whence she deliuered them She shall bee yet more kinde to thee if her basenesse can teach thee humility and keepe thee from being more proud of other things then thou canst with any reason be of thy Parentage Few are proud of their soules and none but fooles can bee proud of their bodies seeing here is all the difference betwixt him that walkes and his floore he walkes on Liuing Earth treads vpon dead earth and shall at last bee as dead as his pauement Many are the fauours that the earth doth vs yet amongst them all there is none greater then the schooling vs to humility and working in vs a true acknowledgement of our owne vilenesse and so directing vs to heauen to find that aboue which she cannot giue vs below 2. For Patience The Earth is called Terra quia teritur and this is the naturall earth For they distinguish it into 3. sorts Terra quam terimus terra quam gerimus terra quam quaerimus which is the glorious land of Promise That earth is cut and wounded with culters and shares yet is patient to suffer it and returnes fruits to those that ploughed it The good heart is thus rent with vexations and broken with sorrowes yet offers the other cheeke to the smiter endureth all with a magnanimous patience assured of that victory which comes by suffering Vincit qui patitur Neither is this all it returns mercy for iniury prayers for persecutions and blesseth them that cursed it The Plowers plowed vpon my backe they made long their furrowes They rewarded mee euill for good to the spoyling of my soule Yet when they were sicke my cloathing was sackecloth I humbled my soule with fasting I was heauy as one that mourned for his friend or brother and my prayer returned into mine owne bosome When the heart of our Sauiour was thus ploughed vp with a speare it ran streames of mercie reall mercie which his vocall tongue interpreted Father forgiue them they know not what they doe His bloud Heb. 12. had a voice a mercifull voice and spake better things then the bloud of Abel That cryed from the cauerns of the earth for reuenge this from the Crosse in the sweet tune of compassion and forgiuenesse It is a strong argument of a heart rich in grace to wrappe and embrace his iniurer in the armes of loue as the earth quietly receiues those dead to buriall who liuing tore vp her bowels 3. For faithful Constancie The Earth is called Solum because it stands alone depending on nothing but the Makers hand One generation passeth away and another generation commeth but the earth abideth for euer Shee often changeth her burden without any sensible mutation of her selfe Thy faithfulnesse is to all generations thou hâ—st established the Earth and it standeth The Hebrew is To generation and generation inferring that times and men and the sonnes of men posterity after posterity passe away but the Earth whereon and whereout they passe abideth The parts thereof haue been altered and violent Earth-quakes begot in the owne bowels haue totterd it But God hath layd the foundations of the earth the Originall is founded it vpon her bases that it should not be remoued for euer the body of it is immoueable Such a constant soliditie is in the faithfull heart that should it thunder Buls from Rome and bolts from heauen Impauâ—dum ferient ruinae â— Indeede God hath sometimes bent an angry brow against his owne deare ones and then no maruell if they shudder if the bones of Dauid tremble and the teeth of Hezekiah chatter But God will not be long angry with his and the balances at first putting in of the euenest weights may be a little swayed not without some shew of inequality which yet after a little motion settle themselues in a iust poyse So the first terrour hath moued the godly not remoued them they return to themselues and rest in a resolued peace Lord doe what thou wilt if thou kill mee I will trust in thee Let vs heare it from him that had it from the Lord. Psal. 112. Surely he shall not be moued for euer the righteous shall bee in euerlasting remembrance He shall not be afraide of euill tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is established c. Oh sweet description of a constant soule They giue diuerse causes of Earth-quakes Aristotle among the rest admits the ecclipse of the Sun for one the interposition of the Moones body hindring some places from his heate I know not how certaine this is in Philosophie â—n Diuinity it is most true that onely the ecclipse of our Sunne IESVS CHRIST raiseth Earth-quakes in our hearts when that inconstant and euer-changing body of the Moone the world steppes betwixt our Sunne and vs and keepes vs from the kindly vitall heate of his fauour then O then the earth of our heart quakes and we feele a terrour in our bones and bowels as if the busie hand of death were searching them But no ecclipse lasts long especially not this our Sunne will shine on vs againe we shall stand sure euen as mount Sion which cannot be remoued but abideth for euer 4. For Charitie The Earth brings forth food for all creatures that liue on it Greene herbe for the cattell oyle and wine for man The vallyes stand thicke with corne the Mower filleth his sythe and the binder vp of sheaues his bosome A good man is so full of charitie he releeues all without improuidence to himselfe He giues plentifully that all may haue some not indiscreetly that some haue all On the Earth stand many glorious Cities and goodly buildings faire monuments of her beauty and adornation The sanctified soule in an happy respondencie hath manifold workes of charitie manifest deedes of piety that sweetly become the Faith which he professeth 5. For Riches The Earth is but poore without the surface of it especially when squalid winter hath bemired it seemes poore and barren but within it is full of rich mines ores of gold and quarries of precious minerals For medals and mettals it is abundantly wealthy The sanctified heart may seeme poore to the worlds eye which only beholds and iudgeth the rinde and huske and thinkes there is no treasure in the Cabinet because it is couered with leather But within hee is full of golden mines and rich ores the inuisible graces of faith feare loue hope patience holinesse sweeter then the spices of the East Indies and richer then the gold of the West Omnis decor filiae Sion ab intus The Kings Daughter is all glorious within It is not the superficiall skinne but the internall beautie that moues the King of heauen to bee enamoured of vs and to say Thou art all faire my Loue there is no spot in thee 6. Lastly for Fertilitie The Earth is fruitfull when the ayre hath giuen influence the Clouds showred downe seasonable deawes and the Sunne bestowed his kindly heate
cor All his affections haue a low obiect not out of humilitie but base deiection His hope desire loue ioy are set on these inferiour things and like a Mole he digs still downewards till he come to his Center his owne place Hell Telluris inutile pondus 2 For coldnesse Experience teacheth that the earth is cold coldnes is a natural quality pertinent to it though accidentally there be bred in it fierie vapours The wicked man hath a cold heart frozen vp in the dregs of iniquitie though there be an vnnaturall heat sometimes flaming in him the fire of lust and malice tormenting his bowels but this is no kindly heate to warme his conscience That is deriued from the fire of the Temple that neuer goes out and only giuen by Iesus Christ that baptizeth with the holy Ghost and with fire 3 For foulenesse The squalid earth for we speake not heere of any good ground is called Lutulenta terra miery and noysome yet is it neate and cleane in comparison of a sinne-contaminated soule The body was taken from the earth not the Soule the body shall resolue to the earth not the soule yet the polluted soule is more sordid then either a leprous body or a muddy earth In the eye of GOD there is no beautie so acceptable no foulenesse so detestable as the soules The Doue carried the prayse of beautie from the Peacocke by the Eagles iudgement that though the Peacocke liuing had the fayrer plumes yet dead he hath but a blacke liuer Gods iudgement of all mens fairenesse is by the liuer the cleanesse of the heart in his eye-sight 4 For obscuritie and darkenesse the earth is called a place of blacke