A SERMON PREACHED AT PAVLES CROSSE THE SEAVENTH OF MAY M. DC IX By GEORGE BENSON Doctor of Diuinitie sometimes fellowe of Queenes Colledge in OXFORD Imprinted at London by H. L. for Richard Moore and are to be sold at his shop in S. Dunstans Church-yard 1609. To the Christian Reader GOod Reader though we liue in an age which is more mercilesse to inke and paper then the ages of our forefathers haue bin and therfore it might seem a foolish pitty in me to spare that which will be spent yet haue I euer dedicated my poore labours to the eare only that therby if God would they might bee conuaied to the heart not vnto the eye with a desire to haue them exposed to the censure of the world Notwithstanding mine own priuate iudgement resolution mistake me not I can very well digest the publishing of other mens labours For as Simonides seeing a man silent at a feast sayd vnto him If thou beest a wise man thou art a foole for concealing thy wisdome if a foole then thou art wise for not reuealing thy folly So I hold it wisdom in them which are enriched with extraordinary gifts to impart their graces vnto the world But as for those to whom knowledge hath either not dawned or not so plentifully shined as vpon their fellows I aduise them as Vlysses did Andromache when her son Astyanax was in danger of the enemy Lateat haec vna salus let them silence their labours if they would not be traduced and censured by those that loue them not I iustly ranke my selfe amongst the later sort and would haue followed the counsell that I giue to others but that I am weyed against my owne mind by such reasons as I hope wil passe for weighty in the iudgements of others as wel as of my selfe When by the commandement of the right reuerend Father in God the Lord Bishop of London by whom I was and euer will gladly be commanded I was called vnto this seruice and deliuered this sermon in that honourable presence where it was bestowed I found that it was swoln farre too bigge for the time allotted to that exercise which might by me haue been more fitly proportioned to the time if I had endeuoured as heretofore I haue done to drawe my speech into knots and borders and set my words checkerwise for the delight of the eare only But I thanke my good God who hath set me in the country to be schooled by experience which teacheth fooles and all at whose hands I haue learned to intend not mine owne credit but the glory of my great Master and the soules health of the Lambes of his little flocke We who striue not to amaze the world with curiosity but hauing the timber of our building ready reared vp waite for such vanes turrets and earnings and embellishments such words as God shall enable vs withall in illa hora we I say cannot digest our matters by the clocke and therfore my case being such I was forced to cut off much of that which I had prouided and to mangle that which I spake because I breathed with an eager desire toward the end of my text Neither was it my length only that crossed my desire but I was checked by those infirmities which I cannot truly say were painful but so dangerous God is my witnesse that I feared oftner then once or twice that that my labour would haue proued my Ben-oni and my selfe like Rabel to haue dyed in trauaile of that Sermon if God blessed be his name had not spun out and continued his loue towards me which hath bin a banner ouer me euer since I hung vpon my mothers breasts These are the reasons which induce me to present that vnto the eye in his full shape and proportion which came maimed vnto the eare and much abbridged for want of time Vnto mine own purpose for publishing hereof there hath not wanted the concurrence of the desires of men of good sort and ranke Neither could I want one to patronize it beeing published for God hath giuen mee some honorable and worthy friends among the rest the right reuerend Father in God the Lord Bishop of Hereford my Diocaesan to whom vnder God I am indebted for much of my liuelihood in this world The prouidence of God euer be vpon his tabernacle Yet shall not this small and weake issue of mine presume to take sanctuary vnder his or any other great name as though it would dare and defie the world by vertue of that protection but rather thinke that I tender it to thy curtesie and fauourable censure humbly intreating thee when thou meetest any obliquity to remember that I am a man and thy brother and not free from error whē thou meetest with any thing worthy thy view giue the glory vnto God the Father of light from whom commeth euery good and perfect giuing who is the way the truth and the life let him haue the prayse for what I haue and me thy prayers for what I want Thus I leave thee vnto Gods mercy this small Treatise to thy fauourable censure and I send it out with that prayer or benediction that Iacob sent with his sons into Aegypt God Almighty giue thee mercy in the sight of the man in the sight of the great man that thou maist make him humble of the poore man that thou maist make him content of the stubborne man that thou maist hammer and supple him of the penitent man that thou maist bind vp his wounds and sores Of euery man that thou maist touch his conscience and winne his soule especially of Ioseph our puruayer against the time of dearth especially that man the man CHRIST IESVS that thou maist win his fauour Amen From the Rocke in Worcester shire Thine in the Lord Iesus GEORGE BENSON Errata Pag. 13. line 23. meditation for mediation Pag. 50. line 23. nerer for neuer A SERMON PREACHED at Paules-crosse the 7th day of MAY 1609. Hosea Chap. 7. Ver. 7 8 9 10 11 12. 7. They are all hote as an ouen haue deuoured their Iudges all their Kings are fallen there is none among them that calleth vpon me 8. Ephraim hath mixt himselfe among the people Ephraim is like a cake on the hearth not turned 9. Strangers haue deuoured his strength he knoweth it not yea gray haires are here and there vpon him yet he knoweth it not 10. And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face and they doe not return to the Lord their God nor seek him for all this 11. Ephraim also is like a doue deceiued without heart they call to Aegypt they goe to Ashur 12. But when they shall goe I will spread my net vpon them draw them down as the foules of the heauen I will chastice them as their congregation hath heard RIght Honorable right Worshipfull dearely beloued in our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ If the worth of this Prophecie
