a man vpon easie conditions should gaine an high estate to him and his for euer and yet should wittingly and wilfully forfeite it againe to the owner who would either moane the heire or blame the giuer Euen so God hauing made the soule of man good righteous and faire as from himselfe yet knitting it to the body to make the man which man is Adams heire he may iustly withdraw his graces from it as his owne being forfeited and lost by traiterous man Thus Gods grace most iustly fayling the soule it falleth to sinne and declineth to naught which pronenesse of euill is our naturall sicknesse which we call Originall sinne So that the soule of man is not now created with that strength to perseuere in goodnesse and resistance of euill and other excellent graces which it should haue had if Adam had not sinned and albeit it be pure and vnspotted as it proceedeth from God yet is it no sooner ioyned to the body but it is presently polluted euen as the purest wine and best quintessence when it is powred into a filthy pot poysoned and vnsauory doth in a moment loose their naturall taste and tallage so doth the sweet soule loose her fragrant smell of grace and goodnesse so soone as it is sent into this filthy vessell the body of sinne Neither is the soule of man subiect onely to weakenesses and infirmities in resisting of corruptions but hath many other defects both of minde and will being destitute of spirituall life and light blinde by nature and not so much as inclinable to holy desires and sanctified workes as God her Creatour by his law requireth And although in the iust iudgement of God as we haue already heard mens soules be now made in such sort as that of necessitie they must be defiled being ioyned to these bodies of sinne yet are they not thereby to be excused from the guilt of sinne for though it be of a iust necessitie yet is it not of any compulsion that they should sinne as we see by experience Iron and Stones and such like graue and heauie substances though neuer so softly let downe into a brooke doe of necessitie yet not by any violence sinke downe to the bottome thereof Bodies depriued of foode and flesh in time doe putrifie of necessity yet neither the one nor the other by any compulsion God of necessitie is good and the Diuell is euill yet can we not say that either goodnes in God or iniquity in the Diuell doe proceede of compulsion So our soules being ioyned to our bodies are of necessitie sinfull yet willingly also and of their owne accord Neither yet is it or can be otherwise now with the best regenerate and holiest men renewed in Christ towards their children then it was in Adam at the first touching the propagation of originall sinne they can conuey no more vnto their posteritie but that which by nature they are possessed of for grace comes from heauen and our new birth is not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God If we winnow any Wheate or graine neuer so perfectly and purge it neuer so throughly by the fanne from the chaffe and dust yet when it is sowne againe it will not bring forth cleansed corne but with the graine yeelde huskes and hawnes which also must it selfe be threshed with the flayle and cleansed with the fanne vpon the floore As this clensed Corne I say can giue no more but what it had by nature and looke what it had by the art industry of man the same meanes must be vsed to it againe before it be cleane and fit for our vse Euen so the faithfull though they be washed iustified and sanctified by Gods spirit and the blood of Christ yet can they giue no more to their children then what themselues haue had by nature being the children of wrath and as for any grace or goodnesse it must come from the same Author and by the same meanes which their parents had to worke it in them or else it can neuer be effected God doth worke in the hearts of men to incline their wills which way hee pleaseth either to good things according to his mercy or to euill according to their owne desert and that by his iudgement sometime manifest sometime secret but alwayes iust A worke-house must needes decline and also fall when the vnder-proppes are remoued Darkenesse must needes ensue when the Sunne and light is departed away Those bright beames of all light and happy life which were giuen to our first parents are remoued and other excellent gifts and graces of God are in his iust iudgement so long withholden from our soules vntill by his holy spirit as the worker and by his holy word as the instrument God in his good time doe againe enlighten our mindes and purifie our hearts by faith and confirme and strengthen vs in euery good word and worke Sinne to mankinde will alwaies be a Iebusite a false borderer yea a ranke traitour rebelling against the spirit which makes the life of man to be saith Chrisostome a debt as it were owne and due to death for the diuell is the father of sinne and sinne is the mother of death Hereupon saith S. Iames that Sinne being finished trauaileth in childe-birth like a mother to bring forth Death and Dauid calleth sinne the gate of death because as a man commeth into a house by the dore or gate so death came into the world by sinne The corruption of our flesh did not make our soule sinfull but the sinne of our soule did make the flesh corruptible Whereupon Lactantius calleth sinne the reliefe or foode of death and as a fire goeth out when all the fuell is spent but burneth as long as it lasteth so death dieth when sinne ceaseth but where sin aboundeth there death raigneth CHAP. V. Of the Nature of Death what it is and how manifold and whence Deuines haue deriued it DEath thus iustly deriued from Adam as the stocke to all and euery one of vs his line and race as to the boughes and branches the leprosie of his sin cleauing fast to all his seede we are further to consider the nature thereof for our better humbling which cannot more plainely appeare then by the true describing and diuiding of the same by and into his seuerall parts properties and effects as they are laid out vnto vs and gathered from the Scriptures As man therefore in his nature consisteth of two principall parts a humane body and a diuine soule which vnited together make but one person so there is a Death of the body and a Death of the soule and a death that is common both to body and soule Death then in it selfe is not onely a killing of the body but also a slaying as it were of the soule not onely a separation of the soule from the body but a diuision and cutting off both of
nature hee was made like vnto vs in all things sinne onely excepted so likewise are Christians regenerate by his Spirit cleansed from sinne in his bloud that they being the body may not be vnlike the head but as the true husband and wife may both be but one flesh and of like nature and condition Christ washeth his Children whom he will ioyne and section 8 couple to himselfe from their sinnes first by his bloudshed vpon the Crosse hauing vndoubtedly obtayned of his Father remission and forgiuenesse of the same Sanctifying them vnto himselfe by imputing vnto them and communicating with them his owne righteousnesse and holinesse Secondly by the washing of the new birth hee sanctifieth them with reall and true holinesse making them holy indeed As for reliques of sin remaining partly hee doth not impute them and partly taketh away daily more and more till at length they be presented as his glorious Spouse in the kingdome of heauen without spot and wrinckle And as Adam acknowledged and tooke no other to be his wife then her that was taken and made of his owne ribbe no more doth Christ receiue any other to be of his Church but those that are taken out of his side vpon the Crosse that is who are washed from their sinnes in his bloud who are made new and regenerate by his Spirit By order of nature regeneration and renewing of the heart is first begunne in man by the holy Ghost before hee can haue a true and liuely faith which after is more and more perfected by the encrease of the Spirit for what power hath a dead man to doe the workes of life but truely to beleeue in Christ is a worke of life The whole person of the Sonne of God tooke into the section 9 vnitie of himselfe whole man that is to say the whole humane nature not flesh alone nor the soule alone but both together Therefore when Christ is vnited to euery faithfull man the whole is vnited to the whole whole Christ to the whole faithfull man So that Christ is not the head and Sauiour to the Church according to his diuine nature alone nor onely according to his humane soule and body but whole Christ in his God-head in his soule and in his flesh is our head and Sauiour Neyther is the soule alone of the faithfull or the body alone saued by Christ but both together that is to say the whole faithfull man And no man is made partaker of saluation but by the vnion and coniunction which hee hath with Christ Wherefore in this spirituall vnion whole Christ is coupled with whole man A mystery vnspeakable yet I say to be beleeued that God cloathed in the flesh should come downe to man and become man that man might be exalted into the highest heauens and that our nature might be taken into the fellowship of the Deity that hee to whom all Powers in heauen bowe and thinke it their honour to be seruiceable should come downe to be a seruant to his slaues a ransome for his enemies together with our nature taking vp our infirmities and shame and bearing our sinnes without sinne God offered peace to man the holy seekes to the vniust the Potter to the clay the King to the traitor section 10 Christ hauing taken mans nature vpon him not Angels and glorifying it with the roabe of his holy Resurrection and Immortalitie hath exalted the same aboue all Heauens Angels and Thrones and placed it at Gods right hand And since euery one of the faithfull hath a portion of flesh in the body of Iesus Christ therefore where a piece of my flesh is saith Augustine there I trust to raigne where my flesh is glorified I know I shall be glorious and where my flesh doth rule there I looke to haue dominion and although I am yet a sinner yet I doubt not of this participation of grace Although my sinnes yet doe hinder mee yet my substance doth require it and although my offences for a time doe exclude mee yet the communion of nature will not repell mee section 11 As by the flesh of Adam corrupted Sinne and Death spread ouer all so by the flesh of Christ sanctified and vnited to the eternall God-head Righteousnesse and Life is communicated vnto vs. The flesh of Christ is the Arke wherein dwelleth all the fulnesse of the God-head corporally by that and from that are all heauenly good things conueyed vnto vs It is the instrument of the God-head yet so onely being taken and ioyned inseparably into the vnitie of the person The God-head of Christ is as a fountaine whence all good things as Life and Saluation doe flow but his flesh and his humanitie is as it were the channell and conduit-pipe by which all these good things doe come vnto vs. Which conduit of his flesh vnlesse we apprehend and be vnited thereunto wee cannot possibly partake of the waters of Gods graces flowing from the fountaine By his flesh hee hath prepared a way for vs to heauen to attaine vnto life hauing rendred in the same most perfect obedience vnto God for vs and by his death fully satisfied for our sinnes and through the remission thereof giuen righteousnesse and by righteousnesse the grace and fauour of God and by grace life that in assurance we may present our selues before the throne of God Wee must goe to Iesus Christ that is God by Iesus section 12 Christ that is man by the Word which was made to the Word which was in the beginning with God and by the bread which men eate vnto the meate which Angels eate As Iacob came in Esaus garment to get Isaacks blessing and as the high Priest neuer appeared without his holy garments and Ephod in the Sanctuary of God so if we will be accepted and receiued of God wee must not present our selues but in the royall roabes of Christs righteousnesse Christ in our flesh hath beene raysed from the dead and in our nature hath ascended into heauen that faithfull man in his person might be crowned with glory and honour Hee hath carryed our flesh into the presence of God his Father and it is no more possible to take this glory from vs as many as be one with him then it is possible to pull away againe his personall humanitie from the person of his God-head And as no man ascendeth vnto God and is vnited vnto section 13 him but by Christ the Mediator and that by his flesh so God also doth communicate nothing with vs but by the same Mediator and that by his flesh The reason is because euen in his flesh our Redemption was wrought Sinne destroyed the Diuell vanquished Death ouercome and eternall Life obtayned And although our whole saluation and life doe depend on the fulnesse of the God-head which is in Christ yet it is not communicated vnto vs but in the flesh and by the flesh of Christ Therefore saith
Things present things to come Life Death the world it selfe all is ours and we are Christs Christ in regard of this our vnion with him is not ashamed to call vs Brethren who yet made heauen and earth section 20 and is an immortall and glorious God one with his Father to whom all Angels doe obeysance and the most glorious Princes are but dust and ashes It was a rare thing in Moses being so high in fauour with Pharao that hee would vouchsafe to visite his poore brethren such slaues and bond-men It was singular loue in Ioseph being next to the King in honour and place yet not to be ashamed of his Fathers house being herd-men and sheepe-herds But this is nothing to the kindenesse of Iesus Christ the very shining brightnesse of that most glorious God and his onely begotten Sonne before all eternitie who yet was not ashamed of vs miserable wretched sinners but of his free grace acknowledged vs that were his very enemies in whose person he should suffer a most shamefull and slanderous Death And is it not trow you a iust condemnation if wee wretched men should be ashamed of him who being the God of glory was not ashamed of vs And as they are naturall brethren which are borne of the same Parents so all wee are brethren with Christ which are borne of God through the same spirit by which we cry Abba Father and exercise our loue one towards another in the vnitie of Christian faith section 21 Wee wrastle here with sin as though the steppes of our strength were restrained and looke euen fully vpon death as the Ialour that committeth vs to our graue as a dungeon how be it euen in this doth the Lord reach forth a most approued cordiall to reuiue the faintnesse of our hearts for through the vnion and communion we haue with Christ the vncleanenesse of our birth is washed away in the sanctification of his nature Our transgression remoued in his innocencie our rebellion discharged in his obedience and the vtmost farthing paid in his sufferings And hauing the Image of God which we lost in Adam not renewed onely but a fairer and deeper stampe thereof ingrauen and set vpon vs we may in a Christian resolution challenge at the gates of Hell and Death that nothing can be charged vpon vs as a debt and therefore nothing can light vpon vs as a punishment Wherefore though we mingle here our bread with care and drinke with weeping and haue our lodging in the bed of darkenesse and discomfort it is but to weane vs from the flesh-pots of Egypt till in the heauenly land of Canaan we haue our hearts desire section 22 And though our bodies seeme to perish for euer in in the iudgement of men yet still they haue a being in the sight of God and are members of Christ For the vnion as I haue said betweene Christ and the faithfull is not onely of our soules but of our bodies also all the bodies of the faithfull being vnited to the bodie of Christ And this is such a coniunction as Death can neuer dissolue For though it doth breake the knot betweene Man and Wife yet cannot it infringe the bond betwixt Christ and the faithfull As Death did not make a separation betwixt the two natures of Christ at the time of his suffering though his soule and body were then farre distant in regard of place the one being in heauen and the other in the graue yet were they at that time