darkenesse the land of forgetfulnesse So Iob and Dauid tearme it The wicked Soule is full of darkenesse thicknesse of sight caecitie of vnderstanding not seeing the glorious libertie of the Sonnes of God Our Gospell is hid to those that are lost Whose minds the god of this world hath blinded There is in them Hebetudo mentis which is acutae rationis obtusio carnalis intemperantiae crassis sensibus inducta They are so vtterly ignorant of heauen that as it is in the Prouerbe ne pictum quidem viderunt they haue not seene it so much as in the mappe or picture As to men shut vp in the low cauernes of the earth not so much as the sunne and starres and the lights of heauens lower parts haue appeared Tolerabilior est poena viuere non posse quam nescire Ignorance is a heauier punishment then death sayth the Philosopher Darkenes is their desire because their deeds are euill Perhaps at last after a long dotage on their darke delight earth they come to heare of a better richer countrey and then take onely with them the Lanterne of Nature to find it But so erepto lumine can delabrum querunt Hauing lost the light they grope for the Candlesticke A man that comes into his house at midnight sees nothing amisse in the day-light he finds many things misplac'd Nature is but a darke Lanterne when by it we endeuour to ransacke the conscience Onely the light of grace can demonstrate all the sluttish and incurious misorders in our soules 5 The maine resemblance betweene an euill ground and worse man consists in the ill fruites that they both produce bryers and thornes and such not onely vnhelpefull but hurtfull vices This is the principal analogie which our Apostle intends the pith and marow of this reference But before we come to a particular anatomizing of this Subiect some obseruable doctrines fall profitably to our instruction Obserue therfore 1 The word of God will worke some way It fals not vpon any ground in vaine but will produce herbes or weeds It is such Physicke as will either cure or kill It mollifies one makes another more hard Some hearts it pricks others it terrifies though conuerts not as it made Foelix tremble None euer heard it but they are either better or worse by it We preach Christ crucified vnto the Iewes a stumbling blocke vnto the Gentiles foolishnesse But vnto them which are called both of Iewes and Greeks the power of GOD and the wisedome of God In this Epistle it is called a double-edged sword c. It is either a conuerting or conuincing power sealing receiuers to redemption contemners to reiection The word which I haue preached shall iudge you in the latter day If this doctrine were considerately digested in hearers hearts what a zealous preparation would it worke in their soules It would bring vs to these seats with other minds if we remembred that wee returne not backe to our owne doores the very same wee came out but either somewhat better or much worse Sergius Paulus was turned Elimas obdurated at one Sermon After our Sauiours heauenly Sermon Iohn 6. Some went backe and walked no more with him that Christ bespake his Apostles Will ye also goe away Others stucke more close Lord to whom shall we goe Thou hast the words of eternall life The Prophet Esay speakes fully to this purpose As the raine commeth downe and returneth not backe but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may giue seede to the sower and bread to the eater So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not returne vnto mee voyd but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it The word that we haue preached shall either saue you or iudge you It shall be either a copy of your pardon or a bill of your inditement at the last day Iohn Baptist cals the Gospell a Fan that will distinguish betweene true and false children betweene Wheate and Chaffe It will make knowne the faithfulnesse of those that with honest harts embrace it and scatter hypocrites like chaffe by reason of their insolid leuity Simeon so prophecied to Mary the Virgin of her Son That he should be the fall and the rising the reparation and ruine of many and whiles he is set for a signe Which shall bee spoken against by this meanes the thoughts of many hearts shall be reuealed The word is like fire that hath a double operation vpon the seuerall subiects it works stubble or gold It fires the one and fines the other Some hearts it enflames with zeale to it other it sets on fire to quench impugne persecute it It is to conuersion if beleeued to confusion if despised Lo Christ himselfe preaching some faithfully entertaine others reiect as the Gergesens that had rather haue their hogges saued then their soules 2. That thornes are produced the fault is not in the good Raine but the ill ground What could I sayth God haue done more to my Vineyard I haue done inough to make it beare good grapes Wherefore then or from what cause brings it forth wild grapes The earth desires the influence
myrrhe drop tears The way to make our herbes smell sweetly is first to purge our garden of weedes For if sinne be fostered in our hearts all our workes will bee abominated God heareth not the prayers of the wicked If yee will walke contrary to mee saith the Lord I will bring your sanctuaries vnto desolation and I will not smell the sauour of your sweete odours But being adopted by grace in Christ and sanctified to holinesse our good works smell sweetly Phil. 4. I haue receiued of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you an odour of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God It seemes GOD highly esteemes the herbe Charitie in our gardens Hee that serueth the Lord shall smell as Lebanon hee shall growe as the Vine and his sent shall bee as the wine of Lebanon Man is naturally delighted with pleasant sauours and abhorres noysome and stinking smels But our God hath purer nosthrils and cannot abide the polluted heapes of iniquities The Idle man is a standing pitte and hath an ill-sauour'd smell an ill-fauour'd sight The drunkard is like a bogge a fogge a fenne of euill vapours God cannot abide him Your couetous wretch is like a dunghill there is nothing but rottennesse and infection in him Omnis malitia eructat fumum All wickednesse belcheth forth an euill sauour Wonder you if God refuse to dwell with the Vsurer Swearer Idolater Adulterer There is a poyson of lust a leprosie of putrefaction in them no carryon is so odious to man as mans impieties are to God Yea the very oblations of defiled hands stinke in his presence Hee that sacrificeth a Lambe is as if hee cut off a dogges necke c. As if Ass a foetida was the only supply of their gardens But good herbes giue a double sauour one outward to man another inward to God The sweete smoke of a holy sacrifice like a subtil ayre riseth vp to heauen and is with God before man sees or smels it It also cheares the hearts of Christians to behold Christian workes Reuerence to the Word hallowing the Sabaoths releeuing the poore deeds of mercie pittie piety giue a delightful sent solacing the soules of the Saints and pleasing him that made them both men and Saints Therefore Hearken vnto me ye holy children and budde forth as a Rose growing by the brook of the fielde Giue ye a sweet sauour as frankincense and flourish as a Lilly send forth a smell sing a song of prayse and blesse the Lord in all his workes 2. That they taste well Many a flower hath a sweet smell but not so wholsome a taste Your Pharisaicall prayers and almes smelt sweetly in the vulgar nosthrils taste them and they were but rue or rather worme-wood When the Pharise sawe the Publican in the lower part of the Temple standing as it were in the Belfrey he could cry Foh this Publican but when they were both tasted by his palate that could iudge the Publican hath an herbe in his bosome and the Pharise but a gay gorgeous stinking weede The herbes that the Passeouer were eaten with were sowre yet they were enioined with sweet bread Sowre they might be but they were wholsome Herbes haue not onely their sauour but their nutriment He causeth the grasse to growe for the cattell and herbe for the seruice of man that he may bring food out of the earth Herbs thē are food and haue an alimentall vertue So we may both with the herbes of charitie