ordinary course of generation first liue the life of vegetation then of sense of reason afterwards That instant wherein the heauen and the earth were created in their rude matter there was neither day nor light but presently thou madest both light day Whiles wee haue this example of thine how vainely do wee hope to bee perfect at once It is well for vs if through many degrees wee can rise to our consummation But alas what was the very heuen it selfe without light how confused how formelesse like to a goodly body without a soule like a soule without thee Thou art light and in thee is no darkenesse Oh how incomprehensibly glorious is the light that is in thee since one glimpse of this created light gaue so liuely a glory to al thy workemanship This euen the bruite creatures can behold That not the very Angels That shines foorth onely to the other supreme world of immortality this to the basest part of thy creation There is one cause of our darkenesse on earth and of the vtter darkenesse in hell the restraint of thy light Shine thou O God into the vast corners of my soule and in thy light I shall see light But whence O God was that first light The sunne was not made till the fourth day light the first If man had then beene he might haue seene all lightsome but whence it had come he could not haue seene As in some great pond we see the bancks full wee see not the springs whence that water ariseth Thou that madest the Sunne madest the light without the Sunne before the Sunne that so light might depend vpon thee and not vpon thy Creature Thy power will not be limited to meanes It was easie to thee to make an heauen without a Sunne light without an heauen day without a Sunne time without a day It is good reason thou shouldest bee the Lord of thine owne workes All meanes serue thee why doe wee weake wretches distrust thee in the want of those meanes which thou canst either command or forbeare How plainly wouldst thou teach vs that wee creatures neede not one another so long as wee haue thee One day we shall haue light againe without the Sunne Thou shalt be our Sunne thy presence shall be our light Light is sowne for the righteous This Sunne and light is but for the world below it selfe thine only for aboue Thou giuest this light to the Sunne which the Sunne giues to the world That light which thou shalt once giue vs shall make vs shine like the Sunne in glory Now this light which for three daies was thus dispersed thorow the whole heauens it pleased thee at last to gather and vnite into one body of the Sunne The whole heauen was our Sunne before the Sunne was created but now one starre must be the Treasury of light to the heauen and earth How thou louest the vnion and reduction of all things of one kind to their owne head and center So the waters must by thy command be gathered into one place the sea so the vpper waters must be seuered by these aery limits from the lower so heauy substances hasten downeward aud light mount vp so the generall light of the first daies must bee called into the compasse of one sunne so thou wilt once gather thine elect from all coasts of heauen to the participation of one glory Why doe wee abide our thoughts and affections scattered from thee from thy Saints from thine Annointed Oh let this light which thou hast now spread abroad in the hearts of all thine once meet in thee Wee are as thy heauens in this their first imperfection be thou our Sunne into which our light may be gathered Yet this light was by thee interchanged with darknes which thou mightst as easily haue commanded to bee perpetuall The continuance euen of the best things cloieth and wearieth there is nothing but thy selfe wherein there is not satiety So pleasing is the vicissitude of things that the intercourse euen of those occurrents which in their owne nature are lesse worthy giues more contentment then the vnaltered estate of better The day dies into night and rises into the morning againe that we might not expect any stability heere below but in perpetuall successionâ— It is alwaies daie with thee aboue the night sauoreth onely of mortalitie Why are we not heere spiritually as wee shall be heereafter Since thou hast made vs children of the light and of the day teach vs to walk euer in the light of thy presence not in the darknesse of error and vnbeleefe Now in this thine inlightned frame how fitly how wisely are all the parts disposed that the method of the creation might answer the matter the forme both Behold all purity aboue below the dregges and lees of all The higher I goe the more perfection each element superiour to other not more in place then dignity that by these staires of ascending perfection our thoughts might climbe vnto the top of all glory and might know thine empyreal heauen no lesse glorious aboue the visible than those aboue the earth Oh how miserable is the place of our pilgrimage in respect of our home Let my