and in that case personally vnited vnto his god-head no more can Death make a diuision betwixt Christ and the faithfull though there bodies putrifie and rot in their graues yet still they remaine true members of his body And as the Husbandman doth make as great reckoning section 23 of that corne which he hath sowen in his Field and lieth vnder clods as hee doth of that which lieth safe in his barne or garner because he assureth himselfe it will come vp againe and yeelde encrease So Christ our Sauiour doth as highly esteeme of those bodies which are dead and buried as of those which remaine aliue because hee knowes that one day they shall rise againe in honour Their life is but hid for a time and will be found out againe for Christ is able to restore that which nature hath destroyed And God doth deale herein no otherwise with the bodies of his children then Goldsmiths with their old peeces of plate long agoe out of fashion who cast them in the Furnace to refine them and to bring them to a better forme according to his minde Therefore let not the wofull condition of our bodies discourage vs any whit or lessen our hope being ready to die For though the graue deuoure them wormes doe eate section 24 them fire consume them or sea swallow them vp yet being ioyned to Christ in his death and resurrection as Christ and Christians are made one indiuisible body by the bond of Gods spirit they can neuer be seuered from him And although their bodies be as it were rent from the soule by the violence of Death yet in regard of this coniunction with Christ their head neither death nor the graue can separate them from their head For though our bodie be buried in the earth yet our head is in heauen And as one that swimmeth though his body diue and sinke vnder the water yet his head being aboue the streames the whole man is sure and safe from perishing So sure are the faithfull from euerlasting death and destruction though their bodies be entrenched and enterred in their graues being members of their head Iesus Christ ascended aloft aboue the highest heauens to whom they are vnited still by an inseparable bond of his spirit which death can neuer breake CHAP. IIII. The combat and conflict of Christians with Sinne Flesh Death Law and Diuell with their heauenly conquest and triumph ouer them all through Iesus Christ section 1 SVch is the enmitie of the old Serpent in the iust iudgement of God set betweene him and Adams seede that though his head be broken yet still he will labour to bruise their heele Like a coward ouercome he lags behinde for aduantage and not daring to shew his face any more in the field hee dragges in the way and lieth aloofe vpon euery occasion to take them in a trappe Though he cannot preuaile yet prouoke vs still hee will to fight and try our manhood neither can wee otherwise be conquerours then was Christ our Captaine and head who by dying in the field recouered life both for himselfe and his Souldiers for nothing but Death can end this combat Our life is a warfare and that most strange for any section 2 other warre may haue an end either by a conclusion of peace with the enemie or by flying farre from him or by ouercomming him in fight But in this spirituall warre we cannot lawfully make any peace with these our enemies the
are as corrupt by nature as the rest vntill they be reformed by the santified meanes ordained of God 15. Mans sinne maketh his life a due debt to death 17. The Diuell is the father of Sinne and Sinne the mother of Death ibid. The corruption of our flesh did not make our soules sinfull but the sinne of our soule did make the flesh corruptible ibid. CHAP. V. DEath is threefold corporall spirituall and that which is common both to body and soule Sect. 2. The description of Death according to the seuerall parts 3. The soule cannot properly dye being life it selfe illustrated by examples 4. How the soule is said to dye 5. The seperation from God is the death of the soule as the departing of the soule is the death of the body ibid. The nature of Death 6. Gods Spirit is the soule of our soules ibid. Man by sinne lost his life and found out death 7. It is agreeable to Gods iustice that a spirituall death should beget a corporall ibid. So soone as man had sinned so soone did the armies of death besiege his life 8. The very life of sinners is a death 9. Gods spirit must quicken and reuiue the soule or else it must needes dye and be damned 10. The degrees of the spirit in Gods elect 11. The wicked in this life doe liue in death and conuersing in earth they are bondslaues of hell 12. An effectuall faith in Christ is the life of the soule 13. What it is to be dead in sinne 14. Death is diuersly deriued with the reasons thereof 15. CHAP. VI. IT is enacted in heauen that all men must dye Sect. 1. The Registers of the death and buriall of men from the beginning witnesse the execution of Gods decree herein 2. Death is the way of all the world and the house of all men liuing ibid. Death is the Lady and Empresse of all the world 3. Balthasers Embleme is written vpon euery mans wall 4. Death respecteth no mans person place or qualities 3. Dayes and yeares and times no plea against the graue but a fitter prey for Death ibid. Death as Dan the gathering hoast sweepes all away 4. Mercilesse Death doth exercise her cruelty vpon all alike 5. Nothing can preuaile against Death or ransome our life 6. Gods hand a man may escape but Deaths dart no man can shunne 7. No force can resist it nor meanes preuent it ibid. Death is the common road-way of all the world 8. We must needes yeeld our selues to the law of Death ibid. Men may be distinguished by times but all are equall in the issue 9. As we grow our life decreaseth This whole life is but a death ibid. Man cannot be ignorant of his death since all creatures and actions proclaime his mortalitie 10. Experiments of death on euery side most apparant 11. The law of Nature conuinceth it amongst all nations 12. Our liues as our garments weare of themselues they are eaten with the Moaths we with the Time ibid. The course of our life runneth without pause to the period and end 13. An exclamation against Death most hideous and pittifull 14. 15. The Christian vse of our mortalitie with a reproofe of the carelesse Christian 16. 17. Death to the faithfull is as an hackney to carry and hasten them from earth to heauen ibid. CHAP. VII SInne brought in a sea of miseries Sect. 1. Life and misery are two twinnes which were borne together and must dye together 2. A description of infancy and old age with their miseries 3. The miserie of all estates Here death is liuing and life dying 4. There is no contentment in this wretched life 5. A description of mans sinfull mortall body 6. The frailty and brittlenesse of mans body with the reason thereof 7. See the manifold dangers of our life and how easily it is lost 8. The mutabilitie and inconstancie of mans life 9. This life is little better then hell were it not for the hope of heauen 10. This world is an Ocean sea of troubles See how fitly it resembleth it hauing a mercilesse maw to swallow vp all 11. It is a dungeon of ill sauours and a puddle of vices 12. Mans life is short and swift like a poste a ship and a shadow ibid. Our dayes passe swiftly as the Eagle to her prey and all mortall men are a prey to death 14. We are as flowers and grasse and Death in the hand of God as a sythe to cut vs downe ibid. All things dye but our sinnes which reuiue and grow young againe in despight of nature ibid. The cares of this life are like the Flyes of Egypt which giue men no rest neither day nor night 15. They are like mercilesse Tyrants which take away our peace ibid. Man and his labour are fitly resembled to the Spider and her web 16. All things are as snares to sinners to draw them to destruction 17. The meanes for Christians to auoid the snares of this life 18. It is as naturall for corrupt man to sinne as for water to run downe the channell or a Coach downe a hill 19. The best men liuing amongst the wicked are aptly resembled to Colliers and Millers ibid. The manifold engins of Sathan to enthrall vs. 20. No man can liue peaceably in this world among so many enemies of peace ibid. The warfare of Christians both outward and intestine with the occasions thereof 21. 22. Our life is as a tempestuos sea and death the onely port of tranquilitie and rest 23. CHAP. VIII MEN by dying proue they had sinned and sinne conuinceth there is a Law Sect. 1. The Law conuinceth man of sinne who without it knew not sinne 2. Sinne by the Law grew out of measure sinful with the reason thereof 3. The Law detecteth sinne as a hidden sicknesse that so we may seeke to Christ the Physitian 4. It is holy and righteous in it selfe though an occasion of euill to those that are corrupt ibid. How sinne is said to be dead without the Law 5. The Law anatomiseth sinfull man and setteth him out in his colours 6. The Law slayeth the sinner before Gods Spirit quicken him 7. Sinne and the Law are the strength and sting of Death 8. The Law not onely conuinceth man of sinne but iustifieth God in the punishment thereof 9. The horror of death with the reason thereof 10. CHAP. IX GReat and heauy was the tribute which God imposed vpon man for sinne Sect. 1. The death of the body is nothing to the damnation of body and soule in hell 2. As diseases are the maladies of the body so death is the maladie of diseases ibid. The death of the reprobate is a liuing death and a dying life 3. The life of the damned is an immortalitie of torments and euill 4. The torments of hell are vnspeakable 5. They are euerlasting and endlesse 6. Death to the vnregenerate is the very gate of hell 7. Death cannot be so feared as it ought of wicked men 8. CHAP. X.
THE vngodly as captiues are haled to deaths prison and Iayle of hell Sect. 1. The ioy of the wicked endeth in heauinesse 2. Their whole life is a miserable bondage of feare 3. The wicked once awakened out of the sleepe of sinne doe end their dayes like barking dogs 4. Who can put to silence the voyce of Desperation 5. Sinne is a make-bate betweene God and man and betwixt a man and himselfe 6. A wicked mans heart bleedeth when his countenance smileth 7. The Conscience cannot be pacified when sinne is within to vexe it 8. The wicked are in hell yet liuing vpon earth 9. Death is the Lords Serieant to apprehend a wicked man and to hale him to hell 11. The vnrepentant with as great violence are pulled from the earth at Ioab from the hornes of the Altar 12. The trembling estate of the reprobate 13. Hell is as fit for the reprobate as heauen for the righteous 14. The second BOOKE CHAP. I. WIcked men without Christ haue hell for their prison and are locked from God and his Saints in the dungeon of death Sect. 1. No creature could possibly redeeme vs from death with the reason why 2. Take hold of Christ and take hold of life In the flesh of Christ there it resteth Death hath raigned in all the world beside 3. God became man that he might be a Redeemer as before hee was a Creator 4. The dignitie of Christs person gaue such worth to his satisfaction that what hee suffered in short time might satisfie beyond all times 5. None can purchase our saluation but he onely that hath paid the price of our redemption ibid. None but Christ saueth and he will be alone in all his courses without mixture without medley 6. There is no God without Christ he created alone and he will redeeme alone 7. If our case were not desperate and past hope of recouery our redemption should not be so precious 8. Christ is Lord-Treasurer of heauen and Steward of all Gods graces 9. The Church in it selfe most vncleane and in Christ most beautifull 10. Christs humiliation in the worke of our Redemption 11. It was the fire of Loue to mankinde and the sharpe knife of Gods Iustice that put the Sonne of God to death 12. Excellent types and allusions of Christ our Redeemer 13. CHAP. II. THe compleat worke of our redemption performed by Christ alone and his onely meanes Sect. 1. Why Christ our Redeemer must needes be God and man 2. Christ his manner of proceeding in the worke of our redemption 3. The wonderfull wisdome of God in making the death of Christ as an Antidote against the death of man and so to bring life out of death 4. Christ suffered in soule as well as in body for our redemption 5. 6. The vse of Christs suffering in soule as well as in body 7. Death lost his sting in Christs death 8. Death tasted of Christ but it could not deuoure him 9. The death of Christ is the death of Death 10. Christs gall was our honie and his bitter death the sweet life of all beleeuers 11. The ready way to goe to heauen is to swim through the sea of Christs sufferings 12. Christ his death is the secret den of our deliuerance from Death and Hell 13. Christians onely ouercome by the bloud of the Lambe 14. The grace of Christ must be our onely clothing before Gods Tribunall 15. God will be knowne by his mercy and we by our deserts that so all glory may returne to him alone 16. Christs power is made perfect through our weaknesse he is all things to vs which are nothing in our selues 17. Christ is a mutuall help to God the Father and to vs without whom wee cannot possesse any good thing eyther in grace or glory 18. The Law and Christ are as the Physitian and Surgeon to a sicke man 19. It is absurd to seeke for iustification by the Law 20. To trust to our owne merits is the reioycing of Sathan 21. Christ conquered death and diuell being nailed to the crosse 22. CHAP. III. AS there is no life in the body but as it is vnited to the head so in Christ our head consisteth our life being vnited to him by his holy Spirit Sect. 1. By our spirituall vnion we are interessed in all that eyther God hath promised or Christ hath performed 2. Gods Spirit sheweth vs our nakednesse and the wardrobe of Christs righteousnesse to clothe vs. 3. There is no saluation nor sanctification for vs but as our nature is vnited to the person of Christ 4. This spirituall coniunction we can neuer comprehend till wee know God as he is 5. Christ is not onely God with his Elect in nature but in person the reprobate are of the same nature with him yet he is not God with them but against them 6. God punishing Christ in our person and iustifying vs in his he neither punisheth the innocent nor iustifieth the offenders 7. Christ washeth his children from their sinnes whom he ioyneth to himselfe 8. Whole Christ is his God-head and humanitie is our head and Sauiour 9. Whole Christ is coupled with whole man a mysterie vnspeakable ibid. Euery Christian man hath a portion of flesh in the body of Christ and where my flesh is there I hope to be 10. The God-head of Christ is the fountaine of all good things and his flesh is the Conduit-pipe by which they are deriued vnto vs. 11. We must goe by Iesus Christ that is God to Iesus Christ that is man 12. In our flesh he hath dyed risen and ascended that faithfull man may be crowned with glory ibid. God doth communicate nothing with vs but by the flesh of Christ in it he wrought our Redemption 13. Our soule is ioyned to the soule of Christ and our flesh with the flesh of Christ which quickneth both by the vnitie of his person 14. Christ vniteth himselfe to vs by the communication of his Spirit and we by faith are ioyned to him 15. The singular vse of our spirituall vnion with Christ 16. In the person of Christ all our blemishes are couered and his righteousnesse and sanctification imputed 17. The sinnes of the faithfull are not imputed to them but vnto Christ 18. The punishment of them are forgiuen to them but not to Christ ibid. If we be ingrafted into the body of Christ we are his and hee liueth in vs and his victory ouer all is ours 19. By this spirituall vnion Christ is our brother which are borne of God by the same spirit 20. The vncleannesse of our birth is washed away in the sanctification of Christs nature 21. Death can make no diuorce betwixt Christ and the faithfull though their bodies rot in the graue yet still they remaine true members of his body 22. Christ our head is able to restore that which nature hath destroyed 23. Christ and Christians are made one indiuisible body by the bond of Gods spirit and he being the head will raise vp his