feed mens bodies and with the herbes of piety feede their soules A good life is a good sallet and in the second place to precepts are vsefully necessary good exāples The bloud of Martyrs is sayd to haue nourished the Church The patience of the Saints in the hottest extremity of their afflictions euen when the flames of death hath clipped them in their armes hath been no lesse then a kindly nourishment to many mens faith It is expounded by an vniuersall consent of Diuines that one of those 3. feedings which Christ imposed on Peter is Pasce exemplo let thy life feed them Blessed Gardens that yeeld herbes like Iothams vine that cheare the heart of both God and man The Poets fain'd that Nectar Ambrosia were the food of their Gods Iupiter Ambrosia satur est est Nectare plenus But the true Gods dyet is the vertues of his Saints wherwith he promiseth to suppe when he comes into their hearts Faith loue patience meeknes honestie these dishes are his dainties If thou wouldest make Christ good cheare in the parlour of thy conscience bring him the herbes of obedience Doe not say I would haue beene as kinde and liberall to my Sauiour as the best had I liued in those dayes when he blessed the world with his bodily presence But now I may say with Mary Magdalen They haue taken away the Lord and I know not where to finde him Damne not thy selfe with excuses Wheresoeuer his Church is there is he exercise thy piety Wheresoeuer his members are there is he exercise thy charity Thou art very niggardly if thou wilt not afford him a sallet a dinner of herbes Yet sayth Salomon A dinner of greene herbes with loue is better then a fatte Oxe with hatred 3. That they be fitte to adorne Herbes and flowers haue not only their vse in pleasing the nostrills and the palate but the eye also They giue delight to all those three senses Good workes are the beauty of a house and a better sight then fresh herbes strew'd in the windores The Chamber where Christ would eate his Passouer was trimmed and the Palace of our Princely Salomon is paued With Loue of the daughters of Ierusalem There is no ornature in the World like good deeds no hanging of Tapestry or Arrase comes neere it A stately building where an Idolater dwells is but a gawdy coate to a Sodome-apple When you see an Oppressour raising a great house from the ruines of many lesse depopulating a Countrey to make vp one Family building his Parlours with extortion and cimenting his walls with the morter of bloud you say there is a foule Minotaure in a faire Labyrinth Be a man dead it is a foolish hope to reare immortalitie with a few senselesse stones Perhaps the Passenger wil be hereby occasioned to comment vpon his bad life and to discourse to his company the long enumeration of such a mans vices So a perpetuall succession of infamie answeres his gay sepulchre and it had bin better for him to haue been vtterly inglorious then inexcusably infamous The best report that can be drawne from him is but this Here lyes a faire Tombe and a foule carcase in it These things doe neither honest a man liuing nor honour him dead Good works are the best ornaments the most lasting monuments They become the house wherein thy soule dwelleth whiles it dwels there and blesse thy memorie when those two are parted A good life is mans
A DIVINE HERBALL Together with A Forrest of THORNES In FIVE SERMONS 1. The Garden of Graces 2. The prayse of Fertilitie 3. The Contemplation of the Herbes 4. The Forrest of Thornes 5. The end of Thornes By THO. ADAMS ESAY 55. 11. My word sayth the Lord shall not returne to me void but shall prosper in the thing wherto I sent it AVGVST de benedict IACO ESAV Simul pluit Dominus super segetes super spinas sed segeti pluit ad horreum spinis ad ignem tamen vna est pluvia LONDON Printed by George Purslowe for Iohn Budge and are to be solde at his shop at the great South-dore of Pauls and at Brittaines Burse 1616. TO THE RIGHT Honourable WILLIAM Earle of Pembroke Lord Chamberlaine of his Maiesties household and one of his Maiesties most honourable Priuie Councel and Knight of the most noble order of the Garter The most noble embracer and encourager of GOODNESSE Right Honourable I Am bolde to present to your Honour a short contemplation of those Herbes cut in rough pieces which grow really and plentifully in your owne Garden and giue so good nourishment to your vertues delightfull taste to the Church and odoriferous sauour to all that like the Vine in Iothams Parable they cheare the heart of both God man Your Honour I â—now cannot dislike that in sight which you so preserue in sense and for a happy reward doth and shall preserue you You are zealously honour'd of all those that know goodnesse and haue dayly as many prayers as the earth Saints Into this number I haue hopâ—fully presuming thrust myselfe as loth to bee hindmost in that acknowledgement which is so nobly deserued and so ioyfully rendred of al tongues dedicating to your Honour some publicke deuotions that can neuer forget you in my priuate I will not thinke of adding one Herbe to your store I onely desire to remember your Honour what hand planted them what dew waters them what influence conserues and enspheares a sweet prouident ayre about them and when gay weedes that shoote vp like Ionas gourd in a night shall wither in an houre for moriuntur quomodo oriuntur Your Herbe of Grace shall flourish be prays'd both ob eminentiam and permanentiam and at last bee transported into that heauenly Paradise whence it receiues the originary roote and being Your Honour will excuse mee for coupling to a Diuine Herball a Forrest of Thornes by a true obseruation in both materiall and mystical Gardens though a Poet records it Terra salutiferas herbas eadernque nocentes Nutrit et vrticae proxima soepe rosa est Your Honour will loue the light better because the darke night followes so neare it That your Sunne may neuer set your noble Garden neuer wither that your honours may bee still multiplied with our most Royall and Religious King on earth and with the King of Kings in heauen is faithfully prayed for by Your Honours humbly deuoted THO. ADAMS To my worthy friend Tho. Adams on his HERBALL THe Herbes which these dead leaues now bring Thy liuing voice did sweetly sing That thy transported Hearers thought A PARADISE before them brought As if their inward eyes had seene Another EDEN fresh and greene How they will smell or taste thus sent Will be perceiu'd in the euent I stay no censures for my part May they grow greene still in my hart VV. B. R. S. His good-speede to the Herball TRuely thou dost the world disclose which growes Promiscuous here a Thorne there a Rose So shall blacke vices vgly face adde grace Vnto the vertue which shines next in place So when a stinging Thorne shall wound is found An Herbe to heale the Soule and make it sound To the diuine Author of the diuine Herball his true friend dedicateth this small Encomium of that which his pen dispaires to prayse HAd ADAM liu'd till this decayed age And seene an HERBALL so Diuine and Sage He would haue sayd that no succeeding man Might doe for Adam that which Adams can For while he till'd his Garden his darke mind In all that compasse no Herbe-Grace could find This man hath found it and herein is blest Adam was good my Adam's still is best W. R. D. of Physicke To the prayse of the Herball THe Ground Gods Image his word the Raine His Christ the Sunne neuer ecclips'd againe The Cloudes his Ministeriall instruments His Mercy the all-working influence From these a Garden of sweete Herbes doth grow With such a Spring as shall no Autumne know I. STOKES GReat Persons loue a GARDEN for delight To please their nosthrils or content their sight The poore mans state likes it to feast withall Physicians for the vertues medicinall For Odour Ornament and med'cinal worth A sweeter HERBALL neuer yet came forth Cecinit The. Parny A DIVINE HERBALL OR GARDEN Of GRACES HEB. Chap. 6. Vers. 7. 