Blood of Christ through the Holy Ghost Now if we be Saints what have we to do with the manners of the Heathen 1 Pet. 1. Levit. 19. Saint Peter saith As he which called you his Holy even so be ye Holy also in your Conversation because it is written Be ye Holy for I am Holy Hitherto have we heard how grievous a Sin Fornication and Whoredom is and how greatly God doth abhor it throughout the whole Scripture How can it any otherwise be than a Sin of most abomination seeing it may not once be named among the Christians much less may it in any point be committed And surely if we would weigh the greatness of this Sin and consider it in the right kind we should find the Sin of Whoredom to be that most filthy Lake foul Puddle and stinking Sink whereunto all kinds of Sins and Evils flow where also they have their resting place and abiding For hath not the Adulterer a pride in his Whoredom As the Wise Man saith They are glad when they have done evil and rejoyce in things that are stark naught Is not the Adulterer also Idle and delighteth in no Godly exercise but only in that his most filthy and beastly pleasure Is not his Mind pluckt and utterly drawn away from all virtuous Studies and fruitful Labours and only given to carnal and fleshly imagination Doth not the Whoremonger give his mind to Gluttony that he may be the more apt to serve his Lusts and carnal Pleasures Doth not the Adulterer give his Mind to Covetousness and to polling and pilling of others that he may be the more able to maintain his Harlots and Whores and to continue in his filthy and unlawful Love Swelleth he not also with Envy against others fearing that his Prey should be allured and taken away from him Again is he not ireful and replenished with Wrath and Displeasure even against his best beloved if at any time his beastly and devilish Request be letted What Sin or kind of Sin is it that is not joyned with Fornication and Whoredom It is a Monster of many Heads It receiveth all kinds of Vices and refuseth all kinds of Virtues If one several Sin bringeth Damnation what is to be thought of that Sin which is accompanied with all Evils and hath waiting on it whatsoever is hateful to God damnable to Man and pleasant to Satan Great is the Damnation that hangeth over the Heads of Fornicators and Adulterers What shall I speak of other incommodities which issue and flow out of this stinking puddle of Whoredom Is not that Treasure which before all other is most regarded of honest Persons the good Fame and Name of Man and Woman lost through Whoredom What Patrimony or Livelihood What Substance What Goods What Riches doth Whoredom shortly consume and bring to nought What Valiantness and Strength is many times made weak and destroyed with Whoredom What Wit is so fine that is not besotted and defaced through Whoredom What Beauty although it were never so excellent is not disfigured through Whoredom Is not Whoredom an enemy to the pleasant Flower of Youth and bringeth it not gray Hairs and old Age before the time What gift of Nature although it were never so precious is not corrupted with Whoredom Come not many foul and most loathsome Diseases of Whoredom From whence come so many Bastards and misbegotten Children to the high displeasure of God and dishonour of Holy Wedlock but of Whoredom How many consume all their Substance and Goods and at the last fall into such extreme poverty that afterward they steal and so are hanged through Whoredom What Contention and Man slaughter cometh of Whoredom How many Maidens be deflowred How many Wives corrupted how many Widows defiled through Whoredom How much is the Publick and Commonweal impoverished and troubled through Whoredom How much is God's Word contemned and depraved through Whoredom and Whoremongers Of this Vice cometh a great part of the Divorces which now adays be so commonly accustomed and used by Mens private Authority to the great displeasure of God and the breach of the most Holy knot and bond of Matrimony For when this most detestable Sin is once crept into the Breast of the Adulterer so that he is intangled with unlawful and unchast Love straightways his true and lawful Wife is despised her Presence is abhorred her company stinketh and is loathsom whatsoever she doth is dispraised There is no quietness in the House so long as she is in his sight Therefore to make short work she must away for her Husband can brook her no longer Thus through Whoredom is the honest and harmless Wife put away and an Harlot received in her stead And in like sort it happeneth many times in the Wife towards her Husband O Abomination Christ our Saviour very God and Man coming to restore the Law of his Heavenly Father unto the right sense understanding and meaning among other things reformed the abuse of this Law of God For whereas the Jews used a long sufferance by custom to put away their Wives at their pleasure for every cause Christ correcting that evil custom did teach That if any Man put away his Wife and marrieth another Matth. 