section 5 Yet as waxe is more apt to receiue an impression then clay so the soule being a Spirit commeth nearest to Gods nature For first the very substance of Adams soule did most liuely shadow out the diuine Essence not onely in the simplicitie inuisiblenesse and immortalitie thereof but also in that power which it enioyed to know and will And as God is but one in the world quickning sustaining and gouerning the same so there is but one soule in the body which being whole in euery part thereof without augmentation or diminution giueth vnto it both life sense and motion Further the soule is like vnto God in the faculties of the same For as there is but one onely diuine Essence in the Godhead and yet three distinct persons in respect of their externall actions so the soule is but one howsoeuer it consisteth of sundry essentiall qualities This Image of God in man consisted especially in the section 6 rule and dominion of the Creatures Let vs make man saith God in our owne image that hee may rule the fowles of the ayre fish of the sea beasts of the earth Now to rule well is required Knowledge Memorie Will Vnderstanding and Iudgement which are essentiall in God and proper to our soules Man had not onely giuen vnto him of God power and abilitie to vnderstand diuine and humane things but was endued with other heauenly qualities as Iustice Wisedome Temperance Mercy Loue c. Gods Image in man is righteousnesse holinesse and knowledge Be renued saith the Apostle in the spirit of your minde and put on the new man which after the Image of God is created vnto righteousnesse and true holinesse Whose qualities are necessarily inferred by the contrary attributed to the olde man where truth is opposed against lying Christian anger against sinfull rage iust dealing against falshood and wrong holy and gracious speech against corrupt and filthy communication And hee saith that this Image or new man is renued in knowledge after the image of him that created it because the true knowledge of God transformeth man to the image of God his Maker that is to say to the true sinceritie and purenesse of the soule Therefore presently following hee expresseth the qualities of this Image to wit tender affection or bowels of compassion kindnesse humblenesse of minde meeknesse long-suffering forbearing and forgiuing one another Loue Peace and these be the fruits of Gods Spirit which renueth our hearts as they are mustred by S. Paul against which vertues hee saith there is no Law which Image also is called a conformitie to Gods Sonne section 7 By the infusion of Gods holy Spirit saith Iraeneus man is made spirituall as at the first hee was created And Tertullian saith that the Image of God in man is to haue the same sense and motion with God the same Will Knowledge Affection Iudgement and Reason in all humane and heauenly things according to the measure of a creature The reason thus to perswade vs is that man was made first according to Gods Image that hee might rule all his creatures below as his President and Substitute ouer all And it is no question but God would haue all his creatures which hee had made well and orderly to be ouer-heeded and ruled who alwayes and euery where in his Word forbiddeth the abuse of any or the least and wee are straightly bound to referre all of them to the glory and praise of their author and owner Now this good vse and excellent administration of all the creatures which God requireth cannot stand without all those former conditions and qualities of the soule of man whereof this Image of God consisteth So that when the minde is endued with the sound knowledge of God and adorned with Iustice then it most truely representeth Gods Image and likenesse because that Iustice and knowledge of diuine and heauenly things are nothing else but a certaine influence from the diuine nature into our mindes and soules section 8 But that these things may appeare more plainly wee are to know that the Image of a thing is the forme by which it is resembled and a similitude is a qualitie of a thing by which it is shadowed Now man in his Image not onely resembled his Maker in knowledge and vnderstanding but was also created in other celestiall conditions as Iustice Wisedome Mercy Loue c. as before was declared yet so as that Christ alone is the very ingrauen forme of his person according to his Deitie and in his Humanitie so farre as it is capable of the same And to this end hath God predestinated and elected vs that we should be conformable to the Image of his Sonne Therefore God made vs of an vnderstanding nature and capable of diuine perfection when with these heauenly properties our soules were first endued which now cannot be againe recouered but thorow the helpe of Christ the true patterne and type of our first created Image To conclude how like we were made to God appeareth by our proposed end of that selfe-same happinesse and blisse which wee feare to loose and waite through hope to enioy with God himselfe both in louing and knowing of him as hee is Mans soule by creation had Reason and Will as it section 9 were for two wings Reason to vnderstand and know and Will to approue and elect things vnderstood and knowne And these two wings did with equall force and sweet consent carry vp and support the soule to guide it aright to God that so it might sore aloft with her affections as the Eagle flying carryeth her young ones to inure them with the Sunne so it might lift vp it selfe aloft from all infection whatsoeuer A rectitude and vprightnesse was also added that it might beare the force and power as it were of a cleare and pleasant gale of winde to these two wings which blast receiued into the braine did carry and freshly set forward the powers of the minde as when the flight of the Larke or Nightingale ascending on high is hastened with a quicke and pleasant winde wherewith these birds are so delighted that the higher they flye aloft towards the skye the more sweetly doe they sing Such a heauenly harmonie and consent was in all the faculties of the soule that alwayes and altogether they aspired with ioy to holy and heauenly things All excellent learning and skill was engrauen in mans soule his Reason was more sharpe and cleare then the Eagles eye which can behold the Sunne his Knowledge surpassed all Arts and Sciences so that by nature he could approach vnto the eternall light and vnderstanding of God himselfe and heauenly things as the Angels and holy Spirits themselues CHAP. II. Man in his first and best estate was mutable by nature and subiect to fall and so righteously made of God without any cause of iust complaint NOW for the better humbling of man in this his high estate that hee
body and soule from God Hence it appeareth that Death is threefold first corporall secondly spirituall and thirdly a death common both to body and soule and all these kindes due to all men without exception for all haue sinned and are destitute of the grace of God This corporall Death which I said to be a seperation of the soule from the body is likewise called the first Death And spirituall Death which is a renting of the soule from God who is the life thereof is also called the second Death Both corporall and spirituall or the Death that is common both to body and soule which is an euerlasting diuorce both of body and soule from the vnion and fellowship of God is also called eternall death which is inchoatiue in this life for they that beleeue not are condemned already and compleate in the life to come when after the resurrection of the body both body and soule shall euerlastingly be seperated from the Lord of life which is also common to all by reason of sinne yet not preuailing ouer Gods elect iustified and freed from it by faith in Christ Death therefore in a word is nothing else but a departing from life the life of the body is the soule therefore the separation of the soule from the body is Death And as the soule is the life of the body so the life of the soule is God therefore the going and departing of the soule from God to cleaue to sinne and Sathan is the death also of the soule The sinfull soule dies not because she turnes to nothing but in that she dies to God and liues to sinne for how can the substance thereof perish seeing it is the soule that giueth life he that receaueth the soule receaueth life and when the soule departeth life flyeth away The soule therefore is life and how can it die which is opposite so directly to death it selfe For as Snow can endure no heate but presently it melteth and as the Sun in his brightnesse can receaue no obscuritie but dissipates and dispels all darkenes by his cleare and christall beames and as the coldest and hardest Ice at the approach of the fire is turned into water so the soule which is the fountaine of life and authour of mouing is not capable properly of death nor can possibly die Therefore the soule of man being immortall ought to be well ordered and heeded least the Immortality to ioy should turne to Immortality of sorrow The death of the body is not the death of the soule but onely a seuering or parting of the same from the body As in taking of a Candle out of a Lanthorne we may take the light out and not put out the Candle and the Lanthorne is full of darkenesse by reason of the light remoued yet the Candle casteth her light more cleare and bright euen so the soule departing from this body of clay liueth and moueth afterward more freshly and blessedly The soule then dies not because it is vtterly abolished but because it is as though it were not it ceaseth to be in respect of righteousnes and fellowship with God for this is the death of all deaths when the creature hath subsisting and being still in it selfe and yet for all that is depriued of all happy and heauenly societie with God The soule in the body is the life of the flesh but God which quickneth all things is the life of our soules so saith Gregorie As the body dieth when it sendeth out the soule so doth the soule die when it looseth God The seperation from God is the death of the soule euen as the departing of the soule is the death of the body so saith Augustine Sinne begat the last and the punishment of sinne brought forth the first so saith Bernard The nature then of death in effect is the absence or depriuation of that life which God bestowed on man in his creation It is an execution of Gods iustice and iudgement vpon man for sinne God ordained it in iustice but man procured it by his sinne whose stipend it is euen the ouerthrower of mankinde an enemy to nature the dissolution of Gods worke the power of the diuell the strength of Gods wrath and the very kingdome of hell The death of the soule is to cease from righteousnesse and quite to be sequestred from the life of God This is called the first death in respect of time going as I said before the second which is the compleate death indeede for as the soule as we haue heard is the life of the body so God is the life of the soule and his spirit is as it were the soule of our soules the want of which communion brings nothing else but endlesse and eternall death Without God there is no life therefore Adam and Euah departing from God departed from their life and although their soules were not presently seperated from their bodies yet being gone from God their life they lay as it were buried in their bodies as dead carkases in the graues as also their bodies themselues euery moment were mortall Sinne saith Bernard went before and Death followed at the heeles which if Man had preuented death had not entred He would not be ruled by God and so was made vnable to rule his body Thus by sinne he lost his life found out death As his soule could not be diuided from God his life but by sinning no more could his body be seperated from his soule but by dying and nothing was more agreeable to Gods iustice then that a spirituall death should beget a corporall a guilty death that which is penall and a voluntary death an ineuitable and fatall So soone as man through sinne had turned himselfe from God so soone and as sodainely was he destitute of his grace and so soone did the huge hoast of death ceaze vpon him and besiege him as hunger thirst and nakednesse sicknesse sorrow and all kinde of miseries So soone as euer they had sinned saith Chrisostome euen so soone did the Lord pronounce sentence of death against them and euen as those that are condemned of an earthly Iudge although for a while perhaps they may be reserued a liue in prison and be repriued yet in effect they are but dead men Euen so our first parents though through the exceeding great mercy of God after sentence pronounced they did long enioy their liues yet forthwith in effect they were as good as dead for no day houre or moment did afterwards ensue in which they had assurance of their life Whereby we may learne that the life of sinners is no life indeede but a death being estranged from the life of God and none haue life in God which want beliefe in Christ for onely Christ who is eternall life through faith doth quicken vs So that truely to acknowledge Christ and thorough faith to possesse him is to be freed from death and to haue eternall
righteous God the Law-giuer is infinit eternall and so his Iustice offended therefore his death by transgressing must be endlesse and euerlasting God is iust and cannot deny himselfe Hee hath said that if man breake his Law he should dye the death and therefore death shall hold him God is perfect and pure and therefore the satisfaction must be answerable to his nature His righteous Law bindes both soule and body to obedience euen euery mans thoughts words and workes and therefore let euery man performe this and hee shall liue section 8 These and many moe are the darts of the Diuel which hee casteth against our soules to wound vs to death the least of which assuredly would peirce vs through were it not that the strength of Iesus Christ rebounds them back and blunts them Hee alone is our shield and buckler our helmet of saluation our Castle and house of defence hee couereth vs with his wings and wee are safe vnder his feathers his faithfulnesse and his truth shall still preserue vs. For all these dangerous darts and a thousand moe are nothing to his power their force is lesse and their violence weaker then straw or stubble to the furnace But to hasten the answere Gods Iustice indeede is section 9 gone out it cannot be reuersed Man must keepe his Law or man must dye eternall death Whereupon it pleased the onely Sonne of God to become the sonne of man for our sakes and so as man to satisfie the Law of God for our sinnes that Gods truth might not be altered No Angell nor Saint could be our Sauiour in this case but man who had offended God Now man of himselfe being too weake to beare this heauy weight Christ being God became also man as we haue heard that so hee might suffer as man and saue as God Our Mediator was God and man Man and God were foes and therefore being God and man hee reconciled man to God And as the first Adam by transgressing brought death vpon all men so Christ the second Adam by obaying brought life to all beleeuers Gods purest Iustice could not exact the thing which he fulfilled not It required the performance of the Law this hee accomplished being the end of the Law and the Prophets Hee was the substance of all the old Ceremonies and the very body of all the shadowes of the Law Hee was circumcised and baptised and so fulfilled all righteousnesse hee paid tribute and was obedient in all things and was vnder the Law so his comming was not to breake the Law but to fulfill the Law As it required perfect holinesse in man so hee was a man without sinne conceiued by the holy Ghost therefore hee was not afraid to say to the faces of his foes Which of you can rebuke mee of sinne Yea the Iudge himselfe that condemned him washed his hands as a witnesse of his cleannesse I finde no fault in this iust man True therefore is the saying of the Apostle that hee was made sinne for vs which knew no sinne that wee might be made the righteousnesse of God through him He is truely called the Paschall Lambe most pure and vnspotted which taketh away the sinnes of the world To him all the Prophets beare witnesse that iustly through his name is preached remission of sinne and that there is no other name vnder heauen by which we can be saued Thus