is so weake in apprehension that GOD is faine to lead him as it were by the senses Not that there is a necessary receiuing of Christs materiall bloud by euerie one that shall be saued so it might sprinkle vpon the souldiers that crucified him who yet might go to hell But it is receiued Mentaliter Sacramentaliter there is a mentall and a sacramentall application Thus wee are said to drink his bloud that receiue it spiritually by faith The Papists in their opinion are fed orally with the very materiall bloud of Christ but then surely none of them can goe to hell for hee that eates the flesh and drinkes the bloud of the Sonne of Man hath eternall life But now the Priests for feare belike lest too many of the people should be saued and so Purgatory the Popedomes pillar be quite ouerthrowne haue taken away the Cup from them and turned Christs Bibite omnes into Bibite non omnes Drinke ye all into drinke ye onely Priests not the rest When they had giuen this bloud so high an honor they thought it too good for the common sort First they said it is really in the Cup there they gaue it too much then they tooke it from the people there they gaue them too little First they strained it and then they restrained it But they answere the people haue this bloud in the bread for that is flesh and can there be flesh without bloud If so why then doe themselues take the Cup Eyther it is necessary for the people or superfluous for the Priests Vnlesse they value a Clergy mans soule at a higher rate then a Lay-mans as if Christs bloud were not shed for the one so well as for the other But to let goe their sacrilegious absurdities let vs content our selues spiritually to receiue this bloud shed for vs and communicated to vs. This bloud is ready for application if our hearts be ready for apprehension To vs it is though not elementally yet alimentally profitable There is a bloud that nourisheth as the Pelican her young ones with her owne bloud Christ so feedes our soules to saluation with this bloud There is a bloud that mollifies as the warme bloud of a goate softens the Adamant wee haue obdurate hearts if Christs bloud cannot melt them There is a bloud that purgeth as the Kids so the bloud of Christ cleanseth vs from all sinne There is a bloud that colours as the Deeres so doth Christs bloud giue a pure colour to his Church Thou art all faire my loue These are they which haue washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lambe This bloud is Semen vitae substantia gratiae fundamentum iustitiae aedificium meriti magna charta coeli A fluxe of bloud in the head is stanched by opening a veine in the foote but here to saue all the members from bleeding to death bloud must be drawne from the Head As Eue came out of Adams side sleeping so the Church is taken out of Christs side bleeding Thus God disposed it in mercy Ut effundatur sanguis Christi ne confundatur anima Christiani that Christs bloud should be spilt to saue our soules from spilling Of Aspersion in relation to the typicall maner Moses tooke the bloud and sprinkled it on the people To this alludes Paul here and Peter calling it the sprinkling of the bloud of Iesus Christ. In the Passeouer the dores were sprinkled with the bloud of the Paschall Lambe and the destroying Angell passed ouer them All those whom the eternall iudgement shall passe ouer must haue their hearts thus sprinkled We haue many spots had need of many droppes For a spot of auarice a drop of this bloud for a spot of lust a drop of bloud for a spot of drunkennesse a drop of bloud for a spot of oppression a great drop of bloud for the wounds and gashes of oathes execrations blasphemies many drops of bloud to stanch them Yea we are not onely sinners but saith Micah Sinnes therefore must be sows'd and drench'd in this bloud that wee may be be cleane That speaketh better things then that of Abel This is a Metaphor to shew the force of Christs bloud so preuailing with God as if it had a tongue The comparison is between Abels bloud and Christs now Abels is said to cry The voyce of thy brothers bloud cryeth vnto mee from the ground Clamitat in coelum vox sanguinis So Christs bloud is said to speake Quot vulnera tot voces so many wounds so many words There is great respondence of Christ to Abel Abel was slaine by his brother Christ by his brethren the voice of the Iewes was Crucifie him Abel was slaine because he sacrificed Christ was slaine that he might be sacrificed Cain enuied Abel because he was accepted the Iewes hated Christ because hee was good Abel might say to his brother For my sacrifice dost thou kill me Christ did say to the Iewes For which of my good workes doe you stone mee Abel was so slaine that his bloud was aboundantly shed and that in many places for it is said Vox sanguinum the voice of blouds So Christs bloud was let out with thornes scourges nailes speare As Cain sustained a threefold punishment he was cursed in his soule a vagabond on earth vnprosperous in his labours So are the Iewes plagued they haue no place they can call their owne when they haue heaped vp riches some other takes them away they cannot see their owne City but they must pay for it they are cursed in their obstinate blindnesse thus according to their owne request the bloud of Christ is vpon them and vpon their children But now Christs bloud speakes better things Abels cryed vindictam Christs speakes misericordiam That Lord see and reuenge this Father forgiue them they know not what they doe God hath an eare of mercy so well as of Iustice. If he heard that bloud speaking for confusion then he will heare this speake for remission If hee heard the Seruant he will much rather heare the Sonne if he heard the seruant for spilling hee will much more heare the Sonne for sauing Postula à me saith God to his Son Aske of me and I will giue thee the Father will deny the Sonne nothing Thus hath he saued vs Prece Pretio by his bloud and that a speaking bloud if that bloud speake for our safetie nothing shall confound vs. Now the bloud of this Mediator our Lord Iesus speake for vs to the Father of mercy that the Holy Ghost may seale vs vp to eternall redemption To whom three persons one blessed God be praise for euer Amen THE WORLDS GREAT RIDERS OR The rage of Oppression PSALME 66. 12. Thou hast caused men to ride ouer our heads wee went through fire and through water but thou broughtest vs out into a wealthy place THIS verse is like that Sea Math. 8. 24. So tempestuous at first that the vessell was
the Eeues that vve may feast on the Holy-dayes let vs here abstaine from the table of sinne that wee may heereafter banket in the Kingdome of Heauen This is matter of comfort to vs heere the world condemns the godly therefore they shall haue a time of absoluing When that Generall Session comes then looke vp and lift vp your heads for your redemption draweth nye There is no mercy to be had in this vvorld for the wicked themselues are accusers witnesses iudges but at that day a poore mans case will be heard Therefore the poore committeth himselfe vnto thee for thou art the helper of the fatherlesse Christ vvill take the cause into his own hand The soules vnder the Altar cry with a loud voyce How long O Lord holy and true dost thou not iudge and auenge our bloud on them that dwell on the earth Yes it is fit euery one should haue a day of hearing This is theirs that shall be ours The righteous shall reioyce when hee seeth the vengeance Reioyce yes they haue no charity to vs on earth vve must haue no charity to them in hell 2. The Commendation followes the calling Mat. 25. 35. For I was hungry and ye gaue me meate I was thirsty and ye gaue mee drinke c. Christ witnesseth their faith from the effects they brought foorth fruits of mercy Thus it is euident that not according to the internall habite of faith and charity but according to the externall acts proceeding from them is the reward bestowed Christ before iustified them by their faith apprehending his merits now hee iustifies them by testimony of that faith arising from their vvorkes The point Christ insists in is their workes of mercy which are sixe visito poto cibo redimo tego colligo fratres Giuing them meat drinke harbour clothing visitation in sicknesse redemption from bondage Where obserue that the maine point Christ will scanne at the last is the point of mercy Not how wise nor how learned nor how iust but how mercifull Ambr. Now if a Scholler standing for preferment knew directly that one question vvherein hee should be opposed he would study a full and ready answer to it We all know that one and maine question wherein Christ vvill examine vs vvhat vvorkes of mercy haue we done if we haue gotten no demonstration of mercy vve are vvorthily condemned Now their mercy is commended partly in respect of the obiect and partly in respect of the act For the obiect it is done to Christ happy mercy that is done to the Lord Iesus it shall neuer passe vnrewarded Ioash forgot the kindnesse of Iehoiada but the King of heauen will remember all the good done vnto him Sayes that good malefactor Lord remember me when thou commest into thy kingdome I will not forget thee answeres Iesus To day thou shalt be with me in Paradise I was hungry and ye fedme I and me saith Christ. In regard of the act the thing they distribute and contribute is not bare vvords but actuall mercies food clothing c. This is the effect of a true faith not a verball but a reall working faith A faith not like that the Psalmist seemes to mention though in another sense I belieued ideo locutus sum and therefore I spake but such as the Apostle speakes of I belieued ideo operatus sum and therefore I wrought a faith working by loue It is easie to mistake Saint Paul Rom. 14. 22. Hast thou faith haue it to thy selfe before God vnlesse vve expound him by S. Iames Iam. 2. 18. Hast thou faith shew thy faith by thy workes If vve vvill be the children of Abraham who is the Father of them that belieue wee must bee so by Sara vvho is the mother of them that obey They that vvill be trees of righteousnesse in Gods garden must not bee like the fig-tree in the Gospell that had onely leaues no fruit but like the tree that brings forth her fruit in due season Or like Aarons rod that of a dead sticke hauing life and sappe put into it presently bare Almonds fruit no leaues spoken of Some giue words enow contrary to Moses who was a man of few vvords The Papists vvill rather loose a penny then a Paternoster these vvill giue ten Paternosters before one penny They giue the words of Nepthali pleasant words but no meate As if the poore were like Ephraim fed with the wind Or as if their word were verbum Domini the word of God that men might liue by it Salomon sayes Wisedome is good with an inheritance so good counsell is good vvith an almes If a famished man begge bread of thee and thou onely fallest to instruct his soule but deniest food to his body hee may reply as Hushai said to Absolon of Achitophels counsell The counsell that Achitophel hath giuen is good but not at this time Martial demands of Caius a small piece of siluer Quod vel donanti non graue Caius blamed him for his idle profession of Poetry counselled him to study the Lavv that vvould enrich him To him Martial Quod peto da mihi tu non peto consilium Giue me that I aske thee I doe not aske thee counsell Many are like S. Peters fish it had money in the mouth but not a hand to giue it Or like Diues his dogs they can licke a poore man vvith their tongues else giue him no reliefe Diogenes a witty begger would vsually walke in a place where earthen Statues were erected in honour of some that died for their country To them he would pray to them reach out his hand bow and beg being asked the reason he answered Nihil aliud quà m repulsam meditor I thinke of nothing but a repulse and deniall Wee haue many such liuing Statues meere Idols that haue mouthes and speake not eyes and pity not hands and giue not the poore are sure of nothing but a repulse 3. The reply or question vpon this commendation made by the Saints Math. 25. 37. Then shall the righteous answere him Lord when saw we thee an hungred and fedde thee or thirstie and gaue thee drinke c. This is no deniall of that truth Christ hath auouched But 1. to magnifie Christs mercy who takes these workes as done to himselfe which are done for his sake Let no couetous Churle plead he wants subiects vpon whom to exercise his mercy Pauper vbique iacet which way can he walke and not behold one hungry another thirsty c 2. To testifie their humilitie that albeit these things are true yet they acknowledge no merite in them they haue not done so much of these as they ought Besides they might haue an after-consideration of their sinnes past which valued with their good works they find one to out-weigh a thousand The Papists ostent their merits on earth the Saints dare not doe so euen ready for heauen but cast downe their crownes before the Throne saying
aduise thy sicke soule who after a desperate and inueterate wound lookest for a suddaine cure by repentance it is better to make this thy dyet then thy physicke Repent euery day that thou maist haue remission one day Melior medicus qui excludit morbos quà m qui curat He is a better Physician that keeps diseases off vs then he that cures them beeing on vs. Preuention is so much better then healing because it saues the labour of being sicke Thou allowest not a Surgion vnnecessarily to breake thy head to try his skill and the vertue of his plaister Sprindges were better taken away quae non prosunt because they doe no good then the setting of watchmen by them to warn trauellers ne noceant that they be not hurt by them Take away thy lusts quite this is the way to be sure for repentance may be like Baal so fast asleepe that all thy cryes are not able to waken her To conclude hee that will weare a crowne in heauen must be all his life on earth preparing the gold to make it Not that thy owne vertues crowne thee but that GOD without thy vertues will neuer crowne thee The robe of glory that is worne there must be spun and wouen heere spun out of the side of Christ by faith and embroydered with our good workes That eternall light ariseth from this internall life Lay vp in store for your selues a good foundation against the time to come that you may lay hold on eternall life The ground worke of saluation is made here that high Tower of glory that is built for thee in heauen hath the foundation of it laid vpon earth How should a man be Perfectus that was neuer factus well begun I wonder what perfection a wine-bibber lookes for sure to be a perfect drunkard What perfection expects the luxurious prodigall sure to bee a perfect begger What perfection hopes the couetous Churle that allowes himselfe a race of fourescore yeares and sets God at the latter end of it and he hath that place too with this condition that hee trouble not his minde about it till the last day comes Surely to liue vnblessed and to die vnpittied but that some now blesse God hee 's gone and other say it 's pitty he died no sooner All his proiections haue aimed at this perfection to make himselfe a perfect slaue What perfection dreames the Iesuite to himselfe but to become a perfect traitor What perfection is likely to the incontinent adulterer but to bee a perfect Lazar. What the malicious but a perfect villaine what the proud but a perfect foole what the blasphemer but a perfect Deuill They say earely holinesse proues ripe corruption but I am sure habituated prophanesse proues ranke damnation Alas how should they make an end that neuer begin This man began to build saith Christ but could not make an end how should they finish that neuer began you that spend your dayes in a lazie forgetfulnesse of religion examine your owne consciences do you euer think to be perfect Are you content still to be abortiue and shall you be perfected in the womb of the graue God hath giuen you time and meanes he did not say Sumite consumite take it and spend it at your pleasure O begin that you may continue and end heare to learne learne to doe doe to continue continue to be perfect Begin betimes lest Gods end come before your beginning Enter into the way of Piety and follow it striuing with all your powers to grow vp to a perfect man vnto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ. And to Iesus the Mediator of the new Couenant and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abel We haue considered the glory of the Citie the felicity of the Citizens we are lastly come to the Mediator who brings both these together and without whom they had beene euerlastingly asunder We are all by nature belonging not to Mount Sion but to the valley of Hinnon not to the celestiall Ierusalem but to the infernall Babylon not to the society of glorious Angels but of afflicting Deuils not to the Church of the first borne but to the assembly of abortiue reprobates wee had no reference to God as a kinde Father but as a seuere Iudge not to iust spirits made perfect from sinne but to lost spirits made perfect in sinne Thus were wee by nature but Iesus hath brought vs to Mount Sion c. How blessed a thing will it be to come vnto this Iesus It was Saint Augustines speciall wish to haue seene Christ in the flesh If there were such cōfort in seeing Christ humbled if such admiration in seeing him transfigured what ioy is it to behold him in heauen glorified How glorious a matter do some thinke it to stand in the Court of an earthly Prince to receiue a gracious looke to heare a royall word or to bee commanded some honourable seruice what is it then to stand in the Court of heauen to haue the King of Kings speake peaceably to vs to behold our Lord Iesus crowned with that immortall Diadem to sing his prayses as free from flattery as from inconstancy and to liue in that Paradise for euer Vbicunque fueris Domine Iesu wheresoeuer thou art O blessed Sauiour giue vs no more happinesse then to be with thee If thou be in the earth wee will trauell day and night to come to thee if on the sea with Peter we will swimme to thee if on the Crosse we will stand weeping by thee if riding in triumph we will sing Hosanna to thee if transfigured on Tabor we will bee rauished with thee but if sitting in thy heauenly Throne how blessed euen to looke vpon thee It is his will that we should be with him where he is and behold his glory Wee are now come to him by a coniunction mysticall wee shall then haue a vicinity locall and eternall The Mediator not a Mediator but The That Mediator that onely one For there is one God and one Mediator betweene God and men the man Christ Iesus God was angry man was guiltie Christ is the Mediator betwixt them who being God could satisfie God and beeing man could suffer for man We are lost and desire something to recouer vs what shall that be Mercy No God is iust he that hath offended must be punished Shall it be Iustice No we haue need of mercy that he who hath offended might be spared Here to be so merciful as not to wrong his iustice to be so iust as not to forget his mercy there must be a Mediator This must not be the world that was Gods owne before he made it not Angels for they are engaged for their owne creation and being finite cannot satisfie an infinite Maiestie by infinite punishment for infinite sinnes Gods Sonne must doe it now if hee come to satisfie for pride he must put on humilitie if for rebellion he must
c. Sometimes Reducentem Psalm 126. 4. Turne againe our captiuitie O Lord as the streames in the South Often Educentem Psalm 105. 43. Hee brought forth his people vvith ioy and his chosen with gladnesse Neuer Seducentem beguiling deceiuing causing to erre for that is opus Diaboli who is the Accuser and Seducer of men For the latter Into a wealthy place The greatnesse of our felicity doth farre transcend the grieuousnesse of our past misery The dimension of our height exceedes that of our depth neyther did affliction euer bring it so low as our eleuation hath aduanced vs high Hereon S. Paul Rom. 8. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall bee reuealed in vs. whether we compare or their Strength Length For their vigour or strength the affliction of man in the greatest extremitie that he can lay it on man is but finite as the afflicter The blow comes but from an arme of flesh and therefore can wound but flesh Yeeld the extention of it to reach so farre as any possible malice can driue it yet it can but racke the body distend the ioynts sluce out the bloud and giue liberty to the imprison'd soule Which soule they cannot strike Therefore saith Christ Feare not him that hath power ouer the body onely not ouer the soule And euen in the middest of this dire persecution God can eyther quite deliuer vs that the storme shall blow ouer our heads and hurt vs not or if he suffers vs to suffer that yet he will so qualifie the heat of it that the coole refreshing of his blessed spirit inwardly to the Conscience shall in a manner extinguish the torment But now this vvealthy place the spring of ioy that succeedes this winter of anguish is illimited insuppressible inexpressible infinite So strongly guarded with an almighty power that no robber violently nor theefe subtilly can steale it from vs. Some pleasure is mixed with that paine but no paine is incident to this pleasure There was some laughter among those teares but there shall be no teares in this laughter For Teares shall bee quite wiped from our eyes By hovv much then the power of God transcends mans yea Gods mercie mans malice by so much shall our reioysing exceede our passion By how much the glorious City of heauen walled with Iasper and pure gold shining as brasse is stronger then the vndefensed and naked cottage of this transient world our future comforts arise in measure pleasure and security aboue our passed distresse Thus for Strength If we compare their Length we shall finde an infinite inequalitie Paul calls affliction momentany glory eternall Time shall determine the one and that a short time a very winters day but the other is aboue the wheeles of motion and therefore beyond the reach of time For a moment in mine anger saith the Lord I did hide my face from thee but with euerlasting mercy I haue had compassion on thee Nothing but eternity can make eyther ioy or sorrow absolute Hee can brooke his imprisonment that knowes the short date of it and he finds poore content in his pleasure that is certaine of a sodaine losse We know that our pilgrimage is not long through this valley of teares and miserable Desart but our Canaan home Inheritance is a wealthy place glorious for countenance blessed for continuance vvealthy vvithout want stable vvithout alteration a constant Mansion an immoueable Kingdome Vnto vvhich our Lord Iesus in his appointed time bring vs. To whom with the Father and Spirit of consolation be all praise and glory for euer Amen GODS HOVSE OR THE PLACE OF PRAYSES PSALME 66. 12. I will goe into thy House with burnt offerings I will pay thee my vowes THE formerverse connexed with this demonstrate with words of life Dauids Affliction Affection His Affliction to be ouer-ridden with Persecutors his Affection to blesse God for his deliuerance Great misery taken away by great mercy requires great thankefulnesse I will goe into thy c. Before wee put this Song into parts or deriue it into particulars two generall things must be considered The Matter The Maner the Substance the Forme The matter and substance of the verse is Thankèfulnesse the manner and forme Resolution The whole fabricke declares the former the fashion of the building the latter The Tenor of all is Praysing God the key or tune it is set in Purpose I will goe into thy house I will pay thee my vowes So that first I must intreat you to looke vpon a Solution and a Resolution a debt to be payd and a purpose of heart to pay it The Debt Is Thankefulnesse This is the matter and substance of the wordes God hauing first by affliction taught vs to know our selues doth afterwards by deliuerance teach vs to know him And when his gracious hand hath helped vs out of the low pitte hee lookes that like Israel Exod. 15. wee should stand vpon the shore and blesse his name Dauid that prayed to God de profundis out of the depths haue I called vnto thee doth after praise him in excelsis with the highest Organs and instruments of laud. Generall mercies require our continuall thankes but new fauours new prayses O Sing vnto the Lord a New Song for he hath done maruellous things There is a fourefold life belonging to man and God is the keeper of all His naturall ciuill spirituall and eternall life Eloudie man would take away our naturall life Psal. 37. The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him GOD keepes it The slanderous world would blast our ciuill life God blesseth our memory The corrupted flesh would poyson our spirituall life God hides it in Christ. The raging Deuill would kill our eternall life God preserues it in heauen Vnworthy are wee of rest that night wherein we sleepe or of the light of the Sunne that day wherein we rise without praysing God for these mercies If wee thinke not on him that made vs vvee thinke not to vvhat purpose hee made vs. When I consider the workes of GOD saith Augustine I am wonderfully mooued to praise the Creator Qui prorsus ita magnus est in operibus magnis vt minor non sit in minimis vvho is so great in his great workes that hee is not lesse in his least But when we consider his worke of Redemption about which he was not as about the Creation six dayes but aboue thirtie yeeres Where non sua dedit sed se he gaue not his riches but himselfe and that non tam in Dominum quà m in seruum et sacrificium not to be a Lord but a seruant a sacrifice We haue Adamantine hearts if the bloud of this saluation cannot melt them into praises But speciall fauours require speciall thanks vvhether they consist in Eximendo Exhibendo either in redeeming vs from dangers or heaping vpon vs benefites Our Prophet in fiue instances Psal. 107. exemplifieth
was a Priest For it was imposed on the Priest first to offer for his owne sinnes and then the sinnes of the people which had beene needlesse if the Priest had not beene guiltie of sinne and liable to condemnation The iustification of Dauid seemes to rise higher Psal. 17. Thou hast tryed me and shalt find nothing What! hath God tryed him the searcher of the hearts that sees into all the inward cabbins and hidden concaues of the soule and shall he find nothing not great impieties not lesse infirmities nothing This phrase seemes generall yet is not totally exclusiue nothing against Saul no trecherie or iniustice against the Lords annointed So it is by Euthymius and must bee restrictiuely considered Otherwise Dauid had many sinnes originall I was conceiued in sinne actuall and publicke in slaying not a Philistine but an Israelite an Israelite his subiect his honest and worthy subiect and that by the sword of the vncircumcised and yet more by a wile sending for him home and making him drunke And to ripen this blister he adulterizeth with his wife he hath had many wiues robbes his poore neighbour of his singular comfort onely wife These were apparant vniustifiable impieties which makes him fall to a Psalme of mercy Haue mercy vpon me O Lord haue mercy vpon me heale my soule for I haue sinned against thee These were knowne to the world no doubt diuers others were knowne to his owne heart and yet more which neither the world nor his owne heart knew who can tell how oft he offendeth O cleanse thou me from my secret faults Yet in the matter of Saule thou canst find nothing As Bishop Latimer once said in his Sermon before King Edw. 6. For sedition me thinkes for ought I know if I may so speake I should not need Christ. Dauid was no traitour but Dauid was an adulterer He was in many personall faults an offender but as a subiect he was a good subiect as a King an excellent Prince No lesse is the praise of Iob a perfect and vpright man none like him in the earth Which yet is not to be taken for a positiue but comparatiue commendation There was none like him in that part of the earth and he was perfect in regard of those vitious times Heare himselfe speake How shall a man be iust with God and ver 28. I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent Let then the Pelagian drinke neuer so deepe in this iustifying cup of their owne righteousnes and let the Papist as deeply pledge him yet perfection is reserued for another world when we shall meete to a perfect man Here we may haue it partially there gradually here so much as belongs Ad viam to our way Phil. 3. Let vs as many as are perfect be thus minded there onely that is proper Ad patriam to our countrey ver 12. not as though we were already perfect but following after c. Let vs 1. be humble in acknowledging our owne wants and sinnes who cannot to God contending with vs answere one of a thousand Nec millessimae nec minimae parti sayth Bern. 2. Labour to perfection in forgetting those things which are behind and reading forth vnto those things which are before 3. Comfort our endeuouring hearts with this sweete encouragement we shall one day meete to a perfect man To the measure of the stature The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before translated Age is now better by our New and according to Beza Stature If any will here ground that in heauen we shall liue in that measure of Christs age and stature wherein he dyed I subscribe not but am silent It is not safe wading without a bottome Onely thus much there shall be nothing wanting to make our glory perfect and whether you conceaue the 33 yeare of a mans age to be the beauty and compleat perfection I dispute not This implies a spirituall stature whereunto euery Saint must grow Whence inferre 1. That we must grow vp so fast as we can in this life ioyning to faith vertue to vertue knowledge c. We must encrease our talents enlarge our graces shoote vp in talenesse grow vp to this stature For Gods familie admits no dwarfes stunted profession was neuer found If the sappe of grace be in a plant it will shoote out in boughes of good wordes and fruit of good workes alwayes expected the winter of an afflicted conscience If a table and consumption take our graces they had neuer good lungs the true breath of Gods Spirit in them 2. God will so ripen our Christian endeuours that though we come short on earth we shall haue a full measure in heauen We haue a great measure of comfort here but withall a large proportion of distresse there we shall haue a full measure heapen and shaken and thrust together and yet running ouer without the least bitternesse to distast it This is a high and a happie measure Regard not what measure of outward things thou hast so thou get this measure Trouble not thy selfe with many things this one is sufficient the better part the greater measure neuer to be lost or lessned Open both thine eyes of Reason and Faith and see first the litle helpe that lyes in great worldly riches As the partrich sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leaue them in the 〈◊〉 of his dayes and at his end shall be a fâ—…e A bird that steales young ones from other birds and tenderly nourisheth them is mocked for her motherly kindnes when they are fligge Euen now shee had many running after her by and by they giue her the slip are all gone pleasures delights riches are hatched and brooded by the wicked as their owne But when God at whose command they are calls them away they take them to their heeles like fugitiues they are gone and no officer can bring them backe The rich man may shut vp his wealth for a season but as a bird in a cage if it spye a hole open it is gone and flyes farre enough beyond recouerie towring like an Eagle euen vp toward heauen were thy measure neuer so ample as full as his Barnes Luke 12. yet but a night a peece of a night all is gone The first borne of death shall deuoure his strength sayth Bildad and it shall bring him to the King of terrors what helpe is in weaknes neuer talke of helping thee with fine floure and the best grapes the richest excrements of wormes silken garments thou wilt one day say this is no succour No that is succour which will help thee in anguish of thy soule and distresse of thy consience calme the troubles of thy spirit and heale the wounds of thy broken heart when the horrour of death and terrours of sinne sharpened with a keene edge of Gods Iustice shall beseege thee now let the thing be praysed
euery good and faithfull Seruant the vaile is taken away and Christ sayes enter thou into the ioy of the Lord. 2. By this meanes we haue in this world a free accesse to the Throne of grace by our prayers the vaile and separation of sinne and wrath is rent asunder by Christ and a cleare way made for our supplications The Propitiatory and Mercie-seate the Cherubims of glory shadowing it the very presence of God were within the Holyest and the people might not approach it but stood without a farre off Our Sauiour hath torne away this vaile and opened our petitions a free passage to the Seate of mercie in heauen Hauing such an high Priest ouer the house of God sayth Paul immediately after the clearing our way through the vaile Let vs draw neare with a true-heart in full assurance of faith c. Wee see howe farre our prerogatiue excelles that of the Iewes They were seruants we are sonnes and cry Abba Father they had Priests we are Priests they had a barre to vs that vaile is rent away Let vs therefore come boldly vnto the Throne of grace that we may obtaine mercie and find grace to helpe in time of neede This is singular comfort that poore subiects may bee sure of accesse to the King with their petitions yea more bee heard in all their desires yea most of all haue an Aduocate at the Kinges right hand to plead their cause But then remember the Psalmists caution If I regard wickednesse in my heart the Lord will not heare mee Let the seruants of Baal cry neuer so loudly if lewdly their prayers are not heard To the cryes of vnfaithfull sinners the vaile is vp still and like a thicke cloud reuerberates beats backe their orisons that they cannot ascend to the Throne of grace Onely faith makes a free passage and a cleare conscience hath a cleare voyce that can peirce heauen 3. The breaking downe of this vaile did make the Holyest and the other part of the temple all one Whereby was signified that of two was made one Iewes and Gentiles one Church He is our peace who hath made both one and hath broken downe the middle wall of partition betweene vs. So that now those the Iewes called dogges eat the bread of the children yea they are the children and Iaphet is perswaded to dwell in the tents of Sem. She is also Beloued that was hated euen the Church of the Gentiles is the Spouse of Christ. The vaile that hindred Paul cals the Law of commandements contained in ordinances this he abolished for to make in himselfe of twaine one new man Heauen gate is no wider open to a Iew then to a Grecian In Christ Iesus neither circumcision auaileth any thing nor vncircumcision but a new creature And as many as walke according to this rule peace be on them and mercie and vpon the Israel of God The Sum of the Gospell as of the world is not confined to lighten Iudea onely but shines vniuersally There is not one priuiledge wherein the Gentile hath not as franke a share as the Iew the sonnes of Hagar are adopted the sonnes of God and the free Ierusalem aboue is the mother of vs all All this did our blessed Sauiour worke for vs by renting the vaile That he might reconcile both vnto God in one body by the crosse hauing slaine the enmitie therby Oh then let vs keepe the vnitie of the Spirit in the bond of peace Christ hath made vs at one let vs not make our selues twaine The vaile is rent why set we vp new schismes in doctrine iarres in conuersation The bill of diuorcement is cancelled let vs loue our husband Christ and for his sake euery man his brother Let vs set vp no more vailes least we doe it with the curse of building more Iericho's There is no bond so sure as Religions no ligaments so strong as faith and a good conscience Wretched man that breakest these tâ—…es and rentest thy selfe from them to whome thou art by Christ vnited A mothers yea a Fathers blessing forsakes thee and thou buildest vp a new vaile which thou must looke for no more Christs to come rent asunder 4. The renting of the vaile teacheth vs that when men sinne rebelliously against God no prerogatiue shall doe them good The Temple was one of their principallest priuiledges their glory their crowne The Temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord. It was a figure of the Church militant as Solomon the builder was a figure of Christ. For this Temples sake God often spared them So Daniel prayes Cause thy face to shine vpon thy Sanctuary that is desolate Yet when they fall away from God and crucifie their Messias this prerogatiue helpes not For here Gods owne hand rents the vaile and after giues the whole fabricke a spoyle to the Gentiles If ye will not heare if ye will not lay it to heart I will send a curse vpon you I will curse your blessings yea I haue cursed them already because you doe not lay it to heart It lies in mans sinne to make God curse his very blessings and to punish the nocent in the innocent creatures We see the way how wee may loose Temples and peace and Gospell and all priuiledges by running the courses of disobedience Who can number the blessings we haue enioyed by the Gospell Let vs beware least our vngracious and vngratefull liues robbe vs not of that with all the appertinent comforts They that haue trauelled the Belgicke Prouinces can witnesse the miserable footsteps of warre and the tyrannie of desolation Churches and Cities haue no more monuments but the ruined foundations to testifie that they were Sin made way for bloud and massacre Idolatrie puld downe those wals which otherwise the most sacrilegious hand should haue forborne If there had beene no enemie to rase them they would haue falne alone rather then couered so blasphemous impietie vnder their guiltie roofes Peace is within our walles prosperitie within our palaces blessed for euer be our God of peace for it Yet we haue a subtle aduersarie Sacriledge that incroacheth sore vpon vs and hath taken many of Gods houses in possession We cannot say They haue burnt vp all the Synagogues in the land but they haue done very wickedly to the Lords Sanctuaries The wals stand and it is well if in many places they do so but there is not a Leuite to feede the people alas how can there when there is nothing left to feede a Leuite Couetousnes would do as much hurt with vs as warre hath done with our neighbours it would but I trust in the Lord Iesus it shall not Though they haue rent away Gods right Tithes and offrings they shall neuer rent away Gods Truth and Gospell rent themselues from it indeede they are likely to do 5. Lastly The Vaile was rent By renting the part God did threaten the subuersion of
