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A08578 An explanation of the generall Epistle of Saint Iude. Delivered in one and forty sermons, by that learned, reverend, and faithfull servant of Christ, Master Samuel Otes, parson of Sowthreps in Norfolke. Preached in the parish church of Northwalsham, in the same county, in a publike lecture. And now published for the benefit of Gods church, by Samuel Otes, his sonne, minister of the Word of God at Marsham Otes, Samuel, 1578 or 9-1658.; Otes, Samuel, d. 1683. 1633 (1633) STC 18896; ESTC S115186 606,924 589

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by breathing some by poyson some by worrowing So is it among the wicked some hurt as beasts one way some another If hee be not an usurer yet is he an oppressor if not a Papist yet a prophane man if not covetous yet prodigall if not voluptuous yet superstitious if not a Lion yet an Aspe But let us put off our beastly affections Nam pejus est bestialiter vivere quàm bestiam esse hoc fuit à natura illud à Diabolo It is worser Seneca to live beastly than to be a beast the one is of nature the other of the Divell Let us then no longer live beastly lest we perish with the beast but live Christianly that so we may see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living THE TWENTIETH SERMON VERS XI Woe be unto them they have followed the way of Caine. Execrable sinners may be execrated FRom the description and confuration of the wicked hee commeth to execration hee riseth by degrees as the Eagle mounteth in her flight like fire that first smoaketh and then flameth he casteth them out of the savour of God and state of salvation Woe be unto them saith he Psal 69. 22 23. c. let their table be made a snare before them and their prosperity their ruine let their eyes be blinded that they see not and make their loynes alway to tremble Powre out thine anger upon them and let thy wrathfull displeasure take them let their habitation be void and let none dwell in their Tents Lay iniquity upon their iniquity and let them not come into thy righteousnesse let them be put out of the Booke of life and let them not be written with the righteous Thus with Esay he lifteth up his voyce like Esa 58. 1. Mich. 3. 2 Cor. 4. Ier. 5. 24. a trumpet with Micah he is full of power and judgement hee commeth to them as Paul to the Corinthians with a rod with Ieremy his words are as fire and the people as wood and straw to be devoured of this fire Saint Iude had hitherto tempred his stile but now comming to their arch-metropolitan sinnes hee cannot forbeare but breaketh out into these words Woe bee unto them with Iames and Iohn he is become Boanarges the Sonne of thunder he telleth them of nothing but destruction that God Ministers must not in their owne cause be rigorous but in Gods hath bent his bow and made his arrowes ready that God will arise and his enemies shall bee scattered that God will meet them as a shee Beare robbed of her whelps There is no doubt but the Apostle would have spoken mildly unto them would have blessed them as Aaron did the tribes if there had beene any Psal 7. Psal 68. 8. Hos 13. 8. Numb 6. goodnesse in them but seeing their sinnes execrable he commeth to execration and saith Woe be unto them Hee dealeth here with them as Christ did with Corazin and Bethsaida Woe to thee Corazin Woe to thee Bethsaida And as Christ did with the Mat. 23. Pharisees Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees and Hypocrites and as Paul did with the Corinthians when he said Maranatha Anathema be unto them that love not the Lord Iesus Men are unwilling to 1 Cor. 16. heare execrations and woes they would have pillowes sowne under their elbowes with the men of Anathoth they love to be soothed in their sinnes with Achab they cannot abide that Micah should prophesie otherwise unto them than they would have him they would not have the Lords sword drawne against them nor no woe denounced upon them but woe woe and woe againe to them that cause us to sharpen our stile and to cry Woe be unto them And note here that no private revenge no sinister affection carried him to this execration but being moved by the Spirit of God he was inforced to lay the Axe of Gods vengeance to the rootes of their trees and to cry Woe be unto them The Prophets and Apostles in their owne causes are like doves Sine felle without gall or bitternesse but in Gods cause they rowse themselves like Giants Moses prayed for Aaron and Myriam the cause was his Stephen prayed for his persecutors the cause was his but when he commeth to handle the cause of God he calleth them Acts 7. hard-hearted and stiffe necked Iewes So Christ in his owne cause was meeke as a Lambe but in his Fathers cause he rowsed himself like a Lion for he that prayed for his enemies thundred many woes against his Fathers adversaries as the Scribes Mat. 23. Pharisees and Hypocrites Well the Apostle having thus denounced Gods judgement against them saying Woe be unto them he commeth to set downe the cause of this execration the first whereof was envy malice First he calleth them malicious envious like Caine whose sinne the Apostle noteth and dehorteth men not to be As Caine which was of the wicked one and slew his brother and wherefore slew he him because his owne workes were evill and his brothers good A miserable 1 Iohn 3. 