8. For the earth which drinketh in the raine that commeth oft vpon it and bringeth forth herbes meet for them by whom it is dressed receiueth blessing from God But that which beareth thornes and bryars is reiected and is nigh vnto cursing whose end is to be burned I Presume heere is no Atheist to heare and denie The Gospell is the power of God to saluation I hope here is no Libertine if there be let him heare also It is the power of God to confusion It is a double-edged Sword and giues vel vitam vel vindiâ—tam either instruction or destruction It is Fire that doth melt waxe to repentance and harden clay to vengeance It is here a Raine or Deaw falling on the ground of mans heart causing one soyle to bee fertile in good workes another to abound with weedes of impiety For it returneth not backe to him that sent it in vaine That it conuayes grace to vs and returnes our fruitfull gratitude to God is a high and happy mercy That it offers grace to the wicked and by their corrupt natures occasions greater impietie is a heauy but holy iudgement Not to trauell farre for Diuision heere lyes Earth before vs. And as I haue seene in some places of this Iland one hedge parts a fruitfull medow and a barren heath so of this Earth Man the same substance for natures constitution clay of the same heape in the creating hand of the Potter for matter masse and stuffe none made de meliore luto though in respect of Eternities Ordination some vessels of honour of disshonour others here be two kindes a good and a bad soyle the one a Garden the other a desart the former an inclosure of sweet herbes excellent graces the latter a wild and sauage Forrest of Bryars and thornes scratching and wounding offences For the better ground we wil consider 1. The operatiue meanes or working cause of the fertility the raine that commeth often vpon it 2. The thankefull returning of expected fruite it bringeth forth herbes meete for them by whom it is dressed 3. The reward of
him he carowses the wine he neuer swet for and keeps the poore Minister thirsty The tenth sheafe is his dyet the tenth fleece O 't is a golden fleece he thinkes is his drinke but the wooll shall choke him Some drinke downe whole Churches and steeples but the bells shall ring in their bellies Euery couetous worldling is a great drinker he swallowes aurum potabil◠as his dyet-drinke And like an absolute dissolute drunkard the more he drinks the dryer he is for he hath neuer enough It may be said of him as it was of Bonosus whom the Emperour Aurelian set to drinke with the German Embassador not a man but a rundlet fill'd with wine And my fine precise Artizan that shunnes a Tauerne as the Diuell doth a Crosse is often as drunke as the rankest His language doth not sauour of the pot he sweares not but indeed but trust him and indeed hee will cozen you to your face The loue of mony hath made him drunk And though the Prouerbe be In vino veritas yet as drunke as he is you shall neuer haue truth break out of his lips And the vnconscionable Lawyer that takes fees on both hands as if he could not drinke but with two cuppes at once is not hee a great drinker If what is wanting in the goodnesse of the cause be supplied in the greatnes of the fees O these Foecundi calices quem non fecere disertum Let all thinke these ebrieties must be accounted for How fearefull were it if a mans latter end should take him drunke Take heed to your selues lest at any time your hearts bee ouercharged with surfeting and drunkennesse and so that day come vpon you vnawares In corporall ebriety the soule leaues a drunken body in spirituall the body leaues a drunken soule both desperately fearefull There is yet a last and those a blest sort of Drinkers which drinke in this sweete raine of grace and mercie They doe not onely taste it so do the wicked Verse 4. They haue tasted of the heauenly gift they haue tasted of the good word of God and of the powers of the world to come 2. Nor drinke it onely to their throat as if they did gargarize the word as carnall Politicians and formall Professors doe They must attend they must admit but no further then their throates they will but gargarize the Gospell It shall neuer come into their stomakes neuer neere their hearts But these drinke it in digest it in their consciences take liberall draughts of it and do indeede drinke Healths thereof Common health-maintainers drinke their sicknesse Therefore sayes the moderne Poet honestly Vne salus sanis nullam potare salutem But this is a sauing health such as our Sauiour began to vs when hee dranke to vs in his owne bloud a sauing Health to all Nations And wee are bound to pledge him in our owne faith and thankfulnesse as Dauid I will take the cup of saluation and blesse the name of the Lord. This is a hearty draught of the waters of life the deeper the sweeter Blessed he is that drinkes soundly of it and with a thirsty appetite There is as Diuines say sancta ebrietas such as fell on the blessed Apostles on Whitsunday Acts 2. They were drunke not with new wine but with the holy Ghost This holy plenitude doth as it were inebriate the soules of the Saints They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house and thou shalt make them drinke of the riuer of thy pleasures The Spouse sings of her Sauiours kindnes He brought me to the banqueting house and his banner ouer me was loue Stay mee with flagons and comfort me with apples for I am sicke of loue In the originall it is called House of wine Christ hath broached to his Church the sweet wines of the Gospell and our hearts are cheared with it our soules made merry with flagons of mercie Come to this wine bibite inebriamini eate O friends drinke yea drinke abundantly O beloued drinke and be drunke with it God will be pleased with this and no other but this Drunkennes The vessell of our heart being once thus filled with grace shall hereafter be replenished with glorie A DIVINE Herball Or THE PRAYSE OF FERTILITY The SECOND SERMON MATH 25. 29. Vnto euerie one that hath shall be giuen and he shall haue abundance AVGVST Magnae Virtutis est cum foelicitate luctari Magnae foelicitatis est à foelicitate non vinci LONDON Printed by George Purslowe for Iohn Budge and are to be solde at his shop at the great South-dore of Pauls and at Brittaines Burse 1616. A DIVINE HERBALL OR The prayse of Fertillitie THE SECOND SERMON HEB. Chap. 6. Vers. 7. For the earth which drinketh in the raine that commeth oft vpon it and bringeth forth herbes meet for them by whom it is dressed receiueth blessing from God THAT difference which the Philosophers put betweene learning and mettals wee may truly find betweene humane writings and Gods Scriptures conferred They that digge in the one finde Paruum in magno a little gold in a great deale of ore They that digge in this rich field which the wise Merchant solde all hee had to purchase finde Magnum in pa◠no much treasure in a few words Wee haue heard how the good earth is beholding to God for his holy Raine the next circumstance obiects to our meditation this earths thankfull fertility It bringeth forth herbes meete for them by whom it is dressed Euery word transcends the other and as it excludes some vicious defect so demonstrates it also some graduall vertue 1. It brings forth It is not barren like a dead ground that yeelds neither herbes nor weedes This is no idle heart that doth neither good nor harme that like a meere spectator of the world sits by with a silent contemplation for whom was made that Epitaph Here lyes he was borne and cryed Liu'd threescore yeares fell sicke and dyed Doing neither profit nor preiudice to the Countrey hee liued in Heere is no such stupid neutralitie nor infructuous deadnesse It brings forth 2. They are not weedes it produceth but herbes A man had as good do nothing as doe naughty things It is lesse euill to sit still then to runne swift by in the pursuite of wickednes They that forbeare Idlenesse and fall to lewdnesse mend the matter as the Diuell in the tale mended his dames legge when he should haue put it in ioynt he broke it quite in pieces It is not enough that this ground brings forth but that it yeelds herbes Of the two the barren earth is not so euill as the wicked earth that men pittie this they curse It brings forth herbes 3. Neither is it a paucity of herbes this ground affordeth but an abundance not one herbe but herbes a plurall and plentifull number There is neyther barrennesse nor barenesse in this ground not no fruites not few fruits but many herbes 4. Lastly they are such