the water we shall find he is gracious and merciful if that be not enough let vs dig deeper and we shall find hee is of great goodnesse plentious in goodnesse and one that is sory for any euill that hapneth vnto vs. Our Sauiour openeth the breasts of consolation vnto vs now the more the breasts of a nurse are drawen by sucking the more ease it is vnto her by sucking therefore these breasts and calling for mercy at his hands shall we not please him yes as one desiring a vent for his abundant mercie he cries and saith Come vnto mee all yee that are heauy laden and I wil ease you He our Head is ascended into heauen and now aboue the water temptations may assayle vs but they cannot ouercome vs so long as the head is aboue the water we that are his members can neuer be drowned therfore let vs with an intemerate faith make way through honour dishonour good report and bad report and dismaied with nothing take holde on Christ Iesus he he will trauerse the inditement cancell the debt suspend the rigorous doom acquit our soules and this pardon will be ripened with an influence from aboue with the best aspect the trine aspect the holy Trinity will say Amen vnto it Ephraim sinned well had Ephraim been if hee had turned vnto the Lord by repentance mournfully by reformation holily by cleauing vnto Christ Iesus hopefully but he did not he sought not the Lord as the text saith of which point I spake vnto you out of the 7. ver therfore now I pass it ouer nay Ephraim was so far frō cleauing vnto God that Ephraim was like a doue deceiued without heart Like a doue that was good be ye innocent as doues a doue deceiued that was naught be you wise as serpents also But the diuel took such order to infatuate that wisdom that he gained possession of the tower the strongest holde the hart vnto which al the affections owe suit seruice Fight against neither smal nor great but only against the king of Israel quell the the captains all the souldiers wil be amated the tēper of the head spring is either the sweetning or the poisoning of the streams the heart being surprised the retinue of affections must needs doe their homage follow after But whither did the affectiōs of the men of Ephraim follow their harts to Aegypt to Ashur where there were the sinnews of might strength the earths terror Ottoman hath not greater at this day but see how vnsurely the foote of worldly pomp standeth they stood in slippery places though they did call to Aegypt though they did go to Ashur Simple doues being well in their doue-house the Church of God where they wanted neither meat nor nest nor warmth nor the protection of God they could not be content but lured with the charms of Aegypt Ashur flew willingly into their nets and there changing their gold for copper forfeited their estates in Gods prouidence they wanted help though being vnder Gods wing they were moe that were with them then they that were against them yet did they call to Aegypt and goe to Ashur I call to minde two kindes of doues deceiued without heart the one in matters spirituall the other in matters temporall In matters spirituall those that in the quest and pursuite of their saluation make not to Almighty God the strong rocke of their defence but they make wracke vpon the sands vpon the vnsure ground of masses trentalls indulgences pardons the number not the weight of praiers nay vpon their owne good works which are no better then sinnes passing the sands in number and there might they drowne their sinnes being as red as scarlet if God in his mercy did not make the sinners as white as the snowe in Salmon The spider hath many legges and little or no bloud If you aske why the church of Rome standeth vpon so many legges and leaneth vpon so many helps not warranted by the scripture it is because they haue too little confidence in the bloud of Christ. Among other their reeds of Aegypt they stand to the mercie of the Pope who pretends to haue the key of the churches treasury and can sell or lend good workes vnto them that want as though he were worthy to be of Gods priuie counsell I reade of one Verconius in the time of Alexander Seuerus who pretending familiarity with the Emperour took mens money for preferring their suites abused them did them no good at all beeing conuented before the Emperour he was iudged to bee hanged vp in a chimney and so perish with smoke for that he solde smoke to the people The man of sin makes great boast of familiarity and power with God Though he take mens money for indulgences yet how little good he doth them the wise can iudge he sells but smoake and if Gods mercy be not all the greater he may perish by the smoake or by the fire of the valley of Tophet that was prepared of olde In the countrey of the Abisanes where Prester Iohn gouerneth there bee certaine mountains called Montes lunae out of which the riuer Nilus issueth with such violence that it would ouerflowe