19. for any cause except only for Adultery which then was Death by the Law he was an Adulterer and forced also his Wife so divorced to commit Adultery if she were joyned to any other Man and the Man also so joyned with her to commit Adultery In what case then are these Adulterers which for the love of an Whore put away their true and lawful Wife against all Law right Reason and Conscience O how Damnable is the state wherein they stand Swift Destruction shall fall on them if they repent not and amend not For God will not suffer Holy Wedlock thus to be dishonoured hated and despised He will once punish this fleshly and licentious manner of living and cause that this holy Ordinance shall be had in Reverence and Honour For surely Wedlock as the Apostle saith is honourable among all Men and the Bed undefiled Heb. â— But Whoremongers and Fornicators God will Judge that is to say punish and condemn But to what purpose is this labour taken to describe and set forth the greatness of the Sin of Whoredom and the Discommodities that issue and flow out from it seeing that breath and tongue shall sooner fail any Man than he shall or may be able to set it out according to the Abomination and Heinousness thereof Notwithstanding this is spoken to the intent that all Men should flee Whoredom and live in the fear of God God grant that it may not be spoken in vain The Third Part of the Sermon against Adultery IN the Second Part of this Sermon against Adultery that was last read you have learned how earnestly the Scripture warneth us to avoid the sin of Adultery and to embrace cleanness of Life And that through Adultery we fall into all kinds of Sin
them and to delight or trust in them except we have in mind his examples in passion to follow them If we thus therefore consâ—â—er Christs death and will stick thereto with fast â—â—th for the merit and deserving thereof and wiâ—â—â—o frame our selves in such wise to bestow our selves and all that we have by Charity to the behoof of our Neighbour as Christ spent himself wholly for our profit then do we truly remember Christs death and being thus followers of Christs steps we shall be sure to follow him thither where he sitteth now with the Father and the Holy Ghost To whom be all Honour and Glory Amen THE SECOND HOMILY CONCERNING The Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ. THAT we may the better conceive the great mercy and goodness of our Saviour Christ in suffering death universally for all men it behoveth us to descend into the bottom of our Conscience and deeply to consider the first and principal cause wherefore he was compelled so to do When our great Grandfather Adam had broken Gods Commandment Gen. â— in eating the Apple forbidden him in Paradise at the motion and suggestion of his Wife he purchased thereby not only to himself but also to his Posterity for ever the just wrath and indignation of God who according to his former sentence pronounced at the giving of the Commandment condemned both him and all his to everlasting death both of Body and Soul For it was said unto him Gen. 2. Thou shalt eat freely of every Tree in the Garden but as touching the Tree of knowledge of good and ill thou shalt in no wise eat of it For in what hour soever thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Now as the Lord had spoken so it came to pass Adam took upon him to eat thereof and in so doing he died the death that is to say he became mortal he lost the favour of God he was cast out of Paradise he was no longer a Citizen of Heaven but a Fire-brand of Hell and a Bondslave to the Devil To this doth our Saviour bear witness in the Gospel Luke 15. calling us lost Sheep which have gone astray and wandred from the true Shepherd of our souls To this also doth St. Paul bear witness Rom. 5. saying That by the offence only of Adam death came upon all men to condemnation So that now neither he or any of his had any right or interest at all in the Kingdom of Heaven but were become plain Reprobates and Cast-aways being perpetually damned to the everlasting pains of Hell-fire In this so great misery and wretchedness if mankind could have recovered himself again and obtained forgiveness at Gods hands then had his case been somewhat tolerable because he might have attempted some way how to deliver himself from eternal death But there was no way left unto him he could do nothing that might pacifie Gods wrath he was altogether unprofitable in that behalf There was not one that did good no not one And how then could he work his own Salvation Should he go about to pacifie Gods heavy displeasure by offering up burnt-sacrifices Heb. 9. according as it was ordained in the old Law by offering up the blood of Oxen the blood of Calves the blood of Goats the blood of Lambs and so forth O these things were of no force nor strength to take away sins they could not put away the anger of God they could not cool the heat of his wrath nor yet bring mankind into favour again they were but only figures and shadows of things to come Heb. 10. and nothing else Read the Epistle to the Hebrews there shall you find this matter largely discussed there shall you learn in most plain words that the bloody Sacrifice of the old Law was unperfect and not able to deliver man from the state of damnation by any means so that mankind in trusting thereunto should trust to a broken staff and in the end deceive himself What should he then do Should he go about to serve and keep the Law of God divided into two Tables and so purchase to himself eternal life Indeed