soule tread a while in the steps of thine owne proceedings and so thinke as thou wroughtest When wee would describe a man wee begin not at the feete but the head The head of thy Creation is the heauen how high how spatious how glorious It is a wonder that we can looke vp to so admirable an height and that the very eye is not tyred in the way If this ascending line could bee drawne right forwards some that haue calculated curiously haue found it 500. yeares iourney vnto the starrie heauen I doe not examine their arte O Lord I wonder rather at thine which hast drawne so large a line about this little point of earth For in the plainest rules of art and experience the compasse must needs be six times as much as halfe the height Wee thinke one Iland great but the earth vnmeasurably If wee were in that heauen with these eies the whole earth were it equally inlightned would seeme as little to vs as now the least starre in the firmament seemes to vs vpon earth And indeed how few stars are so little as it And yet how many void and ample spaces are there besides all the starres The hugenesse of this thy worke O God is little inferiour for admiraon to the maiesty of it But oh what a glorious heauen is this which thou hast spred ouer our heads With how pretious a vault hast thou walled in this our inferior world What worlds of light hast thou set aboue vs Those things which wee see are wondrous but those which wee beleeue and see not are yet more Thou dost but set out these vnto view to shew vs what there is within How proportionable are thy works to thy selfe Kings erect not cotages but set foorth their magnificence in sumptuous buildings so hast thou done O
praise thee in our selues All thy creation hath not more wonder in it then one of vs other creatures thou madest by a simple command Man not without a diuine consultation others at once Man thou didst first forme then inspire others in seuerall shapes like to none but themselues Man after thine own image others with qualities fit for seruice Man for dominion Man had his name from thee They had their names from man How shold we be consecrated to thee aboue all others since thou hast bestowed more cost on vs then others What shall I admire first Thy prouidence in the time of our creation Or thy power wisedome in the act First thou madest the great house of the world furnishedst it then thou broughtest in thy Tenant to possesse it The bare wals had beene too good for vs but thy loue was aboue our desert Thou that madest ready the earth for vs before wee were hast by the same mercy prepared a place in heauen for vs whiles we are on earth The stage was first fully prepared then was man brought forth thither as an actor or spectator that he might neither be idle nor discontent behold thou hadst addressed an earth for vse an heauen for contemplation after thou hadst drawne that large and reall mappe of the world thou didst thus abridge it into this little table of man hee alone consists of Heauen and earth soule and bodie Euen this earthly part which vile in comparison of the other as it is thine O God I dare admire it though I can neglect it as mine owne for loe this heape of earth hath an outward reference to heauen other creatures grouel downe to their earth and haue all their senses intent vpon it this is reared vp towards heauen and hath no more power to look beside Heauen then to tread beside the earth Vnto this euery part hath his wonder The head is neerest to heauen as in place so in resemblance both for roundnesse of figure and for those diuine guests which haue their seat in it There dwell those maiesticall powers of reson which make a man all the senses as they haue their originall from thence so they doe all agree there to manifest the vertue how goodly proportions hast thou set in the face such as though oft-times we can give no reason why they please yet transport vs to admiration what liuing glasses are those which thou hast placed in the midst of this visage whereby all obiects from farre are clearly represented to the minde and because their tendernesse lyes open to dangers how hast thou defenced them with hollow bones and with prominent browes and lids And least they should bee too much bent on what they ought not thou hast giuen them peculiar nerues to pul them vp towards the seat of their rest What a tongue hast thou giuen him the instrument not of taste only but of speech How sweet and excellent voyces are formed by that little loose filme of flesh what an incredible strength hast thou giuen to the weake bonds of the iawes What a comely and tower-like necke therefore most sinewye because smallest And lest I be infinit what able arms and actiue hands hast thou framed him whereby he can frame all things to his owne conceit In euery part beauty strength conuenience meet together Neither is there any wherof our weaknesse cannot giue reason why it should be otherwise How hast