mercy it receiueth blessing from God All is an Allegory The Earth is Man the Raine Gods Word the herbes are Graces and the Blessing is a sweet retribution and accumulation of mercie The Earth IS the best ground that lyes betwixt heauen and earth Man the noblest part of this world the worthiest creature that hath earth for the pauement and heauen for the seeling the Creators Image and as some read his Shadow which moues as the body doth whose it is When the body puts forth an arme the shadow shewes an arme c so man in his actions and courses depends vpon the disposition of God as his all-powerfull Maker and Mouer The blessed Deity which hath in it a Trinity of most equall and eternall Persons is the first and best of all beings the holy Angels next a Ioue tertius Aiax man next them Ardens conceateth vpon Marke 16. in the Apostles commission Goe ye into all the World and preach the Gospell to euery Creature that by this Euery Creature is meant Man For to liuelesse senselesse or reason-lesse things God neuer enioyned to preach the Gospell But man is called Euery creature because hee hath a participation of the best in all creatures Stones haue a being not life plants haue a being and life not sense beasts haue a being life and sense but not vnderstanding Angels haue both being life sense and vnderstanding Man participates with all these in their best He hath a being with stones life with plants sense with beasts vnderstanding with Angels a sweet abstract or compendium of all creatures perfections Let not all this make man proud Euen this word Earth though here vsed in a spiritual sense puts him in minde that this excellent man is a mortall creature Earth must bee earth hot earth to colde earth that earth which hath now a life in it to that earth which hath no life in it Therefore I will say from the Prophet O earth earth earth heare the word of the Lord. Bestow not too much paines in adorning this perishable earth thy flesh the earth thou must be careful of and which God here waters from heauen with his holy deawes is thy heart thy conscience I could willingly steppe out a little to chide those that neglecting Gods Earth the Soule fall to trimming with a curious superstition the Earths earth clay and lome a body of corruption painted til it shine like a Lilly like it in whitenesse not in humility the candor of beautie for the Lilly growes lowe Lilium conuallium a flower of the vallies and bottomes a little slime done ouer with a past-boord rottennesse hidde vnder golden leaues stench lapp'd vp in a bundle of silkes and by reason of poison suck'd from sinne and hell worthy of no better attribute then glorious damnation Is there no sicknesse is there no disgrace is there no old age is there no death that you make so much of this earth Or doe you desperately resolue to dote on it liuing as if you neuer hoped to finde it againe being dead Feare not you shall meet with it againe perhaps when you would not God hath struck as gallant as you can make or thinke your selues with sodaine sore and sure iudgements Beleeue it his hand is his owne His arme was neuer yet broken luxate or manacled Woe worth them that haue put Pride and Couetousnesse fellow-commoners among vs for they out-eate vs all and staâ—ue the whole house of our Land Couetise would be charitable but there is that other summe to make vp Pride would giue or at least forbeare to extort but there is a ruffe of the new fashion to bee bought Dignity a caroch or strange apparell is to be purchas'd and who but the poore tenants must pay for it vpon whom they once so accoutred afterward looke betwixt scorne and anger and goe as if they were shut vp in wainscote Sed vitate viros cultum formasque professos Quique suas ponunt in statione comas Such a one will not giue lest his white hand should touch the poore beggars who perhaps hath a hand cleaner then his I meane from aspersions of bloud rapine iniury briberie lust and filthinesse He cannot intend to pray for he is called to dinner iust when his last locke is hung to his minde O the monstrous curiositie of tricking vp this earth of earth yet from the Courtier to the Carter from the Lady to the Inkle-beggar there is this excesse and going beyond their calling But I haue strayed out of my way to cut off a lappe of Prides garment I conclude this Earth with this caution Respice aspice prospice Looke back what thou wast behold what thou art consider what thou must be Recole primordia attende media prâ—â—uideto nouissima Haec pudorem adducunt illa dolorem ingerunt ista timorem incutiunt Call to mind former things see the present foresee the last The first will breede in thee shame the other griefe these feare Remember thou wert taken out of the earth behold thy strength of life subiect to diseases manifold manifest sensible ones foresee that thou must dye this earth must to earth againe But the Earth here meant is a diuine spirituall immortall nature called Earth by a Metaphor incapable of suffering terrene fragilitie This is Gods Earth and that in a high and mysticall sense though proper enough Indeed Domini terra the earth is the Lords and the fulnesâ—e thereof sayth the Psalmist But he hath not such respect to the Earth he made as to this Earth for whom he made it This is Terra sigillata earth that he hath sealed and sanctified for himselfe by setting his stampe and impression vpon it Now the good mans heart is compared to Earth for diuerse reasons 1. For humilitie Humus quasi humilis The Earth is the lowest of all elements and the center of the world The godly heart is not so low in situation but so lowly in it owne estimation God is sayd to hang the earth vpon nothing Ioâ— 26. He stretcheth out the North ouer the empty place and hangeth the Earth vpon nothing that it might wholly depend on himselfe So a true Christian heart in regard of it selfe is founded vpon nothing hath an humble vilipending and disprising of it owne worth that it may ex toto ex tuto wholly and safely rely on God O man of earth why exaltest thou thy selfe this is the way to preuent and frustrate the exaltation of God Keepe thy selfe lowly as the Earth reiect all opinion of thy owne worth and thou shalt one day ouer-top the cloudes The Earth is thy mother that brought thee forth when thou wert not a stage that carries thee whiles thou art a tombe that receiues thee when thou art not It giues thee originall harbour sepulchre Like a kind mother shee beares her off-spring on her backe and her brood is her perpetuall burden till she receiue them again into the same womb from
loe the thankfull earth returnes fruites and that in abundance The Christian soule hauing receiued such holy operations inspirations and sanctifying motions from aboue is neuer found without a gratefull fertility Yea as the Earth to man so man to God returnes a blessed vsurie tenne for one nay sometimes 30. sometimes 60. sometimes an hundred fold But the succeeding doctrine will challenge this demonstration I haue been somewhat copious in the first word the breuity of the rest shall recompence it The operatiue cause that worketh the good earth to this fruitfulnesse is a heauenly Raine that falls oft vpon it and the earth doth drinke it vp Wherein is obseruable that the raine doth come that it is welcome God sends it plenteously and man entertaines it louingly It comes oft and he drinkes it vp Gods loue to man is declared in the comming in the welcomming mans loue to God In the former we will consider 1. The matter 2. The manner The matter that commeth is Raine The manner consists in 3 respects 1. There is mercy It commeth It is not constrained deserued pulled downe from heauen It commeth 2. Frequencie it commeth often there is no scanting of this mercy it flowes abundantly as if the windowes of heauen were opened Often 3. Direction of it right vpon this earth It falls not neere it nor besides it but vpon it To begin with the Raine GOds Word is often compared to Raine or Deaw Moses beginnes his Song with My doctrine shall drop as the raine my speech shal distill as the deaw as the small raine vpon the tender herbe and as the showers vpon the grasse Therfore in the first verse he calls to the earth to heare his voice Man is the Earth and his Doctrine the Raine Mica 2. Prophecie yee not the originall word is Drop ye not c. Amos 7. 16. Thou sayest Prophecy not against Israel drop not thy word against the house of Isaac Ezek. 21. Sonne of man set thy face toward Ierusalem and drop thy word toward the holy places The Metaphore is vsuall wherein stands the comparison In 6. concurrences 1. It is the property of Raine to coole heate Experience tels vs that a sweltring feruour of the ayre which almost fryes vs is allayed by a moderate shower sent from the clouds The burning heate of sinne in vs and of Gods anger for sinne against vs is quenched by the Gospell It cooles our intemperate heate of malice anger ambition auarice lust which are burning sins 2. Another effect of Raine is Thirst quenched The drie earth parched with heate opens it selfe in refts and cranies as if it would deuoure the cloudes for moisture The Christian soule thirsts after righteousnesse is drie at heart till he can haue the Gospell a showre of this mercy from heauen quencheth his thirst he is satisfied Whosoeuer drinketh of the water that I shal giue him shal neuer thirst but it shall bee in him a well of water springing vp into euerlasting life 3. Raine doth allay the windes When the ayre is in an vprore and the stoutest Cedars crouch to the ground before a violent blast euen Towers and Cities tremble a showre of raine sent from the cloudes mitigates this fury When the Potentates of the world Tyrants little better then Diuels Gog and Magog Moab and Ammon Turkey Rome Hell storme against vs God quiets all our feares secures vs from al their terrours by a gracious raine droppes of mercie in the neuer-fayling promises of the Gospell 4. Raine hath a powerfull efficacy to cleanse the ayre When infectious fogges and contagious vapours haue filled it full of corruption the distilling showres wash away the noysome putrifaction We know that too often filthy fumes of errors and heresies surge vp in a land that the soule of faith is almost stifled and the vncleannesse of corrupt doctrine gets a predominant place the Lord then droppes his word from heauen the pure Raine of his holy Gospell cleanseth away this putrifaction and giues new life to the almost smothered truth Wo to them then that would depriue mens soules of the Gospell and with-hold the Truth in vnrighteousnesse When they locke vp the gates of grace as Christ reproued the Lawyers and labour to make the heauens brasse they must needes also make the Earth iron How should the earth of mans heart bring forth fruits when the raine is with-held from it No maruell if their ayre be poyson'd 5. Raine hath yet another working to mollifie a hard matter The parched and heat-hardned earth is made soft by the deawes of heauen O how hard and obdurate is the heart of man till this raineâ—falls on it Is the heart couetous no teares from distressed eyes can melt a peny out of it Is it malicious no supplications can begge forbearance of the least wrong Is it giuen to drunkennesse you may melt his body into a dropsie before his heart into sobrietie Is it ambitious you may as well treat with Lucifer about humiliation Is it factious a Quire of Angels cannot sing him into peace No means on earth can soften the heart whether you annoint it with the supple balmes of entreaties or thunder against it the bolts of menaces or beate it with the hammer of mortall blowes Behold GOD showres this raine of the Gospell from heauen and it is sodainely softned One Sermon may pricke him at the heart one droppe of a Sauiours bloud distilled on it by the Spirit in the preaching of the Word melts him like waxe The Drunkard is made sober the Adulterer chaste Zaccheus mercifull and raging Paul as tame as a Lambe They that haue erst serued the Diuell with an eager appetite and were hurried by him with a voluntary precipitation haue all their chaines eaten off by this Aqua fortis one droppe of this raine hath broken their fetters and now all the powers of hell cannot preuaile against them There is a Legend I had as good say a tale of an Hermite that heard as he imagin'd all the Diuels of hell on the other side of the wall lifting and blowing and groning as if they were a remouing the world The Hermite desires to see them admitted behold they were all lifting at a feather and could not stirre it The application may serue yeeld the fable idle Satan and his Armies Spirits Lusts Vanities Sinnes that erst could tosse and blow a man vp and downe like a feather and did not sooner present a wickednesse to his sight but he was more ready for action then they for instigation now they cannot stirre him they may sooner remoue the world from the pillars then him from the grace and mercy of God The deaw of heauen hath watred him and made him grow and the power of hell shall not supplant him The raine of mercie hath softned his heart and the heat of sinne shall neuer harden it 6 Lastly Raine is one principall subordinate cause that all things fructifie This holy deaw is the operatiue meanes
