them to judgement and to the Barre to be araigned as we shall see in the next verse Inclamavit autem Jehova Deus Adamum dixit ei Vbi es Gen. 3. 9. Februry 1. 1591. THE whole course of Gods proceeding in this judgment is called by the Fathers Spectaculum clementiae divinae dementiae humanae a spectacle and clear view on the one side of the loving kindness of God and on the other part of the foolish blindness of man All this verse as the ancient Writers term it is as the voice of an Archangell crying before the first Judgment 1 Thess. 4. 16. for as at the last day of generall judgment shall first an Archangell be sent out with a voice of a Trumpet to scite and summon all flesh to arise out of their graves in which sinne hath hid and lodged them till then So we see at the first Judgment of man before God beginneth he first sendeth out a voice calling and crying to Adam and Eve to arise out of their prison and to appear before God to receive according to their deserts and works for God did usually use the voice and ministerie of Angels by whom he did commonly speak unto men as Gen. 16. 8. God spake unto Agar by the voice of an Angel and that voice by which God spake was the voice of an Angell Deut. 5. 22. 26. and that also John 12. 28. 29. And the reason why God speaketh to men by the ministerie of Angels is because his voice is not proportionable to our hearing and weak eares it is farre above our reach and therefore he speaketh by Angels framing their voice more fit and agreeable to our nature and thus generally of the words of this verse More particularly we are to observe two parts first that God did call to Adam Secondly the effect or contents of his calling The first is a proclamation the other the tenor and substance thereof The matter and contents of his calling is judiciall but as Gods song over is as well of mercy as of judgment Psal 101. 1. and his works of bountifulness as of severity and justice Rom. 11. 22. so will we proceed in the handling and declaring of this his speech first shewing his mercie therein and then speaking of them as they declare and set out his severity and justice Touching his mercy which he remembreth in judgement the matter thereof here contained is two sold First as Gods mercy hath been seen in these four points In sparing them In making them see their sinne In sending his Messengers to them And in comming himself to them First point So this is the first point and a degree of mercie above and beyond all in that as he came so he 〈…〉 to speak and talk with him which I doubt not to make the fist degree and step of further mercy These things considered that every use and action of God doth set out a new mercy unto man is a verifying of the gracious saying of our Saviour Christ Matth. 23. 37. quoties te congregare volui ut gallina pullos suos sed noluisti And this is a fault in Adam that he did not first goe to seek the Lord and crie to him ubi estu domine rather than God should come to him and say ubi es Adam or when he had perceived that God was walking towards him first This is his second fault that he did not prepare himself with fear and humility to meet the Lord and fall down low before his foot-stool for Shemey in policie saw it best when he had offended David and heard that he was comming into his Country again first to make haste to runne and meet him with submission and humility that so he might procure grace and pardon as indeed he did 2 Sam. 19. 19. 20. but Adam insteed of crying to God as David did de profundis doth betake himself to flying and therefore God as a friend pittying his estate doth pursue and follow him in his flight and speaketh to him in his silence and so preventeth him every way that he may be saved And all this is done to him to set down to us that men might be moved hereby to say as David doth I will sing of the loving kindness and mercy of the Lord my tongue shall ever be talking of his praise Psal. 149. 1. and that we might consess with thankfulness that his mercie is above all his works Psal. 59. 16. The second generall point is the tenor and contents of the voice and proclamation where we must note that this question ubi es is not vox ignorantis sed increpantis tamen clementis Dei For the tenor of the words doth savor much of mercy for when God had found Adam all hid he breaketh not out into the cruell and bitter invective as Shemei did 2 Sam. 16. 7. Come forth come forth thou murtherer and wicked one c. Which severe voice man deserved and God in mercy might have justly used but God according to his goodnesse
fruit which would make us as Gods when he knew that it would be as poison to our bodies and make us damned Devils Now this following of the Devills counsell and advise in this place is so much the worse in Adam and so much the more to be condemned because twice before he had followed it with ill success and saw he was deceived which might have been a double caveat and fair warning to him now to beware but as he had followed the Devils counsell twice before in practise and deed so we shall see him to follow it twice hereafter in word For first of all touching his word and speech the Devill teacheth him a peece of his Sophistry teaching him that he must needs answer to put non causam pro causa And secondly in the other place he teacheth him a peece also of the Devils Rhetorick which is called translatio criminis a laying the fault upon another and so shifting it from himself outward covering and inward dissembling hath a very good correspondence and therefore hypocrisie is compared to a Cloak or masking Hood Job saith 31. 33. If I hide my sinne as Adam did concealing my sinne in my bosom will not God finde it out and punish it But Adam being bewitched and infatuated by the Devill that spirit of error had learned to make choice rather to strive with Gods justice than to appeal to his mercy for favour and grace whereas by confessing he might have had pardon he by defending it brought himself the more deeply into judgment and his sin the more into question and triall By confessing his sinne Christ would have been his advocate to plead for his pardon but by defending and justifying it he made him to be a Proctor to plead against him and Judge to give sentence against him whereas by confessing his disease God would have been his Physitian to heal him he è contra by taking on himself to heal his own sickness made himself and his disease more grievous and more desparare But let us come to see how he seeketh a quia and an ergo that is a good reason and argument to defend and justific his deed Let us I say come to the particulars of his answer and see the strength and validitie of his reasons for if it be good and justifiable it will hold the proof and the examination will doe it no hurt Concerning which first we know it in corrupt policy that it is good alwayes to begin a lye with a truth or at least with great likelyhood of verity that so the lye may after run more currant and goe more roundly away therefore at the first in the forefront of his answer he places indeed a manifest and known truth that he heard Gods voice and the second also is truly said that nothing might be suspected namely that he was afraid In which two truths confessed the Fathers doe say are contained the first and second degrees which by Gods Decree should have been the two chief inducements to move men to repentance and therefore in that he was not moved to submission and confession of his fault thereby they gather that this part of his confession also is against himself therefore these two evasions are nothing but to make against his cause The second excuse is of decencie and 〈◊〉 or comelinesse as who should say I saw it a shamefull thing and very unmeet and undecent to appear before thee being naked and therefore I hid my self in which he doth make his thought and imagination a rule to measure Gods estimation and judgement by as if that which he thinketh inconvenient and uncomely God must think and esteem to be unseemly and unmeet also The Prophet Samuell saith 16. 7. 1 Sam. 16. 7. That God seeth not as man seeth neither are our thoughts his thoughts he is not moved with the like passions that we are for Job in sterquilinio was more pretious and amiable in the eyes of God and more acceptable to his minde quà m Heredes in solio as a Father saith and the reason is because he looketh to that holiness which is within and accepteth a man thereafter and regardeth not the outward estate of the body whether he be 〈◊〉 or in poor aparrel as men of corrupt judgment doe Jam 2. 3. 4. therefore Adams thought and conceit of his bodily nakedness which seemed unseemly to him ought not to be taken as a rule to measure Gods thoughts and to prove and determine what is undecent and unreverent in the eyes and judgment of God touching the outward things for seeing that nakedness is factum dei it cannot simply displease him or be detestable in his sight for he saw all that he had made was passing good nothing to be ashamed of as undecent therefore it is certain that if this had been all the matter which he pretendeth he might have boldly for all his nakedness have presented himself without shame or fear before God for as I have shewed that nakedness of their bodies in which they were made and which they enjoyed being innocent was no matter of blushing but of beauty no blemish or undecencie but an ornament glory to them as the nakedness of the Sun and Moon is such a glory and beauty to them that if any should put upon these glorious bodies a Cloak of velvet or Cloth of gold it would be so farre from beautifying them that it were a blemish and disgrace undecent for them and this is the hope and expectation of the Sonnes of God one day to enjoy that happy estate again in which they shall want no bodily garments to cover them but shall all shine in glory as the Sun in the skie Thus we see that this quia and ergo will not stand it is not Gods art or workmanship nor his voice that made him feare flie or hide but somewhat else which he had done and committed whatsoever it be which God will bring to light and make apparent hereafter Now let us come to the consequence here set down ergo abdidi for which we shall perceive that this is no good or right reason or consequence which he should have inferred uppon the premisses for thus he should have concluded I was afraid and naked and fled for conscience of my sinne therefore I confess humbly my sinnes before thee and doe crave pardon for them Thou diddest open mine eyes that I saw my sinne and thou openedst mine eares by feare that I knew thy judgment ergo now also open my mouth that I may confess humbly and open my heart that I may repent truly for it thus he should have made his consequence I heard thy presence with majesty comming ergo I prepared my self to meet my Lord right humbly confessing my finnes that I might have found pardon this was Jacobs resolution and conclusion in policie Gen. 32. 7. when he heard that Esau came against him he feared and was troubled and therefore used all means preparing
ninth verse he is brought forth of his Goal and arraigned having his indictment and accusation laid against him and he is permitted to speak for himself in the tenth verse he pleadeth not guilty alledging reasons why in the eleventh verse God traverseth the cause by joyning issue with him and in the twelfth verse we have seen his confession and his allegation why sentence should not proceed against him Now in this the other party guilty which was accused before is brought to her triall in which for the Judicials and manner of proceeding the generall intent of God is not only to convent before him a Malefactor but not to give over untill he hath found out the principall that is to finde who hath been chief in the trespass and as some say to make diligent search whose hand was deepest and most 〈◊〉 in this offence In Physick we are taught to search to the bottom and goe to the Core In Logick we are taught to bring and reduce every thing that is said or reasoned upon unto the principall action or rule by which it is scanned In Divinitie it is a point especially materiall as our Saviour Christ saith to goe to the beginning and first institution of things to see how it was then And this is Gods course in judgment to find out the principall and chiefe cause of evill things which are committed The way and manner of finding this out is by inquirie and by way of interrogations ministring interrogations unto him for all crimes and sinnes being works of darkness and therefore as much as may be hid and concealed from apearing in the light and sight of men therefore the praise and labor of a Judge is to finde and search it out that being brought to light ill works may be reproved the third of John and the twenty first verse For this cause this duty is enjoyned by God to all Judges after two waies the thirteenth of Deuteronomie and the fourteenth verse ut perscrutarentur interrogarent that by search and diligent inquirie the truth might be boulted out It is the course to be taken in the case of murder the twenty first of Deuteronomie and the fourth verse In the case of adultry the fisth of Numbers and the fourteenth verse In the matter of theft the twenty second chapter of Exodus and the eighth verse 1 Reg. 8. 31. And it is the course which may be holden in any Crime or Cause whatsoever that upon good and sufficient presumptions and detections they may proceed to inquire diligently and the party called in question is bound to make answer to purge and cleanse himself which is suspected or accused for this is the ground and foundation on which God frameth his action against Eve Adam saith that thou his wife diddest intice perswade him to eate thereof The question therefore which I demande of thee is why hast thou done this And this is that to which she is bound to answer Now if we looke to her answer which she maketh unto the interrogatorie propounded to her we shall see it very frivolous for God asketh quare and she answereth to quis Some think that it was for fear or shame or else as others say for the defect of a right and a true cause For well may one alledge the tempter and occasion which moved or sollicited us to sin but otherwise no right or proper cause of sin can be assigned But howsoever it is we must take her answer as it is First we see that she is not mute or silent but knoweth how to shape an ill answer and to make an excuse as well as her husband God saith in the fiftieth Psalme and the one and twentieth verse because I held my tongue and envyed no more against mens sin therefore the Devill hare Eve in hand that Adams excuse went for good payment and put God to silence as if it had been so full an answer to God as that he could say no more against him and therefore seeing that held so well he perswadeth the woman to take the same course for we shall perceive that both her and her answer are so like as if they had been framed in one forge for the like pride we see in both which will not seem so ill as they are but doe lay the fault upon another to excuse themselves Secondly the method and form of answering is alike and even the same in both their answers but the substance and matter of the excuse is not one and the same for Adams excuse was his wife Eve but her excuse is the Serpent so that if we compare Adams answer and Eves together we shall see in what they agree and wherein they differ both of their confessions are extort and indirect both are maimed and unperfect and neither of them can plainly say peccavi c. Usus Out of which we learn that both these came from one Schoolmaster Sathan the Author Accuser and Procter of all sinne and he doth mankind more hurt when he is an Advocate and Proctor giving us counsel how to defend and excuse our sinne than when he is an accuser accusing us of sin to God the Judge of all because when the Devill is only an accuser against us Christ will be our Advocate to plead our cause for us and an Intercessor and Mediator for us to his Father and he being on our side we need not fear though he Devill be against us But if we entertain the Devill for our Proctor Christ will be a 〈◊〉 Judge against us to condemne us and oppose himself to the Devill Therefore the Devill careth not what excuse we alledge though they lay the blame of their sinne upon him he is content to beare it rather than they should confesse their sin plainly and make Christ their Advocate To cover and conceale sinne is a double sinne and not to confesse it plainly is partly pride and presumption or else servile fear and dispaire fearing lest they should confesse all to God as though he had not goodnesse or mercy enough to forgive them or else they conceale it of pride presuming that God cannot see and finde out that which they dissemble and hide from the eyes of men So we see that it is a compound sinne though the woman be in impari sexu yet she is pari superbiâ as proud as he and as farre dead in hiding and dissembling sinne as he and as well able to say for herself as he A difference of Confessing finnes thus pride maketh men ashamed to confesse or else so to confesse that one may see a plain difference between the confession of a proud and a poor humble sinner between the confession of the good and faithfull and the evill Infidells Between Sauls confession and Davids Sauls confession smelleth of pride in the first booke of Samuell fifteenth and the thirtieth verse Peccavi saith he sed honora me That is he would so confesse his sin that he might keepe
