banket haue this death in present the precedent and subsequent are both future the one naturally incurred by sinne the other iustly inflicted for vnrepented sinne For all shall dye the corporall death Hee that feareth an oath as well as hee that sweareth the â—eligious as the profane But this last which is Eternall death shall onely cease on them that haue before hand with a spirituall death slaine themselues This therefore is called the second death Blessed and holy is hee that hath part in the first resurrection which is the spirituall life by grace On such the second death hath no power Hee that is by Christ raised from the first death shall by Christ also scape the second But hee that is dead spiritually after hee hath died corporally shall also dye eternally This is that euerlasting seperation of body and soule from God and consequently from all comfort Feare him saith our Sauiour that is able to destroy both body and soule in Hell And many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to shame and euerlasting contempt This is that death that God delights not in His goodnesse hath no pleasure in it though his iustice must inflict it Man by sinne hath offended God an infinite Maiestie and therefore deserues an infinite miserie Now because he is a nature finite hee cannot suffer a punishment infinite in greatnesse simul et semel together and at once hee must therefore endure it successiuè sine fine successiuely without end The punishment must be proportioned to the sinne because not in present greatnesse therefore in eternall continuance Christ for his elect suffered in short time sufficient punishment for their sinnes for it is all one for one that is eternall to dye and for one to dye eternally But he for whom Christ suffered not in that short time must suffer for himselfe beyond all times euen for euer This is the last Death a liuing death or a dying life what shall I tearme it If it be life how doth it kill If death how doth it liue There is neither life nor death but hath some good in it In life there is some ease in death an end But in this death neither ease nor end Prima â—ors animam dâ—lentem pellet de câ—rpore secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore The first death driues the soule vnwillingly from the body the second death holdes the soule vnwillingly in the body In those dayes shall men seeke death and shall not finde it and shall desire to dye and death shall flye from them Their worme shall not dye Thus saith the Scripture morientur mortem they shall dye the death Yet their death hath much too much life in it For there is a perfection giuen to the body and soule after this life as in heauen to the stronger participation of comfort so in hel to the more sensible receiuing of torment The eye shall see more perspicuously and the eare heare more quickly and the sense feele more sharply though all the obiects of these be sorrow and anguish Vermis conscientiam corrodet ignis carnem comburet quia et corde et corpore deliquerunt The worme shall gnaw the conscience the fire burne the flesh because both fleâ—h and conscience haue offended This is the fearfull death which these guests incurre this is the Shoâ— at the Diuells Banket God in his Iustice suffers him to reward his guests as hee is rewarded himselfe and since they loued his worke to giue them the stipend due to his seruice These are the tempted guests dead The vlgar Latine translation I know not vpon what ground hath interpreted here for mortui Gigantes thus hee knoweth not that the Gyants are there Monstrous men that would dart thunder at God himselfe and raise vp mountaines of impietie against Heauen As if they were onely great men that feasted at Sathans Banket whose riches were able to minister matter to their pleasures And surely such are in these dayes of whose sinnes when we haue cast an inventory account we might thus with the Poet sum vp themselues Viâ— dicam quid sis magnus es Ardelio Thou hast great lands great power great sinnes and than Dâ—st aske me what thou art th' art a great man The Gyants in the Scripture were men of a huge stature of a fierce nature The Poets fained their Gyants to be begotten and bred of the Sunne and the Earth and to offer violence to the Gods some of them hauing an hundred hands as Briareiu was called centimanus meaning they were of great command as Helen wrot to Paris of her husband Menelaus An nescis longas regibus esse manus This word Gyants if the originall did afford it must be referred either to the guests signifiing that monstrous men resorted to the Harlots table that it was Gigantoum conviuium a tyrannous feast or else and that rather to the tormentors which are laid in ambush to surprise all the commers in and carry them as a pray to Hell But because the best translations giue no such word and it is farre fetched I let it fall as I tooke it vp The third person here inserted is the Attempted the new guest whom she striues to bring in to the rest He is discribed by his ignorance Nescit Hee knoweth not what company is in the house that the dead are there It is the Deuils pollicie when hee would ransacke and robbe the hoâ—se of our conscience like a theefe to put out the candle of our knowledge That wee might neither discerne his purposes nor decline his mischeefes Hee hath had his instruments in all ages to darken the light of knowledge Domitian turnes Philosophie into banishment Iulian shuts vp the Schoole-doores The barbarous souldiours vnder Clement the seauenth burned that excellent Vatican library Their reasons concurred with Iulians prohibition to the Christans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 least they kill vs with our owne weapons For it is said euen of Gentile learning Hic est Goliae gladius quo ipse Goliah ingulandus est Hic Herculis claua qua rabidi inter Ethnicos canes percutiendi sunt This is that Goliahs sword whereby the Philistine himselfe is wounded This is that Hercules clubbe to smite the madde dogs amongst the heathen Habadallus Mahomets scholler that Syrian Tyrant forbad all Christian children in his dominions to goe to schoole that by ignorance hee might draw them to superstition For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be destitute of learning is to dance in the darke These were all Sathans instruments yet they come short of the Pope whose pollicie to aduance his Hierarchie is to oppresse mens consciences with ignorance teaching that the fulnesse of zeale doth arise from the emptinesse of knowledge euen as fast as fire flasheth out of a fish-pond There are degrees in sin so in ignorance It is a sin to be ignorant of that we
better life is the soule spoiled of when sinne hath taken it captiue The Adultresse will hunt for the precious life She is ambitious and would vsurpe Gods due and claime the heart the soule Hee that doth loue her destroyeth his owne soule Which shee loues not for it selfe but for the destruction of it that all the blossomes of grace may dwindle and shrinke away as bloomes in a nipping Frost and all our comforts runne from vs as flatterers from a falling Greatnesse or as Vermine from an house on fire Nay euen both thy liues are endangered The wicked man goâ—â—h after her as a foole to the correction of the stâ—ckes till a 〈◊〉 strike through his liuer as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life It is as ineuitably true of the spirituall Harlots mischiefe For the turning away of the simple shall slay them Saue my life and take my goods saith the prostrate and yeelding Traueller to the theefe But there is no mercy with this enemie the life must pay for it She is worse then that inuincible Nauy that threatned to cut the throates of all Men Women Infants but I would to God shee might goe hence againe without her errand as they did and haue as little cause to bragge of her conquests Thus haue wee discribed the Temptresse The Tempted followes who are here called the Dead There be three kindes of death corporall spirituall eternall Corporall when the body leaues this life Spirituall when the soule forsakes and is forsaken of grace Eternall when both shall be throwne into hell 1. is the seperation of the soule from the body 2. is the seperation of body and soule from grace 3. the seperation of them both from euerlasting happinesse Man hath two parts by which hee liues and two places wherein he might liue if hee obayed God Earth for a time Heauen for euer This Harlot Sin depriues either part of man in either place of true life and subiects him both to the first and second death Let vs therefore examine in these particulars first what this death is and secondly how Sathans guests the wicked may be said liable thereunto 1. Corporall death is the departure of the soule from the body whereby the body is left dead without action motion sense For the life of the body is the vnion of the soule with it For which essentiall dependance the soule is often called and taken for the life Peter said vnto him Lord why cannot I follow thee now I will lay downe my soule for thy sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soule meaning as it iâ— translated his life And He that findeth his soule shall loose it but hee that looseth his soule for my sake shall finde it Here the Soule is taken for the Life So that in this death there is the seperation of the soule and body the dissolution of the person the priuation of life the continuance of death for there is no possible regresse from the priuation to the habite except by the supernaturall and miraculous hand of God This is the first but not the worst death which sinnâ— procureth And though the speciall deaâ—nesse of the guests here be spirituall yet this which we call naturall may be implied may be applied for when God threatned death to Adams sinne in illo die mâ—riâ—ris in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die yet Adam liued nine hundred and thirtie yeares after There was notwithstanding no delay no delusion of Gods decree for in ipso die in that very day death tooke hold on him and so is the Hebrew phrase dying thou shalt dye fall into a languishing and incurable consumption that shall neuer leaue thee till it bring thee to thy graue So that hee instantly dyed not by present seperation of soule and body but by mortallitie mutabillitie miserie yea by sorrow and paine as the instruments and agents of Death Thus said that Father After a man beginneth to be in this body by reason of his sinne he is euen in death The wicked then are not onely called Dead because the conscience is dead but also in respect of Gods decree whose inviolable substitution of Death to Sinne cannot be euaded auoyded It is the Satute-law decreed in the great Parliament of Heauen Statutum omnibus seâ—el mori It is appoynted vnto men once to die Tâ—is is one speciall kindnesse that sinne doth vs one kisse of her lippes Shee giues her louers three mortall kisses The first kils the conscience the second the carkase the third body and soule for euer Death passed vpon all men for that all haue sinned So Paul schooles his Corinths For this cause many are weaâ—e and sicke among you and many sleepe And conclusiuely peccati stipendium mors The wages of sinne is Death This Death is to the wicked death indeed euen as it is in it owne full nature the curse of God the suburbes of Hell Neither is this vniust dealing with God that man should incurre the death of his body that had reiected the life of his soule nisi praecessisset in peccato mors animae numquam corporis mors in supplicio sequerâ—tur If sinne had not first wounded the body death could not haue killed the soule Hence saith Augustine Men shunne the death of the flesh rather then the death of the spirit that is the punishment rather then the cause of the punishment Indeed Death considered in Christ and ioyned with a good life is to Gods elect an aduantage nothing else but a bridge ouer this tempestuous sea to Paradice Gods mercy made it so saith S. Augustine Not by making death in it selfe good but an instrument of good to his This hee demonstrates by an instance As the Law is not euill when it increaseth the lust of sinners sâ— death is not good though it augmâ—nt the glory of suâ—ferers The wicked vse the law ill though the law be good The good die well though death be euill Hence saith Solomon The day of death is better then the day of ones birth For our death is not obitus sed abitus not a perishing but a parting Non amittitur anima praemittitur tantum The soule is not lost to the body but onely sent before it to ioy Si duriùs seponitur meliùs reponitur If the soule be painfully laid off it is ioyfully laid vp Though euery man that hath his Genesis must haue his Exodus and they that are borne must dye Yet saith Tertullian of the Saints Profectio est quam putas moâ—tem Our dying on earth is but the taking our iourney to Heauen Simeon departs and that in peace In pace in pacem Death cannot be euentually hurtfull to the good for it no sooner takes away the temporall life but Christ giues eternall in the roome of it Alas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpora cadauera Our graues shall as
surely be Coffins to our bodies as our bodies haue beene Coffins to our soules The minde is but in bondage whiles the body holds it on earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato affirmes Of whom saith an Anthony that when hee saw one too indulgent to his flesh in high Diet he asked him What doe you meane to make your prison so strong Thus qui gloriatur in viribus corporis gloriatur in viribus carceris He that boasteth the strength of his body doth but bragge how strong the Prison is wherein he is â—ayled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The body is the disease the graue the destinie the necessitie and burden of the soule Hinc cupiunt metuuntque dolent gaudentque nec auras Respiciunt clausae tenebris et carcere caeco Feares ioyes griefes and desires mans life do share It wants no ills that in a Prison are It was a good obseruation that fell from that Stoicke Homo calamitatis fabula infaelicitatis tabula Man is a Storie of woe and a map of miserie So Mantuan Nam quid longa dies nobis nisi longa dolorum Colluvies Longi patientià carceris aetas It appeares then that Death is to the good a procurer of good Mors intermittit vitam non eripit Venit iterum qui nos in lucem râ—ponat dies Their Death is but like the taking in sunder of a Clocke vvhich is pulled a pieces by the makers hand that it may bee scowred and repolished and made goe more perfectly But Death to the wicked is the second step to that infernall Vault that shall breede either an innouation of their ioyes or an addition to their sorrowes Diues for his momentanie pleasures hath insufferable paines Iudas goes from the Gallowes to the Pit Esau from his dissolution in earth to his desolation in Hell The dead are there Though the dead in soule be meant literally yet it fetcheth in the body also For as originall sinne is the originall cause of Death so actuall sinnes hasten it Men speede out a Commission of Iniquities against their owne liues So the enuious man rots his owne bones The Glutton strangles the Drunkard drownes himselfe The male-content dryes vp his blood in fretting The couetous whiles he Italionates his conscience and would Romanize his estate starues himselfe in plaine English and would hang himselfe when the Market falls but that hee is loath to be at the charges of a Halter Thus it is a Feast of Death both for the present sense and future certaintie of it The dead are there 2. Spirituall death is called the death of the soule which consisteth not in the losse of her vnderstanding and will these she can neuer loose no not in Hell but of the truth and grace of God wanting both the light of faith to direct her and the strength of Loue to incite her to goodnesse For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace The soule is the life of the body God of the soule The spirit gone vtterly from vs wee are dead And so especially are the guests of Satan dead You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sinnes And the Widdow that liueth in pleaâ—ure is dead whiles she liueth This diuorcement and seperation made betwixt God and the soule by sinne is mors animae the death of the soule But your Iniquities haue seperated betweene you and your God But we liue by faith and that in the Sonne of God His spirit quickens vs as the soule doth a lumpe of flesh when God infuseth it Now because these termes of spirituall death are communicated both to the elect and reprobates it is not amisse to conceiue that there is a double kinde of spirituall death 1. In regard of the Subiect that dieth 2. In regard of the Obiect whereunto it dieth Spirituall death in the faithfull is three-fold 1. They are dead to Sinne. How shall wee that are dead to sinne liue any longer therein A dead nature cannot worke He that is dead to sinne cannot as hee is dead sinne Wee sinne indeede not because wee are dead to sinne but because not dead enough Would to God you were yet more dead that you might yet more liue This is called Mortification What are mortified Lustes The wicked haue mortification too but it is of grace Matth. 