cor All his affections haue a low obiect not out of humilitie but base deiection His hope desire loue ioy are set on these inferiour things and like a Mole he digs still downewards till he come to his Center his owne place Hell Telluris inutile pondus 2 For coldnesse Experience teacheth that the earth is cold coldnes is a natural quality pertinent to it though accidentally there be bred in it fierie vapours The wicked man hath a cold heart frozen vp in the dregs of iniquitie though there be an vnnaturall heat sometimes flaming in him the fire of lust and malice tormenting his bowels but this is no kindly heate to warme his conscience That is deriued from the fire of the Temple that neuer goes out and only giuen by Iesus Christ that baptizeth with the holy Ghost and with fire 3 For foulenesse The squalid earth for we speake not heere of any good ground is called Lutulenta terra miery and noysome yet is it neate and cleane in comparison of a sinne-contaminated soule The body was taken from the earth not the Soule the body shall resolue to the earth not the soule yet the polluted soule is more sordid then either a leprous body or a muddy earth In the eye of GOD there is no beautie so acceptable no foulenesse so detestable as the soules The Doue carried the prayse of beautie from the Peacocke by the Eagles iudgement that though the Peacocke liuing had the fayrer plumes yet dead he hath but a blacke liuer Gods iudgement of all mens fairenesse is by the liuer the cleanesse of the heart in his eye-sight 4 For obscuritie and darkenesse the earth is called a place of blacke darkenesse the land of forgetfulnesse So Iob and Dauid tearme it The wicked Soule is full of darkenesse thicknesse of sight caecitie of vnderstanding not seeing the glorious libertie of the Sonnes of God Our Gospell is hid to those that are lost Whose minds the god of this world hath blinded There is in them Hebetudo mentis which is acutae rationis obtusio carnalis intemperantiae crassis sensibus inducta They are so vtterly ignorant of heauen that as it is in the Prouerbe ne pictum quidem viderunt they haue not seene it so much as in the mappe or picture As to men shut vp in the low cauernes of the earth not so much as the sunne and starres and the lights of heauens lower parts haue appeared Tolerabilior est poena viuere non posse quam nescire Ignorance is a heauier punishment then death sayth the Philosopher Darkenes is their desire because their deeds are euill Perhaps at last after a long dotage on their darke delight earth they come to heare of a better richer countrey and then take onely with them the Lanterne of Nature to find it But so erepto lumine can delabrum querunt Hauing lost the light they grope for the Candlesticke A man that comes into his house at midnight sees nothing amisse in the day-light he finds many things misplac'd Nature is but a darke Lanterne when by it we endeuour to ransacke the conscience Onely the light of grace can demonstrate all the sluttish and incurious misorders in our soules 5 The maine resemblance betweene an euill ground and worse man consists in the ill fruites that they both produce bryers and thornes and such not onely vnhelpefull but hurtfull vices This is the principal analogie which our Apostle intends the pith and marow of this reference But before we come to a particular anatomizing of this Subiect some obseruable doctrines fall profitably to our instruction Obserue therfore 1 The word of God will worke some way It fals not vpon any ground in vaine but will produce herbes or weeds It is such Physicke as will either cure or kill It mollifies one makes another more hard Some hearts it pricks others it terrifies though conuerts not as it made Foelix tremble None euer heard it but they are either better or worse by it We preach Christ crucified vnto the Iewes a stumbling blocke vnto the Gentiles foolishnesse But vnto them which are called both of Iewes and Greeks the power of GOD and the wisedome of God In this Epistle it is called a double-edged sword c. It is either a conuerting or conuincing power sealing receiuers to redemption contemners to reiection The word which I haue preached shall iudge you in the latter day If this doctrine were considerately digested in hearers hearts what a zealous preparation would it worke in their soules It would bring vs to these seats with other minds if we remembred that wee returne not backe to our owne doores the very same wee came out but either somewhat better or much worse Sergius Paulus was turned Elimas obdurated at one Sermon After our Sauiours heauenly Sermon Iohn 6. Some went backe and walked no more with him that Christ bespake his Apostles Will ye also goe away Others stucke more close Lord to whom shall we goe Thou hast the words of eternall life The Prophet Esay speakes fully to this purpose As the raine commeth downe and returneth not backe but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may giue seede to the sower and bread to the eater So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not returne vnto mee voyd but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it The word that we haue preached shall either saue you or iudge you It shall be either a copy of your pardon or a bill of your inditement at the last day Iohn Baptist cals the Gospell a Fan that will distinguish betweene true and false children betweene Wheate and Chaffe It will make knowne the faithfulnesse of those that with honest harts embrace it and scatter hypocrites like chaffe by reason of their insolid leuity Simeon so prophecied to Mary the Virgin of her Son That he should be the fall and the rising the reparation and ruine of many and whiles he is set for a signe Which shall bee spoken against by this meanes the thoughts of many hearts shall be reuealed The word is like fire that hath a double operation vpon the seuerall subiects it works stubble or gold It fires the one and fines the other Some hearts it enflames with zeale to it other it sets on fire to quench impugne persecute it It is to conuersion if beleeued to confusion if despised Lo Christ himselfe preaching some faithfully entertaine others reiect as the Gergesens that had rather haue their hogges saued then their soules 2. That thornes are produced the fault is not in the good Raine but the ill ground What could I sayth God haue done more to my Vineyard I haue done inough to make it beare good grapes Wherefore then or from what cause brings it forth wild grapes The earth desires the influence
whence she deliuered them She shall bee yet more kinde to thee if her basenesse can teach thee humility and keepe thee from being more proud of other things then thou canst with any reason be of thy Parentage Few are proud of their soules and none but fooles can bee proud of their bodies seeing here is all the difference betwixt him that walkes and his floore he walkes on Liuing Earth treads vpon dead earth and shall at last bee as dead as his pauement Many are the fauours that the earth doth vs yet amongst them all there is none greater then the schooling vs to humility and working in vs a true acknowledgement of our owne vilenesse and so directing vs to heauen to find that aboue which she cannot giue vs below 2. For Patience The Earth is called Terra quia teritur and this is the naturall earth For they distinguish it into 3. sorts Terra quam terimus terra quam gerimus terra quam quaerimus which is the glorious land of Promise That earth is cut and wounded with culters and shares yet is patient to suffer it and returnes fruits to those that ploughed it The good heart is thus rent with vexations and broken with sorrowes yet offers the other cheeke to the smiter endureth all with a magnanimous patience assured of that victory which comes by suffering Vincit qui patitur Neither is this all it returns mercy for iniury prayers for persecutions and blesseth them that cursed it The Plowers plowed vpon my backe they made long their furrowes They rewarded mee euill for good to the spoyling of my soule Yet when they were sicke my cloathing was sackecloth I humbled my soule with fasting I was heauy as one that mourned for his friend or brother and my prayer returned into mine owne bosome When the heart of our Sauiour was thus ploughed vp with a speare it ran streames of mercie reall mercie which his vocall tongue interpreted Father forgiue them they know not what they doe His bloud Heb. 12. had a voice a mercifull voice and spake better things then the bloud of Abel That cryed from the cauerns of the earth for reuenge this from the Crosse in the sweet tune of compassion and forgiuenesse It is a strong argument of a heart rich in grace to wrappe and embrace his iniurer in the armes of loue as the earth quietly receiues those dead to buriall who liuing tore vp her bowels 3. For faithful Constancie The Earth is called Solum because it stands alone depending on nothing but the Makers hand One generation passeth away and another generation commeth but the earth abideth for euer Shee often changeth her burden without any sensible mutation of her selfe Thy faithfulnesse is to all generations thou hâ—st established the Earth and it standeth The Hebrew is To generation and generation inferring that times and men and the sonnes of men posterity after posterity passe away but the Earth whereon and whereout they passe abideth The parts thereof haue been altered and violent Earth-quakes begot in the owne bowels haue totterd it But God hath layd the foundations of the earth the Originall is founded it vpon her bases that it should not be remoued for euer the body of it is immoueable Such a constant soliditie is in the faithfull heart that should it thunder Buls from Rome and bolts from heauen Impauâ—dum ferient ruinae â— Indeede God hath sometimes bent an angry brow against his owne deare ones and then no maruell if they shudder if the bones of Dauid tremble and the teeth of Hezekiah chatter But God will not be long angry with his and the balances at first putting in of the euenest weights may be a little swayed not without some shew of inequality which yet after a little motion settle themselues in a iust poyse So the first terrour hath moued the godly not remoued them they return to themselues and rest in a resolued peace Lord doe what thou wilt if thou kill mee I will trust in thee Let vs heare it from him that had it from the Lord. Psal. 112. Surely he shall not be moued for euer the righteous shall bee in euerlasting remembrance He shall not be afraide of euill tydings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. His heart is established c. Oh sweet description of a constant soule They giue diuerse causes of Earth-quakes Aristotle among the rest admits the ecclipse of the Sun for one the interposition of the Moones body hindring some places from his heate I know not how certaine this is in Philosophie â—n Diuinity it is most true that onely the ecclipse of our Sunne IESVS CHRIST raiseth Earth-quakes in our hearts when that inconstant and euer-changing body of the Moone the world steppes betwixt our Sunne and vs and keepes vs from the kindly vitall heate of his fauour then O then the earth of our heart quakes and we feele a terrour in our bones and bowels as if the busie hand of death were searching them But no ecclipse lasts long especially not this our Sunne will shine on vs againe we shall stand sure euen as mount Sion which cannot be remoued but abideth for euer 4. For Charitie The Earth brings forth food for all creatures that liue on it Greene herbe for the cattell oyle and wine for man The vallyes stand thicke with corne the Mower filleth his sythe and the binder vp of sheaues his bosome A good man is so full of charitie he releeues all without improuidence to himselfe He giues plentifully that all may haue some not indiscreetly that some haue all On the Earth stand many glorious Cities and goodly buildings faire monuments of her beauty and adornation The sanctified soule in an happy respondencie hath manifold workes of charitie manifest deedes of piety that sweetly become the Faith which he professeth 5. For Riches The Earth is but poore without the surface of it especially when squalid winter hath bemired it seemes poore and barren but within it is full of rich mines ores of gold and quarries of precious minerals For medals and mettals it is abundantly wealthy The sanctified heart may seeme poore to the worlds eye which only beholds and iudgeth the rinde and huske and thinkes there is no treasure in the Cabinet because it is couered with leather But within hee is full of golden mines and rich ores the inuisible graces of faith feare loue hope patience holinesse sweeter then the spices of the East Indies and richer then the gold of the West Omnis decor filiae Sion ab intus The Kings Daughter is all glorious within It is not the superficiall skinne but the internall beautie that moues the King of heauen to bee enamoured of vs and to say Thou art all faire my Loue there is no spot in thee 6. Lastly for Fertilitie The Earth is fruitfull when the ayre hath giuen influence the Clouds showred downe seasonable deawes and the Sunne bestowed his kindly heate