the whole If he spare not the Holy of holyes then much lesse the rest Ezek. 9. When God had comanded Slay vtterly old young maides and children he addes withall And begin at my Sanctuary If God begin at his Sanctuary he will not faile to end with the rest if that shall not scape being profaned how much lesse houses built for riot disorder pride ambition If the Temple of praiers then surely the dens of theeues For loe I begin to bring euil on the citie which is called by my name shall ye go vnpunished sayth God to the Heathen If the sacredst things defiled by Idolatry shall be subuerted neuer thinke that your faire houses shall stand when they are made couerts of oppressions and convents of superstition when the better things are not fauoured the worst haue small hope So Peter reasons If Iudgment shall beginne at the house of God what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospell If the strong Cedars in Lebanon be rooted vp woe to the rotten-rooted poplars If the dragons taile swoope starres from heauen what shall become of squalid earthy vapours The Temple was one of the worlds greatest wonders as curious a workemanship as sixe and thirtie yeares could make it it wanted not the art of man yea the blessing of heauen was added to it Yet now loe Etiam periere ruinae this goodly building by sin was brought to ruine yea euen the very ruines are perished Shall then your Forts and Pallaces worldlinges Paradises full of rapine emptie of charitie stand against all weathers and stormes of iudgement No stone shall fall after stone and ruine shall one day tell the passengers as GOD threatned of Ierusalem Here stood a goodly Manner a sumptuous edifice a royall Pallace Or if they fall not downe in themselues they shall fall to the owners whose iniquities haue defiled them God punisheth by certaine degrees first he rents the vaile then rents away the Temple As by Dauids hand he first rent Saules garment and then rent away his kingdome God at first toucheth men lightly in their goods quiet health if these stirre not to repentance he proceeds against the whole Know yee not that ye are the Temple of God If you set vp in this Temple Idoles lusts and euill affections God first rents the vaile toucheth you with some gentle afflictions but if you still continue to make this Temple a denne of theeues the Temple it selfe will be destroyed You haue heard the first myracle the renting of the vaile As the Iewes were wont to rend their garments when they heard blasphemie against God so it may seeme the Temple tore his garments rent his vaile in pieces when it heard those execrable blasphemies against the Sonne of God 2. Myracle The earth did quake The Philosophers haue giuen diuers naturall causes of earth-quakes as by hote and dry exhalations shut vp in the bowels of the earth and labouring for vent resisted by the earths solidnes there ensueth terrae motus a shaking of the earth c. But this was an extraordinary earth-quake for it hapned exactly at the very instant of Christs death It might bee to set forth the glory of the new Testament and to vindicate it from inferioritie to the olde The law was both giuen and renewed with an earthquake Giuen Exod. 19. to the hand of Moses The whole mount quaked greatly As at the giuing mount Sinai so at the renewing mount Horeb quaked As Eliah stood vppon the Mount there passed by a strong wind and after the wind an Earth-quake So when the Lord of the Gospell dyed the earth shooke that the ministration of righteousnesse might not be lesse glorious then the ministration of death This myracle shall giue vs a threefolde instruction 1. To consider the fiercenesse of Gods wrath against sinnes and sinners For God by shaking the earth did no lesse then threaten the vtter subuersion of those desperate and bloudie wretches Corah and his confederates were swallowed vp of the earth for rebelling against Moses the Lords seruant Of much how sorer punishment were these worthy that had crucified not the seruant but the Son of God! If the mercies of God had not bin greater then their iniquities they had not escaped By this we see how able God is to punish sinners he shewes what he can doe it is his mercie that hee forbeares Some of these were to be conuerted therefore concussi non excussi moued not remoued shaken but not destroied Ostendisti populo grauia saith the Psalmist Thou hast shewed thy people hard things Shewed not imposed shooke the rod not laid it on This forbearance of God should lead vs on to repentance if not it is but the forerunner of vengeance Though nowe by mouing the earth he scare and spare these Iewes yet after the earth spued them out as an offence to her stomacke O obstinate hearts that quake not when the sencelesse ground quakes that beares so vnprofitable a burden Cannot the earth admonish thee it shall deuour thee Si non mâ—…nebit mouebit If the almighties hand stirring it hath not stird thee to repentance a Sextons hand shall couer thee with moulds a weake shaker shall doe it Thinke when God moues the earth he preacheth to thy soule if thy heart so little in comparison of that great vast bodie will not tremble know God hath one thing that shall shake thee to peices death 2. The nature of sinne is here considerable so heauie that it makes the very earth to quake The Iewes sinnes were such a burden that the earth could not beare them without trembling The earth is fixed and standeth fast sayth the Psalmist as the Center of the world it is strange that to bee moued euen so strange is the cause that moues it It must needs bee a monstrous waight of iniquitie that totters the earth on her foundations But why is the earth so quiet now Doe not innumerable wretches daily crucifie Christ by their oathes blasphemies and rebellions in his head by their persecutions oppressions in his members Is not his word derided his Sacraments despised his good creatures abused Why doth not the earth shrinke and shake at these horred impieties Be still he that holds his hand from myracles wil not hold it from plagues They are for borne not forgiuen God keepes silence but hee sleepeth not the earth may spare them but Desolation in a moment shall swallow them To the Iewes the earth moued and they stood still to these the earth shall stand still and themselues shall be moued 3. There is nothing on the earth that is not moueable if the earth it selfe be moueable God hath laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be moued Yet so that hee who laid it can shake it If the earth then whatsoeuer is built vpon it The earth shall be burnt sayth Peter What alone no the earth
manners to shrowd dishonestie But one ounce of reall charitie is worth a whole talent of verball He loues vs best that does for vs most Many Politicians and the whole world now runnes on the wheeles of policie vse their louers as ladders their friends as scaffolds When a house is to be erected they first set vp scaffolds by which they build it vp the house finished downe pull they the scaffolds and throw them into the fire When the couetous or ambitious man hath his turne serued by others either for his aduancing or aduantaging for gaine or glory he puts them off with neglect and contempt The house is built what care they for the scaffold The feate is wrought let the wise and honest helpers be prison'd or poison'd sinke or swimme stand or perish Nay it is well if they helpe not those downe that helped them vp 3. Kind The Apostle makes Kindnesse one essentiall part of our loue deriuing it from Christs example who was Kind to vs both in giuing vs much good and forgiuing vs much euill And God commendeth yea commandeth the inseparable neighbourhood of godlinesse and brotherly kindnesse Adde to your godlinesse brotherly kindnes For there is no piety towards God where there is no kindnesse to our brother Now Christs kindnes to vs consisted in 2. excellent effects Corrigendo Porrigendo 1. In correcting our errours dirâ—…cting and amending our liues Non minima pars dilectionis est reprehendere dilectâ—…m It is no small part of kindnesse to reproue him thou louest Therefore God sayth Thâ—… shalt reproue thy brother and not hate him in thy heart A louing man will chide his erring friend and he that does not hates him in his heart Sic vigilet tolerantia vt non dormiat disciplina So let patience watch that discipline sleepe not This was Dauids desire Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindnes and let him reproue â—…e it shall be an excellent oyle which shall not breake my head Our Sauiour tooke this course but he was pittifull in it not breaking the bruised reâ—…d nor quenching the smoking flaxe He was not transported with passion but moued with tender compassion and mercifull affection He was moued with compassion toward the people seeing them as sheepe without a shepheard As a Father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that feare him And children are Vicera parentum saith Ierome the very bowels of the parents Therefore his bowels earned within him when he saw the weakly blind led by the wilfully blind and he instructed them It is no small mercy in a Father to correct his erring child This is one office of loue almost quite forgotten in the world Our eyes and eares are conscious of many horridsinnes whereof we make also our soules guiltie by our silence Like Cameleons we turne to the colour of our companie Oppressions that draw bloud of the Common-wealth moue vs not Oaths that totter the battlements of heauen wake vs not O where is our kindnesse whilst wee doe not reproue we approue these iniquities He is conscious of secret societie that forbeareth to resist open iniquitie Thou sayest it is for loues sake thou sparest reprehension why if thou loue thy friend thou wilt gently rebuke his faults If thou loue thy friend neuer so dearly yet thou oughtst to loue truth more dearly Let not then the truth of loue preiudice the loue of truth 2. In 〈◊〉 reaching â—…orth to vs his ample mercies Giuing â—…ichly â—…l things to enioy Where the Apostle describes Gods bountie that he Giues Freely Fully Vniuersally Effectually 1. Freely he giues without exchange hee receiues nothing for that he giues Vngodly men haue honor wealth health peace plentie their bellies are filled with his treasure and they doe not so much as returne him thankes His Sunne shines his raine fals on the vniust and ingratefull mans ground Man when hee giues respicit recipit gratitudinem both expects and accepts thankes and a returne of loue God hath not so much as thankes For the good they are indeed gratefull but this Gratia grati is Gratia gratificantis God giues them this grace to be thankefull and they may blesse him that he stirres them vp to blesse him 2. Fully and richly as becomes the greatest King A Duke at the wedding Feast of his daughter caused to â—…e brought in thirtie Courses and at euery Course gaue so many gifts to each guest at the Table as were Dishes in the Course And I haue read of a Queene that feasted her guests with wines brewed with dissolued precious stories that euery draught was valued at a hundred crownes Here was royall entertainment but this was but one Feast Such bountie continued would quickly consume the finite meanes of any earthly Prince Onely God is rich in mercie his treasurie fils all the world without emptying yea empairing or abating it selfe 3. Vniuersally all things The king hath his Crowne the great man his honour the mightie his strength the rich his wealth the learned his knowledge the meane man his peace all at his Gift He opens his hand wide he sparseth abroad his blessings and filles all thinges liuing with his plenteousnesse 4. Effectually he settles these gifts vpon vs. As he gaue them without others so others without him shall neuer be able to take them away As he created so he conserueth the vertues strength in bread and warmth in cloathes and giues wine and oyle their effectiue chearfulnesse Be â—…ou so kind as this holy and heauenly patterne not ayming at the measure which is inimitable but leuelling at the maner which is charitable Like Iob who vsed not to eate his morsels alone neither to deny his bread to the hungry nor the fleece of his flocke to the cold and naked Let thy stocke of kindnes be liberall though thy stocke of wealth bee stinted Giue Omni petenti though not Omnia petenti as that Father excellently 4. Constant. For with Christ is no variablenes no shadow of change But Whom he once loues he loues for euer Ficklenesse is for a Laban whose countenance will turne away from Iacob and his affection fall off with his profite I haue read of two intire friends well deseruing for their vertues that when the one was promoted to great wealth and dignitie the other neglected in obscuritie the preferred though he could not diuide his honour yet shared his wealth to his old companion Things so altered that this honourd friend was falsely accused of treacherie and by the blow of suspition throwne downe to misery the other for his nowe obserued goodnes raised vp to a high place where now he requites his deiected friend with the same courtesie as if their minds had coÌ„sented contended to make that equall which their states made different O for one dramme of this immutable Loue in the world Honours change manners wee will not know those in the
they were iustified credendo in venturum Christum by beleeuing in the Messias to come So Luke 2. Simeon is sayd to waite for the consolation of Israell To day to our selues His mercie is euerlasting his truth endureth from generation to generation The same gracious Sauiour that he was Yesterday to our Fathers is he To day to vs if we be to day faithfull to him All catch at this comfort but in vaine without the hand of Faith There is no deficiencie in him but is there none in thee Whatsoeuer Christ is what art thou He forgaue Mary Magd. many grieuous sinnes so hee will forgiue thee if thou canst shed Mary Magdalens teares He tooke the malefactor from the Crosse to Paradise thither he will receiue thee if thou haue the same faith He was mercifull to a denying Apostle chalenge thou the like mercie if thou haue the like repentance If we will be like these Christ assuredly will be euer like himselfe When any shall proue to bee such a sinner he will not faile to bee such a Sauiour To day he is thine if to day thou wilt be his thine to morrow if yet to morrow thou wilt be his But how if darke death preuent the morrowes light He was Yesterday so wert thou he is to day so art thou hee is to morrow so perhaps mayest thou not be Time may change thee though it cannot change him He is not but thou art subiect to mutation This I dare boldly say He that repents but one day before he dyes shall find Christ the same in mercie and forgiuenesse Wickednesse it selfe is glad to heare this but let him bee faithfull on his part as God is mercifull on his part let him be sure that he repent one day before he dies whereof he cannot be sure except he repent euery day For no man knowâ—… his last day Latet vltimus dies vt obseruetur omnis dies Therefore sayth Augustine we know not our last day that wee might obserue euery day To day therefore heare his voyce Thâ—… hast lost yesterday negligently loosest to day wilfully and therefore moyst loose for euer ineuitably It is iust with God to punish two dayes neglect with the losse of the third The hand of faith may be withered the spring of Repentance dryed vp the Eye of Hope blind the Foot of Charitie lame To day then heare his voyce and make him thine Yesterday is lost To day may be gotten but that once gone and thou with it when thou art dead and iudged it will do thee small comfort that Iesus Christ is the Sâ—…e for euer For euer to our Children He that was yesterday the God of Abraham is to day ours and will bee for euer our childrens As well now the light of the Gentiles as before the glory of Israell I will be the God of thy seed sayth the Lord to Abraham His mercie is 〈◊〉 them that feare him frâ—… generation to generation Many parents are â—…ollicitously perplexed how their children shall do when they are dead Yet they cosider not how God prouided for them when they were childreÌ„ Is the Lorâ—… 〈◊〉 shortned Did he take thee from thy mothers brests and whâ—… thy â—…arents for sooke thee as the Psalmist saith became thy Father And cannot this experieÌ„ced mercy to thee perswade thee that he wil not for sake thine Is not Iesus Christ the sâ—… yesterday to day and for euer I haue beene young sayth Dauid and 〈◊〉 now old yet haue I not sâ—…ne the rightâ—…s forsaken that is granted nay nor his seed begging bread Many distrustfull Fathers are so carking for their posteritie that whiles they liue they starue their bodies and hazard their soules to leaue them rich To such a Father it is said iustly Diâ—… es hâ—…di pauper iâ—…psque tibi Like an ouer-kind Hen he feeds his Chickens and famisheth himselfe If vsurie circumuention oppression extortion can make them rich they shall not bee poore Their follie is ridiculous they feare least their children should be miserable yet take the onely course to make them miserable For they leaue them not so much heires to their goods as to their euils They doe as certainely inherite their Fathers sins as their lands God layeth vp his iniquitie for his children and 〈◊〉 â—…fspring shall waâ—… a â—…sell of bâ—…d On the contrâ—…ry The good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aâ—…d lâ—…ndeth and his seed iâ—… blâ—…ssed That the worldling thinkes shall make his posteritie poore God sayth shall make the good mans rich The Precept giues a promise of mercie to Obedience not onely confined in himselfe but extended to his sâ—…d and that euen to a â—…sand generations Trust thâ—… Christ with thy children when thy friends shall 〈◊〉 vsurie 〈◊〉 no datâ—… oppression be condemned to hell thy selfe roâ—…en to dust the world it selfe turned and burned into Cinders still Iesus Christ is the same Yesterday and to-day and for 〈◊〉 Now then Reu. 1. 〈◊〉 Grace and Peaâ—… are from him Which is and Which 〈◊〉 and Which is to come So Glory and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him Which iâ—… Which was and Which is to come euen to Iesus Christ the saâ—… Yesterday today and for eâ—…r GODS BOVNTIE OR The blessings of both his hands Prov. 3. 16. Length of dayes is iâ—… her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour BY Wisedome here the consent of Diuinâ—… vnderstandeth the Sonne of God the Sauiour of Man In the first to the 〈◊〉 he is called the Wisedome of God In 〈◊〉 are hid all the treasures of Wisedome and Knowledge Wisedome is formerly commended for her Beautie here for her Bountie Length of dayes is in her right hand in her left riches and honour Conceiue her a glorious Queene sitting in 〈◊〉 throne of Mâ—…iestie and â—…lling her children about her to the participation of those riches which from euerlasting shee hadde decreed them Not to trauell farre for distribution the parts of this Text are as easily distinguished as the Right hand from the Left Here be two Hands and they containe two sorts of treasures The Right hand hath in it Length of dayes the Lest riches and honour The right hand Is vpon good reason preferred both for it owne worth whereby it excelles and for the worth of the treasure which it containes It hath euer had the dignitie as the dexteritie Length of dayes Is the treasure it holds This cannot be properly vnderstood of this mortall life though the sense may also stand good with such an interpretation For by me sayth Wisedome thy dayes shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the yeares of thy life shall be increased Wisedome is the mother of abstinence and abstinence the Nurse of health Whereas voluptuousnesse and Intemperance as thâ—… French Prouerbe hath it Digges the owne gâ—…e with the teeth But all a mans Wisedome cannot keepe him still aliue The wise man dyeth as the foole sayth Salomon And the Father of Salomon excludes it from hauing
teares he that payes not this tribute of raine shall want the sun-shine of mercy The subsidies of our mouthes are our praises Tibi omne os confitebitur Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise The subsidies of our eares are attention to his word Mary sate at Iesus feete and heard his word The subsidies of our heads are meditations of his power iustice mercy truth The blessed man doth meditate in the Law of the Lord day and night This reduceth Christianity to practice a rare habite and yet it is as possible to be good without it as to swallow and neuer chew the cudde A Sermon without consequent meditation may come to be remembred againe in hell The subsidies of our knees are geniculations I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ. Steuen kneeled downe prayed c. If our knees be too stout to pay this tribute heauen gate will be too low for our entrance The subsidies of our hands are almes to the poore the due paiment of this interest shall blesse and increase the principall Giue and it shall bee giuen you To the King wee pay Fifteenes to God Tenths these he hath separated to himselfe The honest Pharise could say Tyth and be rich the dishonest Christian sayes Tyth and bee poore But what men get by this detinie shall be their fatall destiny they shall leaue the gold behind them but carry the guilt with them to euerlasting fire Robbe not this Citie militant lest God turne you from the City triumphant Of the liuing God This hath beene an ancient attribute to God liuing and it is added heere partly for distinction partly for demonstration First it distinguisheth the owner of this Citie from other titular gods For there bee gods many and lords many The name of gods hath beene giuen to men to Idols to lusts Homines Dij mortales Idola dij mortui Libidines dij mortiferi Men are gods dying Idols dead lusts deadly There are 1. Dij deputati reputed and deputed gods such are Magistrates and Princes I haue said Yee are gods but these are mortall gods ye shall die like men You haue your life from this liuing GOD both the life of nature common with others and the life of power superiour to others The powers that be are ordained of God Pilate receiued that power from God whereby hee vniustly condemned the Sonne of God Thou couldest haue no power against me except it were giuen thee from aboue Wee must giue to those gods obedience eyther actiue or passiue actiue when they command well passiue though they command ill Otherwise we incurre damnation for obstinate disobeying as themselues haue damnation for vniust commanding These are momentany gods as men are Kings on the stage till the play is done 2. Dij fictitij fayned gods as Mars the god of warre Neptune the god of the sea c. They were strange gods that ran a whoring after women made way to their lusts if not by flattery by bloud Scarce ranker villany in the Deuils then was found in those gods This the Philosophers obiected against Paul that he was a setter forth of strange gods The superstitious Lystrians tooke Paul and Barnabas for such gods Dij descenderunt the gods are come downe to vs in the likenesse of men But Paul vers 15. points them to the liuing GOD that made heauen and earth Those fayned gods are confounded by this liuing GOD. 3. Dij manufacti gods made with mens hands Idols but these are dead gods Yea not onely dead but nothing An Idol is nothing in the world It is true that they haue matter and forme the gold brasse wood or stone whereof they are made be substances they haue something in esse naturae nothing in esse vitae they haue stuffe but no life in them They haue eyes and see not there is no breath in their mouthes S. Paul commends in the Thessalonians this happy conuersion from dead idols to the liuing God O that it were as easie to confute Idolaters as it is to confound Idols Res hominis conculcat talem Deum No Idol is so great a god but the foote of man can kicke it downe 4. Dij vsurpantes vsurping gods deuils So Paul calls Satan the god of this world Of the whole world What is then left for God Not so he is Deus improborum not elementorum God of the wicked not of the frame of the world The Prince of this world is already iudged A goodly god that is already iudged The God of peace shall tread Satan vnder your feet Not you but God shall tread him down to your comfort vnder your feet Therefore give no place to the Deuill for there is no place for the Deuill but where it is giuen him 5. Dij sensuales sensuall gods Some make their belly their god and delicate cheare his sacrifices Meates for the belly and the belly for meates but God shall destroy both it and them Others make gold and siluer their gods worse then Pagan Idolatrie they had gods of corne and of wine But These idols of siluer and of gold which they made for themselues to worship they shall one day castaway with malediction Some make their wife a goddesse dote vpon her with the extremest Idolatry a faire coloured peece of clay hath more worship then the Lord of heauen To some their Patron is a god they more quake at his frowne then at all the curses in the Bible These are not onely dead but deadly gods For demonstration the owner of this City is the liuing God both formaliter in himselfe and effectiuè to others who onely hath immortality Onely Are not Angels and mens soules immortall But God giues to them this immortality onely he hath it in himselfe Therefore hee is called the liuing God and the God of life there be three degrees of life all giuen by this liuing God 1. Vniuersall which consists of sense and motion of this the beasts participate Thou sendest forth thy Spirit and they are created 2. Rationall a life proper to man not to other earthly creatures 3. Supernaturall which belongs onely to the faithfull Christ himselfe is this life in vs. Now liue not I but Christ liueth in mee Haec vita reponitur deponitur nunquam This life is laid vp but neuer lost The world sees it not because it is hid with Christ in God We now feele it liue by it But when Christ who is our life shall appeare then shall we appeare with him in glory Behold here with comfort the master wee serue the liuing God Riches is a flying Master it hasts away with the wings of an Eagle Honour is a dying master it brings a man to the sepulcher and then goes backe with the Heralds Pleasure is a spilling Master Wo to them that laugh for they
Ministers Paul chargeth Timothy to lay hands suddenly on no man therfore he may lay hands on some To Titus For this cause I left thee in Crete that thou shouldest ordaine Elders in euery City Now we haue true Bishops therefore in Gods name allow vs to haue true Ministers For the Romanists that tell vs vve haue none of these how strangely do they bely vs and themselues Oportet mendacem esse memorem Haue they forgot their obrayding vs that we haue all our Episcopall rites from them All our ministeriall orders from them If we haue it from them then we haue it They are Bristo's owne words in his Motiues The Protestants are Apes of the Papists the Communion-booke is made altogether out of the Masse-booke Why then do they not communicate with vs It is not for conscience but for malice Let it be granted that wee haue this from them but then they must grant withall that Iacob by Gods disposing hath gotten Esau's Birthright So the Israelites were faine to go to the Philistines to sharpen their sythes We abhorre not Episcopall ordinations but Papall Our substance from them their circumstances to themselues Papales ordinationes sunt foedaenundinationes We haue their gold they haue left themselues nothing but Tinkers metall Let them keepe their owne giue vs ours But further they obiect the continuance of their succession We answere the succession of Person is nothing worth without the succession of Doctrine which they want If it were by vs granted what neuer shall be by them proued that Peter is succeeded by the Pope Yet as Matthias succeeding Iudas was neuer the worse so the Pope succeeding Peter is neuer the better Perijt dignitas Cathedrae quando veritas Doctrinae But they say that in the Romane Church Baptisme is rightly for the substance of it administred therefore it is a true Church Indeed they haue the outward washing but quite ouerthrowne the inward which stands in iustification by the imputed righteousnesse of Christ. But the Samaritans had Circumcision yet were they not a true Church Baptisme seuered from the preaching of the Gospel is of no more force then a seale when it is plucked off from the Indenture Indeed truly though they haue Baptisme yet it belongs not to them but to a hidden Church among them For doubtlesse God hath his chosen and sealed number in the midst of those Apostates As the light in the Lanthorn belongs not properly to the Lanthorne but to the Passenger That Sacrament in the assembly of Rome is like a true mans purse in a thiefes hand it no more proues them a true Church then that purse prooues the theefe a true man The Lord of his goodnesse that hath giuen them the signe of the Grace giue them also the grace of the signe true vvashing away of their sinnes in the bloud of Christ. Some haue obiected and they seeme to be kind friends to Rome that Antichrist must sit in the Temple that is the Church therefore this sitting of Antichrist in Rome proues them to be a true Church But I am sure by this argument what they get in the hundred they lose in the Shire they may put these gaines in their eye I hope they will not confesse their Pope Antichrist to haue vs grant them a true Church Therefore some of them haue affirmed Hominem non Christianum posse esse Romanum Pontificem And would not hee be a strange Head of Christs Church that is not a true member of Christs Body But howsoeuer their argument holds not for it is one thing to be in the Church another thing to be of the Church Antichrist sits in that place not as a mēber of the Church but as an Vsurper So the Pyrate sits in the Merchants ship yet hath no right to it All that can be prooued hereby is that among the Papists there is a hidden Church in the midst whereof Antichrist dominereth but hath no part of saluation in it What cause then haue we to blesse our GOD that hath brought vs from Babylon to Ierusalem out of darknesse into his maruelous light from the Romish Synagogue to the Generall Assembly and Church of the first borne vvhich are vvritten in Heauen and the Lord of his mercie preserue vs in it for euer and euer To conclude there be diuerse Censures of the Romane Church Some say it is no Church but Aequiuocè as the picture of a man is called a man or a painted fire a fire It is no more a Church then the carkase of a dead man that hath on a liuing mans garments is a liuing man looke it neuer so like him These looke vpon it Oculo vero sed seuero with a true but a sharpe eye Others say It is non sanum membrum sed membrum It is not a sound member but a member It hath Scriptures but corrupted with Traditions but indeed they haue nullified the natiue sense and so are Lanthornes that shew light to others none to themselues They haue the Articles of the Creed and make the same generall confession of faith yet ouerthrow all this another way Herein they are like a fond Father that with much indulgence tenders the body of his child would not suffer the cold wind to blowe vpon him yet by secret conueyances inwardly infects the heart destroyes him Thus they say it is still a member still a Church as a braine-sick man is a man The Romane Assembly is Verè Ecclesia sed non vera Ecclesia truely a Church but not a true Church A leprous man is a man Adultera vxor tamen vxor est an adulterous wife is still a wife So Duraus In Papatu est Ecclesia et Papatus non est Ecclesia Vt Ecclesia Dei vt Papalis Diaboli In Poperie is a Church yet Popery is not the Church As it is a Church it is of God as Popish of the diuell It is Incurata Ecclesia an incurable Church that hates to be reformed therefore no Church Wee would haue cured Babel but she would not be cured She hath apostated into treason clipped Regiam monetam the great Kings coine the Word of God turned that pure gold into sophisticate Alchimy prayer to Christ into inuocation of Saints These men conclude that it is not a body diseased full of wounds that hath the throat cut yet with some life and breath remaining but a rotten and dead carkase void of spirituall life It hath blended Iudaisme and Paganisme together with Christianitie and so sweld vp a superstitious worship of God therefore no Church For my part I iudge not GOD reserues to himselfe three things The reuenge of iniuries The glory of deeds The iudgement of secrets I will not iudge but like a witnesse giue in my testimony And here Qui bene distinguit bene docet The best construction is that which enclines to charitie that is there is no probable saluation in the Church of Rome Infants dying before they come to these
them Vnto them were committed the oracles of God They were first dâ—…positarij then oeconomi dispensers For out of Sion shall goe forth the Law and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem He sheweth his word vnto Iacob his statutes vnto Israel he hath not dealt so with any Nation So Christ to the Samaritan woman Saluation is of the Iewes Now as this crediting facit ad honorem persona cui confidimus Ambr. makes to the honour of the person whom we credit This was a great credit to the Iewes so it brings them to a strict account exigendum cum vsâ—…is as in the Talents God lookes for his owne with vsury Some of them kept them in their hands but not in their hearts alijs magis profuâ—…ura quà m ipsis Erasm. for the benefit of other more then of themselues Now this booke is the Touchstone or tryall of our workes whatsoeuer wee haue eyther thought said or done is eyther with or against this Law of God How we wrangle heere to iustifie many things which there will not abide the tryall How many arguments doth a contentious man produce to countenance his wrangling Law-suites Defensio iuris Intentio legis retardatio iniuriarum The defending of his right the purpose of the Law the keeping backe of iniuries forbeare one wrong and prouoke more and Correctio iniustorum the punishing of euill doers and be not these smooth colours who can now say Peccasti in litigando thou hast done ill in going to law but still we reckon vvithout our Oast thou thinkest thy penny good siluer as the foole thought his peble a diamond bring it to the test There is vtterly a fault among you because ye goe to law one with another Whether vvill God iudge thee according to thine owne humour or according to this precept Alas he vvill then try thee Secundum legem suam non secundum legem tuam after his law not after thy lust It is opus carnis and will not abide tentationem ignis Contention strife variance are works of the flesh they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God Hell fire wil confute alreasons So among others an angry word calls on a challenge they haue plausible reasons for it Their credit lyes vpon it and better lose life then reputation If being wronged they chalenge not or being chalenged they answere not the vvorld condemnes them cowards So they fight not so much against anothers life as against their owne reproach This were somewhat if it were tam bene quà m magnè propositum if the proiect were as Christian as it is Romane Now they must go to the field pray embrace forgiue then fight and kill But is this the Law that God vvil iudge by no that Law is Thou shalt not kill But perhaps they purpose not to kill yet saith God Returne not euil for euil how doth this agree with thy color humor Yet more peremptorily Aâ—…enge not your selues but giue place vnto wrath For vengeance is mine sayth the Lord. Will you steale this from him in a glorious theft hazard your soule more then your body thrusting one vpon an enemies sword the other on Gods sword Will you meet together in so bloudy a designe wherein vterque letaliter peccat saepe alter aeternaliter perit both sinne deadly often one or both perish eternally Thus your pretences may blanch it ouer with the name of honour but the law you must be tried by will finde it homicide For Vsury how is it bedawbed with arguments probabilities patronages examples Bookes haue been written to iustifie it But none of these is that law wherby the Vsurer must be iudged They doe not onely reason thus I must giue to the poore therefore I must take vsury of the rich an argument of Stand-gate hole I may robbe some that I may giue to others But they defend it by Scripture If thou lend money to the poore thou shalt not lay vpon him vsury Not on the poore therefore they inferre vvee may lay it on the rich Robbe not the poore because hee is poore faith Salomon therefore wee may robbe the rich because he is rich and can spare it Is not this a goodly strong argument So because it is said Exo. 22. 22. Ye shall not afflict the widow or fatherlesse child it must needes follow that they may trouble a woman maried or a child that hath a father There are infinite excuses but the Law of triall is Thou shalt not lend vpon vsury studie an answere to that question As much may be said for Impropriations what shall become of all our legal pleas our Alienations Prohibitions Customs Fines all fine excuses when Christ shal set the sacrilegious before him and read this Law Thou shalt not robbe God of his tythes and offerings VVhere now are all reasons and excuses This spirituall Court will admit of no corrupt customes no deuices Mee thou hast robbed by me thou shalt be condemned Lord enter not into iudgement with vs who shall be iustified in thy sight We cannot answere ex millibus vnum one of a thousand Helpe vs O thou Iudge and Sauiour let thy mercy as Iesus help vs against thy Iustice as Iudge VVe must come vnder probation defend vs from reprobation and let vs find approbation not for our workes but thy mercies O blessed Redeemer Amen Lastly others are to be iudged by the Gospell and this certainly bindeth our conscience heâ—…e for it shall iudge vs hereafter He that beleeueth not on Christ is condemned Now the Gospel requires of vs two things Faith and Obedience Faith Repent and beleeue the Gospel Obedience Ye haue obeyed from the heart that forme of doctrine Which obedience must be Prompta yee haue obeyed voluntaria from the heart discreta that true forme of doctrine Lyran. Indeed Obedientia Euangelica est ipsa fides Many thinke they are not bound to beleeue the Gospel but by this they shall be iudged True it is that all are not bound to it they to whom Christ neuer spoke was neuer spoken haue an excuse not of euery sinne but of this sinne that they haue not beleeued on Christ. It is obiected The Law bound all therefore the Gospel bindes all No for the Law was giuen to mans nature so though the knowledge was lost by mans default yet the bond remaines on Gods part The Gospel was neuer giuen to mans nature but after the fall and is aboue nature Adam was the roote of mankind in respect of nature not in respect of grace When God gaue the Law to him hee bound him and all his posterity to keepe it When he gaue the Promise to him faith to beleeue it hee did not withall giue it to all mankind Neither if Adam had afterwards falne from faith should all mankind haue falne with him The first Adam was not the roote of the Promise but the second But now to our selues we must
no peace to thy selfe till thou haue peace with GOD. Quamdiù impâ—…nitentia manet maledictio imminet So long as vnrepentance abides in vs Cursednesse hangs ouer vs. He that wilfully goes on in knowne wickednesse hazards himselfe to ineuitable cursednesse Goe ye cursed 4. The horrour of the paines Into euerlasting fire Fire of all elements the most violent therefore fittest to describe those pangs The pile thereof is â—…ire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a riuer of briâ—…stone doth kindle it Euerlasting the torments thereof are euer frying neuer dying Where the worme dieth not and the fire is not quenched Aug. Vermis corrodet conscientiam ignis comburet carnem quia corde corpore deliquerunt The fire shall torture their flesh the worme their spirit because both in flesh and spirit they haue sinned The reprobates shall be packed and crowded together like â—…rickes in a fiery furnace hauing not so much as a chinke where any winde may enter in to coole them 5. The preordinance of their torments Prepared for the Deuill and his Angels ordained before-hand Origen held that the Deuill and his angels should one day be released from their tortures and that these words of Christ vvere spoken Minaciter potiùs quà m veraciter rather by way of threatning then true meaning But Augustine answers that the Scripture hath confuted him plenissime ac planissimè For the fire prepared for Satan is not temporarie but euerlasting vvhere though flouds of teares bee continually raining vpon it yet can it not bee put out Prepared to the terror of vvicked men that couenant with hell alas they are deceiued it vvas made for some purpose That fire vvas prepared for some and some haue prepared themselues for it Burning in lusts in malice in reuenge vntill themselues their lusts malice and reuenge and all burne in hell The Deuill was crafty yet he could not scape hell be as vvily as you can yet beware hell It is not policy but piety that must escape this fire Now as this brings to the vvicked much terror so it helpes to preserue the godly against error And this vvas one principall cause of the penning this sentence The vvise master of the family vvill chide his seruants vea and vpon desert correct them in the presence of his child that he may learne by it to stand in awe of his Father So deales God Minatur quod faciet improbis ne faciat quod minatur sanctis He threatens the vvicked vvhat he vvill doe to their sinnes that the godly may auoid vvhat hee threatens for sinnes Omnis minatio amica monitio euery threatning is a faire vvarning The Lord giue vs mutare sententiam nostram vt ipse mutet sententiam suam to change our minde that God may change his menace Let vs now come humbly to him in repentance that vve may neuer depart from him into vengeance The other circumstances I will but touch 2. The reason of this reiection Mat. 25. 42. For I was hungry and ye gaue mee no no meate I was thirsty and yee gaue me no drinke They are not iudged Ex malis commissis sedex bonis omissis not by the euill deedes they haue done but by the good things they haue not done Christ saies not Yee tooke away my meat vvhen I vvas hungry but you gaue me not your meate You did not strip mee of the clothes I had but you gaue me no clothes vvhen I had not The axe cuts vp the tree which brought not forth good fruit though it bee not accused for bringing foorth bad fruit Innocency is good but not enough vve see that not to haue relieued is an vnanswerable inditement at that day How heauy vvill this sentence fall vpon many among vs What heapes haue many in this City perhaps some got vvithout a tenter'd conscience yeeld it no worse yet vvould to God it vvere so vvell for it is hard Bonum cito â—…uadere diuitem for an honest man to become rich on the sodaine They haue it and now may they not keepe it is it not their owne But O it is fearefull vvhen for this keeping they shall be condemned It is not a groat weekely or monethly to the poore and a small pension to the much-robbed Church that can discharge you but you must giue proportionably Pleade what you can to the poore Christ vvill not be so answered Who can force me to giue none but because thou wilt not giue vnforced thou shalt iustly be condemned 3. The obiection against this reason Math. 25. 44. Lord when saw wee thee an hungred or athiâ—…st c. and did not minister vnto thee They haue a kinde of impudence still adhering to their foreheads they would seeme to iustifie themselues though they bee deseruedly punished When did we see thee Often When this poore widow hath departed without thy mercy that orphan vvithout thy helpe that blinde or lame vvithout thy almes When when not euery occasion shall be a bill of enditement against thee Who will wonder to see a Romish Pharise sooth and flatter himselfe on earth when hee is not ashamed to doe it in iudgement â—…efore the Lord Iesus Christ Sed nulla defensio absoluet reum nulla infensio dissoluet iudicium Plead they whether subtilly or angrily as if some vvrong vvere done them it is Equity it selfe that doth sentence them 4. The confutation of their obiection Math. 25. 45. Insomuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me This one distinction takes away all their arguments here is a full answer to their Quando a declaration of their death-deseruing wickednesse that would haue no pitty on the Lord Iesus Iudgement mercilesse shall be giuen to them that shew no mercy you know this Diues was denied a drop because he would not giue a crumme you know this Hee that stoppeth his eare at the cry of the poore shall cry himselfe and not be heard Did not I tell you thus The poore you had euer this mercy you shewed neuer therefore Goe ye cursed 5. Lastly the Retribution this is set downe in briefe but the matter it containes is long and euerlasting All shall come forth they that haue done good to the resurrection of life they that haue done euil to the resurrection of condemnation These shall goe away into euerlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternall An estate soone versed neuer to bee reuersed The voice of Christ shall speake it and the power of Christ shall effect it No Angell shall speake against it no deuill shall withstand it How should this teach Saint Pauls vse who considering that there shall be a resurrectian of the dead both of the iust and vniust resolued with himselfe to haue alwaies a good conscience void of offence toward God and toward man Let it instruct vs al to watch for this day a decaied charge then which nothing was more current in the