with a groane and by all lawes of Nations the husband is above the wife Touching the particulars of the Text. Her Sorrow First hee will greatly increase her sorrowes besides the sorrowes in conception and bringing forth children her sorrow is afterwards increased many a woman breedeth and beareth her owne sorrow she may beare her childe to misery if shee see it beg it increaseth her sorrow shee may beare it to execution as wee have too many lamentable examples but the sorrow of a mother is much more increased if it live so wickedly that shee beare it to hell fire For the sorrow of Child-bearing in the Psalmes and throughout the Prophets the greatest sorrow is compared to a womans laboring with childe which is so great that many a one dyeth of it as did Rachell Gen. 25. 18. never was childe borne without pain according to that old verse Nascitur haud sine vae fuerit qui filius Evae But here God sheweth even in judgement his mercy for shee sinned in soule is punished but in body and that punishment is temporary though the sinne deserved death eternall and which is further there is a blessing even in this Sentence for to have children though with pain is a great blessing and by the ancient Fathers is called the blessing of the womb and brests and barrennesse of woman is held a greater sorrow and payne than to have children with much griefe and payne for when the childe is once borne the payne is forgotten but barrennesse is to her a continual grief in the 30 of Genesis vers 1. When Rachell saw shee was barren and Leah fruitfull shee envied her sister and so great was her desire of children that unlesse shee had children shee would die So it is a Sentence of Justice mingled with Lenity the punishment is not with rig or but with indulgence it is tanquam fraenum non flagellum as a bridle rather to check than a scourge to bruise it is but a chastizing of sinne in Eve non est quasi Coluber as a Serpent to sting but an easie correction Her subjection The second part of her punishment is That shee shall bee subject to her Husband and there is mercy in this also for the best are of opinion that in time of integritie there was order and subordination for order is the mother of perfection The two ends of marriage here is a subordination of affections the womans to the husbands and of occonomicall government for generation and cohabitation are the two ends of marriage and in both shee is to bee ruled by her husband some idle-headed fellowes gather hence That seeing women are to bee subject to men therefore men ought not to bee subject to women but marke hee saith viro tuo to thy husband Touching the Rule of Women now the rule of women as in most Common-wealths hath beene allowed even so in Scripture for Candace Queene of the cast and Sabaes Queene are commended nay it is Gods owne Law Numb 27. 8. That if a man die without a sonne his inheritance shall fall to his daughter then the daughter of a King is not barred government which is her inheritance but oeconomicall subjection here is chiefly understood that made Sara call her husband Lord. In the first of Ester you see Vasbti the Queene punished because shee would not obey Ahashuerus the great King of Persia a great Monarch shee came not when hee sent for her advice was taken how shee should bee punished for her disobedience this offence was not only against the King but by example against the Princes and People for in the seventeenth verse of that Chapter This example among other women shall make them despise their husbands and therefore a solemne Sentence was pronounced against her That shee should bee divorced and deposed the end of which Decree was as appeareth in the end of that Chapter That all the women through that huge Monarchy should doe their husbands honor both great and small and further the King sent forth his Letters to every People after their language That every man should beare rale in his own house Esther her selfe was example of this who worshipped with reverence her King shee must bee subject unto man in regard of her weakenesse and infirmities as Paul speaketh in the Corinthians Woman is not her selfe her own for at marriage she giveth not her self but is given to her husband by a man and after marriage shee loseth her own name and beareth her husbands bee the husband wise or simple hee must beare rule over her for subjection is the condition of all Wives to all Husbands Abigaiell in the first chapter of Samuel and the twenty fith verse must as well obey Naball her husband as David even of Religion this obedience is this is the Mercy that though hee shall rule her yet they both shall rule their houshold hee shall rule her not as a King his subject or a Lord his slave not in feare but in love Adamo verò dixit Quia auscultavisti voci uxoris tuae comedisti de fructu arboris illius quo interdixeram tibi dicendo ne comedas ex isto maledicta esto terra propter te cum dolore comedito proventum ejus omnibus diebus vitae tuae Eaque spinam carduum proferto tihi tu verò comedito herbam agri In sudore vultûs tui vescitor cibo donec revertaris in humum cum ex eâ desumptus fueris nam pulvis es in pulverem reverteris Gen 3. 17.18.19 Septemb. 17. 1598. SAint Chrisostome writing upon this place saith sedet Judex non surgit God who is the Judge sitteth still and riseth not Adams punishment he continueth his Court and giveâ—h not over till he hath given judgement upon all the offenders This is as it were the third O yes saith that Father upon Adams offence which sentence is conteined in the 17. 18. and 19. verfes In the Sentence upon Adam two things In which sentence are conteined two parts the one is the fault contained in the beginning of this verse the other is the penaltie contained in the end of the 17. vorse to the end of the 19. verse First the Fault Secondly the Penalty Of both these in generall these are the proceedings of God whence the rule and patern of all Justice is grounded for God goeth here to sentence upon a cause because thou hast heard the voice of thy Wife and eaten the forbidden fruit and upon a Cause not alledged by an Accuser but confessed by the Offender the 12. verse before so that in justice God will say to Adam ex ore tuo te judico I will judge thee even out of thine own mouth thou evill Servant Luke 19. 22. In the sentence two things Particularly In the fault are two parts or branches first there is an inordinate consent the other a disordinate act The first is the hearing the voyce of
destruction of the living and in the eighteenth of Ezekiel and the twenty third God hath no desire that the wicked should die but if even the wicked return from his waies he shall live so that Adam and his sinne was the cause of death death was made by him for God is the God of life It was the sinne of Nineveh that made God to threaten destruction to Nineveh within fourty dayes but when as it is in the third of Jonah and the eighth they returned by repentance from their evill waies God shewed mercie and they were not destroyed Adam he forsook God of himself and so he brought death to himself So long as he shewed his obedience unto God the other Creatures were obedient unto him there was no enmity between him and the other Creatures in time of obedience he was not in danger of death God breathed into Adam life Adam brought death The Prophet in the 104. Psalme 29. saith If thou take away their breath they return to their dust so that life is Gods but dust is their own ground and they have their moisture and when that moisture is dried up and taken away it turneth to dust ex argillâ fabricavit hominem Deus Job in his tenth chapter and ninth verse saith to God Remember that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me to dust again for if the moisture of the grace of God be taken away what are we but dust The Heavens send down the dew from above to moisten the Earth Isaiah 45. 8. It is the spirit of God that giveth the moisture to beliefe John 7. 39. If that be taken away we are but dust Thus farre of it as a Sentence A Law Now of this as of a Law To dust shalt thou return First touching the certainty of it in these words to dust thou shalt return of the uncertainty when donec untill There are those that escape the first part of this punishment of Adam that live not in the sweat of their face qui non vivunt ex labore sudoris there are those that live at ease and yet fare daintily that have aboundance and take no pains that lie upon their Beds as the door turneth upon his hinges Proverbs 26. 14. But though they escape that part of the Sentence this part takes hold of all for all must die this is universall this is certain Statutum est it is a Statute and a Law that all must die from the first to the last Adam the fift to the Romans the fifteenth David himself saith of himself in regard of mortalitie of the body Psalme the twenty second and the sixth I am a worm and not a man We have comfort in Jesus Christ to live for ever this was it that Jesus said that John should not die the twenty first of John and the twenty third and by him we look for the resurection of the body This it was that made Job in his nineteenth chapter and twenty sixth verse to say That though after my skin wormes destroy this body yet shall I see God in my flesh A universall Law Touching the extent of this that it is universall to all to die it is plain not to be denied for as it is in the eighty ninth Psame and the fourty eighth verse What man liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul from the grave Though God hath said to Kings and Princes and Judges of the earth yee are Gods and Children of the Almighty yet yee shall die as men and fall like others Psalme the eighty second and the seventh laquei mortis the snares of death compass about the Godly their body goeth to the grave but their soul returneth to rest Psalme the one hundred sixth and the seventh verse and as it is in the second of the Preacher and the sixteenth The wise man dieth as well as the fool Look what sentence is given upon man falls upon the rest of the Creatures for man is the great Count-palatine of the world and the chief mover in the Sphear as he moveth all are moved and the Elements and Birds and Beasts were subject to Mans change his disobedience made all disobedient and out of order yea as the Wise-man saith in the nineteenth of Ecclesiast and the fifth All the living know assuredly they shall die So much for the certainty to all Uncertainty Donec untill Now of the uncertainty of the time donec untill which is verie uncertain Isaack though he were old and neer his death yet in the twenty seventh of Genesis and the second he said senex sum diem mortis nescio I am now old and know not the day of my death The men of this world have their Portion in this life there are the gates of death as David speaketh and laquei mortis the snares of death This time cannot be discerned it is nighest us when we think our selves most secure For when the rich man had layed up store for many years and said to his soul take thou thy rest even then came it hâc nocte this night thou shalt die Death is pronounced upon all but a flaming fire and vengeance belongeth only to the ungodly the second to the Thessalonians the first chapter and the eighth and ninth verses Mercy in death Now touching the mittigation of this death in this sentence of death for as the Wise-man speaketh in the seventh chapter and the seventeenth verse The vengeance of the wicked is fire and 〈◊〉 this bitterness must be alayed for as Bernard saith non est crux sine Christo non est punctio sine unctione there is no cross without comfort no punishment without ointment The fear of death Christ delivereth them from the fear of death that is Gods anger that all their life were subject to bondage the second to the Hebrews and the fifteenth The hope of life so then the fear of death must be alayed with the hope of life For though the wicked be cast off for his malice yet the righteous hath hope in his death the fourteenth of the Proverbs and the thirty second This is joy to us even in death that Christ will change this vile body that it may be fashioned like his glorious body the third to the Philipians and the twenty first and according to the fourteenth of the Revelations and the thirteenth their hope is with a blessing beati mortui qui in domino moriuntur blessed are the dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their laboures Now in the verie words of the Sentence are implied two sorts of this delay Donec implieth an end of labour Donec implieth that they shall labour untill then untill implieth no eternity there is a consummation of labour there is end of labour and an assurance of rest the blessed rest from their labours tempus est refrigerii there is a time of refreshing the third of the Acts and the
there is faith to bee taken so out of this name is a worke of charitie to comfort us and Eve her selfe that was dejected and miserably plunged in sorrow by seeing shee had cast downe her selfe and all mankinde by her sin making her by her new name partaker of Gods love and charity this Charitie is not conteined in Eve alone but continued in her posteri ie unto the end of the world Abraham had great comfort the twelfth chapter and the third verse that omnes gentes all the Nations of the earth in him should bee blessed the eighteenth of the same chapter and the eighteenth verse and the two and twentith chap er and the eighteenth verse but this promise of all blessednesse was that in her omnes viventes all living should bee blessed for all that have beene all that are and all that shall bee are partakers of this promise for it reacheth from Eve to the end of the world In the first name Isha shee is the mother of nature of them that live and then die but by this name shee is the mother of Grace of them that though they are dead yet shall live for ever by the one the mother of mankinde by the other of the Church Job in his tenth chapter and twelfth verse saith vitam gratiam tribuisti mihi which life is the life of God eternally Therefore Adam by this name did comfort himselfe his wife and all others in their miseries in that wee must bee not only the seede of nature by her first name but the seede of Eve of Grace of the Promise and of Hope and so children of the Church of the holy seede to obtain the life of God eternall And lastly according to that of the second of Malachy Wee shall bee partakers of the Covenant of Peace and Life Fecitque Jehova Deus Adamo uxori ejus tunicas pelliceas quibus vestivit eos Gen. 3. 21. Dec. 7. 1598. THIS verse is as it were the opening of Gods warehouse and giving thence his liverie and aparrell wherein is mercy and favor even in judgement for after the Sentence God promiseth life and here giveth aparrell so that as Abacuck speaketh this commendeth Gods mercy in his anger as there was a mercy precedent in the Promise so here is a mercy subsequent in this provision and God mingleth mercy with judgement and joyneth Provision with punishment according to that of the seventy eighth Psalme and the twenty ninth verse this favour God vouchsafeth before hee ends his Sentence hee giveth hope of life everlasting and here addeth aparrell as the signe of his favor for all the care of this world is for foode and the back but seeke the kingdom of God and these things shall bee ministred unto you the sixt of Matthew and the three and thirtith verse Five parts of this verse This verse doth offer in it self five parts as they lie in order The first is the persons of Adam and his Wife The second is that God made The third is aparrel The fourth is of Skins The fift is that therewith they were arayed Out of each of these there is a double consideration of good use To begin then in order 1. Out of the persons of Adam and Eve we learn that though they were sinners yet God gave them his providence and provision The Sun shineth on the good and on the bad the rain falleth on the just and the unjust the fifth of Maithew and the fourty fifth he is kinde nnto the unkinde in the sixth of Luke and the thirty fift If God then give not over the wicked much more he will not leave the faithfull Secondly he extendeth his providence not only to sinners but even to the bodies of sinners which is shewed in his providence before for the bellie and here for the back both these are expressed in the tenth of Deuteronomy and the eighteenth Food and rayment is all we should desire in this world the first to Timothy the sixt and the eighth yea Gods providence goeth further than for the bellie and back for by it all the hairs of the head are numbred the tenth of Matthew and the thirtieth his providence watcheth over the soul and the body over the wicked then much more the good 2. God made The second point is God made he arraied the Heavens with starres and the Earth with grass and here he arraied Man with skins Here let us not search into the curiosity of the Jewes how God made them and what skins they were It is said in the holy Scriptures that God builded an house it is not meant that he was a Carpenter and here it is to be understood not that God was their Taylor but that God gave them power to kill beasts and capacity to make and shape apparrell he was not the Workman himself In the seventh verse before they made themselves Breeches of figge-leaves to cover their nakedness they were for no use nor continuance they were but vain God must teach them and direct them their clothing Mans reason without God hath a shew of wisedome but is without understanding the second to the Colossians and the twenty third In the first of Samaell 15. 15. Saul in his own conceit thought he had done well to save the best of the Sheep and Oxen. That apparrel that Adam made was cold and could not hold 3. Coats The third is Clothes or Coats in the originall tongue it is expressed that which is to cover and to defend Before Adam in Paradise had a care to have a Cover ad honestatem for shame there is a Commandement against the uncovering of shame in the eighteenth of Leviticus and the sixth which Paul in the first to the Corinthians the twelfth chapter and the twenty third verse calleth our uncomely parts Sem and Japhet will cover shame though wicked Cham will discover it The bruitish Savages respect not their nakedness The Sect of the Cynicks and the Adamites were shameless of their shame in the sixth of the Revelations shame must not be seen Adam by the light only of reason covered his shame that so this covering might be Velam verecundiae a Vail of shame fastness We must beware that we change not our clothing in vexillum superbiae to be the standard of pride at the first it was ordained for a covering for lust we must not then make it a provocation for 〈◊〉 it is made by God to suppress lust we must not then make it as a procurer of sensuality Such is the attire of an enticing Woman in the seventh of the Proverbs and the nineth St. Jerome upon this place saith that it is opposite unto this use or first institution of apparrel to make it nidum luxuriae a nest for lasciviousness The second reason why God made them apparrel was for defence both of the cold of Winter and the heat of Summer to save them from the weather St. Paul in the second to the
