you of five things as namely 1. Where this rose is to be sought 2. Where with it is to be taken 3. When it is to be sought 4. Wherefore or upon what grounds 5. What impediments must be removed that it may be sought and taken For the first I say that Christ is to be sought for 1. In the Law be sought for 2. In the Gospell 1. This Rose of Sharon is to be sought for in the Law preached 1 Dilatation of this use for so saith the Apostle Wherefore the Law was our Schoolemaster to bring us to * Christ Gal. 3.24 Whereupon it followeth that as he who will gather roses must seeke for them among * Nam â—osa ex spina nascitur Plâ—n nat bist l. 21 thornes So he that will come to Christ must come to him by the pric king thornes of the law as those converts Acts 2.37 who were sore pricked in their hearts before they could be so happy as to enjoy Christ and the reason of this assertion is most evident and plain For as long as we are not to some purpose terrified by the law and made sensible of our owne misery we will not care for Christ even as scarce any body would have cared much for the brazen serpent lifted up in the wildernesse if it had not been for the fierie serpents which having stung men unto death compelled them to looke up so we would hardly make account of Christ if the terrours of the law like fierie serpents should not sting us to death and make us afraid of death death I meane everlasting Simile Or if you will take this comparison Men by nature are like mariners passengers in a ship which is in great danger not far from a great rocke as long as they have the least hope that they may escape and be saved in the ship they will not leap into the sea and swim but when they are told by the skilfull shipmaster that there is no hope of life unlesse they doe so then they will rather swim and try whether they may come to the rocke there to be saved then die and sinke in the ship So as long as men in the state of nature which is like a broken ship very daÌ„gerous may have any hope to go up to heaven do well enough abiding where they are i.e. in the state of open prophanenes or civil honesty or pharasaicall hypocrisie and keeping their bosome-sins they will not wagge one foot to goe to Christ thus as they ought forgoing and forsaking all their darling delights and sinfull profits honours and contentments but when once they are absolutely and roundly told by that skilfull schoolemaster or shipmaster whose name is Law that if they abide in that state and forsake not their forlorne hopes and sweetest sins which are like greatly desired goods in a broken ship they must perish and sinke and be engulphed in that formidable lake which burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 21.8 then then will they rather doe so then dye rather swim to Christ who is like a * 1 Cor. 10. â—â— rocke upon any termes then perish with their goods I should say profits pleasures honours in hell for evermore And therefore if any of you all that want Christ doe in good earnest desire to get Christ Let him not refuse to heare the law and to thinke on it seriously that so he may be thereby terrified and urged effectually to goe to Christ even speedily that he may not be damned eternally But hereof more is to be said hereafter This is but to make way for them 2. This rose of Sharon is to be sought in the Gospell preached 2 In the Gospell which is like a field for its largenesse because therein Christ offereth himselfe to as many as will come to him saying Come to me all you that travell and are heavy laden and I will ease you Matt. 11.28 so as that he might well compare himselfe here to a rose in Sharon field which is not so inclosed and reserved as your garden roses are but may be had of any that travelleth by and hath a mind to it for doe but marke his speech and you shall see it Come unto me all ye that travell marke all as if he should say I doe not either reserve my selfe to my selfe or deny my selfe to any that would have me No but I am ready and willing to ease and to embrace even with the dearest embraces of my love any poore travelling soule that comes to me and therefore come hither all ye poore sinners that groane under the burden of your sins and seeke Christ in this sweet and gracious promise for here you shall undoubtedly find him he cannot go from it because he is faithfull SECT 9. Faith must be gotten for the taking of Christ 2. ONly I must tell you 2 Dilatatiâ— of this use Get faith that as he will plucke a rose must have a hand to plucke it with so you must have the hand of faith wherewith you may and must lay hold on Christ beleeving verily that according to his faithfull promise he will be a Saviour unto you and refocillate you and ease your poore soules of the most heavy and grievous burden of sin and that you shall have rest by him here and