vpon good cause for who but he can so well plead his own righteousnes whereby he hath iustified vs Therefore the Apostle calls him there our Propitiation he that wil be our Aduocate must also be our Propitiation no Saints or Angels can be a Propitiation for vs therefore no Saints or Angels can be our Aduocates Augustine sayes that if S. Iohn had offered himselfe to this office he had not been Apostolus sed Antichristus We obiect further Christs promise Whatsoeuer you shall aske the Father in my Name he will giue it you Not in Maries or Peters but in my Name Bellarmine answers that there may be a Mediator between disagreeing parties three waies 1. By declaring who hath the wrong and so there is no controuersie for all agree that GOD is the party grieued 2. By paying the Creditor for the Debter so Christ is alone Mediator 3. By desiring the Creditor to forgiue the Debter and in this sense he saies Angels and Saints are Mediators But this distinction is no other then Bellarmines mincing who indeed seemes to be ashamed of the blasphemous phrases in their Missals As Maria mater gratiae Sancte Petre miserere mei salua me c. These saith he are our words but not our meanings that Mary or Peter should conferre grace on vs in this life or glory in the life to come Yet both their Schoole and Practice speakes more For Aquin sayes our prayers are effectuall by the merits of Saints that Christs intercession is gotten by the patronage of Apostles by the interuention of Martyrs by the bloud of Becket and merits of all Saints And the practice of the people is to hold Angels and Saints immediate Mediators able to satisfie and saue But as one hath well obserued if euery Saint in the Popes Calender be receiued as a Mediator we shall worship vnknowne men as the Athenians did vnknown gods For the best Papists doubt whether there were euer any S. George or S. Christopher But say they The Virgin is a knowne Saint she can and may by the right of a Mother command her Sonne Christ. Their whole Church sings O foelix puerpera nostra pâ—…ans scelera inre matris impera And Maria consolatio infirmorum redemptio captiuorum liberatio damnatorum salus uniuersorum They haue giuen so much to the Mother that they haue left nothing for the Sonne Ozorius the Iesuite saies Caput gratiae Christus Maria colluÌ„ Christ is the Head of grace but Mary is the Neck no grace can come from the head but it must passe through the necke They inuocate her their Aduocate but of Christs mediation the medium or better halfe is taken from him as if he were still a child in subiection to his Mother But as he is Mariae filius so he is Mariae Dominus the Sonne and the Lord of his Mother Therefore the first words that we read Christ euer spake to his Parents were rough and by way of reproofe According to Saint Luke these were his first How is it that yee sought mee Wist yee not that I must be about my Fathers busines According to Saint Iohn more sharply Woman vvhat haue I to doe vvith thee Quanquà m locuta est iure matris tamen duriter respondet Where was then their Monstra te esse Matrem Though at the commaund of his Mother he spake yet hee spake roughly Whereas Gods kingdome consists of his Iustice and Mercy the Papists attribute the greatest part which is his Mercy to Mary making her as one noted the Lady high Chancelour Christ as it were the Lord chiefe Iustice. As we appeale from the Kings-Bench barre to the Chancerie so a Papist may appeale from the Tribunall of God to the Court of our Lady So they make her Domina fac totum when one flatteringly wrote of Pope Adrian Traiectum plantauit Louanium rigauit Caesar autem incrementum dedit Traiectum planted Louaine watered but the Pope gaue the increase one wittily vnderwrites Deus interim nihil fecit God did nothing the while So if Mary be the comfort of the weake the redeemer of captiues the deliuerer of the damned the saluation of all the Aduocate of the poore the Patronesse of the rich then sure Christ hath nothing to doe No beloued Abraham is ignorant of vs the blessed Virgin knowes vs not but the Lord Iesus is our Redeemer Prayer is not a labour of the lippes onely but an inward groning of the spirit a powring out of the soule before God Now Saints and Angels vnderstand not the heart it is the righteous God that tryeth the heart and the reynes Christ is the master of all Requests in the Court of Heauen there needs no porter nor waiter It is but praying Lord Iesus come vnto me and he presently answeres I am with thee Heare mee O Christ for it is easie to thy power and vsuall to thy mercie and agreèable to thy promise O blessed Mediator of the new Couenant heare vs. To the bloud of sprinkling Aspersionis Hebraico more pro asperso Two things are implyed in the two words Sacrificium and Beneficium Bloud there is the sacrifice of Sprinkling there is the benefite To the bloud To speake properly it is the death of Christ that satisfies the Iustice of God for our sinnes and that is the true materiall cause of our redemption Yet is this frequently ascribed to his bloud The bloud of Christ purgeth the Conscience from dead works Out of his pierced side came forth bloud and water As God wrote nothing in vaine so what he hath often repeated hee would haue seriously considered Non leuiter praetereat lectura nostra quod tam frequenter insculpsit Scriptura sacra There are some reasons why our saluation is ascribed to CHRISTS bloud 1. Because in the bloud is the life Flesh with the bloud therof which is the life therof you shall not eat Leu. 17. 14. The soule of a beast is in the bloud and in the bloud is the life of euery reasonable creature on earth The effusion thereof doth exhaust the vitall spirits and death followes In Christs bloud was his life the shedding of that was his death that death by the losse of that bloud is our redemption 2. Because this bloud answeres to the types of the legall sacrifices This our Apostle exemplifies in a large conference The first Testament was not dedicated without bloud Moses sprinkling the booke and all the people sayd This is the bloud of the Testament Almost all things are by the Law purged by bloud and without shedding of bloud is no remission No reconciliation no remission without bloud All directed vs to this Lambe of GOD whose bloud onely vindicates vs from eternall condemnation Not that the bloud of a meere man could thus merite but of that man who is also God therefore it is called the Bloud of God 3. Because bloud is fitter for applyment to the heart of man who
thy prisoners out of the pitte wherein is no water Set then the frost against the raine and you may goe in Purgatory dry-shod If there be nothing left but fire I make no question but there is not a sparke difference betwixt Purgatory and Hell I should narrow vp the scope and liberty of Gods spirit if I should heere tie my discourse to the letter Wee went through fire and through water It is an effect of our persecution and may thus be resolued we were by their malice driuen to great extremity Fire and water are two elements which they say haue no mercy yet eyther of them more then our oppressors The time was that a red Sea diuided the waters and gaue dry passage to the children of Israel and of God Whereof the Psalmist heere sings vers 6. Hee turned the Sea into dry land they vvent through the floud on foote there did wee reioyce in him And the fire in an Ouen whose heate was septupled touched not those three seruants of the Lord. But these more incensed and insensible creatures haue no mercy nor can they inuent a cruelty which they forbeare to execute Some translations haue it Wee went into fire and into water which extends their persecution to our deaths and comprehends the latitude of mortall martyrdome And thus vnderstood the next words of the deliuerance Thou broughtest vs out into a wealthy place must bee meant of our glory in heauen But the euident circumstances following deny that interpretation therefore I adhere to the last and best Translation Wee went through fire and through water Wherein two things may seeme to be imported and imparted to our consideration 1. We went They went so conueniently as they might and so conscionably as they durst from the hands of their persecutors 2. The hard exigents they were driuen to when to passe through fire and water was but a lesse euill compared with that they eschewed Per mare mactantes fugimus per saxa per ignes 1. From the former obserue that it may be lawfull in time of persecution to flie This was granted yea in some respects enioyned by Christ. But must be warily vnderstood and the rule in a word may bee this When our suffering may stand the Church of God in better stead then our flying we must then lose our liues to saue Gods honour and our owne soules To deny God this fealtie and tribute of our blouds when his glory hath vse of such a seruice at our hands is not onely to deny him that is his owne by many deare titles of creation which was ex spiritu oris by the breath of his mouth and of redemption which was ex sanguine cordis by the bloud of his heart But to withdraw this iustly required testimony is to betray and crucifie him and scarce inferior to their periury whose false witnesse condemned him In this we restore to God his talent with profit not only our owne soule he gaue vs but as many more as our example workes vpon and winnes to him When the people admired the great bounty of Iohn called Eleemosynarius he answered them O brethren I haue not yet shed my bloud for you as I ought to doe for my masters sake and testimony In the early morning of the world did Abel dedicate Martyrdome without example and the Lord did approue it by accepting Abels sacrifice and Abel for a sacrifice I haue read that a worthy Martyr of ours Dr. Rowland Taylor wrote first with inke after with his bloud that it is not enough to professe the Gospell of Christ ad ignem exclusiue but we must cleaue to it ad ignem inclusiuè This was an honor that Christ accepted presently after his birth the Holocaust or Heccatomb of many innocent infants murdered and martyred for his sake So that suffering for Iesus is a thing to which he promiseth an ample reward No man shall for sake parents or friends or inheritance or liuing or life for my sake but hee shall haue in exchange a hundred fold so much comfort in this life and in the world to come life euerlasting But all times and occasions yeeld not warrant for such a seruice Much lesse can the Seminaries dying in England for treason arrogate to themselues the glory of Martyrdome though a vicious affectation of it hath hartned and hardned them to such a prodigality of their blouds They come not to maintaine the verity of Scriptures but the vanity of Traditions the entangling perplexities of Schoolemen the obscure tetricall and contradictory assertions of Popes who commands them to steale that with their liues which not onely is in inuolued beeing but in future contingence whatsoeuer the Romane Church that is the Pope shall heereafter constitute or declare 2. From the latter words Through fire and water obserue that the children of God must not expect a gentle and soft entertainment in this world but hard exigents when to flie from their enemies they are faine to passe through fire and water Affliction for the Gospell is called by Paul the markes of the Lord Iesus The world often sets a man as those three seruants of God were set in Daniels Prophecie On the one side a harmony of sweet musike the Cornet Flute c. on the other side a burning furnace hette aboue ordinary seuen times Worship the Idoll and enioy the delight of musicke not worship it and be cast into the fiery ouen Ioyne with the world in his vngodly customes and the world will loue feast tickle your eares with musicke Separate your selues and it will hate you Ioh. 15. If you were of the world the world would loue his owne but because I haue chosen you out of the world therefore the world hateth you Thou shalt bee like Abrahams Ramme tyed in a bush of thornes from which thou canst not extricate thy selfe till thou be made a sacrifice I haue read that Caligula the Tyrant being dead there were found in his Closet Duo libelli one called a sword the other a dagger wherein many were by name prick'd for death and destin'd to it in the Emperours bloudy intention Presumptuous enemies so cast lots on a Nation before they haue it and talke of diuiding a spoyle ere they come at it Iudg. 5. Haue they not sped haue they not diuided the prey So the proud aduersary in that wonderfull yeare 88. that came with an Inuincible Nauy and implacable fury the Ensignes of whose shippes weâ—…e victoria victoria brought ready with them instruments of torture as if the Land of peace and mercy had in it no such engines of cruelty and swallowed downe an abundant hope of our desolation They threw at dice for our wiues and daughters lands and vineyards houses and heritages shires and kingdome They purposed to driue vs through fire and water but fire and water was their destruction Fire broke the sinewes of their combination and the waues deuoured both their hopes
spoken Be of good cheere This same But is like a happy oare that turnes our vessell from the rocks of despaire and lands it at the hauen of comfort But c. Thou Thou onely without helpe or succour of either man or Angell that art able to saue with a few as well as with many that art A man of vvarre Exod. 15. and commest armed against thine enemies with a speare of wrath and a sword of vengeance Thou of whose greatnesse there is no end no limits no determination Thou O Lord without any partner either to share thy glory or our thanks Thou broughtest vs out Thou of thy owne goodnesse so well as by thy ovvne greatnesse hast deliuered vs. No merite of ours procured or deserued this mercy at thy hands but our freedome comes onely by thy Maiestie of thy mercy Here were no armes of flesh nor Armies of Angels in this worke of our Redemption but Thou hast brought vs out that vvee might praise thy Name Therefore wee say Blesse the Lord O our soules O Lord thou art very great thou art clothed vvith honour and maiesty Eduxisti Broughtest out Great workes become a great God Opera testantur de me saith our Sauiour My workes beare witnesse of mee I heale the sicke cleanse the Leprous giue sight to the blinde raise the dead cast out deuils Will you not belieue O ye carnall eyes vnlesse you see will you trust your fiue senses aboue the foure Gospels vers 5. Come then and see the workes of God See workes not a fancie speculation or deceiuing shadow but reall visible acted accomplished workes Eduxists Sensus assensus Let demonstration conuince you the Snare is broken and we are deliuered The Lord workes potenter and patenter There is not onely manifold mercy but manifest mercy in his doings He brought vs out When the vngodly see vs so low brought that persecutors ride ouer our heads they are ready to say Where is now their Gâ—…d Behold hîc est Deus our God is heere where there was need of him opus Deo a work fit for the Deity to performe Misery had wrapped and entangled vs the wicked hands had ty'd vs as the Philistines did Samson with the bands of death Here then was Dignus vindice nodus a knot worthy the finger of God to vntie He looked downe from the height of his Sanctuary from heauen did the Lord behold the earth For what purpose To heare the groning of the prisoner to loose those that are appointed to death Behold the waters went ouer our soule yet we were not drowned Malice had doomed vs to the Fire but our comfort is Nihil potestatis in nos habuâ—…sse ignem that the fire had not power ouer vs. They trode vs vnder their cruell insultations but the Lord hath lifted vs vp The Lord of Hosts was with vs the God of Iacob was our refuge Vs. To this act of God if we tye the Subiect wherein hee workes and knit to Eduxisti Nos which I called verbum solitudinis a word of former wretchednesse and calamitie we shall finde our misery a fit obiect for GODS mercy Especially if you set the others malice against our meeknesse their wickednesse against our weakenesse the persons whom God deliuers the persons from whom will greatly commend the mercy of our deliuerance It is a pleasure to God to haue his strength perfected in our infirmitie When the danger is most violent in it own nature and our sense then is his helping arme most welcome Esa. 17. In the day of griefe and of desperate sorrow the haruest shall be great a plentifull croppe of ioy Qui Deus est noster Deus est salutis He that is our God is the God of saluation and vnto God the Lord belong the issues from death He delights to haue vs say in this deepe extremity Eduxisti Thou hast brought vs out When Ionas was taken vp by the Mariners put from the succour of the Shippe no helpe in any Rockes nor mercy in the waters neither means nor desire to escape by swimming for he yeelds himselfe into the iaws of death with as mortified affection as if a lumpe of lead had beene throwne into the sea a man would haue thought that saluation it selfe could not haue saued Ionas Yet Ionas shall not die Here is now a deliuery fit for God a cure for the almightie hand to vndertake Mans extremity is Gods opportunity Distressed desire is importunate It is time that thou haue mercy vpon vs yea the time is come But if God doe not presently answere we are ready to pant out a groane of despaire The time is past If our importunity preuaile not wee thinke all opportunity is gone But God sayes Tempus nondum venit the time is not yet God waites the maturity of the danger the more to increase his honour As Alexander cheared himselfe when hee should fight with men and beasts haughty enemies and huge Elephants Tandem par animo meo periculum video I see at last a danger somewhat equall to my minde Will you heare when this time is come Iohn 11. Martha tells Christ Master if thou hadst beene heere my brother had not died Christ knevv this before vers 15. Lazarus is dead and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there that you might belieue Obserue the different thoughts of God and man Martha is sorry Christ is glad She thought that the time of helpe was past Christ thought that the time was not opportune till now Iairus his seruant comes and tels him Thy daughter is dead trouble the master no further This was the word Christ expected to heare And now he sayes Be not afraid onely beleeue Heare the Israelites desperate complaint The waters of the Sea roare before their faces the wheeles of the Chariots rattle behinde their backs hereon they cry to Moses Were there no graues in Egypt that thou hast brought vs hither to die Now saith Moses Feare not stand still and see the saluation of God From that hath beene spoken and that which follows we may obserue two workes of Gods mercy Which consist Remouendo Promouendo the one remouing avvay much euill the other preferring to much good Eduxisti shewes his kindenesse in freeing vs from calamity In locum opulentum his goodnesse in exalting vs to dignity The former is an act of deliuerance the latter of aduancement So there is Terminus à quo from whence vvee are freed and Terminus ad quem to which vvee are exalted For the former wee haue God heere Educentem bringing out of trouble Sometime wee finde GOD Ducentem leading guiding directing Wilt not thou O Lord goe forth vvith our hoastes And Hee ledde them through the wildernesse by the hand of Moses and Aaron Sometimes Inducentem vers 11. Thou broughtest vs into the net thou hast laid affliction vpon our loynes Sometimes Adducentem Thou O Lord hast brought vs home to thy selfe
this dutie Of Trauellers Captiues sick-men sea-men others subiect to the manifold varieties of life For Trauellers They wander in the Wildernesse in a solitary way hungry and thirstie their soule fainting in them They cry vnto the Lord in their trouble and he deliuers them out of their distresses For Captiues They sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death fast bound in affliction and yron Their prayers find a way out of the prison to God and God deliuers them out of the prison to liberty For Sick Because of their transgression they are afflicted their soule abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw neere vnto the gates of death The strength of their prayers recouers the strength of their bodies For Mariners They reele to and fro staggering like a drunken man and are at their wits end They by their prayers appease the vvrath of God and hee appeaseth the wrath of the vvaues and winds Now the burden of the Song to all these deliuerances is this O that men vvould therfore praise the Lord for his goodnesse and for his wonderfull works to the children of men And because these foure dangers are short of the innumerable calamities incident to mans life therefore in the end of the Psalme much misery is heaped vp and the Lord is the scatterer dissoluer of that heape that all flesh might sing Saluation is of the Lord. And because these mercies are infinite so that vvhat Christian may not say with Dauid Thy goodnesse hath followed mee all the dayes of my life Therefore I infer with Paul In all things giue thanks So our Psalmist My mouth shall be filled with thy praise all the day long What is meant by All the day saith Augustine but a praise without intermission As no houre slips by thee without occasion let none slippe from thee without manifestation of gratitude I will praise thee saith he O Lord In prosperis quia consolaris in aduersis quia corrigis In a prosperous estate because thou dost blesse me in affliction because thou doost correct me Fecisti refecisti perfecisti Thou madest mee when I was not restoredst me when I vvas lost supplyest my wants forgiuest my sinnes and crownest my perseuerance But as Quò acerbior miseria eò acceptior misericordia the more grieuous the miserie the more gracious the mercy So the richer benefite requires the hartier thanks Great deliuerances should not haue small gratitude vvhere much is giuen there is not a little required To tell you what God hath done for vs thereby to excite thankfulnesse would be to lose my selfe in the gates of my Text. I told you this was the ground and module of the Psalme But I know your curious eares care not so much for plaine-song you expect I should runne vpon Diuision Heare but the next generall point and I come to your desire reseruing what I haue more to say of this to my farewell and last application I come from the Debt to be paid to his Resolution to pay it I will goe into thy house I will pay c. Though he be not instantly Soluendo he is Resoluendo He is not like those Debters that haue neither meanes nor meaning to pay But though he wants actuall he hath votall retribution Though hee cannot so soone come to the place where this payment is to be made yet hee hath already paid it in his heâ—…rt I will goe I will pay Here then is the Debters Resolution There is in the godly a purpose of heart to serue the Lord. This is the child of a sanctified spirit borne not without the throbs and throwes of true penitence Not a transient and perishing flower like Ionah's Gourd Filius noctis oriens moriens but the sound fruit which the sap of grace in the heart sends forth Luke 15. VVhen the Prodigall Sonne came to himselfe saith the Text as if he had been formerly out of his wits his first speech was I will arise and goe to my Father and will say vnto him Father I haue sinned And what he purposed he performed he arose and went I know there are many that intend much but doe nothing and that earth is full of good purposes but heauen onely full of good works and that the tree gloriously leaued with intentions without fruit was cursed And that a lewd heart may be so farre sinitten and conuinced at a Sermon as to will a forsaking of some sinne VVhich thoughts are but swimming notions and vanishing motions embrions or abortiue births But this Resolution hath a stronger force it is the effect of a mature and deliberate iudgement wrought by Gods Spirit grounded on a voluntary deuotion not without true sanctification though it cannot without some interposition of time and meanes come to performe that act which it intends It is the harbinger of a holy life the little clowd like a hand that Eliah's seruant saw pointing to the future showres of deuotion Well this is but the beginning and you know many beginne that doe not accomplish but what shall become of them that neuer begin If he doth little that purposeth and performes not what hope is there of them that vvill not purpose It is hard to make an Vsnrer leaue his extortion the vncleane his lusts the swearer his dishallowed speeches when neither of them saith so much as I vvill leaue them The habite of godlinesse is farre off when to vvill is not present we despaire of their performance in whom cannot be wrought a purpose But to you of whom there is more hope that say vve will praise the Lord forget not to adde Dauids execution to Dauids intention God loues the present tense better then the future a Facto more then a Faciam Let him that is President ouer vs be a precedent for vs. Hebr. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold I come not I will come but I do come to doe â—…y will O GOD. You haue heard the matter and manner of the Song the Substance is Gratitude the Forme a Resolution to giue it To set it in some Diuision or Method That euery present soule may beare his part heere be three straines or staires and graduall ascents vp which our contemplations must mount with Dauids actions 1. An entrance into Gods house I will goe into thy house It is well that Dauid will bring thither his praises himselfe But many enter Gods house that haue no businesse there that both come and returne empty-hearted that neither bring to God deuotion nor carry from God consolation 2. Therefore the next straine giues his zeale he vvill not come empty-handed but with burnt offerings Manifold and manifest arguments of his harty affection Manifest because burnt offerings reall visible actuall and accomplished works Manifold because not one singular oblation but plurally offerings vvithout pinching his deuotion 3. But yet diuerse haue offered Sacrifices and burnt sacrifices that stunke like Balaams in Gods nosthrils tendring
of hearing that they forget the feruencie of praying and praising God The End is euer held more noble then the meanes that conduce vnto it Sin brought in ignorance and ignorance takes away deuotion The Word preached brings in knowledge and knowledge rectifies deuotion So that all our preaching is but to beget your praying to instruct you to praise and worship God The most immediate proper seruice and worship of God is the end and hearing but the meanes to that end And the rule is true Semper finis excellit id quod est ad finem the end euer excells that which leads to the end Scientia non est qualitas actiua sed principium quo aliquis dirigitur in operando Knowledge is not an actiue qualitie but onely a meanes to direct a man in working Non tam audire quà m obedire requirit Deus God reckons not so much of our audience as of our obedience not the hearers but the dooers are blessed in their deed Indeed Christ saith Blessed are they that heare the Word of God but with this condition that they keepe it The worship of GOD is the fruit of hearing shew me this fruit Our Oratoria are turned into Auditoria and we are content that God should speake earnestly to vs but wee will not speake deuoutly to him I hope that no man will so ignorantly and iniuriously vnderstand me as if I spake against hearing of Sermons frequently God forbid you must heare and we must preach Acts. 6. The Apostles gaue themselues continually to prayer and to the preaching of the Word Where yet Prayer is put in the first place I complaine not that our Churches are Auditories but that they are not Oratories not that you come to Sermons for Gods sake come faster but that you neglect publique prayer As if it were onely Gods part to blesse you not yours to blesse God And hereof I complaine with good company Chrysostome saith that such a multitude came to his Sermons that there was scarce roome for a late commer those would all patiently attend the end of the Sermon But when prayers were to be read or Sacraments to be administred the company was thinne the seates empty Uacua desertaque Ecclesia reddebatur Beloued mistake not It is not the onely exercise of a Christian to heare a Sermon nor is that Sabbath well spent that dispatcheth no other businesse for heauen I will be bold to tell you that in Heauen there shall be no Sermons and yet in Heauen there shall be Halleluiahs And this same end for which Dauid came to Gods house shall remaine in glory to praise the Lord. So that all Gods seruice is not to be narrowed vp in hearing it hath greater latitude there must be prayer praise adoration and worship of God Neither is it the scope of Christianitie to knowe but the scope of knowledge is to be a good Christian. You are not Heathen to aske Quid credendum What must we belieue nor Catechists to demand Quid faciendum What must we doe You know what to belieue you know what to doe Our preaching hath not so much need monere as monere though you also need instruction yet more need of exhortation for you haue learnt more then euer you haue followed Come then hither both to heare God and to praise God As Dauid was not onely here a Praiser but ver 16. a Preacher Come and heare all ye that feare God and I wil tell you what he hath done for my soule 2. Which fitly brings mee to the further exemplyfying of this cause mouing Dauid to enter into Gods house Which was not onely to praise him but to praise him publiquely Otherwise he might haue muttered his orisons to himselfe no he desires that his mouth should be a trumpet of Gods glory as frequently in the Psalmes I will praise thee before the great congregations There are some that whatsoeuer seruice they doe to God desire many vvitnesses of it others desire no witnesses at all The former are hypocrites who would haue all mens eyes take notice of their deuotion as if they durst not trust God vvithout witnesse for feare he should deny it Such were the Pharises they gaue no almes without the proclamation of a trumpet and their prayers were at the corners of streets such corners where diuerse streets met so more spectable to many passengers To these Christ Math. 6. Doe thy deuotion in secret and hee that seeâ—… in secret shall reward thee openly The other haue a little desire to serue GOD but they would haue no witnesses at all They depend vpon some great man that will be angry with it And these would faine haue God take notice of their deuotion and no body else So Nichodemus stole to Christ by night and many a Papists seruant would come to Church if hee were sure his Master might not know of it For hee feares more to be turned out of his seruice then out of Gods seruice To these Christ Luke 12. Be not afraid of them that can kill the body and no more but feare him that hath power to cast into hell yea I say vnto you feare him A man may better lose his Landlords fauour then the Lords fauour his Farme on earth then his manor or mansion in heauen Dauid was neither of these His thankfulnesse shal not be hidden timore minantium nor yet will hee manifest it amore laudantium Neither for feare of Commanders nor for loue of commenders He is neither Timidus nor Tumidus not fearefull of frownes nor luxurious of praises but onely desires to manifest the integritie of his conscience in the sight of God It is the manner of the godly not onely to ruminate in their minds Gods mercies but to divulge them to the bettering of others When vvee yeeld thus to the world a testimony of our faith thankfulnesse in Gods publique honour we prouoke others to harken to religion and inflame their hearts with a feruent desire to partake the like mercies The fame of Alexander gaue heart to Iulius Caesar to be the more noble vvarriour The freedome of our deuotion giues an edge to others Beneficium qui dedit taceat narret qui accepit Let him that giues a benefit be silent let him speake of it that hath receiued it There is that law of difference saith that Philosopher betwixt the dooer of a good turne and the receiuer of it Alter statim obliuisci debet dati alter accepti nunquam The one ought quickly to forget what he hath giuen the other ought neuer to forget what hee hath receiued We are the receiuers and must not forget God gaue the Law to Israel and the Custome of the Saints obserued it What we haue heard and knowne and our Fathers haue told vs we will not hide from our children shewing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord. Indeed there was a time when Christ forbad the
serued well enough with looking on And their vtmost dutie but to bring their bodies a little further liuing then they shall be brought dead for then perhaps they shall come to the Church-yard now they will bring them to Church Deuotion and they are almost strangers and so much as they know of it they dishonour by their acquaintance Their burnt offerings are nothing else but a number of eyes at vtmost lift vp to heauen their heart hath another center They bring as many sinnes vvith them euery day to Church as they haue beene all their liues in committing Their hands are not washed from aspersions of lust and bloud their eyes are full of vvhoredome their lips of slander their affections of couetousnes their wits of cheating their soules of impiety If there were no Saints in the Church how could they hope the roofe would not fall on their guilty heads But I wil leaue them to the Lords reproofe Iere. 7. Will ye steale murther commit adultery and sweare falsely and come and stand before mee in this house staring mee in the face as if you were innocent Behold euen I haue seene it saith the Lord. 3. There is yet a last-sort that will come into Gods house and bring with them burnt offerings a shew of externall deuotion but they will not pay their Vowes Distresse vvarre captiuitie calamitie famine sicknes brings downe the most elate and lofty spirits It turnes the proud Gallants fether into a kerchefe pulls the wine from the lippes of the drunkard ties vp the tongue of the svvearer whom thunder could not adiure to silence makes the Adulterer lothe the place of his sinne the bed And though the Vsurer stuffe his pillow with nothing but his bonds and morgages softer and sweeter in his opinion then Downe or fethers yet his head vvill not leaue aking This misery doth so sting terrifie and put sense into the dead flesh of the nummed conscience that all worldly delights being found like plummeâ—…s of lead tied about a man while he is exposed in this Sea so farre from helping him to swimme that they sinke him rather the eye lookes about for another shore and finds none but God To this so long forgotten God the heart beginnes to addresse a messenger and that is Prayer God the vvicked see must be called on but they knowe not how They haue beene so meere strangers to him that they cannot tell how to salute him Like beggers that are blind they are forced to beg but they see not of whom Or if their eyes are so farre open Vident quasi è longinquo salutem sed interiacente pelago vident quò eundum non quà They see health a farre off as it were beyond the Sea they see whither they would goe but not which way If any inferior thing or created proppe could vphold them God should not be sollicited If friends wil if Physike will if money will if all the delicate obiects for any sense will ease or appease their griefe they will not seek to heauen Yea if Beelzebub the God of Ekron can cure them they will not trouble the GOD of Israel But all lower pleasures to one thus sick is but like a sweet harmonie of musike to a deafe man There is no hope of comfort but from aboue the clowds Health prosperity is but as a Coach to carry our desires to heauen but sicknes is the post-horse Onely this Sub poena can bring vs to put vp a supplication in the high Court of Requests and Mercie Now loe they pray they beseech they sigh they weepe they bleed and lastly they vow What vow they Either some new act to be done or some old act to be left vndone Now the drunkard vowes abstinence the lustfull vowes continence the swearer vowes to leaue his blasphemy the Incloser vowes to throwe open his taken in commons the proud vow to leaue their gawdy vanitie the vvorldling vowes to be charitable and to relieue the poore And perhaps at such a pinch or dead lift one Vsurer in a thousand yeeres may vow to forsake his vsury and to restore all that he hath so gotten Now they say Lord remoue from me this malady this extremity and I will hereafter serue thee better loue thee more belieue thy Gospell relieue thy poore giue something to an Hospitall or doe some such act as may testifie my thankfulnes Well God heares and grants health comes strength is recouered the danger is ouer they are well Now vbi vota Where be their vowes Alas we rise from our beds of sicknes and leaue our vowes behind vs. Aegrotus surgit sed pia vota iacent Physicians haue a rule among themselues concerning their Patients Take whiles they be in paine For whatsoeuer they promise sick when they are well they vvill not performe it So God had need to take what deuotion hee can get at our hands in our misery for when prosperitie returnes we forget our vowes You haue often heard that old verse Dâ—…mon languebat tunc monachus esse volebat Daemon connâ—…luit daemon vt ante suit And as wittily Englished The Diuell was sicke the diuell a Monke would be The Diuell was well the diuell of Monke was he The morall of it sutes full to our present purpose It is reported of Constantinople that a terrible Earthquake had ouer throwne many houses slaine much people Hereupon the remaining Inhabitants affrighted fel deuoutly to their prayers and vowes priuately in their chambers publikely in their Churches the poore were relieued iustice administred their liues much amended But afterwards when God held his hand they held their tongues hee forbore plaguing and they forbore praying the rod ceased and their pietie withall they forgot their vowes When the Lord hath striken vs by famine in withholding the raine froÌ„ vs or in powring down too much too fast vpon vs Or by a greeuous plague turning our popular streets into a Desart we straight growe penitent Zeale carries vp our cryes to heauen wee pray wee sigh we weepe Sorrow sits in our eyes deuotion on our lips God hath at that time more hearty prayers in an houre then ordinarily in a yeere But as the Poet spake Nocte pluit tota redeunt spectacula manè The Lord no sooner takes off the burden of misery but we also shake of the burden off pietie we forget our vowes O the mercy of God that such forgetfulnesse should possesse Christian hearts This was vnthankfull Israels fault Psalm 106. They soone forgot his workes they forgate yea soone they made haste to forget so the Originall is They made haste they forgate Like men that in sleep shake death by the hand but when they are awake will not know him It is storied of a rich Merchant that in a great storme at Sea vowed to Iupiter if he would saue him and his vessell to giue him a Hecatombe The storme ceaseth and he bethinkes himselfe that a Hecatombe was vnreasonable he resolues on seuen Oxen.