it was seemly to cover his shame for to cover a starre or the Sunne is a blemish to either a Rose or a Lilie are best uncovered in their proper natures and so Adams nakedness in his innocencie was best without apparel The just man shall shine like the Sunne in the Kingdome of his father the thirteenth of Matthew the fourty third verse The second regard out of this covering or clothing is That the birds are covered with their own feathers the beasts with their haire and wooll but man must die for nakednesse unlesse he hath his cloathing from others Thirdly Goe to the brute beasts and wear their skinnes and by looking on them learn that if thou hadst been obedient thou hadst not need of such clothing and repeat that of the fourty ninth Psalm the twentieth verse Man was in honour and understood it not and now he is become like beasts that perish Lastly From the beasts being slain To put him in minde that though he may preserve his bodie for a while yet in the end in pulverem revertêris though these must die to feed and cloath thee yet in the end thou must die thy self These penitentiall meditations may be taken from this modell of apparell The nakedness of the soul. Now touching the nakednesse of the soul and the covering thereof spiritually hereto may be applied that of the sixteenth of Ezekiel the seventh verse Jerusalem was naked and barren but thou hast got thee excellent garments we are wretched poor and naked the third of the Revelations the seventeenth verse then this nakednesse which is of the soul it must be covered it is that whereto that of the sixteenth of the Revelations the fifteenth verse hath relation Blessed is he that keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and men see his filthinesse And God through his mercie covereth our sinne and it must be covered with a covering of skinne the brutish affection must be covered with morall virtues the brutish affection of anger of the Lion must be covered with patience the brutish affection of 〈◊〉 of the Goat must be clothed with chastity the pride the skinne of the Lamb of God which was the 〈◊〉 of the Serpent with the humilitie of the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world the thirteenth of the Revelations the eighth verse must be thy cloathing and we put on Christ by Baptism the third to the Galathians the twenty seventh Jacob was clothed with skinnes which did represent this If then we goe to the soul it is to be clothed analogically with the bodie the nakednesie thereof is to be clothed by faith with Christ Jesus the Lamb of God Et dixit Jehova Deus Ecce homo estne sicut unus ex nobis cognoscendo bonum malum nunc igitur videndum ne extendens manum suam accipiat etiam de fructu arboris vitae ut comedat victurus in seculum Gen. 3. 22. Januar. 14. 1598. IN the former verses of the Sentence I told you their several uses and that in the last of them was matter for penitentiall meditation The execution of the Sentence I told you was laid in these three last verses This verse containeth a deliberation or a resolution of what God should doe and it is as it were the writ for execution In the two next verses is conteined the execution it self God hereby seemeth so respective of them that he is so unwilling to execute upon them yet is he carefull of his truth for he said at the first restraint in the seventeenth verse of the former chapter Thou shalt die the death if thou eat the forbidden fruit and that God hath said must be performed for his words are not bruta fulmina and therefore that all may concur in his Sentence was imposed on him a painfull life and that it may be more painfull he is here deprived of Paradise and likewise the corruption of life was appointed him which in him and his posterite we see daily verefied that dust returneth to dust and here it is made more manifest by the taking away of the tree of life This verse divideth it self into two general parts the one in these words Behold the Man is become as one of us to know good and evill the other in that which remaineth For the first part I agree fully with the opinion of the ancient fathers which are the most wise and the most learned that these words the man is become as one of us c. is no Ironie but as one of them saith very well est vox magni fragoris it is a voice of great thunder wherein is written the misery that Adam is in as Christ at his death had a superscription whereby was expressed wherefore he suff red Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judeorum or as Malefactors have written in Papers on their heads wherefore they are punished So these words are a publishing wherefore they are thus used because they would become as God knowing good and evill that they and others may know the cause of their fall that as it is in the twenty ninth of Deuteronomie the twenty fourth verse If any shall aske wherefore hath the Lord done thus They shall answer because they have broken the 〈◊〉 of the Lord their God because they went and served other Gods and worshipped them even Gods which they knew not And here because Adam obeyed the Serpent whom he knew not and disobeyed God whom he knew because he would be as God and know good and evil he tasted the deserved punishment of Gods wrath The form of the words Now for the matter conteined herein the ancient Fathers doe gather hence Matter of faith first matter of faith quasi unus ex nobis Adam is like one of us hereby is taken a certain apprehension of the Trinity to refute the Jews that God speaketh not as Princes doe and like Emperors We charge you It is our pleasure c. that though he be one that speaketh yet he useth the plurall number but this doth resute them for what Prince or Monarch saith Like one of us to shew the unity of Godhead and trinity of persons he said not like unto Angells but like one of us In which words he sheweth both a remembrance or token of the unity and the Trinity in the fourth of John the twenty third verse the person of the Father in the twenty seventh verse there following the person of the Sonne saith I am he So that in one is the Godhead in us is the persons So much of the character Ironie Secondly It may seem God speaketh this as an Ironie in a scorning sort for surely it cannot be spoken directly for he is not become like God that knoweth all things but rather like the brute beast without understanding he is become by his disobedience liker the Serpent that seduced him than God that made him Sarcasmus Some take them as Ironicall or which is more as a Sarcasmus or
remember from whence they were fallen and repent the second of the Revelations the fift verse or according to that of the fifty first of Esay the first verse They should look to the rock whence they were hewed and to the hole of the pit whence they were digged This then planteth in them humilitie for no question but only for humilitie there needed no mention of these words whence they were taken God had said in the 19. verse Out of the earth wast thou taken dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return And Moses in the second chapter before the seventh verse saith Man was made of the dust of the ground and here again Out of the earth wert thou taken this iteration of the same thing in effect is not needlesse for the holy Ghost setreth down nothing that is needlesse for true is that saying that Nunquam nimis discutitur quod nunquam satis But this is 〈◊〉 so often to put us in minde of humility lest that should stick still in their stomachs which made them first to transgresse and to banish the thought from their mindes that they should be as Gods which thought were enough to cherish pride but rather that in remembrance of their sorrow and repentance they should cast dust upon their heads with Jobs friends the second of Job the twelfth verse The second use is the Justification of Gods righteousnesse and equity Man was not a native of Paradise he was a stranger he was not borne there for God took him elsewhere and put him into this Garden at the first the fifteenth of the former chapter He was brought from the Earth and put here And again here non est sumptus unde missus but missus unde sumptus he is not taken from whence he was sent but tent to the Earth from whence he was taken He was brought I say to Paradise not made there for this Garden of Eden was given him to take all pleasure and full use of it at the first upon a condition he should keep Gods Commandement in the seventeenth of the former but he brake the Law of Paradise and therefore according to his just demerrits he is sent to Earth from whence he was taken and this answereth with Gods truth and his Justice Yet this Justice is tempered with mercie for God sendeth him but to the Earth from whence he was taken The sinne of the Devil you see in the 14. Of Esay the 14 verse what it was He would ascend above the height of the Clouds saying Ero 〈…〉 I will be like the most high but God brought him down to the grave and sent him to Hell fire spoken of in the twenty first of the Revelations the eighth verse So man carrieth upon his forehead his sinne Ecce homo factus tanquam unus 〈◊〉 Adam would be as God knowing good and evill the very same crime then that was in Satan is in Adam the transgression of them both is one and the same This was mercy then not to punish them alike not dealing so with man as he had done with the Angell Lucifer Adam is here made as a scape Goat that had all the sinnes and 〈◊〉 of the people upon his head and so was sent into the 〈◊〉 the sixteenth of Leviticus the twenty first verse Adam had his sinne upon his forehead by the last verse and here is sent to the earth to till it So that this is mercy with judgement 4 The end of his sending The fourth point is the end Ut operaretur terram to serve to till to dresse the ground from whence he was taken this is the end Not to walk up and down unprofitable and to be idle nor to be at case and doe nothing but to be occupied in labour and service for none are to be exempted from this labor none I say as Job speaketh from him that grindeth in the mill to the Prince that sitteth upon his 〈◊〉 Paul in the first to the Thessalonians the fourth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse admon sheth them to love them that labour among them in the Lord for their work sake yea even the sonne of Man came not to be served but to serve the twentieth of Matthew the twenty eighth The servant which is idle and unprofitable shall be cast into utter darknesse the twenty fift of Matthew the thirtieth verse there is his punishment Sr. 〈◊〉 saith That God sent not Adam out of Paradise to the earth to make the earth a Paradise or garden of pleasure but a place of labour 〈◊〉 operaretur that he should work and till the Earth for though the rich man in the sixteenth of Luke lived at case and fared 〈◊〉 every day and made this world a world of pleasure whereas Lazarus lived in pain and labour yet mark what was the end It was said by Abraham in the twenty 〈◊〉 of that chapter Remember that in thy life time thou receivedst thy pleasure and Lazarus pains now therefore he is comforted and thou art tormented so was he punished for making this world to himself a Paradise Abraham made not this world a garden of pleasure but removed his tent from place to place the thirteenth chapter and the eighteenth verse Idlenesse and fullnesse of bread is afterwards punished The office of the Priest is not to be idle but to serve the fourty fourth of Ezechiel the sixteenth Mare mortuum made by labor The best Writers are of opinion that where now is mare mortuum the dead Sea was heretofore in times past made by mans labour only for a place of pleasure as the Garden of God but God changeth it into the contrarie Tyrus sometimes lived as in Eden the garden of God the twenty eighth of Ezechiel the thirteenth but in the seventeenth verse God will cast Tyrus to the ground and bring it to ashes And if we will live in the earth in 〈◊〉 and in pleasure as in Eden and make it our Paradise be assured there will follow pains and a great torment The second use Secondly He must doe this service to the ground And so was Kain said in the second verse of the chapter following to be a tiller of the ground In the twenty second verse they wrought metals taken out of the ground as brasse and iron and in other places they work in quarries of stone as in mines of metal we labour the earth for bread and for drink all must operari terram Apply hither the thirty second of Jeremy the fourty third verse Kings themselves live in this world but to serve they are Gods servants in things holy and in things civil for they are the Ministers of God to reward the good and punish the wicked the thirteenth to the Romans the fourth verse And in the sixt verse for this cause pay you tribute to Princes for that they are Gods Ministers If the King say put this man in prison and feed him with the bread of affliction it is done the 1 of
the Kings the 22. 27. The reign of the King is the service of God for in the thirteenth of the Acts the thirty sixt verse it is written David after he had served his time slept with his fathers yea in the fift of Johns Gospel the seventeenth verse Jesus saith His Father worketh and he himself worketh also for Jesus for our sakes made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant the second of the Philippians the seventh verse and only by this his obedience as a servant he hath made us all righteous the fift to the Romans the ninth verse The third use Take this also for a third use ut operaretur terram de quâ sumptus est to teach us that we must doe service to the Country wherein we live Every one is content and forward operari terram quae est to take pains and labour in trimming the earth de quâ factus whereof he was made his own person a mans private every one respecth and will for flow no means to perfect his own state but he must operari terram de quâ desumptus est he must occupie his diligence and service in the earth from whence he is taken It is the office of the Prince the Priests and People to pray for the peace of Jerusalem Psalm 122. 6. The King the 〈◊〉 and the Soldiers or Captains joyn in the building of the Citie Nehemiah 2. And according to that of 2 Sam. 10. 〈◊〉 The Souldiers are 〈◊〉 and valiant for their People and the Cities of their God they fight for the 〈…〉 they were taken Salomon the King bestoweth his 〈◊〉 and his pains 〈◊〉 inrich and better his land Not only 〈◊〉 but the 〈◊〉 Queen Hester though with danger of her life resolved to make petition to the King for safety of her People Hester 7. 3. she prayeth not only for her own life but also for the life of her People and if they had been sold only for servants or hand-maids she would have held her 〈◊〉 And Moses after the People had fallen to 〈◊〉 such was his zeal for the safety of his People that he 〈◊〉 more than once for the safety of them and that God would pardon them or if he would not to 〈◊〉 or raze him out of his book And Christ himself would 〈◊〉 rebukes for our sakes Rom. 14. 3. We must wish and work the good of the Land wherein we live both for this life and for the life to come though it be with the 〈◊〉 of the losse of our own lives with Moses Hester and our Saviour Women not exempted Further that we may joyn Women in this also who though they are not named yet they are not exempted from occupying themselves in this service of the Earth for though her husband be imployed abroad yet she overseeth her houshold and she 〈…〉 the bread of idlenesse saith the wiseman Prov. 31. 27. She is to doe her husband service She will doe him good and not evill all the dayes of her life She seeketh wooll and flax and laboureth with her hands And with her hands she planteth a Vineyard And by the whole discourse of that chapter it appeareth that she is not to live in idlenesse Here shall be work in the earth for women also For she shall eat of the fruit of her own hands and her own works shall praise her in the gates the thirty first of the Proverbs the thirty 〈◊〉 verse And Paul in his second chapter of his Epistle to Titus the fourth and the 〈◊〉 verses sheweth the duty of Women to love their Husbands to keep at home and to be subject unto them The especial matter of consideration is this that we were not altogether taken from earth but we have also a Heavenly part God breathed in us the breath of life we had a breathing from God So that as we owe service to the earth from whence our bodie was taken so we owe service to God from whom the Heavenly part of our soul came for the soul of man is 〈◊〉 substantia then we owe not all our service unto the earth but a greater service unto God for vain is it when man 〈◊〉 all his labour for his mouth but his soul is not 〈◊〉 the sixt of 〈◊〉 the seventh 〈◊〉 God 〈◊〉 for the soul As the body is 〈◊〉 so the Soul is 〈◊〉 by mans service unto God for ut anima est 〈…〉 so 〈…〉 vita animae the soul is the life of the body and God is the life of the soul. Besides as heretofore we have considered in his other 〈◊〉 that he joyneth Mercy with Judgement so likewise he joyneth Mercie here with his Justice yea his Mercie exceedeth his Justice Mercie and Judgement are joyned together in a good man the hundred and twelfth Psalme and God is mercifull and full of compassion the hundred and eleventh Psalme the fourth verse yea which is more by the hundred fourty 〈◊〉 Psalm the ninth verse His mercie is above all his works yea his 〈◊〉 shall not only be joyned with his Justice but even triumph over Justice The ancient Fathers doe gather the second mercie by or out of this sending and they doe expresse it out of the eighth chapter of this book by the sending of the Raven and the Dove out of the Arke for Noah sent forth the Raven which returned not when the waters were diminished from off the Earth but after the waters were abated the Dove returned with an olive leafe in her bill The Dove when she came brought hope of returning to the earth from whence Noah and his familie were taken In the fourty seventh of Genesis the twentieth verse though Joseph bought for Pharaoh all the Land of Egypt yet after Joseph gave them seed and only the sift part of the increase was for Pharaoh the rest for themselves and they were well content to till and husband the land and to become for this relief in their famine the servants of Pharaoh And out of Missus they gather another mercie God shall send us one and his name saith Jerom is Missus one sent upon the word Shiloh mentioned in the tenth of Genesis the twenty fourth verse and of Silo or Siloam which is by interpretation sent the ninth of John the seventh verse Moses in the fourth of Exodus the thirteenth verse when God would send him to Egypt saith Oh my Lord send I pray thee by the hand of him whom thou shouldest send The Prophet in the sixteenth of Esay the first verse saith send ye a Lamb to the Ruler of the world from the rock of the wildernesse This Lamb there prophecies that was sent was our Saviour And this word Missus sent is appropriated to Christ and he is sent that we might return again to Paradise Adam had hope that by one which should come from the promise in the seed of the woman he should once return again You have a plain example in the twenty