hee fulfilled the Law for man which had broke section 10 the Law being man himselfe His obedience was most perfect he left nothing vnfulfilled And as hee kept the Law which man had broken so likewise did he beare the punishment which hee deserued The breach of the Law was the curse of God and eternall death He therefore became accursed and sustained death euen the death of the Crosse accursed of God and so by death ouercame death and by his curse brought the blessing of God vpon vs. Hee cancelled the hand-writing that the Diuell had against vs hee nayled it to his Crosse and made it void so that now the faithfull may triumph through Christ Death being swallowed vp in victory they may boldly exclaime and say O Death where is thy sting O Graue where is thy victory for the sting of Death being Sinne and the strength of Sin being the Law and both Sin and Law being abolished through Christ there is now no condemnation that remaineth and therefore thankes be to God who hath giuen vs the victory through Iesus Christ for hee hath taken our sinnes vpon his backe hee hath satisfied the Law of God not for himselfe but for vs hee dyed that wee might liue hee was accursed that wee might be blessed he was buryed and rose againe that wee might rise from our graues and liue for euer hee descended into hell that wee might ascend to heauen his righteousnesse is our righteousnesse and our sinnes are his this exchange did hee make for our sakes And therefore through Faith by him wee are reuiued quickened and strengthened All his merits are imputed vnto vs as though they were our owne and our sinnes are truely his for which he suffered and satisfied to the vtmost section 11 Christ Iesus I say is our onely satisfaction and sacrifice the fountaine of grace and vertue the portion of our inheritance our righteousnesse wisedome sanctification and redemption our hope of glory our doore to heauen the way the truth and the light our attonement vnto God our Shepheard Master Lord and King To be short hee is all in all to vs that are nothing This our Sauiour Christ hath abrogated the Law and hath redeemed those that were vnder the Law and hee himselfe is the end of the Law and that which the Law could not doe hee hath accomplished in his person And therefore O Diuell let Gods people goe for the Law cannot hold them And therefore O death resigne thy power thy sting and strength is nothing the Law being fulfilled and Sinne remoued The seede of the woman hath bruised the Serpents head Christ hath ledde captiuitie captiue and giuen gifts vnto men He hath reconciled and made as one all things both in heauen and earth Hee hath quite plucked downe the partition wall in abrogating through his flesh the hatred that remayned There is now neyther Iew nor Gentile bond nor free Scythian nor Barbarian man nor woman all that beleeue are one in Christ Hee hath made the Wolfe to dwell with the Lambe and the Leopard to lye with the Kid he hath made the Calfe the fat beasts and the Lyon so tame that a little childe may lead them the Cow and the Beare with their young ones not onely feede but lye together the sucking childe doth play vpon the hole of the Aspe yea euen the weaned childe most safely putteth his hand into the hole of the Cockatrice Christ hath now dissolued the workes of the Diuell and broken his snares asunder that all beleeuing sinners might
passe with speede to him that gaue it The spirituall body raised vp from the graue by the spirit of Christ shall againe being vnited to the soule obay it with admirable facilitie all sense of trouble being taken away and all corruption and slownesse remoued when all frailtie and earthly pollution is conuerted and changed into heauenly puritie and stedfastnesse which shall not neede eyther meate or drinke but liue for euer by the quickening spirit of Christ Man of woman is borne in trauell to liue in misery Man section 13 through Christ doth dye in ioy to liue in felicitie Hee is borne into the world with cryes vttering at his entrance his miserable estate Straight as hee departeth with ioyfull songs hee prayseth God for euer Hee is scarcely in his Cradle but deadly enemies assault him yet after death no aduersaries can annoy him Whilest he is here he displeaseth God when hee is departed he fulfilleth his will In this life hee dyeth through sinne in the life to come hee liueth in righteousnesse Through many tribulations on earth is hee still tryed as gold in a furnace but with holinesse vnspeakable in that heauenly life is he indowed for euer Here he dyeth euery houre there hee liueth continually Here is sinne there is righteousnesse here is time there is eternitie here is mortall hatred there is heauenly loue here are paines and perils there is pleasure and safety here is misery there is felicity here is corruption there is immortalitie here wee see vanitie there shall wee behold the Maiestie of God with triumph and vnspeakable ioy in glory euerlasting Seeke we therefore the things that are aboue where Christ Iesus our Sauiour sitteth in his Maiestie to receiue vs. Gods Children in this world are cast as it were into section 14 a sea of melting glasse to seethe for a time and boyle in and in great perplexitie to shift for themselues but at length God will dragge them out to the shoare and giue them ease in that blessed life to come Sinne with all misery afflictions and death it selfe shall be shut vp in hell as in the proper place and the passing from death to life doubles the ioyes of eternall life As those that haue escaped many dangerous shipwrackes on the sea greatly exulte when they come to shoare Mans habitation here is in houses of clay he leades his section 15 life in vile and irkesome sort here is no firmenesse of iudgement nor constancie in actions yea well-nigh no faith to be found amongst men In the day many an afflicted soule desires the night and when it is night they wish for day Bitter mourning they haue instead of meate and salt bryne teares in stead of drinke No ease from troubles nor release from afflictions is here to be found so that many desire deaths company and cannot haue it they sue to her for rest and peace as tyred sea-men for the port and hauen This world to all Gods Israel is an Egypt of indurable slauery here for a poore liuing they make brickes and pots without straw or stubble they toile and labour for Onions and Garlicke here they lye amongst rusty and filthy pots and are made as Scullions Their poore soules are sold for shooes and cut to pieces as flesh to the pot they are as bread and meate to vngodly men and are daily swallowed vp Their backes are broken with burdens and their hands feebled with immoderate labours None in comparison here regardeth the misery of poore Ioseph though his feete be hurt the stockes and the heauy gyues doe peirce his soule This is the guerdon of the world and the reward that the wicked ones repay to Gods elect as naked they came into it so naked they shall leaue it for all their toyle section 16 What comfort therefore may it be to the faithfull children of God to be freed from this thraldome and by Death as Gods messenger to be sent for of the King of heauen with him to rest from their trauell and to be blessed for euer for their houses of clay and earthly tabernacles to take possession of heauenly habitations glorious and eternall mansions with the liuing God himselfe To haue perfect libertie and freedome for their miserable slauery and bondage all fulnesse of ioy and comfort in stead of their former sorrowes and calamities neuer to hunger and thirst againe being still fully fed and fraught with the pleasures of Gods house and fully replenished with the dainties and delicates prouided for the marriage of the Lambe c. Is not this a royall exchange and happy Mart And therefore true is Pauls Positions that Death is the faithfull mans aduantage and that to be with Christ is best of all If Peter and Iohn hauing but a glimpse of Christs glory in the mount could speedily be resolued that it was best for them to dwell there what shall we then iudge of the fruition of happinesse and substance of glory when the very shadow thereof is so beautifull and glorious why therefore should we feare the sorrowes of death and graue being fully assured of the comfortable presence and protection of God himselfe Therefore we reioyce saith Paul of himselfe and the section 17 faithfull in all our tribulations and afflictions and why doe they reioyce because the loue of God is spread abroad in their hearts through the holy Ghost For as the sufferings of Christ doe abound so doe the consolations increase in Gods elect to their exceeding ioy Thus will the Lord when sicknesse sorrowes and death it selfe approach to his children comfort and visite them vpon their death beds ministring most sweet refreshing to their soules With his right hand will hee hold vp their heads and with his left hand will he imbrace them in his loue he will couer them with his wings and they shall be safe vnder his feathers his faithfulnes and truth shall be their shield and buckler who now would not hasten to the fruition of such ioy and continuall gladnesse of heart And what man in miserie desireth not to rid himselfe from the daily sorrow and sadnesse of spirit And since videre Christum sit gaudere as Cyprian saith to see Christ be the reioycing of Christians and that without the sight of him it is impossible for vs soundly to reioyce what blindnesse and madnesse is it in mortall men so to loue and embrace this vale of teares and not rather hasten to that perfect ioy that they can neuer loose Wherefore hidest thou thy face saith Augustine to God happily thou wilt say no man shall see me and liue Oh then Lord that I were dead so I might see thee Oh let mee see thee that I may die euen here I will not liue die I would yea I desire to be loosed and to be with Christ I refuse to liue that I may liue with Christ CHAP. VIII The
might know himselfe farre inferiour vnto God that thus had exalted him and acknowledge his subiection by the soueraignety of his Maker It pleased God in his wisedome to set a great difference as betweene the Angels and himselfe in their creation so betweene man made like to God made like I say to himselfe but not himselfe who onely hath this name and nature I am to shew his being of himselfe and vnchangeable nature and to teach vs that all creatures haue not onely their being but their standing and vpholding by him that onely is Therefore he is called the liuing God not onely because hee hath life in himselfe but because hee is the fountaine and originall of life he doth not onely liue but hath life of himselfe and is the cause of life because there is no life besides or without him Though mans nature saith Augustine was vpright and sound and nothing sinfull yet was it capable of sinne and apt to receiue infection Though man in his nature was mortall standing in his state yet was it not of necessitie that he should die and as our flesh is apt to receiue a wound yet euery one is not wounded and as the body of man is subiect to sicknesse yet many often die not touched with sicknesse So the state of Adams body was such that although it was subiect to death yet except sinne had come betweene he might and should haue liued for euer euen as the hose and shooes of the Hebrewes in the desart by Gods mighty prouidence and power neuer waxed olde by wearing or consumption Neither was this vnreasonable in God nor vnagreeable to his iustice to make a distinction betweene himselfe and his creatures for that he himselfe is onely good without change and alteration all his creatures good yet subiect to corruption Man was made of a mutable nature in power of standing and possibility of falling power of standing he had from God his creatour possibility of falling from himselfe being a creature Because the Lord created man of nothing therefore he left possibility in man to returne to nothing If God had giuen Adam an immutable nature he had created a God and not a man being onely proper to God to be vnchangeably good In the very Angels in heauen in respect of God is found imperfection the Cherubs hide their faces with their wings for the brightnesse of his glory Thus God doth humble all his creatures to exalt himselfe euen to teach them this not to goe from him of whom they had and haue their goodnesse nor to trust vnto themselues though by creation good yet subiect to decline Adam then although he was created in goodnesse yet was he made but changeably good for such was the goodnesse and inclination of his will to obey God as might be altered and changed by force of temptation The cause of this mutability was that the creature righteous by creation may remaine eternally and constantly righteous two helpes or fauours of God are necessarily required First a power to perseuere in goodnesse for without this power the creature of it selfe ceaseth to be good the second is an act or deede and that is the will to perseuere or perseuerance itselfe This also is requisite with the former for God giues not onely the power but also the will and deede and the creature doth not the good which it can doe vnlesse God cause it to doe the said good both which helpes the good Angels haue and therefore keepe them standing now Adam receiued the first of God but not the second for besides the goodnesse of his will he receiued of God a power constantly to perseuere in goodnesse if he would yet the act of perseuerance was left to the choise and liberty of his owne will In nature it selfe this truth appeareth God we know creates the eye and puts into it the faculty of seeing yet withall he addes to the eye necessary helpes by the light of the Sunne but for the act of seeing it is left to mans choise for he may see if he will or if he please he may shut his eyes Againe the Physition by Art procures an appetite this done he prouides conuenient foode yet for all this the patient may eate if he will or otherwise may abstaine Now if any reply that Adam receiued not sufficient grace hauing not the will to will that good he could and might the answer is that he receiued sufficient for the perfection of his nature that is for the full obedience of the will of God and for the attaining of euerlasting happinesse if he would not haue bin wanting to himself but he receiued not sufficient grace which might cause the immutability of his nature neither was it of necessitie to be giuen as I haue already shewed to a creature A Goldsmith intends to make a Iewell of singular price and value he compounds it of gold pearles and precious stones when hee hath brought it to perfection he doth not put this propertie to it that if it fall it shall not be bruised or broken Now God created Adam in all perfection and gaue him power and abilitie to continue in the same if he would yet did he not put vnto his nature this condition that it should be vnchangeable when it should be assayled by the force of outward temptation By this we see the weakenesse of the excellentest creature in it selfe without the grace of God Adam could fall of himselfe but he could not stand or rise againe he could not auoide the least assault of euill no further then he was helped by the grace of God We are to God as the sicke man to his keeper who saith Take me vp and I will rise hold me and I will stand helpe me and I will goe c. Which must make vs to renounce our selues and cleaue to God wholly depending vpon his gratious prouidence and protection in all our actions and attempts God I confesse could haue made our first parents of such an vnchangeable nature that they could not possibly haue fallen away but it was not expedient that they should be so made because then the obedience of man should seeme to haue beene forced as it were and so not so acceptable vnto God And albeit the body of man being made of dust and earth and himselfe in respect of his substance and beginning was mortall yet if he had preserued the holy spirit of God within him and giuen him the vpper hand this spirit of God which by sinne he vanquished had farre surmounted all that was mortall in him And to end this point As Sathan tempted Adam to proue God a lyer and to bring him to dishonour and so became the instrument of mans damnation So also Adam tempted himselfe to taste the fruit which as he thought would make himselfe as God Now God most iustly suffered him to be tryed by this meanes to make a way for his iustice