12. thing not to hate the man but the vertue of the man the goodnesse of the man this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fight against God like the old Giants we should love good men Lord who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle saith David who shall rest upon thy holy hill God Psal 15. answereth him In whose eyes a vile person is contemned but he honoureth them that feare the Lord All Davids delight was upon Envy ever ascendeth maligne vertue and glory them for so he protesteth in the Psalme All my delight is upon the Saints that are on the earth and upon such as excell in vertue We should doe so even Hate the evill and love the good and establish Psal 16. 3. A●os 5. 15. judgment in the gate but we have inverted that order and good men are in most detestation with us As there is no Sunne beame without motes no Tree without barke no garment without mothes no fruit without Catterpillers so no vertue no honour without envy There 's no Iacob whom Esau will not perfecute no David whom Saul will not maligne no Isaak whom Ismael Gen. 27. will not revile and no good man upon the earth whom the envious will not bite teare and devoure For this cause one resembleth envy to certaine Flies called Cantharides for as they light specially upon the fairest wheat and most blowne Roses so envy commonly opposeth herselfe against the best men Invidia virtutis Comes envy is the companion of vertue One resembleth envy unto fire for as fire coveteth the highest places so envy aimeth at the worthiest men As for example Themistocles when he had conquered the navy of Xerxes which in number was most infinite through envy was forced to leave his Country and to live in miserable banishment Aristides which for his vertues was called the just yet through envy as an unprofitable member was
Privativa privative There is an ignorance not sinnefull as in Adam not to know his nakednesse nor the serpents subtilty in the Angels and Christ Gen. 3. as man not to know the latter day Quia proprium est humanae naturae Mar. 13. 32. futura ignorare because it is the property of Humanity to be ignorant of future things and this is Ignorantia justa lawfull ignorance but there is an ignorance utterly unlawfull for it is sinne and the cause of sinne and companion of the same The Iewes crucified Christ thorow ignorance For if they had knowne Acts 3. 17. they would never have crucified the Lord of glory Why did the Samaritans so rayle on the Iewes Alas they knew nothing why Iohn 4. 22. 1 Cor. 2. 7. rayled the Princes on Christ they knew him not why did the Galathians revile the Christians in the point of Law for that they knew it not why doe the Brownists and Papists rayle on us Nesciunt Scripturas they know not the Scriptures I say to them as Paul to the Galathians Tell me ye that be under the Law Gal. 4. 21. doe ye not heare of the Law c. So tell me ye that will under Antichrist doe ye not know Popery yee doe not why doe the earth-wormes rayle on us in fayres markets tavernes Nil sciunt they know nothing They may say with Socrates Hoc scio quod nihil scio this one thing I know that I know nothing Hence came Anabaptisme from Rotman Quintinus Pocquinus Persevallus being Ostlers Chamberlaines Tapsters Coblers c. Lucinus wished that his writings might not be read either of men too Meanes to come to true knowledge learned or utterly unlearned Quod alteri nihil intelligunt alteri plus fortasse quàm ipse de se because the one sort understood nothing the other understood perhaps more than hee understood of himselfe So we would preach to neither Sed si optio daretur If I might have my wish wee had rather preach to the learned than to the ignorant for we had rather be reprehended than not to be understood Well is he that preacheth to an eare of understanding and not as Actaeon did to his dogges Rebuke not a scorner lest he hate thee but rebuke a wise man and he will love thee give Prov. 9. 8 9. admonition to the wise and hee will be the wiser teach a righteous man and he will increase in learning And indeed how should wee have knowledge we read nothing wee search not the Scriptures we attend not to reading to exhortation and doctrine All our Iohn 5. 29. knowledge must come from hearing which being so our knowledge can bee but small for wee heare not a Sermon from one moneth to another nor handle a Booke from one Sunday to another and then our knowledge must needs be small for our eares are like a reedle or sieve that can hold no water or an Vnthrifts purse that can hold no money Saint Augustine commendeth unto us foure things to bring us unto knowledge 1. Reading 2. Meditating 3. Praying 4. Contemplating Reading is an assiduous perusing of the holy Scriptures joyned with the attentive hearing of the Word preached The Eunuch was a diligent reader of the Prophet Esay The Disciples Acts 8. 27. of Troas heard Paul preach untill midnight The Nobles of Berea received the Word with readinesse But these men heare little Act. 17. 11. read lesse Meditating is an earnest imployment of the minde a thing straightly commanded and commended Let not the Booke of the Law depart out of thy mouth but meditate therein day and night For Ios 1. 