cannot admit Againe the heauenly Ierusalem is a place so pure that no vncleane thing nothing that worketh any abomination may haue any doings there Reuel 21. There is then no place for vs therein who are so besmeared and stained with sinne that whatsoeuer wee turne our selues vnto is before the Lord no better than abomination And this in generall may suffice touching this doctrine For we are dead 1. Here spiritually But now for as much as wee are not as soone as we come forth of the wombe cast into hell know therefore that euery one of vs are first come short of this glory in regard of spirituall and heauenly life of the which there is not by nature the least sparke remaining in vs we being starke dead in our sinnes as often the Scripture expresly speaketh Ephes 2.1 You were dead in sinnes and trespasses and Mat. 8.22 Let the dead bury their dead Liuing men then who are void of this spirituall life are no better in the Lords account than dead men who when they burie others dead as touching this bodily life it is as pretty a pageant as to see one dead corps carry or accompany another vnto the graue Yea let men frolick it and ruffle in pleasures and not onely liue in their conceits but liue brauely and deliciously yet euen in this condition they are but dead and the more thus they liue the further are they plunged into death as Paul saith 1. Tim. 5.6 of the widow Our naturall life being but a shadow of life that shee that liueth in pleasure is dead while she liueth It is but a conceit a name of life that naturall men haue it is but a goodly vizour drawne ouer a dead and rotten corps Thou hast a name that thou liuest but thou art dead saith our Sauiour to the Angell of Sardi Reuel 3.1 Notwithstanding heere the Lord doth let his Sunne to shine and his raine to fall on the vngodly together with his owne and these dead soules enioy many documents of Gods fauour and bounty whereby they neither seeme nor indeed are so wholly and vtterly separate from happinesse as they shall bee 2. Subiect to the bodily death Wherefore there is a second staire by which all of vs if the Lord succour not descend yet further from this blessed life and this glorious conditiō that is in death when a dissolution of soule and body commeth Then the body is committed to the earth where it feeleth no good at all as in life it did nor any euill and the soule is gathered to the spirits of apostate angels and reserued to eternall condemnation in chaines of darknesse Iude 6. Lastly 3. To death eternall there is yet one lower descent in the day of iudgement when as soule and body at the resurrection which is both of iust and vniust being reunited shall be separated for euermore from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power 2. Thes 1.9 and shall be cast into vnquenchable fier where the worme of their consciences shall neuer die but vncessantly vexe and torment them for euer And so we will in one handle the vses which are to be made of both these instructions Vse 1 First then we are to treasure vp these instructions in our hearts Is to furnish vs with matter of confession in our prayers that they may serue vs from weeke to weeke and from day to day to direct vs in our prayers for the confession of our sinnes wee haue all by rote and can vtter the words of Saint Iames though otherwise than hee speaketh them In many things we sinne all Iam. 3.2 But rare is that man that truly vnderstandeth what it is hee vttereth wherefore let these things be still present with vs that we may vnderstand fully and explicate in particular our corruption and misery To doe it feelingly and particularly when wee come before the Lord to make our confessions and prayers For to confesse our selues sinfull and miserable not know how wherin we are so surely is nothing else but with those wicked Iewes wherof the Lord complaineth For slight and generall confession is vnprofitable Isa 29. to draw neere to him with our lips while our hearts are far from him and to commit that from which Salomon dehorteth Eccles 4.17 viz. To offer vp the sacrifice of fooles babling with our tongues what we mind not And a mocking of God or vnderstand not Nay it is a plaine mocking of God vnto his face thus without knowledge and consciousnesse of our sinfulnesse in particular and the seuerall branches of it to confesse our sins Who would not take himselfe abused by such a debtor that should confesse that he were indebted to him if he knew for what but therein hee must pardon him For he could not call to mind wherein nor why nor how he should owe him any thing Such a flouting confession doe we make to God of our sinnes when in generall termes wee acknowledge them but in the meane while our heart doth not smite vs for any in particular nor can wee tell wherein we are so sinfull Wee must then bee well acquainted with this our miserable condition the knowledge whereof will helpe much to enlarge and excite our