8. They are both ioyntly expressed Let the dead burie the dead Which Saint Aâ—gustine expounds Let the spiritually dead bury those that are corporally dead The faithfull are dead to sinne the faithlesse are dead in sinne It is true life to bee thus dead Mortificatio concupiscentiae viâ—ificatio animae so farre is the spirit quickened as the flesh is mortified So true is this Paradoxe that a Christian so farre liues as he is dead so farâ—e he is a Conquerour as he is conquered Vincendo se vincitur à se. By ouercomming himselfe he is ouercome of himselfe Whiles hee ouer-rules his lustes his soule rules him When the outward cold rageth with greatest violence the inward heat is more and more effectuall When Death hath killed and stilled concupiscence the heart begins to liue This warre makes our peace This life and death is wrought in vs by Christ who at one blow slew our sinnes and saued our soules Vna eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit One and the same hand gaue the wound and the cure Vulneratur concupiscentia sanatur conscientia The deadly blow to the concupiscence hath reuiued the conscience For Christ takes away as well dominandi vim as damnandi vim the dominion of sinne as the damnation of sinne He died that sinne might not raigne in our mortall body he came to destroy not onely the Deuill but the workes of the Deuill Hence if you would with the spectacles of the Scriptures reade your owne estates to God Reckon your selues to be dead indeede vnto sinne but aliue vnto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. This triall consists not in being free from lusts but in brideling them not in scaping tentation but in vanquishing it It is enough that in all these things wee are more then Conquerours through him that loued vs. 2. They are dead to the Law For I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might liue vnto God Wherein hee opposeth the Law against the Law the new against the olde the Lawe of Christ against that of Moses This accuseth the accusing condemneth the condemning Law The Papists vnderstand this of the ceremoniall Law but Paul plainely expresseth that the Law morall which would haue beene to vs a Law morâ—all is put vnder wee are dead vnto it As Christ at once came ouer death and ouercame death et super it eâ— superat So we in him are exempted from the condemning power and killing letter of the Law and by being dead vnto it are aliue ouer it
Nothing in grace though somthing in nature knowledge humane is a good stirrop to get vp by to preferment Diuine a a good gale of winde to wast vs to Heauen But charity is better Knowledge often bloweth vp but charitie buildeth vp Aristotle calles knowledge the Soules eye but then saith our Sauiour if the light be darknesse how great is that darknesse True it is that knowledge without honesty doth more hurt The Vnicornes horne that in a wise mans hand is helpfull is in the beasts head hurtfull If a man be a beast in his affections in his maners the more skilful the more illfull Knowledge hath two pillars Learning and Discreation The greatest Scholler without his two eyes of Discreation and Honestie is like blinde Sampson apt to no good able to much mischiefe Prudence is a vertue of the soule nay the very â—oule of vertue The Mistresse to guide the life in goodnes All morall vertues are beholding to wisedome She directs Bounty what to giue when to giue where to giue And Fortitude with whom for what and how to sight Knowledge is excellent to preuent dangers imminent and to keepe vs from the snares of this strange woman But if the Deuill in our dayes should haue no guests but those that are meerely ignorant his roomes would be more emptie then they are and his Ordinarie breake forwant of Customers But now a-dayes alas when was it much better and yet how can it be much worse we know sinne yet affect it act it Time was we were ignorant and blinde now wee haue eyes and abuse them Tyre and Sidon burne in Hell and their smoake ascends for euermore that had no preaching in their Cities but our Country is sowne with mercies and our â—elues fatted with the doctrine of life who shall excuse our lame leane and ill-fauoured liues Let vs beware Bethsaida's woe If the Heathen shall wring their hands for their Ignorance then many Christians shall rend their harts for their disobedience He that despised Moses Law died without mercie vnder two or three witnesses He that despiseth not he that transgresseth for so do all He that reiected and departed from the Law Church of Israel died without mercy eternally for other transgressors died without mercie temporally Of how much sorer punishment shal he be thought worthy c. that treads vnder his foot not Moses but Christ counts not the blood of Goats but of Gods Son vnhely and despiteth which is more then despiseth the spirit not of feare bondage but of grace All the learning of the Philosophers was without an head because they were ignorant of God Seeing they were blinde speaking they were dumbe hearing they were deafe like the Idol-Gods in the Psalme We want not an head but an heart not the sense of knowledge but the loue of obedience wee heare and see and say and know but doe not If you know that Gods cheare is so infinitely better why doe you enter commons at Satans Feast The Schoole calls one kind of knowledge Scientia contristans a sorrowfull knowledge Though they intend it in another sense it may be true in this for it is a wofull knowledge when men with open eyes runne to Hell This is Vriahs letter contayning his owne death These tell Christ wee knew thee Christ tels them I know not you These times are sicke of Adams disease that had rather eate of the tree of knowledge then of the tree of life speculatiue Christians not actiue obedient Saints You cannot plead that you know not the dead are there behold wee haue told you Quit your selues But many mens Ignorance is disobedience they will not know that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depth of Hell Which now presseth vpon vs to be considered Solomon hath described the persons feasting and feasted The place remaines the depth of Hell This is the Banketing house It amplifies the miserie of the guests in three circumstances 1. their weaknesse they are soone in 2. the place Hell 3. the vnrecouerablenesse of it The depth of Hell 1. Per infirmitatem In regard of their weaknesse No sooner come to the Banket but presently in the Pit they are in they are soone in They would not resist the tentation when it was offered they cannot resist the tribulation when it is to be suffered They are in No wrastling no contending can keepe them from falling in Into the pit they runne against their will that ranne so volently so violently to the brinkes of it As a man that hath taken his careere and runnes full fling to a place cannot recoile himselfe or recall his strength on the sodaine Hee might haue refused to enter the race or recollected himselfe in time but at the last step he cannot stop nor reuocare gradum rescue himselfe from falling The guests that hasten themselues all their life to the feast of vanitie and neither in the first step of their youth nor in the middle race of their discreetest age returne to God doe at last without Christs helpe precipitate themselues into the depth of Hell Thinke oh thinke ye grâ—edie Dogges that can neuer fast enough deuoure your sinfull pleasures if in the pride of your strength the May of your blood the marrow and vertue of your life when you are seconded with the gifts of nature nay blest with the helps of heauen you cannot resist the allurements of Satan how vnable will you be to deale with him when custome in sinne hath weakened your spirits and God hath withdrawne his erst afforded comforts They that runne so fiercely to the pit are quickly in the pit The guests are in the depth of Hell 2. Per infernitatem In regard of the place it is Hell The Prophet Esay thus describes it Topheth is ordained of old hee hath made it deepe and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a streame of Brimstone doth kindle it Topheth was a place which the children of Israell built in the valley of Hinnon to burne their sonnes and daughters in the fire to Moloch Which valley was neere to Iebusi afterwards Ierusalem as appeares Iosuah 18. The Councell of Ierusalem whiles their power lasted vsed to punish certaine offenders in that valley being neere their Citie By this is Hell resembled And that in Peter Martyrs opinion for three reasons 1. Being a bottome a low valley it resembleth Hell that is beleeued to be vnder the earth 2. By reason of the fire wherewith the wicked are tormented in Hell as the children were in that valley burnt with fire 3. Because the place was vncleane and detestable whither all vile and lothsome things were cast out of the Citie Ierusalem So Hell is the place where defiled and wicked soules are cast as vnworthie of the holy and heauenly City This place shall begin to open her cursed iawes when the Iudge of all men and Angels shall
diuided to our hands by the rule of three A tripartite Metaphore that willingly spreads it selfe into an Allegorie 1. Gods word is the Balme 2. The Prophets are the Physitians 3. The People are the Patients who are very sicke Balme without a Physitian a Physitian without Balme a Patient without both is in fausta separatio an vnhappy disiunction If a man be ill there is neede of Physicke when he hath Physicke he needes a Physitian to apply it So that here is miserie in being sicke mercie in the Physicke Not to disioyne or disioynt the Prophets order let vs obserue that the words are spoken 1. In the person of God 2. In the forme of a question 3. By a conclusiue inference Onely two things I would first generally obserue to you as necessarie inductions to the subsequent Doctrines Both which may naturally be inferred not tyrannously enforced from the words That which first obiects it selfe to our consideration is the Wisedome of God in working on mens affections which leades vs here from naturall wants subiect to sense to supernaturall inuisible and more secret defects from miseries to mysteries That as if any man admired Solomons House they would be rauished in desire to see Gods House which transcended the former so much as the former transcended their expectation So heere wee might be led from mans worke to Gods worke from things materiall to things mysticall and by the happinesse of cure to our sicke bodies be induced to seeke and get recouerie of our dying soules The second is the fit collation and respondent relation of Diuinitie and Physicke the one vndertaking to preserue and restore the health of the body the other performing much more to the soule 1. God leades vs by sensible to the sight of insensible wants by calamities that vexe our liuing bodies to perils that endanger our dying Consciences That wee might inferre vpon his premisses what would be an eternall losse by the sight of a temporall crosse that is so hardly brooked If a famine of bread be so heauie how vnsupportable is the dearth of the Word saith the Prophet Man may liue without bread not without the word If a wearie Traueller be so vnable to beare a burden on his shoulders how ponderous is sinne in the Conscience which Zacharie calls a talent of Lead If blindnesse be such a miserie what is â—gnorance lf the night be so vncomfortable what doth the darknesse of Superstition afford If bodily Disease so afflict our sense how intollerable will a spirituall sicknesse proue Thus all earthly and inferiour Obiects to a Christian soule are like Marginall hands directing his reading to a better and heauenly reference I intend to vrge this poynt the more as it is more necessarie both for the profit of it being well obserued and for the generall neglect of it because they are few in these dayes that reduce Christianitie to Meditation but fewer that produce Meditation to practise and obedience Diseases destined toward Death as their end that can by Nature neither be violently endured nor violently repelled perplexe the flesh with much paine but if Diseases which be Deaths capitall Chirurgions his preceding Heraulds to proclaime his neerenesse his Ledgers that vsurpe his place till himselfe comes be so vexing and full of anguish what is Death it selfe which kils the Diseases that killed vs For the perfection of sicknesse is Death But alas if the sicknesse and Death of the body be such what are Sinne the sicknesse and Impenitencie the death of the soule What is the dimmed eye to the darkned vnderstanding the infected members to the poysoned affections the torment of the reynes to the stitches girds and gripes of an aking Consciencâ— what is the Childes caput dolet my head akes to Ierusalems cor dolet my heart akes The soule to leaue the body with her offices of life is not so grieuous as Gods spirit to relinquish the soule with the comforts of grace In a word it is farre lesse miserable to giue vp the ghost then to giue vp the holy Ghost The soule that enters the body without any sensible pleasure departs not from it without extreame paine Hee that is animans animas the soule of our soules forsakes not our spirits but our paine is more though our sense be lesse As in the Warres the cut of a sword crossing the Fibres carries more smart vvith it though lesse mortallitie then the fatall charge of a Death-thundring Cannon The soule hath two places an Inferiour which it ruleth the body a Superiour wherein it resteth God! Mans greatest sorrow is when hee dyes vpwardly that GOD forsakes his God-forsaking soule His greatest sense when he diâ—s downewards and sicknesse disperseth and dispatcheth his vitall powers Let then the inferiour suffering vvaken vs to see the Superiour that doth vveaken vs. Thus God drawes our eyes from one obiect to another nay by one to another by that which wee loue on earth to that which wee should loue in Heauen by the prouidence for our bodies to the prouision for our soules So our Sauiour hauing discoursed of carefulnesse for terrene wants drawes his speech to the perswasion of celestiall benefits giuing the coherence with a But. But first seeke ye the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and all these inferiour things shall be added vnto you Vt ad excellenâ—iam diuinarum rerum per corporalia homines attollat That at once hee might lesson vs to holy duties and lessen our care for earthly things Thus quios homini sublime dedit cor subliâ—ius eleuare voluit Hee that gaue man a countenance lifted high meant to erect his thoughts to a higher contemplation For many haue such groueling and earth-creeping affections that if their bodies curuitie was answerable to their soules incederent quadrâ—pides they would become foure-footed beasts It is a course preposterous to Gods creation disproportionable to mans fabricke that he should fixe his eyes and thoughts and desires on the base earth made for his feete to stand on and turne his feete against Heauen in contempt lifting vp his heele against God Hee whose ill-ballancing Iudgement thinkes Heauen light and Earth onely weightie and worthie doth as it were walke on his head with his heeles vpward I haue heard Trauellers speake of monstrous and praeternaturall men but neuer any so contranaturall as these Christ knew in the dayes of his flesh what easie apprehension worldly things would finde in vs what hard impression heauenly would finde on vs therefore so often by plaine comparisons taught secret Doctrines by Histories Misteries How to the life doth he explaine the mercie of God to the miserie of man in the lost Sheepe in the lost Groat in the lost Sonne How sweetly doth hee describe the different hearers of Gods Oracles in the Parable of the Seede which howsoeuer it seemed a Riddle to the selfe-blinding Iewes yet was a familiar demonstration to the beleeuing Saints So the Prophets found