thou disposed of all the inward vessels for all offices of life nourishment egestion generation No vaine sinew artery is ydle There is no peece in this exquisite frame whereof the place vse forme doth not admit wonder and exceed it Yet this body if it be compared to the soule what is it but as a clay wall that encompasses a treasure as the woodden boxe of a Ieweller as a course case to a rich instrument or as a maske to a beautifull face Man was made last because hee was woorthiest The soule was inspired last because yet more noble If the body haue this honor to bee the companion of the soule yet withall it is the drudge If it bee the instrument yet also the clog of that diuine part The companion for life the drudge for seruice the instrument for action the clog in respect of contemplation These external works are effected by it the internall which are more noble hindered Contrary to the bird which sings most in her cage but flyes most and highest at liberty This my soule teaches me of it selfe that it selfe cannot conceiue how capable how actiue it is It can passe by her nimble thoughts from heauen to earth in a moment it can be al things can comprehend all things know that which is and conceiue of that which neuer was neuer shall be Nothing can fill it but thou which art infinite nothing can limit it but thou which art euery were O God which madest it replenish it possesse it Dwell thou in it which hast appointed it to dwel in clay The body was made of earth common to his fellows the soule inspired immediatly from God The body lay senselesse vpon the earth like it selfe the breath of liues gaue it what it is and that breath was from thee Sence motion reason are infused into it at once From whence then was this quickening breath No ayre no earth no water was heere vsed to giue helpe to this worke Thou that breathedst vpon man and gauest him the holy spirit didst also breath vpon the body and gauest it a liuing spirit wee are beholden to nothing but thee for our soule Our flesh is from flesh our spirit is from the God of spirits How should our soules rise vp to thee and fixe themselues in their thoughts vpon thee who alone created them in their infusion infused them in their creation How should they long to returne backe to the fountaine of their being and author of beeing glorious Why may we not say that this soule as it came from thee so it is like thee as thou so it is one immateriall immortall vnderstanding spirit distinguished into three powers which all make vp one spirit So thou the wise creator of all things wouldest haue some things to resemble their creator These other creatures are all body man is body and spirit the Angels are all spirit not without a kind of spirituall composition Thou art alone after thine owne manner simple glorious infinite No creature can bee like thee in thy proper being because it is a creature How should our finite weake compounded nature giue any perfect resemblance of thine Yet of all visible creatures thou vouchsafest Man the neerest correspondence to thee not so much in these naturall faculties as in those diuine graces wherewith thou beautifiest his soule Our knowledge holines righteousnes was like the first coppy from which they were drawne Behold wee were not more like thee in these then now wee are vnlike ourselues in their losse O God we now praise our selues to our shame
neuer absent from his but sometimes he makes their senses witnesses of his presence In smal matters may be great wonders That a bush should burne is no maruell but that it shold not consume in burning is iustly miraculous God chooseth not euer great subiects wherein to exercise his power It is enough that his power is great in the smallest When I looke vpon this burning bush with Moses me thinks I can neuer see a woorthier and more liuely Embleme of the Church That in Egypt was the furnace yet wasted not Since then how oft hath it bene flaming neuer consumed The same power that enlightens it preserues it and to none but his enemies is he a consuming fire Moses was a great Philosopher but small skill would haue serued to know the nature of fire and of the bush that fire meeting with combustible matter could not but coÌ„sume If it had beene some solid woood it would haue yeelded later to the flame but bushes are of so quick dispatch that the ioy of the wicked is compared to a fire of thorns Hee noted it a while saw it continued began to wonder It was some maruel how it should come there but how it should continue without supply yea without diminution of matter was truely admirable Doubtlesse hee went oft about it and viewed it on all sides and now when his eye and mind could meete with no likely causes so farre off resolues I will go see it His curiosity ledde him neerer and what could hee see but a bush and a flame which hee saw at first vnsatisfied It is good to come to the place of Gods presence howsoeuer