euerlasting Death in particular and of the horrour thereof GReat and heauie was the tribute that the eternall God as a most iust iudge imposed vpon man for sinne The Death of the body is fearefull in our eyes when wee consider with our selues how strangely the condition thereof is altered when the body that a fleshly man makes so much of his belly which he esteemeth for his God his mouth for whose delight the sea and land sufficed not his flesh that was wont to be cloathed with costly garments of silke and gold curiously wrought shall now sodainely be haled into a filthy hole and pit where it shall be trod vpon yea and eaten with wormes where in stead of gorgeous apparrell he must now onely enioy his winding sheete and instead of his perfumes and maskes filthy fauours and rottennesse and in lieu of his varietie of delicate dishes and seruing men to attend him to haue a company and infinite number of crawling vermine to feede vpon him What man I say now liuing and enioying sence and reason but will maruell to thinke of the base condition that so noble a creature comes vnto who in his life time had no fellow nor equall Is it not a wonder that so excellent a myrrour of nature should come to such a dishonourable base and loathsome estate The euerlasting Iudge knew well enough what penance he enioyned sinfull man when he said thou art dust and to dust thou shalt returne but what is this death and disgrace of the body to the death and deformity of body and soule in hell it is but as the byting of a flea to the stinging of a Scorpion a shadow to the substance If diseases which doe but make the way to death be so dreadfull what must the end and perfection of diseases be since as the diseases are the malidies of the body so Death it selfe the maladie of disease for there are that feare not so much to die as to be dead If the pang be bitter yet it is but short but the comfortlesse state of the dead strikes some farre deeper that could well be resolued otherwise for the act of their passage The very not being is sufficiently abhorred of nature if Death had no more to make it fearefull but those that haue liued vnder such shining beames of light to shew them the darke dungeon of hell after their straight passage thorough the gates of Death and such as haue learned that Death is not onely horrible for their not being here but for their abode and being infinitely and eternally miserable in the world to come not so much for the dissolution of life as the beginning of torment such I say cannot but extreamely feare to die and hellishly tremble to be dead indeede But if it be such paines to die what shall be the torture and torment to be euer dying and neuer dead And if the strayning of one Ioynt can so afflict vs as experience teacheth what shall the racking of the whole body and tormenting of the soule be whose animation alone maketh the body feele and complaine of smart And if our momentany sufferings seeme long how long shall that be which is eternall If so extreme sorrowes be incident indifferently to Gods dearest children vpon earth to driue them sometimes within the sight of despaire what shall those be that are reserued onely for those that hate the Lord and are hated of him There is nothing great that hath not an end as it is in the prouerbe but to be tormented in most horrible paines in all the parts of body and soule without remorse that shall neuer haue end nor ease nor mitigation nor declination nor change nor alteration nor hope of end in the sufferer or tormentour this euill is beyond all the thoughts of man this is the dying life and liuing Death full of endlesse horrour and torment where the damned are not before Death or after Death but alwayes in Death therfore neuer liuing nor euer dead but alwaies dying and it shall be neuer be worse to the wicked in Death then when their Death it selfe shall be without Death And it is great iustice in God that they neuer want the paine of hell who all their life time had all their pleasure set on sinne Who if they could faine would haue liued for euer but neuer left their sinne for he that forsaketh not his sin in this life seemeth alwaies for sinnes sake to liue euer From this Death therefore there is no returne it groweth by continuance and by continuing groweth from hell there is no redemption It is a gulfe deuouring all things that come into it neuer restoring any thing againe It is the pit of perdition and house of despaire It is the second Death farre exceeding the first beyond all conceits of man for what life haue the damned where there is nothing but immortality of torments and euill where there is nothing but the fellowship of Diuels and the damned where there is fire vnquenchable to which ours is but Ice Continuall burning there is the least yet this is not all for though the euils be most great and continuall yet here hope bringeth some ease as a little Starre in the night but in hell with those greatest torments and horrour of euils is the greatest despaire without hope of any ease or recouery This horror is most horrible far exceeding all worldly sorrow and feare better it were neuer to haue beene then not to be deliuered from that dying life which is indeede an immortall death In this life all the paines which fall vpon man are but particular and not vniuersall as we see one man pained in his eyes another in his backe another in his teeth another in his belly c. which particular paines notwithstanding sometime are so extreame as that life is not able to resist them and a man would not endure them so long for the gaining of many worlds But suppose now a man were tormented in all the parts of his body together and at once in his head eyes tongue teeth throat stomacke belly backe heart sides thighes and in all his ioynts besides without ease or intermission what thing could be more miserable then this what sight more lamentable yet consider further what difference there is betweene abiding these paines for a weeke or for euer and all eternitie in suffering of them vpon a soft bed or vpon a burning gridiron and boyling furnace amongst a mans friends comforting him or amongst the Furies of hell tormenting him Now therefore if a man would endure a great deale of labour rather then abide the one in this life how carefull and diligent should we be to hate our sinnes and serue the Lord while we liue rather then to incurre the other tortures and torments in the life to come The wicked shall be tormented for euer so long as God is God so long shall they burne in hell neyther shall the tormenter nor the tormented dye but both liue
Sepulchre can no where be found So that Sinne and Death can hurt vs no more for Christ is Lord ouer the Law Sinne and Death to all beleeuers Moses must giue place to Christ Death and Sinne can haue no roome but grace ioy righteousnesse life faith and peace must haue place with all true happinesse and heauenly rest The Law now cannot condemne nor saue it restraineth vs from sinning as the bonds and chaines the Lion and Beare from tearing and deuouring The Law is the Hammer of Death the thundring of Hell and lightning of Gods wrath that beateth to powder the obstinate and senselesse Hypocrites and hard-harted reprobates This is the true vse of the Law by fearefull tempests and sound of a Trumpet as in Synai to terrifie and by thunder to beate downe and rent in peeces that cruell monster of mans righteousnesse The Schoole-maister chastiseth his Schollers not to hurt them but to reforme them The rod is sharpe but correction is necessarie and the heart of the correctour louing The Physitian giueth a bitter potion to his patient to cure him the bitternesse is not to be imputed to the Physitian but to the medicine and maladie The Law condemneth the faithfull to death no more but teacheth and instructeth them in their duetie exhorteth and reproueth them and procureth them by all meanes to goe to the Schoole of Christ The Law and Christ are as the Physitian and Surgean comming to a sicke man to heale him The Surgean openeth the veine and taketh away the corrupt blood not to kill him but to recouer him to his health The Law peirceth our impostumes and corruptions of sinne and Christ healeth the wound But to seeke to be iustified by the Law is as if one hauing the Falling-sicknesse would ioyne to it the Pestilence for his recouery Or as if a Leper should come to one that had the leprosie to heale him or as one begger to another to enrich them So that they that seeke to be righteous by the Law are twise more vnrighteous weake and beggerly If a man now could fulfill all the Law of God yet could he not be saued because he was borne corrupt and could not possibly pay for that was past and in performing the Law afterward he should doe nothing but his duetie but this is our comfort that the Lord seeing our weakenesse hath in his loue passed by it and seeing our thoughts alwaies to be euill taketh no accompt or reckoning of vs but we resembling the Image of his Sonne the Lord reckoneth with him and striketh off our debts in setting them on his score who hath paid the Lord his full due euen to the vtmost farthing being in his birth cleane in his life holy and in his death obedient We therefore that haue no goodnesse of our owne haue iust cause highly to extoll the goodnesse of God freely giuen to vs in Iesus Christ For the trusting to our owne merites is the reioycing of Sathan the serpent that would sting vs. But the fastening of the firme Anchor of our hope vpon Christ alone is his ouerthrow and baine For as the Apostle exulteth If God be on our side who will be against vs. This is the onely victorie that ouercommeth the world euen our faith fixed on Christ This is the sling of Dauid to throw that mightie Goliah to the ground yea euen the weapon that slayeth him Neither the Law then nor merits of men nor any other meanes whatsoeuer but onely the deserts of Christ take place in the worke of our redemption The death and passion of Iesus Christ is a soueraigne medicine against all diseases of soule and body the remembrance whereof doth much mitigate the feare and horrour of death for hee that beleeueth in this crucified Sauiour is already passed from death to life By his vniust condemnation which we onely haue deserued we are deliuered and absolued at the iudgement seate of God and by the death which he suffered wee haue life and our death is abolished Christ suffered for our sinnes the iust for the vniust he hath borne our sinnes and God hath laid our sorrowes vpon him and by his stripes wee are healed He hath died for vs that wee might liue no more to our selues but to him which died for vs which we must doe by faith For faith presenteth Christ before our eyes It seeketh him out as a mighty Sampson which breaketh the gates of his enemies and carrieth them away vpon his shoulders who killed and destroyed more by his death then by his life So that Christ alone being crucified did conquer the Diuell being nailed to the crosse he cancelled the enditement of the law laid against vs and by dying he slaue Death and Sinne with their owne swords as Dauid did Goliah and broke the Serpents head Hee opened the Sepulchre and gaue life vnto the dead yea he entred into the house of Death and Hell and like a strong armed man bereaued them of their forces No sooner was Ionah cast into the Sea but the tempest ceased no sooner was the paschall Lambe slaine but the Israelites were deliuered no sooner was the high-Priests dead but all banished men returned home into their country What was this but a figure of Christ by whose Death we haue all returne into our country and deliuerance from all danger and destruction Who would not lay his burden vpon him that so desireth to giue him ease God would not haue the sinner to die and be damned but to liue and be saued Haue wee had so many experiments of his loue and should wee now doubt thereof Is the Iudge become our Aduocate and shall wee feare to goe forward to the throne of grace One deepe calleth another and what is that saith one There is a depth of mans miserie now at the gates of death and there is a depth of Gods mercie which is ready to heare and helpe all that call vpon him Now miserie calleth vpon mercie wee may cry Helpe Lord for besides him there is none to helpe It is not the peeces and patches of our owne deserts that can make vs a garment to couer our nakednesse and sinne but it is the Scarlet-roabe that tooke so deepe a double dye in the bloud of Christ that must now alone stand vs all in stead CHAP. III. The faithfull onely and such as are vnited to Christ are redeemed from death and restored to euerlasting life with the singular priuiledges and effects thereof NOW as the benefit of our Redemption section 1 by Christ is great and vnspeakable performed onely by Christ himselfe and his onely meanes so none but his members are partakers thereof Hee is the head the Church is his body and euery faithfull man is a member for his part And as there is no life in the body but as it is vnited to the head nor any motion in the
members being separated from the body So in Christ our head consisteth our life as we are true members of his body the Church vnited to him by a true and liuely Faith and so quickned by his Spirit and knit and ioyned one to another in a holy fellowship and communion by the bond of loue Christ is the Vine and the faithfull his branches without him they can doe nothing as they are of this tree they are fruitfull but broken off they are barren and liue no more but dye and wither away By his life alone wee liue and without his death we are but dead and damned for euer Therefore wee must know and learne our true vnion section 2 with Christ and try our selues whether wee be members of that body whereof hee is head For none I say are redeemed from death and freed from condemnation but those alone that are in Christ whom they cannot possibly apprehend but by a true and liuely Faith which is the spirituall hand to lay hold on Christs merits to eternall life Hereby we are interessed in all that eyther God hath promised or Christ hath performed hence haue we from God both forgiuenesse of sinnes and assurance of his fauour This is the ground of our happinesse and glory hence of enemies wee become more then friends euen the sonnes of God that may challenge not onely prouision and safe protection on earth but an euerlasting possession and inheritance in heauen The apprehension of Christs all-sufficient satisfaction by a true and a liuely Faith maketh it our owne and vpon our satisfaction wee haue remission vpon remission followeth reconciliation vpon our reconciliation the peace of God which passeth all vnderstanding When therefore our conscience like a sterne and sturdy Serjeant shall catch vs as it were by the throat and arrest vs for Gods debt our Plea must be it hath beene paid and so bring forth that bloudy acquittance sealed vs from heauen vpon our true and assured Faith So shall the cruell looke of our Conscience be changed into friendly smiles and that rough and violent hand ready to dragge vs downe to hell shall euen louingly embrace vs and fight for our righteous Crowne Oh heauenly peace and more then peace whereby alone we are in league with our selues and God with vs. section 3 Gods Spirit sheweth vs our pouerty and where to buy Gold that shall cost vs nothing It sheweth vs our wretchednesse that haue nothing but ragges to put on and withall the wardrobe of Christs righteousnesse where we shall haue garments fit for Gods Saints It sheweth vs our Apostacie how wee haue fallen and by our fall haue euen broken our necke and sends vs to Christ our Physitian who is onely good at such a desperate disease It sheweth vs our debt and our Serjeant the Diuell to arrest vs and then sends vs to the Lord-Treasurer of heauen in whose hands are sufficient to discharge whatsoeuer wee owe. Gods Children then must be knit vnto Christ the Son section 4 of God they liue in his life and stand in his strength whose right hand hath made all things and whose yeares endure for euermore who is heyre of all things and shall shew vs his glory and immortalitie when all these creatures shall