third of Luke the fourty third verse of the two Malefactors that sufferd with our Saviour he saith to one of them Hodie eris mecum in Paradiso to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise there is the return of one to Paradise And again in the 2 Corinthians 12. 4. you have another taken up into Paradise this is then a sending of the Dove with a branch in his mouth in hope of return it is no 〈◊〉 of the Raven not to return But this returning is to the Paradise of God for unto him that over commeth will God give to eate of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God the second of the Revelations the seventh verse So that that place sheweth a manifest return to eat of the tree of life and to take again the benefit of Paradise And in the twentieth of Johns Gospel the fifteenth verse Christ appeared to Mary Magdalen as a gardiner whence the Fathers infer that he shall bring us again into a better Garden then was Eden into the heavenly Paradise there to eate of the Tree of life by mercie through his owne sonne shall he send them in againe as with Justice mingled with Mercy he sent them out So much for this time Quumque expulisset hominem instituit à parte anteriore horti Hedenis Cherubos flammamque gladii sese vibrantis ad custodiendum viam quae ferebat ad arborem vitae Januar. 18. 1598. THIS is the putting forth of Adam and Eve from Paradise for they being sent forth before from the garden of Eden it may seeme that God dealt with them with such mercy that he spake to them but in jest But to shew that this execution was in earnest and that not only the Sentence should be executed but the execution prosecured with effect it followeth in this place to shew how the man was cast out of Paradise and how it was fenced and how the passage to the Tree of life was stopped with a 〈◊〉 sword shaken The occasion whereof was the slipperiness of mans nature who though he were in misery yet would desire to eate of the tree of Life and so live in eternall misery seeking by all means to shake off this penitential life therefore God useth all meanes to draw him to repentance and to think of his former happiness and of his present misery In this verse then a caveat must be had that there be no daliance in the execution but that the execution in all points be fulfilled whereupon they are cast forth there are Cherubins set who are armed with fire and sword to prosecute the sentence and execution and defend the passage into Paradise that so all his statutes may be found true For all that God doth and saith are done in equity and truth the hundred and eleventh Psalm and the eighth verse The Tree of Life fenced 〈◊〉 Another point is this that of God and Justice he fenceth the Tree of life with an armed Angell with fire and sword And therefore look where the precept and law of God is contemned a Cherubin and a Sword followeth according to that of the twenty sixth of Leviticus and the twenty fifth verse Mittam gladium super vos I will send a Sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrell of my Covenant In the twenty second verse before in the sentence the Tree of life was not fenced at all therefore here God provideth for it a fence and a better guard which is Cherubins and a Sword The Seraphin in the sixth of Esay and the sixth verse Had a hot 〈◊〉 in his hand which he took from the Altar Another Cherubin in the tenth of Ezekiel and the seventh verse Stretcheth forth his hand 〈◊〉 the fire and giveth of it to him that was clothed with linnen thus then was the pastage of Eden guarded with an Angell a Cherubin armed with a fiery Sword in regard of the justice of God The end of the fencing The end of this fencing thus of Paradise and of the Tree of life is as the Fathers say because that it is the will of God Inseparatio Paradisi ligni that the Paradise of God and the Tree of life should be inseparablie together that none should enjoy the Paradise of God but should easte of the Tree of life and none should have the Tree of life but should likewise enjoy the Paradise of God that so whosoever should enjoy the one should have the other for as it is in the thirty fourth Psalm and the twelfth verse And likewise in the first of Peter the third chapter and tenth verse Every man naturally hath a longing desire after long life and to see good daies and to live long and happily to have eternity and the Paradise of 〈◊〉 for small is the comfort to live long and have no happinesse or to have happinesse and not enjoy it long and therefore man when he was cast forth he was debarred hereby both of the state of felicity and of eternity that God might be true in his words and just in his works A Cherubim and a firie Sword Now touching this guard it self this fence it consisteth of two parts the one is a Cherubin taken and sent from Heaven above the other a fiery Sword from the Earth below that Adam and Eve might consider that Heaven and Earth were armed against them to be a terror to their Soul and Body this was a spirituall and civill punishment for there was in Adams sinne an inordinate desire of the Soul to seek curiously into Gods secrets and to know good and evill and likewise an inordinate appetite of the body to behold and taste of the forbidden fruit thinking that was a fruit more pleasant than all the trees in the garden and God doubteth in the twenty second verse that he will put also forth his hand and take of the tree of life and live for ever and therefore to fence this Tree he setteth an Angell not naked but armed to defend it I say an Angell with a shaking Sword in his hand Cherubims And that these Cherubins are Angels it is doubtlesse by the whole course of the Scriptures both new and old and there of the ancient and new writers make no doubt they say that as the committing of sinne was by an evill Angell so emissio the punishment for sinne was by an Angell their putting out of Paradise was by means of the evill Angell and the passage was kept against them by an Angell armed with a burning Sword he came like a Serpent to provoke them to sinne and he was punished by a Cherubin an Angell of that order mention is made of the Cherubins in the time of the Law in the twenty fifth of Exodus and the eighteenth verse And in the building of the first Temple of Salomon were placed the Cherubims in the inward house the figures of Cherubims compassed the house and the dores of the Oracle were
no more favor hath God forgotten to be mercifull no doubt God will shew the mercy that hee found in his misery or if with the Prophet Jer. 47. 6. we fay Oh thou sword of the Lord how long will it bee ere thou cease turne again into thy scabbard rest and be still no doubt God will be mercifull And for the Cherubyms the Cherubyms that covered the two ends of the mercy seate in Exodus the 25. chapter and the 18. verse were Cherebims of protection that covered with their wings the Mercy-seat And in Ezekiel 28. it is said That the king of Tyrus had been in Eden the garden of God and verse 14. That he was the 〈◊〉 Cherub that covereth it was a Cherubym of protection They no doubt that accompanied the Lamb Revel 14. were Angells and Cherubyms singing and harping for joy and these Cherubyms that here are appointed with fire and sword if it please God to be mercifull may turne their shape and lay downe the Sword for if Gods wrath be appeased no wrath is executed as in the case of David and of Jerusalem and of Ninivie where God stayed the hand of his Angell and his wrath ceased for God giveth power to Angells in Heaven and Princes on the Earth and all the shields of the world belong unto God Psal. 47. so that if he be appeased they yeeld their power and if God will have mercy upon man and will say deliver him that he goe not downe the pit for I have received a reconciliation then shall he be restored to his former state Job 33. 24. Upon mans repentance God will deliver his soule from destruction and if here God were once reconciled the sword should be taken away from the Angell and he should put it up into his sheath and man should recover his former state and the Angell shall become an Angell of mercy like the Cherubyms Exod. 25. 〈◊〉 covered with their wings the mercy seat or Propitiatory Now the meanes of reconciliation is a Propitiatory sacrifice for Sacrifice is the way of Reconciliation When Abraham with his offering of his sonne had pleased God the Angell stayed Abrahams knife and he found favor with God chap. 22. After David by his sinne had procured the punishment of his people he repented him of his sinne ond offered him up a burnt offering and a peace offering and then the Lord answered him by fire from heaven upon the Altar of burnt-Offering and when the Lords wrath was appeased the Angell sheathed up his Sword 1 Cron. 21. 26. and here if in Adams Case Gods wrath be appeased and he reconciled the Angell will lay down his firySword and flamma quae ardet gladius qui mactat the fire that should burne shall be extinguished and the sword that should slay shall be sheathed and by a Sacrifice Gods wrath shall be appeased for Exod. 12. chapter Where God seeth the blood upon the 〈◊〉 of their houses God and his Angell will passe over their houses and plague nor destruction shall not fall upon them the token of blood shall be a reconciliation of Gods favor and the Angell passed by This brings us to the great Propitiatorie Sacrifice the like whereof never was in the world in the which is not the blood of Lambs Goats or beasts but the blood of the immaculat Lamb Jesus Christ Gods sonne and mans Saviour who offered his pretious blood for the sinnes of us all who was the only and all sufficient Sacrifice to apapease the wrath of God and reconcile man to his Love this Sacrifice drew the alliance of Men with Angels made a reconciliation with God and restored man to the tree of life and the Paradise of God and the Angels shall rejoyce and be glad at this reconciliation and that Christ was exalted the eleventh of the Revelations and the fifteenth verse And the seventh place the Fathers doe alledge that this place is a poynting even unto the Gospell that in the fencing thus of Paradise it was foretold that one should come that through his obedience should remove the armed Cherubyms and give unto mankinde a passage into Paradise and this they ground upon the first of Ezechiell and the tenth verse and upon the tenth of Ezechiell and the fourteenth verse and the fourth of the Revelations and the seventh verse they agree that there were foure Cherubyms in the first of Ezechiell and the tenth verse they had the face of a Man the similitude of the face of an Oxe of a Lyon and of an Eagle and in the tenth of Ezekiell and the fourteenth verse one had the face of a Cherubym the other of a Man of a Lyon and of an Eagle and for the Cherubyms in the fourth of the Revelations and the seventh verse The one was like a Lyon the other like an Oxe the third like a Man the last like an Eagle and these foure beasts in the Revelation theydoe referre unto the foure Evangelists But the other places and this also they doe referre unto the four principall acts of Christ in our reconcillation They doe apply the face of the Man to Christs nativitie who was borne man of a pure virgin The face of the Oxe to his passion who resembled his death to the death of an Oxe sacrificed for the sinnes of the People and the face of the Lyon to his Resurrection who thereby triumphed over death even he that was a Lyon of the Tribe of Judah And lastly they compare the face of the Eagle to his glorious ascention whereby he mounted like an Eagle above an Eagles pitch only to reconcile us unto Gods favor And if the Sacrifice of Christ be applyed unto us then doth it appease Gods wrath to us David applyeth Nathans rebuke to himselfe after all his sorrow and acknowledgment of his sinne in the one and fiftith Psalme with deepe and hearty repentance he sheweth that the Sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit and a broken heart he despiseth not and if with David in the fourth Psalme and the fist verse We examine our owne heart and offer the Sacrifices of righteousnesse and trust in the Lord this application of our Sacrifice to this Sacrifice is by our hearty repentance and then shall the Sacrifice of Christ Jesus be unto us a reconciliation and a propitiatory Sacrifice even to us that are penitent for hee that mourneth and sorroweth for his sinnes that repenteth from his heart of his former wickednesse shall be sure to have a part of this blessed Sacrifice once offered for all upon the Crosse And this is Pauls Sacrifice in the twelfth to the Romans and the first verse offer upyour bodies a living Sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable serving of God these then that sacrifice their Soules and Bodies by Repentance shall be assured to have a part in Christs sacrifice If thy eye offend pull it out the ninth of Marke and the fourty seventh verse apply by thy repentance Christs passion
a condemning of his action because it is a foolish thing to doe that which hath no good reason to be rendred to warrant the doing of it Therefore God divideth the sense into two parts either the reason must be in God or in Abel in God for favouring him or in Abel because favoured of God Now God in the former part hath acquitted himself saying If thou dost well shalt not thou be accepted for behold I am just and will regard thy well doing therefore thou hast no cause to be grieved for that Or else thou shalt be rewarded according to justice and that in bounty and liberality which is by ancient Fathers grounded upon the words of God to Abraham Fear not for I will be thine exceeding great reward Genesis the fifteenth chapter and the first verse that is If thou dost well thou shalt be 〈◊〉 be rewarded for it but if thou dost not well thou hast no cause to be grieved neither for as I am just and will talk with thee one day thou shalt hear of it so yet my justice is full of mercy I intend not presenly to take thee by the throat but give thee space to repent 〈◊〉 shall but lye at thy dore so that not only Gods justice 〈◊〉 herein but his mercy is exceeding great and mixed with justice If God took order that after his sinne committed Cain should 〈◊〉 by and by come to judgement but should have time first to 〈◊〉 himself of it this is matter of comfort that no man should despair by and by when he hath sinned far that God is a 〈…〉 God and would not the death of sinner and therefore giveth him time to repent This sheweth that God gave him no cause of grief There remains that the grief must be conceived against Abel because God so much respected him but so the sense is as if God should say Cain art thou grieved for Abels good and fearest he should grow insolent by the favour I have shewed him and so he should despise and thou shouldst be vile in his eyes If Abel have offended thee why his desire shall be subject to thee but that is no cause why thou shouldst be grieved for he being the Child of grace doth not affect any such manner of superiority as thou fearest but is as modest and as humble as he was before and so thou hast no reason of impatiencie against him And not only that first but this second that God shewed plainly that it is his will that in and by the sin committed no man should lose any priviledge which of right is due to him and which before hee had and every motion in a Superior to sinne doth not discharge him of his authority Which is contrary to that false opinion and censure of them which thinke that even Princes themselves after sinne committed lose all their prerogative and supremacy of government which they had before and that their Subjects are not bound to doe their service any longer to them but that ever after their allegiance shall cease which is false and contrary to all reason and not Gods intent and will here For as in the chapter before after Adam had sinned yet Eve was still subject to him so the same God saith and ratifieth here that Cain though he had thus sinned both against God and his brother yet being the elder and first born and so before Abel so there should be a superiority and dominion that he should still retain by nature And it is Gods assertion that that superiority should be reteined still and that Abel should not seek to be his Superior neither did he That was the prerogative which Cain had before Abel as the elder But to yeeld this obedience hath been the continuall practise of all the Saints and Children of God King Saul was a wicked man yet David rebelled not against him because he knew him to be the Lords annointed so the Prophet Jeremy saith of Nebuchadnezar a wicked King that he will visite the Nation and Kingdome that will not serve him the twenty seventh chapter of Jeremiah and the ninth verse and for the new Testament both Paul and Peter confess the same Paul in the first to Timothy the second chapter and the second verse and Peter in the first epistle of Peter the second chapter and the fourteenth verse doe will that duty and allegiance be given to the higher powers not only if they be good but though they be Tyrants and wicked Princes that fear not God And it is it that God saith by Job Job the thirty fourth chapter and the thirtieth verse that by him the Hypocrite reigneth that is for their sinnes God will send wicked Princes and Cain shall bear rule over Abel God doth not only alledg that thus it was but thus he would have it This Government thus by God established in the beginning was by David Jeremy Paul Peter Job and all the rest of the Patriarchs and Saints of God confessed and allowed So that if we regard Abel either in respect of himself or his demeanour towards Cain or we respect Gods goodness herein no just cause can be of grief neither was it Gods will that Abel should resist neither doth he any such thing and so indeed there was no just cause why Cain should fear it or be grieved And this may suffice for the first which I will shut up with this Caveat of instruction 〈◊〉 Our own sinne of malice and envy is cause of our grief that for as much as the grief of malice and envy cannot be 〈◊〉 from God who is just nor from Abel who is mild and modest then it remains that it came from Cain himself whom God repeats four times together in the words of this Text thou and thee and so he must return to his own heart and remember how his own sinne is cause of his grief as God himself speaketh by Isaiah the fourty sixth chapter and the eighth verse Remember thus and be ashamed bring it again to minde you transgressors Note And for the new Testament Luke the fifteenth chapter the prodigall Sonne when he came to himself confessed his own unworthiness and said Father I have sinned which is another main point of Divinity established from the beginning that as God saith Hosea the fifteenth and the ninth perditio tua ex te Israel salus autem ex me so our well doing or ill doing is cause of our regarding or destruction so saith James no man is tempted of God for God cannot be tempted of ill neither doth he tempt any man but every one is tempted of his own concupiscence James the first chapter and the thirteenth verse So that from the first we have this Doctrine that if God be judged he is innocent and if Abel there is no fault in him and to come to Cain he is in all the fault But now if we come about and say it is not meant of the person but of the things that is
