Text saith he prayed vnto God and got the conquest if we take the same course we shall speed after the same manner for by prayer we shall vanquish and ouer-come all our sinnes which are in this life our greatest enemies and by prayer we shall offer vp a loue-offering sweet and delightfull to the Lord our God Is thy heart barren and deuoyde of grace as Abrahams prayer opened the barren wombes of Abimelechs houshold so shall thine owne prayers open thy barren and fruitlesse heart and draw downe the blessings of grace and goodnesse vpon thy soule The prayer of Moses parted the red Sea that the Israelites might passe into Canaan Thy feruent hearty and faithfull prayers vnto God shall so part thy sinnes and set them aside from thee that by the tract and path of the loue of God thou shalt be able to passe into the heauenly Canaan The prayer of Ioshua made the Sunne to stand still in the firmament thy prayer will make the Sunne of righteousnesse the LORD Iehouah to send forth the beames of diuine loue into thy heart Thus prayer shall be vnto thee a soueraigne antidote against the poyson of sinne and a precious restoratiue to worke grace in thy soule In our greatest tentations wee shall haue comfort so soone as we haue the grace to pray Ascendit precatio descendit miseratio When prayer ascends to God Gods mercy descends to vs. The second meanes wherby we shall obtaine this sweet grace to loue God is by faith in Christ. For we must know that it is impossible for any man to loue God but onely through Iesus Christ if he be not reconciled to God by faith in his Sonne then God is as hatefull and fearefull vnto him as he was vnto Adam before the promise of the Messiah but by faith in Christ he is perswaded of Gods loue toward him he sees God a louing gracious and mercifull father and therefore is not afraid to approach vnto him But he that comes to God without faith is like him that came vnto the feast without a wedding garment whose end we remember but if we come vnto God cloathed with the robes of Christs righteousnesse we shall be as welcome vnto him as the lost sonne vnto the glad father Faith in Christ is the next and immediate cause of the loue of God faith is the fountaine loue is the streame faith is the roote loue is the branch haue faith and haue loue want faith and want loue Faith is the match that must kindle the flame of loue in our frozen hearts But for the attaining of faith the Apostle hath giuen vs charge to vse a necessary meanes which is hearing tâ—e Word of God By the Word of God we are taught what is our owne misery through sinne and what is Gods mercy in redeeming vs by it we are taught how to put on Christ and to make him our owne which we must doe if we will be saued for it is as impossible for a man to goe to heauen without Christ as to flie into the ayre with great weights at his heeles They therefore that reiect the preaching and reading of the Word and yet hope to be saued are like a simple foole that hopes to liue and yet will eat no meat The soule is the life of the body and the word of God is the food of the soul without the soule the body is dead and without the Word the soule is dead loue therefore the Word that thou mayest liue in it and practise it that thou mayest be saued by it The third meanes to attaine this loue of God is a serious meditation of his mercy toward vs. What man waighing in an equall ballance Gods mercies and his owne merits would not find the one surmounting the other as much as the heauens doe the earth which truely considered would cause vs ardently to loue him then would we say as Augustine ipsi debeo me totum qui fecit me totum I owe my selfe wholly to him that made me not onely wholly but whole when I was wounded with the sting of sinne If it be demaunded what is the cause why men so little loue God I thinke I may safely answere because they consider not his goodnesse for if they did rightly waigh Gods mercy in his workes of Election Creation Redemption Preseruation Vocation Sanctification and Glorification our hearts would burne within vs as the hearts of the two disciples that went vnto Emaus till we did enioy him The Vses of this doctrine are these First it teacheth vs euery one seeing it is such a special marke of the childe of God to desire God to giue vs grace to loue him Qui dilexit nos non existentes imo resistentes He loued vs when we did not exist yea when we did reâ—iâ—t Oh let the loue of God beare rule in our hearts and fill our soules let vs loue him in summo gradu in the higest degree and let vs loue nothing but for his sake Let vs loue God for when we sought him Invenimus sed non prauenimus wee found him but he preuented vs he found vs first Let vs set before vs the example of the couetous Mammonist that makes his gold his God Couetousnesse taketh away rest and troubleth sleep his mony is his last thought at his down lying and the first at his vprising So let the loue of God possesse our thoughts in the night let it breake our sleepe disturb our rest let it be the last of our thoughts at our downe-lying and the first at our waking Couetousnes doth shut the heart of the couetous into his coffer where his treasure is So let the loue of God shut vp our hearts in heauen that where