haue a change There is no saluation nor sanctification for vs vnder heauen but as our nature is really vnited to the person of Christ the Sonne of God who hath sanctified and sacrificed himselfe for vs. Euen as our hands armes and other parts are not nourished but onely by the meate receiued of the head so our spirituall meate of life and righteousnesse can no where else be deriued to vs but from Christ our head And as the veynes are meanes by which nourishment is conueyed to euery part so Faith is the instrument by which we receiue from Christ all that is healthfull for our soules And as by ioynts and sinewes our members are really knit and made a compleat body vnto the head so really truely and indeed by one Spirit wee be knit vnto Christ and substantially made one with him as our naturall members are made one with our head This though wee cannot conceiue yet wee are bound section 5 to beleeue Wee now beleeue in the Lord our God and yet wee know not his countenance wee beleeue and apprehend by hope his glory yet neyther eye can see it no nor heart conceiue it wee beleeue the resurrection of the dead yet wee cannot vnderstand such excellent wisdome how our life should be renewed in the dissolued bones and scattered ashes Euen so wee beleeue that Christ and wee are one hee of vs and wee of him hee the head wee the body really substantially and truely knit together but not by ioynts and sinewes for that vniting we know but by his Spirit which all his Children haue and this coniunction indeed can wee neuer fully comprehend till wee know God as hee is and his holy Spirit which hath wrought this blessing The diuine nature vnited to the manhood of Christ hath giuen the participation of his office to him as man that as God is Mediator so is man as God hath deserued saluation so hath man and that hee as man shall iudge the quicke and the dead not that hee shall iudge by his manhood but Christ man shall iudge the world This Christ is not onely God with vs in nature but in person for the reprobate are of the same nature with him and he with them yet is he not God with them but against them But wee as the Apostle speaketh are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones euen as a man and wife which are not onely one in nature but in person by speciall couenant so are wee one with Christ by couenant of grace and being one with him wee are also one with the Trinitie I pray thee O Father saith Christ as I am one with thee so these may be one with vs both which bringeth great comfort to Gods Elect that through Christ haue the whole God-head reconciled vnto them and dwelling in them section 7 And as Christ is our person and Sauiour so his righteousnesse is ours since we haue him whose it is and this maintaineth Gods iustice to punish Christ in our person and to iustifie vs in his in respect hee is in vs and wee in him and so doth hee neyther punish the innocent nor iustifie the offender And in this respect when wee know that Christ is truely ours that God giueth life and this life is in the Sonne and this Sonne is in vs it followeth that wee are not saued by his righteousnesse but by our owne his person being made one person with vs. By regeneration wee are made partakers of his diuine nature and flesh that is our nature is renewed and sanctified and is made another flesh to wit the flesh of Christ For as the Sonne of God was so made man that by
the Bee doth fall among the weedes which seeme section 7 sweet flowers and lights on this and sits on that and tasting all is pleased with none but flyes away so here the faithfull soule findes no delight in these flowers of sinfull flesh and worldly weedes but like Noahs naked doue returnes againe whence she was sent and soares to heauen No more then shall Gods Children paine themselues in heaping together these exhalations of the earth for the heauens shall be ours and this masse of earth which euer draweth vs to the earth shall be buryed in the earth No more then shall wee weary our selues with mounting from degree to degree and from honour to honour for wee shall highly be raised aboue all heights of the world and from on high laugh at the folly of all those wee admired who fight here foolishly for lesse then a poynt or an apple like little children No more then shall we haue such combats in our selues for our flesh shall be dead and our spirit in full life our passions buryed and our Reason freed in perfection Our soule deliuered out of this foule and filthy prison shall againe draw her owne breath recognize her ancient dwelling and againe remember her former glory section 8 This flesh which wee feele this body which we touch is not properly man Man is from heauen heauen is his Countrey and his Ayre That hee is in his body is but by way of exile and confinement Man indeede is soule and spirit man is rather of celestiall and diuine qualitie wherein is nothing grosse or materiall This body such as it is is but the barke and shell of the soule which must needes be broken if wee will be hatched for a heauenly life if wee will truely liue and see the light Wee looke but through false spectacles wee haue eyes but ouer-growne with pearles wee thinke wee see but it is in a dreame wherein wee see nothing but deceit All that wee haue and all that we know is but abuse and villany Death onely can restore vs both life and light And yet so blockish are wee that wee thinke shee comes to rob vs of them Though our soule now for a while be bound to our bodies as Isaack was tyed to the Altar yet so soone as the bonds are loosed it mounteth vp to heauen a place of ioy and blisse Death depriues the soule of no good but freeing it from the burden of the flesh makes it fitter for goodnesse It is the very graue of sinne to the faithfull and the instrument and meanes to raise them vp to the life of righteousnesse through it the sinfull bodies are resolued to dust that so defiled the soule and so the soule once separated aspireth to the heauenly Spheares section 9 The nature of the earth saith one is cold and drye so are our earthly affections to deuotion and pietie The earth stands still without motion and hath the circumference carryed round about it so Gods benefits compasse earthly men and yet they are nothing moued The earth doth often extinguish hot and fiery exhalations which otherwise would ascend so doe earthly affections many holy and heauenly motions of remembring our latter end But the qualitie of the earth which wee should imitate for our good is to be fruitfull after tilling because that the ground which bringeth forth bryars and thornes is subiect to a curse The dearest children of God here in the flesh are as section 10 poysoned vessels washed by the holy Ghost wherein notwithstanding there rests some taste and tallage of the former corruptions But the reprobate and wicked are as barrels full of poyson infused of the Diuell wherein the spirit of God neuer shewed his power Sinne in the regenerate hath a deadly wound and is like the Sun faintly appearing through a thicke cloud but in the wicked it hath a full and violent course Yet if wee haue receiued but the earnest-penny of Gods Spirit in this life wee shall be sure to receiue our full wages and pay in the life to come Neyther neede wee be dismaid that we limpe with Iacob and be imperfect in this life for if wee had no infirmities wee should be as proud as the Diuell whereas now they serue to humble vs and make vs thankfull vnto God so mercifully restrayning them and so fatherly passing by them and so they serue to multiply our grones vnto God the sooner to be freed from this body and bondage of sinne God doth here buffet his children with their imperfections as he did Paul lest they should grow insolent Now the Lord will trust vs no more with perfection since Adam lost it in Paradise but will exercise vs with our weaknesses lest wee should step into our old mothers conceipt to thinke our selues Gods And thus the Lord cureth our grosse sinnes by our infirmities euen as the best Triacle is made of poyson and the skinne of a Viper is the best cure against the sting of a Viper And though our infirmities be simply euill yet qualified and tempered with God our Physitians hand they are turned to our good If God be on our side who can be against vs Nay rather section 11 saith Chrisostome who is not against vs But howsoeuer they are against vs they shall not long trouble vs for God is a recorder of our patience and Death the finisher of our paine And though the heauy burden of our sinfull flesh doe load vs yet lightsomnesse it is to a Christian to thinke that the way is not long The traueller thinking of his Inne but especially of his home which is the end of his trauell goeth more chearfully on to the end of his iourney The bond-man calling to minde the yeares of Iubilee endureth with more patience the yeares of his bondage Great are our troubles and trauels in this life but saluation will one day make amends for all when wee shall once be landed on the shoare of perfect securitie and be deliuered from all toylesome labours c. Happy yea thrice happy and blessed shall the faithfull be being departed from a shadow of life to true life it selfe from darknesse to light from trouble to rest from sinfull men to the most holy God when the battell of their warfare shall be ended and they quite freed from al the throes of Sinne and Death section 12 One faith well that the word of God is swift and it requireth a speedy follower if speede in following much more in attayning if speede in the body which is a burden of sinne much more when the soule hath put it off if vnder the crosse wee groane and yet goe forward with how much more speede shall wee haste to the Crowne when all teares shall be wiped from our eyes And if it be true of a glorified body as Augustine speaketh that the body is straight where the minde will how much rather shall a sanctified soule disburdened of the body
which were lost by sinne returne againe vnto vs as soone as we leaue this world section 12 Now where coelestiall things succeede terrestriall great and inestimable things those that are small and base eternall and euerlasting such as are transitorie and fraile is there any occasion so to waile and weepe It belongeth to him to feare death that would not goe to Christ which beleeueth not that then hee begins to reigne in heauen when hee leaues the earth wherefore wee must iudge of death not as it seemeth in it selfe but as it is in Christ Naturally we desire to be and consequently wee shunne death which depriues vs of our being heere Death I confesse is fearefull to the dearest children of God for a while because it is repugnant to their nature yet notwithstanding we see our estate being holden as prisoners in this body of sinne so long as wee liue and therefore we ought to long for the euerlasting life which is promised vs after death For when wee draw nigh towards death then come we neere to it and death is the very gate of life assuring our selues that since Iesus Christ himselfe hath passed that way we neede not be dismayed that death shall conquer vs for it is now through him but as a rebated sword and blunted knife whose edges and points are bowed and broken which albeit they draw some bloud yet serueth it but to purge vs. Neyther doth God euer suffer his Elect to depart this section 13 life without great comfort vntill they haue seene their Sauiour with old Simeon eyther in soule or Spirit The life of this perswasion is the death of sinne and such hope of eternitie is the reuenge of iniquitie Fye vpon sinne whilest I behold my Sauiour fie vpon shame whilest I behold my glory Heauen is my hope the spirituall visions of my heart are the impressions of my ioy Therefore let vs shake off feare and arme our selues to runne this race not seeking any by-way but keeping on the high-way to heauen whither Christ our captaine hath already conducted vs in his flesh CHAP. IX The blessed and vnspeakable happinesse ioy and immortalitie of the faithfull after this life ended NOw that our desires may be further inlarged section 1 towards heauen and our affections the better with-drawne from the loue of this deceitfull life and world of vanities it will not be amisse at the least to meditate on those compleat ioyes which no tongue indeede is able to expresse or heart of man conceiue which Christ by his bitter death and sufferings hath full dearely purchased for vs. Saint Paul counteth all the afflictions of this life that men can suffer not to be worthy of the glory which shall be shewed which he calleth an eternall waight of glory Our afflictions here are but momentany and temporall but the ioyes of heauen are eternall not possible to be expressed It is a shew beautifull in sense wonderfull in waight excessiue in measure without bounds in dignitie without comparison and in continuance without end yea it is such and so great that as one torment in hell shall make a reprobate to forget all his worldly pleasures so the least taste of this glory shall make the heyres of God to forget all their former miseries This glory is like God the giuer of it that must be imbraced for the excellencie of it and thirsted after for the eternitie of it The ioyes of heauen as farre exceed these prison-ioyes section 2 on earth as Mannah in the Wildernesse did the flesh-pots of Egypt and the bread that the lost sonne ate in his fathers house the huskes he ate abroad with Swine They are so great saith one that they cannot be measured so long that they cannot be limited so many that they cannot be numbred so precious that they cannot be valued yet wee shall see them without wearinesse loue them without measure and praise them without end God in creating this transitory world which yet is but a poore cottage to his eternall habitation what power what magnificence what maiestie hath he shewed therein what glorious heauens and how wonderfull hath hee created what infinite Starres and other Lights hath he deuised what Elements hath he framed and how strangely hath hee compact them together The Seas tossing and tumbling without rest so well replenished with all sorts of fish the Riuers running incessantly through the earth like veynes in the body and yet neuer to be empty or ouer-flow the same The Earth it selfe so furnished with all varietie of creatures as that the hundred part thereof are not imployed by man but remaine to shew to man the full hand and strong arme of his Creator And all this was done in an instant with one word and that for a small time in respect of the eternitie to come What then shall wee conceiue of the house of God that glorious heauen it selfe If the cottage of his meanest seruant and that made for a time to beare off as it were a showre of raine be so princely so glorious so gorgeous so full of maiestie as wee see this world is what must we think that the Kings Pallace it selfe is appoynted for all eternitie for himselfe and his friends to liue and raigne in for euer O Lord saith Augustine if thou in this vile body of ours giuest vs so great and innumerable benefits from the firmament section 3 from the ayre from the earth from the sea by light by darkenesse by heate by shadow by dewes by showres by windes by raines by birds by fishes by beasts by trees by hearbs by plants and by such varietie and ministery of all thy creatures Oh sweet Lord what manner of things how great how good and how infinite are those which thou hast prepared in our heauenly Countrey where we shall see thee face to face If thou doe so great things for vs in our prison what wilt thou giue vnto vs in our Pallace If thy enemies and thy friends be so well prouided for together in this life what shall thy onely friends receiue in the life to come If our Iayle containe so great matters what shall our Countrey and Kingdome doe O my Lord and God thou art a great God and as there is no end of thy greatnesse nor measure of thy wisedome nor number of thy mercies so is there neyther end number nor measure of thy rewards towards them that loue thee But these ioyes alas can we not comprehend whilest we liue in loue with this world no more then a prisoner shut vp in a dungeon can know what is done in a Princes pallace or a banished man in a forraine land can learne what is done in his Country from which he is exiled If the very remembrance of the ioyes of heauen so affect section 4 Gods Children what will the fruition doe Wee are somewhat moued when wee call to minde that all the Saints in heauen doe know God all see God all loue