and working cause next vnder the grace of God in our Lord Iesus Christ that the soules of Christians should bring forth the fruits of faith and obedience I know God can saue without it we dispute not of his power but of his worke of ordinary not extraordinary operations God vsually worketh this in our hearts by his word Thus for the matter the manner is 1. It commeth 2. Often 3. Vpon it It commeth IT is not forc'd nor fetch'd but comes of his owne meere mercy whose it is Iam. 1. So sayth the Apostle Euery good gift and euery perfect gift is from aboue and commeth downe from the Father of lights They that want it haue no merit of congruity to draw it to them they that haue it haue no merite of condignitie to keepe it with them It is the mercy and gratuitall fauour of God that this Gospell commeth to vs. For if ipsum minus be munus how highly is this great gift to be praysed What deserue we more then other Nations They haue as pregnant wittes as proportionable bodies as strong sinewes as we and perhaps would bring forth better fruits Yet they want it with vs it is Wee need not trauell from Coast to coast nor iourney to it it is come to vs. Venit ad limina virtus will you steppe ouer your thresholds and gather Manna When the Gospell was farre off from our Fathers yet in them Studium audiendi superabat taedium accedendi the desire of hearing it beguiled the length of the way But we will scarce put forth our hand to take this bread and as in some ignorant countrey townes be more eager to catch the raine that falls from the out-side of the Church in their buckets then this raine of grace preached in it in their hearts Oh you wrong vs wee are fond of it we call for preaching yes as your forefathers of the blind times would call apace for holy water yet when the Sexton cast it on theÌ„ they would turn away their faces and let it fall on their backes Let God sow as thicke as he will you wil come vp thinne You will admit frequencie of preaching but you haue taken an order with your selues of rare practising You are content this Raine should come as the next circumstance giues it Often GOD hath respect to our infirmities and sends vs a plentiful raine One showre will not make vs fruitful it must come oft vpon us Gutta cauat lapidem non vi sed saepe cadendo The raine dints the hard stone not by violence but by oft-falling droppes Line must be added to line here a little and there a little God could powre a whole floud on vs at once but mans vnderstanding Is like a viall narrow at the toppe Not capable of more then drop by droppe Sayes the Poet. If much were powred at once a great deale would fall besides and be spilt Like children wee must bee fed by spoonfulls according to the capacity of our weake natures It is not an abundant raine falling at once that makes the plants grow but kindly and frequent showers One sermon in a yeare contents some throughly and God is highly beholding to theÌ„ if they wil sit out that waking You desire your fields your gardens your plants to be often watred your soules will grow well enough with one raining How happy would man be if hee were as wise for his soule as he is for his body Some there are that would heare often may be too often til edification turne to tedification and get themselues a multitude of Teachers but they wil doe nothing You shall haue them run ten miles to a Sermon but not steppe to their owne dores with a morsell of bread to a poore brother They wish wel to the cause of Christ but they will doe nothing for it worth God-a-mercie The world is full of good wishes but heauen only full of good workes Others would haue this Raine fall often so it be such as they desire it Such a cloud must giue it and it must be begotten in thunder faction and innouation Till Euangelium Christi fit euangelium hominis aut quod peius est Diaboli Till the Gospell of Christ be made mans Gospell or which is worse the deuills If the raine as it falls doe not smell of Nouelty it shal fall besides them They regard not so much heauen whence it comes as who brings it I haue read of two that meeting at a Tauem fel a tossing their religion about as mâ—rily as their cuppes and much drunken discourse was of their profession One protested himself of Doctor Martins Religion the other swore hee was of Doctor Luthers Religion whereas Martin and Luther was one man No raine shall water them but such a mans otherwise be it neuer so wholesome they spew it vp againe As if their conscieÌ„ce were so nice delicate as that ground at Coleine where some of St. Vrsula's eleuen thousand Virgins were buried which will cast vp againe in the night any that haue bene interred there in the day except of that company though it were a child newly baptised For our selues the limits of sobriety being kept desire wee to heare the Gospell often and let our due succeding obedience iustifie the goodnesse of our thirst When Christ spake of the bread of life the transported Disciples beseech him Lord euermore giue us this bread So pray wee Lord euermore showre down vpon vs this raine Vpon it GOd so directs this deaw of his Word that it shall fall on our hearts not besides The Raine of the Gospell like the raine of the clouds hath sometimes gone by coasts Amos 4. I haue with-holden the raine from you and I haue caused it to raine vpon one Citie and caused it not to raine vpon another Citie one piece was rained vpon and the piece whereupon it rayned not withered But I haue wetted your fields moysten'd your hearts with the deawes of heauen giuen you my statutes and ordinances sayth the Lord I haue not dealt so with euery people there be some that haue not the knowledge of my lawes The Sunne shines on many nations where this spirituall raine falls not This is not all but as at the last day two in one bed shall be diuorced so euen now one seat in the Church may holde two vpon one whereof this sauing raine may fall not on the other The Spirit blowes where hee pleaseth and though the sound of the raine be to all open eares alike yet the spirituall deaw drops only into the open hart Many come to Iacobs well but bring no pitchers with them wherewith to drawe the water A good showre may come on the earth yet if a man house himselfe or bee shrouded vnder a thicke bush or borough'd in the ground hee will be drie still God sends downe his raine one houseth himselfe in the darkenesse of securitie hee is too drowsie to be told in with the bells
him he carowses the wine he neuer swet for and keeps the poore Minister thirsty The tenth sheafe is his dyet the tenth fleece O 't is a golden fleece he thinkes is his drinke but the wooll shall choke him Some drinke downe whole Churches and steeples but the bells shall ring in their bellies Euery couetous worldling is a great drinker he swallowes aurum potabil◠as his dyet-drinke And like an absolute dissolute drunkard the more he drinks the dryer he is for he hath neuer enough It may be said of him as it was of Bonosus whom the Emperour Aurelian set to drinke with the German Embassador not a man but a rundlet fill'd with wine And my fine precise Artizan that shunnes a Tauerne as the Diuell doth a Crosse is often as drunke as the rankest His language doth not sauour of the pot he sweares not but indeed but trust him and indeed hee will cozen you to your face The loue of mony hath made him drunk And though the Prouerbe be In vino veritas yet as drunke as he is you shall neuer haue truth break out of his lips And the vnconscionable Lawyer that takes fees on both hands as if he could not drinke but with two cuppes at once is not hee a great drinker If what is wanting in the goodnesse of the cause be supplied in the greatnes of the fees O these Foecundi calices quem non fecere disertum Let all thinke these ebrieties must be accounted for How fearefull were it if a mans latter end should take him drunke Take heed to your selues lest at any time your hearts bee ouercharged with surfeting and drunkennesse and so that day come vpon you vnawares In corporall ebriety the soule leaues a drunken body in spirituall the body leaues a drunken soule both desperately fearefull There is yet a last and those a blest sort of Drinkers which drinke in this sweete raine of grace and mercie They doe not onely taste it so do the wicked Verse 4. They haue tasted of the heauenly gift they haue tasted of the good word of God and of the powers of the world to come 2. Nor drinke it onely to their throat as if they did gargarize the word as carnall Politicians and formall Professors doe They must attend they must admit but no further then their throates they will but gargarize the Gospell It shall neuer come into their stomakes neuer neere their hearts But these drinke it in digest it in their consciences take liberall draughts of it and do indeede drinke Healths thereof Common health-maintainers drinke their sicknesse Therefore sayes the moderne Poet honestly Vne salus sanis nullam potare salutem But this is a sauing health such as our Sauiour began to vs when hee dranke to vs in his owne bloud a sauing Health to all Nations And wee are bound to pledge him in our owne faith and thankfulnesse as Dauid I will take the cup of saluation and blesse the name of the Lord. This is a hearty draught of the waters of life the deeper the sweeter Blessed he is that drinkes soundly of it and with a thirsty appetite There is as Diuines say sancta ebrietas such as fell on the blessed Apostles on Whitsunday Acts 2. They were drunke not with new wine but with the holy Ghost This holy plenitude doth as it were inebriate the soules of the Saints They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatnesse of thy house and thou shalt make them drinke of the riuer of thy pleasures The Spouse sings of her Sauiours kindnes He brought me to the banqueting house and his banner ouer me was loue Stay mee with flagons and comfort me with apples for I am sicke of loue In the originall it is called House of wine Christ hath broached to his Church the sweet wines of the Gospell and our hearts are cheared with it our soules made merry with flagons of mercie Come to this wine bibite inebriamini eate O friends drinke yea drinke abundantly O beloued drinke and be drunke with it God will be pleased with this and no other but this Drunkennes The vessell of our heart being once thus filled with grace shall hereafter be replenished with glorie A DIVINE Herball Or THE PRAYSE OF FERTILITY The SECOND SERMON MATH 25. 29. Vnto euerie one that hath shall be giuen and he shall haue abundance AVGVST Magnae Virtutis est cum foelicitate luctari Magnae foelicitatis est à foelicitate non vinci LONDON Printed by George Purslowe for Iohn Budge and are to be solde at his shop at the great South-dore of Pauls and at Brittaines Burse 1616. A DIVINE HERBALL OR The prayse of Fertillitie THE SECOND SERMON HEB. Chap. 6. Vers. 7. For the earth which drinketh in the raine that commeth oft vpon it and bringeth forth herbes meet for them by whom it is dressed receiueth blessing from God THAT difference which the Philosophers put betweene learning and mettals wee may truly find betweene humane writings and Gods Scriptures conferred They that digge in the one finde Paruum in magno a little gold in a great deale of ore They that digge in this rich field which the wise Merchant solde all hee had to purchase finde Magnum in pa◠no much treasure in a few words Wee haue heard how the good earth is beholding to God for his holy Raine the next circumstance obiects to our meditation this earths thankfull fertility It bringeth forth herbes meete for them by whom it is dressed Euery word transcends the other and as it excludes some vicious defect so demonstrates it also some graduall vertue 1. It brings forth It is not barren like a dead ground that yeelds neither herbes nor weedes This is no idle heart that doth neither good nor harme that like a meere spectator of the world sits by with a silent contemplation for whom was made that Epitaph Here lyes he was borne and cryed Liu'd threescore yeares fell sicke and dyed Doing neither profit nor preiudice to the Countrey hee liued in Heere is no such stupid neutralitie nor infructuous deadnesse It brings forth 2. They are not weedes it produceth but herbes A man had as good do nothing as doe naughty things It is lesse euill to sit still then to runne swift by in the pursuite of wickednes They that forbeare Idlenesse and fall to lewdnesse mend the matter as the Diuell in the tale mended his dames legge when he should haue put it in ioynt he broke it quite in pieces It is not enough that this ground brings forth but that it yeelds herbes Of the two the barren earth is not so euill as the wicked earth that men pittie this they curse It brings forth herbes 3. Neither is it a paucity of herbes this ground affordeth but an abundance not one herbe but herbes a plurall and plentifull number There is neyther barrennesse nor barenesse in this ground not no fruites not few fruits but many herbes 4. Lastly they are such