as a Hammer to breake the stone in the heart The stone in the reines is dangerous in the bladder painefull but none so deadly as the stone in the heart This Balme supples the stonie heart and turnes it into a heart of flesh 3. They commend their Balme for a speciall ease to the anger of a venomous biting But our Balme is more excellent in aculeum Draconis imò mortis against the sting of that great red Dragon nay of Death it selfe Oh Death where is thy sting Three Serpents giue vs vâ—nomous wounds Sinne first stings vs the Deuill next and Death last This Balme of Christ fetcheth out all their poysons 4. Others say of this Balme that it is the best solution to the obstructions of the Liuer I haue heard the Liuer in the body compared with zeale in the soule The Liuer according to Phisitians is the third principall member wherein rest the animall spirits In the soule two graces precede Zeale Faith and Repentance I say not this in thesi but in hypothesi not simply but in respect and that rather of order then of time For a man is begotten of immortall seed by the Spirit at once Now as the Liuer calefies the stomach like fire vnder the Pot and thence succours digestion so doth zeale heate a mans workes with an holy feruour which are without that a cold sacrifice to God A soule without zeale doth as hardly liue as a body without a Liuer Haly calles the Liuer the Well of Moisture wee may say of zeale it is the very Cisterne whence all other graces as liuing there doe issue forth into our liues The Liuer is called Hepar and Iecur because it draweth iuyce to it selfe turneth it into blood by vaines serueth the body as the water-house doth a Citie by pipes Nay it ministreth a surging heate to the braine to the eyes to the wits saitâ— Isidore The Pagan Nigromancers sacrificed onely Liuers on the alâ—ar of their God Phaebus before his oraculous answeres were giuen In the soule other graces as Faith Hope Charitie Repentance did first rather breede zeale but zeale being once inkindled doth minister nutrimentall heate to all these and is indeede the best sacrifice that wee can offer to God Without zeale all are like the oblation of Caine. Now if any obstructions of sinne seeme to oppresse this Zeale in vs this Balme of Gods word is the onely soueraigne remedy to cleanse it For the zeale is dangerous as the Liuer either by too much heate or too much cold to be distempered To ouerheate the Liuer of zeale many haue found the cause of a perillous surfetin the Conscience whiles like the two Disciples nothing could content them but fire from heauen against sinners If euer Bishop was in the time of Poperie away with the office now If euer Masse was said in Church pull it downe Though some depopulatours haue now done it in extreame coldnesse nay frozen dregges of hart making them either no Churches or polluted ones whiles those which were once Temples for Gods shepherds are now coates for their owne Yet they in vnmeasurable heate wished what these with vnreasonable cold Liuers affected Such miserable theeues haue crucified the Church one by a new religion in will the other by a no religion in deed They would not onely take away the abuse but the thing it selfe not onely the Ceremonie but the substance As the Painter did by the picture of King Henry the eight whom hee had drawne fairely with a Bible in his hand and set it to open view against Queene Mary's comming in triumph through the Citie for which being reproued by a great man that â—aw it and charged to wipe out the booke he to make sure worke wiped out the Bible and the hand too and so in mending the fault hee maymed the picture This is the effect of praeter-naturall heate to make of a remedie a disease Thus whiles they dreame that Babilon stands vpon Ceremonies they offer to race the foundations of Ierusalem it selfe Well this Balme of Gods word if their sicke soules would apply it might coole this vngentle heate of their liuers For it serues not onely to inkindle heate of zâ—ale in the ouer-cold heart but to refrigerate the preposterous feruour in the fiery-hote This is the sauing Balme that scoures away the obstructions in the Liuer and preuents the dropsie For the dropsie is nothing else saith the Philosopher but the errour of the digestiâ—e vertue in the hollownesse of the Liuer Some haue such hollownes in their zeale whiles they prâ—tend holinesse of zeale as was in the yron hornes of that false prophet Zedekiah that for want of applying this Balme they are sicke of the dropsie of hipocrisie Innumerable are the vses of Balme if wee giue credit to Phisitians vel potum vel inunctum It strengthens the nerues it excites and cherisheth the natiue heate in any part it succoureth the paraliticke and delayeth the fury of convulsions c. And last of all is the most soueragine help either to greene wounds or to inueterate vlcers These all these and more then euer was vntruely fained or truely performed by the Balsame to the body is spiritually fulfilled in this happy heauenly and true intrinsique Balme Gods word It heales the sores of the conscience which either originall or actuall sinne haue made in it It keepes the greene wound which sorrow for sinne cuts in the hart from ranckling the soule to death This is that Balsame tree that hath fructum vberrimum vsum saluberrimum plenteous fruit profitable vse and is in a word both a preseruatiue against and a restoratiue from all dangers to a beleeuing Christian. It is not onely Phisicke but health it selfe and hath more vertue sauing vertue validitie of sauing vertue then the tongues of men and Angels can euer sufficiently describe You haue heere the similitudes Heare one or two discrepancies of this naturall and supernatural Balmes For as no Metaphore should of necessitie runne like a Coach on foure wheeles when to goe like a man on two sound legges is sufficient so eartâ—ly things compared with heauenly must looke to fall more short then Linus of Hercules the shrub of the Cedar or the lowest Mole-banke of the highest Pyramides 1. This earthly Balme cannot preserue the body of it selfe but by the accession of the spirituall Balme Euen Angels food so called not because they made it but because they ministred it cannot nourish without Gods word of blessing For euery creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be receiued with thanksgiuing for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer If the mercie of God be not on our sustenance we may dye with meate in our mouthes like the Israelites If his prouidentiall goodnesse with-hold the vertue were our garments as costly as the Ephod of Aaron there is no benefit in them When many are sicke they trust to the Phisitians as Asa
nor a Tap-house-Lecture oâ—â—ly as among Drunkards that fetch authoritie from the pot like Augustus Caesar to taxe all the world but a Citie-lecture such a one as Iesabell read to Iezreell a publike Preaching her Pulpit being excelsa ciuitatis top-gallant filling eminent places with emanant poisons 2. Solomons Pulpit is yet transcendent and aboue it for it is a â—hrone a Throne of Iuorie ouerlaid with gold such a Throne as no Kingdome could follow it The Preacher is a King the Pulpit a Throne nay an Oracle de Solio rex oracula fundit For God gaue him wisedome yea such a wisedome that no man but his Antitype God and man did euer excell him 5 Their Commissions 1. The Deuill gaue Sinne her â—rrand guilded her tongue and poâ—soned her heart put a cup of damnation into her hand and the Sugar of Temptation to sweeten it allowed her for his Citie-Recorder or his Towne-â—laâ—ke and sealed her a commission from Helâ— as Saul had from the High-Priest to binde with snares Filios Tâ—rrae the Sonnes of Men. 2. But God gaue Solomon a celestiall roule to eate as to Ezâ—kiel and touched his lips with a coâ—le from his owne Altar as to Esay putting into his mouth documenta vitae the ordinances of eternall life God hath set this day before you two diuers Pulpits aduerse Preachers dissonant Texts declares who speakes by his warrant who besides it against it Behold as Moses said I haue set life and death before you take your choyse The Dialogue of both the verses present vs with a Banket conuiuium or conuitium rather a Feast but a Fast were better a Banket worse then Iobs childrens or the Dagonals of the Philistins like the Bacchanals of the Moenades when for the shutting vp of their stomachs the house fell downe and broke their neckes You haue offered to your considerations verse 17. supplying but the immediatly precedent word Dixit 1. The Inviter 2. the Cheare Solomon comes after as with Salt and Vinegar and tels you 3. the Guests 4. and the Banketting-house verse 18. But the dead are there c. The Inviter It is a woman She saith to him but that name is too good for she hath recouered her credit a woman as she brought woe to man so she brought forth a weale for maâ— causa dâ—licti solatium relicti an instrumentall cause of transgression and no lesse of Saluation If you say she brought forth Sinne without man so she brought forth a Sauiour without man as the Diuell tempted her to the one so the Holy Ghost ouershadowed her to the other This not a woman then but a Harlot meretricia mulier a degenerate woman vnwomaned â—t pudore pudicitia of both modestie and chastitie The feast is like to be good when an Harlot is the Hostice And sure the Scriptures found some speciall parietie if not identâ—tie betweene these two not making their names conuertible which had beene much but expressing by one word both of them which is more as if it concluded their professions and conditions names and natures all one which is most of all Impleta in nostris haec est Scriptura diebus Experience hath iustified this circumstance A Harlot then bids and feasts and kils what other successe can be looked for If Dalilah inuite Sampson waâ—e his lockes shee will spoile the Nazarite of his hayres there are many Dalilahs in these dayes I haue read of many Inviters in the holy Writ some good many indifferent most euill this worst of all 1. Good Matth. 22. you haue the King of Heauen a Feast-maker Cant. 5. you haue the Kings sonne a Feast-maker Iesus Christ bids Eate oh friends drinke abundantly oh beloued Reuel 22. you haue the Spirit of glorie a Feast-maker and an Inviter too The Spirit and the Bride say Come To this Feast few come but those that doe come are welcome well come in regard of themselues for there is the best cheare Blessed are they that are called to the Mariage-Supper of the Lambe welcome in respect of God who doth not grudge his mercies 2. Many indifferent and inclining to good Abrahams feast at Isaac's weaning Sampsons at his marriage The Wedding-feast in Cana where the King of glory was a Ghest and honoured it with a Miracle with the first Miracle that euer hee wrought 3. Euill Nabals feast at his Sheepe-shearing a drunken feast Belshazzars feast to a thousand of his Lords surfetting with full carouses from the sacred Boles a sacrilegious Feast The Philistins feast to the honour of Dagon an Idolatrous feast Herods birth-day-feast when Iohn Baptists head was the last course of the seruice a bloody feast The rich Churles a quotidian feast a voluptuous surfet all bad 4. This yet worst of all the Harlots feast where the Ghests at once comedunt comeduntur their soules feast on euils and are a feast to Deuils for whiles men deuoure sins sins deuoure them as Actaeon was eaten vp of his owne dogs This is a bloody Banket where no ghest escapes without a wound if with life for if Sinne keepe the Reuels Lusts are the Iunkets Ebrietie drinkes the Wine Blasphemie sayes the Grace and Bloud is the conclusion But allegorically Sinne is heere shadowed by the Harlot Voluptuousnâ—sse meretricum meretrix the Harlot of Harlots whose Bawde is Beâ—lsebub and whose Bridewell is broad Hell Wickednesse foeminei generis dicitur is compared to a Woman and hath all her senses Lust is her eye to see Briberie her hands to feele Sensualitie her palate to taste Malice her eare to heare Petulancy her nose to smell and because shee is of the foeminine sexe we will allow her the sixtsense tittle-tattle is hâ—r tongue to talke This is the common Hostice of the world Satans house-keeper whose dores are neuer shut nocâ—es atque dies patet c. There is no man in the world keepes such hospitalitie for hee searcheth the ayre earth sea nay the Kitchen of Hell to fit euery palate Vitellius searched farre and wide for the rarities of nature Birdes Beasts Fishes of inestimable price which yet brought in the bodies are scorned and onely the eye of this Bird the tongue of that Fish is taken that the spoyles of many might bee sacrifices to one supper The Emperour of the low Countries Hell hath delicates of stranger varitie curiositie Doth Iudas stomach stand to treason there it is hee may feede liberally on that dish Doth Nero thirst for homicides the Deuill drinkes to him in â—oles of bloud is Ieroboam hungry of Idolatrie behold a couple of Calues are set before him hath Absolon the Court-appetite Ambition loe a whole Kingdome is presented him for a messe a shrewd baite Machiauâ—ls position faith-breach for Kingdomes is no sinne The Deuill thought this Dish would please CHRIST himselfe and therefore offered him many kingdomes for
