with wrong Secondly the abuses of their tongues your lips spake falshood your tongue vttereth vngodlinesse No man cryeth out for iustice no man contendeth for faithfull dealing euery one doth trust vnto vanitie and vtter forth deceipt Thirdly the malicious counsailes cogitations of the heart which hee noteth by the word Conceiuing euery one conceiueth mischiefe and bringeth forth iniquity which speach though it seme heare to be vttered only to y e Iewes yet the Apostle Paul in the thirde to the Romains doth apply it generally to all that are destitute of the grace of God and it doth paint out indeede all such malicious purposes of heart out of which as out of a bad roote do spring all rotten and vnsauory fruits aswell in Iew as in Gentile This conceiueing of mischiefe is by the Prophet Esay in this first verse more at large laide open vnto vs by a threefolde Allegory pointing out three especiall things vnto vs first the malice of the minde compared to the hatching of the egges of the serpent Haemorhous Secondly the vanitie and vnprofitablenesse of all such wicked conceiptes resembled here by the weauing of the Spiders webbe And thirdly the daungers that do thereby issue out as well to others as to themselues If but a droppe thereof bee sprinkled it is euen as if a Viper shoulde breake out vpon them The malicious counsels of the hearte which hee hath called in the verse going before the conceiuings of mischiefe according to the phraise of the Psalmist he trauaileth with vanitie and conceiueth sorrow and bringeth forth vngodlinesse are likened here first to the hatching of the drop bloude his egge whereby the Prophet signifieth that they are no sodaine motions but premeditate purposes not resisted and withstoode but cherished and brooded not such as are easilie cured but such as are venemous poysonfull and altogither deadly and desperate Saint Hierom doth follow the septuaginta in translating this place oua aspidum ruperunt they haue broken the eggs of Aspes which interpreting though it do not altogither rightly answere the Hebrew text yet doth it import the very same meaning to wit that the deuises of the wicked are most dangerous and incurable As in Deuteronomy there is as it were a reason rendered when it is saide venenum aspidū saeuum immedicabile speaking of y e diseignements of y e malicious they are as the poyson of Asps euill such as can no way be cured They which are strong with an Aspe are said to fall by and by into a deade sleepe and in that sleepe to bee presently depriued of the life and light of this worlde And therefore Cleopatra Queene of Aegypt when her husband Antonius was dead because she woulde not bee led in triumph by Augustus the Emperour chose especially to shorten her owne daies by the stinging of an Aspe hoping thereby to depart with some ease and to die without feeling any pangs or torments of death as witnesseth the Poet Propertius Brachia spectaui sacris admota colubris Et trahere occultum membra soporis iter Such a deade sleepe is in the wicked when being past feeling they do giue thēselues ouer to wantonnesse to worke all vncleannesse euen with greedinesse Such is in those who are vtterly destitute of all godly remorse of conscience of whom S. Bernard Quis magis mortuus eo qui portat ignem in sinu peccatum in conscientia nec sentit nec excutit nec expauescit who is more deade than hee which carieth fier in his bosome or sinne in his conscience doth neither feele it nor shake it out nor once stande in any feare of it Such a deade sleepe is in all them which lye still securely in sinne and doe neuer rise vp to amendment of life to whom the Apostle Paul cryeth out awake thou that sleepest stand vp from the dead and Christ shal giue the light And such is in those obstinate and wilfull hearts which will in no wise hearken to y e voice of wholsome admonition of whome the Prophet Dauid speaketh that they are like the deafe Aspe which stoppeth her eares and wil not heare the voice of the charmer charme he neuer so wisely for so doe the best late writers expound there the worde Pethen to signifie an Aspe as likewise doe the auncient fathers Augustine Hierom and Cassiodor who doe yelde also the reason because the Aspe alteram aurem terrae pressius infigit alteram cauda obturat she fasteneth one eare close to the ground and with her taile doth stoppe the other Such wilfull obstinacie doth Iob affirme to be in those wicked which say vnto God depart from vs we desire not the knowledge of thy waies who is the Almightie that we should serue him or what profit haue wee if we pray vnto him And such was in those malicious Iewes whom Stephen calleth stifnecked and of vncircumcised hearts and eares alwaies readie to resist the holie Prophets of God As that man in whome an euill tongue is as Saint Iames saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full of deadly poyson may be said by a phrase of scripture to haue the poyson of Aspes vnder his lips because therby his whole body soule is empoysoned and putrified as y e Apostle calleth euil speaches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rotten talke such as doth cōsume weare awaie all good gifts and graces in man so wilful and malicious purposes of heart may well be resembled