hearts to a feeling confession thereof and a more earnest crauing of Gods mercy for the cure of it And to driue it home vnto our harts To remedie which we must consider our state in sinne when we confesse that we are thus tainted in soule and body with the leprosie of sinne let vs seriously consider that we are in a most fearfull and lamentable estate To be fearfull and lamentable It is a fearful thing to haue a noysome disease a stinking or running sore on any part of the body but how much more lothsome and fearfull is it to be couered with boyles and scabs as was Iob and to haue nothing sound in the whole body but as the Prophet speaketh from the sole of the foot to the crowne of the head to bee laden with wounds and swellings and soares full of corruption Such a lamentable sight should we see in this ougly leprosie of sinne wherewith wee are infected if we could discerne it whose poyson and contagion goeth beyond the most fearfull and noysome diseases of the body And most contagious For be a disease contagious it is and not without cause terrible yet cannot it infect where it toucheth not but a pestilence oh how dreadfull is that accounted what running and flying from it is there which can only yet infect the aire and neere and neighbour places to the hazard of such as dwell at hand and thereabouts But this plague of sinne hath wrought vpon the whole creature to infect the very heauens and make all things subiect vnto vanity that as the garment and house which were infected incurably with the leprosie the one was to bee burned with fier the other razed downe and
AN EPITOMIE OF MANS MISERY AND DELIVERIE IN A SERMON PREACHED ON the third of the Romans Vers 23. and 24. by Mr. PAVL BAYNE Hosea 13.9 O Israel one hath destroyed thee but in me is thine helpe Isaiah 53.6 All we like sheepe haue gone astray wee haue turned euery one to his owne way and the Lord hath laid vpon him the iniquity of vs all LONDON Printed by Felix Kyngston for Nathaniel Newbery and are to be sold at the Signe of the Starre vnder Saint Peters Church in Cornehill and in Popes-head Alley 1619. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL SIR HENRY BAKER KNIGHT BARronet health honour and happinesse from and in the Lord. RIght Worshipfull although it bee a complaint perhaps not causelesse of too many bookes penned and printed in these dayes yet there is and euer will bee neede of new bookes chiefly such as sauour of the wholesome doctrine of Iesus Christ and set forward that knowledge of the truth which is according vnto godlinesse Nay surely it is no lesse worke of Gods prouidence to set open the fountaine of heauenly truth and to maintaine it in a perpetuall current by the preaching and writing of his faithfull seruants then that the waters of greater riuers and lesser springs doe runne with a continuall streame For what these are to the earth to water it that it may bee fertile for mens behoofe and serue their bodily wants the same are those to Gods Church to make it fruitfull vnto the Lord and relieue the spirituall want of mens soules Besides whereas the muddy and poysonous waters of false and hereticall doctrine of vngodly and filthy language like that a Reuel 16.3 noysome bloudy sea in which no soule could liue and breath the life of God doth daily bubble or rather puddle forth with proud and swelling streames through the tongues and pens of the diuels scribes or scriblers rather Is it not a singular blessing that the b Miraris si nōdum sapientia omne opus suùm impleuit Nondum tota se nequitia protulit Senec. nat quaest lib. 3. c. 32. fountaine of truth doth hold its course also from whence issue the wholesome waters of life to correct the poyson of the diuels puddle and preserue Gods people from the deadly contagion of it Which wholly to damme vp or in part to restraine were as great a despite vnto Gods people as was done vnto Isaac by the Philistims in c Gen. 26.15 stopping vp all the welles which Abraham had digged open What though in new bookes we bring to light specially in poynts of religion no new matter who I pray doth cauill at it in liuing fountaines that they run still the same waters in colour kind and tast we doe rather like them so much the better counting it a speciall benefit that by their perpetuall course as wee haue the same waters for kind so we receiue them euer fresh whereby they are the more pleasant for tast and the more wholesome for our vse So it is a commendation rather than any imperfections in our new writings that they propound still the same ancient doctrine touching faith good manners but haply in some new forme and method wherby they giue a fresher and more pleasant relish to these wholesome waters and so quicken mens dull and diuers appetites to the better liking of them and allure them the more liberally to drinke thereof I may therefore I trust to good purpose adde also this Sermon of that godly and faithfull