if Adam and his Posterity had been able to satisfie and fulfil the Law perfectly in loving God above all things and their Neighbour as themselves then should they have easily quenched the Lords wrath and escaped the terrible sentence of eternal death pronounced against them by the mouth of Almighty God For it is written Do thus and thou shalt live that is to say Luke 10. fulfil my Commandments keep thy self upright and perfect in them according to my Will then shalt thou live and not die Here is eternal life promised with this condition and so that they keep and observe the Law But such was the frailty of mankind after his Fall such was his weakness and imbecillity that he could not walk uprightly in Gods Commandments though he would never so fain but daily and hourly fell from his bounden duty offending the Lord his God divers ways to the great increase of his condemnation insomuch that the Prophet David crieth out on this wise All have gone astray Psal 5. all are become unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one In this case what profit could he have by the Law None at all For as St. James saith James 2. He that shall observe the whole Law and yet faileth in one point is become guilty of all And in the Book of Deuteronomy it is written Deut. 27. Cursed be he saith God which abideth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them Behold the Law bringeth a curse with it and maketh it guilty not because it is of it self naught or unholy God forbid we should so think but because the frailty of our sinful flesh is such that we can never fulfil it according to the perfection that the Lord requireth Could Adam then think you hope or trust to be saved by the Law No he could not But the more he looked on the Law the more he saw his own damnation set before his eyes as it were in a clear glass So that now of himself he was most wretched and miserable destitute of all hope and never able to pacifie Gods heavy displeasure nor yet to escape the terrible judgment of God whereunto he and all his Posterity were fallen by disobeying the strait Commandment of the Lord their God But O the abundant riches of Gods great mercy Rom. 11. O the unspeakable goodness of his heavenly Wisdom When all hope of righteousness was past on our part when we had nothing in our selves whereby we might quench his burning wrath and work the salvation of our own Souls and rise out of the miserable estate wherein we lay Then even then did Christ the Son of God by the appointment of his Father come down from Heaven to be wounded for our sakes to be reputed with the wicked to be
for that is not his part or duty But as I have said let either Party be ready and willing to perform that which belongeth especially to themselves For if we be bound to hold out our left cheek to strangers which will smite us on the right cheek how much more ought we to suffer an extream and unkind Husband but yet I mean not that a Man should beat his Wife God forbid that for that is the greatest shame that can be not so much to her that is beaten as to him that doth the deed But if by such Fortune thou chancest upon such an Husband take it not too heavily but suppose thou that thereby is laid up no small Reward hereafter and in this life time no small Commendation to thee if thou canst be quiet But yet to you that be Men thus I speak Let there be none so grievous Fault to compel you to beat your Wives But what say I your Wives No it is not to be born with that an honest Man should lay hands on his Maid-Servant to beat her Wherefore if it be a great shame for a Man to beat his Bond-Servant much more rebuke it is to lay violent hands upon his Free-Woman And this thing may be well understood by the Laws which the Paynims have made which do discharge her any longer to dwell with such an Husband as unworthy to have any further company with her that doth smite her For it is an extreme Point thus so vilely to entreat her like a Slave that is fellow to thee of thy Life and so joyned unto thee before-time in the necessary matters of thy living And therefore a Man may well liken such a Man if he may be called a Man rather than a wild Beast to a killer of his Father or Mother And whereas we be commanded to forsake our Father and Mother for our Wives sake and yet thereby do work them none injury but do fulfil the Law of God how can it not appear then to be a Point of extreme madness to entreat her despitefully for whose sake God hath commanded thee to leave Parents Yea who can suffer such despite Who can worthily express the inconveniency that is to see what weepings and wailings be made in the open Streets when Neighbors run together to the House of so unruly an Husband as to a Bedlam-man who goeth about to overturn all that he hath at home Who would not think that it were better for such a Man to wish the Ground to open and swallow him in than once ever after to be seen in the Market But peradventure thou wilt Object that the Woman provoketh thee to this Point But consider thou again that the Woman is a frail Vessel and thou art therefore made the Ruler and Head oâ—er her to bear the weakness of her in this her subjection And therefore study thou to declare the honest commendation of thy Authority which thou canst no way better