God may perhaps speake to thy heart though thou come but for nouelty Euen those which haue come vpon curiosity haue beene oft taken Absence is without hope If Moses had not come hee had not beene called out of the bush To see a fire not consuming the bush was much but to heere a speaking fire this was more and to heare his own name out of the mouth of the fire it was most of all God makes way for his greatest messages by astonishment and admiration as on the contrary carelesnes carries vs to a more proficiency vnder the best means of God If our hearts were more awfull Gods messages would bee more effectuall to vs. In that appearance God meant to cal Moses to come yet when he is come inhibits him Come not hither We must come to God wee must not come too neere him when wee meditate of the great mysteries of his word wee come to him wee come too neere him when we search into his counsels The Sunne and the fire say of themselues Come not too neere how much more the light which none can attaine vnto We haue all our limits set vs The Gentiles might come into some outer courts not into the inmost The Iewes might come into the inner Court not into the Temple the Priests and Leuites into the Temple not into the Holy of Holies Moses to the hill not to the bush The waues of the sea had not more need of bounds than mans presumption Moses must not come close to the bush at all and where he may stand he may not stand with his shooes on There is no vnholinesse in clothes God prepared them for man at first and that of skins lest any exception should be taken at the hides of dead beasts This rite was significant What are the shooes but worldly and carnall affections If these be not cast off when wee come to the holy place wee make our selues vnholy how much lesse shold we dare to come with resolutions of sinne This is not onely to come with shooes on but with shooes bemired with wicked filthinesse the touch whereof profanes the pauement of God and makes our presence odious Moses was the sonne of Amram Amram of Kohath Kohath of Leui Leui of Iacob Iacob of Isaac Isaac of Abraham God puts together both ends of his pedigree I am the God of thy father and of Abraham Isaac Iacob If he had said only I am thy God it had beene Moses his duty to attend awfully but now that hee saies I am the God of thy Father and of Abraham c. He challenges reuerence by prescription Any thing that was our Ancestors pleases vs their houses their vessels their cote-armour How much more their God How carefull should parents be to make holy choises Euery precedent of theirs are so many monuments and motiues to their posteritie What an happinesse it is to bee borne of good parents hence God claimes an interest in vs and wee in him for their sake As many a man smarteth for his fathers sinne so the goodnesse of others is crowned in a thousand generations Neither doth God say I was the God of Abraham Isaac Iacob but I am The Patriarkes still liue after so many thousand yeeres of dissolution No length of time can separate the soules of the iust from their maker As for their bodie there is still a reall relation betwixt the dust of it and the soule and if the being of this part be more defectiue the being of the other is more liuely and doth more than recompence the wants of that earthly halfe God could not describe himselfe by a more sweet name than this I am the God of thy father and of Abraham c. yet Moses hides his face for feare If hee had said I am the glorious God that made heauen and earth that dwell in light inaccessible whom the Angels cannot behold or I am God the auenger iust and terrible a consuming fire to mine enemies heere had beene iust cause of terrour But â—hy was Moses so frighted with a familiar compellation God is no lesse awfull to his owne in his very mercies Great is thy mercie that thou maist be feared for to them no lesse maiestie shines in the fauours of God than in his iudgements and iustice The wicked heart neuer feares God but thundring or shaking the earth or raining fire from heauen but the good can dread him in his very sun-shine his louing deliuerances and blessings affect them with awfulnes Moses was the true sonne of Iacob who when hee saw nothing but visions of loue and mercy could say How dreadfull is this place I see Moses now at the bush hiding his face at so milde â— representation heereafter we shall see him in this very mount betwixt heauen and earth in thunder lightning smoke earth-quakes speaking mouth to mouth with God bare faced and fearelesse God was then more terrible but Moses was lesse strange This was his first meeting with God further acquaintance makes him familiar and familiarity makes him bold Frequence of conuersation giues vs freedome of accesse to God and makes vs poure out our hearts to him as fully and as fearelesly as to our friends In the meane time now at first he made not so much haste to see but hee made as much to hide his eies Twice did Moses