Preacher Master Paul Bayne vnto some other books of his set forth by my selfe and others and open as it were one little fountaine more for thirsty soules to draw and drinke of Come to it and tast who will I assure him that hee shall prooue the waters thereof to be good sweet and wholesome Among water wonders d The French Comment on Bartas in the third day of his first week out of Mela. writers report of two springs not farre distant one from the other in one of the fortunat Ilands the one whereof doth yeeld deadly waters and the other very wholesome who so drinketh of the first is anone taken and torne with most painfull conuulsions euen vnto death against which the onely sure and present remedy is to drinke of the other fountaine there at hand This fountaine which here is opened riseth out of Paradise I meane the Scriptures with one head but in the course thereof it is parted into two streames The first giuing vs the tast of our sinfull and damnable state by nature is very bitter and in it selfe mortall but the second refreshing vs with the knowledge of our redemption by Christ is as the water of life and wine of Gods loue most cordiall and comfortable If any desire to be made whole and sound in soule he must drinke deepe of both The doctrine of our wretchednesse like vnto the e Numb 15.18 bitter and cursed water in the Law must search how sound we be within or rather make vs feele the sicke and rotten state of our soule And then the doctrine of our saluation by Christ like the f Ioh. 5.4 waters of Bethesda must restore vs curing vs of our inward rottennesse and outward sores whereof wee are deadly sicke g Is corde solus arido Christum sitit Sentit miseriam corde qui fracto suam We shall neuer thirst heartily nor relish fully the sweet waters of life in Iesus Christ vntill we haue drunk deepe of the salt and bitter waters of our owne misery Nor will they heale or worke vpon our soules to health vntill these make our vnsound and rotten hearts smart euen to death This fountaine I grant is not deepe and like h Isa 8.6 Shiloah doth runne but softly For it serueth rather for Gods Lambes to wade in than Elephants to swimme in and it aimeth more to bring men to a feeling of their misery in themselues and true reioycing in their saluation by Christ than to exercise their heads with curious contemplation of schoole-poynts What it is as it is no degenerate of-spring of a good man and worthy diuine not wholly vnknowne vnto you and sometime entertained by you I offer it most worthy Sir vnto your worships hands Entertaine it I pray you according to your wonted and natiue courtesie a vertue in the eyes of all eminent in you and which in a speciall degree is appropriate vnto your selfe and deriue some part of that loue and kind respect to this orphane Sermon which sometime you did shew vnto the author of it in his life For my part I haue sent it abroad with your Worships name wreathed so to speake on the fore-front thereof that wheresoeuer it doth passe it may report your singular kindnesse and good will many waies extended and yet continued toward me and stand vp as a witnesse of my thankfull remembrance and acknowledgement of the same An office which I hope will not be vngratefull vnto you who although you are
carried away Leuit. 13. and 14. so the whole frame of heauen and earth must burne in the fier to bee purged of it Vse 2 Secondly these doctrines are a ground of all true humility It teacheth vs humility and thankefulnesse and thankfull acknowledgement of Gods mercy If that a man could haue seene the heart of the poore Publican Luk. 18. no doubt one should haue seene that it was the priuity of these things we haue spoken of viz. that he was so sinfull and corrupt so wretched and neare to damnation that made him so abased and abashed in himselfe as not to dare so much as to looke vp to heauen made him with such griefe and passion to smite his breast and to sigh out Lord be mercifull vnto mee a sinner What vvas it but the due pondering of these things that did carry Dauid to such an admiration of Gods bounty toward himselfe and all men crying out Psal 144.4 Lord what is man that thou regardest him or the sonne of man that thou thinkest on him and forceth the Prophet to this confession It is the Lords mercy that we are not consumed because his compassions faile not From the ignorance of it springeth pride and vnthankfulnesse Lam. 3.22 But contrarivvise vvee carry our heads aloft face the heauens and svvell vvith great thoughts of our ovvne vvorth Againe vve are not onely spared from day to day and saued from vvrath but are fed and filled vvith good things from Gods hand without any due and feeling confession of Gods patience bounty and mercies heerein And whence is it but euen hence that we haue not thorowly learned nor taken vnto heart these lessons what wee are naturally before God viz. abominable most filthy and cursed wretches