do than to forbear to urge her in her weakness and subjection For even as the King appeareth so much the more Noble the more Excellent and Noble he maketh his Officers and Lieutenants whom if he should dishonor and despise the Authority of their Dignity he should deprive himself of a great part of his own Honor Even so if thou dost despise her that is set in the next room beside thee thou dost much derogate and decay the Excellency and Vertue of thine own Authority Recount all these things in thy mind and be gentle and quiet Understand that God hath given thee Children with her and art made a Father and by such reason appease thy self Dost thou not see the Husbandmen what diligence they use to Till that Ground which once they have taken to Farm though it be never so full of faults As for an Example though it be Dry though it bringeth forth Weeds though the Soil cannot bear too much Wet yet he Tilleth it and so winneth Fruit thereof Even in like manner if thou wouldst use like diligence to instruct and order the mind of thy Spouse if thou wouldst diligently apply thy self to weed out by little and little the noysom Weeds of uncomely Manners out of her mind with wholsome precepts it could not be but in time thou shouldst feel the pleasant Fruit thereof to both your comforts Therefore that this thing chance not so perform this thing that I do here Counsel thee Whensoever any displeasant matter riseth at home if thy Wife hath done ought amiss comfort her and encrease not the Heaviness For though thou shouldst be grieved with never so many things yet shalt thou find nothing more grievous than to want the benevolence of thy Wife at home What offence soever thou canst name yet shalt thou find none more intolerable than to be at debate with thy Wife And for this cause most of all oughtest thou to have this love in Reverence And if reason moveth thee to bear any burden at any other Mans hands much more at thy Wives For if she be poor upbraid her not if she be simple taunt her not but be the more courteous for she is thy Body and made one Flesh with thee But thou peradventure wilt say that she is a wrathful Woman a Drunkard and Beastly without Wit or Reason For this cause bewail her the more Chafe not in Anger but Pray unto Almighty God Let her be admonished and helped with good Counsel and do thou thy best endeavor that she may be delivered of all these affections But if thou shouldst beat her thou shalt increase her evil affections for frowardness and sharpness is not amended with frowardness but with softness and gentleness Furthermore consider what reward thou shalt have at Gods hand for where thou mightest beat her and yet for the respect of the fear of God thou wilt abstain and bear patiently her great offences the rather in respect of that Law which forbiddeth that a Man should cast out his Wife what fault soever she be cumbred with thou shalt have a very great reward and before the receit of that reward thou shalt feel many commodities For by this means she shall be made the more Obedient and thou for her sake shalt be made the more meek It is written in a Story of a certain strange Philosopher which had a cursed Wife a froward and a Drunkard When he was asked for what consideration he did so bear her evil manners He made Answer By this means said he I have at home a School-Master and an Example how I should behave my self abroad For I shall saith he be the more quiet with others being thus daily exercised and taught in the forbearing her Surely it is a shame that Paynims should be wiser than we we I say that be commanded to resemble Angels or rather God himself through meekness And for the love of Vertue this said Philosopher Socrates would not expel his Wife out of his House Yea some say that he did therefore marry his
Prince be guilty of most damnable Perjury It is wondrous to see what false colours and feigned causes by slanderous lies made upon their Prince and the Counsellors Rebels will devise to cloak their Rebellion withal which is the worst and most damnable of all false witness-bearing that may be possible For what should I speak of coveting or desiring of other Mens Wives Houses Lands Goods and Servants The Tenth Commandment in Rebels who by their wills would leave unto no Man any thing of his own Thus you see that all good Laws are by Rebels violated and broken and that all sins possible to be committed against God or Man be contained in Rebellion which sins if a Man list to name by the accustomed names of the seven capital or deadly sins as Pride Envy Wrath Covetousness Sloth Gluttony and Lechery he shall find them all in Rebellion and amongst Rebels For first As Ambition and Desire to be aloft which is the property of Pride stirreth up many Mens minds to Rebellion so cometh it of a Luciferian pride and presumption that a few rebellious Subjects should set themselves up against the Majesty of their Prince against the Wisdom of the Counsellors against the power and force of all Nobility and the faithful Subjects and People of the whole Realm As for Envy Wrath Murder and desire of Blood and covetousness of other Mens Goods Lands and Livings they are the inseparable accidents of all Rebels and peculiar Properties that do usually stir up wicked Men unto Rebellion Now