hereafter eternally in the heavens See Iohn 6.37 Him that commeth to me I will in no wise cast out But how shall we get faith Quest Sol. I answer Christ himselfe is the author of it Heb. 12.2 and he works it by his word and spirit Rom. 10.17 1 Cor. 12.9 and therefore goe to him by prayer and cast your selves downe before the throne of his grace both before and after the hearing of his word and beg of him that as he hath given you hands to take your meat with and to gather and plucke roses for the good of your bodies in sicknesse that you may live the life of nature so he would give you the hand of faith wherewith you may take and apprehend him being that most sweet and medicinall rose of Sharon for the good of your soules that they may live the life of faith here and the life of glory hereafter Now it may be that Christ will not heare ye by and by because you would not heare him when he did seeke after you in the preaching of his faithfullest messengers but let not that dismay you for he loves to be importuned and therefore solicite him againe and againe and be ye as earnest with him as once Rachel was with Iacob when she said Give me children or else I die Gen. 30.1 so say ye unto Christ O Lord Jesus who art the author of faith and canst give it to whom thou wilt even as thou canst give children when and to whom thou wilt give us faith Lord or else we die and perish for ever or else as once a good old * Ioh. Badly bornt in King Heâ—y the 4. time Anno
Idem in loc Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the * That is to the free gifts of the Spirit Haym o in loc waters and he that hath no money come ye buy and eate yea come buy wine and milke milke if ye be weake wine if ye be sad without money and without price or freely Esa 55.1 Again if any man be a thirst let him come unto me and drink that is let him derive from me by a lively faith so much spirituall grace as may * Bibat potum illum salutarem qui animam reficiat et omnem aâ—stâ— cupiditatum hujus mundi reflinguat Cyril l. 5. in Ioh. c. 10. quench his thirsting after the things of this world Ioh. 7.37 adde Matth. 11.28 Mark 5.36 You see by all these sacred passages what warrant you have to apply Christ and to perswade your selves that Christ will do for you what may be done For as much as he both invites you to come unto him and also tels you what you shall have and finde in him when you come unto him and take him into your very souls as you take meat and drink into your bodies namely whatsoever is necessary for the life of your souls shadowed forth by bread and wine and milk and water which things as ye know are most necessary and usefull for the preservation of the naturall life of man and therefore in Gods name take yea eate and drink Christ even most confidently and boldly as the onely soveraign medicinall Rose or Rose-water which must revive and cure your sin-sick soules assuring your selves that in all the foresaid Cases he will doe for you what is to be done for your everlasting health 5. But withall 5 Rule I must advise you that as men who are to take bodily Physick are to pray unto God for a blessing so beleeving you will beseech and invocate the Lord Jesus Christ who is both Physick as a Rose and the Physician himself as he is a Saviour that he will blesse your endeavours and make himself effectuall unto your poore and sickly souls More particularly that like a Rose he will purge out choler and hatred and lustfulnesse and envie and pride and every other corruption that you may be most troubled with and that he will cleere your sight that you may see your sinfulnesse more then you did and take away your stonie hearts that you may be able to mourn or to grieve more for your sinnes then you did and that he will dissolve all stoppages within you and enlarge your hearts that so you may run after him in the way of his commandements and that he will be pleased to establish your hearts and to pardon your offences and to give rest unto your souls and to take away all trembling from your hearts Moreover pray him with all humblenesse of minde that he will not suffer your graces to decay nor to be so dead as sometimes you are but rather will quicken your spirits and when you be a thirst after more grace that he will satisfie you and when you begin to thirst too inordinately after the things of this life that he will quench your thirst that you thirst so no more and when his fathers wrath is kindled against you that he will appease it and when you be comfortlesse and have lost a deare friend that he will comfort you and when you are sick in body and weake in faith that he will strengthen you Thus according to the Cases formerly prosecuted beseech Christ to be good unto you and if he seeme to be strange and inexorable then urge him as the good Shunamite the Prophet