let me alone that I may take comfort a little before I goe whence I shall not returne Iob. 10 20.21 euen to the land of darknes the shadow of death Iob. 10. Vnto this the goodnes of God leadeath vs. Rom. 2. Rom. 2.4 It remoued the plague from Israell Ki. 24.16.17 1. Kin. 24. brought deliuerance vnto the Iewes when Shishak King of Egypt came against them with twelue hundred Chariots and threescore thousand horsemen and Egyptians without number 2. Chro. 12. 2. Ch. 12 3. It stayed iudgements from Pharaoh For when hee saw the Waters anoyed with the first plague the Earth with the second and third and the Aire with the fourth Dr. Hall coutemplat a winged Army comming from an angry God not from Nature or chance finding it impossible for him to stand out with God since all his power could not rescue him from his least Creatures his heart begins to thaw saying to Moses and Aaron Goe and doe sacrifice in this Land or because that had beene an Abhomination Goe into the wildernes but not farre He will not leaue them But when the voyce of Gods thunder and haile mixed with fire rouze him vp then as betwixt sleeping and waking hee starts vp I haue sinned this time Ero. 19.34 the Lord is righteous and I and my people are wicked Meere necessity constrained him to relent For the Fish beeing destroyed with the first blow the Cattell with the fifth the Corne with the seauenth the fruit and leaues with this eight and now nothing left him but a bare fruitlesse earth to liue vpon he was mollified and howsoeuer constrained repentance bee euer short and vnsound yet vpon Moses prayer the thunders and haile ceased But this repentance is not that which can preuaile So Caine repented My punishment is greater then I can beare Gen. 4. From thy face shall I bee hid Hee knew that Nihil grauius quam errantem a Deo deseri Amb. lib. 2. de Caine Abel c. 9. vt se reuocare non posset Nothing is more grieuous then for him that erreth to be forsaken of God that he cannot recall himselfe So did Saul repent Ieroboam Ahab Ananias and Saphira Agrippa Foelix Simon Magus Elimas But the true practise of a right repentance consisteth in an inward sorrow when we are displeased with our selues for sinnes and in an outward when we testifie it by teares and such like when we resolue to sinne no more but to doe the good and acceptable will of God when with humiliation there is faith added when wee grieue that wee cannot grieue enough The Angels in Heauen sing at this lamentation neither doth the earth afford any so sweet Musicke in the eares of God Many may be vexed with an extreme remorse for some sinne from the gripes of a galled Conscience playing at once the Accuser Witnes Iudge Tormentor and yet neuer know the power of repentance But an earnest sorrow for the want of sorrow was neuer found in any but a gracious heart whose teares are as the raine in a Sunne-shine comfortable and hopefull This is that which melts vs purgeth vs rinseth vs and so maketh vs of drossie pure of foggy sound of crooked streight Christians And as impure gold cannot be rid of the drosse vntill it be moulten and dissolued 〈…〉 neither vnsound bodies full of vicious humors come to any good estate till they are wel purged No more can we till Repentance breake vs and cause vs to doe our first workes This remembreth vs of good omitted and euill committed Sum Dea quae facti non factique exigo poenas Ausonius Gallus in paroemia Nempe vt poeniteat sic Metanoia vocor This is like the riuer Nilus which turned furious Io into a glorious Virgin Dauid Ezekiah Manasses Mary Magdalen the Prodigall Zache the Iewes are examples It is like the sea prouoking the vomit and loathing of our sinnes It is like the sand staying the violent rage of the waues of our transgressions like the herbe Century bitter and sweet bitter in meditation of Gods iudgements sweet in imbracing his mercies like a thunderbolt extinguishing the corruption and poyson of our Serpentine nature like an earthquake whose trembling is a filiall feare whose rent scissure is the breaking of the heart whose sound is a crying voyce whose motion is a growing in grace whose winds are temptations and the dust is the remembrance of our mortality Repentance is our Armour to quench all the fiery Darts of the flesh world and Deuill It is as Hilary sheweth Hil. in p 118. ab eo quod poenitendum intellexeris destitisse a ceasing from that which wee vnderstand must bee repented of It is proeterita mala plangere plangenda iterum non committere a mourning for sinnes committed and a purpose neuer to commit them being to bee lamented Languores sanat leprosos curat mortuos suscitat c. as Saint Austin sweetly Aug. l. de poenit It healeth faintings cureth lepers Aug. l. de poeâ—it raiseth the dead encreaseth health maketh the lame to goe the blind to see expelleth vices and comforteth the Soule of a Christian It is the medicine of our wounds the hope of Saluation â—fid