to the poyson of Aspes who haue not onely the stingings and bitings but euen the whole fleshe and substance full of most deadly venom as Galen moouing the question why the fleshe of Aspes may not goe into the Theriaca as well as the flesh of Vipers yeldeth this for the reason because the one may by are be rectified but the other can receiue no alteration or correction Sundry late and learned interpreters because the Prophet Esay doth not vse in this the Hebrue worde Pethen which doth properly signifie the Aspe but an other worde tsiphgnoni haue therefore departed from the translation of Saint Hierom and in steede of Aspe haue set the worde Cockatrice These also though they haue not in the iudgement of some duely expressed y e Hebrew word yet haue they caried a sense nothing dissonant frō the meaning of the Prophet The Cockatrice called Basiliscus and Regulus is named as it were the prince of Serpents not onely because of his exceeding force in that hee is reported to haue power to kill euen with the sight of the eye but also in respect of that marke and badge or rather Diadem which nature hath giuen vnto him hauing a little crownet growing vpon his heade To this Serpent may very well bee compared that enuious and malicious hearte which here the Prophet Esay doth principally condemne for that both the venome thereof is by the eye often disclosed as our Sauiour saith is thy eye euill because
cruelty as their chiefest offence now raigning amongst them your hands saith hee are defiled with blood and againe a little after he telleth them that their feete did runne to euil and make hast to shed innocent bloode and euen their thoughts were altogither wicked and malicious All crueltie hath the name of y e latin word cruor which signifieth blood because cruel harts are murdering harts he that hateth his brother is such a manslayer as hath no eternal life abiding in him Esau when with a bloodie intent he gaped for Isaacks death said the daies will come that I shall morne for my father then will I surely kill my brother Iacob was in the sight of God guiltie of parricide The Iewes which with cruell harts cryed crucifie him cucifie him are named murderers of Christ as well as the Romaines which put him to death The Iewes were commaunded of God in sundry Lawes by types and figures to abhorre and detest all beastly crueltye For as by abstaining from swines fleshe they were taught to flie all filthie pleasures So by not eating the kite vulture gripe hawke and such rauening spoylers they were admonished to reiect all cruell affections When thou takest any birdes thou shalt not saith God kill the young with the damme thou shalt not reuile the deafe nor lay a stumbling blocke before the blinde Seldome doe we reade of any crueltie but that the Lord by his iust iudgement as it were lege talionis doth heape the like measure vpon it againe Adonibezeg had taken Seauenty Kinges and being prisoners he cruelly cut off their thumbs and great toes and made them as dogges to gather breade vnder his table but at the last hee was taken by Iude and hauing his owne thumbs toes cut off was compelled in the same manner to receiue his foode as hee himselfe before had prescribed to others Abimelech to vsurpe a kingdome did vpon a stone cruelly put to death Seauentie of his brethren but afterwarde by a stone being throwne vpon him by a woman his braine-panne was crusht in peeces As by the crueltie of Achab dogges did licke the bloode of Naboth so dogges did licke his bloode and the bloode of her that gaue the counsell insomuch that when Iehu saide of Iezabell being deade seeke out that cursed woman and burie her because shee is a kings daughter shee was founde in a manner all deuoured by dogges nothing was to be had but the skull and the feete and some part of her handes Haman with an enuious heart most cruelly sought to hang Mardocheus but on the gybbet which he had caused to be erected for others hee and his owne tenne sonnes did first take hansell and possession The manifolde curses which Dauid doth rehearse in the sixtie and ninth Psalme as to haue the table to be made a snarre the eyes to be darkned the howses to be left desolate and to be wiped out of the booke of life are all denounced against such as with cruell hearts adde affliction vpon affliction they persecute saith Dauid thē whom thou hast stricken vex them whom thou hast wounded This crueltie of heart may very well be compared to the poyson of the Haemorrhous or Dropbloode mentioned in this place For no sooner hath any receiued the venome thereof but presently the hands the tongue the deuises of y e heade and the whole actions of the life doe yelde forth bloodie fruites in sundry deadly kindes of murder The hands do breake out in bloode either by cut throat vsurie which by Chrysostom is compared to the stinging of an Aspe and by Basill to the biting of a Viper because as the one doth cast asleepe and the other cause to swell so doth vsury cast y e poore borrower for a time into a pleasant slepe but such a sleepe as bringeth death it maketh him for a time to swell with abundance but it causeth a bursting and vtter ruine to him and his whole familie Or els they become murdering by witholding sustenance from the needie the breade