our treasure is there may our hearts be also Couetousnes snatches out of the nigards hand the bread he should eat maketh him be content with little So must the loue of God moue vs to abstinence to be content with little to depriue our selues of our fleshly desires for his seruice The couetous man refuseth no labour fore-sloweth no time to get gaine into his purse So let the loue of God incite vs to refuse no paines to loose no time to feare no dangers so we may get grace into our hearts The couetous man hauing put his money to vse calculateth the time desireth that the day of paiment were come that so he may receiue his money with aduantage So we knowing that God hath in his hands our pledge Christ Iesus and that he will repay vs our good workes with aduantage should very much desire the time of payment and in the meane time very preciously to keepe his obligation which is the doctrine of the Gospel The couetous man the older he growes the more greedy he is he liueth poorely that he may dye rich his deâ—ire of gathering is at the greatest when his tearme of life is at the shortest So must the loue of
Ignis Coelestis OR An interchange of Diuine LOVE betweene GOD and his SAINTS BY IOHN LEWIS Minister of God words at St. PETERS in the towne of St. Albons LONDON Printed by T. S. for N. N. 1620. To the worshipfull Mr. ROBERT SHVTE ESQVIER SIr so often as I consider the breuity and frailty of this mortall life that betweene the wombe and the tombe the cradle and the graue there is but a spans breadth and so often as I remember That it is appointed for man once to dye and then he must come to iudgement I cannot but with griefe admire the wilfull madnesse of this age wherein men set their wits vpon the tenter-hookes of inuention and policie and set their braines a worke to finde strange plots One with Ahab to get Naboths vineyard another with the rich Churle to enlarge his barnes by magnitude and his bags by multitude a third with proud Haman onely aimes at greatnesse his aspiring minde is alwayes climbing his desires cannot finde a Non vltra for his preferment hath no period a fourth with the rich Man how he may bathe himselfe in pleasure and Sardanapalus-like become effeminate by giuing himselfe to all voluptuousnesse But that which is vnum necessarium especially necessary for our sound comfort here and eternall happinesse hereafter is not remembred not regarded Things which are obtained with much labour retained with much care and lost with much vexation we hunt after with great eagernesse but God who hath giuen vs not onely our esse but our bene esse the fruition of whom is mans beatitude is neither affected nor desired With the Gadarens we preferre a few swine before Christ our Redeemer with prophane Esau we sell our birth right yea and the blessing with it for a messe of pottage whereas if we could but be aduised by the Heathen Ab Ioue principium Let our loue begin at God with him we should possesse peace patience comfort content helpe happinesse yea whatsoeuer were expeâ—ient for life temporall and eternall If wee did but seeke God and his righteousnesse all things necessary shall be added vnto vs There is no cause why we should be so loue-sicke for the world it is variable soone got soone lost deceiueable being but a shadow of felicity no substance treacherous â— while it flattereth the body it stayes the soule perfidious it complementeth with her louers as Dalilah with Sampson but beâ—raies them vnâ—o Sathan their morâ—all enemy If wee could but looke on the world with the eye of faith and sound iudgement and be so wise as to behold it in its proper complexion we would not dote on so meane a creature we would not make our seruant to be our Lord when the Lord sues for the loue of vs his seruants He that is vnchangeable he that is amiable he that is infinitely holy infinitely compassionate hath a long time stood at the doore knocking desiring to come in and â—up with vs intending to bring his prouision with him to furnish our hearts and at length to bring saluation to our soules and our soules vnto blessednesse yet like men carelesse of his kindenesse fearelesse of his displeasure we suffer him to knocke and will not open we are in bed with our darlings and will not rise Oh that in this our day we did but know the things which belong vnto our peace The motiue that induceth me to commit this small worke vnto the Presse is rather the worthines of the subiect then any excellency of the Authors wit it being worthy of the most aduised meditations of the best men of our best time wherein we shall clearely behold what God hath beene to vs and what we ought to be toward him the loue of the one and the duty of the other The great and meere voluntary kindenesse which I haue receiued from your Worship without any desert on my part is a sufficient argument to perswade me to dedicate it vnto your worthy selfe beseeching you to accept it as a tesâ—imony expressing his thankefulnesse who shall perpetually acknowledge himselfe obliged vnto you The Widdowes Mite a token of a willing minde was kindely accepted Although this worke be composed rudi ac crassa Minerua yet herein the Authors desire may no lesse be conceiued then in that which is more exquisite