shamefull spewing shall be for your glory We haue all drunke liberally of these waters too prodigally at Sinnes fountaine Quando voluimus et quantum valuimus when we would as much as we were able not onely to drunkennesse but euen to surfet and madnesse if we keepe them in our stomachs they will poyson vs Oh fetch them vp againe with buckets of sighes and pumpe them out in riuers of teares for your sinnes Make your heads waters and your eyes fountaines weepe your consciences emptie and dry againe of these waters Repentance onely can lade them out They that haue dry eyes haue waterish hearts and the Prouerbe is too true for many No man comes to heauen wiâ—h drie eyes let your eyes gush out teares not onely in compassion for others but in passion for your selues thaâ— haue not kept Gods Law Weepe out your sullen waters of discontent at Gods doings your garish waters of pride freezing obduracie burning malice foggie intemperancâ— base couetise Oh thinke thinke how you haue despised the waters of life turned Iesus Christ out of your Inne into a beastly Stable whiles Pride sits vppermost at your Tables Malice vsurpes the best Chamber in your mindes Lust possesseth your eyes Oathes imploy your tongues Ebrietie bespeake your tastes Theft and iniurie inthrone themselues in your hands Mammon obsesseth your affections Sicke sicke all ouer you may cry with the Shunamites Sonne Caput dolet my head my head and with Ierusalem my bowels my bowels Oh let faith and repentance make way that the bloud of our Sauiour may heale you We are not onely guilty of auersion from God but of aduersion against God Oh where is our reuersion to God the waters of lusts are aquae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the waters of folly and madnesse but our teares are aquae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the waters of change of minde and repentance Poenitentia est quasi poenae tenentia Repentance is a taking punishment of our selues oh take this holy punishment on your soulâ—s Weepe weepe weepe for your vanities Achan cannot drinke vp his execrable gold nor Gehazi deuoure his bribes nor Ahab make but a draught of a vineyard mingled with bloud nor Iudas swallow downe his cousenage and treason without being called to a reckoning Nos quare non credimus quod omnes astabimus ante tribunal Why account wee not of our future standing before a Iudgement Scate Omnium aures pulso All we whom these walls compasse haue beene drunken with these waters some that hate Swearing with dissembling some that abhorre Idolatrie with profanenesse some that auoid notoriousnesse with hypocrisie many that pretend ill-will to all the rest with those Lares et Lemures household-Gods or rather household-Goblins and Deuils which almost no house is free from Fraud and Couetousnesse Wee know or at least should know our owne diseases and the speciall dish whereon wee haue surfetted oh why breake wee not forth into vlulations mournings and loud mournings for our sinnes cease not till you haue pumped out the sinnes of your soules at your eyes and emptied your consciences of these waters And then behold other behold better behold blessed waters you taste of them in this life and they fill your bones with Marrow and your hearts with ioy they alone satisfie your thirst without which though you could with Xerxes Armie drinke whole Riuers drie your burning heat could not be quenched Here drinke Bibite et inebriamini Drinke and be drunken in this Wine-celler onely hauing drunke hearty draughts of these waters of life retâ—ine them constantly be not queasie-stomached Demas-like to cast them vp againe the token of a cold stomach not yet heated by the spirit for as the loathing of repast is a token that Nature drawes toward her end so when these holy waters proue fastidious it is an argument of a soule neere her death Take then and digeâ—â— this water Recipitur aure retinetur corde perficitur opâ—re The eare receiues the heart retaines the life digests it but alas we retaine these waters no longer then the finger of the Holy Ghost keepes them in vs like the â—arden-pot that holds water but whiles the thumbe is vpon it Leaue then Beloued the Deuils Wine-Celler as Venerable Bede calls it Vbi nos dulcedo delectationis invitauit ad bibendum Where the sweet waters of delight tempt vs to drinke But Dauid though he longed for it would not drinke the water of the Well of Bethlehem which his three Worthies fetched because it was the water of bloud brought with the danger of life and shall wee drinke the waters oâ— the Deuils Banket the venture of bloud with the hazard of our dearest soules No come wee to this aqua Coelestis be wee poore or rich haue wee money or none all that come are welcome And know that hauing drunke liberally at the fountaine of grace you shall haue yet a larger and pleasanter draught at the fountaine of glory that riuer of life cleare as Christall proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lambe to which the Spirit and the Bride are Inviters and say come It is a delightfull banket we enioy heere The Kingdome of heauen is rightâ—ousnesse and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost None know the sweetnesse of these ioyes but they that feele them but the Supper of ioy the Banket of glory the Waters of blessednesse are such as no â—ye hath seene c. Illic beata vita in fonte There is the Spring-head of happinesse they cannot want water that dwell by the Fountaine Nam licet allata graâ—us sit sapor in vndâ— Dulcius ex ipso fonte bibantur aquae That which is deriued to vs in Pipes is pleasant oh what is the delight at the Well-head The Deuill like an ordinary Host sets forth his best wine first and when the guests haue well drunke worse but thou oh Lord hast kept the best wine tâ—ll the last They are sweet wee taste heere but medio de sonte leporum surgit amari aliquid There are some persecutions crosses to imbitter them the sweet meate of the Passeouer is not eaten without sowre hearbs but in thy presence oh Lord iâ— the fulnesse os ioy at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore There is no bitternesse in those waters they are the same that God himselfe and his holy Angels drinke of so that as for Christ his sake wee haue drunke the bitter Cup of persecution so we shall receiue at Christ his hands the Cup of saluation and shall blesse the name of the Lord. To whom three persons one onely true and eternall God be all praise glory and obedience now and for euer Amen FINIS THE Second Seruice OF THE DEVILS BANKET BY THOMAS ADAMS Preacher of Gods Word at Willington in Bedford-shire ZACHARIAH 5.4 I will bring forth the curse saith the Lord of Hostes and it shall enter into
a glasse if it bee once crack'd it is soone broken euery Brier is readie to snatch at the torne garment 3. The worst blow lights on his owne soule for the Arrow will rebound Maledixit sibi The slandered scapes best For God shall bring forth his righteousnesse as the light c. These are those Hogges in a Garden which roote vp the flowers of a mans good parts But if there were no receiuer there would be no Thiefe men would not so burden themselues with the coales of contumely if they had no where to vnloade them It were well for Mephibosheth that Ziba dwelt a good way from Court If Saul were deafe or Doeg dumbe no matter which for these are two Whelpes of that Littour that must goe to hell one hath the Deuill in his eares the other in his tongue It is a good generall rule of Saint Bernard to gouerne our tongues by Sint verba tua rara vera ponderosa rara contra multiloquium vera contra falsiloquium ponderosa contra vaniloquium Let thy words bee few true substantiall many words false words vaine words become not a Christians lips Inuectiues against other men are euer euill but then worse when they be false a man may sinne euen in speaking the truth when iust circumstances forbid it but hee cannot but sinne in lying and there is no circumstance can cleare him Cor linguae foederat naturae sanctio veluti in quodam certo connubio ergo cum dissonent cor et locutio sermo concipitur in adulterio Nature hath knit the heart and the tongue together in the bands of marriage that which the tongue brings forth without or contrary to the heart is the birth of adulterie Speake then the truth from thy heart but wrong not thy brother with a needlesse truth Thus Calumnies are stollen waters Beware then you Diaboli accusers of your Brethren Dogges with arrowes in your thighes that are troubled with sore mouthes and Cankers in your teeth you drinke stollen waters and minister them to others also both Physitian Patient shall die for it 6. The last Viall of this Course is Flatterie a water taken out of Narcissus Well whereof when great men drinke plentâ—fully they grow madde in their owne admiration and when Selfe-loue hath once befool'd the braines the Deuill himselfe would not wish the traine of consequent sinnes longer This is a terrible enchantment that robs men with delight that counts simplicity a silly thing and will sweare to a falshood to please a Foelix This man out-runnes the Deuill he is the Father of lyes yet we neuer read that he swore to a lye for he that sweares acknowledgeth the Being that he sweares by greater then himselfe which the Deuill scornes to doe The Flatterer in auouching a lye and swearing to it hath a tricke beyond the Deuill The superlatiue titles of these men cause others to ouer-value themselues Pride deriues her encouragement from the Flatterers artificiall commendations Thou art farre in debt and fearest arrests hee that should come and tell thee thou art rich able to purchase swimmest in a full and flowing streame thou giuest no credite to him though hee would giue too much credite to thee Thy soules state is more beggarly broken bankerout of grace and runne in arrerages with God yet the Flatterer praiseth the riches of thy vertues and thou beleeuest him It is a fearefull and fanaticall blindnesse for a man to carie his eyes in a boxe like Plutarches lamiae and onely looke into himselfe by the eyes of his Parasites as if he desired to reade the Catalogue of his owne good parts through the spectacles of Flatterie which makes the least letter of a great shew and sometimes a Cipher to be mistaken for a figure The Sycophants language is a false glasse and represents thy conscience white when thou mayst change beautie with the Moore and loose not by the bargaine Let Herode be as hollow as a kexe and as light as Ayre yet weighed in his Parasites ballance hee shall poyse with solid Vertue nay with God himselfe Oh for some golden Statute against these Aristophanes Fawners and Herodian Picke-thankes that cry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Vox Dei like the Churchwardens Bils Omnia bene euery thing is as it should be when all the foundations of the earth are out of course These Italianate Apes and French Parrats that can spinne themselues silken sutes ex assentando on the voluble wheeles of their pleasing tongues Oh that wee could thinke when these beasts play and skippe aboue their wont that there is some tempest a comming The Flatterer is a delightfull Coosenage smooth periurie rumours friend Consciences aduersarie Honesties murderer Hee allures to Vice vnken'd colours Vice perpetrated the horriblest sinne is but an errour in his verdict He can Blesse and Curse with one mouth Laugh and Cry with one looke Kisse and Betray wirh one signe Bion compares him to a Beast Plato to a Witch all to a Theefe some to a Deuill Plus nocet lingua adulatoris quà m manus persecutorie There is no Foe to the Flatterer The Gramarians fitly Mobile cum fixo like the Adiectiue he varies case and gender with his Substantiue A Cameleon tetâ—git quoscunque colores to all colours except Red and White saith Plinie Red signifying Modestie White Innocencie Natio comaeda est rides maiore cachinno concutitur c. If thou sayest it is hote hee wipes his forehead if colde he quakes of an Ague As in the Delphicke Oracle Pythias did neuer prophecie but when shee was set on a Treuit and the winde blew intelligence into her so this Deuils prophet is dumbe till you set him on the Tripode of Ease Credit Gaine and stroke him on the head like a Spaniell and then hee will licke your hand and fill your eares with the Oracles of Hell Hee is sibi natus multis notus omnibus nocuus Mundi nothus Inferni nixus Hee is borne to himselfe knowne to many hurtfull to all the worlds Bastard Hels true-borne Childe Patitur dum potitur Hee suffers much that he may put vp somewhat when hee speakes of the absent hee knowes no case but the accusatiue loues none from his Patron but the datiue Hiâ— laudes numerat dum ille laudes munerat Hee will multiply thy praises if thou wilt diuide to him thy goods There is a monstrous fable in the Alcoran that the Earth is placed vpon the sharpe end of an Oxes horne the weakenesse whereof is the cause of Earthquakes but hee that fixeth his estate on â— Flatterers sharpe tongue will put an Earthquake into it and soone runne to ruine Our Chronicles report of Canutus that when his Flatterers stiled him Ruler of Sea and Land he commaunded his chaire of Estate to bee brought to the Sea-side and when the waues beat on him he cryed I commaund you to returne the sturde waters scornefull of such a controll as the Deuils
sinne that vvhiles men commit it it commits them either to the high-way or the Hedges and from thence either by a Writ or a Warrant an Arrest or a Mittimus to the prison Solomon saith Hee shall not be rich The Gut is a Gulfe that vvill easily swallow all his commings in Meat should be as wise Agur praied food conuenient for thee or as the Hebrew phrase is the food of thy allowance This dish is to feed on all dishes that may pleasâ— the appetite or rather may delight surfet for appetite dares not lodge in an Epicures house This Sinne is instar omnium like the Feast it selfe saue that the Glutton feedes on Gods good â—reatures corporally but on Sathans mysticall boord is set nothing but what is originally euill and absolutely banefull So that here Gluttony that feeds on all Dishes is but a priuate Dish it selfe and though perhaps for the extent and largenesse it takes vp the greater roome yet for the number it is but one It is most rancke Idolatrie sayes Paul and so neere to Atheisme vvith a no-God that it makes a carnall God In mea paâ—ria Deus venter as profound and profane as the Babilonians sacrifice they to their Bell these to their Belly Perhaps you will say they are more kinde to themselues not a whit for they vvrappe vp death in their full morsels and swallow it as Pilles in the Pappe of delicatie They ouerthrow nature vvith that should preserue it as the Earth that is too rancke marres the Corne. They make short vvorke vvith their estates and not long vvith their liues as if they knew that if they liued long they must bee beggars therefore at once they make haste to spend their liuings and ende their liues Full Suppers midde-night Reuels Morning Iunkets giue them no time to blow but adde new to their indigested surfets They are the Deuils crammed Fowles like Aesops Henne too fat to lay to produce the fruites of any goodnesse They doe not dispensare but dissipare bona Domini wisely dispence but blindely scatter the gifts of GOD. They pray not so much for daily Bread as for daintie Bread and thinke God wrongs them if they may not Diues-like fare diliciously euery day Sense is their Purueyour Appetite their Steward They place Paradise in their throates and Heauen in their guts Meane time the state wastes the soule pines and though the flesh be puffed and blowne vp the spirits languish they loue not to liue in a Fenne but to haue a Fenne in them It is not plague enough that GOD withall sends leannesse into their soules but their estates sincke their liues fall away they spinne a webbe out of their owne bowels vvorse then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men-eaters they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe-eaters they put a Pleurisie into their bloods a Tabe and Consumption into their states an Apoplexie into their soules the meat that perisheth not is fastidious to their palates that they may feede on that which feeds on them and so at once deuoure and be deuoured drinke of a cup that drinkes vp them 3. The third Viall is Idlenesse a filching water to for it steales away our meanes both to get goods and to be good It is a rust to the