must be Lapathum Patience This Rue is affliction which hath a profitable effect in those that qnietly digest it Of all the herbes in the garden onely Rue is the herbe of grace How much vertue is wrought in the soule by this bitter plant It is held by some a sicknes it is rather Physick a sharpe and short medicine that bringeth with it much and long health This if they wil needs haue it a sicknesse may be compared to the Ague The Ague shakes a man worse then another disease that is mortall At last it giues 〈◊〉 a kinde farewell and sayes I haue purged thy choler and made thee healthfull by consuming and spending out that humor which would haue endangered thy life Affliction in the taste is often more bitter then a iudgement that kills outright but at last it tells the soule I haue purged away thy foulenesse wrought out thy Iustes and left there a sound man So the good Physician procureth to his Patient a gentle Ague that hee may cure him of a more dangerous disease Vt curet spasmum procurat febrim Christ our best Physician deales a little roughly with vs that hee may set vs straight And howsoeuer the Feuer of affliction disquiet vs a while we shall sing in the conclusion with the Psalmist It is good for me that I haue been afflicted that I might learne thy statutes Saepe facit Deus opus quod non est summ vt faciat opus quod est suum GOD by a worke that is none of his effecteth a work in vs that is his He molests vs with some vexations as hee did Iob which is Satans worke immediately not his that thereby hee might bring vs to patience and obedience which is his work immediatly and wholly not Satans So wee are chastned of the Lord that wee might not bee condemned with the world Bees are drown'd in honey but liue in vineger and good men grow the better affected the more they are afflicted The poore man for his ague goes to his garden and plucks vp thyme The remedy for this spirituall seuer is true but sensible pâtience Men should feele Gods strokes and so beare them It is dispraiseable either to be senselesse or fenselesse Not to know wee are stricken or not to take the blowes on the target of Patience Many can lament the effectes but not the cause and sorrow that God grieues them not that they grieue God They are angry with heauen for being angry with them They with heauen for iustice that is angry with them for iniustice But Maereamus quod mereamur paenam Let not the punishment but the cause of it make thy soule sorrowfull Know thou art whipp'd for thy faults and apply to the prints the herbe Patience Hearts-case and spirituall ioy DOth sorrow and anguish cast downe a mans hart and may he complain that his soule is disquieted within him Let him fetch an herbe out of this Garden called Hearts-ease an inward ioy which the holy Ghost worketh in him Though all the dayes of the afflicted be euill yet a merry heart is a continuall feast This is Heauen vpon earth Rom. 14. Peace of conscience and ioy of the holy Ghost His conscience is assured of peace with God of reconciliation in the bloud of IESVS and that his soule is wrapp'd vp in the bundle of life This may be well called Hearts-ease it is a holy a happy herbe to comfort the spirits When worldly ioyes either like Rahels children are not or like Eli's are rebellious there is Hearts-ease in this Garden that shall cheare him against all sorrowes certainty of Gods fauoâ—r Let the world frowne and all things in it runne crosse to the graine of our mindes yet with thee O Lord is mereie and plentifull redemption And if no body els yet God will be stil good to Israel euen to those that are of a pure heart Those which we call penal euils are either past present or to come and they cause in the soule sorrow paine feare Euils past sorrow present paine future feare Here is Hearts-ease for all these Miseries past are solaced because God hath turned them to our good and we are made the better by once being worse Miseries present finde mitigation and the infinite comfort that is with vs within vs sweetens the finite bitternesse that is without vs. Miseries future are to vs contingent they are vncertaine but our strength is certaine God Noui in quem credidi I know whom I haue trusted Heere is aabundant ease to the heart Balsamum or Faith HAth the heart got a greene wound by comitting some offense against God for actuall iniquity makes a gash in the soule The good man runnes for Balsamum and stancheth the bloud Faith in the promises of Iesus Christ. He knowes there is Balme at Gilead and there are Physicians there and therefore the health of his soule may easily be recouered He is sure that if the bloud of Christ bee applyed it will soone stanch the bloud of his conscience and keepe him from bleeding to death and that the wounds of his Sauiour will cure the wounds of his soule And though this virtuall healing herbe be in Gods owne Garden yet he hath a key to open it prayer and a hand to take it out and to lay it on his sores faith This is a soueraigne herbe and indeed so soueraigne that there is no herbe good to vs without it It may bee called Panaces which Physicians say is an herbe for all manner of diseases and is indeede the principall herbe of grace for it adornes the soule with all the merits and righteousnes of IESVS CHRIST Saint Iohns-wort or Charitie DOth the world through sweetnesse of gaine that comes a little too fast vpon a man begin to carry away his heart to couetousnesse Let him look in this Garden for the herbe called Saint-Iohns-wort Charity and brotherly loue It is called S. Iohns herbe not vnproperly for hee spent a whole Epistle in commending to vs this grace and often inculcated Little children loue one another And he further teacheth that this loue must be actuall For he that hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother hath need and shutteth vp his cowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the loue of God in him He hath no such herbe as Saint-Iohns-wort in his garden The good Christian considers that he hath the goods of this world to doe good in this world And that his riches are called Bona Goods Non quod faciant bonum sed vnde faciat bonum not that they make him a good man but giue him meanes to doe good to others He learns a Maxime of Christ from the world which the world teacheth but followeth not that is to make sure as much wealth as he can as if it were madnes to leaue those goodes behind him which he may cary with him This policie we all confesse good but faile in the consecution The world
Another sits dallying with the delights of lust vnder a green bush a third is borough'd in the ground mining and intrenching himselfe in the quest of riches Alas how should the deaw of grace fall vpon these Thou wouldst not shelter thy ground from the clouds lest it grow barren oh then keep not thy soule from the raine of heauen You haue heard how the raine is come now heare how it is made welcome The good groūd drinkes it nay drinkes it in Imbibit The comparison stands thus The thirsty Land drinkes vp the raine greedily which the cloudes poure vpon it You would wonder what becomes of it you may finde it in your fruites When your Vines hang full of clusters your Gardens stand thicke with flowers your Medowes with grasse your fields with corne you will say the earth hath been beholden to the heauen That hath rained moisture this hath drunke it in we see it in our fruits The Lord sayth I will heare the heauens and they shall heare the earth and the earth shall heare the corne and the wine and the oyle and they shall heare Iezreel The fruits of corne wine oyle witnesse that the earth hath heard them that heauen hath heard the earth and that the Lord hath heard the heauen The heauens giue influence to the ground the ground sappe to the plants the plants nourishment to vs the Lord a blessing to all The Lord watereth the hills from the chambers the earth is satisfied with the fruit of the workes Hee causeth the grasse to growe for the cattell and herbe for the seruice of man Wine to make glad his heart and oyle to make his face shine and bread to strengthen mans heart c. With such thirsty appetite and no lesse happy successe doth the good soule swallow the dew of grace If you perceiue not when the faithfull take it you may see they haue it for their fruits testifie it It is a most euident demonstration that they haue bin beholding to the Gospell they haue a sanctified life Drinkes it in There bee very many great Drinkers in the world The maine drunkennesse that giues denomination to all the rest is that throte-drunkennesse whereof the Prophet Vae fortibus ad potandum These are they that will not drinke this mysticall wine in the Church so willingly as bee drunk in the tap-house Wine-worshippers that are at it on their knees protesting from the bottomes of their hearts to the bottome of the cups if the health be not pledged actum est de amicitia farewell friendship I haue read of a streete in Rome called vicus sobrius sober street Find such a street in any Citie or populous towne in England and some good man wil put it in the Chronicle It hath beene sayd that the Germanes are great drinkers and therefore to Carowse is giuen to be deriued from them the word being originally to Gar-rowse which is to drinke off all Gar signifying totum so the Germanes are called by themselues Germanni quasi toti homines as if a Germane were All-man according to another denomination of their Country Allmanie And so wee are growne to thinke him that can tipple soundly a tall man nay all-man from top to toe But if England plyes her liquor so fast as shee begins Germany is like to loose her Charter I haue heard how the Iesuits out-stripp'd the Franciscans Indeed Saint Francis at the first meeting sawe sixe thousand Fryers Ignatius because he could not begin his order with so many made vp the number in Diuels The Germanes had of vs both priority and number for drunkards Our English beggars first got the fashion but because their number was short and it was like that the Nation would be disgrac'd it was agreed to make it vp in Gallants No maruell if the Lord for this threaten vs with the rod of famine and to scourge vs with that most smarting string of his whippe God hath layd himselfe faire in his bow already and is ready to draw this arrow vp to the head and send it singing into our bosomes Ferro saeuior fames it is one of Gods sorest iudgements Beasts and Sword kill quickly and the Plague is not long in dispatching vs but Dearth is a lingring death Lament 4. They that be slaine with the sword are better then they that be slaine with hunger for these pine away stricken through for want of the fruits of the field We see how our seasons are changed because we can finde no season to repentance Our Springs haue bin graues rather then cradles our Summers haue not shot vp but withered our grasse our Autumnes haue taken away the flockes of our sheepe And for our latest Haruest wee haue had cause to inuert the words of our Sauiour Luke 10. Hee sayth the Haruest is great but the Labourers are few pray ye therefore the Lord to send forth more Labourers into his haruest But wee might haue sayd the Labourers are many and the haruest is small pray ye therfore the Lord to send a greater haruest for the Labourers God hath thus as it were pulled the Cup from the Drunkards lippes and since hee will know no measure the Lord wil stint him If there will bee no voluntary there shall be an enforced fast Wee haue other great drinkers besides What say you to those that Drinke vp whole townes vnpeople countreys depopulate villages inclose fields that Pharise-like swallow vp poore mens houses drink their goods though mingled with teares of damme and young ones mother children Are not these horrible drinkers Sure God will one day hold the Cup of vengeance to their lippes and bid them drinke their fils The Proud-man is a great drinker It is not his belly but his back that is the drunkard He pincheth the poore rackes out the other fine enhanceth the rent spends his owne meanes and what he can finger besides vpon clothes If his rent-day make euen with his Silkeman Mercer Taylor he is well And his white Madam drinkes deeper then he The walls of the Citie are kept in reparation with easier cost then a Ladies face and the appurtenances to her head The Ambitious is a deepe drinker O hee hath a dry thirst vpon him He loues the wine of promotion extremely Put a whole monopoly into the cup and he will carouse it off There is a time when other drunkards giue ouer for asleeping-while this drinker hath neuer enough Your grimme Vsurer is a monstrous drinker you shall seldome see him drunke at 's owne cost yet he hath vow'd not to be sober til his Doomesdaye His braines and his gowne are lin'd with foxe hee is euer afoxing It may be some infernall spirit hath put loue-pouder in his drinke for hee dotes vpon the deuill extremely Let him take heed hee shall one day drinke his owne obligations and they wil choke him The Rob-altar is a huge drinker Hee loues like Belshazzar to drinke only in the goblets of the Temple Wo vnto