verse Fourthly he breaks the bond of nature for the party murthered is his brother and so he becommeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romans the first chapter Fiftly he feares not to kill him though he know it will be to the great grief of Adam and Eve his Parents wherein he deals worle than Esau who would not utter his hatred against Jacob till the dayes of mourning for his Father were past Genesis the twenty seventh chapter Sixtly it was not done ex irae impetu but ex odii habitu and against such the Prophet prayeth be not mercifull to such as sinne of malicious wickedness psalm the fifty ninth Seventhly his hatred was not open Cloaked hatred under colour of friendship but cloaked and hidden under a shew of love which makes it more grievous It was not mine enemie that did me this dishonour for then I could have born it It was not mine adversary that exalted himself against me for I would have hid my self but it was thou my companion my guid and familiar friend therefore let death seiz upon him Psalm the fifty fifth and the twelfth thirteenth and fifteenth verses Eighthly this sinne is committed after Gods admonition who had uied all means to draw him to repentance Ninthly not only being admonished but seeing his Father made an example of Gods wrath whom he saw daily labouring and moyling in the earth for his disobedience to God Tenthly that which makes Cains sinne out of reason sinfull Romans the seventh is the cause not for any offence that Abel had committed but for doing his duty in Gods service as the Apostle noteth in the first epistle of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse Wherefore slew he him because his own works were evil and his brothers good Cain Patriarch of hypocrites and persecutors of the Godly As before he was the Patriarch of all hypocrites so here Cain is the Patriarch of all persecuting Tyrants for that he slew his brother for no other cause but for well doing and for this good sacrifice whereby he pleased God Abel the first righteous Martyr And as Abel is said to be the first of all righteous men Matthew the twenty third chapter and the twenty fifth verse so here we see him the first Martyr wherein we see the works of the Devill who is a mutherer from the beginning John the eighth chapter and the fourty fourth verse Anger conceived hatred is murther of the soul. for he did not only murther our first 〈◊〉 in Paradise but he makes Cain a mutherer first of his own soul by conceiving hatred against his brother and purposing his death and then by killing the body of his brother Envy the meanes As this is the effect of the Devill so he makes the sinne of envy the means of which sinne the Wise-man saith Proverbs the twenty seventh chapter and the fourth verse Who can stand before envy there is no way but death with them that are envyed Examples The Bretheren of Joseph were content with nothing but the death of their brother but that two of them did withstand it Genesis the thirty seventh chapter It was envy that made the Scribes and Pharisees crucifie Christ Matthew the twenty seventh chapter Of hatred 〈◊〉 murther We see how Cain proceeded against his brother from envie to anger from anger to hatred and from it to murther these degrees must be observed Note that we may avoid them in our selves because there is no man but may sall as well as Cain except the grace of God doe stay him To conclude It is a necessary point that we consider aright of of this matter for the Prophet complaineth in the fifty seventh chapter of Isaiah and the first verse The righteous perisheth and no man considereth it So it is a fault if we do not consider the death of righteous Abel The Wiseman complaineth in the seventh chapter of Ecclesiastes and the seventeenth verse In the dayes of my vanity I have seen a good man punished in his justice and a wicked man continue longer in his malice This was Abel's case but when a man shall consider that death was at the first inflicted upon sinne because it is the wages of sin Romans the sixt chapter and the last verse and that 〈◊〉 is the means by which death entred into the world Romans the fift chapter and yet that Abel a righteous man is the first that drank of this Cup in the old Testament as John Baptist was in the new it will make him say Hoc est onus Jehovae as it is in the twenty third chapter of Jeremiah and the thirty fourth verse and hic est durus sermo John the sixt chapter The Apostle saith Godlinesse hath promises both in this life and the life to come in the first epistle to Timothie the fourth chapter and the eighth verse and among the promises of this life long life is one in the sixt chapter to the Ephesians and the third verse which God promiseth to them that honour their Superiors On the other side God threatneth that the blood thirsty and deceitfull man shall not live out half his dayes Psalm the fifty fift And yet Cain lived long and Abel a godly man dyed soon Therefore when we see the righteous dye quickly and the wicked live long we must take heed we stumble not at Gods doings but justifie God and acknowledge that he is just and true and every man a lyar Psalm the fifty first Romans the third chapter Therefore to make this point plain it is true long life is promised as a blessing of God which he promiseth to the observers of his command but withall we must know there are certain causes wherein this rule holdeth not true that the dutifull and holy man shall live long in this world The exceptions are First in respect of the parties themselves to whom this blessing is promised It is with a Godly man as with the fruit of trees if after it is once ripe it besuffered to continue on the trees it will be rotten so it is with good men in this world And therefore the Wiseman saith of Enoch that because he lived amongst sinners God translated him and he took him away least wickednesse should alter his understanding and deceit beguile his minde Sapi. the fourth chapter In such a case it is not a benefit but a detriment for a man to live long And there is no man but in such a respect will be content that God shall break promise with him Secondly Another exception is in respect of the punishment of sinne If a party that pleaseth God should by living long become miserable he would not think long life a blessing and therefore God in mercy took away good Josiah that he should not see the miseries that were to come upon the Jews by the captivitie in the second booke of Chronicles and the thirty fourth chapter this favour he vouchsafed to that godly King
when Parties are convicted upon witnesses which is the more usuall way but when by manifest arguments and proofs they are proved guilty For so in Cain The falling down of his countenance His going into the fields with his Brother And he being found slain thereupon are manifest tokens that he slew Abel for there was none else to doe it Upon those grounds God proceeds to give sentence against Cain In which sentence we have an Ecce of Gods Severity in his Justice and of his Bounty in Mercy For first This is a great mercy to Cain that where God did not take this judiciall course with Korah for resisting the Magistrate of Gods people but caused the earth presently to swallow him up in the sixteenth chapter of Numbers and punished Ananias with sudden death for that he lyed not to men but to God Acts the fifth chapter and never stayed either to see whether he would confesse or to convince him yet he will not proceed against Cain till he have proved him guilty and condemned him accordingly Of Gods proceeding in justice against Cain there are three parts First the spirituall part against his soul. Secondly the Oeconomicall part against his labour bestowed in tilling the earth Thirdly his Politicall punishment which standeth herein That he shall be an exile and Vagabond on earth The first part of his punishment is in these words Cursed art thou from the earth for Gods meaning herein as Cain himself doth apprehend it verse the fourteenth is that Cain is cast out from the earth and from the presence of God that is God doth inflict upon him an Ecclesiasticall severing from Gods presence not from the presence of his Providence for of that Psalm the one hundred thirty ninth Whither shall I goe from thy presence Presence of Gods favour but from the presence of Gods favour and grace of which the Prophet prayeth Cast me not from thy presence Psalm the fifty first from the fellowship of the Saints as in saying Cursed art thou from the earth he pronounceth upon him the sentence of Banishment out of the society of men As God doth separate Cain out of the family of Adam which was an Image of the Church wherein he heard Gods word so also he doth baniish him out of the company of men Touching the first point we know that it is the highest punishment that can be inflicted to be cursed of God for in the third of Genesis and the fourteenth verse the sentence pronounced upon the Serpent was Cursed art thou if there had been any punishment more grievous doubtlesse God would have laid it upon him And in the end of the world the last and most fearfull punishment or sentence upon the Devill and his Angels is Ite maledicti Matthew the twenty fift chapter Especially when the curse is directed to the person maledictus tu as if it were shot out of purpose against him so he directed the curse to the Serpents person Genesis the third chapter and the fourteenth verse Cursed art Thou above all cattel But when God came to Adam he spared his person and laid the curse upon the earth Maledicta terrapropter te Genesis the third chapter and the seventeenth verse But here we see the sentence is pronounced against Cain's person as it was against the Serpent Cursed art Thou from the earth Wherein we may see that Cain's sinne is another manner of sin than Adam's and therefore is more grievously punished as it standeth with justice 〈◊〉 ad rationem peccati 〈◊〉 plagarum modus Deuteronomie the twenty fourth chapter But Cain's sinne is greater than Adam's five wayes First Adam's sinne proceeded out of concupiscence but Cain's came of malice which deserveth no mercy as the Prophet sheweth Psalm the fifty ninth Be not mercifull to them that sinne of malicious wickednesse Secondly Adam's sinne was committed upon a sudden and did not take root as Cain's did for his sinne was a long time hatching and breeding for all Gods preaching to him yet he went forward in sinne albeit he had long admonition from God to keep him from it Thirdly Adam having committed his sinne was taken with fear and fled to hide himself if he could but Cain was not a whit afraid but faced it out and never shewed any sorrow for it Fourthly when Adam was examined he confessed his sinne willingly but Cain obstinatly denyed it and would not be brought to confesse it though God had three times laboured to make him confesse He denieth his fault non tam audacter quam procaciter Wherefore Adams sinne and Cains are not both of one regard or nature and therefore must not be punished alike but the one more grievously than the other So yet we see here is a great correspondencie between the Serpents sinne and Cain's for as the Serpent of envy murthered our first Parents so Cain is here the instrument of the Serpent to kill Abel for that he envyed him And therefore the Wise-man said Invidiâ Diaboli intravit mors Fiftly As the Devils sinne is pride Ero similis altissimo Isaiah the fourteenth chapter the fourteenth verse so Cain shewed his pride by his contempt of Gods word command who forewarned him not to kill his Brother as also by his saucy answer to God Am I my Brothers keeper Wherefore as Cain's sinne is equall to the Serpents sinne so he hath the same punishment that the Serpent had Maledictus tu In regard of which likenesse of their sinne the Apostle saith Cain is ex maligno illo in the first of John the third chapter and the twelfth verse that is rather the Son of the Devill than of Adam and therefore the Son is punished with the like punishment that was laid upon the Father For the contents of the word Maledictus The nature of a curse is That the party upon whom it is pronounced must be evill as the Prophet saith Isaiah the third chapter and the eleventh verse Dicite justo quia bene vae autem malo quia male especially that party is cursed that hath no good in him for wee see in the eighteenth chapter of Genesis if there had been any good in Sodom but five persons the Lord would have spared it but because there was no good in it it was plagued with fire and brimstone which doth most of all resemble hell But on the other side because there was wine found in one cluster the Lord said destroy it not Isaiah the sixty fifth chapter and the eighth verse In the new Testament God promiseth mercy to the Church of Philadelphia quia modicam habes virtutem in the third of the Revelations and the eighth verse The goodness of a sinner But Cain had no goodnesse left in him for whereas the goodness of a sinner is fear shame compassion and repentance Cain had none of these Adam was afraid when he had sinned but Cain was 〈◊〉 little afraid that he faced out his sin and as for shame it was
of bread that Cain and all those that walk in his way doe eat they eat it wrongfully and shall make and an account for it as if they had stolen it So that though Cain speak never so much to the corn and wine and oyle and they in his behalf call to the earth and the earth to the heavens and the heavens crie unto God yet there shall be no answer for his relief Hosea the second chapter and the twenty first verse but they shall all con pire and plague Cain for his sinne Job saith If I have eaten the fruit of the earth without silver or grieved the soules of the Masters thereof Job the thirty first chapter and the thirty ninth verse to shew us there is a right not only of labour but of person for Adam may eat of the fruits of the earth by right of his labour bestowed in dressing it but Cain for that he is a person accursed cannot eat thereof God gives Adam food upon condition of his labour but food is denyed to Cain though he take never so much pains for that Cain is a person accursed by God and hath no part in that blessed seed in whom all the promises of God touching this life and the life to come are yea and amen in the second to the Corintbians the first chapter and the twentieth verse Secondly As we desire sufficientie of living against want so we desire rest and quietness from trouble and this we desire rather than the other For a little with the fear of the Lord is better than great treasure with trouble Proverbs the fifteenth chapter and the sixteenth verse but as the earth denyed him sufficiencie so it will not afford him a dwelling place to rest in Of these words there are two constructions and both profitable First The 〈…〉 these words Vagabond and Runagate gemens tremens that is in grief and feare shalt thou be all the daics of thy life without any certain dwelling to rest in He that is in grief is heavie and burthensom to himself but he that is in fear is suspicious of others which is a great vexation which kinde of punishment is laid upon them that keep not Gods Commandements that they shall be smitten with searefulness they shall fly at the shaking of a leaf Leviticus the twenty sixt chapter and the sevententh verse They shall flye when no man pursueth Proverbs the twenty eighth chapter And albeit they goe from place to place seeking for rest and peace yet non est pax impiis Isaiah the fifty seventh chapter Of this Fear we have an example in Cain who being guilty of the breach of Gods Command confessed that he was now in that case that whosoever shall finde him might kill him Secondly The other sense which they gather of these words that where there are but two places for men to rest in either his own native Country or some other where he can be Cain shall tarry neither in his own Country nor in any other but shall 〈…〉 and remove from place to place and finde rest no where therefore he went out of his own Country and went and built a City in the land of Nod and yet was not quiet there neither And this is the case of an evill conscience not to rest any where for to a good conscience Angulus sufficit but for him that hath a bad conscience ipse mundus angulus est Therefore we are to think of these things when we begin to commit any sins namely that thereby we deprive our selves both of living and 〈◊〉 welling so that if we sinne against God by transgressing his Precepts we can neither look to have food sufficient nor place convenient to dwell and rest in The qualification of this Sentence or mercy with God sheweth herein is that 〈◊〉 Cain be punished with want of food and dwelling 〈◊〉 it is but super terram therefore if he repent while he is on the earth he may set himself in a better state for this restraint doth shew that God gave to Cain space to 〈◊〉 Apocalyps the second chapter and the twenty first verse so that there is hope for sinners so long as God suffers them to continue upon earth for if God would not have Cain repent he should have been presently swallowed up of the earth as Korah was and have dyed suddenly as Ananias did Therefore this super terram is a mercy It sheweth also that all Cains care was set upon earth We are punished with that which is our delight and therefore God doth punish him with that which was his delight as he had no care at all of heaven as appeared by the manner of his Sacrifice which he offered to God without any choice at all but set his affection upon earth so God punisheth him with an earthly punishment that he should finde no comfort or rest on earth and this he doth both in justice and mercy to draw him back to repentance and to make him sorry having a sense of his miseries Hosea the second chapter and the seventh verse I will goe and return to my first husband that the want of food on earth and of rest might make him sorry with the prodigall Son in the fifteenth chapter of Luke I will goe to my Father God suffers Cain to live in penury that the sense thereof might inforce him to this resolution 〈◊〉 ad Patrem As the dove sent out of the Arke finding no rest had no place to goe to but to the 〈◊〉 from whence she came Genesis he eighth chapter so God doth punish Cain with a restlesse life on earth that he might seek for rest in heaven And as the Angell called Agar when she wandred from her Mistris to return to her and humble her self under her hands Genesis the sixteenth chapter and the ninth verse so it was Gods will that Cain considering his restlesse life on earth should return to God from whom he had now strayed as a lost 〈◊〉 by means of his greivous sinnes and 〈◊〉 himself under his mighty hand as it is in the first epistle of 〈◊〉 confessing his sinne and craving forgivenesse That so God might have mercy on him receive him into everlasting Tabernacles Luke the sixteenth chapter where is rest void of trouble and sufficiency of all good things Tum Kajin dixit Jehovae Major est poena mea quam ut sustinere possim Gen. 4. 13. Septemb. 〈◊〉 1599. THE word which signifieth sinne here in other places of Scripture is used for the punishment of sinne as in the thirty second chapter of Numbers and the twenty third verse Yee have sinned against the Lord and be sure your sinne shall sinde you out Which double signification maketh that there is a double reading of this verse The one in the Text My punishment is greater than I can bear The other in the Margent My sin is greater than can be pardoned So in the Text the word is translated the