by the Holy ghost for a blessing to the Church if the world had not beene before possessed with multiplicitie of languages for a punishment Hence it is that the building of our Sion rises no faster because our tongues are diuided Happy were the Church of God if we al spake but one language Whiles wee differ wee can build nothing but Babel difference of tongues caused their Babel to cease but it builds ours Abraham IT was fit that he which should be the father and pattern of the faithful shold be throughly tried for in a set copie euery fault is important and may proue a rule of error of ten trials which Abraham passed the last was the sorest No sonne of Abraham can hope to escape temptations while hee sees that bosome in which hee desires to rest so assaulted with difficulties Abraham must leaue his countrey and kinred and liue among strangers The calling of God neuer leaues men where it finds them the earth is the Lords and all places are alike to the wise and faithfull If Chaldea had not been grossely idolatrous Abraham had not left it no bond must tie vs to the danger of infection But whether must he go To a place he knew not to men that knew not him it is enough comfort to a good man wheresoeuer he is that hee is acquainted with God we are neuer out of our way while wee follow the calling of God Neuer any man lost by his obedience to the highest because Abraham yeelded God giues him the possession of Canaan I wonder more at his faith in taking this possession then in leauing his owne Beholde Abraham takes possession for that seed which he had not which in nature hee was not like to haue of that land wherof hee should not haue one foot wherein his seede should not bee setled of almost fiue hundred yeres after the power of faith can preuent time and make future things present If wee be the true sonnes of Abraham we haue already while wee soiourne heere on earth the possession of our land of promise while wee seeke our country we haue it Yet euen Canaan doth not affoord him bread which yet hee must beleeue shall flow with milk and hony to his seede sense must yeeld to faith wo were vs if wee must iudge of our future estate by the present Aegypt giues releefe to Abraham when Canaan cannot In outward things Gods enemies may fare better then his friends Thrise had Aegypt preserued the Church of God in Abraham in Iaacob in Christ God oft-times makes vse of the world for the behoofe of his though without their thanks as contrarily he vses the wicked for scourges to his own inheritance and burns them because in his good they intended euill But what a change is this Hitherto hath Sarah bene Abrahams wife now AEpypt hath made her his sister feare hath turned him from an husband to a brother No strength of faith can exclude some doubtings God hath said I will make thee a great nation Abraham saith The Egyptians will kill me He that liued by his faith yet shrinketh and sinneth How vainely shall we hope to beleeue without al feare and to liue without infirmities Some little aspersions of vnbeleefe cannot hinder the praise and power of faith Abraham beleeued and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse Hee that through inconsideratenesse doubted twise of his owne life doubts not of the life of his seed euen from the dead and dry wombe of Sarah yet was it more difficult that his posterity should Sarah then that Sarahs husband should liue in AEgypt This was aboue nature yet he beleeues it Sometimes the beleeuer stickes at easie tryalls and yet breakes through the greatest temptations without feare Abraham was olde ere this promise and hope of a sonne and stil the older the more vncapable yet God makes him wait twenty fiue yeares for performance no time is long to faith which hath learned to differre hopes without fainting and irkesomnesse Abraham heard this newes from the Angell and laughed Sarah heard it and laughed they did not more agree in their desire then differ in their affection Abraham laughed for ioy Sarah for distrust Abraham laughed because he beleeued it would be so Sarah because she beleeued it could not be the same act varies in the manner of doing and the intention of the doer yet Sarah laught but within her selfe and is bewraied How God can find vs out in secret sins how easily did she now think that he which could know of her inward laughter could know of her conception and now she that laughed and beleeued not beleeueth and feareth What a liuely patterne doe I see in Abraham Sarah of a strong faith and weake of strong in Abraham and weake in Sarah Shee to make God good of his worde to Abraham knowing her owne barrennesse substitutes an Hagar and in an ambition of seed perswades to Poligamy Abraham had neuer looked to obtaine the promise by any other then a barren wombe if his owne wife had not importunde him to take another when our owne apparent meanes faile weake faith