righteousnesse We are easily induced to thinke our selues euery one as Simon Magas some great man There must bee a deiection of this thought an annihilation of our owne worth that we can doe nothing meete for God or worthy his iust acceptance For Serdet in distinctiâ—â—e Iudicis quod fulget in opinione operantis That is often foule in the sentence of the Iudge which shines in the imagination of him that doth it But as Physitians say no man dyes of an ague or without it so seldome any soule dyes of pride or without pride not meerly of pride for though that sicknesse were enough to kill it yet it is euer accompanied with som other disease and vicious wickednes nor without it for it is so inherent vnto mans nature that pride if it doth not prouoke yet at lest holds the dore whiles any iniquitie is doing Hence flow so many errors and factions and singularities For as in the body a raw stomach makes a rhumatick head a rhumatick head a raw stomach So in the soule an indigested conceit of some good thing in vs makes the head rume of some rheumaticke opinion or madde factious singularitie and this petulant rheume in the braine keeps the conscience raw stil that the physicke of repentance or good diet of peaceable obedience cannot helpe it Let vs correct these exorbitant and superfluous conceits which are like proude flesh vpon vs and knowe wee are able to doe nothing of our selues but God is faine to put euen good thoughts in vs. And if wee doe good from him how good soeuer it be as from him yet running through vs it gets some pollution Neither let vs run into the contrary errour as if in a stupid willfullnesse what good soeuer wee did we could not hope that God in Iesus Christ would accept it There is a thresholde of despaire below to stumble at as wel as a post of high presumption to breake our heads at There is a base deiection a sordid humility Barâ—ena the Iesuite told another of his order that when the deuill appeared to him one night out of his profound humility hee rose vp to meete him and prayed him to sitte downe in his chaire for hee was more worthy to sitte there then he This did appeare a strange kind of deiectednes Surely I thinke a man should by Gods word and warrant take comfort in his wel doing and be cheared in the testimonie which a good conscience on good cause beareth to him So Dauid hartned himselfe against all the malicious slanders of his his enemies O Lord thou knowest mine innocence Good workes are the necessary and inseparable effects of a true faith We are by nature all dead in sinne and by sinne concluded vnder death Our Sauiour bore for vs this death and by his passion freed vs from eternal damnation It was not enough to scape hell how shall wee get to heauen Loe we are cloathed with the garment of his righteousnesse hung with the Iewels of his merits So not onely hell is escaped by his sufferings but heauen got by his doings Why should wee then worke what need our gardens stand so full of herbes Good reason Shall God do so much for vs and shall we do nothing for him for our selues If the Lord of a Forrest giues me a Tree it is fit I should be at the cost to cut it downe and bring it home if I will haue it I cannot say that I deserued the tree it was anothers gift but my labours must lead me to enioy that which was freely giuen me Neither can the conscience haue assurance of eternal life so frankly bestowed in Christ without a good conuersation Faith doth iustifie and workes do testifie that we are iustified In a clocke the finger of the dyall makes not the clocke to goe but the clocke it yet the finger without shewes how the clocke goes within Our external obedience is caused by our inward faith but that doth manifest how truly the clocke of our faith goes As a mans corporall actions of sleeping eating digesting walking declare his recouery from sicknesse and present health So his life witnesseth by infallible Symptomes that the disease and death of sinne is mortified in him and that he hath taken certaine hold of eternall life It is meet then that we should doe good workes but all our works are made meete and worthy in him that bought vs. I will conclude then with that Antheme made by a sweet singer in our Israel Pendemus ate credimus in te tendimus ad te non nisi per te Optime Christe AMEN THE GARDEN Or A Contemplation of the HERBES The THIRD SERMON The Song of Salomon Chap. 6. Ver. 2. My Beloued is gone downe into his Garden to the beds of spices to feede in the gardens and to gather Lillies AMB. super LVC. Non Virtus est non posse peccare sed nolle LONDON Printed by George Purslowe for Iohn Budge and are to be solde at his shop at the great South-dore of Pauls and at Brittaines Burse 1616. THE GARDEN OR A Contemplation of the Herbes THE THIRD SERMON HEB. Chap. 6. Vers. 7. For the earth which drinketh in the raine that commeth oft vpon it and bringeth forth Herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receiueth blessing from God THat the Herbes of our graces may be meete for the dresser contentful to GOD who hath planted watred husbanded the Garden of our hearts wee will require in them foure vertues Odour Taste Ornament Medicinall Vertue 1. That they haue a good odour God is delighted with the smell of our graces My Beloued is gone downe into his Garden to the beds of spices to feed in the gardens and to gather Lillies The vertues of Christ are thus principally pleasant and all our herbes onely smell sweetly in his Garden Because of the sauour of thy good ointment thy name is as ointment powred forth therefore doe the Virgins loue thee This sauour is sweetly acceptable in the nostrils of God All thy garments smel of Myrrhe Aloes and Cassia It is his righteousnesse that giues all our herbes a good odour and in him it pleaseth God to iudge our works sweet When Noah had built an Altar and sacrificed burnt offerings on it the Lord smelled a sweet sauour and sayd I will not againe curse the ground any more for mans sake Myrrhe and Prankincense were two of the oblations which the Wise-men offered to CHRIST being an Infant Tres Reges regum Regitria dona tulerunt Myrrham homini vncto auruÌ„ thura dedere Deo Tutriafac itidem dones pia munera Christo Muneribus gratus si cupis esse tuis Pro myrrha lacrymas pro auro cor porrige purum Pro thure ex humili pectore funde preces Three kings to the great King three offerings bring Incense for God Myrrhe for man gold for king Thy Incense be the hands a white soule reares For gold giue a pure hart for
must be Lapathum Patience This Rue is affliction which hath a profitable effect in those that qnietly digest it Of all the herbes in the garden onely Rue is the herbe of grace How much vertue is wrought in the soule by this bitter plant It is held by some a sicknes it is rather Physick a sharpe and short medicine that bringeth with it much and long health This if they wil needs haue it a sicknesse may be compared to the Ague The Ague shakes a man worse then another disease that is mortall At last it giues 〈◊〉 a kinde farewell and sayes I haue purged thy choler and made thee healthfull by consuming and spending out that humor which would haue endangered thy life Affliction in the taste is often more bitter then a iudgement that kills outright but at last it tells the soule I haue purged away thy foulenesse wrought out thy Iustes and left there a sound man So the good Physician procureth to his Patient a gentle Ague that hee may cure him of a more dangerous disease Vt curet spasmum procurat febrim Christ our best Physician deales a little roughly with vs that hee may set vs straight And howsoeuer the Feuer of affliction disquiet vs a while we shall sing in the conclusion with the Psalmist It is good for me that I haue been afflicted that I might learne thy statutes Saepe facit Deus opus quod non est summ vt faciat opus quod est suum GOD by a worke that is none of his effecteth a work in vs that is his He molests vs with some vexations as hee did Iob which is Satans worke immediately not his that thereby hee might bring vs to patience and obedience which is his work immediatly and wholly not Satans So wee are chastned of the Lord that wee might not bee condemned with the world Bees are drown'd in honey but liue in vineger and good men grow the better affected