couetous hogs or oppressing Tygers If thou be such heere is no more mercy for thee then if there were no Sauiour If there be no carefull obseruation of the Law there is no conseruation by the Gospell No good life no good faith no good faith no Christ. Be not deceiued God is not mocked 7. Well yet Repentance makes all euen wheresoeuer it comes or God is not so good as his word Yes God will be so good as his promise but here 's the doubt whether thou wilt bee so good as thy purpose Thou canst charge God no further then to forgiue thee repenting not to giue thee repentance sinning Promisit Deus poenitenti veniam non peccanti poenitentiam He hath made a promise to Repentance not of Repentance This is Gods tresure what is the reason the malefactor went frō the crosse to heauen Dedit poenitentiam qui dedit Paradisum God gaue him repentance that also gaue him Paradise Art thou sure God will put this almes into thy polluted hand It is dangerous ventring the soule on such an vncertainty He that sins that he may repent is like one that surfet◅ that he may take Physicke And whether this Physicke vvill worke on a dead heart is a perillous feare Alas vvhat teares are in flint what remorse in a benu◅ed conscience Tutum est poenitenda non committere certum non est commissa deflere It is safe not to doe what thou mayst repent it is not certaine to repent what thou hast done It is the fashion of many to send repentance afore to threescore but if they liue to those yeares they doe not then ouertake it but driue it before them still Be not deceiued God is not mocked You see now what trust is in colours how easily you may deceiue your selues how vnpossibly mocke GOD. Leaue then excuses to the wicked that will be guilty and God shall not know of it Bernard reckons vp their mitigations Non feci c. I haue not done it or if I haue done yet not done euill or if euill yet not very euill or if very euill yet not with an euill mind or if with an euill mind yet by others euill perswasion Be not deceiued God is not mocked If we cry with that seruant Haue patience and I will pay thee all the Lord may forbeare in mercy But if wee wrangle I owe nothing and God is too hasty to call me from my pleasures hee vvill require the vttermost farthing I haue held you long in this Disswasiue part of the Caution The Perswasiue was also much included in it and therefore I will but touch it God is not mocked God is often in the Scripture called the Searcher of the heart Iere. 17. The heart is deceitfull aboue all things and desperately vvicked who can knowe it Who Ego Dominus I the Lord know the heart So Salomon in his prayer Thou onely knowest the hearts of all the children of men So the Apostles about the election of one in Iudas roome Thou Lord which knowest the hearts of all men Now hee that knowes the heart cannot be mocked It is hard to beguile the eye of man looking on vs how much more to deceiue the eye of God looking in vs Therefore Quod non audes facere aspiciente conseruo hoc ne cogites inspiciente Deo How vaine a thing then is it to be an Hypocrite As if God had not a window into the heart to discerne it Hypocrites saith Augustine haue Christianum nomen ad iudicium non ad remedium The name of Christians to their condemnation not comfort Their words are like an Eccho they answere Gods call but neuer come at him Good company they will admit to better their credite not their conscience Like crafty Apothecaries they haue one thing written in their papers and markes another thing in their boxes But because euery man is as hastie to condemne an Hypocrite as Dauid was to condemne the Oppressor in the Parable vvhen the Tu es homo lyes in his owne bosome I vvill touch two or three particulars If we looke into Popery we shall find it vniuersally a professed study to mocke GOD. They make shew by their abundant prayers of an abundant zeale when as if God saw not the heart they thinke the worke done is sufficient Those Qui filo insertis numerant sua murmura baccis keepe number and tale no matter with what mind no nor yet to whom whether to this Angel or that Saint to our Lord or to our Lady Yea it is recorded that the Papists in Scotland about Henry the 8. his time of England vsed to say the Lords Prayer to Saints Insomuch that when a little knowledge came into some mens hearts of this absurdity there arose great Schisme And one Fryer Toit◅ was gotten to make a Sermon that the Pater noster might be said to Saints So were the people diuided that it was a common question To whom say you your Pater-noster Call you these zealous prayers Be not deceiued God is not mocked As much might be said for their vncleane Celibate Their single life makes shew of great purenes as if their adulteries Sodomitry experimentall brothelry vnmatchable vncleannesses were not knowne They ostent their Chastitie when Vrbs est iam tota Lupanar What would they but mocke God No lesse for their fastings How deadly a sinne is it to eate flesh on a Friday yet is it no sinne with them to be drunke on a Friday A poore labourer plowes all day at night refresheth himselfe with a morsell of Bacon hee is an Heretike A gallant Gentleman hawkes all day at night sits downe to his varietie of fishes curious wines possets iunkets O he 's a good Catholike An Hypocrite he is rather Famam quaerunt abstinentiae in delicijs They seeke the credite of temperance among full tables ful pots Famam quaerunt but Famem fugiunt They desire praise but they refuse hunger But God is not mocked For our selues If there be any here because my Text depends on that occasion that robbes his Minister of temporal food and yet makes shew to hunger after his spirituall food though he may coozen man vnseene eyther by his greatnesse or craftines Let him know that Gdo is not mocked If there be any fraudulent Debter that deceiues his brother of his goods and then flatters his conscience that the merits of Christ shall acquit him so packes all vpon Christ let him pay it let him know that God is not mocked The bloud of Christ was not shed to pay mens debts but Gods debts It hath vertue enough but no such direction Thou iniurest Christ to lay such reckonings on him No Vende solue viue de reliquo Sell that thou hast pay that thou owest liue of that thou reseruest If there be any Vsurer that deales altogether in letting out that lets out his money to men his time to Mammon his body to pining his mind to repyning
and acceptable to God by addition of our prauity becomes euill Thus the best actions of an vniustified person are so leuened with his owne corruption that God abhorres them Your new Moones and your appointed Feasts my soule hateth they are a trouble to me I am weary to beare them when ye make many prayers I will not heare you What is the reason Your hands are full of bloud Euen sacrifices and supplications good seruices in their owne nature are made displeasing by the leuen of sinne He that killeth an Oxe is as if he slue a man he that sacrificeth a Lambe as if hee cut off a dogs neck Sacrifices God commanded and often commended yet victimae impiorum the oblations of the wicked are abominated Non speciosalaus in ore peccatorum Praise becommeth not the mouth of a sinner Euery vnregenerate man Claudicat in rectis halts in the straitest path Omnia naturalia bona polluta omnia supernaturalia amissa His portion of naturall good is defiled but of supernaturall good all share is vanished Peccaui was Dauids voice after his sinfull Arithmeticke the same was Iudas his voice after his damned treason Similis sonus non sinus there was the same sound but not the same heart Esau wept as much after the losse of the blessing as Peter after the denyall of his Master Similes lacrimae non animae like teares but vnlike soules The Pharise went to Church so well as the Publican but the Publican came home rather iustified then the Pharise The Pharises threw bounteously into the Treasury the poore widow two Mites yet Christ commends the poorer gift for the richer charity That worke which seemes the same In identitate operis yet differs much Ratione agentis in respect of the workers Many Heathen excelled vs in morall vertues yet the ignorance of Christ did shut heauen against them Vae tibi Aristoteles laudaris vbi non es damnaris vbi es Woe to thee O Aristotle who art commended where thou art not and condemned where thou art yea euen in a iustified mans workes though pure from the Spirit yet passing through his hands there is some tang of this leuen enough to keepe them from being meritorious Looke then well both to the iustification of thy person and the sanctification of thy workes Thou indeed confessest sinne to be damnable but it would grieue thee to go to hell for thy good deeds Though a man should giue all his goods to the poore yet wanting Faith and Loue he may for his charity go to the deuill Pray then that thy defects may bee supplyed by Christ Who gaue himselfe a sacrifice for vs to God of a sweet smelling sauour perfuming vs with the pleasant odour of his merits 3. By Leuen sowred we make rellishable bread for the vse of man so by the vngodly's most cursed sinnes God will aduance his glory Will Pharaoh harden his heart I will get me honour vpon him saith God That Leuen of malice which so wred the soules of those Brethren against poore Ioseph the Lord made vse of to his glory From that vngracious practice hee raised a pedegree of blessings Otherwise there had beene no prouision in Aegypt no bread to spare for Israel no wonders wrought by Moses no Manna from heauen no Law from Sinai no possession of Canaan So from the vnnaturallest murther that euer the Sunne beheld yea which the Sunne durst not looke vpon God glorified himselfe in sauing vs. The Oppressor impouerisheth the righteous God sees and suffers and from his villany effectuates their good by taking away those snares to saue their soules The Lord will glorifie himselfe in the vessels of destruction and the grones in hell shall honour his Iustice so well as the songs in heauen honour his mercy How much better is it to glorifie God in faithfulnesse that will preserue thee then in wickednesse which will destroy thee 4. A man cannot Liue by bread only much worse by Leuen No man can liue for euer by his righteousnesse and good works much lesse by his sinnes Sinne is no nourishment to the soule vnles as some Mithridates-like haue so inured their bodies to poison that Venenum nutrit euen venime doth batten them so others their soules to sinne that they cannot keepe life without it And indeed we say of some things that they nourish sicknesse and feed death Omne simile nutrit simile inward corruption is fed maintained by outward action Couetice in Iudas is nourished by filching his masters money Murder in Ioab is hartned and hardned with bloud Theft is fatted with booties pride with gay rags vsury battens by extortion Sacriledge by Church-robbing Pascitur Libido conuiuijs nutritur delicijs vino accenditur ebrietate flammatur Banketting is the diet of lust Wantonnesse her Nurse Wine kindles a heate in her bloud and Drunkennesse is the powder that sets her on fire Thus sinne feeds vpon this leuen but with the same successe that Israel vpon quailes they fatted their carkasses but made them leane soules Though this leuen passe the swallow yet stickes in the stomach sinne may be deuoured but lies heauy on the conscience Bread of deceit is sweet to a man but his mouth shall be filled with grauell It may be sweet in his mouth but it is the gall of Aspes in his bowels Putrid meate is apt to breed and feed wormes so this Leuen the worme of conscience when they once come to feele it worke then ready to cry This is my death vnlesse God giue them a good vomite of repentance to put it off their soules and the sober dyet of sanctification to amend and rectifie their liues 5. Lastly Sinne and leuen are fitly compared for their sowrenesse There is a Leuen sharpe and sowre but sanatiue The Kingdome of heauen is like vnto leuen But this leuen here is farre sowrer yet hath nothing but death in it It is sowre to God sowre to Angels sowre to Saints sowre to the sinner Sinne is sowrer then any Leuen 1. Sowre to God who hates nothing but sinne He made man and man made sinne Hee loues his owne creature but he hates mans creature Sinne is sowrer to him then the deuill For Non odit peccatum Diaboli cansa sed Diabolum peccati causa He hates not sinne for the deuils sake but the deuill for sinnes sake It is so sowre to him that for one sinne hâ—…e plagued a world of men how will he plague one man for a world of sinne So sowre that he could rellish no man for it till hee had killed it in the sides of Iesus Christ. We are all so sowre that but for this sweetning and perfume we could neuer haue beene endured The Scripture for our vnderstanding ascribes senses to God and we finde euery sense displeased with sinne 1. It is offensiue to his smelling He tels the Iewes that their sinnes did stinke in his nosthrils So did the old World offend him that he washed
remittentis not natura transgressionis the mercy of the forgiuer not the qualitie of the sin that maketh it veniall All transgressions are mortall in themselues and by repentance all veniall in Christ. The least sinne legally considered is mortall the greatest sin Euangelically considered is pardonable This difference we approoue yea wee say that small sinnes are more easily pardoned and great sinnes when they are remitted are more hardly remitted For certainly offenders are more or lesse punished accoding to the qualitie of the offence An eye with an eye but bloud with bloud and life with life Yet still say we not that a sinne is in it owne nature veniall For euen the least is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the transgression of the Law It is for the doctrine of Rome to lessen sinne and to extenuate punishment and that for two reasons First that they might please the people with some liberty and next that hereby they might build vp their Purgatory For they assigne mortall sinnes to hell and veniall to that purging fire They offer herein a double wrong both to their owne modestie and to Gods mercy To their owne modestie for they extenuate their faults in sinning to Gods mercy for they disparage his goodnesse in forgiuing They affirme that sinnes of omission weakenesse forgetfulnesse and ignorance be Praeter legem Dei but not contra legem Dei that they be Besides the Law of God not Against the law of God This doctrine like the lippes of that strange woman drop as an hony-combe and are smooth as oyle But their end is bitter as worme-wood sharpe as a two-edged sword This is a dangerous delusion for hence they come so to neglect those lesse sinnes that Peccata minima be at last thought Nulla As they haue certaine Orders among them Fryers Minorites Fryers Minim's and then Nullani Nullans So sinne bates and dwindles from a Minorite or lesse sinne to a Minim or least sinne and from a Minim to a Nullan to be no sinne at all Thus Incipit esse licitum quod folet esse publicum The commonnesse takes away the haynousnesse from being generally practised it comes to be vniuersally allowed Euery sinne is committed against God Against thee thee onely haue I sinned Looke vpon the infinite Maiestie offended and by that iudge the quality of thy offence There be sinnes of weaknesse sinnes of ignorance and sinnes of malice Those of weakenesse are said to be committed against God the Father whose speciall attribute is Power Those of Ignorance against God the Sonne whose speciall attribute is wisedome Those of malice against God the Holy Ghost whose speciall attribute is loue Whether then they be of weakenesse of ignorance or of malice they offend either the Power of God or the Wisedome of God or the Loue of God therefore acknowledge Secundum magnitudinem Dei magnitudinem peccati confesse the least sinne great and bad that hath offended a Maiestie so Great and Good 2. Minima plurima sinnes lesse haynous are the most numerous Many littles make a mickle Small droppes of raine commonly cause the greatest flouds Quò minus violentum eò magis perpetuum the lesse violence the longer continuance The drisling sleete that falls as it were in a mist fills the chanels they swell the riuers the ouercharged riuers send foorth their superfluous waters ouer the conteyning bankes now the medowes are polluted the Corne-fields spoyled the Cattell drowned yea euen houses and townes and inhabitants endangered and firme continents buried vnder a deluge of waters Many little sands gather'd to an heape faile not to swallow a great Vessell De paruis grandis aceruus erit You haue Eagles Hawkes Kites and such great fowles of rapine flying alwaies alone but the sparrowes and pidgeons that deuour the graine by innumerable troupes There were not more grieuous plagues to the Egyptians then came by the contemptiblest creatures as frogges lice flyes locusts by reason of the monstrous swarmes couering the face of the earth and darkning the Land and deuouring the fruit of the whole Country Yea euen killing the people that there was no remedie found for their life Thus great destruction ariseth from little causes therefore Non contemnenda quia parua sed metuenda quia multa Let vs not despise our sinnes because they are little but feare them because they are many saith Augustine The smal drops of sinne continually falling haue drowned many soules As they haue been our Armes to fight against GOD so God will make them his Armies to confound vs. Timenda ruina multitudinis etsi non magnitudinis Let vs feare them for their number though we slight them for their nature A pace is but a little space of ground yet a thousand paces make a mile and many miles bring to hell Si negligis quia non pessima caueas quia plurima If they be not the worst they are the most and is it not all to one purpose vvhether one Goliah or a thousand Philistims ouercome thee The bird brings so many little strawes as makes vp her nest the reprobate so many little sticks as makes vp his owne burning pile Augustine saith there is in Sinne both weight and number Et si non timeas quando expendis time quando numeras Iudge them by tale and not by waight Put a wanton speech a loose gesture into the balance though Christ found it heauy euery soule shall for whom he did not beare it yet it is censured vix culpa a little faulting a little failing so little that vvere it lesse it were nothing But now leaue thy Geometry come to Arithmetike beginne to number thy vvanton works and vnchristian gestures and carnall thoughts now loe they come in by troupes and heards thicker then the frogges into Egypt miraris numerum thou standest amazed at their number and now cryest Miserere mei Deus Lord haue mercy on me a most wretched sinner Yet when thy recognition hath done the best and thy memory represented those swarmes of sinnes to thy conscience thy view is as farre short as will be thine answer neither can extend ad millesimam vel minimam partem Thou hast not seene one of a thousand Who can vnderstand his errors O Lord cleanse thou mee from my secret faults Thus it is not Trutina but ScrutinuÌ„ that will teach thee the danger of these little sinnes Thou didst neuer stâ—…ale thy neighbours goods by breaking into his house therefore pleadest not guiltie to that Law Thou shalt not steale Examine thou shalt find past from thee so many couetous wishes as make vp a robberie Thou art no swearer yet through the dore of thy lips haue scaped out so many idle words as being put together will make vp a blasphemie Thou neuer madest the member of Christ a member of a harlot by vncleannesse yet thou hast giuen indulgence to as many lustfull thoughts and desires as beeing summed will make vp a great adultery I feare that many who
others vertues and good actions with praise It is the argument of a sullen and proud disposition not to commend them that do well Yet there is no ointment so sweet but there will bee some dead flies to corrupt it There bee certaine dogs that will barke at the Moone Critickes that spend the larger part of their time seeking knots in a bulrush The Snow is not so white but there is an Anaxagoras to make it blacke It was Gods commendation of Iob that there was none like him in the earth he had no fellow yet the deuill pickes quarrels and inuenteth slanders against him Traducers of their brethren I call not Damones but Damonis agunt I do not say they are deuils but they do the worke of deuils This mischiefe of deprauing hath also infected the Church Many a Preacher thinkes his owne glory eclipsed if the next Orbe be lightned with a brighter Starre Hence they fall to faulting and inueighing as if there were no way to build vp their owne credites but by the ruins of anothers disgrace God doth otherwise The Lord commended the vniust Steward because he had done wisely Though he had many faults yet Christ praiseth him for what was worthy praise his policy S. Paul found grosse errours in the Corinthians In this I praise you not that you come together not for the better but for the worse But wherein they did well he commends them ver 2. I praise you brethren that you remember me in all things Thus Ezekiel commends Daniel a Prophet of his owne time and thought it not any derogation from himselfe Behold Art thou wiser then Daniel As Salomon saith of beggers A poore man oppressing the poore is like a sweeping raine which leaueth no food behind it So a Minister disparaging a Minister is a breach whereby the deuill comes out and many soules go into hell Now to the words Arise go thy way thy faith hath made thee whole The verse may be distinguished into a Pasport and a Certificate Arise go thy way there is the Pasport Thy faith hath made thee whole there is the Certificate Hee giues him first a Dismission leaue to depart then a Testimonie or Assurance both to certifie the Church actually that he was cleansed of his leprosie but especially to certifie his owne conscience that he was conuerted and that the faith of his soule brought health to his body In the Pasport or Dismission there are two words considerable Surge and Vade Arise Goe Surge ad incipiendum vade ad perficiendum First let vs speake of them secundum sonum then secundum sensum First according to the Historie then according to Mysterie Allegories are tolerable when they be profitable Nor can it be much from the Text by occasion of those two words spoken to the eares of the Lepers body to instruct your soules how to Arise from the Seate of Custome the couch of sinne and to Goe on in the way of saluation Arise The Leper casts himselfe downe and Christ bids him arise Humility is the Gentleman Vsher to Glory God that sends away the rich empty from his gates loues to fill the hungry with good things The ayre passeth by the full vessell and onely filleth that is emptie This is the difference betweene the poore and beggers both agree in not hauing differ in crauing The proud are Pauperes Spiritus the humble are pauperes spiritu Blessed are not the poore spirits but the poore in spirit for theirs is the Kingdome of heauen Such as felt their wants sought and besought God for supply Euery Valley shall be filled and euery Mountaine be brought low The lowly minde shall be exalted the high-towring ambitious shall be throwne downe How should God say to the Marchant that glories in his wealth to the Vsurer that admireth his moneyes to the Gallant that wonders that his good cloathes do not preferre him Arise alas they are vp already they were neuer down A dwarfe in a great throng seeming low on his knees was bidden by the Prince to stand vp alas he was before at his highest God cannot be so mistaken as to encourage their standing vp who neuer yet had the manners to cast themselues downe Descendite vt ascendatis ad Deum cecidistis enim ascendendo contra euâ—… Descend that yee may rise vp to God for you haue fallen by rising vp against God He that is a Mountebanke must leuell himselfe euen with the ground if humblenesse hath once throwne him downe and brought him on his knees he shall heare the Patron and patterne of humblenesse comforting him with a Surge Arise The guest that sets himselfe downe at the lower end of the Table shall heare the Feast-maker kindly remoue him Friend sit vp higher If Hester fall at Asuerus feete hee will take her by the hand and bid her arise When Peter fell downe at Iesus knees saying Depart from me I am a sinfull man O Lord He presently was raised vp with Feare not from henceforth thou shalt catch men Zacheus is gotten vp on high to see Iesus see him hee may with his eye of flesh but he must descend that hee may see him with his eye of faith Come downe Zacheus this day is saluation come to thy house Descend to the ground that thou maist be raised aboue the clouds Pride euen in good things Non ditio sed perditio is no argument of possession but destruction The haughtie-minded lookes alwaies beyond the marke and offers to shoote further then hee lookes but euer falls two bowes short humility and discretion who is heard to say with Paul Quorum ego sum primus I am the chiefe of sinners such an humble confession scarce heard of But Christ had giuen him a Surge on his former humbling Arise and beare my name before Gentiles and Kings c. Let vs all thus cast our selues downe in humility that the Lord may say to vs in mercy Arise Gâ—…e This was the word of Dismission wherewith Christ sends him away Though he were healed therein had his hearts desire what could he expect more of Christ why is he not gone No he has not yet his Vade hee will not go till he is bidden Hee found such sweetnesse in the Lord Iesus that could you blame him though he were loth to depart From another mans house we say after some small tarrying Let vs saue our credites and go before we are bidden but from the Lord let vs not depart without a dismission The hearts of the people were so set on Christ that hee was faine to send them often away Mat. 14. 22. Hee sent the multitudes away Math. 15. 39. Hee sent the people away As Simeon that Swanne which sung his owne funerall Nunc dimittis Lord now thou lettest thy seruant depart in peace This makes to the shame of their faces that without other cause then of wearinesse waywardnesse or wantonnesse will not tarry for their
Discedite but depart the Church without the blessing they will not stay till Christ bids them Goe They venture therein wretchedly and dangerously if they could so conceiue it to depart without the Peace of God It is an vsuall complaint of man in distresse Quare direliquisti me Domine Why hast thou forsaken me O Lord God iustly answeres Quare direliquisti me Home Why didst thou forsake me first O man Would you needs depart when you should not you therefore shall depart when you would not Discedite Depart indeed a wofull reiection Depart from me yee cursed why cursed good reason you would not tarry for a blessing Thus is God euen with the wicked Recedistis à me recedam à vobis You left me I therefore leaue you Will you go without bidding Abite get you gone He that will goe into captiuity let him go Deus prior in amore posterior in odio God loued vs before we loued him hee doth not actually hate vs till we first hate him Nunquam deserit nisi cum deseritur Hee forsakes not vs till wee forsake him no man can take Christ from thy soule vnlesse thou take thy soule from Christ. God complaines of the Iewes that they had left him My people haue forsaken mee Forsake thee O Lord liuing Father of mercies and God of all comfort Will a man forsake the snow of Lebanon and the old flowing waters that come from the Rockes If any will do so then heare the curse O Lord the hope of Israel all that forsake thee shall bee ashamed and they that depart from thee shall be written in the earth because they haue forsaken the Lord the fountaine of liuing waters But let them that cleaue to the Lord heare the blessing I will not leaue thee nor forsake thee Let vs hang on the mouth of God for decision of all our doubts direction of all our waies like the Centurions seruants Going when he bids vs comming when he cals vs doing what he commands vs. At his Word let vs arise and goe on earth at his Call wee shall arise and goe to heauen Hee that obeyes the surge in grace shall haue the surge in Glory Hee that goes in the wayes of Holinesse shall go into the courts of Happinesse Hee that goeth forth weeping bearing with him precious seed shall come againe reioycing and bring his sheaues with him They that haue done well shall goe into euerlasting life Thus much of these two words as they belonged to that person the Leper Now let vs vsefully apply them to our selues First let vs obserue from this Arise 1. It is Christ that giues the Surge which reuiueth vs we can neuer stirre from the seate of impietie till hee bids vs Arise No man can come to me except the Father draw him The Spirit of Christ must draw vs out of the black and mirie pit of iniquity as Ebedmelech drew Ieremy out of the dungeon We cannot arise of our selues Nature hath no foote that can make one true step toward heauen That which is borne of the flesh is flesh not fleshly in the concrete but flesh in the abstract We cannot speake vnlesse he open our lips God sayes to the Prophet Cry What shall I cry the Spirit must giue the word All flesh is grasse c. Wee cannot stand vnlesse hee giues vs feet Sonne of man stand vpon thy feete alas he cannot but ver 2. The Spirit entred into me and set me vpon my feete We cannot see except hee giues vs eyes Intelligite insipientes Bee wise O yee fooles Alas they cannot but Da mihi intellectum do thou O Lord giue them wisedome Bee yee not conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of your minde that you may proue c. There are first two verbes Passiue then an Actiue to shew that we are double so much Patients as we are Agents Being moued we moue Acta fit actiua voluntas when God hath enclined our will to good that will can then incline vs to performe goodnesse If we cannot speake without lips from him nor walke without affections from him nor see except hee giue vs eyes then neither can we arise except he takes vs by the hand as Peter tooke the Creeple and lift him vp and immediately his feete and ancle bones receiued strength If the spirit of our Lord Iesus giue vs a Surge our lame soules shall grow strong and liuely in the nerues of graces we shall Arise and walke leaping and singing and praising God 2 We must arise for wee are naturally downe By nature a man lyeth in wickednesse by grace he riseth to newnesse of life Nature and Religion are two opposites I meane by nature corrupted nature and by Religion true Religion for otherwise the accepting of some Religion is ingraffed to euery Nature It is Nature to bee dead in sinnes it is Religion to be dead to sinne It is Nature to be Reprobate to euery good worke Religion to be ready to euery good worke It is nature to be a Louer of ones selfe 2. Tim. 3. 2. Religion to deny ones selfe Luk. 9. 23. It is nature for a man to seeke onely his owne profite Religion to Serue others by loue Nature esteemes Preaching folly Religion the power of God to saluation There are two lights in man as in heauen Reason and Faith Reason like Sara is still asking How can this bee Faith like Abraham not disputes but beleeues There is no validity in Morall vertues Ciuill mens good workes are a meere carkase without the soule of Faith They are like that Romane that hauing fortunately slaine his three enemies the Curiatij comming home in triumph and beholding all the people welcome him with acclamations onely his sister weepe because hee had slaine her loue hee embittered his victories with the murder of his owne sister Carnall men may doe glorious deeds flourish with braue atchieuements but they marre all by killing their owne sister the deare soule Thus we are downe by Nature Grace can onely helpe vs vp and make vs arise If you aske how Nature hath deiected vs how we came originally thus depraued I answer We know not so well how we came by it as we are sure we haue it Nihil ad prâ—…dicandum notius nihil ad intelligendum secretius Nothing is more certainely true to be preached nothing more secretly hard to be vnderstood Therefore as in case of a Town on fire let vs not busily enquire how it came but carefully endeuour to put it out A Traueller passing by and seeing a man fallen into a deep pit began to wonder how he sell in to whom the other replyed Tu cogita quomodo hinc me liberes non quomodo huc ceciderim quaeras Do thou good friend rather study how to helpe me out then stand questioning how I came in Pray to Christ for this Surge
Libera nos Domine wee are naturally downe do thou O Lord graciously raise vs vp 3. Wee must Arise before we can Goe First arise then goe thy way saith Christ. Hee that is downe may creep like a serpent cannot go like a man Thou art to sight with cruell enemies Not flesh and bloud but Principalities and Powers wicked spirits in high places Thou wilt performe it poorely whiles thou art along on the ground The flesh will insult ouer thee with vndenyed lusts Quicquid suggeritur caeteris aggeritur there is not a sinfull motion suggested but it is instantly embraced and added to that miserable dunghill of iniquity And is not this wretched to haue Chams curse vpon thee to be a slaue to slaues The world will hold thy head vnder his girdle whiles he tramples on thy heart thou shalt eate no other food then he giues thee he will feed thee with bribes vsuries iniuries periuries blasphemies homicides turpitudes none of these must be refused The deuill will tyrannize ouer thee thou canst hardly grapple with that great Red Dragon when thou art mounted like Saint George on the backe of faith Alas how shouldst thou resist him being downe vnder his feet Arise therefore and take the whole armour of God that you may both Stand and Withstand Arise lest God comming and finding thee downe strike thee lower From him that hath not shall bee taken away that he seemed to haue Pauper vbique tacet is a Prouerbe more plentifully true in a mysticall then temporall pouerty We say Qui iacet in terris non habet vnde cadat hee that lies on the ground hath no lower a descent to fall to yes there is a lower place Iudas found a lower fall then the earth when hee departed In locum suum into his owne place Such was that great Monarchs fall How art thou fallen from heauen O Lucifer how art thou cut downe to the ground This was a great descent from heauen to earth But ver 15. Thou shalt be brought downe to hell to the sides of the pit This was a greater descent from heauen to hell Wee esteeme it a great fall ceremonially from a Throne to a Prison and the deuill meant it a great fall locally from the Pinacle to the ground But there is Abyssus inferna a lower precipice Dauid beginnes a Psalme of prayer De profundis Out of the depths haue I cryed vnto thee O Lord. But there is a depth of depths and out of that deepe there is no rising Arise now lest you fall into that deepe then Arise for if thou wilt not thou shalt be raised Si non surrexeris volenter suscitaberis violenter If thou refuse to rise willingly thou shalt be rowsed against thy will If thou wilt not heare the first Surge which is the Ministers voice thou shalt heare the last Surge which is the Arch-angels voyce Dicis Surgam thou saist I will rise but when Modo Domine modò Anon Lord all in time Will not this be a silly excuse at the day of Iudgement I will rise anon Thou must rise in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trumpe Though thou cry to the Mountaines Fall on me and to the Rockes Hide me yet Nulla euasio thou must arise and appeare There are two voices that sound out this Surge one Euangelicall and that is of mercy yet we drowne this as Italians do thunder by Drums Bels Cannons The other Angelicall and that is of Iustice a voice vnpossible to be auoided This is that last Sermon that all the world shall heare Arise ye dead and come to iudgement Arise let vs now raise vp our selues from corruption of soule that we may one day be raised from corruption of body They that will not rise their soules must must and carry their bodies to iudgement This vvorld was made for man not man for this world therfore they take a wrong course that lye downe there He that lyes downe when he should arise and goe shall rise and goe when he would lie downe He that sleepes in the cradle of securitie all his life sinnes soundly without starting when he once starts and wakes he must neuer sleepe againe The deuill and mischiefe are euer watching and shal man whom they watch to hurt sleepe Hee that would deceiue the deuill had need to rise betimes The Lyon is said to sleepe with one eye open the Hare vvith both the worldling with both eyes of his soule shut He neuer riseth till he goes to bed his soule wakens not till his body falls asleepe on his death-bed then perhaps he lookes vp As sometimes they that haue been blind many yeeres at the approching of death haue seene whereof Physicians giue many reasons so the death-bed opens the eyes of the soule Indeed at that time there is possibilitie of waking but hazard of rising That poore winter-fruit wil hardly rellish with God Miserum incipete viuere cum definendum est It is wretched for a man then to begin his life when hee must end it It is at the best but morosa et morbosa panitentia a wearish and sick repentance wheras God requires a quicke and liuely sacrifice this is as sick as the person that makes it This indeed is not a Conuersion but a Reuersion or meere refuse To raise the secure from their vnseasonable vnreasonable sleepe God doth ring them a peale of fiue Bells 1. The first Bell is Conscience this is the trebble and doth somewhat trouble especially if the hand of GOD pulls it Many thinke of their consciences as ill Debtors doe of their Creditors they are loth to talke with them Indeed God is the Creditor and Conscience the Seriant that will meet them at euery turne It makes a syllogisticall conclusion in the mind Reason like Dauid drawes the sword and Conscience like Nathan knocks him on the brest with the hilts Dauid made the Proposition The man that hath done this shall dnee the death Nathan the Assumption Thou art the man Conscience the Conclusion Therefore thou must die If you heare not yea feele not the sound of this bell suspect your deadnesse of heart for that Citie is in danger where the Alarme-bell rings not 2. The second Bell is the Stint or certaine to all the rest Uox Euangelij the voice of the Gospell This Bell of Aaron is so perpetually rung amongst vs that as a knell in a great mortalitie quia frequens non terrens so cōmon that no man regards it Indeed if some particular clapper ring melodiously to the eare we come to please that rather then the soule Luxurient wits thinke the Scripture-phrase grosse nothing delights them but a painted and meretricious eloquence There are some that vvill not heare this Bell at all like Ieroboam they will not trauell to Ierusalem for a Sermon but content themselues with a Calfe at home Others looke that the Preachers tongue should incessantly walke but let their