Aetim l. 6. c. 18. per quam peccatores saluantur Deus ad misericordiam prouocatur by which sinners are redeemed and God is prouoked to mercy It is iugum suaue leue Aug. sup Ps quia non est sarcina viatoris sed ala volatoris A sweet and light yoak not a burthen for vs trauailers but a wing to make vs all fliers to Gods Kingdome It is our second lauer of regeneration the onely rebaptization allowed in diuinity consisting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostome speaketh Chrys in Ro. 12 as well in the contrition of the heart as the reformation of the mind Repentance is the Christalline humor of the eye of faith 〈…〉 the best Aqua-vitae to reuiue our dead spirits that Aqua coelestis which God keepeth in his bottle that not one drop of it can bee lost and it is the brine wherewith both flesh and spirit must bee kept from tainture and corruption therefore prescribed vnto Ephesus Repent and doe the first workes Vse 1. A Caueat for vs to beware of the leauen of the Romish Synagogue whereby they offer much wrong vnto this holy ordinance of God I shall but touch on some points of their greatest Patrons aiming rather at our owne reconciling with God then quarrelling with such obstinate Aduersaries who as they may well seeme to haue no faith annihilating it by merit of workes no hope weakening it by doubtfulnes of saluation no Religion as it is the true knowledge of the true God concealing this from the people by causing the Scriptures in a strange translation or as it is the sincere worship of one God defiling the purity and diuiding the integrity thereof by that latrioduliacall distinction of Idols
EPHESVS VVARNING BEFORE HER WOE A SERMON Preached at Pauls Crosse on Passion Sunday the 17. of March last By SAMPSON PRICE Bachelour of Diuinity of Exeter Colledge in Oxford Imprinted at London by G. ELD for Iohn Barnes dwelling in Hosier lane neere Holborne Condut 1616. To the Right Honorable the Lord Viscount Lisle Lord Chamberlaine to the Queenes Maiesty and Lord Gouernour of his Maiesties Cautionary Towne of Vlushing Mercy and peace RIGHT HONORABLE THat Speech of Salomon is Eccl. 12 12. â—lc Alex. l. 1. str p. 1. Hic scripto ille vece praedicat Animae sunt soetus Orationes Id. ib. Mar. 12.41 43. Cyp. Tr. de op elcemos 〈…〉 and must continue true of making many books there is no end while the world continueth occasion will not bee wanting of speaking and writing Our Church hath many deseruing Labourers who by voyce and pen seeke to build vp the walles of Ierusalem My desire is to cast my Mite into the Treasury as that poore widdow did whom our Sauiour commended not considering quantum sed ex quanto de disset how much but of how much she offered respecting rather the affection of the giuer then the quantity of the guist This Sermon by the earnest sollicitation of some religious hearers and my deare fauorers was brought from the Crosse to the Presse and is now licenced to be a generall Remembrancer of all those who shall read or heare it Spartian in vita Adrian Imp. to whom I wish as happy a memory as that of Adrian who perfectly euer afterward knew them that had but once spoken vnto him 〈…〉 In Morall actions and ciuill affaires feare oftentimes hath hindred the memory of the wisest as it is recorded of Demosthenes that hee was at a Nonplus beeing to speake before Philip King of Macedon and as it fell out to Theophrastus before the Areopagites of Athens But a holy feare of Gods name must bee the ground of our Remembrance and Repentance Your Honour hath obtained a blessed report for your Noble Vertues and imitation of your Heroicall Brother Sir Phil. Sidney I haue therefore aduentured to dedicate this poore labour vnto your protection to lodge safely from the snarling of biting censurers as vnder the couert of Minerua's shield Your honorable countenance so lately and cheerefully ready to call me from this stipend which I enioy amongst many louing and worthy friends to a more ample maintenance though God disposed otherwise of it hath obliged mee to acknowledge by that little cunning which my right hand hath S. Olauâ— in Southwarke so great a Kindnes I can seale my thankfulnes by no better a testimony then this Ps 137.5 crauing still the continuance of your honorable fauour God the great rewarder continue his blessings vnto you and your Honorable Lady and hopefull children and at the resurrection of the Iust crowne hee you all with euerlasting glory Your Honors in all duty SAMPSON PRICE EPHESVS WARNING before her Woe Lord Iesus begin and end REVE 2.5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and doe the first workes or else I will come vnto thee quickly and will remoue thy Candle sticke out of his place except thou repent WHen the sinne of the old World did multiply and grew a burthen to the Earth the Sonnes of God taking them wiues of all which they chose whether Virgins or married vnto others the most of them being