the lower countrey which now the Turk possesseth if it were not receiued into certaine deepe pittes and dammes in the country of Prester Iohn to whom for that cause the Turke yeeldeth a yeerely tribute the deluge of sinne is so great that it would ouerflow vs body and soule but that Prester Iohn or Presbiter Iohn Iohn the Priest Christ both King and Priest for euer doth swallowe vp sinne and burie it in the depth of his mercie Shall wee not then yeelde a tribute for his fauor yes and all too little As Zisca that valrous Bohemian did not onely quell his enemie beeing aliue but commanded that when he was dead there should bee a drumme made of his skinne thereby to terrifie him So Christ Iesus for our sakes did not onely when hee was aliue breake the head of the Serpent by his preaching and miracles but by his death and after his death also hee vvrought the Diuells woe and our good he dyed for our sinnes and rose againe for our iustification So now non gens sed mens as Iulius Aemilianus said in his Embleme or Poesie not onely Iewes but Gentiles also if they feare God finde fauour at his hands While we walke through the valley of Mulberie trees or of miserie as diuers translations render it wee may vse these meditations as pooles of water to refresh vs and learne to flie to God not to Ashur not to Aegypt As I haue noted vnto you a kinde of doues deceiued vvithout heart in matters spirituall concerning their soules so I note another kinde that are as much deceiued in matters temporall shrinking from God and leaning vpon the broken reeds of Aegypt O thou auncient
walketh in the darkenesse nor any euil that destroyeth at the noone day shall do you any harme I exhort you therefore vnto that warmth of the holy Spirit which softned the hearts of the two Disciples as they went vnto Emmaus or if you wil to that higher degree of zeale for God and Gods house that eate vp DAVID So may your Soules Salamander-like liue by that spirit of burning which purged the bloud of Ierusalem Esay chapter 4. So being free from staynings and blacknesse by that smoake of that other fire you may bee cleane and fit to stand before the Lord your God Say therefore vnto concupiscence I will not nurse thee vp harbour not that smooth faced enemie which vvill not only pollute which first I noted but it will make your owne affections rebells and mutinous within you it will worke violently Witnesse the three effects of this home-borne sinne First Their Iudges were deuoured Secondly Their Kings were fallen Thirdly They did not call on God Behold how they were infatuate in all their difficulties whither were they to flie To their Iudges yea but their Iudges were deuoured Their Iudges being gone whither then to their Kings yea but their Kings were fallen Their Kings being fallen whither then to God there was their highest Court of appeale yea but they called not vpon mee sayth God Loe here with their owne hands they haue pulled downe all the sanctuaries they had and 1. their Iudges Iudges and iudgement to auoid confusion are blessings giuen vnto kingdomes by God who is the God of order and not of confusion Therefore Micheas groned in spirit when he sawe all Israell as sheep without a Shepheard our Prophet Hosea thought it a curse vnto Israel when they should remaine manie dayes without a King and without a Prince and without an offering and without an image and without an Ephod and without Teraphim Machiuel who for his villanie is exempt from comparison though hee haue long since spawned in the world and dipped in his opinions much of Christendome sets down a rule how a Conquerour may weaken a subdued kingdome vnioint the sinewes thereof and make them fall by their owne weight that is by taking from them order and gouernment by laying the reanes on their owne neckes and allowing them to liue lawlesse But lift you vp your voices in prayse and thankesgiuing among such as keepe holy day because you liue in a kingdome where one starre differeth from another in glory where the Iudges in their seuerall ranks haue their mouthes as oracles their bosomes as treasuries of good counsaile who when they see bloud swelling to touch bloud they giue it barres and doores saying Hitherto shalt thou come and thou shalt come no further here shalt thou stay thy proud waues They are vines and oliues and figge trees Iudg. 9. They leaue their fatnesse and their sweetnesse and their wine to raigne ouer the trees of the forrest both ease pleasure for the good of Gods people Prize at no lowe rate these iewells in your own ground let not your sinnes serue as brokers to embeazle these cōmodities and conuay them from you but rather by good meditations and indeauours husband your graines of mustard seed that from the lesse you may grow to more grace and become so louely in the sight of God that your case may neuer be as Ephraims was who for their sinnes had their Iudges deuoured and the staffe of beauty that is comely gouernment broken among them And you the reuerend Iudges of this land who are ordained to lance the impostumes and prune the luxury of this kingdome weigh well your high standing looke vpward and downward vpward consider that you are Gods downward and consider also that you shall die like men There be two sins whose forges and anuils are neuer cold but like Pyoners they are euer vndermining your seats of iustice they are bribery and partialitie brethren in euill into their secrets let not my soule descend Bribery is marked in the forehead for a sinne and therfore dares not approach neere your seates of iustice but I pray God it play not the vsurper and take possession of some about you by vnlawfull intrusion If it be true which is commonly