Elisha when her sonne was dead saying As the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth I will not leave thee 2 King 4.30 So say thou unto Christ as thou livest I will not leave thee till thou help me or as * Si sâ—â—e duâ—io â—â—eÌ„tis accesseris dixeris ei niss accepero non credam â—ross us accipies si â—amen â—â—sum postuâ—aâ—eris qxe â—â—m daredaeat tibi â—â—tentiâ—â—â—i â—â—â—â—cdiat 〈…〉 Chrysostome would have us unlesse thou give me what according to thy will I desire of thee I will not beleeve thee assuring thy self that thou shalt impetrate and have what thus * It moveth ingenu 〈◊〉 natures to ses mâ—n take 〈◊〉 denâ—alls well which proud personâ— will not do and so it movâ—th God Th. Goodwin in his return of prayers â— 212. importunately thou doest postulate and crave See Luk. 18.1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Matth. 15.26 27. how Christ himself would both have us to be importune and instant and how he commendeth the woman of Canaan which was so constant and would not give him over till he did help her And I could tell you even of many wonders which fervent and importunate praying hath wrought from time to time constraining Christ to help his people which prayed even beyond hope and imagination and contrary to the course of nature to encourage you but I le content my self with one instance onely for the present which may suffice * Foxe act men p. 689 When Solymaniâ— had besieged Gunza in Hungary and eight companies were entred in the middest of the town there was gathered in a house a company of women children and impotent folk which made such a noise with their cry and prayers that went up to heaven as that the Turks thought a new supply did come against them and so left the citie again and compounded with it whereupon that poore place was miraculously preserved and therefore I say again pray whensoever you be in any distresse though you can have but as little hope as they of that little citie Christ himself seeming to be against you as he seemed to be utterly against the good woman of Canaan yet pray and say unto him as she said Lord help nay cry and cry even mightily as the same Canaan petitioner and as the said poor women and children of Gunza did cry saying againe and againe and againe Lord help and if that will not do it cry again both day and night using the same words or some such like ô Lord Jesus sweet Rose of Sharon help for we are grievously vexed of the Devill or thus Lord help for we are grievously tormented of thy fathers wrath or thus Lord help for we are grievously perplexed by reason of sin Thus in all the foresaid Cases cry out for help and * Nam cui quaeso in dubiis aestuanti fluctuanti non subito ad invocationâ—m clarinominis emicuit certitudo Bern. super Cant. Serm. 15. fol. 125. doubt you not but that as Christ said at last to the good woman of Canaan O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee as thou wilt So as that her daughter was made whole from that very houre Matth. 15.28 and as that good people of Gunza was blessedly preserved upon their loud-crying prayers so you also shal be
Christ that is most firmly and unchangeably pleasant embrace with Demas the transitory pleasures of this present world â— Tim 4 10 I desire you who are such to lay it to heart and to thinke seriously of it that you may change your minds before God change your conditions which for ought I know may be very shortly 3. And are not all these things 8 DiffereÌ„ce which you doe so dote upon most base and low even much below your immortall and heavenly borne spirits whereas Christ is most high and sublime and therefore were much fitter for your high and immateriall soules then those base things here below Take a survey of some of them 1. What is Beauty in men or women but a little colourâ—d skin covering raw flesh and sometimes much rotten stuffe * Non intelligo quid tantopere expetendumhabeat iste non solidus nec in ipso homine nise superâ—icie â—eâ—nus fuâ—gens decor multaque faeda câ—ategens â—erreâ—da â—â—aendissimoâ—â—e â—utis oâ—â—entu sâ—nsiâ—â—â— blandiâ—ns illudâ—â—s 〈◊〉 in â—pist ad 〈◊〉 and corrupt matter that lyeth hid under a faire outside as that faire Emperour of Rome once wrote to a friend of his so as that Gods word might well say that favour is deceitfull and beauty vaine Prov. 31.30 and is there no difference then between this vaine and Christs matchlesse fairenesse both inward and outward and is not that same fitter for your sublime spirits then that which is so low and vain 2. What is Meat which the base glutton preferres before Christ but a morsell of a dead bird or beast or some other livelesse creature too low an object for man who being the master-peece of earthly creatures and Lord of them all should infinitely preferre the Lord Christ who being most sublime