Conscience a theefe to the estate The Idle man is the Deuâ—ls Cushion wherevpon he sits and takes his ease He refuseth all works as either thankelesse or dangerous Thus charactered he had rather freeze then fetch wood hee had rather steale then worke and yet rather begge then take paines to steale and yet in many things rather want then begge Ignaui sunt fures saith Melancthon Sluggards are theeues they robbe insensibly the Common-wealth most sensibly themselues Pouertie comes on him as an armed man The Idlesbie is pouerties prisoner if hee liue without a calling pouertie hath a calling to arrest him When the Cisterne of his patrimonie is emptied and seemes to inuite his labour to replenish it hee flatters himselfe with enough still and lookes for supply without paines Necessitie must driue him to any worke and what hee can not auferre he will differre auoyd hee will delay Euery get-nothing is a theefe and lazinesse is a stollen water if the Deuill can winne thee to plye hard this liquour hee knowes it will whet thy stomach to any vice Faction Theeuerie Lust Drunkennesse blood with many Birds of this blacke wing offer themselues to the Idle minde and striue to preferre their seruice Would you know sayes the Poet how Aegistus became an adulterer In promptu causa est desidiosus erat the cause is easie the answere ready hee was Idle Hee that might make his estate good by labour by Idlenesse robbes it This is a dangerous water and full of vile effects for when the lazie haue robbed themselues they fall aboard and robbe others This is the Idle-mans best end that as hee is a Thiefe and liues a beast so to dye a beggar 4. The fourth Cup is Enuie Water of a strange and vncouth taste There is no pleasure in being drunke with this stollen water for it frets and gnawes both in palates and entralls There is no good rellish with it either in tast or digestion Onely it is like that Acidula aqua that Plinie speakes of which makes a man drunke sooner then wine Enuie keepes a Register of Iniuries and graues that in Marble which Charitie writes in the dust Wrong It cannot endure that any should be conferred with it preferred to it Nec quemquam iam ferre potest Caesarue priorem Pompeiusue parem Caesar can brooke no Greater Pompey no riuall Iohn Baptist was of another spirit when he heard that the people had left him to follow Christ he spake with the voice of content My ioy is fulfilled He must encrease and I must decrease Inuidus non est idoneus auditor The enuious man is an incompetent hearer his eares are not fit to his head If hee heares good of another hee frets that it is good if ill he is discontent that he may not iudge him for it If wronged hee cannot stay Gods leasure to quit him he is straight either a Saul or an Esau by secret ambushes or by open hostillitie he must carue himselfe a satisfaction No plaister will heale his pricked finger but his heart-bloud that did it if he might serue himselfe he would take vnreasonable peny-worthes S. Augustine would coole his heate Vis vindicari Christiane Wilt thou bereuenged of thine aduersarie oh Christian tarry a while Nondum vindicatus est Christus Thy Lord and Sauiour is not yet auenged of his enemies Malice is so madde that it will not spare friend to wreake vengeance on foes So Garnet told the Powder-traitours that some innocent mighâ— be destroyed with many nocent if the publicke good could not otherwise be perfected His instance was that in a Towne besieged though some friends were there yet no wrong nor offence at
doings your transgressions doe appeare So the same people to the Sonne as they had erst to the Seruants Wee will not come vnto thee How often would I haue gathered you but you would not Yee will not come at mee that you might haue life 1. The way is easie 2. You shall haue life for comming it is worth your labour 3. You can haue it no where else then Come to mee No you will not come at mee as Daniel answered Belsâ—azzar Keepe thy rewards to thy selfe and giue thy gifts to another These are sinnes with lifting vp the hand and heâ—le against God the hand in opposition the heele in contempt There are two Ladders whereby men climbe into HEAVEN the godly by their Prayers the wicked by their sinnes By this latter Ladder did Sodome and Niniueh climbe GOD graunt our sinnes be not such climbers that presse into the presence Chamber of HEAVEN and will bee acquainted vvith GOD though to our confusion Are our wickednesses done in this Râ—â—â—on and Sphaere of sinne the Earth and must they come to Heauen first Must the newes be at the Court of what is done in the Coâ—ntrie before the Countrie it selfe know of it Our consciences take no notice of our owne iniquities but they complaine in the audience-Court of HEAVEN and few out an Outlawry against vs. So impudent and vn-blushing is our wickednesse that with the Prophet wee may complaine Were they ashamed when they had committed abhomination nay they were not at all ashâ—med neither could they blush Our sinnes keepe not low water the tide of them is euer swelling they are obiects to the generall eye and proud that they may be obserued And let mee tell you many of the sinnes I haue taxed as secret and silent as you take them and as hoarcely as they are pleaded to speake are no lesse then Thunder to Heauen and Lightning to men They doe votally and vocally ascend that vvould actually if they could The labourers hyre cries in the gripulous Landlords hand The furrowes of the Incloser cry complaine nay weepe against him for so is the Hebrew word The vaine-glorious builder hath the stone crying out of the Wall against him and the beame out of the Timber answering it The Blasphemers tumult cryes and is come vp into the eares of God The Oppressors rage and violence reacheth vp to Heauen and is continually before mee saith the Lord. These are crying sinnes and haue shrill voices in Heauen neither are they submisse and whispering on the Earth To bee short most men are eyther Publicanes or Pharises eyther they will doe no good or loose that they doe by ostentation Many act the part of a religious man and play Deuotion on the worlds Theater that are nothing beside the Stage all for sight Angels in the High-way Deuils in the by-way so monstrous out of the CHVRCH that they shame Religion It was prouerb'd on Nero It must needes be good that Nero persecutes their vvicked liues giue occasion to the world to inuert it on them It must needs be euill that such wretches professe Others are like Publicanes Onely they were Christened when they were Babes and could not helpe it but as angry at that indignitie they oppose Christ all their liues Take heed Beloued Hell was not made for nothing The Deuill scornes to haue his Court emptieâ— you will not bend you shall breake you will not serue God God will serue himselfe of you Put not these vices from you by your impudent cloakings How many staâ—d here guiltie of some of thesâ— sinnes How many may say with Aeneas Et quorum pars magna sui whereof I haue a great share Many cry out the dayes are euill whiles they helpe to make them worse All censure none amend If euery one would plucke a brand from this fire the flame would goe out of it selfe But whiles wee cast in our iniquities as Fewell and blow it with the Bellowes of disobedience wee make it strong enough to consume vs yea and all we haue For God will not spare euer he is iust and must strike Shall wee loosen our hands to impietie and tye God from vengeance I haue often read and seene that Mercy and 〈◊〉 meet together that Righteousnesse and Peace kisse one â—nother But Mercie and sinnefulnesse keepe not the saâ—e hoâ—sâ— Peace and wickednesse are meere straâ—â—ers To reconcile these is harder then to make the Wâ—lfe and Lâ—mbe liue together in quiet Thinke not that God can not strike Mars vlâ—or galeam quoque perdidit res non potuit seruare suas The Hâ—â—then Gods could not auenge their owne quarrels But our God caâ— punish a thousand wayes Fire Plague Warre Famine c. Milla nocendi artes Our sinnes may thriue a while and batten becaâ—se they liue in a friendlâ— Ayre and apt Soile but in the end they will ouerthrow both themselues and vs. Ciuitatis euersio est morum non murorum casus A Cities ouerthrow is sooner wrought by lewd liues then weake walles Were the walles of our Cities as strong-Turreted and inexpugnable as the wall that Phocas built about his Pallace yet it may bee really performed on them as the voyce in the night tolde him Did they reach the Clouds they may be scaled the sinne within will marre all Graâ—iores sunt mimici mores praui quà m hostes infesti Our worst enemies are our owne sinnes And thougâ— these punishments fall not suddenly yet certainely if repentance step not betweene Adam did not dye presently on his sin yet Gods Word was true vpon him for hee became instantly mortall sure to die and fell as it vvere into a Consumption that neuer left him till it brought him to the graue GOD hath leaden Feet but Iron hands take heede ye feasting Robbers when God strucke that secret theefe Iudas hee strucke home he tooke away the world from him or rather him from the world and sent him to his owne place Feast Reuell Ryot Couet Ingrosse Extort Hoord whiles you will Earth is not your House but your Bridge you must passe ouer it either to Canaan or Egipt Heauen or Hell euery man to his owne place Graunt oh deare Father that wee may so runne our short Pilgrimage on Earth that our dwelâ—ing-place may bee with thy Maiestie in Heauen through the merits and mercies of our Sauiour Iesus Christ. AMEN In conviuium Diabolicum They that to glut on sinnes such pleasure haue Descend with sickly Conscience to their graue Vnlesse Repentance and true Faith make sure The physicke of Christs bloud their wounds to cure Forbeare thou Christen'd soule the Deuils Feast And to Heauens Supper be a welcome Guest FINIS THE SHOT OR The vvofull price vvhich the wicked pay for the feast of Vanitie BY THOMAS ADAMS Preacher of Gods Word at Willington in Bedford-shire LVKE 16.25 But Abraham said Sonne remember that thou in thy life time receiuedst thy good things and
importunate Widdow to doe her iustice Hee cannot well be rid of her therefore he sets her a day of hearing and when it is come faileth her Shee cries yet lowder for audience and when all his corrupt and bribed affections cannot charme her silence he drownes her complaints at a Tauerne or laughes her out of countenance at a Theater But if the pulse beates not the body is most dangerously sicke if the conscience pricke not there is a dying soule It is a lawlesse Schoole where there is an awlesse Monitor The Citie is easily surprised where the watch cannot ring the alarmes No maruell if numnesse be in the heart when there is drunkennesse in the conscience These are the dead guests Dead to all goodnesse Deafe eares lame feete blinde eyes maimed hands when there is any imployment for them in Gods seruice Eyes full of lust void of compassion Eares deafe to the word open to vanitie Feete swift to shed blood slow to the Temple Hands open to extortion shut to charitie To all religion the heart is a piece of dead flesh No loue no feare no care no paine can penetrate their senselesse and remorselesse hearts I know that according to the speech of the Philosopher Nemo fit repente miser This is no sodaine euill they were borne sick they haue made themselues dead Custome hath inveterated the vlcer rankled the conscience and now sinne flowtes the Physitians cure knowing the soule dead Through many wounds they come to this death At first they sinne and care not now they sinne and know not The often taken Potion neuer works Euen the Physicke of reproofe turnes now to their hardning Oh that our times vvere not full of this deadnesse How many neuer take the maske of Religion but to serue their owne turnes And when pietie becomes their aduantage yet they at once counterfet and contemne it If a wished successe answere the intention of their minds and contention of their hands God is not worthie of the praise either theâ—r fortune or their wit hath the glory of the deede and thankes for it But if they be crossed God shall be blasphemed vnder the name of destinie and hee shall be blamed for their ill to whom they will not be beholding for their good God is not thought of but in extremitie not spoken of but in blasphemie Oh dead hearts whose funerall we may lament whose reviuing wee may almost not hope But what will this deadnesse neuer be a little wakâ—ned True it is that God must miraculously raise vp the soule thus dead and put the life of his grace into it or it is dâ—sperate The conscience I confesse will not euer lye quiet in these dead guests but as they haue iayled vp that for a while in the darknesse of Securitie so when God looseth it it will rage as fast against them and dogge them to their graues For as there is a Heauen on earth so a Hell on earth The dead to sinne are heauen'd in this world the dead in sinne are hell'd here by the tormenting anguish of an vnappeaseable conscience As Bishop Latimer in a Sermon told these guests of a Feast in Hell which wil afford them little mirth where weeping is serued in for the first course gnashing of teeth for the second So after their Feast on Earth which was no better then Numa's where the Table swomme with delicate dishes but they were swimming dishes spectandâ— non gustandae dapes Let them prepare for another Banket where groanes shall be their bread and teares their drinke sighes and sorrowes all their Iunkets which the Erynnis of conscience and the Megaera of desperation shall serue in and no euerlastingnesse of time shall take away But these spiritually dead guests doe not euermore scape so long sometimes God giues them in this life a draught of that viall of his wrath which they shall after sup off to the bottome The wicked man that had no feare now shall haue too much feare Hee that begun with the wanton Comedie of presumption and profanenesse ends with the Tragedie of horrour and despaire Before he was so a-sleepe that nothing could waken him now hee is so waking that nothing can bring him a-sleepe Neither disport abroad nor quiet at home can possesse him hee cannot possesse himselfe Sinne is not so smooth at setting forth as turbulent at the iourneyes end The wicked haue their day wherein they runne from pleasure to pleasure as Iobs children from banket to banket their ioyes haue changes of varietie little intermission no cessation neither come they faster then their lusts call for them So God hath his day And woe vnto you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you the day of the Lord is darknesse and not light As if a man did flee from a Lyon and a Beare met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the Wall and a Serpent bit him Such is the vnrest of a conscience brought to fret for his sinnes So August Fugit ab agro in ciuitatem à publico ad domum à domo in cubiculum He runnes from the field into the Citie from the Citie to his house and in his house to the priuatest Chamber but he cannot flie his enemie that cannot flie himselfe At first the Deuils guest pursues pleasure so eagerly that hee would breake downe the barres that shut it from him and quarrell with venture of his blood for his delights nay for the conditions of his owne sorrow and damnation Now pleasure is offered him no it will not downe Musicke stands at his Windore it makes him as mad with discontent as it did once with ioy No â—est can stirre his laughter no companie can waken his vnreasonable and vnseasonable melancholy Now hee that was madder then Nâ—ro in his delights fearâ— compasseth him on euerie side Hee starts at his owne shaddow and would change firmenesse with an Aspen leafe He thinkes like the Burgundians euery Thistle a Launce euery Tree a man euery man a Deuill They feare where no feare was saith the Psalmist They thinke they see what they doe not see This is the wicked mans alteration time is he will not be warned time comes hee will not be comforted Then he is satisfied with lusts that thought satisfaction impossible Riches wearie him now to keepe them more then they wearied him once to get them and that was enough So I haue read the oppressers will Lego omnia bona mea domino Regi corpus sepulturae animam diabolo I bequeath all my goods to the King my body to the graue my soule to the Deuill He that did wrong to all would now seeme to doe right to some in giuing his coyne to the Prince whom he had deceiued his soule to the Deuill whom hee had seâ—ued Wherein as he had formerly iniured man now he inâ—ures both God and himselfe too 3. I haue dwelt the longer on this spirituall deadnesse because the guests at this