his Sentence and therefore as Christ saith Luke the thirteenth chapter Except 〈◊〉 repent ye shall all likewise 〈◊〉 so all threathings in the Scripture goe with this condition The soul that sinneth it shall die except it repent Ezekiel the eighteenth chapter and he that calls his brother fool is in danger of hell fire except he 〈◊〉 Matthew the fifth chapter and the twenty second verse So that the justice of God is no hndrance but that the most grievous sinner that is may obtain forgiveness if he repent and because Cain repented not therefore he is excluded from the remission of sinnes The point that remains is That we consider 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the second to the Corinthians the second chapter the devises and fetches which the enemie of our Salvation useth to work our destruction for when sinne is to be committed he brings them to presumption and albeit God hath threatned plagues for such and such sinnes yet he perswades a man as Peter did Christ in the sixteenth chapter of Matthew Non fiet haec tibi that is before sinne is committed but when finne is finished and the Devill hath that he would have then he laboureth to bring men into desperation saying it must needs be and they cannot avoid the wrath and judgements of God In the reading of the old Testament he layeth a vail over the hearts of men as it was with the Jews that by the Law they might not see the grievousnesse of sinne and so avoid the danger of it in the second epistle to the Corinthians and the third chapter but when he hath entised men to commit sinne then he blindeth their eyes that the light of the Gospell whereby they are assured of the forgivenesse of sinnes and of the mercy of God in Christ should not shine into their hearts in the second to the Corinthians the fourth chapter he will neither let them see the grievousnesse of sinne before they commit it nor behold the mercy of God after it is committed Which mercy of God is so generally offered to all sorts that even murtherers lyars albeit they be grievous sinners cannot despair of mercy for we see both David and Peter obtained pardon and none are debarred but only they that say Quid nobis tecum Jesu Nazarene in the first chapter of Mark and the twenty fourth verse That which excluded the Devill himself from mercy was this desperate fear for as Augustine saith Obstinatione suâ non enormitate sceleris Daemon est Daemon Even so Cain the Child of the Devill seemeth to say thus much in this his confession I desire no pardon at thy hands O God because I see the greatness of my offence is greater than thy mercy For Cain we see what befell him because as the Prophet speaketh Noluit intelligere ut bene ageret Psalm the thirty sixt because he had no care to doe as God would have him therefore God gave him up to the lusts of his own heart and as the Apostle speaketh in the second to the Thessalonians the second chapter and the tenth verse because when God spake to him he believed not the truth that he might be saved God sent him strange delusions that he should believe the Devils lyes who preached to him and perswaded him after he had sinned that his sinne was greater than Gods mercy for if Pharaoh first harden his own heart Exodus the eighth chapter and the thirty second verse it is just that God harden his heart so as he shall not hearken to his ministers Exodus the ninth chapter and the twelfth verse But because the Prophet complaineth that while he would have healed Israel then the iniquitie of Ephraim was discovered and the wickednesse of Samaria Hosea the seventh chapter Therefore we must be heedfull that while we seek to cure desperation we make not a way to presumption for that is the great sinne against which the Prophet prayeth in the ninteenth Psalme Keep thy servant from presumptuous sinnes so shall I be clear from the great sinne This was the sinne of Cain and we must beware that we walk not in his way as Jude counselleth Quia è nimiâ spe presumptio is the high way to desperation therefore when we know Gods will as Cain did we must seek no faither nor follow our own wisdom It was Sauls sinne he would be wiser than either Samuel or the Lord himself for being commanded to destroy the Amalekites with all they had Saul as if God knew not what he did takes upon him to spare the best things in the first book of Samuel the fifteenth chapter this was his presumption We must beware saith Moses in the twenty ninth chapter of Deuteronomie and the ninteenth verse That when we hear the words of the curses and the punishments which God threatneth against the transgressors of his Law That wee doe not blesse our selves in our hearts saying I shall have peace though I walk after the stubbornness of mine own heart thus adding 〈◊〉 to thirst It we will not despaire we must fear for so did Job and therefore he saith Timor meus spes mea in the fourth chapter of Job and thesixth verse The fear he had and felt when he was about to sinne wrought in him an assured hope and assurance of Gods favour and that fear made him say Etiamsi 〈◊〉 sperabo in eum Job the thirteenth chapter That fear is a means of hope the Apostle S. Peter sheweth for having said that he would have all men to hope perfectly in the first of Peter the first chapter and the thirteenth verse he expresseth the means how they shall attainto this perfect hope that is by passing their conversation in fear verse the seventeenth This course did not Cain take but contrariwise when he heard God tell him that if he did evill sinne lay at the dore he for all that blesseth himself in his heart and said I shall doe well enough though I walk after the stubbornnesse of mine own heart and kill Abel my Brother contrary to Gods commandements En expellis me hodie à superficie istius terrae ut à facie tua abscondam me cumque vagus sim infestus agitationibus in terra si ullus fuerit qui me inveniat interficiet me Gen. 4. 14. Septemb. 9. 1599. CAINS speech to God as we see stands upon two parts one touching his sinne in the thirteenth verse the other concerning his punishment in this verse which also contains two parts First a meer repetition of the sentence given upon him in the eleventh verse Secondly an addition which Cain himself makes That now whosoever should finde him should kill him which is his chief complaint For the first part When sentence is passed upon any person God requireth two things First Agnitionem culpae whereunto two things belong That 〈◊〉 Promissio poenitentiae as Ezekiah promiseth That he will walk all the dayes of his life in the bitternesse of
hear so they cried and he would not hear them Yet not withstanding we see God is content to hear Cain's petition and by his example to set down a pattern unto others that the sentence being pronounced and the party condemned yet he is to be allowed to speak Secondly That God having heard Cain wonder at his punishment as if it were not proportionable to his sinne hearing him odiously recounting and remembring his punishment where he should have thought upon his sinne and transposing Gods order in that he complaineth for that he is cast out of the earth before he speaks of his casting out of Gods favour hearing him shew plainly that he was more grieved at the penalty inflicted upon him than the fault committed by him and at the earthly part of his punishment more than the spirituall whereas upon his own confession God might justly have said Luke the fourteenth chapter ex ore tuo judico as thou confessest thy self unworthy to live so whosoever shall finde 〈◊〉 shall kill thee yet he is not only content to hear but also to consider the voyce of his prayer Psalm the sixty sixt and the seventeenth verse Thirdly We set that God granteth his suit for whereas Cains request is that the sentence may not presently be executed so that whosoever meeteth him shall kill him God saith I will take order that thy life shall not presently be taken from thee but I will reprieve thee to further repentance Wherein we see as Augustine noteth quod nunquam deo sine spe supplicatur in as much as Cain a man condemned hath obtained to be heard of God It is verified which David saith Psalm the ninth and the tenth verse Thou Lord never failest them that seek thee and that which our Siviour Christ saith John the sixt chapter eum qui ad me venit non ejiciam for as not only here we see a reprobate hath his request granted but wicked Abab that sold himself to work wickedness for that he humbled himself escaped the evill which the Lord purposed to bring upon him in the first of Kings the twenty first chapter and whereas Cains life is spared it is an argument that if Cain had asked more God would have granted it It was but Angustia mentis his minde and understanding could not conceive what to ask besides the benefit of this present life It was not the narrowness of Gods mercy for had he asked more more should have been granted him for God affirmeth of his liberality Psalm the eighty first Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Therefore by that term of expecting Isaiah the third chapter and hearkning Jeremiah the eighth chapter The meaning of the prophet is that God is willing and ready to give more if men will sue to him In the mean time we see in these words a mitigation of Cains fear whereby we are taught that God mitigateth the punishment of those that are dejected though he taketh it not away for that which the Prophet affirmeth Psalm the sixty fift That God is the hope of all the ends of the world is no otherwise verified of those that are out of the covenant but in respect only of the mitigation of their punishment For albeit those that pertain not to the covenant have not their punishment taken away yet it may be mitigated So Christ saith of Tyre and Sidon that their estate shall be easier and their punishment more remisse in the day of Judgment Matthew the eleventh chapter and the Servant that of ignorance committeth things worthy of stripes albeit he be not beaten with many stripes as he that knew his Masters will and sinneth yet he shall not escape unbeaten Luke the twelfth chapter and the fourty eighth verse The grant consists of two parts The word or command of God touching him that shall kill Cain and the mark which he sets upon Cain that he may be known from all other men For by these two God sets down an order for the preservation of mans life For the first Where God saith not whosoever killeth any man but whosoever killeth Cain that hath the form of a pardon Secondly That no man should kill him wittingly he saith he shall be punished seven fold Thirdly For that no man should ignorantly kill him God setteth a mark upon Cain whereby he may be known from all other men In the Command which God giveth we have to consider his Pardon and the Penalty threatned to him 〈◊〉 wittingly kills Cain In the pardon or mitigation of the sentence the Councell of God doth first respect Cain himself for if God had presently swept away Cain upon the sentence pronounced he could not have repented but in giving Cain a long life upon earth that he should not presently be taken away but live gemens tremens it might at length come into Cains minde wrastling with sorrow and fear to say with the Church in the second chapter of Hosea I will return to my first husband for as it is usuall with the people of God after many afflictions to conclude upon repentance It was the case of the lost childe in the fifteenth chapter of Luke for a time he bare out the miserie which he had brought upon himself but at the last he is faint and saith redibo ad patrem so Gods purpose in delaying the execution of his sentence upon Cain was that by a long and tedious life he might be brought to repentance For that is it which Ambrose saith that when long life is granted to a man as it was to Hezekiab Isaiah the thirty eighth chapter the reason is ut vita sit mors peccati but if insteed of funus peccati it be foenus peccati if instead of burying sinne we put it out to increase then life is nothing else but thesaurisatio irae dei in diem irae Romans the second chapter This is the first part to be considered in Gods councell that himself may be the better Secondly in sparing Cain God hath a respect of others for there is not simplex contritio Serpentis but aliquando conteritur Serpens ad pernitiem aliquando at theriacam that is to make treakle Though the Serpents head be not so bruised that he dye of it yet so as of it wholesome medicines may be made for the healing of others though themselves be not healed for the Apostle saith there is in us a spirit that lusteth to envy as well as in Cain James the fourth chapter and the fift verse and therefore we have need to have his example before our eyes to keep us from his sinne for his shedding of blood is to us insteed of a bath to wash our footsteps in Psalm the fifty eighth that is in this sparing there is not only a use to Cain himself to amend but though he doe not yet his example may cause others to amend seeing how God doth punish Cains sinne with a miserable life that contains nothing but fear and grief
like 〈◊〉 Psalm the fourty ninth so we see their earthly felicity turne 〈…〉 miserie Therefore we must not dedicate our selves wholy to the world as Lamech we may not desire to be of that absolute power and force that no man shall be able to resist We may not only seek to delight our selves with musick to drink wine in bolls Amos the sixt chapter and the sixt verse That was it that Cains Enoch desired we must have respect to the second Enoch and so desire to be well in this world that we may also be well in the next world that as he is in heaven in glory so we may be in glory with him The beginning of worldly mens desire is Cain that is the getting in of wealth the end is Naomi that is pleasure and enjoying of it that was the course of the covetous rich man Luke the twelfth chapter I will pull down Barns and set up bigger and gather my corn thither and then say to my soul thou hast enough take thy pleasure but as Naomi was turned into Mara so this pleasure is turned into bitternesse Ruth the first chapter The pleasure which worldly men enjoy here is turned into the dreadfull torments of the world to come On the other side the generation of the godly begins with Enosh Genesis the fift chapter and the sixt verse and ends in Noah Genesis the fift chapter and the twenty ninth verse that is their beginning is sorrow but end in rest as the 〈◊〉 saith Psalm the one hundred twenty sixt They that sow in teares shall reap in joy the end of wicked mens pleasure is bitterness but the godly after sorrow are made partakers of rest in the evill day Therefore as the Scripture hath a use for correction and instruction so here not only they are corrected that follow the generation of the wicked posterity of Cain but we are instructed to follow the generation of the godly Tum dixit Lemec suis uxoribus O Hada Tzilla audite vocem meam uxores Lemeci auribus percipite Sermonem meum nam virum interfecero ad vulnus meum etiam adolescentem ad tumicem meum Cum septuplo sit vindicandus Kajin utique Lemec septuagies septies tanto Gen. 4. 23.24 Januar. 20. 1599. IN Lamech who was the seventh from Adam by the line of Cain the Holy Ghost propounds the example of a perfect wicked man as in Enoch the seventh from Adam by the line of Seth he sets out the pattern of a man perfectly righteous Concerning Lamech we heard his name is an oppressor First of chastity by violating Gods institution making three in one flesh where God saith two shall be one flesh and then of charity by proclaiming to the world that no man should hurt him but he should die for it So that where there are two wayes that overthrow that excellent virtue of love and charity that joyns man to God we see that Lamech by turning love into fleshly lust and charity into hatred and revenge gives the world an example of both In both he justifieth Cain as the Prophet saith of Juda That she justifieth Samaria and Sodom because she exceedeth them in their abominations Ezekiel the sixteenth chapter and the fifty first verse for Cain was content with one Wife but Lamech gave the reins to lust so as he took two and though Cain murthered Abel his brother yet he adds not murther to murther as Lamech did who saith That first he slew a man in his wound and then a young man in his hurt but to these two he adds that which the Wise-man calls profundum malitiae that is contempt Proverbs the eighteenth chapter and the third verse For then is a man come to the depth of wickedness when he contemnes God and his word and this is it which the Sonne of God calls the depth of Satan Revelations the second chapter the twenty fourth verse for he scoffs at Gods words which he spake concerning Cain verse the fifteenth saying If Cain shall be avenged seven fold truly Lamech seventy times seven fold verse the twenty fourth Secondly We doe not consider this by it self which Lamech did but we consider him as by this sinne he became the corrupter of mankinde so as it may be said of him that he made the whole world to sinne as Jeroboam made Israel to sinne for he was the first that brought in the sinne of uncleanness and cruelty which are as the Prophet speaks Psalm the eighteenth and the fift verse Torrentes Belial that is the floods of wickedness which brought destruction upon the old world Genesis the sixt chapter For as one saith there was priùs eluvio vitiorum before there was any deluge of waters for so the Holy Ghost witnesseth that the wickednesse of man was great upon earth and the earth was filled with cruelty and all flesh had corrupted his way and all this proceeded from his example for he gave the world a pattern to give the reins to lusts and make no conscience of bloodshed which brought destruction upon them Thirdly When as he had contrary to Gods Ordinance taken two Wives Adah and Zillah the one that set her felicity on painting of her face like Jezabel in the second of the Kings the tenth chapter the other to be to him as Herodias was to Herod Matthew the fourteenth chapter When God for all this spared Lamech and did not punish him as he deserved but rather blessed him with Children and earthly prosperity yet he is not any thing the better for Gods mercy but growes from one sinne to another till his sin became as the Apostle speaketh Romans the seventh chapter Out of measure sinfull and till the chief sinne appear in him which is even the head of the Serpent In whom we finde that verified which the Preacher saith Ecclesiastes the eighth chapter and the eleventh verse that if God presently punish any sinne he is counted cruel But when sentence against an evill work is not executed speedily then the hearts of the children of men are fully set to doe evil as the Apostle also sheweth That whereas Gods patience and long-suffering should lead us to repentance the wicked abuse his goodness and take occasion thereby to add sinne to sinne and so to heap up wrath for themselves against the day of wrath Romans the second chapter and the fourth and fist verses The discovering of these sinnes is plainly opened in this oration which Lamech makes to his Wives for sinne discloseth it self two wayes either by Cains way that is by the eye or countenance as Cain when his heart grew malicious shewed it presently in his countenance verse the fifteenth or else Lamechs way that is by the some or froth of the mouth for we see here according to Christs rule Matthew the twelfth chapter That Lamechs mouth speaketh from the abundance of his heart for the tongue is the Trumpet of the minde and as a Galilean may be known by