Gyants Mercerus â—unius in Gen. not onely in stature but in cruell conditions according to Philo and Damascen infamous for their tyrannie ouer others bringing them in subiection and eating their flesh Theod. q. 84 â—n Gen. euery imagination of the thoughts of their hearts onely euill continually It repented the Lord that he had made man on the Earth Gen. 6.6 It is Verbum nostra paruitati accommodatum a word applied to our weaknes Chrys ho. 22. in Gen. to expresse the greatnes of their sinnes Quae misericordem Deum indignari fecerunt which compelled the mercifull God to be angry Non perturbatio sed iudicium quo irrogatur poena Aug. li. 15. de ciu c. 25. saith Austin It is no perturbation in God but an imposition of punishment Rup l 4. in Gen. Rupertus calleth it an argument of his pittie shewing that he is loth to punish Sixe ages he did forbeare them a thousand yeares and more and gaue them Noah to preach repentance 120. yeares before hee purged that Augaeum stabulum with a deluge of waters The Sinnes of Sodom and Gomorrha were exceeding great Gen. 19.24 before fire and brimstone were rayned downe by the hand of Christ from Iehouah his father as Marcus Arethusius in the Syrinian Councell doth interpret that place Syriniens conc c. 16. against the heresie of Photinus that held Christ not to haue bene before his Mother His Cup of wrath is neuer full mixt with red Wine Psal 74.8 to poure out the same with the dreggs thereof till the measure of our Crimson and Scarlet sinnes be filled in He sendeth Watchmen to blowe the Trumpet and warne the people but if they take not warning their blood shall be vpon their owne heads Ez. 33.4 If the Rod of his mouth and Breath of his lips so the word is called Is 11.4 cannot preuaile hee taketh away this Candlesticke And when once a Church shal loose Prophets which are ready to teach Seers to foretell Ge. 20 7. 1 Sa. 9 9. 2 Pet. 1.13 1 Cor 3.9 Lu. 12.42 Ez. 47.10 Remembrancers to put in mind Husbandmen to plow vp Stewards to distribute Fishers to catch men Starres to giue light and Shepheards to feed all blessings depart and curses follow Yet now it is threatned to Ephesus Remember It was truely acknowledged by Clemens Alexandrinus that Bona est ars terrere ne peccemus It is a good art which terrifieth from sinning yet as Aust fatherlike Aug. Ep. â— 8 Si terrerentur et non docerentur improba quafi dominatio videretur If those that erre should be terrified onely and not be taught it might seeme a kind of tyrannie Sed rursus si docerentur et non terrerentur vetustate consuetudinis obdurarentur But againe if they should be taught and not terrified custome would harden them and make them pace but slowly to the way of eternall life Therefore S. Iohn Legatus a latere The Ambassadour who leaned on his Lords breast partly by instruction and partly by correction seeketh to win these collapsed Churches whose reprehension may stirre vs vp to hearken whose threats may make vs feare whose fallings may make vs stand Our sinnes are as theirs wee haue the luke-warmenes of Laodicea which in this place I once proposed as a warning c. 3.16 Adde to this the little strength of Philadelphia v. 8. Imperfection of works with Sardis v. 2. searching the depths of Sathan with Thyatira Nicholaitans c. 2. v. 24. as in Pergamos
of God ioy of Angels hauen of sinners Awake thou that sleepest in thy sinnes 2. Ti. 2.7 I say vnto thee as Saint Paul to his Tymothy Consider what I say and the Lord giue thee vnderstanding in all things Come now and reason with God though thy sinnes be as scarlet they may be as white as snow Is 1.18 though they be red like crimson they may be as wooll God is able to bring light out of darknes life out of death our sinnes shall turne to our good if we rise from them more humble more fearfull more carefull and warie then wee were before Happy is that fall that is taken vp by humility Bar. To our repentance wee must adde our former good workes from whence we are fallen For by our good workes wee glorifie our father which is in heauen Mat. 5.16 Mat. 5. By them wee shew our faith Ia. 2. By them our consciences are quieted Ia. 2.18 being sure neuer to fall making our calling and election sure 2. Pet. 1.10 Yet merit by these wee cannot 2. Pet 1.10 Iustified by them wee are not Euery one must confesse as Gregory Nudum me in fide prima gratia genuit nudum eadem gratia in assumptione saluabit Gr. Meral l 2 c. 40. p. 11. col 1. Edit Par. 1551. the first grace begot in vs faith when wee were but naked in good workes and the same grace shall saue vs hereafter when we shal be but naked in them neither Non proecedunt iustificandum sed sequuntur iustificatum they are the signes of our sanctificatioÌ„ not the causes of our iustification That learned speech of reuerend Caluin shall euer be true Fides sola est quae iustificat fides tamen quae iustificat nonest sola Vt solis calor solus est qui terram calefaciat