own hearts lie still Thus often our Lecturer shall preach we will giue the hearing when we list Thus many Ministers come to a Parish with their bones full of marrow veynes full of bloud but all is soone spent and the people neuer the better We ring but you doe not rise 3. The third Bell is the Meane and this is Suspiria gemitusque morientium the cryes grones of the dying Anothers Passing-bell is thy warning-bell Death snatcheth here and there about vs thousands on our left tenne thousands on our right yet as if we had a Supersedeas or Protection against it we neither relent nor repent Our securitie is argued of the more madnesse because we haue so common motions and monitions of death Yet Nonerimus memores esse necesse mori How horrible is it to be drunke in a charnell house As Christ spake Let the dead bury the dead So we bring to the Church dead bodies with deader soules Forma fauor populi feruor inuenilis opesque Surripuere tibi noscere quid sit homo We confesse our selues mortall yet we liue as if death had no quarrell against vs. This Bell is the Meane but it is too meane to wake vs. 4. The fourth Bell is the Counter-tenor vox pauperum the cry of the poore This bell rings loud either to vs for mercy or against vs for crueltie Let vs know that if it cannot waken vs it shal waken God aganst vs. Their cryes are entred into the eares of the Lord of Sabbaoth Set not thy soule in danger of the peoples curse by inhauncings ingrossings oppressions c. But thou sayest they are wicked men that will curse and God will not heare the wishes of the wicked I answere it is often seene that the curse of the vndone waster lights vpon the head of the vndooing Vsurer The imprecation of one euill man may fall vpon another God so suffers it not because he cursed thee but because thou hast deserued this curse Let this Bell make Oppressors arise to shew mercy that God may rise to shewe them mercy Otherwise the poore man is ready to pray Arise O Lord in thine anger lift vp thy selfe because of the rage of our enemies awake for vs to the iudgement thou hast commanded Yea though they pray not for it God will doe it For the oppression of the poore for the sighing of the needy now will I arise saith the Lord. I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at it If this Bel sound mournfully to thee for bread to the hungry arise to this sound as that neighbor rose at midnight to relieue his importunate friend If it cannot waken thy couetous soule to shew mercy to Christ tempore suo in his time of need nor will Christ arise to shew mercy to thee tempore tuo in thy time of need 5. The last Bell is the Tenor the Bow-bell able to waken all the Citie But though that materiall Bell can teach vs when it is time to goe to bedde yet this mysticall bell cannot teach vs the time to arise This is the abuse of the creatures The rust of the gold cryes against the hoorder the stone out of the wall against the Oppressor the corne and wine against the Epicure This is a roring and a groning Bell. The whole creature grones and trauells in paine vnder vs. This is the creatures ordinary Sermon Accipe redde caue vse vs without abusing return thankfulnesse without dissembling or looke for vengeance without sparing They seeme to cry vnto vs We desire not to be spared but not to be abused Necessitati subseruire non recusamus sed luxui we would satisfie your naturall necessity not intemperate riot We are the nocent creatures that cause their innocencie to become miserable And but that the Diuine prouidence restraines them it is maruell that they break not their league with vs and with their hornes and hoofes and other artillery of nature make warre vpon vs as their vnrighteous and tyrannicall Lords Let some of these Bells waken vs lest as God once protested against Israel that seeing they would not when it was offered therefore they should neuer enter into his rest so a renuntiation come out against vs If any will be filthy let them be filthy still if they will not arise they shal lie still for euer If this peale cannot effect it yet God hath foure things more to rouze vs. 1. A Goad that pricks the skin and smarts the flesh Affliction he hath Crosses and Curses those gall these deepely wound they are able to make any but a Pharaoh arise It was affliction that waken'd Dauid It is good for me that I was troubled The Leprosie brought Naaman to the Prophet the Prophet brought him to God It is strange if bloudy sides put not sense into vs. Yet such was the obduracy of Israel Thou hast stricken them but they haue not sorrowed thou hast consumed them yet they refused to returne Insensible hearts The people turneth not to him that smiteth them neyther doe they seeke the Lord of Hosts Hast thou beene wounded and wilt thou not be wakened beware lest God speake to thy soule as in another sense Christ did to Peter Sleepe on now and take thy rest 2. Hee hath to rouze vs Thunder of heauier Iudgements perhaps the light scratches which some aduerse thornes make are slightly reckoned scarce change countenance for them But he sleepes soundly whom thunder cannot wake Humanas motura tonitrua mentes When God thundred that menace in the cares of Niniueh it waked them Let Absolon fire Ioabs barley fields and he shal make him rise Shake the foundations of the Prison and the sterne layler will rise a conuerted Christian Sirs what shall I doe to be saued This thundring of iudgements should cleanse our ayre awaken our sleepy mindes purge our vncleane hearts If the Lyon roare who will not feare If the Lord thunder what man will not be afraid 3. He hath an Ordnance to shoot off Death Statutum est omnibus mori It is a Statute-Law of heauen an Ordinance from the Court of Iustice Euery man shall die When this Canon is discharged at thy paper-walls then let thy soule rise or neuer The shooting off this Ordinance made Belshazzar stagger before hee was drunke His knees smote one against another when that fatall hand wrote his destiny on the wall Indeed most doe slumber on the Couch of health they are quiet no sicknesse stirs them they are at a couenant with the graue Sed cito finitam datur istam cernere vitam Praeceps mortis iter Death makes a headlong progresse This Ordinance carries death in the mouth it is an euen hand that shootes one that will neuer misse the marke let this rouze vs. 4. God hath a Trumpet to sound The Lord shall descend from heauen with a shout with the voyce of the Archangell and with the Trumpe of God
Altisona grandisona Tuba the lowdest Instrument of warre euery eare shall heare it As it was in the dayes of Noah and Lot So shall it be in the day when the Sonne of man is reuealed From eating and drinking building and planting buying and selling marrying and dancing shall this Trumpe call them It shall fetch the Drunkard from his Ale-bench the Harlot from her luxurious bed the Epicure from his riotous table the Vsurer from his Charnell house of mens bones and beasts skins his study now Surgendum est vndeque there must be an vniuersall rising Well let vs waken before this last Trumpets last summons lest then wee rise onely to iudgement and bee iudged to lie downe againe in torments God long expects our rising Quantò diutius nos expectat vt emendemus tantò districtius iudicabit si neglexerimus With how much patience he waits for our neglected conuersion with so much vengeance hee will punish our continued rebellion The Lord of his mercy giue vs the first resurrection to Grace that we may enioy the Rising to Glory Arise and Goe Being got vp it is not fit we should stand still we must be going The maine worke was to raise vs now we are vp I hope an easie matter will set vs a going And to helpe forward our iourney let our meditations take along with them these three furtherances the Necessity the Conueniency the End The Necessity we must goe the Conueniency how we must goe the End whither we must goe 1. The Necessity all that haue hope of heauen must be going The seruants of God vnder the Law Exod. 12. 11. the sonnes of God vnder the Gospell Ephes. 6. 15. are commanded to haue their Feet shod to vvitnesse their preparation of Going God doth not onely charge Eliah with a Surge Arise but also with a Vade Goe The sitting bird is easily shot so long as shee is flying in the ayre the murdering piece is not leuelled at her There were two principall occasions of Dauids sinne Otium Oculus Idlenesse and his Eye The one giues Satan oportunity the other conueniency to iniect his temptation Otia si tollas periere Cupidinis arcus Dauid hast thou nothing to doe Come walke with mee on thy Palace roofe I will shew thee beauty a snare able to take a Saint It is necessary therefore to be going for so we are not so fair a mark for Satan Adam so long as he was at his work in the Garden vvas safe enough when he became lazie and fell a dallying with Eue Satan shot him It vvas Ieromes counsell to Rusticus Be euer doing vt quando diabolus veniat inueniat occupatum that when the Deuill comes with his businesse he may find thee at thine owne businesse So thou shalt answere him knocking at thy dore I am busie I haue no time to talke with you Satan Do you think the Deuill could be so sure to meet his friends at the Theater Tauerne Brothell-house but that mistresse Idlenesse sends them thither Yea by this he takes a worldling by the hand at Church well mette you are so full of businesse all the weeke that you breake your sleepes cannot take your rest come heere be two Sermons on the Sunday sleepe out them The Sabbath seemes tedious to some they haue nothing to doe Nothing Alas they know not a Sabbaths dayes worke To pray to heare to reade to meditate to conferre to visit to pray againe is all this nothing Because they labour not in their worldly calling they thinke there needes no labour about their Christian calling the working out their saluation they holde no paines indeede they take no paines about it If they did performe these duties they should find the right spending the Sabbath not Nullum laborem sed alium not no labour but another kinde of labour then euer they conceiued And this not Opus taedij sed gaudij Thinke on that sweete vicissitude of workes and comforts And Breue videbitur tempus tantis variet atibus occupatum that time must needs seem short that is spent in such variety of delights It was the principall of those three faults whereof Cato professed himselfe to haue so seriously repented One was passing by water when he might goe by land another was trusting a secret to a woman but the maine one was spending an houre vnprofitably How many houres not only on common dayes but euen vpon the holy Sabbath that concernes the businesse of our soules haue vvee vnprofitably lauished and yet neuer heartilie repented them 2. The Conueniencie if we Goe we must haue feete All our Preaching is to beate the bush put you from your couerts and set you a going but now Quitus pedibus on vvhat feet must you goe The Foot is the Affection or Appetite saith S. Augustine Eô feror quocunque feror that carries me vvhither soeuer I goe The foote moues the body the affection moues the soule The regenerate soule hath three principall faculties as the naturall body hath three semblable members the eye hand and foote In the soule the Eye is Knowledge the Hand is Faith the Foote is Obedience The soule without knowledge is like Bartimeus blind without faith like the man with a vvithered hand vvithout obedience like Mephibosheth lame True Christians are not Monopodes one-footed the Apostle speaks in the plural number of their feet Stand hauing your Feete shod with the preparation of the Gospell of peace Hee meant not corporall feet the soule must therefore haue spirituall feete like the bodies for Number Nature For Number the body hath two feet so hath the Soule Affection and Action desiring and doing The former that puts forward the soule is a hopefull affection One said Hope is a foote Pes Spes but hope is rather a nerue that strengthens the motion of this foot then the foot it selfe The latter is Action or operatiue obedience that rightly walkes in the blessed way of holinesse I desire to doe thy will O my God there 's the foot of affection I will runne the way of thy Commandements ther 's the foot of action I haue longed after thy precepts there is the foote of desiring I turned my feet vnto thy testimonies there 's the foot of obeying For nature they are fitly compared to feet and that Ratione Situs for Placing Transitus Passing For Site or placing the feete are the lower parts of the body so are affections of the soule The head is the directer the foote the carrier the feet helpe the head the head guides the feete The vnderstanding and affection are like the blinde man and the lame the lame hath eyes but no feet the blinde hath feete but no eyes But whiles the blinde carries the lame and the lame directs the blind both may come to their iourneyes end The vnderstanding sees well but of it selfe cannot goe the Affection is able to goe but of it selfe cannot see let the one direct well
made thee whole Faith in respect of the Obiect is called in Scripture The faith of Iesus Christ in respect of the subiect vvherein it is inherent it is my faith and thy faith Thy faith hath made thee whole Hath saued thee made whole not thy body only that 's but part the worst part but thy soule also Totum te thy whole selfe saued thee The other nine had whole bodies this tenth was made whole in soule too saued The richest Iewell Christ left to his Church is Saluation My heâ—…rts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saued Not their opulencie not their dignitie not their prosperitie was Saint Pauls wish but their Saluation If the deuils would confesse to vs the truth they would sâ—…y The best thing of all is to be saued That rich man would faine send this newes out of hell Let Lazarus testisiâ—… to my brethren lest they also come into this place of torment The teâ—…timony of saluation was blessed newes from the mouth of him that giues Saluation Iesus Christ. The vessell of mans soule is continually in a Tempest vntill Christ enter the Shippe and then follovves the calme of peace It is remarkeable that God giues the best gifts at last Christ gaue this Leper health bonum this was good For Vita non est viuere sed valere It is more comfortable to die quickly then to liue sickly He gaue him a good name that he returned to giue glory to God melius this was better But now lastly he giues him saluation Thy faith hath saued thee Optimum this is best of all Vltima optima Hath God giuen thee wealth blesse him for it hath hee giuen to thee health blesse him for it hath hee giuen thee good reputation blesse him for it hath he giuen thee children friends peaceable dayes blesse him for all these But hath hee giuen thee Faith especially blesse him for this hee hath giuen thee vvith it what we beseech his mercy to giue vs all Saluation in Iesus Christ. I conclude there is a faith powerfull to iustifie the soule by the righteousnesse of Iesus Christ but it neuer dwelt in a bosome that lodgeth with it lust and dissolutenesse If while we seeke to be iustified by Christ we our selues are found sinners is therefore Christ the Minister of sinne God forbid Which verse may not vnfitly bee distinguished into foure particulars Quòd sit Si sit An sit Absit There is a Concession a Supposition a Question a Detestation 1. The Concession Quòd sit that is so he takes it granted that all true Christians seeke their onely Iustification by Christ. 2. The Supposition Si sit if it bee so that in the meane time wee are found sinners 3. The Question or discussion An sit is it so is Christ therefore the Minister of sinne 4. The Detestation Absit God forbid Where let vs behold what the Gospell acquireth for vs and requireth of vs. It brings vs liberty the Law gendereth to bondage and that saith Aquinas Quantum ad Affectum and Quantum ad Effectum 1. The Law begets an affection of feare the Gospell of Loue. Ye haue not receiued the spirit of bondage againe to feare but the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Breuissima apertissima duâ—…rum Testamentâ—…rum differentia Tiâ—…or Amor. There is a short and easie difference betwixt the olde Testament and the new Feare and Loue. 2. The Law brought forth onely seruants the Gospell sonnes Ierusalem aboue is free which is the mother of vs all Libera quòd liberata free because shee is freed For if the Sonne make you free you shall be free indeed This it brings to vs it also challengeth something of vs that wee vse not our liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by loue serue one another All things are free to vs by faith yet all things seruiceable by charity Vt simul stet seruitus libertatis libertas seruitutis that the seruice of liberty and liberty of seruice might stand together A Christian for his Faith is Lord of all for his loue seruant to all That therefore we might not abuse our freedome nor turne the grace of God into wantonnesse the Apostle after the reines giuen puls vs in with the Curbe though iustified by Christ take heed that wee bee not found sinners a checke to ouer-iocund loosenesse a correctiue not so much libertatis as liberatorum of our freedome as of our selues being freed In vaine wee pleade that Christ hath made vs Saints if our owne euill liues proue vs sinners Indeed as God couenants by the Gospell to remit our sinnes so wee must condition by the law to amend our liues For that faith to which the promise of Iustification and eternall life is made is a faith that can neuer be separated from charity Wheresoeuer it is there is loue ioyned with it bringing forth the fruits of righteousnesse which are by Iesus Christ vnto the glory and praise of God This is that faith to which all the promises of God are yea and Amen in Christ to the glory of God by vs. The Lord that hath made them Yea and Amen in his neuer-failing mercies make them also Yea and Amen in our euer-beleeuing hearts through our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ. Amen THE SAINTS MEETING OR Progresse to Glory Ephes. 4. 13. Till we all meete in the vnitie of the faith and of the knowledge of the Sonne of God vnto a perfect man vnto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ. THe first word of the Text is a gate to let in our considerations to contemplate this goodly citie which indeed is like Ierusalem a citie of 〈…〉 of the Lord vnto the 〈…〉 to giue thankes vnto the name of the Lord. And when we are in let vs number and ponder the towers powers of it for euery pinne and pinnacle shall afford vs comfort But we must first passe by this Portall Vntill and this very entrance will giue vs two obseruations 1. Teacheth vs that God hath ordained the Ministery of the Gospell to last to the end of the world Christ hath giuen Apostles Prophets Euangelistes Teachers To perfect the Saints and to edifie his bodie to continue Till we all meete in the vnitie of faith c. So was his promise after his Charge Math. 28. His charge Goe teach all nations his promise Loe I am with you alway vnto the end of the world God will send Shepheardes till euerie lost sheepe be brought to the folds of peace The Ministers voyce shall sound till it bee ouertaken by the Archangels Trumpe The ministration of the Law had an end but there is none to the ministration of the Gospell before the end of the world Hereof may be giuen a double excellency to the Gospell and prelation aboue the Law It is more Gratious Glorious 1. The Gospell is more
eye Faith like the Hand layes vnremoued hold on Christ Hope like the Foote walkes toward him in an holy expectation patiently enduring all wrongs in hope of sweet issue Sight which belongs to the Eye shall fully apprehend him when it is gloryfied In this bright knowledge we shall all meete Our present knowledge shall be excelled by our future in 5. differences 1. In qualitie this is an abstracted knowledge of Christ absent that a plenary knowledge of Christ present Ex abstractiua fit intuitiua notitia The light of a lampe vanisheth when the glorious sunne appeareth If our knowledge were mundus eruditionis a world of learning yet is it but eruditio mundi the learning of the world of narrow bounds in regard of the knowledge in heauen 2. In quantitie euen that we know now shall be known then in a greater measure The orbes elements planets plants the herbes of the field parts of our own bodyes we know now but alas weakly in regard of that perfection which this future life shall giue vs. Indeed the Christian for his owne sauing health knowes so much as is able to make him euerlastingly blessed for he knowes Christ his Sauiour and that is eternall life But then he shall know him in a higher measure and perfectly see those things now vnconceaueable Paul heard vnspeakable words in his rapture aboue which below he confesseth not possible for man to vtter 3. In perfection or maturitie Our knowledge heere growes from degree there it shall be one and the same receauing or requiring no augmentation They goe from strength to strength how long till they appeare before God in Sion 4. In continuance Earthly knowledge is momentany all skill in tongs and arts is like the authors mortall and shall come to an end The most famous Artists haue often either mette with a derogate name or beene buried in obliuion The study of Christ is onely eternall and shall not be abrogated but perfected we shall know then as we are knowne 5. In vnitie various dissonant and not seldome repugnant is humane knowledge indeed not worthy the name of knowledge for it is Opinion Man is contrary to man yea man to himselfe this same vnum sentire to be of one minde is difficult if not impossible to be found Though wee ayme our knowledge at one marke yet some shoote on the right hand some on the left some short others shoote ouer hauing a knowledge that puffeth vp Whose learning hath in it some poyson if it be let goe without the true correctiue of it But at this expected day we shall all meete in an vnitie of knowledge Of the Sonne of God That eternall Sonne of God who in the fulnesse of time became for vs the Sonne of man shall then be more clearly knowne to vs. We now beleeue his truth of perfection we shall then see his perfection of truth We shall brightly apprehend the vnconceiueable mysterie of him who is Filius Dei sine matre filius hominis sine patre the Sonne of God without mother the sonne of man without father If any aske whether our knowledge shall extend no further then to Christ our Sauiour There is no doubt but as we know our elder brother set in his throne aboue all the powers of heauen so we shall also knowe the rest of our fraternitie Loue is a grace that neuer fades and therefore shall haue knowledge to make way before it We shall loue the Saints I may inferre wee shall know them Peter knew Moses and Elias on the Mount whom yet before he neuer saw why then should we not know them in heauen and if them why not other of our glorified friends If nothing but that which is earthly and sauours of corruption shall cease and fall off like Eliah's mantle then knowledge must needs remaine being a diuine grace pure and euerlasting as the soule But seeke we to know the Sonne of God here to be our Sauiour and without doubt hereafter we shall know him to be our glorifier Whereunto To a perfect man Before hee speakes in the plurall number of a multitude We shall All meete noweby a sweete kind of Solaecisme he compacts it into the singular all into one We shall All meete to a perfect man Here lie three notes not to be balked 1. This shewes what the vnitie of the Saints shall be one man Here they are sometimes sayd to haue one heart one soule there they shall be one man That not a carnall corruptible sinfull man for he may dissent from himselfe but a perfect man Not materially for there shall bee distinct bodies and soules still as here but metaphorically in regard of the neuer-iarring harmonie Oh sweete musicke where the symphonie shall exceedingly delight vs without diuision without frets 2. The whole Church is compared to a man we haue often read it compared to a body here to a man As in other places to a Body cuius Capâ—… est Christus whose Head is Christ so our Apostle here ver 16. speaketh of our growing to the Head which is Christ. So in this place to a Man cuius anima est Christus whose soule is Christ. Now the soule in the body encreaseth not augmentatiuely but secundum vigorem transfusing into the bodie her vertuall powers operations more strongly Christ is euer the same Heb. 13. Iesus Christ yesterday and to day and the same for euer In this soule there is no mutation but the body encreaseth with the encrease of God For as Christ encreaseth the strength of his grace in vs so we grow to perfection 3. Full perfection is onely reserued for heauen and not granted till we meete in glory then shall the Church be one perfect man We may be now mundi saith Aug. cleane yet still mundandi to be cleansed Not so perfect but still glad of mercie Our puritie is not in facto but in fieri inchoate not finished though begunne All our righteousnes consists in the not imputation of our sinnes Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquitie Summa perfectio imperfectionis confessio Our greatest cleannesse is the free acknowledging our vilenesse The other immunitie shall be when there are no passions in men no lusts capable of sinne nowe it is well if wee liue without scandall without eruption though not without corruption Non sine culpaâ—…ed sine querela And so the commendation of Zacharie must be vnderstood which calleth him righteous walking in all the commaundements of the Lord blamelesse He liued blamelesse in the worlds eye not in the Lords If thou shouldest marke iniquitie O Lord who shall stand Especially when his eye of iustice onely shall looke vpon it Vae etiam laudabili vitae hominum si remota misericordia discutiatur Woe to the most commendable life of man if mercie bee remooued when it is examined It is enough to proue Zacharie a sinner in that hee
the better mistres and worthy of more seruants alas glad to be shrowded in holes your Greatnes now wisheth it selfe so litle that it might not be seene You insatiate couetous that neuer ceased ioyning house to house land to land and possessing whole countryes yet whined for lacke of elbow-roome loe you shall at this day be glad of a hole a darke hollow caue in a rocke for your parlour or more glad if you might be dissolued into nothing They said We haue described the Persons What they were let vs see what they did They said They open their lips to confesse the invincible and inevitable power of Christ. whence derive we two obseruations 1. The sense of present miserie takes away Atheisme Before their mouthes were either shut by silence or opened by blasphemies possessed either with a dumbe or a roring deuill God was not in all their thoughtes or if in their thoughts not in their lips or if in their lips but to his dishonour not named but in their oathes Now loe they speake and make a desperate acknowledgment of that power they erst derided The day of iudgment when it comes shall find no Atheist What those degenerate creatures would not beleeue they shall see they would not acknowledge their maker they shall find their Iudge and cry to the mountaines Fall one vs c. Consider this ye that forget God lest you be torne in pieces when there is none to deliuer you You may forget him during your short pleasure you shall remember him for euer in torture Proceed to speake of him wickedly and like enemies to take his Name in vaine you shall one day fall low before his footestoole not with a voluntary but enforced reuerence You that haue denied God on earth the first voice that shall come from your lips shall be a hopelesse acknowledgment of his maiestie 2. The saying that comes from them is desperate whence note that in Gods iust punishment Desperation is the reward of Presumption They that erst feared two little shall now feare too much Before they thought not of Gods Iustice now they shall not conceiue his Mercie Consciences that are without remorse are not without horror It is the kindnes which presumptuous sinne doth the heart to make it at last despaire of forgiuenes They say Behold God accuseth not they accuse themselues God loues to haue a sinner accuse himselfe and therefore sets his deputie in the brest of man which though it be a neuter when the act is doing is an aduersary afterwards The conscience is like the poise of a clocke the poise being downe all motion ceaseth the wheeles stirre not wound vp all is set on going Whiles conscience is downe there is no noise or moouing in the heart all is quiet but when it is wound vp by the iustice of God it sets all the wheeles on working tongue to confesse eyes to weepe hands to wring brest to be beaten heart to ake voice to cry and that where mercie steps not in a fatall cry to the hils Fall on vs and hide vs. Sinne and iudgment for sinne make the most cruell men cowardly Tyrants whose frownes haue beene death oppressors that haue made their poore Tenants quake at their lookes now tremble themselues would change firmnes with an aspine leafe They that care not for the act of sinne shall care for the punishment Tumidi faciendo timidi patiendo Nero that could not be tired in cutting throtes is soone weary of his owne torment They that haue made others weepe shall desperately howle themselues Cain that durst kill the fourth part of the world at a blow euen his owne brother dares afterwards not looke a man in the face lest he should be slayne Who durst be more impudently bold with God then Iudas when he betrayed his onely Sonne to murderers yet after the treason who more cowardly then Iudas he becomes his owne hangman The curse that followes sinne makes Presumption it selfe to shudder But what madnes is it not to complaine till too late If our foresight were but halfe as sharpe as our sense we should not dare to sinne The issue of wickednes would appeare a thousand times more horrible then the act is pleasant Let this teach vs now to thinke of the Iustice of God as well as his mercie that herafter we may thinke of his mercie as well as his Iustice. The mercie of God is abused to encourage lewdnes and wretched men by Christs merits are emboldned to committe that for which he dyed but so men may runne with mercie in their mouthes to hell They that in life will giue no obedience to the law shall in death haue no benefite by by the Gospell When they gaue themselues ouer to lying swaring coueting c. they were wont to cry Mercie mercie now loe they feele what those sinnes are and cry nothing but Iustice Iustice they cannot thinke on mercie They that haue abused mercie must be quitted with vengance The good now sing With thee O Lord is mercie therefore thou shalt be feared The reprobates sing at last with thee O Lord is iudgment with thee is storme and tempest indignation wrath confusion and vengence and therefore art thou feared These necessary occurrences thus considered let vs passe to their Inuocation wherein is exemplified their Error Here we must obserue To what For what they call To what They are Mountaines and rockes vnreasonable yea insensible creatures whence we may deduce two inferences a negatiue and an affirmatiue 1. Negatiuely it is cleare that they haue no acquaintance with God therefore know not how to direct their prayers vnto him If their trust had beene in God they needed not to fly to the Mâ—…aines So Dauid sweetly Psal. 11. Ia the Lord put I my trust how then say you to my soule Flie as a bird to your mountaine It is Gods charge Call vpon me in the day of trouble and I will deliuer thee and thou shalt glorifie me But Rom. 10. How shall they call on him in whom they haue not beleeued Or beleeue in him they haue not knowne and how should they know him but by his word Alas those mutuall passages and entercourse of meanes they haue euer barred themselues They would neither suffer God to trouble them by his word nor would they offer to trouble him by their prayers They will not call vpon him nor will they heare him calling vpon them Therefore as those that neuer were in the companie of God they know not how to addresse themselues to him but rather to rockes and mountaines As extremity discerneth friends Verè amat qui miserum amat so it distinguisheth a man in himselfe A suddaine disturbance giues a great try all of a Christians disposition For as in a naturall man at such an affrightment all the bloud runs to the heart to guard the part that is principall so in a good man at such an instance all the powers