the more they are afflicted The poore man for his ague goes to his garden and plucks vp thyme The remedy for this spirituall seuer is true but sensible pâtience Men should feele Gods strokes and so beare them It is dispraiseable either to be senselesse or fenselesse Not to know wee are stricken or not to take the blowes on the target of Patience Many can lament the effectes but not the cause and sorrow that God grieues them not that they grieue God They are angry with heauen for being angry with them They with heauen for iustice that is angry with them for iniustice But Maereamus quod mereamur paenam Let not the punishment but the cause of it make thy soule sorrowfull Know thou art whipp'd for thy faults and apply to the prints the herbe Patience Hearts-case and spirituall ioy DOth sorrow and anguish cast downe a mans hart and may he complain that his soule is disquieted within him Let him fetch an herbe out of this Garden called Hearts-ease an inward ioy which the holy Ghost worketh in him Though all the dayes of the afflicted be euill yet a merry heart is a continuall feast This is Heauen vpon earth Rom. 14. Peace of conscience and ioy of the holy Ghost His conscience is assured of peace with God of reconciliation in the bloud of IESVS and that his soule is wrapp'd vp in the bundle of life This may be well called Hearts-ease it is a holy a happy herbe to comfort the spirits When worldly ioyes either like Rahels children are not or like Eli's are rebellious there is Hearts-ease in this Garden that shall cheare him against all sorrowes certainty of Gods fauoâ—r Let the world frowne and all things in it runne crosse to the graine of our mindes yet with thee O Lord is mereie and plentifull redemption And if no body els yet God will be stil good to Israel euen to those that are of a pure heart Those which we call penal euils are either past present or to come and they cause in the soule sorrow paine feare Euils past sorrow present paine future feare Here is Hearts-ease for all these Miseries past are solaced because God hath turned them to our good and we are made the better by once being worse Miseries present finde mitigation and the infinite comfort that is with vs within vs sweetens the finite bitternesse that is without vs. Miseries future are to vs contingent they are vncertaine but our strength is certaine God Noui in quem credidi I know whom I haue trusted Heere is aabundant ease to the heart Balsamum or Faith HAth the heart got a greene wound by comitting some offense against God for actuall iniquity makes a gash in the soule The good man runnes for Balsamum and stancheth the bloud Faith in the promises of Iesus Christ. He knowes there is Balme at Gilead and there are Physicians there and therefore the health of his soule may easily be recouered He is sure that if the bloud of Christ bee applyed it will soone stanch the bloud of his conscience and keepe him from bleeding to death and that the wounds of his Sauiour will cure the wounds of his soule And though this virtuall healing herbe be in Gods owne Garden yet he hath a key to open it prayer and a hand to take it out and to lay it on his sores faith This is a soueraigne herbe and indeed so soueraigne that there is no herbe good to vs without it It may bee called Panaces which Physicians say is an herbe for all manner of diseases and is indeede the principall herbe of grace for it adornes the soule with all the merits and righteousnes of IESVS CHRIST Saint Iohns-wort or Charitie DOth the world through sweetnesse of gaine that comes a little too fast vpon a man begin to carry away his heart to couetousnesse Let him look in this Garden for the herbe called Saint-Iohns-wort Charity and brotherly loue It is called S. Iohns herbe not vnproperly for hee spent a whole Epistle in commending to vs this grace and often inculcated Little children loue one another And he further teacheth that this loue must be actuall For he that hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth vp his cowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the loue of God in him He hath no such herbe as Saint-Iohns-wort in his garden The good Christian considers that he hath the goods of this world to doe good in this world And that his riches are called Bona Goods Non quod faciant bonum sed vnde faciat bonum not that they make him a good man but giue him meanes to doe good to others He learns a Maxime of Christ from the world which the world teacheth but followeth not that is to make sure as much wealth as he can as if it were madnes to leaue those goodes behind him which he may cary with him This policie we all confesse good but faile in the consecution The world
that therefore if mankind had not sinned the ground should haue produced no such thing But the most receiued opinion and consonant to truth is that these Thornes and bryers should haue been though man had neuer faln but they should not haue been noxious and hurtfull to him Now let vs consider what resemblances may be found betwixt those naturall and these allegoricall thornes and bryers 1 Where is abundance of thornes there is most commonly a barren ground For they hinder the happy influence of the heauens the kindly heat of the sunne the deawes of the clouds and all those working causes of fertillity God pre-armes Ezekiel that he should not wonder at the barrennesse of Israel for bryers and thornes shall be with thee Let no man maruell at our vnprofitable times we haue too many Bryers and thorns among vs which do what they can to hinder the goodnes of heauen to vs or our goodnes to heauen That which is sowne nigh or among thorns seldome prospers Our Sauiour saith that the Seede sowne in some hearers brought forth no fruite for the Thornes choked it The very company of the wicked is harmful for they are as thorns to stifle any goodnes The companion of fooles shal be afflicted saith Salomon He dwels among thorns that shall wound him To lay no more affliction vpon him then Salamon there meant as appeares by the opposite member of the verse he shall endure a priuation of what good soeuer he had and a position of their lewdnesse A good man with ill company is like a liuing man bound to a dead corps that will sooner suffocate him then hee can reuiue that The Soule that liues among thornes shall hardly thriue Therefore saith the Lord of the vineyard concerning the barren tree Cut it downe why troubles it the ground 2 Thornes and bryers grow most commonly on heapes and seldome are found single or destitute of company of their owne kinde And though they be troublesomely harmefull to other trees yet they fold and embrace one another without hurt It is so vsually seene that wicked men hold together and sinnes grow in vnited clusters There is a combination of the vngodly euen so farre as to the very participation of their estates Cast in thy lot with vs wee will haue all one purse They are intangled in mutuall amity like beds of Eeles nothing but thunder can break their knots Is it much sayth Christ that you purpose diligere diligentes to loue them that loue you Why bryars and thornes do it euen Publicans doe the same Yea I would to God their vnity did not shame ours We see here that one of the Papists chiefe marks of their church is not infallible their coÌ„sent or vnity when bryers thorns haue it The Pharises Saduces Herodians conspire against Christ may be they with the rest Sins grow in heaps like thornes in bushes where are some are many The Apostle brings them in by couples companies Gluttonie Drunkennes Chambering and wantonnesse strife and enuying Me thinkes Gluttonie Drunkennes come in like an Englishman and a Dutchman Chambering Wantonnes like an Italian and a Venetian Strife Enuie like a Spaniard and a Frenchman These sins being so Nationall and naturall to the countreys to ouer-drinke in Germanie to ouer-eate in England to wantonize in Italie and Venice to quarrel in Fraunce and to be enuious in Spaine Enuie being euer the bosome-companion of Pride 3 Thornes and bryers by reason of their thicknes and sharpnes are refuges for Serpents Snakes Addars and such other venemous beasts Where the vngodly haue a strong part oppression rapine robberie murder and all those fatall and deathstriking