myrrhe drop tears The way to make our herbes smell sweetly is first to purge our garden of weedes For if sinne be fostered in our hearts all our workes will bee abominated God heareth not the prayers of the wicked If yee will walke contrary to mee saith the Lord I will bring your sanctuaries vnto desolation and I will not smell the sauour of your sweete odours But being adopted by grace in Christ and sanctified to holinesse our good works smell sweetly Phil. 4. I haue receiued of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you an odour of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God It seemes GOD highly esteemes the herbe Charitie in our gardens Hee that serueth the Lord shall smell as Lebanon hee shall growe as the Vine and his sent shall bee as the wine of Lebanon Man is naturally delighted with pleasant sauours and abhorres noysome and stinking smels But our God hath purer nosthrils and cannot abide the polluted heapes of iniquities The Idle man is a standing pitte and hath an ill-sauour'd smell an ill-fauour'd sight The drunkard is like a bogge a fogge a fenne of euill vapours God cannot abide him Your couetous wretch is like a dunghill there is nothing but rottennesse and infection in him Omnis malitia eructat fumum All wickednesse belcheth forth an euill sauour Wonder you if God refuse to dwell with the Vsurer Swearer Idolater Adulterer There is a poyson of lust a leprosie of putrefaction in them no carryon is so odious to man as mans impieties are to God Yea the very oblations of defiled hands stinke in his presence Hee that sacrificeth a Lambe is as if hee cut off a dogges necke c. As if Ass a foetida was the only supply of their gardens But good herbes giue a double sauour one outward to man another inward to God The sweete smoke of a holy sacrifice like a subtil ayre riseth vp to heauen and is with God before man sees or smels it It also cheares the hearts of Christians to behold Christian workes Reuerence to the Word hallowing the Sabaoths releeuing the poore deeds of mercie pittie piety giue a delightful sent solacing the soules of the Saints and pleasing him that made them both men and Saints Therefore Hearken vnto me ye holy children and budde forth as a Rose growing by the brook of the fielde Giue ye a sweet sauour as frankincense and flourish as a Lilly send forth a smell sing a song of prayse and blesse the Lord in all his workes 2. That they taste well Many a flower hath a sweet smell but not so wholsome a taste Your Pharisaicall prayers and almes smelt sweetly in the vulgar nosthrils taste them and they were but rue or rather worme-wood When the Pharise sawe the Publican in the lower part of the Temple standing as it were in the Belfrey he could cry Foh this Publican but when they were both tasted by his palate that could iudge the Publican hath an herbe in his bosome and the Pharise but a gay gorgeous stinking weede The herbes that the Passeouer were eaten with were sowre yet they were enioined with sweet bread Sowre they might be but they were wholsome Herbes haue not onely their sauour but their nutriment He causeth the grasse to growe for the cattell and herbe for the seruice of man that he may bring food out of the earth Herbs thē are food and haue an alimentall vertue So we may both with the herbes of charitie feed mens bodies and with the herbes of piety feede their soules A good life is a good sallet and in the second place to precepts are vsefully necessary good exāples The bloud of Martyrs is sayd to haue nourished the Church The patience of the Saints in the hottest extremity of their afflictions euen when the flames of death hath clipped them in their armes hath been no lesse then a kindly nourishment to many mens faith It is expounded by an vniuersall consent of Diuines that one of those 3. feedings which Christ imposed on Peter is Pasce exemplo let thy life feed them Blessed Gardens that yeeld herbes like Iothams vine that cheare the heart of both God and man The Poets fain'd that Nectar Ambrosia were the food of their Gods Iupiter Ambrosia satur est est Nectare plenus But the true Gods dyet is the vertues of his Saints wherwith he promiseth to suppe when he comes into their hearts Faith loue patience meeknes honestie these dishes are his dainties If thou wouldest make Christ good cheare in the parlour of thy conscience bring him the herbes of obedience Doe not say I would haue beene as kinde and liberall to my Sauiour as the best had I liued in those dayes when he blessed the world with his bodily presence But now I may say with Mary Magdalen They haue taken away the Lord and I know not where to finde him Damne not thy selfe with excuses Wheresoeuer his Church is there is he exercise thy piety Wheresoeuer his members are there is he exercise thy charity Thou art very niggardly if thou wilt not afford him a sallet a dinner of herbes Yet sayth Salomon A dinner of greene herbes with loue is better then a fatte Oxe with hatred 3. That they be fitte to adorne Herbes and flowers haue not only their vse in pleasing the nostrills and the palate but the eye also They giue delight to all those three senses Good workes are the beauty of a house and a better sight then fresh herbes strew'd in the windores The Chamber where Christ would eate his Passouer was trimmed and the Palace of our Princely Salomon is paued With Loue of the daughters of Ierusalem There is no ornature in the World like good deeds no hanging of Tapestry or Arrase comes neere it A stately building where an Idolater dwells is but a gawdy coate to a Sodome-apple When you see an Oppressour raising a great house from the ruines of many lesse depopulating a Countrey to make vp one Family building his Parlours with extortion and cimenting his walls with the morter of bloud you say there is a foule Minotaure in a faire Labyrinth Be a man dead it is a foolish hope to reare immortalitie with a few senselesse stones Perhaps the Passenger wil be hereby occasioned to comment vpon his bad life and to discourse to his company the long enumeration of such a mans vices So a perpetuall succession of infamie answeres his gay sepulchre and it had bin better for him to haue been vtterly inglorious then inexcusably infamous The best report that can be drawne from him is but this Here lyes a faire Tombe and a foule carcase in it These things doe neither honest a man liuing nor honour him dead Good works are the best ornaments the most lasting monuments They become the house wherein thy soule dwelleth whiles it dwels there and blesse thy memorie when those two are parted A good life is mans
best monument and that Epitaph shall last as if it were written with a pen of iron and claw of a Diamond which is made vp of vertuous actions Good herbes beautifie more then dead stones Wheresoeuer thou shalt be buried obscurity shall not swallow thee Euery good heart that knew thee is thy Tombe and euery tongue writes happy Epitaphes on thy memoriall Thus height vp your soules with a treasure of good works Let your herbes smel sweetly let them tast chearfully let them adorne beautiously So Gods palate his nosthrils his sight shall be well pleased 4. That they be medicinable and serue not onely as Antidotes to preuent but as medicaments to cure the soules infirmities The poore mans physicke lyes in his Garden the good soule can fetch an herbe from his heart of Gods planting there that can helpe him Plinie writes of a certaine herbe which he calls Thelygonum we in English The grace of God A happy herbe and worthy to stand in the first place as chiefe of the garden For it is the principal and as it were the Genus of al the rest We may say of it as some write of the Carduus benedictus or Holy-thistle that it is herba omnimorbia an herbe of such vertue that it can cure all diseases This may heale a man who is otherwise nullis medicabilis herbis Wretched men that are without this herbe The grace of God in their gardens Hysope and Humilitie IS a man tempted to pride and that is a sawcie sinne euer busie among good workes like a Iudas among the Apostles let him looke into this Garden for Hysop Humility of Spirit Of which herbe it is written Est humilis petraeque suis radicibus haeret Let him be taught by this herbe to annihilate his owne worth and to cleaue to the Rocke whereout he growes and whereof hee is vpholden IESVS CHRIST Or let him produce the Camomill which smels the sweeter the more it is trodden on Humility is a gracious herbe and allayes the wrath of God whereas pride prouokes it It is recorded of an english king Edward the first that being exceeding angry with a seruant of his in the sport of hawking he threatned him sharply The gentleman answered it was well there was a riuer betweene them Hereat the King more incensed spurr'd his horse into the depth of the Riuer not without extreame danger of his life the water being deep and the banks too steep and high for his ascending Yet at last recouering land with his sword drawne he pursues the seruant who rode as fast from him But finding himself too ill-hors'd to out-ride the angry King he reyned lighted and on his knees exposed his neck to the blow of the kings sword The King no sooner saw this but he put vp his sword and would not touch him A dangerous water could not with-hold him from violence yet his seruants submission did soon pacifie him Whiles man flyes stubbornely from God hee that rides vpon the wings of the winde postes after him with the sword of vengeance drawne But when dust and ashes humbles himselfe and stands to his mercie the wrath of God is soone appeased This Camomill or Hysop growes very lowe Humblenesse roots downeward yet no herbe hath so high branches We say that proud men haue high mindes they haue not For their mindes only aspire to some earthly honours which are but low shrubbes indeed The humble man aspires to heauen and to bee great in the eternall Kings fauour and this is the true but good height of minde His desires haue a high ayme though their dwelling bee in the vale of an humble heart There are engines that raise water to fall that it may rise the higher A lowly heart by abasing it selfe in the sight of God and men doth mount al the other graces of the soule as high as heauen and the eye of mercie accepts them Pride is a stinking weede and though it be gay and garish is but like the Horse-flower In the field it is of glorious shew croppe it and you cannot endure the sauour At the best the proud man is but like the bird of Paradise or the Estridge his feathers are more worth then his body Let not thy Garden be without this herbe Humilitie It may be least respected with men and among other herbs ouerlooked but most acceptable to God Respexit humilitatem ancillae suae sings the Virgin MARY He had regard to the lowlinesse of his hand-maiden It shall not want a good remembrance a good recompence For the last the least and the lowest may come to be the first the greatest and the highest This is a necessary herbe Bulapathum The herbe Patience IS a man through multitude of troubles almost wrought to impatience and to repine at the prouidence of GOD that disposeth no more ease Let him fetch an herbe out of the Garden to cure this maladie Bulapathum the herbe Patience The Adamant serues not for all seas but Patience is good for all estates Gods purpose cannot be eluded with impatience and man vnder his hand is like a bird in a nette the more he struggles the faster he is Impatience regards not the highest but secondary causes and so bites the stone in stead of the thrower If our inferiour strike vs we trebble reuenge If an equall we requite it If a superior we repine not or if wee mutter yet not vtter our discontent Thinke whose hand strikes it is Gods Whether by a Pleurisie or a Feuer or a Sword or what euer other instrument The blow was his whatsoeuer vvas the weapon And this wound will not bee cured vnlesse by applying the herbe Patience The good man hath such a hand ouer fortune knowing who guides and disposeth all euents that no miseries though they bee sodaine as well as sharpe can vn-heart him If he must dye he goes breast to breast with vertue If his life must tarry a further succession of miseries hee makes absent ioyes present wants plenitudes aâ—d beguiles calamity as good company does the way by Patience A certaine man drew a bowe at a venture and smote the King of Israel betweene the ioynts of the harnesse The man shot at random or as the Hebrew hath it in his simplicitie but God directed the arrow to strike Ahab So Dauid spake of Shimei Let him alone and let him curse for the Lord hath bidden him It may be that the Lord will looke on mine affliction and that the Lord wil requite good for his cursing this day Consider wee not so much how vniust man is that giueth the wrong as how iust God is that guideth it Non venit sine merito quia Deus est iustus nec erit sine commodo quia Deus est bonus It comes not without our desert for God is iust nor shall be without our profite for God is mercifull God hath an herbe which he often puts into his childrens sallet that is Rue and mans herbe wherewith he eates it