haue giuen his last sentence At that day when Quaesitor scelerum veniet vindexque reorum the searcher of all and punisher of wicked hearts shall giue his double voyce of dread and ioy when hauing spoken peace to his Saints hee shall thunder out condemnation to the wicked Goe ye into euerlasting fire dent ocyus omnes Quas meruere pati sic stat sententia poenas And if here on earth Seiudice nemo nocens absoluitur a mans owne conscience condemne him for his sinnes how much greater shall be the iust condemnation of God Then all murdering Cains scoffing Chams persecuting Sauls theeuish and sacrilegious Achans oppressing Ahabs couetous Nabals drunken Hâ—lofernesses cruell Herods blasphemous Rabshaceh's vniust Pilates shall reape the seed in their eternall deaths which they haue sowne in their temporall liues There shall be scorching heate and freezing cold Ex vehementissimo calore ad vehementissimum frigus Without either act of refreshing or hope of releasing Euery day hath beene their Holy-day on earth euery day shall be their workie-day in Hell The Poets fained three furies Scindet latus vna slagello Altera tartareis sectos dabit anguibus artus Tertia fumantes incoquet igne genas One brings a Scorpion which the Conscience eates Another with yron whips the blacke flesh beates Whiles the third boyles the soule in scalding heates Nemo ad id sero venit vnde nunquam cum semel venit poterit reuerti No man can come too late to those sufferings from whence being once come hee can neuer returne This is Hell where darknesse shall be their prison euerlastingnes their fetters flames their torments angry Angels their tormenters Vbi nec tortores deficiant nec torti miserimoriantur Where the scourgers shal neuer be weary of afflicting nor the scourged faile their suffering But there shall be alwayes torments for the body and a body for torments Fire shall be the consummation of their plagues not the consumption of their persons Vbi per millia millia annorum cruciandi nec in secula seculorum liberandi Myriades of yeeres shall not accomplish nor determine their punishments It shall be their miserie Semper velle quod nunquam erit semper nolle quod nunquam non erit to haue a will neuer satisfied a nill neuer gratified 3. Per profunditatem The depth of Hell The Scripture is frequent to testifie Hell a deepe place and beneath vs. Capernaum shall be cast downe to Hell Solomon so speakes The way of life is aboue to the wise that hee may depart from Hell beneath And of this Harlot Her house is the way to Hell going downe to the chambers of death Her feete goe downe to death her steps take hold on Hell Downe and beneath doe witnesse the depth of Hell There are three places Earth Heauen Hell Earth wee all enioy good and bad promiscuously Heauen is prepared for the good and it is vpwards If ye be risen with Christ seeke the things that are aboue Hell is ordained for the wicked and it is downeward called here profundum a depth To define the locall place of Hell it is too deepe for me I leaue it to deeper iudgements I doe not giue Dâ—monax answere being asked where Hell was Expecta simul ac illuc venero et tibi per literas significabo Tarry till I come thither and I will send thee word by letters No I onely say this There is one wee are sure of it let vs by a good life be as sure to scape it But to confine my speech to the bounds of my Text I take it that by Hell the depth of it here is ment the deepe bondage of the wicked soules that they are in the depth of the power of Hell Sathan hauing by sinne a full dominion ouer their consciences For Hell is often allegorically taken in the Scriptures So Ionas cryes vnto God out of the belly of Hell Dauid sung de profundis Out of the depth haue I cryed vnto thee oh Lord. So Christ speakes of the vnbeleeuer that hee is already damned And the reprobate are here affirmed in the depth of Hell This exposition I esteeme more naturall to the words For as the godly haue a Heauen so the wicked a Hell euen vpon Earth though both in a spirituall not a literall sence The reprobates Hell on earth is double or of two sorts 1. In that the power of Hell rules in his conscience Hee walkes according to the course of this world and according to the Prince of the power of the Ayre the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Hee is taken and ledde captiue of the Deuilâ— as hereafter in the chaines of damnation so here in the bands of dominion which Solomon cals funes peccatorum as he hath drawne iniquitie with the cords of vanitie so hee shall be holden with the cords of his sinnes 2. There is a Hell in his conscience So Saint Augustine Sunt duo tortores anime Timor et Dolor The soule hath two tormentors euen in this life griefe for euill felt feare of euill to be felt Whereof the Poet. Sic mea perpetuos curarum pectora morsus fine quibus nullo consiciantur habent These are the fearefull terrours whereof the guilty heart cannot be quitted cannot be quieted though pleasure it selfe were his phisitian and the whole world his minstrell Domino priuante suo gaudio quid esse potest in gaudium when God withholds his musicke and peace what can make the heart merry Polidore Virgill thus writes of Richard the third's dreame the night before Bosworth-field That hee thought all the Deuils in Hell pulled and haled him in most hideous and vgly shapes And concludes of it at last Id credo non fuit somnium sed conscientia scelerum I doe not thinke it was so much his dreame as his wicked conscience that brought those terrours When this euill spirit comes on a wicked Saul let him goe to his merriest good fellowes beguile at once the time and himselfe with playes and sports feast away his cares at his owne table or burie them together with his wits at a Tauerne alas these are pitteous shifts weaker then wals of paper Sleepe cannot make his conscience sleepe perhaps the very dreames are fearefull It will not leaue thee till it hath shewed thee thy Hell no nor when it hath shewed thee it will it leaue thee quiet The more thou offerest to damme vp this current the more ragingly it swels and gusheth ouer the resisting banckes This wounded Conscience runnes like the stricken Deare with the arrow of death in the ribbes from thicket to thicket from shelter to shelter but cannot change her paine with her place The wound ranckles in the soule and the longer it goes on the worse still it festers Thus sinne that spake thee so faire at her inuiting to the Banket now presents to thy waked
made such rebellious creatures It is long before his wrath be incensed but if it be throughly kindled all the Riuers in the South are not able to quench it Daily man sinnes and yet God repents not that he made him Woe to that man for whose creation God is sorrie Woe to Ierusalem when Christ shall so complaine against her Stay the Bells ye Sonnes of wickednesse that ring so lowd peales of tumultuous blasphemies in the eares of God Turne againe ye wheeling Planets that moue onely as the sphere of this world turnes your affections and despise the directed and direct motion of Gods Starres Recall your selues ye lost wretches and stray not too farre from your Fathers house that your seekers come againe with a non est inuentus least God complaines against you as heere against Israell or with as passionate a voyce as once against the world It repents mee that I made them If wee take the words spoken in the person of the Prophet let vs obserue that hee is no good Preacher that complaines not in these sinfull dayes Esay had not more cause for Israell then we for England to cry Wee haue laboured in vaine and spent our strength for nought For if we equall Israell in Gods blessings wee transcend them in our sinnes The bloud-red Sea of warre and slaughter wherein other Nations are drowned as were the Egiptians is become dry to our feete of peace The Bread of Heauen that true Manna satisfies our hunger and our thirst is quenched with the waters of life The better Law of the Gospell is giuen vs and our sauing health is not like a curious piece of Arras folded vp but spread to our beleeuing eyes without any shadow cast ouer the beautie of it We haue a better high Priest to make intercession for vs in heauen for whom he hath once sacrificed and satisfied on earth actu semel virtute semper with one act with euerlasting vertue We want nothing that heauen can helpe vs to but that which wee voluntarily will want and without which wee had better haue wanted all the rest thankefulnesse and obedience We returne God not one for a thousand not a dramme of seruice for so many talents of goodnesse We giue God the worst of all things that hath giuen vs the best of all things Wee cull out the least sheafe for his Tyth the sleepiest houre for his prayers the chippings of our wealth for his poore a corner of the heart for his Arke when Dagon sits vppermost in our Temple He hath bowels of brasse and an heart of yron that cannot mourne at this our requitall We giue God measure for measure but not manner for manner For his blessings heapen and shaken and thrust together iniquities pressed downe and yet running ouer Like Hogges we slauer his pearles turne his graces into wantonnesse and turne againe to rend in pieces the bringers Who versing in his minde this thought can keepe his cheekes dry Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe night and day c. No maruell if animus meminisse horret The good soule tremble to thinke it especially when all this wickednesse ariseth not from Sodome and Sidon and Edom but from the midst of the daughter of Sion Hinc illae Lachrimae Hee that can see this and not sigh is not a witnesse but an agent and sinne hath obstructed his lungs he cannot sorrow Forbeare then you captious sonnes of Belial to complaine against vs for complaining against you Whiles this Hydra of Iniquitie puts forth her still-growing-heads and the sword of reproofe cannot cut them off what should we doe but mourne Quid enim nisi threna supersunt Whither can wee turne our eyes but wee behold and lament at once some rouing with lewdnesse some rauing with madnesse others reeling with ebrietie and yet others railing with blasphemie If we be not sad wee must be guilty Condemne not our passions but your owne rebellions that excite them The zeale of our God whom wee serue in our spirits makes vs with Moses to forget our selues Wee also are men of like passion with you It is the common plea of vs all If you aske vs why we shew our selues thus weake and naked we returne with Paul Why doe you these things Our God hath charged vs not to see the funerals of your soules without sighes and teares Thus saith the Lord Smite with thy hand and stampe with thy foote and say Alas for all the euill abominations of the house of Israell for they shall fall by the sword by the famine and by the pestilence Shall all complaine of lost labours and we brooke the greatest losse with silence Merchants waile the shipwracke of their goods and complaine of Pyrates Shepheards of their deuoured Flockes by sauage Wolues Husbandmen of the tyred earth that quites their hope with weedes And shall Ministers see and not sorrow the greatest ruine the losse of the world were lesse of mens soules They that haue written to the life the downfall of famous Cities either vastate by the immediate hand of God as Sodome or mediately by man as Ierusalem as if they had written with teares in stead of Inke haue pathetically lamented the ruines Aeneas Syluius reporting the fall of Constantinople historifies at once her passion his owne compassion for it The murthering of Children before the Parents faces the slaughtering of Nobles like beasts the Priests torne in pieces the Religious flea'd the holy Virgins and sober Matrones first rauished and then massacred and euen the Reliques of the Souldiours spoile giuen to the mercilesse fire Oh miseram vrbis faciem Oh wretched shew of a miserable Citie Consider Ierusalem the Citie of God the Queene of the Prouinces tell her Turrets and marke well her Bulwarkes carrie in your minde the Idaea of her glories and then on a sodaine behold her Temple and houses burning the smoke of the fire wauing in the ayre and hiding the light of the Sunne the flames springing vp to Heauen as if they would ascend as high as their sinnes had erst done her Old Young Matrons Virgins Mothers Infants Princes and Priests Prophets and Nazarites famished fettered scattered consumed if euer you read or heare it without commisseration your hearts are harder then the Romanes that destroyed it The ruine of great things wring out our pitie and it is onely a Nero that can sit and sing whiles Rome burnes But what are a world of Cities nay the whole world it selfe burning as it must one day to the losse of mens soules the rarest pieces of Gods fabricke on earth to see them manacled with the chaines of Iniquitie and led vp and downe by the Deuill as Baiazeth by that cruell Scithian stabbed and massacred lost and ruined by rebellious obstinacies and impenitencies bleeding to death like Babell and will not be cured till past cure they weepe like Rahell and will not be comforted to see this