Col. in Act. Synod Trid. Sext Sess Antid Tract Theol. p. 336. col 2. non tamen idem insole solus est quia coniunctus cum splendore It is faith alone that iustifieth and yet that faith that iustifieth is not alone As it is the heate alone of the Sunne that heateth the earth yet is not that heat in the Sunne alone because it hath brightnes ioyned with it Repentance and good workes cannot be seuered Behold a Christian must labour else he shall neuer tast the sweet Manna of comfort from aboue The Angels of heauen need not to repent because they sinne not the Diuels in hell care not for repentance their iudgement is sealed but it appertaineth to vs all who are the sonnes of men and must be practised if euer wee will goe to heauen Our marble and flinty hearts must bee sofrened with the sweet showers of Gods heauenly word Our stiffe and iron-sinued neckes must bee bowed with the yoake either of the Gospell or of the law Our foreheads must not be like hers that refused to bee ashamed Math. 11.30 Act. 15.10 Ie. 3. Our eares must not be so deafe our eyes so drye our senses so dull our wills so obstinate our affections so barren our desires so cold but wee must awake The golden bels of Aaron the thundring trompets of Esay the well-tuned Cimbals of Dauid the shrill sound of preaching aime onely at our conuersion to God O consider this you that forget God I speake only to them whose consctences accuse them If you make religion but fashion seeking onely to seeme Christians hauing Gods liuery on your backes and name in your mouthes yet outfacing all reproofes by your insatiable couetousnes biting vsury false measures forsworne valuations adulterat wares catching at the possessions of the Church grinding and griping the faces of the poore by which meanes howsoeuer you fill your Coffer you fester your soules though your faces were like Angels without repentance and good workes there must follow a portion with the Diuels from which Good Lord deliuer vs. O then while it is called to day let vs ransacke our hearts and get a sound affection to God a firme resolution to goodnes hatred to sinne in all men especially in our selues and an obedient keeping of the commandements O then you whom God hath endowed with holy and vpright hearts that haue done and intend still to doe honour to your maker honesty to the Gospell credit to this famous Citie Be stedfast and vnmoueable alwaies abcuÌ„ding in these works of the Lora knowing that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. You are not Treasurers but Stewards whose praise is more to lay out well then to haue receiued much Neither the times nor your selues are in your owne disposing the more speedily you doe good the more comfort you shall receiue O then let vs all follow Austins aduise Aug. 〈◊〉 33. in Job take time while time is offered least the gate of mercy which to day is open to morrow bee shut and neuer opened againe vnto vs. Let vs beware that wee abuse not the patience and long suffering of so good a God least after so-many calmes of comfort he powre downe vpon vs the bitter stormes of indignation and come quickly against vs as hee threateneth to come against Ephesus which is the first particular of my second generall Of else I willcome vnto thee quickly Prima secundae Such are the neuer-stinting streames of Gods mercy that hee neuer ouerthroweth any King dome or nation Citty or people before he send a warning peece to admonish them He endured the people of the Iewes sufficiently in the wildernesse protesting in the Psalmes Ps 95 10. Forty years long was I grieued with this generation not onely prouoked offended discontented but grieued at his very soule who could haue grieued all the veines of their hearts and taught them the price of angring so dreadfull a Maiesty as his is A generation for whose sake hee had wrought many wonders preparing a table for them in the desart their diet Quâ—iles and Manna in such aboundance in such delicacie that neuer any Prince was so serued in his greatest pompe hee deliuered them from a bondage worse then death vanquisht many Kings for them and led them by miracle through the red Sea yet they murmure repine grudge rebell and when no fauour could moue them God sweareth in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest His patience being moued turneth into fury Here are mercy and iudgement that hee threateneth before hee punisheth and it is conditionall Vpon the opening of the ayre and shutting of the windowes of heauen after the waters had ouer-run the world in 150. dayes God set his bow in the cloud a token of Couenant betwixt him and the earth Not but that there was Raine and a Raine bow before the flood for how else could the plants and fruites of the earth haue beene so many yeares preserued without Raine but Now it began to be a signe twixt God and man Gen. 9.11 Doct. Willâ—t in Gen. that there should be no more a flood to destroy the