of the poore saith the sonne of Syrach is the life of the poore he that defraudeth him is a murderer Pasce fame morientem saith Ambose si non pascis occidisti feede him that is ready to die with famine if thou feede him not thou hast murdered him or els if they doe bring forth their foode they doe sucke out the bloode of the poore and as Amos speaketh swallow vp the poore by making the Epha small and the shekell great The Epha is an Hebrue measure the shekell their coyne and price Many thinke that if they make iust measure they may aduance y e price of their wairs to what extremity they can But the Prophet doth place a kinde of murder as well in excesse of price as in the deceiptfulnesse of measure The Apostle forbideth as well the oppression of the one as the fraude and subtiltie of the other Let no man oppresse nor defraud his brother for the Lord is the auenger of all such things Iehoiakim his hands were an otherway defiled with blood when as y e Prophet Ieremie saith hee vsed his neighbours in his worke without wages and gaue them no recompence for their toyle The sweate of the laboring man is as it were the wearing and wasting and consuming of his strength and life to vse that toyle without recompence is to bee guiltie of a kinde of murder As the bloode of Abel did cry out of the earth for vengeance so Iob doth make the grounde to be as it were an olde mother crying out and the forrowes thereof complaining togither against those which by detaining the rewarde do vexe and grieue the soules of the labourers and tillers therof Effundit sanguinem qui fraudat mercede hee that defraudeth men of their hyre is a blood sucker Further the venome of this Serpent to wit the malice of the hearte doth cause as the handes so the tongue also to commit many deadly sorts of bloodshedde In some by slaunderings and railings whereby as the Psalmist sheweth their tongues are become sharpe raisors and their smooth wordes nothinge but very swordes In others by flatteries whereby as Antisthenes saide men doe often become worse than Rauens for thee Rauens feede vpon carkases beeing deade but the flatterers doe eate vppe and deuoure their neighbours beeing aliue Laertius who ascribeth that speach to Antisthenes doth likewise record that Bion when one asked the question of him of all beastes what was most noysome made this answere Si de feris percontaris tyrannus si de mitibus adulator If your demaund be of wilde beasts a tyrant if of tame beasts a flatterer Saint Gregory saith very wel tot occidimus quot ad mortē ire trepidi tacentes videmus we murder so many men as we see to runne headlong vnto death and by a fearefull silence doe refuse
practises and subtill deceipts vsed as nettes one to insnare another do draw vpon the wicked two fearefull curses the one is the stinge of a corrupt conscience when they are here depriued of hope and confidence as Iob affirmeth like the howse of the spider that hath no foundation The breade of deceipt saith the wiseman may for a time bee sweet in the mouth but in the ende the mouth is filled with grauell The other is that those things which they take in hand shal neither prosper in themselues but they shall bee as the chaffe which the winde doth scatter away neither shall they benefit their posteritie but as Zachary sheweth the curse of God shall enter in and destroy euen the stones and timber of their cruell habitations The Prophet Haggei telleth vs that in the bags of the wicked there is a hole or breach by which hole hee meaneth the curse of GOD when that which is euill gotten is euill also wasted and consumed that as it neuer came from God so doth it runne all to the Diuell The very heathen Poet could giue this warninge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ne malalucreris mala lucra aegualia dāni◠Seeke not wrongfull gaines bad gaine◠and losse are all one The third Allegory here vsed by the Prophet is drawne from the viper called here Ephgue of whose nature Aristotle writeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among serpents the viper bringeth forth not egs as the rest do but liuing creatures though bad and her egs are first bred hatched within herself And therefore the viper may very fitly signifie point out them which do cherish nourish bad purposes in their hearts and with a premeditate hatching of their deuises do worke mischiefe against their neighbours The Prophet Esay in this place would haue vs to mortifie these first beginnings of sinne wherwith if y e heart be but once sprinckled it will bee as if a viper did presently burst out The beginnings of sinne do seame at the first small but they are dangerous and harmefull they are like those lesser wedges which open the entrance to y e greater like little theeues entering in at some hole or windowe to open y e doores to the greater like a small droppe of poyson or a slender venomous stinge whereof the one doth infect a whole vessell and the other destroy the whole bodie If we would be free from iniurious dealings we must first not let the sunne goe downe vpon wrath if wee would abstaine from bloody oppressions we must first let our cōuersation be without couetousnesse If we would be as we ought to be obedient and deutifull subiects we must first cast away all