I indeauour not indeede so much to please the eare as to comfort the conscience labouring rather for soundnesse of matter then plausiblenes of phrase and ayming more at a generall then at a particular benefit What once Peter said vnto the Creeple that lay at the gate of the Temple the same will I say vnto your worship Siluer and Gold haue I none but such as I haue giue I thee And seeing I cannot expresse my thankfulnesse as I would let me be bold to doe it as I may and what I cannot in action I shal in praying God to giue you increase of grace and honour in this lifeâ— and the eternall fruition of soule-contenting blessednesse in the life to come Yours in all Christian dutie IOHN LEVVIS Ignis Coelestis OR An interchange of diuine loue betweene GOD and his SAINTS 1. IOHN Chap. 4. Verse 19. Wee loue him because hee loued vs first I May say of these words as Simonides did of God that when he had required but one day to resolue what GOD was when the day was expired he was more vnable to answere then at the first The more I thinke of the admirable greatnesse of Gods loue toward vs the more I may meditate of it but the lesse able am I to expresse it for mee thinkes I am enclosed in such a labyrinth that I can neither by art nor nature extricate my selfe like the sunne which keepes his continuall motion and yet neuer comes to an end And indeede no meruaile seeing that diuine loue which is in God differs nothing from himselfe for Quicquid in Deo est est ipse Deus Whatsoeuer is in God is God himselfe It is therefore as impossible for me fully to declare and for you exactly to conceiue what this loue of God is in it selfe as to declare and conceiue what God himselfe is seeing as the one is infinite so is the other God is infinite in his essence therefore not finite in his properties therefore vnconceiueable by any finite creature But as God himselfe cannot be expressed as he is in his diuine essence but as he hath reuealed himselfe in his word and workes so his loue seeing it is de escentia diuina essentiall vnto him that is incomprehensible can onely be conceiued per nebulam somewhat infirmely of vs euen as he hath reuealed it in his word and workes toward his creatures This verse mee thinkes may not vnfitly be compared vnto the two Cherubims which were on the mercy seate the one looking toward the other for God out of his meere fauour manifesting his loue toward vs
Election God in his diuine wisedome before the world was created out of the lumpe of mankinde had called and elected a certaine number whom he pleased to make partakers of his loue and fauour being once elected according to Gods purpose it needes must be that all things in the world should work together for their good And this is made a testimony of Gods loue vnto his children God hath chosen vs in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in loue who hath predestinated vs to be adopted through Iesus Christ vnto himselfe according to the good pleasure of his will Here then we see what is the causa proëgumena the internal mouing cause of our election euen the meere loue and good-will of God according to that of Saint Paul He will haue mercy on whom he will haue mercy Gods election is without any merit of ours therefore meerely from his loue Againe the loue of God in our election is seene in that it is immutable vnchangeable so that they which are indeede chosen to saluation cannot perish but shall without doubt attaine to life eternall When Adam fell God might haue suffered him to haue lien in his fall but that he had ordained him vnto life wherefore for the execution of his decree he appointed all meanes to concurre for his saluation The purpose of God according to election must remaine firme and sure Such as Gods nature is such is his wil and counsell his nature and essence is vnchangeable I am Iehouah and â—hange not therefore his will and counsell must needes be immutable Here then wee see the first euidence of Gods loue toward vs it is neither to day nor yesterday that he hath begun to loue vs our election began not with our selues but before the Mountaines were made before the foundation of the world was laid euen from euerlasting to euerlasting the Lord is our God What creature then is able to disanull that which God hath willed before that euer any creature was Onely let vs labour that as our election is sure in it selfe so that wee may make it sure vnto our selues by walking with a good conscience in holinesse before the Lord and then we neede not feare what the Diuell or man can worke against it seeing the stormy gusts of Satans malice the rage of his temptations the power of the gates of hell can neuer frustrate the decree of God Wherefore let it be in our daily meditations to consider Gods infinite loue to his elect that whereas it was in his power to haue reprobated all men or to haue chosen the reprobate in their stead there being nothing in the one to moue him any more then in the other but his meere loue yet out of so many thousands to elect so few vnto himselfe and to decree them vnto saluation surely as it testifieth great loue in God so ought it to prouoke great feare in vs and to giue vnto God that diuine respect which is due vnto him And whereas Sathan