and the very food of the soule is most fit for his unsâ—tiable appetite and for his aspiring Spirit 3. What is Wine which the drunkard preferreth before Christ but only the refined blood of the vine which springs up from the earth too low an object also for a man inspired with an immortall soule which he should rather inebriate and make drunke with the blood of that high and coelestiall vine which came down from heaven to satiate our thirsty soules on earth 4. What are Clothes but either the excrements of wormes or the haires and coats of beasts borrowed of them or rather taken from them by violence which caused * Erâ—sm l. 8. Apâ—pht once Demonax to checke a vaine man for being proud upon his purple clothes whispering these words into his eares Heus tu haec ante tegestabat ovis This a sheep did weare before you Compare then that which comes from beasts here below with Christ who comes from above and is a farre more fitter object for your immortall spirits which he is most willing to clothe with himselfe as with a * Rev. 3.17 garment more glorious then the sun that so you may scorne to set a higher prize upon so low and base an object as your cloathes are then upon Jesus Christ the Lord of glory and upon the garment of his salvation 5. And what is applause but a little vanishing breath and a passing sound which also is to low an object for that immortall breath which breatheth in your humane breasts and should be fed with no such corrupted aire exhaling from sinfull and corrupt men but with the incorruptible high and heavenly spirit of Christ and with his everlasting and bright shining glory 6. Againe what is wealth gold I meane and silver but a little shining clay and painted earth too low an object likewise for such lofty spirits as lodge in these your breasts who should rather pant after those high and heavenly and incorruptible treasures and riches that are in Christ Col. 2.3 in whom dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead which is the fountaine of all riches * Scilicet â—sâ—â—ntialiteâ— praesentialiter potentialiter Durand Ration div offis l. 6 f. 106 9. DiffereÌ„â—e bodily Col. 2.9 7. And lastly whereas in Christ are all desirables it may be truly said of all other earthly things which are so preferred before Christ that there is none of them all so absolute or contenting and satisfactory as that one might say now I have enough I desire no more Will you see instances Let a man empty all the spicy Islands of their fragrant spices and let him evacuate all the richest mines in America of their most precious minerals and let him find out the Philosophers stone if he may possibly be gotten and then let him turne all that he touches with it into beaten and shining gold and besides all this let him empty the Erythrean seas of their orient and brightest pearles nay let him ingrosse and get into his hands the whole materiall and most spacious world which the ancient Poets have called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is infinite by reason of his vastenesse and incredible bignesse in its * Quem ambitum quidam esse â—olunt â—ucarum gaâ—licurum novem millium amplius alâ—j autem habere Leucas decies mille ducentas Danaeus phys Christ tract 3. c. 23. circumference And yet I dare say that all this will not yea cannot satisfie the infinite and immeasurable appetite of his triangled and unsatisfiable heart For how can such a round globe as the world is fill a triangle and what saith the wisest King that ever swayed scepter upon earth He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver Eccles 9.5 Hence * Val. Max. l. 8. c. 15. Alexander that great Pellean Monarch having a world of kingdomes yet weeps and takes on and is discontented because he heard that there was but one world for him to conquer whereas his inlarged heart did wish that there had been many more 2. Let a man drinke in pleasures like a river and let him fill his belly with the most exquisite and delicious varieties of meat and drinke let him have the * Vnus Pelâ—eo juveni nonsuffiâ—it orbis Aestuat insaelix angusto limine mundi Juvenal fairest woman in the worlds circumference and let him please his eares with the most ravishing and enchanting musicall harmonies and yet I dare say he will not be pleased but find a vexation and wearinesse and and unsatisfiablenesse and emptines even in the affluence and fulnesse of all these earthly Paradises if you will * Captus est quis amoâ—e faeminae pâ—l chrae quomodo to quâ—tur antequam â—a fruitur cum fruitur post oest il libâ—diâ—is voluptas compescitur ubi ergo voluptus cum nec in iâ—itio nec sine posset reperiri Chrys in 1 Cor. 9. not beleeve me beleeve Solomon who for his part enjoyed as much pleasure as was possibly to be taken in the most dainty dishes or sweetest wines or beautifullest women or the most pleasing and melodious musicke as you may read Eccles 2. I said