receiued in the world then there haue been many belonging vnto men of great place who haue deceit and nimblenesse of wit and bribery and other sinnes like as many porters to bring them in Pretium sanguinis the price of bloud Yet haue they cryed like the siluer-smith in the Acts The great goddesse Diana great is Diana of the Ephesians the great goddesse Iustice great is shee when their care was not for iustice but for their owne gaine by pretending iustice as the siluer-smithes intēded their own thriuing by making images in Dianaes temple These things I haue heard but I hope for better things in you and yours else may the seruant breake the masters head with precious balmes and make them like Rehoboam whippe with Scorpions in stead of roddes and by turning Iustice into wormewood become like the wolues of the euening that leaue not the bones vntill the morrowe Meane while the Clyent findes his physicke worse then his disease poore sea-faring man he comming towarde the Iudge who like a goodly promontory or land mark giues assurance of calme and harbour makes wrack vnawares vpon the sands secretly by the way before he can haue audience in open court Whosoeuer they be that by such vnder-working do abuse their Lords and masters tyre out the poor subiects let them know that their hands taking bribes are like the winde Caecia which draweth cloudes of witnesses against themselues Now though Bribery dare not be seene in the place of Iustice yet Partiality is not such a stranger to flesh and bloud and the more acquaintance the more danger The mother of all lawes that is the lawe of Moses would haue Iudges the masters of their affections neither fearing the rich not fauouring the poore and therefore Iustice the mistress of the lawes is described blindfolded as discerning neither friend nor enemy and being too holy to consult with flesh and bloud in matters of so great consequence which rule while Pilate did not obserue he would but could not wash the filth of his impiety from his hands Peter Martyr allegorizing vpon the seate of Salomon sayth that the height and the golde and theiuory of the seate must put the Magistrate in minde of his eminency purity and spotlesse innocency Wherefore let your hands be euer at the sterne and your eyes be fixed on the starre the bright morning starre and consult Iehesophat who told his Iudges that their iudgements were the iudgements of God and not of man and be it euer to be remembred written vpon your walles that you are the nursing-fathers of the Common-wealth and therefore ought to holde out to
for imbracing the doctrine of Iezabel religion is the iewell of the ring therfore the same mouth that speaketh the language of Canaan why should it speake the language of Ashdod the same chaire of state which holds religion stamped with the image of the most high why should it holde the purple harlot the whore of Babylon with all her paintings and complexions vpon her face and the cup of fornication in her hand There be two reasons to the contrary the one politicall the other theologicall or diuine The reason politicall is drawen from the mutinies and vprores that are made where there are two religions professed There were in the Church of Germany the opinions of Seruetus and Gentilis what ruptures those meteors bred in that skie what breaches in that Church I will not tell you but I refer you vnto M. Bezaes epistles where you shall see the iudgement of M. Caluin and many others against the toleration of them When Martin Luther vnder the countenance and conduct of Frederike the Duke of Saxony held a candle in the darke before Gods bleared children and awaking antiquity for his succour opened a doore vnto the truth there was a booke published by authority for the allowance of interim Germanicum that is till matters of religiō were setled among them men should enioy what religion they would in the interim or meane time It was misliked by many great diuines among the rest by Gasper Aquila a Minister of great account at that time by the Lubicenses the Lunebergenses the Hamburgenses the Magdeburgici and for the most part by all the lower Saxony The relation of these things would require a long time therefore I refer you for your better knowledge vnto diuers parts of Sleidans commentaries where you shall finde the sturres were great and the consequents had like to haue been bloody If God in his wisedome would set a marke of distinction vpon all such as did not mourne for our Sion in her Widdowhood nor pray for the peace of our Ierusalem what a shewe would the ranke of our hollow hearted English make who would pull downe our culuer house our little Church How often hast thou heard them O God though they whispered vnto themselues say of the enemies of our peace Why are the wheels of his chariot so long a comming I thirst not after their bloud or trouble their veines shall euer be springs of bloud for mee but seeing they will not be charmed not heare then if the house bee shaken about their eares it is but iustice If the liberty of them say vnto the conscience I am restrayned for thee If the vvealth say vnto the conscience I am impayred for thee If the strength of the body say vnto the conscience I am brought low for thee Iustice I say vpon them of whom our enemies may say vnto vs If we had not plowed with your heifers wee had gayned no aduantage against you The reason Theologicall or diuine is drawen first from the weakenesse of man secondly from the commaundement of God The weakenesse of man is such that the diuel who can turne himselfe into an Angell of light playes vpon that aduantage and therefore it quickely came to passe that all the easterne Churches almost were