serpents are fostered God when he told Ezekiel Ezek. 2. That bryers and thornes should be with him addes in the very next words And thou shalt dwell among Scorpions Therefore in Latine Rubetum is a place of bryars and brambles and Rubeta is a toad and that land-toad the most venemous of the kinde It is dangerous sleeping neere such places He that liues among the wicked hath no neede of security but to haue cleere and circumspect eyes lest either the thorns pricke him or the Serpents vnder the thorns sting him Woe is me sayth the Psalmist that I must remaine in Mesheck and dwell in the tents of Kedar 4. Neither doe the wicked onely with their thorns and bryars hinder others passage but euen their owne No maruell if it be so difficult for an vngodly man to get to heauen for hee hedgeth vp his owne way Men multiply their transgressions to infinite and cast vp innumerable thornes yet hope well to be saued But in vaine he purposeth to trauell to Ierusaâ—em that hedgeth vp his owne passage Thornes and snares are in the way of the froward not of Gods setting but of their owne planting For the next words testifie hee that keepeth his soule shall be farre from them There are hindrances enough to heauen though the wicked make none themselues The diuell will looke that the way shall not bee easie Neither hath God set saluation vpon such termes that we may play and get it The kingdome of heauen is got by violence and they must striue that wil passe the narrow gate Satan hath so many plots and tricks to deceiue them so many tentations and corruptions to oppose them that they haue no cause to fense vp the way themselues against themselues with a hedge of their owne thornes Heauen-gates will not fall downe before men as the iron-gates of the Citie to Peter of their owne accord Nay If the Righteous sâ—arcely be saued where shall the vngodly and the sinner appeare 5. Sinnes are fitly compared to thornes and bryars for their wounding pricking and such harmefull offenses Therefore they are called tribuli a tribulando from their vexing oppression and tribulation they giue those that touch them The wicked are such Calthrops to the Countrey boring and bloudying her sides Either pricking the flesh or tearing of the fleece as bryars and bushes that robbe the sheep of their cotes which come to them for shelter A great man wicked is like Abimelech whom Iotham calls a Bramble in his Parable The Oliue would not leaue his fatnesse nor the Figge-tree his sweetnesse nor the Vine his goodnesse to bee promoted ouer the trees But the aspiring Bramble vsurpes it and as if he were some great Cedar he calls the Trees to trust vnder his shadow But when poore men come to this Bramble for refuge here they loose a locke and there a locke til they are left naked Yea the clothes are not onely rent from their backes but like the sonnes of Sceua exorcising the euill spirits they depart not away naked onely but wounded Their garments satisfie not these bryars scarce their bloud aud liues These Bryers and Thornes haue such pricking and wounding effects in regard of three obiects whom they strike For sins are like Thorns 1. To men
And let vs know it is for our sinnes that God suffers Vsurers among vs. It may be he permits them as he did the Cananites for a while in Israel lest the wilde beasts should break in vpon them Lest pride and haughtinesse and vncleannesse should spill mens soules by a full estate of wealth God suffers Vsurers like Horse-leeches to suck and soke them thereby possibly to humble them Yet in meane time I may say of them as Iosuah did of those Cananites that they are pricks in our sides and thornes in our eyes 2 What doe you thinke of Adulterie Is it not a Thorne yes a sharpe thorne wounding the purse enuenoming the body condemning the Soule The ground that beares it is lust the sappe that feeds it is fulnesse of bread and Idlenesse the heate that makes it glow grow and shoote is lewd and wanton speech and effeminate gestures infamie is the budde pollution the fruite and the end Hell-fire And as Caietan and Theophilact obserues on 1. Thes. 4. that the Apostle hauing bid men possesse their vessell in holinesse he addes And let no man goe beyond or defraud his brother in any matter that this circumuention may be applied to Adulterie when a man is deceiued of his bosome-spouse who is hired to the subornation of bastards So that lightly concupiscence and cousenage goe together As that wickednesse of all others neuer goes but by couples For Adulterers non possunt ire soli ad diabolum An Adulterer cannot goe alone to the Deuill 3 Corrupt and consciensce-les Lawyers you will confesse to bee sharpe and wounding brambles and exceedingly hurtfull A poore Client among them is as a blind sheepe in a thicket of thornes there is no hope of his fleece it is well if he carry away his flesh whole on his backe A motion this terme an order next instantly al cross'd scarce the twentith order sometimes stands execution is suspended a writ of errour puts all out of course Oh the vncertaine euents of suits I hope sayes the poore bloud-drawne wretch I shall haue an end of my suite next terme nay nor the next terme nor the next yeare Foole thou art gotten into a suite of durance almost an immortall suit And when the vpshot comes perhaps the mispleading of a word shall forfet all It is a lamentable vncertaintie and one politicke addition of ficklenesse to the goods of this world that no man might set his heart vpon them that an estate bought truly payd for and inherited shall bee gone vpon a word sometimes vpon a sillable vpon a very bare letter omitted or mis-written by the Scriuener These are scratching bryers If what is wanting in the goodnes of the cause be supplyed by the greatnes of the fees their tongs shall excuse their tongs for their contra-conscient pleadings The Italians haue a shrewd prouerbe against them The Deuill makes his Christmassepyes of Lawyers tongs and Clerks fingers This prouerbe I leaue with them and come to their kinsmen 4 Corrupted Officers who are also sharpe and sharking brambles Their office is a bush of thorns at their backes and they all to rent the countrey with briberie and extortion These men seeke after authority and commanding-places not with any intent of good to the common-wealth but to fill their owne purses to satisfie their owne lusts As some loue to bee poring in the fire not that they care to mend it but onely to warme their owne fingers 5 We haue Papists amongst vs looke to them they are rankling thornes and renting bryers False Gibeonites they are and howsoeuer they pretend their old shooes the antiquitie of their Church we haue euer found them thornes ready to put out our eyes and if they could the eye of the Gospell They exclaime against vs for persecution and cry themselues lowder then oyster-women in the streets for patient Catholicks Saints Martyrs But match the peace they enioy vnder vs with the tyrannie they exercised ouer vs the burning our Fathers at stakes the butchering our Princes their conspiracie against our whole Realme their continuall bending their weapons against Soueraignes and subiects throtes and you will say they are thornes I haue read of a bird that when men are deuout at their sacrifice takes fire from the Altar and burnes their houses All their blacke treasons and bloudy intendments they deriue from the Altar and pleade the warrant of Religion to set our whole Land in combustion O that these brambles were stock'd vp that Ishmael were cast out of dores that Sara and her sonne Isaac might liue in quiet 6 There are furious male contents among vs a contemptible generation of thorns that because their hands are pinion'd pricke onely with their tongs They are euer whining and vpon the least cause filling the world with importunate complaints These are sauage popular humors that cannot suffer eminency to passe vnreproched But they must vellicate goodnes and gird greatnesse that neither the liuing can walke nor the dead sleepe in quiet Affecters of innouation that are euer finding fault with the present times any thing pleaseth them but what is Euen the best blessings of God scape not their cēsures neither do they esteem by iudgement or pronounce by reason they find fault with