new couenant it is an euerlasting couenant I was not taken vnder condition of time nor no time shall preuaile against mee Our Christian state and condition is not changeable as Adams was in Paradise but it is made sure in the body of Christ vnited with the person of the godhead so are the waies in which wee are led into it immutable Our faith is not extinguished our loue cannot be quenched our hope faileth not nor the holy spirit can euer be taken from vs but still they are new to vs to eternall life section 9 And as for the wicked they shall be as well able to saue themselues without God as to hurt vs hauing God and the worst they can doe is but to send vs to God And for Sathans darts cast out against vs they are turned aside in the armour of Christ his flouds can neuer drowne vs and his buffetings shall be as our preseruatiues against presumption Christ our head was wounded for our sins and is healed againe raigning and triumphing in heauen why then should we which beleeue in him haue our hearts heauie in earth as though the head had forgotten the body or any part thereof No let vs not doubt that he will suffer a haire thereof to perish which he so dearely purchased Michael I meane our captaine Christ hath conquered that dreadfull red dragon and subtill serpent with his leaders and liuetenants death and hell why should we be so much moued with any force of flesh and bloud or any mischiefe the world can worke vs section 10 Be of good cheare saith Christ I haue ouercome the world Seeing hee hath broken the head of our enemie what should his taile so much trouble vs Seeing hee hath taken away our sinnes what should any sorrow remaine amongst vs God doth not choose them worthy but in choosing them maketh them worthy He hath all in himselfe which hath himselfe and hee hath himselfe which hath God and he hath God who beleeueth and confesseth his creatour but he that hath lost his faith hath nothing else to loose Christ hath said it and it is a warrant to our wearied soules that those that his father hath giuen him may be where he is to behold his glory This is his will and who dare wrest it the head will haue his members the Bridegroome his spouse God his elect and Christ his redeemed and where will he haue them but where he is and that is in heauen So much what Death is in Christ Now followeth our preparation thereunto The end of the second Booke THE THIRD BOOKE Of preparation vnto DEATH CHAP. I. The necessitie of preparation with the motiues the remembrance of Death much auaileth thereunto to the godly and the carelesnesse of most men herein FOr as much as the best things are section 1 not easily attained vnto being so precious and excellent in themselues without the hardest labour and greatest attempt vile and easie things being vsually most common and these so rare Our most wise and prouident God to whet our affections and to sharpen our desires to heauen and heauenly things hath inioyned vs a taske to be performed before we can aspire to our happy perfection For hauing the sumptuous tower of our saluation to build we must first sit downe and reckon our costs it will stand vs in The crowne of glory being proposed wee must first fight the battaile of faith without being foyled And the garland of saluation being hung vp as it were before our eyes we must striue to run the race without tyring vntill we come to the goale where we must receiue the prize of our paines with endlesse profit section 2 The dominions of heauen I confesse are great and large but the way thither is narrow and straight and we must striue to enter in the wicket-doore is small and the throng great therefore we must vse a godly violence to thrust our selues in if we will be saued Now the way wee haue heard already and the doore of our entrance which is death hath sufficiently beene described It onely remaineth that we be christianly fitted and prepared for the entrance Constant therefore we must be in our course condition of life enioyned vs of God for what auaileth it the Sea-faring man to haue sailed safely through the surging Seas to haue escaped dangerous syrts and sands the craggie rockes and rough passages if yet he be sunke or sustaine Shipwrake in the hauen What profiteth it the Souldier or most corragious Captaine to haue giuen many on-sets in the battaile and foyles to his foes if yet he be killed before he ouercome It booteth not to run ourselues breathlesse in the race if we get not the goale and we shoote but at Rouers if wee misse the marke This world therefore being as a Sea a field a race and a marke to all Gods elect Let them so saile therein as they may come safely to the shoare so fight in this field that they may ouercome so runne that they may obtaine and so shoote that they misse not the marke that is that they may after this life come to the expectation of their hope end of their trauell euen the blessed immortalitie of euerlasting life section 3 We all with our lips confesse that we must die and that death is the gate either to heauen or hell and yet not one of vs amongst milions of men so religiously spend and passe their daies as hoping to goe to heauen or fearing the way to hell If we be once resolued that in extremitie of sicknesse we cannot escape with life there is none of vs that is not very sorry that euer he offended God liuing in drunkennesse adulterie deceit riot or in any such excesse or bad course of life without Gods feare then will euery one wish that he had better serued God c. Such are vaine mens complaints and late lamentations Yet now whiles God vouchsafeth meanes and time to liue why doe we not prepare our selues in time Why hasten wee not to liue in such sort as at the day of death wee wish we had For looke how Death leaueth a man so shall the last Iudgement finde him In this life there may be changes and conuersions from euill to good but after death there can be none at all for looke where the tree falleth there it lyeth whether towards the North or towards the South Neede wee haue ro gird vp our loynes and to get Oyle for our Lampes at all assayes for the sodaine and vncertaine comming of the Bridge-groome Our corrupt and cursed nature will still make vs carelesse section 4 of our end naturally wee are giuen to cocker our selues with fleshly dreames of continuall peace and securitie and there is none so olde but hee hopeth still to liue longer as though he were in league with Death and Graue But it is too late to beginne then to liue when wee must
vse God as that they may inioy the world If we loue God lesse then we ought when we loue many section 8 things besides him which we loue yet for his sake how much then a greater sinne is it when wee shall loue our goods and friends not for Gods sake but euen in spight of God in that we loue them more then God that calleth vs from them such Christ pronounceth not worthy of his glory Therefore happy is hee O Lord which loueth thee and his friends in thee and his enemies for thee for he can neuer be destitute of friends who inioyeth God which is neuer lost and esteemes all as friends Gods children and chosen can neuer be poore that are ioyned to so rich and glorious a head euen Iesus Christ the Lord Treasurer of heauen in whom all the riches of Gods wisedome mercy goodnesse c. are hid and god-head it selfe doth corporally dwell But alas thou wilt say it is hard to forgoe our sweet children and deare wiues our trusty and best beloued friends our pastures and tillage our grounds and sumptuous buildings our mannor-houses rents and reuenewes our great treasures and Iewels and other worldly wealth And what of all this to him to whom all things are counted losse and esteemed as dung in regard of Christ And haue not the true souldiers of Christ learned long agoe to despise all these assaults whose soules still watch in the ward and tower of this body expecting euery moment to heare the sound of the trumpet to follow their Captaine Christ Therefore they vse this body not as a home or strong hold but as a Tabernacle and pitched tent for a time to serue their turne in this field of their warfare They hoord not their treasures here but are content with their daily pay alwayes watching in the campe harnessed for the fight The souldiers of the world lie sleeping and snorting Christs souldiers are alwayes watching and waiting for his comming If we loue our friends too much and not God aboue all things then hath our sorrow no measure as it ought section 9 He cannot be said to flit that neuer changeth his host God alone is as a thousand companions hee alone is a world of friends and though we depart from our friends here we goe to more better and more louing As Iacob said when hee should die I shall be gathered to my people hereby declaring that death is a passage to many more folkes and greater friends then we leaue behinde There is God our Father his Sonne our brother his heauen our inheritance and all his Angels and Saints as our brethren sisters and kinsfolkes with whom we shall inioy eternall blisse That man neuer throughly knew what it was to be familiar with God that complaines of the want of his home and friends while God is with him If the Sonne naturally loue his Father of whom he hath his body how much more should the children of God loue him of whom they haue both bodies and soules Carnall Parents and friends are to be loued but the Creator to be preferd and double imbraced Loue him therefore most of all which thou canst not loose euen thy Redeemer who to draw thee vnto his loue and to deliuer thee from the loue of the world stretched out his armes vpon the crosse and suffered a most vile and cursed death to purchase for thee not an earthly but a heauenly and an euerlasting life CHAP. VI. Now Death is and may be feared of the faithfull and how of wicked Infidels No man is to be censured simply for the manner or suddennesse of Death We may not couet to know our death or for any thing to shorten our life THere is no one greater hinderance to the section 1 cheerefull resolution of our death and departure then the fore-conceiued feare of flesh and blood against the same And this is common to all men without exception of any in a measure and degree for so long as wee remaine in this body of sinne wee cannot choose but feare death the wages thereof which followeth and pursueth the sinner to his graue as the shadow doth the body till the Sunne be set And indeede it is both naturall in all to desire their being and so to hate Death depriuing them thereof in this world as also lawfull in Gods children for their true humiliation before they be exalted in the highest heauens It may be feared in regard it is the destruction of nature in a mans owne selfe and others and in this respect Christ feared it himselfe without any sinne But wee must not feare it otherwise then sicknesse pouertie famine with other calamities of body and minde which God will not haue vs to despise or lightly regard but to feele the paine thereof because they are sent as punishments for sinne and he doth therefore lay paines and torments vpon vs that they may be feared and eschewed and that by eschewing them wee may further learne to hate the causes of them which are our sinnes and by our experience in feeling paine to acknowledge that God is a iust Iudge and an enemie to sinne And albeit I grant that the most faithfull men haue their fits of feare yet are they euer free from the bondage section 2 and state of those that haue no hope For although they die in body yet are they free from eternall death And this is their blessing indeede not that they shall not die but that the snares of death cannot hold them not that they shall not feare but that feare shall not conquer them and he is a true christian man that neither refuseth to die nor yet fainteth for any feare of death Before iudgement it is good to be afraide that thou maist finde fauour at the tribunall of the Iudge Faith and a religious feare are alwaies friends in a Christian man The feare of Gods iudgement is as a needle the loue of God as a thread first the needle entreth and then followeth the thread Faith striketh Gods children with feare and terrour and anone vanquisheth and ouercommeth the same it feareth vs with the greatnesse of him whom we offend and yet ouercommeth the same by leading vs to Christ our attonement to God section 3 And as it is sometime no fortitude or man-hood to be afraide to die but a stupor and stoicall obstinacie So to feare death approaching is not alwaies a note of infidelitie and mistrust of Gods loue seeing feare many times proceedes from the infirmitie of nature or sexe Ezechiah was an vpright man yet feared he the sentence of Death his very bones did shiuer and all his ioynts did quake yea his tongue did chatter like a Swallow and Christ himselfe had his agonies and wrestlings The affections of nature are not simply euill in themselues but lawfull and tollerable when they are ordered by Gods spirit But if we feare death let vs seeke out the cause of this feare
will set vs all at rest in his due time section 12 Wee must therefore neyther hate this life for the toyles therein for that is sloath and cowardlinesse nor loue it for the delights for that is folly and vanitie but serue our selues of it to serue God in it who afterward shall place vs in ioyfull rest and replenish vs with pleasures which shall neuer more perish Againe to flye it is childish and in flying from it wee meete it Much lesse ought wee to seeke it for that is temerâ—tie nor euery one that would dye can dye It is enough that constantly wee waite for deaths comming that shee neuer finde vs vnprouided Wee must not fall sodainely vpon death but march valiantly towards the same by little and little wee must not rashly or vnaduisedly leaue our life like one that takes his runne to fetch the better rise CHAP. VII Consolations against the agony of Death and horrour of the Graue and Corruption THE very remembrance of Death is bitter section 1 enough to frayle and mortall man but the agonies and bickerings wee haue in the flesh are farre beyond the conceit of men For such is the weaknesse of our nature and the guiltinesse of sinne making warre in our flesh that without especiall aide and helpe from heauen wee shall be swallowed vp of griefe And what man is hee so strong in Faith that can contayne himselfe in this pittifull tryall of deaths combat It made Christ himselfe to sweat and cry and pray before he got the victory Although I confesse the burden of our sinnes and Gods wrath were importable to any but himselfe yet was hee fitted with grace and power without measure and for all that felt this horrour and therefore the best and strongest regenerate men cannot goe free but are made conformable to the sufferings of Christ in a measure Besides the corruption of sinne remayning in vs which finally must be purged by the bitter pill of death Ezechiah after the sentence of death pronounced section 2 against him by the Prophet complayneth how his dayes were cut off that he should goe to the gates of the graue to the pit of corruption where hee could not see the Lord any more in the Land of the liuing nor the inhabitants of the world to confesse and prayse God as the liuing doe and hope for his truth He cryes out that his habitation is remoued like a Shepheards Tent and his life cut off as the weauers webbe that God brake all his bones like a Lyon and so made an end of him This made him in his prayer to chatter like a Swallow and mourne like a Doue Hee saith hee was oppressed and walked to his graue in the bitternesse of his soule c. What should I speake of many other of the faithfull which cry out aliue as men free among the dead drawing neere to the graue and going downe to the pit who are remembred no more but cut off by Gods hand lying in a place of darknesse and in the deepe feeling Gods wrath lying vpon them being vexed with all his waues and stormes How doe they stretch out their hands with lamentable complaints saying Shall thy louing kindnesse be declared in the graue or thy faithfulnesse in destruction