corrupted with Arrianisme and the world wondred that it was so suddenly turned Arrian Heresie is like a raine-bowe it hath a thousand colours glorious and seeming coelestiall but it is euer against the Sun the Sun of righteousnesse therfore it is fit for no man to mingle himselfe among the hereticall but rather to get out of Babylon that there may be recouered out of the iawes of the deuourer a legge or a peece of an eare Amos the 3. the 12. some one or other silly and miscarried soule Besides the weakenesse of man there is the commaundement of God also inforcing the tenor whereof is that no ground should be sowen with two seedes that no garment of linsie wolsie should be worn that no ground should be plowed with an oxe and an asse together all which were shadowes of two religions whereof there ought not to be a mixture For to ioine olde ceremonies of superstition with Gods truth is to stitch a peece of an olde garment vnto a new vesture which will make the rent or breach the greater the sinne more odious vnto God It is obserueable that Noah prayed for his sonnes and sayde God perswade Iaphet to dwell in the tents of Sem and let Canaan bee their seruant hee knewe how well it pleased the holy Trinity to see the vnion of the godly and their loathing of the vngodly it pleased God indeed else would the Prophet Dauid neuer haue hung vp a table of statutes for his owne house his little Common-wealth Psal. 101. whereby he chased away all the wicked whom as the same Dauid testifieth elsewhere God himselfe loued not the vngodly and him that delighteth in wickednesse doth his soule abhorre Psa. 11. 5. Happy are we then in whose land Popery is not infranchised and made free Denizen So God would haue it hee would haue the offending eye or hand cut off Therfore tell vs still O Lord where thou feedest and where thou liest at noone we will only cleaue vnto thy truth and not hunt after the opinions that are heretical the inuentions of mans braine for why should we be as she that turneth aside vnto the flockes of those companions I will conclude this point with the testimony of the Cappadocians by Gregory Nazianzen in his Monodia who seeing them liue in safety and peace when al their neighbour countries about them were mudded with contention sayde that sure they were preserued by the holy Trinity because they did without rent with one accord so zealously maintain the Trinity against the Arrians I hasten to that which followeth among religions vnum est necessarium one thing is needfull And so from the sinne of Ephraim I come to the punishment of Ephram which out of these words the interpreters say was this that as men being hungry comming with a rauenous desire vnto a cake that is vpon a hearth deuoure and eat it vp though it be not baked but raw on the one side so shall the enemies of Ephraim like those hungry deuourers come with violēce against them hastily make spoile and prey vpon them The handling of which point of their punishment though I wil not adiourn vntil another time yet I will square it and make it fit vnto another place of this text namely the verse following vpon which this doctrine may more sutably be grafted for it is sayd Strangers haue deuoured his strength yet he knoweth not c. Which punishment without doubt was deepe if not the bottom of the cup of trembling Deep indeed whether wee respect the deuourers they were strangers or the thing deuoured which was the strength of Ephraim
not and the pride of Israell his stubbornesse his impudency testifieth to his face and they doe not returne vnto the Lord their God nor seeke him for all this They did not know their daunger they did not returne vnto their harbour they did not returne vnto the Lord their God When wee haue sinned we must returne vnto the Lord our God first by repentance for our sinnes Hee is a iealous God Secondly by reforming of our sinnes Hee is a holy God Thirdly by hoping in God who doth pardon our sinnes hee is a mercifull God By repentance for our sinnes for in the first and second of Amos the language of the prophet is nothing but a volley of iudgements against Damascus Tyrus Edom Ammon Moab and Iuda vnder whose sinnes God was pressed as a Cart is pressedwith sheaues for they had threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron for three transgressions and for foure sayeth God I will not turne vnto them It concerned them then and vs also to turne vnto him by repentance left for 3000. transgressions or for foure hee come with the besome of his wrath and sweepe vs all away Wee are beleaguered and compast about with iniquitie of our owne heeles let vs not hypocritically dote vpon our selues saying peace peace when there is no peace let vs rather by the heat of zeale distill teares from our eyes for there is no peace as my God sayth vnto the wicked There was a woman in the 7. of Luke who as one in trauaile of a new soule had the grace to repent her of her sinnes and therfore shee wounded Christ with one of her eyes and with the cheine the cheine of graces about her necke shee came into the Pharises house boldly and stood behinde him shamefastly at his feete humbly and mournefully shee washt his feete with her teares and as one one neglecting her best ornament in respect of Christ shee wiped them with the haires of her head louingly shee kissed his feete and bountifully shee annointed them with ointment When a woman came to bee purified in the time of the Lawe shee was to offer a Lambe which if shee were not able to compasse then shee was to offer a paire of turtle doues the authors of the heroglyphickes compare a Lambe to innocency and a paire of turtle doues to a paire of mournefull eyes if any bee so