shall bow themselves and the grinders thy teeth I mean shall cease and those that looke out at the windowes even those very eyes of thine shall be darkened when friends will be troublesome unto thee thy servants or those that shall keep thee will not be able to please thee when speaking will spend thee and silence grieve thee and thy wife and children those pieces of thy selfe in another kind weeping about thee will torment thee and when thy feet will begin to grow cold and thy face to waxe pale thy lips and mouth to retire thine eyes to pitch thy tongue to faile thy teeth to close thy breath to faint thy heart to beat and ake and when the memory the magazine of the soule as * Manchestâ—r al mondo one aptly termes it will recount all that thou hast done thought or spoken and Satan yea many devils and malignant spirits will in this thy last assault with combine forces surround thy bed and lay to thy charge what thou now slightest even thy most abhorred underprizing and undervaluing of the Lord Christ and thy wilfull neglect of a number of golden seasons and precious duties besides an infinite multitude of other most grievous and haynous abominations youthfull lusts and execrable pollutions extortions oathes cursings revilings and the like which will most bitterly aggravate the unexpressable * Nâ—m dolor est sâ—lutio continui Curâ—us de seâ—s l. 2. c. 4 So that the dissolution of soul and body most nearly compacted must needs be exceeding great paine of death who in the meane while will put thy whole dying body into a most grievous and coldest sweat as an infallible * P. Boaysiuan in suo thâ—aâ—ro mundi l. 3 p. 147. evidence that nature is now vanquishâ—d yea will be sure to batter chiefly thy once strongest castle the heart straightening and dâ—stressing it round on every side and burâ—ing the very strings of it to make the last fatall breath and to fetch out by force and maine strength thy poore and trembling soule and to deliver it if thou dye out of Christ which God forbid unto his fellow 〈…〉 death to be tormented for 〈…〉 ever For therefore it is 〈…〉 12 20. thou foole this night 〈…〉 be required of thee * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈…〉 require thy soule of thee 〈…〉 who they be thinke ye 〈…〉 death and the second one succeeding as it were and seconding the other 1 Seriously and therefore I beseech you 2 Freqâ—eÌ„tly think but seriously and frequently on this your last sicknesse and upon your latter end which is approaching and be not so blockish as formerly you have been For then as the little Bee which so soone as flowers spring goeth abroad vieweth the gay diapery and the variety of the sweetest flowers growing in the coloured fields fraights her thighes maketh a curious combe and so betimes hoards up honey in the pleasant summer against the cold sad and troublesome winter so you cannot chuse but take this golden opportunity which God in mercy offereth you causing the most sweetest rose of Sharon even Jesus Christ himselfe blessed for ever to spring as it were and to appeare Here before you I say you cannot but goe forth now forthwith use the means formerly shewed that you may sucke provide and get I will not say a little corruptible honey out of this my text which is Christs owne speech but Christ himselfe who is sweeter then honey though it be made never so pleasant with the most fragrant roses against that most heavy most grievous and sorrowfull winter of your latter end which is to come The Lord make you thinke upon it that you may not neglect or for-slow this most pleasant summer day of your most gracious visitation in the which the Lord Christ doth so blessedly appeare unto you in his blessed word and proffers himselfe unto you so lovingly and pleasantly like a rose full fresh and faire in the field SECT 14. Of Basenesse the third Let. 3. AS some base people will not gather roses to bestrow their cloathes and roomes with the same 3 Let. Basenesse though they smell most odiously and abominably because they can endure any sent and make no reckoning of it being used to it so carnall men and women are so base and sordid as that they will not get Christ because they are so accustomed to the filthy smell of sin as that they doe scarse perceive it themselves though a stranger to them who is not used to such an abominable sent doe smell it quickly and therefore I pray you be sensible of this basenesse and remaine it by labouring to be sensible of those odious smels which your filthy hearts doe continually exhale and send forth as it is written that every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart by nature is onely evill continually Gen. 6.6 and that out of the heart proceed evill thoughts murders adulteries fornications