8. blessed is the man that doth delight in the Law of the Lord and in that Psal 1. Law doth meditate day and night But our meditations are not setled upon the Law and Ordinances of the Almighty Prayer is a lifting up of the minde to God craving his blessings and praising him for his mercies reading enquireth meditation findeth prayer requesteth but contemplation tasteth how sweet and gracious the Lord is Yee know that it is the Commandement of the Lord Seeke and yee shall finde knock Mat. 7. and it shall bee opened unto you If wee seeke by reading wee shall finde by meditating if wee knocke by praying it shall be opened unto us by contemplating but these neither seeke by reading nor find by meditating nor knocke by praying they are as horse and mule in whom there is no understanding For they Motives to stirre up to use the means to get knowledge Speake evill of things they know not Luther said if there bee a Paradise in this earth it is in Churches of preaching or schooles of learning so that wee have grace to learne in them They were wont to say give a man learning and turne him loose but that Proverbe was bred in another age when learning was more esteemed Quando erat rarior carior when it was more rare and deare but this is a time of ignorance whetein men raile on all the workes of God for want of knowledge but this is a desperate disease and for mee let it grow till it be rottennesse in their bones I speake not in hope of amendment but to beare witnesse of their sinne against the day of the Lord. Is there no Balme in Gilead Is there no Knowledge in England A man without Knowledge is as a workeman without his hands as a Ier. 8. 22. Painter without his eyes as a Traveller without his legges Imago mortis vivi hominis sepultura The image of death Lazarus sepulcher no true man Nemo potest jure dici homo nisi qui sapiens est Seneca only the wise man is a right man and the man of understanding is onely wise The Heathens tooke paines for naturall knowledge and built Libraries by their Temples and the Romans by their Capitoll In Athens were Vniversities and the Students called Philosophers In Persia Magi. In India Gymnosophistes and in England Druides Ierusalem had more than foure hundred schooles Samuel taught at Rama Elizeus at Ierico Iohn at Ephesus Marke at Alexandria and Paul at Rome Charles erected universities at Paris Tolouse Papia Padua and Prague Pithagoras travelled many Countries for knowledge Apollonius compassed ninty Regions and Plato was sold in his travailes Simonides studied seventy yeares Anaxagoras seventy two Thales seventy eight Socrates eighty foure Milesius ninty seven Livie wrote an hundred and forty bookes and Pliny threescore and fifteene All men desire knowledge and the reason is Cupiditas discendi optima ratio vivendi desire of learning is the best way of living Philip rejoyced that Alexander was borne in the daies of Aristotle and blesse thou God that thou livest in these daies of knowledge Blessed are the eyes which see that ye see For I tell you that many Prophets and Kings have desired to see those things that yee see and have not seene them and to heare those
Satanam ut ipsi etiam suas agunt partes non per illos agit ut per truncos lapides sed ut per creaturas rationales qui sponte ruunt First God so worketh by the wicked and by Satan as that they also play their owne parts hee worketh not by them as by blockes or stones but as by reasonable creatures which runne headlong of their owne accord Secundò magnam esse differentiam inter opus Dei impiorum there is great difference betweene God Satan Men concurre in the same action but have different ends the worke of God and the worke of the wicked in respect of the end of their worke The Sunne draweth stench out of a dead carkase Non immittit he doth not send it in So God worketh by the wicked and yet so that his justice doth not justifie them nor their wickednesse contaminate him as it appeareth in Iobs example God Satan and the Chaldees concurre move Iob 1. worke yet is God cleare and they guilty Inspecto fine agendi considering the end of their worke God did it to trie Iob Satan to destroy Iob and the Chaldees to inrich themselves So saith S. Augustine of Christ Pater tradidit filium filius corpus Iudas magistrum In hac traditione cur Deus justus homo injustus nisi quod in re una quam fecerunt non est causa una ob quam fecerunt The Father delivered the Sonne the Son his body Iudas his master in this tradition or delivering why is God just and man unjust because that in that one thing which they did there was not one cause for the which they did it Deus in dilectione Christus in obedientia Iudas ab avaritia Iudaei ob invidiam God delivered him in love Christ delivered himselfe in obedience Iudas of covetousnesse the Iewes of envy Thus they all did one action but not to one end And yet true is the saying of Fulgentius Malos ad poenam non culpam praedestinari the wicked to be predestinate to punishment not to sinne non ad hoc quod malè operantur sed ad hoc quod justè patiuntur not to this that they worke evilly but to this end that they suffer justly For God ordaines no man to be evil though he hath ordained the evill unto punishmēt for should God ordaine men unto sin then should God be the Author of sin he ordaines indeed the incitements and occasions of sin to try men withall he also orders sins committed and does limit them and in these regards is said as before to worke in them and to will them in which regards also they are in Scripture attributed unto him sometimes as 2 Sam. 12. 