is put to shifts and proiects strange deuises of her owne to attaine her end She will rather conceiue by another wombe then bee childlesse when she heares of an impossibility to nature she doubreth and yet hides her diffidence and when she must beleeue feareth because she did distrust Abraham heares and beleeues and expects and reioyces he saith not I am old and weake Sarah is olde and barren where are the many nations that shall come from these withered loynes It is enough to him that God hath said it he sees not the meanes he sees the promise He knew that God would rather raise him vp seede from the very stones that hee trod vpon then himselfe should want a large and happy issue There is no faith where there is neither meanes or hopes Difficulties and impossibilities are the true obiects of beleefe Hereupon God ads to his name that which he would fetch from his loynes and made his name as ample as his posterity neuer any man was a looser by beleeuing Faith is euer recompensed with glory Neither is Abraham content only to wait for God but to smart for him God bids him cut his owne flesh he willingly sacrifices this parcell of his skin and blood to him that was the owner of all How glad he is to carry this painfull marke of the loue of his creator How forward to seale this couenant with blood betwixt God and him not regarding the sorenesse of his body in comparison of the confirmation of his soule The wound was not so grieuous as the signification was comfortable For herein hee saw that from his loynes should come that blessed seed which should purge his soule from all corruption well is that part of vs lost which may giue assurance of the saluation of the whole our faith is not yet sound if it haue not taught vs to neglect paine
for the better we were we are the worse As the sons of some prodigall or tainted auncestors tell of the lands and Lordships which were once theirs onlie doe thou whet our desires answerable to the readinesse of thy mercies that we may redeem what we haue lost that wee may recouer in thee what wee haue lost in our selues The fault shall be ours if our damage proue not beneficiall I doe not finde that man thus framed found the want of an helper His fruition of God gaue him fulnesse of contentment the sweetnesse which hee found in the contemplation of this newe workmanship and the glory of the author did so take him vp that hee had neither leisure nor cause of complaint If man had craued an helper he had grudged at the condition of his creation and had questioned that which he had perfection of being But hee that gaue him his being and knew him better then himselfe thinks of giuing him comfort in the creature whiles hee sought none but in his maker Hee sees our wants and forecasts our releefe when wee thinke our selues too happy to complaine How ready will he be to helpe our necessities that thus prouides for our perfection God giues the nature to his creatures Man must giue the name that hee might see they were made for him they shal be to him what hee will In stead of their first homage they are presented to their new Lord and must see of whom they hold He that was so carefull of mans soueraignty in his innocence how can he be carelesse of his safety in his renouation If God had giuen them their names it had not bene so great a praise of Adams memory to recall them as it was now of his iudgement at first sight to impose them hee saw the inside of all the creatures at first his posterity sees but their skins euer since and by this knowledge he fitted their names to their dispositions All that hee saw were fit to be his seruants none to be his companions The same God that finds the want supplies it Rather then mans innocency shall want an outward comfort God will begin a new creation Not out of the earth which was the matter of man not out of the inferiour creatures which were the seruants of Man but out of himselfe for dearnesse for equality Doubtlesse such was mans power of obedience that if God had bidden him yeeld vp his rib waking for this vse he had done it cheerfully but the bounty of God was so absolute that hee would not so much as consult with mans will to make him happy As man knew not while hee was made so shal he not know while his other selfe is made out of him that the comfort might be greater which was seene before it was expected If the woman should haue bin made not without the paine or will of the man she might haue bene vpbrayded with her dependance and obligation Now shee owes nothing but to her creator The ribbe of Adam sleeping can challenge no more of her then the earth can of him It was an happy change to Adam of a ribbe for an helper what help did that bone giue to his side God had not made it if it had beene superfluous and yet if man could not haue beene perfect without it it had not beene taken out Many things are vse-ful conuenient which are not necessary and if God had