thefts false witnesse blasphemies which defile a man Mat. 15.19 20. Doe ye not smell these abominations brethren I speake but to the guilty nay should ye not perceive them how can you chuse every body that knowes you cannot but take notice of you how basely you carry your selves and how strangely you be overswayed with fiercenesse and anger and with monstrous pride which doth even stinke before God and man and sometimes with filthy avarice and other times with that detestable sinne of drunkennesse and therefore seeing others note you can you not and should you not observe it in your selves being privy to your very hearts and most secret and reserved imaginations which others know not so well as you Well you know that â—f one doe stirre in a dunghill and put it abroad it will stink so much more then it did before so as that one must needs smell it and I doubt not but if you shall stirre but a little in this matter 1. â—ansacking your hearts and 2. ripping up your lives and sitting them exactly you shall smell more of your odious sinnes then ever you did and therefore search your selves and so labour to come to the sight and sense of all your abominations that you may get Christ to sweeten you as roses doe sweeten our houses And here looke back a little I pray you to the second branch of the second generall use tending to conviction For I confesse that there is such a neare affinity between this let and that use as that one may be said to embrace to re-imbrace the other and that both agree in one I meane in one end principally For as there I did labour to make men see that they are out of Christ by the ill savour of their abominable thoughts words and works to fit them for Christ and for the meanes to be used for the getting of Christ that they may see what need they have of Christ so here I strive againe to make men sensible if I can of that same
mindfulnesse of him but also by an extraordinary care to preserve and to enjoy the comfortable sense and feeling of his gracious presence in your blessed soules imitating his faire spouse in the Canticles who when he had him would not let him goe chap. 3.4 You will say unto me Quest how can we keep him if he will be gone I answer Answ as you conserve roses with sugar so you may keep him a long time with 1. Sugred and sweet thoughts of God and him and his word and saints c. abandoning other vain and worldly cogitations For then we make as it were our minds his * Salomoni ergo vel Christo lectulum facimus cum amundi solicitudiâ—iâ—bus omniâ—â—â—-cessamus dum in solo desiderio Christi â—â—benter pausamus eique ut nobiscum pausit cor ab omni terâ—â—na cupâ—ditate mundamus Greg. 〈◊〉 Cant. 3.7 bed whereon he is then pleased to rest Cant. 3.7 2. With sweet and gracious speeches and communications if you have a care to bridle your tongues and to refraine your lips from bitter words and unprofitable discourses and contrarily to sugar the conceptions of your minds with sweet and savory expressions tending to the glory of God and to the edification of others For with such communcication God is well pleased See Luke 24.15 3. With sweet and gracious works which are even able to attract him and to draw him towards you after he hath been in regard of his sense and feeling absent from you for so he saith to his faire Spouse I am come into my garden c. meaning the beleeving soule Cant. 5.1 after she had desired him to give her a gracious visit saying Let my beloved come into his garden and eate of his pleasant fruits that is let him please and delight himselfe with these precious graces and glorious works which himself hath wrought by his holy spirit as I noted formerly that this is the meaning of that excellent place Gregor in loc Psellus 〈◊〉 as both Gregory and Psellus in their annotations affirme SECT 19. Christ should be used much 2. BE willing also to make more use of Christ then ever you did yet seeing that now you understand how that he is most like unto a rose whose usefulnesse and medicinallnesse Petrus Andre Matthiolus a Physician so extolleth and setteth forth in his Commentaries on the 1. Book of Dioscorides the 112. Chapter as that I for my part must not thinke that I shall be able to magnifie them more then he did and therefore I le here set down his own words which formerly I have cited in the margin Certainly saith he roses are much to be magnified and to be had in high esteeme because they serve not onely for an ornament to beautifie our gardens and are most delightfull to the eye but also because they be used in the most excellent medicines whereby the life of man is succoured Thus he and therefore how may we extoll and magnifie say I the Lord Jesus Christ that most admirable Rose of Sharon which must needs be more then infinitely more medicinall being the Creator then all roses created Make use of him therefore as men make use of roses in such cases as these SECT 20. Christ is to be made use of in 25. Cases 1. 