such as by Riotousness Gluttony Drunkenness excess of Apparel and unthrifty Games have wasted their own Goods unthriftily the same are most apt unto and most desirous of Rebellion whereby they trust to come by other Mens Goods unlawfully and violently And where other Gluttons and Drunkards take too much of such Meats and Drinks as are served to Tables Rebels waste and consume in short space all Corn in Barns Fields or elsewhere whole Garners whole Store-houses whole Sellers devour whole Flocks of Sheep whole Droves of Oxen and Kine And as Rebels that are married leaving their own Wives at home do most ungraciously so much more do unmarried Men worse than any Stallions or Horses being now by Rebellion set at liberty from Correction of Laws which bridled them before abuse by force other Mens Wives and Daughters and ravish Virgins and Maids most shamefully abominably and damnably Thus all sins by all names that sins may be named and by all means that sins may be committed and wrought do all wholly upon heaps follow Rebellion and are to be found altogether amongst Rebels Now whereas Pestilence 2 Reg. 24. cap. 14. Famine and War are by the Holy Scriptures declared to be the greatest Worldly Plagues and Miseries that likely can be it is evident that all the Miseries that all these Plagues have in them do wholly altogether follow Rebellion wherein as all their Miseries be so is there much more mischief than in them all For it is known that in the resorting of great Companies of Men together which in Rebellion happeneth both upon the part of true Subjects and of the Rebels by their close lying together and corruption of the Air and place where they do lie with Ordure and much filth in the hot weather and by unwholsom Lodging and lying often upon the ground specially in cold and wet weather in Winter by their unwholsom Diet and feeding at all times and often by Famin and lack of Meat and Drink in due time and again by taking too much at other times It is well known I say that as well Plagues and Pestilences as all other kinds of Sicknesses and Maladies by these means grow up and spring amongst Men whereby more Men are consumed at the length than are by dint of Sword suddenly slain in the Field So that not only Pestilences but also all other Sicknesses Diseases and Maladies do follow Rebellion which are much more horrible than Plagues Pestilences and Diseases sent directly from God as hereafter shall appear more plainly And as for Hunger and Famin they are the peculiar companions of Rebellion for while Rebels do in short time spoil and consume all Corn and necessary Provision which Men with their labors had gotten and appointed upon for their finding the whole Year after and also do let all other Men Husband-men and others from their Husbandry and other necessary works whereby Provision should be made for times to come who seeth not that extream Famin and Hunger must needs shortly ensue and follow Rebellion 2 Reg. 24. cap. 24. Now whereas the wise King and godly Prophet David judged War to be worse than either Famin or Pestilence for that these two are often suffered by God for Mans amendment and be not sins of themselves but Wars have always the sins and mischiefs of Men upon the one side or other joyned with them and therefore is War the greatest of these worldly mischiefs but of all Wars Civil War is the worst and far more abominable yet is Rebellion than any Civil War being unworthy the name of any War so far it exceedeth all Wars in all naughtiness in all mischief and in all abomination And therefore our Saviour Christ denounceth desolation and destruction to that Realm Mat. 12. that by Sedition and Rebellion is divided in it self Now as I have shewed before that Pestilence and Famine so is it yet more evident that all the calamities miseries and mischiefs of War be more grievous and do more follow Rebellion than any other War as being far worse than all other Wars For not only those ordinary and usual mischiefs and miseries of other Wars do follow Rebellion as Corn and other things necessary to Mans use to be spoiled Houses Villages Towns Cities to be taken sacked burned and destroyed not only many very wealthy Men but whole Countries to be impoverished and utterly beggered many thousands of Men to be slain and murthered Women and Maids to be violated and deflowred which things when they are done by Foreign Enemies we do much mourn as we have great causes yet are all these miseries without any wickedness wrought by any of our own Countrymen But when these mischiefs are wrought in Rebellion by them that should be Friends by Countrymen by Kinsmen by those that should defend their Country and Country-men from such miseries the misery is nothing so great as is the mischief and wickedness when the Subjects unnaturally do Rebel against their Prince whose honor and life they should defend though it were with the loss of their own lives Country-men disturb the publick Peace and Quietness of their Country for defence of whose Quietness they should spend their lives the Brother to seek and often to work the death of his Brother the Son of the Father the Father to seek or procure the death of his Sons being at Mans Age and by their faults to disinherit their innocent Children and Kinsmen their