thinkes that this assurance is got by purchasing great reuenews or by locking vp gold in a coffer The Christian likes well to saue what he can but hee thinks this is not the waie to do it He considers that the richest hoorder leaues all behind him and carries nothing but a winding-sheet to his graue But he finds out this policy in the Scripturs as Dauid was resolued of his doubt in the Sanctuary that what hee charitably giues aliue hee shall carry with him dead and so resolues to giue much that hee may keepe much Therfore what hee must loose by keeping he will keepe by loosing and so proues richer vnder ground then ere hee was aboue it The poore mans hand he sees to be Christs treasurie there hee hoords vp knowing it shall be surely kept and safely returned him His Garden shall stand ful with Saint-Iohns-wort and Charity is his herbe to cure all the sores of couetousnes Peny-royall and Content DOth pouerty fasten her sharpe teeth in a mans sides and cannot all his good industry keepe want from his familie Let him come to this Garden for a little Peny-royall Content This will teach him to thinke that God who feedes the Rauens and clothes the Lillies will not suffer him to lacke foode and rayment The birds of the ayre neither plow nor sow yet hee neuer sees them lye dead in his way for want of prouision They sleepe and sing and fly and play and lacke not He gathers hence infallibly that God will blesse his honest endeuours and whiles he is sure of Gods benediction he thinks his Peny royall his poore estate rich No man is so happy as to haue all things and none so miserable as not to haue some He knowes hee hath some and that of the best riches therfore resolueth to enioy them and to want the rest with Content He that hath this herbe in his garden Peny-royall contentation of heart bee he neuer so poore is very rich Agnus castus and Continence DOth the rebellious flesh vpon a little indulgence grow wanton and would concupiscence enkindle the fire of lust The good soule hath in this Garden an herbe called Agnus castus the chaste herbe and good store of Lettuce which Physicians say coole this natural intemperate heat His Agnus castus Lettuce are Prayer and Fasting He knowes that if this kind of diuel get possession of the hart it goes not out but by Prayer and fasting It is fasting spettle that must kill that Serpent Mistris Venus dwels at the signe of the Iuy-bush and where the belly is made a barrell stuffed with delicious meates and heating drinkes the concupiscence will be luxurious of turpitudes Sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus Venerie will freese if wine and iunkets doe not make her a fire Lust will starue if flesh-pampering shall not get her a stomach Where there is thin diet and cleane teeth there will follow Chastitie Barly-water or Coole-anger DOth the heate of anger boyle in a mans heart and enrageth him to some violent and precipitate courses Let him extract from this garden the iuyce of many cooling herbes and among the rest a drinke of Barly-water a Tysan of Meekenesse to coole this fire He that hath proceeded to anger is a man he that hath not proceeded to sinfull harmefull anger is a Christian Irasâ—i hominis iâ—iurtam non facere Christiani The most louing man will chide his friend sweetly and he that doth not hates him in his heart Sic vigelit tolerantia vt non dormiat disciplina But hee will not be transported with anger to the losse of his friends of himselfe He considers that God is prouoked euery day yet is long suffering of great goodnes He heares that others speake ill of him he iudgeth not without certaine knowledge Knowing hee suffers not himselfe abused It were sillinesse to beleeue all sullennesse to beleeue none The wrong done to God and a good conscience must moue him Non patitur ludum fama fides oculus A mans name his faith and his eye must not be iested withall Yet when he is most angry he recollects himselfe and clappes vpon his heate a Tysan of meekenesse Parsley or Frugalitie DEclines a mans estate in this world as if his hand had scattered too lauishly There is an herbe in this Garden let him for a while feed on it Parsley Parsimonie Hereon he wil abridge himselfe of some superfluities and remember that moderate fare is better then a whole Colledge of Physicians He will weare good cloathes and neuer better knowing there is no degree beyond decency It was for Pompey to weare as rich a scarfe about his legge as other Princes wore on their heads But the frugall man can clothe himselfe all ouer decently with halfe the cost that one of our gallant Pompeyes caseth his legge He that would not want long let him practise to want somewhat before he extreamely needs I haue read of an English Martyr that being put into a prison at Canterbury tryed when shee had liberty of better fare to liue on a spare dyet as preparing and prearming herselfe with ability to brooke it when necessity should put her to it Frugality puts but three fingers into the purse at once Prodigality scatters it by heapes and handfuls It is reported that Caesars host liued a long time at Dyrrhachium with Coleworts whereof arose the Prouerbe Lapsana viuere to liue sparingly That stocke lasts that is neither hoorded miserably nor dealt out indiscreetly We sow the furrow not by the sacke but by the handfull The wise man knowes it is better looking through a poore lattice-window then through an iron grate And though hee will lend what hee may hee will not borrow till hee must neede Liuer-wort or Peaceable loue IS a man sick in his liuer by accession of some distemperature Doth his charity and loue to some neighbours for their malignancie against him faile and faint in his heart For they say Cogit amare Iecur I stand not here on the distinction betwixt Amare and Diligere Then let him steppe to this Garden for some Iecuraria we call it Liuer-wort Hee askes of his heart for his olde loue his wonted amity if his reason answere that the persecutions of such and such calumnies haue fled her into another countrey he is not at quiet till affection fetch it home again He thinkes that night hee sleepes without Charitie in his bosome his pillow is harder then Iacobs was at Bethel If carnall respects can draw him to loue his friend for his profite or his kinsman for bloud he will much more loue a Christian for his Fathers sake for his owne sake There is a story nothing worth but for the morall of a great King that married his daughter to a poore Gentleman that loued her But his grant had a condition annexed to it that whensoeuer the Gentlemans left side looked blacke or hee lost his wedding ring hee should not onely loose
his Wife but his life One day pursuing his sports he fell into a quarrell where at once he receiued a bruise on his left breast and lost his ring in the scuffing The tumult ouer hee perceiued the danger whereinto his owne heedlesnesse had brought him and in bitternesse of soule shedde many teares In his sorrow he spied a booke which opening he found therein his ring againe and the first words hee read were a medicine for a bruised side It directed him three herbes whereof a playster applyed should not faile to heale him Hee did so was cured was secured The application is this The great King of heauen marries to man poore man his owne daughter Mercie and euerlasting kindnesse But threatens him that his side must not looke black his heart must not bee polluted with spirituall adulteries nor must he loose his wedding ring loue to God and his Saints lâ—â—â— hee forset both Gods mercy and his owne saluation Man in the pursiue of worldly affaires quarrels with his neighbours and scâ—ffles with cotention So his heart takes a bruise and looks blacke with hatred And Charity his wedding ring is lost in these wilfull turbulencies and vexations What should hee doe but mourne Loe God in his goodnesse directs him to a book the holy Gospell There the Spirit helpes him to his ring againe his former loue and to heale his bruise prescribes him three herbes First Rue or herbe of grace which is repentance this teacheth him to sorrow for his strife and emulation and purgeth away the bruised bloud The second is the 〈◊〉 deluce Thankfulnes he considers how infinitly God hath loued him therefore he must needes loue God and in him his Beatus qui amat te amicum in te inimicum propter te Hee 〈◊〉 it impossible to loue him he hath not seene and to hate his Image which he hath seene The third 〈◊〉 which will grow the faster for iniuries Many wrongs hereafter shal not put him out of charitie A good plaister of these herbes will draw his bosome white againe And when it is so let him vse Iecurarta Lâ—â—er-wort a continuall application of loue to his heart that he keeping his ring of faith sure from loosing and his brest from the selfe-procured blowes of contention hee may hold also his wife for euer that beautifull daughter of the King Gods eternall mercy Lilly or Purenesse of heart DOth a man perceiue his heart a little beguiled with oâ—tentation and desires hee to seeme better then he is And how easily is man wonne to answere his commenders speculation Let him fetch the Lillie purenesse of heart which is an herbe of grace growing in the humble valley of a meeke spirit yet is white and louely He knowes God can vnmask the vizarded face and turne the inside outward If a man be a Herod within and a Iohn without a wicked Polititian in a ruffe of Precisian-set God can distinguish him There are too many of these that stand vp in the fabricke like Pyramides it were better for vs for themselues if they were but good honest pillars Plaine-dealing is a good plaine song and makes better musicke then a forc'd squeaking trebble that troubles vs all with â—ouelties Shallow honesty is more commendable then the profound quicke-sands of subtiltie and one leafe of the Plane-tree is better then many handfuls of the pricking Holly They search out iniquities they accomplish a diligent search both the inward thought of euery one of them and the heart is deepe But when God shal wound them with his arrowe They shall make their tongue fall vpon themselues Such a mans owne witte shall snare him and hee shall sing or rather sigh Ingenio perii They are glad of Christs Crosse not to suffer for it but to enioy plenitude of riches by it And so like many in great Funerals reioice to bee mourâ—ers that they may get some of the blackes Put them to no charges and they 'l make you beleeue they are strongly strangely religious But 2. Sam. 24. Shall wee offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord our GOD of that which cost vs nothing Christ compares this man to a painted sepulcher Sepulchrum quasi semi-pulchrum sayth one Extra nitidum intus foetidum But let them be the men they seeme and not nettles in the midst of a rose-cake The good great man though hee bee able securely to doe much mischiefe regards more the sins indignitie then his owne indemnity Enula campaâ—a or Obedience PErhaps euill example hath suddenly and without prouided consideration led a man into euill Let him runne to this Garden for Enulaeampana This herbe is that Christ enioined vs. Search the Scriptures adhere to the word of the Lord. This shal giue decision of al doubts and teach thee what path to flye what way to take It is giuen of this herbe Enula campana reddit praecordia sana It is true of our constant cleauing to the word that it shall purge the hart of what corruption soeuer bad precedents haue put into it Of all the herbes in thy Garden loose not this Forgoe not the Sword of the Spirit it is thy best weapon Heart-wort or Affiance in Gods promises IT may be sorrow of heart for sinnes hath cast a man downe and he is swallowed vp of too much heauinesse There is an herbe to comfort him called Heart-wort affiance in the mercifull promises of God past to him by Word Oath Seale Scriptures Sacraments and therfore infallible At what time soeuer what sinner soeuer repents of what sinne soeuer God wil put all his wickednesse out of his remembrance Hee will not let that promise fall to the ground but meets it with peace and ioy Blessed are they that mourn for they shal be comforted He beleeues that his wet seed time shall haue a glad haruest for they that sowe in teares shall reape in ioy Hee perswades himselfe that the dayes of mourning will passe ouer as the winde blowes ouer the raine and then God will wipe away al teares from his eyes with the hand of mercie This confidence in the midst of all sorrowes is his Heart-wort Hyaeinth or Following Christ. SAy that the Christian hath met with some guilded pill of corruption some poysonous doctrine yet plausible to flesh and bloud Let him search this Garden for Hyacinth or Soâ—sequium Tornesol an herbe that duely and obediently followes the Sunne Doe thou follow the Sunne of righteousnesse and let his bright beames guide thy course who hath promised to teach all those that with an humble heart and earnest prayer seeke it at his hands Follow the Sunne and he wil bring thee where he is to heauen at the right hand of his Father Let no wandring Planet erre thee but adhere to the Sunne with a faithfull imitation Care-â—way IF worldly troubles come too fast vpon a man hee hath an herbe called Careaway Not that hee bequeathes himselfe to a supine negligence as if God would fill his house