of Christ. A weake body is a kinde of occasion to a strong faith It was good for me saith the Psalmist that I was in trouble It was good for Naaman that he was a Leaper this brought him to Elisha and Elisha to GOD. It was good for Paul that hee was buffeted by Satan It is prouerbially spoken of a graue Diuine that as pride makes sores of Salues so Faith makes Salues of sores and like a cunning Apothecarie makes a Medicinall composition of some hurtfull simples Of all hearbs in the Garden onely Rue is the hearbe of grace And in what Garden the rue of affliction is not all the flowers of grace will be soone ouer-runne with the weedes of impietie Dauid was a sinner in prosperitie a Saint in Purgatorie The afflicted soule driues vanitie from his dore Prosperitie is the Play-house Aduersitie the Temple Rarae fumant foelicibus arae The healthie and wealthie man brings seldome Sacrifices to Gods Altar Israels miserie had beene enough to helpe her recouerie if shee had gathered and vnderstood her vexation to God by Gods visitation on her and guessed the soules state by the bodies Shee did not therefore her sicknesse abides As Christ to the Pharises You say you see therefore be blinde still 3. As she did neither directly feele it nor circumstantially collect it so shee neuer confessed it Prima pars sanitatis est velle sanari The first entrance to our healing is our owne will to be healed How shall Christ either search our sinnes by the Law or salue them by the Gospel when we not acknowledge them Ipse sibi denegat curam â—ui Medico non publicat causam He hath no care of his owne Cure that will not tell the Phisitian his griefe What spirituall Phisitian shall recouer our persons when wee will not discouer our sores Stultorum incurata pudor malus vlcera celat Lay the guilt on your selues if you ranckle to death It is heauy in thy friends eares to heare thy groanes and sighes and plaints forced by thy sicke passion but then sorrow pierceth deepest into their harts through their eyes when they see thee growne speechlesse The tongue then least of all the losse doth mone When the lifes soule is going out or gone So there is some hope of the sinner whiles he can groane for his wickednesse and complaine against it and himselfe for it but when his voyce is hoarâ—'d I meane his acknowledgement gone his case is almost desperate Confession of sinnes and sores is a notable helpe to their Curing As Pride in all her Wardrobe hath not a better garment then humility many clad with that was respected in the eyes of God So nor humillity in all her store-house hath better food then Confession Dum agnoscit reus ignoscit Deus Whiles the vniust sinner repents and confesseth the iust God relents and forgiueth The confident Pharise goes from Gods dore without an Almes what neede the full be bidden to a Feast tolle vulnera tolle opus medici It is fearefull for a man to binde two sinnes together when hee is not able to beare the load of one To act wickednesse and then to cloake it is for a man to wound himselfe and then goe to the Deuill for a playster What man doth conceale God will not cancell Iniquities strangled in silence will strangle the soule in heauinesse There are three degrees of felicitie 1. non ofâ—endere 2. noscere 3. agnoscere peccata The first is not sinne the second to know the third to acknowledge our offences Let vs then honour him by Confession vvhom vvee haue dishonoured by presumption Though we haue failed in the first part of Religion an vpright life let vs not faile in the second a repentant acknowledgement Though wee cannot shew GOD with the Pharise an Inuentory of our holy workes Item for praying Item for fasting Item for paying Tythes c. Yet as dumbe as we are and fearefull to speake we can write with Zachaay His name is Iohn Grace grace and onely grace Meritum meum misericordia tua Domine My merit oh Lord is onely thy mercie Or as another sung well T is veré pius ego reus Miserere mei Deus Thou Lord art onely God and onely good I sinfull let thy mercie be my food Peccatum argumentum soporis confessio animae suscitatae Sinfulnesse is a sleepe Confession a signe that we are waked Men dreame in their sleepes but tell their dreames waking In our sleepe of securitie we leade a dreaming life full of vile imaginations But if wee confesse and speake our sinnes to Gods glory and our owne shame it is a token that Gods spirit hath wakened vs. Si non confessus lates inconfessus damnaberis The way to hide our iniquities at the last is to lay them open here Hee that couereth his sinnes shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall haue mercie Thiâ— is true though to some a Paradoxe The way to couer our sinnes is to vncouer them Quae aperiuntur in praesenti operiuâ—tur in vltimo die If wee now freely lay open our iniquities to our God he will conceale them at the latter day Else cruciâ—nt plus vulnera claâ—sa Sinnes that are smothered will in the end â—ester to death The mouth of Hell is made open to deuoure vs by our sinnes when we open our owne mouthes to confesse wee shut that Israell is not then restored because her sicknesse is not declared 4. The last defect to Israels Cure is the want of application What should a sicke man doe with Phisicke when hee lets it fust in a vessell or spils it on the ground It is ill for a man to mispose that to losse which God hath disposed to his good Beloued Application is the sweet vse to be made of all Sermons In vaine to you are our Ministeries of Gods mysteries when you open not the dores of your hearts to let them in In vaine we smite your rocky hearts when you powre out no floods of teares In vaine we thunder against your sinnes couetous oppresâ—ions of men treasonable Rebellions against God when no man sayes Master is it I Quod omnibus dicitur nemini dicitur Is that spoken to no man which is spoken to all men Whiles Couetousnesse is taxed not one of twenty Churles layes his finger on his owne sore Whiles Lust is condemned what Adulterer feeles the pulse of his owne conscience Whiles Malice is enquired of in the Pulpit there is not a Nâ—bâ—â—ish neighbour in the Church will owne it It is our common armour against the sword of the spirit It is not to me he sâ—eakes For which God at last giues them an answerable plague they shall as desperatâ—ly put from them all the comforts of the Gospell as they haue presumptuously reiected all the precepts of the Law They that vvould particularise no admonition to themselues nor take one graine out of the vvhole heape of Doctrines for
to countermaund a Monarch Christ that was buried in a graue shall bruise the nations and breake them with a rod of yron Peter a Fisher shall catch whole Countries A little Balme heale a world of people Well it spreads let vs get vnder the shadow of the branches Happy and coole refreshing shall the soule scorched with sinnes and sorrowes finde there Neuer was shade more welcome to the sweltred Traueller then this word is to the afflicted conscience It is fructuall let it be so to vs in operation It giues vs the fruits of life let vs returne it the fruits of obedience Gods word is significatiue to all operatiue to his It is a powerfull voice whither it giue life or kill Man and Musicke haue virtutem vocis the power of voyce God onely reserues to himselfe vocem virtutis the voyce of power Loe he doth send out his voyce and that a mighty voyce Ascribe ye strength vnto God I might speake of his thunders in Sinai but I turne to the Songs of Syon the sweet voyce of his Gospell whereof I am an vnworthy Minister tâ—â— voyce that speakes Christ and his death Christ and his life Christ and his saluation Hee that was annointed pro consortibus and prâ— consortibus for his fellowes and aboue his fellowes Who is the way the truth and the life Via sine deuio veritas sine nubilo vita sine termino The way without errour the truth without darknesse the life without end Via in exilio veritas in consilio vita in praemio The way in exile the truth in counsell the life in reward Oh whiâ—her shall we goe from thee Lord thou hast the words of eternall life All the word calls vs to Christ. Post me per me ad me Aster me by me to me After me because I am truth by me because I am the way to me because I am life Qua vis ire Ego sum via Quo vis ire Ego sum veritas Vbi vis permanâ—re Ego sum vita How wilt thou goe I am the way Whither wilt thou goe I am the truth Where wilt thou abide I am the life Now there is no action without motion no motion without will no will without knowledge no knowledge without hearing Ignoti nulla cupido There is no affection to vnknowne obiects God must then by this word call vs to himselfe Let vs come when and whiles hee cals vs leauing our former euill loues and euill liues for mali amorâ—s make malos mores saith Saint Augustine Bad affects produce bad effects And let vs shew the power of this Balme in our confirmed healths Solummodo bene conuersus est qui bene conversatus est A good conuersion is proued by a good conuersation Perhaps these effects in all may not be alike in quantitie let them be in quallitie God hath a liberall not an equall hand and giues geometrically by proportion not arithmetically to all alike Onely magis minus non tollit substantiam the dimensions of greater or lesse doe not annihilate the substance Our Faith may be precious nay like precious though lesse and weaker Sanctification admits degrees Iustification no latitude Luther saith wee are as holy as Mary the Virgin not in life which is actiue holinesse but in grace of adoption which is passiue holinesse Come wee then faithfully to this Balme so shall wee bâ— safe vnder the shadow and filled with the fruits thereof Thus in generall let vs now search for some more speciall concurrences of the Simillitude 1. The leaues of the Balsame are white the word of God is pure and spotlesse Peter saith there is sinceritie in it Perfection it selfe was the finger thâ—t wrote it neither could the instrumentall pennes blot it with any corruption the Spirit of Grace giuing inspiration instruction limitation that they might say with Paul Quod accepi a Domino tradidi vobis I receiued of the Lord that which I deliuered to you neither more nor lesse but iust waight It is pure as Gold fined in a seauen-fold fornace Euery word of God is pure saith Solomon There is no breath or steame of sinne to infect it The Sunne is darknesse to it the very Angels are short of it It is white immaculate and so vnblemishable that the very mouth of the Diuell could not sully it Euen the known Father of lyes thought to disparage the credit of the Scriptures by taking them into his mouth hee could not doe it They are too vnchangeably white to receiue the aspersion of any spot 2. The Balsame say the Phisitians is gustu mordax acrâ— sharpe and biting in the taste but wholesome in digestion The holy word is no otherwise to the vâ—regenerate palate but to the sanctified soule it is sweeter then the hony-combe The Church saith his fruit is sweet vnto my taste It is Folly to the Iewes and a stumbling blocke to the Gentiles but to the called both of Iewes and Gentiles the power of God and the wisedome of God Saluberrimararo â—ucundissima Rellish and goodnesse are not euer of the same congruence The Gospell is like leauen sowre to the naturall spirit yet makes him fit for holy bread It is said of the Leauen to which Christ compares the Word that â—assam acrore grato excitat it puts into the lumpe a sauoury sowrenesse It is acror but gratus sharpe but acceptable The Word may rellish bitter to many but is wholesome There cannot be sharper pils giuen to the Vsurer then to cast vp his vniust gâ—ines The Potion that must scowre the Adulterers reines makes him very sicke Hee that will let the proud mans Plurisie blood must needs pricke him To bridle the voluptuous beast will make him stampe and fret All correction to our corruption râ—nnes against the graine of our affections Hee that would bring Mammon to the barre and arraigne him shall haue Iudge Iury sitters and standers a whole Court and Sessions against him These sâ—nnes are as hardly parted with of tâ—e owners as the Eye Hand or Foote necessary and ill-spared members Forbid the Courtly Herod of his Herodias the Noble Naaman of his Rimmon the gallant Sampson of his Delilah the Citie Diues of his quotidian feast the Country Naball of his churlishnesse the rusticall Gergesites of their hoggishnesse the Popish Laban of his liâ—tle Gods the Ahabish Landlord of his enclosings and you giue them bitter Almonds that will not digest with them like the queasie Masse-Priest whose God would not stay in his stomach But let God worke the heart with the preparatiues of his preuenting Grace and then this Balme will haue a sweet and pleasing sauour There are too many that will not open their lips to tast of this Balme not their eares to heare the Word But as one mockes the Popish-Priest celebrating the Masse who vseth one trick amongst other histrionical gestures of stopping his eares that hee doth it least he
should heare the crackling of his Sauiours bones Digitis tunc obserat aures Nâ— collisa crepent Christi quem conterit ossa So these become voluntarily deafe Adders and will not heare Christ crucified the preaching of the crosse of Christ as Paul calls it which is able to kill our sinnes and quicken our soules I haue read it reported that the Adders in the East and those hote Countries did so subtilly euade the Charmers thus When she heares the Pipe she will couch one eare close to the ground and couer the other with her taile So doe worldlings they fill one eare with earth as much couâ—tous dirt as they can cramme into it the other eare they close vp with their lewd lâ—sts as the Adder with her winding taile that they haue none left for their God for their good And being thus deafe to holy and heauenly incantations they are easily by Sathan oueâ—-reached ouer-rul'd ouer-throwne So vnweldy is Christs yoake to the raging Mule so heauie his burden to the reluctant horse so hard his Law to the carnall Capernaite so sowre his Balme to the wicked palate Though to the godly his yoake is easie and his burden light Woe vnto them for they call sweet sowre Gods Balme distastfull and sowre sweet the worlds Boleno sauoury They are not more propitious to vice then malicious to goodnesse For others they loue a Barrabas better then a Barnabas For themselues euery one had rather be a Diues then a Diuus a rich sinner then a poore Saint No maruell if the blinde man cannot iudge of colours nor the deafe distinguish sounds nor the sicke rellish meates Gods word is sweet how euer they iudge it and their hearts are sowre how euer they will not thinke it My wayes are equall but your wayes are vnequall saith the Lord of hoasts 3. They write of the Balsamum that the manner of getting out the iuyce is by wounding the tree Sanciata arbor praebet opobalsamum Prouided that they cut no further then the â—â—nde for if the wound extends to the body of the tree it bleedes to death I haue read no lesse of Vines that vniustly pruin'd they bleede away their liues with their sappes The issuing Balme is called opobalsamum as some from the Greeke opo which signifies a Denne or rather of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iuyce A trebble lesson here inuites our obseruation 1. The Balsame tree weepes out a kinde of gumme like teares the word of God doth compassionately bemoanâ— our sinnes Christ wept not onely teares for Ierusalem but blood for the world His wounds gush out like fountaines and euery drop is blood Ecce in lachrimis in sanguine locutus est mundo His whole life was a continuall mourning for our sinnes Nunquam ridere dictus flere saepissimè Hee may adiure vs to repentance and obedience by more forcible arguments then euer Dido vsed to Aeneas Ego vos per has lachrymas per hos gemitus per haec vulnera per corpus sanguine mersum I entreate you by teares by groanes by wounds by a body as it were drown'd in it owne blood by all these mercies of Christ whereby wee doe not onely perswade you of our selues but God doth beseech you through vs. If those teares sighes wounds bloud moue not our consciences we haue impenetrable soules If the heart-blood of Christ cannot make thy heart to relent and thy feete to tremble when thy concupiscence sends them on some wicked errand thy hands tongue and all parts and powers of thee to forget their office when thou wouldst sinne obstinately thou art in a desperate case These were the teares of this Balme tree The word doth in many places as it were weepe for our sinnes panting out the grieuance of a compassionate God Why will ye dye oh you house of Israell What Prophet hath written without sorrow One of them Threnos suspirat sighes out a booke of Lamentations which Greg. Nazianzene saith Nunquam à se siccis oculis lectos esse that he could neuer read with dry eyes The other Prophets also like Quailes curas hominum gesserunt tooke on them the burden of many mens sorrowes Cyprian had so compassionate a sympathie of others euill deedes euill sufferings that cum singulis pectus meum copulo cum plangentibus plango saith hee I ioyne my breast with others and challenge a partnership in their griefes A Minister saith Chrysostome debet esse lugens sua et aliena delicta should be still lamenting his owne sinnes and the sinnes of his people Monachus est plangentis officium The office of a Minister is the office of a Mourner All these are but as Canes to deriue to our obseruation the teares of this Balme 2. The way to get out the iuyce of Balme from Gods word is by cutting it skilfull diuision of it which S. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly diuiding the word of truth It is true that Gods word is panis vitae the bread of life but whiles it is in the whole loafe many cannot helpe themselues it is needfull for children to haue it cut to them in pieces Though the Spice vnbroken be sweet and excellent yet doth it then trebble the sauour in delicacie when it is pounded in a Morter All the Balme-tree is medicinall yet the effectuall working is better helped by cutting the stocke by taking out the iuyce and by distributing to euery man a portion according to the proportion of his wants With no lesse heedfulnesse must the word be diuided that some may receiue it gentle and mollifying and others as a sharper ingredient As there is a double composition in men pride and humillitie so there must be a double disposition in preaching the word of meekenesse of terrour Aarons Bells must be wisely rung sometimes the Trebble of Mercie sometimes the Tenour of Iudgement sometimes the Counter-tenour of Reproose and often the Meane of Exhortation There is no lesse discretion required to application then to explication As Phisitians prescribe their Medicines by drammes or ounces according to the Patients strength or weakenesse So Diuines must feed some with milke others with stronger meate The learned should haue deeper points the simple plainer principles How easie is it for many a weake stomach to surfet euen on the food of life though the fault lies not in any superfluitie of the word but in the deficiencie of his vnderstanding The absence of sobrietie in the speaker is more intollerable then in the hearer The people must take such meate as their Cookes dresse to them Let none of Eli's Sonnes slubber vp the Lords Sacrifice or Seruice Let not good Balme be marr'd by a fustie vessell Seasonable discretion must attend vpon sound knowledge Wisedome vvithout Wit is meat without salt Wâ—t without Wâ—sedome is salt without meate Some Wells are so deepe that a man can draw no water out of them these bury their gifts in the graue