seene man might not want it how easie had it been for him which made the woman of that bone to turne the flesh into another bone but he saw man could not complaine of the want of that bone which hee had so multiplied so animated O God wee can neuer be loosers by thy changes we haue nothing but what is thine take from vs thine own when thou wilt we are sure thou canst not but giue vs better Paradise MAn could no sooner see then hee saw himselfe happie His eye-sight and reason were both perfect at once and the obiects of both were able to make him as happy as he would when he first opened his eies he saw heauen aboue him earth vnder him the creatures about him God before him hee knew what all these things meant as if he had been long acquainted with them all He saw the heauens glorious but farre off his maker thought it requisite to fit him with a paradise neerer home If God had appointed him immediatly to heauen his body had beene superfluous It was fit his body should bee answered with an earthen image of that heauen which was for his soule Had man bin made only for contemplation it would haue serued as well to haue been placed in some vast desert on the top of some barren mountaine But the same power which gaue him an hart to meditate gaue him hands to worke and work fit for his hands Neither was it the purpose of the Creator that man should but liue mesure may stand with innocence he that reioyced to see al he had made to be good reioyceth to see all that hee had made to be well God loues to see his creatures happy Our lawfull delight is his they know not God that thinke to please him with making themselues miserable The Idolaters thought it a fit seruice for Baal to cut and launce themselues neuer any holy man lookt for thanks from the true God by wronging himselfe Euery earth was not fit for Adam but a Garden a Paradise What excellent pleasures and rare varieties haue men found in gardens planted by the hands of men And yet all the world of men cannot make one twig or leafe or spire of grasse When hee that made the matter vndertakes the fashion how must it needs be beyond our capacity excellent No herb no flower no tree was wanting there that might bee for ornament or vse whether for sight or for sent or for tast The bounty of God wrought further then to necessity euen to comfort and recreation Why are we niggardly to our selues when God is liberall But for all this if God had not there conuersed with man no abundance could haue made him blessed Yet beholde that which was mans store house was also his workehouse His pleasure was his taske Paradise serued not onely to feed his senses but to exercise his hands If happinesse had consisted in doing nothing man had not beene employed All his delights could not haue made him happy in an idle life Man therefore is no sooner made then he is set to worke Neither greatnesse nor perfection can priuiledge a foulded hand Hee must labour because hee was happy how much more we that we may bee This first labor of his was as without necessity so without paines without wearinesse how much more cheerefully wee goe about our businesses so much neerer we come to our Paradise Neither did these trees affoord him onely action for his hands but instruction to his heart for here he saw Gods sacraments grow before him All other trees had a naturall
vse these two in the midst of the Garden a spirituall Life is the act of the soule knowledge the life of the soule the tree of knowledge and the tree of life then were ordained as earthly helpes of the spirituall part Perhaps he which ordained the ende immortality of life did appoint this fruit as the meanes of that life It is not for vs to inquire after the life wee had and the meanes we should haue had I am sure it serued to nourish the soule by a liuely representation of that liuing tree whose fruite is eternall life and whose leaues serue to heale the nations O infinite mercy man saw his Sauiour before him ere hee had need of a Sauiour hee saw in whom hee should recouer an heauenly life ere hee lost the earthly but after man had tasted of the tree of knowledge hee might not taste of the tree of life That immortall food was not for a mortall stomacke Yet then did he most sauour that inuisible tree of life when he was most restrayned from the other O Sauiour none but a sinner can rellish thee My tast hath bin enough seasoned with the forbidden fruit to make it capable of thy sweetnesse Sharpen thou as well the stomacke of my soule by repenting as by beleeuing so shall I eate in despight of A-Adam liue for euer The one tree was for confirmation the other for tryall one shewed him what life hee should haue the other what knowledge hee should not desire to haue Alas he that knew al other things knew not this one thing that he knew enough how Diuine a thing is knowledge whereof euen innocencie it selfe is ambitious Satan knew what he did If this bayt had