malcontented affections and all enuying y e blessings of God bestowed vpon our brethren The viper who by the bearing of his owne fruites is burst a sunder doth very well represent all sin for y e sting of death is sin and y e reward of sinne is death but especially it doth most liuely paint out y e malicious enuie of y e heart as Augustine doth shewe ficut aerugoferrum ita inuidia illam ipsam animam in qua est interimit consumit sicut aiunt viperas dilacerato dirupto illo ipso materno vtero in quo conceptae erāt nasci ita inuidiae natura illam ipsam animam a qua concepta est consumit perdit As the rust which doth grow of the Iron doth consume the Iron so enuie which breadeth in the heart doth consume the heart and as they say that Vipers do come out breaking the bellies of their dammes in which they were conceiued so the nature of enuie is to destroy that soule in which it is fostered In which respect Chrisostome doth compaire enuie to the wood worm which though it doe breede in the tymber yet it doth consume waste the tymber as enuie springing of the heart doth putrifie and vtterly eat vp the heart As Salomon saith well A sound heart is the life of the bodie but enuie is a rottennesse to the bones The prophaine Poet could say Inuidia Siculi non inuenêre tyranni Tormentum maius And another Iustius inuidia nihil est quae portinus ipsum Auctorem rodens extruciat miserè The biting of this viperous Enuie as they are dangerous vnto others which Isaac felt when the Philistians enuying his riches did stop vp all his wels which his fathers seruants had digged in his father Abrahams time and Dauid when Saul enuying the songs of the women that Saul had killed one thousand and Dauid ten thousand did therefore seeke the death of him who by all meanes sought his good And Daniel when by the enuie of the malicious Iudges he was throwne into the denne of Lions and all the saints of God haue and doe still from time to time to their sundrie losses verie often feele suffer So especially the wounds therof are most deadly to the enuious persons themselues when their hearts are therby made altogether carnall and altogether vnfit for any spirituall exercise If there be enuying amongst you saith Paul are ye not carnall and Saint Iames saith where there is in men bitter enuying their wisedom is not from aboue but is earthly diuelish and sensuall They cannot withstand and subdue the enemies in the field that is the outward temptations of sinne and wickednes when they harbour within the wals the malicious traitour of an enuious heart They cannot receiue any helpe or comfort by the plaster or medicine of prayer so long as the arrow head remaineth within the wound so long as the cankered Iron of enuie doth fester and empoyson their affections They cannot be true and liuely members of the misticall bodie of Christ when they doe not with thankfull hearts reioyce at the weldoing and benefit of others as he Apostle doth teach vs that If one member be had in honour all the rest should reioyce with it Reioyce with them that reioyce and weep with them that weepe Finally they can neuer in this life feele any perfect solace and comfort when as the heathen Poet could see say Liuor tabificum malis venenum Intactis vorat ossibus medullas Close consumptiō enuie brings to badmē Not touching any bone it eats the marow Neither can they receiue any hope to be deliuered from the eternall tyranny of Sathan when they find in themselues that sinne which is equal or rather worse THE DANGER OF Discontentment Intreated of in a Sermon preached at Crowhurst in Surrey the ninth of Iuly 1598. By Simon Harward Imprinted at London by William White 1599. TO THE RIGHT VVorshipfull M. Edmunde Bowyer Esquire and M. Iohn Bowyer his brother mercie and peace be multiplyed in Christ Iesus FOr as much as some yeeres since Right Worshipfull it pleased you so courteously to accept that Sermon which at your request I then published as
in that his blind zeale hee was a blasphemer and a persecuter vntill he had obtained mercy for that which hee committed ignorantly If the intent of the heart might serue for a sufficient warrant then any Turke or heathen should be holden excused for they thinke they worshippe a true God yea the bloodie tormenters of Christians might then chalenge a full discharge and freedome for their tyranny because as our Sauiour doth witnesse when they kill the Saints of GOD they thinke they do God good seruice But thoughts intents can no longer awarrant vs than they themselues be awarranted by the worde of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle doth call it will-worshippe be it neuer so deuout and zealous in outwarde shewe yet if it be against the will and worde of God it is nothing but a blinde zeale of a diuelish superstition The second pretence which Saul doth vse to cloake and couer his rebellion is the feare of man I feared saith hee the people and therefore I obeyed their voice This feare of man to permit or to commit wickednesse for feare of displeasing man is a crime to be condemned euen in the priuate persons of the inferiour people because all are commaunded one to exhort another and one to edyfie another and our Sauiour saith generally to all feare not them that can only kill the