and faculties run to the soule to saue that which is principall The bloud and spirits striue to saue the life of the bodie faith hope to saue the life of the soule So that at the suddaine assault of some daunger a man shall best iudge of his owne heart It may bee at other times a dissembler for mans heart is false who can know it yet at such time it will manifest it selfe and cannot deceiue If God hath beene our familiar friend and accustomed helper danger doth not sooner salute vs then we salute him by our prayers The first thought of our hearts is Iesus Christ the first voyce of our lips is Peters on the sea in such an extremitie Lord saue mee our faith is reposed on his wonted mercy and protection Wee know whom we haue beleeued Daniell cals on GOD ere hee fals to the Lions this stoppes their mouthes The wicked in such miserie are either heauie and heartlesse as Nabal whose heart dyed within him and he became as a stone Or desperate as Iulian throwing his bloud vp into the ayre with a blasphemous confession Or sottish as these here running to the mountaines vnprofitable vnpossible helpes When the blow of vengeance strikes the couetous he runs to his counting house if his bagges can giue him no succour he is distracted If any broken reed bee their confidence in these ouerwhelming woes they catch drowning hold of that so they and their hopes perish together There are some whose tongues are so poysoned with blasphemie that in an vnexpected accident the very first breath of their lips is a curse or an oath As if they would sweare away destruction which euery vngodly speech drawes on neerer If these men hadde beene acquainted with God in faire weather they would not forget him in a storme But they that will haue no familiaritie with God in peace shall haue him to seeke in extremitie When therefore some sudden perill hath threatned thee with terrour note seriously how thou art affected Though the danger came vnlook'd for let it not passe vnthought of but as thou blessest God for deliuery so examine the good or ill disposednesse of thine owne heart If thou find thy selfe couragious and heauenly minded on thy confidence in God take at once assurance of thy faith and Gods mercie Hee that nowe stood by thee will neuer leaue thee If otherwise lament thy sinnes which darken thy soules way to the mercie-seate and beseech Iesus Christ to store thy heart with better comforts If thy treasure be in heauen and thy soule hath beene vsed to trauell often thither when danger comes it knowes the way so well that it cannot misse it 2. Affirmatiuely this presents a soule amazed with feare and follie They call to the Mountaines that can neither heare nor answere When the world was destroyed with water men climbed vp to the tops of the Mountaines when it shall be dissolued with fire they will desire the holes of the rockes and to lie vnder the hils The mountaines are but swellings of the earth and the rockes are surd things that haue no eares can they heare or if they heare can they answere or if they answere can they saue when the graues must vomite vp their dead shall the rockes conceale the liuing Those fiue Kings could not be hid in the caue of Makkedah from Ioshua and shall any caue hide from Iesus Whiles guilt and feare consult of refuge how vaine shifts they imagine Adam would hide his disobedience in the bushes Saul his rebellion in the crowd of the people So the hood-wink'd foole seeing no body thinkes no body sees him Helplesse euasions when Adoniah heard the trumpets sounding at Salomons coronation he quaked and fled to the hornes of the Altar When the vngodly shall heare the Archangels Trumpe proclaiming the coronation of Christ they haue no Sanctuarie they neuer loued it in all their liues but flie to the rockes and mountaines The graue is a darke and priuatiue place yet as a prisoner that comes out of a sordid and stinking dungeon into the open ayre for his triall in a desperate cause had rather keepe the prison still So these reprobates newly raysed from the earth cry to it to receiue them againe glad to remaine though not on the face of it with pleasure in the bowels of it with rottenesse and solitude rather then in the open light to come before the iudgement seat of Christ. The graue is a drowne-bed to hell They suddainly start out of their sleepe and meet with gastly amasednesse at the mouth of their sepulchers beholding on the one side sins accusing on another side hellish fiends vexing an anguish'd conscience burning within heauen earth without aboue them the countenance of an angry Iudge below them a lake of vnquenchable fire round about howling and bitter lamentations no maruell then if at the worlds end they be at their wittes end and cry to the mountaines Fall on vs. Let all this declare to men the vanitie of their worldly hopes God is the Preseruer of men not hils rocks The rich man is brought in vpon a Premunire can his gold acquit him in this Starre-chamber The Epicure thinkes to drowne sorrow in lustie wines the oppressor mistrusts not the power of his owne hand the proud refugeth his troubled heart in his trunkes the lustfull in his punkes what is this but running to rockes and mountaines Thus madly doe men commit two errors Ier. 2. They forsake the creator which would neuer forsake them and adhere to the creatures which can neuer helpe them O Lord the hope of Israell all that forsake thee shall be ashamed and all that depâ—…t from thee shall be written in the earth Nowe at this day perhaps they would seeke to the Lord but they are answered Goâ—… to the gods whom ye haue serued Loe then of these gods they shall be wearie as in the 2. of Esay where these very words of my Text are deliuerd ver 19. They shall goe into the holes of the rockes c. it is immediatly added In that day a man shall cast his Idols of siluer and his Idols of gold which he made for himselfe to worship 〈◊〉 the moules and to the battes Euen the spirituall Idolater the Couetous shall throw his Images golden or siluer shrines for the Diana of his auarice his damned coyne to combustion with a vae Woe vnto it it hath lost my soule As the sicke stomacke lothes the meate whereof it surfetted Well let vs leaue inuocation to these Rockes worldly refuges and remember that there is one to be called on who is onely able to defend vs a spirituall holy and happy Rocke Iesus Christ. Dauid often cals God his Rocke and his refuge A rocke that beares vp the pillars of the world Their Rocke is not as our Rocke euen our enemies themselues being iudges He that builds his house of assurance on this rocke shall stand
whose bowels neuer knew the softnes of such a nature exposed to all the tyrannie of their hands and tongs hands that like cruell Chirurgions searched euery part of his blessed body tongues that ranne nimbly through all the passages of obloquie till they had ouertaken reproch it selfe and cast it on him His body at the full will of the tormenters and his soule not without intolerable terrors as they might iudge by strange speech that came from him My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Doth man triumph ouer him and doth God forsake him This might breed in their hearts a suspition either that hee was a deceiuer or else vtterly cut off To stifle this doubt in the very birth hee shakes the earth and rends the rockes that as they knew him dying Hominem vâ—…rum so they might perceaue him doing these myracles not Hominem merum but the euerliuing God These wonders blow the sparke of their faith almost dying with Christ and roote in their hearts a deepe and infallible perswasion of their Sauiour Something there is to keepe the faith of the elect from quenching though Satan raigne on it showres of discomforts Though no obiect greets the eye of flesh but discouragement yet there is a secret Spâ—…it within that will neuer suffer the faith to faile 5. In regard of the Disciples to shame and conuince them for leauing him Christ had said before Luk. 19. Si hitacerent loquerentur lapides If these speaking of his Disciples should hold their peace the stones would immediatly cry out Loe this saying is here come to passe the Disciples hold their peace the stones speake they forsake Christ the rockes proclaime him Such a shame is it for Apostles and ministers of Christ to hold their peace that if they be silent the very stones shall preach against them The walles windowes pauements of Churches shall cry out against such Pastors that vndertake the office of a sheep-heard and feed Christ his flocke with nothing but ayre And euen you that come to heare if no remorse can be put into your hearts at the relation of our Sauiours death if you haue no feeling of his sorrowes no apprehension of these mysteries no repentance of your sinnes no emendation of your liues know that the very seates whereon you sit the walles of your Temples the very stones you tread on shall beare witnesse against you Now the Lord Iesus that at his death brake the Rockes by the vertue of his death breake our rocky hearts that being mollified in this life they may be glorified in the life to come Grant this O Father for thy mercies sake O Christ for thy merits sake O holy Spirit for thy names sake To whom three persons one onely wise and eternall God be glory and prayse for euer Amen THE FOOLE And His Sport PROV 14. 9. Fooles make a mocke at sinne THE Prouerbes of Salomon are so many select aphorismes or diuinely morall Sayes without any mutuall dependance one vpon another Therefore to studie a coherence were to force a marriage betweene vnwilling parties The words read spend themselues on a description of two things the Foole and his Sport The Foole is the wicked man his Sport pastime or babble is Sinne. Mocking is the medium or connexion that brings together the Foole and Sinne thus he makes himselfe merry they meete in mocking The foole makes a mocke at sinne Fooles The foole is the wicked an ignorant heart is alwayes a sinfull heart and a man without knowledge is a man without grace So Thamar to Ammon vnder his rauishing hands Doe not this folly If thou doest it Thou shalt be as one of the Fooles in Israell Ignorance cannot excusare a toto wilfull not a tanto Christ shall come in flaming fire rendring vengeance to them that knowe not God The state of these Fooles is fearefull Like hooded Hawkes they are easily carryed by the Infernall Falconer to hell Their lights are out how shall their house scape robbing These Fooles haue a knowledge but it is to doe euill They haue also a knowledge of good but not scientiam approbationis they know but they refuse it So God iustly quites them for though hee knowe them ad scientiam he will not know them ad approbationem But giues them a Discedite nescio vos I know you not depart from me ye workers of iniquitie A man may be a Foole two wayes by knowing too Little Much. 1. By knowing too little when hee knoweth not those things whereof he cannot be ignorant and doe well I determined not to know any thing among you saue Iesus Christ and him crucified But euery man sayth hee knowes Christ. If men knew Christ his loue in dying for them they would loue him aboue all thinges how doe they know him that loue their money aboue him Nemo verè nouit Christum qui non verè amat Christum No man knowes Christ truely that loues him not syncerely If men knew Christ that he should be Iudge of quicke and dead durst they liue so lewdly Non nouit Christum qui non odit peccatum Hee neuer knew Christ that doth not hate iniquitie Some attribute too much to themselues as if they would haue a share with Christ in their owne saluation Nesciunt Christum seipsos they are ignorant of both Christ and themselues Others lay too much on Christ all the burden of their sinnes which they can with all possible voracitie swallow downe and blasphemie vomite vp againe vpon him But they know not Christ who thus seeke to diuide Aquam a sanguine his bloud from his water and they shall faile of iustification in heauen that refuse sanctification vpon earth 2. By knowing too much when a man presumes to know more then he ought His knowledge is apt to be pursie and grosse and must be kept low Mind not high things sayth the Apostle Festus slandered Paul that much learning had made him madde Indeed it might haue done if Paul had bin as proud of his learning as Festus was of his honour This is the knowledge that puffeth vp It troubles the braine like vndigested meate in the stomach or like the scumme that seeths into the broth To auoyd this follie Paul fortbids vs to be wise in our owne conceites Whereof I find wo readings Be not wise in your selues and Be not wise to your selues Not in your selues coniure not your witte into the circle of your owne secret profit Wee account the simple Fooles God accounts the crafty Fooles He that thinkes himselfe wise is a Foole ipso facto It was a modest speech that fell from the Philosopher Si quando fatuo delectari volo non est mihi longè quaerendus me video Therfore Christ pronounced his Woes to the Pharises his doctrines to the people The first entrie to wisedome is Scire quod nescias to know thy ignorance Sobrietie is the measure for knowledge as the
afflicting obiects of shame and tyrannie Those â—…ares which to delight the high Quorillers of heauen sing their 〈◊〉 notes must be wearied with the taunts and 〈◊〉 of blasphemie And all this for vs not onely to satisfie those sinnes which our Senses haue committed but to mortifie those senses and preseâ—…e them from those sinnes That our eyes may be no more full of adulteries nor throw couetous lookes on the goods of our brethren That our â—…ares may no more giue so wide admission and welcome entrance to lewd reports the incantations of Sathan That sinne in all our senses might be done to death the poison exhausted the sense purified 4. In all members Looke on that blessed Body conceiued by the Holy Ghost and borne of a pure Virgin it is all ouer scourged martyred tortured manacled mangled What place can you find free Caput Angelicâ—… spiritibus tremebundum densitatâ—… spinarum pungitur facies pulchraprâ—… filijs hominum Iudâ—…orum spâ—…t is detâ—…rpatur Oculi 〈◊〉 sole in 〈◊〉 caligantur c. To begin at his head that head which the Angels reuerence is crowned with thornes That face which is fairer them the sonnes of men must be odiously spit on by the filthy Iewes His hands that made the heauens are extended fastned to a crosse The feet which tread vpon the neckes of his and our enemies feele the like smart And the mouth must be buffeâ—…ed which spake as neuer man spake Still all this for vs. His head bled for the wicked imaginations of our heads His face was besmeared with spittle because we had spit impudent blasphemies against heauen His lips were afflicted that our lips might henceforth yeeld sauoury speeches His feet did bleed that our feet might not be swift to shed bloud All his members suffered for the sinnes of all our members and that our members might be no more ser uants to sin but seruants to righteousnes vnto holines CoÌ„spâ—…i voluit vt nos Lauaret velari voluit vt velamen ignorantia a mentibus nostris 〈◊〉 in capite percuti vt corpori sanitatem restitueret Hee would be polluted with their spettle that hee might wash vs hee would bee blindfolded that he might take the vaile of ignorance from our eyes He suffered the head to be wounded that hee might renew health to all the body Sixe times we read that Christ shed his bloud First when he was circumcised at eight dayes old his bloud was spilt 2. In his agonie in the garden where he swett drops of bloud 3. In his scourging when the merciles tormentors fetch'd bloud from his holy sides 4. When he was crowned with thornes those sharpe prickles raked and harrowed his blessed head and drew forth bloud 5. In his crucifying when his hands feet were pierced bloud gushed out 6. Lastly after his death One of the souldiours with a speare pierced his side and forthwith came there out bloud and water All his members bled to shew that he bled for all his members Not one drop of this bloud was shed for himselfe all for vs for his enemies persecutors crucifiers our selues But what shall become of vs if all this cannot mortifie vs How shall we liue with Christ if with Christ wee bee not dead Dead in deed vnto sinne but liuing vnto righteousnesse As Elisha reuiued the Shunamites child hee lay vpon it put his mouth vpon the childes mouth and his eyes vpon his eyes and his hands vpon his hands and stretched himselfe vpon the child and the flesh of the child waxed warme So the Lord Iesus to recouer vs that were dead in our sinnes and trespasses spreads and applies his whole Passion to vs layes his mouth of blessing vpon our mouth of blasphemie his eyes of holinesse vpon our eyes of lust his hands of mercie vpon our hands of crueltie and stretcheth his gratious selfe vpon our wretched selues till we begin to waxe warme to get life and the holy Spirit returnes into vs. 5. In his Soule All this was but the out-side of his Passion Now is my Soule troubled and what shall I say Father saue me from this houre but for this cause came I vnto this houre The paine of the bodie is but the bodie of paine the very soule of sorrow is the sorrow of the soule All the outward afflictions were but gentle prickings in regard of that his soule suffered The spirit of a man will sustaine his infirmitie but a wounded spirit who can beare He had a heart within that suffered vnseene vnknowne anguish This paine drew from him those strong cryes those bitter teares He had often sent forth the cryes of compassion of passion and complaint not till now He had wept the teares of pittie the teares of loue but neuer before the teares of anguish When the Sonne of God thus cryes thus weepes here is more then the bodie distressed the soule is agonized Still all this for vs. His Soule was in our soules stead what would they haue felt if they had bin in the stead of his All for vs to satisfaction to emendation For thy drunkennesse and powring downe strong drinks he drunke vineger For thy intemperate gluttonie he fasted For thy sloth he did exercise himselfe to continuall paines Thou sleepest secure thy Sauiour is then waking watching praying Thy armes are inured to lustfull embracings hee for this embraceth the rough Crosse. Thou deckest thy selfe with proud habiliments he is humble and lowly for it Thou ridest in pompe he iourneys on foote Thou wallowest on thy downe beds thy Sauiour hath not a pillow Thou surfeiâ—…est and he sweats it out a bloudâ—… sweat Thou fillest and swellest thy selfe with a 〈◊〉 of wickednes behold incision is made in the Head for thee thy Sauiour bleeds to death Now iudge whether this point For vs hath not deriued a neere application of this Text to our owne consciences Since then Christ did all this for thee and me pray then with August O Dâ—… Iesâ—… da cordi 〈◊〉 tâ—… deâ—…derare 〈◊〉 qâ—…rere quâ—…rendo inuenâ—… iâ—…enien do 〈◊〉 amâ—…do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redempta 〈◊〉 â—…rare Lord giue me a heart to desire thee desiring to seeke thee seeking to find thee finding to loue thee louing no more to offend thee There are two maine parts of this Crucifixe yet to handle I must onely name them being sorry that it is still my hap to trouble you with prolixitie of speech 6. The next is the Manner An offering and Sacrifice His whole life was an Offering his death a Sacrifice He gaue himselfe often for vs an Eucharisticall oblation once an explatorâ—… Sacrifice In the former hee did for vs all that we should doe in the latter hee suffered for vs all that we should suffer Who his owne selfe bare our sins in his owne 〈◊〉 on the tree Some of the Hebrewes haue affirmed that in the fire which consumed the legall Sacrifices there alwayes appeared the face of a Lyon
Which mysterie they thus resolue that the Lyon of Iudah should one day giue himselfe for vs a perfect expiatory Sacrifice Thus Once in the end of the world hath hee appeared to put away sinne by the sacrifice of himselfe 7. The last poynt is the Effect Of a sweet smelling sauour Here is the fruit and efficacie of all Neuer was the Lord pleased with sinfull man till now Were he neuer so angry here is a pacification a sweete sauour If the whole world were quintessenced into one perâ—…ume it could not yeeld so fragrant a smell We are all of our selues putida putrida cadâ—…vera dead and stinking carkases the pure nostrels of the most holy cannot endure vs behold the perâ—…ume that sweetens vs the redeeming bloud of the Lord Iesus This so filles him with a delightfull sent that hee will not smell our noisome wickednesse Let me leaue you with this comfort in your bosomes How vnsavoury soever our owne sinâ—… haue made vs yet if our hand of faith lay hold on this Saviours censor God will sent none of our corruptions but we shall smell sweetely in his nostrels Beâ—…d for all O deare Iesus Mori debâ—… tusolvis 〈◊〉 peccaviâ—…us tu â—…uis Opus sine exemplo gratia sine merito châ—…as sine â—…do We should die thou payest it we haue offended thou art punished A mercie without example a favour without merite a loue without measure Therefore I conclude my Sermon as we all shut vp our prayers with this one clause Through our Lord Iesus Christ. O Father of mercie accept our Sacrifice of Prayer and Prayse for his Sacrifice of payne and merite even for our Lord Iesus Christ his sake To whom with the Father blessed Spirit be all glory for ever Amen THE GOOD POLITICIAN DIRECTED MATTH 10. 16. Be ye wise as Serpents and harmelesse as Doues OVâ—… of euery creature simply considered there is some good to bee learned The diuine Poet sweetly The World 's a Schoole where in a generall siâ—…rie God alwayes reads dumbe lâ—…ctures of his glorie It is a three leau'd booke Heauen Earth and Sea and euery leafe of this booke euery line of euery leafe euery creature in this vniuerse can read to man for whom they were made a Diuinitie lecture In a speaking silence they preach to vs that Deitie which made both them and vs and them for vs. Seculâ—…m Speculum the world is a glasse wherein wee may behold our Creators Maiestie From the highest Angell to the lowest worme all instruct vs somewhat For one and the same almightie hand that made the Angels in heauen made also the wormes on earth Non superior in illis non inferior in istis Besides this generall lecture they haue all their particular schoole Salomon sends vs to the Aâ—…t to learne Prouidence Esay to the Oxe to learne thankfulnesse Many beasts doe excell Man in many naturall things Nos aper auditu praecellit aâ—…anea tactu Vultur odoratu Lynx visu simia gustu The Bore excels vs in hearing the spider in touching the Vulture in smelling the Lynx in seeing the Ape in tasting Some haue obserued that the art of curing the eyes was first taken from the Swallowes The Eâ—…gles haue taught vs architecture we receiued the light of Phlebotomie from the Hippopotamas The Egyptian bird Ibis first gaue to Physicians knowledge how to vse the Glister The Spider taught vs to Weaue Here the Serpent instructs vs in Policie the Doue in simplicitie Now we are falne among Serpents stinging serpents enemies to man can wee fetch away any good from them Yes those very venemous and malicious creatures shall afford vs Documenta not Nocumenta they shall teach vs not touch vs. I may say of them as it is sayd of the Iewes Hostes sunt in cordibus suffragatores in codicibus They are our enemies in their hearts our friends in their bookes The malice of Serpents is mortall their vse shall be vitall So it may so it shall if our sobrietie keepe the allowed compasse For our imitation is limited qualified We must not be in all points like Serpents nor in all respects like Doues but in some but in this Be ye wise as serpents harmelesse as doues Perhaps other vses might be accommodated As the Serpent might teach vs how with wisedome to dwell below on the earth and the Doue with wings of innocence to flie vp to heauen aboue We may in earthly matters keepe a serpentine and winding motion but to heauen with the Doue we must haue a strait course But I confine my selfe to the pith of the Text and our Sauiours meaning Be wise as Serpents innocent as Doues The words may not vnfitly be distinguished into a Perhibition Cohibition as it were the Raines and the Curbe The Perhibition allowance or Raines Be wise as serpents The Cohibition correctiue restraint or Curbe Be harmelesse as Doues They must goe hand in hand without disiunction Vnited they are commodious parted dangerous There is a necessitie of their vnion to our peace diuide them and you loose your selues Witte without innocence will offend others Innocence without witte will not defend our selues Prudentia sine simplicitate malitia simplicitas sine prudentia stultitia Witte without innocence is wickednesse innocence without witte is foolishnes Whosoeuer hath the one and wants the other must needs be either guiltie of follie or of dishonestie Least we be too craftie and circumuent others let vs keepe the innocencie of the Doue least we be too simple and others circumuent vs let vs keepe the wisedome of the Serpent Let vs first see from the Serpent how we should bee wise and then goe to the Doue for innocence Sixe principall Lessons of Wisedome the Serpent may teach vs. 1. Their first policie is by all possible meanes to defend their head If they must encounter with danger they expose their whole body to it but howsoeuer they will safeguard their head They write of them that though all a serpents body be mangled vnlesse his head be cut off which he cunningly hides by a kind of attractiue power and vigor one part will come to another againe This is to vs a singular document of Wisedome to looke well to our Head Christ is our Head and the sinewes and nerues that knitte vs to him is our Faith and Hope let vs preserue these indanted indamaged We fight against an enemie that seekes especially to wound vs there He strikes indeed at euery place he hath sayth Ierome noâ—…ina mille mille nocendi artes therefore Paul chargeth vs to Put on the whole armour of God that we may be able to stand against all the wâ—…les of the Deuill but especially the head Aboue all take the shield of Faith and the Helmet of saluation saue the Head Protect all parts if it be possâ—…le let not oppression wound thee in the hand nor blasphemie in the tongue nor wantonnes in the eye nor couetousnesse
continet verbum Domini nisi verbum Dominum There is nothing contained in the word of God but God the Word Nor is he the Center onely of his Word but of our rest and Peace I determined not to know any thing among you saue Iesus Christ and him crucified Thou hast made vs for thee O Christ and our heart is vnquiet till it rest in thee It is naturall to euery thing appettere centrum to desire the Center But our life is hid with Christ in God We must needes amare where wee must animare Our mind is where our pleasure is our heart is where our treasure is our loue is where our life is but all these our pleasure treasure life are reposed in Iesus Christ. Thou art my Portion O Lord sayth Dauid Take the world that please let our Portion be Christ. We haue left all sayth Peter and fellowed thee you haue lost nothing by it sayth Christ for you haue gotten me Nimis auarus est cui non sufficit Christus Hee is too couetous whom Iesus Christ cannot satisfie Let vs seeke this Center sayth August Quâ—…ramus inueniendum quaeramus inuentum Vt inveniendus quâ—…ratur paratus est vt inuentus quâ—…ratur immensus est Let vs seeke him till wee haue found him and still seeke him when we haue found him That seeking wee may find him he is ready that finding we may seeke him he is infinite You see the Center The referring Line proper to this Center is Semper Idem The same There is no mutabilitie in Christ no variablenes nor shadow of turning All lower lights haue their inconstancie but in the Father of lights there is no changeablenes The Sunne hath his shadow the the Sonne of righteousnesse is without shadow that turnes vpon the Diall but Christ hath no turning Whom he loues he loues to the end He loues vs to the end of his loue there is no end Tempus crit consummandi nullus consumendi misericordiam His mercie shall be perfected in vs neuer ended In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with euerlasting kindnesse will I haue mercie vpon thee sayth the Lord thy Redeemer His wrath is short his goodnesse is euerlasting The mountaines shall depart and the hils be remoued but my kindnesse shall not depart from thee neither shall the couenant of my peace be remoued sayth the Lord that hath mercie on thee The mountaines are stable things the hils stedfast yet hils mountaines yea the whole earth shall totter on the foundations yea the very heauens shall passe away with a noyse and the elements shall melt with heate but the Couenant of God shall not be broken I will betroth thee vnto me for euer sayth God This marriage-bond shall neuer be canceld nor sinne nor death nor hell shall be able to diuorce vs. Six twentie times in one Psalme that sweet singer chants it His mercie endureth for euer Iesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for euer As this meditation distilles into our beleeuing hearts much comfort so let it giue vs some instructions Two things it readily teacheth vs a Diswasiue caution Perswasiue lesson 1. It diswades our confidence in worldly thinges because they are inconstant How poore a space doâ—… they remaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the same To proue this you haue in the first of Iudges Ver. 6. a Iury of threescore and ten Kings to take their oathes vpon it Euery one had his throne yet there lickes crums vnder another Kings table and shortly euen this King that made them all so miserable is made himselfe most miserable Salomon compares wealth to a wild fowle Riches make themselues wings they flie away as an Eagle toward heauen Not some tame house-bird or a hawke that may be fetched downe with a lure or found againe by her bels but an Eagle that violently cuts the aire and is gone past recalling Wealth is like a bird it hops all day from man to man as that doth from tree to tree and none can say where it will roust or rest at night It is like a vagrant fellow which because he is big boned able to worke a man takes in a dores and cherisheth and perhaps for a while he takes paines but when he spies opportunity the fugitiue seruant is gone and takes away more with him then all his seruice came to The world may seeme to stand thee in some stead for a season but at last it irreuocably runs away and carries with it thy ioyes thy gods as Rachell stole Labans Idoles thy peace and content of heart goes with it and thou art left desperate You see how quickly riches cease to be the same and can any other earthly thing boast more stabillitie Honour must put off the robes when the play is done make it neuer so glorious a shew on this worlds stage it hath but a short part to act A great name of worldly glory is but like a peale rung on the bels the Common people are the clappers the rope that moues them is popularitie if you once let goe your hold leaue pulling the clapper lies still and farewell honour Strength though like Ieroboam it put forth the arme of oppression shall soone fall downe withered Beautie is like an Almanacke if it last a yeare t' is well Pleasure like lightning â—…ritur moritur sweet but short a flash and away All vanities are but butter-flies which wanton children greedily catch for and sometimes they flie besides them sometimes before them sometimes behind them sometimes close by them yea through their fingers and yet they misse them and when thâ—… haue them they are but butterflies they haue painted wings but are crude and squalid wormes Such are the things of this world vanities butter-flies Vel sequendo labimur vel assequendo lâ—…dimur The world it selfe is not vnlike a Hartechoke nine parts of it are vnprofitable leaues scarce the tythe is good about it there is a lâ—…ttle picking meate nothing so wholesome as daintie in the midst of it there is a coare which is enough to choke them that deuoure it O then set not your hearts vpon these things calcanda sunt as Ierome obserues on Act. 4. They that sold their possessions brought the prises and layed them downe at the Apostles feete At their feete not at their hearts they are fitter to be troden vnder feet then to be waited on with hearts I conclude this with Augustine Ecce turbat mundus amatur quid si tranquillus esset Formoso quomodo hâ—…reres qui sic amplecteris soedum Flores eius quà m colligeres qui sic a spinis non reuocas manuÌ„ Quà m confideres â—…terno qui sic adhâ—…res caduco Behold the world is turbulent and full of vexation yet it is loued how would it be embraced if it were calme and quiet If it were a beauteous Damosell how would they
doat on it that so kisse it being a deformed stigmaticke How greedily would they gather the flowers who will not forbeare the thornes They that so admire it being transient and temporall how would they bee enamoured on it if it were eternall But the world passeth and God abideth They shall perish but thou remainest they all shall waxe old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them vp and they shall bee changed but thou art The Samâ—… and thy yeares shall not faile Therefore trust not in vncertaine riches but in the liuing God And then they that trust in the Lord shall be as Mâ—…unt Sion which cannot be remoued but abideth for euer Iesus Christ the Saâ—… yesterday and to day and for euer 2. This perswades vs to an imitation of Christs Constancie Let the stablenes of his mercie to vs worke a stablenes of our loue to him And howsoeuer like the lower Orbes we haue a naturall motion of our owne from good to euill yet let vs suffer the higher power to moue vs supernaturally from euill to good There is in vs indeed a reluctant flesh a Law in our members warring against the Law of our minde So August confesseth Nec planè nolebam nec planè volebam And Egâ—… eraâ—… qui volebam ego qui nolebam I neither fully granted nor plainely denied and it was I my selfe that both would and would not But our ripenesse of Christianitie must ouergrow fluctuant thoughts Irresolution and vnsteddines is hatefull and vnlike to our master Christ who is euer The Same A double minded man is vnstable in all his wayes The inconstant man is a stranger in his owne house all his purposes are but guests his heart is the Inne if they lodge there for a night it is all they are gone in the morning Many motions come crowding together vpon him and like a great prease at a narrow dore whiles all striue none enter The Epigrammatist wittily Omnia cùm facias miraris cur facias nil Posthume rem solam qui facit ille facit He that will haue an oare for euery mans boate shall haue none left to row his owne They sayth Melancton that will know aliquid in omnibus shall indéed know nihil in toto Their admiration or dotage of a thing is extreame for the time but it is a wonder if it out-liue the age of a wonder which is allowed but nine dayes They are angry with Time and say the times are dead because they produce no more innouations Their inquiry of all things is not Quà m bonum but Quà m novum They are almost wearie of the Sun for continuall shining Continuance is a sufficient quarrell against the best things and the Manna of heauen is loathed because it is common This is not to be alwayes the same but neuer the same and whiles they would bee euery thing they are nothing but like the worme Plinie writes of multipoda that hath many feete yet is of slow pace A while you shall haue him in England louing the simple truth anone in Rome groueling before an Image soone after he leaps to Amsterdam and yet must he still be turning till there be nothing left but to turne Turke To winter an opinion is too tedious he hath bin many things what hee will be you shall scarce know till he is nothing But the God of Constancie would haue his to be constant Stedfast in your faith to him Colos. 1. Continue in the faith grounded and setled and be not moued away from the hope of the Gospell Stedfast in your faithfulnesse to man promising and not disappoynting Doe not aliud stantes aliud sedâ—…tes least your changing with God teach God to change with you Nemo potest tibi Christum â—…uferre â—…isi tâ—… illi auferas No man can turne Christ from thee vnles thou turne thy selfe from Christ. For Iesus Christ the same yesterday c. We come now to the Circumference wherein is a distinction of three times Past Present Future Tempora mutantur the times change the Circumference wheeles about but the Center is the same for euer We must resolue this Triplicitie into a Triplicitie Christ is the same according to these three distinct termes three distinct wayes Obiectiuè in his Word Subiectiuè in his Power Effectiuè in his gratious Operation Obiectiuely Iesus Christ is the same in his word and that Yesterday in Preordination To day in Incarnation For euer in Application Yesterday in Preordination So Saint Peter in his Sermon tels the Iewes that he was deliuered by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God And in his Epistle that he was verily preordained before the foundation of the world Reuel 13. He is called the Lambe slaine from the foundation of the world Prius prâ—…fuit quamfuit His Prophets did foretell him the Types did prefigure him God himselfe did promise him Râ—…tus or do Dei the decree of God is constant Much comfort I must here leaue to your meditation If God preordained a Sauiour for man before he had eyther made man or man mar'd himselfe as Paul to Timothie he hath saued vs according to his own purpose aâ—…d grace which was giuen vs in Christ Iesus before the world began then surely he meant that nothing should separate vs from his eternall loue in that Sauiour Quos 〈◊〉 increatos redeâ—…it perditos non deseret redemptos Whom he chose before they were created and when they were lost redeemed he will not forsake being sanctified To day in Incarnation When the fulnesse of the time was come God sent forth his Sonne made of a Woman The word was made flesh which was sayth Emissenus Non deposita sed sepositâ—… maiestate Thus he became younger then-his Mother that is as eternall as his Father He was Yesterday God before all worlds he is now made man in the World Sanguinem quâ—…m pro matre â—…btulit antea de sanguine matris accepit The bloud that he shed for his Mother hee had from his Mother The same Eusebius on the 9. of Esay acutely Vnto vs a child is borne vnto vs a Sonne is giuen He was Datus ex Diuinitate natus ex virgine Datus est qui erat natus est qui non erat He was Giuen of the Deitie Borne of the virgin He that was giuen was before he as borne was before Donum dedit Deus â—…quale sibi God gaue a gift equall to himselfe So he is the same yesterday and to day obiectiuely in his Word Idom qui velatus in veteri reuâ—…latus in none In illo praedictus in isto praedicatus Yesterday prefigured in the Law to day the same manifested in the Gospell For euer in Operation He doth continually by his Spirit apply to our consciences the vertue of his death and passion As many as receiue him to them giues â—…e power to become the Sonnes of God