odious considering his horrible sinne and the 〈…〉 which God laid upon him for it but here we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 names Cain himself as before he called his Sonne 〈…〉 〈◊〉 that he is not 〈◊〉 that the name of Cain should 〈…〉 so that he is without all fear of the example of Cains 〈◊〉 for he treads it under foot and this is a signs of 〈…〉 when exemplary punishments will not make a man afraid 〈◊〉 yet we see not the height of his sinne 〈◊〉 having both cast of 〈◊〉 and buried all fear both of God and man he 〈…〉 God 's 〈◊〉 and contemns them If Cain be avenged seven fold then Lamech seventy times seven fold which being the very words of God as we see verse the fifteenth as God himself spake to the wicked Psalm the fiftieth Why dost thou preach my law and take my covenant in thy mouth so it may be said what should Lamech doe with Gods words in his mouth if he did call them to minde to the end they might convert him it were well but he perverts the words of God and scoffs at them If Cain be avenged seven times then Lamech seventy times seven times Wherein first he saith he will be revenged Secondly he argues if Cain then much more he Thirdly he goeth further and because some might say to him why you may be killed your self you are but a man therefore he answers let him kill me that will he that kills me shall be avenged seventy times If Cain shall be avenged seven times then Lamech seventy times seven times as if he should say now is the seventh generation ended Though Cains posterity be most prophane yet it doth as well as Seths for we are Great Grasiers of Cattel we have Instruments of musick therefore that which God said of Cains punishment If thou doe evill sinne lyeth at the dore is nothing so Lamech doth like an Infidel say all that God saith is nothing But if we yet look more narrowly into this speech of Lamech there is a further thing in it for if he argues thus if Cain be avenged seven times then Lamech much more What is his ground to make this conclusion Surely this wicked perswasion That the more a man sinneth the more he shall be respected of God for Lamech was the greater sinner Cain contented himself with one wife but Lamech took a second Cain killed but one but Lamech first killed one after he killed another and therein justifieth Cain as an Innocent in respect of himself Cains offence was sub lege occultâ he heard no more But that if thou doe evill sinne lyeth at the dore but Lamechs sinne is sub lege manifestâ for he seeth an example of Gods punishment upon Cain for his murther therefore seeing Lamech is the greater Offender and seeing pro mensura peccati erit plagarum modus Deuteronomie the twenty fift chapter it stands not in reason that if Cain being a lesser sinner be avenged seven times that Lamech being a greater offender shall be avenged seventy times seven times therefore this is open blasphemie against the justice of God who as the sin is greater so inflicts a greater punishment He reasons thus seeing God will avenge a murtherer it is a signe he loves them therefore he will love me for Cain was but a young murtherer he killed but one but I am an ancient practiser of this sinne I have killed two therefore he will see that I shall be much more avenged as if he should say the more sinner a man is the more he shall be favoured of God That is his reasoning One step further we are yet to arise in the consideration of his argument for thus he saith God hath prophesied concerning Cain that he that killeth shall be avenged seven times and I will prophesie concerning my self if any kill me he leaves not vengeance to God but chooseth vengeance for himself Cains seven times will not serve him but he must be avenged seventy times more If we lay these things together that is his vain boasting and his threatning with the irreligious and most wicked consequence that he 〈◊〉 that if God respect Cain a sinner he will much more respect him because he is a greater sinner This will shew that Lamech is not only past shame but without all fear he is so farr from shame and grieving for his sinne that he brags of it If this be not the Serpents head and the chief sinne that can be that is the breathing out of blasphemies against God and threatnings against man I know not what is It we compare Lamech the Serpents seed with Christ the seed of the woman we shall see that he being asked of Peter how oft he should forgive his brother Matthew the eighteenth chapter useth the same stiles concerning mercy and forgiveness which Lamech useth touching revenge that is to forgive till seventy times seven times whereby he teacheth Peter to multiply forgiveness because he himself shall need to have many sinnes forgiven him to teach us that in shewing mercy we must follow the rule which the wicked keep in revenge We see Christs testament for the shedding of blood that he will have mercy shewed but Lamech will have revenge extended to seventy times seven times whereas Christ will have mercy extended The one is the corrupter of charity the other the restorer therefore we must hearken to him we see what became of Lamech and his posterity Job saith of them that as the floods of wickednesse went over their soul so it brought upon them a flood of water whereby the whole world was drowned and then those mighty Gyants gemebant sub aquis These things being before us serve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to prove us correct us that we grow not past shame past grief and 〈◊〉 that we sall not into that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephesians the fourth chapter that is without all feeling and fear to sinne with greedinesse for then are we worse than bruit beasts We must therefore take 〈◊〉 of Lamechs example in using Gods word to jest and 〈◊〉 at it Though wee cannot bur sin yet we must keep 〈◊〉 in our 〈◊〉 and blush at the consideration of our sinnes and not sear our consciences as with a hot iron in the first epistle to Timothie the 〈…〉 but be sorry that we have offended and fear the 〈◊〉 of God which we see 〈◊〉 upon others But if these passions of Lamech doe overtake us we are in a 〈◊〉 case and in the 〈◊〉 of sinne We must shew out selves as 〈◊〉 in doing good as he boasted he was mighty in doing evill Cognovit autem denuo Adam uxorem suam quae peperit filium vocavit nomen ejus Schethum nam reposuit mihi Deus inquit semen alterum pro Hebelo quum ipsum interfecit Kajin Gen. 4. 25. Januar 27. 1599. THIS verse containeth the birth of Seth and it is as the Sunne comming out of a thick cloud or as a
are taken away There are two natures in a Cole that is the Cole it selfe which is a dead thing and the burning nature and heate that it hath which setteth out first Christs humane nature which is dead in it selfe And then his divine nature containing the burning force of that is represented in this burning Cole So the element of bread and wine is a dead thing in it selfe but through the grace of Gods spirit infused into it hath a power to heate our Soules for the elements in the Supper have an earthly and a heavenly part Secondly that Christ is to bee understood by this burning Cole wee may safely gather because his love to his Church is presented with fire Cantit the eighth chapter and the sixth verse It is said of Christs love the Coles thereof are fiery Coles and a vehement flame such as cannot be quenched with any water nor the floods drown it even so all the calamities and miseries that Christ suffered and endured for our sakes which were poured upon him as water could not quench the love that he bare us Thirdly quia non solum ardet ipse sed alios accendit so saith John the Baptist of him There cometh one after me that shall Baptize with the holy-Ghost and with fire as it is in the third chapter of Luke the sixteenth verse therefore the graces of the holy-Ghost are also represented by fire Acts 3. the union whereof hath a double representation First it is signified by water in Baptisme for sinne that is derived 〈◊〉 us from another being as a 〈◊〉 may be washed away with water and therefore the Propher saith there is a fountaine opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of 〈◊〉 for sinne and 〈◊〉 Zach. the thirteenth chapter and the first verse therefore 〈◊〉 said to Saul bee Baptized and wash away thy sinnes Acts the twenty second Chapter and the sixteenth verse that is meant of originall sinne and the corruption of our nature by which wee are guilty of the wrath of God but because through the whol course of our life sinne by custome groweth more to be strong and to stick fast in our nature so as no water can take it away therefore 〈◊〉 Grace of God is set out by fire as having a power and force to burn 〈◊〉 sinne for by custome sinne is bred and setled in our nature and is 〈◊〉 drosse that must be tryed and purged by fire so the holy Ghost speaketh of actuall sinnes the first of Isaiah and the twenty fift verse and the sixt ter of Jeremiah and the thirttieh verse Ezech. the twenty second chapter and the eighteenth verse The house of Israel is to mee as drosse that is by custome of sinne and in regard of this kinde of sinne there needs not only water to wash away the corruption of our nature and the qualitie thereof but fire to purge the actuall sins that proceed from the same The sinnes of Commission came by reason of the force of concupiscence and from the lusts that boyle out of our corrupt nature and the grace that takes them away is the grace of water in Baptisme but the sinnes of omission proceede of the coldnesse and negligence of our nature to doe good such as was in the Church of Laodicea Rev. the third chapter and the fifteenth verse and therefore such sinnes must bee taken away with the fiery Grace of God Secondly for the quality of the Cole it is not only a burning Cole but taken from the Altar to teach us that our zeale must bee 〈◊〉 and come from the spirit of God The fires that are appointed by earthly Judges to terrifie malefactors from offending may draw a skinne over the spirituall wounds of their Soules so as for feare they will eschue and sorbeare to sinne but it is the fire of the Altar and the inward Graces of Gods spirit that taketh away the corruption and healeth the wound therefore as in the Law God tooke 〈◊〉 there should ever bee fire on the Altar Leviticus the sixt chapter and the ninth verse so for the sinner that is contrite and sory for his sinne there is alwaies fire in the Church to burne up the Sacrifice of his contrition and repentance even that fire of Christs Sacrifice The love which hee shewed unto us in dying for our sinnes is set 〈◊〉 unto us most lively in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood unto which wee must come often that from the one wee may fetch the purging of our sinnes as the Apostle speaks and from the other qualifying power si in luce John the first chapter the seventh verse wherefore as by the mercy of God we have a fountain of water alwaies flowing to take away originall sinne so there is in the Church fire alwaies burning to cleanse our actuall transgressions for if the Cole taken from the Altar had a power to take away the Prophets sinne much more the body and blood of Christ which is offered in the Sacrament If the hem of Christs garment can heale the ninth chapter of Matthew and the twentith verse much more the touching of Christ himselfe shall procure health to our soules here we have not somthing that hath touched the Sacrifice but the Sacrifice it self to take away our sins Secondly the Application The application of this Cole is by a Seraphin for it is an office more fit for Angells than men to concurre with God for taking away sinne but for that it pleaseth God to use the service of men in this behalfe they are in Scripture called Angells Job the thirty fifth chapter and the twenty third verse Malachi the second and the seventh verse The Priests lips preserve knowledge for hee is the Angell of the Lord of Hosts and the Pastors of the seven Churches in Asia are called Angells Apoc. the first chapter and the first verse for the same office that is here executed by an Angell is committed to the sonnes of men to whom as the Apostle speaks Hee hath committed the ministery of reconciliation 2 Cor. the fift chapter and the eighteenth verse to whom hee hath given this power that whose sinnes soever they remit on earth shall bee remitted in heaven the twentith chapter of Saint John and the twenty fift verse So when Nathan who was but a man had said to David etiam Jehova transtulit peccatum 〈◊〉 the second booke of Samuel the twelfth chapter and the thirteenth verse it was as availeable as if an Angell had spoken to him And when Peter tells the Jewes that if they amend their lives and turn their sinnes shall be done away their sinne was taken away no lesse than the Prophets was when the Angell touched his lips Acts the third chapter and the ninteenth verse for not hee that holds the Cole but it is the Cole it selfe that takes away sinne and so long as the thing is the same wherewith wee are touched it skills not who doth hold it but wee
have not only the Cole that touched the Altar but the Altar it selfe even the Sacrifice of Christs death represented in the Supper by partaking whereof our sins are taken away Secondly the Word or invisible grace The word of comfort whereby the inward Grace is preached unto us is that the Angell said to the Prophet Loe this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity shall bee taken away and thy sinnes purged concerning which wee finde that the Leper was cured of his Leprosie not only by the word but by the touching of Christ but the Centurian said only but speake the word and thy servant shall bee whole Mat. the eighth chapter and the eighth verse so hee can doe what he will with his only word It pleased God to take away the Prophet sinnes by touching his lips And albeit he can take away our sins without touching of bread or wine if he will yet in the councell of his will he commendeth unto us the sacramentall partaking of his body and blood It is his will that our sins shall be taken away by the outward act of the sacrament The reason is not only in regard of our selves which consist of body and soul and therefore have need both of bodily and Ghostly meanes to assure us of our Salvation but in regard of Christ himself who is the burning Cole Forever since God ordained that Christ should take our nature and aptare sibi corpus in the tenth chapter to the Hebrewes and the fifth verse that so he might worke our Reconciliation As Christ became himself a man having a bodily substance so his actions were bodily As in the Hypostasis of the Sun there is both the Humane and Divine nature so the Sacrament is of an Heavenly and Earthly nature As he hath taken our body to himself so he honoureth bodily things that by them we should have our sinnes taken away from us By one bodily sacrament he taketh away the affection unto sin that is naturally planted in us By another bodily Sacrament he taketh away the habituall sins and the actuall transgressions which proceed from the corruption of our nature And here we have matter offered us of faith that as he used the touching of a cole to assure the Prophet that his sins were taken away so in the Sacrament he doth so elevate a peice of bread and a litle wine and make them of such power that they are able to take away our sinnes And this maketh for Gods glory not only to beleeve that God can work our Salvation without any outward means by the inward Grace of his Spirit but also that he can so elevate the meanest of his creatures not only the hemme of a garment but even a strawe if he see it good shall be powerfull enough to save us from our sinnes As Christ himself is spirituall and bodily so he taketh away our sinnes by means not only spirituall but bodily as in the Sacrament For if there be a cleansing power in the Word as Christ speaketh in the fifteenth chapter of John and the third verse If in prayer as Peter sheweth to Simon Magus Pray to God that if it be possible the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee in the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and the twenty second verse If in shewing mercy and giving almes sinnes shall be forgiven as Salomon saith in the sixteenth chapter of the Proverbs and the sixth verse Per misericordiam purgantur peccata much more in the Sacrament wherein both the word and prayer and the works of mercy doe concurre to the cleansing of sinners from their sinnes Whereas the Seraphim did not take the coale in his mouth but with tongues and applied it not to the Prophets care but to his tongue We learn that it is not the hearing of a sermon that can cleanse us from sinne but we must 〈◊〉 of the bodily element appointed to represent the invisible grace of God It is true that meditation privately had will kindle a fire in the hearts of many in the thirty ninth Psalm and the third verse And the word as it is a fire Jeremie the twenty third chapter and the twenty ninth verse will also kindle a man and heat him inwardly But because in the Sacrament all those doe meete together therefore nothing is so availeable to take away sinne as the touching of bread and wine with our lips The effect The effect of this touching followeth wherein we are to consider First the efficacy of this action Secondly the certainty that as sure as this coale hath touched thy lips so surely are thy sinnes taken away Thirdly the speede that so soon as the coale touched presently sinne was taken away and purged The efficacie standeth of the removing or taking away of sinne and of the purging away of sinne The taking away and purging of sinnes have two uses Some have their sinnes taken away but not purged for something remaineth behinde Some have Adams sigge leaves to hide sinne that it shall not appeare for a time but have not Hezekiah his plaister to heal it in the thirty eighth chapter of Isaiah and the one and twentieth verse But by the touching of this Coal that is of the body and blood of Christ we are assured that our sinnes are not only covered but quite taken away as with a plaister as the Lord speaks I have put away thy transgressions like a cloud and thy sins as a mist Isaiah the fourty fourth and the twenty second verse whereby the Lord sheweth that our sinnes are scattered and come to nothing when it pleaseth him to take them away The other sense gathered from the word purging is that God doth no forgive our sinnes as an earthly Judge 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 or so that he 〈◊〉 away with his 〈◊〉 without any 〈…〉 shewed him 〈◊〉 that he likewise becometh favourable unto 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 to doe us all the good he 〈◊〉 If 〈◊〉 can obtain 〈◊〉 pardon at the hands of temp orall Judges it is all they 〈◊〉 looke for but they never come to any preferment But God doth dor only give us 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 as he doth pard on out sinnes so 〈◊〉 he 〈◊〉 loving and kinde to us Christ doth not only take us away from God that he should not proceed to punish us for our 〈◊〉 but offers us up to God as an acceptable sacrafice as Peter 〈◊〉 Christ once suffered for sinnes the just for the unjust that he might offer us up to God in the first of Peter the third chapter and the eighteenth verse for as the wiseman saith Take the drosse from the silver 〈◊〉 shall proceed a vessel for the refiner Proverbs the twenty fift and the fourth verse So after sinne is taken away from us our nature is most acceptable to God because there remaineth nothing but his own nature Secondly for the certainty As thou hast a perfect sense of the touching of this coal so certainly are thy sinnes taken away