poore in good workes that they cannot offer the one let them bee so forwarde in repentance as to offer a paire of the other and let them desire of God as the wife of Othoniel did of Caleb and Ioshua that seeing they are parched with sinne and with the heate of concupiscence as shee complained of an hote countrey there may bee giuen vnto them springs aboue springs beneath springs of tears in their eyes aboue and springs of bloud if it be possible in their hearts beneath It is Gods will that as Iacob was first married vnto Leah that was bleare eyed and after an other prentishippe vnto Rahel that was more beautiful so should the sonnes of Iacob first vnto repentance bleare eyed and full of teares and after the induring of that godly sorrowe which will cause repentance vnto saluation they shall inioye the ioyes of heauen which are beautifull like Rahel For all teares shall be wiped away from their eyes Grammarians deriue terra a terendo So why should not man who is earth and ashes terra quiateritur because hee is harrowed vp with a feeling of his sinnes When the wind is inclosed in the hollows of the earth it striues for passage so makes an earthquake many times O earth and ashes thou tremblest quakest at the remembrance of thy sinnes but fear not that sorrow comes of God it is because there is within thee the holy Ghost that winde which bloweth where it listeth When thy soule O man is troubled for thy sinnes that garboyle within thee is like the troubling of the water Iohn 5. Be thou sure the Angell of the Lord hath beene there that sorrowe of thine comes from God hope in Christ but sorrow for thy sinnes eate thy pascall Lambe with sower hearbes As they that looked vpō Syllaes ring could not choose but take notice both of Syllaes seal and the treason of Iugurtha because that was grauen vpon vpon the seale so consider weigh both the seale wherewith you are sealed against the day of redemption and the treason of your forefathers also which gaue occasion of the sealing of such a pardon vnto you Therefore as the nightingale in the night time sings merily with a prickle at her breast so in this valley of the shadows of death sing prayses vnto your God but euer with a compunction a feeling of your sinnes and sorrow for them Neither must you only mourn for your sinnes but you must abandon them also for feare of the Diuelles reentrie with seuen Diuels worse then himselfe and then your latter end will be worse then your beginning But as I noted in the second place you must turne vnto the Lord by reforming of your sinnes and obseruing Gods commandements which iniunction vnto flesh and bloud is durus sermo For though we could be content to die the death of the righteous and say with Balaam Lord let my later end be like vnto theirs yet this liuing of the life of the righteous is hard of digestion as hard as the gayning of the land of promise was to those spies which cōfessed that the land was a good land and full of fruits but there were in it the sonnes of Anach and they were gyants The reward of a Christian many think to be a good prize but they are loth to wrestle with the difficulties of Christianity those be the sonnes of Anach and they be giants it is better for flesh bloud to crowne themselues with rose buddes before they be withered then to sit vp late and rise early and eate the bread of carefulnesse though God so giue his beloued sleepe When they feele the paine that belongeth vnto the seruice of God they say with her who longed for children but could not indure the pain of child-bearing Seeing it is thus why am I so wāton Florus could say Ego nolo Caesar esse equitare per Britannos cursitare per Germanos pati pruinam c. I would not for any good be Caesar to indure so many frosts watchings amongst the Britans and Germans but Caesar thirsting after victory retorted it thus vpon him Ego nolo Florus esse ambulare per tabernas latitare per popinas c. I would not for any good be Florus to spend my time in vanity There is great difference betwixt a carnal man and those that desire through Iesus Christ to be more then Conquerours the carnall rather then they would lose their swine desire Christ to depart out of their coasts wheras the
other that they may raign with Christ are willing to suffer with Christ. Some of the auncients speaks of a plea that shall be holden by the diuell against the wicked before God at the day of iudgement O glorious king these that stand before thee are thine indeed by creation but by their sins they haue canceld that image of thine that was vpon them they are thine by vertue of thy Sons passion but mine for want of naturall compassion in all matters of difficulty when the question was whither they would lean to thee or me they forsooke thee yeelded to my temptations therefore ô great King ô King of glory giue me my due There is danger you see in wearing the liuery of Satan no lesse then treading vpon the egs of a Cockatrice which is dangerous and weauing the spiders webbe which is fruitlesse Let it not seem euil and burdensome to you to serue the Lord for though there be no condemnation to them that bee in Christ Iesus yet this priuiledge belongs vnto them that liue after the spirit not after the flesh Rom. 8. 