11 12. and 15. 16. But yet wee must not say as some do that God is the Author of sinne or predestinates men unto it Sed quia Dei mysteria non capimus corripimus because wee cannot conceive Gods mysteries wee will cavell and carpe at them Nunquid negandum quod verum est quia comprehendi non potest quod occultum est Is that to be damned which is true because it cannot be comprehended for that it is secret Eate hony but not too much hony so search Gods mysteries but not too far I say of the proud men of this age as Chrysostome said of the Hereticks called Anomei Hanc arborem Anomaeorum Paulus nec plantavit Apollo non rigavit this tree of the Anomaei neither hath Paul planted nor Apollo watered nor God increased but curiosity planted it pride watered it and ambition increased it Lipsius Lipsius de constantia pag. 36. useth all these similitudes A man rideth upon a lame horse and stirs him the rider is the cause of the motion but the horse himselfe of the halting motion so God is the Author of every action but not of the evill of the action The like is in the striking All sinne from Saten or evill men none from God of a jarring and untuned Harpe the fingering is thine the jarring or discord is in the Harpe or instrument The earth giveth fatnesse and juyce to all kind of plants some of these plants yeeld pestilent and noysome fruits where is the fault in the nourishment of the ground or in the nature of the hearbe which by the native corruption decocteth the goodnes of the ground into venime and poyson the goodnes moisture is from the earth the venime from the hearbe the sounding from the hand the jarring from the instrument So the action is from God the evill in the action from the impure fountaine of thy owne heart I will conclude this point with the saying of the Learned Impossibile est Deum Confessie qui est lux justitia veritas sapientia bonitas vita causam esse tenebrarum peccati mendacii ignorantiae maliciae mortis sed horum omnium causa Satanas homines sunt It is impossible that God who is Light Iustice Truth Wisedome Goodnesse Life to bee the cause of Darkenesse Sinne Dissembling Ignorance Malice and Death but the Divell and Men are the cause of all these THE ELEVENTH SERMON VERS V. I will therefore put you in remembrance forasmuch as yee once knew this c. The often inculcating the same doctrine needfull WEE are now come unto the third part of this Epistle which containeth a confirmation of Iudes purpose by divers examples The first of the Israelites The second of the Angels The third of the Sodomites In the first he noteth their Infidelitie In the second their Apostasie In the third their Adultery and Buggery The first were destroyed of God in the wildernesse The second fell from Heaven The third were burned and thus much for their sinnes and their punishments Now for the first he saith that they Knew it howbeit he will put them in remembrance saying they had forgotten it We may not thinke much to heare that which we have heard and known were our knowledge never so great like Salomons who had A large heart hee was filled with understanding as a floud his minde compassed the Earth hee filled it full of darke and grave sentences yet wee 1 Reg. 4. Ecclus 47. 14 15 may be remembred of it againe Paul was not ashamed to write The memorie must be often admonished one thing often For so hee saith to the Philippians It grieveth me not to write the same thing unto you viz. that which yee have often heard of me for unto you it is a sure thing and we are not ashamed to preach one thing often it leaveth a surer print and a deeper Phil. 3. 1. stampe in our minds doctrine delivered is as a nayle driven but doctrine repeated is as a nayle rivetted then it sticketh sure Such a Simile Salomon useth saying The words of the wise are like goods and like nayles fastened by the masters of the assemblies that is Eccles 12. 11. Ezech. 36. Ier. 23. Iohn 6. 27. Iohn 6. the Ministers
the old world there were but eight beleevers but two Iosua and Caleb and in Christs time we read but of an hundred and twenty beleevers As Aegypt was full of lice Nilus full of Crocodyles Golgotha full of dead mens skulls so is the world full of Infidells He destroyed them that beleeved not And hence commeth it to passe that so many are damned even because they want faith Perditio tua ex te ô Israel thy destruction commeth of thy selfe ô Israel Ex nobis quod damnamur It is of our selves that wee bee damned blame not God but thine owne infidelity For all things Hos 13. Man 5. are possible to them that doe beleeve And therefore Hemingius in his Enchiridion distinguisheth of the word that There is Duplex verbum Damnans Salvans That there is a double word a Damning and a Saving word The damning word is the Law the saving word is the Gospell The Law offereth grace to them that doe it Yee shall keepe therefore Deut. 2. 27. Gen. 3. 5. Levit. 18. 5. Rom. 10. 4. 