the eighth chapter If we will come 〈◊〉 we must not be 〈◊〉 but diligent and watchfull We must use both attention Luke the twenty first chapter Take 〈◊〉 to your 〈◊〉 and contention Luke the thirteenth chapter Strive to enter Therefore the Prophet saith Psalm the thirty seventh Hope in the Lord and 〈◊〉 doing good there is both hope and diligence The Apostle saith We have great and 〈…〉 made us the second epistle of Peter the first chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse That is our hope but we must be diligent adding to our hope virtue to virtue knowledge and these if we be without we 〈…〉 of the promises which 〈◊〉 with 〈◊〉 the fift chapter That faith worketh by 〈◊〉 And he that hath this 〈…〉 himself the first epistle of John the third chapter and the third 〈◊〉 Job 〈◊〉 did perfectly hope was not negligent as he 〈◊〉 〈…〉 in eum Job the thirteenth chapter and the 〈◊〉 verse so he sheweth his carefulnesse Veritas omnia opera 〈◊〉 Job the ninth chapter Paul that said He was sure of the love of God Romans the eighth chapter doth not cease to be diligent lest he should be vexed first epistle to the Corinthians the ninth chapter The same Paul saith Philippians the third chapter and the tenth verse I forget that which is behinde and indeavor towards that which is before This is that which concludes this point i. seeing faith sheweth it is possible to attain to Heaven though it be hard we must use diligence which may make it a thing possible Not that we are sufficient of our selves as from our selves to think any good or to use any diligence to bring this to passe for all our sufficiencie is of God the second epistle to the Corintbians the third chapter And therefore the Apostle when he had said I labored more than they all correcteth himself yet not I but the grace of God within me the first epistle to the Corinthians the fifteenth chapter and the tenth verse He did not say before It was I that persecuted the Church but the sinne that dwelleth within me but ascribes that wholly to himself But if we doe any good thing we must wholly ascribe that to God who by his spirit doth give us grace and ability to doe it And therefore whosoever feel themselves to receive grace the second epistle to the Corinthians and the sixt chapter and be indued with virtue from above Luke the twenty fourth chapter they must take heed they be not wanting to that grace and heare it in vain but having grace from God we must labour to make that possible which faith sheweth to be possible Secondly They must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make it apparent there is a secret diligence but that which the Apostle requireth is an ostensive diligence For as James saith Ostende mihi fidem ex operibus James the second chapter and eighth verse So the Apostles meaning is I care not for the concealed diligence let me see it appear by your outward conversation For if the Heathen being indued with the light of Nature only did shew the work of the Law written in their hearts by doing moral virtues Romans the second chapter much more ought Christians that are indued with grace from above to shew forth this diligence that it may be visible to the world The Apostle shews there are two hopes Spes internae dulcedinis extremae operationis the one is concealed and inward the other is apparent and to be seen The inward hope bringeth this to passe That the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts Rom. 5. 5. and therefore is to be likened This hope doth likewise effect this That we have the spirit of God bearing witnesse to our spirits that we are the Chrildren of God Rom. 8. It is as it were absconditum Manna Apoc. the second chapter which doth inwardly feed our souls But howsoever this be good yet not without danger for as the Apostle sheweth there are that have been lightned with knowledge and have tasted of the Heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come and yet fall away Hebrews the sixt chapter and the fourth verse Therefore he calls not for this diligence but will have them make it evident which he expresseth in these words that it be the same diligence which is the third point Wherein he teacheth in what this demonstrative diligence standeth that is as the former verse sheweth in the work and labour of love and in ministring to the Saints that is the doing of works of charity makes the oftensive diligence Whereby he teacheth that this oftensive or demonstrative diligence is the touch stone of our hope as the Apostle saith The works of love are the touchstone of faith for true faith worketh by love Galatians the fift chapter This diligence cannot deceive us of which our Saviour Christ saith John the fift chapter They that have done good shall come forth into 〈◊〉 life and the comfortable sentence pronounced by the Judge at the 〈◊〉 day upon all those that have shewed forth this diligence in doing the works of mercy shall be Come ye blessed possesse the kingdome prepared for 〈◊〉 Matthew the twenty fift chapter It 〈◊〉 not to say to a brother or sister that is naked and destitute of daily food Depart in peace warm your selves fill your bellies but the inward compassion must shew it self outwardly by giving them those things which are needfull to the body James the second chapter and the fifteenth verse Therefore the Apostle Peter willeth them that are perswaded of the great and pretious promises that are made them not to stay there but make their election sure to them by this oftensive diligence that to their faith they add virtue to virtue knowledge which if they doe they shall never fail the second epistle of Peter the first chapter And the Apostle St. John saith Hereby we know that we are translated from death unto life because we love the brethren and that not in word and tongue only but in deed and truth the first epistle of John the third chapter and the fourteenth verse God to assure us of his mercifull promises in Christ is said not only to have sealed us but also to have given us the earnest of the spirit into our hearts the second epistle to the Corinthians the first chapter and the twenty second verse The concealed diligence is as the earnest which a man puts in his purse but the oftensive diligence is like to a seal which may be shewed to all men for as Christ witnesseth Our lights must so shine before all men that the wicked and ungodly by seeing our good works may take occasion to glorifie God and be converted Matthew the fift chapter If we use diligence and shew forth our diligence in doing those works of love we shall attain to hope and that not faint or
God Thirdly They shew they are ready to doe it not like those of whom the Prophet saith I know when I have shewed you what you should doe you will not doe it Jeremiah the fourty third But these are ready to doe whatsoever shall be appointed as a remedy for them Fourthly As they are ready 〈…〉 they confesse their ignorance that of themselves they know not how to rid themselves from sinne As the 〈◊〉 said Acts the 〈◊〉 chapter How can I understand without an Interpreter Fiftly They seek to Peter and the other 〈◊〉 because God had lately 〈◊〉 them with the grace of his spirit and consequently were skilfull and could tell them what to doe and therefore they are bound 〈◊〉 commit themselves to them as to their Physitian to doe whatsoever they shall 〈◊〉 be for the cure of their souls So that if there be any that being in 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 doe for all that either think that nothing can or that nothing ought to be done but shall say desparately Jeremiah the eighteenth chapter or as if it were not needfull to be done shall 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 if or think they know well enough what to doe without 〈◊〉 contrary to the Apostles opinion in the first epistle to the 〈◊〉 the twelfth chapter Are all Apostles For though first we say 〈◊〉 We 〈◊〉 we all have knowledge the first epistle to the 〈◊〉 the eighth chapter and the first verse yet after he saith every one hath not knowledge and therefore must ask counsell of those that can give it or else shall refuse to be directed by such as doe know therefore are not like to be eased of the sting of conscience but shall for ever have the worm of conscience gnawing them and ever be disquieted The Apostles answer to this question is in the fifty eighth verse Resipiscite c. that is there is something to be done which is an argument of the great Mercy of God and the virtue and power of the Sacrifice of Christ notwithstanding the greatnesse of their sinnes Here are two things set down First By way of precept Repent and be baptized Secondly Things by Christs promises Yee shall have your sinnes forgiven and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost First Peter prescribes them what to doe and so shewes that their 〈◊〉 are remitted which is a signe of Gods great mercy though their sinnes were grievous For he that shall offend his better a man of some credit can hardly hope for pardon much losse if he offend the Prince or some noble Person But these offend the Majesty of God himself which doth farre exceed the Majesty of earthly Princes For of Christ the elect Sonne of God they said in the twenty sixth chapter of Matthew His blood be upon us and they wrought despight to the Spirit of Grace Hebrews the tenth chapter when they blaspheme the Holy Ghost accusing them of drunkennesse which were inspired with the Holy Spirit Acts the second chapter and the thirteenth verse Yet the Apostle telleth these grievous sinners there is hope of forgivenesse that to them which are yet scarce cold from the slaughter of the Sonne of God there is a remedy to help them Wherein the Apostle followeth the rule which Christ had before given the Apostles in the twenty fourth chapter of Luke To preach repentance and remission of sinnes to mankinde beginning at Jerusalem If the doctrine of remission of sinnes be first to be preached to them among whom Christ was crucified much more to the ends of the world and that likes us well But secondly He tells us what we must doe he saith not you shall live to doe nothing but repent and be baptized It is not enough to be pricked in the heart for sinne past but we must doe something And he speaks first by way of precept Repent and that is rest not in that passive part but know that when you are pricked in your hearts repentance must be shewed in your life Wherewithall he sheweth that compunction is not repentance for here to these that were already pricked he saith Repent and 〈◊〉 the thirty first chapter After I converted I repented so in the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Repent and turn that your sinnes may be done away so it was given in charge to St. Paul Acts the twenty sixth chapter Repent and turne and doe workes worthy of eternall life So these men shewed forth these workes for as followeth they were devout and liberall distributing to all as they had need the principall actions either removing of the ill that is sinne which did disquiet their consciences or the positive benefit that is the gift of the Holy Ghost which should work in them the fruits of the spirit meeknesse patience Galatians 5. and be unto them an earnest and pledge of their Redemption and Salvation in the second epistle to the Corinthians the first chapter and the fifth verse Ephesians the first chapter and the thirteenth verse Tum alter ad alterum dixerunt Nonne cor nostrum ardebat in nobis dum loqueretur nobis in via dum adaperiret nobis Stripturas Luke 24. 32. April 20. 1600. WHICH is another or second passion that commeth unto men at the preaching of the word for as Acts the second chapter and the thirty seventh verse there were some that suffered a pricking at the heart upon the hearing of the word so here are others that suffer an inflaming or burding in the heart For if we look in verse the twenty first these two disciples with whom Christ travelled were dead in spirit and cold in faith before the word was spoken for they confessed nos autem 〈◊〉 But after our Saviour Christ had spoken with them and opened the Scriptures their hope revived and their hearts waxed warme Which as it is a fruit and effect of the word in the hearts of the hearers so is it a 〈◊〉 signe and argument of the efficacy and operation of Christ which he 〈◊〉 in the ministry of the word as the 〈◊〉 speakes in the second 〈◊〉 to the 〈◊〉 and the thirteenth chapter 〈…〉 in me 〈…〉 so when we feel this burning in our hearts it is a great comfort to us and a signe that Christ speakes in 〈◊〉 and we must in such a case pray to God that he will establish in 〈…〉 things 〈◊〉 he bath begun Psalm the sixty eighth if it work 〈…〉 effect in us we must suspect our selves and pray that we may have a 〈…〉 of the word when wee hear 〈◊〉 that whereas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 the second chapter of the Acts of the 〈◊〉 had a pricking at 〈◊〉 hearts and those of Christ fels a 〈◊〉 we may be in the number of those hearers and not of those of whom the 〈…〉 in the sixth chapter of 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 verse 〈…〉 eyes but see not eares but such as are heavy and 〈…〉 heart so as though they 〈◊〉 yet they 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 not converi and be 〈◊〉 Which is a
scattered be a misery the remedie against that is to be in the unity of a flock and the way to be delivered from being a pray is to be under the defence of a Shepheard The one is the wisdom the other is the strength of this poor Creature Then to erre from the Fold and Shepheard is the only evil that can be fall them so the Prophet 〈◊〉 Ezekiel the thirty fourth chapter They stragled on every Hill and 〈◊〉 the ninth chapter our Saviour describes the misery of the people to shew them that they were as Sheep without a Shepheard If to erre be a misery then our felicity stands either in staying in the Fold or if we be gone astray to return to the Shepheard that is to Christ who promiseth life and aboundance of life to him that converteth unto him the tenth chapter of St. Johns Gospel and the tenth verse Secondly For the term of Shepheard and Bishop it is applyed to Christ by Congregation being a flock Every Governor is a Shepheard not only in regard of the state of the Church but in respect of the Common-wealth For it is first applyed to Joseph who was a politick Magistrate Genesis the fourty ninth chapter so to Joshuah when Moses prayeth for a civil Governor to be 〈◊〉 over the People Numbers the twenty seventh chapter so Psalm the seventy seventh Thou leadest thy People like sheep by the hand of Moses and Adron Psalm the seventy eighth He took me from the Sheepfold to feed Israel And in the first book of Kings the twenty second chapter Ahab being slain the People of Israel are amazed 〈◊〉 Sheep wandring on the waters without a Shepheard So Isaiah 44. 〈…〉 est This was the opinion of the Heathen and therefore such temporal Governors are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not only so but as it followeth they are Pastores animarum For seeing men are reasonable Creatures God forbid but a Magistrate should have a greater regard of men than rural Shepheards of Sheep that are pecora 〈…〉 the the fift chapter the mount of God from whence came the Law But here is Gods own hill from whence came the Gospel As the term Shepheard so is Pastor Ezekiel the thirty fourth chapter and the eighteenth verse to tread on the good pastures and drink of the deep waters These are applyed to the state Civil as Psalm the twenty third and the second verse The Lord is my Shepheard he maketh me to rest on green 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 to the still waters But as these terms are applyed to the Common-wealth so also the Church is a flock and the Shepheard is Christ. All that came before him were but theeves as he saith I am the true Shepheard and therefore it is more excellently applyed to him 〈◊〉 to any other For no Shepheard can say of his 〈◊〉 he made them but we are the Sheep of his Church Psalm the hundred and tenth No shepheard bought his sheep with his blood but Christ 〈◊〉 purchased his Church with his blood Acts the 〈◊〉 chapter No shepheard feedeth his flock with himself as Christ 〈◊〉 feed us with the preaching of his word being in his divine nature 〈◊〉 and with his flesh in his humane nature But the Apostle 〈◊〉 not himself to call him Shepheard but Bishop There was in the Church Pastores Doctores Ephesians the fourth chapter and the eleventh verse and the first epistle to the Corinthians the twelfth chapter Both Teachers and Governors They fed men by teaching and so made them more able in the inward man but there were other Pastors by oversight called Bishops Both titles have their ground in John the twenty first chapter and the sixteenth verse where Christ saith to Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one word signifies to feed the other to governe So there are pastores 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 of their gifts makes the difference of titles Many have the gift of feeding by teaching that have not the gift of oversight and Government St. Paul gave Titus power to order Titus the first chapter to Timothy to receive accusations the first epistle to Timothy the fift chapter to put to silence to correct to visit Acts the fifteenth chapter every one hath not such power neither is it fit they should have Out of which words for our moral instruction seeing it hath pleased Christ to the office of Pastors to add Bishops he left us exemples as the first epistle of Peter the second chapter to teach us that have or that must have a regard of others must be free from sleep Therefore it is said of such Hebrews the thirteenth chapter Vigilant pro animabus vestris unlike those of whom Isaiah the fifty six chapter Their shepheards lye a sleep and delight in sleeping Nebemiah the second chapter and the first verse neither must they be negligent Some have a care but it is to feed themselves with the milk and cloath themselves with the fleece 〈◊〉 the thirty fourth chapter They are Episcopi uberum vellerum but it is of the souls that they must be carefull That is the end of their Government as also of civil Magistrates and Masters of Families And that Governor that hath not this end is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he aimeth at a wrong mark Thirdly For the erring and turning again he saith Ye went astray and so hazarded your souls We know it is one thing to be lost and another to erre Luke the fifteenth chapter The groat was lost the Sheep was not lost but strayed away of it self and that is a voluntary thing but this is not to be applyed to matter of opinion but to error of life as Proverbs the fourteenth chapter Nonne oves errant quia operant 〈◊〉 That straying is set forth in the riotous young man Luke the fifteenth chapter who by mispending his goods on Harlots was brought to misery They that stray are such as commit sinne with greedinesse Ephesians the fourth chapter that is not by the negligence of such as are set over us but by our own corruption As we goe astray by errors of life so by errors of opinion as James the second chapter That wait upon lying vanities and for sake their own mercy by crrors of life and opinion They for sake their fathers house as John saith in the first epistle of John and the second chapter Those things I write ne peccetis So we preach ne erretis We say as the Angel did to Sarai her maid Agar Remember whence thou commest and whither thou goest Genesis the sixteenth chapter Therefore the Disciples when others went astray said to Christ John the sixt chapter Whether should we goe away that is we say not to forsake the fellowship of the Church nor to withdraw themselves For in such my soul hath no delight 〈◊〉 the tenth chapter But Peter confesseth here you have sinned and gone astray what then If we