1. When the arke of the Lord was drawne by kine to Bethshemosh though their calues perhaps lowed vnto them and they as the text sayth vnto their calues yet they could not goe because they were tyed vnto the arke So doe you resolue vpon the keeping of the couenants of the Lord and then though your affections call you aside yet you cannot you will not goe wrong because you are tyed by vowe or by resolution though not to the Arke of the couenant yet to the couenants of the Lord but if you will needs follow your owne imaginations which are euill and that continually beware of ioyes no better then sick mens dreams those ioyes are quaedam nepenthica soporifera for a while charming and silencing the cries both of sinne and punishment but in the end the visions of your heads will make you afraide If you be wicked you will flie cowardly yea sottishly when no man followeth because you haue loued iniquitie and hated righteousnesse therfore the diuel whom you haue serued will annoint you with oyle of sadnesse aboue your fellowes then can you neuer be merrie though al the pleasures in the world should make you melody An euill conscience when you haue lost your selues as Iob lost all his goods children will haunt you and say vnto you you haue lost Gods fauour and your owne soules and I alone am left aliue to come and tell you to keepe you waking at midnight when you should sleepe When there bee many fiery pictures in the ayre a blast of wind breakes and dispearses them all when in your mindes there be fearefull terrible cogitations strange frightings and amazements there is no way to dispearse them but by Gods holy spirit that wind which bloweth vvhere it listeth When Dauid vnderstood that the water of the wel of Bethlem that was brought vnto him was gained by the ieopardie of mens liues he would not drinke it but powred it vpon the ground for a sacrifice vnto the Lord bethinke your selues that your soules are gayned not by the ieopardie but the loose of the life of Christ dedicate not your soules and bodies vnto lust and vanity but rather say O Lord they were dear bought I wil offer them both as a sacrifice to thee We must mourn for sin we must abandon sin and because sin will euer dwel in our suburbs and be a borderer it will hang on so fast and will neuer admit a Supersedeas from sinning so long as we dwell in houses of claie Wee must which I thirdly noted appeale vnto God for he is the highest court of appeale who is the Lamb of God and can only purge the sinnes of the world Let this Agnus Dei bee your choisest ornament For as the woman hauing a matter heard before Philip king of Macedon who being asleepe did not well apprehend her cause but gaue wrong iudgement therefore she sayde she would appeale from Philip to Philip from Philip sleeping to Philip waking So must we appeale from God to God from God iust and angry for our sinnes to God opening the bowells of compassion vnto vs. Out of the strong came sweete it was the riddle of Sampson the meaning of the riddle was out of the dead Lion came the hony combe which relieued him My application at this time is out of the strong Lion of the tribe of Iuda comes the sweete comfort of our sauing health for that Lion is vnto vn wisdome iustification sanctification and redemption As Iacob said vnto his father so we may say to thee O heauenly Father eat of our venison of our flesh the flesh of thy Sonne that thy soule may bless vs. Tho man being iust do liue as the Prophet sayth once and the Apostle doth canonize it once againe yet faith is the soule and breath of that life Iustus ex fide viuit When it was resolued that Christ should do his Fathers wil for the good of mankinde he was ready to say Loe here I come to doe thy will he came indeed to shed his bloud he bled not inward for that might haue indangered the body but his blood was powred out for the good of others the speare of the souldier that thrust him through the side may serue as a pen his bloud was ink wherwith was written our Quietus est We may now with Paul not onely challenge death saying death where is thy sting but with the same Paul sing a Requiem vnto our soules saying that neither powers nor principalities can make a separation betweene God and vs. Seeing then God hath reared vp a standard of hope vnto all beleeuers let vs not be like reeds wauering and shaking in faith for then we please the diuell who by som of the auncients is compared to Behemoth that takes his pastime among the reeds but rather let vs be like a wall strong that God may build vpon vs a siluer palace that he may make vs houses for himselfe Let vs acquit our selues like men wee haue for our right hand the sword of the spirit for our left hand the shield of faith for our breast the breast-plate of righteousnesse for our heads the helmet of saluation for our feet the shooes of the preparation of the Gospel furniture enough for all parts saue onely the backe to argue that if we fight against the diuell we may do well but if we turne our backs and growe faithlesse wee giue him aduantage against vs. What neede we turne back seeing like Rahel hee dyed in trauell of vs his children and though to him we were Benonies sonnes of sorrow yet in regard of ourselues we are Beniamins sonnes of his right hand He shewed his power and strength to doe vs good the deeper we diue into the fountaine of his mercie the sweeter we shall finde