children of wrath and sonnes of perdition Find me the man that doth know this in his soule and is not lowly in his owne eyes doth not tremble and is not with an holy shame confounded in himselfe when hee commeth before God that doth not acknowledge Gods mercy in the least good hee enioyeth and wonder at his bounty that he doth load him such a caitiffe with so great benefits Grant that poore Mephibosheth had been guilty of treason against King Dauid as Ziba did falsly accuse him and that vpon plaine conuiction of the crime and sentence of death being giuen on him and all things made ready for his execution the King had giuen him his pardon restored him to his lands and as formerly admitted him to his owne table Can we thinke that hee would not haue blushed euen as oft as he came in the Kings presence and that he would not much more than formerly haue magnified Dauids princely mercy and clemency vnto him saying What is thy seruant that thou shouldest looke toward much more shouldest deale so graciously with such a dead dog as I am 1. King 9.8 If the apprehension of ones outward miserie and basenesse can so abase our mindes and endeare the curtesies and fauours of other men towards vs how much rather will it make vs truly humble before the Lord and thankfully to record his goodnesse to vnderstand well how vile and wretched our naturall condition is Vse 3 Thirdly this must awake vs to looke about and lay hold of the meanes of our saluation that wee escape death and damnation It should stirre vs vp to lay hold of saluation When the Iewes had heard Peter preaching roundly to them concerning their wickednesse in crucifying the Lord Iesus and their danger for it they were pricked in their hearts and cried out to the Apostle Men and brethren what shall we doe Act. 2.37 And truly it must needs affright vs and make vs to labour for a better estate vnlesse we be of that sort of men that haue made a couenant with hell and are at a league with the graue Isa 28.15 to consider that we are guilty before the Lord in the loynes of Adam to weigh that we are throughout stained and spotted with the filthinesse of sinne to thinke that all we can speake or doe all our thoughts words and deeds are so many inditements against vs and euidences that wee are shut out of heauen into vtter darknesse Will any man vnlesse hee be dead drunke lay himselfe downe to sleepe in the top of the mast the ship being vnder saile in the middest of the sea Prou. 23.34 And wee hold him desperately mad that dare take a nap in a house on fier ouer his head O then let vs not when the wrath of God which is a fier burning to the pit of destruction when I say this wrath is seated in soule and body let vs not presume to snort securely till we know our selues pulled out of this fier and till we perceiue that it is fully quenched and extinguished And thus much spoken concerning our wretched estate by nature were enough But lest those who are deliuered from this misery should thinke that this doctrine concerneth them not it shall be needfull in a word to adioyne one other instruction Marke therefore beloued who it is that vttereth these words all haue sinned It is Paul one who had now laboured 20. yeeres in the worthy Ministery of Apostleship yet hee speaketh this including himselfe in the same number Which teacheth vs thus much Doct. 3. That after our deliuerance wee must not shake hands with the doctrine of our miserie Our miserie must not be forgotten though wee be deliuered from it but still beare it in mind and often recount it It is the practice of Saint Paul almost euery where In the second to the Ephesians vers 3. after he had laid before the eyes of the Ephesians their former estate he spareth not to rip vp his owne constitution by nature thus Among whom wee also haue had our conuersation in time past in the lusts of our flesh in fulfilling the will of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath as well as others So again 1. Tim. 1.15 doth hee ranke himselfe amongst the chiefe sinners Christ Iesus came into the world to saue sinners whereof I am the chiefe Lastly Tit. 3.3 doth he make a large acknowledgement of his owne and others wretched condition what it was before conversion We our selues also were in times past vnwise disobedient deceiued seruing the lusts and diuers pleasures liuing in maliciousnesse and enuie hatefull and hating one another 3. Effects of its remembrance And this lesson is the worthier our learning by how much the vse of it is the greater for it hath three excellent effects 1. To make vs gentle toward others First to remember what we our selues haue bin and are by nature will make vs meeke and gentle towards others not ouer rash and rigorous in our censures Thus much the Apostle sheweth plainly vnto vs in the place aboue-named For in the second verse of that chapter he doth bid Titus to dehort men from speaking euill and exhort them to softnesse