9. my statutes and my iudgements which if a man doe he shall live in them But the Gospell offereth grace to the beleevers For Christ is the end of the Law unto every one that beleeve For if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and beleeve in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Faith is ever a chiefe doer in matters of salvation and therefore said Hemingius in his Enchiridion that Causa imperans salutis est pater the Iohn 3. 16. commanding cause of our salvation is God For God so loved the world that hee gave his only begotten Sonne to save the world Causa obsequens est filius the obedient pliant cause is the Psal 40. 7. Sonne In the volume of thy booke it is written of me that I should doe thy will I am content to doe it thy Law is written in my heart Causa consummans est Spiritus Sanctus the consummating cause is the holy Ghost so saith the Apostle But yee are washed but yee are sanctified 1 Cor. 6. 11. but yee are iustified by the grace of the Lord Iesus and by the spirit of God The instrumentall cause is double Exhibens Recipiens Rom. 1. 18. The exhibiting Cause is the word the receiving cause Faith as therefore a Smith worketh not in cold iron so a preacher worketh not on an Infidell There is no life of God in us till we beleeve Ephes 4. 18. till then our cogitation is darkened and we are strangers from the life of God He that beleeveth in him shall not be condemned but hee that Iohn 3. 18. beleeveth not is condemned already because he beleeveth not in the name of the only begotten Sonne of God A tree liveth not without moisture Without faith no accesse to God nor a bird without aire nor a fish without water nor a Salamander without fire So the soule liveth not without faith The just doth live by his faith this is the spirit and soule of the inward man we Hab. 2. have a name to live yet are we dead if we want faith I live by faith in the Sonne of God saith Paul who loved me and gave himselfe for Gal. 2. 20. me Infidels therefore are dead men What is the cause that wee profit no more by the word wee beleeve not the preacher that may bee verified of our people which God said to Ezechiel concerning the Iewes They come unto Ezech. 33. 31 32. thee saith God as people useth to come and my people sit before thee and he are thy words but they will not doe them For with their mouthes they make jests and their heart goeth after their covetousnesse and loe thou art unto them as a jesting song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can sing well for they heare thy words but doe them not So we come to the Sermon heare the preacher but we doe not heare him with such zeale and affection as we should wee beleeve not but abuse the word to our owne condemnation why care wee no more for heaven but are so worldly truely we beleeve not God what is the cause that wee live in sinne seeing it is damnable For the wayes of it is death wee beleeve not the Scriptures what is the Rom. 6. 23. 2 Cor. 4. 4. cause of all disorder even infidelity The God of this world hath blinded their eyes our eares are open to heare but not our hearts to beleeve Satan stealeth away the word lest we should beleeve and so be saved But let us make much of the word that wee may Mat. 13. 19. have faith to beleeve For faith nay one dramme of faith is of more worth than all the treasure in the world This that good merchant well knew that sold all to buy it For hee that beleeveth shall not be condemned for every beleevers cause is removed Mat. 13. 24. from the Court of Gods justice into the Court of Gods mercy where hee that beleeveth is not condemned Therefore our care must be with S. Paul that we may be found having the righteousnesse of Christ by faith For there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Phil. 3. 9. Rom. 1. Iesus as all beleevers are and untill thou beest a beleever thou belongest not to God For as the Eagle refuseth her birds till they can mount and soare to the Sunne and as the Raven acknowledgeth not her young ones till they be blacke So God rejecteth the infidels and receiveth none till they beleeve None are the Sonnes of God but the faithfull the rest are bastards I confesse there be degrees in faith The first is a rudiment or entrance Gal. 3. Mat. 12. 20. Rom. 14. 1. Hebr. 10. 22. Rom. 4. 18. which Christ calleth Smoking flaxe The second is a weake faith Him that is weake in faith saith Paul receive unto you The third is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assurance of Faith Such a faith was in Abraham who above hope beleeved under hope But no faith is abominable and may easily be discerned from a weake faith As a sicke man is knowne from a dead man So a weake faith from no faith Even a desire of Faith is a token of faith For Gods spirit worketh God giues grace according to the measure of Faith that but no faith is accursed For he that beleeveth not is còndemned already There be degrees in faith three examples we have The first of the Ruler of the Synagogue who beleeved that his daughter should revive if Christ would but touch her But the Iohn 3. 18. Iohn 4. woman with the bloody issue beleeved that she should be whole if she touched but the hemme of his vesture But the Centurion beleeved that his servant should doe well if Christ spake but the Luk. 8. Mat. 8. word here is Gradus positivus the positive degree the