euen to them that beleeue on his Name By one offering hee hath perfected for euer them that are sanctified This is sure comfort to vs though hee dyed almost 1600. yeares agoe his bloud is not yet dry his wounds are as fresh to doe vs good as they were to those Saints that beheld them bleeding on the Crosse. The vertue of his merits is not abated though many thousand hands of Faith haue taken large portions out of his treasurie The riuer of his Grace which makes glad the citie of God runnes ouer the bankes though infinite soules haue drunke heartie draughts and satisfied their thirst But because we cannot apprehend this for our selues of our selues therefore he hath promised to send vs the Spirit of truth who will dwell with vs and applie this to vs. for euer Thus you haue seene the first Triplicitie how he is the Same Obiectiuely in his Word Now he is Subiunctiuely in his Power the Same and that Yesterday for he made the world To day for he gouerns the world For euer for he shall iudge the world Yesterday in the Creation All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made By him were all things created that are in heauen and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him All things euen the great and faire booke of the world of three so large leaues Coelum Solum Salum Heauen Earth and Sea The Prophet cals him the Everlasting Father Daniel Auntient of dayes Salomon sayes that the Lord possessed him in the beginning of his way before his workes of old So himselfe told the vnbeleeuing Iewes Before Abraham was I am We owe then our selues to Christ for our creation but how much more for our redemption Si totum me debeo pro ine facto quid addam iam pro me refecto In primo opere me mihi dedit in secundo se mihi dedit If I owe him my whole selfe for making me what haue I left to pay him for redeeming me In the first worke he gaue my selfe to me in the second he gaue himselfe to me By a double right we owe him our selues we are worthy of a double punishment if we giue him not his owne To day in the Gouerning Hee vpholdeth all things by the word of his power Hee is Paterfamilias and disposeth all thinges in this vniuerse with greater care and pâ—…ence then any house-holder can menage the buâ—…nesse of his priuate familie Hee leaues it not as the Carpenter hauing built the frame of a house to others to perfect it but lookes to it himselfe His Creation and Prouidence is like the Mother and the Nurse the one produceth the other preserueth His creation was a short prouidence his prouidence a perpetuall creation The one sets vp the frame of the house the other keepes it in reparation Neither is this a disparagement to the Maiestie of God as the vaine Epicures imagined curare minima to regard the least things but rather an honour curare infinita to regard all things Neither doth this extend onely to naturall things chained together by a regular order of succession but euen to casuall and contingent things Oftentimes cùm aliud volumus aliud agimus the euent crosseth our purpose Which must content vs though it fall out otherwise then we purposed because God purposed as it is falne out It is enough that the thing attaine the owne end though it misse ours that Gods will be done though ours be crossed But let me say Hath God care of foâ—…les and flowers and will he not care for you his owne Image Yea let me goe further Hath God care of the wicked Doth he powre downe the happie influences of heauen on the vniust mans ground And shall the faithfull want his blessing Doth hee prouide for the Sonnes of Beliall and shall his owne children lacke He may giue meate and rayment to the rest but his bountie to Beniamin shall exceed If Mâ—…b his Wash-pot tast of his benefites then Iudah the signet on his finger cannot bee forgotten The King gouernes all the Subiects in his Dominions but his seruants that waite in his Court partake of his most Princely fauours God heales the sores of the very wicked but if it be told him Lord hee whom thou louest is sicke 〈◊〉 enough hee shall bee healed The wicked may hâ—…â—…utward blessings without inward and that is Esau's pottage without his Birth-right but the elect haue inward blessings though they want outward and that is Iacobs inheritance without his pottage For euer because he shall iudge the world GOD hath appoynted a day in the which he will iudge the world in righteousnesse by that Mâ—…n whom he hath ordained In the day that God shall iudge the secrets of mâ—…n by Iesus Christ. Let the wicked flatter themselues that all is but talke of any comming to Iudgement non aliud videre patres aliudve nâ—… pâ—…tes aspicâ—…nt all is but terriculamenta nutricum meere scar-babes Scribarâ—…m peâ—… mendaces they haue written lies there is no such matter But when they shall see that Lambe whom they haue pearced and scorned they shall cry to the mountaines and rockes Fall vpon vs and couer vs. Now they flatter themselues with his death mortuus est hee is dead and gone and Mortuum Caesarem quis â—…etuit Who feares euen a Caesar when he is dead But he that was dead liueth behold I am aliue for euermore Amen Iesus Christ yesterday and to day and for euer Quâ—…sitor scâ—…erum veniet vindexque reorum Here is matter of infallible comfort to vs. Lift vp your heads for your Redemption draweth nigh Here wee are imprisoned martyred tortured but when that great Assise and generall goale-deliuery comes Mâ—…s non â—…rit vltra there shall be no more death nor sorrow but all teares shall be wiped from our eyes For it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you And to you who are troubled rest with vs when the Lord Iesus shall be reuealed from heauen with his mightie Angels We shall then find him the Sâ—… the same Lambe that bought vs shall giue vs a venitâ—… beati Coâ—…e ye blessed receiue your kingdome Surely I come quickly Aâ—…on Euen so Come Lord Iesus Effectually in his Grace and Mercie so he is the Same Yesterday to our fathers To day to our selues For euer to our children Yesterday to our Fathers All our Fathers whose soules are now in heauen those Spirits of iust men made perfect Hebr. 12. were as the next words intimate saued by Iesus the mediatour of the new Couenant and by the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things then that of Abell Whether they liued vnder Nature or vnder the Law Christ was their expectation and
power to keepe a man That he should liue still for eâ—…r and not see â—…rruption Meâ—…ushalem liued nine hundred sixtie and nine yeares yet he was the Sonne of Eâ—…ch who was the sonne of â—…ared who was the sonne of 〈◊〉 who was the sonne of Cainan who was the sonne of 〈◊〉 who was the sonne of Seth who was the sonne of Aâ—… who was the sonne of dust The best constitutions that communicate in the sanguine of the Rose and Snow of the Lilly haue this parentage they are the sonnes and daughters of dust This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iâ—… not 〈◊〉 to the Poles nor are these dayes measured by the Sunne in his Zodiacke all is pitched aboue the Wheele of changeable mortalitie It is Eternitie that fils the Right hand of Wisedome Length of dayes Dayes for the Claritie Length for the Eternitie Dayes Mans life in this world is called a Day a short day a sharpe day Short for instat vesper it is not sooner morning but it is presently night The Sunne of life quickly sets after it is once risen Sharpe for miserie is borne with life brought vp with life and to the good dies with life to the wicked remaines in death Like Hippocratâ—… twinnes inseparable in their beginning processe end So that aged Patriarch to Pharao My dayes haue beene few and euill So. Iob. Man is of few dayes and many troubles Animal â—…vi breuissimi solicitâ—…dinis infinitae And Paul cals it the euill day It is somewhat to comfort that though it be sharpe Euill yet it is but short a Day Redeeme the time for the dayes are euill But howsoeuer Semper mali dies in seculo yet semper boni dies in Domino as Augustine sweetly Though the world hath alwayes euill dayes yet God hath alwayes good dayes And this Day shall haue no night Nox non erit illic There shall be no night The Sunne that inlightens it cannot be ecclipsed That cittie hath no need of the Sunne neyther of the Moone to shine in it for the Glorie of God doth lighten it and the Lambe is the light of it No clouds shall draw a vaile of obscuritie ouer it Here the light of the Sunne darkens the Moone and the Moone obscures the luster of the Starres Sometimes halfe the earth is in light the rest in darkenesse But in these Dayes Albeit there is one glorie of the SVNNE another of the MOONE and another of the STARRES and one starre differeth from another starre in glory yet the light of one increaseth the light of another and the glorie of one is the glory of all Dispar est gloâ—… 〈◊〉 sed 〈◊〉 Latitia omnium So in summe here we liue but a short day Giue vs this day our dayly bread But in that world wee shall haue Daies those good dayes and great dayes dayes of eternall length for they shall haue no night Length As the glorie is cleare for the Countenance so it is long for the Continuance Nullus erit defectus nullus â—…erminus There shall be 〈◊〉 charitâ—… chara â—…rnitas Gods eternall decree to chuse vâ—… in Christ had no beginning but it shall haue an end when the elect are taken vp to glory The possession of this decreed Inheritance shall haue a beginning but no end Wee shall eâ—…er be with the Lord. Gods mercie in both hath neither beginning nor end for it is from euerlasting to euerlasting Here then is both the Countenance it is a cleare day and the Continuance it is of length the very same Length that Euerlastingnesse it selfe Hezekiahs day was a long day when The shadow of the sunne went tenne degrees backward in the diall of Abâ—… Iosuah had a long day when the Sunne stood still in Gibeon and the Moone in the valley of 〈◊〉 And there was no day like that before it or after it But both these dayes had their nights and the long forbearing sunne at last did set Here the dayes are so long that it shall neuer be night You see the clearenesse and the length both are expressed Dan. 12. They that be â—…ise shall shine as the firmament and they that turne many to righteousâ—…es as the starres there is the Claritie and that for euer and euer there is the Eternitie There is nothing made perfectly happy but by Eternitie as nothing but eternitie can make perfect misery Were thy life a continued scene of pleasures on whose stage griefe durst nâ—…uer set his vnwelcome foote were the spoyle of Noahs Arke the cates of thy table hadst thou king Salomons wardrobe and treasurie Did the west Indie send thee all her gold and the East her spices and all these lying by thee whiles a late succession of yeares without carâ—… snowes white vpon thy head thou weâ—… euer indulgent to thy selfe and health to thee Yet suddenly there comes an impartiall Purseuant death and hee hath a charge to take thee away 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bathing thy selfe in thy delights Alas what iâ—… 〈◊〉 thy glory but a short play fâ—…ll of mirth till the last act and that goes off in a tragedie Couldest thou not haue made death more welcome if hee had found thee lying on a padde of straw feeding on crâ—…s and water gruell Is not thy paine the more troublesome because thou wast well Doth not the end of these temporary ioyes aâ—…ict thee more then if they had neuer beene Onely then eternitie can giue perfection to pleasure which because thiâ—… world cannot afford let vs reckon of it as it is a meeâ—…e Through 〈◊〉 and desiâ—… our Home whâ—… we shall be happy for 〈◊〉 In her Left hand riches and honour The gift of the right hand is large and eternall of the left short and 〈◊〉 Yet you see I am short in the long part giue mee leaue to bee long in the short part Herein wee haue many things considerable 1. That Riches and Hâ—…r are Godâ—… gifts 2. That all are not so but some and therefore it is necessary for vs to learne whether God gaue vnto vs that riches and honour which we haue 3. That albeit they are his gifts yet but the gifts of his left hand 4 That wealth and worship are for the most part companions for both those gifâ—… lie in one and the same hand 1. Riches and honour are Godâ—… gifts therefore iâ—… themselues not euill Sunt Dei 〈◊〉 â—…rgo iâ—… se bona Saith Augustine Ne pâ—…tentur â—…a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bâ—…na 〈◊〉 â—…lis That they may not be thought euill they are giuen to good men that they may not be thought the best good they are giuen also to euill men A rich man may be a good man and a poore man may be wicked Christ sanctified 〈◊〉 as well as 〈◊〉 and that in his 〈◊〉 Life Death 1. In his Birth hee sanctified Pouertiâ—… when hiâ—… chamber of presence was a Stable his crâ—…dle a manger his royall robes course ragges Hee sanctified
for the most part inseparable companions Eccle. 6. God giues to a man Riches and Honour First Riches and then Honour for it is lightly found so much Riches so much Honour and reputation is measured by the Acre I haue wealth enough saith the worldling Luke 12. I will turne Gentleman take my ease eate drinke and be merry Riches are the staires whereby men climbe vp into the height of dignitie the fortification that defends it the food it liues vppon the oyle that keeps the lampe of Honour from going out Honour is a bare robe if Riches doe not lace and flourish it and Riches a dull Lumpe till Honour giue a Soule to quicken it Fiftly then Honour and Riches Wealth and Worship doe beare one another companie 4. Lastly obserue that though riches and honour be Gods gifts yet they are but the gifts of his left hand therefore it necessarily followes that euery wise man will first seeke the blessings of the Right First seeke the kingdome of God and his righteousnes and these things shall be added to you Godlinesse is the best Riches Riches the worst let vs striue for the former without condition for the other if they fall in our way let vs stoope to take them vp if not let vs neuer couet them It is no Wisedome to refuse Gods kindnesse that offers wealth nor pietie to scratch for it when God withholds it When the Lord hath set thee vp as high as Haman in the Court of Ahasuerus or promoted thee to ride with Ioseph in the second Chariot of Egypt were thy stocke of Cattell exceeding Iobs seauen thousand sheepe three thousand Camels fiue hundred yoke of Oxen did thy Wardrobe put downe Salomons and thy cup-bord of plate Belshazzars when the vessels of Gods temple were the ornature Yet all these are but the gifts of Wisedomes left hand and the possessors may be vnder the malediction of God and goe downe to damnation If it were true that sanctior qui ditior that goods could make a man good I would not blame mens kissing the left hand and sucking out Riches and Honour But alas what antidote against the terrour of conscience can bee chym'd from gold What charme is there in braue apparell to keepe off the rigour of Sathan Quod tibi praestat opes non tibi praestat opem That which makes thee wealthy cannot make thee happie Ionas had a Gourd that was to him an Arbour he sate vnder it secure but suddenly there was a worme that bitte it and it dyed Compare secretly in your hearts your riches to that Gourd your pleasure to the greenesse of it your pompe attendance vanities to the leaues of it your suddaine encrease of wealth to the growing and shooting vp of it But withall forget not the Worme and the Wind the Worme that shall kill your roote is Death and the Wind that shall blow vpon you is calamitie There is a greater defect in this wealth and worshippe then their vncertaintie Non mâ—…do fallacia quia dubia verùm insidiosa quia dulcia They are not onely deceitfull through their ticklenesse but dangerous through their lushoâ—…snesse Men are apt to surfeit on this luxurient abundance it is a baâ—…e to securitie a baud to wantonnes Here is the maine difference betweene the gifts of Gods right hand and of his left He giues reall blessings with the left but he doth not settle them vpon vs he promiseth 〈◊〉 perpetuitie but with the graces of his right he giues assurance of euerlastingnes Christ calles Riches the riches of deceitfulnesse but grace the better part that shall neuer be taken away Dauid compares the wealthy to a flourishing tree that is soone withered but Faith stablisheth a man like Mount Sion neuer to be remoued He that thinkes hee sittes surest in his seate of Riches let him take heed least he fall When a great man boasted of his abundance sayth Paulus Emilius one of his friends told him that the anger of God could not long forbeare so great prosperitie How many rich Marchants haue suddenly lost all How many Noblemen sold all How many wealthy heires spent all Few Sundayes passe ouer our heads without Collections for Ship-wrackes fires and other casualties Demonstratiue proofes that prosperitie is inconstant riches casuall And for honour wee read that Belâ—…sarius an honourable Peere of the Empire was forced in his old age to beg from dore to dore obulum date Bel sario Fredericke a great Emperour was so low brought that he sâ—…ed to be made but the Sexton of a Church O then let vs not adhere to these left hand blessings but first seeke length of dayes eternall ioyes neuer to be lost A man may enioy the other without fault the sinne consisteth praeferendo vel conferendo either in preferring Riches or in comparing them with faith and a good conscience Vtere caducis fruere aeternis Thou must necessarily vse these transient things onely enioy and rest vppon the euerlasting comforts of Iesus Christ. When God hath assured to a Christian spirit the inheritance of Heauen he ioyfully pilgrims it through this world if wealth and worship salute him by the way he refuseth not their companie but they shall not stray him out of his path nor transport his affections for his heart is where his hope is his loue is where his Lord is euen with Iesus his Redeemer at the right hand of God Now this mans very Riches are blessed to him for as from the hand of God hee hath them so from the hand of God hee hath to enioy good in them Whereas to some sayth Salomon I haue seene Riches kept for the ownâ—…s thereof to their hurt to this man they shall worke to the best blessing his condition in this life and enlarging his dition in heauen as the wise man sweetly The blessing of the Lord it maketh rich and hee addeth no sorrow with it Thus in particular if we conferre the right hand with the left we shall generally learne 1. That both Gods hands are giuing it is enough if man giue with one hand but the Lord settes both his handes a doling his Almes of mercie Nemo tuarum vnam vincet vtraque manu No man can doe so much with both handes as GOD with one hand with one finger Hee hath Manum plenam extensam expansam hand full not emptie so full that it can neuer be emptied with giuing Innumerable are the drops in the sea yet if one be taken out it hath though insensibly so much the lesse but Gods goodnesse can suffer no diminution for it is infinite Men are sparing in their bountie because the more they giue the lesse they haue but Gods hand is euer full though it euer disperse and the filling of many cisternes is no abatement to his euer running fountaine Our prayers therfore are well directed thether for blessings whence though we receiue neuer so much wee leaue no lesse behind Let this
master of Requests in heauen haue all our suites wee are sure either to receiue what wee aske or what wee should aske It is extensa a hand put forth and stretched out Stretched out not to receiue but to giue The Prophet speakes of Rulers that stretch out their hands for bribes and cry Giue yee but the Lords hand is put forth to offer good things All day long haue I stretched forth my hands to a disobedient people Indeed God hath a hand and woe to the man against whom it is stretched Homer sayth that all the Gods could not ward a blow of Iupiters hand His hands are not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hands that cannot be sufficiently preised but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hands that cannot be resisted It is a heauy hand when it lights vpon men in anger It is a fearefull thing to fall into the hands of the liuing God When reuolting Israell fell to serue Baal and Ashtaroth Whethersoeuer they went out the hand of the Lord was against them for euill When the men of Ashdod were smitten with Emerods it is said the hand of the Lord was heauie vpon them So Dauid in his grieuous miserie Thine arrowes sticke fast in me thy hand presseth mesore It is not this hand that God here stretcheth out Bernard sayth God hath two hands Fortitudo and Latitudo A hand of strength Qua defendit potenter wherewith he protects his friends and confounds his enemies A hand of Bountie Qua tribuit affluenter wherby he disperseth and disposeth the larges of his gifts This is the hand here put forth manus regalis and giues munus regale a royall hand full of reall mercies let vs humbly kisse it It is expansa not a shut hand but open Thou openest thy hand and fillest all things liuing with plenteousnesse God giues richly sayth Paul Man is poore because hee is a creature the very namâ—… of creature inferres pouertie it implies a receiuing of all Quid habes quod non accepisti The Creator hath the possession of all and the disposition of all at his own pleasure Euery good gift and euery perfect gift is from aboue and commeth downe from the Father of Lights Bread in the Lords prayer is called Ours Giue vs this day our daily bread but ne putetur a nobis dicimus da nobis lest we should imagine it our owne from our selues we are taught daily to begge it of our father in heauen whose it is It is the Lords hand that barreth the gates of our cities that filleth our garners with plentie that sets peace about our walles and prosperitie in our pallaces that blesseth our goings out and commings in euen all the workes of our hands But what speake I of temporall things the gifts of his lest hand in comparison of length of dayes euerlasting ioyes the treasures of his right Repentance humilitie charitie and the Lady of all graces Faith come from his hand and are the faire gifts of God Ipsum velle credore Deus operatur in homine The first will to beleeue is wrought in man by God If any aske Cur illi ita suadeatur vt persuadeatur illi autem non ita Why doth this man beleeue another remaine in infidelitie Hic digitus Dei the hand of God hath bin here working faith in the soule of him that beleeueth All comes from this hand of mercy Quisquis tibi enumerat merita sua quid tibi enumerat nisi muneratua He that reckons to God his merites what doth he reckon but Gods mercies Quae bo na mea dona tua those that are my goods as Gods gifts 2. Though hands be here attributed to God yet it is but by way of metaphore not literally and in a true proprietie of speech To conceiue GOD to bee as man with humane dimensions was the heresie of the Anthro pomorphites and hee that thus grossely thinkes of God sayth Ierome makes an Idol of God in his heart But herein God stoopes to the qualitie of our vnderstandings ascribing to himselfe anger and displeasure as it were passions to the impassible whereas Nec Deus affectu capitur nec tangitur irâ—… they are not passions but perfections God hath a mouth by which he teacheth man wisedome he hath feet by which he walketh on the earth his footestoole he hath hands by which he giueth food to all flesh he hath none of these organically as men haue but in the varietie of effects which he produceth So Bernard Per effectum haec habet non per naturam 3. Obserue that in the left hand there is a double benefite Riches and Honour in the right but a single one Length of dayes yet this one farre transcends both the other For if we should restraine it to this world long life is a great blessing and more valuable then wealth and worship But taking it as it is meant for eternitie For this life is but a span long a span then now scarce the length of a finger as Psal. 23. I will dwell in the house of the Lord for euer originally to length of dayes but fitly traÌ„slated For euer the left hand is as far exceeded by the right as short mortalitie is by euerlastingnesse Aged Israel to his grand-children Ephraim Manasseh two sonnes of Ioseph when the father had placed the first borne Manasseh to his right hand and Ephraim the younger to his left hee crossing his hands layd the right vpon Ephraim and the left vpon Manasseh When Ioseph would haue remoued his hands he refused I know it my sonne I know it Manasseh also shall become a people and he also shall be great but truely his younger brother shall be greater then he The Lord doth blesse many Manassehs with his left hand in riches and honours but blessed be that Ephraim to whom his right hand is commended Lord let others enioy the treasures of thy left hand but lay thy right vpon our soules 4. I conclude Since the Lord out of both his hands powres and showres vpon vs these mercies what should we doe but be thankfull Shall wee receiue benefites by heapes and is the incense of our gratitude of so thinne a smoake Et capitur minimo thuris honore Deus All these blessings seeme to say to man Take and take heed Accipe redde caue Receiue returne beware Take warmth from me sayth apparell heat from me fâ—…yth fire strength from me sayth bread Restore thankfullnesse to the Giuer Or else beware lest the fire burne thee water drowne thee aire choake thee lest all giue destruction that should giue comfort Receiue in the name of God Returne in the Praise of God or Beware in the feare of God To whom for the blessings of both his hands be glory ascribed from all lips and hearts for euer and euer Amen THE LOST ARE FOVND LVK. 19. 10. For the Sonne of man is come to seeke and to saue that
thy robes of glory but not thy rags of pouertie They loue him whiles the people cry Hosanna but shrinke backe when they cry Crucifie him All pleaseth them but the Crosse all the faire way of delights they will accompany him but at the Crosse they part They would share with him in his kingdome but they will none of his vassalage The Lyon in a Fable had many attendants and he prouided for them good cheare They like well of this and are proud of their master to whom all the other beastes gaue awe and obedience But it chanced that the Lyon fell into the daunger of the Dragon who had got him downe readie to deuoure him His followers seeing this quickly betake them to their heeles and fell euery beast to his old trade of rapine Onely the poore Lambe stood bleating by and though hee coulde not helpe would not forsake his Lord At last the Lyon gets the victory and treads the Dragon vnder his feet to death Then he punisheth those revolting traytors with deserued destruction and sets the Lambe by his owne side The great Lyon of Iudah feeds many of the Iewes and at this day profane wretches whilest his bountie lasts Christ and none but Christ. But when the Red Dragon hath got him vnder nailed him to the crosse Crucified him dead away goe these runnagates no more peny no more Paternoster If affliction come for Christ his cause they know where to find a kinder Master Backe to the world one to his fraud and hee will ouer-reach others with the sinne of deceitfulnesse though himselfe be ouer-reached with the deceitfulnesse of sinne Another to his vsurie and hee chymically proiects money out of the poores bowels A third to his couetousnesse and hee had rather that the very frame of the world should fall then the price of corne A fourth to his Idols and hee hopes for cakes from the Queene of heauen as if the King of heauen was not able to giue bread If the Lord pinch them with distresse they runne to Rome for succour expecting that from a blocke which they would not tarry to obtaine from the God of mercie Then they cry like the Israelites Vp make vs gods to goe before vs for as for this Moses wee know not what is become of him But at last this Lyon conquers the Dragon ouercomes Sathan his damnation what shall he then say to those Rebelles that would not haue him raigne ouer them But Bring those mine enemies and slay them before me But the poore and pure innocent Lambs that suffer with him shall raigne with him Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the kingdome of heauen 〈◊〉 The other vse is St. Pauls Let the same minde be in you which was in Christ Iesus What mind is that Humilitie Ver. 7. He that thought it no robberie to bee equall with God humbled himselfe to become Man we should haue found it no robberie to be equall with Deuils and shall we be proud What an intolerable disproportion is this to behold Humilem Deum superbum hominem an humble God and a proud man Who can indure to see a Prince on foot his vassall mounted Shall the Sonne of God be thus humble for vs shall not we be humble for our selues For our selues I say that deserue to be cast downe among the lowest for our selues that we may be exalted He that here cals himselfe the Sonne of man is now glorified they that humbly acknowledge themselues to be the Sonnes of men that is mortall shal be made the Sonnes of God that is immortall In the first of King 19. There was a mightie strong winde that rent the mountaines and brake the rockes but God was not in the Wind the Lord will not rest in the turbulent spirit puffed vp with the wind of vaine-glory There was an earth-quake but God was not in the earth-quake He will not dwell in a couetous heart buryed in the furrowes of the earth and cares of the world There was a Fire but the Lord was not in the fire Hee will not rest in a cholericke angry soule full of combustion and furious heate There was a still soft voyce and the Lord came with it In a milde and humble spirit the God of heauen and earth will dwell The high and loftie One that inhabiteth eternitie will dwell in the contrite and humble soule It is a sweet mixture of Greatnesse and Goodnesse Vt dum nihil in honore sublimius nihil in humilitate submissius When the highest in dignitie are the lowest in courtesie Augustine called himselfe Minimum non solùm omnium Apostolorum sed etiam Episcoporum the least not onely of all the Apostles but of all the Bishops wheras he was the most illuminate doctor and best Bishop of his times Paul thought himselfe not worthy to be called an Apostle and behold he is called The Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Paul but The Apostle Abraham that esteemed himselfe dust and ashes is honoured to bee the Father of all them that beleeue Dauid sits content at his sheepe-folds the Lord makes him King ouer his Israell But as Humilitie like the Bee gathers Honey out of ranke Weeds very sinnes mouing to repentance So Pride like the Spider suckes poyson out of the fairest flowers the best graces and is corrupted with insolence Vna superbia destruit omnia Onely Pride ouerthrowes all It thrust proud Nabuchadnezzar out of mens societie proud Saul out of his kingdome proud Adam out of Paradise proud Haman out of the Court proud Lucifer out of heauen Pride had her beginning among the Angels that fell her continuance in earth her end in hell Poore man how ill it becomes thee to be proud when God himselfe is humble Is come We vnderstand the person let vs come to his Comming And herein Ecce veritatem behold his Truth Did God promise a Sonne of a virgin Emanuell a Sauiour He is as good as his word Venit he is come Did the sacrificed bloud of so many Buls Goates and Lambes prefigure the expiatory bloud of the Lambe of God to be shed Ecce agnus Dei Behold that Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the world Is the Seed of the woman promised to breake the head of the serpent Behold he breakes the heauens and comes downe to doe it For this purpose the Sonne of God was manifested that he might destroy the workes of the Deuill Did God ingage his word for a Redeemer to purge our sinnes Call his name Iesus for he shall saue his people from their sinnes Against vnbeleeuing Atheists and mis-beleeuing Iewes here is sufficient conviction But I speake to Christians that beleeue he is come Hac fide credite venturum esse qua creditis venisse Beleeue that he will come againe with the same faith wherewith you beleeue he is come alreadie Doe not curtall Gods