then your obedient workes We must free our soules that we haue not administred soothing Sermons least at once wee flatter and further you in your follies You are apt enough to deriue authoritie for your sinnes from our liues and make our patternes patrons of your lewdnesse As I wish that our life were not so bad so withall that you would not out-goe out-doe it in euill You goe dangerously farre whiles you make our weaknesse a warrant to your presumption But if you fasten so wickedly on our vices you shall neuer finde countenance from our voyces Wee condemne our owne ills and you for aduenturing your soules to Satan on so silly aduantage Stand forth and testifie against vs Did we euer spare your vsuries depopulations malice fraudes ebrietie pride swearing contempt of holy things and duties Could any Pharise euer tye our tongues with the strings of Iudas purse and charme our conniuence or silence with giftes Wretched men if there be any such guilty of so palpable adulation qui purpuram magis quà m deum colunt Call them your owne common slaues not Gods seruants that to gaine your least fauours are fauourable to your greatest sinnes and whilst they winne your credites loose your soules We must follow our Master who gaue vs a Commission and giues vs direction to performe it Hee came once with pax vobis peace be vnto you at another time with vae vobis woe be vnto you We must be like him who was that good Samaritane putting into your wounds as well the searching wine of reprehension to eate out the dead flesh as the oyle of consolation to cheare your spirits Sometimes with Ieremies Hammer bruising your strength of wickednesse though here with Ieremies Balme binding vp your broken hearts And for you my Brethren know that the things which cure you doe not euermore please you Loue not your palates aboue your soules Thou lyest sicke of a bodily disease and callest on the Phisitian not for well relished but healthfull Potions thou receiuest them spight of thy abhorring stomach and being cured both thankest and rewardest him Thy soule is sicke God thy bâ—st Phisitian vnsent to sends thee Phisicke perhaps the bitter Pils of affliction or sharpe prescripts of repentance by his word thoâ— loathest the sauour and wilt rather hazard thy soule then offend thy flesh and when thou shouldest thanke grumblest at the Phisitian So farre inferiour is our loue of the soule to that of our bodie that â—or the one wee had rather vndergoe any paynes then death for the other wee rather chuse a wilfull sicknesse then a harsh remedie Giue then your Physitian leaue to fit and apply his medicines and doe not you teach him to teach you Leaue your olde adiuration to your too obsequious Chaplens if there be any such yet remayning Loquimini placentia Prophecie not vnto vs right things speake vnto vs smooth things prophecie deceits Get you out of the way c. Threaten your Priests no longer with suits and quereles and expulsions from their poore Vineyards which you haue erst robbed because they bring you sowre grapes sharpe wine of reproofes Doe not colour all your malice against them with the imputation of ill life to them when you are indeede onely fretted with their iust reprehension of your impieties Barre not the freedome of their tongues by tying them to conditions this you shall say and this not say on paine of my displeasure You may preach against sinnes but not meddle with the Pope or you may inueigh against Rome Idolatrie so you touch not at my Herodias or you may taxe Lust so you let mee alone for Nabaoths Vineyard As if the Gospell might bee preached with your limitations and forsaking the holy Ghost wee must come to fetch direction from your lippes Ionas spared not Great Niniueh nor the great King of Great Niniueh why should we spare your sinnes that would saue your soules You will loue vs the better when you once loue your selues better If any gaine were more valuable then that of godlines or any means more auailable then spirituall Physicke to your saluations we would hearken to it and you He that is wisest hath taught vs it we are rebels if we not obey it Your exulcerated sores cannot bee healed with incarnatiue salues 4. Spirituall Phisitians no lesse then the Secretaries of Nature must haue knowledge and Art Empirickes endanger not more bodies then ideotish Priests soules He that cannot powre healthfull moisture and iuyce of life into the gasping spirit and fill the veines that affliction hath emptied deserues not the name of a spirituall Phisitian Arts haue their vse and humane learning is not to be despised so long as like an obedient Hagar she serues Sara with necessary helpe Onely let the Booke of God stand highest in our estimation as it is in Gods eleuation and let all the sheaues doe homage to it But Empirickes cannot brooke Craterus saith the Prouerbe sottish Enthusiastes condemne all learning all premeditation This is to tye the holy Ghost to a Pen and Inkhorne c. They must runne away with their Sermons as Horses with an emptie Cart. But now he that wil flie into Gods mysteries with such sicke feathers shall be found to flagge low with a broken pineon or soaring too high without sober direction endanger himselfe Barbarisme is grosse in an Orator Ignorance in a Phisitian Dulnesse in an Aduocate rudenesse in a Minister Christ chose Fishermen but made them Fishers of men gaue them a Calling and vertues for it Shall therefore any phantasticall spirit thinke that Christs singular action is our generall patterne As if men were the more faulâ—ie the more fit the more silly the more sufficient Christ so furnished â—is with knowledge and language that the people wondred at their wisedome and knew or rather acknowledged that they had beene with Iesus It is said of Emperickes that they haue but one medicine for all diseases if that cure not they know not how to doe it but the Scribe instructed for Heauen and instructing for Heauen drawes out of his treasure both old and new which he hath carefully laid vp by his former studie high points for forward Schollers easier â—essons for those in a lower forme To children milke such things as may nourish not oppresse aptanon alta to the profound as Demosthenes said he desired to speake non modo scripta sed etiam sculpta matters of weight and diligence The truth is that wee must preach Christ not our selues and regard the peoples benefit more then our owne credite being content to loose our selues to winne others to God And to this purpose is required learning as a Phisitian is not lesse knowing because hee giues an easie and common receite to a certaine Patient but rather out of his iudgement findes that fittest for him It is no small learning to illustrate obscurities to cleare the subtilties of the Schoole to open Gods mysteries to
discrediting our liues you raise ciuill or rather vnciuill persecutions against vs. By these you exercise our papatience which yet we can beare whiles the blow giuen vs by a manifest rebound doeth not strike our God But per nostra latera petitur Ecclesia impetitur Christus when as through our sides you wound the Church nay Christ himselfe it is stupiditie in vs to be silent Christ when the glory of his Father was interessed and called into question by their calumniations tooke on him a iust apologie I haue not a Diuell but I honour my Father If I haue spoken euill beare witnesse of the euill but if well why smitest thou me Wee haue comfort enough that wee can suffer this martyrdome for Christ his sake being blessed by the peace of our times from a worse The Courtier cares not so much for the estimation of his fellowes so his Prince approues and loues him Let God bee pleased with our innocencie and your base aspersions of scandalls against vs shall not much mooue our mindes The Ministers of God must approue themselues in much patience in afflictions c. Our warre is ferendo non feriendo The Miter is for Aaron not the smiter Wee must encounter with Beasts in the shape of men with Wolues in the coates of sheepe with Diuels in the habite of Angels with vnreasonable and wicked men therefore we haue need of patience Indignities that touch our priuate persons may bee dissembled or returned with Isaaks apologie of patience of silence As Augustine answered Petilian Possumus esse in his pariter copiosi nolumus esse pariter vani You doe in euent not so much wrong vs as your selues You foame out your owne shame and bewray your wretched I had almost sayd reprobate malice for such are set downe in the seat of the scornfull which the Prophet makes a low steppe to damnation God shall laugh you to scorne for laughing his to scorne and at last despise you that haue despised him in vs. In expuentis recidit faciem quod in coelum puit That which a man spittes against heauen shall fall backe on his owne face Your indignities done to your spirituall Physitions shall not sleepe in the dust with your ashes but stand vp against your soules in iudgement 2. If your Physitian be worthy blame yet sport not with cursed Cham at your Fathers nakednesse Our life our life is the derision that stickes in your iawes till you spette it out against vs. I would to God our liues were no lesse pure then are euen these our enemies being Iudges our doctrines Be it freely acknowledged that in some it is a fault Our life should be the Counterpaine of our doctrine Wee are Vines and should like that in Iothams Parable cheare both God and man The Player that misacts an inferiour and vnnoted part carryes it away without censure but if he shall plaâ— some Emperour or part of obseruation vnworthily the spectators are ready to hisse him off The Minister represents you say no meane person that might giue toleration to his absurdities but the Prince of heauen and therefore should be holy as his heauenly Father is Be it confessed and woe is vs we cannot helpe it But you should put difference betwixt habituall vices nourished by custome prosecuted by violence and infirme or inuoluntary offences The truth is also that you who will not haue eares to heare Gods word will yet haue eyes to obserue our wayes How many of you haue surdas aures oculos emissitios Adders eares but Eagles eyes together with criticall tongues and hypocriticall lookes You should and will not know that our words not our workes bring you to heauen Examples are good furtherances but ex praeceptis viuitur we must liue by precepts If you haue a Christian desire of our reformation cease your obstreperous clamours and divulging slanders the infectious breathings of your corruption and malice and reproue vs with the spirit of meekenesse to our foreheads If wee neither cleare our selues from imputed guiltinesse nor amend the iustly reproued faults nor kindely embrace your louing admonitions proceede with your impartiall censures But still know that we are nothing in our selues though we be called lux mundi the light of the world yet solummodo lex est lux Gods word is the light that must conduct your beleeuing and obeying soules to the land of Promise Did we liue like Angels and yet had our lips sealed vp from teaching you you might still remaine in your sinnes For it is not an ignorant imitation of goodnesse but a sound faith in Christ neuer destitute of knowledge and obedience that must saue you in the day of the Lord Iesus 3. Lastly let this teach you to get your selues familiar acquaintance with the Scriptures that if you be put to it in the absence of your Phisitian you may yet helpe your selues We store our memories and perhaps not trusting them our Bookes with diuers receites for ordinarie diseases Whom almost shall you meete whiles you complaine of an Ague of the Tooth-ach of a Sore but he will tell you a Salue or a Medicine for it Alas are our soules lesse precious or their wounds griefes sicknesses easilier cured that wee keepe the Clossets of our consciences emptie of Medicines for them The Iewes were commaunded to write the Lawes of God on their walls c. God writes them on the Christians hearts So Dauid found it Thy Law is within my heart This is true acquaintance with it It is our Masters charge if at least we are his seruants Search the Scriptures for in them is eternall life We plead that our faith is our euidence for Heauen it is a poore euidence that wants the seale of the Scriptures It was the weapon that the Sonne of God himselfe vsed to beate backe the assaults of the Deuill Many ignorant persons defie the Deuill They will shield themselues from Satan as well as the best that teach them the foule â—iend shall haue no power ouer them yet continue an obstinate course of life As if the Deuill were a Babe to be out-faced with a word of defiance It is a lamentable way to braue a Lyon and yet come within his clutches Hee will beare with thy hote words so hee may get thy colde soule The weapon that must incounter and conquer him is the sword of the spirit the word of God No houre is free from his temptations that wee had neede to lodge with Gods Booke in our bosomes 1. Who knowes where he shall receiue his next wound or of what nature the sicknesse of his soule shall be 2. The Minister cannot be present with euery one and at euery time 3. Satan is neuer idle it is the trade of his delight to spill soules Lay all these together and then in the feare of God iudge whither you can be safe whiles you are ignorant of the Scriptures This is the Garden of