of heauen and showres from the cloudes to make it fruitfull It is granted the Sunne shines the dewes fall The Garden hereupon brings forth herbes the desart thornes If these blessings of heauen were the proper cause of the weeds why hath not then the good ground such cursed effects The euerlasting lampe of heauen sends forth his sauing rayes and the sacred deawes of the Gospell fall on the pure and vncleane heart There it is requited with a fertile obedience here with an impious ingratitude Let not the mercy of God be blamed for this mans miserie Perditio ex se God hath done enough to saue him S. Augustine directly to this purpose Simul pluit Dominus super segetes super spinas Sed segeti pluit ad horreum spinis ad ignem tamen vna est plâ—uia GOD at once raines vpon the herbes and the thornes Vpon the herbs or good seed to shoot it vp for his barne for himselfe vpon the thornes to fit them for the fire yet is it one and the same raine This shall couer the faces of Libertines with â—uerlasting confusion who are euermore rubbing their owne filthinesse on Gods puritie and charging him as the authour of their sinnes If the Diuels in hell should speake what could they say more wee haue falne from our happinesse and God caused it Reprobate thoughts Men haue spilt bloud defiled forbidden beds strucke at Princes with treasons ruin'd countries with depopulations filled the earth with rapes and shot at heauen with blasphemies and lay their damnation on their Maker deriuing from his purpose excuses of their wickednesse The ineuitable decree of Gods counsell is charged the thought of that hath made them carelesse so with good food they poison themselues Willing fooles racke not your beleefe with impossibilities Behold God is so farre from authorizing your sinnes and falls that he raines on yoâ— the holy deawes of his word to mollifie your hearts Iustifying himselfe by this proffered meanes of your saluation that he would not the death of a sinner O but his hidden will is to damne vs. Mad men that forsake that signed will written in tables published with trumpets commanded with blessings cursings promises menaces to which euery soule stands bound and fall to prying into those vnsearchable mysteries couered with a curtaine of holy secrecy not to be drawne aside till the day comes wherein we shall know as we are knowne Cease aspiring man to roote thy wickdnesse in heauen and to draw in God as an accessary to thy profanenesse God would haue thee saued but thou wilt beare thorns and briars though thou endangerest thy selfe to cursing Is this the requitall for his mercy Are all his kindnesses to thee thus taken That when he hath done so much to bring thee to heauen thou wilt taxe him for casting thee to hel when he hath so laboured to make thee good thou wilt lay to his charge thy owne voluntary badnesse No iustifie God and magnifie his mercie Accuse thine owne corrupt heart that turnes so good and alimentall food into offensiue crudities Say Heauen is good but thy ground is naught Fatnesse and iuyce hath been bestowed on thee but thou hast yeelded pestilent and noysome fruits Lay not the fault on heauen but on the natiue corruption of thy owne heart that hath decocted the goodnesse of God into venome 3. This obseruation shall make way and giue place to another That the ground is very vnthankfull which answeres the kindnes of heauen in rayning on it with bryars and thornes Wretched man that receiues so blessed deawes from the fountaine of mercie and returnes an vngratefull wickednesse Vnthankefull it is as failing in both these essentiall parts of Gratitude acknowledging and requiting a benefite and so guilty both of falshood and iniustice Say the wicked did confesse Gods mercies yet where 's their obedience True thankfulnesse is called Gratiarum actio non dictio Whiles for holy deawes they render vnholy weedes this disobedience is the greatest Ingratitude The silence of our tongues the not opening our lippes to let our mouth shew forth his prayse is a grieuous vnthankfulnesse He is of an euill disposition that conceales or dissembles a benefite This is one branch of Ingratitude but our speech hitherto keepes but lowe water let vs rise vp to view the mountenous billows of that ingratitude here taxed a reall actual sensuall senselesse vnthankfulnesse if it bee not a degree beyond it and vnthankfulnesse too poore a word to expresse it Meere ingratitude returnes nothing for good but this sinne returnes euill for good Silence in acknowledging is too short we must thinke of a contumacious and contumelious retribution God after his mercifull raine lookes for some herbs of Grace when he walks down into his Garden to see whether the Vine flourished and the Pomegranates budded And behold weedes stinking weedes stinging weedes thornes and bryars Here is Ingratitude in ful proportion wiith all the dimensions of his vgly stigmaiticke forme This is that wickednes which brings the ground here to reiection malediction combustion Obserue further that 4. Wicked men proue commonly so much the worse as they might haue been better and diuert the means of their conuersion to their confusion The more raine of the Gospell they receiue the more abundantly they thrust forth the thornes of iniquities The rootes of these bryars are surely earthed in their hearts and do boyle out at the warme deaws of the Word It fares with them as with a man of a surfeted stomach the more good meate he eates the more hee increaseth his corruption The former crudities vndigested vnegested hauing the greater force turne the good nutriment into themselues There is such an antipathie betwixt the good word of God and the heart of a reprobate that the more it wrastles to bring him to heauen the more he wrastles against it that hee might be damned Tully mentions a Countrey wherein a great drought and heat maketh abundance of mire and dirt but store of raine causeth dust It is here experimentally true the plentifull raine of Gods blessed word is answered with the dusty and sandy barrennesse of mens euill liues So the Sunne shining vpon vncleane dung-hils is said to cause a greater stench yet no wise man blames the beames of the Sunne but the filthinesse of those putrified heapes for such offence The Sunne of righteousnesse hath sent downe the glorious rayes of his Gospell among vsâ— the wicked hereupon steame out the more noysome and stenchfull fruites Vpon whom shal the accusation light Gods comfortable heate of mercie or our putrid and ranke iniquities Sometimes the Sunnes heat working vpon a muddy and baneful obiect breeds horrid serpents No wonder then if this raine of the Gospel ingender in reprobate minds weeds and prickles The Cicones haue a riuer that doth harden the bowels and make the entrals stony a strange operation in them that drink it But if the water of life do harden the hearts of Pharaohs
and exasperate the mischiefes of a malicious Elimas let the imputation of fault light where it is deserued It was a strange protestatioÌ„ that God had against Israel I haue nourished and brought vp children and they haue rebelled against me I haue brought them vp in my house and taught them my precepts and yet as if my instructions and fauours had made them worse they haue rebelled against me Thus when the Sunne is hottest the springs are coldest and the more feruent the loue of God is to vs the more cold is our charity to him and to others for him As if the sweet dews of Hermon had made the hill of Syon more barren It is written of the Thraeian flint that it burnes with water and is quenched with oyle a fit Embleme of those wicked soules that are the worse for Gods endeuour to better them But such contrary effects hath the Gospell in contrary natures As by the heat of the Sunne waxe is softned and yet clay is hardned so by the preaching of the word the hearts of such as shal be saued are mollified but the hearts of the lost are further obdurate God in his wisâ— iustice wil be euen with men since they will not bee the better for his fauours they shal be the worse Seeing they wil not bring forth herbes they shall cast forth weeds and he that might not in their saluation will be glorified in their subuersion For application This Raine hath falne vpon vs all how haue wee entertained it where bee our herbes It is obiected against vs that our forefathers who wanted this raine brought forth more herbs then we that haue it That they in the daies of ignoraÌ„ce did more then they knew that we in the light of the Gospel know more then we do Apollonius among other wonders writes one most wonderfull that there was a people which could see nothing in the day but all in the night What hath the Sunne blinded vs Cannot wee see to serue God so well in the light as they did in the darke It was once said Ignoti nulla cupido but now it may be inuerted Noti nullus amor we little esteeme the Gospel because it is frequent amongst vs. The long enioying it hath dulled our estimation Full children are weary of their bread and play with it Like the Indians that haue such store of gold and precious stones that they truck them away for glasses and rattles Perhaps the cold legs of custome will bring vs to Church and we are content to heare the Preacher taxing our frauds vsuries oathes oppressions May be for some shew of deuotion wee will aske counsell at his lips but say what he will wee will not part with our sinnes The Princes of Israel came to Ieremie and intreat him to inquire of the Lord fot them promising that whatsoeuer direction the Lord should send they would obey The Prophet accordingly presents their supplication to God God answers You shall not goe into Egypt lest you be destroyed but abide still in Iudah and you shall be safe When they heard this Oracle because it was not their humours they replied We will goe into Egypt This was their purpose from the beginning though they dissembled a will to know Gods mind which if Gods command crosseth they will crosse his command they will goe into Egypt So people will be content to heare what God sayth to them by his Ministers but if hee speake not what pleaseth them they will follow their owne affections Wee are such nice and froward pieces that the more God wooes vs we are the further off As it is with some shallow professors of Musicke sayth the Poet. Omnibus hoc vitium cantoribus inter amicos Vt nunquam inducant animum cantare rogati When they are most earnestly intreated they make most daintie to sing or play So the more the Lord cals for our praises the more hoarse are our voices the more harsh our notes or perhaps we will not sing at all But if God hath giuen vs musicke and we will not dance as Christ reproued the Iewes wee shall mourne in sadnesse for our obstinate refusall of profered mirth You haue heard Herodotus tale of the Piper He came to the water-side and piped to the fishes they would not dance Hee tooke his net and caught some of them and being throwne vpon drie land they began to leape and skip vp Nay quoth the Piper I offered you musicke before and you would none now you shal dance without a pipe Men commonly regard the Songs of Sion as they doe musicke heard late at night in the streets whiles they are in bed Perhaps they will step to the windore and listen to it a while and presently to bed againe So men step from the couch of their lusts and sinnes to Church heare the Sermon and then to bed againe lulling themselues in their former securitie There are some that care for hearing it no more but sit downe with a conceit of their owne sufficiencie They know as much as all the Preachers can tell them let the youth go to be Catechized So the sluggish and irreligious Master sits at home whiles hee sends his seruants to Church There is an old tale idle in it selfe the vse may be good A certaine man that would neuer go to Church when hee heard the Saints-bell would say to his wife Goe thou to Church and pray for thee and me One night he dream't that both he and his wife were dead and that they knocked together at Heauen-gate for entrance S. Peter by the Legend is Porter and suffred the wife to enter in but kept the husband out answering him Illa intrauit pro se ette She is gone in both for her selfe and thee As thy wife went to Church for thee so shee must goe to heauen for thee The Morall instructs euery one to haue a personality of Faith and a proprietie of deuotion that himselfe seruing GOD himselfe may bee blessed of God It now remaines to examine more narrowly the nature of the sinnes these vngodly hearts produce They are called Thornes and Bryers Plinie sayth that the Thorne is more soft then a Tree and more hard then an Herbe as if it were some vnkindly thing and but an vnperfect excrement of the earth For the Philosopher sayth It is not the intent of kind that Trees should be sharpe with prickles and thornes but he would haue it caused by the insoliditie and vnfastnes of the tree By which meanes the cold humour is drawne out by the pores ere it bee concocted whereupon for scarcitie of matter it is hardned by the sunne and â—o shaped and sharpned into a thorne But it is vnquestionable truth that God created the thornes and bryers on the earth Some thinke because it is sayd Gen. 3. in mans punishment Maledictâ— esto terra propter te Cursed be the earth for thy sake Thornes and Thistles shall it bring forth to thee