panis thou wantest bread God is thy bread of life We want a pillow God is our resting place We may be Sine veste non sine fide sine cibo non sine Christo sine Domo non sine Domino Without apparell not without faith without meate not without Christ without a house neuer without the Lord. What state can there be wherein the stay of this heauenly assurance giues vs not peace and ioy Are we clapt vp in a darke and desolate Dungeon there the light of the Sunne cannot enter the light of mercie not be kept out What restrained bodie that hath the assurance of this eternall peace will not pittie the darknes of the prophane mans libertie or rather the libertie of his darkenesse No wals can keepe out an infinite Spirit no darkenes can be vncomfortable where the Father of lights and the Sunne of righteousnesse shineth The presence of glorious Angels is much but of the most glorious God is enough Are we cast out in exile our backes to our natiue home all the worlds our way Whether can we goe from God Whether shall I goe from thy face or whether shall I flie from thy presence If I ascend c. That exile would be strange that could separate vs from God I speake not of those poore and common comforts that in all Lands and coasts it is his Sunne that shines his elements of earth or water that beares vs his aire we breath But of that speciall priuiledge that his gracious presence is euer with vs that no sea is so broad as to deuide vs from his fauour that wheresoeuer we feed he is our host wheresoeuer we rest the wings of his blessed prouidence are stretched ouer vs. Let my soule be sure of this though the whole world be traytors to me Doth the world despise vs We haue sufficient recompence that God esteemes vs. How vnworthy is that man of Gods fauour that cannot goe away contented with it without the worlds Doth it hate vs much God hates it more That is not euer worthie which man honours but that is euer base which God despises Without question the world would bee our friend if God were our enemie The sweetnes of both cannot bee enioyed let it content vs wee haue the best It may be pouertie puts pale leannes into our cheeks God makes the world fat but withall puts leannesse into the soule We decay in these temporall vanities but we thriue in eternall riches The good man laughes at destruction and dearth Doth sicknes throw vs on our weary beds It is impossible any man should miscarry that hath God for his Physitian So Martha confessed to Iesus Lord if thou hadst beene here my brother had not dyed Thy bodie is weake thy soule is strengthened dust and ashes is sicke but thy eternall substance is the better for it It is good for me that I haue beene afflicted that I might learne thy statutes Lastly doth the ineuitable hand of death strike thee Egredere anima mea egredere Goe forth my soule with ioy and assurance thou hast a promise to be receiued in peace Happie dissolution that parts the soule from the bodie that it may knit them both to the Lord. Death like the proud Philistine comes marching out in his hydeous shape daring the whole Hoast of Israell to match him with an equall combatant The Atheist dares not die for feare non esse that hee shall not be at all the couetous vsurer dares not die for feare male esse to be damned the doubtfull conscience dares not die because he knowes not an sit an non sit an damnatus sit whether he shall be or be damned or not bee at all Onely the resolued Christian dares die because he is assured of his election he knows he shall be happie and so lifts vp pleasant eyes to heauen the infallible place of his eternall rest He dares encounter with this last enemie trample on him with the foote of disdaine and triumphantly sing ouer him O death where is thy sting O graue where is thy victorie He conquers in being conquered and all because God hath sayd to his Soule I am thy Saluation The poore Papist must not beleeue this such an assurance to him were Apocryphall yea hereticall He must lie on his death-bed call vpon what Saint or Angell he list but must not dare to beleeue hee shall goe to heauen O vncomfortable doctrine able to loose the soule What can follow but feares without and terrours within distrustfull sighes and heart-breaking grones Goe away he must with death but whither he knows not It would be presumption to be confident of heauen How should Purgatory stand or the Popes kitchin haue a Larder to maintaine it if men might be sure of their saluation Herefore they bequeath so great summes for masses and Dirge's and Trentals to bee sung or sayd for them after they are dead that their soules may at the last be had to heauen though first for a while they be reezed in Purgatory If this be all the comfort their Priests Iesuites and Confessors can giue them they may well say to them as Iob to his friends Miserable comforters are ye all But he that hath Stephens eyes hath also Pauls heart and the Saints tongue He that with Stephens eyes can see that Sonne of man standing on the right hand of God as if his armes were open to wel-come and embrace him must needs with Paul desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ and with the Saints cry Come Lord how long Amen euen so come Lord Iesus Thus much for the matter of the Assurance let vs now come to the manner Dic Animae Say vnto my soule Say but is God a man hath he a tongue how doth Dauid desire him to speake That God who made the eare shall not he heare he that made the eye shall not â—…e see he that made the tongue shall not he speake He that sees without eyes and heares without eares and walkes without feete and workes without hands can speake without a tongue Now God may be sayd to speake diuerse wayes 1. God hath spoken to some-by his owne voice To Adam vocem audiuerunt they heard the voyce of God c. To Israel The Lord spake vnto you out of the midst of the fire ye heard the voyce of the words but saw no similitude onely you heard a voyce To Christ I here came a voyce from heauen saying I haue both glorified it and I will glorifie it This S. Peter testifies There came a voyce from the excellent glory This is my beloued sonne in whom I am well pleased 2. To omit visions and dreames and cloudes and Cherubins and Angells vrim and thummim God speakes also by his workes The heauens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handie worke Mâ—…nus loquuntur his workes haue a tongue Opera testantur de me
Church 4. Per annectionem such are spirituall Liuings and endowments these are not to be profaned in buying and selling Selling is like the sinne of Gehesi buying like the sinne of Simon Magus Anathema danti anathema accipiâ—…nti There is a curse to the giuer and a curse to the receiuer Now Sacriledge to these holy things of God is committed three waies 1. Quando ausertur sacrum de sacro when a holy thing is taken from a holy place as the consecrated vessels out of the Temple Foelix seeing the costly Chalices Constantinus and Constantius had bestowed on the Church maliciously scoffed What stately plate is there for the Carpenters Son But he that had so base a conceit of Christs bloud did himselfe nothing night and day but vomit bloud till his vnhappy soule was fetched from his wretched carkase Wee haue too many of those that like Belshazzar with the riches of the Church haue furnished their cup-bords of Plate 2. Quando non sacrum de sacro when a common thing is stolne from a sacred place As if a thiefe breakes open a Church to steale some priuate treasure hid in it So the Church-wardens may defraud the poore of the money in the boxe It is the poores not sacred to the Church yet is it sacriledge to embezzel it 3. Quando sacrum de non sacro when a holy thing is taken out of a common place as when the Church is robbed of her possessions and endowments O the mercie of God what shall become of England for thus robbing Gods Citie Our Patrons are like those Christ whipped out of the Temple yea worse for they bought and sold in the Church these buy and sell the Church it selfe It is a snare to the man that deuoureth that which is holy A snare hath three properties 1. It catcheth suddenly Vzza did but touch the Arke and presently fell down dead 2. It holds surely Vzziah will offer Incense but the Leprosie which was his plague held him to his dying day 3. It destroyes certainely the earth swallowed Corah and his confederates when the rest escaped The Prophet bestowes a whole Psalme against this sinne Psalme 83. The Center of it vpon whom all the lines and proiections of his inuectiues meet are those ver 12. that say Let vs take to our selues the houses of God in possession He calls them Gods enemies tumultuous proud God-haters ver 2. Crafty enemies with their plots tricks subtilties much like our Impropriators legall iustifyings ver 3. Confederate enemies combining themselues to annihilate a Church Come let vs cut theÌ„ off from being a Nation ver 4. endeuouring to extinguish the very Name of Israel breaking downe the pale that the Bore the depopulator and the wild beast the corrupt Patron may waste and deuoure it They would plow vp the Vniuersities and sowe them with the seed of Barbarisme Now marke how hee prayes for them ver 9. Doe vnto them as vnto the Medianites who were by the trumpets and lampes so terrified that they drew their swords one vpon another so that these by the trumpets of the Law and lampes of the Gospel might be awaked As to Sisera to Iabin at the brooke of Kison that great Captaine whom God deliuered into the hands of a woman ver 11. Make their Nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb yea all their Princes as Zebah and Zalmunna All Princes yet died violent and ignominious deaths and became like dung for the earth Doth he stay here No ver 13. O my GOD make them like a wheele and as the stubble before the vvind Infatuate all their plots turne their braines and disperse their stratagems Is he yet satisfied No. ver 14. As the fire burneth a wood and as the flame setteth on fire the mountaines so persecute them with thy tempest Hee vseth imprecations to open the floud-gates of Gods wrath that like fire it might consume them either naturally as fire burnes the wood or miraculously as it enflameth the Mountaines ver 16. Fill their faces with shame If this be to take Gods houses in possession who dares lay sacrilegious hands vpon them Yet for all this those men did not what they desired Let vs take ver 12. they said it they did it not Perhaps no thanks to theÌ„ they would if they could We haue done it taken inhabited inherited as Elias said to Ahab We haue killed also taken possession His tithes his offerings all his holy rites yea his very Churches we haue gotten them and led them captiue away bound in chaines of yron conueyed by deedes grants seales fines as if you would make sure they should neuer returne to the owner God is robbed of them for euer Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord shall not my soule be auenged on such a Nation What familie that hath had but a finger in these sacriledges hath not beene ruinated by them They haue beene more infortunate to the Gentry of England then was the gold of Tholossa to the followers of Scipio Remember the Prouerbe Hee that eates the Kings goose shall haue the fethers sticke in his throate seuen yeeres after Iustinian said Proximum sacrilegio crimen est quod maiestatis dicitur Treason is a petty sinne in respect of sacriledge Augustine seemes to giue the reason Tantò grauius est peccatum quantò committi non potest nisi in Deum It is so much the more haynous because it cannot be committed but immediately against God himselfe Well then as the Philistines made haste to send home the Arke and the Aegyptians to rid themselues of Gods people so let vs restore to God his dues with all speed Otherwise as hee smote the Philistines with Emrods secretly and the Aegyptians with plagues publikely so onely himselfe knowes what he hath determined against vs. With what face canst thou expect an Inheritance from Christ in heauen that detainest from Christ his Inheritance here on earth Let vs not so Iewishly with the spoyles of Christ purchase fields of bloud It is much if at all this any guilty soule tremble but howsoeuer like Pharaoh when the thunder and lightning are done they are where they were O this is a difficult Deuill to be cast out Render vnto Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods Reddite Deo sua vt Deus restituat vobis vestra Returne vnto God that which is his that God may allow you that which is yours Wee pay to the King Impost Subsidies and Fifteenes so giue we all these in a resemblance to God The Lords impost for all his blessings is our gratitude What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me I will take the cup of saluation and blesse the Name of the Lord. If wee forget to pay this Impost the commodity is forfeit God will take it backe Our Subsidies are according to our parts The subsidies of our eyes are our
publishing of his benefite Mark 1. to the Leper See thou say nothing to any man of it But he went out and began to publish it much to blaze abroad the matter I know diuerse Diuines by curious distinctions haue gone about to excuse the matter by making this an admonitory not an obligatory precept But I subscribe to Caluin and Marlorat who taxe it for an offence and manifest breach of Christs commandement And Ierome on that place sayes that Non erat necesse vt sermone iactaret quod corpore praeferebat His tongue might be silent for his whole body was turned into a tongue to publish it The act was good but not good at that time Disobedient he was be it granted yet of all disobedient men commend me to him Let not then any politicke or sinister respects tye vp our tongues from blessing him that hath blessed vs. Suffocate not the fire of zeale in thy heart by silent lips lest it proue key-cold But say with our Prophet My foot standeth in an euen place in the congregations vvill I blesse the Lord. We perceiue now the motiue cause that brought Dauid into Gods house I would take leaue from hence in a word to instruct you with what minde you should come to this holy place We are in substance inheritors of the same faith which the Iewes held haue in stead of their Tabernacle Sanctuary Temple Churches places set apart for the Assembly of Gods Saints Wherein wee receiue diuine Mysteries and celebrate diuine Ministeries which are said by Damascen Plus participare operationis gratiae diuinae There is nothing lost by the Gospell which the Law afforded but rather all bettered It is obseruable that the building of that glorious Temple vvas the maturity and consummation of Gods mercy to the Iewes Infinite were his fauours betwixt their slauery in Egypt and their peace in Israel God did as it were attend vpon them to supply their wants They haue no guide why God himselfe is their guide and goes before them in a pillar of fire They haue no shelter the Lord spreads a cloud ouer them for a Canopy Are they at a stand and want way The Sea shall part and giue them passage whiles the diuided waters are as walls vnto them For sustenance they lacke bread heauen it selfe shall powre downe the food of Angels Haue they no meat to their bread A winde shall blow to them innumerable Quailes Bread and flesh is not enough without drinke behold a hard rocke smitten with a little vvand shall powre out abundance of water But what is all this if they yet in the wildernesse shall vvant apparell their garments shall not waxe olde on their backes Doe they besiege Iericho walls shall fall downe before them for want of engines hailestones shall braine their enemies Lampes and pitchers and dreames shall get them victorie The Sunne shall stand still in Gibeon and the Moone in the valley of Aialon to behold their conquests Lacke they yet a Land to inhabite the Lord will make good his promise against all difficulties and giue them a land that flowes with milke and honey But is all this yet short of our purpose and their chiefe blessednesse They want a House to celebrate his praise that hath done all this for them behold the Lord giueth them a goodly Temple neyther doth hee therein onely accept their offerings but he also giues them his Oracles euen vocall oracles between the Cherubins I might easily paralell England to Israel in the circumference of all these blessings but my center is their last and best and whereof they most boasted The Temple of the Lord and the Law of their God To answere these wee haue the Houses of God and the Gospell of Iesus Christ. We haue all though all in a new manner 2. Cor. 5. Old things are passed away behold all things are become new They had an Old Testament we haue the New Testament They had the Spirit wee haue a new Spirit They had Commandements we haue Nouum mandatum the New commandement They had an Inheritance Canaan we haue a new Inheritance promised Vids nouum coelum nouam terram I saw a new heauen and a new earth To conclude they had their Temple we haue our Churches to which as they were brought by their Sabbath so we by our Lords day wherein as they had their Sacraments so we haue our Sacraments Wee must therefore beare the like affection to ours as they did to that We haue greater cause There was the shadow heere is the substance there the figure here the truth there the sacrifices of beasts heere of the Lambe of God taking away the sinne of the vvorld I finde my selfe here occasioned to enter a great sea of discourse but you shall see I will make but a short cut of it It is Gods house you enter a house vvhere the Lord is present the place where his honour dwelleth Let this teach vs to come 1. With Reuerence Ye shall hallow my Sabbaths and reuerence my Sanctuary I am the Lord. The very mention of this Reuerence me thinkes should strike our hearts with our selfe-knowne guiltinesse How few looke to their feet before they enter these holy dores Eccl. 5. and so they offer the Sacrifice of imprudent and impudent fooles If they are to heare they regard Quis not Quid any thing is good that some man speakes the same in another triuiall If the man likes them not nor shall the Sermon Many thus contend like those two Germans in a Tauerne One said he was of Doctor Martins religion the other protested himselfe of Doctor Luthers religion and thus among their cups the litigation grew hote betweene them whereas indeed Martin and Luther was but one man Others when they come first into the Church they swappe downe on their seates clappe their hattes before their eyes and scarce bow their knees as if they came to blesse God not to intreat God to blesse them They vvould quake in the presence of an offended King who are thus impudent faced in the house of God But saith the Lord whose Throne is the heauen and the earth his footstoole I will looke to him that trembleth at my vvord So Iacob Gen. 28. was afraid and sayd Hovv fearefull is this place This is none other then the house of God and this is the gate of heauen Whereupon Bernard Terribilis planè locus c. A fearefull place indeed worthy of all reuerence which Saints inhabit holy Angels frequent and God himselfe graceth vvith his owne presence As the first Adam was placed in Paradise to keepe it so the second Adam is in the congregation of his Saints to preserue it Therefore enter not without Reuerence I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies and in thy feare will I vvorship toward thy holy Temple 2. With Ioy. None but a free-will offering is welcome to
God It is a common opinion in the world that Religion doth dull a mans wits and deiect his spirits as if mirth and mischiefe were onely sworne brothers But Gods word teacheth and a good conscience findeth that no man can be so ioyfull as the faithfull nor is there so merry a land as the holy Land no place of ioy like the Church Let the wicked thinke that they cannot laugh if they be tied to the Law of Grace nor be merry if God be in the company But the Christian knowes there is no true ioy but the good ioy and if this be any where it is in the Temple I was glad when they said vnto me Let vs goe into the house of the Lord. Indeed therefore we are not merry enough because we are not enough Christians Can you wish more ioy to be receiued then that Rom. 14 Peace of conscience and ioy of the holy Ghost Hilaris cum pondere virtus a ioy that can neither be suppressed nor expressed Or more ioy to be communicated then Colos. 3. in Psalmes Hymnes and spirituall songs singing vvith grace in your hearts to the Lord. Thinke thinke thy God is here The Angels of heauen reioyce in his glorious presence and crowne it as their cheefe felicity and shall not poor man reioyce in his gracious presence as it were his most blessed society yes the light of thy Countenance O Lord shall put more gladnesse into our hearts then into the worldlings their aboundance of corne and wine Cast away then your dulnesse and vnwillingnesse of heart Come merrily and with a ioyfull soule into the house of God 3. With Holinesse It is holy ground not by any inherent holinesse but in regard of the religious vse For that place which was once Bethel the House of GOD proued afterwards Bethauen the house of iniquity But it is thus Gods Sanctuary the habitation of his Sanctity Procul hinc procul este profani Put off thy shooes d' off thy carnall affections the place vvhere thou standest is holy ground wash thy hands yea thy heart in innocency before thou come neere to Gods Altar Bee the Minister neuer so simple neuer so sinfull the word is holy the action holy the time holy the place holy ordained by the most Holy to make vs holy said a reuerend Diuine Gods house is for godly exercises they wrong it therefore that turne Sanctuarium into Promptuarium the Sanctuary into a Butterie and spirituall food into belly-cheere And they much more that peruert it to a place of Pastime making the house of praise a house of playes And they most of all that make it a house not laudis but fraudis My house is the house of prayer but ye haue made it a d◅nne of theeues robbing if not men of their goods yet God of the better part sincerity of conscience What a horrid thing would it bee Beloued if you should depart from this Church where you learne to keepe a good conscience but into the market and there practise deceit circumuentiō oppression swearing drunkennesse O doe not deriue the commencement of your sinnes from Gods house What a mockery is this and how odious in the sight of heauen if you should begin your wickednesse with a Sermon ◅as the Papists beginne their treasons with a masse I taxe no knowne person but for the facts and faults Non ignota cano I doe not speake of things vnknowne I would to God your amended liues might bring me with shame againe hither to recant and vnsay it But it often so falls out that as those conspirators met at the Capitol so the Church is made the Communis Terminus where many wickednesses haue appointed to meete What agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols Begin not the day with God to spend all the rest vvith Satan Your tongues haue now blessed the Lord let not the euening finde them redde with oathes or black with curses Let not that saying of Luther be verifyed by you that In nomine Domini incipit omne malum in the name of God begins all mischiefe Whatsoeuer your morning Sacrifice pretend looke to your afternoone You haue done so much the worse as you haue made a shew of good and it had beene easier for your profane hearts to haue missed this admonition This Caueat before I leaue Gods house I thought to commend to your practise when you leaue it I haue held you too long in the Church speaking of the Church It was the most materiall point I propounded to my discourse forgiue the prolixity the breuity of the rest shall make amends The first straine or staire was his entrance into GODS house now hee is in what doth he what bringeth hee vve finde Burnt Offerings I haue three disswasions from punctuall tractation of this point 1. The poore remnant of the fugitiue time 2. I haue liberally handled it on former occasions 3. The necessity is not great of discoursing the Sacrifices of the Law in these dayes of the Gospell wee haue the light and therefore need not trouble our selues to call backe the shadowes Sacrifices are of great Antiquity not onely the Booke of God but euen the Law of nature hath imprinted in mans heart that Sacrifices must be offered It is written in the conscience that an homage was due to the superiour power which is able to reuenge it selfe of dishonour and contempt done it and to regratifie them with kindnesse that serued it But Dauids Sacrifice was the earnest of a thankefull heart I might amplifie it and perhaps picke vp some good gleanings after others full carts I could also obserue that Dauid came not before God empty-handed but brought with him some actuall testimony of his deuoted affection Burnt offerings To the confusion of their faces who will no longer serue God if hee growes chargeable to them If they may receiue from God good things and pay him onely with good words they are content to worship him But if they cannot bee in his fauour but it must cost them the setting on they will saue their purses though they lose their soules If hee requires ought for his Church poore Ministers or poore members they cry vvith Iudas Ad quid perditio haec why is this waste They are onely so long rich in deuotion as they may be rich by deuotion and no longer But for our selues be we sure that the best Sacrifice we can giue to God is obedience not a dead beast but a liuing soule The Lord takes no delight in the bloud of brutish creatures a spirit in bodies the impassible in sauours arising from Altars It is the minde the life the soule the obedience that he requires To obey is better then sacrifice Let this be our burnt offering our Holocaust a sanctified Body and Mind giuen vp to the Lord. First the heart My Sonne giue me thy heart Is not the heart enough no the hand also wash the hands from bloud and
them casting vp white and red earth in abundance Wherewith his amazed eyes growing soone enamoured he desires a participation of their riches They refuse to ioyne him in their gaines vnlesse he wil ioyne himselfe in their paines Hereupon he fals to toyling digging deluing til some of the earth fals so hea uie vpon him that it lames him and he is able to goe no further There he dies in the sight of that Citie to which he could not goe for want of feet looseth a certaine substantial gift for an vncertain shadow of vaine hope You can easily apply it God of his gracious fauour not for our deserts giues man his creature a glorious Citie euen that whose foundations are of Iasper Saphyre and Emerald c. He doth more directes him the way to it Goe on this way Walke in loue He begins to trauell and comes within the sight of heauen but by the way he spies worldlings toyling in the earth and scraping together white and red clay siluer and gold the riches of this world Hereof desirous he is not suffered to partake except hee also partake of their couetousnes and corrupt fashions Now Mammon sets him on worke to digge out his owne damnation where after a while this gay earth comes tumbling fo fast vpon him that his feet be maimed his affections to heauen lost and he dyes short of that glorious Citie which the king of heauen purchased with his owne bloud and gaue him Thinke of this ye worldlings and seeing you know what it is to be charitable put your feet in this way Walke in Loue. There be yet others whose whole course is euery step out of the way to God who is Loue and they must walke in Loue that come vnto him 1. There is a path of Lust they erre damnably that call this the way of Loue. They turne a spirituall grace into a carnall vice and whereas Charitie and Chastity are of nearer allyance then sound these debauched tongues call vncleanesse Loue. Adulterie is a cursed way though a much coursed way for a whore is the high-way to the Deuill 2. There is a path of malice and they that trauell it are bound for the Enemie Their euill eye is vexed at Gods goodnes and their hands of desolation would vndoe his mercies Other mens health is their sicknes others weale their woe The Iesuites and their bloudy Proselyts are pilgrims in this way We know by experience the scope of their walkes Their malice was strong as Sauire in saxa but they would turne Ierusalem in aceruum Lapidum into a heape of stones Yea such was their rage that Nil reliqui fecerunt Vt non ipsis elementis fieret iniuria they spared not to let the elements know the madnesse of their violence They could not draw fire from heauen their betters could not do it in the dayes of Christ on earth therefore they seeke it they digge it from hell Flectere cùm nequeunt Superos Acheronta movebunt Here was a malicious walking 3. There is a counterfeit path the Travellers make as if they walked in loue but their loue is dissimulation It is not dilectio vera true love which S. Ioh. speakes of nor dilectio mera as Luther not a plaine-hearted loue They will cosen you vnseene and then like the whore in the Proverbes wipe their mouthes and it was not they Their art is Alios pellere aut tollere to giue others a wipe or a wound Iudas-like they salute those with a kisse against whome they intend most treason 4. There is a way directly crosse to loue which neither obeyes God for loue keepes the commandements nor comforts man for loue hath compassion on the distressed These haue feete swift enough but swift to shed bloud Destruction and miserie are in their wayes They are in Zedechiahs case both their eyes are put out and their feete lamed with the captiue chaines of Satan so easily carried downe to his infernall Babilon These are they that devoure a man and his heritage Therefore Christ calles their riches not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things without them as if they had swallowed them down into their bowels The phrase is vsed by Iob He hath swallowed downe riches he shall vomit them vp againe God shall cast them out of his belly When this vomit is given them you shall see strange stuffe come from them Here the raw and vndigested gobbets of vsurie there the mangled morsels of bloudy oppressions here fiue or sixe impropriate Churches there thousand acres of decayed tillage here a whole casket of bribes there whole houses and patrimonies of vndone orphans here an Inclosure of commons there a vastation of proper and sanctified things Rip vp their conscie nces and this is the stuffing of their hearts These walke crosse to the Crosse of Christ as Paul sayth they are Enemies cursed walkers Whereupon we may conclude with Bernard Periculosa tempora iam non instant sed extant the dangerous times are not comming but come vpon vs. The cold frost of indevotion is so generall that many haue benūmed ioynts they cannot walke in loue Others so stiffe and obdurate that they will meete all that walke in this way and with their turbulent malice striue to iustle them out of it Therefore David prayes Preserue me from the violent men that haue purposed to ouerthrowe my goings Let vs then vpon this great cause vse that deprecation in our Let any From pride vain-glory hypocrisie from envy hatred malice all vncharitablenes Good Lord deliver vs. I am loth to giue you a bitter farewell or to conconclude with a menace I see I cannot by the times leaue drinke to you any deeper in this cup of Charity I will touch it once againe and let every present soule that loues heauen pledge me Walke in loue The way to life everlasting is loue and hee that keepes the way is sure to come to the end We knowe that we haue passed from death to life because we loue the brethren For this are the workes of mercie charity piety and pitty so much commended in the Scriptures by the Fathers with so high titles because they are the appoynted way wherein we must walke and whereby we must worke vp our owne salvation Therefore the Apostle claps in the necke of good workes laying vp in store for themselues a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternall life Thereby wee lay the ground of saluation in our consciences and take assured hold of eternall life He that goes on in loue shall come home to life This comforts vs not in a presumption of merite but in confident knowledge that this is the way to glory wherein when we find our selues Walking wee are sure we are going to heauen and sing in the wayes of the Lord Great is the glory of the Lord.
Now therefore Put on as the elect of God holy and beloued bowels of mercies kindnes humblenes of minde c. As you claime any portion in those gracious blessings Election Sanctification and the loue of God as you would haue the sweet testimonie of the Spirit that you are sealed vp to the day of Redemption Put on mercie kindnes meeknes long suffering let them be as robes to couer you all ouer Yea bowels of mercies let them be as tender and inward to you as your most vitall parts Lay forbearance and forgiuenes as deare friends in your bosomes Depart from iniquitie for the high way of the vpright is to depart from euill and he that keepth his way preserueth his soule And above all these things put on Charitie which is the bond of perfectnesse Walke in loue And as many as walke according to this rule peace be on them and mercie and vppon the Israell of God Amen LOVES COPIE OR The best Precedent of Charitie EPHE 5. 2. As Christ loued vs. WE distinguished the whole verse into a Canon and a Crucifixe The Canon consisted of a Precept and a Precedent Loue is the Subiect and it is both commanded and commended Commanded in the Charge which you haue heard Commended in the Example which you shall heare I determined my speach with the Precept Walke in loue The Precedent or Patterne remaines to be propounded and expounded As Christ loued vs. Every word is emphaticall and there be foure signifying foure seuerall natures Here 1 As is a word of 1 Qualitie 2 Christ 2 Maiestie 3 Loued 3 Mercie 4 Vs 4 Miserie Two of these words be Vincula or Media that ioyne and vnite other things Sicut and Dilexit As and Loued As directs our loue to God and Man by the exemplified rule of Christ louing vs. Walke in loue to others As Christ loued vs. Loued is that blessed reconciling nature whereby Gods good Greatnes descends to our bad basenesse and the Iust giues to the vniust Saluation For what other nature but Mercie could reconcile so high Maiestie and so low Miserie As According to Zanchius his obseruation on this place is a note of Qualitie not Equalitie of Similitude not of Comparison We must loue others As Christ loued vs As for the manner not for the measure His loue was strong as Death for to the death hee loued vs. It was a bright cleare fire many maters could not quench it yea water and bloud could not put it out God so loued the World so freely so fatherly so fully as no tongue can tell no heart thinke The loue of Christ passeth knowledge To thinke of equalling this loue would be an impossible presumption Our loue is inconstant weake a mingled and often a mangled loue mingled with selfe loue and mangled with the wounding affections of the world Our loue is faine his strong ours ficle his constant ours limited his infinite Yet wee must follow him so fast as we can and so farre as wee may Walking in loue as he loued vs. His Walking in loue was strange and admirable hee tooke large steps from heauen to earth and from earth to heauen As Bernard on that speech of the Church concerning her Beloued Behold hee commeth leaping vpon the mountaines skipping vpon the hils He leaps from heauen to the Virgins wombe from the wombe to a manger from the manger to Egypt from Egypt to Iudah from thence to the Temple from the Temple vp to the Crosse from the Crosse downe to the graue from the graue vp to the earth and from the earth vp to the highest glory And he shall yet haue another leap from the right hand of his Father to iudge quicke and dead These were great iumpes large paces of loue When he made but one stride from the clouds to the cradle and another from the Cradle to the crosse and a third from the crosse to the crowne To come from the bosome of his immortall father to the wombe of his mortall mother was a great step From the lowest hell or depth of his humiliation to the highest heauen or top of his exaltation was a large pace We cannot take such large steps nor make such strides These leaps are beyond our agilitie our abilitie Yet we must follow him in loue stepping so farre as we can and walking so fast as we may Follow we carefully and chearfully though non passibus aequis The Father that takes his yong son into the field with bowes shafts and bids him shoot after him doth not expect that the child should shoote so farre as he but so farre as he can Though we cannot reach Christs marke yet If there be a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath not according to that he hath not Now this particle As is not barely similitudinary but hath a greater latitude and serues To Confine the Measure of our Imitation Define Matter Refine Manner 1. This Sicut Confines Our imitation and limits it to that circumference which the present rule or compasse giues it We may not follow Christ in all things but in this thing Loue As he loued vs. Our imitation hath a limitation that it may not exorbitantly start out of the circle There are speciall workes which God reserues to himselfe and wherein he did neuer commaund or commend mans following but rather strikes it downe as presumption His Power his Maiestie his Wisedome his Myracles cannot without a contumacious ambition be aymed at When Lucifer aspired to be like God in Maiestie he was throwne out of heauen When Adam contended to be like God in knowledge he was cast out of Paradise When Nebuchadnezzar arrogated to be like God in Power he was expulsed his kingdome When Simon Magus mounted to be like God in working Miracles and to flie in the ayre he was hurld downe and broke his necke God must not be imitated in his Finger in his Arme in his Braine in his Face but in his Bowels Not in the Finger of his Myracles nor in the Arme of his Power nor in the Braine of his Wisedome nor in the Face of his Maiestie but in the Bowels of his Mercy Be ye mercifull as your heauenly Father is mercifull And sayth Paul Put on the Bowels of mercy as Christ put them on Forbeare forgiue Walke in Loue As hee loued vs. Neither Angell nor Man did euer or shall euer offend in coueting to be like God in Loue Grace Mercy Goodnes So that this Sicut excludes his Myracles and directs vs to his Morralls Walke in Loue 〈◊〉 c. 2. This Sicut Defines What our Loue should be As Christ was to vs. Now his loue to vs had an infinite extention and is past the skill of men or Angels to describe Yet because this is the perfect Copy of our imitation and the infallible Rule whereby we must square our Charitie I must according to my shallow power wade a litle