stirres vp many tempests of trouble and blasts of temptation against the Church of God deâ—iring to sinke the ship or to driue it on the rockes Let vs be sure to cast the anchour of hope and to fasten it in heauen vpon the foundation of Gods election The second testimony of Gods great loue toward his children is in their Creation Man in respect of his creation and being was farre more excellent then any creature of the earth beside which appeareth in the text of the Scripture for whereas for the creation of the light of the heauens and earth and euery creature in them Gods bare command sufficed but when hee was to create man to shew the excellency of the creature hee consulteth with the whole God-head the Trinitie Let vs make man in our owne image In man therefore as he was created wee are to consider the integrity of his nature and the dignity of his person The integrity of his nature is seene in that he was indued with diuine wisedome knowing God his maker so far forth as was conuenient and possible for the creature to know his Creator hee knew the will and workes of God perfectly wherefore Zanchius tearmes Adam Insignem Theolâ—gum ac Philosophum of meere men the best Diuine and most excellent Philosopher He had habituall iustice whereby he was conformable vnto the will of God in his will defires inclinations and actions The dignity of man did consist principally in the communion he had with his God and maker lesse principally in the diuine essence of his soule in the beauty and maiesty hee had in his body aboue all earthâ—y creatures in his dominion and gouernment he had ouer them in his immunity from sicknesse wearinesse and all infirmities The dignity of man by creation is obserued in this that God hath made him a compound of all his creatures therefore he is called by the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The little world In respect of his soule he is like the Angels in respect of his body he hath affinity with earthly creatures there being no excellency in any terrestriall creature which man hath not in greater perfection Wherefore this must be vnto euery faithfull soule a testimony of Gods loue to him that whereas all creatures were in the hand of God as the clay in the hands of the Potter and that he might if it had pleased him haue made thee farre inferiour vnto that thou art God might haue created thee a Dog or a Toade or any other loathsome creature for neither was there anything to compell him or to resist him yet it pleased him of his meere loue to create thee after his owne image to endew thee with a reasonable soule that so thou mightest be capable of the knowledge and fruition of thy Creator To conferre good on any man for his good without either compuâ—sion or merit must needes proceed from loue why then shall not we ascribe the benefit of our creation to the meere loue of God seeing he could not be compelled nor could we merit Although the faithfull man onely is not made partaker of this benefit but the wicked also yet must we notwithstanding acknowledge it to proceed from Gods loue and to be a great bâ—essing for community doth not take away the nature of a benefit The third testimony of Gods loue to his Elect is their Redemption When God had created Adam he put him into the garden of Eden hee gaue him freewil ability either to stand in innocency or to fall from it but he through his disobedience dis-robed not onely himselfe but also his whole posterity of their garments of holinesse and made himselfe and vs slaues of Sathan and heires of eternall damnation GOD â—n his creation hath done his part but he became a rebell against his maker and so captiuated himselfe and his whole stocke vnder the Diuels bondage God in
this case might iustly haue forsaken him seeing he was author of his owne misery as Hosea saith O Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe Yet the LORD whose loue is infinite and whose mercy is eternall looking vpon man in this wretched and miserable estate with the eye of pitty and compassion out of his meere grace and fauour made vnto Adam a promise of redemption by Iesus Christ the Messiah in these words The seed of the woman shall breake the Serpents head This promise made vnto Adam was fulfilled vnto vs. For when the fulnesse of time was come God sent foorth his sonne made of a woman made vnder the law to redeeme them that were vnder the Law that we might receiue the adoption of sonnes This the Apostle makes a manifest demonstration of Gods loue God shewed his loue to vs in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for vs. And questionlesse this was a more excellent testimony of Gods loue then either of the former and that in two respects First in respect oâ— vs Secondly in respect of Christ. In respect of our selues before wee were elected or created we had done nothing that did displease or anger God nothing did oppose him but before our redemption wee had depraued our nature and depriued our selues of all holinesse were rebels against God so that our sins stood betweene him and vs which like a partition wall must first be remoued before wee could be brought into league with God Secondly in respect of God our redemption is obserued to be a greater worke then