for the sakes of the godly a goodnesse and that is powerfull Let no man say that when he is about to sinne Tush God doth not see it what is there knowledge in the most high Those men are like to stage players personate men they seeme what they are not their deeds giue their wordes their lye like idle housewiues which sweepe the dust behinde the doore they haue filthinesse inough though it be not to be seene There is in this world a great swolne body of ostentation both words and deedes it is the great physition of our soules who can only skill of the Anatomy of this body and therefore though the Iewes cried The temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord yet hee tried what gold they were not only by the ring and sound but by the touchstone also and when hee found what they were hee sayd Not euerie one that sayeth vnto mee Lord Lord shall enter into the kingdome of heauen but hee that doth the will of the Father that is in heauen When a man had a sore that was not couered by the iudgement of the lawe Leuiticall it was but a sore but when it was couered ouer with a yellow locke it was a Leprosie euerie sinne may passe for a sinne but when sinne is couered ouer with a faire yellowish lock with a fair show or smooth excuse as namely when pride is glorified with the name of cleanelinesse couetousnesse with the name of good husbandry deceire of wisedome drunkennesse of good fellowshippe then it is more then a sinne a man may suspect himselfe for a Leprosie then he must proclaim himselfe before God as the Leper was to doe in the streetes I am vncleane I am vncleane Now in this seeming age when complement goes as farre as one of the liberall sciences and to be a fashionable man is as high rated as to bee learned or honest Seauen dayes and seauen Priests and seauen rammes hornes are all too little to cast downe this sinne which is as mightie as Iericho Christ was neuer so loude against any sinne as against this sinne of hypocrisie crying oftentimes Woe vnto you Scribes and Pharisies hypocrites Therefore if there be any of you who giue Christianitie occasion mirari suas frondes et non sua poma Who seeme to make accounte of Newe Moones and Sabbaothes and of the Church of GOD and of religion and haue your hands full of bloud grinding the faces of the poore by harde bargaines hauing your mouthesfull of lies and yet wiping your mouthes as though you were no such men take heed the visard will bee pulled frō your faces and Godwil smite you you whited wals Act. 23. 3. God will see you you cannot deceiue him hee sawe the purpose of Ephraim and when he saw it he said I wil spread my net vpon them there is his wisedome and drawe them downe as the foules of heauen there is his power hee spread his nets and drew down Nabuchadnezzar that Lucifer that sunne of the morning while vpon his Turret he was making an Idole of himselfe and many others among the rest Nero who piled crueltie vpon crueltie witnesse many villanies chained together at one time When first he set Rome on fire Secondly hee plaied vpon his Lute and song verses of Homer concerning the burning of Troy comparing the two Cities together Thirdly hee charged the Christians with the burning of the Citie Fourthly hee clothed them with the skinnes of beasts that being taken for beasts they might be deuoured by dogges Though diuers of the Turkes kill their brethren to preuent treason and therby to make themselues great in the world yet God can put hooks at his pleasure in their nostrils and turne them backe whither soeuer hee will Hee can spread his net and pull down the greatest oppressors of the earth and make their bread of oppression to bee grauell in their teeth and make the furrowes of their Land to complaine against them which Land being gotten by the hurt of Christs members betrayed and sould as Iudas betrayed Christ will proue no better then Aceldamaes fields of bloud He that sawe the wrong offered by the taskemasters of Egypt and heard the cries of Israel wil euer heare the grones of his distressed people crying quem das finem Rex magne laborum How long Lord how long Lord holy and true They that wound Gods children touch the apple of his eye Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Saul through the sides of the Church wounded Christ. Benhadad was deceiued when he sayd the God of Israel was the God of the mountaines and not of the valleyes as though the Lord cared for the high and mighty and not for the lowly and deiected there will bee a time when God will no longer suffer the wicked to spoyle vpon his holy mountaine but for the comfortlesse troubles sake of the needie and because of the deepe sighing of the poore I will vp saith the Lord and when hee ariseth who is able to resist Herod was a King and as the greatest are hee was but Lord ouer a little corner of Gods foot-stoole yet hee grewe impetuous and when hee sate vpon his royall seat hee remembred not him that sitteth vppon the circle of the heauens when hee stretched out his hand hee remēbred not him that with the span of his hand reacheth from the East vnto the West when he spake hee remembred not him whose voice is like the sound of Thunder when hee was clothed with royall apparell hee remembred not him who is clothed with righteousnesse as with a garment therefore hee found that Omne sub regno grauiori regnum est Hee was eaten vp with wormes It is GOD that can visit Leuiathan that pearcing Serpent yea euen Leuiathan that crooked Serpent and can slay the Dragon that is in these◠and as for those who are any way displeasing vnto him he can take them though they hide themselues in Samaria as in the corner of a bed and in Damascus as in a couch for God in this place sayth of Ephraim I wil draw thē down as the foules of heauen This may seeme harsh to flesh and bloud which out of weakenesse may euen seeme to plead against God and say that God is the cause of their ruine and perishing in their sinnes seeing he showes his power in punishing of them for those sinnes which himself by infusing grace might haue preuented Dust and ashes dispute not thou with thy maker Perditio tua ex te Israel Euery reprobate is choked with his owne venome God can touch pitch and not bee defiled as for example The Sabaeans and the Chaldaeans spoyled and robbed Iob the Diuell caused them God suffered them nay in some some sort he was an agent for by him men liue moue and haue their being author I say of the action but not of