Shall thy wondrous workes be knowne in the darke and thy righteousnesse in the land of obliuion I omit to speake of Iob of Ionah and many of Gods children who haue rufully complained in this case section 3 If the parting company of one way-faring man with another when they haue trauelled but for a time together doe cause such sorrow and solitarinesse what a griefe then will it be to thinke that two such friends as the Soule and Body haue beene shall be separated and singled one from another which so long haue trauelled together euen from the mothers vvombe vntill the instant moment of death Betweene whom there hath beene so many knots and bands of mutuall loue O Death how imperious art thou to carnall mindes aggrauating their other miseries not onely by expectation of future payne but by the remembrance of wonted ioyes not suffering them to see ought but what may torment them Great no doubt are the horrours of death when the sicke man shall see the world his friends and all earthly things forsaking him but farre greater is the horrour of iudgement to consider hee is now going to answere for all that hee hath done in his body whether it be good or ill If the countenance of an earthly Iudge be fearefull to a guilty prisoner how much more shall the beholding of an eternall Iudge amaze all such who finde a thousand witnesses in themselues to giue in euidence against them But as hee that is to passe ouer some great and deepe Riuer vpon a narrow plancke and straite passage must not looke downeward to the streame of the water but for preuenting of feare must set his foote sure and cast his eyes to the bancke on the further side So must hee that draweth neare to death as it were looke ouer the waues thereof and fixe the eye of Faith vpon eternall life If in the time of temptation wee looke to sayle a right course neyther sincking nor slipping into the gulfe of desperation neyther battering our Barke against the rocke of presumption let vs in a contrite spirit cry to the Lord our God and say Heale my soule for I haue sinned against thee for thou healest those that are broken in heart and bindest vp their soares I see and that with ioy how my flesh must decay for looke what freshnesse soeuer was in it at the first diminisheth day by day And I neede not goe farre to seeke for death for I feele not so small an infirmitie in my body but the same is vnto mee a messenger of dissolution Yet for all this I shall see my God and when I am couered in the belly of the graue I am assured hee will reach mee his hand to raise me vp againe to immortalitie and life so that this base cottage and shade of leaues being brought to dust shall yet in the end be conuayed vnto my incorruptible house in heauen That dissolution is well bestowed that parts the soule section 4 from the body to vnite them both to God All our life here is but a vitall death How gainefull therefore is that death that determines this false and dying life and beginnes a true and happy life Hee that hath Stephens eyes to looke into heauen cannot but haue the tongue of the Saints to say Come quickly Lord Iesus Such a man seeing the glory of the end cannot but contemne the hardnesse of the way but who so wants these eyes though hee say and sweares hee feares not death beleeue him not But is thy soule sorrowfull vnto death Remember Christs prayer in his Agonie Father not my will but thine be fulfilled Teaching vs what to doe in the time of distresse what wee should thinke
to all mens senses that are not bruitishly senslesse or at the least to make it cleare and out of question to the spirituall eye and vnderstanding of all beleeuers to whom onely it is giuen of God to be perswaded of this truth section 2 First therefore the resurrection of our bodies is most sure and certaine because the Scriptures euen the whole word of God contained both in the old and new Testament doe teach and conuince the same But because the places are so many I will but onely alledge some few very plaine and pregnant to this purpose First then I wil begin with that famous testimony of holy Iob who wisheth his words to be written in a Booke yea to be ingrauen with an iron penne in Lead or Brasse but more deseruedly in Gold I know saith he that my Redeemer liueth and though wormes destroy my body yet I shall see God in my flesh whom I myselfe shall see and mine eyes shall behold and none other for mee Thy dead men saith the Prophet Esay shall liue euen with my body shall they rise Awake and sing yee that dwell in the dust the earth shall cast out her dead Many that sleepe saith Daniel in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to shame and perpetuall contempt The houre shall come saith Christ in which all that are in their graues shall heare his voyce The Trumpet shall blow saith Saint Paul and the dead shall rise I saw the dead saith Saint Iohn both great and small stand before God Now the Scriptures are not of man but of God who is true and cannot lye Besides there be many reasons deriued from the word of God to conuince the truth hereof If the dead be not section 3 raised then Christ is not risen who is the pledge and assurance that Christians shall rise againe and the Head of his Body the Church of which wee are members And as the body cannot dye nor the members of it if the head doe liue no more can wee dye if Christ liue Because I liue saith hee you also shall liue Secondly because the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in our body for our body is the temple of the holy Ghost therefore they shall rise againe For that same spirit which raised vp Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortall bodies because it dwelleth in vs. If Gods loue be so great towards our bodies to haue his Spirit dwell in them he will not suffer them to perish Againe because the faithfull beleeue in God who also loueth them who loue and serue him therefore hee will raise vp their bodies For wee that haue giuen and committed our selues vnto God as the Apostle speaketh cannot perish because hee is able to keepe that which is committed vnto him and will because he loueth vs beleeuing in him If the dead should not be raised to life God should not be iust which cannot be For in this world it hapneth to him that serueth God as to him that serueth him not Then also the body wherein God was glorified as well as in the spirit should haue no reward Then did Christ take our nature vpon him in vaine and in it ascended into heauen in vaine for it had beene sufficient onely to take our spirit If the body must perish then the whole man cannot be saued which is contrary to the Scripture Then the most excellentest creature vnder the Sunne for whose sake all vnder the Sunne was created should with all the creatures be made for nought which is absurd section 4 Furthermore to helpe our naturall incredulitie and distrust in this point for the most sure resolution of our resurrection indeede is it not as easie for God who is almighty to command the sea and earth to giue vp their dead as it was to make the sea and earth and all that is therein of nothing and that only with a word It is a lesse matter saith one to bring againe vnto life that which is dead then it was to giue life vnto it before it was made When thou wast not thou wast made and when thou shalt not be thou shalt againe be made and liue Here is nothing strange or vnlikely Consider how thou earnest into this life before thou wert borne and thou needest not doubt how to be restored to life after thou art dead I omit here to speake of so many apt similitudes and fit resemblances of the vndoubted truth of this point which the best and greatest Diuines haue fetched and deriued from our meats and drinks from trees and plants from corne and grasse which in the winter seeme to haue neither sap nor shew of life yet when the winter is past and the spring-time comes doe liue againe and are most gloriously arayed section 5 How many things are and come to passe which ere they are and come to passe we would haue thought they could not be for that the workes of God are all wonderfull The Mustard-seede saith Christ when it is sowne is the least of all seeds and when it is growne it is a tree the greatest among all hearbs In one so little a graine doth consist the whole greatnesse of that tree which afterward commeth forth Now if that which we see to be true in the grasse of the field in the corne that is swone yea in the seede of the trees and wood which grow albeit they wither to nought they rot and dye yet liue againe why should wee not thinke it as true of men that albeit they dye and are turned to dust that yet they shall be raised to life againe For he that is Lord of the spirit and hath life in himselfe and in his owne power and will can as certainly giue life to the body which is vtterly without life as hee is able to giue life to a stone and so to a peece of earth to ashes or any other thing And as it is no harme for the seede to be harrowed and hidden in the ground for that it shall spring and flourish againe and bring forth fruit in due season no more is it any hurt to our bodies to be cast into our graues in weakenesse for they shall rise againe in power being sowne naturall bodies they shall rise againe spirituall being sowne in dishonour they shall rise againe in glory Thoufoole saith Saint Paul that which thou sowest is not quickned except it first die A little corne or wheate or other graine cannot haue vertue to become so fruitfull in bringing forth thirty or forty times better then it was being multiplyed to so many all as good as it selfe and bringing forth besides such fruitfull increase of straw and chaffe except it first be cast into the ground and die And therefore how shouldest thou enioy so good an exchange except thou first corrupt and die And how
abhomination to the Lord and his very soule abhorreth them vse 3 Lastly it maketh for the consolation of all such that with faith and knowledge call vpon his name as relying thereon euen such as haue the testimony of a good conscience howsoeuer they shall be censured as Hannah was of Ely yet powring out their soules and calling vpon Gods name in the confidence of his power they shall be relieued though their faith be weake yet if true and assuredly grounded vpon Gods name and power they shall be heard euen out of the dungeon of extremities Out of the dungeon he called vpon Gods name Which also may teach vs doctrine 4 That there is no outward condition of life so miserable or affliction so grieuous which the dearest Children of God are not subiect vnto in this world Ieremie was in the myrie dungeon where he stucke fast and his life was shut vp casting a stone vpon him Daniell in the Lyons denne The three Children in the fiery furnace Israel a bondslaue in Egypt So was Ioseph imprisoned slaundered and disgraced Paul Peter and the faithfull stocked fettered imprisoned and many other murthered and massacred as we may see a whole Catalogue of them mustered by the Apostle all of them so excellent that the world was not worthy of their companie Ioyne to these Abraham for his vncertaine dwelling Dauid for his manifolde enemies Iob for inward and outward miseries of all sorts All these with the rest whose pilgrimage is ended and many that now liue and still remaine to the worlds end must goe the same high way to Heauen drinke of the same whip and bitter cup. All kinde of crosses and calamities attend vpon them in the world vntill they be at rest with God in Heauen The reason hereof is that since the same corruption of reason 1 nature and guilt of sinne spreadeth ouer all alike without exception needs it must follow that all be iustly inwrapped in the outward punishment and mulct thereof since all kinde of miseries follow sinne with death it selfe as the shadow doth the body Sinne is the worke and these are the wages And God in iustice must needes shew his anger against sinne in this life euen vpon his owne seruants Here they must be iudged that hereafter they be not damned with the world Secondly God vseth them as scourges purges and reason 2 wholesome medicines to heale recouer and reforme our sinnefull sicke and disordered nature Here wee must be weined with the wormewood of calamities from the brests of the world which we alwayes would be lugging that so we may be brought in loue with heauen and heauenly things The vse is first for our instruction to make vs wise in the vse 1 vse and end of the manifolde miseries that betide Gods dearest children to moderate our affections and to suspend our iudgements for our selues and brethren when wee or they are so strangely and diuersly handled Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him in thy law these tryals must hasten vs to Gods Sanctuary to stay our violent passions and bring vs our resolutions in such doubtfull cases Secondly it reprooueth all such as iudge according vse 2 to the outward estate of any of GODS seruants what fauour and credite they are in with the Lord. Since an outward condition is here to all men alike All things come alike to all and the same condition is to the iust and to the wicked to the good and to the pure and to the polluted as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath For although it be most certaine that God hath a speciall care for the saluation of the faithfull yet such is the course of things falling out vnto men in this life that it cannot be iudged by the outward shew and appearance whom God loueth or whom he hateth Such a certaine infinite and endlesse confusion is cast before the eye of man and therefore Gods children must not promise themselues any immunity from troubles or worldly successe but rather to looke alwaies for the contrary and labour still to subdue their inordinate passions in thinking their case to be singular censuring God to bee too rigorous and so calling his iustice into question which is neere vnto blasphemy Stop not thy eare from my sigh and from my cry As if he should say we pray and thou hearest not nay thou art angry with our prayers and stoppest thy eares speaking after the manner of men and shewing by effects that it was as good for sinners not at all to pray to God as to pray in vaine doctrine 5 Let vs note from hence The fruit and effect of sinne it stops the passage of our prayers and keepes Gods blessings from vs it maketh GOD as it were deafe and dumbe and blinde that he will neither heare helpe nor respect vs. The Lords hand is not shortened that hee cannot saue neither is his eare heauie that it cannot heare but your iniquities haue seperated betweene you and your God and your sinnes haue hid his face from you that hee will not heare Sinne makes God as a stranger that hee will not tarrie among his owne people and though hee bee most strong yet it so astonieth him that hee cannot helpe reason 1 them Such is his hatred to sinne that hee will not heare nor helpe hee disclaymeth their seruice and cannot abide their prayers Their persons are odious and how shall their actions be acceptable His Will and Word is against them remaining sinnefull hee will not owne them for his but excludes and excommunicates them from his presence and Church GOD heareth not sinners Such as bee wicked cannot stand in his sight Will you steale murther and commit adultery and sweare falsly and come and stand before mee in this house wherevpon my name is called Is this house become a denne of theeues This must make vs carefull to holde vp pure hands when wee pray vnto God praying him first to purifie our hearts by faith which may manifest it selfe by vnfeined repentance That so when wee draw neere vnto God in our seruice and worship and would haue him draw neere to vs in the acceptance thereof wee may both clense our hands and purge our owne hearts from all kinde of sinne and hypocrisie Wash you make you cleane cease to doe euill learne to doe well Come now let vs reason together If iniquity bee in thy hand put it farre away and let no wickednesse dwell in thy Tabernacle Then truely shalt thou lift vp thy face without spot thou shalt bee stable and shalt not feare and thou shalt bee bolde because there is hope Being in the dungeon He not onely called but sighed and cryed vnto God Afflictions not onely stirre vp men to prayer but make doctrine 6 them also more seruent and