things they know not wherefore but because they do not like them Beware these thornes they are like the wheeles of some cunningly wrought fire-workes that flie out on all sides and offering to singe others burne themselues Laudant veteres c. as if no times were so miserable as ours As if the ciuill wars of France or the bloudy Inquisitiō of Spain or the Turkish crueltie in Natolia where hee breeds his souldiers or at home the time of the Barons war or yet later the persecution of a Boner were none of them so cruell as these dayes when euery man sits and sings vnder his owne figge-tree Sure if they had once tasted the bitternesse of war they would better esteem of their peace These are pestilent thornes nothing but feare keeps them from conspiracie Nay so they might set the whole land on fire they would not grudge their owne ashes 7. There are bryers too growing neere the Church too neare it They haue raised Church-liuings to foure and fiue yeares purchase and it is to be feared they will shortly racke vp presentatiue liuings to as high a rate as they did their impropriations when they would sell them For they say few will giue aboue sixteene yeares purchase for an impropriate Parsonage and I haue heard some rate the donation of a benefice they must giue at ten yeares what with the present money they must haue and with referuation of tythes and such vnconscionable trickes as if there was no God in heauen to see or punish it Perhaps some wil not take so much but most will take some enough to impouerish the Church to enrich their owne purses to damne their soules One would thinke it was sacriledge enough to robbe God of his maine
is good for our Soules Repentance without which the euill ground is neere to cursing as it were at next dore by and it shall come on him with a speedy visitation nisi interueniente poenitentia This is the Bulwarke to defend vs from the shot of Gods thunder from heauen this hedgeth vs in from his iudgements on earth Woe to sinfull man without this for he is neere to cursing and his end is to be burned Blessed Soule that hath it Wheresoeuer it dwels mercie dwels by it If England hath it it shall ease her of her thornes Ezek. 28. There shall be no more a pricking bryar vnto the house of Israel nor any grieuing Thorne of all that are round about them 3 The last and forest degree of the Punishment is Burning I will not discourse whether the fire of that euerlastingly-hote furnace be materiall or spirituall Surely it is strangely terrible and wee are blessed if wee neither vnderstand it nor vndergoe it The miserie of the damned is vsually distinguished into the Paine of losse and the paine of sense Both implied in this verse and expressed Thessalonians the second Chap. 1. Verse 8 9. Christ shall take vengeance on such as know not God and obey not the Gospell of Iesus Christ there is paine of Sense They shall be punished with euerlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power there is paine of losse 1. This Poena damni or priuation of blessednesse may seeme to be implyed in the first degree here mentioned Reiection The reprobate are cast away of God Much like that forme of the last sentence Math. 25. 41. Depart from me yee cursed a fearefull sentence a terrible separation From Me sayth Christ that made my selfe man for your sakes that offered my bloud for your redemption receiued these these wounds for your remedie From Me that would haue healed would haue helped would haue saued you From Me that inuited you to mercy and you would not accept it From Me that purchased a kindgome of glory for such as beleeued on me and will wrappe their heads with crownes of eternall ioy Depart from Me. This is a fearefull Reiection My friendship my fellowship my Paradise my presence my heauen where is fulnesse of ioy and pleasure for euermore are none of yours They might haue been they are lost Neither shall they onely loose Christ but all the companie with Christ the Quire of glorious Angels the society of his blessed Mother the Prophets Apostles Martyrs all the happy and holy Saints with the whole host of heauen They shall fret and vexe and bee ready to eate their owne galls to see those triumphing in glory whom they on earth persecuted martyred tortured They could here exercise their sauage tyranny ouer them not onely denying their owne bread but taking away theirs they could despise beate maligne vndoe burne them at stakes now the estate of both is changed as Abraham told Diues They are comforted and thou art tormented 2. This is not all The priuation of blessed ioyes is not enough there must follow the position of cursed torments For their Punishment is proportioned to their sinne Ier. 2. They haue committed two euils They haue forsaken the Lord the fountaine of liuing waters and hewed them out cisternes broken cisternes that can hold no water As they turned from their Maker so their Maker turnes from them there is Poenadamni As they fastned their delights on the creatures so the creatures shall be their tortures there is Poena sensus They reiected God and hee reiects them they adhered to wickednesse and it shall adhere to their bones for euer and bring them to burning Their torments which are here expressed by Fire haue two fearefull conditions vniuersality and eternitie 1. They are vniuersall vexing euery part of the body and power of the soule It is terrible in this life to be pained in euery part of the body at one time To haue ache in the teeth gowt in the feete collick in the reines c. and to lye as it were vpon a racke for innumerable diseases like so many executioners to torture him is intollerable But the largest shadowe of these torments to their substance is not so much as a little bone-fire to the combustion of the whole world 2. They are eternall If it had but as many ages to burne as there be trees standing on the earth there would bee some though a tedious hope of their end But it is such a Fire as shall neuer be quenched This word Neuer is fearefull Though they raine floudes of teares vpon it they shall bee but like oyle to encrease the flame for the worme neuer dyes the fire neuer goes out You see the end of Thornes Wickednes burneth as the fire it shall deuoure the bryers and thornes and shall kindle in the thickest of the Forrest and they shall mount vp like the lifting vp of smâ—kâ— I resolued against prolixity The generall and summary doctrine is this That since the wicked ground which beareth thornes and bryers is neere vnto cursing and the end thereof is eternall fire it followes necessarily that all they which lay the foundation of vngodlinesse must needs build vpon condemnation Let no man deceiue you He that committeth sinne is of the Diuell If the course of a mans life be wicked couetous vncleane malicious idolatrous adulterous drunken hee layes the ground-worke of his owne destruction and precipitates himselfe to the malediction of God Hee that layes the foundation in fire-work must looke to be blowne vp Perhaps this meditation though it bee of vnquenchable Fire may yet worke coldly in our hearts and leaue no impression behinde it yet you cannot deny this to be true He that would denie it must deny my Text must turne Atheist and reiect the holy word of God Nay he must thinke there is no God no reuenge of wickednesse no diuell no hell And he vndertakes a very hard taske that goes about to settle this perswasion in his mind No no. Let no man deceiue you with vaine words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God vpon the children of disobedience And in this passage I must value all men alike of what stuffe or of what fashion soeuer his coate be if his life be full of bryers and thornes his end is to be burned What shall we then doe vnto thee O thou preseruer of men that wee may escape it what but Repent and beleeue the Gospell Let the commination of hell instruct vs to preuent it as the message of Niniuehs ouerthrow effected their safetie 1. Let vs flie by a true faith into the armes of our Redeemer that God reiect vs not 2. Let vs poure forth flouds of repentant teares that wee bee not nigh vnto cursing 3. And let vs bring forth no more bryars and thornes that our end may not be to bee burned Faith Repentance Obedience this same golden