beene gold or honour or pleasure man had contemned it who can hope to auoide error when euen mans perfection is mistaken He lookt for speculatiue knowledge hee should haue looked for experimentall he thought it had beene good to know euill Good was large enough to haue perfected his knowledge and therein his blessednesse All that God made was good and the maker of them much more good they good in their kinds hee good in himselfe It would not content him to know God and his creatures his curiosity affected to know that which God neuer made euill of sin and euill of death which indeed himselfe made by desiring to know them now we know well euill enough smart with knowing it How dear hath this lesson cost vs that in some cases it is better to be ignorant And yet do the sons of Eue inherit this saucy appetite of their grandmother How many thousand soules miscarry with the presumptuous affectation of forbidden knowledge O God thou hast reuealed more then we can know enough to make vs happy teach me a sober knowledge and a contented ignorance Paradise was made for man yet there I see the serpent what maruell is it if my corruption find the serpent in my closet in my table in my bed when our holie parents found him in the midst of Paradise no sooner is he entred but he tempteth hee can no more bee idle then harmlesse I doe not see him at any other tree hee knew there was no danger in the rest I see him at the tree forbidden How true a serpent is he in euery point In his insinuation to the place in his choyce of the tree in his assault of the woman in his plausiblenes of speech to auoid terror in his question to moue doubt in his reply to work distrust in his protestation of safety in his suggestion to enuy and discontent in his promise of gaine And if hee were so cunning at the first what shall wee thinke of him now after so many thousand yeares experience Onely thou O God and these Angels that see thy face are wiser then hee I doe not aske why when hee left his goodnesse thou didst not bereaue him of his skill Still thou wouldst haue him an Angell though an euill one And thou knowest how to ordaine his crait to thine owne glory I do not desire thee to abate of his subtilty but to make me wise Let me beg it without presumption make me wiser then Adam euen thine image which he bore made him not through his owne weaknes wise enough to obey thee thou offeredst him al fruits and restrainedst but one Satan offered him but one and restrained not the rest when he chose rather to bee at Satans feeding then thine it was iust with thee to turne him out of thy gates with a curse why shouldest thou feede a rebell at thine owne boord And yet wee transgresse daily and thou shuttest not heauen against vs how is it that wee find more mercy then our forefathers His strength is worthy of seuerity our weaknesse finds pittie That God from whose face he fled in the garden now makes him with shame to flye out of the garden those Angels that should haue kept him now keep the gates of Paradise against him It is not so easie to recouer happinesse as to keepe it or leese it Yea the same cause that droue man from Paradise hath also withdrawne paradise from the world That fiery sword did not defend it against those waters wherwith the sins of men drowned the glory of that place neither now do I care to seek where that paradise was which we lost I know where that Paradise is which we must care to seeke and hope to finde As man was the image of God so was that earthly Paradise an image of heauen both the images are defaced both the first paterns are eternall Adam was in the first and stayed not In the second is the second Adam which saide This day shalt thou be with mee in Paradise There was that chosen vessell heard and saw what could not bee expressed by how much the third heauen exceeds the richest earth so much doth that Paradise wherto wee aspire exceed that which we haue lost Cain and Abell LOoke now O my soule vpon the two first brethren perhaps twins and wonder at their contrary dispositions and estates If the priuiledges of nature had beene worth any thing the first borne child should not haue bin a reprobate Now that wee may ascribe all to free grace the elder is a murderer the yonger a saint though goodnesse may bee repaired in our selues yet it cannot bee propagated to ours Now might Adam see the image of himselfe in Cain for after his owne image begot hee him Adam slew his posterity Cain his brother we are too like one another in that wherein we are vnlike to God Euen the cleerest grain sends forth that chaffe from which it was fanned ere the sowing yet is this Cain a possession the same Eue that mistooke the fruit of the garden mistooke also the fruit of her owne body her hope deceiued her in both so many good names are ill bestowed and our comfortable expectations in earthly things do not seldome disappoint vs doubtlesse their education was holy