1 1 Case VVHen you be overcome with choler and anger or else finde your selves prone to it at any time for as * Rosa succus sanqâ—i nem biliosum expurâ—at Petr. Audr Matthiol l. 1. Dios c. 11â— roses do purge choler so * Nihil ita irae impelum câ—hibet sicut Jesus Bern. super Cant Serm. 15. Christ is able to purge out your anger and better too for himself is most meeke Matth. 11.29 and therefore as it is the nature of contraries to expell one another so Christ being most meeke must needs be able to expell your wrath even then when you are apt to be most angry if you make use of him aptly that is in such a sort and manner as is to be shewed hereafter 2. When you be apt and prone to hate any man 2 Case which is more then to be angry onely with another For as * Flos rosae sanguinem sistit Plin. Nat. Histor. l. 21. c. 19. Roses being physically and rightly used do stop a bloody fluxe so Christ is able to stop this bloody sin which runs paralell with the bloody crime of murder in the sight and Judgement of God as it is written 1 Iohn 3.15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murtherer This sin I say Christ is able to stay 3 Case and to subdue being rightly made use of for he is all love being God as it is written 1 Iohn 4.16 God is love and therefore by the same rule of contraries he must needs be able to cast out hatred also which is contrary to love 3. When you be pestered with that * Invidentiâ— diabolicum vitium est Aug. de disc Christ tom 9 mihi p. 914 Est diaboli inventum Basil de Invidia mihi p. 173. diabolicall sin of Envie for as * William Langham in his garden of health p. 538. Roses preserve from rottennesse so Christ is able to keep you from that rotten sin also as we may call it because it * Prov. 14 30. causeth rottennesse that it may not * Nihil ita livoris â—ulnus sanat si 〈◊〉 nomen Iesu 〈◊〉 Serm. 1â— super Cant. reign for who ever did shew himself more opposite to that soul-wasting sinne then he in that he prayed that his very servants might be one with him and gave them the same glory which his heavenly father gave him Iohn 17.22 23. and therefore there is no doubt but if you make use of him as you ought he will free you more and more from that sinne which is so opposite to his own nature 4. When you are troubled with the most detestable sinne of Pride 4 Case being strongly tempted to be proud of your wealth or gifts and spirituall graces for as Roses are good against * Si membram per inflammationemintumucrie infundenda erit rosa tepida Celsut l. 8. c. 4. swellings so * Nihil ita superbie tumorem sedat sicut Jesus Bernard Christ the Rose of Sharon is usefull against that swelling sin being himself most humble Matth. 11.29 and therefore as contrary to pride is also able to expell it in any of his faithfull members that is or shall be infected with it 5. 5 Case When you feele the scorching heat of concupiscence and know not how to free yourselves of it then also go to Christ for help and make use of him For as Roses do coole and take away a Petr. Andr. Matthiol in Diosco l. 1. c. 112. inflammations so b Nihil i ta extinguit libidinis flam mam sicut Iesus Bernard Christ can quickly allay that flaming heat of originall concupiscence which doth so molest his own
you from that wrath and take away that heat as Roses do take away the heat of a hot disease For none else but he was ever able to pacifie the provoked wrath and fury of God It was the foolish pride of that Romane Emperour Caligula Caligulaes folly having made a bridge of grappled ships over a narrow arm of the Sea in imitation of Xerxes and triumphing at midnight with innumerables torches to boast that he had wrought two great miracles having made the sea dry land and the night day but our Emperour of heaven and earth even the Lord Jesus Christ did so indeed when he dried up the red Sea of his fathers wrath and changed our present night of ignorance sadnesse and future of torment into the eternall day-light of his grace and glory and there was none with him when he did it because none but he was able to do it nor will be ever See Esa 63.3 I have troden the wine-presse alone and of the people there was none with me that is none did * Nemo mihi patienti adsuit Cyryl in Loc. suffer with me when I suffered my fathers wrath wherefore as God said once to his people so say I unto you Enter into the rock * Altiâ—ri intellectu praecipitur omnibus ut ingrediantur in pâ—tram iâ— est confugium faciant ad Christum veraciter credendo in eum Haymo in Loc. that is in Christ who is the rock for feare of the Lord and for the glory of his Majestie when he is angry and there hide your selves making what use you can of Christ and labouring to be found in Christ and to have Christ ever in your mind till the indignation be over past Esa 2.10 and Chap. 26. vers 20. 