either our election or creation for our election was but Gods eternall counsell our creation but the composing of the body and inspiring of the soule both effected of God without paine without shame but for the accomplishing of our redemption Christ Iesus true God coequall with the father in Diety must leaue the heauens lay afide his crowne of glory and be incarnate in the forme of a seruant and be obedient vnto the law and suffer a shamefull and painefull death vpon the Crosse and all to take away our sinnes the Sonne of God was made the Sonne of man that the sonnes of men might be made the sonnes of God the LORD of glory was vilefied that the sonnes of shame might be glorified the seruants committed the offence the master bare the punishment the LORD of life was sold to death that the seruants of death might-become heires of life hee was set apart of his father that our sinnes might be set apart by him and we through him to be heires of glory and immortality Thus in these two respects was the loue of God more admirable in the worke of our redemption then either in our election or creation Whence proceeded therefore our redemption Euen from the vnspeakeable loue of God What was it that moued God to promise and to send Christ into the world onely his diuine loue What was it that moued Christ to cloath himselfe with the garment of our fraile flesh onely his diuine loue What moued him to endure so many and so great torments both in body and soule for vs onely his diuine loue What moued him to bestow vpon vs all his blessings and to take vpon himselfe all our miseries onely his diuine loue What mooued him to hunger and thirst to continue â—asting to remaine walking all night to passe ouer sea and land to seeke after lost soules onely his diuine loue What moued him lastly to sweat drops of bloud to be despised whipped wounded to cryâ— Eli Eli lamasabachthani My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and at length to yeeld vp the ghost for our sinnes onely his diuine loue Here is loue for meditation incomprehensible for imitation impossible God in the worke of our redemption hath afforded vnto vs such a patterne of loue as that all the world is not able to parralel the smallest part of it Wherfore so often as we doe consider the great work of our redemption let vs be sure to acknowledge the great loue of our Redeemer The third testimony of Gods inward loue toward his elect is in their preseruation Gods preseruation is twofold Generall and Speciall His generall preseruation is that which extends it selfe ouer the whole vniuerse the whole world by which the Lord continues and maintaines the order which he set in nature at the creation and preserues the life being and substance of euery creature in his kinde His speciall preseruation is that which God manifesteth and exerciseth toward his Church and chosen children in gathering guiding and preseruing them This preseruation is twofold â—iâ—hâ—r from the euill of sin or from the euill of punishment From the euill of sinne God doth preserue his elect â—or hee doth guide them by his counsell hence it is that Peter saith The godly runne not with the wicked into the same excesse of riot They are so led by the spirit of God that they let not loose the reynes of their affections but being withheld by the restrayning grace of God they are preserued from the committing of many sins Thus the Lord preserued Noah from partaking with the olde world in their sinnes Loâ— from following the Sodomites in their filthy abhominations Ioseph from consâ—nting to the lewd entisement of his Mistris Eliah from the idolatrie of Israell Dauid from slaying Saul his Master the three Children from worshipping the image of Nabuchadnezzar As God preserued these so doth hee all his children not suffering them to commit so many and so great sinnes as he doth wicked and vngodly men Secondly hee preserues them from the euill of punishment Noah from the floud Lot out of Sodome Israel from Pharaoh Dauid from Saul Eliah from Iezabel Daniel from the lyons the three children from the fire c. God indeed is the shepheard of his flocke which couers them vnder the shadow of his wings and watcheth ouer them to preserue them from the deuouring wolues Wherefore when thou considerest that thou art the sonne of Adam hauing in thee the roote and seed of all sinnes yet when others runne headlong to destruction following the streame of their owne cursed desires letting loose the raines of their affections to all sinne and wickednesse being fearelesse and shamelesse in their impious courses thou art preserued First from that abomination and hainous impietie which wicked men practise thou neither desirest nor delightest in that which GOD hath forbidden in his Law But from whence proceedes this from thine owne power No questionlesse of thy selfe thou canst not thinke a good thought either to abstaine from euill or to doe good Seeing that by nature thou art equally indifferent vnto all sinne thou must therefore disclaime all strength of nature renounce all ability in thy selfe and acknowledge that it is from God onely that thou art preserued his loue toward thee mooued him to restraine thee If it be from God that euery good gift doth proceede