tythes must they also nimme away the shreddes must they needes shrinke the whole cloth enough to apparell the Church as the cheating Taylor did to a dozen of buttons Hauing full gorged themselues with the parsonages must they picke the bones of the Vicaredges too Well sayth S. August Multi in hac vita manducant quod postea apud inferos digerunt Many deuoure that in this life which they shall digest in hell These are the Church-briers which let alone wil at last bring as famous a Church as any Christendome hath to beggerie Politicke men begin a pace alreadie to with-hold their children from Schooles and Vniuersities Any profession els better likes them as knowing they may liue well in whatsoeuer calling saue in the ministery The time was that Christ threw the buyers and sellers out of the Temple but now the buyers and sellers haue throwne him out of the Temple Yea they wil throw the church out of the church if they bee not stayed But some may say to me as one aduised Luther when he began to preach against the Popes vsurpation and tyrannie You had as good hold your peace This wickednesse is so powerfull that you will neuer preuaile against it Get you to your study and say Lord haue mercy on vs and procure your selfe no ill will But be it good will or be it ill will we come hither to speake the truth in our consciences And if these Church-thornes will continue their wickednesse bee it vnto them as they haue deserued If they will needs go to hell let them go we cannot helpe it let them perish I had purposed the discouery of more Brambles but the time forbids it I would to God we were well freed from those I haue taxed THE END Of Thornes THE FIFT SERMON ESA. 9. 18. Wickednesse burneth as the fire it shall deuoure the Bryers and Thornes and shall kindle in the thickets of the Forrest and they shal mount vp like the lifting vp of smoke GREG. lib. 4. Dialog Ad magnam iudicantis iustitiam pertinet vt nunquam mortui careant supplicio qui nunquam viui voluerunt carere peccato LONDON Printed by George Purslowe for Iohn Budge and are to be solde at his shop at the great South-dore of Pauls and at Brittaines Burse 1616. THE END Of THORNES THE FIFT SERMON HEB. Chap. 6. Vers. 8. But that which beareth thornes and bryers is reiected and is nigh vnto cursing whose end is to be burned OVr sinnes are thornes to others some wounding with their direct blowes others with their wipes all with their examples Man only hath not felt their blowes our Sauior also so found them when hee was faine for our sakes to set his naked breast his naked heart his naked soule against them They say the Nightingale sleepes with her breast against a thorne to auoide the Serpent Christ was content to bee wounded euen to sleepe to death with thornes that hee might deliuer vs from that deuouring serpent the great infernall Dragon His head was not onely raked and harrowed with materiall thornes Caput Angelicis spiritibus tremebundum coronatur spinis That head which the Angelical spirits adore and tremble at was crowned with thornes But these mysâ—call thornes our iniquities with fiercer blowes drew bloud of his soule They doe in a sort still Heb. 6. 6. They crucifie to themselues the Sonne of God a fresh and put him to an open shame Not in himselfe for they cannot but can them no thankes they would if they could and to themselues they doe it Wretched men will you not yet let Iesus Christ alone and be at rest will you still offer violence to your blessed Sauiour and labour to pull him downe from his throne to his Crosse from his peaceful glorie at the right hand of his Father to more sufferings You condemne the mercilesse Souldiers that platted a crowne of thornes and put it on his innocent head Sinfull wretch condemne thy selfe Thy sinnes were those thornes and farre sharper Thy oppressions wrongings and wringings of his poore brethren offer him the violence of new wounds thy oathes thy fraudes thy pride scratch him like bryers Heare him complaining from heauen Saul Saul why persecutest thou mee These Thornes grow on earth yet they pricke Iesus Christ in heauen Oh wee little know the price of a sin that thus play the executioners with the Lord of life Thinke thinke Christ felt your sinnes as sharpe thornes Lastly you finde them thornes your selues if Christ did not for you When God shall enliuen and make quicke the sense of your nummed consciences you shall confesse your owne sinnes â—ruell thornes to your soules 2. Cor. 12. A thorne in your flesh that shall buffet you with terror For a while men are insensible of their iniquities Christ Math. 13. 22. calls the riches of this world thornes which choke the good seede of the Gospell The common opinion of the world is that they are goodly fine and smooth things furres to keepe them warme oyle to cheare their faces and wine to their hearts of a silken softnesse to their affections But Christ saith they are thorns stinging and choking thornes And the couetous conscience shall one day perceiue in them Triplicem puncturam a threefold pricking Laboris in acquisitione they are gotten with trouble Timoris in possessione they are kept vvith feare Doloris in amissione they are lost with griefe Men commonly deale with their sinnes as hedgers do when they go to plash thorny bushes they put on tyning gloues that the Thornes may not pricke them So these harden their hearts that their owne thornes may giue them no compunction But all vanities are but like the fooles laughter which Salomon compares to the crackling of thornes vnder a pâ—t they make a noise and suddenly go out But sinne neuer parts with the wicked without leauing a sting behind it Luther saith there are two fiends that torment men in this world and they are sinne and a bad conscience The latter followes the former or if you will the former wounds the latter for sinne is the thorne and the conscience the subiect it strikes This thorne often pricks deepe to the very heart Acts 2. to the very bones Psal. 38. There is no rest in my bones because of my sinne Vis nunquam esse tristis bene viue Nunquam securus est reus animus Wouldest thou neuer be sorrowfull liue well A guilty mind cannot be securely quiet An euill mind is haunted and vexed with the thornes of his owne conscience Sinne to the affections whiles it is doing is oleum vngens supple oyle Sinne to the conscience when it is done is tribulus pungens a pricking thorne What extreame contraries doe often wicked conceits runne into In their time of securitie they cannot be brought to think sinne to be sinne At last desperately they thinke it such a sinne that it cannot be forgiuen At first they are delighted with the
sense and smel of their iniquitie as of a sweet rose but the rose of their delight withers and there is a thorne vnder it that pricks the hart Hereupon Salomon couples pleasaÌ„t vanitie and troublesome vexation together If that tickles the flesh this shall wound the spirit You shall heare an Vsurer in the madnes of presumption expostulating what may I not make benefit of my money Obserue him and in the end you shall heare him in the madnes of despaire cry out of his owne damnation for it At first they make question whether it be a sinne at last they know it such a sinne that they make question whether God will forgiue it So men will looke to sin either too superficially or too superstitiously There was no danger saith the Drunkard when he is asked how he seap'd such a passage bring him backe in the sober moming to see and hee falls downe dead in astonishment I need not further amplifie this point Christ giues a vae ridentibus Woe to them that laugh for they shall weepe and euery smile of sinne shall be turned to a grone of sorrow They that exhibite their liues as sacrifices risuiet lubentiae shall one day feele pricks and goads and thornes scratching and peircing their hearts when like the strucken deare with the arrowhead rankling in his side they shall not bee able to shift or change paines with places Let this reach to our soules two instructions 1 That we labour our hearts betimes to a sensiblenesse of these thornes A Thorne swallowed into the flesh if it be not look'd to rankles Sinne without repentance will fester in the soule and is so much more perilous as it is lesse felt Oh the number of thornes that lie in many conscience who complaine no more then if they ayld nothing The pricke of a thorne is not so painefull at first while the bloud is hote as after a cold pause Euerie man hath his complaints who liueth out of the reach of discontent You shall heare tradesmen complaining of few or false customers Labourers of little worke and lesse wages Beggars complaine the want of Charity and rich men the want of money Merchants of rockes and Pyrats Lawyers of short fees and Clyents of long suits But no man complaines of the thornes in his owne bosome He nourisheth bryers there that wound him and the heart is as dedolent as if it were past feeling But where there is no discouerie of the disease the recouery of the health is in vaine hoped for 2 After sense of the smart will follow a desire of remedy The throbbing conscience would be at ease and freed from the Thorne that vexeth it Dauid rores out for the very disquietnesse of his heart The aking heart will make a crying tong and wet eyes Loe the mercie of GOD A remedy is not sooner desired then offred The sacred Gospell directs vs to a medicine that shall supple the heart and draw out these thornes though they stucke as thicke in it as euer the arrowes did in Sebastian They speake of the herbe Dictamnum call'd of some Ditanie that it hath a secret vertue to draw out any thing fastened in the body Plinie sayth that this herbe drunke Sagittas pellit Experience telleth that it is soueraigne to exhale a thorne out of the flesh Our onely Dictamnum is the precious bloud of our merciful Sauiour IESVS CHRIST A plaister of that is truely vertuall to draw out all thornes from our consciences Saucia â—nimis which is nulla medicabilis herbis is thus cured Our sinnes drew bloud of him that his bloud might saue vs. He was crowned with Thornes that we might not be killed with thornes He was wounded for vs that we might not perish for our selues Take we heed that we despise not this medicine The law was so farre from drawing out these thornes that it would driue them in further and cause them to rankle in the heart without any hope of ease It did but exasperate their stings and giue them a deeper continuance of pricking The mollifying and healing Gospell extracts their venome and sucks out their poyson Let vs not dare then to vilipend this cordiall and soueraigne medicine You perceiue that our sinnes are Thornes and what is their onely remedy Know now that if they be not drawne out in this world they shall be found thornes hereafter when the owners shall heare Christs sentence Goe yee cursed c. for the end of them is to be burned So I come to the punishment but I will soone haue done with that which shall neuer haue done with those that must vndergoe it There is a threefold gradation in the Penalty Reiection malediction combustion Is reiected is nigh vnto cursing and the end thereof is to be burned And it seems to haue relation to a threefold distinction of time 1. For the present it is reiected 2. For instance or appropinquation it is nigh vnto cursing 3. For future certainty the end of it is to be burned As men commonly deale with thornes first they cut them vp with bils and mattocks then they lay them by to wither and lastly burne them in the furnace 1 Reiection This which we here translate is reiected is in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may signifie Reprobios or reprobatus so Beza hath it is reproued or disallowed of God This ground shall haue no ground in heauen no part in God inheritance It is reprobate siluer not current with the Lord. No man desires to purchase Land that will bring forth nothing but weedes he will not cast away his siluer vpon it And shall GOD buy so base ground that will be no better at so inestimable a price as the incorruptible bloud of his owne Sonne It despiseth the Lords goodnesse and the LORDS goodnesse shall despise it It is reiected If any man sayth this is Durus Sermo let him consider of whom the Apostle speaketh verse 4. against whom hee concludes ab impossibili It is impossible c. A hard saying to vnderstand but more most heard to vndergoe If God be driuen to loose all his paines and cost vpon an ingratefull heart he will at last renounce it and giue it ouer a desperate nature As he in the Comedy Abeat pereat profundat perdat If it will be filthy let it be filthy still If nothing will bring it to goodnesse it shall be reiected 2. The second degree of the Punishment is cursing and this may seeme to exceed the former Gods curse is a fearefull thing If you would view though but in part the latitude and extension of it I refer you to the 28. of Deuteronomy But I purpose not to bee curiously punctuall in the demonstration of these particular degrees of the Punishment That which I wil obserue is this That God is more propense and inclined to blessing then to cursing more prone to shewe mercy then to inflict iudgement It is sayd in the former Verse the good ground