22. 22 Case Moreover are you deprived of your dearest friends goodly children or loving parents or hath any of you been bereaved of a kinde yoke-fellow and do ye thereupon conclude that God is displeased with you then go to Christ in this your heavy and sad condition who is ready to be unto you in stead of a sonne a father or mother or brother or friend Matth. 12.50 and so consequently to exhilarate and to cheere you up as a Rose whose * Roses do rejoyce the blood Tho. Hill in his Art of gardening p. 88. propertie it is to be exhilarative 23. 23 Case Again though you do not feel the wrath of God in your souls yet if you be but comfortlesse and destitute of the sense and feeling of his love towards you rest not so but go with all speed to Christ who is both able and ready to comfort your sorrowfull souls as Roses are able to * William Langh p. 533. comfort the head and heart of a man when he is weake For so he saith Ioh. 14.18 I will not leave you comfortlesse I will come to you Mark I le come to you saith he Where as other Roses cannot come to us but we must go after them to shew how ready he is to come and to comfort us whensoever we are sad and comfortlesse wherefore I coÌ„clude with sweet St. * Tristatur aliquis nostrum veniat in cor Jesus Bern. Sâ—rm 15. super Cant. Bernard is any man sad Let Christs sweetest name Jesus I adde and this precious promise come into his heart and minde and so let him procure that peace and comfort which the world cannot give in and by Jesus Christ that sweet and most comfortable Rose of Sharon but this comfortablenesse of Christ I have likewise already enforced upon your affections as now I do reinforce it upon your wils and therefore I am here the more brief in my perswasion 24. 24 Case Are you sick and weake in body and like to die then ô then make use of Christ chiefly For then usually men make most use of their corruptible Roses or Rose-water Rose-vinegar Roses conserved and * For few cordials can want the help of Roses or Rose-water Will. Langh p. 535. cordials made of Roses and other ingredients when they be very ill and should ye not then above all other times make as much account of Christ that incorruptible Rose of Sharon yea infinitely more Forasmuch as he is then able to do good both to your souls and bodies whereas other Roses as I noted formerly are but good for the one and nothing for the other It is Christ and none but Christ that can heale all diseases as he is not onely man but also God all-powerfull Psal 103.3 It is Christ and none but Christ that can then strengthen us when naturall strength faileth as it is written Esa 40.29 He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might he encreaseth strength which all the cordials upon earth cannot do It is Christ and none but Christ that can then content your languishing souls and drooping spirits when neither meat nor drink will down with you as it is written Psal 23.4 5. Yea Though I walk thorow the valley of the shadow of death I will feare none ill for thou namely * Aug. in Loc. Christ art with me thy rod and thy staffe they comfort me Thou preparest a table or feast for my poore soul before me in the presence of mine enemies where by enemies we may understand death and Satan also among the rest who then are before us when we are dying Lastly it is Christ and none but Christ that can then keep us alive that we die not the everlasting death when neither money nor friends nor Physick nor Physicians can keep us from death For so he saith Ioh. 6.49.50 Your fathers did eat Manna in the wildernesse and are dead that could not keep them alive This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die namely for ever And therefore as in ancient time sick and weak and dying Christians were * Ansèlm apud Rosium in conf Petriconiensi cap. 73. Georg. Cassander in append ad opusc Iohan. Roffens de siducia misericordia Dei. directed to make use of Christ at that time especially interposing the death of Christ betwixt them and Gods Judgement so do I advise and perswade you now to do the like saying as they were taught to say if the Lord will Judge you Lord we interpose the death of of our Lord Iesus Christ betwixt us and thy Iudgement no otherwise we contend with thee c. I must not proceed farther lest I should prevent my self in that which I must say by and by touching the form and manner of making use of Christ and therefore let that suffice which I have already spoken 25. 25 Case Finally my brethren if your faith be weake either then when you be weak and sick or at any other time then ô then be sure to go to Christ who being like a Rose is as able to corroborate your faith in the heart as Roses are able to * Rosarum