bodie and haue no more that that they can doe but feare him which hath power to kill both bodie and soule and to cast both into hell fire But it is much more to bee condemned if it bee found in them which haue any charge of a publicke function For of Ministers may be saide that which the Apostle Paul speaketh of himselfe If I should please men I were not the seruant of Christ And all magistrates ought to approue themselues to be such as Iethro doth describe them to wit men of courage fearing God dealing truely and hating couetousnesse But especially this crime of fearing man is most intollerable in them whome it pleaseth GOD to call as hee did heere Saul to the dignitie and Maiestie of supreeme gouernours and to possesse as it were the room of GOD vpon earth When GOD had placed Iosua chiefe gouernour ouer his people hee gaue him in charge two especiall deuties First that hee should neuer let the booke of the Lawe depart out of his mouth but so meditate in the same day and night that hee shoulde obserue and doe according to the thinges contained therein and secondly that he should bee strong and of a good courage not to feare neither to bee faint hearted for saith God I will bee with thee at hande which way soeuer thou goest Whatsoeuer Saule doth pretende of the intent of Sacrifice and of his fearing the people yet Samuel sheweth him what was indeed the true cause of his wilfull rebellion in sparing the cattell of the Amalekites Thou hast saith hee turned thy selfe to the prey and doone wickedly in the sight of GOD. To receiue the spoyles of enemies is a thing of it selfe not vnlawfull in those which are authorised and armed with the sworde of Iustice for sundrye times did Dauid carie away spoyles euen from the Amalekites and sent part thereof for presents to the elders of Iuda Ramath and Bethel But the pray which Saul doth turne vnto was commaunded by the voice of GOD vtterly to bee destroyed and no portion thereof to bee saued or reserued Againe though it be permitted in lawfull warre to cary away the spoyles of such enemies as the Lord shall deliuer into our hands yet is it not lawfull to set our heart vpon the spoyle to make that as it were the principal drift of our labours and endeuours as heere it is said of Saul that hee turned himselfe to the prey as setting his heart especially vpon it Which if he did of a couetous affection then did hee make Mammon his Idoll If he did it for his owne feeding and refreshing then did hee make his belly his God and his glory to his shame If he did it to please man then was it also spirituall whordome and Idolatrie As Saint Iames saith O ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not the friendship of the world is enmitie against God If any man will be a friende of the world he maketh himselfe the enemie of God So that euery way this rebellion of Saul against the commaundement of God may bee fitly compared with the sinne of Idolatrie The fourth thing wherein rebellion may well be compared with witchcraft and Idolatrie is in sundry effects which they do equally worke in the hearts estates of men as first they do harden and make obstinate the heart of man In witches what one amongst a thousand hath in many years bene seene to returne to the Lord by vnfained repentance Of Idolatours that may well be spoken which Ieremy saith of the Idolatrous people thou hast had a whorish face and wouldest not be ashamed and that which Dauid saith of the Idols themselues they haue eyes and see not eares and heare not they that make them are like vnto them and so are all such as put their trust in them The custome of rebellion in Saul for hee had wilfully broken another commaundement of God before in refusing to tary for Samuel for which disobedience he was first denounced to be reiected of God This custome I say of opposing himselfe against the will of GOD doth so harden the heart of Saul that with a whorish countenance as Ieremy speaketh of Idolatours he doth now impudently defende that he hath done nothing amisse but perfectly fulfilled the will of God and afterward as hauing eyes and not seeing and eares and not hearing doth run headelong in the race of wilfulnesse euen vnto the ende of his miserable daies Samuel when hee exhorteth the people to auoide all Idolatrie and all setting their owne wils against the will of GOD doth vse this reason because saith hee they cannot profite nor deliuer you for they are but vanitie So that in this also these sinnes are resembled one to another for that they are vtterly vnprofitable for the estate of mans life That may well bee spoken of all the contemners of God which Osea saith of Idolaters they sow in the ayre and reape the winde their bud bringeth forth no meale their fruite is like blasted graine Wee see it most euident in the common course of mans life that as godlinesse is a great gaine and vertue is profitable to all things so the seruice of sinne is vtterly vnprofitable what fruite saith the Apostle had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed What fruite haue contentious men by their suites and debaits but as one doth bite another so one in the ende to deuour another What fruite receiue they which liue a dissolute life in whordome and dronkennesse but onely the